Xander, Dawn and Buffy returned to the house and went into the dining room. Willow's laptop was there, but Willow wasn't. Xander looked at the computer screen.
"Looks like Will didn't have much luck finding out who Warren is," he said.
"I wonder where she's at," Dawn said. "I'd think she'd keep looking all night until she found something."
"Maybe she's taking a break," Buffy said. "I'll see if Tara's upstairs."
When Buffy came back downstairs, Dawn and Xander were sitting in the living room.
"Neither of them are up there," Buffy said, surprised that the two of them would leave without checking in.
"Yeah, we checked the kitchen and the back yard," Xander said. "They're not here."
"Maybe Willow actually did find out who Warren was and they went to confront him," Dawn suggested. Buffy shook her head.
"No, they would've called us first," she responded. Just then the front door opened. They spun around to see Willow walk in. She wasn't alone, but she wasn't with Tara. They were all shocked at who she had with her.
"Look who I bumped into," Willow said. She gave Jonathan a shove into the living room.
"Why'd you bring Jonathan here?" Buffy asked.
"It seems we're not the only ones who know that reality has changed," Willow replied.
"Oh god, Jonathan, you didn't do another spell did you?" Buffy asked. "Do I actually have to kick your ass this time? Because I'm tired of giving you lectures."
"No, please, don't kick my ass," Jonathan pleaded in his usual pathetic way. "I'll explain everything. I promise."
"Let's start with you telling us who Warren is," Xander said. "Why would he want Buffy dead?"
"Well, Warren, Andrew and I got together, and we were the Trio," Jonathan explained. "We were super villains."
The other four all looked at each other, and Buffy tried to hold back her laughter. "I'm sorry. Super villains?"
"Yeah, it was Warren's idea," Jonathan said. "Warren did robotics and stuff, I did magic and Andrew…well, he helped. But things got out of control. Warren killed his ex-girlfriend, and he got me to do a spell to make you think you killed her instead. That almost worked, but you eventually figured it out. Then he tried to shoot you. He got Tara instead. Andrew and I got arrested, but then we escaped and went to Mexico. We heard what Willow did to Warren and knew we couldn't stay in Sunnydale."
"So skip ahead to the part where you changed reality," Willow said, not wanting any explanation of her alternate self and what happened to Warren.
"I ran into Amy in Tijuana," Jonathan said. The others looked at each other, not liking the fact that Amy actually was involved. "We were in this bar, just talking, and I said something about how I wished Warren never even existed because then my life wouldn't suck so much. So she suggested a spell. She said a spell to erase Warren from history."
"But she didn't just erase that one Warren," Willow said. "When I was researching I couldn't find a single Warren in all history."
"Amy erased all Warrens from history?" Dawn asked, surprised.
"I didn't think she had that much power," Buffy said.
"She probably gained more power since the last time we saw her," Willow said. "She was seeing this guy, Rack. I went to him a few times before…" She paused for a moment. "He kind of sells power. He's a dealer."
"Okay, Will, where's Tara? We need to bring her up to speed and then we all need to find Amy," Buffy said. Willow looked confused.
"She's not upstairs?" she asked. Buffy shook her head. "Tara and I had an argument, and I went for a walk to clear my head. That's when I ran into Jonathan."
"Do you think she went to look for you?" Xander asked. Willow shook her head.
"No, I think she would wait here. She still wasn't up to full strength yet when I left," she replied.
"Um…" Jonathan interrupted their conversation. "Amy kind of mentioned when we were talking that she doesn't really like Tara at all. I think she used the phrase, 'I hate her with a fiery passion.'" He turned to Willow. "She said that Tara made you weak."
"Oh god," Willow said, suddenly fearing the worst. Buffy knew exactly what Willow was thinking. Warren didn't kill Tara in their reality so now Amy had a shot to do it herself.
"Will, do you really think Amy would go as far as murder?" she asked.
"The power Rack gives you, it's not easy to control," Willow said. "Trust me. I'm the poster child for the phrase 'power corrupts.' If Amy got enough power from Rack to change reality, it's enough power to drive her to murder."
Buffy immediately went to her weapons trunk and pulled out the crossbow. She grabbed a short sword and handed it to Dawn. She handed a battle axe to Xander and a machete to Willow.
"Dawn, stay here and guard Jonathan," she said. Jonathan opened his mouth to protest but quickly shut it. Disagreeing with the slayer wasn't going to get him anywhere. "Xander, go to Amy's house. If you can convince Anya to go with you, take her along. Will, we're going to Rack's."
"Uh, what do I do if Amy's at the house? I like to think I can hold my own, but what if she turns me into a rat or something?" Xander asked.
"If Amy has Tara there and Tara's still alive, just wait," Buffy said. "If Will and I don't find her at Rack's we'll meet you. The second it looks like Amy's going to kill Tara, do whatever you can to hold her off till we get there."
Xander didn't want to ask, but he had to. "What if Tara's not alive?"
Buffy glanced at Willow. "Then Amy is going to wish she never existed."
