Author's Note: Sooo the udpate today comes much later than usual, BUT it's still Thursday here, so it counts. ;D I went to see Lindsey Stirling live and even though usually this isn't my style of music at all (I'm a total metalhead), it was a blast. Check her out if you got the chance, she's one amazing musician. :D
When the ground had been turned to water beneath her, Willow's first impulse had been to swim, but no matter how hard she had tried, she had been unable to get back to the surface, an invisible force pulling her down further and further; just when she had been sure that she couldn't hold her breath much longer, she suddenly hadn't been sinking anymore, but had fallen instead, landing on the stony ground of what turned out to be a cave at a quick look around, the hole she had fallen through right above her, absurdly, filled with water which somehow didn't rain down on her.
"I have to say, I'm impressed", the nightmare demon's voice distracted her from staring at the gravity-defying water, making her jump as she twirled around, automatically raising her hands, the spells now coming to her mind easily, blue fire crackling on her palms seconds later.
Clearly unimpressed, the demon smiled at her as she came out of her hiding place behind one of the stone pillars in the cave, momentarily annoying Willow with her obvious need for a dramatic entrance; then, she shrugged those feelings off and focused on her opponent, gritting her teeth when the nightmare demon continued. "I didn't think your partner would actually come here. Quite impressive, as I said."
"You don't know her very well", Willow replied, her voice cold and calm, hiding the anger and hate she was feeling towards that demon, "she'd go to Hell for me if she had to. And I'd do the same for her."
"You love each other, I can tell that without your dramatic sentiments", the nightmare demon gave back, not sounding all too impressed, "and it would be touching, in a way… if she hadn't taken my son."
"Your son made her stab me instead of a random thug", Willow pointed out in reply, "getting me hurt usually doesn't put one high onto her sympathy list."
To her surprise, the demon smiled in reply, then shrugged, an evil glint in her eyes when she replied, her words making the witch's blood run cold. "So, once I killed you, I should be worried, this is what you think now, right? Well, I'm not, mostly because even her demon strength won't last forever… and once it ran out… It's the end of the road for her. You can be together in Hell then."
"Where is she?" the redhead demanded to know in reply, giving her best to hide how distressed those words had made her feel, "what did you do to her?"
"Nothing", the demon shrugged, smiling, "I just left her behind when I took you here. I imagine she is treading water right now, but as I said, even her demon strength won't hold on forever, and once she grows too tired, I imagine she'll just drown. I hear it's a very peaceful way to go."
"I won't let that happen", Willow replied at once, glaring when the demon just laughed in reply, clearly not perceiving her as a threat, an impression which was undermined when she spoke up again moments later. "And what do you want to do to prevent it? You think you can kill me here? This is my realm, witch, and it'll be you who'll do the dying."
Her eyes narrowed, and moments later, the redhead flinched as an unpleasant sensation filled her mind; then, it briefly turned to pain, and she groaned, gritting her teeth, relief welling up within her when the pain stopped as fast as it had begun, the emotion being blown away again by the smile that was forming on the nightmare demon's scaly face.
"So many interesting nightmares in there", she then commented, "but there's one I particularly like…"
Her smile widened, and moments later, strong arms encircled Willow from behind, pinning her arms to her side, a shudder running through her when she felt the smelly and hot breath on her cheek as the person who had grabbed her spoke up behind her, whispering into her ear, the voice making her eyes go wide. "Well, well, well", Warren said, and she could hear the smirk on his face, "long time no see."
Horrified, Willow tensed, but before she could do more than that, Warren's grip on her tightened – and then he brutally forced her to turn so she was facing him, hitting her in the face hard enough to send her to the ground seconds later, blood trickling from her split lip as she landed there, reminding her once more of the fact that, despite being in a dreamworld, she could get hurt and even killed, if she'd fail to come up with a plan quickly.
She didn't make the mistake to tell Warren that he wasn't real, well aware of the fact that in this world, he was, and that he could do awful things to her – if she'd let him, and she wasn't planning on doing that. If the circumstances had been different, she might have ended up frozen in fear and terror, but clearly, the nightmare demon hadn't thought about the things she was willing to overcome if it meant that she'd be reunited with her partner – and after what the demon had told her, it was obvious to her that she couldn't take too long, knowing all too well that the demon had been right and that sooner or later, her lover would drown if she didn't come up with a solution first.
"I don't have time for this", she thus told Warren, her words and the confidence he could hear in her voice clearly surprising him; smiling sweetly at him, she came to her feet again, glad that he didn't try to stop her, but only stared at her, something the nightmare demon was mimicking behind the witch, finding it hard to believe that this seemingly perfect nightmare she had found in the redhead's mind now had so little effect on her.
Finally regaining his composure, Warren opened his mouth to protest, maybe make some smart remark again or remind her of what he had taken from her with a single movement of his finger; and seconds later, his eyes widened as fire burst from his mouth instead of words, a pained cry escaping him after a few more moments had passed.
"I regret what I did to you", Willow let him know while the fire she had caused within him with a mere thought started to consume him, "but I'm not afraid of you, so just go back to where you came from."
For a few more seconds, Warren just stared at her, the flames now burning all over his body; and then, he exploded with a shockingly loud noise, leaving not even a speck of dust or ash behind, vanishing as quickly as he had appeared when the nightmare demon had conjured him up.
"And now, to you", Willow calmly went on after the man she had killed years ago was gone, turning to look at the demon, her stoic behavior clearly unsettling the demon, "you think you can do whatever you want here, right? Well, let me tell you something – you might be a powerful demon, but I'm one of the most powerful witches on this planet, maybe even in this universe, and now, I call the shots."
"This… you…" the nightmare demon spluttered in reply, looking so stunned that it almost made Willow laugh, then regained her composure and glared at the smaller witch, giving her best to hide how uneasy this sudden display of confidence was making her feel.
"What makes you think you can defeat me?" she demanded to know, "before you can even lift a finger, I'll make your worst nightmares come true, I'll drop your partner dead at your feet!"
"You wanna know what happened to the last one who did something similar?" Willow wanted to know, a brief flicker of her fingers causing thin pillars of the stony ground to move upwards and wrap around the demon's ankles and wrists with shocking speed, making her cry out in surprise, "I disintegrated her, much like Warren right now. You think killing her will break me? Think again."
In response, the demon let out a snarl – before she narrowed her eyes again and the bonds Willow had put on her shattered, the witch managing just in time to throw up a shield of magical energy when the nightmare demon made the sharp shards of rock fly towards of her, the shield causing them to bounce off and land on the ground instead of cutting into her. Figuring that binding the demon again would only be a waste of time and precious energy, Willow let the shield drop the moment the last shard of rock had hit the ground, the air around her crackling as she focused her energies; and seconds later, a blast of bright white light shot from her hands, engulfing the nightmare demon before she could try to jump out of the way, her screams echoing through the cave as the blast of magic hit her.
Gritting her teeth as she kept the spell up, Willow allowed some of her concentration to focus on something else, namely on how to get rid of this demon completely; and then, the idea came to her, a malicious smirk forming on her face, her eyes briefly filling with darkness while the color of the magical blast changed, turning from white to a brightly glowing red, reminding her of the way her partner's good eye glowed whenever she was angry and pissed off.
"No!" the demon yelled as she realized what was happening to her, her eyes widening as the witch used the pure energy of the dreamworld they were in to channel all the pain and suffering she had caused right back at her, "stop, please! Please! If you stop I'll leave, I promise, I'll never—" Before she could tell Willow what she never would do again, the pain got too much to handle to let her talk any further; instead, she simply shrieked in pain, both hands coming up to clutch on her head – and then, she felt something inside her snap, her eyes briefly widening again before she fell over and landed on the ground with a low thud, remaining there motionless, a final, low groan coming from her as the pain and suffering got too much, the sound fading away as she died, rejoining her son in whatever afterlife she would be sent to now.