Chapter 10
"Let me guess, this is a sample of the not-so-responsible vampire," Reno said softly nodding toward Spike and Drusilla.
Cheri grinned. Spike did likewise. Drusilla stared at Reno hard. Then she smiled, innocent and childlike. Reno wasn't certain he really wanted to know what lay behind the smile.
Angel finally found his voice and asked what had brought the two of them back to his abode.
"Wouldn't you like to know. All cozy with the slayer?" Drusilla asked.
Angel turned away. Like he was ever going to be "all cozy with the slayer" ever again. Much as he adored Buffy, their relationship was over. He didn't even know exactly why he was still in Sunnydale.
Upstairs at Giles', Siro and Rayden were wondering much the same thing. The confrontation of the night before seemed as though it should have been the focal point of their visit. Both had been somewhat expecting the return of the roaring twister to take them back to Kung Lao. Nothing.
Rayden was sitting in the window of the bedroom while Siro bathed. He was amused at the man's fascination with indoor plumbing. Hot water at the turn of a knob had him amazed and pleased. Hot water running from a nozzle above him to allow him to just stand under it and enjoy the sensation was - well, he'd borrowed Giles' shower three times in the last 24 hours.
Siro came out of the bath wrapped in a thick towel and looking pleased with himself. "It's as good for aches as a soak at the monks' place," he announced and started getting dressed.
"I'm glad you're enjoying it. If we're here much longer, we may have to investigate getting a place of our own."
Siro looked up. "We just haven't solved the problem yet?" he offered hopefully.
"Last night wasn't a problem?"
"It was - but not *the* problem? perhaps?"
Rayden smiled. Count on Siro to be an optimist when others were being concerned. He had felt the strangeness about the vampire/demon who fled before them. There was a tinge of OutWorld about him. Perhaps the Emperor was not yet through with them in this time and place. He shook his head slightly. It would be handy for an immortal to be able to remember in both directions, he thought. But then, things could get really muddled if you couldn't sort out which end of your existence the memories were coming from.
Then again, there were some things one might not wish to recall regardless of which end of one's existence they were at. Pain as he had never before felt enveloped him. He instinctively curled into a ball and fell out of the window. Luckily, he fell into the room instead of outside. The pain was so intense, he could not even make a sound of protest, he could only gasp for breath and try to hold on to the shreds of consciousness unraveling around him. The pain eased only to intensify again. He was peripherally aware of Siro hovering beside him, afraid to touch him in case it added to the problem, yet unwilling to leave him.
Giles and Tanya heard the thump when Rayden hit the floor. The silence afterward set them both on edge. They headed upstairs to find out what was going on. They found Siro kneeling next to Rayden who was curled so tightly into himself that fetal was possibly too mild a term for his position. Giles didn't think a normal human being could do that. For a moment, he forgot that his guests were far from normal. Rayden went limp.
Siro laid a hand on the Thunder God's shoulder, checked for a pulse. It was there, strong and steady. He looked around at Giles and Tanya. He looked lost. His anchor to reality had just been taken out. Surprisingly, it was Tanya who came to his rescue.
"He is alive?"
"Yes."
"Put him on the bed. He cannot be comfortable there when he awakens."
Siro did as he was told. The gray haired god was lighter than he looked. For once his face was relaxed as Siro had seldom seen it. He frowned at the immortal on the bed. What could do this to a god?
"Now, get dressed."
Siro remembered he was clad only in a towel wrapped around his waist. He nodded with a smile and retrieved his clothing. He dropped the towel and proceeded to pull on his clothes. Giles beat a hasty retreat. Siro looked up as he left, a curious look on his face.
"They are not so uninhibited," Tanya explained. Siro did not look enlightened. "Nudity taboos?" Still nothing, although he obviously understood that she was attempting to impart knowledge to him. She thought about it. "Your culture does not find human nakedness something of which to be ashamed."
"Ashamed? Why?"
"Good question. It has to do with technological superiority, I think. Personally, I do not understand the ability of modern man to be paralyzed without his external trappings. It gets you killed. But, it is so. And Giles, he is very proper, very British, very uncomfortable with himself - " she ended thoughtfully. Might there be something she could exploit?
Rayden groaned and brought their attention back to him. He opened his eyes. Lightning flashed in their depths and then he looked normal. He ached. Every muscle in his body hurt. Muscles he'd forgotten he had hurt. He gave Tanya a warm smile and tried to sit up. No. Not a good idea.
"Stay where you are. What happened?"
"Pain."
"That is a good start, but it does not explain."
He smiled. "No, it doesn't. I don't have an explanation. I was just sitting there and - everything - hurt. I would say that whatever Siro and I were brought here for isn't over yet."
"Ah. So, tell me about you and Siro. I know you come from - perhaps an alternate existence. But that is all. We have not had time to talk, yes?"
"No. We haven't. Siro is a guard, a fighter, a good man to have at one's back."
"And you?"
"He is Lord Rayden, Thunder God, Immortal -"
"Immortal?"
"Mentor of the Champion of Earthrealm," Siro finished with a flourish, ignoring Tanya's interruption.
She looked at him sharply, then back at Rayden. "Earth - realm? But you do not belong in this time, that much is certain. And, Immortal?"
"Yes?" Rayden was trying to follow where she was leading and having a hard time of it.
"So, technically, you could exist twice in this place and time."
"Technically," he agreed. Then he really thought about what she was saying. As an immortal, time meant little to him. But if there was another Rayden here, an older Rayden who was in trouble - He sat up, swinging his legs over the side of the bed and nearly fell over. His vision went double for a moment, but not with the same objects in the same room. Siro moved to steady him. He grabbed the man's arm and looked up into his face. Siro did not like what he saw there. A shaken god is not a good thing to see.
Rayden looked around at Tanya. "There are two of me here," he said softly.
She nodded. He confirmed her first suspicion. "Now, what do we do about it?"
"Do?" Siro sounded as confused as he felt. What could they do? Go home. That sounded good. Then there would only be the Rayden who belonged here. But how to get home? And leaving the Rayden who belonged here in trouble didn't sit exactly right with him either. "We find him," he said slowly.
Tanya smiled. While in Cheri's proximity, she would not be allowed to exercise her considerable talents of destruction in a wanton fashion, but this sounded like her talents could be useful, very useful.
"I think we need to talk to Giles."
Buffy, dozing fitfully on her bed instead of trying to plow her way through an English assignment, heard someone call her name. She turned her head toward the sound. The voice came again. Sleepily, she opened her eyes, saw a glowing Rayden standing in her room and snapped wide awake. This included moving off the bed and grabbing slayer stakes in a blur of movement. The figure did not move. Then she took in the full enormity of the figure just as it faded. When did Rayden start wearing blue jeans and a leather jacket?
Buffy lost no time in heading out to Giles' place to find out what was going on. She met up with Tanya and Siro at Giles' front door. They were coming out.
"Oh. Hi. What's up?"
"Lord Rayden," Siro began.
"Nothing you need to worry about," Tanya cut in. "Come on," she added to Siro and led him off to her car.
Buffy watched them go, then knocked on the door. Giles, adjusting the collar of his perpetual tweed suit, opened the door.
"Ah, Buffy. Good. You can stay here with Rayden while I go do some research."
"What? Hold it. Wait. What is going on?"
"Oh - er - well. Lord Rayden seems to be - in two places at once," he put it succinctly if incomprehensibly.
"Try that again. I seem to be missing something here."
"There are - well - uhm - two of him."
"Like - twins?" Buffy asked hopefully.
"No."
"OK. Like - like what? I am not getting this. This is a bad thing. This is a "make the slayer crazy" thing. This is a "remind the Watcher the Slayer is *not* good at puzzles without clues* thing." Buffy was frowning at him with her "I'm trying to understand this and you're doing a lousy job of explaining it" look.
Giles took a deep, supposedly relaxing breath, and released it. "Essentially, Lord Rayden is an immortal. The - the one of him we have met is from - another time. I thought that also meant another place. We are - er - beginning to have indications that - that this is not so."
Buffy tried this explanation on for size and found it wanting. "Could we try for just a teensy bit more clarity, here?" She ignored his look and concentrated on what he would say next. She had a feeling that she really *needed* to understand what was going on. She had a hunch that her understanding was critical, even if it didn't make any sense.
Giles frowned slightly. "I believe that translates to, there is Rayden from the past and Rayden current. There are two of him."
"Ah. That would explain the leather jacket and the jeans."
It was Giles' turn to practice his "huh?" look. "I beg your pardon?"
Buffy brightened visibly. "That would explain the jacket and the jeans and the whiter hair and the "in my room fade out" thing - I think." She considered this for a moment. "Well, it would explain the kinda retro James Dean look, but not the fade out."
"Retro James Dean -" Giles repeated vaguely. Where did she pick up these things? "You *saw* Rayden?"
"Yeah."
"In *your* room?"
"Yeah." Buffy agreed, nodding. Giles was being really swift on the uptake here.
"When?"
"About - half an hour ago."
"Did he look like he was in pain?"
"No."
Giles shot a frowning look at the stairway. Half an hour or so ago would coincide with the surge of pain Rayden had felt. But it didn't seem linked if the vision Buffy had seen wasn't in pain. Unless - could astral travel cause pain to the part of you that wasn't current if it was present while you - Oh, my, that *was* tangled, wasn't it?
"Keep an eye on Rayden. And let me know if you see - the other one again."
"Where are you going?"
"The library."
"Oh. Without me."
"Someone has to keep watch on Rayden - and there isn't anyone else and we don't yet know just what we're up against, so -"
"So it's better than trying to get in some late morning slaying. I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. So - go research."
Giles went, not without misgivings, but then those were with him constantly regardless of upbringing, training, or common sense. Buffy went quietly upstairs to check on Rayden.
The man in the white and blue robes had turned on his side so he could at least look out the window. He didn't look as impressive as usual lying there, his head pillowed on one arm, his hair a little disarrayed. He looked a lot more human. He heard her stop at the doorway. He rolled onto his back and looked at the young woman standing there. He smiled. It was a warm, welcoming smile.
"Your - Watcher - explained?"
"Sort of. Two of you. Not twins. Not good. That much I understood."
"It is a little complicated."
"Yeah. Life is a little complicated."
"Frequently. Especially for champions."
Buffy perched on the end of the bed. "Champions? Well, I don't get called that too often."
"I know. Probably just as well. This is, to me, a very strange world you live in."
"Yeah, well, you know - it gets a little strange for us sometimes, too."
Rayden regarded her solemnly for a moment and nodded. "Yes, I can see where it would." He broke off with a gasp. It wasn't as bad this time, but there was a definite surge of pain again.
Buffy was at his side instantly, yet, like Siro, she refrained from touching him at first. "What is it?"
"Pain. Unlocalized. It - just - hurts," he ground out.
He was a little surprised when she sat down and put her arms around him, as much as possible. He accepted the embrace gratefully even as the pain surged through him again. Buffy grimaced at what she could feel, his muscles contracting in involuntary convulsive spasms. She knew pain, but the things that hurt her she could usually see, feel, fight. This was different on so many levels she almost didn't have words to express her feeling about it. So, she just sat and held on until it passed.
Buffy wasn't certain just when she realized that Rayden had fallen asleep with his head resting against her. Then it was a case of not disturbing him. He probably needed the rest. She leaned back against the headboard of the bed and tried to clear her thoughts. It was odd sitting on Giles' bed, another man sleeping in her arms - uh - er - wait a minute. Try rephrasing that - Only it wouldn't rephrase. She almost laughed. What would her mother say? No, not the time to go there.
The sun crept slowly down the western sky. Just as it slid beneath the horizon, Rayden awakened with a cry. He was of the bed and out of the room before Buffy was awake enough to realize that she wasn't in her own room dozing over her English assignment. Bed. Man. Giles? She sprang to her feet and ran after the man who was nearly at the front door of Giles' home.
Rayden! She recognized the flying hair and robes as she hit the middle of the stairs. "Rayden! Wait!"
He turned. Lightning played where his eyes had been dark and friendly before. "Stay away," he said in a voice that sounded distant and very unfriendly.
"Got a reason?" Buffy liked a challenge, but this was probably beyond her. Maybe she could just get him talking.
"Death. It stalks this time. The Earthrealm is in danger." He looked at her more intensely. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other while she wondered what he was seeing, what he would do next and how she would counter it if she had to do so.
"Earthrealm - OK. What's an Earthrealm?"
"Your world. Your very existence."
"Ah. Well, that would be bad. Yes. So - what do we do to stop it?" After all, she was the Slayer, world saving was a part of the job.
Rayden seemed to really see her again. His eyes flickered but the worst of the oddness faded. He stepped toward her. "You? Impossible. Kung Lao trained all his life to win - You - are a child compared to him. Barely trained."
The door opened behind him. The wind outside, which had picked up greatly, blew the door out of the hand of the man opening it. Rayden whirled and reacted without thinking. He blew Giles backward into the yard outside. Giles hit hard and lay there, limp.
"Giles!" Buffy dashed past the thunder god to her Watcher. His eyes were open, the beginnings of comprehension returning to them.
"Buffy."
"Giles. Are you - I mean, he like - are you all right?"
He seemed to consider the question for a moment. "Uhm - er - yes. I believe so."
Rayden joined them and offered Giles a hand up. "Your pardon. I - I believe I over reacted to your arrival. Things are - unsettled."
"Quite." Giles made a mental note never to walk up behind an unsettled god again.
"Any luck?" Buffy broke in.
"Uh - no."
"Ok. Rayden thinks Earthrealm is threatened. Any bells?"
"No." How did he tell Buffy that in all the works he had ever read there was no mention of Earthrealm at all, that the term was a mystery much as the advent of Siro and Rayden into their lives was.