At first, the images were peaceful as she floated in complete darkness, the only sound she could hear being her own breathing and the soft splashing whenever she moved; she didn't know how long she had been in there already when she started seeing the images, a surprisingly detailed one of her partner at first, then memories about the love they shared, times of intimacy and of loving kisses.
It went on long enough to make her wonder what the point of this was, how they thought to change her mind about helping them with making her see those things; and then, the images started to change, fear filling her at the horrid things which started to appear in front of her mind's eye.
- blood on a wooden floor as the woman she loved died in her arms, so shortly after they had found each other again –
- an arrow hitting its mark, going all the way through her chest and killing her within seconds –
- a deranged woman in a supermarket, slicing her throat without a second of hesitation –
- another one like her, male and dangerous, snapping her neck like a toothpick –
- her body, shattered and broken on the sidewalk after the drop from all that height, blood pooling beneath her as she laid lifelessly –
- a wolf, tearing her apart and ripping out her throat –
- a priest, grabbing her and making her scream as he caved both her eyes in, then dropped her and left her to die –
- a deranged man shooting her in the head, just as they arrived to get her out of his grasp…
No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't make it stop, crying out in the darkness as more and more images flooded her, her lover dying again and again as the challenges they faced so often went wrong one way or another; and then, she saw everyone else she cared about dying as well, her pleas to make it stop ignored as the images just kept coming, until she was sure that she was just about to lose her mind.
They had been sneaking through the hallways for what felt like an eternity, even though Pat knew that it hadn't even been half an hour; to their surprise and slight worry, they hadn't ran into anyone during their search, neither soldiers, nor scientists, giving them cause to wonder how official this whole project really was.
"I can't believe we haven't seen anyone so far", Buffy whispered as they rounded another corner, making the demon nod her agreement, "let's hope this is not another trap."
"Indeed", Pat grumbled, moving to the door nearest to her and briefly listening before she opened it, peering into the empty room behind it, "wouldn't be surprised if that turned out to be true…"
"Shht", Buffy almost hissed in response, moving over to her with surprising speed and pushing her into the room, earning a look which was a mixture of surprise and annoyance – before Pat heard it as well, frowning as she identified the noise as the footsteps of two men, approaching them.
"If those are two of those super guys, we can't fight them", Buffy whispered, pushing the door close until it was slightly ajar, allowing them to hear what the two men were saying as they approached.
"…need to make them invulnerable, too", one of them was saying, sounding quite annoyed, to the amusement of both the Slayer and the demon, "it's not like anyone can get close enough to actually harm them. And doing this to the girl, just doesn't seem right."
Buffy just had a second to realize what they were talking about, then she heard the taller woman growl behind her – and then Pat had moved past her and out into the hallway, startled noises coming from the two soldiers as they suddenly found themselves faced with an enraged woman, both of them just having a moment to realize she was one of the three they had captured before she had grabbed them and lifted them off the ground with startling ease.
"Where is she", she snarled, ignoring how they both started to struggle, "you tell me now or I'll break your neck!"
"Please don't", the smaller of the two pressed out, his face reddening as her grip on him was cutting off his flow of air, "we'll tell you, just put us down…"
"She'll put you down after you told her", Buffy threw in, making him glance at her, "so you better tell it quickly."
"Room 128", he panted, looking at the taller woman fearfully when she let out another growl, "now please…"
In response, Pat let out another growl – and then knocked them both out efficiently and quickly by slamming their heads together, dropping the unconscious bodies to the floor moments later, then bending down and snatching the key card from one of them.
"Let's go", she then grumbled, making Buffy nod, "you know where this room is?"
"Not far from here", the blonde gave back, bending down as well and disarming the two men, handing one of the guns to the demon before she tucked the other one into the hem of her pants, "let's hope we won't need those, but better we have them than they do. Just follow me…"
Letting out a vaguely agreeing noise, Pat nodded as well; the Slayer gave her a moment to place a calming hand on her arm, silently telling her that surely, Willow would be okay, then she got moving again, the demon right behind her, both of them straining their ears to make sure they wouldn't miss any noises which would indicate anyone else approaching them.
To their luck, they didn't run into anyone else though, again making them wonder why there were so few people around; then, they decided to just accept it as being lucky for once, Buffy keeping her eyes on the room numbers as she marched down the hallway, past the rooms 122, 124 and 126.
"If he told the truth, she should be in there", she whispered to the taller woman, wanting to suggest that she should go in first, just in case something dreadful had been done to the witch; before she could make that suggestion though, Pat had already moved past her yet again and into the room, stopping dead in her tracks there as she found herself looking at a row of white, cylindrical tanks, frowning as she tried to figure out what they were used for.
"What the Hell", she mumbled, taking a tentative step closer to them, as if expecting them to explode; then, she noticed the small red light burning on top of one of the tanks, her frown deepening as she moved closer to it. Another look at the tank let her notice that a now empty bag had been attached to one of the valves on top of it; and suddenly, dread filled her, her heartbeat speeding up as she moved closer to the tank with fast steps, not even noticing that Buffy was right behind her.
A quick look showed her how to open the tank, the mechanism thankfully not all too complicated – all she had to do was move a latch, then pull up the lid, and the second it had been lifted, she could hear her lover's voice from the darkness within the tank, crying softly, mumbling "stop, please make it stop" between sobs.
"Hush, it's okay", Pat brought out after a moment of shock, asking herself what had happened to her lover in there; it looked harmless enough, just water which was surprisingly warm to the touch when she reached in to help her partner out, momentarily startled again when she realized that the witch was as naked as she had been on the day she had been born.
"Find her something to wear", she mumbled into Buffy's direction without even looking at her; nodding, the blonde took off, the demon not noticing how she left the room, fully focused on her partner again.
"It's okay, it's me, Buffy and me are gonna get you out of here", she said in the most soothing voice she could manage, her concern only growing when at first, Willow didn't even react to her words, but only continued sobbing; not sure what to do, the demon took tender hold of her arms, slightly relieved when the contact was enough to at least make the redhead look at her.
"It's okay", she said for the third time, bending further over the tank to help the witch get out of it; and suddenly, Willow was clinging to her, shivering hard enough to make her teeth chatter, prompting the demon to quickly wrap both arms around her and hold her, rubbing her back soothingly while her mind was racing, trying to figure out what had been done to her partner, even though she already knew she wouldn't find any answers until Willow herself would tell her.
