Hey!

Don't own any of 'em, prob'ly never will.

Don't sue.

Not making money.

Don't cop it off and sell it as your own.

Don't kill anyone.

Sorry, didn't mean to preach. Heh, heh.


This part is short. Sorry, but it had to happen and I had little to
say. Hey, don't complain. I was hit by a blessing from the Muse
of Writing at the end, so it could have been a lot shorter! ::g::

*****

Chickety China, the Chinese chicken
Have a drumstick and your brain stops tickin'
Watchin "X-Files" with no lights on
We're dans la maison
I hope the Smoking Man's in this one.

--"One Week", Barenaked Ladies

*****


By the time they reached the temple, they almost sagged in relief.

"Man," Xander groaned, unloading his armful of weapons, "I _was not_ made to carry this! This is why my domain is in the library." At the influx of skeptical glances, he grew defensive. "Not that I don't mind
kicking some butt now and then."

Mulder looked up in interest. "Why _are_ you carrying all those...
weapons... anyway?"

Buffy and Giles exchanged a glance. "Oh, G--Mr. Giles is a real history
buff," she explained rapidly. "He _loves_ his history."

"We all do," Willow agreed. "We're real historians."

"Really?" Mulder asked, trying the waters. "I've always been a lover
of history, myself."

"Have you..." Jenny Calendar murmured, checking out his features.

*Oh, shit,* Scully thought.

*Oh, damn,* echoed Giles' thoughts.

"Yes. I find many of the ancient rituals facinating..." the two began
to talk, leaving a _very_ miffed FBI agent and librarian to glower in
their direction.

*****

Rei watched the assorted group from a few feet away, wondering why she
had been compelled to invite them to stay at the temple. She was pretty
sure Grandpa wouldn't mind; he would probably, infact, welcome the odd
group of people. Especially the girls. She grimaced and made a
mental note to warn them about him and his facination with the young
female human body.

Other thoughts also filled her mind. *I sense evil,* was one of the
prevading ones. *Someone here is undead.* After many moments of
deliberation, she finally decided that it was Mr. Strong and Silent. It
had to be. But, if he was, the Slayer should know. The Slayer would
_have_ to know.

The Slayer would have killed him.

The Slayer.

Yet another point of discussion in her mind. She had had many visions
about the Slayer lately. She was surprised with herself that she hadn't
recognized her on their first meeting, not that she would admit that
to anyone. Rei was anything if not strong. And always right, of
course.

Their meeting.

Where _was_ that damnable dog?? The way it had hovered protectively
around Buffy made her think that it wouldn't be likely to simply
step out of the way. And the way the dog had _talked_... Well, she
was glad that Luna and Usagi had stopped by later and explained that,
or none of this would have made any sense to her. *Still... another
Lunar Guardian? A _canine_ Lunar Guardian?*

And those FBI agents. What had _possessed_ her to invite them to stay
at her temple? Even though that Agent Mulder guy _was_ kinda cute...
But that Agent Scully was a witch. At first, their Japanese had been
clumsy, awkward, but now it was flawless. And, right before they began
to speak perfectly, she had felt that creepiness of death magic playing
a song on her spine.

Erg.

She shook her head. This kind of thinking wasn't going to get her
anywhere tonight. With her strong confidence, she marched up to Buffy
and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Look, I'm sorry about attacking
you before," she started. "I was just... testing you."

Buffy's eyes conveyed her skepticism. "Sure you were."

"What, you don't believe me?!?"

"Of course I do," she smoothed over. "People test me everyday."
Unconciously, she through an eye in Lun@'s direction. *Some more
than others... and in more ways than one...*

"Good. Hey, where'd that _cute_ little dog of yours go? I saved
a Milkbone for him..." Rei's voice was faker that she meant it to be.

*Milkbones. Ugh. I _hate_ milkbones. Ever since the brownout...*
Lun@ shivered and walked away, trusting her Slayer to field the
question. "Hey, Mr. Giles, could you please explain the Dewy-Decimal
System to me again? I think I might be understanding it..."

Giles' insides groaned at the topic. *She understands the blasted
system just fine. She just likes to play the "what-if" game. I
hate that damnable game,* he thought bitterly, a muscle in his
stomach clenching in time with the twitching in his jaw.

They began discussing it, though, and eventually the conversation
evolved into something _much_ more interesting to both parties about
the technicalities of the Mayan Sun Worship rituals.

*****

Scully felt the intense need to distance herself from this crowd
of lunatics. Each one was utterly inapproachable. Even Mulder
was acting like he was in a UFO convention, chatting up the
babe with the 'do happily.

It was enough to make her puke.

Actually, the queesiness in her stomach was enough to make
her puke. The drugs her doctor had prescribed her to suppress
the symptoms of her illness had a slightly disorienting effect.

Excusing herself to a room that her host had pointed out, Scully
allowed herself to fall asleep.

*But no dreams tonight,* she told her brain strictly, permitting
her eyelids to droop and cover her baby blue eyes. *None of this
nonsense, please.*

And with that, she slept.

*****

It was about an hour before anyone missed her. Mulder, still
keyed up from the explosion, turned to verify a fact from his
walking Sarcastic Encyclopedia of the Unbelievers when he
realized that she wasn't there. "Scully?" he called, looking
around. "Has anyone seen Scully?"

"She was muttering something about flight times to Australia,
I think," Lun@ volunteered sleepily. "Maybe she had a flight
to catch."

Mulder turned his head to look at her. "WHAT?"

"She went to bed."

"Oh." He continued to look at her distrustfully. "I guess I'll
turn in, too." Following the Priestess' directions, he went
into the temple.

Buffy looked at her Guardian. "Earth to Lun@, come in Lun@!
He's a Fed! Do you have some kinda death wish or something?"

"No, just trying to have fun. Don't I have nine lives or something?"

"That's a cat."

"Oh. Oops."

*****

SOMEWHERE, BETWEEN TIME, BETWEEN POINT A AND B, BETWEEN HERE AND
WHERE YOU ARE...


The dark energy flowed over, twisting, shouting, hurling itself
around, creating a pocket.

In this pocket, the Ancients were born.

They were woven out of hate and sewn with threads of despair, anger,
jealousy, and pleasure. Four of the Ancients, twined with power,
stirred, became stronger, became more than the others.

These four had a mission. They had to find their Queen.

They had searched the Universe and finally concluded that Earth, by
far, had the greatest possibility of harboring the Queen. So,
with delicate precision, they infiltrated the planet, searching.

Finally, they found her! With unimaginable delight, the Four
Ancients began to move towards her, calling for their leader,
calling for their blessed one.

But then, SHE got in the way.

SHE had a way of doing that. Her brilliance, her luminescence, her
_pureness_ blinded the Four, causing them to turn their
heads from their prize, to back away, to scream in agony.

She hadn't even been aiming her magnificience at them.

And then, their Queen, their passion, their truth, burst in a
brilliance of purple light, died before their eyes.

"MISTRESS 9!!!!!!!!" they cried out, tears coursing down their cheeks.
"NOOO!!" But, alas, their Queen was no more.

With careful deliberation, they began to discuss the matter. What
was to be done? What should happen now?

Then, one had an idea. She had always been the brightest of the
four, and her ideas had great sway on how the group decided.

"We must find a new Queen."

The thought was spoken, clear and straight, and agreement was
unanimous. A new Queen must be found.

This Queen must be stronger.

This Queen must be greater in magnificence.

This Queen must be shielded from HER, the white one.

They searched.

It was a long and tedious process, carefully picking over every one
of the inhabitants of the planet, only to choose one to hold their
mission of darkness.

Finally, they found her. The perfect one. Except for one problem.

It wasn't a her.

Once again, there was deliberation. Could their champion be a King?

A definite "No".

But, could their Queen be of the male gender?

That was a more delicate question. "Queen" did have female
connotations, but those were simply connotations, and connotations
could be dealt with in harsh and unspeakable manners.

Once again, the Four were in agreement. He was to be their Queen.

They approached him lightly, delicately. One so devious was not
to be trifled with in a meaningless manner. Finally, so wound
was he in their lies, so trapped in their evil, so disgraced
with their blackness, that he had no choice but to cave to them
and their wishes, to become ruler of their dark empire.

And, the Four were pleased.

And, if the Four were pleased, the Ancients were pleased.

There was much general happiness in the Pocket Outside the Universe.


The Queen surveyed his loyal subjects. A stream of smoke curled
around his head, and the cigarette he was holding obediently burned
back, exposing the delicate, mind-altering chemicals for his
inhalation. The Four pleased him. They were true and loyal.

The withered man lifted his cigarette to his tired lips and puffed
on it mindlessly, contemplating what had to be done.

There was much to do.

The White One. He frowned slightly. The Four kept telling him about
HER and HER awful, white goodness. Just as they were pure hate, SHE
was pure love. The legend sounded familiar to him, and he began
to contemplate his options for destroying such a creature. He
couldn't turn HER to their side.

To change such a goodness would be to destroy it.

A shame to destroy such power, though. He picked up another Morely's
and one of the Four rose to his side to light it for him.

Shame would not change what must be done.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

A few cultural notes:

Mistress 9, the Ancients origional Queen, was an entity that possessed
Sailor Saturn. And, since Sailor Saturn is a character in the
series "Sailor Moon", can we make an intelligent guess at who SHE, the
White One, is?

Oh, and for those of you who figured out that the Queen is the
Cigarette Smoking Man, the main bad guy from the X-files, you
deserve a pat on the back. You'd make a rocking detective!
(Or not. Whatever.)