Chapter Notes: Thank you to everyone who's read and reviewed so far! Please try and listen to the songs I quote at the beginning of each chapter. They do play a role in the story, trust me. ;)

When all those shadows almost killed your light

~ Safe & Sound by Taylor Swift (feat. The Civil Wars)

Giles is, unsurprisingly, sceptical.

"Buffy, this is highly unlikely."

My finger twirls around the phone cord. "Well, unless you've got any suggestions…"

"Have you considered it might be Glory attempting to trick you?"

"I did," I tell him. "But that wouldn't make sense. If she could pull off something like this, don't you think she would've done it sooner? As in, before she resorted to beating up people for information?"

I hear him sigh at the other end. "And you are certain this is not that infernal robot Spike had made for him?"

"Willow confirmed that she wasn't tampering with it," I say. "Spike can't even leave his crypt, and even if the bot managed to somehow turn herself on, that doesn't explain Willow's voice in the background. And how she sounded older."

He sighs again. "Time travel, Buffy. It's scientifically impossible, and even if we bring magic into the equation, no witch or warlock has ever been able to achieve such a feat."

"What do your books say?" I ask.

I can hear the sound of pages turning on the other end of the phone. "All I can find are stories and heresy about a race of demons known as the Granok, who thrived on chaos and violence until some powerful beings made them immaterial. But when they became incorporeal, they gained the ability to move through not just dimensions but also time itself. They were known as the Timeshifters."

"So, what? Do you think these demons are involved? Or are they masquerading as a future version of me?"

"No. If they do exist, I do not think they are involved," Giles replies. "For one, being incorporeal means that they would not be able to interact with the world around them, and therefore would not have been able to contact you over the phone. And if what it says here is indeed correct, there is only one Timeshifter left in existence, and he hasn't been seen in two hundred years."

I frown. "If you don't think they're involved, then why tell me about them?"

"I was telling you what little information I can find on time travel," he says. "The fact of the matter is, Buffy, there is little evidence to suggest it is even possible, at least for humans."

Ugh. I knew I should've called Xander. He would've been full of theories, relying on his extensive pop culture knowledge from movies like Back to the Future, Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and The Terminator. None of those theories probably would've been viable, but at this point I'm willing to listen to anything other than Giles telling me over and over 'poo-poo, time travel's not real, poo-poo'.

"Giles, if you've got any other theories, I'd love to hear them," I tell him. "I thought you were a huge fan of that British time travel show I caught you watching with Spike that one time?"

"Doctor Who is not based on scientific fact, Buffy."

"I'm not hearing any other theories."

That familiar long-suffering sigh is his response. And if I know my Watcher, I bet he's removing his glasses and cleaning them for the one-hundred-and-eighteenth time.

"We should meet in the Magic Box tomorrow morning," he says at last. "Anya might have knowledge of these Granok demons, as well as any other form of time travel that may exist."

I smile. "So, you're saying that it is time travel?"

"I have said nothing of the sort. Only that we should explore all viable roads, and your so-called "time travel" theory is one such road."

"Meaning you have no idea what else it could be and you don't wanna admit that my silly time travel theory is the only one that makes sense."

"Goodnight, Buffy."

He hangs up before I can quip back. Rude.

And you'd think after being exposed to vampires, magic and everything but the kitchen sink, Giles would be open to something like time travel. I guess it's more sci-fi-y than what we're used to, but then there was that creepy bug demon thing that came from outta space, so magic stuff and science stuff can totally mix.

Or maybe I just need some sleep.

Maybe in the morning I'll see things from Giles's point of view and realise that the idea of time travel is stupid and that the voice I heard really was the Buffy Bot. I mean, if time travel really is a thing, wouldn't someone have used it to go back in time to kill Hitler, or something?

I slowly trudge up the stairs, wondering if I'm just grasping at straws with the time travel theory. With everything that's been happening, I just don't feel like… myself, I guess. All the things I used to be able to balance so well are falling all around me like bricks, hard and heavy. I don't have time for college, I barely have time to just hang with my friends; tonight was the only night I could get out this week, and only because I brought Dawn along with me.

The world is starting to spin out of control. Mom's gone, Glory's getting closer to discovering Dawn, and my once mortal enemy is in love with me. It's getting harder to breathe even when I'm doing regular things and I'm exhausted. Maybe I feel like I'm turning to stone because it's easier to not feel anything at all.

It feels like an eternity, climbing the stairs. But I finally reach the top and have to stop. I don't know why. I just need to. What am I waiting for? The house to start falling down around me? I wouldn't be surprised if it did.

A snore from Dawn's room snaps me out of my thousand-yard stare. I can't help but smile at her bedroom door. At least she's sleeping soundly.

I don't think I've had a full night's sleep since before Mom died.

It's morning. I'm still pretty sure it's time travel.

I don't get up right away after my alarm clock goes off. It's a new habit I've been growing into; just lying in bed and staring at the ceiling, thinking that nothing can hurt me if I don't get up in the morning. My thoughts always wonder in different directions, from what kind of horrible things Glory will put me through if she doesn't get her Key, to what kind of job will let me take days off in the event of an apocalypse because the bills aren't gonna pay themselves.

(Willow's checked and there's no spell to make bills magically pay themselves. Which sucks. There should totally be one.)

This morning, my thoughts are focussed on what happened last night. I keep trying to think of any other explanation that makes sense, but nothing fits. Pre-recorded message? It would've been left on the answering machine and wouldn't have worked via live phone call – at least, I think that's how it works? Plus, I totally would've remembered recording it. Unless our memories have been tampered with? But then the first point still stands (I think?) and an actual phone number would've shown up on the screen. Buffy Bot? I dismissed that notion last night. A trick from Glory? Like I told Giles, if she can pull off something like this then why hasn't she done it before now?

Time travel is the only explanation I can't rationalise away. It's impossible? Well, a lot of things about my life used to be impossible. Even the once thought to be impossible aspects of my impossible life I've proven to be very possible, like the whole 'there can only be one Slayer at a time' thing. It's never happened before? There's a first time for everything. And how do we know it's never happened before? For all we know there could have been some kind of original timeline where demons conquered the earth and someone went back in time to prevent it from happening. And were successful. Since they wouldn't have gone around telling people about it, we wouldn't know.

I'd love to see Giles try and rationalise that.

I hear footsteps in the hallway before the bathroom door slams shut. Great. There goes all the hot water. Thanks a lot, Dawn Hog-All-The-Hot-Water Summers. I guess that's what I get for lying in bed.

With a sigh, I finally pull myself up. I don't get changed; I still need a shower this morning, even if I have to wait another hour or two before the water heats up again. Instead, I slip on an old cardigan over my pyjamas and trudge downstairs. It's time to be the grown up of the house.

There's no time to make anything, I realise when I look at the clock. Dawn will barely have time to eat before the school bus arrives. Ugh, why do I have to be such a bad guardian? Mom would've made toast and eggs by now. All I can manage is sugary pop tarts. I can't give those to my sister every morning.

But it'll have to do today. I open the cupboard to see what we have and sigh, because we only have two flavours and they have to be some of the unhealthiest flavours out there: double chocolate and cookie dough. I take out one of each flavour so she at least has some variety and put them in the toaster.

While they're down, I make breakfast for myself. My stomach protests at anything filling or wet, and in the end, I settle on a bowl of dry cereal because even the thought of pouring milk on it makes me wanna throw up. I'm two mouthfuls in when Dawn thunders down the stairs, her footsteps so loud that for a moment I'm 98% sure she's been turned into a Fyral demon. She torpedoes into the kitchen just as the pop tarts jump out of the toaster.

"Yes!" She does a little fist pump before snatching them up and putting them on a plate. Her mouth is already full of food by the time she sits next to me at the breakfast bar, and I'm pretty sure she says 'good morning', but I can't tell in between all the chewing.

"Swallow, then talk," I tell her.

She does, then says, "Who called last night?"

"No one important," I say.

My sister gives me that look; the 'I know you're lying through your teeth' look. "Fine. Don't tell me," she says, before taking another bite.

I don't wanna worry her, especially if it's nothing. It has nothing to do with her.

But… maybe it does? The other me – future me? – said Dawn's name. And it hits me suddenly that I've been so focussed on whether or not I got a phone call from the future that I haven't stopped to think about why. Why would me from the future be trying to contact me from the past slash present? She wouldn't be calling just to say 'hi'. No, she has to be trying to warn me about something. And considering how close we are to the annual May apocalypse and how close Glory is getting to figuring out who her Key is, she's probably warning me about that.

Does something go horribly wrong? Does someone die? Oh god, does Dawn die?

That fear forces the words out of me. "I mean, it probably is important. Really, really important. But we're not sure if it's even real or possible, and I don't wanna worry you about something that might end up being nothing. Just… be careful today, OK? If you see any of Glory's minions hanging around or something tries to grab you, fake a headache and go to the nurse's office. Then I'll come and get you."

Dawn looks surprised that I've actually told her something, before she nods. "Yeah. OK."

I narrow my eyes at her. "That's not an invitation to pretend something's wrong so you can get out of going to school."

She rolls her eyes. "Whatever."

"I mean it. You know what happened to the boy who cried 'wolf'."

"The big bad wolf wasn't so big and bad and adopted him?"

It's my turn to roll my eyes. "Remind me to never let Spike tell you anymore bedtime stories."

Dawn stuffs the rest of her first pop tart in her mouth. Just as she's about to bite into her second, she looks at the clock on the wall and gasps. "Shoot! I'm gonna be late!"

"Then stop hitting the snooze button on your alarm clock," I tell her.

She doesn't hear me; she's on her feet, holding her second pop tart between her teeth and hauling her backpack straps over her shoulders. My sister races to the door, hollers, "Bye!" and then she's gone, door slammed behind her.

I stare down at my dry cereal that I've barely touched. God, I'm such a sad picture right now. Maybe I need a pop tart to give me some energy. Some nice, sugary goodness will make me feel better. Definitely.

Or I can just skip breakfast. That's good too.

For I moment I contemplate pouring the uneaten cereal in the trash before remembering that I can't waste food when I'm on a budget. It's dry and I've barely touched it, so it goes back in the box.

I give my bowl and spoon a quick rinse while making a list in my head of things I need to do today. Go to the Magic Box and talk to Giles about the phone call, then go into college in order to drop out of my classes, at least for this semester. Then after that I need to come back home and wash, clean, go over the bills…

I'm only twenty. Why do I feel so old all of a sudden?

The bell above the door jingles as I enter the Magic Box.

"Hello, valued customer!" Anya calls out from the till. "Let me know if you need any help spending your money- Oh, hi Buffy!"

"Hey." I walk over to the table at the back of the shop where Giles is already sat. There are books piled around him and one is open in front of him. "Any luck figuring out another theory, Giles? Or are you ready to give in and admit my time travel theory is flawless?"

"It is not flawless, Buffy," he says, removing his glasses and rubbing his forehead. At least he's not frustrated. There'd be a vein popping out if he was. "But I will admit there is some merit to it. Anya has provided me with some insight."

"Time travel isn't easy, but it's not impossible, either," says Anya. She doesn't move from the till and keeps one eye on the door, ever vigilant in case a customer steps into the shop. "I told him about the Granok demon Sahjhan, but this doesn't sound like his handywork. Timeshifters can't interact with physical objects."

"Something I told Buffy last night," says Giles.

Anya nods. "You were right. But travelling through time is easy for Sahjhan because he's incorporeal. It's a lot harder to do when you have a physical body. Time is like a dimension in itself, so travelling through it is kind of like travelling through different dimensions – only the walls are thousands of times stronger than the walls between regular dimensions. You'd have to find a very weak point in the fabric of reality not just on your end, but on the other end, too. And that's not even getting into how much power you'd need to even break through the wall."

"How do you know so much about this?" I ask, dropping my bag and taking a seat at the table.

"I travelled between dimensions when I was a demon," she says. "D'Hoffryn looked into the possibility of time travel in order to expand our business, before he concluded it was too difficult to accomplish. Oh, and Vengeance demons could perform small feats of time travel if it's required when granting a wish, like if someone wishes they could go back and change something. But that's more along the lines of rewinding time rather than travelling through it."

Giles is, predictably, writing all of this down. "Did you, um, grant such a wish?"

She nods again. "Oh yes. There was this one woman who wanted to go back to the moment she met her ex-boyfriend so she could break his nose instead of accepting his invitation for a date. I rewound two months of time with only she and I remembering it. But in the end, it was a waste of a wish. She broke his nose alright, but a week later she changed her mind and got with him, anyway. And you know what happened? It ended exactly the same way as it did the first time around. Seriously, why would a girl waste her time with someone when she knows it won't work out? The jerk was always gonna leave her no matter what she did."

If I didn't already know Anya is as blunt as an overused knife, I would've thought her words were a thinly veiled pot-shot at my relationship with Angel. But then if she wanted to make a comment about my love life, she would have said it to my face.

Regardless, her words hit me in that sore spot anyway, because she's right. I really should have known better than to get back with Angel that Christmas. Actually, I did know better. I gave him a big speech a month before about how we needed to distance ourselves from one another to prevent a repeat performance of what happened on my birthday. But then Christmas came along and he looked at me with those big brown eyes in the moments before trying to kill himself, and I was helpless. I was swept up in the moment and forgot how I was just setting myself up for more heartbreak.

I can't let myself be that girl again. I can't give everything I have to a guy who'll just throw it all back in my face and leave me broken. Now I have to give everything to Dawn; do anything I can to make sure she lives her best life.

The bell above the door rings again.

"Hello, valued customer!" Anya turns her attention to the front of the shop. "Let me know if you need any help spending your money- Oh, it's you."

Willow, with Tara behind her, walks right past Anya and stops in front of the table. It takes her a few moments to catch her breath, but when she does, she blurts out, "Guys, I think I got a phone call from the future!"

"You too?" is my immediate response. At least Willow is on the same page as me. "Because that's who I think was trying to call me last night."

"They called me this morning," says Willow. "On the phone in our dorm. It was really static-y but it was definitely my voice I could hear. I tried tracing the call, but all I got back were glitches."

"The caller ID on my phone was glitching out, too," I say. "Was it just your voice you could hear?"

"I heard your voice, too," she says. "And another voice. I think it was Dawn?"

I feel some tension leave me. If this really is us from the future, then at least Dawn is alive. Which leaves me wondering what could have possibly gone wrong in the future that warrants time travel to try and fix it?

Giles removes his glasses again, this time to clean them. "What did she say? This future version of yourself? Buffy said she couldn't make out much with her own phone call."

"I remember future me saying Dawn's name," I elaborate. "And saying they were gonna call later, which I guess they just did. I think they might have said they were coming? But I can't be sure. If they were coming here, why would they call ahead first?"

"So you don't think they're imposters and try to kill them?" Anya suggests. She shrugs. "Sounds like a good strategy to me. Give you a head's up before they arrive."

She makes a good point. If I'm being honest with myself, I tend to have a 'stake first, ask questions never' policy. My first meeting with Kendra didn't go so well for this very reason – though admittedly part of that was because she had the same idea, too. "OK, point taken."

"I'll be surprised if they are trying to come here," Anya continues. "Like I said, it's very difficult to push your physical body through the walls of time. Sending a phone signal through sounds hard enough, but also doable if you know what you're doing. Why don't they tell us what we need to know and leave it at that?"

"Maybe that's not enough?" I suggest. "Maybe they need to come back and actually do something? Something we can't do ourselves."

"I managed to get a bit more out of future me," says Willow. "I don't think she said she was from the future. Or maybe she tried, but that part got eaten up by the static. She said something about trying to work out the communication problems on their end. Oh, and I'm not supposed to let Tara go off alone."

"Which is fine with me," says Tara. The pair hold hands.

My Watcher has put his glasses back on and is deep in thought. I know that he knows he can't deny the time travel thing any longer. "It is imperative that we must discover the reason for these calls. I wager that with Glory still at large and growing desperate, it has something to do with how events play out in our fight against her."

"Or we defeat her just fine and our future selves are trying to warn us about a bigger threat that comes after," says Anya.

Silence follows, because a threat bigger than Glory isn't something any of us wanna think about.

"For now, we should assume their warning is about Glory," Giles continues. "Where is Xander? He should be made aware of this in case they try to contact him."

"He's at work," Anya replies. "But I think he's finishing early today. I'll call his site and ask to talk to him." She's reaching for the phone when it starts to ring. The ex-demon jumps a little, blinks, then shrugs her shoulder and picks it up. "Hello, you've reached the Magic Box! How may we help you spend your money today? Oh, hi Buffy. What's up?"

Wait… Buffy?

I leap out of my seat when it registers who she's talking to.

It takes a moment for Anya to realise this too; her eyes go a little wide before she lays the phone down on the counter and presses a button on the machine. "You're on speakerphone. Say hi!"

The sounds that come through the phone are three voices cheering, one of which is definitely mine. Another one sounds like Willow's, but older? The third is Dawn's, and it definitely sounds older. It's a woman's voice, not a child's. The question is, why don't I sound older?

And why is that my biggest concern right now?

"Hello?" My voice sounds weird over the phone. Is that really what it sounds like? I wouldn't know, since I've never, you know, talked to myself over the phone before. "You guys still there?"

I hurry over to the phone. "Yes! Yes, we're still here. Well, not all of us. Just me, Anya, Giles, Willow and Tara."

There's a gasp through the phone. I'm not sure who made it.

"Are you guys really us from the future?" asks Willow. "How is this even possible?"

"They must have found a weak spot in the walls of reality," says Anya. "But I didn't think Sunnydale had a weak spot. I mean, I know it's on top of a Hellmouth and all, but that doesn't mean-"

"Yes, we're you guys from the future. And there isn't a weak spot normally," Future Willow interrupts. "But the walls between dimensions are weakening the closer you get to Glory's ritual window. The walls will be weakest at the exact moment its set to happen, but they're still weak enough in the days before and after to allow us to travel through time. We're waiting for them to weaken a bit more before we try and cross over to you guys, but we thought we'd give you a head's up before we arrive so you're, you known, prepared."

I can feel my head spinning, because that's a lot of information that Future Willow has thrown at us.

Giles speaks before I can. "How do we know this is not one of Glory's tricks? We require proof that you are who you say you are."

"Ooh, you asked me to do this before!" says Future Me. "When I swapped bodies with Faith and I said something about looking into your eyes when you got turned into a Fyral demon-"

"Yes, yes, I believe that answers my question," says Giles, once again removing his glasses to clean them. Those things must be clearer than 20/20 vision with how often he polishes them.

"It's like I said before, Giles," I tell him. "If Glory could do something like this, she would've done it sooner. And she wouldn't know about Faith or the time I swapped bodies with her, so this is totally me."

He nods. "I'm sorry for doubting you, Buffy. It's just… This seemed so impossible. The logistics of this feat-"

"Yeah, sorry to interrupt you there, Giles, but we have bigger concerns?" I say. "Like what do you mean by a ritual window? What's Glory's plan?"

"Probably best to tell them that when we get there," says a new but very familiar voice. "We don't have much time."

Giles rolls his eyes. "Oh good lord, Spike is there. Of course he's still with us in the future. Nothing can kill that vampire."

"I'm one of a kind, Watcher," says Future Spike, and I know by the tone of that voice that he's smirking. And why does it comfort me to know that Spike is still around in the future, when for most of the time I've known him I've wanted him out of my life?

"Spike…" I can hear the annoyance in my future self's voice. "I thought you were on lookout with Oz."

"The wolf's fine on his own," says Future Spike. "I wanted to join the party."

"Oz?" Willow frowns, and I see Tara squeezing her girlfriend's hand tighter at the mere mention of said girlfriend's ex-boyfriend. "Oz is there?"

"Um, we're not together," says Willow's future self. "He's here because… Well, there's no easy way to say this, but it's just us now. Me, Buffy, Spike, Dawn and Oz."

The room is so quiet that a pin dropping would sound like a bomb going off.

"Tara dies?" It's Willow's turn to squeeze her girlfriend's hand.

"Xander dies? I die?!" Anya looks like she's one second away from either smashing the phone to pieces or summoning her old boss.

Giles just sighs. He doesn't look all that concerned with the proof of his own demise in the future, but then he's good at hiding his feelings.

"If our mission goes as planned," says Future Me, "then none of you are gonna die."

Future Spike scoffs. "Like our missions always go to plan, luv."

His words are followed by a loud smack. Good to know some things haven't changed.

"Can we get back on topic, please?" I ask. "Glory's plan?"

"Spike has a point. We don't have much time to explain," says Future Me. "This connection could cut out at any moment. But OK, we'll give you the basics. Long story short, Glory was banished from her home dimension and wants to use the Key to open a portal to go home. She can only do the ritual during a small window of time, when the walls between dimensions are weak."

My mouth nearly drops. "That's Glory's plan? To go home? That's it?"

"Why didn't she just tell us that?" says Willow. "We could've, you know, figured out a way to open a portal ourselves…"

"It's not that simple." Future Dawn speaks for the first time, and yeah, she's totally an adult now. This is so weird. "My power won't just open a portal. It'll dissolve the boundaries between dimensions and destroy reality as we know it. Glory knows this but she doesn't care. She just wants to go home and get revenge on the people who banished her."

"We have a plan to stop her," my future self continues, "but that can wait until we get there. Until then, we can tell you what's gonna happen today so you guys know what to expect."

"With some adjustments for the butterfly effect," says Future Willow. "Us contacting you could have already changed some things."

"We'll start with me," Future Me says. "Buffy, after you drop out of college today, you'll get a call from Dawn's principal, asking you to go and see her when school finishes. You'll find out that Dawn's been skipping school."

"What?!" She's been skipping? Since when? She always told me everything was fine whenever I asked.

"I speak for my past self when I say I'm really sorry," says Future Dawn.

I wanna storm out of the shop then and there and go shake some sense into my sister. "Oh, when I get my hands on her-"

"Buffy! Buffy!" My future self brings me back to the present moment. "Trust me, you have every right to be angry. But right now, when everything's about to fall apart, you can't let your temper get the best of you. The principal will tell you that if you can't make her go to school, you'll be seen as an unfit guardian and child services will take her away."

That hits me right in the gut. Dawn… taken away… where I can't protect her…

Future Dawn speaks again. "You need to tell her, I mean me, what's going on. Sit me down and explain why I need to go to school. Buffy, things get rocky between us, and a lot of that is because you don't talk to me. You keep things from me, thinking you're protecting me, but it just makes things worse. Please, you need to stop babying me, or else I'll never be ready for the real world. Instead of making the rules and telling me to obey or else, explain to me why you've made the rules. Talk to me like you talk to your friends. Talk to me like I'm an adult. That's why I liked hanging around Spike, and Willow and Tara. They do that."

"She's right," says Future Me. "You'll be able to protect her a lot better if she knows what you're actually protecting her from – and then she can go on to protect herself from it when you're no longer around to do it."

I wanna yell that Dawn's the baby and I need to protect her… but I can't, because the people telling me all this are our future selves. They've lived through this. They've made the mistakes. And it's a mistake I made that morning, when I didn't tell her who had called me when it really wouldn't have hurt to explain things to her.

Dawn's nearly fifteen years old, I realise. The same age I was when I was called as the Slayer. She's not a baby anymore.

"OK," I say, nodding my head. "But after all this is over, she's so grounded."

"That's fair."

"Hey!"

My future self ignores our sister and says, "After the meeting, you go back to the Magic Box to talk with Giles. Willow helps Dawn with her homework. Oh, that's another thing. Willow tries this new method she read about… What was it called?"

"I was trying to stimulate her visual learning pattern," says Future Willow.

"Oh! I read about that!" says Present Willow. "There was this article that says kids learn better if they used the right side of their brain instead of just their left. And that they learnt things better if teachers make it fun for them. That's why we still know all those educational songs from Sesame Street. Because it was fun."

"Yep, that's it," says Future Me. "But when I saw it, I got all grouchy and ruined the fun. I was trying to be the stern voice of authority because of what the principal told me, but in the end, it just made Dawn act out even more. What I'm saying is, let Dawn learn things in her own way. So long as she's still learning what she needs to know, it doesn't matter how she learns it."

That… makes sense. And hey, maybe if I learned visually or by having fun, I might have gotten an even higher SAT score. It sounds like how I learned most of my Slayer skills.

Giles speaks up. "I'm curious as to how you can remember all this. It sounds like you are from some time in the future, and human memory is flawed."

"Oh, I did a spell that boosted our memories," says Future Willow. "Not all of our memories, obviously, or else our brains would've overloaded. But our memories from these few days around the time of Glory's ritual."

"Can't remember any lottery numbers, though," says Future Spike. "Sorry, pet."

It's strange, but the fact that Spike wants to help me makes me feel warm.

"But enough about that," Future Willow goes on to say. "The most important part of the day is what Glory does. She thinks she's figured out who the Key is, but she's wrong. She thinks it's Tara."

"Tara?" Willow exclaims. There's more hand squeezing, both girls doing it to each other. "Is that why you told me not to let Tara go off alone?"

"Yeah," says her future self. "We had an argument, which I don't think you'll have now since it started with Buffy being all grumpy about how you were helping Dawn with her homework, and we've told her not to do that. Anyway, she went to the World's Culture Fair alone and Glory found her. When she realised Tara wasn't the Key, she brain-sucked her, turning her into one of the crazy people."

"No!" Present Willow looks somewhere between wanting to burst into tears and wanting to go after Glory herself. "I won't let her!"

"Long story short," Future Willow continues, "I tried to attack her with magic and it didn't go so well. She attacked us the next day in revenge, and Tara accidentally outed Dawn as the Key. Things went downhill from there."

Present Willow is right. We can't let this happen again. "How do we stop this from happening?" I ask. "If Glory thinks Tara is the Key-"

"We've come up with a plan that might work," my future self says. "It's mostly a job for Willow, though."

"There's a glamour spell you can use," says Future Willow, "that can make someone look like Tara. Use it on the Buffy Bot. Then have her sit on a bench in the middle of the Fair, so Glory will go over to her. Program the bot to keep her distracted for as long as she can, because Glory's gonna be so mad when she realises that she's been tricked."

"While this is happening, the rest of you need to hide," says Future Me. "Buffy, you take Dawn to Spike and the three of you can hide in the caves under his crypt. The rest of you need to stay in Xander and Anya's apartment. Glory doesn't know where they live, so you guys should be safe there."

"Can't they hide with us under Spike's crypt?" I ask.

"Tara needs to be away from Dawn," my future self explains. "Glory can taste the Key's blood. If she tracks you guys down and Dawn gets hurt, there's a chance she could figure it out. If we're lucky, Glory will think Tara was a disguised robot who looks like me the whole time and will go back to her place to take out her frustrations on her minions."

"Do you know what spell I'm talking about… um, other me?" Future Willow asks.

Present Willow nods. "Yeah. I remember reading about it, but I've never had the chance to use it."

"I know the spell, too," says Tara. If she's shaken at the revelation that she's currently Glory's target, she doesn't show it. "We have to anchor the spell to an object, like a necklace. So long as the person being glamoured keeps wearing the necklace, the glamour will hold. Unless someone powerful like Glory breaks through it. I can perform the spell since its my likeness being used, but I'll need some of Willow's magic too to give me a boost."

"I like spells where we boost each other," says Willow with a smile. "Extra hand-holding time. While you're setting it all up, I'll get the Buffy Bot ready to go."

"Work on it in the back room," says Anya. "Creepy sex robots will distract the customers."

"Because loss of sales is just about the worst thing that can happen right now," Giles snarks.

Anya nods. "Exactly!"

My Watcher sighs, but continues. "Now, if you don't mind me asking, how far in the future are you from?"

"Twenty years," says Future Me. "The year is 2021."

Twenty years. Twenty freaking years. My forty-year-old self is contacting me, because something apparently went wrong in the two decades in between that warrants time travel to undo it.

"Then why have you waited so long to come back and change this one event?" asks Giles.

"Because while the battle against Glory was where it all started going wrong, it was a slow descent," says Future Willow. "It was the small spark that started a forest fire. And we didn't realise it until later – when it was too late. Look, I think I'm gonna lose the connection any second now, so we'll explain more when we get there."

Panic starts to rise in me. "What if something goes wrong and you don't make it here?"

"I've got it all figured out," says Future Willow. Though her voice sounds older, she's still that same perky Willow I know so well. "We should arrive at eleven o'clock tonight, your time. Outside the high school."

Of course. Back where it all started. "And if something goes wrong?"

"Wait an hour or two," says Future Me. "In case our timing is out. But if we don't appear, get out of town. Take Dawn and flee. But maybe don't go all together. Split up in different directions so it confuses them."

"Why can't we just do that anyway?" I ask.

"We did the first time around," Future Me replies. "We didn't get far before those stupid Knights caught up to us. Hopefully if you get a head start you might be able to evade them, but…"

"Hold on, Knights?" Giles asks. "What Knights do you speak of?"

I bite my lip. "Yeah, uh… I forgot to tell you about those guys. Um… explain later?"

Giles just gives me that look.

"He's giving you that look, isn't he?" says my future self. She sighs. "The Knights of Byzantium are an Order of Knights who oppose Glory, but seek to destroy the Key by any means necessary. Somehow they found out that Dawn's the Key. When we tried to escape Sunnydale, they attacked us and wounded Giles, forcing us to hide in an abandoned gas station with only a magic force field protecting us. We took their General hostage, and he was the one who told us about Glory's plans."

"I first found out about them back when the Council visited," I explain. "I… I really meant to tell you about them, but with everything else that was going on with Glory being in my house and the Council breathing down my neck, I just… forgot, I guess." Before Giles can give me another one of his disapproving looks, I turn back to the phone and say, "So they know about Dawn?"

"If they don't know yet, then they're gonna find out soon," says Future Me. "They'll mobilise to attack tomorrow. Your tomorrow."

"Great!" I throw up my arms. That's another thing to add to my unending list of pain and misery. Glory wants my sister to open a reality-destroying portal and a bunch of crazy Knights want to kill my sister to stop the first thing from happening.

The world is too bright. Too hard. There are cracks everywhere I look, like the earth is one big egg that's about to become some big evil's breakfast. I feel my bones getting heavier, trying to weigh me down, but I don't let it show.

I swallow and keep soldiering on. I'm the Slayer. I need to protect Dawn. I need to save the world. I can't give up now.

"Don't worry," my future self assures me. "We have a plan for that, too."

"Which is?"

But before she can answer me, her voice cuts out. The line is filled with nothing but static, before the call ends suddenly. I guess they ran out of time. Anya slowly hangs the phone up.

I want to hang onto my future self's last words. They have a plan, and hopefully, it's an awesome plan that won't fail even if everything goes wrong. But I don't know what that plan is – and I won't find out until they get here tonight. There's also the chance that something could go wrong on their end and they won't arrive at all. I can't let my guard down. I can't rely on some plan I may never even hear.

At least we know what we're facing now. Glory is getting closer and the Knights are gonna throw their hat into the ring, too. If all else fails and our future selves don't show up, then I can just take Dawn and run. And hope no one catches up.

Giles places his glasses back onto his face. "We should make a plan of our own. Buffy?"

I nod, pushing down my worries. "Willow, you and Tara get the Buffy Bot ready to go. They didn't give us an exact time, but I'm guessing Glory's attack on Tara happens some time after Dawn's school finishes. Make sure she's ready around three-ish? I'll stop by with Dawn and we can deploy her then."

"And what should the rest of us do until then?" asks Giles. "I wish to try and research this ritual that Glory intends to perform."

"Sure." It won't matter when our future selves arrive, since they'll have all the info, but there's nothing else he can really do. And if our future selves don't arrive, then the more information we have, the better. I turn to Anya. "Call Xander. Tell him what's going on and to meet us here when he's finished work."

Anya nods and picks up the phone again. "Just so you know, I'm really not happy about all of you coming to stay with us. Xander and I had plans involving my Naughty Nurse outfit-"

"TMI, Anya!" I tell her. "And it's not all of us. I need to keep Dawn away from Tara. After the bot's been deployed, the rest of you will head back to Xander and Anya's place. I'll take Dawn to Spike's crypt and we can hide in the caves, like Future Me said to do."

"Buffy, are you sure that is wise?" Giles asks. "Given his obsession with you-"

"What, you think he's gonna try and seduce me in front of my little sister?" I say. "He's made some stupid decisions, but he's not that dumb."

My Watcher sighs. "All I am saying is that there are safer places to hide."

"Giles, my future self told me to go there," I tell him. "She knows what's gonna happen. So, she knows that those caves are probably the safest place for Dawn and I to hide. If we try and hide somewhere else, we could accidentally stumble upon Glory or one of her minions. Or stumble upon the Knights. I'm not taking that risk. If you have a problem, then save your complaints for my future self when she arrives tonight with the others."

Giles doesn't say anything more. He knows this is an argument he won't win.

"What are you gonna do now, Buffy?" Willow asks.

I walk back over to the table and retrieve my bag. "I'm gonna stick to the script, for now. I need to drop out of college, and then I'll be attending a meeting at my bratty little sister's school. If I had the time, I'd seriously consider home-schooling her to avoid the trouble. Hey, Giles! How much can I pay you to home-school Dawn?"

"You couldn't pay me all the money in the world."

"Geez. There's no need to be so harsh about it. She's not that bad."

He gives me that look again.