Chapter 18: Nightmares
May 15, 1997 – Thursday
Buffy walked through underground tunnels. As she glanced at her surrounding everything looked dark and creepy. She crept past a rock wall into a wide space. She pied an oddly angled and lit candelabra... an upended pew. As she moved forward she didn't see the Master rise behind her from behind the upended pew.
The Master glided up behind her and reached out for her. As he was about to touch her, she spun around and saw him towering over her. Too terrified to fight, she dropped her stake. She then backed away from the Master who matched her stride for stride as he once again reached for her.
She backed into a rock wall, clearly trapped as his hand closed in on her and grabbed her shoulder. "No!" Buffy screamed.
Halliwell Manor
Piper rushed into Buffy's room the moment she heard her cousin screaming. "Buffy," she said as she shook Buffy awake.
Buffy gasped as she sprung awake and sat up in bed. It took her a moment to realize it was morning and she in her own bed. "Oh, Piper…" she sobbed as she turned into Piper's arms.
"Are you all right?" Piper asked clearly concerned for her cousin.
"No," Buffy mumbled answer came from Piper's shoulder. "I'm pretty sure I had a premonition. I was in a cavern and I think I was facing the Master when he came up behind me. He was about to kill me when you woke me up."
Piper let out a sigh. She hoped what Buffy had just dreamt hadn't been a premonition. "It was only a bad dream, Buffy," she soothed. "Prue, Phoebe and I will not let anything happen to you."
"I know," Buffy said as she got her sobs under control. She looked up at Piper. "What time is it?".
"About time for school," Piper answered as Buffy nodded as got out of bed and went to her closet. "I spoke to Hank." She knew that Buffy considered Victor as her father as well as Hank, because of Victor stating he would have offered Joyce to adopt her if he could have. So it was easier referring to both men by their first names to differentiate them for Buffy.
Buffy glanced over her shoulder at Piper a look of concern on her face. "Dad's coming, right?" she asked.
Piper smiled as she looked at her cousin. "You're on for this weekend," she told her.
Buffy returned Piper's smile. "Good..." she said.
Gateway High
"So you see your dad a lot?" Willow asked as she, Aviva and Buffy headed for their first class of the day.
"Not a whole lot," Buffy answered. "He's still in L.A. He only comes down for weekends sometimes."
"How long before you mom's passing did your parents get divorced?" asked Aviva looking at her friend.
Buffy let out a sigh as she glanced at Aviva. "It was finalized about two months before she died. But they were separated before that," she explained.
"That must have been harsh. To first go through the divorce than to lose your mom not long after," Willow said as Buffy nodded. She decided to get them off the topic of Buffy's mom. "So your dad stills comes down on weekends."
"Sometimes," Buffy said as they walked into the class room. They passed Cordelia, as the cheerleader returned to her seat, on their way to the back of the classroom and sat behind Xander and Wendell.
"Wendell was in Cordelia's light," Xander admitted to his friends when they had sat down behind them.
"I'm so ashamed," Wendell said sarcastically.
"Why is she so Evita-like?" Willow wondered looking at Cordelia.
"It's the hair," Aviva quipped with a slight smirk.
"Weighs heavy on the cerebral cortex," Willow laughed.
"Hey guys," Xander said as he looked at his friends. "Was there any homework?"
"We're doing active listening today," Willow explained looking at Xander as if to ask did you do the homework?"
"Cool," Xander said and then turned a confused look on them. "What's active listening?"
Willow sighed as she guessed it, Xander hadn't hone his homework. "That would be the homework." Xander shrugged, drawing a blank as Buffy held up her textbook. "Chapter five," she explained. "Active listening. Where you put on your big ears and really focus on the other person?"
Xander shrugged her still clearly had no idea what they were talking about. "Ms. Tishler demonstrated on Friday," Wendell added. He couldn't blame Xander for not really remembering, after all they nearly had an entire week out of school because of the water main break.
"With you," Aviva said and then she smiled. "She was wearing that tight sweater?"
Xander nodded as he remembered the sweater and what was in it. "The midnight blue Angora. See, I was listening."
It was at that moment that bell rang and Ms. Tishler entered the classroom. "All right, take your seats," she told her students. "In a moment we'll choose partners and practice what we read in chapter five... " Xander looked up at her, mimed putting his big ears on, "...good, Xander, that's the spirit."
Aviva, Willow and Buffy all looked at each other with a roll of their eyes.
"Before we do, let's review," Ms. Tishler told them.
Buffy rested her hand on her chin. As boredom began to set in, she began to tap her pencil on her desk.
"Isaacson's research lead him to conclude that one of our most fundamental needs, after food and shelter, is to be heard..." Ms. Tishler continued her lecture.
Buffy sighed as she dropped her pencil. She bend down to get it when she noticed a twelve-year-old boy standing at the back of the class. He looked at her with a kind of remorse calm. Buffy was clearly puzzled on why a twelve-year-old boy would be in even be there.
"Wendell would you read us the first two paragraphs on page seventy-eight..." Ms. Tishler said looking at Wendell who nodded, reaching for his textbook, "...where Isaacson describes the rapid movement active listening brought to some special needs clients—"
Wendell opened his textbook and let out a horrible scream as spiders began pouring out of his textbook, onto his desk, up his arms and over his face. He flailed about, scared out of his wits.
As everyone began to freakout Buffy whipped her head away from the boy to stare at Wendell in total shock.
The boy whispered mostly to himself as he looked at Wendell. "Sorry about that," he admitted.
May 16, 1997 - Friday
"You're awfully quiet this morning." Piper said as she pulled her jeep up outside the school.
Buffy sighed. "I didn't sleep so good," she admitted.
"I'll say. I came in to check on you twice," Piper admitted as she turned to look at Buffy. "You were yelling in your sleep. You remember what you were dreaming?"
Buffy nodded as looked at Piper. "Another premonition with the Master," she said with a worried sigh. "You didn't tell Prue or Phoebe did you?"
"Are you sure their premonitions and not simply bad dreams?" Piper asked completely worried about her cousin.
"I don't know," Buffy said with a shrug. "It's possible I guess."
"Then I won't say anything," Piper admitted. "Not till we know for sure if it's a dream or a premonition."
"It's probably just a bad dream," Buffy admitted as she smiled at Piper. "After all Phoebe doesn't generally get premonitions when she's asleep."
"Not usually," Piper agreed. "But you have to remember your unique being also a Slayer as well as a witch. We already know the Slayer part of you influenced some of your powers. It's possible it could have influenced your preminitions too."
"Maybe," Buffy agreed. "For now let's keep this between us till we know for sure if I'm getting premonitions that are repeating themselves or they are just bad dreams."
"Agreed," Piper said as she smiled.
Buffy glanced at the back seat of the jeep and frowned. "Oh no, my bag. I packed for the weekend, I forgot it."
"You and Hank can swing by the manor and get your bag. It's not a problem," Piper said. "Besides he does have that raincheck."
"Right, I forgot about that," Buffy said as she laughed. "I'll nudge him into taking us up on that. Now he is picking me right after school, right?"
"Buffy, are you worried Hank won't show?" Piper asked looking at her cousin concerned.
"A little," Buffy reluctantly admitted. "But I shouldn't be, should I?"
"No I don't think you should," Piper said. "He's not going to be like Victor. Now you have a good day."
Buffy smiled. "You, too," she reached across and gave Piper a quick hug before getting out of the jeep.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy was heading down the hall toward her next class as Aviva, Xander and Willow came up to her.
"Buffy," Aviva said as she smiled at her friend. "We've been looking for you."
"We have?" Xander asked confused as he, Aviva and Willow fell into step with Buffy.
Willow glanced at Xander and nodded. "About the spiders," she reminded him. She turned her attention to Buffy. "Have you talked to Giles, Prue, Piper or Phoebe about—"
Xander rolled his eyes. "Oh. The spiders," he said. "Willow and Aviva have been kinda... what's the word I'm looking for... insane about what happened yesterday."
"I have not," Aviva said as she glared at Xander.
"Well Willow definitely has," he returned.
Willow let out a resigned sigh. "I don't like spiders, okay?" she admitted. "Their furry bodies, their sticky webs - what do they need all those legs for anyway? I'll tell you: for crawling across your face in the middle of the night." She shuddered. "Ew. How do spiders not ruffle you?"
"I'm sorry, I'm unruffled on spiders. Now if a bunch of Nazis crawled across my face..." Xander said.
"It was pretty intense," Buffy admitted as she looked at her friends.
Willow smiled in appreciation at Buffy. "Thank you."
"Hellmouth, center of mystical convergence, supernatural monster," Xander said as he looked between his friends. "Been there."
"A little blasé here, aren't you?" Aviva admitted.
Xander shrugged as he looked at Aviva. "I'm not worried," he explained as they walked into the library. "If there's something bad out there, we'll find, you'll slay, we'll party."
"Thanks for having confidence in me," Buffy said sarcastically.
"Well, you da man, Buff." Xander admitted as he smiled at her.
"Okay, but we're still caring about the spiders here," Willow said. "Let's not forget the spiders."
"Well, Giles said he was going to look up—" Buffy said as she looked around. "Giles?" she called out.
"Maybe he's in the faculty room." Willow suggested looking around for the missing librarian.
Giles emerged from the stacks, coming through the door with a vaguely unsettled expression. He looked behind him.
"Hey. Giles," Buffy said as she looked at him, letting him know they were there. "Wakey, wakey."
Giles turned and looked at the four teenagers. "I was in the stacks," he said. "I got lost."
"Well, did you find any theories on spiders coming out of books? Big crawly hairy..." Xander said as he ran his hand up Willow's back, causing her to jump. She turned and glared at him. "It was funny if you're me."
Giles shook his head. "I didn't find anything particularly illuminating," he admitted. "I think perhaps you'd best have a talk with Wendell himself."
"Okay. If he can still talk," Buffy admitted.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Wendell stared straight ahead lost in thought as Aviva, Buffy, Willow and Xander approached him.
"Hey Wendell, how're you doing?" Buffy asked.
Wendell looked at Buffy for a moment completely confused on why she was there. "Huh?"
"You okay?" Buffy asked concern filtering into her voice.
Wendell shrugged. "Hard to tell," he admitted.
"Good talkin' to ya', man," Xander said as he moved to leave.
"Did you guys want something...?" Wendell asked looking at the four of them.
"We just thought you might want to talk about what happened," Aviva said as she sat next to him.
"You know yesterday with the spiders," Willow added.
Wendell looked at them for a moment trying to think of what to say. "I don't know what to say about that..." he admitted.
"There's nothing to say," Xander said. "You saw two hundred insects, you Gonzoed. Anybody would have—"
"They're not insects," Wendell objected with a frown. "They're arachnids."
Xander looked at Wendell clearly confused, another fact he had no clue as what it meant. "They're from the Middle East?" he asked.
Wendell let out a resigned sigh. "Spiders are arachnids, they have eight legs, insects have six," he explained. "Why does everyone make that mistake?"
Buffy shrugged. "I don't know. Has anything like that ever happened before?" she said as Wendell looked at her for a moment before nodding. "When?"
"Lots of times..." Wendell admitted. .
"Eeeee," Willow shrieked. "You must hate spiders more than I do."
Wendell laughed a, slightly deranged laugh. "I don't hate spiders, I love them," he admitted. "They hate me."
Buffy, Aviva, Willow and Xander all exchange a glance as if to say what the heck is going on?
As the bell rang Cordelia came up to the quartet. "Hope you studied for the history test!" Cordelia told Buffy.
Buffy looked at Cordelia confused. She didn't remember there being a history test today. "What history test?" she asked.
"The one we're having right now in fourth period," Cordelia reminded Buffy as if it was obvious.
Buffy looked at Aviva, Willow and Xander as if to ask do you know what she's talking about. "There's a test?" she asked as Aviva, Willow and Xander all shrugged. "Nobody told me about a... I better, I gotta... we'll catch up during lunch."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy hurried down the hall looking for the history classroom. For some reason she was having trouble finding it. That was till she spotted Cordelia waiting by a door further down the hall.
"You don't know where the class is, do you?" Cordelia asked as Buffy came up to her.
"I, uh—" Buffy started.
"Hardly a shocker," Cordelia nodded in understanding. "You've cut history just about every time we've had it."
"I was there the first day... I think," Buffy admitted trying to think about to the last time she had actually attended history class.
"It's in here," Cordelia said as she opened the door for Buffy.
"I haven't been to class, I haven't read any of the assignments..." Buffy muttered mostly to herself, even though Cordelia was clearly listening, "how am I going to pass the test?"
Cordelia shrugged. "Blind luck?"
Buffy made her way to a seat and sat dow just as the teacher came past with the tests. She looked desperately for any help, but most of the other students, including Cordelia, had already started working on their exams. As the teacher past Buffy, she gave Buffy an obvious dirty look and then dropped the test in front of her.
Buffy stared down at the test clearly unable to answer any of the questions. She knew she was likely to get scolded by Prue if she couldn't at least get a passing grade. Buffy looked up at the clock which said already twenty minutes had passed since she sat down. She turned her attention back to the test. "I know my name," she said.
As Buffy started to write Payson her pencil broke. She let out a sigh of frustration as she reached into her bag and dug out her pencil sharpener. She started to sharpen the pencil as she glanced up up at the clock again and saw she only had about two minutes before the bell rang. "Huh?" she whispered. How could the entire class have gone by already? She looked over at Cordelia who was completing the third page of her test.
As the bell rang, students stood up. As they filed out of the classroom they dropped their tests on the teacher's desk. Buffy looked at her own incomplete test wondering what had just happened. With a resigned sigh she got up and walked on past the desk without even bothering to turn in the test. As she walked out the door she noticed the boy from yesterday standing there. Before she could question him on who he was he moved slowly on down the hall out of sight.
UCSF Medical Center
Buffy led Giles down the hallway of the hospital. They had heard that a girl had been attacked but nobody had seen who had attacked her. "I think they said room 316," Buffy said looking at the room numbers as they passed.
"Do you know this girl?" Giles asked keeping pace.
Buffy sighed as she shook her head. "Laura?" she questioned. "To say hi to. She's nice enough. Nobody saw who attacked her?"
"I'm rather hoping Laura did," Giles admitted as they finally found Laura's room.
As they entered the room they passed a nurse on her way out. The first thing they noticed was that not only was Laura awake, but her head was bruised and bandaged and her eyes were wide with fear.
"Hey, Laura." Buffy greeted her fellow student.
Laura smiled, happy to have visitors. "Hi..." she said.
"Sorry to intrude on you like this," Giles said.
"That's okay," Laura told them thankful for the company. "I don't want to be left alone."
"You understand, we're anxious to make sure this never happens again," Giles explained.
"Can you tell us what happened?" Buffy added.
Laura let out a sigh as she nodded. She figured she would have to talk about it eventually. "I was in the basement... I went down for a smoke... there was someone... there."
"Someone you knew?" Buffy asked thinking it could be another student or a teacher.
Laura shook her head. "I never... saw anything like it."
"Can you describe it?" Giles asked when he noticed Buffy's hesitation on the word it.
They could tell from the look on Laura's face she was clearly not up for talking about her attacker.
"That's okay. Don't worry about it." Buffy said as she patted Laura's arm in comfort.
"Yes, you rest. You're safe now," Giles said as the nurse returned.
"But if you remember anything, you can tell us," Buffy said as she glanced at the nurse. "Even if it seems... weird." She turned and was about to follow Giles out the door when Laura spoke up.
"Lucky nineteen."
Giles and Buffy glanced at each other before turning back to Laura. "I'm sorry?" he said.
Laura sighed. "It's what he said," she admitted. "Right before... he said lucky nineteen. That's weird, right?"
Giles nodded. "Yes. Yes it is," he said as he and Buffy went to leave they passed Laura's doctor who was making his rounds. "Doctor, is she going to be all right?"
"You family?" The doctor questioned.
"Friends," Buffy admitted. "We know you can't give out much since we're not family, but we're concerned for Laura."
The doctor nodded as they fell in step with him. "She'll recover. She's got a couple of shattered bones and a little internal bleeding. She got off pretty easy," he told them.
"Easy?" Buffy said confused on how Laura had managed to get off easy.
"Have you looked the word up lately?" Giles asked also confused.
"Well, the first one's still in a coma," the doctor admitted.
Buffy looked at Giles than back at the doctor. "The first what?" she asked.
"The first victim," the doctor said as he stopped in front of a window looking into a room. He motioned for them to take a look. "He was found a week ago. Exact MO as the girl. Only he's in worse shape. If he doesn't wake up soon... Somebody's gotta stop this guy."
Buffy glanced at Giles who nodded. "Somebody will," she told the doctor.
As they made their way out of the hospital, Giles said, "We've got to get you back before your next class."
"Hit the newspapers," Buffy said thinking of the boy. "See what you can find out about this first attack."
"Yes," Giles said as they approached the entrance to the building. He looked at Buffy and noticed she looked a tad pale. "Are you all right? You look a bit peaked."
Buffy smiled. "Hospital lighting. It does nothing for my fabulous complexion," she lied. In reality she had always hated hospitals ever since her paternal cousin Celia died right in front of her.
"Are you... sleeping all right?" Giles asked.
Buffy knew her lie hadn't eased his concern as she looked toward her Watcher. "I'll sleep better when we find this guy. Nothing like kicking the crap out of a bad guy to perk up my day."
Gateway High
Giles stood looking at a huge array of newspapers arranged on the big table in front of him. "This can't be happening. Can't be..." he muttered to himself.
"What's the word?" Buffy asked as she walked into the library.
"I've got back issues of the newspapers... trying to do some research..." Giles admitted. He didn't know how to tell his Slayer that he had forgotten it seemed how to read.
"Uh-huh... Did you find anything?" Buffy asked not picking up on his hesitation.
"I don't know."
Buffy moved over beside him and looked down at the newspapers. "You don't know if you didn't find anything?" she asked confused.
Giles sighed. "I'm having a problem," he told her. "I... I can't read."
Buffy blinked in surprise. "What do you mean?" she asked. "You can read, like, three languages."
"Five," Giles corrected her, "actually, on a normal day—but the words here aren't making sense." He held up a paper as if to show her what he saw. "It's gibberish."
Buffy looked at the paper he held up and saw a picture of the boy that she had seen around school. "That's him," she said pointing at the picture.
"Who?" Giles asked as he looked at the picture.
"That's the boy I've been seeing around school," Buffy explained as she took the paper from Giles. "Twelve year old Billy Palmer was found beaten and unconscious after his Kiddie League game Saturday," she read. "Doctors describe his condition as critical... When was this published? Last week. He's in a coma, in intensive care... this is the boy from the hospital."
Giles eyes went wide with realization. "The first victim," he said. "You've been seeing him around school?"
Buffy nodded. "Yes, when the spiders got Wendell, when I didn't know a thing on the history test..." she explained. "It seemed weird, him being around, but with all the trouble I forgot about it."
"The boy's been in a coma for a week," Giles said as he frowned. "How is this possible?"
"He could be a witch," Buffy offered. "Other than that I have no clue."
"It's definitely possible," Giles said. "If he is a witch he might have a power similar to astral projection. It's the theory that while one sleeps one has another body, an astral body, that can travel through time and space..."
"He's in a coma," Buffy said as she smiled. "That's like sleep, right?"
"In a manner of speaking," Giles agreed. "Though one doesn't always wake from a coma..."
"Could I have been seeing Billy's astral body?" Buffy wondered.
Giles shrugged, he didn't know. "I don't know," he admitted. "We don't have much information to work with, as usual."
Buffy looked back at the picture in the paper and noticed the number on Billy's team jersey. "Lucky Nineteen..." she said as the library doors open and Hank walked through them.
"There you are, I've been looking everywhere," Hank said. "Why aren't you in class?"
Buffy looked at Hank in confusion. Why was her father there, Piper had confirmed he was picking her up after school. "Dad, what are you... Piper said you were picking me up after school, is something wrong?"
"Well, I need to talk to you," Hank said.
"Something is wrong," Buffy said beginning to panic. Had a warlock gotten her cousins? "Is it Prue, Piper or Phoebe?"
Hank smiled. "No. It's not your cousins, they're fine," he told her.
Buffy lete out a sigh of relief, "Phew," she said. "You really had me—"
"Could I speak to you for a moment, in private?" Hank interrupted motioning toward the doors.
"Sure. Oh, this is Mr. Giles, the librarian," Buffy said as she introduced Hank to Giles. "This is my father, Hank Summers."
Giles smiled as he held out his hand. "Pleasure," he said as Hank quickly shook it.
"Likewise." Hank said before moving to the door and holding it open. He waited for Buffy to walk out first before following her down the hall.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"I came early because there's something I've needed to tell you," Hank said as he and Buffy walked across the quad. "About your mother and me. Why we split up."
Buffy glanced at Hank thrown about the topic. Why bring that up now around a half a year after the divorce and about four months since Joyce's death? "You always said—"
"I know your mom and I always said we'd just grown too far apart..." he told her.
"Well, yeah. Isn't that true?" Buffy asked clearly confused.
"Come on, honey, let's sit down." Hank says as he led her to a bench and they sat down. "You're old enough to know the truth."
"Was there... someone else?" Buffy wondered.
"No, it was nothing like that," he admitted.
"Well then what was it?" Buffy said as she began to get worried.
"It was you," Hank told her bluntly.
"Me?" Buffy said shocked at the revelation.
"Having you, raising you, seeing you every day, I mean do you have any idea what that was like...?" Hank asked.
Buffy couldn't believe what she was hearing. "What?"
Hank sighed. "Gosh, you don't even see what's right in your face, do you," he told her. "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?"
"...no. Please don't." Buffy said as tears were prickling the backs of her eyes, threatening to fall.
"You're sullen and rude and not nearly as bright as I thought you were going to be," Hank went on. "I mean, Buffy, let's be honest: could you stand to live in the same house with a daughter like that? Why else do you think I wanted you placed with a member of your mother's family?"
"Why are you saying these things?" Buffy asked.
"Because they're true. I think that's the least we owe one another," Hank said as Buffy continued to fight the tears. "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 gave her a little pat on the arm. "I sure thought you were going to turn out differently." He stood and walked off leaving Buffy alone.
Buffy sat there in utter hurt and shock.
Halliwell Manor
Phoebe was walking through the house and noticed Buffy's bag sitting by the base of the stairs. She went to move it when she was pulled into a premonition.
Buffy looked up from inside a coffin banging on the lid. Outside someone stood over the grave shoveling dirt on top of the coffin.
As Phoebe came out of the premonition she reeled back as she dropped the bag. She ran to the phone and dialed.
"Prue Halliwell," came Prue's voice from the other end of the phone.
"Prue, it's Phoebe. I just had a premonition of Buffy being buried alive," Phoebe explained.
Gateway High
Buffy walked along, reeling from the blow Hank gave her. She was even debating calling Piper, and asking her to come pick her up from school early. It was at that moment she noticed a figure walk through a nearby doorway. After a moment's hesitation she followed the figure into the school kitchen.
As she entered she looked around, the room was empty except for Billy who stood quietly at the other end of the room. "Are you Billy Palmer?" she asked.
"Why do you want to know?" Billy asked.
"Because I want to help you." Buffy admitted as she smiled at the boy.
"I'm Billy."
"Did something bad happen to you last week, after your Kiddie League Game?" Buffy asked trying to find out why he was here. .
"Something bad..." Billy admitted. "I don't remember."
"Do you remember playing baseball?" Buffy pushed trying to get at the root of the problem.
"Uh-huh, I think so, yeah, I play second base," Billy admitted as he looked at Buffy.
Buffy nodded as she remembered what Laura had said and what she had seen in the newspaper picture. "Are you lucky nineteen?" she asked.
"That's what he calls me..." Billy said clearly frightened as his eyes dart around looking for something.
"Who?" Buffy wondered.
"The Ugly Man," Billy explained. "He wants to kill me. He hurt that girl."
"Laura," Buffy supplied with a nod. She knelt down in front of him. "Why does he want to kill you?" she asked.
"He's..." Billy said looking for a way to get away from Buffy.
Buffy smiled. "It's okay, you can tell me. He's what?" she said.
"He's here!" Billy shouted pointing behind Buffy. .
Buffy turned around in time to see the Ugly Man rising up behind her and swinging his massive club arm down—WHAM!—hitting her in the head, heard. He swung again and she rolled out of the way, barely avoiding being hit a second time. "Run, Billy!" she called out as she got to her feet.
Billy backed slowly away as the Ugly Man closed on Buffy again. A fireball formed in Buffy's hand as she gave her opponent her full attention. She threw the fireball at him, as it hit the Ugly Man it had no effect. He smashed her in the leg, knocking her to ground. He swung again as she blocked with her arm. She let out a scream of pain, that was obvious not a good idea.
Buffy staggered to her feet and tried to run, but the blow to her leg has reduced her to hobbling. The Ugly Man walked slowly behind her, gaining with horrible calm. Buffy got to a door and threw it open limping outside. She put her back to the door, looking around frantically. She slid down to the ground in exhaustion and pain as the Ugly Man began pounding on the door from the other side.
When the pounding finally stopped Buffy stumbled forward, constantly looking behind her. "Billy—" Buffy said in surprise as she nearly collided with the boy.
"I'm sorry, I can't help it—" Billy told Buffy as she grabbed him.
"Billy, who is he?" Buffy asked.
"He's the Ugly Man." Billy replied.
"I can't fight him," Buffy said shaking her head. "He shook off my power like it was nothing. On top of that he's strong, too strong for me." She pulled out her cell phone and frowned. It was dead. "That's not possible," she said, she was sure she had charged it last night. It was one of Prue's requirements that every day it would be charged before she headed to school. "The library. We'll go there. I can call Prue, Piper and Phoebe from there."
"We have to hide." Billy said desperatly.
"He'll find us," Buffy said.
Billy nodded. "Yes, but first we have to hide," he explained. "That's how it happens. We hide, and then he comes."
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Buffy frowned as she led Billy along the path she was sure had led to the library. "I was sure this led to the library," she told the boy as they passed a baseball diamond where some kids were playing. Billy stopped and she followed his gaze to the field. "They're just playing... what is it, what's scaring you?"
Billy glanced at Buffy with a sigh. "Baseball..." he said. "when you lose, it's bad."
"Did you lose your Kiddie League game last week?" Buffy asked.
"It was my fault," Billy admitted.
"Why was it your fault?" Buffy asked in confusion.
"I should have caught the ball, I missed it," Billy explained to her.
Buffy couldn't believe for a second it was his fault. "You missed a ball and the whole game's your fault?" she said. "What, you were the only one playing, there weren't eight other kids on your team?"
Billy looked up at Buffy. "He said it was my fault," he told her.
"Who said?" Buffy wondered. "Did he... hurt you after the game?"
Billy started backing away from the field. "Can't we go another way?"
Buffy smiled. "Sure we can. We can go around behind the cafeteria..." She led him in another direction, away from the field. It was then she saw the Ugly Man about thirty feet in front of them. "...bad idea. Come on!"
They take off running as the Ugly Man lumbered after them. They ran toward a hedge at the edge of school. Buffy looked back to see the Ugly Man coming after them. Billy grabbed her hand and pulled her through the hedge into a cemetery.
"What just happened?" Buffy wondered as she looked around at the cemetery.
"Is this where your friends are?" Billy wondered.
"No. It's not," Buffy said confused why it was so dark. As Billy poked around the graves Buffy peered back through the hedge a little spooked. "Well, I don't see the Ugly Guy... I also don't see where the sun and the rest of the world went..."
"Hey, look at this..." Billy called. Buffy moved to stand beside him. He showed her a freshly dug grave with an open and empty coffin. "Guess they're gonna bury somebody." He could tell that Buffy was clearly not liking any of what she saw. "I wonder who died..."
"Nobody died..."
Buffy and Billy turned as the Master stepped out of the shadows. Billy instinctively started to back away from the vampire. Buffy moved between Billy and the Master as true dread creept onto her face.
"What's the fun in burying someone who's already dead?" the Master asked with a smirk.
"You..." Buffy said as her voice quivered in fear.
The Master smiled. "So this is the Slayer," he said. "You're prettier than the last one."
"This isn't real... you can't be free," Buffy said trying to rationalize what she was seeing.
The Master laughed as he looked at Buffy. "You still don't understand, do you?" he asked. "I am free because you fear it. Because you fear it, the world is crumbling. You nightmares are made flesh. You have Billy to thank for that."
Buffy turned to look at Billy, but she found that he was gone. She turned back to find the Master was inches from her. "This is a dream..." she mutered to herself.
"A dream is a wish your heart makes," the Master said as he with lightning speed grabbed her by the throat. "This is the real world." Buffy grabbed his arm but for some reason she is unable to budge it. He tightened his grip as she began to choke. "Come on, Slayer... What are you afraid of?" He hurled her into the open grave.
As Buffy landed in the coffin the lid slammed shut.
The Master smiled as he grabbed a shovel and began shoveling dirt into the grave. Laughing he said, "How about being buried alive?"
Buffy screamed and pounded on the coffin as she heard the sound of dirt hiting the top of it burying her alive. "Nooooo!" she screamed. "Prue! Piper! Phoebe!"
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
Prue pulled up outside the school just Xander, Aviva, Giles and Willow came running out of the building.
"I feel good, I feel liberated," Xander said as he glanced over his shoulder.
"You seem to be the only one," Giles admitted.
Prue got out of her car and ran toward Willow, Aviva, Giles and Xander passing people running and screaming.
"This is getting worse. In a few hours reality will fold completely into nightmares." Giles said as Prue came to a stop in front of them. "Prue, what are you doing here?" he asked surprised to see her.
"Where is Buffy?" Prue said as she looked at the quartet.
"We were just looking for her, why?" Giles questioned suddenly worried.
"Phoebe had a premonition…" Prue started to explain.
"Excuse me, when did they put a cemetery in across the street?" Willow interrupted as she shot Prue an apologetic glance.
Aviva, Prue, Xander and Giles turned to follow her gaze seeing the cemetery and the fact that it was night there. "And when did they make it night over there?" Xander asked.
Nightmare Cemetery
"Whose nightmare is this?" Xander queried as he looked around the darkened graveyard. It certainly didn't seem that bad; it was nothing compared to killer clowns or being naked, anyway. He brought his attention back to his companions, prepared to make a quip about how this was just another day in Sunnydale for the Scooby gang. With a start, he noticed the look of shocked resignation on both Giles and Prue's faces. The two of them paused statue-still, staring intently at a gravestone. Xander moved closer to look at what could possibly have caused the blood to drain so completely from Prue's and Giles' faces.
"It's mine." Giles's voice echoed with the loss of hope as he knelt reverently next to the marker. His movement affording the others their first clear view of the inscription thereon:
Payson "Buffy" Halliwell
January 20, 1981 – May 16, 1997
Rest in Peace
"No," Prue objected as she too knelt next to the marker. "I think it's mine."
Giles glanced at the woman who was next to him. He had to agree that she too likely shared this nightmare. "I think it may be both of ours," he admitted as Prue nodded. He turned back to the grave as he spoke quietly. "I failed in my duty to protect you... I should have been more cautious, taken more time with your training... but you were so gifted and the evil was so great."
"I failed you too," Prue said as tears began to fall. "You were my cousin, and sometimes I took you for granted."
Giles and Prue each laid a hand on the grave. "Forgive us," Giles pleaded. He glanced at Prue knowing she would need a moment to herself. He stood up and walked over to Aviva, Willow and Xander.
Suddenly a hand shot out of the grave and grabbed ahold of Prue. As Prue wrenched her hand free she pulled Buffy upwards from the grave. "Buffy?" she said surprised to see her cousin.
"I thought I was dead..." Buffy said.
Prue got a look at Buffy's face and her eyes went wide in horror in realization her cousin was a vampire. "Buffy, your face..." she said softly.
Buffy was mortified. She felt the ridges on her face, and explored her sharp new teeth with her tongue. She looked up at her cousin, Giles and her friends, who were gaping. Turning quickly, she yelled, "Don't look at me!"
Giles moved to Buffy's side and spoke gently. "You never told me you dreamed of becoming a vampire."
"This isn't a dream," Buffy replied shakily as she looked at Prue.
Prue walked over to her cousin and pulled Buffy into her arms. "Why didn't you tell me?" she whispered. She knew that Buffy was afraid of dying at the hands of a vampire, but she never knew that Buffy was afraid of turning into one.
Buffy let out a sigh. "I don't know Prue," she replied. "I really don't know. I guess I was scared it would come true."
"You know I would never let that happen," Prue said as she smiled at Buffy.
"Thanks," Buffy admitted. "Uhm Prue. Can you step back."
Prue looked at Buffy for a moment and then her eyes went wide with realization. Because of the nightmare Buffy was effectively a vampire right now which meant… She quickly backed away before Buffy got too hungry and sank her new fangs into her neck.
"There is a chance that we can make it go away," Giles explained. "If we can wake Billy, this will all go away, and reality will shift back to normal. Do you think you can hold together until we do that?"
Buffy took a breath and nodded. "Yeah." She lowered her hands and faced Prue, Aviva, Giles, Xander and Willow. "But we better hurry, 'cause I'm getting hungry." She turned on her heel and started off toward the hospital.
Giles, Aviva, Willow and Xander looked toward Prue who started to follow her. They understood now why Prue had taken a step away from her cousin.
Willow was looking terrified in her ridiculous costume and she turned to Giles. "Are you sure everything will go back? What if we can't wake him up?"
"Positive," Giles lied with a glance at Prue who nodded. It was better to hope that they could reverse everything than to let Buffy remain a vampire forever. She didn't want to have to stake her cousin.
Prue looks at Giles and nods understanding. She hopes they can but is afraid that Buffy may remain a vampire forever. She so doesn't want to stake her cousin.
UCSF Medical Center
The hospital was in the middle of as much chaos as the rest of the town. Giles tried to attract the attention of a doctor; but his only response was, "My hands! My hands!"
They raced to Billy's room, and Buffy stood guard at the door. She seemed to have forgotten to be embarassed about her condition.
GIles, at a loss as to what to do, leaned over Billy and yelled, "Billy! Billy!"
The child peeked around the curtains. "That won't work."
GIles did a take between the boy standing next to the bed, and the boy in the bed. He looked back up at the astral form of Billy. "Billy, you must wake up!" he said.
"No, I have to hide." Billy said sounding scared.
"Why? From what?" Prue pressed.
"From him!" Buffy said from the door. Prue moved next to her cousin and saw what Buffy had, the ugly man was coming.
"What do we do?" asked Xander.
"I think I know," said Buffy, shedding her jacket. "Prue, I could probably use a little help."
"Whatever it is, it better be soon," Willow stated looking out the window at the swarm of giant insects beginning to swarm over San Francisco.
Buffy and Prue stepped into the hallway. The ugly man lumbered towards them as they strolled forward. "I'm glad you showed up. You see, I'm having a really bad day," Buffy quipped.
"Lucky nineteen," The thing groaned.
Buffy shakes her head, "Scary. I'll tell you something though. There's a lot scarier things out there than you. And now, I'm one of them."
With an animalistic snarl Buffy launched herself at the ugly man. She fought with a ferocity that she'd never felt before. It was liberating. She punched harder and took blows easier than before.
Prue stood there watching wondering exactly what Buffy wanted her help with. In her cousin's current state she didn't think Buffy needed her help currently.
Buffy broke the Ugly Man's club arm and sent him flying into the wall. He sank down to the floor and didn't move. "Prue," she said.
Prue nodded as she telekinetically lifted the Ugly Man and moved him into Billy's room before setting him down against the wall.
"Is he dead?" Billy asked fearfully.
"C'mere Billy," said Buffy, holding out her hand.
"But I..don't..." Billy started.
"No more hiding," Buffy told the boy.
"What's he doing?" Willow asked clearly confused.
Xander began to smiled as he realized what Buffy had. "I get it..." he said.
Prue smiled as she too realized what Buffy had. Billy had to unmask his tormentor to end the nightmare… to wake up. "You have to face your fear, Billy. You've got to do the rest yourself."
Billy looked at Buffy and Prue and then moved forward. He reached for the Ugly Man's face and pulled.
All around everyone the world became blinding. When they could see again Buffy smiled as she touched her face. Everything was back to normal.
Prue pulled Buffy into her arms and smiled. "I thought you were done with the dying thing after the other day."
"I am now," Buffy said with a sigh of relief.
"Next time you talk to me when you have a dream like that," Prue told her cousin. "We'll work through it together."
Buffy smiled at Prue. "Promise."
"Hey look, he's waking up!" said Aviva. They all turned to look at Billy.
Billy was blinking in the bright light, and he looked around in confusion. "I had the strangest dream. And you were in it, and you… Who are you people?"
Everyone smiled happily and Giles turned to go get Billy's doctor. He stopped however, when a man appeared at the doorway to Billys room.
"Oh, Billy has visitors," the man said. He was dressed in a blue coat and hat with a whistle around his neck. "I'm his kiddie league coach. I come here every day, just hoping against hope he'll wake up. He's my lucky nineteen."
Buffy and Prue's smiles faded a little and they and Giles shared a glance.
"Excuse me," Prue said as she moved past Giles and the coach. As soon as she was a fair distance down the corridor she dialed.
"911, what's the nature of your emergency."
"I want to report a little league coach that has been hitting the kids he's been coaching," Prue answered.
0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0
"How is he?" the coach asked.
Buffy took a step aside to reveal the child. "He's awake," she said coldly.
"What?" the man paled when he saw Billy and tried to bolt. He didn't manage to get far as Xander and Giles grabbed him.
"You decided to catch up with Billy after the baseball game didn't you?" Buffy asked
"I don't know what you're talking about," the man tried to deny it.
Billy sat up angrily and pulled the tube from his nose. "You said it was my fault we lost the game. It wasn't my fault. There are eight other players on the team. You know that." He relaxed back into the pillows and smiled at Buffy, who was beaming at him.
"Nice going," Buffy remarked.
Gateway High
Later after school let out Buffy, Prue, Willow and Xander were heading out the school doors.
"Hard to believe a kiddie league coach would do something like that," Buffy remarked.
"You've obvoiusly never played kiddie league," Xander jumped in. "I'm surprised it wasn't one of the parents."
"Well he's behind bars now," said Willow happily. "Thanks to Prue."
"It felt nice to do something that didn't require magic," Prue admitted. "No one deserved what happened to Billy and making the call ensured he would not do that to anyone else's kid."
"That was kinda heroic, Xander, grabbing him and all," Buffy said as she smiled at her friend.
Xander smiled at the compliment. "Hey, I just did what anybody would have... if people want to label it heroic—"
Buffy spotted Hank waiting for her. He waved enthusiastically, and she grinned and waved back. "Have a killer weekend guys," she said. She and Prue walked over to the man.
"Hello, sweetheart," Hank said as he pulled Buffy into his arms. He then looked at Prue and nodded. "Hello, Prudence."
"Hello, Uncle Hank," Prue said. "You take good care of our girl this weekend."
Hank smiled. "I intend too, 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."
Buffy smiled. "Great."
Prue smiled as she walked over to her car and pulled out a bag. "Buffy!" she called and held up the bag.
Buffy ran over to her cousin and smiled at Prue appreciatively. "Thanks, Prue," she said before returning to her father.
"How was your day?" Hank asked as he and Buffy walked toward his car.
"Oh you know, the usual..." Buffy answered as she looked over her shoulder at Prue and smiled.