"Buffy I'm your brother," said Joshua.
Buffy didn't react in the slightest, except that she
stopped breathing. "Sorry, what?" she
acted like she hadn't heard him. Joshua, playing along, repeated, "I'm your bro…"
"I heard you the first time!" shouted the distraught
Slayer, or whatever she was. She got up
and began to hyperventilate, babbling on in barely coherent sentences. "What do you…no, you can't be my…well,
OK, there was the fact that I hugged you when we first met, but that's not…and
then there's the fact that I can teleport and make myself invisible…No, I can't
be your sister…My mother died, she never got pregnant again…how could you be my
brother…My brother is an Archangel, so what does that make my father, Michael? No, no, I don't have a brother…you can't be
my brother, so…why are you my brother? Giles, a little help here?" she finally looked to her Watcher, as she
had often done for guidance and sanity where she saw none.
"What do you mean you're her brother? Were…were you, that is to say, did you die
before you were born, and thus…?" asked Giles, stepping in to "save" his
daughter.
"No, uh…Giles, is it? No I was not born to Joyce Summers, and died early or in the womb, and
then left in Heaven where I became an Archangel, no nothing like that. Buffy and I had the same parents. As did the others that I am looking for on
Earth. Maybe this will be easier if I
tell you the whole, or at least most of the story. Since I don't want to repeat myself, lets wait for Xander to come
in and get settled. Buffy, would you
please open the front door?" requested Joshua.
Buffy, desperate to do anything to get her mind off of the
concept of a brother and parents she's never known, immediately goes to do as
requested. Five seconds after the door
is wide open, Xander stumbles in carrying at least seven, maybe more, large
pizza boxes, with all the extras on top. You know, breadsticks, Buffalo wings, cheese bread, soda, and everything
else.
Buffy, taking pity on Xander, offered to help, "Xander,
would you like some help with those?" "Buffy?" asked Xander in a scared voice. Then, recalling, he says again, "Oh, Buffy!" in a more confident
tone, "Oh, yeah, I'd love some help. Maybe the sodas and all the other stuff. And half the pizza boxes but be careful, they're hot. I had to beg and plead the guys to let me
use their disposable hot gloves, though those are starting to…wear…a
little……thin…" Xander trailed off as
Buffy took the twelve very hot pizza boxes in one hand, and took the
other stuff in his arms in her other hand and walked casually over to the
table. Not even a hint of the fact that
it could all go tumbling at the slightest step she took.
"What?" said the short blond girl when she noticed everyone
staring at her.
"Well, gee Buff, I knew you were strong, the whole Slayer
strength going for you, but I didn't think even you could balance that many
boxes and sodas and stuff." commented the brown haired young man.
Joshua snickered from his chair, causing all attention in
the room to go straight to him. He
stopped laughing and sat a little straighter. "Maybe I should tell you all the surprises before I get into the details
Buffy. Please, sit down. Just listening can't harm you. And you have all your friends here to
support and protect you. So please?"
said Joshua.
Buffy frowned a little, and then looked into the faces of
everyone there. What she saw in each,
love, support, friendship, gave her strength and she took her seat next to
Joshua. Xander grabbed the top pizza
box, and took a seat between Anya and Joshua. Before he continued, Joshua turned to Xander, "Pepperoni?"
Xander shook his head, opened the box and pulled out a
slice, "Cheese. Pepperoni's third from
the bottom." said Xander as he stuffed his face.
Joshua's eyes lit up and he held out his hand and looked
towards the stack of pizzas. There was
a flash of the same pure white light, and the third from the bottom pizza
disappeared, only to reappear in his outstretched hand. He opened it and the scent of baked
pepperoni pizza filled the room. He
quickly took out a slice, and began to "chow down" on it. His eyes rolled back in ecstasy on the first
bite. "I love pepperoni pizza! Every time that I get to come to Earth, for
whatever reason, I indulge as much as possible." said the Archangel as he ate
another piece.
Buffy watched the two eat with a gaunt and hungry look,
then she glanced at the stack of pizza boxes. Sensing what she was thinking, Xander told her, "Hawaiian Specialty is the
one on the bottom. Sorry Buff." Then he scarfed his face some more.
Buffy looked at Joshua and asked, "Can I do that? That thing you did with the pizza box. Could you teach me to do that, like you
taught me the teleporting thing?" Joshua paused as he finished one slice before taking another. "I don't have to teach you anything
Buffy. The knowledge is there, as is
the power. You just have to really want
it, and it'll happen."
At this, Buffy just smiled and closed her eyes tight in
concentration. All of a sudden, there
was a flash of gold light and gold sprinkles in the middle of the mostly empty
table. Once the sprinkles had
dissipated, everyone could see the largest Hawaiian Specialty pizza that anyone
had ever seen. Soon, its smell over ran
the smell of the other pizzas. The
Hawaiian Specialty pizza was not all that popular of a pizza, nor all that
cheap to make. It was made out of a
special dough, most often made in Hawaii, had "Sun dried Tomato" sauce,
"coconut milk" cheese, and was covered in Hawaiian and sea toppings. Pineapples, hams, peppers and other edible
herbs, but most of all, anchovies and lobster cuttings. Buffy and Dawn were the only ones of the
"Slayerettes" that ate it.
"Or you could just make your own." Commented Joshua as he
picked up another slice of his pepperoni.
Buffy reached for a rather large slice of the pizza that
she had seemingly made out of thin air, and paused before biting into it,
asking, "You mean, this isn't the pizza from the box? I made this like out of thin air?" She then took a very large bite of it into her mouth. Joshua only nodded.
Giles, Willow, Tara, and Anya looked at the three eating
pizza, looked at each other in turn, and as if in unanimous decision, each made
a grab for a different pizza box. Twenty
minutes later, everyone had had their fill, and Buffy had even gotten Joshua to
try a slice of the pizza on the table. He had almost immediately choked, but managed to get it all down. Coughing loudly, but not choking, Joshua
managed to get out, "Not…cough, not too bad. Whoa boy, I forgot the kind of tastes you used to have. Good thing I love you way too much to hate
anything that you love. But if you
ever, ever ask me to try this thing again, I will personally get all of
your old boyfriends together and convince them to try dating you again."
Joshua again noticed that his words troubled his
sister. "Ah, shit, I'm sorry. I don't mean this world's old
boyfriends. Ah, Mother above! Buffy listen to me, you aren't Buffy Summers
anymore. Not anymore. Not completely anyway. Buffy, remember when I said keep an open
mind? Well, this is the part that I was
talking about. The part that I'm your
brother was just a warm up, and it doesn't even begin to cover all the bases."
Buffy paled slightly, but steeled herself, ordering herself
not to flip out the last time this man had revealed something to her. "OK. What is it that I need to know?"
Joshua sighed and steeled himself for whatever response
that was to come. "Buffy," he began
slowly, "Buffy, I know this will sound unbelievable, but some of the things you
have just done have proven it beyond any shadow of doubt that your mind and
emotions may tell you. Buffy, you are a
god."
Joshua almost winced and braced himself, but forced his
body to stay still and take whatever reaction his sister would give. He expected disbelief, he expected another
panic attack, he might've even expected total calm and acceptance, but he never
expected total rage.
"What?" she asked in her Slayer "I'm about to kill you because
I'm angry" voice.
Joshua paled and backed up slightly. "Um, Buffy, um, is there a reason why this
might upset you?" he asked cautiously. Her face was etched in fury, and everyone knew her reasons were more
than justified.
"Do you know what "killed" me two weeks ago?" Buffy asked.
"Not specifically, no. I knew about the dimensional rift, and what caused it to open, but
despite where I'm from current affairs is not often a priority on the message
board. I know enough that I could find
you and the others, and get generals on the backgrounds of each, but no, I
don't know what "killed" you two weeks ago." answered Joshua.
"I was fighting a god. A demon god that wanted to go back to her "realm", to her home realm,
and it turns out that I was exactly like her?" accused the enraged girl.
Joshua's face scrunched in confusion. "Um, what was this god's name, if it had
one?"
Buffy's stony features stared back at the Archangel. "Glory. Her name was Glory." she said.
Joshua's face remained the epitome of confusion until Giles
stepped in, "Her minions called her Glorificus." Joshua's face fell and his eyes bulged. "Glor…Glorificus…? But, how? She was to be
trapped inside a normal man. With no
way to break free. No way at all. Heavens above Hell, I didn't even know that
she was on the Earth Realm. Glorificus. I…can't…believe…it…"
said Joshua, looking like he'd just been told the world was going to end in the
next thirty seconds.
"What happened to her? Is she still around? I mean, how
did she get out in the first place?" Joshua asked.
"She stole people's sanity, to give herself enough balance
to break through. After that, it was
just a matter of fighting for control." It was Tara that spoke this. All
eyes turned to her and Willow held her closer.
"Tara, baby, are you all right?" Willow asked in a singsong
baby voice.
"I'm fine Willow. It's just that I've been thinking about…it…for the past couple of weeks,
and… and I figured out why she did it, and in some cases how. I…I don't remember everything, but I
remember enough to know…to remember what it was like for her, to be trapped
inside of Ben." said the small blond wicca. She trembled slightly as she recalled once again the feeling, the…
"Oh Lord All Mighty. Tara…we…we had no idea. I mean, none of us knew that it was
Glorificus free on Earth that was here. If we had, we would've sent someone, I would've even come myself if I
knew that it was Glorificus. It was
when Buffy first died that we, myself and our parents, became aware that she
had come of age, that you were all still on Earth and for the most part,
safe. After that, Father spent a great
deal more time checking up on everyone here, unfortunately, he couldn't exactly
leave our Realm, and I still had responsibilities back home that could not be
put off just to check on my sister. So
when it was finally found out that Buffy had briefly entered a demon dimension,
my trip was planned, and my tickets were bought, as they say."
"When everyone in Heaven heard what had happened to Tara, I
couldn't wait another minute, so I rushed everything as much as possible. Then, Buffy made the call. It wasn't conscious really, and it wasn't
really a call. When you jumped into the
dimensional rift Buffy, the part of you that still was a god, called out for
help, called out to come home. My trip
wasn't delayed any longer, and whatever responsibilities I would leave
unattended would be taken care of until I returned, and returned with
everybody. The next moment that Buffy
appeared on Earth, I was taken to that exact time and place and guaranteed
enough power and tools that I would need to assure the safe return of everyone
to our home Realm." Joshua finished.
After about a minute of total silence, Anya asked what
everyone was thinking, "Everyone?" Joshua smiled. "Buffy, you are a
god. But long ago, I can't say exactly
how long, all the gods of our Realm were forced to leave. Not because of anything bad or whatever, but
because our Realm needed to experience a time without the gods, so you left. I couldn't leave because of the role I play
in the grand scheme of things, but all of the others didn't really need to
stay. So, when the time came, everyone
left for Earth."
"Once they were here, I don't know exactly, but they all
decided to try living as ordinary humans. I don't think many succeeded. Almost all of the "special" or super powered humans of the past fifty
years or so has no doubt been one of these gods. So, what I'm saying here is, that however many years ago it would
have taken, you chose a woman, Joyce Summers, and because she was sterile, you
blessed her with a child, yourself. Unfortunately, well maybe not totally unplanned, but you ended up being
the chosen one. The Slayer. Yet, and I can't say I'm surprised, you
found some of the others, and they found you, and you became friends in this
life."
Buffy shook her head, trying to absorb all of this. "OK," she began, "What you're saying is that
I was born a god in this Realm in Heaven, then one day all of us gods left and
I put myself in my mother's womb so I could be the Slayer? OK, I can keep an open mind, but this is
stretching it."
"As I said, what you've already done proves it beyond any
and all doubt. And there's more." he
said. At this he looked at Willow and
Tara, and Tara sensing his gaze looked up, which in turn caused Willow to look
up.
"That's right. You
kept mentioning me. And you said
something about my mother." said Tara as she held Willow's hand. Suddenly the blonde's eyes widened, "Is
Buffy my mother?! I mean, my godhood
mother?"
At this, Joshua burst out laughing so loud that everyone
jumped in surprise. He wiped away tears
from his eyes and stopped laughing after a bit. Getting serious he said, "Well, yes, Tara it is true that you are
one of the gods of our Realm, but Buffy is not your mother. And yes, you do know your mother in this
life. In fact, she is in this very
room. And if you're also wondering,
yes, she is a she."
"So what am I god of?" Buffy suddenly asked. Joshua turned his attention back to his
sister, but before he could answer her she asked another, "I mean, Glory was
part of a god-tri-umpheret or something, and then she tried to take over. So what are Tara and I gods over? Or are we just gods because of our powers
and nothing more?"
"Buffy," said Joshua to stop her babbling. "Sorry," came the response.
"Well, Tara is the Goddess of Peace and Purity within the
lands of Anton, Amphora, and Quiltius. Understand, these are like countries, provinces, continents on the
chosen planet in our Realm." explained Joshua.
"Chosen planet?" asked Xander.
"Well, in each Realm, there is one planet, or city, or
maybe even just building that is the center of everything. Attention, money, popularity, even the
attention of the gods and God All mighty. For example, in this Realm, in this
universe, in this reality, the chosen planet is Earth. God made
countless other planets throughout the cosmos and Heavens, so why does He send His only son to this planet to die for one species on
a planet so full of diverse life that more than half of them go extinct
practically over night? Makes you feel
kind of special huh? Well, in our Realm
the planet is called Anton. It's much
smaller than Earth, and only has one ocean. Ofcourse that ocean covers the entire bottom half of the planet, but you
get the idea."
"OK, so Tara is the goddess of peace, what am I? What do I do? What other powers and stuff can I do?" asked Buffy impatiently.
Joshua smiled like the cat that just ate the canary. "Well, you Buffy, you are the Goddess of
Love and Happiness of children and girls. At least, that's what it says on most of your temples. What isn't commonly known, except through
story lore and Myth, is that you are the Princess of the gods. A title given you by the fact that you are
the first daughter born to our father and mother. It is not a light title, nor one that you have ever taken
lightly. Basically, it means that you
are in charge when Daddy, Mommy, or I are not in the room."
Buffy sat in shock. She didn't know what to say. Not
only was she still alive and on Earth, when she should have been dead, but she
was a god, and not just any god, but the goddess of love and happiness. To top that, she was a princess too. Now all she needed to hear was that she was married. She looked fearfully at her brother. Her brother! When did she get herself a brother?
It was like Joshua was reading her mind as he answered her
question before she could even form the words to ask it. "No, you are not married. But that doesn't mean that you're a
virgin. The princess title aside, the
title of Love goddess has its own set of responsibilities. Two of which I imagine you can guess."
Tara interrupted, "Um, Joshua, uh who is my mother? I mean my godhood mother. You said it wasn't Buffy right? So, um who is she? I'd-I'd really like to talk with her."
Joshua's gaze downshifted right then. "Um Tara. Buffy, who has re-attained her powers as a goddess, still hasn't gotten
her memories as one back. So, even if I
told you who your mother is, she would still be in her mortal form, and only
have her mortal memories. Don't worry
though, there's a hypnosis technique that can help each of you get back in
touch with your powers and memories."
"Let's do it," said Buffy out of the blue.
"Huh?" said Joshua.
"Let's do it. This
hypnosis thing. I know you're telling
the truth, and I don't want you telling me any more about my past. I want to remember it. You said you could do it, so lets do it."
Buffy told him. He only shrugged and said,
"OK, you're the princess."
He stood up and indicated that she should also. He then walked into the back room, Buffy on
his heels. The others, weren't sure if
they should follow or not, until Joshua said to them, "Well, coming?" Immediately they all rushed like third
graders to the playground, even Giles.
When they all got to the back room, they saw Buffy sitting
in a chair in the middle of the room, and Joshua standing about five feet away
from her. He looked up at them. "Well, come on in, but you don't want to
crowd around. When Buffy gets back in
touch with her powers and memories, I imagine there might be some powerful
discharges of energy. Just warning
you."
"Ready?" he asked. "Ready," she said.