A/N: This is my first shot at fanfic. Be gentle, be honest, enjoy.

Begins the night Willow and Tara get back together, but something gets in their way... Can the Scooby's find the truth, save their friend and change everything ...including Tara's death?

Just as a heads up thoughts are in italics, and the characters perspective your reading will be written in the break line (I know it's a bit confusing but go with it). Disclaimer: I own nothing

Chapter One: Another Way

{...[-(TARA)-]...}

Tara let herself in, after all she'd lived here through some of the happiest moments of her life. She wasn't really sure what she was going to say to Willow, but she needed to talk to her. She needed to talk to her now. The Summer's front door swung open into an empty room, and Tara scanned the space.

Willows laptop was on the table. That's where they must have been when that tapped into the nerds cameras, when they sore Anya and Spike together. Tara exhaled slowly, and crinkled her brow.

Poor Buffy, she must have felt so…

Poor Xander! That must have been so…

Her eye found the open chest of weapons in the lounge and she crossed her arms tightly around herself as if she were cold.

Dawn had called her a few minutes ago, Tara thought she must have been wanting to hear the scoop on how the 'Willow and Tara getting coffee as friends. Not a coffee date. Just friends getting coffee" thing had went. And Tara remembered answering the phone with a smile with the day fresh in her mind and realizing how familiar this had become.

"Tara?" said a voice from the phone. But it wasn't an excited squeal or an hyperactive giggle, it was soft. Tara would have noticed if she hadn't been so prepared for a Dawn-styled lesbian-love-themed interrogation.

"For the last time Dawnie, If I kiss her, you're the first to know, promise. Well, hopefully the second. I mean it can't have been much of a kiss if she doesn't realize it happened." Tara laughed.

"Tara" this time she caught the tone.

"Dawn?" and she heard it in her own voice. The quietness, the fear, the vulnerability. Something had happened, something always happened, it was part of the Scoobie lifestyle, but she needed to know what. And she was relieved when Dawn burst into speech before she had to ask eactly what had happened.

"Xander has the axe, and Buffy's gone after him. And Willows just typing incessantly on her computer trying to catch them. But his gonna hurt them. And Buffy was really upset, Oh God Xander's face was just…"

Under normal circumstance Tara would have been impressed that Dawn had managed to throw the word incessantly into her vocabulary in such nonsensical sentence. But some one was hurt…or was going to be hurt? They were upset…. who was going where now?

"Sweetie breathe."

"This is so messed up! I mean Anya and Spike were having sex in the magic box and everyone sore on the cameras. I'd never seen that before. I mean we have cable so it's not like the visuals all new or whatever it's just, I know them. And they're not even…And I just don't… And now Xanders all broken up and I think Buffy is too, and she should have told me if she was into Spike. She should have said something. I should have noticed something, it all just"

Tara felt she her posture become a little less rigid as Dawn spoke. No one was dead. And magic wasn't even part of this equation. Those had been her worst fears.

"Dawnie do you need me to come over there?" But there wasn't a response. Tara listened carefully for a moment, and if she had been able to see Dawn she would noticed the loving smile that spread over her face at Tara's offer. A smile that simply acknowledged how nice it was to be cared for, and worried about without second thought. Dawn felt loved. But Tara couldn't seem the smile, so she just waited for a response. She could hear the faint clicking sounds she had barely registered before stop. And chair legs scrape against a solid surface. And then a voice, Willow's voice of course.

"Dawnie, I know Janice and you are close but I really doubt she can hear you smiling on the other end of that phone line" was what she said. And Tara smiled at the gentle kindness in her tone, despite the sadness. And Tara's expression fell, she really did sound sad. It was the kind of sadness that lingers in the subtext of a conversation, but is obvious to those aware of its presence. Dawns quite chuckle brought Tara out of her thoughts.

"Our relationship is of the telepathic kind." Was Dawn's response. And Tara found herself smiling again. She loved her family, Dawn, Buffy, Willow. She really did. And she loved how they could still surprise her after all they'd been through together. Tara had expected Dawn to call Willow a doofus and tell her she was talking to her, maybe phrasing it as just conversing with her lost-life-long-lesbian-love or something, but she just let it go. Which on the one hand showed how serious a night they'd had and on the other how grown up Dawn could be when it was needed.

"I've got some work to do kiddo, I'll just be upstairs kay?" Willow asked

"Okay." Dawn said with meaning and a nod.

Tara heard the disturbance and crackles of the cordless phone as Willow pulled Dawn into a hug. And she closed her eyes as if she was with them.

"Buffy'ill'fix'it." Tara heard one of the girls mumble into the others shoulder. And then the distorted clunking of the phone as they pulled away from each other. "It's gonna be okay. Everything will settle down, and we'll be okay." She heard Willow say.

"Add one more okay to that sentence and we'll be heading somewhere full of okay potential" Dawn called as if Willow had moved further away

"Night Dawnie, don't stay up to late" came a faint response as Willow headed up the stairs.

"I would never!" Dawn said in a mockingly melodramatic voice. And Willow laughed, and even from a distance Tara heard the sadness in that too.

"Sorry, that was just…" Dawn spoke into the headset now.

"Yea."

Tara shook her head as if to bring herself back to reality, and relaxed her own grip on her arms as she headed up the Summer's stairs as quietly as possible as not to wake anyone. Her boots softly creaked as she made her way through the painfully familiar hall, pictures hanging on either sides, light shinning through the only open doorway, the door to Willow's room, their old room. And she couldn't imagine Willow being there without her, they had moved in together after Joyce's death, but Tara supposed she must have been there alone all this time.

She stuck to the shadows as she made her way towards the door, fully expecting to be realized the moment she stepped closer. But she wasn't.Breathe and walk Maclay. Breathe and walk.

Then there was Willow.

Lying on her stomach across the bed, coloured pens laid out beside her, and from the doorway Tara could see a furrowed brow as she jotted notes in the margin of her textbook. Tara smiled quietly, ever the mystery girl. She had seen Willow like this countless times in the beginning, it was the only time she could just watch the red-head and go unnoticed, and she'd wonder if she could tell her everything, and what she'd say if she knew how adored she was.

But this wasn't quite the same, they'd been through a lot, and Willow wasn't as naïve as she'd once been, she'd lost hope in things she'd assumed would never fail her. And Tara was braver now. But all that matters can't ever really change, I will adore that girl until the sun runs cold and the moon is lost from memory Tara thought. But there was hurt, and she was scared, and they'd have to take this slowly. That's what I'll say, I'll say we'll need time to put things back together.

Now Willow was shaking her head spinning a pen between her fingers and then tapping it against the pages as she stare intently at her work. And Tara was glad to have found the doorframe and leant her weight against it. It was nice, just to be there, just to see her.

And Tara noticed Willow hadn't changed clothes since they'd went out earlier that morning, she remembered thinking Pale pink and denim, haven't seen that outfit before. There had been a time when she had known Willow's wardrobe better then her own. And Tara hadn't changed her outfit either. She'd wanted to keep the day with her as long a possible, to cling to the faint smell of vanilla perfume that hung on her clothes after they'd hugged goodbye that morning.

"This doesn't make any sense." Willow muttered to herself. And Tara heard the sadness again. And she shifter her weight on the doorframe. That's why she had come, to stop the sadness, she loved her too much to let her stay in it any longer. So she broke the silence and revealed herself.

"Things fall apart. They fall apart so hard."

[{..-(AMY)-..}]

Amy was nervous, and itchy all over. She was always itchy, ever since Willow had made her human again. Ever since she was a rat. And she couldn't stop it. She'd tried magic, she'd tried doctors, she'd tried herbs and diets and strange solutions she'd found online. But it was there, she was itchy inside. Itchy in her organs, in her viscera , in her bones. It was enough to drive someone mad. It was enough to drive someone to Rack. He could stop it. When she was with him all she could feel was the magic.

She strode down the empty ally at a quarter to midnight, and one might have mistaken her for a lamb, endangered by the darkness, to be protected from the beasts. But there was only one monster there. And there was only one thing on her mind.

Willow, it had be Willow, sweet little Willow, great darkness, great light, in a moment to be decided. Great darkness, great light in a moment to be decided.That's what Rack had prophesied. That Willow was at a junction in a road, one lead to power and darkness and revenge and the other to light.

Soon, he said it would be soon. I need more, more, more, great darkness, great darkness. Itchy, under my skin. She did it wrong. Made me come back wrong. Brought the itch. Itch in knuckles, itch in my joints, itch under my .Itch. Itch.

She just left me like that. For years and years she found the answer to every problem they needed with magic. Saved them over and over and over. Came against impossible odds. And she just left me like that. Amy the rat. Forgot about her pet. Her itchy little pet. Then she did it wrong. Made me come back wrong. Made me itch all over. All over. It's all over.

Amy grabbed a small glass vile from her jacket and held it in her fingers as she lengthened her stride.

"Reveal" she muttered as she threw the vile to the pavement. As it shattered fine powder clouded like dust around the witch and it gathered around her face and stung her eyes. But she kept walking. And in the powder she could see Willow, lying on her bed.

Its already lost. She isn't even tempted, doesn't feel the itch. She's got friends. She's got everything.

"No! No! No!" It was a desperate stubborn screech, and Amy didn't care that she was yelling at no-one in particular. She kicked the glass bottle as hard as she could against the curb and the last of it's fragments shattered loudly.

"She's never going to turn." Now she was muttering

"He said it had to be soon." She sneered. Willow was her answer, Willow was her key. She brought her to Rack, if she was consumed, if she became nothing but the magic throbbing through her veins. Then it would all be Amy's doing. Amy grinned. I will have created the darkest rawest strongest witch in the world. And she would be indebted to me. I need Willow to be what she can. The great darkness. I need the darkness.

Then in the cloud came a voice.

"Things fall apart. They fall apart so hard."

Amy looked up into the smoke, she hadn't seen the blonde at first but now she was with Willow, and near Willow's bed. Tara .She recalled, as they had met once before. Tara. She had made Willow stop. She had left before it got worse. The way Willow looked at her, it was as if she'd found every answer to every question she'd ever known, and Amy's curiosity was inflamed as she watched the scene unfold.

{[..-(TARA)-..]}

Willow slid upright on the bed, their bed.

"Tara?" So much depth, so much sadness, so much history, so much love.She just said my does she do that? Look at her, look at that girl. How is anyone not in love with that girl? Breathe Maclay, taking it slow, building trust, you have to trust each other.

"You can't ever put 'em back the way they were." It was hard to say, looking into green eyes, it was hard to think, to breathe.

"Are you okay?" And that was when Tara melted into puddle. She wasn't going to get through this without kissing that girl. She wasn't going to wait another day without touching her. She needed to be touching her.

"I'm sorry, it's just... You know, it takes time. You can't just have coffee and expect..."

"I know" Willow said it with shame.

[{..-(AMY)-..}]

"She's gonna take her back! " Amy yelled into the dusted screen

"She'll take Willow back, and she'll never touch it again, she'll never do another spell, it'll all be over. It'll all be over" Amy was desperate, she had to do something, she had to do something now. She was frantically searching her pockets for something, anything to stop this. To change how things would go.

"There's just so much to work through." The voice came from the smoke.

"No, no, no, no, no" Amy was distraught as she let the items she pulled from her jacket pocket onto the paved street.

"Trust has to be built again on both sides."

"Argghh!" Amy threw the Jacket off her shoulders and stomped it into the ground

" You have to learn if - if we're even the same people we were." Tara's voices continued. The two girls in a room completely oblivious to their observer.

"Useless its all useless" And she clawed at her skin, as if trying to tear it from her body. Have to stop it. Have to make it stop! Make it stop! As she dragged nails from her cheek, down her neck and to her chest they caught the chain of her necklace and it fell to the ground with a heavy twang. Heavier then you'd expected for a small black stone on a gold chain.

"If you can fit in each others lives. It's a long and important process..." the smoke was fading, she didn't have long

Amy scooped the pendant from the gutter

"Of course" she hissed and then it stopped the itching the madness, she was in control. She could change it all, drive Willow to the darkness.

"LAEDERE!" Amy screeched. And she felt black ink shoot from her finger tips and hot in her chest.

[{..-(TARA)-..}]

Their eyes met, this was going to happen, they were going to be alright. Tara felt safe, she felt warm, she felt like everything made more sense in this moment then it ever had in the history of the universe.

"...and can we just skip it? Can you just be..."

"LAEDERE!" a deafening screech hissed through the air. It assaulted eardrums and violated thoughts.

And that was the end of what Tara remembered of that night.

{[[{-(WILLOW)-}]]}

Willow could feel it. Cold, rigid snaps and crackles in her mind. Laedere...she knew what that meant...it meant hurt.

And the voice was almost familiar, but she hadn't the chance to place it.

This is bad very very bad. She thought. When had everything become black? When had the air grown thick and heavy in her lungs? When had the ground dissolved beneath her feet and stated grabbing at her ankles? Pulling her down. Pulling her away. Further and further away from it all.

"Tara?" she cried out into nothingness, they had been in a room hadn't they? Tara had been with her. Maybe she had dreamt it? She dreamt alot about Tara. It was one of the ways she'd first realized she was attracted to Tara in the first place. One of the ways she realized she was in love.

"Tara?!" dream or not she wasn't leaving without her. But then it hit her, and hit her hard.

Cold, wheeze, crunch, brittle folds within her mind. And then she realized what it was. Something about the metallic smell in the air, and the taste of acid in her mouth let her know. Magic. This was dark magic, trying to swallow her whole.

[{...-(AMY)-...}]

Amy was euphoric. Her pupils dilated like swollen black disks and her hand clutched the chain to her mother's old neck lace so tightly that her palm began to spilled blood.

"Mother dearest, I knew you were good for something." She said through a smirk.

And what had once been a smoke screen was now a black portal. A window to somewhere new. One thing was moving in there, one pale figure with red hair, Willow, thrashing about in the abyss of black. And Amy's face twisted in delight.

And then she looked at the small pendant hanging in her clutched fist. She hadn't known what it was. She'd just known it was powerful. But now she remembered stories of wish-granters and vengeance demons and she wondered if her mother realised the potential of the jewel she had carelessly left behind.

A wish, the possibility of an alternate reality, a different world, and without further thought Amy spoke

"I wish for a world where all things Willow holds dear belongs to me, I wish for a place where she cannot feel as she feels now, where the humanity of this world does not touch her, cannot reach her for anything. Where she is truly alone, Truly lost. And truly filled with despair." Her voice was confident, almost arrogant. And she only caught the voice of the demon she had summoned as her vision of the dark alley was fading.

"Done" it echoed.

TBC