A/N : Thanx so much to; spuffy-monica, Spuffy2008, Rebel Goddess, axlgroupie91, KelleyTheSelfToastablePopTart, Lifes-Slayer, and aej1085, for the awesome reviews. I think I bored a few people away from this fic since it was very much based on the episode up to now. There is a little more still to come but I'm trying to change a few things and some major changes will occur next chapter as we go beyond the actual epsiode of Normal Again.
(For disclaimer, etc. - see chapters 1&2)
Edited to Add : This should have been posted last night, but my computer got a virus and went crazy. After five hours of scanning and clean up I appear to be safe and you guys can gave the newest chapter of this story!

Chapter 4

"It took a little longer than I'd hoped" Willow was saying as she came up the stairs to Buffy's room, "No magic and all, went boom twice, but then I got it. Just..." she stopped at the door when she saw Buffy was crying a river, "Oh sweetie" she sighed, putting the mug down on the table and coming to sit on the bed.

"Wills, I didn't mean to" she said tearfully, "I was just so confused"

"Hey, it's okay" Willow told her, gripping her hand, "You didn't do anything wrong" she assured her, though only because she'd yet to find out what'd happened.

"She did something alright" Spike said as he appeared at the door, "Nibblet's locked herself in the bloody bathroom" he told the red-head as Buffy cried.

"I don't... what happened?" she asked. The vampire sighed, gesturing with a tilt of his head for Willow to come out of the room. She did so cautiously, closing Buffy's bedroom door behind her.

"Slayer had another flash of wacko-world" Spike told the witch, "She was saying all sorts, so out of it she let me hold her..." he paused thinking about it before continuing, "She said she didn't have a sister, when Dawnie was standing right there in the doorway" he explained and Willow felt sick.

"That's awful" she said and Spike nodded.

"Reckon wherever she goes hallucinating, the Little Bit ain't there" he told her, "Probably none of us are"

"Well, the place can't be too bad if you're not in it" Xander snapped as he came up the stairs, "What're you doing up here Spike you were supposed to be watching the demon"

"What do you want from me Harris?" the vampire snapped back, getting right in the boys face, "Leave the ladies in distress and keep some unconscious monster company instead of helpin' them?"

"Buffy and Dawn are not your friends or your family" he pointed out, "Nobody wants you here so why don't you just leave, your services are no longer required" he said, thrusting a blanket into the vamps hands to guard against the sun.

"Was goin' anyway" he lied, as Dawn came out of the bathroom. He wasn't about to start a fight in front of her or within the hearing of Buffy. Besides there was little he could do physically against Xander without the chip frying his brain.

Within her room, Buffy picked up the mug of antidote from her night-stand and looked at it with some distaste. No drink, anti-demon spell or otherwise, should look or smell this bad, she thought. Noises beyond her door caught her attention and her head snapped up as she listened. Spike and Xander were fighting again, Dawn was whining and crying like she always did, as Willow tried to gain some kind of control over the whole situation.

Buffy closed her eyes and wished it all away, before she realised something. Her eyes opened once again and she stared down at the poison she held in her hands, because that's what it looked like. How could this be her cure, and why would she want to cure her ability to get out of this hell she lived in, she wondered.

She started to ask herself which was more believable, a world where she was a crazy girl in a hospital or a place full of demons and monsters that she had to fight everyday. It was getting harder, worse, more depressing all the time. Life shouldn't be like this, she knew it shouldn't. She'd felt detached, not really there at all for months, ever since the gang had pulled her back from Heaven.

Doors slammed and feet pounded on the stairs making Buffy wince. Everything here was harsh and loud, everyone around her cared more about bitching at each other than they did about her, and to confess the truth she couldn't find it within herself to care much about even that.

As more yelling and crying permeated through the door, Buffy tipped the contents of the mug she held into the trash basket by her bed. Closing her eyes she concentrated on her mothers voice that lingered inside her mind and in seconds she was back in the hospital bed, her parents and William looking down at her.

"I don't wanna go back there" she told them shakily "I wanna stay here with you"

"Oh sweetie" Joyce cried with relief, "We want that too, but first you have to get better"

"Tell me what to do" she begged, just wanting so badly the life she supposedly had here. A life where she was relatively normal, and the people around her were too. A life where her parents still loved each other and her. A life that could have William in it perhaps.

Buffy didn't care much for the doctor that stood beside her bed, looking a little severely at her, but what he was saying was very important if she wanted to stay here.

"It's not going to be easy, Buffy" he explained, as her parents looked on. William had wanted to stay but realised this was a family thing and Buffy would probably feel more comfortable and able to do what she must without him crowding her. He promised to return tomorrow though, despite the fact he wasn't supposed to be working.

"You have to take it one step at a time" the doctor continued to tell Buffy, "You have to start ridding your mind of those things that support your hallucinations. The things in that world that you cling to. For your delusion, they're safe-holds, but for your mind they're traps. We have to break those down" he told her.

"My friends?" she guessed, not sure whether she was pleased or saddened when the doctor nodded she was correct.

"Last summer, when you had a momentary awakening, it was them that pulled you back in" the doctor explained, making the blonde frown. She hadn't been in Heaven before, she'd been here in this place. It was so bright and clean and her mother had been here, she'd just assumed... but that world she thought she belonged in wasn't real. She'd never died just tried to get better, and her so-called friends, those beings she'd created in her head, had held her back from healing like she should.

"They're not really your friends, Buffy" her father chipped in, "They're just tricks keeping you from getting healthy" he said firmly and she nodded dumbly, finding it was a lot to take in. To find out that after six years of slaying and fighting and hanging out with friends, that all of it was unreal, a delusion, figments of a disease she must defeat.

"You have to do whatever it takes to convince yourself of that, sweetie" Joyce said gently squeezing her hand, "Whatever it takes"

Buffy nodded once again that she understood before pushing the world away and letting the supposed delusion take her. If she was going to convince herself these friends she'd had were gone, she was the one that would have to make them go away. They must be dead to her, and so they would be.

"Oh, Buffy" Willow was startled to find the Slayer right behind her when she turned around in the kitchen, "I was just coming to check on you. Are you feeling better?" she asked, "Did the antidote work?"

"Sure" Buffy nodded, looking a little spaced, "I mean, it'll probably take a while for me to be... normal, but getting there" she nodded, forcing a slight smile.

"Well, we still have the big bad all chained up in the basement" the red-head told her, "In case it didn't work and we need more parts. It'll be nice to see you all better" she smiled, hugging Buffy briefly.

"Thanks" the blonde smiled, "Actually, there was something I thought of that you could do, y'know to make me feel better" she said innocently. Willow of course promised she'd do anything if it'd help Buffy out, they were best friends after all. She never even saw the vase coming until it smashed across her head.

"Hello?" Xander called as he let himself into 1630 Revello Drive.

Once he'd seen off Spike this morning he'd headed to work. Then, when he'd got home at the end of the day, he'd called to check on Buffy's condition but the phone just rang and rang til finally the machine picked up. It was unlikely all three girls had gone out, especially since Buffy wasn't at all well, and if none of them could make it to the phone, surely that meant badness.

It was with caution he entered the house, calling for Buffy, Willow, and Dawn, none of which answered him. He was just about to go up the stairs when Buffy appeared from the kitchen startling him.

"Hey" he smiled, "Look at you, sane-girl" he said as he came towards her, "You feeling better?"

"A little" she shrugged, stepping towards him, "About to get a whole lot better" she added flatly, producing a frying pan from behind her back and clocking him across the head. He hit the floor with a thump and looked up at her in a daze.

"Buffy?" he tried to get up but his head span furiously.

"No!" he heard her shout before there was a second sharp pain in the back of his head and the world went black.

Without emotion, Buffy put down her weapon and picked up Xander's unconscious form, dragging him down to the basement. He was tied to a post in the centre of the room as Willow and Dawn, both bound and gagged on the floor, looked on helplessly, still struggling to free themselves.

"Have to do this, you have to go, I have to let go" Buffy muttered to herself as she stepped warily towards the demon chained up to the post opposite Xander. Tears crept down her cheeks as her friends muffled cries assaulted her ears. Her hands stilled near the chains.

"It's okay, Buffy" the doctors voice told her "Don't stress yourself"

"Honey, take your time" Mom chimed in, so kind and loving and strong.

"Make it as easy on yourself as possible, sweetheart" Daddy told her, "There's nothing wrong with that"

Buffy concentrated on their voices and knew she was doing the right thing as she unchained the monster that writhed and fought to be free. She backed up against the wall beneath the stairs and Xander regained consciousness only to be faced by the demon he and Spike had caught less than twenty-four hours ago.

"Buffy!" the boy yelled, "Untie me! Help me!" he begged of her, and she covered her ears with her hands, crying and closing her eyes tight shut.

"Buffy!" his voice morphed into her father's own and she opened her eyes to see both him and her mother still there with her, holding her hand, assuring her it'd be okay if she can just get rid of these people, these things that held her to that awful world inside her mind.

"It's gonna be okay, sweetheart" Joyce promised her, "Whatever it is, it's not real, remember? Just keep concentrating"

"We're right here, sweetie" Hank added, "We believe in you"

Buffy nodded that she understood as a loud crash caught her attention and she was back in the basement full of loud noises and the horrific sight of the demon attacking those she'd held dear for so long.

She turned her back on the scene, hiding her face as Dawn's gag came free and she screamed, but the sounds of fighting lessened. The terrible noises of distress faded away to nothing and Buffy hurtled back to the hospital, finding herself huddled in the corner of the room with Joyce right in front of her.

For the first time in a long time she felt like she was safe.

"Mommy?" she checked, voice cracking with emotion as tears ran down her cheeks.

"Buffy" her mother said gently, putting a hand to her face "are you...?"

"They're gone" the blonde interrupted before crying like she'd never stop. Joyce pulled her into her arms and rocked her like a baby.

"It's okay, honey" she said, also crying out of pure relief to have her child back in the real world, "It's all over now"

To Be Continued...