Spoiler Warning for Season 6 -"Graves"and "Seeing Red"
Title - "The Time Chronicles."
Rating - A for angst...PG-13 for real and O for okay as it gets better.
Copyright Disclaimer - All characters belong to Joss and ME...we can blame them and thank them at the same time.
Note - Something new here...a little different from what I usually do. The story deals with the fall out from Season 6...picks right up after Graves. May be difficult to read, not easy subject matter. I will make it right in the end however...I promise.
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"The Time Chronicles"
Dawn moved quickly to answer the pounding at the door.
"Xander...oh my God, Willow...Willow? Is she?"
"No...she's okay...I think." Xander answered stepping inside the hallway, cradling Willow gently in his arms. "She just collapsed, she just stopped and collapsed and has been like this ever since."
Dawn stared at Willow lightly stroking the red hair. Willow was pressed into Xander's chest breathing shallowly. Dawn saw that there was blood, a lot of blood, on Willow and Xander both.
"My god, is she, you, are you hurt? What should we do?"
"We should put her down, it is not her blood, " Xander answered, "it's mine."
"Dawn?" Buffy was calling from the kitchen. Rounding the corner from the dining room she found the three in the front hall.
"Dawn?....Xander?....Willow?...My god, is she..." Buffy froze staring at her friend.
"No" both answered at the same time "she's alive."
"Is she sleeping, is she tired from being all uh, evil?" Dawn asked looking at Xander.
"Is she hurt?" Buffy interrupted touching Willow now, seeing all the blood. "Did you have to hurt her?"
Xander looked confused and tired. He swung his head between the two, the questions were too many, too much, his head and body ached.
"I don't know," Xander answered Dawn, "and it's my blood" he answered again for Buffy.
Buffy looked carefully at Xander finally realizing what they were doing. Both Willow and Xander needed care. "Lets get her upstairs....can you do it...do you want me to take her?"
"No, we've come this far and I've got her pretty well, she's pretty light you know, our Wil, I've got her."
Buffy followed Xander up the stairs as he felt his way tiredly with his feet. She was spotting him should he falter but knew that she needed to let him do this.
"Is she?" Dawn asked following them to the bedroom. "Is she, you know, our Willow?"
"Yes," Buffy and Xander answered in unison. "she's our Willow."
They knew, they both knew, they could feel it, they could feel her, they could see her. They knew when Willow was with them, she had returned.
Xander placed Willow gently on her bed. As he stood Buffy and Dawn could see the blood and tears on his shirt.
Buffy examined Xander carefully. "Do you need a doctor?" She asked worried, positioning herself next to Willow on the bed, placing a protective hand on her arm.
"No, I think they look worse then they are, just superficial, she could,not hurt me, not really."
"Really, she tried pretty hard with me," responded Buffy almost smiling. "How did you stop her?"
"I....uh...I....told her that I loved her. Nothing fancy, no weapons...just love."
"That's all?"
Xander nodded looking at Willow and sitting down on the end of the bed touching her foot.
"Yup, that's all. I told her that I loved her. I'll spare you my crayon speech cause that was kind of lame although it might have worked a little. No, it was the love you. I told her that if I was going to die and if the world was going to end, I wanted to be there with her. There was no other place that I would want to be. She somehow heard me. Willow couldn't kill me, she couldn't kill us.
"I don't know, I think she tried pretty hard."
"Did she, really?" Dawn had moved up on the other side of the bed and was now stroking Willow's hair again. "She certainly had enough power, she could have killed us if she wanted, but she didn't...I don't think our real Willow inside ever could."
Buffy looked at her best friend laying motionless on the bed. "No, I guess not" she sighed knowing that there were countless times that Willow would have willingly given her life for them. That it was Willow that brought her back, gave her life again. What was left of Willow under all that pain and grief, under all that dark magic and dark power would not let them die, she couldn't.
"But old evilly Willow could sure hurt us some, huh? We need to remind her when she wakes up that it is not nice to get all kick ass on your friends." Xander smiled trying to joke.
"Yeah, I know and we will, but I think that when she wakes up...there is going to be a world of pain."
The three sat quietly for a moment looking at Willow.
"What do we do?" Dawn whispered.
"I don't know....I guess we should start by getting you cleaned up Xander...but still what about Wil...I wish we knew why she is like this."
"We could take her to the hospital." Dawn suggested.
"And say what...she OD'd on black magic?" Xander questioned shaking his head.
"Oh, right, well do we even know if she is okay?"
"Well, not really, she is breathing though, that's a start."
Buffy shifted her position on the bed so she could better see Willow's face. "Xander, did something happen...did she fall...did she hit her head...could there be something that hurt her?"
Xander looked for a moment as though he might cry. "Tara's death, Tara's death. She collapsed in my arms and cried as she changed back to Willow. It was deep, she wailed Buffy, it was like holding a dying animal. My heart broke, I couldn't bear to see her in such pain....and then she was quiet, like she just went to sleep. So I brought her back here." Tears were running down Xander's face. He was shaking his head looking at the floor.
"Tara." Dawn whispered almost inaudibly.
Buffy leaned over to whisper in Willow's ear. "Wils, are you sleeping, are you here, we love you, come back to us."
Buffy waited, there was no response. "I don't know, is she sleeping, comatose, catatonic? I don't know. God...got to think."
"Could she be catatonic like you were?" Xander asked suddenly looking up.
"I don't know." Buffy answered.
"You were catatonic, I don't remember you being catatonic."
"I was catatonic after you were taken by Glory. I just couldn't take anymore, I kind of snapped. It was Willow who came and found me. She reached inside my mind and brought me back. But...." Buffy leaned over again to her friend, " I don't know how to do that Willow, I don't have that kind of power, I don't know how to help you."
"Oh God" Xander sighed.
"I wish Giles was here, he'd know what to do."
"Giles, my god and Anya, are they okay?" Xander started just registering that they were missing.
"Yes, they are at the hospital. I was on the phone with Anya when you came."
"Giles?" Dawn asked feeling badly that she had gotten so wrapped up in only Willow.
"Okay, he is going to be okay. He improved once Willow did, once Xander stopped her." Buffy looked at Xander and smiled. "You did it Xander, you saved us, me, Dawn, Giles, Willow, you saved us all."
"And Anya?"
"She was knocked around a bit by Willow magic, but it was really Giles Willow wanted, he came with power."
"So she is okay?"
"Yes Xander she is okay."
"And she knows I saved the world?"
"Yes, I believe she does, I think Giles told her."
"Good, maybe that will count for something, saving the world and all."
Buffy almost laughed but was silenced again by the sight of Willow and Dawn.
Dawn looked pale and tired, she seemed to be staring off into space.
"I guess we need to figure out what to do now." Buffy sighed.
"What do you mean?"
"What to do, what is our plan?"
"We could start by cleaning the floor." Dawn whispered quietly her eyes fixed.
"The floor?" Buffy stood and moved to see where Dawn was staring."Oh god."
"What?" questioned Xander turning on the bed to see. "Oh god."
"Tara" Buffy gasped.
All three fixed on the dried pool of blood on the floor.
"It still is bad." Xander stammered.
"Yes," Buffy murmured finally slowing enough to realize the loss. Tears began to sting her eyes. "Our Tara."
"We left her again." Dawn wept "We left her alone, she's all alone."
Buffy moved to take Dawn in her arms. "No, we'll take care of her, shes our family, we'll take care of her."
"She always took care of us, she always knew what to do."
Dawn moaned.
"I know, I know, she did, she's our Tara, we will take care of her, and Willow too."
Buffy looked at Willow almost lifeless on the bed. "Where are you Wil? Where are you?"
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Willow stirred feeling the soft folds of fabric against her cheek.
'So tired' she thought moving a little more. 'So tired.'
Willow could smell something familiar, the scent of lavender perhaps. Was she at home, had she been dreaming? Now there was a voice, a quiet gentle voice. "Willow...Willow."
A hand was on her head stroking her hair. "Willow?"
Willow's eyes fluttered open then squeezed back shut against the light. Her eyes hurt, her throat was raw, she felt ravaged.
"Willow?"
Willow tried again this time turning towards the voice.
"Tara?"
"Willow" her name was whispered.
"Tara?" Willow questioned again realizing that her head was in Tara's lap. "Tara?"
Willow felt oddly confused and disoriented. Her mind and thinking were muddy, addled. "Baby, is that you?"
"Yes sweetie, it's me. Take a moment and let your eyes adjust, you have been sleeping a very long time.
"Have I been asleep, I feel so tired."
"Well maybe sleeping is not the right word, just give yourself a minute, you will know."
"Where are we?" Willow wondered aloud. They were outside on a hill in the grass. Willow did not recognize this place. She rolled so she could look up into Tara's beautiful face. Tara smiled looking down at her. "Where are we baby, I don't remember how we got here."
"I'm not sure Wil, I don't know."
Willow looked at Tara her memory slowly returning. Things, bad things, dark things, death and murder, hate and despair.
"Oh...." she cried feeling a sudden surge of pain. She shut her eyes against the visions "Oh god, no."
Tara reached down and cradled her but was silent.
Willow began to weep. "No....no....I had the most horrible dream...you were...you were taken from me...you were dead...and I...I...couldn't bear it..." Willow sobbed her body wracked with grief.
"I know Wil. It's okay honey, it's okay now."
"How could you?"
"Because it wasn't a dream, it was real."
Willow looked up at Tara through burning blurry eyes, she could hardly breathe, her heart ached in her chest. "No, no dream?"
"No dream."
"It happened?"
"Yes honey, it happened?"
"You are...dead?"
"Yes Willow, I am dead."
Willow curled into a ball and began to wail again. Tara held her tightly, the pain was overwhelming. It was Willow's pain, Tara's pain, the pain of the world.
"Did I kill us? Are we dead?" Willow finally choked.
"No honey, just me."
"No?"
"No."
"But how am I here? Why? Where are we?"
"I don't know, but it must be for a good reason...I have a feeling...I am not quite sure...but I think we are in a holding place...or I am and you are visiting."
"Tara, I did, I did terrible things."
"I know."
"I killed Warren."
"I know."
"I killed Rack."
"I know."
"I almost killed our friends."
"You mean our family? Yes, I know."
"I..."
"Willow, you were in tremendous pain and you were possessed by dark forces. While it is no excuse, I understand. I do not believe that it was supposed to pass this way. I am sorry Willow, I am sorry I was taken from you."
"Am I dreaming you?"
"I don't think so...I think we are another dimension...maybe between worlds. I don't know what to do here yet, I have been waiting, watching, and then you came. I don't think it was supposed to be my time."
Willow held her place against Tara. "Can I stay here? Can I stay? I don't want to live if I don't have you."
"I don't know Wil, I am not sure why we are here. What I do know is that you have to go on living. You rest here with me for a bit, perhaps we can sort this out. There must be a reason for all of this...there just must be. Rest now, I am with you."
Willow closed her eyes succumbing to the gentle caresses. " I love you Tara." She whispered drifting back to twilight. "I love you."
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To be continued....
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Thanks for reading.
Blue Athame
Edited by: Blue Athame 1 at: 4/19/03 11:19:38 am
God, this made me cry like a baby.