This chapter is all kinds of strange, mostly made up of little half stories that I've wanted to write, but have never really been able to. Anything written like blah -- that, is a flashback to earlier in the morning, after having just woken up from the nap mentioned in the previous chapter. It'll become clearer later, I swear.

Also, I realised after I'd finally worked out where I wanted this story to go, and how to get there, that it was very similar to what I'd written in A Witch's Family with the Dementor and the catatonia. All those things were based on memories that had happened in either the fics or the show, but everything here is completely brand spankin' new to make it different. So, yes I know that I've done something like this before, but I hadn't realised that until after I'd reached the point of no return, and there is no way I'm putting this fic on hold for months before I think of a new idea. unrepentant grin

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE TRIALS

When Buffy awoke, she found herself in a room that she remembered in vivid detail. It was the room that she had grown up in for twelve years, one that held many of her best and worst memories.

"Sweetie, are you up?" a deep voice asked.

Buffy sat upright in bed, her heart pounding. Surely that couldn't have been right. There was a soft knock on the door, and it swung inwards, a familiar face peeking through.

"Buffy-baby, what's wrong?" Hank Summers asked, his voice laced with concern and love for his only daughter.

Buffy threw the covers off her body and stood up, facing a man she hadn't even thought of more than an abstract way in years.

"What…what the hell is going on?" Buffy asked.

"Language," Hank reprimanded her. "And you're going to be late. You've got ice-skating in half an hour, remember? Coach Johnson said that they'll be picking the final team for the tournament today."

It was as though that one explanation had made everything click in Buffy's mind. Of course! How could she have forgotten? Today was the tryouts for the tournament, and Coach Johnson had said that she was his top-pick of the draw. Plus, if she made it into the tournament, it would mean that she would have a very good chance of eventually being picked for the Olympic Team.

"Ugh, how could I have forgotten?" Buffy said in disgust. "Give me ten minutes!"

Hank chuckled as his daughter frantically raced through her room, grabbing her uniform and skates and throwing a change of clothes into a bag. He left the room, knowing she was capable of working herself into a frenzy unless she had a time limit.

Six and a half minutes later, Buffy was racing down the stairs barefoot; a pair of socks in one hand, her ice-skates in the other.

"C'mon, c'mon," she urged. "We're gonna be late!"

Hank laughed slightly, sharing an amused look with Joyce before grabbing his car-keys, and following after his rambunctious daughter, Joyce following behind him. Buffy tapped her bare feet nervously on the ten-minute drive, and the second they entered the parking lot to the ice-rink, she was jumping out of the car before Hank had even managed to park properly. She raced into the main entrance and threw her bag to the side, quickly pulling on her socks and her skates. She was out on the ice and doing laps before Joyce or Hank had even managed to find a seat with the other parents.

"Summers, front and centre!" Coach Johnson yelled from the middle of the ice rink.

Buffy quickly skated out to meet her coach, building up her speed and coming to a breath-stopping halt only an inch from the instructor. He glared at her as she grinned unrepentantly.

"How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?" he asked, scowling good-naturedly.

"At least once more, as always," she replied with an easy and contagious grin.

Johnson rolled his eyes and looked his favourite student over with a critical eye.

"Are you ready?" he questioned.

"I was born ready," she replied confidently.

He laughed slightly and then paused. "Summers, jewellery," he reprimanded. "I usually never have to tell you that."

"What jewellery?" Buffy asked, her hand coming to her throat and ears. She'd been sure to remove her necklace and earrings in the car.

Johnson just point wordlessly to the white-gold ring with three small diamonds on it.

"You should have this back," Harry whispered as he took off the necklace that had Buffy's ring threaded onto it. He carefully removed the white-gold band and slid the ring back onto Buffy's finger.

Buffy smiled and gently kissed Harry, thankful to have the ring back on her finger. It was a symbol of them, and she'd missed wearing it. She'd felt somewhat naked without the comfort of the band around her finger, and having it back helped her breathe easier.

"Harry," Buffy whispered. Where was Harry? Why was she back in LA with a skating coach that she hadn't seen since before moving to Sunnydale? Why wasn't she at Hogwarts in the Room of Requirement having just done some strange ritual? Wait…the First!

In an instant, she was no longer on the ice-rink. She found herself lying in a bed of red silken sheets, solid arms wrapped around her waist. She smiled in contentment and twisted around to meet her boyfriend. Her eyes went wide in confusion, until Angel's lips met her own.

"Morning," he whispered softly.

"Hey," she replied, her voice soft and shy. She blushed slightly under his intense gaze as he pulled back to stare at her. Angel just smiled the half-smile that Buffy had fallen deeply in love with, and the vampire with a soul leant forward to kiss the only girl he'd ever loved in two hundred and forty-odd years.

"You're going to be late for school," Angel whispered softly, glancing at the clock on his wall.

Buffy groaned in disappointment and burrowed her head into Angel's naked chest, pressing a soft kiss to his cool skin, still in awe of the very stillness of her cradle-robbing-creature-of-the-night-boyfriend. His heart didn't beat, and he didn't need to breath, and he was always so still that it had frightened her at first. But no, his stillness gave her comfort, and she could always find warmth in the coolness of his arms.

"Don't wanna," Buffy moaned.

"You have to Beloved," Angel whispered, kissing the side of Buffy's neck, nipping her gently, loving the slight hitch in her breathing as he did so. The change in her breathing wasn't from fear, which is what he loved so very much about Buffy. "Giles and the others are probably worried. We never checked in last night, and we have to tell them that the Judge is completely assembled."

Buffy sighed, but decided to be mature about it. She pushed the covers off her body and then froze as she remembered that she wasn't wearing anything. She turned to look at Angel, but saw only love and admiration for her body in his gaze. She grinned quickly and moved to retrieve her clothes that had been hung over a heater by Angel sometime during the night.

Angel watched, completely and utterly content, perfectly happy for the first time in his entire life. He didn't believe he deserved this, but he wasn't about to throw away the best thing in his life just because he felt guilty. As soon as he saw that his girlfriend was dressed, he moved gracefully to his own cupboard and pulled on his usual dark clothes. He shrugged into his jacket and then moved to help Buffy into hers. Their eyes met, and they shared a soft smile before Angel ducked his head down to meet Buffy's lips.

"Last night was completely perfect," Angel whispered. "I love you so much."

Buffy smiled and wrapped her arms around Angel's waist. "You didn't wake up evil did you?" she asked teasingly.

Angel's eyebrows lifted in amusement. "What makes you ask that?"

Buffy froze. What had made her ask that? She'd never had a morning after before, had she? Last night was the first and only time that she'd ever made love with somebody, so why had she felt the need to ensure that her previous patterns hadn't repeated? But that made no sense whatsoever.

"C'mon schoolgirl," he whispered softly. "Your boyfriend is dead-set on you actually getting to school today."

Buffy swallowed hard. Dream on schoolgirl, your boyfriend is dead. Where had she heard that before? And why did it sound so much like Angel's voice saying that inside her mind. There was a reason for this…she'd asked Angel if he'd woken up evil. She'd asked that before, she was sure of it, but not to Angel.

"You didn't wake up evil did you?" "Depends on your definition of evil."

Buffy stepped away from Angel who looked at her in confusion. "Buffy?" he asked worriedly.

"You're not him," Buffy whispered. "You're the bad guy."

"We'll get through this Buffy," Harry whispered softly, gently kissing Buffy's shoulder. "We're gonna win."

"How do you know that?" Buffy asked, desperately wanting to believe her boyfriend, but unable to have his optimism.

"Because, we're the good guys," Harry explained. "And the First is the very definition of evil, which makes him a bad guy. He can't win. Bad guys never win."

Buffy laughed slightly and closed her eyes, leaning her head against Harry's shoulder.

"I wish I had your faith," she whispered.

"I suppose I'll just have to have enough for the both of us then."

She looked around in confusion and suddenly saw white snow surrounding her as she stood in front of a large brick house. But why was she out here, and where had Angel's apartment gone? There was something that she was supposed to be remembering…but what?

A snowball suddenly pelted her, and she instinctively dived to the ground, looking around frantically for her attacker. What she saw was a madly laughing Harry looking out from behind a tree. She grinned widely and gathered up a snowball, pitching it with complete accuracy towards her boyfriend. Harry tried to duck behind the tree, but he caught at least half of the flying snowball in the face.

"Alright, this means war!" Harry yelled, racing out from behind the protection of the tree and diving towards his girlfriend. He grabbed her by the waist, and began tickling her mercilessly.

Buffy struggled, laughing until she was having trouble breathing, but Harry was relentless.

"Say 'uncle'!" Harry yelled with a grin.

"You're – gonna – make – me – wet – my – pants!" Buffy cried out through her laughter.

Harry immediately jumped off her at the threat and watched with a loving grin as his girlfriend managed to compose herself. He reached down his hand to help pull Buffy to her feet, but she grabbed hold of his wrist and tugged him down into the snow on top of her.

"What was that for?" he asked curiously.

"No reason," she replied coyly, leaning up to press a gentle kiss to his cold lips.

Harry smiled into the kiss and reluctantly pulled away, brining one hand up to gently stroke Buffy's cheek, gazing down at her with complete love. Before he could lean down to kiss her again, they were interrupted by a familiar masculine voice calling Harry's name.

"Harry! If you can pry your lips away from your girlfriend for half a minute, we're about to have lunch!"

Harry groaned and buried his face in Buffy's neck, his warm breath tickling her sensitive skin, making her shudder slightly. Harry grumbled beneath his breath before looking up towards the house.

"Be there in a minute Dad!" Harry yelled.

Buffy giggled and gently nipped at Harry's neck.

"I suppose we have to save this for later?" Buffy said softly.

Harry nodded reluctantly. "Merlin, having parents is annoying," he commented. "Always interrupting at bad moments."

Buffy grinned and brought a hand up to touch Harry's face. She brushed the hair off his forehead, wondering if she could convince him to get a haircut so that his hair wasn't always in his eyes. She ran her thumb across the smoothness of his forehead, forever thankful that wizards knew all sorts of spells to get rid of the pain of pimples and acne. Harry's forehead was perfect, and Buffy couldn't help but lean upwards and kiss it.

She froze suddenly. This wasn't right. Something was missing. She couldn't work out what though. She was with Harry, they were celebrating the Christmas break with his parents, and they were about to go and have lunch. What could be wrong about that?

"Harry! Buffy! The food's going to get cold!" Lily called out to them.

"I don't think they'll quite believe that one Lil," James pointed out softly, though the stillness of the air carried his voice over to the two teenagers. "You're a witch for Merlin's sake, re-heating food is less hassle than floating a feather."

This was wrong. Buffy knew it within her heart that as happy as she was, this wasn't right. But, oh how tempting it was to stay in that moment, with Harry's parents bickering lovingly with each other, while she and Harry frolicked in the snow. She touched Harry's forehead again and frowned.

"Your scar…"

Harry's brow furrowed in a very familiar way and he looked at her in confusion. "Scar? What scar?"

"You're beautiful," Harry whispered.

Buffy smiled and traced her index finger over Harry's lightening-bolt shaped scar. "So are you."

Harry scoffed and pressed a soft kiss to Buffy's cheek. "You might be somewhat biased, Buffy. I know the scar makes me look weird," he said.

Buffy looked at him as though he'd suddenly gone insane. "Are you nuts? I love your scar Harry. I mean, yeah, everyone knows who you are because of it, but its so much more than that. That scar is…it's part of your history, part of who you are. Part of you, and us."

"Did I tell you that Dumbledore thinks it's actually linking us together?" Harry whispered softly. "That because Voldemort gave it to me, and because of…well, who you are, now that Voldemort's gone, I feel what you feel instead of feeling what he used to feel."

"Really?" Buffy asked curiously. "Huh, that's kinda neat."

Harry shook his head and took hold of Buffy's hand, guiding her fingers up to touch his scar again.

"I used to hate it, but…now that it links us together, I know it can't be a bad thing."

"Buffy?" Harry asked worriedly. "What scar? You're scaring me."

"From Voldemort."

"What? Voldemort? Who's that?" Harry asked, becoming increasingly worried about his girlfriend. Maybe he'd pelted her too hard with the snowball after all.

How could Harry not know who Voldemort was? And…if Voldemort hadn't existed, then why did she and Harry even know each other? She was Voldemort's daughter, she'd been brought to Hogwarts for her safety, and she'd met Harry through that. It explained why Harry's parents were standing on the stairs to the house locked in a passionate kiss though. It was tempting to believe that this was the real world, and she struggled to remember why she was so reluctant to believe that it was real.

Of course! That was why it was so tempting to stay in this beautiful world with Harry and his parents.

"The First."

And with that revelation, Harry, James, Lily and the brick house were suddenly gone.

She stood in the centre of an endless white room that had no walls, no floor, no ceiling, but somehow, she was still standing. She turned around, searching the brightness for any sort of evil presence. She wasn't going to be fooled this time. This was the work of the First, and she was going to remember it. She wasn't going to allow herself to be tempted by her normal everyday life, or by a life where Angel had never turned evil, or by a life where Voldemort had never existed, and Harry's parents were still alive. She had to admit, however, that the last temptation had been something that she desperately wanted. Not for herself, but for Harry. She could remember the gleam in his eyes, the happiness completely radiating off him as they carelessly played in the snow.

"Welcome," a disembodied voice greeted her, the booming sound echoing around the endless room. "I had wondered if you would even make it to this stage. I obviously underestimated you Slayer."

"Most people do," Buffy replied, her eyes darting around nervously.

"Yes, but then, I am not most people. I…am the First. The First and original evil. I am in everything, in everyone. Evil feeds from me and makes me strong. I have so enjoyed your weakness Slayer."

Buffy bristled at the reminder of her near breakdown. She'd never felt so weak and so vulnerable in her entire life, and she had always hated feeling that way, even before she'd been Called as the Slayer.

"We could make a formidable team," the First continued, its voice soft, with almost a seductive quality to it. It made Buffy shiver in loathing and disgust, goosebumps pebbling up and down her arms. "Think about the power you could have."

"I already have power," Buffy replied. "There's nothing that you could give me that would convince me to join you."

"Really?" the First asked, and Buffy felt that familiar prickle of fear race up and down her spine. "I know your thoughts Slayer. I know you wanted that last vision to be real. I could make it that way."

Buffy shook her head, unwilling to listen, but the First continued talking before Buffy could even get her thoughts together.

"You could give Harry everything he's ever wanted. A real family, with a real home. You saw how happy he was with his parents. You saw the complete joy in his eyes, you cannot deny it. I can make it happen. You could have it all."

"For a price," Buffy stated.

"A small price to pay for your true love's happiness, is it not?"

Buffy swallowed hard. What she wanted more than anything was for Harry to be safe and happy. This was her chance to give it to him, and…it was a small price to pay, wasn't it? What wouldn't she be willing to give up for Harry? There was nothing in the world that she would deny him…

"Just think about it Slayer…Harry would have the perfect family…he'd even have a younger sister just like he's always wanted. His parents would adore you, you'd have their blessings to be together for the rest of your lives. This is a large gift that I'm offering you in return for one small, insignificant thing, don't you think?"

Buffy hesitated, trying to get everything to make sense to her. She didn't know how it would be possible, it seemed to good to be true, but it was a convincing argument.

"Do you love him Buffy?" it asked softly, the voice whispering inside her mind rather than echoing through the endless room. "What would you give up for him? Would you kill for him? Would you die for him? I don't want either of those things Buffy. What I want from you is simple…would you give up your soul to secure Harry's happiness?"

The answer 'yes' was on the tip of her tongue, and Buffy only barely managed to keep herself from screaming her answer.

"Prove it," Buffy challenged, her Slayer's mind managing to come to the foreground momentarily. "Prove that you can give Harry that life."

"Not until I have your word."

"Then you're a liar," Buffy said frostily. "You don't have the power to make it happen. You can't give him that life. And you won't get my soul, no matter what bargaining chip you use."

"How dare you question my power?!" the First screamed, the voice booming through the endless room, making Buffy's ears ring with the volume of it.

"I dare because you've got bugger-all to show for yourself," Buffy replied angrily. "Ooo, a white room and a loud voice…scary. Not! These are just parlour tricks. And that's all your capable of, isn't it? You could appear as ghosts, but never as anything more. You couldn't affect anything, except by playing mind games on people using scare tactics. You have no power over me anymore. There's nothing you can do to me, and there's nothing you can offer me. I will never join you. I will never give in to you. And I will never fight on the side of darkness. I am a Champion of Light, and I challenge your presence in the human realm. I lay claim to my world, and by my words, I am driving you out."

"You cannot drive me out, little girl!" the First cried in anger. "You cannot win! I am the First. I am what the darkness fears. I am the evil that lives in everything and everyone. I will not be beaten. You cannot defeat me, for I am the darkness."

"Okay, I get it, you're evil. Do we have to chat about it all day?"

And with that, Buffy's trance was broken, her eyes popping open, a gasp tearing from her mouth.

On the other side of the wall in the Room of Requirement, four students and two Professors breathed sighs of relief, and the barrier between them disappeared.

-----

That chapter was all kinds of fun to write. Forgive me for the B/A mush, but I've been in a weird B/A mood for the last few days. Been reading sappy fics that made me cry earlier, so it's been interesting. Hoping you were able to follow that chappie alright, and hoping you enjoyed. Two more chaps to go until the end of this epic.

Toodles.

DKG.