(Hmmm…need I mention that this is AU? Oz never got out of his cage, so he never slept with Veruca, who, incidentally was captured and killed by the Initiative, just cos she's a horrible bitchy blah who I didn't wanna write in. So, all is well with Willow and Oz, they are tremendously happy together.

I'll also add that we're skipping ahead in time, even though in my fic it's been about eight days, and on the series it was about four eps between 'Wild At Heart' and 'Hush'. We're skipping to the end of 'Hush'.)

CHAPTER FOUR: BE HEARD

Willow and Oz were awoken by a sudden pounding at one of the dorm room doors. It sounded panicked and frantic, but after the last two days, it seemed fairly foolish to actually open the door at night. The wiccan and the werewolf exchanged a worried glance and walked to the door.

Oz opened the door and he and Willow stepped slightly outside, looking to the right. They were suddenly barrelled over by someone running from the left. Willow fell to the ground, her ankle twisting at a terrible angle. She'd have screamed long and loud if it weren't for the slight problem of everyone having their voices stolen.

Oz crouched beside her, frantic with worry. Something behind the tangled pair on the ground caught his attention, and his eyes widened. He quickly helped up the blonde girl who had run into Willow, and then scooped Willow up, knowing she wouldn't be able to walk.

"Run!" he mouthed to the blonde girl, the trio making their way away from the floating demons and the straightjacketed lackeys that were following them.

They raced out the door and down a flight of stairs, and slammed a door shut, annoyed that there was no lock. Oz gently lowered his girlfriend to the ground as he spotted a vending machine and ran to try and push it against the door. It barely moved.

Willow hopped towards a wall and slid down, looking at the vending machine and concentrating hard. Earlier that week she'd been wanting to float something larger than a pencil, and now seemed to be a moment that she needed to be able to do just that.

The blonde girl looked at the redhead and saw the frustrated look of concentration on her face. The vending machine was twitching slightly, but even with Willow's magic and Oz's strength, it wasn't budging. The blonde girl took a seat beside Willow and reached her hand out, squeezing softly.

Willow looked up at her in shock. She could feel the power from the other girl, and the calm strength that the blonde had. They both turned their attention and concentration to the vending machine, and watched as it flew from its spot against the wall, over to the door, and slammed it shut.

Oz looked across at the two girls, his eyebrows slightly raised. He quickly walked across to Willow and gently touched her ankle, trying to see how damaged it was. He mouthed a 'thank you' to Tara, and continued to gently touch Willow's foot, thankful that it wasn't broken.

Tara Maclay just sat back and watched with a small smile on her face. She could tell that the two people in front of her were desperately in love with each other, and it was a beautiful sight to behold. The gentle way that Oz was touching Willow and the way that Willow's eyes, though pained, always softened whenever she looked up at the boy.

Tara sighed and sat back, wishing that she had someone to love in the way that these two obviously loved each other.

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Across town, in a clock tower, Buffy grabbed a small wooden box and threw it against a wall, the box breaking into pieces. Strands of white silver clouds shot out of the remains of the box, flying out the window, one of the strands flying towards Buffy and forcing itself down her throat. Without hesitation, she opened her mouth and screamed, watching in gross satisfaction as the heads of the Gentlemen exploded, and the bodies dropped to the ground in a heap.

She shouldered her crossbow and walked down the stairs of the clock tower, happily satisfied that Sunnydale had once again been saved.

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"Whoa," Oz whispered softly, feeling his voice lodge back in his throat.

Willow smiled happily. "Hey, you spoke."

The two kissed softly and Oz turned to look at the blonde girl.

"So…thanks for the save back there," Oz said, his hand stretched towards her.

Tara shook his hand nervously and smiled a little. "You're w-welcome. And…I'm sorry about…y'know – running into you."

Willow smiled and waved off the apology. "S'okay. It's not the worst injury I've had. Oh, and I'm Willow by the way. This is my boyfriend Oz."

"Tara," she replied softly.

Oz helped Willow to her feet and the trio made their way out of the small common area, Willow and Tara magically moving the vending machine so that it rested in its rightful place on the wall. Oz helped Willow up to her room, and offered to walk Tara back to her own dorm. Tara waved off the offer, seeing that Willow was still in a fair amount of pain from her twisted ankle. Oz was hesitant to leave Tara to walk alone, but Tara wouldn't budge from her answer.

The quiet blonde girl walked back towards her own dorm, still stunned by what she'd discovered. She'd been crossing campus on her way back from the library when she'd seen the Gentlemen approaching her. She'd run into the nearest building, and had pounded on the doors until someone had answered. She'd just been incredibly lucky that the person who'd answered had had magical talent.

She made a mental note to find out just what type of power Willow possessed. She could sense that Willow was powerful, though she couldn't tell how much power the redhead had.

She suddenly heard footsteps behind her, and she knew she should have let Oz walk her back to her dorm. She quickened her pace, not really wanting to get into another fight. The footsteps behind her gathered speed as well, and Tara knew that her fears weren't unfounded.

Someone stepped onto the path in front of her and she had to stop running or else bump into them. She swallowed fearfully, going through the spells she knew to see if she would be able to come out of this alive. She was assured by the fangs and ridges on the face of the man in front of her that he was a vampire, so she wasn't too worried about the wiccan pledge of harming none. Demons trying to kill her didn't count.

"Inflamare!" she yelled, her hand gesturing towards the vampire in front of her.

The vampire caught on fire, the flames engulfing him. She stepped back to avoid the heat, and someone clamped a hand around her mouth.

"Ooo, we've got ourselves a witch," a soft male voice said in her ear, his cool breath tickling her neck.

"Ooo, you've got yourselves a Slayer too," came a cheery voice from behind the second vampire. A stake suddenly penetrated the vampire's heart and he crumbled to dust, leaving the vampire who was holding Tara.

"Slayer!" the vampire rasped out, angered by the decrease in his cohorts.

Buffy rolled her eyes. She still wasn't sure why vampires felt the need to say her title whenever she showed up to a fight. It wasn't as though she was about to forget what she was.

The Slayer's eyes met Tara's fear-filled ones, and Buffy quickly remembered the gentle blonde wiccan from the week before. Whenever she'd seen Tara on campus, she'd purposely kept her distance, not wanting to make the girl uncomfortable. Whatever Tara's problem with Buffy was, the Slayer knew that for the next few minutes, Tara would have to work with her or end up losing her life.

"Don't move another inch, Slayer, or the witch gets it," the vampire threatened.

Tara didn't know what it was, but she felt oddly calm. Her eyes were locked with Buffy's, and the wiccan knew that there was no way that Buffy would let any harm come to her. The only problem now was to get away from the vampire so that Buffy could kill it.

Tara suddenly bit into the vampire's hand, causing the vampire to jerk away from her in pain, cradling his hand. Buffy used the moment to grab the vampire's jacket and haul him away from Tara and quickly stake him.

The two blonde girls looked at each other, neither really sure what to say. Buffy looked at the building they were in front of, surprised to see how close Tara had come to getting home safely.

"You should really get inside," Buffy said softly.

Tara nodded and felt her heart break at the thought of walking away from the girl who had saved her life twice now. She didn't want to walk away from her, but she knew that there was no way that Buffy would ever consider her for a friend, or for a potential lover if she ever found out the truth. Tara Maclay, like all the women in the Maclay family, was a demon. And there was nothing she could do about it.