Chapter Five: Old Friends and New Information
Previously in Echoes in the Wind...
"It worked," Willow whispered. "The goddess granted me permission to bring back two who struggled to repay their debts."
"Who?" Spike asked, looking at Willow worriedly.
Willow didn't answer. She just forced her eyes opened and looked into two sets of very confused eyes before turning her head in the direction of where Anya and Faith stood, looking extremely confused.
Angel and Spike turned, following Willow's gaze to Anya and Faith standing across the room.
"Red? Angel?" Faith asked, confused as she looked at the people in front of them. "Spike?" she said, recognizing the last person among the trio.
"Hey, Faith, Anya," Willow said, stepping towards them.
"You're evil again. When did you go evil again? Don't kill us!" Anya said, stepping behind the slayer she was standing near.
"I'm not evil. I'm cursed," she informed the former vengeance demon before looking at Faith. "How much do you remember?"
"Um...we just finished battling The First and were on the road to his place," Faith explained, nodding towards Angel. "She was dead," she said, pointing at Anya. "And so was he," she pointed at Spike.
Willow smiled at Faith's explanation. "Anya did die. So did Spike, but he became a ghost and haunted Angel."
Angel nodded. "He got a mysterious package one day and it returned his body, making him a vampire again."
Faith and Anya stared at them like they were crazy for a long time. "What?" Faith said, lifting a dark brown eyebrow as she watched them.
"A lot of time has passed," Willow said simply.
"Wait...I died. I died in the final battle of Sunnydale?" Anya asked, getting irritated. "Why did I have to die? Why couldn't you die? If you had died, the world wouldn't have to deal with you becoming evil again."
Willow frowned at her. "I'm not evil, Anya. I'm cursed. Amy put a curse on me with the help of another dark witch for killing Rack," Willow explained, getting irritated with the blond.
"Sure. That's what evil people always say," Anya said, still hiding behind the slayer. "They always claim not to be evil. I would know. I was a vengeance demon for over a thousand years."
Faith looked back at Anya in confusion and moved from in front of the ex-demon. "So, you look all dark because of rat girl?" Faith asked, looking at Willow.
"Yes. It's a curse to show the darkness within me. I can't die a mortal death until I find Tara and convince her to love me," Willow explained, her voice filling with irritation.
"And why are we here? What year is this?" Faith wondered, looking between the three people in front of her.
"The year is 2102," Willow told her, not answering the first question.
"Why are we here, Red?" Faith asked, stepping towards the witch.
"I need your help," she said simply.
"With?" Faith prompted, not wanting the former vengeance demon to anger the witch.
"Tara saw me. I think the curse interferes when I'm around her because the dark magicks grew stronger when she was near me."
Anya and Faith stared at her for a few moments uncertain what to say. "You saw Tara?" Anya asked.
"Not the Tara you know, but yes. I found her. I found Tara, but she's not my Tara. They just share a soul," Willow told her, looking at them with sadness in her coal black eyes. "Will you help me?"
Anya and Faith looked at each other and then at Willow. "Yes," they said together.
"Thank you. Angel, Spike, can you give me a few minutes alone with them so I can fill them in on everything?" Willow asked, turning to face the two vampires.
Angel and Spike both nodded, looking at Willow. "You going to be okay?" Angel asked, looking at Willow with concern in his brown eyes.
"I'll be fine. The spell just took a lot out of me," she told him, waiting for him to nod and leave.
When she was alone with Faith and Anya, she turned to look at them. "I'm sorry to bring you both here. I know its strange being pulled to the future at such strange times, but I promise you won't remember being here. I'll make sure you go back like nothing happened so you don't have to know about your deaths or the darkness that is my life without the Scoobies," Willow said, looking at the two women before her.
"Red, how long have you been alone?" Faith asked, looking at her.
"Too long. Though, I'm not technically alone because I have Angel and Spike helping me, but still it was really hard watching everyone I love die. It was hard living these years searching for Tara and thinking of every possible way for her to reject me. Now the one thing I never considered is happening and more scenarios of what could happen are running through my head," Willow said, stopping before she could go into a full out babble.
"You're really not evil?" Anya asked, surprised by the innocence that was Willow showing through the darkness that was familiar to Anya.
"No. I'm not evil. Not anymore, hopefully never again," Willow said, closing her eyes and taking a deep breath.
"What did you need to tell us, Red?" Faith asked, walking over to Willow and stopping a few feet from her.
"I'm going to fill you in on everything that has happened since your last memory," Willow informed her, sitting on the edge of her bed as she started her story.
A/N: Thank you Gimpy72 for reading the chapter and finding my mistakes.