DISCLAIMER: I do not own anything to do with Buffy the Vampire Slayer – it all belongs to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox, etc. . .Neither do I own anything to do with Charmed, which belongs to Spelling Entertainment and Constance M. Burge. I think.

AUTHOR'S NOTE: A little idea I had. . .set towards the end of Buffy Season 3, after the episode 'Enemies' where Faith officially goes to the dark side. Also, set somewhere in Charmed Season 2 where Piper has just bought P3 and Andy died recently. I'm going to change some of the details of the happenings at the end of Buffy Season 3, just to make it interesting. But I hope it will have the same eventual outcome.

Chapter 1: A Vision and a Fresh Hope

San Francisco

Phoebe trudged down the stairs in her pyjamas, yawning widely, her hair in a mess. She was welcomed by Piper in the kitchen who was pouring herself some cereal.

'Morning sleepyhead,' she greeted Phoebe.

'Has Prue already gone to work?' Phoebe checked, rubbing her eyes.

'Yuh-huh, an hour ago,' said Piper, nodding. 'And sorry, but I gotta leave you too. I'm working on my club this afternoon.'

Phoebe raised her eyebrows suggestively. 'Would that be with Dan?'

Piper's cheeks started to blush, as she brushed away a strand of hair from her face. 'Maybe. . .'

Phoebe grinned playfully. 'Piper and Dan, sitting in a tree. . .' Piper shot her sister a stern look.

'Phoebe, grow up.'

Phoebe gave a satisfied laugh, seeing she'd clearly annoyed her sister, but all of a sudden her mind froze as she experienced an intense vision.

A giant snake. . .must have been some enormous demon. . .behind it, a large dreary looking building, and. . .high school students? Judging from their outfits, she was witnessing a Graduation Day. One that was going to go horribly wrong for sure. The last thing she caught sight of was a plaque, one that would most likely be their only clue.

Once she came back to reality, Phoebe yelled out: 'Piper! I just had a premonition!' Piper looked up at her sister, the flush from her cheeks gone away now and replaced by a troubled look. 'What happened?'

'This huge snake demon thing. It was attacking a high school at their graduation.'

Piper walked closer to her sister, eager to hear more. 'You have any idea what school it was, or where it might be?'

Phoebe furrowed her brow. 'I saw a plaque. . .have you ever heard of "Sunnydale High School"?'

**********

Sunnydale

As Buffy walked into the sunlit library, bag over her shoulder, she caught sight of Giles eating an apple with one hand, book open in the other. He swallowed his current mouthful as soon as he saw the Slayer, blank expression on his face.

'Buffy.'

'Morning,' she said sulkily. She propped her bag down on the central table.

He walked closer to her, looking concerned. 'You're here awfully early.' He paused before going on. 'Is everything alright?'

Buffy sighed, frustrated with herself. 'I couldn't sleep at all last night. All I could think about was everything else that's happened. The Mayor. . .the Books of Ascension. . . Faith. . .' She broke off at the last word. 'Giles, what if it's too late? What do we do if the Ascension takes place, kills us all, and Faith's there to witness and survive it?'

Giles blinked, looking away. 'I understand why you'd be worried and upset. It's not an easy situation.' She frowned, agreeing with him.

'But things are looking up,' he said hopefully. 'It appears there's a certain "Box of Gavrok that's very important for the Ascension.'

Buffy sat up intrigued. 'Box of Ga-what?'

Giles sat down opposite her. 'From the minimal amount of information we can find about a previous Ascension, there is a "Box of Gavrok" that is mentioned. I assume it is demonic energy of some kind that prepares the body. Without that, the Mayor cannot properly get ready for the change, therefore not ascend. From what we can gather, he has not obtained it yet.'

Buffy's eyes flickered with hope. 'So. . .if we can get this box before him and destroy it, no Ascension?'

Giles nodded. 'Theoretically, yes.'

Buffy smiled, hearing the first bit of good news in a while.

**********

San Francisco

Piper sat at the computer, logging on to the internet. Her sister Phoebe had her hands resting on the back of the chair.

'Sunnydale, Sunnydale. . .' Phoebe babbled nervously. 'Where are you?'

Piper tapped the word into a search engine. 'Here we go. . .' she clicked the return key as all the results listed themselves in front of their eyes.

'There!' Phoebe pointed at an entry on the screen. She read out: '"Welcome to Sunnydale. Enjoy your stay at our official website." Yeah, click on that.' Piper did so, as the page loaded for them.

A big dark red and gold slogan was the first thing that showed up. Underneath it was an intro about the town.

'I don't think there's much here,' Piper said looking at the first page. 'It's in Southern California, that's a start.' She glanced at the next block of writing. 'Just an intro by the Mayor of Sunnydale.' She checked the name. 'Mayor Richard Wilkins III. How important could he be, right?' Phoebe snorted at the ridiculous idea. She checked the contents section on the left side of the page. 'Hey, Sunnydale High! Click on it!'

Piper eagerly went to the link, and a huge picture of the front view of the school came up. 'Oh my God, that's it. . .' Phoebe said at once. 'That was the school in my premonition except. . .with a big giant snake thing in front of it.' Piper nodded, reading the text aloud.

'"Sunnydale is a town on the grow. . .and our young people are our lifeblood. The lovely Spanish style campus of the Sunnydale High School features an attractive quad, and an Olympic-sized swimming pool complete with underground grotto. Sunnydale High is home to the fierce razorbacks. In 1977. . ." yadda, yadda, yadda, a bunch of stuff about athletic achievement. . .' Piper scrolled down. 'Auditorium. . .lounge. . .cafeteria. . . library. . .' She finished scrolling until the end of the page. 'That's it.'

Phoebe frowned. 'Well, that wasn't too helpful. It's just like a regular high school.'

Piper put her chin on her hand. 'Maybe if we check the town history. . .' She clicked on the link in the contents page, and the screen was filled with text and pictures. The two girls scanned it with their eyes silently, until:

'Wait a minute. . .' Piper stopped. She highlighted a sentence, reading it out. '"Colonized by the Spanish centuries ago and given the quaint and colourful name Boca del Infierno, Sunnydale is a community steeped in history". . .' Piper leaned back in the chair, as Phoebe stared curiously at the sentence.

'Yeah, so?' She asked looking down at her sister. Piper squinted her eyes, thinking.

'Well, my Spanish is a little rusty so you're gonna have to help me on this one. . .doesn't "Boca del Infierno" roughly translate as. . . "Mouth of Hell"?'

Phoebe straightened herself out. 'You're right. I'm pretty sure it does.'

Piper stuck out her hands obviously. 'So. . .doesn't it seem like a terrible coincidence that the place you see in your premonition being attacked by a demon snake is a place that was once called "the mouth of hell"?'

Phoebe stopped to think for a moment. 'Indeed it does.'

Piper stood up from the computer and headed towards the stairs. 'Book of Shadows. Now.' Without another word, the two headed up to their attic to consult their book.

**********

Sunnydale

All sitting in the library at lunch, the Scooby Gang were sharing info and ideas on their newly found hope, the Box of Gavrok.

'So,' Giles instructed. 'I need you all to do your bit this evening to see how much we can find out. Xander,' he directed. 'You and Oz will go to Willy's, see what you can find.' The two nodded, taking in what they had to do.

'Willow,' Giles went on. 'I want you to check in with all the magick stores or imports, see if there have been any orders, even on the black market.' Willow checked this in her mind, but the words "black market" did scare her a bit.

Cordelia walked in carrying some school books, looking perfect as usual. 'Excellent. Cordelia, I need you to do some research with me, see if we can find any more information on the history of the box.' She threw her arms up in protest.

'Great. I come in here to check out a book to help me with a paper due in tomorrow, and I get labelled as "research girl".'

Giles explained with a look. 'It's important. You're needed.' He finally turned to Buffy. 'You know what you have to do.'

She nodded solemnly. 'Try to see what I can find out from the source. How close I can get to the Mayor and his minions. . .perhaps I'll be lucky and overhear something about the Box of Gay Rock.'

Xander perked up. 'What? Gay Rock? Huh?' Buffy looked at him bizarrely.

'That would be Gavrok,' Giles corrected. 'And Buffy, see if you can get Angel to help also. This is extremely dangerous.' She nodded, feeling her stomach flip over at the mention of his name. Things hadn't exactly been going the best between them recently.

At that moment, Wesley walked in, smug smile on his face. 'Hello all,' he said, strolling in casually. 'I have good news.'

'You're leaving us and going back to the mother-country?' Buffy said openly.

Wesley scowled. 'No. And you should be more respectful to your Watcher. . .' he changed his tone. 'The Council has given me a clue about a box that we're sure will be useful to the Ascension. It's meant to contain demonic energy. . .'

He was interrupted by Xander. 'Way ahead of you, Sparky,' he tapped the Englishman on the shoulder. He, Oz and Willow were already headed to the door. Oz shrugged apologetically.

'Sorry, man. You tried. One day you'll get the spotlight.' He paused as he thought it over. 'Maybe.' The three went off to their classes.

Wesley turned his attention towards Buffy. 'Ms. Summers, I hope you realise that you must obey council orders when it comes to a matter as important as the Ascension. . .'

Buffy picked up her bag, staring deeply at him as she spoke. 'Look, tea cosy. I have an evil Mayor that I've got to stop ascending here. I don't care what your little Council thinks, because frankly, I think myself and my friends,' she made sure she looked at Giles when she said this, 'can make better decisions here in the moment than the Council can thousands of miles away in England. And I can assure you, I am capable of dealing with it.'

She started walking out, but turned back to him for one last thought. 'I'm the Slayer. You think you can hold me down and make me follow your orders like a puppy dog with its master – think again. I have more important things to do with my life.' She stormed out, making her best attempt to slam the library door.

Wesley was left with a furious look on his expression, as Giles hid a smile.

He had taught his Slayer well.

**********

San Francisco

Piper and Phoebe flicked through the Book of Shadows, searching for anything that might have given them a clue about the "mouth of hell".

Phoebe let out a frustrated breath. 'I swear I once read something about it here. . .' she skimmed the pages over before stopping at one in particular.

The Hellmouth.

'Bingo!' she cried victoriously. Piper read it aloud.

'"The Hellmouth is an opening just under the surface of the Earth that leads towards hell. It radiates evil energy, therefore attracting more demons to it than normal, and containing more demonic activity. A town like this is normally barely inhabited by people unless it has strong defence for it like a Slayer". . .' Piper lifted her head up, looking over at her sister. 'What's a Slayer?'

Phoebe shrugged. 'Dunno. Doesn't matter.'

Piper nodded, as she finished reading the passage, which ended with a map of the world.

'"These hotspots can be found in the following places of the world. Touch the map and the towns will glow red."' Piper did so, as two bright red dots shone out from the page. She withdrew her hand as if it might burn her.

The two leaned in closer at the two dots both on the continent of North America. 'Well, I assume that one in California is Sunnydale,' Phoebe said pointing at it. 'Ooh, and look – there's one in Cleveland.'

Piper turned away from the book. 'OK, so we know that on Graduation day in Sunnydale High School, which happens to be located on a Hellmouth, a giant snake demon will attack.' She paused. 'What do we do now?'

'Isn't it obvious?' Phoebe looked quizzically at her sister who was just awaiting an answer. 'We have to go down there and stop it!'

'Phoebe!' Piper threw up her hands. 'We can't just leave everything here! Prue's got a job to do at Bucklands, and I wanna get my club going. This is simply impossible.'

Phoebe stamped her feet on the floor, pouting. 'Come on Piper! It's not like it's a vacation – we'd be saving at least a 100 innocents – that's what we do, remember?'

Piper tapped the stand that held the Book of Shadows, thinking it over. 'We'll have to call Prue and check with her first.'

Phoebe nodded eagerly. 'I know. We can call now.'

Piper rolled her eyes as she went down the attic stairs to their phone. She picked it up and dialled, Phoebe on her tail the entire time.

**********

Prue Halliwell sat at her desk in her office at Bucklands Auction House. She was looking over some papers at a recent article they'd obtained when her phone rang. She picked it up after one ring.

'Bucklands Auction House, Prue Halliwell speaking,' she answered. She heard her middle-sister's voice down the other end.

'Prue, it's me. Listen, something's come up. Phoebe had a premonition.'

Prue rested her elbows on the desk. 'About what?'

'It was some demon snake attacking this school in Southern California on Graduation,' Piper replied. 'We did some research on the internet and in the Book – turns out the town's located on the mouth of hell.'

Prue contorted her face. 'That's not good.'

Piper sighed lightly. 'Yeah, we know. Phoebe's had the crazy idea that we go down there and stop it – I straight away told her no. . .'

Prue stopped her sister's babbling. 'Why did you do that?'

Piper paused, surprised by Prue's reaction. 'Because you and I have jobs we can't just leave?'

Prue ran her fingers through her hair. 'A giant snake demon? On a Graduation, that's gotta be at least 100 innocents, right?'

Piper frowned. 'You're not actually considering this, are you?'

Prue shrugged. 'Piper, we have jobs, but we also have our duty as the Charmed Ones. I think this is pretty important.'

Piper rolled her eyes, realising she was defeated. 'Fine. So we're going?'

Prue looked at her door as her boss Claire walked in holding a file.

'Yeah, I'll check with Claire now. Pack our bags; I'll be home in an hour.' She put the phone back on the hook.

'Making plans, Prue?' Claire looked Prue up and down judgementally.

'Claire, I'm really sorry, but something's come up. I'm gonna have to leave work for a couple of weeks, it's a. . .'

'. . .family emergency?' Claire finished off for her.

Prue smiled weakly. 'Right.'

'Ms. Halliwell, as often as you do for short periods of time, you cannot abandon your job for two weeks with no replacement.'

Prue picked up her coat and her purse, preparing to walk out the door. 'I'm sorry Claire, this is too important.'

Claire grabbed her arm. 'Prue, if you think you can walk out that door and come back here with a job, you are truly mistaken.'

'Alright,' Prue challenged. 'Just try and find someone that gets as many deals done as I do, and makes as much money for your company.'

Claire stood there looking as if she'd just swallowed a sour lemon.

'I thought so,' Prue replied. 'I'll see you soon.' She walked out the door, concealing the pleased smile on her face.

**********

A/N: That's all I've got so far, but hopefully more coming soon. I don't know how often I can promise updates considering I'm getting quite a lot of work these days, but I'll try my best. In case you're wondering, the text on the Sunnydale website came from the Watcher's Guide. In the meantime, please, please review, I would really appreciate feedback on this story, especially considering it's my first Charmed fic!