Just spontaneously got the idea to write this when I was watching Lord of the Rings yesterday. I'll be using the Lord of the Rings movies, and possibly carrying onto an alternative plot afterwards, I'll see how this does. Anya was always one of my favourite characters and I near enough flooded my room crying when Tara died, so I wanted to have a story with the two of them. I was tempted to put Cordelia into it but I couldn't figure out a way to work her into the story. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy this.

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You know what sucks? No this isn't a stupid human pun about vampires. This is an actual, terrible thing. Something that has been established as terrible but you don't fully appreciate. It's dying by the way, dying really, really sucks.

x-x-x

Everything had suddenly turned white and not like the smooth, clean sheets kind of white either. This was a glowing, powerful, annoying whiteness. The kind that burned your eyes to the point of watering when looking at it for too long. Much like when one stares directly at the Sun. She was now standing in an endless amount of it when not even one minute ago she was fighting off disgusting, ugly deformed vampires (minions of the First and all) inside the school halls with Andrew while the others went off to fight the big, bad nasty. They were probably on their way to their very probable deaths even with Buffy pla-

"Hang on" Anya said as a notion appeared to her. She held up her hands as a sudden notion appeared in her head and the twice former vengeance demon could feel a slight boil in her blood if her suspicions became true. Slowly, she lowered her hands from the top of her head downwards. There was nothing until her hands reached the bottom of her neck where she felt a slight dampness. It continued down and across her whole torso, seeping into her clothing. Lifting her hands once more, almost too afraid of what she would see, her hands were stained a crimson colour she was all too familiar with. She never knew there was no feeling of pain after it happened, no the only pain she could imagine would be the throbbing vein in her neck at her irritation "Oh crap, I'm dead!" She pouted.

"Anya?"

"What?" Anya jumped. She could have sworn she was alone in this-whatever it was. What was it actually? If it was heaven, shouldn't there be something good, like lots and lots of money, around? If it was heaven, wouldn't Xander be standing beside her right now? Without a second thought, Anya called what was on the tip of her tongue "Xander?"

The voice echoed once again "Anya, it is you, isn't it?" And immediately Anya's slightly heightened heart sank, she couldn't tell who the voice was as distorted as it was, but it was more than enough to tell her it wasn't Xander. Maybe that was a good thing. Really, if he was beside her that would mean him being dead too. But who else could it be?

As if to answer her question, a presence was nearing Anya from behind. Whoever it was had finally appeared from the glowing whiteness around them. Always too curious for her own good, perhaps from being a part of the scoobies for so long, Anya whipped around to face the mysterious stranger only to have her jaw nearly connect with the floor when it dropped open. It certainly wasn't a stranger. Not in the least.

"T-Tara?" Anya spluttered out, looking at the fallen witch who now looked almost like a Goddess, clad in her beautiful white corseted dress. It was the only thing that Anya could think of to say without sounding like a complete idiot.

Well her answers were slowly beginning to form; she knew she was definitely dead now. But there was something she had to do before anything else could be said or done. Without giving Willow's former lover so much as a warning, Anya launched herself forward into a powerful hug that caught poor Tara completely by surprise. She let go almost as quickly as she had attached herself, resuming her aloof air "It's good to see you not dead, or it's good to see you when I'm dead too"

"Thanks?" Tara chuckled a little nervously, looking around her "So I really am dead? I thought I might be, first popping up with bloody messiness and then suddenly 'poof' into this really pretty dress. It all kinda makes sense to me now. Oh no, but that means-Anya you died?"

"Well yeah, of course you're dead, unfortunately so am I and I can't figure out a way to get back" Anya paused briefly "You've only just worked it out you're dead? Good lord, you've been dead for a year and that's all you could manage?"

Tara's eyes turned to the size of saucers and she used her all too familiar stutter "A yer, year, I've been dead a year already? But it hasn't felt like more than a day" The witch gulped back her sudden confusion "What's going on here? Are you the only one who got here? Willow?" The last word left her lips so naturally yet with so much fear that Anya just wanted to break down and cry, to tell Tara about everything that happened since her death. It seemed cruel that Tara had been blissfully unaware until now. The carnage of the past year, her mistakes, Buffy's sacrifices, all the pain they had endured seared through Anya's mind like someone was burning them in with a hot poker, teasing her that everything was raw and happening. Tara should have to know and should have been able to seek comfort in the fact that she had died. It was infuriating.

"I think I'm the only one" Anya gently placed a hand on her shoulder. Her internal battle raged on but the look on Tara's face had been getting steadily more hysterical. Would she have shattered if Anya told her? Would that have helped Anya feel better? Thinking about it too much caused too many emotions that Anya was too scared, confused and exhausted to deal with. "Willow's still probably being the little trooper that she is, fighting that battle" It wasn't until she finished talking that Anya realized her mistake. Tara's eyes were beginning to widen with panic once again and Anya mentally slapped herself "What I mean is, whatever's going on, we would probably know what happened to any of them. We've got our own problems right now" She motioned wildly to the never ending space around them.

Nodding, Tara swung the hem of her dress gently "Well it wasn't long after I got here that my clothes went and changed and…" She trailed off as Anya's bloodied top began to glow, engulfing her in a warm feeling almost like she was once again alive. How had she not noticed the cold of her body? Of course it was cold, she was dead after all but this warmth was so welcoming and Anya let herself go to it, she told herself that it was alright that she had died. An easiness of calm thoughts suffocated themselves around her, thoughts that she herself had been nowhere near thinking. There was no way back, and she was suddenly being forced to acknowledge that it would only cause her more grief if she tried to fight against death. When she opened her eyes, she too was now clad in a white cardigan and white trousers but completely barefoot, her wound completely gone. She turned to Tara with a slightly raised eyebrow.

"You look…clean" Tara smiled gently but her face slowly melted into seriousness "There isn't a way back" She knew, she had tried to think as much as she could from the moment she had appeared there, she had tried to find her way back to her baby, her Willow. But like Anya seemed to realize, Tara too had found out that she wasn't likely to ever return home, much less see her beloved again. No matter how much she pursued the idea of leaving or at least trying to think about the ones she had left behind, it was like soft warm hands had covered her eyes and her ears and her mouth and her heart. Somewhere within her being, it was no doubt shattering yet this place seemed to deny her the ability to grieve…And Tara wasn't sure that was a good thing.

Anya only shook her head at the slightly ominous calm that had been forced on them and heaved a sigh as a response before a resolve face reminding Tara of Willow, spread across Anya's face "But there's still the question of where the heck we are and what we're doing here" It seemed like it was a day when all of Anya's questions were being answered for a glow so intense that it had no distinct colour was forming before the two women, it was so powerful that they both had to shield their eyes.

A womanly figure was stepping out of it, and as the flare began to die down, her features were appearing. Blonde hair, playful yet wise eyes, and a face so similar to that of the Slayer that both young women knew and loved. The figure had her signature playful smile on her face "Well, it's about time both of you got here, I thought you would never show up. Took a little while longer to die than it was planned, huh Anya?"

"Joyce!" They both cried in unison. Tara then stepped forward, looking the mother of the slayer up and down. She looked exactly as she did when she had died, except that she too was adorned in the simplest of white dresses that accentuated her natural beauty. Finally, Tara spoke.

"Mrs. Summers, what's going on? We know we're dead but where are we?" She asked timidly.

"Is this some kind of heavenly dimension" Anya brought up the question that was plaguing her mind. She already knew that if this was meant to be heaven, it sucked.

Joyce smiled at each of them in turn and then placed a hand on each other their shoulders "I'm sorry that it had to be you two, you both still had a lot to live for in our universe but you're the only two who could help. It's an honor"

Through the vague things that had just been said, one bit of Joyce's so claimed welcome stuck out to her. In our universe? "What do you mean? There can't be more than one universe"

"But there is" Joyce's smile turned a little grave. She fiddled with her hands little bit, her speech becoming slightly monotone as if she were paraphrasing from a textbook she had read over and over. According to Joyce there were several universes in fact, each one that operated differently to the others. When the girls pressed her for more she admitted that she wasn't sure about specifics; just that each one had their own rules of existence, whatever that meant. "I'm just your guide for this place before I get sent back to where I belong with the Powers That Be"

"Oh Anya, Tara" Her eyes flicked between them fondly "There's something powerful at work here, they've sensed that something isn't right, you two aren't where you're supposed to be, not anymore at least" Their part, whether large or small, in the tale of the Slayer was over. And now the universes were shifting for them, tearing holes between them so that two women who were merely soldiers that came and went in the lives of the Slayer and her friends could go where they were truly supposed to be. Even during Buffy's death, the universes did not move like this but now they had forced them to.

"But Mrs. Summers, who are they? And why are you here, wherever here is?" Tara was beginning to feel overwhelmed with the information being fed to them. If even the Slayer wasn't considered worthy of the power that was used for Anya and Tara, then what made them so special?

"I don't know Tara, I wish I knew what kind of power this was but I don't, it's beyond any of us, far beyond our understanding" Joyce took several steps back "I just know that this place is the Void" It was the space between spaces; the border of every universe where nothing really existed, not even good or evil. Joyce was correct in the fact that people probably wouldn't comprehend it fully. It was place where universes were born and where they died. Some would even roughly call this place Eternity. Joyce could only tell them that she was instructed to wait here for them until they both died, although even the Powers were unsure when that was going to happen. But someone was needed to guide the girls in the right direction and the Powers brought Joyce to this mysterious Them, thinking that a familiar face might make it easier.

"Listen girls" Joyce turned her back to them "The amount of power that it's taking to keep the tear open long enough for you to jump, it's colossal. Whatever they sensed must mean that everything is really out of balance to throw you around. You need to go to where you're now supposed to be but if there's one thing they refuse to control, it's free will so you can only go if you want, just know that you can't return to our universe either, you can only choose to stay here"

"You mean wander this annoying, squeaky clean place for all eternity and beyond?" Anya raised her eyebrows, finally getting a sense of the situation but unlike Tara she seemed a little less panicked. If it was really as Joyce said, and in all honesty it all made some bizarre sense to Anya, then there was nothing else to be done "No thanks, I'm good to move on"

Tara looked to Anya nervously "If we can't go back, then we can't sit here either. If we're really needed somewhere, then we have to go, it's what Willow would have done too" At this, Joyce turned her head back to the girls once more with a sad smile on her face before she began walking off into where the light seemed to almost be thinning.

"Then follow me, I will lead you to where you're supposed to be"

x-x-x

It felt like they had walked for an eternity, or perhaps not at all. Joyce had not been kidding when she said that all manner of space and time didn't exist in this place. Anya was beginning to feel like she was just caught in a loop that didn't stop and Tara was on the verge of simply dropping to her knees out confusion and frustration. But eventually they reached the line of darkness that was piercing the whiteness. It was literally just a line that couldn't have been much thicker than a hair.

Joyce stopped about a foot ahead of the two women. She had not spoken the entire time, none of them had, but now she turned to them with that same sad smile across her mature and beautiful face "This is as far as I can go, I can't go any further with you girls and it's time for me to return to our own universe. I'll miss you two, I wish you could have just stayed with me; I've been pretty cozy so far but company would have been nice" She stretched out her arms to hug each of them tightly "The ones that are sending you to this universe say they'll not interrupt anymore after that and whatever your fate will be, they'll let it happen as it should, so please take care of yourselves and each other wherever you end up-Promise me and promise each other"

"We promise Mrs. Summers" Tara let go, looking a somewhat unsure and afraid. But Anya, in one of her moments of humanly compassion, grabbed Tara's shaking hand in her own equally shaken one once she had released Joyce too.

"Yeah, yeah, we swear Joyce, you worry too much" She laughed nervously "We've kicked the Big Bad down before and we'll do it again no matter where we go. I just hope I get some kind of luxurious lifestyle in this new life since I can never go home again"

No more words were said as Joyce let out a small chuckle and began to once more fade into that bright, harsh light but this time, all the whiteness around them seemed to collapsing to complete darkness almost as if they were falling away from Joyce, like they had slipped and fallen into that tiny strip of darkness. Neither girl was sure about what happened first. Did they fall into unconsciousness first or did the falling sensation in the pit of their stomachs get that category beat?

x-x-x

It was the hard slam of their bodies colliding with the ground that first alerted them that they were back in something more materialistic than the 'space between spaces' and then of course the winded pain that daringly followed was also a big hint. Still with eyes closed, they gasped in breaths of air. Accompanying much needed oxygen was also the powerful scent of grass, trees, nature.

"Anya?" Tara spoke her name plainly, knowing her companion would be there.

"Yeah?" Anya brought her hands up to her forehead, still taking in deep breaths. Even the smell of nature was welcoming, it reminded her of the good old days when she first became a vengeance demon and went anywhere in the world. Back when people hadn't put towering skyscrapers in every corner they could reach.

"That really hurt" Tara had a hint of humor in her voice. She too was enjoying the sweet smell entering her nose. A hearty chuckle next to her told her that Anya found that statement as amusing as she did. Finally both women cracked their eyes open and were greeted by a blue sky and sunshine obscured by the tree tops above them. Some of the lower branches were snapped and singed as if something burned them. Tara had no doubt it was them that did it when they 'fell' through.

"So, where are we?" Anya slowly sat up as she felt the air now back in her body and only a dull throb of pain in her back. Looking to Tara and then down at herself, she saw that their white clothing was no longer on them but now they wore more exactly what they had worn when they died. Tara was back in her simple blue top and jeans while Anya was back in her red top with the grey jacket. The only difference was that neither one of them was bleeding anymore and the clothes were clean.

Tara too seemed to notice this and stood up, brushing the fallen leaves from herself "I'm not sure, we're in some kind of forest"

"Oh really? I wasn't sure what this was called" Anya said quickly but not harshly, if she had learned one thing over time was that Tara was sweet and, at times, sensitive little thing.

"I think we might be able to get a better look from over there, I think it's a cliff edge so we might be up pretty high" Tara pointed in the direction she was looking in "At least we could figure out a direction to go" And like that the young witch began to lead the way with Anya following closely behind.

"Awful nice of those super great inter-universal powers to just drop us off in the middle of nowhere without so much as a hint as to what we're supposed to do!" By the end of this rant, Anya was now yelling out at the sky as if she thought they'd be listening "Thanks a lot! If we were back on earth, I would sue their asses for every penny they have"

"Shh" Tara held back a giggle, gently trying to be the sensible one as they neared the cliff edge. Immediately, she was awestruck by the rolling forest landscape before them. From here, she could see waterfalls and mountains in the distance. At first she thought her eyes were fooling her but she spotted what really was, and looked like, a gorgeous palace or court in the middle of the woods not too far away from they were. Keeping her voice low, Tara voiced her concerns about Anya's loud voice even though she had suddenly become silent "We don't know what kind of animals could be in this forest, this world even"

In response, she felt a tug on her sleeve "Ones with pointy ears and even pointier looking weapons?" Anya's nervous voice as well as curious question turned Tara's attention. And she found herself facing about six or seven bows and arrows in her face, being held by some of the most beautiful beings either of them had ever seen. However, their gazes as well as posture was anything but beautiful, they seemed tense, hostile and suspicious.

One of them, a tall guy with his shining auburn hair tied in a semi-ponytail, stepped forward with a voice of authority and perhaps a tinge of curiosity "Who or what are you, strange ones? And what brings you to Rivendell?"