Act 2

Willow turned around in her bed, wrapping herself in the blankets to make as much advantage as she could of the warmth of the bed before sleep was definitively over. She found herself lying on her belly, her left arm folded under her stomach. She extended her legs and her right arm appeared to search blindly something beside her. Her hand tapped several times on the mattress without actually finding something.

When Willow realized she was alone, her eyes opened and she turned her face to the empty side of the bed. The witch winked and enrolled tightly the blankets around her, feeling herself really tired. She was lacking sleep for sure. Then she decided to gain some more minutes by throwing the blanket over her head.

But something prevented her to slide into sleep again. A strange feeling seized her and a familiar and unknown smell at the same time hit her nose.

Willow put herself up on her elbows and looked around her. Her eyes got wide with surprise and she deeply sat on the bed. She looked again all around the room, her eyes shining with some panic : She was not in her room.

The place she was in had nothing close to do with the comfortable and familiar ambience of the room she shared with Kennedy. The room was far smaller. Despite the bed she was in, the furniture was rather rare and scanty. Two teensy night tables flanked the bed. A little four-drawers dresser was sticked against the wall on her left. Two candles were put on it and were burning peacefully. In front of her, books and random objects covered a small wooden table. Under the table, a chair had been placed. Willow noticed two cheerful paintings on the walls. Despite the emptiness of the room, Willow found it welcoming.

But she had no idea where she was.

She tried to gather her thoughts and to remember. She remembered vaguely the day before. Kennedy inviting her to the restaurant. Her desire to come back home as late as possible to postpone the moment she would have to explain her behavior to her girlfriend. And then there has been a bar. Willow remembered the waitress who wanted to buy her a drink. Then she remembered the man who had sat beside her. He had ordered the same drink as her and they had talked for a while. And her memories stopped there. What have she done after the bar? She couldn't remember coming back home.

« Of course » she said to herself. « Obviously, you did NOT come back. »

Could she have been drunk? Willow swished with horror thinking she might have drink too much and agreed to follow the man to his place.

« No, no, no » she thought. « I couldn't do that. Think, Rosenberg, think hard. It must have a logical reason to this room. »

Willow took her head in her hands, rummaging her memory, searching desperately how she had ended there. Focused as she was, she did not hear the door opening and someone coming in.

« Hey, you awake »

Willow's blood froze in her veins. That voice…

That voice, Willow knew it well and she had the feeling that it had risen from grave.

She raised her head slowly, really slowly, as to delay the moment she would face what her instinct was telling her.

« Good night sweetie? »

Willow looked at her. And she knew the biggest surprise was paint on her face.

« That's it, » she whispered. « I'm dreaming »

In front of her, Tara was looking at her with a fond smile. Willow scrubbed her eyes as to test the reality of this apparition. But the blonde witch did not disappear. Willow stared at her with acuity. That was really Tara. All her senses were screaming it was her, like alarm signals that would have just became red at the same time. But as she was looking at her, Willow found her kinda different from the Tara she remembered. She squinted.

« You don't get up? » asked Tara while looking for something in the dresser.

« Uh? »

Tara turned to her and smiled again. She gathered some stuff from the dresser went closer to the bed. She sat down near Willow and leaned toward her. The redhead thought that Tara must probably hear her heart pounding in her chest, as it seemed to muffle her own senses.

« I must be dreaming, » she repeated.

Tara smiled again with fondness et this time, Willow thought her heart might jump out of her chest as the blonde witch's hand was coming to her face.

« I must be dreaming, » she said again.

And Tara's hand was on her cheek, caressing it tenderly. And Willow felt as if her face was burning at this all too real contact.

« What's happening sweetie? » Tara asked gently. « It's like you've seen a ghost. »

She was almost amused by Willow's surprise, and this one, lost in the scrutiny of the face in front of her, wasn't able to make a sound. Then, against any logic or reason, Willow stretched her arms forward and wrapped them around Tara to pull her to her body. Tara's smile got wider and the second after, the blonde's lips were on the redhead's ones. Willow kissed her shyly before, her mind telling her suddenly that Kennedy must be somewhere, waiting for her. That this young woman who was kissing her could not be Tara. But it was the blonde who broke the kiss.

« You should get yourself ready sweetie. We're going to be late. »

« Late? » asked Willow.

Tara looked at her watch.

« It's close to nine in the morning Will » she said almost severely. « We have to hurry »

« Ok » answered Willow with a distracted look on her face, while she was desperately trying to gather her thoughts. « And where are we going? »

Tara lifted a questioning eyebrow.

« The meeting of course! And I have to go to the sickbay. »

« Sickbay? » asked a suddenly worried Willow. « Are you sick? »

Tara looked at her, as she was crazy.

« Willow, are you ok? »

Willow bit her lips. She looked again around her, as all the answers to her questions might have suddenly popped up from the ground or been written on the walls.

« Where am I? » She asked finally.

The worry on Tara's face transformed into panic and the blonde witch put her hand on the redhead's shoulder.

« What's wrong? What did you do yesterday night sweetie? You don't look alright »

Tara caressed her cheek again while searching her gaze.

« It's Tara » Willow thought. « I can feel it, I KNOW it. It's her aura. »

But then, how? And where was she?

« I must be dreaming » Willow repeated for herself. « Someone did a spell on me and one of my dream came true. Or I've been sent to an alternative reality. Yeah, it must be something like that, an alternative dimension »

« Do you want to stay and take some rest this morning? » asked Tara, interrupting Willow's train of thoughts. « You don't look well. I'll explain to Buffy, don't worry. »

Buffy. Her best friend's name gave her some kind of relief. Buffy was there. Maybe Buffy would know what all this was about.

« No. I'm coming with, » she answered quickly.

« You sure? » asked Tara, still worried.

« Yeah, yeah, I'm coming. » Willow confirmed.

« So, you should hurry, » added Tara on the sweet tone Willow remembered. "I'd like to see Faith before meeting the others. »

« Faith? » asked Willow, totally stunned.

Tara looked at her in surprise again.

« As usual sweetie » she answered with some eagerness.

Willow decided to ask nothing more and to wait and see what would happen.

« Ok, I'm getting ready then. »

Worry disappeared from the blonde's face and she smiled again before leaning forward and putting a soft kiss on Willow's lips. The redhead trembled from head to toes and could not resist to the temptation to add a second.

« I put your stuff on the bed » said Tara, while pointing to the clothes she had taken from the dresser before. « I'm coming by the bathroom, I'm coming back. »

Then, she deposited a new kiss on the redhead's lips, got up and went out.

Willow let herself fall back on the bed.

« I never want to wake up » she whispered to the empty room.

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Willow had come by the bathroom quickly and slipped on some clothes she remembered vaguely having owned. Despite the blur she felt about this weird situation, she had decided to follow Tara without asking any more question to see where all this would lead her.

Willow was now following Tara in dark and woebegone corridors. The place was sinister and far from the welcoming ambience of the room they both had just left. A heavy layer of dirt was covering the ground and the grey and filthy walls. Somewhere, water outflows were running along the walls and a sickening smell of mold seized Willow. Tara made her go the second floor and they passed by a double open door behind which Willow caught sight of a big room and some agitation. But Tara did not slow down and hurried a little in the deserted corridors. They went up to a new floor and finally, Tara stopped in front of a closed door. Willow curiously looked her knocking shyly before opening gently the door without having heard any answer. The two witches came into a room half hidden in darkness. Willow guessed it to be smaller than the room they apparently shared. There were only a closet, a bed and a chair nearby in the room. Tara went to the window and began to open the blind a little more and Willow saw a figure lying in the bed.

Willow recognized it. It was Faith. But a Faith far from the one she remembered. She was as pale as death, her pallor only even more contrasted by the dark-haired curls that were framing her thin face. A wide scar tore her forehead in two and ran between her eyes, passing by really close to the left one before getting down along her nose and dying at the corner of her mouth. A dirty bandage surrounded her neck. Many scars decorated her left arm, lying still next to her. All the rest of her body was disappearing under the blankets.

Tara turned around and looked at Faith with a look Willow identified as tender and full of compassion.

« You don't have too much light? » she asked to the dark-haired Slayer, the blind control still in her hand.

Faith shook her head gently. Tara came to the bed and sat on the chair near her.

« How do you feel today? » Tara asked gently, while taking a closer look to the wound hidden by the bandage Faith was wearing around her neck.

« All kicking, Blondie » answered Faith with sarcasm. « I'm ready for some vampires ass-kicking »

Tara smiled to her with softness and got up to go to the closet.

« I'm going to change your bandage, » she said simply as she opened the closet's doors.

Willow saw her taking medical stuff from the closet, which appeared to only contain that kind of thing. Then the blonde witch came back to Faith and began to undo the dirty bandage. When it was totally removed, Willow could see the wound previously hidden and she felt her stomach turn. Faith's neck had obviously been deeply bitten in several spots and the wounds had become infected, leaving large brownish and puffy stains on the whole area.

Tara cleared the wounds gently. Willow saw one of them getting back to bleeding and Tara winced.

« What? » Asked Faith, while trying to turn her head to her.

Tara prevented her to do so with care.

« Don't move. You're bleeding again »

It was Faith's turn to wince.

« Damn vampires… » She grumbled.

Tara gave her a smile that Willow found full of sadness and melancholy. Then the witch made a new lighter wound dressing on the Slayer's wound before beginning to check others areas of her body.

From the door where she had stayed, Willow looked at the scene, totally stunned. Beyond the questions she was asking herself about what have been able to put the rogue slayer in such a state, seeing Tara taking so great care of Faith was somewhat unreal.

When Tara was done with checking others wounds, she got back to the closet and put back in everything she had taken before. Then she came back to sit on the chair and Willow nearly choked when she saw the blonde witch gently taking one of Faith's hands in one of hers and gently caressing her cheek with the other. Some seconds went by and Willow felt oddly out of place in front of such intimacy. And she was not the only one to think that way.

« Why does your girlfriend stay here staring at us? »

Faith's voice, a little louder than before, made the redhead jump slightly. Tara turned to her and sent her a scolding look. Willow remained stupid, not knowing what to do. Seeing she wasn't moving, Tara got up and came to her. She put her hand tenderly on her cheek, kissed her lightly on the lips and leant to her hear.

« Can you please wait for me outside sweetie? You know how's Faith… »

Willow frowned but decided to do as she was asked.

« Or you can go if you want? » Tara suggested.

Willow would have liked to go but she realized she had no idea where to go.

« I'll wait, » she said.

She was about to cross the doorstep when she turned again.

« Take care Faith » she said in an almost halting tone.

She got no answer from the Slayer and left. In the corridor, she leant against the wall and sighed deeply.

« Ok » she said for herself. « Think. Wherever you are, the place is not really nice »

She interrupted her train of thought when she thought about Tara kissing her.

« Actually it is. Wherever you are, it's super nice here. Ok, the interior sucks and Faith's not too well, but except that it's cooler than cool. »

She stopped again, playing in her head the scene she had just witnessed.

« Ok, Tara seems to be super-friend and maybe more with my worst enemy of all times, but except that, it's cooler than cool »

The door opened and Willow saw Tara backing from the room while gesturing to Faith. The door closed and Tara leant against it a second, her eyes closed. Willow forgot instantaneously her jealousy when she saw the stress displayed on the blonde's face.

«Not too good, uh? » she queried with sympathy.

Tara opened her eyes and saw Willow's ones staring at her with worry. She gave her a weak smile.

« No. It's not getting any better. » Tara answered simply.

She stood up and took the corridor in the inverse direction, which they had taken previously.

« I don't get it » Willow began carefully. « Why her Slayer's powers don't cure her? »

Tara shrugged and cast her an annoyed glance, meaning that matter had probably already been discussed.

« If she wasn't a slayer, she would be dead now. » She answered simply. « I guess the wounds are too bad to cure naturally. Slayers are human beings before everything »

Willow nodded thoughtfully. She wanted to ask how Faith had got hurt but she did not when she remembered that she probably should know that.

« And you two… » She said, thinking about the display of tenderness between Tara and the rogue slayer. « You seem to be pretty close... »

Tara rolled her eyes, clearly exasperate this time.

« Will, please, not this again. You have no reason to be jealous. »

Tara came to a stop and turned pleading eyes to the redhead.

« I love Faith a lot, that's true. But it's not the same thing as you. You know it, right? »

Willow stared to Tara's anguished face and admonished herself to be the cause of such stress.

« So, you and me, we're a couple? I mean, a working, lasting couple ? »

Tara looked at her with some surprise.

« Will, of course. I… I love you, you know that I will ever love only you? »

Willow's heart almost came to a stop at the admission before pounding wildly in her chest. The redhead closed the distance between Tara and herself, put her hand on the back of her head and brought the blonde to her for a heated kiss.

When they finally parted, Tara smiled brightly at her and let her head rest on Willow's shoulder for a second while Willow was playing tenderly with her blonde hair.

Suddenly, she realized what had changed in Tara.

« You cut her hair, didn't you? »

Tara stood up and looked at her with an enigmatic expression on her face.

« And you're acting weird again » she said, still smiling.

Then she took gently her hand and resumed walking.

« We gotta hurry to go to the sickbay »

Willow squeezed her hand in hers tenderly.

« It's been months, Will » added Tara, pointing to her hair.

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The sickbay was located on the previous floor, in the room they had passed by while going to see Faith. After crossing the double doors, there was a first room totally empty except another double doors, which lead to the sickbay itself.

As soon as she came in, a heavy smell took Willow. A death smell.

Willow followed Tara into the room, slaloming between mattresses on the ground, on which were laying many girls; some were young, some were really young, most of them were hurt more or less badly.

Willow tried to look at the faces but Tara was moving too fast for her to stop and stare. Some of them seemed to be familiar.

When they reached the back on the room, Willow saw several shelves lined against wall. Boxes containing only medical stuff were put on them. Near the shelves, a young girl was kneeling near a wounded and giving her an injection. Willow recognized this girl immediately.

« Dawn! » she said happily.

The teenager raised her head when she heard her name and smiled brightly to Willow. The witch found her changed. She looked exhausted and more mature than she was in her memories. She got up, came to them and took the two witches in her arms. Then Tara looked at her, wincing slightly.

« You look tired sweetie" she said. « You should sleep more »

Dawn winced.

« Like we had time for this, » she grumbled. « And you don't look better »

Then she turned to a closet and took a small bottle and several tablets boxes.

« How's Faith? » She asked to Tara who was taking medical stuff from the closet too.

The blonde witch winced again and shook her head.

« Not really better » she answered with a dark look on her face. « Her neck is not healing and she's till very weak. »

Dawn did not answer and gave her sympathic smile.

« So, what did we get tonight? » asked Tara after a moment of silence.

Dawn shook her head and lowered her eyes.

« No attack tonight and the ones who got out have not come back yet. No new wounded. »

Tara nodded seriously hearing this news.

« Good, good » she said simply. « It's really good »

Then, Tara opened a box put on a shelf and took a sheet she quickly cast a glance at.

« Our priorities then? » Dawn asked.

« Kirsty wasn't really well yesterday evening when I left. » Answered Tara. « Did she sleep well? »

Dawn gestured with her hand, indicating 'not really'.

« She slept »

« I'm going to see her first then ».

« Hey Tara »

This new voice made Willow - who had not move a muscle since her hug with Dawn - turn on her heels. The newcomer was a young dark-haired girl who was brightly smiling to them, and Willow's eyes widened when she recognized her.

« Chloe? »

The one who was formerly a potential in Willow's memories, turned to her, slightly surprised by the used tone then slammed a kiss on Dawn's cheek and one on Willow's before throwing herself to Tara's neck while the witch hugged her affectionately.

« What's wrong Will? » Asked Dawn, noticing Willow's stunned look at Chloe's arrival.

« Nothing, nothing » answered Willow, trying to look normal.

Nevertheless, she observed the newcomer with intensity, looking in astonishment at the display of affection from Tara with her.

« Looks like everybody loves Tara… »

« What? » Asked Dawn, who had not catch the sentence whispered too low.

« Nothing, nothing » answered Willow.

Dawn looked at her with a sceptical look on her face but Tara's intervention got her out of embarrassment.

« Dawn, I'm going to take care of Kirsty first. Chloe and you, you should do the light wounded. Then, we have to go to the meeting. Et after this, you're going to go to sleep? »

Dawn sighed.

« Tara, it's not… »

« Dawn » insisted Tara firmly. « You did the night, you have to rest »

Dawn sighed again but did not protest more.

« You see Kennedy after? » She asked instead.

At the mention of Kennedy's name, Willow felt like her heart had just looped the loop in her chest.

« What? » She couldn't prevent herself from saying. « Kennedy's here? »

Three pairs of eyes fixed her and stared at her like she was crazy. Willow regretted immediately her outburst.

« Of course she's here » Dawn replied, narrowing her eyes to her. « Where do you want her to be? »

« Drop it Dawn » said Tara with nonchalance. « She's weird this morning. I think she's really tired »

Willow did not answer, too impatient that this conversation got to an end and that Tara led her to Kennedy. This simple thought sounded strangely to her ears. Tara and Kennedy in the same world seemed to be nonsense.

« See you soon Dawn».

Tara put a kiss on both teenagers' cheek and went away from them, closely followed by Willow.

The girl called Kirsty - a fair-haired teenager with her face dotted with freckles - didn't take them a lot of time. Tara administered her several tablets intended to light her pain and which would allow her to sleep some hours.

When both young women approached the mattress on which Kennedy was supposed to lie, Willow felt her heart pounding with fear.

And it squeezed up violently in her chest when she finally perceived her. The girl had her eyes closed and seemed to sleep. All her body was covered with an old worn out blanket up to her chin. Her face, her neck and her arms wore all ugly scars. Her eyes opened at the approach of both witches and Willow was deeply moved when she saw the profound rings under the joyless eyes of the young British woman. She stood up on her elbows and sent a thin smile to Willow.

« Hey Will » she said on a tone Willow felt forced. « Happy to see you »

Willow stayed still, unable to make a sound or to move while Tara kneeled near her. She finally gestured vaguely to her, having no idea about how to behave with her in that crazy world.

« Hey » she finally said.

She was relieved when she saw that her reaction did not get her odd looks. She examined a few moments the interactions between the two women. They seemed perfectly friendly. Kennedy was trying to joke with Tara who was laughing heartily with her while looking closely to her wounds.

Willow noticed Kennedy's glance sliding from time to time to her and she could not refrain from smiling to her, then from coming to sit next to her, on the other side of the mattress.

The blonde witch lifted delicately the sheet, which recovered Kennedy so as to discover the arm, which was on her side.

« We'll begin with your arm, » she said gently, looking Kennedy straight in her eyes.

The young slayer nodded with a half grimace and Willow could see Kennedy's left hand emerging from underneath the sheet. The redhead had to glance away to prevent herself from vomiting when she saw the young British girl's mutilated hand. It had been horribly torn on both the back and the palm and a phalanx of the shortest finger was missing. Tara - who was obviously used to the sight - had no particular reaction and took the hand gently in her own to examine it.

Kennedy flinched in pain to Tara's handlings and the blonde witch stopped immediately. Willow, spontaneously wanted to soothe her girlfriend and took her free hand in hers. Kennedy turned sharply to her and addressed her a surprise. Willow understood immediately that the girl was not used to such sympathy from her part. Willow offered an apologic smile and was about to take her hand away but she felt Kennedy keeping it in. The redhead turned to Tara who was looking at her in surprise but gave her a smile nevertheless. Kennedy's glance travelled from Tara to Willow then to Tara again. The slayer could not help but give a big satisfied smile.

« I told you, Tara, that your girlfriend wouldn't resist my charm for ever !»

This put immediately Willow uneasy and she looked at Tara with some anxiety. But the blonde witch was smiling warmly to the Slayer.

« It didn't become infected » She said simply while put back gently Kennedy's hand.

She stopped for a second, took a breath before looking Kennedy straight in the eye again.

« We're looking at your leg? »

« Yeah, the leg… » Mumbled Kennedy with an immediate dark air on her face.

Tara gently lifted the sheet again, until revealing Kennedy's left leg. But as a leg, there was just a half one left. Willow immediately felt strongly sick and she got up abruptly when she saw the rough stump just under the Slayer's knee.

« Oh my God »

She put her hands in front of her mouth and felt tears coming to her eyes and slowly going down her cheeks. She did not notice Tara and Kennedy's concerned glance as she could not take her eyes off the horrible wound. Finally, Tara looked again at Kennedy's wound, and through her tears, Willow saw her wince.

« Not good. » She whispered without looking up to Kennedy who now was looking at Tara again.

« Do you think… do you think it'll have to be amputated higher? » Asked Kennedy in a low shaking voice.

Tara did not answer and went on examining the wound.

« I don't know, Kenn » she said after a moment of accepting silence. « We'll try to get back to the hospital to find adapted medicine before. »

« Tara… » Began Kennedy.

« We'll try » Tara interrupted firmly.

The women looked at each other a second in silence, then the blonde witch began to clean the wound that Willow was not even able to look at. When she was done, she put back the sheet up on Kennedy's left and helped her to lie down.

« You ok? »

Kennedy nodded bravely her head. Tara turned to Willow, whose face was now covered with tears more or less dried.

« Will, you could stay with her for a while, as long as I see my other wounded? »

Willow got out her torpor and nodded hesitantly. Tara got up and went away, leaving Willow alone with Kennedy. The redhead sat back next to the brunette who was intently looking at her. Willow wiped quickly her tears and searched desperately for something to say.

« Why are you crying? » Kennedy asked abruptly.

Willow did not know what to answer. She could have simply said she was deeply moved. But words just refused to get out while she imagined her 'girlfriend' 's half leg left under the sheet.

« It's weird » resumed Kennedy. « Usually, you hardly talk to me. And today you're crying about me as you'd care a little, finally. »

She shut up and looked at her again. Kennedy raised her hand toward the redhead and took her hand. Willow let her do so and simply smiled.

« It's nice you stayed, » added the brunette.

Willow nodded and both girls stayed simply like this in silence. Then Tara came back. She did not seem to notice the entwined hands or if she did, she did not show it. Willow got up quickly to follow her, hurried to get away from that woeful reality. She gestured to Kennedy and gave her a new shy smile before disappearing behind the blonde witch.

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Thanks to everyone who leaves feedback.

thanks to J for his/her comment on the word poison : I corrected it and hope it's good this time !