When Buffy woke up, she felt bad. She was tired, exhausted, and the three hours of sleep she'd just had hadn't helped much. She felt numb all over and couldn't even bring up the strength to open her eyes. A faint noise reached her ears, but it took a while for her to recognize it. Then she remembered it was a lullaby, and she thought she heard Willow's voice singing it.
She moved her head a bit and found out she wasn't resting it on a pillow, but on Willow's chest. She rolled herself onto her back, and back on the pillow. She felt Willow's hand stroking through her hair. Through all of this, it gave her a feeling of comfort. It made her feel a bit more safe.
"Are you awake?" Willow's voice sounded far away, and she could barely make sense of the words. She just murmured something and hoped Willow would understand, whatever it was she meant.
"How are you feeling, Buffy?" She heard a man's voice. She believed she heard a man's voice. Her father's? It took a few seconds until she realized it wasn't her father's, but Giles'. Her heart skipped a beat. Giles. Maybe now something would happen. Maybe he would be able to free her from this streak of nightmares and the endless hours of sleep deprivation. Of course he could. He had to. He just had to.
"G-Giles?"
"I'm right here, Buffy." Giles tried to make his voice sound strong, tried not to make Buffy hear his doubts, his fears. He worried for her. Never before had he seen her so weak, so fragile. And with what was coming, she wouldn't be able to do much. As it was, she couldn't even keep her eyes open. He failed, and she heard.
"Giles? What's going on, Giles? What's happening?"
The librarian could hear the fear in her voice, and decided not to alarm her anymore. She needed to rest.
"N-Nothing much. I ah... I'm still researching some things."
"Don't lie to me, Giles. I... I..." Her voice couldn't take her any further.
"Don't speak, Buffy. You need your sleep. You need to rest."
"No! No!" Buffy's eyes shot wide open and she almost instantly sat up straight. "No sleep. The... the nightmares. They're... I can't..." Buffy started sobbing again and Willow took her head in her arms.
"Calm down. We'll work it out. We'll work it out. Won't we, Giles?" She looked up at Giles, urging him for a little reassurance.
"Yes. We'll ah... we'll work it out." He didn't sound so sure, but Buffy didn't notice as she dozed off again.
* * *
That afternoon, Willow stood before the closed school door. Giles had left Buffy's house a couple of hours earlier to do some more research, and she had waited for Buffy's mother to come home again. Buffy had awoken twice more from her nightmares, each time slightly less intense. Willow wondered if it was because the nightmares were less intense or because she just couldn't give anymore. She hoped for the first, but feared for the last.
She rang the bell and a few seconds later Giles opened the door. "Ah, Willow. Come in. How ah... how's Buffy?"
Willow walked in and watched Giles close and lock the door behind her. "At home, resting. Her mother's with her now."
"Good, good." Giles walked up the stairs to the library, Willow following closely behind. "Is she getting any sleep?"
"I don't think so. I've watched her for a few hours. I'm no expert, but I don't think she's making it to the REM stage."
Giles looked up in surprise. "Not? I-I ah... I thought REM was the dream stage? You needed to be in the REM stage to dream at all?"
"It is. It's also when you really rest. And she's not getting there."
"Then how can she be dreaming?"
Willow followed Giles to the library, not answering his question. She didn't know.
* * *
When they got to the library, the man led the teenager to a table. There was a book on it, covered with papers carrying his scribblings, notes and translations.
"There ah... there's a serious problem. I've double-checked to make sure there were no errors in my translations..." He offered Willow a chair and she sat down. He took another chair and sat down beside her.
"Have you ever heard of Morpheus?" he asked. Willow thought for a moment before answering.
"Wasn't he a Greek God or something?"
"The God of dreams, to be exactly." Giles was impressed with the young girl's knowledge. If she was up for it, she could make a good Watcher one day. For a moment, the librarian started reminiscing about the time his father had introduced him to Watcherhood. Lacking children of his own, he would have to start looking for a successor some day soon. He would need time to train him or her. And this girl seemed to have all the qualities. And sometimes he even thought she'd be interested in the job. Not at all the way he was maneuvered into this position. She welcomed the opportunity, where he had despised it.
His thoughts lingered for a moment, but then he collected his thoughts and turned back to the present. "This Morpheus was responsible for people's dreams. On the orders of the other Gods, he would come in the night, and enter your mind. He would then form your dreams into what the Gods wanted. That's where he gets his name. Morpheus means ah... 'he who forms'."
"You're not gonna tell me this Morpheus is real, are you?"
"No no, ah... he's just mythological figure, but one of my volumes..." He looked around, searching for the right book. "Now where did I put it? Ah yes... here." He took the book out from under the papers and read the title. "Prophecies of Demonic Heritage. This book speaks of a demon who does essentially the same... form and shape your dreams to whatever he wants. Unfortunately, that's about all it says. The prophecy says this demon shall rise sometime, and it refers to another prophecy giving more clarity, but I haven't found that one yet. This one doesn't even name the demon involved, but I'm pretty sure it's what's going on."
Willow looked at Giles, thinking about what he had just said. She got up and started pacing around, still worried about Buffy. And now this demon...
"Can't you ask Ms. Calendar? I mean... she seems to know a lot. About demons. And stuff."
"I would like that myself, but for some reason beyond my capability of understanding she, too, has seen it to be necessary to go off to Florida on this Spring Break fling you kids drool over all year long."
Willow smiled at Giles' discomfort with the idea. "You do have a way with words, Giles." For a moment, they just stared at each other. Then Giles put the book back on the table.
"We have to tell Buffy's mom!" Willow erupted. Giles looked over his shoulder in surprise.
"Tell her what? That a demon is killing her daughter? She'll never believe us!"
"Well," Willow started, trying to find the words to go against that piece of logic. "I believed you when you told me about vampires," she finally came up with, a look of satisfaction on her face. "And so did Xander, a-and Cordelia, and Ms. Calendar!"
"Well, that's slightly different," Giles returned. "You just had vampires at your throats, and it's hard to deny something when you've seen what happened to the Master. That counts for something."
Willow thought for a second and then looked back at Giles. "I'm gonna try anyway. With or without you." She started for the door, not looking back at Giles. He just raised his arms in despair and went after her.
"Ah Willow.... wait for me!"
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