FIC: Fearing the Unknown

Title: Fearing the Unknown
Rating: PG-13
Author: Pat Kelly
Summary: "TSFS - Sunnydale (College)". The latest installment in the series. Welcome to Season 4, and I hope you all enjoy. :-)
Spoilers: "Fear, Itself"
Disclaimer: All hail Joss and his army of Mutant Enemies. I don't own BTVS. I make no money.

FEARING THE UNKNOWN

Xander stood at a table in his basement, knife in hand, staring at his finished piece of work with Willow and Oz. This was where he lived now, paying rent and job drifting. He tried to tell himself it would get better, but he didn't think it would.

"I don’t know, I was going for ferocious, scary, but it’s coming out more dryly sardonic." He said.

"It does appear to be mocking you with its eye holes." Willow commented with a smirk.

"The nose hole seems sad and full of self-loathing." Oz studied it.

"What do you guys think?" Xander asked Buffy and Faith, turning his pumpkin in the direction of the bed. Where they happened to be making out. "I never thought I'd say this, but could you *not* do that? I'll develop a complex."

"You could stand to be more complex." Faith said, taking a moment to breathe, and turning on the TV.

"No, you don't understand. I'll never be able to sleep there again. My imagination will run away with me. The image of two slayers kissing on my bed is now forever burned into my brain."

"Could be worse. We could be naked, too."

"She's got a point." Oz said.

Buffy swatted the brunette, and looked at the jack-o-lantern.

"Nice balance of fright and lameness, Xand. If you can make it into a carriage, I'll be really impressed."

"I'll get right on that." Xander said sarcastically.

"Are we doing the haunted hay ride?" Willow asked the group.

"You had your chance to see ghosts, Red. Real ones, and you settle for people who jump out of the woods in sheets. I don't get it." Faith shook her head.

"Cause it's, you know, safe. A fun, little scare with no consequences."

"Those candy-makers did a number on you. You're trick-or-treaterized."

"Anybody got a dictionary so I can look that up?" Xander questioned.

"Fear's the whole point of Halloween, but if you wanna be careful, fine." Faith got up. "Hey, B, you think people'll be givin' out those King-sized bars or those crappy Fun Pack ones? I'm disappointed every year."

Buffy followed the other slayer to the steps trying not to laugh, and Faith faced the stares of disbelief.

"What? I'm only afraid of one thing. Little kids in groups. And that's enough for me."

***

"Seems we got ourselves a dilemma." Buffy said, standing in Willow and Faith's dorm room.

It had been two weeks since her return, and everything was back to normal. She found herself worrying less and less about where she had been for the bulk of the summer. Maybe it was just because they weren't getting any further, weren't getting any leads. Buffy had taken a "we'll get answers when we're supposed to" stance, and was concentrating on enjoying herself, doing her job, and moving past the whole thing.

With some coaxing, she got her friends and Faith to adopt the same attitude, though she knew they still talked to Giles about it. She did too, but she preferred not to dwell on it. And it wasn't as if she was consciously goingout of her way to try and ignore what had happened to her, she just couldn't remember it. For the time being, since she had no choice, Buffy chose to prove that ignorance truly was bliss.

There was a tiny speed bump interrupting her bliss at the moment, though. She had lived at her house for the past couple of weeks, and now wanted to liveon campus with her girlfriend. But Willow and Faith were roommates, and switching rooms, or even her obtaining a room, was impossible this late in the semester. The blonde slayer was the odd one out.

The three of them were standing there, attempting to come up with a solution.

"You know, Red, if you got a girlfriend you could share a room and make this wicked easier."

Willow reddened. "Um...no?"

"Oz wouldn't mind." Two sets of eyes stared at her. "Just a suggestion."

During her pondering, Buffy recalled something, and her eyes went wide. Oh, this was bad. It was so important, and...she started ushering the brunette out of the room.

"Will and I'll settle this. It is between us, right?'

"Are you okay?" Faith asked.

"Five by five, two by four, absolutely. Just amuse yourself for a few minutes." The younger slayer was suspicious, but she saw Buffy's face disappear and a door take its place, before she could get a word in.

The blonde turned to her friend.

"If you want me to, I'm sure I can stay at Oz's apartment he has with the band. I'm over there all the time already and -" Willow began.

"I missed her birthday!"

"She had a birthday?" The redhead asked. "Didn't come out right."

"Last month. Did she say anything?"

"Nope."

"She's eighteen now, and we're gonna celebrate, late or not."

"We could all take her out for a belated birthday dinner after Alpha Delta's haunted house party tomorrow night. Could be a surprise."

"Great idea. That's nice and personal and stuff, right? Faith's not the birthday party type, anyway. Though a party would be good. But we'd have to plan...gifts, we need gifts."

Faith entered. "It all worked out?"

"What?" The blonde jumped. "Oh...um..."

"Not yet." Willow supplied.

"Go, please." Buffy pointed. "Honey?" The puppy dog eyes were used.

The brunette sighed and left the room again.

***

Inside the Alpha Delta frat house, one of its residents was painting a symbol that he found in a witchcraft book on the floor of the attic. It was purelyfor effect, as the Halloween party was coming up soon. Xander and Oz came in, carrying a speaker.

"Okay, watch your step, boys. Paint’s still wet in a few spots." One guy said.

"Thanks for the loan, man. Our sound system sucks." His frat-mate said.

"Mi Casio es su Casio." The guitarist said, setting up the speaker.

Xander pointed at the pentagram. "Well, that’s an interesting little design. What does it mean?"

"No clue. I got it out of this book. There is a lot of really cool stuff about -" The painter began to explain.

"Ooh, grapes!" Xander spotted them on the table and grabbed one. "Wow, peeled. You guys know how to spoil your guests."

"Eyeballs, man. Blindfold chicks and have them stick their hands in the bowl and tell them its eyeballs. They love that."

"And here I was wasting time buying them flowers and complimenting them on their shoes." He looked around. "So, you go through the whole house of horrors downstairs and it ends up here. Sweet. You fratly guys have a nice setup."

"Hey, mighty, mighty Alpha Delts. You should think about pledging."

"Oh, Xander is a civilian." Oz told them.

"Townie, huh? Didn’t know. He looked so normal. You sure we shouldlet him come to the party, Oz?"

"Hey, standing right here." Xander was a tad offended.

Screams started coming out of the speaker, and Oz looked at it, almost concerned.

"Cranking."

Xander looked at Oz. "You’re sensing a disturbance in the force, master?"

"Left speaker is crackling a little bit." Oz explained.

"And you feel stabbing it is the proper solution?"

"I’m just going to trim the wire. It might be a short." He bent down, getting to work, and pricked himself with the blade. He hissed, standing.

"Oz?"

"Cut myself. It’s okay." Shaking his hand, some blood from the cutdropped on to the symbol.

"Playing with knives, fun, yes, but not safe. And when you bleed to death I’ve got dibs on your equipment."

The symbol rippled, yet no one noticed. A fake, plastic spider sat at its edge, became real and crawled away.

***

While the party was being prepared, Faith and Buffy were standing outside Giles' front door. They had just knocked, and were waiting for him to let them in. When the door finally opened, their mouths hung open at the sight of the ex-watcher in a Mexican getup, complete with a sombrero and a bowl of candyin his hands.

"Happy Hal..." He trailed off when he saw who his visitors were. "Hello."

"Oh. My. God." Buffy said each word slowly and emphatically, entering the house.

Faith ran past him and collapsed on the sofa, laughing her head off.

"It’s a sombrero." He stated, in defense of his hat and his ensemble, shutting the door.

"And it’s on your head."

"It seemed festive. Candy?"

"If you got a joint, you could probably pass for Chong." Faith said, her laughter dying down.

"Yes, well...those days are...over."

Faith smirked, and Buffy was looking around at all the decorations hanging up, pretending she didn't just hear that.

"What’s going on here? You hate Halloween." She asked.

"I never said any such a thing. As my Watcher’s duties took precedence, I simply haven’t taken time to...well, to embrace its inherent charms...until now." He turned on a mini-Frankenstein doll hanging from the ceiling, and began to laugh. "Look, look! It’s alive!" Buffy stared. "See...how he shakes? Is...is there something you wanted?"

"We were gonna work out, but you're obviously busy, so..."

"I can always make time for you to maintain your...fitness."

"Good. And could you please take that off?"

Faith was pushing the couch out of the way.

"Where'd you go yesterday? I go to the lounge, come back to the dorm, and you and Willow split."

The blonde was looking everywhere, at everything, except at her girlfriend.

"Nowhere."

***

"I'm sensing a lot of girl power." Xander said as they all headed to the party later on that night.

He was in formal wear, Willow was decked out in a Joan of Ark costume, Oz didn't appear to be dressed up, and Buffy and Faith, well...

"Hustle up, Gabby." Faith ordered.

"This walking stick is a pain in the ass." Buffy muttered. "And how comeI couldn't be Xena?"

"Hair's the wrong color, and you're..." She coughed. "Too..." And again. "Short."

"What was that?"

"I for one think that Faith fills out the role really well. Tight brown leather...Lucy who?" Xander rambled.

"You watch Xena?" Willow asked with a smirk.

"On occasion. Say, that flying disc she uses wasn't part of the package,was it?"

"No." Faith was displeased. "Rip off. My tiny bard has the only weapon."

"Oh yeah?" Buffy said with force. "Well at least...I can't think of anything, damn it." She handed the stick to Oz. "Show me what you got, Warrior Princess."

"If that's the way you want it. But I'm not doin' that stupid battle cry."

"Whoa ancient ladies, whoa." Xander interrupted. "Seeing Xena and Gabrielle go all Pay-Per-View would be fun, but there's something better than even that."

"Enlighten us."

"As viewers of the show, I'm sure you're aware of the hinted undertones around the duo. I'm fed up with being teased. Enough with the subtext. They're obviously very close, and...well, I wanna see..."

Without warning, Buffy, hard and passionately kissed her girlfriend. She broke it off after about five seconds, and gave Xander a sly grin.

"That."

"Like the tux, Xander." Buffy complimented after a few minutes of silent walking.

"Bond. James Bond. Insurance, you know, in case we get turned into our costumes again. I’m going for cool, secret agent guy."

"I hate to break it to you, but you’ll probably end up cool head waiter guy."

"As long as I’m cool and wield some kind of power."

"Can't forget Medieval Will."

"I figured Joan of Arc and I have a lot in common, seeing as how...I was almost burned at the stake, and plus she had...that close relationship with God."

"And who are you?" Xander asked finally, looking at the guitarist.

Oz opened his jacket to reveal that he was wearing a nametag that said 'GOD' on it.

"How come I was expecting that?" Faith wondered aloud.

"Of course. I wish I’d thought of that before I put down my deposit. I could have been God." Xander muttered.

"Blasphemer." Oz said to him.

Two men in all black, commando fatigues, with guns, stepped out in frontof the group from the bushes.

"Nice costumes. Very stealthy." Buffy said to them.

As she looked at them she couldn't help but wonder...it was that same feeling. Like she had seen them before. They were familiar. Then she felt a slight headache coming on. Nothing debilitating, but it was the fourth one in two weeks. Aspirin took care of them. She noticed Faith eyeing the guys as well, but they started moving on.

Faith looked at her. "Another one?"

"I'll be fine."

"What are they supposed to be?" Willow asked.

"NATO?" Oz offered.

***

The fraternity's party was in full gear. One of the guys was leading a blindfolded girl along a table, from bowl to bowl.

"Okay, Rach, what’s in the next one?"

"You guys are sick!" She exclaimed.

"Here, give me your hand."

He put her hand in the one with peeled grapes, and she took some into her palm.

"This is gross."

"Eyeballs, Rachel, they’re eyeballs!"

He faked an evil laugh as she giggled and removed the blindfold to see what she was holding. She screamed when she realized that they were actual eyeballs.

***

Everyone inside the house was running around, trying to escape. It was dark all over, strobe lights flashing. In a panic, one person started running down the steps, only to trip and snap his neck at the bottom. A voice bellowed, deep and ominous, then.

"Release me..."

***

The gang entered several minutes later to find the whole place deserted.

"The joint’s not jumping. Where is everybody?" Xander asked as creepy laughter emanated for one-eyed head in a punchbowl on a table.

"Follow the signs." Oz instructed.

Buffy looked at the head. "Terrifying. If I were Abbott and Costello this would be fairly traumatic."

"I'd be traumatized if you turned into two guys." Faith said to her. "Especially those guys." She shuddered.

Willow walked right into a decorative cobweb hanging in a doorway.

"Uh, ah! Cobweb!" She pulled it off quickly. "Okay that part was realistic."

"Frat boys aren’t too obsessive with their cleaning. Might not be decoration per se." Oz said dryly.

Passing a plastic skeleton, it swung out with a knife in Xander's direction, and he jumped back, breathing heavily.

"I wasn’t scared, I was in the spirit."

"And we back you up on that. Even if they question us separately." The redhead assured him.

"Not me." Faith gave Xander a big, toothy grin.

Oz glanced back at his girlfriend, seeing a real tarantula on her shoulder. She saw it too, and screamed.

"Get it off!" Willow screamed.

"It's gone." He said.

"Okay, that is not sanitary!"

"Yeah, let's get to the party part of the...party." Buffy suggested.

"Just a thought, but maybe we should get outta here." The brunette said.

"You scared?" Xander taunted.

"No!" She snapped. "But I've watched many a horror flick, and this is textbook. First it starts off with little scares, like the spider," Willow squeezed her boyfriend's hand, "then somethin' worse'll come up, we'll all wanna scram, but we won't be able to."

They entered a room, and Buffy bent down to check out a spot on the carpet.

"I thought this led to..." Oz trailed off, looking around.

"What is it?" Xander asked the older slayer.

Her fingers were stained, and she smelled them. "Blood. Real blood."

"What did I tell ya?" Faith crossed her arms over her chest. "We're trapped now."

"Did I argue?" Xander asked her, unable to keep his voice from quivering. "Okay, actual creeps have been given. Bravo, frat boys!"

Buffy stood, eyes staring at the ceiling. "Do you hear something? Like a- squeaking noise?" Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Faith nod slightly.

"Oh, it’s these rented shoes, patent leather. I asked the guy to..." Xander was looking at his feet.

"No, no, I...wait. It’s something else. I hear it, too. Something like..." Willow trailed off, looking at the ceiling with everyone else.

It was covered with real bats. All screaming, they covered their heads as the bats dropped down and flew down the hall. Oz walked over and picked up a bat that was lying on the floor.

"No, Oz, don’t it might be..." Willow starting warning him.

"Rubber. It’s made of rubber." He said.

"What the hell is going on here?" The slayers echoed.

"Jinx." Faith said with a smile.

"Real grown up, Xena." Buffy grinned.

"Ready to go?" The Bostonian asked the group after they took a moment to compose themselves.

"Look, maybe it’s nothing. Maybe it’s just a neat trick. Youknow, something done with wires or..." Xander was desperately trying to find an explanation.

"Release me!" A voice bellowed then.

He turned to Faith. "You were saying?"

***

They made their way back into the entrance room, only now there was a slight problem.

"Where're the stairs?" Xander asked.

"Where's the door?" Willow asked an even better question, as Faith came up to her. "Feel free to gloat."

"Nah. 'Sides, got a confession to make." Willow was confused, and the slayer whispered to her. "Kids aren't the only things that freak me anymore."

The redhead smiled, despite her fear.

"This is the way we came in, right? We just went in a circle?" Buffy asked as Oz flipped a switch that turned off the eerie music. "Thank the lord!"

"You’re welcome." Oz said.

"My turn. Does anyone hear that?" Xander questioned. "Like a hissing."

Buffy heard it, and she and Faith followed the noise to the closet on the other end of the room. The blonde grabbed the doorknob, and Faith nodded, getting in a fighting stance. Buffy yanked the door open, and all Faith sawwas a guy huddled inside, shaking.

"I’m sorry. I didn’t know. I’m sorry." He was repeating over and over.

Oz crouched down in front of him. "Chaz."

"I didn’t know."

"What’s happening?"

He rocked harder. "It ah..."

"What is it?" Faith asked.

"It’s alive. It’s alive."

Behind them, the plastic skeleton was becoming real. Actual bone. The plastic knife became a sharp blade, and an eyeball was now in one of skeleton's sockets.

"What’s alive?" Buffy asked.

"He’s in shock." Xander realized.

She knew that, but they didn't have time to stand around.

"Chaz, what happened here?"

Chaz looked up and screamed, seeing the skeleton come up and stab at Buffy’s shoulder from behind. Buffy turned and knocked its head aside then kicked it in the chest. It fell to the ground, once again plastic. Buffy was checking her shoulder, and Faith was at her side.

"I think the cape took most of it." Faith inspected.

"Could need stitches. Should at least get a bandage or something." Oz said. A girl screamed from somewhere, and Chaz closed the closet door. "Cowering ina closet is starting to seem like a reasonable plan."

The slayers turned to see a blank wall where the closet had just been.

"Maybe...um...we should go upstairs and see if there are any people up there." Buffy was lost. "Two of us could -"

"Please change that to 'all of us'." Willow said.

"Yeah, B, separation is a bad idea." Faith agreed.

"It would really help if Giles were here." The blonde muttered.

"Oh! Wait! Guiding spell!" The wicca said excitedly.

"As in, guiding us out of here?" Xander asked hopefully.

"That's the idea. It involves conjuring, and...okay, conjuring isn't my strongest point -"

"Can you do it, Red?" Faith asked.

"I can try. It's our only shot, right?"

"How does it work?" Buffy asked.

"It conjures an emissary from the beyond that...lights the way."

"Do your stuff." Oz told her.

***

Giles smiled at each of the little kids who came to his door, but couldn't help thinking that it was wrong that children got the candy he paid a decent amount of cash for, for free. He was unemployed, and money would become an issue sooner or later. Besides, they all laughed at his sombrero.

Well that was it. He was done giving. Maybe he'd beep Buffy and see how she was. She'd promised to take her beeper. The blonde had been complaining of headaches, and he had immediately become concerned. He knew it was a weak connection to make, but ever since the hypnosis attempt failed, he'd been looking for any reason why.

Could the headaches, her lack of memories, and her recent inability to be put under hypnosis, be related? That's what he was asking himself. It was getting kind of dull now. He could just page her, make sure she was all right, and then eat the rest of the candy. Yes, that sounded like a good plan.

Now, if only he could find his telephone buried under all the decorations.

***

"Ooh!"

Buffy jumped, interrupting Willow from her breathing exercise. The redhead was sitting on the floor, Indian-style, calming herself before she had to recite the spell.

"What is it?" Faith asked.

The blonde blushed. "Beeper vibrated."

Her hand disappeared behind her Gabrielle outfit, and she pulled out the beeper. Faith grinned, and Xander was staring.

"Where'd you put that?" He asked.

"It's Giles." She glared at both of them.

Oz was searching. "Don't see a phone."

"Figures." The petite slayer sighed. "Remind me to get a cell phone whenwe get out of here, honey."

"I might forget. I don't want you gettin' a brain tumor." The brunette said. "And people with them piss me off. Always lookin' busy, driving and holdingup traffic...I don't want you to piss me off. I want you to -"

"Other people here!" Willow exclaimed from the floor.

The younger slayer smirked.

"Nothing is wrong with my mind now, and nothing will be wrong with it ifI get a phone." Buffy kissed her girlfriend, making a promise for later as well. "So some studies say they cause tumors. But who listens to studies?"

"Do you smoke?" Xander asked her.

"No. And...you know that."

"Why don't you?"

"It's bad for you. Lung cancer. Duh. Have you started or something?"

He shook his head. "And how come you think it's bad for you?"

"Cause...um...studies..." She turned away and looked at Willow. "Ready?"

The wicca nodded, closed her eyes, and everyone knew it was time to shut up.

"Okay. Aradia, Goddess of the lost, the path is murky, the woods are dense, darkness pervades, I beseech thee, bring the light." She opened her eyes, smiling when she saw a tiny speck of green light in front of her face. "Woah! I did it! I did you. Hi! Hey guys, look I -"

Willow noticed the absence of her friends, then. Oz was the only one still with her. Just as she was about to ask him what had happened, she saw his wolf side trying to make its way out.

"I’m changing." His voice was deeper, his eyes were wide and black, and hair was forming on his face and hands.

"But...but you can't! There's no moon tonight." She stood in front of him.

"I have to get away."

"No, we need to find something to restrain you, like a rope or chains, or something."

"There's no time!" She tried to grab him, and he batted her hand away, growling. "No!"

There were three scratches on her hand. Oz ran off.

"Oz, don’t leave me!"

As she listened to her voice echo through the house, the guiding light that she conjured flew into her field of vision. Calming herself, she spoke to it.

"Right, you’re waiting for instructions. Lead me to Oz." It startsto fly away. "Wait! I should try to find the people trapped upstairs first." It was starting to multiply. "But even if I get them we still need to find a way out of the house. Okay, here's what -" They were surrounding her now. "Hey! What’s going on? Stop!"

Willow swatted them like mosquitoes, and then they flew into her mouth, buzzing.

***

"Buffy! Willow! Xander!" Faith yelled, getting up off the floor of the hallway. She had no idea how she got there. "Oz!"

Xander was behind her, following. He wasn't sure how he arrived there, either.

"I can't speak for the others, but I'm here."

"Well Faith, you're wicked good at not being able to do your job." The brunette muttered to herself. "I say I'm not gonna lose her again and what do I do? And now they're all lost with her."

"It's not your fault." He assured her.

"Or maybe I'm the one that's lost."

"We'll find them."

"I sat through that MacGyver marathon last week. You think I woulda picked up a thing or two about how to get outta places. Like how to make a bomb with toothpaste to take out a few of these walls. But then again, he was wearin' jeans. How was I supposed to concentrate?"

Xander coughed. "Um...I've got some pocket lint, cuff links, and a quarter. I'm no Mac, but -"

"Course it didn't help that B's hands were roaming while I was tryin' to watch." She grinned, then cast her eyes upwards. "Is some help too much to ask for? Xander would be ready with suggestions. They wouldn't work, but I'd take anything right now. Where the hell is everybody?"

He paled and halted, watching Faith go forward. "I'm invisible?"

"I can see you." A voice whispered.

***

Oz sat in a bathtub, shaking, and was holding his now paws over his face.

"You're not going to change...you're not going to change..."

***

Buffy was sitting as well. In total nothingness. A black void. She kept seeing flashes of white, of people, of tests, of demons, of needles...she felt cold, alone. The headaches were back, harder, longer. They weren't letting up. She grabbed her head and screamed, her voice reverberating inside her head, making the pain worse.

"Why don't you want to remember?"

***

Giles was on his way to the frat house. Buffy hadn't answered his page, and he became concerned immediately. He had no idea what was wrong, but he brought every destructive tool he had in his house, with him. You could never be too prepared, in his opinion.

He arrived at the house quickly, and brought his vehicle to a stop. Glancing around, nothing seemed unusual. Until he looked up at the window. There wasa girl, hands bloody, screaming and banging on the glass. Giles gasped as the window was suddenly bricked up.

Making sure he had his bag, he made his way to the front door. It was boarded up. Knowing for certain now that the kids were in trouble, he was determined not to let anything stand in his way of saving them. Pulling a chainsaw out of his bag, he started it up with a tiny grin on his face.

Oh, the memories he had.

***

"You hate basements, don't you, Faith?" A voice tauntingly asked the brunette.

Faith picked herself up off the dusty floor that she had just fallen onto. During her searching, she had found a door, and she had stupidly walked through it before trying to see what was inside.

"Do you want to be locked in here? Daddy locked you in the basement."

"Yeah, well, Daddy was a pathetic loser. Thanks for asking, but I'll pass. Wanna do me a favor and point me to the exit?" She asked.

The "owner" of the voice revealed himself, stepping out of the shadows. His neck was broken, head almost touching his shoulder. He should have been dead, but somehow, he was walking around. She backed up.

"Death is the only way out. Join us."

"Us?"

Arms punched up through the floor, grabbing at her ankles. She tripped, and fell hard on her chin. She touched it with a hiss, and blood was on her fingers. They were still reaching for her, climbing out, and coming closer. She tried to scramble away, and backed herself up against a wall.

"You can join your friends. They're all waiting. She wants to see you."

"You're lying!" Faith screamed.

"You couldn't protect them, they're no longer here. Why fight us? Why remain here alone? Die in the basement like you were supposed to."

"No!"

There was a small door behind her. Running her hand along it, it felt like wood. Gritting her teeth, she slammed her elbow back, shattering the weak door. She pulled herself through it, but before she was all the way through, a hand took a hold of her foot. Angry, scared, confused, and her adrenaline pumping, she kicked the head of whoever had a hold of her, and its grip released.

Going into the next room, Faith found herself upstairs, where the party was supposed to be going on, the danger gone.

"What the hell?"

***

Looking around, Faith saw Oz on one side of the room, Buffy on the other, both of them shaking.

"Oz, snap out it!"

Buffy started screaming, holding her head in pain. "Make it go away! Make it...Please!"

Faith took a hold of her girlfriend's shoulders. "B, look at me. You're okay. Nobody's hurting you."

The blonde slayer blinked, and at about the same time, Oz looked at his now human hands. Willow ran through the door to the attic, arms flailing, before any of them could get a grip on what was happening.

"Get them off! Get them off!" The redhead yelled.

Oz got up and grabbed her arms gently. She looked into his eyes. "They're gone. We're okay." She hugged him tightly.

Buffy spoke softly, tears in her eyes. "Faith?"

"I'm here." The brunette said.

"You're hurt." Buffy noticed, referring to Faith's cut and bleeding chin.

"It's nothing." The two slayers hugged, while a frustrated Xander sat ona chair in the corner, looking at both of the embracing couples. "We need to get out."

"I'd offer *my* opinion, but you jerks aren’t gonna hear it anyway. Not that 'didn’t go to college' boy has anything important to say. I might as well hang out with my new best friend, bleeding dummy head, for all you dorks care." Xander grumbled.

"Excuse me? I'm not a jerk." Willow said, turning towards her friend. "And I'm just going to imagine you never said that."

"You...you heard that? You...you can see me?" They all nodded. "Good. Oh, God, good!"

"The house separated us. It wanted to scare us." Oz realized.

"But...we got away." Willow said.

Buffy wiped her tears away, and put her serious, 'slayer face' on. She stood up with Faith, and joined the group. "No. We were brought here. We all got so scared that we ended up here. Why?"

Xander pointed to the pentagram on the floor. "I saw them painting that.They were copying it out of," He saw a book on the small table in the room, "that!"

"I think it's Gaelic." Willow was looking at the words.

"Damn. You can read that?" Faith was impressed.
"Release me! Releaseme!" That same deep voice from earlier was demanding.

"What's it say, Red?"

"Okay, um, um, the icon’s called the-the Mark of Gachnar. I-I think this is a summoning spell for something called..."

"Gachnar?" Xander supplied.

"Well, yes. Somehow the beginning of the spell must have been triggered.Um, Gachnar is trying to manifest itself, to-to come into being."

"How?" Oz asked.

"I-it feeds on fear."

"Our fears are manifesting it. We're feeding it. We need to stop." Buffy rationalized.

"If we close our eyes and say it's a dream it'll stab us to death! These things are real." Xander's voice was quivering.

"Release me!" The voice said again.

Faith was getting real tired of hearing that. "I'll shove my fist right through your goddamn stomach and release your friggin' internal organs! Howdo you like that?"

Suddenly, the door burst open, and they all screamed. Giles was standing there, chainsaw in hand. After a second, he turned it off.

"Giles? Everyone, it's Giles! With a *chainsaw*."

"The walls closed up behind me." He walked over to Willow and looked at the book. "Gachnar, of course. Its presence infects the reality of the house, but it's not managed to achieve full manifestation. We cannot allow this to come into being."

"But if it does we can fight it, right?" Buffy asked him, very happy that he was there.

He showed both slayers a picture from the book. "This is Gachnar."
Buffy and Faith looked at one another, and shook their heads. The brunette turnedto Giles. "So we end the spell. No sweat right? And nice entrance, by the way."

"Whatever we do, let's do it fast." Xander encouraged.

Giles quickly found the page he wanted. "I have it, I have it. 'The summoning spell for Gachnar can be shut down in one of two ways. Destroying the mark of Gachnar -" The slayers stood on the pentagram, and each slammed a foot through it, happily. "- is *not* one of them and will in fact immediately bring forth the fear demon itself.'"
"We're motivated." Faith shrugged. "You can glare all you want, but to me, that's a quality worth having."

"Look!" Willow said loudly.

The pentagram was beginning to glow, and the floor was rumbling. The fear demon was rising...but not ver far. He was only about three inches tall.

"This is -?" Buffy began.
"The bastard that's made our night a living hell?" Faith finished with a snicker.

"Big overture. Little show." Xander said.

"I am the dark lord of nightmares! The bringer of terror! Tremble beforeme. Fear me!" Gachnar squeaked.

Willow was laughing. "He...he's so cute!"
"He'd look cool on a key chain." Oz said.

"Tremble!" Gachnar insisted.

Xander bent down. "Who's a little fear demon? Come on! Who's a little fear demon!"

"Don’t taunt the fear demon." Giles told him.

"Why, can he hurt me?"

"No, it's just...tacky. Be that as it may, girls, when it comes to slaying..."

"Size doesn’t matter?" Buffy said.
"Who says?" Faith retorted.

"Like to do the honors?"

"Love to."

Gachnar pointed at the brunette about to smoosh him. "You're going to fail them, you know."

"You're not so scary anymore."

***

Later, Buffy was standing in room in the hospital, where Faith had just gotten her chin stitched up. They were waiting for the doctor to come back and tell them they could go.

The blonde sighed. "We were going to go out, have a party, and have gifts, but..."

"Huh?" Faith asked.

"Belated birthday for you. We had everything set up at the Bronze, but it's closed now. That's why I -"

Faith smiled. "Don't worry about it, B. It always comes and goes."

"But I missed it and...I wanted to do something..."

"I did make a wish that day, you know. For you to come back. You did. I got what I wanted, and that's enough."

Buffy kissed her, and she kissed back. How long this went on, they weren't sure, but it stopped when Buffy pulled a small, velvet box out of her back pocket.

"Open it." Faith took the gift, and slowly lifted the lid. Inside was a gold ring band, with a sapphire on top. "I'm pretty sure it's your birth stone."

"Thank you."

"Like it? I couldn't decide what to get and -"

"It's...it's beautiful." She put it on, remembering the plastic ring shehad gotten before she left Boston.

"I don't want you to just let your birthday pass by anymore. You were born, and if you weren't, we would never have met, and I'd have missed out on something really great. I love you, Faith."

"I love you too."

They were going to kiss again, but the doctor entered the room.

"Okay, ladies, you're free."

"Thanks Doc." Faith got off the examining table she had been sitting on.She had been debating something, and decided just to go ahead and say it. They needed help. "Uh, I wanted to ask you a question. Buffy's been getting a lot of headaches lately. Painful ones. Tylenol is cutting it less and less. Can you tell us why?"

The doctor turned to Buffy, who was looking uncomfortable. "Do you have any idea what's bringing these headaches on?"

"No." Buffy lied.

"How long have they been happening?"

"For about a month."

"And you've never had a problem before? Anyone in your family? Anyone you could think of that had a history of migraines, perhaps?"

"Nope."

The doctor sighed. "Well, then the only thing I can think of to do, is aCAT scan. That would let us look at a picture of -"

"We know what it does." Faith interjected sharply. "Are you saying there's something going on in her brain? Be straight with us. I hate people who bullshit me."

"I'm not saying anything yet. It would just be a starting point. If we can identify the problem, we can try our best to correct it. We could go right now, with your permission, of course."

The two of them looked at Buffy. What if it was something really bad? Did she want to know? Then again, if she didn't do it, the consequences could be huge. Faith squeezed her hand.

"I want to get better. Let's do it."

"Should we call -" Faith started to ask.

"I wanna know what it is first. I'm not gonna freak out the gang any more tonight, unless I have to." Buffy took a deep breath. "Ready when you are."