"They really had no idea what they were toying around with", Willow whispered just a few minutes later, with shock and awe in her voice; next to her, Pat could merely nod, once more rendered speechless by the sight in front of her.
Neither the witch nor her had the slightest idea what exactly the scientists had been trying to accomplish with their works down here; they both briefly wondered if any of the men and women in the white lab coats lying on the ground all around them had been expecting this, then decided against it – after all, no one in their right mind would have agreed to do it if the outcome they now were facing had been predictable.
Right above the strange looking machine in the middle of the lab's large main room, something which looked like a tear had formed, producing soft crackling noises every now and then; on the other side of said tear, all they could see was darkness, but it wasn't hard to imagine all those monster spewing from it, overrunning the scientists and causing all the carnage and death around them.
"No idea at all", the demon finally found herself able to talk again, clearing her throat before she gave her partner a questioning look. "Think you can close it…?"
"Probably", Willow gave back after a moment of studying the tear in their reality and the gate it thus opened to another, much more awful one, "just give me a minute so I can focus…"
Nodding, the taller woman gave her best to stand still and to keep herself from fidgeting around as she waited for the witch to get done with that; finally, after what had felt much longer than just a minute, the redhead nodded, taking in a deep breath while she moved a bit closer to the tear, eying it cautiously, expecting something horrible to pop out of it and try to eat her any second.
What she hadn't told her girlfriend when she had said that she thought she could do it was that she'd have to tap into the darkness inside her again to accomplish the task; the moment she had laid eyes on the tear and had felt how much power would be needed to close it, she had known, and even though she despised the thought of using those dark powers, she knew that there was no other way.
For a moment, she even considered to keep this from her partner, then realized that this wouldn't only be stupid, but also a breach of the trust and the bond between them; thus, she took in another deep breath, then looked at the taller woman again, surprised at how steady her own voice sounded when she spoke up again. "I can do it, but… I'll have to use those powers I gained during my roaring rampage of revenge. I don't want to, believe me, but I don't see how else I can do it… but I'm not sure if I'll be able to stop once I started that, so…"
"It'll be okay", the demon gave back, her voice surprisingly calm as well, "you're strong. I know how strong you are, and you know it, too, you'll be able to handle it just fine."
"You know what you'll have to do in case I don't, right?" Willow wanted to know in reply, touched by the trust her girlfriend had in her; to her relief, the taller woman just nodded, without even bothering to argue, giving her hand another reassuring squeeze afterwards, her gaze never leaving her girlfriend's.
"You better take a few steps back", the witch added after they just had looked at each other for a while; nodding again, Pat let go of her hand and did just that, throwing her cigarette on the ground and stepping on it to put it out while Willow focused on the tear again, taking in yet another deep breath before she closed her eyes.
Even though she hardly ever used those dark powers contained within her, thanks to the training she had undergone with the coven in England years ago, it was easy to tap into them, the power surging through her seconds after she had focused on it; she almost could feel the air around her crackle as the dark magic flooded through her, and when her eyes practically flew open seconds later, they were as black as the darkest night, a light breeze coming up around her and making her clothes and hair flutter. A small, but malicious smirk formed on her face while the wind increased, turning into a gale, aided by the fact that, even though the room was big, it wasn't big enough to let the miniature storm spread; Willow noticed nothing of it though, fully focused on the tear in front of her and the darkness which was trying to take her over as she used its strength to close said tear, not even noticing how her feet left the ground as the mere power surrounding her was enough to lift her into the air.
With her smirk widening slightly, she raised her hands, the wind all around her increasing, howling through the room; behind her, Pat realized to her astonishment that the wind was strong enough by now to actually push her backwards, her feet sliding over the ground for a few seconds until she regained her senses enough to grab the nearest piece of scientific equipment, only to realize that this didn't do much good, since the blink of an eye later, said equipment started sliding over the floor as well, forced backwards by the force of the storm.
Even though all her instincts were screaming to let go and try to get to her partner, the demon let herself be pushed backwards until she reached the door leading from the small room where Jessup and Danes had been killed to the lab's main area; the moment she was close enough, she grabbed the doorframe, her good eye widening in astonishment when her feet actually left the ground for a few seconds before she could regain enough control to force them back down, crouching against the wall and holding on to the doorframe for dear life.
Despite the fact that the raging wind made her eye tear up and made it hard for her to keep it open, she forced herself to keep watching her girlfriend; by now, Willow had risen almost a full meter above the floor, her hands still raised, nearly touching the ceiling, the wind circling around her, tearing at her clothes and her hair, not succeeding in moving her the tiniest bit though; if the witch was talking or intonating some sort of spell or chant, the demon couldn't hear it over the roaring of the storm, said storm now growing even stronger, to her great dismay.
Seconds later, only her fast reaction saved her from a concussion or maybe even a bashed in skull as a rather large metal table flew towards her; she only had a split second to decide how to avoid it, successfully doing so by letting go of the doorframe and ending up on the ground, the table smashing into the spot where she had been the blink of an eye later, the wind carrying it on afterwards, sending it bouncing over the ground and against the walls.
Cursing, even though she couldn't even hear herself over the howling of the wind and the sounds of various bits and pieces of lab equipment hitting the walls above her, Pat clung to the doorframe again with both hands before the storm could force her even further backwards; keeping as close to the floor as possible, since the wind wasn't quite as strong there, she started to fight her way closer to her partner again, a yelp escaping her when something came flying at her from her blind side and hit her right in the head, briefly making her see stars.
If Willow was noticing any of this, it didn't distract her from her task; she still was floating in the air, staring at the tear the scientists had so foolishly created, her hands now back at her sides, the crackling sounds the tear had been making before increasing as it slowly started to become smaller.
Glad that at least, the magic seemed to do what it was supposed to, the demon kept moving over the ground, almost pressed flatly to the cold tiles; this made her move much slower than she would have liked, but she knew that if she'd even get up on all fours, the wind would just force her backwards again. Moments later, she let out a yelp as she saw some other piece of scientific equipment slide over the floor and towards her; as fast as she could, she pulled her head between her shoulders and covered it with both hands, still hearing the angels sing when the thing smacked her, then it got carried on by the storm and vanished in the hallway behind her.
The moment she lifted her head again, blood trickled into her good eye, forcing her to blink furiously while she kept moving forward as fast as it was possible; after just a few meters though, the storm increased even more, forcing her to put all her strength into keeping herself in place, the black haired woman briefly and crazily thinking to herself that, if this would have been a cartoon, she'd end up getting blown away anyway and her fingers would leave deep scratches in the tiled floor.
Squinting against the blood which still was running into her eye, she looked up at the tear, relieved when she saw that it still was closing; and finally, after a few more minutes, it vanished completely, the wind slowly dying down while Willow returned to the ground, the storm stopping fully the moment her feet touched the ground. Without missing a beat, the witch reached up and moved her hand over the bandage on her arm with a fluent motion; before Pat could ask her though what she was doing, she turned around, the demon flinching visibly when she saw that the darkness still was in the redhead's eyes.
"Willow", she brought out, coming to her feet hurriedly, "you did it, it closed, the work those powers had to do is done…"
"I know", the witch replied, "but to be honest, I don't want to let go of it again… Push it back to that place where it was before, just sitting there unused… You don't know how good it feels to have such power."
"No, I don't", Pat gave back, her mind racing as she tried to find the right words to snap her partner out of this, "I know my power is nothing compared to yours…"
Blinking again as more blood ran into her eye, she reached up with one hand to wipe it off; frowning slightly, Willow took a step closer to her, to the demon's surprise sounding just the tiniest bit surprised when she spoke up again. "You're bleeding…"
"Yeah, something hit me in the head", Pat gave back, forcing herself to not flinch back when the witch reached up and moved her fingers over the small cut, her heart nearly missing a beat when she felt the wound close moments later.
"There", the redhead said, pulling her hand back, "now it's all…" She staggered as the darkness vanished from her eyes and they returned to their natural green colour; she still had a moment to see how her girlfriend started moving, then her legs gave in beneath her and the world turned black around her as her consciousness faded away.