Disclaimer: see previous chapters

Chapter 6

"Yaaaahhhhhh—ummph!"

Sirius Black lay on the hard floor, the wind knocked out of him, and caught his breath. Once he could breathe again, he lunged to his feet, spinning around. The room he was in was white tiled, with apparently no doors and no walls.

"Where am I?" he shouted.

"Everywhere, nowhere, anywhere."

The voice echoed around the room. Sirius spun, trying to find the source, but there was no one there but him.

"Who are you?" he shouted.

"We are the conduit, the messengers, the envoys," the echoing multi-voice replied.

Sirius continued circling. "Messengers for whom?"

"The Powers that Be."

That voice was human. Sirius spun and found himself staring at a young woman with blond hair standing a few feet away. "How—"

She smiled slightly. "They're the Powers. They can do anything they want."

Sirius eyed her suspiciously. "Are you one of the messengers?"

"Me? No." The woman smiled. "I'm your new partner. Or, at least, one of them."

"My what?" Sirius slowly calmed down a little bit, glancing around, and walked up to the young woman. "Who are you?"

"My name's Cordelia Chase," the woman said. "What's yours?"

"Wait…you're my partner but you don't know my name?"

"Powers work in mysterious ways," she said dryly. "I should know. I was one. Not fun. It was boring, actually."

Sirius blinked. "Sirius Black."

"Nice to meetcha." Cordelia smiled brightly.

"What is this place?" Sirius asked.

"This place?" Cordy glanced around. "Everywhere, anywhere. It's a place that you'll feel comfortable, at least reasonably so."

"I'd feel comfortable back with my godson," Sirius said forcefully.

Cordy gave him an odd look. "You don't realize it?"

"Realize what?"

"You're dead."

"No I'm not."

"Yeah you are."

"No I'm not."

"Yes, you are."

"I am not!"

"Hey! Former power here! You are dead!" Cordy put her hands on her hips, scowling at him. "You went through the veil and died."

Sirius stared at her.

"It was the last vision I had," Cordy explained. "I saw it all. I also saw Connor trying to kill people—really need to have a talk with that boy."

Sirius was staring at her. Cordy sighed.

"Look, Sirius. That veil—it was a curtain, between life and death. They let me in on that much when I had the vision. Unfortunately for you, it wasn't tuned into the right plane, otherwise the hellmouth might have spat you out."

"Tuned into the right plane?"

"Yeah. It's the veil between planes, dimensions. Death is just a different plane from life. Unfortunately for you, that was the one it was opened to at the time. Any other and you would still be alive. In a lot of pain, but alive." She frowned. "Or, at least you would have been for a while. Either that or really, really tired of shrimp."

Sirius was getting a headache, something he thought grumpily that he shouldn't have to feel now that he was supposed to be dead. Being dead was starting to feel a bit too much like being alive. "Am I a ghost now?"

"No," Cordy said firmly. "You are a construct of how you saw yourself in life."

At his confused look, she elaborated. "Here, there is no such thing as ghosts. If we were on Earth, you would be a ghost, of a sort."

"Of a sort?" Sirius repeated. "Ghosts are ghosts."

"Nope," Cordy said. "Ghosts are those people who refused to move on. You've moved on. Ergo, not a ghost."

"Then what would I be?" Sirius demanded.

"Um…not sure. Never tried it." Cordy smiled brightly. "We'll find out in a few."

"Few what?"

"Minutes, silly."

"Wait—we're going back to earth?" Sirius asked eagerly.

"Duh! Catch up, will you? We have a mission. We also have another couple people coming before we can—here we go."

"Huh?"

Sirius followed Cordy's gaze and saw another young woman with dark blond hair walking up. She had a soft smile on her face. "Hello."

"Hi," Cordy said. "Tara, right?"

Tara nodded, looking curious. "How did you know?"

"We followed the happenings in Sunnydale," Cordy explained. "So, Tara, this is Sirius. Sirius, Tara."

"Hello," Tara said with a smile.

"How do you do," Sirius said distractedly. "What is going on here?"

Tara looked at Cordelia curiously. "What is going on?"

"Um…I'm actually not completely positive," Cordy admitted. "But I'm sure we'll find out soon."

"This is just great," Sirius snorted. "I'm dead, with two Americans who don't have a clue about what's going on!"

"Hey!" Cordy said, miffed. "Just 'cause you're all British doesn't mean you get to make fun of us!"

"Besides, you're in the minority here."

"Exactly—wait, who are you?" Cordy looked at the woman who had spoken. She had short dark hair and an air of intensity about her.

"Prue Halliwell," the woman said. "Apparently I'm working with you. Not sure why."

"And so am I. God, can't a person stay dead?" someone else complained.

Cordelia and Tara turned at the familiar voice. "Anya?"

As the blond woman walked up, Sirius realized with a smirk that he was working with a group of very attractive young ladies. Maybe this wouldn't be so bad.

Anya Jenkins, formerly a demon, currently deceased, joined them. "Cordelia, when did you die?"

"About a month and a half ago. You?"

"End of last year. We fought the First," Anya said.

"Ah. I was in a coma," Cordelia said.

Anya looked at Tara. "Tara, it's—nice to see you again."

"You too," Tara said with a smile.

"Wait a sec—you three know each other I take it?" Prue asked.

They nodded.

Prue looked at Sirius. "Looks like we're the odd men out."

Sirius nodded in agreement. "Does anyone know why we've been brought together?"

"Big bad, badness gonna happen," Cordy replied. "Slayers can't handle it by themselves."

"Slayers?" Prue repeated. "The band?"

"Yes, they're going to kill the bad people with their guitars." Cordy rolled her eyes. "Not the band."

"What's a Slayer, then?" Prue asked.

Sirius cleared his throat. "The Slayer is a magical creature, imbued with super-strength and magic to hunt."

"Hunt what?" Prue asked.

"Demons," Cordy said, at the same time Sirius said, "Anything."

Prue raised an eyebrow. Cordy glared at Sirius. "Not anything."

"Did you graduate from Hogwarts?" Sirius asked loftily. "We learned about the Slayer. Not a nice creature."

"Um—excuse me?" Tara asked politely. "Have you ever met a Slayer?"

"No, and I wish to never have the pleasure," Sirius said grimly.

"Why not?" Prue asked.

"It's a killer," Sirius said. "Born to hunt and kill."

"Demons," Cordy finished. "Born to hunt and kill—demons."

"It doesn't distinguish," Sirius snorted. "Demon, wizard, Muggle—it's only thought is to kill."

Cordy, Tara, and Anya exchanged glances, then as one dissolved into giggles. Cordy snorted, "You really need to check your books, 'cause someone's been giving you bad information."

Sirius scowled. "I'll have you know that Hogwarts has the finest library in the wizarding world."

"And I'll have you know that I know the Slayer personally."

"Two of them, anyway," Anya said.

"There's another one?" Cordy looked at her. "Did Buffy die again?"

Prue and Sirius exchanged glances, both mouthing, Again?

"No," Anya said patiently. "But Willow did a spell that activated all of the Potentials. Or at least she was supposed to. I didn't exactly live to see the end of that little adventure."

"Willow did a spell?" Tara asked hesitantly.

"Yes." Anya looked at her. "A good spell. She got over that whole bad magic thing. She got over it after flaying Warren alive and going on a destructive rampage that nearly killed Giles and Buffy and destroyed my Magic Box, but she did get over it."

Tara looked at her, saying quietly, "Oh."

"What magic box?" Sirius asked suspiciously.

"It was my store."

"So this Willow is a witch?" Prue asked. The three ex-Scoobies nodded.

"Where did she go to school?" Sirius asked.

"School?" Prue, Cordy, and Tara chorused.

"Yes, school," Sirius said, looking at them strangely. "Hogwarts? Salem Academy?"

"There's a Salem Academy?" Cordy asked. "Man, they must have gotten over the Salem Witch Trials pretty quick."

"Actually, Salem Academy was set up before the trials."

"She didn't go to a witch school," Tara said. "We didn't even know there was a school for witchcraft."

"So where did she learn?" Sirius asked, appalled at the idea.

"By herself," Tara said. "And with me."

Sirius looked at Prue. "Are you a witch?"

"Yes," Prue said. "Self taught as well, my sisters and I. But we had the help of the Book of Shadows."

"The Book of Shadows?" Tara asked, startled. "I thought that was a myth."

"No," Prue said. "It's as real as—well, as magic."

"And you?" Sirius asked, looking at Cordy and Anya. "What about you two?"

"Nope," Cordy said as Anya shook her head. "I'm just a Seer, with some demon in me so I don't get killed by the visions."

"And I was a vengeance demon, turned human," Anya said.

Prue looked at them sharply. "You're demons?"

"Relax," Cordy said. "We're the good guys. And I wasn't born a demon. It was seriously just to keep the visions from killing me."

"Visions don't kill," Prue said. "My sister has visions."

"Good luck to her then," Cordy said.

"Okay," Tara said. "Let's get back on track, okay? There's a mission?"

"Yes," Cordy said, nodding. "But I don't know what it is."

"Bloody wonderful," Sirius muttered.

"Hey!"

"Enough arguing," Tara said. "We need to find out why we've been brought together. If it's a big bad, then is Buffy involved?"

Cordy got a faraway look in her eyes for a second then said, "Buffy's involved, the wizarding world's involved, pretty much the entire world is at stake—again."

"Another apocalypse?" Anya groaned.

"Not exactly."

Everyone turned to face the person who had spoken. Prue frowned. "Leo?"

"Leo?"

"Who's Leo?"

"That would be Leo, I assume."

Leo Wyatt smiled. "Yeah, I'm Leo. I'm a whitelighter, and Elder actually."

Prue started; the others looked nonplussed. Prue said, "Congratulations—I think. How'd Piper take it?"

"She wasn't exactly ecstatic," Leo said ruefully. "Especially with Wyatt around."

"Wyatt?" Prue asked. "Who—oh my God! You and Piper had—"

"A son," Leo confirmed with a smile.

"Congratulations," Prue said excitedly.

"Thanks," Leo said. "Anyway, back to business." He looked at each of the five people there. "Cordelia Chase, Sirius Black, Tara Maclay, and Anyanka—and Prue—you've all been called to help save the world."

"Again," Cordelia said. "You know, this song and dance is starting to get a little old."

Sirius stared at her in shock.

"I agree," Anya said. Tara nodded.

"Are you three insane?" Sirius demanded. "The world's going to end and you're making jokes?"

"Actually, I kinda agree with them," Prue said. "Leo, what's up?"

"Is it another apocalypse?" Anya asked, ignoring Sirius's squeaked, "Another?" as she continued. "Because that's getting so overrated."

"Not exactly the way you would think of an apocalypse," Leo said. "No demons sucking the Earth into a hell dimension."

"Oh. Well then, what's the big?" Cordy asked.

"And what's a whitelighter?" Tara asked.

"Cordelia's question first," Leo said. "There are three bad guys who want to take over the world. If they get together, they can succeed. We can't let that happen."

"So who are they? Is Angelus back?"

"Angelus!"

"No," Leo frowned. "And that was completely unexpected."

"You're telling me," Cordy sniffed. "So who is it?"

Sirius recovered sufficiently from his shock to ask, "Is one of them Voldemort?"

"Yes," Leo said.

"Voldemort?" Cordy asked. "Lemme guess. Wanna rule demon?"

"Wizard," Sirius corrected. "Currently trying to take over the wizarding world and kill all the muggles."

"What's a muggle?" Prue asked.

"Nonmagical person."

"Who are the others?" Tara asked.

"A Goa'uld named Morrigan," Leo said. "Irish goddess of war and death. And a powerful demon named Loknar."

"Fun," Tara murmured.

"What's a Goa'uld?" Prue asked.

"That would be why Dr. Janet Frasier is joining your team," Leo said. "And the final member is—well, he's here because he insisted."

He stepped aside and revealed the final two members of the team of dead people—a woman with brown hair in what looked like a doctor's garb and a young man with black hair dressed in robes. Sirius couldn't move for a split second, in shock, then he leapt towards the man, shouting joyously, "Prongs!"

The young man grinned and pulled Sirius into a hug. "Padfoot, you wanker. What are you doing here?

"Haven't the foggiest," Sirius said.

"Everyone, meet James Potter," Leo said. "A wizard."

"Go figure," Cordy murmured to Tara.

Dr. Janet Frasier looked around at everyone, then at Leo. "Um...what exactly am I doing here?"

"You died," Anya said helpfully.

Frasier glanced at her, then looked at Leo. "I know that part. What am I doing here?"

"There's a Goa'uld ready to terrorize Earth," Leo explained.

"Oh. There's always a Goa'uld ready to terrorize Earth," Frasier pointed out.

"This one's different. If she and Voldemort get together—"

"The Earth's screwed?" Cordy offered.

"Pretty much."

"Oh." Dr. Frasier considered this, then asked, "Who's Voldemort?"

"Wizard that went bad," Sirius said.

Frasier's eyebrows went up. "Wizard?"

"You're walking around after you're dead and you find wizards surprising?" Cordy asked.

Frasier looked at her for a minute then relaxed and admitted, "True."

Leo cleared his throat. "Now that everyone's introduced, I'd like to get around to why you're here."

"Finally, some answers," Sirius muttered, but he sounded less annoyed now.

"You're going to help save the world," Leo announced impressively.

Anya, Tara, and Cordy blinked. "Is that is?"

Frasier glanced at them. Sirius and James exchanged glances. James observed, "You're awfully blasé about this."

"We've done it too many times," Tara explained.

"You can say that again," Cordy muttered.

"We've—"

"But don't." Cordy looked at Tara. "Please."

Tara smiled.

Leo cleared his throat again, a little disappointed his dire announcement hadn't gotten more of a reaction. He thought the Charmed Ones were the only ones who could be that used to it. "Anyway—"

"So how are we saving the world?" Cordy asked. "I mean, will we get superpowers?"

"No."

"Be able to talk to Buffy?"

"Not really."

"Will there be any interaction at all?" Cordy demanded.

"Not at first."

"Leo, why not just make us whitelighters?" Prue asked.

"Because you were a Charmed One, they're wizards, she's a witch, and they're demons," Leo said. "Magical beings don't become whitelighters."

"Hey—ex-demon!" Anya said indignantly.

"And partial demon!" Cordy added.

"Either way," Leo said. "You can't. But you're not ghosts either."

"Told you," Cordy told Sirius.

"Which means that at first you won't be seen, you'll be incorporeal so you can't touch anything, and you won't be heard."

"Well gee," Cordy said sarcastically. "I can see exactly how we're going to save the world."

"You'll learn how eventually," Leo said patiently.

Cordy frowned, something tickling the back of her mind—this scenario sounded familiar. She continued to try and remember as Sirius asked, "Will we have our magic?"

"Sort of," Leo said. "Not right away—"

"Oh! Oh, oh oh!" Cordy exclaimed, remembering. "It's like astral projection? It took me a few minutes to figure stuff out then too—but then I possessed Angel and—what?"

"It's something like astral projection, yes," Leo said as everyone else gave her strange looks. "I'm not even exactly sure about how this works—I'm working with Oma. She's the brains here."

"Oma? Who's Oma?"

Frasier looked at Leo, startled. "The Ancient? The one Dr. Jackson knew?"

"The very same," Leo agreed. "The Ancients are part of the pantheon that makes up the Powers, though they make up the part of the pantheon that doesn't have hardly any involvement with human affairs."

"Great guys," Cordy said dryly, rolling her eyes. "So. Let's go save the world."