__The Maze__
By Exfilia
"Willow?"
"Yes, Tara?"
"Will you help me with something? Something
magical? It's important, but it might be
dangerous."
"Why don't you tell me about it?"
"I think you've known for a while that I was
holding something back."
"Hey, it's your business."
"Yours, too. I told you I came from a family
of heriditary witches. What I didn't tell
you was that it was cursed."
"Cursed? You mean like as in Angel's soul?"
"I mean like Elric's sword."
"Oh. Okay."
"Not okay. Willow, do you believe a demon
can ever be good?"
"I've met some that weren't evil."
"Well, one of those met my great-great-great
aunt Nancy, and he fell in love with her, but
she just used him to be a more powerful witch.
He pined away and disappeared, and his family
cursed us in return. They built a maze that
the women of my line have to walk, to prove
they're not like Aunt Nancy. 'Betrayal
brings you hither,' they say, 'but true love
bears you forth.' We go in, but unless
someone really loves us, we can't get out
again, and we wither too."
"That is... terrible. Are you sure it'll be
okay?"
"Of course. Could we do it this weekend?"
"Where is this maze?"
"All around us," Tara said, "and nowhere
at all."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Are you looking for anything in particular?"
Giles asked Willow as she scanned his library.
"Mazes."
"There was one in Aberdeen, where my aunt
stayed. She'd take us there, and we'd get
lost and have to push through the hedge to
get out. I don't think I ever actually made
it fairly through that maze. I've no head
for the things. Odd. I haven't thought of
her in years, and I was quite fond of her."
"Was it a magical maze?"
"Oh, no. The magical sort are mostly pen and
ink, traps for the covers of books or boxes.
I think I have an example...." He dug
behind some books and a preserved frog and
came up with one, perhaps six inches long and
four wide, of pale wood with the maze marked
in dark ink under many coats of wax. "It
was actually a protection spell Ethan made
for me, when we were first together, and when
I was disturbed about anything I'd put a coat
of wax on it, by way of charging the spell."
"You and Ethan were... together?"
"It was a long time ago, Willow, and the box
is almost the only good that came of it.
Here, have it, if you like."
"Oh, I couldn't."
"Of course you must. I need to let go of it."
He paused, and then smiled at Willow. "I'll
be glad to think of it guarding you as it
guarded me, so long ago."
She kissed his cheek, quite a chaste kiss,
unsure whether she was more touched by the
gift or the confidence.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
"Are you ready?" Tara asked the moment Willow
set foot into her room.
"Yeah, where're we going?"
"Nowhere, and everywhere. You ever do any
astral projection?"
"Read about it."
"Oh, you'll be a natural. We just lie down,
and then we get up but our bodies don't."
"That sounds dangerous."
"We cast a circle first to protect us."
"Oh. Okay."
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Giles fretted about Willow for most of the
evening. He put on Parsifal, all three disks
of it, one after the other, and sat, half
listening and half reading, haunted by the
sound of her voice, the texture of her skin,
the smell of her hair when she kissed him.
He had told himself, once, that he should
give her time. A tenth grade crush was not
undying devotion, and she'd probably find
someone else long before Rupert Giles thought
it appropriate--very well, before he got up
the courage to speak to her.
Truly, though, he hadn't expected her to find
anyone. He hadn't expected Tara.
Giles snapped the book closed, and pulled a
bottle of whiskey from a cabinet, but fell
asleep with an untouched drink beside him,
and dreamed of a maze woven of blazing red
hair.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
It was kind of weird, floating above their
bodies, connected only by a wisp of a cord.
Willow could see right through Tara. She
could see through herself, for that matter.
"It's over here," Tara said, and just like
that they were there.
"That was quick," Willow said.
"Time and space have no meaning," said Tara.
"You can be where you want to be, with whom
you want to be. In fact, you already are."
Tara laughed and dived into the maze, and
Willow followed.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
He was in Aberdeen, again, he and his brother
both in short pants and his sister in braids,
just come from talking to the elders of the
Council, who had shook their heads and thrown
up their hands. Aunty had taken them all to
a sweet shop in Prince's Street, and then
along to the maze, but somehow Giles had got
separated from the others and was lost. He
was about to sit down and blubber like an
infant when he saw someone, a flash of auburn
around the corner, and got up and ran after
her as fast as his young legs would go.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Willow caught up with Tara at the cage.
"What's that?"
"That's it," Tara told her. "That's where
they hold us, until we wither away. But
not me, thanks to you."
"No, not you. Can we go, now?"
"Well, I can."
Finally Willow understood.
"Betrayal brings you hither...."
"Uh-huh, one for one, life for life, a
sacrifice, and the love we bear our master
leads us forth. But not you, dear. I'm
sorry. It really has been grand."
And Tara was gone, and the door to the cage
gaped open. Willow backed away, only to
find it behind her, and to either side, and
all around. She sat down, tears on her
cheeks, and reached into her pocket and found
Giles's box. Why had she never told him?
Why had she never let him know she only wanted
Tara, and Oz and Xander before that, because
she couldn't have Giles? She'd never said,
and now it was too late. She stared at the
pattern on the box, dark lines under gleaming
wax redolent of magical need, and felt herself
pulled in.
Oh, hell, another maze.
This time, though, there was no cage, only
another maze, a green one, and a stout little
boy shouting at a yapping terrier to leave
his sister alone, although the sister didn't
actually seem impressed, and another boy, a
small one, who came streaking out of the maze
into Willow's arms.
"I'd lost you," he said. "I was frightened."
"It's all right," Willow said, and wiped the
tears from intensely green eyes. "Come along
now. It's time you were in bed." She
extricated the other two from their
disagreement with the dog, and led them all
out of the maze.
And she was in Giles's living room, on his
sofa, in his arms, looking into his brilliant
green eyes.
"Willow?" murmurred. "Where are we?"
"Everywhere," she said, "and nowhere."
"That's nice," he said, and almost nodded
off again.
"Do you want me to go?" she asked.
"I want you to stay," he said, and then woke
enough to realize it. "I'm sorry," he said.
"I'm still half asleep."
"I'm not sorry," she said. "I don't want to
leave."
"You don't?"
"Nope. Not ever. Would that be a problem?"
"It would be very nice."
"That's good," she said, and stood up,
clasped each of his hands in one of hers and
pulled. "Giles? What happened to your aunt,
the one from Aberdeen?"
"She had cancer," he said. "She just withered
away. I missed her terribly at the time. She
was the only one of my family I was close to.
Why do you ask?"
"Because I want to know everything there is to
know about you." He smiled, blinking sleep out
of his eyes. "But not right now," she said.
"Come on. It's time you were in bed."
* * *