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“Tara?"
Xander squinted to see clearly against the blinding light. He could
just about make out Willow stalking around the kitchen, and the comatose
figure of Spike sprawled in the corner. But there was someone else there,
just on the edge of vision. It certainly looked like Tara, Willow’s shy
Wiccan girlfriend, but how could she be here? He’d seen her leave with
her brother not two days ago.
" Xander, you have to listen to me. You have to stop Willow, she
doesn’t know what she’s doing."
"You’re telling me?! She killed Anya! She grabbed her and held
her down and drove a stake straight into her heart," Xander could
feel the panic rising in his chest as he forced himself to remember.
"And she laughed, Tara. How could she do that?"
"I know what she did, Xander. But you have to realise, that’s
not Willow. You know she’d never do this. It wasn’t supposed to happen
like this"
"That’s not Willow? You’re lying! It’s an easy answer to
hide the fact that you don’t want to believe it to be her. You don’t
want to face the thought that she’d capable of this kind of thing. Well
let me tell you something, you might think you know her but if you can
stand here and tell me that’s not her? You don’t know her at all. She
might not know what she’s doing but it *is* her!" Xander paused, to
gather his thoughts, then suddenly remembered.
"And what do you mean ‘like this’, how was it supposed to
happen? *What* was supposed to happen?"
The Wicca couldn’t meet his eyes. He could see the glint of a tear
reflecting the blinding light. She shook her head slowly then snapped her
gaze up to meet his.
"Maybe you’re right Xander. Maybe I don’t know her as well as
I thought, maybe it is her, but you have to move past that now. You have
to know what’s happening" A note of resignation came into her voice
but he didn’t want to hear it.
"Tell me what’s going on Tara. You’re in my head aren’t you?
You said things weren’t meant to happen like this – how were they
meant to happen? You have to tell me" He made as if to reach out to
her, to grab her arms, but he was still restrained in whatever spell it
was Willow had used on him.
"This is an important night. For all of us. Willow’s partly
right when she talks about Destiny, it needs a helping hand but she
doesn’t understand it" Tara moved towards him, somehow realising
that he needed contact with something tangible right now. She brushed her
fingers gently up his arm, never taking her eyes from his.
"Five years ago, you changed the future when you helped your
friend. When Buffy drowned, she was meant to stay dead. But you brought
her back. That was the turning point and from then on history has been
trying to right itself. Things that were meant to happen, haven’t
happened, and vice versa." Tara focused her thoughts, she could feel
herself starting to ramble. "But none of that matters right now. All
you have to know is that Willow has to be stopped. She cannot be allowed
to finish what she is planning to do."
He pulled his arm away from her gentle touch. She was calming him down
and right now he didn’t want to be calm.
"But how can I stop her? Whatever she’s planning to do, I’m
useless – surely you’ve noticed that by now?"
"Don’t ever say that! You are anything but useless, you must
know that! You have changed the world, and you must do it again. Willow
cannot be allowed to resurrect Buffy, your friend is gone. Her job is done
and she’s happy – nothing can change that. If Willow succeeds and
brings something to life it won’t be the girl you knew. I don’t know
what it will be. All I do know is that such a thing can’t be allowed to
exist in this reality"
He shook his head as if to clear it, "What can I *do* though?
She’s put some kind of whammy on me so I can’t even move!" A
slight smile worked its way across Tara’s ethereal features.
"All she did was amplify your natural tendency for self-doubt. She
made you believe that you couldn’t do anything to stop her and that
belief materialised in this inability to move. But Xander, you can move,
you don’t have to doubt yourself". She reached towards him again
and smiled as he again pulled his arm away. "See? That’s the second
time you’ve moved now. Believe in yourself, that’s the most important
thing…" her voice seemed to fade gently until it became little more
than a whisper in the air.
The blinding light in the kitchen began to fade and slowly Xander was
able to make out the details again. Willow was still talking and she
hadn’t even noticed his lack of attention. She probably wasn’t even
talking to him really. It was probably more a case of having stuff to say
and Xander being a conveniently restrained, unable to escape audience.
While his vision cleared he stayed perfectly still, he didn’t want to
give the game away too soon, and out of the corner of his eye he saw a
flicker of movement – Spike!
***
Tara left the Summers house, frustrated with herself and with Xander.
He still wouldn’t listen to what she had to tell him and, as a result,
she hadn’t told him all he needed to know…
But he’d been right. She hadn’t wanted to believe that Willow was
capable of doing this. She had fooled herself into believing that Willow
had been taken over completely by the forces involved but that wasn’t
the case was it? Killing Anya had not been called for but Willow had done
it. Tara couldn’t deny that now…but she also couldn’t let herself be
distracted by it. Things were well under way and Xander was almost in the
right frame of mind now, but not everything was in the right place and it
was up to Tara to ensure that, when the time came, all would be ready.
Tara found herself outside the Bronze, listening to the applause as the
visiting band finished another song. Nodding to the doorman, she made her
way inside and began to work her way steadily through the crowd towards
the side of the stage.
The band was going down well tonight, a mix of country rock and
heart-wrenching ballads; this new song was one of the latter. The clear
voice of the singer transporting the listener into the despair of
unrequited love and loss. She stood transfixed until the song was ended
and then, wiping a tear from her cheek, she joined in the applause as they
left the stage. Catching the eye of the singer, Tara motioned for him to
come over. He nodded and handed his guitar to his bandmates.
"Don’t you have roadies for that?" she asked, teasing
slightly. He smiled back at her. "Maybe if we got paid a bit more
often!"
He had a slight soft southern accent which he had obviously tried hard
to eradicate but hadn’t quite succeeded.
"That was quite a closing number, I take it it was written from
personal experience?"
"You mean ‘Darla’? Yeah, I guess you could say that, sometimes
the only good things that come from a situation like that are the songs
you can write about it… Anyway, that’s all ancient history now. I’d
much rather get to know you…Ms…?"
Laughing she replied "It’s Tara, and you’re on the wrong track
there I’m afraid. My girlfriend and I are happy together." She
watched as he took in the information and was slightly pleased to see a
flash of disappointment in his eyes. She continued "I do need to talk
to you though. We need your help. What do you know about this town?"
His eyes flicked back and forth as if he was looking to see if anyone
was listening to them "This town? I know it’s not the biggest in
the state but it has more than it’s fair share of ways out – an
airport, docks, bus and train terminals. I know the housing market isn’t
exactly booming here and I know there are a lot of secrets – why? What
kind of help do you need?" The suspicion in his voice was clear, but
he had just confirmed that he did in fact know a good deal more than he
was letting on.
"I think we should talk about this in private, don’t you?"
Tara turned and walked slowly to the exit, not looking back to see if he
was following.
He stood and watched her go. He was intrigued he couldn’t deny it. It
was obvious to him that she was talking about the demonic element of this
town, the ‘hellmouthiness’ of Sunnydale, and that was the problem.
He’d spent most of his adult life entrenched in that and it had taken
him a long time to get away from it. Did he really want to get dragged
back in? And what side was she on anyway? He knew first hand that evil
wasn’t all about ugly mucus-y demons, it definitely had an attractive
side. The fact that she had known exactly who he was meant that she knew
what he had been and that worried him.
‘Get a grip, man! There’s only one way you’ll find out!’ with
that mental shake, Lindsey followed the mysterious Tara out of the club.
***
The flicker of movement came again as Spike finally stirred. Xander
tried not to watch as the vampire re-awakened. He didn’t want Willow to
notice anything. Watching the redheaded witch instead, he saw her slowly
turn towards the corner of the kitchen where she had so effortlessly
thrown Spike. Xander saw the surprise come over her face. She clearly
hadn’t expected Spike to recover quite so quickly.
A blur of movement, too fast for Xander’s still dazzled eyes to
follow, and Spike had launched himself at Willow.
The witch didn’t even move out of the way as he charged. Instead, she
stood her ground and let him come. He even managed a wild swing at her
which, had it landed, would doubtless have broken her neck where she
stood. Instead of connecting however, the vampire’s fist stopped in
mid-air as if stuck in tar, and Spike roared in pain as the non-violence
chip in his head fired. Whatever else Willow may have become, she was
still human, and as such Spike couldn’t hurt her.
Xander finally broke his paralysis and rushed to the stricken Spike’s
side just as he heard the front door open. "Willow?" came an all
too familiar and slightly perky voice, "Are you coming? The movie
starts in a few minutes – are you sure it’s okay to go out this late
on a school night?" Dawn! A wicked smile came across Willow’s face
as she called out in a falsely cheerful voice,
"Just coming, Dawnie. Why don’t you head on out and I’ll catch
up." The door slammed shut as Xander knelt next to the collapsed
Spike. Willow stood between the pair and the front door and smiled an
eerie smile "You always were easily distracted Xander. You don’t
have to worry though, what I said about Destiny? I’m going to help Dawn
embrace hers. You have to know there’s nothing you can do, destiny will
out." With that she turned and walked away, before reaching the
kitchen door she began to fade and completely disappeared…
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