Giles' Apartment, 1400 hours.
Buffy and Faith, both of whom were now attending U.C. Sunnydale, were sitting next to Xander and the young man's new girlfriend, Anya. Althanea, Jenny, and Joyce; all of whom were called on by Giles were seated all around the living room. The notable absentee was Wesley, who was recalled to London temporarily. Giles and the others were thankful that Wesley did not tell the Council about the research they were carrying out to get Willow back. At the same time though, he searched for information on opening doorways for 'research' purposes while working around the Council.
Without Wesley, Buffy and the others were seated in Giles' living room watching the man pacing the carpet while an open package lay on the coffee table in front of them. Giles then sighed, and steadied himself for the reactions of Xander, Buffy, and Jenny; especially when he revealed the secret he had been hiding from them for more than a year.
"I've been in contact with Angel," said Giles as Buffy and Xander opened their eyes wide in shock, while Jenny leaned back on the couch, and frowned at her boyfriend. Giles sighed and put his hands on his waist while Buffy and Xander, understandably outraged, demanded to know what he was thinking. The demanded to know why and how he could have gone behind their backs to ask the help of someone responsible for Willow's death.
Giles waited for Buffy and Xander, whose faces were already red in anger, to quieten down. In the meantime, he glanced at the people around him… and he saw the look of disappointment on Jenny's face. Giles knew he had a lot to make up for with her; Althanea was looking at the package on the table, and then back up at him… the expression on her face silently questioning him on why he contacted Angel. He then looked at Joyce who was just frowning, but remained silent. He then looked at Anya and Faith who were whispering to each other, and then the dark haired Slayer looked at him and asked a question.
"I get Angel's supposed to have a soul now, and all," she said, "but G-man, he's still a vamp... you sure we can trust him with whatever he's told you about Willow?"
"Willow?" asked Buffy, who suddenly stopped asking questions about reaching out to Angel, as she looked between Faith and Giles, "Giles?"
"Thank you, Faith," Giles replied sarcastically, "I was going to mention it after Buffy and Xander were done.. but yes."
"But…" said Xander shaking his head, "Giles, he's…"
"I know how we all feel about him," whispered Giles as she took off his glasses, "but we've tried to find a way to get Willow back for over a year and a half. All of our research has come to naught despite everything we've done. Look, it was after Angel left that he sent me a letter. He said that he was going to search through his contacts in Los Angeles for a way to open a doorway, allowing Willow to come back to Earth. Even his quest had little to no leads for over a year and more."
"I'm sorry, G-man," said Faith grimacing, "I mean Willow was my guess… that's the only reason you'd ask us all to come on such short notice."
"It's fine, Faith," said Giles gently before looking at the others, "Angel's running a Private Investigative agency and…"
Xander was about to make a quip about Angel, but he decided against it. He told himself to calm down, and wait for Giles to finish what he was going to say. So he motioned for Giles to continue.
"One of his associates has a direct link to the Powers that Be," said Giles as Althanea nodded her head impressed. Giles could see that she had some questions, but the librarian signaled her that she needed to ask questions later. Althanea then nodded her head, allowing Giles to continue, "this associate received a vision. What was in the vision does not matter, but upon saving the subject of the vision.. Angel and his team came upon a very old scroll."
Giles reached dawn and picked up the box, he then reached inside and took out the scroll and the letter. He handed the Scroll to Althanea who asked Anya, who was a vengeance demon and an expert in languages, to study the scroll and the translation with her. They then headed to the dining table, while Giles turned to Jenny who was leaning forward.
"Giles," she said gently, "I just want to ask you this question, and I will believe whatever answer you give me. Do you trust Angel with this information?"
"Yes," replied Giles as he sat down. The man suddenly looked tired, as if everything that he had been working towards was finally about to bear fruit – Willow's rescue from hell, "the both of us played our parts certainly in Willow's demise. Angelus used her to open the doorway after raping her and destroying who she was, and then I drove the sword through her. I know it was to save the world, but I'm the one who killed her."
Buffy was about to intervene when she saw Giles cover his mouth with his hand, and saw the hurt and defeat in his eyes. She and Giles looked at each other, and she saw the pain that existed in his eyes, and she didn't know what to say. She then turned to look at Faith, who looked back at her, and then at Giles. The dark haired Slayer, and then Jenny, walked towards Giles and told him that he did what he had to do. Buffy then spoke up and said that it was her fault too, she left Angelus live.
"Yea, B, you're responsible too," said Faith before she looked down at Giles while standing next to him, "Giles, Willow knew what she was doing. And she knew what was going to happen. You did what you had to do."
"I promised her that we'd find a way back for her and.."
"By the goddess," cried Althanea as she looked up from the scroll at Anya who was nodding her head. Giles wiped his eyes and then stood up and put on his glasses while the others just turned around on the couch and walked towards the witch and demon, "this is a rare find."
"Very rare," replied Anya as she looked back at Giles and the others who were heading towards them, "this…. Even I haven't seen something like this before. I've heard rumours about it, but never seen it."
"What is it?" asked Jenny.
"Think of it as like a life raft," explained Althanea while Giles nodded his head, "the spell uses our feelings for the one we are searching for, and then collects it as energy. And important items that have meaning for the person who needs to be returned is used as a focal point for that energy before it ripples out. The energy travels to every single Heavenly and Hell dimension until that person is found, and then returned."
"The letter was vague," said Giles, "but that's the basic gist I had as well. The ritual is meant to use our feelings for the person as an energy source, and as a way of searching for who the ritual is meant to bring back."
"Those with strong connections to Willow would have to be a part of the ritual," explained Althanea, "myself, Rupert, Buffy, Xander, Joyce, Jenny, and Willow's parents."
"Let's say that Angel's wrong about this," said Xander waving his arms about, "do we really want to give Mr. and Mrs. Rosenberg that kind of hope, and then have it torn away from them in case I'm right, and this is just a wild goose chase?"
"I agree," said Buffy her arms crossed over her chest, "we don't involve Willow's parents in this. Althanea, Anya, how do we know if the spell worked?"
"We won't know until Willow appears before us," said Althanea.
"But then again," said Anya as she read through the translation, and then looked back at Buffy, and then at Xander, "it doesn't say that she'll appear in front of us. Maybe she'll appear somewhere else, but what we do know? Once the ritual's finished… that's it. This scroll will be useless."
"Do we need anything special for the ritual?" asked Jenny.
"I need to go to the Magic Box," said Althanea, "Jenny, Anya, Xander.. I need you three to come with me."
"Sure," said Xander nodding his head. He was hoping that he was wrong this one time about Angel, and that this ritual would really bring back Willow, but he was still wary due to the many dead-ends the Scoobies had already encountered. That was in addition to the scroll coming from the same man who tortured and raped Willow.
It was a few hours later, that Joyce, Buffy, Faith, and Xander helped to rearrange Giles' living room so that they could draw the symbols for the ritual on the floor, and then take their places on one of the symbols. However, it was agreed that the people with the strongest connections with Willow was Giles, Buffy, Xander, and Althanea since she was Willow's mentor for her magical training. The four of them sat on the circle, which had four candles which indicated the seating areas for the participants who were facing each other, with a picture of Willow, Xander, and Giles being placed in the middle of a bowl of ingredients. On top of the picture, Giles lay down the Galaxy Ranger badge since it was something that Willow loved being.. Giles remembered Willow being excited about Niko's memories, knowledge, and powers; and using all of that to fight alongside Buffy as Nighthawk. Giles remembered her wanting to help people, and to save those in danger; all represented by the badge.
It was a connection to her. A connection to who she was.
Faith, Anya, Joyce, and Jenny stood to one side while the newly neutered Spike was chained in the bathtub. The Slayer wanted to kill the vampire, but given that he was unable to attack humans thanks to a para-military organization installing a chip in his head, Buffy believed it would be better to have him around to get as much information as possible about what this military group wanted. And then kill Spike. Faith looked over her shoulder at the restroom hallway, and then back to Buffy and the others who were already seated.
"Ready?" asked Althanea as Buffy and the others nodded their heads. Althanea already told them what was going to happen, and they still opted to continue, "hold hands, and whatever you do? Do not release them."
"Got it," said Xander.
Faith, Anya, Jenny, and Joyce looked on as Althanea started to chant. She felt the ground trembling while Spike was demanding to know what was going on. Faith, however, tuned him out while she and the women on the side-lines watched the various symbols around the circular symbol, that Buffy and the others were sitting around, give off an ethereal white glow.
The symbols were placed behind the four people; four symbols for four connections.
Faith looked on as a ray of bright white light erupted from each of the symbols behind Buffy, Giles, Althanea, and Xander; the four of them arching their backs as they gave off a gasp while Althanea continued to chant. The bowl with the picture and the badge then rose up into the air, while it spun faster and faster until it stated to hiss. Faith and the others watched the beams of light shoot through Buffy and the others, the four of them gasping again, as the light hit the spinning bowl. They looked on as the bowl started to crumble, along with the ingredients, as well as the scroll which was next to Althanea.
"No stopping now," whispered Anya as the scroll started to disintegrate. Then there was a burst of white light in the middle of the circle of Buffy, Giles, Xander, and Althanea. The light was so bright that Faith and the others had to close their eyes, opening them only when the light dimmed to reveal a fluctuating ball of white light. The bowl, the picture, the badge, and the scroll was gone as Althanea looked up at the ball.. as did Giles, Buffy, and Xander.
Their eyes were all white in colour as they commanded the light to find, and return, the one who was lost; to find the person with whom they had the strong connection.
"Find Willow," whispered Giles, as did Buffy, Xander, and Althanea.
Faith and the others closed their eyes when there was another burst of white light from the ball as it seemed to explode. The shockwave pushed everyone down to the floor, while Spike was shouting from the bathtub, demanding to know what the hell it was that they just did.
It had taken five minutes, and the grating sound of Spike screaming in the bathtub, for Giles to slowly open his eyes. He slowly got up while rubbing the sides of his head, and groaning at the same time. He looked around as Buffy, Xander, and Althanea… who had been lying on the floor, and just now regaining consciousness slowly started to get up. He noticed that all the symbols they had drawn earlier was gone, they vanished without a trace. He slowly got to his knees while he looked at the picture of Buffy, Willow, and Xander on the floor, with the Galaxy Ranger badge on top of them.
"Please tell me that worked," groaned Xander while Giles got up and then helped the young man up, while Buffy helped Althanea. Giles looked around silently as Faith, groaning as she got up off the floor, told them that it better have worked. Faith then got up while Giles helped up Jenny; and Buffy, after making sure that Althanea was all right, went and helped up Joyce to her feet.
"You okay, mom?" asked Buffy as Joyce nodded her head.
"Giles?" asked Faith, "well?"
"Buffy and Faith," said Giles, "I need you both on patrol tonight. Willow could be anywhere in Sunnydale, we need to find her."
"She's not here," whispered Althanea as she fell to her knees, "she's not here. She's not in Sunnydale."
"How can you be sure?" asked Giles looking at the witch.
"The throbbing in my chest since she was taken," she whispered as she rubbed her chest, "it's still there, Rupert. She's not here… she's not with us."
"There goes Angel, I feel better now that he proved he can't be trusted," Xander said with a scowl on his face.
"We're still going to search Sunnydale," commanded Giles, "she has to be here… we couldn't have done all of that for nothing… she… she has to be here."
"We'll patrol, Giles," said Faith as Buffy nodded, "we'll find her."
Acathla's Hell, a little more than a thousand years after Willow being pulled to Hell.
It.
That was how she was called as she lay on the floor of the dark and dank dungeon.
She couldn't remember who she once was. She remembered her screams, the pain, and the torture, but not herself. The pain was so intense that she couldn't remember. Her mind was broken. Her memories were fragmented; she wasn't able to piece them together no matter how hard she tried. Her entire body hurt as she closed her eyes which opened again when she heard screams from a few doors below her cell. She knew that the one with the knives was coming to carve her up again. She quickly got up and cowered fearfully against the wall as the sound of thuds came closer and closer after a door in the distance had closed.
And then she whimpered in fear while using her fingernails to scratch against the blood covered wall in fear.
It was her blood covering the walls.
She was lying in everything that made her, all her deaths, all the evidence of what she had undergone was all around her. She wanted to say something, but she forgot speech; she forgot that she could ever speak. Her white hair was matted to her sweat covered forehead, and her body covered by the blood, dirt, and filth that was all around her. She was cowering against the wall, while looking at the door. A part of her wanted to be brave, but fear overtook everything as her body shivered in fear. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on the blood stained wall and hoped that this was the day that she would die, and not be resurrected again howling in pain.
As she continued to look fearfully at the door, she felt a warmth inside her. But that warmth wasn't able to cut the cold from the darkness around her.
She was called 'it', any mention of her true name either gone or locked away in the back of her mind… trying to break out. She had fragmented memories of running towards a blue portal, then beatings, and then being debased until she was just a thing in the eyes of the demons around her. In another memory, she remembered cutting bodies, and then in another memory she remembered the brand on her chest and her shoulder blade. The short white-haired young woman had flashes of a blonde girl, a man with a demonic face and fangs, a kiss with another short orange-haired young man who turned into a wolf.
And then those memories faded away, gone out of her reach.
She covered her body with her arms as her whines increased in intensity while tears fell down her face. She knew what was going to happen. The most recent memory she had, was of demons eating her alive. She remembered being chained up mid-air over a cadre of fourteen demons, the chains were attached to hooks that went through her flesh, and then she was lowered down to the growls and the sounds made by the grinding and gnashing of sharp teeth. She could still smell blood as the demons tore into her flesh, ripping it off her bones while she screamed in pain. She continued screaming as the demons exposed bones all over her body. They had no set part of her body where they would begin, they were like animals being fed for the first time.
Her screams stopped when her skull was crushed.
And then she was brought to life again in her cell, howling in pain even though her body was intact.
Sometimes she would be thrown into a pit where numbers of demons with knives for hands would carve her up and share her among themselves. At the end, no matter what happened to her, she would return to her cell intact.
But she had no idea how long her torture continued.
She brought her hands to the sides of her head, and then her body tensed as the door opened. She got on all fours, just as she had been forced to while she had been in her cell for years.
"It," said the muscular green skinned demon as it rushed towards her. However, she rolled to the side before she made a mad dash, eventually slipping on her blood and organs. She then slithered and the crawled while her body made squishing sounds before she struggled to get up to her feet. She could sense that he demon was taking its time as she stumbled forward, and slipped again. She fell on her blood before repeating her actions as she went for the door. The demon made its move once she was close to the door, it was much faster and it grabbed her by the back of her neck, growled, and then pushed her towards the wall. She hit the wall hard with a squishing sound, and then she was turned around to see the masked demon, it's face covered in shadow.
She felt wetness squishing behind her; her blood. She was being pushed into her own blood.
She could feel the tattoo, no, it was more like a brand. She could feel the brand on her left shoulder blade being pushed into the wall. She looked in fear at the masked demon as it started to laugh, while pulling an arm to the rear of the belt he was wearing. He then took out a jagged edged blade and prepared to stab her.
It was then that she growled. She gnashed her teeth at the demon holding her and growled. This had been going on for so long that she was tired. She wanted to die, she wanted there to be no more pain. She stretched out her fingers by her side, and then curved her fingertips inwards and growled.
She wanted to die. She wanted everything to end.
But she wasn't going to die whining. She wanted to reach into the mask and rip the demon's eyes out.
However, before anyone could do anything, she found herself engulfed by a bright flash of white light. She closed her eyes, covering them with her arm since the light was so bright, and opened them when she felt a cool breeze brushing on her naked body. She found herself standing in darkness, surrounded by buildings, and black pillars that had tops which glowed a bright yellow. She then arched her back and opened her mouth. It felt as if something was reaching into her throat, and then pulling out… something. She couldn't tell what was happening, just that it was unnerving. She saw a wisp of smoky white light floating away from her mouth, and then travelling towards a clock tower in the distance. She watched the light in fascination before she looked straight up and saw pin pricks of light in the cloudless night sky.
She closed her eyes and smelled the breeze, she smelled the fresh air; there were no smells of rot and dead bodies, there was no smell of death.
Just fresh air.
However, she opened her eyes when she caught a whiff of a scent she hadn't experienced before just as she fell forward onto the paved ground as a body crashed into her from behind.
U.C. Sunnydale, 2300 hours; the day after performing the ritual.
Tara was running.
Running as fast as she could from the two floating bald creatures in black suits that were following her with creepy, wide, grins. She was running from the four creatures that seemed to be wrapped in straightjackets coming after her, they had been following the floating creatures, and set their targets on her. All she had wanted to do was going back to her dorm after class, and try to find a spell that would reverse this situation that the entire city found themselves in.
No one had a voice. Literally.
The entire city was silent with people unable to speak. Tara remembered reading that morning, while she ran and looked behind her, terrified at the creatures coming towards her, that four people had died after the city became silent.
Their hearts were cut out. And Tara was afraid that she was going to be next.
She screamed out loud for help, but no-one could hear her since she had no voice.
She continued running while looking behind her when she suddenly crashed into a woman standing in the middle of the pathway. Tara fell on top of the woman who roughly pushed her off before crouching down on all fours while baring her teeth at the blonde.
'Goddess,' thought Tara as she covered her nose at the smell of death that was coming from the naked, white haired young woman in front of her.
'Not just white,' thought Tara to herself, 'is… is that blood? And, dear Goddess… there's.. stop Tara, just see the blood, and the white hair. No need to see the other stuff which I hope is just dirt. Where did she come from? Who are you?.'
Tara had her eyes wide open in horror as she saw the young woman in front of her. Tara saw that she was slim, and she had cuts and marks on various parts of her body. And then there was the blood, the young woman was covered in blood. Then she noticed the circular symbol in the middle of her chest, just above her breasts. Tara looked into the feral eyes of the woman before her, and what she saw was rage, mixed with pain and sorrow, and madness.
Before Tara could do anything, the straightjacketed creatures reached her and started to pound on her. Tara covered her head with her hands and screamed, feeling the punches that reigned down on her, while she looked at the woman who did the same; protecting herself from the beating by the straightjacketed creatures. Tara saw the young woman being beaten hard when she suddenly opened her mouth as if giving off a loud scream that no-one could hear.
While Tara watched the woman viciously fighting back against the creatures like an animal cornered; back in Giles' apartment, Althanea rubbed her chest as she quickly leaned forward on the couch while everyone looked at her concerned. She knew that the last time she felt something like this was when Willow was killed, there was a constant throbbing in her chest which had just spiked, and was now gone.
Althanea opened her eyes wide before she quickly got up, ran past the chained up Spike, and headed to Giles' side table. She opened the drawer fully and let it crash down to the floor, the sound reverberating through the whole apartment. Joyce, Jenny, Xander, and Anya watched the witch frantically searching for something. It was then that Giles' eyes widened as soon as he realised what Althanea was looking for. He slid down onto his knees next to her and searched for the special object.
Xander looked confused at Jenny, and then at Joyce, before looking at Giles and Althanea again when they finally found what they were looking for. He saw them looking at each other, tears in their eyes, before leaning down to pick up something. Giles then turned to Xander and the others, and showed them the Galaxy Ranger badge in his hand. He pointed at it while mouthing silently, "it did work, she's home."
Back on campus, Tara stood up slowly, her legs trembling as she watched the white haired young woman who, soundlessly screaming, jumped onto one of the creatures and then twisted its neck. Tara heard the sickening crack as she scampered backwards towards the wall of a building. She watched the young woman get hit by the creatures, but she didn't fall, instead she stumbled back and then jumped on top of one of them, pushing him to the ground. Tara watched in horror as she pressed her thumbs in its eyes. The creature was waving its arms around before the white haired young woman was pulled off and then thrown to the ground. Tara saw her crouch down on all fours, and then leap towards another straightjacketed creature before digging her hands into its neck while panting. Tara covered her mouth in horror while watching the redhead rip its throat out, green blood spurting everywhere as the floating creatures moved back.
Tara saw the young woman get knocked down by the last creature, and then she saw her aura flash in pure rage. Tara shook her head while she watched the young woman duck the attacks from the last straightjacketed creature, and then she grabbed it and jumped onto it's back. She punched the sides of its head before twisting its neck, but Tara saw the young woman's rage hadn't subsided. She saw the redhead mercilessly beat the dead creature before she panted and dug her fingers through the wraps and ripped its throat out.
Tara was trying to control her breathing as the young woman's aura normalized, the white haired girl was panting, while she had green coloured blood on her hands, mixed in with the red that was already all over her body. Tara saw the young woman's fists were dripping with the liquid as the floating creatures retreated from her. Tara then saw the woman, who just viciously had beaten the four straightjacketed creatures to death, crouching back down on all fours before turning around to face her.
Tara put her hand up in surrender; she didn't want to be a threat to this woman who slowly moved backwards on all fours. Tara, too, slowly crouched down, all the while looking into the eyes of the woman who was watching her every move. She picked up her books slowly as the young woman continued to look at her while tilting her head.
"Hi," mouthed Tara, with a mixture of basic sign language, while the young woman bared her teeth at her, "I.. I'm not going to… to harm you. My name's Tara… Tara…, what… what's your name?"
Tara then saw the young woman's face show a bit of sadness before she looked behind over her shoulder, turned around and then moved away on all fours. Tara saw her move a few more meters before she rose up and started to run on both of her feet.
Tara looked on as she disappeared into the shadows. Tara then shook her head while thinking about the face that was looking at her earlier. The blonde young woman had seen the sadness in the young woman's eyes, but there was something else. Something else beyond the anger and madness, it was as if she had endured a lifetime of pain and suffering.
The Rosenberg Residence, ten minutes later.
The naked young woman had flashes of a building, and two people who were calling for her at the front door. She was running through the night breeze, alone in the open. It beat being kept in her cell.
She ran faster as a smile developed on her face. She enjoyed the freedom, but she couldn't remember if she ever had freedom to begin with. There were faces in her mind flashing, but she couldn't make anything of who they were, or what they were to her.
However, the image of an older redhead standing next to a brown haired man, was familiar to her. It warmed her heart, but she couldn't tell why. All she knew was that the pain that she felt in her body dulled, just for an instant.
She continued running. Running as fast as she could while feeling the rush of the breeze against her naked skin.
And the next thing she knew, she was looking at the house that had momentarily flashed in her memories. She stood across from the home, and looked at the darkness in the building, and she shivered. But there was something that compelled her to crouch down and approach the home slowly, but she didn't know why.
All she knew was that this place was important, despite the darkness inside which made it threatening to her.
Something told her this place was important.
Sheila Rosenberg was lying in bed when she suddenly snapped her eyes open, and sat up. She grabbed her chest and breathed hard as the throbbing spiked for a short moment, and then vanished completely. She looked to her left at Ira, who was fast asleep, and then back at her sheets. Feeling thirsty, the older redhead pulled the sheets off of her before getting out of bed, and into a pair of slippers. She then put on a robe over her negligee, and crept out of the room into the hallway.
She looked at Willow's room door, and slowly walked towards it. She was about to open the door, but decided against it. It had been over a year since they had opened this door, preferring to remain as it was when Willow was taken away from them. She wiped the tears that came to her eyes, like they always did when she approached the room, and then she turned around and headed for the stairs. Turning on the lights, she walked down slowly until she reached the foyer. It was then when she saw two wisps of white smoke enter the house. One of the tiny clouds flowed straight into her mouth, while the other went up the stairs, and made a left turn.
Sheila then opened her mouth to speak, "What the…" She smiled excitedly when she found that she could speak again. She was about to run up the stairs and wake Ira to tell him that their voices mysteriously had returned, when she suddenly heard a scratching sound at the front door. Sheila headed towards the door after turning on the foyer light, and looked out through the peephole.
Not seeing anyone there, Sheila shook her head before she turned around. She was about to turn off the lights again and head to the kitchen when she heard the scratching sound again… followed by a whine. Sheila narrowed her eyes and looked at the door again, her heart was racing as she heard the same whine one more time. Approaching the door cautiously, Sheila then put her hand on the door knob, and then opened the door to find the face of her daughter, both knees on the wooden porch, looking back at her.
Sheila's eyes opened wide in shock, speechlessness taking over as she looked at the bloody face looking back at her, she looked at the white hair which had blood, and what seemed to her as dirt matting it down. She gasped at the young woman's naked, blood covered body, and then she looked into her eyes.
Sheila knew those eyes. It was her daughter's eyes.
"Willow," whispered Sheila, her eyes wet, and her body trembling, "oh God."
"Ira!" screamed Sheila as her senses took over while she took off her robe and covered Willow with it. However, Willow was whimpering from the sound of Sheila's voice while covering her ears just before the young woman stumbled onto her side, and pushed herself back away from the open door. Sheila called for Ira again, and it was that which caused Willow to have a memory flash of herself being beaten by demons who had captured her when she tried to run into a blue light. Willow somehow knew instinctively she wasn't in danger, but her senses were going haywire, and she didn't know what to think; she couldn't think. She feared the woman, but at the same time, she didn't. Willow wanted to growl, make the woman go away. But she couldn't do that either.
"Ira! Ira!"
Sheila quickly approached the whimpering Willow who was laying on her side, and covered her up again with the robe, and cradled her body in her arms while Willow's body was shaking, her hands scratching the floor of the porch, and her legs moving as if she wanted to get away. This close to Willow, Sheila was hit with the smell of rotting flesh but the crying older woman hid her disgust at the smell of death that was coming from Willow's body.
"Sheila.. what?! Oh dear God," gasped Ira upon reaching the front door, and seeing Willow who was huddled in her mother's arms.
"Call the police, call them now, Ira!" cried Sheila as she looked at her husband who ran to the living room. The light that just came on made Willow hide her eyes by holding her arms against them, all the while she continued to whimper. In the meantime, all Sheila could do was try to comfort her daughter, "you're home, Willow. You're home. Listen to my voice, Willow. Listen to my voice."
On the street across from the Rosenberg home, a figure wearing a silver and cream dress stood unseen. She pulled back a hood to reveal a young woman with long brown hair, her eyes revealing her age; older than Willow, older than Angel, Kakistos, the Master. She was older than Ancient Egypt itself as she looked at Ira running back to the front door with a phone to his ear. The brown haired woman smiled sadly at the thought that Willow remained in Hell due to her inaction, but she had seen a future where the world was destroyed if she sacrificed herself.
A world destroyed by a madwoman.
So the brown haired woman watched silently, and without interfering, as the Powers sent Doyle, and in turn, Angel, one vision after another. It was when they sent the vampire the vision of the underground book dealer did the woman, using the magic that surrounded the shop, ensure that the ancient scroll, the one she knew would be useful for returning Willow to Earth, would fall at Lilly's feet. The brown haired woman saw the young woman pick up the scroll after the demon was defeated, before handing it to Doyle once she opened it. The brown haired woman remembered the look on Angel's face when the dealer told him what it was, and that he could take it with him as thanks for saving his life.
And the rest was history.
The brown haired woman watched the house as Ira kneeled on the ground, the sounds of sirens heard in the distance.
"You're home, Willow," whispered the woman, "your friends will help repair your mind, and restore your humanity. You will be needed, for I am coming… I have seen it. Divergent futures where the world ends, or a Slayer dies, or one where everyone makes it out alive. I will not remember me… I know that much. But I know you will protect me, Willow; I have seen it. I will see you at dawn, Willow. A year from now, I will see you again. Until then, farewell… my Champion."
TBC.