~Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Faith, Dawn, Andrew, Wood, and some of the
new slayers: Kennedy, Rona, Vi, Aurora, Abigail, Marissa, Anita, and Juliet
are all taking the bus to LA so they have somewhere to regroup before they
decide where to live permanently, as well as tell Angel what happened, and
start finding the new slayers. Angel, Fred, Gunn, Wes, and Lorne are
preparing a second front and just started their trip to Sunnydale to find
out what happened. A group of rogue demon hunters with surprising powers
named Vivian, Liz, Max, Nicolas, Jonathan, and Millie are making their way
through California chasing a demon. Three new slayers, who happen to be
sisters, named Belle, Paige, and Nina are heading to Sunnydale in hopes of
finding Buffy and getting some answers. And a group -consisting of two of
the remaining watchers named Ian and Luke, two new slayers named Kaori and
Holly and two beginning wiccas named Vincent and Diana- was headed to
Sunnydale as well. All these people cross paths on the road at the exact
same time.
Coincidence? Maybe. Maybe not. All of a sudden a portal opens and all of
these people are pulled out of Earth and into a new dimension. Maybe there
was just too much powerful good energy in that one spot. Or maybe someone
purposefully made them cross paths and then pulled them there. That remains
to be seen.~
Buffy looked around her, bewildered and met eyes with Willow. "Umm.what just happened there?" Willow asked as she too looked around her in wonder. Buffy shook her head and looked out the window. A limo, van, mini-van and a convertible sat there as well. "Guess it wasn't just us," Xander said as he stood up and made for the door. "Let's go see who's out there." Giles started to say something and then just stood up and followed after Xander. Buffy and Willow shrugged and followed as well. Buffy looked around the bus and said "Stay here guys we'll let you know if it's safe."
Angel had bumped his head against the window when they first landed here and he now rubbed his hand against the bump. "What the hell just happened?" Gunn asked when he opened up his eyes. Fred gasped and said "We're in some other dimension!" Angel could see fear spreading across her face and he couldn't blame her. She had been stuck in an awful dimension for years where humans were considered cows and forced to work there like slaves. Angel peered out the window and looked around. "Buffy!" he cried out as he threw open the door and jumped out. Buffy spun around quickly upon hearing her name and suddenly she saw Angel emerging from the huge limo. "Angel?" she said as she stepped closer to him. Angel ran to her and pulled her into his embrace. "You're alright." Angel whispered as he held her tightly. He had been so afraid that something would happen to her and he would never see her again. The very idea that she could be gone scared him more than anything else ever had. "I was so.I was so worried." Buffy pulled back and looked into his deep brown eyes. "Angel." she said again as emotion swept over her once more. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. "Alright we need to figure out whats going on." Angel nodded and slid his hands off her waist. He turned around and motioned for his friends to get out of the limo and they did. Willow was searching the area slowly with a look of awe on her face. She turned to Angel then and said "Angel.the sun is out and you're alive." Angel turned and looked at her and then looked up in the sky. He had been so concentrated on getting to Buffy that he hadn't even noticed. "I guess.in this reality the sun doesn't hurt me." He said as a smile spread across his lips. That was how it had been in Pylea too. Buffy smiled too and said "You look good in direct light." And then she blushed and turned over to Giles.
Liz was holding onto Max's hand tightly. Millie had jumped onto John's lap when it first happened. "What is this place?" Nicolas had asked as he looked around in astonishment. Vivian was so shocked she couldn't even move. Max peered through the window and saw that there were others there too. At the same time Liz said "There are more people here. Oh and those two groups know each other. Well it seems safe enough. Should we go check it out?" Max nodded and opened the huge van door. They stepped out slowly and Nicolas and Vivian opened their front doors and jumped out as well. Millie followed after them and John followed after her. He was not going to let anything happen to her. Not now. Not ever.
Xander noticed the people pilling out of the van and nudged Buffy. "Hey we don't know those people. It's not just people we know." He realized he was stating the obvious but that was all his brain was capable of doing at the moment. Buffy looked over at the newcomers and said "Well then let's go meet them." She looked at Willow and then Angel and the three of them headed over to the other group. "Hi there," Buffy said with a smile. "Um I'm Buffy.I have no clue whats going on here.um who are you guys?" She looked at Willow for encouragement and Willow just smiled and shrugged. Angel was still looking around and he turned to them and added "Probably a different dimension. Wonder why we were brought here." Then Willow suddenly got an idea "Oh! You don't think maybe all these other people have power stuff too. Do you?" Then she turned towards the other group and smiled hopefully. Max took a step forward, slightly unsure of himself and said "You.you have powers too?" Then Willow smiled triumphantly and said "See! I was so right!" Then she blushed and said "I mean, yes we do. Buffy's the slayer, I'm a.well I guess I'll call it a witch, and Angel's a vampire with a soul. That means he's a good vampire. So don't worry." Willow smiled weakly at the group, hoping they would know what she was talking about. "You're the slayer!" Vivian exclaimed, eyes wide, while Nicolas wrapped his arms around her. Max looked a little more suspicious "The slayer.I always figured that was a myth. And he's a good vampire?" He glanced at Liz who looked as suspicious as he did. Liz shrugged, and said "Well there's a new one. Anyways my name is Liz." Buffy extended her hand and smiled. The moment she took Buffy's hand Liz had a vision. In the vision Buffy was fighting a huge nest of vampires all at once.and she was an absolutely incredible fighter.within no time she had taken out the whole group. Those were pretty good vampires too. That many vampires would have taken their group forever to kill. Liz looked up at Buffy and said "Wow. You really are the slayer." Max looked at her and said "Wait did you have a premonition?" Liz nodded "Yeah.nothing huge.just you killing a whole nest of vamps by yourself in like two seconds." Buffy laughed, she couldn't help it. Even Angel smiled. "Yeah, I do that basically every day. Not always a nest though." She said, still grinning brightly. Millie giggled slightly and then said "It's like we're meeting a celebrity." John laughed and shook his head at his girlfriend "Yeah kinda." He said, still laughing. Liz studied Buffy's face for a moment before saying "It really is kind of amazing." Vivian smiled kindly at Buffy and said "I've always believed that you were real but the others just thought you were some sort of fairytale." Willow smiled and said "Yeah well you'd be surprised how many fairy tales are actually true stories." Millie and Liz exchanged confused glances and then just shrugged and smiled. Then Max cleared his throat and said "Do you think we should maybe start trying to meet the other people here." He glanced around at the other cars and Buffy followed his gaze. "Yeah I guess you're right." She said as she looked over at the convertible. "Let's go then." She said and She, Willow, Angel, Liz and Max all headed to the convertible. Nina was mid sentence when they arrived at the car and she stopped talking and turned around quickly to look at them. Willow stepped right up to the car and said "Hi there. Sorry to be blunt but.do you have powers?" Buffy and Angel both laughed this time and Buffy said "You sure are tact girl today aren't you?" Then she looked at the newest group and said "We're trying to figure out why we are all here and we think that maybe everyone here has powers of some sort. We do." Belle was a little confused but something about Buffy just convinced her that she was trustworthy. "Yeah we do.well we think so. We used to be potential slayers.and now." Willow gasped and said "Yay for my spell! Okay we can explain everything. This is Buffy." Buffy smiled. Paige's eyes widened and she said "We were on our way to find you!" Buffy laughed and said "Well you found me. So, cool, you guys are in the power club. Our theory seems to be working." Then Luke approached their group. "Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and.Angel?" he asked them in amazement. Willow nodded and said "Yes and you are?" Luke held out his hand with a little laugh and said "Oh yes, sorry my name is Luke and I am a watcher." Willow smiled triumphantly. Angel took everything in and then said slowly "So.everyone here has some sort of power or knowledge of the supernatural. And we all just happened to be pulled off the freeway into some dimension." Then Willow cut in "Anyone else wondering why?"
Just then a short burst of wind came blowing through the area and a tall man appeared in the north. Then a gentle breeze flowed through the circle and a beautiful woman appeared to the west. And then, a huge wind storm started and when it finally stopped completely an old man appeared to the east. They all remained silent and their eyes were locked onto the old man. Slowly the three walked over to them and made their way to the center of the circle. The old man looked at Buffy and smiled. "That my dear is one of the many things we wish to speak to you about." He sighed and said "There is so much for you all to learn and.well really all the time in the world to learn it!" He smiled again at Buffy and then he looked all around the circle and took a deep breath, closing his eyes to better appreciate the air he was taking in. "There is so much good energy in this circle. And I mean pure goodness." He looked over at Ebony and said "How shall we go about explaining this?" Ebony smiled kindly at the old man and said "Well I suppose we will have to be straight forward and direct." The old man nodded and laughed "Yes, yes that is true." He said as he chuckled. Then the tall man said "Perhaps we should tell them who we are?" The old man turned to look at him and said "Ah but who I am would take a lifetime to understand. Or perhaps you meant names? I am Verdezo. This is Ebony and this is Harzor. This dimension is ours and we are the ones who brought you here." Buffy looked at Giles to see if he understood but Giles was just as confused as she was. Ebony then looked around the circle and studied each of there faces. Last she looked at Buffy and she smiled at the slayer. "I must say it is rather nice to meet you all in person. You may not know me but I have known you all your lives. As Verdezo said, my name is Ebony and I reside in this dimension. You should not be afraid for there is nothing on this dimension that Verdezo does not want to be here. Furthermore, only beings that have been touched by or are true forces of good may enter this plane." She looked at Buffy for a moment and concentrated. Then she reached out her hand and took Buffy's hand. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In that moment Buffy felt completely content and harmonious. She held onto the feeling, trying to savor it and then she opened her eyes again and looked into Ebony's eyes. "I believe you." She replied, still looking into Ebony's eyes. "Your eyes," she said "they.you're not as young as you look." Ebony smiled and said "You're even smarter than you look. Yes I am far older than I appear to be. In fact I am 515 years old. And I'm still the youngest of the three of us." She smiled at her companions and then turned back to Buffy. "The power that runs through your body is far older than me." She took a step closer to Buffy and whispered "The power is stronger in you than any I have seen before. The pure force of good.it's beautiful." Then she let her eyes wander away and fall upon Angel. She slowly moved closer to him and said "You are the most incredible being. So dark and harsh but yet so bright and gentle.I've never seen such a thing." She smiled and brushed her finger lightly across his face. "And so much love. It's incredible. The love.It gives you power. I see. It's her." Ebony had been closing her eyes, feeling his power rush through her and now she opened her eyes and said "Such a strange thing." Then she stepped back and looked at Xander, Willow, Dawn, Angel and Giles. Ebony sighed and looked at Buffy once more "Their love for you is more pure and true than any I have ever seen." She walked to the center again and scanned the crowd. "You were correct. We have brought you here because you are the most powerful forces of good on the Earth. And it is time for you to learn. There are dark times ahead and it is up to you to stop them before they destroy the Earth and evil rules supreme once more. I have seen many things in my days. My brother has seen more.and Verdezo.he has seen everything. He is as old as the universe itself." A few people gasped but most just looked confused. Ebony was not surprised. She walked determinedly to the center of the circle and stood on top of the rock. "Our job for eternity is to protect the Earth and not allow anything.catastrophic to happen. We cannot do everything though and that is why we need you. We will train you and teach you and strengthen your powers until you are ready and then you will return to the Earth to stop the darkness. We will undoubtedly have to do some of the fighting from up here since it may be a little while before you are ready. So what do you say? Will you help us?" She looked each person in the eyes and knew her answer. "Thank you." Then she turned to Harzor "Your turn." She said with a smile as she hopped down off the rock. Harzor smirked at his younger sister and then he stepped onto the rock himself. "Alright, for today we will be spitting up into three different groups. You will go start out with Verdezo, Ebony, or me and then we will switch so that you are able to learn from all of us. For now the groups will be thus- Willow, Dawn, Wood, Giles, Luke, Nicolas, Nina, Fred, Diana, Marissa, Anita and Ryan are with Verdezo. Buffy, Angel, Vi, Liz, Vivian, Belle, Wes, Abigail, Vincent, Ian, Holly and Juliet are with Ebony. Xander, Faith, Rona, Kennedy, Max, Jonathon, Kaori, Aurora, Millie, Paige, Andrew, Gunn and Lorne are with me." He stepped down and he, Ebony, and Verdezo moved to three different openings followed by their groups.
Ebony smiled kindly at her group when they had come into formation around her. "Hello again everyone! I do hope you are all well. The first thing we will be working on is controlling and using our emotions. For many years people have believed that emotions were a weakness and only served to distract you from your goal. But that is certainly not true. I was extremely happy to see that you discovered this Ms. Summers." She gave Buffy a heart felt smile and then continued. "Emotions give us power, drive, and a sense of purpose. You will never see me more destructive than when I am angry at my enemy. But emotions can be dangerous. They can be taken too far. That is why you must learn to control them and use them correctly. Each of you has a very high capacity for emotion and your emotions are directly linked to your powers. I would like to make a demonstration for you. Holly, Ian and Vi please come forward." They all looked at each other and then stepped forward. "Holly has moderate magical abilities am I correct?" Holly nodded and glanced at Ian uncertainly. "What I will do is cast a spell to show Holly's magical power through a.sort of aura around her." She whispered a few words and suddenly a glowing red light appeared around Holly. "Now I'm very sorry if I embarrass any of you but it is all for the sake of learning. Holly, close your eyes. Now Vi, please approach Holly and kiss her lightly on the lips." Vi hesitated a moment and then did as she was asked. Holly's light shivered slightly and then returned to the exact same color as before. "Now Ian, please do the same." Ian walked over to Holly slowly and kissed her gently. This time Holly's light began to glow and grew into a darker red. It was also giving off heat to those nearby her. Ebony smiled, whispered a few more words, and the light went away. "Do you see?" she asked as she looked at the group. They all nodded, their eyes locked on her. "Alright I would like you to break into partners. Buffy and Angel, Liz and Vivian, Holly and Ian, Belle and Wes, Abigail and Vi, Vincent and Juliet, please sit down on the ground, facing each other, hold hands and close your eyes. Clear your mind of all thoughts and concentrate only on the feel of your hand on there's. Be perfectly still. Continue to clear your mind. Relax. Make no sounds. Now open your eyes and remain calm." They all opened their eyes, expecting to see their partners face in front of them but instead they saw a world of pure colors. Each person around them was a different color. When Angel opened his eyes he was almost blinded by the light. He looked around. The others had normal colors, Holly was an orange red, Wes was forest green.but Buffy was different. She was light. She was beautiful light that shinned like the sun and warmed his soul. It shined white, and light blue, and purple, and yellow, and deep red, and orange, and black, and bright green. It was every color imaginable but at the same time it was no color.just light. And he wasn't normal either. He was a deep rich black that was somehow glowing with pure light. And then he figured it out. He was glowing with Buffy's light. Buffy was the good inside him that made him shine. She was part of him. Completely. Finally Ebony waved her hand and their sight returned to normal. They were all looking at Buffy in amazement and now they switched their sights to her. "What just happened?" Buffy said, slightly out of breath. "I have simply showed you the pure essence of you. Your most basic emotional state. Who you really are..." Ebony smiled and looked over at Buffy and Angel. "I have to say I am now even more impressed with you than I was before Ms. Summers." She said kindly as she walked over to the couple. "I have only known a few beings in my long life to have an essence such as yours. Mine is rather similar, as is Verdezo's. Ours are different of course since no two beings have the same essence, but they are indeed similar. I don't know if you understood what Angel's essence meant or not. The black that would have been there due to his state as a vampire has been changed. He glows with the light of your essence. I was right. Your love gives him power." She smiled and turned back to the whole group. "Thank you all for doing that. The very fact that you were able to complete in such an extraordinary task says a lot about you."
Meanwhile, Harzor was gathering his group together. "Today I will help you find the root of your power. I strongly believe that each of you has more power than you think you do and I want to help you bring it out." He concentrated hard and scanned the group. "Millie. What powers do you currently control?" Millie looked up at Harzor and said calmly "sensing powers and emotions." Harzor looked at her for a moment and said "You have more power than that." Confusion spread across her face and she said "What?" Harzor smiled, which was not something he did extremely often and said "I mean that you have more powers that you are not aware of." Millie nodded slowly and said "Like what?" Harzor motioned for her to come forward. "You have another power that you are not aware of that links very closely to your other powers. If you concentrate extremely hard, I believe you have the ability to read peoples minds." Millie stared at him for a second and said "Woah." He nodded to her and then looked at the others in the group. "All of you have more power than you believe you do. I would like you to line up and think about the powers that you do have. Be they magical, physical, or mental. I will walk along the line and work with each of you individually. With any luck we may be able to start bringing out your true powers by the end of the day. And believe me a day here is much longer than a day on Earth." They followed his instructions and thought about their 'powers'. Surprisingly, each person he worked with made a slight improvement. Millie was even able to read Kennedy's thoughts about wondering what Willow was doing. She laughed, looked at Kennedy and said "Cool." Jonathon was now able to send spurts of fire from his finger tips and Max could manage to condense the molecules in the air enough to create objects out of it. They all found themselves strengthened and empowered.
Verdezo had his group sitting around a campfire he had created with a thought and they were all hanging on his every word. When Verdezo looked at them they felt like he was able to see every inch of their brain. And of course they were right. Verdezo examined each of his group members closely before he began to talk. He sat down on a tree stump that materialized beneath him as he sat and said "You will all get a chance to work with each of us. The first thing you will learn about with Ebony is emotion and the pure essence of a person. With Harzor you will first learn about your powers and he will help you make them grow as well as help you gain new ones if they are within you. They will go on to teach you many other things that are related to those areas. With me you will try to gain a deeper understanding of all that is in this world and the many others. You will learn about all the forces of darkness, good, and the ones in between. And you will learn to use the natural wisdom and logic that you already have. You will enter your own minds in order to truly understand yourself. I have lived forever, quite literally, and I know a great deal and one of the most important things that I have learned is that true power comes from knowledge and wisdom. Now we shall begin the first exercise. Follow my instructions closely. Close your eyes and concentrate on the point between your eyes. You do not need to force yourself to go cross eyed in order to do this but merely think hard about that spot. Now clear your mind entirely. Think only about the sound of my voice. Now I would like you to search through your mind and find the earliest memory of your life that you can possibly remember. Now go back even farther.and even farther. NOW! You should see before you an image you have never been able to recall but remember better than any others. You should be seeing the moment when you were born into this world. It may be from your mother's womb or it may be from some sort of incubation pod. It doesn't matter. This is the first moment that you existed in the world. Now I want you to give yourself up to your mind. Let your mind take you on a journey. Let your life flash before your eyes in detail. Concentrate." Verdezo paced around the group and weaved in and out of the scattered rows of people. "When you are finished open your eyes and see the world that you are in now." He said as he made his way back to his tree stump. Slowly but surely they all finished up and opened their eyes. Now what they saw before them was a huge picture like a TV screen. On this screen they were looking at the beautiful overview of and LA night skyline. Verdezo smiled as he looked at the screen. "From this picture you can see any place in the entire world, and not only the earth but every planet in the galaxy, not to mention all the different dimensions. Anywhere you want to see, you can see it here. It can only be viewed once have viewed yourself entirely. But we will get back to that later." He said and with a small wave of his hand the picture disappeared. "I would like you all to pick a memory that changed your life profoundly. Now think about what you would be like now if that had not happened. Really think about it." He waited a while as they all thought and then he began to study their faces. "Willow." He said suddenly and she looked up at him in alarm. "What memory are you thinking of?" He said, sitting down again on his tree stump and watching Willow closely. Willow tried to remain clam as she looked up at Verdezo and said "Well I was thinking about what would have happened if Buffy never came to Sunnydale." Verdezo nodded and said "Very good. What do you see?" Willow thought for a moment and said "Well I was thinking about it. And I would probably be a vampire. And then I remembered the time when vampire me escaped from some dimension. And I don't really know how I was able to make this connection but do you suppose the dimension she was in was where Buffy had never come to Sunnydale? I mean it would make sense. Maybe Anya granted a wish. It could have been Cordelia. After Xander cheated she could have wished that. Is that it?" Verdezo only smiled. Then he stood up and looked around. "You see now how much more you can understand when you truly understand yourself. You are completely correct young Willow. Everyone remember this. You have far more knowledge inside you than you have ever dared to dream. If you can find a way to unleash that knowledge and claim it for your own then there is truly no problem you cannot solve and no obstacle you cannot overcome. Remember that."
Each group worked for hours and hours. The time was so different there. It was dark when they wanted it to be dark and light when they wanted it to be light. If Harzor needed darkness then it would be dark where his group was staying. At the same time it could be light where Ebony was staying and storming where Verdezo was. They were in complete control. Then after a very long time working with their groups Verdezo called them all together and told they to take a break and then they would switch leaders. Then Verdezo had created a huge buffet table in front of them as well as a few bathrooms. They were all extremely gracious and immediately went to replenish themselves and then relax. Buffy grabbed a bagel with cream cheese and it and then she and Angel met up with Willow Xander and Giles and sat down together to eat. Faith and Wood headed over to the limo and weren't seen for a while. Then Max and Liz, who were holding hands, headed over to their group, smiled and said "Can we sit here?" Buffy nodded enthusiastically and they joined the group. "Today has been so crazy." Liz said looking over at Buffy and Angel, who were in her group. "Which one do you think we'll get next?" Buffy shrugged and looked at Willow "I dunno. Was yours cool Will?" she asked her best friend. Willow nodded like crazy and exclaimed "Yeah! It was amazing. It was all about knowledge and understanding yourself. It was incredible." She sighed as she remembered it and ate a piece of her orange. Then Xander swallowed his sandwich and said "Well my stage was pretty awesome. It was all about power and harnessing it and finding the power within you. I have to say I think I've improved quite a bit. Apparently I really am perseptive." Max then nodded in agreement and said "Yeah that Harzor guy really knows his stuff. Everyone was able to get some sort of new power. Look at this." He said and he held up his hand and squinted his eyes in concentration. Then the air started to change and change until finally a rose appeared out of thin air and he grabbed it and handed it to Liz. She giggled slightly and smelled the rose. "It's beautiful, thank you. And wow!" She said as she looked at him with eyes gleaming. Xander watched them for a moment and then said "You guys are like together right?" Willow hit him in the arm and said "Xander!" But Liz just laughed and held up her finger that was decorated with a beautiful diamond ring and a gold wedding band. "We're married." She said as she looked into Max's eyes. She wanted to kiss him right then but decided she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of people she had just met. Buffy's heart melted as she watched them. She wanted that so badly. She was just as in love if not more but she couldn't have the guy. She braved a glance and Angel and wished she hadn't when she saw that he was looking at her too. Their eyes met and they both knew. Buffy took a deep breath and tore her eyes away. If she let herself think about it too much it would only hurt her more. Just then the three sisters Paige, Belle, and Nina came over to them and sat down. "Hey guys." Belle said brightly "How's it going?" Willow smiled in return and said "All goodness here how bout yourselves?" Nina laughed and said "Same. Wow that was pretty intense stuff wasn't it?" she asked looking at Willow who had been her partner for a few of the exercises. First Willow had been with Giles but then they had been instructed to find someone they did not know. Willow really liked Nina. She seemed like an extremely down to earth and an all together amazing person. "It was rough. But fun." She said with a silly smile. "I hate to say it but I actually can't wait to get back out there." To her surprise they all muttered in agreement. "It's just so.cool." Paige said as she thought it. "Yeah it's all so different.but it feels right." Buffy said slowly. Then Angel finally voiced the thing he had been thinking about for some time "What do you all think about this coming darkness thing?" Buffy thought for a moment and said "Well I'm not quite sure. I mean we've dealt with crazy amounts of apocalypses and we've never been brought here before." Giles cut in and said "Nor have any other slayers before you." Buffy nodded and said "Exactly. So this must be big or they wouldn't have brought us together. Apparently it's going to take all of us. And we will all need to be stronger than we are now. So." Angel finished her thought "It must be huge." They all sat in silence for a moment and then finally Liz said "Anybody want my peach?" and smiled innocently around the circle. They all laughed and Xander took the peach.
Finally Ebony walked out into the clearing by the buffet table and said "Alright Harzor's group come with me, my group go with Verdezo, and Verdezo's group go with Harzor." And then she headed back to her designated area, snapped her fingers and seated herself gracefully on the beautiful velvet chair that instantly appeared before her. They all said good bye to their friends in different groups and made their way to their new destination. Ebony, Harzor, and Verdezo did the same thing with this group as the one before. Xander's color was a magnificent blue, that was lit up beautifully. Ebony investigated it a little further and then discovered that all of those who loved Buffy shone with her light. And the colors that her light took on were all the colors of her friends and loved ones. With Harzor, Diana started to learn how to transport herself by creating a portal in her minds eye and imagining herself stepping through it. Verdezo spent some time working on Buffy and then he stopped and thought for a moment "Oh dear." He said quietly "Yes it's true." He mumbled to himself as he rubbed at his chin in contemplation. "Would you mind meeting with Ebony and me during our next break?" He asked finally looking at a thoroughly surprised and very tired out Buffy. She managed to weakly say "Sure." before she collapsed into Angel's strong arms. Angel held her tightly and supported her weight while she regained her strength. "Wow. Something about the power we were working on bringing out. It's.it's something big. I don't even know if I can handle it." She looked up into Angel's eyes, her body still leaning against his, and said "It was the strongest power I've ever felt." She said as she breathed in deeply. She felt her strength come back to her and she slowly stood herself up. She held on to Angel's hand tightly and he gave her strength. If he could, he would willingly give her every bit of strength he had. Each of the groups continued to work on their topic until it was finally time for the next break. Verdezo asked Buffy to wait there and went off to talk to Ebony. "Angel.will you wait with me? I'm not really sure what's going on and I don't want to loose my strength again like that." Angel smiled and said "Of course." He took her hand in his again and pulled her closer to him. He then hugged her tightly, her beautiful aroma filling his head and causing him to think only of her. Buffy's entire body felt like it was melting. The feel of his body pressed against hers was driving her mad. She wanted so badly to just lift her head up and kiss him. Every inch of her body was yearning for her to do it but she knew.she knew she could not. But she wanted to so badly. Just when she thought she could resist no longer and was about to give in, Ebony swept over to them and said "Buffy." Buffy jumped back quickly and then blushed furiously. "Buffy, there's no time for long explanations so let's just get right to it. We believe that you have a great power inside of you that has never yet been tapped. A power far greater than that of any other being that walks the Earth." She smiled at her companions and said "That doesn't exactly include us though." Buffy's head was spinning. She looked at Angel for help but he seemed just as confused as she did. "What.what do you mean?" she asked Ebony. Ebony smiled again, a very mysterious smile, and said "We believe that you have a power inside you that would enable you to conquer any force and destroy any villain. I have always felt that you were stronger than the average slayer. You have always been different because of your friends. It appears that you really are rather different. You have always said that your emotions help you fight. Well you could never have known how right you were." She looked over at Verdezo and he nodded slowly. She looked right at Buffy, took a deep breath, and said "You have the ability to turn your emotions into power." Buffy was still looking at her blankly so she continued "Make fire from your anger, heal with your love, and fly with your joy. The possibilities are endless. Deep inside you is a pool of power. If you can reach it.and we will help you.but if you reach it Buffy you would be unstoppable. With a bit of concentration you could use whatever power you wanted to." She stopped for a moment and stared into Buffy's eyes. "You could.you could kill an entire army with your scream." Suddenly everything got very blurry and it seemed to Buffy like time had slowed down. Could this be true? Could she have that power? Stop. She screamed inside her head. Don't think. Don't! Buffy's mind was whirling faster and faster. Everything was spinning. She couldn't. What? Fast. Spinning. Stop. No. It can't be. Boom! Buffy feinted. Angel threw his arms out as fast as he could and caught her slender body. He slowly lowered her to the ground and knelt down himself. He laid her head upon his lap and stroked her hair gently. Then he looked up at Ebony and said "Is this true?" Ebony only smiled. She moved closer and then gracefully knelt herself down on the other side of Buffy. She stroked the girl's face gently and looked up at Angel. "She will be just fine Angel. Angel I understand your love for her completely. I can feel it every time I look into your eyes. And I know that she loves you just as deeply. Angel I am going to give you a gift." And with that she reached forward and touched his cheek. Instantly a rush of power was sent through him and he felt his body moving. He closed his eyes tightly as the power swept around him. Finally it ceased and he opened his eyes cautiously. *He was in some sort of house. It was a beautiful mansion with a swimming pool in the back and magnificent gardens surrounding the place. It was the ultimate dream house. Suddenly he could hear voices coming from upstairs. He followed the noise and it led him to a gorgeous mahogany stairwell. Just then a pretty young girl in her teens came rushing down the stairs. "Mom I need to eat something before Ben shows up!" she called as she hurried into the kitchen. Obviously she couldn't see him. "Alright Ebony but eat something healthy." Said the most beautiful and harmonious voice Angel had ever heard. He knew that voice. He turned up the stairs again and crept up slowly. When he reached the landing he couldn't believe his eyes. There, right before him, was Buffy. She was obviously pregnant and she was holding a two year old boy in her arms while a darling little six year old played with her barbies on the floor at her feet. Buffy smiled down at the young girl with obvious motherly affection as the girl changed the doll into an evening gown. "Willow dear can you bring your dolls into your room?" she asked kindly while she bounced the toddler up and down. Little Willow sighed, blew her delicate blond locks out of her face and said "Oh-Kay." She picked up all her toys and then stood up triumphantly. She was just about to enter her extraordinarily cute room when she stopped in her tracks and turned around excitedly. "Mommy can I play dress up with Xander?" she asked and Angel noticed that her eyes were lit up like fireworks. Willow, Xander and Ebony, Angel thought to himself. Of course that would be their names. Buffy turned around to face her daughter and lowered baby Xander to the floor "Alright but no dressing him up like a princess. He's fragile." Willow giggles and said "I promise." Xander hurried over to her as fast as his little toddler legs would take him and Willow took his hand and led him into the room. Buffy sighed and headed for the stairs. Angel followed after her, mesmerized by her beauty. Even when she's pregnant she's still as radiant as ever. Buffy entered the kitchen and smirked at Ebony, who was eating a milky way and drinking a root beer. "Healthy?" she asked skeptically. Ebony tossed her dark brown hair and rolled her deep drown eyes at her mother. Then her face broke into a smile and she said "Alright, alright, I'll eat a yogurt." Buffy nodded at her teenager and turned away. Suddenly her face brightened up and she said "Angel. You're home." For a moment he thought she had spotted him but then he glanced behind him and saw himself.only a little older.walking in thought the garage door. The sun was shinning brightly on his tanned skin and he was wearing a slick and handsome business suit. The older Angel dropped his briefcase onto the counter and made his way directly to Buffy. He hugged her lovingly and kissed her gently on the lips. Then he looked down at her stomach and placed his hand lightly on the curve. "And how are little Joyce and Giles doing?" He asked. He was positively glowing with joy. Just then Willow and Xander came running down the stairs "Daddy, Daddy!" Willow called out and she jumped up into his arms when she reached him. "Hey sweetie, what you got there?" he asked her as held her proudly. Xander reached him now and so he picked him up with his other arm. Willow smiled mischievously and said "It's a present." Her father gasped and said "Oh yeah? For who?" Willow giggle and said "For you and mommy silly! It's from the pretty lady that looked like Eby. She had purdy eyes!" Angel looked over at Buffy and they exchanged a look "Hmm. When did she give you this sweetie?" Willow tilted her head and thought for a moment "I.I think it was last night. It happened during my dream." She said proudly. Angel nodded and walked over to the counter. He place his two children on top of the counter and took the present. "Well I guess I should open it then right?" he said, trying to remain exuberant for his kids. He opened the package and inside was a huge breath taking diamond with a note stuck on to it. The note read To Buffy and Angel, May your love continue to grow with each passing minute. Thought you'd like to know that I've been watching over you. And I will be watching over your kids as well. Thank you for the light that you bring into this world. If you ever want or need to contact us just look into this diamond and read the inscription out loud. This could be fun for a vacation.just a suggestion. Love is your greatest gift. Always remember to be grateful for it. Eternally yours, Ebony PS- Please visit. I could use some one fresh around here. One tear fell onto the paper as the future Angel read the note, Buffy looked up at her husband and then down at the diamond. They both smiled and she took the diamond and brought it up the stairs and into their room. Willow looked at her daddy with innocent, wide open eyes and said "Can we go to the playground now?" He almost burst into tears. "Yes baby. We can." He scooped up his two little kids and turned to Ebony. She smiled at him warmly and he said "We're going on a good vacation this year Eby." Then as soon as Buffy was back down the stairs Angel said "We're going to the park." Buffy smiled and nodded her agreement. Ebony's ride finally showed up and she shouted good bye and ran out the door. Then Buffy, Angel, Willow and Xander all headed out to the playground.* Angel felt a swirl of power coming over him again and soon enough he was back in the dimension, holding the unconscious Buffy on his lap. He looked at Ebony with tears in his eyes and said "Will that.will that really happen?" Ebony nodded slowly, a smile spreading across her face. "The Angel you saw had this exact experience back when he was you. He saw that scene too. He is you." Angel couldn't speak. This was too much. He looked down at Buffy and said "Wake up Buffy, Please." Verdezo nodded and waved his hand over the peaceful slayer. Buffy felt consciousness returning to her body and she opened her eyes very slowly. She looked up and saw Angel's beautiful face hovering above her. "Angel." she whispered with a weak smile. "While I was out.I had a dream. It was so beautiful. Our children." Buffy couldn't speak any more. She just smiled up and Angel and thought longingly about the dream. "It wasn't a dream Buffy." Angel whispered to her before leaning down and kissing her forehead. "It was a vision. I saw it too. It was real." Buffy looked at him with confusion and said "Real?" And then she understood. "Angel!" she cried out looking up into his rich brown eyes. Angel nodded and said "Yes. Buffy I know now that my future belongs to you." And then suddenly Buffy felt her strength return to her. She sat up and embraced Angel tightly. "I love you so much Angel. I love you so much!" She said, pulling him in closer to her body. Angel wrapped his arms around her body and held her tightly. He never wanted to let her go. "I love you too Buffy. More than you will ever know." And then Buffy leaned back slightly and slid her face in front of his. "You have no idea how bad I've wanted to do this." She said and pressed her lips against him. They kissed passionately, holding on to each other. Wanting to be as close together as they possibly could. And for that moment they were one. One body, one mind, one soul. One love. Buffy let out a little moan and then pulled back her head ever so slightly so that their bodies were still pressed up against each other and her lips were still touching his when she said "I'm never letting you go away again. Never." Angel agreed with his eyes and Buffy said "Alright I should probably be getting back to work. Some incredible power." Then Angel stood up and pulled her up with him. He slid one arm around her waist and then turned his body to face Ebony, who for her part was trying to look like she hadn't been watching the whole time. Ebony looked at them for a second longer and then she sighed and said "See. Beautiful." Then she turned and went to get Verdezo again. When they returned Verdezo took Buffy's and Angel's hands in his and said "Now you are ready to find your power. Close your eyes. Now Buffy, I want you to simply let yourself give in to the emotions you are feeling right now. The love, the joy, the desire, the longing.and the ever constant pain. Let yourself swim in the emotion. Think only of the emotion. It is everything. It is pure and good." Then Verdezo paused a moment before saying "Now open your eyes." Buffy did as she was told and was startled to see Angel about three feet bellow her. She looked around and realized that she was floating in mid air. "Try to move around a bit. Don't be scared." So she did. They moved her hands along like she was swimming and her body moved with her. "Now try to move with out your arms moving you. Think the move." And so she did. Buffy started giggling madly and Angel looked up to see her doing somersaults in mid air. This was great. Finally Ebony called out "Alright you can come down now." And so she did. Angel extended his arm up in the air. Buffy grabbed his hand and he pulled her down the ground. Ebony moved over to Buffy and said "You see now what you can do? The possibilities are endless. Practice this power. Don't be afraid. If you can conquer this power than you will truly be unstoppable." Then she looked at Angel and said "Help her." Then she turned away and went back over to Verdezo saying "Alright go eat some food before we get to the next group switch." And so Angel took Buffy's hand in his and they walked over to their friends. Angel sat down first and Buffy sat down next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. Willow looked shocked for a moment and then she blurted out "Okay did I miss something?" They both laughed and Buffy smiled at her best friend and said "Well kinda. Um.guess I'll just come right out and say it.we're back together. Ebony showed us the future and.well let's just say, look forward to meeting Willow junior, one of my five children. Plus there's this prophesy that says Angel will turn human once he fulfills his destiny. And Ebony says it's true." Willow shrieked. "Ahhhhhh! Buffy this is incredible. Its.it's.Ah!" She exclaimed as she leaned over and tackled Buffy and Angel. "Yeah well we don't know how long that's going to be. And there's still the curse." Angel said, making sure Buffy understood. Buffy sighed and nodded to show her understanding "We'll be careful. Hey, I'll even stand you up on a date or forget an anniversary just to make you be not perfectly happy." She grinned innocently. "Yeah, that's a good plan." Xander joked. "So wait was that the reason they kept you after?" Buffy and Angel exchanged a look and then Buffy said "Well no not exactly. Though in a way, yes. I have a new power. It streams from my emotions.it's kinda strange. Apparently if I concentrate hard enough on a certain emotion I can do basically anything. After Angel and I.got back together, I flew." Giles cleared his throat and said "Flew? As in flying?" Buffy nodded and everyone stared at her. "Wow B." Faith said, obviously impressed. "So if you got all angry at something could you like kill it with your glare or something?" Buffy shrugged and said "Not sure yet. I'm gonna keep working on it and stuff. We'll see what happens." Then Liz came running over there and said "Oh hey guys I'm supposed to tell everyone to move on to your next stage." and then she ran off to tell the next group. Willow finished up her pizza and said "Alright later guys. I'm gonna go work on my powers." Willow jumped to her feet and headed straight over to the area where Harzor was waiting. Liz then returned over to their group and looked at Buffy and Angel. "You guys are a couple?" She asked with a curious smile. Buffy shrugged and said "Well we've always been in love but we had to break up.well it's complicated but now we're back together. 'Cause things are better. Kinda.It's hard to explain." Liz nodded and gave Buffy a silly look and then shook her head and said "Whatever you say" and turned around and headed over to Verdezo's station. Buffy shrugged and they followed after her. The next few hours were spent in the same way as before. They all worked tirelessly to understand their emotions, powers, and selves. Finally Verdezo commanded that they all go to bed and get some sleep. As soon as he had said this, tents appeared behind him in a huge clearing. The tents had been assigned to different groups of people. Buffy and Angel were sharing a tent that had a king size bed, a dresser filled with black and white clothes for Angel and fun stylish clothes for Buffy. Buffy was so excited she danced around the room singing "pretty, pretty, pretty tent!" Then Angel grabbed her from behind and said "You're cute," before kissing her neck lightly. Buffy smiled and bit her lip in mock thought. "How cute?' she asked him innocently. "Too cute for words." He said as he spun her around to face him. She let out a short giggle and leaned in closer to her love. She looked into his eyes for a moment and then walked backwards towards the bed, pulling him along with her by his shirt. Angel couldn't stop smiling. Not that he wanted to. Buffy placed her hands on his chest and pushed him down onto the bed. Then she sat down on his lap, one leg on each side of him and said "Cute?" Angel smiled and said "Well.now that I think about it the word might be beautiful." Buffy leaned forward and kissed him on the lips lightly. "Do you know how many times I've dreamed about this?" he whispered into her ear. "How many times?" she asked innocently as she took his hands and locked her fingers with his. Angel laughed and shook his head. Then he looked back into her eyes and said in all seriousness "More times then there are stars in the sky." Buffy laid her head down against his chest and he held her tightly. "And I don't mean kissing you. I mean.being with you." He clarified truthfully. "Angel I love you so much." Angel held her, wanting more than anything in the world to keep her safe in his arms forever. "Shhhhh.I love you too Buffy." He said before kissing her on the top of the head. And that's where they stayed. Buffy fell asleep in his arms and she had never felt safer. Angel lay awake for awhile listening to the rhythm of her breathing and then finally he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Meanwhile Belle was jumping up and down on her twin bed, one of three in their tent, and spinning in circles. Nina was reading a book about demon mythology and Paige was just lying on her bed watching them both. "Belle?" Paige said as she spun her legs around and sat up on the edge of her bed. "What?" Belle replied as she looked over at her sister. She saw the serious look on Paige's face and she stopped bouncing and sat down on the edge of her bed as well. "It's just.the whole coming darkness thing.it's a little strange. I mean with all the powerful people we have here we still can't beat this thing? We need help? Or maybe we all needed to be brought together. And trained I suppose. I mean I've gotten so much stronger already in just one day. I dunno, what do you think?" Belle thought for a moment and tilted her head to the side. Finally she sighed and said "You know Paige I'm not really sure. I think it's pretty clear that this is something bigger than any of us have ever faced before. What that means I can't tell ya. But my thinking is that nothings going to be able to stop this group. I mean there's Buffy slayer queen and all the slayerettes. Not to mention that Willow girl who's one badass witch. Then there's that New York group. All of them have different powers. And plus there's Angel. A vampire with a soul.it's actually oddly poetic. All in all I'd say the good side has got about 37 secret weapons right here and they're all gonna work together. Now add that to Ebony, Harzor and Verdezo and I think this coming darkness is gonna look like a mouse's shadow. Now what do you think about that." Paige smiled and hugged her big sister. "I think you are completely right. As always." Then she hesitated for a moment and said "Well.at least I hope you're right."
Dawn couldn't sleep. During her session with Harzor he had mentioned something about the power of the key. What could this mean? Was she still the key? And if so did she still have some sort of power? Her head was filled with questions and there was only one way she could think of to get answers. She would go find Harzor. She pulled the blanket off and swung her legs around to reach the floor. She studied Rona's face and concluded that she was indeed asleep. Then, as soundlessly as she could, she stood up, walked to the door, unzipped it and stepped out in the cold night air. "Harzor?" she whispered, looking around as she closed the door again. She took a few steps away and again called out "Harzor?" And just like that, he appeared before her. He smiled at her knowingly and said "I thought you might come." Then Dawn thought she heard him say "I hoped you would." But she shook it off and figured she was just hearing things. "You would like to know more about your state as the Key, am I right?" he asked her calmly and began to walk away from the tents. Dawn nodded slowly "Yes. I really don't understand." Harzor simply continued to walk, slowly but determinedly. "Um.are we going to meet Ver-" Harzor's eyes lit up with fury "Don't say his name!" he hissed. Dawn was freaked. "Wh-what? Why?" she asked, thoroughly confused. Harzor tried to regain his composure and say "He'll hear you. If you say his name in this dimension he will come. Just as I did when you said my name." This did not feel right. Not at all. "Right.and that would be bad why?" Harzor did not answer. "You know what? I really don't need to know about this key stuff. It's just not important. I'll go back now." Dawn turned to leave and found that she was physically unable to move in the direction of the camp. She began shaking, her eyes filled with fear. She looked at Harzor with in horror as her legs began to move on their own. "What are you doing to me?" she said frantically, trying with all her might to stop her legs from moving. To get away. Why was this happening? This could NOT be happening. She tried to scream but no sound came out. 'Help' she thought but none would come. She was trapped here all alone. All alone with.this.man. And then she saw it. She wasn't alone. Lying on the ground, arms tied behind their backs and mouths bound were six girls. Belle, Liz, Juliet, Fred, Millie, and Vi. Dawn would be number seven. She watched in horror as Harzor waved his hand and a portal opened right before them. Then he lifted the girls from the ground and pulled all seven of them to him. Just as the portal closed, Dawn saw Ebony and Verdezo running to stop them. But it was too late. They were already gone.
Buffy looked around her, bewildered and met eyes with Willow. "Umm.what just happened there?" Willow asked as she too looked around her in wonder. Buffy shook her head and looked out the window. A limo, van, mini-van and a convertible sat there as well. "Guess it wasn't just us," Xander said as he stood up and made for the door. "Let's go see who's out there." Giles started to say something and then just stood up and followed after Xander. Buffy and Willow shrugged and followed as well. Buffy looked around the bus and said "Stay here guys we'll let you know if it's safe."
Angel had bumped his head against the window when they first landed here and he now rubbed his hand against the bump. "What the hell just happened?" Gunn asked when he opened up his eyes. Fred gasped and said "We're in some other dimension!" Angel could see fear spreading across her face and he couldn't blame her. She had been stuck in an awful dimension for years where humans were considered cows and forced to work there like slaves. Angel peered out the window and looked around. "Buffy!" he cried out as he threw open the door and jumped out. Buffy spun around quickly upon hearing her name and suddenly she saw Angel emerging from the huge limo. "Angel?" she said as she stepped closer to him. Angel ran to her and pulled her into his embrace. "You're alright." Angel whispered as he held her tightly. He had been so afraid that something would happen to her and he would never see her again. The very idea that she could be gone scared him more than anything else ever had. "I was so.I was so worried." Buffy pulled back and looked into his deep brown eyes. "Angel." she said again as emotion swept over her once more. Then she took a deep breath and smiled. "Alright we need to figure out whats going on." Angel nodded and slid his hands off her waist. He turned around and motioned for his friends to get out of the limo and they did. Willow was searching the area slowly with a look of awe on her face. She turned to Angel then and said "Angel.the sun is out and you're alive." Angel turned and looked at her and then looked up in the sky. He had been so concentrated on getting to Buffy that he hadn't even noticed. "I guess.in this reality the sun doesn't hurt me." He said as a smile spread across his lips. That was how it had been in Pylea too. Buffy smiled too and said "You look good in direct light." And then she blushed and turned over to Giles.
Liz was holding onto Max's hand tightly. Millie had jumped onto John's lap when it first happened. "What is this place?" Nicolas had asked as he looked around in astonishment. Vivian was so shocked she couldn't even move. Max peered through the window and saw that there were others there too. At the same time Liz said "There are more people here. Oh and those two groups know each other. Well it seems safe enough. Should we go check it out?" Max nodded and opened the huge van door. They stepped out slowly and Nicolas and Vivian opened their front doors and jumped out as well. Millie followed after them and John followed after her. He was not going to let anything happen to her. Not now. Not ever.
Xander noticed the people pilling out of the van and nudged Buffy. "Hey we don't know those people. It's not just people we know." He realized he was stating the obvious but that was all his brain was capable of doing at the moment. Buffy looked over at the newcomers and said "Well then let's go meet them." She looked at Willow and then Angel and the three of them headed over to the other group. "Hi there," Buffy said with a smile. "Um I'm Buffy.I have no clue whats going on here.um who are you guys?" She looked at Willow for encouragement and Willow just smiled and shrugged. Angel was still looking around and he turned to them and added "Probably a different dimension. Wonder why we were brought here." Then Willow suddenly got an idea "Oh! You don't think maybe all these other people have power stuff too. Do you?" Then she turned towards the other group and smiled hopefully. Max took a step forward, slightly unsure of himself and said "You.you have powers too?" Then Willow smiled triumphantly and said "See! I was so right!" Then she blushed and said "I mean, yes we do. Buffy's the slayer, I'm a.well I guess I'll call it a witch, and Angel's a vampire with a soul. That means he's a good vampire. So don't worry." Willow smiled weakly at the group, hoping they would know what she was talking about. "You're the slayer!" Vivian exclaimed, eyes wide, while Nicolas wrapped his arms around her. Max looked a little more suspicious "The slayer.I always figured that was a myth. And he's a good vampire?" He glanced at Liz who looked as suspicious as he did. Liz shrugged, and said "Well there's a new one. Anyways my name is Liz." Buffy extended her hand and smiled. The moment she took Buffy's hand Liz had a vision. In the vision Buffy was fighting a huge nest of vampires all at once.and she was an absolutely incredible fighter.within no time she had taken out the whole group. Those were pretty good vampires too. That many vampires would have taken their group forever to kill. Liz looked up at Buffy and said "Wow. You really are the slayer." Max looked at her and said "Wait did you have a premonition?" Liz nodded "Yeah.nothing huge.just you killing a whole nest of vamps by yourself in like two seconds." Buffy laughed, she couldn't help it. Even Angel smiled. "Yeah, I do that basically every day. Not always a nest though." She said, still grinning brightly. Millie giggled slightly and then said "It's like we're meeting a celebrity." John laughed and shook his head at his girlfriend "Yeah kinda." He said, still laughing. Liz studied Buffy's face for a moment before saying "It really is kind of amazing." Vivian smiled kindly at Buffy and said "I've always believed that you were real but the others just thought you were some sort of fairytale." Willow smiled and said "Yeah well you'd be surprised how many fairy tales are actually true stories." Millie and Liz exchanged confused glances and then just shrugged and smiled. Then Max cleared his throat and said "Do you think we should maybe start trying to meet the other people here." He glanced around at the other cars and Buffy followed his gaze. "Yeah I guess you're right." She said as she looked over at the convertible. "Let's go then." She said and She, Willow, Angel, Liz and Max all headed to the convertible. Nina was mid sentence when they arrived at the car and she stopped talking and turned around quickly to look at them. Willow stepped right up to the car and said "Hi there. Sorry to be blunt but.do you have powers?" Buffy and Angel both laughed this time and Buffy said "You sure are tact girl today aren't you?" Then she looked at the newest group and said "We're trying to figure out why we are all here and we think that maybe everyone here has powers of some sort. We do." Belle was a little confused but something about Buffy just convinced her that she was trustworthy. "Yeah we do.well we think so. We used to be potential slayers.and now." Willow gasped and said "Yay for my spell! Okay we can explain everything. This is Buffy." Buffy smiled. Paige's eyes widened and she said "We were on our way to find you!" Buffy laughed and said "Well you found me. So, cool, you guys are in the power club. Our theory seems to be working." Then Luke approached their group. "Buffy Summers, Willow Rosenberg and.Angel?" he asked them in amazement. Willow nodded and said "Yes and you are?" Luke held out his hand with a little laugh and said "Oh yes, sorry my name is Luke and I am a watcher." Willow smiled triumphantly. Angel took everything in and then said slowly "So.everyone here has some sort of power or knowledge of the supernatural. And we all just happened to be pulled off the freeway into some dimension." Then Willow cut in "Anyone else wondering why?"
Just then a short burst of wind came blowing through the area and a tall man appeared in the north. Then a gentle breeze flowed through the circle and a beautiful woman appeared to the west. And then, a huge wind storm started and when it finally stopped completely an old man appeared to the east. They all remained silent and their eyes were locked onto the old man. Slowly the three walked over to them and made their way to the center of the circle. The old man looked at Buffy and smiled. "That my dear is one of the many things we wish to speak to you about." He sighed and said "There is so much for you all to learn and.well really all the time in the world to learn it!" He smiled again at Buffy and then he looked all around the circle and took a deep breath, closing his eyes to better appreciate the air he was taking in. "There is so much good energy in this circle. And I mean pure goodness." He looked over at Ebony and said "How shall we go about explaining this?" Ebony smiled kindly at the old man and said "Well I suppose we will have to be straight forward and direct." The old man nodded and laughed "Yes, yes that is true." He said as he chuckled. Then the tall man said "Perhaps we should tell them who we are?" The old man turned to look at him and said "Ah but who I am would take a lifetime to understand. Or perhaps you meant names? I am Verdezo. This is Ebony and this is Harzor. This dimension is ours and we are the ones who brought you here." Buffy looked at Giles to see if he understood but Giles was just as confused as she was. Ebony then looked around the circle and studied each of there faces. Last she looked at Buffy and she smiled at the slayer. "I must say it is rather nice to meet you all in person. You may not know me but I have known you all your lives. As Verdezo said, my name is Ebony and I reside in this dimension. You should not be afraid for there is nothing on this dimension that Verdezo does not want to be here. Furthermore, only beings that have been touched by or are true forces of good may enter this plane." She looked at Buffy for a moment and concentrated. Then she reached out her hand and took Buffy's hand. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. In that moment Buffy felt completely content and harmonious. She held onto the feeling, trying to savor it and then she opened her eyes again and looked into Ebony's eyes. "I believe you." She replied, still looking into Ebony's eyes. "Your eyes," she said "they.you're not as young as you look." Ebony smiled and said "You're even smarter than you look. Yes I am far older than I appear to be. In fact I am 515 years old. And I'm still the youngest of the three of us." She smiled at her companions and then turned back to Buffy. "The power that runs through your body is far older than me." She took a step closer to Buffy and whispered "The power is stronger in you than any I have seen before. The pure force of good.it's beautiful." Then she let her eyes wander away and fall upon Angel. She slowly moved closer to him and said "You are the most incredible being. So dark and harsh but yet so bright and gentle.I've never seen such a thing." She smiled and brushed her finger lightly across his face. "And so much love. It's incredible. The love.It gives you power. I see. It's her." Ebony had been closing her eyes, feeling his power rush through her and now she opened her eyes and said "Such a strange thing." Then she stepped back and looked at Xander, Willow, Dawn, Angel and Giles. Ebony sighed and looked at Buffy once more "Their love for you is more pure and true than any I have ever seen." She walked to the center again and scanned the crowd. "You were correct. We have brought you here because you are the most powerful forces of good on the Earth. And it is time for you to learn. There are dark times ahead and it is up to you to stop them before they destroy the Earth and evil rules supreme once more. I have seen many things in my days. My brother has seen more.and Verdezo.he has seen everything. He is as old as the universe itself." A few people gasped but most just looked confused. Ebony was not surprised. She walked determinedly to the center of the circle and stood on top of the rock. "Our job for eternity is to protect the Earth and not allow anything.catastrophic to happen. We cannot do everything though and that is why we need you. We will train you and teach you and strengthen your powers until you are ready and then you will return to the Earth to stop the darkness. We will undoubtedly have to do some of the fighting from up here since it may be a little while before you are ready. So what do you say? Will you help us?" She looked each person in the eyes and knew her answer. "Thank you." Then she turned to Harzor "Your turn." She said with a smile as she hopped down off the rock. Harzor smirked at his younger sister and then he stepped onto the rock himself. "Alright, for today we will be spitting up into three different groups. You will go start out with Verdezo, Ebony, or me and then we will switch so that you are able to learn from all of us. For now the groups will be thus- Willow, Dawn, Wood, Giles, Luke, Nicolas, Nina, Fred, Diana, Marissa, Anita and Ryan are with Verdezo. Buffy, Angel, Vi, Liz, Vivian, Belle, Wes, Abigail, Vincent, Ian, Holly and Juliet are with Ebony. Xander, Faith, Rona, Kennedy, Max, Jonathon, Kaori, Aurora, Millie, Paige, Andrew, Gunn and Lorne are with me." He stepped down and he, Ebony, and Verdezo moved to three different openings followed by their groups.
Ebony smiled kindly at her group when they had come into formation around her. "Hello again everyone! I do hope you are all well. The first thing we will be working on is controlling and using our emotions. For many years people have believed that emotions were a weakness and only served to distract you from your goal. But that is certainly not true. I was extremely happy to see that you discovered this Ms. Summers." She gave Buffy a heart felt smile and then continued. "Emotions give us power, drive, and a sense of purpose. You will never see me more destructive than when I am angry at my enemy. But emotions can be dangerous. They can be taken too far. That is why you must learn to control them and use them correctly. Each of you has a very high capacity for emotion and your emotions are directly linked to your powers. I would like to make a demonstration for you. Holly, Ian and Vi please come forward." They all looked at each other and then stepped forward. "Holly has moderate magical abilities am I correct?" Holly nodded and glanced at Ian uncertainly. "What I will do is cast a spell to show Holly's magical power through a.sort of aura around her." She whispered a few words and suddenly a glowing red light appeared around Holly. "Now I'm very sorry if I embarrass any of you but it is all for the sake of learning. Holly, close your eyes. Now Vi, please approach Holly and kiss her lightly on the lips." Vi hesitated a moment and then did as she was asked. Holly's light shivered slightly and then returned to the exact same color as before. "Now Ian, please do the same." Ian walked over to Holly slowly and kissed her gently. This time Holly's light began to glow and grew into a darker red. It was also giving off heat to those nearby her. Ebony smiled, whispered a few more words, and the light went away. "Do you see?" she asked as she looked at the group. They all nodded, their eyes locked on her. "Alright I would like you to break into partners. Buffy and Angel, Liz and Vivian, Holly and Ian, Belle and Wes, Abigail and Vi, Vincent and Juliet, please sit down on the ground, facing each other, hold hands and close your eyes. Clear your mind of all thoughts and concentrate only on the feel of your hand on there's. Be perfectly still. Continue to clear your mind. Relax. Make no sounds. Now open your eyes and remain calm." They all opened their eyes, expecting to see their partners face in front of them but instead they saw a world of pure colors. Each person around them was a different color. When Angel opened his eyes he was almost blinded by the light. He looked around. The others had normal colors, Holly was an orange red, Wes was forest green.but Buffy was different. She was light. She was beautiful light that shinned like the sun and warmed his soul. It shined white, and light blue, and purple, and yellow, and deep red, and orange, and black, and bright green. It was every color imaginable but at the same time it was no color.just light. And he wasn't normal either. He was a deep rich black that was somehow glowing with pure light. And then he figured it out. He was glowing with Buffy's light. Buffy was the good inside him that made him shine. She was part of him. Completely. Finally Ebony waved her hand and their sight returned to normal. They were all looking at Buffy in amazement and now they switched their sights to her. "What just happened?" Buffy said, slightly out of breath. "I have simply showed you the pure essence of you. Your most basic emotional state. Who you really are..." Ebony smiled and looked over at Buffy and Angel. "I have to say I am now even more impressed with you than I was before Ms. Summers." She said kindly as she walked over to the couple. "I have only known a few beings in my long life to have an essence such as yours. Mine is rather similar, as is Verdezo's. Ours are different of course since no two beings have the same essence, but they are indeed similar. I don't know if you understood what Angel's essence meant or not. The black that would have been there due to his state as a vampire has been changed. He glows with the light of your essence. I was right. Your love gives him power." She smiled and turned back to the whole group. "Thank you all for doing that. The very fact that you were able to complete in such an extraordinary task says a lot about you."
Meanwhile, Harzor was gathering his group together. "Today I will help you find the root of your power. I strongly believe that each of you has more power than you think you do and I want to help you bring it out." He concentrated hard and scanned the group. "Millie. What powers do you currently control?" Millie looked up at Harzor and said calmly "sensing powers and emotions." Harzor looked at her for a moment and said "You have more power than that." Confusion spread across her face and she said "What?" Harzor smiled, which was not something he did extremely often and said "I mean that you have more powers that you are not aware of." Millie nodded slowly and said "Like what?" Harzor motioned for her to come forward. "You have another power that you are not aware of that links very closely to your other powers. If you concentrate extremely hard, I believe you have the ability to read peoples minds." Millie stared at him for a second and said "Woah." He nodded to her and then looked at the others in the group. "All of you have more power than you believe you do. I would like you to line up and think about the powers that you do have. Be they magical, physical, or mental. I will walk along the line and work with each of you individually. With any luck we may be able to start bringing out your true powers by the end of the day. And believe me a day here is much longer than a day on Earth." They followed his instructions and thought about their 'powers'. Surprisingly, each person he worked with made a slight improvement. Millie was even able to read Kennedy's thoughts about wondering what Willow was doing. She laughed, looked at Kennedy and said "Cool." Jonathon was now able to send spurts of fire from his finger tips and Max could manage to condense the molecules in the air enough to create objects out of it. They all found themselves strengthened and empowered.
Verdezo had his group sitting around a campfire he had created with a thought and they were all hanging on his every word. When Verdezo looked at them they felt like he was able to see every inch of their brain. And of course they were right. Verdezo examined each of his group members closely before he began to talk. He sat down on a tree stump that materialized beneath him as he sat and said "You will all get a chance to work with each of us. The first thing you will learn about with Ebony is emotion and the pure essence of a person. With Harzor you will first learn about your powers and he will help you make them grow as well as help you gain new ones if they are within you. They will go on to teach you many other things that are related to those areas. With me you will try to gain a deeper understanding of all that is in this world and the many others. You will learn about all the forces of darkness, good, and the ones in between. And you will learn to use the natural wisdom and logic that you already have. You will enter your own minds in order to truly understand yourself. I have lived forever, quite literally, and I know a great deal and one of the most important things that I have learned is that true power comes from knowledge and wisdom. Now we shall begin the first exercise. Follow my instructions closely. Close your eyes and concentrate on the point between your eyes. You do not need to force yourself to go cross eyed in order to do this but merely think hard about that spot. Now clear your mind entirely. Think only about the sound of my voice. Now I would like you to search through your mind and find the earliest memory of your life that you can possibly remember. Now go back even farther.and even farther. NOW! You should see before you an image you have never been able to recall but remember better than any others. You should be seeing the moment when you were born into this world. It may be from your mother's womb or it may be from some sort of incubation pod. It doesn't matter. This is the first moment that you existed in the world. Now I want you to give yourself up to your mind. Let your mind take you on a journey. Let your life flash before your eyes in detail. Concentrate." Verdezo paced around the group and weaved in and out of the scattered rows of people. "When you are finished open your eyes and see the world that you are in now." He said as he made his way back to his tree stump. Slowly but surely they all finished up and opened their eyes. Now what they saw before them was a huge picture like a TV screen. On this screen they were looking at the beautiful overview of and LA night skyline. Verdezo smiled as he looked at the screen. "From this picture you can see any place in the entire world, and not only the earth but every planet in the galaxy, not to mention all the different dimensions. Anywhere you want to see, you can see it here. It can only be viewed once have viewed yourself entirely. But we will get back to that later." He said and with a small wave of his hand the picture disappeared. "I would like you all to pick a memory that changed your life profoundly. Now think about what you would be like now if that had not happened. Really think about it." He waited a while as they all thought and then he began to study their faces. "Willow." He said suddenly and she looked up at him in alarm. "What memory are you thinking of?" He said, sitting down again on his tree stump and watching Willow closely. Willow tried to remain clam as she looked up at Verdezo and said "Well I was thinking about what would have happened if Buffy never came to Sunnydale." Verdezo nodded and said "Very good. What do you see?" Willow thought for a moment and said "Well I was thinking about it. And I would probably be a vampire. And then I remembered the time when vampire me escaped from some dimension. And I don't really know how I was able to make this connection but do you suppose the dimension she was in was where Buffy had never come to Sunnydale? I mean it would make sense. Maybe Anya granted a wish. It could have been Cordelia. After Xander cheated she could have wished that. Is that it?" Verdezo only smiled. Then he stood up and looked around. "You see now how much more you can understand when you truly understand yourself. You are completely correct young Willow. Everyone remember this. You have far more knowledge inside you than you have ever dared to dream. If you can find a way to unleash that knowledge and claim it for your own then there is truly no problem you cannot solve and no obstacle you cannot overcome. Remember that."
Each group worked for hours and hours. The time was so different there. It was dark when they wanted it to be dark and light when they wanted it to be light. If Harzor needed darkness then it would be dark where his group was staying. At the same time it could be light where Ebony was staying and storming where Verdezo was. They were in complete control. Then after a very long time working with their groups Verdezo called them all together and told they to take a break and then they would switch leaders. Then Verdezo had created a huge buffet table in front of them as well as a few bathrooms. They were all extremely gracious and immediately went to replenish themselves and then relax. Buffy grabbed a bagel with cream cheese and it and then she and Angel met up with Willow Xander and Giles and sat down together to eat. Faith and Wood headed over to the limo and weren't seen for a while. Then Max and Liz, who were holding hands, headed over to their group, smiled and said "Can we sit here?" Buffy nodded enthusiastically and they joined the group. "Today has been so crazy." Liz said looking over at Buffy and Angel, who were in her group. "Which one do you think we'll get next?" Buffy shrugged and looked at Willow "I dunno. Was yours cool Will?" she asked her best friend. Willow nodded like crazy and exclaimed "Yeah! It was amazing. It was all about knowledge and understanding yourself. It was incredible." She sighed as she remembered it and ate a piece of her orange. Then Xander swallowed his sandwich and said "Well my stage was pretty awesome. It was all about power and harnessing it and finding the power within you. I have to say I think I've improved quite a bit. Apparently I really am perseptive." Max then nodded in agreement and said "Yeah that Harzor guy really knows his stuff. Everyone was able to get some sort of new power. Look at this." He said and he held up his hand and squinted his eyes in concentration. Then the air started to change and change until finally a rose appeared out of thin air and he grabbed it and handed it to Liz. She giggled slightly and smelled the rose. "It's beautiful, thank you. And wow!" She said as she looked at him with eyes gleaming. Xander watched them for a moment and then said "You guys are like together right?" Willow hit him in the arm and said "Xander!" But Liz just laughed and held up her finger that was decorated with a beautiful diamond ring and a gold wedding band. "We're married." She said as she looked into Max's eyes. She wanted to kiss him right then but decided she didn't want to embarrass herself in front of people she had just met. Buffy's heart melted as she watched them. She wanted that so badly. She was just as in love if not more but she couldn't have the guy. She braved a glance and Angel and wished she hadn't when she saw that he was looking at her too. Their eyes met and they both knew. Buffy took a deep breath and tore her eyes away. If she let herself think about it too much it would only hurt her more. Just then the three sisters Paige, Belle, and Nina came over to them and sat down. "Hey guys." Belle said brightly "How's it going?" Willow smiled in return and said "All goodness here how bout yourselves?" Nina laughed and said "Same. Wow that was pretty intense stuff wasn't it?" she asked looking at Willow who had been her partner for a few of the exercises. First Willow had been with Giles but then they had been instructed to find someone they did not know. Willow really liked Nina. She seemed like an extremely down to earth and an all together amazing person. "It was rough. But fun." She said with a silly smile. "I hate to say it but I actually can't wait to get back out there." To her surprise they all muttered in agreement. "It's just so.cool." Paige said as she thought it. "Yeah it's all so different.but it feels right." Buffy said slowly. Then Angel finally voiced the thing he had been thinking about for some time "What do you all think about this coming darkness thing?" Buffy thought for a moment and said "Well I'm not quite sure. I mean we've dealt with crazy amounts of apocalypses and we've never been brought here before." Giles cut in and said "Nor have any other slayers before you." Buffy nodded and said "Exactly. So this must be big or they wouldn't have brought us together. Apparently it's going to take all of us. And we will all need to be stronger than we are now. So." Angel finished her thought "It must be huge." They all sat in silence for a moment and then finally Liz said "Anybody want my peach?" and smiled innocently around the circle. They all laughed and Xander took the peach.
Finally Ebony walked out into the clearing by the buffet table and said "Alright Harzor's group come with me, my group go with Verdezo, and Verdezo's group go with Harzor." And then she headed back to her designated area, snapped her fingers and seated herself gracefully on the beautiful velvet chair that instantly appeared before her. They all said good bye to their friends in different groups and made their way to their new destination. Ebony, Harzor, and Verdezo did the same thing with this group as the one before. Xander's color was a magnificent blue, that was lit up beautifully. Ebony investigated it a little further and then discovered that all of those who loved Buffy shone with her light. And the colors that her light took on were all the colors of her friends and loved ones. With Harzor, Diana started to learn how to transport herself by creating a portal in her minds eye and imagining herself stepping through it. Verdezo spent some time working on Buffy and then he stopped and thought for a moment "Oh dear." He said quietly "Yes it's true." He mumbled to himself as he rubbed at his chin in contemplation. "Would you mind meeting with Ebony and me during our next break?" He asked finally looking at a thoroughly surprised and very tired out Buffy. She managed to weakly say "Sure." before she collapsed into Angel's strong arms. Angel held her tightly and supported her weight while she regained her strength. "Wow. Something about the power we were working on bringing out. It's.it's something big. I don't even know if I can handle it." She looked up into Angel's eyes, her body still leaning against his, and said "It was the strongest power I've ever felt." She said as she breathed in deeply. She felt her strength come back to her and she slowly stood herself up. She held on to Angel's hand tightly and he gave her strength. If he could, he would willingly give her every bit of strength he had. Each of the groups continued to work on their topic until it was finally time for the next break. Verdezo asked Buffy to wait there and went off to talk to Ebony. "Angel.will you wait with me? I'm not really sure what's going on and I don't want to loose my strength again like that." Angel smiled and said "Of course." He took her hand in his again and pulled her closer to him. He then hugged her tightly, her beautiful aroma filling his head and causing him to think only of her. Buffy's entire body felt like it was melting. The feel of his body pressed against hers was driving her mad. She wanted so badly to just lift her head up and kiss him. Every inch of her body was yearning for her to do it but she knew.she knew she could not. But she wanted to so badly. Just when she thought she could resist no longer and was about to give in, Ebony swept over to them and said "Buffy." Buffy jumped back quickly and then blushed furiously. "Buffy, there's no time for long explanations so let's just get right to it. We believe that you have a great power inside of you that has never yet been tapped. A power far greater than that of any other being that walks the Earth." She smiled at her companions and said "That doesn't exactly include us though." Buffy's head was spinning. She looked at Angel for help but he seemed just as confused as she did. "What.what do you mean?" she asked Ebony. Ebony smiled again, a very mysterious smile, and said "We believe that you have a power inside you that would enable you to conquer any force and destroy any villain. I have always felt that you were stronger than the average slayer. You have always been different because of your friends. It appears that you really are rather different. You have always said that your emotions help you fight. Well you could never have known how right you were." She looked over at Verdezo and he nodded slowly. She looked right at Buffy, took a deep breath, and said "You have the ability to turn your emotions into power." Buffy was still looking at her blankly so she continued "Make fire from your anger, heal with your love, and fly with your joy. The possibilities are endless. Deep inside you is a pool of power. If you can reach it.and we will help you.but if you reach it Buffy you would be unstoppable. With a bit of concentration you could use whatever power you wanted to." She stopped for a moment and stared into Buffy's eyes. "You could.you could kill an entire army with your scream." Suddenly everything got very blurry and it seemed to Buffy like time had slowed down. Could this be true? Could she have that power? Stop. She screamed inside her head. Don't think. Don't! Buffy's mind was whirling faster and faster. Everything was spinning. She couldn't. What? Fast. Spinning. Stop. No. It can't be. Boom! Buffy feinted. Angel threw his arms out as fast as he could and caught her slender body. He slowly lowered her to the ground and knelt down himself. He laid her head upon his lap and stroked her hair gently. Then he looked up at Ebony and said "Is this true?" Ebony only smiled. She moved closer and then gracefully knelt herself down on the other side of Buffy. She stroked the girl's face gently and looked up at Angel. "She will be just fine Angel. Angel I understand your love for her completely. I can feel it every time I look into your eyes. And I know that she loves you just as deeply. Angel I am going to give you a gift." And with that she reached forward and touched his cheek. Instantly a rush of power was sent through him and he felt his body moving. He closed his eyes tightly as the power swept around him. Finally it ceased and he opened his eyes cautiously. *He was in some sort of house. It was a beautiful mansion with a swimming pool in the back and magnificent gardens surrounding the place. It was the ultimate dream house. Suddenly he could hear voices coming from upstairs. He followed the noise and it led him to a gorgeous mahogany stairwell. Just then a pretty young girl in her teens came rushing down the stairs. "Mom I need to eat something before Ben shows up!" she called as she hurried into the kitchen. Obviously she couldn't see him. "Alright Ebony but eat something healthy." Said the most beautiful and harmonious voice Angel had ever heard. He knew that voice. He turned up the stairs again and crept up slowly. When he reached the landing he couldn't believe his eyes. There, right before him, was Buffy. She was obviously pregnant and she was holding a two year old boy in her arms while a darling little six year old played with her barbies on the floor at her feet. Buffy smiled down at the young girl with obvious motherly affection as the girl changed the doll into an evening gown. "Willow dear can you bring your dolls into your room?" she asked kindly while she bounced the toddler up and down. Little Willow sighed, blew her delicate blond locks out of her face and said "Oh-Kay." She picked up all her toys and then stood up triumphantly. She was just about to enter her extraordinarily cute room when she stopped in her tracks and turned around excitedly. "Mommy can I play dress up with Xander?" she asked and Angel noticed that her eyes were lit up like fireworks. Willow, Xander and Ebony, Angel thought to himself. Of course that would be their names. Buffy turned around to face her daughter and lowered baby Xander to the floor "Alright but no dressing him up like a princess. He's fragile." Willow giggles and said "I promise." Xander hurried over to her as fast as his little toddler legs would take him and Willow took his hand and led him into the room. Buffy sighed and headed for the stairs. Angel followed after her, mesmerized by her beauty. Even when she's pregnant she's still as radiant as ever. Buffy entered the kitchen and smirked at Ebony, who was eating a milky way and drinking a root beer. "Healthy?" she asked skeptically. Ebony tossed her dark brown hair and rolled her deep drown eyes at her mother. Then her face broke into a smile and she said "Alright, alright, I'll eat a yogurt." Buffy nodded at her teenager and turned away. Suddenly her face brightened up and she said "Angel. You're home." For a moment he thought she had spotted him but then he glanced behind him and saw himself.only a little older.walking in thought the garage door. The sun was shinning brightly on his tanned skin and he was wearing a slick and handsome business suit. The older Angel dropped his briefcase onto the counter and made his way directly to Buffy. He hugged her lovingly and kissed her gently on the lips. Then he looked down at her stomach and placed his hand lightly on the curve. "And how are little Joyce and Giles doing?" He asked. He was positively glowing with joy. Just then Willow and Xander came running down the stairs "Daddy, Daddy!" Willow called out and she jumped up into his arms when she reached him. "Hey sweetie, what you got there?" he asked her as held her proudly. Xander reached him now and so he picked him up with his other arm. Willow smiled mischievously and said "It's a present." Her father gasped and said "Oh yeah? For who?" Willow giggle and said "For you and mommy silly! It's from the pretty lady that looked like Eby. She had purdy eyes!" Angel looked over at Buffy and they exchanged a look "Hmm. When did she give you this sweetie?" Willow tilted her head and thought for a moment "I.I think it was last night. It happened during my dream." She said proudly. Angel nodded and walked over to the counter. He place his two children on top of the counter and took the present. "Well I guess I should open it then right?" he said, trying to remain exuberant for his kids. He opened the package and inside was a huge breath taking diamond with a note stuck on to it. The note read To Buffy and Angel, May your love continue to grow with each passing minute. Thought you'd like to know that I've been watching over you. And I will be watching over your kids as well. Thank you for the light that you bring into this world. If you ever want or need to contact us just look into this diamond and read the inscription out loud. This could be fun for a vacation.just a suggestion. Love is your greatest gift. Always remember to be grateful for it. Eternally yours, Ebony PS- Please visit. I could use some one fresh around here. One tear fell onto the paper as the future Angel read the note, Buffy looked up at her husband and then down at the diamond. They both smiled and she took the diamond and brought it up the stairs and into their room. Willow looked at her daddy with innocent, wide open eyes and said "Can we go to the playground now?" He almost burst into tears. "Yes baby. We can." He scooped up his two little kids and turned to Ebony. She smiled at him warmly and he said "We're going on a good vacation this year Eby." Then as soon as Buffy was back down the stairs Angel said "We're going to the park." Buffy smiled and nodded her agreement. Ebony's ride finally showed up and she shouted good bye and ran out the door. Then Buffy, Angel, Willow and Xander all headed out to the playground.* Angel felt a swirl of power coming over him again and soon enough he was back in the dimension, holding the unconscious Buffy on his lap. He looked at Ebony with tears in his eyes and said "Will that.will that really happen?" Ebony nodded slowly, a smile spreading across her face. "The Angel you saw had this exact experience back when he was you. He saw that scene too. He is you." Angel couldn't speak. This was too much. He looked down at Buffy and said "Wake up Buffy, Please." Verdezo nodded and waved his hand over the peaceful slayer. Buffy felt consciousness returning to her body and she opened her eyes very slowly. She looked up and saw Angel's beautiful face hovering above her. "Angel." she whispered with a weak smile. "While I was out.I had a dream. It was so beautiful. Our children." Buffy couldn't speak any more. She just smiled up and Angel and thought longingly about the dream. "It wasn't a dream Buffy." Angel whispered to her before leaning down and kissing her forehead. "It was a vision. I saw it too. It was real." Buffy looked at him with confusion and said "Real?" And then she understood. "Angel!" she cried out looking up into his rich brown eyes. Angel nodded and said "Yes. Buffy I know now that my future belongs to you." And then suddenly Buffy felt her strength return to her. She sat up and embraced Angel tightly. "I love you so much Angel. I love you so much!" She said, pulling him in closer to her body. Angel wrapped his arms around her body and held her tightly. He never wanted to let her go. "I love you too Buffy. More than you will ever know." And then Buffy leaned back slightly and slid her face in front of his. "You have no idea how bad I've wanted to do this." She said and pressed her lips against him. They kissed passionately, holding on to each other. Wanting to be as close together as they possibly could. And for that moment they were one. One body, one mind, one soul. One love. Buffy let out a little moan and then pulled back her head ever so slightly so that their bodies were still pressed up against each other and her lips were still touching his when she said "I'm never letting you go away again. Never." Angel agreed with his eyes and Buffy said "Alright I should probably be getting back to work. Some incredible power." Then Angel stood up and pulled her up with him. He slid one arm around her waist and then turned his body to face Ebony, who for her part was trying to look like she hadn't been watching the whole time. Ebony looked at them for a second longer and then she sighed and said "See. Beautiful." Then she turned and went to get Verdezo again. When they returned Verdezo took Buffy's and Angel's hands in his and said "Now you are ready to find your power. Close your eyes. Now Buffy, I want you to simply let yourself give in to the emotions you are feeling right now. The love, the joy, the desire, the longing.and the ever constant pain. Let yourself swim in the emotion. Think only of the emotion. It is everything. It is pure and good." Then Verdezo paused a moment before saying "Now open your eyes." Buffy did as she was told and was startled to see Angel about three feet bellow her. She looked around and realized that she was floating in mid air. "Try to move around a bit. Don't be scared." So she did. They moved her hands along like she was swimming and her body moved with her. "Now try to move with out your arms moving you. Think the move." And so she did. Buffy started giggling madly and Angel looked up to see her doing somersaults in mid air. This was great. Finally Ebony called out "Alright you can come down now." And so she did. Angel extended his arm up in the air. Buffy grabbed his hand and he pulled her down the ground. Ebony moved over to Buffy and said "You see now what you can do? The possibilities are endless. Practice this power. Don't be afraid. If you can conquer this power than you will truly be unstoppable." Then she looked at Angel and said "Help her." Then she turned away and went back over to Verdezo saying "Alright go eat some food before we get to the next group switch." And so Angel took Buffy's hand in his and they walked over to their friends. Angel sat down first and Buffy sat down next to him, her head resting on his shoulder. Willow looked shocked for a moment and then she blurted out "Okay did I miss something?" They both laughed and Buffy smiled at her best friend and said "Well kinda. Um.guess I'll just come right out and say it.we're back together. Ebony showed us the future and.well let's just say, look forward to meeting Willow junior, one of my five children. Plus there's this prophesy that says Angel will turn human once he fulfills his destiny. And Ebony says it's true." Willow shrieked. "Ahhhhhh! Buffy this is incredible. Its.it's.Ah!" She exclaimed as she leaned over and tackled Buffy and Angel. "Yeah well we don't know how long that's going to be. And there's still the curse." Angel said, making sure Buffy understood. Buffy sighed and nodded to show her understanding "We'll be careful. Hey, I'll even stand you up on a date or forget an anniversary just to make you be not perfectly happy." She grinned innocently. "Yeah, that's a good plan." Xander joked. "So wait was that the reason they kept you after?" Buffy and Angel exchanged a look and then Buffy said "Well no not exactly. Though in a way, yes. I have a new power. It streams from my emotions.it's kinda strange. Apparently if I concentrate hard enough on a certain emotion I can do basically anything. After Angel and I.got back together, I flew." Giles cleared his throat and said "Flew? As in flying?" Buffy nodded and everyone stared at her. "Wow B." Faith said, obviously impressed. "So if you got all angry at something could you like kill it with your glare or something?" Buffy shrugged and said "Not sure yet. I'm gonna keep working on it and stuff. We'll see what happens." Then Liz came running over there and said "Oh hey guys I'm supposed to tell everyone to move on to your next stage." and then she ran off to tell the next group. Willow finished up her pizza and said "Alright later guys. I'm gonna go work on my powers." Willow jumped to her feet and headed straight over to the area where Harzor was waiting. Liz then returned over to their group and looked at Buffy and Angel. "You guys are a couple?" She asked with a curious smile. Buffy shrugged and said "Well we've always been in love but we had to break up.well it's complicated but now we're back together. 'Cause things are better. Kinda.It's hard to explain." Liz nodded and gave Buffy a silly look and then shook her head and said "Whatever you say" and turned around and headed over to Verdezo's station. Buffy shrugged and they followed after her. The next few hours were spent in the same way as before. They all worked tirelessly to understand their emotions, powers, and selves. Finally Verdezo commanded that they all go to bed and get some sleep. As soon as he had said this, tents appeared behind him in a huge clearing. The tents had been assigned to different groups of people. Buffy and Angel were sharing a tent that had a king size bed, a dresser filled with black and white clothes for Angel and fun stylish clothes for Buffy. Buffy was so excited she danced around the room singing "pretty, pretty, pretty tent!" Then Angel grabbed her from behind and said "You're cute," before kissing her neck lightly. Buffy smiled and bit her lip in mock thought. "How cute?' she asked him innocently. "Too cute for words." He said as he spun her around to face him. She let out a short giggle and leaned in closer to her love. She looked into his eyes for a moment and then walked backwards towards the bed, pulling him along with her by his shirt. Angel couldn't stop smiling. Not that he wanted to. Buffy placed her hands on his chest and pushed him down onto the bed. Then she sat down on his lap, one leg on each side of him and said "Cute?" Angel smiled and said "Well.now that I think about it the word might be beautiful." Buffy leaned forward and kissed him on the lips lightly. "Do you know how many times I've dreamed about this?" he whispered into her ear. "How many times?" she asked innocently as she took his hands and locked her fingers with his. Angel laughed and shook his head. Then he looked back into her eyes and said in all seriousness "More times then there are stars in the sky." Buffy laid her head down against his chest and he held her tightly. "And I don't mean kissing you. I mean.being with you." He clarified truthfully. "Angel I love you so much." Angel held her, wanting more than anything in the world to keep her safe in his arms forever. "Shhhhh.I love you too Buffy." He said before kissing her on the top of the head. And that's where they stayed. Buffy fell asleep in his arms and she had never felt safer. Angel lay awake for awhile listening to the rhythm of her breathing and then finally he drifted off into a peaceful sleep.
Meanwhile Belle was jumping up and down on her twin bed, one of three in their tent, and spinning in circles. Nina was reading a book about demon mythology and Paige was just lying on her bed watching them both. "Belle?" Paige said as she spun her legs around and sat up on the edge of her bed. "What?" Belle replied as she looked over at her sister. She saw the serious look on Paige's face and she stopped bouncing and sat down on the edge of her bed as well. "It's just.the whole coming darkness thing.it's a little strange. I mean with all the powerful people we have here we still can't beat this thing? We need help? Or maybe we all needed to be brought together. And trained I suppose. I mean I've gotten so much stronger already in just one day. I dunno, what do you think?" Belle thought for a moment and tilted her head to the side. Finally she sighed and said "You know Paige I'm not really sure. I think it's pretty clear that this is something bigger than any of us have ever faced before. What that means I can't tell ya. But my thinking is that nothings going to be able to stop this group. I mean there's Buffy slayer queen and all the slayerettes. Not to mention that Willow girl who's one badass witch. Then there's that New York group. All of them have different powers. And plus there's Angel. A vampire with a soul.it's actually oddly poetic. All in all I'd say the good side has got about 37 secret weapons right here and they're all gonna work together. Now add that to Ebony, Harzor and Verdezo and I think this coming darkness is gonna look like a mouse's shadow. Now what do you think about that." Paige smiled and hugged her big sister. "I think you are completely right. As always." Then she hesitated for a moment and said "Well.at least I hope you're right."
Dawn couldn't sleep. During her session with Harzor he had mentioned something about the power of the key. What could this mean? Was she still the key? And if so did she still have some sort of power? Her head was filled with questions and there was only one way she could think of to get answers. She would go find Harzor. She pulled the blanket off and swung her legs around to reach the floor. She studied Rona's face and concluded that she was indeed asleep. Then, as soundlessly as she could, she stood up, walked to the door, unzipped it and stepped out in the cold night air. "Harzor?" she whispered, looking around as she closed the door again. She took a few steps away and again called out "Harzor?" And just like that, he appeared before her. He smiled at her knowingly and said "I thought you might come." Then Dawn thought she heard him say "I hoped you would." But she shook it off and figured she was just hearing things. "You would like to know more about your state as the Key, am I right?" he asked her calmly and began to walk away from the tents. Dawn nodded slowly "Yes. I really don't understand." Harzor simply continued to walk, slowly but determinedly. "Um.are we going to meet Ver-" Harzor's eyes lit up with fury "Don't say his name!" he hissed. Dawn was freaked. "Wh-what? Why?" she asked, thoroughly confused. Harzor tried to regain his composure and say "He'll hear you. If you say his name in this dimension he will come. Just as I did when you said my name." This did not feel right. Not at all. "Right.and that would be bad why?" Harzor did not answer. "You know what? I really don't need to know about this key stuff. It's just not important. I'll go back now." Dawn turned to leave and found that she was physically unable to move in the direction of the camp. She began shaking, her eyes filled with fear. She looked at Harzor with in horror as her legs began to move on their own. "What are you doing to me?" she said frantically, trying with all her might to stop her legs from moving. To get away. Why was this happening? This could NOT be happening. She tried to scream but no sound came out. 'Help' she thought but none would come. She was trapped here all alone. All alone with.this.man. And then she saw it. She wasn't alone. Lying on the ground, arms tied behind their backs and mouths bound were six girls. Belle, Liz, Juliet, Fred, Millie, and Vi. Dawn would be number seven. She watched in horror as Harzor waved his hand and a portal opened right before them. Then he lifted the girls from the ground and pulled all seven of them to him. Just as the portal closed, Dawn saw Ebony and Verdezo running to stop them. But it was too late. They were already gone.