CHAPTER 2-VISIONS
The Father and Paige stayed back as Willow slowly approached the bed to get a closer look at the girl sleeping restlessly. The girl was tossing and turning as if she were having nightmares. Willow's shadow fell onto the bedcovers as she looked closely at the girl's face. A gasp of surprise escaped from Willow as she recognized the girl.
The Father noticed her reaction. "Do you know her, daughter?"
Willow suddenly looked as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She tilted her head and looked sheepishly at the Father, guilt written all over her face. "Uh," she hesitated, "well, yes." Then, she quickly said, "Well, uh, no. I-I mean, I don't know her, not really, but- but I do know who she is."
The Father smiled warmly. "Interesting. How is it that you recognize this girl, Willow? She's obviously new to Sunnydale judging from the unpacking she appears to be in the midst of." He had chosen the girl's dreams because he could feel them as if they were his own. There was a power in her dreams that proved she was special somehow. The Father strongly believed the blonde-haired girl was destined to be something great. He could sense that the dreams she was having were glimpses of the future.
They were visions, and they called to him.
He wondered if fate had intended to bring the two girls together, for Willow also had power she was not yet aware of. The blonde-haired girl emitted a powerful presence, an aura of strength against evil. He was glad he had chosen her dreams to explore. He was convinced they would be quite revealing.
"Uh," Willow began hesitantly, "uh, well..." Somehow, the words to explain how she recognized the girl escaped her completely. Finally, she blurted out, "Well, it-it wasn't a bad thing I did, exactly, wh-when I looked into the school's student files. I-I do it all the time." She realized she had just admitted to hacking into the school's files. She shook her head. "Oh, but-but not really all the time-all the time. Only some of the time, all the time 'cause, you know, I-I really don't have all the time to break into school records." She realized to her dismay she was only digging herself in deeper. She wished she would just shut up, but her mouth was still talking. "Oh, but not-not that I'm breaking into anything 'cause wh- when I back out, nothing really gets broken. Uh, I-I saw her files on my computer, but I'm done with that now, so, uh, everything's okay."
The Father chuckled.
Paige simply continued to observe. He was making mental notes and one thing he could clearly see was that first appearances were very deceiving. His first impression of Willow Rosenberg was that of a naive, plain girl who wasn't popular by any means, and was incapable of getting a date. Sure, he admitted to himself, she was cute and she had pretty eyes. He loved her long red hair. In spite of that, she was still in the "losers" circle. However, his second impression found her to be extremely smart, but still naive. She was also too damned honest. Any lie she told would be easily discovered.
There was one other thing he couldn't help notice. It was what she was wearing, or not wearing for that matter. He never thought he would see the day where he would be thinking of Willow in the way he was thinking of her at that moment. He grinned to himself as he looked her up and down. If he was ever in a room alone with her and she was dressed like that, she would find herself in very big trouble.
"Who is she, daughter?" the Father asked, watching Willow closely. "Why did you look up her personal file from the school's records?"
Willow paused. She regarded the sleeping girl thoughtfully. "Her name is Buffy Summers. I-I heard that there was a new girl moving into Sunnydale and-and she would be coming to my school. I-I heard she got kicked out of her school in LA, and-and was just curious." She turned her head to look at the Father. "So, uh, I, well, I looked at her file."
"Why did she get kicked out of her school in LA?"
Willow paused again. "Well, th-there was something about a fire." She shrugged. "I think she tried to burn down the gym." She looked down at Buffy. "I wonder if she'll try to burn down my school."
The Father moved to stand beside her. "Willow, I suspect there was another motive for you to have snooped into her personal file. Why don't you just tell me what that motive was?"
Willow glanced nervously up at him. "What-what other reason could I have? I-I was just curious."
He shook his head. "No, daughter. I think it was more than that." He regarded her for a moment. "I think you were hoping to find a new friend."
"A-a new friend?" Willow laughed nervously. "Oh, I-I could never be friends with someone like Buffy Summers! She-she burned her gym down, so, uh, what would I be to her? I-I never burned anything down! Besides, she'll just join the, you know, cool crowd and-and I'll be like a flea or something. I'm in with the losers, you know." She thought about the outfit her mother had set out for her. "In the morning, I'm really going to look like one."
He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring hug. "Willow, my dear, I think you are just too hard on yourself."
"No, I'm not. Everybody else is. Uh, except for Xander." She paused. "I- I guess I'm just no Cordelia Chase."
"Of course, you're not. You're Willow Rosenberg. How could you possibly be anyone else?"
Willow looked up at him. She smiled wryly. "Thanks, Dad." She put her arms around him and hugged him.
The Father returned the hug and he saw Paige trying not to laugh.
The Father then stood with Willow beside the bed and he held her hand in his. "Are you ready to see into her dreams, Willow?"
Willow hesitated as she looked at Buffy's face. "She-she looks so troubled." She looked up at him. "M-maybe we shouldn't. Uh, wouldn't we be invading her thoughts?"
The Father nodded his head. "Yes, but she'll never know we were there. Besides, in a few years, you'll be able to do this."
Willow looked at him curiously. "I will? But how?"
"All in good time, my daughter, but first," he placed his hand upon Buffy's forehead, "let's go into her dreams."
Abruptly, the scenery changed around them.
They were standing in the middle of a cemetery. The sun was just beginning to set, yet there was still daylight left to see by. Willow turned around and saw a mausoleum. There was a statue of an angel standing upon the roof directly above the entrance of the mausoleum.
The Father was surveying their new surroundings intently. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be excited. "There's something very familiar about all this," he hissed softly.
Paige glanced at him with concern. It was as if the Father had forgotten about Willow.
Willow, however, reminded him of her presence by trying to be helpful. "Uh, familiar?" She paused. "You've seen one cemetery, you've, uh, seen them all...right?"
He shook his head impatiently. "No! No...not the cemetery. The vision!"
"Vision?" Willow looked at the Father with concern. She didn't like this side of him, and she backed away a few steps. She wanted to wake up from the dream now, but she couldn't wake up.
"Yes!" he exclaimed dramatically. "A vision, Willow! This Buffy Summers is having a vision." He shook his head in wonder. "I was right to choose her dreams. She truly does have a destiny! A purpose!"
"Uh, y-you can tell that, just by standing in a cemetery?"
The Father looked at her. Then, he shook his head and chuckled. "No, daughter. I can tell because I can feel the power of the visions." He paused in thought. "I know of no other way of describing it to you. Perhaps one day, you'll feel it, too."
Curious, Willow began to look around at the head stones, and the mausoleum. "Well, uh, wh-what does her vision mean?" A thought suddenly struck her and she looked at the Father in alarm. "Oh! Y-you don't think this vision is about Buffy's death, do you?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Uh, well, if I had a vision of a cemetery, I'd be thinking, you know, that death was involved there somewhere."
Abruptly, the scenery changed once again. It was now night and they were standing on a lawn beneath a starry sky. Willow turned her head and saw Sunnydale High directly behind them. She pointed excitedly. "That's my school!" she exclaimed. "Look! We--"
Something growled and hissed.
Hesitantly, Willow turned around and found herself staring in horror at a crowd of people moving slowly toward them. Something was dreadfully wrong with the people as they made their approach. The Father stood beside Willow with Paige on his right, and together, they watched the mob as they drew near.
Willow didn't like the way their faces looked. She took a fearful step back. "Uh, what-what's wrong with them?"
The Father reached out and grabbed her arm to keep her from bolting. "Stay still, daughter." His eyes didn't look away from the scene before them. "Remember, this is only a vision. They cannot see us."
Willow froze as a woman began to walk past her. She was horrified by what she saw. The woman's face was lumpy, her eyes were yellow, and she had horrible fangs.
"Uh, I-I-I really don't like this vision," Willow said in a soft, hushed tone.
Paige was astonished by the sight, but he wasn't truly surprised by the vision of vampires. The Brotherhood was allied with vampires. The only thing that puzzled him was where the visions were coming from. Buffy Summers. Then, there was something special about her, but what could it be?
"It is very interesting, isn't it?" The Father studied the crowd, even as some of them literally passed right through him, continuing on their way toward the school.
"Uh, no, but-but it is scary." Willow tore her eyes away from the hideously walking dead and looked toward the Father fearfully. She couldn't believe what he had said. "H-how could you say this is interesting? Uh, Buffy dreams of dead places and-and dead people, but-but they're not together! Normally they would be, but these dead people aren't anywhere near a dead place." She glanced toward the school. "Is-is it some kind of weird study group or-or something?"
The Father shook his head. "They're vampires, daughter."
Willow stared. "Th-they're wh-what?"
"Vampires."
"Oh, okay. For a second there, I thought you said vampires."
He turned to look at her. "I did."
"Oh." Willow swallowed. "I-I think I'm gonna throw up."
"Daughter--"
She shook her head. "Uh, but th-they're not real. Not really. I-I mean, they don't..." She watched the passing vampire's fearfully, flinching when one passed by her a little too closely. "Th-they don't exist!"
The Father nodded solemnly. "Yes, child. Vampires are real. By the looks from this vision, I suspect that vampires do indeed exist right here in Sunnydale."
"No!" Willow exclaimed, horrified. "Not here in Sunnydale! Uh, 'cause here is where I exist!"
The Father ignored her. His thoughts were far away. "I wonder..." he trailed off as the scenery around them changed yet again.
"Oh, no..." Willow said in a hushed, fearful tone as her body was assaulted by the sudden change in temperature. It was cold, and she saw torches lined up along the walls of a huge cavern. Where torches were not lit, candles were set up. Vampires moved freely about, and some were sitting still as they chanted in reverent tones. Near the entrance, there were vampires standing like sentries. At the rear of the cavern, there was a sight that Willow found terrifying.
The Father began to move toward it with Paige at his side.
"W-wait!" Willow cried. She hurried after the Father. She didn't care if the vampires really couldn't see her. She didn't want to be left alone in this place.
She hurried to his side just as he stopped at the very edge of a dark pool of blood. Kneeling before the pool of blood was a huge hulking figure of a vampire. This vampire was bowing reverently and chanting words that could be clearly heard.
*"The Sleeper will wake...The Sleeper will wake...The Sleeper will wake...And the world will bleed." He raised his head and looked up toward the cavern's ceiling with adoration in his eyes. "Amen!"*
The Father smiled at the vampire kneeling before the pool of blood. "Luke," he said to himself. Realization dawned on him. His eyes widened as he understood where he was. "Ah, yes! The Master! Heinrich Joseph Nest, my old friend!" He laughed.
Paige squatted beside the pool of blood and looked into it, or at least tried to. He couldn't see anything, however, because the blood was too thick. He found himself wondering how deep it was.
Willow stared at the blood, horrified. She found it difficult not to throw up, but somehow she managed to avoid doing just that. "Uh, who's Luke?" She looked up at the Father. "Is-is he this Master?"
The Father turned to Willow and he smiled warmly at her. "My daughter...I think you're seen enough, don't you?"
The Father reached for her to give her a hug. As he did, the scenery changed abruptly yet again.
Willow bolted up right in her bed and screamed. She looked around and discovered the familiar surroundings of her own bedroom. She looked anxiously at her closed bedroom door and, with her heart racing, she waited hopefully.
She had just awakened from a nightmare, a nightmare that was fading from memory as nightmares and dreams often did. She had also screamed, yet the door remained closed.
Her parents did not come rushing in to see what wrong.
Willow sighed deeply and lay back down onto her bed. It didn't matter anyway, she thought. It was just a dream. That's all it was. The reality she had to face was getting up and getting ready for school.
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The Father and Paige stayed back as Willow slowly approached the bed to get a closer look at the girl sleeping restlessly. The girl was tossing and turning as if she were having nightmares. Willow's shadow fell onto the bedcovers as she looked closely at the girl's face. A gasp of surprise escaped from Willow as she recognized the girl.
The Father noticed her reaction. "Do you know her, daughter?"
Willow suddenly looked as if she had been caught with her hand in the cookie jar. She tilted her head and looked sheepishly at the Father, guilt written all over her face. "Uh," she hesitated, "well, yes." Then, she quickly said, "Well, uh, no. I-I mean, I don't know her, not really, but- but I do know who she is."
The Father smiled warmly. "Interesting. How is it that you recognize this girl, Willow? She's obviously new to Sunnydale judging from the unpacking she appears to be in the midst of." He had chosen the girl's dreams because he could feel them as if they were his own. There was a power in her dreams that proved she was special somehow. The Father strongly believed the blonde-haired girl was destined to be something great. He could sense that the dreams she was having were glimpses of the future.
They were visions, and they called to him.
He wondered if fate had intended to bring the two girls together, for Willow also had power she was not yet aware of. The blonde-haired girl emitted a powerful presence, an aura of strength against evil. He was glad he had chosen her dreams to explore. He was convinced they would be quite revealing.
"Uh," Willow began hesitantly, "uh, well..." Somehow, the words to explain how she recognized the girl escaped her completely. Finally, she blurted out, "Well, it-it wasn't a bad thing I did, exactly, wh-when I looked into the school's student files. I-I do it all the time." She realized she had just admitted to hacking into the school's files. She shook her head. "Oh, but-but not really all the time-all the time. Only some of the time, all the time 'cause, you know, I-I really don't have all the time to break into school records." She realized to her dismay she was only digging herself in deeper. She wished she would just shut up, but her mouth was still talking. "Oh, but not-not that I'm breaking into anything 'cause wh- when I back out, nothing really gets broken. Uh, I-I saw her files on my computer, but I'm done with that now, so, uh, everything's okay."
The Father chuckled.
Paige simply continued to observe. He was making mental notes and one thing he could clearly see was that first appearances were very deceiving. His first impression of Willow Rosenberg was that of a naive, plain girl who wasn't popular by any means, and was incapable of getting a date. Sure, he admitted to himself, she was cute and she had pretty eyes. He loved her long red hair. In spite of that, she was still in the "losers" circle. However, his second impression found her to be extremely smart, but still naive. She was also too damned honest. Any lie she told would be easily discovered.
There was one other thing he couldn't help notice. It was what she was wearing, or not wearing for that matter. He never thought he would see the day where he would be thinking of Willow in the way he was thinking of her at that moment. He grinned to himself as he looked her up and down. If he was ever in a room alone with her and she was dressed like that, she would find herself in very big trouble.
"Who is she, daughter?" the Father asked, watching Willow closely. "Why did you look up her personal file from the school's records?"
Willow paused. She regarded the sleeping girl thoughtfully. "Her name is Buffy Summers. I-I heard that there was a new girl moving into Sunnydale and-and she would be coming to my school. I-I heard she got kicked out of her school in LA, and-and was just curious." She turned her head to look at the Father. "So, uh, I, well, I looked at her file."
"Why did she get kicked out of her school in LA?"
Willow paused again. "Well, th-there was something about a fire." She shrugged. "I think she tried to burn down the gym." She looked down at Buffy. "I wonder if she'll try to burn down my school."
The Father moved to stand beside her. "Willow, I suspect there was another motive for you to have snooped into her personal file. Why don't you just tell me what that motive was?"
Willow glanced nervously up at him. "What-what other reason could I have? I-I was just curious."
He shook his head. "No, daughter. I think it was more than that." He regarded her for a moment. "I think you were hoping to find a new friend."
"A-a new friend?" Willow laughed nervously. "Oh, I-I could never be friends with someone like Buffy Summers! She-she burned her gym down, so, uh, what would I be to her? I-I never burned anything down! Besides, she'll just join the, you know, cool crowd and-and I'll be like a flea or something. I'm in with the losers, you know." She thought about the outfit her mother had set out for her. "In the morning, I'm really going to look like one."
He put his arm around her shoulders and gave her a reassuring hug. "Willow, my dear, I think you are just too hard on yourself."
"No, I'm not. Everybody else is. Uh, except for Xander." She paused. "I- I guess I'm just no Cordelia Chase."
"Of course, you're not. You're Willow Rosenberg. How could you possibly be anyone else?"
Willow looked up at him. She smiled wryly. "Thanks, Dad." She put her arms around him and hugged him.
The Father returned the hug and he saw Paige trying not to laugh.
The Father then stood with Willow beside the bed and he held her hand in his. "Are you ready to see into her dreams, Willow?"
Willow hesitated as she looked at Buffy's face. "She-she looks so troubled." She looked up at him. "M-maybe we shouldn't. Uh, wouldn't we be invading her thoughts?"
The Father nodded his head. "Yes, but she'll never know we were there. Besides, in a few years, you'll be able to do this."
Willow looked at him curiously. "I will? But how?"
"All in good time, my daughter, but first," he placed his hand upon Buffy's forehead, "let's go into her dreams."
Abruptly, the scenery changed around them.
They were standing in the middle of a cemetery. The sun was just beginning to set, yet there was still daylight left to see by. Willow turned around and saw a mausoleum. There was a statue of an angel standing upon the roof directly above the entrance of the mausoleum.
The Father was surveying their new surroundings intently. His eyes were wide and he seemed to be excited. "There's something very familiar about all this," he hissed softly.
Paige glanced at him with concern. It was as if the Father had forgotten about Willow.
Willow, however, reminded him of her presence by trying to be helpful. "Uh, familiar?" She paused. "You've seen one cemetery, you've, uh, seen them all...right?"
He shook his head impatiently. "No! No...not the cemetery. The vision!"
"Vision?" Willow looked at the Father with concern. She didn't like this side of him, and she backed away a few steps. She wanted to wake up from the dream now, but she couldn't wake up.
"Yes!" he exclaimed dramatically. "A vision, Willow! This Buffy Summers is having a vision." He shook his head in wonder. "I was right to choose her dreams. She truly does have a destiny! A purpose!"
"Uh, y-you can tell that, just by standing in a cemetery?"
The Father looked at her. Then, he shook his head and chuckled. "No, daughter. I can tell because I can feel the power of the visions." He paused in thought. "I know of no other way of describing it to you. Perhaps one day, you'll feel it, too."
Curious, Willow began to look around at the head stones, and the mausoleum. "Well, uh, wh-what does her vision mean?" A thought suddenly struck her and she looked at the Father in alarm. "Oh! Y-you don't think this vision is about Buffy's death, do you?"
"Why would you think that?"
"Uh, well, if I had a vision of a cemetery, I'd be thinking, you know, that death was involved there somewhere."
Abruptly, the scenery changed once again. It was now night and they were standing on a lawn beneath a starry sky. Willow turned her head and saw Sunnydale High directly behind them. She pointed excitedly. "That's my school!" she exclaimed. "Look! We--"
Something growled and hissed.
Hesitantly, Willow turned around and found herself staring in horror at a crowd of people moving slowly toward them. Something was dreadfully wrong with the people as they made their approach. The Father stood beside Willow with Paige on his right, and together, they watched the mob as they drew near.
Willow didn't like the way their faces looked. She took a fearful step back. "Uh, what-what's wrong with them?"
The Father reached out and grabbed her arm to keep her from bolting. "Stay still, daughter." His eyes didn't look away from the scene before them. "Remember, this is only a vision. They cannot see us."
Willow froze as a woman began to walk past her. She was horrified by what she saw. The woman's face was lumpy, her eyes were yellow, and she had horrible fangs.
"Uh, I-I-I really don't like this vision," Willow said in a soft, hushed tone.
Paige was astonished by the sight, but he wasn't truly surprised by the vision of vampires. The Brotherhood was allied with vampires. The only thing that puzzled him was where the visions were coming from. Buffy Summers. Then, there was something special about her, but what could it be?
"It is very interesting, isn't it?" The Father studied the crowd, even as some of them literally passed right through him, continuing on their way toward the school.
"Uh, no, but-but it is scary." Willow tore her eyes away from the hideously walking dead and looked toward the Father fearfully. She couldn't believe what he had said. "H-how could you say this is interesting? Uh, Buffy dreams of dead places and-and dead people, but-but they're not together! Normally they would be, but these dead people aren't anywhere near a dead place." She glanced toward the school. "Is-is it some kind of weird study group or-or something?"
The Father shook his head. "They're vampires, daughter."
Willow stared. "Th-they're wh-what?"
"Vampires."
"Oh, okay. For a second there, I thought you said vampires."
He turned to look at her. "I did."
"Oh." Willow swallowed. "I-I think I'm gonna throw up."
"Daughter--"
She shook her head. "Uh, but th-they're not real. Not really. I-I mean, they don't..." She watched the passing vampire's fearfully, flinching when one passed by her a little too closely. "Th-they don't exist!"
The Father nodded solemnly. "Yes, child. Vampires are real. By the looks from this vision, I suspect that vampires do indeed exist right here in Sunnydale."
"No!" Willow exclaimed, horrified. "Not here in Sunnydale! Uh, 'cause here is where I exist!"
The Father ignored her. His thoughts were far away. "I wonder..." he trailed off as the scenery around them changed yet again.
"Oh, no..." Willow said in a hushed, fearful tone as her body was assaulted by the sudden change in temperature. It was cold, and she saw torches lined up along the walls of a huge cavern. Where torches were not lit, candles were set up. Vampires moved freely about, and some were sitting still as they chanted in reverent tones. Near the entrance, there were vampires standing like sentries. At the rear of the cavern, there was a sight that Willow found terrifying.
The Father began to move toward it with Paige at his side.
"W-wait!" Willow cried. She hurried after the Father. She didn't care if the vampires really couldn't see her. She didn't want to be left alone in this place.
She hurried to his side just as he stopped at the very edge of a dark pool of blood. Kneeling before the pool of blood was a huge hulking figure of a vampire. This vampire was bowing reverently and chanting words that could be clearly heard.
*"The Sleeper will wake...The Sleeper will wake...The Sleeper will wake...And the world will bleed." He raised his head and looked up toward the cavern's ceiling with adoration in his eyes. "Amen!"*
The Father smiled at the vampire kneeling before the pool of blood. "Luke," he said to himself. Realization dawned on him. His eyes widened as he understood where he was. "Ah, yes! The Master! Heinrich Joseph Nest, my old friend!" He laughed.
Paige squatted beside the pool of blood and looked into it, or at least tried to. He couldn't see anything, however, because the blood was too thick. He found himself wondering how deep it was.
Willow stared at the blood, horrified. She found it difficult not to throw up, but somehow she managed to avoid doing just that. "Uh, who's Luke?" She looked up at the Father. "Is-is he this Master?"
The Father turned to Willow and he smiled warmly at her. "My daughter...I think you're seen enough, don't you?"
The Father reached for her to give her a hug. As he did, the scenery changed abruptly yet again.
Willow bolted up right in her bed and screamed. She looked around and discovered the familiar surroundings of her own bedroom. She looked anxiously at her closed bedroom door and, with her heart racing, she waited hopefully.
She had just awakened from a nightmare, a nightmare that was fading from memory as nightmares and dreams often did. She had also screamed, yet the door remained closed.
Her parents did not come rushing in to see what wrong.
Willow sighed deeply and lay back down onto her bed. It didn't matter anyway, she thought. It was just a dream. That's all it was. The reality she had to face was getting up and getting ready for school.
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