FIC: Right In Front of You Part 25 (PG-13 for part)

["CDS" <callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Hey Everyone.

Long time no post. Mainly because I was on a hiatus from the boards to
avoid spoilage. Here's the latest chapter in Right In Front of You. Enjoy.

-CDS

? Title: Right In Front of You
? Author: Callisto's Dark Side
? Email: callistosdarkside@xxxxxxxxxx
? Feedback: The more I get, the faster I write.
? Distribution: Can be found at
http://www.geocities.com/callistosdarkside/RightInFrontOfYou.htm (My Site),
http://www.geocities.com/last_days_of_pern, and
http://www.peccath.com/extraflamey/mainframe.htm
? Spoilers: All of Season 5, but events take place before some events in
Tough Love.
? Rating: R
? Pairing: W/T & B/W
? Disclaimer: All characters from Angel & Buffy the Vampire Slayer are
copyright Joss Whedon & 20th Century Fox.
? Summary: Willow/Tara fic in which the two love birds must manage to deal
with the consequences of a spell that threatens to tear them apart forever.

Chapter 25


"The Capitol's amazing," Dawn said in awe, staring especially at the pyramid
temple standing at the centre of the city.

"I know what you mean," Tara replied from her lofty position on the horse,
while Dawn walked off to the side.

"Do you think they let visitors in there?" Dawn pointed to the temple.

"Wouldn't hurt to ask," Tara smiled. "Besides, the people there might have
some useful info."

"Cool," Dawn grinned, relishing the sites and sounds as if it were a
vacation, but always at the back of both their minds they knew their purpose
was to find a way home. "So we split up?" Dawn asked.

"I don't think we should," Tara answered, not wanting to leave the young
girl in such a seedy city.

"Oh, come on. We'd work twice as fast if I checked out that pyramid thingy
and you checked out the library."

"I guess," Tara reluctantly agreed, "but I don't want to leave you alone."

"I know magic and I could do a temporary protection spell."

"Still? what if one of us gets lost?" Tara pointed out.

"Then we do a location spell," Dawn answered, as if it was the most obvious
thing in the world.

"Okay, but I think we should do something else too."

"What?"

"It's called a countdown spell," Tara replied. "Basically, it's like a
watch and counts down the time and tells you when the time is up for
whatever amount of time you want."

"So like if we wanted to meet back here in an hour, we could do that?"

"Exactly," Tara smiled.

"Cool, let's do it."

Tara dismounted, trying her best not to fall flat on her face. Luckily,
Dawn was there to catch her.

"Sorry you had to see that," Tara blushed, adjusting her coat.

"Please, I've spazzed out worse than that."

"That's good to know," Tara smiled, casually taking Dawn's hands in her own.

"Um," Dawn looked around the busy city streets, "Shouldn't we do this in
private?"

"Oh," Tara let go of Dawn's hands, "I guess my mind kinda slipped."

"No kidding. I'm sure getting fried as witches is real fun," Dawn drawled.

"We don't know that for sure," Tara pointed out.

"True, but would you really want to find out the hard way?"

"Point taken," Tara conceded. "Let's find an inn and a stable for our horse
first, before we do anything.

"Why would our horse need an inn and a stable?" Dawn teased.

Tara rolled her eyes, not wanting to justify the question with an answer.

******

Anya stood behind the counter, counting the money in the cash register as
usual. It had been a month since the big blow up between Buffy and Willow
in the workout room.

Luckily, things had calmed down a lot since then.

After a couple weeks of silence, the gang began talking freely again. Anya
talked about her money. Buffy talked about her slaying. Willow talked
about her magic. Xander talked about his construction work. Giles talked
about his books.

Everything seemed to be getting back to normal. As normal as everything
could be without the presence of Tara and Dawn.

Three weeks after the blow up, Willow had come to Buffy with a request.
Willow wanted to learn to fight with her hands. Buffy refused, but after
much convincing from Willow and the rest of the Scooby gang, the Slayer
agreed.

******

"So what's the first thing you do, when faced with an attacker?" Buffy
asked, pacing the workout room.

"Run!" Willow exasperated for the hundredth time. "For God's sake, Buffy, I
feel like you're Gabbying me."

"Gabbying?"

"You know what I mean."

Buffy frowned, "I'm sorry, Will, it's just sometimes I still think of you as
that helpless high school girl, who was only dabbling in magic.

"I'm not, Buffy. I'm strong now. This stuff, you're teaching me, it's just
backup. In case, I can't cast for some reason."

"I know," Buffy hung her head, "I'm sorry."

"It's okay, Buffy. Just teach me. I want to learn," Willow pleaded.

Buffy lifted her head, a small smile creasing her lips, "Okay."

******

"There are several types of punches," Buffy instructed.

Willow listened intently, sitting crossed-legged on the mat, boxing gloves
firmly in place.

"The one you're most interested in, is the one that lands," Buffy quipped.
"When you punch, you don't want to aim for the head."

"But don't you do that all the time?" Willow pointed out.

"Yes, but that's because I can. With you, they'll see it coming and block
it before you even throw it."

"Oh," Willow pouted, realizing the Slayer was probably right.

"What you wanna do, is fake a punch with your left up high, and punch them
in the gut with your right," Buffy demonstrated on the punching bag,
"Although in your case, you might hit them in the groin."

"Hey, I'm taller than you are."

Buffy frowned, "True, but I'm the teacher, meaning I get to make all the
jokes."

"Well, I'm the smart alec student," Willow crossed her arms, "meaning I get
to insult back."

"True, but then I'll have to send you to Principal Anya."

"I'm not afraid of her."

"You should be. She's a thousand-year old ex-demon."

"Yeah, ex-demon, as in now human."

"Do you wanna learn, or trade barbs?" Buffy exhaled.

"I can do both," Willow smiled, quite possibly the first time since the
location spell.

"Fine, then come over here and try out the left, right combo."

Willow eagerly stood up off the mat and approached the punching bag, sending
out a sloppy left, followed by an even sloppier right.

Buffy held her hand to her mouth to keep from bursting out laughing.

"What's so funny?" The redhead demanded.

"Nothing, it's just I've seen grandmas punch better than that," Buffy
laughed.

"Hey, if I were training you in the dark arts, I'd bet you'd look pretty
goofy too."

Buffy tried to picture herself learning real magic, and decided it was best
to stick to regular hand-to-hand combat.

"True, but that's why I use my hands," Buffy held her fists up, "which are
considered weapons in most states."

"So you admit that you'd look goofy?"

"Yeah, but not as goofy as you learning hand-to-hand," Buffy countered.

"Puh-leez, I bet you'd look ten times goofier learning magic than me
punching this bag."

"How much?" Buffy challenged, crossing her arms.

"You wanna bet money?"

"Why not?"

"I dunno," Willow shrugged her shoulders.

"Are you chicken?"

"No!"

"Good, then we'll bet money," Buffy replied.

"Fine, how much?"

Anya burst into the workout room, "Did I hear someone mention money?"

"Uh huh," Buffy nodded. "Will and I were gonna make a bet."

"Ooh, ooh," Anya clapped her hands eagerly. "What are you betting? Money,
goats, cows?" Anya trailed off.

"Goats?" Buffy asked.

"Cows?" Willow asked immediately afterwards.

"Yeah," Anya nodded. "It's a known practice to bet farm animals in certain
countries."

"Okay?" Buffy replied, "Unfortunately, I left my cattle on the farm."

"It's too bad, cuz an entire cow would fetch a fair price at the livestock
show this year," Anya added.

"Um," Willow interrupted, "You do know Buffy's joking, right?"

"Well, duh, ex-demon's can be sarcastic too," Anya rolled her eyes.

"Good to know," Buffy replied.

"So what's the bet?" Anya asked eagerly.

"Oh, Buffy and I were just betting on who'd look goofier learning each
other's specialties."

"Specialties?" Anya furrowed her brow, "As in sex?"

"No!" Buffy and Willow screamed.

"Sorry," Anya apologized.

"Specialities, as in her teaching me fighting and me teaching her magic,"
Willow explained.

"Oh, those specialities," Anya replied.

"Yes, those specialities," Buffy re-emphasized.

"So I assume you called me here to mediate the process," Anya stated.

"We didn't call you here," Willow pointed out, "You called yourself."

"Semantics," Anya shook her head, "and that's why you two need me to
mediate, to make sure the deal is fair. Plus, to hold the money of course."

"Fine," Buffy agreed. "Is it okay with you, Will?"

"Yup."

"Alright then, let me get my pen and we can start to write the contract,"
Anya stated, turning around and exiting the workout room.

"Contract?" Buffy and Willow moaned.

******

"I can't believe we just scored the best room at the best inn in the city,"
Dawn beamed, plopping down on the king-sized bed near the window,
overlooking the Capitol.

"That's what making your own money can do for you," Tara smiled, placing
their bags down on the floor.

"Why didn't you ever do that back home?" Dawn asked, luxuriating in the
softness of the bed. "Unless, of course, you did do that back home, but
never told me?"

"No, Dawny, I didn't make money back home because it's bad," Tara explained.

"Then why do it here?"

"Because, as far as I can tell, this world has yet to come up with a
centralized banking system."

"So?"

"So, it means our extra money won't have a negative impact on their economy.

"Why would it negatively affect our economy back home?"

"Inflation, Dawny."

"Oh," Dawn furrowed her brow, still luxuriating in the mattress.

"Do you want to do the countdown and protection spells now?" Tara asked,
approaching the bed and sitting down on the edge.

"Okay, but I was really getting used to this bed," Dawn whined.

"Don?t worry. As soon as we find a way back, I'll super-size your bed for
you," Tara smiled.

******

Dawn paid the man at the temple gate. She really wanted to protest about
the fee, but she really had no choice if she wanted in.

The fee seemed to make sure the number of visitors was kept to a minimum,
and as far as Dawn could tell, she was the only one entering the temple at
this time.

Dawn walked through the main hall of the temple, revelling in the sheer
beauty of the place. The hall dipped down, then rose again, as if to hide
the inner temple from prying eyes.

The hall, opened into a giant room, where the walls themselves were covered
in ancient writing.

But more spectacular was the fact, that at the centre of the room, stood a
green crystal, its aura flowing eerily around itself.

The green crystal stood on a display case with a glass covering, but the
glass didn't seem to affect the aura of the crystal at all. The aura flowed
easily outside of the glass, uncontained.

Dawn stood mesmerized by the green object, wanting so much to walk over and
touch it. The display case was sectioned off by a mini-moat. In fact, the
only things missing were a drawbridge, the castle, and crocodiles in the
water of the moat.

The moat didn't seem too deep, or too far across. Dawn looked around
anxiously, seeing if anyone else was in the room.

She looked down the hall she had come through and could see no one there.
Unfortunately, the dipping hall, wouldn't allow her to see the entrance.
Dawn began panting, her entire body becoming drenched in sweat.

The young girl began feeling dizzy, but was able to keep her balance.

Something about the crystal called out to her. Something primal. Something
instinctive.

And then it hit her. A beam of green light penetrated the protection spell
and knocked Dawn to the ground, leaving the girl unconscious.

******

"Anya, I don't think we need to worry about lawsuits," Buffy exasperated,
putting her head down on the table.

"Yeah, Anya," Willow agreed," Buffy and I aren't going to sue each other
over a stupid bet."

"That's what they all say," Anya shook her head.

"Who's they?" Buffy asked.

"The misinformed people that blindly enter into legally binding contracts,
that's who," Anya replied.

"Whatever," Buffy and Willow rolled their eyes.

"Don't whatever me," Anya spat. "I'm doing you two a favour, and I expect
to get my fair share of the money."

"What?" Buffy and Willow shouted.

"Yes, I believe 20% off the betting money is reasonable," Anya explained.

"More like 0%," Willow stated.

"Fine, fine, but you two owe me, and I keep track of debts," Anya said,
eyeing each girl carefully.

"Just write the contract, Anya," Buffy breathed. "I'm going to get a
burger. Wanna come, Will?"

"Did you even have to ask?" Willow replied, super-glad she could avoid
talking to Anya for the next few hours.

******

"You love her don't you?" Glory smirked, leaning back on the couch.

"What're you talking about?" Leanna blushed, picking up Glory's plates and
taking them to the sink.

"It's not a 'what,' it's a 'who.' And you know who," Glory stated
confidently.

"If you're talking about Tara?" Leanna began.

"Duh, who else?" The blonde goddess interrupted.

"As I was saying, if you're talking about Tara, then you're wrong," Leanna
lied, nervously scrubbing the plates.

Glory burst out laughing, kicking her feet up on the makeshift coffee table.

"What's so funny?" Leanna demanded.

"Mortals," Glory answered. "You're all so damn secretive. It's like you're
all afraid you'll give up your plans for world domination."

Leanna exhaled deeply and closed her eyes.

"Seriously, Lee. If you want her, just take her," Glory said, running a hand
through her blonde locks.

"What?" Leanna shouted, turning around to see if the psycho on the couch was
serious.

"You heard me, I said take what you want."

Leanna silently shook her head and turned back around to finish the dishes.

"That's the problem with you mortals. You never get right to the point.
It's always walking around the Great Wall of China, not punchin' through
it."

Leanna swallowed hard, scrubbing harder each second.

"If you want my advice, and even if you don't," Glory began, "make the witch
a nice dinner when she returns from the big city. She might actually like
ya back."

Leanna pondered Glory's advice, and she had to admit, some of it did make
sense, although she had no idea what the Great Wall of China was.

******

Tara perused the shelves of books in the library and found an interesting
one shaped like a triangle. From what she could tell, it was supposed to
represent the pyramidal temple at the centre of the city.

Tara flipped a few pages and found a interesting picture of a crystal
standing in the middle of a giant room. The crystal looked oddly familiar.

She couldn't tell what the colour was, since the book had no colour
whatsoever.

Tara read the caption below the picture and got a jolt of a lifetime: The
Lock awaits the Key.


To be continued.