Hotel Kilo 2-2
Update #23
Spoilers: Up through the end of Season 6
WARNINGS: Kitten Angst Advisory. This is after Season 6.
A Bridge
Tara looked into the turbulence below. There were only the briefest flashes of light. Those were the tiny moments of happiness that her family would steal from the encroaching darkness that now seemed inevitable. Judith followed her glance in both the physical illusion they shared and in the more real play of power on power around them.
"I don't like this," she said tightly.
"I h-have the utmost enthusiasm in the mission," Tara said with a weak smile.
"I can tell," Judith replied with a weak smile of her own. "Are you sure you don't want me to come along?"
"No, but it doesn't feel right without you as my, um, anchor," Tara answered. "It's all I've got to go on. I'm not an empath like your Tara."
"No, you're empath like you," Judith answered with a real smile. "Sorry girlfriend, but you're an empath, even if your world doesn't like magic and empathy together."
"It's too dangerous, too powerful, I can't be both witch and empath," Tara said with little conviction. One problem she had with existing in a place with no normal time flow and Judith's curious intellect was that she had to explain many things and then defend them. She'd learned more from Judith's questions than the other woman had learned from her answers.
"You're asking my girl to be both," Judith said quietly. Tara had no answer. They both looked down again and Judith sighed. "But we'll have plenty of time for debates later. I'll be good and stay. But hurry back, okay? I feel...safer, you know, with you in it."
"You're saying 'you know'," Tara teased.
"Well, hurry back and be a bad influence then," Judith said with a roll of her eyes. "Hey, am I the anchor because I'm as big as one?"
Tara looked up quickly to reassure the other woman and stopped when she saw Judith smile. Tara stuck her tongue out at the other girl as she giggled. Then Judith looked serious.
"Just hurry back," she said worriedly. "And be careful."
"I will," Tara said as she stepped to the edge of the span and closed her eyes. Then she leapt into the grasping cold of the obsidian river of future time. The shock made her take a breath and she panicked for a second before she remembered that she wasn't being buffeted by currents of dark, cold water. She found her center and watched the unfolding possible times to come.
* You have already lost, witch* a smooth bass voice said smugly.
"They're alive, and there is hope," Tara said with a forced calm.
* Really?* the presence laughed. * What about this?*
Pain lanced through her and she saw Dawn smash into and then slide down a marble grave marker. Tara was both watching and living Dawn's pain as the girl struggled to breathe. Tara saw spots flick through her vision and things grew gray as Dawn struggled for air. She felt her panic as her breath became rapid and shallow. Buffy filled her vision. Dawn heard her call for Giles dimly. As all of her efforts centered on struggling for one more breath.
* All that power and the Key still can't live with a tear in that fragile sack around her lungs,* the voice said clinically. * Is it frightening to die this way?*
Tara felt the world go cold and black. For the longest second she felt the memory of a track of burning cold agony in her chest. When she looked up a circle of Scoobies surrounded a gray faced Dawn as Buffy wailed her shattered heart out.
* Could you touch the power needed to save her?* it asked with a sneer in the smoothness. * I think not.*
Tara suddenly knew she could. All she had to do was reach back up this torrent and pull on...the growing power in the base of the Hellmouth. Tara forced herself to close her ears to her friend's agony and look at the scene. She gave a grim smile.
"I suppose they've sent the pretty Tara off for emergency coffee,"
she said dryly.
The scene fell away and Tara felt a moment of falling as the alley near the Espresso Pump became real around her. A large man with breath that reeked of beer held a knife to Willow's throat. It dropped to her blouse.
"I know what you need, dyke," he muttered.
Tara was almost to the power that pulsed in the depths of Hellmouth before she realized the image had swirled past her. She was within touching distance of the dark power but she would have to take it back into the flow of time. She fought back tears.
"No," she said softly. Then she shouted "No! You're not going to make me touch it!"
* Because you trust some power of good and love and honor?* the voice laughed. * Love is a trick of nature and troubadours invented romance to keep their bellies filled. Good is survival for most, at best it's power. Honor is an illusion. Look at how your so called lover 'honors' you with this more lithe version of you in the bed you once shared.*
"Are you still in love with her?" the displaced girl asked Willow as she placed her head in the redhead's lap. Willow ran her fingers through her hair and shook her head.
"I stopped being in love with Tara a while ago," Willow answered softly.
Tara just smiled at the image and reached out a hand to touch Willow's cheek. For just an instant there was a sensation of warmth.
"I know, baby," she said gently. "I love you."
Confusion, wordless and complete, filled the darkness she hung in. Tara tossed her head back and laughed.
"Thrice tried and failed," she said with a feral grin. "Get out of my way. I have a future to find so she can save it."
* She won't!* the voice said with a hint of panic. * She is not the dead witch returned. She cannot fulfill the words of the prophecy!*
"We'll see," Tara said with a grim smile. "Now shoo!"
The voice wailed like a petulant boy being pulled away from a toy and faded away.
Tara turned into the stream of time and sought the brightness that had once tumbled under the bridge. She found a tiny strand of it and held it. She closed her eyes and opened them on the bank of the river. In front of her was the bridge.
"This isn't where I'm supposed to be," she said thoughtfully. "Ah, it's for her, I'm sure."
Tara looked down and saw a river of golden light form out of the darkness under the bridge. She looked into the darkness and saw Buffy flying backwards, a jagged piece of wood behind her. Xander bled on the floor of Dawn's room. Dawn lay ashen on her bed. But now Willow and Tara looked up with eyes of emerald green light as Anya glowed in the same hue. Then the vision disappeared.
"But what is she supposed to do?" Tara asked urgently. "What am I supposed to tell her?"
Instead of an answer the river now flowed brightly into hills she could not see past. Sunlight chased away the twilight. She looked to her side and Buffy was there with her, looking at the river and it's path. Buffy turned to her with her face a mask of anxiety.
"I'm supposed to go that way," she said nervously. "How do I do it?"
Tara looked away from her pleading eyes. The bridge reflected off the river. Tara saw a reflected Judith reach for her. Judith, her anchor. She looked at Buffy and smiled reassuringly as she took the Slayer's warm hand in hers.
"You don't do it alone," she said with the confidence Buffy brought out in her. "We'll find a way. Now get back to sleep. You know how much these dreams take out of you."
"Yeah," Buffy said yawning. "Why isn't there a Slayer prophecy website, you know, with helpful pull down menus and stuff? Maybe if I-"
"No," Tara said firmly. "No more Slayer dreaming. Go to sleep."
Buffy yawned again and waved. Twilight returned to the bridge. Tara reached for Judith's reflection. She stepped out onto the bridge.
"Well?" Judith asked anxiously.
"There's a way," Tara said with much less confidence. "I'm just not sure what to do to get there."
"We'll find it," Judith said brightly. "I know my Tara. Both of them."
Sunnydale California
Buffy cradled Dawn and tried to recall anything she had learned about passing her power. Then Dawn gasped again. All of Buffy's thoughts scattered as Dawn whispered her name and looked at her with frightened eyes that begged her wordlessly to make everything all better.
Buffy didn't look up as Willow ran up and skidded to the ground next to her. Xander stood over them, looking for something to stake. Dawn's gasps filled him with a bitter mix of fury and helplessness. Willow reached for the girl's chest and seemed to freeze.
"Pneumothorax," Willow hissed. Then she was silent as she bent her head and focused her power. The splintered rib and the tear in the pleura that it caused couldn't be repaired with the power she could take so near the Hellmouth. For a moment she thought of reaching for it anyway as she felt Dawn's heart lose a beat, then two. But she held back, almost weeping in frustration. She knew that tempting power would not heal.
"What is it?" Giles asked desperately as Tara slid past him and knelt by Dawn.
"Pneumothorax," Willow grunted as she fought for Dawn's life.
"Her lung's collapsed," Tara explained as she opened a plastic box. "God, I hope this works here."
She reached out and ran a hand over Dawn's chest quickly until she felt the break.
"I can't hold it closed against the pressure," Willow gasped.
Tara reached into her pocket and pulled out what looked like a small tool wrap. She unrolled it with a flick of her hand and pulled out a small device. She pushed a button and it gave a high pitched hum. She smiled, then grimaced.
"This is gonna hurt, sorry," she said to Dawn. Then she plunged the device into the girl's chest near the break. Dawn flinched.
"Hey!" Buffy snarled and drew back a fist.
"No, wait!" Willow said hurriedly. "The pressure is equalizing." Willow blinked the sweat out of her eyes. "But this break needs to be fixed and I'm tapped out."
Tara reached for her and saw what the witch was doing. Together they pulled the broken rib back into place as Dawn whimpered. The small device drew out the air from the space faster than it entered.
"Hurts, hurts, hurts, hey, I can breathe," Dawn said weakly.
"Can we close the tear and make the bone stay in place?" Tara asked worriedly. "With magic, I mean."
"One or the other, unless you've got another gadget in there that stitches up ribs or torn pleura," Willow said with less strain.
"A gadget, no, but maybe..." Tara said quickly. With that she reached into the box and pulled out what looked like half a pen. Then she pushed a button and the thick bottom of the box opened revealing a layered fan of small vials just smaller than the thing she held. Tara touched the side of the fan and lighted dots appeared under the vials. She pulled a vial from the second row. She pushed it onto the holder and pushed it against Dawn's chest.
"Yowch!" Dawn squealed. "Oh, weird..."
Buffy looked at Willow hopefully as Dawn shivered in her arms.
"Wow," Willow said with a smile. She reached for Tara's hand.
When Tara touched her hand and gave Willow power she saw Dawn glowing faintly all over with bright light that was most concentrated around the broken rib. The two women saw the break flowing back into place as they used a fraction of the power they'd needed just to keep it stable. The pleura joined and healed without scarring after Tara pulled the pneumovalve from Dawn's chest carefully. The bruised flesh over the break turned pink and the glow drifted to other old wounds. Dawn's arm seemed to glow briefly and then the skin over her stomach. The women broke their connection and sat back.
"Why is the ground tippy?" Willow asked with a happy smile.
Xander pushed her gently upright and she just smiled at him.
"Is she gonna be okay?" he asked carefully.
"I think she used more of her power before I got here," Tara said as she touched Willow's forehead gently. "Maybe she's tired."
"Healing can be a euphoric experience if it's very successful," Giles said as he balanced Willow. "And this looks like a very successful healing."
"I'll say," Willow and Xander said together. Willow started to giggle uncontrollably.
Dawn scrambled to her feet and took a deep breath. She started giggling at Willow and then nearly fell over. Buffy caught her easily. Dawn blinked at her sister then smiled. She wrapped her arms around Buffy.
"I can breathe," she said happily.
"I'm glad," Buffy said as she hugged Dawn carefully. "Tara, what's is that stuff? Happy healing juice?"
"It's just Level One MRF," she said puzzled. "It's good for stabilizing trauma. She's going to be hungry for meat and proteins and very tired. I've never seen it work this fast."
"MRF?" Xander asked.
"You know, like MerGen or the stuff on stitch tape," Tara said with a shrug. "But it's made with artificial mitochondria release factors. That's new, I think. It has even less side effects than the old tissue regenerators."
"I think I want a case of this stuff," Xander said with awe in his voice.
"How much do you have, Tara?" Giles asked distantly.
"Between my secondary aid kit and the rest of the individual packets about, um, forty five, no, four doses," she explained. "Of varying strengths of course. Why?"
"Because we don't have anything like this," Giles said, then he smiled. "Or rather, not yet."
"We still have a demon out there right now," Buffy said tiredly. "Giles, could you and Xander get the gigglers home?"
"What about the demon?" Giles asked as he steadied a now yawning Willow.
"Tara can find him for me and make sure there's no other unexpected fight fans," she said. "What about the vamp killer bullets?"
"Vampire upsetting bullets now, s-s-sorry," Tara said looking down.
"Their effectiveness seems to have faded with the closing of the Hellmouth," Giles said.
"No more cross influencing physical realities sharing a singular point," Willow said lightly. "No more vamps for them, no more vamp duster buster bullets for us."
With that she and Dawn dissolved into laughter.
"They're way down deep tired," Tara said smiling herself.
"Here, I can't manage both this and Weeble Dawn," Xander said handing her a handaxe.
"Um," Tara said holding the weapon uncomfortably.
"Don't worry, I think you'll be a natural," he said as he started to herd Dawn down the street.
"Please hurry and get home," Giles said as he guided Willow down the street. Buffy smiled as the four walked away. She turned to Tara.
"Thanks," she said quietly.
"I'm just glad I wasn't totally worthless," Tara replied with shy grin as she looked down.
Buffy reached out and gently lifted Tara's chin. She looked into blue eyes steadily and smiled.
"You helped save Dawn's life and you will save knows how many others with this mitohealing stuff," Buffy said seriously. "You can find monsters and keep Willow from tearing herself to shreds. You are so very much not worthless, understand?"
Tara just nodded and smiled as she met Buffy's eyes.
"Good, now take these," Buffy insisted as she handed Tara a cross and a stake. "You're going to need them."
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"So is this Tara okay now?" Xander asked Dawn as they walked with very little weaving.
"Cat's fine," she replied nodding.
"And it must stay Cat, Xander," Giles said carefully. "It's going to be dicey enough as it is. I just hope the fingerprints don't match."
"Why?" Xander asked confused. "I can't see Tar-Cat getting arrested for anything but felony shyness."
"Insurance fraud is a possibility," Giles said evenly. "Tara's life insurance was enough to give Buffy and Dawn a comfortable cushion. "If Tara appears alive there will be questions, perhaps even accusations of fraud or worse."
"Not Cat Tara, Tara Cat," Willow said shaking her head, then weaving a bit more. "She's a straight arrow, but you should forgive the expression because she's not really straight and not First Nation, except maybe a little bit on her father's side but I think they'd deny it in his case."
"We'll talk about this later," Giles said as they passed other people on the street.
After they had passed a lighter flared in the darkness. It went out before the cigarette was lit. The 'coffin nail' sailed out into the street.
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"Do they always smell like that?" Tara asked distastefully.
"No, that's about number three on the most stinky demon parade," Buffy said wrinkling her nose. "Good diversion by the way. Where did you learn to throw an axe?"
"I didn't," Tara said wincing. "I swung it and it flew out of my hands."
"I take it that wasn't a war cry, either?" Buffy said with a smile.
"'Hey, um'?" Tara said with a sigh. "It might as w-well be."
"It did stop him for a critical second," the Slayer pointed out.
"Yeah, being doubled over in laughter is very delaying," Tara said with a dry tone. "Of course he stopped laughing without a head. Is this normal? Or is this a good night?"
Buffy looked away for a while. Tara winced at the fear and anxiety that came off the Slayer. Tara had a brief image of Dawn, gray and panting, in Buffy's arms.
"It's one of the worst," Buffy said distantly.
Tara stopped suddenly and looked off in another direction. Buffy's senses came alive and she shifted the axe in her hands.
"What is it?" she asked quickly.
"I don't know," Tara said hesitantly. "It's like, like a vampire, but it's not. It's like it's a h-human too."
"Like he has a soul?" Buffy asked suddenly subdued.
"I don't know, but seems to be a, a man, or not..." Tara replied. "He's angry and rapacious like a vampire, but haunted."
Buffy just shuddered. Tara had a brief image of a hard, chiseled predator leaning over her. Shame, anger and betrayal warred with a broken animal attraction and a dark need. Tara reached out for the petite woman. Buffy hid in her arms for a moment.
"Please don't use that word again," she asked weakly.
"I w-won't," Tara promised earnestly.
Buffy took a deep breath and pulled away from Tara. She smiled and swung the axe to her shoulder. Tara just looked at her and wondered how often the Slayer put Buffy in a box for later.
"Let's go see what brings him out of LA," the Slayer said brightly.
"You know him?" Tara asked as they headed into an old section of the cemetery. "A vampire?"
"Long story, Buffy said sadly. "We were tight and beautiful and it broke. I had to kill him and send him to Hell."
"H-h-hell?" Tara asked tightly.
"It was horrible, but he came back, and then he...it gets really complicated after that," Buffy said with a sigh.
Tara just nodded as she tried to find a balance in the conflicting emotions riding the Slayer at this moment. They walked for quite a ways until Tara felt the vampire with a soul move closer, but behind them. It seemed he was trying to stay out of sight.
"He's hiding," she whispered. Buffy nodded and slumped forward. Tara leaned down quickly and asked "Where's the pain?"
Buffy gasped and gathered herself tightly. Tara looked worriedly at her. Then Buffy was over her head in a graceful bound and she closed on the vampire that had come closer with her 'collapse'.
Tara ran after her until a wave of horror, revulsion, lust, and anger mixed with fear hit so hard she fell. As she picked herself up she saw the lean man from Buffy's nightmare staring at her from his knees.
"I'm sorry," he croaked. "It wasn't..."
His words trailed off and Tara almost drowned in their pain. She looked up desperately to see him stand. Buffy backed up and tripped. He reached for her. Tara knew he only meant to help but when he saw the fear and anger that blazed in Buffy's eyes his visage changed into a hunting vampire's. She grabbed the cross but before she could bring it up he shook off the demonic mask. Fear for Buffy and self-loathing filled him as he shambled away.
Buffy curled up and was wracked by sobs that shook her slender frame. Tara pulled her into an embrace and rocked her gently, taking some of her fear and pain away until the empath could bear no more. She took a little more and felt her own sobs matching Buffy's. That brought the Slayer out of her little hell.
"Did you, do that?" Buffy asked brokenly. Tara could only nod through her tears as she tried to push away the fragments of Buffy's memory she'd seen. Buffy hugged her hard and helped the empath to her feet.
"I was wrong," Buffy said roughly. "This is the worst night ever."
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In a cave complex so close by to Sunnydale as to be no matter in the dimensional scheme of things Anyanka sat between two large demon guards. She'd sat in this hallway under guard for hours as D'Hoffryn met with his senior demons. Before this she'd been in another hallway for nearly as long. This hallway was better because the bench was a bit more comfortable. She tried not to think of chocolate, or money, or her friends laying still on the floor of her ex-shop.
She was failing miserably.
From above her Halfrek and two other more progressive demons of the 'Justice' faction looked down from a gallery of the complex.
"Why don't we tell her about the prophecy, Hallie?" the youngest asked.
"Because she'd be thinking about it and run us down too many false paths," the older demon answered for Halfrek. She hated that and vowed to remember when she was in power. For now she smiled.
"Exactly," she agreed. "She's the least of us all and I'm sure she knows where the Sunnydale key is located."
"You're sure she's the least?" the young one said again. Then he looked at Anyanka and rolled his eyes. "Sorry, stupid question."
"We have to get her away when the time is right," Halfrek said thoughtfully. "Take up duty on the Sunnydale night shift. The old one has his cronies watching the day shift but the lazy old farts won't put in a long shift anymore. Be generous."
"Then what?" the youngest asked.
"We wait for her friends to make a wish," Halfrek replied with a thin smile. "Everybody slips. They're connected to the key too somehow."
"And we get their wishes to her by?" the older one asked.
Halfrek just grinned for a minute as she looked at the guards below.
"I have my ways," she said cryptically.
. Funny how people contradict themselves saying "can't breathe", should be "having trouble breathing" of course, but no one says that. (at least not in my limited experience)
.
I'm sticking with true love, honor and courage and hoping I do well by them.
I could follow most of this 
Thats one word..........really, it's in a dictionary, somewhere,.....I think.
+ 
...in any universe.