Anya arrived back at the Magic Box and everyone could immediately she wasn't in the greatest of moods. They got the impression that she hadn't had much luck finding out if a fellow vengeance demon granted a wish recently.
"Okay, now I'm ticked off," she said. The others just looked at her and waited for an explanation. "Nobody would talk to me. I'm out of the loop. I even asked them to tell me about stupid wishes. The only person who said anything to me was Hallie, and she decided to give me nightmares by telling me about somebody who wished for a bunch of bunnies. Who wishes for bunnies? What kind of sick people are there in the world?"
"So, Anya, you didn't have any luck, huh?" Xander asked, breaking into the tirade.
"No," she said dejectedly. She went over behind the counter and opened the cash register. She was in a bad mood, and counting the money always cheered her up. "What about you three?"
"Not a single spell," Buffy said, slamming a book shut.
"Uh, I've got a question," Dawn said, finally working up the nerve to ask. The others waited. "Why are we trying to find a way to get back to a reality where Tara's dead and Willow killed some guy? I personally think this one is a heck of a lot better."
"We're not necessarily trying to find a way back to it," Buffy said, although she knew she was probably lying. Even if this world was better, they couldn't pick and choose the world they lived in. Whoever wished or conjured this reality into existence was messing with forces that shouldn't be messed with. "Tara wanted to know what was causing her headaches, and she found out. Now she wants to make sure that changing the world into what it is now didn't have some huge negative side effects. I want to know, too."
"But how long are we going to look before we give up? I mean, we can't look forever," Dawn said. "Because I'm not real big on looking at all."
"We'll look until we've used every resource we've got," Buffy replied. "Then we'll have to work on forgetting that other reality existed."
"What about Amy?" Xander asked suddenly. "She's a witch. Maybe she did it."
"But why create this world? Why would Amy bring Tara back to life?" Buffy asked.
"She probably didn't," Anya said. "Whatever Amy did do probably just caused Tara to come back to life as a side effect."
"We need to talk to Tara. We need more details about what she saw while she was doing that spell," Buffy said. She, Dawn and Xander headed out of the Magic Box, leaving Anya to count her money.
* * *
Willow walked along the street, not really headed anywhere. Her mind was racing with thoughts. Doubt. Confusion. Anger. Disappointment. Maybe Tara was right in not trusting her. From the sound of things, she had gone insane in the other reality. She lost control and became a murderer. She could almost understand Tara's trust issues getting worse after seeing that. But she still didn't know what else she could do to make Tara understand that she had changed, that she wouldn't go that far and that she wouldn't use magic anymore.
Part of her was kicking herself for not seeing that something was wrong in the first place. She knew something had been wrong, but she ignored it. She played it off like she didn't know. She had been tip-toeing around Tara, making sure she didn't screw anything up. She didn't want to ruin what they had. But now neither of them trusted the other, and without trust they wouldn't last.
She was pulled out of her thoughts when she bumped into someone. She turned to apologize when the guy smiled. She couldn't tell entirely if it was a nervous smile or a happy smile.
"Willow, hey," he said. "How-how are you doing?"
She looked closely, taking a moment for her memory to put things together. It had been over a year since she had last seen him, after all. Then it struck her. She didn't smile. "Oh, Jonathan. Hi. I'm fine. I guess."
"You sure? You don't look fine," Jonathan observed. Willow was one of the few people who ever talked to him in high school. He couldn't help but exhibit some concern.
"Yeah, it's just that Tara and I had a fight. I'll be fine," Willow said.
"Tara," Jonathan said quietly. He muttered under his breath, "Good, she's still alive."
His mutter wasn't quiet enough though. "She's still alive?" Willow repeated. "What are you talking about?"
"N-nothing. I just mean, you hang out with Buffy, and-and it's dangerous," Jonathan stammered, trying to cover.
"You know what's going on," Willow said in realization. "You know about the other reality. You know things have changed."
"Other reality?" Jonathan tried to play it innocent as he started backing away from Willow.
"Last time you messed with magic you made your own little fantasy world where we all worshipped you," Willow said, following him as he tried to walk away. "What'd you do this time?"
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said. He walked quicker but Willow kept up. Finally she grabbed his arm and pushed him up against the wall of a nearby building. He looked at her nervously. He hoped she wouldn't do to him what she did to Warren. He had heard about that. Not pretty.
"What did you do?" she asked sharply. He was relieved to see that there wasn't a whole lot of rage in the look on her face. She just wanted to get answers. He could handle that.
"I didn't do anything. I haven't said any spells."
"Likely story," Willow said. "I think Buffy will want to talk to you."
"Oh, not Buffy. She doesn't want to talk to me," Jonathan said as Willow dragged him by the arm back to Buffy's house. "Can't we just talk? I like talking to you. Or maybe if I could talk to Xander. He doesn't have any super powers, right?"
* * *
A beating heart, pounding like a rhythm to a fast song. Breath coming in gasps as she ran through the woods. Except she wasn't herself. She was someone else, someone very afraid and running for their life. It was night and she didn't know where she was running to or who she was running from. The danger felt very real and the terror she felt was a terror like no other. She had feared being killed before, but this wasn't just a fear of death. It was a fear of pain and torture. Death, in itself, is generally considered a fast thing. Conceptually, death is quick. The end. Final. Oblivion. But what she felt was the fear of someone so terrified that they didn't even care where they ended up, as long as it wasn't in the hands of the one who pursued them.
Suddenly she was restrained, bound magically by vines and tree limbs. She couldn't move and couldn't think. She saw her assailant then, and she knew who she was at the moment. She had never seen Willow like this before. Her hair was dark, her skin pale with veins becoming more and more prominent underneath. Her eyes were black pools of hatred. She was seeking vengeance and she found her prey.
When Willow spoke her words dripped with hatred. She spoke about what Warren had done, having shot and killed her soulmate. Then she opened her hand to reveal a bullet, a tiny piece of metal that could caused instant death.
This was a nightmare caused by what she had seen. Tara knew that. But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't wake up. She didn't want to experience what was about to happen. She knew what happened and with the dream being so vivid, she had a feeling she wouldn't want to stick around in Warren's body much longer.
She couldn't speak, couldn't even scream as Willow slowly and telekinetically pushed the bullet into Warren's chest. The pain was horrible. It burned and she couldn't comprehend anything but pain. She wanted to beg for Willow to stop, but her mind couldn't form the words, let alone her mouth.
She could see Willow was tired of the torture. It was time to get what she wanted, the death of Warren.
Tara screamed and sat up, quickly inspecting her arms and touching her face to make sure her skin was still there. She looked around to get her bearings. She had fallen asleep on the sofa in the living room, waiting for Willow to come back. The nightmare left her trembling. It had felt so real. She could almost still feel the burning in her chest. She couldn't imagine the Willow she knew in this reality turning into the monster she had just seen in her nightmare. No matter what trust issues she was having with Willow, she couldn't accept the Willow she had just seen.
The sound of the front door opening got her attention and she stood, hoping Willow had come back.
"Will, is that you?" she asked. But the person who stepped into the foyer wasn't Willow.
"Hello, Tara," Amy said. She walked into the living room toward Tara. "I'm Amy. I don't think we met after Willow de-ratted me."
"Uh, hi," Tara said. "Do you always just walk into people's houses?"
"Just this one," Amy said with a smirk. "And of course, you're all alone here, which makes this so much better."
"What are you talking about?" Tara asked. Amy chose to respond by backhanding Tara across the face, knocking her to the floor. Amy knelt next to her and grabbed Tara by throat with her left hand.
"You know, when I said the spell that created this world, I had hoped that fate would provide some other horrible death to you, even without Warren being here," Amy said. "But I find you all alive, and that makes me think fate has just given me a nice little bonus."
"Why? I don't even know you," Tara asked. She grabbed Amy's wrist and tried to pull her hand away from her throat, but she had a firm grasp.
"You'll find out the why eventually," Amy said. "But right now I think you want to sleep."
Amy's eyes glowed a greenish color briefly and Tara immediately fell asleep. Amy let her fall to the floor and smiled. "This'll be fun."
