"When I assumed the office of Despot," Buffy said, "I made some promises. I promised to establish an interim Council, and I did that. I limited its power because I had to choose between those with little experience and those with little compassion, but all the same they limited the harm I could do in the past few weeks."

She wasn't used to giving speeches. Even as Despot she hadn't given many. But on the few occasions she'd done it, the excitement had been a rush. This time, though...this time the sea of faces below her made her stomach churn.

"I promised free Council elections. It's time those took place. I am personally funding all campaigns from Gem's coffers. Turns out I've got more money than I can be trusted with."

She stood on a fairly low balcony of the palace, thankfully facing away from the sun, above the Sun Market where she'd first seized power. The stands were barely visible among the mass of spectators.

"And I promised that I would submit to elections within the year. It's early. I haven't had time to set up the infrastructure for those. But I see a packed crowd beneath me, and I have not lived up to my promises to establish a just government. I'm sorry that I've failed you. If you want me out...say so. And I'll go quietly and let you be ruled by someone worthy of the job. I've screwed up a lot. But I hadn't messed with your freedom of speech yet. Trust me when I say no one will be punished for asking me to leave."

The square erupted with cries. Not the ones she expected. "Despot Buffy! Despot Buffy!" "All hail the defender of Gem!" "Victory! Victory!"

She made a show of waving and smiling, though she doubted anyone could see the latter. The cheers went on and on and on.

Finally she slipped back into the shadows to renewed cries of "Despot Buffy!" and, hanging her head, retired to her rooms to have a good solid cry.

"Buff," Xander said simply from the foot of her bed. "Long time no see."

"No kidding," Buffy acknowledged. Anya sat there, too, her fingers entwined in his. Across the bed sat Willow and Tara, too, equally affectionate. "Please tell me this was all a bad dream."

Everyone glanced at the corner of the room, where a golden androgynous figure sat. "Not a good sign, asking that, you know?" said TARA.

Buffy flopped back onto the pillows. "Figures."

"They want us to stay," said the Unconquerable Shadow from the opposite corner. Her skin and hair were slowly growing paler, though it had taken some time to become noticeable, just as Willow-or the Hanged Scholar-was growing darker. Black veins spiderwebbed across the latter's face, along with faint cracks from drying skin. "Well...you, anyway. I'm not sure they understand the difference between us."

"I don't know how I'm going to do this," Buffy said softly. "I've already cracked once under the pressure."

"The only way out is through, Buffy." She hadn't seen Fred yet; the skinny Lunar had been hiding behind Willow and Tara. "Exaltations were made to overcome human limitations. You just have to figure out which way yours works for something."

"She knows how," TARA said, "but she hasn't thought of it. Most colossi and almost all cities spend time in avatar-bodies to not completely lose touch with their humanity. Nothing stops Buffy from doing the same except her fears."

"I've spent my whole adult life protecting humanity," Buffy protested. "You want me to give mine up."

"Humanity is good, Buffy," Fred said. "But it's not the only good. I want you to spend some time with me. Okay? When was the last time you had some me time?"

"You mean like at the mall?" Buffy tried to remember. Before Glory had captured Dawn... "Months and months."

"That's pretty bad, Buffy," Fred said. "I mean, it's been longer for me, but you weren't marooned. Only, that's not really what I meant. You guys all talk about Buffy being Buffy or being the Slayer. But has she ever really had a chance to be both at once?"

The Scoobies glanced at each other. "When things were good with Faith," Willow said. "That's about it."

"You know that didn't end well, right?" Buffy made a face. "It starts with clubbing and the next thing you know you're robbing hunting stores and crashing police cars and then you accidentally murder the deputy mayor and-"

"Leave a double, Buffy," Fred said. "You're coming with me to Luthe. All of you. It's vacation time."

Chapter 50-Pleasure Cruise

"I'd like to make a stipulation," Anya said, hair streaming back in the wind. She knew how rich Buffy was; she hadn't thought about being rich herself. They were riding double-her and Xander in the lead, Fred and Shadow in the middle and Buffy, Willow and Tara in the rear-because they didn't all have experience on swift riders, but together they could easily have bought one for each of them. Well, if there had been that many. Even in Gem there were limits. "No harm no foul on the magics. Nothing permanent and no injury without permission, but anything else goes."

"We do need the practice," Shadow said thoughtfully. "Anyone object?"

"Guys, you don't wanna-" Buffy began.

"That's the point," Anya cut in. "We do wanna. We're not afraid of your powers as long as you don't do anything that can't be easily undone and doesn't involve being eviscerated. Sparring's fine but we need to agree on that individually."

"I'm good with that," Willow chimed in.

"Same," Xander said.

"Kinda the point here," Fred agreed.

"Um," Tara said. "Feeling a little left out. Magic is a serious thing and anyway I'm the only one hanging out who's not Exalted."

"The Architect called you an 'accomplished sorceress'," Willow said. "You don't have to do anything you don't wanna, sweetie, and you don't have to join in, but you're welcome to."

"I'll think about it," Tara said uncomfortably.

"If you want to stay in Yu-Shan it's fine with me," Anya said. "Just don't mess up my house."

"Or Luthe," Fred said. "You could study a lot of interesting things in Luthe. Ancient magics, supertech...whatever you like."

"I might stay with Giles and Wesley," Tara said. She cut a sideways glance at Fred that Willow missed.

"All up to you," Anya said.

"You're really serious about the superpowers?" Buffy asked. "You're not gonna get the wiggins if I go all green flamey?"

"Absolutely serious," Fred said. "We're all going to let loose and have fun with our powers. If someone gets freaked they can say stop right away but otherwise-"

"Okay," Buffy said. "Flash someone." The tiara of smoke and fire flared up around her forehead.

Fred's eyes bugged out for a second. Then she turned to face Willow, let go of the handles, and lifted her shirt.

"Nice," Willow said, blushing. "You've got more in there these days."

Fred blushed back. "Um, yeah...about that."

"No shame," Anya said. "And not like you'll hear Xander complain."

"Or me," Willow added.

"Just mindin' my own business," Buffy said.

"Which is why you had a girl flash her chest when Xander's right here," Tara said with an impish grin. "Tell me again about your me-time with Faith?"

"Oh come on. It sucked anyway. The guys would crowd around when we danced and I was sure someone there was just dying to move in and kiss me but she'd always run all the guys off. And then we'd go catch our breath and she'd get in close like she meant to whisper even though you couldn't hear anything over the music..." She trailed off. "Holy shit, she was flirting with me."

"No she wasn't," Anya said. "You were out clubbing. Call me old-fashioned but I think that qualifies as a date."

"That's...that's ridiculous. Faith hated me." Even Shadow rolled her eyes at that.

"Hell hath no fury," Anya snickered. "Trust me on this. Seen it a million times."

"And nobody told me about this?" Shadow asked.

"I thought you knew," Willow explained, "right up till you wigged on me about Tara and then I didn't want to talk about it after."

"Oh," Buffy said. "I'm really sorry about that. I was just...suddenly I was wondering if you'd been perving on me and how long and I know now that that was rude but I didn't then and...and..."

"Psssh. Water under the bridge," said Willow. "Besides, you're not my type. Too skinny. What is it with guys anyway?"

Xander jumped. "Uuuuummmm...Yu-Shan gate ahead!"

"Busy here," Buffy said. Together, Fred, Anya, and Xander had managed to talk the rest of them inside...somehow.

"Summit going on," Xander explained. "While we were prepping to invade Gem, some Solars called Swan and Panther showed up and started negotiating with the Sidereals. I'm not in on the talks."

"Even Gold Faction's probably nervous about too many talky Solars in the same place," Anya surmised. "Anyway,remember that Yu-Shan is not a party town. We want to pass through quietly."

"Because I'm still persona non grata?" Buffy asked. She'd tried to stay back with the Abyssals while Anya talked.

"No actually," Anya said. "I mean officially yes, sort of. But Shining Barrator had you and the Scholar downgraded to 'least concern' after you helped stop the riots, even though you skipped out afterwards. They say Lytek got involved somehow. He wants to study you some more...something about 'protoprimordial metamorphosis', whatever that means."

"Nope nope nope," Buffy said. "Not gonna be poked and prodded any more."

"What are the negotiations about?" Shadow asked.

"Access to the Jade Pleasure Dome to talk to the Sun," Fred explained. "They think Ignis Divine could fix some things if he was paying attention."

"Typical Powers That Be behavior," Anya said. "Anyway, no, Yu-Shan just doesn't like humans making a racket. Xander might talk his way out of it since he's a Solar, but the rest of us wouldn't." She came to a halt in front of a massive refurbishing project. "Hey! Guys, where's the staff?"

"Hadn't seen the mortals," a burly worker said. "Other Sids been asking around for them too, but it's been two, three days."

"They left this for you," Resolute Speaker of Truth added, holding out a note. She was wearing nicer clothing these days. "No one else was to have it."

Anya frowned at the scrap of paper. "'Don't worry. All going according to plan. Dead god is walking.' Okay. They're fine." She glanced at Buffy. "We'll talk about it when we can't be easily overheard. The others know."

"I don't," Shadow said.

Anya blushed faintly. "Right, you were in Gem still...that is right, isn't it?" Shadow nodded. "Well, I'll tell both Buffys when I can."

"How much further?" Xander asked.

"i have to grab a couple of resplendent destinies from my office for use in Luthe, and then we're going to pop out near my Convention headquarters," Anya said. "I've got to check in there really quick."

"No prob, Bob."

Anya gave him a level stare. "We're about to hitch a canoe. We'll be there soon."

"Paperwork," Anya groaned. "Who invented paperwork in this world? Ryzala, bless me and keep me far away from you."

Willow took the pile of folders and stuffed it into a storage compartment. "Fun now. Work later. Besides, seriously, you can finish this in a couple of seconds."

"Can you steer this thing?" Fred asked Anya. "Because the Luthean models have different controls."

"Um...maybe?" Anya studied the instrument panel briefly. "It can't be too hard."

"Here," Buffy said. She tapped a single button, put her hands to the steering interface, and guided the craft smoothly out of the dock. Viewscreens showed the water rippling smoothly behind them. "Some high-power demons took me down into part of the Demon Sea in kind of a 'die or fly' thing, only it was 'breathe water or drown'. And now boats are just in my head even though the last time I was on a boat I was thirteen and Dad was taking me fishing. It's a Kimbery thing."

"Everyone who can breathe water raise your hand," Fred said. She put her hand up. Buffy followed, then Anya, and Xander last.

"Hearthstone," he explained. "You guys really need to get hold of some."

"Everyone get your hands up," Buffy said. "At least I'm supposed to be able to make you. Also acid. Also lava. No joke, I'm safe in anything liquid."

"Helium?" Fred wondered. Willow nodded, her eyes a little wide.

"Liquid helium," Buffy agreed. "If you know where to find any and I can make myself dive in."

"That's really cool," Xander said. "I mean, I know all the new powers are freaking you out but-"

"It's a Kimbery power," Buffy protested. "If we all start sprouting fins and tentacles nobody better say I told you so."

Fred raised one eyebrow. Her arms stretched, growing flexible, hands turning to suckered pads. Her legs split into a bundle of tentacles, dropping her to the deck. Perhaps most disconcerting, another ring of tentacles sprouted around her mouth, waving gently. "Buffy," she said gently, "it's time to embrace the weird. This is me. I'm still me. I don't wanna strangle anybody or eat any fish I didn't already. It's okay."

"And if I can't go back? What if I get stuck looking all freakworthy?" Buffy started waving her hands about as if they might turn into tentacles at any moment.

"Then you make people treat you like you aren't," Anya said. "I'm sorry if that bugs anyone, but seriously we have a right to be ourselves andnormal, and we have the power to."

Tara began to shake her head nervously. "That way lies badness, Anya."

"Not if we only use it for that," Anya insisted. "I'm Siddie. I have to make people see me the way I want or they won't see me at all."

Tara sighed. "Maybe. I guess."

"C'mon," Xander said. "Let's get in the water. This is break day, not stress over implications day."

Buffy guided the boat into a slow drift and set the autopilot, then led the group up to the deck. By her standards it was a small houseboat type of thing with an overpowered engine; by this world's it was a tiny splinter with no visible propulsion. It was shiny and grey and easily lost, a speck on the ocean. She stripped off her dress, leaving her in just the bikini Anya'd had made for her. She spent a lot more time naked these days than she really wanted to. "Everyone who can breathe water on their own goes over first."

"Sensible," Anya said, and leapt over the rail at once. Xander followed, holding his nose and making a giant splash. Fred shook her head at him and slithered under the rail. No doubt she was more graceful in the water.

Buffy held out her hands. "One at a time. Will?" Willow stepped up, and Buffy put one hand on her forehead. "Sorry. I'm not used to doing stuff to other people besides punching them. If I mess up one of the others will fish you out." A flicker of green energy danced over her fingers. "You next...me. And Tara...are you all right?"

"You did...things, Buffy. Things that made me afraid of you. I wish this could be one of the others, but it can't."

"I'm sorry, Tara. For what it's worth, you were right. I got in over my head cause I was fighting tooth and nail to stay 'normal'. And I'm not normal. I haven't been for years." She reached up to fumble with a strand of hair. "Just like your family told you you were a demon, my first Watcher told me I'd be locked up or killed for telling the truth. He meant well, but he made me afraid of myself. And then I came here and found out what I really was, and that made it worse. But we both deserved better. Ok?"

"I understand. How long will it last?"

"A day or so. You can even take a nap." Buffy gave a nervous laugh and laid her hand on Tara's face.

One by one they leapt overboard.

Buffy plunged downward beneath Fred in a smooth, perfect dive and began to head back up. Though she doubted the others could see it down here, Fred blushed.

Winifred Burkle had kissed exactly one girl in her life, under the influence of some good weed, and while she'd enjoyed it, it wasn't an impulse she'd ever felt again. Until Willow, anyway, and only after Willow had Exalted. Did being Exaltation-mates count as 'under the influence'?

It didn't make much sense. As Willow charred and dried out, Fred felt increasing pity for her, but the urge to cuddle and smooch remained. Sooner or later Willow would be looking like a dessicated mummy, and Fred suspected nothing about her feelings would change, except that pity.

So Fred quipped, "Trying to get a look up under my tentacles, Buffy?" The other girl clearly was having similar issues. It wasn't really fair. But Fred didn't feel like being fair.

Buffy stammered out, "Thanks b-but no thanks." Then she came to an abrupt halt. "You're not my type," she said weakly. The cat, after all, was out of the bag. "How are you guys doing with the dreams?" she asked.

Shadow, Willow, and especially Tara didn't seem to share in Buffy's grace underwater. Tara in particular gulped in water with a mixed look of wonder and discomfort. Willow spoke up. "Salina hasn't bothered me too much since we saw the Deathlords, but I keep dreaming her life. It wouldn't be so bad if I could actually remember her spells but they all dance away when I'm awake."

Fred nodded. "I remember you. Working together mostly, but...um..."

"Some other things," Willow agreed.

"Maybe most Lunars don't mind," Fred said irritably, "but I'm not a big fan of remembering being a guy. It's weird."

"Not an issue on my side," Buffy said with a shrug.

"Remembering being a girl isn't so bad," Xander said, sounding a bit puzzled. "Being a girl isn't so bad." Anya raised an eyebrow at him. "Maybe being a girl is just better? I dunno."

"I'm hazy still," Shadow said. "The memories of chatting up nobles are better than fighting, but I'm not a big fan of the male side of things either."

"I guess that leaves me," Anya said, "but Lytek had mine properly pruned, and anyway I've got a thousand years of my own memories. I only remember what I trained to. To be fair, what I do remember of being a man isn't as bad as I expected. And a few bad flashes of killing people, which is strange since I never minded myself."

"Good that you're all coping okay," Buffy said.

"Buffy," Fred said, "you need to know that we have the portal open. I'm sorry to wait this long to tell you, but we are closer now. You also need to know that there are other Exalted popping up there, and that Faith is one of the good guys."

"Faith?" Buffy lunged upward in the water. "She's out?"

"Missing an eye still," Fred explained. "Lilah Morgan from Wolfram & Hart tried to kill her. She's letting the Exaltations on the other side out of the trap they're in. I have to tell you, she's not doing a great job of building up her own side unless we're not understanding her game. Anyway...I can send you home. No more risk of freeing the Old Ones."

Buffy frowned. "That'd be nice. I wanna think it through, though. I dreamed for a while about blood apes rampaging through Los Angeles. I don't want to release the Yozis on our world either. And...it...it sounds like Faith might be managing okay."

"Do you want to go see her?" Willow asked suddenly.

"No!" Buffy said at once, but a moment later, Shadow said thoughtfully, "Yeah." Buffy stared at her.

"We had good times. You remember that. And maybe I could go back, live a life that's not all killing." Abruptly Shadow looked down. "Never mind. Who am I kidding?"

Fred patted Shadow on the shoulder. "We'll talk about it. Let's swim, play around, learn. Ok?"

"Okay."

Lightning shot from Willow's eyes and incinerated the palm tree. "I can do ice," she added, "and nonlethal pain, but nobody's gonna like that one."

"What about your defense, Will?" Xander sounded worried. "Ma-Ha-Suchi nearly got you twice even staying at range."

Willow shrugged. "So stab me. I can't show you what I've got otherwise."

"Will...you sure?" Xander unlimbered Wavecleaver.

"Give it a go," she said. "I'm mostly charged up. You've seen Buffy step up and shrug things off, right? I swear, Xander: give it your best. You can't hurt me."

Xander took a deep breath and drew back the sword. "I'm only doing this to help you practice, okay?" He swung, and as he did so, Willow dropped to her knees. "Will, no!" Xander tried desperately to stop, but the massive blade severed Willow's head from her body in a spray of blood.

Tara shrieked, but Willow reached up and caught her head before it could tumble twice, setting it back atop her neck. "Tara! I'm fine, I swear." She began to back away from Buffy, who was standing over by the shoreline. "I'm invulnerable, see?"

"You d-don't look i-invulnerable," Tara quavered. "I'm sorry. I've already seen you die once. I-I know you need t-to learn but it's just scary. Okay?"

Willow nodded. "I'm sorry. I, um...I know something silly I can do."

"I didn't know deathknights had any silly powers," Tara said uncertainly. Xander frowned and started to agree.

"Hey Shadow," Willow called. "Did Anya destroy your swimsuit or just swipe it?"

The Buffy-clone squeaked and covered herself with her hands, blushing brighter red than her pallor made her seem capable of, though her bikini was perfectly intact and on her body.

"Negative emotion," Willow said with a wink. "Just because it's negative doesn't mean it can't be fun."

Struggling to calm down, Shadow grumbled, "Are you sure the Neverborn approve of practical jokes?"

"I doubt they do," Willow said. "As long as it doesn't get me in trouble I'd just as soon do what they don't approve of."

"We did agree," Tara said, "but let's not be too mean to each other. Shadow, I've seen you fight a little but nothing else. What other things can you do?"

Shadow grinned a little too wide; this plainly made her nervous even after seeing Willow survive beheading. "I've been trying to take your advice too, but you know how I feel about telepathy." Her mouth closed, she added, "At least It's not mind-reading."

"That's good," Tara said with a smile. "It feels uncomfortable, but it's nice to know even the Neverborn can't make everything completely bad." She shivered, though she didn't seem aware of it. "I apologize for being conflicted. On the one hand, you all need to know what you're capable of. We've already seen not knowing nearly destroy Buffy. On the other...too much power, especially when it comes from malevolent sources, can do the same to people, even when the source doesn't control it."

Buffy and Shadow shrugged at the same time before Shadow decided to defer to her older self. "Hey, it's fine. Being conflicted's what we're all about around here."

Tara nodded. "If the Architect is any indication I may find out some day."

"I'm kind of a fluke," Buffy admitted. "Most people don't Exalt before they're ready, even Infernals, because you have to choose it. I hope you don't end up like me. But I also hope we don't end up needing you before you get ready. Understand? I'd hate for any of us to get killed...especially you."

"That's very sweet," Anya said from down the beach. "Hey, come see these pearls!"

"So, um, Leviathan asked me for a favor before I left," Fred said. "Nominally I think it was repayment for taking my place in Luthe, but I actually think he wants to stay in my debt. He didn't really treat it like a quid pro quo. I think I impressed him by kicking his butt."

"Go on," Anya said. "What's the secret?"

"I found out on the other side. I'm pregnant." There was a moment of stunned silence.

"By Leviathan?" That was Xander, of course.

"Like you couldn't be?" Anya said acerbically.

"We used protection!"

Buffy and Shadow stared. "I think I missed something," they said simultaneously.

"Leviathan asked me not to," Fred said. "I think it's at least partly a vote of confidence. He wants his kid to grow up in my Luthe."

"Also Xander is the reincarnation of Leviathan's lover," Anya explained.

"Oh," Shadow said. "Well, that...explains a lot."

"Does that mean you're not going home?" Buffy asked.

"Yes and no," Fred said. "Buffy, if the rumors we hear are true, we're just the tip of the iceberg. Solars are coming back all over Creation, and the other Exalts are being shaken up by it. Within our lifetimes...um, a tiny miniscule fraction of our lifetimes...Creation could go from the Iron Age to well past the technology we grew up with. Earth could make a similar leap, actually. And in the First Age, travel between known dimensions was commonplace for Exalts. I'm not saying we shouldn't help deal with the crisis back home. I'm just saying we may be able to make it a regular commute before I turn thirty-five."

The ship drifted slowly through a great patch of seaweed that rippled in the current. There were supposedly Fair Folk raiders living in the area, but they'd seen neither hide nor hair.

"So we reroute these connectors and we can power a vessel like this one on ordinary electricity," Fred said. "We need a generator room of some kind or maybe a superefficient battery."

"Can we do that?" Xander asked.

Buffy winked at him. "You tell me."

He slapped his forehead. "We're Exalted. The answer to 'can we' is always 'yes'. Sometimes 'should we' is 'no'."

"We can convert essence power to true electricity efficiently with a moonsilver thaumocouple," Willow said. "They were pretty common in residential districts in the mid First Age, but they've all probably been cannibalized long since. If we can make one, we can power most stuff off hearthstones until we have something better."

"Better than a hearthstone?" Anya wanted to know.

"We're trying to use essence power only where nothing else can work," Fred said. "The First Age collapsed because it took Solars to run it. A lot of Lunars just want to abandon technology, but that's a waste even if there weren't all kinds of monsters out there waiting to invade."

"Have we actually got a right to make these kinds of decisions for the world?" Shadow asked. Tara nodded approvingly but then gestured to the others.

"Shadow," Anya said, "this group contains two ruling monarchs, an admiral, and a key member of the committee that plans the destiny of a quarter of the world. You and Willow won't lack for authority much longer either, but till you have it you're our advisors. We don't just have the right, we have the responsibility."

"There are still things we shouldn't do," Xander added, "but people trust the Exalted with authority because we have more competence in our little fingers than a city full of regular people. That took a little while to get used to, and we still need to find ways to combine that with the popular vote, but sitting back and not helping would be as bad as...as..."

"As me letting demons overrun the Earth," Buffy finished.

"Anyway," Tara finished, "I'm glad to hear you asking, because it looks to me like a lot of Exalts don't, but the short answer is yes. People need to be in control of their own destiny, but you can't just sit on your hands. Me, on the other hand-"

"Are our expert on whether we're being user-friendly enough," Willow said. "You're part of the unit."

"In that case," Shadow said, "I've got a priorities list." She held out some papers that Fred had thought she was just doodling on. "No maintenance, maintained by mortals, maintained by Dragon-Blooded, and maintained only by Celestials. We want all basic infrastructure in the first or second categories and mass production no higher than third. Fourth cat's gotta be reserved for prototypes, luxuries, and vital stuff we haven't figured out how else to make. Now I know the First Age did its best but they weren't expecting it to end, so they didn't plan ahead..."

Fred grinned. Shadow was starting to participate, and that was definitely a good.

Creation needed all the help it could get.

"So here's one I haven't done before," Buffy said, "at least not in a fight. It would've been more use back on Earth, but I figure sooner or later..."

Her aura flared with bright green flame and seared the skin from her, but beneath was something else, something darker and more solid. She flexed fingers that had sharpened like long thorns into a fist and thumped it on her chest with a resounding thud. "Teakwood," she said. "About as hard as it gets, and all the way through. The brass turned out to be just a layer. This isn't. Only...no vampires here but Spike and Angel."

"Well, then," Xander said.

"Don't say it," Anya muttered. "Come on, they haven't done any harm here." She still seemed sore about what Buffy'd said to her. Well, she had a right.

"So you're made of wood," Tara joked. "That's got to be handy."

"Stawp," Buffy laughed. "Okay, if I ever see Faith again I'll fess up."

"She knew," Willow said. "She wouldn't have tried so hard if she didn't."

"I didn't even know," Buffy groaned.

"What's with the 'if'?" Anya asked.

"I think I've decided," Buffy said quietly. "I have responsibilities here now. I'll help on Earth if they need me, and I won't free the Yozis, but until I'm voted out I have an obligation to be a good ruler to Gem. I'm staying unless it'll cause a worse disaster than leaving."

"I understand and I agree," Fred said. "I'm doing the same. Xander? Anya?"

Both of them nodded. "I've actually got a better life here than I did at home," Xander said. "I mean, things were picking up in construction, but the company can do just fine without me. And the people I really care about are all here."

"I left my old life behind a millennium ago," Anya said. "Staying here with my handsome Solar man suits me all right, and I'm making new friends in the Bureau."

"You guys are free to go home if you want," Buffy said to Willow, Tara, and Shadow. "And the others might live longer if they leave."

"Your life was pretty much wrecked," Shadow said. "I don't know what I'd be going back to unless it was guarding the Hellmouth."

"We could go back to college," Tara said, "but if everyone else stays, then we'll have to talk it through. We might stay with you."

"Just keep in mind commuting," Fred reminded them, and stood up to scan the horizon. "We're getting cl-Oh shit!"

Everyone leapt to their feet at once. On the horizon, Luthe was just coming into view, but it was surrounded by a fleet of ships that nearly doubled its apparent size...

And it was on fire.