The bloody Images of what Willow saw with her clairvoyant powers were etched into her mind- the robed man with a terrified look n his face as he rushed towards a warehouse, Buffy being handed a glowing ball of light, the woman in the red dress, and then Joyce's death, followed by the death of Tara.
The redhead walked out of the house carrying a garbage bag in her hand while the others were cleaning up inside after their delivery dinner of pizza and soda. Willow walked to the edge of the driveway, put the bag into the trash bin, and then closed the top cover. She was about to turn around and walk back up the driveway to the front door when she stopped and sighed. The image of the blonde red-dressed woman putting her hand into Tara's brain brought a chill up her spine, and then the image of the same woman tearing Tara's head off made Willow shudder at the thought.
Willow wrapped her arms around herself before beginning to walk up the driveway again and then to her front porch. She could sense that everyone in the house was curious about what she had seen and why it was so urgent that all of them gather at the Summers house. And it would be two hours later that everyone would find out- the thought made Willow's heart race inside her chest; she was about to reveal the truth about the Key, the truth about Joyce's potential death, and the danger they faced in the form of the red dressed woman known as Glory. Reaching the door, Willow sighed and placed a hand on the door knob, twisted it, and then walked into the house.
She needed to steel herself for what was about to come. 'Joyce's death; that blonde woman beating all of us, draining Tara and then killing her, and then killing Dawn,' Willow closed the door behind her before walking up the stairs after telling Faith and the others that she would be back soon. She walked up the stairs while thinking, 'that portal opened when Dawn's blood was spilled. So if Dawn is this Key, and she opens this portal… where does the portal lead to? Or better yet, what could come though that portal and into this world?' Willow reached the top of the stairs just as she reached the top of the stairs. She walked over to her room and placed the badge back in her desk drawer- staring at it for a few seconds before closing the drawer and then sitting on the edge of the bed. She placed her hands on the surface of the bed sheet either side of her and wondered what the next few steps should be.
'We need to discuss this after I tell the others what I saw in my vision,' Willow thought while her eyes glanced over at the closet which contained the white and blue uniform she was wearing a little over a week ago after the darkness within her, the one gathered in hell, was excised, 'that was Niko's… I mean my uniform as a Ranger'. Willow sighed looking away from the closet and turned to her desk where there were a few books on the surface, 'gotta finish my senior year and then….' Willow frowned at the year she lost while in hell, 'two years here and a thousand years there'. Willow closed her eyes and pushed those thought to the back of her mind before she imagined the pulse rifle that she used to carry as a Ranger, 'all those parts are either fictional or theoretical' Willow thought to her as she got off the bed and stood staring at the pieces of paper near her books.
'So,' Willow thought grabbing a piece of paper and a pencil on her desk, 'what would I, theoretically, have to do to make an energy blaster?' Willow closed her eyes with the pencil in her right hand while her left held the paper down onto the table. She recalled taking apart her energy blasting shotgun while her right hand started to draw the components she saw in her mind.
"Willow?"
The redhead heard a distant voice while she imagined putting the shotgun back together while her hand drew onto the paper with the pencil. Willow was back at the Academy before the Series Five implant augmentation; she saw the weapon on a table… a weapon that she had just finished disassembling. She was looking through the eyes of a Ranger, recalling the individual components that made up the insides of the shotgun. She then recalled reassembling the weapon just before a whistle screamed from the front of the great hallway full of a little over a hundred Rangers-in-training.
"Willow?"
Willow opened her eyes. She was pulled away from her memories to her room back in Sunnydale, and then she turned towards the hand on her shoulder and then looked up towards the young woman looking into her eyes.
"We're done downstairs," Tara said before her eyes shifted down to the paper with a list of words and drawings 'are those designs?' and then back to Willow who continued to stare at Tara. "You were up here for nearly twenty minutes."
"It didn't feel like that," Willow whispered narrowing her eyes in confusion. She thought to herself that it felt as if she was in her room for far less than that, 'I just got up here'. Willow turned back to the paper on the table and the pencil in her hand, and then back to the paper, "energy regulators, capacitors, modulators, and.."
"Willow?" Tara asked looking at the paper, at the outline of the shotgun and then down at the shapes, 'no, looks like schematics' that pointed to various parts of the weapon. "What is it? What is this?"
"Niko's… I mean my energy weapon," Willow whispered as Tara gently squeezed her shoulder, "in my vision I saw this woman in red kill you, Tara."
"Will…" Tara was surprised as Willow turned her head to her. Tara shook her head before saying that her visions didn't necessarily have to come true, "your visions…."
"They did come true," Willow whispered turning her body towards Tara, "I had a vision that the Judge would rise, I had a vision that Acathla would open a portal into hell, I had a vision that I would end up in hell." Willow then sighed before reaching out for and gently holding Tara's hands in hers, "and they all came true." Tara narrowed her eyes and frowned while Willow continued, "I can still see the woman kill you."
"We'll change it," Tara whispered holding Willow's hand tight, "we'll change it."
"I…." Willow closed her eyes and stared at the vision of Tara's head being torn off. Willow shook her head to get that image out of her mind, "any idea I come up with… any idea I have about energy weapons or anything that could help us is just fictional, Tara." Willow sighed at the thought that everything she had drawn and labelled on the paper were all fictional- and she made a wish that the components really did exist.
"I know," the light blonde witch said as the two of them stepped into the hallway.
"What I drew there on the paper were just fictional components… and…." Willow whispered before she turned her head at Tara once they reached the top of the staircase, "and I want to protect you. I will not lose you."
"You won't," Tara replied softly while she remembered her own dream, "you won't lose me." Willow then sighed nodding her head as her hand reached for, and gently landed on the small of Tara's back.
The Summers Residence, now.
"So… so," Joyce said, her voice shaking as she leaned forward and grabbed her knees. She was seated next to a worried Dawn and Buffy on either side of her while Giles and Jenny were on another armchair. Anya and Xander were seated together with Faith leaning back against a wall, her face expressionless as she crossed her arms over her chest. Joy rubbed her thighs as she shook her head while trying to process wat Willow had just revealed after having returned from work. Joyce looked back up at Willow seated across from her on another armchair while Tara stood by looking worried, "so… I… I die?"
"From an aneurysm?" Dawn asked before taking a deep breath, "after she… she gets a…"
"Shadow," Giles finished what Dawn was struggling to say. He turned to Willow and whispered, "you mentioned a shadow when you used your clairvoyant abilities."
"A tumour," Althanea whispered stunned.
While Buffy and Dawn were holding tight to Joyce's hands, the former looked straight at Willow, her eyes boring into the redhead's for any sign of deception, 'come on. I should know that Willow, even if she's still angry about what happened with Oz, would joke about something like this.' Buffy knew that Willow was still angry about Oz and everything that happened after that- they were still rebuilding their friendship which was now back to steady ground, 'no, Willow would never joke about something like this even if she was still furious at me. Never about something like this.' Buffy gulped before looking back at her mother and grasping her hand, "but she survives." Buffy then turned back towards Willow, "she survives the first operation and then…"
Dawn could see Buffy's hand, the one laying on top of Joyce's hand which itself rested on her own knee, was trembling. "She dies," Dawn whispered with tears welling in her eyes as she looked back at Willow, and then at Tara who rushed to the young girl.
"We have to try and change the future," Giles said while Jenny and Althanea strode over to Joyce, the latter saying that she knew a very good doctor at Sunnydale Mercy who could take a look at Joyce.
"Have you been having headaches, or… or anything happened that was out of place?" Althanea asked Joyce who whispered she was having headaches sometimes, but she thought they were simply due to stress.
"And probably because of the information I just learned," Joyce managed a chuckle to break through the tension. She turned to Althanea who simply stared back, and then at Willow who averted her eyes away, "Willow, the last time you saw the future, everything came true."
Willow looked back at Joyce, and then at Buffy and the others, and then back at Tara who was comforting the worried Dawn. She saw the brunette looking back at her with tear filled eyes before she said, "yes." Willow heard a thud and turned to Faith looking away at the dining room, her fist slamming against the wall behind her again. Buffy looked back at the younger Slayer who turned her head back to the older blonde before shaking her head.
"I have to go out," Faith mumbled pushing herself off the wall. She was about to turn and head for the foyer when Giles called out.
"Faith, we need…"
"I… I just need to hit something," Faith whispered looking at Giles and then at Joyce. "I.. I just want to hit something, Joyce. And…"
"My other visions were… I mean there was no context for my other visions," Willow whispered at Joyce and then at Buffy, and then she turned to Faith. The redhead knew exactly how the newer Slayer felt- very helpless against something that they couldn't hit. "But now, I know what's going to happen and how. Which means we can watch out for any warning signs and…"
"Forget warning signs," Buffy said turning her head towards Joyce, "we're gonna see a doctor tomorrow." Buffy then turned back towards Willow, "I thought the visions you see always comes true?"
Willow nodded her head before saying, "we still try changing it." Willow then glanced up at Tara, "because this time, if what happens in my visions comes true?" Willow then looked back at Buffy, "then it means Tara dies." Willow saw the shocked expressions on the faces of everyone except Tara as she continued to speak, "it means Buffy and Faith dies, it means… I see death."
"So what else did you see, Willow?" Giles asked while Jenny and Althanea stared at each other in worry as they wondered what Willow had seen. They had been waiting until everyone was together so Willow could tell them all, and all that waiting had built up a sense of dark foreboding. Something that was confirmed when Willow said, "I know what Glory looks like, and… and I know about the Key."
"Okay," lets take this one at a time," Joyce said shaking her head, "lets forget my potential tumour for a little while, and…"
"It's not a potential tumour, Mrs Summers," Willow said before looking away, "you need to see a doctor."
"I will," Joyce said, "but for now, we have Glory's identity... and we know what the Key is."
"No what," Willow said staring at Joyce, and then at Dawn, and then back at Joyce, "it's a who."
"The Key is a human being?" Jenny asked.
"Yea," Willow glanced at Dawn again before looking over to Jenny, "she's a human being. And… and she needs to be protected." Willow then looked back at Dawn, "she needs to be protected."
"Willow?" Dawn asked once she noticed the redhead staring at her, "Will?"
"You're the Key, Dawnie," Willow whispered as everyone turned to the brunette, "you need to be protected at all costs."
"Oh," a stunned Dawn whispered.
TBC