TITLE: Future Shock
AUTHOR: Kirk Baldridge
E-MAIL: KirkBwriter@juno.com
FEEDBACK: Yes, please. The more the better.
DISTRIBUTION: You want it? Take it. Just let me know where it is.
SPOILERS: Quite a bit of the CUR first season, so be careful if you
haven't read any.
CONTENT: W/T (of course)
RATING: R (for violence, more than sexuality)
DISCLAIMER: I do not own Willow, Tara, etc..., that's Whedon's dumb
luck,
but the Nexus and the roses are the sole property of the people of CUR.
SUMMARY: Hoping to stop a dark future from happening, Willow risks time
travel.
NOTE: This is basically a work of FF, not an official part of the CUR
storyline, but it nonetheless takes place some time prior to the first
season finale. It will also be a little darker than most of the stories
I
have written, including my other COMING UP ROSES stories.
There are things that await just outside the walls of this world.
And they lust.
And they hunger.
And they yearn for what we have.
But there are also others who stand between us and them. Who give up
some
of what is human about themselves to protect that which is human in us.
Some volunteer.
Some understand and would do nothing else.
Some do it for revenge, and others for expiation.
And some are chosen, not even given the chance to say no.
LONDON, ENGLAND
2016 AD
6:42 pm
It's hard to believe this shattered, smoldering mess was once such a
grand, beautiful city. With buildings and trees and lots of people, all
of them going about their daily lives blissfully unaware of the dark
forces seething in the shadows around them.
Now it's all gone.
The buildings are in ruins, most of the people dead or in hiding,
and
I can't even remember the last time I saw a real tree. On the plus
side,
if there is one, the fires have died out.
Maybe I should introduce myself.
My name, not that it really matters anymore, is Willow. Willow
Rosenberg.
And I'm the one who destroyed the world.
Well, not the whole world. Not yet, anyway. I assume they will leave
what's left of England sooner or later, if and when they get bored
here,
but for now they seem to be satisfied.
I used to be a Guardian you know. Not a very good one, obviously,
but
it was once my task to keep those dark forces I was talking about in
line. To watch over this mysterious mystical thing called the Nexus.
They
say it is a fallen angel, a force of pure good leaning toward evil.
How was I supposed to know the Nexus, the very thing I was sworn to
protect, would ultimately turn out to be the greatest threat of all?
It wasn't supposed to be this way. Goddess, that's such a stupid
thing
to say. Of course it wasn't. I mean, it was supposed to be the start of
some great adventure. The fulfillment of our destinies.
But I screwed up.
It's all my fault. I let her go. If I'd just been more
understanding,
if I'd listened to her, she wouldn't have left. I wouldn't be here
today.
The two of us would be together, and the Nexus would still be under
control. The world would be have to be a much better place.
Tara.
Goddess, I miss her. It's like a piece of my soul has been ripped
from
me. It's been so long since I held her. If I could just see her one
more
time, I could die happy. The way she used to be, I mean, and not...no.
I
can't allow myself to be distracted, not when I'm so close to undoing
it
all.
I know what I have to do.
Willow Rosenberg lowered the digital camera and sighed.
It had taken a lot of preparation, but everything was almost ready.
The alignment of the planets was finally at hand, and she had all the
ingredients she needed. The only thing left for her to do, was to
figure
out exactly how to do what she needed to do.
The years had not been kind to the once vibrant redhead. She had a
sad, tired face, worn and lined, and she had streaks of gray in her
short-cropped hair. A jagged scar down the left side had come within
inches of taking her eye, and when she moved it was with a noticeable
limp.
"Hey, Red!"
The tired, cloak-wearing witch slowly turned to see two vampires
coming up the hill toward her. She'd picked this particular
outcropping,
overlooking what remained of the city, because she hoped it would give
her enough privacy. Clearly, she had been mistaken.
Both of the vampires, one male and one female, looked somewhat
gaunt.
As if they had not fed in quite some time. Which was probably true,
since
it was pretty rare to find a living human above ground these days. Most
of them had to feed on what few animals remained.
"Come on over here Red," said the male. "I'll make it quick. I
promise."
"I don't have time for this. Or you." Willow held up her hand,
pointing it at the male. "Burn!"
The wide-eyed vampire shrieked as suddenly burst into flames.
"I didn't need him," said Willow. She smiled at the female. "But
there
be something you can do for me. I'll even make you a deal. Afterwards,
you can go free."
The vampire glanced nervously as the smoldering ashes of her
partner.
She licked her lips. "W-Who do I have to kill?"
Willow crossed her arms. "It's funny you should ask that."
*****
Once everything was prepared, Willow motioned the vampire woman
over.
She had drawn a series of arcane symbols on the ground, with powder,
and dotted the area with a number of candles and small crystals. The
redhead was down on her knees in the middle of it all, clutching a
large,
golden amulet in her hands.
Willow took a deep breath as the vampire, whose name she'd learned
was
Ina, slid up behind her and clutched her shoulders. As Ina leaned in
and
nuzzled her neck, the redhead began whispering the words of the spell
she'd spent years searching for. She winced as Ina's fangs sunk into
her
flesh.
It was all going according to plan, albeit one Willow had modified
slightly once the vampires came into the picture. The spell was
completed
just as the last of her lifes-blood was being drained away, and her
eyes
rolled back in her head. She lost her grip on the amulet.
It slid out of her cold, lifeless hand, hit the ground, and
shattered.
There was an overwhelming surge of white light which washed over them
both...
...and when it faded, everything was different.
Willow Rosenberg awoke, as if from a troubled sleep, to find herself
on her hands and knees in the middle of some dark, dank alley. There
was
no sign of Ina, the vampire who had bitten her, and when she put a hand
to her neck she could find no trace of the bite itself.
"Goddess!" The redhead sat up, groaning, and then put her head in
her
hands. "I didn't know it was going to hurt so much." It had felt as if
her body had been turned inside out, set on fire and then put back
together again. "But at least it worked." She looked around. "I hope."
One thing was for sure--she wasn't in her own time. There were
buildings, whole ones, all around her, and the air was not filled with
the acrid smell of burning wood and rotting flesh. In her world,
vampires
and demons did not skulk in the shadows, they walked freely. The
surface
world belonged to them, as it had in centuries past. In the rare event
a
human was discovered above-ground they would likely be tortured and
abused for days, perhaps weeks, before they were finally killed. Or
turned.
With effort, Willow managed to get to her feet. Her knees felt like
jelly, but she was able to grab the wall for support. Her stomach was
doing cartwheels, as if she was going to throw up and pass out at the
same time, but she took a deep breath and composed herself.
"I have to figure out when I am." Willow staggered toward the mouth
of
the alley. "Did I go back far enough to make a difference, or is it all
going to happen again?"
*****
This wasn't her world, that much was certain.
Willow could hardly believe how different it all was. Everything was
so clean and quiet.
She remembered it being like that once, but it was so long ago she
had
begun to think it was all a dream. Now that she was confronted with
good
life used to be, it made her heart ache to look around and see just how
much she had really lost. It brought years to her eyes.
The redhead wandered for some time, marveling at the way people were
walking up and down the streets as if they didn't have a care in the
world. In her world, her time, the few humans left made their homes in
the sewers and other substructures beneath the city. None but the
bravest
or most foolish of souls, dared venture up to the surface any longer,
lest they be found by one of monsters.
"Goddess. It's like paradise." Of course, she knew everything was
not
as peaceful as it seemed, even here. The shadows were filled with
monsters who preyed on humans. The same monsters who would one day rise
to lay a renewed claim to the world they had once owned. "These poor
fools."
None one paid Willow any heed, despite the fact her hooded cloak and
strange clothing made her stick out. If they noticed, they gave no
sign.
She liked it that way. In the last few years leading up to her search
for
the spell to transport herself through time, she had grown to like her
isolation. What little magick she had left generally proved enough to
keep a stray monster or two away, and any foolish enough to try often
ended up like the vamp on the hillside. She shook her head.
Willow walked around a corner, and found a shop selling newspapers.
That was what she was looking for. She slid into the store and glanced
down at the headline. "October twenty ninth...two thousand and six?!"
It
came out a little louder than she intended, but a quick look around
told
her no one in the store appeared to notice. "Damn it! This is the right
year, but I wanted to be back earlier. I wanted to have more time." Her
mind drifted back for a moment. "It all starts tomorrow. I'll have to
be
ready."
*****
"Tara, stop! Please!"
The blond did stop, but she didn't turn around.
"Willow, no. I don't want to do this right now, okay?"
"But Tara, I..."
The blond shook her head.
"We've been through this before. You know how I feel about it."
"I just, I don't understand why you're being this way. We have the
power. Why don't we use it?"
"We're the Guardians, Willow. Don't you get that?"
"But if we just stand around and wait for bad things to happen so we
can come in and pick up the pieces, what good dare we? Why don't we get
proactive?"
Tara sighed. "Will, just because we have the power, doesn't mean we
have to use it that way. I don't think you realize the sort of forces
we're dealing with here. The Nexus is a primordial entity. Not some
magickal Energizer Bunny to be harnessed. We have to be responsible
with
our power." She turned, and looked her lover in the eye. "You, better
than anyone, should understand that."
Willow, from the future, had played the scene over and over a
million
times in her head.
It was a stupid argument, stemming from her agreeing with Sennen's
suggestion that they use the powers they possessed to seek out and
destroy their enemies. Like the Coven. Tara was so stunned she would
even
consider such a thing, and stormed out of the museum.
That was the last time Willow ever saw her beloved alive.
But the redhead was bound and determined not to let it happen again.
She decided trying to stop the fight itself would be more difficult,
especially without them seeing her, and besides cathartically it was
good
for all couples to argue from time to time. It gave them a chance to
air
out any complaints and differences they might have, and more often than
not led to some rather athletic makeup sex.
Instead, she decided it would be better, and safer, if she simply
prevented what she knew was going to happen to Tara after she left the
safety of the museum.
*****
"Tara? Baby? Who did this to you?"
The vampiric face of her beloved sneered back at the redhead.
"Does it matter?"
Willow shook her head. "I'll help you."
"Not likely. Besides, I wouldn't want it, even if you could." Tara
spread her arms. "You have no idea how liberating this is. All the
power...it's exhilarating!"
"Tara, please!"
The vampire snarled and lunged at the redhead, who screamed.
Willow, again the future one, was waiting in an alley across from
the
museum.
It was the following morning, and she knew the fight would be
starting
soon. It happened shortly after Sennen took off, and she had just seen
the Slayer-in-training leave.
"It won't be long now."
And it wasn't.
Just a few minutes later Tara came stomping out of the museum and
Willow followed--a safe distance behind so as not to draw attention to
herself.
The redhead watched with growing concern as Tara wandered for most
of
the day, aimlessly going from place to place in the city with no
apparent
destination in mind. Every so often she come across something; a song,
or
a work of art, that in some way reminded her of Willow, after which she
would usually break down and cry. She wanted so desperately to go to
her
beloved; to hold her and kiss her and promise her everything would be
okay, but under the circumstances that was, obviously, impossible.
That evening, Willow stood with her hood around her head and watched
through the window of a restaurant as Tara sat down for dinner. She did
little more than pick at her food, however, and instead spent almost
the
entire time staring at the roses in a vase on her table. The blond once
again had to fight back the onrush of tears, and a few minutes later
emerged from the restroom and headed for the cashier.
Sadly, Willow didn't know the specifics of the attack. But the
transformed Tara had once told her it happened the evening of their
argument, though it would be several long, agonizing days before her
past
self saw her love again. By then Tara had already committed the first
in
what would prove to an endless streak of pain and misery which
culminated
in the total corruption of the Nexus.
So when the redhead heard the scream from an alley across the
street,
she didn't hesitate. As long as Tara was safe, nothing else mattered.
She
found a vampire hunched over the trembling form of a young girl, on
whom
he had fortunately not yet begun to feed. The girl, understandably, had
passed out.
"Hey!" He raised his head, snarling at her. "Leave her alone!"
"Who's going to stop me?" the vampire asked. "You?"
Willow nodded. "As a matter of fact..." She held up her hand,
silently
conjuring a golf ball-sized sphere of the purest light imaginable.
"...yes."
"You a witch?" The vampire licked his lips. "It's been a long time
since I ate a witch."
"Idiot," Willow muttered.
The vampire laughed. "Here that, boys? She insulted me. What do you
think about that?"
Willow realized, too late, they were not alone. Two more vampires
were
standing on a nearby fire escape, but as she noticed them they leaped
to
the alley floor and snarled.
That explained what happened to Tara in her past. Her beloved could
have handled one, maybe even two of the bloodsuckers, but three? Even
Buffy herself often had trouble with that many.
"So tell me little witch, do you really think you can handle all of
us?" The vampires laughed.
Willow raised the ball of light above her head, and closed her eyes
as
it began to glow brighter. Pure sunlight erupted from the globe and
filled the length of the alley for an instant. When it had passed, all
that remained of the was a few piles of smoldering ash. The redhead
dropped her arm and sighed.
"Yes, I do." Willow heard a moan, and saw that the girl the vampires
had attacked was beginning to stir. As she kneeled down and reached for
the girl she heard footsteps behind her. She inwardly cursed herself
for
being so careless as to use such a potent a spell with Tara nearby. To
such a sensitive as her beloved it was like sending a beacon. She
pulled
up her hood to cover her face.
"Get away from her!"
Willow closed her eyes for a moment, swearing under her breath.
Careful not to make any sudden moves she stood up, and pulled the hood
of
her cloak over her head to hide her face. At the same time she
maneuvered
her other hand down her throat and whispered a quick incantation,
intended to disguise her voice so it would not be recognized. Then she
turned to face Tara.
"What are you doing to her?"
"Nothing," the redhead replied in a deep, masculine voice. "I saved
her...from a vampire."
Tara bit her lip as she examined the hooded stranger, the apparent
victim, and the alley itself. She could sense the dwindling magick that
had been used, and after her years of experience was easily able to
recognize several smoldering piles of ash. Vampires certainly did
appear
to have been killed there, and from where she stood she saw the girl
seemed to be okay. After a few moments, she nodded.
"Okay."
Willow was just glad it was Tara who came across this scene, and not
her past self. She remembered what she was like at that age, and knew
she
would likely have come in throwing magick around, and if there was
anything left of her asking questions later. She nodded.
"I have to go now."
Tara held out her hand as the stranger started toward the mouth of
the
alley.
"Wait. Your aura...it seems so familiar. Have we met?"
Willow paused as she got a little too close and the sweet, wonderful
the scent of her lost lover made her heart beat just a little faster.
She
took a deep breath.
"I don't think so. Excuse me."
Tara watched the darkly-clad figure glide out of the alley, and then
went to check on the girl.
*****
Willow followed Tara as she escorted the brunette to a nearby hotel,
where she assumed the vamp's would-be victim was staying, and onward as
she headed for home.
Rounding the corner to the museum, they both saw Willow sitting on
the
ground out front. She had her knees drawn up to her chest and was
staring
at the ground. As she heard Tara's approach she raised her head,
revealing her eyes were swollen and red from crying.
When she saw the blond though, Willow's face lit up with a trademark
thousand watt smile and she scrambled to her feet. "Tara?" She lunged
forward and threw her arms around her lover. "Goddess, I missed you so
much! I was worried about you. Where have you been? Are you okay?"
"Will..." Tara put a finger to her lover's lips, silencing her, and
smiled. "Take it easy." She leaned in and gently kissed the redhead,
calming her further. "I'm sorry I worried you. Everything is fine. I
just
needed some time to think which, unfortunately, was interrupted by some
vampires."
The redhead's eyes widened. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. They attacked this girl in an alley, but before I could
get
there to help some mysterious hooded guy stepped in and got rid of
them."
"Did he say who he was?"
"No. But one thing's for sure, he was using some pretty potent
magick." Tara frowned. "In fact, if I didn't know better, I'd swear it
felt kind of like that Corona spell you came up with back in college.
You
remember, the one that was supposed to create artificial sunlight?"
Willow nodded. "I had to give up on it, because I couldn't figure
out
how to make it stable." She smiled. "I was so sure Anya was going to
kill
me after the sunburn I gave her."
"We're just lucky Spike wasn't around," said Tara. "I would've hated
to explain that one to Buffy."
"It's late," said Willow. "Come inside, and you can tell me
everything
that happened."
Arm in arm, the two witches entered the museum.
The other Willow peeked her head around the corner, a slight smile
growing on her tired face. She'd been too far away to actually hear
much
of the conversation, but it certainly appeared from where she was
standing that a reconciliation was in the works. But her work wasn't
quite over yet; she needed to know if what she had done in the past was
really going to dramatically alter her future, or whether she was
literally wasting time, and she was only able to think of one way.
*****
Willow waited what she hoped would be a sufficient amount of time,
then magicked open the back door of the museum and slipped inside. She
glanced longingly toward the stairs leading up to the bedroom, then
turned and started toward the door of the Centrum.
As she got there, a small black and white shape crawled out of the
shadows. Miss Kitty Fantastico meowed at Willow, then began rubbing
against the redhead's leg and purring. Willow reached down and picked
up
the cat, a smile on her face as she pet her.
"Hey. What are you doing down here?" She hadn't seen Miss Kitty in
years. The cat seemed to have the ability to get in and out of their
bedroom at will, more than often they found her wandering around the
museum, and in the days following Tara's return--after she was
changed--she ultimately disappeared. "You want to come? I have to see a
couple of old friends." She gestured toward the Centrum door, and it
swung open. "Let's just hope your other mommies don't come looking for
you."
Witch and cat passed through the eerie, nothingness of the
otherworldly Centrum, and soon found themselves in the awe-inspiring
presence of the roses. One black, one white--swirling in the middle of
a
shimmering pillar of pure mystical energy. It was an incredibly
beautiful
sight which made Willow's skin tingle, as it did each and every time
she
came into this...room was not exactly the right word, but she wasn't
sure
what else to call it. She was starting to smile when, without warning,
Miss Kitty arched her back and began to hiss and spit. She twisted her
way out of Willow's arms and went running out of the Centrum.
"What the hell was that all about?"
Willow blinked as a transparent, barely visible face appeared in the
surface of the rose pillar. It stretched out, slowly, and an entire
human
shape came behind it.
"I'm afraid it's my fault." The figure changed, becoming more
solid--though still mostly translucent--and was ultimately
recognizable.
"Animals aren't too fond of spirits, you see."
Willow took a step forward. "Millicent?"
A now deceased witch of great power, their predecessor to the mantle
of Guardianship, Millicent smiled. "Of course. I am one with the roses,
as are all of the Guardians before me. I have been selected, by the
Powers, as a spirit guide for the two of you. That is why I am here."
"So you must know why I'm here then?"
Millicent nodded. "Indeed."
"Are you going to try and stop me?"
"That is not my place," said Millicent. "I am only an advisor." She
sighed. "As such, I feel I should warn you of the potential
consequences
of traveling through time."
"What? You mean like how I had to give up my life to come here?"
Willow shook her head. "That was no great loss, believe me. The world I
come from, it's horrible, Millicent. The Nexus, it's no longer captive.
It walks the Earth, forever bonded to a woman I thought I knew better
than I knew myself. Tara's a vampire in my future, and she still has
all
her magick, so every time she used her dark power she corrupted the
Nexus
a little more to the side of evil. In time it escaped its prison, and
has
been loose on Earth ever since."
Millicent was understandably stunned by this revelation, the
spiritual
form she had taken for herself wavering somewhat. She turned and gazed
into the roses for a moment.
"All I want to know is, can they help me?" Willow asked. "Can the
roses show me the future? I have to know if anything I've done here
makes
a damn bit of difference."
"They can," Millicent replied, slowly turning to face the redhead.
"But even if your efforts prove successful, I fear you have seriously
underestimated the malleability of time. The end result might remain
the
same, even if the path taken to get to that point has been dramatically
altered."
"Meaning what?"
"That you may not have accomplished anything. Even if Tara was
saved,
it's entirely possible that the world of your origin is still a place
in
ruin. Only from some other force."
Willow nodded. "Well, it certainly can't be much worse than the one
I
left." She raised her hands to the roses, which began to swirl and
churn
faster and faster.
Not for the first time in recent memory, there was a tremendous
flash
of light...
*****
...and it left Willow standing in an all too familiar place.
"Oh, goddess." All the blood drained from her face, and she began to
shake her head. "No."
She once again found herself in the throne room of Buckingham
Palace,
which was the only building in all of England still standing in her
time.
Just as she remembered, the statues and tapestries and other
decorations
had long since been destroyed, except for the throne itself.
But she soon realized there was something different--which seemed so
hideously out of place in so elegant a room. Bodies, human and demon
alike, had been staked out on wooden poles along the walls and in front
of the various windows. Some were mostly skeletal, others decayed and
rotting, but a few still had color in their flesh and blood congealing
on
the floor underneath them. The smell was horrendous.
"W-Wha...what's going on? How did this happen?"
Unnoticed by Willow, a figure materialized behind her, sprawled
across
the throne. It was a woman with pale, porcelain smooth skin and
flame-red
hair, wearing a tight blue dress that was particularly low cut. As she
lifted her head and smiled, slightly, she revealed her eerie black
eyes.
"Don't you know?" Her voice had a strange, not-quite human depth to
it.
Willow turned, shocked to see herself, looking just as young as
ever.
Her own eyes grew wide. "Wait, do you see me?"
"Of course I do," the other redhead replied. "I'm not blind, you
know."
Willow shook her head. "This doesn't make any sense. The roses were
only supposed to show me the future. I didn't want them to actually
send
me to it."
"Oh, they didn't," replied the seated Willow. "Not exactly." She
held
up her hands, to display the black rose on one of her palms and the
white
one on the other. "I brought you here."
"You? Why?"
The seated Willow snapped her fingers, and the other one suddenly
found herself down on her knees in front of her, unable to move a
muscle.
After a moment, the younger-looking Willow leaned forward and reached
out
to stroke one of the younger's graying locks.
"Well, there is certainly no need to ask when you came from. Tell
me,
from how far ahead? It must have been quite a while for me to have
gotten
so...old."
Willow jerked her head away from her own hand. "Answer my question.
Why?"
"I don't think you quite understand the situation here. I'm in
charge
here, and I make the demands!" Willow put her hand on the other
Willow's
head. "But if you won't tell me, I'll suck it out of you!"
Down on her knees, the other Willow shuddered as her mind was opened
like the petals of a flower. She tried to fight but it was no use;
everything came out in a flood. Tears flowed as she was once again
confronted with a terrible series of sights and sounds...fires,
screams,
dead and dieing people. They both saw a fully-vamped Tara feeding on
Mel
and his girlfriend Jen, killing the former, enslaving the latter. It
was
as if they were there, when the vicious vampire-witch dragged the
beaten
and bloody Sennen to the museum, and forced a bound Willow to watch as
she made her into a vampire, then staked her.
When it was all over, both Willow's were slumped forward, out of
breath. One was crying, while the other did not seem particularly
bothered. In fact, she leaned back in the throne, and started to laugh
uproariously. It even got through to the other, who lifted her head and
cursed at her.
"You bitch! How could you make me go through all of that again?!"
The other Willow seemed to be a little taken aback. "You really
shouldn't call yourself names." She smiled. "I have to admit, it seems
like a wonderful place. Why ever would you leave it? No, let me guess."
She slid off the throne and began to slowly circle her other self. "No,
let me guess. For love, right? Such a wasted emotion. It's a fool's
game
you know. Love is an illusion. A voice on the wind, nothing more."
"You're wrong! I love Tara, as much now as I ever did!"
Willow's black eyes narrowed. "Now that's a name I haven't heard in
a
very long time. Tara Maclay. I believed, in my oh so foolish youth, she
was the missing piece my soul lacked. The key to my heart." She
sneered.
"But, I finally figured out the truth. She was nothing but an anchor,
weighing me down. To think, I had access to all this power..." The
redhead gestured, and everything around them disappeared--stranding the
throne and the chunk of the floor it and they were on, in a seemingly
endless black void. "...and I never knew it."
Willow, the other one, shook her head. "No! This can't be! I fixed
it!
I fixed everything! It should be better, or at least the same. How can
all of this have happened?"
"That's the tricky part about time travel." Willow crossed her arms.
"Anything you do, even the smallest thing, can have lasting
consequences
you never imagined. Whatever it is you changed may have saved Tara for
a
time, but in the end, I'd say she got exactly what was coming to her."
Willow looked herself in the eyes. She began to tremble. "What do
you
mean?"
The redhead leaned down and whispered in 'her' ear. "She's dead."
She
leaned back and chuckled. "I'd say going on eight years now. Happened
during a big battle with Lilith. Those fools in the Coven finally
managed
to bring her back to our reality, and you know what the first thing she
did is? She turned on them and drained them dry. I just laughed about
it
at first, she was taking care of my problems for me. But Tara, ever the
compassionate one, actually wanted to help them. Can you believe that?
Lilith swatted her down, as if she was nothing, and then she came after
me. I knew I could never beat the demon queen on my own, so I turned to
the roses. I called upon all the power they had." She shook her head.
"It
wasn't enough. I pulled in more and more, and every time I fell, the
more
magick flowed into me. I touched the Nexus itself, and we were both
found
longing. In the end, there was a bond between us, that even Lilith
herself could not break!"
Willow couldn't believe her ears. "Y-You just let Tara die? Without
even trying to help her?"
"Tara, Tara, Tara. Is that all you talk about?!" Willow gestured and
a
thick, metal band materialized across 'her' mouth. "Don't you
understand
what I'm telling you? Power! Absolute power!" Lightning erupted from
her
hands and scorched the ceiling. "I can do anything! No one who can
oppose
me! All of the fools..." Lights came on all over the room, illuminating
the corpses staked around the room, in various stages of discomposure.
"...who did try, and for the sake of anyone who might dare consider it
in
the future, needed to be taught the futility of their actions in this
matter." She smiled. "I saw to it...personally."
Willow shook her head, the metal band preventing her from speaking.
Seeing this, the other Willow tapped it, and it promptly disappeared.
"You're a monster!"
"Maybe," said the other Willow. "But consider this. I am a monster
of
your making! If you hadn't gone back, if you hadn't changed things the
way you did, I wouldn't be here."
Willow took a step back, shaking, and there was another tremendous
flash of light...
*****
...that faded, leaving Willow back where she had started; in the
Centrum.
Millicent was right where she'd left her, patiently waiting with her
hands clasped behind her back. She smiled as the redhead slowly turned
to
face her.
"How did everything go? Did you get the answers you seek?"
Willow nodded. "I think so. Millicent, did you see? What happened?"
"Of course. As I told you..."
"I know, I know. You are one with the roses. But she said the same
thing. The other me."
Millicent shook her head. "No, her bond was with the Nexus. The
roses
are not a part of the Nexus, they are a wholly separate entity.
Guideposts, if you like, to aid you and Tara in your journey. But, in
truth, the real power is within you. You and Tara both. You hearts beat
as one."
"Does that mean I can still save Tara, without my turning the whole
world to hell?"
"You have already saved her. The future...their future, is yet to
come. Whatever you saw, Willow, it is merely one of an infinite number
of
possible futures. There is no guarantee things will turn out that way
for
them. Nor will it necessarily become the dark place you fear so."
Millicent smiled. "Plus, now you have got the chance to make a whole
new
life for yourself in this world."
Willow shook her head. "Not really." She reached out and touched the
surface of the rose pillar; marveling at the icy tingles that shot up
and
down her arm. "You see, I'm dieing."
"What?"
"I'm dieing." Willow sighed. "The spell I used to come here, it
required the sacrifice of a human life. Where I come from there aren't
too many humans left, and I'm not sure I could have killed anyone even
if
I had managed to find one. So I did the only thing I could, to set the
magick in motion..."
Millicent nodded. "You gave up yourself."
"There was a vampire there, who was all too willing to help out,"
Willow replied. "I knew from the text, that it was possible to do the
spell that way, even though they warned against it. For obvious
reasons.
Apparently, they made allowances for an injured caster when the spell
was
written. It heals me, and keeps me alive...but only for the duration of
the spell, of course."
"After which, you simply stop?" asked Millicent. The redhead nodded.
"How long?"
"Twenty four hours."
"And how long have you been in this world?"
Willow quickly calculated it in her head. "Twenty three hours, fifty
nine minutes, and five seconds."
"I see you've been keeping track."
Willow nodded. "I knew I'd be racing against the clock. To get it
all
done before my time ran out." She looked around the Centrum and smiled.
"I made it. With time to spare." The redhead winced, her neck suddenly
feeling like someone had jammed a dagger right into it. She put her
hand
to it and her fingers came back with the blood seeping from two deep
puncture wounds. "Then again...."
"There is still time." Millicent held out her hand. "Come with me,
Willow."
"What? How?"
"I told you, I am one with the roses." The elder witch smiled. "You
can join me there."
Willow slowly, almost meekly, put her own hand into Millicent's. She
gasped, as she felt a jolt ripple through her entire body. In that
instant, she became as ephemeral as her predecessor.
"Goddess, the pain!" The redhead touched her neck, but the wounds
were
no longer there. "It's gone."
"You need not worry about such things any longer," said Millicent.
She
stroked Willow's hair. "Oh, how I have miss you, child. I'm so glad you
have joined us."
"Us?"
"The Guardians before you." Millicent gestured, and Willow realized
they were no longer in the Centrum, but standing on the surface of an
endless, swirling black and white sea. Other, equally spectral figures
glided by all around; women and men alike, and some inhuman-looking
ones
as well. All were at peace. "Where do you think the roses come from?
They're the life essence, the combined consciousness of almost every
Guardian who has ever lived in this world, save for the very first."
"Almost every Guardian?"
Millicent shrugged her spectral shoulders. "As their spirits leave
their corporeal form, each Guardian has the choice; to join the others
and provide council for the Guardians to come, or move on into
eternity.
A few have, over time, chosen the latter. In a way, I suppose I can
understand that decision."
"I just wish Tara could be here," said Willow. "Goddess, I miss
her."
"That, too, shall pass," Millicent replied. She put an arm around
the
redhead's shoulders. "Trust me."
*****
Upstairs, Tara Maclay was woken, from a sound sleep, by the distant
sound of someone calling her name. She sat up, her breath catching in
her
throat, and sweat glistening on her skin.
"Honey?" Willow Rosenberg sat up beside her, and yawned. "What's
wrong? Have a bad dream?"
"I-I think so. I'm not...the roses. Something was going on with the
roses."
Willow nodded. "I know how sensitive you are to them. You want to go
down and check?"
After a moment, Tara sighed. "I don't think so. No. Let's just go
back
to sleep."
Willow lay down and held out her arms. Tara nestled into them, and
they kissed. "You sure?"
"Positive," said Tara. "Good-night."
"Night." Willow's eyes fluttered closed, and she began to snore.
Tara rose up on her elbows, smiling, and just watched her lover
sleep.
THE END