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Author's Chapter Notes:
The Scooby gang researches yet more possibilities

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And Yet More with the Research


“Right. It seems we have to expand our research. We may be dealing with an illusionary or dream making demon.”

“Hi guys, what’s going on?” Willow asked, walking in at the end of Giles comments.

Buffy quickly filled her in on what they’d just discovered about each of their daydreams as Giles went to the bookshelves, returning moments later with several large volumes. “These should do to start,” he said. “Willow, did your prayer to Mati-Syra-Zemlya yield anything?”

Willow nodded. “Yeah. I made the promise, and I know what it is. But I don’t know how, or if, I can keep it. I also had another dream.” She sighed as she filled them in on the latest in what she was starting to think of as her own personal soap opera. “But, if you’re all having daydreams, maybe that’s all this is . . . .” Willow swallowed, trying to maintain her composure. “Maybe I’m just being affected differently or more extremely for some reason by the same thing that’s got you all space cadetting.” Willow looked at Dawn and felt her heart break at the sight of Dawn’s crestfallen look. She walked over and put an arm around Dawn’s shoulders. “I know, Dawnie, I know. I was hoping too.” Dawn turned into Willow and Willow hugged her tightly.

After a moment, Dawn pulled back and said, “Okay, so, maybe not so much trans-dimensional SOS as demon having fun at our expense. Let’s find it. And stop it.”

Willow smiled at the bounce-backability of Dawn. “So Giles, what are we looking for?” she asked with forced enthusiasm.

“Well, there are several illusionary demon species, each with their own properties and agendas. You remember back in Sunnydale . . . the Hansel and Gretel demon?” The chorus of groans told Willow that she wasn’t the only one who remembered the demon. She also remembered almost getting burned at the stake because of it. “He liked to cause trouble by pitting humans against one another. There are some that do that, there are others who aren’t so much malicious as mischievous.” Giles wandered back into the stacks, tugging volumes from shelves as he spoke. "There is even one type of being - we'll call it a demon for lack of a better word - that isn’t aware of what it's doing and still others that don’t know they’re doing anything wrong or bad. They think they’re helping the people they’re affecting. So, first, we need to narrow it down to which illusionary species and then figure out which actual demon we’re dealing with.”

Just as Dawn stood up to stretch, Giles dropped a pile of books on the table. They all heaved a collective sigh as they settled back in to more researching.

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Willow glanced at Dawn out of the corner of her eye. She watched Dawn struggle with the emotions and knew how much this had to hurt Dawnie. Maybe as much as or even more than it hurt Willow. She wished she hadn’t had to discount Dawn’s theory. Willow still wasn’t convinced that she was hallucinating. She sure wasn’t daydreaming. Her . . . whatever-they-weres . . . came while she slept. Not while she meditated or sat around the library trying to research. She wasn't fully convinced that she was suffering from the same illusions the others were. Willow still believed Tara was out there. She could feel the rightness in Dawn's theory. The others were daydreaming, Willow was nightmaring. They were actually seeing things while they were awake and she was dreaming while she slept. The differences were too different. ‘There may be several things at work here but it looks like I’m on my own with the S.O.S. thing,’ she thought. ‘I wonder what everyone else is daydreaming about? Buffy’s are probably about Angel,' she thought with a grin, 'poor Spike never stood a chance. Giles? What would Giles daydream about? What could he want?’ She quickly moved away from those thoughts. She really didn’t want to know. ‘Xander . . . Anya? Wait . . . .’ Willow let the thoughts that had been tickling her brain since her walk back from the coven take root. ‘Dawn. Xander and Dawn? Okay - now so much makes sense. So why are they fighting?’ She rolled her eyes as the next thought came to her. ‘Of course. Because Xander is stupid. I can hear him now . . . blah, blah, blah, one eye . . . blah, blah, blah, too old . . . blah, blah, blah, Willow, Buffy, Giles. Whatever,' she thought, picking up the nearest book and starting to look through it. ‘We can solve Xander and Dawn’s love life after we get rid of our friendly neighborhood demon of the week.’

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Dawn struggled not to let the others know just how devastated she was by their newest theory. ‘Tara’s not out there,’ she thought. ‘We don’t get her back. That sucks. I miss her so much.’ She tried to get back into research mode but her heart wasn’t in it. As she felt the first tear slide down her face, she stood up and walked to the windows. She didn’t want the others to feel sorry for her. Willow had lost more than she had. She forced her thoughts away from the loss of Tara and thought about her daydreams. They hadn’t seemed that unusual, just more frequent. Xander holding her hand, or kissing her. The two of them walking down the aisle. Their kids and grandkids. Not unusual at all. Except for the whole it-seeming-real thing. Giles was right; some of the daydreams had been downright hallucinatory. So real, in fact, that she would have sworn Xander had joined her in the shower this morning. She glanced back at the table and wondered what the others where daydreaming about. She also wondered if any of them were as disappointed as she was that they weren’t getting Tara back. Well, other than Willow of course. She sighed and went back to join the others in researching the newest wrinkle.

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Giles glanced at Dawn as she walked over to the windows and felt a wave of sympathy for her. ‘First her father, then her mother, then her sister. Admittedly, Buffy returned from the netherworld, but the point about the loss remained. Then Tara was taken and Willow was forced away,' he thought. 'Of course, I could have stayed, but didn't. Now, once again, the prospect of love is ripped away. How devastating for her.' He watched as she came back to the table and buried herself in her books - the only things that never left her - and thought, 'I do hope that I am wrong, but all logic . . . . The illusions are lovely, though.' Bittersweet, he thought of his own daydreams. Olivia walking into the room, smiling, holding his four year old son - the son that didn't exist and the woman who was long gone. They could only be illusions.’ He briefly wondered what the others had been daydreaming about before burying himself in research.

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Xander looked at Willow and thought about what a bummer it was that she lost Tara again. Although she seemed to be handling it pretty well. Maybe because she’s older or maybe because she accepted Tara’s death a long time ago and hadn't completely bought into the theory that Tara was out there somewhere. He glanced at Dawnie as she walked past him to the windows and wanted nothing more than to go over and wrap his arms around her. He knew how much she loved Tara. They had talked about how much like a mother Tara had been when Buffy died and even after Buffy came back. Tara was the one Dawn counted on. He sighed as he thought about his own daydreams. They were all about Dawn. He remembered a game he, Buffy and Willow used to play called Anywhere But Here. His answer had never changed; it was always Amy Yip at the waterslide park. Now, all his daydreams and fantasies were about wherever Dawn was. ‘As soon as this daydream monster or whatever-it-is is history, Dawn and I will have to talk,’ he promised himself, not looking up at her as she rejoined the gang at the war table. ‘I don’t want to keep living like this, whatever the consequences,’ he thought.

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Buffy looked at Dawn. She knew this was crushing for her. Tara had always been more motherly toward Dawn than she herself had. Buffy sighed and wished she could make it better for Dawn. She thought about her own daydreams and hallucinations. Well, at least there’s a . . . well, sort of . . . reasonable explanation for Angelpalooza. It was too much to hope for that Angel was still out there. Even if he was, what could they do? There’s the curse on his soul and the whole immortality thing. She sighed and glanced at the others and wondered what their daydreams were about. ‘Although, I could make a pretty good guess at Xander and Dawn’s,’ she thought, smiling to herself. ‘What about Will, though. She’s not daydreaming, she’s nightmaring. What’s that about?’

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Chapter End Notes:
Next Week: Sleepless Nights
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