NOTE : This story is set within an alternate Buffyverse. Faith has stayed with the Scooby gang and has become Buffy's secret girlfriend; Dawn is now nineteen and Willow and Tara are still together. Although a separate story, this series starts two weeks after the events of Buffy and The Exiled.
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Sitting propped up on pillows, Tara was enduring a very special form of torment. Anya was trying in her own way to cheer the injured girl up. The Vengeance demon had been sitting on the edge of the bed but was now pacing restlessly around the room, her face wrinkling in disgust at the sight of all the fluffy animals.
"What's this supposed to be?" she asked, gingerly picking up an amorphous white ball of fur.
"It's Mister Fluffyball," the witch explained, receiving sympathetic glances from Dawn, who was sat cross-legged on the bottom of the bed.
"Oh. But what is it?"
"He's just a round thing to cuddle. It feels nice, try it."
Looking like she would rather cuddle a slime demon, Anya dropped the soft toy back amongst all the others on the overcrowded chair. Seeking safer pastures, the thousand year old demon began opening drawers and rooting through them.
Dawn frowned at her, "Er... Anya that's rude. There could be private things in there that Willow and Tara don't want you to see."
"Oh, pish!" the demon said, waving the teenager's concerns aside with a sweeping hand. "What could possibly be too private for a friend to see?"
Noticing the scarlet cheeks of the heavily bandaged young witch, Dawn tried again. "You know... ah... magical stuff."
"What's this?" Anya asked, holding up a translucent pink shaft several inches long that had two little floppy protrusions on it.
Tara turned crimson. "I..I..I th..think you sh..should put it back. That's W..Willow's."
"Oh. What is it?"
"It's c..called a Rampant Rabbit."
Anya shrieked, dropped it and fled the room.
"Wow! She really is phobic about bunnies," Dawn sniggered.
Tara's tiny smile suddenly switched to a gasp of pain and she bucked wildly in the bed. The cry blasted so loudly in her mind that it blotted every other bit of consciousness from her. "TARA!!"
Willow was in great danger!
Snatching hold of Dawn's wrist, the frightened young witch hissed, "Quick, warn Buffy and Faith! Something has happened to Willow!"
Obeying, Dawn scrambled from the comfy bed and shot down the hallway.
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Xander heard Dawn pounding down the stairs, calling for her sister as she did so. He leapt from his chair and rushed to see what the matter was.
"Buffy!" Dawn called, shooting from the bottom step and dashing into the front room.
Faith sprang to her feet as the teenager, quickly followed by Xander, skidded to a halt. "What is it?"
"Tara says something bad has happened to Willow. Where's Buffy?"
Faith didn't wait to answer and dashed through into the kitchen. It was empty, but the back door was wide open. The brunette Slayer ran out onto the back decking, followed by Dawn and Xander. Buffy was sat at the picnic table chatting to Willow and they both looked surprised to see their friends appear.
"You okay?" Faith asked.
"Sure. Why wouldn't we be?" Buffy replied.
Dawn looked puzzled. "But Tara said that something bad had happened to Willow."
The Wiccan shook her head. "I'm fine, Dawnie. Tara must still be a little woozy from what the Shepherd did to her. A trauma like that will affect her mystic senses, kinda like hallucinations. She told me last night that Giles was a vampire and Xander was a troll." She shook her head sadly, "It's a shame but she will get back to normal soon, you'll see."
Anya walked out into the back garden. "What was all the shouting about? Can't a girl hide from rabbits in the bathroom... I mean, ah... er, can't a girl use the bathroom without all the noise?"
Seeing the Vengeance demon, Buffy gave a tiny nod to Willow. The witch acknowledged and called, "Anya! Can you do me a favour, please?"
"What?" asked the blonde, looking like she suddenly wished she had stayed inside.
"I need some dried foxglove that was picked at midnight to mix into an ointment for Tara's scars. You have some at the Magic Box, don't you? Could you teleport there and get it for me, please?"
The 'no' died on Anya's lips when she saw the look Xander was giving her. "Oh, very well," she sighed and disappeared in a swirl of air.
"You sure you're okay, Bee?" Faith asked, looking suspicious.
"Fine. Wanna patrol if the guys haven't come up with anything in the next half hour?"
"Why not? If lizard-breath thinks I'll fall for his tail swipe this time, he's gonna be surprised."
When the friends had all retreated back indoors, Buffy grinned at Willow, "I think it's Anya that's going to be surprised, don't you?"
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"This is working better than I expected," Ruth said, peering down at the image of Buffy and Willow in the muddy waters of the puddle. Jody and Mary were knelt on the ground beside the rippling water while Kim sat cross-legged with her eyes closed, almost silently chanting the scrying spell that was allowing the Daughters of Gaia to watch the events on Revello drive unfold.
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"Are you ready to negate her powers?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah," Willow responded, not opening her eyes as she sat cross-legged on the picnic table's top. "I will bubble the area so that she cannot leave the garden. I won't be able to hold it long though, so you will have to take her down quickly."
"No problems there."
Willow smiled and turned her hands palm upward on her knees as she let her senses drift into the arcane realms. "She's here."
The air in front of Buffy swirled into a vortex and Anya appeared, holding a small jar of dried flowers. "Are these wha...?"
The Slayer's fist hit her jaw, knocking her flying across the lawn. Instantly, Willow mumbled and muttered until two orange sparks flared in her palms like candle flames. Anya hit the ground hard, the breath blasting from her body and the jar bouncing into the shrubbery. She was slipping toward unconsciousness until she let her true nature surface. In an instant, her beautiful features melted into the scarred horror of the Vengeance demon.
It was just in time for her. Buffy had followed her initial blow with a lunge forward to grapple with the stricken woman, but Anya was now far quicker and stronger than she normally was. Almost casually, she grabbed the Slayer by her blouse, planted a foot in her stomach and sent her hurtling onto the wooden deck by the kitchen door.
"What are you doing?" Anya demanded, getting to her feet. "Are you insane?"
"Relax Anyanka," Buffy whispered, rolling to a predatory crouch. "This is only going to take a moment and then you'll understand."
Like a cat, the Slayer sprang forward, her fists working in a deadly hailstorm of blows. Anya was driven backward, taking hit after hit after hit. Finally, she held her balance and backhanded Buffy so hard that the Chosen was knocked off her feet again.
"What's your problem?! I'm going to see what Xander has to say about all this!" When she summoned her magic to teleport this time, it was only sparks of light that exploded around her instead of the air swirling. "What the...!"
She looked angrily at Willow, instantly understanding, but the distraction was all Buffy needed. She barrelled into Anya hard, driving her shoulder into her stomach with enough force to lift the demon off her feet and slam her into the wall of the house.
"Ooff!"
A quick left hook, then a right cross staggered the Vengeance demon even further, and then a karate chop to the throat dropped her coughing to her knees. Buffy stepped over Anya's back and sat down as if she were attempting to ride her like a horse. Wrapping a hand under Anya's chin, the Slayer yanked backward, dragging the demon's head up as she reached around her chest with her free hand.
"Welcome to the club, Anya."
Once more, the Slayer's fingers morphed into claws dripping with the essence of Hate and she raked them across the struggling girl's chest before releasing her and dancing backward out of range.
"Look what you've done to my blouse!" shrieked the irate demon, getting to her feet. "It's ruined! Do you have any idea how much that cost?" She was far more concerned about the rips in her clothing than she was about the furrows in her flesh.
After a moment Anya swooned and clapped a hand to her scarred forehead, "Oh my. What have you done to me?" Her legs became too weak to support her and she collapsed onto her butt. Her eyes closed and her head sunk down until her chin rested upon her chest. Buffy frowned and cast a puzzled look over at Willow. The witch shrugged, slid off the table and walked over to get a closer look for herself. Both young women stared down at the unmoving form of the demoness.
"Should that happen?" Willow asked.
"Oh, that's better," Anya sighed, opening her eyes and smiling evilly up at the pair. Both girls grinned back.
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"But I heard it!" Tara insisted. "Willow called for help and then she was abruptly cut off!"
"Well, Red is fine," Faith told her, reaching over and taking some of the grapes that Dawn had bought for the injured witch and popping them into her mouth.
"I'm not making it up."
Dawn sat on the bed beside Tara and took hold of her hand. "Willow explained all about it. She told us about your hallucinations; about you thinking that Giles and Xander were monsters."