Nightmare for Saffron

[thedemonmagnet]

There were clouds all over the island. Xander had to wonder, was this the island getting into the mood of Halloween or was this some weird trick that would turn them into a girl or a five year old if they dared walk through them? Knowing the island as well as he sadly did, it could go either way. So Xander stood there and stared at one of the clouds outside the Club for a good twenty minutes, debating whether or not to walk through, just to satisfy his curiosity over what would happen.

In the end, he decided against it. Plus, he was due at the Club to do some carpentry work before Helen locked up for the party that night. So he turned around and walked towards the Club building...unknowingly into another cloud.

“Hello?” Xander called as he walked in, always used to someone being there and it was strange when he didn’t get an answer. Usually someone was around doing something or practicing. Still, he shrugged and went to work on the downstairs bar.

But the silence started to weigh on him and just suddenly, he got an overwhelming sense of loneliness. Like he was the only one on the entire island. To the point his hands started to shake and he felt overwhelmingly claustrophobic. Figuring he was going to get any work done like this and he really needed some air, Xander left his tools where they were and practically sprinted outside. He’d hoped to see someone, anyone, outside but there was just...no one. He even started heading up to the compound, the intense loneliness he felt weighing heavily on him as to make his steps difficult...and was it his imagination or was it getting darker?

"HELLO? ANYONE?"

Comments

[devilwoman]

The club was closed that night, on account of Shari's Halloween party, but that wasn't for another few hours, and Saffron figured now was as good a time as any to do a little practicing given how the island liked to do funny things on this particular holiday. Xander was meeting her there, for a little fixing up that needed doing. For what was probably the millionth time, Saffron was silently grateful as she walked over to the club for Xander's continued presence.

The random patches of fog, or whatever the gui they were, had been weird, but Saffron had managed to avoid them so far. One was directly blocking her way to the club though, now, and Saffron figured she might as well just walk through it. At worst, she'd end up walking out of it a man or a teenager or something, but she knew it would be temporary anyway. May as well get it over with.

So she walked in - and at first, nothing seemed to change. She was still on the island, still on the path. But everything seemed...eerie, quiet. Deserted was the first word that sprang to mind. There was no one else around. Saffron didn't understand it.

She frowned slightly, turned, and that's when she saw him. Xander, standing not far away and looking oddly lost and troubled. "Xander?" she called out.

That's when she heard it. The noise, coming from the jungle, growing steadily louder. Like the sound of many people running, yelling - attacking.

Whatever it was, they were getting closer.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

No one was around. He thought he heard his name behind him but when he turned around, no one was there. Great, not only was he alone, he was jumping at shadows...

He heard a sound in the jungle and turned towards it. The sound of a wave of people coming right for him. He started toward the noise, so very glad to have proof of someone else's presence on the island. But when it got closer...he realized it was a wave of beings...just not people.

"Oh shit..." He said under his breath before turning to run.

[devilwoman]

There was an axe on the ground, one that Saffron would have sworn wasn't there a second before. But before she could wonder too much about where it came from, the source of the noise revealed itself as the first few figures came crashing out of the jungle and onto the path.

"Wo de ma," Saffron gasped, as the main subjects of her nightmares since that Halloween so long ago came charging right at her and Xander.

Reavers.

Shock and terror seized her for a heartbeat's space of time, so much so that she almost forgot she had her gun on her. She'd been out for a little target practice earlier, and hadn't bothered to take it back home before coming to the club. Now wasn't the time to think, though; now was the time to act, and as quickly as gorram possible.

Saffron drew her gun in a blink of an eye and fired at the closest Reaver, hitting him square between the eyes. But there were more coming, emerging one by one with murder and unspeakable horror written all over their faces. She had to protect herself. She had to protect Xander.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

The zombie creatures swarmed out of the jungle and overtook Xander quickly, forcing him to stop and fight. He tried his best to swallow his fright and remember everything Spike, his Spike had taught him.

Except these thoughts were counter productive as the loneliness he'd been feeling before threatened to consume him with thoughts of dying alone, pulled apart by crazy zombies.

A gun shot fired nearby and Xander looked around, still not seeing anyone. Wonderful, not only was he going to die, he was going to die going nuts.

[devilwoman]

Saffron kept firing, backing away as she did so. Her past skill and practice time on the island paid off, and every shot hit its target. There were so many of them, though, that even when she'd emptied the clip and killed as many Reavers, more kept coming. She holstered her gun and dove for the axe, rolling back to standing.

There were so many of them, and no one else around to fight them off. Saffron turned to check on Xander, and saw the Reavers going for him, knew what they would do if given half the chance. A scream of rage and terror tore from her throat. "No!" There were Reavers all around, coming for her, and she couldn't get to him. She held up the axe and planted her feet, getting ready to swing.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

Another shout had him frantically looking around as he fought back as best he could, his arms covered in long ugly scratches now. He'd managed to grab a branch for a bit but it had broken over a crazy zombie's head and become useless.

Taking a deep breath and swallowing his fear, he made a break for where he heard the shout coming from. Even if he was crazy and hearing things, at least he hadn't given up without a fight. "Someone, anyone! If your there...HELP!"

But as the last word left his lips, one of them caught up to him and pulled him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him. All he could do now was cover his head with his arms and kick out with his legs, maybe breaking a few bones on the way.

He wondered what brains tasted like?

(Do your thing Saffron, and when Xander looks up, he can witness the awesome!)

[devilwoman]

She fought with every ounce of strength she had, eliminating the Reavers as best she could and keeping the seemingly endless flow of them at bay. They would never stop. It was their way, to attack and kill and so much worse, and they would never stop. Saffron knew they had to run as soon as they could.

Xander, she noticed somehow through the haze of fear, didn't seem to be able to see her for some reason. Saffron didn't have time to examine why that was, though, not with Reavers on every side. She was pretty banged up, she knew, from their attacks - gashes, some of them deep, but her adrenaline fueled her past the pain. Xander ran in her direction, yelling for help - and then he was pulled down by one of the Reavers, and Saffron could feel the fury within her, ready to erupt from her at the sight of those monsters hurting him.

She unleashed it.

Ferocity and ruthlessness took over, pure and fierce, as she attacked with renewed force, hacking and slashing and laying waste to every Reaver that stood between her and Xander. She'd always had the potential in her, simmering deep beneath the surface, but she'd never had to tap into it - until now. Her blade flashed through the air, sprays of crimson in its wake, as she tore her way to Xander and pulled the attacking Reavers from him one by one.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

Xander had honestly thought he was goner it was just waiting for it all to end. He struggled and fought to the last but the zombie people just kept coming and grabbing at him. He kept trying not to think, so his last thoughts wouldn't be of loneliness.

So he was honestly surprised when he felt someone pulling the zombies off him. It was when the person touched him that he looked up and saw Helen kicking major zombie ass. In fact, alls he could do for a moment was stare in awe and thankfulness as his loneliness was proved wrong. So much so that it gave him a second wind and, even though he was covered in scratches and bruises that hurt like none other, he was able to stand beside her and fight back. "Helen, I've never been so glad to see you!"

[devilwoman]

"I've - been here - all along," Saffron gasped in reply between slashes. She ducked as a Reaver swung at her, then delivered a roundhouse kick to its face before introducing her axe to its neck.

She glanced over at Xander just in time to see one of the Reavers coming up behind him. "Xander, duck!" she screamed, and let the axe fly. It buried itself in the Reaver's forehead.

"We're going to have to run," she continued, going over to wrench her axe out of the Reaver. "There's too many of them, and they'll never stop. It's their way."

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

"You have?" Xander said with honest to god shock as he elbowed a zombie in the face. It didn't do much good and hurt his elbow but it made him feel better.

He ducked on cue and then glanced around. If there was anything he was good at, it was running. And a split second later, he saw the perfect opening in the oncoming zombies forced. Grabbing her non-axe hand, he pulled her towards it. "If we're going to run, let's go!" And took off.

[devilwoman]

She ran, pulled along by Xander, swinging her axe at the Reavers trying to catch up with them. They were pulling ahead, and Saffron half turned back to hurl the axe at the nearest Reaver...

and then they were bursting out of the cloud at a run, Saffron holding Xander's hand tightly, and she stopped so abruptly her arm was yanked. They were back on the island - the normal island, the one they were used to, and it wasn't until that moment that Saffron realized they hadn't been there since they walked into that cloud. And what was more, they'd both been beat up pretty badly, bruises and gashes and who knew what else...but now neither of them had a mark on them.

"Tama de hundan," Saffron exclaimed, turning to look back where the cloud hung, seemingly harmless. "What the hell just happened?"

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

It was Helen yanking on his arm that got him to stop, thought he did almost trip in the process. "Wha..." He turned to see why she stopped...and saw a sudden lack of zombies. "Where did the zombies go?"

It took a moment, but he realized that the heavy sense of dread and loneliness that had weighed on him was gone, as was all injury from his attackers. He kept turning his hands over and over, in disbelief...then grabbed Helen's free hand and did the same with hers. When he looked up, he too finally saw the cloud. "Aw crap...that was the island's yearly Halloween prank wasn't it? Because convincing me I was going to die alone was so very funny."

[devilwoman]

"Not zombies, Reavers," Saffron corrected automatically, allowing Xander to tug on her as she continued to stare in the direction of the cloud, thinking. "Reckon that's what it was. Reliving your nightmares while you're awake, maybe. Least, Reavers are what I have nightmares about." Not just Reavers in general, either - it was always either reliving Halloween, or fighting off Reavers and having to save both herself and someone she cared deeply about. Saffron didn't care to get too much into detail.

She was still shaken by what had happened, and it took a moment for Saffron to register the rest of what Xander had said through the slowly lessening grip of fear that had taken hold of her. "What?" she said, her eyes widening as she turned to look up at him, tightening her grip on both of Xander's hands. "What's this about you thinking you're going to die alone?"

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

"Reavers? Well, certainly sounds like something out of a nightmare. Were they humans or demons or what?" Xander asked, really more concerned about what the hell had just happened then do into details of his own nightmares.

[devilwoman]

Saffron arched an eyebrow when Xander ignored her question, but let it go for the time being in favor of the explanation he was likely owed at that point. She wasn't about to drop it, though.

"Humans, technically," she replied. "They were just a myth in a lot of places, but those of us who'd been out to the border moons and planets knew they're about as real as it gets. The story was that Reavers were men who'd seen the edge of space and gone crazy, but the truth was they'd been part of a terraforming experiment gone terrible wrong."

She took a breath, thinking back on what she'd seen in that vid. Movie. "There was a planet, Miranda, where the Alliance - our government - tried out a drug called Pax, which was supposed to calm the population, make peaceful living easier. Problem was, it worked too well. People just stopped caring about anything, everything, literally stopped eating and the like. And eventually they just laid down where they were and died. But one tenth of one percent of the people on Miranda were affected the opposite way. They were pure rage, animal instinct, they cut on themselves and didn't just kill whoever they came in contact with, they raped and maimed and sewed the skins of their victims into their clothes. They became Reavers."

She paused again, her eyes hot with the sting of the tears she was trying to force back. "Do you remember that Halloween a few years back? Where people's worst fears were coming to life? Mine was Reavers. River and I had to fight them off; we ended up getting picked up by my ex and his crew." She refused to say 'rescued'. "That fight was how I got these scars." She gestured vaguely at her arm and left side, knowing Xander had seen them up close and would realize what she was talking about.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

In his years with Buffy and here on the island, Xander had seem and heard some pretty terrifically things. The tale of the Reavers, especially since they were some sort of human lab accident...it would probably give him nightmares and he'd only gotten the small taste of it.

Xander did know those scars and his hand traced the ones on her arm lightly before pulling her into a tight hug. Suddenly, the weight of what she'd just done for him hit him like a ton of bricks. "Thank you. For facing your nightmares for me."

[devilwoman]

Saffron let the tears flow as she was wrapped in Xander's arms, the tension finally leaving her body, and she hugged him back fiercely. "You're a moron if you think I'm ever going to leave you alone, you know," she informed him a bit shakily, allowing herself to cling just a little.

She pulled away just a tiny bit, just enough to be able to see his face. "And don't you know by now that I'd do anything for you?" she asked, her face inches from his as she looked steadily up at him, tears shining in her eyes.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

Xander felt the tears but didn't say anything, just held her tighter as he blinked back tears of his own. "Me being a moron is nothing new. Ask Buffy or Spike." He said jokingly, his poor attempt to lighten the mood.

But when she pulled back, he looked back with a more honest expression. He swallowed hard, knowing what he should say...but he wasn't abut to lie to her either. "I know. But it's still my worst nightmare." He lifted a hand to wipe away her tears. "It has been for longer then I have been on the island. But having people like you in my life...makes it worth living with." Then he kissed her forehead and hugged her again, doing some clinging of his own.

[devilwoman]

"I'm never leaving you. Not if I can help it," Saffron said into Xander's neck, then lifted her head up briefly to press a kiss to his jaw. So many people had come and gone while she was still there. It almost seemed like if she made that promise, she'd be able to keep it. "You're stuck with me, Xander Harris."

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

"Same here Boss Lady. Same here." Xander believed it too...well, as much as he could. He didn't think he'd ever get rid of that small part of his brain that told him that one day she'd disappear too, but he just refused to think about it.

He kissed the top of her head then pulled back. "I have to go get my tools. Uh...would come with me?" As much as the nightmare was over, he didn't really want to be by himself.

[devilwoman]

Saffron felt a strange kind of disappointment when Xander pulled away from her, one she couldn't really explain. She brushed it off easily enough, though, attributing it to a reaction to what they'd just been through.

"Of course, honey," she replied, not exactly eager to be alone herself just then.

[scoobys-heart.livejournal.com]

Xander felt it too. But it was too soon after Spike and Stacy for him to give it much thought. It had nothing to do with the nightmare, just a general broken heart that was taking its time.

He held out his arm for her to take so they could return to the club with a small reassuring smile.

[devilwoman]

She returned Xander's smile with one of her own, more a hint of one than anything fully formed, and took his arm, keeping herself a little closer to him than she normally might have as they started back to the club.

There was something there she probably needed to examine, something within her when it came to him. Now was not the time, though, and Saffron was more than willing to put it off. She'd never been all that good at voluntarily laying bare her own feelings.

For now, she just kept her arm tightly in Xander's, letting his solid presence anchor her as they went to try and get on with their day.