Title : The Guilty

Chapter : One

Pairing : J/G, KW/KL, HP/CC, WR/TM, O/K

Fandom : Xena The Warrior Princess, Buffy the
Vampire Slayer, Star Trek Deep Space Nine,
Eragon, Harry Potter, ER

Rating : PG-13

Spoilers : Season Five

Beta Reader : Sue Ellen

Summary : When The First Evil's fail safe
threatens not only Willow's universe, but
several others. A group of complete strangers
must work together and face what they fear the
most to save the world.

Disclaimer : All characters belong to their
creators.

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Chapter One
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Joxer stared in shock at the dead body lying at
his feet. Beside him the eight year old girl was
shaking and crying for her lost innocence.

Somehow in the daze of shock, Joxer's brain
managed to engage enough to remind him that he
was in Rome. A place where they didn't care about
the why's or where fore's.

If you killed, whether you were a child, or
whether it was self defense. Then you paid.

" I did it. " Joxer choked out to the massive
Roman solider standing before him.

" Oh? " The captain responded, his dark neutral
eyes on the tiny kid. " Funny. I thought it was
the cry baby. "

" No. It was me. " Joxer insisted.

" Look, I'm not stupid, I know..."

Joxer swung wildly at the solider. He couldn't
just let the eight year old that reminded him so
much of himself at that age have her life ruined.

" Son of a b..." The captain ducked and slammed
into him in a flying tackle. " Fine. You want to
take the rap, then you'll take it. "

Joxer's last clear memory was a meaty fist flying
at his face.

------------
One Year Later
------------

The lean, compact but muscular warrior pushed
himself tighter into the shadowed corner. His
finely defined muscles were shaking from long
hours of hard labor.

The once scarless pale skin had long since
been turned into a dark brown tanned surface,
marred by scars and welts.

The one time clumsy body was now forced into
a constant gracefulness. It being more from
survival than want.

" What about this one? " A new voice asked.

" He was sent through the portal a year ago."

" He knows the area? " The female voice
demanded.

" They all do. "

" Fine. I'll take him. "

" I'm afraid that this one is still not
broken. Perhaps another..."

" I'll take this one. " The voice reaffirmed.

" My lady..."

" Is there a problem, Commander? "

" A lady traveling alone is not capable of
handling such a slave. "

" I will take this one, Commander. Do I
make myself clear? "

" Of course, my lady. I never meant to
question you, I was simply..."

Willow Rosenberg kneeled by the slave,
her emerald eyes running over his weary
form.

When she'd followed the small army of
uber vamps into the portal she'd been
surprised to find herself in a different
time and dimension.

The next surprise had been the discovery
that someone from a third dimension had
been sending prisoners through to the magic
filled world.

When she'd tried to find and rescue the
unfortunates though, she'd found all but
the one before her already dead.

" My names Willow. " She whispered softly.
Just low enough that no one else could hear
her. " I'm from another world, like you. "

The twenty something man lifted his head
to stare into her eyes. The bloodshot pupils
eyeing her for some hint as to the truth.

" Why? "

" No one deserves this fate. " When the
man didn't say anything else, she continued.
" Look you don't belong in this world,
and it's interfering with my tracking certain
... unsavory elements. "

The brown haired man seemed to relax with
those words. " I'm Joxer. "

" Hello, Joxer. It's nice to meet you. "
The red head pulled lightly at the mans arm.
" Now, what do you say we get out of here? "

" Best plan I've ever heard. "

Willow ducked under one of his arms, and
placed her arm around his waist. She wanted
to get as far away from the small town as
possible.

The whole dimension gave her one big
case of the nerves, but the towns were even
worse.

Every moment felt like there was something,
or someone just waiting to jump her.

The fact that there was about thirty uber
vamps out there gathering an army of bad guys
had nothing to do with it, of course.

Nor was the fact that they had what was
left of Glory's minions, and Ben's body.

No, neither of those reasons were
responsible. It was the fact that she hadn't
figured out exactly what they were up to.
The fact that she hadn't been able to
catch up with them, muchless stop them
yet.

It was the dead bodies that she seemed
to be constantly following. The way the
magic in this strange dimension seemed
all consuming, threatening to drown her
at any second.

There was fear that she might become
overloaded on the dark magic that caused
her nightmares each short night.

A fear that she would betray her
Tara's memory even more than she already
had.

" Who are you searching for? " Joxer
finally asked as they cleared the prison.

" The bad guys. " At Joxer's cocked
eye brow, she sighed. " Super Vampires,
monsters, the body of a dead hell goddess. "

" Oh. I suppose it's for a good cause? "

" Always. "

" Then I'll help. " Joxer said softly.

Willow paused mid-step to glance at him
in surprise. " It's not your fight. "

" No. It's everyones fight. " He replied.

" You're a good guy. " She answered.

" So where do we start? " He asked.

" You don't. "

Willow and Joxer glanced at each other then
turned to the new voice.

Elf, was the first thought in her mind. Lots
of elves if the loose circle forming around
them was anything to go by.

The fact that they were all armed to the
teeth, and looking as though they would
gladly kill her and Joxer wasn't helping any.

" We won't? " She asked, hoping to get the
guy to talk.

" No. You'll come with us. "

" Oh. Well, it's nice of you to ask, but
I'm afraid we're kind of busy, so we'll just
be on our way. " Willow started as a
particularly sharp sword was shoved in her
face. " On second thought, we could spare a
few minutes. "

" I thought you'd see things my way. " The
elf said, motioning to the other elves.

Willow sighed heavily. It would figure that
things wouldn't go smoothly for her. It would
also figure that a whole new set of problems
would make themselves known before the old
set could be taken care of.

" Are things always like this? " Joxer
asked finally able to walk on his own.

" Nope. Usually it's worse. " She peeked
at him from the corner of her eye. " I take
it you're not new to this sort of thing. "

" No. I spent a lot of time traveling
with Hercules and Xena. This is what they
do. What about you? "

" For me it's a slayer named Buffy. "

" I thought slayers were just myths. "

" I thought the same about Xena and
Hercules. " She shot back. " Either way
I'm glad to have you on my team. "

Joxer's smile faltered, his dark brown
eyes turning stone serious. " I doubt
you'll think that long. I'm...I'm not
much of a warrior. "

Willow shrugged. It wasn't a big deal.
Xander wasn't much of a warrior either,
but he was still a lot of help. He kept
them sane, he proved to be loyal no
matter what. " We all have our strengths
and weakness's. "

" You mean it? You don't care? "

" Of course I care, you're a potential
friend, and being a warrior seems to be
something important to you, so it's now
important to me. " Willow smiled brightly
at the shocked and hopeful man.

" I...I promise to do my best. "

" That's all anyone can ask. "

Willow turned from her new friend, and
glanced around. Leaving the city behind
she just knew that they were in for a long
walk.

-----------

The cave dwelling city stretched out before
the two friends. The elves were moving rapidly
through the cobblestone streets, and into the
various business's.

Each with it's own distinct coloring and
design. The signs written in a language neither
warrior was familiar with, but both assumed was
the language of the elf.

They seemed to be but a passing curiosity to
the race living around them. Even the elf soldiers
had wondered off as though they could care less
about the fate of two humans.

" Come, we run out of time. "

Willow noticed the elf was now walking in
front of them. No longer bothering with weapons
or threats. " Gee, what a warm welcome. "

" At least their not shoving swords into
our back now. " Joxer muttered softly.

" Yeah. Big improvement. "

She stepped into a small, almost plain building
near the cave entrance. Her emerald eyes running
over the inside.

The main part of the inside was a large uncarpeted
living room. The majority of the side wall a blazing
fireplace. Several shelves were on the wall opposite
of the door.

The top shelves held three swords that just
screamed magic. The next shelf, however, was
what caught her attention. Three jewel like
stones set on it.

Each stone was at least a foot long and looked
hollow. A marble colored design ran over them. Two
of a dark, blood red and black. The third was a
dark amber and pearl white.

The oval shapes drew her across the room until
her hand burned and itched, demanding that she
touch the blood red stone closet to her.

Beside her, she could see Joxer already picking
up the amber stone. His entire face lit up with
a peace that made her chest ache.

A soft squeak interrupted the quiet and made
her take a step back from her own stone.

" Um Joxer, I...I think you should put the
stone down. "

Again a squeak erupted from the now vibrating
rock. This time louder, more insisted.

" What's happening? " He asked, obeying her
orders.

" I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about
it. "

Joxer backed away from the stone with cracks
running down it. Each one getting longer and
longer as each second passed.

Before he could take another step though
a hand appeared out of the stone. Then a head
followed.

" It's a dragon. " Willow muttered softly.

Joxer quickly made his way back to it, his
hands pulling the cracked parts away.

" Are you crazy? Don't do that. You don't
know what it could do to you. " Willow warned
wearily.

He shrugged off his new friends concern.
" It's a baby. "

" I don't care, it could still be dangerous."

Joxer ignored her warning and touched the
tiny, kitten sized creature. His hand going
cold was the last thing he was aware of.

-----------

" I told you. I told you to leave the egg
alone, but did you listen? No. You just had
to help the cute little dragon. " Willow
glared once again at the smug elf standing
in the corner. " And you... You knew this
would happen, but instead of doing the
decent thing and warning us, you just had
to let the dragon do it's thing. "

" I did as I thought best. " The elf
answered, his crystal grey eyes locked
on the sight of a now sleeping Joxer
with the equally asleep baby dragon
curled up in his arms. " In our society
being chosen as a Dragon Rider is a
great honor. "

" Yeah, well, that doesn't give you
any excuse. Did it occur to you that
maybe we didn't agree? "

" My lady, you must understand. The
great elf seer of the golden age once
spoke of three off worlders who would
come here to battle a great evil. "

" What's your point? " She demanded.

" According to Queen Istabul, the
three dragons eggs would choose the
warriors. A necessary gift to aid
them in their fight against The First. "

" Well, in case you didn't notice
there are two of us. Not three, two. "

" Yet, your companion was chosen. "

" It was a mistake. " Willow insisted.

" There can never be a mistake. "

Willow frowned at the elf. She did not
like him. Not one bit. The fact that he
seemed determined to make her touch the
egg she was drawn to wasn't helping her
feelings any.

" Well since there's two of us, there
must be a mistake. "

" The third simply hasn't arrived, yet. "

" Oh, and I suppose you know when he will
arrive? "

" Yes. "

" Great, then when? "

" Now. "

Willow let out a bark of laughter. " Yeah,
right. "

And then the world was upside down. Or at
least the ceiling was...green?

She squinted up into the pair of emerald
eyes identical to her own. A pair that only
one other person owned. A person who was
known for his ability to find trouble.

" Um...oops? " The emerald eyes asked.

" That's it, I'm going to kill you. "
She responded.

The black haired teenager scrambled off
her quickly, straightening his taped and
broken glasses.

" You wouldn't. "

Willow allowed the shaggy haired youth
to help her to her feet, then promptly
grabbed hold of his left ear.

" Harold James Potter, you have exactly
three seconds to explain what you're doing
here, before I put you over my knee just
for the principal of the situation. "

" I was worried. " He yelped. " The news
kept talking about Sunnydale disappearing
in an earth quake, so when I couldn't get
a hold of you I decided to use a tracking
spell. "

" I don't care. Do you have any idea how
much danger you're in? Or what could have
happened if I was lying dead in the middle
of the crater? "

" You would do the same thing if it was
me. " He shot back.

" Harry..."

" Don't Harry me. You're the only family
I have left. Sirius was killed just a month
ago. Our aunt is on the verge of throwing
me on the street, and uncle Vernon..."

" Sirius? I..I didn't know. " Willow
yanked her young brother into a tight
hug. " I'm so sorry. "

" It's not your fault. You were busy with
The First. "

" Still..." Willow felt the scrawny boy
hugging her even tighter, as though he was
afraid she would disappear on him. " You're
right you know. If it was you, I'd pull the
same stunt. "

" Told ya. " He muttered into her chest.

" Don't be a smart ass. " She answered.

" Too late. " Harry said, pulling away.

" I believe you are now three. " The elf
interrupted.

Willow snapped around in shock. " No!!
Absolutely not. "

" What? " Harry asked.

" He can't have a dragon. " She protested.

" I can have a dragon? " Harry asked.

" NO! "

" Yes. " The elf said at the same time.

Willow paused, and glanced at the two
identical eggs that were left. It was strange
how the two eggs were practically twins.

In their own way her and Harry were a lot
alike. She looked almost identical to her
mother. While Harry looked like a clone of
their father, except for the eyes.

" Try touching the stone on the left. "
She finally said.

She wanted nothing more than to protect
the young boy, but she'd seen what that had
done to Dawn and Buffy. She couldn't shield
him, not when he was like her when it came
to trouble.

Instead she watched as he brushed his
fingers over the egg she'd said. As the
egg began to move and shake she sighed
wearily.

" It never ends. " She softly whispered,
turning to her own egg.

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