Disclaimer: As always, none of Buffy is mine. Sadly!
This one's for my dear friend Emerald Demona ;)
Journey Through Lands Unknown
The loud slam with which the Slayer's body hit the wall echoed through the abandoned building, and she involuntarily let out a grunt at the pain which flared up in her back; moments later, this was forgotten though as she dropped down on her knees, just in time to avoid the axe one of the demons had thrown at her, the blade hitting the wall with an audible crunch and getting stuck, quivering slightly.
Gritting her teeth, Buffy came to her feet again, grabbing the axe as she straightened up and jerking it free; she brought it up just in time to block the sword which came swinging at her, having a moment to look for her friends afterwards as the demon who had attacked her was retreating a few steps, relieved to see that at least, they were all still standing.
Not wanting to get struck down from behind, Giles and Xander were standing back to back, using a spear and yet another axe to fight their opponents off; a few feet from them, Pat was busy hacking and slashing at a demon so fast that he had no real chance to fight back, and close to her, Willow was kneeling next to the cryptic and archaic symbols the demons had drawn on the floor, mumbling under her breath as she worked to neutralize the ritual the group of demons just had been starting when the gang had arrived to stop them.
The blonde just had another second to wonder when one of the demons would notice what the witch was doing, and how close her best friend was to actually undoing the progress the demons had been making with the ritual; the last thing Sunnydale needed now after all was some sort of Hell Lord wreaking havoc – then, the demon who had thrown his axe at her attacked her yet again, forcing her to focus on the battle, the witch soon out of her field of view as she dodged several brutal slashes.
A few feet away from her, Pat finally got rid of her opponent with a powerful slash, splitting him all the way from shoulder to navel; not wasting time with gloating over her victory though, she hurriedly pulled her sword back out, just beginning to turn in search for another enemy when something hit her hard in the side of the head, stars exploding in front of her vision as she stumbled, a harsh curse escaping her as she realized what had happened.
"Coward", she growled as she focused on the demon who had snuck up on her from her blind side and had used the club he was still holding against her; she still had a second to be grateful that it hadn't been a sword or a mace, then he growled back at her and charged, the taller woman quickly sidestepping his attack and ramming her sword at first in, then through his back, a smirk curling her lips as he dropped moments later.
Lowering the sword slightly, the demon took a moment to make sure that Giles and Xander were doing fine, then turned to see how her lover was doing – only to have her breath get caught in her throat as she spotted the demon sneaking up on the witch from behind, a spiked mace held high over his head, ready to bash her skull in without her having even the slightest idea that he was there.
"Willow!" she hollered on top of her lungs as she already started moving, bringing up the sword; startled, Willow looked up from the markings on the floor, a shocked cry escaping her as she saw the demon looming over her, the mace coming down seconds later.
Reacting more on instinct than on conscious thought, the redhead threw herself aside, the spiked weapon slamming into the floorboards instead of her skull; dimly, she heard Buffy cry out as bright light exploded all around her, and then her lover was by her side, the sword coming down and biting deep into the demon's chest, black, thick liquid splattering from the wound and landing on what was still left of the symbols, the light exploding with a tremendous roar before darkness took over and swallowed them whole.
The bright sunlight shone right into Willow's face, and she groaned as she rolled over, her still halfway asleep brain dimly wondering if, for once, Pat had woken up earlier than she and had opened the curtains; groping for her pillow with the intention to hide beneath it, she froze after a few moments, finally realizing that her fingers weren't moving over the soft sheets of their bed, but over grass, her heart skipping a beat as she slowly opened her eyes.
A second later, she sat up so fast that she made herself dizzy as she found herself in the middle of a clearing, birds singing in the trees surrounding them, their jolly sounds mixing with the soft snores coming from her right; this, at least, showed her that she wasn't alone in this strange place, wherever it was, and she hurriedly scrambled to where her lover laid, sleeping as deeply as she usually did in the bed they shared.
"Pat", she frantically spoke up, grasping her shoulder and shaking her slightly, glad when at least, her partner woke up rather fast, compared to how long it usually took her to come out of dreamland, "I think we're in trouble."
"Huh", the demon gave back, not all too smart, looking around sleepily – only to be wide awake as well within the blink of an eye, sitting up just as fast as Willow had, sounding much more awake as she added a startled "What the Fuck?" to her initial unarticulated random noise.
"Language", the redhead automatically reprimanded, "but, yes, even though I wouldn't have worded it so crassly, you're right. Where are we?"
"In a forest", Pat smartly replied, shrugging at the "Seriously?" look this brought her from Willow; coming to her feet, she looked around, then focused on her partner again, scratching the back of her head as she went on. "A forest I've never seen before. Have you?"
"No", the witch gave back at once, "it doesn't look like the forest close to Sunnydale at all."
"Are we awake?" the taller woman questioned in reply, earning a confused look from her partner, "I mean, I got clonked in the head pretty hard during that fight. Maybe I'm unconscious and dreaming all this."
In response, Willow looked at her for a few more seconds – before she reached over and pinched her, making her yelp more in surprise than in pain, her voice full of indignation when she asked her what she thought she was doing.
"Did that hurt?" the witch wanted to know in reply, making her nod, "then you're not dreaming."
"Dammit", Pat grumbled, having to admit that this was making sense, "then what happened? Where are we?"
"The portal", Willow realized in reply, her eyes widening, "remember that bright light when the demon destroyed the symbols with the mace? And when you stabbed him and he bled on it, it must have caused something, maybe the combination of it all, my counterspell and the rest…"
"Huh", the black haired woman repeated the first statement she had made in this odd place, "makes sense, I guess… So how do we get back?"
"No idea", the witch sighed, not happy to admit this at all, "we need to figure out where we are first, if we were just relocated, travelled back in time or if we're in some… other world, I suppose…"
"Well, we won't be able to do that just standing around here", Pat pointed out, still glancing around as if expecting someone – or something – to come barging at them any moment, "let's go and see if there's an end to this forest somewhere…"
"As good a starting point as any", the redhead shrugged, studying the trees now, "I wish though we had at least a bit of an idea. If this is still our world, we could use the moss on the trees for orientation."
"Perhaps we should try to find a river", the demon suggested in reply, "and follow that. It should lead us out of the forest, or even to the next city… village… whatever."
Nodding in reply, Willow took a moment to straighten her clothes and run both hands through her hair, glad that neither Pat, nor she had been injured during the strange transport into this place; then, she grasped her lover's hand, even happier to have her by her side for this ordeal, telling her just that as they started walking and making her smile slightly, the way she squeezed her hand afterwards working as a silent reassurance that everything would be alright.