The house was dark when Tara opened the door. Not that it would have made a difference if the lights were on. She couldn't have gotten her eyes to focus anyway. She was too full of emotion. She was too angry. Too hurt. Too hollow.
That's ironic, Tara thought to herself as she climbed the stairs. I'm too full of emptiness. The door to her bedroom stood open, the curtains blowing in the gentle breeze, moonlight shining on the bed. Tara turned on the light and looked around. She didn't know what she should, or rather, what she could take with her. What had Willow charmed? If she had put Tara under her spell, what else had she done? She pulled a suitcase out of the closet and started putting her things away.
"You don't have to do this," said a voice from the doorway. "You can stay here. We can work this out."
Tara sighed. "No, we can't, Willow. Not this time." She placed a skirt in the suitcase.
"So you're just going to leave? No second chance? No goodbye? Tara, I'm sorry! I made a mistake. Can't you just let it go?"
"What? Should I just FORGET that you cast a spell on me? Why don't you just cast another spell on me to MAKE me forget? Isn't that what you do best?"
"You know it's not like that. I did it for your own good." Willow mumbled. She took a step into the room, but retreated when Tara shot her a cold glare.
"My own good? Where do you get the idea that it's best for ME for you to erase my memory? Our relationship isn't like some story that you can just go back and revise if you don't like the way it sounds." Tara snapped. She could feel the blood boiling under her skin.
"That's not what I was trying to do."
"Then what was it, Willow? What were you trying to do? You do all of this magic, but for who?" Tara put a stack of shirts into the suitcase.
"Stop throwing questions at me! I was just trying to keep you happy."
"Did you REALLY think that I would be happy when I found out?" Tara closed her suitcase and walked towards Willow.
"I…I didn't think you would."
"So you were just hoping that I would be diluted enough to not realize that you were controlling my mind? How can you expect me to stay, Willow? How can I trust that you aren't casting spells on me? You're just a power-hungry witch."
Willow took a step back as the colour drained from her face. "You don't really think that, do you?"
"What else am I supposed to think? I just can't trust you, so I need to go away. I'm sorry." Tara whispered.
"You know, you were never the type to get so angry. You've always been the passive one, and I've always been the ball of energy."
"Well, maybe I don't feel passive anymore. I've been manipulated over and over again and I won't stand for it anymore. I thought you were different, Willow. I thought you loved me. But you're just like everyone else."
"But, I do love you, Tara. That's why I did this."
"It was wrong. And you can't go back and change anything now. Well…you can but that's beside the point."
"Would it help if I apologized and promised it would never happen again?"
"No, Willow. You broke my trust. Do you understand that you altered my memory? That is just wrong. You don't DO that to people, even if you can."
"But-"
Tara took Willow's hand in hers. "I know you were trying to help, but…I don't even know what to think. I told you, I need to go."
"Will you be coming back?" Tears shone in Willow's eyes as she asked. She already knew the answer, but she would rather hear the answer straight out of Tara's mouth.
Tara shook her head sadly.
"I need to leave now." Tara picked up her bags and walked back to the doorway, where Willow still stood, frozen. Tara touched her pale face. "Please, don't think that this is easy for me, or that this is something that I want to do. I want to stay with you, but right now I can't."
Willow opened her mouth to say something, and then paused, as if uttering it would make Tara leave faster. She took a breath and started again. "Do you still love me?"
Tara seemed to look through Willow. Past the face she knew so well and the eyes in which she had seen so much love in the past. Past the lips she had kissed so often. Past the red hair that she had gripped in handfuls in the throws of passion. She seemed to gaze right though the woman that meant the world to her. She absently placed a hand on Willow's cheek.
Willow clasped that hand and held it to her face as a single tear fell. "I didn't mean for this to happen." Tara nodded and walked out the door.