A/N: Hi! I'm still heartbroken over Tara's death, so here's a little fic speculating how things would have gone on if she hadn't died. Not terribly original, I know. Mostly Willow/Tara and Giles/Anya; I have another Spuffy-centric fic I'm occasionally working on so this won't include much Spuffy. Going to try to update at least every week! :)

May 7, 2002

"Your shirt..." Tara said softly, pointing at the spatters of blood on Willow's blouse before her knees buckled and she collapsed. Willow screamed and caught her before she fell face first onto the floor.

"Tara?" Willow shifted her girlfriend's limp body in her lap and tried to control her panic. "Tara, baby?" Tara's closed eyes seemed to flutter.

Willow aimed every ounce of her power at Tara, knowing if she wasn't dead yet, there was still time to heal her. She felt something blocking her, a wall deflecting her power from making contact with Tara. Fear, maybe? She didn't know, but she refused to believe Tara was...

Willow couldn't even think of the possibility. She picked up Tara's wrist and felt around for a pulse. After a couple moments, she felt one, but very, very slow, and very weak. Tara didn't have long without medical attention.

She heard sirens outside the now broken window and gently laid Tara's head down to stand up and look outside. Was there any way someone else could have known and already called 911? Xander was down there, outside, pacing, and there was an ambulance.

Xander. She called to him in her mind. He looked up and around, still unaccustomed to her communicating this way. It's Willow.

Will. Did you see what happened? It was Warren... He had a gun. Xander's thoughts felt dark, confused, jumbled.

Wait, what? Okay, what I need from you right now is to send some paramedics upstairs with a stretcher. Now.

She heard him yell to the paramedics and footsteps coming up the stairs.

Willow, what happened up there? I know what happened down here, but...

I didn't see what happened outside. You said something about Warren? What's going on?

Two paramedics came upstairs and called out. She answered and ignored whatever Xander was trying to say to her in response. They entered the room, gently but efficiently lifting Tara's body onto the stretcher.

"Are there any more victims, ma'am?" one asked her.

"No. Not that I know of." Willow accompanied them downstairs and through the front door, finding Xander and hugging him.

"Tara...oh god, Will, Tara? That's why you wanted help upstairs. Oh, god." Xander's eyes were wide, and he held Willow close to him as if trying to shield her from any more stray bullets that might come along. "Not Tara too..."

"It missed her heart, I think, but she needs help. Wait, what do you mean, 'too?'"

The two entered the back of the ambulance once Tara was safely on board and stabilized, and Xander didn't have to answer her. Willow felt like someone had punched her, seeing Buffy's body, with its matching bloodstain in the same place as Tara's.

Buffy and Tara were stabilized for the moment, but very seriously injured, a nurse informed them. It was still unclear whether they'd make it. Willow gripped Xander's hand hard, feeling both relief that they were still alive and paralyzing worry about their conditions wash over her.

"Um, Will? I love you, and I get the need for physical contact, but I kind of think you might break all the bones in my hand if you keep this up," Xander said, nodding at their clasped hands. She loosened her grip a little.

"Xander...I tried to heal Tara, and I couldn't. There was a wall."

"A wall?"

"I don't know. It just...hit something. Wouldn't connect. I don't understand why. Why is it that my magic stopped working the only time it actually matters?"

"That's weird, and I don't know what would be going on with that, but Will, it's gonna be okay. Buffy's got her Slayer healing, and both of them are two of the strongest people I know."

They sat in silence for a few moments, and Willow finally extracted her hand from his, drumming her fingers anxiously. "Xander, what the hell happened? You said something about Warren?"

"Yeah. Buff and I were just hanging in the front yard, and the sociopath shows up out of nowhere, waving a gun and screaming about what she did to him. He fired a few shots, and I guess one of them went through your and Tara's bedroom window, and one hit Buffy." He looked up at Willow and thought he might see a tinge of black in her eyes. She was shaking, and he wondered if she might be cold, until she spoke.

"Warren," she said, and the single word contained fury beyond anything he'd ever imagined from his best friend. She stood up, pacing a bit, before finally throwing out her arms and shrieking. Something, some sort of energy, shot out of her hands and made contact with the wall across from her, blowing a hole in it.

It alarmed Xander to see her like this, but he tried to stay calm. "Uh, I guess that means your magic's still working, in any case?"

She stared at him and he realized he hadn't been imagining the black in her eyes. "Good."

"Will? I'm upset and I know you are too, and you have every reason to be, but all we can do right now is wait and pray. And I'm going to call Giles to let him know."

A small smile played at her lips. "I can kill Warren."

"Or you could...not do that? Maybe go home and change your shirt so you're not covered in blood? Get some rest."

Xander thought he saw a slight eye roll as she left the room, but put it out of his mind. Will wouldn't hurt a human, right? He knew how frustrated she must feel, though, not being able to do anything, and realized even the pain of telling Giles what had happened would be better than sitting alone with his fear.

He dialed Giles' number from memory.

"Hello?" a groggy voice asked, and Xander realized it must be the middle of the night over there.

"Hey, G-man. It's Xander."

"Xander. You woke me up. And for the love of god, don't call me G-man."

"Yeah, okay, whatever. It's important," he paused, considering how to break the news. "I have a couple of questions."

"They better be some bloody important questions."

"First...is there a reason a witch wouldn't be able to use their own magic in certain ways, like if something really traumatic happened?"

He heard a sharp intake of breath, and practically felt Giles polishing his glasses thousands of miles away. "Yes, I suppose so. Magic is about emotional and mental control, and a lack of balance there can absolutely cause limitations and problems with the witch's use of magic."

"Okay. And same situation, would somebody, you know, with a lot of power, be potentially dangerous?"

"Xander, I know you're talking about Willow. Please stop using hypotheticals and be straight with me. What's going on?"

Xander didn't know what to say to make it any less upsetting, so he obeyed Giles and told it straight. "Buffy and Tara were both shot by Warren, and they're in critical condition in the hospital. Willow couldn't heal them, but she was able to blow a big smoking hole in the wall of the hospital, and she just left."

The ensuing silence was the worst thing he'd ever heard. When Giles finally spoke, his voice was weak and pained. "Go after Willow and make sure she doesn't do too much damage. I will be catching the first flight possible back to Sunnydale."

Giles didn't allow himself to feel anything until he'd contacted the Devon coven, rushed to the airport, and boarded his plane, but once he was on his way, he broke down and sobbed into his hands. The passenger beside him looked deeply uncomfortable and leaned away from him.

I've lost my daughter once before, and I don't think I could bear to go through it again, he thought to himself. My daughter. She's not my daughter, he corrected himself. She's just Buffy. But didn't the Council fire him for having "a father's love for the child?" Wasn't he in Buffy's life far more than her biological father ever had been? Wasn't Dawn Buffy's sister, despite her true existence as the Key? I'm her father if anyone is, Goddamnit, I love her more than anything in the world, and I refuse to see this happen again. He got a hold of himself and blew his nose. "What are you looking at?" he demanded of the man next to him, who inched away a little more.

It was dark and silent until she felt herself coming to. Then light, and a splitting pain in her head. She tried to lift herself up, but was met with sharp pain in her ribs and an overwhelming wave of nausea. Lying back down, she succumbed to the darkness and faded out of consciousness once again.

Things started off simple. To Anya's shock, Xander had entered the Magic Box in full crisis mode.

"Here to berate me some more for who I choose to sleep with?" she asked him bitterly.

"An, now is not the time-"

In her vengeance demon state, she was attuned to his emotions and could feel waves of fear and concern emanating from him. She ignored the fear and continued. "Yes, actually, I think now is an excellent time to communicate about all the ways you've hurt me!"

"Seriously. I need help."

She crossed her arms and sighed. "What?"

"I think Willow might be dangerous and I need to find her before she does serious damage to anybody."

"Willow? Dangerous?" Anya scoffed. "Isn't she like, cold turkey from magic?"

Xander stared at her, his normal, lighthearted demeanor completely absent. "An. Tara and Buffy were seriously injured by Warren Mears and they're in the hospital. Will's understandably really upset and I think she's going to hunt down Warren."

Anya hadn't really believed him that tiny, harmless Willow could ever really hurt someone on purpose, but she'd helped him set up a simple locator spell to keep track of the girl anyway.

She only believed him when Willow had actually walked into the Magic Box only minutes after he'd left, saying he was swinging by home to get weapons, just in case. It was Willow, but it wasn't. Her hair was dark, her eyes were completely black, and Anya could feel her aura screaming fury and revenge. Could black magic really cause a sudden dye job like that? Anya figured now was not the time to ask.

"Hey, Willow!" she said, trying to be cheery.

Willow ignored her presence entirely, summoning several of the dark magic books they kept upstairs down onto the table. Anya went around the counter and cautiously approached her. "Will, I think we have some other spell books you could use, on that shelf over there. Wanna try one of those instead?"

Willow looked up at her, and for a second Anya thought she might actually listen. Then she felt her body hurled across the room, and reality faded out.