Author's Note: Since I won't be here tomorrow, starting the new one a day early… and I hope it'll make up for the cliffhanger I left you with ;)

Disclaimer: None of the characters used from Buffy: The Vampire Slayer are mine. Just borrowing them a bit to play around a little.

Unleashed

"So… did you have time to…", Willow started as she entered the living room where her partner was standing at the window, having a smoke and looking outside, her voice making her turn to her though, a sigh escaping her before she replied. "Time for some soul-searching? Yeah. Still the same."

Giving her best to appear brave and not as if those words were hurting worse than any injury she ever had suffered, Willow nodded, stopping a few feet away from the taller woman; all at once she felt awkward, a feeling she never had had in Pat's presence before, not even when they had started to get to know each other and had started flirting over books at college and drinks in the Bronze.

"I didn't even know that's possible", the demon mumbled, giving her a pained look; all the wounds she had taken during the last few hours had hurt, but none of those had made her feel as bad as looking at the dejected expression on Willow's face and, at the same time, not able to find that certain feeling within herself anymore, the love which had made her drop her former line of work and had been the cause for her stay in Sunnydale.

"Buffy said she'll tell Giles", Willow replied, wanting nothing more than move closer to her and be pulled into an embrace; she knew that, if she'd walk up to Pat and hug her, the taller woman would probably return the embrace, but her heart wouldn't be in it, and she didn't want to get held out of mere sympathy.

"Do you feel anything when you think of him?" she asked instead, playing with the hem of her blouse nervously, without even noticing that she was doing it; the black haired woman remained silent for a while in reply, then shook her head, prompting Willow to wonder if this was good or bad – it meant that not just the demon's love for her had been somehow taken away by the final spell of the man who had been after her for vengeance, but possibly all other feelings for their friends, as well.

"What about Buffy?" she wanted to know, "what do you feel when you think of her?"

"Nothing", Pat let her know, feeling awkward as well – she never would have thought that there'd be a moment when she'd look at Willow and not feel her heart swell up with love for her, and now here she was, looking into the smaller woman's emerald eyes and feeling nothing at all.

"Same about Anya, Xander, and Dawn", she went on before the witch could ask her, "it's all… gone."

"There'll be some kind of counterspell", Willow told her after considering this for a moment, not sure whom she wanted to convince more, the demon or herself, "then it'll all be the way it was before… before he…"

Finally, after hours of doing so well, she lost the fight against her tears, and a racked sob escaped her as she momentarily squeezed her eyes shut in one last effort to hold them back; now feeling more awkward than ever, Pat just stood there, knowing that under normal circumstances, she would have moved closer to hug her now, but after the strange spell she had been hit with, not the slightest feeling stirred within her, not even when the redhead continued crying, seemingly powerless against the flow of tears.

Don't be an ass, now, she then told herself, even if that stupid spell had such a nasty effect, at least try to comfort her.

"Hey", she thus said, giving her best to sound reassuring even though it suddenly was quite hard, since she just couldn't bring herself to care about the fact that her girlfriend was crying, "there'll be some counterspell, as you said, so it'll be okay…"

Even though the sight of the crying redhead still didn't cause any emotion within her, she moved closer and pulled her into an embrace; for a moment, Willow stiffened, clearly well aware of the lack of feelings from her partner, then shrugged it off and returned the hug, letting the taller woman hold her until her tears slowly ceased.

"Sorry", Willow then mumbled, pulling back from the embrace, "you're right, we will figure something out… Until then, I suppose we'll just have to handle this the best we can."

"I could try faking, if that'd help", Pat offered, not sure what else to say; giving her a weak smile, Willow shook her head, moving over to the couch and sitting down on it, the demon taking a seat next to her after a moment and lighting up a cigarette, having to admit that the witch was making a good point when she spoke up. "I'd know you're faking, and I don't want to force you into doing this…"

"I wish this wasn't so awkward", Pat sighed, taking a drag of her cigarette to win some time before she went on, her words making the redhead smile weakly, "and I wish this hadn't happened, whatever exactly he did. Seems like some sort of nasty goodbye present, huh?"

"Indeed", Willow agreed with a sigh, "he really thought this through, he must have known he wouldn't really stand a chance against all of us…"

"I would have thought he's too insane for that, to be honest", Pat shrugged, "but unfortunately, he wasn't."

"How does it feel?" Willow wanted to know in reply after thinking about how to word this question for a moment, "when you look at me now, is it… are you just empty…?"

"Kind of", Pat let her know, holding back the urge to shift on the couch as all at once, she was feeling awkward again, "it's hard to describe actually, I mean, I still remember what I felt for you just a few hours ago, but that's it, just memories… Right now, all I feel is awkward. I never would have thought I'd feel this way when I look at you."

"Same here", the redhead sighed, "good thing that guy is dead already or I'd kill him all over again for doing this to you… to us."

"We'll figure something out", Pat promised in reply, giving her best to hide her indifference about the whole situation from her partner, not wanting to upset her again, "but for now, I guess we should get some rest, it's been quite the tiring day, what with getting beaten up and everything."

"Yeah", the witch agreed, "now that you've mentioned it, I'm feeling quite tired. We can start hitting the books about this tomorrow."

Nodding, the demon finished her cigarette and got up from the couch; for a moment, she wondered if she should suggesting that she'd sleep there, then shrugged the thought off, telling herself that this surely would upset the redhead again and she didn't want any more tears to fall, figuring that Willow had cried enough for one night.

"Let's just hope we'll figure this out fast", the witch sighed as she made her way into the bedroom with the taller woman; nodding again, Pat quickly changed into her pyjama and then laid down, the witch doing the same a moment later, taking the time to wish her partner a good night before she rolled over and, to her relief, quickly drifted off into sleep, her rest plagued by diffuse nightmares until the next morning dawned.