"Now we have to walk all the way back to Buffy", Pat sighed out ten minutes later, after they had put a safe distance between the abandoned building and themselves, "cause I wrecked Giles' car."
"Sorry about that", Willow mumbled, blushing as she glanced down on the sidewalk between her feet, only to look up again as moments later, the demon's free hand grasped hers and gave it a tender squeeze, her gaze meeting the warm and loving one of her partner as she glanced up at her face.
"Don't be", the taller woman told her, squeezing her hand yet again, "it's not your fault. If anyone's to blame, it's the little insect in that nice glass and the stupid torc thing he put on you."
"He tricked me with that one", Willow replied, momentarily bitter about how she had fallen for his deceit hook, line and sinker, "he told me it'd suppress my magic, so of course I had to try if it's true, and the moment I tried, the dark magic took over…"
"Well, he's smart, we have to give him that", Pat grudgingly gave back, glaring at the glass, the mantis looking back at her rather unimpressed, "but in the end, it all worked out fine, and as I said, I'm sure Buffy won't blame you. She knows just as well that it wasn't your fault…"
Hoping that the black haired woman was right, Willow nodded bravely; before she could say anything in reply though, headlights appeared up ahead, prompting both of them to slow down as they asked themselves if the men they had left behind without knocking them out first now had called reinforcements; then, they heard Xander call out "There they are!" and both sighed in relief, realizing that their friends had come to either pick them up or see if they needed any help.
"We thought you might need backup", Xander now confirmed those assumptions, "so here we are. Giles, Anya and me, armed to the teeth."
"I'm glad we don't have to fight though", Anya found it necessary to reveal while the car reached the couple and stopped next to them, revealing Giles in the driver's seat, even though it was Xander's car, "because it isn't so much fun anymore since I became human. Are you two okay?"
"Just fine", Willow reassured them, "thanks to Pat, I'm not evil anymore, we got the demon down to a handy size and we retrieved the Staff."
"A full success then", Giles smiled while the two women got into the back seat, with the witch making sure to keep the Staff from touching her skin directly, not wanting to lengthen it by accident and make the already cramped space even more uncomfortable, "and I'm glad to hear you are not evil anymore."
"Believe me, I'm glad about that, too", Willow sighed, looking guilty yet again, despite the comforting hand Pat put on her arm moments later, "I did some pretty horrible stuff. Again. I'm sorry about your car…"
"Never mind that", Giles shrugged it off at once, to her great relief, "material possessions can be rebought or repaired. The important thing is that you're both alright."
"Thank you", Willow sincerely gave back, "I'm feeling really bad about the awful stuff I did while I was evil… I still need to apologize to Buffy…"
"She'll forgive you", Xander reassured her, twisting in the passenger seat so he could look at her, "in fact, I'm pretty sure she already did. She sounded really worried when she told us to go and look if the two of you need help."
"Still", Willow sighed, dismayed, "she broke her arm and it's my fault… And that was probably still lucky, who knows what else could have happened when I made that car crash…"
"Don't dwell on the What If's", Pat advised her in response, making her look at her, "that leads nowhere. Buffy will be fine, you're fine, I'm fine, and as soon as we found out what exactly Deira was planning to accomplish with the Staff and evil you, we can put a stop to that as well and got yet another problem solved."
"Wise words", Xander agreed, making Giles and Anya nod; and after a moment, Willow did so as well, grasping her partner's hand with her free one, a smile curling her lips when immediately, the demon squeezed it tenderly, the simple gesture being enough to reassure her that, despite the horrid things she had done while she had been under the torc's influence, everything was alright between them, amazement briefly filling her once more as she thought of how quick the demon always was with forgiving her, no matter what had happened.
Fighting down the sudden urge to make a heartfelt statement about how glad she was to have the taller woman in her life, not wanting to become all mushy in front of their friends, Willow just held her gaze for a moment longer, then leaned in for a tender kiss; this prompted Anya to complain about the fact that Xander was in the front of the car while she had to sit in the back and thus, couldn't kiss him as well, both the witch and the demon successfully ignoring her though, too focused on each other and their kissing to be bothered by her complaints.
By the time they pulled apart again, the redhead's heart was beating noticeably faster in her chest, and for a moment, she couldn't wait to get back home and have some private time with her lover; then, she remembered what she nearly had done to the taller woman when she'd had her chained up in the cellar of the abandoned building, and all her lust and passion vanished into nothingness as she once more had to realize how much worse things could have gotten down there if Buffy hadn't shown up to stop her.
Swallowing heavily, she glanced at the taller woman again, asking herself if she really had gone that far, hadn't the Slayer knocked her out; and clearly, Pat sensed what she was thinking about, since she squeezed her hand yet again, shaking her head just for Willow to see when her gaze met the witch's.
Smiling weakly at her, the redhead snuggled closer to her in response, prompting her to put one arm around her shoulders and caress her upper arm tenderly; and even though she still felt bad about what she nearly had done, the smaller woman relaxed noticeably, sitting in content silence for the rest of the drive, until Giles parked the car in front of Buffy's house and they all got out, knowing that now, it was time for more apologies – and to get the truth about his plans from Deira so an end could be put to them once and for all.
"There you are", Buffy sighed out in relief a few minutes later, moving to hug at first Willow, then Pat, mindful of her broken arm, but still squeezing them both with quite the fervour, "I'm so happy you're alright. I was so worried…"
"Aw, come on", Pat smirked, once more showing that she had quite the healthy self-esteem, "as if we couldn't handle an overgrown mantis and his cronies."
"Says the woman who crashed a car thanks to the overgrown mantis", Buffy immediately teased in response, only to realize that this perhaps hadn't been the best thing to say when Willow gulped, a blush colouring her cheeks as she mumbled out the reminder that it actually had been her who had caused the crash and added an apology, prompting the blonde to give her yet another hug.
"Don't be", she then told her, forgiving her just as easily and quickly as Pat and Giles both had predicted, "it wasn't your fault. I imagine we have to thank the creepy crawly you brought along?"
"Yes", the demon confirmed, holding up the glass in which Deira still was caught, her smirk widening slightly, "Willow shrunk him when he tried to eat me, so he fit nicely in that glass, and now we can question him about his motives."
"Let's do that then", Buffy nodded, eying the mantis with disdain, "and then get rid of him. I've had previous experience with overgrown insects and they were not exactly pleasant."
"You need to tell me some day", Pat remarked, noticing how Xander flushed visibly at the Slayer's words, a fact which only intrigued her more, "but yeah, you're right, let's get some information from our insect friend here."
"I won't tell you a thing", Deira immediately told them, somehow managing to look as if he was crossing his forelegs over his chest, the way a human might do the same with their arms when annoyed, "you'll never figure out what I'm planning, and you won't be able to stop me."
"You seem to forget your position", Pat gave back, shaking the glass just enough to make him uncomfortable, "and don't think that we need you to figure out what is going on. It'll just speed things up if you tell us, but if you don't, I'll personally stomp on you and we'll find out some other way."
"You'll do no such thing", Deira replied, now sounding haughty, momentarily annoying her with how smug he was – before he spoke on, already growing as he did so, causing her good eye to widen while Willow let out a startled gasp.
"You don't really believe that a demon of my power and status just remains in such a small form because he has to", Deira thundered, still growing, the glass already creaking dangerously, "I am the Corruptor! And now you brought me to your very home, where I can easily take down all… of… you!"
And at the last word, the glass shattered, splinters flying everywhere, pained yelps coming from Pat, Willow and Buffy, the witch and the blonde staggering back clutching at their faces while blood was dripping from the taller woman's hand with which she had been holding the jar when it had been obliterated.
While he still was dropping to the ground, Deira kept growing, now cackling nastily as he reached his former size with shocking speed; and before either of the women closest to him had time to react, he had lashed out with a clawed foreleg, hitting Buffy hard at the chest and sending her down, a pained cry escaping her when she landed on her broken arm, a gruesomely loud cracking sound accompanying her yell.
"Get out of here", Pat snapped at Xander, Giles and Anya, all three of them stunned into shocked staring by this unexpected turn of events, "now!"
The last word was barked so sharply that it got them moving, and they all hurried outside; recovering from the shock of getting a bunch of glass splinters into her face, Willow took a few steps back to get a bit of distance to the mantis, not wanting to end up like Buffy, the blonde cringing on the floor and helplessly clutching her arm, her teeth clenched so tightly that the muscles of her jaw were working visibly beneath the skin as she tried to hold back another scream of pain.
Snarling, Pat got rid of the splinters wedged in her fingers and palm with fast, precise movements, ignoring the pain and how slick the glass had been by her blood; she had a moment to ponder how lucky she had been that no tendons had been severed, then she let her fists flame up and raised them, glaring at Deira while Willow let the leather wrappings drop to the floor and grasped the Staff, the wood once again immediately reacting to her touch and lengthening to combat size.
"For your insolence, I shall devour you first", Deira told the black haired woman, glaring at her as he raised his forelegs threateningly, the demon briefly flashing back to how much it had hurt when the thorn-like claws at the end had dug into her back, "and I'll make your redhead watch… then, I'll eat you, Slayer, and by then, she should be broken enough to come back to me without hesitation."
"You know", Willow snarled behind him, already raising the Staff, "I'd like to have a say in the matter."
And while Deira was still turning his head to look at her, the Staff came down already, whacking him hard in the middle of the head; his hardened skin took the most of the blow's force, but the impact still had been hard enough to make him grunt, followed by yet another, similar noise when immediately, Pat took the chance given and shot forward, landing on his back and bringing her fists down, fire crackling on and blackening the chitin which made up most of his back and legs.
Snarling audibly, Deira twisted beneath her, clawing at her in an attempt to throw her off; and even though his claws shredded her clothes even more than they already were, and tore fresh gashes into her sides and back, she wouldn't back off, slamming her fists down on him again instead, a malicious smirk curling her lips when the chitin cracked audibly and he let out a cry of real pain.
Clearly, the Staff took this is a signal to increase the force of attack, and Willow almost lost her footing when it jerked forward rather violently; somehow, she managed not to fall over, even though the Staff moved up harshly moments later – and then made the witch wince by snapping down sharply, her grip automatically tightening as one end of the Staff rammed into the crack her partner had created in the demon's outer shell, widening the crack at first, then moving past it, a howl of pain and rage coming from the mantis when he felt it pierce his flesh.
"Pull it out!" Pat snapped, and after a second, Willow realized what she intended to do; and even though the thought made her sick to her stomach, she did as her lover had said, pulling the Staff back out, glad when it didn't try to resist her, and looking away when immediately, Pat rammed a burning fist through the widened crack, Deira's eyes widening at the unbelievable pain this sent all through him.
Growling lowly in the back of her throat, the taller woman didn't let his shouts disturb her, but kept pushing down, her brow furrowing – before, with a gruesomely wet, fleshy noise, her fist burst through the mantis's soft stomach, and he shuddered, coughing up a mouthful of black blood before he slumped down, the only thing now holding him upright being the black haired woman's arm.
Still snarling, Pat pulled back a moment later, and Deira finally did fall down; he twitched a few more times, then coughed up even more blood as he died, the dark liquid staining the carpet and prompting Willow to grimace in disgust.
"Alright", the taller woman grumbled, prompting the witch to look at her again, "now this shirt is definitely ruined."
Unable to hold back a giggle, Willow shook her head in reply, taking a closer look at her partner, at the torn and bloodied and messed up shirt before she replied, her answer causing the demon to let out a slight cough while she scratched the back of her head sheepishly.
"Now it is ruined?" the redhead wanted to know, shaking her head before, "you mean it wasn't before you put your arm through a demon, when it was just torn and ripped and bloodied?"
"Good point", Pat had to admit, then both of them remembered that Deira had taken down Buffy just minutes ago and both turned to check on her; they found the Slayer still leaning against the wall, clutching her arm, looking back at them miserably.
"I missed all the action", she then complained while Willow put the Staff down, not even noticing anymore how it immediately shrunk, and went to help her up, "and you dirtied my carpet!"
"Sorry bout that", Pat gave back, eying the stain she had caused in said carpet, "I'll pay for the cleaning… Hey, see it that way, at least, it doesn't look like what it is, so the cleaners won't ask any weird questions."
"That's something", Buffy sarcastically replied, making the demon smile slightly at her; then, she went to tell Giles, Xander and Anya that it was safe to come back inside now while Buffy took another look at the killed mantis, asking herself if all their problems really had been solved by his death or if even more trouble was to come and they just weren't aware of it yet.