A/N: Hi! Thanks for choosing to read this fic, and I hope you carry on and enjoy it :P I've slaved away for about six months on this thing. It's completely written but will go up in (hopefully) weekly instalments in case edits need to be made. Aaaaaaaanyway, the concept for this came to me years ago and I started writing and posting but then I stopped and lost the fic. Early on this year I decided I wanted to have another go. And here we are!

My reapers are based loosely on Tite Kubo's Shinigami from Bleach (anime/manga) and the rest is Buffy, save for the odd reference to other shows/books/video games I throw in.

So, here it is!

Tara Maclay was falling. Falling, falling, falling through darkness and cold but there was no wind and there was nothing to catch hold of to slow this descent through oblivion…. Her heart thudded in her chest, crashing against her ribs in a panic. She couldn't see, she couldn't hear, she was completely disorientated, tumbling this way and that, arms wind milling uselessly.

She became aware suddenly of hard ground beneath her shoulders. Not an impact. She was no longer falling. It was simply not there, and then it was, as though she were merely lying there and had been always. A cold wetness was dropping onto her face, a spattering of water like rain. She was blind. Her eyes were closed, the lids too heavy to lift. Her body was so heavy, as though it hadn't been used in much too long. But that wasn't right. She had been standing in front of the bedroom window, talking to Willow just moments ago…Right?

There was a soft murmuring somewhere nearby, like someone was speaking slow and steady but she couldn't make out the words. They were oddly muffled to her. She took in a great lungful of air, her chest aching from the effort and suddenly she was gasping for breath, feeling as though she had been underwater holding her breath, drowning maybe, and had just broken the water's surface. She choked, forcing her chest to rise and fall, to let the oxygen flood her body, and finally dragged her eyes open. The world above was blurry. Grey and blurry and wet and cold. Slowly it came into focus, the image sharpened. Her ears picked up the sound of rain pattering around her, wind gusting. Where was she? Why was she outside…?

"Ah, you're alive." The voice was female and English. Not someone she recognised. And what an odd thing to say, of course she was alive! Tara turned her head towards the voice and squinted to focus on the person beside her. A slight figure sat cross legged on the grass, definitely not someone she recognized. Small and unassuming with grey eyes, fair skin, and dark hair that brushed her jawline, tousled and soaked from the rain and the wind. An equally drenched hood was pulled up to protect her from the rain. Water dripped from the black cotton into her eyes, causing her to blink. She must have been there for some time. Her clothes were all soaked through.

"Wha-…?" Her voice was hoarse from disuse, her mouth dry. She struggled to push herself upright, but before she had done so the young stranger placed a hand on her shoulder and pushed her back down. The ground beneath her felt wet and muddy.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, Tara, you're only wearing a blanket." She said awkwardly. Tara sharply raised her head enough to look down at herself (her spine creaked and popped, her muscles screamed from neglect) and was alarmed to find the woman spoke the truth. Her heart raced, and she began to tremble, going into full panic mode. What the Hell was going on?! The last thing she remembered was standing in front of Willow and then…nothing. Why did she feel as though she had been asleep for years? She felt no strength in her muscles. The woman leaned over her again, stormy eyes clearly concerned, and pulled the blanket tighter around Tara. "You're okay. Everything…will be all right." She sounded hesitant, unwilling to commit to the potential lie, no matter how comforting it would be.

"W-what's going on…?" Tara whimpered. The stranger paused, grey eyes on Tara's. Something awful had clearly happened, and Tara was filled with a deep sense of foreboding. She shivered beneath the sodden blanket.

"We have a lot to talk about."