FicWad

The little basinets sat in the middle of the big table in The Magic Box. Giles was behind the counter straining to hear what was going on in the basement. Anya was pacing back and forth clearly worried about Xander. Spike stood watch at the back door while Faith was at the front and Buffy near the basement door.
Tara sat with her little ones. She could feel the tension in the room. She still felt that she was mostly to blame. How could she not have seen or felt the direction that her everything was going in? They were so connected that at times, their hearts beat as one. Yet, she had missed it and it had cost Ethan his life.
The blond witch could not help but wonder what else it was going to cost. If her plan did not work, then Xander would surely be the first of the scoobies to lose his life. It would not be like in the dream, but it would still be an act that Willow would never be able to recover from. If that happened, she did not know what she would do.
She knew that she would forever be on the run with Jenny and Alexander. Once Willow got past Xander, it would be a matter of seconds before she was taking out the rest of the scoobies. That would be something that she would not know how to live with. But she would find a way. If only because of her little ones.
Her mind opened up and she tried to see Willow and Xander. Even though she had set up the room magickally, something was there preventing her. Must be that her girl was starting to break down the barriers. This gave her a moment of panic. Fear for Xander's life was noting new. At least not in the past months.
Anya caught Tara's eye. She was pacing back and forth at a rate she had never seen no human do. In her mind, she began to wonder just how much of Anya was really human. Was there still a part of that demon inside of her? If so, would she be able to control it if things got out of hand with Willow?
Another thought that made her physically ill. Having to have thoughts like that were so unpleasant. But then, so was nearly every day life as of late. She looked down at her two angels sound asleep. They were literally the only thing that was keeping her going at the moment. Yes, she still had a deep love for Willow. But her hope for her everything was waning.
"How could you?" Tara was startled by the anger in Anya's voice. "How could you leave him to fend for his own?" Anya was now standing right in front of the witch. "Since when are we to take orders from you? I thought that Giles was the one in charge. Even when he was no longer Buffy's watcher, he was still the head honcho. Why you?"
Tara slowly stood up. She had never liked to be the one in charge. It was nice when someone else took care of you. If all you had to do was worry about making them happy, it was the life for her. It was the way that it used to be with Willow. But then, things quickly change. "I'm the one that knows Willow the best. And I'm the one that knows the most about magicks. Trust me when I say that I don't ever want to be the one to be in charge."
Anya slammed her fists down on the table. The twins never even flinched for a second. "You don't care about Xander. All you care about is your lesbian lover. If you have to sacrifice one of us so that she survives, that's just all the better for you." The exdemon stood straighter and crossed her arms over her chest.
The blond witch turned her palms away from Anya. For preaching control, she was the one at the moment having trouble restraining herself. If her palms should face forward, Anya would be walking funny for weeks. "I care about all of my family. You, Buffy, Faith, Giles, Xander, and Willow are my family. You are the ones that welcomed me with open arms when I first arrived in Sunnydale. With a little bit of shock on some people's part. But I would never want harm to come to any of you."
Buffy came and stood between Tara and Anya. She turned to the exdemon. "I get that you are stressed out by what's going on in the basement, but you have to chill. Tara just wants what's best for everyone. If that meant sacrificing Willow, she'd do it in a heartbeat. But there is still the smallest glimmer of hope. So, we wait."
Anya shook her head. "You would take her side. You still have feelings for Xander. You always did want him for yourself. You and Willow both had a thing for him. You so have to get over him and get past it so that you can see clearly. I'm telling you that the witch here is using a form of human sacrifice."
"What?" Buffy started to laugh. "Leave it to you, the exdemon to think of human sacrifices. Pretty sad, that's for sure. You are a human Anya. I know that you were a demon for a couple thousand years, but get with the twenty first century. Things have gone beyond human sacrifices."
"Not always." Everyone turned to Giles' calm voice. "There are many demons that still practice such rituals. You've defeated a few of your own, Buffy. But that's not the point. The point is that you are terrified Anya. In our own way, we all are. We have so much at risk. And it's all up to Xander. I have every bit of confidence in him. It's just that Willow is formidable in the state that she is in. But we need to calm down and have faith in him."
Anya began pacing again. Something that had been said seemed to get to her. But Tara wondered how long her calm would hold out. Especially at that moment. They all heard it at the same time. It sounded like glass crashing. The exdemon sped to the basement door. Buffy kept it blocked and looked at Tara who sadly shook her head no.
"Get out of my way!" Anya tried to force the slayer out, but she was now a mere human and had no means to fight her. "Xander could be hurt. We need to get down there. Now!" She continued to struggle with Buffy, but to no avail.
At that moment, Tara could see what was happening in the basement. She concentrated and saw that Willow was choking Xander. It looked like his face was turning blue. Perhaps it was time to let the others go after her. It seemed that she had failed. Just trying to help the one that she loved. And yet, she was a failure.
"Maybe you should let her go." Everyone turned toward the witch. "I'm starting to have doubts about my own plan." She began looking at the ground. "I just wish I knew for sure what to do. There are no clear answers."
"Giles?" Buffy looked pleadingly to the one person that she trusted more then anyone in her life. "What to do you think? Is it time for slayer action? Or should we let things go for another few minutes."
Giles took his glasses off and began cleaning them. "I'd say that we try and do what I tried to say earlier. I say that we have a little bit of faith in Xander and even a little bit of faith in Willow. But do stay alert. We may have to move quickly."
Tara smiled gratefully at the watcher. She had really wanted to say that. But it appeared that her opinion with everyone was starting to wane. They were no longer looking at her for the answers. They were now beginning to blame her. And if Xander met his doom, she would blame herself. Forever.
***
Willow could feel her hands tightening around Xander's neck. The air was clearly cutoff. Just a short while ago, he would have easily been able to over power her. But she was the one with the power. She was the one that had all the control. No matter what Tara had said, she was the one that controlled everything.
Watching his face turn blue was a thrill. Actually watching as you drained someone's life was unreal. She had not had the pleasure when it had come to Ethan, her father. But now, she was looking into those eyes that she had known since she was in kindergarten with and before. There were so many memories surrounding the dismal little mortal.
Xander writhed as his breath kept slipping away. She would loosen her grip just to prolong the agony that he was going through. Just enough so that he would gasp in breaths of air like he was gulping down water after a long hike on a hot and humid day. It was like watching a fish that was flopping around on the pier as you waited for it to take its last breath.
How fitting. Xander was like a big fist. He was nothing to no one. He was one of those little guppies or minnows. Used for bate to attract the bigger fish. For who wanted a small no name fish? Only the best fish would do. They needed big fish so they could stretch the truth and make it even bigger then it was.
The evil witch could remember a lot of tales that Xander would weave. With her being the only witness, some were actually believed. But to most, he was just a simple geek and she was his side kick nerd. All of that changed once Buffy came to town. Everything changed that year. What would life had been like had the slayer never moved to Sunnydale.
It was an intriguing thought as she continued to tease her former best friend. Giving him just little gasps at life and then just as quickly taking it back. Would she have ever found out about vampires, demons, and magick? If she had never found out about magick, would she still have taken this dark path? Or would something else had lead her down that road.
With all of her conflicting thoughts, she distracted herself enough so that Xander could buck her off. She rolled across the room and slammed hard into the wall. Instantly, she was on her feet. Xander, however, was not as lucky. He was still rubbing his neck and gasping for air. He had managed to get to his knees, but that was it.
"If wouldn't let my mind wander, we would be done with it already." Willow slowly sauntered over to Xander. "I think that it's time that you realize just how powerful that I am." Her smile turned evil. "How about a few scars? I know you have so many emotional ones on the inside. Why not have matching ones on the outside?" She drew her hand back and made slashing motions at Xander.
Blood dripped instantly from his cheeks where claw like marks suddenly appeared. Xander looked up at his best friend and smiled. "Is that the best that you can do?" His voice was squeaky as he was still recovering. "I thought you were some powerful bad ass. Course, I love the sweet, innocent, shy girl that I grew up with."
"Not liking the new version?" Again, Willow made the slashing motions. This time there were rips in his shirt. "I thought that we would be friends no matter what happened. Has that changed? Have you changed as well as me? Or is it that your girlfriend is the one that has changed you. I'm thinking that might be it."
"A bit jealous?" Xander struggled to his feet. "And not in the 'I want to have hot sweaty sex' kind of way. I mean in the way that I'm not as here for you as I used to be. That someone else's opinion is valued and asked for. That would piss me off too. But I think the real reason you are like you are, if you want to know." He waited for Willow to speak. She stood glaring at him. "I think it's because we did drift apart. And not just you and me, either. I'm talking about the core scoobies. Buffy was involved with Riley and college. You went through tons of changes when you fell in love with Tara and college. Even G-man seemed to find a bit of a life with The Magic Box. And of course, I didn't have college but one job after another. And Anya used up a lot of my spare time. I think that's what's wrong."
"What?" Willow was shaking a bit as she slowly came toward Xander. "You think that I don't get enough feely touchy with my friends and that's what's turned me evil? Are you that dumb and that naive? Of course, you always were pretty much a simpleton. I never did have the heart to tell you. Now, I have no soul so it's easy."
Xander stood tall holding his chest where she had magickally clawed it. "You do have a soul. You aren't a vampire. It's just buried so deep that no one, including yourself, can find it. Well, I should say almost no one. I think I see a glimmer of it. I see that girl that was so scared to get in trouble when she broke the yellow crayon."
Willow's eyes widened for a moment. "You think some sappy story about our childhood is going to keep me from killing you?" She struck at him again. But this time, it did not hold as much of a punch. He was barely grazed. "You really are quite naive. And stupid. And, and, well the list is too long to go on with."
"I know." Xander slowly came toward her. "I'm a complete moron. I'm everyone's whipping boy. I'm just the guy that gets the donuts. You'd all starve if it weren't for me. I have no powers. Buffy and Faith are slayers. Anya still has some power left from her demon days. Giles is major league knowledge guy. You and Tara have the magicks covered. Plus, you are still a computer whiz, if ever a whiz there was."
"You agree with me." Willow's voice was not as strong as it had been just moment before. Her entire body was shaking a bit. "That just proves how much of a moron you really are. I can't understand how you've survived as long as you have. If I hadn't been watching out for you, you probably would be in trouble or worse."
Xander smiled big. "I know." Finally, he was near enough to take Willow's hand in his own. "And I'm grateful for that. I've actually had a pretty good life, up until now. I mean, my best friend is trying to make shish kebab out of me. Not my best day. But I still love her. I always will. She could even kill me and I'd love her and forgive her."
"W-what?" There were tears streaming down Willow's face. There seemed to be a bit of red to her blackened hair. Her eyes were not quite as dark as they were just a second before. "That's not right. No one would or should forgive me. I'm the one that let the damn prophecy come true. Not once, but twice! How lame is that!"
"Not lame." Xander pulled her into a hug. "It just means that you are as human as the rest of us. Even Buffy has not been able to avoid doing things that she did not want to. We have choices in life, that's true. But there are also times that no matter what choice that we make, there is already a path chosen for us."
"And how did you get so smart?" Willow's tears were now falling steadily. Her black hair was now the glorious red that it once was. Her eyes had turned back into those emerald green eyes that could light up the night. Her dark veins were no more. She was finally back to being the Willow everyone knew and loved.
"I guess it's because I grew up with you." Xander hugged her even tighter. "It was bound to happen. Your smarts were bound to eventually rub off on me. I'm lucky they did." They stood in silence for a several minutes. "You ready to face the others?"
Willow looked him in the eye. That was the question now. All the anger and hate were gone from her. She could still feel the power surging through her. And she knew that power could get the better of her if she was not careful. But the bigger question was, could she ever face her friends again? Especially Tara. What would Tara say and do when they talked? The fear was driving her nearly insane.