FF: Two Worlds (Chapter 42: Worlds' Dilemma - Willow's Return)

["Cilia" <cilia@xxxxx>]

-Two Worlds-
Cilia

Chapter 42: Worlds' Dilemma - Willow's Return

Willow tried to open her eyes. She could feel her power returning to her,
but could only groan against the strain of the weight that seemed to be
holding her down. Her mind was filled with memories that were not hers, as
if she had spent the last months looking through somebody else's eyes. Yet,
two memories stood out clearly, one was of her looking over a shoulder at a
crystal ball, and in that crystal ball, she watched Buffy making love to
Cordelia. She cringed, and tried desperately to concentrate on the other
memory, but it was not a memory, rather, more like a message from beyond.
Finally, she was able to open her eyes. The first thing she saw through the
slits was her wife at her side, leaning over her with a concerned look.
Gathering the rest of her power and her strength into her, she sat up,
blinked, and backhanded her wife. The Slayer reeled back landing hard as she
held her cheek in utter surprise. The Red Mage, her eyes flaring with
strength brought on by her magic and will, locked onto the Ranger standing
under a nearby tree, her eyes narrowing into angry slits. Time to act the
part.
"I trusted you," she said slowly as the figure was drawn towards
her, feet dragging across the grass.
"Calm down, Red!" a firm voice said as a large pale hand patted her
shoulder and the forward motion of the Ranger stopped.
"And you..." the mage spun around and grabbed a handful of the
undying one's shirt. "... You let it happen," she snarled.
"I had no right inferring," he answered firmly as his blue eyes
narrowed.
As this was going on, the Slayer sat, still holding her face in shock at her
wife's outrage, her eyes traveling back and forth between the two redheads.
Rosetta was standing up now, her lover in her arms.
Rosetta's head turned to the conflict going on beside her. With surprise in
her red eyes, she turned to the Avatar. "This is the... complication you
spoke of?" she asked as Willow let go of Spike and turned once again towards
Buffy. The avatar nodded as an understanding passed between them
"Sister! Catch," Rosetta shouted and threw something small and shiny
at the other mage. Willow raised her hand and the object floated into her
hand. Her face softened somewhat as she looked at the wedding band that she
had seen thrown into the fire. Turning towards Buffy, she smiled a small,
sad smile as she knelt at the Slayer's side.
"Oh, Willow... I'm so sorry..." she whispered as Willow wrapped her
arms around the Slayer. "I missed you and... I love you so much."
"Buffy, I love you, too... But, you betrayed me in the worst
possible way. I was kept here by the memory of you, of our love, but now
that memory feels false. I... I need time... time to... forgive you," the
red haired mage said as a single tear ran down her cheek.
"B-but... How much time?" Buffy cried into her wife's shoulder as
the group started to retreat from them. Rosetta walked away, back to the
tower with her lover, free at last. Cordelia faded into the shadows with
Spike following. Only Joyce remained.
"Buffy, I... want you to go back home. This realm is no longer safe
for our child."
"But.." Buffy started as she tried to wipe away the tears that
wouldn't stop.
"I'm sorry, but... your mother will tell you the same thing," she
said. The Slayers tearful eyes looked to her mother who nodded.
"That's the other reason I came back, honey," Joyce said as she
knelt and placed a hand on Buffy's shoulder. "There is another war coming,
you know this and this will be no place for a child," she explained.
"But... I promised Piratess, I can't just leave.."
"Take this," Willow said as she placed her wedding ring along with a
new silver one in the Slayer's hand, "I will come to you and collect the
other one when I'm ready," she added.
"So that's it? You... you're just going to leave me?" Buffy asked
her voice breaking.
"No, I must stay here and you must go," Willow answered and looked
up at the Avatar who nodded, stood and walked away.
"I never ever stopped loving you," Buffy said in a low voice.
"And I never stopped loving you, but... things have changed," Willow
whispered sadly.
"I ch-cheated on you," Buffy said so low that it was almost
inaudible.
"Among other things, yes," Willow nodded. "I must find my balance
again and I... I can't do that with you around... it would be... too
dangerous..." A half truth at best, but still, what ever it took to help
Buffy see the reason for leaving, was going to have to be used. One way or
another, Buffy had to leave.
"Is that why you ran away... that summer?" Buffy asked, her tears
finally slowing. She was referring to the summer Willow had disappeared and
Buffy had set out to find her. They both shuddered at the memories of that
summer.
"Yes," Willow whispered.
"So that's... that, I guess," Buffy said as she stood up. Wiping
away the last of the tears, she swallowed hard against sour taste in the
back of her throat. "I... guess I'll see you around then, Red," she fiercely
said as she walked away from the pool with Spike soon joining her. Willow
watched her wife walk away and with a yell, she slammed her fist into the
masonry surrounding the pool, cursing loudly. Water started to trickle from
the new crack in the stone.
"You did the right thing, you know," Joyce said from her perch on
the pools' edge. Her white eyes were filled with concern for her daughter,
she had always thought of them as her extended family; Willow had been her
daughter long before she became her daughter-in-law.
"That doesn't make me feel any better," the mage muttered dryly as
she stood up and smoothed her red robes. "I could have at least kissed her
goodbye," she added. "or... something."
"You'll get your chance when they leave for Altran tomorrow," Joyce
said with a small smile. "Spike arranged it turns out her cares for Buffy as
much as either one of us... though he'd never admit it."
"Thank you," Willow whispered as she hugged the avatar.
"Then we must leave for Necris shortly after they depart. You can
come with me through the higher planes," the avatar explained. "There is
trouble coming and we must be ready and... you must be long gone by the time
Buffy arrives in Necris."
"Please tell me again that I did the right thing. Because this hurts
like hell," the mage said catching one last glimpse of her wife walking away
in the distance.
"You did the right thing, Willow. Buffy will be safe with Spike and
Luna," Joyce answered as the mage let go. The Avatar was making her way to
the gates when she realized Willow wasn't beside her. She stopped and looked
back at Willow still standing by the pool looking lost.
"Um, can I sleep... in your room tonight?" she asked. "I kind of
have no place to go."
"You would be welcome to it, dear," Joyce said as the mage walked up
to join her. They walked slowly through the gardens alternating between
talks of times past and the afterlife.
"On second thought, do you know a good bar?" Willow asked when they
stepped through the gates onto the street. "For some reason, I really want a
drink."
"As a matter of fact, I do," Joyce said with a grin. "But lets get
Gymli first, he would never forgive me if I left him out," she added as they
strolled down the street, but despite everything Willow felt hollow inside.
Breaking the heart of someone you love is never easy, even if it is for her
own good. She would have gone back to Buffy in a heartbeat and forgiven her
fling with Cordelia and everything, if not for the message. The message had
convinced her that this was for the best. Even if Buffy had to believe it
was her fault that Willow sent her away. It would have to be so, because the
Slayer never would have left of her own free will, so their roads had to
part... for now.

To be continued in Worlds' Dilemma - Epilogue