•Title of the story: "Second Chances", Chapter 16 "The Offer"
• Author name: Pavlov'sBell a.k.a. Colton
• Email: colton625@live.com
• Feedback: If anyone wants to, feel free. I don't bite, and I'd really like to know what everybody thinks...
• Spoilers: Pretty much everything up until the end of Season 6
• Rating: PG-13 for now
• Pairing: W/T, B/A, X/A
• Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the series or any of the characters. They belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.
• Summary: AU S7/S7 Rewrite. After another averted apocalypse, the somewhat divided Scoobies find themselves forced to band together once more in order stop a foe that is still fresh in all of their minds. But what happens when that foe is part of their own?
• Notes: Goes AU right after Tara gets shot in "Seeing Red". Tara was still shot, but only wounded.
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Chapter 16
The walls within the Coven's castle were very different from how Tara remembered them to be. Where once there had been vague sense of welcoming and care, there was only anger, fear, and despair. Whatever Willow's doppelganger had done to the place, it hadn't been for the better. As she walked along with Willow clutching her arm as if her very life depended on it. Since they have evaded being discovered by Dark Willow, the two Wiccans had slowly made their way through the bowels of the castle, most traveling through passages that seemingly hadn't been used in a decades, if not centuries.
The very fact that Willow would have to once again merge with her dark doppelganger frightened the Wiccan. To have those Magicks back inside her once again, after all she had been through with the Coven's rituals, it all seemed so…unfair. After everything the girl had been through, didn't she at least deserve to have a chance to be happy? She had done so much to help Buffy prevent the apocalypses in the past, wasn't that worth anything in the grand scheme of things?
"Calm, so calm, Sunlight has Tara…" Humming the words underneath her breath, Willow smiled slightly, the gesture only adding the insanity of her speech.
"Come on, Willow, If I remember right, we're almost to the end of this floor." Making the girl's grip sink down to her hand, Tara forced herself to think about where she and the other girl were going. Since their arrival, it had been plain to see that the Castle had seemingly been rearranged to suit the property's new 'master's ' will. Where once the walls had been plain, easy to navigate, and had contained a certain warmth, there now only existed a harsh, uncaring, and evil cold. With each hallway they passed through, the two Wiccans were seemingly getting nowhere. And with each passing minute that snuck by, Tara felt more and more of her resolve beginning to fade. The constant threat of possibly having Willow's doppelganger attack them loomed over every individual motion they made. One fact remained clear throughout their trek.
They had to get out of the castle.
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"So, this is how you're using your Power? Toying with them like mice?" Walking towards the doppelganger, the First continued to use its assumed form of Amy, the imitation nearly perfect. "I'd prefer rats, but that kinda comes from personal experience."
"Seems like a fun way to pass the time. Their little friends in Sunnydale won't be able to do anything." Casting her completely black eyes at the entity, Dark Willow smiled. "Besides, have you ever watched two Witches in a maze? It's actually quite entertaining."
"You're beginning to sound like her."
"You mean poor, little baby Willow? You could say that. It comes with the body I guess." Running hand along her pitch black hair, the doppelganger rolled her eyes. "You're one to talk about sounding like someone."
"Alright, point taken." Turning its attention so that she could look at the portal that lay in front of where the Dark Witch was standing, the First smiled at the way the center of Magick could reveal the very emotions and lines on each of the girls' faces. "I'll admit that this does seem a little better than anything on TV at the moment."
"You know, you've got all of this power, and you still don't use any of it."
"What do you mean?" Turning around as it heard the Dark Witch's sentence, the First's eyes grew wide as the doppelganger actually managed to touch it. Looking down at the hand touching it, the entity felt the rest of its body become solid as a wave of Dark Magick flooded it.
"I mean that I'm kinda enjoying all the power I have now, and you've got some you're just sitting on. So whatcha say? Let me borrow some?"
"How are you-" The First started before it felt all the words in its mind fade away as the doppelganger rolled its eyes and sent another storm of Magick out into the entity's body.
"Dark Magicks. They're really a bitch when you have enough of them in your body." Pressing her hand deeper into the entity's chest, Dark Willow smiled as she saw actual pain flood into the entity's face. "Really a shock to feel the same thing you inflict on a lot of people, isn't it?
"Don't worry though, I just want some power, and then you're free to go. After all, can't leave Willow and Tara unattended, am I right? Gotta have someone down there to keep them company. And I know just the people."
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"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" As they turned the corner, the two Wiccans stopped instantly as they heard a voice that seemed to be all too familiar to the red-headed girl. Turning around quickly, Willow's green eyes flooded with shock, the emotion seemingly able to be read from miles and miles away.
"Skinman!" Shouting out the word as she saw the face of the figure walking towards her , Willow grasped Tara's hand even tighter than she had before.
"Oh, come on now, Willow, I'm not mad." Rolling his eyes as he continued to approach the two Wiccans, Warren looked down at his skinless body. "After all, all you did was skin me while I was still alive."
"Willow, he's not there, it's just a trick!" Turning around so that she could look her girl straight in the eyes, Tara took hold of the red-head's shoulders to ensure that she wouldn't look away. "Remember where we are!"
"Skinman! Skinman!" Repeating the name over and over again as if it were a chant, Willow only continued to increase the strength of her grip on the other girl's hand.
"Does this look like a trick, Tara?" Pulling a gun seemingly out of nowhere, Warren smiled, the effect seemingly evil due to the lack of skin anywhere on his body or face. "I'm all business when it comes to you two."
"Besides, poor little Tara has never known what's really real and what's not." Turning her head as she heard a familiar voice ring out in her ears, Tara felt her heart stop dead in her chest for a few moments. Her blue eyes spotting the figure behind her, the blonde Wiccan found herself starring at the figure of her father, the illusion utterly perfect, right down to the tone of voice it was using. "Always such a stupid little girl."
"This isn't real, Willow! Look at me!" Even as she spoke out against the figures that were quickly surrounding both herself and Willow, Tara gripped the red-head's hand tight against her own palm. "They're not real!"
"Oh, alright. The illusion obviously isn't going to work on smart, little Tara." Turning around, the blonde Wiccan found that the figures that had only moments before been around herself and Willow had been replaced with the heart-stopping sight of the girl's doppelganger. The words to an offensive spell coming to mind, Tara started to raise her hand. Raising her own palm, Dark Willow muttered a small phrase in Latin before watching as the spell shot out of her hand and rushed towards the girl. As the doppelganger's spell slammed into her chest, Tara felt untold amounts of pain course through her system as she crashed to the ground a few feet behind where Willow was still standing. Her blackened eyes still staring at the Wiccan whose attack she had easily deflected, the Dark Witch smiled with an ear-to-ear grin.
"Tara, Tara, Tara, do you really think that you can even try to hurt me?" Her voice drenched with sarcasm and poison, the Witch raised her hand in order to create a fast-growing fireball that spread out through the air above her hand. "You just need to cool off."
"Moonlight!" Screaming the word, Willow's eyes filled with fear as the fireball in her doppelganger's hand came flying towards her at an incredible speed. Watching the entire scene with fear and anger coating her heart, Tara began to struggle onto her feet despite the pain still present in every muscle of her body. Paying no heed to the Wiccan behind her, the dark doppelganger began to approach her counterpart with an evil quality to the expression she wore on her face.
"Hello, little Willow. Still feeling a little out of it?"
"Sunlight doesn't like Moonlight. Moonlight tried to hurt Sunlight's Tara." Although the words were spoken with a noticeable amount of fear in her tone, the red-head saw her doppelganger's eyes actually show something akin to that of surprise.
"Oh, so you can actually form coherent sentences now? Must be a little side-effect of having someone understand you. My spell didn't cover that portion."
"You did what to her?" As the anger she felt sank into her tone of voice, Tara saw the Dark Witch turn towards her.
"Oh, besides the usual damage that would accompany someone's Magickal connection being severed, I did a little number on the poor little baby's mind." Still smiling as she explained the situation to the Wiccan, Dark Willow threw her outstretched palm in the direction of her real counterpart. The gesture causing her to jump, the former Witch felt the cold stone of the Castle floor connect with her back as she lost her balance. "Something that would make her a little more…insane, for lack of a better term."
"You're telling me you did this to her?"
"Per say. She would already have been insane, but my spell actually gave her the ability to have a coherent thought every now and then. She just couldn't express it to you in a way that you could easily understand."
"And you knew this the entire time?"
"It was fun watching you scurry all around, whining about how 'Oh, she means something, but none of you understand!' It's not that they didn't understand Tara, they just thought you were insane."
"Change her back."
"Alright, I can do that." Smiling, the Dark Witch raised her palm as she walked away from her counterpart. Without even speaking, a spell quickly shot out from her outstretched arm, and flew towards the Wiccan. Satisfied that her spell would work, the Witch walked back to where the real Willow was still lying on the floor, and forced her to her feet. As the Dark Magicks wrapped around her body and immobilized her completely, Tara struggled while keeping her eyes locked on the spot where Willow and her doppelganger now stood face-to-face. Lifting her hands, the Dark Witch pressed her fingertips against her counterpart's temples. Channeling her Magick into the other girl's mind, the doppelganger smiled as she heard the first scream escape from the red-head's lips. Her screams only continuing, Willow struggled against the stone-like grip on her temples. Watching with horror filling out every inch of her heart, the blonde Wiccan continued to struggle against the Magicks holding her in place. Mumbling the words to a spell, she only felt the sensation of the Magick being forced back into her as the Light's Dark counterpart tampered with the spell.
Still screaming and struggling, the real Willow stopped suddenly as her green eyes flooded with a sense of realization as they shot open. Her eyes locking their gaze on Tara, her entire expression showed that she was once more in control of herself.
"Willow?"
"Tara…I'm so sorry…" Shaking her head, the red-head's screams renewed as her doppelganger touched her temples once more. Her spirits dropping as quickly as they had rose, Tara screamed out her girl's name as she watched that evil smile on the Dark Witch's face only grow more and more satisfied. As a minute that seemed like an eternity passed by, the doppelganger relinquished her grip on her counterpart and let the red-head fall to the ground. Noticing that the Magicks holding her in place were scattering, Tara struggled off the lingering effects of the spell and rushed to the girl's side. Her hands turning the red-head over onto her back, the Wiccan looked at Willow's entirely emotionless face.
"What did you-" Looking up from the girl, Tara said her response through gritted teeth.
"Relax, she's not dead. She's alive. I just upped the dosage on my spell." The smile still plastered over her face, Dark Willow kneeled down onto her bended knee in order to look the other girl in the eye. "After all, what would happen if one of us were to die?"
Beginning to raise her hand as the words to a counter-spell sprang to her mind, Tara felt the Dark Magicks once again taking hold over her body as they immobilized her. Staring into the girl's eyes, the doppelganger smiled widely from ear-to-ear.
"And you're just part of the prize of all this. Can't ever see Willow wanting to live without you. But I'm sure we both know what happened when she thought she would have to." Enclosing the small space between herself and the Wiccan, Dark Willow reached out and ran her fingers over the other girl's eyes. As she fell to the ground, Tara felt the world around her continuing to darken before everything faded away into the black.
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Lifting her head off of the ground that lay beneath her, Tara rubbed her forehead with the warmness of her palm. Opening her eyes, she looked around at her surroundings in an attempt to try and get a grip on where she was. The memories of the pain she had suffered through from the doppelganger's spell came flooding back to her as she did so, accompanying the pain that still lingered inside her head.
"Such pretty colors all around us…" Spinning herself around very slowly as her eyes took in the room around her, Willow's expression held nothing but a certain emptiness. As she saw and heard the other girl speak, the blonde Wiccan quickly forced herself onto her feet. Traversing the distance between herself and the other girl in what seemed to be seconds, Tara reached out and touched the red-head, her touch forcing the girl to look at her.
"Willow? Sweetie, look at me."
"Pretty kitty cats all around us, so warm and fuzzy…" Her green pupils refusing to focus on anything, the red-head turned around and continued her spiral. Her heart sinking fast, Tara took numerous steps back until she felt the cold rock of the wall meet her back. Letting herself sink to the floor, the girl sat and watched the other girl pace back and forth as she toyed with a stray piece of string on the sweater she was wearing. Sighing, the Wiccan kept her eyes trained on the girl as she returned to her feet. Not noticing the girl coming back towards her, the red-head continued her pacing, crisscrossing across the room as she stared into something that no-one else in the room could see.
"Honey? Stop, you're going to tire yourself out." Reaching out to grab the girl's arm, Tara saw the former Witch turn around to face her, her green eyes having reverted to their emotionless state. After her hopes had been raised after the girl had seemingly started to return to her sane state after hearing that her seemingly insane babble had been understood, Tara saw that the girl's doppelganger had simply 'upped the dose' of whatever spell she had used. As a result, all the progress that the Wiccan had been convinced she had made with Willow was gone once again.
"Kittens like the grass. It makes them play and be adorable…." Staring back at the girl with no emotion behind her eyes, Willow resumed her pacing despite Tara's grip on her arm. Pulling the girl to her, the Wiccan looked down at her girl and felt her heart drop for the umpteenth time in the past week.
"Willow, please…I know you're you in there."
"Sunlight shines down on everything, makes the things all shiny and happy." Only hearing more of the insane babble greet her as an answer, Tara took hold of the other girl's hand and moved her thumb over the palm in a gentle, circular pattern. Still staring into the former Witch's eyes, the Wiccan tried desperately to establish the link that she had made with Willow the previous three times she had helped her concentrate. If she could just reach the girl, even for the faintest of seconds, there was no telling what could happen. Still, as she stared into those normally penetrating green irises, she found only emptiness staring back at her.
"You're wasting your time, little Tara. Willow isn't coming back...unless I make her." Turning around from where she had been standing, Tara saw Willow's dark doppelganger standing in the doorway of the cell staring at her. Catching sight of the Dark Witch, the real Willow broke away from the Wiccan's grip and ran towards one corner of the room and buried her head into her knees as she cowered.
"What do you want?"
"Getting a little defiant, are we? You must have forgotten what I'm capable of." Raising her hand, Dark Willow watched as the Wiccan standing directly in front of her was lifted off of the ground as a mass of Black Magicks began to encircle her. "Maybe I should remind you."
Closing her eyes as a massive amount of pain began to circulate through her body, Tara resisted the urge to scream, knowing that it would only give the doppelganger more satisfaction. Gritting her teeth, she tried to raise her hand in order to use some of her Light Magick as a counter-strike, but found the limb effectively frozen in place.
"Uh, uh, uh. No using Magick while I'm trying to show you something." Rolling her blackened eyes, Dark Willow took a few steps forward as she started to walk all the way around the Wiccan she held in her grasp. "I'll let it go though, since you obviously haven't gone through this. Willow knows enough not to challenge me."
"Moonlight hurts everyone…" Whimpering out the sentence, the red-head buried her head in her hands once more as she saw her 'twin' turn towards her.
"She might babble everyone in a while, but she wouldn't even think about raising a hand against me. Not that she could do anything anyway. It's a sad thing seeing another Witch with her Magick connection severed, but considering what she tried to do to us, I'm willing to let it slide."
"Leave her alone!" Shouting the sentence from behind her gritted teeth, Tara knew that she wouldn't be able to handle much more of the Magicks being used against her.
"Sweet, little Tara. I have all of this power, and the First only gave me more. Do you really think that you can scare me?"
"You did what?" Unable to stop shock from sinking into her tone of voice, the Wiccan forced herself to look the doppelganger straight in the eyes.
"You didn't really think that I was going to let something like the source of all evil just come in here and try to control me, did you? Come on, Tara, you're a smart girl. You should have been able to figure that one out."
"You can't be serious…"
"Oh, I am. You know, I don't think you ever truly understood what dear Willow felt when she thought you were dead. Did you ever ask her? Did she ever break down when she was crying and confess every little 'sin' she committed in her grief? I'm sure that would have made for an interesting tale."
"She told me enough. I forgave her."
"But it's always in the back of your mind, isn't it? What she did to Warren. She killed a human being, Tara, and all in your name. How does it feel to share the blood on your hands?"
"She didn't do anything. The Dark Magicks made her do it."
"Is that what you tell yourself at night? So you can sleep? Maybe we should take a trip down memory lane." Coming to a stop in front of the Wiccan, the Dark Witch raised her hand and placed her fingers against the other girl's temples. Hissing slightly as doppelganger's Magicks began to course through her body, Tara's eyes snapped shut as if doing so would shut out the pain that was flooding into her. In her mind's eye, she saw everything beginning to unfold in front of her, as if she were bearing witness to the events at the exact moment they had happened.
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"She's dead, she's really dead…" Continuing to cry inside the place that she had sealed herself off inside her brain, Willow could feel the Dark Magicks continuing to control her body without any of her input or assistance. Ever since she watched Warren perish in flames, the Magicks she had absorbed had increasingly taken control of her actions as they continued to grow in strength. They were actually comforting her, talking to her, promising her that if she destroyed the remainder of the Trio, things would be better. Her precious Tara could rest knowing that she had been avenged.
We can make it all stop. Speaking up, the Magicks doused another bit of the Witch's brain with their power. Make them suffer.
"I can't bring her back, they won't let me."
But you can join her. Let us take control, fully, and you can join her. You're supposed to always find her, aren't you? At the mention of the promise that she had made to the girl, Willow's tears found renewed strength as they fell from her eyes. All of this can be over…
"Tara…Tara…please, I'm sorry, come back…"
All of this will be over soon…
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Forcing her eyes open as the memory faded away, Tara found the doppelganger still standing in front of her, her fingers pressing down hard on her temples. Seeing that the Wiccan had reached the end of the first memory, Dark Willow smiled widely, her completely pitch black eyes only adding to the aura of evil that hung all around her body.
"Hurts to know that's the pain she was going through, doesn't it?" She said, knowing that the words would strike a blow straight to the other girl's heart. "All of that was because she thought she had lost you again, and this time forever."
"She…was…strong…" Having to push the words out through gritted teeth, Tara tried to shake her head in order to dislodge the Witch's fingers, but found the digits to be firmly rooted to their place.
"Ah, but she was breaking inside, wasn't she? You felt it, the way she wanted to die. She told Anya she wasn't coming back, didn't she? And she meant it. She was so committed to the idea of joining you where you were. If you were dead, she didn't want to live." Pressing her fingers harder against the girl's temples, the Dark Witch smirked as the Wiccan whimpered slightly from both the pressure being pushed against her skull, and the short pain that accompanied the Dark Magicks re-establishing a connection. "Let's see what happened when she saw you that day, at the Temple, when she was so close to destroying the entire world..."
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Continuing to look at the girl walking towards her, Willow felt the Magicks strengthening their hold on her brain. They had come so close to having a host that would willingly give them control, and they weren't about to even consider giving that chance up. As she stared at the girl through her Magick affected eyes, the Witch began to break out of the place in her mind that she had sealed herself off to.
She's not real. You watched her die. Hissing the sentence over and over again as if it were a chant, the Dark Magicks continued to feel their hold actually weakening as their host heard Tara repeating the words 'I love you' as if it were a counter to their own chant. Continuing to say the words, the Wiccan stopped as she felt a spell explode into her chest. Horrified at what the Magicks had just done to her lover, Willow renewed her efforts to take back complete control of her body. From somewhere inside her mind, the Witch began to fight the influence that the Magicks had nearly forced on her inch by inch. With each passing second, the hold that the Dark held on her began to be chipped away as Tara's words of 'I love you' played over and over again without stopping.
Screaming out from where she was inside the shell she had built around her inside her mind, Willow wanted to believe that Tara was standing in front of her more than anything else in the world.
"Tara! Let me out! Tara! TARA!" Continuing to force the Magicks to relinquish their control, the Witch could hear the Dark Magicks continuing to scream at her. "Tara…"
IT'S A TRICK! TARA IS DEAD!
"Tara!" Screaming out the girl's name once last final time, Willow felt something inside her brain snap back into place as the Dark Magicks' grip on her finally was dislodged. Sinking into the back of the girl's mind, the Magicks settled into a new spot, although they did not automatically begin to spread their influence once more. Mentally erecting a block for a single moment in order to prevent such a thing from happening, Willow blinked as her eyes drained off their black color and reverted to their natural green hue. Finally reaching where the Witch was standing, Tara wrapped her arms around her. No longer able to control the girl, the Magicks were forced to witness every moment of the girls' reunion.
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Finally removing her fingers from the Wiccan's temples, Dark Willow smiled as she stepped back and watched as her Magicks ceased to hold the girl up. Falling to the ground, Tara felt her body's relief at the fading pain. Breathing hard from what she had just been forced to feel and witness, the Wiccan kept her eyes closed as she tried to regain control of her body. The Dark Magicks she had been forced to accept still lingered in her mind, although there wasn't even nearly enough to take her over. Erecting a barrier around the spot where the Magicks lingered in her brain, Tara took long, deep breaths in an attempt to ease the flow of pain within her.
"And now you see what happened from the other side." Gazing down at the girl, the doppelganger smiled. "Poor Little Tara thinks she didn't cause anyone any pain by rescuing poor, innocent Willow. You hurt us, Tara, and that was enough."
"Tara…" Whispering the other Wiccan's name, Willow peeked her green eyes out from where they had been hidden behind her hands.
"Seems like someone still remembers your name, Tara. I could change that. Anytime. I. Want."
"You can do whatever you want to me, but leave her alone." Lifting up her head so that she could look at the girl, Tara's lips formed a scowl as defiance still lined her eyes.
"Oh, I see. You want to be my plaything. But you want something in return, don't you?" Kneeling down onto her bended knee, the Dark Witch smiled. "Everyone wants something."
"Change her back. She can't hurt you." Looking directly into the blackened eyes gazing at her, the Wiccan swallowed hard before continuing with her proposition. "If you make her normal, you…you can have me."
can return.
I haven't watched Season 6 for a while (apart from "Once More, With Feeling"), and I really didn't want to go into the later episodes and find out
The way I see it, if Willow could be attracted/somewhat know Tara in "Tabula Rasa" after losing her memory for a time, then it wouldn't be that much of a stretch to say that she would remember her if her mind was slightly insane. 
I fixed it now 
very yummy 
