Willow slowed her pace, steadied herself, when she saw Giles in her room. She felt like she'd been caught—but she hadn't done anything wrong this time. Had she?

"Where have you been?" Giles asked, like a father, and it occurred to Willow how rarely she'd heard the question from her own parents, even after late nights at the Bronze or slaying with Buffy.

"Out." Willow didn't mean to bark, but she wanted to sleep.

"Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Willow opened her mouth to answer him, or to declare that she wasn't a kid and shouldn't be treated like one, but instead she tried pathetically to count the minutes in her head. She'd left Giles' around six o' clock—certainly she had only been gone a couple of hours. Right?

She glanced at the clock on the wall. She had to crane her neck to see it, and she was sure Giles noticed. It read nearly two in the morning.

"What happened to your feet?" said Giles.

Willow looked down at her toes, which were covered in dirt and blisters, "Miss Harkness says not to wear shoes."

"Not all the time. You don't have to hurt yourself, Willow." He frowned, softening, "You should sit down."

He moved over on the bed so that she could sit beside him, but she chose instead to sit on a plain wooden chair at her desk. "So I was out. Who cares?"

"I care. I was worried."

"Worried about me? Or worried about what I'll do without your supervision." That second part wasn't a question.

"I just didn't know where you were."

Willow looked down, a little bit with shame and a little more with fear. "Did you tell the witches?"

"That you were out?" Giles asked, "No. But if you hadn't returned by morning I would have."

"You trust me too much." She felt inexplicably combative, fighting Giles' words no matter how contradictory she became, "Do you know how much damage I could do in a night?" She grit her teeth, suddenly guilty, "Were you just waiting here for me? The whole time?"

"I wanted to talk to you. So, when you weren't here, I waited for you—I didn't realize how long you would be. Then I was too worried to go to sleep."

"Sorry." At Giles' frustrated sigh, she wondered defensively what it was he'd come to speak to hear about in the first place, "What did I do this time, Giles? I promise, tonight I didn't do anything bad. At least, I don't think… You said yourself, I'm trying. Right?"

"Willow, I didn't come here to scold you. What I said earlier still stands." There was a hesitation so long that Willow thought Giles wouldn't continue. "Willow, it's time for you to go."

"Go where? I already did my training today."

"Go home, Willow." His tone was painfully resolute.

"I am home. I mean… this is my room. Isn't it?"

"You know what I mean."

"No," Willow said, stubborn denial in her voice, "I don't."

"You need to go back to Sunnydale."

"Why, Giles? I thought… I thought I could live here with the Coven for… I mean, not forever. Just until… for a few years. 'Cause they can protect me. I mean, you know, protect everyone from me. And I have you, and tea, and the nature and stuff. Why would I go back there?"

"You felt it yourself. There is a great evil rising in Sunnydale and you will be needed to help stop it."

"But I am a great evil!" said Willow, "Giles, I'm not ready. There's no way I'm ready. It's only been three months."

"There will always be more for you to learn, Willow," Giles said, "But you have the resources you need. When Buffy called earlier, she told me..." Giles looked down at the crystal in his hands, "Whatever it is you saw—we have less time than we thought. Chasms, portals, are opening all over town. It's happening now."

"Giles, no. I can't go, I can't leave. I'm the baby bird."

"Pardon?"

"The bird. That fell from the nest? He tried to fly too early, and then he got hurt. Except, for me, everyone else will get hurt. I'm scared, Giles."

"You are the one what saved that bird. You have control now."

"I don't feel like I have control," said Willow, "Every minute, I have to catch myself. It's just, there's these whispers in my head. 'Cause I'm also nuts on top of everything! And the whispers are the only thing… I've lasted this long but, I don't know, if I let my mind slip, or my hand, or if I get a little angry… it could all be for nothing. That's how it feels, anyway."

"You can keep up your training in Sunnydale," said Giles, "I know you'll always be exercising your mind. Buffy can help you keep in shape physically, and being around your friends will help you keep your emotions in check. You have things to calm you down, too, just for emergencies."

"But no one there can bind my powers. No one is strong enough. It takes, like, four witches here!"

"You won't need to bind your powers. Trust me, Willow. Everyone knows what to look for if you do start slipping. No one will let you get that way again. I will be in constant contact."

"Wait, contact?" Panic filled her gaze, "Giles, you aren't coming back with me?"

"No, Willow."

"Why? Giles, I can't… I need you."

"Being around me is just feeding your guilt. It's not healthy."

"But… we need you. The whole gang. With the big evil."

"I doubt I can help the situation much,"

"But Giles, you saw what happened when you left last time."

"I shouldn't be around all of that," Giles said, "Since I…—"

Willow looked up, eyes foggy with horror, "It's because of what I did?"

"No, Willow—"

"You are afraid you won't be able to help. Because I took your power."

"You didn't—"

"I'm not stupid, Giles. I can feel it. I know you and the witches tried not to tell me. I can feel that you have no magick inside you. And I can see it in your eyes, that you've lost something."

"I'm okay, Willow. It's okay, I forgive you."

"No," Willow said, fists clenched and shaking, "I can't imagine… if I'd had my powers taken from me… I mean, you told me how it would feel. But it's more than that. To have something like that stripped away…"

"I'm not a warlock," Giles said, "I've dabbled, but me losing my power is not the same as if you had lost yours. For me it's like… losing a hand. For you… It would destroy you."

"So I cut off your hand."

"I still have two left. I don't need magic. It was a tool for me. It wasn't a part of me."

"When I did that to you, I don't think I meant to take it all. I mean, I wanted to take the coven's power, the borrowed stuff. But it was such a rush. I think I knew you might die, after what happened with Rack. But I didn't care. I couldn't stop, all I wanted was more power."

"I know," Giles said, "You weren't in your right mind."

"I think my mind is just wrong." Willow sighed, "Look, Giles. You saw what just feeling the darkness in Sunnydale did to me. What do you think will happen when I'm actually there?"

Giles seemed to consider this for a moment, "You are from Sunnydale, your power comes from Sunnydale, perhaps that's why it's always reaching out. I'm not a part of that journey. You should do this alone."

"And by 'alone' you mean, with Buffy and Xander and Dawn and just without you?"

"Willow, I'm just a reminder for you. The witches, they think it only makes it harder for you... to control your powers, to move past your grief, everything. With me around."

"Can't they do it without me? Buffy and them?"

"Willow, you said yourself—"

"I know what I said. Can't they send another witch?"

"You're the only one with the power—"

"Yeah, yeah. Everyone keeps saying how powerful I am. You sure make it hard to stay humble, y'know?"

"Then you know you are the only one—"

The anger was rising in Willow's chest, in her fingers, "I'm not going."

"Willow…"

"Giles, I'm not going unless you come with me."

Giles furrowed his eyebrows at that, "Willow, if something did happen to you… There's nothing I could do to stop you."

"I don't care! I need you, Giles."

"Willow, you don't own me."

"And you don't own me. You can't make me go back."

"You're right. You are needed, but the choice is yours. I won't force you."

Willow growled in frustration. The need to save the world had become its own sort of pull, an addiction after six years. He knew she would go back. "Giles, please…!"

"No, Willow."

At some point, she'd stood up, and now she let her legs collapse underneath her and she pulled herself upright by gripping desperately at his arms, "Giles, don't do this to me. I can't… people are gonna get hurt." She hadn't meant it to sound like a threat.

Her eyes were crazed, lack of sleep after the terror of the night before combined with the horrific images she'd been twice subjected to and the dizzying and exhausting journey she'd just taken through the woods probably made it all worse, on top of her own inherent irrationality. Giles said nothing.

Willow let something slip, then, and the light in the room flickered violently. "Giles, look. I don't have control. Please."

"Willow, are you doing that on purpose so that it looks like you can't control yourself and I won't let you leave?"

"No!" Willow said, "You saw it today! It happens all the time. With the flower. And the tea! You can't make me go alone."

"My mind is made up, Willow. I'm not going back to Sunnydale. Not now"

Willow grasped his arms tighter, then, and suddenly he screamed and pushed her violently away.

She was confused at the reaction—and then she saw his shirt. Your shirt . The fabric was scorched on his shoulders where she'd had her hands. She looked at them, her hands that were smoking at their fingertips. She felt them buzz.

Giles stood. "This is why," he said gruffly, "you need to be apart from me."

Willow continued to stare at her hands, feeling deja vu. This was just like with Tara, trying to force her to stay. Goddess, when did she get so clingy? Giles was right, she couldn't keep hurting him. You have to go, something inside her mind told her. Save the world, Willow.

She didn't say anything, but as Giles left they both knew that Willow was going to return to Sunnydale. Alone.