During her time as the Slayer, Buffy had learned many things, and one of them was to trust her gut; and thus, when she later had time to think of it, she had to admit to herself that she hadn't really been surprised about what had happened. Already when the doorbell rang, she had the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and hadn't even tried to shake it off – after all, those feelings usually turned out to be right, and so, it wasn't as much as a shock as it might have been for anyone else when she opened the door and found herself looking at a Pat who seemingly had aged fifteen years since they had seen each other the last time.
"What happened?" she asked at once, not even bothering with shocked outcries about the demon's appearance, even though it was unsettling to see her like this – the lines around her eyes looked much deeper than they should have, her skin was so pale it seemed to be a small miracle she didn't faint on the spot, and when Buffy took a second, closer look, she noticed to her astonishment that several strands of the taller woman's hair had gone grey.
"The dark magic", the demon gave back, the tremble in her voice prompting the blonde to move closer to her and put one arm around her waist, helping her into the house and to the living room where she made her sit down on the couch, concerned by how much those few steps already seemed to tire Pat out, not even able to imagine how hard it must have been for her to get to the house from the apartment she shared with the witch.
"It took over again", the black haired woman went on after she had regained enough breath, "but I didn't make much of it, it always had to give up control again after a few minutes…"
"But not this time, right", Buffy half asked, half stated, "it did something to you so it could stay in control longer."
"Yes", the demon mumbled, finding her cigarettes with a trembling hand and lighting one of them up, the Slayer not stopping her for once, even though usually, she didn't want her to smoke in the house, "it took some… I don't know, some of my power, my demon abilities, not all of it, it's still there, not like when that bitch with her amulet took it completely, but… I can't flame up, and I can't demon out…"
"I'm sure it's just kinda… drained", Buffy tried to calm her down, seeing how much that upset her, "just rest a few hours and it'll be fine, I'm sure… What about Willow?"
"I don't know", Pat replied, all at once sounding so distraught that the Slayer feared she would burst into tears any moment, "it knocked me out when she did… whatever she did, and when I came back around she was gone…"
"I'll call Giles", Buffy decided as an answer, already rising from her seat to do just that – when she remembered the call she had received from the Watcher earlier that day, informing her that he wouldn't be around this afternoon, but would be on his way to the airport in L.A. to pick up the witch sent by the coven.
"Or maybe not", she sighed out, slumping back down on her chair, "he's not at home, he's getting the witch."
"Oh, right", the demon realized, taking a drag of her cigarette afterwards, "so what do we do?"
"How about you die?" an all too familiar, but still strange voice answered her, making her jump; on the couch, Pat flinched as well, her good eye going wide when she looked towards the doorway from where the voice had come and found herself staring at her partner, a cold, sardonic smile curling the redhead's lips, an equally cold glint in her eyes.
"Remember how I kicked your butt years ago?" the witch went on, strolling into the living room calmly while Buffy came to her feet, clenching her fists, "unfortunately we were interrupted back then, but I don't think that will happen this time. Your British buddy isn't around now, is he?"
"Back off, whatever the hell you are, and leave Willow alone", Buffy bravely replied, giving her best to hide how dismayed she felt about the whole situation – she didn't want to end up in another fist fight with Willow, like they had years ago after she had loaded up on the dark magic, but she knew that she wouldn't have much of a choice, should the witch really attack her.
"No", the redhead replied, unimpressed by the Slayer's words, "this body is mine now, after years of just being there in the back, locked away in the dark… Do you have any idea what this is like? Watching how she used me, used my power, to do her good little deeds? It was driving me crazy."
"That's too bad for you", the blonde replied, not sounding all too sympathetic, "but that doesn't give you a free pass to take over my best friend's body. So back off."
In response, the witch let out a snarl that was so unlike her that it was jarring to both Buffy and Pat – and then she moved with shocking speed, her fist slamming into the Slayer's stomach seconds later, the blow having enough force to send her flying until the wall at the other side of the room stopped her quite harshly.
"Stop it!" the demon yelled, forgetting momentarily how drained and tired she was feeling after the dark magic had used her demonic powers to get stronger; she launched herself from the sofa and tried to tackle the witch, a move which surely would have worked, had she been in better shape, but thanks to how much her strength had been drained, she ended up being slower than usual, the redhead having more than enough time to react.
Snarling again, she did just that, gritting her teeth as she turned and reached out with both hands; she grabbed the demon at the shoulders, then turned, using the taller woman's momentum and a burst of unexpected strength to send her flying as well, a loud crash echoing through the house when she hit the bookshelf head first and most of the books fell out, adding insult to the injury by landing on her.
"You know what?" the witch pondered while she slowly walked over to the groaning demon, ignoring Buffy as she tried to get to her feet, "maybe if I kill you now, it'll break her enough to let me take over completely. I can feel her, in the back of my mind, she's struggling there, and it's… itching."
"Willow", Buffy brought out behind her, taking the dark magic's words as hint that maybe, the redhead could hear her somewhere in there, "if you can hear me, stop her… Take back control, you can do it!"
"Shut up there", the witch replied, unimpressed by her words, "she can take back control as little as you can breathe under water."
"Don't listen to her", Buffy went on in response, ignoring the words of the redhead, "you can do this, I know you can… If you don't, she'll kill us both! Is that what you want?"
"Buffy's right", Pat now threw in as well, having managed to turn around and to sit up, blinking furiously as blood seeped from a gash hidden beneath her long hair and into her good eye, "you can do this Sweetie, you're stronger than this magic, do it, push it back…!"
"Shut up, both of you!" the witch shrieked in reply, loud enough to make their ears ring – and then she took two fast steps closer to the demon, grabbed her by the throat and easily lifted her off her feet, slamming her against the wall when she tried to struggle and get out of the grip, her face reddening when her flow of air was cut off by the steel-like hold around her throat.
"Stop!" Buffy nearly shouted, finally managing to come to her feet again and hurrying over to where the witch was standing, seemingly effortlessly holding the black haired woman up so high that her feet were dangling several inches above the carpet, "put her down, you'll kill her…!"
In response, the witch didn't even bother to look at her, but merely made a short movement with her free hand at her – and seconds later, an unseen bolt of energy hit her and sent her flying again, until she once more crashed into the wall and slumped down to the ground, groaning softly as she fought to stay conscious.
"Stop", Pat pressed out between grit teeth, fully aware of the fact that she'd just be choked to death if the witch didn't let go of her, finding herself unable to harm her, "Willow, make her stop, I know you can do it…"
For a few dreadful moments, the grip on her throat tightened even further, cutting her flow of air off completely – and then, green flashed up in the darkness that had taken over the redhead's eyes, and her grip loosened, then vanished as she stumbled a few steps back, groaning and doubling over while Pat landed on the floor again, coughing violently as she fought to get air into her lungs again.
Then, from the corner of her eye, she saw Willow stagger, and before even realizing what she had to do, she was moving, her body acting on pure instinct as she came to her feet and shot forward, catching the witch just before she could collapse, and probably saving her from a nasty fall and yet another just as nasty head wound.
"Willow?" she carefully said, not sure what she would see once the redhead would open her eyes; still she didn't let go of her, but lowered herself on the ground with her partner still in a tight grip, holding her close as she waited for her to open her eyes at last, hoping with all her heart that she'd see green then and not that unsettling darkness.
"Is she okay?" Buffy demanded to know, finally coming to her feet and moving over to the couple slowly, making the demon shrug helplessly, her voice filled with concern when she briefly looked at the blonde and replied. "No idea, I think she's out—" Before she could add the final word to complete the sentence, Willow let out a low groan, interrupting her; and then, she opened her eyes, both the Slayer and the demon immensely relieved to see that they had gone back to their natural green colour.
"What happened?" the redhead groaned, trying to sit up in her partner's embrace, "why are we in Buffy's home…? Did it take over again…?"
"Yes", Pat confirmed, "but that doesn't matter now, are you okay? How are you feeling?"
"Drained", Willow mumbled in reply, briefly closing her eyes before she forced them open again and finally managed to focus on her girlfriend properly, "I don't think it'll…" Her eyes went wide, and she let out a gasp, momentarily making both Buffy and Pat wonder if she was in pain or if the dark magic was about to take over again; before they could ask her what was wrong though, she clarified her actions by reaching up and tenderly touching the taller woman's hair, her voice trembling when she spoke on. "Your hair… did I do this?"
"No", Pat replied at once, "not you, the magic… And it doesn't matter, I doubt it'll be permanent."
"You know what?" Buffy threw in before Willow could say anything to that, the witch still looking rather troubled about what had happened to her loved one, "I don't care if Giles doesn't want to overwhelm that girl, this has to end before even more damage is done."
"There was more damage?" the redhead nearly squeaked as an answer, asking herself if whatever that dark magic had done to Pat hadn't been enough yet; to her dismay, neither her girlfriend, nor her best friend bothered to give a proper explanation, both of them just shrugging in perfect unison before the demon looked at the blonde and nodded her agreement.
"Maybe we should go to his home and wait there", she then suggested, "if he wants to keep us from overwhelming the girl, as he put it, he might not answer the phone once he's back from the airport."
"Good idea", Buffy agreed, then gave her a concerned glance, her next question making Willow's eyes widen again. "Are you up to walking there, or should we call a cab?"
"Why wouldn't she be up to walking there?" the witch demanded to know before Pat had a chance to answer, "what did… it do to you? Tell me now!"
"I'm not sure", the demon sighed out in reply after a moment, figuring that her girlfriend would find out sooner or later anyway and that she might just as well tell her, "it kinda… tapped into my demonic powers I guess, I felt all drained and I still can't flame up or demon out, I can feel that, but as I said, I'm sure that's not permanent… I'm feeling better already, honest."
"I still feel bad", Willow mumbled, giving her partner an unhappy look, "it might not be permanent now, but what if it happens again? Sooner or later, you might have no powers left for the dark magic to tap into…"
"Before it'll have another chance to do that, we'll have spoken to Giles and the witch from the coven and it'll be fine", Pat reassured her, then smirked, her next words such an obvious attempt to cheer the witch up that it made Buffy grin to herself slightly. "And, anyway, see the positive side, now that I got a bit of grey hair, I'll look older than you again, so people won't notice I don't really age."
"I'm glad you can find a good thing about this mess", Willow dryly replied, making it clear that the attempt hadn't worked out that well, "but don't you think people will notice that you suddenly got grey hair over night?"
"No", Pat shrugged at once, making the redhead raise an eyebrow at her, "it's been a while since I've been at college to pick you up or anything, they'll just think it appeared since then. And you know how good people here are at the whole selective memory thing, they'll convince themselves I've always had it or something."
"We don't even know if it's permanent yet", Buffy pointed out before the witch could reply to that, "maybe it'll just go back to black the next time you demon out."
"Yup, we'll see", the demon nodded, "but now, we should get to Giles, and yes, I do feel up to walking there."
"Let's go then", Buffy agreed at once, making Willow nod as well after a moment; together, the three of them left the house just a few minutes later and started their walk to the Watcher's house, Willow finding herself unable to move her gaze from the grey streaks in her partner's hair and the deepened lines in her face, hoping with all her heart that it really wouldn't be permanent as Buffy had suggested, not sure how she would handle the guilt she'd feel if this wouldn't turn out to be true.
