Disclaimer: For the sequel; "Ripper, the War God," again pretty much all of the characters are based on the television series "Buffy The Vampire Slayer," produced by Joss Whedon and associates, as well as owned and distributed by Warner Brother's television network, in association with Rysher, and Mutant Enemy Inc. The concept of Anton, the character of Joshua the Archangel, are of my own visage, but any to all relation between them and the Buffy characters is entirely fiction devised for the sole purpose of people's enjoyment of Fanfiction.
Ripper: The War God; The Next Day
Chapter One
Tara awoke, feeling like she was missing something, with the sun in her eyes. Blinking back the bright light, she raised herself to a sitting position, realizing that she was in hers and Willow's room. Only Willow wasn't there.
As soon as she started to panic, Tara began to remember the events of yesterday, and Buffy's promise. She smiled as she remembered some of the dreams that she had had after reading the book that Buffy had allowed her to understand and read. It really was a fascinating collection of stories, and she could only guess as to how many were true, and how many might have been exaggerated a little, considering that it was all about gods and goddesses.
'Well, that explains the feeling that I was missing something,' Tara thought to herself as she got out of bed. 'I haven't even slept without Willow since the fight with Glory, much less woken up without her. It's strange, even though I know she's my mother, I love her just the same. I guess that's the funny thing about love, it doesn't care who or what we are, just that we are together and happy.'
Tara found the book that she had been reading practically all day yesterday on the bed beside her. She didn't really remember falling asleep, but she did remember finishing the book. Going over all of the names of all of the gods in Anton. Some, one in particular, Joshua the Archangel, she knew would have stayed behind because of the roles that they played back home. 'Back home,' she mused. "I've only known about it and my real self for a day, and I already think of it as home," she thought aloud.
Getting out of bed, Tara spent the rest of her time getting ready in silence. Taking a shower, eating a small bowl of cereal in the room, brushing her teeth, choosing an outfit and getting dressed. Smiling as she reflected on her and Buffy's visit yesterday, when the young love goddess was choosing her own outfit for the day, Tara realized that she had actually enjoyed the time with her "aunt" and could hardly wait until she could do similar things with her own wardrobe. It would definitely make getting ready in the morning and choosing an outfit a little easier.
Sighing with a happy content look on her face, Tara chose a flowing brown cotton skirt, matching sandal shoes, and a white silk sleeveless blouse, and putting one of her white sweaters over that. Smiling, she realized that she too followed in Willow's fashion of long skirts and sweaters, as Buffy had said. 'Must be a mother/daughter thing,' Tara mused silently, smiling.
Noticing the time, Tara knew she had to get moving, or she'd be late getting to the Magic shop. Taking a bag, filled with the book and a couple other things, she left her room and walked down the hall to the stairs. On her way she saw one of her "neighbors", Katie Reed kissing with her boyfriend in the hall.
"Hi Katie," she greeted, "Good morning John, how are you two today?"
She was mildly surprised that neither answered, instead giving her curious looks, but she was in far too good a mood for something as minor as that to get her down. She walked, almost skipping to the Magic shop, getting there about 9:27, a little later than she wanted to get there, but hopefully not before she could miss anything major.
* * * *
About an hour before Tara woke up, just as dawn was breaching the horizon, Buffy slowly awoke, feeling as though something were not quite right. She opened her eyes and took in her surroundings. She blinked and closed her eyes tight before opening them again. Rubbing her eyes when what she saw didn't change, she slowly sat up, wondering what the hell was going on.
She was in her room, her room, in her house that she had lived in for the past five years. The house that she had shared with her mother and Dawn. No, she realized, my mother's dead. And I died saving Dawn, so where am I?
Looking around, she saw that her room was exactly as she had left it, just before going on the run from Glory with Dawn. Glory? A demon god. Then everything from yesterday's events came back to her in a flash. She was momentarily confused that she had thought of herself as Buffy Summers rather than Buffy the Love Goddess, but she wasn't concerned. She woke up in Buffy Summer's house, so having been Buffy Summers; it was easy for her to get confused.
Then Buffy remembered the events of last night, smiling as she recalled seeing Maxabl, and talking with Spike. Her smile broadened as she recalled what had happened after Joshua had teleported them all here last night.
Willow and Dawn were acting like two tired, whining toddlers who had their candy taken away, (Funny because it just had been), and Buffy had asked Joshua for an assist, since she was trying to boost her energy, not keep it empty. Joshua had come over, given her a quick hug goodnight, and then with Buffy holding onto both girls arms, he teleported them to the Summers' residence.
Joshua's teleportation was very different from Buffy's, which might have been why Tara had made such a noise about it yesterday morning. While the Love goddesses flashy red and gold transport was made to feel like the most intense and bone chilled experience ever felt by the human body, Joshua's was made to be more…like him. He was an Archangel, a being of love, warmth, and power. His white aura flash began as a feeling of gentle and pleasurable warmth that spread throughout your entire body, like being wrapped in blankets with somebody you truly love and trust. Then, as you reappeared, it felt like a cooling, refreshing spring breeze blows over your entire body and takes away the warmth, but in such a way that you are left tingling with incomparable pleasure and relaxation as your atoms recomposite.
When they appeared in a flash of white light in Buffy and Dawn's living room, between the TV and the coffee table, Dawn and Willow were practically jumping up and down like preschoolers. "OH Buffy! THAT was SO COOL!!" Dawn shouted to her sister, who was still right beside her.
"Yeah Buffy, that was a whole lot different from what you feel like when you teleport!" Willow analyzed somewhat loudly, not exactly sounding like herself. "How come that is?"
Buffy raised an eyebrow and decided that she didn't feel like answering that right now, and as it was she barely had enough energy to get these two to bed, not to mention have a long drawn out conversation on how her powers worked. She didn't know how they worked, she just knew they worked, and that was more than good enough for her.
"Not right now Willow, it's time to get you two to bed," Buffy commanded, dragging the two young women by the arms up the stairs.
"I don wanna," Willow whined, sounding very much like a tired two-year-old.
"Me either," Dawn echoed, sounding identical.
Buffy merely remained silent and continued to pull the drugged girls along. She knew that it was unfair, but she was in absolutely no condition, nor mood to be coddled by her sisters, plus she didn't entirely trust Willow to not sneak off and try and visit Tara in the night. This way, she would make sure that these two would sleep, she would keep her promise to Tara, and she could eat until one, eating everything in the house.
As for drugging Anya, wellllll, she had known that the girl was obsessed with sex ever since she had discovered it in her human body, probably not something she had gotten that much of when she was human before, so she figured she do a favor for her soon to be sister-in-law. Plus, she knew Xander might actually enjoy himself. She would have checked up on them, if not for the fact that she had issues about spying on her brothers and sisters when they were doing it, and she had secretly promised Joshua before he teleported them.
She put Dawn down in her bed in the young girl's room, and decided that she would put Willow on her bed for now. Then she went downstairs, only to find Willow following her. She chuckled despite herself and let the little wicca do what she wanted. When she finally passed out, Buffy would decide where to put her for the night.
Opening the fridge, Buffy noticed that Xander had gone shopping for Dawn, as had Giles, and from the food choice, so had Willow. So grabbing all the 'no need to prepare' items first, she went to the kitchen island and started snacking. Willow, thinking that this was more 'treat' food, tried to get some but Buffy playfully slapped her hands away whenever she did. Willow pouted, but finally stopped trying, and instead just started talking. Buffy listened, since Willow seemed to be in "run-down babble mode".
After a while, Buffy having finished half the products in the fridge and hearing about how Angel was doing, how everyone had coped with her death, about all the lawyers and stuff, and how Giles had finally been able to buy Dawn's home and put it in the minor's name, and how school was going and how Tara was healing up nicely from her ordeal and that she was looking forward to becoming a goddess again and she hoped how she wouldn't be so paranoid this time and…well, you know how it goes.
Buffy was amazed that she was actually able to stay awake herself through all of it, and she truthfully listened to every word Willow was saying. Something that she normally could have never done, something that truly only a goddess could do. After moving on through several sandwiches and prepared meals that would have filled the entire Initiative, demons included, Willow was still talking and Buffy was still listening, though the exhausted redhead was laying her head softly on her hands on the counter with her eyes closed, she continued to babble. Finally, when the babble turned to incomprehensible mumbles, Buffy finished up her midnight snack, (SNACK? Are U Kidding ME??!!!), and proceeded to pick Willow up like a little child being taken to bed by her parent.
She put her gently next to Dawn and tucked them both in, and surprised herself when she yawned. Stretching slightly, she went through the house, securing everything, and turning off what needed to be. Then, with a little trepidation, she went to her own room and without much bother to look around, went straight to bed and was asleep in moments. Yes, gods sleep!
And now she was awake, and smelling something burning. No, not burning, cooking! She quickly walked down the hall to Dawn's room, only to find it completely empty. Shrugging, she went downstairs following her nose to the kitchen, where she heard a familiar voice humming with a happy beat. Pushing through the swing door, she saw Willow over the stove with pancakes and bacon sizzling. 'Funny, I thought I had gotten everything last night,'. Then she realized that they had an extra freezer in the basement, and her mother, when she was alive, liked to keep various cooking meats down there for safekeeping. After all, a living Slayer was a hungry Slayer.
"Hey Wills, what's happening?" Buffy asked, announcing her presence to the red haired cook. Willow half turned in surprise when Buffy spoke, smiling brightly when she saw who it was.
"Hey Buffy, glad to see you're up!" she greeted cheerily, way to cheerily for somebody who had been up before dawn. And judging from the stacks of pancakes and sheets of bacon on either sides of the tall young college woman, she had been up for quite a while.
"Will, how long have you been up? It looks like you've got enough food there to feed ten Slayers!" Buffy exclaimed, coming up behind the favored chef.
"Or one goddess," Willow grinned as said goddess blushed in embarrassment at her unusual eating habits.
Willow turned back to the stove to flip some pancakes just as Buffy asked, "I didn't know you could cook, where'd you learn?" Willow shrugged and hesitated slightly before answering in a casual tone, "Oh, I learned when I was younger. You know having an absent mom can create need for improvisation and opportunity on Saturday mornings."
Buffy silently beat herself for bringing up something having to do with Willow's neglected life on this world. But she was so much more loved than she realized, and not just by her, Xander, and Tara, but by all of the gods of Anton, not to mention almost all of the people that live there as well. It was then that Willow decided to change the subject.
"So, what was it exactly that you put in those treats last night?" she asked her "sister".
Buffy blushed once more enough to match Willow's hair, and tried to avoid the question with another subject change. "So, where's Dawn? I put you two in the same bed, and she wasn't, actually nobody was there, so…"
"Buffy." Willow put on the 'Resolve face'.
Buffy lost some of the color and explained, or tried to, what she had put in the treats and why she had. After she was done, Willow just shrugged and went back to cooking. After a time, each moment the blond goddess expecting her best friend to blow up at her with some high moral argument, Buffy finally exploded from the overtax on her patience, and nerves.
"Well?" she put out, exasperated.
"Well what?" Willow responded calmly, finishing another batch of bacon.
"Well? Well, aren't you going to dig into me about how I shouldn't have drugged my sisters, and my brother's fiancée just so that I wouldn't have to deal with anything other than eating to my little petty heart's content?!!?" Buffy finished breathlessly.
"Sounds like you're doing fine on your own from here," Willow commented, smiling mischievously. Buffy's eyes widened and she let out a roar of impatient frustration at her sister. Then she started to laugh at it.
"So, how long have you been up?" Buffy repeated her earlier question.
Willow shrugged again and poured some pancake batter. "Several hours now. I called, or tried to call Xander and Anya a little after Dawn and I woke up, around five-ish. We didn't get an answer, so we tried a little later. Still nothing, so while I was getting breakfast ready, I asked Dawn to go over to Xander's and see if they were awake yet. She's only been gone about thirty or so minutes now." Willow explained rationally.
"So, do you want to cook for a while?" Willow abruptly asked.
Surprised, Buffy shook her head and declined. "No, I don't think so. You've had enough of my cooking for one week."
Smiling, Willow replied, "I don't think that you'll drug this, besides, you'll be eating this too. Not to mention we might actually have some leftovers. Hey, it's possible," she said to Buffy's disbelieving glance. "So why not?"
Buffy just shrugged and tried to avoid Willow's glare. She shrugged again and answered, "I just never got really into cooking. And this isn't a 'Buffy-Slayer' thing, this is a 'Buffy-goddess of love' thing. I tried cooking several times before, but every time that I have, I don't know, weird stuff happens."
"Weird?" Willow asked, turning the stove off and taking everything off of it.
"Yeah, like this one time, everything that I cooked, whoever ate it began to experience the emotions that I was having while I was making it, only magnified nearly ten fold. Just be glad not many stayed for desert, when I was making out with my "at the time" boyfriend." Buffy explained.
"Oh, well that's not so bad. I mean, at least you haven't made anybody sick and die or anything like that. Have you?" her voice suddenly took on that nearing squeaking range.
Buffy smiled and shook her head. A sudden thought came to her, and was out her mouth before she fully knew what it was. "I think one of my past incarnations had the same fault in the kitchen, but she was, I mean I was so happy at the time that she…I went into the restaurant business and was the most popular chef in New York for a time."
"Oh. Wow."
"I think I had a daughter…" Buffy trailed off, lost in her memory.
"A daughter?" Willow asked, growing concerned. Another daughter?
Buffy smiled as she knew what Willow was thinking. "No, not a godhood daughter, an earthly daughter. If we were experiencing that lifetime rather than this one, she would be called my blood daughter, like Dawn in this life is my blood sister."
"Oh. Well, do you want to check up on her, see how she's doing?" Willow asked, always the optimist.
Buffy smirked and shook her head sadly. "No, I…I couldn't. I-I…died when she was very young. Almost Dawn's age I'd guess. I don't even know if she's still alive."
"Well, how long ago was this life time?" Willow asked, hoping for something within this century.
Buffy just shrugged and muttered, "A long time ago…"
"How long, Buffy?" Willow sternly repeated.
Looking sadly at her friend, Buffy seemed to deflate slightly and answered, "Between the late sixties and late seventies. I died about two years before I was born." Willow was confused by that and asked, "Born?" Buffy just gave her a "Drop it!" look and she did.
"So, maybe this daughter of yours is still alive. Why don't you want to check up on her? It might be nice seeing her, and you two could play catch up." Willow was really getting into this match up former families idea.
Buffy just shook her head and interrupted Willow before she could get on a roll. "I told you Willow, I can't! That was an entirely different lifetime! I wouldn't, don't have any relation to this woman in any form, other than when I was a goddess inbetween lifetimes, I chose her grandparents to use as my parents. And maybe I did have the matter in picking her father, but that was it! I am Buffy Summers in this lifetime, not whoever I was then. Willow, I'm sure that in your own previous lifetimes that you've had kids and families as a mortal. So I'll ask you this, if any of them were still alive, would you want to try and find them and tell them that you were there mother or sister or daughter reincarnated?! I didn't think so." Buffy didn't let the mousy redhead answer.
"So why not?" Willow asked again, completely unfazed by Buffy's outburst.
The blond goddess just sighed and shrugged her shoulders in defeat. "I can't Willow, I just can't. I mean, I don't even remember her name! How am I supposed-it's Amanda." Buffy suddenly announced.
"Huh?"
"Her name. I remember it. It's Amanda," she answered.
"I thought you said that you didn't remember it," Willow noted. Buffy gave her another look and she shut up right quick.
Buffy just sighed again, shaking her head free of forgotten memories of another life. "Enough of that! Just drop it. We've got more important things going on. Such as, why aren't we eating?" The goddess suddenly grinned, as did her sister/best friend as the taller woman handed over a tray of bacon and an impressive stack of pancakes. Buffy, feeling much rested and full of energy, teleported them, all the food, and plates and utensils to the table in the dining room right next to them, just before digging in.
"Oh, I forgot the syrup," Willow noticed from her seat. "I'll be just a second, I know it's the kind that you like…"
"Oh, don't bother," Buffy interrupted, and with nothing more than a gesture, the jar of raspberry syrup that had been in the refrigerator was suddenly on the table with a flash of pink light. "And don't worry, Wills, it's the jar that you put in the fridge earlier."
"Hey, how did you know…" Willow started.
"…that you put it in the fridge? And planned on having it out for when I woke up because you know that I love raspberries?" Buffy finished for her. Wide-eyed slightly, Willow only nodded.
Buffy shrugged, shoveling in another large bit of pancakes before answering. "It's one of our powers," she began around the huge bit in her mouth. "We can view the thoughts, or read the minds of mortals that we are close to. Don't worry Will, we don't use it to like spy on you or embarrass you. We just use it to get information quicker. You know, like when Joshua first arrived and he needed directions to the magic shop, he just scanned yours and Tara's minds. I did it myself when I was taking you to all your classes yesterday too."
"Oh. Wow." Willow repeated. The rest of the time was spent in relative silence as they ate and finished the prepared breakfast. Buffy was still eating when Dawn showed back up, along with Joshua as escort.
"Hey Joshua!" Buffy greeted from the dining room as the two materialized in the front foyer.
"Hello Buffy," he greeted somewhat stiffly.
Buffy then noticed the look on Dawn's face was like that of someone sent to the principal's office. Also, Joshua had both his hands on Dawn's shoulders, as though holding her to keep her from running away. Willow entered from the kitchen and noticed the somewhat tense situation.
"Um, hi Joshua. Hey Dawn, what's up?" she asked, trying to keep a happy-go-lucky air about her.
Joshua smiled back, but Dawn kept her face as stoic as possible. "Something wrong, Joshua?" Buffy asked as she continuously stuffed her mouth and swallowing. Joshua sighed in abject pity as he watched his sister stuff her face and just answered her with a question of his own. "Do you know what Xander and Anya are probably doing at this very moment?" Before either woman could respond to that he asked another, "And do you know that I found Dawn about just walk into their apartment, with the key they gave her, and probably not even knock?"
Buffy froze and swallowed the food in her mouth, while Willow's eyes widened to beyond normal human measures and became very pale and sweaty like. Buffy didn't even glance at Willow, who was behind her, and instead turned to Joshua. Her voice precisely controlled, she asked, "Your point?"
The two and, for the moment, only gods in the world stared at each other for a long time, maybe twenty seconds. Then both Joshua and Dawn broke out into grins and Buffy knew that she had been played. "Got you!!" Dawn shouted in an immature sisterly fashion, pointing at the goddess.
"I repeat, your point?" Buffy asked again, though her tone spoke of her annoyed playful nature.
Joshua just shrugged and let go of Dawn and sat at one of the side chairs at the table, and Dawn raced around to her own and began to grab as much of the food as she could take, before Buffy finished it all. "Well, actually, I did find Dawn about to do as said, but Xander and Anya were completely conked out, after having only fallen asleep about, oh say an hour ago, and after a very busy night I might add," he paused to emphasize with his face the double meaning he was deliberately implying. "Anyway, I woke them up myself about fifteen minutes ago, and they are getting ready to head for the Magic shop, as you eat." Joshua felt like he was talking to a brick wall. Actually, any wall provided more of a conversational listener than the hoarding pink clad woman in front of him.
"By the way, what are you wearing?" Joshua had to know as he fished out some pancakes for himself.
Buffy paused in eating long enough to actually look down at the bedclothes she seemed to have materialized last night, without even realizing it. It wasn't anything revealing, rather it was the usual shirt and pants pajama set. It was also pink silk, with embroidered red hearts in several design choices. Buffy just shrugged and glanced over what Joshua was wearing. A white button-up collar shirt, light brown khakis, and white tennis shoes, with wing designs on the outward sides. All in all, a very handsome outfit, despite screaming "goodie-two-shoes!" at anybody and everybody with enough sense to pay attention.
"Pajamas," Buffy replied shortly between bites. Then she gave a deliberate and investigating eye to Joshua's form commenting, "Nice outfit by the way. Too bad all you get at home is a total of three."
Joshua just smirked at his younger sister and helped himself to a small stack, compared to what the women were eating, of the flapjacks and the syrup and finishing it in about five times longer the time it took Willow to eat one stack of five. They were ready to leave in about ten minutes.
After finishing breakfast, Buffy was about to zap the plates clean back to the kitchen, but Joshua, seeing her thoughts, beat her to it and the table was clean with a flash of white light. "Thanks Joshua," Willow offered as she stood up and went upstairs where she had a change of clothes and went to get ready for the day.
Buffy meanwhile was glaring at her eldest brother. Dawn, seeing the look on Buffy's face, and the obvious "ignoring" stare that Joshua was maintaining, she decided to join Willow in getting ready. "I'll be ready in a minute guys, then we can get going, right?" Not waiting for an answer, she raced up the stairs, hoping to hurry Willow before anything happened.
Thirty whole seconds after the youngest Summers ran up the stairs, when both gods felt they were truly alone, Buffy stood up, continuing to glare at her elder. "All right Joshua, give. Something more is bothering you, and it's not that I didn't take care of myself yesterday, or that I drugged Anya and my sisters, or that it has anything to do with us here on Earth. So spill it angel-dude. What is wrong?" Buffy's voice switched from harsh and accusing to gentle and caring.
Joshua just seemed to deflate in his seat, yet somehow unbelievably remained tense as ever. "Gee, I wonder how you figured it out?" Joshua asked sarcastically. Buffy only arched an eyebrow at him.
When his sister offered no counter-response, he looked at her, somewhat of surprise on his face. "Don't you feel it?" he asked in all seriousness. At Buffy's confused look, he continued, "I know you aren't exactly a Quantum Physicist Buffy, but even a newby could feel this kind of disturbance. It's practically singing throughout the air. First of all, can't you still detect the waves of power from your own awakening yesterday afternoon?"
At the biggest clue he could give, Buffy's eyes went wide with shock as she opened up with her ethereal senses and felt the resounding "concussion" waves from the power that she released yesterday when had she accessed her godhood once more. Realizing that that small spark of energy was not what had her brother so bothered about, Buffy paid a little closer attention to a sudden buildup of energy that seemed to have been invisible to her earlier. Actually, thinking about it in reflection, she had been aware of the sudden energy buildup, she had just ignored it.
Yet looking closer at it now, Buffy could see why Joshua was so worried. There was too much energy building up. WAY too much energy. From what Buffy understood of her powers, when the gods released energy into the universe at large or even just small amounts, the energy spread out like ripples in a pond, moving both forward and backwards, and in any other direction that would be possible, through time and space.
This sudden build up of energy that was no doubt one of their own spoke of one of three things. First, that she and Joshua along with at least seven other gods, not necessarily from their family decided to get together in the next two hours and blow up the solar system, or maybe even half the galaxy. Since that was a complete "Not gonna happen", option two was that the Hellmouth opened up, and nine first circle demons decided to kill Joshua and half the world all at once in the same time period. Third, and this was definitely the more likely option, more than just one god would be awakened that day, and within twenty minutes of each other. Buffy tried to analyze the energies she was sensing, yet they were so conflicting that they almost seemed to merge together in a completely unrecognizable pattern.
"Still want to do this?" Buffy asked when she realized what Joshua was worried about.
"Oh heck yeah," the archangel conveyed emphatically.
Buffy smiled despite the sudden growing unease that she felt at this strange development. "What do you think is going to happen?" she asked her elder, more experienced (in most things) brother.
He just shrugged and turned away, giving him the look of a military mind at work. Finally, after Buffy became slightly worried, his shoulders sagged and he turned back around and gave her more than enough of an answer with the look in his eyes. "Oh," was all she could respond to the conclusion she had drawn from the data. She sighed some herself and then a look of intensity came to her eyes, one that said that this woman was a fighter, a warrior, one who could and would be prepared for anything and everything. Especially this.
Before they could discuss anything further, Willow and Dawn came back downstairs, Willow having had a change of clothes from previous stay-overs, had changed to new clothes for the day. Dawn wore a small pink short sleeve shirt with a daisy picture on the front, blue jeans, and black sneakers. Willow was wearing some tight jeans that seemed better fitted to the shorter Buffy, and a green sweater turtleneck. Both smiled upon seeing both gods still intact.
"Ready to go?" Willow asked.
"Yep," Buffy hastily quipped, and before anybody could tell, her pajamas had flashed off and she was wearing her outfit for the day. A decent white mini-skirt, a matching light pink halter-top, and three inch white strap high heels. With the ever-present gold locket, and her hair held back in a cute ponytail that left her shoulders bare, it gave her a youthful and almost radiant appearance.
"Shall we?" Buffy asked her brother, holding her arm out like the gentlemen of old would do for ladies. Joshua smiled, nodded, and looped his arm through hers, saying, "Ofcourse, my fair lady. Would you care to do the honors?"
"You honor me kind sir," Buffy played bashfully. Then, she raised her un-looped arm, gestured in the air, and before the two mortals could register it, they and everybody else were standing in the middle of the Magic Shop.
"Whu-what happened?!!" Willow screeched.
"Uh, you appeared out of thin air?" Alexander tried answering his best friend/sister's question.
Yet when the redheaded witch thought about it, it was probably the best answer that she could have gotten, and still understood. "Oh," she mumbled and then came over to give Xander and Anya hugs. She didn't exactly know why, but she felt like giving out hugs to just about everybody. The two returned the hugs with equal vigor, though Xander did appear hesitant at first, having deduced what it was that Buffy had fed all of the girls last night, judging from both his and Anya's relaxed appearances.
Then Willow turned to Giles, her mentor for the last however many years it had been, and her surrogate father figure when her own had ignored her. "How ya doin' G-man?" Willow quipped, imitating Xander, in words if not tone.
Giles turned briefly on her at using the accursed nickname that the youth named Xander had super-imposed on him, as much as he hated it. When he saw her expression however, all trace of annoyance fled and he genuinely smiled at her, and soon they too were hugging.
During all of this, the two gods had hung back, keeping to themselves as much as they dared. Buffy suddenly felt a tingle in the back of her mind. She glanced at the clock, it read 8:35. Then she traced the feeling back to its source. Tara must have just woken up, she mused as she found that the feeling she'd just had came from her connection, as well as the spell that she had cast on the young woman soon to be goddess again. Strangely though, she also felt another strange sensation come from the building power that both Joshua and she had sensed, almost like the things were connected. And if Joshua was right about this power buildup, which she was afraid he was, then they were definitely connected.
Buffy looked Joshua in the eye, he smirked slightly and silently nodded. "All right everybody, it's getting close to time, so gather around and we can go over the ground rules." He spoke over the babble of the quiet shop.
"Also," Buffy interrupted, earning a glare from the archangel (which she promptly ignored), "there's something else that you need to know."
"What's up Buff?" Xander asked straightforward.
Buffy glanced at Joshua's glare with an upraised eyebrow before answering. "Since this morning, and about an hour ago for me, Joshua and I have been sensing a buildup of power. Our power if that helps you. But that's not the important thing, since power such as this radiates both forward and backward in time, kind of like a ripple on a pond's surface. That's not the problem."
"Then what, may I ask, is the problem?" Giles rudely snapped out.
Buffy put him back in his place with but a glance. "The problem, Ripper, is the amount of power that it building up. A normal awakening does indeed build up a large amount of power, not to mention releases a tremendous more. But…but this much…" she trailed off.
"There are three things that would cause this specific kind of buildup," Joshua continued for her. "One, in the next forty-five minutes or so, Buffy and I along with half the mage legions of hell, all the wizards on the planet, and at least, heavy emphasis on AT LEAST, nine other gods, not necessarily from our family, get together, and decide to destroy the solar system in five minutes." He let them soak that in for a moment before continuing.
"Well, unless you're an insane madman that somehow got the powers of an Archangel and knows everything that nobody except GOD could know and planning this for oh who knows how long after brainwashing Buffy, I think that is definitely not what this is all about." Xander joked at the suggestion.
Joshua smiled good-naturedly, continuing. "Second, that the Hellmouth opens wider than the entire continent of Eurasia, spits out half of Hell, and every legion of said kills every super powered entity on the planet using magic with the force of ten, thousand mega-ton thermonuclear devices in the next thirty to fifty minutes."
"OK, big bad, but kinda unfeasible, so I'm gonna stand here hoping that that is also not what is gonna happen," Alexander nervously joked.
Smiling further, Joshua finished, "Third and lastly, Ripper isn't the only god awoken today, and the second is awakened less than twenty minutes after him." Silence greeted that statement with open arms.