FIC: Opposites Attract III (2/2)

[Kimber <kacoe@xxxxxxx>]

Title: Opposites Attract III (2/2)
Author: Pat Kelly & Kimber
Rating: PG-13
Summary: The latest in our universe where Buffy and Tara have gotten
together, and Amy has been deratted and is currently
with Willow. Hope you enjoy our joint effort.
Spoilers: General Season 5, and our previous two parts. If you want to
refresh your memories, you may want to read them
again, here:
http://redrival.com/exquisite/wtara/opposites1.html
http://redrival.com/exquisite/other/opposites2.html
Disclaimer: All hail Joss and his army of Mutant Enemies. We do not own.

We make no money.

OPPOSITES ATTRACT III (2/2)


"Tara! Buffy told you -" Willow started saying as they chased after the
blonde witch.

She was scared. Buffy wasn't back yet, and she should have been. Tara
had gotten up without a word, and started heading into
the woods.

"I know what she said. But it's after two. Lunch was o-over a long time
ago."

They knew she was right.

"Do you at least know where you're going?"

"I think so."

"You think so?" Amy asked incredulously. She had thought to grab the
magick supplies, and was carrying them on her back.

"I'll find my way. You should stay b-behind. I won't let her get hurt."
Tara swore.

"No way." Willow said. She regarded her friend thoughtfully. "You love
her, huh?"

"You didn't think I did?"

"I didn't know...what I thought, I guess. We're not around you guys
much. But it's good that you both...that's great."

"When we get out of here, that's gonna change." Amy said. "The 'not
hanging' thing."

Tara stopped, turned and smiled. She could still see the camp.

"Last chance to go back."

They held their arms out, and Tara began leading.

***

Buffy sat Indian style with her hands on her knees. She breathed deeply.

In and out. In and out. In and out. There was an
amazing feeling that came over her every time she meditated. It was
something she'd never quite known before. It was peace.
Like this, with nothing distracting her, she was at peace with herself
and everything around her.

It was the opposite when she slayed, or even went through everyday
activities. She was constantly in a state of motion, her
brain always at work.

Granted, the middle of the woods with an unknown beasty lurking about,
wasn't exactly the best place to find peace, but it was
what she felt like she had to do. She inhaled deeply again and
concentrated. She could almost 'see' her surroundings. There was
no way to describe it. It was almost like that silly training activity
Giles had her do one time. Hit him with a ball without looking.
She did, right on his head, if she remembered correctly, but if anyone
had asked her *how* she did it, she really couldn't
explain.

***

"I think we're lost."

Tara looked back at Amy. "We're not lost."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. That's all."

"That was kind of parental. Like when your parents say, 'Because I said
so, that's why'. Like they don't want you to know
what's really going on, and that's really annoying sometimes...you know?

Or when your mom..."

"Amy." Willow put her hand on her shoulder. "Leave the nervous babble to

me. Okay? We're fine, really, honest! Right Tara?"

The blonde witch paused a moment, and looked at her surroundings. "I
think we're lost."

"We're not lost. We can't be lost." Willow responded reassuringly.

"That's it. We're officially lost. Do you think there are bears in these

woods? Cause, bears? Not tops on my list for mingling. Uh
uh, no way." Amy was adamant.

Tara closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She tried to concentrate on

where they were, where Buffy was, and if Buffy was
okay. She opened her eyes and turned around.

"This way." She pointed.

The other two wiccans had no choice but to follow.

***

'You simply...are.'

"What's that supposed to mean?"

'It means, you exist. Simply that. You serve a purpose, you do a job,
and you have a destiny and a higher purpose. All
the slayers before couldn't achieve that. You will.'

"How can I do something that no one's ever done before?"

'Because you can.'

"Oh, great. Now the slayers in my head are beginning to sound like my
mother."

Buffy stopped her inner banter for a moment and listened. There was
something close...very close...so close it was going to...

"Ow!"

After she flipped whatever it was that was behind her, over her head and

in front of her onto its back, Buffy opened her eyes.

"Tara!" She scrambled over to the blonde. "Are you okay?"

"Depends on what you mean by 'okay.'"

Buffy helped her up. "Nothing broken?"

"Nope. How about you?"

"Fine. Just doing a 'Luke Skywalker meditation' deal. Only without that
Obi-Wok guy. Or Soda." She smirked. "Whoa. I didn't
realize it was so dark."

"Uh, Buffy?" Willow asked.

The slayer saw that the other girls had come along.

"I know their names, Will. I was joking."

"Oh. Good. I just wasn't sure, cause with IHOP this morning you didn't
know..." She trailed off. "No danger?"

The shrieking began again.

"Stop bitching and face me!" Buffy yelled into the dark. She turned to
her girlfriend. "So, how was your day?"

"Pretty okay. Except for the 'missing you' part. Hours and hours of
waiting. I'm not good at that." Tara said, still sighing in relief
that Buffy was okay.

"Yeah. Sorry I missed lunch. Experienced a case of 'getting lost.'" She
leaned back into Tara, and she felt arms go around her
waist. "But thanks for the rescue."

"Don't mention it."

"We had that problem." Amy chipped in. "Getting lost."

"But only for about a half hour." Willow added.

"Who's keeping track?" Amy coughed. "Forty-four minutes and thirty-eight

seconds." She smiled. "Anyway, why don't we go?
This thing, whatever it is, obviously doesn't like us, and I'm beginning

to miss my comforter."

"I'm right here." The redhead pouted.

"The one on my bed."

"Oh." Amy's arms went around her neck.

"I'd love to, but I have to take this thing out. I can't let it run
loose." Buffy said. "What if it attacks some other campers that
come here after us?"

"Who cares about -?" Three sets of eyes stared at Amy. "Never mind. God,

that was mean, wasn't it? Must be forest insanity
setting in."

"We'll be outta here soon, we just need to find it first. Then kill it."

The witches' faces lit up.

"Spell!" They echoed.

***

Buffy laughed. "Yeah, now tell me how you *really* feel." She stepped
back a few paces. "If you don't mind, I think I'll sit this
one out."

"But why?" Tara looked back at her.

"Spelling's not my gig, it's yours. I slay, you do spells."

"But...I slay. I slay pretty well thank you very much." Willow pouted.
"Well, the times I'm not getting captured and hurt and
stuff. And you can so spell. I've seen your sentences. High quality."

"Yeah, Buffy, come on." Amy added.

"Pleeeeeaaassssseeee?" Tara whined.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Okay, but I don't know what I could..." She
couldn't finish her sentence, because the three witches
decided it was group hug time. Buffy laughed. "Okay, okay. You need me
to do a spell, I need to breathe. I think we can make
an even trade here, don't you?"

Willow and Amy backed away. "Sorry." They echoed.

"I'm not." Tara kissed her on the cheek. "Thank you. This means a lot to

me."

"Yeah, well...consider it payback. For the vamp that shot me, and you
dusted. Even though I could never pay you back for
that, by the way, least I can do is try." Buffy leaned in for what was
supposed to be a small peck, but it turned into a little more
than they bargained for.

"Uh, guys?" Willow interrupted. "Spell, home, kissing. In that order, if

you don't mind."

"Sorry." Buffy smiled at her. "So. What's the wha--uh, I mean...what are

we doing?"

'Great, not only am I thinking about Faith, I'm starting to talk like
her.' She shook her head.

"You okay?" Tara asked.

"Hmm? Yeah, fine." She smiled. "So?" Willow frowned and Buffy caught it.

"What?"

"You're doing it again, but we can talk about that back at camp. And
believe me when I say we'll talk. Got it?" She shook her
finger at Buffy and closed off any further discussion for later. "Now,
what we need is a guiding spell, or, hmmm, maybe a light
spell first, that way we won't trip over branches and stuff, or..."

"How about a simple tracking spell?" Amy knew that look in Willow's eye.

If she let her go any further, they'd be trying different
spells all night. "I know it's kinda tough to track something when you
don't know what it looks like, but we can do a demon
tracking spell."

"If we do a demon tracking spell, more than half the woods is going to
light up." The three witches looked at Buffy quizzically.
"Initiative caves. Remember?"

"Right. Initiative." Willow said, recalling. "I kinda blocked them out.
Like a bad plotline from a TV show. Hey! That's it! The
caves, we passed them right before we got here. If we can get back to
them, then you can do the slayer thing and, you know,
scout them out."

"Tinkerbell spell?" Tara asked.

Now Buffy was confused. There was another shriek, only this time it was
closer, and followed by what sounded like demonic
laughter.

Willow looked around. "Uh, that was really..."

"Creepy." Tara finished.

"Now it's mocking me!" Buffy's eyes narrowed as she looked at her
surroundings. "Sure, mock me all you want, you...thing.
Just wait until I get my hands on you, then we'll see who's doing a
little demonic chuckle then."

"Yeah, I'd say forest insanity has firmly set in." Amy looked at Willow.

"Let's do a spell, quick, find it," She pointed to Buffy,
"and slay it. And then we all go home for snuggles. What do ya say?"

"I'm in." Buffy nodded.

"Me too." Tara and Willow agreed.

***

The three of them sat around an impromptu campfire. There were various
herbs sprinkled around them in a big circle and they
all sat on the 'corners' of the circle in the lotus position.

Buffy looked over at Tara and whispered. "What do I do?"

"Just concentrate."

"Oh." She paused a moment then looked at her again. "On what?"

Tara smiled. "Your center. Everyone has a center, you know, the place
where they're at peace? Concentrate on finding that and
the rest will fall into place. Trust me."

"I do."

"We call upon the forces of nature." Willow began. "Wind at our backs,
earth under our feet..."

"...water in the sky, fire here before us." Amy picked up the spell, and

reached out for everyone to grasp hands. "Give us eyes
to see the dark force at work in our midst. Show us the danger..."

"Lead us to the demon who wishes to cause harm." Tara took over.

Buffy heard the words, but didn't really hear them. All she could hear
were the voices in her head. The voices of the past
slayers.

'You know what you are.'

'You know who you are to become.'

'You can do it alone, but the road is smoother with peace in your life.'

'Find peace, sister. Slay your own demons, then the world's.'

'Easier said than done.' Buffy told them silently.

'We didn't say it would be easy.'

'Don't start getting sarcastic with -'

She couldn't hear anything now. Nothing. She felt herself rising,
walking. Her vision was clearer; it was like she had a guide
showing her where to go. Several guides, actually. Everything had a
golden tint to it, and she knew her friends were following
her.

***

"I was right." Willow said to Amy and Tara quietly as Buffy entered the
cave. "It's in there."

"Um, how did she do that thing with her eyes?" Amy asked. "That wasn't
part of the spell."

"The slayers must have used our spell to figure out where the demon was,

and are helping Buffy get to it." Tara figured out.

"Slayers?"

"Couldn't you feel them?"

"Something felt different. I guess that was it." She shrugged.

"Wait, is it like the enjoining spell we did?" Willow asked.

"Kind of." Tara nodded. "Except she's not drawing on us. Only on the
energies of the passed slayers. She's strong enough to
handle it now. She's got the ability to do magick, and when she tapped
into you during the spell, your magick unlocked hers.
And it's on a whole nother level from ours."

"Uh...neat." She bit her lip, shocked by the new information. "How do
you know all this?"

"Long story. For later." She couldn't see her girlfriend anymore. "We
should follow her. It's like a maze in there, and we
might...lose her."

"How are we going to see?" Amy questioned. "We don't have eyes that act
as flashlights."

"Tinkerbell?" The redhead looked hopeful.

"Okay, okay." Tara smiled.

***

Buffy came to a stop. She was deep within the caves. The thing was
making its home here, probably even before the Initiative
came. Adam kept it at bay most likely. Power was coursing through her,
magick, strength...power. The demon-beast was all
around her, but it felt the power too, and was keeping its distance. No
matter, she'd seek it out.

That's when everything got really bright. Buffy could see; the light she

was using was just bright enough. But the extra
luminescence clashed with hers, and she felt a sharp pain in her eyes.
It was like somebody turned on a light after she'd been in
the dark for hours. It broke off the flow of the other slayers'
energies, and everything was normal again.

She nearly collapsed because of the abrupt end, and the beast blindsided

her, taking advantage. She flew into the cave wall,
and fell to the floor. The impact jarred loose a stalagmite above her,
and it nearly entered her back, but she rolled out of the
way in the nick of time. Getting up, she caught a glimpse of it before
it vanished from her view.

Fast.

The three witches came running in.

"Get out of here!" She warned them.

But it was too late. It showed itself, going in between the girls and
the slayer. It was on all fours, its supernatural muscles
rippling under its hairless skin, which looked to be a muted red color.
Its teeth were endless and very sharp looking. It had a
snout like a bull, with two black horns rising out of his head. It had
five fingers and toes, all in the shape of claws, and a long tail
that was currently whipping around wildly.

"Say 'hello' to the stereotypical hellbeast." Buffy remarked. "What is
this? The Devil's pet?"

"Just in case it is, maybe you shouldn't make fun of it." Willow said to

her from the other side of the creature.

"But it's so unoriginal! If it breathes fire, I'm going to be very
disappointed in the forces of darkness."

"Can you really kill something that comes directly from Hell?" Amy
wondered.

"Only one way to -"

Before Buffy could finish, they felt the full force of its shriek. It
appeared annoyed with the visitors. Its mouth opened wide, and
a black tongue swirled around inside. Putting their hands over their
ears, the girls watched as the cave walls shook, and dust
rained down.

During the confusion, the creature used its tail to grab Tara off the
ground, and bring her in front of its jaws.

"Tara!" Buffy yelled. She tried to run, but was having trouble keeping
her footing.

The blonde witch felt as if she was being crushed. Both Buffy and Willow

were making their way to the creature, but it swatted
at them with both its arms, getting up on its hind legs to balance
itself. The slayer and the redhead rolled back, their efforts for
nothing. The creature then slammed its front end back down, making it
feel like they were experiencing an earthquake.

Tara was surprisingly calm, as she spoke silent words to herself. She
managed to yank her arm free, and when she did, she
blew on her palm sending what looked like crystallized dust into her
captor's face. It was enough of a distraction, because the
beast released its grip, and she landed on the cave floor.

With a menacing growl, a green mist began to envelop everything. Buffy,
trying to get to Tara by crawling on her hands and
knees, lost sight of her. Then her eyes began to close.

***

"Uh, my head." Buffy opened her eyes slowly to find that she was in the
middle of the woods. She sat up, a bit too quickly.
"Uh, my...everything." She picked some leaves out of her hair and looked

around. She immediately spotted Willow. "Will?" She
crawled over to the redhead. "Will, come on. This is no time for a nap."

"Buffy? What happened?" She sat up. "And did you get the number of that
train that hit us?"

"You okay? No broken bones or anything?"

"Yeah, but...where's Amy? And Tara?"

***

"Tara. Get up. Come on."

"Wha...what happened?"

"Good question. I think that hell beast hit us with some really powerful

mojo and knocked us out. Can you get up?"

Tara nodded and rose to her feet. She looked around. "We're still in the

caves. But where's Buffy and Willow?"

"We must have gotten separated in the hail of magick." Amy stretched.
"I'm sure they're around here somewhere."

Tara stood still and closed her eyes. After a few moments, she opened
them and looked back at Amy. "I can't feel her." She
whispered.

***

"Buffy, this is insane. If they're looking for us, and we're moving,
then they could have already been someplace we've already
been to and missed us totally cause we're not where we're supposed to
be."

The Slayer turned to her. "Uh, I pick C."

"What?"

"You know how you take those state tests every year and have to fill in
the annoying little circles? Well, whenever I didn't
understand the question, I'd always put down C."

"This is no time to be joking around, Buffy." The redhead pouted. "They
could be anywhere. And so could we."

"I know, Will. I'm sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. Let's just
keep walking. We're bound to get outta here at one point.
Either that or run into something vaguely familiar. It's not like
Breakers Woods is as big as the Appalachians. Ya know?"

"Okay. I'll trust the Slayer instinct this time."

Willow walked silently beside her for awhile. It occurred to her that
this was the first time they'd been alone in a long time.
"So...how have you been?"

Buffy smirked at her. "Fine. And you? What's up, Will? We see each other

every day. You know how I am."

"Not really, Buffy. I mean, we've both had new stuff in our lives and we

haven't been alone much. At all even. At least since
Amy and I got together."

The Slayer thought for a few moments then stopped in her tracks. "You
know, you're right. We haven't spent any time alone.
And we swore we wouldn't do that again. I'm a horrible friend. Yet
again."

Willow chuckled. "I didn't say that to make you feel bad. It's just
something I noticed, is all. No big. We have time to fix it."

"So. You and Amy..." Buffy stumbled over her words.

"It's great. The way she makes me feel...it's warm fuzzies all over. But

I'm sure it's like that with you and Tara. She loves you so
much."

"Tara's...I haven't met anyone like her before. I felt the same way when

I met you. If I was as open minded then as I am now,
maybe..."

"Awww, Buffy..." Willow blushed.

The slayer cleared her throat. "But you became my best friend, and I
love that."

"Me too."

"She's just the best thing that could've happened to me. Tara. After
that first kiss, I knew I loved her. It was immediate. And the
only other person who ever made me feel that way was Angel. But it's
different with her. Can't explain really."

"You don't have to. She's lucky she has someone as great as you. And
vice versa. You know, it's funny how things happen. If it
wasn't for Tara, I never would have thought about Amy in *that* way, but

I'm glad we're...what we are. Super glad."

"And if it wasn't for you going off with your parents or her making
dream appearances, I would never -" She stopped herself. "I
mean -"

"She told me." Willow smiled in reassurance, and gave her friend a hug.
"It's okay."

Buffy sighed in relief, and grinned. She didn't want to embarrass her
friend, but this was exactly what best friends talked about.
"Have you...I mean, did you, um...with Amy?"

Willow blushed again. "Uh, I mean, we um, that is to say I haven't
really, you know technically...why are you asking me this?"

The slayer shrugged. "Just to keep the conversation moving, I guess."

"How about you?" Willow smirked when she saw Buffy pale. "Two can play
that game, you know."

"Look." Buffy pointed ahead of them to the caves. "Looks like we found
our way after all." She smiled at Willow and ran
ahead.

"Buffy, wait...and that's not fair! You never answered my question!"

The beast charged out of the mouth.

"You could try asking him." Buffy suggested. "They say sex is the work
of the Devil, right?"

"So is that a yes?"

"Bushes! Dive!" They did, and the creature missed them. "And no, it's
not!"

"You haven't?"

"I didn't say that! I said it was a no to the yes!"

"But...now I'm scared *and* confused."

"That was the plan."

***

Amy and Tara were walking around the caves trying to find their way out.

So far, they weren't having any luck. "These caves
must go on forever. We're never gonna get out of here." Amy pouted and
sat down on a nearby rock.

Tara sat down next to her. "We'll rest for awhile, then we can go that
way. I don't think we've been there yet."

"You sure?" Amy shook her head. "They all look the same to me."

"I'm sure." Tara smiled at her. "We'll be fine."

Amy looked at her for a few moments and chose her next words carefully.
"Tara, about you and Willow, I mean, when you
guys were together...never mind."

"You can ask me. Anything."

"Well, I was wondering...how much, you know, really powerful magic you
guys did. I mean, I know Will has really improved
over these past two years, and I know that's in part cause of you."

"Willow's great, at spells and stuff. She really knows what she's doing
when she focuses, but, she's not confident enough
sometimes and that's mostly why her spells go into a downward spiral."
Tara shrugged. "We never really did anything that big.
We did contact the nether realms once, and that was...wow. Just, so
powerful."

Amy nodded. "Yeah, I can imagine. I guess I'm asking because I don't
want to scare her. You know? I've been practicing for a
really long time and I tend to go the distance when trying something
new. I just don't want to chase her off."

"Buffy and I talked about this one time. Willow and I, the spells we
did, they tended to be small. Ya know? And the bigger they
got, the more intense they got. We just couldn't seem to achieve a
balance with them sometimes. She's a light practitioner and
so am I, but with you, I think it may work out better all around. You're

kind of like the ying to her yang."

"Yeah, I've noticed that. We just seem to...know how to get that
balance. It wasn't like that before."

"Maybe you just weren't ready for each other."

Amy nodded. "Yeah. Maybe."

Both girls jumped when they heard the hell beast roar again. This time
it came from right behind them. Or in front of them. They
couldn't tell.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" Amy turned to Tara.

"Run?"

Amy nodded. "Run!"

***

"Is there a reason you decided to get on its back?" Willow yelled up to
her friend.

"I'm trying out for the rodeo." Buffy snapped, holding onto the horns as

the creature bucked erratically. "I'm all up for ideas
here!"

"First, I think..." The fading blonde was thrown into Willow. "You
should get off."

"Sorry." They untangled themselves, breathing heavily. "What am I
supposed to do? I'm weaponless."

"Debate the better type of brimstone to use for interior decorating in
Hell?"

"You have too many thoughts."

"Why does everyone always say that?" She looked up at their attacker; it

wasn't paying attention to them. "That's rude. Don't
you think that's rude? We're here, playing the good, tired victims, and
it gets bored."

Buffy pointed. A layer of ice was forming over its body. It was frozen
in place. Amy and Tara jogged over.

"We kick ass." Amy said. "I'll never have to drink warm soda again."

"You're not dead!" Willow crushed her in a hug. She looked at Tara and
Buffy. "Why not hugging?"

"Oh, probably cause the ice is melting off his super hot skin and we're
royally screwed." Buffy looked at her girlfriend. "But I'm
very relieved you're not hurt, don't get me wrong."

"Ditto." Tara said. "What are our options?"

"Spells. I don't know what could help, though."

"We could send it back to where it came from." Willow said.

"How?"

"Haven't thought that far ahead."

'Let us assist you. We need your friends. And we need the one who has
gone astray.'

'Why her?'

'She's one of us. Her energy is essential, as is the mystical prowess of

the witches.'

'Kind of impossible.' Buffy told the voices.

'Just say you will accept her help, and we'll do the rest. She wants to,

but you don't have much time.'

Tara was staring at her, and she sighed, nodding. She was getting an odd

look from her too. What Buffy didn't realize was that
as she was "talking" to the spirits, her face was practically changing
shape. Contorting, so with every new voice, she took on the
visage of that person.

'Fine. Let's do it. I accept. And tell her I'm sorry.'

'You will tell her that yourself.'

'Getting pushy, aren't you?'

"Ready?" Buffy asked out loud.

"What for?" Amy inquired.

"You'll see. I hope."

***

Buffy closed her eyes and took a few calming breaths. She knew what to
do, and how to do it; the voices of the slayers took
care of that.

"Slayers of the past, I plead for your assistance. Help me and my
friends in our hour of need." Suddenly, she opened her eyes
and threw back her head. "Help us help ourselves."

A bright light appeared out of nowhere. Buffy shielded her eyes from the

brightness, but as quickly as it came, it went, and in its
place, a beautiful amulet was floating in mid air.

***

"You'd think she'd lend a hand here!" Amy yelled after she threw another

tree branch at the hell beast.

"She'll come through." Willow responded from behind a tree. She and Tara

were levitating rocks at the beast in between Amy's
swings at it. They were all a fair distance from it, and their attempts
seemed to keep it at bay for now.

***

Buffy walked up to the amulet, and it slowly floated down to her hand.
She enclosed it in her palm and sighed deep.

'Trust us, Slayer.'

'I'm afraid. The power I feel...it's overwhelming.'

'Drink in the power. It is the strength of generations flowing through
your veins, pumping blood into your heart. You
know what you are, now use it.'

Buffy opened her eyes and immediately charged the beast. She jumped and
planted both of her feet square in its broad chest.
The beast flew back and crashed into the wall of the cave twenty feet
back.

"That was, uh..." Amy was crouching behind a bush, beside Tara and
Willow.

"Yeah." Willow looked at the slayer, amazed.

Buffy ran up to them. "You guys okay?" The three witches nodded. "Good.
Now come on, let's finish this thing off." She ran
towards the beast with the witches trailing behind. "Make a circle
around the outside of it."

The four of them each got on a side of the creature, and Buffy held the
amulet above her head. They began speaking words, but
had no idea where they were coming from.

"Hetan, primal beast of the Underworld, before you is the Amulet of
Limhas, the creation of the first watcher on Earth. He and
his charge took it upon themselves to cast the remaining pure remnants
of the Old World into their new prison, but you
eliminated her and escaped confinement.

"Many of us have met the same fate. We were foolish and did not have the

proper preparation. Thousands of years have
passed however, and the Chosen One has. Along with the wiccans, united
together by powerful bonds of love and friendship,
they stand ready to finish it. Your time on this plane is now ended. Be
gone!"

The amulet started to glow purple, and shake in Buffy's hand. She pulled

her arm back, looked up at the sky, and threw it hard.
A whirlwind formed in the late night, early morning sky, volatile and
powerful. Leaves were blowing, trees were blowing, and
there was fear in the beast's blood red eyes.

'Anchor yourself. Quickly!'

The girls had to grab onto to something, to keep the force from pulling
them upwards. The frightened Hetan extended its tail in
desperation, and hooked it around a tree trunk, the one Amy was holding
onto. The roots were ripped right from the ground,
and Amy found herself rising.

"Buffy! She's -" Willow yelled.

"Help!" Amy screamed.

Buffy scaled the tree she was using, and walked out to the end of the
highest branch. Her foot slipped, and she felt Willow and
Tara helping keep her there. She sat down with her legs on either side
of the branch, and turned upside down, using her feet to
anchor herself to the branch. She reached her arm out, and grabbed Amy's

ankle, just before it was out of her reach.

"Don't let go!"

"I got you!"

They all watched the creature get sucked into the whirlwind, shrieking
the entire time. After a minute, the vortex vanished, and
the tree dwellers fell into the arms of their others. Well, more like
they all collapsed into a big heap.

"Who wants marshmallows?" Willow asked.

She was answered with groans.

***

By the time they got back to the campsite, day was breaking. The
partners in the two couples were leaning on each other, and
giving one another the motivation to keep moving. Buffy was examining
the amulet, holding it in her hand. It had dropped from
the sky a minute or two after she and Amy had dropped from the tree.

"What are you gonna do with that?" Tara asked her.

Buffy attempted a shrug. It caused pain. "Ow. Uh...maybe Giles can use a

new paperweight."

"You think it's useless now?"

"Honestly, Tara? Beats the hell out of me." She started to giggle. "I
really hate Hell. Though I am supposed to be a good guy,
so I guess that works out pretty well."

"That was rough."

"Arguably the roughest thing we've ever faced." Willow said. "As a
group, anyway."

"Couldn't have done it without ya." Buffy thanked them.

"Anytime." Amy said with a hiss. Something hurt. A lot of somethings.
"Any time that's far from now."

They were tired, achy, disheveled, their hair was straggly with a leaf
or two sticking to it, they had cuts and bruises, and their
clothes were torn. But they were alive. And that was always a cause for
celebration. Once the painful feelings left their bodies.

Tara gave her girlfriend a kiss. It was a wonderful distraction.

"That was nice." The next one was longer, and there was more exploring.
"Even nicer."

"So glad it's over." Tara said, touching her lips.

"Almost." The slayer whispered.

"They *so* have, Wills." Amy said, getting a look of determination.

Willow almost fainted. She had this strong urge to want to be in the
dorm, alone with Amy. She had never wanted that so badly
before. But for now, they were about to follow their friends' example.
However, Giles decided at that moment to come running
up to them.

"Thank God I found you!" He was out of breath. "Anya, Xander and I were
going through the possible books we could sell in
the shop, and we came across a reference to an ancient beast that has
inhabited these woods for quite some time."

"Huh. You don't say?" Buffy said nonchalantly.

"Yes, and it's from the depths of Hell itself. Very inhospitable to
anyone or anything that enters its territory. Extremely
protective."

"Really? So it's dangerous?" Amy asked.

"Absolutely. The sooner we leave the better. A creature as strong as
it's described to be, won't be easily defeated."

"Good thing you didn't get here too late then. Who knows what coulda
happened?" Willow was hiding the sarcasm from her
voice surprisingly well.

"Thanks, Mr. Giles." Tara said. "I'm sure we'll be safe now."

"Really, it was no..." It was then that he got a good look at them.
"Say, what happened to you?"

"Mean family of squirrels." The redhead told him. "They could've had
rabies."

Buffy tossed him the amulet, and the four of them walked past him,
wanting to get out of there as quickly as possible.

"What's this?" Giles questioned. "Buffy? Girls?"

***

"What brings you here, girlfriend?"

It had been two weeks since the forest adventure, and it took all of
those two weeks for Buffy to be able to build up her
courage to come all this way, and do what she was currently doing. She
stared at the person on the other side of the glass, and
made sure she speaking directly into the provided telephone.

"The cheery atmosphere." The other girl grinned. "What else, Faith?
You."

"Don't go makin' me feel special, B. That's out of character for ya."
Faith hadn't lost her edge that was for sure. Buffy felt the
sting, some of it she deserved. "What do you want?"

"Good question. No clue what the answer is, but good question."

The honesty and softness in Buffy's eyes caused Faith's expression to
soften a little.

"I don't have all day. The guards are hardasses. So pick a starting
point."

"You doing okay?"

"Considering I'm in jail...could be worse. Five by five for the most
part."

"I'm glad." They were quiet for several moments, studying each other,
wondering if the other was truly sincere. "It's your turn.
Ask away."

"Angel know you're here?"

"Nope." Buffy hardly showed any reaction.

Faith nodded; there was something sad about that. They couldn't even
talk anymore? But then she recalled something. It had
been bugging her.

"Hey, something weird happen to you a couple weeks ago? Cause I remember

feelin' wicked strange. I know the food around
here doesn't have a good track record, but I don't think that was it."

"Actually," Buffy coughed, "funny story. Well, not funny 'ha ha'..."

They both smiled slightly, and the first step in the healing process for

the two slayers, was now in full swing. Standing by the
door, Tara smiled as well.


--
~~Kimber

"Lisa's Personal-Pit Pet" *eg*
a.k.a. The Light Lobster
Tourist number 2
List Gutter Lust Goddess (yeah, I've finally given into my fate)
Proud Member of the BtVS Writer's Guild - ~~Because Fic makes anything
possible.