Title: Courage to Change
Rating: PG - Will change eventually, but they start off little kids. Not much with the naughtiness at 10 years old
Summary: Let us flip the buffy verse around. Willow leaves Sunnydale at 8. why? Read. Tara comes to Sunnydale at 10! Why? Again read! We are throwing Tara into Willow's original place when Buffy arrives. We are changing the lives of characters that arrive later in the buffy story by introducing them to Willow before they get to Sunnydale. Eventually Willow ends up back in California, after a mess of adventures and danger at such a young age. Just in time for her twenty second birthday and a war to break out from The First. Should be interesting. Oh and by the way, I'm taking some ideas from the cartoon "Avatar: Last Airbender". No characters, just some basic ideas. Why? You already know the answer! Read.
Disclaimer: Buffy and characters not mine. Avatar ideas not mine.
Finally: Reviews! Ask questions, compliment, suggest, or just plain tell me I suck. I don't care. It's fun to write and these two girls make me believe in love. You can't hurt me! But every review is read and appreciated. Enjoy!
Chapter One- Little Willow
She was ten years old. Her parents were gone. Hopping from one home to another for two years was taking away her soul. She couldn't keep doing this. It hurt so much and she couldn't connect to anyone. Why didn't anyone want her? She missed her parents terribly and felt so lost in the world.
Willow was born and raised in California until that fateful day when they came knocking at the door. The men in blue, badges shining, on the outside of that solid oak barrier. Something was very wrong. The police didn't come to your door just for anything. Her nanny came over and kneeled down, tears streaming down her face as those old and tired brown eyes focused on bright green ones. Willow's parents weren't coming home this time. There had been a horrible accident.
Sheila and Ira Rosenberg had left the world much to soon. Sheila, a shorter but slightly plump woman with bright red hair, soft hazel eyes and in her mid thirties, had accomplished degrees in both psychology and history. Her love of the past and for learning from the mistakes of the world, as well as the treasures that had been left behind in time, had been a crowning jewel for her in college. Also, studying the reasons behind the human behavior that created such history was fascinating all around. Sheila had won multiple awards and done many lectures around the world she loved so much. To Willow, she had given the gift of love for travel and the constant wonder of different cultures and their history. Ira, a taller, thin man, with light brown hair and the same bright green eyes as young Willow, was just under the age of forty when he passed. He was an accomplished man himself with a degree in computer as well as environmental sciences. His gift to his beloved daughter was curiosity of not only technology and advancing the world but of nature, animals, and the immediate world around her. They had both loved their daughter to pieces, and tried to take her with them as much as they could without interrupting her own school schedule.
So now she was alone. Willow had to fight the world on her own and it was getting so hard. She was so tired and the people who kept trying to take her in, some nice, some not so much. They just kept making up excuses to let go. Now Willow made her way to a new home all the way in Cleveland, Ohio. No. It wasn't a home. It was another house. A home was somewhere you always felt safe and wanted to return to. Not that this was going to be any different than the other houses. What did it matter anymore?
Willow settled down on the train next her new guardians. They seemed better than the last. Asking questions and keeping her occupied on the ride with little games and stories about her new home and how she would have a playground in the backyard, her own room, and a wonderful new school. Willow's heart just wasn't in it anymore. Even with the prospect of a real school again.
Willow had always loved school. The way it had occupied her head half the day, making her thoughts less painful and more knowledgable. She especially loved science like her father, and the discovery of the world around her made her curious the more she learned. Even that had its limits though. It had already been two years of new places, new faces, and most of all; grief.
Willow listened to the clink and clank of the train as the rails and the train car met, taking them farther from California. Taking out her little travel bag, tattered from overuse, she pulled out a small picture of herself and a boy. Red hair glowing in the sun and the biggest smile on her face and in those soulful green eyes. The young boy looked the same age as her, with scraggly, brown hair and kind brown eyes. She missed her best friend. They had been friends for 5 years. Practically her whole life at this point. Their parents had met at a preschool meeting and so they not only went to school together but also had many weekends, dinners, and sleepovers. Not many opportunities for friends in the life she lead now. One day she would return to Sunnydale to see her old friend and visit her parents in the ground. One day.
As the train pulled into the station, a young man, about thirty two with short black hair and confident steely eyes, took great care in picking up a small, sleeping red head from her seat on the train. He took her into his arms as though she were going to break at the slightest hiccup. Such a young girl, and she had been through so much. He wanted nothing more than to help make the world better for her. It was the whole reason him and his wife had chosen to take on a foster child. To try and help even one child on their way to adulthood and more. He had seen the young girl fascinated with learning and reading when they were reading up on the profiles of each foster child. He had also seen her helping a few of the younger children adjust to the home they all shared on their first visit to see her. This was a young girl that would be something great even when things were sure to get hard. His young wife, with her bouncy red curly pony tail and intense blue eyes, opened the back door to their soccer mom like, beat up mini van. She too had been excited when they had seen little Willow's profile. They just hoped they would be able to help her grow into the beautiful and strong woman she was destined to become. Even if they only played a small part in this wonderful little girls life, it would be worth that time if Willow grew to her full potential.
The drive home was uneventful. They pulled up into the driveway of a small two bedroom blue house with a little swing set and play house in the back complete with slide and tire swing hanging from a beautiful white oak. They had started their family. They both looked back in the car to see Willow still zonked in her seatbelt, but had to fight back a chuckle as the adorable 10 year old had her hair in a mass array of tangles. Her lips were drawn in a frown as her head was leaning against the side door. Her adorable little shirt that fit her young mind so well, green with the words, "It is scientifically proven that too many birthdays will kill you." When they thought she couldn't get any cuter, she mumbled, "Frog army marches! Ready the Amazons. They are the only ones brave enough."
She was angry. Willow rarely got angry, but two months into her new school and she was angry. She would never fit in anywhere. She was considered the "weirdo" that was more interested in watching squirrels and interacting with bugs then getting along with the other girls in her class. Why is that weird? Nature is so interesting. Maybe she should throw the class tarantula at little princess Cordelia! She was glad the mean girl was moving cause her daddy didn't like this town because it was too dangerous. Even if she was jealous it was California. Willow was more than furious the the princess of mean got to go to Willow's home state, that she had parents that were still alive, and finally that she was happy.
Young Willow tried to be happy. She worked hard in school, and even though she couldn't make any human friends, she made plenty of animal friends. Her guardians had been plenty nice. Better than the rest of them, but she felt stuck. Like she should be somewhere else. It felt as though something lay dormant in her that needed to escape and she couldn't open that door to let it out. And even if she could, she didn't know what it was. It scared her. She was ten. None of the other kids seemed to think even close to as much as she did. They just played, moaned at homework, went home, and didn't ask questions. Like, why did every adult in this place make curfew before dark? What was wrong with backyard camping or going to the park at night? The dark was beautiful, and Willow felt like she could relax and shed her mask under the starry sky. Finally, why did people in Cleveland disappear so much?
Willow knew things were happening again. It had been five months since her trip to her new house. That was longer than most of the "homes" she was sent to. The man had been around a lot more these days and the woman was working constantly at three different jobs. The couple never thought they talked while Willow was around but she heard. She was sneaky like that. The poor man had lost his income. His job started having troubles and had begun laying people off. He was one of the first ones out due to being there so long, and being one of the highest on the payroll. They had people who could do his job for less. They were going to do anything to keep her, but Willow just didn't want to deal this time. She was going to have to take action for herself. These people shouldn't have to suffer anymore because of her. It was too much of a burden. They had been the best to her, but she didn't want to ruin that by sticking around and finding out that they, too, would give her up when times got hard. She wanted to remember them as good people. She would have to go out and find a life for herself. She was almost eleven years old. She could handle the world. She would learn it and be on her own. Show them that she wasn't some bean bag to be tossed around from place to place.
She planned it carefully. Packed all the pop tarts from the cupboard, and all the fruit snacks she could find. Taking her little travel bag and her backpack with all the important stuff she would need, books and clothes, she made her way quietly out of the house. Making sure not to hit the creaky floor board on the 3rd step, Willow used the back door because the front one squeaked just enough to notice. Taking a deep breath and looking back at the small house she had spent the last five months in Willow left. They had been nice to her, but she needed out of this life. She would escape into the world and find her own life. She didn't need anyone. Her parents had given her the smarts and strength to face anything.
What Willow didn't realize, is that Cleveland had the same warning label as Sunnydale when it came to the dark. A warning that, at ten years old, meant virtually nothing more than parents over worrying their kids might get hurt. Stay indoors at night. What lurked beneath the surface of this big city and Sunnydale was a dangerous energy. One that brought out the monsters more terrible than the ones you think lie in wait under the bed.
As she walked silently along the cozy suburban neighborhood just at the edges of Cleveland, Willow wondered where she was going to go. Where was her journey going to start and how to get there? The world was such a big place. She couldn't go to anyone she knew for fear of being turned in or jeopardizing their lives by breaking the law for basically "kidnapping". She was so engrossed with her thoughts, Willow hadn't realized she'd ended up in the large park about 30 minutes away from the house. The air around her was swirling in a warm summer breeze as her face scrunched into different emotions with each passing thought.
Silence was the only sound as shadows passed over the young, beautiful face moving through the park. Willow was brought from her thoughts when she felt a strange and unpleasant feeling, or what she would find out as she grew older, an unpleasant energy. The fine hairs stood up at the back of her neck, danger had closed in on her. Looking around, there was nothing in sight, but that didn't mean that she was safe. Craning her neck behind her, she searched for the cause of her fear, as she ran straight into someone.
"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to walk into you. I mean, I meant to walk, but I didn't mean to walk right into you. Not that you wouldn't be fun to talk to or maybe you don't like talking, but actually running into you was not what I meant to do. I didn't even see you..." Willow was nearing the end of her breath, but before she could continue, the man saved her from the onslaught of more babble.
"Relax love. No big deal here. What's a little nibblet like you doing out alone so late anyway, hmm?" His pale blue eyes found hers. The dangerous energy rolled off him in waves and Willow could feel herself getting more frightened by the second. She shook her head and opened her mouth to speak, but where she had so many words before, they all seemed to fly out the window in his presence. His bleach blonde hair slicked back, and his long leather jacket slightly billowed in the breeze under the faint street lights.
Willow finally found her words, though hesitant and slightly fearful, "I'm not supposed to talk to strangers..." It was lame, but it was all she could think of.
Coming Soon: Chapter Two- Little Tara Meets Little Xander