As they were heading for the exit of the hospital, Mistoffelees was only looking more and more jittery. Grids glanced at him, "Misto?"

"Yeah?" he asked, turning to glance at her.

"Are you okay?"

"So far? Apparently," he hedged.

"What are you thinking about?"

"The fact that somewhere between a fourth and a fifth of my worst nightmares seem to involve hospitals?" he answered with a question.

"...As in ending up in them?"

"No, I mean, sorta? Not really."

"Do you want to talk about it, or should I leave it?"

"Well, it's as much reliving when my parents died as repeating the process," he replied, walking a bit faster.

She fell into step with him, "I-I'm sorry. We'll sort this out, okay?"

He nodded. "Y-yeah."

They finally reached the school, Cori murmuring a farewell and heading for the library. Grids watched him go, "I'll see you after class, Misto."

"Yeah, of course, good luck," he said quickly, turning to go.

"You too." She left for class.

As he was walking down the hall, Tugger caught up with him. "Hey, you guys disappeared."

"Ran to the hospital," he replied softly.

"Yeah-huh, why?" Tugger asked as they passed a group of cool kids, one boy in sunglasses and a leather jacket bragging about something or another.

"Some girl was beaten," Mistoffelees replied, as the boy's mother showed up out of no where, smothering him with kisses and calling him Pookie.

"So, any idea what's going on?" Tugger asked, watching the scene unfolding.

"It seems like people's dreams are coming true, and not the good ones," the smaller teen replied, watching for a moment before turning into their classroom.

"I don't know, it's sorta a big jump to make, isn't it?" Tugger asked and stopped. "Hey, Misto, why're you giving me that look?"

"Your clothes," Mistoffelees said softly and Tugger looked down in horror to find himself in his underwear. The entire class paused before laughing.

"I... I had them just a second ago," Tugger protested and Mistoffelees pushed him out of the classroom.

"Gym, we're getting your PE clothes," the smaller teen said, using planning to keep himself from panicking. "Then, library."

o.o.o.o

Cori stood at the study table int he library, staring at the newspapers spread out in front of him, something akin to horror in his eyes.

Grids entered, "Hey, Cori, what did you find?"

"I have back issues of the newspapers, I'm trying to do some research."

"Did you find anything?"

"I...I don't know."

Mistoffelees pushed a now clothed again Tugger into the library. Grids glanced at them, her brow rising, but she moved over to Cori, "You don't know if you didn't find anything?"

"I'm having a bit of difficulty determining that."

"...Why?"

He swallowed, "I...I can't read."

Mistoffelees' face paled, coming up to the pair, and glancing over the newspapers himself. "It's all in normal English," he said softly.

Cori picked up one of the papers, scanning it again, before tossing it aside in frustration, "Of that I am aware, but the words make no sense. It's bloody gibberish."

Grids picked up the paper he'd tossed aside, "I know this kid..."

"I'm sorry," Mistoffelees said to Cori before turning to Grids. "You do?"

Tugger approached the group slowly.

"I've been seeing him around school. First when the spiders showed up and then when I couldn't remember anything for the History test."

Cori glanced at her, hating to have to ask this, "What does the paper say about him?"

She turned her attention to the article, ""Twelve year old Billy Palmer was found beaten and unconscious after his Kiddie League game Saturday. Doctors describe his condition as critical..." When was this published?" She blinked, "Last week." Her gaze moved to Misto and Cori, "He's in a coma, in intensive care...this is the boy from the hospital."

"The first victim?" Mistoffelees asked. "You've been seeing him around school?"

"Like I said, when the spiders showed up, and when I had trouble with history. It seemed weird, but with everything else I forgot about him..."

Cori frowned, "If he's been in a coma for a week, how is this possible?"

Mistoffelees frowned and Tugger blinked. "Like we could know. You're explanation guy."

Coricopat considered for a moment, searching through his memory banks for possibilities, "Well... there's astral projection, the theory that while one sleeps one has another body, an astral body, that can travel through time and space...A coma, in a manner of speaking is like sleep. Though one doesn't always wake up from a coma.."

"Could I have been seeing Billy's asteroid body?" Grids asked.

"Astral body. And I don't know. We don't have much information to work with, as usual."

"He's wearing the number nineteen," Mistoffelees said, pointing at the picture. "Wasn't there something about a lucky nineteen? And..." he looked up at Cori. "Point me toward any books you think might help, and I or Tugger could look through them."

Cori adjusted his glasses, before speaking again, "The third aisle, second shelf from the floor on the right should have some books dealing with the causes and effects of astral projection. The next aisle has information regarding dream states and nightmare realms." He looked toward the door as it swung open to allow a middle-aged man to enter.

"There you are, I've been looking Everywhere. Why aren't you in class?"

Grids blinked, concern lighting her features, "Dad, what are you... you're not supposed to pick me up till after school, is something wrong?"

"Well, I need to talk to you."

She paled, "Something is wrong. Is-is it Mom?"

He smiled, "No. It's not your mother, she's fine."

She breathed a sigh of relief, "You really had me-"

"Could I speak to you for a moment," he glanced at the others, "in private?"

"I...Sure..." She looked at her friends, "I'll be back in a bit." The two of them slipped out.

Cori frowned slightly, but didn't say anything. Mistoffelees blinked in surprise after the pair. "Was that her dad?" Tugger asked, and Mistoffelees nodded.

"I think so," he said, hunting down the books in question and pulling them out, plopping a couple down in front of Tugger.

A short while later, one of the secretaries entered. "Mistoffelees Rosenberg?" He looked up from where he'd been working through the index of a book. "Oh, you weren't in class so I was looking for you. We're handing out report cards today," she said with a grin, handing him a piece of paper. "You'll probably have to talk to someone about this, and we'll have to call in your uncle," she said before leaving.

The teen flipped the paper open and dropped it back on the desk.

Cori glanced at him, "Mistoffelees?"

"Yeah?"

"What is it?"

"Report card," he said, already looking back at the book. "Apparently failed everything. However, not panicking since everyone else's nightmares are coming true, and I'm just glad it chose a surface nightmare to project on the world for the moment."

Cori nodded slightly, sliding a newspaper over, and using his fingers to track the words, finally beginning to make some sense of them. He glanced at Tugger, "What did happen to your clothes, while we're on the subject?"

"They just disappeared," he said with a shrug.

Mistoffelees glanced at the report card, more bothered by it than he was attempted to let on. "Alright, so so far it seems like pretty basic dreams. I mean, everyone dreams of showing up naked, or not studying for a test, or... in our cases not being able to read and getting a failing report card. So far, little of this has tapped into our actual deepest nightmares."

Cori finally picked up one of the books, "I'm afraid this is going to get much worse."

"You were never the captain of the optimism team were you?" Tugger asked. Cori paused long enough to give him a side long look.

"I figured as much," Mistoffelees said, nearly dropping the book.

"If it is the boy in the hospital, I...I think he may have crossed over from whatever nightmare he himself is trapped in."

Mistoffelees swallowed and even Tugger looked a little sick. "I am never being blase again," he informed the room at large.

"We'll find a way to stop it. And soon," Coricopat attempted to soothe them.

"I hope so," Mistoffelees said.

o.o.o.o

Grids and her father made their way across campus, "I came early because there's something I've needed to tell you. About your mother and me. Why we split up."

The teen blinked up at him, "You always said-"

"I know we always said we'd just grown too far apart..."

"Well, yeah. Isn't that true?"

"Come on, honey, let's sit down." He lead her over to a bench and they sat down, his tone continuing to be calm and gentle, "You're old enough to know the truth."

"Was there... someone else?"

"No, it was nothing like that."

"Well then what was it?"

"It was you, Griddlebone."

She paled, "M-me?"

"Having you, raising you, seeing you every day, I mean do you have any idea what that was like?"

"W-what?"

"God, you don't even see what's right in your face, do you. Well, big surprise, all you ever think about is yourself... you get in trouble, you embarrass us with all the crazy stunts you pull, do I have to go on?"

She swallowed, pulling back, "...No. Please don't."

"You're sullen and rude and not nearly as bright as I thought you were going to be. I mean, Grids, let's be honest: could you stand to live in the same house with a daughter like that?"

She felt her voice catch, teas stinging her eyes, "Why are you saying these things?"

"Because they're true. I think that's the least we owe one another."

She shook her head, blinking rapidly as he continued, "And I don't think it's very mature getting all blubbery when I'm just trying to be honest - oh, speaking of which, I don't really get anything out of these weekends with you, what do you say we just don't do them anymore?" He patted her gently on the arm as he rose, " I sure thought you were going to turn out differently." He left, leaving her sitting there in absolute shock and hurt.

Grids finally pulled herself together enough to get up and head back to the library. She entered, glancing between the three who were there, "Anything useful yet?"

"No, but we're pretty sure these are all nightmares at this point," Mistoffelees replied, report card still clearly sitting by his elbow.

She nodded quietly, "So...is there anything I can do?"

Cori turned to look at her, "I...not as of yet."

The teen swallowed, "Okay..."

"What happened with your dad?" Mistoffelees asked quietly, finally looking from the book.

"I...he just wanted to talk." She looked at Cori, "How long til we can get this fixed?"

"No idea," Mistoffelees said, who had been doing all the research. "We're pretty sure it's the kid in the hospital though, projecting his nightmares onto all of us."

She bit her lip, "A-alright, I could go see if the doctors can tell us anything about anything strange about him?"

Cori looked her over, reaching out and resting a hand on her shoulder, "Griddlebone? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Mistoffelees looked up again, and rose, quickly shuffling her off to one side away from the other's. "Grids?"

"Y-yeah?"

"What happened?"

"We talked."

"And?" the smaller prompted.

She swallowed hard, "A-and he told me that it was because of me."

"Oh god," Mistoffelees said softly and reached out to lightly touch her shoulder's. "Grids, these are all just nightmares. I'm not sure how much of anything is real right now."

"It still hurt. He...he said he didn't want to do these weekends any more. I don't care if it wasn't real, Misto. It hurt."

"I know," he said softly. "I know. Everything's crazy, but we're going to figure it out. We've got to."

She swallowed hard, nodding, "Okay...I..I'm going to go see if I can find anything more out about Billy..."

"Alright. We'll research some more," Mistoffelees assured her.

"Alright, I'll be back later." She slipped out of the library, quickly. He sighed, watching her go, and ran a hand over his face.

o.o.o.o

Grids made her way slowly across campus, pausing when she thought she saw the boy again. She moved in that direction, carefully entering the building she'd seen him enter.

He stood quietly on the other side of the room, glancing around.

"Are you Billy?"

"Why do you want to know?"

"I want to help you."

He paused for a long moment. "I'm Billy," he said finally.

She moved over, crouching down near him, "Did something bad happen to you after your Kiddie League Game last week?"

"Something bad," he started and looked away. "I don't remember."

"Do you remember playing baseball?"

"Yeah," he said. "I have second base."

"Are you 'lucky nineteen'?" she asked quietly.

His expression turned frightened at that. "T-that's what he calls me."

She reached out, placing a hand on his arm, "Shh. Who?"

"The Ugly Man," he replied softly. "I, I think he wants to kill me. He hurt that girl."

"Why does he want to kill you, Billy?"

"He's..." the boy started and his eyes widened in terror. "He's here!"

She turned just as the thing brought his club-like arm down on her, catching her a glancing blow to the head which knocked her to the ground. She rolled out of the way of his next swing, scrambling to her feet, "Run, Billy!"

The boy stared at her for a moment before darting away.

She fell again, as the club connected with her leg, she blocked the next blow with her arm, crying out, but finally managed to get back to her feet and headed for the nearest exit.

o.o.o.o

Cori continued to peruse the book he was reading through. He frowned, setting it aside.

"What is it?" Tugger asked.

"Nothing. That's just it. There's nothing in here about how to reset this."

"Wake him up," Mistoffelees said from where he was reading a book. "Look, here's a precedent. On a smaller scale, due to lack a Hellmouth, but there's..." he'd risen to give the book to Cori, and paused, half stumbling.

Cori caught him to steady him, "Mistoffelees?"

"I, I-I... I, my sight is getting fuzzy," he said, shaking his head quickly.

Cori carefully supported him back to the chair, "Misto, has this happened before?"

"N-no?" he said. "Oh god, I can't see."

Coricopat glanced at Tugger in alarm, kneeling beside Misto's chair, resting a gentle hand on Mistoffelees' leg.

Tugger had been momentarily too focused on the book in front of him, but the sheer terror in Mistoffelees' voice snapped his head up and he came over quickly. "Misto?"

"I can't see anymore," Mistoffelees said, waving a hand around in front of his face.

Cori spoke again, "Mistoffelees, have you dreamed this before?"

"I-I-I..." he took a breath. "Y-yes. A couple times. I think."

Cori glanced up at Tugger, "Is it just your sight?" he asked gently.

"W-when? in the dream or now?"

Tugger glanced over at Cori and shrugged helplessly.

"The dream." He was silently praying that now wasn't any worse than that.

"O-oh, in the dream, I..." he took a breath, forcefully trying to stop himself from panicking anymore. "In the dream it's a matter of being unable to see, usually I'm alone," he said and reached out quickly as soon as he registered that, hands clinging to Cori. "There are other dreams b-but when I lose my sight that tends to be it for th-that dream."

Cori twined his hands with Misto's, drawing him closer, "Shh, we're right here. What other dreams?"

"Tell me you're not actually asking for a list of all my nightmares?" Mistoffelees shook his head, voice dry.

The librarian paled very slightly at that, considering exactly how many that might bring to light, "No. No, I suppose I'm not. Are you going to be able to come to see if we can wake Billy?"

Mistoffelees swallowed and nodded. "I-I think so? Just, someone needs to guide me."

"We can do that." Cori rose, helping Misto to his feet.

Mistoffelees took in a breath. "Alright," he said, more to himself. "Can do this... I can do this."

Tugger rose as well, glancing between them. "We need to go. Are we finding Grids or just hoping we wake Billy up in time?"

"Considering the things she dreams about? I think we'd best find her."

Mistoffelees nodded. "Right, okay. I'm just going to... follow you guys."

Cori gently took his hand again, "Alright, let's get going. The sooner this is remedied the better." Mistoffelees nodded, hand firmly in Coricopat's as they set out.

o.o.o.o

Grids managed to close a door between herself and the club-armed thing, sliding a hockey stick into the door handle. She turned to leave and nearly ran into BIlly, "Billy, who is he?"

"He's the ugly man," the boy replied simply.

She looked back at the door, "I can't fight him. I can fight anything but I can't fight him. He's too strong. We've got to find my friends. They can help."

"We have to hide," he said, dark eyes wide and serious.

"But he'll find us," she protested.

"But first we have to hide," he said. "That's how it happens. He hides and then he comes."

"Well, we're going to change it up a bit this time." She took his hand, leading him away, trying to locate the others. Billy frowned, but followed her out onto a field, kids playing baseball in the distance.

Grids glanced in that direction, looking around, but not sure she was finding the right direction to the library, "I would have sworn this was the way tot he library..."

The boy didn't respond, just staring at the kids playing.

She stopped, turning and looking from him tot he kids, "Billy? What is it? What's scaring you?"

"When you lose..." he said softly. "It's bad."

Grids spoke softly, "Did you lose your Kiddie League game last week?"

"It was my fault," he said softly.

"Why?"

"I should've caught the ball. I missed."

She blinked at him in confusion, "You missed a ball and the whole game's your fault? What, you were the only one playing, there weren't eight other kids on your team?"

"He said it was my fault," Billy said, looking at the ground.

"Who said?" When she didn't receive a reply, Grids frowned, "Billy, did he...did he hurt you after the game?"

Billy stepped away abruptly. "Can't we go another way to find your friends?"

"Sure," she took his hand again, "We can go around behind the cafeteria..." She lead him around the corner, freezing when she saw "the Ugly Man." "Bad idea, come on!" She pulled him with her as she ran toward a tall hedge at the edge of school property. They made it through the hedge to find themselves in the cemetery. At night.

Grids blinked, "What just happened?"

"Is this where you're friends are?" Billy asked, looking around.

She shook her head, "No. No it's not..."

o.o.o.o

Tugger took the lead of their small group, glancing back every once and a while to make sure things were okay. He paused a moment when he found a candy bar on the ground, stooping to pick it up.

Cori caught up to him, still guiding Misto, "Tugger?"

"Yeah?" he asked, spotting another one and going after that bar too.

"What are you doing?"

"There's candy!" Tugger protested.

"Candy?" Mistoffelees said, shifting a bit closer to Coricopat again. "Tugger, we're in nightmare world and you're stopping for candy?"

Cori glanced at Misto and then back at Tugger, hesitating for a long moment, "Tugger... what is your recurrent nightmare?"

"Huh?" Tugger asked, tilting his head. "I never remember my dreams," he declared. "Hey look, a Chocolate Hurricane! I haven't had one of these since..." his face paled.

"Oh god," Mistoffelees said softly, recalling the incident clearly in question.

Cori glanced between them, "Oh, God is not something that one wishes to hear right now..."

"Tugger's sixth birthday," Mistoffelees said. "Clown. Nightmares for weeks."

"Clowns are scary!" Tugger yelled as a shrill laugh sounded around them. He took a step back, looking around frantically. A clown cut through a sheet of poster hanging off, holding a huge butcher knife in front of him and giggling.

Cori took a rapid step back, "Great, just bloody great." He turned, pulling Misto with him as quickly as the other could manage.

Mistoffelees stumbled at that, letting out a muffled sound as he tried to keep his footing without really knowing what was going on. Tugger yelped, dropping all the candy and jumping back quickly as the clown giggled again. "Can we run?" he asked Cori.

Cori glanced at Misto and shook his head slightly, "Not easily."

Tugger glanced at his friend, and considered for a long moment before turning abruptly and punching the clown in the face. It stopped in shock and feel over backwards. "You were a lousy clown! And your balloon animals were crap!"

Mistoffelees blinked his sightless eyes. "Feel vindicated?" he asked dryly.

"I feel downright liberated," Tugger chirped back.

Cori blinked for a moment as the clown retreated, "I think we may have solved this...It requires finding Billy's astral self though."

"Great," Tugger said. "Where the hell is he?"

Oh, this episode. It's a particularly interesting one in many ways. Also, as your author Victoriousscarf discovered, while the nightmares from the show works well for most of the characters ((Tugger, Cori, and Grids)) Willow's nightmares really didn't work for Mistoffelees. So he got to go off in an entirely different direction. Someday a Mistoffelees muse not plagued with nightmares will show up...

Thank you those who have given feedback for this story already, and if you want to see more, be aware that your authors tend to jump up and down in glee when you hit the little button to the left there. Cheers all!