Reality?

By PassionFish





A/N: I'd like to thank my sister, who gave me this title - I think it fits the story beautifully!

Time Line: Set at the very end of Season Seven.






They were everywhere. Creeping up over the edge. Thousands upon thousands; surrounding her, enclosing her, suffocating her.



Off to one side she could see Faith fighting, Rhonda and Amanda to the right, and Spike was in the back. Her friends were somewhere, she was sure.



God only knew how many she'd killed, how long they'd been fighting.



Or how many of her charges were dead.



The air was thick with the scent of blood. She could feel it pumping out into the atmosphere, soaking into the surroundings.



And the screams...



She couldn't breathe... It was too much.



This couldn't be happening.



It was madness... None of this could be real.



Her scythe slid into the next body like it was butter and the Turok'han dropped to the ground.



She moved on.



It was nothing.



It was normal.



It couldn't be real.



It just couldn't.



"This isn't life..."



She looked down and saw the blood spreading across the side of her stomach. She knew that she had been stabbed, most likely from behind, but there was no pain.



It was just too unreal.



She could feel the ground under her knees, then chest as she collapsed.



Buffy turned her head to the left and spotted the open, lifeless gaze of Amanda. Another of her charges down. This couldn't be happening.



It wasn't real.



They were coming for her, all around her... And the First was back...Taunting her, breaking her sprit... Flirting with death.



This was ridiculous, improbable, not real, fake, impossible...



No, no, no, no, no, no....



It was too hot, too stuffy, so much blood, too much pain, too much fear...suffering, aching, dying, crying, loathing, death, death, death...



"STOP!"



Her scream rang out through her own head; her eyes were squeezed closed tightly, denying the reality of the situation. Her scythe slid out of her hands and to the ground, embedded itself in the soft soil beside her broken body. She clutched at her hair with frustrated hands.



And then there was silence.



Not a cry could be heard.



The air was dry.



She couldn't smell the blood on the floor, in the atmosphere.



She couldn't sense anyone around her.



Slowly, she opened her eyes, she was standing again, her hands dropping uselessly to her sides, as she took in the scene in front of her.



Everything had paused.



Nothing moved.



Nothing breathed.



Nothing lived.



Nothing was real.



Her head shook in denial… This wasn't real… This wasn't happening.



"Buffy?"



She spun round, expecting to see someone behind her, someone moving, someone real, but no one was there...



Suddenly, the world cracked and she was in a hospital ward, a strange man hovering over her bed.



Letting out a little cry she shook her head to try to dispel the vision and stumbled backwards, only to find herself back where she started.



She looked out at the battlefield to see everything still paused in place. Faith had a chain around a demon's neck, while her suspended foot held another one back. She could just about make out the smirk on Spike's face in the distance...



But all was still.



It was like time had frozen them all in place, but forgotten one slayer on the way.



"Come on, Lizzy...we can escape now, there's no one about...promise..."



That voice again, clearer this time - less of the wind.



Buffy shook her head to clear it, and the hospital room appeared once more. She gasped in fear, clutching the bed linen beneath her, with weak fingers.



"Come on, pet..."



Spike. It was Spike.



Spike?



How was he here? He was back there, fighting...she should be fighting, they're going to loose if she doesn't keep fighting...



Got to keep fighting...



It's not real.



That voice, in her head.



"Just a dream, love..."



Her head turned, and she saw the battle field once more, paused in all it's supernatural glory.



"You're not real." She whispered in realisation, and the image shattered into a million pieces, leaving only that of Spike hovering over her bed.



She looked up at him, recognition flashing in her eyes and he smiled. "They're asleep?" She asked timidly.



"Yeah!" He whispered back, excitedly.



He held out his hand, and with a giggle she took it, letting him pull her off the bed. Her feet hit the cold tile floor and she shivered. He noticed and wrapped his arm around her.



She smiled up at him, child-like exuberance in her eyes, "Where shall we go, Will?"



He smirked at her and whispered into her ear. She blushed, but eagerly followed him out into the garden.



The moon was full in the night's sky, bathing them in its soft, silver glow. The stars appeared to wink at them as they ran, bare foot, across the wet grass to their secret hiding place.



They came to stop near the old weeping willow that proudly stood in the far reaches of the expansive garden. Spike reached out and pulled aside the drooping branches, ushering her inside.



With a wide smile, Buffy slid onto the swinging seat, curling into Spike's embrace as he sat next to her.



"Did you have a bad dream?" He asked innocently, pressing a kiss to the top of her dull blonde hair.



"Yeah...” She snuggled closer.



"It’s all over now, love."



"Yep, all finished." She agreed. And indeed it was.



Together, they slept; relieved of their nightmares for one night at least.



--



"We better go and fetch them back." Jane said softly to her partner-in-care, Phil, after finding both Spike and Buffy absent from their beds yet again.



"I'll come with you."



"Wouldn't expect anything less; need you to help me pry them apart and remind them that breakfast is a necessity!" Jane smiled as she thought of her favourite charges.



Neither needed to question where the pair would be hiding. The old tree had been renamed 'Lover's Rest' since the two had first laid eyes on each other and claimed it as their private place.



"Have you noticed how they always end up out here after one of them has a bad dream?" Phil, the second caregiver asked, as they crossed the well-tended green.



"I think it's their way of dealing together. They like it there because it's closed off - just the two of them." Jane smiled at the serenity of the thought.



"God, do you remember them at the Ball?"



Jane laughed quietly and blushed, "Which year?"



"I know, I don't think I've ever seen any two people so devoted to each other as those two." Phil admitted.



"I'm glad they have each other though. I never thought Buffy would ever return back to us...” She looked sad for a moment. "She hated that place so much, but she couldn't get her brain to stop...I thought she was making it better when she 'added' Spike, but it only got worse."



"Wasn't that around the time when his sister had him transferred away to Oakham?"



"Yeah...” Jane took a deep breath. "I'm just glad she's back again - I love it when they get together...I never see them happy otherwise."



"They bring out the best in each other." He whispered, carefully knocking on the third tree stump. He'd been previously advised that this was the only polite way to go about entering their 'nest'.



It was Spike that spoke, as usual he was the first of the pair to wake, "She's not up yet. You can come in - we're decent."



Jane lifted her hand and pulled back the soft branches, glad to find William in one of his more lucid moods; Buffy's presence always seemed to have this effect on him. "It's time for breakfast."



"Already?" Buffy asked through a yawn, sitting up slightly in Spike's warm embrace.



"'Fraid so." Phil confirmed with a kind but firm smile.



"Oh..." Buffy turned to face Spike, "We'll come back later?"



"'Course, love." He grinned, and she pressed a kiss to his nose.



"'Kay..."



Spike lifted the petite blonde and set her on her feet. Together, with the quietly chattering blonde pair leading the way, hand-in-hand, the four left the enclosure.





The End


A/N: What do you think? I'm tempted to do a bit more; maybe make it a series...love to hear your thoughts :D