FicWad

"What's going on?" Willow looked around her. The last thing she remembered was sitting at The Espresso Pump with Tara and Ethan. She could not remember anything else. And her head hurt more than it had ever.
"Hello!" She looked around her. The place looked familiar, but she could not place it, partly because the lighting was so dark. She knew she had been there before. But her mind was not working very well at the moment. That's when she felt the warmness run onto her top lip. And that's when she tasted the coppery taste.
"Blood?" She wiped her nose with her hand. Yup! Her nose was bleeding. And her head hurt. Usually the only time those two things happened was when she did some kind of powerful spell. But she knew she herself had not done any spells. At least, not that she had remembered. And she felt that she was still under some kind of control if she still had her powers.
She sighed heavily. It was times like this that she really wished that she and Tara had finished their rehab in England. She knew in her heart that the two of them, especially her, had so much to learn yet. Maybe she would know what was going on or how to find out if she had finished.
The lights came on full blast, all of a sudden. She had to shield her eyes and let them adjust to the new lighting. When she did, she was surprised. The familiar setting was exactly like when she and Buffy had been there back in junior year. They had been picking out Halloween costumes. "Ethan!" She looked around. There was even the dress that Buffy had ended up wearing. "What am I doing here?"
"You can't figure that out?" A familiar voice she had not heard in a very long time stood before her. Willow looked very surprised at the person standing before her. "What? You don't recognize an old friend?" Amy twirled herself around. "Well, in your defense, I haven't exactly been human for quite some time, now have I?" Her grin became evil. "But, than again, that is your fault, now isn't it?"
"What?" Willow kept her eyes glued to the other witch. Was this all a dream? Or was Amy somehow here? But in Ethan's shop, exactly like it was how many years ago. "What's going on?"
"Thanks to you, I'm back to my wonderful human self." Amy smiled as she twirled around. "So much better than looking like a rat, don't you agree?"
Willow stared at her. She was not sure what to make of all of this. She definitely was dreaming. But she could now sense that she had somehow done a spell. It wasn't her own doing. "Who tapped into my powers?"
Amy smiled. "Ethan could not be trusted. The one knew that. So, he made it so that the sorcerer would help him without his knowledge. And, viola! I'm back and less furry."
The redhead swallowed hard. Amy did not sound like herself. In fact, the other witch sounded almost like her mother did. And her mother had been all evilly and they had to fight her. Well, Buffy had to fight her.
"You don't seem happy to see old friends?" Amy came up and put her arms around Willow. "I thought you'd be happy to see me." She pulled the redhead into a hug. "This is your style now, right? You do go for this sort of thing?"
Willow quickly pushed her away. "Yeah, but only with one girl. I'm a one witch sorta girl. No offense to you." Still, Willow could not take her eyes off from the other witch. "What is going on?"
"You've asked that so many times." Amy laughed. "The big bad is here. And it wants to play with you. I'm just the one that brought him here. It let me play with you a little, first. Now it's its turn. Have fun!"
Willow blinked as Amy simply disappeared. Her surroundings quickly shifted and she felt very disoriented. Her mind could still not entirely grasp what was going on. And her head still hurt. At least her nose had stopped bleeding. That was something.
Looking deep inside of her to refocus her thoughts and her magick... Willow's eyes snapped open. At that moment, she realized that she was no longer being blocked. And that was some very good news if she were now going to face whatever this new big bad was. They still had no clue as to what exactly was going on with anything.
Her surroundings began to clear again. She had only been in the place the one time. When she, Buffy, Xander, and Giles had to join together to defeat Adam. But The Initiative was supposedly closed and cemented under.
Duh! Dream sequence here. Anything could be happening in a dream. Unfortunately. "That's right, anything can happen." A familiar voice made Willow turn. She took a few steps back. "No, you're not seeing things."
"Riley?" Willow laughed nervously. She knew that it was not the real Riley. This was the one that had probably been trying to get information. This was the one that had been there when Tara had sensed that something wasn't right. "What do you want?"
"You've seen what I want." The evil clone smiled big.
Suddenly, those awful images that she had seen came flooding back into her mind. It made her sick to her stomach, well, almost anyways. She knew that she had to stay strong to face whatever this thing is. "But what do you want with me? I know, witchy goodness here. But what do you want, specifically with me?"
"That should be obvious." Riley shook his head. "And you are so bright, Miss Rosenberg. I thought that you would have figured it out a long time ago. I want to finish what mother and brother started but were unable to finish."
Willow's eyes widened a little. That much had been clear. But the him wanting her for her powers was beginning to make a sick sense. This clone guy didn't want to have to fuss with sewing the parts together. He wanted her to just wave her hand and have it all happen without any fuss. "You know I won't do what you want me to."
"Not even if I give you some gentle persuasion?" Riley walked over to a stack of computer monitors. "Look what I can do." He flipped the switch.
Gruesome images slowly popped on to each one of the monitors. All of her friends were being bloodied and tortured in various ways. It was making Willow sick. Her eyes widened at the last monitors display. There was her girl, her everything. Amy was with her. "Get that bitch away from her."
"Now, now." Riley flipped the monitors off. "Language. I'm shocked at you, Miss Rosenberg."
Willow took several threatening steps towards Riley. At least, she hoped that they were in some way threatening. "I won't do what you ask. I won't be a part of an apocalypse and you know it. These images weren't real."
"Not yet, no." Riley turned to her. "And you will be part of an apocalypse someday. If you continue to hold your powers in such tight check."
The redhead eyed the evil demon for a minute. "You're trying to tell me there is such a thing as too much control?"
"Precisely, my dear." Riley now took the threatening steps towards Willow. "Repressing your natural abilities is just as dangerous as letting them run wild. You have to meet a happy medium." Willow looked at him like he was nuts. "Believe me or not." He shrugged. "Now, back to the matter at hand. You still say that your final answer is no?"
"Definitely." Willow stood taller. "I won't be a part of ending the human race. I could never."
"Again, not what could very well happen." He shrugged at her look. "I guess it comes down to a battle. Have fun waiting to die. You will all die. Or become a part of my master race. Be seeing you, little witch."
Willow's eyes opened suddenly. It took several minutes to realize where she was. Giles'! And there were these very familiar arms holding her tightly. "Tara?"
Tara looked down at the redhead, tears still in her eyes. "Are you all right?" She didn't wait for an answer, kissing the girl on the forehead.
That comforting touch brought a little smile to her face. "When I'm in your arms, I'm always all right." She heard a cough and realized that they were not alone. Both the witches faces turned a little red. "Hi, guys."
"Hi guys?" Buffy came and kneeled by the couch. "That's all you have to say for yourself. You went off on your own to meet the rat Ethan? And that's all you have to say for yourself?"
Willow tried to shrug. She found that she was physically drained, just like she would be if she had done a powerful spell. Which turning Amy back to human could classify as powerful. "I think that Ethan helped us in a way." All eyes were on her. "I think he can, not be trusted, but I guess be believed, for now. The baddie used him to set a trap. And I fell for it."
"What happened, sweetie?" There was the sweet, but concerned voice of her girlfriend. She turned and looked up into those blue eyes. She almost got lost in the sea of love that she saw.
"Well, I kinda had one of those dream sequences. But it was all controlled by Riley..." She hadn't meant to say that.
"Riley?" Everyone turned to stare at the ex soldier. Buffy turned back to her friend. "What exactly has he got to do with any of this?"
"Well, it seems that the new baddie is a clone of Riley's." Willow sighed. "Only he is more like Adam, but without the Frankenstein look. Totally human looking."
"Did you find out what exactly he wants?" Giles finally spoke up.
"Well, it seems that he wants what Adam and Professor Walsh wanted." Willow got a sad look on her face.
"You don't mean." Buffy looked wide eyed at her best friend.
"Yup, he wants to turn us all into demon, human hybrids." She shivered at the image. "Only this time he doesn't want the fuss of sewing them all together himself. He wants some powerful magic to do it all for him."
"Oh." That was Buffy's quiet answer.
"There's more." Buffy eyed her friend. "Riley..." She smiled sadly at the real Riley. "Evil guy used me to turn Amy back to human. I knew I had done a spell. Somehow he did it against my will the creep."
"And that's a bad thing?" Xander asked.
"Well, it seems Amy's just a wee bit irritated that it took so long for her to become human again." Willow got a really sad look on her face. "And, well, she kinda sounded like her mom."
"Oh!" This time Buffy stood up. "That doesn't sound so good. That sounds really, really bad in fact."
"That means that Riley will have someone else to keep powering his blocking spell." Ethan finally spoke, although it was still obvious that he was weak. "That could pose a little bit of a problem."
Willow tried to sit up, but found that she was too weak to do so. "He's not wrong about that one." Again, Willow sighed heavily. The only thing keeping her from screaming out of frustration was the warmth and strength she was getting from the arms wrapped so lovingly around her. "I have my powers back. But I don't know for how long."
Tara nodded. "I can feel mine as well." She again leaned down and kissed Willow on the forehead. This was getting to be too much. Especially with her birthday only about a week away. "I wonder how much time we'll have?"
Ethan groaned as he stretched. "If he stays on target, you have a month. I still don't know why, but he said that the moon and stars for the coming of the new one would be in alignment than. I never could figure out what he was talking about."
Giles looked at his group surrounding him. Ethan, he did not trust, was pretty beat up. Xander and Anya were mere humans as Riley and himself. You had a still beaten up Spike and a slayer that had a broken arm. And two witches that might or might not have their powers when it came to fighting this new bad. And now, if one believed Ethan, there was something new coming. "Research?"