Rising from the Wreckage

Rating: NC-17

Disclaimer: The characters and show all belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, Mutant Enemy, Kuzui, et al. No copyright infringement was intended.  The storyline, however, is the sole property of the author. This story cannot be sold or used for profit in any way. Copies of this story may be made for private use only and must include all disclaimers and copyright notices.

Distribution: 

http://www.megawitches.net/Story/RoundRobin/mwrr.htm

http://mysticmuse.net

Feedback: Feedback welcome!

Grouping: Buffy/Willow/Tara

"Ah! Stop it hurts!" Willow cried out, grabbing her sides, tears trickling down her cheeks.

"Sorry," Cordelia gasped, in a similar state, completely unrepentant.

"Oh, I can't believe you, Queen C, I can't believe you..." Willow tried again but gave up, unable to get past the balls of laughter that kept threatening to erupt.

"Oh please," Cordy groaned in mock irritation, though the crinkling around her eyes belied the merriment hidden there. "Like you haven't done something so completely dumb before."

"Yeah, but I'm used to my 'duh-moments' happening in front of everyone. It's not like I had this stellar reputation to uphold." Willow's laughter died down to soft, occasional chuckles, her voice going down a notch as the deeper truths to that statement started to overrun her already busy mind.

Cordelia picked up on the change in the slight woman in front of her and she grew serious. "Willow, I'm not sure if it's really worth much now, but I'm sorry for the way I treated you back then. I was so confused and torn. It was practically breed into me that I had to be popular but the only time I felt like I was ever appreciated or truly accepted was when I was with you guys. Even then I was the outsider and that just made things worse. How could Cordelia Chase be an outsider?" The former teen-queen shook her head.

"We didn't exactly give you any real chance," Willow admitted. "We were teens, young and stupid, hormones raging, world-ending big bads hunting us all the time. It's understandable how everyone could get so mixed up."

"So what happened to us after we got older with less raging hormones?" Cordelia asked, knowing neither of them held the answer, but knowing that their mistakes grew more stupid as they aged.

"Well, we still have world-ending big bads to blame," Willow tried to joke, but failed miserably.

Almost as though on cue, Cordelia's body stiffened, her head thrown back, hands grasping and pawing at her head. She let out a cry of pain and her body writhed on the couch. Willow jumped up, panic-stricken. "VISIONS" Dennis floated a notepad in front of Willow and it took a few moments of her to actually realize it was there, her attention frantically focused on her high school mate. By the time it registered what was happening, it was over.

"Two girls, a guy, purple and black demon. China town." Cordelia gasped out. Willow snatched the pad from the air and the pen from the table and started to quickly write down what Cordy managed to get out. "Call Angel." Cordelia finished before her eyes shut and she drifted into a blackness.

Willow rushed to the phone and quickly dialed the number. She passed the information along to Wesley who said that they'd get right on it. Her next stop was the bathroom where she opened the cabinets to get a cloth and Willow gasped. She pulled out bottle after bottle of high-powered prescription drugs, her scientific mind calculating the strength of each, recognizing some of the names. What alarmed her most was that with each prescription the strength and dosage seemed to increase. She shoved the bottles back into the cabinet and pulled out a wash cloth, soaking it with cool water before going back to Cordelia.

The Seer started to come back, groaning and holding her head in the process. Willow knelt next to the couch, draping the cool rag across Cordelia's forehead. "Dennis?" Cordelia called out weakly. There was no sound, no answer, no movement, but a few moments later one of the bottles came floating out to them along with a glass of water. "Thank you, Dennis." Cordelia went to take the pills but Willow snatched them from the air.

"Cordelia, what's going on? This is way more than you should be taking, even says so on the bottle."

"Willow, lecture later, okay?" Cordelia groaned and tried for the pills again.

"No, Cordy, now. This is nearly double the dosage." Willow fought back.

"Damn it, Willow. I'm going to die anyway, what's the difference which way I wind up going?" Cordy finally snapped out, moaning as it increased the throbbing in her head. "Now just give me my pills. I need them."

Willow studied the form along the couch. The woman who was once so strong and confident. Who always knew what to say, how to act, was now a crumpled mess of agony beginning for some tiny pills. "You're addicted," Willow stated quietly.

"I'm not addicted, I just need them to get rid of the volcano that likes to erupt in my head each time I have a vision, now give me the god damn pills." Cordelia demeanor was quickly changing and Willow knew all too well what was happening.

"Regular dosage, Cordy, or nothing." Willow conceded. She wasn't a doctor and had no idea what would happen if Cordelia didn't get something, but she knew whatever the bottle said was high enough already and she refused to budge in giving the Seer any more than necessarily until she had a chance to talk to someone about this.

Cordelia went to argue further, but finally gave in, taking only the pills Willow offered her, figuring she'd be able to get more once the redhead wasn't looking.

Unfortunately for Cordelia, however, Willow was looking - constantly. The hacker watched the Seer, studying her, more to understand what she, herself, went through - how retched she must have looked and behaved and couldn't help but think coming to Los Angeles was really the best idea she'd had in a long while. Still, it didn't help the hurt of knowing she'd not see Buffy, Xander, and especially Tara again. As the smaller woman sat in the car, watching her newly-established friend rest fitfully on the couch, Willow's mind drifted to her friends, no, her family.

Memories of the three closest people in her life came unbidden to her mind. Tara, her sweet and loving Tara. Her melodic voice wafting through the air, washing over her in waves, soothing her instantly whenever things got too busy up in her head. Buffy, strong, yet so needing of support. The woman who saved them endlessly, the one who needed them more than not. Xander, her best friend since, well, forever. He who had a heart of gold. She cringed, realizing how much she walked away from. How, in such a short period of time, she careened out of control, destroying relationships that took years to build.

Willow fought back the tears that threatened her green-blue eyes. She wondered if things could ever be the same or were their lives so vastly changed that there was never any going back to the way they were. Could they rebuild the wreckage and move on? Or would their relationships stagnate like the crumbled and mangled heap that still lingered from the old high school?

Her mind raced and veered from one thought to the next. Memories, images, sounds colliding and meshing together into an almost nightmarish collage and in the haze of it all, Willow couldn't help but think that this run-away train of thought reminded her of that scary scene in "Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory" when they were on the boat and the psychedelic images and colors blended and melded together to cause a dizzying and frightful effect.

She wished Tara was here, holding her, whispering sweet words to her. She wished Xander was there, doing his best to be goofy and insane, trying to no end just to crack a smile on the redhead's face. And she wished Buffy was there to hold her in strong arms, to rock her gently, to say nothing, but she'd know that Buffy cared. But they weren't. They were all... Home.

Continued in Chapter 8...

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