"So how did you all enjoy your first adventure in space?" Xander asked as the group settled down for a meal.

"Never again." Giles said softly. "I like to keep my feel firmly planted on the ground thank you."

Xander just chuckled under his breath. "What about you two?" pausing for a second he looked at Buffy and Faith, who were still holding their rings in the hand, almost afraid to put them on for the first time. "Girls?"

"What? Sorry." Buffy said, barely taking her eyes of the ring in her hand. "It's just... are you sure Xander?"

"Yeah Xan, I mean from the way Red and you describe these things... it just seems like a lot of power to just be handing over like that." Faith said, happy that he trusted her enough to give her the ring, but afraid of what it could do if it fell into the wrong hands.

"Look, I didn't give them to you so you could just hold them and stare at them. Put them on." Xander smiled, he remembered how he was at first when he was first accepting his powers.

"Will it hurt?" Buffy asked, unsure of what would happen.

"No, it will be perfectly fine." Xander reassured them as he watched them slowly slide the rings onto their fingers.

The change was immediate, there was a bright green flash then enveloped both girls and when it subsided they were sat there in tight green lantern uniforms with masks over their eyes.

"My god." Giles let out, causing Jenny to chuckle and Xander to smile.

"The uniform goes on and comes off at will, so all you have to do is want to change." Xander informed them, as Buffy stood up and looked in a mirror.

"Got to say Xander, I don't think green is really my colour." Buffy said with a grin as she traced the outline of her mask on her face.

"I think it looks wicked cool." Faith grinned doing a twirl. "Easier than changing clothes every day as well."

"It'll take a bit of getting used to." Xander said with a smile, remembering his first misadventures in creating constructs. "Why don't you try using the rings?"

"Using them for what?" Faith asked, not quite sure how to use them or how they worked.

"Imagine something, say a sword. Picture it in your mind and will it into existence." Xander explained, holding out his hand and creating a katana as an example.

"Ohh... right... hold on..." Buffy paused, closing her eyes and concentrating for a second before a shimmering green long sword appeared in her hand. "Wow... just... wow."

"Now you Faith," Xander smiled at Buffy and turned to Faith. She closed her eyes, concentrating before a sword appeared in her hand as well.

"That's it? All we have to do is imagine it and will it, and we have it?" Faith asked, almost amused at how simple it was.

"That's it, get rid of those and try something else." Xander smiled as the swords disappeared.

Faith was first, closing her eyes for a second before a longbow appeared in her hands complete with a holster full of arrows on her back.

"Nicely done faith, though you've got to remember you don't need the arrows as well, just 'will' a new one into your hand every time you shoot one off." Xander smiled, moving over so he could kiss her lightly.

Buffy just paused for a second before creating a large crossbow and smiling.

"So you've both got it, we'll have dinner and then we'll see about flying lessons." Xander grinned as Buffy went a little pale at the thought.

As the group sat down for their meal the conversation drifted off to different things, how Faith was going to adapt at school when they started next week, and how the existence of aliens was now a real fact for them. The meal was over quite quickly and Willow and Oz walked home, each treasuring their 'moon rock' they had personally picked up.

"You want to join us for some air time Jenny?" Xander asked with a smile as he led the girls into Giles' back garden.

"No thanks, you three have fun up there and be careful. I'll stay here with Giles, now he's all rested and better from that thing that Apophis shot at him." Jenny smiled, wrapping her arm around Giles causing him to smile back.

"Ok, if you're sure." Xander grinned as he walked out the door, followed by a nervous Faith and Buffy.

"Xan, you sure about this?" Faith asked, eying the ring on her hand wearily.

"Yeah, I mean, isn't this a bit 'too much' power?" Buffy asked, now thinking of what the rings could actually accomplish for her.

"That's what I thought, at least at first. General Hammond helped me come to a decision about it though." Xander explained, thinking back to the conversation that he and the General had had, sitting there in the space between galaxies.

"Decision about what?" Faith asked, curious as to what they had actually been talking about.

"About these..." Xander grinned, making the rings shine with power as the two slayers looked at them with awe. "And about what I should do."

"You're rebuilding The Corps?" Faith asked curiously. Ever since she had found out exactly what Xander was capable of she'd been reading up on the Green Lantern comics, hunting down every issue of the new stuff so she would have something to compare Xander to.

"No," Xander said simply as they walked into the middle of Giles' garden. "The Guardians were wrong, they were emotionless, all they cared about was keeping the universe neat and orderly, but if I did that, if we did that, nothing would ever change."

"So we're not going to be space cops then?" Buffy asked, Willow had given her a quick rundown of what a Green Lantern was, but it was different now, it wasn't some abstract idea in a comic, she was a Green Lantern now.

Xander just chuckled. "No, not space cops Buffy, if we're needed then yes, we'll step up, but if not then I say we leave it to my dad and his team." Xander smiled at the look of relief on both of the slayers faces, they both obviously knew what being a Green Lantern entailed, but were a little nervous about actually doing it themselves.

"So, just keep to the slaying and leave the aliens to the experts then?" Faith asked, simplifying it down as much as she could in her mind.

Xander nodded with a smile. "So, we going to talk all night or do you two want to actually feel the best part of being a Green Lantern?"

Buffy and Faith just looked at him with puzzled expressions, what could be better than what they'd seen already. Weapons that came to hand with a thought, that was every Slayers dream, not being vulnerable to being disarmed in a fight or running out of ammo, these were the things that were forefront in the slayers mind. Now, this simple ring on their fingers had made all that worry obsolete.

"Flying." Xander said with a grin as he started moving upwards slowly, stopping when he was about ten feet off the ground.

"We can fly?" Buffy asked, ignoring that grin that spread across her face.

"Without your help? On our own?" Faith finished off the questions that Buffy was thinking.

"Just think happy thoughts." Xander said before breaking out in a grin at the scowling faces that were now levelled his way. "Kidding, just think about it, imagine it happening and then will it to happen."

"Right... imagine..." Faith said, closing her eyes as a look of concentration spread across her face.

"Faith, if you close your eyes you'll end up flying into a tree." Xander said with a laugh.

"It's just weird ok, trying to picture yourself flying while seeing the world." Faith explained, trying to put into words how difficult it was to imagine herself doing something that she knew should be impossible, of course the limits of what was possible were being changed all the time around Xander and her new friends.

"I get it, I do." Xander said, coming back down and standing in between the two girls. "You're trying to do something that everything you've ever been told says you can't. I get it, but with these..." Xander paused, taking the girls hands and lifting them up so their rings were at eye level. "With these rings, anything is possible."

"Right... Up!" Buffy said, holding her hands together and closing her eyes briefly before remembering what Xander had said. "Up!" she said again, with more conviction this time.

Faith and Xander just stood back, smiling as they watched Buffy take to the air, slowly as first then gaining speed until she was about thirty feet of the ground. "Now you." Xander said, smiling at Faith.

"Here goes." Faith paused, shaking herself loose before glancing up and willing herself into the air.

Xander just smiled as he watched Faith move up so she was next to Buffy, both of them just hanging in the air. Smiling to himself he flew up next to them, smiling at them both. "Wasn't as hard as you thought then?"

"With all the impossible things we've seen you do?" Buffy said with a grin.

"Yeah, flying is easy compared to fighting a vamp or demon." Faith finished off as she looked around.

"Ready to go a bit higher?" Xander asked, grinning as he was rewarded with two thousand watt grins from the girls as they took off into the night sky.

"Guess so." Xander smiled, shaking his head as he watched the two green streaks of light vanish into the clouds. Glancing around to make sure no one saw them take off he quickly headed off to catch up with the girls, flying was definitely one of the best abilities he'd been given, and now he could share it with two of the women he was closest to.

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No one was around as the limousine pulled into the fast food restaurant across town, the three bright streaks of green in the night sky had disappeared into the clouds without anyone noticing them ever have been there.

The reflection of the strip lights reflected off the hood of the car as it drove up to the window ready to place the food order of the driver. Smiling his best smile the attendant turned away from his Physics books he'd been studying for college and swung round on his chair to receive the order.

"What can I get you?" He asked with his best smile as the window slowly moved down with a buzz of electric wiring in the expensive limo.

The man behind the counter didn't have time to back away; he barely had time to scream as the vampire lunged out of the window and pulled him into the limo with him. The driver started driving, ignoring the screams coming from the back seat as the vampire drained the body dry.

"Did you have to do that?" The second occupant of the limo asked, pausing as he looked at the face of the attendant, frozen in horror as it tumbled lifelessly to the floor of the limousine before coming to a rest against his legs.

"No," The first occupant said with a grin as he wiped some of the spilt blood off his black silk shirt. "But it was fun."

Laughter echoed the car for a moment before the door was opened and the dead body was flung out onto the ground, the limo didn't even stop before speeding away into the night.

"We're here for the slayer." The second vampire said.

"Think about the big picture, I mean this town... hello darkness; it has a death rate that makes DC look like nowheresville Kansas." The first vampire said, slipping back into his normal face.

"What about the Green Death?" The first vampire said, leaning forward as his scarred visage was highlighted by the streetlight as they stopped at a crossroads. "I'd heard stories of him Trick."

"Hasn't been seen in months, folks say that Angelus took care of him before the slayer got Angelus." Trick explained. "I've looked into it, nothing here but the slayer now."

"Good, and soon I will feast on her." The other vampire said with a snarl, sitting back into the shadows of the car as it moved off again.

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"So seniors now." Xander said with a grin as he walked into the library, followed by Buffy and Faith. "Hey guys."

"Hey, how was it last night?" Willow asked, wanting to know every detail about how the flight had gone.

"Oh amazing, boytoy had us doing flips and twirls up there for hours, I never wanted to come down." Faith confessed, it was the most amazing feeling in the world being up there, flying under your own power, being completely separated from the world around you by a soft green glow.

"Yeah, these things are pretty amazing." Buffy said, rubbing the ring on her finger with her other hand.

"I can well imagine." Giles said as he came in from his office, carrying some books and a white bowel. "Now we have to deal with Acathla, make sure he can never be awakened again."

"I'll deal with that Giles, I'll just send him where I put The Judge, should take care of that." Xander explained, concentrating for a second as he teleported the stone statue from its resting place in Angel's mansion to the center of the sun. "Done." He grinned at the slack jawed look Giles was giving him.

"May I ask where you sent him?" Giles asked, out of curiosity if nothing else.

"The sun." Xander said off hand as he flipped open his sketch book and started doodling, it was one of the things he truly loved now, over the holidays he hadn't had much time to himself but now he was back in school and everything was back to normal he planned on getting as much time in with his drawings as he could.

"You send him to the sun?" Giles asked, surprised when Xander just nodded at him. "Well, I suppose that would do the trick, even if it doesn't destroy him, which I doubt it will, he'll never be able to escape and no one will be able to release him. A good choice of imprisonment Xander."

"Huh?" Xander asked, not really paying attention.

"He said you did good Xan." Faith explained as she sat down next to him.

"Right, good." Xander smiled, kissing Faith before going back to his doodle.

"Well I've got go and see Snyder about my classes." Faith said, standing up.

"I'll join you, guy's a complete troll." Buffy said walking over to Faith, smiling as Faith grinned at her.

"I've got Art first thing, so I'm going to head off and get some supplies ready." Xander said with a smile as he shoved his sketchpad back into his rucksack and stood up.

"English." Buffy said with a frown.

"Me too." Faith said, glancing at her schedule that was pretty much identical to Buffy's.

"Well I'll see you two lovely ladies later then." Xander smiled, kissing Faith softly before jogging out of the library.

"Yes, well, make sure you get everything sorted Faith, we don't want Principal Snyder to give your back story too much notice." Giles explained, the Watchers council had begrudgingly created Faith a good back story about moving here from Boston, though Giles had yet to see it in person so he didn't know how much scrutiny it would withstand.

"Will do." Faith smiled as she and Buffy left the library.

"Hmmm, Sage..." Willow smiled, picking up a tied bunch of herbs off the desk from in front of Giles. "You know a sprinkling of this mixed with virgins' saliva..." She broke off, noticing the look that Giles was giving her. "Does absolutely nothing I would know about." She finished off lamely.

"These forces are not something one plays around with Willow, what have you been conjuring?" Giles asked, his voice showing concern under a stern tone.

"Nothing really, I mean, I did the spell to cure Angel because we didn't know Xander was going to take care of it... since then small things, floating feather, fire from ice... which next time I won't do on the bed spread." Willow trailed off; looking nervously at the look Giles was sending her way.

"Willow, these forces of nature are not to be trifled with, some of these spells can be particularly dangerous to the caster, there is no telling what an untrained witch like yourself could be capable of." Giles finished off, letting concern fill his voice.

"I know Giles; I just want to help out. I mean Xander's practically a God, and Buffy and Faith have their rings now, Oz is a werewolf but I'm..."

"You're just you, I understand Willow." Giles smiled, it was understandable, especially dealing with the amount of power that the two slayers and Xander had been flashing around. Willow just wanted to be able to do something to help. "Would it help if I walked you through some of the simpler incantations? Nothing dangerous, just to help you find a grounding to work from?"

"That would be great, I mean I don't want power like Xander or anything, I just want to be able to help out." Willow smiled, showing Giles that she was honest about just wanting to help with everything.

"And that's all well and good; I assume you have a free period right now?" Giles paused as Willow nodded to him. "Well then, you say you practiced basic gravity manipulation and transmutation of elements, would you care to show me?"

Willow grinned in earnest, not expecting such acceptance to come from Giles over this.

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"So, what's that plan for tonight then?" Xander asked as the group of scabies walked off of campus. The day had been pretty much the usual, the normal inductions for the new year with Faith catching up on her classes.

"Quick patrol then Bronze?" Willow asked, still on a high from her talk with Giles earlier.

"Sounds good, wanna take the sky or ground B?" Faith asked with a grin, it was nice being able to share the duties of slayer, now they didn't have to worry so much about being overcrowded with vamps it was easier for them to split up for the nights patrol, one taking the cemeteries and one talking the skies, looking out for demons or vamps from up there.

"I'll take the ground, haven't got the whole flying thing down yet." Buffy said with a grin, it still made her nervous when she was up there, no matter how exhilarating the experience, the slayer in her rebelled against her body doing something completely unnatural for it.

"Sounds good, I'll take the sky with Faith, You Willow and Oz can take the cemeteries." Xander smiled, it was nice paring like that and now Buffy had the ring with her, and was happy using it, he knew that Willow and Oz would be in safe hands with her, even if he was watching her ever step of the way.

"I've got to make an appearance at home first; my mom's still questioning why I'm always out so late, she thinks I've got a new boyfriend or something." Buffy explained with a grin. "So, I'll catch you all later, say about eight at Giles' place?"

"Sounds good B, see you then." Faith smiled as she watched her sister ring bearer walk off towards her home, it was nice having a group like this to rely on for things.

"I've got to get some practice in anyway; we're playing The Bronze on Friday." Oz noted before kissing Willow and heading off to his van.

"So Will's, what's put you in the happy bouncy mood today?" Xander asked, as the three started their walk away from the school.

"It's nothing." Willow smiled, brushing her hair behind her ear and turning away from Xander as Faith started snuggling into his arm.

"Yeah, come on Red, you've been glowing all day, did you and Oz finally make with the naughtiness?" Faith asked, making Willow blush so hard she would have made The Devil look pale.

"It's nothing really; Giles has just been helping me with some things." Willow tried to explain, not wanting to make her friends worry about what she was doing.

"Oh?" Xander raised his eyebrow in a good impression of Teal'c.

"He's just been helping me, since you're all godlike now," Willow paused, nodding at Xander. "And you and Buffy have those rings," Willow paused again as Faith rubbed the ring on her finger unconsciously. "I've just been feeling a bit left out that's all. So Giles is going to help me work on some spells."

"Magic Willow?" Xander said, concern evident in his voice.

"Go Red, working the voodoo." Faith grinned.

"Nothing major, just floating things and working with the elements at the moment, but Giles says I have good control." Willow beamed, remembering Giles' face when she first showed him how easy it was for her to turn ice into fire.

"Just be careful ok Willow? I know how dangerous that stuff can be, I don't want to see you get hurt by it." Xander said, not wanting to overstep the mark but wanting to keep Willow safe all the same.

"Giles will be with me all of the way Xander, he warned me about casting on my own and I won't. I'll only do it with his supervision." Willow beamed; it was nice that her friends had accepted what she was doing; now she just had to tell Oz about it.

The trio continued walking on, each deep in their own thoughts about the changes that the past year had brought on for them when Xander paused mid-step, nearly causing Faith to trip over him.

"What's wrong?" Faith asked, concerned as to why Xander had stopped suddenly.

"It's General Hammond, he's asking for me." Xander replied, a confused look on his face as he tried to concentrate on the conversation he was having with General Hammond and talking with Faith at the same time as he tried to start walking again.

"Is everything alright with your pops?" Faith asked, spotting an empty area by the track fields where they wouldn't be disturbed if Xander needed to leave suddenly.

"He says it's something to do with the Oversight committee and they're demanding to see me about the protection I've offered earth." Xander explained, following Faith over to the track field away from the dissipating students.

"Right, politics then." Faith said, shaking her head as Willow grinned.

"Looks like, are you going to be alright for patrol tonight?" Xander asked, kissing Faith softly as she nodded. "I'll try and be back in time, but if not try and remember what I taught you about using the ring. Just imagine what you need and you'll have it."

"I got it." Faith grinned, "Now go play with the army boys."

"Air Force." Xander grinned back, quickly flashing into his uniform before teleporting to General Hammond's office at the SGC.

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"You wanted to see me?" Xander asked as he appeared in General Hammond's office.

"Take a seat son." General Hammond nodded to the chair by the desk as he pressed a small button on an intercom system. "Airman, could you tell SG1 to come to my office please."

"So, what's this about the oversight committee asking to see me?" Xander asked, appearing in front of an alien race was one thing, but appearing in front of a senate committee was a bluff to end all bluffs.

"It seems that the oversight committee has been paying special attention to the reports from the SGC lately, and in particular reports about you. While we have kept up the facade about you being from an alien race who has offered us protection in the reports, the committee want to speak with you in person about trade negotiations." General Hammond explained, pausing as SG1 entered the room.

"It is good to see you again XanderO'Neill." Teal'c was the first to speak, bowing his head to Xander as he entered the room.

"Yeah, how's things back in Sunnyhell?" Jack asked, walking over to embrace his son in a tight hug. "You treating that girl of yours right?"

"I'm sure Faith can take care of herself Jack." Sam beat Xander to the reply with a grin.

"Yeah, everything's fine dad, General Hammond was just filling me in about this oversight committee wanting to meet with me to discuss trading." Xander smiled as he shook Daniels hand and everyone took a seat.

"They'll be arriving in approximately one hour with the team from Area fifty one who are going to be trained aboard the Goa'uld mother ship you brought back." General Hammond paused as Xander glanced around with a nervous twitch in his eye. "Is everything alright son?"

"I don't know, something's wrong here, do you mind?" Xander asked as he stood up. Smiling at General Hammond's nod of ascent he started scanning the room, running through radio frequencies until he came across to unfamiliar ones in the office. "I take it you're not recording this meeting?" Xander asked, turning back to the General.

"No, there are no cameras or microphones in this office." Hammond said with certainty.

"Right." Xander grinned as his hand flashed green for a second before he opened his fist to reveal two small radio microphones. "I take it these aren't yours then?" Xander grin became broader as the General just shook his head. "I'll be right back." With that Xander flashed out of the room.

"Um, where'd he go?" Daniel was the first one to ask.

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Xander had been working with his ability to perceive radio waves for a while now, ever since he had been able to follow an Asgard transport beam to the SGC he felt it was something he should work on. So he'd been practicing, first just small things like following a radio station's broadcast back to the source antenna, then more complex things like mobile phones and television signals.

It was easy once he figured out what the signal 'looked like' to him, he could just filter out everything else and follow it like a real of string.

"Bugging a Generals office, not too smart." Xander grinned as he appeared in the corner of an office where two men in full black uniforms were sat using top of the range equipment to listen in to various frequencies.

"What the?!?" One of the men exclaimed, turning to him and drawing his side arm to fire three rounds off at Xander.

"You know, I'm kind of glad I can just dissolve those on impact now, it would be a pain trying to get this suit repaired at a normal tailor." Xander quipped, dissolving the gun with a wave of his hand. "Now, you two are coming with me, or do I have to do this the hard way?"

The two men just stood there as Xander was engulfed in emerald flames, in truth it was possibly the scariest thing they had ever seen, but they were military trained so their brains were automatically at war with their flight reflex to run away.

Xander just stood there, waiting for the two men to make their decision. "Kinda on the clock here guys, so I'll help you decide." With that Xander teleported the men back to the SGC and was left with all the equipment. "So, guess these are the recordings." He muttered to himself as he found various taped and backup equipment marked 'SGC'. Burning them all to ash he walked out the main door, turning in surprise to find he was in an even larger building.

"Huh, better safe than sorry." He quickly glanced at the radio frequencies and cycled through the EM spectrum, making sure there weren't any backups of data hidden anywhere else in the building. Satisfied that the only copies of the data were inside he glanced inside the room, dissolving the entire contents to ash before teleporting back to the SGC.

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"Would you mind explaining who these two gentlemen are?" General Hammond asked as the green flash arrived back in his office.

"These were the men responsible for recording our conversation Hammond of earth." Xander nodded at General Hammond slightly, pausing so that he would get the idea to carry on the charade. "I followed there transmitter signals to their base of operations and neutralized the recordings and any backups they had made."

"It seems we're in your dept again Ion." General Hammond replied, thankful he remembered the right name that Xander had given to the Tollan before. "Airmen, take these two gentlemen to the holding cells for questioning." Hammond paused as four airmen came into the room and took the two shocked men away.

"Are you sure that's all of them?" Jack asked as the door was closed behind the airmen.

"Yup, that's it; this room is now bug free." Xander grinned and sat back down.

"Back to business then." General Hammond glanced at the clock on the wall for a second. "The oversight committee should be arriving soon so I'll set you up in conference room two. I'm sorry we can't be in there with you but we'll be watching."

"Right, and what do they want exactly?" Xander asked, cautious now as he wasn't exactly sure how to proceed from here.

"Firstly they want to thank you for the protection you're giving earth from the Goa'uld, they'll want to ask you a few questions about your powers and then ask you to transport the scientists and crew from Area fifty one up to the Goa'uld mothership in orbit of the moon." Hammond explained slowly, not wanting to cause Xander any alarm.

"Right, so they just want to know who I am and what I'm doing here right?" Xander asked, looking at his father for advice.

"Cakewalk." Jack grinned at his son. "Just feed them the same line you told the Tollan and everyone should be happy."

"Sounds good to me." Xander found himself returning the grin. "Should I be in the conference room to begin with or should I come through the gate to reinforce that I'm from another culture?" Xander asked, thinking ahead to enforce his story.

"That's a good idea, that way they know that you didn't come from earth and the gate logs will show that you arrived while the oversight committee were waiting for you. This is the address for the Earth Stargate," Daniel filled in, handing Xander a crap of paper with six symbols scribbled on it. "You'll need the seventh symbol to make it work, it's normally the one at the top center of the DHD, sorry the Dial Home Device, small control panel with all the symbols of the gate on it, large red button in the middle."

"Right, I'll go and wander the galaxy for a bit," Xander paused for a second, creating a small flat circle shaped device. "Press here when you're ready for me." Xander smiled, handing the device to General Hammond before disappearing in a flash of green light.

"Kid's come and go so fast around here." Jack quipped with a grin as everyone looked at the small device General Hammond was holding in his open hand.

"You think we'll ever get used to that?" Daniel asked, gesturing to where Xander has vanished.

"I'm still having trouble with the fact that he does it at all sir, I mean the energy requirements alone for unaided teleportation are astronomical. Not to mention the fact that he can create solid objects out of nothing..." Sam tried to continue but was cut off by Jack.

"I think we all get it now Carter, he's a God... and not in the 'False God I've got a snake in my head' way, the real deal." Jack smiled, he was just glad he had his son back; the power boost he gave to earth was just a bonus.

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Xander had taken this opportunity to go out further than he ever had before, it had been niggling at the back of his mind for a while about space and what was really out there. It was easy to just glance up and use his powers to do a scan of the area, but it was nothing compared to actually being out here and seeing the wonders of the universe first hand.

He paused for a second as he left the Milky Way galaxy, his home galaxy. Turning around for a second he spared a glance at it all, it was amazing to see the galaxy like this; you could ignore all the wars that were being fought over land, oil or religion. Out here it was just him and the quiet, he liked the quiet.

Turning back on his course he shot away again, the stars turning to a blue and purple hue as he entered hyperspace on his course. He knew where he was going, he just didn't know if there would be anything there when he got there. His destination was OA.

He flew on for what seemed like hours, though because of the speeds he was going at it was actually only minutes. As his brain told him he was reaching the center of the universe he slowed down, dropping out of hyperspace to see what actually awaited him.

As the stars dropped back to their normal white twinkle he looked around, hoping for anything he would recognize from Kyle's memories. The stars looked the same, but the planets weren't. From what he could tell there was only one planet that could support life in this solar system, orbiting a binary star. Flying down he headed towards the planet as fast as he could, wanting to spend as much time exploring before he was needed back at the SGC.

As he passed through the atmosphere he could tell this wasn't OA, it wasn't anything like Guardian architecture. The cities were immense though, even from this height he could make out the buildings. They were all silver; the planet itself was a red hue with blue fields stretching out around the cities. It was obvious that these people were technologically advanced, possibly even at The Guardians level of technology.

Hovering in front of the tallest spire he looked around, looking for any signs of life, anyone at all that he could talk to and ask about the planet. There was no one about, flying higher he stopped just inside the atmosphere and ran a complete scan of the immense city beneath him. Nothing, not one life sign in the entire city.

Moving even higher he scanned from orbit, scanning the entire planet for life signs, again nothing. The planet was deserted. There was only plant life left, not a single life sign on the entire planet. He found the familiar energy signature of the Stargate so he knew he could follow through with the plan to get back to the SGC, but beyond that he was alone on the planet.

Homing in on the Stargate he flew back down to the planet, phasing through one of the spire walls easily to pass into the gate room. Landing on the floor he looked around, trying to gauge what sort of alien race had lived here before... well, he didn't know what had happened to them. There were no bodies, no sign of war. They had simply disappeared.

"Hello?" He shouted, just in case his scan hadn't picked up the life signs for any reason.

When no one responded he moved over, smiling at the lights came on around him as he walked up the steps to what looked like a control room. Pausing for a second he took a good look at the Stargate, it wasn't like the one on earth, it looked more advanced somehow. There wasn't an inner ring and the constellations on it were lit up from the back in a green hue.

"Must be the new model." Xander smiled and continued walking up to the control room. As the lights came on he looked around, it was obviously an advanced civilization that had built this city, the control panels seemed to react to his very presence in the room, lighting up and displaying options above them on a holographic display.

Looking at the writing for a moment he tried to decipher it, it was in no language, human or demon that he had ever come across. Accessing Kyle's memories he checked to see if it was something Kyle had come across before, the same result.

Looking at another control he paused for a second, it looked like something that controlled the gate. It had the same symbols on it that were glowing green on Stargate. Reaching down he pressed one, just to make sure that it was what he thought it was.

The button depressed slightly with a click and the Stargate started humming, looking closer he could see that the symbol on the button he had pressed was now glowing green on the Stargate and the first chevron was glowing green as it locked.

"OK, quick test to earth." Xander smiled, glancing at the controlling device only to wince as he noticed that none of the symbols in the earth address were on the control.

"Um, little help here?" Xander asked out loud as he let his brain run through the symbols to see if he recognised one that would signify this planet.

A voice responded, shocking Xander out of his thoughts as he whirled around to see where it came from, it wasn't in English or any language he had come across. 'Must be the same language as the writing,' he mused.

"Um, don't suppose you speak English?" Xander asked out loud, hoping for some sort of response he could understand.

"Please state the nature of your enquiry." A female voice resounded through the control room and the symbols on the display morphed into more recognizable English.

"Um, tying to get home, Earth, Milky Way galaxy." Xander said out loud, not sure of whom he was talking to or if they understood the names of Earth or Milky Way, but glad of the offer of assistance either way.

"Please enter the first six symbols of the address in the locator database." The voice replied again before going silent.

"Friendly aren't ya." Xander grinned. "Which computer is the locator database?" this time the voice didn't respond, a computer on the far side of the room glowed green softly though and its displays lit up. "Guess that's it."

Moving over to the now active computer he glanced at the 'keyboard' that was in front of him. It wasn't like anything he had seen before; he knew the Stargate on earth only had thirty nine symbols on it. The Stargate in the room beneath him didn't seem that different in size, so he had to guess that it had about the same amount of symbols on it, but the keyboard in front of him had hundreds of symbols on it, most of which he'd never seen before. Scanning through them quickly he finally came across one he recognized as being in the sequence to earth, using that as a place to start looking he quickly found the others.

"Here goes." He muttered softly, punching the gate address to earth into the database, watching in awe as it pulled up earth on the display.

"Terra Atlantis." The computer said in the same female voice.

"Atlantis, right..." Xander paused for a second, huh so Atlantis was real. Not a big stretch compared to mystical bad guys and aliens. "I want to go there."

"Proceed to the Stargate." The computer replied, shutting down the display.

"Looks like a new discovery for the XanMan." Xander grinned, moving back to the stairs and walking down them slowly, watching as the inner track of the Stargate appeared to slide into the larger outer ring before being replaced with another track. "That's new." He muttered, looking at the new inner ring carefully he recognised the same symbols as being on the earth Stargate.

"Right, got to go." He smiled as he felt the button being pressed by General Hammond.

"Dialling Terra Atlantis." The Female voice said again and the lights began to spin round the Stargate, pausing as one of the chevrons locked in with the same green glow.

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"Sir incoming wormhole." Airman Siler informed General Hammond as the Stargate started spinning.

"Right on time." The General Smiled, "would you like to accompany me to the gateroom so that we can greet our guest?"

"After you General." Senator Kinsey replied, stepping back so The General could lead the way. He knew his way around the base of course, but he had to appear friendly in front of the oversight committee towards the General and the staff on the base.

Down in the gateroom General Hammond smiled as the fourth chevron locked in place. "Ion has been an amazing help to us in securing a Goa'uld mothership, with his protection we can finally explore without fear of the Goa'uld attacking us."

The General turned back to the Stargate as the fifth and sixth chevrons locked in place. "Both the Tollan and the Tok'Ra have approached the OA's regarding similar protection for their planets, but I think Ion can explain that better." General Hammond paused at the seventh chevron locked in place but the gate kept spinning. 'must have left the galaxy to make it look even better,' Hammond mused, from the look of the oversight committee it had worked, the only address they knew of outside of the Milky Way galaxy was the home of the Asgard, and he knew this wasn't the address that was being dialled in.

Hammond heard the familiar lock of the eighth chevron and turned to watch the Stargate activate but was surprised when the gate kept spinning.

"General Hammond, what is going on here?" Kinsey asked, confused as none of the reports had ever mentioned the use of the ninth chevron on the gate ever being used.

"This is the first time Ion has come from his homeworld to here through this Stargate, I'm as confused as you are." Hammond chose his words carefully; he spared a glance up at the control room where Captain Carter was starting at the gate with her jaw wide open as the ninth chevron locked into place.

Turning back to the Stargate he was relieved to see the familiar blue event horizon ripple as Xander stepped through the Stargate.

"General Hammond." Xander nodded as he stopped at the base of the ramp as the Stargate disengaged its wormhole.

"Ion, I'm glad you could make it at such short notice." Hammond said with a smile, but his eyes clearly said an explanation was needed.

"Yes, well we're not used to using Stargate's but since the population of your planet isn't aware of alien life yet I thought it would be better than bringing one of our ships into orbit of your planet." Xander explained, hoping that the General wouldn't push and that he could explain later.

"The ships of your planet are large in size then?" Kinsey asked, trying to get a feel for the power than this new ally of earth had to offer.

"Compared to what?" Xander asked, intentionally baiting the Senator for not introducing himself first before asking questions.

"I don't know, compared to a Goa'uld mothership." Kinsey smiled; he knew the rough size of a mothership and could figure out the size of Ion's ships from there.

"Oh, much, much bigger, I'm sorry I didn't catch your name." Xander grinned holding out his hand, he couldn't explain it but he had come to an almost immediate dislike of this man.

"I am Senator Kinsey of the Oversight Committee." Kinsey replied, capitalizing each word with emphasis. "How much bigger?"

"What is the name of the gas giant in your solar system, the one with sixty seven moons and a small ring around it?" Xander asked, mentally running a scan of Jupiter.

"You mean Jupiter son, the gas giant with the red spot on its surface." Hammond explained briefly, wondering where Xander was taking this.

"Right, Jupiter. Roughly that size for a mother ship, transport vessels and 'guardian' class vessels are about the size of Earth." Xander smiled, holding back his expression that was threatening to split into a giant grin as Kinsey seemed to be doing a good impression of a fish while the other members of the oversight committee were looking at him with more respect now. "Shall we get down to business now?"

"Of... of course Mr Ion." Kinsey stuttered out as General Hammond led them out of the gateroom to conference room two.

"If you'd like to take a seat gentlemen, I can have some refreshments brought up to you." General Hammond smiled as he opened the room and the oversight committee and Xander filed in.

"No thank you General Hammond, though I would like to see SG1 before I leave if that would be possible." Xander smiled as the General nodded and left the room, closing the door behind him.

"Right, Mr Ion..." Kinsey started only to be interrupted by Xander.

"Just Ion please." Xander smiled as Kinsey flustered again only to recover quickly.

"Ion then, I understand your race have offered earth protection from the Goa'uld and that several other races including the Tollan and the Tok'ra." Kinsey explained as he started to get more comfortable with the politics of the arrangement.

"Yes, the OA'n people believe in helping races evolve on their own, without interference from other cultures or being enslaved by species like the Goa'uld." Xander smiled, hoping that Kinsey didn't ask for any details.

"And you will be personally in charge of protecting earth?" Kinsey asked, a little doubt creeping into his words.

Glancing around the room Xander could see that the rest of the Oversight Committee had the same doubt.

"What I mean to say is," Kinsey continued. "How do you plan to protect earth, the Tollan and the Tok'ra on your own? Do you have a fleet of ships in case the Goa'uld attack in greater numbers?"

"No, no ships, just me." Xander grinned as he watched Kinsey blanche.

"And you will be able to defend earth on your own without assistance from your ships or any technology?" Kinsey replied sceptically.

"Quite easily, as General Hammond will have undoubtedly told you, I have already stopped one Goa'uld invasion and handed the mothership of the Goa'uld Apophis over to you. Is that not proof enough?" Xander asked coldly, wanting to get to the bottom of this as quickly as possible.

"Yes, the report did say that and we are very grateful for the mothership you have given us, I think we are just a bit sceptical because the report failed to explain how you managed to defeat such a large number of opposing ships on your own. The satellite pictures we have show at least seven motherships with a contingent of smaller craft along side, all of those, save the mothership in orbit of the moon just disappeared in a flash of light. Would you care to explain how it is you are capable of doing such a thing?" Kinsey asked, his voice wavering from neutral to hostile.

"How about I just show you all what I'm capable of? Would that satisfy you?" Xander asked, wanting to get out of the room before he killed this Senator Kinsey.

"Yes, that would be a great help." Kinsey smiled smugly and the rest of the oversight nodded their acceptance.

"Just you, or would all of you like to see?" Xander asked, turning to the rest of the faces at the table who had yet to speak or introduce themselves.

"Just me will be fine." Kinsey replied for the group, blanching when Xander turned back to him and levelled his gaze fully, locking on to Kinsey's eyes.

"Inform General Hammond that we will be back shortly." Xander said to the rest of the table before disappearing in a flash of green light and taking the senator with him.

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"Wh... Where are we?" Kinsey stuttered out as he looked around him.

There was black as far as the eye could see; only the faint glow of a red star lit the area.

"Over here senator." Xander called from behind him, causing the senator to spin round turn white and the view before them both. "This is Bokon, a dead world on the edge of your galaxy."

"You mean..." Kinsey went even whiter as he looked down to see space beneath him and the planets and moons rotating around the giant red star in front of him.

"Yes senator, we are just on the edge of your galaxy now, around five thousand light-years from your home planet." Xander emphasized the 'your' bits of his speech to make sure the senator connected the dots that he wasn't from this galaxy.

"But... how... how did we get here?" Kinsey asked, panic starting to show in his voice as he loosened his tie in an effort to help him breathe easier.

"Teleportation is just one of the tricks up my sleeves as you say Senator. I brought you here because this star is about to go supernova, so anything I do will have no lasting impact on the planet or solar system around it." Xander explained, he didn't want to go around changing the evolutionary cycle of a planet just to prove a point to this simple minded senator.

"The planet?" Kinsey asked, becoming a bit more like his old self now that he was sure he wasn't in any sort of danger.

"Yes, that planet senator. We only have a short time so please watch carefully." Xander smiled as the senator shut his mouth with an audible 'click' as Xander phased through the bubble that he had created to protect them from space.

"You can still hear me right senator?" Xander asked, he knew that his voice wouldn't carry through space so he used his powers to transmit his voice to inside of the bubble.

"Yes." The Senator replied.

"Very well, not the star will go Supernova in approximately nine minutes so pay attention." Without any further explanation Xander turned to the planet and raised his arm toward the surface, letting out a beam of pure power he watched as the emerald energy shot from his hand penetrated the planet's atmosphere and impacted the surface. After a few minutes he stopped the beam and brought the bubble over to him before phasing through the shell and stood next to the senator.

"That was..." Kinsey was uncharacteristically at a loss for words as Xander moved the bubble down so that the senator could see that he had punched a hole clean through the planet.

"As you can see, I can quite happily back up my claims of what power I have senator, now if you don't mind I'd like to get back to earth now. I would like to see my friends on SG1 before I leave for today." Xander smiled as he watched the senator wince.

"SG1?" Kinsey asked, starting to sweat.

"Yes, Colonel O'Neill has become a very close friend of mine, as have Captain Carter, Doctor Jackson and Teal'c. Also General Hammond has helped he come through some very tough decisions lately, you would not have the protection I offer without those five people senator." Xander grinned, he knew he was laying it on a bit thick, but from the way Kinsey was sweating it was nice to enjoy a bit more discomfort. "Now let's get back to our friends at the SGC shall we?"

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The rest of the oversight committee were talking amongst themselves when the green flash interrupted them and deposited Xander and Senator Kinsey back in their respective seats.

"I assume that was proof enough senator?" Xander asked, eying the senator carefully.

"Yes, yes thank you." Kinsey stuttered out, bringing a smile to some of the oversight committee to see him so flustered.

"As I was saying, the protection of the OA'n race does not require any trade or negotiations; any communication will be made through Stargate Command to me in person. Are there any more questions?" Xander expected Kinsey to voice an objection about something, but was shocked when Kinsey remained silent. "Very well then, if this meeting is concluded I will speak to SG1 and then take me leave, gentlemen." Xander nodded at them each in turn before leaving the room and closing the door, only then when he had started walking down the halls towards General Hammonds office did he allow himself to grin and star laughing.

"I'll assume the meeting went well then?" General Hammond smiled as Xander walked in his office.

"Yup, think I shook up Kinsey a bit though, you'd better go check on him. Where's my dad? Wanna say goodbye before I head back." Xander grinned as the General shook his head in amusement.

"SG1 are down at the mess hall at the moment I believe, I can have someone take you there if you wish." Hammond smiled and pressed a button on his desk, turning to the door when it opened. "Airman, can you show Ion to the mess hall please."

"Yes sir, this way please." The Airman smiled as Xander walked out of the door, closing it politely behind him.

Both men were silent as they walked back past the conference room where he could hear Kinsey talking animatedly to the rest of the group about what he had seen, resisting the urge to pop back in and see what they were saying he followed the airman down to the mess hall.

"Here we are sir." The airman stopped outside the mess hall and pushed open the doors for him.

"Thank you." Xander smiled at the man before walking into the mess hall. He was a bit uncomfortable with everyone staring at him while he was in his uniform, it was something he was just going to have to get used to he reasoned.

"Hey." Jack grinned when he saw his son approach, still in his glowing Ion uniform. "We were just about to clock off for the night, fancy a beer or two at my place?"

"Can we take this somewhere a bit more private?" Xander asked, not wanting any of their conversation to get back to the oversight committee while they were still here.

"My lab is just down the hall." Sam offered, smiling as everyone stood up and started making their way to her office. Filing in Xander locked the door after him, flashing back into his normal jeans and t-shirt.

"Man, that guy gives me the creeps; I should have left him out there." Xander grinned at the thought of leaving Kinsey out in space, he'd never actually do it, but it was a nice thought after spending only the short time he had with the man.

"Out where?" Jack asked, he'd been told that Xander had taken Kinsey somewhere to show him something, but that was the extent of the knowledge he had of the meeting. He hadn't pressed for more because he knew that Xander would tell him everything anyway.

"Senator Kinsey insisted on a 'demonstration' of my abilities," Xander made air quotes around the word demonstration with a grin. "So I took him out to the edge of the galaxy and blew a hole through a planet for him."

"Sweet." Jack said after letting out a slow whistle at his son's show of power.

"The planet was abandoned right?" Daniel asked cautiously.

"Yeah, we left just before the star went nova, destroying any evidence of it anyway." Xander smiled a little hurt that Daniel had even asked.

"Where did you come from anyway? When you came through the gate it locked all nine chevrons on to engage the wormhole. It's never done that before." Sam asked, she'd been dying to ask about that ever since she'd seen the wormhole engage.

"Little planet I found, abandoned though but had some sweet technology on it. This woman's voice helped me get it to work, think it was something like a help command on a computer." Xander grinned at the thought of the planet, he'd have to go back and explore more someday when he got the chance.

"Where exactly was it? I mean seven symbols are for travel between Stargate's in this galaxy, we use eight for intergalactic travel but we never figured out what the ninth chevron was for." Sam finished off, now even more excited about the prospect of what Xander had called 'Sweet Technology'.

"It was at the center of the universe, orbiting a binary star." Xander said offhand. "The Stargate was really weird though, didn't look like yours and had different symbols on it. The computer I used to find earths address had hundreds of symbols on it though, when I found earths address the inner ring slid back into the Stargate and a new one popped out. Also, it glowed green, like yours does orange when it locked. I think it was a new model or something." Xander smiled at the look of amazement on Sam and Daniels face.

"Were there any writings or markings around of any sort?" Daniel asked before anyone else could ask any questions.

"Yup, but they turned into English when I asked." Xander grinned at the disappointed look on Daniels face.

"Looks like you're out of a job if we can get them all to do that." Jack smiled at his friend.

"How far roughly from this planet were you?" Sam asked, trying to figure out the power requirements for opening a Stargate from there to here. They had tried to dial the address that Xander had came from without success, for some reason the Stargate just wouldn't engage to the nine symbol address.

"And the name of the planet, did you see a name anywhere?" Daniel jumped in.

"Whoa, one at a time. Sam, about seventy galaxies down and fifteen or so to the left, not accounting for space in between of course. Daniel, yes, it called earth Terra Atlantis though there wasn't a name for the planet I've named it OA." Xander smiled as Sam went slack jawed again at the distances they were talking about and Daniel started pacing, trying to figure out the link of Atlantis to earth.

"Far away then." Jack grinned.

"Yup, play your cards right and I'll take you all there someday for a holiday." Xander grinned, his face falling as the scream of help shattered his concentration. "Faith." He said out loud. "I've got to go, I'll be back soon dad, we'll organise a holiday or something."

Without waiting for a reply his vanished in a flash of green light, leaving SG1 stood in Sam's lab looking at the space he occupied with amazement.

"Think I'm getting used to it." Jack said with a smile.

"Indeed." Teal'c replied as they headed for the door, leaving Sam and Daniel with their own thoughts.

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"Nooooo!" Faith's scream echoed through the warehouse as Kakistos bared down on her, his cloven fist smashing down on the shield she had created cracking it slightly.

"You know, when the lady says no like that, she normally means it." Xander shouted as he flashed into the room. Turning to a group of vampires he just shook his head and waved his hand in their direction, decapitating them all with a quick flourish.

"And who are you?" Kakistos snarled out.

"Xander." Faith whispered out under her breath.

"You can call me Ion, for as long as you live anyway. The demons around here call me The Green Death though." Xander said, the emerald flames back around his body licking at the floor as he walked towards Kakistos.

"I heard Angelus killed you." Kakistos snarled out.

"You heard wrong." Xander replied with a smile as he watched a few vampires escape out of the back door, it was useful to leave some alive to spread the word that he was still alive and in Sunnydale.

"I have no quarrel with you, I only want her." Kakistos snarled, turning back to face Faith before she was engulfed in a green flash. "What did you do?" Turning back he noticed Faith was now stood behind this 'Green Death'.

"You can't have her, The Slayers are now under my protection, or hadn't you noticed from the green glow and matching outfits." Xander quipped, happy that this ancient vampire seemed unsure of what to do now. "So you stay put while I have a word with Faith here." Waving his hand he enveloped the vampire in a green bubble, blocking any sound from passing in or out.

"Xander thank god." Faith said, wrapping her arms around him and kissing him passionately.

"Faith, what's going on? What's up with ugly over there and why were you cowering in a corner? You have a Green Lantern Ring now; you should have been able to take care of him easily." Xander said, carefully keeping his tone reassuring so that Faith would open up to him, in all the time he'd known her he'd never seen her this scared before.

"That's Kakistos, he killed my old watcher. He was going to kill me; he's why I came here." Faith explained in a small voice. "Buffy!" she exclaimed, running over to where Buffy lye on the floor unconscious.

"So this Kakistos took down two slayers with Green Lantern Rings?" Xander said, turning back to the vampire.

"I was afraid Xander; I didn't want what happened to Diana happen to you." Faith practically sobbed out as she held Buffy's unconscious form.

"Diana?" Xander asked, walking over to make sure that Buffy was alright, he'd checked her from a distance and was sure that he still had a heart beat and a strong pulse. With slayer healing she'd be back to normal in an hour or two.

"My old watcher, Kakistos raped then killed her." Faith explained in a soft voice, tears running down her face. "He was going to do the same to me when I escaped. I just ran, I kept running until I reached Sunnydale."

"So, you get off on torturing and raping women do you?" Xander turned back to Kakistos, letting him loose from the bubble but holding him in place with arm restraints he's created.

"Just slayers and watchers, I have no quarry with a sorcerer like yourself." Kakistos snarled out.

"Funny, because now I have a quarry with you. Goodbye." Xander said simply raising his hand as if he was holding a tennis ball.

Faith turned around to see Xander raise his arm towards Kakistos, his fingers open like he was holding a football or something. Suddenly Kakistos started to scream, not the scream of being burnt or stabbed, it was a scream from his very demon that inhabited the body. "What are you doing?" She asked softly, not sure if she wanted to know the difference or not.

"I'm taking him apart, see?" Xander said coldly, nodding to Kakistos' feet where Faith could see his feet and legs starting to disappear in a swirl of red mist.

"You're taking him apart?" Faith asked again, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"Yup, right down at the atomic level, I'm breaking apart electrons and moving atoms away from each other. Hurts like a bitch right?" Xander snarled at Kakistos and was rewarded with another inhuman howl of agony.

Xander simply just closed his fist in a sharp motion, snapping his fingers into the palm of his hand as Kakistos turned completely to the red mist that dissipated into the wind.

"Now, I think we need to up your training a bit, but first let's get you both back to Giles'" Xander said, turning back to where Faith was stood staring and him and Buffy was starting to regain consciousness.

"You take care of Buffy, I can't... I've got to..." Faith didn't finish her sentence before shooting up into the air and breaking through the roof, Xander barely got a shield up around him and Buffy in time before the entire roof caved in on them.

"Well, at least she's got the flying part down." Xander muttered as he teleported himself and Buffy back to Giles' house.

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"Giles! We need help here." Xander shouted as they appeared in the living room, lifting Buffy up carefully he laid her on the couch, taking special care to prop her head on a pillow.

"Good god Xander, what happened here? Where is Faith?" Giles asked in shock as he came out of the study area before rushing over to Buffy's side to check her wounds over.

"Faith took off; they were being pummelled by a vampire called Kakistos or something when I found them." Xander explained quickly. "I got to get out there and find Faith, is Buffy alright?"

"Kakistos, is he dead?" Giles asked as he moved over to get some antiseptic from the first aid kit he kept in the desk draw.

"Yup, dust in the wind." Xander said, "Is she going to be alright?"

"She'll be fine, a mild concussion. I imagine it would have been worse if it wasn't for those rings of yours." Giles said, smiling at Xander, his eyes expressing the thanks his words could not.

"Right, I'll go and find Faith, back soon." Xander said before flashing out of the room.

"I do wish he wouldn't do that, the next door neighbours must think I have a disco or something in here." Giles muttered as Buffy started to regain consciousness.

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"Faith?" Xander called out as he appeared in the cemetery, this was where he'd last sensed her. He didn't want to try teleporting her directly to him, pissing off a slayer when she wanted some alone time didn't seem the best idea.

A scream came from behind him and he span around to see multiple green energy beams slicing out and dusting vampires.

"Constructive use of anger." Xander muttered as he started to walk towards the now settling dust piles.

"What are you doing here Xander?" Faith asked as she watched him walk though the cemetery.

"Thought I'd come and talk to you, find out why you flew off like that." Xander explained, hands in the air as a show of peace.

"Why do we do it? I mean, we go out every night and take down five or six vampires, ten if we're lucky. How many are there in the world? How many lives could we save if we just destroyed them all at once?" Faith practically spat at Xander.

"Faith that isn't..." Xander started to try and pacify her but was cut off.

"No, that isn't your way Xander, it's my way, and now I'm going to do it." Turning round Faith shot off into the night sky, leaving behind a puzzled and worried Xander.

"Yeah, kill all the vampires on earth, how exactly are we supposed to do that?" He muttered before flying off after her.

Catching up to Faith at the edge of the atmosphere he paused as she turned to face earth and let loose a stream of green energy the blanketed the west coast of America in one go. Without even thinking of what he was or what it was doing Xander created a shield in front of the earth, blocking the energy after a few seconds.

"What the hell was that? You can't just come up here and start firing on earth like that." Xander snapped at faith, moving round so that he was in her line of fire.

"Solar energy, like you said 'anything we can imagine' right? I can imagine the sun's rays pouring out of this thing and burning every single vamp and demon to dust, so get out of my way Xander." Faith snapped back her explanation, the whole time she had been floating in space taking her ring was leaking power, sparks flew from it and emerald energy burned up her arm.

"And when people start asking questions about why suddenly the night has turned into a 'green day', how are you going to explain that? Or to my dad who works hard at keeping this planet safe and the existence of aliens a secret, how are you going to explain that to him?" Xander said a bit softer this time.

Floating over to her he embraced her in a tight hug. "I know you want to do it like this, but we have to take it slow ok? I promise we'll get every single vampire and demon eventually, but we have to work within the system for the moment."

"Why?" Faith almost sobbed out.

"People aren't ready to know about demons, vampires, aliens or Green Lanterns for that matter, not yet. They will be one day, and then we'll step into the light, but until then we have to keep it quiet alright? Can you do that?" Xander said, still holding her tight as he looked her in the eye.

"One day? You promise?" Faith asked, looking Xander directly in the eyes.

"I promise, one day we'll fly over New York in bright sunlight and the crowds will cheer our names." Xander smiled as Faith grinned at him. "You ready to go back down now?"

"Can we just stay up here a bit longer? Please?" Faith asked, begging him with her eyes.

"As long as you want beautiful, as long as you want." Xander smiled, nuzzling into her neck and holding her tight.

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AN: Hope everyone's still enjoying this :D

more to come soon

M