Original AN: Set between the end of Season Six and the beginning of Season Seven. So, what would have happened if Willow went looking for Tara? What would have happened if she left the Scoobies for good to find her true love…and left in a way that wouldn't allow her to ever go back? This is my take on what might've happened in that situation. Note that the version of Hell I'll be using is taken from the movie "What Dreams May Come."

Nine Years Later: Aww, ain't this story cute. Well, maybe not cute... Anyway, having miraculously found all the original documents, I went through and fixed the formatting and all the grammar errors I could find while speed reading. I'm sure I missed a few, but hey. TRIGGER WARNING: suicide.

PROLOGUE

Tara looked around, not sure of her surroundings. She was in a darkened lot scattered with crates and scraps of metal. Feeling dizzy where she lay on the ground, Tara looked over to see a redhead crawling towards her. "Tara?" the girl was pleading. "Tara?"

Tara frowned a little as she gazed into a pair of loving green eyes, the concerned face framed by flaming locks of hair. And suddenly everything began to clear for Tara. "Willow?" she asked carefully, the world rushing back.

The redheaded witch's face lit up, and tears began to roll down her face. "Tara?" she asked again, smiling this time in relief.

"Willow…" Tara repeated, finally knowing that she was safe and sound with her love. Glory had ripped Tara's sanity from her, sending Tara spiraling through chaos. And every moment Tara spent in that swirling void she had thought of only one thing – Willow. Willow-love.

Willow hadn't given up either. Seeing Tara's insanity had nearly killed her, and she suffered nearly as much as her lover had. But all of it – Dawn's capture, Buffy's retreat into her own mind, Tara looking at her without recognition – all of it spurred Willow on to win the fight against Glory. She would bring Tara back, no matter what. And now she had. Tara was finally looking at Willow again and seeing who she was and how much she loved her.

Tara swallowed as she gazed at Willow, still cradling her injured arm. "I got so lost…" the blonde witch said, her voice high and still fearful.

Willow was practically grinning in relief. "I found you!" She kissed Tara again and again, first on the lips and then moving to her cheek as she held the other girl tight. "I will always find you!"

…

Willow sat silently on her bed, staring out the windows at the night sky. The bed she used to share with Tara. The windows that they both would look through. True, she had gotten her revenge, though she'd gone positively ape shit, but Xander had brought her back to being Willow. The Willow everybody knew and loved. Crayon break-y Willow, not scary vein-y Willow. Heartbroken Willow.

Nothing could dull her pain. Nothing could take away the utter hurt she felt. She had found Tara…then lost her…then finally found her again…then lost her to cruel fate. Willow wouldn't rest until she'd found Tara again. And yet to find her, Willow's body would have to rest. Forever.

Willow had already written the note. It lay folded at the end of her bed by her feet. She had bid them all goodbye, and wished them well. She had told Buffy how much of a friend she had been, expressed to Xander how much she'd cared for him her whole life, told Dawn to always smile. And of course, she told them all how much she'd love and miss them. But it had to be done.

Willow finally held the knife in front of her, tilting the blade so it reflected the moonlight. It was almost surreal how such a small thing could finally give her peace – grant her passage to the one she loved more than anything in all dimensions.

"I love you, Tara," she whispered. "I will always find you." And in two quick movements with a hand change in between, Willow had slashed her wrists.