DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to Joss Whedon, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their other respective owners.
A/N ABOUT THIS STORY: As you can tell, I've taken several scenes directly from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lord of the Rings, word-for-word in the dialogue. This is not to rip off any of the real writers because I respect their work and I am not a plagiarist. This is an artistic ploy to put the reader in the mindset of where they are and is essential to the story. The Buffy episodes used were episodes (5.5) "No Place Like Home," written by Doug Petrie and (5.22) "The Gift," written by Joss Whedon. The movies used are, of course, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, written by Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien (if you didn't know that, shame, shame).
"Giles!" Dawn shouted, running into Magic Box in a frenzy. Giles and Anya looked up from the counter and pushed past the customers towards Dawn.
"Dawn, what are you doing here?" Giles asked, noting the terror in the girl's eyes. "Is Buffy all right?"
"I – I..." the teenage girl stuttered. "She... they..."
"Speak," Anya ordered, as if ordering a dog. She looked over to Giles, "Should I slap her?"
"No... thank you, Anya," Giles declared, and then he refocused his attention on Buffy's stunned sister. "Dawn," he declared softly, "take a deep breath and tell me what has happened."
"Buffy tried to do this spell thingy," Dawn struggled to explain. "A-and then Spike showed up and-and Willow and Xander were there and then everyone started freaking out and..." Dawn ran out of breath; it appeared as if she were hyperventilating.
"Can I slap her now?" Anya asked, trying to be helpful.
"No," Giles bit off, as the watcher sat Dawn down in a comfortable chair at the reference table away from the crowd of customers. "Dawn, you must try to explain clearly what happened."
"They ran into Buffy's room," Dawn breathed, exasperated. "And the door shut by itself when they were in there. I tried to get it open, b-but I couldn't... I tried, but..."
"Xander was in the room?" Anya asked, now interested in the fate of her boyfriend. "Xander's in trouble?"
"Let her finish," Giles declared.
Dawn's chest heaved as she added, "I finally got the door open and went into the room... and they were gone. All of them. Gone."
"Xander's gone!" Anya exclaimed.
"Anya, please," Giles looked over to her, "try to remain calm."
"Calm?" she repeated. "Did you not hear what she said with your aging British ears? Xander is gone. We have to find him."
"We understand that, Anya," Giles declared, annoyed. "Now we have to figure out what happened. Dawn, did you say that Buffy was performing the trance before the disappearance?"
"Yeah," Dawn answered, "there was incense and sand, I think."
"That doesn't make much sense," Giles said to himself, removing his glasses and cleaning them with a cloth as he mused quietly.
Dawn replied, "Well, I'm not lying—"
"No, that's... not what I meant," Giles answered, still in contemplation. "Well, first we have to try and decipher where they went, then we'll have a better chance of understanding what went wrong and how to reverse it."
"A spell," Anya suggested. "We'll call Willow! Or, wait, we won't, I guess..."
"Tara," Giles declared with a start, "we need her here. In light of the emergency at hand, I'll close the shop."
"Oh," Anya replied, her tone deflated. They turned to her to see she was in a struggle with herself, "Money or Xander... Xander, right. Xander, we need to help Xander. Why couldn't he have gotten himself lost when the store was closed?"
"Anya..." Giles began.
"Right. Tara. On it," she replied, then went into the back of the store towards the telephone.
"I'm going to do some reading on Cloutier," Giles announced. "Maybe there's something we missed..."
"What can I do?" Dawn asked, jumping out of her seat.
"Uh, nothing," Giles answered. "Just... sit. Wait." With that, he walked over towards the customers and announced that the store was closing and to make their final selections. Dawn sat back down in her chair with her shoulders slumped in disappointment.
"Ah!" Spike shouted, as he ducked away and tried to cover himself with his duster jacket. "It's daylight!" He ran around wildly it seemed, trying to shield himself from the sun.
"Chill," Buffy declared harshly. "You're not bursting into flames!" Spike stopped, gazed around at the forest, looked up at the sunny sky, and then returned to his cool, 'Big Bad' personality.
"Right," he replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Course I'm not."
"We must be in another dimension," Willow breathed, staring around in awe at the trees. "One where the daylight doesn't kill vampires."
"Great," Buffy rolled her eyes as she began to pace nervously.
"Wow," Willow gasped, "this place is..." The words fell away from her. She had wondered a few feet away to the edge of the forest and gaped with wonder and the heavenly places of waterfalls and little buildings built for kings and queens. White birds flew through the air as the rays of the non-fatal sunlight kissed their golden warmth on the city before them.
"...Heaven," Willow continued with a smile. The smile quickly faded, "Oh, no... we're dead. We're dead, aren't we?"
"Dead or not," Xander shook his head, gazing out at the beautiful land, "we're definitely not in Kansas anymore."
"No," Buffy added simply, "we're just lost in the quaint little town of where-in-the-hell."
"No," Xander replied. "That would be Sunnydale."
"This place is beautiful, Buffy!" Willow grinned. "I mean, just breathe in the air." She took a deep breath, relishing in every morsel of it. "I think that's real air! None of that fake, polluted, demon-infested southern California air we're used to breathing in." She glared over at Spike, "No offense."
"None taken," Spike rolled his eyes, clearly irritated. "Look, Red, sorry I'm not excited as the next bloke about the bloody air, but I want to get back home. I'm gonna miss my soaps."
Aragorn sat up from the cold floor of the room housing Isildur's sword, his strength and breath having returned to him. "I feared that death was reaching for you," Arwen announced, staring down at Aragorn. He looked up to see her, along with Boromir, Gimli, Legolas and Arwen's father, Lord Elrond.
"What has happened, Aragorn?" Elrond asked.
"What's happened?" a voice called, standing over Frodo. Frodo's bright blue eyes opened to see Gandalf standing over him worriedly. "Frodo, answer me."
"Mr. Frodo, come back to us," he heard Sam say.
"Is he going to be all right, Gandalf?" Merry asked, all of them nervous. The three hobbits and the wizard stared down at the fourth hobbit as he lied on the ground covered in Rivendell foliage. Frodo forced his eyes to focus on his friends standing over him as they looked down at him in distress.
"Gandalf?" Frodo began weakly. "I saw..."
The words faded off as Gandalf asked, "What is it? What did you see?" Gandalf gently sat Frodo up and the hobbit rubbed his aching head.
"Something is wrong," Frodo declared, his eyes full of contemplation. His mind struggled to remember his visions, but they were like a dream that slipped away from him the harder he tried to reach. "Something has happened... or something didn't happen..."
"He's not making any sense," Pippin announced. "Maybe after a nice roast and some ale..."
"Quiet, fool," Gandalf declared, "let him finish."
"They're here," Frodo declared, now with strength and resolve in his voice. "We have to find them."
"Who are they?" Gandalf asked. "What do they look like?"
"Two women and two men," a voice declared from behind them. They turned to see Aragorn standing with his sword at the ready, along with Boromir, Legolas, Gimli and Elrond. "They arrived here just a short while ago," Aragorn announced.
"How'd you know that?" Pippin asked.
"Because I was taken by the same force," Aragorn answered. "I saw them. Just, as I assume, Frodo did."
"Lord Elrond," a voice called out as they turned to see an elf watchman bounding towards them. "Intruders have been spotted at the Western end. We fear they may be spies of Sauron."
"We have to go to them," Frodo abruptly announced.
"No, Frodo," Aragorn declared. "If they are spies, we cannot risk you being captured."
"Did you say the Western end?" Frodo asked.
"Yes," the elf answered.
Frodo replied, "I don't think they're spies."
Buffy roundhouse kicked an elf who charged her, knocking him on his face. "See, this is why I don't take vacations!" Buffy declared, as she punched another approaching elf.
"Who are these guys anyway?" Xander shouted – he had a little more trouble keeping the elves from attacking him. "They've all got pointy ears and blonde wigs! It's like they're in transition between a Bon Jovi concert and a Star Trek convention!" Xander pushed an elf away and was tackled to the ground by two others.
"Conicio!" Willow shouted and thrust out both of her arms. The three elves charging her were thrown back powerfully and landed in the dirt. "Why are they attacking us?"
"I don't know!" Buffy answered as she kneed an elf in the stomach, but then was leveled by another elf from behind.
Spike jumped in the air and side-kicked an elf away from him, grinning in his vampface. He grabbed two others and slammed them against each other with joyful delight. "I can get used to this!" Spike shouted powerfully. "That's right – look out, new world! William the Bloody's in town!" He shoved his elbow into the stomach of another elf and turned around, punching him in the face. With a few more swift kicks, the elf was on the ground.
Spike turned to see another struggling to get off of the ground. Spike slammed his foot on the elf's back. "Not so fast!" Spike grinned. "I'll tell you when the party's over, mate."
Spike looked up suddenly to be staring at the end of three wooden arrows pointed directly at his face. Legolas held the arrows back tightly and with his blue eyes he dared the creature to make another move. Behind Legolas were at least thirty other elves, all brandishing bows and arrows, all pointed at Spike, Buffy, Xander and Willow.
"All right," Spike took his foot off of his victim as he stared at the wooden arrows with dread, "I guess that would be the end, then."
Lord Elrond appeared, walking past the other elves up to Spike and the others. He stopped and glared at the strangers in bizarre clothing as the others followed: first Aragorn, then Boromir, then Gimli, and then Gandalf was next and he was followed by the hobbits.
Aragorn and Frodo both stared at Buffy, recognizing her instantly. The others were familiar to them as well, having quickly seen them in the forest where they now were before Aragorn and Frodo woke up. Buffy stared at the hobbits in confusion, especially at Frodo and Sam.
"Will," Buffy whispered, leaning over to her. "Do you recognize them?"
"Recognize who?" Willow whispered back, both of them nervous.
"The midgets," Buffy answered. "Behind the tall geezer with the pointy hat."
"Oh," Willow whispered under her breath. "No, why?"
"I saw them before," Buffy softly declared, "back in my room."
"They were in your room?"
"No. I had a vision before I got here. Two of them were in it."
"Which two?"
"The scrawny one with brown hair and big ol' angst-y eyes?" Buffy answered. "That's one of them and then the blonde one standing next to him."
"The pudgy one?" Willow whispered.
"That one," Buffy nodded.
A smile stretched across Spike's face as he glared at the two humans in front of him – especially the blonde one, Boromir. Spike knew he had his attention loud and clear as Boromir glared at the vampire in disgust.
"Who are you?" Elrond demanded, then glanced over at Spike. "What are you?"
"Why ask?" Boromir declared. "They must be orcs!"
"What'd he call us?" Xander asked.
"Something about Björk..." Willow answered, just as lost as the others.
Xander turned his attention towards Elrond – another pointy-ears guy with long brown hair in some kind of dress. He continued to stare at his long face as if he recognized it.
Gandalf closely watched the blonde woman, yet concerned himself more with her red-haired friend. Willow saw him staring at her and looked away nervously. "This one is a sorceress," Gandalf declared as he gazed at Willow. "She has power."
Willow stuttered as the attention of everyone turned towards her, "W-who me?"
"She wouldn't be the only one," Buffy replied with a calm, yet threatening tone as she glared at Gandalf and the others.
"They are spies for Sauron!" Boromir decreed.
"Or Saruman," Elrond suggested.
"Look," Buffy interrupted, "we don't know any... 'Sorry-mom,' or whoever, but we're from Sunnydale." She received blank stares. "California?" They glanced at each other in confusion, and then stared at her in silence. "Oh, boy, where are we?"
"Rivendell," Aragorn answered. "In Middle Earth."
"Middle Earth?" Xander declared, knowingly. "Wait a minute! I get it now!" They turned to him as he looked over to Willow and whispered, "Is there a Middle Earth?" She shook her head 'no' and he turned back to them replying, "Oh. Well, never mind, then. I don't."
"They're not spies of Sauron," Aragorn declared. "Or Saruman. They're the ones I saw in my vision."
"Look at this one!" Boromir declared, still staring at Spike. "He has the face of a monster. You can't possibly—"
"And you're the staple of handsome 'round this place," Spike laughed as he morphed into his human guise. "Is that right, Mr. Tall, Dark, and Nose?"
"We should take them back into the city and examine them further," Aragorn declared to Elrond. He stepped out in front of them, between Spike, who was in front of the Scoobies, and Elrond and Legolas, who stood in front of the others. "There must be a reason they are here."
"Hey!" Spike snapped as he grabbed Aragorn's shoulder. "No one's takin' me anywhere, you bloody p—"
His words were cut off as Aragorn suddenly drew his sword, spun around and swung it at Spike's neck, stopping it only centimeters from his throat. Spike was silent and stepped back as Aragorn glared at him warningly, his Ranger sword at the ready. "Your insolence has been noted," he declared.
Spike glared at him angrily in return as Xander stood back and watched with a beaming smile, "I really like this guy."