| Part one - Enter the Sandman. Willow never lost consciousness so she didn�t exactly wake up but she did regain an awareness of her surroundings. She could feel her own body and the clothes rustling against her skin but there was nothing else touching her. She didn�t feel like she was falling but she couldn�t feel anything about her surroundings. No wind or smell, no sound at all. She was about to say something to see if she could talk when the world appeared around her. It seemed as though everything flew at her from a great distance away from every direction and suddenly she was somewhere. And what a place she was. She was on a flat plain that extended as far as she could see. She sky was full of fast moving clouds as if someone had taped it and then speeded it up. Lighting flashed in the distance. The only thing that interrupted the plain landscape were the ruins. Massive broken castles and monoliths. Smashed pyramids and giant hill forts. Fairy tale villas in disrepair next to monuments corroded by age and wooden forts rotten and collapsed. She turned full circle trying to take it all in and failing. Some of the ruins were on too big a scale for her mind to comprehend and some were just too incomprehensible to comprehend. As she turned she saw appear before her the demon that had swallowed her. It was in the form of the massive man that they had originally tracked it as. It was facing away and so she had a moment to regain her composure. She saw it look around and as it turned it saw her and its expression became enraged. �You.� It bellowed at her. She felt it�s breath, hot and smelling of rotting vegetation and gagged. �You brought me back here. I�m doomed.� Willow didn�t know what to say and started to back away. She glanced around to judge the distance to the nearest ruin but it was too far away even if it had done any good. As it started towards her she stumbled backwards trying to think of a spell to help. Its furious threats weren�t helping. �I may die but before I do I will cause you such pain as you never imagined. Your death will be a thing of legends and frighten children to fitful sleep for aeons to come.� It advanced upon her and she saw claws extend out of its fingers. She could feel its acrid breath and knew it was almost right there. She wanted to turn and run but couldn�t bring herself to die as she was running away. She flinched away as claws sliced towards her but then a calm, clear voice said: �Enough.� The voice seemed to come from inside her head at the same time as she heard it. It felt familiar even though she�d never heard it. It felt familiar but not comforting. She saw the speaker standing a short distance away. He was tall and thin in a way that would make a supermodel feel hungry. His skin was utterly white and his hair was jet black. He was wearing a black suit with a cloak. The only touch�s of colour were the flames that flickered around the bottom of the cloak and his eyes that were a spark of blue. His expression was not happy. His stare was fixed upon the demon who seemed paralysed with terror. �L..l...lord Morpheus.� �Albrecht. I am not happy.� �No my lord M..mopheus, I can see why you might not be happy.� The demon, who Willow now knew was called Albrecht was crouched in obsequience. Morpheus walked slowly towards the demon who was trembling. �You left the dreaming while I was imprisoned. You walked among men and drove them mad with their nightmares. You abandoned your responsibilities and indulged your own base desires.� �My lord, I simply wished to see a little of the waking world. I would have returned soon, my lord. I swear it.� �You lie clumsily Albrecht.� The demon cowered before the white skinned lord. Willow almost felt sorry for him. Almost but not quite. �You will have time to contemplate your mistakes.� Morpheus gestured and the shadows around all of them seemed to rush towards Albrecht. For a moment he was covered in a shroud of utter blackness and then he was gone. Willow saw her own shadow was back at her feet. Morpheus gave a slight nod of satisfaction and then turned to face her. �Willow Rosenberg.� Willow wasn�t sure if his knowing her name was a good or a bad thing. Although she knew that he had saved her from a death that she was certain wouldn�t have been pretty it was also true that this individual was the demon�s master and that couldn�t be a good thing. �Yes, that�s me.� �Do not be afraid little Wiccan.� He gave her a smile that although slight was comforting. �No harm will come to you in this place.� Willow looked around at her surroundings and couldn�t contain her curiosity. �Can I ask? What is this place?� �This place is my realm. It is the dreaming.� Willow tried to take in all the devastated ruins again. �Why has everything been destroyed?� Morpheus laughed at her earnest curiosity and gestured to the vast plain. �You believe this to be the entirety of the dreams of men. This room is simply a storeroom. Mervyn, my janitor keeps the ruins in here. Come we will adjourn to my throne room.� He swept his arm around and suddenly there was a door there. It was walnut panelled and the door knob was highly polished. All in all it wouldn�t have looked out of place in a gentlemen's club but Willow was prepared to accept anything at this point so when Morpheus opened it and politely held it for her she walked through it. The corridor she found herself in was wide and endless with many hundreds of similar doors in each direction. There were suits of armour spaced along it and when she could have sworn that she could see them moving to look at her out of the corner of her eyes but when she turned they were perfectly still. Morpheus joined her in the corridor. He picked a door seemingly at random and led the way through it. Willow followed hurriedly and almost fell as she found herself at the beginning of a bridge. She stumbled at the sudden change and almost fell but Morpheus was at her side. His hand gripped her arm firmly and she steadied herself. She was reminded of Angel in that they both had very cool skin but there was a slight electric feel to the dream king. The bridge spanned a massive chasm. It was deep enough that the bottom was lost in darkness but Willow fancied that she could see the red glow of fires far below. On the other side of the chasm was a castle. As mighty and impressive as any of the ruins she had seen in the storeroom. The pinnacles of some turrets were lost in cloud. There was an eclectic mix of architectural styles and materials and the whole combined to amaze and disorient her. She followed Morpheus through the gate around which were detailed sculptures of a dragon, a griffon and a hippogriff. She followed him, hurrying to keep up as she tried to take in everything that they passed. Willow had always thought she had seen a lot but as she hopped over a snail carrying a small mott and bailey castle on it�s back without a thought she began to realise that after seeing so many mind blowing things they began to seem a lot more mundane. They came to massive door which swung open at Morpheus�s approach and together they entered the throne room. The throne room of the king of dreams is big. It would be true to say that it is extremely big. He could use it to hold audience with all of his subjects should he have need to. There were stained glass windows hanging in mid air with simple but pretty images captured in them. To describe it all would be impossible since it never kept one appearance for long. It changed according to the needs and moods of Morpheus and the preconceptions of those who came here. Willow had no other preconception than that it would be impressive and that it was impressive is all anyone needs to know. The throne was a simple marble seat seeming carved from a simple block. The veins in the marble seemed to pulse so slightly it almost seemed like a trick of the light. Morpheus sat down and gestured for Willow to seat herself in the simple wooden chair that hadn�t been there a moment before. �I find that I owe you a boon for returning the errant nightkind to my realm.� He spoke with no perceptible emotion. He seemed to not be displeased about owing a favour, he was just informing her of the state of affairs. �What kind of boon?� �Whatever you wish that is within my power to grant.� Willow had studied a great deal of occult texts and so she wasn�t going to take this at face value. She knew that with many powerful demons first they offered a taste of something and then the price only became apparent later. She could ask for magical power, wealth, good fortune or to spend her life in the garden they had passed through but she would ask for none of these things. Her gut told her that asking for any of these things would lead to tragedy. Maybe it was paranoia on her part but she had read too many stories of people getting what they asked for to be anything by wary. �All I want is to go home.� Morpheus�s eyes flashed brightly for a second before he replied. �You have chosen a difficult path I fear. There is a way for you to return to your world but it is not easy.� �Can�t you just poof me there?� �I am afraid I cannot �poof� you there. If it were just your mind in the dreaming then I could simply wake you but your body is here also so it becomes a more difficult affair.� Willow hadn�t thought she was asking for much. Now she began to worry that she might not get back home at all. �But it is possible, right?� �Yes, it is possible. There is someone close to you who is currently trapped in dreams. If you can enter their dreams and help them to wake then you too would be drawn back the waking world.� �Someone I know who is trapped in dreams?� Willow wondered who he could be talking about and then her stomach fell and her mind turned dark with anger and bitterness as she realised who he meant. �Faith.� �Indeed. The slayer should be able to wake now. Her physical wounds are long healed. All that is keeping her here are her own demons.� �So you want me to help out Faith? Get her to work through her issues? No way. She deserves to be in a coma for everything that she�s done.� A slight furrowing of the brow indicated Morpheus�s disapproval of what she had said. When he spoke there was a slight tone of reproach. �Even if you do not wish to help her she is your only path out of here. I understand the wish for vengeance but you must not let it blind you.� �Fine.� Willow was angry at having no choice but she wasn�t going to let spite make her act like an idiot. �What do I have to do.� �I will have someone take you to her dreams. You have to enter them and find out why she cannot wake up and help her resolve it.� Willow dreaded to think about the sick things that could be happening in Faith�s twisted mind. �One thing I must warn you about. Although you will be entering her dreams, any harm you sustain will be real.� �So I could die in there?� �It is so.� She didn�t like any of this one bit. Still none of it changed what she had to do. She was about to ask more questions when a raven flew into the room and fluttered down onto Morpheus�s hand. �You called, Boss.� �Yes. I wish you to guide this traveller to the dreams of Faith the slayer.� The beak moved and words emerged. That wouldn�t normally be enough to convince her that the raven was actually speaking but after everything else this seemed the height of normality. �Where exactly is this slayer dreaming?� �In the depths of Eve�s cave.� �Oh that one. Sure thing, boss.� Morpheus looked again at Willow. She found it impossible to read his expression. �You could still choose a different path. You would be welcome to stay here in the dreaming.� For a moment Willow was tempted. She knew that the journey wouldn�t be a picnic and there were so many incredible things here. But she knew she would miss her life. Buffy, Giles, Xander. Even though Oz had left her so recently and the pain was so real she could bite it she still wanted to keep her life. �I choose to go.� �Very well.� He looked up at the raven who was scratching himself with his beak. �Guard her well.� �No problem, boss cause you know that if we were attacked by some hideous and deranged monster I would be a great help. I could crap on em.� The raven looked like it was expecting a rebuke but Morpheus just looked at him impassively and Matthew flapped his wings and took off. �Come on, kid.� The raven flew ahead of her a little way and soon had guided her out of the castle. Willow was surprised to find the journey relatively short. Once they were out of the castle they simply went down one hill and up another and they were at a cave entrance. Matthew flew in and Willow followed. The cave became a tunnel and the tunnel branched and twisted but went inexorably down. They had spoken a little while they were in the castle and on the hillside. Just getting to know each other questions but the conversation dried up as they went deeper into the cave. Willow heard snatches of voices and laughter and screams and moans and shouts and whimpers and all other kinds of noises of pain or ecstasy or anything in-between. Matthew told Willow to ignore them and she just did her best to comply. They reached the entrance to another tunnel and the raven perched on a small outcrop of rock by it�s side. �This is as far as I can go.� �Faith is in there?� �Yep. Just wake her up and you get to go home.� �I could die in there.� �Oh, that wouldn�t be so bad. Look at me, I died in dreams and now look at me.� Willow decided then that she would really rather not die and with her resolve face in place she hesitantly made her way into Faith�s mind. Part 2 - In dreams I walk with you |