The Saviors Of The Three Worlds

Beneath The Earth (2)

Forcing the torturous memories of that nightmarish moment from her mind, Buffy lets out a harsh cry as she tries to force the weight off her chest, but it was too much.
Probably hundreds of pounds of rubble laid out on top of her, constricting her airway, completely entrapping her.
Burying her alive all over again.
She was literally reliving her worst nightmare. She had been haunted by the memory of clawing her way out of her coffin for years and now here she was being forced to do it all over again.

As images of dirt filling her buried coffin back in Sunnydale threaten to consume her, Buffy gasps as she struggles.
She could barely think straight, the PTSD overwhelming her, every time she tried to free herself from the rubble she found herself back in that coffin, silently screaming for help only for no one to come.

"Buffy?"

Hearing her name echo through the rubble Buffy lets out a small gasp before glancing around but it was pointless, all she saw was darkness.
"I can't..." She breaths as her now bleeding hands rub painfully against the mixture of rock and stone "I can't...this isn't happening again...I can't breathe."


Mary Margaret who was crouched down on the floor inside of Rumpelstiltskin's cell leans her head as far through the metal bars as she could manage.
She could spot a small peak through the rubble.
Where the sound of Buffy's panicked breathing was coming from; echoing off the walls "Buffy, it's Mary Margaret...you have to breathe okay?"
"I can't...I can't...get me out of here..."
Trying to remain focused on keeping her daughter calm despite her own terror over the situation, Mary Margaret lets out a small breath trying not to sob in worry. She couldn't upset Buffy right now, not while she was trapped underground "Buffy...just listen to my voice okay? Focus on my voice. Okay...just focus on me."


Letting out a rare small sob of weakness Buffy attempts to take a deep breath, but as she did it felt like a building was crashing on top of her ribs.


"What do we do?" Emma whispers in a panic from beside her mother, unable to tear her gaze from the spot where Buffy had been buried. She had no idea how to help her sister and it terrified her, if they didn't get Buffy out of there she could suffocate and given how panicked she was it was only cutting their timeline to help Buffy short.
If they didn't calm her down then she would pass out from the lack of oxygen.

Mary Margaret groans grabbing at the ends of her hair desperately trying to think of how to calm the young Slayer.
Slowly her eyes widen and she quickly glances back at the small peak in the ground.
It was clear from the terror in Buffy's voice that this wasn't the first time she had been trapped like this.
Cora had made it clear that this was Buffy's worst fear.

They had to get Buffy's mind off her current situation, they had to find out how her dream about the scroll ended so they could get out of this cage and help her "Buffy, look I don't know what happened to you...but you are strong you will get out of this. You have to calm down...tell me something...tell me what happened when you became the Slayer."

Gasping softly, Buffy couldn't even wipe the tears streaming down her face as she tried to focus on Mary Margaret's voice.
Yet it was hard, the sound of her own breathing was practically overpowering any other sound in her vicinity.
"What?"
"Just tell me." Mary Margaret tells her strongly, desperately trying to get Buffy's mind off their predicament "How old were you?"
"15." Buffy whimpers as her breathing slowly begins to calm down as her mind flashed back to the day she had been called.
The day that had changed everything for her.
"Freshman year of high school when I was still living in L.A."

As Buffy's voice slowly begins to grow less frantic and breathless as she speaks a small smile graces Mary Margaret's lips, it was working, they had to keep going. "Okay, good...what about friends? Anyone who helped you?"

"Willow and Xander." The young Slayer whispers a weak exhausted smile covering her lips as she thinks about the day she met Willow and Xander in Sunnydale. Meeting them had changed her path as The Slayer.
Made her different from her successors.
Having her friends and a family gave her something to survive for.

"I...met them in Sunnydale...after I got kicked out of Hemery. I saved them but...they saved me."

Hearing Buffy's voice grow stronger and less terrified as she speaks, Emma quickly nods at Mary Margaret gesturing for her to continue, it was working she was managing to keep Buffy calm and awake.
They had to keep going.
"They sound like great friends." Mary Margaret whispers "Did they help you?"
"They are why survived longer than any other Slayer."
"Well, I'm sure Willow and Xander would want you to keep fighting. So Buffy, I know you're struggling but we need your help so we can help you. You said you had a dream about the scroll, I need you to think back. Was there anything in there that might help us?"

Clenching her eyes shut, Buffy inhales tightly as she thinks back to that re-occurring nightmare.
It had always ended the same way...the ink floating off the page toward her.

Like it possessed its own magic.

"The ink." She gasps out slowly she feels her strength return back to her, giving her the courage to start pushing against the rubble pinning her down once again. She had to get out of here, Cora had the compass which meant she currently had Buffy's only way of getting back home.
She wasn't going to let that bitch win.
Especially not after she buried her alive.
If anything Cora's actions pretty much guaranteed that Buffy was going to ragefully beat the living crap out of her before seeing how she liked being buried alive.

As Buffy begins to slowly claw through the rubble, small inches at a time, she coughs violently as dust from the rocks fill her senses "The ink..." She coughs out ignoring the pain of the stone cutting through her already scared knuckles "It changed...came off the page like it had its own magic."
 

Instantly, at Buffy's reveal, Mary Margaret's eyes widen in understanding.

The message from Gold hadn't been mistranslated.

Hope quickly fills her eyes as she turns to grab the scroll off the floor, having to stretch her arm out of the cell in order to grab it from where Buffy had dropped it.