Glancing at his watch, Giles asked the teens,
"shouldn’t you two
be in class?"
"Giles, we got a problem" Xander said simply.
Giles had been prepared for a witty, satirical
come-back from the
boy, but when he didn’t get one he realized
something was really
wrong.
"What is it?" he inquired from Xander, observing
that Willow was
probably not in the best form to answer.
"Apparently Mr. Fall-in-love-with-me-then-I’ll-go-all-evil-on-you
has
been visiting Willow in her sleep." Xander
told him, rubbing
Willow’s shoulder.
Giles faced Willow, who was now sitting down
in a chair, although
still visibly upset. "Willow? What has been
happening?"
"Angel-he-I’ve been having dreams, I thought
only Buffy’s dreams
are important," Willow sputtered.
"What exactly have you been dreaming?" Giles pried.
Willow looked ready to start crying again,
but Xander squeezed
her shoulder reassuringly. "I’m always hiding
in a classroom." she
started softly. "I’m hiding under a teacher’s
desk. I know he can
sense where I am. I hear the door open, and
in a second he faces
me. He talks to me, mocking me, asking me
if I have anything to
say before I die. I beg him not to do it.
But then he always, he
always..." Willow broke off, then took a deep
breath. "He bites me.
And that’s always when I wake up."
Giles looked at Willow sympathetically. "I’m
so sorry Willow. It
must be terrible, but with all that’s happened,
it can be expected
that your sub-conscious will have nightmares
of this sort. But
remember, they’re only dreams, they don’t
mean anything."
"No, no," Willow shook her head emphatically.
"Giles, they do
mean something."
"Why would you think so? It is only the slayer’s
dreams that can
be vital in predicting prophesies and foretelling
the future." Giles
questioned.
"I’ve been having them every single night for
the last month.
They’re always the same. And, in the past
few months, all my
dreams have come true."
"What!" Xander was shocked. "What were you dreaming?"
Having much calmed down, Willow answered. "First,
for about a
month I dreamed of you and Cordelia breaking
up. And then when
that came true, I figured my sub-conscious
had just sorta sensed it
from the way you guys had been acting."
Xander nodded. He and Cordelia had had a few
great, passionate
months together, but slowly the romantic feelings
had dissipated,
fizzling out. Luckily, he and Cordelia both
realized it and both
agreed that they should each move on. And
they were still friends.
"Exactly a month since I started dreaming about
you and Cordelia,
on the 23rd, you two broke up. The day after
you two separated, I
started dreaming that Oz was moving to Australia.
The dreams
were just as vivid as the ones I had before.
And then, exactly a
month after, again on the 23rd, Oz told me
that he was moving to
Australia. I was a bit wigged, but I thought
it was just a freakish
coincidence."
Willow started to get a bit misty at the thought
of Oz. He had had
to move to Australia when his dad was transferred
for a MUCH
higher paid job. Both he and Willow had decided
that it would be
too hard to keep a long-distance relationship.
But she was over it.
Mostly.
"And then?" Xander almost dreaded her answer.
"Then I started having dreams about Angel killing
me. For a few
weeks."
"Willow," Giles broke in, "you started having
these dreams right
after Oz’s dreams."
Willow nodded solemnly.
"But- today’s the 23rd."
Willow nodded a second time, her eyes again
filling with tears.
"Tonight I’m going to die."