Music In Our Hearts
Chapter 11: Say Something (Part 1)
Buffy's roundhouse sent the vampire she was fighting flying through the air, smashing a headstone beneath it.
You know, I wonder how many people I'm pissing off when I smash those things. Buffy thought to herself, then wheeled around for a side-kick to another vamp's rib cage. Disoriented, the female vampire staggers back and gives her an opening to plunge Mr. Pointy through the rib cage, dusting the demon.
The other vamp recovered, but when he lunged for Buffy, he landed right on her stake and disintegrated before he ever got close enough to actually attack her.
Buffy looked back at Faith to see how she was doing. The raven Slayer was having a picnic, toying with three vampires ganging up on her.
"It's about time ya dusted those wimps, B. Now I can show ya how a real Slayer slays." Faith teased. The female vampire she was facing attacked, and Faith dropped to the ground, sliding under her legs, and came up behind her. A quick thrust of Faith's stake ended her very short undeath. She was a newlydead.
The two male vampires separated, like they were coordinating an attack. They stepped up on either side of Faith, then jumped at her at the same time. It was smart. Kind of. The way they had it figured, she'd have to choose which one of them to kill. By the time one of them was dusted, the other one would be tearing into her throat.
But what they didn't count on, was Faith not choosing. Instead of attacking, she sidestepped both attacks, and the vampires crashed into each other in midair, then fell to the ground. Two more lightning-fast thrusts, and they were both nothing but dust in the wind.
"Beat that, blondie." Faith joked. Buffy snickered.
"Yeah, not bad." Buffy agreed. "But can you do this?" Buffy threw her stake directly at Faith. The weapon barely missed impaling the other Slayer, instead, staking a vampire that was sneaking up on Faith with her back turned. Faith got dust all over her leather jacket.
"Okay, I guess that was good." Faith nodded grudgingly. "But I would have done it without gettin' you all dirty."
"Oh my god! I never pegged you for a girly-girl!" Buffy grinned.
"Just shut up, B. I like this jacket."
"It'll wipe off easily."
"Yeah, but vamp dust stinks. It smells worse than..." Faith stopped herself.
"Than... what?" Buffy asked. "What does it stinks worse than?"
"Than... Pepé Le Pew." Faith muttered under her breath.
"Oh my god! You still watch cartoons?!" Buffy laughed out loud. "Just wait until absolutely everyone finds out!"
"Okay, yeah, I like Loony Toons!" Faith growled. "It's fuckin' hilarious, okay?"
Buffy pouted. "I'm sorry, Fai. I didn't mean to upset you." She said in a childish voice, still teasing Faith. But Faith couldn't resist her pout.
"Oh come on, B. That's not fair. I'm mad!" She said forcefully. "I'm mad, damn it! You can't do that, it's not fair."
Buffy walked slowly up to her, still pouting, then rested her head on Faith's chest.
"No. Absolutely not. It's not gonna work. It's not gonna... damn it. How could you use your powers for evil, B?" Faith grinned, and hugged Buffy, who returned her grin.
"Because those powers don't work on vampires. Except maybe Spike or Angel. I'll bet it would work on them. Maybe. But it's much more fun to use it against you."
"One of these days, I'm gonna figure out how the hell you do that. It's like some kinda mind control or something."
"Never. It's my secret. It's something only girlfriends can do."
"Well, I'm your girlfriend."
"Yeah, but you're the man in this relationship. You're more butch. That makes you the boyfriend with a girl's body."
"I'm gonna take that as a compliment, despite how it actually sounded." Faith teased. "Because I know you mean well." She put her right arm around Buffy's shoulder and they started to walk away. "What do ya say we call it a night, go home, get somethin' to eat, then get a shower?"
"Depends. Does this shower of which you speak involve both of us at the same time?"
"Better believe it." Faith's grin grew wider.
"Hmm... So... Both of us... together... no clothes... and wet bodies...God, that's a good image." Buffy shivered, and Faith agreed.
"Yeah. Suddenly, I'm not all that hungry. Wanna skip eatin'?"
"Oh... I don't know. I could... eat." Buffy said suggestively.
Faith moaned at the implication.
"Okay, maybe I'm a little hungry, after all." Buffy chuckled, knowing she had absolute control over Faith.
"Oh, wait!" Buffy stopped walking.
"Come on, B. Don't do this to me." Faith groaned, pleading.
"No, not that. I forgot my stake." Buffy doubled back and picked her weapon up off the ground. She staked a vampire clawing its way out of the ground as she walked back to Faith.
"Ready?" Faith asked.
"Like you wouldn't believe." Buffy grinned, and the Slayers continued walking away, Faith's arm draped over the blonde's shoulders.
...
Tara sat on her bed in her new apartment, crying. She hadn't been able to stop crying since she found out that Willow participated in a threesome with Buffy and Faith.
She'd gone over to Buffy's house to try and set everything straight. She knew Willow was doing much better with her addiction to magic, though there was no way she'd given it up completely, no matter what she told Buffy and Faith. But still, Tara figured maybe small things that Buffy and Faith didn't even notice, they couldn't hurt much, so maybe she and Willow could have ended their split up and gotten back together. Tara's life seemed empty since she left. She needed Willow as much as she thought Willow needed her. But apparently, Faith and Buffy could fill the void just as well as she could. She didn't need Tara, after all.
But no, that couldn't be true. Buffy told her that Willow had been extremely depressed since she left. Rarely, if ever, did Willow leave the house, which would explain why none of Tara's attempts to "run into her" at the Magic Box, or book stores, or any other place that Willow frequented, ever succeeded. Maybe the threesome was just Willow's way of dealing with the anger and grief she was feeling over Tara's not-quite-date with Cierra. Now that Tara thought about it, it did look kind of like a date, to an outside observer. But then again, Cierra was straight, so anyone who knew that would know that they really were just friends. But Willow didn't know that. So she could very easily have mistaken it for a date.
But was Willow still angry with Tara? Was she too angry for Tara to fix things? Tara wished she knew.
The emotions warring within her seemed to summon music from somewhere, and she couldn't help but sing. Buffy, Faith, Xander and Willow all described the feeling they got just before they sang lately, but she hadn't felt it herself, until now.
"I need a sign to let me know you're here. All of these lines are being crossed over the atmosphere. I need to know that things are gonna look up, 'cause I feel us drowning in a sea spilled from a cup. When there is no place safe and no safe place to put my head, you can feel the world shake from the words that are said.
"And I'm calling all angels. I'm calling all you angels. And I won't give up if you don't give up. And I won't give up if you don't give up. And I won't give up if you don't give up. And I won't give up if you don't give up.
"I need a sign to let me know you're here-" Tara was interrupted by a knock on the door. The music stopped suddenly as well, and she hurried over to the door.
It was Willow.
Okay, that's extremely ironic. Tara thought, slightly amused, but then grew serious as she opened the door and let the redhead in.
As soon as she closed the door, both of them spoke up.
"Willow, I-"
"Listen, Tara-" Willow and Tara spoke at the same time, then stopped.
"I'm sorry-" They both said at the same time.
"You first." Willow said, motioning with her hand.
"Um... would... You wanna sit down?" Tara asked, motioning towards her bed.
"Um... sure." Willow sat down on the edge of the bed, and turned to face Tara as she, too, sat down on the bed.
"Um... Willow, I... I came over to Buffy's house yesterday... and-"
"I know. Faith told me about it. Tara, I'm... I'm so... so sorry." Willow's eyes were begging for forgiveness.
"I... I mean... you don't need to apologize. You... You thought I was serious when I said I was breaking up with you."
"Weren't you?"
"No! I... I mean, yes, but... I was just angry. I didn't mean it! It... It just slipped out, and I left so I could cool down. But I was going to come right back! But... by the time I was calm enough... I was too scared to go back. I thought you'd be angry with me about it. Willow, I'm sorry. I'm so... so... so sorry." Tara bent over, putting her head in Willow's lap, sobbing.
"Oh, Tara, baby!" Willow wrapped her arms around Tara's head and cried with her. "Sh... It's okay, baby. It's okay."
"Cierra... we're just friends. It wasn't a date. She's straight, she doesn't like girls, not like that. It wasn't a date." Tara swore through her sobs.
"Shhh... It's okay, Tara. It's okay, babe." Willow reassured her. Willow was in tears as well, and she bent over to kiss Tara on the head. "It's okay."
"I'm sorry, Willow. I'm sorry." Tara said again, calming down some.
"It's okay. Everything's okay now." Willow whispered. After a few moments' silence, Willow sang, soft music sounding somewhere. "Now that she's back in the atmosphere with drops of Jupiter in her hair, hey-ey-ey... she acts like summer and walks like rain. Reminds me that there's time to change, hey-ey-ey. Well, since the return of her stay on the moon, she listens spring, and she talks like June, hey-ey-ey. Hey-ey-ey.
"Tell me, did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the Milky Way and see the lights all faded, and that Heaven is over-rated? Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star? One without a permanent scar? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?" Willow paused for a minute, staring into Tara's eyes, finding nothing but love.
"Now that she's back from that soul vacation, tracing her way through the constellation, hey-ey-ey... she checks out Mozart while she does Tae-Bo. Reminds me that there's room to grow, hey-ey-ey. Now that she's back in the atmosphere, I'm afraid that she might think of me as Plain Old Jane, told a story about a man who was too afraid to fly, so he never did land.
"But tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet? Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day, and head back to the Milky Way? And tell me, did Venus blow your mind? And was it everything you wanted to find? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself out there?" Willow smiled as Tara curled up against her, perfectly comfortable. Willow's voice seemed to soothe her deeply.
"Can you imagine no love, pride, deep-fried chicken, your best friend always sticking up for you? Even when I know you're wrong? Can you imagine no first dance, freeze-dried romance, five-hour phone conversations, the best soy latte that you ever had, and me?
"Tell me, did the wind sweep you off your feet? Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day? And head back toward the Milky Way? Tell me, did you sail across the sun? Did you make it to the Milky Way and see the lights all faded, and that Heaven is over-rated? Tell me, did you fall for a shooting star? One without a permanent scar? And did you miss me while you were looking for yourself...
"Na na, na na, na na na na, na na, na na na. Did you finally get the chance to dance along the light of day? Na na, na na, na na na na, na na, na na na. Did you fall for a shooting star... fall for a shooting star? Na na, na na, na na na na, na na, na na na. And are you lonely looking for yourself out there?" Tara sighed when Willow finished.
...
When Willow asked everyone to meet up at the Magic Box, Buffy thought something bad happened when she went to talk to Tara. Something very bad. But when the two witches walked into the store hand in hand, smiling, she became confused.
"What's goin' on?" Faith asked, breaking the silence. "Obviously, you didn't call everyone here just to say you and T patched things up. So what's goin' on?"
"Um... It's about why everyone's singing." Willow said, motioning for them all to sit down.
"She won't tell me what's going on, either." Tara explained, joining them all at the table.
"Willow, do you have a lead?" Giles asked curiously.
"Um... kind of... Please, just don't yell and scream when I say it."
"Willow...?" Buffy asked. "What happened? Did... Did you do it?"
"There... may have... been some magic involved... " Willow confessed.
"Willow?!" Tara hissed.
"But... it was before you said I should stop doing magic! I cast the spell to help Buffy and Faith!"
"What?!" Buffy asked.
"Well... Like I said, it was kind of obvious to everyone that you two were together, and then it started to seem like you guys were fighting all the time, and I just got thinking that... Last time there was all this tension between everyone, everything was kind of out in the open after Sweet came to town, and we all sang it out! So, I just thought... maybe I could do the same thing, but more focused specifically on you two, so you guys would stop fighting! I was just trying to help you two." Willow explained.
"You cast a spell on us?!" Buffy screeched.
"Well... yeah. I'm sorry. When I realized the spell backfired, I tried to undo it, but I just... I can't. I mean, I don't even have all my tools anymore, so I can't even attempt to undo it now, but before, when I still had everything, I tried all kinds of reversals on it, but it only made it worse. Um... I don't know if anyone else has noticed... but some of my memories are starting to involve singing now. Memories that didn't have singing before."
Buffy and Faith looked at each other.
"Willow, how is the spell supposed to be broken?" Giles growled.
"Well... I cast the spell with some purpose in mind. Normally, when I do that, but don't reverse it, then the spell wears off when the purpose is fulfilled. In other words, whenever Buffy and Faith made up and stopped fighting, once everything was resolved... The spell should have ended."
"Should have?" Faith asked.
"Yeah. When you guys made up, the singing should have stopped. But... obviously, we're still singing. So I don't know what else could be feeding it." Willow sat down hard in the chair behind her, frustrated. "I thought the spell would have played out by now. I don't understand it. But... But I haven't really cast any spells since I gave everything up, so I don't know. There might be some things I didn't try that I didn't think about."
"What if..." Tara said, then stopped.
"What is it, Tara?" Giles asked.
"Well... I don't know why I even thought about it... But... What if the spell didn't wear off because its purpose wasn't fulfilled?"
"What does that mean? That Faith and I are still mad at each other? Because I'm not feeling much resentment right now. Not between me and Faith." Buffy said.
"Same here." Faith agreed.
"What if... What if one of you is still mad about something, but don't even really know it?" Tara asked.
"If that's the case, then the spell will continue to affect us all, and eventually, whatever the real problem is will come out. But if it takes too long, then the energy that the spell puts out to fuel itself could have the same effect as Sweet's spell." Willow said.
"What?"
Willow hesitated. "In other words... If it takes too long for the problem to be addressed... anyone affected by the spell could start spontaneously combusting whenever they sing something."
A silence fell over the group as they processed that.
So, I know there were two songs in this chapter, neither of which shared the name of this chapter, but it's because this chapter ran a bit longer than I intended. Anyway, the two songs in this chapter were "Calling All Angels" and "Drops of Jupiter", both by Train. Train, like Daughtry, is a really awesome group, and I hope you guys like them as much as I do.