Michelle
by Mini-ALF » Thu Feb 14, 2002 9:02 pm
Michelle
by ForeverPiper » Sun Feb 17, 2002 7:46 am
-------------------------------------
Will...I'm glad you're doing better. - TARA
Willow! Check you out! Witch-fu. - BUFFY
[This message has been edited by ForeverPiper (edited February 18, 2002).]
by Charlie » Sun Feb 17, 2002 3:03 pm
This chapter is definitely reason enough for me to encourage any writer to go with how they feel and not to resist a new direction that their story takes them in.
Really well written, honey, and most defnitely worth waiting for xx
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"Je dois partir maintenant parce que ma grandmere est flambé..."
- Eddie 'covered in beeeees!' Izzard
by mollyig » Mon Feb 18, 2002 2:26 am
------------------
"It took a long time to become the thing i am to you,
and you won't tear it apart without a fight, without a heart"
Become You - Indigo Girls
by Sassette » Mon Feb 18, 2002 10:52 am
If, however, I am offline for many days on end (which is a distinct possibility) that gives me plenty of writing time, so I should have lots when I'm back online *g*
-Sass
by LeatherQueen » Tue Feb 19, 2002 12:03 am
And I really love Anya's last line!
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"Honey, I'm the original one-eyed chicklet in the kingdom of the blind." -Glory
by ForeverPiper » Tue Feb 19, 2002 2:14 pm
quote:
Originally posted by LeatherQueen:
Oh no! Grrr on your internet connection. But if it means getting more of this great, and ever-more intriguing story, then I suppose we can live through it.
Ditto.
by Sassette » Tue Feb 19, 2002 2:18 pm
-Sass
**********Edited to Add - I'll be at my mom's tonight ... and SHE has an internet connection ... BWAHAHAHAHHAAAA!!!!**********
[This message has been edited by Sassette (edited February 19, 2002).]
by ForeverPiper » Tue Feb 19, 2002 3:41 pm
by LeatherQueen » Tue Feb 19, 2002 5:38 pm
quote:
Originally posted by Sassette:
**********Edited to Add - I'll be at my mom's tonight ... and SHE has an internet connection ... BWAHAHAHAHHAAAA!!!!**********
Woohoo! Yay for your mom! And no, you can never go wrong with tattoos and Tara's ass.
------------------
"Honey, I'm the original one-eyed chicklet in the kingdom of the blind." -Glory
by Sassette » Tue Feb 19, 2002 11:25 pm
Title: Answering Darkness Part 29 – Trying
Author: Sassette
Feedback: Can be sent to pink_overalls@yahoo.com
Summary: Tara and Anya arrive at her father’s home.
Spoiler Warning: Up to and including "Tabula Rasa" in Season 6.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I'm just borrowing them because Season 6 angst is running high, and I want my happy ending now, dammit! So I'm writing it … but it'll be awhile until I get to that part, so bear with me (or "bare" with me if you're naughty).
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For the purpose of this story, all events of Tabula Rasa took place exactly as shown in the series; however, no subsequent episodes will affect this piece. We're splitting from canon here, because this seems the fastest way to get a reconciliation and because I feel this is one of the possible outcomes when taking the "addiction" metaphor into account. So, I should shut the heck up now, and just get to the story, right? Right.
Answering Darkness
Part 29 – Trying
by Sassette
“Hey,” Willow said softly, trudging into the room, her arms wrapped around herself.
“Hey,” Buffy said, looking up from the papers spread before her and up at her pale shaky friend. “How are you feeling?” she asekd, noticing for the first time how gaunt Willow looked, like a strong wing would knock her over. The dark circles under her eyes added to the overall impression of walking death, and Buffy wondered how she could have been so self-involved she hadn’t noticed.
“Better,” Willow answered. She still felt … off, but the long nap seemed to have done her some good. “Kinda’ bored,” she confessed. “Whatcha’ doin’?” she asked, waving her hand at the papers and sitting down on the couch.
“I’m listing my assets,” Buffy said ruefully, tossing her pen down and picking up a newspaper. “So far, I’m qualified to flip burgers.”
“That good, huh?” Willow asked, her face scrunched up in sympathy.
“Well, it’s not >that< bad,” Buffy hedged. “There’s always Giles’ check, and the exciting world of exotic dancing.”
“I refuse to let my best friend’s life become a Demi Moore movie,” Willow said firmly, pushing around the scattered papers and trying to find something to focus on. “Besides, aren’t those prime slaying hours?”
“Oh yeah, huh?” Buffy muttered, her frown returning.
“How much did Giles give you, anyway?” Willow asked absently.
“Here,” Buffy said, handing over a notebook.
“Buffy! That’s a lot of money!” Willow blurted out. “You shouldn’t live on this. You should invest it,” she said quickly. “Because that’s a lot of money – and how did Giles get so much money, anyway?”
“Back-pay,” Buffy said succinctly. “And I know I should invest it,” Buffy said glumly, letting out a puff of air, her shoulders slumping. "But what are Dawn and I going to live on if I do? Flipping burgers is looking better and better, but it only pays so much.”
The door opened and Dawn bounced in, flopping into a chair and letting her backpack fall heavily to the floor. “I swear, they’re doing a scientific experiment on us to see if carrying this much homework will cause us permanent spine damage,” she groused, kicking at her bag.
“No, they just want you to learn,” Willow responded. “Learning is all of the good.”
“Sure,” Dawn said, frowning at the redhead. “So says the girl who actually >wanted< to go to class today. It’s just a waste of time.”
“And you have so many better things to do?” Buffy asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister and pursing her lips. “Like, oh, I dunno … clean your room? Do the dishes? Get a job and pay for the house?”
“Fine,” Dawn said, rolling her eyes. “It’s not like I see you getting a job,” she groused.
“Hey!” Buffy shot back, making an indignant gesture at the papers scattered around her. “I’m very choosy about my work outfits. I’m trying to avoid wearing goofy uniform-type clothes that smell of grease and processed yuck food, or wearing no clothes altogether.”
“Whatever,” Dawn said, a smirk forming on her face. “Too bad you can’t just mug people. You’ve got fighting down pat.”
“Dawn … I am >not< going to be a mugger,” Buffy said, leveling a look at her younger sister even as a thoughtful look crossed Willow’s face.
“You >do< have the fighting thing down,” Willow said, a frown of concentration pulling at her lips as her brow furrowed. “In fact, it’s your strongest skill.”
“No!” Buffy said incredulously. “I don’t even believe you’re suggesting that!” she went on, looking at Willow as if she’d suddenly grown an extra head.
“Oh, no!” Willow said quickly. “No with the mugging! Big no on the Illegal-Go-To-Jail-Type-Activities. But Buffy … you could give self-defense classes.”
“Huh with the Huh?” Buffy asked.
“It’s perfect! You know all about the fighting and stuff, and you basically have a black belt a million times over. You just gotta’ find out exactly what Giles has been teaching you, like, what kind of martial arts and whatnot, do a little studying to find out how it’s taught when it’s formal, then bam! Instant Buffy-Job!”
“That’d be kinda’ … cool,” Dawn offered, her eyes lighting up. “You could teach in your training room at the shop. Anya’s always complaining that she can’t use that space for inventory.”
“That’s even more perfect!” Willow exclaimed. “You could even work under Anya’s business license, so you don’t have to worry about that part at all,” she said, grabbing a piece of paper and making notes. “Anya could put you on the payroll as an instructor, and keep a little bit as your rent. If she tries to keep too much, we can just point out that we could scrap the idea and she could continue getting nothing for the space.”
“I … you want me to teach?” Buffy asked when the idea had fully penetrated her brain. “You want me to teach people how to beat up other people?”
“It’d be way cool, Buffy,” Dawn insisted. “And it would be, like, your solemn slayer duty. You’d be teaching people self-defense, so they weren’t so completely helpless when you jumped in and saved them.”
“I do >not< want people trying to take on demons when they’re attacked,” Buffy insisted with a frown.
“Of course not,” Willow agreed with a vigorous nod. “It’s your class. You can stress the running of the away. And give people a clue what to watch out for. People know Sunnydale isn’t safe, so it’s like this … kind of empowering thing. It’ll be great!”
“I … guess that would be … kinda’ okay?” Buffy tentatively agreed.
“Think it over,” Willow said.
“Besides. Your class means your dress code,” Dawn broke in. “And you could work your hours around slaying.”
“I’ll, umm … I’ll think about it,” Buffy said with a nod. “I’ll, umm … Willow?” she asked uncertainly, looking over and noticing that Willow was swaying slightly and she had gone even paler.
“I, uhh … oh, God,” she said, getting up onto her wobbly legs and making for the bathroom as fast as she could manage.
“Okay … >so< glad I didn’t have to deal with that all day,” Dawn muttered, looking after Willow with a concerned look.
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Buffy said, getting up to follow Willow to the bathroom. Reaching the door, Buffy heard that noise she had heard far too much of in the past 24 hours. She knocked lightly, then swung the door open, cringing at the miserable picture Willow made, backing away from the toilet, then leaning heavily against the wall, taking in deep gasping breaths.
“This … is no fun,” Willow groaned, crossing her arms over her stomach.
“It … certainly doesn’t look fun,” Buffy agreed, dumping more magic baking soda and dumping some into the toilet bowl before flushing, trying not to think too hard about what the crackly stuff would feel like coming up.
“Way not fun,” Willow reiterated weakly, letting her head fall back to rest against the wall. “In fact, I’m pretty much hating this.”
“I’m … I’m so sorry you have to go through this,” Buffy said gently, kneeling in front of her friend.
“My fault,” Willow said with a half-smile. “Reaping what I sowed and all that.”
“Still,” Buffy said.
“Yeah, still,” Willow agreed, even as a chill ran through her, causing a great shudder to move her. “Damn,” she said, shivering again. “It’s, uhhhh … it’s really … cold in here,” she went on, her brow furrowing slightly as she looked around. “When did it get so cold?”
“It’s fine in here. Perfectly warm,” Buffy said, frowning.
“No, f-freezing,” Willow said, continuing to shiver as her teeth chattered together.
“Okay, you’re going to bed right now,” Buffy said hurriedly, maneuvering Willow’s shaking body into her arms and lifting her up. “Jesus, Will. You don’t weigh anything,” she said, taking the stairs two at a time and putting Willow down on the bed as a worried Dawn burst into the room.
“What is it? What’s going on?” Dawn demanded as Buffy was tucking Willow under the covers, trying to get her shivering limbs settled.
“I don’t know,” Buffy admitted, looking on worriedly as Willow immediately curled up into a ball and huddled up under the covers, a light sheen of sweat breaking out on her forehead and upper lip.
“Can’t … can’t,” Willow muttered through chattering teeth, her eyes shutting tightly.
“Dawn, call Mary Ellen,” Buffy ordered. “The number’s by the phone.”
Dawn stood, watching with wide-eyes as Willow’s shaking got so bad she was convulsing, Buffy holding her down.
“Now!” Buffy yelled, looking over her shoulder, shocking the teen out of her stupor and sending her scurrying down the stairs. “Don’t do this to me, Will,” Buffy said sternly, holding down her friend. She watched in horror, glad for the layers of cloth between her hands and Willow’s skin when the sweat on her face changed into a dark viscous fluid, beading on her upper lip and forehead, and tracking down her face from her eyes like tears.
“God,” Willow groaned, her eyes snapping open to reveal the blackness there.
“Willow, you’re scaring me,” Buffy yelled, leaning heavily on her.
“I don’t know what’s real … I don’t know what’s real,” Willow mumbled, struggling against the unfamiliar weight pinning her to the bed.
“Mary Ellen’s on her way,” a breathless Dawn said, rushing back into the room.
“Dawn, get out of here,” Buffy said quickly, looking back over her shoulder again.
“Buffy!” Dawn yelled. “Do something!”
“I can’t … I’m just trying to keep her still. Go! Now!” Buffy said through gritted teeth as Willow’s efforts to free herself became more urgent. After another moment of indecision, Dawn fled the room.
Snatches of strange phrases floated through the air, and Buffy looked back down at Willow with wide eyes, seeing her lips moving to form the words.
“Oh no you don’t,” she said, freeing up one hand and clapping it over Willow’s mouth. Her hand touched the black stuff on Willow’s face, and Buffy felt as if she had been burned, but not with fire. Fear and uncertainty, pain and rage seemed to sear her skin, but she held on, keeping her hand firmly over Willow’s mouth. “Snap out of it, Willow,” she yelled, looking into the black eyes of her green-eyed friend. “Stop it with the creepy eye thing,” she went on, pressing Willow harder into the mattress. Still, the feelings burned through her hand, growing stronger by the moment.
Buffy felt helpless and angry, scared and hurt as she pushed down with all her weight and strength behind it. The flailing continued, then slowed, but Buffy continued yelling, giving vent to the rage inside of her, keeping Willow pinned. After a few more moments, the struggling stopped completely, snapping Buffy out of the dark place she was in.
“Willow?” she said, her voice hoarse and uncertain, pulling back and looking at her. “Oh, God, Willow?”
Willow lay there, completely still and unresponsive to Buffy’s calls. Panicked, Buffy’s fingers found Willow’s pulse point, and she held her breath until the flutter of a heartbeat surged against her fingertips.
“God,” Buffy breathed, relief flooding through her. “What was … ?” she wondered, staring at her hand and the black sticky stuff there. She grabbed the baking soda off the dresser, and sprinkled some on her hand, and the feelings that had fueled her, had made her hold Willow down until she passed out, completely disappeared.
“Buffy?” a scared voice asked from the doorway. “What’s … ?”
“I …” Buffy began, a shocked look on her face. “I … stay back, Dawn,” she said when Dawn made a move to enter the room. “Willow’s kind of … leaking the black nasty stuff, and I got a little on me. It’s … really bad,” she explained.
“Is Willow … gonna’ be alright?” Dawn asked tentatively.
“She’s asleep,” Buffy said. “Is Mary Ellen coming over?”
Dawn nodded. “She said she’s dropping everything and she’ll be right over,” she confirmed.
“Go downstairs and wait for her,” Buffy said, her tone brooking no argument. Obediently, Dawn left to wait. “God, Willow … I had no idea,” Buffy said softly, brushing a bit of hair back from Willow’s face. “Is that what’s inside you? Is that what you’ve been fighting all this time?” she whispered.
Buffy watched over Willow’s slumber, tears streaming down her cheeks as she tried not to think about what could have happened. Whatever was in that dark stuff had gotten a firm hold over Buffy from just a small amount, and she had almost … she didn’t even want to think about it. No, it was best to think about it now. She could have killed Willow. She had gotten so angry, and been so scared, she could have easily snapped her neck the way she had been holding her down.
And Willow. God only knew what Willow had almost done… what spell she was muttering before Buffy had stopped her words. For all Buffy really knew, she could have leveled an entire city block.
Had she and Willow really just tried to kill each other? It seemed so unreal. Or maybe it was the only thing that was real, and the rest of this was just fake. Or all of it was a trick? Maybe all of it was the Trickster.
“Buffy?” Mary Ellen said tentatively, knocking on doorframe as she stepped into the room.
“Mary Ellen,” Buffy said, turning to the newcomer. “She … started shaking. Said it was cold. She had just … upchucked more of the black stuff. And then she was … I dunno … convulsing, and I didn’t know what to do. I held her down, and got Dawn out of here, and she started a spell, I think. I covered her mouth, but she was sweating the black stuff by this time, and I got some on me, then …. I don’t know. Then I … I felt … really angry and scared, and I just kept holding her down and pushing harder, and then she … uhh … she passed out.”
Mary Ellen took all this in quietly, her gaze steady and non-judgemental as the words poured out of Buffy.
“Here, let me see her,” Mary Ellen said, gently pushing Buffy out of the way and carefully rolling Willow onto her back. Without a word, she studied Willow’s face intently, eyeing the black ooze on her skin. “We’ll have to wake her up,” she said after a few minutes that seemed to Buffy to stretch into an eternity. Without looking, she reached into her bag and drew a small bottle and a cake of soap.
“What’s … ?” Buffy began to ask, only to fall silent when Mary Ellen unstoppered the bottle and a strong scent filled the air. Mary Ellen waved it under Willow’s nose, causing it to twitch. Willow’s face screwed up, then her eyes fluttered open, and she flinched away from the pungent aroma.
“What … ?” she asked, looking around.
“What’s the last thing you remember?” Mary Ellen asked kindly.
“I was … eww,” Willow said, remembering yet another session in the bathroom. “Yeah … and then I was … it got so cold. Buffy brought me up here, and I felt like … I needed to let more of it out. It’s building up. I felt like I was going to explode,” she said hollowly. “I had to let it out, but Buffy had me pinned down, and I … I needed to move. To breathe, and I couldn’t. I tried to cast a spell, but Buffy covered my mouth up, and then I really couldn’t move. I kept trying and trying, and then I guess … I passed out?”
“That’s right,” Mary Ellen said with a nod. “Now, you need to take this soap and go shower. Right now,” she instructed. “Touch as little as possible, but take a mental note of what you touch. We’ll need to put the baking soda on it.”
“I – I can’t even touch things?” Willow asked incredulously. “Am I dangerous? I’m not safe to be around,” she deduced, a touch of panic in her voice. “I can’t … I can’t be here – or stay here … it’s … I –“ she went on, full-fledged panic taking over, rendering her unable to form a coherent thought.
“Just go take the shower,” Buffy said gently. “We’ll worry about the rest of it later. Just … right now, go shower.”
Willow looked at Buffy, studying her face carefully, then nodded. She slid out of bed, accepting the soap from Mary Ellen, then walked on unsteady legs from the room. Buffy and Mary Ellen sat in silence, watching the doorway until the sound of the water in the shower reached them.
“Well, we’ll have to wash these sheets,” Mary Ellen said, and Buffy quickly got up, helping her grab them and bundle them up from the corners. “Get the baking soda,” she said, the bedclothes cradled in her arms as she made her way out of the room. Buffy did as she was instructed, then led the way to the washer in the basement, trying to formulate her thoughts.
“So what’s going on?” she asked once Mary Ellen had the load ready to turn on once Willow was out of the shower.
“It’s the steady stream of dark power being sent,” Mary Ellen said wearily. “It’s … it’s building up, and Willow isn’t equipped for that. No human is equipped for that.”
“So what’s it doing?” Buffy asked, a look of dawning horror slowly taking shape on her face.
“Casting all those spells was like a release valve. It actually made it safer for Willow. All that darkness building up in her … it wants out, and she doesn’t have a way of doing that, so it’s seeping out when it can,” she explained further.
“Yes, I kind of figured that out at this point. So what’s it doing?” Buffy tried again.
“It’s making Willow very sick,” Mary Ellen said flatly. “It’s like a toxin. A poison.”
“So … she’ll keep throwing up? She’ll get cold and sweat black oozy stuff? Until it goes away?” Buffy asked.
“Not quite,” Mary Ellen said. “She’ll keep throwing up and sweating black oozy stuff on the outside. On the inside, it’s getting into her bloodstream. When it become too concentrated, she’ll die.”
“What?” Buffy yelled, looking up quickly at the door out of the basement, then lowering her voice. “What?” she repeated.
“She’s going to die,” Mary Ellen said helplessly. “We can delay it through cleansing, but it’s too much. I didn’t realize it was this bad. It’s building up too fast.”
“So unless Willow just goes with the Black Magick Mojo, she’s dead?” Buffy asked, her voice cracking. “No! No, I won’t accept that! There has to be another way.”
“Then you have to break this connection. Someway, somehow, that dark power has to stop pouring into Willow, and I have no idea how you could possibly do that,” Mary Ellen said.
“What about … spells? Rituals? Protections and things?” Buffy asked, her mind racing.
“You can slow it with cleansing rituals. A dark magick protection might help, or it might affect Willow and kill her faster,” Mary Ellen explained. “Any other spells wouldn’t be strong enough to stop it completely.”
“There has to be something else,” Buffy went on stubbornly. “I am not going to lose her,” she said tightly, her eyes filling with tears. “I am not going to have to tell Tara that …” Buffy’s voice broke and she stopped, coughing once, then continuing on. “I can’t let this happen.”
“I’m so sorry, Buffy. This sort of thing … it’s beyond my experience. Willow’s source is so intent on keeping her, I just …” she said.
“Not your fault,” Buffy said shortly. “But I know whose fault it is. And I don’t care if he is a Hell God. He’s going to know lots and lots of pain.”
“Buffy, surely you don’t think –“ Mary Ellen started to say.
“Why not? I’ve done it before,” Buffy shot back.
“But from what you’ve told me, he’s not even here,” Mary Ellen protested. “He’s >in< Hell. How, exactly, do you propose going after him there?”
“I have no idea, but I have to >do< something. I have to try,” Buffy insisted. Then a thought occurred to her. “Wait … he needs Willow. He needs Willow to let him out, so he’s not going to let her die, right?”
“I don’t know,” Mary Ellen said.
“Giles. I’ve got to call Giles,” Buffy said, moving to the stairs and racing up to the living room. “He’ll know. Or he can find out. What is the damn council for if not to find this stuff out?” she muttered.
“Buffy … I think Willow’s got a couple of weeks,” Mary Ellen said, catching up with the slayer. “But I’m not sure. I’ll look up everything I can find on the subject and I’ll see what could possibly slow this down. In the meantime, make sure Willow uses that soap twice a day, and keep the baking soda around.”
“Thank you, Mary Ellen,” Buffy said sincerely, grateful for the woman’s willingness to help, even though she was the bearer of bad news. Still, Buffy would rather know what she was facing than have no idea whatsoever.
Mary Ellen merely nodded, then showed herself to the door. “I only wish I could do more,” she said softly, closing the door behind her.
“What did she mean?” a tight voice behind Buffy asked.
“Dawn,” Buffy said weakly, turning to look at her sister who stood in the doorway of the kitchen, her jaw clenched and tears in her eyes.
“What did she mean ‘Willow’s got a couple of weeks,’?” Dawn demanded.
“I …” Buffy began, closing her eyes tight. “The dark power is killing her,” Buffy confessed. “She can’t hold that much inside her, and so she’s dying.”
“She can’t hold that much?” Dawn asked, jumping on any loophole she could imagine. “So if she let it out, she’d be okay, right? Like, if she cast a few spells?”
“If she cast a few spells, the world ends,” Buffy said. “She wouldn’t want that, and you know it.”
“So we get to sacrifice someone else to save the world?” Dawn asked bitterly. “How is that fair? How is it fair that we keep losing people, and the rest of the world gets to go about their merry way?”
“It’s not fair,” Buffy said tightly. “I know it’s not fair, but that’s the way it is.”
“Well I hate it,” Dawn yelled. “I hate it that everything always happens to us! I hate the Trickster, and I hate Glory, and all the Hellmouth bullshit we have to deal with! Why can’t the rest of the world save itself sometime, huh?” she ranted, stomping around the room. “Why can’t the rest of the world just figure out how to save itself?” she repeated, seeming to crumble in on herself as she collapsed into sobs.
“We’ll figure this out,” Buffy said determinedly, moving to sit next to Dawn and pulling her into her arms. “We’ll get this all figured out, and Willow will be okay,” she repeated.
“That’s what you said about Mom,” Dawn said in a lost voice. “Everyone said Mom would be okay, but she … she wasn’t,” she said.
“I know, Dawn,” Buffy said bleakly. “But there was nothing we could do about that. We can do something about this. We just … we just have to figure out how to break this connection. If we can break the Trickster’s connection to Willow, then she’ll be okay. We just have to figure it out.”
“You’re sure? What if it’s already done too much damage?” Dawn pressed.
“It hasn’t. Mary Ellen said that breaking the connection would do it,” Buffy said, clinging on to any shred of hope she could find.
“So,” Dawn said, wiping at her tears and sitting up. “Where do we start? And don’t even try to stop me from helping,” she warned. “I’m a hair-puller, remember?”
“I remember,” Buffy said with a sad smile. “Oh my God!” she blurted out, her eyes opening wide. “How are we gonna’ tell Tara?”
"How are we gonna' tell Willow?" Dawn asked with a mirthless laugh.
by Shaniezak » Wed Feb 20, 2002 2:11 am
by mollyig » Wed Feb 20, 2002 5:35 am
Oh how I love this fic, with the darkness and angst.
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"It took a long time to become the thing i am to you,
and you won't tear it apart without a fight, without a heart"
Become You - Indigo Girls
by Scout » Wed Feb 20, 2002 6:58 am
Sorry, don't mean to be demanding. Carry on with this fine fic.
by Sassette » Wed Feb 20, 2002 11:10 am
*G* Here's how my writing process goes: "Hmmm... I think I'll call this part "something" and it has this person and that person in it, and they're at this place." Then I just start writing and see what happens, keeping in mind the back-story I have all worked up for exactly what the Trickster is up to, and exactly what has to happen eventually to fix everything.
So, if it makes you feel any better, a lot of these details take me by surprise, too.
-Sass
Edited to Add: And timeline-wise, Tara and Anya are in a motel about two days out of Sunnydale right now.
[This message has been edited by Sassette (edited February 20, 2002).]
by WiccansIllusion » Wed Feb 20, 2002 11:18 am
by Shaniezak » Wed Feb 20, 2002 11:43 am
by Scout » Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:18 pm
quote:
Originally posted by Sassette:
And timeline-wise, Tara and Anya are in a motel about two days out of Sunnydale right now.
Okay, I feel better now that you've given me a timeline and it's not so open-ended. This kitty is fixed. Wait, that didn't come out right...um, oh heck, you know what I mean.
quote:by Sassette » Wed Feb 20, 2002 12:25 pm
Anyway, I'm glad I could ... uhhh ... fix the kitties. *snerk* And just so's y'all know, I'm still without internet connection (I'm posting this now through the sheer power of my indomitable will, which works for a few sentences, but leaves a nasty aftertaste and a bad headache for long update-type bits), so I >hope< to have something up before next Tuesday's visit to Casa de Mom, but it's possible that I won't.
Sorry about leaving y'all on an angsty note.
*wild maniacal laughter*
-Sass
***Edited to Add the Update and Notes***
Well, this won't let me post this in one piece, so I'm going to double-post - sorry. But! My internet connection is back up, and much less painfully than I had suspected, so all is well in my little world *G*
Title: Answering Darkness Part 30 - Girl Talk
Author: Sassette
Feedback: Can be sent to pink_overalls@yahoo.com
Summary: Anya and Tara are hanging out in a Motel Room, but not in a prison way.
Spoiler Warning: Up to and including "Tabula Rasa" in Season 6.
Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. I'm just borrowing them because Season 6 angst is running high, and I want my happy ending now, dammit! So I'm writing it … but it'll be awhile until I get to that part, so bear with me (or "bare" with me if you're naughty).
Rating: PG-13
Notes: For the purpose of this story, all events of Tabula Rasa took place exactly as shown in the series; however, no subsequent episodes will affect this piece. We're splitting from canon here, because this seems the fastest way to get a reconciliation and because I feel this is one of the possible outcomes when taking the "addiction" metaphor into account. So, I should shut the heck up now, and just get to the story, right? Right.
Answering Darkness Part 30
Girl Talk
By Sassette
"So, exactly how did you two get together, anyway?" Anya asked, dipping a fry in some ketchup, then stuffing it in her mouth, chewing happily. A conveniently located McDonald's provided the junk food, and Anya was determined to get some good information out of Tara now that their objective had been achieved with a minimum of fuss.
If one discounted the fight with Donnie and the very large rifle.
"Pardon?" Tara asked, looking over at Anya with a deer in the headlights stare, her burger halfway to her mouth. Neither she nor Willow had ever given up any details about their courtship phase. Not that she particularly minded telling, but no one had worked up to asking her, and Willow dodged such questions.
"C'mon … give up the goods," Anya wheedled. "Here we are, miles from home, without cable, and it's the middle of the afternoon. Do you have anything better to do?"
"Well, yes … I could start looking through these books and things," Tara pointed out, gesturing at the trunks taking up most of the floor space in the little room.
"But Tara," Anya whined. "No one knows anything, or if they do, they're not telling the ex-demon," she added with a mutter. "Besides, it's not fair. You know all about how Xander and I got together, what with me granting a wish to his ex-girlfriend and all that."
"What did she wish for, anyway?" Tara asked curiously.
Anya stopped mid-chew, a gleam appearing in her eye. "You mean no one told you that story?"
"Well … I know Cordelia made a wish, and it somehow made Sunnydale worse, and Giles saved the day by crushing your talisman," Tara offered up. "But no one has told me the specifics."
"So no one told you about Vampire W -" Anya began to say, only to cut herself off with a smirk.
"Vampire what?" Tara asked, her brow furrowed.
"Well, now, I suppose I can't tell you that," Anya said with mock sadness, shaking her head. "A girl has to have some secrets," she said, her eyes as wide and innocent-looking as she could make them.
"Oh, now that's just not fair," Tara said, a small smile curving the edges of her lips. "Trade, then?"
"Now >that's< fair. You first," Anya insisted.
"But I don't know how good your story will be," Tara protested mildly, taking a sip of her soda.
"That's true, but that's the risk you'll have to take if you want to hear about Evil Vampire Willow," Anya said with a wicked smile.
Tara choked on her soda, helplessly spraying some across the room. "What?" she gasped after her coughing fit had passed.
"Evil. Vampire. Willow," Anya said succinctly. "You've gotta' give something to get something, and you haven't lived until you've heard this one."
"I, uhhh …" Tara said, her mouth opening and closing on everything she could think to say, a slow flush crawling up her neck. Could she help it that she found the idea equally disturbing and intriguing? She was only human. What would Willow be like as a vampire? Clearly evil, because vampires were … evil. That's how it was. Only, Spike was kind of nice. When he wanted to be. And he wore that …
"You're thinking about the leather, aren't you?" Anya asked with a knowing look. "I can tell. You're imaging Willow wearing lots of black leather right now."
"Am not!" Tara protested, her cheeks burning.
"Well, maybe she wore it … maybe she didn't … but the answer to that question won't be told until you tell me how you and Willow met. And not just how you met, but how you ended up spending time together."
An uncertain look crossed Tara's face, as she wondered whether or not to just tell Anya how they met. That was certainly a harmless story, wasn't it? But did she really want to know about Evil Vampire Willow? Maybe some things were left unexplored.
"Oh, and then there was the time when Evil Vampire Willow showed up in >this< Sunnydale. And met Willow. The real one - our Willow," Anya clarified.
Now that, Tara mused, sounded far too good to pass up.
"Deal," Tara said quickly. "You have a deal."
"Great," Anya said with an excited little bounce. "Now talk."
"Well, it all started at a campus Wicca meeting," Tara said, a soft smile crossing her face.
"A campus Wicca meeting? Willow went to a campus Wicca meeting?" Anya blurted out. "No wonder she found a girlfriend. Those things are just lonely hearts clubs for lesbians."
Tara started snickering, unable to help herself. "With all the 'girl power' floating around those things, I could certainly imagine there were at least a few other 'sisters' at the meetings, but that certainly didn't explain the bake sales," Tara laughed, before stopping short, a thoughtful look on her face. "Of course, I like baking," she said with a shrug. "So I guess it's not that unheard of, huh?"
"Certainly not," Anya said with a nod. "Now go on … we haven't gotten to any good stuff yet."
"Well, Willow came to a meeting," Tara said, a shy smile spreading across her face despite herself as she pulled her legs up to cross under her. "She was … so pretty. I noticed that right off. I mean, how can you miss that?" she asked, lost in her memories. "And she sat down, and the meeting started, and I kept trying to keep myself from looking at her. She looked so familiar, but I had no idea where I had seen her before. By the time she was trying to talk these girls who knew nothing of Wicca into trying out actual spells, I knew that face looked so familiar because I had drawn it a hundred times."
"How >did< you do that, anyway?" Anya asked softly.
Tara looked up, focusing on Anya, the walk down memory lane temporarily interrupted.
"Well, I saw her," Tara said matter-of-factly, as if that explained everything.
"Well, of course you saw her!" Anya protested. "Vision? Dream? Imagination?" she pressed.
"Dreams," Tara said with a soft sigh. "I saw her in my dreams."
"And what happened in those dreams?" Anya asked, waggling her eyebrows like she had seen Xander do a million times.
"She came to my house in a helicopter, and she took my mother and me far, far away," Tara said wistfully. "And we all lived together in a beautiful place."
"Then what? After she took you to the beautiful place?" Anya asked.
"We'd take long walks and hold hands," Tara said. "And just talk about things. Silly things, really. I don't even remember what, but I remember the way her eyes would light up when what she was talking about excited her. And when I met her, it was all exactly the way I had dreamt it."
"That's … really amazing. Does seeing run in the family?" Anya asked curiously.
"Yes, it does," Tara said with a confirming nod. "At least, I know grandma and mother and I could all … sense things. Or we'd see little things before they happened. It was like déjà vu, only much more often and more detailed."
"So what happened at the meeting? Did you talk to her?" Anya asked, getting back to her original subject. She'd pursue the dream angle later … she was sure she had more Willow stories around somewhere that she could trade.
"Oh, no," Tara said, shaking her head emphatically. "I mean, what could I say? 'Hi … I've been dreaming about you for years. Wanna' go back to my dorm room?'"
"Well, why not?" Anya asked seriously.
Tara laughed, a light musical sound. "No, I was trying to be more subtle than that. And oddly enough, that night I had the perfect opportunity to go looking for her."
"Really? What happened?" Anya asked, picking up her neglected burger again.
"The Gentlemen," Tara said. "You remember them, right?"
Anya nodded, still chewing, and motioning for Tara to go on.
"Well, I figured that maybe a spell could give people their voices back, so I went looking for Willow. I looked her up in the student directory and found out which dorm she was in, so I headed out to see her. Alone. At night. In Sunnydale," Tara said, a self-deprecating smile on her face.
"Did you die?" Anya asked, caught up in the story, her eyes wide. "Oh, listen to me," she said, smacking herself in the forehead. "Of course you didn't die … you're telling the story. Unless you came back," she went on. "Did you die and come back?"
"No, I didn't die at all," Tara laughed. "But I did get spotted by The Gentlemen, and they followed me all the way over to Willow's dorm. It was really creepy, because they moved so slow, kind of floating, like it didn't matter how fast you ran, they knew they'd catch you anyway," she said with a shiver. "Really creepy," she repeated.
"Then what?" Anya asked.
"I made it into the dorm, and they were right behind me, floating down the hall towards me. I kept banging on doors, but everyone stayed inside, where they thought they'd be safe," Tara said, a fond smile on her face. "But not Willow, no. She came out to see what the commotion was all about, and ran right into me. We both fell down, and she … I guess she kind of twisted her ankle or something, and we both started running as best we could."
"I bet you both ended up running to a room with no exit, didn't you?" Anya said knowledgeably, nodding her head. "As much as we laugh about scary movies where people end up boxing themselves in, that's exactly what they end up doing. It's something strange about the human psyche, where they all feel safe in a room with only one entrance," Anya said with a dismissive wave of her hand as she made a face. "It's pure idiocy, if you ask me."
"Well, umm," Tara said, a sheepish look crossing her features. "Actually, we did. We ended up in the laundry room with no way to block the door. So we tried to push a soda machine in front of it, but it was way too heavy."
"Of course," Anya said, nodding again.
"Then Willow tried to move it with magick, but it was too much for her, and she kind of sat down and had this look like she had run out of options and didn't know what to do," Tara said. "And so I kinda sat near her, and looked at her, and she looked back, and I reached out my hand. Our fingers touched, and I felt it all the way up my arm, a kind of nice tingly thing, all warm and … just, really nice."
Anya's chewing slowed as she listened, imagining the scene in her head. "Then you had sex, right?"
"No!" Tara said vehemently. "I mean, I probably would have, if … I mean, well … I -" Tara coughed once, then took a deep breath. "Then we worked together, moved the soda machine in front of the door, and waited until we had our voices back and were rescued," she finished quickly. "Your turn."
"Fine," Anya said. "I can see you're not going to go back to the good details, so I'll just get my story out of the way."
"Okay," Tara said happily, going back to her food as Anya spoke.
"So, there I was, hanging out with Cordelia every day at Sunnydale High," Anya began.
"Wait … how'd you enroll?" Tara asked.
"That's not important to the story," Anya said impatiently. "But for you information, I >was< an all-powerful Vengeance Demon. Enrolling in high school isn't that difficult."
Tara nodded, satisfied with the answer, and went back to her food.
"There I was … yadda yadda," Anya said absently, looking at the ceiling. "Right! And I kept giving her opening after opening, and she just wouldn't make a wish. It was just about the most aggravating case I had ever been on. Finally, she makes her wish. And what does she wish for? Decapitation? No. Disembowelment? No. Disease? Famine? Life-long hardship and ridicule? No," Anya related, growing more agitated by the second. "She finally makes a wish, and it isn't even about Xander!" she said. "She clearly didn't have this whole 'scorned woman' thing down."
"So what did she wish for?" Tara asked.
"She wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale," Anya said sadly, shaking her head. "I mean, it was a fun wish. Lots of neat bad things happened, but … it … it wasn't the point. She was supposed to let me curse Xander, because >he< was the bad boyfriend, not the whole town."
"She … she wished that Buffy had never come to Sunnydale?" Tara asked incredulously. "How stupid is this girl?"
"Exactly!" Anya crowed. "Exactly my point! She could have wished for anything, and she could have given Xander any infliction known to man, given him any pain or torture … and she decides that it's all Buffy's fault? What did Buffy have to do with anything?"
"Besides that … she knew Buffy was the Slayer, right?" Tara asked, her mind reeling over the implications. "She'd already done so much to make Sunnydale safer."
"Oh, well, yeah," Anya said dismissively. "But my point is, she missed a great opportunity, and instead, she did something so bad it got noticed, and my talisman got destroyed."
"So then what happened?" Tara asked, letting the matter slide.
"Well, since Buffy wasn't there, the Master rose, Willow and Xander got turned into vampires the night Buffy had originally saved them, Angel was the Master's captive, and Cordelia had no idea what to do in this vampire-ruled city. So she ends up getting killed, by Xander and Willow, mind you, but not before she told Giles that Buffy was supposed to be there."
"Thank goodness for that," Tara said, realizing that must have been the catalyst that led to Giles fixing the horrible situation. "But … Xander and Willow … they … killed her?"
"Oh, no … the Vampire Xander and Willow killed her," Anya said quickly. "BIG difference."
Tara nodded, looking a little relieved, and then Anya continued.
"Well, not a BIG difference, but still different," she hedged, trying to express herself as accurately as possible.
"What?" Tara asked. "What do you mean 'not a BIG difference'?"
"Well, it's not," Anya said defensively. "Being a vampire doesn't add anything to your personality that isn't there … it just sort of … lets the deep dark parts of you that the good parts of you keep in line out to play."
"So … Xander and Willow could have … killed her anyway?" Tara asked, a worried frown on her face.
"That's not what I mean, and you know it," Anya admonished. "You're looking at the dark side here. The truth is, vampires are just like us, only we're the cattle, and they're the humans. So Vamp Xander and Vamp Willow killing Cordelia means that our Xander and our Willow could hunt food to survive, and that if that particular piece of food was constantly ridiculing them, they might even enjoy it."
"That's … that's awful, Anya," Tara said slowly.
"Actually, it's fascinating," Anya disagreed. "Think about it. Being a vampire means that the little thing in your head that says, 'don't do that … it's wrong' goes away. And things that are SO wrong that you wouldn't even consider them, suddenly become an option."
"Didn't we already have this conversation?" Tara asked wryly. "About sources? Leather pants in the closet?"
"Funny you should mention 'leather pants' and 'closets' …" Anya said, thinking of Evil Vampire Willow. "But I digress," Anya said, getting back on topic. "So, Evil Vampire Willow … there were parts of her that were still very Willow. Like how smart she was."
"How so?" Tara wondered aloud. "Did she … I dunno, babble?"
"Oh, no. The babbling comes from being unsure. Uncertain. Vamp Willow was at the top of the food chain, not at the bottom of the pecking order," Anya paused there, thinking over her last statement, wondering if mixing metaphors was a sign of impending insanity. Or maybe she was just tired. She >was< rather low on sleep. "Anyway, she invented this exsanguination machine that worked on a kind of conveyor belt thing for the Master, so they didn't have to hunt anymore. It was much more civilized that way," Anya said earnestly.
"So she was a kinder gentler vampire?" Tara asked dubiously.
"Oh, well, no," Anya confessed. "She just realized that people were food, and pain fear and hunting were fun, and there really wasn't any need to play with the food."
"That doesn't sound like Willow at all," Tara said, frowning. "I mean, Willow loves playing with food," she went on, then stopping suddenly, her eyes wide. "And when I stop explaining things."
Anya grinned. "Xander likes that, too," she said. "But again, that's not the point. The point is, that a vampire is the person, with all their civilizing influences stripped bare, and their baser, violent tendencies brought out. Add that to an IQ that's off the charts, and it's easy to see why Vampire Willow was the Master's favorite."
"But Willow isn't violent," Tara added.
"No, she's not," Anya agreed. "But she does have a lot of anger and hurt, and that leads to violence when it's not tempered by something. Vampire Willow didn't have anything to temper it with."
"What does Willow have to be angry and hurt about?" Tara asked. "She's so smart, and pretty, and …"
"Oh, tons," Anya said. "Didn't she ever tell you about how it was for her in high school? How it was growing up?" Anya asked curiously.
"What are you talking about?" Tara asked. "She … well, she said she was a spaz, but …"
"She was made fun of nearly every day," Anya said. "All the things you love about her … how smart she is, how she babbles when she's nervous, how she has no idea about anything that has anything to do with an outfit that is remotely -"
"I get the picture," Tara said. "All the cute stuff. The point?" she asked, wondering what it was that Willow had never told her.
"That's the stuff she's been made fun of for her whole life," Anya said. "She was terribly unhappy in high school, and if I didn't specialize in scorned women, I'd have been right there granting her a wish."
"It w-was … that bad?" Tara asked tentatively, her eyes full of sorrow. "I thought … I mean, she had Xander, and Buffy …"
"Right. She had Xander and Buffy and Giles. I love Xander, don't get me wrong, and I'm very glad he and Willow never really got together, but he treated her horribly. He didn't know any better," Anya went on quickly, jumping to Xander's defense. "He really didn't. Willow had such a huge crush on him, and he just sort of went on his merry way, having >no< idea, and mooning over every girl but her. Men are >so< clueless."
"Well, I sort of knew about that … I mean, that she had a crush on him, and that she and Oz broke up for awhile because of The Fluke," Tara said.
"Right," Anya said, nodding and picking up the story. "But did she mention how hurt she was when he started dating Cordelia in the first place? That he had chosen to be with a girl he had always hated instead of her?"
"Oh, God," Tara said, her face falling. "That must h-have been … awful for her," she whispered, her heart aching for the young Willow with the hopeless crush on her clueless best friend.
"Right. And Giles was always good to her, but that didn't make up for her parents," Anya went on.
"Her parents?" Tara asked slowly. "What about them? She doesn't talk about them much."
"Well, you know how well Willow did in school right? And how she's always been such a 'good girl'?" Anya asked. Tara nodded, then Anya continued. "So she was every parents' dream child, and I guess they figured she was fine on her own, so they pretty much ignored her. Every straight 'A' report card, every triumph … they didn't care."
"But … they should've been so proud of her," Tara protested. "She - I mean, she got accepted to so many good schools, and …"
"Right," Anya said. "And none of it was good enough for them to take any notice of."
"W-why didn't she ever … tell me?" Tara asked bleakly, staring at the far wall.
"Like you told her about drawing?" Anya asked, her lips pursed. "It seems like the two of you need some nice long talks."
"But we had talks!" Tara protested. "Lots of talks - good talks."
"Well," Anya said, finishing off her burger, then folding up the wrapper. "Willow's been rejected or replaced by everyone who has ever meant anything to her. Why should she risk losing you?"
"Losing me?" Tara squeaked. "Losing me because her parents are stupid? And Xander - he's stupid, too!" she announced.
"Xander isn't stupid," Anya defended. "He was just young. Besides, Willow wasn't the one for him. Willow is the one for you, so it's a good thing they're not together, isn't it?"
"I … but -" Tara said, unsure of what to say in the face of such devastating logic. "Well, Willow and I aren't together."
"And she better not make a play for Xander," Anya said ominously. "Because he's mine."
"I think she's over the Xander thing," Tara said soothingly. "So … no attacking Willow, okay?"
"Yeah, I know," Anya said with a sigh. "It's just … Willow doesn't like me. I know that, and that's fine," she said resignedly. "I mean, I don't think she hates me anymore, but she doesn't like me, and I can't help but think that part of that is her Xander Reflex. Not," she went on, "that I think she still has a thing for Xander … but I don't think she'll ever think anyone's good enough for him."
"I don't think he'll think anyone's good enough for her, either," Tara said slowly. "They've been friends since they were very little."
"True," Anya said. "But have you noticed how they don't spend any time together anymore? Not that I'm complaining, because that gives Xander and I more time for sex, but it seems almost odd, doesn't it?"
"People grow apart," Tara said sadly, wondering what Willow was doing right then. She glanced at her watch. Willow would be out of class by now. Was she studying? Napping? Maybe goofing off on the internet?
"How'd we get so far off track?" Anya wondered, looking around as if the room could answer her question.
"I guess … we started talking about Willow," Tara said, also looking around.
"Right," Anya said. "Anyway, I'm not sure what happened when Buffy went after the Master, because I stopped watching. That's when Giles summoned me and destroyed my talisman."
"So what about Willow meeting her evil vampire self?" Tara asked. "And did she really wear leather?" she went on, a light blush coloring her cheeks.
[This message has been edited by Sassette (edited February 21, 2002).]
by Sassette » Thu Feb 21, 2002 1:07 am
"Really?" Tara asked, her voice squeaking once again.
"Oh, yeah … but that's not even the best part," Anya went on. "The best part is when Evil Vampire Willow came to Sunnydale and …" She trailed off, looking speculatively at Tara. "Now, I only promised to tell you about Evil Vampire Willow, not the time Willow met her Evil Twin," she said with a smile. "So, I get another story."
"But, you said," Tara started to protest, only to stop when Anya raised an imperious hand.
"No, no … I said that the other story existed, not that I'd tell it," she said. "So, if you want to hear it, I want to hear about the big First Kiss."
"You wanna' hear about … oh, boy," Tara said, blinking several times, her eyebrows raised.
"Yes, that's definitely the story I want," Anya said. "I'd jump right into the first time you two had sex, but I don't want this story out of order, and I'm guessing it was probably the night Oz left after he came back."
Tara's face turned a bright red. "W-well, it … I mean, there w-was …"
"No need to explain right now," Anya said kindly, realizing how badly she was embarrassing her friend. "Just … stick with the kissing. That shouldn't be too hard, right?" she asked innocently.
"You're not as outrageous when it's just the two of us," Tara said thoughtfully. "Why is that?"
"Oh, because I do a lot of that on purpose now," Anya said with a grin. "I mean, I >know< better now, by human interaction conventions, but I still don't see the point. My inappropriate comments break tension and annoy people. I like that," she said, swinging her legs over the side of the bed. "Besides, when I don't make them as often, they're so … glaring … and 'out there'."
"That actually made sense," Tara said. "Should I be worried?"
"Ha Ha," Anya rejoined, grabbing a pillow and tossing it at Tara. "Don't try to stall any longer. Get to the kissing."
"Right. Kissing," Tara said. "Well, we, umm … we kept getting together for spells, y'know? She'd come over to my dorm room, and we'd talk about magick, and work on spells, and that kind of thing."
"And?" Anya prompted.
"Well, one time, I tried to give her my doll's eye crystal," Tara said. "The one you recognized."
"Oh! So you gave it to her when you first kissed?" Anya said.
"Well, yes and no. I tried to give it to her earlier that day, but she wouldn't take it," Tara recalled, remembering the strange hurt she had felt when Willow had refused her gift. It had seemed so right to give it to Willow, like Willow was meant to have it, and it had pained her when she hadn't accepted it. "Anyway, she said no, and then I asked if she wanted to come over later on to do some spells, and she said no again, because she was going to The Bronze with the Scoobies. Not that she said 'Scoobies'," Tara went on, "or that I even knew what a 'Scooby' was at that point."
"Then what happened?" Anya asked. "She changed her mind and ditched us?"
"No, she got ditched," Tara said, frowning at the new meaning that event had after the things Anya had told her about Willow. She shook her head lightly, clearing her thoughts, and continued her story. "So she came over, and I was so happy to see her. She was really nervous, though, like she thought I'd kick her out the door. I was kinda' mad to be second, y'know? But … it was like … it didn't matter. I just wanted to see her, and there she was." A little half-smile spread across Tara's face, and her eyes lit up as she recounted her tale. "Then we did a few spells with the crystal, and it was like it was every time … I felt so connected to her … so close. And then it was late, and so she got up to go, and I walked her to the door. She gave me a great big hug, and we both just kinda' … held on, until we weren't hugging so much as holding each other, sorta' swaying a little."
Anya smiled at the picture that Tara painted, imagining the two girls so unsure of each other and themselves. Not that she'd ever admit to having anything remotely resembling a romantic streak, but it was a nice story, and something she could tell Xander later. And then smack him in the arm for not doing anything like that for her.
"Then she kinda' pulled back a little, sort of embarrassed, and she started babbling something, but I have no idea what she said, and our arms were still around each other. Then she looked up, and I looked up … and our eyes met. And then we were kissing," Tara finished, her lips pulling into a full smile. "She stayed the night, and we just talked, and kissed, then kissed and talked some more. It was … great. Wonderful. Thrilling."
"Now >that< is a good story," Anya said. "And I expect just as much detail when we get to the sex parts."
"Only if you have a story that's worth the detailed sex parts," Tara said boldly. "Now… Willow and Evil Willow … in the same room," she prompted.
"Right," Anya said with a nod. "So, I talked Willow into doing a spell to get my talisman back, because I hated being human," Anya related. "But it didn't work right, and instead of opening up a little hole so I could grab my talisman and be done with it, it pulled Evil Vampire Willow into this Sunnydale."
"Wow," Tara said, motioning for Anya to continue.
"Evil Vampire Willow shows up at The Bronze and beats up some guy, and then Buffy and Xander show up, and they see that Willow is vamped. They figured it was >their< Willow, because none of us knew what was going on. Evil Vampire Willow got away, and eventually we realized what was going on."
"I'd have freaked. I'd have absolutely freaked," Tara said, blinking, trying to imagine exactly how badly she would have freaked if she had run into a Vamped Willow without knowing that her Willow was okay.
"Yeah, I know," Anya said with a nod. "But Evil Vampire Willow got ahold of Willow somehow, and apparently they spent some … quality time together. I believe that in her traumatized babblings, Willow mentioned … neck-licking?"
"What?" Tara asked. "They … I mean … they didn't …"
"Oh, no … but Evil Vampire Willow was coming on to her un-vampire self pretty strong before Willow managed to knock her out? Drug her? I don't really remember how, and it's not like I was there, but she subdued the vampire, but not before getting an eyeful of her full-on leather outfit," Anya said.
"Willow must have freaked," Tara said.
"Oh, absolutely. But the best part's coming up. Evil Vampire Willow had gotten a gang of vampires together and they were holed up in The Bronze. So, Willow trades clothes with the vampire and -"
"You're kidding," Tara broke in.
"I'm perfectly serious," Anya assured her.
"No … you're making this up," she shot back.
"I'm not! I swear I'm not. It was the only way, you see. There were too many vampires, so Willow had to dress up like her skanky alternate-universe self and walk into The Bronze. She did, and she managed to get a few of the vampires to go outside where Buffy dusted them, but she stayed in there awhile trying to pretend that she was an evil vampire," Anya explained.
"Oh, God," Tara said, covering her mouth with her hand. "This shouldn't be funny, but …" She giggled.
"Then Cordelia let Evil Vampire Willow go," Anya said.
"Huh? Why?" Tara asked. "Again - how stupid is this girl?"
"Well, apparently, Evil Vampire Willow did a much better job impersonating Willow than Willow did impersonation Evil Vampire Willow," Anya said. "So then Evil Vampire Willow showed up at The Bronze … in Willow's fuzzy pink sweater."
"That … oh, yeah … I know that sweater," Tara said, wincing.
"Right. Bad-ass vampire. Fuzzy pink sweater," Anya said with a smirk.
"So, umm … then what?" Tara asked.
"Well, the Scoobies rushed in and saved the day, keeping our Willow from being killed," Anya finished.
"But … what happened to Evil Vampire Willow?" Tara asked. "I mean, they didn't just … stake her, or …?"
"Oh, no … they couldn't. They felt like she was Willow, so they sent her back," Anya said, then added wickedly, "but not before she got one last grope in on Willow."
"I can just imagine her face when -" Tara said, stopping when Anya's cell phone rang.
"Hello?" Anya asked into the phone, sharing a look of trepidation with Tara. "Yes, hold on," Anya said, then held the phone out to Tara. "It's for you. It's Buffy."
Tara grabbed the phone quickly, bringing it to her ear with a shaking hand, her heart pounding in her chest. "Yes, Buffy? Is everyone all right? Did anything happen?" she asked hurriedly. Anya moved to the edge of her seat, leaning forward and trying to hear the answer, only to lift a shaky hand to her mouth when she saw Tara pale suddenly. "Oh, God," Tara said. "Goddess, no," she said again, her voice shaking.
The phone fell from her numb fingers, and it felt as though her world were crashing around her as Buffy's words played over and over in her head.
Anya picked up the phone, bringing it to her ear. "Buffy? What's going on?" She listened for a moment, then nodded, having expected something that bad from Tara's reaction. "All right. We're going to leave now. We're about two days out, but we'll drive all night if we have to."
Without waiting for a reply, she hung up the phone, then gave Tara a moment to sit while she gathered their things and getting it into the car. When she had done everything she could do by herself, she knelt in front of Tara, calling her name until she had her attention.
"Tara, I know this is bad, but we have to go. We have to get to Willow, right now," she said slowly and clearly, hoping her words got through. She watched as some of the shock faded away, and a steely determination entered Tara's eyes.
"Yes, we have to get to Willow," Tara agreed, pulling herself together and standing.
by mollyig » Thu Feb 21, 2002 2:13 am
Love the two trading Willow stories.
------------------
"It took a long time to become the thing i am to you,
and you won't tear it apart without a fight, without a heart"
Become You - Indigo Girls
by BytrSuite » Thu Feb 21, 2002 3:01 am
I love this story. Love, love, love how you write all the characters. You're totally making me adore Anya.
by Scout » Thu Feb 21, 2002 3:20 am
The 'trading stories' idea was wonderful, as was the dialogue in this scene. Terrific job!
Thanks for the quick update. Looking forward to more!
by ForeverPiper » Thu Feb 21, 2002 3:32 am
I hope they drive REALLY fast and make it.
by Shadowriter » Thu Feb 21, 2002 4:51 am
I bow in the presence of greatness....
*bowing before you*
You have an amazing talent, and you continually amaze me. I'm waiting patiently for the next update.
*tapping foot* okay, maybe not so patiently...
Shadow
by Bobo's Mom » Thu Feb 21, 2002 6:26 am
I've enjoyed reading your work, and look forward to the next part.
BM
------------------
TARA: Willow and I always know how to find each other!
ANYA: With yoga?
****************
BUFFYBOT: That'll put marzipan in your pie plate, bingo!
by willterra » Thu Feb 21, 2002 8:26 am
Gem
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