Previously on Buffy...
Various scenes of Willow and Tara lovage.
Willow holding Tara's body.
Willow floating in the air above Jonathan, tossing him into the tree.
Andrew and Warren biting the big one.
Buffy and the rest with Jonathan in the hospital. "I'm not protecting Jonathan from Willow - I'm protecting Willow from herself."
"Spike" melting into Willow. "I'm going to kill him. And anyone that stands in my way."
"Red" --- Part Two
Teaser.
"You can't mean that, Will," Buffy said, horrified.
Willow continued to stare. "Don't test me, Buffy. Stay out of my way, and we won't have to find out."
"Don't say that, Willow," Buffy pleaded, her voice close to breaking. "It doesn't have to be this way. Jonathan...he's c-crippled for life, Will. He's never going to walk again. Isn't that enough of a punishment?"
Willow's black eyes narrowed. "You don't get it. None of you do. None of you can. If she was still alive, if she was crippled like he is...that would be better. I would give anything to have her back, crippled or brain dead or anything. But she's not coming back, short of...she's not coming back. This isn't about punishment. He could go to jail for the rest of his life, and that would be punishment enough for me. This is about vengeance."
"Willow, please...i-if Tara were here, she -"
Willow shook her head sadly. "We've already been through this, Buffy. Leave now."
Buffy's mouth opened, but nothing came out. It was at this point in her fights that the conflict went from words to blows. She could talk and she could stall and deliberate for as long as she wanted - but the fact was that she was not a diplomat. She wasn't used to using words to get herself out of trouble. Perhaps she had finally run out of words to say.
And suddenly she could see that there was no right in this situation. She would be damning herself to believe otherwise. There was only gray playing on gray, a battle of shadows. Both sides could duel to the end of time and they would end up in the same place - cold and afraid and face to face with someone they used to call friend. No, there was no correct way to handle this situation - but there were plenty of wrong ones. For better or worse, the time for decisions was at hand.
She shook her head.
"I can't do that, Willow," and Buffy was surprised at the strength in her own voice.
Willow nodded solemnly. "I know."
Without warning, Willow motioned with her right hand, and Buffy felt herself flying through the air. Gracefully, she turned it into a flip, and managed to land in a crouch twenty feet from where she had started. Immediately, she started to run forward. Willow motioned again, but Buffy stayed low and fought through the invisible blow, like a football player plowing through behind the line. Buffy led with her right fist, aiming for the soft spot below Will's ribs, but was astounded when Willow chopped downward with superhuman speed to block the blow. Reflexively, almost instinctively, she reached up to block Willow's incoming right hook, and managed to send her foot up and into the pit of Willow's stomach. Willow stumbled backward, but was up in a fighting stance almost immediately.
Buffy moved slowly around, trying to gauge Willow's newfound abilities. Just by the first few blows exchanged, Buffy sensed that physically they were almost evenly matched. The one thing she hoped she might be able to count on was the fact that while she, as the Slayer, had spent years practicing with this kind of physical prowess, Willow had only now begun to use it. Immediately her strategy changed from incapacitation to defense - she would concentrate on guarding the door and Jonathan rather than trying to take Willow down. She didn't want to risk trying to knock Willow out in a fight without knowing first whether or not the blow would be fatal.
Willow gave her no more time to think. She darted forward with a furious attack, made all the more menacing by the hideous blankness of her black eyes. A flurry of blows traded later, and both of them had begun to breath heavily. Sweat began to bead on her eyebrows, but Buffy dared not take the few seconds needed to wipe it away.
She risked a glance over to the side - Xander and Dawn were watching the fight with desperate unhappiness. Xander tensed, waiting for the right moment to join in the fracas, and Buffy wanted to warn him not to try. She wondered if the other two realized just how powerful Willow had become, that strength for strength and blow for blow she was the Slayer's match. Xander trying to be heroic would only get him hurt. Or worse.
Willow leapt forwards again, constantly the aggressor. Buffy leapt back a commensurate step, ducked under Willow's massive swing, and chopped at Willow's exposed side. The redhead doubled over in pain, then motioned with her hand. Buffy felt the power sweep over her again, and she stumbled back, but noticed with some relief that it was weakened from the first time Willow had thrown her.
Buffy swept her foot out, trying to trip Willow as she was regaining her balance. Willow jumped just in time to avoid the kick, and grabbed Buffy by the shoulders as the Slayer was getting up from the ground. Willow twisted on her feet, and Buffy flew through the hospital window. One of the night nurses screamed for the security guard, as Buffy climbed slowly to her feet.
Willow glanced fearfully at the guards moving their way. "You don't want...them involved...any more than I do, Will," Buffy breathed. "End it."
Willow considered, and stepped out of the fighting posture. "I'll stop. For the moment. But this is far from over, Slayer."
She closed her eyes, crossed her hands over her chest, and whispered words that none of them recognized -
- and then, in a swirl of black smoke, she was gone.
Buffy stared at the space, amazed. "Oh, my God."
Xander grabbed her by the arm. "Buffy..."
Sirens wailed in the distance, coming closer.
"Buffy, we have to leave now!"
She didn't resist as Xander dragged her away from the scene.
Credits.