Chapter 24: Nightmares Part 2

Buffy, Giles, Dawn and Paige were at the hospital walking down a corridor. They had heard of a girl who had been attacked in the basement and were on their way to find out by what.

"I think they said room 316," Buffy said.

"Do you two know this girl?" Giles asked looking at the sisters.

"Laura?" Dawn asked. "Only in passing. She's nice though. Nobody saw who attacked her?"

"I think Giles and I are hoping Laura did," Paige said as she glanced at Buffy. She let out a small sigh. She had yet to tell Buffy what the Elders had told her. She wondered if the dream Buffy had, had been a premonition warning Buffy about her future death?

They turned and entered room 316 passing a nurse. They stopped and looked at Laura who sat on the bed, her head bandaged and her eyes wide with fear.

"Hey, Laura," Buffy and Dawn said.

"Hi ..." Laura replied.

"Sorry to intrude on you like this," Giles started.

"That's okay—I don't want to be left alone."

"We want to make sure what happened to you never happens again," Paige said. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I was in the basement ... I went down for a smoke ... there was someone ... there," Laura explained.

"Someone you knew?" Dawn asked.

Laura shook her head. "I never ... saw anything like it."

"It," Buffy said.

"Can you describe it?" Giles asked.

It's obvious pretty quickly that Laura is not up to describing it.

"That's okay," Dawn said. "Don't worry about it."

"Yes, you rest. You're safe now," Giles agreed just as a nurse entered the room.

"But if you remember anything, you can tell us," Paige said as she glanced at the nurse. "Even if it seems ... weird."

As Paige, Giles, Buffy and Dawn turned to leave Laura called after them, "Lucky nineteen."

"I'm sorry?" Giles said as they stopped and looked at Laura.

"It's what he said. Right before ... he said lucky nineteen. That's weird, right?"

Paige nodded. "It is. You get some rest. Don't worry we'll make sure he doesn't hurt anyone else."

They exit the room and pass Laura's doctor as he is about to enter her room.

"Doctor, is she going to be all right?" Giles asked.

"You family?" the doctor wondered.

Paige shook her head. "Friends."

The doctor nodded as he turned and led them down the hall away from Laura's room. "She'll recover. She's got a couple of shattered bones and a little internal bleeding. She got off pretty easy."

"Easy?" Dawn asked.

"Have you looked the word up lately?" Paige wondered.

"Well, the first one's still in a coma," the doctor said.

"The first what?" Buffy and Dawn asked.

"The first victim," the doctor said as he stopped in front of a window looking into a room. They see a boy lying on the bed hooked up to machines. "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."

"Somebody will," Buffy said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"This can't be happening," Giles said as he looked at a stack of newspapers.

After Buffy, Dawn, Giles and Paige had returned from the hospital. Buffy had suggested that Giles and Paige look through the newspapers to try and find something about the first victim. "Can't be ..."

"What's the word?" Buffy asked as she and Dawn came up beside Giles.

"I've got back issues of the newspapers ... trying to do some research ..." Giles said.

Dawn nodded. "Uh-huh... Did you and Paige find anything?" Dawn asked.

"I don't know about Paige, she orbed to San Francisco to see if there was anything in their book. But myself well I'm not sure."

"You don't know if you didn't find anything?" Dawn asked.

"I'm having a problem."

"What is it?" Buffy wondered.

"I ... I can't read," Giles said.

"What do you mean? You can read, like, three languages," Buffy told him.

"Five, actually, on a normal day—but the words here aren't making sense," Giles said as he held up a paper. "It's gibberish."

Dawn noticed the picture on the front page of the paper Giles was holding as she took it from him. "Buffy," she said as she showed her sister the paper.

"That's him," Buffy said.

"Who?" Giles asked.

"That's the boy we've been seeing around school," Dawn said just as Paige orbed in. "When the spiders came out of Wendell's book, he was there. When I couldn't remember a thing on my history test, he was there."

"We've got nothing," Paige said and then she notice that Buffy and Dawn were looking at an article in a newspaper and moved beside them.

Buffy skimmed the article and read a portion of it aloud, "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 looked at the newspaper's banner at the date. "Last week." She looked at Giles and Dawn. "He's in a coma, in intensive care ... this is the boy from the hospital."

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

Buffy nodded. "Yes. It seemed weird, him being around, but with all the trouble I forgot about it."

"So did I," Dawn said.

"The boy's been in a coma for a week," Giles said. "How is this possible?"

"Astral Projection," Paige said. "My eldest sister Prue could astral project herself outside of her own body. We may be seeing his astral body. But Prue was …" Then she remembered when she and Phoebe had been trapped by a spell and forced to relive moments in Piper's life. "Normally awake, I do know of one time though she astral projected while she was asleep."

"He's in a coma. That's like sleep, right?" Buffy suggested.

"In a manner of speaking. Though one doesn't always wake from a coma ..." Giles told her.

"Could I have been seeing Billy's asteroid body?" Buffy wondered.

"Astral body," Paige corrected. "It's a possibility. I'd know for sure if I knew his family was witches."

Dawn looked at the picture of Billy and noticed his uniform. "Lucky Nineteen ..." she said just as the library doors opened and Hank Summers entered the library.

"There you two are, I've been looking everywhere. Why aren't you both in class?" Hank said.

"Dad, what are you... you're not supposed to pick us up till after school, is something wrong?" Dawn asked.

"Well, I need to talk to you both," Hank said.

"Something is wrong," Buffy said suddenly worried. "Is it Mom?"

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

"Phew," Dawn said. "You really had us—"

"Could I speak to you both for a moment, in private?" Hank asked.

"Sure," Buffy said. "Oh, this is Mr. Giles, the librarian. And Ms. Matthews, his assistant."

"This is our," Dawn added remembering that Hank didn't know that Leo was Buffy's real father, "father, Hank Summers."

"Pleasure," Giles and Paige said.

"Likewise," Hank said as he held the door open and Buffy and Dawn followed him out.

"We'll be back..." Buffy tossed over her shoulder.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Outside seconds later, Buffy, Hank and Dawn walked across the quad.

"I came early because there's something I need for you two to explain," Hank said.

"What do you mean?" Dawn wondered as they sat down on a bench.

"It's bad enough Joyce lied to me all these years," Hank said. "I had hoped one of you would tell me the truth. That I wouldn't have to find it out like this."

"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked.

Hank handed Buffy a piece of paper and Buffy looked at it frowning.

"What?" Dawn asked as she looked at it.

"Leo is asking dad to give up his paternity rights," Buffy said as she handed the letter to Dawn.

"That makes no sense," Dawn said as she read over the letter.

Hank sighed. "Girls, this letter puts things in a very bad light. I find out that Joyce had an affair before we were married and conceived you Buffy with another man. It makes me wonder, Dawn, if maybe you aren't someone else's child. I think for all of us, till this situation is cleared up that we suspend our weekend indefinitely, Dawn. And Buffy, since you are not my child, permanently for you." He got up and shook his head and then walked away.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

In the library Paige watched as Giles paced, thinking hard. Just then the doors burst open and in walked Xander, who was pulling on a gym shirt, and Willow. "Red alert. Where' s Buffy?" Xander asked.

"She and Dawn are talking to Hank," Paige said, "Dawn's father."

"What happened, where are your other clothes?" Giles asked.

"Oh don't I wish I had an answer to that question," Xander said.

"Xander kinda found himself in front of our class not wearing much of anything," Willow added.

"Except my underwear," Xander said.

Willow smiled. "Yeah, it was really ..." she said before noticing Xander glaring at her, "... bad. It was a bad thing."

"Bad thing? I was nude! Bad thing doesn't cover it." Xander said.

"Everybody staring ... I would hate to have everybody paying attention to me like that," Willow said.

"With nudity! It's a total nightmare."

Just then Willow connected the dots. "Well, yeah, Xander ... it's your nightmare!"

"Except for the part with me waking up going it was all a dream... It happened."

"Like it happened to Wendell," Willow said as she looked to Paige and Giles. "The thing with the spiders—Wendell had a recurring dream about that."

"And I've dreamt of getting lost in the stacks, of not being able to ..." Giles said as he nodded.

"And I dreamt that Buffy couldn't see me, that she couldn't find me," Paige added.

"And I dreamt my dad, found out about Buffy and didn't want to see either of us again."

They turned and saw Dawn at the door.

"That might explain this," Dawn said as she held up a letter before handing it to Paige. "Is that Leo's handwriting?"

Paige sighed. "It is. We'll orb there and find out if he wrote it. Regardless it appears our nightmares are coming true."

"Okay, despite the rat-like chill that just crawled up my spine, I'm going to say this very calmly: Hellllp ..." Xander said.

"So why is this happening?" Willow wondered.

"Billy," Paige said.

"Well, that explanation was shorter than usual," Xander said as he looked to Willow. "It's Billy." He looked at Giles and Paige. "Who's Billy?"

"He's in the hospital," Paige said. "He's in a coma. Dawn and Buffy have seen him before a few of their episodes."

"When I was taking a history test and couldn't remember the answers," Dawn said, "and when the spiders came out of Wendell's book, he was there too."

"Current I am under the suspicion he is a witch with an active power," Paige said. "He is using his power somehow to make our nightmares real."

"So you are saying he brought the nightmare world with him," Xander said. "Thanks a bunch, Billy.

"How could he do that?" Willow wondered.

"Things like that are easier when you live on a Hellmouth," Giles said.

"Well, we've got to stop it," Xander said.

Giles nodded in agreement. "Soon. Or everyone in Sunnydale will be facing their own worst nightmare."

"While Dawn and I are in San Francisco, we'll see what we can find in the Book," Paige said as she orbed out with Dawn.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked slowly along, reeling from what Hank had told her and Dawn. She understood why he wanted to distance himself from her. But why do that with Dawn? She felt terrible for her sister. Through a doorway she saw a figure. After a moment's hesitation she walked into the school kitchen. She looked about and saw Billy standing quietly at the other end of the room. "Are you Billy Palmer?" she asked.

"Why do you want to know?" he returned.

"Because I want to help you."

Billy nodded. "I'm Billy."

"Did something bad happen to you last week, after your Kiddie League Game?" Buffy asked.

"Something bad ... I don't remember."

Buffy nodded in understanding. The trauma of being placed in a coma, could have hid certain things from Billy's memory of that day. "Do you remember playing baseball?"

Billy nodded. "Uh-huh, I think so, yeah, I play second base."

"Are you lucky nineteen?" Buffy asked when she noticed how scared Billy became as she said lucky nineteen.

"That's what he calls me ..."

"Who?"

"The Ugly Man," Billy said. "He wants to kill me. He hurt that girl."

"Why does he want to kill you?" she wondered.

"He's ..." Billy said as he tried to get away from her.

Buffy smiled. "It's okay, you can tell me. He's what?"

"He's here!"

Buffy turned around in time to see The Ugly Man in all his hideous glory rising up behind her and swinging his massive club arm down hitting her hard in the head.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige and Dawn orbed into the foyer of the Manor as Paige called out, "Leo! Piper!"

Leo and Piper came down the stairs to find Dawn and Paige standing at its base.

"Paige?" Piper said instantly knowing something was going on.

Paige handed the letter to Leo. "Did you write this?"

Leo looked over the letter and frowned. "It is in my handwriting. But I didn't write this," he said as he handed the paper to Piper who studied it.

"What's going on?" Piper asked as she looked at her sister and Dawn.

"It seems in Sunnydale that everyone's nightmares are coming to life thanks to a boy name Billy who is in a coma," Dawn said. "Paige believes he might be a witch with the power of astral projection and that he is astral projecting out of his body."

"And bringing the nightmare world with him," Paige added.

"You need to find out for sure if he is a witch," Leo told them. "You might want to talk to the Elders."

Paige nodded and orbed out.

"What can I do?" Dawn asked.

"We'll look through the book and see if there is anything there about this," Piper said as she led Dawn upstairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Ugly Man raised his club arm and swung at Buffy as she rolled out of the away, barely avoiding being hit as she scrambled to her feet. "Run, Billy!" she yelled.

Billy backed slowly away as The Ugly Man closed on Buffy again. She turned her attention to her opponent and gave him a good kick in the head, which absolutely did nothing to him. He smashed her in the leg knocking her to ground. He swung again as she blocked the blow with her arm. She realized it was a bad move as pain shot through her arm, making her fear that her arm might be broken. She staggered up and tried to run, but the blow to her leg had reduced her to hobbling.

The Ugly Man walked slowly behind her, gaining with horrible calm. She got to a building and threw the door open and limped inside. She put her back to the door, looking around frantically before finally sliding down on the ground in exhaustion and pain as The Ugly Man began pounding on the door from the outside.