Willow and Tara were chanting in couplets. C.J and Spike were each trying to see past the now shoulder high flames and into the airport lounge. The others were gripping their stakes and trying to see something they could attack.

"Urere!" Willow called.

"Servare!" Tara said.

"Delere!"

"Tueri!"

"This isn't working," Giles said.

He looked around quickly and held a hand out to Toby, behind C.J and Donna.

"Pokey!"

"Ripper?" Toby said, very much 'you can't be thinking that.'

"Take Dawn's hand."

Dawn took a couple a steps backwards so Toby could take her hand as well as Giles's. He had to drop his stake, it rolled and when it hit the flames it disappeared.

Giles joined in Willow and Tara's chanting, changing the rhythm.

"Dicere!"

"Interimere!"

"Conservare!"

"Exponere!"

"Peredere!"

"Custodire!"

"Impertire!"

"You dare to think you can question me?" a voice asked from nowhere.

"Let us pass," Giles said, refusing to look for the voice.

"You think you know what can pass?" it asked, in a slight Italian accent.

"And you do?"

"I can stop it coming to pass"

"Here?" Giles asked, incredulous, "You think you can away with doing anything here?"

"I know what you are, Spear-maker, your people will protect the world from knowledge of what you do. And they will them protect from you, too, Writer. And the Slayers. You cannot stop what will come, but I can stop what may be. I can stop it here."

The flames leaped higher, C.J and Spike looked up to watched the top. Toby was pulled backwards as Dawn stepped into the centre of the circle. She bumped into Anya.

"There is no one here to die for you now, Key. And there was never anyone for the Demon," the flames leaped in front of Anya.

"I object!" Xander called, "recuso!"

The flames moved closer.

"Stare!" Willow, Tara and Giles cried together.

"The Light and the Dark," the voice said, mockingly. There was a pause. "But the First Witch is not here. And the Lord and the Leader are not. You are not all here."

"Who should be here?" Giles asked, "who do you want to stop?"

"The one who should have been and wasn't, the one who should not be but is, the Key, the Fighter, the one who knows and the one who feels, the Demon, the Seer, the Spear-maker, the Writer, the Leader, the Highest Ranked and the First Witch. You need all to find Last One and drag her back. I have not stopped it, know the consequences."

The flames sunk into the floor, leaving a string of scuff marks around them. C.J, Spike and Donna stepped back and breathed a collective sigh of relief, even the vampire. Willow and Tara had been bracing themselves against the force of the flames and fell forward onto the floor.

"Phew?" Xander asked.

"Phew!" Dawn agreed.

Anya grinned and grabbed Xander's arm.

"You stuck up for me," she cooed, "that's something that fi–"

Xander kissed her before she could finish the word.

Giles knelt and rubbed the marks on the floor. Toby crouched beside him.

"Does it make sense?" he asked.

"Maybe," Giles answered.

Tara took a deep breath. She let it out slowly and took another.

"Willow?"

Willow swallowed.

"Willow, what was that spell?!"

Willow shook her head and swallowed again.

C.J took Donna's hand. Donna looked around the airport curiously. No one had noticed anything.

"They never do," C.J whispered, with half a smile.

Spike turned back to Dawn. She wrapped her arms around him. Spike laughed in shock, and he could hear her heart beat.

"I would die for you, Bit," he said, amused, and bemused at the sentiment.

"You're already dead," she said.

"So it'll be hard for someone kill me," he said.

Dawn snorted.

"Do you remember the list of names it gave us?" Toby asked.

"Should have been and wasn't, should not be but is, Key, Fighter, one who knows, one who feels, Demon, Seer, Spear-maker, Writer, Leader, Highest Ranked, First Witch," Giles said.

"'Yes' would have sufficed," Toby said.

"Is there somewhere we can go?" Tara asked.

She had helped Willow to her feet, but the shorter witch was leaning heavily on her girlfriend.

"We have a car," C.J said.

Tara picked up a bag and with an arm around Willow, starting walking out. C.J picked up a bag and followed. So did Donna.

The others followed one by one. Everyone had questions, but no one could ask for a answer. The confrontation had felt like the beginning of the end, and they had no idea what the end was. Or even what 'next' would look like.

There were, in fact, two cars. Splitting up would have required some sort of communication, so they piled the luggage into one limousine and piled themselves into the other. Dawn ended up on Xander's lap and Willow on Tara's. The car was silent while everyone tried to rationalise their feeling.

The only person not bound by the post-strange-event question taboo was Anya.

"What was that fiery thing?" she asked, opening the floodgates.

"It wasn't the demon we've been up against, I've seen pictures of that," Toby said.

"Unless it was the mojo Willow pulled," Xander said.

"No, Willow's spell was something else," Tara said.

Willow: "Hey, I had to do something."

Giles: "At least I could talk to it."

Spike nodded to C.J, "Thank you, Slayer," he said.

C.J snorted.

"I want to kill you," Donna told him, calmly.

"Really. Why didn't you, then?"

Donna: "C.J didn't."

Spike: "Why didn't you?"

C.J: "Miles told me not to."

Xander: "What was that that I said?"

Anya: "You said 'I object' when it said that there was no one who would die for me. Was it an 'it'? I thought that it might have been a 'she'."

"She," Willow murmured.

"No, after that," Xander insisted.

Giles: "Recuso, Latin for 'I object.'"

Tara whispered urgently to Willow, "I didn't know that, how could you know that?"

Willow: "I made a connection with her."

Tara: "You made a connection with that, where does that sort of idea come from, Willow? That sort of magic is so dangerous, you can get sucked in to something like that."

Willow: "Well, I didn't, I'm fine, really."

Spike: "He was a good man."

C.J: "No he wasn't. He made a deal with you. And he honoured it. You wouldn't have."

Spike: "I did, didn't I?"

C.J: "Because you knew I wouldn't. Robin wouldn't let go of her bag."

Spike: "I was evil, Ms Cregg. I was a vampire, she was a Vampire Slayer, we fought, I won. I was vain enough, and strong enough to seek her out. She was vain enough and strong enough to fight me. But even her little boy wasn't enough to keep through the fight. All Slayers have a death wish."

"What's your name when it's not Spike?" Donna asked quickly.

Spike: "William."

C.J: "William what?"

Spike: "Don't know. Forgot."

Xander: "Forgot?"

Spike: "You forget a lot in 130 years. Hang on, Watcher gave us visitors' cards for the big house. Here 'tis, 'William Lancaster'. Hey, maybe I'm related to one of the kings."

Xander: "Yeah, you're just what the British royalty needs."

"Where are we going?" Dawn asked.

Her voice cut through the murmured conversations that filled the car. There was a stillness for a moment while Dawn faced the silence.

"We'll take you to the English Embassy, they'll be able to put you up for the night. You'll be able to meet the President on Sunday when he comes back from church."

For C.J, Donna and Toby Saturday was a normal work day. The others spent it waiting in nervous contemplation.