Rating:G

Chapter-9-Choices

November 2004

Dressed in her pyjamas, Buffy strolled through large halls that look like iron works at the first glance, with huge vats of molten metal, sparks flying through the air and people being used as slaves, controlled by guards with whips dressed in black and without skin on their heads. The workers were pounding the metal on anvils, pushing wheelbarrows and swinging sledgehammers. She saw a steel door split open, the upper half rising, the lower half sinking and a group of young slaves coming from it.

One of the slavers started talking."You work, and you live. That is all.You do not complain or laugh or do anything besides work. Whatever you thought, whatever you were does not matter. You are no one now. You mean nothing."

The guard walked to one of the boys."Who are you?"

"Aaron." the boy answered and the guard hit him with his club, causing the boy grunt in pain and fell to the floor unconscious. Then the guard approached another person."Who are you?"

"No one." the young woman replied, her head ducked.

The guard reached a third figure - a young blond girl with shoulder-length hair and asked her the same question."Who are you?"

The girl looked up at him for a moment, and then smiled." I'm ..."

Suddenly the scene ended in the middle of the girl's sentence like time had stopped in that moment. Buffy saw a young man with short brown spiky hair dressed in a long black coat coming towards her and smiling. "Hi Joan."

"Ok. As weird dreams go, this is the winner."Buffy reacted."Do we know each other?"

"It's your dream. Why don't you tell me? There is nothing here you don't already know including myself. Your subconscious chose me as your spirit guide." Angel explained.

Buffy was studying the man in front of her, clearly not convinced by his explanation. "Maybe we should wait until my subconscious becomes sober because I don't have a clue who you are."

"That's pretty much why I'm here. You have to remember what you fight for."

"Great. So tell me. I'm dying to find out." Buffy snorted.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Angel chuckled. "Or the second. However that's not why I'm here. I can't tell you about your life I can just show you. This for example..." Angel pointed at the stopped scene in front of them. "...is a moment when a young girl made an important choice.To stop running away from her problems, face her fears and fight them. Here is the beginning and the end of our tour."

The factory disappeared and Buffy now saw a dim lit room and a couple sitting on a bed with red sheets, hugging, their clothes completely soaked.

"I love you. I tried not to but I can't stop."

"Me to. Can't either."

"Joan maybe we shouldn't."

"Shhh. Just kiss me."

The scene freezes as the previous one."Another important choice." Angel stated Buffy, his features suddenly changing.

"A good one?"

"Well. That depends on the point of view." Angelus finished morphing into his game face and smirked."I personally found it great. Had a lot of fun the next few months. Of course it's not just about fun. I tried to be useful as well. I solved the problem with homeless people in several towns. When I was finished there wasn't a single living soul on the streets."

Buffy saw the deformed face and yellow eyes watching her and backed a few steps. "Who are you?"

"What Jo? You don't recognize your spiritus guideus?" Angelus laughed."I guess people overestimate the first time thing." He ran to Buffy who tried to escape and caught her. "No weapons, no friends, no hope." He lowered his head and sunk his fangs into her neck.

Buffy reacted on instinct. She grabbed his hair and yanked him away. Then she kicked him in his stomach and Angelus fell to the ground. However he managed to grab Buffy's leg during the fall, causing she lost her balance, tumbling backwards. He was the first to regain his footing and kicked her violently into her ribs when she tried to stand up.

"You certainly used to do better then this.", Angelus grinned."What's wrong? You forgot to take your morning milk and cereals?"

"What do you want?", Buffy managed to rasp out, gasping for breath.

"The same as every one.", Angelus shrugged. "A lot of blood, a good kill, shag a chosen virgin every now and then, rule or destroy the world whatever will be easier. I already managed the first three. Well, you should know."

Buffy assumed the kick broke two or three ribs, but ignored the pain in her chest and leaped up, hitting Angelus into his unprotected chin. Suddenly a sword appeared in her hand and she plunged it into his stomach, without thinking how she got her new weapon.

Angel's face changed back to human as his lifeless body fell to the ground. Buffy watched the corpse, unsure what she was supposed to do, when the wound on his chest began to heal, the sword disappeared and Angel stood up again. "I'm sorry Joan."

"What the hell was that?" Buffy asked, still prepared to defend herself.

"I had to show you both sides. It's never just black and white. It took you some time after you've been chosen to realize that." Angel stood up again.

"Chosen?"

Angel waved his hand and the scene changed once more. This time Buffy saw an about forty years old man in a library."In every generation there is a chosen one. She alone will stand against the vampires ,demons and the forces of darkness."

"Alone?" Buffy inquired looking worried. She certainly didn't enjoy the idea of fighting some creatures.

"Destined to be, but never was." Angel assured her.

A high school hallway appeared with many students walking in various directions. A dark haired boy approached two girls, obviously in a very good mood. "Will. Joan. I see a party coming up this evening! We'll share the preparations. I'll take care of the pizza part. You'll take care of the bikini part."

"Xander!" Willow punched her friend in the arm, though she doubted it will have any effect on his dirty ideas.

"OK." Xander raised his arms, pretending he was giving up. "If you say so then clothing will be optional."

"I suddenly feel an uncontrollable urge to slay someone." Buffy joined the discussion, turning to Willow for advice."Do you have a suggestion?"

"And this is me shutting up now." Xander finished his thoughts about the party."So what did you kill last night?"

The hallway transformed into a hospital room where Buffy saw herself hugging a younger brown haired girl. "Dawn. It doesn't matter where you came from, or how you got here. You are my sister. There's no way you could annoy me so much if you weren't."

The hospital room disappeared and was replaced by a crying and hugging couple in front of a burning factory. Buffy recognized the man as the one from the library."Do you want to get yourself killed ? You can't leave me! I can't do this alone."

"They always helped you." Angel showed her a graveyard with Xander, Giles and Willow fighting and killing a vampire.

"They are strong." Buffy noted. "Even without me."

"But they don't always make the best choices."

Buffy saw Willow and Waren in a forest. Waren's arms and legs were tied by vines to the nearby trees. "Bored now." Willow made a short movement with her hand and a bolt of magic ripped through Warren and in one fluid move tore the skin off his body.

"Willow what did you do?", Buffy recognized she was the one who asked that question and also the boy standing next to her, together with a blonde woman she hadn't seen yet.

"One down." Willow replied and set Waren's body on fire, leaving nothing but the ropes she used to bind him. Lightning started to flash around her arms and torso and she disappeared.

Buffy stared in shock at the scene in front of her."Why exactly are you showing this to me?"

"It's all about choices. That's the only thing I'm trying to explain to you." Angel answered and came closer to Buffy who noticed they were again in the factory where her dream started.

Buffy looked at Angel, wondering what will come next."Is this the part where you tell me all this has some kind of higher purpose? Because that would suck."

"No. But it's time for you to make a choice." Angel put his hand on Buffy's forehead and she closed her eyes. When Buffy opened her eyes again she was awake in her small flat in Colorado Springs which had been given to her by the SGC.

Buffy stood up ,went to her bathroom and looked into the mirror studying her own face which slowly gained a determined expression. "Joan. It's not important you don't remember who you are or where you come from. Important is what you do now. I can't hide in my bed, in my dreams from this world anymore. I want to be part of this fight ."

End Chapter.