Willow's Wish World
Willow looked around herself. She was in a house she didn't recognize. She looked around some more trying to figure to out where she was. As she passed a mirror, she stopped to look at herself and was startled to realize she looked older, maybe 25?
'How?!' She touched her face, but it seemed real, not an illusion. She continued to look around and then saw something that made her very happy. A wedding picture on the wall. It was her and Xander, she looked closely and saw her own face smiling happily. She failed to notice that Xander just looked blank, no smile at all. Willow wandered into the kitchen and saw a calendar on the wall. There were x's marking off days on a count down toward, oh! a date with a heart around it! It said, 'First Anniversary'. 'Must be today's date, she thought. That means Xander and I are married and today is our first anniversary. Maybe that was a good demon, granting wishes.'
She noticed the clock on the wall showed it was nearly five in the afternoon. 'Xander will probably be home from work soon, I bet you he planned something wonderful and romantic. I need to get ready, I don't want to keep him waiting. This is going to be one of the best days of my life.'
As she got ready, Willow wondered why she couldn't remember anything about how she and Xander had finally got together or their life together. 'Maybe the demon lady wanted to make sure I was happy with my wish before making it final. If so, she needn't have bothered, I've got everything I want.'
Once she was dressed in a pretty dress and low heels, Willow sat down on the couch to wait for Xander to come home. As the time passed she started to get a little anxious. It was coming up on seven and he wasn't home yet. Maybe he was working late? But it was their anniversary, so surely he would be trying to get home as soon as possible, so he could get ready too. She daydreamed about the wonderful date they would have, maybe a restaurant and then dancing? Yes that would be good date.
Willow was startled as the phone suddenly rang. She hurried over to it. "Oh, Xanderwhereareyouyouarelatemisterthisisaveryimportantdateand,"
"Ma'am, this is Sunndydale General Hospital, I am calling for a Willow Harris, in regards to an Alexander Harris, he was brought in after a car accident. Willow Harris is listed as his next of kin, is that you?"
"Yes, yes it is. I'm his wife, is he all right? Oh! If he needs blood I'm not a match, his mother is though, I can get ahold of her."
"No ma'am, he doesn't need blood, he needs someone to drive him home. He's fine, a mild concussion and some cuts and bruises, but his car was damaged and he is in no condition to drive. He's had too much to drink and shouldn't be driving at all."
"What do you mean, he's had too much to drink? Xander doesn't drink, his father was a drunk and Xander always said he never wanted to be like him, so he doesn't drink."
"Well, he's been drinking today ma'am, a lot. I suggest you get here soon, he keeps trying to leave on his own and he may end up getting hurt worse if he succeeds in leaving."
"I'll be right there. Don't let him leave!"
As she drove to the hospital, Willow wondered what could have caused Xander to break his vow and drink. What had happened before she got here, had someone died?
Willow parked and hurried into the hospital. She approached the front desk and told the clerk. "My name is Willow Harris, I got a call that my husband Alexander Harris, he goes by Xander, had been admitted after a car accident."
The clerk checked her system and located his name. "Fourth floor, room 412," she answered
"Thank you." Willow moved to the elevator and pressed the button for the fourth floor. Exiting, she checked the numbers on each door, finally finding number 412. Xander was lying on the bed, stitches visible on his forehead and bruising forming on his face. His eyes were closed.
"Oh, XanderIwassoscaredwhenthehispitalcalledwhatwereyoudoingdrinkingit'souranniversarywhatdoyouhavetosayforyourselfmister." Willow sucked in a huge breath as she managed to get all that out in one breath.
"Willow, what do you want?"
"I want to know why you have been drinking, what's wrong? I thought you vowed never to drink, you didn't want to be like your father."
"Yah well, that was before you turned me into him. Turned my life into a nightmare I feel trapped in. I want out Willow, I never wanted this and you had no right to force it on me."
Willow was upset. "What are you talking about, we're happy, we're married, it's our anniversary, everything's perfect."
"For you maybe, for me, not so much. Tell me Willow was there really a baby or did you lie to me? I've never known for sure and it eats at me."
"What you talking about?"
"You remember, back when we got drunk at that party and had sex, and you told everyone you were pregnant after? And your parents and mine insisted we get married and I do the right thing and take care of you and the baby. I've always wondered, was there really a baby, since you wouldn't let me go to any appointments with you and I never saw a pregnancy test and then you said you lost the baby while I was at that job site in San Francisco. I didn't want to get married, but I felt like I didn't have a choice, because the possibility existed. So was there a baby or was that just one more joke in my fucked up life?"
Willow stared at him unable to believe what he was saying. That's why he married her, a drunken hookup, an accidental pregnancy? She couldn't answer his question because she didn't know herself if there had been a baby.
"I, I, Xander what does it matter, we're married now and just need to make the best if it. We can be happy together, I know we can. Just give us a chance."
"That's just it, Willow I don't want to. I want out. I want a divorce."
"A divorce? But, but why, don't you love me?"
"Once as a friend, but now? I can't stand the sight if you. Can't stand the sight if myself either. I want a divorce."
"Xander obviously you're drunk. I am going to take you home and when you sober up and are thinking clearly, things will be better. Come on get dressed."
"Drunk or sober Willow, it isn't going to change anything. I never wanted this." He got out of the bed, "leave while I get dressed."
"I will be right outside the door." Willow left the room, trying to understand what was happening. What happened to her wish, they were supposed to be happy. Something was very wrong here. Maybe she needed to find a way to summon the demon, maybe the demon had messed up the wish? Yes that made sense, the demon had done something wrong and could fix it. She just needed to find it.
Xander came out the room dressed sloppily, his shirt wasn't buttoned correctly. She moved to straighten it and he slapped at her hands. "Leave me alone."
"Xander your shirt is a mess, let me fix it."
"No, don't touch me." He swayed down the hall toward the elevator. Willow hurried after him determined to keep him safe.
As she drove home with Xander passed out in the passenger seat, Willow brainstormed ways of figuring out what was wrong. Obviously it was several years in the future. Was Buffy or Giles still around? If not maybe Amy was and she could help them.
When they arrived back at the house, Willow helped Xander up to their room. He collapsed onto the bed, out cold. She pulled off his shoes and socks and went to prepare for bed. The wonderful night she had hoped for ruined.
When she woke up the next morning, Xander was still asleep. Willow began calling around trying to find someone who might be able to help. There was no answer at Buffy's or Giles, but there was at Amy's.
"Amy, this Willow, I need your help, do you still do magic?"
"Willow, I haven't heard from you in years, what do you want?"
"Do you still do magic?"
"Yes, why?"
"Can I come over, I need to explain and it will take awhile."
"Sure, why not? I still live in the same place."
When Willow arrived, they sat down in the living room and Willow explained the situation. "Let me get this straight. You made a wish in front of what turned out to be a demon and that's why you and Xander are married. He's so miserable he's drinking and you don't understand why?"
"Yes, the wish was that we would be happy, so why isn't he happy?"
"Willow, sometimes I wonder how you can be a genius. Ok, let's check my books and see if we can figure out which demon granted this wish and see if we can summon her and get some answers for you. This is going to be interesting."
Willow trailed after Amy as they headed up to the attic, what did Amy mean? What was she missing?
Amy pulled out several volumes and laid them on the table. "These books cover the types of demons that grant wishes and some noteworthy ones. Fortunately, there aren't many kinds that grant wishes, so this shouldn't take too long. Good thing it's a Saturday, though, or I'd have to be at work right now."
They paged through the books until Amy found something. "This sounds like the kind of demon you described, face looking like it's muscles and veins are exposed." She turned the book so Willow could see the picture.
"Yes, oh vengeance demons. It says there are a lot of different ones, each with a specialty. They include Halfrek, who grants wishes to abused and neglected children and Anyanka, who grants wishes to scorned women."
"That's probably the one your looking for, you did say you made the wish after you caught Xander and Cordelia kissing. So you were probably feeling like you had been scorned, right?"
"Well, yah I didn't understand how he could like her or want to kiss her. I always thought he'd realize I love him and then we would be happy together. I finally got my wish, but he's not happy, what went wrong?"
"Still trying to figure out how your a genius. Ok let's make a containment circle and then summon her."
As Amy laid out the circle and began summoning. Willow reflected on everything that had happened since she had ended up here and still couldn't get what Amy meant. Amy seemed to think the answer was obvious, but Willow just couldn't figure it out and it was driving her nuts. As an image began to appear within the containment circle, Willow thought, 'Finally now I will get answers.'
"Why have I been summoned, you already got your wish, do you already want another?"
"No I want answers. My wish was for me and my friends to be happy, so why isn't Xander happy. We have everything we could want and he is miserable."
"Actually, you got what you wanted. What makes you think what he wants is the same thing you want?"
"But Xander isn't happy. If he's got what he wants why isn't he happy? It doesn't make any sense,"
As Willow was talking with the demon, Amy was studying it, she could feel the power coming from the necklace around the demons neck. That was probably the source of her power. If she could get a hold of it, maybe they could figure out what had happened to the others and then figure out how to reverse this. Amy thought about the spells she knew and then reached out with her own power and grasped the necklace and called it to her. It vanished from around the demons neck and appeared in her hand. "What have you done?!" the demon screeched, "give that back."
"No, I'm thinking this necklace is your power center and with it we can find Willow some answers. How many people were included in the wish?"
"She asked for her friends Alexander Harris, Buffy Summers and the vampire named Angel to be included and the one she called the skanky ho, Cordelia Chase. Now give that back."
"No, we can use this to trace the magic and find them and see what has happened to them."
"Amy what are you talking about, Xander is back at the house. I know what happened to him."
"She hasn't figure it out yet, I see," the demon said.
"No and that's why we have to find them, she needs answers and we need to make sure they are ok."
"Fine, I can help you with that, just give me back my necklace."
"No, I'm going to hold onto it for now."
"Amy what's going on?"
"Just hold on Willow, I need to do a binding and anchoring spell on our demon here and then we can get going."
Amy went through her books until she found what she was looking for, a spell to bind Anyankas powers and to anchor her to them while they searched for the others. It took a minute to determine if she had everything she needed to do the spell. Once that was done she tuned herself into the magic of the power center and reached out with her own power, gathered up Willow and Anyanka and said "Buffy Summers" and followed the thread of magic back toward the Buffy connected to the power, pulling Willow and Anyanka after her.