WARNING: Probably not the most ick thing you've run across on the internet, but I really want to make my intent clear here. BtVS has always been described as a horror series, which is something I want to stay true to, and I kick up the gore just a tad. It'll only get worse as the story progresses, but I promise you, now that this horrible story-arc is coming to an end, it's also going to become more W/T centric, too.

Chapter 14 (In which the story finally earns it's R rating. Probaby)

Nothingness. Blank space where a world should be. No light, no shadow. Not even bits of debris floating about to let her know that this particular Earth had been blown up and destroyed.

It was as if it had never been.

It wasn't even that this Earth was gone. The other planets, stars, galaxies…this whole universe was gone.

A demon is meant to prey, to corrupt, and to destroy. Without things to victimize, there were no demons. Even a demon could recognize this utter emptiness as wrong.

"It's gone! There's nothing! All of it, gone!"

Scrambling, kicking away from the portal she herself opened, Anyanka felt this wrongness and for the first time in a very, very long time, felt fear. The tightening of her skull as her hair stood on end, the blocking in her throat that always made it feel difficult to scream, the sensation of her stomach dropping down lower than it should've been…

Leftover survival reactions from the ancestors of the human she once was.

"What the fuck is that?" Faith screamed, her throaty voice still carrying over the sound of air rushing past them.

Buffy bent her legs at the knee, bracing her thighs and back. "Everyone hold onto to something!" She lifted her forearm to shield her eyes as she looked frantically to her friends.

Xander was on the ground, arms wrapped around a fairly good sized boulder. His heels dug into the ground and his arm and neck muscles bulged as he held on against the pull. Her eyes turned to Faith who, surprisingly, had one arm wrapped around Giles' waist. Her free arm was wrapped around the trunk of a tree, and her legs took on a similar position to Buffy's.

It was Tara and Willow who seemed to fare far better than their friends. The older witch's forearm was engulfed in blue flame, hand thrust against the ground. Willow was pressed tightly against her, face buried in the ruffles of Tara's jacket.

"Don't let go. Whatever you do, don't let go!" The only response she received was Willow violently shaking her head against her.

"Never,never,never!"

Her left arm shook as she channeled her magic through it, binding herself to the very earth below. There were no trees or rocks near enough for them to hold onto, so magic it was. Twisting down into the ground. Down, down, down…

'Woah wait a minute. Nasty temple thing down there, REALLY don't wanna touch that. Backing up, backing up..'

But backing up wasn't an option.

Too deep put her in danger of touching that darkness, not deep enough put her in danger of well…danger.

By herself, it was a no brainer. Her Slayer was elsewhere and out of danger, and there'd be more Watchers to come. Even with the others, it was still a no brainer. What were two Watchers, civilians, and Slayers when a third Slayer was out there?

If only it weren't for the redhead tucked under her arm.

Willow.

Only a few wonderful talks and several kisses, yet already so precious.

Willow made her deliriously happy, and while several kisses a couple does not make, there was that possibility now. They had not talked about what those kisses meant for them, and honestly, when had they had the chance to? But what they could mean, what they couldbe?

That was enough to make her be a bit selfish.

Tara tensed herself, ready to send another pulse of power downward. The current anchor wasn't strong enough and the two were beginning to slide, slowly but surely, towards the portal.

"Tara."

A slim hand was placed over her own. Soft, except for the pads of the fingers which were used to spending hours at a time on a computer keyboard, and the side of the middle finger where a pencil was usually held with equal fervor.

"W-willow?" The younger witch's smile was strained, but she still found comfort in it. "What're you doi-"

And then a pulse of power, from Willow's hand to her own. It tingled up and down her arm, unsure of where to go before following the current of Tara's own power, heading down.

In her mind's eye, she say the red twist and writhe around the blue down, down, down…And then out.

'Holy.

Shit.'

Like the roots of a great tree, the tendrils of now purple energy spread out and around, but never touching the dark temple below, binding them to the ground below, good and strong. Tentatively, they stood.

Grins were exchanged, one lopsided and one just a tad bit dazed. They were two steady things in a whirlwind, teetering not from the force of the portal, but their own adrenaline rushes.

"Yeah, okay, good for you," Buffy shrieked, interrupting their moment. "Now what about that?"

Oh right. The portal.

Faith screamed, "Duck!" just as one of the smaller Q'bon soared overhead. The rip between universes was not quite as large the demon, and it hung in the air for a few moments, being sucked in chest first.

There was a sickening crack as its spine bent over backwards. The demon let out a low bellow as his body began to fold and bend in on itself, and Willow was sickeningly reminded of a wad of play-dough being shoved through a press.

And with a POP! he was gone.

Halfrek cackled. She was in full demon face, whipping back to full force, herding them towards the portal. "Open it up a bit wider, Ahn!"

Anyanka looked at her friend, horrified. "We don't do this to demon brethren!" And it was true. As a vengeance demon, her targets were almost always human. D'Hoffryn's girls always had a good reputation within the demonic community.

"They aren't brethren!"

That was also true. True demons were creatures of chaos, destruction and pain. Then there were the things that were neither human nor animal that, with an added bit of mysticism, were branded demons by the rest of the world. The Q'bon were of the latter, and Halfrek had no allegiance to them.

One by one, the large, gentle demons were forced towards the portal. One by one, not a sound save for a few mournful bellows, from the pain or from the others, knowing what was to come.

In old kung-fu movies, they broke celery sticks to imitate the sounds of bones breaking. When they started patrolling with Buffy, Xander and Willow learned that it was eerily similar to the snapping of a Kit-Kat bar. But the rending flesh combined with the sick, wet sound of spines snapping was a new sound entirely.

And they could do nothing but watch.

Well, they could intervene, but getting sucked into the tear wasn't really gonna help anyone, now was it?

Buffy turned to Willow and Tara. "Can't you guys do something to close it?" she shouted.

"No," Giles shouted from somewhere behind her. "Only the demon who opened it can close it!"

All eyes turned to Anyanka, and the Scoobies' mingled voices joined the cacophony whirling around them.

"Close it!"

"Shut the damn thing!"

"Stoppit! Please!"

"Don't." Halfrek glowered at them all, whip coiled tightly in her hand. "It's for the best, Ahn."

"I can'tclose it anyway!" she turned to the demons, human faced and brows knit. "I'm sorry. I'm so, so sorry."

"Don't be. If this was a man you'd been called on against, you wouldn't hesitate to throw him in.."

Giles spluttered. "What do you mean you can't?"

Anyanka shook her head wildly. "With dimensional portals…I'd have to work with the Anyanka from that dimension to close it up, but there is no other Anyanka over there! There's nothing!"

"But if you don't close it-"

"I know!"

"Can't you close it up by yourself?"

She shook her head again. "I can't! Not without-" Her hands flew to her throat, where a large, gaudy amulet rested.

Halfrek turned around. "Don't! One more left." The last Q'bon, the smallest the group(though that was still quite a lot) hunched over, the vengeance demon gripping him with one horn.

"Dammit, Hallie!" Her friend screamed. "Just let it go! It wasn't that big of a deal to begin with!"

Halfrek laughed. "Do you even hear yourself right now? The most feared vengeance demon in several worlds, 'not that big of a deal'? Ha!"

Willow flinched. Her laugh was an awful thing. She expected some sort of witch's cackle, but no. That would have been far too feminine. It was short, harsh, masculine, and frankly, it sounded like a bark. She'd know. She was more of a dog person.

It was at that moment they realized that sudden morality aside, Anyanka was still a demon. And demons did not like to be mocked. Her hands flew to her throat, and beside her, Willow heard Tara suck in a sudden breath.

See? Thatwas a feminine sound.

The amulet was torn from around her neck, and the skinny demon squared her shoulders and set her jaw.

The amulet, chain and all, were chucked towards the portal and immediately sucked in, Anya stumbling to her knees on the ground.

"Noooo! Keep it open!" Halfrek let go of the Q'bon and dove for it. "Just one more!"

What happened next would remain unrivaled in terms of disgusting for the next few months.

What the witches had struggled to do, the vengeance demons had done naturally, but the moment she left the ground, Halfrek's spell was undone. Her body twisted mid-leap, curling around her fist as the amulet slipped just of her grasp. By then, she had been caught in the portal's suctioning force. It was almost comical as she imitated a swimmer, trying to fight the current.

The scream that accompanied it, however, was nowhere near as funny.

Willow screwed her eyes shut and buried her face in Tara's jacket again, the older girl's shallow breathing almost drowning out the sounds of one or two of her friends retching.

Slayer or not, that was just the kind of reaction you get when witnessing someone's intestines get sucked out of their anus. Yes, they had come across bodies in far worse conditions, but this was the first time they had witnessed something like this, and Tara had the shaking feeling that it wouldn't be the last.

The worst part was, as a demon, she remained conscious through the whole thing.

It felt like minutes, but it could have only been seconds. When that wet mass of grey, pink, and red went taut, it started pulling the rest of her into the ever shrinking portal as well.

When it finally closed, everything below her arms were gone. Still, demon powers held out as she tried to crawl around the grass, trailing blood along. Even now, when all she could manage was a pained gurgle, Halfrek was beginning to heal. Anya, still wobbly legged, squatted down to look her in the eye.

"We're demons," she said plainly. "Death and destruction is what we do. But destroyingthe world? That's straight out of those bad spy novels women seem to love so much."

Gurgle. Gurgle gurgle gurgle.

She sighed. "No, you definitely let your own wants get in the way of what was best."

Gurgle.

"See, that's the thing, Hallie. We can corrupt it, we can break it, we can harass the shit out of the things that live in it…but destroying it? We'd all be out of jobs. Or homeless. Either way," she shrugged. "You won't be needing this anymore. And well, I do." With a twist, she tore off the vengeance demon's jeweled necklace and placed it upon herself.

Buffy dropped down to her knees, muscles screaming. "Oh god," she gasped, chest heaving.

"Yes, you were kind of useless, weren't you?" Anyanka curled her lip in distaste, before turning to the remaining Q'bon. "Now, as for you? Come with me, I think I know a job you'll be perfect for." With that, the two demons were vworped out.

It was Faith who broke the ensuing silence. "What the fuck was that?" She shoved Giles off of her.

Buffy pulled Xander to his feet. "Faith, c'mon-"

"No I won't c'mon! We just sat there with our thumbs up our asses while a demonjust saved the world!"

"And is that so bad?" Tara's voice was unraised, but it rang through the area clearly. "The world is saved, isn't it? It shouldn't matter who."

She shrugged off her bomber jacket and draped it over Willow's shoulders. The redhead protested. "Tara, I'm okay. No need to baby me."

She laughed. "Trust me. If I'm babying someone, you'll know. Mostly because Artie'll be complaining loudly."

"But it's cold now."

"Nah," Tara shook her head. "I'm used to English winters. I'm fine."

"Well," she smiled a Willow-y smile. "If you're sure."

No one noticed the woman, once known as Hallie, once known as Halfrek, once known as Cecily, as she lay dead.

Except for the crows.

The ride back into town said more about their emotional states than any sort of argument ever could. Giles' white-knuckled grip on the steering wheel betrayed his otherwise calm exterior, though whether it was from processing new information or just shock from what he had witnessed, one couldn't tell. Buffy was fiddling with Mr. Pointy in the front seat, and Faith was resting her head against the cool glass of the window, fuming silently. Two entirely different ways of expressing the same thoughts:

'Demon saved the world, Slayers did nothing.'

Willow was once again perched on Tara's lap, though the ride wasn't quite as fun as the first time around. Aside from the slight shifting around due to the bumpiness of the road, they didn't move much. At any other time, one of the other teens in the car would have totally called them out on it, using this as proof that Willow's earlier struggle to stay seated was fake, but right now just…didn't seem appropriate.

Tara had pulled her close, and so the redhead was leaned fully back against her. One arm was wrapped firmly around her middle, the other rested on her hip. The young Watcher's chin rested on her shoulder, and despite the ooginess of what she had witnessed, Willow felt a sense of calm wash over her.

'I'd put up with all the transanal eviscerations in the world if it meant that she'd hold me like this afterwards.' Willow frowned. 'Sit through them. As in, watch them. Not put up with them myself!'

"Do you guys realize, we pretty much witnessed an entire species get wiped out?" All eyes were suddenly on Xander.

"Doesn't really matter, does it?" Faith gruffed from her corner. "They're demons, and they were making a mess outta the town."

Willow let out an indignant cry, and Buffy jumped in her seat in surprise. "That's not fair!" Faith stuck her tongue out childishly. "It isn't! You heard that vengeance demon! Their world is gone, you guys. Gone. And they found themselves in a new place and just tried doing what they normally did! You can't blame them for that."

"She does have a point," Giles said. "Like an animal pulled out of its habitat. They were trying to adapt to things as well as they could." Buffy stared at him.

"That doesn't excuse what happened, though." She glanced around the car. "I feel bad about what happened to them, yeah. But when a bear wanders into your house and starts doing bear things, you don't feel bad for it when it gets shot."

"But Willow's right," Xander leaned forward in his seat. "Blaming the..the errr.."

"Q'bon," Giles said helpfully.

"Right! Blaming the Q'bon for what happened is like smacking a little kid for eating too much candy when you were the one who forgot to feed him!"

The sudden silence was palpable.

"O-or," Tara's voice shattered that silence. "Slamming a little girl into a table for dropping the too h-heavy thing you told her to carry." Pinned under Willow, it took a moment for her to turn from Xander to Faith, but once she had, her brow was quirked, as if challenging the other girl to argue.

"Or like putting out a cigarette on a little girl's legs when it was her mom who pissed you off, not her. Yeah, yeah, I get what you're saying now." She kicked at Giles' seat in front of her. "Are we there yet?"

When they were finally dropped off in front of Buffy's and Tara's houses, Willow's legs were still a bit shaky. She watched as the older witch pulled Faith and Xander to the side and spoke with them about something. Xander shook his head, but wrapped Tara in a one-armed hug and gave her a good shake. He was still shaking his head as he began his walk home, waving them all a goodnight. Faith however, seemed awfully pleased at what Tara had to say, and patted her on the back before rejoining Giles in his car.

Her best friend's voice made her jump. "You need me to walk you home?"

Willow shook her head. "My street's just a few blocks away, I think I'll be safe."

"You sure, Wills?"

With one more nod from the redhead, Buffy squeezed her shoulder once before entering her own home. Willow sighed, and approached Tara. Blue eyes twinkled in the dim porch light as they settled on her.

"Do you need me to walk you home?"

Geez, what was it with the women in her life and walking her home? "Um, no thanks. It's not that far and I can make it."

"Are you sure?" The concern etched on Tara's face was downright adorable, at least to Willow. Her eyes widened just a tad, and her brows furrowed, corners of her mouth pulled down in a barely hidden frown.

Willow's lips quirked. "Definitely sure." Then, she blushed. "Oh! Um, I wanted to give your jacket back, though." She moved to pull it off, but was stopped with a hand on her shoulder.

"Oh, nah."

It was now Willow's brows' turn to furrow. "But it's yourjacket."

"But you have to walk home." She clasped her hands behind her back and bounced on the balls of her feet nervously. "I-it's around 60 degrees tonight. That's cold for you Californians, right?"

Willow's eyes snapped up from where they'd been, focused entirely on the suddenly tight black T-shirt and bouncing Tara-parts. "Oh! Um, yeah. I guess so."

Tara grinned at her, and for a moment Willow thought she had been caught staring. And then Tara reached into her own shirt and pulled a pen out from between her breasts.

'…what were we talking about again?'

"I-if you're not gonna let me walk you home, at least do this." She grabbed Willow's arm and pushed her sleeve up. Well, her own sleeve, but the sleeve was currently on Willow. Tongue poking out from between her lips, she scribbled something on. "There!"

The redhead tilted her arm and squinted. "A phone number?"

Tara scratched the back of her neck nervously and scuffed the ground with the toe of her boot. "M-my phone number, actually. Call me? W-when you get home safe, I mean." Willow's face split into a wide grin.

"Of course!"

"A-and maybe," the Watcher averted her gaze, face burning red even in the dim light. "We could also, say, sometime during this upcoming phone call, plan a picnic together? O-or whatever. Like, maybe if picnics aren't you thing, we cou-Mmf!"

Willow stepped back from the kiss. "Picnics are totally my thing." She bit her lip, trying to gauge the other girl's reaction.

"Oh." Blue eyes blinked. "Okay then." And then she pulled Willow into another kiss. The redhead giggled and stepped back from it again. She swooped in again and their lips met for a third time before she flounced off, winking at Tara before making her way home.

She watched her go, a blur of red that stood out in the darkness until she couldn't watch anymore without straining her eyes. Tara let out an enamored sigh, and stepped into her house.

"Oh, Artie…"

A plate, which held the cheesy remains of an entire bag of pizza rolls was left unattended on the living room table, alongside several empty Caprisun pouches. Sprawled on the couch amidst the carnage was her Slayer.

Well, 'sprawled' wasn't quite the right word, as the 12 year old only took up about half of the couch. Her shirt was hiked up, leaving a bit of belly exposed. Tara sighed, tugging back down the shirt to normal levels.

"You'll get a tummy ache in the morning if you leave your belly exposed," she scolded quietly. Her Slayer groaned in response, stretching like a cat.

"Mwuh? Mommy?"

"Go upstairs and sleep, Art. I'll tell you all about today in the morning."

Artie scowled as she rubbed her eyes. "Rr…you're not mommyyyyaaahh!" She continued her protest through the yawn, even as she sat up and began her trek upstairs. Tara watched her half drag, half stomp her way up with a soft smile on her lips.

RRRRRIIIIIIIIING

Climbing onto the couch in the way she told Artie to never, ever do and tripping over the back of it, she dove for the phone, answering it with a breezy "Hello?"

"Tara? Heeeey, it's Willow!" On the other side of the call, Willow flinched. 'Heeeey? Really?'

"Oh, Willow! Hi! Y-you make it home alright?" Tara almost slapped herself. 'Well, duh!'

"Yeah. Your jacket was really warm.."

"Oh, it's lined with rabbit fur."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Oh." It was the awkward phone call to end all awkward phone calls, and they were stuck in the middle of it. Willow began twirling the phone cord around her fingers. "So, about that picnic…Wanna have it this weekend?"

Tara perked up. "Oh, that's a great idea! I'm free on Saturday."

"Saturday's a good day for me, too! I know the perfect place in the park to have it," Willow gushed. "It's the park near the UC campus, you know where that is?"

"It's kinda hard to miss."

"The spot's pretty secluded, too. Maybe we can work on some spells while we're there?"

Tara froze. 'Oh god. Spells. Earlier I almost..what the hell was I thinking?'

"That sounds great, Will."

The redhead beamed. Or at least she did til she remembered Tara couldn't see her. "And maybe, we can kiss some more, too?"

A hitch of breath. Booyah. "T-that sounds-"

"Willow Danielle Rosenberg, did you just arrive home? At this hour? Wait, did you walk home at this hour? Young lady, you should have called me, I could've driven over and brought you home-!"

The redhead turned to the force of nature known as Sheila Rosenberg. "Moooom! I'm on the phone!" She brought the receiver to her mouth. "Gotta go, but see you soon?"

"Oh, ye-" Click. "…bye."

Setting the phone down, Tara finally had the quiet time to think. Cleaning away Artie's mess, her mind drifted to a few particular seconds on the bluff. For a moment, just a mere moment, she had considered tapping into the dark powers resting underground. As she trudged upstairs and peeked into her Slayer's room to make sure she was sleeping, it finally sank in that it wasn't even for the greater good.

It was for purely selfish reasons, and only Willow's intervention had prevented her from taking in that dark energy.

In her bathroom, Tara rummaged through her medicine cabinet. Pulling the pill bottle open, she made a deal with herself.

'You can be Artie's Watcher, and be with Willow. But girlie, you can't let yourself touch the dark stuff, even for them.'

She eyed her medication. Despite her dislike, it had been a lot worse when she was a kid and it was in liquid form. Pills were much better. "Well, bottoms-up," she said half-heartedly, and swallowed the large capsule, without water.

She eyed herself in the mirror, and was pretty damn pleased when nothing demon-y eyed her back.