Title: Grains of the Golden Sand
Author: alliterator
Summary: "All that we see or seem/Is but a dream within a dream." E. A. Poe, "Dream Within A Dream." Post-Grave, Restless-style.
Spoilers: Spoilers for Season 7 (or at least foreshadowing).
Disclaimer: If I owned Buffy, do you think I'd be writing fanfiction? The lyrics are from Cream's "Tales of Brave Ulysses."
Feedback: You think I'm going to say no?

Author's Note: I wrote this chapter while listening to the Suite from "Restless." Incredible music. Chris Beck is a composing genius.

Giles's Dream

Giles looked up at the ruins of the Magic Box. Well, old chap, he thought, looks like another place you worked at got destroyed. He walked inside the store, the broken door swinging to and fro in the wind. Am I sure it's safe in here? The Magic Box's insides were worse than its outsides. Giles brushed his fingertips along the edges of the table in the center of the room where he, Buffy, Xander, and Willow had met so many times. Ash covered the place and when Giles lifted his hand he saw that it covered his fingers, too. What shall I do with the place? The store has been a haven to me ever since I bought it. Almost like the library.

"Doesn't look that bad to me." Giles looked towards the entrance and saw Anya walking in the store. She was carrying an umbrella in her hand and wore a necklace of pearl around her neck.

"I don't think it's safe in here," Giles said to her.

"Nonsense," Anya said. She walked around the rubble and picked up an old book that once had text in it. She opened the book and started sneezing.

"Here, let me help you," Giles took the book from her hand, closed it, and put it on the floor.

"I had forgotten about the smelling," Anya said.

"Smelling?"

"A vengeance demon has a much better sense of smell than normal humans."

"I thought you stopped being a vengeance demon?"

"Oh didn't I tell you?" Anya pointed at the pearl necklace she wore. "I rejoined."

"That's excellent, I think," Giles leaned in to take a closer look at the pearls. "I thought vengeance demons wore necklaces with pendants."

"I thought a pendant would be too old fashioned," Anya said. "Pearls are more modern, right?"

"In the 1920s maybe."

"Ooh, I knew I should have asked for chain, but I thought it would be too uncomfortable."

Giles looked down and saw the umbrella in her hand. "Why the umbrella? Is it raining?"

"It will be."

Giles walked to the door and looked outside. It was so bright that the light blinded him and he had to shade his eyes. He pulled back inside. "Doesn't look like it's going to rain soon." But Anya was gone.

A shadow caught Giles's eye and he looked up to the place where all the dark magic books used to be. There was a figure there. "Anya?" The figure didn't respond. Could be burglars here to rob us of what little possessions we have left. Giles decided to see who it was. He gripped the black ladder that led to the space up top and started to climb. Each step became an obstacle, every second the air grew heavier and Giles strained to lift himself up. When he reached to top step, he was drenched in sweat and his glasses were slipping off his nose. He tried to catch them, but his hands were too slow and his glasses fell onto the ground far below.

Giles climbed onto the space where the dark magic books had been and looked at the dark figure. He couldn't see well without his glasses. All of the figure he saw was the long flowing hair and the rest was blurred. "You won't be stealing anything with me here," he told the person. The person came forward and Giles could make out that it was a girl, but definitely not Anya. The girl raised her hand and came near Giles. "What do you think you're–" The girl pushed Giles and he went sprawling off the space and into the void below.

Giles happened to land on the couch of his flat. Sitting up, he heard opera playing upstairs and he looked around. A bottle of wine and two wine glasses were on the table, along with a note that said 'upstairs'. There was an envelope, too, and when Giles opened it, he saw a charcoal drawing of himself. I remember this. Jenny... she's up there. Giles looked up the stairs and saw the row of candles lit on each step. The music continued to play.

Giles grabbed the wine bottle and started to lightly tiptoe up the stairs, frightened that he would have to see Jenny's dead body sprawled on the bed again, but unable to control his motions. Jenny's lifeless body, rose petals surrounding her like a halo, her head tilted in an unnatural position. He had stared at it for the longest time. The coroner had told him that her neck had snapped. When he was younger, he often thought about dying. He had thought the worst way was to be eviscerated, but after Jenny's death he realized it was having ones neck snapped.

He reached the top of the staircase and saw where he had dropped the wine bottle the last time. There was a dark stain there and he could see his reflection in the stain. He looked up from the rug and looked at the bed, his eyes betraying fear. It was worse than he thought.

On the bed was himself, head titled back, neck snapped. Giles gripped the wine bottle in his hands as he gazed upon his dead body and music played. He raised the wine bottle above his head and threw it at the wall, shattering it into a thousand pieces. Wine dripped from the wall, staining the carpet again. Giles turned and hurried down the stairs, sometimes skipping two or three steps. He ran to his door and rushed out.

Giles glanced around. Where am I? His surroundings looked somewhat like the Bronze, but the audience sat in rows and rows of seats and the stage was filled with red curtains and a giant wheel. Giles could see Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, and Xander strapped to different sections of the wheel. He approached the stage to see what was going on.

Suddenly, on stage appeared Spike, clad in a tuxedo and a top hat. He held a silver tipped cane in his hand and he swirled it around. Abruptly, he pointed the cane at Giles. "What's your name?"

Giles looked up at him. "Rupert Giles."

"Well, Ru-pert," Spike said, "today is your lucky day." He held out his hand and Giles took it, climbing on board the stage.

"What is all this?" Giles asked him.

"Well, Ru-pert, you get to spin the Wheel!" Spike pointed at the giant wheel with his friends attached to it. "Just pull that lever and spin it."

"Why?"

"Why? For the greatest prize of all, of course. When you land on the right one, you get..." he leaned next to Giles's ear and whispered "epru.".

"And what would that be?" Giles asked. "Oh never mind. Which one's the right one?"

"That's for me to know and you to find out," Spike said. His lips curled, exposing his teeth. "It's time! It's time for you to...

Spin the Wheel

It's quite easy

As long as you don't get queasy

It goes round and round

Just don't make a sound."

Giles interrupted Spike's singing to go over and pull the lever. The Wheel started to turn.

"If it hits the Slayer

Bow your head and say your prayer

Look out, no one wants the Key

You can't give her away for free."

Giles half listened to the song while watching the wheel spin faster and faster. He really hoped that it would land on the right one.

"Watch your skin with the Witch

She will make it crawl and twitch

Nothing saves you from the Demon

She likes to stomp and crush wee men

Nothing frightens the Normal

Just don't ask him to the formal."

The Wheel was whirling now, going at the speed of light.

"Spin the Wheel

It's not hard

But it will leave you scared and scarred."

Suddenly, the Wheel stopped and only one person was left on it.

"Take it easy; catch your breath

A few more minutes, you'll face Death!"

Spike laughed as Giles looked up and saw that only Buffy was left on the Wheel. She jumped down, landing with a thud on the stage. Spike backed away from her in fear as she came forward to Giles.

"What-what's the prize?" Giles stammered, confused at why Buffy was coming toward him.

Buffy smiled, baring her pearly whites. "This," she said bringing up her hand and opening it. Grains of earth fell from her hand and Giles saw as she fell to the ground. "Epru."

"Dust," Giles said in realization. Epru is Sumerian for dust. Why would dust be a gift? He had no time to ponder this when he saw Buffy now carried a knife in her hand. She stuck out the knife and Giles felt it imbed in his gut. Reeling back, he turned, stumbled and started to run through the red curtains, searching for the exit. Music started to play in the background.

You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever,

But you rode upon a steamer to the violence of the sun.

Giles, bleeding, pulled open the exit doors and ran through them. Giles looked around, confused at the zigzag hallway that he was in. He ran down the corridor, dripping blood on the clean tile floor, and looked at each door. Each said something else: SPIRIT, HEART, MIND, HAND, DEATH, LIFE. He slipped and fell down and struggled to get back up. He put his hand on the floor and pushed up, leaving a bloody hand. He hadn't even realized blood was on his hands, now he's getting it on everything else.

And the colors of the sea blind your eyes with trembling mermaids,

And you touch the distant beaches with tales of brave Ulysses.

He limped along the hallway now, one hand holding his wound, the other holding the wall for support. He left a streak of blood behind him and as he hobbled along, he tried to read where each door led. POWER. DESTRUCTION. HATE. LOVE. GIVE. FORGIVE. The doors all blended into one as Giles finally stopped and fell to his knees. He looked down and saw that before him was a pit with pikes in it, each one sharp enough to pierce his flesh.

How his naked ears were tortured by the sirens sweetly singing,

For the sparkled waves are calling you to kiss their white laced lips.

Giles continued staring at the pit beneath, until he heard a voice. He looked up and saw that Buffy was next to him. "Buffy?"

A smile came to her face, but not like the one she had given to him before on the stage. This one lit up her face and he realized it was Buffy and she would save him. She held out her hand and Giles reached for it, but then she took it and pushed him into the pit. He fell and was impaled in the pikes. Looking up, he saw Buffy's happy, grinning face.

And you see a girl's brown body dancing through the turquoise,

And her footprints make you follow where the sky loves the sea.