Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda - Chapter 176 - 01/27/14 - COMPLETE

Kajun · **Posted:** Thu Dec 12, 2013 10:41 pm

Katharyn, Ahhhhhhhh.. what the heck does Tara think she knows about Diana??? Wha? This is part of the conversation Tara had with Ethan way back. :hmm

Curious. I‘ve already posted too many theories about Diana.. some more than twice.. oops. LOL So no guesses this time. Whatever happens with her.. the dogs love Tara so they must be good.. right? Pleeeeeeassssss???

DaddyCatALSO · **Posted:** Fri Dec 13, 2013 2:36 pm

And once again, as so very often before, the plot thickens. So, we'll be discovering Tara's thought processes you glid3ed over before. Hmmm....

Katharyn · **Posted:** Sat Dec 14, 2013 10:45 pm

I'd say, Kajun and Daddycatalso that it's an elaborate web that I weave. But pretty much it's unintentional. I forget what I said 10 parts ago let alone 50 LOL. So it's only when I redraft that I pick up some of these threads and stuff them back in there

Yes, we have 20 parts to go and it will all start to come out now. There's nothing more to hide things for...

As for the dogs. They're doggies. Well, sort of.... (I'm teasing...)

Thanks

Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Sun Dec 15, 2013 9:55 pm

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Seven
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: The truth of it all…
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: Funny, I had actually decided to change the name of this story before I decided to do what I did here. It was originally called ‘Hands of the goddess’ as in Tara and Willow being the proverbial ‘Hands’.
Turns out that wasn’t a great title in light of the fact that Diana does – kind of – vanish for large chunks of S5 and, well, this. Why? Well, ‘Hands of the goddess’ would’ve had them in much more of a Sidesteppy type role, I think. Much more front and centre as the heroes of the entire story, rather than the heroes of their own story. There’s still some of that left in how much the others value Tara, especially. But all the same, it’s an important difference and one I wanted to make perhaps because of how long I wrote Sidestep for. I prefer Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda as a title and a story concept.
Another reason for changing it, well, I couldn’t do the character of Diana (or the mythology) justice. I was worried about that. It was too BIG. This is more manageable.
So remember what I said about characters being flat out wrong? Even Tara and Willow. Here it is.
Please note, this part was originally a section of the ‘removed’ version of the ending, redrafted to fit the new timeline. Like canon, they were originally in a camper and things followed the canon more closely. Apologies if anything creeps through that shouldn’t from the old version.
Thanks to: All my supporters both here and elsewhere. Couldn’t do this sort of thing without you all.

“So do you all see these two shoes?” Buffy demanded. “Do you see them? You do see them right?”

“Yes?”

“And you can see that they’re on my feet. They’re both still on my feet? You see that too right?”

“Yes?” Giles was plainly confused and with good reason. She was confused too. Yes, Buffy had shoes. They weren’t great, or expensive. More kind of ‘Slayer chic’ really. Practical and good enough for going out after the slayage, but not the sort of thing you’d wear on a date.

Except a sensible shoe date.

But…why was Buffy talking about that now? Surely they had more important things on their minds? In fact she knew they did. Buffy had ordered a halt to their progress back to Sunnydale to have them look at her shoes? No…

This meant something more.

“Buffy, honey, we – Please, use your words. In order,” she asked.

“It makes perfect sense. Perfect sense!” Their friend actually seemed triumphant, more like they’d all forgotten something?

“And yet somehow it’s eluding me?” Giles said while Xander nodded and Faith just looked impatient. All the Slayer cared about was getting back on the road after her sister.

Maybe that’d change in a moment when she understood just what…

But by way of… shoes?

Buffy sighed. “I have two shoes on. I’ve not eaten one of them.”

She and Giles looked at each other. Just for a moment she wondered whether Buffy had been afflicted by the same thing as Willow. Brainsucked by a Hell god. That’d be terrible, especially if they hadn’t noticed. Could it be a delayed reaction to something that happened at the cabin?

“Okay… that’s good, but we’re -”

“If you’re hungry…” Tara said, wanting to help since Buffy seemed to think this was important.

Could it be what she’d admitted? Could it be just mentioning Glory had – no, because she’d only talked (or whispered) about Diana. “There’s a pop-tart in the back somewhere. It’s – we bought it a few weeks ago, but those things last forever and I couldn’t – Willow likes them but now she’s - they get too hot for her, so - ”

“No!” Buffy said. “Diana.”

Xander picked this one up. “Going out on a limb, I – I don’t think she’s a fan either. I could be wrong but she doesn’t look like a pop-tart sort of goddess. More your raw, bloody meat type – which is weird when all the lesbian witches go vegan for her.”

“Not all the Wicca Group are lesbians. Or vegans,” Tara said. Stereotypes about those kind of things were just… old by now.

There were bigger things to worry about. Right now. But correcting him was just her own nervousness at what was about to happen. As well as one of the things that had rubbed off on her from Willow.

While that idea, would’ve made her girl giggle.

She risked a glance at Faith. Yes, obviously impatient but trusting Buffy just enough to cut her some slack even when she was talking crazy.

“Yes! I’m glad you mentioned her,” Buffy said.

“I didn’t,” Xander started. “You did.”

Buffy was going to do it. She was really going to tell them… This wasn’t the way she’d wanted it but once she’d confided – and now – how couldn’t she? Perhaps it was better this way.

But Faith was going to explode.

“She’s not a goddess,” Buffy said. Looking around for their reactions.

“Says who?” Giles asked.

“Says Tara.”

“Oh.”

Plenty of people were looking to her just then, seeking confirmation. No one argued. Just looked to her and…

Yeah, it was so much more believable when she said it? Well, as Buffy could point out, she was the one who’d been wrong about Diana from the start. The one who’d changed her mind. Buffy hadn’t done that. She’d always had her doubts.

“Yes. ‘Oh’. I said. I said she wasn’t a goddess. I said that way back – with lots of waaaaay. In fact, I said that if she was a goddess I’d ‘eat my shoe’. We all thought she was one and then the jury was out – no, it’s not a gay jury, Anya - but they must’ve come back which I agree is weird as a metaphor, but they were out and now - ”

“Now she’s not a goddess,” Tara admitted.

She had to take responsibility. They’d… They’d risked their lives on her say so. Trusted her while they were still getting to know her. Now they were all her friends, every one of them. She’d do anything for them and they for her. Had done. But back then?

They welcomed me, not just as a girlfriend but as a real friend and…

Now – for them - it turned out the goddess was nothing of the sort…

Faith was looking at her, glowering at her. But she hadn’t actually ‘exploded’.

Which was probably something she should worry about.

Buffy’s triumph faded as Willow picked that moment for one of her disturbances in the back of the truck. Tara started, but the Slayer stopped her. “I’ll go.”

Willow was struggling against Anya’s well-intentioned attempts to keep her from hurting herself. “You’re probably better at figuringout what this means.”

A Slayer was much better equipped for restraining the struggling girl. Willow seemed stronger now than before, probably because she couldn’t remember how to hold back. Or even that she should.

“This true?” Faith asked her.

Too calm. Too measured.

She nodded, unsure what she could say. Bad enough that they’d been fooled for longer than they needed to be. But when they were relying on Diana to help get Hope back?

That was what was really bugging Faith.

No one else said anything, feeling the tension that was building and not wanting to step into it.

Ask me. Ask me why I didn’t say anything. Ask me why I didn’t tell you all.

But no one did, so things waited for Buffy to come back. Maybe it took a Slayer and Faith was being… weird. “Just when we need a goddess,” Buffy said a minute or so later, just holding Willow’s arm as she led her from the truck over to them. “The one we had craps out on us. Typical, but hey, it is Sunnydale.”

Tara nodded, reached for Willow and brushed her hand, making her giggle because of the sensation. She’d used to do that sometimes. Before.

“While she might not be a goddess, as best as we can tell, she’s been around for what – at least a thousand years?” Giles said.

“At least that,” Anya said, leaving Willow to Buffy now and picking out the pop-tart that had been mentioned. “You mind?”

“Help yourself.”

While Anya disappeared into the the truck to put it in the cigarette lighter powered toaster, she shouted and recounted what she knew – for Buffy’s benefit, Tara supposed. Anya wasn’t one for repeating herself. At least not with any degree of patience. “She was old when I was around, I mean when I first became a vengeance demon. I crossed her path a few times. Everyone – well, everyone who mattered knew who she was.”

“So she’s easily a thousand years old. Probably more,” Giles summarised.

“And even then everyone knew her as a goddess,” Anya added.
Would even Buffy be able to stop her?

“So what is she?” Buffy asked. “Demon?” Tara had the idea that if she hadn’t been stroking Willow’s hair while she got excited about the smell already emerging from the toaster, Buffy have been handling a stake speculatively.

If it’s a demon, we can kill it.

“No,” Tara said at the same time as Anya shouted it.

That wasn’t what she wanted at all.

“Demon’s an overused term,” Anya said. “Go back far enough and everything was given a proper name. The vengeance demons were all people; they were – for the duration of their employment – turned into vengeful spirits. At least that was what we used to be told.

“Then… about five centuries ago, we were rebranded. A lot of people – not me - weren’t very happy. What would you rather be? A demon or a spirit? You see what I mean? I’ve told you all about the importance of proper marketing – not that anyone listens.”

“But Diana?” Buffy pressed.

“She’s a witch,” Tara said, understanding it in a rush. That she wasn’t a goddess… Yeah, she’d known that for a while. But hearing Anya had pushed the last pieces into place. It all just came to her. So many little things – and some big ones she’d just missed – fitting together. Like a jigsaw in her head. Until she’d seen the last piece, she couldn’t have put it together.

Not the whole truth.

“A witch?” Buffy and Giles were the ones saying the same thing at the same time now.

“Of course!” Anya said, having her own ‘aha’ moment. “It’s the only thing that makes any sense.”

“A witch?” Buffy asked. “You and Willow are witches, you telling me you’ll be a thousand years old, wearing micro dresses, no underwear or shoes and you’ll be better with a bow than Faith?”

Faith… yeah. Still silence there.

“Don’t forget the big dogs,” Anya added. “Though, for these two, they seem to like cats better.”

No one said anything because Anya seemed to think that there was some sort of viable response, and even appeared to be waiting for it.

“And?” Giles asked.

“Don’t I even get a little credit?” Anya asked.

“It wasn’t you who decided she was a witch - ”

“No!” Anya said. “For not making humourous remarks about pussies? Don’t I get credit for that? Store credit if you’re feeling generous?”

“Yes, you were very restrained,” Giles said, cleaning his glasses again. Surely they couldn’t have gotten dirty since the last time he’d needed to.

“To answer the question, the original question. Yes! She can be a witch – so much was lost,” Tara said, looking to Giles who nodded. Getting it at the same moment.

“Man – and I stress the male – has spent a lot of the last millennium clamping down on witchcraft or anything that didn’t sit comfortably alongside the established religions of the ages,” he agreed. “We’re quite certain that the witches of today – in terms of arcane knowledge – are a shadow of what they once were. Quite a pale shadow, actually.”

“And one thing that didn’t sit comfortably with most of the religions was a woman with an independent mind,” Anya added. “I should know, I had one and I became a vengeance demon. Right, Tara?”

“I guess.” It hadn’t been the point she was about to make. “But – the purges, the trials and everything. Even though it looks like most real witches and warlocks got away from them because they could, their books and what they knew? That was less portable. And because they scattered, there was often no one to pass what they knew onto… What I mean is, things were inevitably lost.”

“Like how to live forever and pretend to be a goddess?”

“Probably… Yes.” She’d read enough, seen enough stories and heard enough from Willow’s research that she could believe that.

Diana could easily still be the one and only source remaining of some of the kinds of spells that they could need to defeat Glory. Even if she wasn’t a goddess, she was obviously… powerful. Very powerful. She moved like a huntress, though that could’ve been helped by spells but – did it matter? Maybe it was just lots and lots of practice over an impossibly long lifespan.

Even knowing all this, Diana could still be an ally, which was what counted. Yeah, that was a great line to take.

The last thing they needed was Faith tearing off; mad as hell and confronting her for putting Hope at risk.

No – actually - the last thing they needed was to go into what was coming making incorrect assumptions about what they had on their side.

Not a goddess. But…

No wonder Diana had known the spell of unmaking though… Back in her day it might even have been relatively common. Back when the world was being made and remade anew by every clash of the various gods and other powers.

That was the speculation anyway – like magical archaeology - that too much god-like activity had been going on, leaving creatures and beings that should not have existed in the world as it was around to become the problems (as well as the more innocent, mind-your-own-business type of demons) that they saw today.

Vampires, for example? Just a remnant from some version of the world that had later been unmade and changed.

Or maybe that wasn’t it at all.

Did even Diana know?

“This does leave us a bit of a problem,” Giles said. “No matter the extent of her current power, if Tara is correct then she most assuredly is not a goddess when what we’re facing most assuredly… is. Everything and everyone agrees on that.”

“Unless gods and goddesses were powerful witches that just happened to know how to live forever? Can’t you see some of the primitive people back then looking at them and seeing them that way?” Xander asked.

“I used to be one of those people,” Anya said, admonishing him for insinuating that they were somehow backwards for thinking that. There was plenty of belief in the unlikely going on in their world too. “We weren’t primitive.”

From an outsiders point of view, maybe even more crazy.

“Even earlier than that,” Tara corrected.

She was hoping – somehow – that Diana could still be what they wanted and needed her to be. The weapon that they could use against Glory. Yes, Glory had already soundly beaten Diana once, but if they were helping too? When you stacked up ‘everyone’ – and she intended to – she certainly didn’t want a Diana sized hole in the army.

Even the dogs could be valuable.

“It seems unlikely that all the old gods were simply witches,” Giles said. “Wouldn’t you say, Anya?”

“You’re asking me?” the ex-demon replied.

“Certainly, as you pointed out, you were around closer to the time than any of us. You have that perspective.”

“You asked me. That’s… I don’t remember the last time you actually asked me. Without being sarcastic.”

“Sure – we ask you all the time,” Buffy said, confused as to why they’d have to worry about this now.

“No. I tell you. And usually you ignore me or tell me to shut up,” Anya corrected. “Don’t worry, I don’t mind. It’s your loss but… it feels nice. You asking me. Like you need me.”

“Of course we need you,” Tara said.
“Xander needs me - ”

“In a different way,” Giles completed for her. “But if you’d offer the wisdom of your years?”

“No. Tara’s right. I should – She had me fooled but Diana’s not a god. There were powerful mages and witches who were worshipped or led people to whatever ends they desired – a significant factor in them coming to be regarded as evil.” Anya’s eyes ended up on her then, as if she suspected that she might turn evil at any moment.

“But?”

“But gods existed. I know they did. D’Hoffryn was very explicit on that – he mustn’t have known about Diana either, by the way. Some of those gods had the same powers as we did – and many more too. Our instructions were to stay well clear and even when I became a vengeful spirit the manual still made very clear that you never, ever tried to work vengeance on a god. No matter what animal they transformed themselves into to have their wicked way…”

And there was something to shudder at.

“And,” Buffy said, “Diana was avoiding Hades. All that stuff about not wanting to intrude in his domain? She’d have been much better going and asking herself – if she was a goddess – than asking us to go do a dream quest or whatever it was.

“Tara and Willow enjoyed it,” Xander reminded them all.

“Well, they stayed in bed and we all crossed the river Styx,” Buffy countered.

“Excuse me, but they didn’t just stay in bed,” Anya pointed out.

Of course she did. Though, in other circumstances Faith might’ve been the one to point that out.

Silent Faith.

It was spooky and unnatural.

“Not in great taste, An,” Xander said, gesturing towards the happy again – but oblivious – Willow.

“Oh – sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “It all happened, it’s true. And you’re right. Diana did duck that. I should – I shouldn’t have just accepted what she was saying for as long as I did.”

“What were you supposed to do? She had… well, everything you’d expect. Except underwear, obviously – maybe that’s a god thing? You think?”

Collective attention turned to that possibility for one beat too long.

“And big dogs,” Anya said to break into the moment. It wasn’t what she wanted Xander thinking about. “She has big dogs too. In fact have you seen the size of Jupiter’s - ”

“Honey,” Xander said. “I told you, we’re not going to talk about that again – and not with other people.”

“Paws. I was going to say ‘paws’,” his girlfriend said.

“Oh.”

“But I don’t doubt he’s made a few bitches very happy,” Anya concluded.

“Perhaps if we would return to the point?” Giles asked, sighing. He was used to all this by now. Meandering thought processes diverted into inanity. And somehow… they saved the world anyway.

Maybe even because of it, if that was what brought them together.

“Willow, baby, leave it be,” she said, gently stopping Willow from scratching under her cast and pulling at it again.

Willow just waved it. Yes, it must itch abominably but her hand was in such a bad way… Very gently she pushed her finger under the edge of the cast and gave it a scratch with just the tip of a nail. Much more carefully than she’d have done for herself. “Better?”

Rather than answer Willow pulled free before she could protest and got in the back again, picking up the toy duck she loved to make go ‘Quack’ when she was in this kind of mood. She wasn’t a child, not even childlike. But… sometimes childish things helped.

To be honest, they had before what Glory had done too.

“How is she?” Buffy asked.

“After what happened? Well, once Glory left… If it was just about what happened since then I’d say this was a good day.”

But there was nothing good about today. Nothing apart from the fact they were still alive. While there was life they could find Hope.

Buffy nodded and gave her a hug. “If - ”

“Don’t even start with ‘if’,” Faith said, finally speaking up. “Just don’t. We’ve stopped. We’ve talked and you like to talk, you like to play, I get that. But we’re going back to Sunnydale and then we’re doing two, maybe three, things.”

She counted them off on her fingers. “We’re taking Glory down, getting Willow back to who she was and if we happen to do that saving the world thing, that’s fine too.”

“Umm, amen?” Xander responded.

“Are you okay?” Tara asked, ready to add an apology. Faith had been relying on Diana to help with Hope and had also been taken in by her.

Taken in by believing in what I believed in.

And what I told her… I made more than one mistake there.

“At the end of the day,” Faith said. “We don’t have time for this. We’ve got what we’ve got and if Diana isn’t a goddess… Well, that just sucks to be us.”

“What do you mean?”

“This has already gone on long enough. It’s time to stop talking. Back in the truck, now. Everyone. We’re rolling.”

****************************

Kajun · **Posted:** Sun Dec 15, 2013 11:26 pm

Katharyn, Diana isn’t a Goddess. Okay then. But I fail to see why that makes a difference. They already know Glory beat the crap out of her. And they know that, witch, demon or whatever she is, Diana is very strong, great with weapons and hunting, and she knows magic. Basically, she’s like a third slayer with a few extra abilities. You could take Buffy’s (or Faith’s) strength and fighting skill, Tara’s magic and Anya’s numerous years of world/supernatural experience, mold them into a single form and end up with Diana bonus a couple loyal and powerful dogs.

So.. How would being a Goddess be more beneficial to them given what they know? Maybe the question is: Can they trust her? They believed she was a Goddess. Now Tara says that was wrong. I’d have to go back thru previous chapters but I don’t remember Diana ever specifically making that claim. I think she did say she was also known as Artemis but hey, it’s not as if the Gods and Goddesses had sole claim on a name. Regardless.. she hasn’t done anything, that I know of, to indicate she intends to cause harm to anyone. Except the bad guys.

I agree with Faith. Enough chit chat! It’s never a good idea to waste time when you don’t know what time frame you’re working against. It would suck to be one second late.. wouldn’t it? KABOOM!

Katharyn · **Posted:** Mon Dec 16, 2013 11:41 am

Yeah, Kajun - it feels like less of a big deal when you put it that way

To the extent that I am writing the thrust of your response into the next part I think LOL.

To be fair, Faith was always pretty practical about that. She wants Hope back. She'll use anyone, anything and blow the world up to make it happen. So... she won't lash out at Diana too much.

I think - perhaps - my feelings about the impact of the Goddess aspect have been (Mis)shaped by what will come... but the characters don't know that yet!! Suffice it to say that - because I think it made no sense in canon - Glory will NOT be beaten in the same way as there... Maybe this part will make more sense by the end.

And I think you'll maybe like it. Or at least go 'hmm' in a vaguely interested way

Yeah... Faith and 'enough chit chat' Oh, I'm afraid we have a few more parts before any action. We have to deal with 'everyone' and also - because of what is coming - cover some other stuff off. But then, sure, off to the fight! Like I've said before though, you can't use 'part counts' as a measure of time. Not with me. Sometimes I write weeks in a page and sometimes minutes in a week's worth of posts

Frustrates some people I imagine

Thank you!

Katharyn

DaddyCatALSO · **Posted:** Mon Dec 16, 2013 3:07 pm

So "Diana" is a semi-imposter. Her story of what happened to the othe r Olympians always seemd a bit off to me. But, as discussed above, she's still powerful in many ways.

And yes, Faith is right, don't chew over what they *don't* have.

I also liked how you sued Anya here- sensibly, instead of as abutt of jokes, tappign itno her knowledge of older times. Although, in the scale of history alone, Anya and Diana are both still in primary grades age-wise.

I will admit heading toward a positive visual palce when Buffy mentioned ht epossibility of Willow and even tara dressed like Diana, but I put on the mental brakes quickly. (Actually, while I appreciate micro-minis as much as any straight male, I think bare feet make a more effective fashion statement with a midi, or with slacks between ankle and knee length . . . .)

Katharyn · **Posted:** Tue Dec 17, 2013 10:24 am

True, Diana is 'young' by the scale of some things even if she is - as I say somewhere - ancient even when Anya came into her powers.

We don't often think of Faith as a glass half full kind of person, but she is immensely practical and it struck me that she's not going to bitch about it. She's gonna kill something. Now if they can just keep that focused LOL.

Your positive visual place, LOL. Would you believe I never even went there?! Really! Of course now I did... Hmm...

If you want to talk bare feet then she needs some witchy powers to keep them clean and bare

Thanks
Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Wed Dec 18, 2013 9:18 pm

My posts over the holiday period may be a little sporadic, but then you should be off enjoying yourselves anyway. We'll probably slow down a little after the next part at the weekend sometime.

Hope you all have a great time, whatever you are doing.

Katharyn

-----------

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Eight
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: The confrontation with Diana.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: So we’re in transitional territory here and in a few different ways. We’re moving from canon to original material. But we’re also moving from one version of the finale to another. As I mentioned, when I first drafted this story the ending was very similar to canon with Faith/Hope taking Buffy/Dawn’s places. The part by part material for that was just fine, but overall it didn’t deal with some of the issues I had with canon and it didn’t feel very… epic. Maybe because it was familiar.
Also I like to do new stuff when I can, even in this fic.
So I worked up a new ending, but in this part and the next one we’re making use of material from both versions of the ending and I’m trying to weave them together so I don’t lose some nice touches, but at the same time I’m having to be brutal and get rid of some things entirely. *cry*
Also though, this part touches on a few of those things that I disliked about the canon. Like, to me, a fundamental flaw. I mean absolutely fundamental. Like, ‘how could I not have seen that.’ I hope you will agree (and if you don’t, please don’t pick holes! It’s done now!)
Finally, we get to a little of Diana’s background. How much comes out will probably change in the final draft that is posted. As you know, I can go on a bit… Sometimes.
Thanks to: Everyone who can be patient with me while we transition between material written about 18 months apart from one chunk to the next. Hopefully you!

“Whatever we think,” Giles said. “Courtesy would suggest at least giving her a chance to explain.”

“Courtesy?” Faith asked. “Are you kidding me? Turn left up ahead.”

“Thank you – and no, I am not kidding, Faith. Courtesy.” Giles stood by his position, to Tara’s relief. She didn’t want to be the one – the only one – who wanted to hear Diana out.

She also didn’t want to be the one to try and force a would-be Goddess into giving them that explanation. Even if Diana was a witch she was a Witch, one who was all but immortal – certainly thousands of years old – and undoubtedly had access to spells she’d never even dreamed of.

Also, with a bow and hounds, she was no slouch. They’d all seen what she could do to any number of vampires.

Whatever Faith thought this was going to be – and the rest of them – it almost certainly wasn’t going to see Diana meekly accepting their chastisement and then kindly agreeing to help them out.

Joining the fight was the only thing Faith needed from Diana, but to make that happen she was willing to stand up to her. Guilt her into it. Force her if she had to.

Was she interested in the actual explanation? No. She was interested in getting Diana out there. Saving Hope.

Diana would be useful; none of them could doubt that…

And Faith was willing to do anything to make use of her.

Back at the cabin, when she’d said she needed ‘everyone’ that was what she meant. Including Diana. Especially including Diana.
Can’t they just let me do this? She tried again.

“Let me speak to her, please - ”

“Tara, we love you,” Buffy said, not helping. For once, she was of mind with Faith. But did want to hear it. “We do, but - ”

“Anya would want me to point out that my love is purely platonic,” Xander said. The sporty red number carrying Eddie and Anya was still behind them. The driver had shown herself to be remarkably persistent in the face of traffic signals that were determined to split them up.

Probably she didn’t know where she was going. Which might’ve been better than Giles’ left side of the road reactions.

Buffy continued. “We love you, but this is too important. This… this woman has been passing herself as a Goddess. We fell for it.”

Because I told you to.

No one said it. They weren’t accusing her, but she could accuse herself. So she had to make this right and one way to do that was stopping them from gaining another enemy – or at least losing an ally – at a very inconvenient moment.

Faith – especially – she was worried about. Frustration and worry was etched over her face and while she wanted nothing more than to take off after Glory, her simmering anger also needed an outlet and she’d latched onto this. Right now she was pissed at the whole world, but maybe logic had shown her that they really did need every advantage they could get.

Otherwise… how were they going to get Hope back? How were they going to save the world?

Whether Diana was a goddess or not she’d been pretending to be one for long enough that she wasn’t going to react well to a Slayer – a pair of Slayers – and Watcher lecturing her.

And yes, there was a lecture all ready to happen in the course of getting the explanation they wanted.

But what would that achieve? Momma had always repeated that old adage about flies and vinegar. Maybe no one else had heard it.

“There, on the right,” Faith said.

“I could tell,” Giles said. He’d never been up here to visit Diana. His Slayer had though, as had she and Willow. Faith had even lived here for a while there. Alongside Ethan and when had he known about this?

Had he guessed? Had he been certain? Was that why he’d moved out? But why wouldn’t he have said something? Why hadn’t he just left and gone back to what he’d always done?

Or… maybe he was worried about the end of the world too. She hoped he was at least worried. Because he was getting ‘everyone’ together for her.

Well, everyone but Diana. Giles was right though, it wasn’t exactly difficult to tell this place was hers.

The house was actually more like a villa. Everything the movies taught you that a Roman (if not Greek) home of a Goddess should be. The white marble kept the whole place cool, the columns and greenery let moist air move through it. Once you stepped inside it was like another place, another time, compared to the arid outskirts of Sunnydale.

Since they didn’t think it had just ‘appeared’ (like a certain Master vampire’s digs), she was pretty certain this was just a house someone had built and Diana had taken over later.

This was Sunnydale, after all

“We should be going after Hope,” she said. Even though that was what Faith had been advocating from the start and then had come around to this.

It was Faith who shot her a look, a warning not to go there. Yes, Faith knew that. She wanted to. But – right now – she’d agreed to this. Because, at the end of the day, there was a good reason for it. They needed to know what she could do. They wanted to know precisely how far they could trust and rely on Diana.

And along the way they wanted to know what she was.

Tara was already certain that she knew the answer to that question.

She’s a witch.

But it was all guesswork…

--------------------------

Willow was obviously in heaven as soon as they went into the house. The quadrangle at the heart of the structure, laced with greenery and vines and fountains, was a huge draw to her.

As were the dogs.

She squealed with delight and threw herself at Jupiter when he padded out to meet them, sniffing at the air. Confused, the hound allowed himself to be bowled over as Willow looked up at her – anticipating being stopped from what she was doing.

Seemed like everyone else thought that too. “Will she be - ”

Yes, he was a big dog who could tear the heads off vampires, but he was also a big softie who loved to play.

“She’ll be fine. Callisto’s watching them,” Tara said.

“Huh?” Buffy asked.

She gestured at the silent bitch who’d emerged from the shadows and pressed a cold nose into her palm before taking up a watchful position over her frolicking brother and the child-like delight that Willow was taking in his snuffling.

“Oh.”

“She’s the sensible one. She’ll stop him if either of them gets too rough. And look at her…”

Willow was… It killed her, what had happened to the girl she loved. But… Willow still recognised her. At least in a way. Looked to her for guidance and ouchies. Cried on her shoulder. Calmed when she came back… Willow still knew her. And she could still find a kind of happiness. Moments like this were good for her.

She liked to think Willow didn’t know what she’d lost. It wasn’t her who was hurting. It was all the rest of them because of what she’d lost.

It would be better that way than if this was some sort of torment. Right? If the real Willow was trapped and aware… She couldn’t bear that.

“Sorry,” Anya said. “I’m too busy looking at him. That’s – that’s a big dog. Did he grow since I saw him last?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Can you imagine the size of his - ”

“No, sweetie,” Tara said.

“I’m just saying.” This time though she wasn’t being backed up by the preoccupied Faith. Diana must be here if the dogs were and Faith was looking for her.

And then found her.

Tara was aware of a low growl from Callisto and it wasn’t anything about Willow and the other dog – despite that being her initial concern. No, it was Faith, in that mood, approaching her mistress.

In the bath…

Calling it a bathroom was accurate enough. It was a room, with a bath. But like no bathroom any of them had ever been in – except perhaps Faith when she was staying here – but… A better description would’ve been ‘a small swimming pool.’ Maybe twelve feet by nine. That was a lot of hot water and apparently with no one to help prepare it. No sign of taps either.

And it was hot. You could feel the heat from the open doorway. There were really no doors once you were inside the villa – just the main doors that didn’t even lock. Perhaps Diana feared no one, or maybe it was that anyone she did fear wouldn’t be stopped by a barred door.

Glory, just for example.

Inside, there were just open archways though. And so it was that – without going past Faith – they could all see into the ‘bathroom.’

Fortunately – for Xander and Eddie at least – it wasn’t so easy to see all of Diana who was in the enormous bath. Alone – even if a couple of body-slaves wouldn’t been out of place in the image.

And she wasn’t wearing much… obviously. Because you didn’t, in the bath, did you? It was kind of the point.

“Umm.”

All of them were kind of caught off guard as Diana raised her eyebrows in question. Yes, why were they just charging into her bathroom?

Someone else could explain. Someone who wanted this confrontation would be a great choice.

“Greetings,” Diana said finally.

“Yeah… umm… We need to talk to you,” Buffy said. “But I can see you’re busy.”

“We – that is they – they…”

“What ails your woman, Tara?”

Tara looked around, but Willow was nowhere in sight. Diana just… knew. How did she do that? Perhaps… Maybe they were wrong. Maybe she was a goddess? Or maybe being a goddess was all a matter of perspective. Maybe you just had to be looked up to. Worshipped.

Even just feared.

If you were powerful enough? Wouldn’t you be seen as something like a god? Diana had even mentioned it, the growth of the base of people who believed in her when the Wicca Group expanded. So…? Had that been a lie?

Or did that belief do something, even for a witch? Didn’t everyone want people to believe in them?

But then Glory didn’t need that kind of belief… They knew that much, so god-like qualities are about power, not believers. Right? As a universal constant? Maybe gods here needed belief, but where Glory came from?

Maybe not.

So much they didn’t understand. Things that might be important.

And…

We might be wrong though. We might be interrupting a goddesses bath. We might be ruining our chance of help with Glory.

Help with Willow.

“G-Glory,” she said, answering Diana’s question.

Diana nodded but then offered some reassurance as she looked around again; trying to make sure neither Jupiter or Willow wasn’t being too rough. “Do not concern yourself, Jupiter will not hurt her. There’s a piece of me within him – a piece of him within me.”

Interesting… but still definitely in witchy territory. Even the witchy stuff that she’d heard about. That wasn’t even a revelation. Not really. It was just that… no one knew how to do it anymore.

So might knowledge be the power, the godlike quality that turned a witch into a goddess?

What are we doing?

“We need to talk - ” Faith said, but Tara stopped her. There was something else she needed to know first, before Faith pissed her off. Because that was what Faith did. She pissed people off. It was like her natural talent. Sometimes, after that, she slept with them.

That – hopefully – wouldn’t be happening here.

“You know what was done to her, don’t you?” she asked.

Diana’s head inclined just a little, a tiny sign she deigned to give.

“Can you help her?” She glanced at the others. I dare you. I dare you to tell me this isn’t important enough to worry about right now. She might be the only one who can help me – help Willow.

“No,” Diana said. “I cannot.”

She sagged, utterly deflated.

Despite their impatience, all of them – even Faith – embraced or touched her then, trying to offer some comfort as she dealt with the enormity that this might be the rest of Willow’s life now.

The rest of my life too, because… I’m not going anywhere.

But there wouldn’t even be any kind of future if they didn’t get Hope back and defeat Glory. That was still motivation enough to force herself back to their other problem, to refocus her mind.

I’m sorry, baby… I just have to save the world for you now.

“Thank - ” Her voice was wavering, she was struggling to get the words out. “Thank you – for being honest.”

“And speaking of being honest,” Buffy said.

“You’re not a goddess. Are you?” Faith asked. It really wasn’t much of a question. And there was basically no ‘right’ answer. Not for Faith anyway.

Deny the truth that Faith had espoused and she’d be in an argument. Admit it – or say anything else at all – and be exposed to her fury anyway.

And there surely would be fury. Hope was in Glory’s hands…

After what Diana had told her about Willow, that there wasn’t anything she could do, she actually still hoped that Diana was exactly what she’d appeared to be. She wanted that part of the foundation of her life still to be there.

Except… She didn’t think it would be. She didn’t believe it anymore. A goddess wouldn’t be limited, that was what it meant right? A goddess would’ve been able to help.

My goddess is rolling around on the floor giggling at a big, silly dog who can rip heads off when he wants to.

“Your purpose requires that I am,” Diana answered and Tara was left to consider that for a moment, what it might mean. It wasn’t a yes or a no. Not quite.

Faith – on the other hand – instantly reached her conclusion. She threw up her hands, disgusted. “There’s your answer.”

“Why – why did you tell us that you were?” Tara asked.

“Know that I had my reasons. They were once my own but now they’re yours. Someone needs to stand against the Beast. Belief creates strength otherwise absent.”

“And you knew about that Hell-Bitch too!” It just wasn’t getting any better from Faith’s point of view.

“But - ” They’d known that. Diana hadn’t hidden it from them, she’d warned them and set them on a path where they could understand what was coming. That accusation – at least – was unfair. They’d never have seen Glory coming if it hadn’t been for her.

They might never have understood what Hope was. And how might that have turned out? Of course… they’d lost Hope anyway. But the world was still here. There was still a chance. Maybe, without Diana’s warning, it wouldn’t have been.

“You didn’t join us, to see Hades,” Tara said.

“You know now he would have welcomed me all too warmly,” Diana said.

Yes, the Lord of the Underworld must’ve been waiting for her for a very long time. Even a man – a god – to whom everyone came, eventually, must’ve exhausted his patience.

Not to mention any problem with what Diana had pretended to be all that time.

“I don’t believe this,” Faith was muttering, prowling the edge of the room like an agitated lioness in a cage.

But she should’ve believed this. It was her accusation, basically, which had brought them here instead of going straight after Hope.

‘Everyone’ was all very well – if they could make it happen. But ‘everyone’ without Diana? Not going to work so well.

“We needed you,” Faith said and too quietly for anyone’s comfort. “We needed you to find my sister.”

“The Beast has her then?” Diana asked, seeming more concerned in that moment than at any other time.

“Yes, the Beast has her. No thanks to you – you want to fight this Hell Bitch then you fucking fight her. Don’t just sit here in your fucking bath lying about what you are and making us think you can - ”

She could see that Faith was building to the verge of plunging into the water and trying to pluck Diana from it for what she’d call ‘a righteous ass kicking’ but Tara knew that would be a very, very bad idea. Maybe she wasn’t a Goddess, but Diana was still a powerful being of some kind.

Even a Slayer would have trouble.

And there were the dogs. One of whom was with Willow right now.

“Faith - ” she warned.

“Look, do you think you could get out of the bath?” Buffy asked.

“Certainly - ”

“No! Wait. Stay in the bath – you three, shoo,” Anya said to the boys. Most specifically her boy.

Not that the girls really wanted to pay attention either as Diana stood and emerged dripping from the water. “Robe?” she asked. Buffy, who was stood next to where it was hanging, picked it up and Tara thought she was going to hand it over.

But no.

Instead it was shoved into her hands and she was given a look that said she ought to be the one to approach.

Willow would’ve made a joke, that it was because she was the lesbian and it was some other naked woman right there. So…. Yeah. Willow would’ve made a joke. It would’ve been funnier if Willow had thought of it too. Even if she’d not revealed it now, she’d have told her later. More than just a subject, something inadvertently babbly and gigglesome.

But… Diana can’t help her. What do I do if Diana can’t help her?

“The witch isn’t naked anymore!” Anya called. “You are a witch, aren’t you? I believed you were a goddess, once, but now witch is the only thing that makes sense.”

The silence was as much confirmation as they apparently needed, it was exactly as she’d thought – at least after the part where she’d believed this woman was a goddess.

“Even D’Hoffryn never knew,” Anya revealed, delighted to have one over on her old boss. “And he was much older than I was. Do you remember me? Anyanka? My skin was bumpier? But now I’m having more sex, so it all works out in the end.”

“No.”

Anya looked absolutely crestfallen.

“Why did you do it?” Tara asked.

“Because – in the start – I could.”

----------------------------

“You’re right, demon,” Diana said to Anya. “I was what you’d call a witch, once. And I ask you, what is a powerful witch but a goddess to those who have no such power? To those cannot explain the unexplainable?”

“So you named yourself Diana - ”

“You have no idea what I did,” Diana cut Faith off. “Be silent and hear your questions answered or leave, the choice is yours but we both know where you should be.”

Faith was about to take that advice, but Tara grabbed her hand, squeezed it. Yes, everyone wanted to get Hope back, but they’d come here. Now what were they left with? What could Diana do for them? They still needed her help. If she’d never said she was a goddess, but they’d seen what she could do, then they’d have been here looking for her help.

Probably begging for it.

They still didn’t have a plan beyond ‘everyone’. That was going to get to be a problem really, really quickly. So they couldn’t skimp on ‘everyone’.

“I was born to the name,” Diana said. “Or a version of it, at least. I was born to power and I was born to poverty you have never seen. My mother was touched by the gods.”

“They do that,” Anya said. “They make themselves into all sorts of things - ”

“Her mind,” Diana said, obviously not approving of where Anya was going. In that – at least – they were on common ground. “She was never of whole or sound mind. My father, a passing soldier. One of many she took to her bed to conceive a child. Some man who didn’t care about her mind. But she was powerful for all her flaws.”

“The world was different then?” Tara explained, hoping she was right. “Magic was more widely known, even if the people who could do it weren’t any more than now.”

Diana seemed to agree, without saying so.

“Power – as Tara knows – flows most often from mother to daughter and from father to son. In many ways she and her woman are just as strong as I ever was,” Diana said. “But even the most powerful practitioner of the arts will be nothing without the teaching to make use of it.”

“So much was lost,” Tara said. So they’d said, so many times. Especially when Willow was looking for a spell to do something that should’ve been easy enough. They just didn’t know how. “Some, maybe, that should’ve been lost. Some things that were just too dangerous. Maybe.”

Diana waved that concern away though. “The world is still here.”

And that was what counted?

Perhaps, from the perspective of someone who had been struggling to prevent its end for so long, yes. That was what she’d been doing, right?

“This is all nice, but you want to get to the part where you pretend to be something you’re not,” Faith demanded. “I need to go and get my sister.”

“Enough,” Diana said, her patience with the accusations seemingly exhausted.

Bad news for her, because Faith and some of the others were not even part done with them, she could see it in their faces.

“No, it’s not nearly enough – we thought we had a goddess on our side,” Faith said to her. “Turns out we’ve got just another nose-twitcher.”

Diana’s confusion was genuine and obvious. “I don’t think she watched TV much,” Xander said.

“The point - ” Giles started.

“The point is that we thought we had a goddess, now we’ve got another witch and we already had two of those. Seems like that’s one witch more than we ever needed.”

Two? Willow was… They really didn’t have two witches. And Diana was much better at it than she was anyway. More powerful. She knew all the old spells. “Not really - ”

“Tara,” Faith said. “So help me, if you stand up for this bitch again, I’ll slap you because it must mean she’s cast a spell on you. You know I will. She lied to you. She lied to us all.”

Anya shook her head. “I think this is where we discuss how ironic this is.” She paused, and when no one said anything decided that explaining was somehow the best option. “Only partly because of who else has lied? Which obviously I shouldn’t be talking about. You don’t have to pull faces at me!”

“Sweetie,” Xander said. “The world’s about to end, we kind of need all our Slayers on board.”

“What? I had to say what we were all thinking. I owed it to Willow. Okay, maybe Tara wasn’t thinking it but Diana’s been lying to me since long before any of you were even born. Even Giles.”

“Oh, thank you. I’m not that old.”

“Enough,” Diana said again, this time leaving them in no doubt that she meant it. Tara glanced out to where Willow was still frolicking with one of the dogs. Neither of them had moved. But somehow Diana was still more… threatening. Empty handed, without the dogs. Without her bow. “If gratitude is not in your hearts then you will at least show respect.”

“Respect!?”

“You already know the means by which victory can be tasted,” Diana said.

“We do?” Xander asked.

“Pretty much all Buffy’s tasted when she’s gone up against Glory is blood,” Anya pointed out helpfully. “It’s in the blood? Is that it? Maybe… Not Buffy.”

All eyes turned to Faith.

“What?” No one said anything though. They didn’t know what to say. “What?”

“Well…”

“She is your blood,” Giles said. “Hope, I mean.”

“And she was made a copy of you,” Anya added. “Someone said that.”
“So… your blood might close the gate or hole thing – I mean the portal or whatever it is that Glory’s trying to open,” Buffy said. “Instead of… Hope’s.”

It all made a horrible kind of sense. Except… “Wait,” Tara said. “Wouldn’t that mean – no, see, because if they were the same they wouldn’t need Hope to be the Key, Faith already would be the Key. It’s like saying that because I have a key to my backdoor it’d start my car – No, it’s really saying that because I have a key for my car it’d start your car.”

Willow would’ve babbled better, but she’d have known more about the science that could lie behind the mysticism too.

“You don’t have a car,” Anya pointed out to her quietly. “But if you want one, I do know - ”

“It’s just an example,” Tara said. “Why would Faith’s blood do the same thing as Hope’s? What would be the point?”

“Because they made them to be the same. Hope’s like Faith’s mini-me. Except, you know, bigger.”

“Hey, my sister’s not bigger than me. Not where it counts, anyway.”

“Actually - ”

“You’re right,” Tara said, cutting Anya off. They had a world to save. If Faith wanted to persist in the delusion that Hope hadn’t quite outgrown her then… fine. “But we’re getting off the point. Why would Faith be the same in key-ness? I’m not sure that’s even a word - ”

“It is now. We know what you mean.”

“Okay, so why would she be the same in key-ness as her sister. That would mean there were two keys? And we know that Glory didn’t see it in her – no one who was – look, Willow didn’t react to her either. See?” Not so long ago Willow had been playing with Faith’s hair – and Faith had let her. In this mood, like the hot stove, Tara had this feeling she was supposed to stop her and say ‘dangerous, honey.’ But while Faith had been in anxious – but better - mood maybe it hadn’t so dangerous as you might believe.

But the point was Willow hadn’t seen in Faith what she obviously did when she looked at Hope. Faith wasn’t ‘shiny’.

“Willow wouldn’t be so calm if Faith was a Key, so that’s not it. Right?” she looked to Diana for confirmation, not really expecting it though. She was rarely so obvious and responsive. But this time… a nod. An actual nod from the – Witch…

A slow nod, one that didn’t give much away other than the truth of what she was saying. If they could believe her. Tara wanted to, and not just because it was her idea.

The logical extension of the idea that Faith and Hope were the same, that one could substitute for the other, was that Faith could be in her sister’s place right now. That was it – even if it was true. That didn’t necessarily mean that the portal – or whatever it was – could be sealed. There was no real eason to believe that even Hope could seal it again.

Sure, they could hope for that, but it wasn’t certain. Kick in a door and you couldn’t use your boot to fix the shattered lock, could you? No. Nothing about Faith being her sister’s… template helping them really made too much sense. At least to her. Maybe Willow would’ve…

And even if it was about blood then how much was enough? A drop? All of it? Draining them? One still had more than the other so… that wasn’t going to balance out.

But if it was about life, about energy or whatever you wanted to call it then… Faith and Hope weren’t the same at all. Faith was the Slayer, so how alike could that make them?

In theory, if they were – otherwise – the same, then what made Faith the Slayer was something mystical, not rooted at all in science and the blood. And that was reasonable, given what they knew. But it could also mean that what made Hope the Key was also entirely mystical. Also not rooted in the blood.

She’d been created after all. And if that was true then Faith’s blood shouldn’t do one, damn thing except be too expensige to waste without knowing, absolutely for certain, that it would accomplish anything.

That couldn’t be what Diana was advocating.

This was an all but immortal witch. Even if she wasn’t a goddess, then she was definitely a power and she was definitely trying to survive. She’d been here, working towards this for a long time… hadn’t she? Gathering what she needed to her… trying to make sure her existence wasn’t cut short by the end of the world.

Because everyone knew how inconvenient that would be.

In the end it was one word that set their minds racing.

One word that changed everything, even if they didn’t know how yet.

“Hades.”

***********************

Kajun · **Posted:** Thu Dec 19, 2013 9:31 pm

Katharyn, Diane makes a compelling argument for letting them believe she is a Goddess. Now that they know she isn’t a Goddess, does this weaken them? I don’t see how, or why, it would. As I said before, they already know her abilities, and assuming she helps, they haven’t lost anything due to this revelation. And, much as I adore Tara, she’s kept quiet about her suspicions for a long while now. I would be more upset with the person I trusted, my friend, for not speaking up sooner than a stranger I had no reason to trust. Gee.. Tara coulda just asked Diana point blank the minute she suspected the woman was actually a witch. But, no harm was done by either person and there’re more important things going on so.. Faith needs to get over it!

It really irritated me that S5 ended, basically, the same as S2. Angel’s blood opened a portal and only his blood/death can/does seal it. In S5, Dawn’s blood opens a portal and Buffy’s blood/death closes it. I’m glad you’re taking an original approach for this story. Let the guessing games begin! Diana and the dogs are actually Cerberus! They were split apart as punishment for peeing on the gate of Hell and in order to be returned to three-headed form, they must capture Glory and send her to Hades. It makes total sense. Diana kinda sounds like Cerberus.. if you say her name while drunk.. or stoned. LOL I got nothin’. LOL

At least Willow is having a good time. But.. I want her back to normal asap!!

Katharyn · **Posted:** Thu Dec 19, 2013 10:09 pm

I will admit, Kajun that these 'transitional parts' (between the material from two versions of the ending) aren't as tight or clear as I would like. In the original version Tara hadn't known until actually BUFFY said she wasn't a goddess. At least not for sure... The reactions to all that are a bit all over the place. But we should be settling into 100% new version very soon.

I can, however, see Faith venting (and for her this is mild) on whatever target was available in her frustration.

I had never considered the S2 ending alongside S5 (or remembered it really... Angel *yawn*) but there are parallels as you say. Actually though, there's a key difference. Buffy could close the portal for Dawn. That's the point I made in this part re Hope (guessing....) Why would anyone else's blood close it? Even Faith/Buffy as the 'template' for Dawn/Hope? Makes no sense at all except as a 'we're-ending-the-season-and-need-something-dramatic-and-you-all-hate-Dawn-so-her-dying-is-no-thing-oh-what-about-Buffy' thing...

MAKES NO SENSE!!

So... this.

Don't get caught up in the 'part of the dogs in Diana and vice versa' thing... That has no wider meaning really... Just sounded cool

Though I like your version!! Shame...

And Willow is having a good time. I've made her child like and - generally - happy because I hate the idea of torturing either of them.

She will be back. And before the end too.

Thanks
Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2013 2:24 am

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Fifty-Nine
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: More on Hades. More on ‘Everyone.’
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: So – as I’ve already said – there were two different versions of this finale. One that resembled canon and one that goes… well, like this. And these chapters are like the transitional bits where I slot the two together. Originally there was much more rushing about, going here, there and everywhere in these parts. It seemed important at the time but actually… no. So what we’re doing here is doing a couple of chapter transitions. Diana suggested Hades at the end of the previous part and I’m going to junk a lot of nice scenes in favour of getting into the reason for it being Hades and getting us to the point where ‘Everyone’ means something. (Can’t leave something as dramatic as that hanging forever!)
Oh, I am now aware of a Canadian show, 'Lost Girl' which features a Succubus as it's main character. Funny how that works, but I had no idea about that at the time I originally introduced Kassia, a Succubus (not unlike the lead in that show in looks) who can also kick a little ass. What can I say? Empowered, beautiful women in charge of their own sexuality? What's not great about that? (Though I've not seen the show yet!)
Thanks to: Those who like the dibsiness, there’s a reference in here for you.

“Yes, she really means everyone,” Giles said, looking over at Tara as she came back into the room. Nature wouldn’t wait, not even in a crisis. Sometimes you just had to go and it had been a long drive.

And when she had to go, she had to take Willow too. Proof that Diana hadn’t conjured up her villa out of nothing. There were modern bathroom fittings.

Oh, and it turned out she actually had a connected phone too – possibly with no clue how to use it. It must’ve come with the place and who knew who was paying the bill but…

It was coming in handy now though, apparently. Giles was making good use of it.

‘Ethan?’ she mouthed, only for Willow to prod the corner of it, push in and then pull at her cheek. Kissing the finger, she gently pulled it away. But Willow wasn’t in the mood to quit.

Giles nodded. “It’s really very simple, I don’t understand what the problem is? ‘Everyone’. She said we’re going to need ‘everyone’ and I think she’s right. Yes, ‘she’ is Tara.”

He listened for a moment, sighed. “No, not him. And not her either. But everyone else. For goodness sake, use a little gumption, man. That’s right. No vampires. You know as well as I do you can’t trust them.”

Then, once again, he was listening and giving her the thumbs up. Ethan was, apparently, making progress. Which was good, it might calm Faith down to know that their army was being built even if not much else had happened so far.

You couldn’t just run into this thing half-cocked. Or full-cocked, probably. No matter how cocked you were, it might well be just as bad.

Then again, looking at Faith, it didn’t look like much was going to calm her down. Army or not. There was her anger over Diana’s deception, which everyone know was really displaced anger over not being able to keep Hope from Glory. But wherever it had come from, that anger was now paired with the fact she just wanted to get after Hope and…

Die.

She’ll die if I let her go now. Alone.

Glory won’t even break a sweat and my friend will be the first victim of the end of the world.

I can’t let Faith go.

Not until we’re ready.

And they were far from ready. Bathroom runs aside, it sounded like Ethan still had work to do. Then they had to find Glory – perhaps not as difficult as you might have thought because the end of the world was going to take some planning too, right? And – and… Well, there was the whole question of just how they were going to win.

Maybe.

Possibly.

Something to do with Hades… They definitely needed to find out more about that. They needed to make it happen. It was the nearest thing to hope that they had.

Buffy and Anya had other concerns as Willow, bored with poking her face went over them instead.

“Hello, mentally ill friend,” Anya said, looking to her for approval.

She gave it with a smile. You had to really, Anya didn’t mean anything by it and it was her tone, rather than the words that mattered. And the tone was kind enough. She just… didn’t want to know better. Plus she was being good with Willow. Displaying a surprisingly nurturing side the real Willow would never have believed in.

They’d talked, once or twice, about the idea of Anya as a mother. And now… she could really imagine it.

“Do you know much about Hades?” Tara asked her.

“Only that I never want to cross that river for real,” Anya said, starting to play Incy Wincy Spider with Willow. Or something like it anyway. With scarier spiders probably, because that was Anya too.

A creature of extremes.

“Well, I’m glad I don’t have to eat my shoe,” Buffy said. “You know, even if Goddess would’ve been really helpful about now, me stopping to eat my shoe just wouldn’t have worked out. I’d have only had one shoe and – I think these are cute.”

“If you were anticipating you might have to,” Anya said speculatively, “you might have wanted to go for real leather.”

“I don’t even want to know why you thought of that.”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I was being unclear. I don’t like your shoes,” Anya said.

“What’s wrong with them?” Buffy asked. “Cute. I just said they were cute. Didn’t you hear the cute?”

“Cute? Really?”

Tara had to agree; whatever you might say about them, ‘cute’ wasn’t really the word. But Buffy resented not being able to wear whatever she liked. Practicalities got in the way.

“Nothing. Very… Slayer chic,” Anya said.

“And what does that mean?” Buffy asked.

“They’re very practical,” Anya said, looking at her for some reason.

“What?”

“Lesbian’s like practical shoes.”

“Sensible shoes,” Tara corrected, willing to indulge in some harmless, verbal distraction.

“Okay, almost the same thing. But yours are cuter than Buffy’s. Real leather too. Edible, if you had to.” Anya seemed to approve.

“There’s nothing wrong with my shoes!” Buffy complained, looking stricken.

“Oh!” Anya said. “I just meant, I’d never wear them. They’re just swell for you – swell, that’s what I mean, right?”

“Something like – why ‘for me’?”

“Well, they don’t make you either more attractive or taller,” Anya explained.

“So Xander won’t like them and feel he has to sleep with me?” Buffy asked, just to clarify.

“Exactly. See, you do understand. Buffy’s much smarter than she looks, isn’t she Willow? Yes, she is!”

Willow didn’t get it, of course, but she looked at Buffy and nodded – just like Anya was trying to get her to. “See, she agrees with me.”

“Are you done?” Faith asked, snapping all of their attention back.

“Umm, yes?”

“Then get back in here. We’ve got more to worry about than who Xander wants to screw and how dykey B’s shoes really are.”

“Dykey?” Buffy mouthed to her. She shook her head. Not dykey at all. And Slayers did need practical shoes. At least if they wanted to be useful. They were a good, safe, choice. And…

Okay, they were kind of dykey. But she’d never tell.

Instead, she trotted after Faith, reassured that Anya – of all people – would bring Willow along.

“Ethan’s pulling everyone together,” she reported. “We just have to be patient a little longer - ”

Maybe that appeal was a little too much. Faith had been on board – maybe just hanging on by her fingernails but technically on board – then telling her to be patient? That may have been a mistake.

Faith wasn’t quite on the warpath. But she was close. “Don’t even, T. Don’t even. I love you, but I’ve been patient, I’ve been and listened to your fake goddess, now -”

“She’s not my goddess.”

“No. She’s not. That’s my point.”

“Wait – you love me?”

“Don’t worry, it’s fading fast,” Faith said but touched her arm; maybe just to show that whatever happened, this wasn’t about them. It was… just the whole world.

“I’m not trying to stop you - ”

“Feels like it,” Faith said.

“I don’t need to,” Tara finished. “I don’t need to stop you because you’re not this stupid. We’re almost ready – Diana has a plan and Ethan has everyone – just - ”

“She’s my sister and I’m going for her.”

“Glory will kill you.”

There. That was it. That was all there was to it. Faith would die and it would solve precisely nothing. Hope would still be in trouble, the world would be on the edge of being swallowed by a collision of realities and everyone in it was in danger of becoming a demonic chew-toy.

Faith dying wouldn’t change any of that one iota – except for making it all the more likely.

“So what am I supposed to do?” Faith asked, finally turning around. “She’s talking about a god – a supposedly real god. But she was supposed to be real too - ”

“You sit your tush down and we decide how we’re going to do this smart.”

They stared at each other for long, long moments. A battle of wills. If she wavered, even for a moment, then Faith would go – whether it was stupid or not.

It was like she was holding her with her eyes and Faith’s flickered first. As she heard Willow became agitated at being left behind with Anya and perhaps by the stress of the moment… She could see Faith wondering if she was going to break to look after her.

No. Baby. Not this time.

The wavering, expecting her to go to Willow proved to be the thing that saw Faith break the contest off first. “Really, T? My tush?”

Tara shrugged. “I’ve not been able to say ‘fanny’ since Giles told me what it meant in England.”

“Why?” Faith asked, in spite of her determination. “What does it mean?”

“Umm, well, the other – something else - I guess.” Almost exactly how he’d put it.

“Oh… Ohh. Yeah – Tara – I have to - ”

“I’m not letting her kill you, I’m not explaining that to Hope. So if you expect me to then… tough do-do.”

“Tough do-do?”

“Yeah. Do-do. Tough do-do.”

Faith stepped up to her, but she didn’t flinch even knowing that – if she wanted to – the Slayer wouldn’t even have to break her stride to put her down so hard she might never get up again under her own power. And somehow, that resilience seemed to be the factor that stopped her.

Physically, Faith could’ve still gone around her, in the other direction or whatever. But no, she’d had to go through her to do this and she wasn’t about to stand for that.

“So there’s really a plan?”

The Slayer stood there, waiting for her answer. The plan.

Right.

That.

It really was the next thing on the list.

---------------------------

The pause hadn’t been Diana’s choice. When you had to go, you had to go. And checking in with Ethan had seemed like a very good idea. Giles had been worried that there was too great a chance he’d have fled town entirely, gambling on them either to stop this happening without him or that being far away would mean he could delay his personal experience of the end of the world for a while. They had no idea how fast – or slow – it would be.

Turned out, he was right here in town anyway.

“Okay, we’re listening,” Faith said. “Hades. Right?”

Diana’s face flickered, annoyed. Clearly annoyed. She’d admitted the grand deception, but ultimately she wasn’t anything less now than she had been when they met her. A very old, very powerful witch with the body of a twenty-five year old Olympic athlete and a thirst for blood.

Oh, and two very big dogs.

Not a match for a Hell God, but maybe closer than any of them and… she knew things. That much was clear. It was what she knew that they needed, even if she didn’t know how to get Willow back.

Stopping the end of the world, that would have to do.

“Hades is the only being in this reality who can stop her, after all this time I’m certain of that.”

“So why do we need everyone?” Faith asked her.

“That was me,” Tara said. “Seemed like – look, we have to get to her, right?”

“Numbers have ever been the key to many a victory,” Diana confirmed. “We shall have need of them.”

So I’m not just putting people in danger unnecessarily. Oh, good.

Unexpectedly, it actually helped. The world was going to end; everyone was going to die anyway. So… putting people in danger didn’t feel so bad. So long as there was a real chance behind it.

A plan.

The ex-goddess (now they had an ex-demon and an ex-goddess) sounded a little more like herself now. It seemed like now she was right back to whatever she had been before. Haughty, aloof and seemingly incapable of understanding their concerns. She was, in her own mind, still Diana.

Who Diana was to them? That was what had changed…

Luckily no one seemed to hold that against her – apart from Faith. ‘Why would we?’ they might have asked. But she was the one who’d brought Diana to them, all those months ago – nearly two years now – and she was the one who’d championed the fact she was what she’d seemed to be.

A goddess.
And now… she was just another witch. Perhaps the most powerful that the world had seen but… just a witch.

“So? Let’s hear it. Now,” Faith demanded.

“You all believe in death. You all fear it,” Diana said after pausing just long enough to make it clear she wasn’t obeying Faith’s demand, just choosing to give them the information at this time.

“We’d be pretty stupid not - ” Xander started, then closed his mouth. Evidently it hadn’t been a question.

“So do you,” Faith accused. “You’d have to after all this time.”

Diana laughed. “In every way that matters but one, I am a goddess. As I was once I am again, beyond the understanding of the masses. Ever living and powerful. Is that not a goddess?”

“But Hades doesn’t recognise you,” Tara concluded. Diana might be right about what made a god or a goddess, but one of the last in this world who had the right to claim the title didn’t admit her to that pantheon.

“Of course,” Giles said. “Though you might’ve adopted the visage and the role of Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt, Hades is well aware that you are no such person. That’s why you didn’t accompany us when we entered the dream, when we entered the realm of the dead?”

“In part. Though the whole says more about me. You are right, I fear his grip on my heart and Hades has been very long time in waiting for me.

“I was there… I knew the ancient Gods. I believed in them. I worshipped them. I knew in my heart that they were real, and I saw their fall. Saw them weakened, saw the belief fail. Saw that you people – we – were leaving them behind.”

“So you became her.”

“I gathered power, hoarded it and… I convinced anyone who had reason to know. Supernatural or human. I was worshipped for a while and then… she came.”

“Glory?”

“Yes. She was here, of course. She’d been the scourge of Olympus for an age. But she had heard about me, thought that perhaps I was what I claimed to be and… we fought. I understood even then that not only could I not defeat her, but also that she wanted exactly what she said. To go home… and that allowing her to do so would destroy this world – destroy it all.

“Since then I’ve shrouded and hidden those who held the Key, lending my power to theirs though they never knew it and regarded my accomplishments as their own.”

“You just hid it – her?” Faith demanded.

“You were right the first time,” Anya pointed out. “It was still an ‘it’ until it became a ‘her’ and – yes – she’s your sister. I know… shut up, Anya.”

“No, I did more than hide it. I could do that from anywhere and yet here I am. But I cannot resolve this. Unless you will allow the Key to be destroyed – outside of the ritual… I know what you will say, but the monks were foolish, they made her something you would care about and now you care too much.” Diana was gently petting Callisto’s head, perhaps revealing that there was something she cared about as well. “I was just as foolish for allowing it.”

“We’re not killing Hope.”

“That’s probably why they called her that,” Anya said. “I know, I know. Shut up.”

“If you will not end her before she uses the Key for it’s sole purpose, then you have only one choice,” Diana said.

“I know, Hades,” Faith said. “Why him?”

“He is the last, truly the last. The rest are concepts or memories by now. Nebulous and indistinct.”

“So why’s he not the same?” Buffy asked. “Why is he not a concept?”

“Aren’t you paying attention?” Anya asked. Tara frowned at her and the girl explained for the benefit of the others. “Gods and goddesses – Real gods and goddesses, I mean - they require belief. So many have come and gone just while I’ve been around and - ”

“But you can’t believe in something that doesn’t, actually exist.”

“Sure you can,” Anya countered. “People do it every day. All sorts of things. I believed that if I could get Xander to hang weights on his - ”

“Honey! We weren’t going to talk about that. Not ever.”

“Doesn’t work,” Anya confided.

“It’s not really the same thing,” Tara said firmly, knocking that diversion on the head. Firmly Or… not so firmly. Whatever the best answer was.

“The gods that hold sway today, they’re not acted in thousands of years, waiting for the prayers of the mortal world will not avail us. They’ve forgotten the names of the old ones.”

“But we need a god?” Buffy asked.

“We thought we had one,” Giles added under his breath.

“My deception was necessary,” Diana said, leaving it at that.

“Face a god, need a god,” Tara mused, stroking Willow’s hair while she played with her plastic horse. She’d been really good since arriving here. “We proved that.”

“Me and B proved that,” Faith reminded her. It wasn’t really an accusation as much as a recognition that they hadn’t achieved much in terms of stopping Glory.

They just slowed her down for a while.

Mussed her hair.

“I was there, remember?”

“Yeah, I guess. But… much as I hate to admit it, wailing on Glory isn’t really a plan. Knives, sharp sticks, sonic-electronic ball breakers… none of that’s going to work.”

“What?”

“Oh come on, really?”

“I don’t get it,” Tara admitted. Neither did anyone else.

“You’re all phil – phil – You’re all that guy called Phil.”

“Philistines?” Giles supplied.

“Yeah, that. So… we need a God and Hades is the only one we can get?” Faith asked.

“No matter what they believe almost everyone understands that there must be something beyond the life that they live now. In this much – no matter the name you give it – in essence they believe in the realm of Hades.”

Xander shook his head. “You mean heaven? Hell?”

“For some. For others the perpetual nothingness that implies their own awareness will persist simply so they can experience it.”

Tara considered that and saw what Diana was saying. “We – people I mean – I guess we find it difficult to imagine the total absence of… anything. We even turn what we think is ‘nothing’ into ‘something’ as if we can sense it. And that gives him power.”

Diana nodded. “Of course.

“Even those who follow the credo of your sci-ence believe, in their hearts, that they might experience the culmination of their belief, prove it in death. In this, they hand themselves to Hades because he is everything that is beyond life except its true absence.”

“They believe and it makes it so.”

They’d had this conversation before, in other ways and contexts. Willow thought it was all very scientific. That there was no contradiction between the world of science and the world of the supernatural. She’d just hoped Steven Hawking would get around to unifying his theories of the universe so he could get around to applying his mind to that point. Quantum physics, that was what Willow talked about… But that didn’t matter for this though.

Except how much I want to hear her explain it to me again, instead of playing with her duck…

“So he has billions of believers.”

“More people walk the streets of some of your cities than inhabited the whole world when the Greek Gods were first given their names.”

Put like that, it was a lot of belief. Surely… If Diana was right and if belief made a God stronger… Hades might easily be the most powerful of the Gods, and gaining in that each and every day as the number of people in the world grew… It didn’t matter what anyone believed, their religion. They were exposed to an aspect of death, what came after. If that was heaven or hell, purgatory or Elysium, reincarnation or… whatever… it really didn’t matter.

Not to the concept – the God – they were calling Hades. Believe that he was called Hades and he was called Hades…Any other name would do, as long as you didn’t believe in the complete absence of anything after death. Even the absence of ‘nothing.’ Willow would’ve been in her element thinking about all this and that was something else that she had to make sure happened.

Having Hades help them – even if that could be done – was something that couldn’t just kill or drive off Glory.

She needed Willow restored to her first. She couldn’t see beyond the fact that if Glory had taken something from Willow, Glory had to be the one to give it back. Or have it taken from her. Sure, it might happen that getting rid of the Hell God could restore her in a blinding flash of TV show endings but… This being Sunnydale didn’t give her any clue.

Leaning in, she nuzzled against Willow, pleased to feel her girl react. “I’ll never stop trying to bring you back, baby. But I’ll never leave you either.”

She paused, realising that she must’ve whispered loudly enough – during a lull in the conversation – for everyone to hear her.

“We’re getting her back, Tara,” Buffy said. “It doesn’t matter if Diana can help you – Before we pound that bitch with the great taste in shoes into the ground. Dibs, by the way.”

“Dibs?”

“On the shoes.” For some reason Buffy was glaring at Faith, challenging her to oppose her dibbsiness. Was this the biggest thing they had to think about? Not really. And hey, she didn’t think she or Willow would like a nice pair of heels?

“You’re kidding? Me in red shoes?” Faith asked. “I don’t do red.”

“Your underwe - ” Xander started and then lapsed. “Where – this is where we don’t say anything. Never mind. Not that I – you know – not the time that we – I – no. After, I’ve only noticed after, not that I was looking what was riding up your – nothing.”

“If we can leave Faith’s choice of lingerie behind - ”

“I see what you did there!” Xander said, under the pressure of Anya’s glare. “Behind! Except – you didn’t. You really, really didn’t.”

“You’re a strange, little man,” Diana said, looking at him curiously.

“So say we all,” Giles confirmed. “If we can get back to the original topic, are we agreed that Hades represents an option we should pursue?”

“For the minutes?” Buffy wondered.

“Yes… actually.”

“No,” Tara said. “We’re not.” Everyone, including Diana, seemed surprised to hear her disagree. “I mean – we don’t know how we’re supposed to do that yet. It could be more dangerous than facing Glory.”

“Yeah,” Buffy said, turning on Diana. “Tara’s right.”

“Another God on the loose, though – I heard that Hades was good looking,” Anya said.

“And this matters because?” her boyfriend asked.

“You were talking about Faith’s underwear,” Anya reminded him.

“I’m right here,” Faith replied. “Just – how do we get Hades? What do we have to do?”

***************************

Kajun · **Posted:** Fri Dec 20, 2013 11:58 pm

Katharyn, If Hades never interferes in immortal lives how will they get him to fight Glory? Knowing that Glory has the key and will upset the balance of the world, actually destroying it, should be enough to convince him. Plus.. it would suck, for the dude in charge, to suddenly be swamped with a massive stream of dead people and demons clogging up the tunnels and doorways trying to get into the Afterlife World. He’d probably want to avoid all the inevitable chaos resulting from Glory successfully using the key.

I have a feeling Faith may be the key after all, as in the key to get Hades to help. Since he likes her, :grin

and she’s a Slayer, which gives her a smidgen of God-like cred, she would be my pick. But, Tara should go with her just to keep Faith from threatening him and getting herself killed. The Dark Slayer won’t take it well if he doesn’t immediately agree.

Or.. they could just use Diana’s phone and call him. LOL Seriously, the only people on the planet without cells are the Scoobies! I’m sure Tara can find a way to defeat Glory with or without his help. But.. she will need Willow back. That will give a huge boost to Tara’s magical powers and confidence. The latter is especially essential right now.

Katharyn · **Posted:** Sat Dec 21, 2013 12:51 am

Kajun - Who says Hades will fight Glory? Don't think I ever did

Yet...

We've not reached it yet, but Glory won't just be affecting this world. She'll be affecting this reality/dimension/universe - whatever you want to call it... Make of that what you like!

Saying that Hades like Faith is a bit of a no brainer. One of those pointless statements, really

I thought every hetero male liked Faith? LOL. And not a few not-entirely-straight women too

Hades has met plenty of Slayers though, over the years... Think about it.

There's a little more going on - which is why I need to take my time getting to the actual fight. So later, when you know what was going on you can go 'Ohhh, that was what it was'

It is true, the scoobies are short on cell phones. Like I said, it was because - in those days - no one knew how to write stories that dealt with the fact anyone could contact anyone at any time. That said, back in 2000 (or whenever this was) I went to the US and there were surprisingly few cell phones around. Europe had far more back then, certainly for college kids. So I don't think it's entirely unrealistic.

Maybe I should write a parody. BTVS with cell phones. LOL

You can bet that Tara will find a way, I'm writing her after all. But it's not going to be all about her...

Thanks!

Katharyn

loislane1 · **Posted:** Sat Dec 21, 2013 2:26 pm

Kathryn,
First - in chapter 158 thank you for addressing the plot hole that has always bugged me. That whole, "we're the same blood so my blood can close the portal" thing never really sat well with me. I'm glad you nixed that as a possibility and are moving in a different direction with this story. Aside from that they don't have the same exact blood if they had the same exact blood that would imply they have the same exact genome which would make them genetically identical which would make them twins or make Hope Faith's clone not her sister. I am very intrigued with the the reveal of Diana as a witch, albeit a powerful one, not a goddess. Her power can still be very useful in the fight but won't bring a win. I'm curious as to how they will reach out and try to get Hades to help. If he does decide to join in the battle with Glory that is setting up one hell of a high budget action movie scene ala Pacific Rim/Godzilla level destruction and power.

I am curious to see if Tara get's Willow's mind back in one piece in a similar manner to Cannon. It is usually implied that what Willow did was edging into the dark magics so I look forward to seeing how you balance Tara's inherently good moral and magical compass with what she might have to do to put Willow to rights again.

Another great update. I look forward to seeing the next piece. Happy Solstice to you!
-H

Katharyn · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2013 8:46 am

Loislane1 - That plot hole has long bugged me too, along with a whole lot of other things about the 'blood' question... Hence the need for a 'ritual' (despite some opinions that you can't have a 'ritual' for something that has never happened or needed to be experimented with before) and the fact that a simple drop of Hope's blood has a very different effect to, well, all of it. As for Faith's blood? I am sitting here wondering (my imperfect memory) what I did towards the end of the canon paralleling scenes about that.

I'm pretty sure I didn't do a Buffy though!

Diana became 'not a goddess' very early in the development of this story (though when I starting writing her she absolutely was) However she didn't become a witch until much, much later. It just seemed like - after all the comments about everything that had been lost in the purges and witchtrails and stuff - that maybe I could go somewhere with that. In hindsight 'everything that was lost' was great set up for Diana but - actually - it was the other way around. Weird how that happens sometimes.

I do have to be careful though for some of the reasons you're - kind of - alluding to. We already know she's lost against Glory before. I can't make her into a Glory Killer now. No, that needs to go somewhere else

As for your Hades speculation? I hope you will be pleased with how that is handled... because it's not what you're suggesting. He has a part to play but... Tokyo is safe for now

Willow's mind? Well, the tool will be shown in the next chapter to be posted even if it doesn't get to be used for a while after that. Once the fight does start, it will - you know - go on a bit. It has to, to justify all the time building up to it!

One more part before Xmas but then because I - and you all - should be with friends and families for the holidays I won't post another until after Xmas day.

Thanks
Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Mon Dec 23, 2013 9:01 am

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Sixty
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: ‘Everyone’ finally comes together. Umm, let me rephrase that… ‘Everyone’ is in the same place at the same time.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: So the writing process had me making notes for myself about the gaps in what I’d already done. And sometimes the solutions are the very simplest things. The power of redrafting is that you can retrospectively change entire threads, insert them and make things just go away. Change the meaning. Structurally though this was a part that hasn’t actually changed a lot. A paragraph here and there, mostly a few words added or taken from a sentence. And suddenly it just… hangs together. Or at least it does for me.
Thanks to: All those who sit there in silence. I mean, someone is pushing the page view numbers up (right?). It can’t all just be Google. I’m glad to ‘know’ you’re there too. You and Google. LOL.

There was a saying about enquiring minds. How they wanted to know.

Enquiring minds definitely wanted to know now…

What had Diana said to Faith back at the house? Not much that had been obvious. It wasn’t like they’d been holed up having a long conversation. But…

Something else had happened.

For a girl who’d taken a witch induced nap not too long ago – nothing to do with her but it looked like a neat trick Diana could teach her - Faith was now super-super-active.

And… not very talkative.

More than one of them had tried asking what had happened back at the villa and Faith just wasn’t saying. Not that she was the world’s great conversationalists at the best of times, but not because you couldn’t get her to talk. More because you couldn’t get her to take part in an actual back and forth that didn’t end in insults or sarcasm.

Or often an anecdote that might make you uncomfortable. Still, Faith was her friend and she was well used to it. Unlike Buffy, Hope or Willow, Faith could make a silence last a very long time.

She’d appreciated it, actually. It wasn’t like they’d ‘hung out’ as other best friends did, like Willow and Buffy did. Not often. But… they could easy and largely silent in each other’s company. Had been. She’d liked that. Sometimes.

This was different. Something was definitely different.

And the Slayer wasn’t talking about it.

Could she?

There were spells that would put a compulsion on her, prevent her from talking… Some of them could be convoluted and restrictive only to certain subjects. Diana was almost certainly capable of it.

Could that be it?

Or did Faith just not want to say?

She was currently bouncing off a training dummy in the back room at the Magic box and… well, the dummy was coming off a lot worse and had put up with a lot already.

Even after all the abuse it had suffered at the hands of Faith and Buffy over the last few months, this time it wasn’t going to live to fight – or get pounded on – another day. There was extensive, new damage. Tears in the fabric. There was sand pouring out of numerous holes and the chain was making an ominous creaking sound while occasionally plaster was coming down from the ceiling above.

Yeah… it was a dead dummy. It just hadn’t had the sense to fall down yet.

“Considering we have a plan now – I think we have a plan now, right?” Anya started, sat beside her watching the same sight.

“Apparently we d-do have a plan,” Tara agreed. She just wasn’t clear about every little part of it even though – to everyone else – it was her plan. Like details like, precisely, what Hades involvement was in all of this were still a mystery to her. Faith was convinced though. Diana too. There was just something… off.

“Well, in that case, I’d have thought she’d have been happier. I don’t think she’s very happy,” Anya said to her, watching the Slayer as she pounded, kicked, shoved and gouged the suspended training dummy. Anya was seeing as a curiousity, not really worried. Just… wondering why.

“It’s probably the waiting,” Anya continued. “She doesn’t do waiting very well, I’ve noticed that. She wants to be out there saving her sister.”

“We all do,” Tara replied. They were both whispering. Willow was taking a snooze, laid across her lap. Exhausted by the drive, the frolicking with the dogs and everything else, she’d finally given up to sleep. As far as Tara knew it was the first time she’d actually slept for a while and so she hardly dared move now.

There was no telling when the next opportunity might be. Maybe this was it… When they were playing for all the marbles, as Giles put it.

“Do we?” Anya asked.

“Don’t you?” Tara looked at her friend, wondering what would make her question it. Which doubt was it?

She’d had them all and dismissed them. But she couldn’t expect everyone else to think the same way. So which was it?

Saying Anya truly loved anyone but herself was a little bit doubtful, probably because the girl couldn’t – quite – admit it. Not even to herself. But she’d certainly become as fond of Hope as any of them. Maybe nearly as fond as she was of Xander.

Maybe. In a different way.

Maybe demonic immortality had given her perspectives that were perhaps closer to Diana than those of the classmates who believed she’d transferred into Sunnydale High a couple of years ago.

Or even any of her friends who knew better now.

“I’m sorry, Tara, but - killing her outside of the ritual would’ve made more sense,” Anya replied. Tara was about to object. “I know we can’t, but – to save the world? What Buffy should do is go in there and snap her pretty little neck. That’s just the right thing to do.”

Ah. That doubt.

The Knights plan. While there had still been some knights.

Yes, she’d been through thinking about that one.

“Why didn’t you say something earlier?” Tara wondered.

Because… She knew Anya was actually right. They couldn’t do it. They wouldn’t do it. But – there was a perspective, a real, valid perspective from which they probably should do it.

Or someone should anyway.

Because none of them could.

If Hope had been a Summers or a Maclay, instead of a Lehane, Faith probably would’ve been the only one of them who could cold bloodedly have fought her way in there and killed whoever that girl would’ve been.

That was what she did. It was her strength, the thing that – arguably – made her a better Slayer than Buffy. At least from the Council’s perspective – had she been more biddable.

Faith could do the practical things that saved the world, no matter what anyone else thought.

But the monks had made Hope human so they’d protect her. Made her a Lehane, made her Faith’s sister. The one person she’d always cared about. Those holy men might’ve screwed up in all sorts of ways, but that choice was the only one that saw there still be a Hope.

Faith would’ve already gone dealt with anyone else’s sister. No question. There was probably no other way this could’ve played out as it had.

Because now… Now they couldn’t do the ‘right’ thing that was wrong because they loved her and wanted to protect her. So they had to do the ‘wrong’ thing that was right, instead.

“I couldn’t say so before. Because everyone would look at me – like they do and they might hate me. Oh, and I like the little girl too.”

“How about Buffy’s not an assassin?” Tara wondered. It’d been the big flaw in the ‘plan’. Buffy just wasn’t up to it. Not even to save the world. Not like Faith would’ve been.

And that was okay, because that was exactly what made Buffy who she was.

“And that. What do you think would’ve happened if the men who don’t have sex had chosen Buffy?” Anya wondered. “If Hope had been her sister instead? Would Faith have - ”

Tara looked down at her friend’s barely controlled fury as she beat the ever-living do-do out of the training dummy. “In a heartbeat.”

She’d have done it because she’d have been the only one who was able to.

She’d have done it because the rest of us couldn’t.

She’d have done it because – she’d have said – she didn’t care whether we hated her for doing what we couldn’t.

And now, now we don’t have that option. Because she’d kill any of us for even trying it.

Even me.

Not that it had ever been an option. Buffy wouldn’t do it, even if any of them had wanted her to.

And they didn’t. This was Sunnydale. Things went wrong and then they went right here. By fighting it.

She needed to believe that.

“Do you think Xander really likes Faith?” Anya asked suddenly, it had the feeling of something she’d been building up to for a while, blurted out. Like a question that Anya needed answering before…

Bad things might happen to them all.

There was a little of that going around.

“What?”

“Does he like her?”

Tara shook her head. “You don’t have to worry about him, Anya.”

“But I do, that’s what I do. I worry about him. He’s like a helpless little bird… a big, helpless little bird. And when I say big? I just mean physically, he’s not overly endowed - ”

“Sweetie,” Tara said, “That’s more detail than I ever wanted.” Willow shifted in her lap and Tara smoothed her hair back from her face before dabbing at a little drool. Funny, she did that even when Willow was… herself. Looking at her now, you might almost believe she was… her normal self. Just tired.

And as she dabbed, Willow made a little noise. So familiar.

“I didn’t want you to have the wrong idea.”

“I don’t need any idea about that,” Tara promised.

“That’s why I like you, Tara, you’re a real lesbian.” Anya beamed at her and kissed her on the cheek. It was – she realised – amongst the greatest compliments Anya knew how to pay.

Smiling, they watched Faith for a few more minutes. “You know she’s going to get killed,” Anya said.

“No. No one’s dying,” she said.

“She - ” Anya started, stopped and then thought about it. “I don’t want her to.”

“Good.”

“But - ”

“The plan will work,” Tara promised her.

“How do you know?” Anya asked, more confused than doubting it. “I mean – we don’t know what happened, when Faith was in the dream. She won’t tell us – so how can we know it’ll work?

She looked down at Faith one more time and then at Willow. “Because she won’t let it go any other way. You’re wrong, Anya. She’s not going to get herself killed. Faith – she doesn’t do noble sacrifice. Not ever. She’ll fight and she’ll survive and… if we’re going to survive then the plan has to work.”

“So… What it all boils down to is that we – really we just have faith? In – well, Faith?”

“That’s right.”

“And we have hope for Hope?”

She just looked at Anya. “That’s right.”

“Okay.”

Giles came into the backroom then, conspicuously avoiding the practice floor and Faith who’d launched into a series of athletic – gymnastic – whirls that saw her bare foot connect with target after target that was intended to be punched before her strapped fist crashed into the main punch-bag again. Bursting another seam.

“I - ”

Tara stopped him, pointing at the sleeping girl in her lap, now sucking her thumb. It’d be cute as it always had been if it wasn’t so terrible.

He hushed his voice. “Sorry. I think – Ethan and I have come to an understanding about how we can attract Hades… ah, attention.”

“Really?” Tara was surprised. She’d thought that they already had Hades attention. That was what Faith’s sleep had been for. The dream that Diana had induced.

Certainly Faith believed… something. And she was the least likely person Tara knew to take to flights of fancy. The practicality had long since bludgeoned the fanciful to death.

Kind of like the punch bag. Faith had stopped dreaming a long time ago. Before she’d even been a Slayer.

“Certainly,” Giles’ voice rose and then he realised. “Diana helped, but she seems curiously reluctant, considering this was her idea.”

“She’s been masquerading as a God for centuries, longer perhaps,” Anya said. “There isn’t any version of this that’s going to go well for her. I mean, you must have noticed that she sent Faith instead of going herself? Again.”

Tara nodded. Of course she hadn’t missed that, but it was a risk that she was willing to take. She didn’t wish Diana ill and she loved those big dogs of hers, but… given a choice between Diana – who’d lied to them all – and the rest of the world? A choice between Diana and Hope even? That was something very different.

Diana came in second both times.

----------------------------

“I’m not surprised you couldn’t sleep,” Tara said when Faith eventually stopped. She picked her way around the pile of sand and tattered remnants of the bag.

“Is that what I was supposed to be doing?” Faith was rubbing herself with the towel even though she didn’t look like she needed it. No surprise there, it took a lot to make a Slayer sweat even though anyone else would’ve been pouring with it at even half that intensity.

Maybe Faith should’ve been saving her strength, but who was going to tell her that? This was what she needed and her special heritage seemed to mean that she was never – really – lacking for the strength fight.

She’d never seen either of the Slayers run out of energy, even if they were fought to a standstill by Glory.

“I guess.”

“So you weren’t on a fishing trip?” Faith asked.

“Huh?”

“About the last time I slept?” Ah, the dream Diana had put her into.

“Oh.” Actually, no.

She hadn’t been fishing. Not right then.

But if Faith wanted to talk, Willow wasn’t going to give away her secrets. Whatever they were. “It’s good, isn’t it? Can you tell me that much? Just that it’s good?”

Eventually she’d have to be able to tell the others and… she very much wanted to be able to tell them something good.

“I…” It didn’t feel like Faith was keeping a secret. It felt… It really seemed like she couldn’t actually come out with the words. More and more like Diana had put a compulsion on her.

Or maybe it hadn’t been Diana.

What? What are you about to say? What are you holding back?

There was something, there was certainly something.

“I – have to get her back,” Faith said. She looked down at Willow and then reached out, stroked her face for a moment. More tenderness than she’d ever shown for her.

“I get it, you know? I get this. I really do. You and Willow.”

“What about you and Paige?” Tara asked.

Faith’s sudden surprise seemed like a flush of self-awareness. “Paige? I guess... But Hope’s all the matters to me, Tara. If I could save her and the whole world went to hell – which is sounding like the way things will be – then I would. And you guys, I mean… you and Red. If you could all… I’d do anything, T.”

“I know.”

“I… I want you to remember that.”

And what did that mean?

And why does it worry me so much?

-------------------------------

“When I said ‘everyone’,” Tara said, still pondering what Faith had - and hadn't - said to her just a few minutes earlier, “is this really what I meant?”

Giles looked at the packed store.

These weren’t customers and Anya was defending the register with a brook and a mean look. But there was barely with room to breathe and certainly no space to form a nice circle.

They were going to have to do that somewhere else. In fact, what she had planned was a circle that certainly wasn't going to be nice. Or neat. Or, from any one person's point of view, much of a circle at all.

Just a slightly bent line.

She knew it was tough to imagine the circle when you could only see a couple of the other members. So she’d been thinking about it and…

Yeah, she was going to have to talk to them about that. It was going to be a little bit outside of everyone’s comfort zone. All of the Wicca Group’s anyway.

Giles nodded. Approving, apparently. "Ethan seems to have done a good job. It does appear to closely resemble what you asked for. This is - after all – ‘everyone’. I'll admit though, your Wicca Groups seems to have grown, somewhat…”

"I think you're right. Willow and I haven't been for a while, what with one thing and another," Tara explained. "I don’t even recognise half these people. But they're really not what I meant. Or who, I guess.” No need to be rude about it.

“Oh… them. No. I mean, not yet anyway. I suppose you thought they’d come in useful later?”

While the place was packed, there were just a few ‘people’ in the room that were provoking very different reactions.

In one corner was Olaf. He seemed very… enthusiastic about the fact he was in a room full of – mostly - young women. Unfortunately most of the women in question weren’t as enthusiastic about his attentions. Since Faith might – or might not – have ‘dated’ him at least briefly, you couldn’t say that he didn’t have any attractions but she really didn’t see them.

And that wasn't trollism. No, that was just plain old, regular lesbianism.

Let the straight girls make their own choices.

But then, in the opposite corner of the room, was Kassia.

The Succubus seemed to be having the very opposite effect. Lots of girls who she’d never assumed to be attracted to their own gender – and nearly all of the much lesser number of guys - were doing their very best to flirt and attract her attention. Meanwhile, Kassia seemed determined to keep herself away from them.

Downside of being what she was, Tara supposed. Never getting away from the effect that you had on other people. There were negatives to anything, of course.

Well, nearly anything.

Then – between the two - there seemed to be a few… nuns? Sister Charity had shown some real moxie when it came to fighting off vampires, but Ethan had thought that was worth bringing over into this fight? Had she meant them in ‘everyone’? Not actually, no.

And were the other sisters as good as Charity with wooden knitting needles? Not that they were fighting vampires this time. Needles might not – ah – cut it.

“Isn’t that your friend, Annie?” Giles asked. “With the big, wide eyes?”

Tara nodded. It was something she'd wondered about at the time she’d made the call and was now moving into worry. But... Everyone else was needed in the fight. Any one person could make the difference. “I… asked her. I needed her – I needed someone who could look after Willow if I had to be somewhere else – someone who’d only think about her if I asked her to.”

“And you thought now was the time to introduce her to the way the world really is?” he wondered. "I'm not doubting you, Tara, you know that. I’m sure she’s a good friend to you both. But... some people might suppose they'd rather be blissfully ignorant about such things, let alone when the world could end a few blocks away?"

“Well,” Tara hesitated, unsure of her answer. No, obviously. But… “She’s lived in Sunnydale a while and she’s had her eyes open, like everyone else. Plus she was living next door to me and Willow and...” That wasn't all about overhearing who your neighbour was sleeping with.

Enthusiastically, some times.

And to be fair, Annie had occasionally been just as… enthusiastic.

“And she’s not under the collective delusion?”

Tara looked at her friend, already being so good with Willow. Honestly, she didn’t care whether Annie was under a delusion or not. Willow needed someone to be doing nothing else but watching out for her. And right now, I hate it, but I can’t be that person. I want to be, but everyone else needs me for this.

I have no idea how it will go so…

There was no doubt that Willow was coming with them when they made their move, she had to be able to protect her and it was surely the only chance to restore her that they’d have.

She had to put Willow and Glory in the same space to even have a chance.

Despite what she'd originally said in front of everyone, Diana had since said there was a chance - just a chance - that a spell might work... The previous negative answer had been because Diana herself couldn’t have helped her – wouldn’t take that risk.

A spell. Just a spell. She could do spells… Even if there was no chance to practice and no margin for error.

And deadly dangerous…

I can do this spell.

It was dangerous enough and then... Diana had touched her forehead and all of that worry had fled and... Somehow she knew, when it came time, she'd know what to do.

If there was an opportunity. A one in a million chance, perhaps to get that. But this was Sunnydale. Those odds, they came up more often than you’d have thought.

But they had to win first... but not just win. They had to win in just the right way.

And they still didn't know if they had any chance to win in any way.

So Willow had to come with them. There was no choice.

But keeping an eye on her every minute? Everyone else would need her too – just as she’d need them – and she didn’t want anyone else hurt because she took a moment to pay attention to her girlfriend’s distress when it might not even be anything truly serious. Willow was… reacting to anything and everything. Getting more and more agitated when she was worked up, especially if she was told she couldn’t do something.

The highs were higher and the lows were… cavernous.

Ethan even thought that it was connected to the opening of the doorway. In the same way as those touched by Glory were aware of the nature of the Key – Hope – they might also be responding to something about the timing of the end of the world as well.

Or maybe Willow was just upset today. That could be happening too. Even after this brief time, she’d seen so many sides to this Willow.

Right now though? Right now Annie was watching her, trying not to react badly to the concrete evidence of a world she’d never known that was all around her. And she’d brought Miss Kitty in a box. A box Anya had insisted they should keep her in. For Miss Kitty’s own good.

Trolls, apparently, were partial to familiars and failing that just a cat would be a tasty snack for Olaf. And she had seen him looking at the box…

No one was eating her cat.

Willow – her Willow - would’ve made a joke out of that - and so… in the box Miss Kitty stayed. Giving Willow something contained to focus on too. The patience of their feline friend with the finger that kept poking at the box – there was probably a joke there too – was appreciated as well.

Perhaps some nip for Miss Kitty, if they survived all this. If there was still nip in the world.

If there was still a world. Which was what they were fighting for.

Trolls and succubi and nuns. Oh my.

“Not anymore,” Tara said. Annie wasn’t under the collective delusion. She couldn’t be. Not faced with all this.

“I think this may be as many as we can expect, certainly I can’t think anyone is missing,” Giles said.

“Okay… so who’s going to speak?” she asked and found nearly everyone looking at her. “Oh, no. That’s not a good idea. Really – it’s n-not.”

“Oh, Tara. You should know by now. It comes with the responsibility of being our fearless leader,” Buffy pointed out.

“I’m not fearless. I have lots of fear. Really, I do.”

“But you are our leader – in this at least,” Giles said.

She looked at him, hoping he’d relent and take on that mantle himself. That no one had suggested Faith was kind of telling, but even if they’d come around to trust in her qualities rather than to fear her problems, they all knew her focus was off because of Hope.

Besides, Faith had never been one for inspiring speeches beyond ‘let’s effing kill it’. Nor for providing clear mission parameters and directions. Which would probably boil down to the same instruction anyway. The Scoobies might’ve got by on that, but not the rest. They needed things spelling out for them.

“Thanks…” she said dubiously. It was an honour she could really do without.

“It’s certainly my pleasure,” he said. “In fact I find I rather like this role of just listening. As opposed to simply Watching.” He seemed pleased with his own joke.

“You’ll say something,” Buffy pointed out to him. “You won’t be able to help yourself, just wait.”

“Quite possibly, but I don’t have to,” he said. “That’s the difference.”

“Willow – No, honey, don’t shake the box,” Tara said. Even in her worry about what to say, she was pleased that Annie helped quiet her girl down again. Miss Kitty wouldn’t thank her for it though.

Would the rest of them, for what she was about to have to say?

What she was about to lead them into? What she was about to take responsibility for… So, what did she need? Clarity, for sure. Direction. Everyone needed to know what they were doing.

Inspiration.

Here goes then…

“Okay… Um - uh – hi, ev-everyone?”

The noise continued, low-grade chatter amongst a lot of people and one voice that definitely booming more than the others. “Olaf – please – could you all settle down - ”

The piercing whistle was from Faith, of course. “Hey! All of you! Shut the fuck up! Umm, sorry sisters. But Tara’s trying to tell you how this is going to going down. Right, T?”

And yes, she had their attention now. Lots more eyes on her than there’d ever been, actually. Even in school plays, she’d always been like ‘third tomato’ or ‘second cloud’. No one paid attention to third tomato or second cloud. No one except Mom and Dad, who’d been proud of her anyway and always imagined she could’ve been the star, if only she’d put herself forward a little more.

After all, they’d sent her to school pretending to be something other than what she’d believed she was. Sent her to school hiding what it was to be a Maclay woman from everyone else.

But now… here she was, centre stage, and neither of them was here to see it.

And she had lines this time. Ones that she had to come up with. Now. So… this was actually more like improvisation.

“Uh – hi – everyone, I – I wasn’t ready to give a speech, really. I hadn’t thought of what – Look, I think we all know why we’re here. Ethan’s told you that much – and thanks, by the way for him bringing you all together but –

“Well, the world – well, basically the world’s going to end unless we do something. The thing is – well, there’s no one else. No one else knows and no one else can do anything anyway.”

“Question?” One of the Wicca Group had her hand up.

“Umm, sure, Debbie?”

“This is a god? A real one?” After Diana had been revealed as being no such thing – to some of them at least. Word had gotten out from someone.

“Uhuh – Glory is – well, she’s a Hell God.”

“And we can beat her?” Emphasis exactly where you thought it would be.

“You better believe it,” Faith growled. “We’re going to beat her into the ground and stamp on her bones.”

“That’s a really good point that Faith raises. It really is - look, it’s not just good – it’s the most important point. Belief is very important. Being a Hell God, Glory doesn’t need believers in this world, not like the old gods – our gods - did. And she’s… we know she’s very, very tough. Some of you will have heard what happened before - So we really do need to believe that we can beat her. Even if you don’t think we will - I can’t stop you doubting - you have to believe that we can.

“That’s very important. If we lose – and we might – it won’t be because we couldn’t win.”

As inspirational speeches went, admitting they could all die along with everyone they knew and loved? Not a great start and she really had no idea why she was putting so much emphasis on this but… it felt right.

“Even more important,” Faith interjected, “is that she needs to believe she can lose.”

Tara tried not to hide her surprise. It was just a strange thing for Faith to say. Yes, morale – or the lack of it – was going to be important. Daddy had always told her about that sort of thing, back from his days in the Marines, but Faith? About Glory? It was just… strange.

Or did she know something?

Had she been told something? By Diana? Or Hades? There was that induced sleep and ever since then she’d been acting… weird.

Somehow though, it seemed to reassure the assembled throng. Faith definitely had more authority – right or wrong – even with people who didn’t know her. You couldn’t doubt her, not when she was talking about doing violent things.

“My hammer will go a long way to convincing her,” Olaf said.

“It’s um – it’s a mighty weapon,” Tara said, looking for something to say.

“Yes. It is.”

Suddenly she had the impression that – particularly in a room largely filled with young women he’d been trying to chat up – he might have been talking about something other than his chosen weapon.

Oh.

And look. There were nuns who didn’t look like they’d exactly missed it either.

Oh.

“Still, moving on,” she said. “There are roles for everyone and the threat isn’t just Glory. In fact, she isn’t even what will destroy the – I still can’t believe I’m saying this – she’s not what will destroy the world. Not directly. The problem isn’t so much her, it’s what she’ll put into motion, the replacement of our reality with the place she’s from.”

“We think that the whole world,” Buffy clarified. “Just to be clear. Gone. Piece by piece or all at once – we’re not sure. But eventually replaced with a Hell dimension which is probably just as bad as it sounds. That’s how she’s getting home – she’s bringing home here.”

She nodded, appreciating the interruption and clarification. Buffy had more experience with this sort of thing and she had a natural sort of leadership going for her. People listened when she said things like that just like they did to Faith when it came to committing violence.

Also, everyone who speaks up makes it more obvious that… Well, it’s not just me and my delusions.

“We have three or four objectives,” she said; ready to count them off on her fingers. Being uncertain about the number, probably not the best way to inspire either. “But they’ll depend on what’s happening and how far things have got so these aren’t in any real order.”

“Yes,” Faith said. “Actually, they are. Number one is we’re getting my sister back.”

“Umm, yeah – We need to get Faith’s sister, Hope. If you’ve never met Hope, she’s – she’s lovely and kind of looks a bit like Faith but Glory has her and it’s her blood that’s going to be used to open the portal. We need to get her back, certainly – but the portal could already be open - ”

“Number two,” Faith said, unapologetic for the second interruption. “Is that bitch is going down. And I’m not talking about going down like you lip-lickers. I want her dead for what she’s done to Hope, Willow and Tara.”

Okay, now that one wasn’t really helping. It smacked more of revenge than anything else and that wasn’t going to be a stable platform for… well, anything. Plus, hello, what about a little sensitivity. There were – it was true – a disproportionare number of queer women in the room. And they didn’t all know Faith.

Also, what about Paige? When it came to - umm – lip-licking, Faith was probably… well, Faith wasn’t a stranger.

Right?

Not that she wanted to speculate what Faith and Paige got up to. But did she need to explain that comment away?

No… not the important thing.

“It seems likely, I guess, that to do the first thing – and the others – we will have to take her – umm – down. Third - ” She hesitated, waiting for Faith to butt in again but instead she was waved on.

“Third, if the portal is already open then it needs to be closed. If we don’t do that, nothing else matters because it will all be over.”

“How do we do that?” Sister Charity asked.

“I… don’t know yet.”

“Does anyone else?” Debbie, stepping up beside the nun, followed up her question.

“Diana will be with us,” Giles added. “And it’s to be hoped that, actually, the portal isn’t open at all.”

That was reassuring enough for the members of the Wicca Group who didn’t, yet, appreciate that she wasn’t what Diana appeared to be. Even so, she was absolutely the most powerful witch any of them were ever likely to meet so… yeah. ‘Diana will be with us’ still works.

She nodded her thanks. “If it’s not open, then we have to do everything we can to prevent that happening – getting Hope back or taking Glory down will do it, but if it is open – it doesn’t matter what else happens, it has to be closed or else getting Hope back or taking Glory out won’t even matter.”

Faith didn’t seem very happy about that, but there you go. The truth wasn’t always comfortable and she couldn’t argue with the logic.

“Fourth,” she said, waiting for someone to interrupt. No one did. “If the portal is open then something – or lots of somethings – might’ve come through it. If they have, we need to stop them, somehow, from spreading. The ‘how’ on that is likely to be pretty simple.”

“You get to let loose your mighty weapon,” Buffy said to the troll. And from the way she said it, there didn’t seem any way Buffy had missed the innuendo the first time around either.

Nor did she mind about the presence of the nuns.

“Ha! Right you are!”

“That’s not the most important thing though,” Tara said. “Don’t forget what the main mission is – don’t get sucked into lots of little fights. We can – hopefully – deal with anything that came through once the portal is closed. Once they’re cut off from that dimension.

“Don’t forget, either, that Glory has plenty of minions and some people she’s hurt – like Willow – who are helping her.”

“The minions you can hurt, the crazies you can’t,” Faith said. “Right?”

“Right.” At least Faith had remembered that much. Whether she’d stick to it or not if they were between her and Hope…? “So there it is. We need all of you, I’m not kidding when I say that. But… I’d certainly understand if any of you didn’t think you could be a part of it.”

She really didn’t want anyone to walk out of the room, but letting them do so without any blame being attached to that seemed important too. They had to choose to try and stop the end of the world.

“You’re wrong, Tara, there’s five things,” Annie said. “Five things that need to be done.”

“There are?” Annie was still getting used to the concept that there were strange things out there, now she was correcting the briefing?

“We have to help Willow. We have to get her back.”

No, I hadn’t forgotten about that. I… I just don’t know if what Diana told me will work. Or if we’ll even get the chance.

And it has to be me…

“That’s… that’s me, that’s what I have to do. After the other things,” she explained. It had to be after. At least after most of them. They’d have to do all the most difficult things before she’d even get her chance in a million.

“So?” Debbie asked. “How do we make it happen?”

“Well, it’s like this - ”

“You got this, T?” Faith cut her off.

“Umm – yeah – why? Where are you going?”

“I – I have somewhere I have to be.”

“But we’re - ”

“I’ll be back,” Faith said. “Before you get this lot sorted. But – I have to – I have to go see Paige.”

“Oh… Right.”

Faith was on the move before she turned back to the others. “She – she has to go take care of something. So, the question was how we make this happen?”

She glanced out of the door at the retreating Faith.

So there really is something else she has to lose.

That’s got to be a good thing. It means she’ll fight even harder.

**************

Rauko · **Posted:** Wed Dec 25, 2013 9:38 am

Hi Katharyn

I still lack a tablet so i'm really behind in the chapters and feedback, but i was thinking of you yesterday because i found a notebook in my mothers house were i was doodling last year while resting my eyes after reading, i was reading Sidestep and found the drawing of my version of your Tara in SC.

Hopefully, i 'll start reading again in january (i'll reward myself with a tablet for a sucky year xD), so i'm looking foward to continue this awesome story.

My best wishes to you an the rest of the KB, Good Luck, Merry Christmass, Happy Holidays and Prosperous New Year!!!

Luisa \m/-___-

Katharyn · **Posted:** Wed Dec 25, 2013 10:24 pm

Hi, Rauko, thank you so much for checking back in and after a memorable prompt like that

Will be pleased to have you back with us, but we might be pretty close to the end by then. Kind of... You know me

Here's to your next year being better than this one (and tablet enabled!)

Thanks again.

Katharyn

Kajun · **Posted:** Thu Dec 26, 2013 2:19 pm

Katharyn, You sure are keeping this “plan” close to the vest. Now even Faith is being cryptic. Seems like she is convinced that she’s doomed and that has made her even more determined to save little sis. She’s been chomping at the bit and can’t possibly just sit idly by while everyone else gets their shit together. Taking off to see Paige is a good idea. Clearly the tattoo artist has become someone Faith cares about. She needs that connection. If the worst happens, and Hope is sacrificed, Faith still needs to fight for the rest of the world.

It will totally suck if Faith meets her end.. heroic as it may be. Just sayin’..

Tara does come up with some funny stuff sometimes. Olaf's "mighty weapon" LOL Anya should be proud of her friend.

I’m still enjoying the Holiday festivities --Got another party this week-end and then the New Year celebration. Hope you and yours are having fun too! :banana

Katharyn · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:03 am

Kajun - Yeah... the plan will come out very slowly because, well, it's about the only suspense I have left. Also - as you will see - the point of view character actually doesn't know all of it

We'll see why Faith went to Paige's later on, that will be revealed. I shan't comment on her mindset, but she's definitely willing to do anything for Hope. And you're right about how she needs that 'correction' too.

I don't think the 'mighty weapon' joke was mine (originally) but it does work well anyway LOL.

Pleased to hear you're having a good holiday. Doing great here too. Thanks

Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Fri Dec 27, 2013 6:05 am

That’s got to be a good thing. It means she’ll fight even harder.[/i]

**************
POST MARK

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-One
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: Before this part had numbers it had another heading ‘The Fight’ though, to be fair, that really kicks off in 162. We’ve dragged this out much too long. So we start here with Hope and then get to the very moment that the conflict begins… then you wait for the next part.
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers. The final line of this part is, of course, taken from the Avengers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: Notes: So, we’ve set up that EVERYONE is there. Pretty much, anyway. However this is a point of view story, it sits with one character at a time and I’m not going to be spending exhaustive detail on every single character. Some characters may come out of this better than others, with a few certainties in the mix as you can imagine. Don’t hate me for it!
What we are going to do for a little while is something I never expected to do again, which is to occasionally flip into Hope’s point of view. Why? So we can play with Glory a little. We’ve not done that often enough in the story for my preference, I wish we could’ve seen much more of her but its really very difficult to do that (as I’ve mentioned before) because she is so overpowered. Put any of the characters up against her alone and they would get smushed. So we’ve lost some of the Glory stuff that I always wanted to include. This is my tip of the hat to make sure we get a little of it back in here.
Thanks to: All of you with the musings, ideas and interests in parts of the story that I never intended to focus on. This part sees a few of those brought back at least with a passing nod.

Hope

“You know what my sister would say about that?”
“About what?”

“You know, that thing about you turning into a guy.”

“Him…”

“I’m pretty sure she’d say something about ‘chick’s with dicks’. Something like that.”

It seemed like maybe the wrong thing to say, not because Glory was insulted by it – even if the reference meant anything to her – but because saying anything seemed to fascinate her.

No one talks back to her. No one that she can’t try to kill, anyway.

“You’re not afraid of me, are you?”

“No.”

“Why not? Everyone else is.”

“My sister’s coming for you,” Hope said, knowing that was absolutely true. Nothing would stop Faith doing that. Was she afraid though? Absolutely… It was just easier to hide when Faith was on her way.

“Then she’ll die.”

Hope shook her head, not accepting that at all. Glory had fought Faith, but she didn’t really know her. No one who knew her would say that. “You can’t kill her. No one can kill her.”

“I’ve slaughtered the Gods of your world, girl. I’ve stripped them of their power, eaten their flesh and digested their ever-living souls.”

“So eww. But you still can’t kill my sister.”

“Can so.”

“No, you can’t. Only she can kill her – herself, I don’t know how to say that but… if anything happens to her, it won’t be you. It’ll be her. Faith’s like – like one of those things that clings to a rock. No matter what you do. She just clings to life. You… you’re just… annoying. But…”

“What?”

“You do look good in that dress, your hair too.”

“Good of you to notice,” Glory said, preening and seeming to forget about the sorta threats she’d been making. “My minions are…. I can never trust them to give me an honest opinion.”

“You want an honest opinion?” Hope asked, trusting in the fact that extending this conversation was certainly better than whatever the Hell God was supposed to be doing to her right now.

Glory gestured at her to carry on, eyes wide and keen to hear it.

“Those shoes. Oh. My. God!”

“I know!” Glory came to her and gave her a closer look. “And they were on sale too. Twenty-five percent off.”

“Get out!”

“Seriously! Of course, I didn’t pay… but they really were on sale.”

---------------

“You’re very calm,” Glory said a little later, after they’d exhausted the shoe topic. “I expected more shrieking and pleading. Most of your kind, the ones who understand what’s happening, they usually try to plead.”

“I’m a Lehane,” Hope replied. She didn’t feel calm, she felt very far from calm. But… Faith would be coming. Certainty was helping.

“What does that mean?”

It means my sister is coming to get you. And me.

She couldn’t say that though. Not again. Saying it once had been once too many times, but she hadn’t been able to help it. Because Faith had always said ‘they shouldn’t see me coming.’ There’d been kids who’d tried to bully her in the past – or at least they all remembered that happening – who’d turned up with broken arms or bruised faces the next day at school.

Whatever they’d done to her plus more.

And that was before Faith had even been the Slayer.

They never said much, those kids, but they never bothered her again either. One girl, she’d actually talked with later – just before they left town. Asked her what happened. She’d never asked her sister directly but Abby had said that a girl came out of the dark, shoved her face into the concrete and stamped on her arm over the edge of the curb. Seemed like a couple of other kids could’ve suffered the same, once Faith found she could do to the first one.

Just thinking about it made her wince and her arm ache sympathetically. Maybe Abby hadn’t deserved it either, but she’d never say that to Faith who was just doing what she knew how to do.

Looking out for her.

And now… now she was the Slayer and Glory wasn’t going to see her coming. But that didn’t mean she could just sit here and not say anything.

“We don’t do pleading. We just get things done.”

I want to tell her Faith’s going to come and rip her tits off. I want to say that – it’d make me feel better. But watching Faith do that was going to feel even better. Except, maybe not literally because… again with the eww.

And ouch.

“Get things done? Obviously you’ve never had minions,” Glory said, turning to chastise the workers and the little priest-robed men that she had constructing… Was this really supposed to be their sacrificial altar?

Probably no one had made a giant scaffolding altar before, but that was what it was, right? The place that Glory was planning to end her life, take her blood and open the door between the universes? Destroying this one just so she could get home?

More than once she’d thought about just throwing herself off the growing structure, before the ritual. Before all that other stuff could be made to happen. But… It’s not like they can hide something this size from her. Not even in Sunnydale.

So Faith really is coming.

And so is Tara… she has to. She has to help Willow and the place to do that… that’s here.

Right?

-----------------

Tara

“I really don’t think that you can take Willow,” Giles said. “I’m sorry Tara, but she’ll be a liability that we can ill afford in her present state.”

“I – I’m not leaving her behind,” she said. “Not for anything.”

He didn’t know, of course. Nothing more than the previous revelation that Diana couldn’t help her. But… she had, in a way.

If it works.

If we can all make it work.

She had to cut him some slack, because of what he didn’t know. But… even if it had just been the end of the world, if there’d been no hope, that’d be more than enough reason to have Willow with her.

At the end of the day either Willow’s there with us or I’m not. People with a better flair for the dramatic would’ve made that into a threat.

That wasn’t who she was though…

“I sympathise, you know that and I’ll do anything I can to restore her but Annie can - ”

She cut him off, hugging Willow to her. Her girlfriend seemed to know she was being talked about. “If we lose, it won’t matter,” she explained. “But if we win – it’s no victory at all if Willow’s still like this. At a certain point I can’t ask Annie to come along – though she will – but I definitely can’t expect her to stay if she does. She’s a friend not… not a fighter or a witch or… Eventually Willow has to come. She has to come with me.”

If Annie couldn’t take it, if Annie couldn’t keep Willow safe in a very hostile environment then… What other choice was there? The girl could take Willow as far as she could, keep her safe while they were all getting set up and then…

Buffy looked up from what she was doing, helping the ranks load up with weapons. “Of course Will’s coming.”

“Thank you,” she said.

“But - ”

“But nothing, Giles,” Buffy said, not taking anything further from him on the topic. “We’re getting her back. This isn’t even a discussion.”

Of course, the trouble was only she had an idea what would be involved in that. If it worked, which there was no guarantee of because no one had ever tried it before.

For very good reason… No one had ever taken on Glory before. At least not like this.

If they knew what I need them to do, they’d run a mile. And it would be a good call, too. That’s what they should do.

“Absolutely,” he said. “We’re getting her back.”

“Thanks.”

“He’s not wrong,” Buffy said.

“I know.” There were dangers for all of them in taking Willow with them. But… What else was she supposed to do? Not fight? Not go with them? Stay here and look after her wounded bird? What if she was needed? What if someone got hurt because she wasn’t there?

That was… no. One person could make all the difference. One person could save or end the world. She had to be there.

And leaving Willow behind with someone else? What if they lost? What if the world ended and Willow was with someone she barely knew? Scared and – She loved Annie, but… she wasn’t what Willow needed if this was the apocalypse that beat them. This version of Willow just didn’t respond to her like the real one had. She’d still be scared and frightened and -

What then?

Or what if they won? What if her beautiful girl was left stuck this way forever because she wasn’t there to get her mind back for her? “I’ll never stop loving you,” she whispered to Willow who was still playing with her toy horses.

“Horsies!”

“I know, baby. You need to pick one out though,” she said. “Just one that we can take with us.”

Getting upset, Willow was about to cry but for some reason didn’t make it to tears as something in the room caught her attention. Olaf? “Big!”

“You have no idea,” Anya said as she passed the table.

“One horsie,” she said again, picking out the black one. “This one?”

Willow grabbed the chestnut instead. No, not instead. As well, looking at her hopefully. It was an expression that was just so… Willow. Even now there were things that just… Make me ache.

“Okay, two. But put them in your pockets, okay?” She showed her what she meant and – of course – Willow took them right back out again and started to play some more.

“If we could have everyone’s attention?” Giles was trying to do that. It was time. Past time, if you were Faith. But they’d spent too much time getting prepared already or – she was hoping – just enough.

There were enough conversations going on that he was being drowned out and even Faith’s piercing whistle fell on some deaf ears at the back. She watched as her friend – who she hadn’t realised was back - grabbed Olaf’s arm and a moment later the whole place seemed to shake.

“SILENCE!” the troll bellowed.

And then there was quiet. Apart from the pitter-patter of plaster falling from the ceiling.

“The puny little man with the glasses wishes to speak.”

“Ah, thank you – umm, Olaf. As you all know, today we face a most dangerous enemy and the stakes are - ”

Before he could even get into his speech, Faith was up on the table. Tara hadn’t even realised she was back. But here she was, just as all the preparations had been completed and everyone knew their jobs.

Everyone was ready to do it.

“Let me do this, G-Man. You already know why you’re here. You all already did the speeches and the plans, I bet. Boils down to end of the world stuff. Hell God. We lose, everything’s gone. We win by getting my sister back and ripping that bitch’s tits off. Got it? So none of you, none of you fear the reaper – because this time, the reaper’s on your side.”

The collective agreement, troll enhanced, was almost deafening in the enclosed space.

“Oh, and by the way. When we get there, the bitch is mine.”

-----------------

“Times a wasting, Tara,” Faith said. “Out with it.”

“I thought – I thought I was coming to ask you to play nice with Buffy. But – that sounds like something else, so what I really mean is you have to work with her. You know that, right?”

“Sure.”

“Because,” Tara said, “even I know that if we attack – if we threaten her going home - and then Glory catches you one at a time, you’re both going to… well, you’re going to be in trouble.”

No more playing with the Slayers. Not now.

“I know this.”

“Good.”

“When did you get all strategic?” Faith asked.

“When you put me in charge,” she said, not bitter but definitely worried.

Dare I ask?

“Is that it?”

“No… This might be the last chance. Anything you want to tell me? Anything? Maybe? Maybe about that sleep Diana put you into?”

“Not really, no.”

“Oh.”

“Thought I’d say ‘yes’, huh?” Faith asked.

“Kind of. I never thought you’d say – well… that.”

“Leave it, T. Please.”

She sighed. “I want to help, whatever it is – I just want to help.”

“I know,” Faith said. “But – this time – your idea of helping. Won’t.”

“Why?” she asked, hoping to get to it that way.

“Because you like me too much,” Faith told her. “I mean it, just… don’t worry about it. I’ve got it under control.”

Of course you do.

“Is that why you went off to see Paige? Because it’s all under control?”

Faith hesitated, just a second too long. Yes, at least partly, that was it. What she said next wasn’t convincing at all, not after that moment.

“Maybe, maybe I just wanted a quick fuck to see things off with,” she said. “Anya was telling me once about how orgasms are good for helping you get past pain and injuries and shit. Maybe it was that. Lets just say it was that.”

Sure…

And now I’m even more worried.

-----------------

“Buffy?”

“I was just looking in on Willow. Just being the concerned friend, nothing to worry about.”

“No, that’s fine – of course that’s fine – no, see – but - I just wanted to talk to you?” Tara said, though she did leave it as a question. Asking if it was okay.

“Sure, Tara. What’s up – I mean apart from the fact we’re about to go into a fight to the death of everything with a Hell God and my – what do you call her – counterpart? My counterpart has this obsession with ripping her boobs off? But what else is up?”

“It is Faith. But not the – not the boobs thing.”

“Faith is always up, this is true. But is there anything in particular? Has she done something? I saw she snuck off earlier – was it something about that?”

Tara shook her head. No, Faith hadn’t done anything. At least not that she was worried about. “You have to work with her,” she said. “I mean really, work with her, Buffy.”

“That’s as much about her as me,” Buffy pointed out.

“I know and I’ve told her the same thing,” she said. “But – if she doesn’t, then you might need to make the extra effort.” There it was. Faith was her friend, so was Buffy. But Buffy was more… ‘reliable’. That was a really good word for it.

“You don’t think Faith paid much attention then?”

Tara shook her head. Actually, Faith had listened all too intently – and intensely – to the point it had made her a little nervous. “No – I mean, yes, she did. But I think – if she see Hope she might charge off and - I don’t know, exactly, what’s gone on with Hades. Do you?”

“Uh-uh, what one Slayer knows, the other does not. It’s a one girl in all the world thing, this is what happens when you get duplication. Also… she’s Faith and not exactly talkative. You’re her best friend, won’t she tell you?”

“No and I asked – but I don’t know - I think a deal’s been made,” she said. Why she knew that, she had no idea. But there was something about Faith and… How she’d been after that Diana induced sleep. The dream. Added confidence, which wasn’t surprising on Faith but there was something that was unnerving…

Despite the confidence she was uncertain and worried about something too. Something else.

The part where she paid Diana back? Or Hades perhaps. Someone… right?

“And that worries you?”

“That should worry everyone,” Tara said. “In this mood? To get Hope back? I think she would’ve promised anything. Anything at all.”

“You mind if I just state the obvious for a second?” Buffy asked.

“Please,” she replied, not entirely sure what ‘obvious’ was in these circumstances. They were pretty much off in uniqueland right now.

“First of all, Tara, Faith’s a big girl. Second – we’re not telling everyone else this, obviously, but I gave us about one chance in a hundred unless Olaf and his hammer really are something special when it comes to Hell Gods. Anything Faith’s done to that helps with that? It’s a good thing, I think.”

“Really?”

“Really, because third and finally, the alternative is the whole world. Gone. And I don’t know if it’ll be in a blink and you’ll miss it way like those star bursts Willow talks about when she’s on about the end of the world? You know the ones I mean?”

Actually, she did. Stars billions of miles away ‘hiccuped’ in the wrong direction and they were all dead at the speed of light. No one would even know it was coming. Just… poof.

They couldn’t do much about that but they could do something about this. Maybe.

“Or it might be slow and bit by bit, but it’s still coming. If we don’t do this.”

“So anything she promises – promised - is okay?”

“If it works, sure. We can worry about the rest later. And if it doesn’t work it really won’t matter anyway.”

Yeah. There was that.

She was supposed to be thinking strategically now. Time to get the priorities in order.

Win.

Survive.

Worry later.

------------

“So everyone understands their jobs?”

This time the consensus was a little quieter than it had been back at the store. Faith had appointed herself General, but she had no intention of leading from the rear. Her sister, her rules.

Fortunately she was finally willing to listen to advice as well as to play with others.

They were marshalling just outside the building, alongside which Glory had built a platform. One which could support the very start of the end of the world. Was it really necessary? Probably not. Like doing spells, a certain amount of ceremony was pretty much expected. But for whatever reason, Glory had it built anyway.
And quickly.

Of course, Buffy had been the one to do the recce. No one was ready to believe that – if she saw Hope – Faith would come back and not just launch into battle all on her own. From her point of view, only recently starting to rely on other people, she might figure that the odds of winning weren’t all that different.

Mathematically she might have been right too.

But then that was that conversation… A deal. And Faith was still playing with others but more grimly determined than she’d ever seen her before.

Focused.

No more quips. No more innuendo or jokes. All that mattered to her now was Hope.

Whatever it was she’d said she’d do, Tara just hoped that no one had offered her a deal where her sister would somehow be safe but the world could go to hell…

Faith might’ve taken even that. Was that what she’d been trying to say after her nap? Would she really do it?

In a heartbeat.

The question was whether she had.

That was much less certain.

There did, though, have to be a world for Hope to come back to. Stranding her in a Hell Dimension wasn’t…

“So say it,” Faith demanded.

“Ah – certainly – I will lead the combat element of the force,” Giles said. “We’ll take responsibility for any and all minions.”

The ‘combat element’ consisted of Giles himself, Xander, Kassia (apparently quite deadly with a whip as well as her feet) and some martial arts trained members of the Wicca Group who could be more use there than with their counterparts.

That was the theory, at least.

Otherwise they could end up imbalanced. Add in Sister Charity and at least a few of the more spritely nuns (knitting needles could still be deadly weapons in the right hands even when not dealing with vampires) and he had some kind of force.

The rest of the nuns were going to be evacuating casualties and giving them basic medical care. It wasn’t like anyone else had given much thought to that. But how many lives could be saved? Lots, she hoped.

Billions, ideally.

Faith looked at her next, eyebrows raised.

“I’ll be taking Willow and Diana,” she said. “But also the rest of the Wicca Group. First the group’s going to set up a perimeter circle around the site while Annie watches after Willow, then I’ll pick her up and... we’ll do our thing.”

She had to help with the circle first, it wasn’t fair otherwise. It was one that couldn’t operate through touch. They were relying on Diana to get the group up to speed on techniques necessary to pull that off. In truth she’d been preparing the group for this for more than a year. The meditative techniques that they learned from the very beginning had been carefully preparing them for this day.

Right?

Building a connection across greater than touching distance. Enhancing the – albeit not massive – powers that they each possessed by being part of the whole.

If Willow had only been… She’d have been great for this. Instead... look at the poor girl. “Sweetie, we’re leaving real soon. Keep your coat on.” Then she turned back to Faith. “After the circle is in place, Diana and I will move in.”

Almost as if she understood, Willow stopped pulling at the coat that was making her uncomfortable. Must have been the tone of her voice. What else could it have been?

For sure her sweet girl really didn’t understand.

I’ll only have the one chance. If that.

She had to believe in that one chance though, no matter what else happened tonight she was going to spot and take that chance.

“And B’s with me,” Faith completed. It wasn’t a complicated plan. “Oh, and Olaf?”

“Hnn?”

“Smash.”

******************

DaddyCatALSO · **Posted:** Sat Dec 28, 2013 2:17 pm

Re liking Faith; well, she did come in first ina poll done by the old Buffy magazine. and I'm certainly one - to me, Faith, Tara, Kendra, and Harmony are on a par of attractiveness at number one.

Two chapters truly packed, and I've forgotten most of the comments I thought up yesterday.

I'm also worried about whether Faith made a deal. I'm worrie dabout soem different scenarios that tara is, but delas wiht gods are abig deal. (In the last ep.s of S-6, I was concerned about Willow's going to a darker god than Osiris and makign a deal to get Tara back that would leave Tara repulsed.)

Olaf's hammer as a weapon - maybe you're channeling soemthign from or about Dr. Horrible. Fits the ocassion, I agree, and fits Olaf.

Willow making a joke about eating a cat - well, the real ALy would, or Lily Aldrin, or Michelle "O'Flaherty," I know that much. i'll bow to Tara's supperior knowledge of Willow as to whether she would also. (Reminded me of a story of mine in which Cordleia makes a lovely little speech about the differences between what Willow and Tara expect love to be for them, to which Anya remarks, "I guess Tara's glad their cats can't talk." I'm leaving that chapter veyr much out when I include an editted version of the story in "Snapshots.")

Why doesn't Tara tell them the spell might help in fighting Glory, like Willow sort-of-did in canon? Unless she's elss sure of that?

TurTruly liked the Tara-anay speech. the two former outsiders, bonding until Tara is anya's bets friend. (And I know Anya isn't Tara's and that's okay.)

Katharyn · **Posted:** Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:16 am

Daddycatalso - Thanks

I shall not deny how likable Faith is LOL

Faith will do what she thinks she has to in order to get Hope back and safe. Usually - for her - that has just meant killing things. This time... she needs help. I don't admit the existence of S6 and beyond except as something to work against (also didn't see the reference you've made to Osiris) but the whole thing with Hades will be consistent with his/its nature. I shall not be dabbling with dark forces...

You're probably right, about Willow vs the other AH characters. However I think - in private - when she remembered to say something, Willow might be willing to come out with something like that. Just not in front of friends

I think I said before, I do regret not showing Anya and Tara as friends too much in this. I like the dynamic a lot. However - again I think I may be repeating myself so forgive me - its just very hard in this story that needs to service Hope and Faith as Tara's friends alongside the Willow relationship. Finding real time to do that justice was just a step too far. But I agree with you.

Thanks again

Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Sun Dec 29, 2013 9:18 am

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Two
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: The start of the big fight. It will go on a while ☺
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: Notes: So, we’ve taken a while (too long) to build up to this. I think, in part, it’s because I was always afraid of actually DOING it. It could easily be anti-climatic and maybe I’ll have done that to myself by making the build up so long. There’s a little of that and a little of ‘hey, it’s me and things don’t move fast when it’s me.’
I think we’ll see a little more pace though now… We’re probably about 2/5 through what I labelled as ‘the finale’ section, which includes the (very important) epilogue to the story. So, you see, we’re not even really close yet. But hey, it’s me ☺
We will, again, occasionally be ducking into Hope’s perspective during this sequence. Mostly so that I have two perspectives in two locations to tell the story from without trying to represent Willow’s condition. I only, really choose Hope for access to Glory (in past scenes) and because we did her perspective in ‘The Real Me’ so there was precedent.
Thanks to: Everyone who has been patient enough to get here with me (or after me, if you are reading this later). It’s weird, because I delayed the ending re-write so long, I now feel very current and connected to this sequence of chapters in a way I’d lost on those others – written nearly 18 months ago!

Olaf’s hammer struck the first – smashing - blow, sending one of the little monk type creatures flying through the air. Improbable physics, perhaps, but then the laws of reality took over as a wall got in the way and gravity – as well as the unfortunate side-effects of rapid deceleration in the face of a solid object – took hold.

“Wheeeeeee!” Willow said as she watched the flying bad guy. “Ouchie!”

Yeah, that one was definitely an ‘ouchie.’

As the – very dead – bad guy hit the ground, Tara felt the change as will of more than fifty Wicca group members snapped into place. She could almost feel it in the air. Just as they’d planned. Just as they’d worked for in the last half hour or so before moving close enough that the attack had to start.

Annie had watched Willow and she’d given everything she could to the ritual. Everything except her full attention… that had to stay elsewhere. She had another job to do.

The meditation was first, the mental reflection almost lulled her into a false sense of security and she could see that Willow was… instantly calmer. Her power was innate, part of who she was. Just because she didn’t understand didn’t mean that she didn’t feel it.

Now, it was almost as if they were both just behind a window of calm…

Surely they hadn’t stumbled across some way of bringing Willow closer to being okay? Had they? “Baby?” she asked. Hoping…

But although there was recognition, there wasn’t… Willow. Not her Willow. She almost moaned in disappointment, a brief moment of hope crushed even though she’d never even thought it might happen that way. Not even suspected the meditation of the expanded Wicca Group would have any effect on her at all.

It was affecting both of them though, if she’d known a couple of days ago they could’ve made things easier and -

“Great Glorificus I will kill the interlopers for you!”

Another of the mini-monks was charging towards her. Even though he was much shorter than she was, the knife that he carried was very, very long and – It was flicked away by the whip Kassia had been wielding, snapping at his hand and jerking it back.

Quickly followed by the point of her shoes smacking into the side of his head.

Death by the whip and the killer shoes of a succubus. Could it be any more clichéd? She didn’t have time to worry about that, she was just grateful and she nodded her thanks first of all, watching as Kassia went back to being the coiled spring, ready to lash out again.

Damn… that girl – almost girl – had legs that just seemed to go on forever. It was even more obvious when she was fighting than when she was… well, doing the other thing succubus did. This way though, she was deadly. Quick too. In raw speed perhaps even quicker than Faith or Buffy. But not obviously as strong as the Slayers.

Probably she had stamina, but of a different kind perhaps.

“Thanks!” she said as they came close enough to each other, earning a smile that had seduced too many men in reply. Somehow, since she’d showed up at the Magic Box, she had the impression that Kassia was pleased – for once – not to be called on for the use of her more usual skill set.

Even though the world might come to an end…

But no one thought for a second that they could’ve conned or seduced their way in here. They needed her help this way, not the other. Even she might balked at kissing one of the little monk-robed creatures too.

“Careful!” she called out as Kassia was about to confront one of the people – real people – that Glory had brain-sucked. There were several of them around – more than they’d ever known about - and it seemed like they were under the Hell God’s control. But for whatever reason, Willow wasn’t.

That might be because of the Wicca group and their meditation. It might be because of their connection and the power that still flowed through that. Perhaps it had been a really good call, relieving Annie of her duties. She had a firm grip on Willow’s hand that she sure wasn’t letting go of it. Not even when Willow started to pull in another direction.

Especially not then.

“Pretty!” Willow called, looking at… what was that?

“Yes, it is baby, it really pretty but we have to go this way.”

Glory had started the ‘ritual’ already? Not that you could call it a ritual. But it looked like she had anyway. Tara was almost certain that Buffy would’ve reported the swirling, glowing light source if it had been there when she took a look around not ten minutes ago. The final scouting mission… And if the ritual was starting?

Hope…

It’d take her blood to open up the portal that was being conjured at the heart of the massive superstructure. She’d never seen a portal before, but according to people who speculated on things – including Ethan who now neatly sidestepped the clumsy charge of one of the crazies – this was way beyond being a portal. It wasn’t a route to somewhere else.

Not exactly.

It was like opening a door to a tunnel and then turning the tunnel itself inside out through the doorway. Peeling open realities like a banana which would then be consumed…

This analogy wasn’t exactly working for her, but fortunately there was only herself that she was using it to.

The point was that there was more on the inside than the outside. And once it started to spill out…

That was what they were fighting to stop. Between Olaf and his hammer, Kassia and the efforts of Xander and the others, most of the immediate problems between here and the base of the scaffold had been taken care of and… that was when they attracted Glory’s attention.

Even in those red heels – and after this was done she really, really wanted a pair – the Hell God landed perfectly on the asphalt before them, barely flexing at the knee despite dropping more than a hundred feet.

“Oh, what have we here?”

Oh… shoot.

Where were the Slayers when you needed them?

-------------------

Hope

She knew that she’d spotted them first and – for now – her captor hadn’t. Glory wasn’t exactly the most stable Hell God in all the universes. If she’d seen them? Well, she’d have done something. But at that moment Glory was paying attention to the ritual or whatever it was, constructing the gateway that would take her home.

Hope got that, she did. Wanting to go home. There was nothing more than that she wanted right now. Her home was… right here. And Glory wanted to take that away.

The Hell God had continued to be quite… chatty. It was like she enjoyed the sound of her own voice and even more like she was fascinated by someone who wasn’t in awe of her but couldn’t fight back either.

Glory even seemed fond of her, stroking her hair, making sure she was okay in between promising to sacrifice her to get to the blood that would give her what she wanted. She’d even gotten her a juice box from somewhere.

Once or twice, she’d actually thought the ‘woman’ was unbalanced. And she didn’t mean in the heels, even though they were super-cute. If anyone ever let her have a pair of red heels… those were the ones she wanted.

“They are great aren’t they?” Glory had asked, noticing her looking at them again. She still couldn’t believe they’d been in the sale. Where though? That was the question.

And whether that store would even exist once the ritual was complete.

“They – they really do work for you.” You’d have to be a jealous bitch not to admit it. Red was definitely Glory’s colour too.

“It’s the legs,” Glory had said confidently. “I have to admit, going home, the only thing I’ll regret – sometimes - is giving up this body. It’s… all kinds of delicious. The things I can do with it are just… astonishing. And hot baths. In water. With bubbles. Where I come from we bathe in molten rock. It’s really not the same. But here…

“Everything is so smooth.”

And then – because they really were in bizarro world where this sort of thing happened – the Hell God had come right out and asked if she shaved or waxed her legs. Minions, apparently, weren’t much help with either.

The usefulness of minions wasn’t something she could speak to, obviously, because… well, you really did that kind of thing yourself. Unless you were either hella rich or a Hell God.

Her answer, ‘borrowing’ Faith’s Veet, had pretty much been a revelation to Glory. Someone, obviously, didn’t watch enough TV advertising. And their girly conversation had gone on from there, with the occasional reference to how grateful Glory was and how glad she was to have found her.

How she really did just want to go home.

Oh, and she wasn’t entirely stable. That was pretty clear too. A slavering monster, throwing her to her death? Meh, that would just’ve been Sunnydale. A young woman, keen to exchange grooming tips, talk about shoes and apologise for killing her? That was scarier.

That was way scarier.

“What do you keep looking for?” Glory had asked her, about half an hour ago while the final preparations were under way.

“My sister,” she’d said, without even thinking.

“The brunette? Tits almost as great as mine?”

“Umm…” She wasn’t Willow, or Tara. She didn’t really feel qualified to pass judgement on them. But, yes. By any objective standard – and she thought that was fair – better than Buffy’s anyway.

“Oh, honey, you shouldn’t wish for her. I mean, you don’t really want the last thing you see to be me wrapping my hand in her hair and using it to pull her spine out do you?” Glory had followed up very pleasantly. Almost as chatty as they’d been about everything. Just girlfriends hanging out.

Crazy. Crazy bitch…

And no, she hadn’t – didn’t – want to watch that. But if Faith came, that wouldn’t be what happened.

This was what Slayers did, right? The stopped the end of the world. Faith had stopped Adam; she remembered it happening even though she hadn’t been there at the time. Buffy had saved the world plenty of times too. Willow had helped Buffy, Tara had helped Faith. They’d had to make up a new word for the plural of apocalypse because they’d been so successful at preventing them.

So she’d stayed silent, let Glory get on with what she was doing, telling her what she wanted to hear (and when it was about the shoes or the equally red dress, yes, she was only telling the truth.)

Finally… it had to happen though. Glory had to notice.

“What’s all that noise?” Glory had demanded.

“My sister,” she’d said. There was no point in hiding it now. “My sister’s here for me.”

“Hmm, I guess it’s better your world goes out with a bang than a whimper,” Glory had said and then simply stepped off the edge of the platform like she was walking down the stairs.

It was a hundred feet, straight down. Minimum.

Anyone else would’ve broken their legs, at the very least. Not Glory though, she landed without even a hair being out of place. And how had those heels stood up to that?

What had Faith brought with her? Was that… everyone?

“Oh, what have we here?”

Oh… and…

-----------------
Tara

Tara kept her eyes on the woman who was terrorising them and threatening the end of the world. Hoping Faith would show. Buffy. Or someone. Worried about where they were – but all she kept coming back to was what she’d done to Willow…

“Oh… the other witch,” Glory said. “What was it she thought about you…? Oh, the love, of course. She really did love you. But… What was it? Mmmm. Finger. Licking. Good? I don’t get the reference… care to share? Then at least someone will remember when your world is gone.”

As taunts went… it made her feel sick.

“I want her back,” she said, concern for Willow making her bolder than she could ever have been alone. “And before we’re done – I’m going to get her.”

“Hmm. And if I beat you to death with your own foot?” The way Glory said it was just as pleasant and casual as if she’d been offering little sandwiches on a plate.

“That will not be, Glorificus. She is mine. They’re both mine.”

There was the low rumble of two very big dogs growling, and then the nearby swoosh of two arrows that Glory caught out of the air only inches from her skin. Diana stepped up, just in front of her.

Glory tightened her grip, shattered the arrows and then clapped her hands, clearly delighted. “Ah! A real witch!”

So… Glory had already known?

“Tara is mine, you will not touch her. And you will give her what she desires. The mind of her lover. Return it, now.”

“Umm, let me think about that - No,” Glory said and blew her a kiss. “Later for you, sweetie, I’ll need a snack when I’m done with this one. Some time to kill, while your world unravels.”

“Tara – take Willow, go and do what you must.”

“Diana – you can’t - ”

“Go!”

Glory made no effort to stop her, she seemed enthralled with Diana. A special treat after hundreds of years – or more – of interference by a woman pretending to be a goddess. She certainly didn’t seem worried in the slightest, and in fact Glory blew her a kiss.

Tara retreated, pulling Willow with her as the dogs launched themselves at the Hell God. One was kicked in the side of the head and went down, whimpering.

“Doggy hurt!” Willow cried.

“He’ll be okay, baby, come on. Come on – we have to go – we have to go up…”

“Up and up and up!”

“That’s right.”

If Glory was down here, she had to get to Hope. Now might be the best and only chance.

As long as Diana could keep her occupied.

--------------------

Hope

She’d been able to see that Tara’s confrontation with Glory had been mercifully brief. The Hell God didn’t look to have touched her at all and instead Diana had stepped in. From this height she was just guessing but – this was Sunnydale. That was the way that things worked.

Because it was Sunnydale, and that was where the drama was, Glory would’ve jumped down and right in front of one of maybe four people. Tara, Faith, Buffy or Willow. They were pretty much the only candidates.

Willow was with Tara, of course and it was the flash of red hair that let her identify them from all the way up here.

Then Diana? Not so remarkable she could be picked out, except when you knew about those big, big dogs.

Yeah, that was Diana and… things didn’t look to be going great for her even this soon into the fight.

Only one of the dogs was still attacking Glory and then by dancing in and out, biting and retreating she was willing to bet. Diana herself? Probably firing her bow. Firing? Shooting? What did you even do with a bow?

She wasn’t sure, but she knew she had to get out of here if she could. Unfortunately… Glory hadn’t exactly left her the choice and she was going to need help… No question about that.

It hurt… it really, really hurt. Especially when she pulled so she could see what was happening. When help might arrive.

And then Glory was on Diana… She couldn’t pull far enough to see exactly what was happening there but… It was bad.

Where was help going to come from? Tara had disappeared – with Willow of course. Maybe she was coming up – yes, she was Tara… She’d be coming up here. Because someone had to and… and…

Tara would come.

So would Faith – but where was she? Where was Buffy? They were surely the only ones who could keep up with Glory even if it wasn’t for long.

She did pull and groaned with the pain. Pulling was only going to hurt her worse. Make the blood flow faster, weakening her and strengthening the portal that was forming directly below her position.

Her blood funnelled downward by gravity and the vicious mechanism…

“Help!”

Because crying out couldn’t hurt at this point could it?

Strange though… it… it seemed harder to do even that.

In fact, everything was getting… weird…

Was that Faith though? Over there? Faith and Buffy… They’d… they’d make a cute couple. If they could fight their way through… through all the crazy people.

And then her knees gave out and she was falling and –

Oh, God it hurt.

“Please… someone… I’m here…”

But no one could’ve heard her…

----------------

Tara

She had to tear her eyes away from what was happening down there. Buffy and Faith battling their way – hopefully without being lethal – through a small army of people just like Willow. Diana… Well, Kassia and the others were down there too. But she had to pay attention to Willow’s movements more than anything else even over her own lack of coordination.

She hadn’t exactly been born with ninja skills. Which was good, because she hadn’t lost them along the way to end up clinging to the scaffold as she was now.

They had to get up there, while Glory was still occupied. Or… had she done everything she needed to up above? The spell or the ritual, whatever it was, was very definitely under way. The chaotic energies had formed the bright ball at the heart of the circular superstructure they were climbing around and Willow thought it was pretty, she kept reaching to try to touch it.

She’d noticed that every so often something caused a flare to arc outwards from the ‘portal’ (since they had to call it something) and one of those times she’d seen it spread out across what – she assumed – was the enclosing power of the Wicca Group spell. That was what they were all there for, to try and contain what was happening.

How long they could keep doing that? She had no idea.

If looks alone could tell you anything, she had to doubt the ritual was going to hold. Which was another reasons she needed to get up there as fast as she could and get Hope. The ‘portal’ – not yet open – was only strengthening and pushing back at the enclosing energy they’d tried to smother it in.

The spell wasn’t going to hold if it was fighting against that, but then that hadn’t been – entirely – the point.

“Careful, honey,” Tara said, reaching back to where Willow was climbing with far too little care for her liking. Almost like a child in how she was willing to take some risks while others – which were actually the lesser but looked worse – she just couldn’t get past without help.

She hated that she had to trust to Willow’s instincts at all – rather than taking care of her every step of the way - but so far using Willow’s desire to keep up with her was working better than trying to push or move her on ahead.

It also meant she got to test the footing and the handing and whatever else you had in climbing too. Before Willow got to it.

“That’s it, come over to me, baby.”

“Wheeee!” She had no idea what it was, but Willow had knocked something down to the ground below and though it wasn’t that far, it was definitely far enough to make you stop and think about the risks of falling. Meanwhile, above them she’d caught a glimpse of Hope. Thought that maybe she’d heard the girl call out, even over the pulsing and flaring of the portal.

And below? She looked again, she couldn’t help it.

Diana’s battle with Glory wasn’t going too well.

It’d started out with her using the time that the dogs had tried to buy for her to open up the range again and start to rain arrows on the Hell God.

Arrows that Tara had seen kill multiple vampires at the same time were fired with devastating speed one after the other. It was hard to imagine that anything short of a machinegun could be faster. But… It did her no good. Glory hadn’t been stopped.

Or even hurt.

By now one of the dogs was limping her way back to Diana’s side, of the other there was no sign.

And so Diana’s tactics changed. Quite possibly the most powerful witch there had ever been, drawing on the combined power of the Wicca Group – she could still feel that their circle was holding and energising those who were so attuned – was barely phasing Glory.

Calling forth wind and driving, frozen rain had little more effect than fire – which the Hell God simply laughed off. Emerging without even her red dress being burned away. It seemed she had some powers of her own even if they weren’t the classic powers of the Greek Gods here on Earth or even a powerful witch.

Diana, Tara could see by her movements, had never truly expected to be able to destroy this threat to the world she existed in and was pledged to. Their earlier battle hadn’t been a fluke result; she must barely have escaped with her life.

This time she might not be so lucky. So far as she knew Diana’s seeming immortality was just a question of not aging and being good enough to kill most things that might’ve actually ended her life.

A pissed off Hell God could still rip her head off and then dead would still be - very - dead.

Pretending, for centuries, to the mantle of a Goddess, it was possible she’d never met a peer in that time. That she’d come to believe in her own infallibility, but all of her manipulations had been towards this day, when Glory would have to be faced down and defeated.

And she’d clearly always known that she couldn’t accomplish that for herself.

Otherwise she’d have done it years ago.

Which was why they were all here. Manipulated into it, called to arms… Lied to. But here they were, fighting the fight anyway.

The brutal truth might easily be that Glory couldn’t die. She was a Hell God. Both stronger and weaker than what Diana had pretended to be and the fight between them was desperately uneven.

Glory even seemed to be enjoying herself. It was hard to tell from here, but it’d fit with what they’d seen.

The display of casual brutality on Glory’s part, lashing out at the hounds that tried to torment her made Tara wince every, single time. But from this vantage point - even though she was holding onto Willow and still working her way up to where she thought Hope was – she could see that Diana was simply overmatched. Serving only as a distraction, to slow her down. And that was something she had to take full advantage of.

She could only imagine the taunts that Glory would be throwing Diana’s way. Glory was a prideful being, convinced of her own greatness and immortality. It was that self-belief which needed to be chipped away if this was going to work but it was hard to see that they could possibly accomplish that if the greatest asset on their side was being…

Pummelled.

“Come on, baby,” she exhorted Willow. They had to get up there. “Don’t look down.”

Stripped of her defences and her canine allies, Glory was physically beating Diana. If she’d truly been a goddess then that might’ve had a different result, but she was a witch and the spells or rituals that had given her such dexterity and strength had never equipped her to withstand the focused beating being dished out now. Maybe there was some sort of protective spell she was using, but mostly she had her arms clamped around her head to try to help herself that way.

Glory could simply have taken Diana’s head off but she was enjoying herself too much and –

She had to look away because… there was Hope… They’d made it up and now she could see. The girl as was almost hanging from… Some sort of contraption that had her arm trapped. She’d slumped beside it, weak…

Why didn’t I think of this?

“Tara…” She saw it mouthed rather than heard it, but she didn’t need to hear it.

Hope was already bleeding. That was why she was weak and slumped that way. That was why the portal was opening and getting bigger. Stronger.

Hope was already bleeding a lot.

And every drop was making their task harder.

-------------------

Hope

A moment of confusion, like somehow fighting against the urge to just close her eyes and let the dark take her… But it sounded like –

“Oh, sweetie! I’m so sorry,” Tara said, running over to her. “Willow, don’t move. Okay. Just don’t move.”

“Tara? Are you really here?” she asked. Would she dream Willow needing to be told what to do?

“I’m here honey, we both are. I’m so sorry.”

Why was Tara sorry? “No – no - I am – I shouldn’t have - ” What had she even done?

“Shush now, we need to stop this blood.”

“I – I don’t feel so good…” The slow flow of blood from her wrist, fastened over a receptacle that was channelling it down into the heart of the magic thing below them was showing no sign of stemming anytime soon.

Glory hadn’t wanted a rush of blood. She wanted a long, steady flow of it and had explained it in grim detail before jumping down. Hope could feel herself getting weaker with every pulse and even feel the magic below – it was getting stronger. The dark, the comforting dark? That was a bad place. That was the place she was supposed to stay away from.

Faith will kill me if I die here.

“Faith - ”

“She’s here,” Tara said. “No - Willow – stay put. Stay there, baby.”

“Is she… okay?” Hope started, as she forced herself up to her feet. At least she could hold onto the mechanism that was bleeding her. But looking at her friend, knew the answer to her question already.

Tara’s head shook as she tried to get to the wound, tried to free her from the restraint that Glory had put her in. She could move anywhere she wanted, but her wrist was held over the funnel like receptacle that channelled her blood… Through… it went right through.

Glory thought of it as her blood. Her key.

Maybe I am, it’s the only reason I exist.

“You have to go, Tara,” she said. “It’s getting bigger while I get weaker. I feel so tired… Soon – soon it’ll do what she wants.” Soon it would open… And if Faith and the others were having problems now, with the crazy people and the monks and… They’d have more problems then.

When things from the other side were freed to hurt them all.

“That’s not happening, honey,” Tara replied.

“It is! That’s what I do! That’s what I’m for! You have to get Willow out of here. She’s – you have to get her away. Get them all away, it’s too late – just get away!”

Now someone was here to help her, she couldn’t bear knowing what would happen to them.

Tara shook her head again, looking right into her eyes. “Honey, no. If we give up now, Glory goes, Willow is left this way and the whole world ends anyway. Sunnydale first. There is no ‘away’. Not from this.”

Hope felt tears filling her eyes, quickly running down her cheeks. She was doing this. It was her fault, all of this. All her friends and her sister were in danger because she… Because I exist.

I didn’t exist and they were safe – kind of – and then I did exist and the world’s going to end.

It’s not fair!

Tara had given up struggling with the metal restraint for now and instead had turned to binding the wound. It was impossible to do properly because it was much worse than Tara could see, but her friend wanted to slow the blood anyway. “It doesn’t matter,” she said.

“What doesn’t?”

“One drop – one drop was all she needed.”

“What?”

She took a deep breath, trying to find energy from somewhere to explain. “One drop was enough to start it, really small and slow but… the more blood – the bigger it starts, that’s what she said. She couldn’t wait for – Oh, god, Tara, I’m bleeding.”

It wasn’t Tara who hugged her then; it was Willow, wrapping her arms around her waist. In her own, childish, way trying to be strong for her and Hope hugged her back while she leaned against her, tried to keep herself upright to make it easier for Tara to look at the thing around – and through – her wrist.

“I need you to look after Willow while I do this?” Tara said. “Can you – are you strong enough to do that? Just stop her going anywhere.”

“Yes – yes – I can do that.” It’d be good to have something to focus on, that was helping keep the dark at bay. Keeping Willow from falling… she could do that.

“I’m going to find something to get you out of here, try – try not to move your arm. I couldn’t do a proper job of binding it.”

I could’ve told you that… I know what she did, I know what’s keeping the blood flowing and it hurts and it makes me feel – and it – and – and –

Stroking Willow’s hair, it was good to have her there, holding her. Kissing her face and getting one in return. To be able to do something to help. Something to focus on to keep the dark at bay, so alluring. So… She had to stay away from the dark. She had to keep herself awake and moving.

But she could see that even through the makeshift bandages that Tara had made from her shirt, there were drops forming and… still draining into the funnel that carried it down into the portal.

Tara couldn’t stop the blood. Nothing could stop the blood. It was still growing.

Bigger. Louder. Flaring more and brighter.

Like it was getting ready…

-----------------

Tara

Right now there was no one else she’d have left Willow with, only Hope. It was the one, safe place. Everyone was here trying to get to and rescue the girl and Glory didn’t want her dead either.

The Hell God wanted – it appeared – a controlled opening of the rift that would eventually unfurl to destroy this world (and maybe the whole universe) and leave only the hell dimension in its place.

And that was precisely what was going to happen if they didn’t free Hope – but if she was right, if Glory had told the truth to the girl and one drop of blood was actually enough then… they were already too late?

They’d assumed that Glory was going to push Hope off the platform or just… kill her. This slow bleed? That was something they’d never considered.

As she looked around for some of the tools that she’d noticed on her way up here - left over from the rushed construction work - she took a moment to glance down at what was happening below.

Diana was… down. Lying broken and bleeding on the floor. One arm looked to be lying at a very odd angle and she wasn’t moving, not at all. One of the dogs, she couldn’t see which, was pushing at her and Glory was striding away. Satisfied with whatever she’d done to her.

But everything else… that seemed to have gone to plan. The crazies and the minions all seemed to have been cleared and the Wiccan circle was still in place, she could feel – but not see – that much. She could feel it’s effect, but she had no idea what to do with it now.

With Diana down, Olaf was striding purposefully towards Hell God. Of course, he was regarded as a God himself but not in the same league for all of his confidence. But when he hit Glory with his hammer and sent her flying – she could almost believe that he could be the solution to their problems.

Problems that were just getting bigger.

Because the portal - There was a bright flash, a roar of energy and air and –

Looking at it, she could see things in there. Things that… weren’t in there anymore.

They were here…

The portal - it was open.

*****************

Kajun · **Posted:** Sun Dec 29, 2013 11:32 pm

Katharyn, Last two updates in one here: I’m glad that Buffy jumped in to back Tara up. It would be more of a liability if Willow wasn’t right by Tara’s side. The blonde would be worried to distraction. Not a good thing when there’s an entire world at stake and she’s in charge. Buffy gets it. Even if this was pre-Tara, the Slayer wouldn’t leave Willow behind. They are as close to being sisters as you can get without the shared DNA.

Hope has complete confidence in Faith. She’s been prisoner for quite a while with no sign of big sis but she hasn’t wavered in the belief that Faith will save her. They are more alike than different, it seems. Hope tells Glory what Faith will do to the Hell God, meanwhile, the dark Slayer is announcing to “everyone” the same intention. Ewwww.. But the only way Faith could accomplish that is to somehow strip Glory of her power to heal instantly. And.. ewwww. Just kill the crazy bitca!

I’m worried that Faith made a deal with Hades that involved sacrifice; a one for one swap. It explains her refusal to talk to Tara about it and her sudden trip to visit Paige. I know you love Faith but all this secrecy is making me paranoid!

Glory likes it here but is determined to return home. Maybe she thinks humans, witches and demons aren’t enough of a challenge for her. I mean.. come on.. who doesn’t love a bubble bath lit by extra flamey candles! Opening the portal could work against her since the two Gods that originally banished her will undoubtedly be waiting for her. But.. with Sunnydale luck they’d be like cops in an action movie and show up well AFTER the heroine (Tara! :grin

) saves the day.

While we wait for that magic moment.. Noooooooooo.. I can’t bear the thought of losing one of the dogs. That’s too much. Is it foolish to believe Diana’s injuries aren’t fatal? I hope she’s still alive and can find a way to continue helping Tara. At least one dog is still alive. This is very upsetting.

Tara’s talk with Faith must have done its job since she reached Hope first. Wherever the Slayers are, their sticking with the plan.. whatever that is!!! Tara needs to get Willow back to Glory and do a reverse brain suck. Willow might know how to close the portal. Someone better figure it out before they are overwhelmed with hell creatures. Ahhhhhh…

Katharyn · **Posted:** Tue Dec 31, 2013 3:36 am

Hey Kajun - Thanks!

To be honest about Willow/Annie and going with Tara it was all a mistake LOL. I brought in Annie there because I'd kind of forgotten to mention her for the longest time. Then I had a 'good' reason for her being there. Then I didn't want to deal with the logistics of having to go get Willow if Tara had a chance to get her noggin back together. So... Annie was in. Then she was out... This argument was all about resolving a writer created problem

Hope does have absolute faith in her sister (pun intended). The monks never gave her a memory where Faith let her down (if you choose to believe that is how it worked - or alternatively, in the reality that may have been created, Faith never did.) Strange, for that girl but... there it is. Don't be sure about what the 'only way' is... There are other ways

A deal with Hades DOES imply an exchange of some kind. Each gets something... And yes, you should probably read something into visiting Paige. Especially now, when all she wanted to do was get Glory...

I think it's true that Glory will miss the human world, for many of the reasons you said. In fact I think she could enjoy it a whole lot more than she has. Supervillain motivated by greed style. But I think over the years she's become obsessed, more and more so. She can't break the pattern of wanting to get home.

Dogs... Remember this is a PoV fic. Not everything can be seen. Like you have no idea what the Slayers are doing right now cos no one has looked at them...

One thing though, post-brain suck Willow won't be up to much. We won't be waiting for her to pull something out of the hat...

Thanks again and happy new year!

Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Tue Dec 31, 2013 10:33 pm

Happy New Year to all you readers. Last time I will need to say that while posting THIS fic.

Another year for TKB

And to celebrate, a post coming up... (not very festive but...)

Katharyn

Katharyn · **Posted:** Tue Dec 31, 2013 10:36 pm

Title: Tara and Willow – Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda – Chapter One Hundred and Sixty-Three
Author: Katharyn Rosser
Feedback: Absolutely, yes please. That’s why I write for this place, to engage in the discussion about the story.
Spoiler warning: Not sure why I am bothering, really, but Season 4 and Season 5 of BTVS.
Distribution: This story was written for Pens. Pens is its home. No archiving off Different Coloured Pens and the Kitten Board please. No conversion to eBook or other formats please. Enjoy it here.
Summary: Like it said at the end of the last part, the portal is open…
Disclaimer: I don’t own any of the copyrights or anything else associated with BTVS. All rights lie with the production company, writers etc. I am making no money from this series of stories however all original characters and situations remain my property. As this is a missing scenes and alternate reality fiction lots of scenes are new versions of those seen in the show, as such dialogue and situations are taken from the show. I’m sure you can tell which. All credit for those aspects goes to the original writers.
Rating: Occasional, tasteful, adult situations and contextual bad language. However by and large equivalent to the show.
Couples: Tara and Willow forever, that’s all I’m bothered about.
Text convention: Use of italics denotes either special emphasis if used for a single or a few words in a sentence OR first person thoughts if used for a whole sentence.
Notes: I debated whether the first scene in this part should – actually – have been at the end of Chapter 162. But in the end it seemed like a better cliff-hanger to just open the portal rather than end on the line that Faith comes out with at the end of the first section of this part (good as that is!) What this means is that the first and second scene of this chapter may appear slightly disjointed, because originally they’d have been split across two chapters. A slightly shorter part then, to end it in the right place for the next cliff-hanger…
I’ve already mentioned it – of course – but for all its strengths, I had issues with the end of S5 in terms of what the heck was going on and what the rules actually were (the rules actually seemed to be ‘whatever we pull out of our ass as writers works’ – I have sympathy for that but try not to do it myself.)
Logically it made very little sense to me. After everything, Dawn – and then Buffy – seemed to hold illogical roles in what Glory wanted. First of all – and I have referenced this before – there was NO ritual to govern how the key would be used because the key was a) unique and b) a person. Neither of which leads to rituals (with an implication of repetition.) No one had done this before!
But even if you accept that – and I have in this version – then the opening and closing of the gateway to Glory’s world made no sense to me either. It was just like someone said ‘we need a way to threaten the end of the world. Again. What can we do?’
So… a little of Dawn’s blood opens it? But all of Buffy’s is needed to close it? If just a little of Dawn’s anyway then… why grab her the way it was done. Take a pint of blood and it would’ve been done anyway.
I mean, am I missing something? Or rather ‘was I?’ Really, please tell me. I mean it. I want to know. It made no sense when the season aired and I’m rebelling against that now. So things have changed somewhat in how it’s being done, but I’ve tried to add in a little logic around ‘a bit of blood does this, but really slow and a lot of blood does that but much faster.’ At least I’m addressing that part… I may yet have to keep some of the S5 canon ideas though…
We’re, once again, switching point of view between Tara and Hope in this part. And I should note that I changed what Tara was doing during redraft, I think I caught all references but she doesn’t go straight back up the tower. Instead she has to get off for the tools and then get back to it (I had her go straight down and then up before) Apologies if I missed something. Just lets her – and thus you – see more of the battle though which is important now that the portal/rift thing is open.
Thanks to: Those who can – if I screwed up in my understanding of what I think are problems with canon – ignore what I did and go with this flow. Blame it on the fact Eddie is alive. That’s been a great catch-all.

Tara

Glory on her own had been bad enough, but what emerged from the portal was like nothing – and yet everything – she’d ever feared.

Dog and then man-sized creatures were first through from what had been the other side but now – very much – was this side.

Not really ‘through’ and more just… here.

Size was about the best matching description she could come up with. Whatever they were, they moved like hunting cats, with skin and eyes more like snakes. The larger were walking – almost – on two legs and covered with all sorts of natural weapons. Spurs, bones and teeth of course. Tough to avoid noticing the teeth.

Claws that looked like they could rend steel, let alone flesh. But at least these things were of a size that those blessed with martial coordination could take on and hope to deal with somehow. Faced with the new, greater, threat at least one Slayer, Olaf and some of the others turned away from the poor unfortunates who’d lost their mind to Glory and towards the creatures that called her their Goddess.

What choice did they have? Besides, some of the crazies were the very first to be cut down by the sprinting creatures. Cheetah fast – she imagined – two pounced at almost the same moment and tore down the nearest crazy people. They didn’t care if those people belonged to Glory.

Neither did Glory.

Willow could’ve been with them…

And she had to say; though there was a world full of those creatures out there, it might not have been so bad if that had been all that was over there.

But that wasn’t all.

It was far from all.

Through the portal – or what the portal had brought to a new definition of here - was like looking into another world – exactly like that – and beyond… She could see hills and rocks and strange suns and more of this stuff that was taking over this place already. And on those outcrops, more creatures. Others, taking to the air, flying towards the portal that had attracted their attention

Or maybe just heeding Glory’s call.

It seemed impossible they could stay in the air, those flying creatures, but the rules were different there. And they were changing over here as their world started to take over this one, half a parking lot at a time.

And if that had been it then maybe… It would’ve been bad, but it would’ve been – you know – doable. Maybe. With help, lots of help they didn’t have yet. But…

The bone-shaking roar that emerged from that gap between worlds was…

‘Terrible’ was too subtle a word.

Everything – everyone – froze. Humans. The mentally disturbed. Local minions and even the smaller creatures from the other side of the portal. It was some primordial reaction to the sound of pure darkness given voice. It was back there, down there – over there or wherever it was.

And it was huge.

Nothing small could ever make a sound like that. It wasn’t just about volume; it was about the acoustics that created the noise itself. Acoustics? Inside some creature, was that what she meant? Close enough when Willow wasn’t able to explain the science to her.

This was Sunnydale... That the – giant whatever it was - would break through eventually was almost a given. At least if what Hope had said was accurate. But once she’d managed to break free of the chilling mental paralysis the roar had held her in, she knew that winning this before it could come was critical.

Right now the portal was relatively small, a little over person sized as an opening – despite the much brighter area of energy around it.

It was getting bigger though.

That was what the girl had said; that it would grow. Fine, but it would grow faster with Hope’s blood. Let more through, quicker. Let that thing through.

And maybe all its friends.

Or it’s Momma.

She had to remind herself – It’s not a door. It’s the point one world unfolds over this one…

I have to get Hope – and her blood - away from the portal. No wider… we can’t hold it if it’s any wider than allowing one or two – small – creatures through at a time.

The warriors in their group, they were taking on the enemy – not letting them group as packs. Not letting them charge in and use their speed. Keeping them from using their advantages.

Two of those things had fallen already and no one on their side looked hurt.

Yet.

No one but the poor unfortunate people Glory had brainsucked.

There was a whole world of those creatires though. And worse…

But where were those tools she needed to free Hope? She’d been sure she’d seen some on the way up the scaffold and now… Where were they?

She was almost back at the bottom of the superstructure now; looking for something that would release the girl without hurting her more badly than she already was. Willow was minutes away from her, the time it would take to get back up there. And she had other things to worry about.

Despite knocking Glory off her feet – literally out of her shoes as they were just sat there – the Hell God wasn’t out of the fight or even, seemingly, hurt. And Olaf had been – unwillingly – re-tasked from fighting her. Instead of advancing towards Glory, who was hunting him down too, he was making for a vaguely draconic looking creature that had just clawed it’s way from the portal using the great claws at the tips of it’s wings to drag itself through the too small opening.

Dragons?

They had dragons now? That was in no way fair…

And it looked every bit as bad as she might have feared. It wasn’t designed for the rules of this world; it looked every bit as comfortable on the ground as it would in the air. Teeth. Lots of teeth.

Glory ran a hand down the creature’s flank, almost tenderly, as she passed it and it cooed at her before resuming it’s snarls. This was something from her place and then… there was a little of her place, right here in Sunnydale. Like a small stone dropped into a pond, there was a ripple and the other side replaced what had previously been here. Asphalt, concrete and stone just vanished, replaced by rocky outcrops that looked like they were covered with strange growths. The stench of sulphur filled the air around it and –

The great creature – the one that had roared - was that much closer. The gap, the way from the other world was bigger. Not big enough but… Then – from the other side – the gap was obscured. Some vast and huge crossed the opposite side, far too big to go by in a flash for all the speed it was going until it hesitated and a vast eye looked through at them…

And there was another stiffening roar. She was quicker – they were all quicker – to recover this time. But they’d all been stopped again and it got one of the women from the Wicca Group killed. Tara didn’t know her name, but the girl was snatched up on the wingtip claws, impaled and almost thrown up into the air before being tossed aside.

Olaf reached it too late to save her, going into battle with the small dragon – small because she was convinced that it’s larger cousin was what was prowling on the other side - smashing it with his hammer left and then right, smashing it in the head. But before Glory could interfere with his battle, enraged by his impudence, the two Slayers had stepped into her way.

Looking past her, she met Faith’s eyes. She tried to say that she’d found Hope and – as she picked up the hammer and screwdriver, she gestured upwards. Would Faith understand? Hopefully. A nod that meant… what?

They ought to have worked on hand signals, but somehow her mouth wouldn’t work. It was all dry and anything she tried to say was – Just up. Hope was up there and she was going for her.

Now.

“I told everyone,” she heard Faith say to Glory as she started upwards. “When I came up against you, I was going to rip your tits off.”

---------------

Hope

Willow’s reaction to the roar of... well, whatever it was, was absolute terror.

Her own… probably having to be the one to comfort the wailing young woman helped her keep a hold of herself. A lot to do as best she could with one hand. The other still pinned – still dropping with blood where Tara’s attempts to keep it from flowing as fast had just soaked through the piece of shirt and diverted some of it.

She’d been watching it, one drip after another. And that just made it worse than the certain knowledge there was a steady trickle being carried down into the portal beneath them.

One good thing, the roar – and Willow needing her - had woken her up. Her heart was pounding. Maybe that was bad for the blood flow, but it was good for her alertness.

At least for now.

Despite how sleepy she’d been feeling – that was the blood loss – it had alerted her and that was what she needed right now.

One of the things she needed.

The other main thing she needed was Tara to come back. Where could she be? She’d gone looking for tools to get her free and – she’d been gone for what seemed like ages.

Maybe it had just been a few minutes.

They needed to get off here, they needed to stop her bleeding into this funnel because – sure as anything – what was currently over there would end up over here if it continued. Glory had said that was inevitable anyway, but more blood equalled a bigger hole… Everything would go faster. And it if had just been the existence of the portal, if it had just needed a pinprick of blood, then Glory wouldn’t have left her here. Still dripping her life away.

That meant they had a chance to stop this, right? If they could get her arm free of this damned… She pulled at it, hurting herself again. Maybe she should’ve learned about that by now.

Willow stroked her in return when she cried out in pain, but then the scaffold shuddered as there was a wave of… She couldn’t think what to call it than ‘otherness’. Different and yet – somehow familiar – maybe to the key part of her.

The Key… it was what she was. She could feel this was her purpose. But it didn’t mean that she wasn’t Hope Lehane too. With everything that meant.

Faith would kill her if she died here.

The wave just rolled outwards from the portal and… more of what was there was suddenly here. This was why this platform was, well, a platform? So that it was above the level of the things that were changing?

At least for now.

So that her blood could continue to drop, trickle and run down into the portal.

Seemed like... Glory really wasn’t going home, was she? Home really was coming here. Wiping out everything that had been here before. It seemed like it could take a very long time to complete the process, but it’d go faster the more of her blood that they had.

Was there anything that could be done? Even now? If it all stopped right now, a single drop had been enough but far too slow for Glory’s impatience. The end result would be the same though...

The world ends because of me? My guidance counsellor will be so proud…

And the only thing I can do to help is… “Willow, stay with me.” She hugged the girl to her. “They’re coming…”

Right? They were coming.

They had to be.

---------------------

Tara

She could only tell what was going on from certain points of her climb – the superstructure and the newly imported landscape blocked her – but from what she could see, this time the battle with Glory was a little different to what had gone before. Both Buffy and Faith were fighting the Hell God (or maybe just God now since Hell was coming here) and they were really, truly, together. Even in her anger and urgency to get to Hope, Faith was keeping enough of a lid on it that it didn’t all have to be Buffy compromising her own fighting style to work with her counterpart.

They were working as a proper team. Necessity, perhaps, but that didn’t matter. It was everything she, Giles or even Bruce Lee could’ve wanted.

The pair of them were almost dancing around the Hell God, handing off one to the other as they needed a break from combating her or maybe just to confuse her instead. Keeping her off balance. Even she could see and agree with the assertion that had been made after the last fight - Glory wasn’t really a warrior.

She was just used to being the biggest badass in the room.

Strong? Sure. Fast? Definitely. But not an experienced or clever fighter by any means. Both of the Slayers were – technically – much better than Glory. The problem – as before – was that nothing they did seemed to have much effect on her – at least not for more than a few seconds.

Yes, this time they were keeping her off balance and never quite sure where the next blow was coming from but that was making Glory angrier and wilder rather than actually hurting her. Let alone impairing her ability to fight and that couldn’t continue forever. Not only would even Slayers get tired, but also – eventually – Glory would land a few lucky blows and the advantage Faith and Buffy had would disappear in a world of pain and disability.

Every time she rounded the superstructure, losing sight of them, she was just so afraid that the next time she saw them one or both might’ve been taken down by Glory.

And even if that didn’t happen they might not have much time anyway, because meanwhile the growth of the other side was… well, it was growing. The landscape they were fighting on wasn’t the parking lot this had started out as. No more painted white lines. No more asphalt. While that might not make a difference, the eventual emergence of whatever it was that had roared like that put a definite – but unknowable – time limit on this.

None of them wanted to be here then. Slayers couldn’t fight something like that. Maybe nothing could.

And more and more things from the other side were coming through, some of them darting off into Sunnydale while others attacked their friends.

‘Everyone’ was looking less than it had been. Those were their friends who were falling. People who’d come here to help and…

Looking around when she next had the chance, Tara could see that Olaf and some of the others were fighting off what was already coming through from that other reality that was taking over this one, but the main battle was now with Glory herself. The Slayers had all four of their eyes on her and nothing else. They couldn’t afford to split their attention. Olaf would just have to lead the line as he had been doing.

But that hadn’t been the plan. They’d assumed they could focus, that everyone would – after getting to her – just have to worry about Glory. Now…

Around Olaf some of the humans who were on their side had fallen and the nuns (apart from Charity who’d been off in a fight somewhere last time Tara had seen her) had come and recovered them, dragging them off somewhere they hoped would be safe – at least for a little while. Dead? Probably. Some of them. These creatures from the other side were… they seemed built to kill. Ripping and tearing, living weapons…

They had some weapons of their own though.

She hadn’t seen it, but she could see the outcome. The troll’s hammer had already taken down one of the dragon-type creatures and left it slumped over the car that’d been crushed when it finally collapsed.

It’d probably been a mighty battle – one worthy of whatever ale and wenches she could find for him - and yet it was nothing compared to what was still trapped by size on the other side. At least that was the way it sounded.

Maybe that wasn’t even the biggest of them, just the one that happened to be closest to the portal. Size wasn’t everything, but if Olaf had struggled to take one, small dragon down, what happened when all the rest found themselves here?

Let alone the big ones…

She knew that she had to get back to Hope and Willow with the tools to free the girl – and hopefully limit the portal - but picking a route through the battles was a tricky exercise. Glory and the Slayers were so fluid, going wherever the fight took them that picking a moment to try and get past them was an almost impossible task. She didn’t imagine her friends would let Glory come after her, but it might not be their decision. The Hell God could probably just ignore them and come for her. It wouldn’t take more than a couple of moments.

She’d just be a momentary inconvenience. Story of most of my life, really. Faith was her friend but only Willow had never, ever seen her that way.

Getting back up there though might be the only way to slow the growth of the portal and to keep what was over there from being over here. She knew she had to try. For all of them…

And…

Then she noticed Diana wasn’t dead. She was still moving, just barely.

Diana might not be a Goddess, but she was a powerful witch and Tara at the same moment she noticed the movement she felt the peculiar tickle of her magic beginning to be raised. The woman was lying beneath the superstructure she was headed for, well within what was now another place. The Hell dimension. One of the dogs, Callisto, remained by her side even now. Wounded. Limping.

Where was Jupiter?

And what was she doing? The spells so far had done exactly… nothing. Glory had shrugged them off like they weren’t even there. Maybe she should’ve tried a teleport spell, but – it seemed like, right now, they needed to know where Glory was and they knew that – even leaving her sixty thousand feet up without a parachute – wouldn’t stop her.

The portal would still be here, the world would still be unravelling. Killing Glory wasn’t enough anymore.

And whatever this new spell Diana was doing was, it didn’t seem to have interrupted the flow of the battle that was taking place – either of them actually. For a moment she considered doing something else but – no. She knew what she had to do.

Maybe the nuns would come for her. Maybe… But she couldn’t be the one to break off to help Diana. She had to get back up the tower…

Climbing up as fast as she could – much easier for a girl who’d grown up playing hide and seek in a barn when she didn’t have to worry about Willow - Tara reached the top of the platform to find Hope hugging Willow to her with one arm while the other was awkwardly still entrapped in the device that was bleeding her.

“Tara! Where’ve you been!?” Fear and pain made Hope tetchy and that was completely understandable. But look at her, holding Willow to her. If she hadn’t been the Key…

I’d have done all this for her anyway. Of course, I wouldn’t have needed to, but I would.

“I’m sorry, honey,” she said. “I came as fast as I could. Look.” She held up the hammer and screwdriver. It was going to have to do as far as a toolkit went.

“Come on! Get me out of here, Tara. Please! You know what – if I stay here then the portal – it’ll - ”

Not that she’d die. Not that she was hurt and in pain. No, she was worried about the bigger picture. What it meant for everyone else. Maybe that was part of being the Key, maybe it was just the girl that the monks had made.

Maybe the best of them, when she grew up.

“It’s the only thing on my mind,” she said, but knew she was lying. Probably Hope knew that as well. Faith and Buffy were fighting a Hell God. The world was unravelling before their eyes and there was Willow too. Always Willow. Those were all on her mind too.

But all of them were helped by freeing the girl as soon as she could.

“Thank you,” she said as she worked at the device, “thank you for holding onto her.”

“It wasn’t like I was going anywhere,” Hope joked grimly. Another ripple and more of the other side was here but she didn’t need to look up to see it… She could just feel it. The world from over there was hotter, the air was thicker and everything was heavier. “Come on!”

Inserting the shaft of the screwdriver into the binding, she tried to twist and pull. Once or twice it seemed like she probably caught Hope too as the girl grimaced, but she didn’t complain or ask her to stop. This was the price of getting out of here. It didn’t even look like there was a place for a key. The binding wasn’t intended to be opened up again.

Hope was the only Key that was needed.

“You know,” Hope said, forcing herself to joke through the pain. It was probably a way of coping. “Willow would probably love you to get a tool belt.”

That’s right, honey. Keep your mind off what’s happening. She played along because what else was she going to do? “Told you that, did she?”

“Why? Didn’t she tell you?”

“Willow doesn’t like to seem like she’s complaining or ungrateful for what she’s got,” Tara revealed, looking at the (largely) innocent eyes of her girl while she levered the bindings, giving them a tap with the hammer experimentally.

Then she tried looking for parts that might be loose and adjusted the screwdriver, trying to get it into the spot she’d decided would give her the leverage without hurting Hope and potentially making her bleed even more.

That’d be a price they might have to pay though, a little more blood in exchange for stopping it getting to the rift below.

“Sorry, honey,” she said as Hope winced again.

“No, it’s – it’s okay. Just get it off. I – I don’t know how long I can last in this thing – until it roared, I was – it was getting dark. You know?”

Tara nodded, worried about that now too. Just how much blood had Hope lost? How much blood could someone lose? She’d looked really pale when she first got up here.

The piece of her shirt that she’d used to try and slow the flow of blood was soaked through, but wasn’t actually binding the wound. Just preventing some of the blood – once released – from dribbling down into the funnel that carried it to the portal below them. That was all it had achieved. It wasn’t helping Hope at all.

Maybe it hadn’t done anything to slow the portal’s growth either.

“Push here,” she said, realising that Hope would let Willow go to do that. But what choice did they have? They had to get her out of this and two hands weren’t enough.

Willow, released, threatened to stray when Hope let her go but Tara gave her a look and quieted her down right away. It wasn’t always that easy, but this time…

Now. “One. Two. Three…”

There was nothing at all that was mystical about the platform or the manacle that was cruelly holding Hope there. Externally, it was just metal. Crudely made and not well finished. With a little extra work, maybe it would’ve stood up to their combined strength.

As it was, it sprang open with a clang that shocked Willow so much she fell backwards towards the opening down to the portal, only for Hope to grab her, crying out in pain when all that was still holding her to her previous position were the – Oh God, she has spikes right through her wrist.

Of course she’d known there was a wound and she’d kind of taken in what Hope had been saying. But – she hadn’t expected this. She could see it, poking clean through from bottom to top…

And - if anything – Hope had been made more uncomfortable. But it wasn’t comfort that concerned either of them.

First she snatched at Willow, pulling her firmly back without any comforting words and hating herself for making her girl cry. And then for snapping at her, the tone of voice more important than the words. “No. Stay here.” She locked eyes with Willow for a long moment, hoping for some sign of understanding like she’d thought she’d had before.

But even if Willow didn’t understand, she stayed where she’d been put without struggling. At least for now. That’d have to do.

“Good girl,” she said, running her hand across her lover’s cheek. When Willow tipped her head towards it, she could believe – for a moment – that… But no.

“Let me see,” she said, turning to Hope instead.

Hope was staring at what had been done to her, as if the pain had been abstract before. Disconnected from the reality. And yes, now she could see it, Hope looked like she was about to barf. Already pale – from the blood loss – now she was turning a shade of green too.

“It’s okay,” she said, feeling like she might do the same thing. Talking could help though. Talking could help, and the tone she was using would help keep Willow calm. She reacted to moods and emotions now more than what was actually said. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

“What if she comes?” Hope asked. “SHIT!”

“Sorry,” Tara apologised and stopped her experimentation with the wound. But just for a moment. The blood was flowing freely, straight into the funnel beneath that was collecting it and powering the opening of a portal to another world. “There’s not going to be any easy way to do this.”

“What if she comes?” Hope repeated. “I – you – can anyone stop her?”

“I don’t know, but your sister’s trying…”

Trouble was, the plan hadn’t survived contact with the enemy.

***************

Kajun · **Posted:** Wed Jan 01, 2014 10:45 pm

Katharyn, I like your explanation for why the platform was built so high. Your Hell God isn’t grand-standing, even though it is a grand place for the key to stand. Canon didn’t really make sense beyond Glory showing off and really.. why would she care? It’s not as if she felt the need to impress anyone. Of course, as you’ve pointed out, much of that whole arc didn’t make much sense. LOL I like what you’ve done here: Glory intentionally controlling the pace of the portal’s opening, would require the key to be well out of reach of the encroaching alternate landscape. It makes me wonder if she wanted to keep an eye on what came thru so she could quickly dispose of any undesirable creatures.. or a couple former pals.

Diana is still alive!!!! Oh no.. Wiccans are dying.. Dragons! Oh no.. they like Glory. Back and forth this goes. Am I on a roller-coaster or a tilt-a-whirl? LOL

My guess on what spell Diana might be working? The light manipulation spell Tara used to help Faith beat on Glory. If nothing else, the Super-Witch can prevent Glory from seeing what Tara is up to. Buy her enough time to get Hope and Willow off the platform. You probably have something cooler in mind though so.. yeah, I know, I know.. I'll just have to wait a few days to find out.

Giles was so wrong about wanting to keep Willow somewhere else. She isn’t aware of it, but her presence is doing wonders for Hope. And for Tara. So Hope is free but her blood is still flowing. She could sure use something really hot to cauterize the wounds. Hmmm.. fire-breathing dragons. Maybe Tara can communicate with one like she did the horses? Wouldn’t that piss off the Hell God for one of her “pets” to work for the white hats!

You’ve certainly rung in the New Year with a.. a.. a loud, scary roar from a Hell Dimension. Awesome! I guess you’re already into day two of 2014 but I’ve still got a few minutes of day one on my side of the pond so.. HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Kitten, the Witches and the Bad Wardrobe - Willow & Tara Forever

Coulda. Woulda. Shoulda - Chapter 176 - 01/27/14 - COMPLETE

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