Author's Note: I tried to write alternate-timeline Xander and Willow to be the way I'd imagine those characters in these particular circumstances. They're... pretty different from the normal versions. But I guess that's to be expected.

Thanks for the review, Guest! I actually really want to write a story about Irving Braxiatel during the Time War. I loved Brax in the Bernice Summerfield series, and he was pretty cool in "Gallifrey", too. (Aw, Brax and Romana forever! Heart!) Basically, he's one of my favorite characters. And, due to copyright contracts, the story of Brax in the Time War is one that can never be told in canon. (Big Finish is not allowed to cover the Time War, and I believe they're the ones who hold the license on Braxiatel.)

That means it's a story that can only ever be told through fanfiction.

Hence, my eagerness to write it.

Anyways, that will come later. For now, enjoy this next chapter. You'll notice that the reality of Elizabeth's situation isn't exactly what she claimed in Prisoner.

Sigh. Isn't that always the way?

Enjoy!

The rain roared around Dawn's ears.

Soaking her to the skin. As she shuddered, beneath its torrents. Looking out at the little crack in reality, just where the portal should be. Such a small thing, but… a link.

"I'm the link," Dawn reminded herself. "The Key."

She kept thinking it, through her head. Over and over again.

Even as the roar of the rain grew louder and louder, almost shaking the ground and the structure beneath Dawn with the ferocity of its…

Wait.

Dawn glanced down.

And a much greater shudder overtook her, as she saw the cluster of horses and medieval knights galloping, full-speed, towards her. Their bows ready in their hands, to release their arrows.

Their shouts and cries swimming through the air.

Dawn almost toppled over, as the first barrage of arrows thunked into the wood around her. And she realized… up here… she was a sitting target.

"I'm not human," Dawn reminded herself, scrambling to climb back down the structure as fast as she could. "I'm the Key. I'm just energy. Arrows can't hurt me!"

Actually, she had no idea if arrows could hurt her.

But she wasn't sticking around to find out.

Lightning flashed through the sky, striking the top of the structure and making the crudely nailed wood shatter, around her. Dawn cried out, as she tumbled through the air, falling and unable to stop herself…

Then thudded into the squelching mud, below.

"Ow," said Dawn, struggling to drag herself back to her feet. Her whole body felt like one huge bruise, and she had no idea how she'd managed not to break anything. She tried to scrape as much mud as she could off her face. "Not human. The Key. I'm the Key. I'm Dawn Summers, and I'm the Key. The link."

"And the link must be severed!" shouted a voice just in front of her.

Another flash of lightning, and Dawn could see them all.

The Knights of Byzantium.

Their horses stuck in the mud, some ways back. Now all dismounted, their swords in their hands, as they surrounded her.

"Wait, you're seriously wearing metal armor — in a barren mud pit — during a lightning storm?" Dawn rolled her eyes. "Geeze. Talk about Knights of Stupid-ium."

It was only through luck, alone, that she slipped in the mud, stumbling back and out of the way of the sword that swiped at her.

"The Key is the link!" shouted the Knight. "The link must be severed. Such is the will of God!"

"Such is the will of God!" shouted the others.

Dawn raised her hands. "Whoa, whoa, calm down!" she protested. "Let's just… talk about this! I mean, when you say, 'God', you don't actually mean some woman with sunglasses on her head, right? Because that's not God, it's Seo in a future regeneration!"

The Knights paused, a moment.

Looking completely confused. Like they didn't have any idea who she was talking about, or why anyone with sunglasses would wander around calling themselves God.

"Seo!" Dawn said. Pointing at where the portal seemed to be. "You know! Seo?"

"She means the Beast!" shouted one of the Knights. "The hidden name of Glorificus!"

This seemed to provoke a wild reaction from the Knights of Byzantium, around Dawn, who all grabbed up their swords and began hacking at her. Dawn dove down into the mud, sliding away from them.

"Blasphemer!" some shouted.

"How dare you call the Beast a god?!" others shouted. "How dare you defile the legacy of the Lord's messenger — who gave Sir Frederick his quest a thousand years since — with this talk of… sunglasses?!"

Dawn slid between the knights, using the darkness to her advantage, until she was out of the cluster of them. Then shoved herself back onto her feet and began to run.

The squelch of her feet gave her away.

They all turned.

"Destroy the link!" shouted one of the knights, charging. "Halt the end of time! Save the messenger of God!"

"Destroy the ally of the Beast!" shouted the other knights.

"Seo isn't Glory!" Dawn shouted behind her. "I mean, she is. But the Glory you knew isn't really… oh, never mind!"

She had the feeling none of these guys were listening to her, anyways.

Just charged forwards, trying to see through the driving rain that was smacking into her eyes with every step. Struggling to do what Seo told her, keep the link open, keep the mantra running inside her head…

"I'm the Key," Dawn repeated to herself. "Just the Key. Not human. Just energy. I'm the Key, I'm the link, and I'm here to rescue my sister!"

She should have been looking where she was going.

But the clang and the searing pain running through her was the first indication that she'd collided with a knight, right in front of her.

The Knight hadn't seen her, either.

Which was good.

Otherwise, she'd probably have run into his sword and be dead, by now.

And then Seo and Buffy would never make it back!

"You!" shouted the knight. Advancing on her. "The Key! The link!"

The other knights began to catch up with them. The fastest arriving with their swords drawn. Ready to finish her off.

But Dawn wasn't fourteen, anymore.

And she was smart enough, the moment she'd collided with that knight, to know what she'd hit, and how to use it to her advantage.

The others slammed their swords down, but Dawn rolled through the mud, out of the way.

In the distance, lightning flashed. One of the knights, his sword forming a perfect electrical conductor, screamed, as the electrical current flooded through him.

The others stared, in horror.

All the advantage Dawn needed.

She leapt to her feet. "Hey, Knight-Crash-Test-Dummy!" Dawn shouted at the knight she'd run into. "Missing something?"

Then held up the sword, in her hands.

The one she'd grabbed off him, back when they'd collided. Like a pickpocket.

The knight faltered. "What…? How…?"

Dawn lunged at him, swinging the sword expertly. Her every blow perfectly placed. Enough to wound — not to kill.

The knights around them noticed the fray, and began to run to their comrade's aid.

But Dawn was ready for them, too.

Parrying their blows, faking them out and then lunging for any exposed bits she could get at, through the armor.

"I am the Key," Dawn said. "But I'm also Dawn Summers!" Her sword clanged against another knights, as she skittered out of the way of a knight to her right. "And I've been fighting off worse monsters than you for a long time, now!"

Another sword came a little too close for Dawn's comfort.

And Dawn could hear more voices joining in, as the other knights caught up. Knew… despite all the bluster and the bravado, despite everything she'd learned or how good she was with a sword… there was no way one person could win against several hundred knights of Byzantium.

The numbers didn't work out.

Worse still… as Dawn glanced up at the sky… she realized that when Seo and Buffy did get back, with the scaffolding torn down, that meant they'd wind up with a huge jump down into a giant pit. One they wouldn't survive.

"Hope things are okay on your side, Seo," Dawn gritted through her teeth. "Because the plan's already shot to hell over here!"

Seo groaned.

As she opened her eyes. And discovered… she was inside. And not alone.

"Sounds like you're awake," said the man beside her. He swung around to face her, a nasty-looking, long-blade knife in his hands. "Don't be fooled. I might not be able to see very well, but I'm good with a knife."

Seo stared at him. "Xander?"

It was… almost him.

Except this version looked scarred. His eyes flickering around at random, as if searching for something he couldn't see. And something else — like there was a darkness inside his soul that had been eating away at him for a long time, now.

"Xander," said Willow's voice — sounding weary, sadder than the Willow Seo knew. "I don't think it's her."

Willow wheeled her wheelchair forwards, towards Seo. Like Xander, this Willow seemed more scarred and disillusioned than the one she knew.

Willow examined Seo, carefully. "Definitely not her," Willow decided. "Elizabeth's eyes aren't brown."

"Dalek Replicants have the wrong color eyes, sometimes," Xander reminded her. Holding out the knife by Seo's chest. "You remember what the Doctor said, last time he was here. There's some big war going on, out there, with the Daleks. Maybe they've finally arrived on Earth."

Seo didn't have time for this.

She had a mom to rescue.

She rolled out of striking distance of Xander's knife, and popped back to her feet. "Look, I'm sorry," she said. "But I have to go. Mom's been taken. I don't have much time to get her back."

Every second she left the link open between the Time War and the outside universe, everything was in danger. No matter how small the crack between the two — there was always a chance something could get out.

"Good luck," Seo told the alternate Willow and Xander, as she spun around and turned to race out the door of the room they were in.

Willow raised up her hands.

And Seo slammed into a magical barrier Willow had erected, blocking the door.

She stumbled backwards, rubbing her face with her hands. "Ow! That hurt!"

"And Xander will make you hurt even more, if you try any funny-business," said Willow. Xander looking poised and ready to strike, beside her. A bodyguard. "So you better start explaining. Who are you? Where did you come from? And why do you look like Elizabeth?"

"I don't have time for this!" Seo shouted at them. Spinning back around. "You have to let me out! There's—"

"Let you out there?" Willow shook her head. "You're not even armed."

Seo paused. Frowning. "Armed?" Trying to make sense of this in her mind. "We… we're in Sunnydale, right? A Sunnydale without the Hellmouth?"

Xander seemed a little incredulous. "How can she not know?"

"I saw her quite literally fall out of the sky," said Willow. "Maybe she's an alien. Maybe she really doesn't know." Willow wheeled her chair closer. "Are you wearing a holo-guise, to blend in and look human?"

"Maybe she's the Doctor," Xander offered. "You said he changed faces, last time you saw him. To prepare him… for war… or something." He shrugged. "Maybe he changed his face again. Along with… other parts of him."

Willow sighed, bitterly. "If the Doctor could come back here, don't you think he'd have stopped Elizabeth and saved the world, back when things first started falling apart?" She dismissed the notion with the wave of her hand. "No. He's busy, Xander. This isn't the Doctor — it's someone else." Her eyes fell on Seo. "So who are you?"

Seo felt her head spinning. "The world's… been… destroyed?" Her eyes darted to the barrier blocking the door. "What's out there? What happened? What did… Elizabeth… do?"

"She knows Elizabeth," Xander noted.

"Elizabeth kidnapped my mom!" shouted Seo, clenching her hands into fists. "Tore into my timeline and grabbed her away, into this one! Of course I know her! She's mad and evil and wants Mom dead, and I can't let that happen. I have to rescue Mom."

Willow and Xander's defensiveness faded, just a hair.

As they heard.

"Elizabeth… mentioned an other-timeline," said Willow. "An other-her. Who still called herself 'Buffy'."

"And was dead," Xander put in.

"But was going to get resurrected," said Willow. "Must have been resurrected! I remember — when I visited Elizabeth in prison, right at the end, she seemed really fixated on Buffy. How great other-her's life was. How other-her was free and happy, with… a kid."

Willow looked back at Seo.

Intrigued.

"This is the kid," Xander realized.

"This is the kid," Willow confirmed. She wheeled over to Seo, held out her hand. "Willow Rosenberg," she introduced. "Witch, world-saver, and a friend of the Doctor's — if you know him."

Seo shook it. Not sure what else to do.

"That's Xander," said Willow, nodding at him. "Also a friend of the Doctor's. Good with the fighting. Not so good with the magic."

Xander stepped up behind Willow, protectively.

"And I think we're all heading to the same place," Willow provided. "The ruins of Sunnydale. To confront Elizabeth."

"You can't save her, Will," said Xander, in a quiet but stern voice.

Willow didn't answer.

"The Doctor trusted us to stop her," said Xander. "It's our duty."

"He'd never have wanted her dead," Willow hissed. "His latest persona's… more… warlike, yeah. But he's still not some cold-blooded killer! He'd never want us to…!"

"What choice do we have?" Xander demanded. "Look at what she's done, Will! Look what's happened to the world — and she doesn't care! Not if it ensures her own freedom." Shook his head. "No. We should have done this a long time ago."

"What happened?" Seo insisted. "What's going on with the world? What's outside?"

Willow and Xander were quiet for a long time.

Then Willow sighed, and nodded at Xander, who gathered up weapons. She waved her hand, and the barrier across the door disappeared. Then wheeled her chair over to the doorway.

"I'll show you," Willow said.