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

AUTHOR'S NOTE: These are the last of the speeches. . .Anya and Xander reveal their feelings. I tried to get this as good as I could too, but I'd really appreciate feedback for reference in future stories. Next chapter will cover the next part of the spell, and you'll all see whether Tara will be brought back for that precious moment. . .Please keep reviewing, I love reading reviews!

Chapter 7

Anya stared at the piece of paper momentarily. It was her turn. What could she say to Willow? Anya looked at Willow's body, stiff and blue, and all of sudden knew what she had to do.

'Anya?' Dawn looked at her curiously. 'Are you OK?'

'I'm fine. I'm great. . .' she had a new sense of strength in her, and recited the blessing proudly. Somehow though, that didn't quite suit the mood, so everyone was staring at her bizarrely. However, her speech wasn't anything anyone had expected.

'I guess I don't have a lot to say to you Willow. Literally. I mean, you've never left a huge impact on my life. . .except of course that time when you almost destroyed the world - but you pretty much left an impact on every human being there.'

Spike slapped his forehead, realising her speeches were as awful as her comments. But she hadn't finished yet.

'But one thing I can definitely tell you is this is some experience. Sitting here, listening to everyone talk about how much you mean to them. . .' she paused, all of a sudden terrified. 'Especially considering I put you here in the first place.'

There was a sudden gasp, and a simultaneous 'what?!' from everyone in the group. Anya stayed firm though, and went on. 'Yeah. I'm responsible. I went to a bar, got totally drunk, told the bartender everything, who turned out to be a witch hunter, and now I have practically been eaten away by my own guilt.'

Pretty much everyone's faces had turned from love and concern to anger and disbelief of how stupid Anya could actually be, in about a minute. However, for some strange reason, Xander's face hadn't changed, only expressed more of the same emotions. Anya went on.

'I know you'll probably never forgive me for putting you in this state. I can certainly tell your friends never will. But despite that, I'm so glad that this has happened. Because, not only have I learnt the lesson to never get drunk in a bar again. . .' It was meant to be a joke to break the icy atmosphere, but it crashed and burned instead. 'But also, I've learnt how amazing you really are. How you've touched so many people. And, somehow, when you look back on this, I don't think you'll look back on it as a time when you almost died, but when you were brought back to life by love that you gave out, and now it's being returned to you.'

To everyone's surprise, now Anya was crying. 'But the reason I was in the bar in the first place, was because someone didn't love me how much I loved them.' She glanced quickly at Xander, and he was astonished. 'Which will obviously never be a problem for you, considering how much you mean to everyone around you. I'll never mean that much to anyone, and as soon as you wake up I'll probably go to LA or something. . . or at least I know I'll leave San Francisco.'

She changed her tone from teary sadness and finished it off with a final thought. 'Thank you Willow, for showing me I don't deserve anything, and for convincing me I don't belong here.' She read the blessing after, and passed it to Xander, not even wanting to see his face, which was probably full of revulsion.

But it wasn't. And nor was anyone else's. Their looks of anger had changed to looks of pity and sorrow, because even though Anya had done something awful, she truly felt terrible about it, and was torturing herself too much.

'Anya. . .' Buffy began.

'No, please don't say anything.' Anya looked at the floor.

'But Anya. . .'

'Please!' They could hear her crying, but all realised they had something else to do. It was Xander's turn, however he was just staring at her, a mixture of emotions on his face.

**********

'Xander, it's your turn. And you're the last too,' Dawn reminded him.

'Oh. . . yeah,' he took the sheet of paper with the blessings and began reciting. Then he paused, taking a moment to re-gather his thoughts, and started his speech.

'Y'know, Will, I have seen you through a lot of stuff. As a vampire from an alternate universe, as a ghost, as an apocalyptic evil. . . but I've never seen you this colour. It suits you. Maybe when you get out of this state, you can find a spell that'll make you blue permanently. . .' he laughed, but his laugh morphed into a sob.

'Who am I kidding. . .Willow, I love you more than anything in this world. I saw you grow up in kindergarten, in elementary school, in high school. . .I've had fun with you, had a crush on you, been angry with you. . .I've seen you laugh, cry and act crazy. . .I don't think any two people can be as close as we are.'

Everyone was aware that out of all of them there, Xander was finding this the most painful. They could all have bet good money that if Willow died, Xander would kill himself, or at least track down every witch hunter in the world and kill them.

'I can't stand to see you like this, Will. All I ever wanted was to see you happy. And now look at you. . .' He put his face in his hands, and was silent for a moment. He began speaking again through tears. 'All I have to say is, if you ask me, this whole thing is crap.'

They all stared at him alarmingly. What was he getting himself into? If the witch hunters weren't satisfied, Willow would die. Why was he deliberately ruining their chances?

'These witch hunters came up with the notion that if witches deserve to live, a spell will bring them back. But you know what? You don't need a spell to bring you back Willow. And you don't need all of us to tell you and those damn witch hunters how amazing you are. Because everyone already knows that.' He turned to speak to everyone. He was suddenly strong.

'And nobody needs to be told how amazing they are. Everyone in this room has a right to live, no matter what they think. Take Anya,' He pointed at her. Anya had a horror-stricken look on her face, and was so scared of what Xander, the one she loved, was about to say.

'She was a vengeance demon, and for years dedicated her life to harming men as much as she could, and I guess was technically evil. She's clumsy, thoughtless, and makes stupid mistakes, just like she did now.'

Spike raised his eyebrow at Xander and whispered to Kennedy. 'Did he have a drink before this? Or perhaps a few?' Kennedy didn't turn to look at him, but barely shrugged, a look of astonishment on her face. Anya was looking at the floor, tears streaming down her face again.

'But does all that matter, when she helped save the world a lot, turned around to fight evil, and was capable of making me the happiest I've ever been?' They were all still staring at him. Anya looked up at him, not believing her ears.

'Exactly. But nobody needs to tell Anya she deserves to live, because we all know it's true. Even though she doesn't seem to think so.' He paused. 'Every person has their flaws. But we appreciate them for the good they do in life, not anything else. And if in the end, they are good people, and not evil, what do their stupid mistakes matter?' There was a moment of silent thought among all of them.

He turned to Willow's body, took one of her blue lifeless hands in his. 'I love you Willow, and nobody needs to tell me that you deserve to live. Because if you die, I will dedicate my entire life to finding every single witch hunter alive and making their lives hell. And that is much more powerful than any spell. The love and care of a friend.'

He began the after blessing, and shouted the last line. 'Grant her life, AS SHE DESERVES!'

And suddenly, everyone was blown away by a flash of blinding light. And, as no one had doubted, Willow was glowing.