Okay, you've read the epilogue. Now on with the story…
Part 1
The Gamble
A little less than an hour had passed and the three wanderers had managed to arrive at a quaint little dinner within a few blocks distance of the L.A. side alley they fell out of. It took a bit for Tara, and even the steely-nerved Kendra to shake off the reality of their situation.
That somehow, in some crazy gamble by the ever wheeling-and-dealing Doyle, they had managed to find their way from the Other Worlds back onto the Earth dimension. And to top it off, they were alive. And breathing.
They had been sitting for a while at the diner, Tara ordering nothing, while Kendra opted for a glass of water. If she had ever tasted alcohol when she was alive, she'd have probably opted, or needed to have a shot of whatever was strong. Especially right now.
She glanced over to Doyle, who sat at the opposite end of the table alone, downing down a quick shot of a Billy Dee, letting out a satisfied 'aaah' in the process.
"Ya ever notice how everythin' tastes much better when you're alive, lassies?", he mused as he stared at the last sips of liquor in his shot glass. "You can really taste the difference, ya know?"
"Alan, dis is no time for your foolishness!", Kendra scolded, her dark eyes staring him deep into his own. He had to admit, Kendra was tough as they came, but she was still one of the most beautiful women he ever met. Easily. "You said that you were going to tell us everyting when we got here! Now start talking fast lest you don't fancy having dat sharp Irish tongue in your troat."
"Uh, K-Kendra?", Tara timidly interjected. "You-you m-might want to keep it down. People are staring at us like…like…"
"Like we just came back from the dead?", Kendra sarcastically said. She craned her head to the rest of the occupants who were staring at her. "What? You lookin' at someting? Go back and drink your stoopid coffee before you make me get up!"
The occupants quickly looked the other way and pretended not to hear the resurrected Slayer.
Doyle smirked. "Alright, now, Kendra. If you can stop frightenin' the customers out of this establishment, I think I can tell ya how we got here."
Kendra folded her arms and waited. "I'm all ears."
Doyle shrugged. "Well, goes like this, see? All the dimensions have walls that separate the realities from crashing down into each other and causin' a hellishly royal mess not even the best Waste Management businessmen could clean. But just because they're separated from each other doesn't mean that they don't conjoin at a given place. That place was the Sacred Place, but you already know that."
The women both nodded.
"So anyway, there was a legend I heard about a few years back. I was spendin' the night at a shady little bar. This was the bit before I got the visions and started workin' fer the Powers.Bad time in my life, if I must say. I pissed away me earnin's on stupid gambles and I drunk more th'n a marooned sailor on a deserted island. So I was mindin' me own business, swiggin' down me Hennessy when this Korglaro demon started makin a drama scene. I dunno if you've ever seen a Korglaro demon. Redish blotched skin, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, bad breath. And notorious liars. Claimed he was being chased down by a pair of demon bounty hunters because he wouldn't fork up the dough for a contract he commited them to. Said he didn't have long, so the poor bastard started blabin' on and on about all the valuable things he wanted to share with anyone who'd be willin' to listen. Course, nobody did, so he just started foamin' at the mouth about one thing and another--"
"ALAN!", Kendra growled, slamming her hands down on the table. "Get to de point!"
"Sorry, lass", Doyle chuckled. "Forgot you're not into the whole story bit."
"I-I found it to be pretty interesting", Tara smiled helpfully.
Doyle winked at the shy Wiccan in response. "Thanks, Tara. So, anyway, the stories were pretty mundane, until he started talking about a scripture he read somewhere. Something about the bridge tha tbound all of time and space. Claimed there was a 'Sacred Place' separated in the center of all the realities. In the center of all of this there was supposed to be this all-seeing Eye, with the power to see the present, past, future, and even the never was--"
Kendra rolled her eyes. "Alan, we KNOW all of dis, and I'm STILL no closer as to knowing how we got--"
"Kendra, may-maybe you should let him finish", Tara suggested. "He might leave out something important if we rush him."
Kendra turned from the witch to the Seer. She sighed in resignation. "Make haste."
"ANYWAY", Doyle huffed, before resuming, "He also spoke about another part of the legend. Said the Eye was controlled by a fallen god. Some say it was even the God's own eye. Legend had it that only through the will of the god guarding the eye could the Eye be breached. If one was selective enough, one could choose the spot through where you could enter."
"Enter what?", Tara asked.
"Time, lass", Doyle said. "Through time."
Tara's jaw dropped. "Are you saying th-that somehow we went b-back through t-t-time??"
"Aye, lass", Doyle nodded. "It's a fairly easy process, once you get Chronos to open the gate. Of course, Chronos doesn't open the gate, ever. I had to get him to get really pissed so he'd lose his senses long enough to do something stupid."
"Like openin' de gate to three deceased warriors", Kendra smirked.
Doyle pointed a finger softly in her direction. "Right on the nose, luv."
"Was it dangerous?", Tara suddenly asked.
Both turned to the shy Wiccan. "What was that?", Kendra asked.
"Jumping through the portal. W-was it d-dangerous?", Tara asked. "I mean, with every action, there has to be an equal and opposite reaction."
Doyle gulped. "Well...you know there are risks in everything..."
"Like what kind of risks?", Kendra asked, getting suspicious.
"Well, heh...I wasn't...100 percent sure it'd work", Doyle relented. "There was an 85% chance that we'd end up exactly where we needed to be...and...5%..."
"That we'd die, right?", Kendra said, raising a cocked eyebrow to the Irishman.
"Well...that and a 10% chance that we'd get sucked into a different time period…….i-in another dimension, but--"
"ANOTHER DIMENSION?!?", both exclaimed.
At that, the rest of the diner turned to the table again.
Kendra turned back to all of them. " I tought I told you to stop lookin' at us!", she snapped angrily. "The next one who gawks at me like a dead fish is gonna learn why I'm called de Slayer!"
The occupants again turned back to their own business, nobody wanting to get in the crossfire with the tough slayer.
"I had to take the risk, Kendra", Doyle argued. "There was no other way."
"There's always another way", Kendra said, her temper boiling. "I can't believe dat you'd risk our souls on a foolish gamble like dat! Tara could've died! So could you!"
"We've ben dead long enough", Doyle said defensively. "It was either that or watch as me best friend spends eternity at the bottom of the sea and Buffy and her friends cope with the mess left behind this year. I wouldn't exist with that on my conscience!"
A brief, but uncomfortable silence fell between them.
"Besides", Doyle pointed out. "We got to where we needed to."
"Where exactly is dat?", Kendra asked, miffed.
"The afternoon before Justine killed Holtz and framed Angel for his murder", Tara said in realization. She glanced at Doyle, a knowing look in her eyes. "You came back to warn them, didn't you?"
"Aye, smart lass ye are, Tara", he smiled. "No wonder the red-head loves ya so. But I came back, WE came back for somethin' more important than that..."
"You're going to try to change history, aren't you, Alan?", Kendra realized.
"No lass, WE're goin' to try and change history", Doyle nodded. "What I saw in that Eye of the Never Was, it was beautiful. And it was right. And it's not fair that some creep like that Sahjahn guy could just waltz between time and space and screw it all up for our guys and get away with it."
"What can we possibly do?", Kendra asked, skeptical. "I mean, we're dead, right? Not like we can just go and fight off de bad guys--"
"Call it a temporary new lease on life", Doyle answered. "We're alive for the moment. Solid. Can even hit, and eat. Something in the Eye transformed our spirits back into living flesh and bone. How, I don't know. But only until we finish what we need to accomplish."
Kendra and Tara looked down at their hands for a moment. Flexing the fingers. Squeezing the palms together and staring at them as if they were made of gold. It had been a long time since Kendra had perished at the hands, or rather the nails, of Druscilla. She could barely believe that she was whole again. Alive again.
Tara was equally as stunned. Even thoug she hadn't been gone long. it still felt like forever.
"And then what?", Tara asked.
"What 'then-what?", Doyle asked, puzzled.
"After we f-finish, with what we have to do. Then what happens. What will we do? What wil h-hapen to us?", Tara clarified.
Doyle shrugged. "I dunnot know. But I know that we have to do this. And I can't do it without ya both. "
"You need not worry, Alan", Kendra smiled. "I'm in. Been a long time since old Kendra had a good fight."
"Me too", Tara said, soft but determined. "For Willow. I can't just leave her to make those mistakes. I have to help her. And everyone."
"Good. But we haven't much time to work with here. Even as we speak, Chronos has probably sent agents after us. No one has ever gone through the Eye before and lived to tell the tale. If he's caught wind of what we're up to and catches us before the mission is complete, our fates aren't going to be placed in the Louvre, if ya get me drift."
Tara was confused. "Agents?"
"Spirits. They work for Chronos, heard a bit about them ,but let's hope that they're a myth. But we have to keep focused on our goal. We have to keep the events of the coming days from passing. In both LA and Sunnydale. And we have to place the couples in that piece of the Eye of the Never Was together."
"This piece?", Tara asked. At tht moment, she pulled out a shiny glowing fragment of the Eye of the Never Was. The same piece she got a hold of earlier.
"You have it?!", Doyle's eyes widened and Kendra swore that he would faint.
"I-I kept it just in case. That's all right, isn't it?", Tara quietly asked.
Doyle affectionately touched her cheek. "More than alright, lass. We just got a brand new weapon we could use in this whole thing."
"Weapon?", Tara asked, shocked by the effectiveness and value of her quick thinking. "Do you really think this thing can h-help us?"
"The Eye is said to hold powers", Doyle said, running a hand over the shard of the Eye. As he trailed his finger, a greenish trail of light static enmergy followed. "If we're lucky, maybe we can find some of them out.That's where you come in handy, Tara. With your Wiccan powers, I think you might be able to figer out this little do-hickey out better than we can."
"I-I can try", Tara said.
Kendra watched the events flickering within the glassy shard of the Eye. She finally stated, "So, you intend to put de children, Connor and Dawn, together?"
"Aye. lass. Those two are meant for great things. If they're united as one, the world as we know it will see a great new day for all. So, above all, the Key and the Miracle Child must be united."
Kendra stood up and headed for the door. "Well, then, what're we waitin' round for? Let's go."
"That's the spirit, lass. Let's hope you have some more of it left for all of us. We're going to need it."
"Wh-where do we go first?", Tara inquired to the Irishman.
Doyle looked at the clock on the wall. "To the root of the problem. But we better hurry. We have to get there at precisely the right time. Not a second sooner or later."
A waiter came running up to the three of them. "Excuse me! But you haven't paid your bill yet.You can't leave."
Kendra came up to the slightly taller, but thin teenage waiter and glowered. "You're feeling generous today. SO you're going to pull the tab on our meal. Make a scene and I'll make you a new neck tie, usin' yor troat. Nod if you understand."
The waiter nervously nodded and backed away quickly.
Kendra turned back to her friends. "Well, c'mon, then! We're wasting time."
She bolted out the door.
Tara and Doyle watched her exit for a moment.
"Spirited lass", Doyle noted.
"Y-Yes."
They sighed and followed after her.
--------------------------------------------
To Be Continued...
Part 1
The Gamble
A little less than an hour had passed and the three wanderers had managed to arrive at a quaint little dinner within a few blocks distance of the L.A. side alley they fell out of. It took a bit for Tara, and even the steely-nerved Kendra to shake off the reality of their situation.
That somehow, in some crazy gamble by the ever wheeling-and-dealing Doyle, they had managed to find their way from the Other Worlds back onto the Earth dimension. And to top it off, they were alive. And breathing.
They had been sitting for a while at the diner, Tara ordering nothing, while Kendra opted for a glass of water. If she had ever tasted alcohol when she was alive, she'd have probably opted, or needed to have a shot of whatever was strong. Especially right now.
She glanced over to Doyle, who sat at the opposite end of the table alone, downing down a quick shot of a Billy Dee, letting out a satisfied 'aaah' in the process.
"Ya ever notice how everythin' tastes much better when you're alive, lassies?", he mused as he stared at the last sips of liquor in his shot glass. "You can really taste the difference, ya know?"
"Alan, dis is no time for your foolishness!", Kendra scolded, her dark eyes staring him deep into his own. He had to admit, Kendra was tough as they came, but she was still one of the most beautiful women he ever met. Easily. "You said that you were going to tell us everyting when we got here! Now start talking fast lest you don't fancy having dat sharp Irish tongue in your troat."
"Uh, K-Kendra?", Tara timidly interjected. "You-you m-might want to keep it down. People are staring at us like…like…"
"Like we just came back from the dead?", Kendra sarcastically said. She craned her head to the rest of the occupants who were staring at her. "What? You lookin' at someting? Go back and drink your stoopid coffee before you make me get up!"
The occupants quickly looked the other way and pretended not to hear the resurrected Slayer.
Doyle smirked. "Alright, now, Kendra. If you can stop frightenin' the customers out of this establishment, I think I can tell ya how we got here."
Kendra folded her arms and waited. "I'm all ears."
Doyle shrugged. "Well, goes like this, see? All the dimensions have walls that separate the realities from crashing down into each other and causin' a hellishly royal mess not even the best Waste Management businessmen could clean. But just because they're separated from each other doesn't mean that they don't conjoin at a given place. That place was the Sacred Place, but you already know that."
The women both nodded.
"So anyway, there was a legend I heard about a few years back. I was spendin' the night at a shady little bar. This was the bit before I got the visions and started workin' fer the Powers.Bad time in my life, if I must say. I pissed away me earnin's on stupid gambles and I drunk more th'n a marooned sailor on a deserted island. So I was mindin' me own business, swiggin' down me Hennessy when this Korglaro demon started makin a drama scene. I dunno if you've ever seen a Korglaro demon. Redish blotched skin, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, bad breath. And notorious liars. Claimed he was being chased down by a pair of demon bounty hunters because he wouldn't fork up the dough for a contract he commited them to. Said he didn't have long, so the poor bastard started blabin' on and on about all the valuable things he wanted to share with anyone who'd be willin' to listen. Course, nobody did, so he just started foamin' at the mouth about one thing and another--"
"ALAN!", Kendra growled, slamming her hands down on the table. "Get to de point!"
"Sorry, lass", Doyle chuckled. "Forgot you're not into the whole story bit."
"I-I found it to be pretty interesting", Tara smiled helpfully.
Doyle winked at the shy Wiccan in response. "Thanks, Tara. So, anyway, the stories were pretty mundane, until he started talking about a scripture he read somewhere. Something about the bridge tha tbound all of time and space. Claimed there was a 'Sacred Place' separated in the center of all the realities. In the center of all of this there was supposed to be this all-seeing Eye, with the power to see the present, past, future, and even the never was--"
Kendra rolled her eyes. "Alan, we KNOW all of dis, and I'm STILL no closer as to knowing how we got--"
"Kendra, may-maybe you should let him finish", Tara suggested. "He might leave out something important if we rush him."
Kendra turned from the witch to the Seer. She sighed in resignation. "Make haste."
"ANYWAY", Doyle huffed, before resuming, "He also spoke about another part of the legend. Said the Eye was controlled by a fallen god. Some say it was even the God's own eye. Legend had it that only through the will of the god guarding the eye could the Eye be breached. If one was selective enough, one could choose the spot through where you could enter."
"Enter what?", Tara asked.
"Time, lass", Doyle said. "Through time."
Tara's jaw dropped. "Are you saying th-that somehow we went b-back through t-t-time??"
"Aye, lass", Doyle nodded. "It's a fairly easy process, once you get Chronos to open the gate. Of course, Chronos doesn't open the gate, ever. I had to get him to get really pissed so he'd lose his senses long enough to do something stupid."
"Like openin' de gate to three deceased warriors", Kendra smirked.
Doyle pointed a finger softly in her direction. "Right on the nose, luv."
"Was it dangerous?", Tara suddenly asked.
Both turned to the shy Wiccan. "What was that?", Kendra asked.
"Jumping through the portal. W-was it d-dangerous?", Tara asked. "I mean, with every action, there has to be an equal and opposite reaction."
Doyle gulped. "Well...you know there are risks in everything..."
"Like what kind of risks?", Kendra asked, getting suspicious.
"Well, heh...I wasn't...100 percent sure it'd work", Doyle relented. "There was an 85% chance that we'd end up exactly where we needed to be...and...5%..."
"That we'd die, right?", Kendra said, raising a cocked eyebrow to the Irishman.
"Well...that and a 10% chance that we'd get sucked into a different time period…….i-in another dimension, but--"
"ANOTHER DIMENSION?!?", both exclaimed.
At that, the rest of the diner turned to the table again.
Kendra turned back to all of them. " I tought I told you to stop lookin' at us!", she snapped angrily. "The next one who gawks at me like a dead fish is gonna learn why I'm called de Slayer!"
The occupants again turned back to their own business, nobody wanting to get in the crossfire with the tough slayer.
"I had to take the risk, Kendra", Doyle argued. "There was no other way."
"There's always another way", Kendra said, her temper boiling. "I can't believe dat you'd risk our souls on a foolish gamble like dat! Tara could've died! So could you!"
"We've ben dead long enough", Doyle said defensively. "It was either that or watch as me best friend spends eternity at the bottom of the sea and Buffy and her friends cope with the mess left behind this year. I wouldn't exist with that on my conscience!"
A brief, but uncomfortable silence fell between them.
"Besides", Doyle pointed out. "We got to where we needed to."
"Where exactly is dat?", Kendra asked, miffed.
"The afternoon before Justine killed Holtz and framed Angel for his murder", Tara said in realization. She glanced at Doyle, a knowing look in her eyes. "You came back to warn them, didn't you?"
"Aye, smart lass ye are, Tara", he smiled. "No wonder the red-head loves ya so. But I came back, WE came back for somethin' more important than that..."
"You're going to try to change history, aren't you, Alan?", Kendra realized.
"No lass, WE're goin' to try and change history", Doyle nodded. "What I saw in that Eye of the Never Was, it was beautiful. And it was right. And it's not fair that some creep like that Sahjahn guy could just waltz between time and space and screw it all up for our guys and get away with it."
"What can we possibly do?", Kendra asked, skeptical. "I mean, we're dead, right? Not like we can just go and fight off de bad guys--"
"Call it a temporary new lease on life", Doyle answered. "We're alive for the moment. Solid. Can even hit, and eat. Something in the Eye transformed our spirits back into living flesh and bone. How, I don't know. But only until we finish what we need to accomplish."
Kendra and Tara looked down at their hands for a moment. Flexing the fingers. Squeezing the palms together and staring at them as if they were made of gold. It had been a long time since Kendra had perished at the hands, or rather the nails, of Druscilla. She could barely believe that she was whole again. Alive again.
Tara was equally as stunned. Even thoug she hadn't been gone long. it still felt like forever.
"And then what?", Tara asked.
"What 'then-what?", Doyle asked, puzzled.
"After we f-finish, with what we have to do. Then what happens. What will we do? What wil h-hapen to us?", Tara clarified.
Doyle shrugged. "I dunnot know. But I know that we have to do this. And I can't do it without ya both. "
"You need not worry, Alan", Kendra smiled. "I'm in. Been a long time since old Kendra had a good fight."
"Me too", Tara said, soft but determined. "For Willow. I can't just leave her to make those mistakes. I have to help her. And everyone."
"Good. But we haven't much time to work with here. Even as we speak, Chronos has probably sent agents after us. No one has ever gone through the Eye before and lived to tell the tale. If he's caught wind of what we're up to and catches us before the mission is complete, our fates aren't going to be placed in the Louvre, if ya get me drift."
Tara was confused. "Agents?"
"Spirits. They work for Chronos, heard a bit about them ,but let's hope that they're a myth. But we have to keep focused on our goal. We have to keep the events of the coming days from passing. In both LA and Sunnydale. And we have to place the couples in that piece of the Eye of the Never Was together."
"This piece?", Tara asked. At tht moment, she pulled out a shiny glowing fragment of the Eye of the Never Was. The same piece she got a hold of earlier.
"You have it?!", Doyle's eyes widened and Kendra swore that he would faint.
"I-I kept it just in case. That's all right, isn't it?", Tara quietly asked.
Doyle affectionately touched her cheek. "More than alright, lass. We just got a brand new weapon we could use in this whole thing."
"Weapon?", Tara asked, shocked by the effectiveness and value of her quick thinking. "Do you really think this thing can h-help us?"
"The Eye is said to hold powers", Doyle said, running a hand over the shard of the Eye. As he trailed his finger, a greenish trail of light static enmergy followed. "If we're lucky, maybe we can find some of them out.That's where you come in handy, Tara. With your Wiccan powers, I think you might be able to figer out this little do-hickey out better than we can."
"I-I can try", Tara said.
Kendra watched the events flickering within the glassy shard of the Eye. She finally stated, "So, you intend to put de children, Connor and Dawn, together?"
"Aye. lass. Those two are meant for great things. If they're united as one, the world as we know it will see a great new day for all. So, above all, the Key and the Miracle Child must be united."
Kendra stood up and headed for the door. "Well, then, what're we waitin' round for? Let's go."
"That's the spirit, lass. Let's hope you have some more of it left for all of us. We're going to need it."
"Wh-where do we go first?", Tara inquired to the Irishman.
Doyle looked at the clock on the wall. "To the root of the problem. But we better hurry. We have to get there at precisely the right time. Not a second sooner or later."
A waiter came running up to the three of them. "Excuse me! But you haven't paid your bill yet.You can't leave."
Kendra came up to the slightly taller, but thin teenage waiter and glowered. "You're feeling generous today. SO you're going to pull the tab on our meal. Make a scene and I'll make you a new neck tie, usin' yor troat. Nod if you understand."
The waiter nervously nodded and backed away quickly.
Kendra turned back to her friends. "Well, c'mon, then! We're wasting time."
She bolted out the door.
Tara and Doyle watched her exit for a moment.
"Spirited lass", Doyle noted.
"Y-Yes."
They sighed and followed after her.
--------------------------------------------
To Be Continued...