DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer - it all belongs to Joss Whedon.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I forgot to mention yesterday. . .Happy Halloween everybody! Well, it is kinda still for me, I'm having a party with my friends at the moment, and they're all looking over my shoulder. . .thanks for the reviews! Keep 'em coming!

Chapter 4

Only a few minutes' after Anya's private revelation, Dawn jumped out of her seat. 'I found it!' She had a look of great ecstasy on her face. Everyone crowded around her.

'What does it say?' Kennedy asked, mixed emotions of excitement and anxiousness coming out of her.

Dawn skimmed over it for a moment. Then she got the look on her face as if she'd put two and two together. 'You were right, Spike, when you said it was some kind of test.' The rest of them looked at her hopefully. 'We're meant to sit around her in a circle, and each say this blessing, followed by saying why she's important to us individually, and then another blessing.'

Xander looked confused. 'How is that a test?'

Dawn rolled her eyes as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'Don't you see? By all of us saying how much she means to us, we're meant to prove to these witch hunters that she has a right to stay alive.'

Xander raised an eyebrow. 'By showing them she's got friends she cares about, and that care about her?' Dawn smiled at him, and then at the rest of them. 'Exactly.'

'Well, that's easy,' Anya interrupted. 'She means a lot to all of us, of course she's gonna live.' Anya figured if it was that easy to bring Willow back, perhaps then she wouldn't need to tell them she was responsible. If she was indeed going to tell them at all (she hadn't decided yet).

'But that's not it, you guys. . .' Dawn continued with a puzzled expression on her face. 'It says the witch also needs to be kissed by her true love. . .' Her voice wandered away. Everybody froze. Everybody, except Kennedy.

'Well, great!' she exclaimed. 'You guys say your bit, I'll kiss her, and everything will be alright!' They all looked at her, not knowing what to say next. 'Dawn, are there any supplies needed?' Dawn looked dazed for a moment, but suddenly came back to reality.

'Oh, supplies. . .' she looked at the book. 'Yeah, each of us needs a candle, and uh. . .that's pretty much it. . .'

'Great, I'll go get them from Willow's supply chest under her bed.' Kennedy ran up the stairs, slightly excited, even though the situation had just worsened in everyone else's eyes. There was a moment of silence. Spike began: 'You all realise that-

'There's a problem?' Buffy finished for him.

'With the true love part?' Anya said, feeling the worst out of all of them.

'Because, of course, we all know,' Xander said.

Dawn continued. 'Who Willow's true love is.'

Then, as if they could all read each other's minds, and with a slight dread in their voices, said a single word at exactly the same time.

'Tara.'

**********

'It's over.' Xander said, as he placed his face in his hands. 'My best friend is about to die, and I can't do anything to save her!' He started crying, something hardly any one had ever seen him do. Well, maybe once or twice.

'It can't be,' Buffy stood up. 'There has to be another way.'

Anya was trying to come up with anything that would mean Willow not dying. 'Hey, have you guys considered that maybe Kennedy's her true love?' She looked around hopefully, but everyone just gave her a look as if she'd just made a joke that was completely tasteless in the current situation.

Buffy, however, wasn't ready to give up. 'Dawn, look at the spell carefully. There has to be another way.'

'I don't know, Buffy. . .' she started looking at the spell again, and suddenly her eyes widened. 'Wait. . .a. . .sec. . .' she put that book down, and picked another one up. 'There's something here. . .it might just work.' She was flicking through a book of Spiritual Spells and stopped at a page. She pointed at it. 'The spirit circle. . .' she said quietly. She skimmed over the page, and looked extremely happy. She whispered 'That's it.'

'What's it?' Xander got up and walked over to Dawn.

She smiled. 'I've found a way we can get Tara to kiss Willow.' Spike looked at her incredulously. 'How?'

She started explaining, and looked incredibly proud of herself. 'The spell says they need to kiss so that their souls can combine and wake the witch up.'

Buffy was getting it. 'So Tara doesn't physically need to be there, just spiritually. . .' her eyes twinkled. Xander, however, was still confused.

'How does that help us at all?'

'Well,' Dawn went on. 'If we can get a substitute body to be a temporary home for Tara's soul, the body would kiss Willow, but Tara's soul would combine.' Buffy hadn't understood that far, though. 'How does that improve the situation though? We can't get Tara's soul in anyone's body. . .'

'Yes we can,' Spike interrupted. 'You said "the spirit circle", right Dawn?'

Dawn nodded. He continued. 'As you may or may not know, spirits float around all over. Among other things, these can be the souls of the dead.' He paused to check if everyone was following. They all nodded, so he went on. 'A spirit circle can hold two souls at once, and enables them to switch places temporarily after a short spell is chanted.' He paused, slightly confused. 'Hang on, how can you get Tara's soul here?'

'Summoning spell. It can summon spirits, like psychics do in the movies.' He looked impressed.

'So you're suggesting,' Buffy said 'that somebody uses their body to switch souls temporarily with Tara.' She paused. 'So, who wants the job?'

'I'll do it.' There was a sudden voice from behind them.

Standing there, with several candles in a bag, was Kennedy.