Title: The Beginning : Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own BTVS, ATS, or Highlander. If I did, well, Angel and Buffy would be on screen full time.

Possible Fic Pairings: Buffy/Angel, Vengeance(Buffy)/Death/War/Pestilence/Famine family,

Notes/Changes: Hey!

wizathogwarts Hey! Uhm… Elizabeth is the name I had Joyce and Hank give Buffy originally. But they aren't going to be calling her that. I just wanted her 'real' name from the past to go with her given name in the future. Buffy is what everyone in her family will call her. I know 'Elizabeth' was not there originally, but I came up with a name (Elisibitanne) that I thought fit her for a past, and I want to make her future given name similar to her first given name in the past. And if it is any consolation, she will not be called 'Elizabeth' by family or anything.

A headhunter didn't actually defeat her, he just used magic on her, and before he could defeat her, Methos got there… and I am giving away story line. Oh well, I will anyways. I was only going to go over those parts before the actual story only briefly anyways.

Her name isn't the same because she had new parents, who named her something of their own. The 'coincidence' part of it just gets it similar to her original name.

L: Buffy is still immortal. She was 'unborn' and then 'reborn.' Now she has to 're-grow-up.' Methos found her soul still there, not moving on. And he wasn't exactly going to keep it with him, right? Does that help any? She will stop aging at the age she was at her first death-the true first death, not the one after The Master killed her. More will be explained eventually. If it isn't… ask me again.

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. Prologue .

Elisibitanne Annel Winters was only 12 when it happened; she was taken from her home. Outside her village, this was a very common thing. If you did not know the person personally or were related, you probably wouldn't care about a kidnapping.

But in the town she lived in, it was something unheard of! This was a peaceful village with waterfalls of mirth and plenty of wells with drinking water to supply the inhabitants with bountiful crops and plenty of supplies to live with.

Now, in case you're confused, this is long before Faith the Vampire Slayer killed her first human; way before Britney Spears handed out her first CD. The period of time she was born in was pre-America. Her love, her mate, Liam Angelus O'Connor was not to be known here for a very long time. She was born in a time of peace in her village, and this was way before Jesus, way before the Pyramids. The beginning of her tale starts here, before the time when demons and true vampires came through the opened walls between the dimensions and set the world on its axis.

I'm not saying that the world was perfect or without crime, cause it wasn't. But it was without evil, the demonic kind at least. The earth was a simple place of humanity and the living creatures such as humans, animals, insects, bacteria, and plants existed.

But remember this: When she turned 13, the dimensional walls had already been crossed…

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. The Beginning: Part 1 .

She awoke in a dark environment with humid air and a stink which she had to keep out of her nose. The smell of death, decay, and dirt reached her and she snapped her eyes open, just to feel the scratchy burn of clean eyes being clobbered by the dirty air. Elisibitanne found herself in a dark place. She felt heavy, and she hurt.

Elisibitanne's first instinct was to stand. It was a perfectly normal thing to do in her case. But she failed because she was held down by black chains that too stank of sickness and pain. She could not see them in the dim light, but the atmosphere was something that did not appeal to her. It was true that she liked to read and be alone. But this darkness was something that she was not made for, did not seek out. Elisibitanne much preferred the large stones near a beautifully running waterfall or a room in her home across from the fire.

Her back arched and her legs were about to buckle under the heavy chains when she saw them. The rock and hard wall of dirt behind her back did not catch her attention as much as the three figures across from her did. They were about 10 feet away, and they wore black robes. It was too dark to see this though, so all she knew was that they were hidden. Their black robes consisted of only black fabrics spewed over their bodies. There was some kind of luminescence coming from behind them, but she paid it no mind until later.

When her vision finally adjusted somewhat, she held back her gasp. They were quiet as she watched. They did not seem to notice her until her chains jangled. Her knees would buckle under the harsh, heavy weight soon.

They turned their heads and she tried to see them. But the darkness that surrounded them seemed to cling to the important parts, and she could not make anything out. Two started towards her, and thoughts swam through her head. Was she going to be hurt? Were they going to rape her? Kill her?

The third swayed to the other side of the room where he somehow managed to light a stick on the wall. It gave her enough light to see the other side was blocked by a rock. She could now see that the small amount of light coming from behind them was given off by whatever was on the other side.

As the flames flickered to the cave walls on the other side, she could tell that she was not the only one chained to the cave walls. There were others, creatures which she had never before seen or dreamt of. There was one of pure black that looked like some kind of tiger. Another creature had horns all over him, and I mean all over. Some were dark, while others were good. The dark ones made her skin peel and shivers run up her spine, while the good ones made her relax a bit.

The one at the far side of her that was held against the rock where she could see it was something beast-like. It had a body like a lion's, the animal with a great roar. Its upper body was something with feathers, and the rest of it was covered by things like she had seen on some animals. She was not frightened by this animal, but felt pity for it as she did for herself.

In a cage near it was a red bird-like creature. It fluttered sideways and squawked unhappily when she looked at it. She knew it should not be caged, yet it was.

There were other beings with things on them that she did not find in any imagination, and she did not like the feeling in her gut that told her something was going on. Something bad.

The man that had lit the fire soon came over and joined the other two that were gazing at her. She shivered involuntarily, but it brought no reaction from the three robed people.

The one closer to her held a staff of various colors. It was not wooden like it first was thought to be, and was a foot taller then the tall man himself. He was the first to uncloak. When she saw him for the first time, she blinked. Whatever they were doing was evil, she was sure of that. But the one man looked so normal, like a holy man. Was that what he was?

No, she decided, when the second uncloaked himself. He was four inches smaller then the first man, and his back was hunched over. There was a long scar on his face, and his eye was partially hidden by his disfigured eyebrow. It curled over and made him look even more menacing then she was sure he already was. She wiggled uncomfortably under his gaze.

The third man uncloaked a few seconds later. She found that he had a stature that made him look… smart. He was standing there, trying to act smart. But he seemed edgy about something. Other then the flickering of the flames, the trilling and grunts, and the breathing, the cave was mostly silent.

Then they started talking. The three men spoke in a language she did not know. They spoke of something she could not understand. Their body language was of someone preparing themselves for something important. None of it she could understand.

When the first man with the staff started walking away, she was already mentally calling him 'Staff Guy.' The second guy was being called 'Eyebrow' in her mind, while the third was getting the name of 'Wiggy' in her mind. He seemed unpleasant or unready for something.

She heaved a sigh of relief when they walked away. She believed that they were not going to do anything to her, now. She was unprepared for the bile taste in her throat when the one with the staff cut the beings with some sort of knife. She held her breath and fell to her knees.

The other two guys were standing back, ready to catch the falling blood in a brown bowl with large, flattened sides. They showed discomfort, but it was nothing compared to the absolute ferocity that the Staff Guy did not care. He simply walked up to one of them, and he sliced the open skin.

On her knees, she placed her palms on the ground as a feeling of sickness so severe made her heart hurt, her brain pound, and her blood boil in anger, disgust, and fear. But she was already out cold when the figure she could not see was cut. The emotions and cause of her fatigue was the one behind the rock. She continued to remember the burning luminescence. But she could not figure out what it was.

As her eyes rolled up behind her head, her arms and knees gave out as the weight of the chains and gravity brought her to the floor. She was already asleep.

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. The Beginning: Part 2 .

When she woke up again, she felt nauseous. She wanted to sleep more, but she was too curious and afraid to stay down. She lifted herself up and sat against the wall to observe the robed men that had kidnapped her.

She was surprised to see that they were just sitting around, doing nothing that she could tell. When she saw that the glow coming from the other side of the rock was a lot less luminescent then before, she shivered. Elisibitanne didn't know why that frightened her so.

The Wiggy one stood from his spot on a mat in the middle of the room. He walked over to the platform near the other two. He lifted a material off of the bowl from before. She felt her eyes widen when the glow coming from the bowl looked like the glow from behind the rock. It was brighter though, like the rock's glow was before.

He took something, a stick maybe, and he slowly stirred the contents. She knew it was all liquid, although she didn't know what it was. Elisibitanne was not sure she wanted to know.

When the stick was taken out, she could hear it sizzle; being eaten away by the liquid in the bowl was not something on her to do list. It seemed to draw the others' attention though, and they too stood and walked towards the bowl. They talked in the language that she did not know. After a while, she did not bother trying to understand them.

When they turned towards her though, dread itched itself up her spine. She stared back, determined not to let them get to her more then they already had.

It did no good though as they made a triangle facing her, and slowly poured what the bowl had inside of it in a shape she could not identify in the dim cavern. They chanted then. It scared her for a reason she could not identify, and even though she tried, her body had already gone into shock.

The things hanging on chains on the wall started to thrash. She did so as well when the chains suddenly pulled her up and onto the wall. She was forced to arch her back as the chains on her ankles and wrists pulled her, each limb going a different direction. She was pulled up and her eyes widened as she watched what was going on. She was in shock so she wasn't thinking clearly though, so it did no good.

The men's chanting suddenly got louder to a pitch where she had to force her ears against her arms in order to shut out as much noise as possible. The cave walls made the sound echo loudly and the walls around her vibrated with a power.

When the chanting got to the highest pitch, Buffy was seeing stars. Her ear drums vibrated to a sound that hurt as it hit the ear membrane. She moved her head and groaned silently.

The other creatures on the walls against the edges of their sanities were just as aware as she was. The words and melodic sound the robed men made was a wave of weariness to the captured people. They all went slack in their positions, and in the back of her mind, the girl was somewhat relieved that her back wasn't cut much.

Before her eyes, a stream of light that made her watch in awe, and a stream of dark that made her frightened, slowly came out through the eyes, nose, and mouth of every creature, including her. As the two streams, the light much larger then the darkness, washed out of her, she felt like she was floating in Oblivion. As Elisibitanne watched the 'light show' in front of her she went as slack as a dead body would, only she was still there.

The feeling of nothingness, of emptiness that washed through her was very uncomfortable. It made her feel bad, like she was a soul stuck inside of dead body, or maybe a body of someone who was passed out that she held no control over.

Lastly, she watched as a slip of light, so pure, darted out of the being behind the rock, and she fleetingly wondered why it hurt her. She heard a scream so loud and angry, so meaningful and truly good, that her own scream seemed to blend in with it. In fact, it did. The loud noise emitted from her own mouth simply dove into the other and they floated around the room like an ongoing rubber ball looking for a way out.

The light and shadow blended as well in front of her. As the cave walls echoed the ongoing yells of anger, the two separate colors streamed so thin it looked almost like a grey color. Darkness and Light. The glow from the good out of her, the being behind the rock, the caged bird, and the beast that she pitied as much as herself, had more soul to it in the glob then the pit of soul had Darkness.

And as her mind faded off into oblivion, her body went to a restful slack, and the screams stopped in her ears. And as the three robed men who she now referred them as the Shadow Men watched her, smiling, the energetical light of soul and power shot from the center of the room and into her.

Her body spasmed multiple times and the primal scream of a soul being messed with screamed in agony far louder then the screams made before. Her eyes opened, and the misty green color, the color of her home, opened wide and changed. They were suddenly a deep red, with a shadow of her green own beneath. The lightened eyes showed deep pain shot light outwards, giving the Shadow Men a clue as to what was going on. The vortex of lightness and darkness continued to reign her body, until it stopped, and she finally went slack. Her mouth was still open in a silent scream as her back, held in an arch, flattened itself back against the wall of dirt and rock.

The Shadow Men smiled, not aware that they alone were responsible for the suffering of the world…

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Elisibitanne's townspeople were all scouring the city limits. The men were out in the jungle while the children were left at a few of the homes with the elders. Women and Men alike all traveled through the brush and greenery that was their home.

Her parents were both walking together, looking for their eldest daughter. Their youngest was still crying. The two girls had always had a bind, and the moment she got home, she started bawling her little blue out. They didn't know what was wrong, and the girl was only 6. When she was asked, all she would say that something bad was going to happen now and there was nothing any of them could do to stop it.

Mr. and Mrs. Winters would never know that they would never see their little girls alive again.

The moon was shining in a big circle of the mountains, and the shadows of the crescents on the hills drew their attention. A loud horn sounded, and the people learned fear…

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The Beginning: Part 3

Tap, tap. Tap, tap. Tap, tap. That was all she heard before reality got to her. The bird in the cage was trying to get her attention. Her eyes snapped open, still glowing red. She pushed her head up to find she was on the wall.

A sound of a horn caught her attention and her glowing eyes widened for a moment in anger and a protectiveness she could not know of. Nothing made sense. Something was wrong. She jumped up, finding she was on the ground, no longer held against her will on the wall, and she ran out pf the cave.

She did not notice as the Shadow Men gaped at her. She did not notice as the chains easily snapped under her newfound strength. She ran through the forest brush like a lion hunting prey. She was the sparrow running home to feed the chicks. She felt like the gazelle leaping playfully over the river edge. Only, she wasn't there for sport, and she wasn't there for love. She was running for protection; not for her, but by her.

The deep magic inscribed into her had taken her sanity quickly but painfully. She felt something wrong and the beating of her heart sped up rapidly as she made her way through the sounding shadows to the horror that was her own village, her home.

When she stopped, stock still at the flames with the smoke that had already been inhaled by her nose, she watched, her super-enhanced vision hurting along with the other senses as the things hit her, new in feeling but old in the fact that once, when her sanity was there, she knew them for what they were.

Moving with the shadows and corners, using them to her privilege, she hunted. She was looking for her house, traveling through familiar territory in unfamiliar ways. There. She spotted it, one of few that were not yet burning.

It was one of the larger houses. They lived there with many children, the orphaned ones that came when their parents died and they had no more relatives. It was one of the better made, as it was known to house the future, the children. She lived there with her sister, and AnLeum, her best friend, who was also a boy. There were seven others that shared rooms with each other as she shared one with her sister. She heard no sound from the house, although the roaring fire may have been choking the sounds, as it seemed to make that time go in slow motion.

As she penetrated the entrance of the house that she had been born and raised in, she quickly took note of the trashed home. The chairs were knocked over and many things were broken. The fire place seemed to be the only thing alive at first, and the flame was standing tall, burning as if it was any other day.

Her eyes flicked back and forth across the large expanse. Quickly, she checked the rooms, until she came upon her own last. Opening the door silently, she peeked in. There was no live it seemed. Nothing moved. If it wasn't for her extrasensory precision she had gained and the knowledge of her sister, then she wouldn't have spotted the silent, slight quivering under the bed…

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The Beginning: Part 4

Walking into her room, she stepped up and slowly yet swiftly pulled back the covers to find Dawn underneath with her stuffed pig, Gordo.

She watched in awe and relief as her sister was huddled against a pillow and quilt their mother had made for them, and with tightly shut eyes, prayed for herself and her family.

As her sanity began to sink in, she sighed. Elisibitanne smiled at her sister as she realized that the girl was really there.

"Dawnie, my Anina," she spoke. The girls gasped slightly and Elisibitanne could nearly smell the fear.

When she looked up and saw the blonde girl, not that her blonde head currently showed, but her eyes had turned back to their normal green, she smiled a thousand-watt smile. "Liss!" She said aloud as the blue-eyed girl leaped into her arms, ignoring or not noticing the chains, and began to leak conflicting tears as she spilled what had happened since she had sent her back inside.

Apparently, she had been missing for four days now, and everyone had been looking for her since. AnLeum had been looking every corner that the children of the village had hidden away, and he was as determined to find her. He had been missing for a long time too. She had not been allowed out since she was only 6. All the children of the village had gone missing for hours, since the place started burning, and the elders had gone to the church to pray. The few that had stayed behind had soon become as lost as the ones before them. And she had only been there with the sounds of burning.

Elisibitanne rocked her dear sister as she listened to the story, and something inside of her hardened, something that had not even been that way when she was kidnapped and alone, stuck with the bird and the beast that were wrongly handled.

Her brilliant green eyes flashed red, something her sister did not see. Her grip tightened, but not so her sister would ache, but to secure her to herself.

In the den, where the fireplace sat, barely used but for the flame still burning, there was noise. Something was shuffling around. Elisibitanne's grip tightened again, and they both watched the door. Something started running around, and by the sound the feet apparently made, whatever it was wasn't human.

Dawnanine gripped Elisibitanne's pink pig tighter and tried to burrow into her big sister, but the blonde had other ideas. Without thinking much, she took the large quilt and wrapped it around the 6-year-old. The girl did not protest, and Elisibitanne wrapped her like a giant baby, leaving enough blanket to hide her vision. Her little sister closed her eyes as Liss picked the bundle up with inhuman speed, and grabbed the bag by the door.

The bag she grabbed was on reflex, somehow knowing that they would never again return. It was all of her most precious things, except for her Anina, her best friend AnLeum, and her pink pig toy that her little sister intended to be her's some day, of course. It was a simple sack that had been sewed together so that, when opened, it would have a 7-inch hole in the top of a rounded bowl-like, large enough to put various things into. It had things like drawings and diaries which she, her sister, AnLeum, and some of the other children. The three of them seemed to be fairly good-handed at things like drawings and pictures.

After grabbing the bag without a second though, she quickly made sure Dawn was tucked in with her, and turned to the open hole in the wall, what consisted of a window back then, something that was still fairly rare. Readying herself, she leaped out of the hole and ran for their lives, (pun not intended) and didn't look back.

Dawn in her arms with the pack soon tucked away, her bare feet hit the earth silently. Even though she soon needed a break, she did not stop. And when her breaths came out hoarsely, and her sister was nicely tucked away, she still did not stop.

In her arms, Elisibitanne's Anina hugged the stuff toy with a hard grip. The uneven running and dodging that her big sister did had eventually become used to her, and she found herself finally falling into unconsciousness as the footfalls of the being holding her hit the shaken earth.

When Elisibitanne finally did stop, she could no longer hear the horn over the mountain, and her feet were bleeding badly. She looked for a place to sleep, finally coming across a cave that was hidden by green brush. Her eyes barely registered much, and her brain decided it was time to shut down. She quickly tucked herself and Dawnanine against a wall, and curled up in the large quilt with the girl.

As she faded into a peaceful place with a single dream, having no idea that this was the last night of the calm before the storm, she sighed happily. She didn't have her mommy and her daddy and her foster brother and sisters here with her. She suspected that something had already happened to her beloved AnLeum, and she did not want to dwell, but at least she had Dawnanine, her most precious thing of all; her Anina…

And in the distance where the horn still blowed, her house was the last to burn to the ground…

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TBC.

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