Author's Notes: This took way too long to get up and I do apologize, but things have been frustrating and annoying in the real world plus I was feeling written out as it were my creativity lacking marginally, partly due to a lack of any insight from readers of the first two chapters, but mostly because of how much I forced myself to type up in a very short amount of time to get Chrysalis as finished as quickly as possible. I'm still not done with this entirely; I had intented to tack on another Interlude, unfortunately I haven't gotten around to writing it yet so I'll either update this wth a Chapter Two for the Interlude or incorporate the next Interlude into Gates of Hell the follow-up to this story.
This marks the final story to be posted for a while; I'm going back to school shortly and won't have as much time to write as I once did, which is a big help for me because what with all the writing I've been doing the past eighteen months or so I'm starting to hate the stuff. At least when it comes to epics. Anyway; please R&R if you can, let me know how you liked this final installment in the saga of the Buffy/Sithicus crossover venue.
Disclaimer: Everything Buffy belongs to Joss Whedon; the Transformers belong to Hasbro as do Jem and the Holograms while certain other characters belong to Marvel/Paramount. The spirits and their existence is my own creation inspired no doubt by any number of Anime that I may or may not have been exposed to over the years who can say; though of course it takes no cues from any of them as far as I know and thus all I'll say is Mei Lin and the Shogun belong to me in a sense so kindly ask if you want to borrow them for one of your own stories. Please be kind; Review if you can.
And so... The depths of space and time expand in an endless sea and observing the events about to take place is an audience of one; a certain Omnipoten Alien many know and love who bears a surprising resemblance to John DeLancie, we now join our story already in progress...
Prologue
The Light Dojo lain in ruins; Triage, Talon and Spyre enjoying the devastation of their former captors, that was when he finally broke free. His form flowed into being, a pool of sand; he looked the picture of a man who had died of thirst, with sunken eyes of pearl white and even scorpions running about his person.
This was Set; father to Talon and Triage, in-law to Spyre, and he was the last of the four spirits that once made up the essences of nature herself.
"We are whole." Spyre stated embracing her love and kissing him.
"Then let us finish those three off." Talon stated darkly; Set nodded in accordance choosing not to speak. The four took to the air; Spyre and Triage flying under their own power, Talon creating wings of smoke and Set using a jet of water to levitate, then they began their hunt.
Five blocks away three weary humans and three holographic Decepticons landed on the roof of an apartment complex; Laserbeak circled in a guarding position while Ravage moved to his master and held the severed hand steady, instantly it began the process of grafting back onto the body.
"Stasis already; it's only a hand." The red and black Rumble muttered digging out the tricorder from his boss' travel bag.
"What are those?" Oz asked Tara now that he had the time for questions.
"Al called them s-s-sentient holograms." Tara replied eyeing the man warily; Rumble snickered at that.
"An oversimplified explanation." He stated playing the tricorder over the bloodless cut in order to speed up the grafting process; Oz stared blankly as he realized the man wasn't bleeding, Tara knew a bit more about him, but she was shocked. Ravage growled as he sniffed the air; Rumble glared briefly at him. "I know, I know." He snapped. "Man I wish the boss had brought the others." Laserbeak screeched a warning just as Al snapped back to reality; he let out a groan and pulled his hand out of Ravage's jaw.
"Slag; too soon." He muttered pulling the picture out of his pocket with his now fully attached formerly lost limb. "Ravage locate woman on right." He gasped; Ravage memorized the picture and nodded, Rumble forced him to hold still.
"Just another minute more boss; there's still some capillaries that haven't fully integrated." He informed; Tara glanced out at the sky, as if drawn to it.
"They're coming." She whispered fearfully; Tara had always been sensitive to others' auras, and these creatures auras fairly glowed with their power.
"I know." Al returned; Oz tensed up immediately.
"This is bad." He stated; Al nodded as Rumble finished snapping the tricorder closed and shoving it back into the bag, Al always thought it looked odd to see Decepticons acting so… Un-Decepticony.
"Keep'em busy, but don't get erased." He ordered climbing to his feet; Rumble cracked his knuckles eagerly and took to the air.
"What about us?" Tara wondered fearfully.
"It's time to blend into the crowd." Al replied; and then he produced two more mobile emitters, two that hadn't been used before as he quickly rushed the trio towards the roof entrance and milling crowds of pedestrians below.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Inherent Evil
Spyre spotted a glint of metal against the sky too late; the strange mechanical bird shot her wings once again and she plunged from the sky, Triage unleashed a whirlwind at the strange creature, but it didn't seem to affect him. The odd red and black human-like one swooped in without warning; the blasters in his hand cut into Triage and sent him spiraling away in pain, he hollered in triumph before Talon cut into him, but the sword did nothing. Rumble grinned as he shifted his arms into piledriver mode; he rammed Talon in the leg shattering it, plowed through his chest and slammed him upside the head for good measure.
"At least we can hurt them." He remarked to Laserbeak as they circled the fourth warily; he hadn't been present before, Laserbeak let out a sound of agreement. Set eyed these strange beasts confusedly; unlike his brethren he can sense life and these two had no life-force, they were dead things that registered as nothing.
Laserbeak shot at him, but the blasts passed harmlessly through his silicon form, Rumble took a close up scan as he began to get an uneasy feeling. "Slag he's made entirely of silicon… Eh; I mean sand." He exclaimed; Laserbeak squawked indignantly, he knew what silicon was. "Back to the boss we gotta warn him." Rumble ordered; the two withdrew leaving Set to ponder these curious creatures while the others recovered, they had been sent as a distraction obviously, so why had they retreated without damaging him?
"Ah yes of course; they aren't equipped to damage a being composed of sand." He surmised with a vicious grin. "Quickly my children; we must pursue those fools, they will lead us directly to our quarry." He called down; by now the others had partially healed and would soon be back in shape for pursuit, it was indeed only a matter of time before the last defenders of mankind were wiped from existence and the spirits could begin their plans of conquest.
Mei Lin had always considered herself an average woman; she was five foot two with stunning blue eyes and rich black hair that she wore long on purpose, she enjoyed dressing inconservatively with high skirts and low cut tops. She also steered clear of parties mainly because she couldn't hold her liquor; so when half of downtown erupted into chaos she was immediately worried, especially when she saw the smoke over that creepy Light Dojo.
The worse thing though were those strange flashes in the sky; she knew no good could come of this, heading for her pre-packed suitcase she made her way to the door. Upon opening it she found three Americans; one about to knock, two of them were rather attractive men, the other was a young blonde woman.
"Good timing." The shorter man remarked casually; he was wearing jeans and a tee-shirt with something barely recognizable on the front and had blue hair.
"Mei Lin." The taller stated; Mei Lin felt a sharp tang of fear in her gut, she could sense something was very wrong and this very tall man on her doorstep intimidated her considering he towered above her petite frame and although he was trying to hide it there was a sword strapped to his back.
"C-c-can we come in?" The woman requested gently; she had pleasant features and a kind face, Mei Lin sighed and held the door open allowing the three of them to enter leaving the unseen Ravage to stand guard outside.
I glanced around the tiny apartment; at least tiny in comparison to what I expected, Mei Lin led us to a small couch. Tara chose to sit on the far right while I claimed the middle; Oz opted to stand and Mei Lin sat across from us in a small chair.
"You're from the dojo." She stated with another sigh; obviously she'd been expecting this and by the looks of things had intended to flee rather then face her destiny.
"I suppose you could say that." I returned with a half-shrug; Tara kept darting from the woman to the window and I couldn't blame her, when fighting creatures such as those spirits one tended to develop an unhealthy amount of fear.
"Then I'll say the same thing I told the old woman; no…" Her eyes widened as she trailed off and Tara's fingernails suddenly dug into my arm; I looked to the window just in time to see it shatter.
"Found them." The fire creature remarked; before he could move I leapt from the couch and pushed him back outside with a gravitational burst.
"Run!" I bellowed as the Earthen beast flew into the window; Tara didn't argue and she grabbed our supplies fleeing for the door, Oz grabbed the frozen Mei Lin from her position; she fought him though and raced past me to her desk.
"DIE!" The spirit cried; Mei Lin whimpered in fear as a burst of lightning slammed into the bitch and set her body aflame, she screamed with intense agony. Oz dashed forward as Mei Lin pulled an ornately carved box from the top drawer; he pulled her along outside where Tara waited, I took a quick look around then ran after them. Tara, Oz and Mei Lin ran ahead of me; only to stop short suddenly when the far wall erupted in an explosion of mortar and literal bones.
"You hurt my love!" The spirit made of flesh screamed; I covered us in a gravitational shield of sorts so dense that he froze mid-charge, I nearly went slamming back at the amount of force he was exerting trying to get to us.
"Now would be a good time." I growled; Ravage slid out of his hiding place a low growl escaping his vocals and I grinned. "Shall we see what rockets can do?" I asked casually; Ravage opened fire, the beast roared pushing even harder. Both rockets tore into the creature and he flew across the hallway; that's when we all heard the strange water-like sound, I turned to see a fourth creature materializing.
"Oh no." Mei Lin exclaimed in Chinese; though of course I heard English thanks to my internal Universal translator.
"You gotta be kiddin' me." I quipped; Oz eyed me curiously while Tara shook with fear, the fire beast from before was also still around and I knew that the longer we delayed the worse it would get. "You're made of sand." I suddenly noticed tilting my head to one side and smirking; the spirit regarded me with disbelief, I grinned like the chesire cat and raised my hand. There was a great resistance to my unnatural gifts, but eventually he exploded in a shower of sand; I became very woozy after that and nearly toppled to the floor.
"H-h-how?" Tara asked eyeing me incredulously; the fear and other contributing factors must have made her forget what she'd learned earlier in the year.
"Questions later run now!" I shot back charging towards the staircase; we ran, hard and fast until we were outside, three blocks down and relatively safe while the creatures reconstituted themselves.
"We won't be safe here." Oz pointed out; I nodded panting for breath, a small flash brought me a tiny Energon cube, which proved great timing since using my powers as I had, had drastically diminished my energy supplies, those creatures were very determined.
"We have to find a way to stop them." Tara added her confidence growing enough that she finally stopped stuttering; Mei Lin was very shaken up as she held the strange box close to her chest.
"Why's that so important?" I asked tossing the now empty cube aside into the nearest garbage dumpster.
"Masuko Chika-Sama gave it to me." She admitted. "She said it would help, but… I don't want to get involved in this." She muttered; I reached out and clasped her shoulder, we didn't have time for fears.
"I know how you feel, but sometimes we can not escape our destinies." I returned in a soft tone; the Chinese woman sighed and looked briefly to me, Oz and Tara, she smiled wistfully and held the box up flipping the lid open my eyes widened in disbelief.
"There's nothing in there." Tara stated confusedly.
"I don't understand; she said this was the key." Mei Lin returned; I looked back to the apartment complex while Oz investigated the box further.
"You'd think people would be freaking out with demon spirits running loose." I muttered taking the box from Oz.
"Reminds me of Sunnydale." Oz returned. "People usually find ways to ignore what they can't explain." He added.
"Here let me l-look." Tara requested; I shrugged and handed it to her.
"I still say that kind of behavior is weird. "I countered before both women gasped; I turned back to the wicca to find the box was now glowing an ethereal glow.
"Interesting." Oz remarked. "We all touch it and." He trailed off indicating the strange light; I reached to take the box back when the Earth trembled and the spirit of the Earth burst out of the concrete. Tara took a step back in fear and the box slipped from her grasp; I tried to snare it, but it shattered as it hit the ground. The light flared engulfing us all; Ravage looked around for his master, but he'd vanished.
"This does not bode well." Talon remarked emerging from a plume of smoke alongside his sister-in-law.
"Come; Triage and Set are still missing, we can deal with this development once we are regrouped." Spyre returned leaping into the air and heading back for the apartment complex; Talon nodded and joined her his wings flaring slightly as he rose, Ravage growled low in his throat and began searching for Rumble and Laserbeak, they had to find their master before the demonic entities did.
Willy looked up in the middle of serving two Vamps; he had gotten a strange tingling sensation as though someone was glaring at him, gulping he spotted the source of his troubles and the Vamps quickly vacated the premises.
"Oh no; look Slayer, I'm not looking for trouble." He stammered; Buffy didn't let him finish, hopping over the counter she slammed him up against the numerous bottles and shelves causing a few expensive items to fall to the ground.
"What do you know about a missing body?" She hissed; her anger was beyond anything that Willy had ever seen before, he should have skipped town like the others when the Wicca went all evil skin flayer.
"I don't know nothin' I didn't even know someone's body was missing." He exclaimed fighting for air; the Slayer let up on his windpipe so he could breathe, there was a fire in her eyes he'd rarely seen before whoever was missing was someone close to her and that could mean only one thing. "Tell me it's not the other one." He whispered; Buffy slammed him up against his merchandise again and eyed him darkly.
"Tell no one." She growled before releasing him and leaving; Willy was shaking all over that had been way too easy, this demon bar was getting really hazardous to his health and maybe it was time he considered leaving town permanently. Looking around he quickly started cleaning up; he wasn't about to go after the Slayer to pay for the damages when she was in a mood like that, heck he wouldn't have done it even if her mood was all sunshine and flowers.
"I definitely gotta get out of this town this year." He muttered little realizing that his prayers were soon to be answered.
The world around was strange; it looked like something out of feudal Japan, which actually was pretty damn cool. Still I wasn't liking the free form feeling; that was when I realized I wasn't using my powers to fly, in fact I couldn't even sense the Borg in me anymore it was as if that side of me was gone, was this then some kind of spiritual place or was I dead?
"That you are not." A familiar voice stated; I glanced down in shock to find Masuko Chika standing in front of the ancient dojo, which had been destroyed recently. In fact the woman seemed to be almost transparent and glowing; kind of like one of those ghosts from the movies, or at least the movies that weren't like Ghost.
"Al! Oz!" Tara's voice suddenly cried sounding in great fear; I turned to the source and saw the woman floating above the river, but her lower body was missing she seemed to be composed partially of water sort of like Nancy looked when she was using her powers.
"This is new." Oz remarked coming around a tree; he appeared to be walking normally, but as he came closer I could see his feet had taken root to the ground quite literally.
"This is what you meant." Mei Lin spoke up; she appeared next to Chika-Sama, her hair now alight with fire and whipping about the wind.
"Yes my child; though all is not as it should be, these three were not truly meant to have these powers." The elder woman stated. "But they may borrow them temporarily to help end this first threat." She added.
"First threat?" Mei Lin repeated; Masuko-San smiled in slight sorrow, for what reason I could not say.
"Yes my child; the ancient spirits are beginning to return, but they have been corrupted by the First." She revealed. "As the Slayer fights the demons and those like them, so too will you defend mankind from the Spirits as the first true Shogun master in countless eons." She stated.
"Shogun?" I repeated. "As in mystic warrior?" I asked wondering what changes had been made to me and how it was even possible that my Borg half; indeed all of my true gifts seemed to be gone from me, as though I was back to being the man I'd been before my Omniversal trip began all those years ago.
"Yes." She returned. "The great founders of our Dojo knew this day would come; they performed a great spell when they trapped the four great elementals." She revealed slowly Oz and Tara seemed to draw nearer to her as though called, and I felt myself drifting lazily down to her as well as she explained the legends. "The spell allowed us to duplicate the abilities of those spirits; for with their powers you shall be capable of facing the dark spirits on their own grounds." She concluded; I looked to Oz and mouthed the word Anime, he nodded in agreement and smirked slightly. This actually made some kind of sense though; I mean it actually jived with the rest of the Buffyverse world on some level, besides there had to be more to it than we viewers were let in on.
"Earth, Wind, Water and Fire." Mei Lin whispered glancing to each of us as she spoke and then to herself.
"The four elements of nature; it makes perfect sense." Tara added; I really hated this whole levitating deal, which is when I realized I was standing next to the two women.
"You shall hold these powers temporarily; all except Mei Lin who is the true destined leader of the Shogun, now go and save your world." Chika-Sama stated; and with that the world around us vanished yet again, now I could see the pathway back to Earth and began to understand how it was that my own powers had been stripped from me.
"How can we fight them?" Tara asked glancing to Mei Lin who seemed to understand the most.
"With courage and conviction." The Asian woman replied; I deferred to her since she was our leader, suddenly a strange feeling passed over me, a strange unpleasant feeling.
"Do you sense that?" I wondered trying in vain to hide my discomfort.
"Sense it; it made me tingle all over." Oz retorted. "And not in a good way." He added finally seeming to string a cohesive sentence together in my presence; or at least I thought it to be the first time I'd noticed him talking fully instead of the disjointed Oz-speak he usually employed.
"It must be your werewolf half." Tara guessed. "Because I felt euphoric." She added with a dopey grin on her face.
"Well I didn't." I shot back testily. "And if I know my Anime it's because me and Oz are guys and only women are supposed to get these powers." I grumbled not wishing to voice the word that most likely represented what I'd recently experienced.
"Perhaps, but this is real; and far greater then perhaps you realize." Mei Lin called out; that's when I noticed just how far ahead she was, and try as I might I could not catch up to her.
"Oh I realize it." I countered. "I just think this trip is taking too long; and I don't appreciate feeling something no man was ever biologically supposed to." I muttered as an afterthought.
"Then let your journey end." Chika-Samas' voice floated down to us sounding almost bemused and Mei Lin nodded; then the light engulfed us and I could see no more.
"Are you sure they were right here Ravage?" Rumble asked eyeing the deserted side-street oddly; Ravage growled insulted with Rumble's assumptions. "Ok, ok I believe ya; it's just…" That's when the flash of light occurred yet again; all three Decepticons were shocked by what they saw, the four humans had returned.
The man called Oz stood taller than the others now due to a strange physical transformation; his skin was now a tanned earthly tone, he was wearing forest green leggings and a brown vest covered by a chain mail style coat crafted from twigs, leaves and the bones of varied species of fauna rather then metal… Predator and prey; a helmet fashioned from the skull of a great grizzly rested upon his brow and a giant battleaxe was strapped to his back. His eyes had become a vibrant green, which glowed briefly; he glanced at his new attire in quiet approval.
Tara had changed as well; in the wardrobe department at any rate, she was now wearing a short aquamarine battle skirt with matching top. It appeared to be crafted of seashells interwoven among starfish and the bones of other sea creatures. Her hair was now a rich oceanic green and her lips and skin tone had taken on a similar tone; in fact her skin seemed to shimmer as though waves crashing upon a shoal could be seen, and then of course there were her eyes.
They were now a deep blue; deeper then the deepest blue known to man, she had a leather scabbard strapped at her side. Within was a sword; a great ivory cutlass fashioned from the tooth of a long dead Mosasaur one of the deadliest of the ancient sea predators.
The Decepticons Master Al stood wearing a semi-transparent suit of chain mail crafted from swirling eddies of wind hardened by sheer force of nature; his skin roiled with the appearance of a great tornado and great wings rested upon his back, attached to his shoulder blades via dark extensions of folded skin. His eyes were completely glassed over as if composed of fog; slung over his shoulder was a quiver filled with different fletched arrows and a great bow rested across his back, every part of his new wardrobe was a dark dust-like black.
Mei Lin stood slightly ahead of the others; she looked almost as if she wore a two-piece bathing suit, but this proved deceptive. For her true armor was in fact her skin, which looked like ash colored rock; the bikini was merely to place emphasis on her femininity. Great wings of roiling flame draped over her shoulders; attached to the shoulder blade by hardened magma, her hair was a vibrant red. Her new weapon was a small battle mace formed of a thick, dense, smoky substance; it rested at her side ready for battle, and her eyes flared a deep red as she opened them for the first time.
"Terra, Aerora, Aqua; it is time." Mei Lin stated; Al nodded and unfurled his wings taking to the sky, Oz gripped his battleaxe with both hands and rolled his shoulders, and Tara readied her sword for battle.
"Now that is cool." Rumble remarked lacking anything better to say at such a crucial junction.
I did not understand; how could my physical form be changed like this, I mean I knew there were powerful magics on this world, but… Nothing from the series supported change on a molecular level to such an extreme; and I had complete tactile sensations in my new wings, not only that I still couldn't access my Borg gifts or feel any connection to my nanoprobes, or even my God given gift.
"Are you ok?" Mei Lin asked coming up next to me; I glanced briefly at her uncertain how to respond. "You don't understand." She surmised.
"Very much so." I admitted; she smiled then and performed a loop in mid-air.
"You don't have to; remember you're only a temp." She pointed out; I chuckled at that, at least I hadn't seemed to lose any of my intelligence levels.
"Yeah well, this feeling more than makes up for that." I stated referring to the sensation of unaided flight; no wonder Warren always enjoyed to fly and hated covering his wings, next time I met the X-Man there'd be something we could talk about. "Pyra!" I suddenly exclaimed noting our quarry below; she nodded and removed the mace from her side.
"Let us end this game of cat and mouse." She stated fire flaring up and crackling about the weapons end; I nodded with a grin and deftly knocked arrow to bow. I let fly the green tipped arrow; it fell straight and true and tore into one of Talons' smoke wings. He screamed fiercely even as a red fletched arrow stabbed Triage in the palm of his hand; they glared as one upon us, Tara rose on a great pillar of water as she pulled her scimitar and charged Talon, the two began to fight blade to blade.
Oz leapt onto the roof; an impressive feat, he swung his battleaxe at Set, who blocked with a shield of water. Mei Lin lowered herself to the ground; so to speak, she engaged Spyre, which left Triage for me. I circled the chaotic battle and unleashed a blue fletched arrow; Triage evaded it and sent a blast of air at me, in turn I created a vortex of air myself and deflected the assault. Spears of wood flew at me; gouts of flame leapt high in the sky and great jets of water could be seen everywhere, I was hard pressed to remain aloft. Tara was the first to make a finishing blow; Talon was consumed by waters until he hardened into the densest of materials and exploded.
"As Uncle would say… Magic defeats Magic." I proclaimed with a smirk; Triage cursed me and charged, I leapt aside and hit him with a second red fletched arrow. Set screamed as Oz buried him in moss; he was slowly absorbed by the vegetation until all that remained was a single scorpion, which Oz crushed under foot. Spyre screamed as Pyras' flames engulfed her and Triage screamed in rage; so far my opponent seemed the hardest to defeat.
"Fire consumes the Earth; Water douses the Fire, and the Earth swallows Water… The air has no true enemy." Masuko-Sans' voice seemed to whisper in my ear. "But combined you are stronger." She finished, a simple thing to say; and yet it made worlds of sense.
"Give your power to Aerora!" Pyra cried sending a spinning cyclone of flame towards me; I knocked my own black fletched arrow to the bow as the fire surrounded the tip. A jet of water came next intertwining with the fire as I poured some of my wind into the mix; last came the moss and dirt, our powers combined I took careful aim. The arrow flew straight and true piercing Triages' heart; he cried out in a rage only to explode in a great shower, Triage was dead.
"That was so easy." Aqua remarked sounding proud slightly.
"They were still weakened by our earlier assaults." Pyra countered as I landed beside the others.
"Our?" I repeated knowingly; Rumble, Ravage and Laserbeak joined us.
"The others who come will be even stronger." Terra surmised; then in a great flash our bodies reverted to normal and the box reappeared in Mei Lin's hands, I breathed in deeply and felt grateful that I could feel my little friends again.
"Thank you all." She whispered swaying slightly; Oz reached out to catch her before she collapsed.
"We should get her home." He stated; I took the opportunity to deactivate the three holograms and slip their emitters back into my pocket.
"Home." Tara repeated softly her mind no doubt returning to the life she'd lost; I frowned slightly as I moved to help Oz with Mei Lin, but there was time enough to consult my semi-ally after we got the Asian woman back to her apartment.
Buffy kneeled beside the headstone and traced the name there; it was late, but the Vampire activity wasn't too bad this summer and Willow was now in England getting the help she needed with Giles. She hated keeping this a secret from her, but if anyone found out there could be more veiny badness in Willow's future; and Xander wasn't really prone to keeping secrets.
"I'm sorry I let this happen; I vow to find you again Tara, I won't let your body be used in some demony thing or worse…" She trailed off choking back a sob; though she hadn't been fully knowledge girl when it came to Tara's life she had still been her friend, if only because Willow loved her at first, but the woman had grown on her as the year went on. Suddenly a sound behind her caught her attention; whirling she found three Vamps looking for an easy snack, she smiled darkly she needed to blow off some steam and this was the perfect venue for it.
Her apartment as it turns out was a shambles; at least her bedroom was still intact, and after placing Mei Lin in her bed the three of us gathered in the broken living area to discuss things.
"That was… Intense." Oz remarked; I nodded in agreement.
"That power… We'll never possess it again." Tara stated in utter conviction; I grimaced slightly.
"Good; quite frankly I've got enough powers thank you very much." I returned checking to make sure I had everything; it would soon be time to leave.
"What will you do now?" Oz wondered; I paused in my preparations to glance between him and Tara.
"I'm done; Mei Lin is ready now and she'll find the others like her in no time." I surmised glancing briefly to the bedrooms' door. "I'm heading home." I stated; Oz nodded and turned to Tara with a sad look in his eyes, but she didn't answer right away.
"I think I'll stick around here." He spoke up breaking the awkward silence. "Help her find our replacements." He added; Tara seemed lost, perhaps in thought or in anguish. I couldn't say; so I gave a slight nod to Oz and picked up the duffel.
"Kind of like Zordon then." I remarked with a smirk; Oz grinned. "Keep her safe; and if you ever run into the Slayer again or her gang say hi for me." I requested
"Sure." He said dismissing the gesture with a half-shrug; I turned to leave, Tara stood barring my path.
"I have nowhere to go." She stated. "You're just gonna leave me like this?" She demanded; I looked into her pain filled eyes and adopted a guilty expression.
"What would you have me do?" I asked calmly and softly; I would not be hostile in this, nor would I just spring everything I'd done behind the scenes for her at once.
"I-I-I…" Tara stammered and then the awful truth slammed into her full force; I saw it all in her eyes, the pain that she could never see her friends again. An all too common expression in those once joy filled features; the realization that she could never truly live a happy life here, not so close to her friends yet never able to see them.
And at last the heart wrenching ultimate truth; if she ever wanted to move on in her new life and live happily once again there was only one solution, and the finality of it gave way to her own version of Resolve Face. "Take me with you." She stated; Oz showed no outward signs of emotion, but I can bet I knew what he was thinking.
"My world." I paused slightly thinking of the chaotic upwelling of energy I'd been sensing there, it wasn't clear, but it was nagging and you couldn't ignore it. "It isn't very good for starting over with a new life." I countered testing her; seeing if she would back down.
"There's nothing for me here… Only misery and loneliness." She stated; I adopted a contemplative look as if mulling over the request.
"Well." I began. "Like I said my world isn't exactly right for a new start… But; if you're really sure I think I know a place." I added slowly; I had to be smooth now, I couldn't tip my hand. "Are you one hundred percent positive that this is what you want?" I asked very carefully; Tara looked to the city briefly, obviously thinking it over one more time.
"Yes." She whispered lowering her face to hide the tears at the finality of that statement.
"Good enough for me." Q stated popping in so suddenly I almost forgot myself. "Tara McClay you're in good hands with this one." He added draping an arm across my shoulder; considering we were near equal in height it didn't look too silly, but being touched by Q wasn't something I was used to and I had to resist the urge to turn on him. "His loyalty to his friends is above just about anything; here." He added snapping his fingers and passing me a thick folder. "Usual relocation package."
"Usual?" I repeated. "But… Roma?" I asked dumbfounded.
"She had those paltry Powers quakin' in their boots." He added with a light chuckle; I couldn't believe it, they'd managed to cut through all the red tape so effortlessly… Or at least to my perspective it seemed effortless.
"You planned this." Tara accused boldly glaring at Q and me; I sighed.
"Tara I made a solemn vow… At least to myself; I wanted you to live a happy life after this mess, to make up for what I was forced to do." I explained softly. "So yes I planned this; because I can not bear to hurt any of my friends, its' part of the whole honorable gentleman thing I've got going for me." I elaborated attempting to lighten the mood.
"Oh." Tara remarked sounding only slightly ashamed. "Well… Ah; th-thanks." She stated flustered; I smiled and slid the folder in my bag.
"Do you have everything?" I wondered.
"Well." Tara began; only to receive a little shock when Q snapped his fingers and three large suitcases appeared.
"Now she does." He stated.
"Do you mind?" I growled; Q rolled his eyes, but flashed off without saying anything.
"Oz; don't ever tell anyone about this." Tara pleaded turning to the young werewolf; he nodded a small smile playing across his lips.
"No problem." He returned a little awkwardly. "Good luck."
"Trust me Tara you're gonna love this place." I stated as the air crackled and the vortex burst open behind me without warning; it was a little smaller and less brighter then I was used to, considering it was probably one of Q's and not God's I figured it wouldn't be as flashy.
"You won't just leave me there without any…" She began to say, but I cut her off with a raised hand turning the gesture into a summons for her luggage.
"I think I can manage a couple days." I returned indicating that Tara should join me; the young woman approached the vortex warily. "It's perfectly safe… The landings are always rough of course, but I'll catch ya before you fall." I said; Tara smiled and together we stepped into the vortex leaving Oz to watch over his newly appointed charge.
The landing was as rough as I expected; my back cracked and literally broke once I was down, Tara on the other hand got a very rude surprise. Since I was still healing I couldn't stop her descent fast enough; fortunately she wound up in the swimming pool, which explained how I broke my back, I must have landed on the cement surrounding it. Sopping wet and looking all the world like a drowned rat; albeit a very attractive one, she glared at me as I finally managed to heal and get up.
"Sorry; I have no control over those things." I apologized sheepishly; she sighed and began to look around; I took a look too, though for different reasons. The grounds of the Starlight Mansion remained the same as I recalled them; the garage looked like it had been re-worked on since I was last here, and as my eyes fell upon the house my heart filled with a sense of great joy.
"I-I'm going to live h-h-here?" She asked incredulously; I grinned proudly, she seemed to be genuinely happy and pleased about the new accommodations.
"This is the perfect place to heal; I stayed here a brief time to heal myself, Tara McClay welcome to Starlight Mansion." I stated encompassing the entire area in one grand gesture; she goggled at me before taking the time to soak in what I'd said, a tiny smile played across her lips.
"You arranged it so I'd be staying with Jem and the Holograms." She stated sounding bubbly and almost like her former self; ah yes, the whole windows to other universes deal, Buffy's world must also have had a Jem and the Holograms cartoon as I suspected and by the looks of things Tara had fond memories of it.
"Well; I kind of figured…" I began rubbing the back of my neck awkwardly. "I mean it was either here or with Xavier in Westchester; and seeing as how you're you and not Xander I doubt you'd wanna hang with the X-Men." I admitted; Tara beamed proudly, gratefully and finally surprised me by giving me a hug.
"Thank you." She whispered. "I-I-I'm sure I'll be able to h-h-heal here." She added with a smile; I returned the gesture with one of my own.
"Well I would hope so… It's hard not to cheer up around a bunch of young girls and hot women." I stated before fully thinking through what I was going for; Tara punched me in the arm. "That didn't come out right." I muttered; Tara turned to the mansion and for the first time noticed how quiet it was.
"What time is it?" She wondered looking up at the early morning sky; I shrugged.
"Hard to say; every reality works on a different clock." I replied. "I haven't seen one the same since I started Universe hopping." I admitted with a tiny roll of my shoulders; partially to get the last kinks from my rough landing out.
"Do you think anybody's up yet?" She asked as I collected her luggage for her.
"Of course; Synergy never sleeps and Vixen is probably prowling around somewhere." I returned; she eyed me curiously.
"Vixen?" She repeated; I grinned a little at that, but decided to forego the explanations.
"That's to varied to get into right now; come on, at least you can get cleaned up and changed out of those wet things." I offered; Tara followed me as I led her to the back door, a part of me wondering what to expect. "I hope you won't have too hard of a time dealing with interacting with fictional characters, so to speak." I added pausing at the door; Tara eyed me as though just realizing what that meant, but then she actually laughed.
"If I can get used to you and those forced memories you implanted in all of us a-a-allowed me to take the likes of Q in without question; I-I-I Can certainly get used to living with Jem and the Holograms." She countered; I took those words in with a nod and turned the knob.
"Yeah, well just remember not everybody knows Jerrica and Jem are the same person here." I reminded in a low muttering tone and then proceeded to enter the house.
Whistler stood next to Q eyeing the duo; the Powers didn't give up any of theirs willingly, that this ordinary mortal had such characters as Roma on his side… Well it was definitely unexpected; the balance demon turned to the omnipotent alien a look of concern in his eyes, he was just grateful that the man couldn't see him otherwise he'd probably be getting royally trashed right about now.
"Are you quite certain of this?" He demanded putting such thoughts of beatings out of his mind. "Relocation is almost unheard of outside of the so called Marvel Universes; I think I'd much rather have her joining the Exiles." He stated; Q did his best to keep a neutral expression, but it wasn't easy.
"It is… Though he doesn't know it we've actually been grooming him for a much greater life." Q replied. "Well; Roma and myself of course, one day in the far future our little friend there is going to relocate here." He revealed for the first time; Whistler looked marginally impressed.
"He's that important to her?" He wondered.
"He's from Earth Prime; you know she's always wanted one of them on her side" Q returned; Whistler nodded glancing back as the man slipped inside the mansion followed by Tara.
"Out of all the Omniverse; Earth Prime is the only one without a parallel, so to speak." The balance demon remarked. "So that's why you made him a Borg and activated those dormant mutations." He added with a small smirk; Q grinned roguishly and held his head higher.
"Our friend there is quite the gifted one; and once his duty is fulfilled and he has no further ties to Earth Prime, he get's to come here." He stated sounding almost proud of the young human. "His home away from home." Q kept some of his thoughts to himself though; no sense in telling the balance demon that he had very little to do with providing the young human with his unique abilities, the blame for them could be solely rested upon someone else, someone Q hadn't known was involved at the time of assimilation.
"I still don't understand why you wanted Tara here though." Whistler admitted; Q hid a careful smile, he wasn't going to reveal everything. Those so called Powers were too damn paranoid for their own good; and besides if they suspected the truth they might try and intervene and that would spell disaster for Dawn Summers.
"That's for us to know; now shouldn't you be getting along now?" Q hinted; Whistler sighed and took a few steps away from the alien.
"Ok… You've never steered us wrong before." He admitted grudgingly; he took one last look at the house. "Still; I hope you know what you're doing." He added before returning to his own reality; Q smiled without a trace of his usual charm, it was genuine.
"Of course I know what I'm doing." He countered to no one in particular. "If I didn't; I wouldn't be Omnipotent now would I Uatu?" He stated in a scoffing tone glancing briefly to the Watcher who was also nearby; as usual the Watcher chose not to acknowledge him and then Q also vanished with a flash of light, leaving the Marvel figurehead alone to finish observing these events.
I was surprised to find an exhausted Rio Pacheco sleeping at the kitchen table holding a tiny baby girl in his arms; surprised at the fact that the child was in no danger of falling. Tara brightened up at the sight of the adorable little baby; her smile giving me a final sense of relief over my guilt, which now vanished at the realization she could be happy here.
I led her out of the kitchen quietly and brought her up to my old room; there Amy slept soundly regenerating, Tara looked between the girl and myself. She smiled again at the sight of profound joy upon my visage; then she almost screamed at the sight of Vixen, sleeping in the corner as she was, she and I hadn't noticed her at first.
"S'ok; she's a friend." I whispered so low I knew it wouldn't wake either of them; Tara relaxed slightly and eyed the wolf curiously.
"Werewolf?" She wondered; I almost laughed at her naïveté.
"Cybertronian." I corrected; Tara didn't seem to understand so I pointed her to the bathroom door rather than elaborate on the explanation. "You can get cleaned up in there; try not to make too much noise, I'm going to see if I can find Synergy." I explained before depositing her luggage near the door and disappearing down the hall; Tara shrugged and headed for the bathroom, taking one last glance at the sleeping child and wolf curiously. My search for Synergy led me through many rooms, but it all turned out as a bust; she must have been watching over one of the others or something and I wasn't about to start poking into the Holograms private bedrooms.
So I opted to return to Amy's bedroom to check up on Tara; she was sorting out clothes in her suitcase wrapped up in a towel, she almost freaked when I barged in without a knock.
"Whoops… Sorry; I'm not used to knocking when entering my former rooms… Er; I mean." I stammered averting my gaze.
"You're babbling." She pointed out; I took a calming breath and sat down in the familiar recliner, I looked pointedly on the still sleeping form of my precious Amy and felt the corners of my mouth pull up. "You must really care for her." She remarked softly.
"Yes; with all my heart… In a way you and she are somewhat alike." I stated looking briefly to Tara. "Like you I wound up saving her life from certain death, but for a very different reason." I added with a slight frown; Tara smiled as she looked on the sleeping form.
"I wish Willow could meet her." She revealed with a wistful sigh.
"One day she will… I love sharing her with my friends." I admitted with a wide grin; Tara chuckled softly and returned to the bathroom to get dressed leaving me alone with my daughter, climbing to my feet I briefly approached her and brushed my fingers through her hair. "Daddy's here little one, but not for long." I whispered feeling a pang of regret, but destiny spoke volumes; it sang through every cell in my body all the way down to the very core of my being, God was calling urgently and I knew I was pressing my luck, but I'd promised Tara and I was confident that Earth Prime wouldn't explode into anarchy if I remained here for but a day.
Kimber Benton sighed in utter exhaustion as she turned over in bed for the fiftieth time; she was happy for her sister and adored her niece, but did she ever wish they could sound proof the house. Then of course there were the whispered voices and the two people who showed up; she didn't know who they were, but they had let themselves in and hadn't done anything so far as she could hear so they were most likely on the level.
It was no use; she couldn't get back to sleep, might as well get up then and face another day. She took a quick shower and got dressed before leaving her room; that's when the door to Amy's room opened, Kimber's eyes widened as Al stepped out followed by a beautiful looking dark blonde woman. She was wearing a light beige skirt; one of the long kinds that covered her legs and a black blouse, on top of that she seemed to be covered up in a sweater or something despite the heat.
Kimber didn't know how to take this; until they got a little closer and Al finally noticed her, his smile took her by surprise. Not as much as the shy demeanor of his guest though; she kept her head low and seemed to radiate a strange melancholy, though Al seemed oblivious to it or maybe just used to it.
"Kimber." Al greeted embracing her; she smiled at his openness and quashed the sudden naughty thought that escaped. "This is Tara McClay; another lost soul, so to speak." He introduced, Kimber had missed his odd frame of speaking; sometimes his overly theatrical ways were just so darn endearing.
"Uh… Hello." Kimber greeted reaching out a hand; Tara took it and shook tentatively.
"H-h-hello." She returned; Al seemed to shake his head at that, but it was barely perceptible and Kimber almost missed the gesture entirely.
"I've arranged it so she can remain here… On this Earth; er if Jerrica doesn't mind." Al revealed sounding suddenly conscientious; Kimber giggled.
"She took you in for two weeks didn't she." She pointed out. "And I doubt Tara'll be as much trouble as you were." She added conspiratorially with a light chuckle; Al laughed half-heartedly and continued down the hallway.
"So; is the wedding set yet?" He asked changing subjects; he still had Amy's gift, but things could have changed since receiving it.
"Things kind of took a holiday when Jerrica's pregnancy was discovered." Kimber returned. "They've decided to wait until the child is another year older." She revealed; Al nodded as they began to walk down the stairs he nearly tripped and fell over the railing, fortunately he managed to stop himself.
"Inconceivable; I've been up and down twice now and I didn't notice those skates." He remarked hovering slightly off the floor the offending toys floating slightly next to him.
"Oh; sorry, Jerrica made those special for Amy and I'm afraid she keeps leaving them lying around." Kimber apologized; Al smiled fondly and sent the skates down the hallway and into Amy's room with a gentle lazy gravimetric push.
"She always did leave her toys around when she shouldn't have, mine too come to think of it." He muttered; Kimber shot him a mischievous look, she recalled his toys, heck the last time he'd been here Q had sent him over a thousand toys just to demonstrate how his home reality knew so much about them. With a carefully hidden smirk she led the way downstairs and to the kitchen; she badly needed something to help strengthen her, amazing how much she'd grown to love coffee after Theresa was born.
Tara was oddly quiet as we returned to the kitchen; I supposed it would take a while before she was outspoken around the others, much like when she first met the Scoobies. Rio was still sleeping; and Kimber smiled at the sight, I took a seat and let out a very tired sigh; after the past twenty-four hours I felt like hell.
"Rough day?" Kimber asked with a tiny smile.
"You have no idea." I returned eyeing Tara briefly; Kimber nodded and stifled a yawn.
"I love my niece to dickens, but she can keep you awake until five AM." She complained; Tara looked up at that, she'd been watching the sleeping child fascinatingly until then.
"It's always amazing; how something so tiny, c-can b-be so loud." She stated breaking her self-imposed silence; Kimber nodded again and got some coffee.
"I'd have to agree." She returned. "Do you want something?" She asked politely.
"T-tea if you have it." Tara requested; Kimber smiled and fetched a kettle, I declined anything drinking anything so soon after an Energon cube was never a good idea. My eyes felt heavy; so I closed them, as Tara received her tea Roxy arrived.
"God I'm never gonna sleep again." She complained flopping into her seat; she eyed Tara curiously, but didn't react to my presence at all.
"Hello to you too Roxy." I murmured my eyes still shut I was feeling myself losing the battle to stay awake; the Misfit smiled, naturally I didn't catch the expression.
"Expectin' a fanfare?" She asked; I shook my head allowing it to slump, I heard three others shuffle in.
"Mornin'." Shana mumbled; Kimber returned the greeting, Aja sat next to me and gave me a slight hug, I figured it was Aja because her hair dye had a particular scent to it.
"Good to see you again." She stated; I smirked slightly before my head hit the table once more.
"He looks like hell." Stormer noted; Tara eyed her only link to her past confusedly, he hadn't looked bad earlier.
"Y-y-you put a lot of effort into protecting us." She surmised; I semi-nodded already half-asleep.
"Well at least he fits in at the sleep deprivation table." Kimber remarked; I groaned at the bad joke and slowly succumbed to the weariness.
"Just need a few minutes." I murmured before falling asleep; Aja eyed the young woman opposite her with unabashed curiosity.
"Tara." She introduced. "I-I-I'll be staying here I suppose." She added timidly; Aja turned to Kimber the first one up who had to at least know something about this.
"Something bad went down for her wherever Al was before coming back to Earth Nine Twenty-Nine." She began. "Al's trying to give her a new start… At least as far as I can tell." She supplied; Aja nodded and gave the woman a friendly hand squeeze.
"We do our best to help people." She stated; Tara smiled gratefully looking at all the tired faces.
"Th-then maybe I can help here… I know a sp-spell that could sound proof all your rooms." She revealed. "Th-that way only her mother would be woken up during the night." She added becoming less shy as she was forced to speak up in place of Al; who was still fast asleep and looked a little inhuman due the carefully regulated breathing patterns of the Technorganic Borg. Tara was slowly steeling herself for a life here; and so if that were the case she should use her talents to help in the best way she could, Aja eyed the woman curiously after that statement.
"You know magic?" Stormer asked excitedly; the Holograms had run into a few strange things in their career, and magic was something they each wanted to know a little more about after Rio ran into that Blade character one night.
"A-a-a little; I'm not as powerful as Willow, but…" She trailed off; the pain in her eyes was unmistakable.
"Someone close to you that you lost." Shana surmised seating herself next to Tara; the younger woman sighed forlornly.
"S-something like that." She agreed; that's when Clash and Raya entered the room; they both took one look at Tara and nearly fell to the floor in their shock.
"What's she doing here?" They both asked as one; Tara eyed them uncertainly, she had never met them before, but they acted as though they knew her.
"This is Tara." Kimber stated looking put off by their rudeness. "Al brought her here." She explained; Raya glanced at Al briefly as though just noticing him and then turned back to Tara examining her closely. Clash on the other hand couldn't take her eyes off of her, which made Tara extremely nervous and uncomfortable.
"Is something wrong?" She asked growing a little upset at this obtrusive behavior.
"You're Tara McClay?" Clash asked startling everybody except Raya.
"Y-yes." Tara replied; Clash shared a look with Raya, who then proceeded to do her best to stop herself from cracking up Tara wasn't sure if she wanted to cry or laugh judging by the expression on the woman's face, maybe it was a little of both.
"But… Al brought you here." Clash muttered turning her head to the side; she seemed lost, or at least uncertain. "Did he know we have the Buffy television show here too?" She wondered. "Some of the girls watched it religiously… Me and Raya happening to catch it sometimes." She elaborated; this was starting to make sense to Tara, she eyed the man who had brought her here and a large sigh escaped.
"The jerk must have forgotten." Raya spoke up with a small growl.
"Al's a jerk?" Shana wondered thoroughly confused.
"He is if he did what we think he did." Clash countered marching up to the sleeping traveler; with a quick slap she startled him awake.
"Q… What now?" Al mumbled half-asleep; that's when Jerrica and Synergy finally arrived, he glanced around at all the faces seemingly confused, Jerrica and Synergy were really out the loop though.
"You better start talkin' Al." Clash growled coming around from behind the young man and glaring at him; the expression wasn't one he'd expected to encounter judging by the confused and slightly uncertain expression on his face.
"Did I do something wrong?" He wondered dumbly; Tara chocked back a sob and turned away from him to hide her feelings, Clash was thoroughly unimpressed.
"Buffy the Vampire Slayer." She replied; now everyone semi-understood what had Clash so upset at least, Tara must have come from a reality that they had a window to… Much as the one Al had for Earth Nine Twenty-Nine; and they realized that he must have done something terrible to this Tara person, though most of them didn't seem to know what.
"Oh boy." Al groaned placing a hand to his forehead; Clash stood by waiting impatiently for a reply. "Look's like I've got some 'splainin' to do." He mumbled; Tara startled him by reaching out and placing her hand on his shoulder.
"I'll explain… I am the one going to be staying here." She offered; he looked at her surprised, she offered a small smile and he let out a very weary sigh.
"Of course; these are very understanding people." Al admitted glancing at his friends. "They won't judge either of us." He added with a smile; Tara took that as her cue, she began explaining how Al had come into the lives of Buffy and her friends. How Omnibus caused an imbalance; most of his friends eyed him strangely, He had never told them about the Demon Overlord back in the Star Trek Universe he'd been assimilated in; in fact he hadn't said much about what had happened prior to his arrival here. Tara described what she knew; or at least understood, surrounding the trip to Japan, she then explained the one thing she'd omitted at the beginning uncertain or perhaps afraid of the reactions.
Alain took the time to examine everyone's expressions; to gauge their reactions and make sure that they grasped some of what was being said, though they didn't fully understand each one seemed to accept Tara's words. At the point where she began to explain the resurrected from Death scenario; horrified expressions were on practically everyone's face, even Rio who had apparently woken up earlier though during the conversation. And at last when Tara explained the reasons behind his choice and that she did not hold any ill will towards him… Silence was the only response.
"In a way Al saved my soul." She admitted eyeing him with slight pity; for she knew how much he had hurt, because she'd been there.
"Now you see why I brought her here." He spoke softly. "Why I had Q talk to Roma on my behalf… She would have been miserable back there, at least here…" He trailed off with a slight wave of his hand; as usual Syn approached Al first and laid a gentle hand upon his shoulder and once again he was stricken by the odd feeling of being trapped in a Saturday morning cartoon.
"My dear brother." She began and her tone spoke volumes. "You made the right choice." She stated; Al laughed bitterly at that.
"I had no choice to begin with; they knew." He spat glancing out the window to hide and control the rage… The sorrow. "They knew I could never let her soul be lost… Trapped in a husk for all eternity." He added softly and with great pain.
"The curse of having a noble soul." Rio pointed out with a friendly smile; Jerrica squeezed her fiancées' shoulder and then turned to Tara.
"You're welcome to stay here as long as you like." She stated; and Tara smiled gratefully.
"Thank you." She whispered.
"You can share my room until we can fix one up for you." Kimber offered; Tara's cheeks flushed a little at that, but she nodded her acceptance.
"Well now that, that is settled." Al spoke up in a surprisingly cheery mood; it was easy to push aside all the pain and guilt, unknowingly to the others he'd had a lot of practice perfecting his ever optimistic mood. "Why don't we get busy preparing breakfast for the girls?" He suggested moving over to the fridge as he spoke.
"Y-yes; that sounds perfect." Tara added moving to help; Al winced as he bent down to grab some eggs.
"You don't have to help." Stormer pointed out as she got the frying pans.
"Nonsense." Al countered. "That little beauty's been keeping you up." He reminded glancing briefly at Theresa with a small smile of fond remembrance, memories of Amy being that small once filled him with the sudden desire to produce more offspring. "And sure; so what if I've probably got bruised bones, aching muscles and feel like I just went eighteen rounds non-stop with the Hulk. I love to help." He added zipping his tendrils across the room to snag a wisp and a bowl from the cupboard; the others chuckled softly at that, it was that self same helping nature that had gotten the young man involved with them in the first place. "Ah it was good to be surrounded by people I didn't need to be so tight lipped and on guard around; though I may have become friendly with Buffy and the others, they always sent off vibes that clearly said they didn't like having me around."
"Daddy!" Amy cried leaping into my arms and nuzzling my cheek; she seemed almost desperate, and I couldn't really blame her. "Are you here to take me home?" She wondered a slight tilt to her head; the expression in my eyes must have spoke volumes, she smiled wistfully and kissed my cheek. "That's ok daddy; a visit is nice." She admitted; I smiled openly and tickled her stomach producing a fistful of giggles.
"You don't seem as tired as everybody else." I pointed out; Amy smiled sheepishly as she squirmed slightly in my arms.
"I… Turn my audios off." She admitted; I eyed her disbelievingly.
"How? Even I can't do that." I stated; Amy shrugged.
"Don't know Daddy." She replied; I let it go and brought Amy over to Tara, the wicca smiled as she was scrutinized by the young Catarian.
"This is Tara… A friend of mine who's going to be staying here." I introduced; Amy smiled shyly and reached out a hand, Tara shook it.
"Daddy you help too much." She opinionated; then smiled proudly. "But that's why you're my daddy." She added sounding slightly possessive; I sighed and plopped her down in front of her breakfast.
"Eat up." I encouraged. "I've got to move Tara's luggage into Kimber's room." I added before leaving the kitchen; by now the household was abuzz as the Starlight Girls enjoyed themselves, eating breakfast or chatting about stuff, the Starlighters were practicing in one of the many downstairs rooms and I could hear the music wafting through the air from here. It felt like a very nice, safe, warm environment; unfortunately I knew I'd only get to stay today and a little of the next, the tension I'd been sensing back on Earth Prime could only mean one thing. Dismissing my dark thoughts I made my way upstairs; passing Krissie, Delaree and Lela along the way, they smiled and said hello, but I really didn't hear them… Destiny's call was hard to ignore this late in the game.
Tara eyed the little girl in fascination; she'd never seen an alien before, and cute and cuddly demons did not exist. Amy ate slowly; savoring each bite, she was four now and some of her species instincts were becoming a little harder to control. Late one night Vixen had taken her to hunt; she'd been so pent up and intense it was the only thing the Maximal could do. Amy suspected it was part of some sort of genetic rite of passage; either that or it was a phase she was going through much like Earthling two-year olds, everyone joked about Theresa and what she'd be like when she hit the terrible twos.
"You're from another reality too." She surmised eyeing the older woman; Tara nodded. "You're pretty." Amy complimented.
"And so are you." Tara reciprocated with a smile; Amy tilted her head to one side her ears literally twitching.
"How's my Daddy been acting?" She wondered curiously. "He hasn't been getting into too many fights has he?"
"No." Tara lied; though she didn't know why, she felt the urge to protect this child from the truth. "So; what kind of fun things are there to do around here?" She asked wanting to change the subject.
"Oh lots… Swimming, Tennis, Shopping… These girls like to do that a lot." She began with a distasteful look on her face. "I never did like public shopping… Too many people." She added. "You can sing too if you want; they like music, oh and sometimes we all go to places like the zoo and stuff… Since its' summer again we have to find stuff to do." She revealed; Tara smiled at the thought of dealing with fourteen girls all on your own; more importantly at how Al must have handled it, and she laughed.
"You're father was right; this is a good place to heal." She admitted; Amy smiled, a look that was slightly disturbing now that her teeth were bloodied.
"Just be careful; it's full of super villains too." She reminded; Tara got a funny look in her eyes as she thought of Xander being in her position and almost had a laughing fit.
"I think I'm going to fit in nicely… Does magic exist here?" She wondered; Amy shrugged.
"I don't know; Daddy knows more, but you could always ask Professor Xavier… He's the man whose been teaching me to control my psychic abilities." She explained; Tara frowned at that.
"You're psychic?" She asked concernedly.
"All the female of my species are." She replied; Tara took that information in and slowly climbed to her feet.
"I should go unpack now." She spoke quietly; Amy frowned knowing the woman was uneasy, but not understanding why.
"Ok; I'll see you later." She returned kicking her feet back and forth under the table as she ate the last of her meal; Tara knew she'd been rude, but she didn't want anyone knowing the extent of the pain she was hiding, at least not one so young.
The day went by seemingly in a blur; Tara talked with a few of the other adults, and she and I managed to find a magic supply shop which was genuine, so everyone was grateful for her spell casting. Since now they could get a good nights' sleep; except poor Jerrica and Rio of course, I would have offered to stay with the kid, but I was so tired. Having been awake almost forty-eight hours I barely had enough energy to activate the holo-Regen bed, I was asleep before my head hit the pillow.
Tara on the other hand was anything but; sleep merely refused to come, perhaps because she was sleeping on the floor. Tossing over once again she let out a pained sigh; movement on the bed startled her and Kimber stuck her head over the edge.
"Can't sleep." She asked; Tara shook her head. "Want to talk about it?"
"Not really." Tara returned softly; Kimber didn't move though and eventually Tara's resolve broke down. "I guess I'm still hurting inside; I mean I've lost all my friends and the only woman I've ever loved." She revealed; Kimber's eyes widened slightly.
"That's sort of like how Clash felt." She whispered; Tara looked up at her in confusion. "Well Clash really loved Pizzazz, but she never had the guts to tell her; and then it was too late." She explained; Tara looked sympathetic towards the Misfits' feelings, Kimber smiled a little.
"At least I got to be with my Willow." Tara admitted. "But the pain she must be enduring… She saw me die." She whispered her eyes tearing up as she began to wish she could comfort her love again; Kimber looked down in sympathy.
"I can't begin to imagine how that must feel." She admitted softly. "But we can't change the past." She added with a small wistful sigh.
"I just wish I could have seen her again; one last time." Tara stated; Kimber nodded in sympathy.
"I never got to be with my dad when he died… Or my mom." She revealed softly. "And there isn't a day that goes by that I don't regret it… The pain will never really go away, but in time it becomes bearable." She advised; though she suspected Tara wept quietly for a time and Kimber allowed her the moment; she looked so lost, Kimber decided to offer support. Slipping off the bed she pulled Tara into an embrace and held her until she had no more tears to shed; Tara pulled away in shy embarrassment.
"I'm sorry." She apologized.
"Don't be; you can't bottle it in… Now why don't you come up here with me." Kimber suggested with a small smile. "It's definitely more comfortable." She added; Tara blushed, she couldn't deny the attraction she felt towards the other woman. It was a fact of nature; even if she was not the least bit ready to just brush the memory of Willow aside, not that she ever would. Willow had meant the world to her; Kimber knew she'd come off as a little forward, so she offered an apologetic smile. "That came out a little wrong." She admitted.
"It's o-ok." Tara returned. "But you do have a point." She added; and so allowed Kimber to lead her into the bed, at first she tried to stick to one side of the bed. But her comfort levels quickly dropped and she had no choice; she turned over and found herself looking into Kimber's eyes as the other woman seemed to be watching her. Tara didn't understand; she was getting mixed signals, Kimber however seemed to pick up on her growing discomfort and turned over herself.
"This is starting to remind me of when Jerrica and I had to share a bed, back when we were little." Kimber muttered. "She never could sleep with me watching her, but I was awed by her back then; she always got better grades then me." She was rambling and she knew it, but sometimes that tended to help ease a persons' mind; like her first time with Stormer. Tara stayed quiet; though her inhibitions calmed down and eventually she got to sleep, Kimber looked back with a smile on the sleeping form.
"Welcome home." She whispered knowing instinctively that Tara would fit right in and eventually feel like a part of the family; turning back over she drifted off to sleep, wondering if Tara could teach her magic.
Buffy Summers had kept the disappearance of Tara's body from everyone; she didn't want to upset her friends, but inside she was fuming and her little chat with Willie had failed miserably to get any insight on the theft. It was bad enough the ceremony had to be closed casket, which had upset Willow to no end, but whoever stole the body was so going to get slayed once she found them.
Checking the mail she sighed in slight annoyance; bills, bills and more bills that's' all they ever got. Then a small white envelope attracted her eye; pulling it out of the pile she read the return address, it was a hotel in Paris and it had Al's name on it, but he'd left over a month ago hadn't he? Opening it curiously she unfurled the sheet of paper within and began to read; her eyes widened in shock after the first sentence and narrowed darkly as she continued.
"Dear Buff… I never expect you to forgive me; and I never intend to ask, what I have done is unforgivable. It is one of the worst sins; and I will live with it for the rest of my unnaturally long life. By now Xander has saved the world; and more importantly Willow's soul, good for him… I was told not to tell any of you, but Whistler and his so called bosses can go fuck themselves for all I care; you at least deserve an explanation or you'll never rest." A large space intersected the paragraphs of the letter here; as though the young man had, had trouble finding the words to express what he was saying. "Tara's body is missing; by now you know this, what you don't know is who took it or why. The answer is both complicated and simple; so I'll spare the long winded details and get right to it. Powers sent Whistler to me the night you killed Omnibus; told me his presence upset the balance, that something big was going down in Japan and I'd need some unconventional help. Told me to find Oz of all people, but first… Tara; oh God Buff… What I've done to her because of them is… She's alive." Buffy lost her footing then and collapsed onto the stairs; her eyes were thick with tears of rage and sorrow and she couldn't see the writing, blinking them away as best as she could she kept reading.
"I used a drug called Cordrazine; well actually it's Tricordrazine, but that's not important. It's from the twenty-fourth century; after I used my medical tricorder to heal her body I injected her with the drug and resuscitated her. I had no choice Buffy; the PtB locked her soul in her body instead of taking it to Heaven, they wanted me to do this, said it was the only way to restore the balance." By now Buffy's anger was immeasurable; though not at Al, despite what his letter was saying he'd done she knew he wasn't ultimately to blame. "After this deal goes down one way or the other she can never return; never know happiness… At least not here. I do not care who I have to kill to make amends; I will not leave Tara with a life of unending misery, I can not. I'm going to see if Roma can't put some fear into these so called PtB; get them to let me take Tara to another reality where she can heal and find some happiness in life again… It's the least I can do after…" Buffy was once again crying; crying for her friend Tara though she barely knew her, for Willow who would be hurting a long time and who couldn't know the truth ever. "I am so, so sorry… And I know how meaningless that is. Sincerely Alain Desrochers. P.S; if you do forgive me… Well that doesn't matter, but if you ever see Whistler again do me a favor… I don't care if it screws up the PtB's plans or something, just kill him." Buffy smiled through the tears; a feral thing with no real emotion behind it, he could be assured that she would do something to Whistler. Oh yes something nasty indeed; suddenly the door opened and Dawn came in, when she saw Buffy she knew something was wrong.
"What is it Buffy?" She asked; Buffy quickly crumpled the letter so Dawn couldn't read it.
"Nothing… Just a late letter from dad." She lied; Dawn's face clouded over slightly and she glared at the letter.
"Nice of him to finally let us know… The big jerk." She grumbled; Buffy smiled and quickly hid the letter, she couldn't throw it out.
"Up for a little weapons practice tonight?" She asked; Dawns' face lit up eagerly.
"Uh-huh." She returned.
"Come on then." Buffy urged heading for her trusted weapons chest; Dawn hot on her heels, it was time for sister to share with sister.
The End
Epilogue
They gathered together again; maneuvering past the barriers with ease and proceeded to journey up to where the Father of All sat, it was not a throne not exactly, it was more akin to what one would expect of a deity. He looked down upon his children with a smile; they had been his eyes and ears for a very long time and it was how he kept tabs on the ones he had forsaken and cast aside into the fiery pits.
"Death is soon to open the Gates lord Hades." Leo revealed bowing low to his creator; the Zodiac had long ago chosen to be cast out per the Father's instructions, and now their long sojourn into the ranks of Lucifer's armies would soon be over.
"The Godkin will soon return from his dealings with Omnibus, Lucifer and those who will not renounce the beliefs of the war long since over shall not survive." Hades informed. "What of Anarchy?" He demanded; Sagittarius stepped forward and frowned.
"As long as the Gates remain standing he is still a threat; once Lucifer has been destroyed the Godkin must eradicate the Gates lest Earth itself be plunged into Hell." He informed; Hades nodded.
"Keep me informed; as Seduction has in her own special way, when this is over I promise you shall be restored to your former beauty." Hades vowed; the Zodiac all bowed and swiftly vanished returning to the lower echelons of the Citadel within Hell where the Demons had long ago been cast out, without warning a familiar pest popped in with a tiny smirk.
"You do realize there may be complications?" He pointed out; Hades stirred his indescribable form shimmering as he rose to stare down the intruder.
"I do not need reminders from you God's Pawn." He insulted with a sneer. "I am Father of All; creator of Demonkin and maintainer of Balance for Evil, you are not even a part of Earth Prime's balance sheets." He snapped; Q chuckled and raised his hand to snap his fingers.
"I know, but remember; to destroy the Gates of Hell you have to be inside Hell. And I don't think God or his future wife would think so highly of losing him at such a crucial junction, nor would Roma." Q pointed out mischievously before vanishing; Hades glowered as he turned to his own observations of the Godkin and in particular the slumbering form of his adopted Daughter.
"Point well taken my annoying pest, but nevertheless the Gates must be destroyed." He stated sagely; and then he turned to other matters, such as the coming birth of the newest Demonkin.
To Be Continued… Though unfortunately it could take several more months; still, be on the lookout for Gates of Hell! The Continuing Saga of Alain Desrochers on Earth Prime.