I'm sorry, I'm the LITERAL worst. Between working two jobs, and being sick, and being depressed (which REALLY hinders creativity), I'm just the worst. But hey! I've found a muse and I'm using it. So here's a chapter, HUZZAH!

I've kinda just taken off running with things, enjooooyyyyyyyy

The field around her was filled with daisies. It was a bright sunny day, everything was tinted yellow. She sat on a blanket, it was the usual cliche: red and white checkered. There was an open picnic basket, filled with all the things she loved. A soft breeze made its way through her hair, she felt happy and whole. She breathed in and looked up at the pale blue sky, there were a few clouds, just enough to make the light less harsh.

"More tea?" A voice said, she turned and smiled; the sight before her was one of pure beauty, more beautiful than the day around her.

"Tara, baby." Willow said, leaning over and kissing her girlfriend on the cheek.

"I'm glad you finally joined me." Tara said, grinning, offering a pitcher of iced tea, "More?"

"Please." She replied, holding up her empty glass, there was a lemon wheel around the rim, she wasn't quite sure where it came from, "Where are we again?"

"Just outside of Aveyron, France... You've always wanted to come here." Tara's smile was small and soft. Willow glanced around her again, the warm sunlight on her face felt lovely, but it also felt wrong, somehow. Colder than it should have been, she closed her eyes and tilted her face up against it, hoping that changing the angle would right that wrong.

"When did we arrive?" She asked, her voice suddenly cracking from dehydration, she took a sip of her tea.

"We've been here for a while, now." Tara said, her voice was sad. Willow opened her eyes to look at her girlfriend, she was crying. She reached out and swiped her thumb across her cheek, ridding her lover of those pesky drops of water, they had no right being on her beautiful face.

"Have we?" Willow asked, every time she spoke her throat grew more dry. Her tea didn't seem to be helping at all, she wondered if they'd thought to bring any water with them, and if they didn't, surely the river water wasn't all that bad to drink. She began to stand, to go to the banks to get a drink.

"You're not supposed to be here, Wil." Tara said, her voice suddenly wrought with caution, not allowing the redhead to get up to search for water to ease her aching throat.

"Where should I be?"

"You need to wake up."

"I'm not sleeping." She tried to pull her hand from Tara's, but she wouldn't relent her grip.

"You are." Tara said softly, "And right now, something is taking over your body, a darkness."

"Huh? Why, how?" Willow's mouth was turning into a grimace as her body burned for water, but she had none to drink.

"We're not sure. It just started happening." Tara was sounding more and more desperate.

"How long have I been sleeping?" Willow asked.

"You're-" She stopped for a moment and looked around, something must have disturbed her outside of the dream realm, "Your body, it's-" She disappeared. Willow stood quickly, turning about, trying to find her again, but she'd gone from the field. The field that was slowly starting to deteriorate around her.

"What the?" She said aloud to no one in particular, she was in her own head, she was truly alone. Or so she thought. She heard footsteps approaching her, from somewhere, and she began the frantic search for the source of those steps. She moved forward, but ran smack dab into bars of some sort; it turned out that she ended up in something resembling a prison cell, leave it to her to invent a prison in her own mind.

"You didn't invent it." The voice said, she turned in an effort to find its speaker, "I did."

"Who are you?" She called out into the darkness.

"That's not important." They replied, and suddenly there was enough light, and Willow could see the outline of a humanoid shape, "The important question is what do I want?"

"Alright-" Willow shrugged, she didn't say anything else for a few beats, the shape stayed still and said nothing else. Willow groaned and rolled her eyes, dramatic monsters were the worst kind, "What do you want?"

"That's simple," It replied, "Your power."

Tara fell out of her trance and flew back against the pillows that surrounded her. She gasped for air as she opened her eyes, blinking against the light from the sun that had funneled in through the curtains. When she began her quest into Willow's mind, it was the middle of the night, she'd successfully spent hours inside her spell.

"What were you doing?" Castiel stepped into the light, blocking her view of the sun; she blinked a few times to clear her vision and looked up at him.

"I was trying to reach Willow." She said, as if it should have been obvious.

"I already tried, many times." Castiel sighed. Tara rolled her eyes and stood up, walking past her empty bed and out of the bedroom, down the hall, down the stairs, and to the kitchen where everyone else had convened for the day. Castiel followed her, still set on talking.

"And I told you, that I can reach her better than you." Tara argued, pulling a box of cereal down from a cabinet and going for the bowls. She kept her back to the angel, who stopped on the other side of the island, beside Buffy, who was sat in one of the stools, behind Dawn, who sat in the other. Dean stood at the stove, making pancakes.

"You're a human."

"I'm a witch." They stared at each other evenly as Tara waved a hand and her cereal poured itself as she went to the fridge to get milk. Castiel crossed his arms, still obviously extremely angry.

"A foolish one." He said, the other people in the kitchen stayed silent, watching them as if they were their favorite television program. If he'd been paying closer attention, Cas would have eyed Dean for the look he and Buffy exchanged, he was pretty sure he heard them place bets.

"Why do you think that?" Tara challenged, her magic like static at her fingertips.

"Because you went into your girlfriends mind, unaccompanied, without telling anyone-"

"She told me!" Dawn interjected, they all stared at her and she quieted down. She slid out of her stool and stood up, crossing her arms in defiance, but said nothing else.

"And we don't know who's done this to her!" Cas finished, stepping forward, a hand raised, not pointing, not threatening, just emphasizing. "It's not safe."

"Nothing, and no one, is going to be safe until we find her!" Tara shouted, slamming her spoon into her bowl, which she then picked up and carried with her, turning back before she left the room, "I won't stop until I do." Then she was gone; Her added promise was little more than a whisper, and had it been possible, Castiel was sure he'd have gotten chills. He splayed his hands out against the counter top and rolled his shoulders, allowing his head to loll slightly.

"So I'll ask-" Buffy said, looking at Dean before standing from her stool, "What the hell was that?"

"She-" Cas groaned, trying to find the right words, "She was endangering herself."

"Yeah, we got that, Captain Obvious." Dean replied, "How?"

"She'd projected herself into Willow's dreams."

"How!?" Dean repeated, "Not even you could do that, not without her body here."

"Tara is every bit as powerful as Willow, she just knows how to control herself better." Buffy said, twisting her hands in front of her, "But maybe Willow's disappearance has made her go a bit-"

"Wacky?" Dawn offered, Buffy sighed, nodded, and held out her hand, presenting Dawn's addition to the conversation.

"So the broad's gone a bit wackadoo because her girlfriend is missing, I can understand that." Dean shrugged, throwing a pancake onto a plate and passing it Dawn's way, "Sit, eat." He raised his brows at her, threateningly; she smiled and shook her head, rolling her eyes in a 'sure dad' fashion.

"You can?" Castiel asked, staring at Dean in confusion.

"Cas-" Dean started, and then stopped, and then started again, "You know exactly what I was like in Purgatory, you know what I did to find you." With that explanation, the tension in Castiel's shoulders seemed to ease and he stood up straighter; he nodded and stepped back, away from the island.

"But we don't even know how Wil disappeared. I mean, one minute she's unconscious, her hair's turning black, and the next she's just gone." Buffy interrupted the hallmark moment in front of her in favor of something more comfortable.

"Could be she's possessed?" Dean offered, turning back to his job of breakfast foods.

"Could be." Castiel admitted, "But by who, or what? I've never seen someone possessed by a demon have their hair turn black."

"Don't know, and we won't know until we find her. Which is what Tara's trying to do." Dean sighed, passing a plate along to Buffy who cooed with delight as she searched for a fork. Finding none she shrugged and picked the pancake up with her hands, "So give her a break." The hunter said, approaching the angel. He threw a hand up onto the guy's shoulder and squeezed before rubbing it lightly. Castiel sighed and nodded, running a hand through his hair.

"Ooh pancakes!" A voice said, they all turned to see Sam walk into the kitchen and grab a hotcake; he ripped a piece off and stared at them back, "So what's up with Tara? She seemed pissed, didn't even notice me as she stormed up the stairs." He said around a bite of bisquick-y goodness. They all stared in silence.

"Sam?" Dean nearly choked out, his brother was back-but how? And for how long?