After the end

Willow was woken up by the sirens of an ambulance, nearly jumping out of the tree in surprise. She managed to grab a branch, gasping as she pushed herself back to safety, grimacing at the pain in her whole body, especially her shoulder and.. Bottom region. She found it ironic that even after all that had happened, she still had trouble even thinking the terms used for.. Down there. She yawned, noticing the rising sun with a small groan. Rubbing her eyes, she looked over near the hospital. Apparently even after a floor of people had been slaughtered, they decided to open it back up the next day. Anything for money, she thought with a scowl. Her scowl faded to a solemn frown as the thought reminded her of a certain deceased ex-demon. She sighed, looking down at the town gown. Her stomach rolled, her mind replaying yesterday's events. She scrambled up to lean over the side of the tree when her stomach heaved, emptying its contents onto the ground below. {What did you do?} {You're a monster!} {No one will forgive or trust you again!} {You don't /deserve/ trust or forgiveness!} Willow whimpered at the voices that screeched in her mind, slamming her hands over her ears even though she knew they were right. She had murdered someone again. In a way, this time was worse. It was a person she knew.. A person she had lived with - slept with. A person who had saved lives before she had betrayed her. She had seen the other slayers bodies too, and knew that their deaths were also her fault. She couldn't trust or forgive herself - how could the others? Maybe she should lock herself up. A prison wouldn't work, in case she got upset and used magic. She would just kill more people. Her eyes narrowed in thought. What if she magically bound herself? Or drained the magic from herself? She had already ruled out death for Tara. But surely if she just put herself into a magic induced coma, or locked herself away and drained the magic from her body, that would be better for Tara even if she found her, right? It would certainly be safer. Giles and the coven had said it was dangerous to stop magic all together, but look how well that worked. What other choice did she have? Willow narrowed her eyes, grabbing the knife and climbing back down the tree. A plan formed in her mind, she glanced down at her gown, frowning. She would definitely be stopped before reaching her destination if she wore that. So, as much as she hated it, she magicked real clothes onto herself. She looked at Kennedys knife, her heart wrenching. She shoved it into one of her pockets, starting to climb back out of the forest. It might help with her plan. 

***

Tara sat lazily on the couch, flipping through channels aimlessly. 

"Come on Tara.. You cant keep going like this. We've been searching for her for days and found nothing.. Theres not much more we can do." Xander sighed, "And we aren't sure that even if we found her that she is still.. You know." Tara was half blocking him out, staring blankly at the screen. 

"..Hes right, Tara. You didn't see her before.. She nearly killed us all." Buffy stated solemnly, 

"Xander just barely stopped her from ending the world. Barely able to stop her the first time. There's no.. Guaranteeing we could bring her back again." Dawn added. "We might have to.." The young summers girl's sentence trailed off. Tara stiffened, 

"So you guys can track down a bad guy, but not one of your best friends?" Giles cleared his throat, looking down solemnly, 

"All due respect, Tara.. But we might actually be tracking down 'a bad guy'.." Everyone jumped when the phone rang, but Tara was on it in an instant, thinking it was Willow. The gang strained to hear what the voice on the other line was saying, seeing Tara's face fall, but they couldn't make the words out. Tara finally hung up the phone, rushing for the door. 

"Oh goddess no.." The others stood to follow while she quickly tried to put her shoes on, 

"Tara? Tara what is it?" Tara didn't look up from her shoe. 

"It's Willow."