Buffy, Dawn, Xander and Anya were all temporarily blinded by the bright flash of light that came at the end of Tara's spell. Like Tara, they had expected everything to change once the light went away. But when they regained their sight, they all realized nothing had changed. The only change was that Tara was lying unconscious amongst the shattered remains of the door that she had been thrown through. Buffy led the group over to her. They stared for a moment, fearfully.
"Is she dead?" Anya asked, always the blunt one. Xander took the initiative and knelt next to Tara, checking her neck for a pulse. He shook his head.
"She's alive," he said. "Looks like she's just unconscious."
They were all taken aback when everything around them flashed for a moment. The entire shop darkened briefly and they saw a destroyed version of the Magic Box they knew. In an instant the flash was gone.
"Hello?" they heard Tara's voice call. They looked down at her, but she wasn't moving.
"What was that?" Dawn asked, frightened and confused.
"What if I'm not alive?"
They all heard Tara's voice ask that question, but they saw that she was completely unconscious still.
"Did you all hear that with your ears or with your minds like when Willow does that telepathy thing?" Xander asked.
"I heard that with my ears," Buffy said. "That was definitely Tara, but there's no way she could've said that."
"Something backfired with her spell," Dawn said. "That has to be what's going on, right?"
"Okay," Buffy said. She ran her hand through her hair, not sure where to begin. "We need to get Tara back to the house. Hopefully she'll wake up soon and everything will be normal. Anya, can you look over Tara's notes in the meantime to see if there's something off about the spell?"
"Of course," Anya said sincerely. She was deeply concerned about her friend and recently acquired employee. She hoped she could find something amidst Tara's notes to solve this problem. As she moved over to the table, Xander picked up Tara and carried her unconscious body out of the shop with Buffy and Dawn close behind.
Once they got inside the Summers' home, Buffy pointed at the stairs. "Xander, take her upstairs."
"I still don't get what happened," Xander said as he climbed the stairs.
"Hopefully Anya will find something," Buffy's said.
"Did she put herself in a coma? I thought everything was supposed to change," Dawn commented as they all made their way to Willow and Tara's bedroom. "Why is she still unconscious?"
"Well, she was thrown through a door, Dawnster," Xander said as he laid Tara gently on the bed. He shook his head. "We should've taken her to the hospital."
"And how would we get her out of there if this isn't just about a head injury?" Buffy asked. "My gut's telling me this has to do with the spell. The sooner we figure out what went wrong with the spell, the sooner we get Tara back."
"And if we get Tara back is she going to try to change reality again?" Dawn asked bitterly. "We'll get her back just to lose her."
"Dawn, either way we've lost her," Buffy said. "We've got comatose Tara or dead Tara in the other reality. It's kind of a lose-lose situation. Right now we just need to figure this out."
"Where do we start?" Xander asked. Buffy was about to answer when she heard the phone ring. She picked up the phone on the bedside table and answered it, only to be greeted by a dial tone. She stared at the receiver, confused.
"It only rang once," Dawn said. "Why would they hang up?"
Buffy answered the phone, wondering if it would be an illusion like the voices and the people they had seen. Tara and Dawn waited for a confirmation on that suspicion.
"Giles, you have great timing. Something weird is…" She paused and looked over at Tara, an expression of surprise in her eyes. "How did you know Tara was here?"
"Willow," Giles said. He sat at the desk in his den in England and removed his glasses. He looked over at the young witch he had come to love like a daughter. She was pacing nervously across the room, glancing over at him every few seconds to try and gauge Buffy's end of the conversation by his facial expression. "She could feel Tara's presence. It was very sudden. She's rather…upset."
"She says she's from an alternate reality where she was never killed," Buffy explained. "Amy erased all the Warrens from existence so Tara was never shot."
"And you're certain this is the truth?" Giles asked, concerned that this Tara was evil.
"I'm certain she's not evil. I trust her," Buffy said. "Something else is happening, Giles. We—Dawn, Tara and I—are seeing stuff and hearing stuff. We're hearing our voices and seeing images of ourselves. They fade in and out. I think they might be from the reality she came from except that we saw her. How can she be in two realities at once?"
"That is curious," Giles said. He replaced his glasses and stood, moving over to his bookshelves. He removed a book and opened it. "What have they said?"
"They were talking about the spell she cast," Buffy explained.
"Giles, what's going on?" Willow asked impatiently. "Is she there? Is Tara there?" Giles nodded his head and Willow stepped forward. "I need to talk to her."
"Willow, I don't think that's—"
"Giles, please."
"She's not your Tara," Giles explained, his voice harsh. "She's from another reality. She cast a spell and ended up here. Right now we need to figure out why that happened and possibly how to reverse it."
Willow looked like she had been punched in the gut. Her heart, her very being, had told her that Tara was back. She could feel her like she was in the same room. Now she was being told that she didn't belong there, that she would be taken away again.
Giles saw the expression on Willow's face and his demeanor softened. "I think it would only make things worse for you if you saw or spoke to her. I would appreciate any input you may have, however. Perhaps researching this will help distract you."
"Maybe," Willow said dejectedly. She exhaled and then tried to put herself in research mode. "What's the spell that she cast?"
"Buffy, I think we're going to need the entire story," Giles said, finally returning to the phone where Buffy waited impatiently. "And we need to know that spell."
Xander, Buffy and Dawn had moved down to the dining room. Buffy had called Giles, but he had not been home. Anya joined them, carrying Tara's notes with her. They were all researching the issue, not sure what they were looking for. They checked on Tara periodically, but she remained unconscious.
"Anything, An?" Xander asked, shutting the book he was looking at in frustration.
"The only thing I can think of is this last line," Anya said, handing Tara's spell over so they could read it. "She wrote, 'Return me to fate's true path.' I'm surprised she was that vague. I thought she would be more careful. She didn't specify in what state she was to be returned. If she's unconscious here, it could be that her consciousness was taken to the other reality but she wasn't."
"And if she's still here, this reality still exists," Buffy said. "But how can they both exist? Is that possible?"
"Generally, no," Anya explained. "Alternate realities are not the same as alternate dimensions. Alternate dimensions exist on a separate plane. Alternate realities exist on the same plane. So if an alternate reality is created. it's supposed to replace the existing reality."
"Maybe Tara's spell created an alternate dimension instead of an alternate reality," Dawn suggested.
"It's unlikely," Anya said. "That kind of spell would take a lot of power. More than Tara has. It's not something she could do on accident."
"So what did she do?" Xander asked.
"I'm not sure," Anya said. "I only know so much. This is beyond anything I've heard of."
Once Tara had managed to remember her spell she had cast, they waited while Giles and Willow discussed it. Willow pointed out the same vague line that Anya had mentioned in the other reality. Giles explained the same things about alternate realities and alternate dimensions. But Giles knew a bit more than Anya, with the help of his books.
"I believe Tara has caused a parallel reality," Giles said. Buffy had put him on speaker phone so Dawn and Tara could join in the conversation. Willow had picked up another phone to also be a part of the discussion. "The spell split her consciousness from her physical body and brought her consciousness to our reality. Rather than replace her reality, as was supposed to happen, the two realities are residing in the same plane, slightly out of phase with each other."
"What about the stuff we're hearing and seeing?" Dawn asked.
"The realities are phasing in and out with each other because Tara is in both realities," Willow explained. "She's still connected to herself. It's like she's an anchor, holding the two realities together."
"So if you release the anchor, one of the realities drifts away until it no longer exists," Tara said.
"Precisely," Giles said. "If the two realities remain on the same plane for too long, they'll both phase completely together causing possible catastrophic consequences."
"Like the end of the world?" Buffy asked.
"Possibly," Giles said. He heard a door close and he and Willow looked toward the front door of his home. They watched as a faded image of Giles walked in and hung his coat on the coat rack. Then he disappeared. "It's phasing here as well. We just saw my alternate self. We may not have much time."
"How do we fix this and reverse what Amy did?" Tara asked. She still had her ultimate goal in mind. This was the reality that was supposed to exist. She just wasn't supposed to be in it.
"There may be no way to reverse what Amy did, Tara," Giles said. "We have to return you to the reality you belong in. However, if we do that, this reality—the one you say is the correct reality—will cease to exist. If we don't return you to your reality, both will cease to exist."
"So there's no way to bring all those Warrens back?" Tara asked, her guilt starting to bubble to the surface.
"I'm afraid not. What Amy did harnessed serious dark magicks," Giles explained. "The only way to reverse that appears to be harnessing the same dark magicks. And there's no guarantee that any of that would work. My suggestion to you is that once you get back to that reality, leave it be."
"I don't know if I can," Tara said.
"I understand you feel guilty, but what Amy did is not your fault," Giles explained.
"You tried to reverse it," Willow added. "Sometimes you can't change the past. No matter how much you want to."
Tara could hear the sorrow in Willow's voice and knew that she knew guilt better than anybody. They all remained silent for a moment and then Buffy decided to get them back on track.
"How do we get her back to her reality, Giles?" Buffy asked.
"I'm not certain," he replied. He removed his glasses and rubbed his temples, trying to ease the tension. "As far as I can tell, the Tara sitting there with you is a form of astral projection. However, it's not a voluntary one. Unlike normal astral projection she can't make a conscious effort to return to her body. She's stuck."
"We need to get her unstuck," Willow continued. She paused and swallowed hard, a lump forming when her next thought crossed her mind. "I have one idea, but I'm not sure if it would be a one hundred percent guarantee."
"What's that?" Dawn asked.
"Astral projection is all about consciously believing you're in another place," Willow explained. "Tara believes that she's in this reality and the spell she cast is mystically fueling that. But if her consciousness believes she's not here, it'll go back to where it belongs."
"I'd like to do that, but it's kind of hard to not believe I'm here," Tara said.
"I know," Willow replied. "But what's the one way humans can stop being in the world?"
Giles' eyes took on an expression of realization. Willow was right, and he knew it. "Death. If the Tara in this reality dies, her consciousness will return to her body in the other reality."
"Are you sure?" Buffy asked. "I mean, if you're wrong at all, we could lose Tara everywhere. Or it might cause other problems."
"No, Willow's right," Giles said. "Astral projection is all about belief in what's reality. Killing her in this reality would restore everything to the other reality."
"So, does it matter how she…dies?" Dawn asked, shocked at this plan. The thought of killing Tara, seeing her dead again, hurt her to think about.
"It doesn't matter," Giles replied. "As long as she dies. It should be done soon."
"Okay, I'm broken record girl," Buffy said, the tone in her voice adamant. "Are you sure, Giles?"
"Yes, I'm sure," Giles assured the slayer. He understood her apprehension.
"Buffy, you can do it," Tara said. Buffy's head spun toward Tara, her expression was almost comical, as wide as her eyes were.
"No, I…"
"It would be the fastest way, Buffy," Giles said. "None of us will exist once she's gone. There's no guilt in this. It's okay."
"God, I hate this crap," Buffy said dejectedly, a pout forming on her lips. Tara smiled slightly at her friend. "Okay, then I guess that's the plan."
"Good luck, Tara," Giles said. It was obvious he was saying his goodbyes. He didn't want Willow to even hear Tara's death. Not that it would matter, but it was an unconscious reflex.
"Thank you," Tara said.
"Be careful in the other reality," Willow said. Sadness filled her voice. "Don't let that version of me lose you."
"I won't."
They all said goodbye and hung up the phone. The three in Sunnydale stood and Buffy led them into the living room toward her weapons chest. She pulled out a sword and turned to Tara. Then she shot Dawn a worried glance.
"Dawn, are you sure you—"
"I want to be here," Dawn interrupted her. She had her resolve face on. Buffy smiled, realizing that her little sister had picked up that little personality trait from being around Willow.
"Okay," she said. She looked to Tara, who appeared extremely nervous now that she saw the sword. Buffy raised the sword, thinking beheading would be the fastest way, but she couldn't get herself to do that. She made eye contact with Tara, and Tara nodded her head.
"Do it however you can," she said. She took a deep breath and let it out, trying to prepare herself. "You can just stab me."
"This is unreal," Buffy said.
"In a few minutes, you won't even know it happened," Tara said.
Buffy nodded her head and took a deep breath. Then she lunged forward, shoving the blade hilt deep through Tara's chest and out her back. Tara cried out in pain and her knees gave way. Buffy eased her down to the floor, not removing the sword. Tara saw the terrified look on Dawn's face, but soon her vision was blurred. She could hear her own heartbeat in her ears and she could hear it slowing. Her entire body felt cold and her breathing began to soften. Finally her grip on Buffy's arms released and everything faded to black.