Sadness of a Fallen Angel
Willow was at lunch with her friends, Buffy and Xander. Life was going well for the young Witch, and things seemed at peace.
That was..until now.
Willow’s world was turned upside down and sideways at the arrival of a new student.
Tara McClay.
Willow’s eyes were opened to a new world that she had never seen before.
After school, Willow was talking to Buffy.
“Do you ever think I could be a lesbian?” Willow asked, catching Buffy off-guard and causing her to almost shoot coffee out her nose.
“What?”
Willow asked again, confusion clear on her face.
“D’you ever think I could be a lesbian? I mean, I’ve never really thought about it before, but this new chick…she’s..wow..”
Buffy thought. ‘New chick..new chick…oh yeah! That one!’
“You mean Tara? Yeah, she is really nice and I guess kinda cute in a stuttery, not-sure-of-myself sorta way… not like she’s my type or anything, but still.”
Willow sighed and sipped on her mocha.
“I mean, I’ve never been the looking-at-girls type, right? But then, I see Tara and things are so..different. I don’t know who or what I am anymore, yanno?”
Buffy shrugged. “Things with Angel were kinda like that at first, but I never got a clear look at his face when we first met. It was all kinda crazy at first, crossing that barrier: Slayer and Vamp. So, yeah, I guess I see what you’re getting at..”
That didn’t help Willow’s situation any.
‘I’ve never LIKED girls! I’m not supposed to..am I?’, she thought, frantic.
Buffy was still rattling on. “And it was really weird when he asked me if I wanted some A positive or not, but then he realized that I don’t drink blood..and stuff like that…”
But Willow’s mind still raced. ‘What if Mom finds out? She’ll start freaking out! I can just hear it now: “You’ve been spending too much time with that Bunny person.” And then, she’ll start ranting and raving about how its not right and stuff…”
And Buffy continued. “We never really cared after that though, what we were. We knew what we were. All we needed was each other, whether we were different or not didn’t matter.”
Willow’s head whipped up, as if she’d come out of a trance.
“What? Say that again?”
“I said, ‘All we needed was each other, whether we were different or not didn’t matter’.”
Willow’s eyes were wide.
“Will? You okay?”
But Buffy’s question wasn’t answered. Willow was already halfway down the street.
Willow knew that Tara worked at the Magick Box after school. She rushed in the door to find Tara ringing up items bought by Giles at the counter.
He turned around. “Oh hello, Willow. I just needed some..um…” he saw the look on her face and nudged up his glasses. “Oh..I guess I’ll just be leaving then.” He wished Tara good day and quickly exited.
Willow asked her, “Have you got a sec?” and Tara nodded.
“U-uh.. y-yeah, I’m going on break now..i-is something wrong?”
“No…well yeah, but in a no-ish kinda way…”
Tara, completely confused now, came out from behind the counter.
“U-um… there’s tables w-we can sit at..”
You see, Tara stuttered when she was nervous. And she was nervous pretty much all the time, being really shy, but this nervousness was different. She had liked Willow secretly for a while now..but didn’t know how to say so.
So it shocked her some to hear, amidst Willow’s rambles, that Will might have some slightly jumbled feelings for her.
“O-oh really? M-me? Why?”
Willow blushed. Admitting she liked a girl was new and extremely strange.
“Well, you seem really nice, and you’re really smart and…” she flushed more red than her hair, “And I uh…I’m not used to liking other girls but, I think you’re kinda cute…”
She flushed anew. “Wow, this is really all kinda new for me..”
Tara put her hands on the table. “It’s okay…I..I’m not real used to it yet, either.”
Willow took them in her own and smiled. “Okay…now I don’t feel so weird..”
That same evening Willow had a date set with Tara. Buffy and Xander were quite surprised, but Giles took it all in stride. He privately whispered to them both, “I haven’t seen her smile this much since Oz..” and they agreed.
Up in her room, Willow was inspecting herself in the mirror. Buffy came up the stairs, having forgotten her best-friendly duties of primming and make-upping, etc. etc. Seeing Buffy, Willow was relieved.
“I dunno which one to pick: The red one, or the denim?” she held up a slimming red dress and then a denim skirt (the shirt for it was on the bed) for inspection by Buffy’s fashion-friendly eye.
She tipped her head to one side. “I’m thinking denim.”
“Are you sure? ‘Cause I wasn’t positive, I mean, I’ve got this nice black thing in my closet that I swore I would never wear because Mom said it looked nice on me…”
Buffy’s eyes widened. “THAT hideous thing? Oh God no, Will, relax!” Buffy remembered the “black number” that Willow’s mother insisted Willow wear. It was at least two sizes too big and made Willow look like she should be holding an accordian and playing Polka music. Buffy (and Willow) detested the outfit.
“Go with the denim! And you have shoes, don’t you? You should have the shoes for it..” Buffy rooted around in Willow’s closet, while Will got on the skirt and blouse.
Willow came out of the bathroom about the same time Buffy did, Buffy triumphantly holding the shoes.
“Hah! I knew these would come in handy. Aren’t you glad I force you to buy things?”
Willow smiled, but the smile was a nervous one.
“Will, don’t worry. She already likes you, remember? She’s not going to just leave you at the door. Now, deep breaths. Breathe, okay?”
Willow did as she was told, but paled more than usual.
“No! Don’t you DARE go passin’ out on me!” Buffy roughly shook Willow by the shoulders and Willow proceeded to laugh.
Buffy got a puzzled expression on her face.
Willow explained: “I used to do that in Drama, remember? Pass out all the time? So the teacher told me to picture the audience in their underwear. Do you realize how weird you look in your underwear?”
Buffy smacked her forehead. “I don’t wanna know, just keep that to yourself okay?”
The doorbell could be heard from downstairs.
“She’s here!! Already? Wow..”
Willow rushed around to finish up a few things.
Downstairs, Xander opened the door. “Nope, sorry. Don’t want what you’re sellin’.”
He proceeded to close the door, but Giles hit him on the back of the head, open-handed. To Xander: “You dolt. Stop it.” To Tara: “Come on in, won’t you? Willow should be down in a moment.”
Upstairs, things were a Circus. Willow managed to lose her favorite necklace, Buffy was appalled that Willow was going anywhere without make-up. Buffy knew where Willow’s make-up bag was and proceeded to open it. ‘Too late for foundation, time to go to the Powder Plan.’
Willow was rushing around. Buffy held her still for a moment, long enough to apply the powder. She put it back in the bag, rooting around for Blush. She found it, and at the same time, Willow’s necklace.
“Hey, Will! Over here!”
Willow rushed over. “You FOUND it! And, what are you doing??!?” Buffy was holding the necklace hostage long enough for Blush and lipstick to be applied. Willow refused to by eye shadow, so that was out.
“Okay, much better. Here ya go.”
She helped Willow put it on and inspected her one last time.
‘Oh God, I think I’m gonna cry…don’t let her see, don’t let her see..Tara’s gonna be stunned, she looks so PRETTY…’
Buffy pulled her out by her wrist and shut the door, so she couldn’t escape easily.
“Okay, let’s go.”
Buffy walked down the stairs, smiling when she saw elegant Tara. ‘Perfect couple, if I do say so myself.’
“Hi, Tara.”
Tara stuttered a hello and asked her, “I-is she okay? W-will she be…oh..wow..”
Tara finally saw Willow, gracefully (well, she was TRYING to be graceful) coming down the stairs.
Willow clasped hands with Tara and whispered “..Hi..” for that was all she could get out.
Buffy was in tears, and Xander was giving her a strange look.
Giles got his coat. “Do you need a ride? I was heading that way and I figured..” he shrugged.
Willow politely declined. “No, thanks. We were just going to walk.”
They waved goodbye and left.
Giles gazed at them as they walked into the night.
“Puppy love…”
But he quickly remembered. Night + Sunnydale= Bad.
“Buffy, have you done patrol?”
She looked at him. “Not yet, no…”
“Don’t they have to walk by at least two cemeteries before they get to the Bronze?”
“Oh..yeahh… okay, so I’ll just patrol along the way. No biggie.”
Giles grumbled under his breath, “Yes, you go do that.” But he actually thought the idea was really quite stupid.
Buffy ‘suited up’ equipped with stakes, holy water, cross and the emergency throwing axe.
“Xander, you wanna come with?”
Xander nodded. “I got a feeling that tonight’s gonna be bad..moreso than usual.”
Buffy handed him her small duffel filled with emergency supplies.
“Here vampy vampy…” Xander said as they stepped out the door, shut and locked it.
Willow and Tara hit it off really well. She liked the Bronze, and one of her favorite bands was playing tonight. Tara was a Witch also, and that was good.
Tara’s stutter was appearing less and less during the conversation. ‘Good, she’s feeling a little better. Whew.’ Willow thought, feeling the definite chemistry.
They started to pass a Cemetery. But, being so entranced in their conversation, they didn’t notice. They also didn’t notice the fresh-hatched vampire breaking out of its casket.
But Buffy noticed. The vamp started to come into the street behind the couple, and Buffy tackled it.
“Oh no you don’t!” she said when she leapt, “You will NOT ruin my best friend’s date, you blood-sucking moron!!” She staked the vamp, but noticed two more coming up in its place.
“Oh man..”
Xander came up to stake one vamp and opened a bottle of holy water. “Catch!”
The water bubbled and fizzed on the vamp, and Xander had time for dustage.
Buffy fought with the other vampire, and this time the battle was easier.
“Any more?” she asked, looking around.
Xander shook his head, “Not yet…one down, one to go…”
Willow and Tara were coming up on the other cemetery now. There was a breeze, and Willow looked around.
Tara shivered. “Wh-what was that..?”
Willow shook her head. “I don’t know..”
They noticed their surroundings. Willow checked for the emergency stake that she’d put in her outfit, hidden from view, and found it. ‘Good. Still packin’. Now, where’s the vamp?’
She saw it, but a dark shape tackled it.
She heard a familiar growl, and the sound of a dusting.
“Ooh, let’s get outta here, the Bronze isn’t too far ahead.” Willow said, acting afraid. She had no reason to be, however, as Angel had been following them since they left Willow’s place.
Tara agreed with Willow’s sentiments. “Y-yeah, good idea.” She cuddled closer to Willow.
‘I could get to liking this, ‘ Willow thought, and continued to walk.
The blaring music could be heard as they neared the Bronze.
Excitement flared as they went in.
Buffy continued to Patrol after Willow was ‘safe’ inside the Bronze. Though, amidst the vamp-searching, she found one she already knew.
“Angel.”
Angel gave his familiar glance in Buffy’s direction.
“..Hi..”
Xander came up from behind.
“Tall, dark and Vampy. Fancy seeing you here.”
Angel also gave Xander a look that said, “Don’t do anything stupid.” Xander backed down.
“Take it easy. Willow came by to see me sometime after school. She said she needed some cover, and I was bored.”
“She asked you… to cover her ass? Hey! That’s my job!!”
Angel resisted the urge to roll his eyes and sigh. “Listen, it’s not a big deal. Besides, with Commando Boy not on my tail, I have a little free time.”
Xander took an offensive stance. “Hey, Riley’s given us a LOT more help than you, Angel.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“Hey, no problem.”
Angel thought inwardly, ‘Ever the quick-witted kid..he’ll never learn…hey..what?’
His ears were alerted to a noise in the bushes. Several noises.
“Buffy…”, she turned around at the sound of her name, and saw things moving in the dark..
Bad, dark, sun-hating things. A whole LOT of them.
Xander asked, “How many are there?”
Angel did a rough estimate, about the same that Buffy had when she answered.
“At least twenty. Maybe more.”
Buffy twirled the stake in her hand, Xander grabbed one out of the emergency duffel.
He hefted another one. “Angel?”
The souled Vamp shook his head. “I’ll improvise.”
And then.. he disappeared, like was usual.
“Typical.” Buffy said, and prepared for the onslaught.
Will was really feeling the connection between them now, as she offered to pay for the food that they’d ordered. She didn’t mind, of course, as she’d asked Tara for the date.
Tara offered to pay, but Willow’d declined. “It’s okay, sweetie. I got it.”
She did a mental double-take. ‘Sweetie? I guess that comes with the Lesbian territory, calling another girl ‘sweetie’…and for once, I don’t mind…’
She smiled. By the time she’d returned to the table, a different song was playing over the speakers. It was slow, but Tara didn’t mind.
Willow wanted to ask Tara for a dance, and now it was her turn to stutter.
“D-do you.. want to um..” she jerked her head slightly in the direction of the dance floor.
“Oh,” was Tara’s response, and she nodded.
Though, they were completely oblivious to the dusting barrage that was taking place not even a mile outside the door to the Bronze.
Holy water was thrown, stakes were used and vampires expunged.
Xander staked another vamp. “Hah! Got another one! Oh crud..”
Three more rounded on him.
And three more. And three more.
Xander was completely surrounded. He gulped. His cross was out on his chest, but the vamps were still too close for comfort.
A crossbow fired in the dark, but Xander had thought it belonged to Buffy.
What he didn’t know was that hers was crushed on the ground beside her.
“Xander!” she called, “Run!’
His face split into a grim smile. “Kinda unable to do that right now, Buff..”
A shape flew by. One vamp down.
Two more holy-water-soaked arrows, to each their respective vamp.
‘What in the hell?’ Xander thought, completely confused now. The battle was turned in their favor a few moments ago, but now…
He realized then that the ‘shape’ was a girl. A very NICE looking girl, with dark hair.
She was wearing all black, hidden in the shadow. ‘Oh, that’s why I couldn’t see her..’
She staked another vamp, “Damn!” she said, trying to stake another, and prevailing.
She jerked him upright by his collar. “Couldja maybe help instead of looking at my ass!?” she said, forcing a stake into his hands. A vamp threw her aside. About the same time, Angel came running up from behind a tree. “Faith!” he called, taking down two vamps in one glide.
Xander made a sarcastic remark, “Yeah, I’ve got it, but who’s the mystery lady?”
‘Mystery lady’ staked another vamp. “That’s my name, you moron!”
He cocked his head to one side. “Huh. Never woulda thought.”
Three vamps snuck up on him. He splashed them all with holy water, staking each in turn.
‘I’m getting good at this, for a mere human..’
Meanwhile- Just outside the Bronze:
Tara and Willow were leaving, feeling enveloped in each other’s emotions. Tara had her arm wrapped around Willow’s, her head resting on Willow’s shoulder.
Willow was almost overwhelmed with emotion. ‘I’ve never felt this way before, even when Oz was around.. I’m really liking this, being loved. And to Hell with what anyone says!’
They passed a cemetery. The same one that was active with Slaying activity. Some vamps rounded on Willow and Tara, to which Willow reacted.
“Shit!” she said, pulling out her stake.
“No…”, Tara said, shaking her head, eyes wide. “No..n-not here..”
Willow looked at her. “What? You know about these?”
Tara nodded her head. “I-I know some spells to ward them off, but I don’t know how
e-effective they’ll be with this many..”, fear was creeping into her voice, she was close to tears.
“What’ll you need?”
“What?”
“What will you need? If we have the time to make the spell, we can save the others!”
Tara hefted her purse. “I’ve got everything, right here…I-it’s j-just household stuff.”
“I’ll hold them off,” Willow said, taking charge of the situation at hand, “Do it! Do it, now!”
Tara got out the items and laid them around her in a circle. Willow was too distracted to see anything else.
She heard Tara’s voice mumbling behind her, but was too distracted to pay attention to the details. She saw from the corner of her eye a blue light, starting to glow. Brighter and brighter it grew, until more colors came from it, then it turned to white.
Then the white light grew, but not so much in size, as in volume; Pure light, as bright and as immense as Tara’s fear, and the fear of those around her.
It sought out the vampire menace, unable to be vanquished by the Slayer and her companions. And, the vampire, not-so-much-menace, known as Angel.
He dared not flee from it, as he’d seen it used once before. Those who fled..were as good as dust.
Wave after wave of vampires were dusted, and wave after wave seemed to come forth, to take the place of their fallen bretheren.
About that time, poor Giles was blinded by a strange light coming from a cemetery.
“What the bloody…” he started to say, but trailed off as he saw, through the brightness, the massive vampire elimination.
“Oh dear..” he said, and pulled his car over to the side.
He could see that Tara’s power was quickly fading.
“I knew these would come in handy,” he thought to himself and pulled his earlier-bought supplies from somewhere in the back of his old station wagon.
He then started his own spell, powered by the souls of Slayers past. They saw the vampire overrun in progress and had no way, until now, to stop it.
His blinding light mixed with Tara’s created a magickal hum as the spells mixed and interwove themselves to become ever stronger.
Tara had no notice as she was too wrapped up in the spell. She took Giles’ power and used it with unbelievable force.
A sound, like that of a pyroclastic flow soon erupted… leaving Sunnydale in complete and total silence. It blanketed the town, enveloping them all with a protective barrier that couldn’t be penetrated, by vampire or human alike.
No words were said, and even the sounds of vampires being dusted weren’t heard.
Whatever vampires were left…were left to the Slayers.
Buffy and Faith were too injured to move at present. The Ghost-Roads Slayers were wreaking havoc upon the vampires. Their bodies were massacred, slowly, but within the blink of an eye. The mounds of flesh left behind were smoking, charred and barren.
One of the Slayers turned to Tara. “Our will has been done, Spellcaster. Our souls may now rest, but if you have need of anything, call Us. Ask Us your will, and we will see to it that it is done.”
The other Slayers lined in front of Tara and she was taken aback in awe for a mere split second before the Slayers vanished with no trace or sign.
Things resumed to being relatively normal.
Buffy sat up, finding her crossbow in one piece on the ground. It was in working order, the stake to go with it laying beside it, waiting to be used.
‘What the…?’ Buffy wondered, but she knew that Sunnydale wouldn’t be having vampire problems for a little while.
Willow and Tara resumed their dating, staying this way for at least four months before Willow started getting antsy again.
Buffy asked her. “What’s goin’ on? You’re awful..giddy.”
“Um…” Willow pulled her aside and showed her the velvet box with the VERY NICE ring she’d saved up for, and just yesterday, bought.
“Is this any reason to be giddy to you?” she asked, a smile starting to spread on her face.
Buffy nodded, a smile coming to her face also. “Oh yeah. Definitely.”
The next day, Willow was dancing around. Frantically.
“Why’s she not home yet? She’s never been this late before.”
Buffy tried to calm her down, “It’s OKAY. She’ll be here. Calm down!”
Willow tried, but it didn’t work. The door creaked then opened..revealing Xander’s face.
She gave an evident air of “Oh BLAH.”
Xander looked offended. “What? I was just walking through the door..”
Willow bounced, literally, at least three inches off the floor with each bounce.
“Move! Out of. The. WAY!” she said, motioning for Xander to move from in front of the door.
Xander asked, “What’s she so uppity about?”
Buffy pulled him over and showed him the ring. “Holy COW, no wonder she’s so bouncy..”
Buffy nodded again, smile still on her face. “Yep.”
Tara finally came home, just before dark, Willow still bouncing the whole time.
When Tara came through the door, Willow stopped in mid-bounce. ‘Ohh boy, this is it! This is IT!! Oh boy..lunch, stay down, DOWN I tell you! Sit, heel!!’ she gave her stomach the mental commands, begging, pleading, commanding it to behave itself, and so far it obeyed.
Tara walked over to Willow and they exchanged kisses, Tara wondering about the smiles about the room.
“Hey sweetie…” she said, but trailed off as Willow knelt on one knee.
“Listen..Tara..um,” she said, her face flushing. She popped the box open. “C-could you…WOULD you.. wear this for me..?”
Tara was taken aback, “U-uh.. ah..I…u-um…”
Willow looked at her pleadingly and Tara gulped.
The only real response she was able to give..was a simple…quiet..
“Yes.”
/End.
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