CHAPTER EIGHT

"I think I'm going to be sick," a voice said in the darkness.

"Already there, buddy," another voice said.

"I am sick," a third voice said. "I'm sick of going through portals that make you want to throw up your insides."

"Oh, nice analogy, Xander," another voice said sarcastically. "That really puts me in the not-throwing-up mood."

"Shut up," Xander told the voice.

Yet another voice said, "You know, maybe we should look for a light, or otherwise we won't know where to throw up."

"If it's on Xander, I'm all for it."

"Yuck! Stay away from me!"

"Make me!"

"Like I even know where you are in this room!"

"Could everyone just please shut up and help look for a light switch?" another voice cried.

A few grumbles followed this statement, along with lots of shuffling as many people got to their feet and searched around the room.

"Hey! Watch where you put your hands!"

"Ahh! That's my arse you're grabbing, pervert!"

"Why am I looking around for a light switch? Lumos Maxima!"

The light at the tip of Hermione's wand illuminated the entire room. Everyone stopped and stared around at each other. Many of them saw double and sometimes triple.

Among those present were two Dawns, three Xanders, one Harry and one Harriet, one Ron, two Buffys, three Willows, one Shacklebolt, one Tonks, one Moody, one Hermione, one Dr. Daniel Jackson, and one Major Samantha Carter. All in all, that totaled up to nineteen bewildered people.

"Harry! Ron!" Hermione exclaimed, running to meet the closest of her friends. He happened to be Ron. Without thinking, she threw her arms around him. A moment later, her lips were against his, and they were kissing.

The two of them realized what they were doing and stepped back from each other rapidly, eyes wide. "Wow," Ron said in awe.

"Yeah," Hermione agreed, grinning.

"Hermione!" Harry cried. He hadn't seen the kiss, but he had seen her. He ran over to her and gave her a hug as well. Hermione was still flushed from the kiss but still developed her friend in a tight hug. She'd missed them both so much.

Harriet walked over to them. Hermione and Ron noticed her. "Um…hello," Harriet asked. "You guys wouldn't happen to have the last names of Granger and Weasley, would you?"

Hermione and Ron nodded. Harriet frowned. "Well, Xander was right about that, at least. I'm Harriet Potter. Where I come from, you're Ronda Weasley-" she said, pointing at Ron, "-and you're Hermes Granger." She pointed at Hermione.

"You mean they're opposite sexes in your reality?" Harry asked, trying to contain his laughter. Harriet only nodded.

"Her reality?" Hermione repeated, confused. "Harry, what are you talking about? Haven't you and Ron been here on Runeus?"

"Nope," Ron said. "I got shipped off to an alternate universe where our lives are fictional. Don't know where Harry ended up."

"I was in Harriet's reality," Harry told them.

One-eyed Xander glanced from one of his doubles to the other. The first one he recognized; it was his two-eyed double from the Hyperion. The one he didn't recognize had a left eye that was completely black.

"Who are you?" he asked.

"Agent Alex Harris," black-eye guy replied. "Who're you two?"

"Xander Harris," both of them replied.

"I'm seeing double," Buffy commented, meeting the eyes of her double. Her double's hair was longer than hers. Besides that and their clothing, there weren't any physical differences between the two.

"You're not the only one," one of the Willows commented.

"Well, this is just peachy," Daniel commented to Carter with sigh, Jack's sarcasm rubbing off on him. He was pretty sure that she was the Carter from his reality.

"What is going on here?" Shacklebolt wondered out loud.

"Hang on, where's Trig?" Harriet asked. "Shouldn't he be here with us?"

Everyone glanced around but saw no sign of the pale-skinned demon.

"We're up here."

They turned and looked up at a balcony on the northern wall of the room. Three Trigs stood there, staring down at them.

"I brought some extras with me," one of them said.

"So did I," the middle one said.

The third one on the right shrugged impatiently. "Then let's get rid of them already."

All three began to chant in their native tongue.

The group below stared around at the walls as symbols they hadn't noticed before began to glow.

Wands were taken out and pointed at the three demons. They tried many different spells but none of them worked. All of them bounced off of an invisible wall before they could hit the demons.

Agent Rosenburg lowered her wand and glanced at her doubles. The three of them joined hands and turned to stare up at the demons, willing the Trigs to go sailing over the railing.

Their efforts, while more powerful put together than if they had been separate, didn't do what they expected. The energies they directed at the Trigs instead sailed at symbols engraved in the corners where the ceiling met the walls. Lots of different spells were in use here, and all of them were of Runeus. None of the humans had any magical power here.

Therefore, they were powerless to stop the demons' magic from washing over them. It developed them, transporting all of them out of the room until all that remained were the Trigs.

-----

Harriet once again found herself falling painfully on the ground. The bush she crashed into helped to break the fall, but not very well. She groaned as she struggled to sit back up. At least her Slayer healing powers would insure that any aches and pains would fade away quickly. She couldn't say the same for her companions.

The others were still getting to their feet. She glanced over them, trying to determine who was missing. Among those present were Tonks, Shacklebolt, and Moody, although Harriet knew they couldn't possibly be the same people from her reality. That meant that they'd come through the portal with Hermione Granger. The Xander Harris from Harriet's reality, the one with both of his original eyes, was also there, as well as the Buffy from her reality and another Buffy from an alternate reality.

They had been transported into a jungle filled with strange plants she'd never seen before. It was certainly clear now that they were on an alien planet. Harriet wondered where on the planet that the Trigs had sent them, and why most of the others weren't with them.

"Where the bleedin' hell are we?" Shacklebolt asked, glancing around.

"Somewhere else on Runeus would be my best guess," Moody said.

"Next question is, 'where?'" one of the Buffy's said as she walked over. She was the one from Harriet's reality; Harriet recognized her because she was wearing the same outfit witch remembered seeing her wear in their reality - white pants and a black tank top. The alternate reality Buffy had her hair pulled back and wore a long-sleeve red blouse and jeans.

"You okay, Harriet?" her reality's Buffy asked her, further assuring Harriet that this was the Alpha Slayer she knew.

Harriet nodded. "I'm fine."

"The question I would have gone for was, 'where's everyone else?'" the other Buffy said as she joined them.

"I'm with alternate-Buffy," Xander said. "Why are we here? Where did Trig send everyone else?"

"Two of the Trigs said they'd brought some extra people with them," Harriet pointed out, remembering. "I think we were the extras."

"Who might the four of you be, anyway?" Tonks asked. "I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Tonks, and this is Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt."

"The Auror friends of Harriet's!" Xander said. He glanced at the Slayer in question. "Right?"

Harriet shook her head. "I think they're from another reality than we are."

Her reality's Buffy nodded in agreement. She glanced at her alternate. "And since they don't know you, that means you're from a different reality than any of us."

The alternate Buffy only sighed. "Right. Well, now that we've got that covered, I'm Buffy Summers." She raised an eyebrow at Harriet. "Your turn."

"I'm Harriet Potter," Harriet said. At the four confused glances she received, she hastened to explain. "I'm the girl version of Harry-" Her eyes widened. "Xander, get down!"

Everyone's head whipped around. Xander turned around only to dash out of the way as something crashed into the spot he'd been standing in.

The thing lifted into the air, and now everyone could see that it was the flower bud of a plant. The plant itself was huge; its stem was eight feet long, towering over all of them.

The edge of the flower bud opened to reveal what looked like pincers. It seemed to snarl at them. It studied its quarry for a moment before striking, moving with lightning speed down at Xander, who hastily ran out of its range.

All four witches or wizards had their wands out. They pointed them at the deranged flower.

"Impedimenta curse," Moody told them.

"Impedimenta!" they cried.

Their spells hit the bud and blasted it to pieces. The stem thrashed about crazily in the air for a moment before it stopped and began to fall to the ground…right where all three Slayers were.

The Slayers hastily jumped out of its way and the plant crashed to the ground, bouncing once on impact before laying still.

Everyone glanced around at the other plants warily. None of them appeared like they would attack, but then, neither had the giant flower.

"Are you all right, Xander?" Harriet called over to him.

"Couldn't be better. Thanks, by the way," he said.

"That combined Impedimenta spell should have been more powerful than that," Tonks pointed out, looking puzzled at the stem.

"It must be because this is an alien world," Shacklebolt theorized. "Our magic is not as effective here."

The alternate Buffy nodded. "Yeah, the Trig who was in my reality said that his magic wasn't very effective on Earth, so it would make sense if it was vice-versa here."

"I really think we should get out of here," the other Buffy said, "just in case the plant had friends."

"Good idea," Xander said, "but where?"

Everyone glanced at each other. They had no idea where to go or even where they were.

Both Buffys pointed in the same random direction. "This way," they said. They looked at each other.

Not knowing what else to do, they started walking that way, keeping an eye out for hostile plants.

They avoided three more of the killer flowers during their trek. They walked for a good thirty minutes before they had any more problems. They entered a section of the jungle/forest that contained strange, alien trees unlike the ones they'd already encountered. These trees were similar in attitude to Whomping Willows but not in appearance. This new tree stretched as tall as a pine tree and reached higher toward the mint green sky than the other tree types. Unlike a pine tree, it didn't have any pine needles or cones and its branches were thick and began low to the ground and. The path they had been following had been some sort of animal track. For the most part, it was wide enough to allow them to walk along it one by one. There were a few parts of the trail that were narrower, however, and at these parts the seven of them had to squeeze between the trees.

They soon discovered how much of a problem that posed when Tonks tripped over a root and tried to catch her balance by grabbing onto a branch.

The tree came to life. Another branch swooped down, whacking into Tonks and sending the witch soaring away from the Tree. The alternate Buffy ran, making it just in time to catch Tonks before the witch collided painfully with either the ground or another tree.

It took Tonks a few minutes to recover before the group moved on, this time trying to be extra-careful not to even brush against a tree branch. Thankfully, the whomping trees ignored them if they didn't make contact with them.

Their next bit of trouble didn't come from a plant. They were carefully maneuvering between another pair of whomping trees when a flying animal swooped out of one of its branches, startling all of them.

"What the hell is that?" Xander asked, staring at it. It had wings of what looked like living wood and its plump body was as green as the foliage. It was easy to see how they hadn't noticed it before; it blended in completely with the tree.

It rose high into the air before turning around and heading back to the tree. It circled above the tree for a few minutes. The group chose to ignore it and continued their progress around the tree.

A few minutes later, the treebird's cry made them glanced up again. They saw something fall out of the bird's rear and drop down among the trees' branches.

"Look out!" Moody said, but it was too late. The bird's droppings sprayed the seven humans like dust.

Harriet tried to cough as some of it settled in her nose and mouth. She tried to suck in a breath only to find it impossible. The others were having the same problem. They couldn't breathe. Harriet's eyes opened wide in panic as she tried desperately to draw in a breath.

She glanced around. The others' faces were turning white, and she had a feeling that her own face looked the same. She could see spots in her vision now, and she felt her knees go weak.

She heard a squawk from up above. Harriet managed to glance back up in time to see the bird drop out of the sky, its chest a blackened ruin. It was very clearly dead.

She felt hands on her arms pulling her away from the tree. Something was pressed against her nose and mouth. She felt oxygen being poured into her mouth and eagerly sucked it in, finding it possible to do so now.

Harriet opened her eyes and looked into the gaze of a demon. She was a woman with pale skin and glowing green eyes, clearly the same race as Trig. She held two wooden disks in her hands.

"Thank you," Harriet said.

The demon woman turned away from her and shouted something in her language. Harriet looked around and saw her friends, new and old, being administered the treatment for the bird's droppings, which appeared to be two wooden disks held against the nose and mouth. All of them were recovering and were looking at their saviors with surprise.

There were seven demons in all. Three were women and the other four were men. All of them were young except the demon that hadn't provided the treatment. His hair was completely gray, the only sign of his age. He spoke now. "You are like the Strong One," he said in heavily accented English. "You came from Earth?" he asked.

Harriet and the others glanced at each other. Moody eyed them wearily, Tonks and Shacklebolt regarded them with tense curiosity, and Xander and both Buffys were tense yet accepting. The alternate Buffy stepped forward. "Yeah, we did," she said. "Thanks for helping us, by the way. Um, who is this Strong One?"

"He is the only one who can face the Foul One," the male demon replied. "The only one who has courage and strength."

One of the younger males said something in their language to the leader. The leader listened before turning back to the humans. "Mig'ja believes that you work for the Foul One. We will take you to see the Strong One. He will know, and he will judge you."

"What happens if he finds us guilty?" Moody asked, eyes narrowing dangerously.

"Then you will die," the leader said.

"Oh, I don't think so," Harriet's Alpha Slayer said. She, the other Buffy, and Harriet all took a few steps forwards. Harriet felt herself tense, readying herself for the fight that she found herself looking forward to. Xander and the three Aurors also moved forward, removing wands or readying fists.

The leader said something, and the other demons raised their disks. The Slayers halted in their tracks, unsure what was going on.

"Our force and our magic is stronger than yours. With these disks, we could harm you a good deal," the leader told them. "You will come. We give you no choice."

-----

One-eyed Xander groaned as he sat up rubbing his head while the pain throbbed through his skull. "Can't we just skip the painful landings?" he complained. He looked around at his new surroundings and sighed. "Great."

He wasn't alone; everyone who'd come to this reality through a portal was there, too, as far as he could tell. The room was a medium-sized one with what looked like cold, stone walls and windows set into the wall fifty feet above the floor; in other words, they were in a dungeon. As far as he could tell in the semi-darkness, the ceiling and crossbeams were made of wood and were crowded with symbols and patterns.

Some people were already on their feet, but the rest were still struggling to get up. Xander stood up, still rubbing his aching scalp, and took a mental role call, trying to recall who all had been there in the other room. He was pretty sure that he was coming up short. For one, he couldn't see either Buffy anywhere, and he couldn't spot either alternate version of himself. He wasn't sure who else was missing. It didn't take long to find out. Once everyone had recovered from the transportation spell that had sent them there, they counted up friends as well.

Daniel, Sam, two Willows, both Dawns, Harry, a girl and boy that Xander recognized as Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, and himself were all there. The people that were missing were Nymphadora Tonks, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Alastor Moody, both Buffys, both of Xander's doubles, Harriet Potter, and one of the Willows. That made nine of their number that were missing and ten of their number in the dungeon.

"So, does anyone know how to get out of here?" Daniel asked.

Hermione marched over to the door and took out her wand. She pointed it at the lock. "Alohomora," she said.

A spark shot out of the tip of her wand and hit the lock. Nothing else happened. Hermione tried to turn the doorknob but couldn't. She turned back to the others and shrugged.

"I'd try some Wiccan magic, but I doubt I'd have any more luck," one of the Willows said. She pointed to the ceiling. "Trig's kind of magic is being enforced here."

"Wonderful," Sam muttered.

"Why did they send only some of us here?" Ron asked. "Why not all of us?"

Harry pointed out, "They said something about bringing some 'extras' along. I guess they meant the others."

"No!" both Dawns said. One of them continued, "My sister is out there. She can't be dead."

"We're not saying she is," Xander assured them, putting a comforting hand on both of their arms. "They're probably just somewhere else on Runeus."

"We'll find them," the other Willow assured them. "But while we're here, maybe we should try to figure out which of us belongs to what reality. I don't know about you, but for me this is kinda confusing."

"Okay," the first Willow said. "I'm from the same reality as Major Carter and Dr. Jackson."

In Xander's mind, he began to classify her as 'Willow' and the other own as 'Will.'

"So do I," one of the Dawns said. Xander classified her as 'Dawn 2' and her doubles as 'Dawn 1'.

Will said, "I came through the same portal with Ron Weasley, Buffy, and Dawn. We came here to look for Harry and Xander." She turned to Xander. "I'm pretty sure that's you."

Xander smiled. "Sounds like it." He turned to Dawn 1. "That must mean that you're from my universe, too."

Dawn 1 smiled. "Sounds like it."

Then she bounded into his arms, almost knocking him over. "I missed you so much, Xander."

A moment later, Xander staggered again as Will joined in the group hug. Xander knew he was grinning. "I missed you guys, too."

Hermione turned to Harry and Ron. "And the three of us are from the third reality." She smiled at Ron and he smiled back before taking her hand.

"What about the others?" Dawn 2 asked. "What realities do they come from?"

Will said, "One of the Buffys came from ours."

"And the other Buffy came from ours," Willow continued. "So did Harriet."

Hermione said, "Shacklebolt, Tonks, Professor Moody, Agent Harris and Agent Rosenburg all came from ours."

"Woah, wait a minute," Xander said, turning to her. He glanced at Harry. "I thought Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a TV show in your reality. How can I have a double there?"

Harry's brow furrowed. "I don't know." He turned to Hermione and Ron. "Maybe we're not from the same reality after all."

The Hogwarts Trio didn't look too happy about that. "I've never heard of a Buffy the Vampire Slayer TV series," Hermione said.

"I guess that settles it, then," Ron said. "You're from another reality. Sorry, mate."

"So we're dealing with four Earth realities, at least," Will said. "And three versions of Trig, so far."

"Well, now that we know all of that, let's try to find a way to get out of here," Sam suggested. "Then we can figure out how to get home."

-----

They walked through the wild forest for the good part of an hour before they reached their destination. It was with relief that they left the forest and entered a meadow. A large wooden block etched with strange patterns was positioned in the meadow five feet from the forest wall. Their group approached it.

The leader of their saviors turned captors stepped up to the block. He removed a wooden disk from a pouch at his belt and placed it over a portion of the block's pattern. "Hret," he told it.

The air shimmered beyond the block. Like a mirage, a village took form in the middle of the meadow as the protective illusionary barrier keeping it out of sight dissolved.

It was the strangest village that Harriet, either Buffy, Xander, or the Aurors had ever seen. As their group approached it, it became clear exactly what made it so unusual. While their captors had seemed to be a less-advanced race, they quickly discovered that was misleading. Evidences of steel and what looked like concrete could be seen in some of the bases of the buildings they passed, but the upper floors and ceilings were made of wood, straw, grass, glass, clay brick, and some stone and mortar. They had more advanced technology at one point, but now only cruder methods were available.

Moody guessed that there were at least two hundred people living in the village, maybe more. All of the demons walking about the main street stopped and stared as they passed. It wasn't long before a crowd formed on either side to gap as they walked by. They walked to a building near the center of the village. This structure was made completely of brick. It had a tin roof and what looked like a concrete foundation.

The leader knocked on the door. It opened to reveal a surprisingly human man. He glanced at the leader and then past him at the captives. His eyes widened slightly. The leader conversed with him in rapid Runeus for several seconds. The human listened to him before looking once again at the captives. He regarded them all for a moment before stepping aside. "Come in," he told them in English. It wasn't a suggestion.

Xander, the three Slayers, and the Aurors moved past him and into the house. Their captors made as if to follow them inside, but the human raised a hand. "You may go," he told them. "Thank you for bringing them to me."

The leader nodded, bowed, and then left with his team. The human man closed the door and turned back to regard his guests. They now stood in what looked like a living room. Xander thought he looked vaguely familiar, but with everything that had been going on Xander couldn't remember exactly where he'd seen him before. He had dark brown hair and chestnut-colored eyes and he was of average height. His skin was nearly as pale as the villagers from long-term exposure to the sun's rays of this reality. He wore dark pants and a white turtleneck sweater that had seen better days.

"Good morning," he told them. His accent had a slight touch of Runeus in it but it was mostly British. "Welcome to Runeus. I assume that all of you are from Earth, or various versions of it?"

Everyone nodded. "And you're the Strong One," Buffy said.

"Whatever that means," alt-Buffy added. Moody grunted in agreement.

The Strong One smiled. "It's a long story." He waved around at chairs and benches. "Please, sit down and I'll try to explain."

He took a seat on a stool next to a hearth. The rest sat across from him. "I have been in this reality for three years, ever since those fucking Hunters cursed me here."

"Hunters?" Shacklebolt prompted.

Xander's eyes went wide. Flashes of a television show he hadn't watched in years flitted through his mind. "Now I remember where I've seen you!" he exclaimed before the Strong One could answer the Auror's question. "You're Methos!"