She definitely was feeling a little over-punched, Buffy thought. Her head throbbed and she was having trouble focussing on anything. Which could be a problem for the Slayage, since seeing double wasn't a good thing when it came down to aiming. So it was probably a good thing that the cops had come with them, she decided, leaning drunkenly on the shoulder of Ryan Wolfe. That way Willow and Giles could do the battling of evil and the cops could give her something to lean on.
Aware she wasn't making a great deal of sense, even in her own mind, Buffy settled for watching as Willow dismissed the trap that had caught them out. Willow looked tense, fine lines radiating out around her eyes as she took in Buffy's wound, but she smiled when she noticed Buffy's scrutiny.
"Are you sure you're all right, Buffy?" Giles asked her. Since she could currently see two Giles' peering worriedly at her, Buffy went with the one on the right and looked him in the eye and smiled brightly.
"I'm fine, Giles, honest."
"So why are you staring over there when I'm here?"
"Oh." She refocused on the Giles on the left and smiled sheepishly. "Maybe not so fine, but I'll cope. Just give me a minute."
"We might not have a minute," he murmured, shooting a glance at Willow, who was muttering darkly to herself.
The redhead held her arms out in front of her and snapped a single word, a beam of light sweeping the floor in front of her. The light went up the stairs and spread out across the landing, sliding up the walls and ceiling. Only when the beam winked out did Willow nod. "Right. No more booby traps for us."
It was Willow who led the group this time, striding forward, her face set and hard. Horatio noticed the worried look on Giles' face and wondered what he had missed, why Willow made Giles so nervous. But he followed the older man closely, leaving Eric and Ryan to support the still-woozy Buffy.
"That really is a Gaugin," Giles muttered as they walked past the painting. Seven doors led off the landing, but Willow led them unerringly to the furthest door, one that would overlook the ocean.
"This is my fight, Giles," she said firmly, before she pushed the door open.
Amy sat calmly in a leather armchair, legs cross and looking relaxed and comfortable. Behind her, a series of monitors showed various rooms and shots of the gardens, the walls were again decorated with expensive paintings, while Amy herself held a delicate gold necklace, wound around her fist. "Willow Rosenberg," she greeted them with a smile. Her voice was sickly sweet, but it turned bitter as she continued, "Of course you came. You would. You and Buffy and Rupert Giles. So damned perfect. You never looked at me! Never! Never saw me for who I truly am!"
"I'm seeing now," Willow said softly. "I can see you, Amy."
"No, you still see the girl who lived as a rat for two years," Amy spat, raising her right fist, the golden chain glittering in the light. As she moved, the chain seemed to writhe by itself and Amy laughed. "Now," she ordered and a barrage of knives appeared, flying towards the group.
Eric yelled in surprise, all three cops moving to shield themselves, but Willow held up her right hand. She made no other movement, but the knives all ground to a halt, quivering as though they had struck an invisible wall. Willow waved dismissively and the knives clattered to the ground. She stepped forward and Amy narrowed her eyes.
"You're going to have to do better than that, Amy," she chided her, as though speaking to a naughty toddler. "You killed those men and set Buffy up, didn't you?"
"Steve and Rick were idiots," Amy countered, standing up as Willow walked slowly closer. "And it was meant to be you. I was going to get you to come to Miami and get you arrested. Buffy and her precious Scoobies wouldn't forgive you more murders, would they? But when Buffy came, it was too perfect. I knew she'd call you for help, I knew you'd come and now, you get to be her next victim."
"Wow, did someone forget to take her crazy pills, or what?" Buffy said. "I'm kinda expecting you to be all 'and you're little dog too!', because the reality train left here a while back, huh?"
"Shut up!" Amy howled, "You and your stupid jokes! You don't have to be ready with a stupid pun to be a good ally, but no, because I'm not as funny as Willow and that idiot Xander, I get ignored, shunted to one side. I'm better than they are."
"Says the double murderer," Buffy pointed out. "And it wasn't so much the lack of quippage as the raging insanity that made us not like you so much."
"Bitch!" Amy gestured with one hand and the paintings on the wall started to move. The figures in the paintings stepped slowly, jerkily out of their frames and moved towards Buffy and her friends. Still moving as though they were in a bad stop-motion animation film, the three men drew paper thin blades and advanced, knives at the ready to attack.
Buffy stepped forward, her head still aching, but she slid into a fighting stance, ready to defend the others. Before she could attack first, Willow said, "No."
Buffy shot a look over her shoulder and went cold as she saw the roots of Willow's hair darken.
"No," Willow repeated and the animated paintings caught fire, burning in the frames and in the room. "No, Amy, this is not our fault. You killed those men. You, not me, not Buffy, not Xander. You. You killed them, in cold blood, for no other reason than to spite us. You killed them." As she spoke, black spread through her hair and Buffy exchanged frightened looks with Giles.
"Wills," she tried, but the witch ignored her.
"You hurt my friend. You hurt Buffy, sent her to jail, made her doubt herself. You made her think she was evil, that she was a killer. She's not. She couldn't be. She's not like us. She's not like you. She's not like me."
The golden chain around Amy's hand was glowing almost white now, as she threw all of her power against Willow. To Buffy, it looked as though nothing was happening, the two witches just standing and staring at each other, the only change being the ever increasing darkness of Willow's hair, the red strands bright against the encroaching black.
Buffy watched Horatio step forward, clearly intent on interrupting, but before she could stop him, he hit an unseen barrier that sent up sparks but didn't distract the witches from their staring match.
"So what now, Willow?" Amy said through gritted teeth, the sheen of sweat on her forehead testament to her concentration. "Do we just stand here forever, until one of us dies of old age?"
Willow's hair was almost completely black now, only a few hints of red left, as she laughed coldly, not sounding like Willow at all. "No, Amy, because you don't have that long. I'm not even trying that hard. You're at your limit, and I haven't even started."
A whip of red light uncoiled from Willow's hand and struck out at Amy, making her cry out as it slashed across her neck, leaving a bloody welt on her shoulder. The whip struck again, on Amy's other side and again, it cut her.
Buffy knew she had to act, or Willow would do something she would always regret. So she stepped forward, to the limit that Horatio had reached and said loudly, "Willow, this isn't you."
There was no reaction, but she tried again. "Willow, I know this isn't you. You know how I know this? Because Amy's not sorry. She doesn't care that she killed two men. You were sorry, you still beat yourself up about Warren -" She hesitated and shot a glance at the cops, but carried on. "You still beat yourself up about that, so you are nothing like her, Willow. Nothing like her at all."
Giles moved to stand next to Buffy, to put his arm around her waist to support her and added, "She's right, Willow. You are nothing like Amy. Don't prove her right now."
The whip faded out of sight, but Willow's eyes and hair remained dark.
"Wills, do we really have to get Xander on a conference call from Africa to talk to you? Maybe a video call, so he can do the Snoopy Dance?"
That got her attention and made her look away from Amy. Willow turned to face Buffy and Giles and they watched with pride as her eyes returned to normal. "Guys?"
"'Sokay, Wills, it really is," Buffy assured her.
"How sweet," Amy snarled, and threw a globe of light at Willow. Whatever it would have done, it never got a chance to hit her as Willow turned back to face Amy, and caught the globe in one hand.
"Buffy's right. I am sorry and you're not. But you're going to have a long time to think about it," she told Amy, the black bleeding entirely from her hair, being replaced by streaks of white amongst the red. "Maybe you'll be sorry too one day, Amy, but I don't want to risk that."
She brought her hands together, the globe vanishing in a flicker of light, and when she pulled her hands apart, a film of silver spread between them, covering each finger. "I'm sorry about this too, Amy." Willow's voice changed, getting louder as she called out, "Goddess Hecate, see your unworthy servant as she stands before me. See the way she has twisted your gift. Take it from her, Goddess Hecate, take your gift from her and never let it return." As she finished, she threw the silver film towards Amy, who screamed as it settled on her skin.
"NO!"
Buffy watched, torn between relief and horror, as the film sunk into Amy's skin, disappearing into her. The golden chain she had been clutching so tightly shattered and fell to the ground in pieces and Amy screamed again, wordlessly, a scream of rage and frustration. She launched herself at Willow, but Buffy moved faster than she could.
She held the raging, screaming girl easily, holding her arms back. Amy screamed again, before collapsing into a sobbing heap. Buffy let her fall gently to the ground, before looking over at Willow, impressed. "So what did you do?"
"I took her magic away," she replied quietly, sadly, as the white faded from her hair and left only red. "She'll never be able to do any spells again, nothing that requires any skill. I really am sorry, Amy."
"Bitch! Whore! I'll kill you!" Amy looked up, tears still streaming down her face, making her choke on her words as she struggled to breathe. "I'll kill you one day, Willow!"
"I wouldn't count on it," Horatio told her, stepping forward to take Buffy's place, holding Amy's arms. "Amy Madison, you are under arrest for the murders of Stephen Matthias and Richard Dunning….."
