thedemonmagnet | Nightmare for Saffron

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?"

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"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?"

"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.

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.

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."

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.

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.

"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."

"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.

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.

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.

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.

Nightmare for Saffron

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