"Oh, this can't be good," Willow whimpered.
They couldn't even hear the van anymore, it was so far off. Probably out of Sunnydale by now, given the amount of time the Gang had just stood there, gaping wide-mouthed at the retreating wheels. They were completely screwed over.
"My van..." Oz said, his voice wistful and aching. He loved that van. He loved it like it was his kid. And now, gone, taken away by vampires. "Damn."
"So how are we going to get back?" F-Buffy asked, straightening her mussed T-shirt. Now that she was in front of others besides Jonah and Es, she noticed that her sleeping shirt was way too short. "We're not going to...walk, are we?"
"Horrors," F-Xander said sarcastically, putting a hand over his heart and staring at her like she was some alien from another planet.
F-Buffy glared at him. "You know, I'm really getting tired of you!"
"Hey!" Buffy interjected, getting between them. She threw her hands out between the two. "Can you guys just go *one moment* without getting at each other's throats?"
"No," both answered promptly.
"You all are a bunch of five-year-olds," F-Willow said with a trace of contempt from the sidelines. Then she turned to F-Buffy. "Really, what's with you and walking?"
"It's walking," F-Buffy insisted. "Can't we just..."
"Well, you've got legs, don't you?" F-Xander interjected, ignoring F-Willow warning glance. "Use them."
"Oh, it's not *my* legs I'm worried about," F-Buffy said, her voice turning dangerously calm. She kept her gaze dead-set on F-Xander. "It's our local neighborhood *cripple* that I'm worried about-"
"Hey, shut up!" F-Cordelia said hotly, stepping up. "Leave us alone, you little Hollywood bitch!"
F-Buffy yelled back, F-Cordelia yelled back, and soon every Future person was is this mess besides F-Oz, who looked on all of this with a sort of calm amusement. Then Buffy had enough. These people were getting WAY too much on her nerves. "Will you all just shut UP!!!"
Everyone immediately went silent, and then only string of words that was heard was from F-Xander to F-Buffy. He delivered them with calm.
"I don't even know why I bring myself low enough as to argue with a vampire's *whore*."
Both Buffy's eyes widened. "*What* did you call me?" F-Buffy spat out, barely repressing her anger.
"I called you," F-Xander continued, and no one made a move to stop him, "a *vampire's*. *Whore*."
"Why you-" And then, in a blur, F-Buffy lunged towards F-Xander in a cat-like position. F-Xander immediately side-stepped her. Yes, he'd give anything to fight her, but he wouldn't dare. No, not after seeing his father hit his mother and himself so many times. Then he would be stepping into his father's shoes. No, not after knowing what Jonathan did to F-Cordelia. He could never hit a woman in front of F-Cordelia's eyes. Unfortunately, he might have taken this thing with F-Buffy a little too far now. Sure, bickering over trivial little things over the phone were fine. The occasional meeting in a ritzy dining hall was fine. Full-blown arguments in court when he was the attorney for a client that was sewing her, and when he was defending F-Cordelia against Jonathan-those were kept under control. Fists had never come into the matter. Unfortunately, this now seemed the only way. F-Xander had been backed into a wall he could drill his way through.
Thank whatever god for what happened next. Just as F-Buffy seemed about ready to catch up with him and he'd really have to fight her, F-Oz stepped in front of F-Xander. Grabbing her wrist as F-Buffy brought them up to pummel him, F-Oz quickly whirled F-Buffy around and held her wrist behind her back, rendering her useless. For the moment.
"Let me GO, dammit!" F-Buffy exclaimed, and then kicked F-Oz hard in the shin. F-Oz grimaced but didn't let go. "Why does everyone go for the shin," he muttered, trying to get a better hold on F-Buffy. But that momentary acknowledgement of pain had slipped his grasp, and F-Buffy was quickly freed. Not even thinking, blind by F-Xander's cruel comment, she reached out and strike F-Oz hard in the face.
F-Xander moved to grab F-Buffy from behind, but F-Oz was ahead of him. In that moment, his animalistic instincts told him to give her what she gave. So, before F-Buffy knew what hit her, she was down on the floor and with a red mark on her face as F-Oz looked down at his hand, stunned.
As F-Willow quickly hurried to help F-Buffy up and make sure she didn't intend to make mince-meat of F-Xander anymore, F-Oz looked down at his hand in horror. "Aw man, now I feel bad," he said honestly. He looked up at F-Buffy, who was avoiding his eyes. "Hey, Buffy, I'm really sorry."
F-Buffy didn't say a word. She just righted herself up with F-Willow's help, her face burning with shame. Her eyes flicked towards F-Xander, who's face showed no sign of remorse. The flush from her face quickly faded at that. Was it...grim satisfaction that she detected in her former friend's eyes? She'd expect nothing less from F-Xander.
"Can't even fight for yourself," F-Buffy mumbled, the mark on her cheek quickly fading away and the pain lessening. Sure, there were many bad things about being a Slayer, but at least she was able to heal quickly. And do her own stunts.
F-Xander kept silent.
"Hey, are we going to be able to get to the library without you guys breaking out in anymore fights?" Willow asked. F-Xander and F-Buffy turned to look at her. "Well?" she prompted. Begrudgingly, they shook their heads yes, F-Buffy rolling her eyes in exasperation while doing so. "Good. N-now, let's get going."
At that they started down the road to the library, which luckily was only halfway into town. The Future Gang walked in front: F-Cordelia, F-Xander, F-Willow, F-Oz, and F-Buffy far away enough so that she looked like she was part of the group, but not. Behind them, Willow and Oz walked together, and right next to them, Xander and Buffy.
"I can't believe you called me that," Buffy whispered to Xander.
"Me!" Xander hissed back. "That was not *me*. That was future me. And I think I'd have a damn good reason to call you...what he called you."
"Don't you mean future Buffy?" Oz corrected. Xander shot him a look.
"Right."
Willow was watching the major cuddling that was going on between F-Willow and F-Oz. "Well, um, we can see that, uh, Oz and I are pretty...ok, and that Xander and-" F-Xander and F-Cordelia were gripping hands tightly and walking together in a rhythm "-Cordelia have made up." F-Cordelia shot a curious look at them, and Willow, mistakenly thinking she heard her, focused on the ground.
"Well, I think that's nice," Oz commented. "Everything turns out nice."
"No, not nice!" Xander insisted. "I seem to be having a serious egg about Buffy, and I see no reason why."
"Yeah, there's no...foundation," agreed Buffy.
"Well, it is the future," Oz contemplated. "Things have happened to them that haven't happened to us. Major things, probably, if it led, uh, Xander to call you a-"
"No need, no need to elaborate," Willow quickly interjected. Oz sent her an apologetic glance, which she smiled at. A little bit of the sadness around Oz's eyes disappeared as she grinned. Then he looked away, and Willow look down at his hands, which were in his pockets. What she'd give to have those hands in hers. "No need at all.
"Think we should ask them what all this is about?" Willow suggested.
"No," Buffy said quickly, "bad idea. Giles said that knowing about the future would make us change it, even if we didn't mean to."
"Yeah, that would happen," Oz agreed.
They were silent. Then Xander looked towards Buffy.
"You know, I apologize...for what he said," Xander said, a lopsided grin on his face. Buffy smiled uneasily. She knew it wasn't F-Xander just being an insensitive male. She had heard what F-Xander thought of her...there had to be a good reason.
What is was, she didn't know.
Due to the fact that was the world was going to end, Giles was in the stacks researching furiously. Cursing to himself that he did not have the Silver Slayer with him, he sprinted across the library to call a contact in Germany. Hilda DeGard knew everything about slayer prophecies, and Giles had often had to resort to calling her up and pleading for information, although he told none of it to Buffy or the 'Slayerettes'.
Ah he picked up the phone and began dialing the digits, he looked up to see F-Faith rummaging through F-Xander's shopping bags. Giles cleared his throat until F-Faith looked up at him. "Should, uh, be going through those?" Giles asked, fully aware of how frightened he was of this slayer. F-Faith was also aware of that.
"Believe me," F-Faith said, turning back to the bags, "Xander and I are very close. He won't mind at all if I go through some of his stuff, as long as I don't break anything. I'll just open something or two, and then give it back to him. 'Course, he'd have to settle with hot items." She stood up and held up what she had been looking for. "Ah, now for the CD player..." She walked away from the bags and to the bookcage, where she grabbed her younger self's CD player. "Just where I left it," she said to herself without a hint of humor in her voice.
As F-Faith was busy sitting down at the table and placing the CD in the CD player, Giles listened patiently to the ringing of Hilda's telephone. {Does she have an answering machine?} Giles though letting his mind drift. {I don't remember her having an answering machine. I hope she has an answering machine....bloody pick up the phone, Hilda, I know you are there!}
He didn't realize it, but F-Faith heard him speak the last aloud. Grinning as she turned the player on, she mumbled, "Lock up the women and children, townspeople, the Man in Tweed has drawn the last straw!" Hardly gut-busting, but it amused her as she settled back to listen to Hellmouth and tried not to think about the dog, who had fallen asleep by a pile of books back in the stacks. She had a sneaky hypothesis about the dog being here, and she didn't like it all.
Giles was about to hang up with a great deal of pent-up fury when there was a click on the other end. "Hallo?" said the wonderfully feminine voice of Hilda DeGard. They had trained together, along with others, to be Watchers. Unfortunately, Giles couldn't remember any of the others. Hilda tended to overshadow others in his mind.
"H-hilda?" he asked, trying to sort his thoughts after they were pushed out of his mind and replaced by a mental image of Hilda and him and the night before their official initiation as Watcher. Too bad she had later told him that what happened was a mistake, that she wasn't attracted to the opposite sex. She now lived very happily with a woman named Frieda. "Is that you?"
"Rupert!" Hilda cried delightedly. "Nachdem alle jene sich Jahre Sie entscheiden, mich anzurufen? Was ist die Gelegenheit?"
"Yes, Hilda, is has been a long time," Giles agreed, fumbling with a coat button. Then he reached out for one of his books and pulled it closer. "The occasion," Giles sighed, "is that I need some information on an apocalypse. Check for the year 2015."
"Was, sind Sie planend, zu gehen die Zeit, die zur Zukunft reist?" Hilda teased, but Giles could hear ordering someone to get her--egads, yes, it was "The Silver Slayer"!
"Er, ah, no," Giles stuttered into the phone as he listen to the flipping of pages in Germany. "You can rest assured that there is no time travelling to the future involved. He looked up at F-Faith, who was completely into the rock music and not paying attention to the lyrics. The music was so loud that he could hear strain of it from his side of the library:
"A cry for help, a silent tear
A whispered secret, hidden fear
The past is gone, present remains
Tomorrow brings, the glorious pain
Tormented dark, but in the light
Unbearable pain, scratching at eyes
All inner visions show the truth
This pain of mine, I want to lose
Let it out: how simple it sounds
Let it out: when lost will I be found...?"
The song was so haunting and being sung by a woman with an mesmerizing voice, one that demanded attention and admiration. Giles was caught up in the song, but was quickly grounded as he heard Hilda pick the phone back up from where she had placed it.
"Well, yes right here, love," she said, switching to English. She always did that when she meant business; her native language was reserved for personal purposes only. "There's a beautiful poem here, absolutely beautiful, if you didn't know what it was about. Seems absolutely horrid once you know the meaning of the text."
"Thank you, Hilda," he said, meaning it. Then he cleared his throat. "You don't mind faxing it to me, do you? I haven't a pen or paper nearby."
"Of course you don't, Rupert, all men are too lazy to get up and get anything." Her tone was light, and she knew she was not in "women-rule-men-suck" modes. "Besides, darling, I was planning to fax it to you anyhow. I'm losing my voice: to much yelling at my assistant, Anita. Someone should teach the child the alphabet, really. Can't file for her life." Sounds of the fax machine. "It's on it's way, Rupert, dear. Now, is that all you will be needing?"
"Yes, that's all," Giles said. He paused, a little too long. "Goodbye, Hilda."
"Feel free to call me anytime, whether it regards to work or life, Rupert dear."
"I'll be sure to." They then exchanged cordial goodbyes, and then Giles hung up feeling strangely empty. The song that F-Faith was listening to was near the end, and Giles stopped to listen to it before he went over to the fax machine.
"I wish I'd die, or fade away
Let no one know, I'd go away
I'd be alone, pine silently
I act so well, the lie they'll see
Am I dead, or am alive?
Wasting time, so soon I'll die
I realize know, I've asked for this
Such a small part, will not be missed."
And then it gave way into the chorus part, and after that, an impressive guitar riff. The song was still haunting, but now it was also disturbing. The person was probably in a deep depression when they composed the song, but it was disturbing in a way that it caught your interest. When F-Faith was done, Giles wanted a chance to listen to it.
{Wait a moment...I am interested in that noise? Strange things certainly are happening}
Giles shook the idea away from his head as he went into his office to check his fax machine. Yes, there it was, the prophecy. F-Faith had only remembered the part that had rhymed, not the rest of it, which was written in ancient Aramaic. Giles would have trouble translating this, so he went back into the main part of the library to get a book to help him.
This time F-Faith was listening to a new song, and bobbing her head slowly. Giles listened from the stacks:
"No longer can I try to bare this
Cruel hate for things which we share
What have I done, what have we done to
Have me fear that I'm losing you..."
Giles plucked the book that he need off the shelf and opened it to the correct page. Then he held the fax up to the book, looking between the two and trying to translate it.
"We've let our love for each other down
No longer trusting with raw emotion
My soul bleeds for you, I want to die for you
Would you die for me?
I loved you while you were haunted by the darkness
Did you miss the light in me, your light begins to falter..."
The text was quickly unfolding its mysteries. It was explaining why this time-travel was happening, and what was to come of it..."Eureka," Giles whispered to himself, letting his lips form into a small smile, although what was to come off all this was no humorous at all.
"You are so cold and so distant and so gone oh what I would give for
One more night with the light that was so bright when it was in you
I would give all I have which is none nothing to give nothing to receive
The light is dimming and drawing far
What did you see in me?
I loved you while you were haunted by the darkness
Did you miss the light in me, your light begins to falter
I loved you while you were haunted by the darkness
Did you miss the light in me, did you see the light in me?"
Giles came up behind F-Faith just as the singer of the group began to fade into a repetition of "Love is forever." He reached out to tap her on the arm, and F-Faith took off her earphone and calmly turned towards him. "Find out how to avert the apocalypse yet?" she asked in a bored tone.
"Well, no," Giles said, taking off his glasses. "But, I have found out more of the prophecy."
"And that helps us how?"
"Well, it will help you, Xander, Willow, and...the others, to get back to your time."
"Good. Is it definite, the way that we'll get back? You can do it? Soon?"
"Uh..." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his spectacles. "I'm not entirely certain it will work. The text is extremely difficult to interpret--"
"So you interrupted me for nothing," F-Faith said, coming to the conclusion. Then she sucked her teeth and put back the headphones on, going back to observing the book. "Tell me when you have something set in stone, and you can read and understand that something."
Giles sighed. Then he settled his glasses back on his nose and turned back to go into his office. He wished, as he did many times before, that he had never been destined to be a Watcher. But he might as well deal with it, and deal with it, because he should practice what he preached to Buffy.
And if this text hinted at the right thing, then he better practice hard enough not to get Buffy killed...
It was a relatively short walk to this "library," that Faith was headed too, and Jonah was completely quiet. He had only a vague idea what a vampire slayer was and did, but he feared he'd somehow upset or insult her by asking her about it. Faith, on the other hand, seemed to not mind his silence a bit, and pretty much ignored his very presence. She didn't acknowledge him until she stopped suddenly.
Jonah almost ran into her, because he had been closely making sure that his bare feet did not step on any stones in the sidewalk. He stopped himself just as he was about to plow himself into her shoulder. "What, why are we stopping?" he asked her, stepping around so that he could look her in the face.
"Library," Faith said, jutting out her chin and pointing to something behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and saw that they were in front of a high school. He could barely make out the name that hung over the front doors.
"Sunnydale High," Jonah mused, and then suddenly remembered it as Buffy's high school. This was certainly a hidden message that his subconscious was sending him in a dream. Because, surely, this was a dream. He could never, for an instant, believe that this was real.
He mentioned nothing of this recognition of the name to Faith, and she didn't ask it of him. Instead, she started walking towards the back entrance to the school, the one that Giles always left open. Jonah followed her without any more questions.
As she pushed the door to the school open, Jonah caught her profile in the moonlight. The cut on her face that had been bleeding was miraculously healed. Jonah turned away from her and looked up at the moon. Almost full.
No wonder.
"'Ey, you coming or not?"
Jonah snapped back to attention and shook his head before he looked at Faith. She was in the building already, impatiently waiting, looking like she as going to slam the door in his face. He wasn't about to think that she wasn't going to do. He quickly stepped into the building and winced as the door slammed loudly behind them. "Don't worry," Faith said airily. "No security guards, no nothing. Just the gang is here."
"Gang?" Jonah inquired.
"The good guys, don't worry," Faith said as they came out of the little room and started to walk down the hall. Just a few feet away were a set of double doors with the words "Library" in capital letters atop the doors. "We're the ones saving your ass day after day after day after day. It gets tiring, the hours and the nightlife suck, but you learn to deal."
"I'd imagine," Jonah said in an attempt to be sympathetic. Faith glanced at him, snorted, and then looked away.
"You don't know anything about it," said Faith as she pushed open the doors to the library, and they stepped in.
Jonah let his eyes rove around the walls and the ceiling of the library, in the way that men did when they didn't really want to see what they were being led to. Then his eyes settled on the room, and he noticed the man dressed in tweed who was walking to a table. Faith cleared her throat, and the man in tweed looked up with an expression that was one of engrossment in his work, and then a comical shock. "Ah, um, Faith? May I please ask who your visitor is?" the man stuttered.
"He ain't mine," Faith said, sauntering over to the man. "Just picked him up, seems to have fallen out of the sky-"
And she stopped as F-Faith came out, munching on an apple that Giles happened to have in his office and bopping her head to the music, letting bits of the apple fall to the fragile pages of the book that she was reading. F-Faith looked up at her younger self, Faith looked at F-Faith, and while F-Faith stood there calmly Faith recoiled and jumped backwards.
"The hell...!" Faith said angrily, and then whipped a stake out of her clothing. She waved it at Giles. "Explain, and fast!"
Giles opened his mouth, but F-Faith beat him to it. "Damn, I'm all skin and bones," F-Faith said, swallowing another bite of apple. Then she looked Faith up and down again. "Mostly skin, hell yeah. Nothin' 's changed."
"What's she talking about!" Faith said, getting frustrated, and she vented it by showing anger. "Explain *now*."
"Oh, I'm your future self," F-Faith said breezily. Faith gave her a shocked look. "What, you couldn't tell? I practically haven't changed." Then, as Faith fell into stunned silence, F-Faith turned to look at Jonah. Her expression clouded. Giles noticed the shift.
"Do you recognize him?" Giles asked, wondering if this future-visiting anomaly was exclusive only to their little circle. He shifted the position in his chair so that he was facing away from Faith and Jonah as looking upon F-Faith.
F-Faith's lips curved up into a little smile, reminiscent of Willow's. "Nope," F-Faith said, "never seen him before in my life." Giles looked at her with a disbelieving expression. "What? Never had! What, do you think I'm lying?" She said the last word with a stifled laugh, enough to set him on his toes. No way would he call her a liar, not after those stories he'd told her. Not like she'd do those to him, but she did so enjoy "skinnin'", and it would be interesting to see what kind of man Giles really was. He wasn't that older than her anymore; although, age had prevented her from relationships or one-night stands in the past.
Jonah could not tell if she was lying. He'd never had any contact with this woman, although she and her leather-wearing self would certainly be something that would stand out in his memories. "I've never seen her before," Jonah put in hopefully.
"You're *me*?" Faith asked, not getting past that.
"Yup. Get over it," said F-Faith matter-of-factly.
Faith shrugged. It was her alright.
"What's your name?" Giles asked Jonah, reaching for his glasses again.
"Daly. Jonah Daly," he said, and then realized how much like one of those action-heroes he sounded like. "Um, do you have any idea how I got to this...Sunnydale, and how may I get back."
"He's working on it right now," F-Faith snapped, "so lay off him. He's just one man, and I don't have any intention of doing grunt work. So if you want to find a way home, go get a book off the shelf and research."
Jonah was taken aback, but F-Faith just raised on eye coolly. Jonah looked at Giles, who seemed to be destined to become their self-appointed mediator. "Um, yes," Giles said. He put his book down and stood up, walking over to Jonah. He shook his hand and then introduced himself. "My name is Rupert Giles. Er, I suppose you already now that something paranormal has happened to you." Jonah nodded. "Well, if you'd just take a seat, perhaps I could explain some of this to you..."
"Ouch!"
Wincing, F-Willow leaned on F-Oz's shoulders and made him stop as she bent her leg up to grasp her foot. "I stepped on another stone," she grumbled, checking to see if her foot was bleeding yet. Yes, but those were teeny-tiny superficial cuts. She wished she'd worn her slippers when she and F-Oz'd gone out on the porch, but it was too late for that, now. Besides, it wasn't like she was thinking she'd be trudging through the districts of a town that was even standing to this day.
"Are you okay?" F-Oz asked, and she smiled at hi. "I'm fine. Just all these darn pebbles in the walk," she explained.
Her little trip had gotten the attention of F-Buffy, F-Xander, F-Cordelia, and the past people. F-Cordelia poked F-Xander in the ribs and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and stopped, too, and took off his shoes.
"Here," he said, handing one shoe over to F-Willow and taking off the other in the process. "I know they're kinda big, but..."
"But nothing," F-Willow said, placing the shoes on the ground and slipping her bare feet into them. They were big. "Thanks. A-are you sure you don't need 'em?"
"Please, I'm a guy. I don't feel pain: at least, I don't admit it when I do. Besides," he shrugged, "what's the worse walking without them can do?" He smiled wryly. "Ruin my back?" He shook his head and his hair shagged around his face and into his eyes.
F-Willow shrugged and slipped feet into shoes. She took a test walk and was rewarded with a large *clomp*. She giggled, and then made an "oof" sound as someone ran into her.
F-Willow whipped around to come face-to-face with herself. She opened her mouth to apologize, took one look at Willow's somewhat frightened expression, and then burst out laughing, leaning on F-Oz and partly stepping out of F-Xander's shoes. F-Cordelia look at her.
"Willow?" she asked, "are you going insane? 'Cause remind me to be elsewhere?"
F-Willow shook her head fiercely. "No, I'm not going insane." She took a step back from Willow and then giggled again. "Nope, I'm just realizing that I've run into myself." F-Xander raised an eyebrow. "Well, I thought that was funny, and a little abnormal. I mean, we all don't trip over our own two feet like you do."
F-Xander grinned. "Oh, that's right. The rest just drive cars off the road and into trees 'cause they were too busy-"
"Hey! *You* try driving in platforms! Those things are slippery on the pedal, ya know!"
"I drive?" Willow asked, surprised. F-Willow turned back around to face her. "I-I mean, well? 'Cause I have anxiety issues, you know, fear of being behind the wheel..."
"Oh, don't worry, you're not afraid," F-Willow assured her. "Usually it's the people riding with me that are afraid."
Willow raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," F-Xander put in, "Willow likes to hit all the curbs."
"She has quite the track record," said F-Oz. F-Cordelia nodded, and *she* was the bad driver.
"Oh-oh, when Cordy says you're a bad driver, you're a baad driver," Xander said, punching Willow lightly on the arm. Willow gave him a friendly scowl, while F-Cordy reach out and poked F-Xander in the stomach.
"Ouch, Cor! What was that for!" F-Xander cried out in indignation, although it really hadn't hurt. F-Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest. "You made fun out of me," she explained.
F-Xander rolled his eyes. "That was little me! Little me made fun of you! You know, soon people are going to stop wondering why I'm so damn masochistic." F-Cordy stuck her tongue out at him, and F-Xander crossed his eyes back. They each gave little, we-have-a-secret smiles to each other.
"Anyway..." F-Buffy said, making forward gesture. "Oh," F-Willow noted, and then everybody started walking again.
"So, hi!" F-Willow said to a suddenly shy and timid Willow. They were walking side by side now, with F-Oz looking Oz up and down. "Whatcha think of this whole deal?"
Willow's mouth opened once or twice on its own free will before she was able to utter a sound. "Um...strange, "she admitted, looking at her feet as she walked. She also snuck a peek at her double's borrowed footing, and had to grin at the size. "What do you think?"
"Well, I think that if I was in your position, then I'd feel pretty darn strange, too," F-Willow agreed. Then she paused and her forehead wrinkled. "But in a way, I kinda *am* in your position..." She trailed off, her tone and facial expression one of bewilderment.
"You're right..." Willow continued, and both Willows looked at each other with wide eyes. Then they both turned quickly away and all was silent.
Silent until two members of the group suddenly felt as thought they had been thrown into ice-cold, needle-sharp ice water. At the same time, F-Willow and F-Oz reached out to hang on each other's shoulders, and what should have sent them to the ground made them stand up in a sort of huddle. F-Oz reached for his stomach as though he were about to change, but he didn't.
"What? What?" said four nervous Generation X-ers nervously.
All three's faces were drawn tight and pale. "It's...evil," F-Willow explained.
"Horrific...it's just everywhere..." F-Oz said, at a loss to explain it all.
"Hey! It's the old alma mater!" F-Xander said enthusiastically, and pointed ahead of them.
Sure enough, there was Sunnydale High shrouded in darkness-they were at their destination. It looked so ominous, large windows seeming like dark, watchful eyes, and for the people who knew what lay under the foundation, it was especially haunting.
"Gee, that's strange," F-Willow said. "How come we've never felt...well, all this bad juju before?"
"Juju?" Xander asked, bewildered.
"Well, we felt it because our senses are heightened by our 'conditions', a-and supernatural things can just sense other supernat things. I, uh, think," said F-Oz, reasonably calm.
"Well, I'm more supernatural than a witch, and I can't feel it," F-Buffy pointed out.
"That's because you have no feelings," F-Xander said simply, and received glares from everyone. He just shrugged and continued to stand tall, giving everyone an innocent "What?" look.
F-Buffy just scowled at him and said nothing. She really didn't want to get into another fistfight with him, and she had no doubt that F-Xander's word-brawls would trigger another.
"Um, can we just go before I have to break up something else and hurt Buffy again?" F-Oz said, looking pointedly but somehow also deadpan at F-Xander, who just gave another one of his shrugs. Then he turned to F-Buffy. "And I really am sorry about that-"
"Aw, it's ok. No grudge," F-Buffy said, waving it off. F-Oz nodded, and F-Buffy gave him a small smile, which F-Oz did not return; the smile quickly became a frown.
"Nicky, it's dusty in here," Julie complained as she walked behind Josh. "Dusty and tight and *dirty* Nicky, it's *dirty* in here. I don't like it. It smells like socks, *old* socks. When does it end?"
After some argument, the kids (well, Nicky, mostly) has decided to leave the door to the secret hallway open. Es had been terrified that while they were in the hallway, something hidden in the halls would crawl on in after them, and had wanted the doors closed. Julie had argued hotly with her, telling her that if they closed the door that they might get locked in, and if the hallway led to nowhere or something scary then that would be a problem, wouldn't it? Es had grown silent, and Nicky had opted for the open door, because while he didn't believe in boogies, he did believe in dead-ends and locked doors and suffocation. He doubted that the secret hallway had air-conditioning.
"Julie, will you stop complaining?" Josh told his twin sharply; he, who had just been complaining to Nicky that they had been walking over. "You're such a *girl*," he continued, spitting the word out like it was a curse word.
"Yeah, I'm a girl," Julie said, stopping to turn around. She got in her brother's face, just like Aunt Faith had taught her to. "Gots a problem with that?"
Josh thought for a moment about picking a fight with her-you could see the contemplation in his eyes-but he decided not to. "Nope, no problem," he said in a jerky, nervous way. Then he brushed passed her, with Julie stamping her foot in indignition and shoving past him to get in semi-front again.
"Will you guys be quiet?" Nicky told the two, and Annie and Es, who were holding hands (Josh and Julie were REALLY unhappy about that: who knew this girl? She just came out of nowhere, and nothing good came out of nowhere) turned around to stare that the twins. Es shook her head slightly, and Julie was about to make something of it when Nicky cried out:
"Hey, look! I think I see a door up ahead."
The kids all craned their neck and then hurried down the rest of the hallway. "Think we'll end up in a secret garden?" Es said hopefully, thinking that since strange things were happening it ought to go all the way and at least all the way into one of her favorite books.
"Don't be stupid," Josh snapped, knowing not a thing of which Es mentioned. Rather than retort, Es kept silent, polite, and just hurried up, making Annie skip a few paces before she caught up to speed.
Sure enough, the hallway did end a few paces later, and there was a door at the end instead of a wall. The door looked clean and shiny and new, very different from the rest of the grimy corridor. Annie gave a little jump of excitement, understanding that something good and clean would probably lay behind this door and maybe she could stop walking so much. She still had tiny legs unlike everyone else.
Nicky reached for the doorknob and gave it a twist. It didn't budge. {Uh-oh}. "I think it's locked," he said in a small voice.
"Locked?" Es asked, her voice rising to an entirely new octave.
"Yeah," Nicky admitted, and then looked at the frightened faces of his step-brother and step-sister and half-sister and the other girl. He bit his lip guiltily and tried the doorknob again, with more force. This time it opened, albeit with some difficulty. There was an audible sigh of relief from everyone.
"See?" Nicky said, his own voice more relaxed. He swung the door open, and light-not sunshine, though-flooded into the hallway. Nicky and the rest blinked at the sudden change in light. They all reached up to shade their eyes with their right hands (although Es did it with her left) and then, as the world stopped changing into strange colors, they brought them down and saw who was waiting for them.
She wasn't pretty, but kids were pretty cruel in their definition of pretty so that might not made it written in stone. She was very gaunt, and very pale, and was wearing very dark lipstick. She had big, round, hypnotizing eyes. She was wearing a bright red lacy shirt that showed her cleavage, and a long leather skirt that their (step)mother would definitely classify as "trampy" or "goth." She had high pointy boots that Es had seen Mommy wear home when she came home in costume from a movie she was shooting, something called "Ghost Kiss" that Elisabeth Sarah wasn't allowed to see until she was much, much older.
As Nicky shoved everyone else behind him, the thin lady cocked her head to the side in a childish manner. "Lost little lambs," she cooed, a glint in her eye. She raised her eyebrows and Nicky and clapped her hands. "Would like something to eat? There are cakes...cakes left over because Miss Edith was naughty, a naughty little girl." She looked straight at Es. "You're not a naughty little girl, are you?" Es shook her head "no" solemnly. "Well," the lady said, whirling around. "Come, children."
Es started to move, but Nicky gave her a look that said "What do you think you are doing?" and she stayed put. The lady noticed that no one was following her, and she turned around, and motioned kindly to the children. "Come on," she soothed, adopted a low, hypnotizing voice. The children couldn't help but be captivated. All, even Nicky, began to follow her out of the small room they had found themselves in and into another hallway.
"Is it safe to go with you?" Nicky asked in a breathless voice as they walked down the hallway. Obviously his protectiveness and fear showed over the lady's magick. He looked up into those big, deep eyes that looked down at him with a strange devilish warmth.
A smile played around the lady's blood-red lips. She was so pale..."Of course it is, Nicholas," she said in a mimic of his breathless voice. Nicky was completely under her spell. "I don't bite."
They couldn't even hear the van anymore, it was so far off. Probably out of Sunnydale by now, given the amount of time the Gang had just stood there, gaping wide-mouthed at the retreating wheels. They were completely screwed over.
"My van..." Oz said, his voice wistful and aching. He loved that van. He loved it like it was his kid. And now, gone, taken away by vampires. "Damn."
"So how are we going to get back?" F-Buffy asked, straightening her mussed T-shirt. Now that she was in front of others besides Jonah and Es, she noticed that her sleeping shirt was way too short. "We're not going to...walk, are we?"
"Horrors," F-Xander said sarcastically, putting a hand over his heart and staring at her like she was some alien from another planet.
F-Buffy glared at him. "You know, I'm really getting tired of you!"
"Hey!" Buffy interjected, getting between them. She threw her hands out between the two. "Can you guys just go *one moment* without getting at each other's throats?"
"No," both answered promptly.
"You all are a bunch of five-year-olds," F-Willow said with a trace of contempt from the sidelines. Then she turned to F-Buffy. "Really, what's with you and walking?"
"It's walking," F-Buffy insisted. "Can't we just..."
"Well, you've got legs, don't you?" F-Xander interjected, ignoring F-Willow warning glance. "Use them."
"Oh, it's not *my* legs I'm worried about," F-Buffy said, her voice turning dangerously calm. She kept her gaze dead-set on F-Xander. "It's our local neighborhood *cripple* that I'm worried about-"
"Hey, shut up!" F-Cordelia said hotly, stepping up. "Leave us alone, you little Hollywood bitch!"
F-Buffy yelled back, F-Cordelia yelled back, and soon every Future person was is this mess besides F-Oz, who looked on all of this with a sort of calm amusement. Then Buffy had enough. These people were getting WAY too much on her nerves. "Will you all just shut UP!!!"
Everyone immediately went silent, and then only string of words that was heard was from F-Xander to F-Buffy. He delivered them with calm.
"I don't even know why I bring myself low enough as to argue with a vampire's *whore*."
Both Buffy's eyes widened. "*What* did you call me?" F-Buffy spat out, barely repressing her anger.
"I called you," F-Xander continued, and no one made a move to stop him, "a *vampire's*. *Whore*."
"Why you-" And then, in a blur, F-Buffy lunged towards F-Xander in a cat-like position. F-Xander immediately side-stepped her. Yes, he'd give anything to fight her, but he wouldn't dare. No, not after seeing his father hit his mother and himself so many times. Then he would be stepping into his father's shoes. No, not after knowing what Jonathan did to F-Cordelia. He could never hit a woman in front of F-Cordelia's eyes. Unfortunately, he might have taken this thing with F-Buffy a little too far now. Sure, bickering over trivial little things over the phone were fine. The occasional meeting in a ritzy dining hall was fine. Full-blown arguments in court when he was the attorney for a client that was sewing her, and when he was defending F-Cordelia against Jonathan-those were kept under control. Fists had never come into the matter. Unfortunately, this now seemed the only way. F-Xander had been backed into a wall he could drill his way through.
Thank whatever god for what happened next. Just as F-Buffy seemed about ready to catch up with him and he'd really have to fight her, F-Oz stepped in front of F-Xander. Grabbing her wrist as F-Buffy brought them up to pummel him, F-Oz quickly whirled F-Buffy around and held her wrist behind her back, rendering her useless. For the moment.
"Let me GO, dammit!" F-Buffy exclaimed, and then kicked F-Oz hard in the shin. F-Oz grimaced but didn't let go. "Why does everyone go for the shin," he muttered, trying to get a better hold on F-Buffy. But that momentary acknowledgement of pain had slipped his grasp, and F-Buffy was quickly freed. Not even thinking, blind by F-Xander's cruel comment, she reached out and strike F-Oz hard in the face.
F-Xander moved to grab F-Buffy from behind, but F-Oz was ahead of him. In that moment, his animalistic instincts told him to give her what she gave. So, before F-Buffy knew what hit her, she was down on the floor and with a red mark on her face as F-Oz looked down at his hand, stunned.
As F-Willow quickly hurried to help F-Buffy up and make sure she didn't intend to make mince-meat of F-Xander anymore, F-Oz looked down at his hand in horror. "Aw man, now I feel bad," he said honestly. He looked up at F-Buffy, who was avoiding his eyes. "Hey, Buffy, I'm really sorry."
F-Buffy didn't say a word. She just righted herself up with F-Willow's help, her face burning with shame. Her eyes flicked towards F-Xander, who's face showed no sign of remorse. The flush from her face quickly faded at that. Was it...grim satisfaction that she detected in her former friend's eyes? She'd expect nothing less from F-Xander.
"Can't even fight for yourself," F-Buffy mumbled, the mark on her cheek quickly fading away and the pain lessening. Sure, there were many bad things about being a Slayer, but at least she was able to heal quickly. And do her own stunts.
F-Xander kept silent.
"Hey, are we going to be able to get to the library without you guys breaking out in anymore fights?" Willow asked. F-Xander and F-Buffy turned to look at her. "Well?" she prompted. Begrudgingly, they shook their heads yes, F-Buffy rolling her eyes in exasperation while doing so. "Good. N-now, let's get going."
At that they started down the road to the library, which luckily was only halfway into town. The Future Gang walked in front: F-Cordelia, F-Xander, F-Willow, F-Oz, and F-Buffy far away enough so that she looked like she was part of the group, but not. Behind them, Willow and Oz walked together, and right next to them, Xander and Buffy.
"I can't believe you called me that," Buffy whispered to Xander.
"Me!" Xander hissed back. "That was not *me*. That was future me. And I think I'd have a damn good reason to call you...what he called you."
"Don't you mean future Buffy?" Oz corrected. Xander shot him a look.
"Right."
Willow was watching the major cuddling that was going on between F-Willow and F-Oz. "Well, um, we can see that, uh, Oz and I are pretty...ok, and that Xander and-" F-Xander and F-Cordelia were gripping hands tightly and walking together in a rhythm "-Cordelia have made up." F-Cordelia shot a curious look at them, and Willow, mistakenly thinking she heard her, focused on the ground.
"Well, I think that's nice," Oz commented. "Everything turns out nice."
"No, not nice!" Xander insisted. "I seem to be having a serious egg about Buffy, and I see no reason why."
"Yeah, there's no...foundation," agreed Buffy.
"Well, it is the future," Oz contemplated. "Things have happened to them that haven't happened to us. Major things, probably, if it led, uh, Xander to call you a-"
"No need, no need to elaborate," Willow quickly interjected. Oz sent her an apologetic glance, which she smiled at. A little bit of the sadness around Oz's eyes disappeared as she grinned. Then he looked away, and Willow look down at his hands, which were in his pockets. What she'd give to have those hands in hers. "No need at all.
"Think we should ask them what all this is about?" Willow suggested.
"No," Buffy said quickly, "bad idea. Giles said that knowing about the future would make us change it, even if we didn't mean to."
"Yeah, that would happen," Oz agreed.
They were silent. Then Xander looked towards Buffy.
"You know, I apologize...for what he said," Xander said, a lopsided grin on his face. Buffy smiled uneasily. She knew it wasn't F-Xander just being an insensitive male. She had heard what F-Xander thought of her...there had to be a good reason.
What is was, she didn't know.
Due to the fact that was the world was going to end, Giles was in the stacks researching furiously. Cursing to himself that he did not have the Silver Slayer with him, he sprinted across the library to call a contact in Germany. Hilda DeGard knew everything about slayer prophecies, and Giles had often had to resort to calling her up and pleading for information, although he told none of it to Buffy or the 'Slayerettes'.
Ah he picked up the phone and began dialing the digits, he looked up to see F-Faith rummaging through F-Xander's shopping bags. Giles cleared his throat until F-Faith looked up at him. "Should, uh, be going through those?" Giles asked, fully aware of how frightened he was of this slayer. F-Faith was also aware of that.
"Believe me," F-Faith said, turning back to the bags, "Xander and I are very close. He won't mind at all if I go through some of his stuff, as long as I don't break anything. I'll just open something or two, and then give it back to him. 'Course, he'd have to settle with hot items." She stood up and held up what she had been looking for. "Ah, now for the CD player..." She walked away from the bags and to the bookcage, where she grabbed her younger self's CD player. "Just where I left it," she said to herself without a hint of humor in her voice.
As F-Faith was busy sitting down at the table and placing the CD in the CD player, Giles listened patiently to the ringing of Hilda's telephone. {Does she have an answering machine?} Giles though letting his mind drift. {I don't remember her having an answering machine. I hope she has an answering machine....bloody pick up the phone, Hilda, I know you are there!}
He didn't realize it, but F-Faith heard him speak the last aloud. Grinning as she turned the player on, she mumbled, "Lock up the women and children, townspeople, the Man in Tweed has drawn the last straw!" Hardly gut-busting, but it amused her as she settled back to listen to Hellmouth and tried not to think about the dog, who had fallen asleep by a pile of books back in the stacks. She had a sneaky hypothesis about the dog being here, and she didn't like it all.
Giles was about to hang up with a great deal of pent-up fury when there was a click on the other end. "Hallo?" said the wonderfully feminine voice of Hilda DeGard. They had trained together, along with others, to be Watchers. Unfortunately, Giles couldn't remember any of the others. Hilda tended to overshadow others in his mind.
"H-hilda?" he asked, trying to sort his thoughts after they were pushed out of his mind and replaced by a mental image of Hilda and him and the night before their official initiation as Watcher. Too bad she had later told him that what happened was a mistake, that she wasn't attracted to the opposite sex. She now lived very happily with a woman named Frieda. "Is that you?"
"Rupert!" Hilda cried delightedly. "Nachdem alle jene sich Jahre Sie entscheiden, mich anzurufen? Was ist die Gelegenheit?"
"Yes, Hilda, is has been a long time," Giles agreed, fumbling with a coat button. Then he reached out for one of his books and pulled it closer. "The occasion," Giles sighed, "is that I need some information on an apocalypse. Check for the year 2015."
"Was, sind Sie planend, zu gehen die Zeit, die zur Zukunft reist?" Hilda teased, but Giles could hear ordering someone to get her--egads, yes, it was "The Silver Slayer"!
"Er, ah, no," Giles stuttered into the phone as he listen to the flipping of pages in Germany. "You can rest assured that there is no time travelling to the future involved. He looked up at F-Faith, who was completely into the rock music and not paying attention to the lyrics. The music was so loud that he could hear strain of it from his side of the library:
"A cry for help, a silent tear
A whispered secret, hidden fear
The past is gone, present remains
Tomorrow brings, the glorious pain
Tormented dark, but in the light
Unbearable pain, scratching at eyes
All inner visions show the truth
This pain of mine, I want to lose
Let it out: how simple it sounds
Let it out: when lost will I be found...?"
The song was so haunting and being sung by a woman with an mesmerizing voice, one that demanded attention and admiration. Giles was caught up in the song, but was quickly grounded as he heard Hilda pick the phone back up from where she had placed it.
"Well, yes right here, love," she said, switching to English. She always did that when she meant business; her native language was reserved for personal purposes only. "There's a beautiful poem here, absolutely beautiful, if you didn't know what it was about. Seems absolutely horrid once you know the meaning of the text."
"Thank you, Hilda," he said, meaning it. Then he cleared his throat. "You don't mind faxing it to me, do you? I haven't a pen or paper nearby."
"Of course you don't, Rupert, all men are too lazy to get up and get anything." Her tone was light, and she knew she was not in "women-rule-men-suck" modes. "Besides, darling, I was planning to fax it to you anyhow. I'm losing my voice: to much yelling at my assistant, Anita. Someone should teach the child the alphabet, really. Can't file for her life." Sounds of the fax machine. "It's on it's way, Rupert, dear. Now, is that all you will be needing?"
"Yes, that's all," Giles said. He paused, a little too long. "Goodbye, Hilda."
"Feel free to call me anytime, whether it regards to work or life, Rupert dear."
"I'll be sure to." They then exchanged cordial goodbyes, and then Giles hung up feeling strangely empty. The song that F-Faith was listening to was near the end, and Giles stopped to listen to it before he went over to the fax machine.
"I wish I'd die, or fade away
Let no one know, I'd go away
I'd be alone, pine silently
I act so well, the lie they'll see
Am I dead, or am alive?
Wasting time, so soon I'll die
I realize know, I've asked for this
Such a small part, will not be missed."
And then it gave way into the chorus part, and after that, an impressive guitar riff. The song was still haunting, but now it was also disturbing. The person was probably in a deep depression when they composed the song, but it was disturbing in a way that it caught your interest. When F-Faith was done, Giles wanted a chance to listen to it.
{Wait a moment...I am interested in that noise? Strange things certainly are happening}
Giles shook the idea away from his head as he went into his office to check his fax machine. Yes, there it was, the prophecy. F-Faith had only remembered the part that had rhymed, not the rest of it, which was written in ancient Aramaic. Giles would have trouble translating this, so he went back into the main part of the library to get a book to help him.
This time F-Faith was listening to a new song, and bobbing her head slowly. Giles listened from the stacks:
"No longer can I try to bare this
Cruel hate for things which we share
What have I done, what have we done to
Have me fear that I'm losing you..."
Giles plucked the book that he need off the shelf and opened it to the correct page. Then he held the fax up to the book, looking between the two and trying to translate it.
"We've let our love for each other down
No longer trusting with raw emotion
My soul bleeds for you, I want to die for you
Would you die for me?
I loved you while you were haunted by the darkness
Did you miss the light in me, your light begins to falter..."
The text was quickly unfolding its mysteries. It was explaining why this time-travel was happening, and what was to come of it..."Eureka," Giles whispered to himself, letting his lips form into a small smile, although what was to come off all this was no humorous at all.
"You are so cold and so distant and so gone oh what I would give for
One more night with the light that was so bright when it was in you
I would give all I have which is none nothing to give nothing to receive
The light is dimming and drawing far
What did you see in me?
I loved you while you were haunted by the darkness
Did you miss the light in me, your light begins to falter
I loved you while you were haunted by the darkness
Did you miss the light in me, did you see the light in me?"
Giles came up behind F-Faith just as the singer of the group began to fade into a repetition of "Love is forever." He reached out to tap her on the arm, and F-Faith took off her earphone and calmly turned towards him. "Find out how to avert the apocalypse yet?" she asked in a bored tone.
"Well, no," Giles said, taking off his glasses. "But, I have found out more of the prophecy."
"And that helps us how?"
"Well, it will help you, Xander, Willow, and...the others, to get back to your time."
"Good. Is it definite, the way that we'll get back? You can do it? Soon?"
"Uh..." He rubbed the bridge of his nose with his spectacles. "I'm not entirely certain it will work. The text is extremely difficult to interpret--"
"So you interrupted me for nothing," F-Faith said, coming to the conclusion. Then she sucked her teeth and put back the headphones on, going back to observing the book. "Tell me when you have something set in stone, and you can read and understand that something."
Giles sighed. Then he settled his glasses back on his nose and turned back to go into his office. He wished, as he did many times before, that he had never been destined to be a Watcher. But he might as well deal with it, and deal with it, because he should practice what he preached to Buffy.
And if this text hinted at the right thing, then he better practice hard enough not to get Buffy killed...
It was a relatively short walk to this "library," that Faith was headed too, and Jonah was completely quiet. He had only a vague idea what a vampire slayer was and did, but he feared he'd somehow upset or insult her by asking her about it. Faith, on the other hand, seemed to not mind his silence a bit, and pretty much ignored his very presence. She didn't acknowledge him until she stopped suddenly.
Jonah almost ran into her, because he had been closely making sure that his bare feet did not step on any stones in the sidewalk. He stopped himself just as he was about to plow himself into her shoulder. "What, why are we stopping?" he asked her, stepping around so that he could look her in the face.
"Library," Faith said, jutting out her chin and pointing to something behind him. He looked over his shoulder, and saw that they were in front of a high school. He could barely make out the name that hung over the front doors.
"Sunnydale High," Jonah mused, and then suddenly remembered it as Buffy's high school. This was certainly a hidden message that his subconscious was sending him in a dream. Because, surely, this was a dream. He could never, for an instant, believe that this was real.
He mentioned nothing of this recognition of the name to Faith, and she didn't ask it of him. Instead, she started walking towards the back entrance to the school, the one that Giles always left open. Jonah followed her without any more questions.
As she pushed the door to the school open, Jonah caught her profile in the moonlight. The cut on her face that had been bleeding was miraculously healed. Jonah turned away from her and looked up at the moon. Almost full.
No wonder.
"'Ey, you coming or not?"
Jonah snapped back to attention and shook his head before he looked at Faith. She was in the building already, impatiently waiting, looking like she as going to slam the door in his face. He wasn't about to think that she wasn't going to do. He quickly stepped into the building and winced as the door slammed loudly behind them. "Don't worry," Faith said airily. "No security guards, no nothing. Just the gang is here."
"Gang?" Jonah inquired.
"The good guys, don't worry," Faith said as they came out of the little room and started to walk down the hall. Just a few feet away were a set of double doors with the words "Library" in capital letters atop the doors. "We're the ones saving your ass day after day after day after day. It gets tiring, the hours and the nightlife suck, but you learn to deal."
"I'd imagine," Jonah said in an attempt to be sympathetic. Faith glanced at him, snorted, and then looked away.
"You don't know anything about it," said Faith as she pushed open the doors to the library, and they stepped in.
Jonah let his eyes rove around the walls and the ceiling of the library, in the way that men did when they didn't really want to see what they were being led to. Then his eyes settled on the room, and he noticed the man dressed in tweed who was walking to a table. Faith cleared her throat, and the man in tweed looked up with an expression that was one of engrossment in his work, and then a comical shock. "Ah, um, Faith? May I please ask who your visitor is?" the man stuttered.
"He ain't mine," Faith said, sauntering over to the man. "Just picked him up, seems to have fallen out of the sky-"
And she stopped as F-Faith came out, munching on an apple that Giles happened to have in his office and bopping her head to the music, letting bits of the apple fall to the fragile pages of the book that she was reading. F-Faith looked up at her younger self, Faith looked at F-Faith, and while F-Faith stood there calmly Faith recoiled and jumped backwards.
"The hell...!" Faith said angrily, and then whipped a stake out of her clothing. She waved it at Giles. "Explain, and fast!"
Giles opened his mouth, but F-Faith beat him to it. "Damn, I'm all skin and bones," F-Faith said, swallowing another bite of apple. Then she looked Faith up and down again. "Mostly skin, hell yeah. Nothin' 's changed."
"What's she talking about!" Faith said, getting frustrated, and she vented it by showing anger. "Explain *now*."
"Oh, I'm your future self," F-Faith said breezily. Faith gave her a shocked look. "What, you couldn't tell? I practically haven't changed." Then, as Faith fell into stunned silence, F-Faith turned to look at Jonah. Her expression clouded. Giles noticed the shift.
"Do you recognize him?" Giles asked, wondering if this future-visiting anomaly was exclusive only to their little circle. He shifted the position in his chair so that he was facing away from Faith and Jonah as looking upon F-Faith.
F-Faith's lips curved up into a little smile, reminiscent of Willow's. "Nope," F-Faith said, "never seen him before in my life." Giles looked at her with a disbelieving expression. "What? Never had! What, do you think I'm lying?" She said the last word with a stifled laugh, enough to set him on his toes. No way would he call her a liar, not after those stories he'd told her. Not like she'd do those to him, but she did so enjoy "skinnin'", and it would be interesting to see what kind of man Giles really was. He wasn't that older than her anymore; although, age had prevented her from relationships or one-night stands in the past.
Jonah could not tell if she was lying. He'd never had any contact with this woman, although she and her leather-wearing self would certainly be something that would stand out in his memories. "I've never seen her before," Jonah put in hopefully.
"You're *me*?" Faith asked, not getting past that.
"Yup. Get over it," said F-Faith matter-of-factly.
Faith shrugged. It was her alright.
"What's your name?" Giles asked Jonah, reaching for his glasses again.
"Daly. Jonah Daly," he said, and then realized how much like one of those action-heroes he sounded like. "Um, do you have any idea how I got to this...Sunnydale, and how may I get back."
"He's working on it right now," F-Faith snapped, "so lay off him. He's just one man, and I don't have any intention of doing grunt work. So if you want to find a way home, go get a book off the shelf and research."
Jonah was taken aback, but F-Faith just raised on eye coolly. Jonah looked at Giles, who seemed to be destined to become their self-appointed mediator. "Um, yes," Giles said. He put his book down and stood up, walking over to Jonah. He shook his hand and then introduced himself. "My name is Rupert Giles. Er, I suppose you already now that something paranormal has happened to you." Jonah nodded. "Well, if you'd just take a seat, perhaps I could explain some of this to you..."
"Ouch!"
Wincing, F-Willow leaned on F-Oz's shoulders and made him stop as she bent her leg up to grasp her foot. "I stepped on another stone," she grumbled, checking to see if her foot was bleeding yet. Yes, but those were teeny-tiny superficial cuts. She wished she'd worn her slippers when she and F-Oz'd gone out on the porch, but it was too late for that, now. Besides, it wasn't like she was thinking she'd be trudging through the districts of a town that was even standing to this day.
"Are you okay?" F-Oz asked, and she smiled at hi. "I'm fine. Just all these darn pebbles in the walk," she explained.
Her little trip had gotten the attention of F-Buffy, F-Xander, F-Cordelia, and the past people. F-Cordelia poked F-Xander in the ribs and whispered something in his ear. He nodded and stopped, too, and took off his shoes.
"Here," he said, handing one shoe over to F-Willow and taking off the other in the process. "I know they're kinda big, but..."
"But nothing," F-Willow said, placing the shoes on the ground and slipping her bare feet into them. They were big. "Thanks. A-are you sure you don't need 'em?"
"Please, I'm a guy. I don't feel pain: at least, I don't admit it when I do. Besides," he shrugged, "what's the worse walking without them can do?" He smiled wryly. "Ruin my back?" He shook his head and his hair shagged around his face and into his eyes.
F-Willow shrugged and slipped feet into shoes. She took a test walk and was rewarded with a large *clomp*. She giggled, and then made an "oof" sound as someone ran into her.
F-Willow whipped around to come face-to-face with herself. She opened her mouth to apologize, took one look at Willow's somewhat frightened expression, and then burst out laughing, leaning on F-Oz and partly stepping out of F-Xander's shoes. F-Cordelia look at her.
"Willow?" she asked, "are you going insane? 'Cause remind me to be elsewhere?"
F-Willow shook her head fiercely. "No, I'm not going insane." She took a step back from Willow and then giggled again. "Nope, I'm just realizing that I've run into myself." F-Xander raised an eyebrow. "Well, I thought that was funny, and a little abnormal. I mean, we all don't trip over our own two feet like you do."
F-Xander grinned. "Oh, that's right. The rest just drive cars off the road and into trees 'cause they were too busy-"
"Hey! *You* try driving in platforms! Those things are slippery on the pedal, ya know!"
"I drive?" Willow asked, surprised. F-Willow turned back around to face her. "I-I mean, well? 'Cause I have anxiety issues, you know, fear of being behind the wheel..."
"Oh, don't worry, you're not afraid," F-Willow assured her. "Usually it's the people riding with me that are afraid."
Willow raised an eyebrow. "Yeah," F-Xander put in, "Willow likes to hit all the curbs."
"She has quite the track record," said F-Oz. F-Cordelia nodded, and *she* was the bad driver.
"Oh-oh, when Cordy says you're a bad driver, you're a baad driver," Xander said, punching Willow lightly on the arm. Willow gave him a friendly scowl, while F-Cordy reach out and poked F-Xander in the stomach.
"Ouch, Cor! What was that for!" F-Xander cried out in indignation, although it really hadn't hurt. F-Cordelia crossed her arms over her chest. "You made fun out of me," she explained.
F-Xander rolled his eyes. "That was little me! Little me made fun of you! You know, soon people are going to stop wondering why I'm so damn masochistic." F-Cordy stuck her tongue out at him, and F-Xander crossed his eyes back. They each gave little, we-have-a-secret smiles to each other.
"Anyway..." F-Buffy said, making forward gesture. "Oh," F-Willow noted, and then everybody started walking again.
"So, hi!" F-Willow said to a suddenly shy and timid Willow. They were walking side by side now, with F-Oz looking Oz up and down. "Whatcha think of this whole deal?"
Willow's mouth opened once or twice on its own free will before she was able to utter a sound. "Um...strange, "she admitted, looking at her feet as she walked. She also snuck a peek at her double's borrowed footing, and had to grin at the size. "What do you think?"
"Well, I think that if I was in your position, then I'd feel pretty darn strange, too," F-Willow agreed. Then she paused and her forehead wrinkled. "But in a way, I kinda *am* in your position..." She trailed off, her tone and facial expression one of bewilderment.
"You're right..." Willow continued, and both Willows looked at each other with wide eyes. Then they both turned quickly away and all was silent.
Silent until two members of the group suddenly felt as thought they had been thrown into ice-cold, needle-sharp ice water. At the same time, F-Willow and F-Oz reached out to hang on each other's shoulders, and what should have sent them to the ground made them stand up in a sort of huddle. F-Oz reached for his stomach as though he were about to change, but he didn't.
"What? What?" said four nervous Generation X-ers nervously.
All three's faces were drawn tight and pale. "It's...evil," F-Willow explained.
"Horrific...it's just everywhere..." F-Oz said, at a loss to explain it all.
"Hey! It's the old alma mater!" F-Xander said enthusiastically, and pointed ahead of them.
Sure enough, there was Sunnydale High shrouded in darkness-they were at their destination. It looked so ominous, large windows seeming like dark, watchful eyes, and for the people who knew what lay under the foundation, it was especially haunting.
"Gee, that's strange," F-Willow said. "How come we've never felt...well, all this bad juju before?"
"Juju?" Xander asked, bewildered.
"Well, we felt it because our senses are heightened by our 'conditions', a-and supernatural things can just sense other supernat things. I, uh, think," said F-Oz, reasonably calm.
"Well, I'm more supernatural than a witch, and I can't feel it," F-Buffy pointed out.
"That's because you have no feelings," F-Xander said simply, and received glares from everyone. He just shrugged and continued to stand tall, giving everyone an innocent "What?" look.
F-Buffy just scowled at him and said nothing. She really didn't want to get into another fistfight with him, and she had no doubt that F-Xander's word-brawls would trigger another.
"Um, can we just go before I have to break up something else and hurt Buffy again?" F-Oz said, looking pointedly but somehow also deadpan at F-Xander, who just gave another one of his shrugs. Then he turned to F-Buffy. "And I really am sorry about that-"
"Aw, it's ok. No grudge," F-Buffy said, waving it off. F-Oz nodded, and F-Buffy gave him a small smile, which F-Oz did not return; the smile quickly became a frown.
"Nicky, it's dusty in here," Julie complained as she walked behind Josh. "Dusty and tight and *dirty* Nicky, it's *dirty* in here. I don't like it. It smells like socks, *old* socks. When does it end?"
After some argument, the kids (well, Nicky, mostly) has decided to leave the door to the secret hallway open. Es had been terrified that while they were in the hallway, something hidden in the halls would crawl on in after them, and had wanted the doors closed. Julie had argued hotly with her, telling her that if they closed the door that they might get locked in, and if the hallway led to nowhere or something scary then that would be a problem, wouldn't it? Es had grown silent, and Nicky had opted for the open door, because while he didn't believe in boogies, he did believe in dead-ends and locked doors and suffocation. He doubted that the secret hallway had air-conditioning.
"Julie, will you stop complaining?" Josh told his twin sharply; he, who had just been complaining to Nicky that they had been walking over. "You're such a *girl*," he continued, spitting the word out like it was a curse word.
"Yeah, I'm a girl," Julie said, stopping to turn around. She got in her brother's face, just like Aunt Faith had taught her to. "Gots a problem with that?"
Josh thought for a moment about picking a fight with her-you could see the contemplation in his eyes-but he decided not to. "Nope, no problem," he said in a jerky, nervous way. Then he brushed passed her, with Julie stamping her foot in indignition and shoving past him to get in semi-front again.
"Will you guys be quiet?" Nicky told the two, and Annie and Es, who were holding hands (Josh and Julie were REALLY unhappy about that: who knew this girl? She just came out of nowhere, and nothing good came out of nowhere) turned around to stare that the twins. Es shook her head slightly, and Julie was about to make something of it when Nicky cried out:
"Hey, look! I think I see a door up ahead."
The kids all craned their neck and then hurried down the rest of the hallway. "Think we'll end up in a secret garden?" Es said hopefully, thinking that since strange things were happening it ought to go all the way and at least all the way into one of her favorite books.
"Don't be stupid," Josh snapped, knowing not a thing of which Es mentioned. Rather than retort, Es kept silent, polite, and just hurried up, making Annie skip a few paces before she caught up to speed.
Sure enough, the hallway did end a few paces later, and there was a door at the end instead of a wall. The door looked clean and shiny and new, very different from the rest of the grimy corridor. Annie gave a little jump of excitement, understanding that something good and clean would probably lay behind this door and maybe she could stop walking so much. She still had tiny legs unlike everyone else.
Nicky reached for the doorknob and gave it a twist. It didn't budge. {Uh-oh}. "I think it's locked," he said in a small voice.
"Locked?" Es asked, her voice rising to an entirely new octave.
"Yeah," Nicky admitted, and then looked at the frightened faces of his step-brother and step-sister and half-sister and the other girl. He bit his lip guiltily and tried the doorknob again, with more force. This time it opened, albeit with some difficulty. There was an audible sigh of relief from everyone.
"See?" Nicky said, his own voice more relaxed. He swung the door open, and light-not sunshine, though-flooded into the hallway. Nicky and the rest blinked at the sudden change in light. They all reached up to shade their eyes with their right hands (although Es did it with her left) and then, as the world stopped changing into strange colors, they brought them down and saw who was waiting for them.
She wasn't pretty, but kids were pretty cruel in their definition of pretty so that might not made it written in stone. She was very gaunt, and very pale, and was wearing very dark lipstick. She had big, round, hypnotizing eyes. She was wearing a bright red lacy shirt that showed her cleavage, and a long leather skirt that their (step)mother would definitely classify as "trampy" or "goth." She had high pointy boots that Es had seen Mommy wear home when she came home in costume from a movie she was shooting, something called "Ghost Kiss" that Elisabeth Sarah wasn't allowed to see until she was much, much older.
As Nicky shoved everyone else behind him, the thin lady cocked her head to the side in a childish manner. "Lost little lambs," she cooed, a glint in her eye. She raised her eyebrows and Nicky and clapped her hands. "Would like something to eat? There are cakes...cakes left over because Miss Edith was naughty, a naughty little girl." She looked straight at Es. "You're not a naughty little girl, are you?" Es shook her head "no" solemnly. "Well," the lady said, whirling around. "Come, children."
Es started to move, but Nicky gave her a look that said "What do you think you are doing?" and she stayed put. The lady noticed that no one was following her, and she turned around, and motioned kindly to the children. "Come on," she soothed, adopted a low, hypnotizing voice. The children couldn't help but be captivated. All, even Nicky, began to follow her out of the small room they had found themselves in and into another hallway.
"Is it safe to go with you?" Nicky asked in a breathless voice as they walked down the hallway. Obviously his protectiveness and fear showed over the lady's magick. He looked up into those big, deep eyes that looked down at him with a strange devilish warmth.
A smile played around the lady's blood-red lips. She was so pale..."Of course it is, Nicholas," she said in a mimic of his breathless voice. Nicky was completely under her spell. "I don't bite."