Chapter 3~

The tension at the Summers' house was thick enough to choke on. Giles was giving his farewells to the group once more, only this time, he had to say goodbye to Buffy as well. She had to learn to be on her own, take care of Dawn. He wouldn't always be around to save her from the everyday 'demons'.

"Geez, Giles. It's all déjà vu today, you with the leavin'," Xander's demeanor and expression gave away his false cheery voice. He may not be Giles's favorite among them, but he knew the elder man cared about him. The man was more of a father to any one of them then their own fathers. The abusive ass"that was Tara's, the absentees of both Willow's parents and of Dawn and Buffy's father, and his own alcoholic mess of a father.

Anya was sad as well, though still not used to this particular feeling of loss, even after three years of being a human again, "Please call and write often, but not too often. Don't interrupt sales time, and we won't answer if we're having sex. You're store is in good hands, I'll make us loads of money, and try to keep Buffy's Slayer duties from completely destroying it." She smiled a genuine smile.

Giles faced them both, giving Xander a reassuring pat on the shoulder, before being tackled in a very quick but firm hug from the ex-demon. He smiled sadly at them, "I know you'll take care of things, Anya. Rest assured I'll choose my times to call wisely." He turned around toward Buffy, who was none too happy and leaning against the door frame. Before he could speak again, Tara was coming down the stairs, the first of several boxes she planned to bring down, in her hands.

"Hey, Giles," Tara's voice was soft, and her gorgeous blue eyes were rimmed red with tears. This was only the first heartbreaking goodbye of the night, "You leaving for the a-airport?"

"Very soon," he replied. His own heart broke for the young woman, just as his anger at Willow's ignorance once again filled his mind. There were some very tough lessons ahead for his family, to be sure. He opened his arms for the young brunette, as she put her box down by the bottom stair.

She gladly accepted his hug, and took the comfort he offered. Things were definitely about to get interesting. As she pulled back, a loud yell assaulted all of their ears.

"Dawn! Come say your goodbyes!" Buffy's voice barely registered emotion, annoyance if anything. As there was no return answer immediately, the slayer rolled her eyes and she marched up the stairs. If she had to throw her sister over her shoulder, then that's what she'd do.

Only seconds later, just before she reached the top step, something felt off. The distant sounds of screams, anger, shouting of commands, and what sounded like clashing weapons rushed through her head. As she tried to make sense of these noises, her foot slipped from its unbalanced perch on the second floor landing, sending her jolting backwards down most of the way. She was finally able to regain her footing just two steps from the bottom, though she now carried a large bruise on her left arm because it had hit the railing on the way down.

"Buffy! Are you a-alright?" Tara's concern was evident, as she put her hand on top of Buffy's on the lower railing. It wasn't like the Slayer to lose her balance, especially on something so trivial as the stairs.

Giles also gave a look of concern, but just as he was about to say something himself, the lightbulb above the doorway shattered. Before the group could recover, the rest of the lightbulbs in the house followed suit. The fragile glass of the bulbs seem to be flying everywhere.

Out of the ducking and covering, Xander's voice rang out, "Yikes! Buffy, how many lights do you own?!" As his question ended, so did the sounds of glass breaking. He slowly raised his head from the position it had ended up, hovering over Anya to protect her from the sharp shards, "Anyone hurt?"

"Dear lord, I'm never getting to my plane," came from where Giles was hovering over Tara in a similar protective fashion. His hand was bleeding, as it looked as though he had also tried reaching for Buffy, "bloody hellmouth."

Anya grabbed hold of Xander's arm sharply, looking around the now dangerously twinkling house, "Hasn't Willow had enough fun with the magic tonight? I had to deal with bunnies! Lots of them!"

Tara's heart stopped. She hoped beyond anything that Anya was wrong. She glanced directly into Giles hard, brown eyes, then moved to Buffy's angry, hazel ones.

Buffy was off in less than a second, her feet crunching glass below her. She could care less at the moment. Finally making it to the landing above, she came to Dawn's door first. It was wide open, "Dawn!" There was no answer, and the room felt hollow even from the doorway. She turned her way down towards Willow and Tara's… Willow's room. She couldn't think about that now. It wasn't her problem anyway.

Just as she made it to the door, she heard the crunching of other footsteps from behind. The Slayer turned her head back to see Tara had joined her upstairs carrying a flashlight. Her look of both pain and possibly even anger showed easily on her features. Buffy hadn't seen Tara angry yet in their two years of friendship, but she guessed that was going to change soon. Especially if Willow and magic were involved. Except, that room was empty too.

Tara made her way through the space she shared… or had shared with Willow. Her boxes were strung around the floor, now sparkling with bits of glass. The young witch pointed her light at their bathroom, the last place she had seen the redhead. There was no one. After a few moments, they both made their way downstairs, checking Buffy's room as a precaution. Xander, Anya, and Giles were awaiting the verdict in the dim light of an emergency electric lantern. Tara had pulled this out of the same area as the flashlight before she had gone upstairs after Buffy.

"Willow?! Dawn?!" The slayer's voice rang out. The rest of the group stayed quiet. Nothing answered back except for eerie silence.

Anya was the first to break it, "If it's Willow's doing, can't you sense that Tara? You know her magical essence by now right?"

"I can, but it doesn't exactly work l-like you're thinking. We've both used magic in this house, our signatures are everywhere and I can't feel anything new specific to Willow," Tara frowned. She felt something, but it didn't exactly mesh with the Redhead's normal spellcasting. Of course, lately, it seemed as though it was changing into something darker, "I can't be sure, there's something here. Or was. I-it doesn't quite match though."

"Well, then that means it's not the Willster! Right? Looks like we have some scoobying to do," Xander sounded relieved, almost happy. He knew Willow was going through a lot, but he couldn't fathom how much damage she had done lately, and on purpose. Then he caught Buffy's angry look, "and I would suggest we do it fast before we have an angry Slayer tearing up half of Sunnydale."

Buffy practically growled in frustration, this was not what she needed right now. They had already spent a better portion of the night running around without memories. She loved Willow, she always would, but the redhead had been making seriously stupid decisions lately. Including ripping her from a heavenly dimension, and casting memory spells left and right. In fact, casting a lot in general. This had caused even more turmoil in their home. Not only was she losing Giles, but the redhead had officially caused Tara's departure from at least the house.

Tara was also frustrated. While it wasn't clear if this was Willow's doing, it didn't rule it out. It also meant that if the redhead wasn't behind it, that her and Dawn were both missing and something supernatural was definitely at work in the house. They both could be in danger, and leaving was already hard enough. If something had happened to Willow or Dawn, she didn't know if she could handle it. Her fears of them hurt were starting to creep into her thoughts.

Giles was thrown off by it all. He was supposed to be leaving them to grow up, but he also couldn't leave with the knowledge that both girls could be in danger. If this wasn't Willow, then who knew what could be going on, "I suggest Anya and I make our way back to the Magic Box with the jeep, look for them both on our way. Buffy, patrol? Find out if there's anything new in town. Tara and Xander take Xander's vehicle and go to spots where they might go of their own will. It's slim, especially with whatever this magic is obviously, but the way this night has been, they may have gone out on their own. They're both very upset."

"Don't you have a plane to catch?" Buffy replied with nothing but venom in her voice. She hadn't meant it so harshly, but she was hurt and angry by him abandoning her. She was already going through so much with the resurrection, bills, slayer duties, and caring for Dawn full time on top of it.

He flinched at her tone, "I'm not leaving with them missing. I'll reschedule the flight." His tone was even, with a slight twinge of pain.

"Great! Then we can all do the whole goodbye thing on repeat." Buffy replied angrily.

Tara had enough of talking, enough of anger. Right now, the priority was finding Willow and Dawn, "Enough!" At the surprised looks she received from everyone, including the Slayer, she quickly continued, "Two people we love are missing. Right now it doesn't matter how. Just that they're safe. We'll deal with the rest later."

The group nodded, but before a single movement toward the door could be made, the phone rang. It was already getting late, but Buffy answered it, in case it was her best friend or sister.

"Hello?"

"Buffy, its Angel," came the reply over the phone.

Buffy knew this couldn't be a coincidence. She'd been a Slayer long enough to know when events were stacking together, but she hoped she was wrong "What's going on, Angel? Kind of have a crisis right now, so if it's not important…"

"Faith's missing," his voice sounded concerned, "She was at headcount in the prison, but now she's gone. There's no exit from her cell except the one door. She was in solitary. She literally just disappeared into thin air. I just wanted to give you a heads up to be on the lookout. What's going on there?"

"Well, Willow and Dawn have also vanished, and my house is now a graveyard for shattered lightbulbs," came Buffy's short answer. Her heart was racing now. She was now almost positive this was all the same thing.

Angel's next sentence confirmed it, "Lights out in Faith's section of the prison too. Any ideas from your end yet?"

The rest of the group waited impatiently. The call had only been thirty seconds so far, but they were all anxious to find the missing members of their group. They heard Buffy talking to Angel, and they all carried the same suspicions that she did.

"Not yet, just happened in the last fifteen minutes. If we find anything, we'll call. Can you do the same for your end?"

"Ya. Good luck," and with that, the vampire was gone and the phone went to dial tone.

"What's up with Mr. Grumpy Fangs now?" Xander's distaste for the vampire still evident, even after all this time.

Buffy sighed, but this time, less in frustration and more in concern, "Faith's pulled a 'lights out, let's vanish' routine as well. This just got more dangerous. Tara, Xander. You should still do your look out in the usual hangs, but I wouldn't spend much time on it. Get back to The Magic Box asap."

Tara's chest tightened, her heart was going a million miles a minute. Last they had heard, the dark Slayer had turned herself in and was trying to start the journey of paying for all she had done. However, the last time they saw her, was a completely different story. There was also this feeling that had been slowly building in her since they had discovered her now ex-lover and her pretty much adopted sister were no where to be found. She didn't know what made her believe it, or know that it wasn't just her anxiety and fear, but she just knew. Something was very wrong with Willow.