the judge).
I wrote this fic when I was shoe-shopping with my cousin. Now,
by shoe-shopping with my cousin, I mean that I buy the first pair
of cross-trainers I see that come close to fitting me, and she
spends three hours deciding between the black sling-back sandals
and the fancier dark grey (excuse me, "granite") strappy open-
toed ones. I started thinking about the episodes from season 4
that I'd watched yesterday, and then I started making up a fic in
my head set during that time, and when I saw that my cousin was
nowhere near done, and since I (luckily for my sanity) had
brought my backpack, I outlined my ideas and wrote the first part
of the fic. So sorry if its a bit scatter-brained, its hard to
write with elevator music in the background and my cousin
interrupting me every five seconds to ask which pair of shoes she
should choose. (Oh, by the way, she ended up buying both of
them).
Anyway, you came here to read a fic, so here it is:
My Fire (yeah, yeah, I know it's a dumb title. Come on, it's 2
in the friggin morning!!!)
By Nora (Elfie)
Setting: Season Four, between Superstar and Where the Wild Things
Are.
Rating: Pretty clean, probably PG or even G for this part...
Disclaimers: Yeah, yeah, everything belongs to Joss, I am a
worthless, propertyless teenager with no rights to anything, so
on and so forth...
Part One
Tara made her way out of the dorm building that was,
conveniently, on the exact opposite side of campus from her own.
She was doing a group project for her sociology class, and since
everyone else lived over on this side of campus, she agreed to
meet them all there. She was beginning to regret that decision,
as she glanced up at the sky, taking in the last red rays of the
sun as it moved further down below the horizon. It was going to
be dark soon, and she knew that being outside at night in
Sunnydale was usually not the best idea, especially considering
her previous experiences. She did not like even thinking about
those creepy Gentleman and, more recently, that monster with the
Greek-looking letter on his head during the whole Jonathan
fiasco.
As she hurried across campus, avoiding other students who
hadn't yet learned to get inside before nightfall, she heard her
name called from behind. She turned around to see the curly-
haired girl from the Wicca group calling out to her. Great
she thought to herself in frustration. Exactly what I need
right now. She hadn't seen the overbearing wannabe Wicca
since the last meeting where she had heard Willow talking about
spells. Willow. She thought to herself. Now there's
a more pleasant thought She allowed herself the pleasure of
a few moments thinking about Willow, remembering things they had
done together, and feeling the satisfaction she had in knowing
how close they had been growing, especially now that she'd
actually met her friends and they had more or less started to
include her a little more in their group.
But there was something else between them, more than
friendship. Something powerful. At least to Tara anyway. She
could only hope that Willow felt the same way. Every time Tara
saw her, she couldn't help but wonder at her perfection. The way
her hair sometimes flipped out at the bottom. The way her eyes
lit up when she smiled. The way her brow crinkled a little bit
when she was concentrating or really studying hard. But maybe
most of all, the cool confidence that she showed when she took
Tara's hand as they were walking across the green paths of the
campus or the crowded floor of the Bronze.
She was brought out of her silent reverie by the curly-haired
girl's annoying voice as she caught up to the blonde Wicca.
"Tara. You haven't been at the meetings. We missed you at the
bake sale. Where have you been?"
"Nice to see you too, Sarah. Well, recently I've just been...
busy. You know. But I really have to be going. It's getting
dark." After meeting Willow, the rest of the girls in the Wicca
group just seemed like such phony airheads, and Tara really
didn't have the desire to attend any more meetings or useless
bake sales or write a Gaian newsletter.
"Lisa's been wanting to talk to you. How about we head over
to our dorm, she should be there right now." Sarah apparently
was not getting the fact that Tara obviously did not want to talk
to her, or Lisa, the brown-haired girl that had helped her run
the Wicca meetings.
"How about we do it tommorrow? I'm really tired." Tara was
trying her best to brush Sarah off, but apparently it was not
getting through, as she took Tara's arm and began to walk towards
her dorm, pulling Tara along with her. "Look, Sarah, we can
talk, but its getting dark, and I'm sure whatever it is it can
wait till tommorrow, right?"
"Oh, don't worry, it will only take a minute," Sarah
replied, continuing on her chosen path. Tara sighed and resigned
herself to go and have a boring conversation with Lisa, probably
about how to stock up her spice rack or do a really cool henna
tattoo. As long as they didn't keep her too long, she could
still get back to her dorm before it was too dark.
They continued up the stairs and into Lisa and Sarah's room.
Sure enough, there was Lisa, leaning over her womyn power shrine.
She looked up as they walked in, and finished cleaning her shrine
before she turned and faced Tara.
"Haven't seen you in a while. We could have used another
hand on the Gaian newsletter. You know we can never have enough
support in getting the word of blessing out to the sisters." She
and Sarah both looked expectantly at Tara, obviously waiting for
some sort of explanation or apology.
"I've got some... uh... stuff going on." Tara was not the
best at excuses, and she still was not bold enough to come right
out and tell them what she thought of their sham of a Wicca
group.
"We've seen you a lot with that red-head, Willow. You know
she's the type that can suck the power right out of your aura, if
you're not careful," replied Lisa. Sarah had taken a seat in the
corner, watching the exchange but not interjecting her thoughts.
That is, if she was actually forming thoughts, she was not
sharing them at the moment.
"Willow is really cool. And yeah, I've been spending a lot
of time with her." Tara was getting a little more defensive as
Sarah brought Willow into it, and she did not like the direction
that this conversation was taking. For one thing, it really
bothered her that Lisa was now pretending that she was worried
about her, especially after all of the time Tara had been ignored
in the Wicca group. For another, Lisa had no right questioning
Willow, the smartest, most caring, kindest, most beautiful...
Whew... almost lost my train of thought there she reminded
herself. Been doing that a lot lately.
"Well, you know, I just was wondering..." Lisa continued,
"So, she's been taking you for rides on her broomstick?"
She laughed at her own joke, and Sarah took a break from her job of
sitting and pretending to think in order to laugh along with her.
The two kept laughing as if it were the funniest thing that
they'd ever heard, as Tara sat there and rolled her eyes. If
I make a break for the door, I wonder if I can make it down the
hall in time before they realize I'm not here. Tara began to
inch toward the door, but just as her fingers reached out to feel
the sweet cold metal of the doorknob, Lisa started talking again,
apparently having recovered from the enjoyment of her own comic
genius.
"You really should think it over, I mean. Maybe we can talk
about this later or something. Didn't I see you buying that
really cool shade of henna? Maybe I could come over and borrow
it. My old tatto is fading."
"Actually, I don't know if it will work for tattoos. I
really actually bought it because it's a very potent ingredient
for this spe..." Tara caught her slip-up before she finished the
word. She knew if she mentioned anything that didn't fit into
Lisa's narrow world-view that she would get upset and Tara would
lose her window of opportunity to get out and get out fast. "I
mean sure. You can have some." Lisa seemed content with that,
so Tara turned quickly and reached for the door. She got her
hand on the knob, turned it, pulled the door inward, almost
there, and had one foot outside in the hall...
"Hey Tara," Sarah called from inside the room. Ugh, so
close! Tara turned back around and faced the two girls again.
"Can I have some, too?"
"Sure, sure," Tara replied in a hurry, and turned towards the
door again. "Gotta go!"
"Tara," Lisa called again. Ahhh!!! Will I never get out of
here?
"Yes?"
"Don't forget, the meetings are on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 4
o'clock. Can we expect you?" Lisa just wouldn't give up.
Tara responded "We'll see," and quickly turned and walked out
the door, shutting it firmly behind her, then rushing down the
hall as quickly as possible without tripping over her long
patterned skirt. As she pushed the dorm's main doors open and
stepped outside, she felt the cool night breeze on her face, and
sighed deeply, glad to be out of the room with those two babbling
idiots. She had almost forgotten how boring it was to have such
a one-sided conversation. Lisa seemed to talk because she
sincerely enjoyed hearing her own nasal whine of a voice, not
because she actually wanted to engage in some sort of discussion
or interchange of ideas with another person. Of course not!
That would involve actually listening to other person's opinions,
and who needs that when you've got your own, and you already know
they're right!
Tara began walking again towards her dorm. It was never like
that with Willow. It wasn't just one-sided. Willow actually
cared about what she thought about things. She stopped and
repeated that to herself. Willow actually cared about what she
thought. That hadn't happened for a long time. She wondered if
Willow knew how long. Her father had never cared what the hell
she thought as long as she got the housework done and obeyed him.
Her mother had cared...
Her mother. The only person who had ever really seen her,
really known her. Gone. That still hurt. That still sometimes
made her cry, when she thought about it. But she let the tears
come, because Tara would rather still cry over her mother than
stop thinking about her at all. And she knew it would always be
like that.
Thinking about it at that moment, she felt a tear fall down
her cheek, leaving a moist trail in its wake. She had stopped
walking, and stood silently in the shadows of the path to her
dorm. She took this path every day, but now somehow it felt
different. Strange. In the darkness, everything was
transformed, and she felt uncomfortable, like she was being
watched. She shivered as a cold breeze brushed past her skin.
What was out there?
THE END (of part one)
What do you think, OK for a beginner? (have pity on the poor high
school student, she's just finished her finals and her brain is
fried!)
From what I figured out, there will probably be about two more
chapters; it's not a very long story, for it has very little of
an actual plot. I'll probably write the next one tomorrow (or
today, considering I was procrastinating on posting this until
about 2 in the morning...). Really, what did you think? Any
suggestions or critiques or things you would change? I am a huge
feedback demon and require opinions to survive. FEED ME. FEED
ME.
Ok, see you tommorrow (or later today) 
-Nora
[This message has been edited by Elfie (edited June 14, 2001).]
. i'm pretty sure her name was cheryl but hey this is fic and you can write whatever you wish. 
). Well, actually, I had to write
