WillowRulez:
nice to see some light stuff in this update as well.
Yeah some light stuff was definitely needed.
And soon I am going on vacation so I cant read what will happen with Kathy
I'll miss you
Well have fun on holiday. The story will still be here when you get back
Thanks for the feedback
Title: Times of Darkness, Times of Light
Author: Justin
Rating: R
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story, nor the setting. Please don't sue me, and for the love of god don't set Captain Copyright on me.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: Yes please
Summary: Tara tries to find a cure for Willow, meanwhile The Great One makes his first move.
Note: Thanks to Inlerf for betaing the story.
Where there's a Willow, there's a way-ohD minus 1 dayAt the meeting Giles said, “I've been going over the document that Kathy gave us but I'm having some trouble translating these hieroglyphs.” Willow and Tara had dropped the parchment off at the magic while on their way to class, that morning and Giles had spent the day trying to decipher it, without much luck.
“I'm shocked,” Xander said. “This is really ruining my image of you knowing everything.”
“Yes, well, somehow I'll live with that. I've been trying to get some help from the Watcher's Council but have been move about from pillar to post. I'm starting to think they're giving me the run around.”
“Do you think it's deliberate?” Buffy asked. “In order to put us in our place. I'd rather not have to go through any more of their tests just to get some intel.”
“I agree. However I think the Council is just being extra bureaucratic at the moment.”
“Um,” Willow said hesitantly. “This might seem a silly idea but maybe we should ask Kathy.” She indicated the woman who had been quiet throughout this exchange. “I mean maybe her friend had some luck translating it?”
Kathy gulped as everyone turned to her. “Uh, yeah she did have a bit of success. She said it wasn't like any other language she'd seen, but by comparing it to other documents and doing something clever she was able to get some understanding of what it said.”
“And that is?” Giles asked.
“Oh, well it seemed to be about the people's deities. It described some of their rituals. Uh, they worshipped a group called...” Kathy paused. “Um, it was something like those we worship or those who rule.” She shook her head, looking annoyed. “No, that's not right. It's something silly like that though. Sorry I guess it wasn't that much.”
“No,” Giles said. “Knowing the purpose of the document will help.”
“Oh and that eye thingy, that was their symbol,” Kathy said.
“The people, or the deities?” Giles asked.
“The deities.”
Tara looked as though she was going to say something, but stopped, sitting back down in her seat.
“Well thank you, that will be useful. Tara, you said that Wesley had fallen out with Angel and the others?”
“Yes. They didn't tell me any details, but apparently they weren't on speaking terms.”
“That's a pity. He was one of the Council's best translators. Still I suppose we should get started on researching this. I've made a note of some books which I think will help.”
“Um, should we be researching this?” Tara asked.
“I thought you of all people would want to know the details about this.”
“I do. Definitely. Just don't we have more pressing matters like the Great One?”
“I haven't forgotten about him. However, given the scant information we have, there is little to research. I am expecting a couple of calls about it, but until I get those we might as well focus on this matter.”
Tara nodded, uncomfortable that her problems were being given priority.
***
Kathy pushed the door to the study open, trying to keep the cups of coffee from spilling. This was made harder by the fact she'd overfilled them both. She paused for a moment to watch the young woman working in there. Her long, dark hair was pulled back in a loose pony tail, and she was wearing a pair of small, octagonal reading glasses. She chewed her lip slightly as she read one of the many printouts on her desk.
“I thought you might want some coffee,” she said, taking a step into the room.
Megan turned and grinned at her. “Thanks, you're a life saver.”
Kathy carefully put the mugs down on a clear part of the desk. “So how's it going?”
“Pretty well, I've almost translated one of these documents.”
Kathy sat down, giving Megan an impressed look. “Wow, that's really good. So come on, what does it say?”
Megan picked up one of the printouts. “It's an incantation to bring an inanimate object to life. Would you like to hear it?”
Kathy nodded as she picked up one of the mugs and took a sip.
“Okay. It says,” Megan cleared her throat then read out:
Bagpuss, dear Bagpuss
Old fat furry cat-puss
Wake up and look at this thing that I bring
Wake up, be bright
Be golden and light
Bagpuss, Oh hear what I sing
Kathy clamped her mouth shut as she quickly swallowed the mouthful of coffee she'd just taken. After she'd recovered a little she said, “God Megan, are you trying to make me spit coffee over your work?”
Megan grinned. “I just like hearing you laugh.”Kathy jumped as Tara touched her arm. Blushing, she said, “Sorry, I was miles away.”
Tara smiled. “I noticed. I was just going to go on a Mocha run, I was wondering if you wanted to come with.”
“Sure, I could do with some air. Is Willow coming with?”
Tara pointed to where Willow was practically buried under a pile of books. “I think it'll be a while before Willow comes up for air.”
As they left, Tara said, “This must all be quite a shock to you.”
“You can say that again. I mean when all that stuff happened with Willow, I thought, 'Wow this is weird,' but that it was a one off thing. That nothing like that would happen again. Now there's vampires, ancient cults and I'm thinking you're all old hats at this.”
Tara nodded. “We are. I mean Willow's been doing this longer than me, but we've dealt with our share of apocalypses.”
“Wait, apocalypses? As in more than one?”
Tara nodded.
“Oh, boy. This is all just...” Kathy shook her head.
“It's okay to be freaked.”
Kathy nodded but didn't say anything. After a few minutes she said, “I got a letter from Paula a couple of weeks ago.”
Tara was a little surprised by the sudden change in topic but just said, “Paula?”
“Oh yeah, she was my best friend in university. We kind of broke up after I found out that she was sleeping with my boyfriend.”
“That must have been difficult.”
“You could say that. The worst thing was, she was my friend. I don't know how she could betray me like that.” Kathy shook her head. It still hurt her to think about how her friend had gone behind her back, lied to her for so long. “As for Adam, well it was almost a relief.”
“A relief?”
“Yeah well. I liked Adam; he was nice, good looking but there wasn't any...”
“You didn't click?”
“That's it; we didn't. I think I just stayed with him because it was comfortable, being with someone, you know?”
Tara nodded. “You know one day you'll meet someone that you really click with and then it won't just be about being comfortable.”
“I think I might have already met that person.”
“Really? Who?”
Kathy stopped dead in her tracks and turned around looking shocked. “Huh? Oh, I got distracted. I was telling you about the letter.”
Tara nodded, wondering what Kathy had been going to say, and why she had stopped herself.
“Anyway Paula said she'd divorced him.”
“Him? Oh you mean Adam.”
“Yeah. When I found out about them, they kept telling me how they hadn't wanted to hurt me but that they truly loved each other and were meant to be together.” By this point they had reached the Espresso Pump. As they joined the queue Kathy went on, “They even used the phrase soul mates. Now, just a few years later, they've split up. I have to wonder, is any of it real? How do you know if you've really found your true love, and it's not just indigestion?”
“It's hard to say. I guess it is possible to think what you've got is the real thing, and for it to turn out not to be. On the other hand I do think true love really does exist and you can find it.”
“You mean like you and Willow?”
“Yes.”
“I guess you're one of the lucky ones. Sorry, I'm feeling pessimistic at the moment.”
They had reached the till, so Tara made the order.
As they left the shop with the coffee, Kathy said, “I was thinking about Megan earlier. I think she really would have fit in with your group.”
“She would?”
“Well she was really good at research, being an archaeologist. Plus she was an expert at kick boxing.” Kathy smirked. “I think she wanted to be like Lara Croft. Plus she was totally insane. Uh, in a good way. You see she had this condition. I don't know what the technical name is, but she basically had a hole in her heart.”
“Weren't they able to treat it?”
“She had some medication, but she always had to live with the knowledge her heart could give out at any time. So she was very much about living in the moment, the whole Carpe Diem thing.”
“You must have really liked her.”
“Yeah. I hated having to move away from her. I probably wouldn't except I was broke and really needed the job. I would have kept in touch except...” Kathy shrugged. “Well I suck.” Kathy shook her head. “Like the songs says, all it would have taken was some time.”
Moving awkwardly, because of the tray of drinks, Tara put her arm around Kathy. “It'll be okay.”
When they reached the Magic Box, Kathy held the door open for Tara. Tara put the tray down on the counter then took two of the cups. “I'm just going to find Willow.”
“Sure.” When Tara had taken a couple of steps, Kathy said, “It was Megan.”
Tara turned with a questioning look.
“The only person I really clicked with; it was Megan.”
***
It was a small room with little in the way of furnishing, and nothing to hint at the personality of the person staying in it. No personal affects, which was how Faith liked things, no clutter.
Faith paced her motel room.
Faith couldn't understand why this job was causing her so much trouble. It was just a young witch. Not a vampire or demon, just a witch. That was the problem though,
it was a human. Faith had killed a human before, since her time in prison; a young warlock in Alaska had risen a group of zombies and had used them to take over her town. That wouldn't have been a problem except the warlock's ambition had extended to taking over the whole state, perhaps even further. Travelling up to Alaska Faith had managed to work her way into the young woman's confidence. Then, one day, she had walked up behind the woman, put a gun to the back of her head and shot her. Even though she knew she had had to do it, Faith still had nightmares about it.
This was different though. Tara wasn't summoning zombie armies, intent on taking over the world. She was just a young woman who stuttered sometimes and who, it seemed, rocked Willow's world. Maybe there was something else, something she wasn't seeing. What though? She had only met Tara twice. Once when she had taken over Buffy's body and again when Tara had visited her in prison to tell her about Buffy's “death”. However, even with just these two meetings, Faith's instincts told her that Tara was one of the good guys.
She went to pick up the file, hoping she'd find some clue in there that would help resolve this. However, what she found just confused her more. There were instructions that after killing Tara, Faith was to take possession of her body. There were then detailed instructions on how to dispose of the body. It was almost as if they wanted to make sure she didn't come back again.
***
“How's Kathy doing?” Willow asked Tara as she came into the bedroom. “I mean how's she coping?”
“I think she's finding it a bit of an adjustment.”
Willow nodded. “I know it was hard the first time I met a vampire. Plus she does seem to have come in right in the middle of an apocalypse.”
“I don't think that's bothering her as much as what happened to Megan. I think she was in love with her.”
“You mean they were good friends... No, you don't. You mean love, love.”
“I think so.”
“Then why did she leave Megan?”
“I think she might be having trouble coming to terms with her sexuality.”
“But she never had any trouble with either of us.”
“There's a difference between accepting other people being gay, and accepting that you are yourself. Especially if you were raised to believe it's wrong.”
“You mean like you were?”
Tara nodded.
“Kathy's never mentioned her childhood.”
“I could be wrong.”
“Well we'll have to see. If Kathy wants to talk about it, then we'll be here for her.”
***
Buffy blocked a blow from the vampire she was fighting then, hitting it in the chest she knocked it back a few steps. “Come on is that the best you can do?” she asked. “I mean here I was hoping for a bit of a work out but I'm hardly working up a sweat.” The vampire tried to rush her but Buffy had her stake positioned ready, so the vampire impaled itself on it. As it turned to dust she said, “That was almost too easy.”
As she said this she heard the sound of another vampire dusting behind her. Spinning round she saw a cloud of dust. Behind that she could make out Faith.
“You're slipping B. Not normal for you to let a vampire get the drop on you.”
Buffy took a step back. “Faith, what are you doing here?”
“To be honest, I'm trying to figure that out.”
“Last I knew you were in prison; does Angel know you're out?”
“Not exactly no.”
“You know I'm not exactly hearing a lot of reasons why I shouldn't kick your ass and send you back to prison.”
“Because I have information, about Tara.”
“What do you mean, about Tara?”
“There are people who want her dead.”
“Go on.”
“You know it's a bit chilly. Maybe we can go somewhere warmer and I'll explain everything.”
***
Buffy glowered at Faith, who was quietly nursing a cup of coffee. They had gone to the Espresso Pump but so far she hadn't heard much in the way of explanation. “I'm waiting.”
“Okay. A couple of months after I turned myself in I was contacted by the government, wanting me to work for them. They would let me out to do jobs for them, in return for a reduced sentence.”
“That's nice. It has what to do with Tara now?”
“Shit B, I'm getting there. I've got to start at the beginning, don't I?”
“All right fine. What sort of jobs?”
“Mainly taking care of demons that the military couldn't deal with. That's why I'm out of prison.”
“You're on a job, to do with Tara.”
“No,” Faith didn't like lying but she knew Buffy would never trust her if she knew the real reason for her being in Sunnydale. “It was a small job, nothing to worry about. But I've found out there are people who want Tara dead. More than that, they want her killed in a way which stops her from coming back. I mean I thought you were the only one who did the back from the grave trick.”
“No, Tara managed it as well.”
“Well then I guess that that makes sense.”
“Okay, you better come with me to meet the others. If you're lying though...”
“Yeah, I'm pretty sure I won't live to regret it.”
***
Cordelia watched Angel through the window of Wesley's office talking on the phone. As he came out of the office she said, “Don't tell me the world's ending again.”
“Huh?”
“It's just you've got that serious, world's coming to an end look on your face.”
“Oh. I was talking to the prison, Faith's in solitary again.”
“Well then at least we know she's still in prison.”
“It just seems she's in solitary a lot.”
“Faith never was the most stable of people.” Looking at Angel, she said, “What, do you think she's broken out and they're covering it up for some reason?”
“I don't know.” Angel walked away, still looking worried.
***
As they were getting ready for bed Tara asked Willow, “Are you feeling okay? You seem a little on edge.”
“I don't know. I'm feeling weird. My skin's all tingly. It's kind of hard to explain.”
Tara walked over to Willow and put her hands on her shoulders. “Do you think it's from the binding?”
“It could be. I mean having your essence split in two and then rejoined has got to have some side effects.”
TBC
. Lots and lots of 
they're really starting to crack down on that sort of thing.
Hehe, am glad you updated again before I went on vacation.
I'm glad you're enjoying the fic
