Title: Glass

Author: Joy

Email: SleepingBeauty2@ziplip.com

Buffy found herself in a glass box. She strained against the encasement. She looked to her left to see Kendra suffocated by the glass covering every inch of her dead body. Faith was next to Kendra in a malformed box where the glass was in bedded in her skin in some places and ballooning out in others. To Buffy's right were a series of girls encased in glass in some form or another.

Buffy's glass case began to shake as a great panther strutted before her. The violet eyed man and Dawn appeared in front of Buffy's eyes. On instinct Buffy screamed, "No" and pushed the wall of glass in front of her. The panther said, "you are full of love," as the glass exploded in broken shards toward Dawn, who was screaming with fear. The violet eyed man stepped in front of Dawn and allowed the glass to cut and slice him rather then Dawn. "You were full of love… Now you are like the rest," he said without moving as blood dripped down his face. "You are keeping her from destiny."

"Dawn!" Buffy yelled as she jolted awake.

Dawn was at her side in a moment. "Buffy, I'm fine. I'm right here," she whispered.

Buffy clutched her sister. "Not again. Not this nonsense again… What does it mean!" she screamed. Buffy let go of her sister and stood in the training room where she had fallen asleep. "What does it mean you bastards!" she screamed at the ceiling. "Why send me dreams if I can't stop it or I can't decode it in time. What the hell is the point!?"

"Dawn," a gentle British accent coaxed from the door. "Go sit with Tara for a bit. Let me handle your sis."

Buffy sighed as her little sister left the room and the blonde vampire of her best dreams and daily frustrations came in without swagger or conceit. "Why'd you bring her back? I can't protect her. Take her and go…" Buffy groaned.

Spike walked up quietly with Buffy's boxing gloves in hand. "In a while, first put these on and get out some of that aggression before you explode."

"Why did you say that?"

"Say what?"

"About me exploding…" Buffy fussed.

"Lots of stress in you… Want to get you to punch the bag instead of me while you tell me about your dreams," he said taking her hand as he tightened one of the gloves. Buffy let him help her on with the other glove as she sighed. "Come on luv. Give it a good hit and tell me what happened," Spike said standing behind the punching bag.

Buffy took her stance and hit the bag solidly. "Stupid Violet eyed monster wants my sister and there isn't a blasted thing I can do to stop him," Buffy growled as she punched at the bag.

"Alright… Violet eyes… What else…" Spike asked trying to draw her out.

"I don't know!" Buffy thwacked the bag.

"Yes you do… STOP fighting the dream and go through it," Spike commanded.

"NO. NOT Again. I tried to stop anything from happening to Angel… Stopping him from leaving, dying… What happens? 'I' turn him… There is nothing to be done... Not by me."

"You are giving up because of my idiot grandsire… Let me tell you something, I love that little girl more then my undead life and I'm not about to have you give up on her, not while I'm still alive," Spike growled.

They glared at each other for a moment then Spike spoke. "What happened in the first dream?"

"Kendra, Faith, the first slayer and I were all bleeding on Dawn. She… rose out of our blood," Buffy muttered sitting on the exercise mats in frustration.

"Well that is what happened… She was made of the slayer's blood," Spike commented sitting down next to her.

Buffy ran a hand through her hair. "The first slayer told this wolf that he could not have Dawn. The wolf had legions of vampires behind him who were transforming into wolves themselves." Spike nodded as Buffy spoke. "We all raised our arms and the vampires rolled away into dust but the wolf remained. He became this tall, handsome guy, with violet eyes. He walked right past us and kissed Dawn. Then her eyes turned violet too."

Buffy paused long enough for Spike to realize that was the end of the first dream. "What about the dream you just woke up from?"

"Oh…" Buffy tried to collect herself since she hadn't even thought the dream over yet. "I was in a glass case just as like all the other slayers… I mean all the other slayers. Some were suffocated, some in balls; some had the glass in their skin, but all were surrounded. The violet eyed man and Dawn appeared while the spirit of the first slayer told me I was full of love. When I saw the man near Dawn I pushed on the glass wall and it exploded toward Dawn. The man protected Dawn from the shards and he said I was full of love but now I was like the rest," she groaned, leaving out the destiny part again.

Spike rubbed one of Buffy's shoulders and said, "I know that was hard… you did good. We'll find out what it means… I promise."

"Don't do that!" Buffy yelled shoving Spike off and standing. "Angel promised me he would be fine and wasn't leaving. He was wrong… We don't know that Dawn will be okay. We don't know anything!"

"Hey… I was trying the supportive guy thing. I'll skip that next time…" he said lightly to himself, getting to his feet. "Look, Buffy, the dream doesn't even sound like anything bad. The guy is around, loves and protects Dawn."

"He came with a bunch of vampires…" Buffy objected.

"And you nearly killed your sister with broken glass. That doesn't make you evil and in need of slaying," Spike argued. "We'll find out who the guy is and make sure the Nibblet is safe. I won't let you down again."

Buffy sighed. She walked toward the front of the store. "You didn't let me down in the first place Spike," she said over her shoulder. Spike smiled at the nicest thing she had said to him in a long time.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Willow typed away at her computer much to the joy of Tara who was watching quietly braiding Dawn's hair. Buffy and Spike reentered the shop. "Okay Buffy. There are a few shape-shifting demons that have strange colored eyes but none so far exactly like what you described. The closest so far isn't a demon at all but a reference in a fairytale about the end of the world," Willow said sadly.

"Why am I not surprised?" Buffy muttered. "Alright what's the tale?"

"Dragon of Heaven," Willow commented.

"Huh?" Buffy asked.

"A Japanese tale has the dragon of heaven with red eyes and the dragon of earth with green eyes, each in the body of a man come to fight for the fate of humans," Spike said calmly. "That tale has nothing of the slayer in it or of vampires." Spike looked to Buffy and asked, "In the first dream are you sure it was only vampires following the wolf?"

"What do you mean?" Tara asked.

"Well could they have been men or angels?" Spike asked.

Buffy thought, "The ones I saw were vampires, but I guess its possible."

"Willow, focus on the fact that the wolf is male and the panther is female," Spike commented thoughtfully. "Its possible we're missing something in the translation of the symbols." The group looked at him curiously. "I spent a hundred years with a woman who got prophetic dreams…Ya think I didn't learn a thing or two?"

"What panther?" Willow asked Buffy.

"The first slayer… my spirit guide… It's a panther. I saw it in my second dream."

"The second dream?" Tara asked.

"A minute ago… The violet eyed man again…" Buffy muttered dismally.

"Anything else of importance?" Willow questioned, eyeing Dawn thoughtfully.

Spike piped up, "The slayer spirit said Buffy was full of love but the violet eyed man said she was, past tense, full of love and now she was like the rest…. Since there were slayers of the past in her dream, I think he meant the rest of the slayers…"

"Meaning…dead," Buffy whispered as all eyes turned to her.

Spike looked concerned, "I don't think that's it… All the rest of the slayers were trained at an early age…taken from their families. I think he meant you are disconnected like the rest of the slayers."

"Disconnected…except for Dawn," Tara said running her fingers through the girl's hair.

"Maybe the violet eyed man is trying to separate you from Dawn in order to make you easier to kill," Xander ventured. "Though you just keep coming back, don't you?" he joked.

"Dawn should probably still stay with Spike until we rule out that she is the actual target," Buffy said quickly.

"Sure," Spike stated walking over to the teen. "LilBit and I will have loads of fun. I just got me self an aerobed off the teli."

Dawn giggled, "Oh, what size?"

"Queen size… for company," he said with a smile.

"So you took my advice and got a girlfriend after all?" Xander asked.

"Sod off…" Spike replied and stole a quick look at Buffy. "We should be off."

"I'll walk you," Buffy offered.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When they arrived at Spike's crypt Dawn went down to the lower level to watch TV while Spike and Buffy talked. "An aerobed?" Buffy asked.

"What pet? I thought it would be good on trips… Maybe camping?" Spike said quietly, stroking her hair.

"Camping? In Sunnydale? Now I know you've lost it."

"Might be fun," he said with a smile.

She smiled back, "Thanks for taking her… I wasn't trying…"

"… to use me. Yeah the Bit told me," Spike said with a sigh. "Thanks… for thinking of me… caring."

They stared at each other for a long moment, before kissing briefly. "Night, luv."

"Night Spike." Buffy walked away as Spike closed the door.

"So? You want to tell me why you were kissing my sister?" Dawn said firmly. "Or why when I laid down on your bed my sister's perfume seemed to be all over your sheets?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.

Spike stood stunned looking at the teenager, knowing that once Buffy found out Dawn knew, they were actually over. Silence pervaded the small space. "Just don't leave like the rest," she muttered walking toward him. "You're the first guy I've liked and I'm not ready for you to bail on us," Dawn said confidently.

Spike let out a long sigh. "Your sis is going to kill me when she realizes you know."

"Nay… I'll start suggesting you as a possible guy for her to consider and she'll want to talk about it… Somehow I think my approval will definitely help your case… I make a good fan base… Come on. Monty Python is on." Dawn bounded down the stairs.

Spike walked slowing to the lower level. "You were the reason she was out all night, weren't you?" Dawn asked abruptly. Spike must have made some face because Dawn began to giggle. "Oh yeah… When this all comes out she is so going down."

"Can it Nibblet," Spike said as he sat down next to her on the coach.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

            Buffy stopped by the regular library and picked up a book on dream interpretation. Lots of the symbols in her dreams seemed to speak of how disconnected and unhappy she was in her life. Between her glass walls, her feelings of helplessness, the violence & death, it seemed that Buffy was very unhappy. But all the things she read about the possible interpretations of the violet eyed man made him out to be an okay guy. As a stranger he could be a teacher, as a wolf he was to possess extreme wisdom, and his violet eyes could symbolize royalty or spiritual being. One interpretation said that in ancient times strangers in a dream were spirits conveying messages to the living.

            Buffy got so frustrated by the fact the book wasn't telling her what she wanted it to say she slammed the book down and curled up under her covers. Minutes past and she was once again in her dreamscape.    

"You can't keep her from me… It is her destiny," the violet-eyed man said as he stood toe to toe with Buffy. She punched him in the chest. "Am I taking her from you?" the man asked. Buffy continued to attack him. "Does she appear to be hurt or reluctant to come?" Buffy started to cry as she beat at his chest. "Let Nibblet go, Buffy" Spike's voice said through the body of the stranger.

"NO!!!" Buffy kicked him across the room in a rage.

"Why fight me? You know who I am deep down. You feel it. You've read the signs… I am not your enemy."

Faith's knife appeared in Buffy's hand and she was upon the man again. "No," she shouted stabbing him in the chest. "You cannot have Dawn!"

            Buffy woke sweat soaked. "I guess the lines are drawn now aren't they," Buffy absently said to no one before lying back down.