A/N: You know the drill now. What's Joss' is Joss' what's mine is mine.
This is your life part II
D'Hoffryn carried a young, sleeping Chandra to the couch. Halfrek stayed close at his side.
"D'Hoffryn, these are mere witches_"
"Yes Halfrek but this is an old family of powerful witches, many of whom have become some of the great vengeance demons. Yourself included." Halfrek rolled her eyes and looked away. "I promised the matriarch that I would help her in any way I can and if that means raising her granddaughter as my own, so be it."
Chandra stared as D'Hoffryn pulled the Goban's Hammer from her young self's hands and give it to Halfrek.
"Take this to her grandmother and tell her we were too late to save the rest of the family. If Chandra hadn't been holding this when the bounty hunters attacked, I doubt she would have survived." He stroked the child's cheek. "We can't let her stay in this dimension at this age. She is too vulnerable and she cannot wield her family's talisman, not until she is older. We will take her to the shaman and then home. Tomorrow, she will awaken with no memory of her prior life. She will think she was born a half demon and a blood member of my family."
The living room flashed out of sight and they were back in the cave. Toby was watching solemnly. Chandra turned her head slowly to look at him.
"You knew." She strode across the cave and grabbed the demon by the neck, lifting him up off of his feet. "You knew and you said nothing!"
"I'm sorry! You had to find out on your own!" the guardian demon squeaked. She dropped him back to the floor.
"Who else knows about this? About who I really am?" Toby cowered away.
"A handful of lesser demons who have access to the time portal. But they would never say anything because they are either too afraid of D'Hoffryn or too afraid of the Senior Partners if they can't provide the goods to back up the claim." It was Spike's turn to slam Toby up against the cave.
"What do you mean, the Senior Partners? They're gone. We sent them back to hell."
"You know for a vampire, you're not too swift." Spike slammed him against the wall again. "Ow. Sorry but it's true. You didn't actually believe that the Senior Partners are gone, did you? Why else is that spot in Los Angeles still such a hotbed of energy? Don't you realize that they engineered that little faux battle you had? You helped them destroy their enemies. The Archduke, the Fel Brethern…they were all getting in the way of the Senior Partners plans. You and your little group just helped them dispose of the trash. Now, the demonic royalty has lost it's power base and left it open for the true apocalypse to finally occur." Spike punched him, knocking Toby to the ground.
"Hey! Don't kill the messenger! I don't exactly want the world to end either. I mean, it can at least wait until Susan Lucci retires from All My Children." Toby scrambled to his feet. "Look, I'm just the guardian to this portal. I'm a bit like a tollbooth worker. I let people through, I can see where they're going and that's it. I have no beef with humanity. Humanity's kinda cool. But that's not going to stop me from jumping dimensions before too long. It's going to get really, really bad. The Darkness is loose, the Senior Partners are waiting to see what you do there and then they will make their final move. Any demon with his ear to the ground can sense it." Toby turned to Chandra. "And if you want to stop it, you better get what you need and get a move on before it's too_" He was cut off as a sword was shoved through his back. The sword withdrew and Toby fell to the ground. Three larger demons shimmered into sight.
"Bounty hunters." Spike said, squaring off. The largest of the three bounty hunters stepped forward.
"We finally found you Witch."
"So you did," said Chandra cocking her head and smiling. She dropped one hand down to her side.
Spike. Spike flinched as he heard Chandra's voice in his head. He instinctively started to turn.
Don't look at me. Move this way but do it slowly. We need to get out of here. Chandra's eyes never left the bounty hunters.
"So, took you guys long enough. It's been what? Twenty years? Do you usually move this slowly when you're hunting someone?" Out of the corner of her eye, Spike was slowly walking towards her, moving as if to get between Chandra and the bounty hunters. Chandra took a step towards the bounty hunters, which closed the gap between herself and Spike.
"You don't have your talisman here, girl. There's nothing that can stop us from bringing your head to Wolfram and Hart. We'll kill you and the vampire, just like we killed your family." Her eyes flashed and rage clouded her mind.
"Careful Chandra," Spike whispered, low enough for only her to hear. She saw he was close enough and he was easing his hand out to hers. They would have to be quick. Once the bounty hunters realized what they were doing….
They moved fast. Chandra grabbed Spike's hand and teleported just as the fire balls flew from the bounty hunter's hands. They appeared on the street in San Francisco. It was dawn but the fog blanketed the city, cutting out the direct sunlight. Still, Spike ducked into the nearest alley.
"Do you think they'll follow us?" he asked, watching the sky. The alley wasn't completely covered.
"I don't think they can." Chandra stepped back out onto the street and looked both ways. "If they could, they would be here by now." She looked up the street one more time.
"I think this is it. I tried to focus on going to the street where my grandmother's shop was. Some of these stores look familiar. We need to check it out."
"I'm not going anywhere pet. One break in those clouds and we have a problem."
"Spike, this is San Francisco. The sun is not even fully up yet. We have at least ten minutes and I know that we're not far from that shop." She grabbed his arm. "Now let's go."
They hurried up the street. Chandra recognized some of the shop names from the time portal. The signs were a bit worn but the same. Suddenly, she found it.
Goban's
Chandra pushed open the door.
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Kira slowly opened her eyes. She looked around at the adults standing around her. Giles took her hand.
"Kira dear, are you alright?" She nodded. "Can you tell us what happened? Did your mother find Goban's hammer?"
"Not yet. But they're almost there." Giles helped her sit up.
"Kira, are they alright?" Kira shook her head.
"I can't tell. Mommy's blocking me. She said I didn't need to know and then I couldn't hear her anymore and Cordelia's gone away." Giles turned to Willow.
"Willow, can you find Chandra? We need to know where she is." Willow, who had been hanging back with Kennedy since Chandra stormed out of the house, shook her head.
"Giles you may not want me to do that. If I try to sense where Chandra is, it could blow away any blocks she has put up to keep the big bad away."
"You're right Willow. I didn't think of that." He watched Kira run back to the library to her drawing supplies. "I guess we'll have to wait and see."
………………………………………………………………………………………………
A bell rang as she opened the door. Spike followed quickly behind her. A woman walked out of the back room, wiping her glasses on a towel.
"Welcome to Goban's. How can I help_" she put her glasses back on and stopped as she saw Chandra. "Chandra? Baby, is that you?" She ran forward and embraced her. Chandra wasn't able to raise her arms to hug the woman back. She recognized her grandmother from the portal. Her grandmother, sensing Chandra's tension, backed away.
"You don't remember anything do you?" Chandra shook her head and her grandmother put her hand to Chandra's cheek. Then she looked behind Chandra and saw Spike.
"William the Bloody I presume." Spike started and frowned but she only smiled. "Charlotte Goban. I knew that my granddaughter would find you. It was her destiny." She looked from Spike to Chandra.
"So how is my great-granddaughter? What did you name her? Kira?" Chandra, who had been looking at the floor, snapped her head up.
"How do you_" Charlotte waved her hand.
"Again, you know I'm a seer and still you ask. Plus, I have a little inside knowledge." Chandra knew.
"D'Hoffryn. You've been talking to D'Hoffryn." Her grandmother nodded.
"I have been in contact with D'Hoffryn for years. He has always come to our family to recruit. Witches have always made the best and most creative vengeance demons so D'Hoffryn maintains close ties with the five major magic families. We don't kill them and the vengeance demons don't attack members of our families. It is a truce that has dated back for centuries. When I asked him to take you in, he jumped at the chance." Chandra stepped back and leaned against Spike for support.
"I don't understand. You let my parents and my brother get slaughtered to send me to D'Hoffryn?" Charlotte shook her head.
"No Baby. I wanted to save everyone but I couldn't. D'Hoffryn saved you. It had to be that way. If you hadn't been raised in a demon world, you never would have sought William out, you never would have had Kira, Spike would not exist as a vampire and the world would have ended years ago. Everything was planned in the beginning." Charlotte took a deep breath.
"Chandra, you were raised by Halfrek and D'Hoffryn. Hallie took you under her wing and tried to steer you towards vengeance but you resisted. She encouraged you to look at the 'darker side' and sent you to Sunnydale. There you saw William, er, Spike. You recognized him, on some level, from when you saw him in San Francisco. That's why you were so obsessed in wanting to know who he was. That's why you went back to London to find him as a human." Charlotte walked behind the counter and started rearranging the jars of herbs on the shelves behind her. She continued her story but kept her back to Chandra and Spike.
"Everything is connected. If you had not gone back, Chandra, William Pratt would never have been turned. Angelus, Darla and Drucilla would never have gone to Romania. Angelus would have never been cursed with a soul. The slayer line would have been thrown off. Neither Buffy nor Faith would have been called. Willow Rosenburg would not have realized her potential as a witch. Neither Connor nor Kira would ever have been born. Dawn would not have been created. The Wolf, Ram and Hart would have turned the world into a hell dimension long ago and the First would have destroyed the entire slayer line. Everything happens for a reason, Chandra. It's all planned." Charlotte turned back to face Chandra, tears in her eyes.
"Even the deaths of your parents and brother were planned. To allow Connor, Kira and Dawn to be brought into this world, for Willow to learn her destiny, for Buffy and Faith to create an army of slayers, people had to die. People I loved, people you loved. In order for there to be the greatest concentration of magical power ever known in this dimension, you had to go away and forget who you were. Now, you know. And you must use this knowledge to save the world, for good. Once you destroy the Darkness, it's over. We will have control over this dimension again for generations. And you can destroy the Darkness, Chandra. You and Willow, together, have the power." Chandra stepped towards her.
"I don't have that kind of power. I am nowhere near as strong as Willow_" Charlotte cut her off. She reached under the counter and brought out the ornately carved wooden box Chandra had seen in the portal.
"With this, you are." Charlotte opened the box and removed the necklace. "Our family's talisman, Chandra. You are next in line to wield it. With this, you will be able to tap into the magic of every witch that ever blessed it, including the most powerful of our family, Theresa." Chandra took the necklace and felt the power centered in that pink flecked stone. Her eyes met her grandmother's.
"I'm a demon now. D'Hoffryn made me a vengeance demon." Charlotte shook her head.
"No, Chandra, he merely lifted the binding spell I had placed on you."
"But I feel myself turning into the demon_" Charlotte laughed.
"It's mind over matter. You believed that you are a demon so you turn into one. I can assure you, my dear, that you are no demon. You are one of the strongest witches the world has seen in over one hundred years." Chandra looked back at the Hammer.
"And I'm really a slayer?"
"That you actually are. Theresa was a slayer. That's why she was able to fight demons. She had the physical strength as well as the magics. It only stands to reason that, as you are to take her place, you should be one as well." At that, Spike finally spoke.
"Well then why is Kira a slayer too, if she's not going to be the next uber-witch."
Charlotte looked thoughtful. "I've wondered that myself but I believe that she is not actually a slayer but is instead only a slayer through the psychic link she has with her mother. Kira is a powerful seer, yes, but she will learn as she grows the power that she has over the human mind as a telepath, as an empath. I've seen what she will be able to do, if the battle ends as written. For now, she is only connected to her mother; therefore, she is a slayer. When she gains more control over her power, she may choose to turn that off. For now, that added strength will prove valuable."
………………………………………………………………………………………..
Willow. Willow snapped her head up when she heard her name. Willow, we're coming home. We found what we need.
"Chandra." Willow whispered.
"What is it, Willow?" Kennedy asked. Willow didn't answer as Chandra's voice continued to speak in her head.
Gather them, Willow. Get everyone there now. We need to leave as soon as we get there. Willow listened and spoke to Chandra, receiving instruction and making plans. She couldn't believe what Chandra was proposing but it sounded better than anything they had thought of so far.
"It was Chandra. I hear her. She said that she and Spike are coming back and that they 'have what we need'. We need to gather everyone now. She said that we are ready to leave. Buffy, Faith and Giles stared at her and Xander spoke from the doorway.
"Willow, are you sure it was Chandra? It could be a trick of the Darkness. I mean, we've walked into traps before."
"I know Xander but I feel it in my bones. This was Chandra. Something big has happened. I don't know what but from the sound of her voice…" she looked at Giles. "This is a good thing. Whatever has happened, it's a good thing." She looked at Buffy. "Get the scythe. Hurry. Before Chandra returns." Buffy ran down the stairs to the basement training room where the scythe was kept locked away. Angel straightened up.
"What can I do?" Willow thought for a moment.
"You need to protect Kira. You and Spike will need to protect both Kira and Dawn. Don't let the Bringers get them. Do that and stay out of the way. This is our fight. Faith." Willow turned to her. "Faith, you and Buffy will need to establish the line with the slayers. We don't have time for newbies. Just get the ones that we have trained. We'll call them here with the power of the scythe. You will have to be the first line and your primary job is to get Connor. Get Connor and get him behind the line with Kira and Dawn." She turned to Giles and Xander. "I'll need you to watch mine and Chandra's backs. We'll be unable to defend ourselves without breaking concentration so we'll need you." Giles frowned and started to speak but Willow held up her hand.
"Giles, please. Not now. We don't have time. As soon as Chandra gets back, we're leaving. All of us are leaving. We're heading to the Deeper Well and we're putting a stop to the evil once and for all."