World Without Shrimp (Portal, Part 7, 3/4)
Title: World Without Shrimp (Portal, Part 7, 3/4)
Author: kanedax
Fandom: BtVS/AtS Wishverse
Spoilers: BtVS season 6; Previous chapters
Major Characters/Pairings: Tara/Anya, Giles, Buffy, D'Hoffryn
Rating: R for language and mild femslash
Summary: Anya looks back as her relationship is put in jeopardy by extradimensional forces
Notes: As Vi was never given a full name in the series, I borrowed it from the first place I could find, the Hellmouth Alliance RPG.
I don't own these characters. They belong to Joss Whedon and 20th Century Fox.
World Without Shrimp (2/4) / Previous Chapters / World Without Shrimp (4/4)
The windows and patio door of Anya's living room blasted in, and half a dozen men, clad in black Kevlar, ski masks, and night-vision goggles swung into the apartment on cords that were connected to the roof of the complex. They landed nimbly and aimed their matching semi-automatic rifles at the group.
"Down on the ground, everybody down!" the soldiers yelled as they were joined by three others who had entered through Anya's bedroom window.
"Oh, hey, look who it is!" the Slayer said cheerfully as the dark-haired girl pulled Tara to the floor. "I was wondering when I'd run into you Michael Bay rejects."
"Lady, get down on the floor!" yelled one of the soldiers, aiming his rifle directly at her chest.
"Well, considering you've yet to leave anyone alive, how about no?" said Buffy, plunging her sword through the soldier's chest before he could even pull the trigger.
The room lit up as nine machine guns opened up at once, and Anya reflexively covered her head as her cute little living room became a war zone.
"Cease fire, cease fire!"
"Merrick, get up!"
"Take her down!"
"Cease fire, we're in close quarters!"
"Oh, God, my leg!"
"Merrick!"
"Faith! Get Giles out of here!"
"Cease fire, goddammit!"
"Anya! Anya!”
"Tranq her! She's the demon, tranq her!"
"Anya!”
The sound of Tara's screaming voice pulled Anya from her paralysis. She looked around the room, which had quickly become enshrouded in smoke and dust, making it impossible for her to see anything clearly. The noise of the gunfire had mercifully ceased, to be replaced by the grunts and groans of close combat. She was able to make out the Slayer, who was still standing, fighting hand-to-hand with four of the soldiers. She was also able to make out a few bodies lying in the rubble that was once her living room. Most of them were soldiers, she could tell from the outfits, but one of the bodies had a large frame that matched one of the Slayer's men.
He wasn't moving.
"Anya!"
"Tranq her!" one of the fighting soldiers repeated. "She's the demon, tranq her!"
"Hey!" Anya yelled, pulling herself to her feet, not sure if she was distracting the men from Tara or from the Slayer. "She's not the demon, you assholes! I am!"
The three remaining soldiers not currently dead or battling the Slayer turned in confusion to face Anya. In order to prove her point, Anya finally allowed herself to shift to her demonic visage, and grinned wickedly at the soldiers with her rotted teeth.
"Come on, boys," she hissed, gesturing them forward. "Let's rumble."
The three glanced nervously at each other.
"Take them both," said one soldier. "They're both worth researching."
"You have to take me down first," said Anya threateningly. "Come on!"
Fully expecting to be charged, the last thing that Anya was prepared for was one of the soldiers pulling two small weapons from the holsters at his side. Not that she was disappointed.
Humans and their guns, she thought with amusement. She prepared for the attack, hoping that the bullets bouncing off her skin would put them off-balance them long enough for her to snap all three of their necks and get her girlfriend out of here.
The soldier spun on his heel, pointing one gun at her and another at the battle behind him, and pulled both triggers. Instead of the explosion of gunpowder Anya heard the hiss of pressurized air followed closely by the prick of a bug bite on her shoulder. She looked down to see a small metal object, three-pronged and shining, embedded in below her collarbone.
Huh, she thought as she pulled it out and studied it. Enchanted. Only way it could pierce the skin.
"Was that supposed to hurt?" she asked the soldiers. As an answer, her vision began to swim in front of her, and she saw as both the Slayer and one of her shrouded opponents collapse behind the soldiers, similar darts protruding from their necks. Anya made a move to attack the wavering soldiers, but instead fell uselessly to the ground.
"Take em both in," she faintly heard from one of them, the one who had shot her. "The professor'll like what we have for her."
"Jesus," one of the soldiers gasped. "Jesus, Gates, you took down Finn!"
"He'll thank me in the morning," said the shooter. "Take em all downstairs, we'll get a cleanup crew in here."
"NO!"
Anya's misting vision lit up, and she saw the advancing soldiers fly away from her. Each landed limply against the overturned couch, and Tara ran over to her.
"Anya, are you okay?" Tara asked, grabbing Anya's arm.
"Not...Not too peachy, baby," Anya said. She tried to push herself up, but the lightheadedness attacked her tenfold and she collapsed back down again.
"We have to get out of here," said Tara, panicked. "Anya, w-w-w-w-w-w-"
"I'm not going anywhere," said Anya. "Tara, I can barely keep my eyes open."
"You can't die!"
"Not dying," she slurred, her vocal cords shutting down along with her eyelids. "Drugged. Go."
"I'm not going," said Tara. "Not without you."
"Had a...feeling you'd…say..." Anya said, her lips feeling like they were made of cement. "Make a wish."
"What?"
"Make...Make a wish," she said.
"Anya, the spell wasn't that strong--"
"Bullshit..."
"--they'll wake up soon, we have to leave!"
"Tara," she said, wishing she had the strength to grab the girl's arm. She couldn't tell her what to do, that was one of the rules. "Make a wish..."
Tara stared at Anya's face, and Anya realized that she hadn't reverted back to her human visage. For the first time, Tara was looking at her girlfriend as she really was, a wrinkled, cracked demon. Understanding dawned in Tara's face, and Anya finally realized what position she was putting herself in, what power she was laying in this girl's hands. Tara couldn't kill Anya with the wish, but she could wish a thousand painful tortures on the demon instead.
More devastatingly, she could simply wish that she had never met Anya. That she had never been pulled into this mess, that she had never even joined the Wicca circle, anything. The thought terrified Anya more than she ever thought it would.
And so she closed her eyes, and waited for Tara to make her decision.
"I w-w-w-wish..." Tara stammered as the soldiers stirred behind her. "I w-w-w-w-w-"
"What do you wish?" Anya whispered, wishing she could raise her hand to place it on Tara's face.
"I w-w-wish we were anywhere but here."
Anya smiled with relief.
"Done," she said, granting one last wish before the drugs enveloped her.
---------
They had tried the basics. Giles and the others pulled together the supplies to duplicate the summoning spell he had first performed that fateful night three years ago. He cast it first, since he had the most experience with it, but Anyanka didn't appear. Tara, Vi, Larry, and Oz each attempted it afterwards in turn, in case Rupert's essence had been blocked. The results were the same.
Similar attempts were made in Los Angeles. Also in Texas, where Dawn had moved in with her father after the death of both Joyce and Buffy Summers. In England, Wesley had even gone so far as to talk one of his Watcher colleagues, a woman who Anya had never met, into attempting the spell.
"It was possible that D'Hoffryn has severed contact with anyone close to her," he said to Tara over the phone. "I thought possibly a stranger would still be able to bring her forth."
The results of that attempt were unexpected. A vengeance demon was called forth, yes, but not the demon Anyanka. Panic-stricken at the turn of events, the Watcher hastily requested a wish involving an extra week's paid vacation, which the demon granted with a roll of her eyes before disappearing into the haze of the burning ingredients.
"She specifically conjured Anyanka," Wesley insisted, "but another demon came in her place. I think it's safe to say that this dimension has been placed off-limits to our friend."
"D'Hoffryn knows the risk of her returning," Tara agreed across the phone line. "He knows what we want to do to her. Damn it. Thanks, Wes."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more assistance, Tara," said Wesley. "You know I'm always available if you need anything else."
"I know..."
"Anything," he insisted. "If you need someone to talk to, just a friend, you know I'm here."
Tara sighed in frustration. It was something that she had been hearing increasingly since Anya's disappearance, from everyone. The words were always different, but the intent was always the same. I'm sorry for your loss, they said without saying it. We care about you a lot, Tara, and we'll give you a shoulder to cry on and help you move on. Because Anya's--
"She's not dead!" Tara yelled.
"I understand how you feel, " said Giles. It was three weeks after Anya had disappeared, and the two were in Giles's living room. "But you must understand the situation, Tara..."
"I do understand the situation," said Tara. "And I'm not giving up yet. Giles, that thing hijacked her body, her mind, took her against her will."
"That thing that you speak so freely of is Anya," said Giles. "Three years ago they were the exact same person."
"They're not the same," Tara insisted. "Anya would never do something like this..."
"Well, except for that one time that she did something exactly like this," Giles said flatly.
"That was different..."
"It was no different," said Giles. "Tara, when Anya regained her power two years ago, she did the exact same thing that's happening now. If anything, what she did was worse. She tore every the other Anya out of their own dimensions against their will, including the one who is doing the damage now. And when she did it, she did it with no warning, no process of having to create a new power center. It was simply a snap of the fingers, and they were gone."
"Until they came back," Tara argued. "After Anya..."
"Yes, after Anya's power source was destroyed again," said Giles. "Which is looking more and more impossible as D'Hoffryn has barred her from ever entering our world."
"Then we go after her," said Tara. "I pulled out some of the old books I had been reading when we were dealing with Buffy's soul-swap--"
"Tara, I'm sorry," Giles interrupted. "But our options are quickly drying up. Short of opening up portal after portal, quite possibly tearing up the very fabric of reality while doing so, in the hopes of catching up with one singular interdimensional demon that could easily tear our spines in half before we get the opportunity to even put a hand on her..."
"Sounds like it's worth the risk."
"You don't mean that," said Giles severely. "Tara, I know you. I know you've always held a firm belief in the inherent danger of using magic for personal gain. To even comprehend chasing after this demon would be placing your life, our lives, not to mention the lives of every living being in every dimension, in danger, simply for your love of Anya. You of all people should appreciate how foolish it would be to put your emotions first in this situation."
Tara let loose a shaking sigh, which turned into a strangled sob, as she fell defeated to the couch. "She can't be gone," she whispered. "Giles, she can't, I love her, she loves me, she can't be..."
"I'm sorry, Tara," said Giles, sitting down beside her. "I'm so sorry..."
And Tara Maclay, fell onto Giles's shoulder and cried, freely and openly, for the first time since Anya had disappeared.
---------
Anya Jenkins awoke in moonlight and darkness. It took her a moment to see exactly where she was, partially because of the afterimage of Tara's spell still glowing in her retina, and partially because she had never been in Tara's dorm room at night, had never laid in her bed.
"You awake?" asked Tara, who was sitting on the bed.
"How long was I out?" Anya groaned. Looking down at the bed, she saw first that she had been unconscious long enough for Tara to have tucked her comfortably under her sheets. Second, she saw that she was a little less clothed than before.
"Sorry," Tara said as Anya lifted the sheets. "You had a really deep cut on your back from the shelf. It was easier to apply the poultice w-w-without the shirt."
"Well, I guess half of my wish came true," Anya sighed, dropping the sheet over her bare breasts. "I was hoping we'd both end up naked by the end of the night. I was just expecting better circumstances."
"Yeah," Tara said quietly. "You can borrow one of my blouses, your t-shirt's a lost cause."
"Or you can just take your top off," Anya joked hopelessly. "You know, even things out, help with the other half of that wish?"
"So that girl was right," said Tara, not smiling. "You're a d-demon."
"I am," said Anya. After getting her apartment torn apart by Slayers and covert operatives, she figured she was past the point of white lies. "But, Tara, look..."
She was taken slightly aback when Tara simply nodded.
"You seem surprisingly calm about this," Anya said carefully. "No screaming, no freaking out, no crossing yourself or giving me the evil eye."
"I don't know," said Tara. "I was, a little, when you were asleep, but I guess... I guess it was just inevitable."
"What do you mean, inevitable?"
"Have you killed anyone?"
"No, I haven't," said Anya, sitting up and holding the sheet against her chest. "Well, not this time out. I have, a long time ago. But they all deserved it."
"Your job? C-c-customer service?"
"Granting wishes."
"How old are you?"
"A thousand years old? Eleven hundred? I lose track sometimes. Let's just say I saw Belle of the Nineties when it premiered. What do you mean, inevitable?"
Tara took a deep breath. "I...I...I'm a demon, too," she said.
"You are?"
Tara nodded, looking down at her hands. "Part of me always knew that I'd end up with s-someone evil, I guess."
"Evil's relative," said Anya. "Not all demons are evil. Hell, I could introduce you to at least a dozen demons that I personally know who wouldn't hurt a fly. There's one demon in Los Angeles, runs a karaoke bar, one of the sweetest guys you'll ever meet. And you're not a demon."
"I am," said Tara. "I m-m-may not look like it, but..."
"No, you don't look like it because you're not one."
"I am!" Tara insisted. "My m-m-m-mother was one, too...it's where the m-m-magic comes from."
"How can you think that?" asked Anya. "Tara, I'm a demon. Demons can sense other demons. I don't sense anything from you."
"That's b-b-because I'm not twenty yet," said Tara, still not looking up. "My f-f-father said that's when my mother..."
"Your father?"
Tara nodded sadly. "My f-f-father, my brother Donny, my cousin Beth... They all knew my m-mother was a demon, and that I'm g-gonna be one, too, when I turn twenty..."
"Your father..." Anya repeated slowly, the pieces falling into place in her head.
"I ran away from home so they w-w-wouldn't get hurt..."
"Tara, you have to listen to me," Anya said, grabbing the girl's arm. "You're not a demon. You have to trust me when I say that."
"But Father..."
"Father lied to you," Anya insisted. "I don't know why, but I can make a few guesses, none of which you probably want to hear. Just... I've been around for a millennium, doing nothing but helping women who have gone through hell with men who will lie to them, hurt them, even kill them just to make sure that they have the power in the relationship. Any father that would tell his human wife and his human daughter that they're demons has a base of operations in that camp of pricks."
"But..."
"Look, what do you want me to do to prove it to you?" Anya said, taking Tara's hands. "Do you want us to cast a spell? There are demon locator spells that will prove that I'm the only demon in this room. We can use your doll eye crystal. Want to make another wish? That's my gig. Make a wish that you want to know the truth about you and your mother, and your dad will be on that phone in ten seconds spilling his guts. Or do you just want to look into my eyes, know that I care about you more than anyone I've ever cared about, and that I would never lie to you?"
"And this is d-d-different than other times you've lied to me?" Tara said, reaching up to touch Anya's amulet.
"It is," Anya said, flushing. "And I'm sorry that I lied to you before about me being a demon. It's not..."
"Were you using me? Were you just p-p-playing me to get this?"
"No!" Anya yelled. "Okay, well, for maybe the first five minutes. Then I got to know you, and..."
"And then you just used me," Tara said with a hurt tone that pulled at Anya's heart. "Used me to get your... your power center back."
"I didn't just use you," Anya insisted. "Tara, I care about you. A lot. More than I ever... More than I ever thought I could care about someone. Why do you think I stuck around after I got it back?"
"I...I don't know," Tara said. "Guilty conscience?"
"I don't know if I have a conscience," Anya admitted. "I...I've done a lot of horrible things in the past, Tara. I admit it..."
"Are you evil?"
"I don't know," she sighed. "I guess we're sort of neutral on the whole good/evil scale. We hurt people, but we do it to, well, avenge wrongs that they've done to others. But we really don't do anything unless someone else wishes it."
"So you're...you're like a weapon?"
Anya shrugged. "Or I'm a tool. Take your pick."
"Who were they? Who were we fighting? Were they the g-g-good guys?"
Anya sighed. "I don't know who the troopers were," she said. "But the others, the two girls and the two guys in the suits... Yeah, I think they were the good guys."
"And we were fighting them... They were trying to help someone, that one girl was trying to help me, and we fought them... One of them got captured, I think one of them got k-k...one of them got killed, because we were fighting them!"
"Tara, we didn't kill them..."
"Anya, I'm not a bad guy," Tara cried, panic finally setting in. "You said it yourself, I'm not evil! But someone died tonight because of us. I have to make it better, I can't... I can't just let this be." She suddenly stood up. "I have to go. I have to go f-f-find them, I have to go help..."
"Tara," Anya said, feeling a wave of vertigo hit her as she found her footing. "You don't know where they are."
"I can f-f-find them," Tara nodded. "I'll just got back to your apartment, look for clues..."
"I know where they are," said Anya, amazed at herself for the lengths she was willing to go. "I know where the English guy lives. I can take you there."
"No!" Tara yelled. "No, they want to kill you!"
"They only want to depower me."
"You hurt their friend," said Tara. "You c-c-cut his... oh, God...” She leaned against the dorm room wall, steadying herself. "Oh, God, you... you cut off his...Why would you do that?"
"Because his girlfriend wished it to happen," Anya replied, pulling one of Tara's blouses randomly from her laundry pile and pulling it on.
"Can you make it better?"
"Yes, I can..."
"Would you?" Tara said, stepping forward. "Would you save him?"
"Tara, he was horrible to her...They all were, every one wish I've ever granted was justified, and..."
"That doesn't matter!" Tara yelled. "Would you save him? Would you save all of them? For us?"
Anya saw the foreign anger in Tara's eyes, and took a step back. Her hand instinctively reached for the amulet, protecting it.
Tara saw the movement, and Anya saw the hurt push itself forward in her eyes. "Would you do it to save us?" she asked. "Anya, I l-l-love you. But knowing what you did, and the role I played in it, all of the p-p-people you hurt, whether they deserved it or not... I can't... I can't be with you knowing that. I can't have that blood on my hands..."
"Tara," Anya pleaded, stepping forward. Tara responded by taking a step backward.
"I have to go," said Tara, lowering her gaze, unable to hold it any longer. "If y-y-you care about me at all, you'll tell me where they live, so I can help them. But as long as y-y-you're wearing that amulet, I can't--"
crack
Tara gasped, shielding her eyes as the putrid green light pulsed from Anya's closed fist. Anya tugged at the gold chain around her neck and opened her palm, looking down at the contents with as much surprise as Tara was showing on her face.
"He's cured," Anya said quietly to the remains of her power source. "The prick's cured. That wasn't so bad this time. Like pulling off a Band-Aid. Hurts less when you do it yourself."
Tara stepped forward, her hands cupped over her mouth in shock. "Anya, you..."
"You know, you'd think it would have been harder," said Anya. "You'd think the crisis of faith, the whole internal power struggle, would have been a little more epic. Frankly, I was expecting more of a fight."
"Anya..." Tara repeated in awe, now standing over the green and gold shards spread across Anya's palm.
"It wasn't that hard of a decision in the end," said Anya. "It was a choice between dying as a normal girl with the one I love, or living an immortal life without her. Simple, really..."
Tara looked up at Anya, and once again the former vengeance demon was struck by how beautiful the witch's eyes were. "You know this isn't over," Tara said quietly. "This doesn't fix everything."
"I know," said Anya.
"We still have a lot of things to straighten out," she continued. "There's going to be some nights where we'll be up until t-t-t-two in the morning fighting with each other."
"I know..."
"Some nights one of us is going to have to sleep on the couch."
"I need to buy a new couch," said Anya with a twitch of her lip. "The Slayer broke mine."
"But that'll have to wait until after we help save that girl."
"Sounds like a fair trade," said Anya. "But, um, is it okay if we--?"
Tara smiled in relief, and the two silently agreed that a few minutes of make-up kissing wouldn't be the end of the world.
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