My Love, Oh My Love.
"No…no please don't let it be true. Tara how could you do this?"
Giles, as well as all the Scoobies, couldn't prevent the onslaught of sadness that seemed to emanate from heartbroken Willow. Her tears were drops of light that evaporated once they hit the floor of the shop. Xander looked at Willow with a look of amazement on his face, but that seemed to vanish once the reality of the situation settled in his mind. Willow was dead and now that he was staring at her ghost, it only made him want to cry once more for his fallen friend. Giles signaled the rest of the Scoobs to place their candles one by one around Willow's spectral essence. Buffy was the first, followed by Anya, then Xander, and last was Giles. He looked at Willow with a sorrowful look and slowly began to speak.
"Willow…Tara has done a terrible thing to herself and to others. We must let you know now that if we cannot find a way to extract her powers safely, she will have to be taken care of."
Willow looked at Rupert with a overcome look of disbelief, she quickly looked at Buffy as if to ensure she had heard what she heard. Willow's look didn't go unnoticed for Buffy recognized what she wished to know. All she could do is nod her head. Willow couldn't believe what she was hearing. And without hesitation, she looked at Giles to give him her answer.
"Giles, Tara has a lot of power inside her. You know as well as I do that a source of power that immense has its attachments. You see the first rule of becoming a practitioner of magic is portion control. The more power you attain, the more it fuses with your own essence. It's like it becomes a part of you, something that cannot be rid of unless it is stripped or seized by force. But Tara has gone over the edge, if you try and strip her powers it could kill her. Giles, there has to be a way to save her."
Giles adjusted his glasses and cleared his throat before he replied.
"Well, Willow she…I don't know any other way. And as much as I regret not telling you while you were alive, I am going to now. You know more about the craft than I could ever hope to. Even more so now that you are…connected."
Xander scoffed and mumbled,"You mean dead, Giles."
Giles turned to Xander and answered him back.
"Death is a human explanation for what Willow has done. She has transcended, she is now apart of the cosmos. She has access to the powers that be."
Willow turned to Xander and, out of habit, tried to reach for him. When she did this, he hand began to fade out of sight into nothingness. She looked to find the cause and then remembered right away that the candles that encircled her created a forcefield that kept her from being able to move outside the circle. She even made fun of herself silently as she also know that even if she could reach out, she would not be able to touch anything. An alert seemed to appear out of no where, and it seemed that Giles and Willow were the only ones who could hear it. But very quickly, Willow realized who it was.
"Oh no…Tara."
The door to the Magic Box flung open and there stood Tara, full of rage and even more magicks. She turned to Dawn and Dru, and a smirk came across her face as she said," You were right Dawn, that Rack fellow was full of dark juice." But her smirk was soon replaced as the sight of Willow's ghost came into her view.
"Oh my god…Willow?"
Just as she said these words, here fiery eyes flickered back to their original honey color. Nobody seemed to notice except Dawn and a now weeping Willow. Dru seemed even more excited as she beheld the divine sight of Willow's radiant glow. She tapped on Tara's shoulder and began to whisper.
"Oh…now I see why you covet her so. She looks like an angel of light. She reminds me of my angel."
Willow looked at Tara with what seemed to be an eternity of heartbreak that filled her eyes and voice as she now decided to speak to her.
"Tara, it's me. Baby, I know you love me but you need to let me go now."
"How can you ask me to do that Willow? You were taken from me! Why can't you understand that this is all for you?"
"Tara, this isn't you. At least not the Tara that I loved."
"Loved? You mean you don't love me anymore?"
The question struck Willow like a harsh blow. The answer she was about to give Tara would only intensify this pain for both of them.
"Not if you continue this rampage. And Dawn, how could you do this to her? Kidnap her and use her. The one remaining person who loved you as much as I did, that is not you and that is definitely not the Tara I want to come back to. So if you are wondering if I still love you, though it pains me to say it, right now the answer is tilting to no."
Sorrow filled Tara once more. She felt as though she had lost Willow again only now at her own hands. How could Willow say those words to her? Why did she stop loving her? Through the clouded madness that now seemed to take shape in her head, only one common denominator came to mind…Buffy. In a rage she turned to Dawn next to her and grabbed her by the hair in a speedy grab. Dawn screamed in pain and Buffy began to advance on Tara only to be stopped by Tara's magicks.
"Listen good Slayer. I know you have brainwashed my love and now you will pay," she said as she held Dawn in an even tighter grip. Buffy glared at Tara and restrained herself from lunging at her for she knew that any movement would definitely end with her sister getting hurt.
"Tara, let my sister go now!"
"No! Not until you change her back. She was mine and now you turned her against me."
Willow couldn't remain silent any longer.
"Tara they didn't do anything to me. I saw everything from the GhostRoads. Let her go! Don't hurt Dawnie!"
Tara only ignored her dead lover's words and gripped tighter as she glared at Buffy. Then she spoke.
"Change her back or I will kill her!"
Dru began to clap and jump as she heard her favorite word. She then shifted into her vampire form and took hold of Dawn.
"Now mummy, let me have a turn."
Buffy couldn't hold back any longer and before Tara knew it she was tackled by a very angry Buffy. Buffy lifted her up slightly and bashed her head with her own and then punched her in the face.
"Get off me superbitch!"
Tara released a bolt of lightening and sent Buffy hurdling back. She looked back at Dru and sent her a message telepathically telling her to take Dawn back to the Dorm. Dru nodded and grabbed Dawn as they ran out of the shop. Buffy screamed out Dawn's name but was interrupted by another direct fire from Tara. Buffy quickly got to her feet and was now staring down her once friend now turned enemy Tara. Quickly, Giles got the rest of the Scoobies out of the shop while the battle between Tara and Buffy raged on. Once they were outside, they heard a thunderous crash and Xander fell to the ground. Anya aided him to his feet and then turned to Giles.
"Giles, what do we do now?"
Giles turned from the shop to Anya, he was deeply concerned that Buffy would not last too long with Tara and her newly acquired powers. He had heard about Rack, he was well known in dark magic societies. If what Tara said was true then she now had his power along with her own.
"I have to go back, Anya, you and Xander go back to the house and try to summon Willow there. With your powers as a vengeance demon you should be able to pull it off."
Xander looked at Giles and then back at the shop before he began to talk.
"But Giles, what are you going to do? If she is so powerful, you and Buffy may not be enough."
"Don't worry Xander, I have one last trick up my sleeve. I so hoped it wouldn't come to this."
"Come to what Giles? You can't be thinking of killing her."
Anya turned to Giles and nodded. She turned to Xander and began to explain the plan she and Giles had came up with before anyone else knew about it.
"Xander, he isn't going to kill her, he is going to let her kill him."
"What?," Xander said in disbelief, "Giles you can't be serious, besides how does that stop Tara?"
Giles had a sad look on his face but nevertheless finally told Xander what he planned to do.
"It is the only way we can tap into the last remaining spark of her humanity. The powers that I carry are the true essence of good magic. If she were to absorb it, it would stop her and at the same time purge her of her dark magicks."
"And it will kill you. No Giles, there has to be some other way."
"I am afraid there isn't. Anya, take him to the house and begin the spell. I will go to aid Buffy."
With that, Anya parted company and Giles went back into the shop. Meanwhile the fight between Tara and Buffy only continued. Tara and Buffy had made complete ruins of the shop during their fight. Tara released a fireball in Buffy's direction, but was evaded as she ducked to the ground. Giles found her immediately and both of them rose. Tara laughed out loud as she looked at the two.
"You can take the watcher away from the slayer, but he always comes back for more."
"We will stop you Tara. One way or another."
Willow had been screaming for the battle to cease, but through the whole ordeal, she went unnoticed. Giles looked in her direction and shouted the spell he had now in his mind.
"Return!!!"
With a flash of lights, the image of Willow dissipated. Tara screamed as the sight of her lover went away from her once more.
:"I will kill you, how dare you take her from me!"
"You lost her before you saw her."
Tara seemed to be increasing in strength as her anger grew. She waved her hand over her face and all the wounds that had been inflicted on her during her battle with Buffy vanished from sight.
"It was fun fighting with you Buffy, some of your hits actually hurt. But now a real challenge is here. Giles, you are one dead watcher."
Meanwhile back at the dorm…Spike was screaming so loud that the walls around him trembled at the sound of his inner pain. Suddenly, he felt calmer. Like when Tara found him and set him to a temporary peace. He felt a familiar presence in the room but at first he didn't recognize who it could be. He looked up to see that it was and in a vision of glowing lights and heavenly light, there stood an old friend…Cordelia Chase.