Fic: Rough Magic (Prologue)

[inell@xxxxxxx]

Title: Rough Magic
Author: Inell
Email: Inell@xxxxxxx
Disclaimer: Joss owns them all
Distribution: My site, Kiss or Kill, 
http://members.fortunecity.com/kissorkill Anyone that has permission, take. 
Otherwise, just ask.
Rating: R
Pairing: Willow/Buffy
Summary: I really suck at these....
Notes: My own verse, definitely. I wrote this prologue near the end of Season 
4. Saved it to a disk. Lost said disk. Recently found disk. Yay for cleaning. 
Decided to post and see if I should continue. Well, what do y'all think?
Begins at the start of my own Season 5


ROUGH MAGIC (Prologue)


November 2000

The air was calm, a soft breeze blowing from the North, shaking the stubborn 
leaves that had not yet fallen and scattering those on the ground. Buffy 
looked away from the dead leaves, hazel eyes finding her friends. Anya was 
sitting on the ground, leaning against a tombstone. She seemed oblivious to 
the damp ground, her hand resting on her stomach. She was five months 
pregnant, her face seeming to glow since she had discovered the news several 
months before. Buffy had honestly never seen her look more beautiful. A small 
smile crossed her face as Xander joined the group, handing his fiance a cup 
of hot chocolate as he joined her on the ground. Her eyes moved to find 
Giles, looking through a large book, his eyes seeming to search the pages for 
answers to questions that only he knew. He should have been relaxing, just as 
he had told all of them to do. Next, she saw Tara, her eyes narrowing 
slightly though she was unaware of the action. The newest member of their 
group was kneeling on a blanket, setting up candles and talking. Buffy looked 
finally at Willow, watching her best friend make notes on a small notepad as 
she half heartedly carried on a conversation with Tara. 


Buffy moved from the tree where she had been standing, retrieving the soda 
that Xander had purchased for her and grabbing Willow's. She moved past 
Giles, putting her hand on the book to make him look up at her and smile 
before making her way to Willow. She sat on the blanket beside the redhead, 
her foot accidentally hitting Tara's leg. "I'm sorry," she said, offering an 
apologetic smile at the girl before handing Willow her soda. 


"I'm almost ready," Willow said, taking the drink and having a sip as she 
continued checking her notes for a fifth time. She had to make sure that 
everything was correct before they started the spell. 


"Anything I can do?" Buffy asked, feeling a bit useless, as she always did 
whenever the slaying turned to matters of witchcraft. Give her a demon to 
kill and she'd kick ass. Make her sit patiently and chant? Well, at least she 
could kill vampires. Thankfully, she had Willow for all the magic stuff. Her 
friend had been getting better and better at the spells over the last couple 
of years. Buffy still found it amusing to remind Willow of the times that she 
couldn't even lift a pencil when, now, the redhead was performing protection 
and guiding spells with ease.


"Hmm?" Willow looked at her and blinked then smiled, "you can help Tara. 
Honey, tell Buffy what she can do."


Tara looked at the slayer, giving Buffy no doubts that she had several ideas 
of things she could do, none of them very helpful at the moment. Finally, the 
girl said, "I'm setting up the candles and preparing the supplies. If you'd 
like, set the candles up in a circle and I'll concentrate on this."


"Sure," Buffy said, wondering again what it was about this girl that bothered 
her. Ever since they had first met, even before she had been aware of the 
exact nature of Willow's relationship with Tara, she'd not liked the girl. It 
wasn't like her to not have an instant dislike to someone, and it bugged her 
that she didn't understand why. Over the last year, she'd grown used to Tara 
though, ignoring her dislike and trying to accept the girl that Willow loved 
for her friendships' sake. It definitely didn't mean that they had to be best 
friends though.


Once the circle was created and Willow was finally sure that she was familiar 
enough with the spell to proceed, she called everyone to their places. She 
and Tara sat in the middle. Buffy was behind Willow, Xander to her left, 
Giles to her right, with Anya behind Tara. Candles were lit as Willow took 
Tara's hands. She smiled at her lover as the spell began. Everything was fine 
through the first part. The wind had picked up, blowing against the candles 
that remained burning. It wasn't until Willow reached the last chant that 
things started to feel wrong. She continued speaking, knowing how dangerous 
it would be to stop the spell in the middle, but something didn't feel right. 


She was suffocating, finding it difficult to breathe much less speak. Her 
eyes half closed as the wind picked up even greater force, leaves and dirt in 
the air around them. She could feel the apprehension in her friends, saw the 
slight flash of fear in Tara's eyes. She could feel her shirt sticking to 
her, sweat soaking her body as a fever spread over her. She was almost 
finished. She began to speak the final words when it happened. Her head 
snapped back, her eyes staring at the sky as she began to speak rapidly, a 
blinding flash of light surrounding them as her head snapped back, her eyes 
unseeing as she felt a strong rush of power overtake her entire body. She 
distantly heard screaming as her body was slammed by some unseen force. She 
fell forward, the spell completed.


Buffy was frozen. She watched as Willow glowed then fell forward, the 
redhead's body slumping. She dropped Xander and Giles' hands, moving to 
Willow. She pulled her best friend against her lap, relief evident in her 
eyes when she saw that Willow was breathing. She touched the redhead's face, 
brushing her sweaty hair away from her eyes. After a moment, an eternity, 
Willow's eyes fluttered and she opened them slowly. 


"Buffy?" she said hoarsely, her throat parched.


"I'm here, Will," Buffy smiled. 


"Anya! Oh my God, Anya!" Xander cried out, looking at the blood covering the 
ground around his fiance. She was unconscious, though breathing. "She's hurt!"


"What?" Willow sat up quickly, holding her head as she fell against Buffy. It 
took her a second to gather herself before looked and saw Tara laying on the 
blanket, her eyes closed. "Tara?"


"What's wrong with Anya?" Buffy asked, not wanting to let Willow go but 
seeing the blood on Xander's hands.


"I've got to get her to a hospital," Xander said, standing and picking her 
up. "She's hurt. She's been hurt."


"Giles," Buffy looked at her watcher, saw him looking around in a daze, his 
eyes finally focusing on her. "Go with Xander. He needs someone to drive him."


"Yes, yes, of course," Giles stood and moved to follow after the boy.


"She's not moving, Buffy," Willow whispered softly, moving across the blanket 
to touch her lover's face. She looked at Buffy, her green eyes wet, "She's 
not moving."


"Let me see," Buffy said, moving to look at Tara. She leaned over, placing 
her ear above the girl's heart. Her eyes closed briefly before she sat up, 
taking Tara's hand. She felt for a pulse. Nothing. She looked at Willow, felt 
her heart breaking as the redhead looked back at her, a look of shock on her 
face. "I'm sorry, Willow. She's gone."