Hi guys, sorry for the delay. I'll try to do better :) Thanks for reviews for the last segment.

Act Three

Everyone froze, too bewildered to speak and too scared to make any sudden moves. Until, that is, the metal part of his cheap lighter was hot enough to burn Giles' thumb; making him accidentally drop it with a curse.

The sudden, absolute darkness brought shrieks from nearly everyone in the cave and at least four of them came from people he did not know. Keeping a firm grip on Xander's hand, Giles turned his head this way and that trying to get a sense of which way to run.

"Where are we?" he heard Buffy ask.

"I don't know," Willow said in a small voice.

"Well, wherever we are," Xander said. "It's definitely not Kansas."

"Or Boudenver."

It was balmy in the cave, far too hot to be their new home town, which had been hovering around eight Celsius all week during the daylight hours.

Giles was less worried about where they were, however, than who they were with. The alarmed shrieking was turning into more organised yelling. Definitely human but despite his extensive knowledge of languages – both modern and ancient – still very alien.

"We need light," he said.

"I think we need fire," Xander was on the save wavelength but more direct.

"Why don't we go for both," Willow suggested, before adding, "Tulekahju!"

There was a brilliant flash that blinded Giles for a moment and then a tiny ball of flames, about the size of a golf ball, floated in the air between the four of them. It lit their faces up, but nothing else.

"Okay, that was supposed to be bigger," Willow lamented.

"It's your magick, Willow," Giles explained as calmly as he could. "You can't rely on it to work as you would expect while the curse is still active."

"Well, how is that helpful?" she griped.

"I think it's helping our hosts," Buffy pointed out. Giles looked up to see the cave's inhabitants advancing on them. "To them it's a big neon sign saying 'Diner!'"

"Hey, come on, we don't know they're cannibals," Xander said, and Giles thought he was maturely attempting the voice of reason, until he added. "They might just wanna sacrifice us to George the Sun God."

They were all inching away now as Buffy pulled Xander and Willow back by their still joined hands, and Giles was tugged with them by his hand in Xander's. The… people? followed them slowly. Their expressions were curious and wary but not exactly hostile. Yet. It crossed his mind that if they let go of each other they could turn and run, but he was gaining a surprising amount of comfort from Xander's large, calloused – and above all – familiar grip. Besides, he rationalised, keeping the strangers in front of them was probably a better idea.

The small ball of fire floated backwards with them, giving them no hope of losing themselves once more in the darkness. He didn't like to ask Willow to extinguish it though. For one, being lost in the darkness only held a very small amount of comfort at the best of times, and two, with her instability, she might accidentally increase its size exponentially and burn them all alive.

"Do you think they're herding us out or in?" Willow suddenly asked.

Giles wished she hadn't used the word herding.

"Out." Buffy said. "I'm pretty sure I can feel a draught on my back."

Xander turned his head towards Giles, trying to look behind them. "And I think I can see light."

"Like moonlight?" he asked, not wanting to look away himself.

"No, like George light."

"I'm sorry?"

"The sun?" Willow asked, getting it.

Buffy turned her head now. "I don't think so, but it's bright."

"Oh dear." He muttered, not sure he liked the sound of that.

As they walked backwards around a bend, Buffy's next words confirmed his unformed fears.

"Oh, and it has spears."

They all turned around now, the threat of weapons becoming more important than the curious stares, and Giles realised that the shrieks of alarm had indeed been just that… an alarm. There were four or five – hard to tell for sure beyond the burning branches they carried – of the, for want of a better word, cavemen coming towards them from the other direction.

"See, now that's what you call fire." Xander gestured at them.

"That's what I call trouble," Buffy said.

Giles nodded. The people in front were now conversing with the people behind them in a loud, guttural language he was sure no one born in the last few hundred thousand years had ever heard before. Trying to follow it was impossible.

"What should we do?" Willow asked.

"Can you do your freeze time spell?" Buffy asked. "That way we could just run past them."

"I think that would be very unwise," Giles said, making sure his tone didn't allow for debate.

"Okay, so what? Do I slay them? I mean, is that an option? Are they human or…?" she shrugged.

"Homo erectus or… or Neanderthals, maybe?" Willow shrugged too.

"So… not human? Give me something here, guys?"

"Whatever they are, they are not demons, Buffy. So you should avoid slaying them… unless they leave you no choice, of course," Giles added darkly.

"You shouldn't slay them full stop!" Willow said. "What if these particular guys are the roots of the human race? Not a lot of point in saving our skins if killing them winks us out of existence anyway!"

"So what then, Will?" Buffy asked angrily. "We let them kill us just on the off-chance it might save the rest of the human race?! Okay, I answered my own question there," she added irritably, "but I still don't like it."

"Perhaps we should just try communicating with them then," said Xander.

"How exactly?" Buffy demanded.

"I don't know. How did Livingstone speak to the savages?"

"We don't know they're savages!" Willow snapped.

"And we don't know they are not," Giles countered quietly.

The men with the flaming branches were advancing; bring the debate to an end. It was time to either act and take the offensive, or to wait passively to see what they would do. Neither choice was particularly attractive when the results were so incalculable.

They were within setting-them-on-fire distance – the smoke making Giles' eyes water – when Xander stepped forward with his hands held up in a gesture of surrender.

"Hey, look, sorry, we didn't mean to intrude but…"

A man, presumably, with thick hair and beard down to his hide-covered waist stepped forward to meet him, barking incomprehensible words. With one hand he slowly pumped his fire-torch up and down, with his other he groped Xander's clean-shaven face – making him cringe at the proximity to his eye – and then pulled at his clothes, popping a few buttons off of his shirt in the process.

"See, no big," Xander said, his voice tight with controlled fear. "He's just like Buffy was after drinking that beer."

"I did not smell this bad!"

"You kinda did by the second day," said Willow.

Buffy shot her a hurt look but Willow just shrugged.

As the caveman cosied up to Xander and began to sniff him, Giles grabbed Xander's arm and pulled him back into line.

"Enough."

That, he observed unhappily, did not go down well. Their behaviour became altogether more threatening at this apparent slight.

"We think he's the chief?" Buffy asked as the hullabaloo grew louder around them. "What we need is a show of dominance. If I can make their boss my bitch maybe they'll back down. You never know, they might even make me George the Sun God. That could be cool."

She stepped forward to confront Xander's new friend.

Willow caught her wrist. "No, Buffy! You can't just start fighting them!"

"Why not?"

"They haven't done anything wrong!"

"And I'm not waiting until they do!"

Buffy adamantly kept going closer, determined to throw her weight around despite the torches and spears now stabbing towards her; trying to keep her at bay. Willow was still trying to pull her back and Giles watched as she was towed into the clouds of fragrant smoke from the burning branches.

"Buffy, no!" he began, but it was too late; Willow's nose was already twitching, her free hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Xander!"

"What?" He was covering his good eye with his hand, the smoke driving it mad, and so was essentially blind right now. "Hang on a minute."

Giles said the only thing he knew would drive right to the heart of the problem without preamble: "Quickly, you must save Willow!"

Vision even more impaired than usual, Xander nevertheless reached out and hooked his hand under Willow's arm to pull her back from whatever danger he assumed Giles had spotted.

Seconds later, Willow sneezed.

Faith rolled back to her feet seconds after the water cooler tumbled over on top of them, the almost full plastic container splitting as it hit the hard floor and drenching them both with chilled water.

"Gah!" she said, shaking herself like a dog once she was upright.

Kennedy pushed herself to her hands and knees, moving slower because she'd taken more of a beating. Her almost healed black eye was bruising and swelling again and her nose was bleeding profusely, the water beneath her getting splattered with red.

She looked up at Faith, who had bruising coming out all over her face but didn't look anywhere near as bad as Kennedy felt. That pissed her off! She spat yet more blood onto the wet concrete and got carefully to her feet, holding her stomach.

"I think you broke my liver," she groaned.

"Good. You broke my freakin' favourite work shirt!"

The grey long sleeved t-shirt Faith was wearing was torn from the neck down to her sternum, leaving her bra and a lot of goose-pimpling skin exposed.

"Good." Kennedy stood there for a moment and then staggered the length of the training barn to the trampoline, where she collapsed over the edge, groaning some more.

"You bleed on that B'll kick your ass."

"When she sees what you've done to me, she'll kick your ass first."

"Need Buffy to fight your battles for you?"

"No, I can fight my own battles. But she's still gonna be pissed off with you."

Kennedy pushed herself off of the trampoline, spat another mouthful of blood onto the floor beside it, and then started slowly for the door. She needed a glass of water, a bag of ice and half a bottle of Advil. Oh, and some dry clothes would be nice. Now the heat of the fight was fading her drenched clothes were making her freezing.

"Hey, where d'ya think you're going?" Faith demanded. "You better stay and clean this shit up!"

Kennedy turned in the doorway, trying not to shiver because it hurt.

"You're the janitor's lackey, you clean it up," she said before hobbling towards the house.

"Oh, that one made me not feel so good." Willow let go of Buffy's hand to hold her spinning head instead. "Is my nose bleeding?"

Buffy peered under the hanging red hair to check.

"Nope, just… lots of snot," she said with a grimace.

"Oh, gross!" Willow went to wipe her nose with her hands but then thought better of it.

"You can use my sleeve," Buffy offered, voice bright even though her grimace was greater. "I can always… burn my sweater when we get home."

"Gee, thanks, Buff. I'm that disgusting that you want to burn anything I touch now."

"Not everything," Buffy promised in a wheedling tone. "Just… your nose."

Willow gave her a look. Buffy rolled her eyes, hands flying up in the air.

"I offered you my sleeve, didn't I? Xander didn't even do that much!"

"Hey, why bring me into it?" he snapped in a low voice as they all looked around. "And maybe it's because I'm not as big a sycophant as you."

"Do you even know what… a… sycophant… is?" Buffy asked, her words coming slower as something dawned on her distracted brain.

"Yeah, it's someone who's sick, and not the good kind, the gross kind, the kind that will willingly have their favourite sweater covered in snot just to get cut some slack…"

"Would you please stop bickering for five minutes," Giles snapped as he handed Willow his handkerchief. "Honestly, anyone would think you lot were back in high school the way you've been behaving recently…"

"I can't stop, Giles," Willow said, her voice sounding distant to her own ears as her eyes had trouble believing what they were seeing. "Because as soon as I stop bickering, I have to start…"

As she trailed off, Buffy took up the end of the sentence. "…dealing."

"Dealing with what?" he asked over the noise of Willow blowing her nose.

"This!" Xander spread his arms. "Giles, look around!"

Giles finally did so. "Good Lord!"

Sunnydale's Main Street was exactly as it had been – prior to the rebuilding and remodelling that had taken place after Glory's attempt to get home had practically split it in half, anyway.

All more than a little overwhelmed, they began to walk slowly down the middle of the deserted road.

"Wow," Buffy said, trying to disguise the lump in her throat.

She'd never expected to see any of this again. She'd never really realised she wanted to either until it was all laid out in front of her. She had never truly been happy here – okay, maybe for a month here and a month there, but most of the time life in Sunnydale had been hard and dangerous and lonely and depressing – the more so the older she got. Now though, standing on the street where she'd almost been killed, what? two dozen times, she just felt like she'd come home.

God, what did that say about her life now then?

"My word," Giles said this time, seemingly stuck on two words at a time.

"Sneeze again, Will!" Xander was demanding. "Come on, dammit, sneeze!"

Someone else obviously wasn't so happy to see home again. His reaction was a little strong though, but then that wasn't unusual with Xander these days.

"I can't just do it to order!" Willow said apologetically. "If I could I'd just keep sneezing until the chaos randomly bounced us back home."

"We are home," Buffy pointed out, feeling someone should say it.

"No, we're in the past," Willow said. "I hate it as much as you, but Sunnydale is gone forever."

"Hands up who doesn't hate that fact." Xander was the only one to put up his hand, so he held up his other one too. Then added, "What exactly is it you miss about the place? The Hellmouth? – because I'm sorry to say, that makes you crazy."

"Boudenver has a Hellmouth too," Giles reminded him.

"Okay, is it because Boudenver doesn't have a wide variety of demons trying to kill us on a weekly basis that makes you homesick for this place?"

"It was a nightly basis for me," Buffy sighed. Had she just sounded wistful? Oh God! She shook her head. "But you're right. Sunnydale wasn't so… oh, the Espresso Pump!"

Xander did a double-take, mostly so he could keep her in sight as she took off running up the road.

"The Mouth!" he called after her. "They have burgers and espresso!"

"Yeah, but the mochas aren't so good there," Willow said with a little grin and ran after Buffy.

Xander looked at Giles, who shrugged as he said, "We should keep up with them."

"I vote for no." Xander watched his sneakers as they scuffed along the road.

"If Willow sneezes without us, we may have to live the rest of our lives here."

"In that case, I vote for yes."

"I thought you might."

"Why's it shut?" Buffy griped, rattling the window shutters a little. "What time is it?"

Giles started to look at his watch and then realised how pointless that would be. He craned his neck instead to see the clock on the front of the town hall.

"A quarter past eight."

"But… but it used to be open to midnight!"

She was feeling way more upset than not being able to get a hot chocolatety beverage should have warranted, especially considering they really had more important things to worry about, but now the idea had been put in her head… She rattled the shutters again wondering if Giles would tell her off she just… removed them. After all, they were in an emergency situation here. Giles would probably welcome a cup of hot, sweet tea to sip while he explained to them what the hell was going on.

"It's pretty early for it to be that deserted around here," Willow said. "Where is everyone?"

Buffy gave up on the mocha-dream and turned to look up and down the street.

"That's a good point, Will."

"It was an obvious point, but okay," Xander muttered.

"Yeah, well you didn't say it," Willow said to him.

"I didn't think anyone needed to!"

"And it doesn't stop it from being a good one," Buffy added.

"Enough!" Giles said firmly. "It is very quiet. In fact, without wishing to jinx us as you say, it's far too quiet. There's not a single place open. Even the cinema is dark."

He turned to Willow and Xander. "You two have lived in this town the longest. Just how far back do you suppose we are?"

Almost at once there was the sound of several pairs of running feet coming from one of the many service alleys on Main Street and then Willow was running by.

She went by without seeing them and four jaws gradually closed again.

"You know what you were saying about us being in high school, Giles?" Buffy said, gesturing after the running girl.

"Wow, was my hair really ever that long?" Willow leaned forward so she could watch herself run away. That's when it occurred to her. "Wait, what am I running from? I don't remember…"

The owners of the other feet answered her question before she could finish it.

A tall, gangly boy came tearing out of the alley like a pro sprinter. He looked familiar but Buffy couldn't remember why until she heard Xander's breathless whimper of:

"Jesse!"

So that was how far back they were dealing with. Jesse was in human face but Buffy could feel the vamp vibes coming off of him. They were strong too, meaning he was either a supervamp – which was unlikely considering he'd only been undead for a few days before Xander the complete newbie had staked him – or he had company right behind him.

She braced herself, ready to intercept once she had them both in sight, but was too stunned to do anything but stand and stare as the second vampire ran out of the alley. She did manage to catch Xander though as he fainted towards her; the sight of himself with fangs proving to be more excitement than he could handle.

"Giles," Willow said, sounding close to hyperventilating. "Um, unless Xander's been keeping a really big secret from us for, uh, seven years…I somehow don't think we've just gone back in time."

Giles was staring down the street after the vampire boys. "Oh dear."