Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, or Yu Yu Hakusho.
Harry Potter, spirit detective, woke to a tapping on his window. "'dwig?"
A ruffle of annoyed feathers told him it was not, in fact, his beloved owl. He fumbled for his glasses and yawned. Tempus. He goggled at the display. It was bloody four in the bloody morning! He stomped to the window. It opened with a faint screech.
"What?"
"Hey, Harry."
The blue-haired reaper waved, sitting casually on an oar floating twenty feet up from the bloody ground. Harry stared at her, unsurprised. She had been dragging him hither and yon at all hours of the night and day for the last week. "What is it now?"
"Well, there's a situation in America."
He attempted not to sigh. "Isn't there always?"
Buffy Summers wasn't terrified. She knew what terrified was. She'd been terrified since she was told she was one girl foretold to stand against things that went bump in the night - that oozed and growled and hissed in the night, preying on the world, snatching up their hunted before retreating into a darkness that ordinary human eyes could not pierce.
She wasn't terrified. What she felt went beyond terror, beyond despair. What it was seeped into her bones, filling them with ache and a heaviness that kept her pinned to the wooden surface underneath her.
She was alive.
Alive. In a body. In a coffin. In the ground.
There was pain.
There was Pain as a broken body knitted itself together in a way that was cruelly efficient. She screamed and the Slayer in her answered. The Slayer screamed as well, not for despair and pain but for survival. Her body moved.
Her arm broke out of the coffin, out of the ground, spewing with it shards of wood into open air.
She remembered it so clearly, the moment when the path in front of her was laid out so neatly as it never was before. Why was the way so clear then?
The great mass of swirling light that had taken her home. It wasn't there now. So clear. So clear then.
She could feel them, the demons in the distance. Fires in the streets lit up the night. Sunnydale burned. Her friends bloodied.
"Is this Hell?" She turned numbly to the figure in red behind her. Her sister, wasn't she safe? That red splashed so horribly against this dream-sister. Why wasn't she safe? "– is this Hell?"
She thought the girl denied it. The pain in her body and heart gave lie to whatever the girl said. She can't be Dawn. Her Dawn was safe. She closed her ears off. The tower shuddered again. She could feel it list to one side, buckling under whatever stresses it was under.
A familiar voice was pleading. So clear. Why did the path not appear this time?
A scream. No! Her body reacted.
"Buffy!"
"Dawn..." Her sister. Dawn was her sister. Part of the path appeared as the girl cried her name again.
"Dawn!"
Dawn. Her sister. Dawn needed to live. Even if this wasn't her Dawn.
The Slayer moved. Eyes searched automatically for a way out and once found, her feet, her hands, her brain moved to take it. Air rushed around her.
Metal creaked and broke and they fell.
An unknown voice cried out with theirs.
"Arresto Momentum!"
Harry Potter stood in the middle of the burning town. He turned to Botan. "A resurrection? Simply pop there and grab 'em?"
"It is simple!" She cringed at the sound of a car engine exploding. "Or supposed to be."
"Right, so where is this sorcerer? Did he do all this as well?"
"No idea."
"Being a detective was not one of my life goals."
"Bet dying wasn't either."
He glared.
She held her hands up apologetically. "Come to think of it, most of Yusuke's missions weren't so straightforward either."
"That really doesn't help."
"He came out of every one of them intact." She protested, then blinked. "Well, there was this one time..."
"Botan."
"Sorry, Harry. I'm -"
They both turned, wary, at the sound of metal groaning. Harry's eyes caught the flash of red on top of the tower.
He grabbed Botan by the sleeve and disapparated to the bottom of the tower. "Arresto Momentum! Wingardium Leviosa! Aegis Fragma!"
The blonde kicked a piece of debris in his direction.
"Hey!"
"Wait, Buffy!"
Harry jerked downward. The attacking leg killed the air where his head used to be. "Merlin!" She was fast.
"Stop!"
The crash of the tower on Harry's barrier stopped all of them. The blonde rushed past Harry to throw herself over the other girl. The barrier held.
From the words of the dark-haired girl, the older blonde woman was the er, resurrectee. Harry watched their reunion.
"You're back. You're alive and you're home." The younger of the two hugged the blonde. "You're home."
Botan, hovering beside them, looked on sadly. She put a hand gently on the blonde hair. Harry wondered if they could see her. I'm sorry, the reaper's eyes said. I'm sorry.
"So you're detectives?"
"Well, I'm a spirit guide. Harry is a spirit detective in training."
The dark-haired girl, Dawn, led them through the streets.
"Spirit?"
"Yeah. I died. Yusuke died. Botan died. Spirit. Then we came back to life." Harry was quite blasé about this now. Dawn looked at him panicked and then glanced at her sister who had been a silent shadow walking beside them.
"Actually, I'm not exactly considered 'alive'." Botan cut in.
Buffy spoke her first words.
"So things like this, they happen all the time?"
"No. They're not supposed to. Never in your case, particularly."
"You know she's -"
"We do."
"Actually, I'm still not certain what a Slayer is. Botan just dragged me here saying there was a 'situation'."
"A Slayer is the subject of a recurring prophecy." Botan answered.
The blonde tensed. Harry frowned. If her prophecy was as full of suck as his was, she'd had a difficult life.
"The barriers between the worlds were not so defined millions of years ago and demons overran the planet. The first Slayer was created, a girl infused with the essence of a Shadow demon to fight in defense of humans."
Botan frowned. "I don't really know a lot of the history but Reikai wasn't too happy about that. They couldn't do anything about it though, cause the sorcerers that created the Slayer bound the demon soul too tightly to the human in order that the demon-spirit essence passed to the next Slayer in line, ensuring protection for the humans as long as the race existed."
"Wait, Slayers are demons?"
"No. They're human. I suppose at this point you could call them human with a demonic ancestor."
"Figures." Buffy sounded depressed. More depressed actually.
Harry had a feeling she was just asking questions to get her mind off things. Also, it sounded like Botan was implying that another Slayer was born when the last Slayer died. That was just messed up, more so than Trelawney's prophecy. At least that prophecy didn't entail his descendants to kill dark lords of their own.
"It's not so bad." Dawn tried to cheer her up. "There are good demons."
"Yusuke has a demonic ancestor too, and he's a great guy." Dawn shot him a grateful look.
Buffy was focused on Botan. "Is that the reason why you said Slayers shouldn't be resurrected?"
"Oh no. It's a Spirit World Law that prohibits resurrection. It's forbidden for anyone, any being. It's more like an unwritten sin to resurrect a Slayer. Slayer efforts in preventing incursions into the human world are a great help to Reikai, especially now one of you is stationed above a nexus of spiritual energies that actively thins the barriers between dimensions. What is known as the Hellmouth isn't always the same place, you see, and Reikai hasn't known where it was for several hundred years. Even then, the common policy was surveillance from afar as long as it was closed – there are too few agents on earth to police it all the time. You might say that because of their actions, Slayers have a VIP pass to the shining lands."
Buffy tensed again and Harry suddenly understood why Botan was sad for the woman. There were very few rewards that could be given to someone who had spent their life fighting evil and died in defense of the world. If his suspicions were correct, she'd been forcibly pulled out of heaven, the place where all souls longed to go. He felt a spear of anger and pain at her situation as he understood. He had been offered a choice. She had not.
Dawn pulled away angrily from Buffy's side. She paced, stomped really, back and forth in front of the two Spirit World agents.
"So why now? If you are so gung-ho about not letting demons into this world, then why not police the dimensional barriers yourselves?"
"The Spirit World is stretched thin and has as many flaws as any dimension. There are only a number of spirit detectives available for the human world. The Slayer is unique, even among those champions of this world, even among demon-hunters. That's why the Spirit King, even if he didn't like how Slayers came about, judges them with care – because they earned their peace."
Dawn stopped scowling at her and looked like she was ready to cry again. "Really? They get heaven for everything?" She looked at her sister who was studying them blankly. Dawn had understood as well, from the horror in her eyes. "That's..."
What could she say? Tears fell. She wrapped her arms around her sister. Her sister was alive. Everything in Dawn said she should be happy that her sister was alive. Everyday since her sister jumped off that tower, she had wished that her sister was back. Now that she was, Dawn didn't know what to feel. Her sister had been pulled out of heaven. She'd probably been happy there. People were happy in heaven, right?
Stepping a few steps away from the near unresponsive Slayer and the brunette hugging her desperately, Harry snapped a privacy ward into place, turned to Botan and asked softly, frowning. "We're here to recruit?"
"She's a Slayer. Her duty ended with her death. We can only ask." Botan chewed her lip worriedly. "I hope she accepts, if only as a reason to go on living."
If you knew heaven was waiting for you, wouldn't you want to return? Harry looked at the blonde and her sister. "I think she's stronger than that," he said quietly.
He knew she would endure. Even now, she was forcing herself to wake and believe because of Dawn. As long as she had people she loved in this world, she would find her strength. If Koenma was contemplating recruitment, she had to be strong. He had only become a spirit detective because he had the Hallows. But Yusuke was strong and so were Kuwabara, Hiei, and Kurama. So strong that Harry was in awe of them. If she was of their caliber...she just needed time.
Botan nodded. "I hope so. That aside, we're also here to find the sorcerer who resurrected her."
"Dawn?"
"Spike!"
Harry's eyes widened and the privacy spell broke.
"Vampire!"
"Who's the blue-haired bint?"
"Incendio!"
"Oi! Bloody hell, that's hot! Bloody wizards!"
"Wait, Harry! He's a friend."
"He is?"
"A vampire?"
"He got de-fanged."
Spike hissed at them, his face suddenly distorting into a mask of ridged brows and hateful yellow eyes, just to show them that his fangs were present and sharp as ever.
Harry raised his hand, the retooled wand wrapped around his finger like a ring and glowing menacingly. He'd learned to trace the motions of spells with his fingers in the last year, something that cut down on casting time. His wand was impractical in his work.
"Spike, I'm alright." Dawn quickly stepped between the two. Buffy's hand twitched toward her.
"Oh, too right. You better be alright. Running off like that. Do that again, I'm going to rip your head off. I'm serious."
"Spike!"
"Back away from her, vampire."
Spike laughed at him. His eyes caught the last member of their party. He stilled and the sneer bled out of his face, leaving it paler than ever. Intense eyes scissored rapidly over the figure.
"Spike. She's...alive. I – I don't know why, but she is. Really."
Of course she's alive, he can smell it can't he? Still, the vampire inhaled deeply, testing the familiar scent. "Buffy."
The blonde met his gaze, then looked away. That was wrong, Spike thought. Buffy never backed down. She would never bloody lose to a vampire. That expressionless face, the uncertain movements, the eyes that looked trapped. What happened to her? She was wrong.
"You're bleeding," he said at last, focusing on the least of what was wrong.
With that observation, Botan nodded at Harry and spoke quietly. "We have to remove them from here. If the sorcerer finds her..."
Harry stepped forward and held out his arms. "Come on. We're going." He knew that Botan agreed it seemed that Buffy likely didn't plan this, which meant the sorcerer that did was still at large. If she was the victim, they needed to take her away before whoever called her back found her.
"Where do you think you're taking them, little wizard?"
Harry blinked as the vampire straightened protectively. He looked at Dawn inquiringly.
"He's Spike. He'll be good."
"I'm not some puppy you can -!"
Harry interrupted. "Grab on tight and don't let go. We're going someplace safe."
Dawn complied. Buffy looked at his offered arm for a long moment, glanced at her sister, then wrapped her fingers around his wrist. Spike's eyes widened as the dark wisps of smoke that usually accompanied Harry's preferred mode of transportation appeared and quickly lunged to grab Dawn.
Genkai's temple was a hallowed place. After all, she was a psychic. She needed a place where she wouldn't have to mentally fight the world and the people who populated it. The four people who appeared in her courtyard had different reactions to the energy that protected her sanctuary.
Buffy blinked and inhaled deeply, relaxing a little. Dawn coughed out the last of the Hellmouth energies that had battered against her since she was born-slash-incarnated. Spike shuddered and immediately started looking around for a place to run. Harry collapsed to his knees.
It wasn't because of any real effect of Genkai's barriers – he was used to those. He just didn't realize what transporting three people across an entire ocean was going to cost him. He'd warped from London to California before but that was just with Botan, who didn't have a physical body. The three who presently accompanied him all had physical bodies plus, being who they were, had spiritual energies heavier than the average mortal.
He had just had the spiritual wind knocked out of him.
"Harry?" Dawn knelt next to him.
"'m fine. Just need a breather."
"This place gives me the creeps, it does."
"It's a holy site, leech. Explain your presence before I sweep your stain from my floor." Genkai was looking at them blandly yet no one there doubted she would crush Spike if she wanted to.
"He's a good vampire, apparently." Harry struggled to his feet, gasping the words out.
"Oh? Harry Potter, what brings you here? More training?"
"Er, no, Genkai-sama. I'm here to ask for sanctuary for Buffy, Dawn, and...Spike."
"The good vampire?"
She said it dubiously. Harry didn't have an answer for that so he only said: "Yes ma'am."
"A better explanation would be good," the old psychic said. "But first, I'm sure you're hungry. Food will be ready in twenty minutes."
"Thank you!" Harry brightened. He and Botan weren't really sure that Yusuke's mentor would take them in but the further away from California the better. At least until Buffy got her bearings back. He had reservations about taking her away from her town and her friends but Sunnydale was burning and Botan said they would return after the investigation. He stretched creakily and made a note that translocating three people from one side of the Pacific to another was not to be done unless in emergency.
"Where is this?"
Buffy was staring at the temple. Harry brushed the dust off his knees.
"This is Genkai-sama's temple. I don't know exactly where, but it's in Japan."
"Japan!?" yelped Dawn. "How did we get here?"
"Wizards have this popping teleporting thing they do. Bloody annoying."
"Apparation is what it's called." Harry stated. He didn't say his apparation was different from the norm. So different it could barely be called apparation at all.
"Spike, you know other people who can do that?"
"Ran into one or two over the years. Irritating pests. Lovely blood."
"Right." Harry decided to voice his unease. "Why exactly are you not eating us?"
"Not your business, is it?" Spike growled. "Unless you're offering?"
"There were these government guys that were experimenting on demons and they put a chip in his brain. He can't eat humans now." Dawn filled in helpfully.
The government? He wondered why the American magical authorities didn't intervene. He'd ask Botan later. "The guest rooms are this way. I'll get you a change of clothes. You'll have to make do with yukata. Unfortunately, I can't join you for lunch. I have to return to Sunnydale and help Botan look for the sorcerer who resurrected you."
Spike snorted then snarled out. "Rosenberg and Harris."
"What?"
"Buffy's little friends."
"Her friends?"
"What?! Why?" Dawn yelped. "And why didn't you tell me?"
"I didn't know!" he retorted. "All those nights I helped them out, all summer, they didn't tell me. Just put the pieces together meself."
Harry nodded. "I'll talk to them. You'll have to stay here until the investigation is over."
"Wait, the Hellmouth...demons..."
Harry smiled at the younger girl. "Don't worry, I know some people who would be happy to help out. From what I hear, they're some of the strongest in the demon world. They won't have any trouble guarding the Hellmouth."
He waved them to the rooms and the baths, then went to find Genkai. Buffy caught Harry's arm as he turned.
"They thought I was in a hell dimension. They saved me."
Harry's eyes softened at the still shell-shocked woman's words. "I see. But they still did something forbidden. I'll talk to Koenma in their favour but it really is serious, resurrecting a soul."
"Botan!"
Harry waved at the floating reaper, who curved her flight path down to the street when she saw Harry.
"Spike thinks Buffy's friends might have resurrected her."
"Why in the world would they do that?"
"We're going to Buffy and Dawn's house. If it isn't destroyed, they'll likely be there sooner or later." He swished a minor water spell over a burning car, then a more powerful Aqua Eructo over a flaming house.
"Do you think you should be exhausting your magic like that? Someone with the power to rip a soul from the after-life is definitely trouble."
"Yeah, but I can't leave things as they are here either." Also, it was exhilarating, the way his magic rose so readily to his hand. Magic had never come so simply to him unless they were connected to DADA somehow. Kurama's suggestion was to think of DADA applications for every spell and technique he encountered, how to use charms, transfiguration, runes, potions, even astronomy in offense and defense against various enemies. It was a mind thing, according to Yusuke. It had helped a lot but he still wondered – was everything easier because it was a 'mind thing' or because of the Hallows?
"Right. I'll help then." Botan took a breath and blew a massive wind at another burning home.
KBOOOOSSHHH!
She shrieked as the house blew up. No water spell could help that. He scrambled back across the street, Botan fleeing after him.
"...stop helping, Botan."
"Shut up, Harry."
They came up on 1730 Revello Drive. Botan stepped up to the door and knocked politely. Harry wondered what she would say to the person who opened the door. 'Hello, are you the individual who resurrected a soul at peace and possibly doomed the worlds and dimensions to self-destruction? If so, please come quietly. If not, please direct us to the person in question. Keep your arms and feet within the restraints at all times as we are not responsible for any injuries that you receive if you attempt to escape. Thank you.'
The door crashed open. "Buffy?"
The man stopped when he saw that they were not who he was expecting and his face fell. "Uh, hi."
"Good evening. Are you Alexander Harris?"
"Yes." The man looked wary now. "Have we met somewhere? I don't think so, you see. At least I don't think I would have forgotten you. Do you go to school with Willow and Tara?"
"No, we're here about another matter. I'm Botan, this is Harry Potter. May we come in?"
"Ah, you see, we're really busy tonight. With the fires and all. Our friends seem to be lost and we're preparing to search..."
"If you refer to the Summerses and Spike, they are at a safe place."
Xander Harris tensed when they mentioned the names, hesitated, then stepped aside. He relaxed a little when Botan stepped inside the door, followed by Harry. He grinned at the two. "So when you say Summerses, you mean more than one, right?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Oh hey, seems like we lost one Tweedlander just to gain another. You don't know him do you? Old guy named Giles?"
"Er, no, I don't think so."
"Xander?" came a soft question. A shy-looking young woman with blonde hair was on the stairs.
"Tara, hey. These two say they know where Buffy, Dawn, and Spike are. Where's Willow?"
"You called?" A haggard redhead appeared at the door to the kitchen. "Xander did -" She noticed the two strangers and blinked. "Hello?"
"I'm Botan. We're here to discuss the forced reincarnation of – Harry!"
Harry slashed a hand through the air and the three people fell struggling within conjured ropes. Xander growled and launched his bound body at Harry. A stunner downed him before they could collide.
"Xander!"
A levitation later, he and Botan were sitting across three glaring prisoners.
"Sorry 'bout that, but you all attacked first." The glares didn't abate, even the blonde that had the kind eyes. "Like Botan was going to ask, are you the necromancers who forced a reincarnation on an already processed soul? Considering your hostile response upon mention, I believe that you are. Now the question is, why on earth would you do something like that to someone who by all reports was your friend?"
The blonde's eyes widened.
"Who are you?" The redhead asked. "If you did anything to Buffy and Dawn, I'll – I'll do terrible things to you!"
Xander nodded. "Yeah, and I'll hold her purse and cheer while she does them."
Harry looked at Botan. "They don't act like evil necromancers."
"Hey, we're not these necromancer people!"
"O-or evil," put in Tara. "We w-were saving her."
"And you better give them back now!" Willow agreed. "Before Buffy kicks all your butts and comes back anyway."
"You resurrected a Slayer," Botan stated sternly. "You pulled her soul from the pure lands. There is little that can mitigate that fact."
The witch called Tara paled drastically. Her red-headed compatriot looked half in denial, half wanting to be sick. Xander growled protectively. "How do you know? It was some soul-sucking vortex opened by an evil demoness that took her! She could have ended up anywhere!"
"You could have asked!" Harry snapped. He sighed out a breath guiltily. The three had reminded him of a particular failure that had lost him his godfather. He shouldn't take it out on them. He spoke more gently. "There are spells, rituals to contact a soul. You could have asked."
In hindsight, he had been stupid most of his Hogwarts years. He couldn't find it to be mad at the three – they were his age and faced horrors that he'd have run from – and they had stayed the path. They could have walked away and left a Chosen to do as she was destined. He respected that they had not. He couldn't leave them unknowing.
"A Hellmouth?" Hiei raised a brow in interest. Kurama was frowning.
"So, is that what it sounds like?" Kuwabara asked.
Koenma nodded. "The Three Worlds are extensive in scope. They do not consist entirely of three solidly demarcated dimensions. Some dimensions have known, permanent routes to Makai, Reikai, or Ningenkai. Reikai keeps an eye on the closest and many of the further ones, and many contain different types of beings."
Yusuke looked confused. "So a Hellmouth is?"
"It's a point where a number of dimensional lines cross. Sometimes, the convergence of these points creates a vortex of energy that inherently destabilizes the dimensional barriers. It's called a Hellmouth because it opens mostly to the more volatile Hell dimensions. According to the records, the dimension where the Old Ones left to is somewhere behind a Hellmouth, and consequently that the beings that gather behind these convergence points would consider humans and other demons as prey. The energy it emits is very attractive to any power-hungry being out there. Good thing opening it requires more power than any demon in Ningenkai can easily acquire. Still, you would expect to find the strongest demons in this world around the Hellmouth just for the opportunity to be close to such a fount of power. Considering the barrier between Makai and Ningenkai, most of the demons that edge through are likely to be E and D class, with the rarer C and B. You shouldn't have any problem."
Hiei snorted at the weakness of the expected opposition, losing most of his interest. They were A and S-class demons. It wasn't even a challenge.
Kurama's frown didn't abate. "Barring those that managed to get stronger in the human world," he commented.
"That is true."
"If it's just guard and patrol, we don't actually have to be in the town, right?"
"Scared?" Kuwabara teased with a gleeful grin.
"It calls to demons, idiot." Hiei said shortly.
"What does that mean?" Yusuke put in, now also frowning. "It can't control demons can it?"
"It calls to demons because of the power contained behind it. It does not control, it tempts. It wants to be opened. Likely the will of those in the dimensions behind it. Most demons don't bother listening because even now, millions of years after the Old Ones left, they are still feared. There are a number of idiots that still try of course, and its call is stronger the more bloodthirsty the demon, so it still needs to be watched. We've acquired a house on the outskirts of the town for you."
Four pairs of eyebrows rose at that. "Reikai has houses here now?"
"It will be sold once the mission is done."
"Where in heck did you get the cash?"
"If you recall, once your entry into the Black Tournament was confirmed I was technically your representative on the sponsorship committee, Kuwabara."
"Seriously?"
"Where do you think your paychecks are coming from? We didn't use to pay spirit detectives, you know."
"Wait, didn't the winner get quadrillions of yen? We're getting shit pay!"
"Most of your paycheck is forfeited to replace things you break on missions. I figure it's an incentive to be less destructive."
"What, seriously?"
"Kuwabara," Kurama murmured casually. "didn't you destroy half that town once?"
"Hey, that wasn't my fault! Hiei -"
"Heh, yeah, what about that train crash last year?" Yusuke smirked.
"Wha -? It's not like I'm the only destructive one!"
"Which is why," Koenma grumped. "all of you are getting 'shit pay'. Do you know how much paperwork I have to deal with all the collateral damage you do?"
"The train wasn't even in this world!"
"Demons take payback seriously." Kurama smiled at him.
Koenma grumbled under his breath. "In any case, just make sure no one tries to open the Hellmouth. Oh, and see if you can find the next Slayer. The resurrected one's file said she wasn't raised by the Watchers, but the next one might not be so flexible. A Watcher-trained Slayer might start a small-scale war if she senses demons as powerful as you nearby."
Hiei sneered. "As if the weaklings could hurt us."
"No, but it would be inconvenient. Also, killing a Slayer that isn't rogue would invite retaliation from those that think Reikai should have a greater footprint in the human world. The law that prohibits interference between worlds is absolute in saying that human world problems are to be dealt with by the human world. This is why the spirit detective division is the only official Reikai agency permitted to deal with your world and also why it is administrated personally by the office of the Spirit King. If Reikai or Makai actually start to meddle in the dimensions, various treaties that keep demons in check would be voided. Even as strong as the dimensional barrier is, a full-on assault could tear a hole between the worlds and bring them to war."
Kurama and Kuwabara nodded. Really, Koenma thought it was a good thing there were at least two people on the team that had an inkling of responsibility. Even if Yusuke often ran off half-cocked, he was often accompanied by Kuwabara, who had a good head on his shoulders most of the time. Funny that, when Koenma remembered the unremitting thug Kuwabara had been as a teenager. Kurama had always had a level head. Well, apart from when it came to his family. Yusuke was still an idiot, if tempered by experience. And Hiei...well.
Koenma smiled inwardly as he dumped mission files on the team and shooed them out of his office. They had all come a long way. And recently, Harry had joined. The potential the boy had was impressive. Now if he could convince the Slayer to join, he'd be ecstatic.
He flipped a page of Buffy Summers' file and his smile dimmed as he raised a brow.
He stifled a groan.
Apparently she and her friends had blown up their high school and before that, she burned a gym down. In a different school even. That wouldn't help the naysayers maintaining that the spirit detective division was a bunch of violent, destructive cowboys.
Xander followed cautiously after the being that Botan the reaper – and whoever thought reapers could be improbably blue-haired girls who flew around on oars? – had directed them to. The demon or whatever was eight feet tall but with the build that reminded him of an agile cat. It didn't look hostile and had even smiled at the three of them when Botan the reaper left.
They were going to be put on trial apparently, so they couldn't be killed until after, right? He didn't know how demons did their trials but he wasn't going to think about it until he was actually there.
"Excuse me?"
The demon stopped. "Yes, young human."
"Ah, what Hell dimension is this?"
"Xander!"
He shrugged at Willow. Tara was looking around in curiosity.
"A Hell dimension? I am afraid you are mistaken, young human. This is not a Hell dimension."
"It's not? My name is Xander, by the way."
'This place is where the souls of various dead are judged."
"Wha-? Dead? Well, yeah, that blue-haired girl was a reaper but dead reaper? Does that mean we're dead?"
The demon looked amused at the slightly frantic babbling. "You are not. You are here for trial. I must say, this is the first time in a few years the trial rooms are actually to be used."
"But where do they judge if they don't have trial rooms?" Willow put in, a little frightened. "Does that mean the judged don't get trials?"
The demon inclined his head. "The lives of the dead are known here, are recorded, in absolute truth and without censor. It is usually enough for the Spirit King to make a judgement."
"So, you know everything?" Xander asked. "But then why are we getting a trial."
"You have pulled a soul from their eternal rest. Most who do such abomination are outright killed or imprisoned. It is unprecedented, that such a soul as a Slayer's would speak for those that have disturbed their peace. The reaper and the Peverell also have made recommendations for less punishment."
Willow perked up and Xander's eyes widened. "Buffy's here?" they asked almost in concert.
"I do not know. But she will speak at the trial." He looked slightly more enthusiastic. "Few Slayers have ever passed through the trial halls, more remarkable for a soul that is of her caliber."
"Slayers aren't judged?"
"They are," the demon shook his head. "All are judged. All go to a place beyond this."
Xander steeled himself and put into words what had been haunting the three of them for two days. "So. We pulled Buffy out of Heaven."
Willow muffled a sob and Tara immediately put her arms around her girlfriend, holding tight. "W-what is going to happen to her? And us?"
"That is why the trial is here." The demon indicated the two-story tall double doors they were coming beside. "We are early, else the doors would open to us. But it is better to be early than late."
"What is a demon trial like?"
"Ah, we in Reikai are not all demons. Reikai takes souls from demon worlds and human worlds. Even from your Hell dimensions. It judges the dead of many universes. I would not think it much different from the trials you are used to in the human world. You have the right to speak in your defense, for while the actions of the living are recorded in these halls, the thoughts and that which lies in the heart of people are not. Often, by studying the actions, such may reliably be determined. But you are free to speak."
"You don't have lawyers?"
"Lawyers? Ah, you may have those who wish to speak for you. Many lawyers are immediately sent to serve their punishment. There are very few who stay in Reikai, fewer are rewarded their peaceful rest." The demon bent slightly, looking at the three of them in the eye. "But should you want your motives and intentions clear to the listeners, would it not be better if they hear your voice speak in your own words, so that there be no misunderstanding?"
"Oh." Tara was biting her lip. "Th-that sounds m-more straightforward than the trials we know."
"The Spirit King has never tolerated paperwork. We at Reikai administration have learned to be efficient and effective."
"So this Spirit King, is he God?" Xander grinned.
The demon laughed. "I presume you speak of That Which Created? No. Even the Old Ones who crawled out of the Primordial seas know not the face of their Creator. The Spirit King only deals with souls."
Xander was going to ask another impertinent question when the doors opened.
"Ah." The demon straightened from his crouch. "Come."
But the three were already running, for the when the doors opened, the friend they thought they'd never see again was standing within. "Buffy!"
She smiled. It was a small smile but the dread in their chests lightened a little. "Hey guys. Sorry about running earlier. I was a little out of it."
Xander gave her a massive hug and it was returned in kind. "So out of it we're out of the world."
She snorted in half-amusement that Xander was glad to see. The last time he saw her, she was frighteningly blank and so lost. He released her. She turned to Willow, who threw herself around Buffy babbling tearful, pained apologies.
"It's okay, Wills."
"It's not. It's really, really not."
"I'm going to be alright."
"I...I did something unforgivable. To you, my best friend. I'm sorry."
"You didn't know. I'm really going to be alright, Willow. Don't worry."
Buffy hugged Tara next.
"I'm so sorry," the young woman whispered into Buffy's ear.
"I know. It's fine."
"So." Xander eyed Buffy's eastern-looking clothes. "New look?"
"That's what you ask? You've been hanging around Cordelia too much." Buffy lifted her arms, letting them see the long kimono tunic over soft martial-artist trousers. "I borrowed these. Nice but not really my style."
Willow looked around at the massive room. "This is purgatory, huh? Not what I thought it would look like."
"They call it the Spirit World. Technically, everyone here is a soul. Apart from us and a few other people."
"Really?"
Xander waggled his brows at the demon who was standing there, watching their reunion. "I see dead people."
"Hi," Buffy looked up at the demon that towered over her. "Thanks for bringing them here."
The demon bowed. "It was a pleasure." He retreated and moved out into the hallway, closing the door. Xander hid a grin at the slightly elated step of the demon he already knew to be almost expressionless. Buffy had a fanboy demon. It was hilarious.
"Please be seated." A voice broke into his amusement and he turned at Willow's "Eeep!"
The seats on the platform stage, behind the dividing balcony, were already taken. Were they there before? Xander looked up at the thousands of empty seats behind the seated people. Even empty, they were intimidating. Probably more so when they were filled. Which was probably the point, he thought.
There were four seats before the judges. He blinked. Was Buffy being judged too? He narrowed his eyes. Well, the tall fanboy demon did say Buffy was speaking on their behalf. If they tried something...
He sat, staring warily at the dozen judges.
"Hey Hilde," Harry greeted the reaper that stepped up to the viewing window. "How come you're here?"
He thought the trial was closed except for those involved. The other reaper's feathered wings flicked into a more comfortable position as she sat down beside him.
"My assignment has just been confirmed. I am to watch over the Hellmouth and the three." She nodded at the trial unfolding below.
"Confirmed? I thought they were looking for volunteers?" No one wanted to be the Reikai contact for three humans who had resurrected a soul.
Hilde shrugged. "They are warriors forged, all considered. It will not be a difficult assignment. I have been wanting to visit the American continent for a while."
"The north is much more dramatic, if you're looking for a tourist assignment."
She smiled at him. "My native land is beautiful, yes. But after millenia of northern chill, one looks for a warmer clime at least for a while." Her smile sharpened. "And if I am correct, the current two strongest warriors of the human race are from that country. I wish to know if this is a coincidence."
Maybe there was something to what Hilde was saying. For a place that was a native berry farm, America had a lot of serious supernatural occurences in the last several hundred years. For the only two Slayers alive to be from the country, for the line to even be twinned when a single Slayer had held the line for millenia, it felt like there was something serious about to go wrong.
Harry glanced at his lone companion in the hidden viewing booth, then laughed weakly at seeing the light of anticipatory battle lust in the other's eyes.
Oh yeah. America was doomed.
"However pure your intention, this breach of law and dimensional boundaries cannot go unpunished. Willow Rosenberg, Tara Maclay, and Alexander Harris are therefore consigned to work under the direction of the Spirit Realm for one hundred years of mortal life and another two hundred after death. Should you die before your life sentence expires, the balance of years will be added to your time of service after death."
The judge banged her gavel.
"Wait, wait. Three hundred years community service for an attempted resurrection?" Xander protested. "One that didn't even work?"
"People have been killed for even possessing lore on resurrection, you know," the judge said mildly, drawing on her pipe.
One of the jury shrugged at Xander as he passed by on his way out the courtroom. "It's a good deal, m'lad. You should've seen what they did to necromancers just two millenia ago. Ah, those were the days."
Xander looked like he was about to ask. Tara discreetly elbowed him, to the silent approval of the redhead on her other side.
The four friends turned at a cough to their left. Then they looked down.
"Hello?" Buffy gaped at the child in the chinese costume before them.
"Hello, Miss Summers. I am here for Willow, Tara, and Xander. I am Koenma of the spirit detective division," the child said through the pacifier stuck in his mouth. "I'm your new boss."
"Say what?"
"I will say this firstly. Any damage you are responsible for in the course of your duties will be taken out of your pay. Any damage you are responsible for outside your duties is not the responsibility of the spirit detective division. Any damage you are responsible for that increases my pile of paperwork will make me very very angry. Please keep these things in mind and we'll have a very good working relationship."
They stared at him.
Then Xander perked up. "We're getting paid?"
"So what are you going to do?"
Buffy sipped from her cup of green tea and watched Harry try to teach her sister how to teleport. "I'm not sure yet," she said.
Spike gulped down his blood-laced tea and eagerly poured another cup from the teapot on the table. "You serious? Like you'll ever leave those idiots on their own."
Genkai ignored him noisily downing the second cup. She serenely poured her own tea and Buffy's from a separate pot. "It is not a bad thing to step back from the battlefield."
"Yeah, watching all that blood flow makes it just that much sweeter when you return and can finally-" He broke off when Genkai's killing intent spiked. "I...I'll just drink this tea."
"One might say," came a voice from behind them, "that your death freed you from all contractual obligation, spiritual or otherwise. You can live your life as you wish."
Buffy frowned at Koenma, who appeared from the shadows to sit down beside Genkai on the porch. "That's rich coming from someone who just press-ganged three teenagers into being demonhunters."
"I also gave them training from my best agents and weapon allowances."
"You have no idea what you have done." Buffy shuddered, recalling the look in Xander's eyes when he heard his explosives would now be subsidized.
He decided not to tell her that his 'best agents' routinely caused at least ten million yen in damages each year.
"They could have lived normal lives, safe lives." Buffy went on. "They should not have to deal with this."
"That's correct. But do you think that after what they went through, they could close their eyes to what lurks in the dark corners of the world?" He sighed wearily. "Your friends have good hearts, rare hearts. This is a path they would have gone down on, with or without you, with or without me."
He knew the blonde woman who was determinedly watching her sister laughing with Harry rather than look at him understood all that he was saying. She hoped it wasn't true, but deep within her, she knew. It was why she fought so hard.
It was why she would join the spirit detectives. Or if not, she would continue saving people like she had been since she was Called. Not today, maybe, but she was not one who would leave the world to its own when she could do something to help. Koenma smiled. The Ningenkai's champions were always so interesting.
A crack turned all their heads to look at the two in the courtyard.
Dawn was grinning and Harry was blinking at her in surprise. Dawn warped to another corner of the courtyard with a softer crack than before. "I did it!"
"No idea what you've done," repeated Buffy in horror, staring at her now teleport-capable sister.
Spike snorted.
Extra Scene:
Harry leaned against the car, yawning. "Why didn't you ask Xander or Willow or Tara to be here?"
"Wills and Xan don't like Faith. Tara is Willow's girlfriend. Conflict of interest."
"Dawn seemed to want to see her."
"She likes Faith too much. She needs better role models."
"And you left her with Yusuke? I could've done it."
"Hey, you have the teleporting powers. Faith is...well, she's definitely going to try and hit me."
"Are all your friends so violent?"
"Hazard of the job."
"My friends aren't that trigger-happy."
"What? I've met Hiei, remember?"
"Not those friends."
"Do 'not those friends' know you spend your free time booting demons out of this dimension?"
"Eh...point."
"Well now," a darkly unamused voice interrupted them. Buffy's triumphant smile dimmed as they turned to face the glaring dark-haired slayer. "who do you think you are, to use that face. It doesn't become whatever demon you are."
"What?" Buffy looked offended. "Did you just call me a demon?"
"You sure as hell ain't B."
Buffy parried a kick from the newly-released Slayer and pushed them both away from the car and Harry. "Faith -"
"Shut up! I'm gonna rip that face offa you. You shoulda never tried this shit on me."
"It is me!"
Faith snarled and swung a fist. Harry watched with wide eyes as their movements speeded up and the fight blurred a little. He couldn't even begin to see where a spell could help, so he watched. If this was the level of the average Slayer, he understood why Koenma wanted Buffy to join the Spirit Detectives.
"Dammit, Faith! Can't you feel it?"
"If you mean the killing mood, then I'm definitely feeling it."
"And you wonder why people think you're evil."
"Think I care? I'm a bad girl, can't you tell?"
"So you just liked being spanked? No wonder I beat you all the time."
The dangerous smirk Faith had been wearing since they started the back-and-forth banter disappeared, to be replaced by rage. "You ain't her. She's dead and never coming back."
"Unless this witch I know puts together a resurrection ritual. But then, you don't need to be told that, Faith. 'Cause you know it's me."
"Shut up."
"I'm a Slayer too, you know. I can feel you, that sense in the back of my brain. The one that says I'm not alone." She blocked a rush that pushed her against the car with a forearm pressing under her chin. The dark-haired Slayer glared at her, unrelenting.
"Dammit, B. This would almost be easier if you stayed dead."
"Yeah? Thanks, I guess."
Faith's eyes narrowed. Then she released her blonde counterpart. "I only agreed to this release because I thought you were gone."
Buffy smiled weakly. "I...yeah, the Hellmouth still needs a guardian."
"I felt you die." Faith stated as if she didn't hear the other.
"I'm sorry. ...I don't think I could go back there. Just...not right now."
They stared at each other. Faith snorted as she reached behind Buffy. "Figures. Whatever, gimme the keys."
"What?"
"I just got out of the clink, Sunshine. Stylish baby like this, I wanna see how fast she can blow out of here." She grinned roguishly at Harry as she patted the top of the muscle car they came in. "Guess this one's yours, Green Eyes? You don't mind if I take her for a little spin, don't you?"
"It's a rental." One that he didn't pick out for himself. Yusuke had been helpful and contacted one of his mother's dubious friends for it.
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I'm driving."
Faith slid into the driver's seat. "Not anymore, B." She jingled the keys she'd lifted off Buffy's pocket in a hand and slid them into the ignition. "You coming or not?"
Buffy reluctantly rounded the car to the front passenger seat. Harry closed the door he'd held open for her. "Have fun, you two."
"What?" Buffy realised she could have teleported back to Angel's office with Harry. The wizard waved cheerfully and disappeared. "Hey!"
"Hold on tight, Sunshine." Faith gunned the engine. The car shot forward, nearly sideswiping the gates.
"Oh my God! Where did you learn to drive?"
"Eh, on the job training. Man, this was more fun with the cops on my tail."
"That's not reassuring!" Buffy grit her teeth. "Are you trying to get arrested again?"
Faith laughed. She would never tell the other that after her death, Faith had for the first time in her life dreamt of peace. Never tell her that she lost that peace too.
Somehow, seeing the blonde roll her eyes in familiar displeasure, Faith felt the resentment in her lighten. She knew what it felt like now. She could recognise it when she had it. Likely not in her lifetime but that was alright.
Omake:
"You're getting paid?! How do I get in on this?"
"Technically, you already are 'in on this', Faith."
"Yeah, Red? How's that?"
"We're all convicts together now."
"You don't have to be so cheerful about it, Xander."
"But Wills, they only ever thought I'd be a prison guard! Now that I'm a grade-A signed and sealed criminal, I can show those stupid test assessors I'm way above and beyond their limited, close-minded standard curve!"
…
…
"Way to be positive, X-man."
"So, h-have you met our new t-trainers?"
"Trainers? B said nothing about this."
"I am stealth and darkness and rage. I care not if you learn from me."
"I am range and power and endurance. Learn what you can from me."
"I am nature and deception and hidden power. You will learn all of this from me."
"I am sword and shield and determination. I'll teach if you have a kiss for me!"
….
….
….
"Kuwabara. Outside, now."
"Wha-? It was a joke, a joke!"
"I don't care."
"Not the face! Eaaaaagh! Holy space balls, what the heeeeelll?!"
"Ahem. Follow, class. Please note all the squishy painful places that Hiei is so kindly showing you. You should attempt to strike humans in all such places for a quick, decisive defeat. In addition, note how the flailing clumsiness of Kuwabara is almost always designed to make Hiei miss all said painful and squishy places. This is a tactic most noted in a number of magical girl fighters who have excessively long and sparkly transformation sequences. I would recommend it greatly. Unfortunately you have to prepare yourself for the idiotic, moronic, biased reputation that you are most definitely going to acquire. Of course, the benefit of your enemies underestimating you should not—are you listening?"
"Yeaah, kick his ass!"
"Ten bucks on the shorty."
"I'll take that bet! In fact, twenty on the redhead! There has to be someone who would defend the right of men to boldly ask for payment in kisses!"
"Xander, a-are you t-trying to get zapped?"
"Er.."
"Want me to 'defend' your 'rights', X?"
"Hahaha! Come on, Kurama, don't be a wet blanket. Five dollars on Kuwabara. Oi baka, if you lose, I'm telling Yukina what you said!"
"Oi!"
"...sigh. Twenty on Hiei. Hiei, if you lose, you know what I'll be telling Yukina."
...
"Stand still, moron."
"Eaaaagh! No way!"
AN. This was just something that was running around my brain. HP as MoD is very compatible with so many universes.
Yeah, Hilde's a valkyrie. Who knows what she's gonna do in America? So many possible things.
It was an 'attempted' resurrection charge because it didn't work. The First took over Willow's failed ritual in order to meddle with the Slayer line. The judges didn't tell them all that, of course, but now the Scoobies are warned that there would be consequences to their actions. Basically, the 300 years are really for allowing a maybe god-level entity entry into the human world.
Dawn can teleport/warp/apparate. Of course she can, she's a universal Key. If warping involves slipping through dimensional fabrics between worlds in order to disappear/appear, that door is so very open to her. In this story anyway. Koenma knows she's the Key, others don't. Harry just got badgered into showing her how to teleport. He's so surprised that someone who doesn't do magic can so easily warp in a similar manner to him, haha.