Okay, next chapter is up. .. imo, this is a pretty average chapter. I know where I'm going with this story, but I don't know how to get there.

Also, another note, the process which was used to re-create Buffy and Faith's bodies, was the same process which was used to re-create Tara's body. Just a little fact you should all know.

Chapter 31

Snap

Sunnydale - California

They watched the two warriors come out of the portal, both having succeeded in their mission. The pair watched as the warriors looked around at the world as if it were through new eyes.

"You give aide to the humans? Why? They are weak and fragile, nothing more than dirt. They fear their enemy, who is not much better than them, just as sand is to dirt, the vampire is to humans," Illyria said to Inanna.

"They are an interesting race. I help them so I may observe," Inanna replied. "But yes, I agree, they are weak, in some aspects, but strong in others." The pair continued to look at Buffy and Faith as they walked off. Finally, Illyria turned to Inanna. She waved her hand, and the world surrounding them changed. The sky overhead darkened, the buildings around them now lay in ruins, and rain poured down.

"They will fall like insects, your aide will not prevent this fate. The walls of this dimension are thinning and falling into ruin. The Key is in their enemy's hands. There is no possibility for humans to keep this world for themselves," Illyria said to Inanna. Inanna just nodded her head, in agreement with Illyria as the world around them shifted back to the present.

"I do not deny that fact. The humans have the ability to save themselves, I will allow them to see it. But if they die, so be it," Inanna replied before turning and walking away.

Los Angeles - California

Angelus was standing in a large underground cavern. From it, there were four tunnels branching out in each direction of the compass. He looked up as the roof of the cavern shuddered again as another blast rang out. They had turned eight construction crews two nights ago, and immediately after the fledging vampires had risen, Angelus had put them to work in creating shelters and a network of tunnels underneath Los Angeles, far enough below ground not to be detected and the tunnels had to be reinforced enough to prevent collapse in the case of tremors. Angelus didn't agree with the idea of super-reinforcing the tunnels, but The First insisted on it. Angelus knew that it wouldn't be long before the American commandos who were in town found out about his operation below the city, and that's why Angelus had come up with a tactic. The First had recently told him that the sunlight in the city wouldn't harm vampires any more, as there was a magickal shield around the city now. It filtered out the harmful ultraviolet rays which caused the vampires to burn, as well as give sun cancer, but Angelus wasn't too concerned about that (Reference to Last Chapter, Amy Madison's part). He moved towards the other vampires who were looking over the weapons that Wolfram and Hart had recently supplied them with. There was everything from pistols, semi-automatic weapons and sniper rifles to intricate swords, battle axes and crossbows (Reference Chapter 24 – Story Time – End Section). In one hour, they would go up and turn everyone in the buildings above their tunnels, and create a small area that only vampires would be allowed to enter and leave. Anyone else would be turned or killed on sight.

She didn't like this. Sure, she was serving the ultimate evil, and playing an important part in the apocalypse, but that was never really her style. She preferred it years ago, when the four of them had travelled through Europe, ravaging the countryside. She had preferred that, before they had come across Wolfram and Hart, the organisation which had brought her back to life two times now. At least she had her Angelus back now, but he wasn't the same Angelus of years past. This Angelus had a higher agenda, a goal. The times had indeed changed. Now, she had a son as well, who never knew his mother, who had never seen her. She had staked herself in order to give birth to him. Surely Angel had told him of her, how she was a vicious murdering vampire. She had read the file that Wolfram and Hart had given her about Connor, and how he had been taken away to Quartoth (sp?). That he had come back and tried to kill Angel, believing what his surrogate father had told him about Angel, how he was a vicious murdering machine. Darla found it amusing that he had put Angel on the bottom of the ocean.

"The puppets are getting scared of the big mean man, marching through their paper stick town," Druscilla said. Darla just about ignored Druscilla's ranting. She wanted to see her son, see what had come out of her, Wolfram and Hart be damned, surely they could slip out to Sunnydale and back to Los Angeles before they knew about it, or before they could do anything about it. She didn't care about some stupid contract she had signed; this was the real world and nothing could tell her what to do.

"Come on Dru, we're leaving."

Sunnydale – California

He was sure that no one would miss him for a while. They were all too busy researching; researching the being who had murdered and taken over his girlfriend's body. Oz didn't understand why it had to be Michaela. A part of himself blamed her that she had gone with the others; that she took charge at the final moments. That part of him believed that if she had stayed here, with him and the rest of them, she would now be okay. The other part of him told himself that he was just being stupid. The fact that Michaela had taken charge, the fact that Michaela had gone; those were the things he loved about her. If she hadn't been the person he had loved, she would have stayed behind.

Now there was this thing, this Old One, walking around in his former girlfriend's body. He couldn't stand the thought of it, that it had taken her body. If she was in fact truly dead, her body should be in the ground, returned to the earth from where it came, not walking around with something else inside it. It was appalling, and Oz knew that he couldn't do anything about it, and that thought unsettled him right down to the very core.

Memories were coming back to her now, only one at a time. She would remember a woman who looked wise and knowledgable, whom she guessed to be her mother. She remembered some strange demons with large, haunting smiles which floated above the ground, that looked like something out of a fairy tale. She could remember a blonde haired woman sitting beside her, crushing her hand. Tara could also remember a spell, to bring Buffy back to life. That was one of the first things she had remembered. It was getting easier being here, she could start to put the pieces together of people's lives. She knew that Xander was Willow's best friend, and that Giles was the older, father figure. She knew that there should be bad blood between her and one of the young men, the werewolf, but she couldn't feel it. Tara had guessed that there were things that Willow hadn't told her yet, probably not to dump too much on her at once. She was wondering about that now, Willow had just left and been gone for three days before she came back, and when she had, she was in tears and looked completely physically and emotionally drained. Tara knew that Willow was going through her own things, and that she wouldn't be able to help her much. She thought, as though before, in her previous life, she had been lovers with Willow, that maybe her presence would help her out a bit, but she wasn't sure, not remembering much about it. That's why she tentatively went upstairs to Willow's door and opened it up just to let her see what was going on inside. She saw Willow sitting on the bed, staring into space. She opened the door fully and walked into the room.

"How are you doing?" she asked Willow. Willow just looked up at her, it being obvious that she had been crying.

"Funnily enough, the best I've been in probably my whole life," Willow replied.

Caelecae stepped up next to Lindsey McDonald, looking over the city of Sunnydale, the sun setting over the horizon. They were standing on the top of King Man's Bluff, the place where Lindsey was told that Caelecae would re-enter this world after her meeting with the Senior Partners and The First Evil was over.

"The Wolf Ram and the Hart have indeed grown since our absence," Caelecae said.

"I would have thought so," Lindsey replied.

"They are arrogant. Thinking that they can control me and deceive The First Evil. They are trying to control what happens. They are fools, this has gone beyond them now," Caelecae replied. "Keep that in mind human, for your allegiances in the battle for your race may lay in the wrong hands."

"I'll keep that in mind," Lindsey replied coolly to Caelecae. They stood there for a few moments, none saying a word.

"This world has indeed changed since our time… come, we seek Inanna," Caelecae said before turning and starting to head down King Man's Bluff.

Something had changed, Nicola knew that a couple of moments ago. The atmosphere around their house had shifted slightly, the energies surrounding the house shifted. She looked around to Cassia, who was sitting beside Dawn, Xander, Brett and Naomi watching the television. To her, Cassia hadn't sensed any changes in the surrounding air, or at least, she didn't show any visible signs that she recognised them. She looked over to the other people in the room; to Gunn who was still recovering from the injuries he had received from the Syopher (reference – Chapter 15 – Showdown). None of them showed any signs of recognising any change in the air. Nicola looked back towards the television, and saw that it was switched onto the news.

"… are warning residents of Los Angeles not to go out at night time and to keep all doors and windows locked in the threat of the multiple killings which have occurred in the city over the last week or so. Police believe it is due to the prison break a couple of weeks ago of Orange maximum security prison on the outskirts of Los Angeles. Police are still looking for this woman among others," the television reporter said while a picture of Faith came onto the screen. "who are believed to be very unstable and dangerous… in other news, it is believed that copycat killers are emerging in communities surrounding the Los Angeles area, with a number of deaths in Sunnydale and other areas greatly resembling the killings in the Los Angeles area," the reporter said. Nicola knew that things were getting out of hand, and that the public would have to notice something happening some time or other. She knew that something was definitely wrong now as a large amount of energy sharply passed through the air surrounding the house. She knew that she could be wrong because there were many disturbances occurring all over the town, and the Hellmouth was still open. They had never gotten the chance to close it, having to worry about themselves and making sure that they were all safe. Nicola saw that Cassia was now looking at her, having recognised that last energy wave that went through the air.

"Something's happening," Nicola said out loud. Everyone turned to her, looking at her for answers. She just looked around at everyone else, not knowing what to do except tell them what she felt.

"Guys, something's going on," another voice said from the stairs. Nicola turned to see that it was Willow, with Tara close behind her.

Worldwide, time began to slow down, and a very slight green tint started to appear to everything around. To anyone who knew what they were looking at, they would be able to say that the key was being used to briefly open the gates between dimensions, and that something, or a lot of things were being brought through. Time eventually came to a complete stop, save for a select few beings, all of which were located in Sunnydale, California, who were outside of time. Three Old Ones, Inanna, Illyria and Caelecae, demons who once walked the earth eons ago, now trapped inside the bodies of three separate human beings still moved about the city. Two of the next generation of Slayer, Buffy and Faith, continued walking through the streets of Sunnydale as time had stopped. A Vampire who had taken a journey into a now non-existent future due to a change to the past, brought about by him, rode his motorcycle through the streets of San Diego, looking for somewhere else to be. A newly resurrected human being, formerly known as Anita, now known as Tara, slowly backed up the steps which led from the first to the second floor of the Summers residence. Her eyes were transfixed as she stared at the four Syophers which had now appeared out of thin air in the middle of the lounge room and which were moving towards her.

Note: thanks for leaving all the reviews Imzadi…. Btw, in reference to one of your reviews, saying about the Harbringers of Beatrice story… I know it's similar, I have actually had a brief look into that story, but never read it, so my ideas are 100% genuine. Got it from the season (2?) where Darla is brought back and goes around, Dru comes because of W&H and turns her…. Thought I might do that, again.

Thanks everyone for leaving reviews… leave more! Please!

Next Chapter Coming up: Chapter 32 - Unlocked.