Author: Sacrificial Angel
Email: sunless_undead@hotmail.com
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/cof_girl
Title: The Lexx's Visit to Sunnydale
Rating: PG13
Archiving: Imajica's page, anyone else, please tell me before using it
A/N - Story written at point of time where:
Buffy is still at school, Spike is alone (no Drusilla), but he has no chip yet
Lexx has destroyed the planets Fire and Water (end of season 3)
Extra invented fact - During the time after Fire and Water were destroyed, the Lexx crew went into cryostasis for 100 years or so to hide from the ghosts who were haunting the ship and wouldn't move on, and threatened to possess them and make them do bad stuff. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.
The Lexx's Visit to Sunnydale
Chapter One
Spike looked up at the sky. Interesting how it was always somehow the same, yet there would always be something different. Like that comet, for instance. He'd never seen it before, and it seemed to be moving fast. It wasn't an aeroplane or satellite, so it was probably a comet. No doubt astronomers were following it. No doubt the UFO-watching crowd worshipped it. No doubt the witches and astrologically minded people had figured out some sort of good or evil portent it carried. But the real explanation, thought Spike, what it probably all boiled down to, was just another lump of rock careening through space at a rate of noughts, and it just happened to be close enough to the earth to be visible. He considered another possibility, but quickly dismissed it as too unlikely. It passed over a hill out of sight, and Spike walked back to the crypt, knowing sunrise would be in just under an hour's time.
At the foot of a hill, somewhere in California as the day began to dawn, three strangers unknowingly walked in the direction of a town named Sunnydale. A tall man dressed in black, a shorter older-looking man in a red uniform of some kind, and a young red-haired woman scantily dressed in a skirt and short top, carrying what looked like a robot's head.
"Is it going to be much further until we meet some people?" The man in the uniform asked.
"Quiet Stan, save your energy for walking, not complaining." the woman replied, her voice had a german accent to it.
Buffy Summers walked to school, happy in the glowing sunshine of the early morning. How one person could be both a morning person and up all night was a mystery, but it was most likely a part of the "Slayer" package of superpowers. She looked around cheerfully at a town she knew to be on top of a hell mouth and packed full of monstrous demons before walking into the school and meeting up with Willow and Xander.
"I'm out patrolling tonight." she told them. "Giles said something about a comet signifying something, according to some astrologers. Plus Doyle had a vision, Angel said. Typical that it'd show up here. It's amazing how many beings of darkness are attracted to somewhere with a name like 'Sunnydale', don't you think?"
"Yeah." said Willow. "Well, we'll be there to help you with whatever it is."
"Course we will." agreed Xander.
After classes, Giles told them unhappily that he didn't have a clue as to what they would find. There was little to indicate whether the comet signified good or evil, and too many people wanted to tell him it was a UFO. To be on the safe side, he warned Buffy to be heavily armed and on the look out for any suspicious looking characters. What a joke - finding suspicious characters at night in Sunnydale was like finding bad acting in an American soap. She sighed, and agreed to this, before heading home for a meal with her mother and asking nicely if she would be able to stay at Willows house for the night.
The sky was dark again, and Spike woke up. He walked out amongst the gravestones when he heard voices.
"What do you mean, this is where the dead belong?" A man's voice called out.
"It is where the dead are buried." another male voice, deeper. "Should you choose to make yourself a home in this land, I will remain here."
"Come on Kai," a female voice. "I..." she broke off. "I thought I heard something."
"This place makes me very nervous." the first voice said. "We should go. Now." Spike made his approach.
"Oh, come on." Spike said, the surprise of seeing him had the intended effect on the three people. "You can't be sick of this place already."
"Who are you?" The man in black asked.
"Spike." he said. "Pleased to meet you."
"I am Kai." replied the man.
"Hi Spike." said the girl. "I'm Xev, and this is Stan. Can you show us a place to stay tonight?"
"Oh, of course." Spike grinned. "I wouldn't leave you here all alone. What's that you're carrying?"
"This is 790." she said. "A robot head, in love with Kai... it's a long story."
"Ah." said Spike. "A robot with feelings, that's very strange."
"You know where we can stay tonight?" Xev asked. Spike nodded.
"There's plenty of people willing to take in people for the night around here. Friendly area. Especially the ones that look kinda like this guy." he told them, pointing to Kai. "But you have to watch out for things... the Initiative, the Slayer, stuff like that."
"What are those?" asked Kai.
"Well the Initiative are just plain evil, they'd be very interested in taking you lot to pieces for research. The Slayer... well the name says it all. She kills. If you don't want to be killed, you avoid her."
"That is not so much of a problem as it might seem." said Kai. "I have been killed already."
"And you're still here to tell the tale?" Spike said. "Impressive. Well... I'd offer you a place to stay myself, but my own living arrangements aren't too pretty. Good luck!" Spike disappeared into the night.
"What was that all about?" asked Stan.
"I am not sure." said Kai. "But I think we should be on our guard against whoever this Slayer is."
"Maybe Xev and Stan should go look for her." suggested 790.
"Hey!" said Stan. "Shut up. I'm not suicidal, y'know."
"You and Xev stay here with 790. I will go out to find the Slayer."
"Why don't I just call her here?" 790 suggested. "Oh, Slaaayerr!!!"
"Quiet 790." Xev said. "If you stay quiet with us then Kai will give you a kiss when he comes back, how about that?"
"You will?" Xev nodded enthusiastically at Kai.
"I will." he said, then walked away. Red heart images blinked silently on 790s eyes.
Kai approached the young blonde girl, until he was standing only a metre back from her. He didn't go any closer, not wanting to scare her away.
"Who are you?" he asked. The girl looked at him, considering. There were people she knew she should only introduce herself as 'Buffy' to, and it was almost always clear who people like that were. But it was the middle of the night in a cemetery, he looked very unusual in both his clothing and his hair, and she was sure this wasn't a 'Buffy' occasion.
"I'm the Slayer." she said confidently. Kai's expression became dark, and he took a step towards her.
"I have been told to be wary of you." he said. "But I do not fear you. You cannot hurt me, as I am already dead. And much like yourself, I am an assassin."
"Boy, you must be new here." she said. Kai nodded, and she put her hands on her hips, attempting to draw herself up to eyelevel with the tall stranger. "You obviously don't know who I am then..." she paused for a name.
"Kai."
"Kai, because if you did, you'd know that I *can* hurt you, even if you're not technically alive. Actually, hurting the dead is something of a speciality for me." She pulled out a sharp wooden stick and jabbed it into Kai's chest, exactly where his heart had once been. "There." she said, and paused. Nothing happened. Kai looked down and pulled it out, handing it back to the girl, who looked shocked.
"That," he said, "did not hurt. I no longer feel pain."
"You weren't meant to hurt, you were meant to die." she informed him. "I guess this means you're not a vampire."
"No." said Kai.
"And not a human either, you don't bleed. What are you?"
"I am Brunnen G." he replied. "I too was some kind of slayer, once, in the service of his divine... his shadow. Who do you work for?"
"Noone." she said. "I mean, some might say Giles, but he's more of a watcher really."
"Does Giles work for anyone?"
"Well the council of watchers of course." she said.
"What is their purpose?"
"I don't know." she told him. "I mean they're pretty evil... or not really, because they have like this whole *universe* of evil to fight, but they're pretty harsh."
"His shadow called this universe evil." said Kai. "I do not believe that it is, entirely. It is where my ancestors came from.
"Where, exactly?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Brunnis." he said. "But it no longer exists."
"Okay..." she said, "but - " she looked around her. Kai was no longer there.
"Come on Giles." she said, at the library the next day. "We need to look stuff up. There was someone last night, black clothes, weird hair, and he wasn't a vampire but he said he was dead."
"One of those... strange young people?" Giles suggested.
"No." she said. "I staked him, and it did nothing. No dust, no blood. Then he said he was a kind of slayer too, but for a shadow or something. Oh, and he said that he was a Brunnen G, whatever that is, and he came from Brunnis. I think we should hit the books."
"Of course." he said. "But it might take a while. I've never heard of this Brunnen G demon. Or of Brunnis."
"He said it was destroyed." Buffy said.
"Right." said Giles. "Well, like you said, I should look this up. Meanwhile, you're on patrol duty and if he shows up again, try to get some more information."
"Sure." she said and walked out.
"Kai!" exclaimed Xev, seeing the tall man walking towards them. 790 made a sound not unlike an "ahem", and dutifully, Kai kissed the robot head. Stan and Xev were both amused by this.
"What happened?" asked Stan, getting back to the point.
"Did you find anything?" asked Xev.
"I found the Slayer." he told them. "she tried to attack me with a sharp piece of wood. She told me that she was an assassin in the service of another, as once I was."
"Who does she kill for?" Xev asked.
"Giles of the council of watchers." Kai said. "I do not know who he is, but from what she said, he is in some ways similar to His Shadow. I think that we should meet him."
"I think we really *shouldn't* meet him!" said Stan. "His Shadow was evil! The last thing we need is another one. I think we should get food for the Lexx and get out of here."
"And leave the planet to the same fate as the Cluster?" Xev asked. "We can't do that. We have to stop him." Stan wanted to protest, but the look in Xev's eyes told him that this would be futile. He sighed.
"Fine." he agreed. Spike, a few metres away from them and obscured by shadows, watched with a wide grin on his face, then turned and walked away, his long black coat billowing out behind him.
Giles went to the table where Buffy, Willow and Xander sat, a large heavy book in his hands. "What we need to know is in here." he told them. The title was 'History of the Future Past'.
"It looks pretty old and thick." said Xander.
"That means this is something serious, right?" Buffy asked.
"Yes." said Giles. "Very serious. And you should know that this book is not the original copy, but has been copied out from an earlier edition, perhaps several, if the information in this book is anything to go by."
"How old is it then?" asked Willow, in awed respect for such a relic.
"This version," said Giles, "a few hundred years old, I should think. But the original, if the book itself it accurate, is dated to millennia ago. And that's not even the most interesting part, compared with where it comes from."
"Where?" asked Buffy.
"Well it says that it originates not only from another planet, but from another universe, reached through a fractal core... some kind of black hole."
"Wow." she said. "And how do we know if the book is true or not?"
"The last of the Brunnen G." said Giles. "Kai, the man you met last night, I have to meet him and find out if he's the genuine article. If he is, it could change the way we look at the world entirely."
"Right." said Buffy, trying to cope with this information.
"So we find him again." said Xander. "What if he attacks us? How do we kill him."
"It sounds difficult to believe," said Giles, "but he can't be killed, according to this. He's survived whole planets exploding under his feet. But he isn't a demon, and his intentions are not malevolent...."
The library doors flew open, and in walked the Xev, Stan and Kai, who held a very happy 790 under his left arm.
"Are you Giles?" asked Kai. Giles nodded. Xev and Stan looked at each other, disappointed with the appearance of the man they had likened to His Shadow.
"Who are you?" asked Giles, knowing the answer. Kai opened his mouth to speak.
"He is Kai, last of the Brunnen G, etcetera." came a voice from behind them, interrupting.
"Spike!" exclaimed Giles. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see how my new friends were settling in." said Spike. "Or perhaps, not so new friends, I should say."
"What are you talking about?" Stan asked. "We only just met you."
"Yeah, Spike." agreed Xev. Spike just grinned more widely, and walked to Giles, who backed away from him, clutching a cross and holding it up to ward off Spike.
"How long have you known me, Giles?" he asked.
"About 2 years I think."
"Ah yes, but how long have I been on this planet?"
"Er.. a hundred years, more or less." Giles said.
"And what would you say if I were to tell you that I'd known these people before my time as a vampire?"
"I'd say that was very unlikely." said Giles. "I know your history - your life before becoming a vampire had no mention of heading off into the skies - nor has your life as a vampire."
"You forget Giles, that I am not William. He died, and the demon - me - that took his body took his memories, his life. Only I was not an ordinary demon, like most that existed in the dimension where I found myself. I am quite different. And in the time before, I did know these people."
"Who were you?" asked Kai.
"Oh, surely you can guess that." Spike's voice was now different, it had taken on a tone that was smoother, a different accent, and horribly familiar to Stan, Xev and Kai. The others just thought that it really, really didn't suit him.
"Oh no." said Stan. "This isn't good."
"I should have guessed." muttered Xev.
"Spike, why are you talking weirdly?" asked Willow.
"He is not Spike." Kai told her. "He is Prince."
"No." said Spike. "I am both. I am Prince, but here they know me as Spike. It is more appropriate really, after all, after Fire was destroyed, there wasn't much left for me to be Prince of."
"That was all Xev's fault!" accused 790. "And Stan too. Kill them, Prince!"
"I'm guessing the robot doesn't like you guys." said Xander.
"Oh, it likes one of us." said Xev with a smirk.
"Yes I do!" 790 said gleefully. "The gorgeous, wonderful, amazing -"
"The dead guy." Stan interrupted.
"That is beside the point." said Kai. "Prince, what do you want here?"
"The same thing I always... oh, no, wait - the planet Water is long gone." said Spike. "But like the planet Fire, the planet Water had a ruler of sorts. That is who I want destroyed now."
"Who is it?" asked Xev. Spike stepped close, and ran a finger softly down her cheek. Yes, this did appear to be Prince.
"Now why would I tell you something like that?" he said to her. "So you can run to protect this person, not giving me a chance? No, no, Xev." he took a seat, his eyes not leaving Xevs. Spike regained his usual voice. "I'm going to make a game of this."
"Tell me who it is Spike." said Buffy, leaning over Spike with a stake in her right hand. Spike shook his head.
"No." he said. "But feel free to stake me, please." Buffy's arm tensed, but Kai grabbed her hand before she could make a move.
"Don't." Kai told her. Spike got up.
"Good advice." he said. "Nice to see you remember some things. I haven't died in a long while, but I'm still Prince, and I'll still come back every time - wherever and as whoever I like." The door closed behind him, and several of the group let out sighs of relief.
Email: sunless_undead@hotmail.com
Homepage: http://www.geocities.com/cof_girl
Title: The Lexx's Visit to Sunnydale
Rating: PG13
Archiving: Imajica's page, anyone else, please tell me before using it
A/N - Story written at point of time where:
Buffy is still at school, Spike is alone (no Drusilla), but he has no chip yet
Lexx has destroyed the planets Fire and Water (end of season 3)
Extra invented fact - During the time after Fire and Water were destroyed, the Lexx crew went into cryostasis for 100 years or so to hide from the ghosts who were haunting the ship and wouldn't move on, and threatened to possess them and make them do bad stuff. Unlikely? Yes. Impossible? No.
The Lexx's Visit to Sunnydale
Chapter One
Spike looked up at the sky. Interesting how it was always somehow the same, yet there would always be something different. Like that comet, for instance. He'd never seen it before, and it seemed to be moving fast. It wasn't an aeroplane or satellite, so it was probably a comet. No doubt astronomers were following it. No doubt the UFO-watching crowd worshipped it. No doubt the witches and astrologically minded people had figured out some sort of good or evil portent it carried. But the real explanation, thought Spike, what it probably all boiled down to, was just another lump of rock careening through space at a rate of noughts, and it just happened to be close enough to the earth to be visible. He considered another possibility, but quickly dismissed it as too unlikely. It passed over a hill out of sight, and Spike walked back to the crypt, knowing sunrise would be in just under an hour's time.
At the foot of a hill, somewhere in California as the day began to dawn, three strangers unknowingly walked in the direction of a town named Sunnydale. A tall man dressed in black, a shorter older-looking man in a red uniform of some kind, and a young red-haired woman scantily dressed in a skirt and short top, carrying what looked like a robot's head.
"Is it going to be much further until we meet some people?" The man in the uniform asked.
"Quiet Stan, save your energy for walking, not complaining." the woman replied, her voice had a german accent to it.
Buffy Summers walked to school, happy in the glowing sunshine of the early morning. How one person could be both a morning person and up all night was a mystery, but it was most likely a part of the "Slayer" package of superpowers. She looked around cheerfully at a town she knew to be on top of a hell mouth and packed full of monstrous demons before walking into the school and meeting up with Willow and Xander.
"I'm out patrolling tonight." she told them. "Giles said something about a comet signifying something, according to some astrologers. Plus Doyle had a vision, Angel said. Typical that it'd show up here. It's amazing how many beings of darkness are attracted to somewhere with a name like 'Sunnydale', don't you think?"
"Yeah." said Willow. "Well, we'll be there to help you with whatever it is."
"Course we will." agreed Xander.
After classes, Giles told them unhappily that he didn't have a clue as to what they would find. There was little to indicate whether the comet signified good or evil, and too many people wanted to tell him it was a UFO. To be on the safe side, he warned Buffy to be heavily armed and on the look out for any suspicious looking characters. What a joke - finding suspicious characters at night in Sunnydale was like finding bad acting in an American soap. She sighed, and agreed to this, before heading home for a meal with her mother and asking nicely if she would be able to stay at Willows house for the night.
The sky was dark again, and Spike woke up. He walked out amongst the gravestones when he heard voices.
"What do you mean, this is where the dead belong?" A man's voice called out.
"It is where the dead are buried." another male voice, deeper. "Should you choose to make yourself a home in this land, I will remain here."
"Come on Kai," a female voice. "I..." she broke off. "I thought I heard something."
"This place makes me very nervous." the first voice said. "We should go. Now." Spike made his approach.
"Oh, come on." Spike said, the surprise of seeing him had the intended effect on the three people. "You can't be sick of this place already."
"Who are you?" The man in black asked.
"Spike." he said. "Pleased to meet you."
"I am Kai." replied the man.
"Hi Spike." said the girl. "I'm Xev, and this is Stan. Can you show us a place to stay tonight?"
"Oh, of course." Spike grinned. "I wouldn't leave you here all alone. What's that you're carrying?"
"This is 790." she said. "A robot head, in love with Kai... it's a long story."
"Ah." said Spike. "A robot with feelings, that's very strange."
"You know where we can stay tonight?" Xev asked. Spike nodded.
"There's plenty of people willing to take in people for the night around here. Friendly area. Especially the ones that look kinda like this guy." he told them, pointing to Kai. "But you have to watch out for things... the Initiative, the Slayer, stuff like that."
"What are those?" asked Kai.
"Well the Initiative are just plain evil, they'd be very interested in taking you lot to pieces for research. The Slayer... well the name says it all. She kills. If you don't want to be killed, you avoid her."
"That is not so much of a problem as it might seem." said Kai. "I have been killed already."
"And you're still here to tell the tale?" Spike said. "Impressive. Well... I'd offer you a place to stay myself, but my own living arrangements aren't too pretty. Good luck!" Spike disappeared into the night.
"What was that all about?" asked Stan.
"I am not sure." said Kai. "But I think we should be on our guard against whoever this Slayer is."
"Maybe Xev and Stan should go look for her." suggested 790.
"Hey!" said Stan. "Shut up. I'm not suicidal, y'know."
"You and Xev stay here with 790. I will go out to find the Slayer."
"Why don't I just call her here?" 790 suggested. "Oh, Slaaayerr!!!"
"Quiet 790." Xev said. "If you stay quiet with us then Kai will give you a kiss when he comes back, how about that?"
"You will?" Xev nodded enthusiastically at Kai.
"I will." he said, then walked away. Red heart images blinked silently on 790s eyes.
Kai approached the young blonde girl, until he was standing only a metre back from her. He didn't go any closer, not wanting to scare her away.
"Who are you?" he asked. The girl looked at him, considering. There were people she knew she should only introduce herself as 'Buffy' to, and it was almost always clear who people like that were. But it was the middle of the night in a cemetery, he looked very unusual in both his clothing and his hair, and she was sure this wasn't a 'Buffy' occasion.
"I'm the Slayer." she said confidently. Kai's expression became dark, and he took a step towards her.
"I have been told to be wary of you." he said. "But I do not fear you. You cannot hurt me, as I am already dead. And much like yourself, I am an assassin."
"Boy, you must be new here." she said. Kai nodded, and she put her hands on her hips, attempting to draw herself up to eyelevel with the tall stranger. "You obviously don't know who I am then..." she paused for a name.
"Kai."
"Kai, because if you did, you'd know that I *can* hurt you, even if you're not technically alive. Actually, hurting the dead is something of a speciality for me." She pulled out a sharp wooden stick and jabbed it into Kai's chest, exactly where his heart had once been. "There." she said, and paused. Nothing happened. Kai looked down and pulled it out, handing it back to the girl, who looked shocked.
"That," he said, "did not hurt. I no longer feel pain."
"You weren't meant to hurt, you were meant to die." she informed him. "I guess this means you're not a vampire."
"No." said Kai.
"And not a human either, you don't bleed. What are you?"
"I am Brunnen G." he replied. "I too was some kind of slayer, once, in the service of his divine... his shadow. Who do you work for?"
"Noone." she said. "I mean, some might say Giles, but he's more of a watcher really."
"Does Giles work for anyone?"
"Well the council of watchers of course." she said.
"What is their purpose?"
"I don't know." she told him. "I mean they're pretty evil... or not really, because they have like this whole *universe* of evil to fight, but they're pretty harsh."
"His shadow called this universe evil." said Kai. "I do not believe that it is, entirely. It is where my ancestors came from.
"Where, exactly?" she asked. "If you don't mind me asking."
"Brunnis." he said. "But it no longer exists."
"Okay..." she said, "but - " she looked around her. Kai was no longer there.
"Come on Giles." she said, at the library the next day. "We need to look stuff up. There was someone last night, black clothes, weird hair, and he wasn't a vampire but he said he was dead."
"One of those... strange young people?" Giles suggested.
"No." she said. "I staked him, and it did nothing. No dust, no blood. Then he said he was a kind of slayer too, but for a shadow or something. Oh, and he said that he was a Brunnen G, whatever that is, and he came from Brunnis. I think we should hit the books."
"Of course." he said. "But it might take a while. I've never heard of this Brunnen G demon. Or of Brunnis."
"He said it was destroyed." Buffy said.
"Right." said Giles. "Well, like you said, I should look this up. Meanwhile, you're on patrol duty and if he shows up again, try to get some more information."
"Sure." she said and walked out.
"Kai!" exclaimed Xev, seeing the tall man walking towards them. 790 made a sound not unlike an "ahem", and dutifully, Kai kissed the robot head. Stan and Xev were both amused by this.
"What happened?" asked Stan, getting back to the point.
"Did you find anything?" asked Xev.
"I found the Slayer." he told them. "she tried to attack me with a sharp piece of wood. She told me that she was an assassin in the service of another, as once I was."
"Who does she kill for?" Xev asked.
"Giles of the council of watchers." Kai said. "I do not know who he is, but from what she said, he is in some ways similar to His Shadow. I think that we should meet him."
"I think we really *shouldn't* meet him!" said Stan. "His Shadow was evil! The last thing we need is another one. I think we should get food for the Lexx and get out of here."
"And leave the planet to the same fate as the Cluster?" Xev asked. "We can't do that. We have to stop him." Stan wanted to protest, but the look in Xev's eyes told him that this would be futile. He sighed.
"Fine." he agreed. Spike, a few metres away from them and obscured by shadows, watched with a wide grin on his face, then turned and walked away, his long black coat billowing out behind him.
Giles went to the table where Buffy, Willow and Xander sat, a large heavy book in his hands. "What we need to know is in here." he told them. The title was 'History of the Future Past'.
"It looks pretty old and thick." said Xander.
"That means this is something serious, right?" Buffy asked.
"Yes." said Giles. "Very serious. And you should know that this book is not the original copy, but has been copied out from an earlier edition, perhaps several, if the information in this book is anything to go by."
"How old is it then?" asked Willow, in awed respect for such a relic.
"This version," said Giles, "a few hundred years old, I should think. But the original, if the book itself it accurate, is dated to millennia ago. And that's not even the most interesting part, compared with where it comes from."
"Where?" asked Buffy.
"Well it says that it originates not only from another planet, but from another universe, reached through a fractal core... some kind of black hole."
"Wow." she said. "And how do we know if the book is true or not?"
"The last of the Brunnen G." said Giles. "Kai, the man you met last night, I have to meet him and find out if he's the genuine article. If he is, it could change the way we look at the world entirely."
"Right." said Buffy, trying to cope with this information.
"So we find him again." said Xander. "What if he attacks us? How do we kill him."
"It sounds difficult to believe," said Giles, "but he can't be killed, according to this. He's survived whole planets exploding under his feet. But he isn't a demon, and his intentions are not malevolent...."
The library doors flew open, and in walked the Xev, Stan and Kai, who held a very happy 790 under his left arm.
"Are you Giles?" asked Kai. Giles nodded. Xev and Stan looked at each other, disappointed with the appearance of the man they had likened to His Shadow.
"Who are you?" asked Giles, knowing the answer. Kai opened his mouth to speak.
"He is Kai, last of the Brunnen G, etcetera." came a voice from behind them, interrupting.
"Spike!" exclaimed Giles. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to see how my new friends were settling in." said Spike. "Or perhaps, not so new friends, I should say."
"What are you talking about?" Stan asked. "We only just met you."
"Yeah, Spike." agreed Xev. Spike just grinned more widely, and walked to Giles, who backed away from him, clutching a cross and holding it up to ward off Spike.
"How long have you known me, Giles?" he asked.
"About 2 years I think."
"Ah yes, but how long have I been on this planet?"
"Er.. a hundred years, more or less." Giles said.
"And what would you say if I were to tell you that I'd known these people before my time as a vampire?"
"I'd say that was very unlikely." said Giles. "I know your history - your life before becoming a vampire had no mention of heading off into the skies - nor has your life as a vampire."
"You forget Giles, that I am not William. He died, and the demon - me - that took his body took his memories, his life. Only I was not an ordinary demon, like most that existed in the dimension where I found myself. I am quite different. And in the time before, I did know these people."
"Who were you?" asked Kai.
"Oh, surely you can guess that." Spike's voice was now different, it had taken on a tone that was smoother, a different accent, and horribly familiar to Stan, Xev and Kai. The others just thought that it really, really didn't suit him.
"Oh no." said Stan. "This isn't good."
"I should have guessed." muttered Xev.
"Spike, why are you talking weirdly?" asked Willow.
"He is not Spike." Kai told her. "He is Prince."
"No." said Spike. "I am both. I am Prince, but here they know me as Spike. It is more appropriate really, after all, after Fire was destroyed, there wasn't much left for me to be Prince of."
"That was all Xev's fault!" accused 790. "And Stan too. Kill them, Prince!"
"I'm guessing the robot doesn't like you guys." said Xander.
"Oh, it likes one of us." said Xev with a smirk.
"Yes I do!" 790 said gleefully. "The gorgeous, wonderful, amazing -"
"The dead guy." Stan interrupted.
"That is beside the point." said Kai. "Prince, what do you want here?"
"The same thing I always... oh, no, wait - the planet Water is long gone." said Spike. "But like the planet Fire, the planet Water had a ruler of sorts. That is who I want destroyed now."
"Who is it?" asked Xev. Spike stepped close, and ran a finger softly down her cheek. Yes, this did appear to be Prince.
"Now why would I tell you something like that?" he said to her. "So you can run to protect this person, not giving me a chance? No, no, Xev." he took a seat, his eyes not leaving Xevs. Spike regained his usual voice. "I'm going to make a game of this."
"Tell me who it is Spike." said Buffy, leaning over Spike with a stake in her right hand. Spike shook his head.
"No." he said. "But feel free to stake me, please." Buffy's arm tensed, but Kai grabbed her hand before she could make a move.
"Don't." Kai told her. Spike got up.
"Good advice." he said. "Nice to see you remember some things. I haven't died in a long while, but I'm still Prince, and I'll still come back every time - wherever and as whoever I like." The door closed behind him, and several of the group let out sighs of relief.
