Some explainations, some answers, more questions and some sheer insanity.

Here it is.

Bad Tidings
Part 2

Seattle.

Her senses were ablaze. There was sweat in the air, fear, mingled with pain. Then she smelt the dust on the wind. A demon had been here, but gone now. Why was she here if the demon was already gone?

"Buffy, hi. I thought you were in England with Giles." The male spoke, to someone. Was it her? He seems familiar to her. A memory of a past life and friends long gone. The memories made her uncomfortable, she snarled them away.

"That's some growl you've got there Buff. I've seen your hair look better too." One of the strong ones approached her. Three girls, all strong. One reeked of magyks, the other two; another sense of familiarity, then it was gone. The elder warrior woman got closer, too close. She struck, fast and brutal, aiming, not for a killing blow. Just enough to knock her back, stop the advance until she knew where she was.

"Whoa, Buff. You're finally learnin' how to throw a punch." The sudden blow took faith aback. "We're just wondering if you're OK. I'd say it's not."

Willow stood up, "she's not listening. Can she even her you? I'm going to try and reach her telepathically."

"Buffy? Can you understand me? It's Willow. I'm here with Xander, Kennedy and Faith. What's wrong with you?"

"F. F, Faith?" The word stumbled over itself as it came from her mouth. So filled was she with rage. The memory crystallised in her mind, "Faith!" and she struck. Harder than before, because this time she did want to kill this phantom, wipe it from her mind. She knew Faith, and she knew Faith was evil.

England

"Cordy?" Angel was stunned; he stepped back to take in what he was seeing.

"Hi there hero." Cordelia stepped towards Angel and patted his cheek. Despite the pain of the contact Angel didn't flinch. "I'm back."

"Cordy? But aren't you…? You know? Dead?" Buffy was instantly on the defensive. Memories of The First, already flashing into her mind.

"Hi Buffy, before you say another word. Angel, tell her that you felt me touch you there." Angel could only nod in Buffy's direction. "I just wanted to prove that I'm not the First Evil come back to haunt you, again. It really is me. Cordelia Chase, back from the dead for one night only. I know that the last time I did this Angel; I said then that it was a one time only deal. Well it was, but this is different, the P.T.B. want you to know something. They thought it would be best coming from me. Can you believe it? All-powerful, all knowing creatures and they haven't got your cell phone number. Sheesh, they really do run a two bit operation up there."

"Cordelia, not to sound too intrusive, but what are you doing here?" Giles was regaining his composure slowly but surely. The shock of seeing someone whose funeral he attended mere months ago was almost enough to stun him. But then, he was a watcher; he had to be prepared for anything. But this was beyond him.

"Oh yeah, hi to you too Giles. Don't feel happy to see an old friend or anything." Cordelia smiled as Giles started to look guilty. "I may as well tell you now. Something is coming. Something big, something bad. Something that you might not be able to stop."

"What is it?" Buffy asked, still a little perturbed by her old friends apparent resurrection.

"Pain."

"Pain? Pain is coming? What does that mean?"

"It means exactly what it says. Back, before there was good, before there was evil, there was pain. And now, it's coming back with a hankering for revenge."

"Ow!" Buffy staggered back slightly.

"Are you alright Buffy?" Giles was at his slayers side.

"Yeah, I think. Willow is shouting in my head. Telling me to stop. But I'm not doing anything. Am I?"

"Not here you're not." Came Cordelia's cryptic response.

Seattle.

"Buffy, stop this. Faith isn't your enemy any more. What's wrong with you." Willows telepathic cry went unanswered as Buffy continued her anger filled attack on Faith. There was no control to her movements; it was as if she had given herself over purely to instinct. "I'm going to probe her mind, it might stop her. It might not." She looked at Kennedy, who despite the fight, mere feet away from her, had not budged from her lover's side.

Willow stared at Buffy, and probed her mind, her memories, and her soul. What she found there made her weep for her friend. Pain, grief, anger and power. "My God. She did it. She really did it."

Seattle.

"Faith, stop fighting!"

"Love to Red, if I thought for a minute she would too." Faith retorted as Buffy struck another blow to her stomach and winded her. She fell backwards and fell to her knees. Willow took the chance to come between the two opponents.

"Buffy, stop this now!" She commanded.

Buffy did stop, and stared at Willow. "Dead! Not real. Can't be real, another trick." Buffy raised her fist to strike her best friend. Willow, acting out of reflex raised a magical shield around herself and deflected the blow. Buffy looked again, confused.

"O.K. Buffy, you can stop now. I did tell you things would be a little different here didn't I?" A figure stepped from the shadows. Xander gasped as he recognised the voice and the posture without even seeing the face.

"Anya?…"

Now Anya, stared, and tears welled in her eyes. "Xander. Oh my God, Xander. You're alive. I didn't realise.." She ran and hugged the one, true love of her life. So fiercely and tightly that Xander felt momentarily as though she would crush him. She then proceeded to kiss him, passionately. Willow looked away, in a vain attempt to give the pair privacy. "But what happened to your eye? Have you been working out? Have you been eating properly? Willow has he been eating properly? Faith, what are you wearing? It makes you look like a frump. You never used to wear clothes that made you look like a frump, but then, you are a lot older than when I last saw you. How's business at the magic box? Is it still in profit? How much richer am I?" Anya finally paused, as she realised that everyone was staring at her. "Uhm, did I run off at the mouth again?"

"Just a little." Xander was regaining a little of his composure. "I suppose after everything we've been through, I shouldn't be surprised by this turn of events, I mean, I think we've all been dead at least once now, though Buff still holds the record for most resurrections, and I should know, I've been involved in 'em all."

"What are you talking about Xander? I'm not dead!"

"You are in this reality Anya." Willows voice was weaker than usual. "I think I've figured out what's going on."

"Great, have you got a cliff notes version for the factually retarded members of the group?" Xander looked at his oldest friend with earnest pain and desperation etched on his face.

"This Anya, and this Buffy, come from an alternate reality. One where we are all dead. Am I right?"

"You got it in one. You always were, sorry, are, the smart one." Anya replied. In our reality, the biker demons that attacked when we were bringing Buffy back from the dead killed you all. She woke up, a little miffed at the demons and tore them all to shreds. Everything went downhill from there. The first attacked, and killed all of the potential slayers in waiting, then killed you Faith, sorry about that by the way. Then, well then it killed Giles."

"Talk about your historical rewrites." Kennedy stalked towards Anya, but Buffy leapt in front of her and snarled.

"Buffy had no choice but to accept the Shadow men's offer, and she took the demon's essence into herself. She gained the full power that they had always intended the Slayers to have. But with the power came a little of the demons mentality. But she's fiercely protective, of me anyway. But she used the power to push back the super vamps and close the hell mouth for good. But then IT came. It tore our world down around us, and there was nothing we could do. It took everything that was left to get us here, to warn you, to help you stop it."

"Stop what? What's coming Anya?" Willow asked, taken aback with all of this new information.

England.

"Pain? What the hell are you talking about Cordelia?" Buffy was both exasperated and a little jealous of the way that her old, and formerly deceased friend was touching Angel, and the way he was reacting."

Cordelia took her hand off of Angel and said, "There, all better now." Angel felt his face and his scars had healed. "Pain, Buffy, is what's coming to destroy this universe. The powers don't want that to happen. So they sent me to warn you about it, so you can prepare one of your oh so timely plans, and save the day."

"What is this 'pain' that is coming Cordelia? Is it a demon? A God of Pain?" Giles's mind was already racing, full of possibilities, none of them good."

"No Giles, it's not a demon, or a God. It is the embodiment of Pain." Cordelia took a second to brush a strand of hair from her eye. "As you know, the Universe came into being from nothingness. But that nothingness had a consciousness. It gave birth to creation, and the birthing process is painful enough when it's a baby, but imaging giving birth to a Universe. The Pain was extraordinary, and it too, was aware of itself. It suffered perpetual torment. Just so that the Universe could live. It got angry, and began to lash out. But the other children of creation, Love, Hope, and even Evil, combined forces to beat it back and hold it in check. But then you," She looked straight at Buffy as she spoke, "beat Evil. You tipped the balance, Evil was an integral part in the barrier that was holding Pain at bay. Without it in place, Pain could return. And it has. With a fiery vengeance. And you have to stop it before it undoes all of creation."