Authors note: Trust me you don't want to know how many times I have typed this out. Hello everyone and welcome back to Tillow, never gone, never forgotten. The Multiverse is a concept that has been around for a long time and heavily used in DC and even in the Marvel verse so why not employ it in Buffy a bit more? The Wishverse held some fascinating characters in a bleaker period of Buffy never having arrived in Sunnydale to fulfill her role as the Slayer. Imagine if you will another period, another time, another Sunnydale set far in the future and Tara is alive. What would happen if Tara happens to crossover to Sunnydale before Kennedy shows, before Willow returns from England? Bear with me as I type this out and we can take it from there. Expect different versions of the characters to appear.

Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Tortured souls

CH.1: Leading by magic

Tara Maclay found herself in a trench as flares of magic blossomed in the sky cracking through the eternal darkness that pervaded. She wore her uniform tight around her frame as she took a moment to compose herself.

"This is not boding well Commander," Lt. Oz notes as he joins her side. "If this keeps up we will find ourselves cornered and-."

"Listen here soldier we are not dying here today. We will push the enemy back no matter. So much has been lost already and I am not ready to give up. Are you?" Tara cast the man a serious look and he stood at attention.

"No ma'am I am not ready to go. Still…we are down Witches and with the death of Willow-." Tara snapped as she felt her face heat up and she held out her hand lifting up Oz.

"Do not say her name, do you understand me? I will not have you saying her name for if you do I may lose it. Her loss weighs heavily on me day in and day out and nothing beautiful will ever come of this world. So…get the troops ready and we'll make the enemy regret pushing us this far, got it?"

Tara settled him to the ground and another explosion rocked the air. Tara used her powers to propel herself forward in a somersault and lands in a crouch. The soldier she had assembled under her were climbing out of the trench with their weapons primed up.

Willow Rosenberg had been the love of her life but she had been captured by the enemy and tortured till she was killed. The loss was one she carried in her soul and she tried to bury herself in her command but hearing her name as she did it caused her to snap.

"Do not let the enemy see you tremble or retreat. I will protect you to the best of my ability." Tara summoned forth a magical barrier she applied to each soldier, a draining task but it was enough to ward off any spell that might be cast at them or from the weapons they used.

Pushing forth she met the enemy on the field flipping over one solider and slamming her hand down causing them to writhe about till they stopped moving. Tara was normally calm but in war there was no time to worry about prisoners. She had toughened up for if she had not she would be letting them get away with taking away the only thing that mattered to her. Sunnydale was no more, bombed by the enemy it was a smoking crater of what was once a peaceful town. The enemy wanted them to suffer and the casualty rate alone consisted of children, families, loved ones…not one person who served under her was free of that impact.

Oz was her Lt out here and a trusted soldier to have on hand. He was quick on his feet and his tact allowed him to overtake enemies who mistook his size. Oz brandishes an elctro-blade that sizzled with crackling intensity so much so it could cut through most armor.

Tara for her part would defend the soldiers till they made it across the raging battlefield. Anyone who was anyone here would recognize a Witch and steer clear of her. She held two glowing magical spheres about her hands and her fingertips danced with magical energy. Her hair was whipping about behind her and her eyes danced with heat.

"Send out the Watcher!" Tara saw the enemy part and stepping onto the field was a weathered man wearing a heavy cloak and he appeared blind. His combat boots made him appear tall and he leaned forward on a cane.

"Tara Maclay…we meet on the battlefield once again. I must say apologies your girl did not make it, however rest assured her screams were for you-."

"Shut it Ripper…I will not have you speak of her final moments! This ends here…today, and, all of this fighting will finally end. I take it she won't face me herself huh?" Tara of course spoke of The Chosen One, the one who brought ruin on all of them.

"She is currently busy with her lover, but, she does wish to relay a message to you. She says she will enjoy mounting your head on a spike and letting your innards dance among the fallen so they may be pecked out at for days on end. Witches are quite tasty to-."

"I am going to kill you! Leave the Watcher to me, everyone else, charge!" Tara summoned a fireball and launched it at Ripper who merely deflected it by letting the fireball lose steam by his spinning cane. It was no mere cane though as it known in the ancient language as 'Fire-eater'.

"Tara…so unraveled, not a pretty sight. However there are plenty of women to sleep with aside from that red head do not let you youth go to waste. Do you think I let Jenny's death get the best of me, hardly; I banged the next pretty thing that came into my life. Loss of life happens…get on with it."

"She was the love of my life! You do not get two loves!" Tara launches herself at him with her glyph like boxing gloves against his cane. The two clash with a multicolored ray of hurt. Neither letting up even as the field of battle is scattered with death and carnage; Tara refusing to let Ripper get the best of her.

"Ah to be so young and naïve. Tell me, do you know that not just one world exists but many? To have the time to traverse them all…truly would be a feat. Do you figure there is a world where I am good and you are dead? I would very much like to see that world."

"Don't tell me you are going to sing?" Tara chants and pushes him back but his boots dig into the ground preventing him from flying.

"Sing, hardly, what good would that do for my time? I am merely getting at that what you believe to be a single set timeline there are in fact many scattered about…each one thriving as we are right here…right now. You might ask why I tell you this. And the reason is…because all this time I have been sapping away those bothersome shields. Ready love?"

Tara tears her eyes away from him and spots a blonde haired female with horns and she appears to be wearing some sort of risqué outfit.

"Oh Ripper…you spoil me, I am ready my love. Let the shields fall!" She claps her hands and Tara detects a magical solvent caught between and the clap washes out towards the battlefield dissipating the shield around her soldiers.

"NO!" Tara yells out but her distraction cost her as Ripper attacks her sending her flat onto her back and he appears to bask in having beaten her.

"We have done this dance many times Tara but now you will see there is no winning this war. You will join your red headed lover soon. Kill them all!"

Tara attempts to get up but the magic channeled through the cane keeps her at bay and tears sting her cheeks. The cry of her soldiers pierces her armored chest and she turns her head seeing Oz impaled, his body hung up in the air before he is brought back down as his death cry mirrors that of others around him.

"How many have you lost? Oz, Willow, your mother, your entire family, need I go on? It is time that you realize you have overplayed your part…Commander, if anything such a title was given out of pity. A lowly lesbian Witch set on an impossible path…that even her higher ups did not see possible, and they will be next."

Tara lets out a yell and pushes up but the cane smacks her in the face cutting her and she winds up down again. "You are pathetic; just kill her Ripper love…no need for her to cut into time better suited for entertaining me."

"Anya, please, one does not just kill…they savor the kill. Her pathetic attempts to get up truly are something to gloat over." Tara then begins to laugh. The two of them along with gathering soldiers surround her curious if she had lost her mind.

"I am not laughing because I have lost…I am laughing because what you have talked about, other times, it got me thinking and right now…anywhere would be better than here." Tara brushed her cheek where blood had formed and reaching out grabs at the cane and as Ripper imbues magic into it the two of them begin to glow brighter and the field wafts with a shimmer and the two of them are hurtled forth from the battlefield of 2049 and sent straight to the year 2002. Tara wound up in a cemetery and as she reaches out she pulls herself up only noting then the tombstone…and the name…was Tara.

Authors note: I believe the 7th season was 2002-2003 and Tara from 2049, another timeline version of the beloved character has surfaced there. However it is clear she is not alone for Ripper himself has wound up here. Just what sort of chaos will waken here and what will the Scooby Gang do when Tara comes into their lives? Willow is in England at this point but I'll be bringing her back soon for sure. Also we have not seen the last of 2049, yes I realize Bladerunner had a film set in that time but it isn't like I can't use it. Now I leave it up to you, the readers, the reviewers, the favorites, the follows…do I continue or not?