Maybe things would get better, Xander thought to himself as he got up for the fifth time that night. Ever since the incident with Kendra, he's been unable to sleep. Constant nightmares keeping him awake. Nightmares where he was the killer, he was the one who opened the Hellmouth. He kept telling himself that that's all they were, dreams, nightmares. It didn't make them any easier though.

Ever since that night he'd been working on controlling his powers more, unlocking more of ION's potential. Constructs came easy to him now, lifelike and conscious. He could create anything he wanted, anything he imagined, but it wasn't like he fantasized about, he couldn't just lie in bed with his personal harem. He knew they were constructs, that they were empty. He'd tried it but couldn't go through with it.

Flicking the light on he looked around his room, he could hear his mom and dad arguing about something upstairs, nothing new there then. Something about his uncle Jack in Colorado, a swift burst of concentration and the sound stopped coming through the door. Using his power's like that came like second nature to him now, if he could think about doing something, he could do it, and that's what worried him. Throwing on a pair of jeans and a loose shirt he walked out of the house quietly, maybe a quick patrol would wear him out a bit.
Funny, out of all his powers, all his abilities he had now, flight was still the best one. It made him feel free, like he could be anywhere, do anything, but tonight he didn't want to feel free. Tonight he didn't feel like he should be up there, flying with the angels. Tonight he felt heavy as lead.

The patrol was uneventful, a few vampires. Nothing major, not enough to wear him out. That was the worst part, ever since he came into possession of ION's powers. He didn't know if it was the nightmares or his growing powers that kept him from sleeping, it used to be an Olympic level event for him, now he was lucky to get two or three hours of sleep a night. That worried him more than anything else, if he didn't need sleep was he even human anymore, and if he wasn't human, what was he? Laughing to himself he realized something, he maybe godlike but he didn't have all the answers, that made him feel better, not much, but a little. Sometimes however, a little is enough.

The next day at school.

He'd gone home after patrol; nothing major had been going on. It was quiet, as if the demons knew something that he didn't. They were scared, and this time not of him. As he walked to school he let his thoughts drift, he could 'feel' what people were feeling all around him. Shaking his head he quickly closed it down, that was a little too much like invading people's minds. Up ahead he could see a woman pushing a pram down the pavement, he didn't have to look closely to see the pram had a broken wheel. The woman didn't know yet, as she saw someone she knew she sped up, pushing the pram faster. He did it without even thinking, he could 'see' what was going to happen. The wheel would come off and the pram would fall to the side, the baby inside would tumble out onto the road. She would pick him up and rush the infant to hospital; the fall wouldn't be fatal or anything but the woman would be scared of the same thing happening again and would have nightmares for weeks.
He stopped it, fixed the pram wheel with a thought. It felt good, she never knew what happened. He watched as she pushed the pram over the road and met up with her friend, she would never know what had happened.
Smiling to himself he carried on to school with a smile on his face, maybe helping Buffy was important but the little things are important as well. They were the things that made life worth living.

As he walked through the school yard he could see willow talking to someone, he'd seen him about before. He was fiddling with a guitar and talking to her in a cool way; she was blushing and babbling a bit. Some things never changed, he thought to himself as he walked into the school. And that's just fine with me.

Walking through the entrance he saw Cordelia opening her locker, she looked nice today. Then again when doesn't she look nice? Smiling to himself he walked on by, ignoring the look's he was receiving from people. He'd felt happy this morning, like a weight had been lifted from him. So to bring up his mood further he'd taken special effort in his clothes, some black jeans. A tight black t-shirt with a green logo on the front, topped off with the brightest green shirt he owned. The ensemble looked hideous, but it made him feel better about himself.

"Ahh, good morning. Everything in order for the party?" Giles asked as he came round the corner with a pile of papers.

"Absolutely, everything good on you end? I did a quick patrol last night, very quiet out there." Looking round to make sure Buffy was nowhere in sight first before continuing. "We've got cake, chips and dips, which by the way Cordelia is bringing. Weirdness abounds for that one."

"Yes well... here comes Buffy, remember discretion is the better part of valor."

"Yeah I got it G-man, keep it quiet."

"Buffy, how you doing? Look a little tired." Sitting down I could see she was more than a little tired; I'd be willing to bet she got as much sleep as I did last night, maybe less.

"Thanks Xander, just what every girl wants to hear." She bit back.

"Whoa, chill. Was just saying you look a little worn around the edges." Again, engaging mouth before brain.

"Stop digging Xander, you're in a big enough hole as it is." Ms Calendar smiled at me as she sat down next to Giles.

"Ok, sorry." Smiling back I flashed my eyes quickly, transferring a bit of energy to Buffy. I could see it worked immediately as he eyes brightened and she sat up a bit straighter. "Better?" I asked seeing a look of confusion pass her face.

"Yeah, what was that?"

"Just gave you a bit of energy, you looked like you needed it more than me." Smiling across the table I was rewarded by a thousand megawatt smile. Yeah, the little things are definitely worthwhile.

"Sorry Giles, wiggy dreams last night. I had a dream that Drusilla killed Angel, right in front of me. It just really freaked me out." The look of worry came back over her face.

"And you feel it was more of a portent?" Giles asked, putting his papers on the table and going into full watcher mode.

"Yeah, I don't want to make a fuss but it just seemed too real. Not a normal dream at all, I barely got any sleep after that." Buffy continued. She looked really worried about Angel; I could see it in her eyes. I could never approve of angel, but if he made Buffy happy then that was that.

"You want me to swing by his place later Buff? Make sure he's ok?"

"No thanks Xander, after your reaction the last time you two were together. I don't want you two in the same room, ever!" The remark was said with a smile but it still bit into me, the last time me and angel were together. The last time I saw him, over Kendra's body. "Sorry Xan, I didn't mean it like that."

"I know Buff, it just hurts."

"Xander, can I talk to you for a second?" Jenny asked standing up.

"Sure Ms C," standing up and walking away from the table she ducked into an empty classroom and closed the door after me. "What's up?"

"I've been trying to research Kryptonions and their powers, weaknesses, anything I can. I thought maybe you would be able to shed some light on my new powers."

"Yeah sure, well you're a typical kryptonion from what I can see of your energy. So I'm assuming you have all the typical powers? I mean I've seen you use flight and super speed, you should also have x-ray vision, heat vision, super hearing and pretty much indestructible skin."

"Yeah, those I've worked out. What about weaknesses though? I know about kryptonite but that doesn't exist here, or I don't think it does. Anything else I should be worried about?" She sat down on the desk smiling at me, geek boy comes through again.

"Magic."

"Magic?" she repeats.

"Yeah, Kryptonions are vulnerable to magic and the supernatural. Magic can affect superman just like any normal human." I can see a note of worry in her face. "Don't worry, just because magic can affect you it doesn't mean it can take away your powers. I can see them; they're tied into your DNA now." Looking closely as her I can see the DNA; I can see it soaking up energy from the sun. It's amazing to watch; I can count the stars in the sky at a glance or count the atoms on the head of a pin. Somehow it never gets old.

"So magic can affect me but not strip my powers? What about vampires?" She said, breathing a sigh of relief.

"Vampires?" I'm confused here.

"Yeah, you said my skin was indestructible. What about vampires? Can they bite me? Turn me?"

"Uhh, I don't know. They are supernatural so they can hurt you, but you're powered by sunlight now. The sun's energy is burning through your blood, it's nice to watch but I couldn't tell you how it would affect a vampire. Maybe if we could test it somehow, may I?"

"May you what?" now she looks even more nervous.

"Take some blood, I'll grab a vamp tonight and pour the blood down his throat, see what happens." Seems like a good idea to me.

"One small problem, how do you take the blood? I can't get injections or anything like that anymore." She smiled, god she had a smile that would give Buffy a run for her money.

"Not a problem." A grin back flashing my eyes again and teleporting a portion of her blood into a jar on the table.

"How?" she started looking at the blood.

"Don't worry, I only took a bit. Just teleported it out of your system." I close my eyes a teleport the jar home, I'll deal with it later. "It's no big, easy to do. Just takes a bit of concentration, it's getting easier though. Look I've got to run, if you have any more questions about being a kryptonion... your coming to Buffy's party right?"

"Yeah." She looks at me apprehensively.

"Well I'll bring round a few of my superman comics. If you have a read through them it should give you a pretty good idea of what you're capable of."

"Thanks Xander that would help." She flashes me another one of her killer smiles. If Giles keeps getting smiles like that I don't know how he ever gets any work done.

"Oh, one more thing Xander."

"Sure." I say taking a mouth full of coke.

"Sex." She says grinning at my response.

I swear she timed that; it must be a woman thing. First Joyce and now Jenny. I spray my coke all over the desk and wall, covering jenny's skirt in the process. "Sex? Sorry, let me get that." A quick flash of green light and all the sprayed coke disappears.

"Yeah... can I... have it?" She manages to get out in-between laughing.

"Uh, I don't know. Your... you know... muscles... kryptonion now so... I just don't know jenny, why do you ask?" I splutter out, god. A woman asking me about sex, the world must have gone mad.

"Giles." She replied softly.

"Giles?" I query before the image hit's my mind. "Ahh! No, you and Giles, NO!"

"Sorry." She smiles, and the smile says she is completely without remorse. "Come on, I've got to get to class, and so do you."

"I'm never going to get that image out of my head now. You've ruined me jenny, ruined me." I throw my hands up in the air theatrically, truth be told it wasn't that bad an image, as long as I cut Giles out of the equation and just kept jenny. That was definitely a keeper.

"Come on." Opening the door she walks over to the table where Buffy and Giles and still talking about her dream, something about angel and a claddagh ring. Just then the bell goes for class and Jenny and Giles leave the table, leaving me and Buffy to get to class.

The rest of the day passed pretty uneventfully, math followed by art. Which I was still surprisingly good at. Then geography, before lunch. Willow was hyped up about something, something about her and Oz, she'd got a date.
Willow had a date, Giles had a date, and Buffy had a date. I was the only one dateless. Oh this party was going to be fun. The rest of the day I tried racking my brain to figure out how I could get a date for Buffy's party, Cordelia? She was coming; maybe she would... stop that train of thought right now. It's Cordelia, she would never... I would never... badness right there.

Walking through the school after fifth period I heard shouting coming from Ms C's classroom, classes were over for the day, there shouldn't be anyone there.

"I'm not Janna anymore, I can't be Janna anymore." I could tell that was Jenny's voice, but who was Janna? And who was she yelling to.

"You are Janna of the Kalderesh, nothing could change that."

"Something's happened Uncle Janos, I am not the same as I was, something..."

"I care not what has happened, the elder woman is saying something is wrong, his pain is lessening, what has happened Janna?" the voice was getting more and more agitated, I didn't want to invade Ms C's privacy but I didn't want her to get hurt, glancing around me to make sure I was alone I quickly decided to try something out. I'd tried this a few times, it wasn't invisibility, but it worked for me. I sort of masked the area of where I was with space from where I wasn't. It's complicated, but it was easy for me and it was easier than changing all the bits of my body into transparent bits. This was it was more like I wasn't there, but I was. Like I said, it's complicated.

Masking myself, I quickly 'flashed' into the room and saw Jenny talking animatedly to a man who was looming over her. He was dressed weird, old style shirt with a floppy brown hat and a brown jacket. He looked like a reject from the sixties.

"I said his pain was lessening Janna, do you not care about your people anymore? Your family? Vengeance? Do these things mean nothing to you anymore? You are Janna Kalderesh, of the Kalderesh tribe. Vengeance is all that matters."

"I am not Janna anymore, Uncle Janos. I can't tell you what has changed but I am not that person anymore." she was defending herself to this man without telling him anything, whoever he was he obviously wasn't someone that she trusted with her secret, even though he claimed to be family.

"You are Kalderesh, nothing can change that. Now what has changed?"

"There is a girl, alright? But I promise you, Angel still suffers." She was getting angry; I could see the red burning in her eyes as the energy built up inside her. I didn't want to step in but I couldn't just stand by and watch as she hurt someone like that, she didn't have the control. If she hurt someone like I did to Kendra... she would never get over it.

"A girl? How could you let this happen?" he raised his hand ready to backhand her across the face. Forget what I said earlier, if this guy hit's here then all bets are off. If he so much as lays a hand on her I'll feed him his lunch, his friend's lunches and all their friends' lunches. I could kill this guy without breaking a sweat, mind you so could Jenny now. I watched as she just stood there and waited for him to hit her. He never did.

"He makes amends for his evil uncle Janos, he even saved my life." She was trying to calm him down, I didn't know if it was working but he lowered his hand.

"So you forget all about vengeance? You just forget that he destroyed the most beloved daughter of your tribe? Vengeance demands his pain be eternal, as ours is. If this girl gives him one minutes of happiness, it is one minute too much."

"I'm sorry, I thought..."

"You though what? That you are Jenny Calendar now? You are Janna, of the Kalderesh people, a gypsy." He was getting agitated again, a gypsy? Ms C was a Gypsy? We had a lot of to talk about than I thought.

"I know, but something has happened. I am not her anymore, I'm not Jenny but I am not Janna anymore."

"What? What has happened that could take away your loyalty to your clan?"

"... I can't tell you Janos, I... I just can't." She sat down on the desk dejectedly.

"You are Janna, and it ends now. The girl, do what you must, but end it now. You will take her from him. Angel must suffer, kill the girl if you must, but take her from him." Alright that's it; he's talking about killing Buffy now. This ends now.

"You kill Buffy and I will end you, I could do it now." I phase back into the real world, dropping the mask around me and letting the power shine through my body. "You so much as even touch Buffy and I will kill you. I will kill you and everyone you've ever met."

"Xander!" Jenny looks over at me surprised.

"Not now Jenny, who is this? Who would talk about killing Buffy?"

"I am Janos, leader of the Kalderesh tribe." He replied with a snarl in his voice, I could almost hear the distain dripping of his words.

"Well, Janos. Here's what you are going to do, you're going to go back to wherever you came from and never come back again. If I even see you in the street of Sunnydale again I will kill you."

"And who are you to get in my way? Of the way of vengeance?" again with the distain, man this guy should really back off before I do something I'll regret.

"Vengeance? Please. You think you have power? You think you and your petty magick's could stop me?" I saw his stop for a second. I could see the magick's running through his body, I see them in Jenny, in Willow and Giles. It's not hard to see them once you know what you are looking for. I could see him focusing the power into his hands; he was ready to throw something at me. "You think that pathetic show of power is enough to stop me?"

"Xander, don't!" Jenny said trying to get in the way before she was pushed aside by Janos, she fell to the floor. From that I could see she didn't have control of her body yet, she was a kryptonion. He shouldn't have been able to push her over; he shouldn't have been able to even move her.

"Janos, you think you know power? You haven't got an idea of what you're dealing with here. I could erase you from time with a thought; burn you to ashes on the spot. You want to take a shot here I am, do your worst." I let him think he was in control, I watched as he screamed an incantation at me and a fireball appeared in his hand. I watched as he flung the fireball at me and it impacted on my chest. He threw another and another; if I was human he would have burnt me to ashes. I saw the horrified look on Jenny's face and decided to put a stop to this facade.

Holding out my hand I concentrated and grabbed the fireball and held it there, a quick glance over his body and I neutralized the threat. No more magic for him, I effectively castrated him. He would never say another magical word, never use magic again.

"You think this is power?" I said waving the fireball in front of his face, seeing the surprise as he tried to sy the incantation again and the words just failed in his mouth. "This..." I extinguish the fireball. "This is nothing. I've just changed you; you will never use magic again. You will never hurt anyone again. You pick up a magical tome it will burn your hands, you try and say an incantation it will fail in your throat, hell you try and throw and brick at someone and I'll be there with my foot on your back. You think you know power?" I allow the power to really shine through me, letting my entire body flash into emerald flames. "You have no idea what you're dealing with here. Now if I ever see you in Sunnydale again, I will kill you." With that said, I teleport him away.

"Xander, what did you do to him?" Jenny asks standing up.

"I sent him home; back to where ever he thinks is home. Now what was all this about you being a gypsy?" extinguishing the flames I let the power fall back into the background.

"I don't want to talk about it Xander." She walked back to her desk and looked at her watch. "We've got to be ready for Buffy's party."

"It can wait, Jenny I need answers. What were you talking about Angel for? What is this vengeance?"

"Not now Xander, I'll talk. I promise but not now." She had a pleading look in her eye; she'd been through a lot in the last few days so I decided to let it slide.

"Not now, but I'll hold you to that. And believe me if you do anything to hurt Buffy I will come after you as well. You may be kryptonion but I can still hurt you. If you hurt Buffy I will retaliate."

"Xander, I promise. I would never hurt Buffy, any of you. I need you to trust me, please?"

"Jenny, I'm putting a lot of trust in you here. Giles cares for you, more than he knows. I don't want to see him get hurt, if you're not going to tell me, at least tell him." With that, I just teleport myself back to my bedroom. She needed time to think, she's a good person. I can see it; I just hope she makes the right choice.

I was lying on my bed reading random comics, some old stuff from the 'Zero Hour' set. It was strange, I was reading about a guy whose power's I have. It felt comforting somehow, knowing that however things would turn out he was still around somewhere, in another dimension. Still fighting evil. I let me brain drift, thinking about what he was doing right now. Was he thinking about me? Did he even know I exist? Maybe I could go and visit him sometime, when I got full control of my powers. I knew I could control time, even manipulate it to some degree but it took all my concentration to do it. Someday, someday I would visit him. See what he could teach me, maybe I could even teach him something by then. I was lying there, just drifting when I felt something pull me. It was strange like the pull was coming from far away, but close to home. It felt like something I had done was wrong, but right at the same time. Shaking my head I tried to clear the thought, but it remained. Pushing it to the back of my head I decided to start getting ready for patrol. Maybe it would help clear my head if I did something good for someone; walking upstairs I grabbed a carton of OJ out of the fridge and was about to head out the door when I heard the shout.

"Don't you ever touch me woman, I gave you everything." The shout was followed by a slapping noise then a crash. Then I could hear crying.

"Mom, are you ok?" I rushed into the living room and saw my dad standing over mom; blood was streaking down her chin and onto the floor. He had blood on his hand, her blood. Standing up I faced him. "You hit her."

"Yeah, so what? What are you going to do about it? You're worthless, just like your mother." I couldn't believe it. I'd always been afraid of this man before, this small insignificant man. He'd kept me afraid even after I had my powers, why? Pulling back my fist I threw a punch directly at his face. I'd show him, worthless. Hah. I could kill him with both hands tied behind my back.

The punch never connected, he grabbed my arm and threw me into a wall.

"Look at you, you punch like a girl. Stand up and hit me like you mean it. Be a man for once in your life, instead of being that worthless piece of crap." He was drunk; I could see the alcohol streaming through his system.

"Dad." I put as much warning as I could into that one word, he just came over and kicked me in the ribs.

"I said stand up. Be a man for once, I thought I'd raised you better than this. Thought maybe you could become a man, turns out your just like him." Him? Him who? "He let his own son die, your brother. Killed by his own gun, what sort of a father is that? He couldn't take it after that so he gave you to us. Moved away, I thought maybe you'd have some fire, some strength in that body. Turns out your just like him." My what? I've never had a brother. What's he talking about?

"Tony, no!" Mom screamed from the floor.

"What? He needs to know. You were never my son; she's not your mother. I could never have a son as worthless as you." With that I just saw red.

"Who am I then?" I asked standing up to face him. "Who's my dad?"

"You? You're nobody. Your 'father'," again I could hear the distain in his words, the hate that filled his body. "Is your uncle Jack. He let his own son shoot himself with his own gun, how pathetic is that? He couldn't take it after that, gave you to us to raise, and moved off to Colorado."

Tony's not my father? This day might have just got better. I'd never met my uncle Jack; he was working in the air force, doing something or other. I looked my 'dad' over, checking his DNA against mine. He was telling the truth, we weren't related at all.

"But..." I stated out just receive another kick in the ribs.

"Get out of here, now! You're not my son, no matter what that scrap of paper called a birth certificate says. Might as well wipe your ass on it for all the good it will do ya. Go on, get out of this house. I never want to see you again."

He let me stand up and walk away; I was in too much shock to do anything else. I just walked downstairs and grabbed by jacket then walked out of the house. I can't believe it, I found out my dad's not my dad and got kicked out of home in the space of ten minutes. Where can I go? What could I do? Could Uncle Jack, no, Dad. Could he ever accept me? So many questions. Without even thinking I flashed into my work clothes and took off into the sky, flying faster and higher than I'd ever gone before. Soon I was in orbit, looking down on the planet. It looked so small, so peaceful from up here. I could see continents and oceans, everything.
It was so beautiful up here, it was quiet. No sound at all, I couldn't even hear my own breathing. Breathing? How am I breathing in space? Shocked I took a small intake of breath, nope. It worked. I'm breathing, how? Ignoring those questions I shoot back into the atmosphere and land in a cemetery in Sunnydale. Funny, flying always made me feel free. Now it just gave me more questions. Deciding to walk I started off towards the warehouse that we were holding Buffy's part at. I'd be early, so what?

I arrived just in time to see Buffy getting out of Ms C's car and heading over to a truck where vampires were loading some boxes on. Erring on the side of caution I just observed for a bit. I watched her kick the vampires around a bit before staking them. I watched on sneak off to the side with a box, figuring Buffy would be able to take care of the rest I just took off after the straggler. Boy was I surprised when I rounded a corner to see someone stake him.

"Damn, that was easy." The woman said, I say woman. She can't have been older that Buffy, maybe a few years younger.

"Uh, hi?" eloquent as always.

"Hi stud, you chasing this guy?" I watch as she walks over to me, her hips swaying and promising sexy goodness beneath those clothes.

"Uh, yeah. Vampire, but you already knew that." Green energy, violent, volatile. Yep we got ourselves another slayer here. "Slayer, right?" I take a leap of faith.

"Faith, slayer." She points at the pile of ash on the floor. "Slayee."

"Cool, when you get into town? 'Cause we already got a vampire slayer, if fact you're our third." I look down and see the box lying at her feet, walking over I pick it up noticing the cautionary look she was giving me.

"Third? Only one, that's the spiel my watcher gave me before sending me to this hellhole."

I let out a quick laugh before looking at her again, she was pretty. No not pretty, sexy. There are two types of women in the world, or that's what da... tony always told me. The pretty ones and the sexy ones, you can't be both. Faith was definitely a sexy one. "Hellmouth, not hellhole. And yeah we got a slayer already, just on my way to meet her. Wanna join us?"

"Sure, sounds cool." She thrust her stake down into her jacket pocket and walked over to me running her hands down my chest. "Hmmm slay like that, always leaves me hungry."

"Eep, hungry, Check. Well we're having a party tonight so they'll be snackage there." Jesus, I could have sworn there was a spark that ran between us when she touched my chest. I need a cold shower, definitely a cold shower after the party. Of course first I have to find somewhere to live.

"Not that kind of hungry boytoy." She purred at me. Ok, long cold shower.

"Well... the... the party's this way. Come on we don't want to be late."

As we turn the corner I see Buffy throwing a vampire through a window into the warehouse. Shit, there goes the surprise. "Come on." I take off running towards the fighting, jumping through the window followed by faith. Just in time to watch Buffy stake the vampire in front of the gang, and Oz. That's a new one.

"Surprise!" Cordelia shouts out, popping out from behind the counter. Causing everyone in the room to stop and look at her. Seriously, you could have heard a pin drop.

"That's pretty much what I was thinking." Oz replied, damn that guys cool.

"Buffy are you ok?" Angel asks, walking over to her and holding her arm.

"Hey buff, nice work there. Improvising with drum stick, Cool. Oh by the way, everyone this is Faith. Kendra's replacement." I put as much emphasis on replacement as I can, with Oz here I don't want to be the one to let the cat out of the bag. But seeing as he just watched Buffy stake a vampire I think it's pretty much out and scampering.

"Faith, right. Hello, I'm Mr. Giles. Buffy's watcher." Giles comes over, cleaning his glasses for the fifth time in as many minutes.

"Right, watcher. Hi." Faith just steps up to Giles and looks him up and down.

"Oh, hay. Giles we found this, the vamp was trying to sneak away with it. Faith dusted him, thought it might be of interest." I walk over and dump the box on the table, moving away to let Buffy and Giles have a closer look.

"Well happy birthday." Cordelia says walking over; she looks a bit pissed off. I can tell.

"You guys did all this for me?" Buffy just asks, smiling.

"Are you ok?" Willow asks Oz, walking over to him. He looked cool, as if nothing had changed.

"Yeah... hey did everyone just see that guy turn to dust?" Yeah, he'll be fine.

"Yeah, vampires are real. Lot of them live in Sunnydale, I'd give you the speech but G-man it was better at it than me." I'll let Willow fill him in; personally I'd rather take care of this box. Whatever's inside is giving off weird energy readings, doesn't look nice from where I'm standing.

"I know it's hard to take in at first..." Willow starts, moving over to him.

"Actually, it explains a lot." Came him reply, damn that guys cool.

"Hey, guys. What's with the box? What is it?" Buffy asks, looking at the box intently.

"Dunno, but it's giving off weird energy spikes. Be careful Buffy." The box it definitely freaking me out, there's something about it that's setting me off. Can't quite put my finger on it.

"I can't see through it either." Jenny adds, walking into the room. It's opaque, like lead or something.

"Well, Giles?" Buffy asks, turning to her watcher hopefully.

"I don't know... can... can it be opened?"

"Yeah, this looks like a catch right here." Buffy flips open the catch; me and Giles pull the box lid open. Inside was a severed arm, leather gauntlets, chainmail and all. It looked, just like that. A severed arm for a few seconds then it flew up out of the box and started choking Buffy.

"Buffy!" Jenny shouted, blurring over faster than I could follow she ripped the hand from Buffy's neck and threw it back in the box. Angel then slammed the box shut before I threw a shield around it to stop it getting out again.

"Good heavens, Buffy are you alright?" Giles asks as he rushes over to Buffy's side.

"Man, that thing had major grip. Thanks Ms C." Buffy squeaked out, massaging her throat with her hand.

"What was that?" Willow was the first one to ask.

"It looked like an arm." Oz just replied. Cool as ever, does anything bother this guy? Filing away that question for later I started looking at the box, seeing if I could see any marking or anything to trace where it came from.

"It can't be, she wouldn't..." Angel just said, looking at the box now with worry. He was obviously scared of whatever was inside this thing, something that scared vampires, like that's not a first.

"That's freaky. Damn, your birthdays always like this?" Faith asked, coming over beside me to check out the box.

"Well it's safe now Giles, nothing's getting through that shield." I rap my knuckles on the shield to show him what I meant, solid as steel.

"Cool trick man, how'd you do that? And you? One second you're by the door, the next your over there pulling the arm off her neck. Wicked fast moves girl." Faith wandered over to the counter ad hopped up on it, fetching a pack on smokes out of her pocket and lighting up.

"Uh... think we've got a bit of explaining to do. To Oz as well as Faith." Damn, this could get complicated.

"Hey it's cool. I can wait." Faith said, taking a pull of her cigarette and letting the smoke curl out from her lips. Oh yeah, definitely need a cold shower after thinking about those lips.

"I'm cool." Came the reply from Oz. "Looks cool though, bright green. Hey Green Lantern?" he asks, looking at me.

"Kinda, heard of ION?" let's see how much this guy knows.

"Whoa... cool." He just walks over and gets a hand full of nacho's and starts munching. Yeah this guy knows and he's cool with it, he must be unflappable.

"Angel? What is it?" Buffy asks, trying to get us back on topic.

"It's a legend, before my time. Of a demon brought forth to cleanse the world of humanity, to separate the good from the wicked, burn the good from the inside... They called him the Judge."

"The Judge? This is him?" Giles looked at the box with apprehension. He knew what was going on here.

"Not all of him." Angel deadpanned.

"Um, how bad is he?" Buffy asked, standing up from her seat on the stage.

"He couldn't be killed... an army was sent against him, most of them died. Finally they were able to dismember him, but not kill him." Giles explained, never taking his eye off the box.

"The pieces were scattered, thrown to the corners of the earth." Angel said, sitting down next to Buffy.

"So these pieces are being brought here?" Jenny asked.

"By Drusilla, the vamps outside are Spike's men." Buffy stood up, pulling her stake out.

"She's crazy enough to do it. Maybe even pull it off."

"Hey no prop, I'll just flash this thing into the sun and be done with it." Ginning I flashed into my work suit, noticing the reaction I got from Faith and Oz.

"No, we have to find out what Drusilla's plan is. If we destroy the judge now she could bring something worse in." Giles said stepping in front of me.

"Worse than this guy? He burns out the good, how much worse can you get?" I ask, knowing full well I won't like the answer.

"Well there are stories of beings so terrible they walked between the stars like gods, the books call them The Goold. They were demons that inhabited humans, much like vampires, but they believed themselves to be gods. The last record we have of them was over three thousand years ago in Egypt, when a rebellion started by the immortals drove them from this world through a portal of sorts, but just because we don't have record of them doesn't mean they're not here anymore." Giles started cleaning his glasses.

"Wow, way to bring down a party jeeves." Faith said, jumping off the counter with a grin.

"Angel, you've got to get this thing out of here. You're the only one that can protect it." Jenny walked over to him.

"Whoa... what about me? Or Buffy?" Walking over I grab the box, "I could have this thing in orbit before anyone blinks."

"Xander, we need you here to protect Buffy incase anything goes wrong. Angel can take the box somewhere remote, besides we don't know what would happen if that thing touches you. It burns out the good remember? You have a lot of good energy inside you, would that feed it? Make it stronger?"

"Jenny makes a good point Xander; this thing could feed of your energy, killing you." Giles said, grabbing my wrist and moving it away from the box. Damn I hadn't thought about that, if this thing feeds on energy then I could have provided it with a permanent all you can eat.

"Ok, fine. Deadboy get's the box as far away from here as possible. I'll stay here to keep watch, Willow; you take Oz home and explain things. I need to have a little chat with Jenny."

"Ok, Angel. Grab the box; we'll get it to the harbor to make sure nothing happens." Angel grabs the box and he and Buffy leave, arm in arm.

"Hey, what am I supposed to do? Slayer here." Faith grins and she opens a beer from behind the counter.

"Yes well, do you have somewhere to stay?" Giles asks looking at her softly.

"Sure, motel out of town."

"Well I suggest you go back and rest. If you swing by the high school tomorrow I'll see about your training."

"Cool, sounds good to me. See ya around boytoy."

"Actually, Xander? If you wouldn't mind walking Faith home. I would like to spend some time with Jenny alone, if you don't mind?"

"Sure thing G-man. Jenny, we can have our chat later ok?"

"Ok Xander, did you bring..." Jenny asks, even now she can't meet my look.

"Sure, they're in my bag." Fishing out the comics from my bag I lay them on the counter. "When you're done with them give them to Giles, I'm sure he'd like to know exactly what your capable of." I leave the question hanging in the air, from the look on Jenny's face I'm sure she got the double meaning of the words. "Faith, you ready?"

"Born ready." She grins and walks out the door, shaking my head I follow. This one's going to be fun, I can tell.

"So how'd you get the funky powers?" she asks as we walk along the road.

"Chaos mage, on Halloween. He did some mumbo jumbo on the costumes. Me and Cs C kept our power's for some reason." I try and explain quickly.

"So what? You can do everything that your costume could?"

"Pretty much, I'm still learning but I've got the gist of it so far. Flying, teleportation, energy constructs, I'm sure there are more powers but I'm taking it slow. Don't want to do anything too drastic." I watch her for her reaction; see what she thinks of it.

"Whoa... hold up there boytoy... flying? You can fly? Damn, you got wicked cool powers." She's excited by that, can't say I blame her. Flight is the best ability I've got.

"Wanna go for a spin?"

"Now? Damn, take me to heaven." She grins.

"Hold on." I quickly create a bubble around us with a wave of my hand, then take off to the skies. She's amazed at first, looking around at everything. Then she looks down and see's the ground falling away from her, this gets the biggest reaction of all. She jumps over to me and holds on with a death grip. "Whoa, ease up on the slayer strength there. Look, the bubbles solid, you're not going to fall." I smile across at her; I can see the innocence in her eyes. The tough girl act she puts on, it falls away as I look down into her eyes. "See, I came up here earlier tonight." I dissipate the bubble, letting a protective field surround me and her. If I leave it there, close to the skin we won't need a bubble.

"Whoa..." she looks out and I follow her gaze. I can see the moon, it's so close I feel like I can reach out and touch it. The stars, there's so many of them, without the atmosphere to block the light I can see so much. It's beautiful.

"Yeah, it's perfect." I look down at her again. Her hair looks like it's flowing in the wind; I know that's not possible because there is no wind here. No air, no gravity. It must just be a trick of some kind. She looks up at me right into my eyes, her eyes... they're perfect. Soft brown with a fleck of gold, perfect just like her. Looking over I can see the sun just coming out from behind the earth's shadow. "Look." I point over to it and watch her gaze follow mine. I move around to beside her so I can watch it with her. When the sun is just peaking over the earth I look down. She's not watching the 'sunrise', she's watching me. Moving my head down I kiss her softly, I know it's not skin meeting skin because I put the shields there, but it's perfect.

"Wow." She just lets out in a sigh.

"Wow." I echo with a grin. "You know we're probably the first people to do this." That caused a smile to break out on her face. "Come on, let's get back down there." I wave my hand causing the bubble to come back into existence around us, and then take us back down to Sunnydale. Landing in a quiet spot behind the school.

She just looks up at me and kisses me again, it's perfect again. I was always told it's not the first kiss that you have to worry about. It's the second one. The one where you know what you're doing, the second one is the one that means something.

"Thank you." She says before running off into the shadows. I'm too stunned to do anything but watch her go. A beautiful sexy woman kisses me and then thanks me for it, the world is going crazy. Smiling to myself I start walking around the school, back to the side door to the library. It might not be home but I can get comfy there, I'll find something more tomorrow.

Walking in the door I see Willow, Giles and Buffy sat by the table.

"What is it guys? What's happened?"

"Vampires, they got the box." Buffy says standing up.

"What can I do?" there's something not right, something in the air.

"Angel's coming back, he needed to get changed. I had some spare clothes here." Buffy explains, pulling on her hair and letting water drip from it.

"Spare clothes? Huh?" as usual I'm eloquent as ever.

"We got wet." Was the explanation.

"Ok then, research? Find out how to stop the judge and then do it." Seems simple enough.

"No, this book says 'no weapon forged by man can hurt him', as such we're looking into magick's and other options. Xander, can you go and get Faith again. I think we may need her help before the night is out."

"Sure thing Giles." Flashing back into my work clothes, I walk back out the door and take off again.

I was flying over Sunnydale towards to motel Faith said she was staying at when I felt another pull, a warehouse over by the docks. Flying down I decide to take a look, landing I look though the window to see a big blue demon place his hand on a vampire, burning it to ash.

"Uh oh, not cool." I whisper to myself looking down. The judge looks right back up at me; his eyes feel like they're burning a hole in my soul.

"What is it?" Spike asks swinging round to look up where the judge is looking. "Oh bloody hell, you!" he screams.

The judge just raises his hand towards me and let's loose a stream of energy, I try and duck, do something to avoid it but it strikes me right in the chest. It knocks me right through the wall behind me, and out into the river. The last thing I remember seeing is Buffy and Angel come in through a side door before I fall unconscious and the water claims me.

AN: Cool, first part of Innocence done, working on introducing another crossover here so watch out. Cookies all round if you can spot it. (Pretty obvious though, i'm not too good at being sneaky)