Mutant Enemy Television, Inc. owns pretty much everything within the Angel/Buffy universe. My use is in no way meant to challenge any established copyrights. This piece is not intended for any profit on the part of the writer, nor is it meant to detract from the commercial viability of the aforementioned or any other copyright. Any similarity to any events or persons, either real or fictional, is unintended.

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II – Basic Metaphysical Laws

"So you're gonna tell me the rest, right?" Janna asked once her mother had walked out the door. Janna ignored her new surroundings – the unadorned, whitewashed walls of Xander's office, the grey rug, and even the cut-rate desk he was sitting behind. All of her attention was riveted on his response.

"Yeah, I'm gonna tell you the rest," Xander assured her. Janna noticed something hesitant in his voice; she knew that he was at least a little reluctant to be put in his position, but she didn't really care. She wanted answers.

"First off, you said something yesterday about expecting to find somebody like me here. What did you mean by that?" Ever since their conversation the previous day, Janna had been replaying Xander's words over and over again in her mind. As far as she was concerned, this was as good a first question as any she'd thought of.

"Okay, have you ever heard of ley lines?"

"Can't say that I have."

"They're mystical lines of power that crisscross the globe," Xander explained, his brow furrowing as if he was trying to recall some of the information himself. "That make sense?"

"I guess," Janna replied.

"I'm gonna answer your question, but it'll be in a real roundabout way," Xander told her. "Try to bear with me. First of all, one of the first things you have to understand is that science and magic don't mix. Back in what we now call ancient times, there wasn't much science or technology, so magic thrived. Sorcerers, demons, witches, vampires, and all the rest were pretty much real, and those people understood mystical energy in a way we can't begin to now. One of the things they understood was these ley lines, and it was at junctions of these lines that they built their places of power – places like Stonehenge, ancient temples, and tombs.

"But inasmuch as magic and science can't co-exist, they do both hold to one basic, immutable rule of the universe – for every action there is a equal and opposite reaction. That's where you come in. Well, sorta."

"What do you mean?" The conversation had already seemed to have two or three complete tangents, and Janna was having a hard time keeping everything straight in her head.

"Okay, well, this town is built on the intersection of two rather strong ley lines," Xander continued. "And beyond that, well… Okay, I guess I have to go into a bit of back-story for you to make this all make sense."

"Go ahead," Janna said with a magnanimous wave of her hand.

"Okay. See, on the morning you became a Slayer, there was a huge spell cast out in California, in a town called Sunnydale."

"Isn't that the town that just fell into a fault line that nobody knew about?" Janna asked. She was certain she'd seen something about that on The Daily Show just a few months earlier – she had the unmistakable image of Stephen Colbert dressed up as a civil engineer, asking southern California politicians how they'd been stupid enough to build a small city in a place where it was inevitable it would get swallowed up into the ground.

"It wasn't a fault," Xander explained. "It was what we call a Hellmouth – an entryway to an alternate dimension. It was located under Sunnydale, and Buffy, the oldest surviving Slayer, closed it. The result was the entire town being destroyed."

"And no one knew anything about it?" Janna asked dubiously.

"Some of the locals knew… at least on some level… and there were some in the government who knew the real reason, but they're not about to tell the American people that an entire town was destroyed as a result of the closure of a mystical portal."

"I could see how some people would have a problem accepting that explanation," Janna joked.

"Anyway, Buffy was faced with The First Evil, a force that has existed before this world, before time itself. It raised an army against her, so she raised an army of her own. She gathered all of the Potentials she could find and used a mystical artifact to unleash the power of the Slayer. Before she did that, there was only ever one Slayer alive at any given time. When that Slayer died, the next was called, and so on through the ages. On that morning – the morning of your accident – Buffy changed that basic magical rule. She fought her battle, and she won. Unfortunately, there were some consequences… some re-actions."

"Such as?" Janna did not like the tone in Xander's voice – she had a feeling she wouldn't like what she was about to hear.

"Well, first of all, every Potential was called and became a Slayer. That's caused obvious logistical problems for us, since many of these girls have no idea what they are and are now having all kinds of difficulties."

"Just like me."

"Yup. Even worse, though, is the fact that, as I said before, for every action there's an equal and opposite reaction. When Buffy had that spell cast, she spontaneously created an army of light here on Earth. Minutes later, the Hellmouth was sealed. The result was so predictable we cursed ourselves for having overlooked it. The forces of light were strengthened – so too must the forces of darkness be. At sunset that night, the ley lines I just told you about burst to life with a surge of mystical energy the likes of which hadn't been seen since the Inquisition.

"This being a conjunction point – what some would call a node – we knew there would be a ton of paranormal activity here. We expected to find a Slayer, and your father contacting the foundation saved us the trouble of looking for you."

"Okay, who's 'us?' " Janna interrupted.

"Watchers," Xander told her. "There's a centuries-old organization known as the Watcher's Council. They were men and women who watched over the Slayer, trained her to face her enemies, taught her what she needed to know, and recorded everything for future reference. Not long ago, the minions of The First destroyed virtually the entire Council. Only a few remained to rebuild the Order, and I was selected as one of their first recruits. I'm an old friend of Buffy-"

"-The vampire slayer," Janna interrupted.

"Yes, the vampire slayer," Xander confirmed. "I fought at her side for seven years, and when the Potentials were all called I volunteered to leave her and train some of the younger ones, teach them the same lessons I saw Buffy learn over the years. There's a lot I don't know," he admitted, "but I'm probably the best of the new Watchers."

"I feel honored."

"I won't be able to teach you all on my own, though," he added. "As much as I've learned about the occult and what it means to be a Slayer, I don't have the combat training to be able to effectively train you to fight demons. There's a guy I know who's also in town – he's another one of the Council's newest recruits – and he'll take care of that part of your training for the time being."

"For the time being?"

"I'm learning combat right now, too," her Watcher explained, "just as I'm teaching the other guy all the book stuff he'll need later on down the line. In time, I'll take over full responsibility for your instruction and training and he'll move along to take on his own Slayer. For now, though, you have two teachers."

"And who's this other guy?"

"You'll meet him in a few minutes. One of the things I talked about with your parents last night is the need for you to take a greater amount of responsibility."

"I'm responsible," Janna objected immediately.

"I know that," Xander said quickly. "But you have to remember that they don't see everything you and I do; they don't understand just how well you've done with the situation you were put in. They have certain expectations – you should fulfill them. One thing your mother mentioned is that you lost your job."

"It seems like every night it became harder and harder to go to sleep," Janna explained. "Now I guess I know why – I'm supposed to be out killing vampires, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, working the morning shift at McD's is pretty much impossible when you've spent the night tromping around in the woods without any idea why you're out there in the first place."

"Understandable," Xander agreed. "I told them I'd encourage you to find a new job, and that's exactly what you're gonna do. When your mother comes to pick you up, have her go next door with you to The Magic Box."

"The Magic Box?"

"It's a new shop we're opening next door. The manager is a man named Graham – he used to be in a secret military unit that hunted down demons. He knows all you'll need to know about fighting these things, and he's gonna hire you on the spot. That'll make your parents happy."

"A magic store? I don't think they'll like that," Janna responded dubiously.

"Graham makes a very good first impression now that he's a civilian," her Watcher assured her. "Trust me – go inside to fill out an application. He'll hire you, and you'll have a job that's very accommodating to your extracurricular activities."

"Fine," Janna agreed.

To be continued…………………………………………