In the next morning, Willow had to get up early, since she had her first class at eight a.m.; as always when her girlfriend left her side so early, Pat remained where she was, not even waking up, but snoring softly as she laid spread on her back, the witch briefly smiling at the sight before she left the bedroom and made her way into the adjoined bathroom for her morning hygiene.
Even though she felt a bit bad about it, she was a bit relieved about the fact that the professor who had molested and threatened her wouldn't come to the college anymore; of course she didn't think that he had deserved what had happened to him, but still she couldn't stop herself from feeling at least a tiny bit glad about it, since it had made sure that she wouldn't need to deal with him any longer and that he never would molest anyone else again. Briefly, she wondered how often he had done this before, how many women had been forced to bear with his eager hands; she was convinced that she hadn't been the first one who had been a victim of that, even though the Dean had appeared as if this had never been brought to his attention before when she had told him about the incident.
Shrugging those thoughts off by telling herself that now, it didn't really matter anymore, Willow focused on her morning routine again; it didn't take long until she was done, a smile curling her lips again when she re-entered the bedroom and saw her girlfriend still fast asleep, undisturbed by the noises she had made in the bathroom. As quietly as possible, the witch quickly chose her clothing for the day, then moved to the bed after she had gotten dressed; tenderly, since she didn't want to wake the slumbering demon up, she moved a strand of hair out of her face, then bent down to kiss her on the cheek, smiling slightly again when Pat let out a noise which sounded like an approving grunt in reply.
"See you later", she whispered to the taller woman, earning another grunt; holding back a giggle, the redhead straightened up and left the bedroom, stepping out of the apartment as well two minutes later, humming softly to herself while she made her way to the elevator.
Only now, with the small, but serious threat the professor had provided gone, she realized how much this had weighed on her mind; now that he wasn't around anymore, Willow looked forward to college again as much as she had before the incident, and she smiled to herself as she thought of the classes she'd have that day, especially looking forward to those she'd share with Buffy.
As she made her way to the bus stop, she almost started skipping, all at once feeling giddy; giving her best to hold that peculiar urge back, since she didn't want to attract any unwanted attention by people who might wonder about her mental state, the witch forced herself to walk there normally, reaching the bus stop just as the bus was driving around the corner. Silently congratulating herself on her timing, she got on the vehicle once it had stopped in front of her; even though it wasn't far to the campus, only a ten minute ride, she sat down, checking her book bag once more to make sure she had everything she needed for the day with her, not minding the fact that, if she'd notice now, it'd be too late anyway.
When she had gone through the books for the day and was sure that she had them all with her, she leaned back into the seat and looked out of the window until the bus arrived at the campus; already before the vehicle even came to a stop, she could already see Buffy waiting for her, a smile forming on her face again at the sight of her best friend.
"Hey Buffy!" she greeted as she almost jumped out of the bus, the Slayer returning the greeting before she somehow managed to smile and raise an eyebrow at the same time, giving the witch a quizzical look.
"You seem to be in a good mood today", she then observed, "how come? Any special reason?"
"Not really", Willow gave back, slinging her book bag over her shoulder and giving the blonde next to her another happy smile, "well, a tiny one, and it makes me sound like a horrible person, but…"
"I doubt that", Buffy smirked while they started to walk away from the bus stop and towards the building where the lecture hall for their first class was located, "but tell me anyway so I can decide for sure."
After taking in a deep breath, Willow did so, hoping that the Slayer wouldn't judge her for feeling relieved about the fact that someone was dead; to her relief, she didn't, but merely nodded, smiling at the witch again afterwards, briefly touching her arm afterwards, her voice kind when she replied. "That doesn't make you a horrible person, I understand you, to be honest, even though Giles would probably throw a fit if he heard me say that. So, let's not say that in front of him, alright?"
"Of course not", Willow quickly reassured her in reply, shuddering theatrically, the sight making Buffy laugh; after a moment, the witch started giggling as well, the two friends beaming at each other as they made their way to the lecture hall, both of them enjoying each other's company and looking forward to the class they soon would attend together.
After the first class, Buffy and Willow shared their second one as well, then had to split ways; they had agreed on meeting for lunch though, and another three classes later, they did just that, deciding to sit outside on the grass instead of in the cafeteria, figuring that the weather was too nice to spend the lunch hour inside.
"I talked to Giles yesterday", the Slayer informed her best friend once they had made themselves comfortable on one of the many lawns of the campus, "after the whole thing with discovering Riley had lied to us the whole time. He still doesn't know what's going on, but by now, he's pretty sure that dear Riley tried to distract us from something and only wanted to keep us busy with researching that four horsemen crap while he worked on whatever it was he came here for."
"So, he either got done with whatever that was or left when he realized his tries to distract us went down the drain when he accused Pat?" Willow guessed, frowning to herself as another realization hit her the moment she had finished her sentence.
"Wait", she thus stated before Buffy could reply anything, "I still don't get it why he was railing against her so much. Yeah, the demon thing probably didn't help, but the way he immediately blamed her for the murder of that professor? That was far-fetched even for him."
"I'd love to know why he did that", the Slayer sighed in reply, "because, well, you're right, that was a rather senseless conclusion, even for him with his black-and-white worldview. I doubt we'll have a chance to ask him though, if there's one thing he learned from the military, it's how not to be found if he doesn't want to be found."
"Well", Willow shrugged after a moment, "I know it's unlikely to happen, but maybe, we'll get off easier for once and he just left."
"That'd be a nice change", Buffy smirked, "but I doubt it, that'd just be too easy, and by now, we know that things are never easy for the Slayer…"
As if those words had been some sort of cue, the day around them suddenly darkened noticeably; the shadows grew longer, the startled noises coming from the students around them making it clear that no one had been anticipating this.
"What's going on?" Willow demanded to know, worried; obviously as clueless as her best friend, Buffy shrugged, then looked up, squinting, only to have her eyes go wide a moment later.
"Look", she then brought out, sounding stunned; now seriously concerned, since that tone in the blonde's voice never meant anything good, Willow did as she had been told, glancing up as well, her eyes widening just like Buffy's when she saw how the sun was darkening with alarming speed, eclipsed by a perfectly circular sphere.
"There's no eclipse scheduled for today, is there", Buffy stated matter-of-factly, not surprised when the witch shook her head; they exchanged a short glance, then both came to their feet, well aware of the fact that, in a town like Sunnydale, eclipses never meant anything good.
"What do we do?" Willow demanded to know the second they had come to her feet and started to hurry towards the campus gate, "go to Giles?"
"Good idea", Buffy agreed, realizing that despite the sense of urgency which had filled her, she had no idea of what she should do now, "he'll be able to figure something out… Or maybe he'll even know what this is about…"
Since by now, the Slayer was almost running, all Willow did in reply was nod her head, too busy to keep up and with breathing as she hurried along next to her best friend; the day around them kept getting darker as the sun was eclipsed further and further, until it was fully covered, turning the formerly bright and sunny day into something which more resembled the time shortly after sundown.
"This is bad", Buffy stated the obvious, nervously glancing up at the sky every now and then while she hurried down the street with the redhead right next to her; again, Willow could only nod, her breath by now coming with short, strained gasps, briefly making her wonder if she really had gone out of shape so much – or if Buffy was using Slayer speed, something which wouldn't have been very considerate of her.
Before she could ask the Slayer about that though, and maybe also ask her to slow down at least a bit, maybe with pointing out her high heels so she wouldn't appear to have a lousy constitution, but before she could do so, a sound came up behind them which made her blood run cold and turned her leg muscles into jelly, suddenly making it hard for her to stay on her feet at all.
"This is really bad", Buffy brought out next to her, sounding just as shocked as she felt; noticing that the Slayer had turned around, Willow did the same, already knowing what she would see, but dreading it nonetheless, her breath getting caught in her throat when her gaze fell on just what she had expected – four robed figures on horseback, galloping down the street, approaching them at high speed, trailing flames and smoke behind them, both Buffy and Willow just staring at them as they tried to cope with the sight, asking themselves if this meant the end of the world now – or there was a way to stop this before things were taken too far.
Even though they had been planning to get to Giles' place for help, this plan was far from the minds of the two women as they ran through narrow side alleys, both of them imploringly hoping that said alleys would make it harder for the horsemen to follow them; so far, it seemed that this was working, but the sound of hoof beats never was far behind them, and even though her fear had given her an extra boost of strength, Willow knew that she wouldn't be able to keep this speed up for much longer, her breath already coming with heavy, almost pained gasps.
"Buffy", she brought out between two gasps, knowing it wasn't smart to talk, but also well aware of the fact that she had to inform her best friend about her fading strength, "I can't… go on much longer…"
"Just keep it up a bit longer", the Slayer urged her on in reply, even grasping her arm to make sure she'd keep up, "once we're out of their sight, we can enter some building or something, they can't follow us there on their horses…"
"Don't know if I can keep it up longer", Willow panted, nearly stumbling, prompting the blonde to tighten her grip on her arm; somehow, the witch managed to stay on her feet, momentarily squeezing her eyes shut when Buffy and she emerged from the short alley and ended up on yet another broad street, the sound of the horses approaching growing louder and louder.
Just when the four horsemen rounded the corner though and caught sight of them again, a car came speeding down the road from the other end, stopping close to the two women with screeching tires; a great surge of relief welled up within the witch when she saw who was sitting behind the steering wheel.
"Get in, get in!" Pat urged, something the two already did while she even was still speaking; they both ended up on the backseat, since neither of them wanted to bother with running around the car so they could get on the passenger seat, and even before Buffy had pulled the door close properly again, the demon was already stepping down on the gas, steering the car into the next alley, one which was barely broad enough for the vehicle.
"Oh thank God you just arrived", Buffy panted, wiping sweat off her brow while next to her, Willow nervously looked out of the rear window, feeling a bit relieved when she saw that clearly, the horsemen hadn't followed them; either, they thought that the alley was too narrow for their massive horses, something which didn't make much sense since the car was much broader, or they had given up pursuit when the demon unexpectedly had come to the rescue.
"How come you knew where to find us?" the redhead demanded to know once she had reassured herself again that no robed figures on horseback where following them, turning in the seat again to look at the back of her girlfriend's head; shrugging, Pat kept her eye on the road as she drove through a maze of side alleys, clearly not sure yet that the horsemen had given up their pursuit, her voice still surprisingly calm when she replied. "I didn't, I was just lucky to find you. Not hard to follow the trail of those charming riders though, what with the smoke and the flames."
"Good point", Willow had to admit, still panting quite heavily after the uncomfortably long time she had spent running; thus, she decided to save her breath and fell quiet afterwards, giving the Slayer a chance to speak up. "But how did you know they were coming in the first place? And do you think it's a good idea to drive, with just one eye?"
"Well, I didn't crash so far, did I", the black haired woman gave back, a slightly sour tone in her voice, "and about knowing that they were coming, well, I didn't know exactly what it'd be, but that total eclipse which happened out of the blue? Never a good sign, especially not in a town like Sunnydale. So I figured I'd drive to campus and see if you're alright, and, voila, here we are."
"Good thing you figured that out", Buffy smiled, trying to make up for the slightly offensive comment she accidentally had made; briefly, she wondered if she should ask about the car's origins, since she knew that the vehicle the demon previously had owned had been crashed by Spike when he had taken it for a joyride and was well aware of the fact that Pat never had bought a new one, then shrugged it off, deciding that she probably didn't want to know.
"Where do you wanna go?" the black haired woman now wanted to know, tearing her out of her musings about possibly stolen cars, "to Giles' place?"
"Yeah", Willow finally had regained enough breath to speak, "and I think you can slow down a bit now, it seems that they stopped following us, plus you know I get nervous when you drive so fast, it makes me all queasy in the stomach…"
Realizing that she was babbling, the witch forced herself to shut up while the demon nodded, then slowed down a bit; still she was way over the speed limit as she kept driving through the streets of Sunnydale, until she parked the car in front of Giles' home a few minutes later.