By David Mycock Portals and Dimensions 14
Walking the Path
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy the vampire slayer or any other of the characters in this story they belong to Joss Whedon and whoever else created the characters used in this story. Any characters I created I own.
Pairing: Janna Kalderdash/Xander Harris (There will be other relationships in this story but this is the main one)
Summary: Two days after the end of the first story Xander and his friends arrive in L.A to meet up with Vlad Tepes Lawyers not knowing the adventure awaiting them and the changes it would bring within the group.
(Sunnydale New Dimension date 1999)
Xander and Lilith woke the next morning still holding each other, Xander quickly released her feeling uneasy by how comfortable it had felt holding her and angry with himself for feeling that comfort with anyone but Janna
Lilith herself just smiled at him to let him know she appriated his help in keeping her calm as she tried to adjust to the loss of her mental link with her father even if she ignored the fact that she had enjoyed been held
Xander quickly went for a shower as he pushed what had happened last night out of his head, it had been necessary. Lilith had been upset and he was just trying to comfort her, he started to focus on their new location and then remembered they were once again in Sunnydale but not the same Sunnydale he had been born in and had left only a couple of months ago. He wondered what had been going on in this Sunnydale and where in the timeframe they were, Lilith had told him at least three times that the dimensional portal would not always drop them into places which co-incided with their own time
This had given him a headache each time he had thought about it, time travel in any form as far as he had known only existed in science fiction and yet during this part of their journey he was faced with dealing with the same thing in one manner or the other. It wasn't really time travel as the movies painted it but more that the dimensions they were visiting were not always going to be the same as their own dimension and that included the time frame and that fact still troubled him
Lilith waited until Xander had finished his shower and then took one of her own, her own thoughts were more focused than her friends and she was worried to be back on the hell mouth especially in light of the fact that this was an alternate dimension and things in this Sunnydale could be very different and those differences could be very dangerous to their survival
Her own unease with the loss of her mental link to her father could also prove troublesome and she hoped it was not put either her or Xander in danger, finishing her shower she dressed and rejoined Xander in the next room
"So what do we do first?" she asked thinking he would have already figured out a plan
"The first thing we need in information as to what is going on in Sunnydale and what time frame we are in" Xander replied grimly not looking forward to coming face to face with even an alternate version of Buffy Summers but knowing it was the only course of action for them "We'll locate Buffy and the gang or whatever version exists in this reality and get their help" he finally continued "Hopefully we won't find ourselves too outside the time we are in" he added with a grimaced
"And if this reality is out of sink with our own time frame" she asked with a raised eyebrow
"I have no idea" Xander answered "I mean if they are a year behind us, that aint so bad I guess but if they are further ahead than us then that's scary" he added
"Why?" Lilith asked intrigued
"Seeing one's future can never lead to good things Lilith, it would make people complacent and leave them with no direction in life because they would be waiting for things seen in the future to happen to them" he explained
"I see" she nodded as they head out the door with their weapons hidden with some simple charms
(San Francisco)
Janna looked around the empty factory they would be using as a base whilst they searched for the location of the cult if they were still in the city, she was worried that by the time they found the location the cult would have moved on adding more delays to the recovery of Xander and Lilith
She looked to the side of her where Sara and Amy were and noticed they were discussing something to do with the past, but she was not really interested in the past at the moment she was worried about the future especially that of her and Xander's unborn baby. This kept playing on her mind whenever she let it wonder no matter how much she tried to keep a positive outlook on the situation she kept been overwhelmed by a sense of dread and loss and she began to wonder if her emotions had begun to be effected by her pregnancy already
Adrian and Alucard were talking with Sir Integra and Seras in front of them about how to go about searching for the cult but Janna tuned them out and focused once again on the letter Xander had sent her and again promised herself she would not give up on him
(Sunnydale New Dimension 1999)
Xander looked at the new school which stood near the ruins of what had once been the high school he himself attended in his own dimension; he wondered what had happened that could have destroyed it. Lilith stood to his side also inspecting the ruins for any signs to what had accrued
"I think it's clear this reality is ahead of our own dimension" Xander stated
"I agree which means we have no way of knowing where your former friends alternate selves would be" Lilith replied with a frown
"Xander is that you?" a voice from behind them interrupted them
Turing around they found a girl around Xander's age staring at them, she had blondish/brown hair, brown eyes and appeared to be at least 5'6 in height wearing a white jumper and flowing black skirt. Xander thought she was quite beautiful before he tried to shake the thought from his head
"Xander?" the girl asked again with a look of confusion on her face
"Yes and No" Xander finally answered not really knowing what to say in reply
"Are you a demon?" she asked taking a step backwards from them
"No I am not, it's kind of hard to explain but I will once I find Buffy and the others, do you know them or where they hang out?" he replied
"I know where they will be but I am not that friendly with them yet or you" the girl finally spoke as she seemed to ponder his answer
"We aren't dangerous I promise and we really need to find them" he told her "My friend here is Lilith and you might as well call me Alex just in case my other self is already there" he added
"Other self?" the girl asked
"I'll explain it once we find the others" Xander replied "I promise" he added and the girl nodded after searching his face for any sign of falsehood before accepting he was series
"I'm Tara" the girl told them after a few more minutes of silent contemplation "Follow me" she said and set off followed by Xander and Lilith who shared a confused look about how far ahead in time they were
(Other Realm)
Cassandra watched Alexander and Lilith follow Tara to the alternate Scooby gang quite happy that the viewing pool could still track them after moving to a new dimension. She was still worried great harm could come to them during their journey even though her lord seemed to believe they could benefit greatly from their experiences and become a much stronger force
She guessed her lord was right when he told her she was more emotionally involved in this than was good for her as a council to the forces of light under her lord's direction, she was supposed to be objective and detached to those they were supposed to guide in their eternal war and yet when it came to Alexander and his group she was anything but detached and objective
But she refused to distance herself from Alexander when she believed he would need her help from time to time and her lord had seemed to agree with her on that
"You're troubled?" her lord's voice startled her and brought her out of her troubled thoughts
"I'm sorry my lord I can't help it" she relied "You may be right that this will help mould Alexander and his group for the fight ahead" she continued "But I can't help think it could also destroy them" she finished
"This is true Cassandra" her lord answered "But nothing is certain even had this not happened to them, anything could of gone wrong which could had led to the group's destruction" he said softly not wanting to add to his friend's distress
Cassandra looked at him for a few minutes as disturbing thoughts flashed though her mind before she banished them, she knew he was right there was no guarantee Alexander and his group would succeed in his quest but she wanted to stay hopeful
"You are correct my lord, I will try and keep my worry to a minimum" she finally replied knowing her lord would not allow her to keep been an active council if she continued to allow her worry to get in the way
(The Magic Box Sunnydale New Dimension)
Tara led Xander and Lilith into the magic shop Rupert Giles had bought to be a base of operations for the gang as well as a way of raising funds, Xander noticed Giles, Willow, Buffy and another version of himself was present. Seeing himself already standing next to the counter was a chilling feeling and one he hoped he would not experience too often during this trip
The group looked up and quickly dissolved into shock at seeing a second Alexander Harris enter the shop behind Tara, Buffy moved towards the counter to grab one of the weapons they kept behind it encase of trouble
"Tara, what's going on?" Willow asked trying to reign in her shock of seeing a double of Xander
"I'm not sure yet but they've promised to explain everything once they were here" Tara answered uneasily at the looks on the other's faces
"Easy Buffy we're no threat to you" Xander said as he noted the aggressive look on the slayer's face
"Like I'm going to believe some demon trying to impersonate one of my friends" Buffy shot back
"I am not a demon or a vampire double I'm Alexander Harris from an alternate dimension" he informed the group shocking them into silence