Willow pushed the door to her dorm room open, carefully trying not to drop the books she borrowed from Tara. She was enjoying hanging out with the blonde witch. And Buffy was right, it is good she's making friends after Oz. Okay, so maybe she shouldn't think about that. But Tara was nice, and friendly and cute and—

"Cute? Where did that come from?" Willow asked the empty room, dropping the books gently onto her desk, clicking the desk lamp on as she moved away. Willow shook her head, filing that thought away for another time.

"Buff, tell me you didn't go out patrolling…" Willow sighed as she moved over to her friend and roommates desk. Sure enough, next to the TV, was that little scrap of paper that read 'Gone on patrol. Back later. Please leave bottle of water on my desk. Thanks. Buffy x' "Hope you at least spoke with Riley."

Willow reached down and took the bottle of water out of the mini fridge and put it on Buffy's desk, before moving back to hers, grabbing a notepad and pen from her shelf. She scribbled down on the page 'Buff, I'll be gone by the time you get back from patrolling. Staying at Tara's tonight and will be with Tara tomorrow as I have no classes. I'm showing her around Sunnydale. Have fun in class. Willow x' Willow signed, a small smile appearing on her face at the prospect of spending the day with Tara.

"Whoa there Will, already filed that thought away for another time." Willow reminded herself, placing the pen down and moving over to Buffy's bed, placing the note on the Slayer's pillow, to ensure she actually gets the note, unlike last time.

"Which I will not think about." Willow picked up a crystal from the bed and looked at it closely, examining it. She almost dropped it when there was a knock at the door, which she quickly bounded over to answer.

"Buffy, you have to remember to take your keys wi—Oh, Riley. Hi. Buffy's not here." Willow smiled, moving back to invite him in. "I guess you talked. Are you going to join her patrolling?"

"No." Riley answered, eyes trained on Willow.

"Uhm…" Willow raised an eyebrow at Riley's odd behaviour. "Then why are you wearing the combats? Have you found a demon on campus?" Willow asked, almost excitedly. Though that excitement died right down when the 5 members of the taskforce stepped into her dorm behind Riley, Taser guns drawn.

"Something like that." Riley replied, and one of the men fired, and Willow's world went black


Buffy stumbled back into the dorm room, dropping the duffle bag of weapons just inside the door, swinging it closed behind her. In her post-slayage haze, she stumbled over to her desk, grabbing the water bottle Willow had left on her desk and drinking half of it in one go. Willow was a great roommate, she didn't have to hide her slaying activities from her, she could just come and go as she pleased, and she always left the bottle of water on her desk so it wasn't too cold to drink like it would be if it was right out of the fridge. Quickly, Buffy took off her shoes and left them by her desk.

Buffy tiptoed over to her bed, careful not to wake Willow up. It was already 1am, so Buffy figured she could just sleep in her clothes and have a shower before her 11am class, no-one would know. Buffy laid down on her bed, dropping her head onto her pillow. The paper crunched under her head and she sat upright again, grabbing the note from on top of her pillow. She strained to read it in the dark, but with a glance over to Willow's bed, she confirmed she'd read the letter correctly.

"Leave me all alone why don't you." Buffy mock huffed, dropping the paper onto her desk and laying her head down properly, pulling the duvet up and over herself. She figured even without her human alarm clock, she could totally still make it to the showers and her lesson on time.

Totally.


Tara nursed her coffee at the campus coffee house, silently staring into the cup. The last time she had been this silent, it hadn't been voluntary. But at least then, she was with the redhead. Now, she was sat alone, and the barista kept glancing up at her with the silent sympathetic oh-sweetie-they're-not-coming look on his face.

She believed him too. It was 12pm now, and Willow was meant to meet her 12 hours ago. She went to pick up a book from her dorm, and to come back and stay over, so they could go round Sunnydale together, and Willow bragged she was the best tour guide, and she had agreed to test that theory, and got Willow to agree to give her the grand tour.

Yes, she was worried, but the way Willow talked made her think the witch could handle what was thrown at them. She had helped stop 3 or 4 apocalypses –apocalypi?— by now. If her own self esteem wasn't so low and her anxiety wasn't so high, she might have gone round to Willow's dorm room. But what if Willow didn't want to see her, and that's why she didn't come back. Or if her blonde friend answered the door and tried to talk to her more about the men Willow had dated. She didn't know which was worse, so she picked none.

Tara sighed again, adding another sugar to her coffee, when the aforementioned blonde came bounding into the coffee shop, stopping short when she saw Tara.

"Yo, Tara!" Buffy made her way over, sliding into the stool opposite her friend's friend.

"Hi B-Buffy." Tara stirred her drink as the girl opposite her dropped her bag onto the floor next to her sat.

"Willow in the restroom?" Buffy asked, glancing over to the restroom door quickly, before returning her attention to Tara.

"What?" Tara asked, dropping the coffee stirrer into her drink.

"Whoa there." Buffy smiled, looking at the coffee, not noticing the utter lack of stuttering in the other girl's voice, as well as the undertone of fear. "Dropped your stirry stick think."

"What do you mean?" Tara asked, voice small, worried.

"Huh? The Willow thing? Said you two were hitting the town today, figured you'd be, you know, in town. Not here."

"W-Willow didn't come b-back. I thought s-she might have s-stayed at her dorm." Tara looked into the other blonde's eyes, watching as a look of fear similar to her own crept into her eyes.

"What."


Willow coughed painfully, pushing herself off the cool floor she was laying on. The white sterile floors and walls shone brightly with the artificial lamps running across the ceiling. There was a loud ringing in her ears, and she sat up quickly, staring into the glass wall in front of her. Her reflection was still there, so she deduced she wasn't a vampire, despite how cold she felt inside and out. Her reflection also showed her wearing what looked like doctors scrubs, only white. And she was deathly pale.

She pushed up further, aiming to stand up, when the world came crashing down around her, the back of her head stinging with pain. Slowly, she moved a hand around to the back of her head, feeling the gentle ridges of a scar on her skull, something akin to a surgery scar.

Bringing her hand back round to her side, she glanced down at her fingers to make sure there was no blood on her fingers, however, what caught her attention was not blood, but the tattooed number on her wrist. '#31'

"What the heck?"