Author: Stormforce
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Don't own either series.

After the group finished the rather good meal prepared by their twins, Willow and BUffy stood and stretched. Both girls could feel their lovers' eyes on them, and felt like crawling into a hole to hide, both knew they were in for it and really didn't feel up to having that conversation at the moment. The urge to get away grew just a little more as Tara and Faith's gaze hardened a bit more. Willow knew they needed the rest, but there was no way they could rest if they started talking about what had happened. The redhead caught site of Buffy's widened eyes, and somehow just knew that the other girls were just a little pissed, and was most likely growing more angry as they thought about what had happened.

"Well, I'm gonna go for a walk, okay?" Willow spoke as she slowly made her way to the door like a person backing away from a mother grizzly bear, and trying to shake off the feeling Tara's gaze was giving her, "I'll... uh, be back later."

"Wait up!" Buffy bounced over trying not to flinch under Faith's gaze, "I think I'll join ya."

Clay nodded, she too had seen her twin staring at the redhead, and couldn't help but think that Willow should get out for a while. The blonde cut her eyes to Faith, yes, and Buffy should go too, "Sure, just keep your guard up."

"Don't worry, we will." Buffy spoke as Willow nodded and hurried through the door.

Outside the girls looked around and sighed, they could feel where the twins were, and had no intension of disturbing them. Remembering the rooftop that gave a good view of the Second District Willow decided she should go there, and grabbed Buffy as she headed for the double doors, "Come on."

"Where we goin'?" Buffy asked being pulled into the Second District.

Willow let the Al Bhed's hand go, "Well, since there isn't that much in the Third District we should just stay outta there. And besides, the rooftop where the bell is has a great view."

"Okay, but I think I'll head into the First District." Buffy watched the redhead jump on to the walkway.

"Have fun." Willow grinned and headed for the ladder leading to the rooftop as Buffy made her way toward the First District.

From atop of the roof Willow watched as Buffy bypassed the stairs, hopped up onto the balcony, and slipped through the door back into the First District. Willow swung her legs back and forth as she studied the Second District, the two doors leading into either end of the inn needed a new coat of paint seeing as there were claw marks starting from the top and ending at the very bottom. The windows of a few shops were in need of a good cleaning, it was as if they hadn't been cleaned in a month, but then again with all the fighting she and the others had been doing the windows were bound to get dirty. And the streets really needed to be swept up from the broken crates, and where the street had been broken apart from her spell. The redhead knew everything that needed cleaning was due to the Heartless having been there, but now that they were no longer hanging around, the people of Traverse Town really needed to get in gear. Hearing a door shut, Willow looked toward the waterway and spotted Princess Faith and Buffy's twin, and kept her eyes on the two young women as they passed by.

Willow let a soft smile cross her face as Buffy's twin held the Third District door open, and bowed as the princess stepped through, lightly smacking the blonde on her shoulder. At least Buffy's twin wasn't trying to avoid the princess any more, and was even looking happier, Yeah, Will, you moron, I would have been just like her... but then again, I am in a way...by avoiding Tara. But I need to just think and having both Tara and Faith watching both me and Buffy all the time doesn't help the thought process.

With a sigh, Willow leaned back and stared into the sky watching the stars twinkle. It seemed like a thousand years ago the last time she and Tara had just laid on the beach doing the same thing. The redhead let her thoughts wander and never saw the door leading to the First District open and close, nor did she feel a pair of eyes watching her from the shadows.

As soon as the door shut Buffy's shoulders had slumped forward as the Al Bhed let out a relieved sigh. Even though she hated running away from Faith, she knew it was for the best at the moment. She needed to get her thoughts in order, and there was no way she could when she could feel her lover's eyes burning a hole through her back. Glancing around she saw a Moogle outside of the upper section of Giles' shop and blinked, why was he standing there? Shrugging the blonde smiled, "Hey, what's up?"

The Moogle hopped up and down, "Mr. Giles is letting us use the attic of the shop to make better weapons, and items. Would the great warrior-lady be interested in anything of the sorts?"

Buffy giggled, no one had ever called her a "great warrior-lady" before, and she figured no one ever would, but it was nice to hear it even if the little guy was trying to make a sale. "Tell ya what, I'll talk with the others, and we'll see, okay?"

"Sure!" The Moogle chirped happily, once again bouncing up and down, "We're cheaper than the other stores, just look at these prices!" he handed the blonde an item/weapon list, "We can upgrade any and all weaponry, and even make your Potions as strong as Hi-Potions."

"Thanks," Buffy grinned and nodded, "I'll show this to the others... some of our weapons need to be upgraded." She winked causing the Moogle to blush and nod with wide eyes. Giving the Moogle one last smile, Buffy hopped down from the upper level into an alleyway where she leaned against a couple of crates, and began to think. With her thoughts bouncing around the Al Bhed never heard the door open, nor did she feel the energy as a figure stepped into the First District.

When Willow and Buffy had almost bolted through the door in their haste to get away from them, Tara had stood, only to feel a hand on her shoulder. Glancing behind her the blonde saw Clay shake her head, "Give them a few minutes before running after them, okay?"

"What in hellfire do you mean by that?" Faith stood up with a glare, and started toward the door.

"What I mean by that is give them a few minutes. They both need to think, and with the two of you staring at them they can't." Clay lowered her hand and took her seat once more, "Look, you're worried about them, I know how you feel, but you also have to give them space and let them think. If not, it will only cause trouble."

Tara stared at her twin for a moment before sighing, Clay was right, Willow needed to think right now, and trying to force anything out of her wouldn't be a good idea. "Faith let's give them a few minutes." The dark haired girl nodded, and sat back down, if Tara saw no reason to hurry after Willow and Buffy then she could wait, and besides, she knew Clay was right about giving the girls time to think, she just didn't want to let her know that she knew.

Five minutes later the door opened allowing Princess Tara and Willow's twin to enter, and sit down next to Clay as Willow and Buffy number two brought out a meal for the girls. It wasn't long after that Princess Faith and Buffy's twin entered and sat next to the others to eat. Tara stood, nodded to Faith, and left the small house in search of her lover and Buffy.

As soon as the two girls entered the Second District they both opened their senses, allowing them to feel out their lovers, and moved forward. Tara nodded to Faith once she saw Willow's legs dangling over the edge of the rooftop, and hopped on to the walkway, before moving to the ladder as Faith headed toward the First District. The ex-summoner quietly stepped onto the roof, and just for a moment watched Willow staring up at the sky, she saw Faith slip through the door, and silently approached her lover.

Willow was so deep in thought that she never felt Tara sit next to her; she only became aware of her presents when the blonde intertwined their fingers. Blinking, Willow sat up and lowered her head, she knew that if Tara had come out here she wanted to talk, and the redhead figured it was as good a time as any. At least it'd be over and done with, and she wouldn't have to worry about it any more, "Hey." She whispered softly.

"Hey," Tara whispered back and looked into the sky, "Nice night."

"Yeah." Willow nodded and then shook her head, "Tara, I'm sorry." She spoke, wanting to get it out of the way.

"For what?" Tara kept her eyes on the stars; bound and determined to let Willow speak first, and in doing so, hoped that she would tell her everything.

Willow for her part knew what Tara was doing, and was grateful; at least she could talk without Tara jumping to any conclusions, "About everything that has happened. You know, worrying you and not telling about what was gonna happen. I'm sorry, but I was told not to tell you, I wanted to tell you and so did Buffy, but we also knew that if we had told you and Faith what was going to happen you'd both try and stop it. And that could not have happened, if either of you had tried to stop us, or step between us and the twins, then the darkness would have won." Willow sighed, and looked over at her wife.

Tara had stopped staring at the sky and had been watching her lover as she spoke, "Tell me, when did this happen? And who was the one that told you not to tell us?"

"Remember Monstro? When he swallowed the ship, and we crashed? Well, that was when both Buffy and I had the dream. My mother was the one in my dream, and Buffy said that Giles had been in hers. We both were told of a test we'd have to pass, and that if we told you and Faith that you'd try and stop it, and that couldn't happen, otherwise the darkness would have won." Willow stopped for a moment and took a deep breath, before continuing, "That was why we were acting weird, we were torn between protecting you, fighting our twins, and this test. When we reached Hollow Bastion we knew it was time, but we didn't know what was going to happen, only that we were told to let Donald and Goofy do as they wished...we didn't know our twins were going to gain control of the Keyblades, and we sure as hellfire didn't know what was going to happen in the chapel."

"I didn't need protecting, what I needed was to know what was wrong with my wife and cousin, why you both were acting the way you were, why you wouldn't tell me anything, why you weren't trusting me. That's what I needed at the time...and now that I know..."

"Tara, I trusted you I just didn't want you getting hurt because of something that was up to me and Buffy, and I know that's how she felt too."

"Do you know how I felt when I saw you fall though that portal? How I felt when I saw that blade in your chest? It was horrible!" Tara lowered her head as tears splashed on the top of her hands, "At that moment, I'd almost gave up...I thought I'd never get you back, but something told me I would, and I believed it." The ex-summoner felt her wife's gentle arms wrap around her, and pull her into a firm hug, "Willow, tell me, what happened in that realm? You told us what happened, but you didn't tell us what stopped you from taking the offer. I know you Will, and I know Buffy, so when you watched us get killed what stopped you from taking the darkness in your bodies?"

Willow grinned she knew Tara would ask, "That was the easy part. When the voice said that we could still save everyone, we took a closer look at the scene. There was something off to begin with, but we didn't notice it due to watching the fight...but when we'd calmed down and actually looked, we saw that you were wearing your summoner outfit, the one you were wearing when we first met. That's what had told us the scene we had been watching wasn't real."

"And then you confronted the voice, right?"

"Actually we said, "I choose No you sorry bastard, so leave us alone!" and then that's when we had been tossed into the other place." Willow shrugged and looked as innocent as she could, which in turn caused Tara to giggle.

"I love you, Willow, the guardian of my heart."

"And I love you too, Tara, the summoner of my heart." The redhead lay back, taking Tara with her, and stared up at the night sky as Tara began drawing small circles on her belly.

Second District...

Faith stepped through the door and saw the same small Moogle that Buffy had spoken to, and approached him. The little pink guy hopped up and down as another "hottie" approached him, "Would the beautiful warrior lady like a weapon upgrade?" he asked stopping Faith in her tracks, "We're cheaper than all the other shops, and we can do just about anything you'd want." He stopped and looked Faith over, "Oh, are you with the other warrior lady?"

"By warrior lady you mean a small blonde woman with green eyes that has swirls, right?"

The little Moogle nodded happily, "Yeah! That's her! She said that she would talk to her companions about coming here and getting upgrades."

"Sounds like Buffy." Faith grinned, "You wouldn't happen to know where she went, would you?"

"Over there."

"Thank you." Faith winked at him, causing a small bright blush to creep up on his neck and face, and hopped down into the small alleyway that Buffy had gone just a few minutes before.

Buffy -for her part- was still sitting on the same crate and was still lost in thought, never noticing that her lover was watching from a few feet away. She still didn't know how to approach the subject on what had happened in Hallow Bastion, but she was damn sure trying to come up with something, anything that would help her through the talk she knew was heading her way. Her thoughts were interrupted when she felt a soft kiss on her cheek, glancing up in surprise Buffy quickly lowered her eyes when she saw Faith. "I didn't know you were here."

"I don't think you'd noticed Sin falling from the sky and landing in front of you." Faith smirked hopping up to sit beside the Al Bhed, "You were pretty deep in thought."

"Yeah...you know, everything that much easier back on Spira, I mean after we defeated Sin life was good...the there was Omega, and now were jumping from world to world trying to save them from the Heartless." Buffy shook her head and looked into the sky, "It was in Monstro when I had the dream, it was Giles that had come to me and spoke of Willow and mine's test, and also told me not to tell you or the others. I wanted too, but..."

"But why didn't you if you had wanted to?"

The blonde kept her eyes on a bright star and could see Spira, even though she didn't know which star was Spira, she still knew that the one she was looking at could be her home, "Because he said that telling you could cause problems, and in all fairness, it would have."

"What do you mean?" Faith asked, she knew what Buffy was getting at, and she knew it to be true, yes, she would have stopped it if she could have, and she would have tried with everything she had to do just that.

Buffy shook her head with a small smile before setting her eyes on her dark haired lover, :"Look Faith, don't play games with me, I know you, and I know that you wouldn't have allowed that to happen if you had known about it."

"Fair enough," Faith grinned, "But I wanna know about that realm you and Will were in, what in hellfire happened in there? And what stopped you from taking the power of darkness when you saw our deaths?" Faith had to know, it had been bothering her ever since she'd heard what had happened, and she knew that if it'd been her; she would have allowed the darkness in without a second thought if it meant she could get her lover back.

"That was easy, whoever was showing us that scene didn't know how to manipulate a person, he showed us a battle scene of your deaths, but one thing was off. And after me and Will calmed down we saw that Tara was wearing her summoner outfit, you know the one she wore when we fought Sin?"

"So you told the voice about it?"

"Nope, we more or less said no you bastard and to get away from us." A smile crossed Buffy's face when Faith threw her head back and laughed.

"That's my girl, tell ‘em where to get off at."

"Got that right." Buffy giggled, and pulled her lover into a tight hug, "Which one do you think is Spira?"

The dark haired woman shrugged, "Don't know, but it really doesn't matter, we know it's out there, and it's safe."

"Yeah, that it is, but for how long?"

Faith placed a kiss on the top of the Al Bhed's head, "Don't worry about it, when and if the Heartless attack it, we'll stop them. No one will get out home without a fight."

"I love you my dragon." Buffy snuggled against her lover as she stared into the nighttime sky.

"I love you too my little desert thief."