Author: Stormforce
Rating: NC-17
Disclaimer: Don't own either series.

After Willow and Tara appeared on the ship, Buffy set the auto-pilot to the next destination, and sat down on Faith's lap watching as Tara read and re-read the piece of paper. Willow was leaning over the chair arm reading along, as Donald watched them.

"Well? What does it say?" Faith was the one who asked raising her eyebrows in question.

Report Two

It is my duty to expose what this darkness really is.

I shall conduct the following experiments:

Extract the darkness from a person's heart. Cultivate darkness in a pure heart. Both suppress and amplify the darkness within.

The experiments caused the test subject's heart to collapse, including those of the most stalwart. How fragile our hearts are! My treatment produced no signs of recovery.

I confined those who had completely lost their hearts beneath the castle. Some time later, I went below and was greeted by the strangest sight.

Creatures that seemed born of darkness... What are they? Are they truly sentient beings? Could they be the shadows of those who lost their hearts in my experiments?

D'Hoffryn

"That's it!" Buffy asked and shivered. "Creatures born of darkness? I don't like the sound of that, one damn bit!"

Willow took the paper and placed it with the other, "You're not the only one. I mean, sure, we can take on creatures that work for the darkness...but being born from it is a different story."

"No wonder they're so damn hard to kill, and why they can just keep attacking after we've killed several groups of them." Faith leaned her head back, rubbing her face.

"I still want to know what happened to D'Hoffryn-- Donald do you know anything about him?" Tara looked over at the pacing duck.

"No, the first time we heard of him was from you twins in Traverse Town."

Goofy sat up and looked from Willow, to Tara, "What about your world? Spira, is that's what it's called?"

"Yeah," Willow nodded. "and right now, we know it's safe...I hope we can get to Maleficent before she moves to our world."

"Don't worry, it's like Tare said, if something happens someone on the Farplane will let us know." Buffy said knowing it was true, but couldn't help but worry, herself.

Truth be told, the four young women were worried, Spira was their home, their world, and if anything happened to it, well they just didn't want to think about that. If the Heartless attacked, and destroyed Spira, the Heartless was going to have four very powerful pissed off women on their ass. Come hell or high water, I'll kill every Heartless I see! Willow thought and could see the same thoughts reflected in the others eyes.

Right now the girls were fine with visiting other worlds and sealing the keyholes to keep them safe, and if they did get to visit Spira sooner, it would make them feel better. But they couldn't just run home if it wasn't in danger just yet, and had to settle for knowing the Fayth, Mythe, and the others on the Farplane was watching over their world.

The group of six were so deep in thought they nearly jumped out of their skin, or feathers, depending on who it was, when the alarm went off. Buffy stood and looked out the windshield, and saw the new world just ahead of them. Buffy was setting the teleporter when she looked up and gasped, catching everyone's attention.

As everyone looked at the new world they knew they were too late, as a wave of darkness engulfed the world. "Danger." The ship's computer spoke causing Buffy to look at the control panel readouts, and grab her belt.

"Buckle up!" Buffy shouted as another set of readouts were being printed. "Now!"

Knowing that the Al Bhed knew what she was talking about, the others hurried back to their seats, and snapped their seatbelts in place just as the world exploded. The ship rocked from the force, and was pushed back as a powerful shockwave hit them.

Everyone on board was gripping the chair arms so hard their knuckles were turning white, as the ship rolled five, six, seven, times, and was flipped over just as many times. The shaking, rolling, and flipping stopped after what felt like an eternity, but was only more like fifteen seconds.

Tara unsnapped her belt and stood, stepping forward she fell into Willow's arms, and cried, "We were too late...how can they do that to those worlds?"

"Because," Willow whispered, "They have no hearts, they don't care who and what they hurt."

"This can't be happening!" Buffy shouted angrily hitting the back of the pilot's seat with her fist. "Shiva, damn it all!"

Faith pulled Buffy into a gentle embrace, kissing the top of her head, "Those damn Heartless! I'll kill every last one of them!" she growled.

Donald and Goofy had lowered their heads, and began to silently cry, it was then the group tensed as a light appeared in the center of the bridge. Thinking it was the Heartless, Willow and Buffy gripped their blades, Tara, Faith, and Donald readied a spell, and Goofy raised his shield.

When the light died down, they blinked, and blinked again. There floating...no, he wasn't floating, he was flying, and he was using giant ears to hover, was a small gray elephant.

"Hello, I was told to come here by the Fairy Godmother." The baby elephant said as he landed on the floor.

"Umm...okay." Buffy watched the little elephant approach Tara, and had to rub her eyes.

First thing Tara did, was to look at Willow before she kneeled down. "She told you to come here? Why?"

"She said I could merge with you, what's that?"

Understanding crossed Tara's face and she smiled, "That my little friend, is when you live inside me for a while, and I can call upon you to help me in battle. Would you like to do that?"

"I would live inside you?"

"Yes...actually, you would be inside my head, and like I said, you could help out in battle, but only if you want too."

"Wow, I could carry you around, and keep you out of the reach of those monsters!"

Tara giggled, "What's your name? Mine is Tara."

"My name is Dumbo. Nice to meet you, Tara."

"Nice to meet you, too, Dumbo." Tara scratched the baby elephant's trunk, "And this is Willow, my wife, those two over there are Faith and Buffy, and the two guys are Donald and Goofy."

Dumbo smiled up at the girls and giggled when they pat his head, "Nice to meet you." He said as Donald and Goofy approached, Goofy laughed and shook the trunk, as Donald grinned, and waved.

The elephant turned and wrapped his trunk around Tara's hand, as he looked up. "Are you ready?" she asked gently squeezing his trunk to assure him.

"Yeah."

"Okay, close your eyes and concentrate on becoming one." Tara whispered, and could feel the warm light rush over her body as Dumbo disappeared.

Willow almost jumped the two steps between them, and grabbed Tara as she swayed from side to side. "You alright, baby?"

"Fine, but whoa! For such a little guy, he sure is packing a lot of power." Tara giggled. "He said 'Cool! My own private pool to play in'." For just a moment a sad looked crossed Tara's face, right before a determined one replaced it. We'll get your mommy back. That I promise you.

It was an hour later when the alarm went off again, this time startling the group from their dozing. They looked out the windshiled, and prayed not to see this world explode like the last; their prayers were answered as the new readouts showed the Heartless wasn't close to the keyhole, just yet. Buffy set the teleporter and followed the others into it, and disappeared from the bridge.

Both Willow kept her eyes forward as the group appeared, and saw a set of twelve-foot tall iron gates, with pointed tips. A chill ran down her spine, causing an involuntary shiver. This world wasn't like the others; it somehow felt darker, more nerve-racking.

For some off reason it was completely dark, too, the full moon hung in the sky looking down upon the group like they were to be dinner. Great, now I think the moon's gonna snack on us. You're losin' Will!

It was then something flashed, not real bright, just a reflection of the silver moonlight off of something shiny, but it caught Willow's attention nonetheless. Turning her head to the right, her eyes bugged out as her mouth fell open. And just out of reflex she closed her eyes, squeezing them tightly, and chanced another look. Nope it was still there!

If it hadn't been so damn scary, the current scene would have been oddly amusing. Donald and Goofy were staring at one another like they'd just seen a ghost. Considering what they looked like at the moment, it just might as well been a ghost that'd jumped out and went 'Boo!'."

Goofy was wearing a dark pantsuit, with a white bloodstained dress shirt, and black shiny shoes. Donald could only guess as to where the blood came from, but it could only have come from the knife sticking out of Goofy's chest. That was the reason Donald was staring at Goofy the way he was.

Goofy didn't know who the oddest of the group was, especially if it came down between Donald and Buffy. Case in point, Donald's once white feathers were now a bright orange, and he also had a giant evil looking pumpkin around his mid-section, plus he had a butcher knife stuck in the top of the pumpkin.

Now as for Buffy, Goofy really felt sorry for the poor girl, seeing as this was her first time seeing anything like they'd been seeing. The Al Bhed girl had oddly enough turned pink. All over. Pink skin, pink frizzy hair, and for some strange reason, pink eyes. Buffy looked down at herself horrified. Why the hell am I pink?!

What Faith was wearing was just plain weird. A pair of gray slacks, with a gray dress shirt, and both looked like she'd just crawled out of a grave. She plucked at a piece of thread on the shirt, and was surprised when a three-inch section of the shirt fell off.

As for what had scared Willow was the way Tara looked. Her cloths had changed from the short shorts, and tight white shirt, to a dark red shirt, and baggy black pants. Looking closer Willow could see the shirt wasn't completely red, it had a few white spots here and there, and it hit her, the red was blood.

Glancing at Tara's confused face, Willow gave her a small smile before studying her head, where a double-edged ax was sticking out from the left side of her head. What the hell?! Oh, baby, I hope that doesn't hurt!

Even though Tara was still confused as to what was wrong with Willow, she was closely studying Willow's new outfit, and liking it very much. Instead of her overalls, she now had on a pair of skin-tight black leather pants, and a halfway unbottoned black leather vest, that was showing off the sides of her breasts. But what really confused Tara, who at that moment had taken her eyes from the leather, was the sharp looking fangs Willow now had. What the...