Buffy was standing on white sand overlooking crystal blue waters. She felt the sun on her face as she dipped her head back with a peaceful smile.

She felt a smooth hand rest on her lower back and she turned to find herself being wrapped in Angel's strong arms.

She looked into his eyes that were the color of the deepest chocolate and whispered, "I've missed you."

His face turned serious as he stepped away from her and said "You deserve a normal life without me, without this pain, you deserve a life with someone who can give you this."

His hand swept across the view of blue water, white sand, and birds flying happily in the sky, "You deserve someone who can make love to you and take you into the light."

Buffy felt a pain like a ton of bricks hit the pit of her stomach as he repeated similar words used when he broke up with her a year ago.

She stepped away harshly turning and walked straight into Xander as they now stood in an abandoned building.

"We get it, you got burned. You need to move onto the land of the living, Buff." Xander said sarcasm dripping from his words and Willow appeared dressed in layers of black lace and leather.

"You're missing all the good things in life as you waste time grinding with the dead." Willow said as an inky blackness drifted past her red-painted lips.

Buffy watched as the blackness circled their heads and the faster it circled the faster images of her life passed by.

She watched as she shared kisses with Angel, exchanged blows with Spike, and laughed with the Scoobies.

Her Mother appeared before her eyes and the spinning stopped as quick as it started and the blackness descended down and started to engulf her mother with its sticky oily stain.

She opened her mouth to scream a warning to only be stopped as Klaus appeared behind her mother. He grabbed her and held a hand out to Buffy with a cocky smile on his lips.

Buffy looked at her mother desperately before she could grab Klaus's hand his body was overtaken by the black stain and together they sank into the black abyss.

She felt a cold scaly hand touch her arm and as she turned she found herself faced with a faceless demon with the body of a wendigo.

Its empty face leaned closer to her ear and whispered, "They will never accept you, they will always find fault in you, and they will try to destroy you. Kill them, kill them all, rip their bleeding hearts from their chest, and reap in their pitiful screams."

Buffy shoved it away trying to push away the coldness its words left in her and as her palm connected with its scaly frame it suddenly disappeared and her palm was taken by a larger calloused hand.

Her hand was gently being pulled so her body was slowly pressed to a warm body and she looked into the blue eyes of Klaus as he stared determinedly at her.

He whispered "I know what you want and this life will never be enough for you." Faster than a blink of an eye his glittering fangs tore viciously into her throat.

Buffy snapped awake with a silent scream as a coldness enveloped her sweaty body. She ran her hands through her long blonde locks in hope of wiping away the stain that the various images left on her heart.

She got up from her bed and padded over to the partly open window and shoved it up with more force than necessary as it quivered in its frame.

Buffy sat on the window seal and looked upon the empty street watching as the breeze made the branches of the tree sway in a gentle harmony compared to the chaotic mess of emotions that swirled inside her head.

The hurtful words that Willow and Xander said to her, the repeated abuse to her heart from Angel, and the emptiness pulling at her mother kept replaying as she tried to piece together her thoughts.

Was it a cryptic dream or just a really freaky dream that her mind conjured up from the many nights of slaying the undead she asked herself.

Releasing a long drawn sigh her eyes scanned the darkness surrounding her house searching for any movement in the shadows. Her spider senses prickled as she noticed movement in the shadows underneath her tree, but before she could react an alarmed scream had her running to her sister's room down the hall.

Bursting into the room throwing the door wide Buffy stood staring in horror as she came upon the sight of her mother with her hands wrapped tightly around a pillow as she brutishly attempted to smother her youngest daughter.

Dawn's arms and legs were flailing in every direction as desperately attempted to push-off her attacker.

Buffy used a burst of speed and in seconds had her mother unarmed and thrown to the other end of the room as Dawn gasped for large mouthfuls of air.

"What are you doing?" She screamed at her mother as she stood protectively in front of her sister. Her mother slowly stood up and drunkenly wobbled as her glossy eyes found Buffy's furious ones.

"It's not real… It's a disgusting bit of quivering mess that disguises itself. I can feel buzzing in my head… through my ears." Her mother whispered her voice low and nasally as she wobbled ever closer to where Dawn sat quivering in fear.

Buffy's palm connected with her mother's cheek with enough force to draw blood..

Her mother fell onto the floor with a soft groan as she dazedly looked around the room with confusion written on her kind face.

Her eyes met Buffy's emerald orbs and then moved to where Dawn was softly crying on her bed. She immediately stood up and went move forward to where Dawn sat, but was intercepted as Buffy stood solidly in front of her.

"Buffy? What happened?" Joyce said with fear in her lovely brown eyes. Green met brown eyes as Buffy sternly scanned her mother's face for any sign of deceit or madness.

"You don't remember? I found you trying to hurt Dawnie…" Her voice trembling as she tried to maintain her stance as a protector.

Joyce stood clenching her hands to her chest staring numbly as she shook her head softy in response to the allegation thrown at her. "No, I wouldn't dare hurt my little girl."

Joyce rushed past her with a slight push and moved to cradle Dawn's face attempting to wipe away any shed tears.

Dawn screamed and scrambled off the bed to huddle in the corner. Joyce stood in denial as a new sound made its presence known.

Heavy footsteps quickly made their way up the stairs and into Dawn's room. Spike stood surveying the scene in front of him with a confused look on his face. "Eh, where's the demon Slayer?"

Joyce hit the floor with a soft whoosh and Buffy stared emotionlessly ahead of her before she walked over to where Dawn sat and slowly moved to cradle her in her arms.

She made her way back to the door with Dawn safely in her arms and stopped to stare at Spike's confused face.

"I need you to take her down stairs while I call the ambulance." Buffy told him her face devoid of all expression.

"Slayer I-"

"Please." Spike gave a small nod as he took Dawn gently into his arms and made comforting noises as she buried her face deeply into his shirt.

All the while he kept shooting looks back to Buffy as she stood in the middle of Dawn's room looking as if her world had just collapsed around her.