'The nightmare really wasn't ending anytime soon.' Xander thought later that day after classes had let out, as he stared at the wrapped up and oh so still form of his sister-friend, his last link to his brother-friend. What was left of Willow's beautiful red hair that hadn't been burned by Angelus had been shaved off by the doctors so they could treat her burns. The red hair that was part of what defined her as Willow. Genius, red haired sister-friend. It was gone completely now and bandages covered the oozing mess of burns on her scalp.
"The biggest danger right now is infection." The doctor told the small group gathered outside the window of the room Willow Rosenberg was in. "We have to debride the burn sites -."
"Debride?" Xander murmured.
"Remove dead skin." The doctor replied, trying to remain clinical, not an easy task, especially given that several children in the hospital had died of the flu recently. Or so he thought. "We're managing her pain and we're monitoring for infection, her skin barrier has been severely compromised. Physically, she'll never completely recover I'm afraid, the scarring will cover her scalp, neck and shoulders and we've had to remove part of the shell of one ear. Pain will affect her for months, possibly years because the nerves have been affected."
"Will her hair grow back?" Xander asked, struggling for control. "She had beautiful hair, long and red and silky. It's what I first noticed about her when we were kids, the color of her hair. Red, like my mother's." Who was dead now. Like Jesse and also, not like Jesse. He didn't have to put a stake to what used to be her heart. And he actually had something to bury. Which would be happening tomorrow, the morgue people in Sunnydale were...efficient. Plus the police were sure a serial killer was responsible and had 'collected all the evidence'. He wondered just how much evidence there actually was.
"Not the way it was before." The doctor responded softly. "There are areas were it's unlikely she'll regrow any hair at all, the hair follicles were destroyed. Hair transplant surgery may be possible and cover the scarring, which can also be minimized, plastic surgery has come a long way."
"She's still beautiful." Oz murmured. "First and only girl I've ever loved."
"We haven't heard from her parents yet." The doctor changed the subject. "I understand the Chases are covering her stay with us."
"Whatever she needs." Cordelia confirmed. "My parents will be home tomorrow but Daddy's already talked to the hospital administrator, I don't know what kind of insurance her parents have, they're psychologists who travel the world giving lectures. Given that Willow is rarely sick, it may not cover more than routine care. Daddy's agreed to cover anything her insurance doesn't and plastic surgery. Whatever she needs to feel as whole as possible."
"I'm glad she has friends." The doctor murmured. "She has a very long recovery ahead of her and she's going to need all the support she can get. The physical injuries in my experience, aren't as severe as her psychological injuries."
"She's part of us, we won't give up on her." Xander insisted. "We can't, whatever she needs, we'll find a way to make it happen." Including making sure Angelus was gone for good even if he had to follow him to Hell to finish him off. "I'll be back later, there's something I need to do." He told Cordelia and kissed her after the doctor had left.
"Stay safe and out of trouble." Cordelia ordered. 'She was really embracing this Queen thing.' He thought, nodding.
"Promise." He murmured. "I need to find Buffy and I need to make sure Angelus is destroyed or locked in Hell forever. It's all I can give Willow."
"Which is why I'm not complaining about you going off and leaving us to stand vigil." Cordelia said understandingly, taking a seat on the bench next to a praying Lupe. "It's eating at you and until you have an answer one way or another, it won't stop."
"Yeah." Wasn't much else he could say, because it was true. He headed back to the High School Library and began pulling books off the shelves. Somewhere in here was the information he needed to find those answers. He piled the books on the Library table and took a seat, he barely glanced up when Tor, followed by Heidi, joined him and not long after, Kyle and Rhonda.
"You're hurting and we can feel it." Tor muttered. "This is damn weird and yet..."
And yet. They hadn't questioned the feeling when they'd been possessed and now, over a year later, they were feeling it again. And not really feeling like questioning it.
"What are we looking for?" Heidi asked.
"Vengeance demons." Xander explained what had happened and Kyle muttered. "First possessed by an animal spirit and then vampires and now demons. World's way weirder than I ever thought it was."
"Won't get an argument from me, I've been hip deep in it for over a year now." Xander grimaced. "And once you know, once you accept, you can't unsee it."
"It was just a normal day." Rhonda mused, turning the pages of a book. "We were messing with Lance, you stopped us. Same old, same old. And wham! Life as we knew it was changed forever."
"It had been a few weeks already for me, since things changed." Xander told them. "Things changed when I helped stopped the end of the world and put a stake to something wearing Jesse McNally's face and watched it turn to dust."
"Harsh." Wasn't a whole lot more that anyone could say to that and the five of them silently searched for any vengeance demon that might be able to give them the answers they were looking for.
About two hours later they found one. Now to get those answers.