Disclaimer: See chapter 1 (Spoiler, I own nothing in this story)

Monday, May 29th, Highway 101, 6 miles outside Sunnydale

Xander didn't know what to think. The entire ride home from the bank was only punctuated by the sounds of honking cars or the various radio channels in the rented SUV. Faith was reviewing the pamphlets she got from the bank (currently So You Want To Run A City, by Tabethia Storybrook), hoping this was one crazy dream. Wesley was writing down everything they had learned about the goblins to send back to the Watcher's Council, hoping to get back in their good graces. Giles was muttering about "bloody colonials not using their turn signals" while driving, hoping to get back home without getting into an accident. And him, Alexander Lavelle Harris, no, not Harris but Black, that was going to take some getting used to. He was contemplating the box in front of him. In his Mother's vault was a box a little larger than a loaf of bread and a note saying he should only open the box in a secure location that was not Gringotts.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting, but he couldn't help but feel a bit apprehensive that the small package was the only thing his mother left him. Well, besides enough money to buy several small island countries, but that was from his father as well. He still had the huge book listing all he was receiving from his father, but somehow that didn't seem to be as important as what his mother left him, small as it was.

The box seemed to call to him, beckoning him to open and to discover the treasures inside. If Xander hadn't had to deal with whispers of magic in his head for the last three years, he would have given in already. As it was he was determined to wait until they got to Buffy's place before opening it. With two slayers (evidently one was a beta slayer) and Joyce living there, it would be the safest place he could think of.

As the ancient car passed the Sunnydale city limits, two things of note happened. The first, and least noteworthy, was the box Xander was holding gave a sudden shake. That was quickly forgotten when Faith became bathed in a golden glow. It lasted only a few seconds, but it was long enough for Giles to skid along the center divide and bounce into the ditch across the road when he over-corrected. Faith then spoke in an ethereal voice.

"Hey Giles, did you know Sunnydale had detection wards placed all around it? Cause evidently they are reporting everything to me now. Whoa…" Faith then passed out, she hadn't seemed phased by the car accident. Xander's quick hands checked for a pulse, which he found and was glad it was strong. Giles was able to maneuver his car back onto the freeway and quickly sped towards the hospital, muttering under his breath all the way. In a minute, though, Faith started to regain consciousness.

"Whoa, what a head rush. The mayor has some sort of ward spell all around Sunnydale, it let him know who has magical potential and where Buffy is, and now I know. And I know about a dozen secret locations around the city the he stashed powerful artifacts and weapons. And I can tell you what protections are around the city. Did you know it's warded against most uber-demons? They can't come near the hellmouth because of the mayor. Huh, who knew?" That revelation seemed to drain Faith of what energy she had, and she slumped against the seat, motionless but still awake. A quiet conversation between the two watchers ended up with the car going back to Casa de Summers instead of the hospital.

"Easy Faith, we'll figure it out when we get you home. Just rest for now, we're almost there."

They shortly pulled up to the house, and by that time Faith was able to stumble up to it, supported by Xander and Giles. Wesley was stuck carrying in the boxes they got from the crazy demon bankers. Blood Quills? Seriously? Signing in blood Xander could understand but who used a quill anymore? The fact that he had money was a surprise, the fact that he was adopted, sort of, wasn't. His mind still wandered back to the contents of the box, which supposedly had a recording of his birth mother.

"Faith, are you alright?" Mrs. Summers hurried out of the house. Buffy would be with Willow at the mall still, leaving Joyce alone in the house.

"I'm fine, just a little woosie from the trip. Evidently, I'm in charge around here now," Faith drunkenly declared. Whatever it was that happened had thrown her for a loop. Mrs. Summers shot a quizzical look towards Giles, who motioned for them to go inside with an implied promise of further explanation once they were settled. It took a few minutes, but Faith ended up lying on the couch with Xander while the rest gathered around on an assortment of chairs. Faith was munching on some freshly baked cookies contently, staring off into the distance at nothing in particular.

"Well, Joyce, it seems like the former mayor decided to give the title of Mayor to Faith here should he be defeated." Giles enjoyed a sip of his tea before continuing. "It also appears that he cast certain spells on the town to track certain things, such as magic users. Faith here inherited the effect of these spells when she crossed the city limits, causing her current state, but I suspect she will be fully functional in a short time."

"Give me 20 minutes and all this new info will have settled. At least that is what the weird info is telling me" Faith spat a little cookie out of her mouth as she spoke, which she picked off of her shirt and ate again. Having tasted Mrs. Summer's cookies before, Xander couldn't blame her. They were that delicious. He proceeded to pick his box up again while Giles gave a summary about their visit to the bank. He reiterated to Mrs. Summers that Buffy could never know how many shoes he could afford when Giles mentioned money, but didn't pay much attention beyond making sure she was clear on that point. Instead, his focus was on his mother's box.

"Hey there, how are you doing?" Faith quietly asked while Giles was recounting the cart ride to the Summers matron and Wesley was still looking through the book of deposits made to the Council for Slayer Kills. He seemed to be searching for something in particular.

"It's a bit much. I want to open it up, but I should wait for Buffy. We don't know what is in it. How are you?"

"Five by five, at least the head pounding pain has gone down. It's funny, the pain is gone but the info is still there. I know things about Sunnydale now, things that no one should ever know, things only the Mayor knew. I can ignore it if I try, but it is all floating in the background. Worst of all, I know how much work its going to take to run Sunnydale, and I don't know if I can do it." Even after dating, it was still rare for Faith to open up to Xander like this. Since they stayed friends after breaking up, it wasn't too awkward when she had confided in him.

"That's easy, get people you trust who are smarter than you and listen to them whenever you can. It got me through High School."

"The people I trust are way too few. I'm not sure that would work." Xander paused at Faith's doubt, thinking for a moment.

"You don't have to trust them with your life. Just trust them in something. If I needed information spread to every demon in town, I trust Willy to get the job done. I would just go down, ask him a few questions, and then tell him that he must keep absolutely silent. Within a day, everyone will know. Look what my mother did, she trusted the goblins to be greedy, and got rich off of it." It was still a bit weird to think of anyone but Jessica as his mother, but he was getting used to it.

"Thanks, I will think about it. Now, are you going to open your box or not? Buffy is still at the mall and won't be back for another hour at least."

"I guess." Giles was finishing his summary, so Xander waited until he was done before addressing Mrs. Summers. "My mom told me to open this in a safe place. I can't think of any place safer."

Seeing her smile warmly at his comments, and not understanding fully why, Xander started to open his only link he had to his birth mother. It was a simple metal box, sealed with some sort of wax and only had one technological lock, it could only be opened with his thumbprint. Considering the year his mom stored it in the vault, it was very advanced technology. In fact it seemed quite advanced by even today's standards. When there was a slight hiss from pressurized air escaping, everyone tensed for second. After nothing else happened, Xander lifted the lid and took stock of the contents.

The inside of the box appeared much more advanced. Electronic displays and circuitry lined its inside. There were several hollow metallic cylinders, a dozen thumb sized gems, a bunch of electronic circuits and wires, and a diamond icosahedron the size of his fist. Gold lines covered the edges and strange silver symbols covered all the faces. Xander touched it with care as the others in the room stared in respectful silence.

Of them all, Faith was the one that understood best what it meant to find something from a lost parent. Three weeks after her first watcher was killed by Kakistos, she received a letter from her. It had been addressed and written to Giles, and was an update on Faith's training, one active Watcher to another, but in it she said how proud she was of Faith. Even including her weapons, it was Faith's most prized possession. She recognized the look on Xander's face, she had the same look when she first read the letter.

Carefully, Xander lifted the large finely crafted gemstone out of the box, curiosity and expectation overriding his usual sense of caution when dealing with his own personal past. A faint soft warm light began to glow from within the diamond, with some of the runes lighting up. Before anyone could react, a miniature hologram appeared, floating above the crystal. Xander jerked his hand, but the hologram stayed firmly above the crystal.

It coalesced into an image of a woman in a well-tailored dress, obviously very expensive. Though she was clearly older, her age was impossible to determine as she seemed both timeless and ageless. Her shoulder length dark hair was pulled into a few braids, and her eyes seemed to pierce through into Xander's soul. He recognized some of his own features in her, and in his heart he knew this was the one who gave birth to him. When she spoke, it was with a slight British accent.

"Hello my son. I am Satele Shan, Grand Master of the Jedi Council, keeper of the peace, wife of Regulus Black, and, most importantly to me, your mother. My history is long and complicated, but we may get into that at a later point. Since you have received this holocron, than my mission failed and I was captured or killed. I wish I could be there in person to explain, but I needed to keep you safe. I know you may be confused, but I will explain everything soon enough.

"I come from a different place, I am not sure if this planet is in the unknown regions of my own galaxy or perhaps another galaxy entirely, but the place I grew up had fantastical things, with starships and droids, those are what we called robots. I've traveled to hundreds of worlds, met numerous alien species, and had great adventures that this world could barely dream of. There was a war between those who wanted peace and freedom, and those who wanted control and power. We fought for many, many years, and soon after it ended I headed out on my own to find my inner peace again. Something happened, my ship went out of control and I lost consciousness. When I awoke, my craft had crash landed on this planet, systems ruined beyond repair. I was alone and without a way to communicate with anyone else.

"I found myself in a city in England and learned what I could about this new world I found myself on. While I was exploring, I found your father, Regulus Black, who helped me adjust to life here. We fell in love, but because of a secret war he himself was involved in, we could never let anyone know, it would put us all in too much danger. We were wed without anyone else knowing, and soon after you were born. You and I hid while your father sought to end the madman responsible for the war, but he died in the process. When the rest of your father's family was being killed, we fled overseas to save our lives.

"We settled in Sunnydale, a place that those who killed your father couldn't find us, a place protected against scrying and searches. Unfortunately, some of our enemies started to track us down using non-traditional methods, so I entrusted you with some good friends, reliable people who would take care of you, and I will set out tonight to remove this threat. If you are seeing this, then I was successful in stopping our pursuers, but was not able to come back to you. My hope is that you have had a good life so far, but I fear that you will have faced much hardship and danger. I instructed the Harris family to raise you as their own should I not return, and to start training you to be strong and independent.

"You are special my son, in part because of who your father and I are. You have a legacy that many would try to take advantage of. I am a Jedi, trained in the ways of the Force, a power that binds all living beings together. I suppose you wouldn't have much understanding of the Force, but that will change. You have a great sensitivity and attunement to the Force, and with the help of this holocron we can teach you to harness it. Your father was a wizard, trained in wanded magic. I made arrangements with a magical school to start teaching you next year, when you turn 14. The goblins that you got this from can make arrangements to move your school records to Franklin Institute in Los Angeles, where they can teach you wanded and non-wanded magic.

"I know this may be much for you, but the Jedi have developed a method of teaching very quickly using holocrons. When you go to bed tonight, hold this holocron in your hands. As you sleep, an impression of me will join you in your dreams to begin your training. During the day, you can practice what we learn. The other items in the box will be part of your training, so don't worry about them until tomorrow. I love you, and wish I could have been there for you these last 12 years. I will explain more tonight. I love you Alexander."

Silence reigned for a few minutes, interrupted only by the quiet tears running down Xander's face. He had finally seen and heard from his mother. She hadn't abandoned him, she had been protecting him. He missed Giles glaring heavily at Wesley when the younger watcher tried to speak, a glare that promised immense pain if he interrupted this moment for his younger charge. Xander had a million questions, but the fact that he would be able to talk with his mother again tonight would be incredible. Finally, it was Faith who broke the silence.

"So Xander, you going to check out that magic school your mom talked about?" Faith thought she hid her nervousness well, she didn't want her best friend to leave her, especially as she had no idea how she was going to run a town and be the slayer. She couldn't help but smirk a little at the thought of telling Buffy she was the beta slayer.

"Probably. She got the years wrong, though, cause I am pretty sure I'm not 14."

"I believe we have the late mayor to thank for that," Giles answered. "I assume that the... mail redirection ward? Is that correct Faith?"

Faith nodded.

"Yes, the mail redirection ward that prevented the goblins from contacting you prevented you from receiving this message, and any messages from the magic school. I suppose that if we were to inquire with the goblins, they would say they have been trying to get this message to you for the previous 4 or 5 years. Your mother intended you to hear this message before you entered High School. I have heard of many different places to learn magic, but I have never heard of this Franklin Institute. Have you, Wesley?"

Wesley shook his head in the negative. "I can't say that I have, but I have not looked into many schools for magic, at least not here. I believe I remember a few being mentioned in England, but none here. And certainly none that rely on a wand. Staff, yes, but not a wand."

At that point, the watchers began debating the relative merits of the various schools and covens to learn magic from, and the potential benefits of using a focus such as a wand in casting spells. The white noise (at least to Xander and Faith) gave the two a chance to sit together and quietly think about the What-Ifs. What if Xander had gotten this before he went to high school, and never met Buffy or Faith because he was gone? What if Xander's mom had come back when he was still a baby, and he learned how to do magic and this Force thing? What if Xander wasn't there to talk Faith down from joining the Mayor? What if Xander wanted to go to this school now, would he leave and would the school take him? So many questions and shocks to his world in the last week was too much, Xander slipped towards the restless sleep of the shocked. Seeing this, Faith quietly and reverently placed the diamond hologram-thingy in Xander's hands and stroked his hair, and he had done for her so many times in her times of need.

An hour later Buffy and Willow came in, and had all their questions and comments silenced forcefully by Joyce. In the kitchen, they were told that questions would wait until tomorrow, but Giles was able to give them the highlights of what happened at the bank and with the holocron. After endless questions, Joyce shooed them upstairs so they could get some sleep (unlikely, but at least they would be in Buffy's room). Through their chatter and whispers, Xander slept on the couch, Faith holding his head in her lap and stroking his hair. Eventually, she, too, drifted off to sleep, and Joyce turned off the lights after showing the watchers to the door and covering both sleeping kids with a spare blanket.