Clink.

Clank.

The plates clicked and clacked, scraped and scrapped as the food was devoured and time eaten away with conversation.

So many questions, she remembered being so angry when people asked her about her life, but now, just being able to relish the company of her mother, her friends, even the new one.

"So, are you ready to study?" Willow pulled her from her thoughts.

Study, she thought, imagine feeling nostalgic over studying. What's wrong with me?

"Buff?" Xander coined the term so soon.

"Oh, yeah. I'm history bound." She came back to reality.

What's the point of this?

Just as she thought the night would smooth out with a study session, the phone rang.

"Don't worry, I've got it." She stood up before Joyce could spring to action.

"It's probably the Gallery. We've just found a new spot today." Joyce then fell into the crowd to explain what she did as Buffy ignored her for the allure of the telephone.

This never happened before, but she just knew there was only one person who'd call at such an hour.

"Miss Summers?" Giles spoke on the other line.

Back at the table they laughed and spoke, Willow looked over to Buffy as she turned the corner toward the staircase, concerned about this new, strange friend.

In her quietest voice, Buffy hissed.

"Please tell me the Master is rising, or I'm hanging up the phone."

"Buffy, you have sacred duty. Now, can you remember what happened tonight?" He stumbled over his word, "the first night you experienced this day."

She spoke plainly, as if he should have known, but even still the details were fuzzy. It had been almost ten years to the day. "Big scare at The Bronze, vamps were looking for people to bring to the Master."

"The Master, do you remember if he rose? I need the details Buffy, perhaps even if you could patrol tonight and stop them?"

"Don't worry, Giles. Willow and Jesse are here, so–"

"You can't change fate Buffy, if Willow and Jesse were meant to be taken by them tonight, and aren't there then that means–" he paused, she knew exactly what he inferred.

"Was hoping to retcon tonight, guess I'll be playing the rerun. Boy, it's great to be back in Sunnydale."

"I'm sorry, Buffy."

"Yeah, yeah, sacred duty, all that. I'll be there."

Even as the slayer had raced through space and time to defeat fate itself, she couldn't escape her destiny to be the Slayer.

No matter how far, or fast she ran. She could never escape herself.

"Is everything all right, Buffy?" Joyce could see Buffy's face as she entered. The face of a girl about to make an excuse.

"That was Giles." Buffy relayed, but her mother hadn't known her Watcher just yet.

"Giles? Who's Giles?" She turned to the others.

"Oh, that's the Librarian. He's new." Willow filled her in. "I think they said he was a curator at a British museum, or The British Museum."

"Oh, why would the librarian be calling this late?" Joyce, puzzled tried to read through her daughter. The familiar cat and mouse battle seemed to amuse Buffy, but she couldn't pull the web to unveil the spider. If only her daughter would just talk to her.

"I forgot some books. You know, it's not far, I'll just go get them."

"School's closed?" Jesse, as perplexed as Joyce tried to understand this strange new girl.

"I thought we were going to study? I brought textbooks and everything." Willow pondered, it seemed more as though this new girl wanted nothing to do with them, but yet why go through the length of inviting them over? Having dinner with them?

Buffy didn't miss this. The constant prodding, the mouse trapped in the corner feel as the cats lurked closer and closer. It would be so much easier just to tell them, not just that she's the slayer, but everything.

Well, maybe not everything.

"Well, I don't know the area well enough, maybe you can walk me there? It can be study walk?" Buffy was proud of her save and it seemed the three were up to it. She knew the guys would, and the prospect of having to turn down Xander, and now Jesse began to sink into her head.

Better sooner than later.

She then thought of Angel.

"Well, at least you're not going to a club. Be back soon, okay?" Joyce went for it as well.

In this moment, this strange little social dynamic she seemed to always take for granted. Joyce in the face of adversity always seemed to just go along with it, as though it was just Buffy being distant, or a sixteen year old girl. Xander always down to pal and join her, either because he was attracted to her, or because that's what he felt must be done.

Willow on the other hand seemed cautious, and curious. She always was, but when she had previously taken quickly to Buffy's kindness, she seemed unsure this time around.

In that moment a seed grew in her stomach. Buffy may not have known as much as Illyria of this mirrored universe, but she knew if she was to live it all over again that she would be more honest with the people she loved. It never killed Xander, Willow, nor Joyce to know that she was the Slayer, but it certainly killed her to see the distrust already grow in friends she had grown with.

How does one tell the truth?

At the school she was happy at least knowing that Jesse wouldn't be picked off by Darla and the Vessel, but she knew both were in town and at some point she'd have to deal with them. If she could keep an eye on them, then things might be different.

Then there was Illyria.

In the back of the school library was a singular door with the metal press plate, usually locked at this hour, but she knew Giles always left from that exist with his car just a few feet away. The old rusty vehicle he drove for four years, maybe longer met her just off from the back entrance. It meant he was still there, likely doing research on the mystical convergence thingy, she figured.

In through the stacks, Xander remarked how it felt like they were robbers in the night, and Jesse on why any would would break into a library to steal books. Buffy had already pressed forward to greet Giles, who sat at the table, coffee in one hand and book in the other.

"Oh, Buffy. You're here." He looked up to her, sipped, then his expression changed as the three students emerged. "Not alone, I see."

The book slammed shut. Last thing he'd need is for one of them to see images of the Harvest he had been researching.

"Hey, no better place to study than a library, right?" Buffy pandered to Willow, who seemed bemused at the librarian's dedication to his job. Still at the school, still awake. "You mentioned I forgot some books, thought I'd pick them up. You know how forgetful I am."

"Apparently." He pulled from the table and now had to magically produce books for her to claim.

The lie grew and the web weaved tighter and tighter. Even he began to question if it was right to keep her identity secret.

"Well, may as well get to work." Willow found what she needed. Math, history, all in the stacks to the right, completely oblivious to the ancient tomes and volumes to the left and front of her.

She descended the steps and bumped into the scrawny brunette. Her eyes buried in a book almost as big as her. The girl, for being so small, seemed unresponsive to being bodychecked, in fact, Willow was surprised to find herself fall back into Xander and Jesse.

"Sorry, y'all. I guess I just got so engrossed in this book." The girl, who she had introduced herself as Winnifred apologized.

Xander plopped into the nearest seat to the curved cases of books and watched Giles retreat behind the counter.

"I see what's going on here, ya' dirty old man." Xander jested.

Giles turned, his eyes saw red and his glasses quickly pulled off the bridge of his nose as he sharply scorned the young man, "That is enough, Alexander."

The child sank into his chair, quiet and eyes down. Willow slid the math book over to him as she at at the center of the table, Jesse on the edge.

Still silent, Giles shot Buffy a glance, hard and cold, and drew her into his office. The second time that day.

Once the door closed, she folded her arms and he moved to the desk where a book was opened. Cliff notes written on a notepad underneath.

"This Master, the more I read about him the less I like." He explained, "it would appear he's risen, or will rise again on something called The Harvest."

"Yeah, Vessel guy, Darla, don't worry about it Giles. I've stopped it before I can do it again." She brushed it off.

"You silly girl." The rage cast upon her now, his glasses twice removed. "I don't know why you did what you did, what you're running from, but there's no telling the consequences you'll face for it. You may have lived through this all before, but that doesn't mean it won't happen again." He showed her the book with the drawing of the Harvest, the violent imagery and the symbol of the Vessel. "Now, if what that demon said is right, this is it, Buffy. This is your life now, and perhaps your only chance to fix your mistakes, not make more."

"You're right." The adult came through, the dream broken, "I've been so caught up seeing," she paused. Should she tell him? Her mother's death, his? No need, so she said, "I'm still the Slayer."

He caught up with her, he couldn't be mad for long, even if she confused and frustrated him. This may not be his Buffy, but she was still his Slayer, still had his influence in her, buried deep, very deep somewhere inside her.

"Let's focus first on stopping the Harvest, then you and I are going to talk about your past, or at least the parts that might be relevant to what's going on." He was careful here, she saw that. Though it may entice him to know about himself, his life with this Buffy and perhaps death or otherwise and the events that transpire, if he too knew how they defeated this demon or that vampire, would he be as casual with it as Buffy seemed?

Perhaps he wouldn't dig deep enough into the research, or call on the kind of help he otherwise would have been forced to in order to get something done.

Perhaps he would avoid someone or certain people that otherwise would have changed his life for the better if he knew they would be killed, or negatively affected by his lifestyle. He couldn't risk that.

The Watcher came first.

Caught off guard, the Slayer jumped as the door opened behind her and budged into her back. Winnifred slipped in with her slender frame, not smiles or giggles and apologies for Buffy. She handed the volume to Giles and spoke plainly.

"Those two are lusting after me. Their bodies warm at the sight of me."

Giles tilted and shook his head. How dare Xander call him a dirty old man when–

"How about we get out and do some patrolling then?" Buffy hadn't thought of that. The Bronze would have the vampires, but she had one of the Old Ones.

She wasn't particularly familiar with the demon, but Angel and Spike trusted her with their lives. She knew enough to know that even she wouldn't survive a round with Illyria without help of magic.

The demon may as well be put to use.

"I am bored with this drivel. The words you humans write are as small and impotent as your insignificant lives."

Giles, speechless, watched on. He tried to talk, but could only make half sounds.

"Think there was yes in there somewhere."

Illyria confirmed, "yes, I wish to do violence."

The Bronze, the home for the young. Roaches, vampires, the occasional dance. All of it swelled her heart, her ears, and it felt as though she was truly home again. Dig it up and throw it at her, she'd enjoy this.

At her side, the image of Winnifred without the frailty upon that face.

"Know what to look for?" She scanned the dance floor for DeBarge.

"There are five vampires in this building, three outside." Illyria surprised her.

She couldn't even remember how many there were. It was so long ago that she started mistake the vampire she recognized as the one targeting Willow as the one Faith danced with.

Love it when they make it easy to spot them.

Eight vampires all here to gather blood for The Master. After the study session with the group, it was time for the Slayer to come out. When she was sixteen, it was difficult, and she pulled her punches far too often in Sunnydale. Now as an adult, Buffy didn't give a damn.

"That one's mine." She referred to DeBarge on the dance floor.

Illyria broke off into the crowd and Buffy b-lined for the familiar vampire.

She saved one life tonight, fate be damned, she'll have fun while saving another.

He spotted the Slayer, his collar popped and lips curved into a smile as the hottest piece of meat pulled him away from the young girl he danced with.

"Come with me." She leaned into him and whispered, her hot breath on his cool skin. The other tell tale sign of his dead body.

As the woman's fingers curled down his chest to pull at the buttons and drag him, he had no choice but to go along with her. Strong and beautiful? The Master can have someone else.

Up in the rafters was a metal overhang that allowed Illyria to overlook the entire Bronze. On each side were platforms where few could sit and relax without the noise and bodies beneath them. In the dark, the shadows of the Bronze that scratched the edges of the ceiling, she could see two vampires scan the world around them just as she was.

That girlish charm hidden deep within the recess of what was once Winnifred Burkle trembled and buckled as she stumbled over to them and sat right between them in the empty metal chair.

"Sorry, hope this seat isn't taken." She rambled on as the two vampires in human form stared, smiled, and couldn't believe their luck.

Outside Buffy pulled ahead and turned with her arms folded, chainlink fence and wood pallets behind her and a stake in her hand. It was like a mother about to scold her child, but instead, as soon as the door closed he realized the mistake he made and only enough time to think just that as the dust scattered across his flesh.

Growls, groans, and a hiss. She's certainly missed the simple demons to slay. As the three closed in on the Slayer, one was yanked back and tossed into the chainlink fence. The two beside him turned, bewildered just as much as Buffy.

"Good dogs don't bite!" A familiar voice sank a smile into Buffy's heart.

It was good to be back.

Inside, Illyria dusted herself off, alone at the table. Beneath the grate floor where the other three gathered, growled, and changed into their game faces. All bets were off not that the fight came to them.

All men, they rushed up the metal steps to meet the scrawny, nerdy girl at the center of the walkway where one seamlessly flew back with barely a push and fell onto the pool table below.

The life of the party ceased. The vampire growled and rolled off to join the fray as a crowd formed a circle and a wide birth for the group.

As he ascended to the platform, he witnessed the young girl tear one of the vampire's head from his shoulders like he were flower from stalk. This was no student and the vampire pulled back into the shadow.

The Master would hear of this.

— —

Outside the Bronze, Buffy and Angel stared at one another, silent as the crowds spilled like blood into the back alleyway entrance, and sprawled out onto the street like cats.

Another night in Sunnydale.

"Thought you could you some help." He explained.

"I'm a big girl." She folded her arms, toyed with him even.

"You're going to need someone help you stop The Master from rising." He added, "Buffy."

That innocent tone. If only he knew their history. It was bittersweet, but she held her ground. As much as she wanted to embrace him, it couldn't happen. Not this time.

"I've got help." She caught Illyria out of the corner of her eye peel away from the crowd.

The demon in her red, black and blue appearance met the Slayer side by side and tilted her head at the sight of Angel. If Buffy knew her better, she'd think Illyria felt the same way she had.

"You are skinnier than I remember." She spoke plainly. "I do not like it."

Angel was speechless. Flabbergasted, he stood stunned as the two jabbed him with their words.

Cold and dimly lit but the rusting candelabras scattered and bent around the cracks and crevices of the sunken church, The Master stood before his vampire's offerings.

Before him knelt Luke, the Vessel and Darla, his favorite. Together they offered two young students, male and female respectively.

Both bitten and drained by The Master by the time the last offering was to be brought to him to restore his strength after the resurrection.

His blood soaked lips shifted from wry smile to bitter contempt as the vampire came with no offering of his own.

"You bring nothing?" He towered over them all. His presence if not his height, Luke and Darla pushed aside as the old vampire moved like blood over flesh down toward the empty handed minion. "I need blood to restore my strength and you bring me nothing?"

Frightened, shaken, the vampire gazed up into permanently demonic eyes of The Master before him and shivered, shuddered, and tried his best to respond.

"There was a girl!"

"Where is she, and why am I not drinking her heart's blood?"

"She killed the others. With her bare hands!"

He let the implication of these words mull in his mind. Slayer perhaps? Without confirmation he couldn't say, but if the Slayer was in Sunnydale now, a night before the Harvest?

He turned to Luke and Darla.

"Allow me, Master." Darla stepped forward. "I will find her for you, I will bring her to you."

The old demon smiled. What a wonderful and obedient dog she was. His favorite and his right hand.

No.

"Luke, you are the Vessel, you will find this girl and if she is the Slayer–"

"The Slayer?" Alarmed, but not worried, Luke stood from his knee and pushed ahead of Darla. "The Slayer here?"

"Perhaps, but if my faithful," he paused, hands up and clapped, he turned to the empty handed vampire, "what's your name?"

"D-Dennis?"

Strange name for a vampire, but he continued, "Dennis here is lying, then pull out his eyes and kill him slowly. If not, then do it anyway, but bring this girl to me first."

"Yes, Master."

Luke was off. One mission, and a one track mind. He was the Vessel and it filled the soulless fiend with joy to hear the growl, the obedience burn within him. He turned to the meager vampire, his nails nearly at this throat like a lion's jaw wide and playful around the neck of its prey.

"See, Dennis? This is how it should be. I say jump, you say how high."

"Yes, Master." He quivered beneath the gaze of the great demon. He believed time was on his side, and a chance to redeem himself until Darla behind him to bathe in his dust.

"Then again, I do like someone with initiative."