The Gatekeeper turned out to be a tall, skinny human wearing a hooded cloak with only one eye. The other eye had been replaced with what looked like metal. He had stepped out from the enormous gate to meet them.

The gate was easily taller than any of the skyscrapers she had seen in L.A. It had looked like a normal gate in any old fence when she had first arrived in this dimension. She didn't even want to contemplate how far she had come or the damage it had done to her shoes.

Buffy had been preparing to confront a more powerful version of the elves, or even another uber demon, so the fact that the elves obviously deferred to him made her nervous. Demons were typically only afraid of people with a lot of power, like the Mayor. Or Willow. Maybe the Gatekeeper was just really powerful like Willow, and he used his power for good. And maybe she would walk through the gate to find a shopping mall on the other side.

Blackie had dumped her on the ground, which prompted an annoyed "Hey!" from her.

The Gatekeeper began talking with the elves in the same lyrical language while Buffy picked herself up from the ground. There weren't any uber demons nearby, but the elves had taken her bone spine away when they had captured her. She would need to be aware of her surroundings.

Buffy brushed bone dust from her pants then crossed her arms across her chest while she waited for them to acknowledge her. She sighed and began tapping her foot against the ground. There were so many bones. The elves' fight with the uber demons must have been going on for thousands of years, if the sheer number of bones was anything to go by. And the elves hadn't been fighting alone either, unless they were hiding five-foot long bones, like the one by Buffy's foot, somewhere.

While staring at the giant bone, Buffy was struck with an idea. It was a really obvious one too; she was mentally kicking herself for not thinking of it earlier. The elves had taken the spine she was using as a weapon, but if they left her out here, or tried to attack her, she could easily use one of the countless bones that dominated the landscape to defend herself.

"Stupid Buffy," she muttered. "Way to miss the obvious."

"Would that be your name then?" the Gatekeeper asked, startling her with his sudden switch to English. She had thought he could only speak the same language as the elves, but she was definitely wrong on that count. His accent sounded a little like Giles', and Buffy was struck with a sudden longing to be back in Sunnydale.

Hopefully her friends would realize she wasn't dead yet and bring her back soon. Willow was becoming a really strong witch and Giles could make with the research, and then she could go home. Time worked differently between dimensions, and she could be here for a long time. For now she would have to work on staying alive, and that meant appeasing the natives.

So she gave the Gatekeeper her best blank cheerleader smile and said. "Summers. Buffy Summers." And she had accidentally ended up channeling Xander and making a Bond reference. Damn. Well, on the bright side, if he recognized the reference, then they probably had more to this dimension than just deserts, demons, and bones.

He raised an eyebrow at her. "I've never heard of a human named Buffy."

She dropped the Valley girl act and glared at him. "My mother gave me that name."

His lips quirked at the corners of his mouth. "I've never heard of an Outsider who watched James Bond movies."

Uh oh. Outsider was probably what they called the uber demons. "Who's an Outsider? Definitely not me. I'm something that's the opposite of an Outsider. In fact, I'm an Insider. And now I'm starting to babble. Shutting up now."

Blondie rolled his eyes and said something to the Gatekeeper in the lyrical language. He nodded at the elf and replied in the same language. Buffy really wished they would stop talking in it because they could obviously speak English.

"We must determine for ourselves that you are human if you are to pass through the Gate." the Gatekeeper said.

Buffy shrugged. "What do you need me to do?" If they asked for anything she was uncomfortable with, she could always run away.

"Look into my eyes."

The Gatekeeper didn't feel like a demon, and he probably couldn't ensnare her with his gaze a la Dracula. His request seemed reasonable, so she looked into his eyes. Nothing happened until she had held them for a moment, after which the world exploded into a maelstrom of colors.

The predominant colors were black, purple, blue, and gold, but they were somehow more than that. The black was soft, kind, and solid like sleep, a blurred mass that made up a large portion of what she could see. It was an unwavering, uncompromising color. The purple was twisted and seemed to be entwined with the other three colors, and it radiated smug satisfaction, similar to a cat. The blue was a radiant shade that was deep and endless, but it was at the lighter end of the spectrum, like the sky on a cloudless day. The gold was sharp and protective. More than anything, it reminded her of a set of carefully crafted armor. She had never actually worn armor, but in one of the dreams she had of past Slayers before she was Called the Slayer had worn armor. All together, the colors were beautiful, and Buffy could feel tears begin to slide down her cheeks. She blinked, and the colors were gone.

She hurriedly wiped the tears from her face, and her mind was forcibly returned to the present. Who knows what the elves could have done while she was distracted by the pretty colors?

She was shocked to see that the Gatekeeper was crying as well. Well, if a single tear could be counted as crying. What had he seen?

He inclined his head in her direction when he noticed her scrutiny, a gesture of respect from one warrior to another. She nodded back.

"Well?" Blondie asked, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "What is she?"

Buffy could tell that he was hoping for a negative verdict so that he could kill her.

"Ms. Summers is human, and she is deserving of our respect. If she desires to go through the Gate, we will let her." the Gatekeeper calmly replied.

"Darn, I really wanted to stay out here with the creepy Outsiders." Buffy snarked.

"You heard her, she wishes to remain in the Outside." Blondie said.

"It's called sarcasm, Blondie, although I can see why you might have missed it." Buffy said.

Blondie growled and pulled his sword out a few inches.

Buffy laughed. Blondie had about the same level of witty quips as Sunnydale's villain of the week. That is to say, none.

The Gatekeeper seemed to be amused, if the slight quirk at the corner of his mouth was any indication. She got the feeling that he was used to hiding his emotions, and if he didn't want her to know he was amused, she wouldn't have.

"Shall we go through the Gate?" Blackie asked, breaking up the one-sided banter she had going on with Blondie.

The Gatekeeper laid his hand against a portion of the Gate that was level with his chest and pushed. It swung open like, well, a gate. He gestured for Buffy to go first, and so she stepped through the small opening in the enormous Gate and promptly tripped on something.

Before she hit the ground, though, a feeling akin to a punch in the gut had her gasping for breath. A pounding began to build up in the back of her head, and she closed her eyes and doubled over.

When the pain finally abated, she opened her eyes to find that she was in the middle of a ghost town that, from the temperature, was in the middle of a desert. Great. Why did it always have to be deserts?