Buffy the Vampire Slayer Preferences + imagines/one shots

Tillow Imagine - The Future

we love tillow. 

"Tara!" Her dad called from downstairs, "Are you going to start on dinner soon?"

"Yes, father!" she shouted back, hastily gathering the sheets of spells she was re-reading from her bedroom floor. She sorted them into a messy pile and stashed them at the back of her wardrobe with the other magic stuff she had to keep hidden. As she trudged downstairs, she reminisced of the days when their living room was cluttered with herbs and candles and spell books. When magic was the norm and not a dirty secret. 

Her longing for the life she had before her mother died is particularly strong tonight. Tara's found that this usually happens in the lead up to the anniversary of her mother's death. 

Vivid memories of the two of them practising nature spells in the garden and conjuring flowers in the palms of their hands flooded her mind as she started to boil some pasta. Nature magic was always her mother's favourite.

Tara loved it too but was capable of so much more - and her mother knew this.

By the age of thirteen, Tara could see what tomorrow would hold, move things with a simple thought and even change the colour of her hair at will. 

By the age of seventeen, her father had convinced her that magic was evil.

If it wasn't, why couldn't it save his wife?

"It's r-ready." 

Tara brought plates of steaming tomato pasta out to her brother and father who were waiting at the dinner table. They tucked into their floor immediately, not waiting for Tara to leave and return with her own plateful.

She ate her food quick, wanting to get back to the comfort of her bedroom. 

"Don't eat so fast," her father snapped, "You'll make yourself sick."

"S-sorry." She slowed down.

-----------------------------

As soon as the door shut softly behind her, she rushed to the closet and pulled out her favourite spell book: a little, black book with well-read thin pages, courtesy of her late mother. She opened it to a random page, intent on practising whatever spell it landed on. 

See into the future.

This was one she'd practised a few times, but not since her mother's passing. She knew it wouldn't bring her the kind of joy that other spells brought her. Tomorrow was of no interest to her now. It was always the same and it was depressing; nothing to look forward to.

Tara sat staring at the page.

Tomorrow would be mundane. 

But what about after that?

A dangerous thought crossed her mind.

She was a capable witch. Not as advanced as her mother, but strong and smart nevertheless. She knew what to do to tweak the spell and see past tomorrow and into the future. Curiosity bloomed in her chest - would life be like this in a year's time? Two? Five?

Tara snapped the book shut. 

If it was, she didn't know if she'd be able to cope.

...but what if it wasn't? What if life was better and brighter and far, far away from her father and brother and tomato pasta and hiding ?

Quietly, Tara went down to the kitchen and filled up a large bowl with water, carefully carrying it back to her room. She set it on the floor, added some thyme, and reopened her spell book.

She closed her eyes and muttered the spell with the necessary changes. She peered down into the water and watched it ripple gently, before it started swirling in a clockwise motion. She let out a sigh as the water shifted and glimmered, indicating that it was time to put her head into it. 

She sucked in a giant breath and plunged her face into the water, opening her eyes wide.

Tara saw a tall vending machine being thrown against a wall and two hands intertwined. Suddenly, the room she was in lurched and transformed into a dimly lit bedroom she didn't recognise. 
She saw a flash of ginger hair belonging to a blurry girl. Was she the person she was holding hands with before? Although Tara couldn't make out her face, she knew she was smiling. 
"I am." she said. 
As she started to feel light-headed, the last thing she saw was the shape of a cross, imprinted like a brand into the back of her eyelids.

Tara gasped as she pulled her head out of the water - she had definitely stayed in for too long. She panted rapidly as the things she saw replayed in her mind. When she used to look into the future of tomorrow, things were always so clear, but what just happened was far from it. She was ambitious to gaze into the next year and it was blurry, cryptic and confusing. 

But the feeling swelling in her chest was one she hadn't felt in an eternity - hope. She knew deep down that she was happier, and there was no doubt that it was because of the redhead in her vision. But it was more than that... there was no sign of her family, but she felt whole and cared for and happy. She didn't think she'd feel like that again, not since...

It wasn't until her cheeks were pink and wet that she realised she was crying. She smiled, grabbing her closest stuffed animal and holding it to her chest as she let herself silently sob. 

Things were going to get better.

And it was the best feeling in the world.