A determined look abruptly appeared on Willow's face, and she stepped around Faith, ignoring that Slayer's sudden yelp of anxiety, as the witch took a few more paces out of their hiding place, to then stand at the edge of the large space in the center of the factory, all while facing the Shadow Court continuing to approach nearer.

Spitting out some extremely vile obscenities, Faith effortlessly hopped the few yards necessary to land lightly at Willow's left side, to then start gritting, "Are ya outta yer fuckin' mind? Those things moved faster than me, plus how the hell can I land a single punch on anythin' that's like a smoke cloud until it gobbles ya up?" During her furious rant in her unexpectedly-thicker Boston accent, Faith hadn't stopped staring at the shadow creatures still advancing towards the pair of humans.

Willow calmly advised, while also regarding the strange beings, "Relax, Faith, I set up the teleportation spell to work automatically if they get too close- Huh." That surprised grunt was caused by the abrupt halt of the line of shadows, leading the bemused witch to glance over and meet Faith's own boggled expression, with the Slayer at once putting to words what they were both thinking.

"Did they just understand what ya said?"

Giving an uncertain shrug, Willow now developed a sudden gleam of inquisitiveness in her eyes, as she turned back to the Shadow Court floating there and otherwise immobile in their line of darkness. Clearing her throat, the witch then tentatively lifted up her right hand in a quick wave at those silent beings, while also cautiously directing her next words towards them. "Er, hello. Can you understand me?"

For the next few moments, nobody in the factory moved or acted, either by Slayer, witch, or shadow, until Faith finally leaned over to Willow and said out of the corner of her mouth while still keeping a suspicious eye upon those possible opponents facing them, "Looks like a big nothin'. Why don't you use your mojo on 'em and find- Hey!"

Every single one of the Shadow Court had just vanished, accompanied by Faith's yell of surprise. Right after that, the brunette woman abruptly cringed at the furious screech of her name right into the Slayer's ear, uttered at a wineglass-shattering decibel level.

"FAITH!"

Recovering from her flinch, a sheepish Faith turned to look at a truly annoyed Red Witch glaring at the other woman. As she watched Willow take in a deep breath in preparation for what was clearly going to be a world-class scolding, Faith desperately tried to think of something, anything, to head her off, and managed to come up with, "Hey, Red, there's no way you can say that was my fault! For alla ya know, they just 'membered they left somethin' on the stove an' they headed home 'fore it boiled over!"

A very quiet, very menacing voice now replied, "Oh, so it was just a big coincidence that they took off right when you announced I might be about to use magic on them?" The simmering look given to Faith by Willow during her sarcastic question had actual heat waves arising from the air at head level between then, as their gazes locked.

Putting a dignified expression on her own features, Faith drew herself up, folded her arms across her chest, and intoned, "That's my story, an' I'm stickin' to it."

A disbelieving glare was now bestowed upon a poker-faced Faith, until after several more uncomfortable moments, Willow threw up her hands in utter disgust and stomped a few steps away, to then glower around at the empty center of the factory. Carefully watching until she judged the witch's temper had managed to cool off a bit, Faith sidled closer to the red-haired woman, and clearing her throat, the Slayer risked asking, "Uh, did ya get anythin' offa those things?"

Willow's aggravated stare towards Faith sent a clear message that this wasn't over, but then the witch's expression then became more thoughtful, as she told the other woman, "You first. How did your Slayerness react to the Shadow Court?"

Feeling relieved at how things were back to business with them both, Faith now concentrated hard in her mind, inwardly going over the events of the last few minutes, until this now-puzzled woman told her friend, "That's kinda weird, ya know? I got the usual nasty sense from the vamps and other demons, but even after those assholes got wiped out, I couldn't pick up anythin' that felt like really big evil from any of the shadows. There was some badness on 'em, yeah, but…well, it was like 'em, but not really 'em, if that makes sense to ya, Red."

Shaking her head, Faith then looked hopefully at Willow frowning over this. After considering for a few moments over what she'd just heard, the witch slowly said to Faith, "Was it like trying to look into the shadows with your eyes? Like, you could see the surface, but not deeper?"

"Yeah!" excitedly agreed Faith, watching Willow now give a satisfied nod. As the former Sunnydale native met the Slayer's interested expression, the red-haired woman began to explain.

"Faith, I managed to get a bit of that myself through my magic. Not all that much - I still have no idea who or what they were, why they're doing this, or anything else. But you're right, there's something on them that's not actually part of those things. Something to do with magic."

At those last words, a flicker of realization abruptly appeared on Willow's face that suddenly became intent, as she followed the trail of thought that had just appeared in her mind. Faith scrupulously kept quiet this time, afraid to interrupt what her friend was thinking about. Eventually, her patience was rewarded, when Willow blinked at the other woman, and eagerly announced, "I thought it was familiar! Faith, I've come across something like this a few times before, but not exactly, which is why I had to figure it out. What we've got here is a curse!"

A taken-aback Faith had to dubiously ask, "A…curse?"

Willow beamed at the Slayer, her sudden good mood clearly evident as the witch went on to explain. "Some kind of malignant or malevolent spell was obviously cast upon the Shadow Court. That's what you sensed, and so did I. Unfortunately, that's all we know for sure. I still don't know exactly what kind of curse it is, what it does, who cast it- Goddess, the Shadow Court might have even wanted to be cursed in the first place!"

"Oh," uncertainly commented a mystified Faith, who eyed Willow standing there. "Well, Red, so what do we do now? Are those shadow things comin' back?"

Willow firmly shook her head. "I really doubt that, Faith. There's no reason for them to do so, but at least I can get busy studying the magic here, to see if I can find out anything else." A distant look began to appear on the witch's features, as she began planning her mystical investigation, only to be interrupted by a voice having a hint of begging in it.

"Hey, Red, can I help? Doesn't seem like anythin' else I can do, ya know." Faith hopefully watched her friend blink in surprise at this sudden request, as Willow then agreeably shrugged, and came over to the Slayer. Stopping by Faith, the witch then reached out to start pulling and tugging upon the other woman's body, as the startled Slayer allowed this to be done to herself, with the increasingly-bewildered brunette's limbs being moved to end up with Faith in a rather peculiar posture, as Willow chattered away.

"What you're going to do is really important, Faith. Now, you need to stay exactly like that until I'm done, but don't worry, this'll help." At those last words, Willow casually pointed her finger at Faith, nodded once, and then stepped away from Faith now frozen in her current stance of standing there, legs together, left arm at her side and crooked like she was carrying something there, and right arm held straight up to the roof, fingers slightly opened as if to grasp an invisible object, and lastly, the apprehensive woman's face had been moved into a position of staring straight ahead.

Strolling into Faith's sightline, a snickering Willow then waved her hands, as a full-length mirror shimmered into existence before the Slayer, while at the same instant, Faith's outer clothing magically changed into a Statue of Liberty costume, complete with the addition of a spiked crown resting on her head.

The only part of Faith's magically-restrained body that she could move was her mouth, which promptly roared, "WHAT THE FUCK ARE YA DOIN', WILLOW?"

"Keeping you busy, just like you asked, Faith," blandly replied the witch, as she sat down on the concrete floor at the exact spot where the demon sorcerer had vanished after being consumed by the shadow creature. Crossing her legs, Willow continued in a voice having a giggle about to break loose any second now, "The Lady of the Lamp does a perfectly fine job out in New York Harbor, keeping her mouth shut and not screwing up things for other people!"

"You dirty-"

"Ah-ha!" gleefully interrupted Willow, warningly waving her finger with the mojo at the incensed Slayer. "Miss Liberty's a nice old lady who doesn't say any bad words at all, and you won't either-"

Frantically blurting out the first thing that came to mind, an immobile Faith protested, "Wait a da- goshdarned minute! I got an actual question!"

Still keeping her finger ready, Willow looked a bit intrigued, as Faith breathed a short sigh of relief, before grumpily asking, "Ya were able to find those shadow things when they appeared right off earlier tonight, so why can't you find 'em now?"

Willow sadly shook her head, while at the same time zapping Faith into silence, as the witch went on to inform a mute, fuming Slayer, "The curse stopped completely manifesting itself when the Shadow Court disappeared. It's still working, but not at its full power. Until it starts again, or if I manage to get lucky or find out something about that spell, there's no way I can trace it. Right now, the only thing I can sense about it is that it's somewhere in the San Francisco area, which means the curse could be anywhere!"

Actually, it was at 1882 Girard Street.

In the brightly-lit kitchen of a Victorian house a few hours before dawn, a man with hollow eyes looked around at the haggard faces of his family. Nobody spoke, but they all clutched their cups of coffee and hot chocolate, as if holding onto their very sanity.

The man seated with his children clustered around himself at the kitchen table felt a sudden, overpowering wave of guilt. He was supposed to protect his loved ones, but he had absolutely no idea how to deal with this! Their nightmarish existence had begun a few months ago without any possible warning, and they'd all had to live with it ever since for one night every month, while during the rest of the time being totally ignorant of what was happening to three men and three girls.

Danny Tanner hugged his daughters holding tightly onto him, and they silently returned his embrace, with DJ and Stephanie reluctantly relaxing their grip after a minute. Michelle continued to bury her face into his pajama top, as she obviously continued to remember tonight's events. Danny could only kiss the top of her tousled head, as he grieved over what his youngest daughter had seen and done that no child should ever experience. Nor did it help that for some mysterious reason, his littlest girl was somehow duplicating herself every time the full moon appeared!

Still keeping his lips pressed against Michelle's hair, Danny abruptly felt an overwhelming sense of fatigue fog his mind and turn his limbs into lead. Just barely managing to lift his head, the widower looked across the kitchen table at his brother-in-law Jesse and their best friend Joey, with both of these men also beginning to sag in utter weariness in their chairs. Whimpers coming from his children also showed that these girls were feeling as well the culminating effects of whatever was happening to them all. Judging from past experience, they had barely enough time to get back to their beds and instantly fall asleep, to wake up the next morning without any memories whatsoever of the incidents of the previous night. Though, a month from now, when the moon again became full, the family would once again be forced into their strange, tormented reality of attacking and destroying monsters that nobody living in their home had ever dreamed really existed.

Staggering upwards from his chair, Danny picked up Michelle in his arms, and he lurched out of the kitchen towards the house stairs in the front room. The others trailed along after him, all equally exhausted and maintaining their weary silence, knowing that any protest or complaint was totally futile. Shifting his youngest daughter's weight in his arms as the girl pressed her face against Danny's chest, the man trudged up the stairs, feeling welcome oblivion coming nearer, and with only the faintest spark of curiosity in his mind about the odd encounter with those two strange women when the family had finished tonight's task.

Who were they, and why had they been there?