Slayer's Knight

by Doc4

The journey begins. First stop: Stargate Command!

10. Home Away From Home

Greeting and Salutations  Alright, fingers crossed this workj. Trial number 10. Thanks to Joshua for putting up with me and everyone else for being patient.

We own nothing except our own warped minds.

Chapter 10: "Home Away From Home"

"Okay, where are we now?" Buffy muttered, picking herself up.

"Wherever we are, it is night at least," Ta'ruk stated.

"Thank heavens for small favours," Buffy muttered. "You alright, Thailog?"

"I'm fine," the giant Gargoyle rumbled. "As to where we are…" He was interrupted by sounds of battle near by.

"Let's check it out," Buffy said. "See if we can get some answers. I don't want to go Planet Diving unless I have to."

"Planet Diving?" Thailog asked as they hurried off.

"I had to call it something," Buffy said. "Got any better ideas?"

"Well…" Thailog started, but was stopped when they reached the battle sight, which stunned them into silence.

It was Goliath and the Clan, along with some other, costume-dressed characters, fighting what seemed to be… themselves.

"Okay, this is freaky," Buffy said after a while.

"Do you know these… people?" Ta'ruk asked carefully.

"Well, the big lavender Gargoyle that looks like Thailog is Goliath," Buffy explained. "Most of the Gargoyles there are his Clan but… looks like someone broke out their 'Little Geneticist's Kit'. As to the guys in costumes and their twin's, I have no clue." They watched as another Gargoyle jumped at Goliath. One that looked eerily familiar.

"Thailog?" Buffy breathed.

"That must be me on this world," Thailog said. And something he had very nearly become, if not for a certain blonde Slayer.

"Okay. Time for some answers," Buffy walked out of the bushes, Thailog and Ta'ruk in tow. She brought up a hand and, after a momentary blue glow, let off an explosive blast that separated the combatants.

"Who dares?" the Thailog look-alike bellowed.

"That'd be me, grape ape," Buffy said firmly. "Now I hope you don't mind a round of question and answer, 'cause I think I'm a bit out of the loop."

"Buffy?" Goliath asked. "What are you doing here?"

"Not that you aren't appreciated," Brooklyn added.

"And that answers question number one," Buffy said. "Alright guys, you can come out now." Her Thailog and Ta'ruk came out of the bushes to a collective gasp.

"Two masters?" the clone of Lexington said, totally confused.

"What is this?" Evil Thailog growled. "Who are you?"

"Was I like this?" his alternate self asked.

"Not that I saw," Buffy said. "Though you were a bit distant at first." He nodded at her.

"I asked you a question," The evil version said. "Answer me." Buffy glared at him.

"You may look like my man, but you sure as hell don't act like him." There was another round of dumb founded staring.

"I get the feeling you are not who I thought you are," Goliath said slowly.

"Gee, what tipped you off, big guy?" One of the spandex wearing characters, whom happened to be hanging upside down from a tree branch (which he stuck to), asked sarcastically.

"I'll explain in a minute," Buffy said. "Let's just see about some privacy. If you could gather your friends?" Half off the combatants gathered around her.

"Spirits of air and spirits of sea,

My friends and I need privacy.

Block all sound to the ears of our foe

Keep them away, no harm befall."

The air around them shimmered until a dome appeared.

"Jalapeno," Goliath breathed in awe.

"She is impressive," Thailog said, looking out at his counterpart, who was ordering his clones forward. "How long will this last?"

"Long enough, sweetie," Buffy said, turning to Goliath.

"You recognized me?  So I take it you know my alternate on this world?" she asked, an almost anxious glitter in her eyes.

Goliath nodded, warily eyeing Thailog and then glancing at the one outside the shield.  "Uh, yes.  She and her friends came to New York just over a month ago.  It was when there were a great many riots plaguing the city.  She, and her friends, rallied all the protectors of New York, including my clan along with Spiderman and the Daredevil here and Elektra, to stop the riots and stop the criminal responsible for it all."

"Let me guess, Xanatos?" Thailog responded with something bordering on hate.

Goliath shook his head.  "Xanatos had nothing to do with the riots, and he even supported the relief efforts from the reconstruction that is still going on from that time.  A man known as the Kingpin of crime was responsible.  But Daredevil could tell you more about that than I."

"Besides," Lexington piped up, "Ever since we helped save Xanatos' son Alexander, he's done everything but left us alone, and then it was only to offer his assistance and help."

Thailog grunted in mistrust, but Buffy calmed him with a hand on his arm.

"All right, that answers the history question, now what's going on now?" Buffy asked.

Again the wary eye toward Thailog, but Goliath still answered.  "Thailog got Sevarius to work for him and made clones of the rest of my clan.  As he was... they were... deformed.  He personally programmed them to follow him and nothing more.  Thankfully, since Buffy's appearance here, we have been aided in out patrols by the other protectors of the city."

"He's really into that whole 'protector' thing," the one that could only be Spiderman wryly commented.  He reminded her, for some reason, of Xander.

"All right.  Is there any way of contacting my other here?  And how long would it take her to get here?" Buffy asked, thinking that this double of hers was more than likely like her in all but one way.  Thailog.

Goliath shrugged and turned to the others.  Spiderman was the one to answer.  "Depends.  If she lets Willow teleport her, about thirty seconds.  If not... maybe less."

Buffy, Thailog and Ta'ruk all blinked in shock.  "She does live in California, doesn't she?" Buffy asked.  Everyone present nodded.  "How could she get here in less time than if she were teleported?  And you still haven't answered how to contact her."

"You'll see," Spiderman chuckled quietly.

Meanwhile, Goliath pulled out his wrist, upon which was a thick metal band on his arm.  Both Thailog and Buffy noted that inlaid in it was electronics and a touch screen.  Goliath frowned.  "The communicator isn't working.  Perhaps your shield is interfering with the signal.  It's happened before that magic has that effect on technology."

Buffy nodded and took a breath.  "Everyone ready.  Goliath, you contact my other and tell her to get here immediately if she can manage it.  Everybody else, make sure Goliath can't be interrupted.  Ta'ruk?  Uh... don't kill anybody, but don't spare the shots with that thing either." The Jaffa placed his staff weapon on the ground and drew a small weapon that looked like a curled up snake. He activated it, and it snapped up, looking more like a pistol.

"I can stun them with the first shot of this," he explained. "Or kill with the second and disintegrate with the third."

"Cool," Buffy said, and let down the shield.

Sunnydale, California

Buffy Summers yawned as she walked into her recently modified house.  The added wing for both Xander's and Faith's rooms as well as the added gym had taken a corner out of their back yard, but the additional indoor space made it worth the loss.  Her mother was in the kitchen, Willow was upstairs, no doubt reading another of her unbelievably thick magic tomes, and Xander was out with Cordelia, while she had left Faith with Spike to finish up tonight's patrol.

Just as she was about to take off her black vinyl looking jacket, there was a sudden and incessant beeping coming from just past the living room.  Buffy paused.  She was annoyed out the wazoo, but that particular beeping made her more than enough frightened to cancel every trace of her annoyance.

WILL! Buffy called in her mind as she raced to the source of the beeping.  She touched the hidden catch just beneath the painting, which flickered to show a face that she was glad to see, and worried about as well.

"Goliath!  What's wrong?  That's the emergency signal!" Willow appeared beside Buffy as the Gold Slayer spoke with the New York Gargoyle.

"We're being attacked by Thailog and... Sevarius' clones of my clan.  Spiderman and Daredevil are here helping, but Blade and the others can't make it.  We need some help, and there's one more thing..." Goliath said when another voice interrupted him.

"JUST TELL HER TO GET HERE NOW!!" Buffy's voice came from the other side.  Buffy and Willow shared a look as well as several thoughts.

Before Goliath could say anymore, Buffy snapped, "We'll be right there.  Sunnydale out."

"MOM! I've got to go out for a bit.  We'll be back later!" Buffy shouted at the door and then both she and the incredibly powerful Power Mage known as the Wiccan took off out of the house.

Xander!  Faith!  Meet at Point C for pickup to New York.  The clan needs help!  I'm going on ahead! Buffy called psychically.

Will do! Faith replied the same way.

Cordy's going to kill me.  At least three times after this! Buffy picked up on Xander's thoughts.

The redhead and blonde smirked at each other and spilt apart.  One going to the park, the other heading northeast.  A sonic boom sounded just as a bright golden aura surrounded her flying form, just before it disappeared in a streak of the same energy.

Central Park, New York City, New York

Buffy glanced over at Goliath as he signed off. "She's on her way," the Gargoyle told her. The Daughter of Oberon nodded.

"Should have told her to take her time, and that we have everything under control," Buffy said with a sideways smile. "If she is at all like me, she would have been here double time.  Now, if you'll excuse me?" She moved off to where Spiderman was fighting his six-armed clone.  Goliath chanced a glance after her before being jumped by the mutated member of the Pack, Wolf.  He ducked under the hit that was thrown at him and knocked the mutate on his butt.  He turned around to lash the werewolf creature with his tail into a tree behind him.  He shook his head.  Not even a challenge after hanging with the Slayer and her friends and other allies.

"Hey, don't you think this is a bit unfair?" Spiderman quipped as his own abnormal clone fired six webs strands at him. He quickly flipped up to a tree branch and released some web of his own. "I mean I've only got two arms. Can't we tie four of yours up?" The clone ducked under the webs easily. "See, that's the difference between you and me. You have no style." Suddenly, a strong wind blew up, sending the webbing back at the Spider-Clone, wrapping him up.

"And none of the intelligence, I'd say," Buffy said from behind the clone, delivering a vicious sidekick to finish. "Or the humor."

"If your Xander's like the one here, I'll take that as a compliment." Spidey said with an upside-down bow.

"What gave you the idea that I'm not from here?" Buffy asked. She hadn't mentioned being from another reality.

"You asked Goliath if he knew your alternate," The Spider explained. "As in alternate self. Plus, you're dating a Thailog look-alike that doesn't act like him, so I'm guessing you guys are from a parallel earth."

"Remind me not to underestimate you, webs," Buffy said.

"Let's just hope the bad guys don't catch on to that," the young superhero said. "How'd you do that wind thing, anyway?"

"I'll explain later," Buffy said, making another mental note that her counterpart obviously hadn't gotten the training from her father. She looked around to see her Thailog pummelling a grey furry thing into the ground. "I've gotta learn not too worry," she muttered.

"So how'd you two…" That familiar tingling in the back of his head stopped Spiderman's question. "Uh oh. Get…" His warning came too late as the Thailog of that universe came at them. Spiderman threw Buffy clear, taking the full brunt of the hit.

"Someone get the number of the clone?" he asked dizzily.

Thailog glared down at him. "I'll deal with you later," he growled, turning to Buffy. "As for you… whoever you are, you'll pay for your interference."

Buffy pulled herself to her feet. "You have no idea how annoying that line gets after the first billion times you hear it," she quipped, calmer than she felt. It didn't matter what this guy did, he was Thailog in all but attitude. She couldn't attack him. Luckily, she didn't have to.

"Get away from her!" Thailog turned to face who he thought was Goliath, only to find himself face to face with himself.

"I don't know who you are impostor, but it doesn't matter," the darker version said.

"You need to rethink your position," the Traveller said. "You don't want to hurt her." The evil Thailog grinned.

"Maybe your right," he said. "Maybe I'll mutate her into a Gargoyle, re-program her. Even a clone gets lonely. But you already know that, don't you?"

His counterpart roared in rage and charged, his eyes a pair of blood red lanterns.

The gem on the Band began to glow.

He pulled his fist back, determined to break this pretender that would threaten his Slayer.

The glow spread across his entire body.

His fist flew forward, impacting with the other's jaw.

Strength, power, flowed outward, fuelled by rage.

The evil Thailog would never forget what happened next, though he would never, ever, be able to explain it.  The band, which looked like nothing more than a bit of cheap jewellery to the naked eye, began to glow the same colour as Thailog's eyes and then bright flames of pure power with no one rainbow of a colour began to blaze across the attacking Thailog's body, dancing across his skin beginning at the band.  Then the truly amazing and most spectacular thing happened.

A roar that was not a single roar howled through the night air.  Whether it came from Thailog himself or the band, no one could say.  All they could say was that it was not one gargoyle roar; it was millions, all howling with the same rage at the same time with the same purpose.  The last change before Buffy's Thailog's fist collided with the evil Thailog's face was his eyes.  Most gargoyle's eyes light up whenever they become enraged or pumped full of adrenaline.  Their eyes light up like lanterns, some pure white to illuminate all around, some leaders such as Goliath have a more bluish tint to theirs, and then others like Thailog and Demona, whose eyes light up bright red.  Thailog's eyes, as the energy of the band surrounded him fully, flashed an unmistakable gold.

Then Thailog hit Thailog and the evil gargoyle was hit by so much force that he flew up in the air in a very high arc, immediately knocked unconscious, and moments after the flames finally disappeared from Buffy's Thailog, they all felt the tremor as the other one hit the ground somewhere on the other side of Central Park.

All the fighting stopped at that one instant, everyone, hero and evil clone, stared unbelieving at the just-as-shocked-as-them Thailog.  "Honey?" Buffy asked, tentatively placing a hand on his arm.

Immediately the larger gargoyle relaxed his posture from where he had finished his first and single blow to his doppelganger and looked back at his true love.  "Are you all right?" Buffy asked.

Before he could answer, the fighting immediately resumed, and three of the clones; Hollywood, the brown-skinned clone of Broadway, Malibu, the teal-skinned, black-haired clone of Brooklyn, and Delilah, all attacked Thailog and incidentally Buffy at the same time.

Thailog moved himself protectively in front of Buffy, despite consciously knowing that she held more than enough power to deal with these three, some male subconscious triggers just can't be denied.

Before they could even get to the apex of their leap however, a wind much stronger than the one Buffy used to redirect Spiderman's webs tore through the area and blasted the clones back to the ground, as well as several other of the fighters.

"Well, sorry I'm late, but you would not believe the turbulence.  Air traffic was near murder," a too-familiar voice called out once the wind had died down.

"Woo hoo!  The Calvary has arrived!" Spiderman shouted as he flipped over and kicked the back of the Man-Spider, forcing it face down into a mud puddle.

Before Buffy and Thailog's eyes, a figure slowly hovered down from the sky.  It was feminine; her blonde hair pulled back in a simple ponytail, and wore a completely black outfit.  They also noticed the gold-hilted katana on her back, just over her right shoulder.

The figure turned to survey the battle, allowing the Travellers a look at her face.  Thailog smirked and Buffy just arched one eyebrow as they noticed that beneath a black vinyl-looking jacket, the blonde wore a skin-tight black leotard, her pants however were loose but tight enough that they wouldn't get in the way of free movement.  In fact they seemed to promote it as well as looking incredibly comfortable at the same time.

Hard hazel eyes stared into hard hazel eyes, each studying the other for but a single moment.  Then the moment was gone and the Gold Slayer turned back to the rest of the enemy.

Delilah, still set on avenging her Thailog, rushed the group again.  GS-Buffy stared at her for a moment before snorting humorously and then with a single backhand, knocked the brown-skinned gargoyle clone back into the trees, instantly unconscious.

'Whoa' Buffy and Thailog thought at the same moments.

The rest of the clones, except for Man-Spider, which Spiderman, with Brooklyn and Daredevil's help, was hog-tying, all rushed the new Buffy, their eyes all glowing red.  She sighed and shook her head.  Then she bent down, and drew her fists to her sides in a horse stance.

"HeeeeeeYaaaaaaahhhhh!!" she screamed, and as she did, a wave of energy exploded away from her and knocked everybody back a good ten feet.  The clones, which had been leaping through the air, had the worst of it because they couldn't control their landings and crashed into the ground, unconscious.

"So much for her not training with dad," Buffy muttered as she felt something through her magical senses.  She began to sweat as she gulped and clung tighter to Thailog.  Whatever the hell it was she was sensing… it was huge!  And it was coming straight at them.

Before she could explain her reaction to Thailog, a spark of green light appeared in the night, in the centre of the battlefield, and slowly began to expand until it was six feet in total diameter and height.  Then it just exploded into tiny green sparkles, leaving behind three people, two dressed similarly, if not identically to the blonde.

'I guess you aren't the only one who views the Slayer in the same fashion sense' Thailog privately remarked to his love through their connection.  She smiled up at him but said nothing back.

"Aw B!  You didn't even leave any for us?" Faith whined.

Sorry F, but I work fast.  And blame Willow for taking so long the Gold Slayer telepathically remarked back to her Slayer sister.  But if it helps, why don't you and Xander go pick up Thailog.  I think he's beginning to wake up from whatever hit him.

But Buff, he's right there… Xander began.  Buffy cut him off with a glare and the two black clad warriors quickly took off in the air and flew in the direction where they now too sensed Thailog waking up.

The Daughter of Oberon had heard Faith's voice, but not even Thailog with his night vision had been able to see the two warriors after their flashy entrance before they took off.  Spiderman, Daredevil, Lexington and Broadway began gathering all the clones and others that hadn't run off already and began tying them up.  The others, Goliath, Hudson, Brooklyn, Bronx, and another of the masked individuals, though not as flashy as the others in appearance, stepped closer to the gathering between Buffy and Thailog, and Buffy and Willow.

Both Thailog and Buffy noticed all the difference between her and this Buffy and their own Willow.  This Buffy was not petite as the Daughter of Oberon was.  If anything she was a block of compacted steel-forged muscles, but amazingly in her face and eyes she looked younger than the Fey descendant.  Like she was still sixteen years old.

Willow, despite having the same short-cropped hair that theirs did, also looked sixteen, but unbelievably more mature at the same time.  She had a grace about her that made her stand out with confidence that their Willow had never had.  They also noticed that she was wearing forest green overalls, that had almost a hundred pockets all over, the large ones at her waist, thighs, and chest coloured a lighter shade of green.

"So," the younger looking Slayer began, "you're the one that called us.  Fair enough that you explain things first.  Once intros are finished we'll be more than happy to fill you in on happenings around here.  Oh, and Mr. Guardian of the Slayer, *I* happen to enjoy dressing like this, not just because it's how I view myself as the Slayer, thank you very much!"

Thailog and Fey-Buffy stared in shock and a little bit of fear.  Had this other Buffy read Thailog's mind or managed to break into their private link.  Ta'ruk, was immediately by his travelling companions' side.

"I read his mind, not that it's exactly difficult," the local Slayer answered the un-voiced question.  "Besides, he broadcast it, so it's not exactly as if I could have missed hearing it.  You really need to work on controlling your thoughts, not to mention your shields so that not any stray telepath, or psionic such as myself, could just go poking through them at their leisure.  And I'm getting to that Wills!" the blonde snapped at the redhead beside her.

The Slayer turned back to the Travellers, noting the arrival of Ta'ruk, and continued, "All right, I'm done.  Story first, questions after, and I am not being too gruff!" she turned and snapped the last back at Willow.

"Given that my… alternate is what he… is, I certainly don't blame you for treating us with mistrust," Thailog began.

Willow shrugged.  "Oh, it's not that.  Tonight Joyce is making one of Buffy's favourite meals, and she's missing having 'normal' time for this week.  Ergo, she's in a hurry."  The mentioned Slayer's blush could be seen even in the dark.  Several of the group chuckled.

"Do you mind if we get indoors first?" The Daughter of Oberon asked. "It's just that it's kind of a long story, and I want to get Thailog someplace safe before daybreak." The Gold Slayer looked over at Goliath, who shook his head adamantly. No matter how different he seemed, he would never be able to trust Thailog, no matter where he came from.

"I hope you have someplace in mind," she told her alternate sarcastically. "Because I don't know if we'll be able to find anywhere close by." The Travelling Buffy sighed and looked up at Thailog.

"As long as you don't touch anything," she said finally. "There's no telling where we'll end up." She received confused glances from all involved. "Just pick some reps and meet us over there." She pointed in the direction they had come from.

"Okay," the other Buffy said after a brief moment. "This had better be good though." Her alternate gave a slight smile.

"Believe me," she said, "it'll blow your mind." They watched as the small group walked through the bushes in the direction she had pointed.

"Where the hell did you find them?" the Gold Slayer asked Goliath. The large Gargoyle shrugged.

"They simply appeared," he said. "She is more different than she appears."

"Besides her keen fashion sense?" Buffy asked sarcastically.

"She be a powerful magic user," Hudson explained. "She placed a soundproof dome around us without nae much as breaking a sweat."

"So?" Buffy said. "Willow's done that before, and over the whole Central Park area, and your clock tower at the same time might I add."

"Aye, lass." Hudson said. "But there is somethin' about this one. Somethin'… familiar." Buffy cocked an eyebrow at the older Gargoyle.

"Guess we'll find out soon enough," she said. "You comin'?"

"Yes," Goliath said. "I wish to learn more about this…'good' Thailog.  Hudson, make sure everyone makes it back to the clock tower."

"Are ye sure ye dinnae want me tae join ye, lad?" the older Gargoyle asked. Goliath shook his head.

"No. Between the three of us, we should be more than able to handle any threats." Hudson nodded, not satisfied, but willing, as ever, to follow his leaders orders.

"Very well, lad," he said. "You be careful." Goliath nodded and the tree of them walked off in the direction of the other Buffy.

"And Hudson," Willow called before the old gargoyle disappeared completely.  He turned and regarded her.  "Make sure you're all wearing your amulets!"  Grimacing, the gargoyle gave an affirmative.

"So it's just you three then?" the Daughter of Oberon asked.

"Yeah, but I don't see how over here's any better than over there," the 'local' Buffy muttered."

Just gather around me." Fey-Buff said. "You'll see." The other three followed her request. Goliath eyed Thailog warily. His love grinned knowingly and called her power. A blue glow surrounded them, replaced almost instantly by an almost flaming red. Then, Central Park disappeared, replaced by a large, round room, whose walls were surrounded with strange symbols.

"Jalapeno," Goliath breathed.

"No kidding," the Gold Slayer said, silently awed. "Where are we?"

"Whoa!" Willow exclaimed, closely examining every micrometer of the place with her eyes, already absorbed in what was around them.

"The gateway," The Daughter of Oberon said. "So, where do you want me to start?"

"The beginning would be nice," her alternate said.

"Well, I suppose it all began when I first met Thailog," Fey-Buffy began their story. "I was recovering from… a traumatic experience."

"Traumatic how?" Buffy was forced to ask as her companion was still investigating the gateway. The Daughter of Oberon looked over at her with sad eyes.

"My boyfriend at the time had gone evil," she told her. "He was going to awaken a demon that would send the world to hell. To stop him… I had to kill him. Not the easiest thing I'd ever done, but it had to be done. Anyway, I was still getting over it when I met Thailog. He had come to Sunnydale after his… argument with Xanatos, Sevarius and Goliath." Goliath growled softly, remembering the event she was referring to.

"My original plan was to hide, lay low till I was ready to continue with my original scheme," Thailog took over. "Fortunately, for myself, I ran into something I didn't quite expect." He looked over at his Buffy lovingly.

"Of course, it wasn't all smooth sailings," she remembered. "But we got along alright. I didn't find out about what he did until a while later, but when I did, I made up my mind he was going to get past it." Thailog chuckled at the memories.

"I'd never met such a strong willed girl," he said. "She refused to take no for an answer, and went as far as enlisting Willow's, er, our Willow's help in getting in contact with Goliath." He corrected as he took into account present company.

"We were starting to get a line of communication opened when we had our first experience in dimensional travel," Buffy continued. "Three of Oberon's Children decided that we needed a trip to see what may have happened if I hadn't arrived in Sunnydale." She gave an involuntary shudder. "First thing we saw was the Wall that bordered the town, and then the destruction. First vampire we ran into, funnily enough, was Willow." There was a pair of gasps from the gargoyle and the Golden Slayer. "Yeah, though my reaction went a bit further."

Willow herself; however, seemed to be trying to petrify her own face into stone to keep from giving the sympathetic eyes she wanted to give this other Buffy.  She knew of alternates of herself that had been turned.  Met some of 'em too.

"A bit further?" her counterpart asked warily, somehow knowing exactly what her double's reaction had been.

"She slipped into the closest thing a Slayer knows to catatonia," Thailog explained, knowing how much the memory hurt her. "She became the Slayer, completely. All that mattered was hunting and killing vampires, no matter who it used to be." Willow looked over at the Daughter of Oberon, who had tears welling in her eyes at the thought of what happened.

The Gold Slayer winced.  Yeah, she had been right on the money with that.

"I didn't have a choice," she whispered. "She was attacking, and if she killed me, she would have killed Thailog. Besides, I couldn't stop it. The Slayer took total control."

"It's alright," Willow whispered. The idea of Buffy, any Buffy being put through that was horrifying. The Gold Slayer thought the same, though her reaction was a little more confusing.  She was laughing.

"What's so funny?" Thailog demanded to know.

"I've had some personal experience with that myself.  Only not from killing Willow… from protecting her," she explained, her voice entirely devoid of the laughter that had been there moments before.  "It can be useful, but it's more dangerous than you know.  I use it as my Berserker rage.  Since you've got magic, I would highly advise that you do not do the same."

"Don't worry, I won't," Thailog's Buffy answered confidently.

The Slayer nodded and then frowned in confusion.

"Why?" she demanded, suddenly angry. "Why did you have to go through that?  Going to another world?" The Daughter of Oberon smiled.

"That comes later," she said. "Anyway, the Slayer went off hunting, leaving me lost, and kind of happy with the fact, because at that time, I was blaming myself for all the deaths. I'd probably still be there, if not for Angel."

"Angel?" The Gold Slayer asked.  Then she paused just as the fey was about to respond, and her face contorted in what might have been a grimace of pain.  "Angel was your boyfriend?  He went evil and you had to kill him?"

Surprised that she had figured it out, despite not saying the soul's name, Buffy nodded.

Again, the Gold Slayer winced, this time though Buffy asked what was wrong.

"We got a warning," The other Blonde said. "About Angel, and the curse, and the clause of a moment of happiness.  Angel and I…"  She stopped speaking when the Daughter of Oberon gave them all a seriously agitated look.

"You got a warning? Why didn't we get a warning?" She demanded angrily. Her features softened a bit. "Although, if I think of it, I don't think I would have taken it any other way. I mean, I wouldn't have met Thailog if it did." Goliath watched as his clone wrapped his arms around the petite blonde. This was definitely different to the Thailog he knew.

"Um, I've got a question," Willow said. "Since you said Angel was, and is dead, then how'd he help you?"

"Not really sure," Buffy said. "I talked to the Weird Sisters about it, and they said that the Powers That Be might have pulled his soul out of Angelus just as he was about to enter the portal he fell through. In any event, he got placed as my Guardian Angel, and helped guide Thailog to me in the first place."

"Oh," Willow said. "That makes sense." Her Buffy blinked at her.

"It does?"

"If we can finish the story?" her counterpart said.

"Sorry," the Gold Slayer said sheepishly. Thailog chuckled. They were more alike than they thought.

"I heard that," his Buffy sent.

"Anyways," she continued out loud "the Powers sent him to help bring me back, while my father sent Puck."

"Who is your father that he could order Puck to do anything?" Goliath asked incredulously. She glared at him menacingly.

"You wanna make me ruin the punch line, fine," she said irritably. "I'm half Fey. My father is Oberon."

"Wha-wha-wha-what?" Willow managed.

"Okay, this is different," Willow's Buffy muttered.

"Jalapeno" Goliath muttered in awe.

"Can I finish the story without interruptions now?" The Daughter of Oberon asked. The three warriors nodded, dumbstruck. "Good. So, Angel shows up in my mind and helps me find my way, with help from Thailog and Puck. By the way," she said, looking at her counterpart, "if you were wondering why Thailog thought you dressed that way because it's the way you saw the Slayer, this is what I dressed like in that little corner of my mind." A glow surrounded her and a black leather one piece, long legs, no sleeves, and a modest neckline replaced her armour and cape.

"Oh!" Willow said. "No offence, but that looks way better than the armour." Her wife's counterpart shrugged.

"Ooo!  My clubbing outfit!" said wife exclaimed.  After several glances cast her way, the Fey-Buffy continued on.

"A gift from dad," she said. "It's not hard to modify, so that's cool. Anyway, we went off to find a way home found, only to find Giles, fully human, and a dimension jumping vampy me and her pet vamp Goliath."

"How'd that happen?" Goliath asked.

"The Mayor," The Daughter of Oberon said flatly. "He was undergoing a ritual that would turn him into a giant snake demon that would have trouble fitting in this room. That version lost Thailog during the battle. Afterward she had a run in with Spike. The rest, as they say, is history."

"Jalapeno," Goliath muttered. Thailog's Buffy nodded.

"Yeah, been there, skewered him about a thousand times during his invincible stage, blew up snake, end of story.  Except for the whole Spike bit.  Eww!"

"Tell me about it," she mumbled.  "After she was turned, she somehow found the gateway and tried to stop it from happening." She continued. "One time, she overshot, landing in Dark Ages Scotland to mark the young Goliath." She looked over at the large Gargoyle, who shook his head.

"I do not remember these things," he said. Thailog's Buffy shrugged.

"Probably for the best." She said. "Anyway, after she marked him, she jumped forward to make sure he had no one to defend him. Translated…"

"She killed the alternate us," her counterpart and Willow said together.

"Yep," she confirmed. "We dealt with that, found out she'd, somehow, kept some scrap of her soul, left her with Giles and headed home."

"How?" Goliath asked. "I assume you hadn't yet found this place."

"The same way we got there in the first place. The Weird Sisters," Goliath grunted sourly. "You've had dealings with them. They aren't too bad once you've had some time to get used to them. Of course, they took a liking to me I think. That helps."

"Okay, so you made it through the Mayor," the Gold Slayer said impatiently. "What's next?"

"Another vampy me…us," the Travelling Buffy said. "She tried to sink her fangs into Goliath to bring that world into being. Of course, there was one huge monkey wrench that she didn't see coming. Us. That's also where I found out about my dad." Thailog grinned.

"As I remember, you surprised everyone with your trick with you sword and dagger," he said.

"What trick?" the other Buffy asked, intrigued. Thailog shrugged.

"She lit them," he said.

"Huh?" the Daughter of Oberon drew her katana and lit the blade with the same blue flame she had accidentally against her vampy counterpart. "Whoa," the Gold Slayer gasped.

"Wow," Willow gasped. "That's…impressive."

"What happened next?" Goliath asked.

"Dad took us here to train for a while," Thailog's Buffy said. "Time freezes within this room and only a moment will pass outside. And then after Dad left us to 'explore' to hone my skill, we pressed, I think it was that stone there," she pointed at the rune that lead to the Stargate universe, "and met up with General Hammond of Stargate Command…"

"Stargate?" Willow asked suddenly.

"It is a gateway between planets," Ta'ruk explained. "It is mainly used by the Goa'uld, a race of parasites who enslave their hosts. My race, the Jaffa, is enslaved to them. I would still be in the service of the false gods if it were not for Buffy Summers."

"I know what a Stargate is; I was just surprised to hear that the US government would have a working one on this planet." Willow snapped at the Jaffa.  "The Ancients that built them across the omniverse, that is to say across the universe in every universe, were said to have dispersed millions of years ago.  The Goa'uld… I vaguely recognize the name, but don't know of them.  And no, we don't have a Stargate system in our universe.  Magick is more prominent in that use, as is high levels of technology.  And if we do, there no longer is a Stargate on this world.  If there were… I think it would be in our basement." She said the last to the Buffy standing right next to her, who shrugged in response.

"Anyway, we went on a mission with SG-1 to a living planet where my sweetie picked up this," Thailog held up the band.

"All planets are alive.  You just probably went to one old enough to have developed sentience on a human level," Willow explained.  "There are several of those like that, those that are lucky enough to survive that long that is, across our galaxy and many others, and…"

She was stopped by the other Buffy putting a hand over the Power mage's mouth.  "Sorry about that.  She stopped babbling when she got nervous and started babbling when talking about something "interesting"…"

"In other words too boring for words," the Fey inserted.

"…around the time that our story starts to differ from yours.  Now…" she released her hands from Willow's mouth, "what is this place?"  Fey-Buffy opened her mouth to repeat her earlier answer, just with a far more annoyed tone, when her dark-clad counterpart added at the last second, "Willow?"  Feeling foolish, she closed her mouth.

Willow nodded as she took one more look around the place.  "It's what she called it.  The Gateway.  Though to some it is known as the "Gateway of Escape" or the "Fairy's Rabbit Hole".  It's one of the 975 omni-present inter-dimensional points in just about every universe that exists.  Ergo…"

"Non-private use, meaning we can't start sending teams of superheroes through here to go save the day," the young looking Slayer finished, frowning.  She sighed and rubbed her forehead when all of a sudden the redheaded mage was there doing it for her.

"You didn't get to meditate today, did you?" Willow asked, though something in her tone broke of an accusation.

Buffy's face grimaced.  "No.  I got to meditate.  Early this morning."

Willow rolled her eyes and continued to massage the girl's head.  "That's stupid Buffy.  If you're going to meditate at all, do it midday or early afternoon.  Morning and night sessions we've decided aren't good for you."

"No, they just aren't good for my schedule.  Ugh.  Gods Wills, don't stop," she moaned with pleasure.

"Ahem!" the other Buffy in the room cleared her throat.  The two didn't move from what they were doing.

Goliath waved them off.  "They'll be at that for a bit," he explained, from having experience it sounded like.  Then he hesitated.  Finally he came to a decision.  "Thailog…"

Both Buffy and Thailog tensed, waiting for another argument, even if Goliath was calm about saying whatever comment would start it.

"…I'm sorry."

They blinked their shock away after a couple seconds, allowing Goliath to continue.  He didn't.

"What?  That's it?" Buffy demanded.

Goliath's shoulders, if it were ever at all possible, drooped significantly.  "It is all I can offer.  I once… after he had resurfaced, tried to apologize to my… our Thailog of our reality, for what I said on that night so long ago.  Quite obviously he refused any of my offerings of apology or whatever chance of kinship there might have been.  From your story, I know that you and your Goliath are no longer enemies.  Despite this, I still feel regret over my actions that night… and I hope that you will accept my apology… and forgive me."

Thailog and Buffy stared in disbelief for several moments.  The Goliath they knew would never have said something like this.  To them anyway.

"We've been counselling Goliath and the others of the clan since we met them last month," Willow answered to their confused faces.  "He's realized a lot of the mistakes he's made didn't have to be made with some careful thinking and just following his heart.  Unfortunately, it's too late for the Thailog of our reality.  Thankfully, it's not for yours."

"I will never leave Buffy's side!" Thailog proclaimed.

"That's not what I meant," Willow replied with a smile.  "It never got to the point of where it went with ours, but it could have, had whatever edge between Thailog and Goliath remained.  You'd be surprised what an act of forgiveness can do for one's soul.  For both the one forgiving and the one forgiven."

"How the hell did you get so smart?  It is still 1999, isn't it?" Thailog's Buffy asked.

Willow smiled, still massaging her Buffy's head, the blonde seemingly in some kind of trance, her eyes closed.  "Summer of 1999 actually.  And… I've had experience.  Read a few books, and am empathically, permanently to that, connected to a psionic, who make telepaths and empaths of ordinary supernatural means look downright pathetic in comparison."

"By the way, Willow and I are married," Buffy said, her eyes still closed.

There was total silence in the chamber for about 90 to 100 seconds.

"Uhhh… come again?" the hetero Buffy finally was able to, hoarsely, ask.  In response to that question, Willow lightly slapped her Buffy on the back of the head.

"OW!" she whined and immediately rubbed the spot.  "Hey!  I was meditating!"

"Then you should have known better than to just blurt out your sexual preference!" Willow snapped right back.

"I didn't!  I announced our relationship.  And she was thinking I was still with Angel!  So… I set her straight," Buffy defended herself.

Willow couldn't help it.  She snorted out her laughter, trying to hold it in, and for the most part succeeding, stifling the laughs only after about twenty seconds of choking on them.

"It wasn't that funny…" Thailog's Buffy commented, thinking of the play on words.

Willow shook her head, now under control.  "It's not that.  It's the whole idea of a relationship with Angel.  They never got it to work in the first place."

"Why?" she wanted to know.  Angel was the only other person in any world, which she thought, she could ever love.

Suddenly the two Slayerettes became very quiet and sullen.  Goliath, however, having met Angel, not to mention heard the story, was not about to remain silent.

"Because Angel never lost his soul, as he did on your world," he said simply.

Buffy still winced in shame and guilt, and pain, every time that scenario was mentioned.  The Gold Slayer however stepped forward before she could go too far into her grief.

"Because I… no, we were warned beforehand.  About the happiness clause in his curse," she let out a big sigh and rubbed her forehead.

"Goddess I can't deal with this right now.  We're going back to my house.  Besides, we need to pick up Xander and Faith, drop Goliath off, we also need to hand those clones over to Xanatos," Buffy outlined.

"WHAT?" both Fey-Slayer and Thailog shouted in disbelief.

"You're going to turn them over to Xanatos ?!!" Buffy shouted.

"He'll just turn them into mindless weapons; abuse them even more than an evil version of me would!" Thailog shouted.

The three just stood there staring, Ta'ruk staying back, prepared to defend his mistress no matter what.  Then they exchanged glances before Goliath raised his hand, a request to speak.

"I don't suppose either of you know of my daughter Angela?" he asked politely.

"Uh…who?" Buffy.

"What?" Thailog.

"Guess not," Willow's Buffy muttered.  "Uh, but Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx are all still in New York where, and when you come from?"

They both nodded, one still in shock over the revelations, the other still not quite trusting enough to speak.  "Then they probably just left right after you did or soon after.  Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx are destined to go to Avalon to help the inhabitants, the human inhabitants fight off the advances of an evil human mage known only as the Archmage.  Unfortunately, like I'm guessing this place does, Avalon sends you where you need to be.  When they got back from their world tour, Goliath, with his daughter Angela, and the rest of the reunited clan, saved Xanatos' only son.  That indebted Xanatos to Goliath and his clan.  We've also taken steps to ensure that Dave is on the up and up.  And yes, he hates it when I call him Dave.  You should start," she grinned at her counterpart.

"So…" Thailog lead.

"Xanatos will do everything to ensure that the clones are well-cared for, and are taught to know all that they wish to know.  In case you didn't notice, they are a bit… slow.  Thailog… uh, our Thailog, programmed them for mindless obedience.  Xanatos programmed you with his mind… of the time.  As well as our Thailog.  Be glad you got a choice.  None of them did," Goliath answered.

Both gargoyle and Slayer nodded their understanding.  Suddenly Fey-Buffy looked confused and then panicked.  The Gold Slayer and Wiccan headed her off.

"This rune will take us back home," Willow answered before pressing the correct inset in the wall.  She disappeared in a red flame.  Then five seconds after reappeared in the exact centre of the room in a green flame.

"How did you—" Buffy started to ask.

"Never underestimate my wife," Buffy complimented as said wife came up to her to be embraced.

"Yeah, we'll be talking about that later," Buffy glared at her counterpart.  "But what I meant was, how the HELL did you get back here without coming through the gateway?"

"Fairy kings aren't the only ones with magic Buffy," Willow answered calmly, with a smile on her face.  "And there are beings that are far more powerful than even Oberon and Titania.  I should know; my teacher is one of them.  As am I."

"Why you little…!" Buffy felt a hot flash of royal pride go through her and immediately summoned all of her power to smite this insolent witch.

A powerful blue glow surrounded the half-human Child of Oberon, lightning shooting out of her eyes and hands.  Before she could even begin to think about attacking though, a brighter green light flooded the gateway chamber, at the centre of it, Willow was surrounded by an iridescent green-hued flame, lightning shooting out of her hands and eyes.  Before the daughter of Oberon could do or say anything more though, the earth beneath them grew giant hands and clasped the blue glowing Buffy between them.

Thailog and Ta'ruk were knocked back as easily as the clones had been by the other Buffy.

"I'm not even trying Buffy," Willow, again calmly, told the Child of Oberon.  Yet somehow, more because of the situation than any tone inflictions, the blonde sensed a threat of danger in that one phrase, more so than anything she had ever faced before.  Anything.

Slowly, realizing that, for right now, this Willow was more powerful than her, she let go of her magic, but not too much as to be defenceless if she needed to do so at an instant.  The blue glow left her.  The ground hands released her and sunk back into the earth.

"We'll talk, and explain everything later," Buffy said finally, going to stand next to her wife while her counterpart helped her companions to their feet, "at my house.  Knowing your story we're not about to let you move on without trying to help.  And I'll say the same thing to you that I did to Faith; you can't say no.  Not because you're a prisoner, or because of something you did, or because something someone else did, but because its for your own good, and I'm not giving you a choice.  Any questions?"

"Yeah!  What gives you the right to decide what happens next? You say it's for our good. How do you know?" the Golden Slayer sighed.

"Am I ever this difficult?" she asked.

"Yes," Willow and Goliath answered at the same time. Buffy shook her head.

"Look, we only want to help," she explained to her counterpart. "Aside from what you may be able to learn from Wills; there's also what I could show you.  It's… it's…" she stopped momentarily, groping for the right words. "I guess it's easier if I show you." She dropped into a horse stance and focused.

A golden aura, shaped and moving very much like an open wild fire, flashed into existence around her. The Travellers stood stock still, amazed. Thailog placed himself between the two defensively.  Then it happened again. The gem on the Band began to glow a dull red. The glow spread across the Gargoyle's entire body. The red that had entered his eyes flashed gold as he stared at the other Buffy.

"How the hell…?" She began, before letting the aura around her die.  Thailog's glow died almost immediately after. "Where'd you learn to do that?"

"I…do not know." Thailog admitted as his Buffy came behind him.

"That happened earlier, too," she said. "When your Thailog attacked me.  I think it has something to do with the Band." She sighed. "Guess there is something for us to learn here after all. We may even find one of those attachments we were told about."

"Good," Willow said.  "Now that that's settled, let's go!"  She then turned and pressed the inset rune nearest her.

"No wait!  You don't know..." Buffy tried to warn.  "Nonsense," Willow chastised before finally touching the rune, her wife beside her with a calm look on her face. "I can sense which rune point leads to which dimension.  This one leads to our home.  Buffy?  Make sure those three come along."

"Yes dear," Buffy replied as Willow disappeared in red flames. It didn't take much more convincing to get them all back to Central Park.  As always, when dealing with the Gateway, virtually no time had passed since their departure, so the others were still rounding up all the bad guys.  Xander and Faith were just returning with the evil Thailog.

As the two landed, the Daughter of Oberon noticed something.  "Um, you said Xander was here, right?" She said. Her counterpart nodded.

"Are you kidding me?" She said, confused. "He's over there helping Faith with Thailog."

"He's…" Buffy's jaw dropped when she saw a fully human Xander walk up to them.

"Hey Buff." Xander said to the Gold Slayer before turning to the other Buffy. "Hey Buff." A confused look spread across his face.

"Did I miss something? What's up with the other you Buffy?  Wait a sec; are they from another universe or... what?" Xander stopped speaking when he noticed the look on the new Buffy's face.

"Oh my… Xander?" The Half Fey stared at the image of what Xander used to be. "You're human… and all not wingy and stuff. How…?"

"Obviously he did not have that run in with Sevarius," Thailog said as Xander mouthed to his Buffy "Wingy?"

"Oh, yeah," his love said. "I knew that. I just…"

"Someone want to explain what's going on?" Xander begged. "'Cause I'm lost."

"Something you forgot to mention?" the home Buff asked.

"Well," the Travelling Buffy said. "Xander got caught on the wrong side of one of Sevarius' darts and got turned into a Gargoyle."

"That explains the reaction," Xander said. "Wait, when did that happen, and why did I not get the memo?"

"Alright" the other Buffy sighed. "Willow, could you get the clones to Xanatos? Faith, Xander and I will get our visitors home. Then we can figure out what else she forgot to mention." The half Fey lowered her head.

"I didn't think about that," she admitted. "I figured you wanted the big, important stuff. Not that Xander's not important or anything, I just figured you wanted the happenings that brought us here."

"I get it," her double said. "You didn't think it was the info I was looking for. No biggie."

"I'm not important enough to worry about?" Xander asked, acting insulted.

"Xander, get over it," the local Buffy said. "Cordy'll make you feel important when we get home." Her double stiffened, a cold look entering her eyes. "Um, something I said?"

"What the hell has she got to do with anything?" she hissed.

"Hoo-boy," the Gold Slayer muttered.  "I think we should get back to Sunnydale so we can get this sorted out."

"I think so," her double said darkly. Cordelia making Xander feel anything but sad, angry or generally pissed off wasn't something she was used to and there was also the whole stabbing-them-in-the-back, trying-to-kill-her-Gargoyle bit.

Let's just Instant Transmit, I don't think even the gargoyle is ready for a hypersonic cross-country trip just yet Buffy communicated to the rest of the members of her team.

Willow soon disappeared with the captured clones, while Goliath went off with the rest of his clan, and the costumed heroes disappeared in their own fashions.  So to speak.

"We'll do this the fast and easy way," Buffy told her counterpart as she went and stood next to Thailog.  "Xander, you take Ta'ruk, he's the one with the tattoo on his forehead, Faith you take her."

"Take us how?" Thailog growled questioningly.

"Light speed," Buffy answered cryptically before grabbing his forearm in a grip than almost brought the powerful gargoyle to his knees.  The moment she did, both figures began to flicker briefly before disappearing entirely.

"What...!?" the remaining Buffy exclaimed, but Faith grabbed her before she could protest too much and they too flickered and disappeared.

Xander merely held out his hand for Ta'ruk to take, who did so after a moment's hesitation.  "Don't think this means we're goin' steady or anything," Xander joked before they too disappeared, but not before the Jaffa's eyebrow arched in curiosity.

Sunnydale

Despite leaving seconds after one another, the teleporting group all arrived in the Summers' living room at exactly the same time.

"…the HELL was that?!" Fey-Buffy screamed, too weirded out by tonight's events and too tired to even try controlling her emotions.

"Instant Transmission," her counterpart answered, "which is converting our personal matter into faster-than-light particles and then transmitting those particles at the speed of light to another point in space and reforming them.  We learned it a while ago, but before we go too into that... details now.  Before Cordy shows up, I want to know exactly what happened to you guys."

The Daughter of Oberon stiffened again. "It's not hard to explain really," she said as calmly as possible. "Remember when I told you about the Mayor? Well, not long after me and Thailog got back from our side trip, we found out he had a spy amongst our ranks. Cordelia."

"What?" Xander exclaimed. "No way, uh-uh, I don't believe it. Cordy'd never stab us in the back like that."

"Wish I could say the same for our Cordelia," Buffy said sadly. "She'd been delivering info on us to him for about a year, why, we don't know.  After we found out, though, it really got bad. She threatened Xander that anyone he got close to would get hurt, which caused him to distance himself from us for a while."

"The police of Sunnydale, those not taking bribes, were happy to have his help however," Thailog added. "With criminals hiring demons for protection, a Gargoyle was a valued commodity."

"Extra bonus, he caught the bad guys with their hands in the virus jar," his Buffy said.

"Virus jar?" her counterpart asked.

"A virus targeted at Thailog," the other said. "One that would have taken him from me permanently."

"I stopped that?" Xander remarked. "Yay me!"

"After that, Xander and Faith started getting close…" Buffy stopped to stifle laughter at the faces on Faith and Xander's faces, before sobering "…Then Cordelia got vicious. She attacked Faith with an army of vampires."

"I couldn't stop that?" Faith asked. "I must be a wimp there."

"They haven't had the same training we have, F," the Gold Slayer explained. "You would have been down to standard Slayer strength.  Remember that?"

"Um…think so," Faith answered. "But why me? Uh, I mean her?"

"She figured that, seeing as how you, er, she and Xander were so close, she'd be able to take him out of the game," the Travelling Buffy explained. "Then all she had to do was kill me and Thailog and game over."

"I can't believe this version is such a bitch," Xander muttered.  "Our Cordy would never do that. Ever."

"Yeah, well, she made a mistake," Buffy said with a smile. "She underestimated the Xand Man. He went after her and put her in a coma.  No offence, but she deserved it."

"None taken," Xander said. "I just can't believe any version of Cordy would do that."

"Do what?" Cordelia asked walking in. "And where have you…"  She stopped when she noticed two Buffys, one of whom was giving her a real dirty look. "Um, what's going on?"

"Cordelia, meet my reality-hopping alternate self who has a serious grudge against you," the home Buff said. "Along with her good Thailog and alien travelling companion."

"Hi" she said, waving.

"Greetings," Ta'ruk said. The other Buffy stared at her suspiciously.

"Would you chill out?" the Gold Slayer said. "She's not about to pull a gun on you or anything." The other Buffy glared for another second before exhaling.

"Sorry," she muttered. "I just have a real hard time believing any version of that traitorous bitch isn't going to try to kill me."

"Run that last bit by me again?" Cordelia said. She stood there as they went over the story again.

She was quiet for several moments.  They had left out the worst details of this other version of her's betrayal, and only gone into that she had worked for the Mayor, and had been "taken care of" by their world's Xander.

"Oh my god," she muttered. She looked at the new Buffy. "I understand the death stare now, but believe me, I would never do that to any of them. Especially Xander."

"You'll forgive me if I'm a bit suspicious," the Daughter of Oberon said.

"So, Chobe…" Faith began.

"Chobe?" Thailog's Buffy growled.

"Yeah, Chobe. CHild of OBEron," the Dark Slayer explained. "We can't exactly call you just Buffy.  'Specially with ours in the same room.  That'd be way to confusing."

"Gap in the story," Xander coughed.

"You said it!" Cordy agreed.

"We'll fill you in once everyone else gets here," their Buffy said.

"Then we want your story," her double told her. "There's a lot we don't understand, and I'd prefer you told us."

"What if we don't?" Faith said.

"Easy, F." The Gold Slayer muttered, though curious to what the answer might be. The Daughter of Oberon shrugged.

"I ask the earth itself," she said naturally. "I'm sure it'd know most of the story at least. Is there somewhere I can freshen up?"

"Yeah, upstairs bathroom," Gold Slayer replied pointing, "Probably exactly the same as yours."  Her voice was quiet, as though she were doing some heavy thinking and could only provide a small portion of her brain power to what she was saying.

'Chobe' went up the stairs without another word, but several mistrustful glares were cast between Cordelia and the new arrival in the Summers' home.

"Someone wanna fill me in?" Cordelia asked the room.

"Honey, is everything all right?" Joyce Summers asked as she walked into the room.  She hardly batted an eye at Thailog and Ta'ruk, but did stare for several seconds at first glance.

"Just some friends, new friends actually, who need some help.  We're probably going to be up for a while, trading stories and such.  If you wanna go on up to bed I'll make sure everything's locked up Mom," Buffy told her mother.

"Well, it is getting kind of late, and I guess, since it is the summer, you can do pretty much whatever you'd like, just don't stay up all night.  I left some chicken out if you get hungry, and Willow knows where the late snacks are if anyone else gets hungry," Joyce replied.

She was almost to the stairs when she stopped and turned back around, "Are they going to be staying the night?" she asked, pointing at the two alien visitors.

Buffy shrugged and looked at Thailog and Ta'ruk, the question in her eyes.

"We can probably hole up in a hotel somewhere…" Thailog started to say.

"Nonsense!" Joyce suddenly exclaimed.

"I'd hate to impose…" Thailog tried again.

"Buffy?  Invite your friends to stay.  In the guest house if they must, but I will not have…"

"Mom?" Buffy interrupted.  "This is Thailog and Ta'ruk, and Willow's already taken care of the sleeping arrangements.  Thailog sleeps during the day anyway.  Go to bed Mom, we'll be fine.  Oh, and don't let the other me distract you.  You've had a busy day…"

"Buffy, I don't like to be babied," Joyce interrupted with a sharp tone, but a motherly smile graced her face as she ascended the stairs.  Almost as soon as Joyce went up the stairs, Willow came in from the back of the house and sat down on Buffy's lap with a kiss.

"That was… interesting…" Thailog said hesitantly once Joyce had left the room.

"Your mother is a kind and generous woman," Ta'ruk offered.

"Thank you, and after everything else Mom has had to deal with this year, this ain't nothing.  But now to Cordelia's question…"

"What's with Mom?" Chobe interrupted the moment she came down the stairs.

Buffy closed her eyes and took several deep breaths.  "I don't lie to my mother," she answered shortly.  "I also do not like being interrupted when I am short on patience and energy.  Please sit down until I am done."

Everyone became noticeably quiet after the brief verbal assault.  It seemed that a disturbing transformation had taken place within the Gold Slayer since receiving the "details" of what had happened to this other version of her.

"Cordelia, you remember when we explained about the whole parallel universe, alternate reality, other dimension thing, right?"

Sensing that she would definitely not like where this was going, Cordelia nodded silently and sat down next to her dark-haired superman, a pet name she had given him in high school.

"She and Thailog come from one, and Ta'ruk here from another that they visited just before here," Buffy began.  "In their home universe… events… happened differently.  Despite all the obvious… something happened.  To their Xander.  It involves their Cordelia as well."

Really not liking this now, and frowning with concern, Cordelia asked, "What happened?  What?  Did she like stay a stuck up snob like I was before you guys took me in?  And… what happened to Xander?" she asked, quieter than before, a tremble in her voice.

"He… was genetically altered to a gargoyle, by Anton Sevarius, of their world.  But… their Cordelia also…" the Gold Slayer would say no more.  But Cordelia's face was already grief-stricken.

"Omigawd!" she gasped.  "Did, uh, did they force the doc to come up with a cure?"

"There is no cure," Thailog grunted sadly.

"THERE IS ALWAYS A CURE!!" Cordelia suddenly shouted.  Xander immediately embraced her from behind, and all of the Travellers were surprised to see tears pouring from her eyes.

"It's all right, it's all right," they heard Xander whispering to her.

"No it's not all right Xander!" she turned in his embrace to face him.  "Their Xander is a gargoyle, that means that he's stuck in stone for the day.  If… if that happened to you, I would die.  I would be dead, as cold as that stone for the day, and only alive at night when I could be with you.  I… I…"

"That's not the bad news honey," Xander whispered to her, but all heard him.

Cordelia's eyes widened slightly as she just remembered that Buffy had mentioned her other self.  "Wh-wh-what happened?  What did… what happened after…?"  She couldn't seem to finish the question.

"She betrayed him," Thailog said sullenly.

"What?"

It was little more than a gasped whisper, but it had more effect than a thousand decibel shout.  Chobe was the one to finally blurt it out.  "She betrayed us all!  Your counterpart, she dumped Xander because of what happened to him, and shortly after that, we found out that she had been betraying us to the Mayor for more than a year.  Yeah, the big snake, Ascension Mayor.  What's more is that she threatened Xander and the people that were close to him so he would stay away from the gang.  Then she went and attacked our Faith with an army of vamps that put her in the hospital.  Instead of cowing out like she expected him too though, Xan went and put her in the hospital.  A coma actually.  Good riddance to bad rubbish!"

Cordelia was pale.  One could almost say dangerously, but they had all seen vampires paler than that, except maybe Ta'ruk.  Then something even more shocking happened than whatever any of them had been expecting.

Cordelia's face suddenly twisted in rage, her entire head a boiling red contrast to the stark paleness it had been a second before, and she shouted, tearing herself out of Xander's arms, "That *BITCH!!*"

Briefly, both Thailog and his Buffy had thought that she too had worked for the Mayor and that by revealing this; Cordelia would tip her hand and prove that they were right about her.  Instead, she was not attacking them, but building in her rage, apparently against her counterpart.

"She, she, she… she worked for that slime, that…  She betrayed Buffy… Xander…  That stupid, cowed, slimy, snake-loving, dog-faced BITCH!!  I can't…  She is so…  If I ever get my hands on that BITCH! I am going to teach her a whole new lesson of pain and suffering that she will never forget and could teach SATAN a thing or two WHEN I SEND HER TO HELL!!"  All through this, she is pacing the living room, getting more and more agitated, until at the moment she announces where she intends to send her other self, she is standing in front of the far wall, opposite the foyer, and punches a hole through the wall big enough to fit a basketball through.  The funny thing is, her fist wasn't even scratched.

"Cordy!" Xander cries and goes to her, where immediately she collapses.  Both emotionally, and physically into his arms, crying and wailing.

"She betrayed you Xander… I betrayed you…  I'm so sorry, I'm so, so, so, sorry.  How can you ever forgive me!" she wailed into his chest, but he just held her.

Buffy got up and stood behind her friend and slowly raised a hand to place on her shoulder.  "Sleep now.  We can deal with this in the morning," she said quietly.  Instantly, Cordelia fell asleep in Xander's arms, still weeping.

"I'll take her to bed," Xander acknowledged.  "Besides, you don't need me to tell any of this story."  With that he went upstairs.

"What was that…" Chobe tried to ask.

"What did I say about interrupting?" Buffy snapped at her.

Frowning, her double snapped back, "What is your problem?"

Buffy stared at her for several seconds before ultimately just going back to her seat and staring intently at her guests.

"1997, early October.  Two weeks after the night of St. Vigious, where Spike crashed Parent/Teacher Night.  Xander, Willow, and I are patrolling.  We take out a bunch of vamps, when as soon as we're done with them, we hear this loud explosion.  We go and look, and voila we see something not even you can imagine.  3 robed figures; each roughly about thirty feet tall, on average, sitting on some kind of dais that makes them look small.  And they're watching the biggest vamp you can imagine, take on a blue skinned alien, not demon, alien, in a fight that not even you and your boy toy there could handle.

"Once the fight is over, Giles shows up, screaming about a prophecy he just found.  All his shouting attracted the robes attention, and next thing we know, we're in a null-place where the dais and the robes are on our scale instead of God's.  They end up being the Powers That Be, basically the guys that run the whole destiny crap for Slayers and other Champions of humanity.

"Turns out that I have a destiny that sets me apart from other Slayers, and in fact, different from other… well, other me's.  I of course, am speaking of the fact of other versions of me in alternate realities.  I'm like supposed to be the most powerful or something.  What did I say about interruptions?"

Silence.

"There were two other people there, besides us and The Powers That Be, and not the alien and the vamp.  They are known only as the Powers.  For our sake, they chose the first names Samantha and Samuel.  They are more or less responsible for maintaining balance in the multiverse.  But to pass the time of what they call a boring job, they set up a Tournament.  A Tournament of Good and Evil.  Champions of Good versus Champions and spawns of Evil.  That night, they offered us a place among Good.  In the Tournament that is.  We accepted.

"Immediately after, we were transported to a pocket dimension that is known only as The Compound.  There a veteran fighter for Good trained us.  Xander became more or less my equal in strength, a lot more than Angel had been before that, that's for sure.  I got a whole lot more power and strength, not to mention skills and way cooler powers with the training.  Giles got a magic sword, please don't ask, and Willow has become the most powerful magic-user in this entire universe.  We think."

"There's no absolute way to be certain of that," Willow added.

"When we got back from Training, everything changed," Buffy picked back up.  "I… it was at the Compound that I was warned about the happy clause in Angel's curse.  It took me another month, but I told him too.  Before that, I had been trying like crazy to… to see if I still wanted to love him.  It was more than obvious that he was in love with me, but…  After I told him, we just couldn't possibly see how it could work out.  So…"

"That's where I come in," Willow added sadly.

"You?" the other Buffy blurted out.

Willow nodded sadly.  "I… because of Buffy and Angel's troubles, and because of some other issues I was… barely dealing with at the time, I cast a spell.  It… it was meant to help all of us find our true loves.  Only it… backfired."

"Big time, from the way I heard the story," Faith chuckled.

"It cemented Xander and Cordelia's relationship, but it also screwed up a bunch of others.  Let's just say the combinations were not pretty, but…  Except for the one that didn't change."

Confused glares were passed back and forth among the guests, before finally Buffy told them, "Because of that spell, I fell in love with Willow.  And not the normal kind of "love", but "love spell devotion love".  So did about half the girls in high school as well.  Then, when Wills tried to reverse the spell, there were a couple of side effects."

"Buffy, uh, our Buffy, became permanently gay.  And every woman in Sunnydale affected by the spell became at least bi-sexual.  So did every guy that had fallen for a guy.  And Cordelia developed a psychological need to be near Xander.  Kinda like an imprinting thing," Willow explained.

"She tried multiple counter spells, and even reversed most of and the worst of the side effects, including Cordelia's addiction to X.  Except, that is, me," Buffy added, taking her wife's hand.

"Then there's the deal with Spike and Drusilla, and another demon named Archius.  Be glad you never got to meet anything like that one," Willow added, trying to change the subject.

"Then when Faith came to town, I made it so that she got the same training that the rest of us did, and my codename went from just Slayer, to Gold Slayer, while Faith became Dark Slayer."  Buffy paused at the confused looks she received.  "Oh, didn't we explain about that?  Huh.  Well, when we first got to the Compound, we were all assigned codenames.  I, obviously, became Slayer; Xander got to be Warrior X, still is actually.  Willow is now Wiccan; Giles is, obviously, Watcher.  And Faith is Dark Slayer."

There was a few more minutes of quiet in the living room, until, sensing that the story was complete, for now, Thailog asked, "So… what all is it that this Training you received, allows you to do?"

They all grinned, rather mischievously.

"Tell you what," Buffy said, getting to her feet, "We'll not only tell you, we'll give you a full demonstration tomorrow.  After breakfast, and once Willow works out something or two.  We have a guesthouse in the back yard.  Can't miss it, it's as big as any pool house in uptown LA.  Tonight, it's late, even for two, er three Slayers and their demon hunter friends.  Thailog, you are welcome to roost on the roof if you so desire, but if you're staying inside, please stay in the laundry room of the guest house, it's a pain getting stone chippings out of that shag carpet."

"Well what about holes in your walls?" Chobe asked, gesturing at the earlier hole made by Cordelia.

Buffy looked at it and shrugged and then looked at her redheaded companion.  The redhead grinned slightly and then waved her hand casually, green sparks shooting out of the wave and settling over the room, and before everyone's eyes, the hole sealed as though a fast healing wound.

"Sorry about the abrupt hospitality, but if you're going to be dropping in on people, try to make it so that at least you do it before midnight." Buffy told them, before she suddenly disappeared.

"Where did she…?" her counterpart startled.

"Bed.  Which is where I will join her as soon as I settle you three.  Faith?" Willow answered.

"I'm hitting the sack too.  Night Big T, 'night Little T, 'night Chobe," Faith mumbled through a yawn as she went to climb the stairs.

"Don't call me that!" Buffy shouted after her.

"Yeah, yeah," Faith mumbled as she went upstairs.

Summers' Guest House

"So, what do you guys think?" Buffy asked after Willow had left.

"It is interesting how different this version is from you." Ta'ruk said.

"Be glad you didn't meet the vampy versions," Buffy muttered. "They would've really got you on edge. Am I ever that…"

"Commanding?" Thailog suggested with a grin.

"I was going to say 'pushy'," Buffy muttered.

"I'm sure she will be more welcoming come the morrow," Thailog said.

Buffy sighed.

"Yeah, you're probably right," she said, looking around. "Think we should do this back home? This guesthouse idea's a good one if the Clan ever comes to visit. Or the Council." Her eyes moved to Ta'ruk, who was standing by the door. "You know, you can relax." The Jaffa looked out the near by window.

"I am sorry," he said. "I come from a warrior race pushed into the service of false gods. I am not used to…relaxing."

"Well, get used to it," Buffy said. "You stay on edge like that; you'll give yourself a heart attack."

"I assure you, my symbiote will protect me from such an event," Ta'ruk told her.

"Huh?" was the comment.

"You did not know?"

"You'll forgive us," Thailog said. "You must remember we are unfamiliar with your people." Ta'ruk nodded uncomfortably.

"So what's this symby-thingy?" Buffy asked.

"It is a Goa'uld larva," Ta'ruk informed them.

"General Hammond neglected to mention that," Buffy muttered. "So when's Junior become a full fledged body snatcher?"

"I am unsure," Ta'ruk said. "Only that it will."

"Okay, mental note; watch out for glowing eyes." Buffy muttered. "Anything else you want to tell us?"

"I am sorry," Ta'ruk said. "I would understand…"

"Stop," Buffy ordered. "You volunteered to come with us, and we accepted. Therefore, you stay. Besides, maybe we can find some way to remove that thing safely. I presume we can't just reach in and pull it out?" Ta'ruk shook his head.

"No. I would be unable to survive without it," he informed them.

"Right. Something else we need to look for," Buffy sighed, frustrated. "I really need to talk to someone about this." She complained, heading for a bedroom. "Goodnight guys."

"Do not worry," Thailog assured Ta'ruk. "This will change nothing for her."

"I would understand if it did," Ta'ruk said. "To have such as me… it… in your midst…"

"She fell in love with a vampire with a soul," Thailog reminded him. "I assure you, an infant parasite does not truly bother her. It has just been a hard couple of hours for her." Ta'ruk nodded. Thailog looked out the window. Strange how they were so much alike, both of them created and raised to serve the whims of power hungry beings, rebelling for different reasons. "If you don't mind, could I persuade you to tell me a bit about your past? I still have a few hours before sunrise, and it would fill the time." Ta'ruk nodded.

"It is not a difficult story," he began. "I was born on a Jaffa colony far from the centre of Goa'uld controlled space. The master of the planet, Belial, was a general to a fallen System Lord, and a cruel master." He removed one of his wristbands and showed a strange brand. "He used this to mark his slaves at birth. It is burned into the skin, and will never heal."

"Gods," Thailog muttered. "What sort of monster is he?"

"A disgraced one," Ta'ruk told him. "He is the one whom Buffy Summers defeated."

"I have a feeling he will not be able to hurt your people for a long time," Thailog said with a grin. "Buffy was unusually harsh considering he still had a pulse. And rather thorough too."

"She did deal with him in an…interesting manner," Ta'ruk said.

"You should've seen what we did to the Mayor," Buffy said, returning from her room. "Now that was interesting. Blew up the high school to do it."

"I thought you were going to bed?" Thailog asked. Buffy shrugged.

"You were talking about me," she said. "That means I get to join in. 'Sides, I may not be able to do anything about Junior, but this brandy thing…" She shrugged as she walked over to Ta'ruk. "Can I have a look?" The Jaffa obliged, showing her the mark. "Shoulda squished that snake when I had a chance," she muttered. She waved her hand over it, emitting a blue glow. "Anything else?" she said, as Ta'ruk looked at his wrist. The mark that had haunted him for so long was gone. "Oh, wait, I know." She did the same to the tattoo on his forehead, causing it to disappear. "There. I am useful for some things," she muttered happily.

"Is that what this is about?" Thailog asked.

"Huh? No," Buffy denied. "Well, maybe a little." Thailog wrapped his arms and wings around her.

"You have no need to prove yourself to me," he said.

"Nor to me," Ta'ruk said. "You freed me from the false one in a way that leaves me no doubt as to your power. That these people are stronger means only that you need more experience." Buffy grinned.

"Thanks, guys. I appreciate it," she sighed softly. "Guess I should apologize tomorrow. I did act like a bit of a brat." Her fingers traced their way around Thailog's Band. "We've learnt one thing at least; there's a hell of lot more to this thing than we thought. What was with that anyway?"

"I am not sure," Thailog said. "All I know was that you were in some sort of danger. The Band may be reacting to my emotions."

"I'd believe that except for that multi-roar of yours," Buffy said, referring to the roar that he used when he attacked the other Thailog. "That was weird."

"Perhaps he summoned the strength of many Gargoyles," Ta'ruk suggested.

"All I know is that it's way too late for me to try and wrap my brain around this," Buffy muttered. "Maybe Willow knows something, she seems a lot smarter than our version, and I didn't think that was possible. Though it's nice to see she stuff's up spells too. Hate to tell Willow she's the only version that does that."

"Though the final affect was an… amusing one," Thailog said.

"Amusing?" Buffy asked. "You find it amusing?" Thailog smiled.

"It is obvious that they love each other as much as we do," he said, caressing her cheek gently. "As strange as it is to us, we should be happy for them. In a way, she is your sister."

"Guess your right," Buffy said, leaning back into him. "Though if you for one second mistake her for me, I'm locking you in the Gateway, understand?"

"It will never happen," he said, kissing her on the forehead. "You should get some sleep."

"Tuck me in?" she asked impishly.

"Of course," Thailog led her to the room.

"Night, Ta'ruk," Buffy said. The Jaffa leaned against his chair, looking out the window. Despite her power, she was just a girl and if this trip had proven anything, it was that there're more powerful beings out there, and not all of them would be friendly. He touched the spot on his forehead that had once held Belial's mark and vowed he would not let anything happen to her.

Summers Home

Morning

The Child of Oberon walked sleepily across the back yard to the kitchen entrance, holding her yawn behind a hand as she entered to a rather bizarre sight.  Her counterpart, said counterpart's wife, and Cordelia were all at the counter top, staring at her.  They were all identically dressed in workout clothes, except for the colours.  Buffy in black, Willow in green, and Cordelia in purple.

At the moment they were all staring at her, and then went back to what they had been staring at, which was the morning entertainment of kitchen antics, performed by Xander and Faith.  Oberon's daughter then did a double take at the sight.  Xander, clad only in bright red spandex shorts (and looking way more yum—buff than she could ever remember him being before), was racing around the kitchen, actually blurring at some points, preparing a breakfast that could feed every third world country for two months easily, while Faith, clad in a silver and grey version of the girls' outfits, was slicing, dicing, and tossing all the ingredients Xander was working with.

What caused the entertainment was that they were both doing it like clowns at a circus might, but with such precision, speed, and strength that it took out all hilarity and left one with a sense of awe at the sight.

Speechless, Buffy slowly sank into a spot beside her "sister" Thailog had called her, and joined in staring.  "You do this often?" she asked the blonde next to her.

She shrugged.  "Only on mornings we're planning to train.  We need the energy.  It's fun besides, and those two are so proud that they finally learned to cook they like to show off as much as they can.  Willow and Mom are officially the best cooks in this house.  I rank about third next to them, while everybody else is mostly just quick-fix stuff.  Should try my gruel, gives you plenty of energy."

Giving her an incredulous look, she repeated, "Gruel?"  She just received a smile for her grief.

"OK, I can see you're in a better mood, but I've never known a night's sleep to work on me this well," Chobe observed.  Xander and Faith were speeding things up, and the food was beginning to leave a pleasant aroma in all of their noses.

Buffy gave a sly smile to Chobe, but didn't answer with words.

Fifteen minutes later, breakfast was ready and Ta'ruk and Joyce had joined them, drawn by the amazing smells wafting from the kitchen and dining room.  Before anyone began to eat though, Willow blessed the food, the meal, and the people eating it with a Wicca prayer.  What amazed the Fey-Slayer though, was that she thought she detected some kind of magic leaving the Wiccan, and what could only be an honest to Goddess real blessing drifted down over the people and the meal.  She chose not to say anything just yet.  This was after all, Willow.

After breakfast, Joyce left for the art gallery, and Xander went with Cordelia to wherever she currently lived to explain why she had been out all night.  She didn't think the once Queen C of Sunnydale High lived with her parents anymore, though she couldn't explain why, except for the fact that when Cordy and Xander left, they did not say anything about her parents, only they were going to explain where she'd been to her current lodgings.

"Wait a sec," Chobe demanded as the three women led her and Ta'ruk upstairs to the new wing on the Summers Home that certainly didn't exist on her world, "You guys said that Xander and Faith both lived here, and so does Willow apparently.  But you didn't explain why that was."

A cold breeze floated through the hallway for a moment before Buffy turned and faced her counterpart with a serious expression on her face.  "Less than a month after we got back from Training," she began, "I found out that Xander's father was beating him, and had been ever since Xander grew into puberty.  Faith… initially I invited her into my home out of selfishness, my inability to protect and save Kendra made me want to protect her as best I could.  Eventually though, it was because Faith deserved better than living in some two-bit motel and I couldn't let my sister live anywhere but under the same roof I did."

Faith smiled at her "Sister Slayer" and added to the explanation, "I was also about as screwed up as X was.  Joyce, Xander, and especially B and Red here helped me out with my life.  Straighten a lot of things out and clear out the gutter upstairs.  Not to mention…"

She was suddenly interrupted by a very loud cough from the green-clad redhead, and then received an extra harsh glare until both Slayers shut up quickly.  Then she turned to the third Slayer and explained herself, "Remember Buffy mentioned last night that I had to take care of a couple things before we showed you what our Training allows us?  Well one of those things is to help out Thailog.  The first thing we did after meeting the New York clan, was I began researching every possible avenue for them to safely stay awake during the day.  AKA, no stone sleep."

She turned and led them into a room labelled in several languages, "WILLOW'S WORK ROOM:  STAY OUT!"  Inside was a combination of every imagining Chobe had ever had of both a mad scientist's laboratory, a sorcerer's sanctum, and Willow's computer wet dream.

"I finally managed to do it," Willow continued, going over to a long table full of electronics and magical talismans.  Buffy could feel the magic in this room, and it only convinced her further that she was not as top dog as she once believed.

"First thing to consider is a gargoyle's biology.  They need stone sleep, as humans need sleep and food.  During the day, as stone, a gargoyle absorbs solar energy, which is mostly where the healing and energy revival come into play.  But more than that, if they did not go into stone sleep regularly; their biological make-up would be thrown completely out of whack.  Sort of like anorexics with sleep deprivation.

"First step is to make it so that by keeping them awake during the day, I didn't accidentally do that to them.  It was actually easier than I thought, because whether stone or flesh, a gargoyle's skin is always absorbing the energy of the sun.  Next was focusing and creating the magic needed.  I constructed three talismans, one I have, one the clan has, and the last is hidden from the world.  These three are the Primary Key Talismans that allow the amulets the gargoyles wear to work.  As long as just one of the Talismans exists, the amulets the clan have will work.  So long as they wear those amulets, they do not turn to stone during the day."

"That's great!  Slap one on Thailog now!" Chobe was beyond excited at this news.

Willow shook her head.  "I have two things to take into account before I do that.  The first is that eventually, you will leave, and the talismans will no longer protect Thailog from turning to stone during the day, the amulet useless.  So I have to construct something that you can take with you.  That brings me to the second thing.  The magic, or whatever power it is, that is in his band is very unique and I can't risk combining two very possibly different magicks on a living being that may counteract each other in totally unforeseen ways.  I'm going to first have to study the band and what power or powers it has before I can even begin to research what type of spells I'll need to make another talisman for you to use on Thailog alone."

Chobe immediately deflated, and almost slouched as she asked, her face sullen, "And how long will that take you?"

Willow looked thoughtful for a moment before she answered with a straight face, "About five minutes, give or take a minute or two.  I'll have it ready in about ten minutes."

Chobe blinked.  "Then what the hell was with this lecture when you could have already been making the thing?!!"

Willow grinned knowingly, "Because I wanted to explain why you're going to be standing outside for the next ten minutes rather than make Buffy and Faith do it.  Now shoo."

Shaking her head in disbelief as she and the rest were 'shooed' Chobe quickly regained that overwhelming, bursting joy of within as she waited both patiently and impatiently outside the Work Room.  Patience was demonstrated by her not saying a word for the ten minutes they waited; while impatience was easily displayed as she paced the hall.

Shortly After

 Buffy was nervous as they walked across to the guesthouse. "Are we sure this'll work?" she asked.

"Buffy." Willow said in mock disappointment. "Your lack of faith in me is appalling. It'll work."

"Would you relax, Chobe?" Faith said. "Red's never got it wrong before."

"Love spells not with standing?" the Daughter of Oberon reminded her.

"Do you want me to do it?" her counterpart asked "threateningly". She remembered the warning about Thailog confusing them.

"I'll do it," she said, taking the amulet from Willow. "I guess I'm just worried about losing him. Guess that sounds kinda silly…"

"Considering your last relationship, I don't blame you," Faith said, receiving hard stares from the other three. "What?"

"Guess we'd better get this done," Fey-Buff muttered. "I just hope he doesn't fall of the roof."

"How're you going to get up there anyway?" her counterpart asked. Buffy grinned as she called her power and floated up until she was level with her beloved. "Oh."

"Cool," Faith added. "She hasn't even Trained the way we did."

"I do not doubt her powers," Ta'ruk said from behind her. "And I would not underestimate her. If not for her, I would still be serving a cruel master, a false god with no care for the wellbeing of myself or my people."

"So, what happened to him?" Willow asked, intrigued. Ta'ruk looked at her.

"She blew his hands off," he said calmly.

"Oh" the Gold Slayer looked up at her counterpart. "Blew off his hands as in beams of energy, or…"

"The Goa'uld use palm devices to replicate what the Daughter of Oberon does naturally," Ta'ruk explained, remembering what Teal'c had told him. "Buffy Summers merely…overloaded these devices."

"Brutal," Faith said with an appreciative grin. "Whaddya think, Wills?"

"I think we underestimated her," Willow whispered. "She's capable of a lot more than she realizes."

The Daughter of Oberon was oblivious to this conversation. She held the amulet out in front of her. "Well, big guy," she whispered, "here we go. Fingers crossed." She floated forward, placing the amulet around his neck, then moved backward slightly and waited for a reaction. It didn't take to long before cracks appeared down Thailog's body. Buffy grinned as flakes started to fall to the ground. When Thailog finally burst from his stone skin, she couldn't hold it in any longer. She did some Puck like flips in the air before wrapping her arms around him.

"Buffy, what…?" Thailog began, and then he saw the sun. "It is day? But how…?"

"Willow," Buffy whispered. "She found a way around the stone sleep.  That's what she had to work on this morning. She had to build one especially for you because of the Band."

"This is…"

"Amazing, awesome, brilliant…" she began going through the synonyms for 'good' alphabetically before Thailog covered her mouth with his. They remained that way for a while before Faith's catcalls got their attention. "I forgot they were watching," Buffy muttered.

"Then perhaps we should remove them from the equation?" Thailog suggested. Buffy grinned and teleported them to the gateway for some 'private time.'

"I think they're happy," Faith said. Ta'ruk turned to Willow.

"Thank you," he said, bowing slightly. "His… condition has left her worrying through the day." Willow shrugged it off.

"She probably would have done something similar eventually," she said. "I just sped the process up a bit."

"How long you think they'll be gone?" Faith asked.

"Knowing Buffy?  If they've gone where I think they've gone," Willow said knowingly, "they should be back soon."

The Gateway

"Now, where were we?" Buffy said as they appeared.

"I was thinking the guesthouse," he said.

"I know," Buffy said. "We've got more time this way." She snuggled up to him. "I probably would have thought of something sooner, but I had no way of knowing how it'd go. Willow's idea saved us the trouble of finding out."

"We'll have to thank her," Thailog said.

"Later," Buffy said. "Right now, I want a kiss."

"Just the one?"

"We'll see," was the suggestive answer. 

The couple appeared back in the normal realm seconds later.

"Welcome back," the Gold Slayer said demurely. The couple grinned, not leaving a centimeter of space between them. "Now that you guys are done, how about we get on to that demonstration?"

"Definitely," Chobe said. "I want to see what this Training is that separates us." Her counterpart grinned.

"This should be good."

Training Gym (Summers Home)

"Oh.  My.  Gawd." were the first words out of the other Buffy's mouth when the Gold Slayer ushered everyone inside the seemingly small broom closet at the back of the house.

The Training Gym, according to the residents of the household, was a very new addition, not even a week had it been here, and with much thanks to several of the many multi-millionaire entrepreneurs the Slayer Team knew.

In the house itself it only occupied about a three by four foot frame.  Four feet across for the door, and three feet in.  However, once everyone was inside, it was revealed to be so much more.

The Training Gym was over 900 meters high, and as near as the newcomers could tell, over 1000 kilometres in circular diameter.  It was domed, the dome itself looking like opaque glass or some plastic equivalent, and on the far side opposite the house entrance, was a solid steel door that, besides the many signs that said it, spoke of danger beyond.

Interspersed among the floor were seven raised platforms, kinda like wrestling rings, minus the ropes, and the poles on the corners had coloured light on them, facing inward towards the ring.  The platforms were at the center of the dome however.  Just outside of the "ring arena" were a series of white circles on the metal floor.

Near the entrance, there were many places where one could sit and relax.  There were two "pits", areas where the ground had been lowered and filled with pillows, comfortable seating areas, and one even had a giant TV in it.  There were also benches, couches, and the like facing the rest of the Gym.

Near the wall, multiple exercise equipment of nearly every type, creating a fence of the strength-enhancing machines.  For two kilometers, there was actually a straight line of treadmill machines.  All in all, the entire place was made for strengthening the body.

And then there was the red semi-circle right in front of the house door.  It was six and a half meters out from the door, plenty of space, but to Thailog, Buffy, and Ta'ruk, it served no real purpose beyond decoration.

"This is amazing!" Chobe exclaimed as she raced to the edge of the red line.  Before she got with a foot of it however, her counterpart moved faster than the eye could see and stopped her cold.

"Trust me, you do not want to cross that line right now," Buffy told her.  No threat or intimidation was involved here, that Chobe could see.  Her double was really warning her.

"Why?  What'll happen?  The place will self-destruct?" she asked teasingly.

"No, something much worse.  Where's Xander anyway?  He was the last one to use this place!" Buffy demanded.

"I'm right here!  Geez, what's the problem Buff?" Xander whined as he and Cordelia came into the Gym.

"Why the hell did you leave the Gravity so high?!" Buffy exclaimed.

"Gravity?" Thailog repeated.

"That's what the red line means," Willow explained.  "Red is colour code for anything 50 Gs and over.  Orange for anything between 30 and 50 Gs, Yellow for anything between 10 and 30, Green for anything between normal gravity and 10 Gs, and Blue for normal gravity.  We train in higher gravities to increase our strength along with our speed.  Here, let me reset it."

Willow then pulled a grey tube out of nowhere; at least it looked like that at first, until she held it between her hands and pulled it open so it looked more like a modified PDA.  She did something on the screen and before their eyes the red line quickly went through the color-code until it was shining a pretty baby blue.

"There, all better.  Buffy, Faith, why don't you two begin and I'll play commentary.  Cordy, go to a ring and begin warm up," Willow ordered, and all of them quickly went to comply.

Cordy went over to one of the white rings painted on the metal floor and then did something with the controls and shortly after began a basic stretch warm-up followed by several katas.

Buffy and Faith however, led the rest of the group over to the central area and got up on the center, 7th platform.  Again, Willow pulled out her PDA device and made several changes on it.  Shortly after she did so, the lights on the corner poles activated, and an invisible wall or force field briefly flickered into existence, before it was only the lights.

Before much else was done, both Buffy and Faith gave Willow insulted glares.  "Come on Red!  I thought this was training!"

"Yeah Barky, turn on the gravity!  I want a serious workout while showing off today."

"Barky?" Chobe repeated what her double called Willow.

Thailog moved quickly and place his hand on his love's shoulder while saying, "I don't think we want to know," he assured her.  She silently admitted he was right through their link.

Willow, for her part, just blushed slightly before making several other changes on the device, and in response the lights changed colour from yellow to solid black, but still cast light.  The two Slayers inside the ring both grinned as their muscles tensed and a light sheen of sweat was already on their bodies.  If nothing else, that convinced both Chobe and Thailog that the two were standing in an overwhelming amount of gravity.

"Ready F?" Buffy asked with a smirk on her face.

Faith mirrored the smirk exactly and replied, "You know it B.  Let's do this!"

Both of them got into fighting poses and a microsecond after that, the ethereal flame energy the Travellers had seen around them the night before flashed into existence.  Both ki flames were tinged gold on the edges around both Slayers, but Buffy's seemed somehow more consistent and vibrant.  Then, as the two continued to just stand there, energy flaming around them, the three newcomers finally noticed what was happening.

Ta'ruk had the worst of it, as it was his symbiote that felt the building energy of the two Slayers, and it became increasingly agitated the more they powered up.  Chobe sensed the power, but only because Thailog felt it first.

When they first started to power up, the Band flashed briefly before a dull glow that only would have allowed it to be seen in the dark, but did not cast light, surrounded it.  Shortly after, Thailog's eyes flashed red as he sensed the building power, and overwhelming feelings of protection assaulted his consciousness.  That his love was suddenly… not frightened, but more… anxiety over the power her alternate and Faith held, ignited his protectiveness even further.

She didn't fight when he suddenly drew her into a protective embrace, and even wrapped his wings around her.  Yet when the Band suddenly let out a brilliant glow that when faded left a spherical shield around them that denied any further description, she became less anxious about her alternate and more so about her beau.

All action in the ring stopped when the Band's shield came into existence.  A brief psychic conference was held among the Slayer Team, taking in everyone's observations and Willow's findings on the Band itself.  Along with Buffy tapping into the emotional state of Thailog and the other Buffy, it wasn't surprising how long it took them to come to the conclusion at what had happened.

"Thailog!" Buffy shouted.

The gargoyle shook his head and came out of the trance he had gone into, and he finally noticed what had happened.  "What…?"

"Thailog!" Buffy cried again, bringing their attention to her.  The shield remained in place.

Once she was sure of their attention, Buffy held up her arm, pointing her cupped palm in their direction.  Just as quickly, a yellow/amber glow filled her hand until it rapidly grew and shot out at the speed of light straight for the couple.  Before they could even react though, the energy blast was rebounded by the force field and then ricochet around the ring a dozen or so more times until it finally hit the ceiling and there was a miniature explosion.

"We couldn't hurt you even if we want to," Buffy assured them.  Then quickly added, "Not that we want to, because we don't!"

Slowly, as Thailog reasoned with his instinctive self, he relaxed, and once he had the shield retracted back to the Band.  "I guess that confirms that it is controlled by my emotions," Thailog observed.

"What was that about anyway?" Chobe asked.

"Buffy and Faith are extremely powerful," Willow explained.  "Their powering up must have triggered something in either the Band or Thailog that instead of triggering whatever happened last night, triggered a defence.  It must have been associated with the feelings of protectiveness he was feeling right at the moment.  I noticed how he pulled you to him just before the shield went up."

"Fascinating," Thailog remarked as he examined the Band once again, briefly letting his scientific nature come to the surface.

"Can we get on with this, or would you two like to wait until patrol tonight to see what we can do?" Faith asked.

"Sorry, just warn us next time or something like that," Chobe remarked back.

"OK, consider this a warning," her counterpart answered, the ki flame returned and intensified, "We're going to get a lot more powerful before we're done.  Just try to control your reactions, because you're perfectly safe."

Once again they got into fighting stances, and continued to power up slowly.  Finally, each settled at the level they preferred to use and began to move.  Slowly they circled the ring, eyes jumping back and forth, studying the way their opponent moved, how fast, which way, and even the way the muscles clenched and released.  Until they were standing in the spot their opponent had been.

Faith made the first move, jumping up and leaping the distance between her and Buffy, over fifteen feet.  Buffy jumped up and met her almost half way, aiming a kick so that Faith's leg would pass under her, and her own foot would strike the Dark Slayer's head.  At least that's how it looked at the first second.  Before that second was even over, Faith twisted mid-air so that her other leg would come up in a roundhouse manoeuvre on Buffy's chin, while at the same time, Buffy was shifting her legs to block Faith's roundhouse and leave her open for several punches.  Faith countered again by suddenly twisting the other way and blocking Buffy's legs in a complex manoeuvre and countering Buffy's punches with some of her own, forcing the both of them to block and twist instead of land any hits.  In the next second, their leaping momentums carried each past the other and the both flipped about so they would land on the platform feet first, and the moment they had, they turned back to the other and just as fast as the initial mid-air assault, started sparring that Chobe could barely keep up, despite all the fighting moves they used familiar to her.

"They're starting off with the basics first, just to warm up," Willow commentated.  "Also so they can get used to the gravity level.  Once that's done, they'll advance in style, and then they'll start really going at each other, no holding back on strength, speed, or anything else."

"They're amazing," the outside Buffy exclaimed.  "I mean they're in high level gravity, and they're fighting at a speed that I would be hard pressed to reach!"

"Didn't you just hear?" Xander asked sounding confused.  "They're only getting started."

Buffy gave him a confused glare, but quickly returned to the sparring session and was almost floored with the amazing conclusion that Xander was right.  It seemed that with every move, attack, defence, block, punch, and kick, each Slayer nearly doubled in speed until not even the third Slayer could follow their movements beyond a black, blonde highlighted blur and a silver, brunette highlighted blur.  Then they started getting fancy as the blurs left the ground on more occasions, and in fact stayed in the air more than they did on the platform.

At least twice each, they ran up the force field like it was just a continuation of the platform, and even ricocheted around like that energy blast Buffy had shot earlier.  Then, before any of them knew it, it was over, and suddenly there were Buffy and Faith, standing where they had begun, breathing heavily, but definitely enjoying themselves.

"Uh, wow," Chobe finally managed to get around the frog in her throat.

"I've never seen anything like it," Thailog agreed.

"I have only heard legends of gods who do battle, and those legends do not even stand a candle flames worth against what I have just seen," Ta'ruk added his sentiment, sounding as awed as the other two.

"How heavy is it in there?" Chobe asked.

Willow tapped another button on her Global, and right in front of them, on the lower half of the platform, large green digital numbers appeared that said 500 g/mm.  "Give or take, that's about 500 G's," Willow answered.

"Give or take?" Thailog repeated.

"About twenty Gs," Xander answered matter-of-factly.

"I've also set it on increment, so about every ten minutes or so it'll shoot up another 50 graviton points," Willow added.

"That… that's unbelievable!" Chobe exclaimed.

"You ain't seen nuthin' yet," Willow said with an unfamiliar evil smirk on her face.

"Ready?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, you know I am B!" Faith replied.

This time they got into exactly the same ready pose, one Buffy didn't really recall from any of her own training.  Their left fists were drawn back to their hips while their right hands were held before them in a guard/chop position, and their legs were in a modified horse stance.  The Slayer in the Child of Oberon, however easily saw the advantages of beginning in this pose, allowing any number of opening moves to be performed with only the slightest hint to your opponent until it was too late.

The gold ki flames flashed into existence again, but there seemed to be something even more solid about them.  Then she began to feel their power rising again, and noticed that Thailog struggled to control himself.  As they watched, the newcomers couldn't help but notice that it looked like the prominent muscles of each Slayer was becoming…bigger, or no, stronger would be the word, because the overall size of each woman never changed, but their muscles became even more defined.

Five seconds after this, they both disappeared in a flash of movement so fast that even Chobe thought they had somehow teleported away.  But there were the sounds to consider.  Sounds of fists, feet, and legs making heavy impacts on hard bodies, or blocked by arms, legs, and feet and fists.  Also, only Buffy's eyes were fast enough to see it, but occasionally she did catch the tiniest glimpse of a blurred hand or leg being blocked by another arm or foot that was just as blurred.

Closing her eyes from the strain and shaking her head for a moment, Chobe looked back up and didn't blink and let her eyes unfocus, taking in everything at once without focusing down on one thing.  Slowly, just glimpses as before, but slowly she began to see the fight as it happened.

Buffy and Faith were moving with unparalleled speed and accuracy, and they were not on the platform.  Hovering mid-air, they fought, their arms, legs, heads, and whole bodies moving so fast that even now she couldn't keep up with how fast they were going.  Optical illusions reigned as a hundred fists flew at Faith's head, countered with a thousand kicking feet and legs knocked Buffy backwards.

No taunts, jibes, jokes, or insults were traded, only focusing on the fight and nothing else, and the sounds of battle.  And all through it, the fast-moves, the blurring to the eye, the illusionary attacks, the gold ki flames stayed around both Slayers, keeping up with them better than the observers' eyes could.

Then it finally broke away from 'demonstration' to 'Training'.

Now they could be seen, but it seemed that every single one of their hits, just hit each other.  When their fists knocked against each other, along the edges the force field lit up, as though the force of the hit was enough to press heavily against it.  Same for their kicks and every other hit they attacked each other with.

Willow, on the sidelines with everyone else, gulped silently and began to look just a slight bit nervous, occasionally shifting her attention from Buffy and Faith, to the platform itself.  Finally Willow's distraction became too distracting for Chobe that even Thailog felt it through their connection.

"Is something the matter?" he asked Willow quietly, so that only he, Willow, and Chobe would hear him and Willow's answer.

"Well…" Willow looked nervous still, but not worried.  "We haven't exactly given it a full test.  We've only had this place for about a week or so!  We used to test out in the open and I created an adaptive mystical barrier to hold in the worst of our training.  The force fields around them right now… aren't quite as good."

Now the two of them were nervous as well.

The movements became faster and faster, too fast that anyone could easily follow, except with where the two fighters were at the moment.  On several occasions both Faith and Buffy were knocked into the force field, creating a brief impression inside the flicker of its existence, although Faith was pressed against the energy barrier at least three more times than Buffy was.

Faith knocked Buffy back from her, and both fighters took a brief rest, standing across from each other on the platform, breathing heavily, still in ready positions.  Buffy was ready before Faith was and made it known by suddenly leaping forward at the Dark Slayer.

Faith seemed to panic as her eyes went wide and she shot both fists forward, bright yellow energy blasts shooting out of them, one glancing the surprised Gold Slayer, the other exploding fully against her torso.  She "landed" flat against the force field, six feet above the platform.

Buffy shook her head and grinned savagely.  There was no way around it; it was a savage grin, and none more than Chobe was surprised to see it on her face.  She jumped down from the field and landed with a solid sounding thud.  The gravity now read at 650 g/mm, and just before Buffy spoke, it rose another fifty units.

"So," she said, acting as though she were dusting herself off, "you wanna play with energy?  That's just fine by me."  She launched into the air, actually flying against the ground and before Faith had a chance of retaliation or defence, the Gold Slayer landed a fierce attack combo that almost too easily knocked the Dark Slayer, upside down, in the exact same position that Buffy had been pushed into.

She wasn't done yet, as before Faith even opened her eyes, Gold Slayer got into a completely unfamiliar battle stance, to Chobe and Thailog anyway.  Her hands were cupped down by her right hip, and her body twisted to compensate for both hands being there, but she was facing Faith.

"Kamehameha!" she chanted/shouted, and before any knew it, or could do anything about it, an intense blue/white beam of pure energy shot out of Buffy's cupped hands, which she had brought forward to point directly at Faith.

Just before the energy would have hit, and no doubt obliterated her, Faith's eyes snapped open and moving faster than any of the visitors had ever seen before, she dodged out of the way of the beam, so that it directly hit the force field, instead of her.

Three seconds after it did hit, there was an explosion of such magnitude, or maybe intensity, that everyone was left temporarily blinded and deaf.  After that faded, the klaxons and flashing red lights started.

"OK, what the hell is THAT?!" Cordy exclaimed from her place in the gym.

"That's the emergency warning of a force field breech," Willow shouted over the klaxon.  She raised her Global and quickly deactivated the gravity and the force field on the platform.  The alarms quit soon after that.

"BUFFY ANN SUMMERS!!"

The shout was like the crack of a gunshot, and had just as much, if not more, effect on Buffy.  She was cringing, and still slightly trembling, standing where she had shot the beam at Faith.  Faith meanwhile was now outside the platform, somewhere behind Xander, but still breathing hard from the workout.

It was Willow's voice that had shouted though, and the newcomers actually dared to look at her face.  Chobe had never, never ever seen that look on her Willow's face.  It was not even something that she could have ever imagined seeing on any Willow's face, even an evil vampy version.  Not hate, hate she could imagine, although directed at some uber-demony foe, and anger was too shallow for this look.  This look would have made Thailog, the evil one, cringe back and whimper in fear.

Buffy gulped and managed to get out, "Oops," before wincing again as Willow started her tirade.

"OOPS!!  OOPS?!!  You think this is deserving of an OOPS?" Willow shouted, her face becoming even more set with hard-edged lines.

"Blowing up the High School along with the Mayor is an oops, missing the bad guy and blowing off Spike's head, who was behind him, is an oops.  Cutting off your own arm with a butter knife is an oops!  I told you before Buffy, I warned you, I even made it an unofficial rule.  DO! NOT! USE! ENERGY! ATTACKS! IN! THE! GYM!!!!"  Willow's voice became so loud that each syllable sounded like a giant had shouted it.

Not even her counterpart could blame Buffy for still trembling.  In fact, said counterpart was trembling a little herself.  And not from laughter.

"Well Faith started it," Buffy tried to deflect some wrath away from her.

"And I would be chewing her out right now instead of you, if you hadn't progressed the situation!!!!" Willow pointed out.

"Well… if she hadn't dodged, I wouldn't have hit the force field and then…" Buffy tried to excuse.

"Oh, yeah, remind me to feel sorry about that later!" Faith sarcastically snipped back.  Buffy glared at her, but Willow's quickly cowed her.

"Buffy, I don't care about the force field… much.  That can be repaired.  What I care about is that not only did you push the envelope where it had no need or reason to be pushed, but also you did it in a way that you knew I would disapprove of, and in direct violation of the rules that we all agreed to follow.  I'm not your master Buffy, but when we come up with rules to govern ourselves, I expect all of us to follow them.  Just because you are our leader does not put you above them, in fact they exist at all because of you.  Now go upstairs and meditate."

"But I thought you said…"

"Until one o'clock.  No breaks."

Buffy blinked.  Then she slouched and nodded and jumped down from the platform.

"Ooo!  Somebody's in the dog house!" Faith crowed.  Willow turned the glare she'd had on Buffy on Faith.  Faith instantly gulped and back-pedalled several paces.  "Uh, ya know what, why don't I just go on out to the dog house right now and tidy it up for the two of us, huh B?"

Just before she would have stepped inside the semi-circle in front of the house door, Buffy seemed to undergo a sudden and totally unexpected change.  "Faith, you and Xander start working on basic forms.  After that, try and build up your energy levels.  Willow, if they want it, drill them in the basics, and help Cordy with her Tae Kwan do.  Her forms still need a lot of work."  That said she walked into the house.  What surprised the visitors the most though was that all present nodded their agreement, their confidence in their "leader" completely unshaken and shining in their eyes.

'They truly believe in her, even after seeing her in such a vulnerable position and so easily undermined, they still obey all of her orders.' Thailog observed privately with his love.  She had no reply.

The remaining Buffy sat back, watching her friend's counterparts train. There were definite differences. Faith and Xander seemed more intense, while Willow just seemed more… well, Willowy. Cordelia… what could she say about that?

She looked up at Thailog, still holding her protectively. What had just happened, whatever it was, confirmed their suspicions that the Band was more than just a piece of jewellery. There was a power, almost another presence to it. She just hoped this 'presence' had no permanent effect on Thailog. If it did, she'd be dumping it in the nearest black hole.

"I doubt that will be necessary," Thailog said, picking up on her thoughts.

"You won't mind if I keep it as an option, will you?" Buffy asked.

"I doubt the Asgard would have told you about the Band if there was any danger," Ta'ruk said. Buffy sighed.

"Guess your right," she admitted. "I still don't like the idea that there's something in that Band that can take over your body."

"If it tries again, it will not take hold so easily," Thailog said flatly.

"Yo, Big T, wanna join us?" Faith asked from another, undamaged platform.

"I am not sure…" Thailog began.

"C'mon, Thailog," Xander said with a grin. "We'll take it easy on you."

"No way," Buffy said, an edge in her voice. "You guys 'taking it easy' would probably send him into orbit. Let's wait at least until we have some idea what the Band is capable of, or when Thailog has better control of it." The two nodded shortly and returned to their training.

"Nicely handled," Willow said, coming over to them. Buffy shrugged.

"Actually, their reaction was probably automatic," she admitted. "They're so used to taking orders from your wife, and that's still a bit weird by the way, that all I had to do was make it sound that way." Willow smiled slightly.

"Not bad," she said. "Although after what happened today, Buffy will want to Train him anyway." Her eyes hovered over the Band. "There is way too much power for him to just rely on it when he needs it, and I'm not sure the power came entirely from the Band anyway. There is something else about it, though. Do you know anything else about it?"

"Just that it is not complete," Thailog said. "The digital Gargoyle that met us in the Band's resting place merely told us that it is a weapon of great power designed to combat some great Enemy. Other than that, we know nothing."

"Coincidently, that's the same place we found the truth about the Slayers," Buffy added sourly without thinking.

"What?" Willow asked suddenly. All movement ceased at her words.

"Oops," Buffy muttered. "Mouth in gear, brain neutral. Not good."

"Whaddya mean 'truth about the Slayers'?" Faith demanded. Buffy took a breath.

"Can we wait until the other Buffy's finished with her meditation?" she asked. "I think this is something she should hear too." Faith glared at her.

"Uh-uh, you ain't getting out of it that easily," Faith said. "Willow can pass the story along later. I want answers now."

"Nice to see something's don't change," Buffy muttered. "Okay, you want to know what I meant? Fine, but you better sit down. As strange as my story's been so far, this is really going to knock your socks off." Faith and the others remained standing. "Okay, you asked for it." She turned to Willow for a moment. "Wills, what do you know about the Gatebuilders?"

"They're the ones that built the Stargates," Willow said after a moment of thought. "They were embroiled in some war for a while before ascending to a higher plane of existence."

"You're thinking of the Ancients," Buffy said. "The leaders and architects of the Gate system. The Gatebuilders were made up of a few different races like the human race is. Think of everything you've heard about in myths, from Gargoyles to Dragons. They were the Gatebuilders." Willow's mind started going a thousand miles a minute. "Near the end of this war, they created the Band. Don't ask me why they didn't use it, but for whatever reason, they left it on the planet where we found it and ran, each to different realties, possibly using the same Gateway we are."

"What's this got to do with the Slayers?" Faith demanded.

"I'm getting to that," Buffy snapped. "Anyway, when they left, they took members of the elite guards that protected not only the Gatebuilders, but all of the Alliance of the Four Races. The Slayers." A stunned silence filled the gym. "We found out that there's not one, but many Slayers at one time. That's how Kendra and Faith were 'called' after I died against the Master. In my world anyway. There's one in particular chosen to protect leaders or VIPs, but other than that…"

"This can't be," Faith muttered, clenching her fist. "This can't be real."

"I tried to warn you," Buffy said apologetically. "Anyway, each Slayer's supposed to have a Guardian, a member of the Gatebuilders that guides and protects them, offering not only information, but physical and emotional support when things get to tough. Thailog's mine."

"Why?" Faith demanded; the others too stunned to speak.

"I don't know," Buffy said. "But when I get back, I'm finding out." There was a momentary silence.

"Alright, Faith, Xander, back to it," Willow ordered. "You too, Cordelia. Thailog, you can watch the other two, get an idea of what's happening. Buffy, we need to talk." Thailog looked down at his love.

"I'll be fine," she told him. "This is Willow. She won't hurt me." Thailog nodded, letting her get up. "What are we talking about?" she asked. Willow smiled.

"Thailog's not the only one that needs training."

Willow's Workroom

"Believe it or not Buffy, the prophecy that we told you last night about our Buffy being either one of or the most powerful Slayer slash Buffy all across the omniverse, is true.  I've found more than enough evidence, in both ancient scrolls of prophecy, and actuality.  Only about a cool three-dozen other versions of you, that we've been able to identify, can use ki, the full power of their life force.  Only about four have done what Buffy and Faith have done here."

"What's that?" Buffy asked as she sat across from her best friend's double on a stool.

"The ability to reach the next level of a Slayer's power.  Nobody, not even a multitude of gods we know, nobody knows the origins of all Slayers.  Some claim its evolution; some gods have even poorly claimed to be the source of a Slayer's, all Slayers powers.  In some realities I've heard about, Slayers are actually part demon, but that has more to do with that version of humanity than a Slayer herself," Willow answered, sitting on her own stool.

"What next level of power?  I've never heard of that," the Child of Oberon stated, confused.

"Probably because, as I said, it is extremely rare for a Slayer to reach that level of power and control.  We call it the Super Slayer.  I've developed a sort of theory.  Whatever created the omniverse, created evil along with good and set up a balance.  When that balance was disrupted, Slayers came about to even the score for the side of good.  Probably at first, Slayers were just tools or a temporary empowerment.  But I think it's moved beyond that now, and what you've just told me only goes to confirm my theory."

"What theory?"

"That Slayers are no longer 'Chosen Ones' or singular mystically enhanced champions of good.  That Slayers have become their own race.  They are as much a people as Fairies, Dragons… Gargoyles.  And as any race does after time, they evolve.  Ordinary Slayers, as ironic as those two words are put together, are meant to take out Earth-bound demons, like vampires and other not entirely Full-demon demons.  Once a Slayer reaches what we measure on a private scale, over a power level of 100, they can ascend to the level of Super Slayer… which I think is meant to, like normal Slayers are meant to take on earth demons, take on Full demons and even First and Second Circle demons and maybe a demon god or two."

Buffy blinked at this revelation, but she was still confused.  "But… then why can't more Slayers do that?  And if any Slayer has the potential of this Super Slayer thing, why have Guardians like Thailog?"

Willow looked like she was about to shrug, but then her eyes narrowed in that way that told Buffy she was thinking on something that had just caused a brainstorm in her mind.  "Maybe… maybe the Slayers have been a race a lot longer than either of us are thinking.  What if, instead of a league of bodyguards, the Slayers were another race of the Gatebuilders?  And they filled their role like Gargoyles and the others filled their positions?  This whole Guardian thing could be a political thing, like Watchers are supposed to guide and train Slayers.  And you know how well that's turning out."

"Thailog would never…"

"Whoa!" Willow held up her hands to stall Buffy's temper.  "I never said that the Guardians of the Gatebuilders should be compared to the Watchers in actions, just as a general conceptual comparison.  For all we know the Guardians are better for Slayers than the Watchers could ever be."

Buffy calmed down, but her interest in this discussion was over.  "All right, you alluded to some kind of training.  I'm going to assume that you meant magic training since you claim to be even more powerful than my father."

Willow frowned a bit, but acknowledged the change of subject.  "Well, I may not be more powerful than your father, but I know at least one of my Teachers definitely is.  Since that teacher happens to be the God of magic across about oh…50,000 realms.  His name is Marduk, and I know the most powerful magicks that he can teach anyone.  As well as about everything else of magic that he can teach, and about half of what he can't teach to just anyone.  So while I may not have the power, my skill with magic certainly outdoes even the King of all Fairies."

Buffy blinked.  She hadn't expected that.  Whatever royal pride she had left was now officially royally flushed down the drain.  "So what can you teach me?" she finally asked.

Willow smiled brightly.  "I'm so glad you asked that question," she said uber-cheerfully, so that she sounded, if at all possible, even more chipper than her Willow at a computer conference hyped up on mochas.

The lessons began.

Training Gym

"How do you do that?" Thailog could no longer contain his curiosity at the spectacle before him and Ta'ruk.  Cordy was off along the "fence" of strengthening machines, using them to their maximum potential before one finally broke, forcing her to move onto the next one.  Now he understood why they had about 1000 of the things.

What Thailog was asking about however, was Xander and Faith's ki flames as they stood, and tried to keep standing in ever increasing gravity.  Xander was surrounded by a royal red flame, while Faith the same solid gold she'd had when facing their Buffy.

"Well…" Xander grunted, "it's… really… complicated…"

"Yeah," Faith agreed, in a little better shape than Xander was, "This sure as hell… ain't as easy as… we're makin' it look…"

"I have no doubt of its difficulty, I was just curious as to why your auras were a different colour, and what significance they have," Thailog explained politely.

"He sure ain't the other guy, is he?" Faith cracked to Xander, causing the dark-haired man to chuckle.

"I noticed that last night," Xander said as he did something to make the red flame around him flare up brighter and stronger, and amazingly enough the same seemed to happen to Xander and he stood a little straighter.  "He's not a Goliath clone…well, okay he is, but he's darker than that…okay, again, he is, but I meant in his attitude.  Goliath has an eternal optimism.  You, on the other hand Thailog, seem to have Dead boy's sense of "Life ain't perfect, but I gotta live through it anyway".  Least you don't brood, then I'd seriously have to kick your…butt…" Xander groaned as the gravity increased again and both he and Faith were struggling equally now.

"I'm not sure whether that was a compliment, or a very stupid insult," Thailog confessed to Ta'ruk.  Ta'ruk just arched an eyebrow.

Willow's Workroom

"So, why are we doing this?" Buffy asked from the lotus position.

"It's a focusing exercise." Willow explained. "You'll be able to use these to focus your powers to points you never knew you were capable of. Eventually, you won't even have to meditate to do it."

"Cool." Buffy said.

"Yeah, I thought so." Willow agreed. "Now, no more talking. Meditate." Buffy complied, closing her eyes and focusing within as Willow had taught her.

She dived inwards until she faced the glowing ball of blue that represented her power. Deep in the centre of the ball, there was a darker spot, blood red. The Slayer, she realized. She leaned closer, touching the ball tentatively. The blue light flowed through her, enveloping her in warmth and power. She filled herself to the brink then, and just when she thought she could take no more, the Slayer joined in.

In the real world, the look on Buffy's face was on of pure ecstasy.

Willow just looked at her, wondering what exactly was going on in there. The Powermage wondered if she should pull her out, then decided against it. She needed to go all the way, to find her limits, and then find a way to surpass them, and control them. Willow just hoped she was all right.

The power that filled her was way more than she could have handled normally, yet the power continued to fill her, almost drowning her.  She tried to think past the power, the pleasure, the pure Life that filled her. As she did so, an image came to her.

Thailog, training with Xander and Faith. The two warriors were running him through the basics of what they could teach him. Buffy watched with interest as Xander changed the direction of his strike, moving towards Thailog. Buffy glared, flexing her magic muscle, teleporting Xander across the gym before his fist could connect with her beloved. She grinned, pleased, as Xander looked around, trying to figure out what was going on.

Willow's eyes snapped towards her newest student and hardened when she felt the spark of magic leave from the half-fey to the gym below.

"That's enough, Buffy," she heard Willow magically say. "Time to come back."

Buffy pouted. She didn't want to. She wanted to watch Thailog. "Now, or I pull you back. And I promise you, that will not be pleasant."

"But…"

"Now!" Buffy pouted, returning to her body.

Buffy's eyes flew opened to see a rather ticked Willow glaring at her. "What did you think you were doing?" she demanded. Buffy shrugged.

"I just wanted to check in on him," she muttered glumly. "'Sides, Xander was about to hit him. What was I supposed to do?" Willow let out an exasperated breath.

"He wouldn't have hurt him, Buffy," Willow said assuringly.

"Just making sure," Buffy said, adding in her head 'like he could'.

"I understand," Willow said. "More than you realize. If anything were to happen to my Buffy, I'd probably lose it myself. But you have to remember that we're all friends and we're just trying to help you, all of you."

"Yeah, I guess," Buffy muttered. Inside, she vowed she'd make sure. She remembered Thailog's first use of the Stargate, how he had almost lost his sense of self within the system. No one realized just how close she had come to losing him.

Willow looked at her knowingly. "I think you should let go of the power now, Buffy," she said. Buffy looked up at her, only realizing herself that she still held it.

"Right," she said, hesitantly letting it slide from her 'grasp'. Her eyes went wide as both realization and exhaustion struck her. "I shouldn't have been able to affect the gym like that," she muttered tiredly. "This room is too full of conflicting magics and talismans. It should have made it impossible for me to reach out like that without some other side effects. So how'd I do it?" Willow nodded, impressed that she'd realized.

"I'm not really sure," she had to admit. "Tell me, did you draw upon anything else with your natural magic?"

"The Slayer," Buffy muttered. "It was floating in the centre of my Fey magic. When I drew on that, the Slayer flowed in as well."

"Curiouser and curiouser," Willow muttered. The Slayer spirit itself should have been unable to affect Buffy's natural magic. Unless… "I'm going to have to look into this. While I am…" She walked over to one of the bookshelves, pulling out a couple rather thick times and dropped them in front of Buffy. "These are some of the books I have on magic that's compatible to your own. I want you to read through them, memorize as much as possible. If your going out there, you should at least be somewhat prepared." Buffy picked up the first tome.

"'Magicks of the House of Thom'" she read. "Who?"

"Read it and find out," Willow said with a smile, walking over to another shelf. Buffy looked back down at the book.

"And I thought my school days were over," she muttered, opening to the first page.

Training Gym

"Are we sure this is all right?" Thailog asked as Faith and Xander dragged him up to the training platform.

"Well, there is a rule against teaching someone from our universe these advanced techniques," Xander admitted. "But since your travelling across the Multiverse, you're not from here and, technically, have no home universe where that rule applies. So, you're exempt."

"We think," Faith said. "'Sides, B would've found a way to train you anyways, so we just pushed it ahead." Thailog sighed.

"Very well," he rumbled. He looked over at Ta'ruk, who was moving to one of the other platforms.

"If it is alright, I would like to train in my own fashion," the Jaffa asked. Xander shrugged.

"Go ahead," he said. "I'm kinda interested in what you do anyway. Y'know, the more ways to kick ass, the better." Ta'ruk looked at him strangely before moving to the platform, the ever-present staff weapon at his side. "What's with that thing, anyway?" Xander asked.

"It is more than it appears," Thailog answered, as Ta'ruk stood stock-still at the middle of the platform. "There is an energy weapon of some kind hidden within."

"Cool," Faith said as Ta'ruk began to move.

His movements were slow at first, his staff used like that of an earth-bound master. This soon changed as he picked up the tempo and, before long, the staff was swinging above his head quickly as he moved, his feet striking out in both high kicks and sweeps.

"Whoa," Xander stated. "I didn't think he could move like that."

"Nor did I," Thailog admitted. "This is the first time I have witnessed his style of fighting. It is most impressive."

"No shit," Faith muttered, watching the staff swing in circles above his head. "I gotta learn how to do that."

"Learn new stuff later," Xander said. "Teach now." They began to move Thailog through some basic techniques, slowly at first, then quicker. To his credit, Thailog didn't complain, he merely increased his own speed in an attempt to keep up. Nor did he complain at the slight increase in gravity to 5 Gs. Indeed, the Band that now seemed more a part of him than his own wings seemed to compensate for the sudden weight. Everything moved along well, until Xander made an error by attacking Thailog directly rather than feinting.

In Warrior X's defence, it was automatic. Mostly. He turned toward Thailog, aiming to strike, then suddenly found himself one the other side of the gym. All nearby stopped and looked over at him.

"I didn't do it!" Xander said, shrugging his shoulders.

"Then what happened?" Faith asked.

"Are you alright?" Cordelia asked, moving quickly over to him. Thailog looked around, a small smile on his face.

"Buffy," he said.

"What?" Cordelia looked around quickly. "Where?"

"She was here," Thailog said. "I felt her, and yet, she was elsewhere at the same time."

"Looks like Red's training has started," Faith said. "I'm guessin' she didn't like that move, Xand."

"I'll make a note of that," Xander said flatly, moving back to the platform. "How'd you 'feel' her anyway?"

"Before our journey started, she cast a spell that bound us together," Thailog explained. "We can hear each other's thoughts and know, almost instinctively, where the other is. It also gives me access to her healing powers and immortality."

"Sounds like what B and Red have going," Faith commented. "'Cept theirs is no spell. Gotta admit, sounds handy though."

"It is at times," Thailog said. "I always know when she is in trouble.  Come, let us continue. I am eager to see what comes next." Xander gave a grin at that comment.

"You ain't seen nothing yet, grape ape," he said. "Believe me."

Summers' back yard

Dusk

Buffy and Thailog were sitting together on the roof of their temporary home, for as long as they were in this dimension, staring with awe and respectful admiration as the sun set for the day.  For months Buffy had dreamed of doing this very thing.  And now here they were.  Despite the aches and pains from the many lessons learned today, she was happy and content with the way of the world.  And because she was, so was Thailog.

"Some day, huh?" Buffy said into the stillness, enjoying Thailog's arms around her.

The dark gargoyle groaned, but sent assurances and contentment and love through their link to squash the flash of concern in his love.  "I agree.  It's been some day.  They never hurt me you know.  It was the gravity that did the worst of it, and an hour in the sun healed me up nicely."

"And they say sunbathing is bad for you," she joked.  They shared in their laughter.

"How were your lessons?" he asked after the silence had returned.

She was silent for a moment, deciding on the best way to answer before she finally answered, "Informative.  If school were half as interesting as Willow makes magic lessons, I'd probably have been Valedictorian.  With Dad, it was all about survival and making the two of you proud of me.  With her… it's learning how to do something I'm good at, but just for me.  Sure, the survival thing is thrown in as prompting, but she's a good teacher too.  She's patient, kind, explains things so that I really understand, and lets me figure things out on my own without getting frustrated.  Plus she gives me candies when I do good."

Thailog couldn't help it, he laughed, causing her to laugh right along with until the silence resettled comfortably.

"How'd Ta'ruk do?"

"Considering that he kept up with us, as far as the gravity was concerned, and completed his own training with his style of fighting and martial arts, he did very well.  Faith was somewhat drawn to him.  Although not for those reasons," he remarked about the thoughts flickering through her head.  "She wanted to learn his style of fighting and by the end of the afternoon, he announced that she had already mastered every basic form of it that there was, and half of the advanced forms.  She claimed it as being part of the Slayer, learns fighting techniques faster."

"Well that's certainly true.  I only trained with Merrick for a month and I was already kicking vamp ass."

"Funny, I only needed about a week and a half to learn everything he had to teach me," a voice said from just the other side of the roof.  The sole occupants turned to see the Gold Slayer hovering mid-air, just off of the roof, staring at them.  She was dressed as she had been last night when they had first seen her, although minus the katana.

"Can we talk?  I really think we need to," Buffy asked her counterpart.  And although she didn't say it, all of them knew she meant privately between Buffys.

'Anything she has to say can be said in front of you,' Buffy resolutely told her man.

He leaned down and gave her a full kiss.  "It's all right.  You two do need to talk.  There will be many more sunsets my love.  I'll be nearby."  He kissed her once more before they finally untangled themselves from one another and the dark purple gargoyle glided down from the roof, leaving one Buffy sitting on the edge of it, and another hovering inches away from that same edge.

Finally GS, as Chobe found herself starting to think of her counterpart, floated over so that she was beside her, though on the side opposite of where Thailog had been.

"I did not mean to spoil anything for you two.  I'm sorry if I did, but what we have to talk about can't wait much longer, and I wanted to clear the air before patrol," GS-Buffy said.

"No, it's all right.  And he's right, there will be other sunsets.  Many more.  It's just this is the first… and it wouldn't even be possible if not for you people…"

"I… we don't want your loyalty for services rendered or anything like that Buffy," GS snapped.  "We're the good guys.  Yeah, we may seem like we compromise and follow other people's rules and appear all-powerful and maybe even act a little weird some of the time.  But we don't take advantage of people.  And never will if I have anything to say about it."

There was a brief uncomfortable silence.

"So… what is it that couldn't wait till after supper?" Chobe asked.

GS looked off toward the horizon for a minute before answering.  "I've met… doubles, of myself, at least four times, besides right now.  One actually was more like a dream-vision 'get the hell up and finish the fight' deal… uh, long story, you don't want to hear it.  But… the three times that I've met… myself, I've noticed things.  Specific things.  Some are exactly the same, while others are completely different."

"Ya think?" Chobe sarcastically snapped, knowing she was talking about universal alternates.

"And then there are the things that are exactly the same between us, but I just never saw it before in myself until I was looking at the mirror image." GS finished sourly.

Chobe looked at her, not quite feeling amused, but sure that this was a joke of some kind at her expense.  "And what did you see when you looked at me?" she asked, mimicking the other's tone exactly.

"Potential.  To learn what I've learned.  To be better than what we would miss if it wasn't shoved under our noses."  Chobe hadn't expected that for an answer.

"You're just now learning what I found out when we went to the Compound for Training.  We aren't perfect.  We aren't all that.  You aren't perfect, I'm not perfect…  And the only people that say otherwise about us, you and me, being perfect… is you and me."

The half-fey blinked in shock, trying to figure out what was going on here.  Meanwhile GS continued.

"The first clear memory I have, other than emotions, is of Dad, human or otherwise, playing with me at a park.  He was tossing me in the air and he always caught me.  He told me that I could be anything I wanted to be, that I was his perfect angel, and as long as I believed, I could do absolutely anything.  I was maybe 2 at the time, and I got it kind of screwed up and thought that he meant that as long as I believed I was perfect, everyone will let me do anything that I wanted to."

Chobe blinked in surprise and shock.  She had the same memory, and she now had an inkling where this was going.

"Is it any surprise that by the time of my freshman year in High School I was the Queen B of Hemery High?  I could've out-Cordy'd your Cordelia without even trying back then.  What about you?" GS turned to face her mirror image.

Chobe blushed, remembering exactly how she had been.  "Yeah, we were total bitches back then.  What's your point?"

"We still are total bitches.  Only difference is we're in different crowds now."

"I am nothing like I was back then!" Chobe angrily shot back.

"Don't be too sure of that.  I mean, I'm a superhero now.  You're a Princess and a prophecy, what with you being Thailog's companion and all and him being the bearer of a weapon meant to save all of yours and his people.  We're both Slayers, but think about it.  How much have we really changed?  How much have you changed?"

"Why are you making this all about me?!"

"Because I know how and how much I've changed.  I've gone insane, I'm a lesbian, and I've killed myself at least a half dozen times saving the world.  Immortal now, remember?"

"I've changed a lot!  I know who my father really is for starters!" Chobe argued.

"So that makes you Daddy's little girl where I'm Momma's little girl.  Sorry to disappoint, but we're sisters only as far as our Slayer status.  My father is fully human, we've checked, and he's also freely dating.  But think about the rest of it.  After we got out of that institution, we did everything, everything in our power to make what we had learned and become from Merrick behind us or so that it never existed."

Chobe winced, but not at the mention of her dead first Watcher as some might've thought.  "You… went through that?" she asked quietly.

"Brides of Rakagore and all," GS confirmed.  "But you see what I mean?  I did it to.  I know what you went through, better than anyone else could know.  I know how scared you were, still are about some of it.  Dying may not be a factor in it, but other people knowing about what you consider your deepest darkest secret probably still is.  Am I wrong?"

"You don't know anything!"

"I know a lot more than you do.  Look, just… listen for a bit.  Stop me if I'm so off base that I'm talking about the bitch in a coma instead of you." GS adjusted her seating so she was facing her counterpart now.  "You're scared witless just about every moment that you're awake.  You can't explain it, but it has you always on edge.  The only thing that saves you from being a total nutcase all of the time is putting on the dumb blonde act that made you top dog of your Freshman class, and also include the 'top bitch' attitude to back it up.  This makes you shy and a bit clueless whenever around Giles or Willow, because one is your Watcher and the other is the type of person that made you nervous when you were still Queen B.  A beautiful, smart, and fascinating, but introverted person that if they had a bit of courage they could be even more popular than you ever could be.  The 'top bitch' attitude comes whenever somebody takes your steam away, or tries to move in on your territory, and that has as much to do with covering up inadequacies as it does that you never liked to share because you're an only child.  This makes you confrontational, and any time someone questions you, whether it be Giles, Xander, Angel, or even another Slayer, you have to push back harder to stay on top, even if they didn't push at all.  How am I doing so far?"

She was silent.

"You can't hide your fear all the time, and you learned a while ago that sometimes its okay.  Especially when it's personal to you.  Irrational fear gets left behind a mask, but the fear of losing something or someone gets magnified to panic proportions and to anyone who will listen you'll preach about your fears.  This also makes it very hard for other people to come to you, so a while ago you probably started wondering why people never came to you with their problems.  But you had also gotten used to everyone dealing with yours that you always interrupted them with your latest crisis when they just needed somebody to listen.  The only time you did listen was when things were perfect, for you."

Silence.

"Now we're going to talk about me for a little bit here, see if you can learn something from my experiences," GS changed her position again, but this time so she was fully facing her other.

"Two weeks after Spike came to town and established himself as the latest Big Bad, I'm patrolling, with my two best friends, one of whom is studying magic, the other I think still has a crush on me, but I know Willow has a crush on him so I maintain best friend status and nothing more.  For about a year I'd been dealing with the weirdest emotions, all directed for Willow; protectiveness, irrational fear, and privately… longing.

"I mean there was the Angel crush, but that was just because he was a total babe and everything everyone told me I couldn't have, so I wanted it.  But that night, we, Xander, Willow and I, we're ambushed by like a half dozen vamps.  Spike's doing.  I take out the most, but Xander handles his own by taking out three.  Willow takes out the last by casting a fireball spell that instantly drains her.  The irrational fear goes to full out panic and I switch to full protection mode based on Willow.  Before I can do anything about it though, we hear and go find the Powers That Be watching the little fight between the uber-vamp and blue alien.  Then before we know it, and we're all being offered immortality by two little kids that we're told are the either fourth or fifth most powerful beings in all of existence.

"I doubt you could imagine what I was feeling at that moment of crunch time.  I couldn't even tell you now what all went through my head as I decided.  Most of it was lingering effects of seeing Willow crumple to the ground like a puppet with the strings cut.  The rest of it was being told that my Mother would die or be killed if I didn't find a way to protect her."

"So you said yes, that's obvious," Chobe interrupted.

"Have you been to hell yet?" GS asked at that.

She startled, not quite sure how to reply, but she let her 'bitch attitude' answer instead, "No.  But then I'm not a masochist, so I really don't see what your point is."

"What's your definition of hell?"

Chobe stared at her, uncertain if this was a joke or something else.  "Pain.  Suffering.  Eternal torment."

"Think about those words.  What would each mean to you personally?"

She blinked, and swallowed hard on a suddenly sandpaper dry throat.  "Pain… I can imagine pain.  Suffering… what I was going through after I killed Angel…  What I would have gone through if I lost Thailog.  Eternal torment… what all my vampire doubles went through."

GS nodded, seemingly satisfied with that.  "How about being told that in order to stay alive you have to kill hundreds if not thousands of other creatures, both demon, alien, and human, on a regular basis, and during that, you have to watch your friends, your closest friends who are as much your family as your mother and father, suffer their own pains and be dragged into the existence you once tried to make never exist.  And then it's added to it by being told that you are the one in charge of them.  You're their leader.  It all comes back to you.  Any of them fail, you fail.  You fail, they die.  And for an unknown amount of time you have to suffer through tortures that make you, a Slayer, fall to the floor, crying and privately begging for it to end because you can't stand the pain anymore, every night of that unknown time.  And you aren't the only one in that predicament.  Each of your friends are going through the exact same thing you are and are in the same way every night that you are, and not only can you not do anything to relieve their burdens, but they're burdened because of you.  What does that sound like?"

Chobe blinked in surprise as she noticed tears on her cheeks.  She had been so caught up in the brief tirade that she hadn't known she had been crying from the beginning of it.  "Like hell."

GS gave out a short, silent bark of laughter that sounded more like a soft cough.  "That's life for me."

"Life for some, is hell for others, and vice versa.  Same goes for heaven.  Your Xander's hell of being stuck with Cordelia is our Xander's heaven.  But I've missed my point somewhere in there."

"Yeah you did, 'cause I know I missed it," Chobe remarked.

"Well, in either case, you know what things are like for me.  You know some of what I've been through.  I'm sure even subconsciously you've already made allowances for me being short with you guys."

"Yeah, what was up with that?  I mean strive to keep normalcy aside, you've been like Sergeant Savage since the moment Thailog and I met you," Chobe asked.

GS shrugged.  "It's not a subconscious territorial thing, I can assure you.  It has more to do with what you are than anything you've done.  You come from a universe where several vampire versions of us tried to destroy the world at least twice over.  Also, Cordelia betrayed the group, Xander is no longer human and is even further away from you than I would have ever let him get, and "Dad" is Oberon.  If you ever actually watch "A Midsummer's Night Dream" you'll understand why the concept of the King of Fairies as my father would disconcert me just a little."

Chobe couldn't help it, she had to laugh.  "I'm going to have to see if Willow can teach me how to give a certain writer certain ailments some time soon."  GS joined her in her laughter.

"If you wanna blame anyone, according to Wills and the grape vine, blame Robin Goodfellow.  He was the one that told Shakespeare the whole story.  No clue where the sprite is though.  He disappeared off the map about a year ago according to Wills."

"Wait… Robin Goodfellow… isn't that Puck?  Puck didn't tell Shakespeare anything!" Chobe protested.

GS shook her head.  "One of the reasons Goodfellow will be on your side in cursing that certain English playwright.  Shakespeare got Goodfellow, who is not Puck, confused with your little helper.  And if you ever mention Puck to Goodfellow, make sure to avoid calling Puck your friend or anything more than a big annoyance.  He's had a grudge against Puck ever since the play was first performed."

"Oh.  You sure do know a lot about the Fairy world," Chobe commented.  GS shrugged.

"Again we get off my point," GS complained.  "Part of this was so that you could understand me a little bit better.  I'm not you, you're not me.  We've lead completely different lives and made very different choices for those lives."

"I sense a 'but', and my Slayer sense is never wrong about this," Chobe accused with squinted eyes.

"Unfortunately, another word for but, our lives just got put on a cross point, and your life is about to suddenly become a lot like mine." GS stared hard into her other's eyes.

"What do you mean?" she asked quietly.

"I'm the Team Leader.  It all comes back to me.  I'm the reason, I'm the decision-maker, and I'm the final say.  I'm not the cause, and I'm not about to make this whole team about me only.  That's what you have to learn.  Leaders are about two things; their teams and the cause.  Some, stupidly, are about one or the other.  The good ones are about both."

"I guess you're a good leader then, huh?"  Chobe was silenced by the look she saw on Buffy's face.

"That's the second thing you have to learn, and it goes back to what I've found is wrong in the both of us," she said coldly.  "I don't know if you do it, but those three times I've met other Buffys, I've found one really big problem.  We make mistakes.  We're human.  We may be slightly more or even better than the rest of humanity, but we make mistakes all the same."

"I know that.  I… I've made a lot of mistakes, ones I'm not going to repeat…"

"That's just it.  Three times over I've seen me make the same mistakes, and instead of learn from it, I, or rather they, either crumpled when everything went to hell, or assumed that because it all turned out okay in the end, everything they did was the right thing to do, mistakes and all.  In short, they never learned!  I may have been a major ditz my freshman year, I may even have been a bad Slayer my first and second years as that.  But I will be damned to the lowest pit of Hell Prime before I become a bad leader!  I make mistakes and I learn from them.  If it turns out okay in the end, I tally up all the mistakes I made and every little thing that went wrong and I call that 'OK' a total failure.  Even if everything went better than I possibly could have imagined I find faults and try and think of ways to correct them."

She huffed and suddenly turned around to stare directly into the setting sun.  "More times than I can count I've had somebody, whether Xander, Willow, Giles, or somebody else, come along and clean up a mess that I caused with one, single, stupid mistake that could have been avoided if I had just thought and learned from past mistakes.  My first year as a Slayer, hell, my first month after Training, I acted exactly like that.  I never once thought ahead besides what was best for me or my team.  Namely having fun.

"Just before our first Tournament, I finally managed to get my act together and started acting like a real person and not a dumb blonde given power.  My point is, I clean up my own messes now.  If it's my fault a demon got away or a vampire crossed the line or anything else like that, I take care of it.  I chase after the demon until its dead.  I kill the vampire and clean up everything he did, whether that was summon more demons and vampires or killed someone important.  I go to every funeral this town has, and for the entire service, even if it was entirely natural causes, I blame myself for that person's death." She was crying openly now, but her voice still even.

"You should have killed Angel the moment you saw him again and knew he was evil," GS accused.  "I would have.  You can't afford to let other people clean up your messes anymore Buffy!  You've got too much power, and because of Thailog and his damned bracelet you're too important!  You make a mistake and whole universes will suffer the consequences.  Start cleaning up your mistakes and learning from them or by the Powers and your own father, I will hunt you down and make it so that you died in the Masters cave and Xander was the one to kill him and save the world.  That is not a threat.  That is not a promise, or an oath.  It is what I will do to each and every one of my counterparts unless they wizen up and start thinking.  Especially ones like you."

She had been staring at the sun the whole time, but Chobe could feel the heat of the gaze the Gold Slayer would have had upon her if she'd been looking at her.  What made it even worse… she knew she was right.

"I…don't know if I can…" she quietly whispered.

"Then you'd better learn.  And quickly.  If you want, I can have our Thailog here in a matter of minutes and you can learn the hard way.  I won't do that.  Yet."  She took a deep breath and let out a long, low sigh.  "You couldn't attack him, so your boyfriend had to come in and "clean up your mess" by taking out his twin.  It all turned out ok in the end.  Does that mean you made all the right decisions?"

Chobe flinched.  She knew she hadn't, but she also knew she had been subconsciously thinking that she had.

"You have until you leave here, our home, to learn everything we have to teach you.  Whether that be magic, fighting skills," she now looked Chobe in the eye, "or personal skills and life revelations.  For your sake I hope you learn them well, if not quickly."  She looked back at the sun, which was at its last few seconds of life-giving light.

The sun set and darkness covered half the sky while the dying reflections of the sun's light were quickly being consumed by it.  "Xander and Cordy are patrolling the west end of town, Faith and I the east and downtown.  Giles is covering the southern end.  I want you and Thailog to take the warehouse district on the northern end.  And think about what I said.  And think about this too.  What if our Thailog, despite the Band, had been stronger than your boyfriend, and only Willow, who arrived after the fight was over, could have saved him?  What if's are a Leader's worst nightmare, and only salvation for surviving the future."

"We'll leave after supper, which is in half an hour," the Gold Slayer said as she jumped off the roof and landed full force on the ground.  To a normal person, such a leap would have at least broken a leg.  GS-Buffy was just glad she hadn't left a crater.

The moment the Gold Slayer was in the house, a flutter of leathery wings and Buffy was where she had been before her twin had come up to talk.  "So?  How did it go?" he asked.

In reply, Buffy just burrowed herself deeper into her, for all intents and purposes, husband's body.  "Hold me."

Concerned, but not enough to do anything, just yet, about it, Thailog obeyed the request and held her for the next twenty minutes.  As they stayed there, through their mental and emotional link, Thailog understood what had his wife so upset.  This Buffy, who had seemingly overcome all her inadequacies, or at least enough of them to recognize them in herself, had just forced a very harsh mirror under his Buffy's nose, and as much as he wanted to prove this Gold Slayer wrong, the Child of Oberon wouldn't let him.  Because they both knew at the bottom of their hearts… that she was right.

"Let's go to supper.  You'll feel better after you sleep on it," Thailog assured her.  Silently, she nodded and they both glided down to the back door and entered the kitchen to the smells of a heavenly delight of food.

Warehouse District (North)

"And I thought our Sunnydale was creepy," Buffy muttered as they worked their way through the warehouses. "We've checked three warehouses and not a vamp or demon in sight. Not even a homeless guy."

"Perhaps they believe you to be your counterpart," Ta'ruk suggested. Buffy made a noise.

"Great, just what I needed," she muttered. "I can't even get a decent fight around here 'cause they're all scared of her." Thailog moved up behind her.

"We should move on to the next warehouse," he said. Buffy sighed, agreeing.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" a grating voice said. The trio turned to face the owner of the voice, a vampire and his twenty companions.

"Finally," Buffy said, drawing her sword. "I was getting bored. Think you guys could've waited any longer?" The vamp sneered.

"Drop the act, girl," he said. "We heard your little speech.  We know you aren't the Slayer." Buffy grinned.

"Not the local one," she said as the vamps charged. She swung her sword in a wide arc, beheading two of the vamps, delivering a devastating kick to one that was trying to sneak up behind her. Thailog grabbed the falling vamp, slamming it through a wall. He grabbed a shard of wood and slammed it into the vampire's heart. Buffy smiled as said vamp exploded into dust. Her smile soon disappeared as her doubles words from earlier came to mind. What if Thailog hadn't been able to handle the vamp? She shook it off. Worry later, dust now.

She heard the unmistakable sound of Ta'ruk's staff weapon going off, and vamps dusting seconds later. "Least we know it works," she muttered, heading toward the leader. "Still think I'm easy pickings?"

"But I…you said you weren't her." Buffy grinned as she slammed her katana into his chest.

"Now did I say that?" She said as he dusted. She turned away to find the other vamps dusted. "You'd think with super me around the vamps would give a little more of a challenge."

"Obviously they aren't given a chance," Thailog said. Buffy nodded.

"Yeah, guess she would take 'em out faster than they rose," she said. "C'mon. We still got a few warehouses to go before knock off time." Thailog brought his hand down on her shoulder.

"Not before we talk," he said. Buffy looked up at him. "Do not fault yourself for my actions. I do not blame you for hesitating against my double earlier, nor do I regret attacking the vampire that attempted to ambush you. Anyone would have done the same. You are not God."

"She would have."

"You are not her either," Thailog said. "And you cannot say that, had she walked the same path, she would have turned out any different to you. Her words earlier may hold some truth in them…"

"Let's face it, everything she said was true," Buffy muttered sourly.

"Perhaps," Thailog said. "But you cannot worry about that during battle. I do not understand her reasons for confronting you with these truths so close to patrol, but remember one thing." He cupped her chin in his hand. "I love you for who you are, not who you might be. If I thought, for an instant, that my journeys would endanger you I would have gone on my own way from the start. You make mistakes; you hide your pain behind a mask, who can say they do any different? Your power does not make you any less human."

"Yeah, just more responsible." Buffy muttered. Thailog growled softly.

"We have been through this before. You cannot be responsible for everything that happens. If you are fighting a single vampire, that vampire gets away and kills someone, then you are responsible. If you are fighting a vampire, and a vampire on the other side of the world, whom you've never seen before, kills someone, you are not responsible, for you never had the chance to stop it. If a person dies of cancer, you are not responsible. There is nothing you could have done. Your double has not, or perhaps, refuses to, learn this lesson. She blames herself for everything that happens." He placed the shard of wood he had used in her hand. "She says she wishes only to help us, to teach us. Perhaps it is time for her to learn as well."

Casa de la Summers (and everyone else)

GS-Buffy sat down in the dining room. Some demons never learned. They just kept coming.

"You were wrong," a voice said. Buffy calmly turned to face her double, who threw a shard of wood on the table. "Maybe I could've reacted a bit differently against your version of Thailog. But then, who's to say it didn't turn out the way it was supposed to? We learnt a bit about the Band, and I discovered a weakness, one that I have to address. It was a mistake, and one I will correct."

"That same mistake, you made against Angelus," GS pointed out to her.

"Maybe," she agreed. "Or maybe it was a lesson in trust. I will always have friends I can depend on, people I trust, to watch my back. I'm never alone, and I never want to be. You take the weight of the world on your shoulder, and don't let anyone help. Everything that happens in Sunnydale, every death, is your fault, at least that's the way you see it. But there's one thing you need to remember. You have power, you have responsibility, but you aren't God. You merely think that, because you're basically the most powerful person in your universe, everything is your fault. That's where you're wrong." Chobe took a breath.

"Believe it or not, I know the feeling," she continued. "Just before the first vampy-us meeting, I was thinking the same. No one really knows this, but I invited myself to every funeral in Sunnydale, vamp death or not, during that time of self-blame. It nearly killed me, and it's what made it so easy for the Slayer to take over when I faced vamp Willow. I wanted to end it." Gold Slayer now had no idea where she was going with this. Chobe pointed to the forgotten piece of wood.

"Thailog took out a vamp that tried to ambush me tonight, using this.  Your talk earlier made me think about what may have happened, right in the middle of a fight. Dangerous at the best of times. So's letting blame for things that aren't your fault drag you down. You can't be at blame for everything. Like I said, you're not God; you can't be expected to do everything. Just do the best with what you can do." She turned and headed to the back. "One more thing. That thing with Angel, or with your version of Thailog, was a mistake, I'll admit to that. You said you wouldn't have frozen like I did, maybe you're right. But I think you fail to take into account one thing. What if it were Willow?" And with that, she walked out. The Gold Slayer sat there, staring at the wood.

Chobe closed the kitchen door behind her, and jumped when she saw GS leaning against the wall right in front of her.  "Would you like to know what it's like to be me?" the Gold Slayer asked the Child of Oberon.

Chobe squinted her eyes in mild anger.  GS spoke again before she could answer.

"This wasn't about me bragging about my experiences or thinking that I'm perfect and need to figure out that I'm not.  I'm not the one with delusions of perfection.  You are."  Buffy stood up and walked to the middle of the back yard.

"I'm serious though," she said as she walked, "Would you like to know what is like to be me?  All my power, my greater strength, whatever powers I have that you don't?"

"Thinking you're God's gift to the world?" Chobe finished snidely.

'You have no idea what you are talking about Buffy,' rang throughout Chobe's mind, while GS-Buffy's mouth remained shut.  'We didn't tell you everything about our history.  Our different histories.  You know that Willow and I are linked as you and Thailog are, but that's not where this ability of mine comes from.  Recall when we first met, I mentioned something about me being a powerful psionic?  But I guess you don't know what that is.  Don't worry, first time I heard the term, even though I was one, I had no clue what it meant either.'

"A psionic is a person who can use about 90% of their mind.  Not brain, mind.  Telepathy, telekinesis, matter manipulation, it's all a matter of thought," GS continued out loud.  She sat down on a bench on the porch.  "You know about the Super Slayer, Willow explained that to you she told me.  But you don't know… is that I cheated."

Chobe frowned.  "What do you mean?" she asked, sitting on another surface across from the Gold Slayer.

"The first time I transformed, I was not beyond level 100.  Near the end of Training, we realized to survive the Tournament we would need an ace up our sleeves, so working with several people that had helped to train us at the Compound, we preformed a spell.  That spell took all of our spirits, our life energies, mine, Willow's, Xander's, and Giles', and pooled them all together, and then placed that combined spirit into my body.  That was enough energy that I automatically transformed into the Super Slayer.

"Months after that, we began noticing things.  Or rather I did.  I began to hear the thoughts of the others, knowing exactly where they were, what they were doing, how they were feeling, all of the time.  As soon as I surpassed the level 100 barrier, the Super Slayer transformation changed.  We always cast the spell anytime they needed me to transform, but now when we cast the spell, the other's changed too, only with a surplus of their own energy, it was different from the Super Slayer transformation.  Ask Willow about it some time.

"But even after that, after we discovered the spell, mixing our life energies, had given us, or rather me, a psychic connection to the others.  It was how I knew Xander's dad was beating him, how I knew Willow's mom was distancing herself from her daughter's life so much that she didn't even know where Willow was at any time or even who her closest friends were.  But it didn't stop there.

"I began to hear the thoughts of people who I never knew before, or people that I did but weren't a part of the group.  And things began to happen around me.  Things breaking that I didn't even exert power to do, rooms shaking, and once I even gave a guy that deserved it a stroke.  He lived, although he's still not in much condition to be called living."

"So these…psionic powers started to show up," Chobe observed from the story so far.  "Side effect from the spell, or what?"

"Both.  Neither.  The potential for me to be a psionic was always there, the constant use of the spell though is what brought it out so early.  Normally it wouldn't have surfaced until I was at least ninety years old.  But we didn't discover that until after a demon tried to possess me, and through me the entire team, using it.  That was Archius by the way.  He supped the life force off supernatural beings to enhance himself.  With me, he found the Hive filling the honey pot, so to speak.  He physically possessed me once I was under enough of his control for him to do so.  Believe it or not, it took Spike to snap me out of it.  The others were under as much control as I was."

"Why would he do that?" Chobe asked.

GS shrugged.  "Might be because Dru told him to rescue me.  Might also be because if I died, he was guaranteed destruction as well.  He's a member of the Compound as well.  The Powers put him on my team when he asked to join the Tournament.  We still don't get along very well, but it's a forced relationship."

"Anyway," she continued with her story, "after Spike helped us vanquish Archius, since he was more spirit now than a body to kill, we asked the Compound what was going on with me and we got the whole low-down, and I was sent to a universe where someone taught me how to control properly use my new powers.  Shortly after, I set up an independent link between every member of the team, including Cordy and Spike, so that we can hear each other's thoughts when we want to send a message or just talk.  Faster and more reliably than cell phones, that's for sure.  As for Willow's and mine connection, that's a whole other story, which I will let my wife decide whether we tell you or not."

Chobe whined.  "Awwww!  That's not fair!"

"Would you like to know what it's like to be me?"

"Why do you keep asking me that?" Chobe asked, sounding frustrated.

Instead of a verbal answer, the Child of Oberon got more than she wanted.  She felt something brush, and then open up in her mind.  She felt, as she felt Thailog's presence when he was nearby, her counterpart in her mind.  But along with it, she felt, and heard things that she couldn't begin to describe.

'What is this?' Chobe demanded.  For some reason she felt like she had to shout inside her own mind.  There was too much "noise", other people's thoughts, emotions, feelings and actions.

'This is what it's like to be me,' GS answered, her "voice" was quiet, not shouted, but still clearly heard.  'But at 1/1000 of the level I experience it at.  I control this link we now share.  If I want you to hear me without shouting, you hear me.  And I wouldn't want you to go insane.  After all, I did when my powers first manifested themselves.'

'What-what do you mean?'  Chobe asked, suddenly frightened.  She had no experience with this kind of thing, something entirely of the mind but still able to hurt or cripple her.  Or drive her insane.

'I was hearing thoughts everywhere, feeling everyone's emotions as they felt them, and the only person that I could talk to that understood me, and that I could even stand to be around (because vampires are much more difficult to "hear" telepathically) was Drusilla.  Half the time I was just mouthing off, verbally repeating the thoughts that were forefront of my confused mind.'

Suddenly the thing in her mind disappeared, and they were in the back yard, exactly where they had been.  "I feel and hear the thoughts and emotions of everyone in Sunnydale.  My range is just over the range of the Hellmouth itself, so yeah, that's all of Sunnydale.  If I need to, I can push it so that I can send or hear thoughts all the way from Anchorage, Alaska to Columbia in South America, and from the Hawaiian Islands to New York.  Of course I'm probably in a coma, physically speaking, but that's how far I can extend my range.  24 hours a day, seven days a week, four weeks a month, 12 months a year, for two years now, I've had all of Sunnydale in my head."

"I don't punish myself for not saving them by going to every funeral in Sunnydale Buffy," GS finally admitted.  "I go to the funerals because I knew those people.  As intimately as I know you."

"How could you possibly know everyone in Sunnydale?  And I thought this Compound of yours sent you to some universe where you learned to control your powers." Chobe argued.

GS-Buffy nodded.  "I can't turn it off.  I have to meditate every day, sometimes twice a day.  But that isn't so I don't go insane, it's so I can focus my own thoughts so that I can ignore the thoughts all around me.  Even you occasionally need some alone time.  I spend every day of my life in a crowded room where the only quiet people are the dead ones.  Even some of those people aren't that quiet on the Hellmouth.  Everyone else is shouting, conversing, or mumbling."

"My gawd," Chobe whispered as the horror of it came to fruition in her mind.  "How do you stand it?"

Buffy shrugged.  "I meditate twice a day to focus my thoughts.  And I have really weird dreams," she answered.  "Beyond that… I do what I would normally do."

"But it can't be easy, ignoring the thoughts of everyone in your home town," Chobe pointed out.

GS shook her head, "It isn't.  Sometimes things slip through.  But I have enough experience now that I don't trail off and go mumbling what someone across town is thinking at the moment.  And if I ever lose my mind, note how literal that phrase can be taken in this conversation, Willow and the others are always willing to go hunting for me.  So… I'm not any more alone than you are.  In fact, I'm probably even less alone than you ever could be."

Chobe nodded.  She understood now.  However there were still some things that were troubling her.

"Let me show you something," GS said before the other Slayer could even open her mouth.  At a loss, Chobe shrugged and nodded.  Both Slayers got to their feet and silently took off into the night air.

A short time later, both were hovering in a dark spot above a wooden fence, looking in on a family through the back yard window.

"They're the Coopers.  Randy, the father with the balding head and glasses there, he's the Principal of the Elementary school just outside of town, but still in the district.  His wife Becky.  She's a Baptist with seven sisters and three brothers.  Very close with all of her family, and she's also an Administrator at the First Baptist church." GS pointed at each through the window.

"They have four children.  Here you can see the youngest, Jordan, he's the blond-haired version of his older brother and father.  He's also an eternal optimist and always lightens the moment at the right time.  He's only six right now.  His older sister Abigail," she pointed at a young brunette.  "She's captain of her soccer team at school, which happens to be the one their father is the principal of, and she's trying to be like her mother, close to her family.  And there's Blake, dark hair like his father, and almost a clone of the man.  A very good role model for Jordan and Abby."

"Why are you showing me this?  This is wrong!"

GS floated downward and sat on the fence without actually sitting on it.  "They can't see us and they aren't going to do anything wrong if that's what you're thinking.  I'm trying to make a point, so if you could just give me a little patience?"

She debated it for several long moments, but finally huffed out her disapproval and mimicked her double by floating less than an inch from the top of the fence, making it look like she was sitting there.

"One month ago, the eldest, Derek, died in a car accident.  His funeral was last week.  I went, not because I wasn't there to stop the accident, not because I was out in the desert training with Faith while a drunk named Jason Higgins was slamming his car into the driver side of Derek Cooper's car, instantly killing an innocent boy who got top grades, a little slow in history, was kind to his friends and was volunteering at a homeless shelter in one of the LA suburbs, and trimmed the grass and bushes of every house on this street to help pay for a birthday present for his youngest sibling.  I went to his funeral because I wanted to say good bye to a young man this world, and his family will miss.  They still miss him, but they're moving on.  So am I."

GS looked back at the family and then back at her companion.  "Don't you see?  I don't punish myself for every scrape an innocent gets.  It's called life.  Just because I'm suddenly aware of it, or have the power to make every single person's life absolutely painless, doesn't mean I want to, let alone should go around being everyone's over protective parent.  Even if I could, without stressing myself, I would not save everyone's life from pain.  Not to say that I would choose who lives and who dies, but I'm not going to control everyone's lives to make me feel better.  What I will protect them from are the things where they don't get to choose.  Demons, terrorists, needless crimes, that's what I focus on.  But I don't punish myself.  I go to funerals not to learn why I failed, but to gain reason for going on.  The people left behind."

Chobe blinked.  Why did she always end up crying when she spoke to herself like this?

GS looked down and away.  "I didn't mean to make you lose focus like that; I just wanted you to think."

"What… what d-do you mean?" Chobe asked as she wiped away her tears.

"Which is better?  Now that you know both sides, which is better?  Worrying about everything, or not worrying about anything?" GS asked her.

"Huh?"

"Which do you prefer, like you were before, and our other doubles, thinking that you're doing everything right and only worrying about your relationship with Thailog or someone stealing him away from you?  Or now, hesitating in the middle of battle because you're worried that your ally isn't up to the task he's been given, by you incidentally?"  GS elaborated.

She thought for a moment and considered the question, but her anger at being accused of something sparked the 'bitch attitude' just a smidgeon.

"You're making this about me again!" Chobe snapped.

"It was never about anybody else," GS answered back.

"Where the hell do you get off…?!" Chobe started to shout and then quieted herself and started breathing deeply, trying to get her temper under control.

"Which is better?" she asked again.

Now she really thought about it.  Which was better?  Being overconfident and being surprised when mistakes reared, and never learning from them and maybe even repeating them.  Or being worried all the time.  Neither.  That was the only thought she had in her head when asked the question.  Wasn't there some way she could compromise?

"No," she said quietly, answering the Gold Slayer's question.  "No, not one or the other is better.  They're extremes, and this world isn't about extremes, it's about compromise.  I know that I make mistakes, and I promise I'll learn from them.  I already have.  Now tell me what is this all about?"

"You've got part of it.  You can figure it out.  What did you do wrong?"

"What do you…?" she stopped before the question was out of her mouth.  It came to her in a sudden insight so obvious she felt like smacking herself upside the head.  "I didn't trust Thailog.  Ever since our first talk… I've been doubting myself, but I just… I projected my doubt onto Thailog.  Oh my gawd, I can't believe I was so conceited.  This whole time I…"  She stopped and considered something.  "How can I know whether or not he can handle something?"

"Could you, alone, have handled that vampire you said he staked?" GS asked.

Chobe thought back.  'Maybe,' she thought, 'But it definitely would have made the fight harder if I'd been by myself.  But Thailog has always watched my back from the moment we met.'

"Yeah, but…"

"Why do you let him patrol with you, if you're so afraid he'll get hurt?" GS interrupted.

"Because he's too stubborn to…  Ohhhh, you're good.  Bitch." Chobe bit out as the revelation dawned on her.

"Thank you," GS replied, looking smug.

"I'm not telling you to doubt yourself.  I'm telling you to think, and learn, and be responsible.  I'm not telling you to be the Lone Slayer or become General Washington overnight.  I'm telling you that you are very soon going to be forced into the role of leadership.  And I'm giving you enough warning so you can be ready for it."

"But I'm not a leader!  And I don't want to be!" Chobe exclaimed.

"And you think I did?  You think I was ready when they shoved this in my lap?  I was two years younger than you are now and a hell of a lot less experienced than even you are, but I was given the role of a leader of a team made up by my closest friends against the worst evil from across the entire omniverse!" GS shot right back.

"At first, the very first, I didn't quite trust Xander to hold his own.  But then, as we trained and grew stronger, I saw the man he is and what his strengths and his weaknesses are.  I saw the same for Giles and Willow, and as I personally trained Faith.  I even know Spike's strengths and weaknesses as far as his fighting goes.  I know what my team can and can't handle.  And I'm not about to put one of them in a position where I think they can't handle it.  If I do, then I make sure they have back up and help available if things get out of control.  I don't control their lives, just as I don't control the Coopers' lives.  What I do, is make sure they know I have faith in them and that if they need my help or if I need theirs, we're always going to be there for one another."

"Didn't sound like what you were saying before," Chobe commented.  GS shrugged.

"Then maybe you weren't listening very well.  Look.  I like you.  I like your friends, Thailog and Ta'ruk.  But like you recognized Thailog has his own destiny, I recognize yours as you stand beside him.  He very well may end up being the overall leader to lead your people against this enemy, but you're going to have your share of the responsibilities as it is.  2nd in command and all that.  Let me play out a scenario for you, and you tell me what you would do," GS suggested.

"All right," Chobe agreed.

"50 vamps, all a minimum of 100 years old, meaning they're powerful.  Five demon sorcerers back them up, each of a level of power slightly greater than your Willow.  You know you can easily take out at least three of them without even trying.  You have with you, Thailog, Goliath and the clan, Xander, Faith, Giles, Willow and another witch friend of Willow's who has more skill but less power than Willow herself, which makes her, skill-wise, the equal of one of the demon sorcerers.  You also have twenty Cy-Bots on loan to you from Renhard all equipped to take out a minimum of two vampires per Cy-Bot.  How are you going to react?"

Chobe took a deep breath and thought out the problem.  Five minutes of careful and hard thinking later, she gave her answer.  "First I'd make sure no surprises came up, like the demons summoning more demons or vampires.  Then I'd send the Cy-Bots to take care of the vampires, and I'd trust Xander and Faith to do their own share there.  Knowing Thailog, he'd be right behind me all the way, watching my back.  I'd ask Broadway, Brooklyn, and Lexington to guard Willow and her witch friend, after asking them to take out one of the sorcerers with either a binding spell or a vanquish, because I know that a witch can sometimes lend her power to another witch, so Willow could lend her power to the more skilled witch and they can take care of one of the demons.  I'd move ahead and try to take on the last four, trying to take them out as fast as I could.  Giles…I'd ask him to help Willow and her friend.  He might know some spells to help them out.  As for the others…I think they could finish off all of the vampires, but even after the demons are taken care of, I'd still help out in finishing the vamps off."

Buffy nodded, and for a moment Chobe thought she was approving.  So much for anticipating how the Gold Slayer thinks.  "You're wrong.  You'll sustain casualties, especially among the ones engaging fifty vampires.  What you should have done was take out as many of the vampires yourself with your largest destructive magicks, and let the Cy-Bots take out the left overs and leave the whole team to protect Willow and her friend while Thailog, with his band, takes out that fourth demon while you take care of the three you wouldn't even have to sweat over."

"This puts the biggest power you've got to the most advantage without having to worry about or wear down the weaker forces of the opposition.  If you finish yours early, this allows you to be back up for anybody else that really needs it.  The way you did it, everyone is on their own and if one of them is in trouble, the nearest person has to fight their way through fifty vamps to actually help." GS explained.

Chobe thought it over, and nodded herself as she admitted the superior strategy.  "Is that what you do all day?  Plan strategy?"

GS started laughing.  "No.  I know what my team is capable, and I know how they'll react and what they can and can't handle.  But no matter my level of confidence, it's never wrong to have help ready.  You said it to me.  You aren't alone, but you are in charge, and people are going to force you to make the decisions.  Sometimes, that's almost as bad as being alone.  Do you understand yet?"

"I understand that I have to trust the people that I lead," Chobe answered, "But I don't think I have your point yet.  I…what if I don't trust myself to make those kinds of decisions?"

GS was silent for a time, regarding her alternate.

Finally, "Does Thailog trust you?"

She did not hesitate, "Unconditionally."

"Do you trust him?"

Hesitation, thought, nod.  "Yes.  I do."

"You know what he can and can't do, and we're learning that he has higher limits than even he knew.  That's easy.  The same can probably be said for each of your friends back home that you've fought with hundreds of times.  But the question isn't do you trust them, it's how can you trust yourself?" she said aloud, but despite this didn't seem to be asking anything of Chobe.

"Angelus killed Angel," GS stated.  Chobe looked around at her, startled and afraid for some reason deep in her heart.

"Angelus is a demon.  Angel is a soul.  Angelus, when Angel had the moment of pure happiness, killed Angel and stole his body and his life.  Everyone saw that.  Everyone but you.  Xander especially saw that Angelus was not Angel.  Didn't he?" GS asked.

Chobe didn't answer.

"If you had thought of it like that, instead of Angel turning evil, that Angelus killed Angel, your lover and first love, do you think, in your heart, that you could have killed Angelus?" she asked finally.

Silence.  Thoughtful silence.

"Now, after everything that you've learned today, do you think that you could defend yourself against the other Thailog?" she asked after a minute.

The silence stretched on as she thought, so Chobe knew that her counterpart wanted an answer to this question.  After a couple more minutes, she finally answered, "I… I could defend myself, yes.  But… I couldn't… hurt him."

GS blinked.  "Who the hell said anything about killing Thailog?" she snapped.

Chobe looked up, just as surprised as her other was.  "But…"

"I said could you kill Angelus, a demon that cares nothing for life.  Hell, it's practically un-life itself!  But Thailog, yours or mine or someone else's, he's a living creature.  Misguided a bit perhaps, but he's still alive and has a soul.  I asked if you could defend yourself, maybe even stun him with a jolt of electricity that wouldn't even leave a tingle afterward, or knock him upside the head.  I never, nobody ever intended you to hurt anyone for anything." GS protested.

Chobe stared at her, stunned.

"We're Slayers, as such the phrase "With Great Power comes a Greater Responsibility" takes on a very personal meaning," GS continued.  "With the slightest bit of pressure we can kill almost anyone.  Get a little stressed out; if we lash out things get destroyed.  What I was pointing out was that you didn't even try to defend yourself against him.  You thought that punching him would have killed him or something worse.  But you already know this.  You know, Willow and I spar sometimes, and whenever I hold back, she yells at me.  Whenever I go too far and she gets hurt or knocked out, I yell at myself.  Even I haven't figured out the compromise.  But don't be afraid to defend yourself.  You can always just tie him up or something."

Chobe winced at the clue.  "Probably should have done that right off the bat," she berated herself.

GS shrugged.

"What if it was Willow?" Chobe asked suddenly, half startling the Gold Slayer.

She sighed.  Then she amazingly perked right back up.  "I'd kick her ass and ask her what the hell she was doing.  If I saw Willow turned into vampire, although with my wife that isn't possible, immortal remember, I'd destroy the demon that killed my best friend the instant I saw it.  But again, the Slayer and I are a lot closer together than you probably are.  It's all right that you won't kill people with the faces you love.  Just… when you have help available, make sure that they can and that you won't stop them."

"Wait… what?"

GS shrugged.  "I know it takes time getting past something like that, a part of yourself you can't fight all at once.  I know that you aren't me, and I'm not asking you to even try and be me.  I want you to be you, but to learn as well.  If you can't kill someone or something, then all I ask is that you plan so you aren't helpless beneath whatever that someone or something is.  If you can't kill Angelus, then have Giles and Xander do it.  If you can't stop Thailog, make sure your guy or someone else that can take on a gargoyle is nearby to subdue him.  If you won't destroy a vampire, un-souled version of Xander or Willow, then ask someone who can, like human versions of Xander and Willow or souled vampires to do it for you."

"Wait, wait just a second here… this wasn't about me and my mistakes at all, was it?" she asked.

GS shook her head.  "It was about you learning to not act stupid.  Like several other versions of ourselves have done."

"Damn.  You couldn't have just said that from the beginning?"

"You had to learn.  And if I said, "Don't act stupid" you'd take it as an insult and still act stupid because you didn't know what I was referring to.  You understand now?"

Chobe sighed and nodded.  "Yeah, I think I do.  And I'll take it to heart, I promise."

"That's the most that I can ask," Buffy hugged Buffy.

"Let's go back and get some rest.  It's still summer, and none of us have jobs for the next couple months.  So we can all focus on training you three tomorrow, and the day after that, and the day after that…"

"Provided you don't piss off your wife again with another stupid stunt!"  They floated off the fence and flew through the air towards Revello Drive.

"I forgot!  And Faith started it by firing an energy blast at me without warning.  We usually warn each other when we switch from physical to energy fighting."

"Real fights aren't like that!"

"REAL fights are anything goes the moment they start.  We always blast off with energy and physical combinations the moment a Tournament fight starts, but in training, we try to organize how we do things.  If we just wanted to fight each other, we'd still be training out in the desert instead of a gym in our home."

"Yeah about that…"

"No, you can't have one."

"Why not?"

"Because."

"Because why?"

"Because I said you can't have one."

"But why?  Why can't I get a gym of my own?"

"Um… maybe because you don't know at least six multi-millionaires, each with a corporation succeeding in high technology research?"

"I know one guy like that!"

"Yeah, and I know six, including that one!"

…

And so it continued…

The next day

"Alright, you guys ready?" GS asked as the three Travellers walked into the house.

"Can we have breakfast first?" her counterpart asked.

"Already on the table," was the answer. "Finish up and meet us in the gym, Thailog. Buffy, you're with Willow again. Try not to interfere with his training this time."

"As long as Xander keeps his hands to himself," Chobe muttered, moving to the kitchen.

"Don't worry," GS assured her with a grin. "That won't be a problem. From today, I'll be handling his training." Thailog cocked an eyebrow. This was about to get interesting.

"Just try not to wreck anything," her counterpart said, reaching for some pancakes. "I like him in one piece. Even though it probably won't kill him."

"Huh?"

"Our link gives Thailog access to my Fey healing and Immortality." She said through a mouthful of pancakes. "Part of the spell I cast before we started." GS-Buffy looked at Willow with a look that asked 'Did you…?' The Power Mage shook her head.

"Uh-uh." She said.

"Thailog told Xander and the others," Chobe said. "I'm surprised…" She stopped, her gaze shifting to the window. "I have to go," she said, getting to her feet.

"Buffy?" Thailog asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Are you alright?"

"He knows I'm here," she whispered. "I have to go." Before anyone could say anything else, she disappeared.

"What the hell was that about?" the remaining Buffy demanded. Thailog looked out the window, hoping she would be safe.

"Oberon," he then turned and headed for the gym.

"Where are you going?" Buffy demanded. Thailog looked at her, worry obvious in his face.

"She will be fine," he said, trying to convince himself more than anyone else. "In any event, she has said I should continue with my training, and not to worry. I trust her, and Oberon, so I shall do as she has requested."

"Won't stop you from worrying, though," Buffy said. Thailog merely nodded and headed to the gym.

Avalon

"It seems we have a new arrival," Phoebe said, looking down from her cliff.

"I do not recognize this one," Selene noted.

"Whoever she is, she feels familiar," Luna said. Her sisters nodded their agreement.

"Indeed, she feels like our Lord Oberon," Selene said.

"But how is this possible?" Phoebe asked, looking down as the new arrival took a deep breath.

"The only way we can find out is if we ask," Luna suggested. They all agreed and disappeared.

Buffy looked around, knowing, without really knowing, that she had arrived on the home she had never seen on her earth. Avalon, home of the Fey. She closed her eyes, taking a breath of air. It was much purer than any she had breathed, except for that on the living planet back in SG-1's universe. The comparison was not lost on her.

"Who are you, Stranger?" a familiar voice said from behind her.

"How and why have you come here?" a second voice said.

"Be warned that you are trespassing," The third said. Buffy turned to face the Three Sisters.

"Nice to know something's don't change," she muttered.

"Answer our questions," Selene said.

"This is not your place," Luna added. Tell me about it, Buffy thought.

"If you do not answer, we will be forced to take action," Phoebe warned. That was where Buffy drew the line.

A royal blue glow sprang around, a glow that lit in her eyes as well. Her confidence swelled with her anger as three sets of hands sprang from the earth, clutching the Sisters and holding them high.

Selene glared at the girl, enraged at the gall she had shown in manhandling them. Her anger, however, quickly turned to fear when she realized that the girl was not merely manipulating the ground. Avalon was obeying her commands as if she were Oberon himself.

"You, of all people, dare to threaten me?" Buffy hissed. "Dare to send me away from the home I've never even seen?" The Sisters looked between them. Who was this girl? "This may not be my home reality, but that changes nothing. I am still the Daughter of Oberon, and I will not be banished from Avalon's shores by the likes of you."

"ENOUGH!" The command rang across the island, the hands immediately withdrawing into the ground. Buffy turned to face her father. "It seems we have much to talk about."

"You called, I came," she said.

"You picked up the summons for the Gathering," Oberon said, slightly shocked.

"I am half Fey," Buffy told him.

"So I noticed. Why are you here?"

"Blame my father." Buffy informed him. She looked back at the Sister. "You three going to behave yourselves?"

"As you wish, my Lady," Selene said. Buffy scowled.

"I really hate titles," she muttered. Oberon chuckled and began to walk, motioning her to follow, which she did so.

"So, why are you here?" he asked again.

"Basically?" Buffy took a breath. "I was raised as human. You decided that I'd be better off that way, away from the games that Fey play. Also, you… sorry, your counterpart, didn't want the Watchers to find out that one of their Potential Slayers was half Fairy." He looked down at her. Was she saying…? "Yep, I'm the Slayer."

"Any way, when you and mom divorced, we moved to Sunnydale. In a train of unnecessary to repeat events, I became, by both my Watcher's accounts and my father's, one of the best. Then the Three Sisters got involved. Something I needed to handle, they needed to train me, you know how it is."

"I presume this training unlocked your Fey powers?" Oberon asked.

"Yep," Buffy confirmed. "Dad was really pissed off at the fact, too."

"I can see why," Oberon agreed with his counterpart's actions. "Your appearance here?"

"Dad found the Gateway," Buffy told him. "Trained there for a while, then me and my boyfriend started traveling between dimensions so I could learn a bit more. Then we find out Thailog's got a destiny all his own. Still trying to figure out that bit, but we're getting there." She looked around. "This is the best I've felt since… Well, since I arrived here actually." Oberon nodded knowingly.

"Traveling as you do, even through the Gateway, requires much of your strength," he said. "Were you a full blooded Fey, it would not affect you so badly. As it is…" He looked down at his could-have-been daughter. "At each stop, you will have to visit that dimension's Avalon. If you do not, your strength will diminish, and you will die." Buffy looked up at him.

"Dad didn't tell me about this," she whispered.

"It is possible that he did not know," her father's counterpart suggested. "In any event, I'm glad I had a chance to meet you. If not just for what you did to the Sisters…" Buffy grinned.

"They asked for it," she said. Oberon stopped, and looked down at her.

"It would be wrong of me to send the girl that could have been my daughter off on a quest without some sort of gift," he said. "And since you do not have a helmet, perhaps this will do instead." He passed his hand over her forehead and a small, silver tiara appeared. Buffy removed it to get a good look. "It will recognize only you as its owner, not even alternate versions will be able to touch it without pain. It will protect you from spells and physical harm, for as long as you live." Buffy placed the tiara on her head.

"Thankyou," she bowed slightly; Oberon cupped her chin.

"Take care," he said. "And do not let your father make the mistakes I have." Buffy nodded, took a step back… and disappeared. Oberon looked at the spot where she had stood, then out at the sea. "You have done well with her."

"I could have done better," Buffy's father said, walking out. "If I had stayed with her..."

"You did what needed to be done," his double said. "She will be fine."

"I hope so. I could never forgive myself if something happened to her."

"If her attitude is hereditary, I'd worry more about her mother," the local said with a smirk. Buffy's father sighed, before fading away. Be careful, my daughter, he thought.

Casa de la Everyone. The gym.

"She's baaaack!" Xander said as Buffy appeared.

"Dump the jokes, Xand Man!" Buffy said, a grin on her face. "I'm fully charged and ready to rock. So don't piss me off."

"Fully charged?" Her counterpart asked, as she and Thailog stepped down from the platform they were training on.

"Something I need to talk to Willow about," Chobe said as she flew into Thailog's arms. "Been a good boy?"

"He's been a perfect gentleman," GS-Buffy said. "So, what the hell happened?"

"The Oberon of this world's started the Gathering," Chobe told her. "I picked up on the call, but some of the Fey may resist. Keep an eye on that."

"Got it," GS looked at the tiara that now rested on her forehead. "What's with the new jewellery?"

"Little gift from 'dad'," her counterpart said. "It's supposed to act like a helmet, to protect me from physical attacks, as well as mystical."

"How's that?" Xander asked. Chobe shrugged.

"Beats me," she said. "All I know is that it's supposed to protect me. Oh, and no other version of me can use it either. He's as overprotective as my dad."

"Be glad about that," GS muttered, reaching out to touch it. She yelped as a small electric shock ran up her arm.

"I did warn you," Chobe said.

GS have her a sly grin and replied, "I know."

"Cool," Xander said. "Hey, can I test it? You know, make sure it works."

"You mean you want a chance to throw a punch at another version of me, knowing she can't really strike back, right?" GS said. Xander gave a lopsided grin.

"Maybe" he said. Chobe sighed.

"I suppose," she said, slipping away from Thailog.

"Are you sure?" the Gargoyle asked. His lover nodded.

"Yeah," she said. She glared at Xander. "But remember, if you get through, I get to test some of the spells I've learned in Willow's books on you, deal?"

"Um, okay," Xander said hesitantly, wondering what she may have learned.

Buffy moved a few more steps away from Thailog, who was still giving her a worried look. "Alright, Xand," she said. "Go for it. And no glowy stuff, okay?" Xander nodded and charged forward. He drew his fist back, began to strike…

…And found himself on the other side of the gym before his fist could touch her.

"Well, it works." Chobe said. "Just don't ask me how," Thailog thought a moment.

"Xander, what did it feel like, just before you flew backward?" he asked, his scientific mind taking over.

"Like our Buffy stepped in," Warrior X said. "Why?" Thailog grinned.

"Ingenious," he muttered. "It reversed his inertia, turned it back on him. That's why he went flying."

"So, what?" Faith asked walking over to the group. Cordelia had moved over to Xander, whilst Ta'ruk simply watched. "It gave him a taste of his own medicine?"

"In a way," Thailog said. "It…met his strike with equal force, then a little bit more to 'end' the threat to Buffy."

"Cool," the Buffy in question muttered, removing the tiara. "Built-in force field."

"Ya might wanna equip air bags," Xander muttered as Cordelia got up. "That hurt."

"You volunteered," Chobe said. "Anyways, I'm gonna head up to Willow's Workroom. I presume that's where she is." Her counterpart nodded.

"Knock first," she advised.

"Thanks."

Willow's Workroom (aka Buffy's first level of Hell)

"Took you long enough," Willow griped as she opened the door magically, staying in the center of the room, levitating while surrounded by mystical energies Buffy couldn't begin to describe.

"Uh…had to talk with this version of my Dad.  And he gave me a present.  Wanna see?" Buffy took off the tiara and shown it.

Willow smiled.  The door shut behind the Child of Oberon suddenly.  "Why don't you go meditate first?  Practice all of the exercises I taught you yesterday.  Once you have, return your energies to normal, as you sometimes seem to forget to do so, and we'll talk before continuing with new lessons.  By the way, if you'd like I can teach you how to lessen the side effects so that you can stay away from Avalon as much as a full blooded fairy."

Buffy blinked in surprise.  "How did you…?" she started to ask.

"I have my ways.  I felt you cross the veil of the Mists, and I subtly tapped my own little spy I have on Avalon to see what was happening.  Also…I knew, but I had also been hoping that since you did live your entire life off of Avalon and you're not only half human but a Slayer, that you might not need the magic recharge." Willow explained.

"Unfortunately I was wrong," she continued as finally the mystic energies around her died out, but she remained levitating.  "The more that you use your magic, the more your fairy half will come into play.  If you stopped using magic today, there might be a chance that you could return to normal… albeit after some magic withdrawal, which is never pretty."

Buffy was startled by this new information, as much as by her father's counterpart's announcement.  "Is there anyway to…to stop it?  This…magic addiction?"

Willow sadly shook her head.  "Fairies are magic.  They tap it naturally.  Most are even a part of nature itself, so your magic will never have the side effects most wizards of your level have.  What makes it an addiction is that you are part human, and humans don't tap magic naturally.  My guess is that what happens is that you have to make a connection with each Avalon you visit.  In your home universe, your father probably maintained the energy to you himself.  Here…here you probably just took care of that right now with that visit."

"Something to do, for future reference, is that the moment you get to a new world, unless you're in trouble, but the moment you can do so, go immediately to Avalon, or the fairy equivalent, and establish a connection with it.  That should take care of any problems you'll have."

Buffy nodded, grateful for the sagely advice.

Willow's face became more caring rather than lecture like, "Now, go meditate.  We'll start lessons as soon as you're ready."  Buffy smiled, nodded, and went to sit down and began going through the magic exercises Willow had shown her.

Training Gym, or Thailog's first level of hell

"How ya doin' Big T?" Faith asked from a parallel platform.

Thailog and Buffy, the Gold Slayer, were on one of the outer platforms, as the central one still wasn't fully operational.  The gravity level was almost more than the powerful gargoyle could stand.  Literally, he was almost to his knees.  Buffy however, was walking around like a customer at her mother's art shop, inspecting a piece she was about to buy.

"I'm… grunt… all right, considering the… circumstances… Faith…" Thailog managed to grunt out.

"You're physical strength is impressive Thailog, but that's not what this exercise is about," Buffy explained to him as she continued to walk around him.  "You've felt the Band's power.  You tapped it in your rage and anger, and activated it at your will when you needed it.  I don't really feel like creating the need at the moment, but I'm hoping we can help you figure out how to tap the Band's power without you having to lose your temper beyond all measure."

"Easy for you to say," Thailog grunted.  It was not very hard to differentiate his Buffy from this one.  The emotional bond aside, this one was treating him more like a drill sergeant would and she certainly didn't care too much to try and mother him.

He realized he was starting to get soft.  He had gotten comfortable with Buffy's "mothering" of him, and letting the fact that this version by not was hurting his feelings was just silly.  In fact it made him slightly angry.

"Anger is what we're trying to avoid here Thailog," Buffy calmly told him, continuing to orbit him.  "I know you can feel its power.  Just try and touch it.  It shouldn't be that hard."

"Would you like to try?" he shouted, the frustration giving him enough strength to do so.

Immediately, the gold-hued ki flame flashed around the Slayer as her power shot just as quickly to roughly half of what she had been against Faith the other day.  "See?  Easy," she shot back.

"It's not the same!" he growled.

"It's exactly the same!" Buffy shouted back.  "The only difference is the source.  I tap my life force, you're tapping the band.  The way to do it is the same, I promise you.  Now DO IT!!"

Thailog finally lost it.  Red shone from his eyes, and the growl proceeded to a soft roar in his throat.  Thailog did not have the same qualms about not striking a familiar face, so long as he knew the difference.

He swung at the Gold Slayer, she ducked easily.  He lashed with his tail.  Far too easily in the intensified gravity, she jumped up over six feet to avoid it and landed in her same spot after a fancy back flip.  He tried again to reach for the Band's strength that it had given him against his evil counterpart.  He tried to use his anger, his rage.  Nothing worked.

Finally, Buffy sighed, seeing this wasn't working.  Then an idea seemed to come to her.  She sent to Willow via their own special link, Keep her there.  No matter what she says, or tries to do, even if you have to cage her and call it a test, keep her there.

The moment she received confirmation, she activated her psionic powers, her eyes flashing an electric gold-yellow, and created a no-mental zone in the gym, specifically around the platform Thailog was on.  In short, she blocked the mental and emotional aspect of his and Buffy's link.  The physical aspect was left alone.

Thailog froze stiff when he realized that something had changed.  His eyes widened in horror as he realized that he could no longer feel his Buffy!

He didn't even look at the others, or notice the brief aura of power that came from the other Buffy's eyes, he just ran immediately for the door, only to be stopped by the force field.  He tried the voice commands he'd heard the other's use.  It remained unresponsive.

He slammed his fists against the energy barrier over and over again.  All that happened was a flicker of pressure.  Becoming more enraged by the moment, he walked over to one of the posts, but the moment he tried to touch it, he received a shock that left one side of his body entirely numb.  It didn't matter, he was already numb all throughout his entire body… without Buffy, he had no reason to feel anything at all.

He turned towards the one, the only one that could get him out of this cage so he could get to his beloved.  "Let me out of here!" he demanded.

She stared at him for several moments, and if he hadn't shouted he would have thought she hadn't heard him.  Then she looked thoughtful for half a moment before answering him straight forward, "No."

The same feeling he'd had when his alternate had attacked his Buffy, and insulted her as well, filled him again as the Band began to glow, the bright red flames extending from it, his eyes turning gold.  If not for the magical aspect, he now almost looked exactly like any of the ki users in the gym.

The thousand-gargoyle roar filled and echoed the gym so loudly that it was actually heard outside the house.  Thailog stopped himself enough to demand once more, "Let me out!"  There was no thoughtful look this time, only a sly smirk as Buffy replied, "No."

Moving faster than he ever thought possible for him to move, Thailog streaked across the platform, a bright red trail behind him as he hit the Slayer with the same force he had his evil self.  The same fist of force that had knocked a 400 lbs enhanced gargoyle clone over 100 feet into the air… was caught by the Gold Slayer's palm as she blocked his punch.  The sly smirk never once left her face.

He tried to hit her again, and again.  Each time she blocked him cold.  After the third attempt, she retaliated, landing a solid blow to his face, and then a high kick to his chest, which knocked him back all the way to the force field.

"Ooo, that's gotta hurt," Xander said from the sidelines.  Everyone else in the gym was now sitting on benches, watching the fight.  Cordelia had gotten everyone some popcorn too.

"Are you not going to stop this?" Ta'ruk asked as he declined the popcorn.

"We've all been through worse than this," Faith assured him.  "Even Cordy has had the living shit beaten out of her.  Don't worry.  B knows what she's doing.  And Big T still has his immortality through Chobe.  Or did you not notice that his bloody nose is healing before our eyes?"

Ta'ruk looked again, and was mildly comforted that his friend was not in any true mortal danger.

Thailog got to his feet, the red flame around him became more intense, now a ruby red, the gold still present in his eyes.  He roared again, and charged.  Buffy mostly avoided his hits, although they were now a good deal faster and no doubt more powerful than the ones before.  Those that she didn't avoid, she blocked with the same precision and phenomenal strength as she had blocked the ones before.

He swiped at her with his claws, tried to punch her, kick her, he even tried to strike her with his tail.  He learned the hard way the first time he tried that that he shouldn't have.  She grabbed the appendage the moment he swung it at her, grabbed it very hard, and using the gargoyle's momentum, picked him up by only the grab on his tail, swung him in a tight circle four times over before throwing him back into the force field.

Even Ta'ruk had to wince at that one.

Thailog got back to his feet, the ruby red flames grew slightly, but at the same time became a darker red, and even more intense.  By now the power of the Gargoyle could be sharply felt, even by Ta'ruk's symbiote.  Buffy didn't even look concerned.

"Let me out of here," he growled, his voice surprisingly un-distorted.

Buffy did not answer him.

Snarling, he roared once more, jumped up and extended his wings as he glided in to attack.  Buffy just jumped half a foot off the platform, hovered there for a moment, and then flipped herself inverted in order to kick Thailog in the neck and at the same time propel him into the force field behind her.  She set back down on the platform and turned to face him.

Thailog was back on his feet in a flash and he realized that whatever had happened to his beloved, this Slayer had something to do with it.  The flames now a deep, dark, blood red, his eyes as golden as his body crimson, Thailog retained enough reason in his enraged, empowered form to ask, "What have you done to her?"

That sly smirk came back on her face.  "Well, see it's like this…despite our own little bond, my wife sometimes gets confused when we have other me's over, and she gets us mixed up.  My guess is that she was feeling a little randy after a certain spell and blocked out all psychic transmission to keep me from checking up on her.  Oh, did I mention… she likes to be on top."

In the deepest recesses of his mind, the most primitive part of Thailog's instincts broke free of whatever restraints held it and it took control of the gargoyle.  But not entirely.  Thailog's common sense and higher reasoning remained in enough control that he could strategize his attack on the Slayer.

The flames were so red that for a moment even Buffy thought they were black.  Moving so fast that he left after-images of himself in his wake, Thailog rushed Buffy as a rage and power he had never imagined before filled him.

Buffy blocked his first strike, then avoided the next three.  After that, he began to move so fast that she was forced to block each one, but that sly smirk still never left her face.

Frustration upon the rage built within Thailog as it became far too obvious that no matter his increase in power and success at tapping the Band's strength, the Gold Slayer was just far too skilled for him to defeat.  That became more than obvious when she stopped defending, and went on the attack.

She still blocked his every hit, but before he could make his next, she struck her own blow to his head, and then landed several dozen more against his upper body.  She then started alternating kicks and punches, almost throwing the powerful creature around like a rag doll.  She kicked him severely across the chest and face several times, and then finally knocked him back, hard, to the force field.

He got up much slower this time, but he still got up.  When he turned to face his opponent, he saw her standing there, waiting for him, that smirk still on her face.  His frustration and rage grew so much that… something broke.

The golden glow left his eyes, returning them to normal, for him, but the flames remained around him, blood red.  A barrier that had been in his mind from the moment he had first touched the Band came down, an inner voice saying, 'You are ready.'

A calm born of both understanding and knowledge settled the rage and frustration within him.  Outside, the band began to glow a great deal brighter.  In fact it might be enough that one could call it shining.  It wasn't the red of the flames, but a bright light merely the same color that the Band itself was.

"I do not accuse, I do not judge, and I do not blame." Thailog intoned.  "I am a gargoyle, and I am a protector.  I do not accuse you of harming the innocent.  I do not judge you for what you have done or are doing.  And I do not blame you for standing in my way."

"However," he growled, his eyes shining themselves though no glow came from them as normal, "you are responsible for or are participating in an act of harm against an innocent under my protection."  The golden glow returned.  "For that, I cannot forgive you!"

The Gold Slayer raised her power to match Thailog's sudden rise in strength, and she barely managed to block in time when he hit her.  She was surprised that she actually felt some pain from that though.  Thailog's attacks were now coming as fast as Buffy's blocks had been earlier, and in retaliation, Buffy's ki flame flashed into existence as she started to raise her power higher.

Thailog didn't even let her get the chance and started laying into her as much, actually more than she had beaten him.  She twisted away suddenly, building her power enough and then rushed in with a punch that could have cleaved Thailog in half, stone or not.

Thailog raised the Band before him and the shield suddenly appeared, throwing Buffy back a little as her attack bounced her off of it.  The shield disappeared as quickly as it had appeared and Thailog started laying into her again.  He knocked her back against the force field, and then started throwing punches all over her upper body before ending the combo with an uppercut so powerful it sent her halfway to the ceiling.

Before she could fall back, Thailog spread his wings, and almost actually flying with them, he went to her position and started attacking her again.  He then kicked her with his right foot/talon, and pressed it further into her chest, holding her against the force field.  Then, with the rest of his body, fists, claws, foot, talons, tail and reinforced-bone skull, began beating her.

Maybe a minute, this went on until he finally let go of her with his talon, and she began to fall to the platform in the heavy gravity.  Before she even fell all the way forward, Thailog doubled his fists together and slammed both his arms at the conjoined fists into the top of her back, just below the neck.

She landed with such force on the platform that around the edges, the force field lit up at the pressure waves.  Before Thailog landed, Buffy was already getting to her knees.  She rolled a couple of bones and joints around, noticed her pains, and then touched her fingers to her mouth and felt the blood there from a nosebleed.  It had already healed, but a single drop had made it out of her nostril.

"Not bad," she commented approvingly.  She suddenly vanished as Thailog landed where she had been, rather forcefully.

"But so not good enough," she said behind Thailog and quickly began beating him so many ways that not even the ancient skill, knowledge, and strength of the Gatebuilders could help Thailog out of this.

By the time she was done, Thailog had managed to attack her three more times, doing as much, or more, damage as he had the first time.  But despite all his efforts, she was still more powerful and far more skilled than he was.  The outcome was inevitable.

All right, you can let her out now Buffy told Willow, and the moment she did so, both she and Chobe appeared in teleporting energies in the gym.  Buffy let down the force field around the platform and reverted the gravity to normal.

Chobe of course went immediately to Thailog.  She didn't like what she saw.  "What the hell happened?!" she demanded.

Buffy didn't much care for the tone, given what she'd just been through, but at the same time she was glad to have accomplished her objective.  So, as neutrally as she could tell it, she answered, "I taught him how to use the Band."

Buffy, Child of Oberon, looked up at her mirror image, a cold look in her eye.  "What did you do to him?" she asked quietly with a cold tone.

"Oh don't fret princess," Buffy chafed.  "He's going to be fine!  He's still connected to your healing and immortality in case you didn't notice!  He's just unconscious."

Chobe got to her feet, looking about ready to attack the Gold Slayer.  When she got to less than a foot away, she was suddenly knocked back by a wave of energy so powerful she was knocked silly for several seconds.

When she had enough sense to look again, what she saw terrified her to her very core, Slayer or not.  Standing just less than ten feet in front of her was an energy dynamo that would make an active volcano look tame.

The gold ki flame was so intense that it actually seemed to burn the air, and was over twenty feet high, though still focused around Buffy's body.  Buffy's hair was all going straight up, but so much more than hanging from the ceiling or static electricity up.  Yellow lightning, travelled like energy waves up the Gold Slayer's body, giving the effect a strange combination of power and intensity to it that the other Buffy couldn't really identify.  Also given the ionized content of the air and the feeling of Buffy's power pressing in on everyone in the room, making everything seem much smaller and stuffier.

"Don't even think about it!" the Gold Slayer snapped at her double.  "Not even Willow, at full power using her deadliest spells can beat me.  You don't have a chance!  That's why I'm the most powerful on this team.  And don't you dare forget it Fairy Slayer!"

Half an instant later, after she was sure the threat had been taken seriously, Buffy returned her power level to normal, all the strange effects stopping as she did so.

Next, she knelt next to Thailog and grabbed his shoulder, using her psionic powers to rouse him to consciousness faster.  She shook him gently, he groaned and soon after was getting to his knees.

"Buffy…?" he called out, sounding as beat as he really was.

GS looked up at her counterpart, "He's asking for you," she confirmed.

"No," Thailog corrected, "Actually, I was asking for you."  The next instant his tail flung out and tore the legs right out from under the Gold Slayer, slamming her on her back.

Stunned, she lay there for a moment before mumbling out, "Ow."

"Serves you right for what you just put me through," Thailog growled, with Chobe's help getting to his feet.

Buffy shrugged from her position on the ground and put her hands behind her neck and floated until she was in a position to stand again.  "That?  That's training.  Actually…that was light training," Buffy told him.

He and his companions looked at her in disbelief.  The rest of the Slayer team confirmed it though.  "Told ya," Xander told them.

"What?  Me and B's demo didn't convince you?" Faith asked, sounding surprised.

"That was pretty light compared to our normal training sessions," Willow agreed.

"You did hear the part about me getting the stuffing beat out of me, right?" Cordelia added her two cents.

"Still…" Thailog let it go.

"You had no right to push him that far!" Buffy shouted at the Slayer Team.  "And I thought you weren't supposed to progress things in training!" she aimed at her other self.

GS shrugged.  "I didn't use energy attacks," she admitted.

Thailog startled.  He would have lost either way.  Even with the shield, even if he had been stronger than her, faster, or more skilled, she was fully experienced in using her very energy and life force as weapons, and he was just beginning to learn what they were teaching.

Before his wife could argue any further, he calmed her with a hand on her shoulder.  "They're right Buffy," he told her.  At her confused look and the feelings he received in their renewed bond, he explained, "I know how to use the Band."

That simple sentence that held so much with it was like a cannon in a room where a pin drop sounded like a cannon.  Sensing disbelief, he stood back, and activated the Band as he now knew how to.  The red flames surrounded him and his eyes lit up gold.  He held up the band and the shield came around him.  Then, he extended his wings and actually hovered above the ground for a few seconds before returning himself to normal.

"If not for Buffy's… er, prompting, it probably would have been weeks before I would be able to control it, rather than instinctively activating it whenever you were in danger.  It was… a terrible experience, for sure, but a great good came from it, and we cannot deny that my love." Thailog embraced his wife, and she agreed.  Not with words, but through their bond.

"Now what?" he asked.

"Now we increase you limits, and your skill," GS-Buffy answered him.  "Like I said, that was light training.  We're moving you up a class to Heavy light training."

"I don't suppose that's a joke about heavier gravity?" he asked from his continued embrace with his true love.

"Yeah, well, blame Xander, he came up with it," Buffy said, turning back around to continue training the gargoyle in his new powers.

"You don't have to," his Buffy begged.  "You know how to control it.  We can do the rest on our own."

He caressed her face lovingly.  "Would you stop your training with Willow if it suddenly became painful instead of fun?"  She actually hesitated for a moment, and then shook her head.  She had made a commitment to her best friend's double, and she had to stick to it as long as she could.

"Much good will come of this.  For now, you have your own training to get back to my love."

"But…"

I'm sorry.  But I needed to get him to tap the Band's full potential and the only way he was going to do that was if he thought you were in danger.  Believe it or not, my Trainer got me to do the same thing, but by actually putting Willow and the others in danger.  Life-threatening danger.  I swear, by everything that I hold dear and our friendship, and by Mr. Gordo's continued existence, that I will never block the connection between you two ever again. They heard in their minds.

They softly conversed to one another.  Then made her swear by another dozen things before finally separating and continuing their training for the day.

TBC…

            If you're reading this then guess what? IT WORKED (does bakcflips)! WOO-HOO! YEE-PEE!

 Stay tuned.

Doc.