Eyes of the Soul

Title: Eyes Of The Soul

Author: Jennifer

Copyright © 2002 - 2003 by Jennifer Johnson

Feedback: jennpurr@yahoo.com or willowtaralove@netzero.com Please, give me feedback. Good or bad. Feel free to tell me what you think. Or just post it here.

Disclaimers: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. This is solely for my entertainment. Please do not copyright this story.

F/F romance: If the idea of a same sex relationship bothers you, please do not read this story.

Pairings: W/T eventually, X/A

Spoilers: Season 6. This is set after Seeing Red, but Tara never dies at the hands of Warren. The rest is just my own creativity. Oh, and Giles never left.

Summary: Tara is missing, or so the Scoobies think. What will happen when they find her?

Rating: R. Angst, violence, and adult content (eventually) ;) This part is PG-13

My Thanks: To Sam (Blue77) and Danie. Thanks for being my betas and for helping me out with all the suggestions. You truly are gifted for writing, both of you. I hope you continue to do so. ;) And Danie, don’t forget the catnip. ;)

Author's Notes: This is my first attempt at writing Buffy fan fiction, so please tell me what you think. I usually write fan fiction for ER. I apologize for the heavy subject of W/T angst in this story, especially after what has happened to Tara. These thoughts have been floating around in my brain lately and I just wanted to see if I could turn them into a story. Willow and Tara WILL have a happy ending, if that helps. Let’s just hope we get that on the show. Some of the inspiration for this came from “Unexpected Consequences.” Lisa’s a genius. Thanks for your story Lisa. :)



Eyes Of The Soul: Chapter 1/?
By: Jennifer



“Buffy!”

The Slayer turned around at Willow’s voice, just in time to duck as a vampire threw a right hook towards her face. “That was so not okay.” Buffy morphed her body into a lightening fast roundhouse kick and sent the vamp flying across the graveyard.

Willow stumbled to her feet just in time to see Buffy stake the unruly vamp.

Buffy rushed over to her friend, who was currently nursing her right arm. “You okay, Will?”

“Oh… fine. Never been better,” she said sarcastically. “How bout you? You okay?” Willow pointed towards the cut above Buffy’s right eyebrow.

“I’ll be fine. We should get you to the ER to have that checked.” She frowned as she remembered watching a vampire try to break Willow’s arm.

Willow stretched the arm in question across the front of her body with her other hand. “It’ll be fine,” she said with a slight wince. “You grabbed him before he did any real damage.”

“You sure?”

Willow’s brow crinkled slightly and her lips formed a straight line as she looked at Buffy and pointed towards her lips. “See my resolve face?”

Buffy just gave her an understanding smile and threw her arm over Willow’s uninjured shoulder. “Alright… let’s get outta here.”

They walked in silence for a short period of time as they made their way back to the house. Buffy was satisfied. She and Willow had dusted 6 vamps. Tonight had been a pretty heavy night. At best they usually only faced 2 or 3 vamps, if that.


“This is pretty cool. Us hanging out like this. I just hate to see you get hurt.” She squeezed the redhead’s uninjured shoulder.

Willow turned her head to look at her friend. “I just can’t sit at home. I keep thinking… ‘Well… what if I see her tonight? What if she’s just walking down the street and we see each other?’ and then I’ll know she’s okay.” A sad sigh escaped Willow’s lips.

“I know, Will. I miss her too. I just wish we knew where she was or what happened to her.”

The redhead gave Buffy a petrified look.

“Not that anything happened to her. It’s just… Why would she just disappear?”

It took all of Willow’s will power to hold back the tears that were bursting to flood over at any moment. “I don’t know. Things were going so good. I just wish I knew where she was. I miss her, Buffy.”

Buffy gave Willow a strong squeeze as they walked up her driveway. “We’ll find her. You’ll get her back.”

They failed to notice the pair of large blue eyes following their every move as they went inside. The eyes glowed from the reflection of the porch light, from their position in the bushes.

With a mournful whimper, the figure disappeared, swiftly running down the street and away from the Summers residence, as if it were being summoned somewhere.


In the house, Xander was arguing with Dawn about what movie to watch.

“I don’t want to watch, “The Mummy Returns,” we’ve watched that 3 times already this week!” Xander said, exasperatedly.

Dawn snatched the movie out of Xander’s hand. “It’s my movie and I want to watch it.”

“Dawn… you can watch that movie anytime you want. Let Xander pick a movie.”

“But…” she started to argue, but Buffy cut her off.

“Why don’t you go watch it in your room?” She raised an eyebrow at her sister.

“Fine!” Dawn quickly took to the stairs and slammed her door once she was in her bedroom.

“Hey, Buff. Thanks for saving me there.”

Buffy smiled at Xander as she plopped down on the couch. “No, prob.”

“Wills, why the gloomy face?”

Willow sat down next to Buffy on the couch and leaned her head back on the blonde’s shoulder.

“She’s missing Tara,” Buffy answered for the redhead, as she put her arm around Willow’s shoulder.

“We all miss her, Will. It’s just so confusing. You two just got back together, why would she take off?” Xander saw tears come to Willow’s eyes and he instantly regretted his words.

He scooted over closer to her. “I’m sure she’ll come back. In the meantime, you’ve got us Scoobies… and researchy Giles,” he said, trying to lighten the mood.

This made Willow look up. She smiled at Xander and leaned over and gave him a hug. “Thanks, Xander. I know… I’ll find her. I’ll always find her. It’s just… where is she?”


*****


“If you keep looking at me like that, you’re not going to get any food,” a voice warned.

The only answer the voice received was a deep growl.

“Now… you might as well get used to that cage cause you’re gonna be here for awhile. I see you’ve learned to listen to me now. You came back in time tonight. Don’t like going without eating, do you? Or better yet… you don’t like being shocked with magic bolts, do you? It’s so simple. I control you. Without me… you would die. Let’s just see that you keep behaving and I might consider letting you go soon.”

The two large blue eyes that had watched Willow and Buffy return home from patrol had grown hopeful at those words.

“Hmmm… but maybe not. I like having you around, as leverage.”

The captor received another deep growl in protest.

“Here.” The voice threw two raw steaks in the cage.

The steaks were gone in a matter of minutes.

“You just go to sleep now. I’ll be back tomorrow,” the captor said and headed for the stairs. It flipped off the basement light at the top step and then was gone.

The figure in the cage whimpered again, as it lied down for the night on the blanket in the far right corner and eventually fell asleep.


*****


Xander had left for the evening. He decided he should give Willow and Buffy some time alone.

Willow really was in bad shape. Just two weeks ago, her and Tara had gotten back together. They were going to start rebuilding on what they had again.

Tara was willing to start trusting Willow again. She had been confident that Willow was doing better with her addiction to the magic’s and she longed for a future with the woman she loved and would always love.

All of this changed when Tara disappeared. It had been a week now since Willow had last seen her beloved. She didn’t understand. ‘Did I do something wrong? Does she still not trust me?’ These are the questions that keep rolling around in Willow’s mind. Every night for the past week, these were the questions that Willow fell asleep to.

Tonight was the same. The redhead was exhausted. Her brain was noisy and she couldn’t get any rest. Thoughts of every kind kept torturing her. She would wake up in tears most nights, fearing the worst.

“You’re gonna wear yourself out, Will,” Buffy whispered to the sleeping redhead. She had fallen asleep shortly after Xander had left. She was lying on the couch on her back, with her head in Buffy’s lap. The blonde was watching her sleep, thinking. “We WILL find her. I won’t stop searching till we do.”

Just then, Willow gasped and sat up with a start, “Tara…” She started to sob uncontrollably. “No!” she cried.

“Shhh… Will, it’s okay.” Buffy pulled Willow to her and the redhead wrapped her arms around the slayer and cried into her shoulder. “Easy…I’ve got ya. We’ll get you through this. We’ll find her. I promise.” A tear slithered down Buffy’s cheek as she held Willow, trying to comfort her.

Tara and Buffy had grown closer over the last few months. After all, Tara had been the first person to find out about Spike and Buffy sleeping together. From that moment, their friendship had started to blossom. Tara’s disappearance was tearing the slayer up more than she could ever admit.

Buffy had also liked the blonde Wicca, ever since she first met her. When Willow had told her that she and Tara were together, she briefly wigged, but she was happy for her best friend.

The blonde was pulled from her thoughts as Willow pulled away from her shoulder.

Wiping her tears away, the hacker sniffled. “Your shoulders all wet.”

Buffy looked at her shirt, but brought her eyes back to her best friend. “Willow tears,” she smiled. “It’s okay. I’m here for you.” She squeezed the redhead’s hand and then let it go.

“Thanks, Buffy.” Willow gave her friend one last hug, then stood to her feet. “I’m gonna go to bed. I’ll see you in the morning?”

“Bright and early,” the slayer said, with far more enthusiasm than she believed in.

Willow gave her a half smile. “Night, Buff.” She turned for the stairs.

“Night, Will.” Buffy watched as Willow climbed the stairs and then soon after, she decided she would go to bed as well. Turning off the lights, she went to her room. She grabbed her nightshirt and a clean pair of underwear and then headed for the bathroom.


In the other room, Willow was peering out her bedroom window. ‘Where are you, baby? Please come home,’ she sent through her mind. ‘I need you, Tara. I love you.’ A tear ran down Willow’s cheek.
She turned from the window and collapsed onto her bed. “Goodnight, baby. Where ever you are.”


Across town, two large blue eyes slowly fluttered open.

‘Where are you, baby? Please come home.’ The figure heard the words in its mind. ‘I need you, Tara. I love you.’ The figured blinked its eyes and walked to the front of the metal cage, peering out into the darkness. The room was empty, the only sound being a humming from the small metal freezer across the room.

Inside the cage was a large metal bowl with water to the far left corner.

Confused, the figure walked back over to the blanket and lied down.

‘Willow,’ Tara sent out telepathically. ‘Please find me.’ With another whimper, she curled up to try and sleep. ‘I’m waiting for you, darling,’ she sent out, before drifting into slumber.


Once the voice hit Willow’s ears, she sat up abruptly from the bed and turned toward the door. “Tara?”

Confusion hit her features when she saw that no one was there. “Tara?” Willow got up from the bed and went into the hallway. A frantic look was etched upon her face, but still she found no one.

“Will… what’s up?” Buffy opened the bathroom door upon hearing her best friend’s voice. Thankfully she hadn’t undressed yet.

“Uh… I don’t know. I heard Tara.” She took to the stairs two at a time. “Baby?”

Buffy was right behind her.

After searching the living room and kitchen, she was utterly confused. “Okay… what’s going on? I heard her.” Willow looked at Buffy as if she could give her an explanation. “Buffy… where’s, Tara?” she said as she started to sob.

The slayer went to her best friend and hugged her close. “I don’t know where she is, Will. Are you sure you heard her?”

“Yes… I heard… her…” she said, between sobs.

“Well… maybe she did some kind of witchy telepathic thing?” Buffy said, curiously.

“Maybe.”

“That means she’s alive. She’s still alive, Will.” The blonde pulled back to look at the redhead.

Her tears still stung her cheeks, but a smile now predominated her features. “Tara’s alive,” she said, relieved.

“Yes she is… and we’ll find her. I’m here for you and I love you.” Buffy gave her a smile.

“I love you, too. And I’ll find Tara. We’ll always find each other,” she said and pulled Buffy into one more embrace.

“I’ll look some more on patrol tomorrow night. You have your meeting, right?”

“The AA for witches… yeah,” she said, proudly.

“I’m so proud of you, Will. You’re doing really good with the recovery thing.”

“I have to… for Tara AND for me. I can’t fall into it again. And I won’t.”

“YAY for that,” Buffy grinned.

“I guess I’m going to try and go get some sleep. I feel better knowing she’s okay. I just wish she was here.”

“I know… me too. She’ll be here soon. She will.” Buffy tugged Willow towards the stairs and they went back upstairs.

Willow could sleep knowing that Tara was still alive. The thing she neglected to notice is that Tara had telepathically linked with her, after Willow had called out to her. She could easily try to find her, if she just called out to her.

All of this slipped her mind as she clung to Tara’s pillow, pulling it against her chest and hugging it. “Goodnight, my Tara.”


*****


End of part 1