Part twenty:
Tara’s dreams did not come for a while, her mind was lost in it’s own world and her body floated in the darkness until finally her imagination opened up. She dreamt she was in her own bed, the lights were off in her room and she was under the covers. She heard a soft giggling and turned to see Willow laying next to her, sharing her pillow. The red head’s eyes were bright and full of stars her smile made Tara’s stomach flutter in false relief. Willow’s arms were wrapped around her and she felt warm, it was as if only she and Willow existed under the dark blue fabric of her blanket and that was the extent of their world. Dream Willow leaned in and lovingly forced Tara’s lips apart with her own, the bruising kiss made Tara feel lightheaded. She snaked an arm around Willow’s waist pulling her closer, her other hand slithered past the red-head’s shirt and caressed her fair and freckled skin. Tara’s fingers kneaded dream Willow’s shoulder blades and traced down the column of her spine that, but before she could reach the scars Willow’s skin turned into sand which crumbled and sifted between Tara’s fingers.
Tara opened her eyes to see an ebony gray stormy sky, the wind smelt of salt and damp plank wood. She was sitting on the beach, the ocean stretched out before her in a dark prussian blue mixed with highlights of onyx green, the tide was coming in harder each time and the wind whipped Tara’s hair in every direction. The waves called forlornly out to her, and pale foam creeped ever so closer to her toes and tickled her ankles with it’s chilling spray. The sound of the waves crashing matched Tara’s heart beat that thumped in her ears, the waves pounded violently onto the shore, in the distance Tara could hear thunder booming and yet she saw no rain. The dark looming water only miles from where Tara sat rose higher each time until it collapsed under the wind and it’s own weight, it began to scare her as it crept closer and closer to where she was.
Tara turned around and saw a naked figure sitting on a large rock not far from where she was. Tara squinted her eyes and looked closer, it was Willow, her beloved skin glistened from droplets of water that had sprayed onto her skin from the wind, it was as fair as moonlight and dappled with sun kissed freckles. Willow’s red hair looked like it was a vibrant orange fire when it was caught by the wind, and her eyes were an exquisite crystalline green that reflected the growing storm in their dark irises. She looked wild and untammed sitting perfectly still in all her glory, she did not seem to notice Tara only the ocean held her gaze. As Willow inhaled and exhaled Tara watched fixated on the red-head’s luscious neck muscles that strained as they contracted and steadily relaxed. A line from a long forgotten poem echoed throughout Tara’s mind and dreamscape it sounded almost like a whispered song.
“She is warmer than Dian: She rolls through an ether of sighs- she revels in a region of sighs: she has seen that the tears are not dry on these cheeks where the worm never dies... but Physche, uplifting her finger, said- ‘sadly this star I mistrust- her pallor I strangely mistrust:- Oh hasten!- Oh let us not linger! Oh, fly!-let us fly!-for we must...”
The words sent shivers up and down Tara’s back and drained all the warmth from her body, she turned back to face the ocean and saw a massive wave hovering over her head, it’s cold unloving shadow covered her body and blotted out the sky. Tara panicking turned back to see if Willow had noticed but she had dissapeared. She dragged her eyes back to the wave slowly descending down, she couldn’t feel her body, she coldn’t move the wave above her roared furiously and finally buried her in it’s thick blanket making her choke unable to breathe under it’s weight, and that’s when she woke up.
Tara caught her breath and heard the far off strumming beat of rain hitting the ground and against the house, cold air leaked in through the crack in the window and tickled Tara’s skin. Her forehead was drenched in sweat and her hair stuck to her face, she hadn’t had a nightmare like this since she was little. She used to always have nightmares of the ocean’s waves crashing down upon her until she was unable to breathe and became surrounded in stygian darkness. This feeling that she only experienced in her dreams had always frightened her, the idea of being unable to move or breathe was one of her worst fears. She winced as she realised she had slept in a very awkward position, her neck ached and her wrist was now very swollen and tender. Groggily she got up and felt around blindly for some sort of light source that she could use. After several minutes of searching she managed to locate a candle and a package of matches. She struck the first match and watched it spark into a tiny flame quickly, she held it to the wick of the candle and then blew out the match. The candle offered only a small amount of light, but Tara didn’t seem to mimd, she was much more concerned with finding a way to get out of the attic or a way to remove the ring on her finger. She went around the room picking up random spell books and put them in a stack before she began to flip through them looking for something useful.
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Rupert didn’t make home last night, he couldn’t face his daughter so instead he rented a room in a cheap hotel and slept on the hard floor in hopes of punishing himself even more for what he had done. It was a very cowardly and childish decision, but he couldn’t bring himself to go anywhere near his house out of fear of doing something worse.
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Willow awoke and rolled out of bed, she stubbed her toes on the frozen package of fruit that had fallen to the floor during the night. So walked into the bathroom and looked into the mirror, her left eye was purple and so swollen that she couldn’t open it, she had a big bruise on her forehead along with a few small gashes and dry blood on her lips. She leaned over to turn the sink on but was stopped by a sharp pang in her gut, wincing she lifted up her shirt and saw more black and purple bruises on her stomach and a few where her ribs were. More carefully this time she turned the sink on and gathered water in her hands and splashed it on her face, she felt like crap.
After brushing her teeth and examining the rest of her body for bruises or cuts Willow manuvered her clothes off trying not to strain any of her damaged muscles and walked into the shower. She adjusted the tempature so that it was scalding hot and made her skin turn red, she stood there and balled her hands into fists.
“I should have done something... why I am so pathetic and weak?” she thought, “Who knows what that fucker did to Tara... I need to get over there as fast as I can and come up with a plan to get these damn rings off...”
Willow scrubbed at her body until it began to hurt and then got out to clothe herself. She put on jeans and a plain black v neck t-shirt, she didn’t bother with taming her wet hair there were more important things to worry about. She picked up the frozen package of fruit and held it to her eye while she searched through her books for a potion or rune that could be preformed without the ring interfering. When she finally found something that she believed would work, Willow gathered materials she would need into a messenger bag and took an aluminum baseball bat along with her and headed out the door.
She was angry and wanted revenge on that man who called himself a “father”. Willow walked out the door determined that nothing could stop her, she stalked through the down pour of rain, the bat in one hand ready to strike, no one would ever harm Tara again. The rain made Willow’s uncovered arms prickle with goosebumps at the cold, she didn’t care she felt lethal and the freezing rain and wind only served to add to her unpenetrable mood that nothing could stop her.
She reached Tara’s door to her house and without even stopping to knock she turned the knob with a little more force than necessary and thrust the door open. The house was quiet and dark, Willow flicked on the lights and trudged upstairs eager to hit something.
Tara put down the book she was currently flipping through and focused in on the sound of someone walking up the stairs, she shivered at the thought of it being her father, but she crawled over to the door and looked through the crack at the bottom of the door and waited to see who it was. Wet and soggy sneakers squished into the carpet, they sounded much lighter than how her father’s footsteps used to sound.
She drew back as she heard a soft knocking at the door, she hesitated then answered, “Willow?... Is that you? I’m in here!” Tara listened as she heard the clicking of the lock moving and then the door creaked open to reveal a beaten up and soaked red head.
Tara looked up in horror at her lover covered in bruises, Willow dropped the bat and sunk to her knees, without hesitation she embraced Tara closely and softly cried.
“Oh gods Tara I’m so sorry I should have been able to protect you, it’s all my fault I’m so sorry” she sobbed into Tara shoulder.
Tara rubbed Willow’s back and held her close, “Willow I was so scared without you, it was so dark... Please don’t leave me ever again” she whispered.
"I promise, Tara I swear to you no one will ever hurt you again" Willow responded.
Tara stroked Willow's wet hair until she settled down, "Did you find out anything about rings or how to get rid of them?" she asked.
Willow pulled back and opened her bag and took out a large book, "I found a ritual that only uses runes to be performed it should release you from the ring's influence and then you'll be able to remove my ring, I hope it works...", she paused when she noticed Tara looking at her intently.
"What?... Do I have something on my face?" she asked nervous under the weight of Tara's stare, Tara shook her head "no" she replied, "I just missed you...".
Tara leaned in and kissed Willow, she inwardly smiled at the delicious sensation of Willow's familiar lips on hers, it made the world seem so much kinder and full light.
Maybe they can figure out this prophecy, rescue Faith and kick some vampire ass!
That is just...unfair, especially on a week that you probably won't be able to update! 
Soooo...maybe we'll get some 
I took it twice (many moons ago) as well as the ACT...15 hours of my life I'll never get back! On the college front...Full Sail, in Florida, is also an excellent school. I don't know about comic book illustration, but I do know that they have a really great animation program. 
Washing Tara's back was adorable.
