A/N: I don't own BtVS. Here is Chapter 9.

Willow was standing before that little louse, and he was tied between two trees at his wrists and ankles. Power was coursing through her, numbing the loss she felt but not the hate. He was begging, but it stirred no pity within her.

"Please, God… I did wrong, I see that now. I need… jail. I need… But you!" he gasped with the pain as she slowly wormed her bullet deeper into his chest. "You don't want this! You're not a bad person. Not like me…"

She heard Buffy call, and she could feel her friends approaching. Maybe she should get it over with. But it was so fun to listen to him beg.

Warren had heard her friends as well, and tried to use them as his escape now. "When you get caught, you'll lose them too. Your friends," he was barely coherent now. The bullet was still moving through his chest, even more slowly now. You don't want that. I know… You're in pain but –"

She stopped. He knew nothing about pain. In his last seconds, maybe he would begin to understand.

"Bored now," she replied, and the air was filled with the stench of flesh.

"Oh my god," Xander breathed, staring on in horror.

Buffy was equally shocked. She really hadn't believed her friend, sweet, shy Willow that she'd known for years, could have done it. "Willow, no – what did you do?"

Willow didn't hear.

"Willow, it's alright," Tara was kneeling over her. This vision was different. Instead of looking down on some other version of herself, Willow was within herself, trapped inside this other Willow's body.

It hurt to look up at Tara; she had to strain to crack her eyelids. When she tried to breathe, it felt like someone heavy was sitting on her chest. She gave up trying to look around, and breathed shallowly with her eyes shut. The ground below her was damp and soft; she guessed that she was in the same forest that she had just been standing in.

"Everything's okay, it wasn't real. Come on, baby, I'm here, wake up for me," Tara pleaded. Her soft cool hands caressed Willow's face.

The pain was real, even if she knew the situation wasn't. Her ribs ached and her throat burned with every breath. Still, even with the pain, this Willow had Tara, and as the dark witch felt reality pulling on her, she was unwilling to go.

With a noise of fury at being returned to a reality without Tara, and the confusion of these images that kept returning to torture her, Willow sent a burst of flames to reduce Warren's corpse to ashes. "One down."

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry her, Buffy?" Tara asked anxiously. She still had Warren magically bound and walking a few feet in front of her, but she was secure enough in her power that she felt confident she could carry Willow at the same time.

Buffy shook her head. "Faster this way," she replied, cradling the barely conscious and completely incoherent redhead in her arms. "We'll be back before too long, and then I'll take over for Warren and you can take care of her."

Tara didn't like not being close to her girlfriend when she clearly needed her, but she agreed with Buffy, and she really didn't want Warren to get away. Still, even more than that – and she knew it was selfish – she just wanted to get to the bottom of these visions Willow was having, and she wished she could make it her first priority.

"Almost there, Willow," she heard Buffy soothe the other girl, and what she said was true. They were nearly to the edge of the woods, and the Magic Box wasn't too far into town even on foot. "We'll be there soon, and then we can figure this all out. It's okay." She continued to murmur to her friend the rest of the way there. Luckily, by that point Warren had pretty much established that there was no way he was escaping this, and he had remained mostly silent. Tara remained wary, though; she was taking no chances. The sooner they got Warren to a safe place, the sooner they could focus on Willow's visions.

Finally they arrived at the Magic Box. Xander, Anya, and Dawn were still there researching, though they hadn't found anything important. Anya set out a couple of blankets on the counter and laid Willow there while Buffy and Tara took care of Warren.

"We should tie him up where we can see him," the Slayer decided, "just in case. And then, could you make some sort of circle to contain him? Something that won't drain your energy if you have to keep it up for a long time?"

Tara quickly gathered the ingredients she would need while Buffy found some rope and tied Warren to a chair. The witch formed a circle around him with the ground up herbs, and nodded in satisfaction when she was finished. "That should work." Then, as an afterthought, she muttered, "Dormio," and Warren instantly slumped over in his chair. "I didn't want to have to listen to him," she admitted sheepishly. Buffy hugged her.

"I'm here, Willow," Tara was murmuring within a few minutes, holding her girlfriend's hand and stroking her hair.

"Giles won't pick up," Buffy called out as she slammed down the phone.

Anya shook her head. "It's no use, he's probably already on the plane."

"Buffy, I'm really worried," Tara gripped Willow's hand tighter. "She's not even acting like she realizes I'm here."

Crossing the room to stand next to her friends, Buffy held Willow's other hand. "She'll be okay, Tara," she smiled slightly, brushing the other blonde's hair out of her face. "Giles will be here in a few hours, and we'll have everything under control."

Tara looked back down at Willow, immediately absorbed in her again. She missed Buffy's worried glance in Warren's direction.

"Anya," Andrew begged, pressed against the bars of the jail cell and staring out at the wall before him, which was quickly disintegrating. "Teleport us out of here. Please, take us with you!"

Anya replied sadly, "I can't. It doesn't work that way." Where the hell is Buffy?

"Oh, God," the boy cried again. Jonathan next to him was silent in fear. More bricks tumbled down. "Help!"

"Right here," a voice said from behind him. His knees nearly buckled with relief at the sight of the Slayer, his former enemy. They did buckle with relief when she began bending back the bars to let them out of the cell.

When Willow stepped in through the window she had created, the cell was empty. She sent a jet of magic at Anya and knocked her out without a second thought. But after that, she didn't know what to do. Buffy and Xander cringed at her scream of pain even as they piled with the boys into a cop car to escape their friend.

"Where are you taking us?" Andrew asked as the car sped away from the station as fast as Xander could drive.

Buffy hesitated, at a loss. Willow was so powerful. "We'll find someplace safe and we'll keep you there until we can stop Willow," she finally answered.

"Run and hide? That's your brilliant plan?" Andrew breathed, panic increasing by the second.

Jonathan cradled his head in his hands, moaning, "I don't believe this."

"Boys, if you don't knock it off, I will pull this car over, and you can just walk to your painful deaths from here," Xander said finally. There was silence.

Willow had to pause for only a moment at the doors to the police station before she was able to sense where her would-be victims had gone, and that her friends were still with them. Her face blank, she took off in their direction. It took her only a few minutes before she was right on their tail. Another few seconds, and she could hear everything they were saying inside the car.

"I don't get it," Jonathan shrugged, relaxing a little, as it seemed they might escape. "Willow's a witch; why doesn't she just, you know, wave her arms and make us dead?"

"Because Willow doesn't want you dead," Buffy replied grimly. "She wants to kill you."

Oh, Buffy. So understanding, as always.

"But we didn't do anything," Andrew protested. The blonde silenced him with a smack to the face.

"I hate to admit it, Buff," Xander said quietly as the boy behind him fussed over his wound, "But Jonathan may have a point. Why isn't she right here, right now?"

Willow smirked. She could see their taillights.

"Maybe she's just getting her mojo up and running," the Slayer suggested. Then she added, "Or maybe she hasn't figured out exactly how much power she has yet… And neither have we."

Xander shrugged. "I guess we keep running, then."

"I still can't believe that was Willow," Jonathan piped up from the backseat. Willow rolled her eyes. She had no use for anything having to do with her old, mousy self. She concentrated her magic on speeding up, drawing closer to the police car by the second, only half listening as he continued. "I mean, I've known her almost as long as you guys. Willow was… you know. She packed her own lunches and wore floods and she was always… just Willow."

Oh, really?

The semi-truck carrying Willow barely registered the bump, but Xander's little police car certainly felt it.

"What was that?"

Xander swallowed. "Just Willow."

"Tara," Willow muttered, stirring a little.

"Is she awake?" Dawn looked up eagerly from Willow's laptop, which she had borrowed for research.

Tara shook her head. "I can't tell. She might be slowly coming around, maybe."

Rubbing his eyes in frustration, Xander pushed his chair back from the table. "I got nothing," he announced as he crossed the room to Tara and Willow. The blonde hadn't left the counter since they had gotten back to the Magic Box, a time frame that was now approaching several hours. She was pale and shaky, and Xander put a hand on her shoulder.

"Tara, why don't you take a rest for a little bit?" he suggested gently. "She doesn't look like she's going to wake up right now. You should sit down for a while."

"No, I…. Well, I do have to pee," she admitted sheepishly. "But I'm coming right back. I can't be away from her."

Xander nodded, sneaking a subtle glance towards Anya. He understood.

"Tara," Willow moaned again, more urgently, refusing to drop the blonde's hand as she tried to walk away from the counter.

"Willow, love?" Tara stopped trying to get away immediately, and whirled back to her girlfriend's side. "Are you awake? Can you hear me?"

Giving a slight cough, Willow seemed to force her eyes open with some difficulty. They were unfocused and bleary, but they found Tara. "Tara, we have to find them," she wheezed, allowing her eyes to slide shut again but not giving up on the message she was trying to get across. "We have to…"

"Find who, darling?" Tara cupped her cheek, wanting to cry in relief that she was awake. Still, Willow's behavior now that she was conscious was worrying her.

"Andrew. Jonathan. She's after them."

"After them?" Xander looked down at his friend. With all their Hellmouth shenanigans over the years, he could never remember feeling quite so scared. Willow looked, for lack of a more optimistic phrase, like death.

"She wants to kill them. She's powerful. Angry."

Buffy, Anya and Dawn watched from their respective spots around the shop. Warren had by now awoken from Tara's spell and his eyes looked around wildly above the gag keeping him silent.

"You can't stop her, Buffy," Willow said, without looking towards her friend at all.

"Who, Willow?" Tara pressed gently, though she was afraid she knew the answer. "Who wants to kill Andrew and Jonathan?"

Looking a little clearer for the first time, at least in the sense that she seemed to know where she was, Willow opened her eyes again. She still seemed confused, though, even at what she was saying. Her answer came slowly and fearfully.

"Me."