Patrolling had become a chore when Buffy was in the ground. Every day, the second Willow had finished her tasks for the day it was time to head out to the cemetery. Willow felt like she never had a chance to rest, couldn't sit down. And she felt powerful as the new Slayer by default, but she also felt so darn tired. She was always dizzy, plagued by violent headaches and nosebleeds from constant magick use. She hardly slept, drank caffeinated mochas and took meds to keep her mind sharp even when Tara tried to force a mug of sleepytime tea into her hands. That's when it started; the dangerous black magicks started with Glory, and even before that, but using her powers for every day tasks? That summer, between programming the Buffybot, patrolling nightly, leading the group, and searching for a way to bring Buffy back… Willow had felt, she supposed, what it was like to be Buffy, and she'd never been so exhausted. And that's why she had resorted to using magick for the little things: so she'd just have a second to sit down and stop thinking.
But now? Willow quite liked patrolling. It helped distract her, for one, and she, Buffy, and Faith were all but an unstoppable force. Buffy's leadership, Faith's lust for the kill, and Willow's cleverness made them tough even without considering the supernatural powers they all possessed. Tonight, the three of them were surrounded by a small hoard of some icky new demon, with sharp claws and horns for days. They didn't appear too bright, but they were strong and hardy, immovable objects against the Slayers' attacks.
After a struggle, Buffy was able to knock one over and stab it through the heart, "One down,"
Willow and Faith were occupied with monsters of their own. Willow thrust her hand into one demon's chest and sent electricity through its heart, momentarily paralyzing it. She peered over its shoulder and saw another demon lumbering towards Buffy from behind.
"Buffy!" cried Willow, and the Slayer whipped around just in time for a clawed hand to wrap around her throat and pull her up into the air.
Willow waited anxiously for Buffy to kick the demon away and backflip out of its grasp. But the Slayer struggled in its grip, lips turning blueish. The demon Willow had been fighting was still stunned, so she brought forth her magicks and she thrust her hand out at the beast that held Buffy. With a terrible scream it burst into flames, its corpse hitting the ground with a thud.
Buffy fell, gasping, and Willow quickly levitated her gently down into the grass.
"Will," said Buffy, "You saved me."
The praise made Willow giddy. It hit just the right spot in her brain, the same one as the praise from her teachers at her good grades, from Giles and the gang when her hacking, research skills, and magical prowess aided them in their fight.
"Nice to be the other way around once in a while, isn't it? Being the damsel," said Willow. She furrowed her brow when she tasted blood leaking from her nose into her mouth. A nosebleed from killing one demon? She was well past that.
"Damn, good going, Red," said Faith, "Not sure why we even need Slayers with you around."
"Faith? I thought you were fighting the other demons," said Willow.
"What other demons?" said Faith, "The ones you killed?"
Willow turned around slowly, fearfully, and saw the immolated corpses of six huge beasts littering the ground behind her. "I… I didn't mean… I did…?"
"Will?" said Buffy, "Hey, it's good. You killed the bad demons."
"I just meant to kill the one…" She stumbled a little and Buffy caught her, "Heh, they're dead! I should just kill all the demons and—" she shook her head to clear it, her mind a jumble. She felt high.
"Hey, this normal?" said Faith.
"Uh, sometimes," said Buffy, "I think those were the main baddies for today. What do you gals say we call it a night?"
"No way!" said Willow, "Why would we stop when I can just poof them all into dust?"
"Will, take a breath for me," said Buffy, looking deeply, clinically, into Willow's eyes, "Through your nose. I think you got a little buzz from all that. No more magick tonight."
"You're not the boss of me," huffed Willow.
"Will."
Willow glared at her for a second, then blinked, "Whoa, I'm a little messed up. What happened? I killed all those demons, I…"
"You just went overkill," said Buffy, "It happens."
"Ugh," Willow winced, and then the ground started to shake.
"Another one already?" said Buffy, and she grabbed Willow's arms to steady her before she even had a chance to fall. "Come on, Will. Stay with us."
Willow grit her teeth, and Buffy was afraid when she saw black veins crawling up her friend's face. She reached into her pocket to pull out Willow's binding bracelet, but Faith held her hand out.
"Give her a sec," Faith said.
This one was over relatively fast. When it was, Willow sighed and leaned into Buffy, the veins fading from her face.
"You back?" said Buffy.
"Uh-huh," said Willow as she found her footing.
"You okay?" said Buffy, "You should know, there were—"
"Veins," said Willow, "Yeah. I'm fine, though."
"You sure?" said Buffy, "You look—"
"Hey, B?" said Faith, "She said she's fine."
Buffy pouted. Since when was Faith the Willow-expert? "Let's go home," said Buffy, "We gotta rest up for this week's little excavation mission in the tunnels."
And a few days later, Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, and Faith all headed for the crater where they'd found Amy. Like with the others, there was a narrow tunnel that seemed to lead deeper into the Earth.
"Are ya ready, kids?" said Xander.
"Aye aye, Captain," Willow responded. She placed her hand on the wall by the tunnel, could feel the life-forces (death-forces?) of the demons that lurked behind it.
Buffy took the lead and ducked into the tunnel, the others following. It opened, eventually, into a wider cavern, and Willow could sense a maze of tunnels leading from it. She moved forward, wandering, led by her senses.
"Uh, Will?" said Buffy, "Could use a flashlight."
"Huh?" said Willow. Her senses were so clear, she didn't even notice that it was pitch black in the room, "Oh. Illumine." A ball of power appeared to float beside her, bathing the cave in light.
There were five different openings along the wall, additional tunnels protruding from the room they were in.
"This feels like a video game," said Xander, "We might need a trail of breadcrumbs."
"Here," said Willow. She held her hand towards the entrance to the cave:
"Mnemosyne, to thee I pray;
As moon to night, the sun to to day;
In mine eye, do light my way."
Nothing seemed to happen.
"Breadcrumbs?" said Xander.
"Basically," said Willow, "I created a beacon here. As long as it stays up, I'll be able to lead us back to it. The path we take will be locked in my memory."
"Damn, that witchy shit is useful," said Faith.
"So which way?" said Buffy, "Slayer senses are coming up zilch. Will?"
Willow shut her eyes, concentrated for a moment, "They all seem pretty demony. Split up?"
"No way," said Buffy, "We're sticking together." She started walking down one of the tunnels, "You guys coming?"
Her friends followed her, and the deeper they went the more dread Willow felt. The energy here was toxic, and she wondered how long it would be before it started affecting her. Amy had been coming to the pits to get high on dark magick, and now Willow was inside of them. She felt something, then, a presence—
"Demon!" said Buffy, "Just one, easy slay."
Buffy punched the thing in the gut, and then the face. She made quick work of it, and soon it was laying extremely dead on the ground. Then Buffy turned to face the several tunnels this opening led to.
"Eenie meenie minie…" She walked into one with a swagger the others couldn't match, but they followed her cautiously.
Willow felt weird. As they ventured deeper, the darkness overwhelmed her senses, and she couldn't tell anything apart anymore. Just darkness, darkness, and more darkness. It made her feel blind, a stark contrast to the clarity she experienced when they first entered the cave.
More demons met them on the other side, and then even more in the next room. Soon Faith was helping slay them, and Willow too. Even Xander and Giles were forced to pick up some stakes and kill some baddies.
"Everyone okay?" said Buffy eventually.
"We should turn back," Willow panted. It wasn't that she was tired, but she was afraid of losing control.
"No," said Buffy, "We can't. You said it yourself, we don't have much time. This might be our only chance."
"Buff," said Xander, "These things are getting harder to beat the farther we go."
"Then turn back," said Buffy, "But I'm going. I gotta figure this out."
Buffy walked down a tunnel, and the others looked at each other, then followed suit.
And eventually they came to a cavern that seemed empty. They wandered around, investigating.
"Look at this," said Willow, and she gestured towards some marks on the wall, "Giles, what's it say?"
Giles peered at it, "Nothing," he said. "I don't think it's a language. I think it's just marks. Maybe something scratched up the wall."
Willow frowned, "We came all this way… but there's nothing! Since when is there nothing?"
Buffy nodded towards the continuing tunnels, "We're not done yet. There'll be something."
"I'm starting to think these tunnels go on forever," said Xander, "Every room has tougher baddies. Soon we're gonna find one we can't slay."
"Well this room doesn't have any baddies," said Buffy, "So there's that."
Willow shut her eyes, focused. Honed. She tried to see through the darkness, to see anything. She did sense a presence. All the demons that filled these caves and one more. Right on top of them…
Slowly, she turned her head upwards. Watching them from the ceiling was a huge demon, spider-like. Willow screamed and tumbled away, and the demon screeched in turn and lunged for her.
Buffy intercepted it, drawing an axe, "Where'd you come from, the World Wide Web?"
"Come on, Buff," said Xander, "Was that the best you could do?"
"Okay, I don't have a lot of spider puns in my repertoire," Buffy huffed and she swung her axe, "Faith, get over here and help me with this thing."
"My pleasure," said Faith, "I hate bugs."
"Arachnid," Willow muttered.
The girls fought the beast, but they seemed to be getting nowhere. They hacked away at it with their weapons, but the spider seemed unperturbed.
Willow muttered a spell, meant to incinerate the demon, but it seemed to shake it off like her power was nothing. Willow was taken aback, that the things down here seemed stronger than she was.
The fight continued. Xander and Giles came to help, and Willow tossed spells at it which it seemed to swat away like flies. It knocked the Scoobies away one by one, until only Buffy remained, ferocious.
Willow lay against the wall with her friends, injured but not gravely, needing time to recover. All she could do was watch helplessly as Buffy fought with all her strength.
"Y'know, what do you guys need all those legs for, anyway?" said Buffy, "Where do you buy pants?"
The Slayer glanced at one of the cave openings and concocted a plan. She started running and the spider chased her, until it wedged itself into the small tunnel. Her opponent stuck, Buffy crawled underneath it and stabbed it in the chest. It screeched in agony. Then Buffy crawled out the other side, wiping spider guts off herself with pride.
"Is it dead?" asked Giles.
"Should be," said Buffy, "No more mighty bitey spidey—"
She choked, and her friends' eyes widened. Buffy looked down, one of the Spider's appendages suddenly protruding from her gut. Some blood trickled from her mouth and she fell.
"Buffy?" said Willow. Her fingers felt numb, her veins on fire. She could barely feel herself moving towards Buffy, but before she knew it she was kneeling over her.
"I stabbed it in the heart," Buffy wheezed.
"Spider heart's in the abdomen. Like the butt," said Willow. The spider was still stuck, and Xander and Faith were already in the process of killing it for real. Faith grabbed the hind leg that currently impaled the slayer and pulled until it broke free from the bug. Buffy screamed.
Giles was already hovering over Buffy, hands dancing above her injury but not sure what to do in the panic.
"G-Giles," Willow stuttered, "Move."
He didn't, "Buffy? Stay with us."
Willow pushed Giles with all her might, eyes black, "Move!"
Then she was healing Buffy. The appendage in the Slayer's stomach shattered into pieces, and Willow's hands were covered in Buffy's blood as she worked to heal the wound. Sweat dripped from her forehead, and blood from her nose. Willow panted, was hyperventilating. There was too much blood.
Everyone else watched her warily, once the spider was dead. The tension in the room was thick and gross, like spider guts.
Willow moved a hand to wipe away some sweat that had dripped into her eye, smearing Buffy's blood on her cheek, reminiscent of the blood she'd marked her face with when they had resurrected the Slayer.
Willow's hands were shaking, and her head was pounding with the exertion. She saw spots in her vision, felt nausea in her gut, but she willed it away.
"Okay, Willow," said Giles, "That's enough."
Willow shook her head and kept healing, her breaths coming in gasps.
"Willow," Giles said again. But the witch ignored him.
"Hey," croaked Buffy, "S-slayer healing. You did good, I'll be fine."
"No!" said Willow, "B-Buffy…"
"Willow!" said Giles, "You did a lot. Stop it, now."
But Willow couldn't stop. In her mind's eye, all she could see was Buffy dead and buried again.
Giles grabbed Willow violently by the shoulders and pulled her away from the Slayer. The witch tried to run back to her, but Giles held her firmly by the upper arms.
"You did enough, Willow!" he said.
Willow shook her head frantically, hands still trembling, "Let me help her! Why are you so worried about me?"
"I'm not worried about you," Giles barked, "If you faint, we lose the beacon. Then we're never getting out of here and Buffy really will die."
Willow blinked. She stumbled to the floor, still shaking but panic subsiding.
Xander picked Buffy up in his arms, and Giles pulled Willow to her feet.
"Come on, Willow," said Giles, "Get us out of here."
Willow took a deep breath and focused. She led the way back through the tunnels, each room piled with the dead demons they'd killed before. The Beacon spell worked like a charm; the way out was ingrained in her memory in the same way that the walk to school had been when she was a child. She glanced down at her hands, covered in Buffy's blood, and felt confused, guilty. Was she the one creating these tunnels? Was she the one who hurt Buffy?
