Title: Repercussions: Conclusions 7/7
Author: Jadedragon
Email: blm55@bellsouth.net
Spoiler: Grave
Pairing: B/G, X/A
Disclaimer: Not mine, Buffy and Company belongs to Josh, Mutant Enemy, WB and UPN.
Rating: PG 13
Summary: Sequel to Repercussions: Within. How it all wraps up.
Thanks: Again my thanks go to Aleta for her wonderful betaing. I couldn't do it without you.
Notes: < > denotes thoughts

"Where am I?" Willow asked as she looked around the room that she didn't immediately recognize. Giles and Xander were sitting beside her, as was Ethan Rayne on the opposite side of the large four-poster bed she was lying in. A woman she didn't recognize stood at the end of the bed. Willow felt very strange, something was missing; she felt so weak. < What's wrong with me? >

"Willow, you're in England. What's the last thing you remember?" Giles asked her.

"I was standing in our room with Tara. Buffy and Xander were outside talking…" Willow's voice faded as an expression of horror and grief came across her face, the memories of the last several days came rushing to her. "Tara's dead, I remember!" she cried as Xander took his friend into his arms.

"Rupert, would you go and get Bri. We need to talk to Willow." Ethan asked his friend.

Rupert left the room to bring Bri to discuss the ceremony with Willow. He wondered how soon Bri would announce what the Court had decided. He was still deep in thought as he approached her room.

**********

Bri slowly awoke, still groggy. She knew just how zapped she would feel for the next week, every time she let herself become this drained, it took her a week to fully recover. As she sat up she noticed Mary asleep in the chair by her bed.

"Mary," she called as she touched her friend on the shoulder. "Mary, wake up."

Mary sleepily opened her eyes. "Bri, sorry, I must have fallen asleep."

"So I see. How's Willow? Were Rupert and Xander able to reach her?" Bri asked, concern on her face.

"I don't know, they had entered her mind when I came to check on you. I don't know if they're finished. Bri, what will become of Willow?"

"Mary, I don't know. Our futures are intertwined and you know that I can never see my own future."

"Intertwined, how?"

"I can't tell. I know that we'll be working closely together for the next several years as she carries out her sentence for the Court, but it seems to be more than that."

"Do you love her?" Mary asked her friend, knowing both had lost someone very special.

"I do care for her. I see a lot of myself in her; she's such a sad, lost soul at the moment, much as I was after Renee died. My heart goes out to her."

"Could it be more?"

"Mary I don't know, there's always that possibility," Bri confirmed to her friend as Rupert came into the room.

"Bri, Willow's awake and Ethan wants you."

Bri grabbed her robe, which was lying at the foot of her bed and followed Giles back to Willow's room, Mary close behind them. Once they got to the room Mary set about examining her patient. When she was satisfied that Willow was medically sound she allowed Bri, Ethan and Ellen to clear the room of everyone but themselves and Willow.

Bri looked at the frail looking woman in the bed. "Willow do you remember why you are here?"

"Yes, I tried to destroy the world and you took my magick from me to prevent me from trying again."

"Willow, it was the curse that tried to destroy the world. You allowed the curse to take over your life. We couldn't remove the curse so your magick was taken to stop the actions of the curse."

"But you said that Acathla had cursed me, but he's stone, how can he curse me?"

"Willow when Angelus opened the vortex by taking the sword from Acathla, Acathla's spirit escaped his prison and entered the hell dimension through the vortex. There he found a new body, the body of a Hell God. Once he had taken residence in his new body, he cursed you. He wanted you to destroy the world that had imprisoned him for so many centuries."

"He's a Hell God? Like Glory?" Willow asked, fear clearly showing on her face.

"Yes, as a matter of fact he now inhabits the body of one of the two other Hell Gods that ruled with Glorificus," Ethan confirmed.

"Will he come after me?" Willow asked in a small scared voice, remembering what Glory had put them through.

"No, he has lost interest in you," Bri assured Willow.

"How can you be sure?" Willow asked in a shaky voice.

"Willow, I've seen that he entered your mind when the turmoil of pain and guilt was at its peak and thought you quite insane. He will wait for his revenge on this world. It will be several centuries before another situation similar to yours presents itself and he can try again. But this time the covens and magick users of the world will know what happened to you in Sunnydale and will hopefully be prepared. But that is in the distant future."

"How long will he live?"

"He's now a Hell God. He's immortal."

"Oh."

**********

Giles, Xander, Buffy, Dawn and Mary gathered in the drawing room to await the outcome of the meeting with Willow. Giles explained to Xander the curse Acathla had placed on Willow and they also told him about Dawn and her new Slayer abilities. Mary was very interested in Dawn and her history. She found it fascinating that the child had been formed from energy and was now a Slayer like her sister. She asked to examine both Slayers before they left to return home. They were still talking when Anya teleported in and went to Xander.

"Xander, why do you have magick? Whose magick have you taken? You must give it back. You don't take other's powers or you'll become like Willow. I don't want you to become like Willow!" Anya ranted.

"Anya, it's alright. Calm down. Ethan loaned me his magick to reach Willow. As soon as he gets down here I'll ask him to take it back. Honey, I don't want to keep it. You're enough magick for me." Xander told his lover as he took her into his arms.

"How's Willow?" Anya asked after Xander had calmed her down.

"She appears to be in her right mind. Medically she's sound, weak, but sound." Mary told the demon.

"Who are you?" Anya asked in her own rude way.

"I'm Mary Portsmith. I'm a nurse practitioner and I examined Willow just a few minutes ago."

"Then Willow's okay and we can go home!"

"It's not as easy as that," Giles told his assistant. "We haven't heard the sentence of the Court and until we know that, we are not returning to Sunnydale. If you and Xander want to leave, I can probably have Ethan transport Xander, but Buffy, Dawn and I will stay in case Willow needs us when she hears the sentence."

"An, I'm staying. You don't know what I saw in Willow's mind. It was horrific. I've had my share of nightmares, but never anything like what Giles and I saw in Willow's mind. I promised her that I would help her no matter what. Anya, I keep my promises, all my promises," he told her.

"Ok, but I may have to go back to watch the crew repair the store. They tried to throw out some items today that I was saving for the Reopening/Explosion Sale. They just don't understand how expensive this repair work is."

"Anya, I'm sure that everything will be just fine. I will go over everything with you when I return and we will indeed have a Reopening/Explosion Sale," Giles assured her.

"Back, your coming back? I thought you trusted me to run the store?" Anya said in a panicked voice.

"Anya, I do trust you. That's not why I'm moving back to Sunnydale," Giles tried to calm her as he held Buffy to his side.

Anya looked at Buffy and Giles standing side by side, holding each other. "You're together? You and Buffy?"

"Yes, we are," Giles replied.

"It's about time. Buffy has been miserable without you and she made some really stupid choices."

"Anya!" Xander and Buffy exclaimed at the same time.

"Well, she did. Spike for example!"

"Anya, you're right. Sleeping with Spike was one of the worst choices I ever made. I knew that I could never love him, but I felt so abandoned and he wanted me, but I won't make that choice again," she said as she looked into her Watcher's eyes.

They continued talking and told Anya about Dawn's new Slayer abilities. They were discussing the rebuilding of the Magic Box and Dawn when they heard the others coming down the stairs.

Ethan was carrying Willow while Bri and Ellen followed close behind. He sat Willow in a chair facing the rest of the group not giving her a chance to say hi to her friends. Bri sat in a chair to one side, also facing Willow's. Ethan asked everyone to sit down. Once everyone had found a seat. Bri began to speak in a voice of authority.

"Willow Rosenberg, you have been found guilty by the Court of Magick of using your powers to attempt to annihilate the inhabitants of this world, to destroy all life on this planet. This is a grave situation that has not occurred in over a thousand years and has been treated as such. Your testimony has been given great consideration as has the testimony of your friends."

"Testimony, what testimony?" Willow asked, she didn't remember testifying in front of a Court.

"Willow, you will not interrupt again. I will answer all questions once the sentencing is finished. The testimony given by you to the three of us, and the information you recorded on the computer in your room was reviewed. Your friends testified by their actions and love for you. It was their love and concern that led to your sentence. Many of the Court felt that since the curse placed on you by a Hell God couldn't be removed, that you should just be destroyed." Bri paused to let this information penetrate everyone's mind. "But it was the love that helped the Court to realize you could be saved so long as you follow its rulings to the letter." Bri looked sternly at Willow, who nodded her acceptance of whatever rulings the Court had made.

"First, your magick be removed and spells placed on you so you can never pull the magicks back into yourself. This is necessary because of the nature of the curse. Your magick has already been removed and the spells will be placed on you once you have recovered from the ceremony. It will be several months before this can happen. Second, you will travel to each of the covens that were represented in the Court to prove to them that you no longer have magick and cannot regain it. Also any other coven or group that asks this, whether or not they had a representative in the Court, you will visit. These visits will be made in the presence of either myself, Ethan or Ellen. These covens cover the globe and it will take several years to complete these journeys. During that time you will reside here with the coven and we will have the duty of rehabilitating you. Third, and this will be the most difficult for you. Willow, you can never again reside on a Hellmouth. If you do, the curse will activate, despite any spells we place around you, and the dark magicks will again be drawn to you." Bri finished in a sad, concerned voice.

Willow looked at Bri, tears flowing down her face. "I can't go home?" she asked in a broken voice.

"Willow you have a new home, here with me and the coven. It's too dangerous for you to go back to Sunnydale. That's not to say in the future you can't visit, but you can never live there again." Bri told the distraught former witch.

Willow started sobbing and Xander went to hold her as Buffy, Dawn, Giles and Anya joined him in comforting their friend. As Willow cried, she felt the love from all of her friends. She felt the void within her fill with the love she was being given and she started to heal. She felt the love and concern from the others in the room, people she barely knew who would now be her friends and companions. She was scared to think she couldn't go home, but relieved that she would be allowed to live.

**********

It was several hours later when Buffy, Giles, Dawn, Anya and Xander met with Bri and Ethan to discuss Willow's future. Ellen was with Willow who was sleeping and Mary had left to return to her home.

"So Willow can't come home, but she gets to travel all over the world?" Dawn asked in a huff. <She gets to travel and I'm stuck in Sunnydale! >

"That's essentially correct, Dawn," Bri answered the new Slayer. "But there's more to it than that. When she travels to the different covens, she will be talking to those in the covens that are looking toward the dark magicks. The leaders of the covens hope that Willow's experiences will turn their members away from the dark pathways. She will be an example, as it were, of what can happen."

"What about the possibility of a future witch, sorcerer or mage being cursed by Acathla?" Giles asked.

"Now that we know the possibility exists, each coven, witch and mage will be warned and each member now and in the future will be taught what to look for. Hopefully we'll be able to stop the curse before it reaches the point that it did with Willow."

"What about Willow? Will she be happy here?" Xander asked, his concern for his friend clearly portrayed on his face.

"Xander, we will make her as comfortable as possible. She will find friends here and in time, she will be happy again," Bri paused a moment before continuing. "Willow has lost her life partner, that's not something you recover from overnight, I know only too well. It will take time. She will need all of us to help her recover from her grief, but she will recover with our help and our love."

"Can we send her clothes and stuff to her?" Buffy asked.

"Later, at the moment she needs to concentrate on starting a new life and too many things from her old one would just make it more difficult for her. I'll help you to select a few items for her, but most should be put in storage for the time being."

"Can we see her before we leave?"

"Yes, Buffy. I know that she would like to spend time with each of you and it will help her recovery. Also, I think that if you could visit every month or so it would greatly help her."

"Travel to England is expensive. I know that I can't afford it." Buffy told the seer.

"That won't be necessary. We'll create a vortex for all of you to use when traveling to visit. It requires less energy than teleporting and once a vortex is established, it requires little energy to open. We just have to choose a central location in which to place it."

"We could put it at the store. It would be to most logical location and we could easily protect it," Giles offered.

They all discussed the location of the vortex and scheduling times for visits. Brianna was very pleased that Willow's friends wanted to continue to have contact with her; it would make her recovery much smoother. Soon it was time for Anya to leave to open the store for the repair crew. She said she would return later if they hadn't already gotten home.

**********

Once Willow awoke all her friends visited with her for several hours before they returned to Sunnydale. Willow was amazed at the change in Buffy and Giles relationship, but very happy for them. They both deserved to be happy and she knew that they loved each other very much. When they told her about Dawn being a Slayer she was shocked. Dawn couldn't wait to get back and really go on patrol. Willow knew that Dawn would be regaling her with tales of her vampire and demon killing for the next year, at least. She was also glad to hear that Anya and Xander had worked out their differences and were back together. Her friends would all be happy now and she had a new life to start.

It was scary, leaving the past behind and starting all over again. But she wasn't really leaving; Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Anya and Giles would still be apart of her life, just not as large a part as they had been. And Tara, she would never forget her, Tara had been her soul mate; she knew that now. She would face the future without her, but she would find love, she had promised Tara and she would not forget that last promise to her love.

**********

One Year Later

Willow couldn't believe that she was in Sunnydale, granted it was only for the day, but what a day. She had helped plan the wedding and everything was perfect right down to the last flower. Willow felt the dark magicks pulling at her and she looked at Brianna standing beside her. Bri took her hand and reinforced the spells surrounding the former witch and the pull vanished. Bri, Ethan and Ellen were all here helping her resist the pull of the Hellmouth with its dark magicks and helping with the wedding.

Willow thought about the past year and all the changes that had happened to her and to her friends. Giles had indeed moved back to Sunnydale and helped Anya with the shop, but never took it back from her. He trained with Dawn and Buffy and moved into the house on Revello Drive with them, he and Buffy sharing the room that had been Willow and Tara's. He traveled between Sunnydale and London frequently, searching for ancient volumes and artifacts to sell and helping with both stores. But most of his time had been spent with Buffy, their love growing each day.

Dawn had progressed quickly as a Slayer. She loved being a Slayer and was soon as good, if not better than Buffy. She was stronger in some areas and Giles believed this was due to her being the Key, his continuing research hadn't found any other reason for this. Dawn also was developing some magickal abilities, which she was very hesitant to use. Ethan and Brianna were helping her to adjust to her growing powers and helping her realize that she was not like Willow and as long as she kept using her abilities to help others she would not turn to the darkness. Dawn was accepting this slowly, using her powers only as a last resort.

Xander and Anya had grown much closer and were still together. Their love had grown and their relationship had matured greatly over the past year. Anya was still a demon and wanted to find a way for Xander not to age. They were discussing some options, but Xander wasn't too sure that he wanted to change his lifespan. He was now supervising the entire carpentry staff of Andrews Construction and thinking of starting his own carpentry business.

Buffy and the others had stood beside her throughout the painful year that had just passed and she knew that without her friends this year could have been her last. There had been so many changes in her life, moving to England, traveling all over the world with Bri, and discussing what had happened with people she didn't know. I had been very hard at first, but the more she talked about the curse and it's aftermath, the easier it was. It also helped to know that her experiences had caused some to turn from the path that had led her to darkness.

Another change had come because of all the travel. Brianna had been her companion on most of her travels and she had gotten to know the seer extremely well. The more she knew about Bri the more she had come to care for her, then three weeks ago, they had become lovers. Willow would never forget Tara as Bri would never forget Renee, but together they had found the love they both needed. The Scoobys were all happy for them and looked forward to seeing them again when they visited England next month.

Willow was brought out of her musing when she heard the music starting. Dawn started walking down the aisle. She looked so beautiful in the simple princess-line gown in silver-blue, carrying a simple bouquet of white daisies. Willow followed her and soon both were waiting at the altar for the bride to make her entrance.

When Buffy appeared on the arm of Ethan Rayne, everyone gazed at her. She had chosen a simple gown with plain beadwork. She was a vision. Willow looked at Giles, standing at the altar with Xander, his Best Man, and saw the love he felt for her friend clearly showing on his face. The ceremony was an uncomplicated one and quickly concluded.

So many changes in such a short time, but everyone was happy. If someone had told Willow, that she would be happy a year after Tara's death, she would have called them the worse kind of liar. But she was, she hadn't forgotten Tara, she never would, but she had started living in the present and not the past. Now Willow could look forward to a wonderful future, a future with Bri and all of her friends.

The End.

AUTHOR'S PAGE