Hell Hath No Fury

by Amazon Chyck

Copyright © November 2003

meisterjd@gmail.com

Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer: Joss, Mutant Enemy, and whatever other corporate conglomerates have a stake in Buffy own most of these characters (except for the ones that spring forth Athena-like from my damaged brain) and this fiction is not intended to infringe the above powers that be's rights in any way. After all, I wouldn't have killed Tara.
Distribution: The Mystic Muse http://mysticmuse.net
Feedback: Yes please. Me like the feedback.
Spoilers: These events take place after Season 7, so please bring your canonical knowledge with you.
Author's Note: I can't promise that this story won't suck since it's both my first attempt at fan fiction and my first attempt at fiction in general. So, any comments you have on the story would be much appreciated. I will try to update this weekly with new chapters.
Pairing: Willow/Tara

Part 1    Part 2

Willow tossed and turned in her sleep. Her eyelids were closed, but her eyes darted quickly back and forth underneath them.

Willow smiled in her sleep and turned over, resting peacefully on her side.

Willow convulsed in her sleep, grasping the covers with a death-like grip and pulling them towards her. Beads of sweat begin to break out across her forehead.

"Will. Will! Will, wake up!" Kennedy's voice seemed small and frightened as she shook Willow's shoulders.

"No. No. It was my fault. My fault. All of it." Willow curled into a ball on the bed and began sobbing.

"Will? What's your fault?" Kennedy asked, stroking Willow's hair.

"Willow? Are you okay?" Dawn's voice carried in from the doorway.

Kennedy looked at Dawn and gave her an "I have no idea" expression.

At the sound of Dawn's voice, Willow straightened up and wiped her eyes. "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay Dawnie. Just had a big, bad dream." Willow smiled at Dawn half-heartedly. "Go back to bed. I'm sorry I woke you up."

Dawn arched her eyebrows at Willow inquisitively, to which Willow nodded briefly. Dawn gave her a sad smile. "Are you sure you don't want me to stay, Will?"

Kennedy looked back and forth between Dawn and Willow, confusion written on her face. "Uh, Will?"

Oh, Dawnie, I would love for you to stay, but yeah, don't think Kennedy will understand that quite so much. "No, no sweetie. I'm okay. Really. Go back to bed."

"Okay." Dawn left the room, closing the bedroom door behind her.

Kennedy looked at Willow and raised her eyebrow in question.

Hmm…explanation time. Or not. "Wow, that was quite the evil beastie," Willow laughed nervously.

Kennedy looked at Willow a bit apprehensively, but then smiled and said, "Yeah, well, we've been through a lot lately. Next time, just dream I'm there to chase the beastie away okay?"

"Yeah. Okay. I'm going to go, um, wash my face – teary-bleary and all," Willow responded matter-of-factly.

"Sure. I'll be here when you get back," Kennedy said with a forced smile.

Willow walked in a daze to the bedroom's adjoining bathroom, closing the door behind her and turning on the harsh fluorescent light. She tucked her hair behind her ears and gave herself an appraising look in the mirror.

Willow sighed and turned on the faucet, running cold water into her hands and then splashing it onto her face. She wiped her face and hands on the hand towel next to the sink and returned her gaze to the mirror, a sad look on her face. For just the barest instant, she saw a fleeting imagine of Tara in the mirror with that smile, that smile she had on her face right before…

Willow shook her head slowly. "I still miss you, baby."

The door opened a crack. "Hey. You okay?"

Willow turned around and gave Kennedy an all-too-big smile. "Yep. All washed up." Willow quickly turned off the bathroom light, brushed past Kennedy on the way back to the bedroom and slid into the bed.

Kennedy looked at the now darkened bathroom for a minute, then followed Willow's lead, sliding into bed and curling up behind Willow. She slid her left arm around Willow's waist. "No more bad dreams for you," she said as she kissed Willow's neck softly.

"Nope. Not with you wrapped around me. Now I can get some sleepy-eye," Willow said, cuddling her body in closer to Kennedy's.

"Sleepy-eye? Oh right, yeah." Kennedy sighed and laid her head down on her right arm, closing her eyes.

Willow's eyes, however, remained open and focused on the window.

Tara took in her surroundings. It was beautiful here, as it always was in the Summerlands. It reminded Tara of what the earth might have looked like before the hands of humanity had bent it to their will. There were large evergreen trees lining rivers and streams that looked clean enough to drink out of with one's bare hands. And of course, Tara's favorite trees – willow trees – were in abundance. Tara liked to spend countless hours, or what she guessed were hours since time had very little meaning here, underneath a particular willow tree that was on the bank of a bubbling stream. She liked to sit there and listen to the melody of water passing over pebbles and rocks. Sometimes, she liked to sing along with the music she heard coming from the stream.

"Ohmygosh. I haven't by some mistake walked into hell, have I? You know, the part where you are forced to sing musical melodies despite the fact that you can't sing and everyone on earth knows it?"

Tara stopped singing abruptly and looked around.

"Anya? Oh. W-what are you, I mean, how d-did you get here?"

"Hmm. Guess not. About the hell, that is. And I'm here to see you silly."

Tara smiled in wonder, "I guessed that. B-but how. I mean I figured you would be in a heavenly dimension is all."

"Ah. Yes. That. I was. Am. You know, they arrange heavenly souls by how they died, so I wound up in the self-sacrifice section of heaven. And really, what a bunch of overindulgent whiners. I mean, you think that people who sacrifice themselves would be selfless, but oh no, not that group. And why would you organize heaven by how people died. It's morbid. And as to how I got here. They let me wander wherever I want. Something about them not getting the peace in heaven they thought they would. So here I am."

Tara smirked and giggled, imagining a host of souls practically begging Anya to take a vacation.

"What?" Anya said, nonplussed.

Tara put her hand in front of her mouth to hide her smile. "Nothing. It's really g-good to see you, Anya."

Tara walked up to Anya and enveloped her in a genuine hug.

"You know, it's kind of weird that we're still able to do that,." Anya said.

Tara withdrew from the hug and looked at Anya questioningly, "Do what?"

"Hug. You know. Given that we're just essence and all. Lack of arms and legs and sex organs and…"

And mouths, Tara mused to herself.

"Oh. I g-guess I didn't really think about it. I haven't h-had anyone to…well, it's the first time I've d-done that since the whole being dead thing." Tara smiled nervously. "So, how did you know I w-was here?"

"Well…I've been traveling through a lot of heavenly dimensions searching for someone to talk to who wouldn't whine about how he was dead when his no-account brother, whom he saved most nobly, was still alive. I had to put up with enough of that as a vengeance demon." Anya rolled her eyes. "And, anyway, I heard that this was where the Wicca were."

Tara smiled.

"And. Well. I also sort of gleaned that . . . well . . . it was easier to find out what was going on down here than in heaven. You know, they don't want to upset anyone in heaven, can't have any of the unhappies, might start a revolt, so you only know when your loved ones are happy, but not really how they're doing, you know?"

Tara looked down, and then nodded, "You want to know h-how Xander is?"

"Yeah." Anya looked sheepish. "Is that silly?"

Tara gave Anya a whole-hearted smile. "No, it's not silly. It's j-just that, um, well . . . yes, y-you can find out what's going on somewhat. But not like watching a film…more like senses and imp-impressions you get. Sometimes if they talk to you directly, you can hear what they're saying." Like the "I still miss you, baby" she heard a bit earlier that tied her heart into a thousand knots.

"Oh. That's not very helpful is it?" Anya looked a little perplexed.

"Well. Sometimes I think it's b-better if you don't kn-know what's going on with them. Means they're living. I still re-remember when Willow. When Willow…" Tara looked down at the ground and started fidgeting with her hands. "…went dark," Tara finished in a whisper.

"Yeah, well, I think we all felt that one," Anya replied, enlarging her eyes as she said it.

"Yes, yes we did," said a low-pitched female voice.

Both Tara and Anya spun around on the heels to see a woman materialize out of thin air before them. She was bathed in blue light and a flowing white robe. In one hand, she held a ball of string which seemed to glow with a soft blue hue. Tara noticed that her eyes were completely back, which stood out in stark contrast to her white robe.

"Okay. Well, that's enough with the pyrotechnics. You look sufficiently in awe," the woman said as she snapped her fingers and appeared before them as a young woman in her twenties with raven-black hair and soft blue eyes wearing a white, flowing shirt and dark jeans.

"Ahh…that's much better," the mysterious woman declared, hiking up the sleeves on her shirt.

Anya spoke first, "What the hell are you supposed to be?"

Tara backhanded Anya softly in the chest, but the woman just smiled curtly.

"I am a goddess. My name is Clotho. And I am here to speak to Tara."

"To m-me?" Tara asked, pointing at herself.

Clotho nodded.

"About?"

"Willow," said Clotho matter-of-factly.

To be continued…

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