FF Psych Ward Blues (3/?)

["Christeen Demons" <Shyfox30@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Here's the next part guys, I hope you like...though I must admit there are a 
few dark parts in it...

Disclaimer: Joss owns em...I don't.:-)

Did you ever wake up in the middle of a dream that didn?t come true?
You think you?ve got to give up on that scene and seeing it through.
You feel like breaking,
When you really just need to bend.
Well, you know I?ve been there.
And I?ll never go back again.

She walked alone through a deserted part of town, where the street lamps 
barely lit a corner of the street, and the buildings were rundown, boarded 
up desertions of a former life. The burnt out sign of a once prosperous 
movie theater, hung precariously from one long chain, the other dangling 
across the sidewalk, like one half of a child?s neglected jumprope. The 
street was lined with old trash that careless people had thrown away without 
a care of where it landed, and shattered glass, from windows that had been 
broken before they had been boarded, and old beer and soda bottles.

It struck her odd that she would be walking barefoot through all of this 
mess, but what really struck her weird is she couldn?t remember how she had 
gotten here, or where here was.

The sound of a bottle breaking drew her attention to a darkened alley, the 
sound of a fight echoing clearly between the two close walls, and she found 
herself staring into the deep black that surrounded the alley ominously, as 
if she could dertermine what danger may lie ahead. She stepped warily 
closer, feeling the adrenaline start to rush through her as her heart 
pounded wildly in her chest. She knocked over a stack of crates 
accidentally, her nervous tension making her clumsy, and she heard a cat 
screech, disliking her for disturbing it?s home. This threw her already 
palpitating heart high into her throat and she was left gasping for breath 
as the small, dark form of the feline ran across her path. She took a 
steadying breath, to settle her nerves, then stepped further into the alley, 
not sure what strange compulsion she followed as she entered the foreboding 
place. She could hear deep laughter up ahead, which was followed by a 
sickening slurping sound that made her feel Queezy to her stomach.

As she rounded a stack of crates, she came upon the sight that was causing 
such a commotion. Three disfigured vampires appeared silhouted by a trash 
can fire, their eyes glowing with an unnatural fire as they chowed down on a 
freshly caught, still wiggling, terrified female. The terrified teenager 
couldn?t get a scream out past the pointed teeth that filled her neck from 
either side, so she made a strange gurgling sound instead, as blood flowed 
copiously down the torn throat. The third vampire was taking a bite out of 
the girl?s wrist, sucking at the sweet blood that flowed from her arterial 
vein. The smell of fresh urine filled the small crowded space of the 
alleyway, and she wrinkled her nose as the scent hit her, knowing the young 
girl?s bladder had just let go. The poor girl?s eyes had sunk back into her 
head and she knew she was too late to save her.

The sight of them feeding filled her with rage, as she stepped forward out 
of the darkness and confronted them in the light of the trash fire. "Is this 
a private party, guys? Or can anybody play?" She heard herself ask.

It was kinda comical the way all three of their heads picked up at the same 
time. "Slayer!" She heard them snarl, and she unaccountably smiled at the 
amount of malice in their tone.

"Slayees." She grinned, and just as she was readying herself to fight them, 
the scene vanished from view, leaving her not so much in darkness, but in an 
empty void, vacant of anyone or anything.
She was beginning to wonder what the heck had happened when a voice entered 
the void.

"You must remember Sarah, that the name you have been using, you have chosen 
as a part of your fantasy world. A reality that in fact does not exist 
outside of your own mind. If you are ever to experience a happy life you 
will need to let go of the demons that haunt you." She found herself annoyed 
with the condescending tone the voice used...as if the voice knew better 
than she did about her own self.

"Ah, what would you know." She muttered to herself.


The void lifted and she found herself in a line of scared, ratty looking 
teenagers wearing what looked like old, worn out, cut up sheets. They faced 
a hideous looking demon, that had a big bulbous head, and an arm in the 
shape of a big hard club.

"You are nobody. You are nothing. You do not exist except to serve us." She 
could hear the demon speaking as he walked up the line, measuring the worth 
of each teen with hard eyes, probably estimating how many years of service 
he could get out of this pathetic looking bunch.

He stopped at what was apparently the head of the line, in front of a scared 
shaken teenager, who looked like he might?ve been the picked on class geek 
in high school. "What is your name?" He asked the boy, he asked in a hard 
growl, watching in delight as the young male tried to stutter out his 
answer.

"T.T-t-Tim." He was clobbered for his trouble and ended up in a painful 
heap, his breath seeping from him, as he wheezed in pain.

The demon walked up to the next teen and repeated the statement. "N-no one." 
The shaken male replied and the demon moved on satisfied.

This was continued down the line each teen answering with "Nobody" or "No 
one." until the demon came to where she stood, her eyes down cast as he 
stopped right in front of her.

"Name?" The demon asked/stated, confident in his success in cowering the 
teens.

That was until vibrant blue eyes lifted to stare unflinchingly into his and 
a wicked smile twisted the feminine lips. "I?m Buffy, the Vampire Slayer, 
and you are?" She asked him coyly, catching his arm as he swung it at her 
head. She broke it easily, taking him down to the ground as he screamed in 
pain. She took out his partner just as easily, then looked back at the 
petrified teens. "Anybody who?s not having fun here? Follow me." She felt 
the familiar feeling of strength flowing through her for the split second 
before she was taken back to the void, and that annoying voice 
reappeared...draining her of her strength.

"You must let go of your dream world. You serve nothing from clinging onto 
it except further distancing yourself from reality."

"It?s the only one I know." She whispered, to the unrelenting void.

She stood in sunlight, the roar of the ocean echoing in her ears as she 
stood in front of a herd of people, all here to help her celebrate the 
happiest day of her life. The vision in white walking steadily toward her 
made her breath catch in her throat. Her love?s hair was shining red beneath 
the white veil, and the dress fit her perfectly, hanging loosely at her 
sides, and accentuating all of the right places.

She felt herself swelling with pride as she watched the envious looks from 
all the men around her. Knowing she had won the red-head?s heart fair and 
square, and that she was the one who would be taking her home tonight, and 
for the rest of her life. She thought her Watcher looked quite handsome in 
his Tux, as he escorted her bride to her. He beamed with pride at the feel 
of the red-head?s hand on his arm.

Her eyes locked onto the green one?s as they got closer and she seemed to 
float inside them. It seemed as though her love would never arrive by her 
side, but before she knew it, Her Watcher was relinquishing her bride and 
she was taking both of the red-head?s hands in hers.
She barely heard the words that she was supposed to say, but she didn?t need 
to hear them to know what her heart wanted to say to the woman she loved 
more than life itself. "I...Buffy Summers, take you...Willow Rosenberg..."

The void was back way before she would have liked and she found herself 
cringing at the ear-shattering sound of the voice. "Why do you resist?! You 
must let this fantasy world go! Can?t you see how it?s destroying your 
life?!"

"Shut Up!" She shouted back at it, unable to take it?s relenting tirade of 
her anymore. "Shut up, shut up, shut up! Get out of my head!" She screamed 
into the void, bolting awake as she sat up, shaking in her bed, sweat 
pouring off of her in rivulets. She felt her heart racing as she gulped in 
great breaths of air.

Feeling suddenly claustrophobic, she climbed out of bed and onto the desk, 
where she could get closer to the barred window. She grasped the steel frame 
with her hand as she stared out into the night sky, not sure what she 
believed anymore. She could swear she could picture her love?s face among 
the stars, and her eyes filled with tears at the sight. "Oh, Will." She 
sighed, mournfully.

Willow, who was also unwittingly staring out of their open bedroom window at 
the same time, jerked her head up as she heard a soft whisper that seemed to 
be carried on the wind. "Buffy? Oh, Buffy, please be okay." She pleaded with 
her errant lover, hoping that the night would carry her wish to her.

*****
Buffy had her head resting against the steel frame girding her window, 
starting to fall asleep where she sat, when she was startled by a soft tap 
against the window pane.

"Buffy." She heard a very familiar whisper and jerked her head up to see the 
well-known, dark visage of Angel.

"Angel?" She gasped, in a broken whisper at the sight of him. "You?re real?" 
She blinked at him, almost unable to believe that he was really out there 
looking back at her.

"Of course I?m real. Invite me in, Buffy." He urged her, wanting more than 
anything to burst right through the window.

"I?m not crazy." She whispered, mostly to herself as the realization sank 
slowly into her fogged brain. ?My Will...my Will is real...I knew she was 
real.?

A look of sympathy crossed the dark vampire?s face. "Of course you?re not 
crazy."

"How did you know? How did you find me?" Buffy wanted to pinch herself to 
prove she wasn?t hallucinating, but she didn?t want to look foolish if Angel 
was really out there. There?s nothing worse than looking foolish in front of 
an ex-boyfriend.

"Giles called me. They?ve been looking for you for days. I guess they 
finally got desperate enough to call for backup." He explained, noticing the 
way Buffy sucked up every name that she recognized. "Cordelia kinda pointed 
me in the right direction." Angel said, choosing to leave out the part where 
she?d said the Slayer looked worse than a homeless person.

"I?m in L.A." Buffy reflected, something starting to come together through 
the daze she had been living in. Somebody had wanted to get rid of her so 
badly that they had drugged her up and shipped her off to a psychiatric ward 
in L.A., and were content to leave her that way.

"Yeah. Everyone is worried about you." Angel continued, unable to tell what 
the Slayer was thinking behind the shuttered blue eyes. "So, why don?t you 
invite me in so I can bust you out of there."

"No." The Slayer said, quietly, shaking her head, as an inner fire started 
to burn deep inside her. The wheels in her head were spinning faster than 
those on a suped up Camaro, and a plan was developing within her head.

"What do you mean, no? Are you crazy?" Angel asked, in shock, wincing at the 
outraged look Buffy threw at him. "Sorry. Poor choice of words. But you 
can?t be serious. There is no way I?m letting you stay in there."

"Angel, I don?t exactly want to stay here, myself. But I can?t just bust out 
of here, either. Some one went to a lot of trouble to put me here and I 
can?t just break out of here and risk them coming after me again, not now, 
somebody could get hurt." Meaning Willow or her unborn child could get hurt 
the next time the guys in the van came looking for her. "I have to find out 
who?s behind this, and I can?t do that from out there. I think all the 
information I need is in here." She concluded, seriously.

Angel didn?t like her logic, but he certainly couldn?t fault it. Whoever did 
it just might try it again if she managed to escape. "Well then, let me help 
you in there."

"Sorry Angel, I think you?d be a little conspicuous once the sun came up. 
They don?t even have a dust buster in this place." Buffy?s dry humor 
breaking through the rage she felt. "Besides, this is a one woman job."
"Buffy...I want to help."

"You already have. You convinced me I wasn?t crazy. And you can do me 
another favor. Tell Will and the guys that I?m all right, and I?ll be home 
as soon as I can. Also...don?t tell Willow where I am. I don?t think she?d 
stop worrying if she knew I was trapped in a funny farm." She tried to joke, 
but Angel could see the deep worry and concern that shined in the deep blue 
eyes.

Although he hated it with every fiber of his undead being, he agreed to the 
Slayer?s terms. "All right, but if you?re not out of there by the end of the 
week I?m coming back, and next time I?ll get some poor innocent sucker to 
invite me in." He told her seriously.

"Agreed." She said, drinking in the sight of him, the one grip she had on 
her own version of what her world was. "Angel...thanks for coming."

"Anytime." He grinned at her mirthlessly. "You get what you need and get the 
hell out of there...or I?m coming back with a vengeance." He told her before 
he disappeared from the window and into the night. But it was enough to know 
that he had been there. She was, and is Buffy Anne Summers. And she was 
going to marry the woman of her dreams...as soon as she got out of here, 
that is.

...to be continued...heh sorry guys.:-)
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