DISCLAIMER: All things Buffy are the creation and property of Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions, and so forth. All things non-Buffy are the creation and property of many other individuals and corporate entities.

This particular story is the creation of Robert A. Black (that's me). Feel free to drop me a line and let me know what you think of my work. Good or bad, I'd like to hear it.

TIME CONTEXT: This story takes place between the Buffy episodes, "Nightmares" and "Invisible Girl."

Confused? Refer to the Readers' Guide at the end of the chapter for hints and explanations.

Buffy almost didn't want it to be true. After all they had been through that night - all the strange visitors, all the fighting, all the bruises - was she really supposed to believe that this freckle-faced little brat was behind it?

"Let me get this straight," she said. "You brought all these people to Sunnydale, from all over the universe? From all over several universes?"

"I sure did," Anthony replied, looking way too pleased with himself. "I'm glad, too. I was getting really bored in Peaksville. There was nothing left to do. And then I found your Hellmouth." The boy giggled, and an evil glint shone in his eye. "My folks don't like me to say words like that," he explained.

"Oh, we don't mind, Anthony!" the man spoke up immediately. "You can say whatever words you want!"

"Yes," the woman added, "and you say them so well, too."

The two adults, presumably Anthony's parents, creeped Buffy out worse than the boy did. "What is your deal?" she asked them hotly.

"They're afraid," Anthony said for them. "They don't want me to wish them into the cornfield."

"Cornfield?" asked Giles. "What cornfield is that?"

"We were there," Ace told him. "Didn't seem like such a bad place."

"That's because you went there by yourselves," said Anthony. "If I wished you there, it would be different. Just ask your friend with all the fancy machines."

"That's where you sent the Master?" Buffy asked.

"He won't think it's so bad," Anthony remarked casually. "Until the sun comes up tomorrow."

"So now that you've found the Hellmouth and brought everyone here," said Giles, "what do you want with us?"

"I told you," Anthony replied. "You're all here to play with me. The people in Peaksville were boring. Everyone was the same. But you're all different. We can have lots of fun."

"Doing what?" Buffy asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.

"Anything I want," Anthony replied. "Maybe I'll make you fight some more monsters. I like watching you do that. But I'll have to make it harder for you next time. Maybe I'll bring down some of the monsters from those rocket ships I found, if they don't all blow each other up."

"My God," said Giles. "You mean that giant space battle - the one Willow and the others are caught in - that's something you made happen as well?"

"Of course," said Anthony. "It was really keen. We could watch some of it on television. Would you like that?"

"Oh, that sounds like a wonderful idea!" said Anthony's mother.

"Yeah, son. A real good one," Anthony's father chimed in.

"I don't think it's so good," said Buffy. She drew out another of her stakes and pointed it at the boy. She wasn't sure she could actually use it on a kid, even a brat like this one, but maybe she could scare him. "I have a better idea. Why don't you send everybody home - including yourself? Otherwise..."

Buffy never got the chance to say what "otherwise" she had in mind, as her windpipe was abruptly choked off. The boy was glowering at her, jutting his chin out defiantly. "You're a bad girl!" he shouted at her. "A very bad girl!"

"Buffy!" cried Giles. He started running to her side, but was stopped dead in his tracks, doubling over in pain instead.

"I know what you're all thinking," Anthony declared. "You're all bad! You want to stop me. But you won't!"

Waves of pain shot through Buffy's body. It felt like her internal organs were playing a game of musical chairs. She tried to cry out, to vent some of her agony into the air, but she couldn't. Through her blurring vision, she could see that Giles and Ace were just as bad off.

Things were not good. If something didn't happen soon, this little kid was going to succeed where an army of vampires had failed. The Slayer was going to be slain.

It wasn't the most dignified way to go - but at the moment, Buffy didn't care about dignity.

***

Willow settled into the large Command Chair. Her emotions had returned, so she was now able to enjoy the feel of being seated where she was. This was the nerve center for the entire giant starship. From here, a person could order the ship to go anywhere among the stars. There was no telling what sort of places the ship could take them to.

I could get used to this, Willow thought to herself.

"Excuse me," said a proper English-accented voice. "I believe that's my chair you're sitting in."

Willow looked up and saw Captain Picard standing over her. She was startled momentarily, then felt overcome by self-consciousness, embarrassed at being caught daydreaming. Okay, so she wasn't glad to have all of her emotions back.

"Sorry," Willow said meekly. "I'll move now." She hurried out of the chair and looked around the Bridge of the Enterprise-D, where she and Spock had gone to join Mulder, Marcus and Bashir. They had brought Leela and Gabrielle along as well. At the moment, Leela was eagerly discussing weapons with Mister Worf, but Gabrielle was standing off by herself. Willow went to the young woman's side.

"Are you all right?" Willow asked. "I know this hasn't been the easiest night for you..."

Gabrielle nodded. "I'm fine," she replied. "I think I'm finally getting used to all the marvels you people have. You know, this is going to make an incredible epic when I get home."

"You're going to tell people about all this?" Willow exclaimed.

"I'm a bard," Gabrielle replied. "It's what I do. And an adventure like this one is a bard's dream."

"But back where you come from, who's going to believe you?"

Gabrielle shrugged. "People love this kind of stuff," she replied, "whether they believe it or not."

"Willow!" Bashir called from across the Bridge. "We're almost ready. You'd better come up here."

Willow left Gabrielle and crossed the Bridge to join the group at the science station. Spock and Data were tapping commands into the computer console. Willow could hear voices coming through the communications link with the Sunnydale library.

"I believe if you cross-link your Bussard collectors with the Heisenberg compensators, you'll be fully synchronized with the Briode nebulizer in my TARDIS," came a voice over the speaker. It sounded like one of the Doctors - the one with the scarf, if Willow remembered correctly.

Data's hands flew over the controls at superhuman speed. "That is confirmed, Doctor," he said. "Synchronization is at ninety-eight point seven percent."

"Ninety-eight point six-four-one percent," Spock corrected him.

"Whatever it is, it'll have to do," came the Doctor's reply.

Bashir turned away from the console, toward the Captain. "We're ready up here, sir."

"Very good, Doctor," Picard replied. Turning to the front of the Bridge, he ordered, "Mister Cole, take us back into the battle at half-impulse."

Willow watched as Marcus worked the ship's controls. She didn't feel any difference, but the viewscreen showed that they were moving. The raging inferno of warring spaceships was getting closer at an alarming rate.

"We are now in range, Captain," Data reported. "Ready to activate the anti-distortion field at your command."

"Make it so, Mister Data!" Picard ordered tersely.

Data and Spock touched several console panels at once. On the viewscreen, the surrounding space was promptly filled with streaks of light flashing in all directions. The streaks shot through and past the other ships, and as they did, the ships immediately began rushing away from each other. Within moments, the Enterprise-D was alone.

"We did it," Willow whispered to herself.

"Our success is only temporary," Spock told her. Apparently those pointed ears of his had been able to hear her. "We can only negate the distortion field for as long as the ship's power lasts. If your friends cannot stop the fields at their source, the other ships will return here."

So, now it was up to Buffy, and all Willow could do was wait and hope. Even on a night as outrageous as this one, Willow thought to herself, some things never seemed to change.

***

Buffy gasped for breath. Her spleen had finally stopped trying to occupy the same space as her lungs, and her liver had stopped trying to move around to where her stomach usually was. That was progress.

She looked up and saw Anthony glaring up toward the ceiling. Fury covered his face.

"That's not fair!" he shouted. "You messed up my big fight! You're bad people!"

Giles crawled over to Buffy's side. "I believe our friends have put their plan into action," he wheezed. "Our only chance may be to stop Anthony while he's distracted."

"By 'stop,' you mean 'kill,' don't you?" said Buffy.

"You've seen what he can do," said Giles. "He may only be a child, but I don't think we have a choice."

"Easy thing for a Watcher to say," Buffy replied. She saw his expression and realized she had been a little too harsh. "It's too bad I don't see another way, either," she admitted to him. "It's just going to take a minute while I convince my feet that they're not supposed to be where my ears are."

Buffy looked over at Anthony again. The boy was still looking at the ceiling, watching a scene that only he could see. It was now or never. Grasping her stake, she slowly worked her way toward him.

***

The Enterprise-D rocked beneath them. Willow wondered how these crews ever got use to being thrown around their ships.

"Structural integrity is failing, Captain," Data reported in an emotionless tone. "Our shields are completely ineffective against the incoming spatial displacement waves."

"Captain, I can sense the mind that's causing these distortions," said Troi. "I sense anger. Tremendous anger."

"I could have told him that," Willow remarked to no one in particular.

"I guess we got someone's attention," said Mulder.

"Maintain our current position," Picard ordered. "Increase power to the Heisenberg compensators."

The shaking lessened a bit, but Willow could tell they were still in danger. For the thousandth time that minute, she silently urged Buffy to hurry.

Just when Willow thought things couldn't get worse, an all-too-familiar set of multi-colored lights flashed across the Bridge. The five spandex-clad Rangers had finally caught up to them. For all Willow knew, they had been sent by whoever was shaking the ship around.

"Ha!" shouted the Red Ranger in his usual aggressive tone. "I bet you thought you had lost us!"

Picard stood up and looked the Ranger straight in the helmet. "What the hell are you doing on my Bridge?" he demanded.

The Ranger responded by striking Picard across the face, knocking the Captain back into his chair. It was not the wisest of moves. In an instant, the Bridge was in a frenzy of combat.

Willow backed up toward the science station, hoping to stay away from the fight. The Blue Ranger saw her and leaped over the Bridge railing to attack. Willow had nowhere to go. Behind her, she heard Spock and Data moving away from the console, ready to defend themselves.

In an instant, Willow realized that taking the scientists away from their work even for a moment could break the ship's fragile hold on the space around them. It was up to her to do something first. She was still trying to figure out what that something was when a memory that was not her own made its way to the front of her mind.

The Blue Ranger charged with a loud warrior's cry. When he was close enough, Willow reached out her hand, found exactly the right spot on the Ranger's shoulder, and squeezed as hard as she could.

The Ranger fell to the deck and was still.

Willow turned and faced Spock and Data, who looked as stunned as two emotionless beings were capable of looking.

"I, uh, guess I picked up a thing or two when our minds were linked," she explained to Spock.

Spock merely raised an eyebrow. "Evidently," he said.

Willow looked out over the Bridge as the two scientists returned to their work. Chaos reigned everywhere. The other multi-colored Rangers were well on the way to being subdued, but other creatures were charging in from all directions. The large man who had appeared at the Bronze was fighting both Mulder and Marcus. A large, awkward-looking robot was rolling around shouting "Danger! Danger!" and bumping into as many people as possible. Other beings even more bizarre were sure to rush onto the Bridge at any moment.

For the two-thousandth time that minute, Willow silently urged Buffy to hurry.

***

Slowly but surely, Buffy's body learned where all its parts were again. The little monster - Buffy refused to let herself think of him as a kid - was still focused on the skies and whatever was happening up there. Willow was up there somewhere, as were several other people she had met that night. Buffy tried not to think about what the little monster might be putting them through.

The little monster's parents looked at her with fear in their eyes. Buffy couldn't help wondering how long they had been forced to survive by sucking up to the most spoiled brat in all creation. No wonder they acted like psycho-loonies. She thought of herself trying to act like that and shuddered. The image spurred her on.

After what seemed like an eternity, Buffy's body finally brought itself upright. She closed in on the little monster, her stake poised and ready. As she prepared to strike, the little monster turned his head toward her. She looked straight into the little monster's eyes, and for a moment, Anthony Fremont looked back.

Buffy hesitated, just for an instant. That was all the little monster needed.

Waves of agony shot through Buffy's body again. She crumpled into a heap at the little monster's feet. She could barely hear him screaming at her.

"What are you doing?" the little monster screeched. "You're a very, very bad girl!"

This was the end, Buffy thought. It was over. Everything was about to be lost to the little monster's whims.

Then, just as suddenly, the agonizing pain stopped.

Buffy raised her head and looked around. Anthony lay on the floor, just a few feet away from her. The stake had been driven straight through his heart. And still holding onto the other end of the stake was Lennier, the Minbari. When had he returned from the other passage?

"You're a very bad man," Anthony gasped weakly. Then, looking at the Minbari as closely as his failing eyes would allow, he asked, "Do I know you from somewhere?"

Lennier never had the chance to answer. Anthony breathed his last. Once the boy was dead, the Minbari looked up and said, "I have no idea why, but I feel as if my life just reached a significant point of closure. I must mediate on it when I return home."

Buffy lowered her head, completely exhausted. Just before she lost consciousness, she heard Anthony's parents as they walked up to Lennier.

"That was a real good thing you just did, Mister," said Anthony's father.

"It certainly was," said Anthony's mother. "Real good."

End of Chapter 16

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