"Hello, Xander," Tara said softly.
Xander felt tears fill his eyes. Somehow he knew that this was not a game the First was playing; this was truly Tara. "Tara, how?" he asked.
"I am here for Willow," Tara answered gently.
"She's going to die?" Xander asked, his voice cracking with pain.
"No, at least I hope not. The mediwitch has cured her, but because of what she did to Warren she must go through a reckoning. If she passes the test before her, she will be returned. If she fails, she will die. As the person closest to her I have a choice as to what that reckoning must be. We are both being tested," Tara answered as she glided closer to her lover.
"What will she get if she passes? What will you get if she passes?" Xander asked anxiously.
"Peace," Tara answered simply, before she disappeared. Xander felt blackness consume him and slumped forward, unconscious. Only Hogwarts itself witnessed the disappearance of the red haired witch and her best friend. The school walled off the area and no one could enter until the test was complete.
Hours later, when everyone rose, all of the Sunnydalers and their mates went to the infirmary to make sure that Willow and Xander were all right. They were stunned to find a swearing Madam Pomfrey and a stone wall where Xander and Willow had been the night before. "Poppy, what has happened?" Albus asked worriedly.
"I don't know! I can't get past the blo ody wall!" the mediwitch bellowed as she once again pounded on the grey stone in her path. Poppy didn't stand for anything coming between her and her patients, and that included Hogwarts itself!
Just as she was about to start casting curses at the building, the wall shimmered away. On the other side, three bodies lay entwined. All three were whispering to one another and the two on either side seemed to be soothing the one in the middle. No one could understand what exactly it was they were seeing until Xander shifted. Buffy screamed and ran to the bed. Lying there, holding Willow, was Tara. She turned to look at Buffy as she was suddenly tackled by the ecstatic blonde. Before they could recover, Dawn was at their sides screaming out her joy as well.
When the two settled down they looked over at Willow and again screamed, but this time in alarm. Where there were once green eyes, now there were white. "She's blind," Xander choked out, without turning h is head away from Willow.
"She should get her sight back in a few days," Tara said through her tears.
"What happened? How is this possible?" Giles asked.
Xander looked up and they all gasped at the sight of his bruised and burned face. Hs eyes were as white as Willow's. "Willow went through a reckoning and we went with her," Tara told them mournfully.
"Reckoning, what reckoning?" Wes asked, though he was afraid he already knew.
//Flashback//
Willow and Xander moaned in abject pain as they slowly opened their eyes. All around them the air was still, yet it cut through the bodies like a knife. Breathing was terribly painful and Xander couldn't get over the feeling that he'd somehow swallowed ground glass.
"Where are we?" Willow asked, confused. The last thing she remembered was confessing the horrors that she had committed.
"We are in hell," Tara answered.
They spun to face her.
"No! You don't deserve to be here!" Willow screamed in anguish.
"I'm here for you, Willow. You once told Xander that you would do anything to give Warren back his life. You can't do that, but there is something you can do instead."
"Why is Xander here? What do I have to do?" Willow asked.
"You have to go through the flames and free Warren from the hell you cursed him to when you killed him. As for why Xander's here, he carries a burden, one that has been eating at his soul all of these years. The only way that he will ever be a true warrior is to face that burden and to be free of it. Part of that will be done at your side. He must deliver Jesse to the cleansing water. I cannot go any further with you. I can only show you the way," Tara told her, raising her voice as the wind suddenly began to rise and scream around them.
"Where do we have to go?" Xander shouted.
"Go forward into the flames. You ha ve to find them. Only when you have freed them can you be free. There will be pain, but I know that you can do this!" Tara shouted to them as the wind whisked her away.
For several minutes the pair stared after her, then as one they turned and walked into the flames. This time, the screams that filled the air were theirs. They felt the burning agony of the flames as they danced upon their skin and each step was an agony in and of itself. More than once they had to resist the urge to go back, but something kept urging them ahead. It was surreal and they wondered if they were dreaming, but surely a dream wouldn't hurt so badly.
When they finally made it through the flames, they collapsed to the ground, sobbing out their pain and clinging to one another. Finally they looked up, and both of them cried out at the sight before them. Two bodies hung upside down and side by side. One was without skin, while the other seemed living ash. Every few minutes bar bs seemed to fly from the wall and through their bodies. Xander shuddered and turned away to vomit as the two 'bodies' screamed in pain. Both Willow and Xander became violently ill when they realized just who it was they were looking at.
Together they stumbled forward. They had to save them. Willow was whimpering in pain and muttering that she was sorry. Xander was too numb to say anything. All these years and he had never thought just what he had done to all of the vampires he'd sent to hell. Or just what he had done to Angel when he'd lied about the spell. Tears slid down his cheeks as he neared Jesse.
They had only gone a few feet when tentacles attacked them. Willow screamed in pain and rage as the barbs bit into her skin. Xander's screams echoed her own, and then there was silence. Pure white light flowed from the pair and they began to burn, this time in a different light. The pair started walking again. This time when the barbs attacked them, they burned away. Neither noticed, as they were too intent on freeing the people that they had put in this hell.
As one, they touched the bodies in front of them. It was the last thing either of them saw. Minutes later they were lying side by side. Willow felt a gentle touch on her face. "I'm sorry, thank you," then there was a brush of lips across her own, before the body beside her slipped away.
"I love you," Xander heard, before a gentle kiss was laid across his bleeding brow. Then Jesse faded away.
//End Flashback//
"Then Tara came back and here we are. I'm sorry for lying to you, Buffy. I'm sorry for sending you to hell," Xander sobbed out.
"Don't, Xander. I understood and I forgave you a long time ago," Angel told him gently. What the boy had been through was horrific and Angel felt for him.
Buffy merely hugged him. She could understand why Xander had done it and had even suspected that he had lied, but she couldn't bring herself to hate him for it.
Severus, Harry and Spike all hurried over to their mate, while Kennedy walked forward carefully. Tara surprised Kennedy by smiling at her. "Hello, Kennedy," Tara said softly, while Willow reached a hand out to her blindly.
Harry pulled Xander into his arms and held onto him tightly. They could have lost him and never known!
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