Double Red

by

Kelsey

Disclaimer: Not mine. Joss owns all, and wrecks episodes with the mastery of someone who owns all.

Summary: The events of "Seeing Red," twisted. AU from immediately before Warren shoots people.

Rating: PG-13 for now, probably R later.

Prologue

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"Willow!" Tara fell to her knees, screaming her beloved's name. "Willow! No!" She cradled the redhead's limp form, brushing the hair away from her face. "Willow, don't! Please, please don't leave me!"

Tears ran down her cheeks but she paid them no heed. Brushing fingertips over the witch's face, she sobbed painfully, repeating her denial over and over again. "No, no, no, no..."

An idea came to her, and she sat up a little straighter and held her free hand out over the wound in the redhead's chest. The Latin words fled from her, so she recited the spell in English.

"Goddess of the moon

God of the sun

Bring back life to the daughter

You've watched over since she was young."

The simple incantation disguised a powerful healing spell, and Tara's body jolted, then shivered as her powers were drawn, but Willow's form didn't stir. Tara fell over her, sobbing.

It took a few minutes, but she finally gathered herself enough to stop her tears and start to think again. She pushed away all of her emotions, refusing to let herself think about anything but her very next move. She knew Buffy and Xander were here, she needed to go tell them. But she couldn't leave Willow.

Carefully, she gathered her beloved into her arms and rested the red head on her shoulder. Cradling her with all the care she would give an infant, she carried her slowly down the hall and then the stairs. Her body strained with the effort, but she barely felt it. She'd simply decided it was possible, so now it was.

When she entered the living room, Xander's form caught her eye. He was bending over something on the ground outside, and he was shaking. She couldn't hear him through the glass, but he was talking... then Tara caught a glimpse of blond hair, and her heart nearly stopped. Was Buffy... was Buffy shot, too?

Gently putting Willow's body down on the couch, Tara closed the staring eyes with her fingertips and then just looked at her for a long moment. She couldn't bear to leave her, but if Buffy was still alive, then maybe she could do something. Maybe she could stop another senseless death.

Painfully, she turned away, and jogged out the door, breaking into a run as soon as she was clear of the steps. "Xander!"

The dark-haired man turned and saw Tara. "Tara! Oh, god. Did something happen?" He'd clued in almost instantly to the closed-off expression on the witch's face, something he'd seen too much of since she and Willow broke up. But now, it was even worse. "Willow. Is she okay?" He kept the pressure on Buffy's wound as he turned to look at the young witch.

Tara's face was blank as she came over and added her scarf to the pile of bloody clothing on Buffy's chest. "She's dead." There was no expression in her voice at all.

Xander's breath caught, and he felt like his heart stopped. "Oh god." Instantly his eyes started to tear. "Willow...?"

Tara nodded curtly. "Took a bullet through the chest. I couldn't save her."

Buffy had floated off into her own world, dizzy from the bloodloss, but the words "Willow's dead" and the look on Tara's face brought her jolting back into reality. "Will?" She asked weakly, disbelieving.

"Buffy." Tara turned her attention to the injured Slayer. "Later. Right now, you need to get better." She laid her hands over the Slayer's wound and started to chant softly, under her breath. She was lost in the words when Xander's voice reached her, and she ignored him.

"Tara," He said. She kept on speaking.

"Tara!" She looked up, annoyed that her spell had been interrupted.

"Wha..." The words died on her lips as she saw the translucent figure that stood before them, smiling. "Willow?"

The ghost of the witch smiled at her. "I love you, Tara," she said.

Awe-struck, she didn't speak for a minute, but then the panic at never seeing her lover again rose her and she cried out. "Will, please don't leave me! You can still come back!"

The witch met her lover's eyes for a long moment, and Tara could see the love and pain in them, but she just gently shook her head before turning to Xander. "And you too, Xander. Tell Dawnie that I love her, and I never wanted to leave her, please?"

"Willow, please! We need you." Xander's voice was raw.

Her eyes turned sad. "It's my time. And it's hers, too." Her gaze rested on the Slayer's.

Tara shook her head and backed closer to Buffy, as if she could somehow keep the spectre away from her. "No. Buffy can live."

"Will. Please don't take her, too." Xander was ready to cry, and Tara was just amazed that he wasn't already.

Willow shook her head slowly. "Believe me, I wish that as much as you do. But... when I brought her back, she wasn't supposed to have come. It wasn't supposed to work. So you see, it's time that everything is made right."

"But she did come back. So-"

Her words were cut off by a very faint rasp from the Slayer. "No. She's right." She smiled sadly. "I can feel it." She closed her eyes, and breathed out.

Slowly, a faint, misty form rose from the Slayer's body and went to stand beside her best friend. She reached out and took Willow's hand, and Willow looked over at her and smiled before returning her gaze to Tara.

Xander started to weep, and Tara did nothing to stop the flow of the tears down her own cheeks as she watched her lover. Willow stepped closer and reached out her hand to touch Tara's hair, but it went right through her. She stepped back.

"We're going to a better place," she told Tara. "Remember that. Tell Dawnie we love her and she's going to grow up to be a beautiful woman and that we'll always be watching her."

She grew a little sadder. "Go on, Tara. Live. Go to school, get a degree, get out of Sunnydale. Find someone to fall in love with."

Tara's voice hitched as she tried to reply. "I-I could never love anyone like I love you," she sobbed.

Willow smiled sadly and went to reach out her hand again before remembering that she couldn't make contact. "Maybe not. But please, for me, just try?"

The blonde witch looked up and caught her lover's expressive eyes. Slowly, she nodded. "I'll try."

Buffy spoke for the first time, then. "Take care of Dawn for me, Tara."

The witch nodded again, a little more strongly this time. "I will."

The Slayer's form grew a little more translucent, and Tara's eyes shifted back to Willow, only to see her doing the same thing. "Remember, I love all of you." Buffy raised her hand and gave a little wave as the witch and Slayer best friends faded into mist and disappeared entirely. Tara collapsed on the ground, sobbing.

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