Anya had just finished showing Tara how to special order an item and have it shipped to a customer's home. Tara had never considered retail as a possibility for her, especially considering how shy she used to be. But as Anya trained her on various tasks, she realized it wasn't as bad as she had thought it would be. Of course, the real test would come when she had to deal with a customer.

The bell above the shop door jingled and the two of them looked up. A young woman that Tara vaguely recognized from campus walked in and moved toward the shelves to inspect various potion ingredients.

"Ooh, now's a good time to see how you are with the customers," Anya said excitedly. She had been beaming the entire time that she trained Tara. Her excitement had come as a surprise to the young witch. It had been a while since she had seen Anya this happy. "Go sell her something."

Anya gave Tara an encouraging shove and she headed up the stairs toward the customer. The woman was inspecting a package with some sort of roots in it.

"Can I help you with anything?" she asked, forcing confidence. The woman looked over and held up the package.

"How fresh is this tarcanis root?" she asked. Tara took the package and looked it over, trying to find some kind of date on it. When she found nothing, she opened it and sniffed the contents, recoiling at the foul odor. It smelled like rotten eggs. Or possibly rotten flesh. She wasn't quite sure. The woman saw the look on her face and appeared disappointed. "The potion I'm doing requires fresh tarcanis root."

"Oh, no, a-actually tarcanis root smells worst when it's really fresh," Tara explained, putting her knowledge to good use. She smiled a little. "If it doesn't smell like a dead animal, then it's useless."

"Really?" the woman asked, both surprised and skeptical. She was new to witchcraft, Tara deduced. Time to ask some questions.

"What's the potion for?"

"It's for a memory spell," the woman said.

Tara flinched slightly, remembering the spell Willow had cast seven months ago to make her forget a fight. "What kind of memory spell?"

"It's for a friend," the woman explained. "She's freaking out about this big test she has to take. I thought I'd help her. It's like mystical gingko. I also need some powdered toadstool and mugwort."

"Uh, powdered toadstool is right…" Tara said as she looked across the shelves. One good thing about her being Anya's new employee was that she already knew where almost everything in the shop was located. She snatched a small jar off the shelf. "…here. And mugwort is behind the counter. I can ring this out for you. Is there anything else you need?"

She caught Anya waving at her from the corner of her eye and saw her mouthing some words to her. She stared at Anya, confused, until she caught the word 'sale' as Anya pointed to a sign by the register. Tara led the girl over to the counter and knew there was no subtle way to drop it in.

"We're having a sale on chicken's feet. Buy one pair, get two free."

She moved behind the register and grabbed some mugwort from the counter behind her before turning to ring up the woman's purchases.

"No chicken's feet, thanks," the woman said with a smirk. Anya was signaling Tara again. She made a motion for Tara to keep trying to push the chicken's feet. Then she leaned down and wrapped her hands around her ankle. Then she ran her right hand down her ankle repeatedly.

"Are you sure?" Tara asked, her brow furrowed while trying to figure out what Anya was doing. "They make great…ankle bracelets?"

"What?" the woman asked, confused. Anya threw up her hands in frustration.

"Uh, nothing. I'm kidding," Tara said as she finished ringing up the items. "Your total comes to $21.85."

Quickly she bagged the items, took the money and stuffed the receipt in the bag.

"Thank you for shopping The Magic Box," she said with a smile as the woman took her bag and left. Anya walked over to the counter.

"Ankle bracelets?" she asked, having no idea where Tara could get that out of what she was miming.

"I have no idea what you were trying to tell me," Tara replied.

"Stocking stuffers!" Anya said. "There are only 127 shopping days left till Christmas."

"Oh," Tara said, trying to hide a smile. "So other than the fact that I suck at charades, how did I do?"

"Very nicely done. The sniffing of the tarcanis root was very effective…and very brave," Anya said. "Get your nose too close to fresh tarcanis root and you could lose your sense of smell for a week."

"Good to know," Tara said, having not known that little fact. Then she noticed Anya get a concerned look on her face.

"I have to go," she said abruptly. "There's a girl in Peru who needs vengeance done on her scumbag ex-boyfriend. You can take care of the shop until I get back? And possibly close up? The keys are under the register. Just lock the register and all the doors, and I'll take care of it in the morning."

"Already? It's my first day," Tara said nervously.

"You'll do fine," Anya said. "Tuesdays are always slow."

"Okay," she replied. Before Anya could leave she motioned for her to wait. "Anya, one thing though."

"Yes?"

"When you have to leave to do vengeance demon stuff, I think it would be best not to tell me you're leaving to do vengeance demon stuff."

"What should I tell you?" Anya asked, confused.

"Uh, anything," Tara said. "Or nothing. Just don't tell me you're doing vengeance."

"Okay then," Anya said. She smiled. "Have fun."

Then she teleported out. Tara leaned on the counter and looked around the empty shop. She decided that this wouldn't be so bad. She had always felt comfortable in the Magic Box. It was one of two places where she did feel most comfortable. The other place wasn't an actual location. It moved around. Currently it was in England.

She walked casually through the woods, a wry smile on her face. She was following him and she wasn't going to lose him. He was running as fast as he could, but she wouldn't lose him. Finally she caught him and bound him with vines and branches. Her blue eyes were now pools of darkness as she stared him down and magically opened his shirt. He begged for mercy. He begged for his life. He said he would do anything, but she didn't want him to do anything except die. Eventually she became bored with him.

"Somebody help me!" he screamed. He knew nobody was there, but it was all he could do. Soon he couldn't do anything as she held up her hand and ripped his skin off with only a gesture. Tara turned away from him, the action not phasing her in the least. When she turned she stopped short. There were men walking toward her, men of different races, ages, sizes. There were more than she could possibly count.

"Who the hell are you?" she asked. A young, Hispanic man stepped forward. He appeared to be about Tara's age. She waited impatiently for him to answer.

"My name is Warren Hernandez," he said as he stopped a few feet in front of her. "I ceased to exist. And I continue to not exist as long as you do exist."

Tara's eyes and hair changed from the black they had become back to their natural state and she stared fearfully at the men.

"We all continue to not exist as long as you do," he said. "What makes you better than us?"

"Tara."

She turned and cried out in shock as Warren Mears' skinless face stared back at her. She was terrified and sickened at the same time.

"You killed me," he said. "You killed us all."

She shook her head and took off running. The men chased after her, repeatedly saying her name.

"Tara. Tara."

She tripped and fell forward, tumbling down a hill. She came to a stop with her back against a tree. The men, led by Warren Hernandez and the skinless Warren Mears, approached her and glared down at her.

"No. Please, no," she pleaded. Warren Mears reached forward and grabbed her by the shirt, pulling her up and standing her against the tree.

"Tara. Tara!"

"No!" she screamed. She jerked awake in bed and tears spilled uncontrollably down her cheeks. Buffy had been calling her name, trying to wake her up. Tara scooted up and sat back against the headboard, wiping at her tears. She saw Dawn standing in the doorway. Both of them were extremely concerned and confused.

"Tara, you were shouting in your sleep," Buffy said. She noticed how upset Tara was. "You're shaking. What were you dreaming about?"

"I killed them. I killed them all," she said, sobbing. Dawn walked further into the room and sat on the end of the bed.

"Killed who?" she asked. Tara shook her head and tried to control her sobbing. Buffy gripped Tara's hand reassuringly.

"What are you talking about? You haven't killed anybody," Buffy said. She and Dawn had no idea.

"Warren," she said. "All the Warrens. I killed them all."

She crumbled into tears and Buffy didn't know what else to do. She wrapped her arms around Tara, trying to comfort her. She'd had a feeling this would happen. Tara was feeling guilty about not reversing the spell that Amy cast. Buffy couldn't say she would've made a different decision than the one Tara had made. How could you choose to change the world back to one where you were dead?

Once they had calmed Tara down, the three of them sat in the kitchen. Buffy handed Tara a cup of tea, and she stared down into it.

"Can you describe this dream?" Buffy asked.

"Uh, w-well…" Tara hesitated. "It started with the stuff I saw during that spell. It was when Willow killed Warren in the other reality. Except, instead of Willow it was me. I-I tortured him and I s-s-skinned him alive."

"But you didn't," Dawn said. Tara shook her head.

"It doesn't matter," Tara said. "He wasn't the only one affected by my decision. All the Warrens that ceased to exist came to me and they said I killed them. It's true."

Dawn looked alarmed and Buffy knew where this was going.

"You're changing your mind," she said solemnly. Tara looked up at Buffy, sorrow evident in her eyes. "You want to reverse the spell."

"I thought I could live with it. I thought that it w-w-would be okay," she said quietly. "But I can't…all those innocent people…"

"But-but how can we change it? We can't," Dawn said frantically. She didn't want Tara to change her mind. She didn't want the world to change back. "Willow bound Amy's powers, and-and Amy probably left town. She's probably in South America by now."

"I'll find something," Tara said. She smirked. "I have my employee discount at the Magic Box."

Buffy's lips curled slightly in a sad smile, and Dawn looked down at the counter. Tara rested her hand on Dawn's wrist.

"Dawnie, I don't want things to change. Believe me. I don't," Tara said. "I wish there was another way around it. What Amy did was wrong, but leaving it this way is just as wrong. It's selfish, and it's not what magic is for."

"Then what is magic for? You can't bring mom back. You're going to change the world back to one where you're dead," Dawn said sharply. "What good is magic anyway if I'm going to keep losing the people I care about?"

Dawn suddenly stood and hurried out of the kitchen.

"Dawn!" Buffy called and started to follow. Tara shook her head.

"Let her go," she said. Buffy turned back and leaned on the kitchen island. "She's upset. It's hard to deal with news like this."

"I know," Buffy said. She looked to Tara seriously. "Can you change it back?"

"I don't know," Tara said. "I'll see if I can track down Amy, but I might have to do it on my own…if it's even possible."

"What if it's not? Are you going to be okay?"

"I don't know."