Chapter 3

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Buffy snapped out of her reverie just in time to hear about tomorrow's surprise quiz, held back a groan as the bell rung and seemed to have a louder, more annoying echo in her head, signaling the end of class.

Sending a glare at the offending PA system that should have melted it, wishing that she had Superman's laser vision for just that moment, she didn't wait around, just grabbed her books and other paraphernalia, leaving as quickly as she could.

The dream and the after effects of the bout with seizures had left her dazed and disgruntled, in no mood for inane chatter of any kind. She only wanted to crawl someplace high, dark, and curl up until the wrongness in her disappeared.

Yeah, right, fat chance of that ever happening. I'm the Slayer, she who must face the great, Big Bad alone, stop the scourge of evil, blah blah woof woof.

Truth was, it worried her what the resurgence of these two incidents forebode. Not anything good, that was a definite, set in stone, mammoth Easter Island tropical freaky kind of certainty. Separately, they were bad enough; both occurring was too much a coincidence. Since becoming the Slayer she now knew better than to discredit dreams of any kind.

Even before becoming the Chosen One, She Who Will Slay Until She Dies…Again, she knew that dreams were important.

'A dream is the way of subconsciously notifying you of important data your conscious mind did not immediately pick up and inform you of at the time of observation.'

The familiar phrase, spoken in that oh-so-familiar cool, unruffled, and unemotional tone, was enough to send cold chills of unease down Buffy's spine. She shoved that and similarly related and unpleasant reminders of her past deep in the recesses of her mind, where she hoped they would stay.

"Buffy, wait! Buff!"

Mind finally registering her friends' cries, she slowed down and let a panting and worried looking pair catch up to her quick strides.

"Gee, Buffy, where's the fire? There must be something real important to talk to Giles about, you left so fast."

Xander was so rarely really irritated at her that Buffy blinked, staring up at him in puzzlement, finally turning her attention and awareness on her surroundings. The trio was standing in the doorway of the Sunnydale High Library, domain of Rupert Giles, aka Buffy's 'Watcher', who was supposed to be preparing her for all the things that go bump in the night with evil global and apocalyptic plans, most involving the utter mass extinction of the human race.

Buffy had no clue this was where she headed, but it was so natural, when having a problem of such proportions to talk to Giles. He could usually pull an answer out of one of his musty books after careful research of course, or have Willow pull some cybernetic mojo and all that would have to be done was some serious butt-kicking on her part and Xander providing snacks and comic relief, then they could go on to the next problem arising.

"Uh, yeah. Something important," she agreed lamely, taking timid steps into Gile's domain, her loyal twosome following behind like good sidekicks.

"Of apocalypse proportions?" Willow asked, a mix of excitement and automatic worry warring for dominance.

Only for me, Buffy snorted inwardly, but what she said aloud was, "I was being sarcastic, Will."

"Oh."

Buffy hated seeing Willow's excitement and self esteem deflate so quickly after an innocuous remark because of something she had said. It made her feel even more rotten than before.

"It's all right, Will. I'm not really…all the way here. I have a headache, and I didn't mean to sound like I was being mean or anything."

Willow seemed to brighten up again, and her smile could have charged a thousand cities it was so bright. Like a kid who's mommy spanked her, and then gave her a hug. Buffy's heart ached that Willow needed to feel such reassurance in order to feel good about herself.

In the short time that Buffy had known them both, she'd really seen an improvement in the lives of Willow and Xander. Willow perhaps, was the one who was most notably changed. The Willow of old would never have gotten believed in apocalypses or vampires or heebie jeebies, who was painfully shy, much less get excitedly worried about having to face one again. While still shy, she had definitely started to come into her own, and was even now learning how to stand up on her own two feet and get out of Buffy and Xander's shadows, becoming confident in her self and abilities.

"So, let's see Giles about the great Buffalypse!"

"Xander!" both females admonished.