The Book of Three: Homecoming Part 2a
By Phoenixgod2000
Rating R
Pairings- C/X//F, B/A, W/O, Anya/Riley, Amy/Tara
Disclaimer- these aren't my characters please don't sue.
Buffy/Highlander/Charmed/Destroyer series ( Remo Williams)
Plus lots more eventually.
Summary- The big talk. Where have Xander and the others been? Does Spike
have a plan? And Riley kicks someone's ass. I finally finished this, the
part that would not die.
Feedback- please it's the only way I'll get better.
Dedication- To Tenhawk, Nick Midian, and all the other authors of epic
stories. I don't know you, but your stories have entertained me and
spurred my imagination. Thank you.
***
" Where's Angel?"
Everyone could hear the note of panic in Buffy's voice. Xander and the others looked around. Angel was gone and the sirens were drawing closer. Tara said, " I think I saw one of those masked soldier guys take him."
" We have to look for him. Track them." Buffy looked around trying to find a trail she could use.
" We don't have time Buffy. We got to get Giles and Willow out of here."
" But, But." Buffy's eye's shone with worry.
" But nothing." Buffy could hear the note of command in Xander's voice; command that had not been there when she last saw Xander. " We'll get everybody safe, then we can question the Boy Scout here, and we'll find out what happened to Angel." Xander shook the unconscious commando on his back.
Buffy nodded and the reunited scoobies took off into the night, sirens on their heels.
***
Darkness closed around him. He'd been imprisoned for so long. Millennia. Then the ring that was the key to his prison was picked and cracks began to show in his prison. He could feel the mind of his releaser, chaotic, passionate, and filled with a dark obsession that straddled love and hate.
Extending his senses beyond the ring bearer, he found many weaker minds.
Unsuitable minds.
Then he found her. A mind that rushed with thoughts, feelings, emotions. He could feel her insanity. Taste it. The mind was almost child- like in her malevolence. Innocently cruel.
And so very easy to manipulate.
It was a mind that needs order. That sought it. Normally her lover imposed that order, but now he would impose it.
He whispered dark secrets into her thoughts. Told her of pathways that had not been walked in thousands of years. Spells of ancient power, whose words of command had not been uttered since the days of True Demons, when his kind walked the earth, lowest of the demon races.
His people would rise. Blood would pour from the heavens, and night will blot out the sky.
***
Drusilla slowly stretched like a cat and came awake. Immediately she noticed that Spike was not next to her and whimpered plaintively. Pulling off her covers she slunk over to her dollhouse naked and snatched up Miss Edith. Miss Edith would comfort her until Spike came back. He could always calm the voices.
Aside from Spike, Miss Edith was the only thing that could soothe both her beast and her demons. Walking back to their shared bed she flung her self onto it. She cuddled the worn doll began to whisper to it. The way a teenager would whisper to her friend.
" Me thinks our spike has found the pretty ring." Dru stared at her doll and cocked her head, listening to the doll as it whispered in her ear. " Miss Edith," she giggled with false shock. " That's quite the naught thought. Spike will love it."
Spike entered his chamber in the underground temple, a pensive look on his face. He had the ring of Amara now. He could not be killed, yet beyond finding the ring he hadn't thought of a plan. Besides kill the slayer of course.
Drusilla watched as her lover played with the emerald ring on his finger. " Spike," she laughed. " Miss Edith gave me the nastiest thoughts."
" Tell me all 'bout it luv, but for gods sake put on some clothes. You'll distract the minions." Spike sat in the corner of their bed as he watched as Drusilla grabbed a black lace skirt and a pearl gray corset. An outfit like that wouldn't do much to prevent the minions from being distracted. He watched her as she dressed, tracing the lines of her beautiful but emaciated features with his eyes. Drusilla had started starving herself while being tortured by Angelus. After she was turned, her body never recovered the weight. Spike had tried everything to get her to look better, but nothing worked. He hated that she looked as frail as she did, even if he knew it was a lie.
" Spike?" Drusilla drew out his name with kittenish purr distracting him from his thoughts. " Don't you feel different here Spike? Stronger? Doesn't your blood sing here?"
Spike considered for a moment. " I 'ave been feeling extra peckish now that you mention it luv. Why is that? What's 'ere?"
Drusilla danced around the room slowly swaying to music only she could hear. " This is the lost temple to Amara, the Blood God. The god of vampires." Leaning down conspiratorially she whispered, " Miss Edith whispered to me where the secret holy places are, places with awful magic secrets. Magic's to make us better, to make us stronger. Secrets lost to the night and the stars don't tell secrets." She looked at Spike with her sad expressive eyes. " The stars don't tell secrets but Miss Edith does."
Spike was in shock. Accidentally he had stumbled upon the holiest site in vampire mythology. Lost for thousands of years it contained ancient lore that had been lost to vampire magi ages ago. He began thinking furiously. Even with the Gem of Amara he wasn't sure he could take the blond slayer and all her friends. She was different than the others. Her friends gave her strength. Perhaps the magic's in this temple could even the playing field, give him the necessary edge. Spike could feel his blood rise as he thought about Buffy. She was strong, beautiful, and bold. Spike had killed a number of slayers in the past, stalked them, watched them, hunted them and he wanted none more he wanted Buffy Summers. He fingered the gem of Amara. The golden slayer was going down.
" Show me where these secrets are, Dru." Then he laughed, " but first. Give Spike a taste." The he threw on the bed and leapt on her. Together they laughed and rolled around. Just another happy couple doing some blood play.
***
Forrest, Graham, and the rest of the soldiers snuck back on the initiative base. The two leads were shooting evil looks at each other and the soldiers in between were distinctly uncomfortable.
Forrest entered the main chamber of the initiative and began shouting orders to the scientists. " We bagged ourselves a vampire, and he's a real old one too." He handed the unconscious Angel to some guards who dragged him off to a holding cell.
One of the scientists turned to the soldiers and said, " When he wakes up we'll begin prepping him for surgery. I'm eager to test the next generation of behavioral modification technology."
Professor Walsh walked over to the returning soldiers. " Where is Captain Finn?" Her voice was even and seemingly unconcerned, but the tightness around her eyes belied her concern. Riley was like a son to her.
Graham saluted. " Ma'am, we encountered a pack of nearly two dozen vampire hostiles along with the polgaras. Sandwiched between them were a group of civilian hunters. They would have been slaughtered, so Captain Finn made a command decision to attempt a rescue and abandon the primary mission of recovering the polgara bodies. He was knocked out in the ensuing battle. The second in command felt it necessary to leave before he awoke." Graham spat out the last part, undisguised contempt for Forrest in his voice.
" Civilian hunters! Who were they?" Dr. Walsh's voice grew cold at the mention of how her mission had gotten screwed up. " And where are my dammed polgara bodies. I-We need them for research."
Forrest jumped in. " We don't know who they were. The hunters were mostly girls. And oddly enough the vampire we brought in was working with them. One of the hunters was a tiny blond girl, I think I've seen her around campus, and the vampire didn't leave her side until the end of the battle." He paused for a second and his voice took on an admiring tone. " I've seen lots of strange things working for the initiative but this group did things I ain't never seen before. A couple of the girls seemed as strong as vampires and a few were doing MAGIC!" He shook his head. " I read the reports about practitioners but I didn't believe them until I saw these girls in action. One shot FIRE from her hands."
Another soldier piped up. " I saw one girl. A real looker dressed in all white. I don't know what she did, but she stared down several vamps. Craziest damn thing I ever saw."
" Forrest I want you to take your men and recover those polgara bodies. Recovering them is our first priority." Dr. Walsh said in a clipped tone.
Graham stepped forward. " What about Riley. He's still out there and who knows who has him."
Professor Walsh's voice sent chills down his spine. " Captain Finn has screwed up my mission. He will be dealt with at the proper time. You have your orders."
" Yes ma'am." A muscle throbbed Graham's jaw as he fought back a retort.
" Our night ain't over yet guys. Lets move out." Forrest shouted.
***
When the scoobies reached Giles apartment, Xander continued to give orders. " I'm throwing sleeping beauty in the bedroom. Faith you revive Giles. Cordy see what you can do about Willow." Xander disappeared into Giles bedroom, Anya trailing behind him
Buffy noticed that Xander, Cordy, and Faith seemed to move like a well-oiled machine. Like they've been working with each other for ages. Which surprised Buffy, since the last time she had seem the group, Cordy and Faith couldn't be in the same room with each other without it devolving into a screaming match.
Faith moved to lay Giles down on his couch while Cordelia laid Willow down on the lazy boy. Oz silently grabbed a chair from the kitchen and set up shop next to Willow. He silently started stroking her hair. The only sign of Oz's worry was tightness around his eyes.
Amy and Tara's eyes widened when they saw Faith place her hands around Giles head and a pulse of barely restrained power seemed to emanate from her hands. To the mystically tuned witches, Faith seemed to radiate power. It was an ancient, primal power that had nothing to do with the essence of the slayer that should have permeated the raven-haired woman. " What are you doing," Amy asked
Faith smiled, " I'm checking G here to see if he has any head injuries."
Tara spoke up shyly. " He w-w-wasn't hit in the head that I saw."
Faith laughed. " Have you ever known Giles to ever not have a head injury?" She looked at two tired witches. " Are you two doing okay?"
" Me and Tara are both okay. We're a little tired but it's nothing rest and some lovin' won't cure." Amy jutted out her chin. " Do you have a problem with me and Tara," and she lifted up their entwined hands.
Faith let out a deep throaty laugh. "Your gonna realize how funny that is in about twenty minutes."
Giles slowly opened his eyes, and immediately patted his jacket for his glasses. "Looking for these," a very familiar voice called out and glasses were pressed into his hands. Placing them on his face he blinked and looked at the face of his rescuer.
" Faith?"
" The one and only." Faith smiled down at the befuddled watcher. " Cordelia is over there checking out Little Red and Xander is in your bedroom chaining up a captive. We're back."
" How," Giles sputtered, " we tried every spell we knew and we couldn't find you anywhere in time or space. The spells all worked, you- you just weren't there." Years seemed to melt off of Giles as he took in the fact that his three lost children were back safe and sound.
Faith stopped smiling. " There's no easy way to say this," and she looked at Cordelia, who gravely nodded in confirmation, " So I'm just going to come out and say it. We, Xander, Cordy, and I, are the Three."
" That's not possible, The Three are ancient demon hunters dating back thousands of years. Their legends are numerous. A whole section of the council library is devoted to their exploits in this dimension and a dozen others." Giles began furiously rubbing his glasses. " How can this be true?"
Faith shrugged her shoulders. " It is true. It's also a very long story. Xander will tell it when he gets back."
" What is it honey?" Amy asked Tara. Amy had seen that Tara had recognized the name. " What are The Three?"
Tara looked at Faith with wide eyes. " They're exactly what Giles said they were. They are immortal demon hunters with fearsome reputations. Of the three, one is a warrior, one is an oracle, and one is." Tara was so shocked she couldn't even finish who the last member of the triumvirate was. Giles looked just as awestruck.
Giles sighed. " I assume you are the warrior, Faith."
" Sorry G, that honor belongs to Xander."
Cordelia spoke up from where she was doing something to willow. " I am the Oracle."
Giles eyes grew like saucers. Turning to Faith, " that must make you The-The-"
" The Goddess." Faith smirked. " Come on, like you didn't see that one coming."
***
Anya followed Xander into the spare bedroom. Her eyes were wide and she was cracking her knuckles like bad caricature of a nazi interrogator, although considering her age, perhaps it wasn't a caricature. Xander shot her a quizzical look as he deposited Riley on the bed and proceeded to use some handcuffs to imprison him to the bed.
" I so don't want to know why Giles has spare handcuffs in his bedroom." Xander laughed.
" I do not see why you find that surprising. Giles is an attractive man for his advanced age. Bondage play is also an satisfactory form of sexual pleasuring."
She was surprised to hear Xander mutter, " don't have to tell me that."
She continued. " I myself might have decided to pursue him but I would like to have a mate closer to my physical age to help me when I have my brood of squalling children." Anya looked at Xander suspiciously. Then she snapped her fingers. " Venice, 1584. You were at that party I attended when I was trying to curse that ridiculous tutor."
" Anyanka?" Xander blinked in surprise. " Didn't you try to convince my wives to curse me for, and I quote ' the travesty of forcing two lovely and strong women into the indignity of polygamy'."
She looked sheepish, " lovely, you, uh, still remember that, great. But how could you be four hundred old, and be Buffy and Willows friend from Sunnydale. I don't get it."
" What am I doing here. What are you doing here? You're a vengeance demon. Shouldn't you be out harassing husbands or something?"
Anya shook her head sadly. " I lost my powers thanks to a stupid wish by that idiot woman-child Harmony. I am mortal now, and I'm stuck as a eighteen year old in college." The she perks up. " My major is business. I wish to be a day trader. The stock market is almost as stimulating as wreaking vengeance." Then she narrowed her eyes. " Now who are you, because there's no way you could be Buffy and Willow's friend that I have heard so much about?"
" We're the Three. Cordy is the Oracle, Faith is the Goddess and I am the warrior."
Anya grew white. In her long life she had heard of the three. Just about everyone in the demonic underworld has heard of them. D'hoffran was terrified of attracting their attention. The Source left them alone. Their reputation was by turns fearsome and heroic. They seemed to want nothing more than to live their lives in peace, yet repeatedly they found themselves embroiled in demonic battles across more than a dozen dimensions. She stuttered, " Why didn't you kill me when I tried to have you cursed."
" Easy." Xander grinned. " Faith was real drunk at the party and thought you were funny as hell. She and Cordy had a good laugh about cursing me." Then he grimaced. " Thanks to you, I spent the next century and a half listening to my wives threaten to sic you on me if I misbehaved."
Anya thumbed her finger at the door and said, " I will attend to Mister Lying Soldier Man here. You go back out there and talk to your friends." She smiled. " I bet you have been waiting a long time to see them again."
" You have no idea." Turning he stopped at the door. " Are you sure you don't need any help?"
Anya snorted. " Please. This is an American soldier, not a Noreth demon. Of course I can get him to talk. The day I needed the wish to wrestle information from a man is the day I kill myself." She shook her head, muttering about a lack a faith.
Xander smiled and made his way to the door. Before he opened it, Anya called out, " she's one of them, isn't she? Buffy. She's like you, an undying one." Anya's voice was soft and filled with maturity and sadness that would have surprised her new friends.
Xander's shoulders sagged. " Yes she is."
" She won't be able to kill, to take heads." It was a statement, not a question.
" I know. She doesn't have that kind of instinct. Killing demons and vampires to protect the world is one thing. Slayers don't have the instincts to kill in the cold blood required to take heads. Their instincts are a mother's instincts. Violence in the service of protection."
" What will you do?"
Xander sighed. " Train her. Hope I can override her instincts." Saying that with finality Xander left the room, an aura of sadness surrounding him.
Anya starred after the immortal. He seemed so unlike the person Buffy and Willow had described to her. He's funny and his eyes certainly sparkled with the life they described but they also showed sadness and wisdom that seemed to have no place in such a young face. Eyes that she saw in the mirror every day.
Anya understood better than anyone else what time could do to a person. Immortality doesn't change a person; time merely strips away layers until the immortal stands bare, purified by experience until they are more themselves than they ever could be with a simple mortal life span. Who they were was crystallized the way carbon was pressed into diamonds. And in both cases similar means were used. A great deal of pressure. As she thought she wandered over to the bathroom and filled a cup of water. Coming back she stared at the peacefully unconscious Riley Finn. She smiled at him, her eyes tracing his muscular frame encased in dark fatigues. Smiling contentedly, she flung the water in his face waking him up.
Sputtering, Riley came wake and tried to wipe the water from his eyes. He swiftly found out that he was bound to the bed. Anya smiled and purred, " Riley we need to talk."
She didn't need powers to make a man talk.
***
Willow could feel energy pour into her. It was cool and seemed to carry with it the sense of fog and rain. It washed into her depleted reserves filling her up. She could feel her soul drink in the power, greedy for anything to take away the terrible emptiness that results from expending too much magic.
As she drew on the force, feeding her, a deluge of images assaulted her mind. She saw herself older, stronger, fighting beings that were neither demon nor human. Some seemed to have the strength of slayers, others hideous forms that combined beast and man. The world around her was torn apart by war and chaos. Then the images shifted.
This time she stood at the grave of Oz, the stones of the grave worn down with time. Tears dripped from her face as she traced the letters of his name. Turning around she walked away, images in fog following her out of the cemetery. Willow tried to catch hold of those images to see whom she was with, but the people kept slipping away like quicksilver through fingertips.
Slowly her mind began to awaken. She blinked open her eyes and found that she was laying on Giles easy chair. A blurry figure came into focus. " Cordelia?"
The young woman before her smiled, " Miss me?"
Tiredly, Willow said the first thing that popped into her mind. " Not really." Then she smiled and added. " It is good to see you again, though."
" But I bet you missed me," a familiar voice called out from the bedroom door. Willow looked up and surprise widened her eyes as she saw Xander, an older looking and much better dressed Xander, walk across the floor. Eyes on Willow he knelt by where she was sitting. Willow blinked away tears as her mouth moved without sound. Xander whispered, " were you always this pretty?" tracing her thin jawline with a finger he whispered again, " and were you always this thin?"
The dam broke. " Oh goddess, is that really you Xander, are you really here. We tried to find you. We really did. I learned all kinds of hard locator spells and we cast them and they never worked. I was so worried we'd never see you again." Willow reached forward in a blur and grappled Xander in an iron-grip and buried her head in his shoulders. She began to shake and whisper, " I missed you so much Xander. Your home now. It can be like it was before you disappeared."
Xander held willow and murmured, " Just like it was. Same as always." Only Tara and Cordelia sensed the tension in his shoulders and the pain in his voice as he whispered his platitudes.
Giles got up off his couch with a groan. " It is indeed good to see you three again Xander, but."
".You have questions," Xander continued. " Cordy and Faith have been telling you strange things and you don't know what to believe."
" That about sums it up," Giles said.
" What happened Xander?" Buffy asked. " I can feel that Faith isn't a slayer anymore. I can't sense her the way I used to. And she says that she's not a slayer anymore but how's that possible?"
" Since Anya is questioning soldier boy on the whereabouts of Angel, I can give you the short version of what happened to us." Xander looked around and saw he had the full attention of the whole group. He met the eyes of his wives and they each gave him a strengthening nod and small smile. " It all starts with the night the sisterhood of Jhe tried to open the hellmouth. I assume that everyone remembers that night."
The group gave a collective shudder as they each remembered the hell of that night. ***
Flashback-the night of the Zeppo
Cordelia's lungs burned as she ran down the corridor of Sunnydale high. Oz was right behind her and gaining fast. She could practically feel his hot werewolfy breath bearing down on her. She could definitely hear his claws scratching at the floor as he chased her.
She just had to get to the library.
As she raced down the hallway she contemplated how she got to this point in time. What she realized was that this was all Xander Harris's fault. He had to go and find someone else to be happy with, while she was stuck with the rich losers her daddy wanted her to date. So while Xander was happy with the slut slayer Faith, she was running through the hallway of Sunnydale High because her date wasn't man enough to stand up to Jack and 'Katie' when he decided cordy would make a good zombie date. This was so Xander's fault.
Xander would have stood up to him.
And that is what pissed her off the most. She would have never dumped him if her father hadn't threatened to cut her off for dating 'beneath her'. Going against Harmony and the others was one thing but her daddy was a whole different game. Xander was a good guy and Faith treated him well. He seemed to really like her and Faith clearly like him based on his loss of virginity on first date while she had held him off for nearly eight months. Despite how mad she was, she still wanted Xander to be proud of her, wanted to be the sort of woman he could love. Which was why, when she found out about the 'cake', she raced to the high school to stop to them.
She did stop jack but in the process managed to attract the attention of Were Oz who had somehow escaped his cage. These stupid heroics she had done tonight were so completely his fault, for being someone she could respect and emulate. As her lungs burned and she poured on the speed to make it to the library she realized one very important thing.
Xander Harris was at fault for everything. That has ever happened. Ever.
***
Buffy ducked another flailing tentacle. The sisters had opened the hellmouth and the gate beast had emerged. Giles and Willow were sitting within a protective circle chanting a spell that should seal the hellmouth and send the beast back. Buffy and the others just had to make sure they got that chance.
Buffy dodged around Angel, who had been sent flying. Worriedly she saw him fly into the opened locker that Oz had escaped from earlier that night. Angel rolled to his feet and swayed a little and stumbled out. Seeing that he was basically okay, she turned to check on Faith and Xander. Xander was hacking away at a thick tentacle with an axe while Faith was working on trying to blind one of the hell beasts many heads. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone seemed to be okay for the moment.
Of course that's when all hell broke loose.
Giles suddenly stood up and broke the protective circle. Raising the Amulet of Jhe, he began walking toward the beast, the incantation pouring from his mouth in an unrecognizable voice.
At the same time Cordelia burst through the doors screaming something about Oz. She was looking behind her and not at the beast in front of her.
Buffy saw everything in slow motion. A tentacle reached out and snatched her up and started dragging her to one of its mouths. Xander screamed in wordless rage and rushed to save his ex-girlfriend. He leapt astride the tentacle and began wailing on it with his axe. Buffy saw Faith mutter something under her breath and went to help Xander. While she was distracted, a second tentacle snuck up behind her and wrapped around her waist.
Buffy was running forward to help her friends when the spell reached a crescendo and Giles belted out the final stanza. White energy poured from the amulet and raced past Buffy and writhed around the hell beast and the three captives.
A flash blinded everyone in the room.
When the white cleared from her eyes, Oz was unconscious, Angel and Willow were dazed, and Giles had passed out on the floor.
And Xander, Cordelia, and Faith had totally disappeared.
*** Present night
" We had no idea where you guys had gone," buffy shook her head. " What made it worse was that whatever caused Giles to finish the spell had altered it so we couldn't track you magically."
" Indeed," Giles added. " I have no idea where that spell came from. It was certainly not one I ever learned."
Xander shrugged. " I guess we'll never know. What I do know is that the spell had some sort of temporal component because we ended up more than three thousand years in the past."
Faith added, " That wasn't even the worst part."
***
Angel came awake slowly. He felt an ache where the stun blast hit him when he dragged himself to his feet. The room he was in was a plain white room. One wall was clear and showed a hallway filled with similar cells, each with one or more creatures in it. His nostrils flared as he inhaled the scent of his prison. Antiseptic and bleach assaulted his senses. Hospital. It smelled like a hospital.
Moving to the clear wall, he rapped it with his knuckles and found that it seemed to be made of strong plexiglass. Just then he heard the distinctive sound of gears as a hole opened up in ceiling and a bag of preserved blood dropped out. Angel picked it up and sniffed it but he could detect nothing through the plastic bag.
" It's drugged," came a harsh whisper from next door. " I seen some vamp from down the hall drink from the bag. She passed out and some bitch and her soldiers took her and she never came back."
" What happened to her?" Angel whispered back
" Don't know. Probably some experiments or some shit like that. These guys have a serious Frankenstein complex. I think they got cameras somewhere around here too because they always seem to know when a vamp breaks down and drinks the blood."
Angel's stomach took that moment to rumble.
He was hungry. *** Flashback- The Past
Xander opened his eyes. He knew he was alive cause of the pain that seemed to radiate from his pores. He seemed to be lying on the grass and the sun was shining. Groaning he sat up and looked around. Everywhere he saw grass and a few trees and hills. Lots of hills. Then he remembered the hellmouth.
He also remembered Faith and Cordelia. Panicking and saw both of his girls lying near him. Faith was wearing her leathers from the night before and Cordelia wore her standard expensively tailored dress. Both girls seemed to be waking up, Cordelia slightly faster than Faith.
She brushed the grass off her dress. Her voice quavered as she called for Xander. Xander could tell how scared she was by her voice. Cordelia made a point to never show fear around Faith. She didn't want the slayer to think her a coward.
At the same time Faith slowly came awake and blinked weakly in the bright light. She saw cordelia and moaned, " Great the bitch queen got dragged along with us." She rolled her eyes and swayed slightly.
Cordelia's eyes widened and she hissed, " what did you say you skanky bitch."
Faith strode up to Cordelia. " I said It's your fucking fault that we're," and she looked around, " where ever the hell we are." And then Faith took a swing at Cordelia's face before Xander could interfere.
And promptly hurt her hand.
*** Present Night
Drusilla led spike down a dark spiraling staircase that lay within a hidden passageway in the temple. They both shifted into their game faces in order to better see in the darkness.
" Its not much farther Spike." Drusilla clapped her hands like a child excited for Christmas. She skipped the last few steps and started down the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Spike smiled as he followed his ladylove down the hall. He loved seeing her this happy.
At the end of the hallway was a great door bound by runes that radiated black, blasphemous power. Spike felt right at home. Then he took note of the solidness of the stone door and blanched. " Dru, luv, how the hell are we going to get past that door."
Drusilla giggled. " Miss Edith whispered the words in my dreams. All that I must do is whisper them to the door." Spike strained his vampire hearing in order to hear the whisperings of Drusilla. He couldn't tell what language she was speaking. The words themselves seemed to flit across his consciousness but he could not hold onto their meaning.
With a great grinding sound the door slid open revealing stale air and cold, dark room on the other side. Drusilla walked into the room, spike a few short steps behind. Drusilla clapped her hands and whispered a short spell. Diffuse light spread to every corner of the room revealing its contents. Spike let out a long low whistle as he took in the contents of the room. Scrolls and spell books were piled like candy treats on an ancient stone table. Gems and jewelry dusted the ground and the whole place stank of magic. Spike walked over to the table and grabbed one of the spell books. He opened it excitedly and started to read. His smile quickly turned into a frown and he dropped to book, and picked up another one, then another. Growling he slapped all the books off the table and screamed in rage.
" Bollocks!" He yelled. " Bloody hell Dru. All these spells are in Sumerian. I DON"T SPEAK BLOODY SUMERIAN," Spike screamed, bloody spittle flying from his mouth.
Drusilla quavered in fear as spike vented his rage on the contents of the room. " I know Spike," she whispered. She watched as he raged. The girlish part of her recoiled in fear while her demon wallowed in his dark glory.
Ever mercurial, spike calmed down after seeing how much he was scaring his Dru. " What do you mean you know? We don't know any vampire sorcerers who speak Sumerian."
Still scared, Drusilla whispered, " I know who we need. She's trapped in a prison of gold and lost in the fallen hall." She began whispering directions in spikes ear and slowly spike started to smile.
***
" I had lost all of my slayer powers," Faith said. Her eyes darkened as she remembered those long ago memories. Xander and Cordelia reached out together and drew her in to their embrace. The others were surprised at the level of casual intimacy the three of them had. The coiled up together so comfortably and easily. It did not take an empath to figure out they shared some sort of special bond. " I felt so useless," she whispered. " The only thing I ever thought made me worth more than these," and she shook her breasts, " was gone. I thought for sure Xander was going to leave me and go back to her," and she shook her thumb at Cordelia.
Buffy reached across the table. " I know what its like, Faith. The council has a ritual where they use drugs to take away a slayers power and put them through a series of tests for god only knows what reason. They did it to me after you three had disappeared. " She smiled ruefully and added, " I wasn't exactly at my best then."
Xander nodded sagely. " The crucimentum. There actually is a good reason for it, but the council has screwed it up. They've forgotten what the actual point of the exercise is."
Buffy was about to interject angrily when Giles asked, " How do you know about that Xander?"
" Part of the same long story. How 'bout I finish the story before the big questions start." Xander sounded a little annoyed. " Okay," he began, "so we were lost and we had no idea where. First thing we decided to do was to try and find a phone or a map. Just about any sign of civilization would have done. All we found were some villages with really unfriendly natives, jabbering about in a language none of us had ever heard. We weren't welcome in the towns so we had to live ended up living in hills and caves while we tried to figure out what we were going to do."
Faith patted Xander's hand and smiled at him. " We would have died if it weren't for Xander. His soldier skills starting coming back to him I guess cause of the stress, the survivalist parts of it anyway. He hunted for us. A poor chick from south Boston and a rich princess," at that Cordelia snorted, " don't exactly have what it takes to survive in the hills."
" It wasn't just the soldier skills. The leftovers of my hyena possession became active and I started to draw on its instincts heavily in order to provide from my pack." As Xander spoke, his eyes began to shift to a feral yellow.
" We were becoming worried for Xander," Cordy said as she took up the story. " He was sinking deeper into in the animal side of his nature. He was starting to lose speech, and we couldn't do anything because we weren't near civilization and we had no real place to go."
" That's when we met her." ***
" Anya, what the hell are you doing?" Riley struggled against his bonds. " Where Am I? What government do you work for?"
Impassively, Anya cocked her head. " What makes you think I work for any government, Riley? After all, you're just a teacher's aid. Or maybe you're not just a teacher's aid? Maybe your like James Bond." She thumped her foot authoritatively and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. " I think you were hiding your soldiery skills in order to get me in the sack and inflict lots of orgasms on me. I've seen James Bond movies before. He always uses his sexual prowess to mess with the heads of innocent femme fatales." Anya appeared less than disturbed about the thought of inflicted orgasms.
" Orgasms?" Riley's voice began to grow higher as he began to believe that a madwoman who wanted to molest him sexually was imprisoning him. " Anya," he said soothingly, " why don't you let me go and we can talk about this calmly and rationally. No orgasms need to be inflicted on anybody."
" Rationally," she screeched, " I LIKED you. You have a pleasing shape and straight teeth. Now I find out you're a demon hunter. Probably like to hunt innocent vengeance demons just doing their job." She shook her head. " I had high hopes that you would give me lots of orgasms. I, in turn, would give you as many orgasms as your inferior male sexual organs and refractory period could stand. Quid Pro Quo, just I like learned in my capitalistic business classes."
Riley watched Anya vent in her rage. Her skin was flushed and her eyes seemed to shine with both hardness and innocence in a beguiling combination that he had a hard time removing his gaze from. She was different from just about any other girl he had met back in Iowa or here in Sunnydale. Then he started focusing on what she was saying. " What do you mean by demons?"
" Please," Anya waved her hands, " your squad was clearly after the polgara's. Same as my friends and I. Even the incompetent US government couldn't stay ignorant of the supernatural forever. Whom do you work for?" Suddenly she got excited, " I bet it's the CIA. Its always the CIA in the movies."
" I don't work for the CIA Anya." Riley sighed.
" MI-6?" she asked hopefully.
" Anya," Riley said exasperated, " MI-6 is British. Besides we're attempting to compete with the British. They're much more advanced in this field than we are." He said without thinking.
" AHAH," Anya crowed, " You do work for part of the government."
Dammit Riley muttered to himself. She had him. All his counterintelligence training and an eighteen-year-old girl bested him. It was those damn beguiling eyes. Some cool secret agent he was. " Fine Anya. I really do work for the government and I'll tell you what I know."
Anya smiled widely. Perhaps there was still hope for many orgasms. He was after all very attractive. " Darn right you will. First off, your men took a friend of ours, who happens to be a vampire. Where would they take him?" Anya then added, " Riley, as much as I like you, if you lie to me, you'll live a long time before you die. I've forgotten more about torture than your superiors could ever prepare you for." That last part was said, not in the voice of Anya the excitable ex-demon, but the dangerous tone of Anyanka, the demon saint of scorned women.
*** Flashback
The woman walked into the campsite the three of them had been using for the last week. Xander was curled up near the fire. Faith watched him worriedly since he had not spoken in more than three days. Meanwhile Cordelia alternated between watching Xander and engaging in a staring contest with Faith. Each young teenager radiated visible hatred for the other, hatred that could only develop between two women who loved the same man. Both of them noticed the female stranger at the same time. The woman wore a deep cloak that hid her figure and gender. Only the cascade of Obsidian hair that hung past the cowl of the cloak told she was female.
Faith stood up and snatched the axe that had come through the portal with them. She could feel the heaviness of the weapon she had once been able to wield with ease. The woman raised a single smooth had and said in strong clear voice, " I mean you no harm Faith."
She was speaking perfect English.
" How the fuck do you know my name? And how come your speaking English."
" That is a very good question, but not the most important question." The woman circled around the fire moving towards Xander. Drawing back her hood the woman revealed a beautiful olive face. Faith was shocked at how young to woman appeared. She seemed barely older than Dawn, fourteen at the oldest. Yet the smile playing about her eyes and mouth conveyed great age and wisdom well beyond her physical years. " The real question is, why am I speaking a language that won't exist for more than three thousand years."
Then the too-old youngster began to laugh. *** Present Night
" The chick did something to Xander's beast, causing it to subside and. Xander actually started talking again." Faith spoke in awe of the mysterious woman that appeared in her camp. " Then she laid down the real ball buster. She said we were more than three thousand years in the past, in ancient Turkey."
Xander took over the story again. " She offered to take us in, give us a place to stay while she looked for a way to get us home. We didn't exactly have a lot of options so we went with her. She seemed to be a powerful sorceress masquerading as a child." Xander laughed softly. " We had no idea what we were getting involved with."
*** Flashback
The four of them made their way along a dirt road to the city where the sorceress said she lived. The terrain seemed to be pass by at an unnatural speed as the mysterious sorceress led them, and Xander had the sneaking suspicion that she was using magic because although the trip seemed to take all night, he knew there was no city within one nights walking distance. Yet as the sun crept over the horizon and lit the sky pink, the sorceress led them to a great walled city by the ocean. Xander stood in awe as he guessed the walls had to be at least sixty feet tall and manned by dozens of soldiers. As the keenest eyed soldiers spied the travelers, shouts began to ring out.
" The princess has returned!"
" Alert the king!"
" Prepare her honor guard!"
The three from Sunnydale stood in shock as the great gates opened and more than a dozen guards formed up. The princess, head held high, told the lead guard to make ready rooms and suitable clothing for her guests. Clapping a hand to his breast he left to comply. She led the three into the city and smiled breathing deeply of the sea and city air.
" Welcome Faith, Xander, and Cordelia to my home."
" Welcome to Troy."
***
***
" Where's Angel?"
Everyone could hear the note of panic in Buffy's voice. Xander and the others looked around. Angel was gone and the sirens were drawing closer. Tara said, " I think I saw one of those masked soldier guys take him."
" We have to look for him. Track them." Buffy looked around trying to find a trail she could use.
" We don't have time Buffy. We got to get Giles and Willow out of here."
" But, But." Buffy's eye's shone with worry.
" But nothing." Buffy could hear the note of command in Xander's voice; command that had not been there when she last saw Xander. " We'll get everybody safe, then we can question the Boy Scout here, and we'll find out what happened to Angel." Xander shook the unconscious commando on his back.
Buffy nodded and the reunited scoobies took off into the night, sirens on their heels.
***
Darkness closed around him. He'd been imprisoned for so long. Millennia. Then the ring that was the key to his prison was picked and cracks began to show in his prison. He could feel the mind of his releaser, chaotic, passionate, and filled with a dark obsession that straddled love and hate.
Extending his senses beyond the ring bearer, he found many weaker minds.
Unsuitable minds.
Then he found her. A mind that rushed with thoughts, feelings, emotions. He could feel her insanity. Taste it. The mind was almost child- like in her malevolence. Innocently cruel.
And so very easy to manipulate.
It was a mind that needs order. That sought it. Normally her lover imposed that order, but now he would impose it.
He whispered dark secrets into her thoughts. Told her of pathways that had not been walked in thousands of years. Spells of ancient power, whose words of command had not been uttered since the days of True Demons, when his kind walked the earth, lowest of the demon races.
His people would rise. Blood would pour from the heavens, and night will blot out the sky.
***
Drusilla slowly stretched like a cat and came awake. Immediately she noticed that Spike was not next to her and whimpered plaintively. Pulling off her covers she slunk over to her dollhouse naked and snatched up Miss Edith. Miss Edith would comfort her until Spike came back. He could always calm the voices.
Aside from Spike, Miss Edith was the only thing that could soothe both her beast and her demons. Walking back to their shared bed she flung her self onto it. She cuddled the worn doll began to whisper to it. The way a teenager would whisper to her friend.
" Me thinks our spike has found the pretty ring." Dru stared at her doll and cocked her head, listening to the doll as it whispered in her ear. " Miss Edith," she giggled with false shock. " That's quite the naught thought. Spike will love it."
Spike entered his chamber in the underground temple, a pensive look on his face. He had the ring of Amara now. He could not be killed, yet beyond finding the ring he hadn't thought of a plan. Besides kill the slayer of course.
Drusilla watched as her lover played with the emerald ring on his finger. " Spike," she laughed. " Miss Edith gave me the nastiest thoughts."
" Tell me all 'bout it luv, but for gods sake put on some clothes. You'll distract the minions." Spike sat in the corner of their bed as he watched as Drusilla grabbed a black lace skirt and a pearl gray corset. An outfit like that wouldn't do much to prevent the minions from being distracted. He watched her as she dressed, tracing the lines of her beautiful but emaciated features with his eyes. Drusilla had started starving herself while being tortured by Angelus. After she was turned, her body never recovered the weight. Spike had tried everything to get her to look better, but nothing worked. He hated that she looked as frail as she did, even if he knew it was a lie.
" Spike?" Drusilla drew out his name with kittenish purr distracting him from his thoughts. " Don't you feel different here Spike? Stronger? Doesn't your blood sing here?"
Spike considered for a moment. " I 'ave been feeling extra peckish now that you mention it luv. Why is that? What's 'ere?"
Drusilla danced around the room slowly swaying to music only she could hear. " This is the lost temple to Amara, the Blood God. The god of vampires." Leaning down conspiratorially she whispered, " Miss Edith whispered to me where the secret holy places are, places with awful magic secrets. Magic's to make us better, to make us stronger. Secrets lost to the night and the stars don't tell secrets." She looked at Spike with her sad expressive eyes. " The stars don't tell secrets but Miss Edith does."
Spike was in shock. Accidentally he had stumbled upon the holiest site in vampire mythology. Lost for thousands of years it contained ancient lore that had been lost to vampire magi ages ago. He began thinking furiously. Even with the Gem of Amara he wasn't sure he could take the blond slayer and all her friends. She was different than the others. Her friends gave her strength. Perhaps the magic's in this temple could even the playing field, give him the necessary edge. Spike could feel his blood rise as he thought about Buffy. She was strong, beautiful, and bold. Spike had killed a number of slayers in the past, stalked them, watched them, hunted them and he wanted none more he wanted Buffy Summers. He fingered the gem of Amara. The golden slayer was going down.
" Show me where these secrets are, Dru." Then he laughed, " but first. Give Spike a taste." The he threw on the bed and leapt on her. Together they laughed and rolled around. Just another happy couple doing some blood play.
***
Forrest, Graham, and the rest of the soldiers snuck back on the initiative base. The two leads were shooting evil looks at each other and the soldiers in between were distinctly uncomfortable.
Forrest entered the main chamber of the initiative and began shouting orders to the scientists. " We bagged ourselves a vampire, and he's a real old one too." He handed the unconscious Angel to some guards who dragged him off to a holding cell.
One of the scientists turned to the soldiers and said, " When he wakes up we'll begin prepping him for surgery. I'm eager to test the next generation of behavioral modification technology."
Professor Walsh walked over to the returning soldiers. " Where is Captain Finn?" Her voice was even and seemingly unconcerned, but the tightness around her eyes belied her concern. Riley was like a son to her.
Graham saluted. " Ma'am, we encountered a pack of nearly two dozen vampire hostiles along with the polgaras. Sandwiched between them were a group of civilian hunters. They would have been slaughtered, so Captain Finn made a command decision to attempt a rescue and abandon the primary mission of recovering the polgara bodies. He was knocked out in the ensuing battle. The second in command felt it necessary to leave before he awoke." Graham spat out the last part, undisguised contempt for Forrest in his voice.
" Civilian hunters! Who were they?" Dr. Walsh's voice grew cold at the mention of how her mission had gotten screwed up. " And where are my dammed polgara bodies. I-We need them for research."
Forrest jumped in. " We don't know who they were. The hunters were mostly girls. And oddly enough the vampire we brought in was working with them. One of the hunters was a tiny blond girl, I think I've seen her around campus, and the vampire didn't leave her side until the end of the battle." He paused for a second and his voice took on an admiring tone. " I've seen lots of strange things working for the initiative but this group did things I ain't never seen before. A couple of the girls seemed as strong as vampires and a few were doing MAGIC!" He shook his head. " I read the reports about practitioners but I didn't believe them until I saw these girls in action. One shot FIRE from her hands."
Another soldier piped up. " I saw one girl. A real looker dressed in all white. I don't know what she did, but she stared down several vamps. Craziest damn thing I ever saw."
" Forrest I want you to take your men and recover those polgara bodies. Recovering them is our first priority." Dr. Walsh said in a clipped tone.
Graham stepped forward. " What about Riley. He's still out there and who knows who has him."
Professor Walsh's voice sent chills down his spine. " Captain Finn has screwed up my mission. He will be dealt with at the proper time. You have your orders."
" Yes ma'am." A muscle throbbed Graham's jaw as he fought back a retort.
" Our night ain't over yet guys. Lets move out." Forrest shouted.
***
When the scoobies reached Giles apartment, Xander continued to give orders. " I'm throwing sleeping beauty in the bedroom. Faith you revive Giles. Cordy see what you can do about Willow." Xander disappeared into Giles bedroom, Anya trailing behind him
Buffy noticed that Xander, Cordy, and Faith seemed to move like a well-oiled machine. Like they've been working with each other for ages. Which surprised Buffy, since the last time she had seem the group, Cordy and Faith couldn't be in the same room with each other without it devolving into a screaming match.
Faith moved to lay Giles down on his couch while Cordelia laid Willow down on the lazy boy. Oz silently grabbed a chair from the kitchen and set up shop next to Willow. He silently started stroking her hair. The only sign of Oz's worry was tightness around his eyes.
Amy and Tara's eyes widened when they saw Faith place her hands around Giles head and a pulse of barely restrained power seemed to emanate from her hands. To the mystically tuned witches, Faith seemed to radiate power. It was an ancient, primal power that had nothing to do with the essence of the slayer that should have permeated the raven-haired woman. " What are you doing," Amy asked
Faith smiled, " I'm checking G here to see if he has any head injuries."
Tara spoke up shyly. " He w-w-wasn't hit in the head that I saw."
Faith laughed. " Have you ever known Giles to ever not have a head injury?" She looked at two tired witches. " Are you two doing okay?"
" Me and Tara are both okay. We're a little tired but it's nothing rest and some lovin' won't cure." Amy jutted out her chin. " Do you have a problem with me and Tara," and she lifted up their entwined hands.
Faith let out a deep throaty laugh. "Your gonna realize how funny that is in about twenty minutes."
Giles slowly opened his eyes, and immediately patted his jacket for his glasses. "Looking for these," a very familiar voice called out and glasses were pressed into his hands. Placing them on his face he blinked and looked at the face of his rescuer.
" Faith?"
" The one and only." Faith smiled down at the befuddled watcher. " Cordelia is over there checking out Little Red and Xander is in your bedroom chaining up a captive. We're back."
" How," Giles sputtered, " we tried every spell we knew and we couldn't find you anywhere in time or space. The spells all worked, you- you just weren't there." Years seemed to melt off of Giles as he took in the fact that his three lost children were back safe and sound.
Faith stopped smiling. " There's no easy way to say this," and she looked at Cordelia, who gravely nodded in confirmation, " So I'm just going to come out and say it. We, Xander, Cordy, and I, are the Three."
" That's not possible, The Three are ancient demon hunters dating back thousands of years. Their legends are numerous. A whole section of the council library is devoted to their exploits in this dimension and a dozen others." Giles began furiously rubbing his glasses. " How can this be true?"
Faith shrugged her shoulders. " It is true. It's also a very long story. Xander will tell it when he gets back."
" What is it honey?" Amy asked Tara. Amy had seen that Tara had recognized the name. " What are The Three?"
Tara looked at Faith with wide eyes. " They're exactly what Giles said they were. They are immortal demon hunters with fearsome reputations. Of the three, one is a warrior, one is an oracle, and one is." Tara was so shocked she couldn't even finish who the last member of the triumvirate was. Giles looked just as awestruck.
Giles sighed. " I assume you are the warrior, Faith."
" Sorry G, that honor belongs to Xander."
Cordelia spoke up from where she was doing something to willow. " I am the Oracle."
Giles eyes grew like saucers. Turning to Faith, " that must make you The-The-"
" The Goddess." Faith smirked. " Come on, like you didn't see that one coming."
***
Anya followed Xander into the spare bedroom. Her eyes were wide and she was cracking her knuckles like bad caricature of a nazi interrogator, although considering her age, perhaps it wasn't a caricature. Xander shot her a quizzical look as he deposited Riley on the bed and proceeded to use some handcuffs to imprison him to the bed.
" I so don't want to know why Giles has spare handcuffs in his bedroom." Xander laughed.
" I do not see why you find that surprising. Giles is an attractive man for his advanced age. Bondage play is also an satisfactory form of sexual pleasuring."
She was surprised to hear Xander mutter, " don't have to tell me that."
She continued. " I myself might have decided to pursue him but I would like to have a mate closer to my physical age to help me when I have my brood of squalling children." Anya looked at Xander suspiciously. Then she snapped her fingers. " Venice, 1584. You were at that party I attended when I was trying to curse that ridiculous tutor."
" Anyanka?" Xander blinked in surprise. " Didn't you try to convince my wives to curse me for, and I quote ' the travesty of forcing two lovely and strong women into the indignity of polygamy'."
She looked sheepish, " lovely, you, uh, still remember that, great. But how could you be four hundred old, and be Buffy and Willows friend from Sunnydale. I don't get it."
" What am I doing here. What are you doing here? You're a vengeance demon. Shouldn't you be out harassing husbands or something?"
Anya shook her head sadly. " I lost my powers thanks to a stupid wish by that idiot woman-child Harmony. I am mortal now, and I'm stuck as a eighteen year old in college." The she perks up. " My major is business. I wish to be a day trader. The stock market is almost as stimulating as wreaking vengeance." Then she narrowed her eyes. " Now who are you, because there's no way you could be Buffy and Willow's friend that I have heard so much about?"
" We're the Three. Cordy is the Oracle, Faith is the Goddess and I am the warrior."
Anya grew white. In her long life she had heard of the three. Just about everyone in the demonic underworld has heard of them. D'hoffran was terrified of attracting their attention. The Source left them alone. Their reputation was by turns fearsome and heroic. They seemed to want nothing more than to live their lives in peace, yet repeatedly they found themselves embroiled in demonic battles across more than a dozen dimensions. She stuttered, " Why didn't you kill me when I tried to have you cursed."
" Easy." Xander grinned. " Faith was real drunk at the party and thought you were funny as hell. She and Cordy had a good laugh about cursing me." Then he grimaced. " Thanks to you, I spent the next century and a half listening to my wives threaten to sic you on me if I misbehaved."
Anya thumbed her finger at the door and said, " I will attend to Mister Lying Soldier Man here. You go back out there and talk to your friends." She smiled. " I bet you have been waiting a long time to see them again."
" You have no idea." Turning he stopped at the door. " Are you sure you don't need any help?"
Anya snorted. " Please. This is an American soldier, not a Noreth demon. Of course I can get him to talk. The day I needed the wish to wrestle information from a man is the day I kill myself." She shook her head, muttering about a lack a faith.
Xander smiled and made his way to the door. Before he opened it, Anya called out, " she's one of them, isn't she? Buffy. She's like you, an undying one." Anya's voice was soft and filled with maturity and sadness that would have surprised her new friends.
Xander's shoulders sagged. " Yes she is."
" She won't be able to kill, to take heads." It was a statement, not a question.
" I know. She doesn't have that kind of instinct. Killing demons and vampires to protect the world is one thing. Slayers don't have the instincts to kill in the cold blood required to take heads. Their instincts are a mother's instincts. Violence in the service of protection."
" What will you do?"
Xander sighed. " Train her. Hope I can override her instincts." Saying that with finality Xander left the room, an aura of sadness surrounding him.
Anya starred after the immortal. He seemed so unlike the person Buffy and Willow had described to her. He's funny and his eyes certainly sparkled with the life they described but they also showed sadness and wisdom that seemed to have no place in such a young face. Eyes that she saw in the mirror every day.
Anya understood better than anyone else what time could do to a person. Immortality doesn't change a person; time merely strips away layers until the immortal stands bare, purified by experience until they are more themselves than they ever could be with a simple mortal life span. Who they were was crystallized the way carbon was pressed into diamonds. And in both cases similar means were used. A great deal of pressure. As she thought she wandered over to the bathroom and filled a cup of water. Coming back she stared at the peacefully unconscious Riley Finn. She smiled at him, her eyes tracing his muscular frame encased in dark fatigues. Smiling contentedly, she flung the water in his face waking him up.
Sputtering, Riley came wake and tried to wipe the water from his eyes. He swiftly found out that he was bound to the bed. Anya smiled and purred, " Riley we need to talk."
She didn't need powers to make a man talk.
***
Willow could feel energy pour into her. It was cool and seemed to carry with it the sense of fog and rain. It washed into her depleted reserves filling her up. She could feel her soul drink in the power, greedy for anything to take away the terrible emptiness that results from expending too much magic.
As she drew on the force, feeding her, a deluge of images assaulted her mind. She saw herself older, stronger, fighting beings that were neither demon nor human. Some seemed to have the strength of slayers, others hideous forms that combined beast and man. The world around her was torn apart by war and chaos. Then the images shifted.
This time she stood at the grave of Oz, the stones of the grave worn down with time. Tears dripped from her face as she traced the letters of his name. Turning around she walked away, images in fog following her out of the cemetery. Willow tried to catch hold of those images to see whom she was with, but the people kept slipping away like quicksilver through fingertips.
Slowly her mind began to awaken. She blinked open her eyes and found that she was laying on Giles easy chair. A blurry figure came into focus. " Cordelia?"
The young woman before her smiled, " Miss me?"
Tiredly, Willow said the first thing that popped into her mind. " Not really." Then she smiled and added. " It is good to see you again, though."
" But I bet you missed me," a familiar voice called out from the bedroom door. Willow looked up and surprise widened her eyes as she saw Xander, an older looking and much better dressed Xander, walk across the floor. Eyes on Willow he knelt by where she was sitting. Willow blinked away tears as her mouth moved without sound. Xander whispered, " were you always this pretty?" tracing her thin jawline with a finger he whispered again, " and were you always this thin?"
The dam broke. " Oh goddess, is that really you Xander, are you really here. We tried to find you. We really did. I learned all kinds of hard locator spells and we cast them and they never worked. I was so worried we'd never see you again." Willow reached forward in a blur and grappled Xander in an iron-grip and buried her head in his shoulders. She began to shake and whisper, " I missed you so much Xander. Your home now. It can be like it was before you disappeared."
Xander held willow and murmured, " Just like it was. Same as always." Only Tara and Cordelia sensed the tension in his shoulders and the pain in his voice as he whispered his platitudes.
Giles got up off his couch with a groan. " It is indeed good to see you three again Xander, but."
".You have questions," Xander continued. " Cordy and Faith have been telling you strange things and you don't know what to believe."
" That about sums it up," Giles said.
" What happened Xander?" Buffy asked. " I can feel that Faith isn't a slayer anymore. I can't sense her the way I used to. And she says that she's not a slayer anymore but how's that possible?"
" Since Anya is questioning soldier boy on the whereabouts of Angel, I can give you the short version of what happened to us." Xander looked around and saw he had the full attention of the whole group. He met the eyes of his wives and they each gave him a strengthening nod and small smile. " It all starts with the night the sisterhood of Jhe tried to open the hellmouth. I assume that everyone remembers that night."
The group gave a collective shudder as they each remembered the hell of that night. ***
Flashback-the night of the Zeppo
Cordelia's lungs burned as she ran down the corridor of Sunnydale high. Oz was right behind her and gaining fast. She could practically feel his hot werewolfy breath bearing down on her. She could definitely hear his claws scratching at the floor as he chased her.
She just had to get to the library.
As she raced down the hallway she contemplated how she got to this point in time. What she realized was that this was all Xander Harris's fault. He had to go and find someone else to be happy with, while she was stuck with the rich losers her daddy wanted her to date. So while Xander was happy with the slut slayer Faith, she was running through the hallway of Sunnydale High because her date wasn't man enough to stand up to Jack and 'Katie' when he decided cordy would make a good zombie date. This was so Xander's fault.
Xander would have stood up to him.
And that is what pissed her off the most. She would have never dumped him if her father hadn't threatened to cut her off for dating 'beneath her'. Going against Harmony and the others was one thing but her daddy was a whole different game. Xander was a good guy and Faith treated him well. He seemed to really like her and Faith clearly like him based on his loss of virginity on first date while she had held him off for nearly eight months. Despite how mad she was, she still wanted Xander to be proud of her, wanted to be the sort of woman he could love. Which was why, when she found out about the 'cake', she raced to the high school to stop to them.
She did stop jack but in the process managed to attract the attention of Were Oz who had somehow escaped his cage. These stupid heroics she had done tonight were so completely his fault, for being someone she could respect and emulate. As her lungs burned and she poured on the speed to make it to the library she realized one very important thing.
Xander Harris was at fault for everything. That has ever happened. Ever.
***
Buffy ducked another flailing tentacle. The sisters had opened the hellmouth and the gate beast had emerged. Giles and Willow were sitting within a protective circle chanting a spell that should seal the hellmouth and send the beast back. Buffy and the others just had to make sure they got that chance.
Buffy dodged around Angel, who had been sent flying. Worriedly she saw him fly into the opened locker that Oz had escaped from earlier that night. Angel rolled to his feet and swayed a little and stumbled out. Seeing that he was basically okay, she turned to check on Faith and Xander. Xander was hacking away at a thick tentacle with an axe while Faith was working on trying to blind one of the hell beasts many heads. Buffy breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone seemed to be okay for the moment.
Of course that's when all hell broke loose.
Giles suddenly stood up and broke the protective circle. Raising the Amulet of Jhe, he began walking toward the beast, the incantation pouring from his mouth in an unrecognizable voice.
At the same time Cordelia burst through the doors screaming something about Oz. She was looking behind her and not at the beast in front of her.
Buffy saw everything in slow motion. A tentacle reached out and snatched her up and started dragging her to one of its mouths. Xander screamed in wordless rage and rushed to save his ex-girlfriend. He leapt astride the tentacle and began wailing on it with his axe. Buffy saw Faith mutter something under her breath and went to help Xander. While she was distracted, a second tentacle snuck up behind her and wrapped around her waist.
Buffy was running forward to help her friends when the spell reached a crescendo and Giles belted out the final stanza. White energy poured from the amulet and raced past Buffy and writhed around the hell beast and the three captives.
A flash blinded everyone in the room.
When the white cleared from her eyes, Oz was unconscious, Angel and Willow were dazed, and Giles had passed out on the floor.
And Xander, Cordelia, and Faith had totally disappeared.
*** Present night
" We had no idea where you guys had gone," buffy shook her head. " What made it worse was that whatever caused Giles to finish the spell had altered it so we couldn't track you magically."
" Indeed," Giles added. " I have no idea where that spell came from. It was certainly not one I ever learned."
Xander shrugged. " I guess we'll never know. What I do know is that the spell had some sort of temporal component because we ended up more than three thousand years in the past."
Faith added, " That wasn't even the worst part."
***
Angel came awake slowly. He felt an ache where the stun blast hit him when he dragged himself to his feet. The room he was in was a plain white room. One wall was clear and showed a hallway filled with similar cells, each with one or more creatures in it. His nostrils flared as he inhaled the scent of his prison. Antiseptic and bleach assaulted his senses. Hospital. It smelled like a hospital.
Moving to the clear wall, he rapped it with his knuckles and found that it seemed to be made of strong plexiglass. Just then he heard the distinctive sound of gears as a hole opened up in ceiling and a bag of preserved blood dropped out. Angel picked it up and sniffed it but he could detect nothing through the plastic bag.
" It's drugged," came a harsh whisper from next door. " I seen some vamp from down the hall drink from the bag. She passed out and some bitch and her soldiers took her and she never came back."
" What happened to her?" Angel whispered back
" Don't know. Probably some experiments or some shit like that. These guys have a serious Frankenstein complex. I think they got cameras somewhere around here too because they always seem to know when a vamp breaks down and drinks the blood."
Angel's stomach took that moment to rumble.
He was hungry. *** Flashback- The Past
Xander opened his eyes. He knew he was alive cause of the pain that seemed to radiate from his pores. He seemed to be lying on the grass and the sun was shining. Groaning he sat up and looked around. Everywhere he saw grass and a few trees and hills. Lots of hills. Then he remembered the hellmouth.
He also remembered Faith and Cordelia. Panicking and saw both of his girls lying near him. Faith was wearing her leathers from the night before and Cordelia wore her standard expensively tailored dress. Both girls seemed to be waking up, Cordelia slightly faster than Faith.
She brushed the grass off her dress. Her voice quavered as she called for Xander. Xander could tell how scared she was by her voice. Cordelia made a point to never show fear around Faith. She didn't want the slayer to think her a coward.
At the same time Faith slowly came awake and blinked weakly in the bright light. She saw cordelia and moaned, " Great the bitch queen got dragged along with us." She rolled her eyes and swayed slightly.
Cordelia's eyes widened and she hissed, " what did you say you skanky bitch."
Faith strode up to Cordelia. " I said It's your fucking fault that we're," and she looked around, " where ever the hell we are." And then Faith took a swing at Cordelia's face before Xander could interfere.
And promptly hurt her hand.
*** Present Night
Drusilla led spike down a dark spiraling staircase that lay within a hidden passageway in the temple. They both shifted into their game faces in order to better see in the darkness.
" Its not much farther Spike." Drusilla clapped her hands like a child excited for Christmas. She skipped the last few steps and started down the hallway at the bottom of the stairs. Spike smiled as he followed his ladylove down the hall. He loved seeing her this happy.
At the end of the hallway was a great door bound by runes that radiated black, blasphemous power. Spike felt right at home. Then he took note of the solidness of the stone door and blanched. " Dru, luv, how the hell are we going to get past that door."
Drusilla giggled. " Miss Edith whispered the words in my dreams. All that I must do is whisper them to the door." Spike strained his vampire hearing in order to hear the whisperings of Drusilla. He couldn't tell what language she was speaking. The words themselves seemed to flit across his consciousness but he could not hold onto their meaning.
With a great grinding sound the door slid open revealing stale air and cold, dark room on the other side. Drusilla walked into the room, spike a few short steps behind. Drusilla clapped her hands and whispered a short spell. Diffuse light spread to every corner of the room revealing its contents. Spike let out a long low whistle as he took in the contents of the room. Scrolls and spell books were piled like candy treats on an ancient stone table. Gems and jewelry dusted the ground and the whole place stank of magic. Spike walked over to the table and grabbed one of the spell books. He opened it excitedly and started to read. His smile quickly turned into a frown and he dropped to book, and picked up another one, then another. Growling he slapped all the books off the table and screamed in rage.
" Bollocks!" He yelled. " Bloody hell Dru. All these spells are in Sumerian. I DON"T SPEAK BLOODY SUMERIAN," Spike screamed, bloody spittle flying from his mouth.
Drusilla quavered in fear as spike vented his rage on the contents of the room. " I know Spike," she whispered. She watched as he raged. The girlish part of her recoiled in fear while her demon wallowed in his dark glory.
Ever mercurial, spike calmed down after seeing how much he was scaring his Dru. " What do you mean you know? We don't know any vampire sorcerers who speak Sumerian."
Still scared, Drusilla whispered, " I know who we need. She's trapped in a prison of gold and lost in the fallen hall." She began whispering directions in spikes ear and slowly spike started to smile.
***
" I had lost all of my slayer powers," Faith said. Her eyes darkened as she remembered those long ago memories. Xander and Cordelia reached out together and drew her in to their embrace. The others were surprised at the level of casual intimacy the three of them had. The coiled up together so comfortably and easily. It did not take an empath to figure out they shared some sort of special bond. " I felt so useless," she whispered. " The only thing I ever thought made me worth more than these," and she shook her breasts, " was gone. I thought for sure Xander was going to leave me and go back to her," and she shook her thumb at Cordelia.
Buffy reached across the table. " I know what its like, Faith. The council has a ritual where they use drugs to take away a slayers power and put them through a series of tests for god only knows what reason. They did it to me after you three had disappeared. " She smiled ruefully and added, " I wasn't exactly at my best then."
Xander nodded sagely. " The crucimentum. There actually is a good reason for it, but the council has screwed it up. They've forgotten what the actual point of the exercise is."
Buffy was about to interject angrily when Giles asked, " How do you know about that Xander?"
" Part of the same long story. How 'bout I finish the story before the big questions start." Xander sounded a little annoyed. " Okay," he began, "so we were lost and we had no idea where. First thing we decided to do was to try and find a phone or a map. Just about any sign of civilization would have done. All we found were some villages with really unfriendly natives, jabbering about in a language none of us had ever heard. We weren't welcome in the towns so we had to live ended up living in hills and caves while we tried to figure out what we were going to do."
Faith patted Xander's hand and smiled at him. " We would have died if it weren't for Xander. His soldier skills starting coming back to him I guess cause of the stress, the survivalist parts of it anyway. He hunted for us. A poor chick from south Boston and a rich princess," at that Cordelia snorted, " don't exactly have what it takes to survive in the hills."
" It wasn't just the soldier skills. The leftovers of my hyena possession became active and I started to draw on its instincts heavily in order to provide from my pack." As Xander spoke, his eyes began to shift to a feral yellow.
" We were becoming worried for Xander," Cordy said as she took up the story. " He was sinking deeper into in the animal side of his nature. He was starting to lose speech, and we couldn't do anything because we weren't near civilization and we had no real place to go."
" That's when we met her." ***
" Anya, what the hell are you doing?" Riley struggled against his bonds. " Where Am I? What government do you work for?"
Impassively, Anya cocked her head. " What makes you think I work for any government, Riley? After all, you're just a teacher's aid. Or maybe you're not just a teacher's aid? Maybe your like James Bond." She thumped her foot authoritatively and crossed her arms beneath her breasts. " I think you were hiding your soldiery skills in order to get me in the sack and inflict lots of orgasms on me. I've seen James Bond movies before. He always uses his sexual prowess to mess with the heads of innocent femme fatales." Anya appeared less than disturbed about the thought of inflicted orgasms.
" Orgasms?" Riley's voice began to grow higher as he began to believe that a madwoman who wanted to molest him sexually was imprisoning him. " Anya," he said soothingly, " why don't you let me go and we can talk about this calmly and rationally. No orgasms need to be inflicted on anybody."
" Rationally," she screeched, " I LIKED you. You have a pleasing shape and straight teeth. Now I find out you're a demon hunter. Probably like to hunt innocent vengeance demons just doing their job." She shook her head. " I had high hopes that you would give me lots of orgasms. I, in turn, would give you as many orgasms as your inferior male sexual organs and refractory period could stand. Quid Pro Quo, just I like learned in my capitalistic business classes."
Riley watched Anya vent in her rage. Her skin was flushed and her eyes seemed to shine with both hardness and innocence in a beguiling combination that he had a hard time removing his gaze from. She was different from just about any other girl he had met back in Iowa or here in Sunnydale. Then he started focusing on what she was saying. " What do you mean by demons?"
" Please," Anya waved her hands, " your squad was clearly after the polgara's. Same as my friends and I. Even the incompetent US government couldn't stay ignorant of the supernatural forever. Whom do you work for?" Suddenly she got excited, " I bet it's the CIA. Its always the CIA in the movies."
" I don't work for the CIA Anya." Riley sighed.
" MI-6?" she asked hopefully.
" Anya," Riley said exasperated, " MI-6 is British. Besides we're attempting to compete with the British. They're much more advanced in this field than we are." He said without thinking.
" AHAH," Anya crowed, " You do work for part of the government."
Dammit Riley muttered to himself. She had him. All his counterintelligence training and an eighteen-year-old girl bested him. It was those damn beguiling eyes. Some cool secret agent he was. " Fine Anya. I really do work for the government and I'll tell you what I know."
Anya smiled widely. Perhaps there was still hope for many orgasms. He was after all very attractive. " Darn right you will. First off, your men took a friend of ours, who happens to be a vampire. Where would they take him?" Anya then added, " Riley, as much as I like you, if you lie to me, you'll live a long time before you die. I've forgotten more about torture than your superiors could ever prepare you for." That last part was said, not in the voice of Anya the excitable ex-demon, but the dangerous tone of Anyanka, the demon saint of scorned women.
*** Flashback
The woman walked into the campsite the three of them had been using for the last week. Xander was curled up near the fire. Faith watched him worriedly since he had not spoken in more than three days. Meanwhile Cordelia alternated between watching Xander and engaging in a staring contest with Faith. Each young teenager radiated visible hatred for the other, hatred that could only develop between two women who loved the same man. Both of them noticed the female stranger at the same time. The woman wore a deep cloak that hid her figure and gender. Only the cascade of Obsidian hair that hung past the cowl of the cloak told she was female.
Faith stood up and snatched the axe that had come through the portal with them. She could feel the heaviness of the weapon she had once been able to wield with ease. The woman raised a single smooth had and said in strong clear voice, " I mean you no harm Faith."
She was speaking perfect English.
" How the fuck do you know my name? And how come your speaking English."
" That is a very good question, but not the most important question." The woman circled around the fire moving towards Xander. Drawing back her hood the woman revealed a beautiful olive face. Faith was shocked at how young to woman appeared. She seemed barely older than Dawn, fourteen at the oldest. Yet the smile playing about her eyes and mouth conveyed great age and wisdom well beyond her physical years. " The real question is, why am I speaking a language that won't exist for more than three thousand years."
Then the too-old youngster began to laugh. *** Present Night
" The chick did something to Xander's beast, causing it to subside and. Xander actually started talking again." Faith spoke in awe of the mysterious woman that appeared in her camp. " Then she laid down the real ball buster. She said we were more than three thousand years in the past, in ancient Turkey."
Xander took over the story again. " She offered to take us in, give us a place to stay while she looked for a way to get us home. We didn't exactly have a lot of options so we went with her. She seemed to be a powerful sorceress masquerading as a child." Xander laughed softly. " We had no idea what we were getting involved with."
*** Flashback
The four of them made their way along a dirt road to the city where the sorceress said she lived. The terrain seemed to be pass by at an unnatural speed as the mysterious sorceress led them, and Xander had the sneaking suspicion that she was using magic because although the trip seemed to take all night, he knew there was no city within one nights walking distance. Yet as the sun crept over the horizon and lit the sky pink, the sorceress led them to a great walled city by the ocean. Xander stood in awe as he guessed the walls had to be at least sixty feet tall and manned by dozens of soldiers. As the keenest eyed soldiers spied the travelers, shouts began to ring out.
" The princess has returned!"
" Alert the king!"
" Prepare her honor guard!"
The three from Sunnydale stood in shock as the great gates opened and more than a dozen guards formed up. The princess, head held high, told the lead guard to make ready rooms and suitable clothing for her guests. Clapping a hand to his breast he left to comply. She led the three into the city and smiled breathing deeply of the sea and city air.
" Welcome Faith, Xander, and Cordelia to my home."
" Welcome to Troy."
***