Sunnydale Mercy, Willow's Room,

Willow was panting as she sobbed while cradling both bodies of her parents. She looked through tear stained eyes as the images of Sheila and Ira, lying on her lap, blurred in front of her. Blinking her eyes, she felt the tears go down her cheeks, and the images cleared up of the older redhead just looking out into nowhere. Willow then looked down at the older man lying on her lap with his eyes wide shut, but his mouth was still open in shock. Then Willow looked up and saw the blood on the floor; Ira's blood, as well as the section of his spine that was torn out. That section simply lay on the pool of blood a few inches away; a drag mark that indicated where Willow had pulled the older man to her, she wanted him close.

She wanted her father close.

She wanted her mother close.

More memories erupted in her mind as she sobbed louder while she felt a hand on her shoulder. But the white haired young woman didn't care about who that hand belonged to, and she didn't care about the two young women who were being held up by another young woman and a young man.

Willow didn't know them. At least not yet… her memories of them hadn't returned yet. She did recognize the injured blonde from her dreams and nightmares, but Willow didn't care about who she was.. not yet anyway.

She didn't care because her parents were just murdered. Willow looked down at Sheila and Ira's bodies as footsteps ran down the hallway behind her. She heard the woman next to her shouting at the nurses with the gurneys who were attempting to come into the room through the hole in the wall, to stay back.

At least for now.

"Doyle, Lily," said Althanea as she looked up at the two people who arrived from Los Angeles, "take Buffy and Faith outside. Get them to the nurses."

"But…" said Faith as she looked at Althanea, and then at the sobbing Willow; and her heart broke.

"The both of you are injured," said Althanea in a tone that left no room for any kind of argument, "I want the both of you to see a nurse now. Get checked out, you two have been badly injured. Now go."

"Will," whispered Buffy turning to looked at Willow who was still looking, with her head down, at her parents, "I'm so sorry."

Seeing Willow make no move to look up at her, or at Faith, Buffy whispered that they're going to be there for the young woman. That they weren't leaving her alone.

In reality, Willow barely heard what Buffy had said, or what Faith had wanted to say when she opened her mouth.. but closed it when she felt she didn't have the right to say anything since they weren't close. Willow hadn't really heard what Althanea had said either; all because her heart was thundering in her chest, and her sobs where overloading her mind. Willow thought to herself that she had spent an unknown number of years in hell, and she didn't know who she was, or what she did to get into hell in the first place. All she remembered was the torture, and deaths… all of her deaths. She remembered the pain, and the sorrow, and her anguish at being punished for something she didn't even recall.

Willow had lost herself, she knew her spirit was broken, and her mind was fractured.

But when she had come back, Willow felt different. She felt as if there was something pushing inside her trying to force itself out. And then she remembered the blonde girl and Xander, but she didn't know who they were, and why they were important. And then she remembered Sheila and Ira just before their deaths and what they meant to her, she remembered who they were after pressing down on the badge.

They were her parents; and now the white haired young woman felt as if a part of her died. She was an orphan now. And that made it even worse for Willow as she leaned down and screamed in anguish while Althanea wrapped her arms around Willow's shaking shoulders. Giles, Jenny, Joyce, Buffy, Faith, Lily, and Doyle looking at the back of the white haired young woman from the hallway. Only Angel wasn't there, he had taken the decapitated head of Borzan, and went into the sewers thorough a cover in the basement of the hospital.

He was going to head back to the Crawford Street mansion, and conjure up some living flame to burn the demon's head. There was something in Angel that said Willow didn't want to see him, but it was that part that also reminded him that Willow was safe now.

'She has a long road ahead,' thought Angel to himself as he ran through the sewers, 'but she'll recover. She'll be alright, she has to be alright.'

Initiative Headquarters, Lowell House, U.C. Sunnydale Campus, 1100 hours.

Riley was frowning as he stood in the hallway of Stevenson Hall outside Buffy and Faith's dorm room. He had been knocking on the door for the past ten minutes, eagerly waiting to hear their explanations in regards to how they were capable of what they had done last night. HE still remembered their super-strength, and proficiency in weapons.. and couldn't help but think that perhaps they had been trained in the military.

'But they're too young,' thought Riley as he looked nervously at the door before turning and putting his hands in his pockets. He headed for the stairs that lead down to the lobby, reminding himself that it was possible the both of them had classes, 'they have psychology in three hours, I'll see them there anyway. But it would have been nice to talk before that… at least get an idea of where they were trained. Or how they did what they could do.'

The young man was pulled out of his deep thoughts when his beeper went off once he put one foot on the top stairs. He looked at the beeper, and his eyes narrowed. The small screen had the code reserved for an immediate emergency, an attack by a creature that his organization.. the Initiative, called an HST. Riley frowned, and then ran down the stairs as quickly as possible; making his way to Lowell House.

It was nearly twenty minutes later that Riley was standing next to his junior Agent, Graham Miller.. a man that Faith had shown some interest in a few nights ago when there was a party hosted at Lowell house, and Agent Forrest, a dark skinned young man who was standing with his arms across his chest. The three of them, along with a few others in tactical vests and weapons on their hips, were listening to a briefing from their leader.

Professor Maggie Walsh; a psychology professor at U.C. Sunnydale, and Faith and Buffy's professor.

"Ten minutes ago," said Walsh as she pointed at a television screen to her left which showed a news report of several police cars outside the hospital. Riley and the others could see a SWAT team gathering in one corner of the screen while he listened to Walsh, "there was a major HST incident at Sunnydale Mercy hospital. At least that's what we believe. Watch."

Riley and the others looked on as another screen activated, and they saw a colour video recording of various people entering the hospital entrance. There was a blonde woman hurrying inside, and a few seconds later, there was a couple who rushed past the camera that was pointed at the entrance. Riley was about to ask how Walsh knew that an HST was involved, when suddenly the man that belonged to the couple that had just rushed past stepped back. They could see the woman had stopped, but she was just out of range of the camera. Instead, the man smiled at the camera, and then his eyes shone red. The Agents who were standing there then looked on as the picture broke up; Walsh told them that the camera's that this creature had walked past would all deactivated.

"We know something happened," said Walsh while she shut off one monitor, and then pointed her fingers at the screen that showed the news report, "we intercepted reports of a blast, of people dead, and here is the most interesting part… we have reports of blood on the floor that appears to be black in colour, and the head is missing."

"You want us to retrieve the body, ma'am?" asked Riley.

"Yes," replied Walsh, "whatever this HST was, it was dangerous. Meaning that an equally dangerous HST took it down. I want the body brought back for analysis, and then I want everyone interviewed. Riley, Forest, Graham, you three have been given authorization, and a fake background as Agents of the FBI to speak to anyone on that floor. I want to know everything, and if you feel that any of them… and I mean any witness has been infected by this HST, then bring him or her back. It that understood?"

"Yes, ma'am," said Riley nodding his head. He then looked at his junior Agents, and ordered them to find some suits.

Sunnydale Mercy, Willow's room, five minutes later.

Willow felt her arms being lifted away from her dead parent's bodies, and all she could do was let them. She was tired from everything that happened to her, she was tired from crying, from being attacked, she was just tired. She could only look down at her parents faces, looking up as they were loaded onto gurneys, and then rolled past her. She then looked down at the blood on her left hand, her father's blood, and then she looked at her dry right hand; the place where her mother's body used to be.

She then looked at the ground; and all she felt was emptiness. Taking a few deep breathes, Willow slowly started to hear the sounds around her; shouts of men outside telling everyone to get down, that they were something called a SWAT. Willow then saw the woman next to her being pushed down to the floor, and then she felt a hand on her back pushing her back down.

Suddenly Willow felt a wetness on her cheek. It was sticky, and warm, as she closed her eyes. She watched black boots walking around her, and the room, searching for something with their weapons raised. She heard Althanea screaming at them that this was Willow's room, and they had just pushed her into the blood of her own parents. It would be minutes later that everyone would be allowed back up, and Althanea immediately wiped the blood off the left side of Willow's face.

"You're home, Willow," said Althanea gently as Willow just stared at her, "do you remember me?"

Willow closed her eyes and tried to push her memories forward. There was something that told her she knew this woman, but the white haired girl couldn't remember her.

"Get me a wheelchair, now!" yelled Althanea as one of the police officers passed by while others were questioning Buffy and the others about a mysterious shooter, and a bombing. The officer that had pushed Willow down earlier brought a wheelchair through the hole in the wall, all the while apologizing for what had just happened. Ignoring him, Althanea gently asked Willow to trust her, that she was just going to help. Willow looked at her hands, and then up at Althanea. She looked at the kindly eyes before slowly getting up, and then she was wheeled out of the room and into the hallway where the police were talking to Buffy and the others. From Willow's perspective, she didn't know what the people meant to her; and then she caught sight of the young woman with the blonde hair.. it was the same one she had saved from the monsters they first day she had found herself outside her cage.

Tara had just finished talking to the officers when she noticed Willow looking at her. She nodded at the officer who took her statement that there wasn't a maniac with a gun, and she thought she had seen someone… particularly the headless man lying in the pool of blood in the middle of the hallway, holding a bomb.

But she was mistaken. The officer walked past her to Giles, and it was then she looked at Willow.

She saw the same anger, and sorrow in those eyes, but now there was loneliness. Tara then looked at Althanea who turned to the left and travelled down another hallway, the white haired young woman all the while was looking at her, before looking away. Tara looked back at the people around her, and noticed that there was a hooded figure who had just walked into the hallway. Curious, Tara walked past Buffy and the others who were still talking to the police, and followed the figure dressed head to toe in white. The blonde witch could see that she was looking over her shoulder, her hood obstructing her face, while continuing to walk. Tara was about to say something when she vanished, in front of a door. Confused, Tara ran to where the figure vanished, and looked around until she heard a voice to her left.

"Can I help you?" asked Althanea who was wheeling Willow back against a bed. She then walked around the young white haired girl, and then pulled up a seat and sat down next to her. Tara saw that the older woman rushed off to the restroom, and then immediately come back with a few towels. She then sat don't while gently holding Willow's hand, and then wiping the blood off her face with the others hand. All the while, the white haired girl was just looking out into space and tilting her head slightly to the side. Tara could see that Althanea was ignoring her, putting all her focus on cleaning off the blood. Once the last bloody towel was on the floor, Althanea leaned in and whispered something to Willow before turning to look at Tara who was still nervously standing, "You alright?"

"I'm sorry," said Tara as she held her hands together and took a step forward, "I just thought I… never mind. She… she saved my life last night and.. and I just wanted to know if she was alright since… since she was the… I mean it was her room that was attacked and… is she alright? Oh.. I.. I'm sorry, my.. my name is Tara."

"I'm Althanea Pierce, Tara…. I'm a nurse here and… wait a second," said the older woman as she narrowed her eyes at Tara, "I've seen you around here, haven't I… I mean.. you work here?"

"At re.. reception," said Tara as she looked at Willow. She waved at Willow before pointing over her shoulder and saying that she needed to go back to work. It was then that Althanea noticed something, Willow shifted her eyes over to the blonde who was about to leave, and then her eyes shifted back down as Tara said her goodbye one more time.

"Listen," said Althanea as she looked at the blonde, "can you come by after you finish work? I'll get her into a new room and… look, her life has been hard. Very, very hard… you can't imagine. She just needs someone different around her.. .maybe that's what she needs and… and you said that she saved your life. You're still a stranger to her, but you still came by to make sure to check up on her so… please, just come by later?"

Willow glanced over at the older woman next to her, and sensed that she knew what Willow had been through. And the only thought that was going on in her head was, 'how did she know?' Willow then looked down at the hand that was holding gently onto her own, and then she looked at the floor. Willow listened to Althanea telling Tara that she had a reaction when she was about to leave; and that it would be nice if Tara came by later on. It was something that Willow agreed with… she didn't know why, but Tara had a calming effect on her. After everything that had just happened, Willow felt calm even though she felt herself dancing on the edge of going into a complete meltdown.

While Tara nodded her head before leaving the room, Althanea could feel Willow's hand tighten, and hoped that she was doing the right thing. She looked at Willow still staring off into space as she stroked the back of her head.

"I know you're still a minor," whispered Althanea as she held Willow's hand tight, "you'll be eighteen in six months and… and we'll do everything to make sure that you stay with us. Willow, when you turn eighteen, I want to take you to the Devon Coven, with me."

Willow turned her head slowly to look at Althanea who already had tears in her eyes, tears that she was wiping away.

"I should have stopped you from being Nighthawk," whispered Althanea, "the first day I met you, I should have told you to stop. But I could see how eager you were to learn your powers, how eager you were to learn magic. I'm sorry."

Althanea held the back of Willow's head with her trembling hands, and chocked back a sob.

"I'll talk to Rupert, Buffy, and the others," said Althanea, "we can start your recovery out of the Hellmouth. The first step would be repairing your mind and your psyche. Then I will bring you back so you can continue here. But it's your choice. Do you understand me? Squeeze my hand." Althanea smiled when Willow squeezed her hand, leading the older woman to tell her that she'll talk to Giles, "I can only guess that you're confused about what's going on, Willow. We'll help you get your memories back, and we'll get you back to who you once were and… and we'll be there the whole way."

Willow then glanced at Althanea, and squeezed her hand one more time.

TBC.