Title: Red For Danger

Author: Alan Hitchen

Email: darkmere2000@yahoo.co.uk

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: BtVS belongs to Joss Whedon and others

Pairing: Willow/Cordy

Her girlfriend had left her, she had lost her job, fallen out with her friends, been estranged from her family, and her savings were now exhausted. Just a few of the long line of incidents that have driven her right to the edge.

She is standing on the edge right now. Looking down from the top of Lover's Leap she can see the roof of a car wedged in the rocks below. She is using the black rectangle as an aiming point.

She reverses her steps, takes a deep breath, and runs for the edge, launching herself energetically into the air. As gravity takes its inexorable hold she screams the one word that articulates her greatest wish.

"Oblivion!"

Her body hits the car roof with a resounding thud. For a moment she rests in perfect repose, staring sightlessly into the sky, before the next wave washes her body into the sea.

Unseen by her, a birdwatcher on the opposite cliff has witnessed everything. He rapidly dials his mobile phone. Soon a rescue craft is nosing its way into the cove and strong hands are pulling the lifeless body from the water. The lifeguard gently brushes the red hair away from her unblemished features.

"I know this woman," he says. "I used to go to school with her. It's Willow Rosenberg."

Willow awoke from her sweat-soaked nightmare with a start. Although she saw her body take the plunge, she herself stood apart from the action, watching as she was a camerawoman and this was a film. This distance did not make the nightmare any less frightening to experience.

Ever since Cordelia had gone to Canada to make a low budget horror film she had been having this dream. Why this was she couldn't say. All she knew was that every night the same thing happened. Every night she drew closer and closer to the figure on the cliff. Every night the dream became ever more real, ever more terrifying. So she visited Giles to see if he could help her.

"And you say this happens every night?" he asked.

"Without fail. It's driving me mad," she replied.

"Not literally I hope," Giles said with a smile.

Willow smiled back. "It's not quite that bad, but I'm losing concentration. My work is suffering because of it."

"Do you suspect some supernatural cause?" he enquired.

She shrugged. "I'm not sure. I think it's because I'm missing Cordy, but I came to you just in case there was more to it."

"Very wise," he said. "Well, I'll look into it of course, but in the meantime I recommend a hot milky drink last thing at night."

"Thanks, I'll try it," she said brightly.

It didn't work of course, the nightmares continued. She began to focus on the location where the action was taking place. The rocky cove seemed familiar, though she could not recall ever visiting such a place. Did it really exist?

At the library she checked the coastal maps searching for some clue. She found what she was looking for near a town called Kenwood, where a large promontory called Lover's Leap dominated a rocky cove.

Oz drove her out there, they had remained good friends and he was already ready to lend a hand. He stayed in the van as she toiled up the narrow rocky path that lead to the highest point on the cliff.

It was exactly as she had dreamed it, right down to the car stuck in the rocks below. The place was real, so was the rest of it? Was this some ghastly premonition of the future, or a cryptic warning about some other danger?

She didn't know what to say to Oz, so she said nothing. He didn't pry, one of the many things she liked about him, he just drove her home.

She thought long and hard about the matter, realised she had seen the cove in a recent television documentary, and decided that the location was unimportant after all. After reading a book on directed dreaming, she felt she could take control of the next nightmare, and by controlling it take away its power to frighten her and bring it to an end.

The next time, she found herself inside the body of the other Willow as she stood on the cliff top. This was a change, but not a welcome one. She found herself unable to direct the dream in any respect. She could feel 'her' despair and knew how badly 'she' wanted to end it. Try as she might to change things, the events proceeded exactly as before. As 'she' went over the edge, taking Willow with her, Willow screamed the one word that meant the most to her.

"Cordelia!"

And the world went black.

****

Willow woke as if she were a drowning woman emerging from the water that final time before all is lost. She dragged her limp body from the bed into the shower to let the lukewarm jets of water pummel the life back into her.

"That was too close," she muttered to herself. She knew without doubt that the next nightmare would be her last, that she would soon be as dead as the Willow in her dream. But that Willow was not her, that Willow had nothing left to live for, but she had everything, she had Cordelia, and no dream was going to take that away from her.

On a hunch, she hit the net and hacked into the Coroner's files to check the recent death certificates. She discovered a spate of natural deaths that had occured during sleep. There was no suspicion of foul play in any case, and there was nothing to link them... except for the fact that all of the deceased had red hair!

She went back to Giles with this new information. The red hair aspect rang a distant bell in his mind and soon he was delving into his collection of musty tomes to extract a slim volume.

"Here it is!" he announced in triumph.

"Here what is?" she asked.

"The diary of Austin Hillman, gentleman and adventurer."

"He didn't adventure far, judging from the size of the book," she noted with amusement.

"It's only one volume in a series of sixty, but this is the one we want," he said as he eagerly flipped the dusty pages. "Oh dear!" he exclaimed as the words 'invariably fatal' leapt up at him from the page. He handed the book to Willow so she could see for herself.

Greece, July 1885.

I have lately arrived in the village of Trimos, where there is a preponderance of red haired inhabitants. However, I quickly discovered that these distinctive folk had become prey to an insidious enemy, whose attacks were invariably fatal. One by one they died, apparently of natural causes, apparently while they slept. The only clue was that each of them had complained of persistent nightmares before they died. Then, as suddenly as they had begun, the deaths stopped. The cause remained unknown.

"I didn't know they had redheads in Greece," said Willow when she finished reading.

"Oh, yes, there are, you can still find them today," Giles replied.

"So they weren't wiped out by whatever it was?"

"Clearly not," Giles observed, then added in frustration. "It's not getting us closer to a solution, is it?"

"No, what are we going to do?"

"Frankly, I don't know," said Giles, then an idea struck him. "What about a change of scene?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you said that Cordelia was in Canada making a film, why don't you join her?"

"And what would that do?"

"Well, whatever it is will either follow you."

"Oh, great!" she interjected.

"Or stay here," he continued.

"And chose another victim? No, I couldn't have that on my conscience."

"My guess is that it would stick with you. I also think it needs a warm climate in which to operate. Canada is a cold place, perhaps you could force it into hibernation, if not actually kill it."

"But we don't even know what it is yet, let alone know what will kill it. Assuming it is an it that can be killed. You're clutching at straws here, aren't you?"

Giles had to agree, but having no better plan of her own and reasoning that if she had to die she could at least say goodbye to Cordelia first, she flew out to Vancouver as soon as she could.

She stood at the Motel door and knocked. Almost at once she was engulfed in Cordelia's welcoming arms and being pulled bodily into the room.

"Oh, my baby, are you all right?" Cordelia asked between fervent kisses.

"I'm fine," Willow replied with difficulty, "but I'll be dead of lipstick poisoning if you don't let up soon."

"Oh, sorry, honey, I'm just so pleased to see you."

"I guessed," Willow said tetchily, gently preventing Cordelia from kissing her again. "It's not that I don't appreciate it, but I didn't come up here for a dirty weekend did I?"

Cordelia held Willow out at arm's length. "Well, I like that! I've been missing you like mad. Then you turn up after telling me that you're being haunted by some demon or other. I give you a peck on the cheek and you blow up in my face!" she exclaimed peevishly.

"A peck on the cheek? You'll be telling me your tongue slipped in by accident next," Willow said, trying to be stern with Cordelia. "Anyway, there'll be none of that." Cordelia looked downcast. "All right, there'll be some of that." Cordelia brightened up. "But tonight I've got to sleep under canvas."

"What on earth for?" Cordelia enquired.

"Giles thinks I can freeze this thing off me."

"What do you think?"

"It's worth a try," Willow shrugged, trying not to show how worried she was. "Now, where can I pitch this tent?" she asked, indicating her bulky baggage that lay outside.

That night she dreamed again. This time she was herself, there was no trace of the other Willow, it was just her on the cliff. But still she was compelled to make the fatal leap. This time she soared out and over the rocks and the car below into the cold, dark, turbulent waters of the cove itself. After what seemed like an age she surfaced, and, gasping for air, she swam towards the pebble beach where a smiling Cordelia was now waiting for her. Just as she reached the water's edge, a piercing shriek woke her with a jerk. It was Cordelia who had arrived with a flask of hot coffee.

"Whassa matter?" asked the befuddled Willow.

"On the pillow! On the pillow!" Cordelia pointed urgently behind Willow's head.

"Urgh! So that's what it was," said Willow as she turned her head to find a spiderlike thing, now stiff and white with frost, lying motionless.

It seemed quite dead, but just to be certain, later that day Willow locked it into an ice filled cash box and buried it in the woods. She phoned Giles to tell him the good news, then settled down to wait for Cordelia's return from the day's filming. When she returned it was Cordelia's turn to be subjected to a barrage of passionate kisses.

"What's brought this on?" asked the surprised brunette as she tried to draw breath.

"I've been thinking about having that dirty weeked with you after all."

"But it's Wednesday," Cordelia pointed out.

"Who cares?" said Willow, pulling Cordelia down onto the bed. "The weekend starts here."