Chapter 17 – More Strangers in the Night

Willow said her goodbyes to Buffy, entering her house a few moments later. She felt quite depressed right now, having lied to her best friend and knowing all of the Sorceress' past and the prophecy.

And she would have to tell everything to Xander tomorrow. Man, she was not a happy camper.

Walking into her empty house wasn't much better. She gave a cursory glance to the table, and yes, the note was there, as so many times before. Her parents were not at home. Xander's life with his parents was awful, with the abuse and the drinking, but hers was not much better, with absent parents. She went to her room, dropping in her bed like a ton of bricks.

She tried to sleep, but her mind kept spinning. Should they tell Buffy? She thought they should, after all, she had trusted them with her secret. It would be only fair. But she should talk with Xander first.

Xander was another matter entirely. He was her best friend since forever, and his fairness and sense of friendship and justice was unparalleled. It was even greater than Buffy's. And it would be a problem all in itself after their talk tomorrow. She would have to think how to tell him and how to justify her logic afterwards, otherwise he would go out and kill Dawn, loving her or not, being the Slayer's 'sister' or not.

And thinking about Slayers brought Willow's mind to another direction.

Faith.

Willow was intelligent enough to know she was a bit...different. It all started quite some time ago, even before Oz. Matter of fact, it started a few weeks after she met Buffy. Something stirred in her, and she kept thinking how nice it would be to kiss those pouting lips sometimes. The first time those thoughts sprung in her mind, she was scared, trying to over-analyze it. After some time, she calmed down, understanding it, and Oz came into her life. She loved him very much, and the feelings for her friend dimmed considerably. When the young werewolf left, the feelings for Buffy didn't return to their previous intensity.

So, she was surprised when she saw Faith for the first time. With Buffy it had been a small flame. With the Dark Slayer, it was a full-grown forest fire, wind and all. And it appeared that Faith had liked her. Or She-Ra, at least. She had to try and make Faith notice plain old Willow. But how?

Her musing was suddenly stopped by a sound at her window. Something was scratching it on the outside. She lifted her head from the pillow, sleepy eyes trying to focus on the presence outside. It wasn't a vampire, thank God, and with the protective spells she placed on the house, she knew nothing evil would approach without her feeling it.

Finally focusing, she noticed two yellow/green eyes in the darkness. A cat. Hellmouth paranoia struck the apprentice wicca, and she turned her vision to the arcane. The cat glowed silver, and bolts of lighting crisscrossed his small frame. And by the looks of it, he held too much power for such a small creature.

The wicca was drawn to the window, wonder expressed in her face. Would he be...

Only one way to find out. She opened the window, and the cat jumped to her bed in a single bound. He was gray with black stripes, and a bit big for a street cat. She approached the animal, hand stretched to him. As soon as she was in reach, he angled his head to be scratched. Willow complied immediately.

"Hey, fuzzy, are you my buddy? A cat? Xander has a cute dog, named Ares. Are you gonna be my buddy, huh?" she asked in a childish voice, finally grabbing the cat and holding him up to her face. The small tongue licked her nose a few times. She giggled. "All right, fuzzy. I'm Willow, and you are...Scratch. That's what you were doing at my window. So, Scratch, wanna be my buddy?" She let the cat go, and he promptly curled up in her lap. She giggled more, and the cat looked at her, as if saying, 'you are shaking too much, stop!'

Willow removed Scratch from her lap, and she wandered around her room, all the time looking at the curled animal on her bed. She was too strung up right now to sleep anyway, maybe if she took a small walk under the moonlight, but as plain Willow that was madness. As She-Ra, however...

"Let's go, Scratch, I'm up for a little evening stroll. And you are coming with me," she grabbed the cat, going to her back yard. It was secluded enough from the neighbors for her to change. Scratch was left in the ground three feet from her.

She grabbed the Sword of Honor from the pocket dimension in her back, lifting it to the night sky.

"FOR THE HONOR OF GRAYSKULL!"

As a practicing wicca, Willow was all the time in contact with Mother Nature, her mystical senses attuned to her surroundings. What she felt while transforming was as if Nature itself bowed to her, as if paying its respects, and granting her its Blessing. She felt wonderful, while her body grew and changed. Her mystical senses expanded greatly, her mind was filled with combat strategies, martial arts and mystical knowledge. So, the moment her transformation was at its apex, she knew the cat was her battle companion.

"I AM SHE-RA!"

She pointed the jewel to the cat, much like her cartoon counterpart did. But instead of the lightshow that changed the horse, this one did something entirely different. A ball of energy jumped from the jewel, and it hovered six feet above the cat for a second. It expanded quickly, forming a pyramid of light over the small animal. The pyramid blinded her eyes for the transformation itself, but a couple of seconds later a giant pair of wings spread over the pyramid "walls", and it broke in a million light points, disappearing in the night air. A mighty roar was heard, and in the place of the small cat stood a magnificent animal.

It was almost the same size of He-Man's companion, but instead of a wolf, it was a griffin, the mystical animal that was part lion, part eagle. His head and body were the ones from a lion, and his back legs and wings were those of an eagle. He was entirely white, except for his mane, which was a light golden hue. His eyes were an icy blue color, quite beautiful to look at. His armor was gold with red and blue carvings, and looked a lot like Egyptian designs. It covered the left part of his face, his pectorals and forelegs, his back with the expected saddle and part of his tail. Some armor also covered his wings, but in a way that wouldn't block their movement. It gave him quite a noble air, a bit different than WarWolf's extremely menacing look.

/By Bast! I never thought it could be like that!/ She-Ra heard in her mind. It was a noble and deep voice, but without any hint of accent.

"You can speak?" She-Ra asked, the griffin walked to her.

/No, I cannot, Lady Heir. A griffin's mouth and respiratory system isn't made for speech. But I have a telepathic connection to you, Lady./

"O...K. But don't call me Lady. Makes me feel old. She-Ra, if you please, or Willow, since I don't believe anyone can hear you talk."

/I don't believe so, La...She-Ra. And I am Thunderbolt./

"Hello, Thunderbolt. A pleasure. So, I believe you said you are a griffin."

/Yes, She-Ra, I am./

"And I believe I heard you call for Bast, which I think is the Egyptian Cat God. And the Egyptian symbolism in the armor isn't lost to me, either. So, what's the reason?"

She-Ra finally noticed what the carvings were. In his pectoral armor, near his neck stood an Eye of Ra, in the wings' details Ankhs were carved out in silver. And in the back armor there were two scarabs, one to each side of the saddle.

/While I am in cat form, I am an Egyptian Mao, a rare breed of cats. We were called the Temple Cats, and the scholars believed that we had a special connection to our Lady Goddess. I cannot prove this wrong or right, but since it is I who choose which form to assume after being transformed, I chose to honor my Lady Goddess./

"I think I can understand that. So, I wanted to take a walk to clear my head, and we have much to talk about. Let's go?" she said, climbing up in his saddle.

/A walk, you said? I believe I have something much better. Hold on./

She-Ra obeyed promptly. He opened his great wings, and with a mighty pull from his legs, gained the air and altitude.

"WOW, THIS IS GREAT!!!" She-Ra screamed from forty feet in the air.

They flew to LA, taking all the time in the world.

Buffy arrived home a little later on, walking silently so as to not wake anybody up. Xander was sleeping on the sofa, covered by a light blanket, his legs extended beyond the arms of the furniture, TV still on, but muted. Ares was laid on the ground, right in front of the sofa. He lifted his head, looking at the Slayer.

"Shh, Ares. It's just me," she said, murmuring. The dog rose from the ground, going to her. She pelted his soft fur, and he calmly licked her hand. "Ok, since it's late, Xander is staying here, and so can you, with him. Tomorrow, we are setting up the basement, ok?"

The dog shook his tail, happily, and returned to his post, guarding his owner. In an impulse, Buffy laid a small kiss into Xander's forehead. The teenager mumbled something unintelligible, and turned the other way, facing away from her.

She turned the TV off, and climbed up the stairs. In the middle of the steps, she turned back to the living room, and spoke lightly.

"Thank you, Xander, for being my rock. At least I can count on you not changing on me."

The Slayer finally went to her room, shutting the door behind her.

Xander, who was faking it the entire time, turned back to the direction the blonde woman had disappeared and murmured. "You're welcome, Buff, but I'm afraid I have a small surprise for you."

He closed his eyes, sleep claiming him minutes later.

The next morning, Buffy Summers was woken by a smell she hadn't smelt in a long time. Freshly made pancakes and coffee. Her still sleep-fogged brain instantly remembered Joyce and for a moment she thought that her mother was still alive.

Then reality struck in, and she had to repress the tears for a moment. After the feelings dimmed, she stood up and walked to the bathroom. She brushed her teeth and tried to control the bed hair.

She went down, still in her Tweety pj's, and was greeted by a softly whistling Xander, who was putting a couple of bacon strips in the frying pan. His clothes were somewhat rumpled, but somehow, to Buffy, he seemed...different.

"Look if it ain't my favorite Tweety-covered Slayer. Vat is your orrrder, madam?" he said, in a fake French accent.

Buffy smiled, and pointed to the pile of pancakes and the pot of coffee in the machine. "What's the occasion?" she asked.

"Nothing special. Just thanking my favorite gal for a night well spent on a comfy sofa," he said, while placing a few pancakes on a dish for her.

Buffy prepped her own coffee, smiling. "Thanks, but the sofa isn't so comfy. Your feet were standing out."

"Details, details," he said, but his lopsided grin was in place. "So, how was patrol last night? Still calm? I slept pretty late, from what I remember, waiting for you."

"Just the opposite. Last night was probably the worst night in a long time."

"I can see you're ok. And Giles? Willow?" Xander asked, worried.

"They're cool. Matter of fact, nobody was hurt. But what happened was totally wiggy."

"How so?", he asked, turning the bacon strips.

"I was patrolling Cranston Cemetery with Wills. Then, out of nowhere, twenty something vamps jumped on us. I thought, this is it, we're dead. I opened a hole in them for Wills to bolt, and she did. I killed another two, and started asking God for a miracle and for someone to look after Dawn," she took a sip from the coffee. "I think God listened for once. Out of nowhere, a giant wolf and a guy jump in the middle of them, and before I can do a thing, almost all of them are dead. The ones that remained were crispy-critters after a huge fireball that a woman throws from my back."

"Let me phrase a quick question. Huh?" Xander asked, acting perfectly.

"Huh it is. Do you have any idea who the guy was? He-Man."

"He-Man? What a stran...Wait up. You don't mean 'He-Man' as in..."

"He-Man and The Masters of The Universe? Yep, that's him."

"Bu-but...ehrm," he said, confused face in place "That's weird, even for the Hellmouth weirdness. On the Xand-Man Weird-o-Meter, on a scale from one to ten, that surely scores a twelve."

"Try a twenty four. The woman was She-Ra."

"You mean his sister, She-Ra, the Princess of Power," he said, seriously this time.

"Yep. And to finish the score on the Weird-o-Meter, we get a thirty six. We've found the new Slayer. Or better, she found us."

"The one that was Called after Kendra..."

"Yep, and the best is, she is coming to stay with us," Buffy growled the last sentence.

"Us? You mean you and Dawnie? Is she nice, at least?" Xander asked, keeping the fake worried face on. He would laugh later.

"Compared to what?" Buffy growled, stuffing more pancakes in her mouth, signaling the end of the topic.

"Well, a thirty six. Never reached this score before. But details, I want details. Is She-Ra hot? And the Slayer? Is she drool-worthy?" he asked, leer on the face.

"Xander!" Buffy slapped him playfully in the arm.

"Hey, Slayer Strength! This will leave a mark!" he mock-complained, rubbing the area. "Now, tell me everything, from the beginning."

Buffy told him everything she knew or that she thought she knew, amidst sips of coffee and pancake bites.

- To be continued -