AN: Hey there, hi there.  This is the sequel to the cliffhanger that was How I Spent My Summer Vacation.  In the Buffyverse, this would take place after "Older and Far Away," but from there it departs from the normal Buffyverse- basically, any events on the show from "As You Were" and after didn't happen in this story.  Disclaimers du jour: I don't own dustbuster, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, (Fox does), X-Men: Evolution (I'm guessing Marvel and Warner Brothers have a joint thing goin' on there), the term bizarro technically belongs to D.C. Comics, I think, I don't own Captain Kirk or any of the Star Trek Franchise, nor do I own The Real World. 

            Rogue and Buffy stared at each other across the room as the handle of the shovel clattered to the ground.

            "What happened?" Willow asked, looking with awe and fear at Tara.  Rogue swallowed hard and replied.

            "They're gone."

            Pietro lost his balance and hit the pavement as his hands came up empty.

            "What the hell happened?" Spike asked, picking himself up off the ground.  Pietro got up and searched for his shovel handle or any other object wooden and pointy.

            "If I remember right, I was about to shove a piece of wood through your heart and send you to hell in a dustbuster for messing with my girlfriend," Pietro muttered.

            "That's right, as I recall, I was about to kick your cocky arse," Spike replied, marching up to Pietro and giving him a shove.  The fist fight deteriorated rapidly into both wrestling on the ground, so engrossed that neither noticed the newcomers approaching.

            "Here kitty kitty…" a feminine voice purred from out of the shadows.  Both Pietro and Spike looked up from trying to kill each other.  "Lookie, two pretty blondes in a catfight.  Mrow."

            "You'll have to forgive her," a male voice chimed in from the dark.  "She's got a real thing for beautiful blondes."

            Both of the 'blondes' in question had the distinctive feeling that they were in trouble as the female voice, all too eager, asked brightly,

            "Play now?" 

            She emerged from the shadows, slinking like a panther from the dark to peer at the two boys.  Her companion likewise emerged, both circling Pietro and Spike closely, allowing little room for escape.  Pietro briefly thought of making a run for it, but after his sprint to California and his bursts of speed this evening, he doubted he'd make it very far before exhaustion set in.  Besides, given the two faces he was looking at, he clearly wasn't in Kansas anymore. 

            "What have we here?" the dark haired young man softly inquired, his eyes flicking occasionally to the redhead's, then back to Pietro and Spike.

            Both were clad in black leather, which was the first thing that threw Pietro.  They were a little younger and a lot slinkier, but these two bore a striking, which is to say identical, resemblance to the redheaded friend of the slayers and the 'old guy' who'd been driving. 

            "This is disturbing on many levels, and not at all the way I'd imagined it.  I'll just see my way out," Spike said, but as he tried to walk away, he found himself face to face with the dark haired boy.

            "We have one fresh little kitten, Xander," the redhead said, trailing her cold fingers along Pietro's chest.  "And what a good little kitten he is…"

            "And over here we have a bad old tomcat pushing his eighth or ninth life, Wills," Xander replied, casting a much less sensual and much more combative look over Spike. 

            "Come now," Spike replied with a cocky half smile.  "I'm not that bad."

            "And I'm not that good," Pietro added, not smiling at all as he tried to keep his eye on all three vampires while looking for something that would kill them.

            "Do you want to play with me little kitten?" Willow asked, cocking her head to one side, eyeing Pietro with the same perverse innocence with which a cat regarded a hurt bird.  Pietro got the impression that was also how she meant the word 'play.'  Xander kept his eyes locked on Spike, and spoke. 

            "I know you hate to eat and run baby, but the sun's gonna be up before too long.  Drink up."

            "What are you gonna do?" Willow asked, resting her head on Pietro's shoulder and gazing at Xander, toying with the mutant's white hair.  Xander looked over Spike's shoulder to meet Willow's coquettish gaze.

            "I'm gonna strip the muscles off bloody Billy's legs and leave him here to work on his tan."

            "Poetic," Willow replied.  "But I haven't had a kitten this pretty in so long… can't we keep him?"  Her hand snaked up to the back of his neck, holding him tight at the base of his skull. 

            "Okay, baby, but you're gonna have to take care of him," Xander replied, smiling.  Willow moved to look Pietro in the face.

            "Oh I will.  Extra special good care," she said, snapping her teeth near his nose.  Her hands shot around Pietro's neck, constricting the blood flow until he blacked out.

            "And I think it's high time we got our puppy a playmate, don't you?" Xander smiled.

            Spike sighed.

            "I'm sure this is interesting somewhere in your kinky little brains, but I'm bored out of my bloody gourd.  If you're going to make a move, I suggest you do it, children."

            "Have no fear, gramps," Xander replied, his face shifting to reveal the demon.  "Me and my lady friend got moves you've never seen."

            Spike did his best and held his own, but it was two on one, and given his relatively poor diet since he had his chip implanted, and the fact that Xander and Willow were only one generation removed from the Master himself, Spike was completely outmatched.  It wasn't long before the two vampires were walking down the street hand in hand, each with an unconscious prize slung over their shoulder.

            Tara swallowed hard as she looked at the girl with white streaks in her hair.  There was a dark bruise blossoming on the left side of her jaw, her mouth was set grimly, her dark eye make up smudged, leaving dark streaks around her eyes.

            "Where is he?" Rogue asked coldly.

            "I'm not  s s s sure…" Tara stammered out.  "I just wanted to keep them from killing each other so I called on Kwan Yin, the Chchchinese ggoddess of mmmercy-"

            "How do we find them?"  Buffy asked, keeping a careful eye on Rogue in case she decided to make a move on Tara. 

            "Hey, can I make a motion that we take this meeting outside of the cemetery?" Xander interrupted.  Rogue gave him a brutal look, and he stepped back, both hands in the air.  "Don't mind me, just a thought."

            Eventually they agreed to his suggestion, going back to the Summers house to regroup and plan.

            "I'm gonna need a mirror, round if you've got one," Tara said, carefully avoiding Rogue's gaze.  Buffy left the living room to go find one, as Willow brought out a black eyeliner pencil.

            "What are you doing?"  Tara asked.

            "I'm in detox, I don't have amnesia.  I remember how these things go."

            Tara gave her a slightly disapproving look, but let it go without comment as Buffy returned with the mirror.  A few runes drawn around the mirror's edge and the device was ready.  Tara chanted a few words, but Rogue wasn't listening.  She just stared at the mirror's surface, hoping that this incantation would work.

            "I see them…" she said.  "Oh my god… Willow, is that you?"

            Willow looked over her shoulder.

            "Oh…"

            "Oh?  Which kind of oh?" Xander asked frantically, walking over to the mirror, followed by Anya and Buffy.

            "Oh," Buffy said, in the tone of one quite surprised.

            "Oh," Anya added, in the tone of a person feeling slightly sheepish.

            "Oh," Xander finished.  "We are so screwed."

            "Xander!" Willow protested.  "Don't be pessimistic, we beat her when she came to our universe."

            "I've been meaning to get you a pair of leather pants," Anya said, more to herself than Xander.

            "Who are those people?" Scott asked.

            "Once upon a time, a certain vengeance demon granted a wish," Buffy said, shooting a meaningful glance at Anya.  "That I had never come to Sunnydale.  That's Xander, that's Willow.  In that world, they were killed and turned into vampires.  Vamp Willow once got transplanted to our world accidentally.  It was scary."

            "And skanky," Willow added.

            "And kinda hot," Xander finished.  This statement earned him dirty looks from everyone in the room.  He stepped away from the mirror.  "I'll just be over here."

            "I don't understand why a Kwan Yin incantation would lead to this result," Tara sighed.  "She's the kindest deity there is."

            "You asked her to save them from each other," Buffy said.  "I doubt they'll have time to try and kill each other in bizarro world."

            "How do we get Pietro out?"  Rogue asked coldly.

            "We can get them both out," Buffy replied. 

            "Going to an awful lot of trouble for an informant," Scott said.

            "Look, he's also a friend," Buffy snapped.  "An idiotic, infuriating, mercenary friend.  I'm sorry he was involved in…" Buffy struggled for a noun.

            "My kidnapping and attempted murder?" Rogue supplied.

            "Excuse us for just a sec," Jean interrupted, grabbing Rogue's arm and pulling her away from the mirror into the dining room.

            "I don't blame you for wanting the vampire dead, Rogue," she said.

            "I don't want him dead.  I just don't feel a burning need to play a part in rescuing him."

            "Rogue, you've done things you're not proud of.  Pietro's done things he's not proud of.  We all have.  I know it's… frustrating.  But we need these people to get Pietro back.  If we don't cooperate, they won't either."

            The two girls returned.

            "If you can get find us a way into their world and back, we'll bring back both Pietro and Spike, if they're still alive," Rogue said grimly.  "Can you do it?"

            "I don't know," Tara said.  "I can get you there, but without someone else who can do the spell to stay behind as an anchor, there's no way I can get us back."

            "I'll do it."

            Tara turned to look at Willow with fear and anger.

            "No, you won't."

            "There's nothing dark about this spell, Tara," Willow said and shut her eyes, speaking slowly in a low, trembling voice.  "I live on the Hellmouth.  Pretending that magick isn't there isn't going to make it go away.  It's in me.  You've said it yourself, it's all over me, and it's building up inside me.  If I don't learn moderation now, it's only a matter of time before it kills me."

            "What if you start slipping again, Willow?"  Tara asked, the desperation in her voice making it clear that she had been dreading this conversation for some time.

            "If it's going to happen, Tara, it's going to happen.  I'm either strong enough or I'm not."  There was a silent standoff between the two, and in that silent moment of eye contact, each relived all the hurt that had been done, all the betrayal and regret.  There must have been hope in there as well, because eventually, Tara softly said,

            "All right."  Willow did not look excited or relieved, she just nodded.  "But you're staying here and keeping the pathway open from this side.  I'll go and do the searching.  Now we have to keep this path narrow so nothing sneaks back into our world that isn't supposed to be there.  I can only send three people besides myself."

            "I'm going," Rogue said firmly, and no one seemed inclined to object.

            "So am I," Buffy said, with just as much conviction. 

            "I gotta object there, Buff," Xander said.  "That's kinda like Captain Kirk leading the away team."

            The others looked at him blankly, and he sighed.

            "You know, you'd get it if it was a reference to The Real World.  Buffy, you've got responsibilities here, most importantly to Dawn.  Spike got himself into this, he's lucky that he's getting out at all."

            "You gotta send someone who can throw a decent punch," Buffy replied. 

            "I can throw a lot more than that," said a voice from the doorway.  Kitty's face lit up like a Christmas tree when she saw who it was.

            "Lance!!" she cried, racing up and throwing her arms around his neck.  "How did you find us?"

            "I sent him directions," Jean replied, tapping her temple.  Once he got done smooching Kitty, Lance gave Scott a disparaging look.

            "First you lost Rogue, now you lost Pietro.  This is getting ridiculous."

            "We've still got to pick another two people to go," Tara said.  "Can we save the finger pointing for later?"

            "I'll go," Lance said. 

            "Lance can cause earthquakes," Kitty said.

            "Big ones," Lance added. 

            "And who else?"

            "Jean.  She can find Pietro by his thoughts," Rogue said.  "If you're willing to go."

            "How many times do I get to go universe hopping?  I'm in."

            "But if Lance is going, I should go too," Kitty protested.  Lance hugged her and kissed the top of her head.

            "Baby, first Rogue got in trouble and Pietro had to rescue her.  Now Pietro's in trouble and Rogue and I have to rescue him.  If you come with us, then something's gonna happen to you and you're gonna need rescuing, then something happens to me, it's a vicious cycle.  Sides," he said, smiling down at her.  "I don't want my pretty kitty getting hurt."

            Buffy and Xander packed up bags of weapons for the four of them while Willow and Tara worked out the spell, rolling up the carpet and drawing a large circle on Buffy's floor with a smaller circle in the center.

            "Trick or treat bag of weaponry for you, trick or treat bag of weaponry for you," Xander said, handing backpacks to Jean and Lance.  "I recommend the crossbow.  Distance weapons?  Always a plus.  Holy water is best in a pinch, won't kill 'em but it'll distract 'em long enough to nail them."

            Buffy handed Tara a backpack, saving Rogue for last.

            "Promise me you won't kill him," she said to Rogue, somewhere between an order and a plea.  Rogue looked at her levelly.

            "If he's still alive, I'll bring him back.  But if I were you, I'd start thinking a lot harder about who I give my trust to."

            Buffy grinned bitterly.

            "You don't know the half of it."

            The four travelers stepped into the large circle as Willow set a chair in the smaller one. 

            "Are you sure you can handle this Willow?" Tara asked.  The redhead gave her one-time lover a look so full of sorrow, regret, and, ultimately, strength and absolute devotion that there could be no questioning what she said next.

            "I disappointed you once and I died inside.  I'll die before I do it again."

            Willow spoke a few words in Latin and the circle filled with white light, and when it faded, Jean, Rogue, Lance and Tara were gone.