FIC: Willowverses (1/?)

[PChazzman@xxxxxxx]

TITLE: Willowverses (1/?)
AUTHOR: Chazzman
E-MAIL: PChazzman@xxxxxxx 
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They all belong 
to Joss and the WB network. Please don't sue. 
SPOILERS: BTVS though Season 6/Angel through Season 3. 
SUMMERY: During the end of 'Doppelgangland' Anya tries once more to regain 
her necklace. But the Fates are not happy with her tampering with the 
tapestry of the multiverse.
RATED: PG
DISTRIBUTION: Just ask me, please...
FEEDBACK: Is very welcome.
AUTHOR'S NOTE: 


Willowverses

Chap 1: Back In a Flash

Buffy watched nervously as Willow took her place in the circle along with the 
vampire double, Giles and Anya. She hated the feeling that she was helpless 
if anything should go wrong and Willow became endangered, but it was the 
truth. She had already had enough nasty shocks for the evening when she and 
Xander had come across the Vampire-Willow, and for the longest hour she had 
thought Willow was dead. Then 'Her Willow' had walked into the library alive 
and well, and it was like a scene from one of those nature films about the 
desert and how they suddenly burst into bloom after a rainstorm. One minute 
she was feeling as if her heart had dried up, the next she was in paradise as 
she held onto a living, breathing Willow.

Everything seemed to be proceeding well. Buffy could feel the mystical powers 
gathering, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Suddenly, 
she saw Willow's head jerk up, and an expression of alarm on her face. With 
out a thought, Buffy was in motion leaping forward over Giles, pushing him 
back away from the circle, and diving forward to push Willow out of the 
circle and away from danger.

Only she was too late, and Willow was gone before Buffy could reach her. 
Buffy crashed into the floor, rolled to her feet and spun about. Only to see 
the two Willow's and Anya had vanished. 

Everyone stared in shock and horror at the empty space. Angel bent to help 
Giles stand from where Buffy had tossed him. 

"Willow!" gasped Oz.

"W-What hap-" Xander began to ask when a sudden swirling of dust and 
electricity kicked up. Everyone took a step back when a rip suddenly 
appeared in midair and out of it stepped a smiling Willow. 

A smiling Willow wearing a very short black mini-dress and black strap on 
heels. She carried a large leather satchel over her left shoulder and a 
half-full champagne glass in her right hand. Her hair was cut short and she 
wore a party hat on her head that read 'Happy New Year'.

She looked around at the gaping faces and raised her glass. "Hi, Guys!" she 
said cheerily before upending the glass and finishing her drink. 

"Willow. Are you-?" hesitantly Buffy tried to phrase her question tactfully.

Willow smiled. "It's really me Buffy. I'm a little older. Been around the 
multiverse a few times but I'm back."

"How? What? How?" Xander asked in shock.

"Three excellent questions Xander. But they will have to wait until 
tomorrow. I'm a bit too tired to go into full explanations tonight, and if I 
recall correctly when I left here it was rather late and a school night as 
well."

The flood of questions was muted when Giles added his agreement to Willow's 
plan. The confused group of friends then dispersed for the evening. Oz drove 
Willow home but was disturbed by how distant she was behaving. Willow knew 
he was hurt but that could not be helped. 

Oz parked the van in front of her house. "How long?" he asked quietly 
looking out the front window.

Willow looked over at Oz. "If I say a very long time can we leave it at 
that?"

Oz nodded and looked down as Willow got out of the van. 

"Will you be at the library tomorrow?" she asked softly.

"I don't know."

Willow watched as the van pulled away. She looked up at the stars for a few 
minutes before she walked into her house. 

Twenty minutes later she smiled, as the person she knew would be coming 
tapped on the window of her balcony's doors. She opened the door and grinned 
at the hesitant way Buffy stood there. 

"Couldn't wait till tomorrow," Buffy muttered before looking up and seeing 
Willow standing in her short black dress. Buffy caught herself staring and 
blushed.

"It's OK. I kinda expected you would come by. Would you like to stay the 
night?"

"You sure? Actually, I thought Oz would still be here."

"Oz and I have broken up."

"What? But you just-"

"Buffy, I know for you I only was gone for a few minutes, but for me, it's 
been a lot longer. I love Oz, but I haven't been 'In Love' with Oz for a 
long time now. Years in fact."

Buffy stared at Willow. One question nagging at the back of her mind.

"How long where you gone?"

"I honestly don't know anymore. Problem is, every time I jump universes I 
almost always get shifted to another time. So I couldn't really keep track 
of how long I'd been traveling. However, I would guess it has been at least 
a decade."

Buffy's mouth dropped open. "Woah!" She looked at her best friend with 
sadness for all the lost time she had not been there for her. "Willow, God, 
I'm...I'm so sorry. I...I...I just wish I could have been there for you."

"Shush," Willow said gently as she placed a finger on Buffy's lips. "You 
were there. One way or another, you were always there. No matter what 
universe I was in. Sometimes things were good. Other times things were 
really screwed up. I just did what I could to help. Sort of 'Quantum Leap' 
meets 'Sliders'. It became my job to 'put right what once went wrong'. 
Sometimes."

"Sometimes?"

Willow hesitated for a second. "A couple of times, there wasn't anything 
that I could do." Buffy saw Willow's eyes became misty at the memory of some 
past tragedy, then her voice took on a harder more bitter tone. "The worst 
times were when I wasn't allowed to do anything except watch as the world 
fell apart."

"Wasn't allowed?"

"The hardest thing I've ever learned was to accept failure. I'm not perfect 
and I can't fix everything. But I will never be able to accept having the 
power to change things and not being allowed to try. It hurts too much. But 
the Fates have hearts of stone. If they have hearts at all." Willow wrapped 
her arms about herself as if she had a sudden chill.

As Buffy looked on, several points began to make themselves clear in her 
mind. This Willow was not the same Willow that Buffy had known this morning. 
This Willow had lived ten or more years on her own. This Willow had a 
confident and powerful presence. This Willow had seen other universes. This 
Willow had grown up. 

Her Willow had grown up without her. 

Her Willow didn't need her protection anymore. 

Buffy wasn't needed.

Buffy was suddenly feeling as if she was intruding. "You said you were 
tired. I should let you rest. Will you be OK?" 

Willow looked at Buffy as if sensing her fears. 

"Buffy nothing would make me feel more OK than to have you stay with me all 
night."

Buffy couldn't help but smiled in delight at Willow's words and she moved 
forward to hug Willow. "I don't know how to tell you how I felt when you 
disappeared tonight. I mean first the whole vampire double thing, and then 
you completely vanish on me. I just... I couldn't feel anything but a huge 
ache in my heart."

Willow exhaled softly by Buffy's ear and whispered, "I love you, Buffy. I'm 
so happy to be back where I belong."

Chills shot up Buffy's spine as Willow's breath caressed her ear and the 
words sent a shot of happiness through her that she couldn't quiet explain. 

Willow pulled back enough to look Buffy in the eye, but not to have to remove 
her arms. "You're going to insist I tell you what happened, aren't you?"

Buffy smiled. "What's a sleepover without a bedtime story?"

An enigmatic smile flitted across Willow's lips. "OK. Why don't you call 
your mom first before it gets any later."

Five minutes later Buffy had spoken with her mother and told her she would be 
staying at Willow's. After hanging up the phone she turned to Willow, "Got 
any jammies you could share?"

Willow smirked, "Nope. Something better." With a wave of her hand Willow 
changed both her and Buffy's clothes into red silk pajamas. Buffy gasped 
first in surprise then in delight at the sensual feeling of the new clothing. 


"WOW! Willow. Wow."

"Think that's good wait till you see the outfits I'm thinking about for us 
for tomorrow." 

Minutes later, Willow and Buffy were laying in Willow's bed, and Willow began 
her tale.

"Well it started when I sensed a change in that spell we were casting to send 
my double back home..."

****

TBC...