YAY!!! FINAL EXAMS ARE OVER! Now where the heck was I?

Lisette – Yes I chose the easy way out, but don't worry; it's not going to last for long.

All who caught on to my non-usage of the polite-vampire-rule: I never did care for that one.

Is That a First in Your Pocket?

There was a time in Rupert Giles' life when he thought he would not be able to survive the trials and tribulations that a young spunky blonde had introduced him to. There were times when he thought his head would explode from the moments that said spunky blonde had driven him over the edges of insanity by simply being a teenager and doing what teenagers inherently do.

He recalled another time and another place. "Now if you'll excuse me, I must go find something slutty to wear." The times when he slapped his forehead and wished he practiced yoga. The times when verbal statements and expressions of clothing racked his poor fragile mind with confusion. When he doubted his ability to age gracefully and adapt to changing styles. How foolish he'd been.

Then there were times when he thought his chest would explode from beating too fast with worry. When he felt his heart wrench at the sight of a single tear, a lip quiver or the cracks in her voice when she spoke as she cried. When he swelled with pride at the sight of her conquering her fears and doubts, in essence conquering his fears and doubts. Or when his entire body went cold with dread for he knew that some evil had befallen her and he wasn't there to prevent it.

As he did now.

He stood on the front lawn, frozen in shock at the site of the bungalow's drapes swirling freely in the wind where there had once been a window. And the silence, the overwhelming silence where there should have been cries for help; that was what troubled him most.

The sounds of running feet behind him told him that the three other girls had exited the car and were now surveying the damage with him.

"Buffy," a panic-stricken Willow cried before she darted into the house foolishly. Tara followed closely behind, but Giles could not seem to move his feet. Anya lingered with him, touching his arm softly to reach beyond his paralyzing state.

"Giles, we have to go." She urged, and he looked at her blankly. She pleaded with her eyes and he finally nodded at her, following her slowly as she bounded inside.

Broken glass crunched underneath their feet as they cautiously made their way around the trashed living room. Willow gasped as she nearly tripped over the unconscious figure of Strider, his body littered with broken plates and plane glass. Willow knelt beside him, checking his pulse with two fingers on his neck and sighing with relief that there was one. A hacking cough alerted them to the Elf, slumped against the wall and looking quite dazed. Tara crouched beside him, checking him over and murmuring quiet words of encouragement to bring him around. With a startled cry, Anya raced over Xander's prone form but began to moan when she called his name.

Stepping past the makeshift nurses and their patients, Giles entered the kitchen and frowned grimly upon seeing it for the first time. Spike lay face down, surrounded by a mess of what Giles hoped was nothing more than remnants from dinner. Long slivers of the kicked in door jam littered the entryway, and although somewhat feeling concerned for the downed vampire, he felt more compelled to enter the backyard.

He broke into a run when he found her, lying limply in front of a large tree. Falling to his knees, he gently rolled her over and supported her body in his arms as he called her name. He wiped a smear of blood away from her mouth, grimacing at the site of bruises marring her fair features. Relief flooded him when her eyelashes fluttered until she finally focused on his face.

"I don't think we won." She groaned. Despite his previous state, Giles felt a smile tug at the corners of his mouth.

"No, by the looks of it I don't think you did."

With more effort than should have been needed, Buffy struggled to rise to her feet, aided by Giles holding her elbows and steadying her wobbling form. "They took Dawn."

"Well that's hardly original." He muttered but noticed the sharp glance from Buffy. "Don't worry; we'll find her." He reassured.

She winced as she rotated her right shoulder, working out the kinks. "Is everyone else okay?"

Giles frowned as he recalled neglecting to check on Spike, but he nodded anyway as they slowly, and in Buffy's case painfully, made their way back inside the house. He needn't have worried about Spike, for the vampire had made his way into a sitting position and was rubbing his forehead with one hand.

Hearing the pained groans of her comrades awakening, Buffy couldn't help but sigh in resignation at the sight of her house. "I think my insurance is going to go up."

"The First? You've got to be kidding me." Buffy had one of the most exasperated looks on her face as she stood with her hands on her hips, facing the sitting and hurting crew. "How come the dead don't ever stay dead?"

Xander shrugged as he held an ice pack firmly against his cheek. "Because that would be way too easy."

Giles was pacing in the corner and twirling his glasses around by the arm. "They have Dawn, which undoubtedly means they plan to lure you into a trap."

"So the First can finish off what he started." Buffy concluded. "This is getting so old."

"But this time everyone is stronger. They're all psycho-macho vamps now." Willow pointed out.

Buffy nodded with Willow. "So that's going to make it tougher. Which means we need all the help we can get." She looked directly at Legolas and Strider who were sitting calmly on the couch.

"Then you shall have it." Strider said with a smile.

"Thank you. We need to split up into two teams. One is going back to the cemetery to get rid of any unwanted visitors. Lets cut off their supply of Orc snacks before they can get anymore. The other is coming with me to find Dawn."

Although it was suggested that Spike join the graveyard crew, he adamantly refused to leave Buffy's side. Whether that was because he was genuinely concerned about Dawn's safety or because we was wary about any possible happenings between the Slayer and Legolas along the way was anybody's guess. Whatever the actual reasoning, Buffy found herself sandwiched between the vampire and the Elf.

Strider voluntarily joined the graveyard crew along with a crossbow-armed Xander, Anya, the two witches and Giles. Willow and Tara were going to do more watching than fighting (much to their relief) to study the portal and counter it, if that was possible.

Despite the fact that they had nearly been annihilated a few hours earlier, Legolas could not help but feel an enormous exuberance as they traveled in what Buffy had informed him was a 'car' (a shortened version of cart apparently). And despite the fact that they had restrained him with odd looking belts in his seat, the Elf could not sit still for long as he peered out the side windows, fumbled with the hidden compartments and craned his neck to see out the large back window, gasping as he tried to follow the dotted yellow lines as they swooshed behind the car. Buffy glanced in the rear-view mirror and smiled at his obvious enthusiasm.

"So. You guys get lots of these where you're from?" Xander was straining for some sort of conversation with the Ranger as they leaned nonchalantly on a raised tomb.

Strider held his sword loosely between both hands, studying the magnificent object with a keen eye. "What do you mean?"

Xander shrugged. He honestly wasn't quite sure what he meant. "You know. Vampires and other ugly thingamabobs?"

Strider smiled thoughtfully in the young man's direction. "Yes. But our realm is not so dreary as you may think. There is much good to be found."

Xander cocked his head to the side. "You probably think this a pretty messed up place, huh?"

Strider's smile slowly left his face. "There is much here that we do not understand. There is much here that I would not wish to understand."

Xander looked down and kicked a small pebble by his foot. "We're not exactly kind to each other."

"That exists where I am from as well." Strider clasped Xander's shoulder in a firm grip, surprising the Scooby. "But I know goodness and courage when I see it. You fight a noble fight, even if the rewards are not forthcoming from your fellow man. I hope you shall continue that fight, and one day perhaps be victorious." The Ranger clapped him on the back as he stood.

"Live long and prosper." Xander muttered. Strider turned around with eyebrows raised in question. Xander blushed and fumbled for an answer. "It's sort of a saying around here."

"If you're a nerd." Anya strolled towards the two with her arms crossed in front of her.

"Strider?" Giles broke up the guaranteed squabble between the two lovebirds. "Might I have a word with you?"

Strider nodded and followed the Watcher behind a small stone building, a crypt of some sort and well out of the way of the others. "Now, you said that you knew of the palantir. That there were more than just this one, what did you mean?"

"There were many palantiri placed throughout Elendil's realm; it was he who forged them. Elves cherished the plantiri, for the stones gave them sight into the Undying Lands. But other races in Middle Earth did not covet them for that reason. They were powerful, beyond that of any man. Many years ago the palantiri were lost; all efforts to recover those missing has been in vain."

Giles studied the man with wary temperance. "Then someone brought one here. If the First is using the palantir to open the portal, then it has to be the palantir that closes it. The question is how." Strider nodded his agreement. "Tell me about the Eye."

Strider reacted as though he'd been punched in the face. "What?"

Giles did not flinch from his reaction; he knew this would not be an easy subject. "The Eye. There were writings that the Council recovered, along with the palantir."

Strider shook his head slowly, and for the first time Giles noticed that all colour seemed to drain from his face. "It is not possible. There are rumours, but nothing-"

"Trust me, it's there." Giles finished for him.

Strider shook his head and exhaled slowly. "The Eye is said to be all that remains of Sauron the Destroyer, an enemy of all the free races of Middle Earth. He was vanquished, but some said his spirit still lingered in the form of a great, lidless eye, wreathed in flame."

"Could the First communicate with him, through the palantir?"

Strider's head snapped around with eyes widened in shock. This thought had never occurred to him before. "I do not see why Sauron would wish to."

Giles began pacing. "The vampires on your world look like the First. The vampires on our world become stronger from eating the orcs. Do yours?"

Strider was absolutely flabbergasted. "I have no idea. Such an event has never been recorded of vampires feasting on orcs."

Giles shook his head. "It doesn't make any sense. Unless…unless he's trying to get back."

Despite her stoic appearance, Buffy could not repress the mounting tension in her chest. She did not fear the vampires; after years of slaying, they had become more of a meddlesome nuisance than actual threat to her life. She did not fear for Dawn's life; she knew that Dawn was merely the bait, and although she had no doubt that her younger sister was frightened, she instinctively knew that no harm would come to her. She did not fear for either Spike or Legolas' life; the two were more than capable enough to handle themselves. But the orc blood changed the situation a bit.

And this is where she died.

It was surreal to visit your own death site. Although this was not nearly as surreal as visiting your own dismantled grave; that was downright creepy. But to know this was where you took your last breath, heard your last heartbeat; that was enough to make the Slayer anxious.

It was a reflective moment for her, knowing that her entire life revolved around death, even her own. She sometimes wondered when her life would revolve around life. Giving life instead of taking it.

"Somethin' on your mind bit?" Spike's baritone voice disrupted her epiphany, but she welcomed it. Deep thoughts made her depressed.

"It's nothing. Just worried about Dawn." It was a lie and both of them knew it, but from experience, Spike knew better than to press her. Buffy opened up when she felt like it, and when she did her thoughts and emotions spilled forth like a tidal wave.

They stopped walking and Buffy seemed to shake herself out of her previous state. She twirled Mr. Pointy in her right hand as she looked Spike up and down. "Ready?"

Spike nodded, cracking his neck with a sickening pop.

"How about-" Buffy and Spike both looked behind them where the Elf had been covering their backs, but now both stood slack jawed. "Where'd he go?"

When he first encountered the small girl with curly brown locks, Legolas froze. She stood at the end of a tunnel, one that Buffy and Spike had ignored. She stood coyly with her hands clasped behind her back, wearing a brown velvet dress with a small red ribbon tied around her waist. As Legolas studied her black polished shoes with neatly folded white socks, he felt his blood run cold as he realized that her feet did not touch the ground entirely. The little girl smiled at him, but Legolas could do nothing but stare. She skipped towards him and clasped his hand, but her touch was only a phantom whisper of cold air that embraced his skin. Numbly, he let the girl lead him down the darkened tunnel, the thought that perhaps he should call to his companions did not even enter his mind.

Her name is Marissa and she's been missing for five months now.