[center]
6. “And I Think I’m Kind Of Gay.”[/center]
Xander felt as though the breath was being forced out of him. The arms that were wrapped around him seemed intent on imprisoning him permanently. It had been a long time since Willow Rosenberg had hugged him like that; of course it had been a long time since there was a Willow Rosenberg like this one.
Rosenberg finally released Xander and backed away blushing. He must be as weirded out as the others. It was just that when he walked in he had seemed unchanged. The same Xander she had always known.
“So I’m guessing Buffy wasn’t having a nervous breakdown after all. Her message on the answering machine was pretty wacky, but accurate.”
Rosenberg summoned up a smile, “Well that’s Sunnydale for you, which is how I’m trying to cope with this, including Buffy having a sister my age.”
“Oh so they’ve explained about Dawn and Tara?”
“That she’s my friend from college, yes I’ve explained about that.” Xander nodded at Willow’s hasty interruption, usually Willow was very open about her relationship with Tara, Xander could see though that their time traveller was on edge despite her best efforts to pretend otherwise, she probably didn’t need to hear anymore right now. Xander decided not to bring her up to speed on Anya, and definitely not to mention Cordelia.
Willow felt bad about referring to Tara as a friend, it was just wrong. She glanced at her lover and got a reassuring smile in return. Tara understood,
but she shouldn’t have to, Willow thought, whatever might have changed in her life she hadn’t suddenly woke up one day and decided to be gay, it was part of who she was, so why hadn’t she always known that? Unconsciously her hand moved towards Tara, seeking the comfort of her touch.
Rosenberg was discussing old times with Xander, she caught the gesture out of the corner of her eye, it seemed warm and a little bit too bold to Rosenberg’s eyes, it was kind of…
…gay. Rosenberg blinked as the flash passed, and so her older self was slumped in the chair looking dizzy and confused. Tara was leaning over looking distraught.
“Baby are you ok?” She was stroking Willow’s hair.
Only Dawn seemed to pay any attention to Rosenberg, “Are you ok?”
“I had another flash, I saw something, remembered something that hasn’t happened, like before, I saw a vampire me, and trying to move a soda machine with magic.” Rosenberg was babbling somewhat as she tried to process her emotions.
Tara focused on her, “You’ve had a lot of these?”
“Three or four.”
“The same as the number of these attacks Willow, our Willow has had. Each time she seems to experience a piece of her past, and you get a flash of the future, what was it this time?” Tara wasn’t being very friendly, but she was on the brink of panic.
Rosenberg shook her head “Nothing, nothing important.” Tara wasn’t really interested, she was more concerned with the why and how.
“You’re linked together, the two of you are connected.” She was talking as much to herself as to any of the others.
Rosenberg was grateful to be ignored at that moment, the memory flash had been vivid, and even if it had left any room for doubt the way Tara had moved to protect Willow would have dispelled it. The emotion in the flash was clear and indisputable; she was in love with Tara McClay.
“God doesn’t anyone ever clean down here?” Buffy tired to dust off her hands but that simply raised a cloud that stung her eyes and made her sneeze.
“That’s a matter of some dispute.”
“What kind of dispute?”
“Anya believes we should hire someone to do it, I maintain that I already have.”
Buffy pulled a box out of the way and a spider scurried away into the gloom, she restrained her desire to shriek, “Didn’t you used to have a system for storing this stuff.”
“Indeed I did, however as someone was always telling me that ‘I should loosen up’ I finally decided to take their advice.” He smiled slightly as he spoke.
Buffy knew that he was covering. When the Watchers Council had set up their nasty little test and Giles refused to play ball they had dismissed him on the spot, no warning, no appeals, years of service counted for nothing. He had pretty much buried everything to do with them. Hardly surprising then that keeping track of what went in what box hadn’t been a big priority. Buffy gingerly opened another cardboard box and examined the spines of the books it contained; She pulled one and waved it at Giles.
“Is this the one you want?”
Old habits died hard and Giles winced at Buffy’s treatment of the journal. He took it from her and leafed through the pages.
“I think so, yes this would seem to be the right period, now, lets see, yes I think this it.”
Buffy looked over his shoulder and read the entry he was pointing at:
It appears that once again Buffy’s insistence on including her friends in her calling has led to near disaster.“Hey.” Buffy was indignant
“That was four years ago, and if you read on…”
What was supposed to be the straight forward slaying of a newly risen vampire became, almost inevitably a vastly more complicated affair. Willow Rosenberg encountered a demon that entered the graveyard to perform some sort of ritual and was interrupted. From Willows description I concluded that the demon was a Kelkefra, rare indeed and probably attempting to return to its own dimension.Giles closed the book and pulled his glasses off, gnawing on the stem as he tried to recall something that hovered in the back of his mind.
“A Kelkefra?” Buffy frowned.
“A hunter demon, highly attuned senses, but physically quite weak, they overcame that by absorbing parts from their victims, only someone powerful and unscrupulous would dare summon one.”
Buffy gestured for him to stop, “Actually I wasn’t asking for details, I remember that name, and I get serious déjà vu about that description, you’ve told me about it before.”
Giles nodded, and finally he pinned down that fugitive memory, “Buffy which box did you find this volume in?” Buffy turned and dragged the box back out.
Giles dived into the dusty recesses and found what he was looking for a small cloth bag from which he extracted a blue crystal egg. It had a long crack in it, the edges of which were blackened and charred.
“We have to get back to the house.” He announced.
“I take it you’ve figured something out?”
“Yes and as usual things are far worse than we suspected.”
[center]
7. “You Have To Be With The Person You Love”[/center]
Tara had abandoned the couch to let Willow lie down; her girlfriend refused to go back upstairs until Giles and Buffy checked back in, so they had compromised and Willow was stretched out while Tara fussed over her, which Willow was enjoying despite herself.
“Do you want another pillow?”
“No I’m comfy, a soda would be good though.” Willow smiled, she was teasing Tara, but she fully intended to make it up to her later, when they went to bed.
“Ok I’ll go get one.” Tara’s tone of exasperation was undermined by the grin on her face.
Willow watched Tara leave the room and smiled as she enjoyed the view. Rosenberg watched Willow, and as she did so Rosenberg saw what the real difference between the two of them was, “You’re happy aren’t you?”
Willow had practically forgotten her other self was there. Rosenberg looked anxious, and wasn’t that how she always used to look? Afraid that she would slip up, that she would say something and her friends would turn her back on her, “Yes I am. Things have changed.” Right, it’s been four years, dumb thing to say. “I mean every day isn’t sunshine and roses, but a lot of things have changed for the better. You know when we fix this you need to try and relax more.”
“Relax?” Rosenberg was startled, was that really her speaking.
“Like I say things get better. They change. You meet new people.” Willow stopped; she didn’t want to tell her younger version too much. She just wanted to make her understand that there was something, someone, out there for her.
“People like Tara?” Rosenberg’s question was pointed.
“Yes, exactly, new friends like Tara.” Willow prevaricated.
“I think I could do with a drink as well.” Rosenberg suddenly announced and walked into the kitchen and leaving Willow frowning.
The fridge was actually well stocked for once; Dawn hadn’t had a chance to decimate it since they last went to the market. She heard the kitchen door close behind her and saw Rosenberg standing there. Tara offered her a soda,
“Was this always your favourite? Peoples tastes change over the years.”
Rosenberg nodded and took the drink, she was still standing in front of the door, blocking Tara’s exit. Tara could see that something was wrong, that last flash that the younger Willow had experienced, it obviously had troubled her more than she wanted to admit.
“Willow is there something wrong? Did you see something bad? You can tell me about it you know, I’m a good listener.” She smiled encouragingly, but Rosenberg’s face was still grim.
“Why?” She finally asked.
“Why what?”
“Why can I tell you? Why is it you want to hear it?”
“Well we are friends, maybe not yet, but we will be.”
“We’ll be friends?”
“Yes of course we will.”
“Friends who would say something like; it makes me proud, it makes me love you more?”
Tara knew those words by heart; they had lifted her soul from a place of dread and uncertainty, now they were being flung at her like an accusation.
“Do you love her?” Rosenberg demanded.
With no need for further prevarication Tara nodded, “Yes, she’s the most important thing in the world to me.”
“I see.” Rosenberg’s tone was distracted and more than a little harsh.
“I’m sorry if that upsets you, but if you think I’m going to say sorry for who we are...” Tara turned away; she could feel tears welling up. This girl might never have met her till today but she was still Willow and hearing words of rejection coming from her cut her to the core.
Tara didn’t see the look of horror that came over Rosenberg’s face. The girl had been angry, not with Tara however. After the flash Rosenberg had watched Tara intently as she tended to the older version of herself, she had looked and she had seen a glimpse of what the older her saw. The feelings that went along with the flash of memory had resonated with something inside her. It was a like a difficult math problem that you stared at for ages and then suddenly you saw the answer. Tara McClay was the answer to a question Rosenberg hadn’t even realised she was asking. Her anger wasn’t directed at Tara, it was aimed at herself, and all her questions had come from her wondering if there really could be someone who loved her that completely.
Rosenberg was about to explain that to Tara, to reach out and explain when the back door exploded. The trail had taken Kresk longer to follow than he had expected, it crossed and doubled back on itself in a very strange way, eventually though the trail had converged here, and now the human was standing before him looking suitably afraid. Tara had become somewhat used to things trying to break into the Summers house so she reacted quickly. With a few syllables a bright blue point of light sailed from her hand towards Kresk, The demon dodged and the light disintegrated against the fridge in a shower of sparks. Kresk knocked Tara aside and grabbed the petrified Rosenberg and slung her over his shoulder, eliciting a shriek as he did so. Xander and Willow entered the kitchen right on the end of that cry. Xander grabbed a knife from the worktop and advanced, receiving a back heeled kick that knocked him into the doorframe and left him breathless. Willow geared up to unleash a spell that would reduce the demon to Jell-O, before she could so much as wave her hand she practically blacked out, the dizzy spells had left her weaker than she realised and the spell had overloaded her. Rosenberg looked at her would be rescuers strewn around the kitchen as the demon swept out the broken back door, she was slightly amazed that her day was still getting worse.
Buffy examined the back door, luckily the damage didn’t look too major and the same could be said about her friends. Xander was applying a towel with a couple of ice cubes in it to the back of his head which had been supplied by a solicitous Dawn who appeared to have ended up looking after everyone else. Willow looked a little pale and drained, and Tara had acquired a couple of bruises. Like the door it was nothing that couldn’t be repaired. Giles had been interrogating the hapless trio and looked very unhappy.
“It was a Kelkefra, and given their rarity I would say it was the Kelkefra.”
“I’m guessing it wasn’t just a coincidence that it arrived here now.” Buffy surmised.
“No I suspect that it arrived by the same means as the other Willow, this means.” He produced the bag that contained the crystal and carefully emptied it on to the table.”
Willow frowned as she looked at it, “That looks kind of familiar.”
“I’m not surprised, you gave it to me. It’s a tuning crystal, a means of travelling from one dimension to another.”
“Like the Key?” Dawn looked at the crystal rather warily.
Giles shook his head, “No this would merely allow you to use a doorway that already exists. Used correctly it puts you slightly out of alignment with our universe and allows you to perceive and use a weak spot in the fabric of the multiverse to enter a different one.” He could see they weren’t quite following, “The Key would demolish all the walls that separate realities; this crystal will simply let you find an existing gateway between two of them.”
Buffy looked at the crack in the crystal and ran a finger along it, “What happens if you don’t use it properly?”
“Well then you would be shoved back into our dimension, though not necessarily in the same place or time you left it.” Buffy had guessed where Giles was going, the others looked like they were having a harder time grasping it.
Xander sat upright in his chair, and winced in pain, “Are you saying this thing doesn’t copy or split things?”
“No, it is purely a means of transportation.”
“So the other Willow…”
“Is the one and only Willow, our Willow merely arrived here from an earlier point in time.”
Xander’s headache was getting worse, “Oh man and she’s been getting these flashes.”
This was something that Buffy’s friends hadn’t brought up, “Flashes?”
“My dizzy spells? Well each time I get one our the other Willow gets a glimpse of the future.” Willow explained.
“Anything major?” Buffy asked while trying to recall the details of her conversation with the time travelling Willow.
“I’m not sure.”
“She knows about us.” Tara blurted out.
“She knows?” Willow looked hesitantly at Tara, trying to read her emotions.
“She knows I’m your girlfriend.” Willow decided that Tara looked troubled and guessed that her younger self had not taken things well.
Any further exploration was cut off by Giles, “Regardless of what she may know about her future, our priority must be finding her and getting her back where she belongs. If we don’t that would create a paradox.”
“Not a good thing?” Buffy wondered.
“Well since it could conceivably cause the universes to implode, I would say definitely not.”
[center]
8. “Not The Scary Kind, Just A Demon”[/center]
Rosenberg wondered if this had occupied a lot of the last four years, being trapped in dingy rooms and threatened by demons? She decided that she could live without knowing the answer to that. Whether from shock or fear or possibly a blow to the head she had blacked out after abduction. Rosenberg had simply awakened to find herself in a seated position with her hands tied behind a wooden post.
Kresk decided that the human had fretted long enough; it was time to get back his property. Drawing himself to his full height so that he towered over the bound girl he demanded,
"Where is the crystal?"
"Crystal?"
Kresk slammed his fist against the post "Don't toy with me! The ritual crystal, the one you saw me with!"
Rosenberg was panicked, "How should I know? It's been so long."
That wasn't an answer Kresk had been expecting, or had in fact even considered. As Kresk stared at her Rosenberg realised that the demon was unaware of exactly where and when it was. She wasn't happy being the one to explain, but...
"It wasn't last night, it was four years ago. Your crystal did something to us."
Kresk didn't respond immediately, he wasn't entirely familiar with earth time scales so it took him a few moments to do the conversion to his own. When he did he screamed. It was a blood curdling sound and Rosenberg frantically tried to calm the beast.
"I know it's freaky, but I lost four years as well. So we have something in common."
"Four years?" Kresk spat the words out. "I came here for two days, in my world that would be a month, four years on your world would be…”
“Over fifty years.” Rosenberg’s brain couldn’t help doing the math.
“A lifetime!” Kresk knew that everything would be gone, his dwelling, his collection, everything sold off. He was ruined and doubtless forgotten. He turned towards Rosenberg, and even though his face was so alien she could tell what it was planning.
“You better not hurt me because if you do my friends will…”
“I owe you pain!” With a gesture lightning arced out and wiped the smile of off the mad gods face.>“…Kick your ass!” Rosenberg finished with a lot more conviction than she had started. Kresk hesitated, he hadn’t been impressed earlier, but there was something in Rosenberg’s eyes. He decided that a hostage might come in handy after all.
Once in a while you come across a restaurant that’s a true gem. Good food, reasonable prices and still you can always book a table. It’s the kind of place you try to keep to yourself, sooner or later though you take along a friend, and they tell their friends and pretty soon it would be bursting at the seams and the prices would go through the roof. Naturally after awhile people begin to wonder what they saw in it in the first place and then no one wants to go near the place and it goes belly up. Willy’s bar was beginning to look like one of those restaurants. For the longest time it had been the favoured haunt of the undead, the place where they could go to just hang out, get a drink and swap stories. Then Angel started using it as a source of info, and Buffy, and Xander, and Riley Finn. Not surprisingly the demons had gotten sick and tired of it, the bar was almost deserted and the few demons who were in there sat in the corners stonily silent and nursing their drinks.
Buffy emerged back onto the street no wiser than when she went in, Giles had turned up precious little on the habits of Kelkefra demons so she had been forced to fallback on other resources. Willy had been adamant that neither he nor any of his customers had seen anything of the creature, and Buffy had been reluctantly inclined to believe them.
“Dropped in for a quick one did we?” The smug English voice brought Buffy to a halt; she had been so hoping to avoid having to speak with Spike.
“It was strictly a fact finding mission.” Buffy explained.
Spike moved closer and leant against the wall bare inches from Buffy, “And did we find any?”
“No I didn’t,” She hesitated, she couldn’t allow any stone to go unturned though, “I’m looking for a Kelkefra demon.”
“A Kelkefra, now you don’t see them about much.”
“Well have you seen one lately?”
“Can’t say that I have, whose it come after?”
“What makes you think it’s after anyone?”
“Only reason for a Kelkefra to be here is if it’s after someone.” Buffy sighed; reluctantly she filled in the details.
Spike wasn’t terribly surprised by her description; it wasn’t out of the question in Sunnydale. He could see that Buffy was worried, Willow was her best friend and she had treated him decently long before the Slayer had been prepared to give him the time of day.
“I could come along and help you search.” He offered, a little too eagerly.
“Thanks but I can crawl through sewers just fine by myself.” She turned to walk away, and Spike shrugged and decided that the best he could hope for was some brownie points,
“You won’t find a Kelkefra in any sewer, they like to be somewhere high, a nice tower or some such.”
Buffy looked back over her shoulder and rewarded him with a small smile, “Thanks.” There weren’t many places in Sunnydale that fitted that description. She could think of one though. She started away again, and again Spike spoke up, “You could come back later, if you don’t fancy a drink we could have a round of cards.”
“I’m afraid I’m all out of small furry animals to put up a stake.”
“Doesn’t have to be for Kittens, we could play for cash, matchsticks, clothing.” Buffy snorted and shook her head as she walked away into the night. Once she would have given Spike a smack in the mouth for that crack; she wondered why she didn’t now.
Willow felt a wave of dizziness break around her, but all she felt was the fact of it, not its effects. Tara noticed her moment of distraction, “Are you holding up ok?”
“I’m fine, I just know that the other me is still ok.” Tara hadn’t been happy about casting the ‘pick me up’ spell on Willow, but her lover had been insistent. Willow simply wasn’t prepared to sit around the house and wait to go poof if something bad happened to the younger her. If Buffy was going to go out searching then so was she. Xander had gone to fetch his tools and patch up the back door, Giles was going to watch over Dawn, and she was going to accompany Tara while they prowled the streets trying to find the demon and her other self. So far they hadn’t had any luck. They needed to try something more active. A locator spell was out; it would simply get confused with two identical people to sort out. There might be another way though.
“You aren’t getting any sense of where she might be?” Willow asked.
“Sorry, unless we get close to her I don’t think I’ll be able to sense her.”
“Maybe we could use some sort of affinity spell drawing like to like.” She suggested. Tara’s mood darkened again,
“I don’t like the idea of casting another spell on you, that vitality spell is pretty major.”
“I don’t see a choice baby, we have to find her before the universe folds up on itself.” That was something Tara couldn’t argue with.
As Tara rummaged through her shoulder bag looking for the elements to execute the spell Willow took the opportunity to ask a question that had been bothering her since they left the house.
“When the other me found out about us, how did she take it?”
“Well honey she had a lot of stuff to process and it was sort of a big shock.”
“You mean she was freaked by it.” That was what Willow had been afraid of; she had seen that Tara looked a little down since that confrontation in the kitchen. Willow took her hand,
“Baby I’m sorry. You have to understand back then I was so worried about doing what I was told, being who I was expected to be, I never stopped to think about who I actually was.” She emphasised the point by kissing Tara gently.
“I understand, and I think she turned out pretty ok.” Tara murmured after Willow ended the kiss.
“Thanks, we just need to find her now.” Tara nodded and began the spell.
[center]
9. “Can’t We Just Skip It?”[/center]
The old bell tower had been undergoing renovations for quite a while. The process had been slowed down by a breakdown in funding after the still unexplained disappearance of Mayor Wilkins and an outbreak of vandalism a few months after that. Buffy felt bad about the damage, it been unavoidable when ‘The Gentlemen’ made it their base of operations. She was hoping that she wasn’t going to have to repeat the procedure to rescue Willow, assuming she was actually up there. The shuttered windows at the top of the tower concealed any movements and she had tried every side of the building to get any clues.
The sound of footsteps behind her settled the question as Buffy turned and saw Willow and Tara approaching. She was relieved to see the pair arrive, and they seemed surprised to find her here.
“How did you find this place?” Willow felt disappointed and a little embarrassed. Her insistence to Tara that they needed magic to find her other self looked more than a little foolish. Buffy didn’t really want to credit Spike,
“Just a tip off, I take it we have the right place?”
“Oh yeah, I can feel myself being pulled towards that place.” Willow waved towards the tower.
“So do you have a plan?” Tara asked. She knew Willow’s energy was purely the product of magic and it could wear off anytime.
“I’m not sure, it’s got a twisty little staircase, and there’s no way I can get up it without that demon hearing me coming.” Buffy figured she could probably take the demon, getting into a fight on that narrow staircase was a gamble though. Willow looked at the building and smiled, and it was a smile that made Tara feel very uneasy, Willow was clearly planning more witchcraft.
Kresk was sulking, or at least that was Rosenberg’s conclusion. The demon had gone to the opposite corner of the room and stood facing the wall silently. Rosenberg was glad that the creature was ignoring her; it was just that her earlier bravado was wearing off. She wasn’t sure how long she had been here but it seemed like a long time and there was no sign of any cavalry coming over the hill. Perhaps they simply weren’t going to bother; after all she was just a copy, and she hadn’t exactly endeared herself to Tara with her performance in the kitchen, she had probably told the older Willow about it by now. Rosenberg was unhappy about that, and not just because it might affect her chances of getting out of here. She was afraid that she might have damaged the relationship, or that she might have undercut the bond she had seen and felt between them.
Kresk glanced at the silent figure of the human; it had interesting eyes, which he might have been considering adding to his collection if he still had one. Kresk hadn’t been sulking so much as trying to think of where he could go from here. During his search Kresk had discovered that his old contacts were all gone, which meant there could be opportunities for a determined demon to seize power. Kresk couldn’t really work up any enthusiasm for that idea; he truly despised the realm of earth. There was an intermittent tapping on one of the shutters, perhaps it was loose or perhaps there was a small animal outside, either way it was beginning to annoy the demon, and trashing a squirrel or small bird might improve his mood. He opened the shutter to find nothing but a view over the accursed town. Then a pair of legs swung down from above the window and smashed into Kresk’s face sending him staggering back against a post. Buffy followed through on the motion and dropped down on to the floor of the tower. Being levitated had been ‘interesting’ even though Tara hadn’t been thrilled about going along with it. It had given Buffy an edge though. Kresk recovered and advanced on Buffy. She spun and hit him full in the chest with a kick. The demon staggered but didn’t fall back, all those extra parts made it pretty solid. Buffy punched for the demons face. Kresk pulled his head back on its extremely flexibly neck and extending a series of claws on its left hand it swiped at Buffy’s exposed arm. Buffy jerked it back collecting a rip in the sleeve for her trouble. She dropped low and swept a leg across, knocking Kresk’s legs from under him, sending the demon crashing to the floor.
Rosenberg had watched the battle with a considerable sense of relief, especially when Buffy sent the demon crashing to floor. Now with the Kelkefra down for the moment Buffy turned her attention to the ropes binding Rosenberg. She extracted a knife she had tucked into her boot and sliced through the ropes.
“Are you ok? Can you get up?” She asked.
“I could tap dance if it means we can get out of here.” Rosenberg answered.
Behind them Kresk began to pull himself to his feet, at the same moment Willow and Tara came running up the stairs hand in hand. Seeing the demon advancing Willow reacted instinctively and with a wave of her hand sent Kresk flying through one of the closed shutters. As son as she had done it she slumped against the doorframe and began to slide down. Buffy moved quickly and scooped her friend up. Willow was still conscious but clearly completely drained. Seeing that Willow was in safe hands Tara moved to assist Rosenberg who was clambering to her feet rather shakily. Tara extended a hand to her and Rosenberg took the whole arm and wrapped it round her in a manner that took Tara by surprise.
“Can we get out of here?” she pleaded.
“I think its way past time.” Buffy agreed and headed down the stairs.
The quartet arrived back at the house to find a scene of chaos, there were books, plates and cups scattered everywhere. Buffy wondered if they had been invaded again, then Anya emerged from the kitchen grasping a mug.
“Oh you made it, good. You’re out of milk.”
“Nice to see you too.” Buffy moved a book onto the floor and deposited Willow into the chair. Rosenberg seemed reluctant to move away from Tara. Giles and Dawn appeared behind Anya.
“I hope this disaster area was worth it.” Buffy enquired.
Giles nodded, “Indeed, I believe we can use the crystal to send Willow back to her own time.”
“You can?” Rosenberg sounded excited.
“Yes, your passage through time created a doorway way much like the one the crystal was originally intended for. You can pass through it and since it will take you back to the moment you left it will be as though you never left.”
“It sounds good, but since she now knows a whole lot about the future isn’t that going to make things a little awkward?” Buffy wondered.
Willow had picked up the book that Buffy placed on the floor and now turned it so everyone else could see, “This will do it, it’s a memory spell, it can erase particular ones.” She looked at Rosenberg, “So you won’t remember anything I don’t, didn’t.”
Rosenberg’s enthusiasm appreciably dimmed, “I think I need a glass of water.” She walked out of the room. Buffy moved to go after her, Tara stopped her however,
“Let me talk to her.” Buffy assented, the younger Willow had seemed more comfortable with Tara, perhaps she simply reminded Willow less of how far she was from home. Tara closed the door of the kitchen behind her. Rosenberg had poured a glass of water, but it was simply sitting on the worktop.
“I know it sounds scary having someone mess with your mind, I mean I really know.” Tara’s pep talk was interrupted as Rosenberg stepped up to her and kissed her hard on the mouth. Tara’s instinct when Willow kissed her was to go with the flow and she did for several seconds before she focused back on what was going on here and broke away.
“I’m sorry, it’s just that none of the memories included that, what it was like to actually kiss you. I know how the other me feels, and I know I could feel the same if I had the chance.” Rosenberg’s voice was husky as she explained herself.
Tara knew she had to tread carefully here, “Willow I’m flattered you feel that, but you can’t stay here.”
“That’s not what I was thinking. I don’t want to forget you, if you don’t do this memory spell I could find you when I go back!”
Tara was struck by a dazzling image of Willow Rosenberg marching into her home, seizing her by the hand and carrying her away from that oppressive place. The image rapidly faded, how long would it take for her father to have her underage butt dragged back home, and what would he do once he got her there? And then there was the question of Willow, Tara imagined her sent back to Sunnydale alone and outed, it wasn’t a good thought. Still there was the afterglow of that image of Willow framed in a doorway with her long hair streaming behind her coming to save her, and it made her voice gentle as she rejected the notion,
“I think you know how much I would love to spend that time with you, but it wouldn’t work, it would change too much and there have been so many times when we survived by the skin of our teeth, could we really risk all our friends for our own happiness?” Part of her was still hoping that Rosenberg would say ‘yes’ and persuade her. Willow was too smart for that though, she shook her head, “I guess I knew that, but I really wish…you know?”
“I know, but I promise I will be here waiting for you, ok?” She brushed her hand across Rosenberg’s cheek, and Rosenberg nodded slowly.
[center]
10. “I Will Always Find You”[/center]
The graveyard didn’t look all that different by night than when Rosenberg had set foot in it four years ago, a few more headstones, basically though it was unchanged. Giles had decreed that they should try and match the circumstances of the original event as closely as possible, so they had waited until it was fully dark before they set out. Of course everyone had insisted on coming along; Willow had recovered sufficiently to come and Tara’s presence had seemed mandated, even though neither she nor Rosenberg had revealed what they had discussed in the kitchen. Dawn had even managed to worm her way into the group, mainly because there was no one who could reliably stay behind to look after her.
Giles was standing with a torch reading through a book written in a rather arcane language whilst both Willows and Tara were standing near the obelisk, discussing the other part of the plan. “You’re sure this spell won’t just erase everything?” Rosenberg asked.
Willow smiled reassuringly, “Don’t worry, I’ve checked. It’s a matter of using just the right amount of herbs.” Tara nodded reassuringly, although she had avoided learning anything about the spell, she had absolutely no desire to know anything about mind control.
“And hey it must have worked, because I don’t remember any of this?” Willow was pretty sure it made logical sense, even if it sounded wacky.
Rosenberg nodded, “When we spoke earlier, about how things got better, you meant because of Tara didn’t you?”
There was no point in evading now, especially as Rosenberg wouldn’t remember this in a few minutes, “I can’t begin to explain it to you, but it’s real and it’s wonderful, and you will understand it one day.”
“I think maybe I do and I promise I will try and relax.”
Giles was finally satisfied that he was clear on what needed to be done; he beckoned Willow over to check over the details of how to enact it. She noticed Tara whispering something to the other Willow and wondered exactly what the big secret was, she was sure that Tara would tell her later, she was just curious about how they had become so pally.
“Is this going to be complicated? The other me doesn’t have any magic skills.”
Giles replied confidently “Actually no, a few simple words to be spoken and then hold the crystal aloft in both hands, after that everything should be straight forward, you will just have to be very careful about timing the memory spell.”
“I know, I will, should we start?”
“I can’t see anything to be gained by waiting.”
Rosenberg stood by the obelisk and intoned the syllables Giles had taught her and watched the crystal begin to glow. As it grew brighter she raised it above her head, and Willow got ready to enact the forget spell, and stayed ready as nothing whatsoever appeared to happen.
“Shouldn’t we see something?” Buffy asked Giles.
“Well I would have imagined so, perhaps it simply takes longer than the book suggests.” They kept watching and while the crystal glowed nothing continued to happen. Rosenberg lowered the glowing crystal and turned,
“Am I saying this right?”
“Your pronunciation is perfect I really don’t understand why it isn’t working.”
There was a howling from the darkness and Kresk charged into view. He was not happy, being knocked out of a window and smashing into the pavement had ruptured several organs, luckily nothing that it didn’t have backups for. It had followed the trail again and here was the miserable human with his crystal, she had deceived him with her idiotic story and this was going to end now.
Buffy could see the demon was going after the crystal, and the younger Willow. She pulled out a heavy knife and was going to intercept when Giles stretched out his arm and blocked her,
“Drop the crystal and run Willow!” He called out, he only hoped his sudden hunch was right or this could be very messy. Rosenberg obeyed and let the crystal drop. She ran and took shelter behind a gravestone. Kresk was confused but triumphant, and bent down to grab the crystal.
“Willow, Buffy now!” Giles cried out. The knife flew from Buffy’s hand and passed through the neck of the demon and up into its skull. Kresk had backups for most things. Its brain wasn’t one of them. It fell aside as a bolt of blue light passed through the spot it had been occupying. Another lanced out and struck Rosenberg just as Willow finished the spell.
The gang gathered round the obelisk, Kresk was clearly dead and the crystal was gone, along with the younger Willow.
Willow looked at place where the other her had been,
“I hope she made it.”
Tara took her hand and then pulled Willow close to kiss her. They embraced for what seemed the longest time,
“You feel pretty real, so I guess she did.”
“I think it’s time to go home, I really should be in bed by now.” Willow replied in a tone that indicated she was feeling much better.
“You know I think you’re right.”
Xander raced up to where they had left Willow, feeling sick with fear and guilt. The vampire was gone and there had been that freaky light show. He almost tripped over the source, a big blue crystal lying in the grass, lightly covered with vampire dust. He picked it up nonetheless; Giles would probably want to see it. A groan from behind the disturbed grave reminded him of what he was so worried about and he rushed to the spot to see Willow climbing to her feet and brushing bits of leaf out of her long hair.
“Are you two ok?” Buffy’s words startled Xander; he had been so distracted that he hadn’t even heard her approaching.
“I’m fine, but Will got zapped by this.” He hefted the crystal in his hand and Willow walked over to get a better look. “I don’t remember that.” She commented as she examined the stone.
“Well like I say you were zapped.”
“I think we better get you home.” Buffy suggested.
Willow nodded and touched the crystal,
“We will always find one another.”>The words were spoken in a warm feminine voice that seemed to echo in her head. She didn’t recognise it or understand the meaning, but as Xander and Buffy led her away she felt a small thrill run through her and an inexplicable sense of warmth and hope that made her forget all about her worries that she would be alone.
Willow: ...I have to tell you....
Tara: No, I understand you have to be with the
person you l-love
Willow: I am
Edited by: Sheridan at: 4/26/03 5:08:33 pm