Sunnydale Mercy, Outside Willow's room.

Tara ran out of a hallway and made a turn to her left before gasping in horror at the destruction in the waiting room. She ducked into one of the adjacent rooms and called for security before heading out once again for the waiting room. Once entering, she saw broken glass everywhere, and bodies of two men in the hallway who looked as if they had been literally slammed into the wall. Trying to keep her breakfast down, Tara then heard the sounds of footsteps running behind her. She turned around to see an older blonde woman, and a dark haired woman running towards the waiting room along with Cordelia.

"Stop, Stop," said Tara as she ran towards them and blocked their way. She could feel her skin crawl as a chill went up her spine. Tara looked back over her shoulder, and knew that the demon she met was close by, she could sense the darkness just spilling out of the room that had the broken door. She then turned to Cordelia and the others just as three security officers ran past them.

Tara knew what they were about to do. She could hear the three women telling her to move to one side just as she screamed 'no!' at the security officers who ran into the room. It was then that Tara felt a surge of dark magic.

'Demonic.. demonic magic,' thought Tara to herself just as she heard gun shots. She screamed at the three women to run the other way, as well as at the nurses who were heading to the room. But they didn't listen, it was too later for the nurses as they entered the room. Tara then used her body to push the three women away from the room, but it was too late.

The entire front section of the room, including the door frame exploded outwards. In that split second, Tara had already wrapped her arms around the three women in what looked like a group hug. Except the debris, the plaster, the wood, the glass, the human body parts of the security officers and the nurses hit a barrier that surrounded the four of them. Cordelia, Joyce, and Jenny looked on with eyes wide open at the blonde who was whispering something in Latin, while her eyes were shut tight as debris kept on hitting the barrier.

"It's done," whispered Jenny as Tara opened her eyes and looked at her. Tara could see surprise in the aura's of all three of the women in front of her, but there was no sign of disgust coming off them like she thought there would be. There was no fear, just curiosity.. and it made Tara wonder what was going on with the three of them. It was when Jenny spoke again that Tara looked down nervously at the floor, her hair coming down her face, "are you a witch?"

"I… I…" Before Tara cold finish what she wanted to say, they heard a blood curdling scream coming from inside the room as a man's body was thrown out the hole where the entrance to the room once used to be. Tara heard Jenny call out for Xander, whose body was heading through the shattered windows of the waiting room. It was then that Tara looked on in surprise as a young, bleeding woman appeared out of nowhere and let Xander crash into her. Tara's eyes opened with in disbelief when she saw the woman's demonic aura before Joyce, Cordelia, and Jenny ran to the two of them.

As did Tara after a few seconds of being rooted to the spot in surprise at their concern for a demon. However, she immediately heard the voice of her mother in her mind telling her to help them. That it was her duty to help them, even the demon.

So Tara ran to the five of them.

She asked them to step back while she crouched down to check on Xander and Anya's pulse. Sighing when she found pulses, just barely, for the both of them… she looked up at Jenny and asked if she knew about magic.

"Yes," said Jenny.

"So you know that the woman," said Tara while nodding at Anya, "she's a demon?"

"She's a vengeance demon, her name is Anya," said Jenny as Tara looked on in surprise. But that lasted for a few seconds before she lay her hands on the two unconscious young people. Tara looked up and said that she'll try to heal the major injuries through magic.

"But I'm afraid that…."

"Do what you can… ummm…."

"Tara, Tara Maclay."

"Do what you can, Tara," said Jenny as she nodded her head before noticing movement to her left. She and Joyce looked at Cordelia putting her hands on the sides of her head, and shaking it in disbelief. Joyce saw the tears in Cordelia's eyes growing, and she remembered what Brian… what Borzan told them.

"I… I… Oh God, what have I done!" cried Cordelia as Joyce rushed to her and hugged the girl who kept on saying 'how didn't I know, how didn't I know'.

"It's not your fault," whispered Joyce as Cordelia sobbed in her arms, "it's not your fault."

While Tara was healing Anya and Xander through magic, she immediately stopped when she heard running footsteps behind her.

"Stop!" screamed Tara as she turned and looked at the security officers. They were almost at the room after ordering her to leave with Joyce and the others. Tara knew that they would die if they went into the room once again, so she came up with a reason for them to fear going in, the only excuse she could come up with in the last second, "the guy has a bomb."

"Everyone out," yelled one of the officers as he and the others slowly pulled back.

"These two are injured," said Tara as she discretely used her magic to continue healing Xander and Anya, "get me something to remove them… move!"

While the officers went to get help to move Anya and Xander without hurting them, Tara and the others stayed put.

Willow's Room, two minutes earlier.

Willow started to whimper and shake her head as she shimmied back on the bed. She cowered in fear as she heard the footsteps walking into the room. She closed her eyes and hoped this was all a dream, that it wasn't him.. that it wasn't the one who took so much pleasure from watching her get tortured in Hell.

The one who took pleasure in torturing her himself.

"It?" asked Sheila as a man with brown eyes, a black suit, and a red tie walked in with a smile. The humans looked down at the groaning female being held by the collar as he dragged her body into the room.

"Faith!" yelled Buffy as Xander stood up.

"Uh uh uh," said the man as he shook his finger at Xander, "don't even think about it. I'm here for my 'it'."

"It?" asked Ira, "What.. what are you talking about? Who are you? And why… why are you coming after Willow?"

"MY name is Brian Orzan, I have a talent agency in Los Angeles," said Brian as he flung Faith against a wall while looking at Willow who was cowering and sobbing, giving off small screams of fear, while Sheila was holding onto her, "but I'm better known as Borzan, a lieutenant of Acathla. As for why I'm here, little man… I'm here to take what is mine. It."

"Her name is Willow," said Buffy who glanced at Faith who looked back at her through eyes that reflected her pain, while nodding her head, signifying she was alright.

"Ah yes, Buffy Summers," said Borzan with a smirk, "the Slayer… or should I say, a Slayer. You've seen that I've taken out Faith. Ah Faith, she would have made a terrific pornstar… ah well, that could still happen where I'll be taking the both of you. Anyway, back to the issue at hand, Buffy, taking you out will be easy too, and then I can play with you, It, and Faith. So much fun to be had."

"Xander!" yelled Buffy as she glared at Borzan while hearing the white haired young woman behind her sobbing and crying out in fear. She told Xander to leave the room and check on the others, the blonde Slayer rushed at Borzan with a punch while telling Sheila and Ira to leave with Willow… that she'll cover them.

"You think I'm just a normal demon?" cried Borzan who moved faster than Buffy had seen any demon move before. He blocked her punch, grabbed her by her neck and then lifted her off the floor.

"Buffy!" yelled Xander as he ran towards Borzan. The demon simply grabbed Xander's head when he was close enough, while still looking at the struggling Buffy, who was kicking out at him with all her strength to no avail. Buffy then saw Borzan flinging Xander against the back wall, the young man hitting it hard and then groaning as he grabbed his left arm after falling onto the floor.

"Ca… call Giles," said Buffy struggling to speak, "go… go, Xan…. Xander."

As Xander was about to leave for the door, three security officers rushed in with guns drawn out. They pointed it at Borzan, who was still grinning at Buffy. Sighing, he then flung Buffy hard against the wall, and grinned as she fell onto the floor next to Faith, who was already trying to get her body off the floor. Ignoring the two Slayers for now, Borzan turned around just when the officer told him to freeze. Smiling, Borzan raised his hand at the three security officers who fired, just as three nurses ran in behind them.

"Goodbye," grinned Borzan with Willow screaming in the background, just before he unleashed an invisible blast. Everyone looked on in horror as the officers and nurses got shredded apart just before the front entrance to Willow's room exploded. It was then that, while Willow was screaming as Ira and Sheila were holding onto her, Xander quickly got up and rushed Borzan. The suited demon turned and punched Xander in the gut, and then in his face before grabbing his collar.

"Xan…der," groaned Anya, whose body was wracked with pain. She opened her eyes slowly just to see Borzan punching Xander repeatedly as blood dripped to the floor, "no… no.."

Concentrating her powers, Anya saw Borzan fling the injured and bleeding Xander out of the dust filled room. She saw the dust beginning to settle as Xander was sent flying through the exploded entrance, and Anya teleported. Ending up in front of him as a human cushion, Anya was knocked out as well before they both fell onto the floor.

Back in the room, Borzan wiped his jacket off the dust and blood, laughing that he needed to change. Frowning at the entrance, the demon then looked at Willow who was whimpering in fear while Ira and Sheila were holding onto her. He then looked at Faith, who was groaning in pain as she helped Buffy stand up. Tilting his head at the Slayers, and then at Willow… Borzan took a step forward.

"Stay… stay away from our daughter," begged Ira as he shielded Willow and Sheila. And in turn Faith was gently pushed away by Buffy who was rubbing her head. Faith ran to the front of the bed, and pulled Ira back, and then took his spot before raising her arms.

"My, my," chuckled Borzan as he stopped and watched Buffy limping towards Faith, the blonde telling Ira and Sheila to take Willow out of the room; that they would provide a distraction. Borzan laughed before telling Ira and Sheila that they weren't going anywhere, that he had the power to kill all of them but he was giving Willow a choice. Borzan called Willow 'It', the young woman whimpering in fear as she glanced over at the suited man, "It.. you either come back with me alone, or I kill everyone here… well.. not kill but maim… anyway, they'll be alive and ensouled. Just like you were, but they'll be here. If you refuse, which I really hope you do, then I will kill them all… and take them with us when we go home."

"I… I don't understand," said Sheila as Willow started to sob while holding tightly to her mother, "why.. why are you calling Willow 'it', and…"

"She is an 'It'," said Borzan, his eyes turning red, "she is nothing, and her screams were such music to my ears and.."

"You took her away from us," said Ira, "you… you took her, and tortured her.. and…"

"Torture?" chuckled Borzan, "oh you have no idea… but then again, she tortured humans herself."

"Willow?" asked Ira as she looked at his daughter shaking her head while she was screaming and rocking her body back and forth. Ira then glared at Borzan and was about to run at him when Buffy stopped him. She didn't know was Borzan was talking about when he said Willow tortured humans as well, and a part of her didn't want to know. What she did know, was that all of them were in danger… and her responsibility was to get Ira and Sheila, along with Willow, out of there.

"Mr. Rosenberg," said Buffy as she looked back at the man, "you need to…"

Before Buffy could finish what she wanted to say, she felt herself being flung into the ceiling, while Faith screamed before attacking Borzan. The dark haired Slayer was flung to a wall a few seconds before Buffy fell to the floor, the blonde Slayer using her arms to break her fall as she hit the hard floor. In pain, Buffy looked at her sister Slayer who was lying on the floor against a wall, groaning in pain while holding onto her left arm. Buffy then heard footsteps that walked past her, and looked up while tasting the blood that was in her mouth at Borzan stepping calmly over her body while Sheila screamed at Borzan to stay away. Buffy slowly got up, only to see Borzan grabbing Sheila by the hair, and picking her up. And with his other hand, Borzan picked up Ira by his collar.

Buffy could see Willow shaking her head as Borzan stepped back.

Her body wracked with pain, Buffy screamed as she rushed towards Borzan. She grabbed the side of the bed, and kicked out at the creature. While her leg was injured, Buffy still managed to connect her feet to Borzan's body. The impact threw him back against the wall next to Willow's head while Ira and Sheila were dropped onto the floor. Winching in pain, after landing on the floor with her injured leg, Buffy shouted at Sheila and Ira to get out of there just as Borzan grabbed the shaking Willow. He picked her off the bed with one hand, and then flung her against the wall next to the window. He then picked up the bed, and then Buffy and Faith got everyone to duck as he threw it towards the entrance to the room.

As Buffy and Faith, who had just gotten up, were trying to take Sheila and Ira towards the entrance, Borzan sped in front of them. He told Buffy and Faith that he wasn't done with his fun yet. He punched Buffy, causing her to land on the floor while Sheila screamed.

"No more chances," growled Borzan as he picked up the screaming Sheila by her head, and then smashed her against a wall with a sickening crack. Borzan laughed as he released Sheila's body, which fell onto the floor as Borzan laughed and walked away. The demon was then attacked by both Buffy and Faith once again.

Willow heard the crack, and stopped whimpering as she looked at Sheila's unmoving body looking back at her. She heard Ira screaming in anguish as he ran to his wife, while hearing the sounds of Buffy and Faith fighting, followed by grunts and the sounds of crashing as Faith was slammed into the floor, followed by Buffy.

"Sheila! Sheila!" yelled Ira as he cradled her body while Willow looked on, her eyes opened wide in horror. Father and daughter looked at each other, and tears gathered in Willow's eyes. She felt something rising in her throat as she received flashes in her mind of Sheila feeding her, playing with her, and comforting her when she was a child. She remembered Ira carrying her when she went to the doctor, she remembered Ira kissing her cheeks. Willow remembered all the times that she was left alone… she remembered her housekeeper, she remembered a ball of white light, she remembered her parents coming back, with herself running over to them.

The shock of looking at Ira crying with Sheila in his arms made her remember. She knew the woman, and she knew the man.

"Mommy?" croaked Willow as she released a sob while covering her mouth, "mommy?"

"Don't worry, It," said Borzan as he walked towards Ira who continued to look at Willow, even as he was being picked up into the air by his collar, "you'll see them again when I take them to Hell."

"D… Daddy," said Willow as she shook her head. She knew who the man was… her father. She remembered that she was born to the both of them. She remembered that they had their issues, but at the end of the day.. they loved her. And she loved them; but Willow was terrified.. she couldn't move her body, it was if she was made of lead.

She didn't know what to do.

"Will…. Will…" groaned Buffy, who was looking at the white haired young woman while laying on the floor, and shifting her eyes to Willow's left. The white haired young woman turned and looked at the fallen side table, and then at the gold coloured badge that lay on the floor. Confused, she looked back at Buffy who had already passed out just as she heard a squishing sound, followed by a crack. Turning her head towards Borzan, Willow's eyes were open in terror as she watched Ira's body… a hole in his abdomen, fall onto the floor, followed soon by a section of his spine that Borzan had ripped out.

"Da… daddy…" whispered Willow as she looked at the body of her father, "Da… daddy…"

"It," said Borzan as he licked the blood off his arm before he leaned down and grabbed the unconscious bodies of Buffy and Faith, "I gave you the choice to come alone, or come with them. I guess you'll have company when I start torturing you back…"

"No," croaked Willow as she shook her head, her voice just a whisper as she started to remember a life she didn't think was possible, "no… no… no more."

"It's too late," said Borzan as Willow looked up and saw Buffy unconscious, while Faith's legs were flailing all over the place. Willow saw that Faith was gasping for breath; the white haired young woman looked into the dark haired Slayer's eyes and saw them continuing to shift towards the badge. Thinking that it was important, Willow scampered on her hands and knees towards the badge. Once she had it in her hand, the young woman had another memory flash of battling a giant Sphinx with an old woman.

"Once I've killed these two," said Borzan as Willow looked up at him with the badge in her hand, "all five of you are coming with me."

"No," said Willow as she slammed her right hand into her left, and pressed into the badge. Once hearing the click from the object, Willow pulled her head back as the Series Five Implant activated. The Alpha radiation in the badge was channelled to the implant before Willow's synapses started to fire at a great rate of speed. Willow felt something that she hadn't felt before, or at least she thought she hadn't felt before; power. She felt power as she stood up and glared at Borzan while gritting her teeth and growling. She looked at the man's wrists which just broke when she thought about it. Borzan smiled as his wrists hung limply while Faith and Buffy fell onto the floor.

"There you are," said Borzan as he took a step forward, "I've seen your memories of this part of you… and now I know how to activate it. I cannot wait to taste your flesh when you have this power in you and…"

"Kill," hissed Willow as she felt swirling energy gathering around her fists, "I… kill… you…, you… die."

"Good luck," screamed Borzan as he leapt at Willow. Willow instinctively knew she could gather more power, and that's what she did. Nearly on top of her, Willow raised her arms out in front of her as the energy gathering around her fists grew in intensity. Screaming, Willow then released that power in one go as an energy blast burst from her fists, and hit the creature in his chest mid-air, the force of the blast strengthened by Willow's hate, anger, sorrow, and regret over the deaths of her parents. Borzan was slammed through the wall, and he fell into the hallway outside just as Joyce and the others took cover. Exhausted, Willow fell onto her knees, and then she looked at the unmoving body of Borzan through the hole before she released a sob, and skittered on her hands and knees to the bodies of Ira and Sheila.

While Willow was cradling the bodies of Sheila and Ira, her hair covering her tear stained eyes and cheeks as she sobbed, Borzan sat up in the hallway, and then got onto his feet. He looked down at his chest and saw his skin was scorched and peeling off.. revealing black flesh underneath. Slowly standing up, he looked behind him and saw that three nurses were helping Tara and the others secure the injured Anya and Xander on gurneys while the security officers dashed in front of them and held out their guns. They were afraid to shoot in case the man was hiding the detonator for the bomb on his person since they couldn't see any sign of a bomb on him.

"Stay away," said Cordelia as Borzan smiled at her. He waved his hands and slammed the officers up into the ceiling as Jenny, Joyce, Tara, and Cordelia jumped back. Borzan then slammed them onto the floor hard; Tara was able to see their aura's being extinguished while she tried to gather some magic.

"Cordelia," cooed Borzan, "my sweet, sweet Cordelia. I wanted to take you with me to see 'it'."

"It?" asked Jenny, her voice shaking.

"It," repeated Borzan as he looked over his shoulder at the sobbing Willow, and then back at Jenny who realized who he was referring to, "I'll still be taking her back with me to Hell. And you four as well… I will stand by laughing as 'It' tortures all of you."

"No," said Tara as she fired a bolt of white energy that hit Borzan in his chest, and he was thrown back.

Enraged, Borzan quickly got up as the four of them were about to run for safety. He raised his hand, and the four women rose into the air while grabbing their throats. Tara and the others were flailing their legs as they struggled to breath for air; they felt invisible hands around their necks tightening even more.

Tara was trying to concentrate and gather magical energy, to no avail, when she heard the sound of running footsteps. She looked behind Borzan as a man in a black coat ran into the hallway and immediately turned towards Borzan. Tara could see that the man was covered in a black aura with a ball of white light in the centre, and the only through in her mind was that she was looking at a soul… a soul surrounded by darkness. Jenny tried to shout just as Tara watched the man pull back an arm that was gripping a sword; they saw Borzan turn around at the last moment to see what was happening, and his eyes went wide open when he was stabbed through the chest with the sword.

It was at that moment that Tara and the others fell onto the floor gasping for breath as Giles, Althanea, Lily, and Doyle rushed into the hallway.

"Jenny!" cried Giles as he ran past Borzan who had taken a step back while clearly in pain.

"Angel?" asked Lily.

"Check on Willow, Buffy, and Faith," said Angel as he pulled the sword out of Borzan's chest while Althanea ran past him and helped Joyce, Cordelia, and Tara stand up. They turned around to see Angel stab Borzan again. Screaming in pain, the creature fell onto the floor, a pool of black blood spreading out onto the floor beneath him.

"H… how?" rasped the creature.

"This is the other sword that was blessed by the Knight that defeated Acathla," said Angel as he looked down at Borzan, "after Willow was sent to Hell, Giles returned days later to retrieve the second sword, since there was already one stabbed into Acathla's statue. Giles kept it with him… he didn't know if we would ever need it again. But I guess we're lucky that he did… Doyle saw that you were going to attack, so we made our way here. I guessed that the blessed sword could take anyone from Acathla's dimension down. And I guess I was right."

"I… I…" said Borzan as blood came out of his mouth. Angel ripped out the sword from Borzan's chest, and then swung it back down, decapitating Borzan as Tara, and Joyce looked away.

"It's over," whispered Angel before he looked back through the hole in the wall behind him. He heard Willow sobbing as Althanea crouched next to her, while an injured Buffy and Faith were being held up by Doyle and Lily respectively. Angel and Buffy looked at each other, with the latter then looking sadly at Willow who was holding on tight to her dead parents while Althanea was comforting her.

'My fault,' thought Angel to himself as he looked away from the back of Willow's head. He didn't know what happened, but he knew that it was still his fault. His actions concerning Acathla had brought them all to this place, and there was nothing he could do to fix it.

'I'm so sorry, Willow.'

TBC.