A/N thanks for the reviews, I love BT also, so we shall see where this goes. I am sort of letting this thing write itself, where it feels like it needs to go as I'm writing is where it goes sort of thing.
Chapter Eight
Giles raised his hands and black energy blasted out of them straight at Willow. "Damn it!" Xander shouted angrily and tried to rush Giles from behind with no luck. "Do something before he pushes her over the edge again!"
"Maybe try to have a little faith in your friend might help the situation!" Andrew barked back with fear in his voice.
Tara countered his action by placing a white bubble around Willow quickly. One millisecond more and she would have been too late. "You're not going to do this to her." Tara spoke in a calm voice as the two energies began to push each other back and forth in the middle of the room. It was like a dazzling white light show speckled with black light, which was slowly flickering out.
As Buffy sank to the floor in tears, no longer being able to be the strong one, Faith lifted her crossbow. Human or not, this guy had to go and she had taken another's life before so it would be better then Buffy having to do it. She let the arrow fly and it connected squarely in the back of Giles' head. Luckily, the man began to dissolve in a puddle of green liquid. "He was manufactured to fool you all." Tara said softly, knowing that the real Giles was dead. "I'm guessing he was killed during a battle before his arrival in Sunnydale."
"Why didn't the first just take his form then?" Dawn asked as she moved to comfort her despondent sister.
"That would have been to easy," Tara explained as she removed Willow's bubble. "He took Mr. Giles' mental state and had someone create a creature of some sort that looked and acted human. The only problem is, nothing like that can last forever and he was probably starting to dissolve on his own. That's why he tried to hurry up and act out his final mission, which should have been completed before the final battle with the first."
"What was his mission?" Xander asked as he looked at his broken friends. He felt his stomach tighten and a lump in his throat because he knew that he couldn't do a thing to help them now.
"The first needed Willow's body because of her great power. That's why it did all these things to her to try and break her down enough so that it could easily house itself within her and do a lot of damage." Tara said with a regret-filled look on her face. If she hadn't ran, hadn't pushed herself away from Willow, perhaps none of this would have happened the way that it did.
"If you're the Goddess, why would it need Willow? I mean you're the real powerful one." Andrew said dumly and received glares from the occupants of the room who had enough composure to realize what was going on.
"You saw what Willow could do with her power Andrew." Tara said sternly. "Willow is the balance to my power, which makes her the special one. Every full power isn't complete unless it has at least touched both sides of the power. In order to keep me from actually going into the darkness, apparently, the powers decided to let me feel it through Willow. She has touched both sides of the power, which is why I was able to use her full power to help perform that spell rather than fully do it myself. I may be the earth Goddess, but Willow is the power source, the well, the tree from which I draw strength because of her great power and she has touched both sides. I am guessing they did this to protect the real identity of the Goddess from the first."
"Is this fair to Willow?" Dawn asked with an overwhelming sadness welling up inside her. Willow was forced to be the one to touch darkness, lost her Goddess title and possibly, the love of her life. Tara was the Goddess and got to stay pure and good. She also possibly had another chance at love.
"Willow is the guardian of the Goddess, they all have them. At least the ones who aren't full being-like Goddesses do. It's her job unfortunately for her." Tara finished her speech in a sad tone of voice and looked over at Willow, who was in tears.
"I told you long ago Willow that you were special. I just didn't know why," Tara placed a calming hand on Willow's cheek and then looked over at Buffy. She wanted to comfort and take their pain away but didn't know what to say or do. It was obvious that Buffy was hurting over Giles, her slayer powers and the obvious strong connection that remained with Willow. Willow, on the other hand, was devastated over the loss of Tara, Giles' death and the loss of her Goddess title.
Buffy looked bravely at Tara. She knew that if she lost the kind woman, it would tare her up on the inside. She also knew that if Willow lost the woman, it might kill her soul. "Tara, what about this slayer power deal?" Buffy asked in a weak effort to remain on the topic of the business at hand.
"Well," Tara looked at Buffy in deep thought. "You were the power source that centered around dealing out power to all the slayers. I'm afraid that when the first slayer told you that power wasn't enough, she truly meant it. Humility and love is what was needed, in that, do you love mankind enough to give it all up for the good of the world?"
"Of course I do, how many times have I died for this world?" Buffy asked more defensively then she had planned.
"That's why your powers are leaving but the problem was, they should have left at that moment. Therefore, we botched the spell by not taking all of your power and forcing you to fight with the scythe powerless. Also, we forgot to return the power to the current slayer in line. There was never supposed to be thousands of slayers running around, one girl, in all the world, chosen. This was supposed to be a quick fix to defeat the first, not a permanent fixture."
"So that's where the bad Giles came in by not telling us this." Dawn concluded wearily. "Now Buffy's gift is giving up her powers and her reward is a normal life?"
"Exactly," Tara said with a half-sad, half-smile on her face. She knew that Buffy was tired and had been for a long time but didn't know if what she wanted was a normal life. She knew that she wanted it in some way but could she live it?
"I'm guessing that if we don't fix this," Faith looked at Tara and Buffy sternly. "The power loss will trickle down to the rest of us and end the slayer line. That is what this fake Giles had planned?"
"That's my assumption," Tara moved over to Buffy and took her by the hands. "Let's see if my hunch is right." She squeezed Buffy's hands and instructed Buffy to squeeze hers.
As the two did this, Tara felt no energy that contained super powers within Buffy anymore and knew that Buffy didn't feel it either. "He was using what little power I had to stay alive." Buffy concluded softly with a look of fear on her face. She had always wanted a normal life, dreamt of it often but now that she had it, what to do with it?
"What do we do about all these other slayers?" Faith asked briskly. She knew that if this weren't totally fixed, the problems could ruin the line and she was next. She wasn't ready for a normal life because frankly, the normal life was never good to her.
"We go back in time, add the clause that returns the full powers to the correct slayer and it's done." Willow said in a non-caring tone. Her world was shattered at this point, no matter what job she had been given. She didn't want to pretend to care or be happy anymore.
"That's gonna cause a lot of problems for a lot of girls." Andrew added loudly.
"Maybe there is another way," Dawn said thoughtfully as she stood up. "I think that we all need some rest and I'd like to have somewhat of a wedding night."
"I agree," Xander added and stood up to escort the newlyweds out of the hall. "Let's deal with this tomorrow."
Tara looked at Buffy and Willow with pained eyes. She cared deeply for Buffy and a big part of her was excited at the notion of Buffy getting to have a normal life with her. Another part of her however, was with Willow and there was no denying that now. Her heart ached for getting Buffy involved in her life in that fashion to begin with. Her heart also ached for Willow and what to do about their mixed up lives that always seemed to bring them back together.