Pocket dimension manufactured by the Dark One

November 3rd, 1997

Alone apart from the disembodied presence all around him, Xander could not wondering if the Dark One knew about his current quest. Namely, having to kill the guardian dragon within the ancient temple located in the Forbidden Forest - in order to acquire his aunt's dagger. Well, he almost certainly would have to kill the dragon, anyway...

"If you're wondering whether I know that you might have to kill my dragon, then the answer is yes. But good luck with using any of the weapons in the temple. There have been many fools who have gone after my treasures in there, fools who tried to get rich quick."

"Yeah, so what happened? They all tried and failed?" the young wizard asked.

"No, they all tried and died." The Dark One paused and then forced a vision into Xander's mind. A vision of two daggers, side by side...

Xander was instantly shocked. "You have a dagger of your own in there as well? Why the heck does it look like Bellatrix's?!"

The Dark One chuckled. "Now *that* is something you have to find out yourself, boy."

Xander groaned, quickly figuring there was a fifty-fifty chance he would guess wrong and grab the wrong blade. A blade which would be useless for stabbing his aunt and sending her back to Tartarus where she belonged. { Oh man, the old Harris luck strikes again - even if I'm not really a Harris! } "So level with me. Was Kross right saying that if I kill Bellatrix, I might die?"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Still, would it make any difference? Would you still kill Bellatrix, knowing that you might die or no longer exist in this world afterwards?"

Straightaway, Xander remembered spending nearly a *year* in Tartarus, even though practically no time at all had passed in this dimension. Ten months of fighting and learning to use a wand, with only the shade of Dumbledore for company, until Hades had seen fit to return him to the mortal plane. "After everything she did to me? Heck yes!"

"I thought as much. We will meet again, Alexander Lestrange. Goodbye for now."

Xander blinked, and suddenly found himself back in his magically expanded tent in the Forbidden Forest. { What?! But I thought I was dreaming the whole time! Oh, man... } He heard rain outside, making him grimace. { That's it, I've wasted too much time here already. Got to find that temple, rain or not. I only hope I can find a sword somewhere before going inside, though. }

Meanwhile, back on the Hellmouth...

"What should we tell the Council about this rogue Slayer, Watcher mine?" Buffy asked, looking at the frozen ice sculpture that was Miho.

"I'm not really sure, myself," Giles replied, cleaning his glasses. "But, uh, on a not-unrelated topic, the Council did tell me why Shredder looks like Xander. Well, the most likely reason. Bellatrix was, uh, part of him, during Halloween; and so by using her own blood to bring Shredder back to life..."

"Hey, presto! Xander's evil twin shows up in town," Buffy grimaced.

"But why would this Bellatrix character bring back the leader of the Foot Clan?" Faith asked, as she handed Riley's frozen head and hands over to Giles.

Elsewhere, Cordelia was hiding in the girls' bathroom. The recent battle had reminded her just why she didn't want to associate too closely with the Library Loser Legion! { Looks like the coast is clear now... } the cheerleader thought to herself. So she headed for the library and spotted Giles, Buffy and some other girl. Also a human ice sculpture, for some odd reason.

"What the heck just happened?" Cordy demanded, as the others spotted her walking towards them.

Meanwhile, over at the Crawford Street mansion, Bellatrix congratulated Willow effusively on the way she'd slaughtered her parents while under the Imperio curse. "You did very well, Willow."

"Thanks, Bellatrix. I think."

Willow was now feeling even more confused than ever. Sure, she didn't like being mind-controlled in any way. But using dark magic was such a big kick to her, she loved every moment of it; the rush, the power. But did that make up for killing her parents just now?

Giles' warning was lost in the haze of her confusion; that once you have a taste of dark magic, there's no stopping it or stepping away from it. She'd already killed three people. The odds were it was already too late for Willow to be saved by anyone...

Bellatrix's plan was working very well, to her warped way of thinking. Abruptly stunning Willow and letting the girl collapse onto the floor, she hid Dru's skull somewhere safe in the mansion. She planned for her next creation to have powers of both a vampire and a Slayer. A deadly mix of both...

Back in the Forbidden Forest, Xander got dressed appropriately for taking a walk in the pouring rain. Moaning Myrtle watched Xander leave the tent. { Now's my chance! }

Xander was about to lose his footing and fell into a puddle, but then the ghost appeared in front of him and he missed the puddle completely. "What the Casper?!" He was just about get out his wand, but Myrtle stopped him.

"Wait. There's no need for that. My name is Myrtle Elizabeth Warren - but everyone just calls me Moaning Myrtle."

"Right. And I should be interested, because..."

"Because I can help you get into Hogwarts."

{ Hogwarts. Where there are swords! This is just the break I need. } Xander had already guessed that the female spirit didn't mean him any harm. Besides, this wasn't the first ghost he'd ever seen. When he was Bellatrix during Halloween, Willow had been a ghost herself. Xander still remembered everything about that night...

Xander and Myrtle quickly walked through the rain towards Hogwarts. They didn't talk much, but then there wasn't all that much to say...

Meanwhile back in Sunnydale, Giles re-iced Miho and entered her mind via the Legilimens spell. Technically that was illegal, but Rupert didn't really care right now. It took some time to break the barriers in Miho's mind, but eventually, Giles succeeded. After getting the info he was looking for, he quickly exited the enemy's mind.

It was like a slime pit in there, after all.

"This Slayer is named Miho, and, uh, originally she was a young man named Gohan. A Dark Fairy took his heart, and then turned him into a Slayer as payment," Giles said.

"Fairies? Really?! What is this, some geeky role-playing game?" Cordy demanded in disbelief.

Giles ignored her. "Miho works for the demon gods. They hired her to, uh, well - hunt us down, as it were."

"You guys, maybe. Since I'm not really part of your little Scooby Gang, odds are I'm perfectly safe!" Cordelia said eagerly.

"Who is this girl, Buffy?" Faith asked. She was getting a weird vibe off the cheerleader.

"Faith, this is Cordelia. Cordelia, this is Faith, she's the new Slayer in town."

"New Slayer? ANOTHER one? Was this because the crazy-as s Slayer came and trashed the school?" Cordy asked, suddenly wanting to keep a safe distance from the unkillable Slayer.

"Ah, no. It's...it's more complicated than that," Giles said, somewhat feebly.

"Whatever," Cordelia shrugged, figuring that these people didn't know where Xander and Willow were and so she may as well go home. Then she noticed what Giles was holding. "What's with the frozen head and hands?!"

Faith told her, "They belong to some undead former soldier guy named Riley."

Intrigued, Giles looked over the head. "The ice hasn't even melted at all; very strange indeed. How did this happen, Faith?"

"Not really sure how, Watcher Guy. All happened way too fast to get a good read on the sitch. I figure whoever or whatever it was, it was long gone by the time I noticed what was going on. Still, that wimp said something about a shape-shifting vampire..."

TBC