Author: Insane Vampiress
Setting: between "Tabula Rasa" and "Entropy"
Summary: Tara feels hollow with out Willow. (Challengefic)
Challenge: From challenge in a can [dymphna(dot)net/challenge/]: Tara, hollow, rain
Feedback: Please review, helpful criticism is appreciated.
Disclaimer: Joss Whedon and his affiliates own Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its characters.
Author's Note: This is really, really, really super-short, sorry. Thanks to my beta Elenlor Edhelen for doing an error-check and adding anything she thought necessary (a lot).
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Beginning Anew
Tara looked out into the sky, the rain pouring from the heavens as if it knew her pain. She knew it wasn't just for her. She knew that somewhere, someone she loved shared her pain, and her thoughts. And maybe, that certain someone understood that the rain wasn't telling them to give up on all they held dear, it was telling them to start over fresh and pure.
As much as the blonde loved Willow, she couldn't be with someone who would manipulate her mind like that – she had violated her almost as Glory had. When Willow learned how to control her magic, they could be together again. But Tara feared she never would. She loved her so much...but her trust was broken by that spell. And how could she be with someone she couldn't trust?
Could Willow give up the magic? Even for her...the red-haired witch had to know how hard it was for Tara to leave.... It was and still is, agony for the blonde. Without Willow, Tara was filled with an emptiness that the other witch had filled. She knew that she felt, her love for Willow was and always would be there, but somehow, her feelings felt so meaningless. It was all so hollow and unreal. The way love should never be.
Before she left, Tara's heart had been so filled with love, and the fact that she was loved had made it fill more – so much that she thought it might burst. Now, her heart – no, everything – was so empty. She felt as if someone had carved the inside of it out and left the still-beating shell of it in her chest. It was as if she was a jack-o-lantern, a pumpkin left to rot without its seeds, its essence. She was hollowed out to make room for horrible feelings – emptiness and loneliness. It was as if Willow was the only key to her happiness now.
Tara walked outside and stood in the rain. She let the water pour over her, washing away the pain. She closed her blue eyes, and the rain brushed her closed lids, catching in her long lashes, she could see Willow in her mind. She knew what the other woman had done, but she needed to get rid of the emptiness – she needed to begin anew...with the redhead by her side.
Soaked in the rain, Tara was starting to feel more than just nothing inside.
-end-