Chapter 4

"Wouldn't you like to know." smirked Spike.

Angel growled deep in his throat, but Buffy stood before him, protecting Spike. He almost smiled at the strange scene.

Anya looked at both of them, "Are you angry that he got his soul?" she asked Angel, bluntly.

"An..." Xander cut her off "I don't think that dead boy here..."

"What Xander? I only asked him, because I know that I would be if I were him."

"Really?" Angel snapped, "Why?"

"Oh, please." she snorted, "It's, like, so obvious. Spike got a soul and he can sleep with Buffy as much as he wants, and won't loose his soul. On the other hand, you…"

"Anya" both Buffys chorused.

"What?" she sniffed irritated. "I was just asking."

The other Buffy noticed something: Dawn was wearing her favorite Scholl shirt.

"Dawn," she asked, "what age are you?"

"What? I am almost sixteen. I just started high school." Dawn answered, acting like it was obvious.

The other Buffy considered that," Willow, can you tell me what happened here? I...it would help."

"Of course" she answered quickly," We were fighting this demon that we'd vanquished before…"

"The gom demon?" she asked.

Giles smiled, amused, as Willow corrected her, "The Gommlok. Spike and Anya were also there and Buffy said something to the demon that included a wish, and Anya sent Buffy to the future...well...we thought she sent Buffy there when we saw you. But, later, Buffy showed up here 'cause it had only sent her a few blocks away".

"It can't be" the other Buffy spat, not realizing she had spoken. She finally understood what happened. It changed everything. She didn't arrive to another world in some other dimension; no, she was at her world, five years before their war started...before Angelus was released to bring hell to earth. She could stop it now...she wouldn't have to go back to him. But what could she say? How could she explain herself to the others...most of all to Angel?

"Buffy?"

She came from her thoughts staring into the chocolate eyes of her Angel. "Angel" her whisper filed with hope and agony. Now they wanted to know who was she. She couldn't tell them the truth. Ever. "You probably want to know about my life." Buffy began to tell her story--her lies," I come from another dimension. It's very similar to yours and most of the events occurred here probably occurred in my world but...somewhere on the way that changed."

"Changed?" Giles asked, interested.

She couldn't look him in the eyes, he would know she was lying. "I...in my world...it all started with Angel…" she couldn't tell them, her sister was sitting there.

Dawn saw her looking at her and a glimpse of rebellion flashed in her eyes. "I can listen, I am not a little girl! Right, Buffy?" she turned to her sister.

The other Buffy's heart ached as she realized that Dawn didn't think of her as a sister. It was probably better this way; she'll only get hurt. Buffy nodded, she had promised her to treat her like a grown up.

The other Buffy knew what her alter-self would do, so she immediately continued her story, "Angel...he turned into Angelus. No one knew how it happened," she lied, "but he did. He brought hell to my world. He gathered an army all around the world, with him as the earth's sole ruler. I was the Slayer but I couldn't stop him...he was too powerful. My friends...they all died. No one survived him...except for me. He took me to the mansion he built in L.A and for five years I stayed there with him." She wouldn't tell them the horrible details, the dark nights she shared with him, the terrible things he did.

"Did he hurt you?" asked Dawn, fearfully.

The other Buffy smiled and lied, "No, he didn't...not really. You can see, I'm fine."

Angel, Giles, and Spike didn't believe her. They knew Angelus; they knew what he was capable of. However, they didn't say a thing. Their Buffy was too confused and shocked to even think about it. She had always assumed that Angelus simply wanted to kill her; she was too naïve to know better, and Giles had never told her most of the terrible things Angelus had done.

"Did he rape you?" Anya asked.

Angelus reached her trembling naked form, walking towards her as the predator he was...he's hurting her...the inside of her is burning...the searing pain turn into fire...she screams...agony washes her over...five years... "No," she answered, quickly.

Willow looked at Anya angry.

The other Buffy continued, "Actually in my world they call me Ann, " she lied. It was just a small lie since her middle name was Ann, but she just couldn't hear others calling her Buffy. She wasn't Buffy anymore.

She continued to tell them about "her" world and they eagerly listened as if she was telling them a fairy tale...if only they knew...

Willow was beginning to sense something weird about this "Ann". Something with her aura wasn't right. She remembered the spell she preformed with Tara when Faith and Buffy switched bodies. Now she didn't need to do a spell; she could sense auras all the time. Had this Ann came from a different dimension, she wouldn't have the same aura. It would have been close, but not the same. When she had brought Buffy back, her body molecules changed and fitted again in the world...this girl had the same molecular structure, the same aura. Something was very wrong indeed.

Than it hit her...this girl...Ann...she wasn't from a different dimension; she was from their world! Both Buffys were the same one...but how? Maybe there are two Buffys, like what happened to Xander? But, it still didn't make any sense. The demon they fought with didn't had that power; he wasn't that kind of a demon. The only explanation Willow could think of was that it had something to do with Anya's Buffy-shuffling. She had to ask Ann, after all, why would she lie?

"Is it true Willow?" Xander asked her, and she looked at them, surprised.

"What? Is what true?" she mumbled.

"Did you mange to vanquish the demon all by yourself?"

"Y-yes..." She was relieved that she wasn't that see-through. She'd ask Ann later, in private.

"I still don't understand how you got here, Ann." Anya made her first smart comment of the night.

"I...I don't know. One minute I was in the garden, waiting for Angelus to return. The next I was here...maybe Anya opened a dimension."

"I didn't. I don't have this kind of power. The wish was involved future request, which is what I did".

"Sending the demon five years in the future." Ann continued.

"Yes."

"Wait," Spike interjected, turning to Ann," how the bloody hell did you know that Anya sent him five years to the future? And to you? She never said that."

"But..." Ann mumbled, "Anya said the future..."

"Yes, but she didn't say five years". He insisted.

Realization stunned Willow. That's why the aura was the same! This Ann from the future...their future. By the looks of the others, they had realized that, too.

Buffy looked at Ann, frightened and shaken, "What?"

Ann was blushing, how could she make such mistake, "I don't understand," she muttered.

"I do" Willow said. Her friends had the right to know.

"Understand what Will?" Angel asked.

"I was thinking about her Aura…your Aura Ann and it was the same as Buffy…you are the same person…you are not from another dimension. Tell them"

"No" Ann begged, tears formed in her green hazel eyes, she can't tell them…no.

"Tell us what?" Buffy's voice was tremble. She wouldn't accept what her mind was shouting to her.

Willow confronted Ann, "tell you that she came from the future…our world in the future…I think five years in the future…this is you Buffy…this is what happened to our world in the future…your future Buffy."

"No" was the only word Buffy could pronounce, it can't be their future…it can't.

"You let Angelus…" she accused Ann, realizing it was actually her blame.

"No…I never let him…he was too powerful…" Ann tried to speak between her tears, seeing Buffy disgust with her.

"I am sorry" she cried and ran for the door, she opened it to see Toivo and Markus; Angelus personal guards.

To be continued.