Chapter 2

The room was silent. Someone close to the group but who has died. Dawn got up and walked to the right corner, where a white board sat. She grabbed a marker and said, "Well, let's make a list. Who has been in our group that has died?" "Anya." Xander said, recalling the death of his ex fiancee, during that final battle in Sunnydale. "Jenny." Giles chimed in. Jenny Calander was Giles ex girlfriend, who had been a teacher at the high school and a Gypsy. She had been killed by Angel, Buffy's former flame. "Tara." Willow said. "Mom." Buffy said. Buffy and Dawn's mother had died in Sunnydale of an brain aneurism. Dawn wrote all the names down and they all just stared.

"Well Tara was a witch, she's connected to power." Dawn pointed out. "Anya was a Vengeance Demon, so she was connected to a complete different kind of power." Willow said. "Jenny was a Gypsy." Xander said. "Yeah, but Joyce wasn't magical." Faith pointed out. "No, but she gave birth to a Slayer. Imagine the connection to the power from that standpoint." Giles pointed out. "Wait a minute." Willow said as she stood up. "Kendra! The slayer that Drusilla killed that made Faiths slayerness activate." They all just sat there. "We can sit here and toss it back and forth all day. There are so many choices." Faith said. "People connected to us die all the time." Buffy hated it, but it was the truth. Cordelia, Wesley, Angel's friend Fred, Jonathan, the list tended to just go on and on. "So someone's destined to come back? That's hopeful, and scary." Dawn said as she sat back down. "How do we do this?" Faith asked. Giles sighed and took a small black pyramid looking paper weight out of a bag he had under his chair. "We use this." Giles said. "Oh my god!" Willow exclaimed. Everyone else just looked at each other with confusion. "The orb of Minsk!" "That's right. It will take four to be tried. If the four can pass the test, the powers unlocked, along with our mystery friend. If anyone fails, all five souls are destroyed." Giles explained.

They sat stunned for a minute. No one really knew what to say. "Which four are tested?" Dawn asked. "We're not sure." Giles explained. "We've looked into it, but to the best of our knowledge, the four will just be taken once activated." Buffy sat for a second, praying she wouldn't be part of this, but she could feel it, in her bones, that she and Faith were two of the Three. Who was the third? "I hate this not knowing thing. Why can't these prophecies be all like, 'Listen guys. Three of you are powerful. Jenny's coming back to life. Ok thanks.'" Willow always has a way of turning something so serious into something funny, without even trying. She never intended to, but just her phrasing of certain things gave her this ability to lighten Buffys load, even if just for a second. "Ok. Well let's all get changed, and meet back here in two hours. The sooner we do this the better." Faith said, breaking the silence. As they stood you could see the curiosity on each persons faces as to who it would be, or who it should be. Each person got in their car and drove home, each plagued with the knowledge that four souls would be tested, risking their lives, and the soul of this mystery person, in danger.

Buffy walked into her new apartment, and threw her keys on the table. She walked right into her bedroom, but didn't get changed. She sat on the bed in a trance. How great would it be if her mother came forth? It would be great to have her back again, but the idea of her mother suddenly becoming a powerful entity felt weird to her. However, Jenny was a gypsy. She could tap into these forces that Buffy still had no comprehension over. It seemed almost obvious that Jenny would be the chosen one. Buffy got up and she opened her left closet door to see her blue jeans, a black tee shirt and a pair of sneakers. She changed and walked out, praying everyone would survive, and that Jenny could become all the prophecy says she must become.

Dawn walked into her apartment and collapsed on the couch. With Buffy, Giles, Faith and Xander living in the heart of the city, Dawn, along with Willow, decided to live in apartments in the suburbs. Dawn never felt like she got to enjoy living in the community with so many families, because she lived her life as the target for a god, watched her mother and sister die, her sister come back to life, was kidnapped every single day, and then saw the town demolish. So now she chose the quiet life, but this prophecy made her quite nervous. She knew it was her mom. How could it not be? She created the Slayer. They all had the same blood, Summers Blood. That's a connection no one could even compare with. Dawn knew she wouldn't be tested, but changed anyway. She would fight for her mother's life, and no one would stand in her way.

Xander changed, but felt uneasy the whole time. Someone who had died, he kept thinking to himself. There had to be some trick to this. There was always some backlash. Suddenly it dawned on him that just because they've died, doesn't mean they must have stayed dead! "Crap." Xander muttered to himself. "Spike. It'll be Spike, because the Powers that Be like to be a pain in my ASS." Xander grabbed a soda from the fridge and walked out the door, praying it wouldn't be Spike.

Giles wanted Jenny back, and who better to test than a Watcher. He got home and immediately began reading another ancient text he had at his residence. There had to be some clue, something to tell him it would be her. He had never loved again after Jenny, not counting the sexual romp he had with Buffy's mother after eating cursed band candy the year after Jenny died. He'd never loved as deeply since, and he wanted her back with every fiber of his being. But all he kept thinking about was Anya. She was a vengeance demon. She brought devastation to millions, a thought she'd taken great pride in. She knew of the depths of evil, and the power of good. She wasn't a good fighter persay, but look at how Buffy started all those years ago. Giles realized it was time to leave and he walked out, praying for Jenny, but expecting Anya.

Willow sat in a field and meditated. She prayed for answers, prayed for wisdom, and asked for the knowledge of the chosen one. No one came to mind. Willow had worked hard on letting everyone who had gone go, as it was part of life. Her grief had led her to the almost destruction of the world when Tara died, so she had worked hard at not really allowing her grief to control her. But Jonathan had the best control over magic, other than her and Tara, had created glamours, and conjured other worlds. He may have been a tiny, dorky little thing, but he knew his stuff. Willow knew it was time to go and she left, wondering how this sudden resurgence of life would affect her grief and her magic?

Faith didn't give a shit. She went home, took a shower, watched some tube and just relaxed. She never really had any emotional investments in anyone that had passed. The only person who she could think of that meant anything to her was Joyce, but that was long ago. Faith just knew that this third person was needed. If the power was getting larger and greater, that meant so was the evil threat, and the idea of dying wasn't really on Faith's to do list. She'd been stabbed, thrown from a roof, injected with a drug meant to drive a vampire insane and was fed off of, and was in a coma twice. Faith didn't want to fight for anyone elses life but her own. So she'd be tested, and she knew she'd win because that's how it'd have to be.

Each member pulled into a parking spot, and all six just sat for a moment, because they knew, once they walked in, that they'd either be killed, or that life would never be the same again.