Willow's Dream.

Willow put her arms up and created a shield that blocked the sword of the humanoid frog that was attacking her before she kicked out and hit the creature in its chest as it brought up its sword. She saw it stumble back as she heard more croaking noises from behind her as even more frog-like warriors in the distance were hopping towards her; frog warriors that had slimy green and brown blotched skin, along with webbed feet and arms, long flicking tongues that were used to attack the redhead as well, and those yellow-black eyes that looked at her.

"Ewww," said Willow as she ran as fast as she could from the race of frog people who were slowly catching up. Grabbing the energy shotgun on the left side of her hip, the redhead then turned around and raised the weapon before firing at the legions of frog people that were hopping towards her; some were hoping, and others were running with swords in their webbed hands. The redhead then fried her energy shotgun and killed a few of the creatures before she saw even more approaching from her left flank. Dropping her shotgun, the redhead ran to her right as fast as she could. Willow continued to run and run, all the while looking over her shoulders at the frog people gaining ground on her. Willow looked to her front again and saw that the ground in front of her a few feet away was missing.

She was on a cliff facing an ocean.

She reached the edge of the cliff and stopped while waving her arms to keep her balance so that she didn't fall into the waters below. Willow looked behind her and then gulped at the thousands of frog warriors coming towards her. The redhead then sighed and looked at the Ranger badge on her belt before she pressed down on it. She felt the radiation become absorbed by the Series five implant as she closed her hands into fists, at the same time she had a felt a surge of power going through her body. She lifted both her hands and fired rapid blasts of telekinetic energy that was supercharged by her implant at the frog warriors. She screamed as she swept the area in front of her with her blasts while at the same time she felt the amount of Alpha radiation from the badge that powered the implant get lower and lower until she stood alone, and depowered in firing a final smaller blast just as she collapsed on her knees and panted. She was sweating and panting while she looked in front of her at the thick dust which rose from the ground, that cleared after a few minutes, and shook her head at the thousands of dead frog-warrior bodies that lay on the grass.

The redhead slowly got up and took a step forward towards the bodies and away from the edge of the cliff when she felt the ground trembling. Narrowing her eyes, she crouched down and placed her hand on the ground; she then looked up with her eyes opened wide as she looked at the rising plumes of dust in the distance. She could hear the familiar sound of croaking coming closer and closer.

"Ummm…" said Willow when she heard swishing sounds from behind her.

Turning around, her face paled when she saw black dots rising out of the oceans and flying towards her. She could hear the hissing sounds from the dots, as well as the humming of their wings flying through the air as they headed towards the redhead.

"Flying tadpoles!" screamed Willow as she ran as fast as she could from the dots that rushed towards her. She was running from the frog warriors that were coming closer to her location as they croaked madly about the ones that the redhead had killed, and she was running away from the tadpoles that were flying towards her.

"Willow."

Willow could hear a voice in the distance as she ran; eventually, she was overtaken and then bitten by the flying tadpoles.

"Willow."

'Run, Willow, run,' thought the redhead to herself as the heard the familiar voice calling for her.

Sunnydale High library, 6:30 a.m; the next day.

"Willow," said Giles as he poked the redhead's shoulder; the same redhead who was sleeping with her head on her arms which were folded over each other on the table. They had worked through the night, and eventually it was Willow who went to sleep first at around two in the morning. Deciding not to bother her, Giles was doing his own research on the Du Lac Cross in his office; research for which he still hasn't been able to sleep yet since the need was urgent to find as much information in the reasons why Spike and Drusilla needed the stolen book, and what they needed to decode with the cross.

While he was researching, he got a call from Xander asking if he had heard anything from Buffy to which he said that he didn't, and suggested that Xander should take Cordelia to the Summers home and get Buffy to school if the young man wasn't able to get her by phone. Once he finished talking to Xander, Giles stretched his arms over his head as he thought about the little progress he made on why the book was so important to Spike. He then got off his chair before heading out of his office, and towards the table in the library where he saw Willow sound asleep. He poked the redhead's arm a few times while calling her name again. When that didn't work, he shook her arm again a bit harder, and that was what woke up Willow with a start.

"The tadpoles are coming," said Willow with a start as she lifted her head and looked through groggy eyes at her surroundings and wondered where she was. It was when she saw Giles that she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands before she realized she was in the library not doing what she was supposed to be doing; helping with the research, "sorry Giles, I must have gone to sleep and…"

"It's quite alright," said Giles as he looked at the redhead, "the tadpoles are coming?"

"I have a fear of frogs," said Willow sheepishly as Giles smiled. He then told Willow to go home and freshen up for school. Willow nodded her head as she stood up and stretched herself before she asked Giles if he found anything.

"I had to go back to the Lutheran Index, Willow," said Giles as he rushed to his office to get the Lutheran Index before showing the worn out book to Willow, "and I found a description of the missing du Lac Manuscript. You know, the one that was with the cross that was stolen."

"Yeah," said Willow nodding her head.

"Anyway, it's a ritual, Willow," said Giles as the redhead frowned, "I haven't managed to decipher the exact details, but I believe the purpose is to restore a weak and sickly vampire to full health."

"Like Drusilla?" asked the redhead as Giles nodded his head, "and the Taraka guys were sent by Spike to keep Buffy busy."

"Yes," said Giles, "and if she gets to full health…"

"Two powerful vampires in Sunnydale," said Willow as Giles nodded his head; his face full of worry.

"The problem is that we only know it's a ritual," said Giles, "we don't know what happens during the ritual, or when it's supposed to happen. All we know is that…"

"It's happening," said the redhead.

"Precisely," said Giles as Willow frowned, "for right now, go home Willow. Freshen up, and we'll see you soon. Remember your exercise techniques for the mornings."

"I remember," said the redhead before she patted Giles on the shoulder and then ran as fast as she could out of the library, and then towards her bicycle.

Willow's Room, fifteen minutes later.

Willow closed her room door behind her before she rushed to her windows and closed the curtains to her room; she didn't want to give the neighbours a free show. Once the room was in relative darkness, the redhead turned on her night light before she took off her jeans overalls and threw them on the bed. She then looked at her reflection in the mirror while she was wearing her striped T-shirt and briefs before she went to the closet and took out some dumbbells that Giles had helped her select soon after she started training. She placed them on the floor on either side of her before she started to jog in place while at the same time using her telekinesis, without being backed up by magic, to lift the weights that were enough to be equal to her own weight. While she was lifting the weights, Willow then went to do some push-ups and sit-ups, as well as some quick exercises that she knew Niko would do after she had to get up every morning.

It was nearly thirty minutes later that the redhead then went to take a quick shower before she walked out, and then looked into the bags of clothes she bought the previous day and wondered if she should at least just wear the tight jeans.

'Yeah,' thought Willow to herself, 'remember what Giles said, Willow. Take it easy. Just be normal, and remember these are for your disguise, not for everyday wear. Which reminds me, I need to get the vampire anti-scent thing… if the magic shop in town has it, and I need to get some goggles that I could tint, and a mask to cover my face. Ummm…. Maybe I should think of a really cool code name.'

Shaking her head and pushing those thoughts aside for the time being, Willow took out a fuzzy shirt and another pair of overall's before she hurriedly head out of her house; her empty house since her parents was currently teaching at UCLA for another month. Once she was ready, and with her book bag in the library, and her books in her locker, Willow just rushed down the stairs and out the door, locking the front door behind her, before she headed for her bike and cycled to school.

It was back at the library that Willow received a surprise; another Slayer by the name of Kendra arrived in town last night. It was something that stumped everyone, at least until it was Giles who realized that Buffy had died by drowning when she faced the Master the first time. He explained that it didn't matter how long she died, which made Kendra very suspicious that Buffy was still breathing, but the fact that she died… her heart stopped beating for even a few seconds.

"That was enough to call the next Slayer," said Giles in surprise, "this is extraordinary, nothing like this has ever happened before."

"Well," said Buffy after she pulled Kendra away from Willow when the new Slayer thought that Willow was just a 'civilian', which led to Giles explaining to the surprised Kendra that Buffy had friends who knew that she was a Slayer.

"And we help… you know, when we can," said Willow with a small smile while nodding her head as she sat down at the table. Now, Kendra stood by the counter as she told Giles and Buffy that she couldn't leave, that her watcher had sent her to Sunnydale because of an evil that was due to be rising very soon. Buffy then sarcastically asked Kendra what was her plan for beating this rising evil, and then she asked why it was that Kendra attacked her. Giles, Willow, and Buffy all looked at each other nervously when Kendra said that she saw Buffy kissing a vampire with Willow saying that the only vampire she'd kiss was Angel. It was then Kendra revealed that she believed Angel was evil since he was a vampire and that she had taken care of him.

"What did you do?" asked Buffy.

It wasn't too long before Buffy dragged Kendra out of the library and headed to Willie's bar where the second Slayer locked the ensouled vampire up in a cage, to be turned to dust in the morning once the sun hits him. Once the two of them left, Giles asked Willow to go to her classes while he called Kendra's Watcher and confirmed her story. The redhead then asked him if he heard from Xander yet, to which the librarian just shook his head saying that Xander was with Cordelia looking for Buffy.

"I believe he'll return soon, or call," said Giles as he looked at the concern n Willow's face, "he could already be here and in class and…"

"It's Xander," said Willow as she looked at Giles while smirking and tilted her head.

"I'll call his home," said Giles as Willow nodded her head and headed for class. Soon after class, Willow headed to the computer room where she waved at Miss Calendar before she took a seat at the farthest computer station. She went online and looked around the room discretely before she leaned back on her seat as the computer turned on and she used her telekinesis to disconnect all the camera's around the room while she typed on the keyboards. She ran a search for some of the additional things she needed for her planned alter-ego for which she still didn't have a code name. She remembered Nikos training with weapons and opened a page to a self-defence website and clicked on some collapsible batons. Willow looked around the lab to make sure that no-one was looking at her before she looked at the screen again and searched Sunnydale for places that would sell the things she needed.

And she found it at the Army surplus store, the same place that Xander said he bought his Army uniform… the same one he was wearing during Halloween. Willow looked at the items and decided that she could just get to the shop tomorrow and get the baton for her own self-defense. Willow then opened up another window on the screen when she looked up and noticed Miss Calendar getting off her chair and then walking towards her. The redhead calmly made a mental note of the website she wanted to go to before typing an address for the UCLA homepage while closing all the others.

"Willow?" asked Miss Calendar as she smiled at the redhead, before pointing at her own hair, "when did you cut your hair?"

"Yesterday," said Willow with a grin on her face as she put her hand through her hair, "you like? I thought I needed a change and... I mean I usually don't do anything out of the blue and this was something new for me so, yeah… there it is. Just something new, you know."

"Uh huh," said Miss Calendar as she crossed her arms over her chest and looked at the redhead, "and who's this boy you're doing this for?"

"I'm not," whined Willow as Miss Calendar then giggled before telling Willow that she was just joking. The redhead then smirked at the I.T. teacher before leaning forward and asking her if she recently talked to Giles.

"Not yet," said Miss Calendar as she patted Willow's shoulder while getting up, "it'll take time, Willow."

"You two look good together," said Willow as Miss Calendar chuckled before she headed back to the table where she told Willow that she'll be having a class coming in thirty minutes. Willow nodded her head at the teacher before she opened her previously closed windows and looked at the various types of tactical gear available. It was ten minutes later that she found what she was looking for, something that could hide her face; a full face balaclava that would only expose her eyes, something she could take care off as she searched for her next item… a pair of tinted goggles.

Smiling once she found everything she needed, Willow cleared her history and then turned off the computer before she got up and headed out of the computer lab after having said goodbye to Miss Calendar who was already telling the next class coming into the lab to take their seats. As Willow walked through the hallway she passed three people she had seen before, they were technicians from the school who were most likely sent to fix the camera's that had just got down in the computer lab. Willow was about to cross over to the next building via a colonnade when she saw Buffy, Giles, and Kendra walking through another hallway heading for her.

"Will," said Buffy as she waved.

"Hey, Buff," said the redhead, "did you find Angel?"

"Thanks to the rookie here," said Buffy as she looked at the newest Slayer who rolled her eyes, "Spike has Angel, and we still don't know anything about the ritual, or where they are."

The four of them continued to talk as they walked down the colonnade with Giles getting excited on the amount of knowledge that Kendra seemed to have on the Order of Taraka. While she left with Giles, Willow and Buffy headed to the school lounge so that she could attend one of the law enforcement seminars that Giles was asking her to go to since Principal Snyder was looking for her. Sighing Buffy and Willow entered the other building that they were headed to and entered the lounge where the blonde Slayer noticed an orange-haired young man looking at Willow from the seats at the lounge.

Excitedly, she put Willow so that her back was to the young man and she told the redhead not to look, but there was a guy checking her out.

"I knew you cut your hair for a guy," said Buffy as she looked over Willow's shoulder at the young man looking at Willow looked back over her shoulder, smiled and gave a little wave to the young man before she looked at Buffy, "I know that look, Will. He's the guy, right?"

"He's name's Oz," said Willow, "just a fellow computer nerd.. I mean he's you know… just showing solidarity with me and…. Oh God, he's cute. Did I just say that out loud?"

"Yes," grinned Buffy as she looked over Willow's shoulder again and saw Oz getting up with a guitar case in his hand. Buffy then leaned in and whispered, "he's coming, so I'm gonna go for my thing… you know?"

"But, Buff," said Willow as Buffy smiled and stepped back before she rushed down the hallway. Willow could feel the butterflies in her stomach once again as she turned and faced Oz with Willow sensing that he was checking out her facial features, especially the new hair. The redhead suddenly got nervous as she looked back at the retreating form of Buffy before she looked at Oz once again and smiled while waving her hand.

"Hey," said Oz.

"Hey," said Willow with a small smile as Oz pointed at his own hair.

"You cut your hair, very nice," said Oz as Willow's face turned red while she smiled and nodded her head.

"So," said Oz as the both of them walked away from the lounge to the Career booths in the distance at the end of the hallway, "did you decide? Are you gonna become a corporate computer suit guy?"

"Ummm…, I think I'm going to have to finish high school first," said Willow with a small smile as she looked at the floor while walking slowly and then back up at Oz, "what about you?"

"I'm not really a computer person," said Oz shaking his head, "or a work of any kind person."

Willow looked on in surprise before asking Oz why it was that they chose him for the interview.

"I sort of test well," said Oz while shrugging his shoulders, "which is cool, except then it leads to jobs."

"Well, don't you have some ambition?" asked Willow curiously as she looked at the guitar player.

"Oh, yeah. E flat, diminished 9th," said Oz while Willow looked at him confused with her mouth open. Oz smiled at Willow's expression before he continued to tell her that, "the E flat's doable, but it's that diminished 9th . . . that's a man's chord. You could lose a finger."

Willow could only look at the young man next to her as he continued to talk while they were walking down the hallway. The redhead just chuckled at some of the things he said, while she nodded at some of the others. All the while she was thinking that there was something about the young man that reminded her of Shane Gooseman. She went through Niko's memories and came across a memory of the Rangers relaxing on another world during their day off with Shane playing the guitar. Willow shook her head and smiled at Oz when she realized she missed a question he had asked her.

"You look out of it," said Oz.

"Huh?" said Willow shaking her head, "no, I…"

Just as they reached the booth across the law enforcement booth, Willow heard Buffy shout.

"Get down!" said Buffy as everything went into slow motion. Willow heard the shot as she turned and saw the policewoman at the booth fire off rounds at Buffy, and then at the other students who were caught in the crossfire. Everything continued to go slow when Willow saw the weapon pointed as her just as she used her telekinesis to knock the gun out of the policewoman's hands; at the same time the gun jumped out of the policewoman's hands and clattered onto the floor, Oz dived towards Willow and pushed her down onto the floor. Things went back to normal speed as Willow looked up at Oz, who was laying on top of her, while the others were screaming just as even more shots rang out.

"You ok?" asked Oz.

"You saved me," smiled Willow as she heard Buffy punching and kicking the policewoman while Willow looked up at Oz before she shook her head and ask Oz to help her up. She crouched down with Oz and saw the other students taking cover before she peeked over the booth's table and saw Buffy struggling with the policewoman in the floor. Willow looked around and saw the gun on the floor previously, she concentrated on the gun and, just as the policewoman knocked Buffy away, the redhead used her telekinesis to pick up the gun and then mentally threw it at the side of the policewoman's head.

"Huh," said Oz who was crouched behind the booth with Willow and a few others as well, "nice."

"Wonder who did it?" whispered Willow as Buffy looked around her confused, as did the policewoman.

"Buffy! Look out!" shouted Willow as the policewoman, taking advantage of the confusion took out another gun and pointed it at the blonde Slayer. Buffy stepped to the side just the policewoman was about to shoot and Willow knocked the gun into the air as Buffy turned and kicked the police woman hard. The policewoman then took out a knife and rushed towards the Slayer as Buffy caught the woman's knife wielding arm, and then turned her around to Kendra who just arrived into the lounge after hearing the shots. Kendra saw Buffy spin that policewoman around so she made sure that she was at the right place to make sure that the last thing the woman saw was the newly called slayer's shoes before it impacted the policewoman's forehead.

"Nice," said Willow and Oz together as they watched the policewoman stumble backward dazed before the both of them looked at each other from their hiding spot and smiled. Both Willow and Oz then looked at the policewoman glaring at both Kendra and Buffy as she took out two knives that Willow, from her vantage point, ripped out of the hands of the policewoman, and made them clatter onto the floor. Willow saw the two Slayers look at each other confused while the policewoman took out a smaller gun while Willow rolled her eyes. The policewoman then grabbed a hostage and put the gun to the young man's chest.

"Hey, no," said Buffy as she and Kendra took a step forward just as the gun was ripped out of the policewoman's hands, and the young man being held hostage was pushed aside by an invisible force. The policewoman's hands were then spread apart to either side as Buffy and Kendra kicked her at the same time, and sent her flying out the door.

"That was interesting," said Kendra before she ran out the door while Buffy told everyone in the area that what just happened was an act put up by the Sunnydale Police Department.

"Huh," said Oz as he and Willow stood up while Buffy ran to the redhead, "interesting?"

"Will," said Buffy as she ran towards the redhead, "you ok?"

"Uh huh," said Willow before she motioned towards Oz, "Oz saved me."

"I didn't do anything," said Oz rubbing the back of his head nervously, "the gun didn't fire and…"

"Thank you," said Willow as she smiled at Oz before she looked at Buffy who told the redhead that they should go see Giles. Willow then told Oz that she had to go, and thanked him again for saving her life. Willow was hoping that he'd ask her out, or do something that would make them see each other again… but nothing happened, 'maybe he's just as nervous as me.'

"I'll see you around?" asked Oz.

"Ummm… Yea," said Willow as she nodded her head as Oz brushed his hand on her shoulder before walking away.

"Come on, Will," said Buffy as she held the redhead's hand while she looked at Oz leave. Willow turned and walked away with Buffy, occasionally looking behind her and seeing Oz looking over his shoulder as well. The both of them locked eyes and smiled before they went their separate ways.

'I'll see him again,' thought Willow to herself as Buffy was talking about the weird things that happened just now with the policewoman's guns and knives.

TBC.