"Dawn!" Buffy shouted after her sister, hoping to reason with her. "Dawn, please come back!"

"Why should I?" asked Dawn accusingly, tears streaming down her cheeks all the while. "I hate you!"

"Dawn, please," pleaded Buffy. "What's wrong? What did I do?"

"What did you do!?!" replied the younger Summers sister. "You kissed Tara! In front of Willow!"

"Dawn, it's not like we've never kissed in front of Willow before," shrugged the Slayer. "Willow sort of introduced us, remember? After the whole body-switching with Faith thing...."

Dawn remembered the incident, of course. Even though I really wasn't alive then, she thought. "But you weren't dating or anything, and you never have!"

"How can you say that?" asked a now-hurt Buffy. "We told you and Mom just before Riley and Angel had that huge fight over me. How could you forget?"

"It never happened, Buffy," answered Dawn sternly. "Now leave me alone."

Dawn turned away, leaving her confused sister in tears until another form approached. Tara ran to Buffy as soon as she saw her lover crying, and embraced her fiercely. "It's alright, Buffy," soothed the Wicca. "I'm here."

"She hates me," said Buffy between sobs. "She said that you and I....she said that we never fell in love. What if it's true? What if this is all just a lie?"

"Does it feel like a lie?" asked Tara as she looked deeply into the Slayer's eyes.

"No," whispered Buffy. "But I can't bear to think of life, of living, without you. I love you, Tara."

"I love you, too," answered the blonde witch as the two closed in for a long and deeply passionate kiss.

***

"It's been a while since I last said this," announced Xander, breaking the stunned silence between the remaining Scoobies in the Magic Box, "but what the *HELL* was that?"

"A backfired memory loss spell," replied Anya coldly. "Done by someone either too stupid, or too overconfident to realize that you never cast such a spell on two people at once."

"Why don't you stop being all coy and blame it on Red?" asked Spike as he lit up a cigarette. "You know you want to."

"I was trying to help them," whispered Willow as she looked down at her feet in shame.

"No, you were trying cover up your own mistakes," accused Anya. "Tara gets in a fight with you because you've been using too much magic, and you wipe her memory. Buffy says that she was pulled out of heaven, and you try to erase her memories of what it was like. And now, what do we have? Tara and Buffy lusting over each other, and Dawn blaming her sister because she thinks that Buffy's trying to screw up your relationship with Tara."

"So? I'll just fix the spell when I get home."

"You most certainly will not!" shouted Giles. "I will not allow you to use your powers in such a reprehensible manner any longer!"

"Oh, but when the next Big Bad shows up, then it's alright for me to use my magic?" asked Willow defensively. "It's always the same with you-'Don't use your magic until we tell you to, Willow', 'Magic is dangerous, Willow', 'Kill the monster with your magic, Willow'. Why don't you just admit that you don't want me to be independent, and that you want me to be dependable, reliable, obedient old Willow?"

"It's not like that, Will," answered Xander. "We're just afraid that you may be hurting yourself...."

"Whatever, Xander," interjected Willow. "You're just worried about Buffy. I mean, God forbid that something happens to Buffy! Never mind about Willow, your best friend since preschool!"

"Willow, don't even say that," said Xander as he tried to fight back tears. "You know that I love you...."

"You could have fooled me," sneered the witch, who was now fighting back her own tears. "You leave me hanging on your every move for years, only to start sucking face with *Cordelia*, then you finally decide to start noticing me when I'm with Oz. And let's not forget how you lost your virginity to Faith! And, of course, who could forget your affair with Anya, who's just a selfish little child more interested in sex than building a lasting relationship!"

"That's not true!" shouted Anya. "I care about killing bunnies, too." Anya's smile was wide with its naiveté, and was quickly met by hostile expressions from Willow, Xander, and Giles. "Stupid rabbit lovers," she muttered before allowing the argument to continue.

"Willow, please," asked Xander. "Tell us what spell you used, so we can reverse it."

"No!" she answered angrily as her eyes began to darken with anger. "It's my spell, and I'll fix it myself. It's not like I can't control myself."

"You can't," said Xander. "You promised Tara that you were going to stop using magic for a week, and you did a spell on her."

"Maybe I'm so in control of my powers and it frightens you," hissed the witch.

"Or perhaps you're so far out of control that you aren't able to perceive things properly," replied Giles thoughtfully. "You need help, Willow."

Willow's tears gave way to a slight chuckle. Then a few giggles. Within moments, she was laughing heartily. "You're serious. You actually think that I'm some sort of junkie? Well, guess what: I don't need you. I don't need you," she stated, pointing at Giles, "and I never needed you, Anya." The witch confidently approached Xander, and laughed again, right in his face. "And as for you, *Alexander*, you're pathetic. I only wish that I had seen it years ago, so I wouldn't have wasted my time calling you my friend."

Xander was stunned. He stood in place like a teetering prizefighter as Willow walked out of the Magic Box, not saying a word for what seemed like an eternity, before whispering, "She hasn't called me that since the day we met."

"Well, good riddance to bad rubbish.....that's how it goes, right?" asked Anya, proud to be rid of Willow, and prouder still to have remembered the expression correctly.

"Anya, please do be quiet," scolded Giles, himself now slightly misty-eyed.

"Why should she?" questioned Spike, who was enjoying the proceedings like it was high theater. "Let the stupid bint go. Show her that you don't care, because you know she'll bloody well come crawling back within a couple of days. She'll promise to get off the magic and be a good girl, then she'll break your hearts again. You're better off without it, believe me." The vampire lit up another cigarette as he finished, not caring if anyone would actually notice his smoking.

"Shut up, Spike," responded a despondent Xander.

"Make me," beamed the demon.

"Leave, Spike," declared Giles, "before I let him."

"You wouldn't dare, Rupie," replied Spike. "You need me, and you know it."

"I seem to recall you coming in here asking us for protection," remarked the Watcher. "Protection which I don't see a reason for giving."

"Fine then," he sneered. "Go on and live your sorry little lives. See if I care." Spike threw down his cigarette angrily and rubbed out the fire with his shoe before leaving in a huff, allowing Xander to let down his guard and cry for his best friend.

***

Willow walked up the stairs, passing Dawn's and Buffy's bedrooms without a second glance as she entered her and Tara's room. I'll show them, she thought as she pulled out the darkened crystal, quickly readying the room for her counter spell.

"Tabula Rasa, Tabula Rasa, Tabula Rasa....."

For a brief moment, the crystal returned to its original state, then returning to its former, blackened state. Willow's anger, frustration, and determination faded with the color of the rock, replaced with contentment and exhaustion. She went to the closet, pulling out not her normal nightgown, but a familiar, beloved shirt before taking off her clothes and donning the shirt. Within minutes, Willow was asleep, dreaming of her beloved, whom she vowed to make up everything to before drifting into subconsciousness.