In the original reality, Aaron and the owner were showing Buffy, Willow and Xander Ava's bookstore. Buffy didn't want Amy to stray too far from her sight until her spell was corrected, so Amy was with them as well.
Buffy and the others were in the store for a short time, when the owner asked, "So where are you folks from?"
"From the original Sunnydale," Willow answered. "The original Sunnydale had a high mortality rate also."
"So you know about it?" the bad asked.
"We do," Buffy said.
"If you know about the high mortality rate in this town then why are you wanting to buy a business here?" the owner asked. "Not that I'm trying to talk you out of buying."
"Just call us crazy," Willow commented.
"So how much do you want for us to take this shop off your hands?" Buffy asked. The owner quoted an outrages high price. "And we're not that crazy. Aaron if you know of another shop…"
"Wait," the owner said before quoting a lower price.
"That's a more reasonable quote," Aaron said.
Buffy took a deep breath before saying, "Okay, you have a buyer."
"I will have my lawyer handle the formalities of the purchase," Aaron said.
Buffy nodded as the owner said, "Have him… or her call me first thing Monday."
"Will do," Aaron said as Buffy's cell phone rang.
Buffy looked at who was calling before she answered with, "What's the sitch, Giles?"
Buffy stepped away from the group as Giles told Buffy, "The witch's coven feels that they were able to reconstruct the spell that Amy did. They also think that the only reason why Amy and the guy in the coma didn't get exchanged with their counterparts is because their counterparts are most likely dead in the other reality."
"Make sense," Buffy said. "Okay, give us thirty minutes to get to a place to where we can perform the spell and then call back."
When Buffy rejoined the others, Willow asked, "Good news?"
Buffy nodded to Willow before telling the owner, "It was nice to meet you. We have other pressing matters to attend to."
"Of course," the owner said.
Buffy, Willow and Aaron shook the owner's hand while saying their farewells before Buffy's group left the shop.
In the alternate reality, Willow gathered the information that they needed off one of the library computers. As Willow was doing that, Giles had contacted the council to have them copy certain spells and have those spells faxed to the library.
After they gathered what they needed, Giles uttered, "Now that that's done, we need a way to Sunnydale."
"Flying there will have to be direct and there won't be airlines going that way," Xander said.
"Then we'll change that," one of the men said.
"How?" Giles asked.
"Capt. Donald Collins employed by America Airlines at your service," the man said. "I'm certified to fly several planes and I'm sure I'm able to fly the ones that I'm not certified on as well."
"How do you feel about stealing one of those planes that can take us all the way?" Xander asked.
"I wouldn't have told you who I was if I had a problem with it," Donald said.
"That's good enough for me," Xander said.
"We'll need to get to the airport and I doubt that it's going to be easy," Willow said. "Adam's demons will be everywhere between here and there."
"We need weapons," Xander said.
"There's a sporting good store a few blocks over," someone said.
"Guns are useless against demons, so we'll need something more on the lines of swords, crossbows or ax," Giles said.
"There's a hardware store near there too," the person said. "We can get axes and perhaps the ingredients for homemade bombs from there."
"Excellent; let's move," Giles said.
The group left the library and made their way to the hardware store as stealthy as they could. They came upon two demons during their trek. The first one came right at them and they were able to kill it with no deaths, but the second came out of a gangway of two buildings and attack from behind. The last person of the group, a man, was killed before they knew the demon was there. After a short fight Verna was able to rip its head off before it killed someone else.
Before reaching the hardware store, the group came upon a bookstore that sold tarot cards, candles and other supplies that they needed to cast spells.
When Giles saw the bookstore, he uttered, "Bloody hell. I just realized that we need magic supplies." He then gestured towards the bookstore. "We need to stop here first."
After the group broke into the bookstore, they took what they needed before continuing for another block to the hardware store.
The hardware store was abandon and unlocked. Once there they split up. Most of them went to the aisle where the axes were. The rest of them went and gathered strong flashlights, battery operated lanterns and fresh batteries.
In the original reality, in Aaron's dining room, Willow and Amy were preparing the spell that would switch the two Xanders back to their original realities. Buffy, Xander, Aaron and Phyllis stood off to the side while watching.
After everything was laid out on the dining room table, Willow said, "Before we start the spell to send Xander back where he belongs, I'm going to cast another spell first."
"What kind of spell, Will?" Buffy asked.
"Xander, I'm going to embed a magical package inside you," Willow began. "That package will be for the Willow of your reality."
"I haven't seen Willow from my reality since the Adam situation started," Xander said.
"That won't manner," Willow said.
"What is the magical package, Will?" Buffy said.
"According to Xander, Willow of his reality never studied witchcraft… at least he doesn't think so, so this package that I'm going to embed within Xander will jump-start Willow's magical powers," Willow said. "It will do to her similar to what Giles had done to me after I went black Willow."
"And what will this do to me?" Xander said.
"Nothing," Willow said. "As I said, the magical package will be for the Willow of your reality. You will simply be the vessel that carries it. You won't even have to be anywhere near her for this to work. All I need is for the Willow of your reality to be alive. You'll know if the package had been sent. If the spell works the way I think it will, you will feel a tingling sensation."
"And if I don't?" Xander asked.
"It will mean that the Willow of your reality is dead… or the spell had failed," Willow said. "Anyway let's get started."
"All right," Xander said.
In the alternate reality, Xander and the others were all armed with axes and once they were getting back to the entrance, the area outside was crawling with monster-cyborgs.
When Giles saw them he ordered, "Everyone back. Take cover."
As they were backing up, mortar shells from the military began to pound the area. When the first shell shook the hardware store, a young woman from the group screamed.
Someone had covered her mouth, but not in time to keep from being discovered by the monster-cyborgs. Moments after the scream, the cyborgs came through the door and the glass windows.
Another woman in the group uttered, "Oh god. What do we do?"
"Fight and pray for a miracle," Giles said.
In the original reality, Willow and Amy chanted the incantation to return the two Xanders back to their original realities. Just after the spell was completed, Xander staggered from the dizziness. After catching himself from falling he abruptly turned himself about as if he just came to from a bad nightmare.
"Where am I?" Xander asked as he continued to swing himself around.
"You're at Aaron's house," Buffy said.
Xander faced Buffy before asking, "In New Sunnydale?"
Buffy smiled before saying, "You are. Are you okay?"
"I am, but there's an alternate reality that isn't," Xander said.
"We know," Buffy said. "The Xander from that alternate reality had told us."
"Is there anyway to help them?" Xander asked.
"I embedded a spell within the other Xander," Willow said. "That spell is to awake the magic within the other Willow; no matter where the other Willow is in the world."
"She was in Pittsburgh," Xander said. "I hooked up with Giles and we found her in Pittsburgh."
"You were with her before returning?" Willow asked.
"I was," Xander said. "Willow, Giles, Verna and I were together in Willow's apartment. Then Adam's demons attacked the city. Minutes later, several of us were gathering axes at a hardware store. We were under siege by demons when I was brought back."
Willow showed a disturbing expression on her face while saying, "If we were any later on doing the spell, you might've been killed."
"I wonder," Xander just said while getting lost in his thoughts.
Saturday April 20, 2013, in Washington, D.C. Xander had gone as far as he could with his story.
When Xander ended, Alexis commented, "Well that sucks; not knowing what happened in the other reality. And at the part it was just getting interesting."
"You're telling me," Xander said as he saw Valerie glancing back at the doorway with a confused expression on her face. "I've been wondering what had happened in that reality for years."
Xander watched as Valerie panned the room in the manner as if she was looking for someone or something in particular. He was about to ask when someone knocked on the door. The knock slightly startled Valerie.
Valerie turned towards the door with a slight annoyed expression on her face as Rachel, a seventeen-year-old potential, said, "I'll get it."
Once Rachel left the room Valerie went back at panning the room while acting as if she was looking for something. After a second, Valerie was drawn to Xander's stare.
When Valerie looked at Xander, he asked, "Anything wrong?"
Valerie hesitated before shaking her head and saying, "As far as I know, things are dandy."
When Rachel answered the door, a man who she had never seen before and a six-year-old boy stood at the door. She gave the man a curious look before asking, "May I help you?"
"I'm Jacob… Jacob Scott," he said. "Buffy…"
"You're the detective Buffy's been dating for the past week," Rachel said. Jacob nodded with a grin. "Is this your son?"
Rachel acted as if she was about to rub his head when Jacob quickly said, "No, and don't touch him."
"Okay," Rachel said in an uncertain tone while stopping herself in mid-motion. She then backed up. "Come in." Jacob and the boy entered. "So what's his name?"
"Don't know," Jacob said as Rachel was leading the two into the living room with the others. Jacob and the boy never touched. "I found him in warehouse alone. And as far as I know, he can't speak."
Buffy had stepped into the living room from the kitchen at the same time Rachel led Jacob and the boy into the living room from the anteroom.
When Buffy saw who had knocked, she said, "I thought you were working until much later."
"I'm still on duty," Jacob said. "I'm here to get your help with this young… with him."
"Who is he," Buffy asked as she was stepping closer to the boy.
"Don't touch him," Jacob quickly said again. Buffy stopped inches from the boy and gave Jacob a confused look. "I found him alone in the warehouse. He can't speak… or at least he hasn't spoken."
"And so you brought him here," Buffy commented.
"Don't social workers take care of things like this?" Jennifer asked.
"This boy is… well, I don't know what he is, but he's not a normal boy and a social worker or my captain wouldn't know what to do with him," Jacob said.
"What do you mean he's not a normal boy?" Buffy questioned.
"I touched him earlier and the second answer to an old dilemma was revealed," Jacob said.
"Huh?" Buffy asked.
"When I was a junior in high school, a girl who I was dating wanted me to run away with her," Jacob began. "She was being beaten by her father at least once a week. Of course she wouldn't admit to it. Anyway my life was pretty much on track and I loved her. When she asked me to run away with her, I thought about it. After she gave me twenty-four hours to decide, I said no. I thought by saying no, I would've forced her into admitting that her father was beating her up, but it didn't. When she walked away, I never saw her again. When I touched this boy, I saw what my life would've been like if I would've run off with her. For years I regretted not running off with her, but not now; not after touching the boy and seeing what I did."
"So this boy can show you alternate realities by touching him?" Xander questioned as he eased his way closer.
"It did for me," Jacob said.
Xander grinned before reaching out with his hand to touch the boy. Buffy saw what he was doing. As Xander's hand was inches from touching the boy, Buffy went to stop him while uttering, "Xander!"
Buffy and Xander both touched the boy at the exact moment. When Xander touched the boy he saw what he wanted to know.
In the alternate reality at the hardware store, he staggered when the two Xanders switched back to their original realities. As he was gaining his balanced he saw Willow falling to her knees with her head bowed. Her eyes and hair had turned black.
"What's going on?" Donald asked.
"I don't know," Giles said.
"Where am I?" Xander asked.
"What do you mean where are you?" Donald asked as eight monster-cyborgs were charging at them.
"They're attacking!" one of the women uttered.
Willow, while in the kneeling position, raised her head and rattled off a force field spell. When the monster-cyborgs got four feet from the closest person of the group they bounced off of the force field.
"What just happened?" Giles asked as Willow was getting back on her feet.
With a sly grin, Willow said, "I just received a crash-course in witchcraft and it was a rush. I feel charged."
"How?" Giles asked as military men with flamethrowers were setting the front entrance on fire. "Wait, what the bloody hell was that?"
"The entrance is on fire!" someone from the group uttered.
"Bloody hell," Giles said. Willow waved her hand and magically tossed the eight demons into the fire. "How did you get your magic?"
"Hey, you're Rupert Giles," Xander said. "I recognized you from your voice."
"What's going on here?" Donald asked as the military men torched another part of the hardware store.
"Tell us walking," Giles said as he gestured to the nearest exit that wasn't on fire. "Someone or something is torching the place."
As everyone was rapidly walking towards the exit, Xander said, "I was supposed to have been sent home from another reality by a powerful witch, but I don't know if I'm home. I was in a refugee camp before being switched in the first place."
"You're the Xander who belongs to this reality?" Giles questioned.
"I don't thinks so," Xander said. "As I said I was in a refugee camp before coming here."
"I met your counterpart in a refugee camp down in Panama early this morning," Giles said. "After a short search we found Willow in Pittsburgh. And that's were we are now, but Willow wasn't magically incline then."
"A present from her counterpart," Xander said as they were approaching the exit. "Her counterpart used me as a vessel to carry a magical package that gave Willow her powers."
"Fascinating," Giles said as the exit erupted in flames in the same manner as the other areas did.
Everyone stopped in his or her tracks, except for Willow. Willow waved her hand and blew out the door along with a large chunk of the wall. She then saw a soldier facing her with his flamethrower. As the soldier released the flame, Willow put her hand up and rattled off a spell. The flame stopped short of the group and splattered out at the sides as if the flame was touching something impenetrable.
"We're humans!" most of them yelled.
"Stop!" Lt. Wright, the person in charged, yelled to his man. When the flame stopped so did Willow's spell. "Who are you people and how did you do that?"
"You wouldn't believe us if we told you," Xander said.
"Try me," Lt. Wright said. Giles took a deep breath before he and Xander began to tell Lt. Wright the truth. Before reaching the part about how Willow had instantly became a witch, Lt. Wright witnessed Willow's hair and eyes changing back to normal. "Wait. How did you do that?"
"How did I do what?" Willow asked.
"Your hair and eyes were pitched black just a moment ago and now it's not," Lt. Wright said.
"Good lord," Giles said. "Did you loose your magical powers?"
"I don't believe so," Willow said. She then concentrated and floated a loose brick that was near the gaping hole in the wall. All of the soldiers' jaws dropped in horror. "I still have my magic. I'm not as charge as I was a minute ago though."
"You're leveling off," Giles thought out loud. Willow gave him a confused look. "You were hit by a large magical blast; you were greatly supercharged with magic you might say and now your not. You still can perform the same magic, but not with the effectiveness as you did earlier."
"What are you guys going on about?" Lt. Wright demanded to know.
"We were coming to that," Xander said. "In the other reality, Willow… her… well, her counterpart is a witch. The likelihood of her being a witch in this reality was slim to none. We need the witch-Willow to help defeat Adam and do to that, the other Willow cast a spell on me. I became a vessel that held a magical package and this was the result of that package."
"So like the Willow from the other reality, you're now a witch?" Lt. Wright questioned.
"I believe so," Willow said. "I do have knowledge of how to cast magical spells that I didn't know before."
"So you believe us?" Donald asked.
"Let's just say that I'm keeping an open mind about all of this," Lt. Wright said.
"Fair enough," Giles said.
"You say that you can defeat Adam with her magic?" Lt. Wright asked.
"We believe so," Giles said. "In order to do that though, we need to get to Sunnydale."
"Sunnydale?" Lt. Wright asked. "The small town where Adam had originated from?"
"That's correct," Giles said.
"I hate to break this to you folks, but there is no Sunnydale, California or the west coast," Lt. Wright said. "All that land belongs to Adam."
"We're perfectly aware of that… Lt. Wright," Giles said while seeing his rank-insignia and reading his nametag. "But there's something there that we desperately need to help defeat Adam; otherwise, we might not be able to stop him or his army."
"And how were you planning on getting there?" Lt. Wright asked.
"Capt. Donald Collins employed by America Airlines at your service," he repeated for Lt. Wright to hear.
Lt. Wright gave Donald a curious look before saying, "You folks were planning to steal a large commercial plane."
"Perhaps we weren't going to steal one," a woman suggested.
"No one would have approved this so the only option is for you is to steal one," Lt. Wright retorted.
"Okay, we were going to steal it," Giles said. "If it doesn't work then we will be the only victims, but if it does work…"
"Adam could be stopped," Lt. Wright finished. Giles just gave him a nod. "O'Brien!"
Sergeant O'Brien ran up while uttering, "Yes, Sir!"
"Escort these civilians along with their hardware supplies to the airport to be placed with the others who are being airlifted to safety," Lt. Wright said. "They are low priority so if these people wander off within the airport and get lost that's their problem. You're not their baby-sitter."
"Yes, Sir," Sgt. O'Brien was only able to get out.
"In fact, just dropped them off at the airport's entrance and come back here," Lt. Wright said. "Once at the airport let them find their own way."
"Yes, Sir," Sgt. O'Brien said. He then motioned towards an army vehicle. "Let's move."
"Thank you, Lt. Wright," Giles said. Giles saw Lt. Wright giving him an approving nod before he started following Sgt. O'Brien.
At the airport the military sentry carried flamethrowers and wore a type of goggles that can detect vampires in order to keep the demons out. Xander and the others were fully checked out before being allowed to pass into the airport.
Once in the airport, Donald led the group. They had gotten a short distance when a woman stopped and said, "I can't do this. I can't get on a plane that will be heading for a demon-infested area."
When everyone stopped and faced her, Giles said, "I understand. This most likely will be a suicide mission. Willow, Xander, Verna, Capt. Collins and myself are the only essential personnel. Everyone else is free to leave."
"Wait," Donald quickly said. "Although you don't need to come with us, I can still use all of you. Stealing a plane isn't going to be easy so I will need a diversion."
"What do you purpose?" Giles asked.
Donald motioned for everyone to huddle together. Once he had everyone's attention, he told him or her his plan. The five women and two of the six men who tagged along had stayed behind to create a diversion. They split up in order to create chaos separately. Everyone else followed Donald to a plane.
After giving Donald fifteen minutes they each began his or her act. One pretended to have a heart attack. Another pretended to go insane from the fragile situation. Two of the women screamed as loud as they could while pretending to see demons within the airport. One of the men got to the power source to the airport and short-circuited it in order to blow the fuses to only the building, but not the runway lights. Most of the workers expected the airport's back-up power to restore the lights, but when it didn't the workers panicked as well.
When the facility went black Donald led the others to a plane that had just been refueled. He was able to start the engines and taxi it to the end of the runway before the lights were restored. The military was caught off guard to respond and could only watch as the plane accelerated to its takeoff speed and flew away. They couldn't believe their eyes when they saw the plane heading due west after coming out of its bank.
The military tracked the plane by satellite. Donald had also received a large number of radio calls that he ignored.
Seven aircraft carriers were on the west coast. The planes belonging to those carriers were pounding the west coast around the clock with futile attempt on eliminating the monster-cyborgs. The most effective method of killing the demons was to destroy them with fire, but even that had its limits once everything combustible was already a pile of ash.
Within an hour of Donald stealing the plane, those navy pilots were given heads-up that an airliner was coming their way.
After a few hours of watching their radar, the airliner appeared while leaving the Nevada area and was gradually descending from its high altitude.
In the plane, Willow and Xander were mapping out the caves that were in Sunnydale. They needed a secluded area on the ground that was out of harm's way to do the joining spell and Willow was the one who thought that the caves would be the safest location for it.
"From the images I saw from news reports, California is nothing more than a wasteland as far as the eye can see," one of the men said. "There's not even a shrub left."
Adam had sure made a mess of things," Xander said.
"Adam wasn't the cause in turning the western United States into a wasteland," Giles said. "The bloody military did it in 2002. They scorched the land while trying to destroy the demons with fire. It worked for a time, but once everything was burned that could be burn, Adam came back even stronger."
Everyone's attention was then drawn to the voice over the speaker, "This is your captain. Please returned to your seats, fasten your seatbelts and prepare for a landing with the landing gears in the clean position. And thank you for flying America Airlines."
"Clean position? What does that mean?" one of the men asked as they were fastening their seatbelts.
"He's not lowering the landing gears," another man answered.
"What?" the first man uttered.
"Because of the military bombardments there is no smooth surface for Donald to land on," Giles said. "If he tried to land with the gears down the terrain would shear them off anyway while making it even more difficult for him to control the plane."
"Well, let's hope that he knows what he is doing," Xander said.
As Donald was descending, two fighter jets came up beside him and flashed light signals for him to respond by radio.
Donald turned on the radio and said, "This plane is landing in the area where the city Sunnydale once stood. We have an idea on how to stop Adam and those monster-cyborgs. If you shoot us down without giving us a chance then… then may God have mercy on you when Adam takes over the world."
"Sir, this is Lt. Beckman," the pilot said. "Who am I speaking with?"
"I'm Capt. Donald Collins," he said. "I fly for America Airlines."
"Sir, how many people are on your plane?" Lt. Beckman asked.
"My self and seven volunteers to do this," Donald said.
"Sir, I don't know what you have planned, but crash-landing a plane in this region is suicidal," Lt. Beckman said. "You should back off and allow us… the military to do our jobs."
"Yeah, because it worked so well these past eight years," Donald sarcastically said. "No offence, Lt. Beckman, but it's time to change tactics; Capt. Collins out." He then shut off his radio and continued his descent.
"These people are insane," Lt. Beckman told the other pilot.
"So, Lieutenant, what do we do?" the second pilot asked.
"Let's stay with them and once we determine their destination we'll provide cover for them," Lt. Beckman said.
The two fighter jets flying beside the airliner made everyone nervous. Donald blocked them out from his mind and continued as if they weren't there.
A short time later Donald gave the plane full flaps from its previous flap setting as the plane descended to a final-approach-altitude.
When the two navy pilots saw where Donald was going to crash-land the plane, they flew ahead to provide cover from any nearby demons.
Donald's landing would've been a textbook landing if the landing gears were down and if he was landing on the runway. However, because of the rough terrain and the landing gears being up, the landing was rough and long as it skipped across the land.
The pounding that the plane took had bent the wings and fuselage. Rivets sheared in non-load bearing areas and windows had busted out. The tail had separated from the fuselage just before the plane finally came to rest.
"Is everyone okay?" Giles asked as he was unfastening his seatbelt.
Giles received a mixes responds of, 'I'm fine; I'm good,' and 'nothing's broken.'
Donald rushed in from the cabin while also asking, "Is everyone okay?"
"We're fine," most of them said.
"I won't be complaining about those boring rides at Six Flags anymore," Xander said.
Donald moved towards the emergency hatch while saying, "Well, let's get out of here before any monster-cyborgs come looking for spare parts." They grabbed their ax and hardware supplies and followed Donald.
Once out of the plane, they could see subtle remnants of the town that once stood. The roads were badly cracked and scarred, but were laid out as they did ten years before.
The cave was ten minutes from the jetliner and the two fighter pilots done flybys during the group's walk.
"Will Heckle and Jeckle leave already," Willow said after the pilots' latest flyby. "They're making me edgy… oh and they're basically telling the demons were to find us." Before anyone could respond, the pilots fired their missiles into a group of thirty monster-cyborgs. Willows and the others looked once they heard the missiles being launched and within seconds the group of thirty monster-cyborgs was greatly reduced. "Okay, maybe it's not so bad with Heckle and Jeckle being around after all."
"Let's pick up the pace," Giles said before changing over to all most a run.
The two pilots kept the monster-cyborgs occupied long enough for Willow and the others to slip away unseen into a cave. They went to the furthest chamber they could find. Once there, four battery operated lanterns were placed to where they had the best lighting. Immediately following, Willow and Giles prepared the spell.
After everything was laid out, Willow, Xander and Giles sat on the ground while facing each other. Verna and the others just stood and watched as Willow performed the spell.
The spell only took five minutes and the four men who were standing around saw the Uber-Slayer come to life.
Without hesitation, Verna grabbed an ax and dashed out of the cave to find the scythe. The four men stood guard over, Willow, Xander and Giles while each holding an ax.
Outside the cave, the surviving eighteen monster-cyborgs had scattered from each other, which made it harder for the two pilots to kill them. Both pilots were focusing on their targets when a new group of ten monster-cyborgs with rocket-launchers for arms approached and fired at the planes. Both planes were hit within seconds of each other; one exploded outright while Lt. Beckman's plane had minimal control.
Verna saw the two planes being hit and as the surviving plane went down with a trail of smoke, she took off in the direction of the plane.
Lt. Beckman was knocked unconscious for only a short time from the crash-landing. He came to and as he looked around, he saw five monster-cyborgs coming towards him. As he went to release himself from his restrains, the released mechanism was jammed. After a feeble attempted to release himself, he gave up and grabbed the high caliber pistol from his chest holster and unloaded it on the monster-cyborgs. The bullets had very little effect and once the pistol was empty he again attempted to free himself.
TBC