A Wish Is A Dream The Heart Makes.

Chapter Two: From My Dreams Let Me Be Unwoken.


Xander made his way home the momentary high he'd felt from finally saying all he'd longed to to Buffy, faded long before he reached his door. Now he was just left with the ache that came from knowing that only Giles had made any type of effort in his defense. Willow had remained silent. Where could he go from this?
He fumbled open the door, trying his hardest not to risk waking his parents from their no doubt drunken sleep. He'd barely taken two steps into the hallway when the overhead light snapped on making him jump. Before him was his mother, her hand still hovering over the light switch. And she did not look amused. What a great ending to a shitty day! It only needed an appearance from his father and his day would be complete. Oh well, at least she looked sober.


"Alexander Lavelle Harris! What time do you call this? Do you realise its almost THREE hours after your curfew? Where have you been? Well answer me, Do you know I was about to call the cops...?" Jessica was about to continue with her rant when she focused fully on her son for the first time. She was shocked at what she could see. His shoulders were slumped and his face showed he was in pain. She gave him a quick once over, there were no visible injuries, so what was hurting him?


"What the hell has happened to you Lexi? You look like you've just lost you're best friend!" She saw him flinch at that. Oh. She stepped forward and slung an arm around his waist guiding him into the sitting room. when he froze on the threshold of the room she sighed she knew very well what had caused him to hesitate, "Don't Worry Lexi, Tony is over your uncle's. Poker night. Come in, sit and tell me what's happened between you and Willow. Okay, Honey?" At his faint nod she led him to the couch and sat them down, waiting in silence for him to start.


Xander was surprised to find that he wanted to tell her what had gone on. She was acting in the same way he remembered her acting, when he was younger. He decided to confide in her, after some careful edidting about the more... slayerette related topics. He needed someone to talk to, he'd hoped to speak with Giles, it didn't seem likely now, though. He knew he'd have to watch what he said to his mom; Sober she possessed a finely-tuned bullshit detector. But where to start...?


"Mom, I'm gonna lead up to things okay? Just listen ok?" At her nod he continued, "Right well, this may seem a little...random, but do you remember when I was about...oh, seven or so? I told you about some dreams I kept getting, do you remember?" Xander paused, waiting for her to nod again before continuing. "There were two of them and they repeated, every night for a month. I ended up having difficulty sleeping, which effected my school work and the school counselor suggested I keep a dream diary, and then ignored them, as they'ed make sense eventually. Well, I know that after a while I slept better and 'cos I never brought them up again, you assumed they'd stopped. They didn't. I've continued to get them... at least once a week ever since. I just learned to cope with them. There's five of them now. None are particularly long but Mom, they're... intense." He scrubbed a hand down his face, before shooting her a quick glance assuring himself she was still listening.


"In the first one I ever had, I'm standing in a dark room, before me is a wall of glass. I'm staring out over a view that seems nothing more than a vast black sky dotted with thousands of stars. I step up to the window and I feel so completely tired. I see the barest outline of a reflection and a flash of silver eyes and then...Nothing. But I've realised that, although I was the person in the room it wasn't me Mom! It was as if I'm seeing through someone else's eyes, and it's what the other person feels and sees. It's not MY experiences, but their's? It was...freaky.
The second, was the one that used to freak me out though. Its dark again, and I feel frightened and resigned at the same time, there is a flash of light from a knife, a pool of blood, then it's a jumble of emotions with no images; just darkness. Rage, disbelief, dark humour, constriction as though I, he..we were being caged, joy followed immediately by a mix of elation and what I can only call smugness, then there's a brief moment of...peace, followed by alarm and back to rage. It keeps repeating until I wake up. Those two dreams have kept repeating...year in, year out. Then a while back, three more joined them. The third is the shortest of them all. It's just a voice in the dark, edged with amusement, "Richard B. Riddick. Escaped convict. Murderer." That's all he says, the dream ends." Xander shook his head in remebered frustration at the memory of that particular dream. Jessica shifted, uncomfortable with the emotions evoked, even through second-hand contact with the dreams her son was enduring.


"The last dream is the weirdest of them," Xander picked up the tale, deliberatly skipping the fourth; he'd much prefer to not have to reveal that one... especially not to his mother, "I'm actually in this one, as myself. It starts I'm on a beach, a cove that's surrounded by tall cliffs. I'm not alone there are six people around me, they seem so familiar. I feel as if I should know them. He's there too, Riddick, I know he is, even though I can't see him. The beach is littered with dead bodies. And I am so angry about it, I feel sad too. As if I'd just been a little better i could have saved them. Or at least some of them. I walk forward and know he is watching, guarding me. I reach the edge of the water and draw two curved daggers from their sheathes and begin to dance. I normally wake at that point..." He stopped uncomfortable with the emotions he knew he'd revealed, nervously he looked around the room. His eyes stopped on his PS2 and the games that lay next to it. Hang on! He jerked up from his slumpped position, vaguely recognising he'd scared his mom. 'The dance... the dead on the beach! It couldn't be... could it?' He thought as he scrambled of the couch and turned both the television and his Playstation on, he quickly grabbed the correct box and fumbled trying to open it and extract the game, swearing lightly when the t.v. didn't turn on fast enough for his liking. Soon he'd put the game on and was searching for the save closest to the part he wanted to see. Choosing one he began to play to reach the right place, absently he filled his mom in on what he was doing.


"Just watch this Mom, it's a part of the last dream. Honest! And Mom the game didn't come out 'til AFTER I first had the dreams! How is that possible?" Jessica had been about to point out that he'd probably picked up the image from the game and his mind had changed it to include him. That or he'd been winding her up. But she was silenced with his statement. It was obvious from his shock he was telling the truth. What could it mean? She sat back and watched as before them on the screen, was the scene from his dream, the only things missing were her son and the Riddick guy that her son had described. They both watched in silence, when it was over Xander leant forward and flicked the t.v. and console off. Xander heaved a heartfelt sigh.

"Anyway the dreams have increasesd lately I get them every night now, without fail. Hell, Mom they've started coming if I shut my eyes for too long! Then this morning, I was talking to Buffy and Willow just wanting to know if we'd be meeting tonight for the usual Scooby study-fest or not. They told me not to bother, as they were just going to be finishing up a project and it was only going to be the two of them. Mom, Wils couldn't even look at me! Well anyway, after school I drove around a little, and came across Faith, a girl we know, she was being hassled by some older...girls. So I rescued her and gave her a ride home. We talked for a while and as it was getting late I left. I thought I'd grab some donuts and just... check up on my girls. I was hasseled by this jerk from school, when I ran in to get the snacks. He went into my car, which has now died. I somehow managed to avoid a fight with him. I swung by the library to give them the bag of donut-y goodness and offer to walk them home if they'd finished..." he trailed off, before taking a deep breath and continuing, "Mom, apart from me, all the gang was there. They were researching a history paper together. I was going to ignore it when they got embarressed,and tried to pass it of as not wanting me to be bored. But Buffy told me, straight out, that they thought I wasn't smart enough to be of use to them. I was so angry, Mom. None of them defended me, well Mr Giles did sort of. But Willow just sat there. Then Buffy said that she Knew the only reason I was determined to join them was 'cos I was totally crushing on her! Can you believe her!" Xander exclaimed, wving his arms in the air in agitation.

"What did you do, Lexi?"

"Well I asked if she'd finished, then I pointed out that if I was as stupid as they believed then why hadn't I had to repeat a year? I then pointed out that, in fact I generally performed in the top percetage of each class. I told them that If they didn't believe me to get Willow to check on my grades for the semester. Then I told them that I was NOT interested in dating Buffy 'cos, Hello! Gay here!" Xander's brain caught up with his mouth and he promptly flushed cherry red, meep'ed and slammed both his hands over his mouth. Sqeezing his eyes shut as he waited for the shouting to start. Instead he heard silence, then a snort of laughter, by the time he risked opening his eyes again his mother was colapsed in a heap, one fist firmly shoved in her mouth biting her knukles in an failed effort to muffle her laughter.

'Okaaay, not the parental reaction I was expecting!" he thought, "Mom, why are you laughing? I was expecting "Never darken our door again" not hysterical laughter!"

"Sorry Lexi, sorry it's just..." she began to snort, struggling to reasure her son that she didn't mind, whilst expaining her laughter, "I keep picturing her, Miss L.A. Herself being told that you' d rather shag her boyfriend than her! It's priceless!" Xander began to realise that it was his mother that gave him his...quirky sense of humour.

"Don't worry about the whole gay thing Lexi, I've been expecting it since you were five. Just don't let on to your father. You know how he'd take it. With the whole Willow deal...just let it rest for now. Give her time. Then if she doesn't apolygise, I'll give her a swift kickstart... via my foot up her butt! The dreams I'm not sure about... maybe they're trying to tell you something, maybe not. For now, go get some sleep. Hopefully it'll seem better in the morning. Goodnight Honey, Don't stay up much longer." Jessica leant down to kiss his head, she then smiled and left the room.


After sitting there quietly, stunned at her revelation and feeling closer to her than he had in years. He thought about the one dream he hadn't mentioned, the fourth. In it he was standing in the dark when two, hard as steel, arms wrap around him pulling him tight to a firm, muscled chest and a husky voice whispers in his ear, "Are you with me, Xan?" I lean back, comfortable, in Riddick's tight embrace, and answer, softly, "Always." Then the dream fades, leaving behind only a strong sense of longing. He spoke softly to the empty room.

"What do the dreams mean? Riddick... and Spira, With me as a Summoner, Him as my Guardian... Why? Although it would be cool, imagine me going to where Riddick is. Helping him do what I feel he is about to face...Then we'd go to Spira, together and go on my pilgramage, from Besaid to Zanarkand... we'd travel with Yuna and Tidus, whup the badguys' butts! Me and Riddick against the universe! God, I wish that we could really do all that. It'd be..." He was about to continue when he felt a presence with him in the room. His head shot around to see a demon grinning at him and leaning towards him, it snapped it's finger's.

"Wish granted, Kid."

Xander leapt to his feet, "What! Who're...?" Before he could finish the question his sight faded to the familiar darkness he saw in his dreams. The last sensation he felt was when it felt as if a rope tied around his waist had been yanked on. He flew backwards, with tremedous force and hurriedly tried to brace himself for the impact he knew was coming...


A.N; Ain't I a stinker!
I'd like to thank the people who have reviewed. You all made my day! I'm glad to know that each of you are enjoying it. It pushes me to continue with it. I really am grateful to read any thought's people have on my story, it shows me what I'm doing wrong...or right!

Bubbysbub; I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed writing Xanders rant at Buffy. She annoyed the hell out of me as the series went on! The Xan-man Rules!

Zuka; I totally agree that Buffy was much more interesting dead than alive! Glad you liked the quick update. Hopefully the chapters will continue to flow.


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