Story Title: Snapshots- A Love Story
Overall Synopsis: A Series of Vignettes Featuring Willow and Tara from 1984 to 2037, or maybe beyond. Including Re-posts
All non-original characters and settings are the property of Mutant Enemy Productions and its associates. No Compensation is being received for this story.
Rating: Between G and PG.
Feedback: Pretty please? On this or anything earlier :-).
Chapter Title: The Battles Beneath
Chapter Notes: Okay, again I'm jumping from the start of a story arc to the end. (Unlike "Willow's Quest," which I would have enjoyed writing if it had been a practical thing, this "Mephistopheles Arc" is not. But it does serve to get from "early Season 8 with some people resurrected" to my actual "Children Of the 'Dale" 'verse, so it had a purpose, despite the rather weak ending to this chapter. Somewhere on the 'net, there's a story where Buffy says yes, but that is just a draft I posted to meet a contest deadline)
About the pregnancies, I know magic conception has been done before at Pens, and done much better than this, and I apologize for stealing the idea. My original plan was to have the pregnancies being ordinary in-vitro, but that's an expensive and time-consuming process that couldn't fit into W&T's lives at this point. Then I later had the idea of having Kalbu's wish reaching into the past for sperm from William the Bloody Awful Poet, drawing an egg from Tara & implanting the result in Willow, until a couple friends at another website pointed out that would be the moral equivalent of either 3 or 4 rapes, and I don't write rape fics. So, here goes.
Speaking of Kalbu, I was going for brave and strong & a good fighter but still cute. If he comes out more Jar-Jar instead, again I apologize.
Two and a half months after, near the reconstructed Sunnydale
"It's not really a short walk to the other cave, and Cordelia can't keep up on a run with Satsu's squad and me, and then we have to climb down a way and get through the woods. The portal will start to open and the Forerunner come in around sunrise, so we'll need to leave here before 4AM, I mean 0400, Wes," said Buffy.
"Just as I was thinking, do that. Alright, let's work on positions. I'll be in overall command, and leading the frontal attack on the pit, along with Angel, Spike, Gunn, Fred, Prince Radhu, his bear braves and monkey fighters, Andrew, and Jonathan.
"Faith will lead the Slayers and field ops from Nigel's team, followed by Xander, Willow, Harmony, Anya, and Tara, in a flank attack through the left entrance.
"Sam's commandos and K's band of Slayers will stand as reserve for either group as needed.
"The goal is to defeat the rakshasa and the lesser demons, and both the rakshasa Lord Nilban and Mephistopheles need to be neutralized. Try to capture them, and do not harm Giles if possible, but Mephistopheles will not hesitate to risk him."
At this, Jenny spoke up, "Wesley, you left one thing out. I'm also coming in behind Faith's group. Do not try to stop me, Rupert is still my husband, and if it risks the baby, so be it." Her face was stern as a gorgon's. One of the bear braves, standing guard just inside the tent , looked at her.
"I wouldn't," the former Watcher said simply.
Willow chimed in, "Speaking of Giles, Tara and I want to try something, but we need to be secure and safe and right near him to do it. We want to try to exorcise Mephistopheles with the last passage of the Susamna Ritual."
Andrew broke in with, "Are you sure it's come to that?" Wes's expression showed he was thinking the same thing while Jonathan just looked more worried than he already was.
Tara answered him. "Everyone here who can has already tried so many exorcism and deliverance rituals already. Sometimes Mephisto shrugged them off, sometimes they budged him a little, but nothing has worked. We really think there's no other choice now."
Jenny looked at them, still stone-faced, "You do know what the side-effect of the Susamna is, I hope. If it fails, and you know it has sometimes, that's it. No matter what else we find afterwards will never, can never work. However he is after the Susamna is permanent."
Tara walked closer and said "Jenny, I know we didn't interact much in the afterlife and didn't really meet until September, but I think we can understand each other
"It's been almost three months; it's time we knew if we'll ever be getting him back. Mephistopheles is just too powerful, too evil, and too alien; loose or captured, he can't be allowed to remain." The women looked at each other for a long-seeing but brief-seeming moment. Then Jenny's face became more animated, but still fearful.
There were various tactical questions, also Wesley gave them specific instructions on finding the wishstone, the most powerful artifact Mephistopheles had captured, then the group broke up to get what rest they could.
After Sundown
Kalbu the bear warrior had drawn the guard assignment of passing among the tents. He passed Buffy, Spike, and Angel talking about things he couldn't understand, something about how they know they can't afford to be in the same part of the fight but he wanted to practice his English so he said to himself, "Peoples is strange." Then he passed Fred & Wesley's tent.
The man was speaking, "You're sure about this? Tonight?"
"Yes. I want us to start trying, right now. Even if it happens tonight, there'll be no way to know for a while, so we're not taking any real risk. Let's say yes to living before we have to face death again." Kalbu didn't need to follow all the language to know what was happening.
He walked by Anya and Xander's tent and could tell they were farther along the same path.
The woman was saying "Well, something tells me that we did it, already."
"That's good, and you have to survive this time. No more letting guys with sharp things sneak up behind you," he said, laughter and tears in his voice.
The guard came up to Tara and Willow's tent. Willow was speaking, "Now, before we make love, I want us to try that spell we've been discussing."
"Now? You're sure?"
"Yes. I mean, maybe it won't work, and if it does, well, I'll be closer to the front than you so I'm more likely to get , get hurt. But, we already know you'll handle that better than if I . . . if something happened to you, again. If it does, I'll need for the baby to look like you, I really will need a part of you, still here."
"Alright, I agree, and we're ready, maybe not financially but there's no other reason. And there's no risk; if we do make a conceptus, it won't implant any faster than any ordinary pregnancy."
It wasn't easy for Kalbu to think, he was only a bear, after all, but he tried to put together what he had heard. Soon, his rounds had brought him to the edge of the camp. After scanning the darkness for some seconds like a good guard will, he looked up at the stars.
Still practicing his English, he began to pray, "Hanuman, me knows I only silly bear, not smart like the Prince. But I know you smiling on us all, because bad guys these us all want stop them. But some of they peoples behind me, them wish good things for selfs. So can some of your smile be they get them? And if Kalbu needed, can I help some?" The bear brave was silent for a while, then renewed his rounds.
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After the Main Battle
It took until past sundown to fully secure the caverns. Lord Nilban, along with those of the devils and rakshasa not destroyed in the fighting, needed only standard rituals to banish them.
The Mephistopheles-Giles, swollen by the power of devil mixed with human, had been bound by a potent binding which had proven effective in an earlier encounter which had been interrupted by his hirelings, then by a double ring of fighters around him. The majority of the healthy troops had fanned out in small groups to find any hidden enemies and retrieve the many magick items Mephistopheles had collected for his war.
Willow and Tara both faced the bound archdevil, Tara standing less than a full pace behind her wife ; Jenny was looking at him from the side, avoiding direct sight of her possessed husband. All three crossed their arms over their heads. The ritual is usually spoken, often shouted or screamed, but they had chosen one of the prescribed tonal settings, Willow chanting in a simple melody, Tara providing a harmony version with Jenny joining her with the second bar.
Giles screamed and the devil duke began leaving his body, shouting in agony interspersed with truly vile streams of blasphemous and scatological excoriations. As the chant reached its end, their bodies had separated and only ectoplasmic tendrils connected them - many, many tendrils. The women began the chant again with only time for a breath, very faint glows now appearing around both Willow's and Tara's hands, Wesley joined in, while Andrew, Jonathan, and even Nigel spoke the words along with them.
The connections, faded, broke one at a time, then more, then the creature was pulled free and very shortly, disappeared, driven off the earthly dimension by that most desperate of rituals, leaving behind only a circle of frost.
The power bracelets Giles had been wearing dropped off his now normal-sized arms, and he himself slumped and fell forward, taking Jenny along as she ran up and grabbed him. Willow, Tara, and surprisingly, Harmony, helped Giles and Jenny back to their feet, while Watcher Nigel scooped up the power bracelets and slipped them into the side pockets of his blazer. Coincidentally, Willow and Tara's commitment bracelets, which they had placed in Tara's belt pouch for safekeeping during the fight, also slipped out and fell to the floor. Harmony heard them fall but didn't really notice at the moment. Jenny led Giles off a few feet to speak of more private things.
The pile of magick items had been steadily growing when Kalbu marched in, holding the wishing crystal over his head in an ursine triumph. Wes rushed over, pulling out the warded bag designed to hold it safely, and saying "Bravo, Kalbu! That's the most dangerous artifact Mephistopheles had. Here, put it in the special bag so it'll be safe."
Kalbu shook his head a bit and said, "I help!"
"Yes, yes, you've already been a big help. And the best help you can give now is to put it in the bag," Wes said, a bit feverishly but still gently, trying not to upset the simple creature.
"No, Kalbu mean I help!" and the stone glowed violet.
Immediately a small, bright, violet dot appeared on Jenny's stomach. Seconds later, similarly bright violet rings appeared around the bodies of Willow, Fred, and Anya. Then, in that order, they gradually faded out. While they were at their brightest, Kalbu casually dumped the stone into the bag, pointed around at the women and said, "Look, I help."
Wesley's expression hardened and his tone grew more stern; he couldn't help that, and asked, "Kalbu, what did you do?" Also, Xander had come up just behind Wesley and was also frowning and asking similar questions of the bear, who was obviously becoming nervous and muttering his replies.
Prince Radhu walked briskly over, got in between Kalbu "Gentlemen, please, he is one of my fighters, I will handle this," the monkey lord's usual hauteur replaced with the straightforward responsibility of a commander for his troops. He turned to Kalbu and spoke, not briefly, in their own language, then turned with a noticeable and, for him, surprisingly friendly smile. "My apologies for the confusion earlier. Ladies and gentlemen, it seems congratulations are in order. Kalbu somehow became aware of, let us say. plans all of you were making and he just used the wishing stone to make sure that they will come through for you. So, the . . . topics of which you were all speaking before now have not merely confirmation, but a very powerful boost and safeguard." The prince nodded, very slightly.
The group had little opportunity to dwell on the good news. At that moment, Willow's pocket crystal activated. She pulled it out and saw a terrified Cordelia.
"Willow, we've been back and forth all day and can't hold out anymore. Buffy's badly hurt, I'm not sure she's breathing, I can't hurt it, the Forerunner has figured out how to fight the other Slayers with half its tentacles and do the spell to complete turning the portal from pink to white with the rest. Almost half is white and . . . Things are reaching out. We could lose it all right here if we don't get help!"
Before Cordy had even finished, Tara, looking and listening over Willow's shoulder, had begun beckoning to Spike, Angel, and Faith. They gathered and the witches hurriedly explained everything, loud enough for everyone else to hear.
They moved off a short way, formed a circle, and Willow and Tara began a teleportation spell. Just then, Harmony noticed the dropped bracelets, picked them up and, without thinking, ran towards the witches to return them, and was caught in the spell.
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As a result of carrying an extra person, they appeared not on the floor of the cave but almost ten feet up. That was not a difficult fall for any of them and they easily landed safely. But it did distract them from acting immediately.
A clawed arm reached out from the Portal and grabbed Spike and threw him all the way out of the cave and up through the air, smashing into a tree trunk some hundred yards beyond the cave mouth, sliding down to be hidden behind some bushes. Angel and Faith, who stopped to grab the "Scythe," attacked the Forerunner on the side which it was using to cast the spell, distracting it. Willow joined Cordelia in throwing energy blasts at the Portal and the Things trying to come out of it. Tara ran to Buffy and knelt down to check her. Harmony set the bracelets down with her left hand, drew her enormous knife with her right, as usual from no hiding place imaginable in her clingy outfit, and began hacking at any monster limbs that came near anybody.
Tara could hear Buffy's breathing, and almost wished she hadn't when she recognized that breathing as agonal, a near-completely certain sign death would follow very soon. Not surprising- Buffy's other wounds, even the blow to the head, were mostly survivable, but her right arm and left leg barely looked like limbs anymore. The large amounts of blood which had been lost before they had arrived were too much for a human mind to think about.
Part of Tara's mind was saying that casualties were inevitable, to join the others and mourn for Buffy later. But a deeper part wouldn't allow it, not yet. She and Willow, Anya, Xander had suffered so much for their decision to bring Buffy back 4 years before, so had Dawn, even Spike as a result of it. Scenes from old movies and TV shows ghosted through Tara's mind, most clearly Magnum in a coma and Higgins telling him to return at once, and she was on the verge of ordering Buffy not to die . . . .
She breathed deeply and did what she had to do, calling on the earth and stone and life forces which, despite the recent acts by Mephistopheles to open the Portal as his back-up plan, still ruled in this space. It was fortunate they were in the midst of them and not on the second floor like Willow had been when healing her skin loss. Tara concentrated and concentrated, drawing on the part of magick for which she had a natural affinity like Willow did for spirit manipulations and attack spells, and Amy for biological transformation and minor revenge curses.
Tara kept it up as long as possible, then her strength gave out suddenly and she almost collapsed over Buffy but stopped herself and checked the results. Buffy's breathing was easier, if by no means good, the largest wounds were no longer bleeding and Tara could sense the Slayer had even regenerated some blood volume. With a great deal of luck, it would last long enough to get Buffy to an emergency room, so Tara turned to the battle, Buffy's blood still on her hands.
She saw Willow had switched from driving things back to trying to close the Portal, and had had some slight success, despite the creatures who were still trying to exit. Looking at the Forerunner, she saw some severe fresh wounds next to some older, half-healed ones. "So, Buffy, got in a few licks, and Faith has followed up, and it looks like it's slowing down," partly from looking at the creature itself, partly from seeing her friends and colleagues pushing closer to it and hitting more. Turning, Tara began to help Willow with the closing; they made progress, but not much, even after she took Willow's right hand in her left, transferring some of Buffy's blood.
A bolt of force came from the Portal, knocking both back a couple paces. Faith noticed and spun around (she said later she didn't know what made her think to do this,) held out the "Scythe" with her hands in the middle and yelled, "Grab on, witches." Willow grabbed with her left hand, Tara with both, Buffy's blood mixing with ichor from the Forerunner, while Cordy held back, since she knew what was happening.
Even before she let go of the shaft, Tara's hands had begun glowing blue, "Hmm, been a long while since that happened," she said to herself, then took in a sharp breath when she saw her wife, outlined in a white glow which was rapidly spreading over her body and changing her hair.
They faced the Portal again, not needing to touch hands for their brilliant auras to coalesce. They shot forth a single bolt, half white, half blue, which picked the Forerunner up right off the cave floor, sent it back through the Portal, and closed that in a blast of pink radiant backwash which filled the cave, then disappeared in two seconds.
The still-newlyweds fell down as their glows gradually faded, both chuckling. Willow said, "That was, was . . . ." and Tara finished, "I know, nifty."
Spike ran into the cave three seconds later, in a full burst of vampiric speed, shouting "Let me get my hands on . . . hey, where are the bad guys?" He looked briefly at Harmony and Angel and asked, "Bloody hell, what happened to you two? Helluva time for me to go tree-climbing . . . Buffy!" at last noticing the fallen Slayer, and leaping towards her.
Tara shouted at him, "Spike, she needs an ER, Willow is too drained to fly right now, and there's no cellphone reception in here or right outside. How do we get her to a chopper in time?"
The blond vampire almost shouted, "I can get her there a lot faster," turned and picked up Buffy, murmured, "I guess it was meant to be this way, pet" and took off full speed, jumping obstacles.
The center of conversation switched to Angel and Harmony; they quickly came to the conclusion that it was the radiance from the closing of the Portal that had returned them to being alive. The conversation tended mainly in the direction of compliments until Cordelia looked Angel in the eye and said, "You need to ask her first." He blinked and she continued, "I know Buffy will make it. That's not higher-power stuff, just, in my heart I know she'll pull through. If you end up with me, or Nina, or anybody without at least asking Buffy first, you'll regret it."
That conversation transmuted gradually into a question of what they were going to do that night, as everyone was too tired to climb out, even the Slayers. They hadn't brought bedrolls, food beyond a very small number of granola bars and breath mints, or other supplies except drinking water. Eventually it was decided they'd rest for 2 or 3 hours, sleep if they could, then try to climb.
Unselfishly, Willow and Tara allowed the conversation to finish up before Willow proudly told the Slayer group "I'm pregnant!" Tara backing her up with a grin. So the rest period was delayed again.
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_________________ Snapshots: http://thekittenboard.com/board/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=10210 a Love Story ____________________________________________________________ Kim: (breaks off the kissing) I l... (Sue stops her with a hand) Sue: We don't talk about things like that right after, you know that, no saying those things in The Moment. Kim: (moves the hand aside) Screw The Moment. I *love* you.
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