Despite Corda's advice, Willow was certain Xander needed help. After months of fruitless searching, she'd finally found what she thought was a way to help. So one morning, before class, she cast a Tabula Rasa spell. It might have worked, if she hadn't forgotten to take into account, Alexander had psychic abilities. Her spell bounced off of his mental shields and boomeranged onto her.
"Willow didn't show up for school today." Buffy said, that afternoon when they gathered in the library.
"Perhaps she is ill." Giles suggested.
"Willow would take that as a personal offense, Giles." Alexander told him. "She hasn't missed a single day of school in her life."
"She was supposed to help me with some computer programming for extra credit." Jenny informed them. "She's never not shown up for that, she's enjoys doing it."
"Her parents aren't home." Alexander said. "If she's so sick she couldn't make it to school, then there's no one there to help her either."
"Then we should go to her place and check on her." Buffy said anxiously.
"I'll drive." Corda said and she, Alexander and Buffy headed to Willow's house. Buffy knocked on the door, but got no answer.
"Do your lock picking thing." She told Alexander. He nodded and proceeded to pop the lock. They began searching the house and found Willow in her room, staring blankly at the ceiling. Alexander ran his scanner over her.
"Physically she's fine, I'm not finding anything wrong with her. We need to take her to the hospital and let them evaluate her. My scanner can't check for everything that could be wrong."
"What are all these notes and these crystals?" Corda asked.
"Gather it up. We'll check into it later." Alexander said, as he picked up Willow and carried her out to the car. Corda gathered everything together and she and Buffy followed them out.
Later, back at the library, they filled Giles and Jenny in on what the doctors had to say.
"She's a complete blank. The doctors say she has amnesia, but they have no idea what caused it. They found no sign of a virus or damage to the brain." Alexander said, trying to keep his anxiety under control. Like Xander, he cared about Willow as a sister. "My scan of her shows the same thing, no physical damage, no virus. Nothing that can explain this."
"We found these notes and crystals near her." Corda said pulling them out of her bag and handing them to Jenny, who began studying the notes.
"Oh by the gods, she didn't." Jenny exclaimed after reading thru them.
"What?!" Buffy demanded to know.
"Her notes say, she believed what happened to Xander, the bringing out of an earlier incarnation of his soul, was wrong. She believed Alexander was stealing Xander's life. She was determined to find a way to fix it. She found what she thought was a way she could do it. A Tabula Rasa spell. Basically, she wanted to erase the memories of Alexander. It wouldn't have worked anyway, not the way she wanted it too. They're too firmly entwined. But she forgot to take into account, Alexander has psychic abilities. The spell bounced off of them. A Tabula Rasa spell can be reversed, if the crystals are smashed. But only on the person it's cast on. Willow didn't cast it on herself, she cast it on Alexander. It boomeranged back on her. She erased her own memories. There's nothing to bring back. Her intelligence is still there, but nothing she's ever learned is."
"All that because she couldn't leave well enough alone? I tried to tell her that just because she decides something needs to be done or she decides her way of doing something is better, doesn't mean it is. There's no coming back from this, is there?" Corda asked.
"No, she can relearn everything, but no. She'll never be Willow again." Jenny told them.
"I'll call her parents." Alexander said grimly. Once he got ahold of them, he explained that Willow was in the hospital and had suffered something that had destroyed her memory, the doctors didn't know what. They reluctantly cut short their tour and returned to Sunnydale.
"Her parents and Xander's are why they clung to each other." Alexander explained, after he hung up. "They started leaving her with nannies so they could do their lecture tours. Then they stopped using nannies and just left her alone. She managed the house by herself. Keeping it clean, making her own food to eat. Bills were paid automatically. Xander's father was abusive and his mother emotionally absent and so busy trying to manage his father's temper, she never had time for him. On some level, they recognized each other as abuse victims and looked out for each other. She took it too far. I think she was afraid to lose him. So she tried to keep him exactly the way she thought he should be, which didn't match reality. It's why he hid things from her. If it didn't fit her view, she had to try to change it. She was never going to be able to accept this change. I should have realized that sooner. Now it's too late."
"This isn't your fault." Corda said. "Or Xander's. This is her parents fault. They brought a child into the world and refused to take care of her properly."
Two weeks later, Alexander came into the library, looking really grim.
"What's wrong?" Corda asked, when she saw his expression.
"Now they're putting her in a nursing home. With their lecture tours, they don't have the time to take of care her. Just like always."
"Even now?" Jenny asked, horrified.
"Even now."