A/N: NIWWT has struck again with an infamous 'what ever happened to:' question and, since this series has been my forte, they placed it upon me.

While David and Gabrielle do have a small role to play in this story, this is NOT a continuation of the Ancient Scrolls series. Rather, it ties up some loose ends nicely and serves as a jumping of point for the actual story which will begin in Chapter 1. Hold onto your hats kids, the ride is about to start!

MT.

Forward

He wasn't sure what had awakened him, but his eyes were open and he was staring at the ceiling with an unfounded sense of dread.

The cool, damp night breeze floated in from the outside, heavy with the promise of rain, and gentle mists roiled and floated over the earth in the yard below.

Everything seemed quiet and peaceful, and still there was this heaviness about him, as if the universe were holding its breath.

A soft moan drew his attention down to the figure lying next to him. His hand fell gently on the soft blonde hair, and he brushed the strands out of her face.

There she was, a gentle frown creasing the skin of her forehead as she slumbered, deep in some dream.

He had to remind himself that she was real. He had to remind himself that all of this was real and he was not in some fantastical dream any longer.

Angelica's hand brushed over his chest as she adjusted her position and the frown lessened a bit.

David smiled and kissed her gently on the top of the head as he extricated himself from her.

On the top of the armoire, Prospero looked up from cleaning his thick black fur and stared at him with curious cat eyes.

David put a finger to his lips and then gently rubbed the cat's head. Prospero purred and then went back to licking his paw.

He moved out into the hallway and down the stairs into the living room. The moonlight cast long pale blades of silvery light across the shrouded furniture.

To his right, near the front door were the four large suitcases, standing patiently. The customs tags from the recent flight back from Greece could be read in the pale light.

Well, they'd unpack in the morning. They had been too exhausted to do anything of the sort when they arrived in the early evening after the flight.

By now, the newly 'discovered' site of Poditea would be in full archeological swing, as would the excavation of the various tombs in the hills nearby. They had been there nearly a month as David watched the foundations and streets of his old home emerge from the earth.

The ruins of Beltanus's old in were in better shape than most of the rest, with three of the four stone walls still standing. He spent many hours there, sitting on the packed earth and seeing the old tables and stools, watching the ghosts of those he had known traveling in and out of his mind's eye.

His old college professor had been rather surprised at the precision with which David had pinpointed the site.

David smiled as his memory drifted back to that other time, that other life. The feeling of angst flared again with the thought.

He frowned. Why would he feel anything negative towards that life? There had been very little negative in it after all. In point of fact, even his departure from that life, as violent as it had been, had yielded something positive.

His eyes drifted to the steps and the bedroom above, and the sleeping Angelica, who was without a doubt, the reincarnation of his beloved Gabrielle.

Still the sensation persisted. It was the same feeling he used to get when Gabrielle was in trouble, or when Angelica was flustered or worried. The same nebulous feeling that he was sensing from his sleeping fiancée now, but different as well.

"Well," he thought. "This is a fine how do you do. My house is under psychic assault, and I can't trace the source because my wife to be is having a bad dream."

He started when he realized there was a figure standing at the top of the steps.

"Ang?" he asked quietly. "Are you alright?"

The figure seemed to fade away, like dark mist until he was looking at the empty landing again.

"What the hell?" he muttered, feeling more curiosity than fright at the intrusion. He went back up the stairs, and heard the tell tale signs of Angelica sitting up in the bed.

Looking into the bedroom, he saw her, sitting and brushing her hair out of her face.

"Hey," he smiled gently. "You alright?"

"Yeah," Angelica rubbed her green eyes and smiled. "Just a goofy dream is all."

David decided to leave the shadowy intruder out of the discussion for the time being.

"Oh?" he asked. "Not having second thoughts I hope?"

Angelica smiled and shook her head. "No. Nothing like that. Just a really weird dream."

David sat back on the bed. "Wanna talk about it?"

She shrugged. "Just weird, you know? I was stuck in a cell of some kind. But it wasn't me at the same time."

"Jet lag?" David grinned.

Her smile widened a bit. "I don't think so. Probably just the combination of everything I learned in Greece along with it. It was a lot to take in."

"Well," David shrugged. "You wanted to know how I knew so much about you. I did warn you that it would be a bit like an episode of the Twilight Zone."

"I'll never underestimate you again, that's for sure," Angelica shook her head. "When I saw that computer recreation of my face - I still get chills when I think about it."

Her smile grew. "Still," she continued. "I think it's kind of romantic how you went back for her – or should I say for me? I've tried to write it all out, but it's just too wild for me to make any sense of it."

David shrugged. "What can I say? I'm stubborn."

"Well," Angelica sighed. "At least I know why you kept most of the story from me before we went there. You're right. I would have thought you were crazy."

"But now you don't?" David asked.

"Oh, I didn't say that," she replied. "But now I know it's not the dangerous sort of crazy."

"We'll see," David grinned. "I dictated as much of my life then onto tape and sealed them in a box for Professor McGhee. He has them and he won't open the tapes until they find what's left of me in the back of that place."

"Is that why you wanted to leave when we did?" she asked him, her face sobering slightly.

David shrugged. "You didn't have a problem with seeing your own bones."

"I didn't believe it at the time, hon." Angelica smiled. "A part of me still doesn't."

"The thing that's bugging the shit out of me is the paradox of the whole thing," David said. "According to the doc, I was only out for about four days, yet the evidence says I was there for most of my life? How does that work?"

Angelica smiled. "Well, if you can't find a logical reason, call it divine intervention."

"I wonder," David's soft expression sank to something more thoughtful.

"Uh oh," Angelica said knowingly. "I see the wheels turning."

"Hmm?" David looked back up at her. "Oh, nothing. Hey, since we're both awake, how about a late night run to Denny's?"

Angelica looked at the small red numbers on the clock. "It's one in the morning. We really should try and get back on a normal schedule."

Then her expression changed again and she smiled.

"Okay, lover," she said. "What's on your mind?"

"Just wondering if there's a connection," David mused.

"Between what?"

"Your goofy dream," David continued. "And the figure I saw in the house a few minutes ago."

"Someone was here?" Angelica sat up straighter.

"Yes, and no," David replied. "At least I think so. Or maybe you were projecting." He shrugged.

"David," she replied. "I told you. I don't know how to do any of that stuff that you do. I never had a talent for it."

"Well," David shrugged. "Either you have a latent talent for it, or someone was here."

"Then it means someone was here," Angelica countered. "Jeez, I'm glad I can't see or feel the things you can. I'd never be able to sleep again."

David shrugged. "You get used to it. Still, there was something about that figure that was familiar. Not familiar like I'm familiar with you, but familiar. It was like I knew that person."

His eyes snapped back up to look at her. "Tell me your dream."

"What?' Angelica asked, suddenly a bit uncomfortable. "It was just a dream, David. That's all it was."

"Maybe," David replied. "But you had a disturbing dream at the same time I woke up, while someone else was projecting into this house. That's three variables in the equation. And I don't believe in coincidences to begin with."

"There wasn't anything spectacular," Angelica said. "I just dreamed that I was locked in a cell, like I was in prison."

"Can you describe it?" David asked.

"Not without coffee," She replied. "I can assume that we won't be sleeping the rest of the night."

A little while later, she sat next to him at the breakfast bar in the kitchen, cradling a steaming mug.

"It was a brick cell, or maybe stone, I think," she began. "It was very dark, almost like a dungeon."

"So it wasn't like a modern prison cell?" David asked.

"God, no," she replied, suppressing a shudder. She rolled her hands forward as if trying to move the words.

"Remember the movie, Count of Monte Cristo?" she said in a moment of inspiration. "The cell he was in?"

"I remember," David nodded.

"It was like that," Angelica continued. "Dark, cold, with no outside light, except, instead of the door, there were bars, and torches flickering." Her eyes widened as details previously ignored began to surface.

"I could hear the torches crackling," she explained. "And I could smell…it was awful."

Her eyes turned to him with a haunted expression. "I saw everything as if it was happening to me, but I know it wasn't me. I was seeing everything through someone else's eyes."

David nodded. "Are you alright?" he asked, speaking in Greek.

"I'm fine." She replied automatically. "Just a little weirded out." Her voice faded and she looked at him in surprise.

David smiled knowingly. "Well, well."

"David?" Angelica asked, in a haunted voice. "How did I do that?"

"That is the sixty four thousand dollar question, isn't it?" he replied.

"I don't speak any other languages, David," Angelica continued. "I've never spoken another language."

"Maybe the person that was here, does?" David offered. "Think about it, honey. We just spent six weeks in another country, walking around a place that very well may have been our home in a previous life. There are connections to places and the people that live within them. Remember how heavy the air felt when we toured some of those other ruins?"

"I remember," Angelica replied. "It was like I knew the place, but it was my first time there."

"Call it whatever you like," David explained. "Race memory, residual energy, there are a dozen terms for it, but the bottom line is: this is a place where you're family, you're ancestors originated. If you lived a previous life there before, and walked around in your old ancient back yard, it would seem only natural to feel a vague familiarity."

"Add to that, the computer model of the skull they found in that family mausoleum, and its uncanny resemblance to you, and the facts all begin to fall into place." He shrugged.

"But in all the stories you told me," Angelica replied. "The only place that she, er, I was ever imprisoned was in what is now northern Italy. This didn't feel like that. It felt like-"

The phone rang suddenly, startling both of them.

"Who in the Hell?" David asked as he looked at the small caller ID screen. He handed the phone to Angelica.

"It's Gina," he said with a smile.

She placed the receiver to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi there," Gina's voice came from the other end. "Sorry to call so late."

"No problem," Angelica replied. "We were awake actually."

"Oh, then I'm really sorry," Gina continued.

Angelica blushed. "Nothing like that."

"Can you put me on speaker phone?" Gina said suddenly. "I need to ask the two of you something."

"Sure," Angelica pressed the small speaker button and set the phone down between them. "What's up?"

"I just had the weirdest dream," Gina began.

"Aren't you supposed to be on duty?" David teased.

The only response to his jibe was a pointed silence.

"Sorry," David apologized.

"Anyway," Gina went on. "I nodded off a little while ago, and I had the strangest dream. I was standing in a yard somewhere, and I was beating the shit out of someone that looked just like you, Ang."

"What?" David perked up.

"I was gonna kill her," Gina went on. "All I remember was that I was way beyond angry. I went ballistic and I started beating the hell out of you, Angi. Then someone stopped me, just before I finished you off."

Angelica shuddered. "Well, at least you stopped." She let a nervous laugh escape her lips.

David leaned towards the phone. "Who stopped you, Gina?" he asked.

"What?" Gina replied.

"When you were beating her to smithereens, who stopped you?"

Angelica winced. "David."

"I don't know," Gina replied uneasily. She was clearly shaken by whatever she had seen. "I think his name was Alex?"

David literally could feel and hear all the pieces slam down into place. He sat back on the stool and let a sigh escape his lips. His expression was one of undeniable certainty.

"Son of a bitch," he whispered.

Angelica looked at him expectantly as silence descended on the room. It was as if the air suddenly became lighter with the burden of discovery lifted.

"David?" Angelica asked.

"Will someone tell me what the Hell is going on?" Gina's voice demanded from the phone.

"It wasn't a dream, G," David said quietly. "Neither was yours, honey. And neither was my little twitch."

Angelica frowned.

"Then what the hell was it?" Gina asked.

"It was a message," David said, his smile growing. He saw the frown on Angelica's face.

"It was a sending," He explained. "Like a message in a bottle, or perhaps a full blown visitation."

"From who?" Gina asked.

David mused for a few moments, his first fingers tapping slowly. "I think," he said slowly. "I think I have a way to find out."

"Sounds like he's about to go all pagan on you Angi," Gina said soberly.

"Shaman, if you please," David corrected her. It was an old joke between them, ever since David had admitted his unique talents to Angelica and Gina shortly after Angelica and he had begun seeing one another.

David thought for a while longer, his dark eyes flicking back and forth slightly, but focused inwards as his idea blossomed.

Angelica watched this with a growing sense of unease. Finally, she could bear it no more.

"Honey?" she asked quietly. "What are you thinking?"

"Gina?" David asked quickly. "What time do you go off duty?"

"I already finished up," Gina replied. "I'm actually on my way home."

"Get out to the clubhouse," David replied. "I need to get some things in order here, and we'll meet you there, say an hour?"

"Uh, sure," Gina sounded mildly confused. "Why?"

David was back on his feet, moving towards the stairs. "Too much to go into now. I'll fill you in when we get there, okay?"

He disappeared up the steps and into the small room that served as his library.

Angelica heard the sound of something being moved and then a zipper.

"We'll see you in an hour," she finished, looking back at the phone.

"See you then," Gina replied and the line went dead.

Angelica peered through the door into the small spare bedroom and found David sitting at his desk. A gym bag that she had never seen before was lying on the floor, open. Within, she could see the dark leather of several large books, obviously old.

To her left, she saw that a section of the bookshelf had been slid aside, revealing a niche in the wall.

"What is this?" she asked, looking down at the book bag.

"My Book of Shadows," David said as he flipped gently through several delicate yellowed leaves. "And a few other volumes that I stumbled across."

Angelica reached into the bag and removed a dark leather bound volume that seemed to be newer than the others.

A pentagram was etched in the thick fleshy surface, interlaid with silver and surrounded by various other symbols.

A single, large silver key was attached to the cover by a leather strap, though the book had no clasp or lock.

"What is this one?" She asked, flipping the cover open, her curiosity getting the better of her.

David turned and saw her.

"Stop!" he said urgently. She froze and looked up at him with the open book in her hand.

He took a deep breath of relief. "Just stop." He repeated more calmly.

"What is this?" she asked him.

"That is mine," he repeated. He nodded at the artfully drawn lines of characters on the inside of the cover.

Angelica looked down and frowned.

Written in an ornate hand that she had seen David use before were several neatly penned lines.

Any unworthy or unwanted, heed this final warning:

Should you turn these sacred pages,

That which you most desire

Will be forever at your fingertips,

Never within your grasp.

Above and beneath it were lines in a different script, written in a language that she could not decipher. She looked back up at him as he reached out and closed the cover, taking the book from her hands.

"You don't want to mess with that," he said with a grim smile.

He set the book down atop the hutch and went back to the one he had been perusing.

"What was that for?" Angelica asked, a little perturbed. "And what's with the hidden hole in the wall?"

"So you wouldn't stumble on that and screw yourself for life," David replied, his eyes scanning the old handwritten pages. "That one is my Book of Shadows."

Angelica frowned again. "And that is, what?"

"Spell book, mainly," David replied. "Like a Shaman's diary, or Pagan, if you want to use Gina's term."

"And that little warning on the first page?" Angelica continued.

"A curse," David answered. "Every Book of Shadows has one, if the owner knows what he or she is doing." He looked up at her and flashed a soft, somewhat wicked smile. "They can be quite nasty, depending on the owner."

"What about these other ones?" Angelica pressed. She had an almost childlike urge to remove the next tome, and had to force her hands to stop reaching into the bag.

David shrugged. "Those are fine. Hope you can read French or Latin, though."

Suddenly, his finger pressed down alongside one of the paragraphs he was scanning.

"Here we go," he said quietly. His fingers began moving back and forth along the page as he read. He began mumbling in Latin as he did so, as if translating the audible sound into English as he read.

Angelica stood and looked over his shoulder. Her eyes went a little wider as she saw the ornately beautiful handwriting covering the pages. The characters were dark and thickly drawn.

"When was this thing written?" she asked in astonishment.

"The original?" David replied, still reading. "Sometime in the late thirteenth century. This is an inscribed copy that was printed back in the late seventeen hundreds, shortly after the Salem Massacre."

He spun the chair half way around and slid to the bookshelf behind him, grabbing another, more modern volume and opening it.

"And here," he said, speaking to himself. He nodded and went back to the old volume.

"Quero turbatus animus barathrum," he read aloud.

"What does that mean?" Angelica asked. It was fascinating, in a way, to watch how his mind worked, jumping from one language to another.

"Basically," David said as he flipped through another few pages. "To seek a restless spirit in the Underworld."

"Sounds like fun," Angelica sighed.

"It could be," David replied absently. He picked up his Book of Shadows and turned to the blank pages near the end, penning several lines quickly and neatly. Then he bounced back and forth between the two volumes and eventually drew a third out of the bag.

Angelica watched him moving from one book to the other, and then the third as he write his notes.

After a few minutes of this, he closed the three books and returned them to their places before drawing out another one and flipping through it.

"And what's this one?" Angelica asked.

"The Book of Going Forth by Day," David replied. Then he smiled and looked up at her. "The Egyptian Book of the Dead."

Angelica looked back up at the volumes of books lined up on the shelves in the little room, and for the first time, really noted some of the titles.

After several minutes, David replaced the Book of the Dead and drew another one, penned some more lines and then drew another. The process repeated several more times before David sighed and closed his Book of Shadows.

"What was all that for?' Angelica asked, her curiosity only barely outpacing her fading patience.

"I had to get my facts and components in order," David replied. "I don't want to screw this up, so I wanted as many safety precautions as I could."

"Safety precautions?" Angelica asked. "For what?"

David slipped his Book of Shadows into a small leather shoulder bag and stood.

"Just in case." He said. "Let's go."

Gina leaned against the fender of her silver Mercury, staring up through the thick layer of leaves at the star twinkling in the heavens. The air was thick and humid, though not uncomfortably warm. The soft breeze lifted her long black hair and her pale blue eyes studied the environment around her.

She looked back at the dark, simple building behind her. It was a basic structure, like a giant box, with a single door off to one side and a pair of oversized sliding garage doors in the center. The single light buzzed softly, illuminating the address, and several moths continued their dizzying futile dance around the bulb.

The night noises drifted around her, making the dark trees seem alive. She glanced at her watch again and sighed. "This had better be worth it."

She was tired from long hours and even longer days in between. A sense of growing unease that she couldn't pin down had been tickling the back of her mind for some time now. The clinical side of her mind attributed it to her work, but the emotional side of her mind wondered if her friend was really alright with her new relationship.

True, David and Angelica had been together for nearly two years since that queer evening in the city. And Angelica was happy. That much, she knew for certain. She could hear it in Angelica's voice whenever he came up in conversation, or see it n her eyes whenever she saw the two of them together. Still, there was an aspect of David that unnerved her. She could always tell when someone wasn't being totally honest with her, and she knew that David was harboring something that he didn't want her to know. Maybe he had confided in Angelica about his little secret, and maybe not. Maybe she was unnecessarily concerned for her friend and maybe not.

She ran through all the facts about David that she knew.

His family had died when he was young, and his Godparents had raised him from the time he was fourteen. The loss had made him incredibly wealthy, though the details of that were unknown to her – probably a settlement of some kind after a fatal accident.

He was personable and friendly, extravagantly generous at times, contemplative and thoughtful in a way that Gina always considered unusually calculating, which unnerved her. Well educated, well spoken, open to the point of sometimes being too honest, and even after all that, he was still a mystery.

The sound of a motorcycle engine pulled her from her thoughts and she looked up to see the big blue and white Valkyrie come crunching up the fine gravel drive to the building. She squinted against the brilliant beams of the headlight as it crossed her.

The big bike fell silent as Angelica hopped off the back seat and embraced her friend.

David adjusted hi book bag as he strode towards her.

"Thanks for coming out, G," he said sincerely. He flipped open the small pad and entered a code. The large doors slid mechanically aside to allow them entrance.

"Before we do this," David explained, looking at Gina intently. "There's something that you need to know about me."

"Here it comes," Gina thought as she felt her nebulous suspicions were about to be confirmed.

"I told Angelica about most of it when we were on the plane back home the other day," David continued. "I figured that it would be best if she knew everything after what we saw in Greece over the last month."

He fixed Gina with an uncharacteristically intense stare. "Unfortunately, without everything I showed her, you're going to have to take a few things on faith."

The large doors slid closed behind them and the trio moved through the dark abandoned shop of the Zombie Squad Club House towards a locked door at the rear that led to a room neither of them had ever been privy to.

In fact, Gina noted suddenly, even when the entire extended biker family had been here for a party, that door had always remained closed and locked.

David drew out a key, hanging from a chain about his neck, and inserted it into the lock.

He turned to the two of them and his eyes were clear and intense, with just a hint of angst.

"Please understand something," he said in a voice with just a hint of fear. "When you go through this door, you're going to be stepping the rest of the way into my world. I apologize in advance if any of this offends either of you."

The lock clicked and the door swung open with a soft, ominous creak.

The room within was pitch dark, like a hole in the world of night.

Gina looked at Angelica, who merely looked back at her with those calm, seawater eyes. In her gaze she saw the trust she had in David and the twitch in her gut eased a bit. Then Angelica entered the room and vanished.

David gestured for Gina to proceed, and expectant, almost pleading look in his eyes.

Swallowing the sudden worry back down, she followed.

The door shut behind them and they heard David reach into his pocket. There was a rustle and then the explosion of a match. The orange flame forced the shadows away as David lit a candle, hanging on a sconce in the richly paneled wall.

Beneath that sconce was a small table, with several more, partially burned candles lying upon it. David took one and lit the blackened wick. Then he moved further down the wall and lit another candle, and then another.

As he continued through the room, the details of the place began to emerge from the darkness.

Angelica and Gina felt their jaws drop in wonder as the room revealed itself in the flickering yellow light.

Along the paneled wall hung several tapestries, all embroidered with symbols and images of various scenes. Some were quite lovely in their intricacies while others seemed more ominous.

In the center of the chamber, was a large, eight foot diameter pentagram, embroidered in the thick dark carpet that covered the floor. The silver thread shone like burning copper in the feeble light.

At the far end was a raised platform, upon which rested the carven figure of a woman, dressed in a simple flowing gown and staring back at them with her pale eyes. Her face bore a serene expression, and she held a torch in each of her hands.

David lit the small wicks in the ends of each torch and then stepped back and bowed his head reverently to the idol. Then he resumed his circuit of the room, chasing the shadows into the corners as the firelight built.

As Gina's eyes scanned the room, she saw small tables in the center of each wall, altars of various types, all decorated and obviously well maintained. Two more altars stood to either side of the statue, more ornate than the others, draped in fine purple cloth.

"What is this place?" Gina breathed.

When her friend didn't respond, Gina looked down and saw her, with her eyes fixed forward, staring.

She followed her gaze back to the statue, and for the first time, saw the two smaller images to either side of the woman. They were carved in the figures of ferocious dog like creatures, with wide open mouths showing fierce pointed teeth.

When Gina looked back at Angelica, she did not see an expression of fear or dread. Instead, Angelica had a thoughtful frown, as if she vaguely recognized the canines.

"Angi?" Gina asked.

Angelica blinked and looked back up at her friend. She only offered a helpless shrug.

"Welcome to the Temple of the Crossroads," David said finally as he lit the last candle.

"What is all this?" Gina finally asked.

"Freedom of Religion, at its finest," David replied with a nervous smile. "It's where I 'go pagan', as you like to put it."

"Okay," Gina said slowly, still unsure. "So, why are we here?"

"We were each visited tonight," David explained. "You two had dreams, and I had an actual projection appear. I'm willing to bet that all three of those events are connected by something, or someone."

"Yeah?" Gina asked.

"I want to find out who, or what that was," David replied. "And I'm gong to need the two of you to help."

"Why us?" Angelica asked.

"Because we are all involved in this," David explained. "Whatever it was, wanted to get our attention. And we are all connected by something deeper than what you understand." He looked steadily at Gina.

"How so?" Gina asked.

"I'll explain that once we're done," David replied, dodging the question.

"This is also a place of power," he continued quickly. "It's a portal that we can use to make this easier."

"David," Angelica said. "I already told you. I can't do the things that you do, or see the things that you see."

"I think you can," David countered. "I think both of you can. In fact, I'm certain of it."

He went to the near wall and procured three large cushions from the perimeter.

He set these within the embroidered pentagram on the floor and invited them to sit.

"Please," David asked when the two of them hesitated. "I need you to trust me on this. Please."

Gina and Angelica stepped forward and seated themselves within the circle.

"Thank you," David said sincerely. He stepped over to one of the altars and retrieved one of the thick burning candles stored within its base.

He set that in the center of the pentagram and lit the three wicks imbedded in the wax.

The flames flickered for a moment and then rose like three gentle spires of light.

Then David stood erect and turned slowly in a circle three times before sitting himself on the remaining cushion.

"I've created a circle," he explained. "Please don't leave the circle until we're done, alright?"

Both women nodded. David leaned forward, cupping his hands around the candle and muttering something that neither of them could make out, and then he sat back.

"Each of these flames represents one of us." He continued. He pointed from one flame to the next. "Gina, Angelica, David," he intoned. "Focus on your flame and only on your flame."

The two women looked down at the three burning flames.

"Gina," David said quietly. "You dreamed that you were attacking someone. I want you to focus on the person you were attacking. Picture that person in your mind to the last detail and let everything else just slip away. Angelica, you said that you were seeing everything through someone else's eyes. I want you to focus on that. Find that person. I want you to be that person. Let the world you know fall from your mind and focus on that one, single moment in time when you were that person." He looked at the two of them. "You understand?"

Both women nodded.

"Now, you may feel like you're slipping away. Sometimes a person feels like they're falling, while others feel like they're floating up out of their bodies. Don't worry about that. You'll feel it, like a heaviness that starts in your limbs and moves inwards. Then a buzzing sound is sometimes heard, and once you get used to that, you will begin to hear things, like voices, and maybe even see things. Let those visions pass and focus only on what I told you to focus on. Push all your energy towards that goal."

He adjusted his position on his cushion and sighed.

"Ready?"

They nodded.

David took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Okay. Begin."

All three of them settled down and focused on the three tiny burning flames. David breathed deeply and let himself begin to sink slowly into that comfortable, warm sensation that always accompanied his meditations. His vision blurred for a moment and then he could see the energy of the portal surrounding them. It swirled about the three of them like waves of silvery light. Moving like mist over them, and flowing into them.

Well, flowing into Gina at least. David turned his eyes towards Angelica and saw the energies moving close and then recoiling away as if it were reluctant to touch her.

"Baby," David said in a slow, calm voice. He could see the intensity of her gaze. It was an expression that mixed determination and fear in equal measure.

"Don't force it," David said gently. "Just let it happen. Don't be afraid of it."

Angelica looked up at him with mild surprise. "What?"

"Just relax," David said gently. He smiled. "I know you're scared of this. You don't need to be."

He smiled gently and she closed her eyes. After a few deep breaths to help calm her, she looked again at the small candle. This time, David saw the energy begin to actually caress her, flowing over her. It enveloped the two of them in a gentle, silvery fog.

Above them, David saw the vortex swirling, like a massive whirlpool, stretching into infinity.

Arcs of power, like bolts of lightning, sizzled and crackled in the midst of the maelstrom. David felt the hairs on his arms stand to attention as the energy built.

"We're doing just fine, girls," he said, though he wasn't sure if his lips had moved. Still, they seemed to acknowledge him in their own silent way. He let his consciousness begin to slip from his body.

"Nearly there!" He felt the excitement building. It had been years since he had done a projection such as this. "Whatever happens, just stay calm and stay in the circle."

Gina felt the power wash over her, filling her very being, like a cup that was filled to capacity. Then the energy began washing over her, flowing all through her, like being stuck beneath the water. It was intoxicating and seductive in the way it made her feel. She felt strength within her that she had never known existed.

Images began to flash before her eyes. People and places she knew she was acquainted with and places that were familiar, though she had never seen them before in this particular life. Voices began echoing all around her, some she knew, and others she could not readily identify. She let this pass, maintaining her focus on the small, orange constant that flickered before her.

The energies surrounding her became a palpable sensation running over her flesh. In the distance, she heard a cry, long and loud, filled with ferocity. It seemed to echo from the void, floating around her but always closing until it seemed to rush at her from the bowels of infinity and block out all other sound.

The world flashed and instantly, she was somewhere else…standing in a small courtyard, between a modest looking log home and a small barn. Figures she couldn't identify lay on the earth nearby, and another lay across the yard against a crudely cut fence.

A hot wrath suddenly roared up from within her, like the flames of a forge, burning away everything except the internal pain and loss of something so great that only blood would correct it.

Her hands balled into fists and she began stalking towards the figure near the fence. The figure that looked like her best friend. All was a fire and rage in her mind. She heard herself cry out.

Angelica felt and heard the thundering trip hammer of her heart as she became aware of the energy that was around her.

"David?" she felt herself cry out, though her lips did not move. Her fear became something tangible, like a damp, cold breeze that penetrated through her flesh and went straight to the bones. "David? What is this?"

"Just relax," She heard him say with a gentle calm that seemed to burrow past the cold fear, like a warming ray of sunshine. "You're fine."

She felt the energies begin to pull her backwards, as if she were backpedaling on her feet, always moving backwards, into the past. Memories and voices flooded her mind with clarity that she did not enjoy in the waking world.

Voices of friends and family long departed rang in her ears, images bombarded her mind. That small orange light that was her lifeline flashed out of her view for a moment.

Something like panic seized her mind and she began to scrabble, like a drowning person clawing for one more breath of air before the final plunge. The silvery energy that had been like a gentle fog, now crackled with uncontrolled power.

"David!" Her mind screamed out to him in panic. "David! Help me!"

A single calming sound, like someone mimicking a breeze, sounded all around her.

"It's alright Angelica," she heard his voice, calm and confident. A hand fell gently upon her shoulder and then moved to caress her cheek. She looked up and saw him, but it wasn't him at the same time.

Across his left eye was a vicious looking reddish scar, and his close cropped goatee looked a bit thicker. She looked into his eyes and immediately, most of the fear vanished. The torrential energies seemed to calm and smooth.

"There you go," he said with an encouraging smile. "I knew you could do this."

"Beginners luck," she replied.

"Okay," David said. "Now, picture the cell, down to the last detail."

She turned her head back towards that distant, pale point of candlelight that was her anchor in reality, and let her mind call out the image of that place.

"Good," David nodded as if he could see the image coalescing in her mind.

"Okay," David continued. "Gotta fly for a bit. Just stay calm. Everything will be alright."

"Promise?" Angelica ordered.

David crossed his heart and grinned. "Be back in a bit."

With an exhilarated cry, he flew up through the vortex and vanished in the pale blue flash of light.

Angelica let the energies continue to wash over her, as the image she held faded from her mind, as if it were being taken away from her.

She looked over at Gina, her eyes focused on an event that she couldn't see.

"You alright?" Angelica asked her friend.

Gina looked up at her in surprise. "He took it. He took that image with him."

"He did the same thing to me," Angelica replied. "What do we do now?"

Gina's eyes remained focused on some inner task that seemed to be causing her stress.

"We wait," was all she said tightly.

"What are you doing?" Angelica asked.

She reached out and put her hand on Gina's shoulder. Then she looked down and gasped in astonishment. Just beyond the whirling vortex of energy and images, she could see herself and her friend, seated cross legged on the cushions, their eyes focused on the small flickering flames of the candle. Across from them, they saw David in a similar state, his eyes focused completely inward, oblivious to the reality below them.

"Wow," Angelica breathed. Her hand came to rest on Gina's shoulder.

There was a flash and a cacophony of sound rushed into her ears. Her hands immediately clapped to the side of her head and she fell away, dropping back towards her own body.

In her mind, she saw a single image. That of a reconstructed face rotating slowly on the monitor. It was her face, staring back at her from across the span of ages.

"Gabrielle," she thought. "My name was Gabrielle." It was as if that name unleashed another torrent of images and emotions. They flooded through her mind like the energy now writhing and rocketing through her. It felt as if she was in a chamber and the pressure around her was building. She was squeezing through a narrow opening, and there was resistance to it, as if she were not supposed to be going to this place.

When she looked down at her hands, she saw the bracers covering her forearms. They were of red leather, or hide, and filigreed in silver and intricate beadwork. A strength and knowledge that she did not possess seemed to wash over her mind, and she felt a new power flowing through her limbs. She was herself, and more at the same time.

Angelica looked over towards her friend and saw Gina standing in a whirlwind of her own. Two images vied for dominance. One was the modern image of Gina, standing amidst the chaos, dressed n simple jeans, shoes and blouse. The second was of a woman in dark leather armor, high boots, with cold blue eyes and long dark hair. The two images seemed to blend together into one complete entity. In her own mind, Angelica realized that the exact same thing was happening to her as well. There was a new level of consciousness that she had never been aware of. A new confidence filled her, calming the rising panic in her mind. Along with that was a sense of familiarity with her friend and her lover that she had been unaware of before. IT felt as if her mind were boiling over from the images and memories flooding into her. She saw Gina place a hand on either side of her head, and then scream in pain. The same electrical sensation also filled her, blinding her in sheets of white fiery awareness. With a cry and a sound like a crashing wave on the sea, the world spun violently and she felt herself violently yanked down.

The white maelstrom vanished in a clap of thunder and all three of them fell back or sideways.

Slowly, painfully, Angelica pulled herself up on her elbow and looked at the others. Her entire body was tingling with the expended energy. Her mind was reeling in realizations. She winced as she tried to collect herself.

Across from her, she could see the form of her best friend begin to stir, and to her right, the form of David also moving.

"Jesus Marimba," David groaned as he pulled himself upright. "You kids alright?"
Green eyes met blue and in a flash of realization, the torrent of pain and memories calmed.

Gina's brows furrowed in confusion. She looked down at her clothing and then up at her friend.

"Gabrielle?" she asked in a voice that was hers, and yet had a huskiness that she had never had before.

Dawning and shock.

"Xena?"

The two women rose unsteadily to their feet, as if neither one was certain this event was real. Gabrielle reached out and placed a hand on Xena's forearm, and then the two of them converged in a desperate embrace.

"I thought I lost you!" Gabrielle cried, tears in her eyes.

"Not likely," Xena replied.

"I've got so much to tell you," Gabrielle went on. "So many things have happened since."

"Oh, shit," David moaned. "What did you two do?"

Gabriele and Xena started and looked down at him as he slowly got to his feet.

"David?" Gabrielle whispered in amazement.

"Yeah?" David replied, a little uncertain.

Instantly, he was almost knocked back to the ground when she threw her arms around his neck and held him tightly.

In that instant, the vague familiarity that he had experienced with Angelica solidified into something concrete. He looked into her eyes and everything clicked into place.

"Oh my God," he breathed. When he looked up at Gina, he saw the same, familiar look in her crystal blue eyes.

Gina smiled.

"What the hell did you two do?" he asked again, completely astounded. He stepped back from Angelica as if she were made of hot coals.

"David?" Angelica said, her brows furrowing in confusion. "David, it's me. It's Gabrielle."

"I know," David breathed. His eyes were wide, almost haunted. "I know. This wasn't supposed to happen."

He backed away from the two of them and towards the door, his eyes locked on them as if they were no longer human.

Gabrielle looked into his face and saw the pain welling up in his eyes. Then he was gone.

"What happened?" Xena asked.

Gabrielle stared at the door swinging gently open, and at the garish pale lights of the shop beyond.

She looked back at Xena, who merely shrugged.

Gabrielle headed for the door in pursuit.

"Gabrielle! Wait!" Xena called after her.

She found him in the upstairs common room, a tumbler of amber liquid turning in his fingers, his eyes fixed upon the sparkling light from the simple lamps on the walls.

She studied him for a moment and felt; more than saw a deeply seated despair.

"Hi," she said quietly. The momentary flash of injured elation and pride was gone as she beheld him. She took a timid step forward, suddenly feeling like she was walking across thin ice.

When no immediate answer was forthcoming, she paused and looked at him. His expression ripped at her heart. It was as if something had reached into his body and ripped free all the joy and life that had been there a moment before.

"That wasn't supposed to happen," he said bitterly. His eyes flashed angrily in her direction and then past her as Xena came quietly in through the door. "What the fuck did you two do?"

The vehemence of the statement took them both aback a bit. Gabrielle winced visibly from the sting of his words. She looked back at Xena who remained impassive, her blue eyes watching David carefully with the same clinical detachment that she always had used when gauging another person. His dark eyes felt her probing and locked on hers.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked darkly.

Xena blinked. It had been a long time since anyone had been able to look her in the eye like that.

Gabrielle looked back and forth between them.

"You know," she said cautiously. "I would have thought you'd be happy about this?"

His dark eyes fixed on her. Her breath froze under that gaze. His eyes were like black pits, dark and lifeless, filled with bitter frustration.

"Happy?" his voice had a tight rasp to it. "Happy? You thought I'd be happy?"

His fingers tightened on the thick glass. "Why in the Hell would you think this would make me happy? What am I? A glutton for fucking punishment?"

"Hey," Xena said gently.

"Not a fucking word out of you!" David shot back.

The thick glass shattered in his hand and he recoiled from the shards that burst from his hand.

"God dammit!" he muttered as he turned and disappeared into the kitchen.

They both saw the fresh blood appear on his hands.

Gabrielle moved towards the open space in the bar.

"Gabrielle," Xena said quickly. "Maybe you should leave him be for the moment."

Gabrielle stopped at the doorway and looked back.

"He's still my husband, Xena," she said quietly.

She saw him standing over the deep, metallic sink. Then she heard several quiet clinks as he pulled the pieces of glass from his palm and dropped them into the bowl.

"Do you have any idea what I've gone through?" he asked bitterly. "Spending the last two years trying to get some semblance of a normal life back under my feet? Convincing myself that I wasn't insane because I lived nearly forty years in a four day fucking coma! Hearing people tell me that I'm wrong when I describe the dinner I cooked in this place a few days after you showed up and I can still smell the food cooking! Feeling my body break when I wrecked that car and knowing, KNOWING, that I lost an eye in that wreck, then finding the chassis of that car sitting in my damned garage just like before we restored it? I can still remember the cold wind of that Halloween night, and still, we never went on that ride because I also remember the party we had here that Halloween! Two fucking worlds bouncing back and forth and I know they're both true because I lived through both of them!"

He winced as he finger slipped and accidentally jammed a piece of glass deeper into his hand.

He let the water run over the bloody hand and found the errant glass, dropping it into the sink with the rest.

"I'm thirty three years old," he babbled, "But I feel like I should be ninety sometimes! I lived an entire life with one person, but I still haven't started to live a life with someone, all while remembering the life I had before you showed up, and inserting another life into the middle of those two, all with the same person that I lost TWICE - but never really lost, I only think I did!"

She heard his voice breaking as the rant continued. The angry facade began to crumble.

Gabrielle stepped next to him, holding a wash cloth in her hand.

"Let me see that," she said gently, reaching out to inspect his wounded hand.

"Don't fucking touch me!" David flailed away, his eyes wide, filling with tears. He backed against the wall and stared at her with a mixture of fear and contempt, over washed by sadness.

Xena appeared in the doorway, ready to help defend her friend if the confrontation had descended into a brawl. When she saw David, wild eyed and wracked with grief, her steely gaze softened.

"What the hell are you anyway?" he asked. "What the hell did I do that was so wrong, that this is the only life I get to live, watching as the same people bounce in and out of my life like a god damned psychic mind fuck!" he sank to the ground and shuddered.

"What did you say?" Gabrielle asked when he muttered something that she failed to hear. He looked up at her, completely defeated.

"I said," he hissed. "I can't deal with this any more!"

Of all the things that he had said up to that point, those words stabbed the deepest into her heart.

"What?" she asked.

"Just get out," David put his head in his uninjured hand. "Just get the fuck out."

Xena put her hand gently on Gabrielle's shoulder. She felt the pain as palpably as Gabrielle, watching as her 'father' was casting them away. The child in her wept at the betrayal, even as the adult side of her mind understood.

"Come on, Gabrielle," she said gently.

She led Gabrielle back out of the kitchen, her green eyes locked on the form seated on the floor, head bowed.

Gabrielle was like a child in shock, being guided by her friend towards the door.

"He needs some time to get things straight," Xena said gently. "It'll be alright."

They were almost to the outer door of the main room when Gabrielle suddenly stiffened.

"No," she said in whisper.

Xena turned back to look at her and was surprised at the ferocity in her green eyes.

"No," Gabrielle said more strongly. "We've been through far too much to let it all go now! Not like this!"

"Gabrielle," Xena said gently. "Don't push him. Not right now. It could drive him mad?"

"He already thinks he is crazy, Xena," Gabrielle shot back. "And he's going to keep thinking that until we deal with this!"

"We?" Xena's eyebrow rose.

"Yes," Gabrielle said. "We. He was my husband, and he was your father, remember?"

"Gabrielle," Xena began, but she held up one finger, stopping her and turned back towards the kitchen.

He was still hunched down on the floor, his knees drawn up, his head leaning back against the wall, tear streaks covering his cheeks.

"No," She said sternly, when she entered. She stepped up before him and dropped down, looking him in the eye. His eyes were bloodshot and focused on her with a mixture of dread and hope.

"You look at me, David Forester," she said in a soft commanding voice. "You look at me and you look hard!"

When he turned his eyes back onto her, she smiled.

"Now," she said firmly. "I'm not a ghost. I'm not a hallucination brought on by that dragon juice you drink! Yes we had a life before, and yes, it doesn't fit with everything that you experienced when you got back here. I can't explain it, and I'm not going to try! I lost you twice too, remember? Once when I got sucked back to my time without you, and once when you died in my arms! Now, I can't explain why that life got jammed into a four day coma in this world, and I'm not going to try!"

He blinked.

"You said that you would do anything to get to me, remember?" Gabrielle pressed. "You risked your life to get back to me, and we made a life together because you were brave enough to take a chance!"

She put her hand under his chin and fixed her green eyes on him.

"You came back for me, when I had given up," she said. "And when I woke up next to that fire and saw you kneeling there, I thought I had gone mad. I couldn't believe that you did it. Then you looked at me, just like I'm looking at you now, and I knew in that one moment, that you had come back for me!"

She began wrapping the cloth around his bloodied hand and smiled. "It just turned out to work both ways, and this time, I came back for you."

The sobs began as a soft series of convulsions somewhere in David's chest, and his eyes flowed anew.

Gently, she wrapped her arms around his neck and felt his hand tentatively on her shoulder. Then the emotion welled up and burst out of him, and he clutched at her as if he feared she would vanish at any moment.

Gabrielle felt her own tears blurring her vision as she held him, her fingers caressing his hair. She whispered soft, reassuring words in his ear, and let him ride the tumult of emotion out until it had expended itself.

When she did finally pull away far enough to look back into his eyes, she felt relief flooding over her as she saw some of his old fire slowly returning.

He looked into her eyes and smiled wearily. "We need to have a long talk about this." Then he looked past her at the figure in the doorway. "All of us."

Xena smiled and gave a little shrug. "At the moment. I think the two of you need to talk. We can always talk later."

Gabrielle looked back at her best friend and smiled. "Thank you," she mouthed.

"I'll be out here," Xena continued, jerking her thumb towards the bar. "I don't know about you two, but I can sure use a drink right now."

Gabrielle and David watched her smile and back out of the room. There was something so mildly comical about the way she did it, that David felt the last vestiges of his fear fall away, and the laughter burst out of him in a long, weary chuckle.

Gabrielle turned back to him and kissed him on the forehead before wrapping her arms around him again.