Disclaimer: "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and all characters from the show are the property of Joss Whedon, 20th Century Fox, and the UPN Television Network. The Cthulhu Mythos material is loosely based on the "Call of Cthulhu" role-playing game (copyright Chaosium Inc.) and the book "Encyclopedia Cthulhiana" by Daniel Harms. Daniel Harms. SAVE is based on the organization in the Chill Roleplaying game (copyright Mayfair Games Inc.) and the earlier version of the game (copyright Pacesetter, Ltd.).
PROLOGUE
Morningstar is sitting in his basement grimly watching events in
Sunnydale through one of his viewing crystals. "At least with
all the magic she's throwing around, it'll mask what I do" he
thinks. He considers for a few more moments then walks over to a
wall and places his hand on it. A hidden door opens and he walks
in and looks around. Morningstar grabs a miniature cauldron and
a dagger with a crystal in the hilt. He pulls out a book and
opens it to a spell, then creates a copy of the page. He walks
over to the sink and fills a bottle full of water, the hidden
door shutting behind him. He writes out a list of ingredients on
a piece of paper, picks up a small bag from a table, then puts
everything in a backpack. Finally, Morningstar walks over to a
glowing stone set in the floor, in the center of a circle of
viewing crystals. He absorbs energy from the stone then watches
one of the viewing crystals for a few more moments before he
vanishes.
PART 1
Morningstar appears next to an empty bus. Willow, her hair and
eyes both dark, is talking to Buffy and Xander. Willow tells
them "Tara's dead."
Morningstar interrupts. "Do you want her back?"
Willow answers "I already tried."
Morningstar continues "You tried. I didn't. Do you want her
back?"
Willow says, with sudden hope, "Of course I want her back."
Buffy objects. "Wait a second, Willow. You don't know anything
about him."
Xander agrees. "How do you know you can trust him? You don't
even know his name."
Morningstar gestures and says "Forget." Buffy and Xander stand
still, looking dazed.
Willow asks "What did you do to them?"
Morningstar replies "It'll wear off soon. Didn't want to risk
them interfering." He hands Willow a piece of paper and the
small bag. "Pick up these supplies. Meet me back at Buffy's old
grave in one hour. I'm Morningstar, by the way."
Willow asks "What about Warren?"
Morningstar answers "Don't worry. He's going to die." He
gestures and vanishes.
Willow hesitates. She looks back at Xander and Buffy, sees them
start to come out of their daze and decides to leave.
Xander and Buffy look at each other. They see the empty bus and
the broken Warren-bot.
Buffy says, in a puzzled tone, "I feel like I've forgotten
something important. I remember being shot, being in the
hospital, and Willow healing me but I can't seem to remember
anything after that." She points to the Warren-bot. "Did I do
that?"
Xander shakes his head. "I don't think so. Maybe Willow?"
Buffy replies "But why would Willow do that? I was the one shot
and I'm fine now."
Xander considers. "Unless someone else was hurt." He pauses.
"Tara."
Buffy looks alarmed. "If she was killed, Willow would go
ballistic." She considers. "We should get back to my house.
Maybe we can figure out what really happened."
PART 2
Warren is walking hastily through the woods near Sunnydale.
Morningstar appears, holding the dagger. "Hello, Warren. You
almost messed up my plans. Now you're going to help me with
them."
Warren tries to cast a spell but Morningstar blocks it. He grabs
Warren and stabs him in the heart with the dagger. The crystal
in the hilt starts glowing as Warren dies. Morningstar magically
burns the blood off the blade and then vanishes.
Morningstar appears in front of the Summers' house. He walks
inside and goes up to Willow's room. He sees Tara's body on the
floor and Dawn huddled in the corner. "This is convenient" he
says. He walks over to Tara's body, picks it up and places it
over his shoulder. He then walks over to Dawn, grabs her by one
arm and vanishes.
Buffy and Xander arrive at her house after Morningstar leaves.
They search the house and find blood in Willow's room but no sign
of either Tara or Dawn.
Buffy shakes her head. "Blood, but no body. Could Tara have
survived?"
Xander responds "Or maybe someone took her body." He pauses.
"Willow?" He pauses again. "Maybe there's something at the
Magic Box that will help us find her."
PART 3
Morningstar is standing near Buffy's former grave, holding Dawn
by one arm. Tara's body is on the ground in front of them.
Willow walks in. She sees Dawn and asks "What is she doing
here?"
Morningstar answers "We need a small amount of her blood for the
spell. You do want Tara back, don't you? Did you get the
ingredients?"
Willow nods. "Rose petals, shamrock leaf, skink root, Lethe's
bramble." She pauses. "What's the Lethe's bramble for?"
Morningstar replies "We don't need it for the spell. You might
want it afterwards for yourself. The spell can be a bit ...
intense." He hands Willow the water bottle, instructions for the
spell, and the dagger.
Willow places the water bottle on the ground and studies the
instructions for a moment.
Dawn asks Morningstar "Will this really bring Tara back?"
Morningstar nods. "Of course."
Dawn hesitates and then holds out an arm. Morningstar holds the
miniature cauldron beneath her outstretched arm.
Willow picks up the water bottle and pours the water over Tara's
body. She puts the rose petals, shamrock leaf, and skink root in
the miniature cauldron. Then she makes a cut on Dawn's arm and
lets some blood drip into the cauldron. Willow takes the
cauldron and places it on the ground next to Tara. She steps
back and starts chanting. "Arawn. Lord of the Dead. Accept my
offering. Open the gateway to the otherworld and let the power
of your cauldron be mine. Let me regain the one I have lost."
The crystal in the hilt stops glowing. Willow appears to burst
into flame. She steps forward through the flames, although the
fire still seems to cling to her back. She grasps Tara's hand
and puts down the dagger. Steam rises from Tara's body and the
miniature cauldron begins to boil. Morningstar quickly heals the
cut in Dawn's arm.
After a few minutes, the flames and steam both die down and Tara
begins to stir. Willow's hair and eyes are both back to normal
and she looks exhausted. She says happily "I brought you back,
baby. I brought you back."
Tara looks around and sees Morningstar. "Who is that?"
Willow answers "He's Morningstar. He helped me. Told me
everything I needed to do."
Tara looks worried. "I've heard about him. Did you make any
bargains with him?"
Willow shakes her head. "No. No bargains. What's wrong?"
Tara stands up and faces Morningstar. "So why did you bring me
back? And what spell did you use?"
Morningstar looks amused. "Very bold for someone alone in the
woods with a demon."
Willow says fiercely "She's not alone."
Morningstar grins. "Relax. If I was going to hurt her, I
wouldn't have helped you to bring her back."
Tara reminds him "You didn't answer my questions."
Morningstar gestures and visions appear: a green-stoned city
rises from the ocean and an enormous octopus-headed creature
emerges, things resembling winged crustaceans swarm over the
planet, and a bubbling mass of chaos threatens to swallow
everything. "There are creatures out there that would destroy
all of us. I need Willow's help to stop them. I need her alive
and sane and learning what I can teach her. How to control her
powers instead of having them control her." He pauses. "The
spell is Arawn's cauldron. My own variation."
Morningstar steps forward, picks up the cauldron and the dagger,
and then hands Willow a card. "Call me. Soon." He grins and
vanishes.
After Morningstar leaves, Willow asks "Tara, what's wrong?
Morningstar helped us."
Tara responds "I know. It's just that he wouldn't have helped us
unless he thought it would help him and we don't know what he
really wants." She pauses. "We'd better find the others."
PART 4
Xander and Buffy arrive at the Magic Box and find Anya. Xander
helps Anya to a chair.
Anya says "Willow was here earlier. She froze me in place and
drained magic from the books."
Buffy tells her "Someone blanked parts of our memory. We've been
trying to figure out what happened. We don't know where Willow
or Dawn is, or what happened to Tara."
Anya shakes her head. "I can't tell you where Willow or Dawn
are." She pauses and says sadly "Tara's dead." She pauses
again. "Earlier I could feel Willow's thirst for vengeance but
something changed. She isn't interested in vengeance now."
Buffy considers. "She's going to try to raise Tara."
Xander nods. "We still need to find her. Maybe some sort of
locator spell?" He pauses and looks at Anya. "You said you
could feel her thirst for vengeance?"
Anya replies "Yes. It's something I can do now."
Buffy interrupts. "We can talk about this later. Right now we
have to find ..." She pauses. "We have to find Willow."
Anya says uncertainly "I don't know how much she left behind. I
guess we can look around."
While they are looking, Willow, Tara, and Dawn walk into the
Magic Box. Buffy spots them and asks "Is everyone all right?"
Willow answers "We're all fine."
Buffy says firmly "Good. Now what happened?"
Willow begins hesitantly "It's kind of a long story" but then
proceeds to summarize events.
After Willow is finished, Buffy glares at her. "You involved
Dawn in this?"
Willow responds "I ... I didn't know."
Buffy continues "Did you ask?"
Willow shakes her head. "I'm sorry."
Buffy says firmly "You can't just apologize and make everything
fine."
Willow answers quietly "I know."
Xander interjects "What about Morningstar?"
Tara replies "We need to learn more about him. We should call
Giles." She pauses. "Also your friend from SAVE ... Melissa
Johnson."
Willow winces but then agrees. "You're right, they might know
something about Morningstar." She pauses and hands the Lethe's
bramble to Anya. "You'd better put this away. I didn't use any
of it." She pauses again. "Giles won't be up for more than an
hour. Maybe we can do some research until then."
EPILOGUE
The next night, Willow and Tara are talking in Willow's room.
Willow asks hesitantly "Are you upset with me, baby?"
Tara considers carefully. "I'm mostly just worried. I don't
trust you with magic. And I don't trust Morningstar at all."
Willow comments "Even Giles didn't say that we couldn't work with
Morningstar."
Tara responds "Giles didn't trust him, either. Neither did
Melissa. And both of them were worried enough that they're
flying out here."
Willow reassures her "I'm not going to do anything stupid." She
pauses and continues sheepishly "At least not anything else
stupid."
Meanwhile, Morningstar is sitting in his basement considering the
recent events. "Things turned out rather well" he thinks.
"Willow isn't won over yet but I'm making good progress. And if
I can win over Willow, I'll eventually convince Tara too. I just
have to be patient. Let things grow at their own pace."