Author's Note: And the end.

Enjoy!

It took Dawn some time to calm Seo down enough to get her to remember their prisoner. The latest psychopath that had wandered into their lives.

Seo looked down at Gray — restrained and helpless, begging for death.

Handed Dawn the gun.

"I couldn't save the Toclafane," Seo said. "But I can save you."

"I don't want to be saved," Gray snapped at her. "I want to die! I want to murder my bastard brother and just die, already!" He struggled. "You know how it feels."

"Yes," Seo agreed. "I know." She walked over, her eyes on the floor. "Trying to be brave. Trying to be strong. Trying to have faith and stand up for what you believe in." She knelt down, beside him. Her eyes meeting his. "But… deep down inside… you're just a terrified, screaming little child. That's all."

Gray faltered. Caught out. Then stuck a determined expression on his face. "What are you going to do to me?"

Gray didn't know what was happening. Didn't know what Seo was doing, as she tied him up in the middle of the destroyed city, surrounded by his victims. Tied him to a still-standing metallic post, strapped a device to his wrist, which molecularly bonded with his skin.

He recognized it. A rejuvenator. To satisfy all bodily needs over a short period of time.

(The parts of the rejuvenator could be reassembled to make a bomb. Gray knew that, too. Knew exactly how to unbond the molecules with his skin, and construct the bomb.)

Then Seo stepped back. Surveyed him, carefully.

And he waited for her revenge.

"Stay there," said Seo. She gestured at the city around them. "And think about what you've done."

She turned, and headed, with Dawn, back towards Oliver.

Gray struggled, in utter and complete rage, to free himself. "You're giving me a time out?!"

"Yep," said Seo, opening Oliver's door and ushering Dawn inside.

"I've butchered an entire city!" shouted Gray. "I tried to kill you! You can't just—"

But it was too late.

As the ship faded out of existence. And left Gray alone. In the devastated remains of an alien planet.

The man who'd called himself John Hart arrived in the Bedlam Outlands, a wilderness littered with charred corpses and ash and ruins.

And… one person, tied up, in the middle of it all.

"Huh," said Hart. Strolling over. "Who're you, then?"

"Gray," the person pleaded. "Help me. Please, help me. Before they come back."

Hart's eyes lit up. Putting all the puzzle pieces together. The mark of the Yugzode on Gray's skin. The way he'd been dropped off and abandoned here, with no food or water or anything. The name…

"So you're the little brother!" said Hart. He gave a small laugh, untying him from the post. "Yeah. Sure I'll help you. Course."

His mind already racing through possibilities. Ways he could use this to his advantage.

Gray froze. A gleam in his eyes. "You… know… my brother?"

"Get stuck in a time loop with someone, and you get to know them pretty well," said Hart.

Gray gave a little grin. Reached up his sleeve, for where he'd hidden the rejuvenator he'd removed and modified. "In that case," he said, "you're my savior."

...

"We came back for Gray one day later," said the hologram-Dawn. "I mean, for us, it was about thirty seconds. We just skipped ahead. But when we got back… Gray was gone."

...

"Okay, okay!" said Dawn, when confronted by the empty spot where Gray should have been. "But he couldn't have gotten far. I mean, if we search the ruins, we've got to find him sooner or later."

Seo grimaced. "We… were followed. In the vortex. What if… we didn't shake Hart off? What if…?"

Dawn stared at Seo. The two meeting one another's eyes.

And realizing just how screwed they really were.

"We've got to find them," Dawn said.

"We will," Seo replied. "Before Gray ever gets close to finding his brother, again. We'll find them. And we'll stop them."

...

"So that's our life, at the moment," said the hologram-Dawn. "Hunting down a psychopath crazy guy who's hooked up with a different psychopath crazy guy before the first one has a chance to murder his brother. It's a total barrel of laughs."

Buffy wasn't so interested in the crazy psychopath guys, though. She'd be way dead by the 51st century, anyways. She wanted to hear more about Seo. What Dawn thought was wrong with her.

"I kind of hope Gray does find you, first, actually," said Dawn. "Because I know you'd totally kick his butt."

Buffy grinned, despite herself.

"Seo's been using the whole chasing Gray thing to distract me from talking to her about her breakdown," Dawn continued. "But… she's got problems, Buffy. Serious problems. From what I can work out, there's a whole year of her life that we both missed. Something involving Harold Saxon and the Toclafane. I know that, during that year… Seo got tortured. By the Master. Who wanted her to do something evil." Dawn sighed. "I know Seo gave in, eventually. And I know it resulted in her doing something she's ashamed of." She brushed some hair back over her shoulder. "I think it's the 'ashamed' thing that makes her unwilling to admit she remembers anything at all."

Buffy nodded.

Dawn slumped. "Anyways. First thing we have to do is catch Gray before he murders his brother. Which is mega-hard, because he keeps zig-zagging around through time and space. But after we're done with that… I'm bringing Seo back home. Just to… talk to you."

"Good," said Buffy.

Dawn's eyes fixed off into the distance. "But… see if you can figure out a way to convince Seo to confront Jack. Because… I'm starting to get the feeling… he's the one she should be talking to."

A knock, off camera. And Seo's voice calling in that they'd landed. 1820. London.

"Coming!" Dawn called back. She turned back to the camera. "Okay. Got to go. Just remember my warning. K?"

And the hologram blinked off.

Buffy, for a few moments, couldn't say anything. Just kept thinking through what she'd heard.

One thing to do. It was time to go to Torchwood. And ask Jack if he knew anything about some year-she-couldn't-remember, which involved Seo and the Master.

Leave Dawn to figure out Mr. Kill-His-Brother on her own.

That, at least, was one difficulty Buffy could spare Jack having to worry about.

...

London, 1820.

"So… Gray traded an alien warp engine for… what, again?" asked Dawn.

"No idea," said Seo, racing through the streets. "Something in that crashed space ship." She nodded at the two vampires, just ahead. "I'm hoping they can tell us what."

"And tell us where this alien warp engine thing is," Dawn added. "Before it turns all of London into a bowl of noodle soup."

They rounded the corner, saw the vampires threatening a young man. A man holding a briefcase, his eyes wide and terrified, his face and body thin, yet attractive. Handsome.

Seo stared at him. For a few seconds, unable to move.

Something… about him… seemed oddly familiar. As if she should know him from somewhere else… had seen him, before…

She was pulled out of her thoughts by Dawn, who had just staked one of the vampires through the heart.

"Dawn," Seo said, with a small laugh and a shake of her head. "We're supposed to be questioning them, remember?"

"Yeah, getting to that part," said Dawn. Backing the second vampire against the far wall, stake against his heart, demanding he tell her what she wanted to know.

Seo, in the meantime, crept forward. Offered her hand to the young man.

"I'm Seo," she said. "That's Dawn. We're here to help." She gave him her nicest smile, as he took the hand, and kissed the back. "What's your name?"

"William," said the man.

Dawn, having gotten the information she wanted, staked the second vampire and turned to the other two. "Billy, huh?" she said. "Coolness."

Then spun around, and raced off, onto the main street.

Manger Street.