"We can definitely rule out a malevolent spell", Giles told the couple the moment they had arrived there, with Buffy in tow, the Slayer having heard of what had happened in the cafeteria thanks to the campus grapevine and having insisted on coming, too, "I even checked with the coven in England when I found nothing in my books, they have never heard of such magic."
"Well that's calming", Pat mumbled, exchanging a look with her partner, "so we can assume it's no one hexing me for revenge, right? Then what is it?"
"It could be a vengeful spirit", Giles let her know, "by one of… well, one of your former victims. Or, as I pointed out before, a random ghost or demon, just feeding off the first source it found."
"Charming", the demon grumbled, "so what now? How do we find out what exactly it is if we can't even speak to it?"
"We're here to find out now", Giles let her know, smiling slightly as he handed her a thick, old book; upon opening it, she sighed at the tiny print, grumbling under her breath about how those authors never had any consideration for one-eyed people, the rest of the group by now so used to her quiet rants about this topic that they simply ignored her, accepting the books Giles kept handing out.
"Wait", Buffy spoke up before they all could start reading though, "I know this might be a bad time to bring this up, and that you really won't like to hear that, Pat, but… Perhaps it'll be best if you don't go along on patrol for a while…?"
"Buffy's right", Willow agreed before the demon could even try to protest, "what if you get one of those headaches during a fight? That might end badly."
"And it might be just what this thing wants", Giles added, once again keeping the black haired woman from speaking, "to render you immobile during a fight and cause you grievous harm… or even get you killed."
"I really don't like to hear that", the demon grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest, and prompting her partner to reach over and place a calming hand on her shoulder, "but, well, even though I like admitting it even less, I suppose you're right. I'd be quite the risk in a battle with the constant danger of another headache hitting."
"Those headaches must be really bad", Buffy showed some concern, giving her a worried look, "seeing how fast you just gave in."
"Trust me, they are", Pat sighed, earning yet another concerned look from both the Slayer and her girlfriend, "so we better figure this out fast."
And with those words, she opened up the book, prompting the others to do the same; Willow took another moment to squeeze her shoulder reassuringly, silently telling her that it would be alright, then focused on her book as well, the only noise in the room soon being the sound of pages being turned as they all searched for a solution together.
"Well, that was pointless", Pat grumbled hours later as they were walking back to their apartment, lighting up a cigarette while Willow had to nod her agreement, "I wish we at least could have narrowed it down."
"We just don't know enough about that thing", the witch had to admit, "but Giles said he'll contact the coven again, maybe they'll have found something by now…"
"Hopefully", the taller woman sighed, grasping the smaller woman's hand with her free one after putting the lighter back into her pocket, "honestly, just the thought of such a headache coming out of nowhere again gives me a migraine. Annoying."
"Maybe that's part of why this thing is doing this to you", Willow mumbled thoughtfully, giving her an unhappy look, "so you'd end up being scared of getting one of these headaches the whole time? That might turn into a crippling fear…"
"Not for me", Pat reassured her at once, "I'm not that wigged by those headaches. I can handle them, as I said."
Clearly not as sure about that, Willow gave her a sceptical look, the demon quickly distracting her though from asking her how sure she was about this by bending down and kissing her; afterwards, they continued walking, the taller woman looking relieved as they arrived at their apartment – the last thing she needed was to have another one of those headaches in public and gain so much attention again.
"I just wanna lie down on the couch now", she told her partner as they made their way to the second floor and to their apartment, "and get some rest. All that reading made me tired."
"I know it puts quite the strain on your eye", the redhead showed some sympathy again, digging out her keys as she spoke and unlocking the apartment door, "should I get—"
"Don't even think about suggesting eyedrops", Pat warned, making the redhead giggle slightly; she gave her a mock scolding look, then they both took off their shoes and jacket and moved into the living room, and that was when the taller woman froze as she spotted the shadow from the corner of her eye again, briefly freaked out about how fast it had come back this time.
"It's here", she still had time to say, "Willow, it's…" And then the blinding pain hit her right in the middle of her brain and she stumbled, going down to her knees moments later and clutching at her head with both hands, a low groan escaping her through grit teeth while her nose started bleeding again, Willow crying out her name as she rushed to her side.
"Oh God", the demon brought out, trembling in the embrace the redhead had pulled her into, "God that hurts…"
She grit her teeth so hard that the witch could actually hear them gnashing against each other as the pain intensified even more, growing big enough to cause bright stars to explode in the taller woman's field of vision; she groaned again, a groan which might have been a scream, hadn't she given her best to hold just that back, Willow just holding her as she shivered in her arms, hating how helpless all of this was making her feel.
With her mind racing at high speed, she tried to come up with a spell, anything which would help her partner; briefly she thought about suggesting that she should demon out, remembering her heightened healing abilities in her demonic state, then realized that it wouldn't do much good if the pain was caused by some supernatural entity and not by something wrong with her body.
Come on, she told herself as she kept holding the groaning and shivering demon close, unsettled by how long the pain was tormenting her by now, longer than it had lasted before, there must be something, some healing spell…
With a pang of regret, she had to realize that she had quite neglected the art of healing and restoration spells ever since they had found out how Pat could borrow her healing abilities to another person; now, she could have kicked herself for this, telling herself that she'd look up pain-numbing and restorative spells as soon as this had been resolved, just to be on the safe side.
"Make it stop", the demon now pressed out between grit teeth, distracting her from those ponderings, "please, make it stop…"
Briefly closing her eyes, the witch concentrated in reply, telling herself that surely, she could use her powers to simply soothe the pain, even if she didn't know an actual spell to do so; she gave her best to remain calm as she tenderly took the demon's head into her hands, mumbling soothing words under her breath as she focused on the energies within herself, imagining how they ran through her partner's mind and took her pain away.
To her relief, it didn't take long until a warm, golden glow flickered, then formed around her hands; and not long after the glow had started to shine so brightly that she nearly had to look away, she could feel Pat relax considerably, a shuddery mix of groan and sigh coming from her a few moments later, her good eye slowly opening until she was looking up at the witch.
"Thanks", she brought out in a slightly trembling voice, this showing the witch more than enough about how bad her pain had been – after all, she had seen the demon get hurt countless times by now, and never there had been such a tremor in her voice afterwards.
"Nothing to thank me for", Willow reassured her, still holding her close with one arm while she dug through her pockets with her other hand until she found a handkerchief, pressing the square of white fabric to her partner's still bleeding noise afterwards, "but I wish I had come up with this certain magic sooner… Poor you…"
"I think I was a bit rash when I said I can handle those headaches", Pat admitted after a moment, giving her lover an unhappy look, "they keep getting worse and worse. This one was the worst of them all yet, and if they keep increasing like that…"
"I wish we'd figured something out", Willow sighed in reply, pulling her a bit closer and holding her, "just the thought of you going through this again and again until we found something makes my stomach turn."
"Not just yours", the black haired woman mumbled, then came to her feet, making her way to the couch on slightly wobbly legs; she sat down there, and that was when she spotted the shadow yet again, cold dread filling her.
"No", she brought out, prompting Willow to look at her in confusion, "not again, not so fast…"
"It's here again?!" the witch still had time to ask, alarmed – and then the pain hit once more, so intense this time that the demon couldn't even scream, briefly clenching her fists so tightly that her nails bit into her palms and drew blood before it became too much to handle and she passed out, slumping back into the couch cushions with her good eye rolling back into her head, the last thing she heard before darkness overwhelmed her being Willow crying out her name once more.