When she had managed to leave the Hyperion that night without running into anyone that wasn't actually there, she thought maybe it was over. That would be nice, she didn't need to be seeing things to make her life more messed up than it already seemed to her. It had been a pretty quiet patrol, only a few vampires, nothing serious, and then she saw her.
Black eyes, black hair, veins in her face. The same dress she had been wearing two hundred years into the future when Buffy had last seen her like this. For a moment she took the time to considered how, timeline wise, that shouldn't make sense. But there she was, her best friend, too far gone now. Dark Willow.
She was standing on the steps of a Cathedral, staring down at Buffy. She was so dark the Slayer might not have even noticed her, but she felt those eyes. Stopping at the base of the steps, Buffy looked up at Willow, eyes wide. The last time they had met, she had killed her. She knew, for a fact, this was not her Willow, but just someone else she was seeing.
Looking up and down the street, Buffy climbed the stairs, keeping her eyes on Willow. They never looked away from each other, and finally she as on the same step, they were looking eye to eye. And then she smiled at Buffy. "You warned me. Told me the story of the trip to the future, but that isn't going to save me, Buffy. You can't save me, though I wish you could." she was calm, like she had been from the future. She made no direct move to hurt Buffy.
It was the Willow that wanted to be killed, after centuries of being alone, after everyone leaving her, after her power was nearly gone. "You don't know that." she replied softly, "we both know no, that automatically changes things."
"Maybe." she replied, "or maybe it's just a warning of what will come. You know I can't stop. As much as I try, I have the power, and I'll use it."
For a moment, there was silence, before Dark Willow took a step forward. When Buffy automatically stepped back, Willow stopped. "You'll try, I know you will. But in the end, you'll have to kill me. Either two hundred years from now, or two years from now."
It was then that Buffy heard a scream, and head turned, looking to the Cathedral. "You can't save everyone, Buffy." she heard Willow say, but Buffy wasn't listening, she was already running up the stairs and yanking at the doors. She thought maybe Willow was going to leave, but she felt her, right behind her the entire way. "You never do quit, do you?" Willow asked softy.
It didn't take her long to find the source of the screaming. There was a woman, by the basin of Holy Water. The was smoke. Her first thought as a vampire, but then she recognized the figure. It was Ruby.
The Slayer didn't know much about her. Other than Faith didn't really seem to care for her. What the story was she didn't know, and mostly didn't care. It somehow involved Sam, so Buffy automatically lost interest. Still, why a demon was going suicidal, she didn't know.
Sprinting toward her, Buffy noted that she appeared to be alone, and the Slayer didn't stop until she was right behind her, grabbing the demon by the shoulders, and yanking her back with a fair amount of strength in her body.
"At least you're still determined." she heard Dark Willow point out, which she chose to ignore, for now.
"Have you gone insane?" the Slayer demanded. The first thing she noted was that there were currently too many people with black eyes in her line of vision.