Grains of the Golden Sand
Anya's Dream
It was her wedding day and she couldn't stop crying. She didn't know why she was crying, but she knew she couldn't stop. Tears flowed down her cheeks and she hurriedly tried to brush them away. Looking at her hands, she saw they were covered in red and she realized she was crying tears, she was crying blood.
"Why am I crying blood?" she asked.
"Because," Xander said, "it's always got to be the blood. Don't you remember?"
Anya looked with her red eyes and said, "You left me. Why are you here?"
He smiled and Anya couldn't help smile with him. "I'm always here," Xander said. "I'll always be with you. Till death do us part."
"Do you really mean that?" Anya asked.
"Of course, I do," Xander said and he leaned over to kiss her.
Xander abruptly stopped mid-kiss and Anya could feel blood on her lips, blood that wasn't hers. Xander opened his mouth and more blood poured out and Anya saw the blade coming out of his chest and there was more blood, so much blood, too much blood. It was a river of blood.
Xander fells to the floor and behind him was Buffy, her sword imbedded in Xander's back, her face a stone glare.
"Why?" Anya shouted. Buffy said nothing, she just removed the bloody sword from Xander's back. "You're not real!" Anya shouted as Buffy approached her. "You're not real, you're only a dream!" Buffy raised the sword up high and…
Anya awoke. She clutched her chest, trying to regulate her breathing. What was that? she though. She got up from the chair she had been sleeping on and looked around the room. Giles was sleeping on the couch and she wondered what he could be dreaming about. From the pained expression on his face, it didn't look like it was good.
She sighed and went to the kitchen. Well, if I'm awake, I'm going to eat something, she thought. Ooh, cookies! She grabbed the box of cookies from the shelf and started to munch them down one at a time.
I wonder what Xander is dreaming about? No, no, I don't. I don't care about Xander. Xander is stupid and useless and fat. Well, okay, maybe not fat. But he needs to lay off the thin mints.
Anya put the cookies back on the shelf and she left the kitchen and tiptoed up the stairs. I really shouldn't be doing this, she thought. But I guess it doesn't matter. I can just teleport out if he wakes up and he'll never know I was there.
She slowly entered Buffy's room, where Willow was soundly sleeping on the bed and Xander was snoring on the floor. Anya looked at him with quiet curiosity. Okay, maybe he wasn't useless, she thought. Maybe…
"Anya."
Anya quickly turned around at the mention of her name and saw Buffy in the doorway. Her face was shrouded by shadows.
"Buffy," Anya said, "I thought you were asleep. This, uh, this isn't what it looks like. I'm not watching him in his sleep, honestly. I just wanted to get, uh, more pillows. That's right, more pillows, because the chair downstairs is lumpy and uncomfortable."
Buffy stayed silent.
"Well," Anya said, "I'll just be going then. Back downstairs. To the lumpy chair. Bye." Anya tried to squeeze past Buffy, but she completely blocked the doorway. "Could you scoot a bit, please?" Anya asked. "I'm trying to get out here."
Buffy's hands shot forward and covered Anya's mouth. Anya tried to teleport away, but she couldn't, her legs wouldn't move, her arms stayed by her side, her body was paralyzed. What's wrong with me? she thought.
"Shh," Buffy said. She turned to look at Willow. "She's sleeping. But don't worry. She's just a big faker."
Anya tried to scream, tried to move her legs, her arms, any part of her body, but she couldn't. She started to cry and she felt the blood tearsmove down her face.
She looked with her red eyes as Buffy swiftly moved her arms and snapped her neck.
