Disclaimer: Buffy is Joss's. But really, what else is new? ;-)

Author's Note: Abstract little drabble thingie. Willow/Tara, set during the end of Seeing Red. Written with challenge words from drama-princess: candles, water, sparkles.

She remembers.

Blow the candle out.

A world built between them. Magic. Gold sparkles that fade into dust. Into nothing.

Cold bath water. Wash away everything, the filth. She remembers. Tara sitting cross-legged on the floor, her fingers skimming across the water. Catching flesh. A touch like silk, but warmer somehow. Held against the flame.

And this right now, it doesn't make sense. Careful sanguine pattern on her shirt, marring the white. Sleeping Beauty on the floor with a bullet hole in her chest.

Wash away everything, the filth.

Maybe she's the dead one.