Destiny

By PSUBrat

Warning: Chapter contains character death

Pain Times Two

Willow and Tara had just been standing in broad daylight so it took a few moments for their eyes to adjust to the shadows and firelight. They squeezed hands as the two tried to take in their surroundings. Neither one of them could see anything outside of the circle; it was pitch black and ominous. Willow's eyes swept the ground around her, her senses on overload. Something was wrong, off. Her stomach tightened as her gaze fell upon a bloody form on the ground. Her eyes widened as she gasped at the sight of Anya's corpse.

"Anya?" Willow whispered; her voice caught in her throat and her legs feeling rubbery.

"Oh my god," Tara gasped. "Is she...?"

Willow slowly crept over to the still form, pushing herself, knowing full well what she'd find but knowing that she had to see it for herself. She knew instantly that their friend was no longer among the living. No one could survive having their heart ripped out. Not even Anya. What would do something as horrible as this? "She's gone..." The words barely made it out of her mouth as a sob escaped from Tara.

She tried to cover her mouth before the sob escaped but it had come too quickly. "What do you think happened?" The how was obvious enough, but she needed to know the why and what, hoping that it would give them some insight in what they were to face.

"I-I don't know, Tara. Something awful did this to her, something..." She stopped in mid-sentence as she heard a soft moan come from her left. "Xander?"

"Willow?"

She ran to the sound of his weakened voice and found him bloody and battered in a heap on the ground. She could hear his chest rattle with each breath he took. "Xander, what happened?"

His answers came in short sentences, each word a difficult task. "Demon. Like Giles. Stupid me. Should have listened. Anya."

"Shhh, try not to talk," she said as she ran her one hand across his forehead, moving his sweat slicked hair from his eyes. She took his other hand in hers and held on to him as tightly as she could without causing more pain. "Tara and I are going to try to get you out of here..."

"No. No. Dead already. Matter of time. All your fault." His eyes fluttered open briefly as if to emphasize his last statement.

"What?" Willow demanded, somewhat shocked and stricken by his words, her face clearly showing her pain.

"Your fault."

"Xander, you don't mean that..." Tara stated softly as she knelt next to him as well.

"My fault?"

"The wish. Your fault," he whispered, swallowing hard. The words were harder now as the blackness and cold started to envelope him. The edges of his vision became grayer. He knew that his end was coming, swiftly now. Damn her for making that wish.

Willow quickly looked over at Tara, pain in her eyes and then she rested her gaze back on her friend. "Xander..." she started gently, searching his eyes frantically for forgiveness, something, anything that said he really didn't believe she was responsible for all of this. She watched as his chest rose and fell one last time. "Xander! No!"

Tara moved quickly to the other side of Xander and felt for a pulse. There was none. Slowly she moved her hand over his eyes and ever so gently closed them while Willow sobbed. Anya and Xander had not survived their trials. It didn't bode well for the rest of them.

***

"Well?" Cordelia demanded, looking from Wesley to Giles and then back again. Her hands were on her hips and she was tapping her right foot.

Giles and Wes exchanged furtive glances. They were pretty sure they knew the pattern now, but it would take the next disappearances to confirm it.

"Cordy, let it go," Angel stated, trying to calm her down.

"No! I, for one, am not going to sit around here waiting for the transport to wherever it is we're going. We need to do something."

"It's not that simple Cordelia," Giles replied, frustration clearly coating his voice. "We cannot just go out there and try to find whatever it is that's separating us..."

"And why not? At least we'd be doing something positive instead of sitting around here waiting for our deaths, or whatever."

"We are not being killed off Cordelia," Wesley growled.

"Not that we know of anyway. Who's to say that we're not just being taken and killed right away, huh?"

Giles sighed and buried his face in his hands. "Cordelia, please. Sit down and be quiet."

Glaring at Giles, Cordelia walked over to Angel and sat down next to him in the warm sand. "Great. Now I'm gonna have sand in all the wrong places. What was I thinking?"

"Aren't you all glowy and all knowing?" Dawn asked the former cheerleader, interrupting the girl's rant about sand and where it usually ends up. "I mean, you get visions from the Powers, right? Can't you find out what's going on?"

Cordelia looked at Dawn, a frown covering her face. "I receive visions, Dawn. Big difference. I can't just go inducing them."

"Sorry. Just asked."

Giles and Wesley joined the other four on the ground. "We think we know the pattern," Giles stated hesitantly. "And if we're correct, Wesley and I will be next."

"How do you know?" Dawn asked with concern. The thought of being left here without Giles made her stomach churn.

"It's all connected. Xander and Anya were chosen first because Xander is the only true human of the Twelve. Willow and Tara next because of Willow's life long friendship with Xander as well as the connection of working together."

"So why does that make you and Wesley next?" Angel asked with a frown.

"Because," Wesley continued as his hard gaze settled on Angel. "Giles is connected to Willow and Tara. He brought them to study under the Coven in England and has worked with Willow since coming to Sunnydale for Buffy. That and there is separate magical connections as well. Anya had magical capabilities, as do Willow and Tara, Giles and myself."

"So that means Dawn and I would be after you two, right?" Connor questioned as he squeezed Dawn's hand.

Giles shook his head. "No. Dawn is mystical, not magical. We believe that Angel and Cordelia would be next."

"Why?" Cordelia demanded as she folded her arms across her chest. "Neither of us has any magic in us."

"That's not true," Wesley stated. "Angel's soul is magical. It was inflicted upon him by a curse, using magic. Plus, it would also be a working connection...the AI continuance."

Connor looked at Giles. "Then Dawn and I would come after Angel and Cordelia because of my connection to Angel?"

"Yes," Giles stated with a nod. "Which would then lead into Buffy and William because of Dawn. It's all connected."

"Now we just have to wait and see if we're correct," Wesley added as he closed his eyes and sighed.

***

Willow's sobs wracked her small frame as she leaned over Xander, screaming for him to come back to her. "You can't be dead," she wailed. "Open your eyes Xander. Open them now!"

Tara quickly moved beside her grief stricken lover and tried to comfort her as best she could. Willow's pain was almost unbearable. Finally, she was able to move Willow away from Xander and embrace her tightly, slowly rocking her. As she peered over Willow's shoulder at Xander's form, she noticed how it was getting lighter, fading away. She frowned and squeezed her eyes closed, opening them instantly. Nothing changed. "Xander's gone," she stated in an almost whisper.

"I know," Willow sobbed.

"No Willow. I mean he's gone."

Willow broke free of Tara's embrace and turned around. Xander's body had disappeared. Her eyes narrowed as confusion spread across her face. "Where did he go?"

"I don't know but Anya's gone too."

"Yeah, isn't that just a shame?" A male voice asked from the shadows.

The two girls looked around the circle but saw no one. Willow thought she recognized the voice but it couldn't be, could it? No. He was dead. Long dead. There was no way it was him.

"Oh it's me alright," he said stepping into the lighted circle, revealing his identity to the two witches. "Now we're gonna have some fun."

"Warren," Tara murmured.

"Yep. It's me. I'm back and badder than ever. Isn't that right, witch?" He asked with a wry smile, looking directly at Willow.

"No," Willow stated as she and Tara stood. "You're dead. Buffy saw you die."

He laughed loudly and madly as he eyes danced in the firelight. "You think such a little thing like death could keep me down? Come on. Look where we live, on top of the Hellmouth. Do you think anyone really stays dead here?"

"Well, no, but still...we watched them carry your body away!"

"Oh please and besides, that was just one of my deaths, wasn't it Willow?"

Her eyes widened in horror. "What?"

Chuckling, he began to walk the perimeter of the circle, his eyes never leaving them. "I'm one of the lucky ones. I got to die twice, only I didn't know about the first time. Not until after the second time that is. I have to admit though; the second death was probably more noble, more crushing and less flaying." He paused, giving Willow a wicked grin. "Makes perfect sense to me now why you told me that I couldn't kill her again when I was trying to destroy you all back in the cave. At the time, I just thought you were out of your mind, protecting your lover but now I know, don't I? I know everything." He now stood about three feet from them and could smell Willow's anger. "Does your little girlfriend here know what you did? To me? To them?"

"Yes," Willow stated with authority, refusing to be cowed by his closeness to them. "I told them everything."

Tara nodded in agreement when Warren's eyes traveled to meet hers. "She did. Everything."

"I see. Well, then I guess I have no more business here, huh?" He asked with yet another wicked grin.

"No you don't," Willow replied, her voice gaining strength. "Be gone."

Warren howled with laughter at her words. "You're too easy," he said as he stepped closer to them. He watched as they instinctively took a step back; the response brought another grin to his lips. "Telling them how things went down is one thing, but seeing it is something else, isn't it?"

Willow frowned. She didn't understand what he was getting at and obviously he was hinting at something important. Tired of playing games, she took several steps towards him while ignoring Tara's frantic tugging at her sleeve. "Just what are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say, witch, is that the little woman here is about to get an eyeful. Only right, don't ya think; that she should know who you really are, what you're really capable of?" He stopped, smiled and turned to Tara. "You'd like to see that wouldn't you sweetheart?"

"You leave her out of this," Willow growled, her hands clenching into fists.

"Oh come on witch, let me have my say. You can't hurt me, you know. Not yet anyway."

Tara came up beside Willow and intertwined her fingers with the red head. "Your words mean nothing, you know. They are just words."

"I know. That's why I'm going to show you. It's much better that way, more detail, gore, theatrics, and the whole deal. It'll be fun." He laughed and moved closer still to the girls. "I promise."

***

Warren grabbed Tara and pulled her into the middle of the circle with him, a knife to her throat. "Stay back, witch!" He yelled at her as he pressed the knife deeper into Tara's skin, enough to draw a small trickle of blood. "And no magic." He watched as Willow complied, slowly taking a step back. This was going to be so much fun. Two trees appeared, one on either side of him. He let Tara go and took a step behind her. "You see, it went down like this...after I accidentally killed you, little Miss All Black and Veiny pursued me through woods like an animal hunting its prey. I threw as much magic at her as I could but it didn't even slow her down. Then, when she finally caught up with me, she tied me to the trees like so..." Tara's arms shot out as ropes appeared, trying her to the trees.

"Stop it!" Willow demanded, her memories flooding back like Niagara Falls.

"But I'm just getting to the good part. Be a good little witch and shut up."

Suddenly Willow's mouth was sewn shut, as she had done to him all those months before the wish.

"There. Much better," he stated with a grin.

Tara gasped in horror and tried several different spells to undo what had been done, but nothing worked. Willow couldn't speak.

"She'll be fine; besides, your magic doesn't work here. Just watch and listen, sweetheart." He laughed. "Getting back to what I was saying...after she tortured me with the image of my dead ex-girlfriend..."

Willow tried to speak but all that came out were muffled sounds. She wanted to scream to the world what she knew, but she couldn't.

"Yeah, yeah. I know. I killed her too. Do we need to get technical here? I think not. Where was I? Oh yeah, after Katrina. She brought out a bullet and bore it into my chest. I'd show you how but it would just be too messy. Suffice it to say, it was a pretty painful experience."

"Why are you doing this?" Tara asked, tears streaming down her face. "We know what happened." She kept testing the ropes, hoping that they would give way and she could get away from him.

"Because I can. Because I want you to know everything your girlfriend is capable of and I want you to feel what I felt. Well, except for the bullet thing. I'll spare you that part."

Willow was crying harder. If her mouth hadn't been sewn shut, she would have been screaming. She tried to rush at him but found she couldn't even move, frozen to the ground.

Strolling over to her, he whispered in her ear. "Did you think I was going to make this easy on you?" He laughed as he saw her eyes widen. Placing an arm around her, even as she tried to shrug it off, he continued with his diatribe. "I begged her. Tried to plead to her humanity to spare me, but there was nothing left of her except hatred and anger."

"Is this true Willow?" Tara asked quietly, her eyes searching her lover's for the answer she was afraid she already knew.

Willow looked down at her feet and nodded.

Tara looked away, the same feeling of disgust that surfaced when Willow had told her about the wish originally, returned. Willow had killed in cold blood. There was no denying it now.

A smirk crept across his lips as he watched their interaction. Success. These two would not be working together. Such a shame, he had been hoping for a good fight. Oh well. "Okay, let's continue cause we're running on a time schedule," he said tapping his wristwatch several times. "Do you know what she did next Tara? Take a wild guess what she did after she burrowed the bullet into my chest and sewed my mouth shut so I couldn't scream. Can you guess what she did then?"

"She killed you?"

"No. Good guess though. Next she undid my mouth so I could scream out, mostly in pain and terror but also so she could hear my last scream as she flayed me. That's when she killed me. Do you know what flaying is like, baby?"

Tara shook her head and her eyes widened in horror as she realized what he was going to do next. "Please. No."

"Yeah, that's it. Beg for me, sweetheart. Like I did. Beg." He felt Willow writhe in his grasp, trying desperately to free herself so she could stop him. Finally, he let her go and walked over to Tara. "You know what?" He asked as his eyes shone in the torch light. "I'm getting kinda..." he paused, looked over at Willow and grinned his most wicked grin. "Bored." As he swept his hand upwards, Tara's skin was ripped from her body, just as it had been done to him.

"No!" Willow cried out in anguish as her mouth unsealed. "You son of a bitch!" She yelled at him, racing towards him with as much speed as her legs would give her. Flying at him, she tackled him to the ground and tried choking him. She stopped only after she heard him laughing at her.

He kicked her off him, sending her flying to the ground a few feet away as he stood up. "Did you really think she was going to forgive you for what you did? Did you really believe she was going to be able to get past what I was showing her? Come on Willow, how stupid could you possibly be? For a really bright girl, you're really lacking in the common sense department, aren't ya?"

She seethed as she listened to him; the rage coursing through her, turning her eyes black.

"That's it. That's my girl. Come on. Give it to me! You know you want to!"

Standing up, she murmured a few words and held out her hand, palm facing him. As her tone increased, the wind picked up and blue electricity crackled around her. She shouted and a blue ball of flame flew at him, engulfing him.

He laughed as the blue energy licked at his body, making it tingle with all kinds of pleasure as he absorbed it. When the crackling subsided, he stood perfectly still, a smile playing across his face. "Now that's what we like to see. A few more of those and you'll never be able to stop me."

She stepped back as her eyes returned to normal, her breath coming in short gasps. A small voice began playing inside her head. It sounded like Tara. "Remember what you promised," it said. "Remember." Looking at Warren, she realized what he was doing. He was trying to bait her, get her to use her blackest magicks, make her lose control again and he was succeeding. No. She was better than this, right? The Coven had thought so. They had seen something in her, right? Tara had as well. Tara. Poor, sweet Tara. The anger began building in her again as her dark side screamed, begging to be let out, but she held it in check. "I...am...not...going...to...do...this!"

"You have no choice, you know. It's either kill or be killed, baby. So what's it gonna be?"

"Incendium!"

Suddenly, he burst into flame but then the fire quickly subsided, leaving behind charred skin in its place. "This is far from over. I'm not done with you yet. The only thing that will work, is for you to go all bad ass again, otherwise, you can't hurt me."

"You're looking a little crispy to me," Willow stated as she tried to keep her eyes off Tara's flayed body.

"Looks are always deceiving. Didn't you learn that by now?" He shook off his burned skin to reveal new, pinker skin beneath. He opened his arms and threw his head back. "Do your worst," he demanded.

"I already told you, I'm not doing this."

He threw his arms down to his sides and sighed. "Fine then. Be that way." Shrugging, he drew a gun from behind him and pointed it at her, pulling the trigger twice.

Stunned, she looked down at her chest. Two perfect little holes began to ooze blood. She fell to the ground as the numbness began to take hold of her body. "Giles," she whispered as the dark and cold enveloped her, her body becoming still and lifeless.



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