Times of Darkness, Times of Light (completed 02/28/07)

[justin]

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Ressurection
Part 1


A small run down building near the outskirts of Sunnydale. In the houses basement. There was no furniture and the only light source was a ring of candles in the centre of the room. Within the circle there was a body lying on the floor. Just outside a pair of men wearing robes discussed it.

"Are you sure this is wise?" The younger one asked, "The book says that when resurrected like this the person comes back dark and unnatural."

The older man smiled and answered, "Well Rack was dark and unnatural to begin with. It doesn't matter since for the ritual he just needs to have a pulse." A group of men entered, all wearing the same robes. "Did you get the egg?"

"Yes, though Keel and Martin were killed by the demon."

"Well they have died for a higher cause. They will surely be rewarded in the next life." They placed the egg in front of the body and the leader began chanting. As he cast the spell Rack's eyes opened and he stood up. He opened his mouth to speak, then his face contorted in pain and he froze as his body crystallised. The leader reached forward to touch him. "Salt." He said, then added, "This is unexpected."

"What are we going to do. We need someone before the next full moon."

"Do not worry, we will get someone. Remember, faith manages."

"But we only have just over a week to..."

The older priest held up his hand to silence him, "Faith manages."


***


Smash! Buffy jerked awake at sound. Getting out of bed she ran to the bathroom, cursing herself all the way. Since they'd brought Willow back she'd taken to smashing any mirrors that she'd seen. After the second Buffy had been going to put all the mirrors away, but she'd been busy and then it hadn't happened again for a couple of days. As she expected Buffy found Willow standing in front of the remains of the bathroom mirror. There was blood running freely from her knuckles, but she didn't seem to notice.

"So you've taken a disliking to another mirror. You know you really are building up a whole lot of bad luck." As she was saying this Buffy moved Willow over to the sink and rinsed her hand off before going and getting some bandages. As she wrapped it round Willow's hand she went on, "The thing is you're a pretty girl, what are you seeing that you object to so much?"

"I think I know." Dawn said from the doorway, "She's seeing herself, what she was like back then."

Buffy nodded, having thought the same thing herself. "You know being just a stupid slayer I had thought to start off with I thought your only problem was grief. I guess that it most of it but a lot is guilt as well." Buffy cut the bandage then taped it in place. Brushing some hairs out of Willows face she went on, "The silly thing is we'd all forgive you in a heartbeat if you just gave us half a chance. Wouldn't we?" Buffy turned to her sister for support, but Dawn had left.


***


When Giles arrived he found Buffy carrying a large box, "Are we redecorating?"

"No I've just got to get these stored away." Buffy showed Giles the contents of the box.

"I see. Is Dawn having another attack of insecurity?" A couple of years ago Dawn had decided that she was horribly fat and ordered Buffy and her mum to hide all the mirrors in the house. Fortunately the phase had only lasted a week.

Buffy sighed, "No it's for Willow this time." Buffy stopped, some of the strain showing on her face. Recovering herself she went on, "She just keeps smashing them."

"I see. Well it was Willow that I wanted to talk to you about."

"Really? Do you know some way to help her?" Buffy started to grow excited.

"Unfortunately no. However I think I do know the cause of Willow's distress."

"Come on Giles, we both know that. She's lying in storage at the mortuary."

"I meant apart from the obvious cause."

"Oh, right. Well I'll just get these put away." Giles went through to the living room and waited for Buffy.

When Buffy arrived she asked, "Do you want a drink before we start?"

"No that's fine. Now I spoke to some friends yesterday and they think they have an idea about Willow's problem."

"Okay so what's the scoop."

"It seems the problem is Glory."

"Glory? She's done something to Willow? I thought that she was staying away from Sunnydale."

"That isn't what I meant." Giles stated, deciding that now wasn't the time to correct Buffy's misapprehensions about Glory's fate. "What I mean to say is it comes down to what Glory did to Tara and how Willow cured her."

"Go on."

"Well I don't yet fully understand the magics that Willow used but my understanding is that she took the part of Tara's essence that Glory had stolen and returned it to Tara."

"So what's the problem?"

"When Willow did this she used herself as a channel for Tara's essence. It now seems likely that their essences merged to a certain degree while this was happening."

"That sounds bad." Buffy summed up, "I mean it doesn't sound like something which can be fixed easily."

"Quite, but Buffy I'm not going to stop looking for some way to snap Willow out of this."

"I know and thanks."


***


Willow was running as fast as she could. In the darkness she could barely see the tree branches which brushed against her. Ahead she could see a light and she ran after it, knowing that if she could just catch it then everything would be okay again. However it always stayed just out of reach. Willow tripped over a root and fell flat on the floor. As she picked herself up she saw Dawn standing just in front of her. But she couldn't be there, Willow had killed her. Willow could remember how the young woman had screamed as she had turned her into her energy form, then absorbed her. "I'm sorry Dawn," Willow cried, "I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you." But Dawn had disappeared.

"You didn't." A voice said, "Buffy stopped you." Tara walked up to Willow and, reaching down, helped her to her feet.

"Tara how can you be here?"

Tara smiled sadly, "A part of me will always be with you, no matter what happens."

"But..."

Tara put her hands on Willow's shoulders, "I know this is hard, but you have to be strong."

"Strong like an Amazon?"


***


"Did you say something, Willow?" Willow blinked a couple of times, trying to adjust to the change. She was sitting in the living room of Buffy's house. Buffy was sitting near her, a questioning look on her face. Willow felt how easy it would be to say something, to leave the fantasy's behind for good, but it still hurt too much. She couldn't face it yet.


***


Willow was running as fast as she could. In the darkness she could barely see the tree branches which brushed against her. Ahead she could see a light and she ran after it, knowing that if she could just catch it then everything would be okay again.


***


She woke up to total darkness. Her first thought was 'Where am I?' Not being able to see she felt around herself, only to find that she seemed to lying in a small box. 'A coffin.' she thought. However it seemed to be made out of metal. Not being able to find a satisfactory answer to the first question she went onto the second, 'Who am I?' Unfortunately she didn't have any better answers to this one, not being able to remember anything from before waking up, just now. She began kicking at the end of the box while shouting, "Hey, is anybody there?" Suddenly she felt herself moving, as the base of the box began to slide out. At first all she could see was a bright white light. As her eyes adjusted she realised that she had been lying in a large drawer. Looking around she saw that she was in a morgue. There was no sign of whoever had opened the drawer. She climbed off the drawer, shivering as her bear feet hit the cold floor. Seeing an exit she started towards it, stopping as she heard voices approaching.

"I want to have the funeral as soon as possible." A female voice, she thought it sounded familiar.

"Of course, we can..." This was a male voice but she didn't recognise it. She quickly left the room before they could come in.

Going outside she was relieved to find it was reasonably warm outside. After glancing about to try and get her bearings she set off in a random direction.


TBC

[watty]

Oh, this is a great start . The players' are there.

"The silly thing is we'd all forgive you in a heartbeat if you just gave us half a chance. Wouldn't we?" Buffy turned to her sister for support, but Dawn had left.

I can feel Buffy's frustration at Willow's lethargy, but will she really forgive Will? I sense remainders of resentment. Does she want Willow to snap out of it so she can go back to living a normal (for a slayer) life and have one fewer person to deal with? And Dawn leaving before the end of Buffy's question, although it's perhaps innocent, I can't help but think that you're hinting that Dawn' hasn't fully forgiven Willow.

So, Glory, Rack and ominous bad guys (why do I get a CoW vibe off them?) are all out and about. Wow, talk about big bad central.

Faith manages

Just manages? Not give power?

And the last big, with the girl waking up in the mortuary locker. How scary. I'd be petrified. Presumably that's Tara, and it's Buffy and Giles talking about funeral arrangements (waiting for Willow to make a decision that will never be forthcoming?). What will they think when it's discovered that the drawer is empty?

Like I said, great start

[justin]

Watson:

I can feel Buffy's frustration at Willow's lethargy, but will she really forgive Will? I sense remainders of resentment.

You're right here. Basically Buffy's been too busy to think about how she really feels about Willow, which is something that'll be explored later.

So, Glory, Rack and ominous bad guys

Well things aren't quite as bad as that. Glory won't be in the story, they're just having to deal with the aftereffects of her attack on Tara. Also Rack won't be much of a threat after having turned into a pillar of salt. But they will have to deal with the ominous bad guys.

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Ressurection
Part 2


Xander fiddled with the pack of cards that he had brought with him. He had thought about about playing solitaire but didn't seem to be in the mood. Willow was quietly reading to herself. When he'd first seen this Xander had been thrilled thinking that this was a step up from her just staring blankly into space. However she had been reading the same page for almost an hour now.

"Whatcha reading?" Xander asked, wanting to break the silence. It had been a week since he had talked Willow out of ending the world. Just as Buffy and Dawn had arrived Willow had looked at Xander and said, "Thank you Xander." She hadn't said a single word since. In the days that had followed Xander had been growing more and more agitated. He was finding himself wanting to shake Willow and yell at her to snap out of it. Xander took a breath to calm himself, then went back to fiddling with the cards. Only to shoot them out of his hand in shock as the front door opened, then slammed shut. "Hey Buffy."

"Xander. Hi Willow." Buffy answered. Getting no response she motioned for Xander to come out to the hall. "So how is she?"

"Same as usual." Xander answered sadly.

"Well she's reading, that's an improvement."

Xander reached round to rub the back of his neck, "She's not so much reading as staring at the book."

"Oh. Well we've got bigger problems." Xander didn't look as though he thought that was possible, "Tara's gone."

Xander put a hand on Buffy's shoulder, "I know, I'm still having trouble accepting it."

"I mean her body's gone. I went to the mortuary but her body's missing. It's been stolen."

"Who would do that?" Xander asked, not able to keep the pain out of his voice.

"I don't know but I'm going to find out. Can you..."

"Yeah I'll keep an eye on Willow." Buffy nodded and headed for the door, "Just find out whoever's behind this."

"Don't worry I will." As Xander went back into the living he first thought that Willow hadn't moved. Then as he sat down he noticed that his cards had been picked up and left in a pile.

"Um, thanks." Xander said, not really expecting an answer.


***


"Welcome to Sunnydale." Spike read out in a sneering voice, wondering again why he'd come back to this hell hole. Of course the answer to that question was obvious. Buffy Summers. Now he had a soul maybe he had a chance with her. He laughed sourly at this. Why would she even talk to him? After what had happened before he'd be lucky if she didn't just stake him straight away. Remembering how he'd tried to rape Buffy Spike was overcome by guilt and thought about just leaving. He stopped himself, thinking that he had to at least try. At least if Buffy did stake him it would put an end to the pain he was feeling. Just then he saw a woman walking towards him. Actually walking wasn't the right word, what she was doing was more like continuously falling forwards, then catching herself. As she stepped into the light and Spike recognised her he began to grow hopeful. She did still owe him for helping her with her family problems, so maybe she could help smooth things over with Buffy. Getting off the bike Spike winced a little. The injuries he'd received during his trials hadn't healed fully. Walking over to her Spike said, "I thought that you'd know by now that it's not safe to walk round Sunnydale after dark."

Looking up she took a step back, then asked, "Who... who are you?"

"It's me Spike." Seeing no recognition he went on, "Surely I haven't been away that long."

"Spike." The woman said thoughtfully, "Then who am I?"

"Don't say that you've gotten yourself brain sucked again. Though I thought we'd dealt with Glory."

"Dealt with who?"

"Maybe you should come back with me." Spike offered, thinking that this might help his cause. After all if he were helping Tara, then Buffy would have to hear him out.

Tara considered the offer a moment then said, "Well if you know me then tell me one thing."

"Anything."

"What's my name?"

"Oh it's Tara, Tara Maclay."

"Tara and you're Spike." She repeated, then noticing Spikes state she said, "You're hurt."

"Don't worry, I'll live. Come on, let's get going." As they went to Spike's bike he said, "If you're like this though, I just hope that red hasn't gone and got herself hurt again, looking for revenge."


***


"You live in a graveyard?" Tara asked, as they headed for Spikes crypt, "Do you work here?"

"Not quite." He opened the door to his crypt then went in. Tara paused a moment, then shrugged and went in after him. Inside Clem was stretched out on the couch, a back of potato chips on his lap as he watched television. "I see you've made yourself at home." Spike muttered in a bored voice.

Jumping up Clem stammered, "Oh, yes well I was just watching the place for you."

"I'll bet."

Seeing Tara Clem said, "Hi, I'm Clem, we met at the wedding."

"Don't bother, she can't remember anything. Got amnesia or something."

"Oh well Buffy came by while you were gone."

"Of course she did." Spike said, thinking he knew what Buffy had wanted.

"She wanted you to look after Dawn."

"She did?" Spike was stunned by this. If Buffy had been willing to trust him with Dawn then maybe he still had a chance.

"Dawn didn't stay long, then she..." Clem stopped thinking it wouldn't be a good idea to tell Spike about taking Dawn to see Rack.

"Yeah well I'd better go tell Buffy what's happened, you watch over Tara while I'm gone."

"Sure thing." As Spike left, Clem turned to Tara and said, "So, amnesia?"


***


When Buffy got home she was surprised to find Dawn sitting on the stairs, "You're still up?"

"Did you find anything out?" Dawn asked, ignoring Buffy's question.

"You know what's going on?"

"Xander told me, he didn't think you'd mind." A week ago Buffy had promised she'd started showing Dawn the world rather than protecting her from it, so far Dawn hadn't seen much sign of this.

Buffy sighed, "No, I don't mind, and no I didn't find anything."

"Oh well, maybe..." Dawn stopped as the door opened and Spike came in. At first he seemed surprised that he'd been able to.

"What, I thought you'd have taken me off the invite list by now." Dawn gave him an angry look then left the room.

"Maybe you're just not worth the effort."

"That's not nice, especially when I'm here to help you."

"Perhaps we don't need your type of help. I don't think we ever did." Dawn came back in and handed Buffy a stake.

Spike gave her surprised look, "Hey, I thought that at least you'd be happy to see me, little bit."

"I know what you did to Buffy." Dawn answered, "You should have stayed away."

"You've got a minute to tell me what you want."

"Something's happened to Tara." Buffy punched him across the face, "It wasn't me, if that's what you think."

Buffy grabbed Spikes coat and slammed him up against the wall, "This is so not funny." She placed the stake against Spike's chest.

"Hey, I just thought that you'd want to know about Tara wondering round Sunnydale with amnesia."

"What are you talking about?"

"Tara, at my crypt, with no idea who she is." Spike explained slowly, "Maybe whatever she's got is contagious."

"Tara's dead." Buffy stated bluntly.

"Well I admit she was looking a little peaky, but she was definitely alive. She had a pulse and everything."

"But..." Buffy wasn't quite able to process what was going on.

"Buffy, maybe this is why her bodies missing." Dawn said, "Maybe she came back."

Buffy let Spike go, "Okay, take me to her. But if this is a trick..."

Spike straightened his coat, "Don't bother, I got the picture already."

"I'm coming too." Dawn said.

Buffy was going to argue, then giving in she just said, "Okay."


***


As they made their way to Spike's crypt Buffy's mind was racing with what Spike had told her. Why was he doing this? Had Spike taken Tara's body as a part of this joke? Didn't he know just how much she was going to kill him for this. At the same time Buffy desperately wanted it to be true. Not just because she missed Tara but because it would mean not having to worry about what Willow might do to herself any more.

When Spike threw the door open to reveal Tara calmly talking to Clem, all she could think of to say was, "My god."

"You see I wasn't lying."

Buffy was surprised to note that Spike actually sounded hurt. Though she ignored it, having more important things to worry about. "I can't believe she's alive."

Noticing them Tara came over and said, "I'm sorry but I can't remember your names."

"That's alright." Buffy said, though she felt some disappointment over this. "I'm Buffy and this is my sister Dawn."

"Hi." Dawn said.

Tara giggled, then said, "Sorry, did you say your name was Buffy?"

"Yes, what's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, it's a lovely name. Can I ask you something?"

"Anything."

"You seemed to be surprised that I was alive. I was dead wasn't I?"

Buffy nodded, "Do you remember?"

"No, but it does explain why I woke up in a mortuary." Tara paused a moment as she considered how to put this, "I'm still a bit, well actually very, confused about a lot of things so correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think that it's usual for someone who's dead to be walking around like this." Buffy shook her head, "Well I don't feel like a zombie so I guess I wasn't really dead, I just seemed to be."

"Tara..." Buffy started.

"Oh goddess, I really was dead wasn't I?"

"You were shot."

"Then how can I be here."

"I don't know, but we don't need to worry about that for now. All we need think about is the fact that you're alive and well."

"Okay."

"Buffy." Dawn put in, "We should tell the others."

"Right. Is there a phone here?" Buffy looked around then added, "Of course not, it's a crypt."

"Here, take mine." Clem handed Buffy a mobile. "You should think about getting one."

"Right, thanks." As Buffy left the crypt she muttered to herself, "A demon with a cell phone, whatever next." Once outside Buffy called Xander, "Xander, Something's come up, we need to talk. No, we're at Spikes crypt. Yeah, I know, just, it'll be easier if you come and see for yourself. Yeah you could say that. Okay then, can you tell Anya and Giles?" Buffy hung up and went back into the crypt.

As she passed Clem his phone back he said, "I guess things are going to get rather crowded, I'll see you round Spike," With that he left.

"What about Willow?" Dawn asked.

"Right, someone should check on her."

"No, I mean we should tell her about Tara."

"I'm not sure. I think we should wait till we've worked out what's going on."

"But this might help get her out of her depressed state."

Buffy lowered her voice so that only Dawn could hear, "What about if this isn't Tara, or what if she never gets her memory back?"

"I think Willow would want to know. Remember what she was like after Tara was brain sucked." Buffy nodded, remembering how after Tara had been injured by Glory, Willow had vowed that she would look after her even if Tara never recovered. Before she could say anything Anya appeared.

"Xander said there was something big going on."

"Look who's got her powers back." Spike commented.

Ignoring him Anya asked, "So what's up?"

Buffy pointed over at Tara. Seeing her Anya said, "Well that's just marvellous, my shop's going to get trashed again."

"Anya what are you talking about?"

"Well obviously Willow's been messing with some serious dark magic again. How could you let that happen, you were supposed to be looking after her."

"Willow didn't do this." Dawn argued.

"Willow hasn't spoken for the last week, she's not been up to bringing someone back to life." As Buffy said this, she remembered the book Willow had had earlier that night. She couldn't remember what it was called though. Putting it out of her mind she went on, "Whatever happened, Willow didn't do it. So where are Xander and Giles?"

"They're on their way. So if this wasn't Willow how did it happen?"

"Your guess is as good as mine."


***


They were still discussing what they were going to do when Xander and Giles arrived. "So you said you were going to explain." Xander said.

"Yeah." Buffy replied "Come in."

As Xander came in he noticed Spike there and said, "Well, look who's crawled back."

"I'm not the only one." Spike said, shrugging towards Tara.

"My god." Xander said

"That seems to be the common reaction." Tara said, "You're Xander, right?"

"Yes." Xander answered, not sure what was going on.

"And you're Giles." Tara said to Giles.

"Does this mean you're getting your memory back?" Dawn asked hopefully.

"No, I overheard Buffy mentioning them."

"Oh." Dawn said, disappointed.


***


"So what are we going to do about her?" Xander asked.

"Well I think It might be a good idea to take her to a hospital. They might be able to do something about her amnesia. Also there's the fact that legally she's still considered dead." Giles said.

"Yeah that's bound to put a damper on your social life, or maybe not." Xander added looking over at Spike.

"What about Willow?" Dawn asked.

"Good point, it's been a while, someone should check on her."

"I'll do it." Anya offered. She then disappeared.

"That's something else we're going to have to deal with." Giles said.

"I don't know." Buffy said, "I mean I don't think she's hurt anyone and she's been pretty helpful so far."

"Well we'll see what happens."

"That isn't what I meant." Dawn insisted, "I meant we should tell Willow about what's happened."

"Dawn..." Buffy started, in a warning tone.

"I think it'd be best to not tell her anything until we have a better idea of what's going on." Giles said, "After all we don't want to get her hopes up, needlessly."

Dawn didn't look happy about this but didn't argue.

"Right well let's get Tara to the hospital."


***


After leaving Tara at the hospital Buffy and Xander walked home.

"They seemed to accept that rather easily." Xander said, referring to how easily the hospital staff had accepted Tara's return to life.

"Well this is Sunnydale." Buffy answered "I mean everyone seems to accept how people keep mysteriously disappearing and dying so why shouldn't they accept someone mysteriously coming back to life?"

"I guess you're right."

"I just wish I could be certain that that really was Tara. Unfortunately the only person I know who could tell us is Tara."

"I'm sure we'll think of something" Xander said.

"I hope so." Buffy said "Because sooner or later we're going to have to tell Willow something and I'd like to have some idea of what we're going to tell her before then."

TBC

[cperrins78]

I love this story already. I can't wait to see Tara and Willow interact. Please update soon.


Christina

[watty]

I'm not sure if it's the right decision to not tell Willow yet, but getting Tara to a hospital ... a good start.

Tara herself is being a little too calm about it, I guess the shock hasn't set in. The reactions of the Scooobs is not unexpected, they've seen enough strange things happening that another resurrection is nothing new.

I like the throwaway moments, the one that sticks to mind most though, is Clem with a cellphone! Go, Clem!

[viximon]

Lovely story
I like very much Dawn's "what about Willow?" poor thing

[funnyshapes]

I am with cperrins I love it already.

[justin]

cperrins78: I'm glad you're liking the story.

I can't wait to see Tara and Willow interact.

Your wish is my command. Willow and Tara meet in the next part

Please update soon.

Again, wish granted. The next part is below.

Watson

I'm not sure if it's the right decision to not tell Willow yet

Have you been reading ahead? Yes that's something that's going to come back and bite them

The reactions of the Scooobs is not unexpected, they've seen enough strange things happening that another resurrection is nothing new.

Yeah, if you've seen one resurrection, you've seen them all.

Thanks for reading

Viximon

I like very much Dawn's "what about Willow?" Laughing Out Loud poor thing

Yeah, they do seem to keep misunderstanding her

Thanks for the feedback

Funnyshape: Thanks, warms the very cockles of my heart, it does


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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Ressurection
Part 3


Giles glanced at the clock. Seeing that it was gone one in the morning he decided to call it a night. He was just starting to put the books away when he remembered the argument he had had with Willow last year. When she had boasted that she was the only person who could have resurrected Buffy he had pointed out there were a few people who were capable of it, and that she wouldn't want to meet any of them. Now they had the problem that someone had resurrected Tara and they didn't know who, or for what purpose. Deciding to do a bit more research before going to bed, Giles grabbed another book and started reading.

***

Tara rolled over in her bed, trying to get to sleep. The problem wasn't the bed, which was reasonably comfortable, but it just felt like there was something, or someone, missing.

Giving up on sleep Tara rolled onto her back and went over everything that had happened to her that day. Ever since waking up in a mortuary things had been very strange. She'd spent most of the day in a crypt with a droopy skinned demon, then been told that she'd died recently. All of this along with the fact she couldn't remember anything from before today meant she was very confused. Despite all that the strangest thing was that, the people she'd met, who seemed to know her, didn't seem phased at all by any of it. Neither her supposed return from the grave, or the droopy skinned demon. She had to wonder what sort of people where they.

***


The next morning Dawn came downstairs to find Buffy making breakfast. She went and sat at the counter saying, "Mmm, that smells... burnt."

"Sorry, I was cooking breakfast, and I got... distracted."

"I understand. I think we've been getting... distracted quite a lot recently. But things are going to get better now."

"I really hope so. Do you have anything planned for today?" Buffy asked suddenly.

"Not really." Dawn answered with a shrug.

"Well I was thinking about going to the Magic Box for a bit then going to the hospital to visit..." Buffy stopped as she heard someone coming down the stairs. "Morning Willow."

"Morning." Willow answered.

Dawn and Buffy exchanged a shocked glance. "So how are you feeling?"

"Like someone shoved a red hot poker through my heart." Willow answered as she sat down.

"So do you want to come?" Buffy asked Dawn.

Dawn nodded, then went to get ready. As she left she mouthed, 'Tell her.'

"So Will, it's good to hear you talking again."

"Buffy I wish I could bring them back."

"I know that you miss her..." Buffy stopped as she realized that Willow had said them, not her as she had first thought. "Bring who back?"

"I didn't mean to hurt Dawn, you have to believe that. I just couldn't stop myself."

"Dawn?"

"And Giles and Anya, I wish I could put things back the way they were."

Buffy put her hand on Willow's shoulder, "Will." When Willow didn't notice, Buffy gave her a small shake, "Willow, you didn't hurt Dawn. Scared her a bit maybe but she's okay."

Willow finally looked Buffy in the face, "But..." Various emotions played across her face, as her desire to believe what Buffy was saying battled with her guilt. Then Willow remembered that there had been someone else in the room when she had come down. Remembering that it had been Dawn she said, "Oh."

"Would you like to have some breakfast?"

"No thanks."

"I don't blame you. I pretty much ruined it."

"I tried to bring Tara back." Willow suddenly said.

"When was this?" Buffy tried to sound casual as she asked this, wondering if Willow had been responsible for Tara being alive.

"It was right after she had been shot. I keep thinking that maybe if I hadn't given up magic then I would have been strong enough to make the spell work."

"That's natural. After I trapped Angel in hell, I kept thinking of things I could have done differently to stop him." Willow nodded, then turned to stare at a point just above Buffy's shoulder, her eyes beginning to lose their focus. "Willow!"

Willow turned to Buffy and said, "I'm feeling sick. I think I'll go back to bed." Willow got up and shuffled out of the room, almost walking into Dawn, who was coming in.

Watching Willow go Dawn said, "You didn't tell her did you?"

"Dawn I understand why you did this but no I didn't. For one thing I had enough trouble just convincing her that you weren't dead, anyway I think Giles is right, this isn't the right time. I don't want to tell her only to have everything go wrong. Do you understand?"

"Yeah. I guess so." Though Dawn didn't sound happy.

"Come on, let's get going."

As they left Dawn remembered something that Buffy had just said, "Willow thought that I was dead?"

"It seems she's convinced herself that she killed you while she was going on the rampage. Giles and Anya as well."


***


When they got to the magic box they found Giles rearranging the merchandise, oblivious to the dirty looks that Anya was giving him.

"At first I was happy that Giles was back but he keeps interfering. Saying he's helping the shop run more smoothly. As if he knows anything about retail."

"I'm sorry Anya." Giles said, looking up, "Did you say something?"

"I was just saying how good it was you'd decided to stay."

"Well I won't be staying permanently." Giles said "You know you really ought to have this till serviced."

"But they might get the money!" Anya protested, moving protectively towards the till.

"I think you're supposed to take the money out before having the till serviced." Dawn explained.

"Oh well I don't have time for that sort of thing."

"Giles," Buffy said as she walked over to the counter, "Willow said she tried to raise Tara."

"Willow said that?" Anya asked, "You mean she's started talking again?"

"I was surprised as well." Buffy said to Anya, "Anyway she said she did it straight after the shooting. Could it have had a delayed affect." She asked Giles.

"Did Willow say what spell she used?" Giles asked

"She said it was the same spell she used to raise me."

"Oh well that wouldn't have worked."

"It worked on me." Buffy said

"Yes but I've been doing some research into that spell and I've found that it only worked in your case because of the supernatural nature of your death."

"So it wouldn't have worked for Tara because of her death was natural?"

"Precisely. Besides she would have had none of tools needed for that spell."

"Oh she wouldn't have needed those." Anya said "Those are only there to help you focus. If your intent is strong enough then you can do without them."

"I think it's safe to say that Willow's intent was strong enough." Buffy mused.

"Well, be that as it may it doesn't change the fact Tara's death was a natural one. Besides if the spell had worked it would have been almost instantaneous. There's nothing that would cause it to work more than a week later."

"So, Tara being alive has nothing to do with the spell Willow did."

"The two are totally unconnected. Though I do find it coincidental that Willow has shown such a large improvement now."

"She's responding to the fact that Tara's alive."


***


Willow was running. The light had led her out of the forest that she had been in and was leading her along a large field. She had almost caught up with it. Tap tap tap. She had almost got it. Tap tap tap. Willow reached out a hand towards the light. Tap tap tap!


***


Willow opened her eyes, soon realizing that she was in her room. She closed her eyes and tried to go back to sleep. Tap tap tap. Realizing that she wouldn't get back to sleep till she dealt with whatever was tapping at the window, Willow got up and went over. As she did she wandered if it was a bird, maybe it wanted to come in to talk to her. Throwing the curtains open, Willow instead found Amy there. As she opened the window Amy said, "Finally. I thought that you were never going to wake up."

"Amy, what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to talk to you."

"What exactly is wrong with the front door?"

"That would have taken too long." Willow tapped her foot impatiently, "What? just because you couldn't handle using magic, it doesn't mean that other people can't."

"Amy I think you should go, before Buffy sees you."

"Oh yes, Buffy. She's such a good friend."

"Well yes."

"She doesn't keep anything from you."

"Amy just go."

"Tara's alive."

Willow's arm shot out as she grabbed Amy's top. "What did you say?"

"Tara's alive and Buffy knows about it. She's been keeping it from you. Now what do you think about..." Amy was cut off as Willow slammed the window shut. Willow then began quickly throwing her clothes on.


***


Giles had gone to do some research and Anya had taken the opportunity to put everything that Giles had moved back where she liked it. She had just repositioned a large statue when the bell above the door rang. Anya turned to the door expecting customers and was disappointed to see it was just Willow.

"Willow." She said, "Should you be out by yourself?"

"Where's Buffy?" Willow demanded.

There was something about Willow's tone and posture which worried Anya so she called out, "Giles."

"Yes, what is it Anya?" Giles asked as he came back into the room. "Willow."

"Is it true?" Willow asked, "Is she alive?"

Giles hesitated, trying to think about the best way to answer this.

"Is Tara alive, have you been keeping it from me?"

"Willow calm down." Giles said.

"Tell me." Willow sat down and started crying.

"I thought she'd be happier than this." Anya commented.

Ignoring her Giles walked over to Willow and said, "We only found out yesterday. The only reason we didn't tell you right away was we wanted to make sure everything was okay first."

Willow sensed there was something Giles wasn't telling her, "You don't think it's really Tara, do you?"

"To be honest we don't know. You see she..." He was interrupted as the bell over the door rang.

"Buffy." Willow said, standing "Where is she?"

"Willow, you're here." Buffy said, wondering how she could stop Dawn from coming in with Tara. Then as Willow's question registered she asked "She who?"

"Buffy she knows." Anya said

"How did she find out?" Buffy asked Anya

"Hey I'm standing right here." Willow protested. When Buffy and Anya turned towards her she said, "Amy told me." The bell rang again and every one turned to the door to see Dawn and Tara there.

She glanced round the room, seeing Giles and Anya. Then her eyes fell on, "Willow." Tara breathed. A moment later she had her arms round Willow.

"Tara." Willow said as she embraced the blonde. "I was worried you wouldn't be you."

"Of course I'm me." Tara answered thinking, 'I just wish I knew who me was.'

"Well I guess that answers that question." Anya said.

When Willow and Tara moved away from each other Giles asked, "Is there anything else you remember?"

"Not really." Tara said. Then looking at Anya she said "Weren't you engaged?"

"Yes, to Xander."

"Oh." Tara said, looking a little disappointed, "Then not to Giles."

"No what gave you that-" She stopped as she remembered the bout of forgetfulness that Willow had caused and the mistaken conclusions that they'd all drawn, including that she and Giles had been engaged. "Oh of course because of that spell."

"Spell?" Tara asked.

"I think it's a bit early to get into that." Giles said, "Though I think the fact that you remember Willow means that there's hope that you'll get all your memories back. Did the doctors say anything?" He asked Buffy.

"Just that there was no physical reason for her amnesia and that if she spends time in familiar surroundings then her memory should hopefully come back."

"Well I suppose that's encouraging." Giles said.

"I have a question." Tara said "Do any of know where I live?"

"I think you had a dorm room on campus." Willow said.

"But you used to live with us." Dawn said quickly, "And you probably don't want to be on your at the moment."

"I was a student?" Tara asked looking at Willow, Willow nodded. "So why did I move out?"

"I've got an idea." Buffy cut in, "Why don't we get you home then we can start working on getting that memory back."

"Right. Well I'll do some more research." Giles said "Though I suggest the best place to start would be with Amy."

"Oh I intend to." Buffy told him.

TBC

[JustSkipIt]

Hey Justin,
What a great start. Quite complicated and convoluted. I mean every character is there and there's a lot of tension between all of them. I love the way that you use the repitition of the running through the dark toward light. Makes me think of the tiny tinkerbell but in a larger scale. Very well done. Your writing makes it confusing what is going on within Willow which is very well portrayed.

I must say the most disturbing thing to me:

She's lying in storage at the mortuary

Arggghhh!!!! Eeekk! Absolutely a nightmare to me. I know, I'm wierd but it's so amazingly scary to me to think of bring dead and trapped in a box. I can't stand the thought.

Well done.

[watty]

Have you been reading ahead?

Yes and no. It didn't click until I re-read the scene in Spike's crypt and Tara laughing at Buffy's name. It's been a long while. Now if only I can find it ...

"So how are you feeling?"

"Like someone shoved a red hot poker through my heart."

Oh Willow, Willow. So sad. And believing she killled the others. Teetering on the edge there. She still doesn't have the complete trust, witness Buffy suspecting she was the one who brought Tara back. The rift between Buffy and Willow will only grow after this, I think Willow will find it hard to accept why Buffy didn't tell her straightaway.

Plus Giles' and Buffy's suspicion that Tara is not Tara. Even Tara herself doesn't know. But of course Willow does, only no one trusts her, and that is the sad part. It'll be a long tough battle, to get everyone on trusting terms, like a family, right?

[Watch4me]

ohhh, this fic is getting really good. I really like it, keep up the good work!!
--Jame--

[justin]

The King: I'm glad you're like the story.

Arggghhh!!!! Eeekk! Absolutely a nightmare to me. I know, I'm wierd but it's so amazingly scary to me to think of bring dead and trapped in a box. I can't stand the thought.

Not weird at all, it's a very scary image

Thanks for the feedback

Watson: You're right, there is a lot of tension and mistrust. After everything that's happened they need to figure out how to relate to each other again.

Watch4me Thanks. I'm glad you're liking it

the next update should be tomorrow

[ringwaldoeuvre]

I really like the start of this story. In a short space you've managed to create a fascinating dynamic between the characters, and interesting tension between W/T. I also like the dark tone, which is contrasted by Willow's going towards a light. Well done. Looking forward to more.

~ringwaldoeuvre (Mary)

[justin]

ringwaldoeuvre: I'm glad you're liking the story so far.

It's an interesting point about the contrast between the darkness of the story with the light from Willow's visions.

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Ressurection
Part 4


Tara was a little surprised by Buffy's house. All through the drive there she had been wondering what sort of place they would live in. She wasn't sure what she had expected, but she certainly hadn't expected anything so normal looking.

"Is this where you live?" Tara asked as they got out of the car.

"It's where we all live." Buffy answered, "Does it bring back any memories."

"No, it..."


***


Tara was walking out of the house with a box in her hands. She turned to Dawn, who had been standing outside, but Dawn just went inside, without saying a word. Her head bent Tara walked away from the house.


***


"No, it doesn't bring anything back." Tara repeated.

As they went inside Buffy said to Willow, "Willow, can I talk to you?"

"Sure." Willow answered.

"I'll give you a tour of the house." Dawn offered Tara.

They both set off as Willow said to Buffy, "So what's up?"

"Willow you know we were going to tell you about Tara, right?"

"Were you?" Willow asked

"Of course. It was all such a shock. We just didn't want to get your hopes up till we knew what was going on."

"I understand, I guess." Willow said.

"Well good." Buffy said.

Willow started towards the door. She stopped and said, "But Buffy, you should have told me." She then left.


***


leading Tara upstairs Dawn said, "This was your room."

"It's nice.” Tara took a moment to look round the room before asking, “How long have we lived here?"

"Just over a year. You moved here just after Buffy died."

"Buffy died? I'd thought that my coming back from the dead was kind of unusual, now I'm not so sure."

"Well this is a kind of unusual town."

"I'm starting to get that. I mean I have no idea what Clem is and Spike looks human, but he isn't, is he?"

"He's a vampire."

"Oh. And I was okay with all this? I didn't spend all my time hiding in a corner?"

"No, you were a cool monster fighter like the rest of us."

"And you were pretty handy with an axe." Buffy said from the doorway.

"Well, no one messes with my girl."

"You remember that." Dawn said, with a happy expression. "What else do you remember?"

"Not much, I'm mainly just getting flashes."

Buffy held up the photo albums that she'd been holding, "Maybe this will help you with those flashes."


***


They all sat down and started going through the photos, explaining the stories behind each story. Sometimes the stories help trigger memories for Tara, others it seemed like they were discussing something that had happened to another person. Glancing up from the pictures, Tara noticed that Willow was staring intently at the far wall. "Willow." She said softly, "Willow, what's wrong?"

Willow's body jerked as she came back to reality. "I almost had it." She snapped. Then seeing the hurt look on Tara's face and the surprise on Buffy and Dawn's she said, "I'm sorry. It's just... I'm sorry. I need to get a drink." Willow got up and went through to the kitchen. After hesitating a moment Tara got up and followed her.

"I thought that she would stop doing that." Dawn said, "Why is she still doing that?"

"I guess it's just too soon for Willow to have completely gotten over everything."

"But Tara's back now."

"I know, it's just..." Buffy thought about it a moment, "There's a lot going on in Willow's head at the moment, so it's natural that she might seem to be a bit vague at the moment."


***


"Are you okay?" Tara asked Willow.

"Just about. I'm sorry that I snapped at you."

"It's okay."

"Is it?" Willow asked, looking uncertain.

As an answer Tara put her arms round Willow. Willow stepped back out of her grip. Frowning Tara asked, "What's wrong?"

Willow shook her head, not wanting to explain that it didn't feel right to be close to Tara when there was so much that she didn't know. "We better get back to the others."


***


Later that evening Xander came by, leaving Willow and Dawn showing Tara a set of photo albums, Buffy left to talk to him.

"So any news?" Xander asked.

"Well Willow seems convinced she really is Tara." Buffy stopped and added "I mean that Tara really is Tara, not that Willow thinks that she's Tara, if you get it at all."

"Yeah, I just about understood it."

"Anyway as to how she's alive we're still at square one."

"So you decided to tell Willow then." Xander said.

"We didn't. Amy the rat did."

"I didn't think Amy was a rat any more."

"Well she looks human now, but it seems she's still a rat." Buffy said "I just don't know how she knew. Well when I go on patrol I'm going to see if I can find her." As she was saying this they went into the living room.

"Hey Xander." Dawn said. Willow and Tara were too busy discussing a picture to notice them.

"I think I'm going to see Spike as well. He might know something as he was the one who found Tara."

Xander didn't look as if he liked that suggestion. He said, "Just be careful with him. I don't trust him."

"I know. But if he does know something..."

"Alright." Xander said, "Just remember whatever he does he's still a soulless monster."

"No he's not." Tara said.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Spike has a soul." Tara explained.

"And how exactly do you know that?" Xander asked her.

"I don't know how, I just do."

"Well no offence but your memories are still whacked. So let me explain, Spike is a vampire therefore he doesn't have a soul."

Standing up and facing Xander Tara said, "Okay I admit I still can't remember a lot but while I don't know who you are and I'm still unclear about who I am, one thing I do know is that Spike does have a soul."

Xander was going to respond to this when he noticed that Buffy was no longer next to him. Looking round he asked, "Where's Buffy?"


***


When Buffy reached Spike's crypt she found Spike lying on a tomb making a strange sound. As she moved closer to him she realized that he was crying.

"My god." She said, "It's true. You have got a soul." Sitting up he asked

"How did you know?"

"Tara told me."

"And how is she?"

"She's starting to get some of her memory back but it's slow going."

"You said before that she had been shot. Who?"

"It was Warren."

"The dork king? He didn't seem like the sort who could handle a gun."

"He wasn't, which is how Tara got shot."

"I bet Willow wasn't happy."

"No, things got rather difficult after that."

"I bet. I'm sorry I missed it." Spike said with a slight smile on his face. Noticing the hard look Buffy was giving him, he added, "I mean I could have helped out."

"I bet." Buffy said, not believing him. She stared at Spike a moment then asked "Are you going to tell me how this soul thing happened? Since I assume that you weren't cursed."

"No, no curse I chose this."

"You wanted it?" Buffy said, more than a little shocked.

"Yeah. There's a type of demon with the power to do this. I got it to give me soul back."

"But why?" Buffy asked "Didn't you know what it would do?"

"It was the only way I could think of to get you back." Spike answered "I knew it would hurt. I just hadn't counted on it hurting quite this much."

"It'll get easier." Buffy told him

"Will it?" Spike asked "It doesn't seem to have gotten any easier for Angel does it." Spike smirked a little "Of course, I don't have to worry about losing it after a moment's perfect happiness."

"Because this wasn't a curse?" Buffy said

"Yeah. Though at the moment it doesn't really seem like an issue."

"I don't know what to say."

"Well you could say that you're deeply touched by my gesture and that you're going to spend the night here easing my pain."

"Soul or not, you're still the same old Spike."

Spike just gave Buffy a look that said, 'well obviously.'

"Look, Spike I'm touched but I'm not going to stay here."

"So what you're saying is what I've done hasn't changed anything."

"I don't know." Buffy said "I just need some time." Turning she quickly left the crypt.

"Take all the time you want, I'm not going anywhere."


***


After Buffy had left, Willow and Tara went upstairs to talk. “See if you can guess which was our room,” Willow said.

Tara seemed to think about it a moment, before pointing at a room, “Was it that one?”

“Yes, you remember,” Willow said, growing excited.

“Actually Dawn told me earlier.”

"Oh." Willow said, her face falling again. "It's kind of strange that I'm the only thing you can remember. Kind of nice as well." She finished with a smile.

"Well you're pretty unforgettable. Do you know something else that is nice? The fact that everyone seems so happy."

"Well we're happy people. Most of the time anyway. When there isn't some major crisis, and the world isn't about to end. Which isn't all that often now that I come to think about it."

"I mean that everyone seems so happy that I'm alive. I guess that I must have been really popular."

"Oh you were. We were all upset when you died."

"Something tells me that you were the most upset."

"Well I was the only one who..." Willow stopped, realizing that the time that she had been dreading, when she would have to tell Tara about killing Warren, had come, "Tara there's something I have to tell you."

"What is it?" Tara asked, noticing the change in Willow's mood she had the feeling that she didn't want to hear this.

"I, well, um..." Willow hesitated again then, realizing that she couldn't do it, said, "There's still someone you haven't met." Turning she bent over and pulled a rather indignant looking cat out from under the bed "Here she is. Tara meet Miss Kitty Fantastico. She's our cat." Inwardly Willow called herself a coward, though she reasoned that this should wait till Tara could remember more about her past.

"We called our cat Miss Kitty Fantastico?" Tara asked

"Well we never had time to give her a real name. What with the demon fighting and all."

"I guess that would have been a problem." Tara said

"This must seem rather strange to you."

"Actually the strangest thing is that it all seems perfectly normal."

"We'll help you get your memory back." Willow promised "It just might take some time."

"I'm sure that you will." Tara agreed.


***


When Buffy got back home she found Xander waiting for her, "Did you find out anything?"

"No. No one seems to know anything and there was no sign of Amy."

"What about Spike?" Xander asked.

"Tara was right. He has got a soul."

"But how, why?" Xander questioned

"He had it done to him. He thinks it'll make me love him."

"Is he right?" Xander asked

"I don't know." Buffy answered honestly "It was weird though. I've never seen Spike cry before. It was kind of unnerving."

"I have." Xander said

"When?" Buffy asked

"When you died." Xander told her.

"Oh." Buffy said "I didn't know."


***

A few days later Dawn was in her room just finishing off her homework when Buffy came into her room.

"You going out to patrol?" Dawn asked.

"Yeah." Buffy answered. "Have you finished your homework?"

"I'm just finishing it off now." Dawn answered.

"Well once you've finished I thought you might want to come on patrol with me." Buffy said.

Dawn looked up with a shocked expression on her face, "You really mean that?"

"Yes. You do want to don't you?"

"Of course I do." Dawn said, jumping off of her bed.

"Just promise me you'll be careful. I don't want you taking any chances."

"Of course I will." Dawn promised. "I know that I'm not the slayer."

"Good. Well let's get going." Buffy gave Dawn a stake and they both set out together.


***


Willow went up to her room, to find Tara sitting on there bed staring at the floor. "Hey." As Tara looked up Willow saw there were tears in her eyes, "What's wrong?"

"I was just remembering something. Or maybe I should say I wasn't remembering it."

"I..." Willow wasn't sure what Tara meant.

"You tampered with my memories, how could you?"

Willow knelt down in front of Tara and said, "I'm so sorry for that. It was just we were arguing so much and I was so worried that you'd leave me, that I did the one thing that would make you leave."

"But I came back though."

"Yes, though it might have been better if you hadn't."

"Because of my being shot."

"Yeah." Willow took a moment to gather her nerves then said, "Tara there's something I have to tell you and you're not going to like it."


***


"Well that was kind of dull." Dawn said as they returned

home.

"Well that's what patrolling is like a lot of nights."

"I think all the vampire's knew you were bringing me and avoided us."

"Hey we saw that one vampire." Buffy protested.

"And you staked it before it had even pulled itself out of the ground fully." Dawn said.

"I promise it won't be this dull every night." Buffy said. As they went inside passing through the kitchen a crying Tara came running past them and, out the door onto the porch.

"What's Willow done now?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know." Buffy answered, "You go after Tara."

"Okay." Dawn said before setting off after Tara. Buffy went upstairs to find Willow sitting on her bed miserably.

"What happened?" Buffy asked

"I told her." Willow answered, not looking up.

"Told her what?"

"About what happened after she died." Willow said, "About killing Warren and trying to end the world. Everything."

Buffy sat down next to Willow, "She didn't take it too well?"

"I didn't really think that she would." Willow said, finally looking up to meet Buffy's gaze.

"Will, why did you tell her?"

"I had to. She had a right to know."

"Well I'm sure Tara will forgive you."

"Will she?" Willow asked softly.

"Why wouldn't she?"

"The real question is, why have you? I mean I tried to kill you and I killed... I tried to kill Dawn. How can you stand to be near me?"

"Because I knew it wasn't you."

"I think it was me." Willow said "And I should know since I was there."

"Not really, it wasn't." Buffy said "The whole time I kept thinking about that time just after you were kidnapped by mayor Wilkins. How you said you wanted to stay in Sunnydale to help me, to help protect the people of Sunnydale. I knew that wasn't the person who I was fighting. I think the only reason I was able to fight you was I knew that that person would want me to stop her."

"Oh definitely." Willow agreed, "I mean who wants destroying the planet on their conscience? Of course if I had succeeded I would be dead so I probably wouldn't have cared but, well, you know what I mean."

"Yes Will I do." Buffy said, with a slight smile.


***


Outside Dawn shouted, "Tara, wait a minute." She was relieved when Tara stopped a short distance from the door. "So what happened?" She asked walking over to Tara.

"Willow told me about what she did. After I died." Tara explained.

"You mean about Warren?" Dawn asked

"And everything else."

"I know it must be a shock but you know she was doing it for you."

"That makes it so much worse." Tara said, "That means that I'm responsible."

TBC

[cperrins78]

Wow Tara's got so much on her plate right now. She's dealing with not knowing who she is and now she feels like she is responsible for Warren's death. You've set up some heavy issuses for Tara. I can't wait to see how you are going to resolve them.


Christina

[watty]

Poor Tara, snippets of memories coming back to her unbidden, so confusing. Trying to make sense of everything.

"Buffy died? I'd thought that my coming back from the dead was kind of unusual, now I'm not so sure."

And where else apart from Sunnydale will being resurrected be so not out of the ordinary?

And now having to deal with Willow's actions. Oh Tara, Tara, it's not your fault, you're not responsible. Please let things be better?

I feel the angst coming up, though I have confidence you'll fix it. The mystery of Tara's resurrection alone, the hint of big bad coming ... can't wait.

[justin]

cperrin78: You're right in saying that Tara has a lot to cope with at the moment. You know what they say, "Lifes a bitch and then you die"

um, I mean, "The universe only puts as much burden on us as we're able to cope with."

Thanks for reading

Watson:

And where else apart from Sunnydale will being resurrected be so not out of the ordinary?

. true

I feel the angst coming up, though I have confidence you'll fix it. The mystery of Tara's resurrection alone, the hint of big bad coming ...

Definitely angst coming.

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways
Note 3: A bag of Thorntons Organge Toffi Chocs to the first person who can tell me what the name of the ritual mentioned in this update means

Ressurection
Part 5


The next day Buffy was annoyed to be woken up by a call from Giles asking them all to come. On the way she tried to get Willow and Tara talking, but without much luck. They both seemed to be lost in their own thoughts.

It was only as they reached the Magic Box that Willow spoke up, asking, "So what do you think Giles wants?"

"I don't know”, Buffy shrugged, “but it sounded kind of urgent."

"I thought things were too quiet at the moment." Willow said.

Xander met up with them at the entrance, saying, "Hi guys. Anyone know what the emergency is?"

"We were just about find out." Buffy answered pushing the door open. Tara brushed past the group, quietly finding a spot next to the counter only to tense up and retreat across the room when Willow moved in closer to her.

Noticing this, Giles asked Buffy, "Has something happened?"

"Willow told Tara about her bout of insanity."

"Oh, well I must say her timing could have been better." Giles said.

The both shared a look when the noticed how uncomfortable everyone seemed to be. Then, to break the tension, Buffy asked in a light tone "So what's the big emergency?"

"Oh well last night I got a call from some friends. Actually they were quite interested when I'd be going back which was a surprise as..."

"Giles." Buffy interrupted "I take it, it wasn't just a social call."

"Well no. They had some information about a cult who are apparently going to try to open the Hellmouth."

"Again? Can't these bad guys come up with anything more original?" Xander sighed in frustration

"Well original or not it is the easiest way to cause mass destruction. Anyway I've done some research and it will most likely happen on the next full moon."

"That's a week from now," Tara said, speaking up for the first time.

"That's correct Tara."

"So that gives us some time." Buffy said, "Any idea where this cult is?"

"I'm afraid I haven't been able to locate them yet."

"So we'll get started with the research." Willow said.

"Quite." Giles said, "Though Buffy, these people, they're human."

"Then why are so bent on the world destruction?" Willow asked.

"Actually for the same reason that you were." Giles answered.

Everyone looked rather uncomfortable at this. "I mean," Giles went on, regretting his choice of words, "They believe that the one constant in life is suffering. So they mean to put an end to this suffering, by putting an end to all life."

"Do you know how they're planning to open the Hellmouth?" Willow asked.

"No, I'm afraid I don't know that either." Giles confessed

"We don't exactly have much to go on." Buffy commented

"Hey we know that they're going to be at the Hellmouth in a weeks time." Xander offered

"I think it might be best if we stop them before they attempt to open the Hellmouth." Giles said "I do have one piece of information to go on. That is they will most likely be using the rite of Madupaneme in order to open the Hellmouth."

"Well then lets get started." Willow said. A short while later they were all engrossed in various text books.

Every so often Dawn would look up from the encyclopedia of Demons she was reading and say, "Eww! What does this one do?"

After she had done this a few times Buffy looked up and said, "Dawn I let you join in the research."

"Sorry." Dawn said, "I'll be quiet." Then a few moments later she said, "Eww! What does this one do?"


***


Growing bored of research Buffy set off to patrol, with Dawn in tow. After taking a couple of sweeps of the town without turning up anything up Buffy stopped outside a rather dreary looking building and, turning to Dawn, said "Now I'm going to take you into one of the most frightening places that you're going to see but I think that you can handle it, okay?" Dawn nodded, looking nervous. Buffy opened the door and they went in.

"It's horrible." Dawn said, after taking a look around. Several demons turned to stare at her.

"Hey this happens to be a..." Willy stopped when he noticed Buffy, "Oh it's you."

"And it's you." Buffy said as she walked over to lean on the bar.

"I can't talk to you."

"Am I going to have to hit you again?"

"You see the thing about that is, some demons were here before, they said that if I talk to you again, they'll kill me."

"Buffy." Dawn pointed her sister over to the far corner of the room. Amy was talking to a pair of men who were both wearing robes. Rising the two men left through the back entrance. As Buffy approached her Amy got up and followed. Buffy quickly raced out after her but both Amy and the men had vanished.


***


Willow and Xander were walking back to the magic box, Xander carrying a bag in each hand. Pausing he turned to Willow, "So Will, what do you think about this cult? Buffy's totally going to kick their butt's, isn't she?"

"I hope so." Willow said, "Because after seeing the Hellmouth open twice it's something I'd rather not experience a third time."

"You and me..." Xander stopped as a pair of robed figures stepped out in front of them and another pair appeared behind them, "Hey is it Halloween already?"

One of the figures hit Xander, knocking him to the ground.

"We have a message for the slayer." One of them said "This is nothing to do with her. If she doesn't interfere then she won't get hurt." With that they disappeared. Willow ran over to Xander asking

"Xander, are you okay?"

"Pretty much. Come on, we better tell Buffy." They hurried back to the Magic Box.


***


When Buffy and Dawn got back they were surprised to find that Tara was the only one there.

"Where is everyone?" Buffy asked her.

"Well, Anya's downstairs checking the stock. Willow and Xander have gone to get something to eat and Giles has gone home to get a book he thinks might help."

"Okay." Buffy said.

Tara hesitated a moment then said, "Buffy, I don't know if I've ever thanked you properly."

"What for?" Buffy asked.

"For standing up to my father when he tried to force me to go home with him."

"Oh well you're welcome." Buffy said confusion crossing her face then suddenly lighting up in recognition, "So does this mean your memories coming back?"

"Some of it." Tara answered "Though it's mainly just the last couple of years that I can remember."

"So what's the first thing you can remember?" Buffy asked

"The first thing is sitting at a meeting of the Wicca group wishing that I was brave enough to talk to the attractive red head sitting opposite me, maybe it would have been better if I hadn't been." She said the last part in a low voice.

"Don't say that. Okay, so things ended badly but before then you were very important to the group. I mean I'm not sure how I would have coped after mom died if it hadn't been for you, and you really helped Dawn while I was dead."

Tara smiled a little, "Thanks."

“You know, what happened, it wasn't your fault.”

“You've been talking to Dawn, haven't you?”

Buffy nodded.

Tara sighed, “I know there wasn't anything to stop what happened, but I still feel...”

“Guilty,” Buffy finished, “I might have slept through most of the psychology classes but I stayed awake long enough to know guilt can be a funny thing, we feel guilty about...” Buffy stopped as Giles returned looking flustered, "Giles, What happened?"

"When I got home Amy was there," Giles answered in an annoyed tone.

"What did she want?" Dawn asked

"She stole one of my books." Giles answered

"Let me guess, the book which you wanted." Buffy said.

"No, that was still there. I suppose we're going to have to go through and find out exactly which one she took. Though I dare say it can wait till we've dealt with the current emergency."

"There's just one problem. We saw Amy talking to a couple of guys who were wearing robes. Maybe they're with this cult?"

"Oh dear. If Amy is working with this cult, well it'll take some looking into."


***


"I thought that you guys went out for food." Buffy commented as Willow and Xander arrived, "But I'm seeing a distinct lack of any food here."

"We were attacked." Willow explained.

"I'm pretty sure that it was those cult guys." Xander added.

"Are you two okay?" Buffy asked.

"Yeah." Willow said, "They had a message for you. They said what they're doing is nothing to do with you and if you don't interfere you won't get hurt."

"Well I can understand. Why should their plans to end the world have anything to do with me?"

"Quite." Giles said "Well did either of you notice anything that might help us."

"Oh, yes!" Willow said "One of them had an emblem on his robes." She went to the counter and grabbing a pad she drew out the design and held up the drawing, "This is it."

"Well that should certainly prove useful." Giles said as he walked over and took the pad from Willow. After studying the drawing for a few seconds he said, "Yes, I remember seeing this emblem in the book I just got."

"Does this mean we're going to have to do more research?" Anya asked.

"Well it is getting rather late. Perhaps we should reconvene tomorrow." Giles had barely finished speaking when everyone had left. "Well then I'll lock up." He said to himself.


***


Everything was quiet over the next few days with no more sightings of anyone from the cult. With just one day before the night of the ritual they were still no closer to finding where the cult was hiding and Giles was having trouble translating certain important sections of the book. Buffy, Xander and Dawn went out to patrol while the others continued researching.

"This is starting to get annoying." Buffy said, "I don't like it when they hide from me."

"You wouldn't think there's be that many hiding places for a large group in a town this size." Xander said.

"I just want to get this over with. There's just too much going on at the moment to deal with." Buffy went on "I mean Amy seems to be causing trouble at the moment. We don't know why Tara was brought back to life or who brought her back. Also we still don't know if there's going to be any fallout from Willow's use of dark magic."

"What about Spike?" Dawn put in, "You didn't mention him." Xander frowned at this, he still wasn't comfortable discussing spike, even knowing that Spike had a soul.

"There's that too." Buffy admitted.

"I thought you'd be happy." Dawn went on "After all now you don't have to worry about loving him."

"It's complicated, Dawn." Buffy answered. From Dawns expression it was obvious she wasn't going to accept this as an answer, so with a sigh Buffy went on, "I mean, do I love him? Before it was just about helping cope with being back here. Now I don't know how I feel. Part of me thinks I should love him because he's made this sacrifice but really I don't know."

Dawn's response was cut off by Xander shouting, "Vampires."


***


In the Magic Box Giles was still busy reading the book he'd gotten last week.

Tara asked him, "Any luck so far?"

"Not as such, no." Giles answered "There's a paragraph which I'm having particular trouble with. Unfortunately it seems that this paragraph is vital to understanding the rest."

A short distance away Anya said to Willow, "Can I have a word with you."

"Okay." Willow answered, a little hesitantly. "What's up?"

"We haven't really had a chance to talk since, well, since..."

"Since I went insane?" Willow suggested.

"Exactly. Anyway Giles said that it was Xander that who stopped you..."

“Yes, well...” Willow hesitated as she wondered if she should tell Anya what had really happened.


Willow couldn't believe what she was hearing. Her soul mate was dead and now the person who was supposedly her best friend, the person who should always understand her, was babbling at her about yellow crayons? All she could think was 'I'm so going to kill you.' Willow lashed out at Xander

“I love you.”

Willow struck him again.

“I love you.”

Willow pulled her hand back but stopped as she realised that it wasn't Xander any more.

Tara tilted her head and smiled in a way that made Willow's legs go weak, “I love you, Willow.”

Her rage broken Willow suddenly became aware of what she was doing, everything that she had done. Not able to cope, she fell to her knees sobbing.

Tara ran over and caught her. “Willow, it's okay. I promise some day we'll be together again.” Tara kissed Willow before whispering, “Goodbye, Willow.”


Willow decided that the truth didn't matter now, besides she wasn't really sure what had actually happened, it had all been in her head, or if it really had been Tara. Seeing that Anya was getting impatient she said, "It's true. It was Xander who made me see sense."

"Oh."

"Why did you want to talk about this?" Willow asked.

"It's just I miss him."

"But Xander should be back in a little while." Willow said, glancing over at the door.

"That's not what I meant." Anya said, with an annoyed expression.

"Right, of course." Willow said. thinking a moment before saying, "You want to get back together with him."

"Yes. I think I can forgive him now for leaving me at the altar, it's just..."

"You're worried he might not forgive you for sleeping with Spike."

"He was very upset."

"Well Xander was just shocked. I'm sure he can forgive you. Though there's the problem..."

She stopped as Giles said, "Oh dear."

"What is it?" Tara asked him.

"I've translated some of this. I don't have the full meaning but it seems to say that a person with magical powers, who has died and come back again will be important in this struggle."

"You mean me." Tara said, apprehensively.

"Well we shouldn't jump to conclusions." Giles said "But it's certainly a possibility."

"What is Tara supposed to do?" Willow asked.

"I won't know that until I've translated the rest." Giles said.


***


"I think he came this way." Buffy said. One of the vampires that had attacked them had escaped, leading them to a large building on the outskirts of the town.

"Buffy, we can't run as fast as you can." Xander complained, trailing behind her. Buffy opened the door, and went in, shining her light round, looking for any sign of the vampire. As Xander and Dawn caught up Xander asked, "Any sign of it?"

Dawn wondered over to a side door. "Dawn stay close." Buffy warned.

"There's someone in here."

"The vampire?" Buffy asked as she approached.

"I don't think so." Dawn answered, trying to make out who it was in the dim light. "They're not moving."

Buffy reached the doorway and shone her light in the middle of the room. "Oh my."


***


Giles looked up from his books as the door bell rang, "Ah Buffy you're back. We've made some progress with the books. We've found something interesting."

"You're not the only one." Buffy countered. Giles explained what they had found in the book. When held finished Buffy said, "Well that explains what we found. The cult had tried to resurrect Rack."

"Really, do you know what spell they used?"

"The same one that Dawn tried to use."

"Oh, was there any indication if they were successful?"

"The Rack shaped salt lick that we found suggests that they weren't."

"Really? That is interesting. We have to hope that they don't know about Tara."

"Amy's helping them remember. There's no way that she hasn't told them."

"Quite."

TBC

[justin]

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Ressurection
Part 6

They increased the effort to find the cult but without success. As the day of the ritual came round they gathered in the Magic Box.

"If I stop the ritual will they be able to try again?" Buffy asked Giles.

"Not for another year." Giles answered, gesturing at one of the books.

"Well I guess that's something ." Buffy said.

Xander grabbed an axe from the weapons chest and said, "Well then let's go."

"I'll stay here." Giles said, "Try and finish translating this."

"Maybe Tara should stay as well." Willow suggested, "After all we don't know what the document says about her."

"We don't know if it is referring to me." Tara said.

"Actually it might be better if you stayed." Giles said, "You could help me with this book."

Tara nodded.

Buffy said, "Okay then." The others set off, leaving Tara and Giles to finish researching.


***


When they got to the school it was completely deserted.

"Looks like we're early," Buffy said.

"Right, well we'll just have to wait for them," Xander said.

They'd been waiting half an hour when they heard a car pull up outside. A few moments later Giles came dashing in.

"Giles, what is it?" Buffy asked, surprised at this sudden entrance.

"They've taken Tara," Giles told them.

Hearing this Willow stumbled on a piece of debris, moving quickly Buffy ran over to catch her, "I can't lose her again."

"Don't worry, you won't." Buffy assured Willow, she turned to Giles for an explanation.

"I'd just finished the translation, they need Tara to finish the ritual."

"Then where are they?" Xander asked

"I don't know. They don't need to be here to perform the ritual."

"There must be some way to find Tara." Willow said

"I know where she is." Anya told them.

"How do you know that?" Giles asked

"Tara's just been kidnapped by a group of cultists who want to use her to end the world. Obviously Tara's not particularly happy about this."

"We don't have time for this!" Willow shouted, "We need to get going."

"Will, are you sure that you want to come?" Buffy asked.

"I'm coming." Willow answered. Buffy nodded. They all left the school and got into Giles' car, with Anya directing they were soon able to find the place.

"Of course, Dracula's castle. Why didn't we think to look here sooner?" Xander commented sarcastically. As they approached a group of men in Robes came out from the castle.

"At least we know this is the place." Buffy said as they attacked. Deciding that they didn't have time for this Willow snuck round the battle and went into the castle. Following the sound of the chanting that was echoing through the building Willow soon found the place where the ritual was being held.

It was in the main hall. Tara was tied to the table surrounded by a ring of the cultists with another one standing next to her holding a knife, raising the knife he cut one of Tara's arms then the other. Willow quickly loaded the crossbow she was holding and fired it as he raised the knife above his head. The bolt hit him in the shoulder. Ignoring it he brought the knife down into his own chest. Willow ran into the room, surprised when the remaining cultists vanished. Once she was over the shock Willow rushed to untie Tara.


***


Outside Buffy looked round the area of the battle, "Where did they all go?"

"It seemed they vanished when the ritual was finished." Giles answered

Dreading what this fact meant Buffy said, "Oh god, Tara." as she started towards the entrance.

"It's okay, she's still alive." Anya said.

"How do you know that?" Xander asked

"Because I don't feel any urge to go and offer vengeance to Willow."

"There's also the more important matter of the Hellmouth." Giles pointed out with a roll of his eyes.

"So they've opened it?" Buffy asked "Shouldn't we be able to see some change?"

"Well yes, we should be seeing hoards of demons, about now." Giles said, looking rather confused.

"So maybe their ritual failed." Xander said

"No it didn't." Tara said from the doorway. They turned to see her with Willow. "The Hellmouth opened for an instant. I don't know what, but something came out while it was opened."

"So that was what they wanted." Buffy said Buffy turned to Giles exasperated, "You said they wanted to end the world not make with the whole 'ha-ha, pointless Hellmouth open, Hellmouth close' routine."

"Well that is their end goal. Presumably whatever came out of the Hellmouth will help with this. Well we won't gain anything here, so maybe we should head back." With that they went back to the Magic Box.


TBC

[JustSkipIt]

Wow. Lots happening and very quickly at that. I like the way this is going and the dialog is very flowing. Sometimes I wish there were more detail about things. Well done and very interesting.

The King

[viximon]

ohh! problems problems. What's looss on Sunnydale coming from the Hellmouth? I wonder. I hope to read it soon.
Luckly it wasn't necessary Tara to dead for the hellmouth to open if not...it would be a sucky world

[watty]

The dialogue is driving the story, and it's very vivid. Makes me imagine what's going on in the minds of the Scoobies.

So the men in robes are opening the hellmouth, something came out but they don't know what. Intriguing. It's a short update, I want Willow and Tara to talk and get back on track with their relationship. Tara getting kidnapped and almost killed, hopefully this can push them along.

Thanks, as always!

[justin]

JustSkipIt: I'm glad you're liking the story and the dialogue. I do find it easier to write dialog than anything else.

You're right about it being lacking in detail in some places. I'll try to improve that.

Thanks for the feedy-mcfeedback

Viximon: You're right they do seem to have a lot of problems and things are going to get worse before they get better

It would definitely have sucked if anything had happened to Tara. Thanks for reading.

Watson: Ooh, another thumbs up for the dialogue

So the men in robes are opening the hellmouth, something came out but they don't know what.

That's a pretty good summary of what's going on.

I want Willow and Tara to talk and get back on track with their relationship. Tara getting kidnapped and almost killed, hopefully this can push them along.

Well this will help them move in the right direction, but as the note at the beginning says, it'll be a while before everythings sorted out.

Thanks for the feedback

There'll be an update (The last part of ressuection) soon

[justin]

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: Set just after S6, this deals with bringing Tara back
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Ressurection

Part 7

Once everyone had left Tara went to sit out on the porch in order to think about everything that had happened to her that day, and for the past week.

“It doesn't get any easier.” A voice startled her out of her thoughts.

Turning Tara saw Buffy standing in the doorway, “What doesn't?”

“Almost dying. The who near death thing.”

“I just keep thinking about what could have happened. It's a scary thought.”

“I'm sorry.”

Tara looked up, confused.

Buffy sat down next to Tara as she explained, “We weren't quick enough or clever enough. I let you down.”

Tara stared at Buffy a moment, “You're not talking about today, are you?”

“No, I don't think I am.” They both sat in silence a moment then Buffy asked, “So what are you going to do?”

“Do?”

“With your life. I mean I understand if you want to leave Sunnydale, a lot of people would.”

Tara didn't answer for a while. When she did she asked, “Is this your way of asking if I'm going to leave Willow?”

Buffy didn't say anything.

“I love her.”

“Sometimes that isn't enough.”

“Sometimes it is. This isn't going to be quick or easy. Trust needs to be rebuilt, we need to figure out how we fit into each other's lives.” Tara paused, considering her words, “Why do I get the feeling I've said this already?”

“I don't know, but I do know I'm not the person you should be discussing this with.”

***


Xander was just clearing up after having dinner when there was a knock at his door. Answering it he was surprised to find Anya there.

Anya glanced about, seeming to be both nervous and annoyed, "Can I come in?"

Xander, thinking that Anya was here to tell him she didn't want to see him any more, also grew nervous, "Sure." Was all he could say as he moved aside.

Anya walked past Xander then, turning, said "We need to talk."

Xander nodded. Then deciding he wanted to get his piece in first he said, "Listen I'm truly sorry about leaving you at the altar, I know there's no way to make it up to you, but I'm going to try. Some day when we're ready..."

"Xander."

"Let me finish." Xander said, "I can understand why you..." Xander found he couldn't say it, "did what you did, and I can accept it, like I can accept you being a demon again."

"I'm not a demon."

"You're not? When?"

"I gave up my powers." Anya explained "Because I want us to be together as well."

"An, that's wonderful." Xander took Anya's hand in his and holding it gently went on, "I mean, I can't believe you did that for me."

"Well you have your faults, but you are one of the least objectionable men I've been with."

Xander made as if to hug Anya, then hesitated, saying, "But still..."

Anya hugged Xander, saying "It doesn't matter. I forgive you."


***


Willow was researching, trying to find a clue as to what had come out of the Hellmouth, when Buffy said from the doorway, "Hey, Willow I thought you might want this back." Buffy held a book up.

Willow took the book off Buffy then. After glancing at the cover, she said, "I don't recognize it. Are you sure it's mine?"

"Well you were reading it earlier, so I assume that it is. Well I'm going to and patrol." Willow was about to start reading the book to see of she could find any clues as to where she'd gotten it from when Tara asked from the doorway, "Willow can I ask you something?"

Quickly shoving the book in a bookcase, Willow answered, "Of course, you can ask me anything."

"You remember my twentieth birthday party?"

"Yes."

"Well that night I said that you always made me feel special, and I asked how you did it. Do you remember your answer?"

"Magic." Willow's smiled as she said this, remembering that conversation she was starting to hope that Tara had forgiven her.

"You weren't being literal, were you?"

Willow's face fell again as she understood what Tara was suggesting. "Of course not. I'd never use magic on you." Willow answered quickly. Tara just looked at her questioningly, "I mean apart from those two memory spells. But that's the only time, I promise." Willow frowned as she tried to think of the best way to put this, "I can't express just how sorry I am about that. It's just I was so scared I was going to lose you that... Well I guess that isn't much of an excuse."

"I understand." Tara said, thinking back to the spell she had cast to stop Willow from seeing her supposed demon side, "I mean, I've been there as well." Walking further into the room Tara went on "I was a bit shocked when you told me what had happened."

"I'm still having trouble believing it."

Tara opened her mouth, then hesitated, what could she say? After all Willow had killed someone, and no matter what Willow's reasons had been that was still hard to come to terms with. Sensing this indecision Willow looked down, thinking she'd ruined things with Tara. Tara walked over and put her hand on Willow's shoulder. Willow looked up hopefully, "Does this mean that you forgive me, again?"

"On one condition."

"Anything."

"Living above the Hellmouth is dangerous. I understand that and I accept it. If anything does happen to me again then I want you to promise me that you won't go after revenge."

"I'm not sure that I can." Willow admitted, "But I can promise to try not to." Tara didn't respond to this. Standing Willow, hesitantly, put her arms around Tara. She knew that things weren't completely resolved between them, and that her recent actions would be a problem for some time to come, but she also knew that there was hope.


***


In a motel room on the outskirts of Sunnydale Ethan Rayne was woken by a scratching sound at the door. Getting up he went to the door and opened it. A rat ran past him into the room and sat staring at him.

As he closed the door Ethan said, "I wondered where you'd gotten to." He went to get some clothes out of the wardrobe. Then sprinkling some crushed herbs on the rat he said, "Hecate I give you leave to depart."

The rat immediately turned into a young woman. As she put the clothes on Amy said, "I would have come here sooner but I got lost."

"Did you get it?" Ethan asked.

Amy opened the pouch round her neck and pulled the book out, "Here it is."

"Good." Ethan said as he took the book off of her.

"Though I could do without having Buffy come after me at the moment." Amy said, "And she was pretty annoyed with me before this."

"Don't worry." Ethan told her, "Soon Buffy and the others will be far too busy to worry about you, or indeed anything."


***


Willow was running as fast as she could. In the darkness she could barely see the tree branches which brushed against her. Ahead she could see a light and she ran after it, knowing that if she could just catch it then everything would be okay again. However it always stayed just out of reach. Then she wasn't running through the woods any more, she come out into a large clearing. The light had stopped in the middle of the clearing. Slowing Willow towards it, reaching her hand out to it. As the light dimmed she finally saw what it was...

It was her.


TBC in The Rapture

[justin]

As promised here is the continuation of the series. That is if anyone wants me to continue.

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: The Scooby gang must deal with the creature which was summoned in the last story
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

Cliffhanger warning: This part ends with a bit of a cliffhanger, so assume crash position

The Rapture
Part 1


The Sunnydale graveyard was quiet and virtually deserted. The only thing disturbing the peace was two people trampling through.

"I don't get it." Buffy flipped her stake a couple of times restlessly, "Where are all the vampires.

"It's quiet." Xander agreed, he was carrying a small axe and looking round nervously, "Too quiet."

Buffy slapped Xander on the arm. "Xander, if you say that one more time then I am going to have to hurt you." The longer they went without any action the more restless Buffy got, and Xander's constant quipping was starting to get on her nerves.

"Ow!" Xander grabbed his arm, a pained expression on his face. Buffy just gave a look as if to say - I didn't hit you that hard. "I'm just saying that it seems that when things are this quiet something bad is about to happen."

"I know and that's what's worrying me. Especially when we still don't know what came out of the Hellmouth."

"Are you sure that something did? Maybe Tara was mistaken." out of the corner of his eye Xander spotted something leaning against a nearby tree.

"No, I doubt if we're that lucky."

Going to investigate Xander said, "I think I can see something." He reeled a little in shock when he saw what it was. Taking a moment to compose himself he said, "There's a girl here. She's dead." It didn't matter how much death he saw while living in Sunnydale, things like this still got to him.

Following closely behind Buffy said, "Oh god." For a moment she had thought that the body was Dawn. Whoever it was she was about the same age as Dawn and had the same colour and style hair. For some reason there was a red garter around her neck. "So there are some vampires around."

Xander leaned forward to get a closer look, being careful to not disturb anything. He could just about make out some bruising around her neck. "I don't think this was vampires. She looks as if she was strangled."

"Then it's probably not something supernatural." Buffy reasoned. The idea that this girl was probably killed by a human made it seem somehow worse.

"It doesn't look like it."

"Then we should probably get back and call the police."

Xander nodded and straightening up said, "She was so young."

"I know." Buffy agreed, "About Dawn's age."


***


When Buffy and Xander got home Tara was the only person still up. Xander went to talk to the police while Buffy went to talk to her, "You still up?"

Tara held up the book she was reading saying, "I wanted to finish the chapter." She put a mark in the book then putting it down asked, "So, did you see much?"

"No, still no vamps." Buffy sat down opposite Tara, "There was a dead girl but it didn't seem like anything supernatural. Though there was one odd thing." Buffy turned to the door, listening to Xander speaking to the police. She suddenly realised that Tara had said something, "I'm sorry, what was that?"

"I asked what was odd about it?"

"There was a red garter around her neck." Tara seemed to recognise this so Buffy asked, "Does that mean something to you?"

"Well it suggests that she was a warlock."

Buffy frowned at this, not understanding, "I thought warlocks were men?"

"No, the word warlock means traitor. It's a witch who had betrayed his or her coven. During the burning times if it was suspected that a witch who had been imprisoned was about to give in to the torture then they'd be killed to protect the rest of their coven. A red garter would be left round their neck to show why they'd been killed."

"Seems a little harsh."

"Maybe but you have to consider what would happen to the people who were named."

"But the inquisition isn't around any more, so why was this girl killed?" Tara gazed at the floor. She wished that she had an answer to why this had happened.

Xander came in saying, "I called the police, told them where to find the body."

"Tara thinks the killer may have been a witch."

"Not necessarily." Tara said, looking up, "it might just be someone who knew about the practice."

"But how many people would know?"

Tara shrugged, "I guess it isn't general knowledge but then again it's not an obscure fact either. It's mentioned in several books about Wicca."

"Okay, but whoever did it definitely wanted to establish a witchy angle to the killing."

"So you're saying the murder might not have been quite as mundane as we thought. Maybe we should do some digging. Try to find out who this girl was." Xander suggested.

"Good idea." Buffy agreed, "But for now I'm going to bed."

"Oh, there was letter for you, it'd been pushed under the table." Tara said as she handed an envelope to Buffy.

Buffy opened it and pulled pulled out a sheet of paper. After reading it for a while she said, "It says they're going to start work on the new school. It's going to be where the old one was. You think they'd learn to not keep putting a school directly on the Hellmouth."

"Wasn't that still a burnt out wreck when we were last there?" Xander asked, "Whoever's working on it is going to have to work fast to get it ready."

"Well I guess this means Dawn isn't going to miss out on the fun experience of going to school over a Hellmouth after all."

***


"Maybe you should go and see her?" Clem suggested, "What's the worst she could do?" They were both in Spike's crypt watching soap operas.

"She could drive a stake through my heart." Spike answered.

"Well it's got to be better than staying here brooding."

"I do not brood. That's what Angel did. I'm merely biding my time. She'll come here soon enough."

"What if she doesn't?"

"She will. If not to see me then because there's some big bad she wants help with."

"But.." Clem started.

"Look do you want to watch the telly or talk about Buffy all night." Spike cut in, annoyed.

Clem decided to drop the subject.

***


"Well we have a name." Buffy said as she walked into the kitchen the next morning, brandishing a newspaper. "Melissa Richards. But nothing to suggest why she was killed the way she was." Buffy turned to paper again and continued reading.

Tara had been busy making breakfast. She turned to Buffy saying, "Well at least that'll make getting information on her easier."

"Information on who?" Willow asked as she came in.

She walked around the counter to stand next to Tara. She was about to Kiss her but Tara moved away, tensing up a little. Willow face fell at this. Turning Tara noticed the hurt look on Willow's face. Part of her wanted to put arms round Willow but she was too frightened of being hurt again, so instead she said, "Buffy found a dead girl last night."

Willow sighed, she guessed it'd be some time before Tara was completely comfortable around her. "Oh. Vampires?" Willow said, hoping to cover any awkwardness.

"No, she was strangled."

"Well I'll see if I can find anything out about her." Willow offered, "What did you say her name was?"

"Melissa Richards." Looking up from the paper Buffy noticed some tenseness between Willow and Tara. She promised herself that she'd talk to Willow about this as soon as possible. She turned back to the story. There was something about the report that bothered her but she couldn't put her finger on what it was.

***


Going into the magic box Xander looked round the shop, surprised that there was no one else there, save Anya, who was behind the counter rearranging the shelves. As he walked over to her Xander asked, "No one else here?"

"No there are no customer's here." Anya complained, "There don't ever seem to be any these days."

"I meant none of the gang's here?" Xander clarified.

Anya turned to Xander holding a pot of herbs in each hand, "Oh no. Should they be here?"

Xander leaned against the counter, "We're supposed to be meeting here."

"No one told me about it. Why am I always the last to hear about these things?" As she was saying this Anya waved one of the pots of herbs about in an annoyed manner.

"I guess they assumed you'd be here anyway." Xander tried to placate her.

"Hmmph." Anya answered going back to work.

Xander decided it would be best to change the subject. "Well since there's no one else here, there's something I wanted to talk to you about. I'm worried about Tara."

"Worried, how? She seems okay."

"So did Buffy when we brought her back."

"So you're worried that we pulled Tara out of a paradise dimension and as a result she'll have trouble adjusting to living again." Anya gave up on the reorganising and walked over to face Xander.

"Kind of."

"But we didn't did we? I mean we still don't even know how Tara came back."

"Okay so maybe it wasn't our fault this time but that doesn't change the fact that I'm worried."

"You're right." Anya said after some thought, "We'll have to keep an eye on her. Though it might be different for Tara since she's a Wiccan."

"Why would that make a difference?"

"Well they believe in reincarnation, so wherever she was she'd have been expecting to come back. Anyway we're assuming that something forced Tara to come back, maybe she chose to."

"Why would she do that?" Anya just looked at him with an exasperated expression. "Oh, yeah of course." They were both silent for a while then Xander said, "I thought you could come round later."

"I'd like that."

"We could discuss when you're going to move back in."

"I'm not ready to do that yet."

"Do you have any idea when you will be?"

"That depends. Do you have any idea when you'll be ready to put a ring on my finger?" Anya held up her wedding finger for emphasis. Xander struggled for a response. He was immensely relieved when the door opened and the others came in.

***


"Do you think this girl has anything to do with that cult?" Dawn asked. Everyone apart from Anya, who was still behind the counter, was around the main table which was covered in a heap of open books. That is apart from a small space at one end which Willow had managed to clear off for her lap top.

Buffy shook her head, "I thought about that but there was nothing to suggest a connection."

"So this is another monster."

"Yeah, it looks that way."

"Which backs up my claim that this was a bad time for Giles to leave." Anya put in. A couple of days after the incident with the cult summoning a monster from the Hellmouth Giles had decided that it was about time that he returned to England. Though he had assured them that he would get the next plane back if they needed him.

"No he was right to go. We have to learn to handle these things on our own." Buffy countered.

"I've got something." Willow interrupted and everyone turned towards her. "I've got an address for Melissa." Willow wrote out the address then handed it to Buffy.

"This looks familiar." Buffy thought a moment then went on, "Of course this is where Ethan stayed the last time he was here." Looking up, Buffy noticed that everyone was staring at her. "I'm sure it's just a coincidence. Well I'll check it out tonight."

"You're supposed to be working late at the Double Meat." Dawn reminded her.

"Damn, yes. Well I can go afterwards."

"Or we can go." Tara offered.

Everyone looked at Willow, as over the last week she had become rather overprotective of Tara. "Yes." Willow said, surprising everyone, "We can go and check it out."

"Okay then, let me know what you find."

***


The motel was a small one on the outskirts of the town. When Willow and Tara got to the right room they found that the door was covered with police tape. Willow checked the door, "I guess that was too much to hope for." She added when it proved to be locked.

"I'll handle it." Tara said. Willow moved out of the way and she moved to the door, gripping the handle she chanted for a couple of seconds then opened the door.

"She didn't have much." Willow commented as she began looking round the sparsely furnished room. Opening a drawer she found a pile of books there, going through them she said, "Well she was definitely a witch if these books are anything to go by. Or at least she was interested in Wicca."

Tara walked over holding a receipt saying, "She'd ordered a book from William's books, the Sigilum Maleficarum, um, The Witches Seal. She was going to pick it up today." Glancing over Willow's shoulder at the books she was holding Tara went on, "That's odd."

"Yeah, why didn't she get it from the magic box." Willow looked a little embarrassed, "which probably isn't what you were talking about."

"All these books here are aimed at beginners, but this book is a very advanced one."

"Why do you say that?"

"The title's in Latin."

"Maybe she just wanted to move up to a higher level."

"So she went from reading Teen Witch to reading Sigilum Maleficarum?"

"Maybe we'll find out when we get this book." Willow thought about pointing out that she had started out by reading books like that one, but it occurred to her that witches who weren't friends with the slayer and her watcher probably wouldn't have access to quite the unusual variety of books that she had.

"True. We should get back and tell Buffy what we found."

"Right." Willow was just starting out when Tara stopped her with a hand on her arm saying, "This book, it's by the same author as the one Amy stole from Giles."

"So you think Melissa was connected with Amy?" Willow turned back to Tara.

"Maybe. It's also possible that Amy killed Melissa."

Willow looked doubtful at this, "I don't think so. I mean I know Amy has been causing trouble lately but she's not a killer."

"Well I never knew Amy before she was a rat but people change."

"Maybe, but I can't imagine Amy as a murderer."

***


When Buffy reached the book shop she looked to see if there was anyone nearby. Then, wishing she still had Riley's skeleton key, she tried the door. She was rather surprised when it swung open. She was even more surprised when she found Ethan Rayne going through the books.

"Ethan Rayne." Buff growled, "I thought the initiative had locked you up for good."

Ethan pulled a book off of the shelf then turned to give Buffy a condescending look, "And you really expected them to be able to hold me? I was breaking out of prisons like that before you were born."

"So you're old, I already knew that." Buffy gave a bored sigh, "You know the shop's closed."

"I was about to say the same thing to you." He slipped the book into a bag, "Unfortunately I don't have time to chat."

"Well then make..." Buffy stopped as she felt herself being picked up and thrown across the room. Quickly getting up she looked around for the person who was responsible, "Amy. How did you get involved with Ethan?"

"Rack told me all about her." Ethan explained, "So when I came back here I decided to look her up. Well I'll let you two catch up." He started to leave. Buffy quickly ran after him but Amy moved in the way and hit Buffy, knocking her back.

"Amy, why are you doing this?" Buffy asked as she got to her feet, trying to work out how Amy had gotten so strong.

"You have to ask?" Amy blocked a blow from Buffy, "Exactly how long did you keep me trapped as a rat?"

"We didn't do that, you did that to yourself." As they spoke they traded blows. Buffy tried to find an opening but Amy was too fast for her.

"And you really went out of your way to turn me back. You kept me as a pet for three years, turning me into a human then straight back again when it amused you." Buffy managed to hit Amy in the chest, knocking her back. As Buffy moved forward to press the advantage Amy quickly kicked her in the chest, winding her. Buffy backed up a bit, buying time to recover, "Amy, we never stopped trying to turn you back."

"Just shut up." Stepping forwards Amy punched Buffy sending her flying backwards into a bookcase, which fell down on her. When Buffy managed to crawl out from under it Amy had gone. Limping a little Buffy left the shop and headed back to the magic box.

***


Before going to work Buffy visited the magic box. Anya was busy serving some customers. The only other person there was Willow who was working on her computer. She was trying to find another copy of the Sigilum Maleficarum, or some other books by the same writer, since Amy and Ethan seemed to be so interested in them.

Buffy sat down next to Willow asking, "So how are you doing?"

"Oh fine." Willow continued working while she answered. "Well not exactly fine. I still don't know what Amy and Ethan wanted those books for. I'll probably need to get a copy to figure that out."

"I mean how things between you and Tara."

"Oh. That's not going so well." Stopping typing Willow turned towards Buffy.

"Yeah, I noticed Tara was still sleeping on the couch."

"To be honest things seem be at a standstill. Tara says that she can accept what I did but it seems that whenever we start to get close it gets in the way. I can understand that. I just wish there was some way to make Tara forget about it all."

"Willow!" Buffy said, shocked that Willow would even think about doing something like this.

"Sorry." Willow frowned, she hadn't meant to say that, it had just slipped out. Seeing the concerned look on Buffy's face she quickly went on, "Of course I would never do that."

"I'm sure Tara will come round. You just have to give her time."

"Oh I know that and I'm going to be patient. As soon as Tara's ready I'll be waiting for her."

***


After speaking to Willow Buffy went to do her shift at the double meat. When Buffy got home she found Tara and Dawn in the living room. "Where's Willow?" She asked them.

"There were some things she needed to do." Tara answered. She was going to say more but stopped when she noticed the look Dawn was giving her.

"Well I'm going out to patrol." Buffy said not noticing any of this interaction, she grabbed some stakes then went on, "I'll see if I can find out what Ethan and Amy are up to."

When Buffy had gone Tara asked Dawn, "why didn't you want me to tell Buffy where Willow is? I'm sure she won't mind that Willow's helping you with your school work. If anything she'll be happy that you're doing it."

"I know but I want Buffy to think I'm independent and that she can rely on me to go on patrol with her. I just don't think she would if we told her I got Willow to do some research because the local library gives me the wiggins."

"It does?" Tara asked. Dawn nodded, looking embarrassed. "Well I'm glad that I'm not the only one."

***


After a couple of hours of fruitless searching Buffy decided to check out Willy's bar. Ethan was never the most discrete of people so someone, or something, may have heard something. When Buffy got to Willy's place he seemed to be very nervous. This was hardly unusual since Willy always seemed nervous, but he also seemed to be relieved to see Buffy. This worried Buffy since the sight of her normally made Willy even more panicky than usual, "What's up?" Buffy asked, going over to the bar.

"Oh Buffy, am I glad to see you." Willy wiped his brow. "There's this demon. Says he's waiting for you." Willy leaned forwards, "He's caused all kind of trouble, dusted two vamps already."

It was then that Buffy noticed just how quiet the bar was. Whatever this demon was it had obviously driven the other patrons off. "What type of demon is it?"

"I dunno I just serve them drinks. I don't ask them their life story or nothing."

"Okay, where is it?"

"I am here." A deep voice said.

Buffy turned to find a large demon towering over her, "You were looking for me?"

"I have a message for you."

"I'm listening."

"The coming conflict does not concern you. If you stay out of it then neither you or your sister will be hurt. Interfere and you will both die screaming."

"You're not the first to use that line on me." As she said this Buffy noticed a mark on the creatures chest. It was the same as the one Willow had seen on the members of that cult. "So you're the thing they summoned. I have to say, you don't seem to be worth the effort."

"I am merely an emissary. I serve the great one."

"I'm not liking the sound of that. So where can I find this great one?"

"If you have any sense then you won't." Saying this the creature vanished.

Buffy noticed a mark on the floor where the creature had been standing. Crouching down Buffy saw that the floor had been charred. Straightening she called to Willy, "You can come out now."

Willy poked his head up from behind the counter saying, "Wow, you got rid of it. I really owe you..."

"No I didn't, it just left. Though it'll probably come back unless you can tell me where I can find this great one."

"Now I don't know..."

"Willy!" Buffy turned to lean on the bar and gave Willy a hard look.

"I mean it's the large building on Bishop street."

"Thanks." Buffy said as she left.

***


The mansion seemed to be deserted as Buffy entered it. Looking round she called out, "Hello, is anyone here?" Buffy opened a door and looked in the room saying, "I was told that there was some sort of big bad here."

"That would be me." A voice said from behind Buffy. Spinning round Buffy saw who it was, Willow.

TBC

[cperrins78]

WILLOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I couldn't believe it when I read that. I am still in . You weren't kidding when you said it was going to end in a cliffhanger. You better update soon so we know what's going on. By the way I just adored this update.



Christina

[viximon]

WOW! What a incredible amazing update this one. How do you dare to end it this way though. I'm dying, please update soon!!

That fellow big bad sure is going to put thuings to the edge. I can't wait.

PS: Bad thing Tara isn't confortable around Willow yet. About Tara coverind Dawn's schoolish secret...it was cute and so into the characters
You do a great work, keep it up

[watty]

Sorry I missed replying to a couple of updates.

Oh, the impending doom!

"There's a girl here. She's dead." It didn't matter how much death he saw while living in Sunnydale, things like this still got to him.

That actually creeped me out. It brings home how much death there has been in Sunnydale, and how much these teenagers had to endure while saving the world. The fact that the girl appeared to have suffered death by human hands is even more scary.

The mystery of the girl and her connection to Amy / Ethan is intriguing. Why do I just know the rat and the chaos worshipper are plotting something nasty.

[Willow] was about to Kiss her but Tara moved away, tensing up a little.

Oh how the hurt is evident, and Tara is still sleeping on the couch? ouch.

"I just wish there was some way to make Tara forget about it all."

Willow, STOP IT RIGHT THERE! You are not going down that road again.

And the cliffhanger. The Willow that Buffy meets at the mansion, that's another Willow, right? Yes? If I get it right, do I get a cookie ?

[justin]

cperrins78: Thanks, I'm glad that you liked the update

viximon: How dare I end there? Easy I dare because I'm pure evil

You do a great work, keep it up

Thanks

Watson:

Sorry I missed replying to a couple of updates.

No worries, absence makes the heart grow fonder

That actually creeped me out. It brings home how much death there has been in Sunnydale, and how much these teenagers had to endure while saving the world. The fact that the girl appeared to have suffered death by human hands is even more scary.

All true. They have been through a lot in a short spave of time. And you're right that human monsters are more scary than, um, monstrous ones.

Why do I just know the rat and the chaos worshipper are plotting something nasty.

Probably because you're very clever

Willow, STOP IT RIGHT THERE!

Yes, bad Willow!

The Willow that Buffy meets at the mansion, that's another Willow, right? Yes? If I get it right, do I get a cookie

You'll find out next part.

Speaking of which, that should be posted tomorrow.

Thanks for the feedback

[justin]

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: The Scooby gang must deal with the creature which was summoned in the last story
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways

The Rapture
Part 2


"Willow what's happened?" Buffy couldn't believe what she was seeing. When they had spoken at the Magic Box Willow had seemed perfectly fine, yet now here she was looking just like she had the last time they'd fought.

"What do you think happened? I came to my senses." Willow took a step towards Buffy.

Buffy took a step back, trying to move herself towards the door. She really didn't want to have to fight Willow again. "I have to say you don't look that sensible." Buffy tried to keep her voice light, still hoping that there was some way to fix this. "Please Willow, tell me what's going on?"

"I let Xander confuse me before. Distract me from my purpose, I won't be tricked again."

"What about Tara?" Even as Buffy asked this she had a horrible feeling that she knew what the answer was going to be.

"Gone of course. Do you know what that's like? to think you've gotten someone back only to have them taken from you again?"

"Oh, god. I'm so sorry." Buffy said, while she wondered How things had gone so bad so quickly.

"Sorry won't bring Tara back." Willow started floating towards Buffy who tried to move out of the way but found that she couldn't move. Willow placed her hand on Buffy's chest. Buffy felt a tugging sensation in her chest that grew until it was almost painful. Then it suddenly stopped. "I thought as much." Willow snarled. She slapped Buffy across the face, sending her flying. Buffy picked herself up and ran out.


Spike was making his way back to his crypt from the butchers when he saw Buffy come out of a nearby house and go running past. A few moments later another figure came out. "Oh god." Spike muttered as he recognised her.


As Buffy sprinted home she tried to make sense of what had happened. Obviously something had happened to Tara in the time since she had seen her that night and she was presumably dead. This had obviously caused Willow to snap. So was Willow this great one? That didn't make sense since the monster had said that the great one was the thing that had been summoned by the cult. So maybe Willow had gone to the great one for help. Though how did Willow know about it? Buffy still hadn't answered these questions when she got home.

Dawn was just going upstairs when Buffy came bursting in, "It's okay, I was just going to bed." Dawn said, then noticing Buffy's expression, "What's wrong."

Buffy walked to the foot of the stairs and taking Dawn's hand in her own she said, "It's Tara, she's..." Buffy tried to think of the best way to put it.

"I'm what?" Tara asked from the doorway.

"You're okay?"

"Yes. Shouldn't I be?"

"But then, why?" This was getting to be too much for Buffy. Her confusion only increased when the door opened and Willow came in, except now she looked like her normal self.

"Hi Buffy." Willow said, "Good patrol?"

Dawn stepped round Buffy and walked towards Willow. "Willow, did you manage to..."

"Dawn, come back here." Buffy ordered, suddenly worried that this might be some sort of trick.

"What's wrong?" Willow asked, taking a few steps towards them.

"Willow, don't move."

Dawn turned to Buffy, "What's going on?"

"Willow where have you been?" Buffy ignored Dawn's question.

"I've been at the library all evening." Willow gave Tara a questioning look, but she merely shrugged in response, a worried look on her face.

"You weren't at Bishop Street?"

"I haven't been anywhere near there."

"I saw you there, you attacked me."

"I wouldn't do that." Willow said, "At least not any more."

"Are you sure it was Willow?" Tara asked. She couldn't sense anything in Willow's aura that suggested that she'd been using dark magic recently.

Buffy turned to Tara, her expression suggesting that she hoped she was somehow mistaken, "It looked like her, except with the black hair and eyes."

"Maybe it was someone using magic to make you think it was Willow." As Tara said this she knew the only reason she was suggesting it was that it would hurt too much if Willow really had had a relapse.

Buffy turned to Willow and studied her for a few seconds. She realised that it wasn't just that Willow's hair and eyes that were different but her whole demeanor were different from the woman she'd just been fighting. "Maybe." Buffy said, "I don't know, tonight has just been too confusing." Buffy shook her head, still trying to grasp exactly what was going on.

"Maybe we should sit down and discuss this." Tara suggested, though not just for Buffy's sake. Throughout the entire exchange Dawn had been glaring at Willow suspiciously while Willow was looking a little panicked. Presumably worried that she might have another evil double.

"Good I..." Buffy stopped as Spike burst in, almost hitting Willow with the door.

"I know about what's going on. About Drusilla."

"What do you mean Drusilla?" Just when Buffy thought things couldn't get any more confusing.

"She was at that house you just came running out of. I assumed you'd just been in a fight with her."

"Maybe Drusilla's behind all this?" Dawn reasoned.

"Behind what?" Spike asked. It suddenly occurred to him that everyone seemed very tense. More so than would be expected just from Drusilla being in town.

"Someone's trying to make me think Willow had started using dark magic again." As she said this Buffy felt a surge of relief as she realised that it hadn't been Willow she had fought. Any monster would be better than that.

"Well I can check back at the house. See if I can find any clues as to what she's up to."

"No, we'll leave looking into this till tomorrow."

"Right." Spike said. There was an awkward silence. "Well I'll be off." Spike made his exit.


***


Approaching the building in the daytime Buffy couldn't help but notice that the mansion was just a few buildings down from the one where Glory had been staying. She knew it was just a coincidence but nonetheless she found it disconcerting. As they reached the door Dawn said happily, "I think it's great that you're letting me come."

"I just want you to promise that if I tell you to run then you will."

"But Drusilla won't be able do anything in the daylight."

"There's also the massive demon to worry about."

"Okay." Dawn said with a sigh, "I'll run if you tell me."

"That's all I wanted to hear." The house seemed to be deserted. Buffy went to check the stairs while Dawn went to look in a side room. "Dawn don't..."

Dawn took a step back from the doorway, with a shocked expression, "Buffy, over here."

Buffy quickly ran over, "What it is?"

"The members of the cult. They're all dead." When Buffy looked in the room she saw about twenty bodies lying round the room. From the state of the bodies she guessed they'd been dead a while. Buffy started into the doorway, then reeled a little as the smell hit her. She took a moment to get used to it then went in. "How did they die?" Dawn asked as she followed her sister.

"I don't know." Buffy answered. She noticed burn marks on the chests of the bodies. Remembering how Willow, or whatever that thing was, had put it's hand on her chest she wondered if this was how they'd died. If so she'd been lucky to have not been affected.

"Buffy look out." Dawn shouted as a spider like creature dropped from the ceiling. It looked like a large tarantula save it was glowing with green light. Buffy quickly knocked it off her shoulder then looking round she saw more of them on the ceiling. One of them jumped at Dawn who tried to swat it away, but it grabbed her arm and began crawling up it. Buffy quickly grabbed the creature and threw it across the room.

"Let's get out of here." Buffy suggested knocking another one away from Dawn. Dawn nodded and they both ran out of the room, slamming the door behind them. As they ran from the house it occurred to Buffy that apart from the first creature they seemed to have been targeting dawn.

***


"Do you have any idea what those things were?" Xander asked, back at the magic box.

"They were spiders." Buffy answered, "Big, green glowing spiders."

Willow shivered at this description. She didn't like normal spiders, and glowing ones would be just too much. Looking up from the book she'd been studying she said, "I can't find any reference to them in here."

"You said they went after Dawn?" Tara asked Buffy.

"It seemed that way. After the first one jumped me they pretty much ignored me."

"Could it be because she's the key?"

"It could be. I think till we know for sure we're going to have to keep an eye on Dawn."

"I don't need anyone to keep an eye on me." Dawn protested.

"If these things are going after you for whatever reason then yes you do." Buffy told her firmly.

"So we've got a giant demon, Drusilla, a monster that looks like Willow and a bunch of giant spiders." Anya summarised, counting them off on her fingers, "I think we're in trouble."

"It's nothing we can't handle." Xander told her, "I mean it's not as if we're fighting a goddess or anything." He looked around at the group, with a worried expression, "We're not are we?" He looked relieved when Buffy shook her head.

"So what's the plan?" Willow asked.

"I think the first step is to try to figure out exactly what it is we're fighting. Also it might be a good idea to keep an eye on that mansion."

"Oh." Willow suddenly said, "We can use all those camera's we got from, um, you know."

Wanting to cover up the awkward pause following Willow's comment Xander said, "Right, covert surveillance, I like the sound of that."

"Okay." Buffy agreed, "How long till it's all ready?"

"I should have it set up by tomorrow evening."


***


Tara and Anya were the only people in the shop when Anya noticed the pot of Mugwort was empty.

"I'll get some." Tara offered. She went downstairs to the store room to look for it. While she was going through the containers she heard a sound like someone talking to her. "Who's there?" Tara asked.

"It's your fault." The voice said, more clearly.

"Who's there?" Tara asked again, looking round.

"If you'd stayed dead like a good little witch then none of this would be happening." The voice went on.

While it had been saying this Tara had been slowly getting some of a herb out of a container. She threw the herb in the air while shouting, "Reveal." Nothing happened. Tara waited a moment but the voice didn't say anything further. Quickly grabbing the Mugwort Tara went back upstairs.

***


"Hi there." Clem said to Spike as the vampire let him in.

"You seem to be spending all your time here." Spike pointed out.

"Oh yeah well I thought that you might want some company."

"Well just try to be quiet, Passions is coming on." Spike went to sit down in front of the television.

"I brought some blood." Clem held up a bag.

"Well I guess that'll come in handy."

Clem put the blood in the fridge then went over to sit next to Spike. After they'd been watching for half an hour Clem said, "I've been thinking, maybe I could go and speak to Buffy for you."

"And why would you want to do that?" Spike asked, not taking his eyes off of the television.

"Well I understand how you don't want Buffy to think that you're pushing her, so I thought that if I spoke to her then she wouldn't."

"You really can be a bloody idiot at times." Spike said, finally turning to Clem, "That's got nothing to do with it."

"Then why not just talk to her?"

"Why? Because I don't deserve her. Look at me." Spike suddenly took on his vampire face, "I'm just a monster."

"But with a soul." Clem pointed out, backing away a little. It always made him nervous when Spike took on his vampire face.

"But still a monster." Spike said returning to his normal visage. "Which means that I'll never be able to deserve her. Even Angel could work that one out."

"Oh." Clem said, trying to come up with an argument to that.

"Look just promise me you won't talk to Buffy." Spike said turning back to the television.

"Um."

"Clem."

"Okay. I promise I won't not talk to Buffy."

"Good." Spike said, not having paid any attention to what Clem had said.


***


Tara was sitting on a swing in the middle of a large field. There were various trees surrounding her, and she could hear a river a short distance off. Tara tried to remember how she'd gotten there, the last thing she could remember was being in Willow's room talking to her, then things went fuzzy. Putting it out of her mind Tara looked round the field, there were flowers dotted round it and it seemed very nice, actually it struck Tara as being almost too perfect.

"Are you going to sit there all day?" A voice asked. Then, suddenly, a young woman appeared. She seemed vaguely familiar to Tara, though she couldn't remember where she'd seen her.

"Who are you?"

"That's not important. What is though, is, do you know where you are?"

Tara thought about it a moment then said, "The Summer Land." The woman just nodded, "Then I'm dead." Tara surmised.

"Most people don't survive being shot through the heart." The woman said, rather bluntly.

"Oh."

"I'm sure you know the drill. You reflect on your past lives and then decide what things you'd like to experience in your next life in order to evolve spiritually."

Tara frowned as she tried to figure something out. Finally she asked, "I don't remember ever having someone to help me any of the other times."

"Ah well that's because this is something of a special case."

"Special, how?" She wasn't sure that she liked the idea of being a special case.

"You see you're going to be given a choice that people don't normally get. You can either reincarnate in a new life, or if you want to you can return to your old life, as if nothing had happened." The strange woman hesitated a moment then added with a wry shrug, "Well, almost."

Tara thought about it a moment then said, "Before I could make that choice I'd need to know why I'm being singled out like this."

"Let's just say that in some of the battles that are to come you will prove to be very important."

"Oh." Was all Tara could say, She was starting to feel overwhelmed by all this. One moment she had been home planning on just spending a quiet day with Willow, the next she's dead and being told she has an important part to play in some future apocalypse.

The woman seemed to recognise her confusion and said in a soothing voice, "Don't worry, you can take as long as you want. Time doesn't work the same here as it does there."

As Tara thought about it she remembered a line from a film she'd seen recently, 'I'd rather be a ghost floating at your side seven days, and be together than enter heaven without you.' Wouldn't Tara likewise go through anything in order to have a chance of being with Willow again? "I'll do it." She answered.

"It won't be easy." The woman warned.

Tara looked the woman in the eye and said in a determined voice, "I'll do it."

***


"Wow." Xander said as Tara finished telling them what had happened.

"You can say that again." Buffy added.

"You see I told you she probably chose to come back." Anya pointed out, sounding rather pleased with herself.

"So do you remember anything after that." Dawn asked Tara.

"Not much." Tara admitted, "Though I do remember that it wasn't easy coming back here."

"Coming back never is." Buffy said quietly.

"So do you have any idea who that woman was?" Willow asked

"No. Though she did give me a message. Well two actually. One was for you Xander."

"Me?" Xander was rather shocked by this.

"She said," Tara tried to remember exactly how the woman had put it, "Alexander Harris if you don't hurry up and marry that Anya girl then I'm going to come down there and kick your butt."

"Your spiritual guide said that?"

"You see everyone thinks you should marry me." Anya pointed out.

"Also she had a message for you Buffy. She said tell Buffy to stop wearing black so much, it is so last season."

Everyone boggled at this. "You don't think it was..." Xander started.

"No, it couldn't have been." Buffy finished.

"What?" Tara asked.

"It's just this spirit guide woman." Willow said, "She sounds a lot like Cordelia."

"Well anyway we're all glad that you're back." Buffy said.

"Are you?" Tara asked, then seeing the hurt look in her friends face she quickly went on, "I mean if I hadn't come back then we wouldn't be in this situation."

"No but we'd be in another one that would be just as bad. Anyway having you back is worth it."

"Oh definitely." Willow agreed.

"Thanks." Tara said with a smile.

***


"So do you really think that was Cordelia that Tara met?" Anya asked Xander. They had gone back to his apartment that evening and were having dinner.

"I don't know. It sounded like her, but why would Cordelia be in the... What's it called again?"

"The Summer Land."

"Yeah, there." Xander took a mouthful then went on, "Buffy's going to try to get in touch with Angel to see if anything's happened."

"I wonder how he's going to react to Spike having a soul?" Anya mused.

"I don't know. It'll probably be a shock. Though maybe Buffy won't tell him."

They both concentrated on eating for a while then Anya said, "Have you thought about what Cordelia, or whoever it was, said?"

"I haven't been able to think about much else." Xander admitted, "The thing is, the reason I don't think it's time to marry is..."

"You're afraid you'll turn into your father." Anya finished for him.

"Yeah, something like that. If you'd seen what I had then..." Xander shuddered. What he had seen of himself as an old man still disturbed him.

"I have." Anya interrupted, "After I became a vengeance demon, I was able to see the vision you saw. I have to say that if I thought that you'd turn out like that then I wouldn't want to marry either."

"But you do want to marry me." Xander said, not certain where this was leading.

"Because I don't think that you will turn out like that. I mean when your dad was your age did he spend his time fighting demons and other monsters?"

"No, he spent most his time drinking."

"You see? You're a totally different person from him. There's no way you'll turn out like that."

"I wish I could be so sure of that. But until I am sure that I'll become the sort of man that you deserve then I wouldn't feel right marrying you."

"Well that is kind of sweet." Anya conceded, "But it's also very frustrating."

***


Beth hesitated a moment at the door to the Magic Box. It had been going on two years since she was last here but she could still remember how the people here had been very rude and more than a little intimidating. Still ever since she'd heard about her cousins death Beth had wanted to come here to see her grave. Especially since Neither Tara's father or brother had been willing to. Taking a breath to calm herself Beth went into the shop. She then stopped in a stunned silence upon seeing the figure sitting quietly reading a short distance away. Noticing her Tara stood up saying, "Beth what are..."

Suddenly able to talk again Beth raised her arm while shouting, "Demon!" She then fainted.

TBC

[justin]

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.
Distribution: Anyone can take it, just let me know
Feedback: I live off feedback, if I don't get any then I'll starve and die
Summary: The Scooby gang must deal with the creature which was summoned in the last story
Note 1: It'll be a while before Willow and Tara get back together, but don't worry they do
Note 2: If the story seems familiar, then tha's because it was origionally posted on the Wiccan Ways
Cliffhanger warning: This part ends with another cliffhanger

The Rapture
Part 3


Buffy was working out with the punching bag when she heard someone in the shop front shout out, "Demon." Followed by a thudding sound. She ran out expecting to find the shop under attack but instead found Tara standing over an unconscious woman, who looked a lot like her cousin.

"What's going on?" Buffy asked.

"It's Beth," Tara answered, indicating the unconscious girl.

Buffy walked over to join Tara, all the while watching Beth suspiciously as though she expected her to jump at any moment and attack them, "What's she doing here?"

"I don't know, she called me a demon and fainted."

Buffy and Tara picked Beth up and moved her onto a seat. "She's not still going on about that demon thing is she?"

Tara shrugged, "Well I can understand her mistake. If she thought that I was dead."

"Then seeing you alive would be quite a shock. Okay I guess I get it as well." Buffy looked at Beth a moment then asked, "So what are we going to do with her?"

"I think there are some smelling salts behind the counter."

As Tara went to get them Buffy looked around quizzically then asked, "Where's Anya?"

"She said she had to pop out for a while." Tara grabbed a bottle and brought it over then moved back a bit as Buffy opened it and held it under Beth's nose until she woke up with a gasp. "Are you okay?" Buffy asked.

"Yes... thanks," Beth answered giving Buffy a small but confused smile as she tried to recall where she'd seen the blonde that was leaning over her before. Slowly frowning Beth realised exactly where she had seen the woman before, in this magic shop standing sentinel over Tara while threatening her family. Quietly and nervously Beth began, "I, I must be tired... after the drive here, I was sure I saw Tara when I came in."

"Um, you did," Buffy said, wondering the best way to explain this.

Tara stepped forward and raised a hand, nervously - not sure how Beth would react, "Hi."

Beth gave her a disdainful look, "So your father was right, you are a demon."

"No!" Tara said, "You see, what happened was, the thing is..."

"It was a mistake," Buffy cut in, "Tara wasn't actually dead she was..."

"In a coma," Tara supplied, "After being shot I was in a coma for a while. I guess the hospital must have gotten me mixed up with another patient."

"Yeah." Catching Tara's eye Buffy gave her a slight nod of agreement, "I'm sorry we didn't think to get in touch. I'm sure you're all very upset when you got the news." Buffy tried very hard to not sound sarcastic when saying the last part and, to her credit, she just about succeeded. Tara gazed at Beth a moment, trying to understand what she was feeling. The fact that Beth had come all this way made Tara hopeful that they might be able to reconciliate. However at the moment Beth just seemed to be nervous of Buffy.

"Buffy can I have a moment with Beth?" Tara asked, realising that she'd only be able to get Beth to open up if she spoke to her alone.

"Sure." Buffy shrugged before heading back to the training room.

"So were Dad and Donnie upset? I should have thought to get in touch."

"Of course they weren't."

"Oh." Tara was surprised to find that she was hurt by this news. She had thought that she had come to terms with the rift between her and her relatives.

"Well what did you expect?" Beth gave Tara a hard look. "It was you who wanted to cut yourself off from your family."

"I didn't want to cut myself off from them. I just didn't see why I should be controlled by them." Tara responded flustered over the need to explain her actions.

"Perhaps because that's your place." Beth sounded as though she thought that this should be obvious.

"Maybe you should leave," Tara suggested, there was a time when she would have accepted barbs like that, but not now. It had been proven to Tara time and again that her place was here.

"I guess that I should. There's no reason for me to stay."

As Beth stood up Tara felt that she ought to say something to lessen the tension that had developed between them, "I appreciate your coming. I mean, you didn't have to."

"Well whatever I might think about you or your behaviour, you are still my cousin." Beth sighed sadly reaching for the door only to step back in fright when a creature clearly not human with wrinkly skin and floppy ears came in. "Eep." Beth cried out almost fainting again.

"Hi Tara, is Buffy about?" Clem asked cheerily.

"She's in the training room."

As Clem went to the back Beth turned to Tara and asked, "I suppose that you're going to tell me that that wasn't a demon?"

"Oh, that was just Clem."

"Well, I'll be glad to be away from this town and its Clems." Beth shook her head, suddenly wishing that she hadn't come.

***


"Hi Buffy."

"Hi Clem." Buffy kicked the dummy a couple more times then turned to Clem, Buffy was surprised to see him here alone, since she normally only saw him with Spike.

"I came to talk to you about Spike."

"Right." Buffy had been wondering when Spike would start trying to get her to see him again. Though she had expected him to come himself. "Did he send you?"

"No, actually he made me promise not to come." Clem answered a little shyly.

"So why did you?"

"You should see him at the moment. All he seems to do is mope around his crypt complaining about how he isn't worthy of your love."

"And he couldn't have figured that out before getting a soul."

"He only thinks it because he has a soul."

"Oh." Buffy laughed, "This is so like Spike. He goes to get his soul back to make me love him, then that's the very thing that stops him from coming after me."

"Well I thought maybe you could talk to him."

"I'm still not sure how I feel about Spike."

"Well then if you talk to him it might help you work it out."

Buffy sighed. Clem was right, she was going to have to get this sorted out. She couldn't go on with it hanging over her head. "Alright then I'll talk to him."

***



As Clem left Buffy climbed up on a block to practice her balancing. She'd just lifted her body up so she was supporting herself with both hands when a voice asked, "Was that Clem I saw leaving?" Falling to the floor with a thump Buffy looked up to see Willow framed in the doorway holding a bulky bag. She gave Willow an annoyed look, which Willow responded to with a sheepish smile. "So what did he want?"

Buffy picked herself up and gave the block an equally if not more menacing look of annoyance. She was going to have to give up on that exercise since whenever she tried it she always ended up sprawled on the floor because someone had spoiled her concentration. Turning her attention back to Willow Buffy answered, "Nothing important." She walked over to look in the bag asking, "Are those the cameras?"

"Yeah, you just need to put these around the house and then we'll be able to see what they're doing."

"Well it'll be nice to be able to keep an eye on the big bad for a change."

Willow pulled out one of the cameras and pointed at a button on the side saying, "You just need to push this to turn them on. They're solar powered so you need to put the solar panels somewhere in the sun but where they won't be seen." Then off of Buffy's look she added, "But I guess you could have figured that out."

Buffy took the bag, "Don't worry I'll manage."

"Well I should probably get back, get everything ready."

"Tara's in the front. She's being research gal. She seems to be doing that a lot at the moment, she hardly seems to take her head out of a book nowadays."

Willow stopped, giving the door an unhappy look, "Oh."

"What's up?"

"Well if Tara's spending a lot of time researching it's probably because she's feeling insecure and needs to prove to herself that she's useful."

"Because she thinks this is all her fault."

Willow nodded.

"I thought we went over that." Buffy sighed, "Maybe someone should talk to her."

"Yeah, that'd be a good idea." Then, when she realised who Buffy meant, she blushed a little and added, "I'll do it right now."

"I'll get these camera's set up."

Willow stopped at the door and turning back said, "Buffy, be careful."

"I always am."

***


Willow found Tara almost buried under a pile of books. "Hey, any luck?"

Tara turned to Willow, "I've found a reference that might be helpful."

"Buffy says that you've been making with the research quite a lot."

"I just want to be useful."

"We've been over this, you are useful, essential even." Willow wanted to put her arms round Tara but resisted the urge knowing that Tara wasn't ready for that yet and it would probably push her away, instead she sat down near Tara and went on, "Besides I think it's more than that. I think you're still blaming yourself for all this. Which is silly." Tara just looked down at the table, not sure what to say. "We've been over this as well and we're all glad you're back, whatever else might be going on."

Tara looked up into Willow's eyes and said, "I know but..." Tara paused a moment, "I'm just going to feel a lot happier when we deal with this threat."

"Okay then. I'm going to head back and get the camera's set up."

"I just want to check out this lead, then I'll join you."

***


After Willow left Tara thought about why she was finding it so hard to forgive her. She wanted to make up with Willow but there was something holding her back. She had been able to before but that had been before Willow's relapse. Tara wondered if this was fair given the circumstances that had caused it. She wondered how she would have reacted if the situation had been reversed and it had been Willow who had died in her arms. Tara tried to picture herself using dark magic to get revenge but she couldn't do it. A part of her asked if it was fair to remain angry at Willow just because Willow obviously cared about her more than she cared about Willow. Still considering this, Tara got up and began putting the books away.

***



Buffy was able to set up the camera's without incident. She put one of them overlooking the front and a couple at the back of the house. With this done Buffy decided that she'd see Spike before going home. As Buffy opened up the door to Spike's crypt she found him punching the mannequin that he kept while shouting, "Stupid bitch, stupid bitch." Buffy was about to leave when Spike suddenly stopped and turning said, "You have a very distinctive smell. A mixture of fryer fat and graveyard dirt."

"Can we not go there?" Buffy asked, "So what's up?"

"I just needed to vent a bit."

Buffy picked up the head which had fallen off the mannequin and said, "My hair isn't this colour."

"What? No! It isn't supposed to be you."

"Then who?" Buffy handed the head to Spike who secured it back in place.

"Drusilla of course. It's all her fault."

"What is?"

"Everything. After all she's the one who turned me into a monster. Making sure that you could never love me."

"If it hadn't been for Drusilla we wouldn't even have met." Buffy couldn't help pointing out.

"Which would have been better than feeling like this." Spike composed himself a bit then asked, "So what brings you here? Need help with the new big bad?"

"Actually Clem asked me to come around."

"He promised he wouldn't talk to you. I should have known better than to trust him."

"Yeah well he is a demon." Buffy sat down on the edge of Spikes crypt. "He said you've got this notion that you're not worthy of my love."

"You said it yourself, I'm beneath you." Spike studied Buffy a moment, "Or are you here to tell me I'm wrong and you've fallen madly in love with me?"

"Spike, I..." Buffy didn't know how to continue.

"I thought as much."

"Perhaps if you'd had your soul when I met you then I could have fallen in love with you. As it is too much has happened between us for it to be possible."

"I see."

"Spike I..."

"Just go." Spike turned his back on Buffy who got up and quietly left.

***


When Dawn got home from school she found Willow busy setting up her laptop. "Hey, Willow. Whatcha doing?"

"Hi. I'm just about to test the camera's we set up."

"Cool." Dawn frowned then added, "Just so long as we don't have to see Anya and Spike, you know."

"Hopefully that won't happen." Willow agreed with a shudder, it wasn't something that she particularly wanted to see again. Actually if she hadn't given up magic she probably would have used the Tabula Rasa spell on her self in order to forget about the first time. She ran a program and an image of the mansion appeared.

After a few minutes of nothing happening Dawn said, "Well this is interesting. Are we going to have to watch it all day?"

"Oh no. I'll set it up to record any movement."

"Right well I'll leave you to it."

"Before you go, I've got the references for your project." Willow went into her bag and got out a set of papers.

"Thanks, this'll help a lot."

"Glad to be of help."

"I'm sorry that getting this stuff got you into trouble with Buffy."

"It wasn't getting this that got me in trouble, it was the latest big bad deciding to look like me that did it."

"Well I better get started." Dawn grabbed the papers and left.

Willow went back to testing all the camera's that Buffy had set up. She found that one of them had fallen over and was just showing a small patch of ground and made a mental note to tell Buffy about this, though she wasn't sure that one camera mattered that much. Willow jumped slightly as a shadow fell across her, turning she found Tara standing a short distance away. Tara smiled slightly then said "You were really caught up in your work. What are you doing?"

"Just setting up the cameras." When Tara got close to her Willow felt herself involuntarily backing up.

"Is something wrong?" Tara asked.

"Of course not," Willow answered, but she had the feeling that there was something wrong she just couldn't work out what it was. Then as Tara moved to look over her shoulder, Willow realised what it was. Backing up she said, "You're not Tara."

"Of course not. Tara's dead," The thing said, "She was shot."

"She came back." Willow tried to work out how long this thing had been pretending to be Tara. She hadn't had this feeling of something being wrong when she had spoken to her at the Magic Box so she guessed this was the first time.

"No I did." The Tara thing laughed. It was rather disconcerting just how much this thing looked and sounded like Tara. "You were so easy to trick."

"This is really low," Willow said. The Tara thing looked at her curiously. "I know what's going on. You're some sort of shape shifter. That's why Buffy saw you as me and why Spike thought that you were Drusilla." All the inconsistencies were starting to make sense to Willow now.

"My, you're not as stupid as you look. Though you're wrong. I'm not a shape shifter, people just perceive me differently depending on what they want to see. Or should I say, what they don't." They were interrupted by foot steps coming downstairs. The thing smiled at this and said, "I wonder what Dawn will see."

***


As Dawn came into the living room she said, "Willow I think a page is..." She stopped when she saw who Willow was talking to, "Mom." A part of her wanted to believe that what she was seeing was true. After all if Tara had been able to come back, why couldn't her mother.

"Hello dear," Joyce said as she turned to Dawn, a kind smile on her face.

"Dawn get out of here," Willow shouted, before surprising Dawn by throwing herself at Joyce. Dawn was even more surprised when Joyce slapped Willow across the face. Joyce then pinned Willow to the ground and placed her hand on Willow's chest. A moment later A ball of light began to rise out of Willow's chest. Dashing forward Dawn shoved her mother off of Willow and the ball of light fell back into her.

***


Tara was walking up the drive to their home when she heard a crashing sound from inside. Running to the door she threw it open surprised to see Willow attacking Dawn. "Willow what are you..." She stopped when, getting further inside, she saw a second Willow lying unconscious on the floor. Seeing her the first Willow gave a growl of annoyance, then, shoving past her, ran out of the house. Tara thought for a moment about chasing it, but seeing Willow again decided against it. She ran over to Willow and checked for a pulse.

"Is she?" Dawn asked as she picked herself up.

"She's alive, but only just." Tara went to call for an ambulance. As she picked up the receiver her hand was shaking so much that she almost dropped it again.

Just about able to hear Tara speaking on the phone Dawn sat down and tried to work out what had happened. Though all she could think about was how this was just like when she had found Tara lying dead. Dawn prayed that the ambulance would arrive quickly and that they'd be able to help, since she didn't think she could stand going through losing another friend after such a short space of time.

***


When Buffy and Xander got to the hospital they quickly found Dawn. "Where's Tara?" Buffy asked her.

"She's talking to a doctor."

"What happened?" Xander asked

"It was mom."

"What?"

"Or at least it looked like mom," Dawn went on, "But Tara said she thought it looked like Willow."

"So different people see it differently," Xander guessed.

Dawn nodded then went on, "It put its hand on Willow and seemed to be pulling something out of her."

"So that's how it killed those cultists," Buffy reasoned.

"And what it was trying to do to you," Xander added.

"But it didn't work." Seeing Tara approach Buffy asked her, "What did the doctors say?"

"They said there doesn't seem to be any physical reason for Willow to be unconscious. They have no idea when she'll wake up." It was obvious that Tara was only just managing to keep herself from crying.

"I'm so sorry," Buffy said walking up and hugging Tara.

"Thanks," Tara said. After a moment she continued, "The doctors said we can see Willow."

While they were going to the right ward Xander asked Buffy, "Did you manage to speak to Angel?"

"No, I called the hotel a few times but I couldn't get hold of anyone. Anyway we have more important things to worry about."

"Yeah, I suppose we do."


TBC