"The names Buffy," she says with a gentle smile.

Crouching down Buffy reaches out and strokes some stray hair out of Graces' dirty, blood streaked face. "What's your name sweetie?"

"Grace. Grace Anderson," she replies, looking up in awe.

Smiling.

"Well Grace, what can I do for you?" Buffy asks while offering her hand to help the brown haired girl up.

Without a second thought Grace takes the offered hand and pulls herself up, brushing dirt off her clothes not making much of a difference.

"So, what can I do for you?" asks Buffy.

"Well, I was kinda hoping you would already know why I'm here," Grace replies with a sigh and proceeds to tell Buffy everything.

"Let me get this straight. You and your group are the only ones left in the world. So you thought that by coming here, I would be able to solve all of your problems," a beat, "You do know I'm dead and that you will be soon, right?"

"Yeah, but I was told that I would be able to get help by doing this."

"I don't know what to tell you. Either the person who sent you lied, or they really thought I would be able to help," says Buffy with a look of sadness on her face, "I'm really sorry, but I must go."

With that Buffy turns to leave.

"There has got to be something you can do. Please!" Grace shouts at Buffy's retreating form.

This brought Buffy to an abrupt halt. Turning to look at Grace again, she looked like she was thinking.

"There might be something we could do. But going to the Powers could really piss them off."

"I don't care. Whatever it is is worth a shot," replies Grace.

"Follow me."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Chamber

The light in the chamber made it uncomfortable to see. It was pure white, heavenly. A cool white mist swirled around Grace's feet as she waited outside of a pair of huge solid gold doors.

Buffy had entered the room a little while ago and told her to stay there. She had gone in ahead of Grace to plead her case, and try to persuade them to see her.

Without warning, the double doors opened and Buffy waved her in.

The inside of the room looked just like a court room, only here everything was pure white or gold. Around the walls sat men and women of all ages and race. All wearing white. Grace didn't recognize anyone in the room except Buffy, and this caused her nerves to kick in.

A tall woman with long black hair stood and looked straight at Grace.

"Slayer Buffy Summers has informed us that you have come looking for help against the darkness that is taking over the world. As we have already told Miss Summers, it is far too late for us to do anything. There is nothing we can do," said the dark haired woman, "You will be sent back immediately to finish out the rest of you life. We truly are sorry."

Without another word the woman turned to leave. Others silently stood and began to follow her.

"What? That's it?!" Grace calls after her, "You can't do that. If you guys had been doing your jobs properly then the world wouldn't be in the state it is now! You all have been sitting on your thumbs for far too long, and it's high time you did something!"

Buffy couldn't help but smile at Grace's outburst. The Powers on the other hand, didn't see anything funny.

Turning to her, the black haired Power spat, "You are very lucky to even be here girl. I have told you there is nothing we can do, end of discussion," she says with a clear look of annoyance on her face.

"Wait!" came a voice from the crowd.

Turning to see where the voice came from, black hair was met by two younger looking women walking towards her.

"She's right. We have sat around for far too long. Evil has done enough damage, and it's about time good had a proper chance at fighting back," says one of the women. A blonde.

"Yeah. We might not be able to go down and personally help with the fighting, but we can help," added the other, and dark haired women.

Both women gave off a powerful vibe. And the black haired woman, who seemed to be their elder, ordered them and the other Higher Powers to the other side of the room, out of Grace and Buffy's earshot.

Minutes later the two women who had jumped in to help persuade the other into helping came over to them while everyone else left.

Smiling as they approach, they both give Buffy a nod of hello.

"Buffy, it's really good to see you again," said the blonde.

"You too Tara, Cordelia," Buffy replied with a smile and a nod of her own.

"So what did they say?"

Turning to Grace, who was now close to tears out of frustration, Tara beamed.

"The others have agreed to help. They said they will send a hundred slayers to help," Cordelia said, also beaming.

"What? How?" both Grace and Buffy said at the same time.

"We're Higher Powers, we can do that. They have gone to arrange that now, and they will be there waiting for you when we return," Tara filled in with a smirk.

"You're coming too? Why?" Buffy asks before Grace has chance to.

"We have been ordered to go. To help with the fight," Cordy replies. "I think we've been sent because all high 'n' mighty was annoyed that we dared to question her."

"That's great. To be honest this is more help that I thought we would get," Grace looks floored, "Thank you, thank you!"

Now, tears were falling from Grace's face. She couldn't believe that her request for help had finally been accepted.

"Come on lets get to it. There's work to be done," Cordy said, sounding a bit impatient.