"No," Buffy said determinedly. "Nobody's going to be blown up. Angel's bringing the gang in L.A., and they're bringing Wesley's books. We're going to research whatever's happening, and we're going to take care of it."
"Just to be on the safe side, Willow, perhaps you should inform me of the more specific details of your dream last night," Giles said from his perch beside one of the bookshelves.
"And the rest of us will start the book learnin'," Xander piped in.
Buffy went to stand next to Willow. She placed a comforting hand on her redheaded friend's arm, and looked into her eyes. "We will stop this from happening, whatever it is. I promise." The two girls embraced in a hug, then Buffy pulled back slightly. A wicked grin began to form on her face.
"What?" Willow asked.
"Well, I was just thinking, you know, I haven't paid a visit to Willy the Snitch lately," Buffy said mischievously.
"Ooh! You gonna draw blood?" Xander said, an excited grin on his face. The other scoobies stared at him. "What? The guy owes me twelve bucks!"
"He has money for you?" Anya piped up. "Well, go, Buffy! Beat him senseless! Mash his face into a bloody, disgusting, painful lump of mush! Break his legs! Pull out his teeth! Do that Chinese torture thing! Not the water one, because that one doesn't work NEARLY as well as people say it does. You should do the one where you drill a hole in his stomach, and then you get some pliers, and then you..." She stopped, seeing that everyone was staring at her. "What? He has money for Xander!"
Buffy turned to Xander, who was looking at Anya with a mix of horror and amusement. "Your girlfriend has a serious problem. You should get her help. However, I fully intend to beat up Willy. Not nearly as graphically and violent as Anya would like, but he's going to be hurting in the morning." She smiled again. "I'll wait for Angel, though. It's been even longer since we've had a beat-up-Willy-for-business-AND-pleasure date."
Anya grumbled from the cash register. "Sure, Buffy can take pleasure from making people hurt, but just because I have a little more questionableness in my past, everyone thinks I need psychoanalytic therapy," she muttered.
Buffy smirked at her again. Then she turned back to Willow. "You tell Giles about your dream, and we'll start looking through the books for, um, exploding witches."
Giles sat next to Willow, a notebook in his hand to take down the details of Willow's nightmare, and the rest began to research and wait for Angel, Faith, Welsey, Cordelia, Gunn, and more books.
Dawn lifted her head, and stretched a little, looking around at the people sitting in various places in the little shop. A summer afternoon, and she was sitting in a musty old occult store, reading stuffy, boring old books. She was fifteen! She should have been out, hanging around boys, shopping with girlfriends, even tanning! But here she was, reading yucky old books. She smiled. She didn't really mind. I mean, who of her friends could say they helped to save the world on a regular basis? Well, not that she could say it either, but she knew it. And no one else's big sister got to be dead twice and live to tell about it. Dawn figured, for a teenager, she had it pretty good.
Dawn stretched and started back to work. Suddenly, Xander slammed the musty book he'd been reading shut, causing everyone in the quiet store to jump.
"Nothing! We don't even know what we're looking for!" He cried in frustration. Willow continued to look forlorn as she went back to her book.
"We mustn't give up, Xander," Giles admonished. "Perhaps when Cordelia can tell us more about her vision, then we'll be able to know what we're looking for. For now, we'll just have to read and see if anything sounds familiar."
"Why don't we just do a Lorasian Mind Melt?" Anya piped up from her corner.
"What?" Buffy said, one eyebrow arching.
"Like Spock?" Xander said, suddenly excited.
"Not a Mind Meld, although that would be interesting. A Mind Melt," Anya explained.
"Oh, no, Missy. No one's going to melt my mind. I like my mind solid, thank you very much," Willow sputtered, backing away.
"Oh, it's not as gruesome as it sounds. It's metaphorical. You use it to enter the dream world and extract more information from whatever sent you the prophetic dream."
"Yes, Anya. I believe I have that spell. Let me just..." Giles spoke as he pulled a book from the shelf, and began leafing through it.
"You know, Giles, you seem to have a lot of really handy spells in your little store, here," Buffy said, smiling.
"Well, one never knows," Giles said absently. "Ah! Here it is! Lorasian Mind Melt. A fairly simple spell. Willow would be under a trance, and could walk through the dream world. There, she could ask any questions she wanted to find out more about her dream."
"And it's that simple? No...no bad things in my head?" Willow finished lamely.
"If you're asking if anything from your nightmares will be able to harm you, the answer is no. You will be an ethereal spirit in the world. Solid only to those you wish to be seen by," Giles replied.
"So, Willow goes into a trance, finds out why she had the dream, and then what?" Buffy said, warming to the idea.
"Well, then we'll know what the dream meant, and we'll be able to do something to stop Willow's impending doom," Giles said.
"Please don't say 'impending doom,'" Willow said meekly. "Impending means unstoppable. I don't want it to be unstoppable."
"We'll stop it, Will," Buffy replied quickly. She turned back to Giles. "When can we cast the spell?"
"Well, right now seems just as good a time as any," he said, looking out the window. I was dark outside. As if on cue, Spike strode through the doorway.
"What, am I late for the party?" he asked, noting the assembled troops.
"Willow had a prophetic nightmare where she exploded," Anya informed him. "Then Cordelia had a vision in L.A. that she really did explode."
At Anya's first words, Spike had raised an interested eyebrow, but at the mention of L.A., he had immediately feigned disinterest. "L.A.?" he said nonchalantly.
"Oh, please, Spike. You're easier to see through than glass. Yes, Faith's coming," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. When Faith, Dawn, and Angel had brought her back from the dead, Spike and Faith had formed a relationship. Of course, both were too headstrong to compromise, and Faith had wanted to live in L.A., while Spike had wanted to live anywhere Angel wasn't. They'd split up, of course, even though both still had feelings for the other, despite the fact that they constantly bickered.
"Don't care," Spike protested.
"Save it, Spike," Xander said quickly, all but ignoring the vampire.
"Well, I don't," Spike muttered.
"You know, when you act like a sullen child, it's really hard to think of you as formerly evil," Buffy piped up cheerily.
"Said the most petulant infant the world has ever laid eyes upon," Spike growled back.
"In all my years, never before have I encountered two people who bicker senselessly as much as you two do. Do stop it," Giles scolded.
"She started it," Spike whined.
"And I'm going to un-start it," Angel said, as he strode in through the door.
"Angel!" Buffy squeaked happily, and ran to him. They embraced, holding tightly to one another for a few moments. Just after Angel, Cordelia, then Wesley, Gunn, and finally Faith all entered the shop, which seemed to shrink in size due to both the sheer size of the new men in the room as well as the huge personalities of the new women. Greetings wer exchanged quickly, with Spike and Faith saying not a word to each other.
"Well, the gang's all here!" Xander said from his corner.
"Good. Now, let's get set up for this spell," Giles replied.
"Spell?" Wesley asked, ears perking at the thought of doing some magic. Working with Angel had many perks, but one downfall was the fact that he had few chances to work on his spell-casting abilities.
"Yes. We, uh, we're doing a Lorasian Mind Melt," Giles told him.
"Like Spock?" Gunn said skeptically. Xander jumped up, a triumphant smile on his face.
"See? I'm not the only one!" Then he turned to Gunn. "Thank you."
"Uh...sure."
"It's not a Mind Meld, it's a Mind Melt. It will help Willow to learn the origins and meanings of her dream," Anya said, moving to stand near Xander.
"Ah," Gunn said, understanding.
Giles, Wesley, and Willow set up the spell in silence, while Cordelia informed the others of the details of her vision.
"Willow was like, flying in this cave somehow, and totally zapping lightning bolts out of her hands. I think she was fighting something. And then she just sort of, like, blew up."
"That's it?" Buffy said, slightly frustrated.
"Well, it's not like I get an instant replay. Just little flashes. Like, hints."
"Right. Sorry."
"We're uh, we're ready, I believe," Wesley said from his spot near the center of the floor, where he was lighting a candle.
"Now, Willow, you just lie down, here, on the floor, and we'll put you under the trance. It will be as if you're sleeping, only your mind will be clear and you will be able to move through your subconscious at will," Giles said. Willow laid down on the floor, and relaxed.
The group watched from their place on the upper landing as Wesley and Giles recited the spell. Suddenly, Willow's body went rigid and raised a few inches off the floor. Then her entire body started to glow a soft pink.
"Is that supposed to happen? Is that normal?" Gunn asked, slightly wigged. He wasn't used to seeing magic.
"You should see when she does the telepathy thing," Dawn piped up.
"Just to be on the safe side, Willow, perhaps you should inform me of the more specific details of your dream last night," Giles said from his perch beside one of the bookshelves.
"And the rest of us will start the book learnin'," Xander piped in.
Buffy went to stand next to Willow. She placed a comforting hand on her redheaded friend's arm, and looked into her eyes. "We will stop this from happening, whatever it is. I promise." The two girls embraced in a hug, then Buffy pulled back slightly. A wicked grin began to form on her face.
"What?" Willow asked.
"Well, I was just thinking, you know, I haven't paid a visit to Willy the Snitch lately," Buffy said mischievously.
"Ooh! You gonna draw blood?" Xander said, an excited grin on his face. The other scoobies stared at him. "What? The guy owes me twelve bucks!"
"He has money for you?" Anya piped up. "Well, go, Buffy! Beat him senseless! Mash his face into a bloody, disgusting, painful lump of mush! Break his legs! Pull out his teeth! Do that Chinese torture thing! Not the water one, because that one doesn't work NEARLY as well as people say it does. You should do the one where you drill a hole in his stomach, and then you get some pliers, and then you..." She stopped, seeing that everyone was staring at her. "What? He has money for Xander!"
Buffy turned to Xander, who was looking at Anya with a mix of horror and amusement. "Your girlfriend has a serious problem. You should get her help. However, I fully intend to beat up Willy. Not nearly as graphically and violent as Anya would like, but he's going to be hurting in the morning." She smiled again. "I'll wait for Angel, though. It's been even longer since we've had a beat-up-Willy-for-business-AND-pleasure date."
Anya grumbled from the cash register. "Sure, Buffy can take pleasure from making people hurt, but just because I have a little more questionableness in my past, everyone thinks I need psychoanalytic therapy," she muttered.
Buffy smirked at her again. Then she turned back to Willow. "You tell Giles about your dream, and we'll start looking through the books for, um, exploding witches."
Giles sat next to Willow, a notebook in his hand to take down the details of Willow's nightmare, and the rest began to research and wait for Angel, Faith, Welsey, Cordelia, Gunn, and more books.
Dawn lifted her head, and stretched a little, looking around at the people sitting in various places in the little shop. A summer afternoon, and she was sitting in a musty old occult store, reading stuffy, boring old books. She was fifteen! She should have been out, hanging around boys, shopping with girlfriends, even tanning! But here she was, reading yucky old books. She smiled. She didn't really mind. I mean, who of her friends could say they helped to save the world on a regular basis? Well, not that she could say it either, but she knew it. And no one else's big sister got to be dead twice and live to tell about it. Dawn figured, for a teenager, she had it pretty good.
Dawn stretched and started back to work. Suddenly, Xander slammed the musty book he'd been reading shut, causing everyone in the quiet store to jump.
"Nothing! We don't even know what we're looking for!" He cried in frustration. Willow continued to look forlorn as she went back to her book.
"We mustn't give up, Xander," Giles admonished. "Perhaps when Cordelia can tell us more about her vision, then we'll be able to know what we're looking for. For now, we'll just have to read and see if anything sounds familiar."
"Why don't we just do a Lorasian Mind Melt?" Anya piped up from her corner.
"What?" Buffy said, one eyebrow arching.
"Like Spock?" Xander said, suddenly excited.
"Not a Mind Meld, although that would be interesting. A Mind Melt," Anya explained.
"Oh, no, Missy. No one's going to melt my mind. I like my mind solid, thank you very much," Willow sputtered, backing away.
"Oh, it's not as gruesome as it sounds. It's metaphorical. You use it to enter the dream world and extract more information from whatever sent you the prophetic dream."
"Yes, Anya. I believe I have that spell. Let me just..." Giles spoke as he pulled a book from the shelf, and began leafing through it.
"You know, Giles, you seem to have a lot of really handy spells in your little store, here," Buffy said, smiling.
"Well, one never knows," Giles said absently. "Ah! Here it is! Lorasian Mind Melt. A fairly simple spell. Willow would be under a trance, and could walk through the dream world. There, she could ask any questions she wanted to find out more about her dream."
"And it's that simple? No...no bad things in my head?" Willow finished lamely.
"If you're asking if anything from your nightmares will be able to harm you, the answer is no. You will be an ethereal spirit in the world. Solid only to those you wish to be seen by," Giles replied.
"So, Willow goes into a trance, finds out why she had the dream, and then what?" Buffy said, warming to the idea.
"Well, then we'll know what the dream meant, and we'll be able to do something to stop Willow's impending doom," Giles said.
"Please don't say 'impending doom,'" Willow said meekly. "Impending means unstoppable. I don't want it to be unstoppable."
"We'll stop it, Will," Buffy replied quickly. She turned back to Giles. "When can we cast the spell?"
"Well, right now seems just as good a time as any," he said, looking out the window. I was dark outside. As if on cue, Spike strode through the doorway.
"What, am I late for the party?" he asked, noting the assembled troops.
"Willow had a prophetic nightmare where she exploded," Anya informed him. "Then Cordelia had a vision in L.A. that she really did explode."
At Anya's first words, Spike had raised an interested eyebrow, but at the mention of L.A., he had immediately feigned disinterest. "L.A.?" he said nonchalantly.
"Oh, please, Spike. You're easier to see through than glass. Yes, Faith's coming," Buffy said, rolling her eyes. When Faith, Dawn, and Angel had brought her back from the dead, Spike and Faith had formed a relationship. Of course, both were too headstrong to compromise, and Faith had wanted to live in L.A., while Spike had wanted to live anywhere Angel wasn't. They'd split up, of course, even though both still had feelings for the other, despite the fact that they constantly bickered.
"Don't care," Spike protested.
"Save it, Spike," Xander said quickly, all but ignoring the vampire.
"Well, I don't," Spike muttered.
"You know, when you act like a sullen child, it's really hard to think of you as formerly evil," Buffy piped up cheerily.
"Said the most petulant infant the world has ever laid eyes upon," Spike growled back.
"In all my years, never before have I encountered two people who bicker senselessly as much as you two do. Do stop it," Giles scolded.
"She started it," Spike whined.
"And I'm going to un-start it," Angel said, as he strode in through the door.
"Angel!" Buffy squeaked happily, and ran to him. They embraced, holding tightly to one another for a few moments. Just after Angel, Cordelia, then Wesley, Gunn, and finally Faith all entered the shop, which seemed to shrink in size due to both the sheer size of the new men in the room as well as the huge personalities of the new women. Greetings wer exchanged quickly, with Spike and Faith saying not a word to each other.
"Well, the gang's all here!" Xander said from his corner.
"Good. Now, let's get set up for this spell," Giles replied.
"Spell?" Wesley asked, ears perking at the thought of doing some magic. Working with Angel had many perks, but one downfall was the fact that he had few chances to work on his spell-casting abilities.
"Yes. We, uh, we're doing a Lorasian Mind Melt," Giles told him.
"Like Spock?" Gunn said skeptically. Xander jumped up, a triumphant smile on his face.
"See? I'm not the only one!" Then he turned to Gunn. "Thank you."
"Uh...sure."
"It's not a Mind Meld, it's a Mind Melt. It will help Willow to learn the origins and meanings of her dream," Anya said, moving to stand near Xander.
"Ah," Gunn said, understanding.
Giles, Wesley, and Willow set up the spell in silence, while Cordelia informed the others of the details of her vision.
"Willow was like, flying in this cave somehow, and totally zapping lightning bolts out of her hands. I think she was fighting something. And then she just sort of, like, blew up."
"That's it?" Buffy said, slightly frustrated.
"Well, it's not like I get an instant replay. Just little flashes. Like, hints."
"Right. Sorry."
"We're uh, we're ready, I believe," Wesley said from his spot near the center of the floor, where he was lighting a candle.
"Now, Willow, you just lie down, here, on the floor, and we'll put you under the trance. It will be as if you're sleeping, only your mind will be clear and you will be able to move through your subconscious at will," Giles said. Willow laid down on the floor, and relaxed.
The group watched from their place on the upper landing as Wesley and Giles recited the spell. Suddenly, Willow's body went rigid and raised a few inches off the floor. Then her entire body started to glow a soft pink.
"Is that supposed to happen? Is that normal?" Gunn asked, slightly wigged. He wasn't used to seeing magic.
"You should see when she does the telepathy thing," Dawn piped up.
