Note: This story is dedicated to The Silent Scream without whom it would have never been written. In this reality Xander and Anya are married, Spike never attempted to rape Buffy so he never left to get a soul and he simply remains annoying and sometimes useful. Also the timeline is a bit off so some events of season seven occurred early or out of order and some never occurred due to changes in characters. Tara was never shot and the three nerds were arrested fair quickly after attempting to kill Buffy (Andrew and Warren share a cell ;) ). This story is has no beta.

The Red Witch

Chapter One

Six and a half months later...

As Buffy walked down the stairs she was thinking about how much her red haired best friend pissed her off these days, especially when it came to her blonde haired friend. Even now she could hear their conversation in the kitchen and it made her want to kill Willow if only she could. Walking into the bright and sunny kitchen she could verify with her eyes what her nose told her from the stairs Tara was making pancakes lots of them. Blueberry, chocolate and plain funny shapes and rounds and in the center of the dining table there were already bowls upon bowls of cut fruits and bacon as well as stacks of toast and jugs of milk and OJ.

"The Slayer awakens and graces us with her presence" Willow called from the counter where she sat next to Tara's bowls of batter.

Buffy barely glanced at the witch her eyes strictly for Tara who was once again crying as she cooked though her face wasn't as tear stained as it normally was this time of the day perhaps she was finally learning to ignore Willow. Speaking of the witch she didn't like being ignored and was likely to start in on Buffy soon if Buffy didn't get her to go away.

"Tara are you ok?" Buffy asked what has become a ritual question between the two of them at this time of day.

"Never better Buffy" Tara responded wanly an obvious lie that Buffy allowed to pass if only because she already knew the real answer that no Tara was not ok and wasn't likely to be ok again soon though she was looking better now than she had yesterday or the day before.

"What about me Buff? Aren't you gonna ask how I am this fine day? Or are you gonna try to pretend I don't exist again?" Willow said teleporting from the counter top to just in front of Buffy as she finished the last sentence.

"You aren't wanted here, go to hell where you belong" Buffy stated coldly unable to ignore Willow anymore now that she stood right in front of her.

"Aw don't you love me anymore Buff?" Willow asked in a hurt tone the beginning of tears in her big green eyes.

"No" came the firm and angry response from the already irritated slayer as she began to try and move around the now sobbing red head.

"Tara, Buffy doesn't love me anymore is that why she let me die? Do you still love me Tara? Or will you abandon me again like Buffy did when she left me in the dark and dirty street?!" The sobbing red head turned to the teary eyed blonde demanding a response to her query.

Buffy unable to help herself threw a punch at the back of Willow's head with all of her strength. If it connected it could kill the red head as the slayer was very physically powerful. However it didn't connect because even as Buffy heard Tara's horrified gasp she saw her fist move through Willow's head as if there was nothing there but air. Having become unbalanced by the powerful hit that did nothing she stumbled through Willow's body and turned around to face her again once she re-balanced herself putting herself quite deliberately between the two witches.

"Wow Buff you really don't love me anymore."

"Go to HELL!" Buffy yelled by now angrier than she was before now that she has given in to Willow's taunts. The red witch cocked her head at Buffy and after quirking one brow she studied Buffy as if she were a painting in a museum and then she smiled brightly at the slayer. Wounds began to open up on Willow's body and bright red blood poured down her form staining the blouse and jeans she wore and causing Tara to gasp again and nearly burn herself on the stovetop as she jumped backward.

"I'll see you tonight Baby" Will called as she blew Tara a kiss through bloody lips and then she disappeared finally.

"Thank you Buffy" Tara said now dumping her burnt pancakes and getting ready to pour fresh batter in the pan hiding her face from the slayer.

"No problem" Buffy answered "I just wish I could keep her from showing up at all".

Tara's shoulder's shook a little at this. Buffy moved over to her and placed an arm across her back comfortingly. "She is gone Tara and having the First pretend to be her is no good for anyone" Buffy said soothingly.

"I know Buffy and I know the others are just as affected as I am but part of me can't help but want that connection because I won't see her again otherwise" Buffy sighed but remained quiet and rubbed Tara's back because she had nothing to say to that, part of her wanted that connection too even though she knew it wasn't her friend. Willow was dead.

"Buffy could you wake up the others? They should eat before breakfast gets cold" Tara asked quietly.

"Sure" Buffy responded "just make sure to put some away for yourself this time you know those girls eat like starving teenage boys". Buffy turned and began making her way back out of the kitchen "I'll also see if Giles made any progress in finding a way to block the First from this house or at least from taking her form" Tara nodded at this and began plating the now done pancakes and preparing to make even more. Buffy sighed as she made her way upstairs she needed to make sure Tara ate more Willow would be upset if she knew how little Tara ate or slept since that night and the least she could do for her best friend was take care of her girl. Maybe she should take the girls out today keep them outside and make them spar and run laps. Faith would help and maybe it would be quiet enough then for Tara to get at least a little rest. Buffy went to get Giles up first because she wanted a chance to get to the food before any of the girls got up, she would need her strength if she was going to train slayerettes all day and night.

Later that night Buffy and Faith split the girls into two groups and went out to patrol Sunnydale. So far the day had been full of physical exertion and the girls were running low on energy. Buffy was hoping to tire herself out tonight so that she could get something more than four hours of sleep so her group would not be turning in any time soon much to the girls' dismay. They walked through the second to last cemetery on Buffy's list and like the last one they went through there was very little activity in terms of vampires though the girls did get to try their luck with two slime demons who were too pathetic to put up much of a fight.

They finished rounding the cemetery really quickly after the demon fight and so Buffy decided that if there weren't signs of activity in the last cemetery on the list she would not force the girls to stay out even longer. After all there was only about an hour to an hour and a half left before the First showed yet again. She could set her watch to how predictably the cruel apparition showed up wearing Willow's face. It seemed to like wearing Willow better than Buffy's mom or even Buffy herself. No doubt this was because it got more mileage out of the red head in terms of stronger reactions from more of Buffy's friends even Faith got freaked from time to time though she was better than most at not showing her reactions and so she avoided most of the First's attention. Buffy and Tara were its favorite targets as they had the strongest reactions and as hard as she tried Buffy couldn't be as indifferent as she wished because she still felt Willow's death was her fault. Tara left Willow for Willow's own good and she would no doubt have returned eventually to help Willow after enough time had passed.

But Buffy left Willow because she'd been pissed at her and ironically she'd been so angry with Will because Will had basically been doing the same thing that she was. Only her vice involved sleeping with the undead a fact that Xander never let her forget, whenever she looked at him she could see a bit of condemnation in his eyes. Their relationship was never the same after they learned that Will had been beaten to death and then eaten by demons after Buffy left her in the street so coldly. The fact that Spike of all people brought them this information only fuelled Xander's hatred of him and his anger at Buffy. It took a month and a half for Buffy to even get Xander to talk to her again and that was only due to Anya and the wedding otherwise he still might not be talking to her. Even now he did not speak or share with her as much as he used to Willow's death hit him extremely hard and at the wedding he stood alone while awaiting his bride because only his oldest friend was allowed at his side on that day and she wasn't able to be there. It was the single most gloomy wedding she'd ever been a part of despite the fact that it was the only wedding she'd ever been a part of or even attended and despite the fact that half all the guests were rowdy demons with short fuses not to mention Xander's drunken relatives.

If Buffy were truly honest with herself she would admit that a large part of her anger came from Willow ripping her from heaven and bringing her back to the Hellmouth, never ending apocalypse(s)/(ii) (whatever the plural is) and unending pain emotional and otherwise. But to admit that even to herself would be to betray everything she stood for, everything she was and most important her sister. The hardest thing in this world is to live in it she told Dawn, if only she realized how true this was at the time. She was supposed to want to be around for her sister right? Because without her Dawn had no family, since their mother was dead, to take care of her save their absent father. However that was only if you counted blood. In terms of their friends turned family there was Buffy's watcher/ pseudo father who lived in another country (except during a major crisis), one severely depressed witch, a depraved vampire, a profit obsessed ex demon and a carpenter. But even still to have grown up without Buffy and Joyce would have been very hard on Dawnie. Could she really even now still bear ill will against her red haired friend for looking out for Dawnie for allowing Buffy be around to protect and care for her sister and see to it that she became the confident and amazing woman she was meant to be? She couldn't allow herself to even think those thoughts anymore it made living with herself even harder to bear.

Buffy sighed at the thought of how much more gloomy her return to life had become without Willow. If she had been there Buffy might have at least eventually found some sort of resolution to the issues that tore at her daily. If only Willow had lived... If only Giles had at least been able to find anything that would allow them to block the first (a consistent reminder of her friend and the problems she'd left Buffy with) it was not good for her status as leader of the slayer army for the girls to see the tension between the scoobies or the emotional reactions that the First always inevitably provoked not to mention it was no good for her sanity or temper either.