Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters. The characters all belong to their respective studios and creators. I am just borrowing them for my story.

Author's Note: This story is set after the end of season 2 of Roswell (after Tess has already left) and in the beginning of season 6 of Buffy, the Vampire Slayer- after Buffy and Spike have gotten together, but before Willow was addicted to magic and before Willow and Tara broke up. Also, Giles hasn't left yet. Sorry for the confusing time lines, but this worked best for my story.

A/N 2: Even more exposition... sigh...

Chapter 18: The Truth of the Matter

Giles took this question. "A slayer is literally a vampire slayer. She is the one girl in all of the world who is chosen to fight the demons and the vampires who prowl the world. She has to stop the many apocalypses as well. Slayers have many powers such as super strength and speed, an advanced healing capacity, advanced senses and some prophetic ability. She is called as a teenager and slayers generally have short life spans, as they have a very dangerous calling. Buffy was called when she was fifteen."

"How short is short," Kyle asked.

"Most slayers don't live to see their eighteenth birthdays. The lucky ones make it to twenty," Dawn answered quietly. Up until this point, she had remained silent as she had just been absorbing the information the council had offered. Then she continued proudly, "But Buffy's 21. She's one of the oldest slayers on record."

"Yes, well, there were those two little incidents of her death to mar that perfect record," Travers said malevolently.

Giles said, "Shut up, you bloody ponce!" just as Spike chimed in with "You bleeding wanker!"

"If you've died twice," Liz asked, her natural curiosity coming out, "How is it that you're ..." she then trailed off, uncertain how to phrase the question tactfully.

"How is it that I'm still here," Buffy finished for her. "Well, once Xander did CPR and though I wasn't gone long, I was still technically dead. Then another time, Willow used magic." The abruptness of that sentence indicated that Buffy didn't want to talk about it.

"You're a witch," Maria asked excitedly, momentarily forgetting about her worries with Michael and what was going to happen with him and the situation with Kivar. "That's so cool!"

"We prefer the term wicca, but yeah, Tara and I are witches," Willow answered.

"Interesting," Isabel offered. Inside, her excitement was building as she considered the possibilities. Willow was a witch. Willow had brought someone back from the dead. If she had done it once, maybe she could do it again. Alex...

Michael then chimed in. "I thought you said that 'slayer' was just your nickname. Why didn't you tell us the truth?"

"Why didn't you tell us you were aliens," Xander shot back.

Max bypassed the question with one of his own. "You mentioned the word 'watcher' before, as a name or a title. What is it?"

Giles answered. "That would be me. The watcher is the one who guides and trains the slayer for her calling–"

Travers interrupted him. "Mr. Giles is no longer a member of the Watcher's Council. He was fired several years ago."

Buffy turned her glare on Travers again. "Yes, for caring about me. Which in my book, is not of the bad. Besides I don't consider any of you real watchers anyway- you're just assholes."

Seeing the Roswellians confused looks, Dawn supplied, "They do this really cruel test on slayers when they turn eighteen and Giles interfered when they did it to Buffy."

"If you've shared all of the information you have, I would suggest that you leave," Giles told the council members coldly.

Travers just glanced at him coolly. "Yes, that is the information we came to deliver. Keep in mind, that the only reason we are cooperating with you is–"

Before he could finish his intended cutting remark, Giles had forcibly ushered him and the other council members to the door. Closing the door firmly behind them, he locked it and turned back to the group.

"Back to something you said earlier, what is this Hellmouth," Sheriff Valenti asked.

"It is basically the mouth of hell," Giles answered. "It is a core of evil that acts as a magnet to draw evil to the area. Evil is nourished by it, and in return, it is nurtured by the evil it draws. If it were to be used as a power source, it could be extremely volatile."

"It basically makes Sunnydale a demon hotspot," Xander chimed in.

"So if the Skins got a hold of it..." Michael trailed off.

"Exactly," Willow responded, sharing a look with Tara.

"Where is this Hellmouth," Max asked.

"It's located under what used to be the high school," Buffy replied, "before I blew it up."

Liz, who had been looking around the magic shop while she was listening to the conversation, suddenly stopped. A strange feeling had come over her. Her hands began to crackle and glow with energy. She drew in her breath sharply. This called the group's attention to her.

Max was at her side in an instant. "Liz?"

"I don't know what's happening to me." Her anxiety grew and the volume of the sparks did as well.

"It's her powers," Isabel breathed. "Her powers are beginning to manifest."

"What kind of power is that, though," Maria asked. "I've seen you guys use energy before, but not like that."

Michael looked thoughtful. "Nascedo said that our powers were basically advanced human powers. Maybe this is just another form of that."

Liz's hand accidentally brushed Max's. She gasped as she was seized with a sudden vision. She saw a large battle in the desert. She saw Nicholas fighting with Max. The scene switched and she saw the Skins on the move in several buses, heading to California.

The energy within her stopped crackling and she opened her eyes. She was met with worried looks. Hesitantly she explained to them what she had just seen, with the battle and with the Skins.

Buffy spoke up, "I had a dream similar to that last night." She decided not to mention the part she had seen concerning Michael and Maria, as she could deal with that later and she felt it was not something everyone needed to hear.

"I know," Isabel replied. "I had the same dream you did."

"Did you use your powers on me," Buffy asked suspiciously.

Isabel decided Buffy would not trust her if she learned that she had dreamwalked her, so she decided a tiny lie wouldn't hurt. "No. But I have shared dreams with people before."

"What just happened to me, though," Liz turned to Max. "What was that?"

"It looks like your power may be to receive visions. If both Buffy and Isabel saw the same thing, what with Buffy's prophetic ability (which Isabel was probably just picking up on when they shared the dream), then what you picked up could very well be real. In any case, I don't think it was just your imagination. If it is real, then you may have the power of having visions, or of premonitions as some call it," Max answered her, gripping her hand in support.