"Willow"
Willow looked up, but she didn't need too, it was a voice she would remember for the rest of her life. She couldn't forget it if she wanted too, and she never ever wanted too. It was, of course, the voice of Tara.
"Tara, oh my God, Tara!", Willow's face broke into her first real smile since, well, since That Day.
She ran, and threw herself in to her arms. Willow, tears streaming down her face, tried to speak, but Tara cupped her face in her soft hands, smiled her sweet, sad smile, and pulled her closer for a kiss. Their lips met and Willow's senses brimmed over. For that moment all was right in the world again.
Tara wiped the tears gently away. "I miss you, you know that don't you?"
"Tara, I miss you so much. I. . . I" she couldn't finish, the tears just kept coming
"I . . . I, oh Tara I messed up so badly, but you died and I just didn't know what to do, you were gone, and and." Again she couldn't finish, she just collapsed to Tara's arms, burying her face in her shoulder.
"I know, sweetie, I know all about it, its ok"
Willow's tear stained face looked up into Tara's "And you still . . . still lo . . ."
Tara gently caressed her face and brushed away a strand of red hair, "Always, Willow, always.", and she bent over to softly kiss her again.
"This isn't real, is it, I'm only dreaming aren't I"
Tara said nothing and just smiled sadly.
"Can I . . can we just stay here a little while longer, will just hold me right now?"
A kiss. A caress. A smile.
"Always"
* * *
Giles sighed deeply as he sat in the airline seat next to Willow and listened as she murmured her dream in an uneasy sleep. They were on their way to England. Giles knew if there was any help for his young friend it would be there. He wouldn't stay with her long, she was beyond his help, and he could be of better use in Sunnydale. The feeling of helplessness ate at him like a disease. All this pain, all this suffering right next to him, in one that he loved, and he could do nothing to help her. Sitting there in the cramped airline seat, with a literal library of knowledge in his head, and all he could think to do was something he hadn't done since he was child. Pray. He would pray to a God whose existence he didn't know if he believed or not. But if anyone deserved divine mercy it was the troubled hurt girl at his side, and so he prayed all the same.
* * *
The demon sat very still, deep in thought. He was free to work his will for the first time in centuries. But how best to do it, yes, that was the question. It was clearly time to exact his revenge against the humans. There had been a time when humans had not walked the earth, when it had belonged to the legions of evil, and it was past time for that era to come again. Again, the question was how. He would need help, powerful though he was, he knew he would need other. And to bring back his friend it would take blood. Oh there would blood. Yes, lots of blood, and the sooner the better.
* * *
"Uh, h . . .hi."
Willow was in England, and had been for several days. She had met with the Council, the prospect of which had scared her to death, but they had handed her over almost immediately to another group, known simply as the Angesii. It was a council of the most powerful and knowledgeable – the two often went hand-in-hand concerning magic- witches in the western world. Many were strictly wiccan, but not all. It was, in fact, rumored that the ruling member of the group had studied wicca, druidism, and many eastern mgicks.
She had expected condemnation and judgement, what she got instead was acceptance and an offer of reconciliation and help . The group was composed entirely of females, and only they had been present at the meetings with Willow. There was but one exception, which Willow picked up on immediately. A lone man, dressed in a simple brown robe, had always stood in the background. He had not been introduced nor had he ever spoken, but Willow had gotten the impression that he was watching, listening, and taking in everything. The witches had taken turns meeting with her individually each to day to help and instruct her on the nature of her power.
This day she was supposed to meet for lessons outside on the slop of a hill overlooking a scenic lake. Her heart had skipped a beat when she had looked up and seen the man from the Angesii meetings approaching.
"Hello Willow", the man smiled warmly at her and sat down easily next to her.
Willow took the opportunity to study the man. His face was magnetic and willow had to remind herself to stop staring at it. His face had the lines and wisdom of the old, and yet the intensity and energy of the young. But what stood out most was his eyes. They were yellow like . . . almost like a hawk Willow realized. Willow smiled a little bit at her next thought. Most people would have thought the yellow eyes just a little bit odd, but to the girl who had once dated a werewolf and whose best friend was a skinny blonde with super powers, it was not the least remarkable. Well maybe a little bit remarkable, she admitted to herself.
"Um yeah, hi again. Who . . . who are you?"
"My name is Taliesin, I'm a friend."
"Oh . . . that's a kinda unique name."
A smile touched the corner of his lips, "It's a family name."
"I've seen you at the meetings, I didn't think they let men in the Angesii."
"That is true, they do not. I'm not a member, just a friend. They defer to me on certain issues from time to time."
Willow wanted to ask just who in the world he was that a group of the most powerful wizards in the world needed his help. But Taliesin, guessing her thoughts, spoke first.. "My family has, uh, a certain amount of experience with forces that may have recently been awakened."
"You mean that I awakened."
He didn't deny it, "Yes Willow."
"So, you are a wizard?"
"Of sorts, yes. I am a member of the last of the true druids, the Learned Brethren, but I have also traveled a great deal and studied in the east."
"Have you ever been to Tibet?" Willow blurted out with out thinking.
"Why do you ask?"
"I, uh, used to know somebody who lived there." She said, her mind suddenly flooded with thoughts of OZ.
"A friend."
A slight smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. "Yeah, a friend."
"Tell me about your friends, Willow, and tell me about It."
She did not have to ask what "It" was. So she began to tell her story, starting, of course, with Tara.
* * *
"So five dead in the past two days, huh? Something that would have the whole army, navy, national guards, and boy scouts mobilized anywhere else, but just another day in the fabulous city of Sunnydale.", Xander said. Him, Buffy, and Dawn were all gathered at Buffy's house eating dinner.
"So how'd they die?", Dawn asked between bites of pizza.
"Well they were burned to death, but it was really weird, it was almost like they'd been drained of blood too. I wish I knew excatly how they'd died."
"Oh I don't know, Buff, I hear fire is a pretty popular cause of being burned to death these days, you know what with the flames and all."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I mean the whole blood drained thing. This doesn't exactly sound like normal vampire M.O."
"So it's a whole new kind of baddie we have to deal with?", Dawn groaned, "Hey I'm just learning to fight vamps much less some kind of other fiery blood-drainy demon-thingie."
"I kind of wish Giles was here. He might have heard of something like this before." Buffy said.
"Yeah" Xander said softly as all their thoughts turned to Willow.
No one spoke for several moments, and Buffy finally broke the silence. "Well he should be back until tommorrow. We should be able to hold the fort until then, we'll just have to breal out the weapons and be carefull."
"Oooh ooh, what weapon do I get. I want a big one.", Dawn demanded.
"You master the stake first then you might move up to something like, I dunno, two stakes. Besides, I don't even know use really big weapons."
"Oh, I don't know, Buff," Xander cut in, " I seem to recall you used to shoot a pretty mean rocket launcher."
Buffy smiled, "Yeah, it did the job too, didn't it. I don't think we ever found all the pieces of that guy. Anyway, my point was we just need to be careful, and, yes, Dawn you can come patrolling with me. I'll probably need the help."
"Maybe I can help."
Buffy froze when she heard the voice from her doorway. It was a voice that she could never forget and would always correspond with the sound of fading helicopter rotors.
She turned slowly around, and Riley Finn was standing in her doorway.