Leaves in a Windy Mind

by Shadow Master

(Drabbles, multiple crossovers) Decided to resurrect my old habit of putting any new crossover plot ideas into Drabble form rather than jump right into a full fledged story. Hope it'll help me focus on my in progress works and not get distracted. Please vote for the ones you want to see continued either as a Drabble or a true story.

2. An Extra Blade is Always Welcome

"An Extra Blade is Always Welcome"

(BtVS/DMC/LotR/Nanatsu no Taizai aka The Seven Deadly Sins/Others)

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the copyrighted materials contained herein. They are the rightful property of their respective creators and/or associated companies. I make no profit from this whatsoever and I have no intention of changing this at any point in the future. I write because it's fun and because there are those who enjoy reading my stories. Therefore please no lawsuits or court orders demanding that I cease and desist.

Note : I decided to do a second crossover with Nanatsu no Taizai because after rewatching the first season my interest and the fun that came with it. With one taking place in the BtVS universe I thought I'd put this one in the world of Nanatsu no Taizai.

As always positive reviews are welcome, constructive criticism will be considered but not necessarily acted upon and negative/bashing reviews will either be ignored or used as incentive to keep going if only to annoy the negative reviewer.

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An Extra Blade is Always Welcome

Earth-10514

The Middle of an Open Field

12 Years before C-Day

Xander's POV

"Well I hope you're happy Xander." Buffy growled at him as they all looked at their new surroundings.

"Actually, yeah, I am pretty happy with the way things turned out." He replied seeing nothing but wilderness in all directions, "We're not dead, I'm pretty sure the demon can't open the Hellmouth with his thingamajig smashed so the world's saved and honestly I haven't felt this good in my entire life. So considering what coulda happened I'm considering this a win."

"Well I see your win and call it a big ass screw up." She said not willing to let him off the hook, "Thanks to you smashing the idol thing we're not where we're supposed to be, we have no idea how to get home and as for you feeling good I'm pretty sure I know why."

"Huh?" He asked turning to look at Buffy more directly instead of out of the corner of his eye.

What he saw both shocked him and provided him with a new happy place to go to but he made sure the latter feeling didn't show up on his face. Before him was not the Buffy he'd been helping deal with the demon of the week with back in good old Sunnyhell but rather someone five years older with a body that'd easily be called a plastic surgeon's masterpiece. Not that she wasn't a hottie before but now she was seven inches taller, had almost double her previous bust size, hips to die for and legs to match. When added to the fact that she was now clad in hip hugger black leather pants, black one inch heel boots, a black corset that Buffy'd better hope had quality laces, a choker and unless he missed his guess she now had two semi-auto pistols resting in holsters strapped to her back at the waist she was definitely the total package.

Whatever had changed her had also lengthened her hair to almost waist length throwing in the fact that she was now a true blue blonde instead of a bottle job.

"Don't know what you've got to complain about." He said with his usual lopsided grin, "Looks to me like you lucked out."

Wait.

The way she spoke earlier implied that she knew why he was feeling good.

Raising his arms up so he could look at them better he was surprised to find himself wearing a blue coat and brown fingerless gloves. Neither felt uncomfortable to him and both looked to be made of quality materials if he was any judge. Looking down at his body he found himself wearing a black sleeveless vest, dark green pants and brown knee high boots with twin straps at the top of each one. Moving around a bit he found that the clothes were both comfortable enough while not being restrictive in the least. While he wouldn't call it in keeping with his preferred sense of fashion at least it didn't look like it came out of Deadboy's closet.

"Not bad. Not great but hardly something that'd get Commissioner Cordy of the fashion police breathing down my neck." He said looking back up at Buffy, "As for the whole 'where are we' and 'how do we get home' Giles'll figure something out."

"While I am flattered by your opinion of my abilities Xander I fear that you be making more of them then is factually true." Giles said with a new unquantifiable property to it, "Indeed I fear I will need quite a bit of time unlearn what I once thought to be the truth."

Turning towards the Watcher's voice he wondered if someone was having fun at their expense.

Gone was the usual tweed outfit the Brit usually wore and in its place was something that could be called a wandering beggar's outfit from medieval times. Blue pointy hat, long grey cloak, a simple dark blue robe beneath the cloak and commoner fingerless gloves. With a dark wood staff as tall as he was and twisted at the top G-Man looked like an aged old man who could only get about with the aid of his walking staff. However the odd property that was mixed with the man's voice did not belong with a aged beggar but rather something much more impressive. He'd bet half his Twinkie budget that the Watcher's new look was a disguise of some sort specifically intended to make anyone who saw him underestimate him.

He most certainly would not.

He was getting a good laugh over the fact that the Brit now looked like he hadn't gone anywhere near a barber shop in almost ten years. Honestly it looked like aside from some light and likely crude trimming in order to keep it minimally under control both the beard and the hair on Giles' head had been left to do whatever it wanted.

"Giles?" Buffy asked looking more concerned than amused.

"I am…well Buffy. I confess that I am not as I once was but unless my senses are deceiving me none of us are what we once were." Giles said grasping the staff with both hands like a tangible form of reassurance, "While it would be logical to blame the destruction of the idol for our current predicament I suspect that there are more considering hands at work. When one destroys a conduit for great power the results can either be disastrous or disappointing but never are they controlled in the least."

"If you're right then no way could something random make anything like what we are now." Buffy said sounding more wary than before, "We should look like that old Munch painting the art teacher showed us but we don't."

"So what do you think happened Giles?" Willow asked causing the three to look towards the source of her voice.

If Buffy'd gotten a hotness upgrade then he had to say that his best bud since footie pyjamas could now toss her 'mousey geek' card in the trash. After gaining six inches she was now equal in height to Buffy's new form with a head of red hair braided so that it was draped over her shoulder. Also just like Buffy the redhead now sported a bust that rivalled anything Cordy or her clique had without being unnatural looking.

Not that he looked too closely.

Nope. Didn't do that 'cause Willow was like a sister to him and you don't do things like that to family.

That way led to icky territory.

A short white cape covered the grey shirt she wore and the grey pants leading to brown boots she looked like he sometimes imagined a past Slayer might've if they weren't concerned with blending in. With visible holsters for a pair of curved blades that reminded hm of elephant tusks and pouches that look like they contained smaller blades he imagined that Willow might become dangerous at any range if she got enough practice in.

"If someone did drop us here at least they made sure that we'd be able to protect each other." He said pointing at the handle peaking out from beneath Giles' grey cape, "You don't give someone a sword unless you think they'll need it."

In response to this Giles took one hand off of his new staff to grasp the hilt of the sword whose sheath was strapped to his side and with a familiar sound pulled the weapon out. From what he could see the weapon looked like it'd bee designed to be used either one handed or two depending on the desire of the wielder. The hilt was a quality job with small jewels mounted on it and the blade was almost fifty inches long looking like it'd been made by a master sword maker. However if it was anything like its wielder he suspected that the weapon was more than it appeared to be and could do more than simply cut if Giles wanted it to.

"So someone stepped in to make sure we didn't turn into melted piles of goo, gave us a makeover, armed us and then dropped us here?" Buffy asked sounding somewhat disbelieving, "Why? What's in it for them?"

"I would hazard a guess that our unknown benefactor has a task that they would have us complete in this world. Either to make something happen or prevent something from happening." Giles said returning his sword to its sheathe, "When added to our evident empowerment and physical alterations one can only assume that the task is challenging enough that our natural selves would not fare well."

"Makes sense. So…how do we find out what we can do?" He asked a little stumped about how they were supposed to do something without knowing what they had to work with.

Sure Buffy had her guns, Willow had her blades and Giles had his sword but none of those things really required that they get a full body makeover. All of them could use guns or bladed weapons back in their old bodies and even if the weapons had some mojo in them to make'em even deadlier that still didn't necessitate a new look much less a new body. So either their appearances had been changed to better fit in with the locals or their travel agent took some liberties with the details concerning the four of them. Either way if they did indeed have powers or enhanced abilities they needed to figure out how to switch them on and then master how to use them effectively.

"I would suggest that before we find out what we may or may not be able to do now that we find some measure of shelter." Giles said getting the attention of all three teenage students, "It appears that there is a storm brewing and I for one would prefer not to get caught out in the rain."

Looking about it didn't take him long to spot the dark clouds on the horizon heading their way.

"Giles is right. Necessities first then we'll worry about the rest." Willow said seconding the motion for shelter.

Casting his gaze about he tried to spot anything or anywhere that might provide them with even rudimentary shelter until the bad weather passed. It wasn't easy since they'd been dropped into the middle of a field but in his mind there had to be a forest or a town nearby since wide open spaces didn't go past a certain size. Either a forest expanded its growth or people of some sort would see it as prime territory for settling down and build a house to call home.

There had to be one or the other within eyesight.

"There! I think there's a forest that way!" Buffy said pointing to her immediate right.

Looking in that direction he focused in order to see if she was right and while it was VERY tiny he could spot a speck of green above ground level.

"Well if we're gonna beat the rain there we'd better get going." He said releasing his focus, "Think you can keep up G-Man?"

"While it has been some time since I last ran for anything other than my life I believe I can make it there." Giles said dryly sounding like he was mildly put out at the idea that he was THAT old.

Plus when you dealt with the sort of things they did you learned to be quite adept at running and managing your breathing so that you didn't wind up out of breath too quickly. Odds were good that since Giles had landed in Sunnydale he'd done what he could to get into proper shape and stay there even if a traditional Watcher just sat in his library.

"Then let's get going 'cause those storm clouds are definitely not waiting for us." Buffy said before breaking into a run for the distant forest.

Running very, VERY, fast.

"Speed upgrade?" Willow asked looking both shocked and a little discouraged.

"Speed upgrade." Giles said in agreement even as he began to run after her as best he could in his outfit.

If she's this fast now even if she doesn't realize it how fast is she going to be when she actually TRIES to go all out? He thought as he and Willow broke into their own runs to keep up.

He doubted that it'd be the same sort of speed as The Flash or Superman but it'd definitely be something to watch.

---

A Little Over an Hour Later

Beneath a Crude Shelter of Natural Stone

Giles' POV

"Well it would seem that aside from our physical changes and new clothes our physical prowess is beyond what we once possessed." He said even as the rain pelted their crude stoney sanctuary, "Normally I would have been quite out of breath after so long a run but I feel only slightly fatigued."

"Ditto." Xander said sitting cross-legged on the ground.

"Same." Buffy said leaning up against cold stone.

"Yep." Willow said rounding out the group.

While normally he would feel reassured by this since it'd mean that it would take something significant to match or overcome them he instead felt only concern. Why? Because it was his belief that they were deposited in this world with only the bare minimum enhancements necessary to prevent them from dying within days. It was quite likely that their unknown benefactor intended to have them grow stronger over time before confronting whatever problem they were intended to solve. If that was indeed the case then he was worried about how strong this 'problem' would be once they faced it. Buffy, as the Slayer, already had physical abilities that allowed her to kill many strong breeds of demon yet whoever was responsible for her changes had felt the need to enhance her even further.

The entity had felt the need to enhance all of them further.

Ominous was a word that he found quite fitting in this instance.

"However that only partially answers the question of what we can now do." He said looking about before spotting something that would suit his purposes, "Xander? Pick up that large rock and try to crush it with only one hand."

He could see in the lad's eyes the immediate inclination towards believing that such a thing was impossible but with a shrug Xander still walked over to pick the rock up. It took a few moments for the high school student to get a decent grip on the rock one handed but once it was achieved the test began.

Began and ended inside of two seconds.

Like it was a piece of hollow candy the rock in Xander's hand splintered into dozens of pieces with some parts being reduced to little more than sand. This had caused Willow and Buffy to raise their eyes in surprise but to him it only confirmed what he'd suspected when he'd chosen the rock. The Xander of old could've strained all he wanted to crush it one handed to no avail and most likely would've needed a hammer or something similar to do it. To be capable of crushing the rock bare handed made one thing clear.

The lad now had superhuman strength and given that there had been no visible sign of strain on the young man's face Xander was likely capable of a great deal more now.

"Super strength. Cool." Xander said as the last bits of rock fell from his hand.

Intrigued by this development Buffy and Willow both grabbed a rock from the ground, the biggest that could fit in their hands, and try to crush the rocks as Xander had. While not as immediate as Xander's efforts they too proved to be strong enough to crush the rock into pieces at their feet. Did this imply that physically they were weaker than Xander or were the rocks they had chosen simply tougher than the one he had picked out for the lad? There was no way to know for certain since geology was never his strong suit. Still he took what comfort he could from what he'd witnessed before deciding to move onto a more immediate concern.

"Once the rain ends we should try to find some manner of village or town." He said sitting down on the ground himself since it was likely to be hours before the rainfall stopped, "Our biggest disadvantage at the moment is our lack of information and a town or a village would at least partially solve that problem."

"Only question is: which direction? North, east, south or west?" Xander asked gesturing vaguely in each specified direction.

A basic question but not an invalid one.

Were it the modern world there would be noticeable streets, highways and signs every so often to let them know where they needed to go but he had not seen anything from the moment the four of them had arrived in this new world. While it could simply mean that they had been deposited someplace well away from civilization a more likely scenario would be that the world that they were now did not possess the means or the need to make such things. They could be in a world that was no more advanced than the early eighteen hundreds or as far back as the time when the Roman Empire was at its height of power. It would certainly explain being bestowed with swords, knives and other such weapons since they would blend in better in such a society.

However such a society would also follow certain patterns out of necessity if nothing else one of which being building dwellings close to a strong source of water, good soil for farming and somewhat safe from dangerous predators.

"One direction is as good as another however should we chance upon a river we should follow it. If I am right we are more likely to encounter people if we do so and with them a way to 'fill in the blanks' as it were." He said proposing the most logical course of action.

"And if they don't speak our language?" Willow asked sounding a bit worried.

"There are other ways to communicate albeit with reduced accuracy and an increased chance of misinterpretation." He replied knowing of at least a handful of methods that might succeed in getting the right message across, "At the very least we might be able to get the person or people we encounter to direct us to someplace more informative."

"Think this world's got indoor plumbing?" Xander asked offhand as though it only partially interested him, "'Cause otherwise we'll be looking at outhouses and I don't even want to think about what we're going to do without toilet paper."

"What do you mean?" Buffy asked sounding worried as other possibilities came to mind for her.

"Toilet paper is a modern invention Buffy." He replied even though he knew he was going to regret it, "Prior to toilet paper people used such things as moss, a sponge on a stick, ceramic pieces, bamboo spatulas and the like. The rich usually used wool, lace or hemp cloth for the…ahem…wiping process."

"And hot baths or showers?" She asked hoping that his replies would be better.

"Indoor plumbing in homes didn't happen until the mid-eighteen forties Buffy and hot running water happened a decade or so later." Willow replied this time sounding as displeased as Buffy, "If this world doesn't have technology at the same level then we'll be looking at either filling a tub bucket by bucket and heating it with a fire underneath or cleaning up in the nearest lake."

"I'm gonna KILL whoever sent us here!" Buffy growled clearly not reacting well to the idea of being without modern household conveniences, "The least they could've done was send us someplace modern or give us some sparkly mojo pieces to make things more like home!"

"I'm not looking forward to sponging my ass after having a dump either Buffy but I'm thinking that whoever sent us here had rules to follow." Xander said looking resigned to unpleasantness, "Isn't that what you always tell us Giles? Magic having a cost and rules it has to follow?"

"Quite right Xander." He replied with a nod of his head, "While those capable of sending people to other worlds and changing them as we have been changed have greater leeway with the rules than mortal practitioners of magic they do have rules they are obligated to follow. There is always someone or something greater with the power to enforce those rules even upon deities and demon lords."

"So they saved us from being goo-ified, send us to a new world to do something for them without telling us what that is and gave us a makeover but nothing else 'cause of some rules?" Buffy asked sounding like she was trying to get the facts straight.

"Essentially yes." He replied finding her summary to be accurate.

"Then I guess my beef is with whoever kept our travel agent from doing more." She growled in a way that implied pain was in store for that unknown entity.

He took some comfort in knowing that even if the blonde Slayer found out who it was it was unlikely that she would be able to get to them never mind actually fight them. Any being capable of enforcing rules upon one capable of dimensional transference and arcane alteration was on a level beyond anything a Slayer could contend with. Even if the changes to Buffy had made her stronger than she once was it still wouldn't be enough to meet the challenge of confronting such an entity.

"And on that note I'm gonna get some shuteye." Xander said taking his blue coat off before rolling it up into an improvised pillow, "That rain probably isn't going to stop anytime soon and there's not much we can talk about until we know more."

Watching the young man do his best to get comfortable on a bed of dirt and grass he looked to the young ladies and found them a little more at a loss as to what to do. Unlike the young man they did not possess an article of clothing capable of being improvised and looked uneasy at the thought of sleeping in the same environment as bugs and worms. With a sigh of acceptance he took off the cloak he'd been wearing up until then laid it on the ground like a blanket for them. It didn't solve the pillow problem or provide them with protection from the damp chill in the air but it would at least shield them somewhat from the ground crawlers.

As for him he found that the temperature and the dampness did not bother him as much as it should for someone of his advanced years. He would still welcome a warm fire or a comfortable bed but he was pragmatic enough to put up with 'roughing it' when there was no other option at hand.

As for his three charges…he gave them a week to ten days before their tolerance for living off the land became vanished entirely.

---

A Little Over Two Days Later

Buffy's POV

"Tell me again why it's a good thing that we're looking for where the crap is coming from?" She asked as she followed Giles upstream along with the others.

"Because Buffy it is highly likely that we are in a world where settlements are few and far apart." Giles said with only a little exasperation, "It would explain why we have not come across any homes by themselves since such houses would be vulnerable to bandits or other threats. It is quite likely that what we are after are what is referred to as a 'castle town' where the citizenry live behind castle walls or within eyesight of the castle at the very least."

"Yeah? And?" She asked still not getting the point.

"The point is Buffy that such large concentrations of people are going to have a great deal of 'waste' to dispose of each day of various varieties." He replied before stopping and turning to face her, "Short of literally carting it out every day to be buried or dumped somewhere the most efficient way of dealing with the problem is to let nature carry it away. This can be done easiest via a river or stream running through the castle town with various manmade gutters and tunnels meant to funnel the waste into the river."

"So basically we're following the crap to find the asses each log came outta." Xander said once more summing up something complicated in his usual vernacular, "Seeing as how we've seen enough to fertilize an entire field I'd say we're on the right track."

He had a point.

While not enough to turn the clear waters a sickening brown or anything she'd definitely spotted enough shit being carried downstream that it couldn't possibly have come from a single person. Still the few 'logs' that washed up on the shore of the stream however stank to high heaven especially to her Slayer senses. The sooner they could put some distance between the human waste and their group the better she'd feel.

Wait.

Giles said that the people in these caste town things built gutters and sewers to funnel the crap outside the walls. That meant that inside the castle walls the stink wouldn't be coming from just one spot but all around them. FUCK! Now she had a whole new reason why she wanted to kick the ass of their travel agent's boss because now she'd be forced to either camp far away from from civilization or put up with shit stink. The least he, she or it could've done was put them in a world with indoor plumbing and modern enough that you wouldn't smell any crap unless you were standing right on it.

"First thing I'm going to do when we get some of the local money is stock up on scented oils and candles." She said as they began to climb up a steep hill, "No WAY am I putting up with stink like this if I don't have to."

"It won't be so bad Buffy." Willow said sounding a little more optimistic, "No one with any sense of smell would want to live someplace that smelled like poop. I'm sure the stream gets it out of the castle town pretty quick so you can barely smell anything."

"It'd better or I'm sleeping in the woods." She said deciding that she hated waiting and decided to leap up the hill using her Slayer strength.

Or rather her Slayer strength plus whatever extra power had gotten added on between Sunnydale and here.

All of them had experimented a bit while they walked to get a better feel for what they could do and more importantly what they couldn't do. All of them agreed that thanks to the presence of weapons that fighting would probably be in their future so it was important to know where their limits were. The last thing they needed was to think they could handle some monster or demon only to be fatally proven wrong.

She'd found out that aside from being faster on her feet she could now lift a boulder roughly half her size up over her head without any trouble. This definitely told her that she was now past her limit of being able to only just lift up the back end of a small compact car and now just might be able to lift that car up off the ground without any help. Oh she'd be grunting and huffing the entire time but she'd manage it just the same.

As for Willow she was definitely a step above where she used to be back in Sunndyale but if she had to say anything it was more acrobat than ass kicker in nature. Definitely more agile given how she managed to do a bit of hopscotch on rocks just big enough for her booted feet without really wobbling at all. The old Willow would definitely have fallen at least once or needed to teeter every other rock before regaining her balance. Along with the strength that all of them had already proven to have via rock crushing it meant that with a little training from Giles and Willow would be wicked deadly with those curved swords of hers.

Xander however she was a little annoyed to find out was at the top of their group of four in terms of raw physical power. Where she had been able to lift a boulder half her size over her head without any trouble Xander had of course tried to outdo her by going for one twice his size. At first both her as well as Willow had rolled their eyes at the typical guy need to prove themselves the strongest but when their friend actually managed it WITHOUT putting forth a mountain of effort…well…

…it was safe to say that they'd be leaving the literal heavy lifting to him.

On the plus side if this world had anything resembling a respectable mall or a street of shops she and Willow now had the perfect pack mule for their purchases.

As for Giles he hadn't done anything to really show off if he'd been enhanced physically but that didn't mean much since she could sense something different about him. It was like he'd been a dark room with only a single lit candle to give off light back in Sunndyale and now was a roaring fireplace that pushed the darkness back to the very edges of perception. He might've had the appearance of a beggar of an old man that'd fall over at the slightest nudge but she didn't believe it for a second.

Anyone who underestimated what her Watcher had now become better hope the librarian was in a good mood when it happened.

She had a feeling that the person who made the mistake first would quickly come to wish that they hadn't.

Even if this was just a peek at what they were now capable of she felt reassured that if trouble came their way they'd manage to take it down in the end.

Leaping once more she reached the top of the hill and came to a complete stop when before her not more than ten blocks away was a massive wall and towering over that a castle that'd put the one down in Florida to shame. Sure she'd seen castles in movies or TV shows but none of them looked very real due to the limits the creators of either had to contend with. This? This was a castle town made by someone who'd done their homework, hired a ton of people, bought a ton of supplies and probably needed a lot of time to make. With the sharp eyes she'd gained from being the Slayer she could make out people on the wall surrounding the castle all clad in armour with weapons that looked like they were taken from Giles' stash. None of them looked like guys who just put on some armour and were handed weapons before being told to walk atop a stone wall.

All of them to her eye were acting and moving like this had been their life for years.

"Woah…" Xander said coming to a stop by her side, "Definitely not some half assed movie set."

"Indeed. While there are some elements that deviate from what I remember from my studies all the main construction elements are there." Giles said leaning slightly on his staff, "It also confirms that we are in a world other than our own. We must proceed carefully."

"Why?" She asked not seeing why they couldn't just march into the city, find an inn and get a room.

She didn't know a whole lot about what beds were like back in castle and knight times but it had to be better than sleeping on top of Giles' cape every night.

"During times such as these strangers with no clear place of origin will be treated with suspicion." Giles replied in a serious tone, "They will not know anything about us save our odd manner of dress and that at least two of us are armed. When added to that our odd behaviour and it will be no small miracle if we avoid being labelled 'mentally disturbed'."

"Bad?" Xander asked looking like he had a few ideas bouncing around his head.

"The mentally ill were frequently thought to be possessed by evil spirits and blood letting amongst other disturbing ideas were considered valid ways to treat them." Giles replied in perfect deadpan, "That is assuming of course you weren't simply locked away someplace with minders only providing enough food and water to keep the ill alive."

"Right. Don't speak unless spoken to, don't touch anything that's not obviously something you know about and try not to act like a clueless tourist." She said voicing the rules that she was sure everyone needed to follow, "Got it."

"Fortunately for us I frequently spent time at Renaissance fairs growing up and my studies as a Watcher only added to my knowledge base." Giles said trying to sound encouraging, "Follow my lead, with as little improvisation as possible, and we should just appear odd to the locals rather than possible threats to their status quo."

Sounded doable.

She'd watch Giles and listen to how he talked to the locals then do her best to copy him.

She would TOTALLY avoid improv-ing or anything else that might mess things up.

It couldn't be that hard…right?

---

Inside the Walled Capitol of the Kingdom of Edinburgh

A Few Hours Later

Xander's POV

"Well as far as first visits go this isn't too bad." He said taking in the shuffle of people from one of four stone benches surrounding an ancient tall tree, "The smell isn't as bad as I thought it'd be, the place is pretty clean all things considered and none of the people look like they've been avoiding everyone with the title 'doctor' all of their lives."

While he'd never be the bookworm that Giles or Willow were he knew that in the days of knights and castles people were NOT pretty or handsome. No matter what the surviving paintings or statues depicted the truth of the matter was that without some of the medicinal advancements brought forth by the birth of modern science health problems were solved simply. If something didn't belong either cut it off or pull it out before doing whatever seemed like a good idea to stop the bleeding. As a result of these simplistic methods of dealing with unwanted growths or misaligned teeth most people in pre-science times would actually be lucky if they only had one or two noticeable disfigurements or signs of do-it-yourself surgery.

However looking about the people who were walking by the four Scoobies you'd think that their level of medicine was equal to what'd be available from Sunnydale General Hospital.

Sure there were some scars here and there but that was mostly on people with weapons or who had the look of people who fought for a living.

"Not so loud please Xander." Giles said with warning without averting his assessing gaze from all that went on around him, "We might have successfully managed to gain entry into this castle town without attracting unwanted attention but it would be best not to tempt fate."

"With the kind of noise pollution this place has Giles I don't think we have to worry about people hearing us." He said over the noise of clopping horse hooves, clinking armour, loud street vendors and a storm of casual chatter.

"Nevertheless do try to be mindful of what you say." Giles said not dropping the point, "There are those who make their livelihood by listening to catch words others would prefer be kept private."

Eavesdroppers?

Looking about for a moment he quickly stopped himself after realizing what a rookie mistake it was. Of course there'd be people, info brokers, who'd have people stationed anywhere they could think of that might have some interesting conversations taking place. Given that the Scoobies were newcomers to the castle city it was only natural that one or two eavesdroppers would position themselves close enough to see if anything interesting was said.

Suddenly he felt a whole lot less safe than he had a minute ago.

"So…what now?" Willow asked trying to look unremarkable and only partially succeeding.

"For now we must acquire a place to live for the time being but sadly that will likely require either an amount of local currency or employment." Giles replied his eye implying deep thought, "Neither will be easy to acquire given that aside from manual labour none of us have skills that would be considered valuable to these people."

"Well we gotta start somewhere G-Man." He said possibly spotting three eavesdroppers, "Call it the price of escaping roughing it."

Too bad this wasn't like some of the fantasy stories he'd read in the library because if it had been they could've just applied for membership with the local adventurer guild. In such businesses all you had to be able to do well was kill monsters and after living in Sunnydale he was confident that the Scoobies had that particular job mastered. They wouldn't even need to aim for some of the more high paying jobs or assignments. All they needed was to make enough money to pay the rent on wherever they planned on living for now, for the food they'd need to eat and maybe some other necessities. Sure that'd probably be expensive in a way considering they were talking about four people but it'd probably be within the range of beginners to earn once things got started.

"You four lookin' for work?" A man's voice asked from a little over fifteen feet away.

Raising his head he found himself looking at someone who definitely had the appearance of someone used to fighting to survive and had managed to do so for awhile. With scars and a smile that revealed a few missing teeth the guy definitely had been through few scraps. However he wasn't quite sure if the man could be trusted or not. He was the last person to judge someone based on their clothes or their looks since if he did he'd be no better than the Cordettes back in Sunnydale.

Still it'd probably be a good idea to keep his guard up until he was ABSOLUTELY sure the guy could be trusted.

"And if we are?" Giles asked deciding to represent the Scoobies.

"Well it just so happens that me and some friends are plannin' on investigating an underground temple for some of Edinburgh's scholars." The man replied losing only half of his smile, "Problem is the place looks like it was sealed to keep something in rather than keep people out. Now me and the boys are fair hands with the blade but I told'em that we should get a few more hands just in case trouble finds us. Interested?"

Sounded like trouble but it also sounded like something they might be able to do so long as they didn't get in too far over their heads.

"Perhaps. What form of compensation would we receive for helping you?" Giles asked sounding open to the idea but cautious.

"Well we were give a large lump sum to investigate the temple but I think we can work something out." The man replied scratching his chin in thought, "How about fifty Gil for every monster killed and a hundred if ya manage to discover something interestin'? Sound fair?"

It sure sounded decent enough if the value of Gil was anything like the currency he remembered earning playing Final Fantasy Seven on his Playstation. After all early in the game the cost of staying at an inn wasn't very much for a single night so if the temple was sufficiently populated with monsters they could earn enough to stay for a week. When you added on discoveries they might even manage enough to pay for an apartment for a month even if it wouldn't be all that big.

So long as it allowed for privacy and at least two beds big enough for two people to sleep in it'd be good enough.

"It is a decent start but I think that we should wait for the scholars to appraise the discoveries before attaching a reward value to them." Giles replied sounding interested but sharp, "Perhaps a third of whatever the scholars value the discovery at? You and your friends would still get two thirds of the reward of course."

"Yer sharp for an old timer ain't ya? Sure. One third of the discovery's value sounds fair enough." The man said his grin growing in approval, "Just remember if all you find are smalltime baubles while me and my friends find the shiniest ones we won't be sharing."

"Understandable. One should never profit from something they had nothing to do with." Giles said nodding in agreement.

"I couldn't agree more." The man said extending his hand for a shake, "Welcome to the party."

Looking satisfied with the negotiations Giles didn't hesitated to shake the hand firmly before releasing.

"We'll be heading out in about an hour by the east gate." The man said before turning to leave, "See ya then!"

"Well looks like our money problem just solved itself and now we've got some punching bags to test our new moves on." Buffy said sounding like thought it'd be fun.

For Buffy it probably would be fun assuming that the monsters in the temple weren't too tough for them to handle. He'd seen more than once how she'd sometimes treat killing vamps or some of the dumber demons like a game tossing quips at her opponents the entire time. He on the other hand would take things more seriously since he had no idea just how durable his modified body was or if it could heal up quicker than a purely human body.

For those reasons among others he'd also stick close to Willow since a new look and some nice looking weapons did not equal a skilled fighter. Until she got a firm grip on whatever new abilities she might have or someone taught her how to use the swords she now had she was still the same Willow from Sunnydale. Smarter than the entire school combined but you could knock her on her ass with just a half-hearted shove.

"Perhaps so but I believe that this will be more dangerous than you believe." Giles said his earlier amicable expression changing into a more guarded one, "Follow me."

A bit thrown by the shift he, Buffy and Willow did as the Watcher asked following him through the throng of people taking a route only the Brit saw the end of. It took a little over five minutes in the end but when Giles turned to face them they were alone in a back alley with no apparent eavesdroppers in sight.

"What's up Giles?" Willow asked sounding a little worried.

"No matter what happens do not trust that man or his friends." Giles replied with seriousness that could not be dismissed out of hand, "Keep your guard up at all times."

"Wha-what're you talking about?" Buffy asked sounding confused by the strong warning.

"When I shook that man's hand he attempted to cast a subtle spell upon me." Giles replied sounding much like he did when things got serious back home, "It only lasted a few seconds since it appears that I have been gifted with a greater than normal resistance to such magic but its purpose was clear. It was meant to make his suggestions quite agreeable to me and if strengthened perhaps control my actions more directly."

His mind whirled as it tried to figure out why the man would do such a thing but fortunately his time spent watching countless action movies made filling in the blanks relatively easy.

"Guess we're the latest suckers off the bus and he got first dibs." He said as the truth set in, "So do you think there's really a temple or are they just going to take us out to the middle of nowhere and kill us?"

"Most likely there is some sort of temple or underground location he and his friends wish to investigate. None of us look as though we have a great deal of wealth to steal so we would make for a small payday from any perspective." Giles replied as he calmly evaluated the situation, "It is far more likely that intend to use us as cannon fodder by sending us ahead to test for traps so that they themselves can avoid them. They will likely dispose of whoever manages to survive until the end so that they can keep any gains to themselves."

"So we don't go. Problem solved." Buffy said looking like she wasn't about to be someone's mine canary.

"Oh I do not think we need to be that rude Buffy." Giles said a small grin forming on his face with a slight twinkle in his eyes, "After all he did offer respectable compensation for our aid. Besides we have one significant advantage."

"And that is?" Willow asked her curiosity shining through.

"Thanks to the delay in my shaking off of his magic the man believes me to be under his control." Giles said looking quite amused by what could come to pass.

He began to smile himself because if there was one thing he loved it was the look on the faces of fools when they realized that their position was not as secure as they'd thought.

---

A Few Miles North of Edinburgh

Abnur's POV

"You sure that bunch'll be any help Abnur?" Bohan whispered as they led the way to their latest find.

"Extra hands are always useful my friend." He replied with a grin only his gang could see, "You just need to figure out what ya need to use 'em for. Besides I got a good feeling about those four. I think we're really gonna get some mileage outta them."

Indeed when he'd first laid eyes on the four he could tell that they were different from the usual rabble that came to Edinburgh. Every kingdom had a variation of the same story: people with little future in store for them where they were go someplace else hoping it'll be better. Most of the time the ones that came to Edinburgh were dirt poor or close enough that it didn't make much difference. Those sort were only good for doing simple things though like 'carry that' or 'dig here' and often got worn out in no time at all. Not that the others in his line of work minded since there were always new 'recruits' coming everyday.

HE on the other hand always kept the long term in mind and that meant being efficient with what you had.

Being wasteful meant you wound up spending more money to replace what you'd used or working harder to get it in 'other' ways. In this business though you never knew when the next opportunity would cross your path and sometimes you didn't know what sort of payoff you'd get. Sometimes it'd be a lot while others would barely give you what you needed to live for another week. With that kind of uncertainty you had to make sure to stretch things out as best you could and make everything you had last.

That was why he only chose new recruits that looked like they'd last a good while or had some kind of talent that'd save them some money in the long run. They all went the same way in the end but that couldn't be helped. Not really. In his business your crew only stuck with you for as long as the pay was good and they could trust their boss. That meant splitting the take of every job fairly between the four of them. Of course much like any intelligent person knew the more people you added to your crew the smaller the take each one got.

When the new recruits realized this they invariably went away dissatisfied but he couldn't really blame them for that.

The same thing would probably happen to him one of these days.

When he saw the four trailing behind them he'd been struck by the conflict between their looks and how they behaved after the gate guards let them through. On the surface they looked like your typical band of beginner adventurers with the old man acting as the mentor and the four having come to Edinburgh looking for work. However the way they behaved made him wonder if they were entirely okay in the head. They acted like they'd never seen a castle town before or anything else outside of whatever middle of nowhere village they probably came from. It almost been enough to have him look elsewhere for the extra bodies they'd need for 'exploring' the underground temple but he'd chosen to use his Skill just in case.

'Value Finder' was another reason why he was the leader of their little gang.

It was a Skill that could tell him the value of anything he looked at though the way it was conveyed varied from use to use. Fortunately for him he'd gotten pretty good at figuring that stuff out and what he'd seen from the four made him VERY interested indeed. All four of them displayed a value head and shoulders above the other recruits he'd considered the last few days and their possessions gave him a good idea of the sort of value they possessed. It made them ideal as 'extra hands' for the temple and thanks to his little bit of insurance he wouldn't have to worry about them leveraging for a bigger cut of the profits.

'Point of View' might not be one of the stronger magics out there but he'd learned how to make it work for him. It was a subtle thing in that once cast on someone you could remotely nudge them into seeing things your way. If the person was strong willed or stubborn it could take awhile but if they were weak you could pretty much get them to do whatever you wanted. In the case of the old man who's hand he shook he didn't think he'd have much to worry about. The clothes and the man's age pretty much had him convinced that the only things keeping him out of the dirt were the three kids he had following him around.

No chance of someone like that being able to put up much of a fight.

So they'd get all the work they could out of the four 'recruits' and then he'd either convince the old man to forsake his share of the profits or turn him on his charges. Since they'd be hesitant to harm their kindly old man it was his hope that at least two of them would get killed or at least hurt enough that he and his gang could finish them off. They could even say that the kids had turned on their benefactor forcing him to rise to the old man's defence. Just to be sure though they'd have to set things up so it looked like the old man committed suicide due to the trauma of the deaths of the three youngsters.

Looking ahead he spotted the entrance to the tunnels that led to the temple so he figured it was best if he put on his 'friendly face' and give the four their marching orders. He'd keep things simple for the time being, downplay the danger, while also ensuring that they would take the lead position while the rest of them 'examined' what had already been discovered. They'd have to play it right in order to not arouse suspicion too soon but this wasn't his first time playing this game with 'recruits'.

"Well here we are!" He declared loudly enough for the recruits to hear him, "The temple's a ways in but shouldn't take to long to get to."

"The entrance doesn't look like anything special." The young man said looking at the entry point to the tunnel, "How'd you guys find it?"

"Oh the history of Edinburgh is full of stories about buildings sinking into the ground or going missing. Most times that means that a quake or something caused them to sink into the ground and get buried." He replied making himself look like an old hat at this sort of thing, "So every time there's a quake around here me and the boys spend a week or so taking a look about the area for anything new like this. Other times we keep our ears open for news at the local taverns in case someone spots something we missed."

"Yeah but we only got as deep as the front of the temple so far." Bohan said entering into the conversation, "Quakes've also been known to agitate the local monsters and beasties. We ran into a couple getting to the temple."

"We got out without much more than a scrape or two but things're likely gonna get worse the deeper we go." He said finishing things up, "That's why I figured hiring you four would even things up a bit."

"A wise decision." The old man said with respect, "Not all things are lost beneath the ground by chance and creatures that shun the light of the sun often dwell in such tunnels. However if we are careful and choose our path well there should be little danger."

"Got that right." He said with a confident grin, "Now let's see how far we can get today."

With a bit of luck they'd at least get far enough to find something made of gold or that had precious jewels mounted on it. A little early loot would keep Bohan, Lilias and Tokka in a good mood helping maintain the act of being trustworthy to the new recruits. He'd even toss a couple coins their way regardless to ensure that they trusted him.

It'd be an awful shame if this turned out to be a waste of time.

The others tended to take out their sour mood on the 'recruits' when that happened and messes like that ruined his appetite for almost a week.

---

The Newly Discovered Temple

Willow's POV

"Anyone getting the same feeling I am?" She asked when she looked around the first room of the temple they'd been hired to help explore.

"You mean the 'this is a place the stupid come to die' feeling?" Xander asked with an expression that showed he wasn't happy with the turn their job had taken.

Not that she could blame him.

From the outside it'd looked like anything other stone doorway albeit quite thick but that hadn't been enough to worry them. It'd only been once they'd gotten inside that all of their instincts had begun to ping warnings to them.

Why?

Because whoever had been behind the decor had gone all in for the 'here there be monsters' theme with just a touch of 'you have never seen these before'. All about there were stone heads carved out of the wall as well as teeth-claw combinations for the doorframes that screamed unnatural predator to her. Then of course there were the few bits of unknown script carved in specific places that didn't match any language she knew whether it was made by humans or demons. Looking at Giles she could tell that while not as lost as her when it came to classifying and identifying the various pieces of decor he hadn't quite gotten a lock on the details yet. What he could comprehend though looked like it bothered him but not enough to signal the Scoobies that it was time to leave.

"Yep. That'd be the one." She replied to Xander's answer slash question.

"Now, now! I'll admit that whoever built this place didn't have the greatest sense of style but don't be getting all scared now." Abnur said in an effort to put them at ease, "I been on more than a few of these jobs and let me tell you all this weirdness? It's nothing but scare tactics. It's meant to get into your head and distract you so you miss their traps or get so scared you run away. Think about it: if the person that made this went this far then there has to be something pretty valuable waiting at the end. Don't you want to see what it is?"

"He does have a point." Giles said sounding mildly optimistic, "Temples such as these do not rely on traps alone to keep trespassers at bay especially when there are no guards to bolster the defences. Manipulating the perceptions of intruders and causing them to stumble into traps can prove very effective if done properly."

"So as long as we don't get freaked out and watch our steps everything should be cool." Xander said sounding a little more optimistic, "I can do that."

"Then let's get to work." Abnur said turning to the nearest wall, "Let's give this room a once over for anything dangerous. If it's clean we can use it as a base camp for when we go deeper."

With that Buffy paired off with Giles to examine a section of the room while she and Xander took another section. She wasn't as knowledgeable as Giles was with his training as a Watcher but the research parties she'd experienced and the extra reading she'd done made her confident that she could make a difference. While not exactly the same thing Sunnydale had its share of lost temples and underground tombs so whether they were the threat or something to worry about the Scoobies had read up on them just the same.

Or rather she'd read up on them, Xander had skimmed for the important parts and Buffy just worked on sharpening her warrior's edge for the inevitable slaying to be done.

Remembering the things that Giles had told her and the things she'd found out on her own she tried to get an idea for how old the temple likely was. Without the existence of modern technology though she was limited to what could be discerned through her senses none of which would be all that precise. The first thing she could tell was that there was little natural wear and tear in the stonework whether it was the floor, ceiling or walls. To her mind that meant that this temple had likely been completely sealed off from the elements preventing both water and wind from chipping away at it. However the fact that there was even a little natural wear and tear did imply significant age since even without the elements to wear things down everything withered given enough time.

If Abnur and the others don't know anything about this temple then it has to be at least a few centuries old. Maybe even millennia. She thought before turning her gaze to the ghastly carvings in the stone, How long does it really take for something to be forgotten by people who live in the same area?

Seeing the creepy carvings she considered the possibility that the temple might've been hidden to begin with. Given the predatory imagery being used it was likely that the builders worshipped the act of spilling blood, killing and hunting prey. Such people wouldn't be tolerated for long by the locals since when someone hunts you, kills you and revelled in it sooner or later the victims would rise up to fight back. Given that there'd been no signs in the castle city of lingering fear in the people or defences meant to keep violent people at bay she could only presume that the worshippers had been destroyed or at the very least forced into hiding. Did that mean this temple had been abandoned?

Maybe.

If the temple had originally been above ground then anyone using it would presume its destruction once it vanished from sight.

Another possibility was that the temple had indeed been underground to begin with meaning that its users either forgot it existed or perhaps rotated between multiple temples. If they were forced into hiding by backlash they would learn from their past mistakes by keeping their numbers few and never occupying one spot long enough to give away their presence. If this world was anything like their world then a few people dying unnatural deaths wouldn't be anything new and no one would think much of it until the death toll rose beyond a certain point. By moving about regularly and keeping the number of deaths low they could continue worshipping with impunity. If this turned out to be the case then she truly hoped that that the worshippers wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.

Even if the four Scoobies were indeed stronger than they used to be that did not necessarily mean that they'd win against the worshippers.

"Ah. Just as I thought." Giles said with some satisfaction, "If everyone would please move to the wall on either side of the entrance I believe I've found the first trap."

Naturally all the Scoobies did as Giles requested but Abnur's group took a second or two before moving to the indicated walls. It was when the Watcher placed his staff on a specific point on his section's floor and then let it go before quickly to her side that she gained insight. When the length of wood fell over though she gained fear when in an instant jagged spikes shot up from the floor and walls surrounding where the staff had been upright. Indeed if her judgment was correct whoever had designed the trap had specifically made it so that unless one knew of its location and nature the victim would not know how far away they needed to be to be safe. As it was Giles had been wise in getting to the wall as swiftly as he had because if he'd dallied even a handful of seconds more he likely would've gotten hurt by one or more spike.

"Hmmmm…it would seem that this trap at the very least needs to be reset by someone rather than operating on some reload mechanism." Giles said after a few seconds, "This works in our favour since it means if we can somehow trigger the traps without bringing harm to ourselves we need not worry about being attacked by them a second time."

"Yeah. Good eyes." Abnur said crouching down to examine the spikes, "These nasty pieces of work would've messed us up bad. Definitely made by people who liked their carnage. What gave'em away?"

"There was visible scraping in the gaps between several of the stones but most of them were spaced out…all except one. The trigger." Giles replied somehow managing to summon his staff to his hand, "Around the edges it was scraped on all sides giving its purpose away."

"And how'd you know we'd be safe by the entrance?" Lilias asked evaluating the spikes with a detached air.

"Truth be told I did not. I presumed that there would be a safe area for the makers of the trap since it would quite the bother if the entire room filled with spikes." Giles replied with a bit of uncertainty, "They would need to count on those still within the temple to retract the spikes or there would need to be a mechanism outside of the temple. Given that a trap is hardly useful if intruders can keep it at bay from the outside some concessions in terms of design need to be made in order to make it practical."

"So…the traps in here'll be for specific areas instead of hitting everything at once. Good to know." Abnur said ceasing his examination of the trap, "We'll keep a look out for any scraping. Still best to make sure that this room doesn't have any more surprises. Anyone else find anything off?"

"Nothing suspicious over here but this place has been buried a long time." She said adding in her own opinion, "If it's not stone or metal it probably isn't in the best of shape."

"So clothes, tapestries and scrolls'll probably be nothing but junk." Bohan said with some disappointment, "The scholars won't like that."

"There is still hope. Not all words are written in parchment or in tapestry." Giles said reassuringly, "If they are engraved in stone then just as the statues and engravings are in good condition so too should any words. True they will not present as clear a picture as the scholars would prefer but it is still something."

"True. Still let's see if we can find something a little better for them." Abnur said before returning to the inspection of the first room of the temple.

She hoped that the traps remained detectable like this one rather than become even better concealed the deeper they went in.

The idea that the first one was found so swiftly because it'd been designed that way so as to lull them into a false sense of security scared her.

---

Two Nights Later

The Base Camp

Giles' POV

This does not bode well. He thought quietly looking at the dying embers of the fire that'd been made hours ago.

It'd been two and a half days since they set foot in the temple and while the differences between this world and his own were significant there were enough similarities for his Watcher training to be of use. It was what he was able to discern that gave him cause for concern because the clues he'd discovered indicated that this was in fact not a 'temple' but something else entirely.

Whether they were human or demon in nature there were certain elements that were universal in places of worship. One of those were statues or symbols to the god, goddess or deities the builders worshipped scattered throughout the temple. In some cases this was meant to confer a measure of protection on the building by providing a means by which the deity or deities could channel their power. In others it was merely a way of conveying that their deity of worship was always with them and could always see them. However he'd seen nothing so far that matched what he knew for places of worship.

About the only thing that could overturn these dissimilarities would be if they found an assembly chamber with an impressive statue inside either due to its size or quality.

The arrangements of the traps also bothered him since past the first room they'd been placed in two different ways that to him was contradictory. Normally traps meant to keep intruders out were aimed outwards but he'd found several that were unmistakably aimed inwards and indeed they were the more impressive of the two. Buffy had proposed that perhaps the inward traps were meant to prevent intruders from getting back out once they'd managed to get in far enough into the temple.

While not ENTIRELY implausible he did not believe that would be the case.

The placement of the traps and their triggers did not imply that they were meant as some final method of revenge but rather to keep any worshippers from fleeing. None of the inward traps had been as noticeable as those aimed outward and the level of damage the inward ones could do was a level higher to say the least. As such unless every worshipper knew precisely where the triggers were and which direction death would come for them accidental friendly fire was inevitable. Unless some rule of the worshippers forbade cowardice and punished it with death there should have been bodies, decayed or otherwise, on the ground. The same thing that kept the stone from being worn away by the passage of time would have also slowed the natural decay of dead bodies by a significant degree.

Yet they'd found nothing.

Not even the smallest of bones.

Once he'd finished with his evening meal and the others began to turn in he'd stayed up to ponder what had been learned and attempt to deduce the truth. It had been hours since then and his mind could only come to one conclusion that fit the facts and it made him wish that there was a way for them to persuade Abnur and his group to abandon their treasure hunt.

Yes he'd deduced sometime ago that the story about being hired by scholars to explore a newly revealed temple was a lie. The truth was that Abnur and his group were treasure hunters and saw this as an opportunity to acquire ancient treasures to sell to the highest bidder. In all likelihood he and the other 'Scoobies' had been hired to act as cannon fodder for the traps. Treasure hunters after all often divided their spoils amongst the members of their party and the more members a party had the smaller the individual shares. Since treasure hunters were almost entirely motivated by greed he'd foreseen that once Abnur's group had their fill of treasure the Scoobies would be done away with.

The spell that the man had attempted to cast on him was likely a key part in the disposal process.

However just because he'd managed to throw off the spell he didn't think that he'd have as easy a time convincing them to throw away this potential payoff.

Even if he was certain that it was not treasure they would find but something far darker.

The theory that he'd come up with that fit the facts thus far was that this was not a 'temple' but a prison meant to keep something inside.

Something far more dangerous than anything that might enter the underground structure from the outside.

He had no evidence at the moment that supported this beyond circumstantial bits of information but it worried him that whoever had constructed the prison might not have done a good enough job. Seeing Abnur and his group at work he could safely say that they were experienced when it came to raiding tombs and ruins for anything they could sell for money. Given what they'd faced so far he thought it feasible enough that even without the Scoobies helping they might very well reach every room in the structure.

Or at the very least reach the room containing whatever the traps aimed inward were designed to contain.

That was why he hadn't pulled the Scoobies out of the agreement because until he had a clearer picture of the identity of the prisoner. Once he knew what was so dangerous that it warranted all of these traps and what role the decor played in it all then and only then would he decide whether they should continue.

I hope I do not have to wait long. He thought setting aside a pipe he'd found in one of his pockets and laying down on the blanket Abnur had provided, Lest we pass the point of no return without knowing it.

Resting his head on his rolled up cloak he closed his eyes to sleep hoping that tomorrow he discovered the information he sought.

---

"Why the halfling?"

"I do not know. Saruman believes that it is only great power that can hold evil in check. But that is not what I have found. I have found it is the small things…everyday deeds of ordinary folk…that keeps the darkness at bay. Simple acts of kindness and love. Why Bilbo Baggins? Perhaps it is because I'm afraid…and he gives me courage."

---

"Why do you refuse to gain power? The power of our father Sparda?"

"Father? I don't have a father. I just don't like you, that's all."

"Foolishness, Dante. Foolishness…might controls everything. And without strength, you cannot protect anything. Let alone yourself."

---

"You're the man who lost a mother and a brother to evil twenty years ago, the son of the Legendary Dark Knight Sparda, Mr. Dante."

"Well the way I figure it in this business a lot of your kind and if I kill each one that comes eventually I should hit the jackpot sooner or later."

"In that case you should be used to this sort of thing."

---

"You are not human! You are just a monster…a monster that I created!"

"Dante told me…Devils never cry!"

---

'Temple' Base Camp

Early Afternoon

Buffy's POV

She'd always heard the phrase 'waiting for the other shoe to drop' but never had she experienced the feeling it referred to quite like she was at this very moment.

Last night's dreams were as blurry as dreams tended to be when they weren't Slayer dreams but at the same time she recalled enough to know that they weren't like any others she'd had that she could recall small tidbits about. Not in how it'd felt or in the fragments her memory was able to still recall. They'd almost felt foreign to her and when she'd had a private chat with Giles about it after breakfast she found to her surprise that he'd had a similar experience in his sleep. She'd glanced at Willow and Xander on instinct only to find expressions on their faces that implied that all four Scoobies had experienced unique dreams the previous night. Neither Willow or Xander were all that good at keeping what they were feeling off of their faces so even her rusty talents as queen of her old high school could see the truth.

Worried about what this could mean she'd looked to Giles for answers but with so little to go on her Watcher could only provide theories. The current one being that in order to facilitate each of them being able to control what new abilities they possessed the one responsible might have taken a mental imprint of the people they'd been copied from. The British man had gone on to speculate that the imprint was likely in their subconscious given their inability to consciously access it and so it was not unfeasible that it might be influencing their dreams. Dreams after all was the subconscious mind's efforts to process the information collected by the five senses during the day.

This of course caused her concern since she did NOT like the idea of a stranger's mental imprint doing God knew what in her subconscious. Giles had reassured her that the human mind was surprisingly resilient when dealing with foreign elements being introduced to it. He strongly suspected that unless they consciously and vigorously embraced the imprint it would not only remain in their subconscious but also would not spread further. Whoever had sent them here would had to have known that to allow the imprint to make waves would automatically cause the mind to reject it.

Given that they'd been sent here on a job and evidently needed to learn how to use their new abilities quick their unknown travel agent should've made it difficult for the imprint to go out of control.

At the time that Giles had explained this to her she'd been reassured that aside from some odd dreams she wouldn't have to worry about thinking or doing odd things. However in the hours since then she worry had wiggled its way back into her mind though not to the point of giving away tells on her face or in her behaviour. As much as she trusted Giles his theory was just that, a theory, and so it was entirely possible for him to be wrong and for a real danger to be present.

Too bad I don't know anything about mind magic or how to keep my mind in the driver's seat. She thought turning to watch Abnur and Lilias work with Giles to open the door to the next chamber, All I can do is remember who I am every minute of every day and fight anything that doesn't fit.

CL-ICK! CR-ACK!

"That did it!" Abnur crowed with glee as the efforts of the three yielded results, "Gotta be something good in here for it to have a lock this complicated. Time for the big payoff ladies and gents!"

Watching as the muscle of the group of locals, Tokka, began to pull the stone door open she pushed off the wall she'd been leaning against. If the other 'shoe' was going to drop anytime soon it'd definitely be when they entered the next door 'cause in her experience locked doors rarely led to good things.

Following the assembled group in the first thing to strike her was the sheer difference from the rest of the temple. Every room they'd explored so far was remarkably well preserved for how old the experts thought it was but this room…it looked like someone incredibly powerful had thrown the mother of all temper tantrums. Stone was pulverized, wood was either splintered or charred and anything metal was either snapped or melted. The only thing that looked to be untouched was an ornate metal plate in the centre of the room and unless she was mistaken the plate was the target of the tantrum. It was just a guess based on her experiences as the Slayer but a lot of the damaged items were spread out like someone had tried to use them to break the plate only for it to end in failure.

"Not bad. A bit big but we should be able to get it outta here." Abnur said after whistling with amazement, "Gold, mounted jewels and unless I'm wrong I think that's some kind of mithril inlay. This'll definitely be the prized piece for the scholars. Might even be able to get'em to add a little extra to their first payment."

"It is indeed impressive Abnur however I believe we should take things slowly where this plate is concerned." Giles said in a voice full of weight, "I have seen such designs in my life and without exception they were all used to contain beings of darkness. I believe it would be wise to determine the exact nature of the plate seal before we begin tampering with it."

"Well how long is that gonna take?" Abnur asked sounding like he didn't much care for the delay in his pay day.

"I cannot give you a precise guess." Giles replied in a reasonable manner, "If I had scrolls and books involving the magic used in this area I could probably discern the particulars in a few weeks. Without them…it might be best to leave it where it lay. While I have no doubt that you would be richly rewarded for such a find it would avail you not if the darkness sealed within wound up taking your life."

"Not a chance!" Bohan exclaimed in objection, "Only a fool lets opportunity pass him by when it's staring him in the face. Besides this could just be some fancy decoration by someone who liked the way the magic seal looked on the floor."

"I will not deny that the possibility exists that it contains no power and is mere decoration. Nevertheless there is considerable risk both to ourselves as well as the entire area if it is indeed keeping darkness at bay." Giles argued trying to make the four locals see reason, "Are you truly willing to risk death, your own and perhaps many others, on the off chance that this seal plate is harmless?"

"He's right Bohan." Abnur said after turning to face his friend, "People like us don't last long by taking stupid chances. There'll be other chances in this place. We just need to be patient."

For a moment it looked like Bohan would argue the matter further but in the end he just kicked a decent sized stone across the room.

"FINE! But there better be something good in this place 'cause I ain't walking away from this empty handed." Bohan said stomping out of the room no doubt in search of an alternate prize.

"Sorry 'bout Bohan. He's got some debts he'd like to pay off and the ones he owes aren't big on waiting too long." Abnur said apologizing for his friend's behaviour, "This job could help buy him some time to get the rest of what he owes."

"It is no easy thing to deal with when one owes another a great deal." Giles said with understanding, "Still I am sure that if we are diligent enough we shall find something that can lighten his burden."

With that the momentary standoff finished the examination of the mangled room began with Giles focusing almost entirely on the seal plate. She still didn't trust Abnur and his buddies but if they could keep them from touching the seal plate until her Watcher gave the all clear she'd be satisfied. Things that were sealed away by plates like this tended to be of the bad and since she didn't have a clue what this world was like it could be very, VERY, bad.

Better keep an eye on them. She thought before moving to join Willow and Xander.

Being greedy could make people stupid after all.

---

A Room Away From the Seal Plate

Abnur's POV

"You better have a plan Abnur." Bohan growled low enough not to be heard by the 'recruits', "That plate could make us richer than we've ever been!"

"Damn right! We got this far and the prize is right in front of us." Lilias said voicing her opinion, "I say we gut all four of them and get to work dividing up the spoils."

He had to admit that the plate would make for a decent payoff for the entire venture without needing to dig any deeper. Plus the traps so far were getting a little hairy even with Giles helping to find them. A wise treasure hunter knew when to call it quits and be happy with the spoils he'd acquired so far. With the plate seal they'd be able to have their own pile of gold that'd last a good number of years before they'd have to start looking for a new job.

Still…

He couldn't completely dismiss what Giles had told them.

Even three thousand years later there were still bits and pieces of the Demon Clan's army laying about. He'd known a few pals who'd stumbled across crap like that and never heard from them again. All he'd been able to find out from the few he'd gone looking for were second hand answers from people who'd seen'em pass by. That and areas that had a lot of damage done to them and Holy Knights from Lionnes crawling all over the place. He might not've seen what was responsible but he knew that Holy Knights didn't get sent out for mere bandits or even half-assed black mages.

If this turned out to be like those hunts then perhaps it would be wiser to back off.

At the same time though there was a strong chance that the plate was just something ordinary. Even if he passed on it the others wouldn't and the plate was normal he'd lose face amongst the treasure hunters of the world for walking away. Reputation was important because people would send info your way if they thought you could make use of it mostly because they'd expect compensation in the form of a small percentage of the spoils. If they didn't think he could be relied upon to make good on their investment info would stop coming his way making it hard for him to make a living. It'd also make getting a new crew difficult for the same reason. In treasure hunting friendship came second to profits and all worked with the understanding that getting too greedy could have fatal consequences.

He would NOT do anything to get visited by THEM.

"Give the geezer three days." He said as a compromise, "If he doesn't get any answers by then we'll deal with them and take our chances. Good enough?"

The others looked at each other in turn before returning their gazes to him.

"You haven't steered us wrong so far Abnur." Lilias said with a tone that would not be moved, "Three days. If he hasn't figured anything out by then then we terminate'em."

Honestly he was a little relieved that they'd accepted his compromise but he guessed that they'd heard the same stories about hunters who made the mistake of digging without thinking.

Here's hoping they hadn't heard the stories about the crew that turned on their leader and got away with it.

---

Three Days Later

The Seal Plate Room

Xander's POV

"So what's the word G-Man? Is it a tacky floor rug or a seal locking up the anti-christ?" He asked approaching the Watcher and Librarian.

"It would appear that my concerns involving it were indeed correct." Giles replied with a sigh as he set down his staff on the floor beside where he sat, "It is indeed a mystic seal meant to imprison something within it. What's more the magic used to create and empower the seal is not of the light but rather of the dark."

"Doesn't that mean that whoever's inside is good?" He asked figuring that if someone evil was the jailor then the prisoner had to be a good person.

That was logical right?

"Not necessarily. There are as many reasons for evil to imprison someone as there is for good to do the same." Giles replied with a negative shake of his head, "True those of the dark often prefer simply to kill those guilty of an act worth imprisoning for but there are those who are especially evil who believe that eternal confinement is a worse fate. Good or bad I believe it would be more worth our while to ensure that this seal remains undisturbed."

With a grim frown he found himself agreeing with Giles.

If there was someone good imprisoned inside then they'd likely been in there a very long time and solitary confinement had proven to take a toll on a person's mind. If they broke the seal then what might come out would be a psycho whose mind had long since twisted in on itself either rendering them catatonic or very dangerous.

If the prisoner was in fact someone evil then there were only two reasons he could think of as to why they weren't simply killed. The first possibility would be that their jailor hoped the jail time would break the prisoner of whatever bad behaviour had gotten them locked up in the first place. It was easy to act all big and bad when you were free but spend a few centuries in jail and you start to be a lot more reasonable when it came to obedience and conformity. The other possibility was that whoever was inside couldn't be killed no matter how hard the jailor tried in which case the only way to get them out of the way was imprisonment.

"Good luck getting them to agree to that." He said thinking to Abnur and his crew, "They're treasure hunters no doubt about it and this plate is one helluva pay day. It's gonna take more than your words to convince them to leave it alone."

"That I am all too aware of. Still we shall try words first." Giles said making his position known, "If that fails…we will simply remove the choice from their hands. By force if needed."

He knew what hat meant and how reluctant Giles was to take that route.

While it was true that they had gained strength after being teleported to this new world, strength that would give them the advantage over vamps and demons in Sunnydale, they had no way of knowing how effective it'd be here. He'd already seen signs of magic existing here and apparently it was being used far more casually than back home. In their old world magic was a hidden secret that was kept in the realm of fiction by its practitioners for both benevolent reasons as well as amorally ruthless ones. For those of the light it was intended as a form of protection for the innocent so that they could live their lives unafraid of a tool that could disrupt their futures as well as end their lives. For those of the darkness magic's concealment was to maintain an advantage over others and because they knew that if it were to become common knowledge they would likely be hunted down.

Here?

Here it was looking like magic was no different than any other skill in how openly it could be utilized with good or evil only coming into play with how it was used.

Would their new abilities be enough to overcome Abnur and his crew? Were the quartet skilled enough that superhuman bodies would not be enough to defeat them?

Too close to call.

He was about to suggest that they separate the four of them first if it came to violence so that they would not have to deal with the advantage of two or more experienced fighters at the same time when the sounds of rushed footfalls caught his attention. Turning towards the door to the chamber he didn't have to wait long for Lilias to come into view looking worried and in need of aid.

"Giles! Xander! Come quickly!" Liliase exclaimed sounding quite worried, "Buffy…Willow…there was no warning!"

That had him running for the door as fast as he could and heading for the chamber that'd been next on the group's list for disarmament and exploration. He'd stuck behind with Giles to find out for certain if the plate was trouble or not but Buffy and Willow had gone with Abnur's group to deal with the next room. His best bud had learned enough from watching Giles and speaking with him to spot the traps plus Abnur had shown himself knowledgeable as well so he hadn't seen the harm.

Should've known better! He thought even as he hastened to be Willow's side with Giles's footsteps keeping pace behind him.

A talented student is still a student no matter how much of a quick learner she might be.

Rounding the last corner he saw both Tokka and Bohan straining to keep the door to the chamber open even as some mechanism tried to shut it. Abnur was on the floor unconscious with some minor charring on his clothes but it was any wonder what'd happened to him.

"What happened?!" He asked before slowing to a stop.

It'd taken some effort but he knew better than to rush into an unknown room without doing some thinking first. In Sunnydale the unknown was what killed you more often than not so the Scoobies always did what they could to find out what they were dealing with first. More often than not they only had time enough to wait until they knew enough to keep from getting killed in the first ten seconds and how to make the baddy stay down.

In this new world he was going to need a little more than that.

"Cracked open the new room and everything was going smoothly enough at first." Bohan gritted out even as he did his best to keep the door from closing, "But then outta nowhere Buffy grabbed Abnur and tossed him outta the room. Quick enough to keep'em from getting more than lightly singed but…her and Willow weren't so lucky."

Buffy being the hero didn't surprise him, she'd always been his hero, but finding out that both the Slayer and his best bud had been close enough to something that'd singed the person who got tossed free? That had him worried almost to the point of abandoning all caution. The remnants of Soldier Boy made it clear to him that it was infinitely more dangerous to be closer to a blast than someone who'd only been lightly singed.

"Xander! Wait!" Giles said arriving at his side, "If there is magic at play here entering the room will only put both you and the others in harm's way!"

"But-!" He said his respect for Giles warring with his fear for Buffy and Xander's safety.

"If they are alive then we cannot afford to take reckless chances that might fail." Giles said attempting to draw forth understanding, "If…if they are dead they would not wish for either of us to join them."

The words made sense and even if his emotions demanded that he disregard them his will proved enough to temper them.

"I will go in first. You will remain behind me and do precisely what I say." Giles said in a serious tone gripping his staff with both hands, "I am the most capable of perceiving and countering the danger inside. Once we are close enough it will be up to you to retrieve Buffy and Willow. Understand?"

"Got it. Let's go." He said their roles clicking into place within his mind.

"Keep the door open for as long as you can." Giles said to Tokka and Bohan, "We shall be swift."

"You better be." Bohan said through gritted teeth.

With those words Giles raised his staff up and after the Brit spoke a few words he was surprised when he perceived…something…flowing outwards from the top to surround them both. When it was done he was convinced that there was a sphere of some sort surrounding them but he didn't have time to consider it further since Giles began to stride forward causing him to move in order to stick close. Within a few strides they passed by both Tokka and Bohan entering the room where hopefully their friends were not only alive but merely unconscious rather than well done. It was dark, very dark, so it was hard to make out anything in the room but he could make out two forms on the ground that COULD be Buffy and Willow. Giles had noticed this as well as carefully approached to the two bodies on the floor.

"Let us see if we can shed a little more light on the situation." Giles said before once more speaking in a language that he didn't recognize.

In response to this a speck of light began to form in the centre of the twirl of finger-like branches at the top of the staff.

"You're just full of tricks today G-Man." He said as the darkness was pushed back by the growing light.

"Not really. I've known these spells for quite a few years now." Giles said taking in all the light revealed with every second, "Up until now though I did not possess sufficient skill with them for their use to be practical."

Translation: it was only due to the power up they'd received by their mysterious travel agent that Giles was able to perform the spells well enough for them to be useful.

Regardless of the reason he was happy about it since it'd make getting Buffy and Willow out of the room to relative safety a lot easier.

As the light emanating from the top of Giles' staff reached its peak though he saw something that both brought him relief and shock in equal measure. On the ground was indeed both Willow and Buffy but they were barely harmed at all from what he could tell with the most worrying malady being unconsciousness. No singing, no burns or even anything around them to suggest the presence of fire. Before his mind could cogitate a reason for this there was a booming sound from behind him causing him to whirl around.

"The door!" He exclaimed barely able to keep himself from running to it in an effort to force it back open.

Sure it'd taken two people to keep it open up until now but he was willing to put his new superhuman strength to the test to see if he could do it solo.

BOOM! B-BOOM!

When two thunderous impacts were followed by the sound of stone falling in the grip of gravity only to be stopped by an unyielding floor though a suspicion was born inside of him. A door that was supposed to be held open and now what sounded distinctly like a lot of stone piling up on the other side of said door. He didn't want to believe the worst so he grabbed the second best option: the trap that'd activated in the room had a second stage that had just activated. If so then the four of them would just have to wait for Abnur and his team to dig them out and then all would be well.

"I trust that this is just an unfortunate turn of events?" Giles said with a less forgiving tone of voice.

"Sorry Giles. You and the kids've been a big help but I'm afraid your time's run out." Abnur yelled from the other side of the door, "Bohan and the rest of my crew ain't the most patient of people but I managed to convince'em to give you three days to figure things out. Didn't take a genius though today to figure out it was gonna be bad news."

"So you chose to trap us in here and use our friends as bait." Giles said with icy tone, "Have they been harmed?"

"Now what sort of scoundrel do you take me for? 'Course not!" Abnur replied sounding half-honest with his offence, "Just tossed one of Lilias' little dust bombs at them. A nose fulla pollen from a special kinda plant puts just about anybody to sleep. I was a little worried your girls might be made of sterner stuff but they dropped just like everybody else."

Well that was a bit of a relief.

So long as there wasn't a toxic limit to how much a person could take in both Buffy and Willow would wake up eventually none the worse for wear.

"I thank you at least for that kindness." Giles said his tone thawing if but a little, "However I would strongly advise you not to allow your comrades to have their way with the seal plate. As you predicted my study of it confirms that its purpose is to seal away something or someone and the magic used to do so was not of a benevolent nature. While I understand that greed is a powerful motivator I would hope that self-preservation has an even stronger hold over you and your allies."

"Oh we're not in any rush to die but this is fixin' to be the biggest score of our careers so far." Abnur said through the stone, "Besides I figure anything that's been sealed away so long is liable to be pretty weak. Even if it does get out I'm pretty sure me and my friends can put it out of its misery quick enough."

"And us? Do you plan on putting us out of our misery as well?" Giles asked even though he sounded like he knew the answer.

"Nope. I figure you can't cause any trouble from in there and we'll be long gone by the time you dig yourselves out." Abnur replied sounding like he didn't care one way or another, "Maybe if we feel like it we'll let the Edinburgh castle guard know about ya after we've fenced everything we found here. Best thing you can do is just sit yourselves down and not do anything that'll have ya dyin' any quicker. See ya around Giles!"

Hearing the four bastards' footsteps getting further and further away he waited until they were likely beyond the point of hearing anything before letting himself go.

"Those bastards are SO going on my shit list!" He yelled not caring anymore, "I don't care if they're human! Next time I see them I'm not stopping until they're a bloody mess on the ground!"

"I share your anger Xander but I am afraid that it is likely that you will not get the chance." Giles said kneeling down beside Buffy and Willow, "While Abnur is right that whatever was sealed away will likely be weak upon its release he does not realize that anything capable of surviving so long might well be capable of regaining its strength through him and his allies."

"You mean it could suck their souls out or something?" He asked after consulting his memory of similar horror movies.

"That or something similar." Giles replied checking the pulse of Buffy first before moving onto Willow, "What concerns me the most is whether or not that which is currently sealed will be satiated with a mere four victims. If it is not…"

"It'll head for the nearest source of food!" He exclaimed as his mind filled in the blanks, "Edinbergh!"

"Precisely. That is why I will attempt to awaken both Buffy and Willow early while you begin your efforts to open the door." Giles said even as he stood back up, "Our best chance to prevent a bloodbath is to escape this room and prevent them from disturbing the plate seal. If that proves to be impossible then it falls to us to defeat whatever was sealed within it."

"Here's hoping that we're up to the job." He muttered feeling the odds against them rising up like a growing living shadow.

Even as Giles chanted words and light was cast down upon the unconscious Scoobies from the top of his staff he had to wonder if this was the reason the four of them had been dropped in this world.

If so then they were off to a less than stellar start.

---

Willow's POV

"Fuck!"

"Xander!" She chastised even as she sat up and turned towards his voice, "Language!"

It was about then that her brain caught up with the rest of her and she realized that she was in a stone room that was very dark alongside Xander, Buffy and Giles. Five seconds later the facts dribbled into place and she remembered where they were but more importantly she remembered what'd happened to her and Buffy.

"Those…THOSE…DOO-DOO HEADS!" She yelled furious over how they'd betrayed the Scoobies, "Where are they!? I'm gonna give them a real talking to next time I see them!"

"Nice to see you awake Willow but I'm afraid lecture time'll have to wait until we dig ourselves out." Xander said before digging his fingers into the gap between the two halves of the door, "Ready Buffy?"

"Ready." Buffy said looking like she was ready to do something.

With that Xander wrenched the door open with some difficulty but on the other side instead of a clear corridor there was so much stony rubble that she couldn't see anything past it. Immediately Buffy moved in and began grabbing stone fragment after stone fragment and tossing them to the far side of the room. Obviously she was trying to get them out of the room but at the moment there was something she wanted more than that.

Answers.

"What happened?" She asked getting to her feet.

"Abnur and his crew let greed go to their heads, knocked you and Buffy out, tricked me and Giles in here, slammed the door and then caved in the ceiling on the other side of the door." Xander said even as he worked to keep the door open, "Turns out they're gonna take their chances and start carving up the seal plate to sell. Even after Giles told them it'd probably get them killed."

"Oh." She said comprehending what was explained and imagining the likely consequences, "Soooooo….basically we've gotta stop them or else things're gonna get messy?"

"Quite." Giles said using what looked like telekinesis to move a few pieces of shattered stone himself with his staff as the medium, "While I do not know what was sealed away I very much doubt it will be in a benevolent mood upon being freed. We must hurry!"

"Right." She said before standing up and moving to help clear the debris away from the door.

With Xander holding the door open and her working with the other Scoobies to clear away the broken bits of stone it wasn't long before they cleared away enough to get through. Once only open hallway lay before them they ran for the room with the plate seal on it determined to prevent anything from being broken off or liberated from it. However just as they passed the halfway point a scream split the air followed by sounds of battle making it all too clear that they were too late to stop the plate from being damaged. What was even less encouraging was that even as the door to the chamber came into view the sounds of battle and the screaming cut off a little too abruptly for her tastes.

"Well that didn't sound good." Xander said as they arrived at the door, "Do we still want to go in or should we be running for the hills?"

"We enter. Even if the sealed entity is still dangerous no living thing can go forever without some form of sustenance." Giles said pulling his sword from its sheath, "With any luck Abnur and his allies might have succeeded in wounding it. Regardless the best opportunity to keep the situation from spiralling out of control remains confronting the threat here before it can escape into the world at large."

"So we're basically going to charge in and do whatever seems like a good idea?" Buffy asked rhetorically even as she pulled the two semi-automatic pistols from their holsters, "Sounds like business as usual to me."

"Yeah. Goody." She said before pulling her curved swords out.

"Cheer up! It can't be any worse than the Judge." Xander said bringing his fisted hands up a bit to cut the time needed to throw a punch in half.

With those words the doors were thrown open with a thrust from Giles' staff with the Scoobies charging in soon after ready to fight. What they saw upon entering though had them screeching to a halt because while they were no strangers to the damage that demons and vampires could accomplish this…

…this was different.

Blood and the limbs that used to contain the liquid were scattered about the place leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that Abnur and his group were definitely dead. But the gore of it all, the savageness by which it looked like it'd been done, were well beyond what the Scoobies had previously seen. Her body wanted nothing more than to throw up her last meal but she forced that urge down since she knew that dong so now would be a bad move.

Why?

Because standing in the room covered in the gore were six figures none of which could be considered human or harmless. A male four times the height of an ordinary person well muscled and clad in nothing but a crude helmet and a simple loincloth. A fit woman with long blonde hair clad in a dress-like outfit designed more for battle and lacking only the metal bits of armour where vital organs would likely be. A large, tall, muscular man with long flowing dark hair both on his head as well as in the form of a beard clad in both trousers as well as black flowing robes. A short goblin-like boy with visible sharp teeth and claws with only a simple cloak wrapped around him for clothing. A small child with a reptilian tale dressed akin to medieval nobility. A human female with pale eyes, dark hair and clad in a sleeveless full body suit with her most notable feature being bone blades coming out of her wrists.

However the thing that caught her eye and had Buffy aiming both her pistols at them gave them a pretty good clue as to what they were dealing with.

All six of the threats in the room were drinking blood and getting visibly stronger with every gulp.

Vampires!

However unlike the vampires back home they didn't have the yellow eyes or the pronounced brow ridges but they definitely had the fangs. Some of the group had more pronounced fangs while others were mostly hidden behind their lips but after fighting the good fight in Sunnydale the Scoobies had no trouble connecting the dots.

"Definitely business as usual." Xander said his tone growing harder from his established hatred of vampires.

"Then let's get to work." Buffy said before firing off a volley of shots.

And so the battle was joined.

---

Giles' POV

A Crucible if ever there was one. He thought as he used the power of his mind to push back the bearded vampire who'd been getting too close for comfort.

Much as he suspected the others had the label of 'vampire' had been quickly attached in his mind to the six foes they now faced. However it quickly became clear after Buffy had set off the battle that these were not the vampires they were used to dealing with but something quite different indeed. For one thing he'd been given ample proof that these six possessed the ability to perform various forms of magic and while the vampires they were used to weren't incapable of doing the same the talent was rarer. Most vampires back in their world preferred a more direct approach in dispatching their prey in the form of melee weaponry and their own physical abilities.

These vampires however possessed formidable abilities that thus far he and his three charges were being hard pressed to cope with.

As an example the bearded one in front of him was quite swift matching what he'd witnessed of Master level vampires and he had the suspicion that with more blood it would only increase. The magic he'd been able to ward off thus far was the formation of a black orb that his instincts told him NOT to allow to become fully formed and armour made of the same dark energy though the defence appeared to be difficult to maintain for more than three seconds.

He did not have the luxury of looking to see how the others were doing so all he could do was pray that they would be up to the challenge. Buffy had faced many supernatural threats since becoming the Slayer so he was confident that she would not be easily taken off guard by the magic. Xander had proven that he'd inherited some of his Halloween self's training and with his new physical prowess would be able to manage so long as he didn't get careless. Willow had proven to be a veritable sponge for facts and information proving beyond a reasonable doubt that she'd earned the title of the smartest student at Sunnydale High School. Sadly there were two facts that had him worry for her even with the physical enhancements she'd gained upon arriving here.

Willow was not the most confident of young women outside of academic learning and was severely lacking in combat ability. Her speciality lay in research, in supporting from behind the frontlines, and the few times she had taken up a weapon it'd only been against weak opponents. Now she possessed a physical prowess she had no experience with and weapons she did not know how to wield effectively. The most he could hope for with her would be that she'd stay alive long enough for someone to come to her aid.

Hold on Willow! He thought before speaking the words of a fire spell he knew.

One of the benefits he'd found since arriving in this world was that his ability to perform magic was greatly improved from how it'd been in the reality of his birth. All Watchers were tested for their magical aptitude and their level of instruction was based on how high that aptitude turned out to be. He came from a long line of Council members many of whom had been respectable users of magic but sadly only a handful had an aptitude high enough for it to be used in combat. For the rest of them it was only in rituals, ceremonies and other arcane efforts that were both complex as well as time consuming that they proved to have some skill.

Here though spells that previously he had only been able to experience mild to moderate success with he was able to perform as easily as he could execute a proper thrust with a rapier. The spells still had their cost of course, he could feel the energy leave him with every casting, but he did not fear running out of strength too swiftly. He knew better than to be too dependant on something newly acquired before learning the details himself under controlled conditions. Circumstances being what they were though he would simply have to watch his step and hope that the fight ended before he lost the energy to do so.

As expected the vampire before him placed his dark armour between his body and the flames but just as he'd hoped his spell proved to outlast the dark defence. With a cry of pain his vampire foe withdrew to a safe distance visible burns on the skin around the point of impact reassuring him that victory was possible.

At least until he began to witness a level of regeneration that was beyond anything he'd ever seen and matched only a handful of descriptions he'd read concerning Old Ones. In just under thirty seconds the damage he'd done to his foe was gone putting him right back where he'd started.

"Beware! Our foes can heal at speeds beyond what we have experience with!" He yelled out to warn the others, "Do not be quick to presume victory!"

"Kinda figured that-" Buffy said before six shots rang out, "-out on my own! I'm thinking complete dismemberment is the only way they'll stay down!"

True.

However that presented a problem.

While he supposed that he could put forth more energy into his spell casting to increase the damage done but that might very well bring the ceiling down on their heads. That left using their blades to do the dismembering but the cutting would have to be done in a very short period of time. Assuming one for every limb, the head and at least two for the torso he would have to successfully strike seven times in order to kill the bearded vampire. More than that it'd need to be done likely in as many seconds, ten at the most, in order to surpass the vampire's regenerative ability.

He didn't think he could move that fast or rely on his skill to successfully land seven strikes in a row.

In which case he would have to be satisfied with keeping the bearded one occupied so that he could not go to the aid of the other vampires.

To that end he began a planned loss of ground doing his best to fend off his foe's magic without wasting his strength every time the black orb tried to form around him. It was only when the bearded vampire went for a power move that he revealed his true intentions thrusting his staff forward and bellowing the words of a lightning spell that was potent but also remained on target. With the force behind it he managed to send the vampire into the nearest wall and by keeping it going the electricity would create havoc within his foe's body blocking retaliation. There was risk involved since using the spell like this would drain his strength rapidly but he was confident that he could keep it going long enough for one of the others to come to his aid.

"Well you're certainly full of energy for human." A child-like voice said before arms and legs wrapped around him, "I wonder how you taste."

Knowing what was coming next he broke off his lightning attack before performing an omni-directional telekinetic push to dislodge his surprise attacker. For the most part it worked but three lines of pain in his right shoulder informed him that he had not escaped without incurring some damage. Looking to the source of the pain he found three bloody slash marks on his right shoulder and only through chance did it feel like he could still use that arm albeit in a weakened condition.

"You are foolish to look away human!"

Turning his attention back to his bearded foe he barely had time to erect a spell of protection but sadly his haste had halved its effectiveness. It lasted for but two seconds before the large fist broke through and slammed into him causing his mind to become disoriented amidst significant pain. It was only when he hit something solid that he was jarred into a level of coherence that allowed him to perceive the world around him. As such he could see the large shape drawing closer to him no doubt his foe intent on delivering the finishing blow.

His mind rebelled at the idea of dying, of leaving his charges on their own, but his body ached and pain surged when he tried to once more rise to his feet. Damage had been done and until it was healed or the pain made to fade to a significant degree he could not move from his position on the floor. Still his spirit refused to admit defeat, refused to allow the monster to deliver the same pain unto the others, and so he raised his right hand and with all the power he could muster sent another bolt of lightning at his bearded foe.

Whether through surprise or potency the attack struck staggering the blood drinker somewhat but little more than that.

"You have spirit human but that will not save you." The bearded vampire said as he resumed his approach, "I, Izraf, King of the vampire clan will enjoy every drop of your blood!"

"I hope you CHOKE on it you blighter!" He yelled as his defiance and his anger reached their peak, "No…I want you to BURN!"

And, in an unexpected surprise, he felt as though something was telling him it would make it so.

Odd that.

---

Buffy's POV

O-kay! So this won't be the pushover fight I thought it'd be. She thought leaning back to avoid a bone blade slash while also angling the pistol in her right hand a bit before firing.

Whatever it was that her pistols fired it sure as hell wasn't bullets otherwise she would've run out of ammo four exchanges ago but at the same time she wasn't seeing a whole lot of progress towards victory either. As soon as she'd realized that her foe wasn't like the vamps she'd slain back in Sunnydale she'd upped her game pulling out some of the moves she'd used against Spike and Angelus. It definitely kept her silent foe on her toes but she had to stay alert as well because not only did the vampire have a reach advantage but her bone blades could fire off arcs of dark energy that would've sliced her in two if not for her Slayer reflexes. Combine that with a limberness that matcher own and they'd been doing the death dance for awhile with only light cuts to show for it on either side.

Well light cuts for her since her sparring partner could heal in seconds what would probably take her a few hours to bounce back from.

She'd been a bit angry at the news that dismemberment would be needed to kill these things especially since she didn't have a blade big enough or sharp enough for the job. She'd glanced about when she'd had the time in case Abnur or one of his crew had dropped something but the vampires had pretty much destroyed everything. Either the blade was broken or had been melted to the point of being impossible to use in a fight. So for the moment all she could do was take every shot she could and hope that an opportunity showed up for her to pull the triggers fast enough to mimic machine gun fire. If she could manage that then she could being blowing off limbs and a head hopefully putting an end to one enemy allowing her to go after another.

FWOOSH!

"ARGH!"

"AAIIEEE!"

Feeling the heat and seeing the orange-yellow light she knew fire had been unleashed but the screams of pain that she heard did not belong to Scoobies so she maintained her focus.

Luckily for her the vampire she'd been fighting had proven incapable of doing the same looking surprised as well as concerned. She knew she wouldn't get a better chance so she surged forward, got inside of the vampire's impressive reach, and began to deliver the most devastating hand-to-hand attacks she knew. Bones were broken and hopefully the mind became so disoriented that counterattacking would be almost impossible. Only when she was sure that she'd done enough did she bring both pistols up and began to fire both as fast as she could going for decapitation first. In the end it took almost eight shots to succeed but the head dropped to the ground in the end

Now to make sure! She thought preparing to go for the limbs since in this case overkill was her friend.

Instinct however had her throwing herself back out of self-preservation yet even then she felt fire lick at her fingers causing her pain unlike any physical blow. Nevertheless she knew better than to let herself be hindered by pain when an enemy was present so she merely tested the flexibility of her fingers determining that while it hurt she could still use them. Taking in everything within her field of vision she realized that the source of the flames that'd forced her to break off her assault on the bone blade vampire was the blonde one in a combat dress.

Cursing she realized that she should've realized that this would happen sooner or later.

There had been six vampires waiting for them in the chamber and the Scoobies only had the ability to engage four of them leaving two vampires free to act as they would. She didn't know about the others but she'd been banking on their arrogance or perhaps their weakened state to keep them off the battlefield long enough trim the six down to at least four before the two took action.

Apparently she'd been too optimistic.

"Everyone! It is best we flee for now." The blonde vampiress declared gaining the attention of her allies, "These humans have powers we don't know and those we fed upon have barely restored any of our strength. Better to flee and feed elsewhere. When we're strong again, when we're ready, then we will show these humans why the vampire clan should be feared!"

"Give thanks to Gelda mortals." Beardy bellowed even as his body began to regenerate, "For in delivering sound council she has given you an extension on your miserable lives. Savour that time! For when we meet next you will be but sheep before the slaughter!"

With that darkness blanketed the room making it impossible to see for several seconds before it dispersed revealing a room with only the Scoobies and what remained of Abnur's quartet. Looking about in an effort to reacquire her opponent as well as the other vampires she could not see so much as a speck of their presence anywhere. Charging for the door she looked down every hallway, on either side as well as ahead, only to find nothing.

"Dammit! They got away!" She exclaimed in anger before turning to her friends.

Xander looked to be okay even if it looked like he might've taken a painful blow to the shoulder, Willow's cape was in tatters with only one of her swords still in her hands and Giles was…

"Giles!" She exclaimed rushing to her Watcher's side even as the man tried to use his staff to rise to his feet, "Are you okay?! How bad is it?!"

"Suffice it to say that I am reminded now of why Watchers are advised to remain behind the frontlines rather than on them." Giles replied as with her help he succeeded in standing up and remaining there, "Still, while I am in pain, I believe that this body of mine is more durable now than it had been back in Sunnydale. I do not believe the damage is enough to remove me from the fight."

"You sure G-Man? You're looking less than steady right now." Xander asked sounding as unsure as her about letting the Watcher back onto the battlefield.

"I am sure my strength will recover swiftly along the way." Giles said sounding sure of that, "Besides you will only be at an even greater disadvantage if I agreed to do nothing."

"'Along the way'? What're you talking about?" Willow asked as she picked up her other sword.

"The blonde vampiress stated that they needed to recover their strength." Giles said before beginning to walk towards the door, "For vampires there is only one way to do that."

"Blood." She said as a feeling of dread began to grow within her stomach.

"And the closest source of that is Edinburgh!" Xander exclaimed giving meaning to the dread all of them were feeling, "We gotta get there fast! We gotta warn them!"

"I know but…how?" She asked even as she tried to answer her own question, "Even when we get back to the surface we're still a long ways away from the city. By the time we get there…"

"Nevertheless we must try." Giles said not halting in his walking, "We failed to stop Abnur from releasing them and failed a second time to slay them. We cannot allow ourselves to fail a third time."

Her heart, her soul, agreed with him but at the same time she could only see failure in their future. By the time they arrived at the castle the vampires would've succeeded in draining dozens of people if not more growing stronger with every innocent life taken. They had been hard pressed to just fight them here when they were pretty much at their weakest.

What chance would they stand after the six vampires had fed?

"The rest of you can do what you want." Xander said moving swiftly enough to pass by Giles, "I'll give that asshole Snyder a big wet kiss on the mouth before I back down from a bloodsucker! I'm running ahead! Catch up when you can!"

With that her best guy friend broke into a sprint heading for the surface showing speed she had not thought he possessed even with his new form. However while his speed surprised her the words he spoke sparked a flame within her as she realized how pathetic she must've sounded just now. She was the Slayer! Demons and vampires told their young scary bedtime stories about her! She kicked ass and chewed bubblegum! No way in hell was she going let those undead do whatever they wanted while there was something she could do about it!

"Get to t Edinburgh as quick as you can!" She ordered even as she broke into a sprint of her own, "I'm going to back up Xander and help him hold them off until you get there!"

In her mind she knew that it was easy to accept the status quo on the Hellmouth because it'd been like that for decades. You didn't think you could do anything because evil had already seeped into everything and the most you could hope for was to keep things from getting any worse.

This time though Edinburgh was pure and free of hellish taint.

However it had six seeds of darkness heading towards it and unless something was done the people of the city would have their lives drained away in a matter of hours.

She would not let that happen!

With the determination she used to keep some semblance of an ordinary life she would not let Edinburgh to fall into darkness!

---

A Short Distance From the Castle City of Edinburgh

Xander's POV

"Looks like things've gone to hell already." He said looking ahead to the walled city that had smoke rising from various parts and the orange glow of fire at their likely source.

And there were screams.

Lots of screaming.

Still he considered this to be a good thing since it meant that there were people still alive and capable of being saved.

"Then let's pick up the pace!" Buffy said visibly pushing herself even harder to get to their destination sooner, "People are counting on us!"

"I'm all for that but we need a plan." He said as he increased his pace so he wouldn't be left behind, "It's a big city and playing it by ear isn't going do us much good."

"I'm open to ideas." Buffy said without looking back at him.

Okay.

Just running around saving people wouldn't get them anywhere since the moment he or Buffy left to save someone else one of the vampires would just swoop in and feed. What they needed was a defendable building they could get all the survivors into and successfully keep the vampires out of. Strong walls would be a must since he knew the vampire he'd been fighting would be able to smash down anything too weak with a single punch. At least two ways in or out would also be a necessity since it'd narrow down the ways the bloodsuckers could come at them and provide them an escape route if they needed to make a run for it. In a place like Edinburgh that would likely mean either the castle itself since that'd be where the royal family would live or whatever passed for a church since places of worship tended to be grand and built to last. If he could get the survivors into either location and abide by the limited entrance/exit rule then even if they couldn't save everyone they'd be able to save a lot of people.

"We need to split up. You head to the castle and find a big room with only two ways in or out. I'll find the church in the city and do the same." He said as the shattered gates of the main wall came into view, "Once they're secure we'll start rescuing people and getting them inside one of them, whichever is closest, as quick as we can. Once everyone still breathing is inside we barricade the doors and wait them out. With a little luck when the sun comes up they'll go into hiding like nice little vampires and we can either hunt them down with Willow and Giles or convince the king to evacuate to the nearest friendly neighbour's castle."

"Won't the vamps just follow?" Buffy asked not questioning the other parts of his idea.

"This isn't like back home where there're signs pointing you to other cities and obvious roads showing you where to go. This is medieval stuff." He replied as they closed to a hundred yards from the gate, "Plus the vamps have been sealed up a long time. I doubt they know where any towns, villages or cities are so they'd have to search for them the old fashioned way. If Edinbergh's people have enough of a head start before sunset they'll be safe."

"Good enough for me." She said as they passed through the gate, "You know we're going to be outnumbered three to one until Giles and Willow get here right?"

"That's why beating the vamps isn't going to be a priority until they get here." He replied before coming to a stop to get his bearings on the city's layout, "It's all about rounding up the people still breathing and human and getting them someplace safe. So keep things low key and don't let them know we're here. If they find out our job's gonna get a whole lot harder."

"Gotcha. City sized version of keep away." She said before running off for the castle, "See you later!"

"See ya!" He said before heading towards what looked to be the biggest building inside the walls other than the castle.

In his mind unless there were multiple churches to multiple deities they'd need a building big enough for a lot of people to all sit down or kneel in peaceful worship. Even if it turned out that the big building he had his eye on wasn't a church it looked solid enough to serve as a safe place for the citizens to take shelter in. If it was a place of genuine worship maybe it'd be able to keep the vampires out since touching it never mind entering it would burn them to ashes.

Assuming of course that holy items affected them the same way because he'd seen enough notice some startling differences from the cro-mag vamps from back home. Magic and regeneration that could happen in seconds being chief among them.

Definitely going to need to get a sword or maybe an axe. He thought turning a corner to find a father and his son fleeing what looked to be a group of zombies, First things first though.

Charging forward he didn't slow even a bit as he passed the parent and child before putting his superhuman strength to work crushing skulls against any available solid surface. While he might not be familiar with genuine zombies he'd seen enough movies about them to know that the first thing you did was take out the head any way you could. You also had to do so quickly since while zombies weren't all that strong it was their numbers and the oftentimes easy way of passing on their condition with a single bite that made them a threat.

Deke and dodge. Bob and weave. He thought as he moved swiftly and did his best never to stick around long enough to get grabbed.

In a little over a minute it was over and the only people still present was were him, the father and the son.

"Thank you! Goddess clan bless you!" The father said sounding overjoyed at being saved from what'd likely have been a gruesome fate.

"I'm planning on getting everybody someplace safe." He said pointing to the building he was heading to, "Follow me and once we're inside get ready to block the doors and windows. I'll head back out to see if there's anyone else that needs saving. Understand?"

"Yes! Of course!" The father said with a nod, "We will follow you!"

With that he resumed heading for what he presumed was the church but more slowly this time so as not to leave the two people he'd saved far behind him. As they moved though he kept his head on a swivel and listened carefully for anything that might be an approaching threat since it'd be just like a horror movie for something to come swooping out of the shadows to kill them. True he knew that real life wasn't the same as movies but given all he'd seen and experienced since first meeting Buffy he had an open mind when it came to such things.

Three more minutes and two more messy moments with the zombies and they arrived at the building that definitely was a church of some sort dedicated to winged, robed and masked angels. Pushing the front doors open he found the place empty which puzzled him since back home if unholy things started attacking people a holy place would be the first place he'd go. Still he didn't get all worked up over it and once both the father as well as the son were inside he closed the doors thankfully hearing things being piled against it seconds later.

With that matter handled he once more took off into the city looking for survivors and hoping that he might run into a few knights or guards that he could send back to the church. While solid walls and solid doors were good there was still a possibility of the vampires managing to get inside and having a few armed warriors present would be a nice precaution. Sure they probably wouldn't be able to do much against the vamps but even if outright victory wasn't a possibility he figured that if they played things smart they could perhaps manage a stalemate. The vampires could feel pain and even if they could heal from wounds quickly it still took a few seconds to do.

If the knights protecting the church could stack enough of those seconds they'd turn into minutes buying him time to get back and drive the vampires off. With such a large castle city it was highly likely that the six vampires had spread out so that they could gorge themselves on blood without having to share with anyone. If he and Buffy could just get as many people as they could into their sanctuaries before the six vampires clued in a defence could be erected to last until sunrise.

Over and over again he went towards the sounds of screaming to save those who he could or to vanquish the zombies he came across. At least…they looked like zombies. He'd seen enough fiction involving vampires that they could be ghouls or something else but visually they matched the definition of zombies to a T. Whatever the term they were people that had been killed by the vampires after being drained of every last drop of blood and then animated by bad mojo into mindless drones. He could think of no magic at all capable of returning those who'd been changed back into who they'd been and if any of their former selves lingered then it'd be best to end their suffering.

It was as he considered being content with those he'd saved so far and returning to the church to stand guard until sunrise that he heard the sounds of combat. Metal against metal, stone being shattered alongside wood, with the occasional exclamation of determination mixed in for drama. Unless the chaos created by the vampires had caused the locals to turn on one another it was likely that someone was fighting some unknown foe.

Slowing his pace he peeked around a corner to see a knight in full armour fighting what looked like the vampire with the bone blades sticking out of her forearms. Then again calling it a fight would be something of an overstatement seeing as how the vampire looked to be only just paying attention to the knight even as she fed on some chubby bastard. The knight would attack with determination and skill at the level of someone who'd just recently been considered ready for active duty but no matter what the guy did his attack was blocked then he was knocked away. If he was a betting man then he'd say that the vampire would only let things stay as they were until she'd finished her meal. After that the bloodsucker would turn her full attention to the knight and that'd be all she wrote for the brave soul.

The question that popped in his head at that moment was: should I step in to help or not?

His heart, the thing that played the largest role in his decision making, replied yes because it considered just sitting back and letting a good person die to be unforgivable. The knight was alive and it was within his power to if not save the man then at least he could force a stalemate. Back in the tomb the vampires had been tough but one on one they'd been able to keep the undead monsters busy. It'd only been when a Scooby had gotten double teamed that they'd lost ground.

However he was not completely bereft of reason, logic or a grasp of strategy.

That part of him knew that if he stepped in the battle would almost certainly attract attention and if it proved to be too much one or more of the other vampires might come to see what all the fuss was about. If that happened then both he as well as the knight he wanted to save would perish in under a minute and that would be if the vampires were feeling playful. To save as many people as possible the correct move would be to get away from here and look elsewhere for survivors all the while hoping that he had not been noticed. If the knight was truly loyal to his homeland then he wouldn't mind sacrificing his life if it meant that a dozen more people could be gotten to safety. The only time that he should even think of taking on the vampires would be when Buffy, Willow and Giles were with him.

The two parts of him warred with one another over what to do but when the bone blade lady vampire lashed out fiercer then she had up until then knocking the knight into the air. Worry gripped his heart fearing that the blow had been strong enough to kill the knight but it was when the warrior's helmet fell off his head that emotions surged.

Shock, disbelief, fear and hope.

All these emotions surged within him at the face that up until then had been hidden inside the metal helmet. His mind wanted to reject what he was seeing, to say that it was impossible, but his eyes couldn't deny what he was seeing. Hope sprung up within him at the idea of it being true if with a few differences that quite frankly didn't matter to him. Sadly that hope was replaced with fear as he remembered just what would likely happen in the next minute if he chose to do nothing.

The knight would die.

Seeing the knight finally hit the ground his heart turned away from the logical part of himself and the rational side of him sighed in acceptance of this.

Hardening his resolve until it was akin to the strongest steel ever to exist he walked out from his hiding place and didn't stop until he'd placed himself right in front of the recovering knight. Bringing himself up into his best fighting stance he prepared himself for the struggle to come with a single statement burnt into his mind.

"You will NOT strike him again." He said as though his words were a law of reality that could not be overturned.

Just see if he wouldn't make it so.

---

Buffy's POV

This was SO not how things were supposed to be going.

She'd managed to navigate the streets of Edinburgh easily enough since all she'd needed to make sure that she was going in the right direction was look at the castle towering over everything. Add to that her new superhuman strength and neither wall or building could block her path.

It was only once she'd gotten to the castle that things had become complicated for it was then that she'd found much to her displeasure that not only was the place lousy with zombies but the voices of two of the vampires could be heard within. Obviously they'd recognized the building for the seat of power it was and had made it a target right off the bat. The zombies were probably all the servants and knights that had been inside when the vampires had attacked and were among the first victims. She'd been tempted to write the place off as a loss before going to join Xander at the local church but at the same time she could hear the voices of people still alive inside the castle.

She hated the fact that she'd been made the Slayer without agreeing to it.

Hated that a bunch of old men thought her only purpose now was to fight monsters until the day she died.

Hated that no matter what she did to keep a hold on a normal life the weirdness always found a way to bleed into things.

However in spite of all this she had never been such a bitch that she'd turned her back on someone who needed her help. She might not've sought out trouble but when it'd presented itself she'd done what any decent person would've done in her place. No matter how tempting it would've been to turn her back on it and not let it interrupt her normal life she'd done the right thing.

Thus with a sigh she'd charged into the castle to make as much noise as she could manage even as she worked to reduce the zombie population as swiftly as possible. Anything and everything that could be used to speed that up was utilized whether it was actually a weapon or not. That was one of the things that she liked about her style of Slayerhood: her resourcefulness. If she couldn't go into battle with what she wanted she found some way to improvise what she needed using whatever happened to be around at the time. If even that failed her she fell back on a classic method of killing demons: keep on hitting it until it's dead. In the case of the zombies though it didn't take much to put them down but the sheer number of them kept her moving from moment to moment.

Throughout it all though she'd done her best to save who she could and told them to head for the church away from the castle as swiftly as they could. Some didn't believe her but most did and with a little luck those that did would make it there safely. Xan's plan on the surface was a good one: save as many as possible, hold out until sunrise and then leave for the closest city while the vamps were busy cowering in the sewers or wherever they chose to hole up. At the same time though none of them had ever been in a situation like this before so their ability to come up with an effective plan would be a coin toss at best. Even if it was all logical and stuff there was just too much they didn't know about the vamps of this world or the world itself.

All they could do was hope for the best and try not to let their failures weigh them down too much afterwards.

"GET AWAY FROM THEM!" She yelled even as she swung the pole arm she'd found at a group of zombies that'd cornered a trio of people against a wall with a single window.

Much like what'd happened since she'd entered the castle city the zombies had little if any defence against against her brute strength. Not a big surprise since they'd been human when they'd been alive and turning into zombies had only weakened their bodies even further with rot. In the end it was only their numbers that made them truly dangerous.

Thus with a sickening splat she didn't like even a little the zombies were rendered harmless causing her to turn her head to the people she'd saved. She would have to tell them to get to the church while she continued to draw as much attention to herself as possible so as to lessen the risk to the trio. They were finely dressed from what she could see making her think that they were nobility and for a moment she remembered the Halloween she'd dressed as a young woman of noble birth. She'd been so useless that night! Frightened of every little thing with a head filled with the knowledge of a kept woman who wouldn't even dream of doing anything without a man by her side.

She'd thought that it would be like all the movies and TV shows with the big banquets attended by those with impeccable manners and class.

Big revelation when it turned out not to be the case.

"That clears them out for now but you should get out of the castle." She said whipping the gore off of her pole arm, "Head for the church. A friend of mine is setting it up as a safe haven. You'll be safe there."

"You have my thanks brave warrior." The man said with true gratitude, "Should we survive this nightmare I will see to it that you are richly rewarded."

"Indeed! We could do no less given that you have saved us from certain death." The woman said even as the two rose up their scared daughter clinging to her mother, "Come Celia! Let us leave this place."

You could've knocked her over with a feather right then.

Up until now the trio that she'd saved had been cowering against the wall, hugging each other as their final act before death, making it impossible to see their faces. Now though…now she'd heard their voices and with them rising from their cowering she could see their faces as well. She almost asked the typical questions of 'what are you doing here' but silenced herself before she could. Looking at the trio before her she could see subtle differences between them and the ones she knew. Whether by mere chance or some sort of convoluted sci-fi explanation it didn't matter because the man, woman and child still wore faces belonging to people important to her.

Her mother's face.

Her father's face.

And the face of her cousin Celia who'd died years ago.

Both the man and woman also had voices identical to her parents even if the way they talked was a little off.

She tried to keep what she was feeling under control because no matter what the three looked like or sounded like they weren't really her family. Still…still she knew that if she didn't see them safely to the church she'd be worrying about whether or not they were still alive the entire night!

ARGH!

"I'll escort you there." She said throwing aside her plans to search the castle for more survivors, "The city is lousy with zombies. Not much point in saving you now if you get killed along the way to the church. Let's get going."

"Oh? Leaving so soon." A playful voice said from behind her, "It's rude to just barge in here and leave without at least presenting yourself to the castle's new rulers."

Whirling around she didn't see who'd spoken at first but a moment later footsteps confirmed a physical presence and then the darkness of the hallway seemed to flow apart to reveal the source. The vampire that looked like a kid but had a spaded tail swinging behind him and was dressed in an outfit that looked like it'd fit in with the local nobility. This was the one that'd blindsided Giles back in the seal room so she immediately made sure that nothing would escape her notice. Even if she was handicapped by the desire to protect the three behind her she would still fight.

To do otherwise was unthinkable.

"Yeah well I've never been much for manners." She said before quickly pulling out her pistols and aiming them at the vampire, "But you're a big boy. I'm sure you won't mind."

The look of malicious amusement, the unquenchable thirst that vampires expressed through their eyes, blossomed on the boy's face and she knew he would take pleasure in making her suffer.

So much for following the plan.

---

It would be a night long remembered throughout Britannia.

The night the fearsome survivors of the Vampire Clan were released back into the world.

The night the castle city of Edinburgh became a place of nightmares for all who lived within.

The night four pillars of light shot skyward to pierce the darkness.

One of golden lightning, one of blue fire, one of purest white light and one that appeared to be made up of countless feathers.

Without warning or explanation change was introduced that had not been anticipated. So great was it that it sent ripples throughout space and time like four large stones had been cast into a lake causing a cascade of ripples to flow outward in multiple directions. Would the change bring joy or would it bring only sorrow?

Neither the wisest or the eldest could say for sure.

Nor could the one who'd dropped them in their new reality.

All that could be said for certain was that the future that should've been would no longer be.

For good or ill.

---

Note: Yes I know that in the anime the Vampire Clan was sealed away in a cave inside some double pyramid shaped piece of stone. Yes I know that Edinburgh wasn't a castle city or really that big all things considered. I wrote most of this before I got to that part of the anime and the vampires just seemed like appropriate first foes for the Scoobies to face. So I will say now that this is an AU (Alternate Universe) where things were as I've described them rather than how they were depicted in both the manga and anime.

I'll understand if you don't like this but assuming this ever evolves into a full fledged fan fiction story it'll take some pretty good convincing to make me change things.

Note 2: Just so you know here are the official power pairings

Buffy = Trish from Devil May Cry 1, 4 and 5

Xander = Vergil from Devil May Cry 1, 3, 4 and 5

Willow = Lucia from Devil May Cry 2

Giles = Gandalf from the Peter Jackson movies with some bits taken from other sources

None of them are starting out at the matching character's peak power levels but rather at the level of their earliest appearances. That means Devil May Cry 1 for Trish, Devil May Cry 3 for Vergil, the opening of Devil May Cry 2 for Lucia and the first Hobbit movie for Gandalf. I want there to be room for them to grow and get stronger as well as perhaps gain skills/abilities/magic from various sources around Brittania. By the time the Ten Commandments are freed and up to no good that is when the Scoobies will almost be at their max strength.

What will that max strength be? For Xander it'd likely be something comparable to Vergil's Sin Devil Trigger and how he was during his final fight with Dante at the end of Devil May Cry 5. For Giles I don't plan on him getting anywhere near as powerful as an unrestricted and fully released Gandalf because according to most sources that'd be overkill. It would be safer to say that I plan on having him reach a level of max power that's the Istari equivalent to Super Saiyan Three in the sense that it's powerful but won't last long and will leave Giles severely weakened. At most I can see him pulling something similar to Might Gai's Eight Gates move that he used against Madara or maybe Goku's Mastered Ultra Intinct albeit with an Istari theme. A self-sacrifice move that allows for a higher level of power to be reached but only for a set period of time before the user dies. As for Buffy I was thinking of taking the Devil Trigger Trish exhibits during the special edition of Devil May Cry 4 and mutating it using the Slayer Essence inside of Buffy until it changes the user's physical appearance enough to have some visual impact. As for Willow I don't really have a set plan for her evolution except perhaps for her to eventually become Merlin's student and reach Sin Devil Trigger levels of power.

Aside from that I'm open to suggestions. C YA!