Nelly's loving gaze lingered over Xander, and he read her faltering lips effortlessly. He could tell that this wasn't a trick or a distorted hallucination.
"You came back...But how?" Xander's voice choked up with tears as he tried to speak. "I thought I had lost you. And yet here you are. Please tell me this ain't a dream."
"But it is," Nelly replied in a feeble whisper. "I am not the one you lost. But I am still your sister, Meeko."
Xander furrowed his brow in confusion. "I don't understand. First, some being pulls me into an unknown Dreamscape and asks me to find her heart, and now this. I know it's you, sis. But I just don't understand..."
"I am just a wandering fragment of Nelly's soul. But I care about you just the same as she did. I may not be whole, but you're still my Meeko."
A lonely teardrop rolled down Xander's cheek as he watched Nelly's gaze soften. He rushed right into her outstretched arms, just like he used to do as a kid whenever he felt scared.
