Willow's black snake of magic coiled inside her and struck at Xander; it caused a biting pain in his stomach. Willow cursed through the tears, breathed deep to provoke relaxation, and tried again. Desperation had taken up residence in her heart and tears flowed freely from her red eyes. Having rested Xander's head upon her closed knees the red blood which puddled from his wound beneath him had spread to cover the hem of her wicca dress.

He groaned and his agony was a mild death to her heart. She sprawled herself over his body, "I'm so sorry, I've let it corrupt me, I'm so...so sorry. Here...I can relieve you of the pain."

With a wave of her hand the hill, with Buffy fighting her Demon at the top of it, the cemetery sprawling out around them, a home for the dead, disappeared; only the white of pure non-material remained.

Xander bolted upright and climbed to his feet faster than a racer sprints from all fours at the sound of a gunshot.

"I feel great! Well that was 20 kinds of frightening...and painful, most definitely painful. Will, you darling, wonderful Witch, we should get you a medal. It won't be Gold because I'm two steps away from broke and will be three steps behind it after the wedding but you're wonderful, did I ever tell you that?"

Willow smiled a dagger smile while she listened and, at the end of the speech, she began to cry again.

"Oh, hey, it's alright now, look!" He punched his gut where the hole had disappeared, "All better. Now where the hell are we? No time to spare, eh, wonder wicca? That's a good one, right? Or is it too close to Wonder Woman? Food for thought, a well balanced meal for my junk food addicted mind. So, to the Buffster we go!"

"Xander." She said sternly, "You're dying."

"What? Don't be ridiculous, look at me!"

"This isn't real. This world, your body, an illusion."

"What?"

"You're still wounded, bleeding...dying."

"Oh."

The news was painful and stunning and he staggered forward and then sat next to his life long friend, "Now I have two holes in me. One in my stomach and one in my heart." It was a meek joke to win over insatiable despair.

"You know, the afterlife is a lot more bland than I thought. Yeah, yeah, I know, just an illusion. You could have done better for a man's dying moments you know?"

"Yes." She said, her voice stern and hard to prevent trembling.

"It's a shame Buffy's not here, I'm a little curious, I wonder what it'll be like. Do you think they'll have comic books? If there's no comic books in heaven I'm counting on you to bring me back. " He said smiling but fooling not Willow nor himself.

"Yes." She said again, weeping.

"I wonder if Jesus kept the beard?"

"Xander, stop."

"Huh?"

"It's over. All the pain and doubt, all those atrocities you fend off with jokes. They'll be gone soon."

"You're worrying me Will. Hey, best friends dying here, what, no tears?"

Then her strong defense was eroded by a river of grief and guilt and she sobbed and cried and rested her head against Xander's shoulder.

"Ask and ye shall receive, huh?"

"This is stupid. Here you are dying, and, I should be consoling you!"

"Ah, naa, I like it better this way. If I keep being strong for you maybe when I finally do the frog noises maybe I can handle it. So...this helps. This wait is killing me! How long do you think it will take?"

"Xander please! Look at me, am I as ugly as I feel? I feel corrupted, dirty. I had so much potential, so much goodness...and now, when I think back just a few years, I feel remorse for what I've let myself become."

"You do know you're the best person in the world, right?"

"Please, this isn't time for you to be kind, you're dying."

"Then I'll say how wonderful you are with my last breath, and I'll be sure to let non-bearded Jesus know how wonderful you are too...because I think I've settled on him shaving."

"I erased Tara's memory with magic." She said with the same gravity and pain as one would confess to a murder.

" Do you remember when I broke your doll in kindergarten and you hated me. That was pretty mean of me, dark even."

"What I've done is a dark sickness and it's infected me and I don't think there's a cure."

"I don't think we talked for months. You broke up with me because of that. That sucked."

"That was child's play."

"Ok, so it's not the same as mental rape, but I was a smallish fellow then and that haunted me until like, fourth grade. I felt guilty around you for years. And you may be wondering what this has to do with you and...well, eventually, don't remember when, what I did to you and that doll it was Borged into history. Sure, we never got back together, but, you know, what we ended up with is pretty great. Or is it was? What's the tense rules here?"

"Is is fine." They were leaning against each other, "You know I still had a crush on you, right?"

"Yeah, that sort of came up later, remember? I kissed you, my girlfriend got gut punched by some rebar...that left some psychological scarring. But it's kind of ironic on so many levels given current circumstances."

"I'm not sure that's what irony means."

Xander shrugs, "See, there's the old annoying Will, knows way too much." He paused and breathed as they sucked what cold comfort they could from the marrow of a dying life, "I think it's about time. So...one for the eternal road?" He said.

They kissed.

Willow realized something profound at that moment and she dissolved the illusion and succumbed to the gravity of the real situation. Xander's blood had reached her socks. He cried out weakly.

"Sorry, but you gave me something," She spoke while gathering up the goodness she felt from the kiss and channeling it towards her best friend, "Love, the conqueror of despair, as a gift in your kiss." Then, as the white emotion was transferred from her to him the hole in his stomach began stitch itself together like the hole in a worn shirt.

A few minutes of pain tortured him but, at the end, he sat up, his breath heavy. Once his mind raced up to the current situation he hugged Willow, "You're amazing!"

She helped him climb to his feet, "You've gained more weight than I realized."

He laughed a throaty, painful laughed and leaned against her.

Willow puts her arm around Xander's shoulders; he leans his weight on her. They stand together, watching Buffy and the Demon fight.