Grids looked back through the hedge they'd come through, "Well...I don't see the Ugly Guy, but I also don't see the sun or the rest of the world..."

"Hey, look at this," Billy said, and motioned to a freshly dug grave with an empty coffin next to it. "Guess they're gonna bury someone."

Grids moved over carefully, the hair on the back of her neck rising as she shivered, "I wonder who died..."

"No body died," a deep, gravelly voice informed them, as a vampire came from the darkness. His mouth was stained a dull red, as if he'd drunken so much blood it would never wash off, and his black leather clothes were ancient. He smirked, face forever in vampire form. "What's the fun in burying someone who's already dead?"

Grids slowly turned to face him, recognizing him from her dreams. The Master. "Y-you..."

"So you're the Slayer," he said, smirking. "You're prettier than the last one I saw."

She backed a step, "This can't be real. You can't be free."

"You don't understand," he said, shaking his head. "You so rarely do. I'm free because you fear it. Because you fear it, the world is crumbling. Your nightmares made flesh. You have little, scared Billy to thank for that."

She glanced toward where Billy had been, but he'd vanished. She turned back to find the Master inches away. Her breathing sped up and she swallowed hard, "Th-this is a dream."

He grinned. "A dream is a wish your heart makes." His hand snapped out, grabbing her throat. "This is the real world, darling."

She struggled, trying to get his hand to release her, but she couldn't budge it. Grids began gasping for breath, trying to get loose, her eyes wide with fear.

"Come on Slayer," he whispered, a dark parody of intimate words. "What are you afraid of?" He tossed her back into the grave. "How about being buried alive?" he asked, picking up the shovel and starting to fill in the grave, laughing."

"No!" The coffin lid fell shut and she could hear the dirt rattling down on it, but she couldn't get the lid open any more than she'd been able to wrest away from the vampire's grip.

o.o.o.o

The librarian and the two teens finally got themselves out of the school. Mistoffelees jumped when he heard a lion roar. Cori looked around, but thankfully the creature was nowhere in sight, but that didn't mean much, "This is getting worse. In a few hours reality will fold completely into nightmares..."

"Excuse me?" Tugger asked, pointing. "When did they put a cemetery in across the street?"

"They..." Mistoffelees leaned harder against Coricopat.

The librarian looked in the direction Tugger was pointing, "Well...I believe we've found where Gridlebone will be..."

"Oh good," Mistoffelees said. "We need to find Billy now right."

Cori nodded, "Yes, once we've located Grids."

"Let's do that," the smaller teen said quickly. "Please?"

Cori guided him across the street into the cemetery, freezing utterly as his gaze fell on a freshly dug grave and new headstone. Tugger followed. "Wait, who's nightmare is this?"

"What is it?" Mistoffelees asked.

Cori released Misto's hand, kneeling by the grave, "It...it's mine." He ran his fingers over the etching on the gravestone, murmuring the words, "Griddlebone Summers. Rest in Peace..."

"But she's not," Mistoffelees protested, swaying slightly as he was all but entirely cut off from the world. He wasn't even sure which way to turn. "It's a dream, she's not actually..." Tugger stepped forward, putting a hand on Mistoffelees' shoulder.

Cori swallowed hard, "We're in the land of nightmares. The real world holds no sway here." He turned back to the grave, "I'm so sorry...forgive me, Gridlebone." He rested his hand on the freshly-turned earth, "I should have been more cautious..."

As he started to draw away a hand shot out of the grave latching onto his wrist. He fell back in alarm, letting out a sharp cry as he wrenched his hand free, scrambling to his feet.

Mistoffelees stumbled back into Tugger, who caught him automatically.

The figure who had just climbed out of the grave, brushed herself off, looking at them, "Thank goodness, there you all are."

Cori's grey eyes scanned her features, "Grids?"

"I thought I was dead..."

Mistoffelees looked around frantically. "Grids?"

Tugger stepped forward, mouth dry. "Grids, your face..."

"What about my-" She broke off as her fingers traced over her features, feeling the distinctive shaped of a Vampire's visage. "Oh-oh god..."

Cori's tone was muted as he spoke, "You never told me you dreamt of becoming a vampire."

"This isn't a dream," she replied.

"No, it's not. But there is a chance that we can make it go away. This is all coming from Billy. He's crossed over from the nightmare world to the waking one, and he's brought his reality with him."

"Grids," Mistoffelees said softly and Tugger pushed him gently in the right direction. He fumbled with the air for a moment, before connecting with her shoulder. "G-Grids... if we wake him up, the nightmares should stop, and we should get reality back."

She pulled away from his touch, "D-don't look at me... Not like this."

"I... I can't," he said softly, flailing for a moment when she moved away. Without touch, he had no orientation. "I can't see you at all, like this or not."

She turned to him, registering what he said and hesitating before taking his hand to let him know where she was, "I-I...I'm sorry."

Cori spoke again, "We need to wake Billy up now. Griddlebone, can you hold together long enough to help us?"

The girl nodded, firmly, "Yes. I can."

"Great, hospital," Mistoffelees said. "And, um, need someone to point me in the right direction and keep me going that way if that's alright..."

Cori stepped up, taking Misto's hand again, "I'll see you get there." He glanced at the other two, "We'd best move quickly."

"Quickly is good," Tugger said. He had never been so glad of not dreaming most nights in his life.

They arrived at the hospital a short while later to find it in chaos. They managed to reach Billy's room-a haven of calm in comparison to the rest of the town.

"What now?" Tugger asked, glancing around, watching something like a zombie chasing a doctor down outside the room.

Cori hesitated, moving over to the bed and gently laying a hand on the boy's shoulder and leaning down to speak in his ear, "Billy?"

"That won't work," the astral projection said, appearing next to the bedside.

Cori looked up at that, "Billy, you've got to wake up."

"No. I told her already. I have to hide," the boy said, shaking his head quickly.

"From what?" Mistoffelees asked.

"From him," Grids said from where she stood at the doorway.

Cori looked in that direction, "What do we do?"

"I think I know," the girl stepped into the hall.

"It had better be soon," Tugger said, glancing outside.

The Ugly Man swayed down the hallway at her. "I'm glad you showed up. You see, I'm having a really bad day." Grids stood at the ready, poised to spring.

The Ugly Man growled, "Lucky nineteen."

Griddlebone's look was unimpressed, "Scary. I'll tell you something though. There's a lot scarier things out there than you. And now, I'm one of them."

Her opponent hesitated and she leaped at him, knocking him to the ground and landing blow after blow. He finally got in one good punch, knocking her back. They both got to their feet and she kicked him hard in the gut, doubling him over. He swung his club-arm at her, but she caught it, snapping it in two over her knee. He staggered backwards into the room. She hit him a couple more times, a final kick sending him crashing into the wall, where he slid to the floor.

"Is he dead?" Billy asked softly, walking over.

Grids looked at him before kneeling down in front of the Ugly Man and holding out her hand to the boy, "Come here, Billy."

"But I don't..." he protested, taking a step back.

She shook her head, "No more hiding. I'll be right here."

He hesitated again, before leaning forward and pulling the face off the Ugly Man. There was a blinding flash and the world suddenly wrenched itself back into normalcy.

"Sweet!" Tugger said, glancing down. "I got my real clothes back.

Mistoffelees blinked against the sudden Californian sunlight coming from the windows, closing his eyes before blinking them back open again.

Grids ran a hand over her face, her smile bright, "I'm normal again...or normal for me..."

"Normal is good," Tugger declared and Mistoffelees turned his sight on the bed.

"He's waking up," he said softly.

Grids moved over to Billy's bedside, "Hey, there."

"I had the strangest dream," he murmured. "You were all in it and... who are you people?"

Cori smiled softly at that, "I'll go fetch a doctor." He paused at the door as a Kiddie League coach entered.

"Oh, Billy's got company. I'm his Kiddie League coach. I come by every day, just hoping against hope he might wake up... He's my "lucky nineteen." How is he?"

Cori turned from his place in the doorway, his grey eyes narrowing at the man's back as Grids turned to face the coach, her voice icy, "Awake."

"What?" The man looked at the bed in surprise.

"You blamed him for losing the game. So you caught up with him afterwards, didn't you?" Grids asked, eying him in anger.

"What are you talkin' about?"

"He said it was my fault we lost," Billy said, voice small but firm.

The coach tried to bolt for the door, but Cori caught his arm, turning him around and quietly twisting the arm behind his back to keep him there.

Tugger had reached for him as well, but pulled back at seeing how quickly Cori handled it, both he and Mistoffelees blinking in shock.

"It wasn't my fault," Billy said, voice strong. "There were other players on the team, you know?"

The coach paled as Grids smiled. "Nice going, Billy." The boy offered her a faint smile in return.

o.o.o.o

Finally the school day ended, and Tugger and Mistoffelees walked Grids out. "I really think they should cancel school when things like this happen," Tugger groused.

Grids shrugged, "I guess they figure we'd never have school in that case." She shook her head, "Hard to believe a Kiddie League Coach could do something like that...beat a kid badly enough to spark nightmare land for the rest of us..."

"Not if you played kiddie league," Tugger said with a shrug, hands in his pockets. "I'm surprised it wasn't one of the parents."

"I'm just glad he's going behind bars," Mistoffelees said.

"Agreed." She shook her head, "Poor Billy."

Mistoffelees glanced around and put a hand lightly on her shoulder, pointing. "I think your real dad is finally here," he said softly.

Grids swallowed, but smiled as he waved, "Have a killer weekend, guys."

She hurried over to her dad, who caught her up in a hug, "Hi sweetheart. I've got about a million things planned for us this weekend. - it's going to mean spending a lot of quality time and money together."

"Sounds perfect," she waved at her friends, before following her dad to his car.

They watched her go, Tugger turned back to Misto. "You going to be okay?"

The darker haired teen nodded. "Yeah. I'll figure something out. Always do."

"You're nightmares usually don't come true," Tugger said, having slept over often enough to know how often Mistoffelees had them.

"And now they aren't," Mistoffelees said. "The world's back to normal and it's just like another day that takes them away."

Tugger gave him a long look. "Pizza night?" he offered.

"Pizza night," Mistoffelees agreed a little too quickly.

o.o.o.o

A short while later, Mistoffelees found himself back in the library, shifting from foot to foot near the door. Cori was finishing putting the books and old issues of the newspaper away inside as he waited for the tea water to heat.

"H-hey," Mistoffelees said gently.

The librarian looked up, "Oh, Mistoffelees. Hello."

He shifted again. "How... how are you doing?" he asked softly.

"I'm...adjusting. You?"

"I don't know," he said softly. "I... I think Tugger voted along the lines of pizza party, which is his usual reaction, and I'm half thinking of staying up late enough I'm exhausted enough not to dream, and tonight will probably be a night in which I take sleeping pills so overall no, I don't know."

Cori turned to face him fully, considering for a moment, "So you won't be alone tonight then?" he asked, making sure.

"No," he said, more referring to Tugger's habit of spending the night than anything. "Besides," he floundered on. "Who said I ever spend nights alone, in a oh god nonsexual way there. He just comes home late is all."

Cori arched an eyebrow at that, a bit skeptical, "Good." He went and poured a couple of cups of tea, bringing them out and handing one to Misto, "What keeps him out so late, if you don't mind my asking."

"H-he... work, usually," Mistoffelees replied, realizing he'd never actually been asked that.

"What does he do?"

"He has an old business. Very high class socialite and all that stuff too, so going out late for business talks at clubs and bars is totally part of the job." He really hadn't meant to let that sentence continue as long as it had.

Cori considered that, frowning, but he nodded, sipping at his tea, "I see. And he's never home due to that."

Mistoffelees took a quick gulp of the tea rather than answer, shrugging slightly. "Y-yeah? I mean, my uncle's home some of the time and stuff, it's not like he's never there or anything, it's just... I don't think he ever really planned to deal with a kid, and stuff, and the days of servants are kinda out at this point."

Coricopat rubbed his eyes, sighing a bit, "I see...Well, would you like a ride home?"

The teen rocked back slightly. "I-if you're already heading out, I suppose. I don't want to be a bother..."

"It's no bother. I'm heading out soon enough."

"Alright then, thank you," he said softly, sipping at his tea again. "And actually, that was why I stopped by... I wanted to thank you for earlier."

Cori took a drink of his tea, blinking in confusion, "For what?"

"Um, earlier," Mistoffelees repeated.

"I heard that the first time. I just don't see anything deserving of it. I did as anyone would have."

"Not anyone," Mistoffelees replied softly. "And, I guess, even beyond the letting me stumble into you constantly bit, thanks for not making me feel quite... as useless as I was."

"You were hardly useless." Cori responded, "And you'd done more than enough to prove that by then."

"B-but when I was blind... I was."

"No. Mistoffelees, you're never useless."

The teen stared at him for a long moment. "I... still," he said, looking away, voice small. "Thank you."

Cori finally nodded, "You're welcome."

Mistoffelees took a sip of the tea to give his hands something to do and offered Cori a faint smile. Cori returned the smile, finishing off his tea and straightening, "I have a couple of books to still put away, and then I can drive you home."

"I could help, if you like," he said. "I mean, I know where most of the books go now and stuff..."

The librarian considered and the nodded, "I certainly wouldn't say no to the help."

"I very much am feeling like being helpful at the moment," Mistoffelees said, setting his tea aside.

Cori offered him a smile, handing him a few books, "Thank you."

He nodded. "Anytime," he said, going to put them away. "And... you know I'm sure the idea is somewhat abhorrent to you, but you can partake in the pizza night of pain if you like, I'm sure there are some movies that wouldn't set your teeth totally on edge."

He considered, a small smile tugging on the corners of his lips, "I think that actually sounds like a decent evening."

Mistoffelees blinked, a little surprised before he grinned widely. "Huh. Kay, cool."

Cori reshelfed the last of the books, "Shall we?"

The shorter teen nodded. "I'm ready when you are."

o.o.o.o

Coricopat put the car into park in front of Mistoffelees' house. He looked the place over before shutting the car off and opening his door, "It really is rather a large house for two people."

Or the one that usually lived there. "I think only like, five or six of the rooms are used, honestly," he said, getting out. There was already a light on, since Tugger had long ago gotten a key from Mistoffelees without his uncle's knowledge. "But you'll hear no disagreements from me about it being too large."

The librarian glanced at the teen, but nodded slightly, "Shall we?"

Pausing for a second Mistoffelees tramped the rest of the way up to the door, knocking before opening it. "Tugger," he called.

"There you are. God, what were you doing that took-" Tugger started coming around a corner and freezing when he noticed the librarian behind Mistoffelees.

"Don't say a word," Mistoffelees murmured. Tugger's eyebrow inched up and his posture shifted back. "And don't give me that look either."

Coricopat glanced between the two students, hesitating, "I can go if you would prefer?"

Tugger finally looked the other over. "Hm? Naw, it's Misto's house here. If he invited you, you can stay. I'm not leaving and I suppose the place is big enough."

"I could invite our entire class over and the place would be big enough," Mistoffelees said, rolling his eyes. "Do I need to order the pizza?" Tugger nodded. "... And Tugger?"

"Yeah?" he asked, tilting his head over.

"Don't get any ideas about inviting the entire class over."

That elicited a faint, bemused smile from Cori, "Well, it certainly is spacious. Though at least not drafty?"

Mistoffelees was already retreating to the kitchen phone but Tugger nodded, having plenty of experience with the place. "Not drafty. Old construction which means it's solid."

"I suppose that is true." He watched Misto go into the kitchen before glancing at Tugger, "How often is his uncle actually here?"

"How often has he told you?" Tugger hedged.

"That's not an answer, Tugger."

"No, it's really not, but I've learned the best sort of hedging from a master of it," Tugger replied flippantly.

"The let me be a good deal more specific, keeping in mind I deal with the three of you on a regular basis and have spent my life hedging... How many nights a week does Mistoffelees spend alone in this house?" His tone held a heaping dose of concern.

Tugger flailed for a moment, calculating. "Well, there's about the one night on average his uncle is here and the three or four I'm here so really... just between three and two?"

"His uncle's only here one night out of the week?" Coricopat's voice edged toward dangerous.

"On average?" Tugger said a bit weakly.

The librarian removed his glasses and cleaned them, shaking his head. He changed the subject, "How are you holding up after today?"

Tugger blinked. "You're not going to flip out at him, right?"

"Mistoffelees? Certainly not." He shook his head, "It's hardly his fault his guardian is imbecilic and incompetent and...I'm not even certain my vocabulary contains the proper adjective."

"Not many people's do for Bustopher," Tugger agreed, nodding a bit too firmly.

"You didn't answer my question," the librarian remarked quietly, glancing at his student.

"Oh. Right. Fine," he said with a shrug. "My nightmares are pretty tame after all. I almost never get them."

"I suppose that's true. Though you had the joy of living everyone else's too."

"True," Tugger mumbled, shoulders hunching slightly. "And I'm good with never doing that again."

Mistoffelees poked his head back around the kitchen, holding a corded phone. "Cori? I never did find out what you wanted on a pizza."

The Englishman looked up, "Hm? Oh, I'm good with anything that's not anchovies or mushrooms."

Mistoffelees blinked and nodded. "Alright, good to know," and then he returned to the kitchen, saving the poor stretched out cord from it's pain.

Coricopat glanced back at Tugger, "I suppose we could go settle in the TV room?"

Tugger made to motion for him to precede him and paused. "Right," he said, realizing Cori probably didn't know where it was and led the way.

Cori followed him, glancing around the room as they entered, though he wasn't certain where to sit exactly. It was uncertain ground he felt he was standing on and he wasn't sure he wanted to change that definitively.

Tugger arched a brow and settled down into a chair that looked like it had been well loved which implied it was his place. A second later Mistoffelees popped into the room, glanced around and sat on the couch. "Sit where you like," he told the librarian. Cori hesitated for another moment before settling at the other end of the couch.

"Well," Mistoffelees shifted to pull his legs up underneath him. "We have an extensive movie collection here. Take your pick."

"I'm just along for the ride," the librarian protested, "I'll leave the decision of, at least, the first film up to you two."

"We've watched all of them at least twice," Tugger protested. "Even the Hugh Jackman films." Mistoffelees looked like he couldn't decide whether he wanted to agree or throw something at Tugger. "You do not even want to know how many times I've seen Kate and Leopold," Tugger informed Coricopat in all seriousness.

Cori hesitated before nodding slightly, "Fair enough." He rose, skimming over the titles before withdrawing one of the movies from the shelf and putting it in the player before settling back on the couch.

"Wanna bet it's something from the BBC?" Tugger asked, leaning his head back to grin at Mistoffelees who tossed a pillow at him.

Coricopat rolled his eyes slightly, shaking his head and settling in more comfortably as the overture to Camelot came through the sound system.

"It's not the BBC," Mistoffelees said with a grin.

"Damn, I so thought I called that," Tugger shook his head. "Just don't sing along to I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight, okay?"

"Where will I find my joy in life?" Mistoffelees asked, shaking his head.

"That is rather a good song, though my personal preference is What Do the Simple Folk Do?," the librarian remarked, glancing at them out of the corner of his eye.

Tugger rolled his eyes and tossed the pillow back at Mistoffelees who caught it. "Oh, you know you sing along any time Lancelot does," Mistoffelees told him.

Tugger groaned. "I thought we'd agreed that was never leaving this house."

"The singing or the fact you know the film well enough to do it? Besides, we're still in the house." Mistoffelees teased.

"Perhaps both?" Cori smirked.

"We'll go with both," Tugger said with a glare at Mistoffelees that just got a laugh in response.

Coricopat chuckled quietly at that, his gaze turning back to the television. He'd almost forgotten what it was to relax among friends after a trying experience.

Pizza and Movie Night of Pain. Misto and Tugger tend to have those quite often actually, and both of them associate Pizza and cheesy movies not only with each other, but the very act of comforting. They're a little messed up when it comes to giving comfort, though looking at their home lives this should be no surprise.

As for Bustopher Jones: Anytime he shows up in VS's writing especially, he tends to be an utter bastard. In this story he's just neglectful rather than actively harmful like he is in Felidae 1925 or the Victorian AU. The one time he wasn't a total dick was when he was supposed to be a Hutt in the Star Wars rewrite just finished recently. Go figure that's the one verse he grows a heart.

What's interesting is how much all these characters' nightmares revolve around failure or being unable to be useful. Misto especially, but Cori's very much are the same ((Failure to protect his Slayer, unable to read and thus find the knowledge that's usually his forte)) and Grids too ((Failure of her duty)). Tuggers are just about those that can harm him. Poor babies...

Thank you everyone's who's read this and we hope you continue to enjoy and review it!