The Rosenberg Residence, 0900 hours.
It was slow. Very slow.
That's the rate at which Willow's heart was beating as she lay sleeping next to Tara, their bodies intertwined with each other while their clothes, blankets, and even pillows were scattered on the carpeted floor. The bodies of the two young women were lying on the linen covered bed, while sunlight gently streamed through a small gap between the curtains. The light landed on Willow's bare back highlighting the scars from her torture in hell. The light warmed Willow's skin and as a result, she tightened her hold on Tara and moaned, "I hate the morning."
The two of them were face to face as Willow scrunched her face, and then she mentally pulled the curtains closer towards each other until there was no light to shine through. With the warmth no longer hitting her bare back, and the cool air in in the room brushing against her skin, a smile appeared on Willow's face. She opened her groggy eyes slightly and took in Tara's sleeping face through a haze that seemed to cover her sight. Willow was still sleepy, and she felt exhausted, but she still took in Tara's facial features and the smell of Tara's hair as it lay on the linen. Willow pulled Tara, who stirred slightly, closer while taking in Tara's scent once again to make sure she wasn't having a dream.
"Ummmm." Tara moaned as her arm draped around Willow's waist. It was that sound escaping Tara's lips that reassured Willow she wasn't in a dream. And the former redhead felt as if there was a heavy weight lifting off her shoulders. Ever since coming back from Acathla's Hell, she was afraid. Her fear from her torture in hell, her fear that she would never fit in again into a life in Sunnydale, and her fear that she wouldn't be accepted by Tara.
Over time, those thoughts started to lift from Willow's very soul.
And now Willow had someone she loved lying next to her… someone who the former redhead knew would be by her side. In addition, Willow had her friends who slowly helped her come back to something resembling a normal life- even though her old self was gone. Even so, Willow could still feel a sliver of darkness within her. A darkness she felt last night when she and Tara were panting, fighting for breath as they kissed last night after she returned from talking to Giles about the Key.
Back in the present time, Willow stared at the sleeping Tara while remembering the previous night when Tara hovered over the former redhead. Willow could remember the a burning sensation on her chest as Tara's kisses moved from Willow's lips. Lying on the bed next to Tara, Willow closed her eyes and remembered the night they spent together, she remembered her own moans of pleasure as she grabbed the bed with both hands while Tara had her way with her. Willow's memories flashed in her minds eye of Tara crawling back up her body and the both of them kissing before Willow flipped Tara over.
It was her turn. She felt as if she was in a daze from the scent of their sweat covered bodies; one on top of another's and the both of them gave each other pleasure. Willow felt her worries about how Tara would see her melt away as the former pulled her head back and arched her back as they ground against each other.
And in the end, once the scent of sex filled the room, the two women collapsed on the bed side by side. Their bodies were covered in sweat as they held onto each other while whispering sweet nothings. The cool air brushed against their skin, causing each to shiver slightly. It was mitigated by the two of them holding on to each other; the contact between their bodies providing warmth as they slowly closed their eyes and went to sleep.
And now, Willow opened her eyes to see Tara. To see the woman she loved. As she stared at Tara's sleeping face, Willow took he left hand and ran into through Tara's soft blonde hair. The former redhead had a smile on her face before she looked down Tara's nude body and lay her eyes on her hand. Willow reached down and gently lifted Tara's hand off her waist while looking back up at the witch, 'sorry, sweetie.' Once the hand was on the space between them, Willow rolled to one side and looked up at the ceiling; and her eyes went wide open.
'No,' Willow thought as the brand on her chest started to burn. She looked down at her chest and saw the brand starting to become white hot as what felt like pi pricks of fire permeated her body. She closed her eyes and arched her back as she clenched her jaw… her mind was telling her to scream in pain from her body starting to burn. Willow opened her eyes and turned her head to stare at Tara who stared to melt away. Willow's eyes started to water as she watched Tara open her eyes in terror before screaming in pain as she spontaneously combusted.
"Tara!" yelled Willow as she tried to move her body, but she couldn't. Willow looked down and saw that her arms and legs were shackled to a wooden table. She screamed out loud in pain as fire-like heat emanated throughout her body from the brand on her chest. "Tara!" screamed Willow, "help me!" Willow tried to lift her arms and legs, but she was stopped thanks to the shackles that locked them down to the table. Willow then tried to use her telekinesis, but she found that she didn't have any access.
Willow then saw her flower wallpaper replaced by stone walls that were covered in blood. Everything about her surroundings changed, even the smell which now had the distinct odour of iron; dried blood. "No… no… no…" whispered Willow as she shook her head from side to side while closing her eyes. She then heard growls and screams in the distance… she heard the gnashing of teeth and the tearing of flesh plus the sound of breathing. Heavy breathing from her left side into her ear.
"Noooo!" Willow heard a scream in the distance beyond a wooden door to her left. It was a woman's scream. She didn't recognize the voice, but the scream sent shivers up and down her spine. But her eyes remained shut hoping that this was just a dream… that it was simply in her mind and that when she opened her eyes… it would be gone and she would find herself next to Tara once again.
However, she opened her eyes and found herself in the blood covered room once again. She then felt a tongue brush against her ear while sharp claws brushed against her chest. Willow was panting as she moved her head to the left, only to find nothing there. But she felt the claws brushing in her chest. Willow strained to look down her body and her eyes widened at the impressions against her skin as the claws travelled down her chest.
"Ah… ah… ah!" she screamed in pain as the claws pressed down while travelling down her body. The claws deep into her flesh, stopping at her navel. The pain blinded her as she closed her eyes before opening them once again and releasing a bloodcurdling scream as she felt her skin tearing apart when the invisible claws gripped her insides and tore them out while another invisible clawed hand pressed down on her head, "Help me!" Willow felt the palm of the invisible hand over her eyes as the fingers wrapped around the top half of her face. She continued to scream for help until her voice was hoarse.
But there was no help.
Willow felt blood rising up her throat. The blood then travelled up her mouth and down the sides of her open mouth. Tears flowed down the sides of her eyes as the stench of iron permeated her nostrils. And then there was a sudden and sickening crack… and her vision went dark.
Willow's neck was broken, and her head was then twisted and torn off while blood poured down onto the floor from her gutted abdominal area and from the tear at the base of her neck. The invisible demon that had been holding her head dropped it onto the blood stained floor and roared. There were then 'thump' sounds as the demon strode away into the darkness at a corner of the room. Suddenly, Willow's body reformed- the former redhead screaming in pain as she remained shackled to the table. Willow felt the pain from where she was gutted, and from where her head was torn off. Willow closed her eyes and sobbed as she remembered those same sensations, the pain coming back a hundredfold. All thanks to the brand on her shoulder.
"Did you really think you escaped me, It?" asked a familiar voice as Willow turned her head to the left. Through tear covered eyes she started sobbing heavily when she saw the familiar red eyes looking back at her. Borzan's eyes. "Open your eyes! Open your eyes or I rip them out of your skull!" Willow felt fingers grasping to her throat like a metal vice; the fingers closed in as she opened her eyes. Borzan was standing over her, his face filled with rage and hate. His fingers digging into Willow's flesh while growling, "what do you think that brand is on your chest? Not only does it signify you as one of Acathla's jailors, it's also meant to torture you if you ever achieve happiness. If you ever believe you are loved, or experience love."
Willow had her eyes opened wide at Borzan's admission. The demon let go of Willow and then put his hands into his pockets and stared with wild eyes at the former redhead. "You're trapped in y our own mind with me for all eternity.. well… until you die anyway."
"No…" Willow whispered.
"You will die and be resurrected; the cycle will repeat endlessly. I will have all matter of demons kill you… eat you… grind you to dust. Ummm… name it? I'll make sure it gets done. Your mind will feel the pain of you dying and resurrecting, my It."
"Ta… Tara and.. and Buffy.. they.. they…"
"Will do nothing," said a familiar voice. Willow turned her head to the left and narrowed her eyes as a figure walked out of the darkness. Willow's eyes went wide open as a chill went up her spine at the sight of the woman approaching her. "You will do nothing." It was her. Willow was looking at herself; one whose eyes and hair were as black as night. She stared at her doppelganger's black lips, black fingernails, and the black veins that ran from her hands to her shoulders and the rest of her body.
"You feel it, don't you, my It?" asked Borzan as he stood over Willow's shackled body while the doppelganger walked up to Borzan and stood next to him. Borzan turned his head to look at the doppelganger Willow in her black bikini with her chest brand glowing fiery red, and he licked his lips. Borzan then turned back to the shackled Willow and said, "this is the dark part of yourself. The part that everything you do, everything that anyone has been doing to help you, could never take away. It's the part that's contained in the brand… the part of yourself that enjoyed the torture in Hell." HE then leaned and whispered in Willow's ear, "your darkness tastes so good, my It. When you are locked away? She will take over. Your darkness will take over."
Borzan then leaned back while grinning at the shackled Willow.
"I whispered in your ear," the dark Willow hissed as she walked slowly around the table, her fingers brushing against Willow's bare skin while glaring down at her. Willow could feel her doppelganger's cold touch which raised goosebumps all over her body, "when you were getting such joy with Tara, I was whispering in your ear."
"No," Willow whispered shaking her head as she stared at her doppelganger.
"Shhhhh," Dark Willow said as she stopped at the edge of the table and grabbed a hold of each of Willow's feet with her hands. Dark Willow looked up Willow's body and smiled an evil smile. Willow screamed in pain when her feet were violently twisted at the ankle… the joints were torn as Dark Willow laughed. She then let go of Willow's feet which were at an unusual angle and then continued her walk around the table as Willow screamed, "I was the one whispering at you to kill Tara. Do you remember, little girl?"
"No," Willow yelled out loud.
"Or maybe it was because of the high you were getting as she…." Dark Willow stopped as she wrapped her hand around Willow's throat and then turned her head. She looked down Willow's body to her crotch and then back at Willow's terrified eyes. Dark Willow tilted her head and then stuck her tongue out, making wriggling motions before speaking and nodding down Willow's body, "you know." Dark Willow let go of Willow and stood up straight while Borzan walked up to her in his suit and red tie, draping an arm around her waist.
He then turned to stare at Willow, "this was supposed to be you, It."
"I am his It," Dark Willow laughed before leaning down and whispering into Willow's ears, "I am his It in so many ways."
"You thought you could get away from me, It?" Borzan said as he stared at the shackled Willow while the Dark version walked backwards until she was just behind Borzan, "the brand on your chest makes sure you are never content, never happy, never… never free. Like the curse with the stupid Vampire who will lose his soul after one night of pure happiness, this brand was designed so that should you ever gain any measure of true happiness, the darkness in your soul will coalesce and trap you in your own mind. And unless my physical self undoes the curse? Your body will wither and die while you remain trapped in your mind. What would seem like hours will be days, days will be weeks, weeks will be years, and the darkness in you will destroy all you are."
"I will have your body," the darkness said as Willow closed her eyes and screamed while her heart raced. "And then?" the doppelganger sneered. Willow panted as she turned her head to stare at her dark doppelganger, "and then I will torture everyone you know for daring to make me happy. I will show them everything I could have been in hell."
"No!" yelled Willow at the doppelganger before turned her head back up to the ceiling and calling out for her love, "Tara!"
The Rosenberg Residence, 0901 hours.
Tara snapped her eyes open when she felt a darkness in the room she shared with Willow. The darkness was heavily. Tara felt as if she was being pressed down into the bed. She closed her eyes as she whispered, casting a protective spell around herself and Willow; and then breathed a sigh of relief when the feeling of having darkness crushing down on her vanished.
At least temporarily. Tara could feel the heavy weight trying to break through her protective barriers. She quickly turned around, the bed creaking as she shifted her nude body towards Willow… and then her eyes opened wide. The former redhead had her hair painted jet black while her body was pale, and the brand on her chest was glowing red.
"Will?" Tara asked as she got on her knees and placed her hands-on Willow's arm while the latter's body lay on its side. Tara rolled Willow to her back while feeling a dark force emanating from the brand on the chest. "Willow, can you hear me?" Tara said as she straddled Willow and placed her hands on the dark haired young woman's cheeks, "Willow, Baby? Please, I need you to wake up for me, I…."
And then Tara saw it. Willow's aura flaring wildly as darkness began taking over. Darkness emanating from the brand on her chest.
"Willow!" yelled Tara leaning towards Willow, "goddess of the light, please…." Before she could finish what she wanted to say, Tara was flung back through the air and off the bed. She hit the doors to the closet with a thud, and then fell onto the floor. As she tried to slowly get up as the protection spell started to fail, Tara felt the same dark force from earlier press down on her. The air started to get heavy as Tara moved on all fours towards the end of the bed, and then she pulled herself up to her feet.
Finding it hard to breathe, Tara looked at Willow lying unconscious as her veins started to become black in colour. Not knowing what to do, Tara stumbled to the door that led to the hallway outside, and opened it. Tara then turned and looked at Willow who snapped her head towards her direction. Tara felt a chill up and down her spine when Willow opened her eyes… her jet black eyes and growled in a deep voice, "do what you want, Witch. I am taking control, and you will know the darkness I am capable off. Get them all!"
Tara suddenly felt a violent force push her out the room and slam her against the hallway wall. The door slammed shut as Tara hit the floor groaning in pain. The oppressive feeling was finally gone, and Tara felt as if she could breathe again. Tara slowly got to her feet while her left hand was rubbing her right shoulder, the very same shoulder that impacted the wall. Limping towards the stairs as her thoughts turned to Willow, Tara rushed as fast as she could while cognizant in the fact that she had nothing covering her.
But that didn't matter as she picked up the phone in the living room.
"Althanea," Tara said in a terrified voice when she remembered the darkness she saw creeping into Willow's bright aura when her eyes went black, "Althanea, I need you. Please. It's Willow… something's happened. Please help!"
TBC.