WillowRulez: I'm glad you liked the update.
I'm not sure why you found Whistler annoying. Unless it was because he thinks it would be better if Tara had been forced to marry an abusive drunk. That might be it.
Will Willow and Tara save the day? find out soon.
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You'll find out more about Megan later.
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: The town of Sunnydale has been blanketted in darkness and demons are on the rampage.
NB: Thanks to Inlerf for betaing this story
Times of Darkness
Chapter 2
Willow and Tara hurried upstairs, leaving Dawn and Kathy to sort through the weapons and other supplies. Tara started going through the book case picking out any that looked useful, while Willow read her notes on the spell.
“Modifying this spell will be tricky. I mean making sure nothing goes wrong.”
“No trolls?” Tara joked.
“I'm more worried about it blowing up. Cause a ball of flaming death isn't really going to be as helpful as a ball of sunshine.”
“What inspired you when you were creating the spell?”
“Well I was thinking about how Buffy's job would be easier if we could summon up sunshine on demand. Because vampires and sunlight equals poof.”
Tara smiled. “I mean what sources did you draw from? That'll tell use where to start looking.”
“Oh right...” Willow stopped, looking down at the floor.
Noticing Willow hesitating, Tara walked over to her. “Hey, what's wrong?”
“It's just... things are getting pretty bad and everyone's going to be counting on me and I don't know if I can do it. I don't know if I'm strong enough to be able do this on my own.”
Tara lifted her hand to Willow's shoulder, letting her fingers run through her hair. “You're not. None of us are. We can do this together.”
“I can't lose you again.”
“You won't.” Tara kissed Willow on the forehead. “Together we're unstoppable.” A moment later Tara had her hands cupped round Willow's cheeks, and she kissed her deeply.
It was some time before they broke apart. “The spell!” Tara said. They hurried to gather some books together.
***
As she approached the motel, Buffy noticed several fires around it. The main entrance, leading through into the car park, was barricaded. As she looked around for a way in, Buffy had the feeling she was being watched. She Looked up and saw a silhouette moving about on the roof.
“Hey...” Buffy shouted.
Suddenly, a door opened and a woman shouted, “Come in, quickly.”
Buffy ran in and the woman closed the door behind her, locking it and putting a heavy bar in place. “It's not safe out there at the moment,” the woman said.
“Yeah, I kind of noticed that.”
“I'm Jenna.”
“Buffy.”
Jenna led Buffy through to a communal area. Amy was talking to two men. When she finished, Amy turned and said, “Buffy.”
“Amy, how are you doing?”
Amy shrugged. “Surviving.”
Buffy looked around and said, “You seem to have everyone here pretty organised.”
“Yeah, well, when this all started my first thought was to run , but then I thought, what would Willow do? So I got everyone together and started fortifying the place. What do you know about what's happening?”
“Not much at the moment,” Buffy replied, “The place has been plunged into darkness and nothing electrical is working.”
“You forgot about the marauding demons.”
“Oh yes, can't forget about them.”
“So what's the plan?”
“Do you think you can get everyone here back to my place?”
“I think so.”
“Good. When you get there start working with Will and Tara to try and figure this all out. I'm sure they've already started with the research by now.”
***
Willow and Tara stood facing each other. They took each other's hands and began chanting the words to the spell. After a few moments a small ball of light formed between them. It rose up, passing through the ceiling and through the roof of the house. Once it was a short distance above the house it cast a cone of light down around the house and the surrounding area.
“So this is permanent?” Dawn asked.
“It should last a few hours,” Willow answered,
“Long enough to figure out what to do next,” Tara added.
Kathy came into the room, saying, “Guys, Faith and Giles are here.”
They went downstairs to meet them. “Are you two okay?” Tara asked.
“Five by five,” Faith answered.
“I take it this is your work,” Giles said.
Willow nodded.
“Well, this'll keep the vampires away, but not the demons,” Giles said.
“They won't be killed by the sunlight,” Tara said, “but won't they prefer to stay in the dark areas of town?”
“True.” Giles nodded. “Though we should probably work on some fortifications.”
“We can't stay here,” Faith said.
“And why is that?”
“Well we might all be safe here, but unless we're planning on leaving the rest of the town to fend for themselves, there's going to be a lot of people to look after. There's no way we can protect them all unless we move.”
“So where do you suggest?” Giles asked.
“What about the hospital?” Tara asked. “It's large enough and the medical supplies will come in handy.”
“I'm not sure how easy it'd be to defend,” Giles said. “Also it's a long trek from here. Getting everyone there will be hard.”
“While I was driving here I noticed a castlet. What about that?” Kathy suggested.
Willow nodded. “It's closer and we shouldn't have any trouble defending it.”
Giles said, “That's a good plan. We should probably get together the people from this street, make sure they're safe.”
***
Dawn looked carefully around the street, checking that the coast was clear. She then set off down the street with Kathy following close behind clutching the supplies she'd been given. “Let's see, holy water and crosses,” Kathy said. Catching up with Dawn she went on, “So what are we going to say to people? That there's something demonic going on?”
Dawn shook her head. “I was thinking we'd say we'd heard there was a lot of rioting, because of the black out.”
“I guess that'll work.” Kathy brightened. “Or, hey, we could say we're having a black out party.”
“I don't think the people who live here would be interested in that sort of thing.”
“Oh, okay. We'll go with your plan then.” Kathy knocked sharply on the first door. After a couple of minutes she knocked again. “Maybe they're not in.” Kathy peered round to look in the window.
“Or maybe they're asleep,” Dawn countered. She was standing near the gate, keep an eye out.
“That too. So what should....” Kathy stopped as the door swung open to reveal a tall balding man, who was wearing a dressing gown.
“Do you know what time it is!”
Kathy was a little taken aback by his anger. She recovered herself she said, “No, none of our clocks are working.”
Frowning, the man got a watch out of his dressing gown pocket.
“Uh...” Kathy started
“Young lady, it is precisely five minutes past one in the morning.”
“That's not electrical, is it.”
“No, it isn't. Now why don't you...”
“Who is it Marve?” a voice called from upstairs. “What do they want.”
The man turned back inside and shouted, “Go back to bed Nancy. I'll handle this.” He turned back to Kathy. “So what was it you wanted?”
“Well, as you might have noticed the power has gone and there's been a lot of rioting, so we thought everyone from the street should get together, for safety.”
“I'm sure we'll be fine here. Now if that's...”
“But we've got light,” Dawn said.
“What are you...”
He stopped as Dawn pointed back towards her house. It was only then he noticed the sphere of light around it. Like most people who lived in Sunnydale, Marve didn't believe in the supernatural. As far as he was concerned, Sunnydale was a nice, normal town. Sure, the death rate was slightly higher than it ought to be, but that was nothing to worry about. However there was a part of him that saw. A part of him that knew. That knew that the darkness wasn't safe, that it was a time when others ruled the street. That part told him that light meant safety, told him that he needed to get to the light. He Turned to look inside and shouted, “Nancy get dressed! We're going to stay with the Summers!”
“Might want to put some clothes on yourself, old boy,” Kathy said. “The whole Arthur Dent look, so not you.”
As they walked to the next house Kathy said, “hat went well. “
“Brilliantly,” Dawn answered, not able to resist rolling her eyes as she said it.
Kathy started singing the song: “It's the end of the world as we know it.”
***
Amy and her group were getting close to their destination when Jenna touched her on the arm. “There's a light up ahead.”
“I see it. That's where we're going.”
“How did they get light?”
“Magic.”
“Before tonight if you'd said that, I would have thought you were crazy.”
“And now? What do you think?”
“Now I think that I'm crazy.”
TBC
)
). 
I will issue a decree, from henceforth Tara's mother will be known as Samantha Maclay.