Author's Note: Since I'm running out of things to say, here's a fun little fact about the title of this fic instead of something deep and meaningful. So I was pondering what to name it after I had finished it, the title just popped into my mind, and I was all "Hooray, that's awesome", and quite sure I came up with it myself. Well, later in the same day, I scrolled through my music collection and saw that Dream Theater has an album of the same name. So much about that. It still fits though, so I left it that way. Enjoy! :D
Disclaimer: No Buffy: TVS characters are mine, just borrowing them for a while.
When Dream and Day Unite
„Duck!" Buffy shouted, and without thinking about it for even a second, Willow did just that, dropping down to her knees; the crossbow bolt the Slayer had fired the moment she had seen that Willow was doing what she had said shot over her head and hit the demon right behind her, causing him to let out a low gurgle as he toppled over, the bolt now stuck in his thick neck.
"Here", the blonde called out, quickly reloading the crossbow and handing it to her friend, "if any of those comes too close, just fire!"
Nodding, Willow grabbed the weapon tightly, aiming it this way and that while Buffy hurried to join the fight again; now that she had killed yet another demon of the little gang which just had arrived in Sunnydale the night before, eager to kill her and gain the glory of having finished off the Slayer, there still were four of them left, one of them in close hand-to-hand combat with Pat while the other three were looking for an opening to attack.
Still clutching the crossbow, Willow watched how Buffy snuck up to one of those three, then tapped him on the shoulder; when he turned in surprise, she punched him straight in his ugly, scaly and green face, sending him a few steps back, against his comrades.
"Trying to gang up on someone is not considered good manners", Buffy lectured him, prompting him to step closer to her again with a low growl; one of his buddies figured that the other two still standing should be enough to deal with the Slayer's pesky pet demon, turning away from the fight and raising his fists as well, momentarily taken aback when the only response he got from Buffy was that her smirk widened slightly.
"Bring it on, then", she challenged, and he tensed before he did just that, launching himself forward and at her, along with his companion; she easily blocked punches from both of them, then grabbed the nearest thing in reach – the coffee table which had been standing next to the couch ever since her mother and she had moved to Sunnydale – and swung it around, hitting the green and scaly demon right in the head and sending him down to the ground, the table smashing at the impact, bits and pieces flying everywhere.
"First you come into my house", Buffy snarled while a few feet away, Pat caught one of the table's legs as it came flying at her and promptly used it to hit the demon in front of her, "and then you make me ruin my table! You should be ashamed."
"Indeed, shame on all of you", Pat agreed as she whacked her opponent with the table leg once more, then turned slightly and threw the piece of wood at the second demon who still had been waiting for a good moment to attack her, smirking when it bounced off his head with an audible clunking noise.
"Touchdown", she added, then focused on the demon in front of her again; and even though she knew that this could change any moment, Willow was glad none of the intruders was paying any attention on her when she watched how her partner ducked a punch and the other demon's fist went right through the wall, bits and pieces of plaster falling to the floor. She shuddered as she imagined what that punch might have done if it had actually connected with her partner's body or even head; before she could ponder this further though, her girlfriend distracted her by landing a kick powerful enough to send the demon in front of her backwards, a low grunt coming from him as he tripped over his own feet and fell.
With an angry snarl, the demon at whom Pat had thrown the chair leg now started forward, bringing up a hand which ended in long, sharp claws; again, the black haired woman ducked as he swiped at her, his claws digging into the wall instead, tearing out more plaster, the sight causing Buffy to wince between two blows to her opponents.
Gritting her teeth as well, Pat started her counter-attack, but before Willow could see what she was doing, the demon she had kicked down before came to his feet again, clenching his fists as he approached the taller woman – and, as the witch realized with horror, making sure that he'd get her from her blind side, finally realizing the advantage he had over her. For a few seconds, the witch was torn between using her magic and the crossbow Buffy had given her; then, she settled for the second option, figuring that it'd be smart to keep her magic for close combat, since the demons would most likely turn on her the moment she'd wound one of them.
Without even noticing that she was holding her breath, she brought the crossbow up and took careful aim, squinting slightly as she focused on the back of the demon sneaking up to her partner; and the moment she pulled the trigger, everything happened at once, the sneaky demon turning his head to look at her, then ducking, the other demon Pat still had been fighting pushing her harshly, right into the line of fire, her good eye going wide when the bolt hit her with an awful meaty thunk.
All at once, the demons were gone, and Willow was on her knees next to her partner, her eyes wide as she stammered "No, no, no" over and over again; Buffy was right behind her, staring down on the scene with eyes as big as saucers, as well, but the witch didn't even notice her best friend, unable to take her gaze away from the bolt that protruded from her girlfriend's throat, the blood that was seeping out between her fingers as she pressed them down on the wound in a vain attempt to stop the flow.
"Please", she brought out, her voice trembling so bad she barely could say this word and the ones that followed, "please, no, I'm so sorry, no, no…" Despite her tries to stop the flow of blood, she could feel it still running out of the wound and seeping to the floor between her fingers, the flow pulsing in the rhythm of her partner's heartbeat; and then, the choked, wet gurgles Pat had been letting out grew weaker and weaker, stopping half a minute later, the demon lying dreadfully still as she died, bleeding out on the floor of Buffy's living room, the pulsing rhythm of the flow slowing down as well, then stopping fully…
"I'm so sorry, I'm so sorry, no, please, no!" The desperate whimpers and cries of her girlfriend tore Pat out of her sleep, and she blinked as she rolled over, needing a moment to figure out that no one was attacking them, but that Willow was having a bad dream; for a few seconds, this gave her a sense of déjà vu as she thought of what had happened the last time the redhead had been plagued by nightmares, then she shrugged it off and tried to wake her, gently touching her shoulder and murmuring her name.
"Willow, dear, wake up", she tried again when the only reaction she got was more whimpering and groaning, "it's a bad dream, just a dream, wake up…"
In response, the redhead let out another whimper, then finally opened her eyes, something the demon could see perfectly thanks to her quite above average night vision; for a few seconds, Willow just held her gaze in the dark, breathing heavily – before she burst into tears, startling the taller woman to no end.
"Hey", she brought out after a few moments of shocked silence, "it's okay, it was just a dream, no need to cry… Come here…"
With those words, she moved to lie beside her again, then pulled her into a tender embrace, frowning in concern when she felt the witch tremble in her arms and cling to her as if she was the piece of wood that would keep her from drowning.
"There, there", she muttered, not sure what else to say since she had no idea what exactly Willow had dreamed that it had upset her so much, "it's okay, whatever it was, it was just a dream…"
"I-it was so real", the redhead finally managed to stammer in reply, the tremble and fear in her voice making her partner's heart clench up, "and, and it was so awful, I killed you!"
"What?" the demon gave back, momentarily shocked; sniffling, Willow nodded, reaching up with one hand to wipe off her tears before she spoke up again, quickly retelling her nightmare to her partner.
"…and then you died, right there, and it was my fault!" she finished, close to tears again, even though by now, she was aware of the fact that it only had been a dream, and not something which really had happened.
"Well, it was just a dream, albeit a quite graphic one", Pat finally said, after a few moments of pondering the nightmare, "so there's nothing to worry about…"
"I hope so", Willow muttered, finally calming down a bit and snuggling closer to the taller woman, even managing a weak smile when she felt the embrace around her tighten, "I've had prophetic dreams before, remember? During that whole mess with Warren…"
"But those were sent by Warren", the demon pointed out, "to upset you, remember? And once you did that spell against them, they stopped."
"Good point", Willow had to admit in reply, then yawned heartily, finally remembering that it was in the middle of the night; her yawn prompted Pat to suggest going back to sleep, making the redhead nod immediately.
"And don't worry about that dream anymore", the taller woman advised after another moment of silence, moving one hand to caress the witch's hair, "I'm sure it was just that, a dream…"
Nodding, Willow just let out another yawn in response, then moved slightly so her head ended up resting on her girlfriend's shoulder; smiling slightly, Pat went on with caressing her hair until her slow and calm breaths showed that she had gone back to sleep, only drifting off into dreamland as well the moment she could be sure that her loved one was slumbering peacefully once more.