"Alright", Willow said an hour later, looking from the small pile of ingredients on the table at her best friend, "once I did the first spell, you'll fall asleep for three or four hours, that should be enough time to find her and get rid of her. I'll do the second spell to enter your dreamworld right afterwards, so we won't lose too much time."
"Okay", Buffy agreed, trying to hide how nervous she was feeling about this, not wanting her friends to notice that the thought of being magicked into sleep wasn't exactly appealing to her, "and there's no danger for either of us, right?"
"I'm not sure", Willow admitted after a moment, "seeing how strong she is, she might use that against us in the dreamworld, or against me, if I take your place there. I should be able to handle her though…"
"Let's hope so", Pat sighed, "I don't like the thought of you going up against her on your own. What did you say earlier about not taking any risks?"
"That's a risk we have to take", Willow pointed out in reply, "and I'm sure it'll be fine, I have my magic back, remember? I can handle her with that."
"Seems like my confidence is rubbing off on you", the demon commented as an answer, making the redhead giggle slightly while she shrugged; then, she grew serious again as she focused on the task at hand, asking Buffy to lie down on the couch and to make herself comfortable, the Slayer doing so, still giving her best to hide how nervous she was feeling.
"Try to relax", Willow advised her, making it clear to her that her tries to hide that certain feeling hadn't been very successful, "the spell will be easier for me if you're not as tense as a wire."
"Sorry", Buffy mumbled, then took in a deep breath and closed her eyes, giving her best to think happy thoughts; Willow gave her another smile, then readied the powder she'd need to make the blonde fall asleep, pouring some of it into her palm, keeping her gaze focused on her best friend as she started chanting. Behind her, Pat and Giles watched curiously, none of them making a noise, well aware that this often was crucial for certain spells to work out; still, they both flinched despite their tries not to do so when Willow said the last words, then let the powder trickle down on Buffy's face, where it started to glow the moment it landed on the skin and vanished into nothingness.
"Alright", the witch whispered after the last few tiny grains had vanished and the slow, calm breaths of Buffy showed that she was fast asleep, "now for the hard part…"
"You can do it", Pat gave her best to be supportive, even though she still had doubts about the whole idea; Willow gave her a brief thankful smile, then took in a deep breath as she focused again, picking up the second batch of ingredients she had readied, starting by lighting up the several sticks of incense she had brought along from their home.
"Alright", she then repeated, looking behind her to make sure no hard or edged things were right behind her, "just so you know, once I finished the spell, I'll probably just slump backwards and lie there, so don't freak out, okay?"
Even though the redhead's words made her grimace, Pat just nodded, not trying to protest – before she got up and moved to sit right behind her partner, making her smile slightly, another thankful look accompanying the smile, the black haired woman giving her a wry smile as well in reply.
They looked at each other for a few more seconds, then Willow finally turned away again and focused on her spell once more; behind her, Pat held her breath when the witch started chanting again, already anticipating the moment she'd say the last word and just slump over backwards the moment the spell would take effect. Since the spell didn't have too many words, this happened quite fast; the witch said the last word, then tossed the fistful of powdered ingredients she'd been holding during the chanting at herself, her eyes falling closer moments later, her body going limp and, just as she had predicted, falling backwards, the redhead not even noticing anymore how she landed in her partner's waiting arms and was held tightly, the world vanishing around her as she entered Buffy's dreamworld.
The moment she opened her eyes again, she knew that something was amiss, and the realization came to her a second later – she was hanging in the air, not exactly floating like she could with magic, but dangling as if on invisible strings. Seconds after she had noticed that, she was falling, a cry escaping her at the unexpected sensation; and then, she landed on her back on something surprisingly soft, her eyes going wide when she noticed the walls of earth all around her, her heart skipping a beat when the realization why the ground beneath her was so soft followed a moment later.
"Foolish witch", the all too familiar voice of the nightmare demon now came from above, making her look up automatically, the demon smiling down on her cruelly, "you thought you could come here, to my realm, and defeat me here? This is my world, stupid girl, and my rules. You should have asked your friend about her nightmares before doing this…"
She smiled, a cruel and cold smile that sent shivers up and down Willow's spine; before she could come with an answer though, or a way to get herself out of this unpleasant situation, the lid of the coffin she had landed in slammed shut, leaving her in total darkness, her breath getting caught in her throat when the low thump of earth landing on the lid followed moments later.
"No!" she cried out, not even sure whom she was talking to, if it was the nightmare demon herself burying her alive or some unseen foe, brought into existence by Buffy's fears of having this happen to her, "stop! Let me out!"
Even though she tried hard to keep calm, knowing that things only would get worse if she'd panic, she couldn't help herself when the only response was more earth thumping down on the closed lid, some of it trickling through unseen gaps and landing on her face, the cold, wet feeling of graveyard earth on her skin finally shattering her resolve to remain calm.
"Let me out!" she screamed again, her voice nearly breaking as she yelled at the top of her lungs, banging her fists against the firmly shut lid above her, "please! Please, no, let me out...!"
Again, the only response was more earth falling down on her coffin, morbidly making her wonder if the lid was covered by now or not; for a moment, she felt like just screaming until she'd go hoarse, then she forced herself to remain quiet, closing her eyes as she tried to regain some semblance of calm.
It's a dream, she told herself, making herself breathe slowly and calmly, use that to your advantage, you can get out of this, it's just a dream and you can't be hurt here…
A particular loud thump from above the lid made her jump, and she nearly slipped into panic again when she felt more earth trickle down on her; squeezing her eyes shut, Willow fought hard to remain as calm as she could, taking in slow, deep breaths while she placed her hands against the coffin lid and gave an experimental push, not surprised when it didn't budge at all.
"I wish I had Buffy's strength now", she muttered to herself, giving her best to ignore how odd her voice sounded in the small space of the coffin, "then I could just dig myself out…"
Since she knew that this wasn't an option, she shrugged the idea off, then racked her mind as she tried to come up with a spell which would get her out of this; when she had entered the dreamworld, she only had been thinking of spells to defeat the nightmare demon, and not for a second had thought of the possibility that she might end up in such a situation. Now that it had happened, she had to admit that the nightmare demon had made quite a good point when she had reminded her of the fact that this was her world, and that her rules were applied here; she asked herself how she could have overlooked such a crucial fact, how it could have happened that none of her friends had thought of this, then pushed those thoughts aside as well, telling herself that it didn't matter now.
Carefully, she placed her hands against the coffin lid and pushed again, gritting her teeth when she put more and more strength against the wood; for a moment, she almost thought it would budge after all, then her hand slipped and sharp pain ran through her palm, an involuntary, small sound of dismay escaping her – before her eyes widened as she realized what just had happened.
Under normal circumstances, getting a splinter into her palm wouldn't have freaked her out at all, since she simply would have pulled it out and maybe would have complained to her girlfriend to receive cuddles and kisses as consolation; now though, the pain showed her that her previous thoughts hadn't been entirely right – even though it shouldn't be possible, she could get hurt in this particular dream.
"And if I can get hurt, I can die", she whispered to herself, the realization blowing what little resolve she still had had left into tiny pieces as the panic took over fully, making her scream and cry in the darkness as she hammered against the coffin lid again and again, until her throat was sore and her hands hurt, and still the lid was as immobile as it had been when she had been thrown into the coffin, the constant thumping of more earth landing on it forming a rhythm to her cries, her shouts and pleas leaving whoever was piling the earth on and on unmoved.