Chapter Ten: Nightmares

Buffy quietly walks into the entrance of the Master's lair with a stake in her hand. She stops and scans the area around her, keeping an eye out for potential threats. She slowly makes her way to the floor below, tightening her grip on the stake. She doesn't see the danger hiding behind a pillar. Sensing something behind her, Buffy turns around and raises her stake. The Master hisses at her, making the girl freeze in fear. The stake tumbles out of Buffy's hand and she begins to back away. The Master advances towards her. Seeing that his prey has nowhere to retreat he clasps a clawed hand around her neck and closes in for the bite.

"NO! NO!" Buffy screams.

Joyce sits on the edge of Buffy's bed, attempting to shake her awake.

"No…" Buffy mutters.

"Yes." Joyce tells her. The sound makes the teen's eyes snap open. "It's time to get up for school."

"Mom?" Buffy asks, relieved that it was just a dream.

Joyce looks at her in concern. "Are you alright?"

"No. Uh, yeah! Yeah! I'm, I'm fine! Oh…" She sits up. "School! Great." She tosses the covers off and quickly gets out of bed.

"You wanna go to school?" Joyce asks as she stands up, never seeing her daughter so happy about the subject before.

"Sure! Why not?"

"Okay." She walks over to the window and opens the blinds. "Good day to buy that lottery ticket. I spoke with your father."

"He's coming, right?"

"You're on for this weekend."

Buffy smiles. "Good."

Willow, Buffy, and Trinity walk through the down the hallway. "So, do you see your dad a lot?" Willow asks.

"Not a whole lot. He's still in L.A. He, like, comes down for weekends sometimes."

"When did they get divorced?" Trinity asks.

"Well, it wasn't finalized till last year, but they were separated before that."

"Musta been harsh." Willow says as they approach Buffy's locker.

"Yeah, that's the word you're looking for." The blond works the combination. "I-I mean, they were really good about it around me, anyway, but still…"

"My parents don't even bicker. Sometimes they glare. Do you know why your folks split up?"

Trinity leans against the lockers and watches as the two converse, not really having anything to offer to the conversation. She lost her parents when she was young and barely had any memories of them. The only parental figure in her life was Carter and since he raised her by himself there was never anyone to fight with.

Buffy opens her locker. "I didn't ask. They just stopped getting along. I'm sure I was a really big help, though, with all the slaying and everything. I was in so much trouble. I was a big mess."

"Well, I'm sure that didn't have anything to do with him leaving." Willow tells her.

"No." Buffy says. Trinity can hear the hint of doubt in her voice as she closes her locker.

"And he still comes down on weekends."

"Sometimes."

In a classroom, Cordelia checks her makeup in a mirror when a shadow appears over her. She looks up and sees a boy checking his paper in the light. "Hello? Doofus!" The boy looks at her. "You're in my light."

Xander walks over. "Wendell, what is wrong with you? Don't you know that she is the center of the universe, and the rest of us merely revolve around her?" He says sarcastically.

Cordelia sneers at them. "Why don't you revolve yourselves out of my light?"

The bell rings and the boys go to their seats. Xander sees Willow, Buffy, and Trinity walk in. "Uh, Wendell was in Cordelia's light."

"I'm so ashamed." Wendell plays along.

"Why is she so Evita-like?" Willow asks as they take their seats.

"I think it's the hair." Buffy guesses.

Willow smiles. "It weighs heavy on the cerebral cortex."

Trinity feels tempted to join in but is a little torn due to her and Cordelia's somewhat shaky almost nonexistent truce they've had going on.

"Hey, guys, was there any homework?" Xander asks.

"We're doing active listening today." The redhead answers.

"Cool!" He smiles. "What's active listening?"

"That would be the homework." The teens take their seats.

"Chapter five? Active listening?" Buffy shows him her book. "Where you put on your big ears and really focus on the other person?"

Xander stares with a blank look on his face. "Ms. Tishler demonstrated it yesterday." Wendell adds.

"With you!" Willow says.

"She was wearing that tight sweater?" Trinity reminds him.

Xander's eyes light up. "Oh, the midnight blue angora! See, I was listening." He nods, receiving an unimpressed look from Willow.

Ms. Tishler addresses the class. "Alright, take your seats. In a moment we will choose partners and practice what we read about in chapter five." She sees Xander cup his ears with his hands while smiling and shaking his head around. "Good, Xander, that's the spirit!"

Willow, Trinity, and Buffy share an amused glance. "Before we do, let's review. Isaacson's research led him to conclude that one of our most fundamental needs after food and shelter is to be heard."

Buffy drops her pencil and bends down to pick it up.

"Wendell, would you read the first two paragraphs on page seventy-eight…"

As Buffy sits back up she sees a young brown haired boy standing at the door, looking right at her.

"…where Isaacson describes the rapid improvement active listening brought to some special needs clients."

Wendell opens his book and screams, dropping it onto the desk. The class turns to look and releases screams of their own at the sight of a dozen tarantulas crawling out of it. They jump out of the seats and quickly back away, horror filled gazes glued to Wendell as the spiders begin to crawl all over him.

Cordelia backs into Trinity in her haste to get away. Trinity unconsciously grips the girl in her arms before shifting to move in front of her.

"Please! Get 'em off of me!" The boy screams. "Help! Help! Get 'em off of me! Help me! Oh, please help me! Please!"

The boy at the door sends him an apologetic look. "Sorry about that."

"Please help me!"

"Fear is a wonderful thing. It is the most powerful force in the human world." The Master says and crouches to face Collin. "Not love, not hate…fear! When you were a mortal boy, what did you fear?"

"Monsters." The boy answers.

"Ooh." He stands. "We are defined by the things we fear." He walks over to a large cross. "This symbol, these two planks of wood, it confounds me. Suffuses me with mortal dread. But fear is in the mind." He places his hand on the cross, not even flinching as it begins to burn him. "Like pain. It can be controlled." He lets go. "If I can face my fear, it cannot master me." He turns back to Collin. "Something is happening above. Something new, powerful, psychic force. Do you feel it?"

"I feel change."

"Change. Yes. For the worse."

Joyce pulls the car to a stop in front of the school. "You're awfully quiet this morning."

"I didn't sleep well." Buffy tells her.

"I'll say. I came in to check on you twice. You were yelling in your sleep. Do you know what you were dreaming?"

She shakes her head. "Not really. Oh, no, my bag! I-I packed it for the weekend and I forgot it!"

"You and your dad can swing by the house and get your bag. It's not an international crisis."

"Okay. Yeah, I just, uh, had meant to bring it. H-he's picking me up here, right? A-at 3:30?"

"Honey, a-are you worried your father isn't gonna show?"

"No! N-not really. Should I be?"

"Well, of course, not! I-I-I just, I-I know it's a hard situation. You just have to remember that your father adores you. No more than I do, by the way."

Buffy smiles. "Goodbye."

Her mother returns the smile. "Have a great day."

"Thanks." She gets out of the car.

Buffy turns a corner in the hallway and is met by her three friends.

"Oh, Buffy, we've been looking for you." Willow says.

"We have?" Xander asks.

"Oh, about the spiders, did you talk to Giles about-"

"Oh, the spiders! Willow's been kind of, um, what's the word I'm looking for? Insane about what happened yesterday."

"It couldn't have been a prank." Trinity says. "Usually flat surface plus spider plus flat surface equals dead spider. Oh the joys of the Hellmouth were all of your most terrifying nightmares come true."

Willow shivers. "I don't like spiders, okay? Their furry bodies, and their sticky webs, and 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 looks at Xander. "Ewww! How do they not ruffle you?"

He shrugs. "I'm sorry! I'm unruffled by spiders. Now, if a bunch of Nazis crawled all over my face…"

"Mm, it was pretty intense." Buffy says.

"Thank you." Willow nods.

"Well, the Hellmouth; the center of mystical convergence, supernatural monsters, been there." Xander agrees with Trinity.

The blonde looks at him. "Little blase' there, aren't you?"

"I'm not worried. If there's something bad out there we'll find, you'll slay, we'll party!"

"Thanks for having confidence in me." They walk into the library.

"You da man, Buff!"

"Okay, but we're still caring about the spiders here. Let's not forget the spiders." Willow redirects the conversation.

"Well, Giles said he was gonna look it up. Giles?" Buffy calls, looking around the room.

"Maybe he's in the faculty room."

After a moment they see the Watcher walk out of the stacks with a bemused look on his face.

"Hey, Giles! Wakey, wakey!" The Slayer calls.

"I was, uh, in the stacks. I got lost." He says.

"Did you find any theories on spiders coming out of books?" Trinity asks him.

Xander reaches around Willow's shoulder with his arm while wiggling his fingers. "Big, hairy, crawly…" The red head jumps, turning around and hitting him in the shoulder. "It's funny if you're me."

"I couldn't find anything, uh…particularly illuminating. Um, I think perhaps you'd best have a chat with Wendell himself."

Buffy gives him an odd look. "Okay. If he can still talk." She says before leading her friends out of the room.

Giles wonders back into the stacks.

They find Wendell outside sitting on a bench.

"Hey, Wendell. How are you?" Buffy asks.

He looks up. "Huh?"

Trinity tilts her head. "You okay?" Wendell doesn't answer.

"Good talking to ya, man." Xander pats him on the back and turns to leave but Buffy pulls him back.

"Do you guys want something?" He asks.

"We just thought you might wanna talk about what happened." Buffy says.

"You know, yesterday? With the spiders?" Willow adds.

He sighs. "I don't know what to say about that."

"There's nothing to say. You saw two hundred insects, you Gonzoed, anybody would have." Xander tells him.

"They're not insects. They're arachnids."

"They're from the Middle East?"

He shakes his head in irritation. "Spiders are arachnids. They have eight legs. Insects only have six. Why does everyone make that mistake?"

"Don't know. Has anything like this ever happened before?" Buffy asks him. He nods. "When?"

"Lots of times."

Willow cringes. "Ew! You must hate spiders more than I do."

Wendell laughs with a smile on his face. "I don't hate spiders. I love 'em. They hate me."

Cordelia walks by behind Wendell and turns to Buffy. "I hope you studied for the history test."

Buffy looks at her in confusion. "What history test?"

"The one we're having in fourth period right now."

"There's a history test? Nobody told me there was a history test! I haven't…I…" Buffy begins to panic. "Okay, I will catch up with you guys later." She runs off.

Willow takes a seat next to Wendell. "What do you mean, you love spiders?"

"It is platonic, right?" Xander chuckles. Trinity nudges him.

"I had the best collection in the tri-county area. Browns and tarantulas and black widows…" His face falls. "Then my folks shipped me off to wilderness camp. All my brother had to do was maintain their habitats. Instead he left their heat lamp on for a week. When I came home they were all dead. That's when the nightmares started."

"The nightmares?" Trinity asks.

"It's always the same. I'm sitting in the classroom, teacher asks me to read something, I open up my book and then there they are. They're comin' after me. God, can you blame them after what I did?"

"And that's how it happens? Every time?"

"Yesterday in class I thought I'd just nodded off again. But then everyone else started screaming, too."

Trinity looks away in thought only to see Jessie standing across the quad. She gasps but when a student passes by no one is there.

Buffy searches through the hallways for her class.

Cordelia waits by the door, holding it open. "You don't know where class is, do you?"

"Uh…"

She rolls her eyes. "Hardly a shocker. You've cut history just about every time we've had it."

"Well, I was there the first day. I think." Buffy says.

"It's in here."

"I haven't been to class, I haven't read any of the assignments, how am I gonna pass this test?"

"Blind luck?" The brunette shrugs.

Buffy glances at the other students in the room. She looks at Cordelia, who seems to be breezing through the test. The teacher walks through the classroom to check his students' progress. He glances at Buffy's blank test and continues on.

Buffy flips through the pages, seeing that the test is full of short answer questions. She glances at the clock and sees that its 11:20 before looking back to her test.

"Well, at least I know my name." She says and goes to write only for her pencil to break. She sighs exasperatedly and grabs her pencil sharpener. Once she finishes sharpening her pencil she looks up and sees that it's now 12:10. Her eyes widen and she looks around the class. The teacher watches her intently as he taps his pencil. She looks back down to her test when suddenly the bell rings. The students around her get up and turn their test in while Buffy looks on in shock.

As the students begin to file out of the room, Buffy catches the gaze of the young boy that she saw earlier. He watches her with a sad look on his face before walking off. He walks down the hallway and sees two girls talking as they come down the stairs.

"Well, they both got detention, which is completely unfair since Sean started it. Anyway, it means we can't do the movie." She says. Her friend shoots her a disappointed look as they stop in front of the basement door. "I'm gonna take a," She makes a smoking gesture. "break." Her friend nods and walks off. She checks to see if anyone is watching before opening the door and going in.

The boy shakes his head. "You shouldn't go in there." He says to himself.

The girl closes the door behind her and walks down the steps of the dark basement. She checks to see if anyone's there. Satisfied that the coast is clear, she puts down her books and pulls out a pack of cigarettes. She fails to see the hulking figure hiding behind a rack.

He charges towards her, the low lighting revealing his badly scarred face. "Lucky nineteen!" He shouts as he attacks her. The girl screams as she is beaten by the deformed club-like arm and tries to roll out of the way of his blows.

Buffy, Giles, and Trinity look for the girl's hospital room.

"I think they said room 3016." Buffy says.

"Do either of you know the girl?" Giles asks.

Buffy shrugs. "To say hi to. Laura's nice enough. Nobody saw who attacked her?"

"Well, I was rather hoping that Laura did. Or if Trinity could recognize a scent of some kind."

They walk into Laura's room and see the girl lying in a hospital bed, covered in cuts and bruises.

"Hey, Laura." Trinity greets.

"Hi." The girl says weakly.

"I hope we're not intruding, um…" Giles clears his throat, holding out a small potted flower arrangement. Buffy takes it from him and sets it next to the bed.

"That's okay. I don't wanna be left alone."

"You understand we're anxious to make sure this, this doesn't happen again."

Buffy takes a seat near the bed. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I was in the basement. I went down for a smoke. There was…someone there."

"Someone you knew?"

"I've never…seen anything like it."

The three visitors share a look. "It?"

"Can you describe it?" Giles asks.

Trinity hears the girl's heartbeat pick up as she struggles for an answer. "Hey, that's okay. Don't worry about it." She tells her.

Giles, seeing the potential distress nods. "Yes, you, you, you just rest now."

"You know, but…" Buffy trails off.

Just then a nurse walks in. "Hi, Laura."

"…i-if you remember anything? You can tell us. Even if it may seem weird."

"She needs her rest now." The nurse tells them. The three begin to leave.

"Lucky nineteen." Laura says.

They stop and turn around. "I'm sorry?" Giles asks.

"It's what he said, right before…" A troubled look crosses her face. "He said 'lucky nineteen'. That's weird, right?"

"Yes. Yes, it is."

"Feel better." Buffy smiles. Trinity waves at her.

"Take care." Giles says and they leave the room. He stops when he sees a doctor in the hallway. "Doctor, is she gonna be alright?"

He looks at them. "You family?"

"Friends." Trinity clarifies.

"She'll recover. She's got a couple of shattered bones, a little internal bleeding…she got off pretty easy."

"Easy?"

Giles looks at him in disbelief. "Have you looked up the word lately?"

"Well, the first one's still in a coma." The doctor leads them down the hall and stops at another room.

"First what?" Buffy asks him.

"First victim." He looks into the room. "They found him a week ago. Exact same M.O. as the girl, only he's in worse shape. If he doesn't wake up soon…" He sighs and shakes his head. "Somebody's gotta stop this guy."

"Somebody will."

At school, a punk boy talks to his friends. "Listen, I'm not afraid of him. Hey, if he wants to fight, then I'm takin' him down. I'm not backin' off on this. This is about honor. I'll break his neck!"

Willow and Xander walk to her locker. "I'm just saying, Wendell had a dream and then that exact thing happened."

"Which is a fair wiggins, I admit, but do you think that ties in with Laura?"

"I dunno. Maybe she dreamed about getting beat up. We should ask Buffy when she and Trinity get back from the hospital." She tells him. Xander looks across the hall and grins.

The punk's mother suddenly appears in the hall. "Oh, there's my little baby!"

He looks at her in shock and embarrassment. "Mom, what are you doing here? Mom…"

She laughs and kisses his cheek, ignoring his struggle to get out of her grip. "How's my little pookie?"

"Mom, mom, please don't kiss me in front of the guys! It's embarrassing, mom! Please!"

She laughs again. "You cute little rascal, you!"

"Mom…thanks, but mom, please, my friends are right here…"

Willow closes her locker and they head to their next class.

"It could be a coincidence. Y'know, Wendell finds a spider's nest, and we all wig because he dreamt about spiders. So it may not be connected." Xander says. They enter the classroom and are greeted by the sound of laughter. "If there is a connection it doesn't sound like anything…" He sees the classes gaze locked on him. "What?"

Willow looks at the laughing students in confusion before following their gaze. She looks behind her at Xander and sees that his clothes are gone, and he's standing there in his underwear. "Xander! What happened to your…?!"

He looks down in horror. "I-I-I dunno! I was, uh, dressed a minute ago! It's a dream. It's gotta be a dream." He pinches himself. "Ow! Wake up." He pinches himself again. "Ow! Gotta wake up." He realizes he's not dreaming and runs from the room screaming. Willow chases after him.

In the library, Giles goes over a number of newspapers. "This can't be happening. This can't be…"

Buffy and Trinity walk in. "What's the word?" The blonde asks.

"Oh, uh, I've got back issues of the, uh, papers, um, to try to do some research."

"Did you find anything?" Trinity asks him.

"I don't know."

Buffy sends him a dubious look. "You don't know if you didn't find anything."

"I'm having a problem."

"What is it?"

"I-I can't read!"

Buffy's eyebrows knit together. "What do you mean? You can read, like, three languages." Trinity nods in agreement.

"Five, actually, on a normal day. Th-the words here don't make any s-sense. I-it's gibberish!" He steps away in frustration.

Buffy looks at the paper. "That's him."

"Who?" Trinity asks.

"The kid I've been seeing around school." She begins to read 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?"

Buffy looks at the date. "Last week. It says he's in a coma in intensive care. This is the boy from the hospital!"

Giles looks at her. "The first victim? Uh…you, you've seen him around the school?"

"Yeah, first when the spiders got Wendell, and, and then when I didn't know a thing on the history test. I thought it was weird seeing this kid around, but I forgot about it."

"That's not possible; the kid's been in a coma for a week." Trinity says.

"How could he have been here?" Giles asks.

Buff looks at him. "What, am I knowledge girl now? Explanations are your terrain."

"Uh, well, um, there's astral projection, uh, the theory that while one sleeps one has another body, a-an astral body, which can travel through time and space."

"Billy's in a coma. That's like sleep, right?"

"Yeah, but sometimes people don't ever wake up." Trinity tells her.

"Could I be seeing Billy's asteroid body?"

"Astral body, and I-I don't know. As usual, one doesn't have an inordinate amount of information to work with." Giles says.

"Lucky nineteen."

Buffy's father, Hank Summers, walks into the library. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere. Why aren't you in class?"

Buffy looks at him, surprised. "Dad, what are you doing here? Y-you're not supposed to pick me up till after school. Is something wrong?"

"Well, I, I need to talk to you."

"Something is wrong. Is it mom?"

"No, no, it's not your mother, she's fine." He lowers his voice. "Could I speak with you for a moment? Privately?"

"Um, sure! Yeah." She looks at Giles and Trinity. "Uh, oh! I'm sorry. Dad, this is Mr. Giles, the librarian, and my friend Trinity. Uh, this is my dad, Hank Summers."

Giles shakes his hand. "My pleasure."

"Likewise." Hank says, and shakes hands with Trinity.

"I'll be back." Buffy tells them and the two leave the library.

"I'll go see if there's anything on astral projection." Trinity tells Giles, who tries reading the papers.

Trinity is standing in the stacks looking at a book when she sees movement out of the corner of her eye. She looks up just in time to see someone turn the corner. "Giles?" She receives no answer. She follows after the person and sees them turn another corner. She lightly jogs after them only to end up back at the tables, where Giles tries to make sense of the papers. "Was someone in here?"

Giles looks up. "Uh, n-no, no one has come in. Why?"

"I could've swo-" She shakes her head. "Nevermind."

Buffy and her dad walk around outside. "I came early because there's something I've needed to tell you." He says. "About your mother and me. Why we split up."

"Well, you always told me it was because…"

"Uh, I know we always said it was because we'd just grown too far apart."

"Yeah, isn't that true?"

"Well, c'mon, honey, let's, let's sit down." He sighs once they're seated. "You're old enough now to know the truth."

"Is there someone else?"

He shakes his head. "No. No, it was nothing like that."

"Then what was it?"

He looks at her. "It was you."

"Me?"

"Having you. Raising you. Seeing you everyday. I mean, do you have any idea what that's like?"

Buffy looks at him, devastation in her eyes. "What?"

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

"No. Please don't."

"You're sullen and…rude and…you're not nearly as bright as I thought you were going to be…" He tells her. "Hey, Buffy, let's be honest. Could you stand to live in the same house with a daughter like that?"

A tear rolls down her cheek. "Why are you saying all these things?"

"Because they're true. I think that's the least we owe one another." He continues on casually when Buffy sniffles and begins to cry. "You know, I don't think it's very mature, getting blubbery when I'm just trying to be honest. Speaking of which, I don't really get anything out of these weekends with you. So, what do you say we just don't do them anymore?" Buffy stares at him in shock but he just pats her on the leg. "I sure thought you'd turn out differently." He gets up and leaves.

Buffy watches him go for a moment and looks down. Her father walks past the building, not seeing Billy standing there staring at Buffy, who looks up again, locking eyes with him. Billy turns and leaves. Buffy attempts to compose herself.

Xander and Willow burst through the library doors; Xander pulling on his gym shirt. "Red alert! Where's Buffy?"

"Uh, she, she just stepped out. Her, her father came by early." Giles tells him. "He, he needed to talk to her."

Trinity walks out of the stacks. "Where are your clothes?"

"Oh, don't I wish I had the answer to that question." Her friend says.

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

"Except my underwear."

Willow giggles. "It was really-" she looks at Xander. "bad. It was a bad thing."

"'Bad thing'? I was naked. 'Bad thing' doesn't cover it."

"Everyone staring? I would hate to have everyone paying attention to me like that."

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

Willow's eyes widen in realization. "Well, yeah Xander! I-it's your nightmare!"

"Except the part with me waking up goin' 'it's all a dream'. It happened."

"Like it happened to Wendell. That thing with the spiders? Wendell had a recurring dream about that."

"I-I dreamt that I got lost in the stacks and I…" Giles trails off. "I couldn't read…of course!"

"Uh, our dreams are coming true?" Xander asks.

"Dreams?" Giles scoffs. "That would be a musical comedy version of this. Nightmares, our, our nightmares are coming true."

"So, why is this happening?" Willow asks.

"Billy." Trinity realizes. Giles nods in agreement.

"Well, that explanation was shorter than usual." Xander looks at Willow. "It's Billy!" He turns back to Giles. "Who's Billy?"

"He's a boy in the local hospital. He was beaten. He's in a coma. Somehow I think he's crossed over from the nightmare world he's trapped in."

"And he brought the nightmare world with him. Thanks a bunch, Billy."

"How could he do that?" Willow asks.

"Things like that are easy when you live on a Hellmouth."

"Well, um, we have to stop it." Xander states.

"Hopefully before things get any worse." Trinity says. "Or else everyone in Sunnydale is gonna be facing their own worst nightmares."

Cordelia opens her locker and looks at her mirror. Her eyes widen in horror at the sight of her hair uncontrollably frizzed out. She tries to force a comb through it to no avail. "I don't understand! This can't be happening! I was just at the salon!" She puts a hand on her head. "Oh, my God!" She presses her hands to her hair, attempting to tame it.

Buffy walks through the courtyard with her arms crossed and a sad look on her face. Billy walks down the stairs and towards the gym entrance and goes in once all the students leave. Buffy follows him and finds him sitting on the stands. "Billy?" The boy turns to her. "Are you Billy Palmer?"

"I'm Billy."

"Why are you here?" She sits down next to him. "Did something bad happen to you after your game?"

"Something bad?" He runs his hands through his hair. "I…I don't remember."

"Do you remember playing baseball?"

He nods. "Uh huh. Yeah. I play second base."

"Are you 'lucky nineteen'?"

He looks at her. "That's what he calls me."

"Who?"

"The Ugly Man. He wants to kill me. A-and he hurt that girl."

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

"He's…" Billy trails off as he looks behind her.

"Billy, it's okay! What? Just tell me."

"He's here!"

The Ugly Man clubs Buffy with his deformed arm and knocks her off the stands and onto the floor. She quickly gets up as he tries another swing and misses. She ducks a third swing, kicks him in the jaw with a high side kick and follows up with a spinning out-to-in crescent kick to his face. He isn't fazed. He swings again with his club arm and hits her squarely in the back, knocking her into the stands. He swings again as she gets up and knocks her legs out from under her, making her fall backward and onto the floor again. She rolls out of the way as he swings again, gets up and quickly lumps after Billy, who's already gone out the door.

Giles, Willow, Trinity, and Xander walk out of the library to find Buffy. "Buffy doesn't know this is happening. And given the sort of thing that she tends to dream about, it's imperative that we find her." The Watcher tells them.

"Probably faster if we split up to look for her." Xander says.

Giles nods in agreement. "Good idea." He and Xander go off in opposite directions, leaving Trinity and Willow behind.

"Oh, uh, faster, but…not really safer." Willow says.

Trinity puts a hand on the redheads shoulder. "Be careful. The sooner we find Buffy, the closer we'll be to ending these nightmares."

Buffy slides a hockey stick through the door handles to slow the Ugly Man down. He pounds on the door as she leans against it. She looks around, sees Billy and goes over to him. "Billy!"

He looks at her. "I'm sorry, I can't help it."

"Who is he?"

"He's the Ugly Man."

"He's too strong! I can't fight him! We have to find my friends. They can help us."

"We have to hide."

Buffy shakes her head. "No! He'll find us!"

"Yes, but we have to hide. That's how it happens. We hide, and then he comes."

Buffy leads him away.

Willow walks down the stairs when she hears a commotion in the hallway and is greeted by the sight of a frizzy haired Cordelia being dragged away by some nerds.

"No! What are you doing! Hey, no! You don't understand! I don't wanna go! I'm not even on the chess team! I swear, I'm not!" She screams as they drag her into the room.

Willow smiles at the sight.

"Willow!" a voice calls.

"Noooo!" Cordelia screams.

Willow turns towards the voice and goes to the basement, opening it and looking inside.

"Willow!"

"Buffy?" She starts down the stairs, leaving the door open. "Hello? Buffy?" She reaches the bottom of the steps and looks around. "I'm not afraid. You'd think I'd be afraid, but I'm not." She continues into the room and looks around. Suddenly, a hand grabs her on the shoulder and pulls her away as she screams.

Xander walks through a door and finds that the hall has been vandalized, with swastikas spray-painted everywhere. A light hanging from the ceiling is flickering. He spies a chocolate bar on the floor. "Alright!" He picks up the bar and tears it open. "Someone else's loss is my chocolatey goodness." He takes a huge bite and looks around for more, spotting a Hershey's bar on the floor. He walks over and picks it up, now tearing into that one. "This is my lucky day!" He takes a bite and continues to look around.

Trinity walks through the hallway, checking classrooms. The window to the classroom is covered and opens the door, stepping inside.

Buffy and Billy come out of the door. The blonde looks around in confusion. "Wha…I was sure this led to the library." She sees Billy looking through the fence sadly, watching some students play together. She walks over to him. "They're just playing. What is it? What's bothering you?"

"Baseball. When you lose, it's bad."

"Did you lose your game last week?"

He nods. "It was my fault."

"Why was it your fault?"

"I missed a ball and I should have caught it."

"You missed one ball and the whole game was your fault? What, you were the only one playing? There wasn't eight other people on your team?"

"He said it was my fault."

"Who said?" She asks but he stays silent. "Billy, did he hurt you after the game?"

"Can we go another way to find your friends?"

Buffy nodded, seeing that he didn't wish to speak anymore on the topic. "Sure. Okay. We can go around the cafeteria." She turns around and sees the Ugly Man punching a student before heading towards them. "Bad idea!" She looks around. "Uh, this way! C'mon!" She pushes Billy ahead of her through some bushes. When they get through to the other side they are in the cemetery, and it's nighttime. "What just happened?"

"Is this where your friends are?"

"No, it's not."

The show director pulls Willow through the door to the dressing room. The red head is dressed in a green kimono. "Man, I thought you weren't gonna show! Aldo is beside himself." He makes some adjustments to her kimono.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are proud to present two of the world's greatest singers!" The Emcee announces, making the audience applaud.

The director guides Willow onto the auditorium stage behind the curtain. "I hope you're warmed up. It's an ugly crowd out there tonight. All the reviewers showed up."

"All the way from Firenze, Italy, the one and only Aldo Gianfranco! And all the way from Sunnydale, California, the world's finest soprano, Willow Rosenberg!"

Willow sees Aldo on stage through the curtain, dressed in a tuxedo and holding out his hand to greet her. She backs away into the director. "But I…I didn't learn the words!"

The director ignores her and shoves her forward. She stumbles through the curtains and bumps into Aldo. He shoots her a disgruntled look which she meets with a terrified gaze. The applause dies down and the spotlight settles on Aldo, who begins to sing.

"Bimba dagli occhi pieni di malia, ora sei tutta mia."

The spotlight moves to Willow, who's paralyzed in fear and remains silent as she looks between Aldo and the crowd.

Realizing that she's not going to sing, Aldo begins again, making the spotlight shift back to him. "Sei tutta vestita di giglio. Mi piace la treccia tua bruna fra I candidi veli." When he finishes his bar, he gives her an annoyed look and stomps his foot.

"My turn?" Willow meekly asks.

"Mm-hmm!" He hums, annoyed.

She turns to the crowd and lets out a high-pitched squeak. The audience mumbles in discontent and Aldo storms away in disgust.

Sheets of plastic hang from the ceiling in the hallway. Xander pushes though a pair and stops, is hands filled with various candy bars. "I love these bars!" He spots another one on the floor. "A Chocolate Hurricane! These are the best! I haven't had one of these since my…" He trails off as the sound of incessant giggling reaches his ears. "…sixth…" he looks around. "…birthday." He sees a shadow come up behind another sheet of plastic, and a vicious looking clown suddenly bursts through. Xander screams in terror as the clown holds up a knife. Xander falls as he tries to get away and somersaults backward into the next hall. He quickly starts to crawl away.

Trinity walks through the church pews, passing people dressed in black with their heads bowed. She walks up to the casket at the front of the room and looks at Jesse's calm face. Tears fill her eyes and she turns away. The people in the church have disappeared.

"It's all your fault y'know." Trinity turns back to see Jesse looking at her. "If you would've told us what you were; warned us, this would've never happen. I wouldn't be dead."

"Jesse…" Trinity chokes out.

He sits up. "Y'know, I've come to realize a lot of things that wouldn't've been if it weren't for you. I could've been popular if I hadn't stuck to your side like Xander and Willow when everyone found out you were a dyke." He spits out the word before hopping out of the casket, making Trinity take a few steps back. "I could've had friends; I could've had a girlfriend, since obviously you weren't available."

He continued towards her, taking a step forward each time she takes a step back. "Actually things would've been a lot better if you had just died with your parents." He smirks. "You ever notice how everyone around you dies and the ones that don't just leave you? C'mon how long do you think Xander and Willow will stick around now that they have Buffy? What do they really need you for? Buffy's the muscle, Willow's the brains, and Xander's the mildly helpful comic relief. What are you? Are you Slayer's sidekick, there to help protect them from the big bad?" he laughs and gestures to himself. "I think this is enough of an example of how much help you are. So why don't you do everyone a favor." He roughly grabs her arms and slams her into the wall, his face morphs into that of a vampire. "And just die."

Buffy looks around the cemetery and walks around. "I don't see the Ugly Man. I also don't know where the sun and the rest of the world went."

"Look at this." Billy calls. She follows his gaze and sees a freshly dug grave with an open pine coffin inside. "I guess we're gonna bury someone. I wonder who died."

"Nobody died." The Master tells them. Buffy and Billy look up at him in shock. "What's the fun of burying someone if they're already dead?"

She stares at him in disbelief. "You!"

He sizes her up. "So! This is the Slayer! You're prettier than the last one."

"This isn't real. Y-you can't be free!"

"You still don't understand, do you? I am free because you fear it. Because you fear it, the world is crumbling. Your nightmares are made flesh. You have little Billy to thank for that."

She looks behind her, but Billy is gone. She turns back to the Master. "A dream is a wish your heart makes." He wraps his hand around her neck. "This is real life." He angles her back to the open grave. "Come on, Slayer! What are you afraid of?" He growls and bares his teeth, but instead of biting her, he throws her into the coffin at the bottom of the grave, and the lid slams shut."

"No! Help me!" She screams, banging on the lid.

"How 'bout being buried alive?" The Master laughs maniacally as he starts to shovel dirt into the grave.

"Somebody help me! Please! No! No! Please! No! No! No! Somebody help me! Please! No!" The first shovelful of dirt hits the coffin, and some falls in through the cracks. "Please! No! Help me! No!" The next shovelful of dirt covers the crack between the boards. "Help!"

Trinity kicks futilely as she tries to pry Jesse's hands from her neck. "C'mon Trini, just give up."

As Trinity begins to fade, she mourns all of her memories of Jessie; of all the tears replaced by laughter because of him. Her eyes shoot open, revealing her slit pupils and gold irises. "You're not Jesse." She growls and claws his face. Jesse roars in pain and stumbles away, holding a hand to his face. Trinity lands nimbly on her feet, moving forward as oxygen fills her lungs. "Maybe things could've been different but I can't spend my life thinking about 'what ifs'. Jesse's gone and I can't change that." She whips into a roundhouse kick, sending the vampire flying back towards the front of the room. "What I can do is spend my time training and helping to make sure that someone won't have to experience what I've felt. That one less person will have to lose a friend, or a son, or a brother." Jesse throws a punch but she blocks it, sending one back and grabbing him. She throws him farther away, making him land on the stand holding a picture of his face up. The wood snaps under his weight. Trinity picks up a piece and tightens her hold on the makeshift stake before flipping the creature over to face her. "You're not Jesse." She plunges the stake into his chest. "Just the thing that destroyed him." She watches as the vampire burst into ash before leaving the room.

Willow comes through a door while being pelted with tomatoes. Xander runs up to her. "Did you find Buffy?"

"I had to sing! Very bad to sing!"

"Willow, c'mon. Let's find the others."

"Already here." Trinity walks up to them and sees Xander's pale face. "What happened to you?"

"Remember my sixth birthday party?"

Willow laughs. "Oh, yeah! When the clown chased you and you got so scared that you had…" she stops smiling. "Oh!" The clown slices through a sheet of plastic, making her scream. The teens start to run only to collide with Giles moments later.

"No sign of Buffy?" The Watcher asks. They grab hold of him and pull him with them. He sees the clown and starts to run as well.

They reach the end of the hall and Xander stops, tired of the whole thing. He goes up to the clown, who raises his knife to attack. Xander punches him dead in the face and knocks him out. "You are a lousy clown! Your balloon animals are pathetic! Everyone can make a giraffe!" They leave and run outside only to quickly halt at the chaos that greets them. "I feel good! I feel liberated!"

Giles looks at the people running past them. "You seem to be the only one. Things are getting worse. In a few hours reality will fold completely into the realm of nightmares."

"Well, what do we do?" Willow asks.

"The only thing I can think is to try and wake Billy."

"Uh, no, we can't leave without Buffy." Xander tells them.

"Agreed, but who knows where she might have gone?"

Willow sees the rift to the graveyard across the street. "Excuse me, when did they put a cemetery in across the street?"

"And when did they make it night over there?" Trinity says. They walk through the rift into the cemetery. "Whose nightmare is this?"

Giles looks at a gravestone.

Buffy Summers 1981 – 1997

"It's mine." They all gather around the grave as Giles kneels next to it. "I've failed…in my duty to protect you. I should have been more c…cautious. Taken more time to train you. But you were so gifted. And the evil was so great. I'm sorry…" He lays his hand on the fresh soil. As he starts to get up a hand reaches up through the dirt and grabs his. Willow screams and Trinity tears Giles away. Buffy digs her way up through the dirt and brushes herself off. "Buffy?"

She looks up. To the horror of her friends and Watcher as they see her face morphed into a vampire. "I thought I was dead!"

"Buffy, your face!" Willow says.

Buffy brings her hands up to her face, feeling the difference. "Oh, God!" She keeps her hands up to hide her face.

Xander takes a couple of steps toward her. "Buffy…"

She turns away. "Don't look at me!"

"You never told me you dreamt of becoming a vampire." Giles says.

"This isn't a dream."

"No. No, it's not. But there's a chance that we can make it go away. This all comes from Billy. Now, if, if we can only wake him up, I believe that the nightmares will stop and reality will shift back into place, but we must do it now! I need you to hold together long enough to help us. Can you do that?"

She looks up at Giles and nods. "Yeah. I think I can."

"Thank you."

They turn to face the others. "Well, we better hurry…'cause I'm getting hungry." She starts walking.

Xander follows after her. "That is a…joke, right?"

"Are you sure everything will go back once he's awake?" Willow asks.

"Oh, uh, positive." Giles nods.

"Well, how do we wake Billy up? What if we can't?"

"Willow, do shut up."

The group walks into the pandemonium that is the hospital, running down the hall to Billy's room. Giles runs to a doctor nearby. "Doctor! Is the boy Billy still here?"

"My hands!" The doctor stares at his disfigured hands and walks away.

They run into Billy's room. "What now?" Trinity asks.

"Um…" Giles lowers towards the boy. "Billy! Billy?"

"That won't work." His astral body is standing by the curtains.

Giles looks up at him. "Billy! Uh, Billy, you have to wake up."

He shakes his head. "No. I told her. I have to hide."

"Why? From what?"

"From him!" Buffy says from the hallway, seeing the Ugly Man coming towards her. Giles and Trinity go over to the window to look.

"Aw, man, what do we do?" Xander asks.

"I think I know." Buffy takes off her jacket.

Trinity steps forward. "I've got your back."

Willow hears buzzing outside and peeks through the blinds to see giant black wasps flying over the town. "Whatever it is, it better be soon!"

The Ugly Man makes his way towards Buffy.

"Glad you showed up! You see, I'm having a really bad day." The Slayer/Vampire says.

"Lucky nineteen!" The Ugly Man growls.

"Scary! I'll tell you something, though. There are a lot scarier things than you." She takes a couple of steps forward. "And I'm one of them."

The Ugly Man stops in his tracks at the sight of her. She roars and runs to attack. She jumps on him, knocking him down and punches him twice in the face. She tries for a third punch, but he blocks her and gets his foot under her stomach. He pushes hard, sending her backward. Trinity hisses, running up and roundhouse kicks him in the gut, making him double over, but he pushes her into the window of Billy's room and then throws her into the opposite wall. He tries to punch her with his club arm, but she ducks, and his arm slams into a wall. Buffy comes up behind him and side kicks him in the back. He slams into her, knocking her through the door into Billy's room and against his bed. She gets up to face him as he comes in after her. He swings again with his club arm, but she grabs it and roughly brings it down, breaking it over her knee. He wails in pain, and she body checks him into the wall, where he hits his head and slumps to the floor unconscious. Trinity enters the room and everyone stares at him.

"I-is he dead?" Billy asks.

Buffy looks at him. "Come here, Billy."

"I, I don't…"

"You have to do the rest."

Billy slowly comes around the bed and over to the Ugly Man.

"What are they doing?" Willow asks. Giles gestures for her to be quiet.

"I get it." Xander says.

Buffy takes Billy's hand and he looks up at her. "No more hiding."

Billy looks down at the Ugly Man. Buffy lets go of his hand, and he reaches for the Ugly Man's neck. He peels back his face and a bright light streams out. In the next instant everything is back to normal. The Ugly Man is gone, Buffy is herself again, Xander and Willow are in their regular clothes and the hospital is functioning. Buffy smiles and feels her face. Willow breathes a sigh of relief. Billy wakes up.

"Hey, he's waking up!" Xander says, making them gather around.

Billy blinks at them. "I had the strangest dream. And you were in it; and you…" he looks around. "Who are you people?"

They all smile. "Let's get a doctor." Giles says. Billy's coach comes in as Giles and Xander are about to leave the room.

"Oh! Huh. Billy's got company." He takes off his cap. "I-I-I'm his kiddie league coach. I come by here every day, just hoping against hope that he's gonna wake up soon. He's, uh, my lucky nineteen." Giles, Buffy, and Trinity exchange a look at his words. "So, um, how is he?"

Buffy steps aside to show him Billy. "He's awake."

"What?" The coach pales.

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

"What are you talking about?" He shakily asks, trying to act innocent.

Billy sits up. "You said that it was my fault that we lost." Realzing he's been found out, the coach tries to get away. Xander grabs him by the jacket and slams him against the wall, holding him there. "It wasn't my fault. There's eight other players on the team. You know that." He lies back down, his strength spent from holding himself up.

Buffy looks at the boy and smiles. "Nice going!"

Billy smiles back.

Buffy, Willow, Trinity, and Xander walk through the school courtyard.

"I just can't believe a kiddie league coach would do something like that." Buffy says.

"Well, you obviously haven't played kiddie league. I'm surprised it wasn't one of the parents." Xander tells her.

"I'm just glad he's behind bars where he belongs." Willow says.

"Yeah, I hear they don't take kindly to crimes that involve children." Trinity says.

Buffy looks at Xander. "But that was kinda heroic, Xander, grabbing him and all."

Xander flushes and puffs up a bit in pride. "Well, I just did what anyone else would've. I mean, if you wanna label it heroic…"

Hank drives up and honks, getting out of the car to wave at Buffy. "Hi!"

Buffy smiles at her friends. "Have a killer weekend, guys!" Xander bows his head to her.

Buffy goes to her dad, who walks up the steps to hug her. "Hi, sweetheart! Oh, it's so good to see you!" He releases her. "How was your day?"

"Fine. You know, usual."

Willow turns to Xander. "Personal question?"

"Yeah, shoot!"

"When Buffy was a vampire, you weren't still, like, attracted to her, were you?"

"Willow, how can you…I mean, that's really bent! She was…grotesque!"

Trinity smirks at him. "Still dug her, huh?"

"I'm sick, I need help."

"Don't I know it."