Chapter 14

Coming Home

Darla didn't know what to make of what had happened to her. She had been brought back from the dead – no, make that the undead; again, by Wolfram and Hart, and she had been made into a vampire, again by Druscilla. Then she had been told that Angelus had returned and was making an army of vampires and that Spike had vanished off of the face of the earth, although she didn't care too much about that. She had also been told that her son, Connor was a teenager after being raised in a Hell Dimension for most of his life where time travelled faster there, and that he had extraordinary abilities and had teamed up with Angel's crew to fight Angelus and his vampire army. On top of all of that, she had been told that the final apocalypse was being formed with all these steps, and that Wolfram and Hart wanted a part in it, to make sure that they picked which side would win. And then, she and Druscilla were released onto the streets of Los Angeles, told to do whatever they had wanted to do. Just like before, they painted the town red, with blood though. Many nights, she and Druscilla drank to their heart's content and no one was willing to even try to stop them. The police presence had dwindled, thanks to Wolfram and Hart.

It was the latest thing that Wolfram and Hart had told her that made her confused. They wanted them all back together again; the four of them; Angelus, Darla, Druscilla and Spike. They didn't say why, but they said that they wanted them back together in a group. It was something that Darla was excited about and terrified about at the same time. After coming back from the undead, twice as a human had done many things to her, and apparently, she still had some of humanity in her. She could feel it within her, her soul. There was just a small part of it still there, and that was the part that was afraid. Darla thought of the damage that they'd do if they were all reunited together, and that shook the part of her soul that remained to the bones.

She was dreaming, Willow knew that. She knew it by the way that her life was good, and she was happy, and that she was with Tara. It had sunk into her now that Tara was gone, and that she wasn't coming back, and that the only place that she would be able to see her again was in her dreams and memories. Suddenly, she got flashbacks, and she knew that some of them were from other dreams of her past and some were memories of events that had happened recently.

"She is a part of you. She is holding you back. Without her, you will be great. Ultimate. She has entered your body, your soul. You need to get her out of there young one. Without her, there's no holding back. If you will not get her out, we will." Willow heard the voice of Samantha say.

"They tried to take her away from me. The only thing I have of her left, and they tried to take Tara away from me." It was her own voice now, and Willow remembered saying it to Giles and Cassia at the coven

She was in a forest. No sign of civilisation around her. From the size of the oak, pine, and redwood trees around her, she guessed that the forest was ancient. To her right, a small gazelle looked up at her, and then darted off into the underbrush. She looked up and barely saw through the tops of the gigantic trees that it was a nice sunny day, although she could hardly tell from her position. She closed her eyes and just stood there, letting everything take her over. She could hear the sounds of the forest; the birds singing, the cicadas and crickets chirping. Apart from that, and her own breathing, there was silence. Suddenly, she was overpowered with emotion. The feeling was tremendous in scale, and although the feeling scared her, she liked it. Inside her, she felt at peace, as if this was the way it was meant to be. The girl then remembered that this is how it had felt before. Her mind was screaming out to her that there was something she was forgetting, but she couldn't 'put her finger on it'.

All of a sudden, everything snapped back to normal. She realised that something was showing her these things; telling her even. Now, she listened.

In an instant, she knew that she had a second chance, but that this chance wasn't to be taken lightly. She somehow knew that if she got anything wrong this time, she, and everyone else, would ultimately be far more worse off than now.

"The answers are right in front of you. You just have to look in the right place… You know what you have to do… You know what I'm talking about. Those who seem to aid you will be your downfall, and those that you know aid you will be your upbringing. You just have to see yourself, know your limits, and then, everything will be perfect," The girl said. "Clarity perceived is not clarity believed. Heed these words" The girl turned and started to go.

"NO! You can't go!"

"I will come back, and you will guide me back, but I am not who you think I am. Moreover heed these words" the girl laid her hand on her head and everything felt good. Nothing felt bad, and it felt as though nothing would ever be bad again. "Remember, I'm always there if you need me. You just have to know who to ask." The girl then shimmered into nothingness.

Willow awoke with a start. She could remember the dream perfectly. The dream in which Tara had come to her and told her these things what seemed like a lifetime ago in England while she was at the coven. She was a little shaken up by the memories of dreams which were so vivid that they were exactly the same as real life, but Willow knew that she had to be calm now and not let these things get to her.

"Are you alright?" she heard from next to her. Willow turned to look at Giles.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Willow replied.

"Good, because we're making our descent," Giles said. Willow just looked at him, surprised that they had reached Sunnydale in the plane so quickly. They had stopped off in Los Angeles on their way back from England, and they had considered going into Angel's to see how he and his crew was doing and also to inform him of the vampire army that was being raised in his city, if he didn't know of it already, and to perhaps drop Faith off with them. Both Giles and Willow agreed that Faith would have been better off with Angel's crew, but Faith pointed out the fact that she was in prison in Los Angeles and that if she was in Los Angeles, there was a larger chance that she'd get caught by the authorities. So Giles, Willow, Cassia and Faith agreed to go straight to Sunnydale.

They were all waiting at the airport, accompanied by three extras who they barely knew, but who were standing back, watching from a distance at the group of them that were standing, holding a sign written in yellow crayon. They had barely had an explanation of what was happening, apparently one of their friends did something bad with magick and she was extremely powerful and had almost ended the world, but she went away to England to get better, and now she was coming home. That's what they had all picked up from the limited explanation that Buffy and the one that they called Xander had offered them, and the bits of conversation that they had all listened into.

Buffy didn't know whether to feel good or bad when she saw landing on the airstrip. On one hand, her best friend was coming back along with her Watcher who was like a father figure to them all. On the other hand, the only person who had defeated her in a fight was coming back, and the memories of Willow at that time would be triggered in all of them with Willow's presence again. She also thought that enough time hadn't passed for Willow, that the grief would still be with her too strongly. She knew that just about everything in Sunnydale that she'd see she'd connect with a memory of her and Tara together. It had been that way for Buffy after she had come back after running away to LA after having to send Angel to hell. Buffy also couldn't figure out why they were coming back so soon. It had only been a few weeks since they had left and the whole deal was over, and now they were coming back. Buffy was sure that Willow's recovery would have taken longer than that. She was pulled out of her thoughts when the first of the passengers started coming into the terminal of the airport. She looked across to Xander, to make sure that he had his sign up, but she didn't need to bother, he was holding up the 'Welcome Home Willow' sign, written in yellow crayon up as high as his arms could go.

More and more people started coming off of the plane, but there was no sign of Willow or Giles. Finally, after what seemed like everyone had come off of the plane, Buffy, Xander, Dawn and the three Potentials were left standing there waiting.

"They mustn't have caught this flight," Dawn said.

"Why wouldn't they have?" Xander asked. "Giles said that they'd be on this plane. Why wouldn't they be? Why would Giles be wrong? HOW could Giles be wrong? Giles is never wrong," Xander started.

"I'm sure that there's a reason they missed the plane," Buffy said. Everyone looked at her. "They probably got held up somewhere. Or Giles got the time wrong. Or they might have stopped by to see Angel," Buffy said. "Giles is probably ringing home right now to tell us what happened."

"Yeah, they probably stopped by at Angel's," Xander said.

"We'd better get home so we know when they're coming," Dawn said. With that, they all turned and started walking towards the exit, slowly, and every one of them disappointed. They all heard a voice behind them, it was so soft and quiet that they all had to check to see if they had heard it.

"Hey guys," Willow said softly while holding her bag over her shoulder. Buffy turned to see Willow standing there and Giles walking up beside her. She ran at her friend and threw her arms around her

"Willow! We thought you'd missed the plane," Buffy said to her.

"No, just a little slow at getting off," she replied to the Slayer. Buffy pulled away from Willow and went and hugged Giles.

"Giles! I've missed you so much," Buffy said. "You've got to stay this time." She pulled back from Giles and looked at him. He looked older somehow.

"I've missed you too," Giles replied to her. She watched as Xander shook his hand.

"Giles!" he said. "It's been a long tim-," he started. "FAITH!?" Xander exclaimed. Buffy's senses snapped to attention at the sound of that name, and she looked past both Giles and Willow and saw her Sister Slayer coming up the walkway. Buffy could tell that there was something very different about her; the way she was acting, almost shyly.

"Hey B. Long time no see," Faith said.

"Faith! What are you doing here," Buffy said to her. "Did you know that she was coming to Sunnydale? Did you know that she was on the plane?" Buffy asked Giles in rapid fire.

"Yes, we did. She's with us," Giles replied.

"She's with you?" Buffy repeated. "As in, you brought her here?"

"Yes. There's a perfectly good reason, and a lot we have to tell you," Giles replied. "But I think it would be best if we wait until we get back to your house."

"You're sure about this?" Buffy asked him.

"Yes, we need Faith here," Giles assured her.

Outside the airport, a pair of eyes watched as the Slayer's group exited the airport. They watched with a sickening curiosity, and once they locked onto a certain figure, the pair of eyes flared with anger.

"She's back," the voice spoke before the car started and squealed off into the distance.

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There's it.

Merry Xmas to all. Should have new chapters up soon

R/r Plz