Chapter II Visions

"So Tara? What do you think? Stale chocolate frosted sugar bombs or, Burnt leftover homemade pizza?"

"Here let me see that"

Tara pulled the box of over ambitiously sweet cereal from Dawn and looked at it discerningly.

"Which one do you want Buffy?"

"Huh? Oh... whatever you want is fine"

Buffy sat behind the counter across from Her sister and Tara, staring up at a cupboard on the wall absentmindedly. She had a vague memory of her mother once pulling dishware out of that cupboard and then in an instant, as though in a trance she saw it... no, seeing wasn't right, she felt it, every fiber of her being remembered... she was alive, her mother was fine and near. She was happy, so happy, the colors in the room seemed to spin, maintaining their shape yet somehow more vivid and beautiful and alive, like the colors themselves were dancing with joy... she was so happy, everything was fine, and she had only that happiness to look forward to for the rest of her...

Then like a scream ripping down her spine it was all gone… In an instant that stretched for an eternity, the feeling of joy vanished, replaced by an anguished sorrow, so sad, the sadness became a void… Her skin felt like she had been bathing in a hot spring and was then suddenly dipped in acid… her fists clenched, the cup of orange juice she had been holding shattered in her grip and cut into her skin, but she barely even registered it's existence. All she could see now was the darkness eating away at everything, like the whole world was bathed in a sickness that caused it to eat itself, her sister and Tara looked like mere shadows of people, not quite whole, not quite right. She set her jaw in anguish, staring ahead forcing herself not to scream.

"Buffy?" came Dawn's voice from somewhere distant "Buffy? Are you o-o-ok?"

It was like a veil settling over an orgy of leeches… the world came back into focus... Buffy looked down at her hand, still bleeding, a large chunk of glass engorged in it.

"Uh... I'm fine... I'm ok... how are you?"

Dawn looked at Tara, who stared back with an expression of fear mirrored in her eyes.

"Why don't you let me clean up your hand, Buffy... here..." said Dawn taking the bottom of the cup from her sister's bleeding hand, and replacing it with a wet towel. "... Let's try to get that glass out before it gets infected."

Buffy, finally realizing why they were acting so concerned, pulled her hand away quickly "Oh no, it's ok Dawn, I'm ok, you know me, a klutz with the strength of a slayer. I'm fine, I'll clean it up ok, you just have breakfast."

Buffy moved to the sink and started to remove shards of glass with a pair of tweezers... somewhere in her consciousness she registered that she actually enjoyed the sensation of ripping junks of glass from her flesh... but the rest of her mind was busy fighting to keep the veil over the world.

"Buffy...?"

"It's ok I'm fine, I promise, go ahead eat breakfast, you have to get to school soon."

Tara pulled Dawn away from her sister, still with a concerned look in her eye, and said in an all-too-unconvincing voice "C'mon Dawn, Buffy's fine, just have some breakfast".

"But..."

"Dawn, eat already! Stop stalling." came Buffy's agitated scolding.

Tara picked up the box of Chocolate Frosted Sugar Bombs and pulled a smooth grey rock out of her pocket.

"I think I know how to solve our breakfast food dilemma."

Dawn watched as Tara stared at the stone for a moment seeming to concentrate.

"Eradico Sitis!" said Tara in a commanding voice, very unlike her usual unassuming tones.

There was a blue flash from the stone and the box glowed a soft blue haze for a moment before returning to its mundane cereal boxness.

"There, that should do it." Tara proclaimed, and proceeded to pour cereal into three separate bowls already waiting on the counter.

"Wow! Instant magicky freshness!" exclaimed Dawn grabbing a bowl.

"Yeah that spell comes in handy a lot at college." said Tara mildly.

"Hee hee, it's like Wiccan-stale-be-gone, you should market. Oh, hey! Do you think you could use magic to get more sugar into these things?"

"I don't think that's possible," said Tara dryly.

"Or safe" chided Buffy.

Buffy made quick work of her wounds and the three young women gathered around the kitchen counter and began the much-practiced routine of consuming glucose.

"So Dawn" Tara quipped to break the uneasy silence, "Which classes do you have today?"

"... ummmm Algebra, Biology, PE, and World Cultures..."

"Oh world cultures was my favorite class in high school, I loved learning about all those different traditions and values all over the world, and it was really validating to know that the American view of things wasn't the only way of looking at the world, y'know? Like in Mesopotamia for instance, spiders are attacking willow in a dimensional vortex"

"What!"

"Tara?"

Tara was staring at her cereal as though she were trying to see through it to the counter beneath.

"Tara, what's going on…?" asked Buffy with unusual concern.

"It's Willow... no! Willow!... RUN WILLOW!" Tara yelled at the cereal bowl.

Both Buffy and Dawn looked down at their own bowls only to be slightly disappointed at seeing nothing but chocolate-colored milk with small balls of sugar floating in it.

"What are you talking about?" asked Dawn fearfully.

"Willow's in the milk! I mean she's running away from something somewhere... Hurry Buffy. Go check on her, in her room."

Buffy didn't bother to ask anything more; she turned and ran up the stairs with Dawn at her heels looking confused.

Buffy had never seen Tara like this before, something in her voice told Buffy, "This was not good," years of saving lives and managing crisis put her on autopilot the instant Tara spoke...

"Through the door willow! Go through the door!" came Tara's frightened voice from the kitchen below them.

Buffy passed the bathroom at a full run, her room, Willow's was just on the left.

There was a loud crack, a flash of light, a Pop!... and the door blew off its hinges, knocking Buffy through Dawns open doorway, onto her bed...

"Willow? Willow are you o..."

Buffy heard Dawn's voice come from Willow's room.

There was a muffled scream...

"Dawn, NO!" Buffy threw the door off herself, which shattered into several pieces against Dawn's dresser, and ran into Willow's room.

Dawn stood with her hands covering her mouth, an expression of shock on her face. Everything in the room had been turned upside down as though a tornado had just tried it's hand at domestic maintenance. There were scorch marks on the walls, a broken mirror hung loosely from a hook on the wall. The armoire was cracked down the center and most of the books were either scattered or burning... In the center of the room lay a book, on top of which a bowl of hot cereal had spilt it's contents.

An overturned plush stool lay sideways; just above it, the air was still crackling with mystical jolts of energy as though a localized lightning storm had just finished unleashing it's terror and was now slowly dispelling the last remnants of it's deadly assault.

But none of this was what Dawn was staring at... right next to the stool on the floor lay two bodies: one, a beautiful, ebony skinned woman in a silky yet commanding green and bronze dress. Long, flowing, stark-white hair had fallen in a disheveled heap above her head. Blood running freely down her face.

It was the other, spooning her body protectively with his own, was what had elicited the scream of shock from The Slayer's sister. Very fine blue fur covered the slim, muscular body of what looked like a man but with the most distinct signs of demonic heritage. His legs bent the wrong way at the knees, and his feet were elongated like those of a cat. His hands boasted only three fingers each, and a long thin tail topped with a spade-like point extended out behind him like some unearthly, blue snake.

Willow was nowhere to be seen.