Disclaimer in Chapter One - No Teachers, No Help, No Feelings, No Crying
Author's Notes 1: Here you go, hopefully this can make some readers comeback and give this thing a chance.
PS: There are some more phrases in another language in this chapter. Just like last time I just used google translate so I don't know how accurate they will be, then again, it's not integral to the story for you guys to know what is being said.
"So, a Vamp attack," Xander spoke up, "That's how I - H-he died?"
"Yes," Giles answered.
They were still in the Conference room, all sitting around the large table, Kate still in Dracula's lap, Buffy still watching Xander closely, Dawn watching Kate and the others watching them.
"Well, not exactly how I would have wanted to go out, but at least I got the Vamps in the end." Xander half laughed.
"How would you have liked to die?" D'Hoffryn cocked an eyebrow at the man.
"On my deathbed at a hundred and something surrounded by busty nurses who like to give sponge baths?" he shrugged.
"A worthy goal for any a man..." Dracula chuckled along with his Manservant; Kate blushed and swatted his shoulder, giving Xander a disapproving look. "Sorry," he found himself saying.
"Sorry Katie..." Xander looked down at his hands.
"You said you were in a local cave system?" Giles spoke up with a clearing of his throat. "You were clearing out a nest of Dentiumix Demons..."
"Ugly big things..." Kate spoke up. "But they turned out easy to kill. The eggs on the other hand..."
"Yes, they would have been difficult to destroy..." Giles rubbed his chin in thought. "You would have had to cleanse each one before smashing them, what did you use?"
"A Lolata stone Will's Lab knocked up." Xander supplied, Giles and Gordon nodding together in understanding. "It was a pain to recite the cleansing rite over a hundred times."
"You gave up after only ten!" Kate sat up straight on Dracula's lap. "You made me do the rest!"
"I'm your Watcher, I was teaching you," Xander raised a finger in point. "Now if you ever come across those eggs again you will not only know how to identify them, but what to use to destroy them."
"You were lazy..." Kate shook her head, her face seemingly happier than before as she playfully argued with her Watcher and Guardian.
"Watcher," Xander pointed to himself, then to Kate. "Slayer, which means you do as I say, even when I tell you to cleanse the majority of a Dentiumix's clutch of eggs. Besides I dealt with the second clutch we found."
"There were only five in that batch!"
"And I cleansed them," Xander smiled at the girl. "Watcher, slayer." he pointed again.
"And where is the Lolata stone now?" Giles interrupted the pair. "That is quite a powerful artefact."
"It should be making its way back to the Lab now," Xander turned back to the Head Watcher. "Kate dropped off our gear back at the armoury, right?" he turned to Kate.
"Right, I returned everything except my personal sword to The Locker," she nodded.
"I will track it down Sir," Gordon said as Giles looked to him. They nodded to each other and the man got up from his seat.
Willow from her seat waved her hand over the table and a small red light appeared before zooming off into the wall. "My people have been informed; they will help you track it down."
"Good." Giles smiled to the Witch before sitting forward. "Now, is there anything you can think of that was out of the ordinary that happened while you were in the cave system?"
"No, ah..." Xander turned to Kate, the slayer shaking her head. "We entered, found the nest about twenty minutes into the caves, killed the Dentiumix Demons-"
"Hack off the legs and arms, then a downward sword into the middle of the head," Kate informed the Head Watcher as if she was giving an after action report. "Making sure to bisect the upper and lower jaws all the way down to the second set of smaller arms in the chest." she then ran a hand through her hair and the dried goo that she had forgotten about. "On a side note, be careful when performing the bisecting, as the brains have a tendency to explode out." she ended in a whimper as she looked at her dirty hair.
"Then we performed the cleansing on the eggs, afterwards we searched the rest of the caves." Xander continued. "I didn't want to come back if we missed any of the eggs. Those things can multiply quickly. After about two days we made camp, I cast some boundary spells and we slept a couple hours. The last day we couldn't go any further into the caves so we began to trek back. We emerged from the caves, and then made our ways back to the school."
"Nothing else happened?" Willow asked.
"No, nothing that I can-"
"Yes!" Kate interrupted Xander. "There was that flash of light when we found the second clutch of eggs."
"I told you, that must have been a boundary spell like the ones I cast when we made camp. Those last two demons were alerted to our presence and attacked to save the eggs."
"Can you describe the light?" Willow asked, sitting forward.
"Ah..." Xander looked to Kate. "It was a sort of glow?"
"It was golden," Kate closed her eyes as she tried to describe it. "It seemed to come from nowhere, and yet everywhere at the same time, I tried to shield my eyes but I still saw it. As it flared we both fell to our knees, when it cleared the small clutch of eggs was in front of us, and two Dentiumix's emerged from behind some large rocks that weren't there before..."
"No, no those rocks were there before the light..." Xander frowned as he thought about it. "And the eggs... Weren't they?" he turned to Kate. "Wait, the glow also shook the cave as well, I remember falling rocks..."
A Day Before the Wake...
The eldest demon, Mortin, stood in the centre of the gathered demons. He stood naked, his pale green scales painted here and there with ceremonial paint, the crude paste of spit and white rock dust flaking off him as he gyrated with the spell. He raised his thin arms over his head, the bones under his thin skin looking sharp and as if any second they would break through his emaciated flesh. His snout pointed to the cave ceiling above him as his prehensile tail held the prayer book in front of him. The other demons, around eleven, though robed, were similarly pale green scaled, thin armed, their snouts pointed to the ground as each bowed up and down from their kneeling position.
Mortin called on the dying power they had left, focusing it into the ether to pull the one they needed. He felt the power reach out, he felt it grasp the wanted, he felt it... Bounce. The power bounced against another, throwing it about, then bounced off of yet another power, and then another... Spells put in place by some unseen Masters. The elder demon shook himself as he encountered the other powers and raised his voice, the other demons joining him, using more of the dwindling power they had left.
The cave began to shake, dust and loose rocks falling around the demons as they continued to grow louder, the robed demons bowing faster now. Their snouts were scrapping on the ground now as they began to put more force into their genuflecting, shaking their arms to the cave ceiling above them, their tails joining in as well. With one final yell Mortin finished the prayer and the cave was awash with an ethereal golden light, the kneeling demons stopped their bowing and lay their heads on the ground, each shying away from it.
When the light faded Mortin was breathing hard and hunched over, the spell taking a toll on his body as well as his strength. He called to him his staff; the knotted and ugly branch he had long ago been forced to rely on flew to his outstretched hand. He grasped it and straightened up slightly to look at where the light had come from. He quickly looked around with a speed that seemed contrary to his age and body.
"No..." He fell to a knee, his grip on his staff slipping. "He is not here..."
Heads around him sprang up; cries of horror joined them as they each looked around the cave.
"NO!"
"The Mouths will truly die!"
"We are ruined!"
"The tribe will perish!"
"And The Old Ones will awaken!"
"Father," A youngish demon moved to Mortin's side, draping a cloak over the elder. Unlike the other demons, this one looked strong and powerful, her lithe body was at its peak physical condition.
"The Animus..." He croaked, turning to his daughter. "He should be here, Guardie, I felt him, I felt the Adulescens with him... I felt them cross..."
"Then where are they?" Guardie asked her Father.
"I do not know, but they are in this world now," he looked around at the other demons, curling a clawed finger around his short beard. "We must begin the migration, prepare for the journey to the Mouth of the Dale, once we have finished they will join us," He closed his eyes, the spell having taken a toll on his frail body. "Of this I am certain..."
Faith didn't look up. She had been given a seat, but paid little attention to the goings on around her. She kept looking at her hands, staring at the palms as she clenched them into fists and then let them go, over and over.
"Faith!" Buffy called out, placing a hand on her shoulder.
"Huh, yeah, what?" She jumped, turning to the head Slayer as if noticing her for the first time. "Yeah Buff?"
Buffy watched the woman for a second as Faith saw that only Buffy, Dawn and Giles were left in the room with her.
"Are you ok?" Buffy asked, concern on her face.
"I..." she had been about to say 'I'm fine' and give the others a small smile when she stopped herself and slumped her shoulders. "I-I don't know..." she sniffed, returning her gaze to her hands. "Where did...?" she looked up to the empty room.
"Willow took Xander and Kate to her lab; she thinks she knows what the strange light they saw in the cave was. Dracula accompanied them along with Chuma and Dalili." Giles took off his glasses and polished them quickly.
"Oh..." She made to stand up. "I guess I should join-"
"It's ok, it's ok..." Buffy pushed her back down into the seat before taking the one next to her. "They'll be fine; we're more worried about you."
"Me?" She looked from Buffy then to Dawn and Giles.
"Yes," Dawn moved and gave her a hug. "Of course we're worried about you..."
"It is a lot to take in," Giles sighed. "The man you were the closest with suddenly turned up on the day we buried him. Anyone of us would be struggling with that."
"I know I am..." Dawn let go of the older Slayer, her eyes tearing up again. "What I did to that slayer..."
"Hey," Buffy put a hand on her sisters back. "You were following procedure-"
"Buff, you saw the way she clung to Drac," a tear fell from her face as she hung her head. "I chained her up and the only thing that comforted her in the end was that Monster."
"I know," Buffy wiped the tear from her face.
"It's really him, isn't it?" Faith croaked, looking from Dawn to Giles. "The things he said, he knew about August 5th..."
Each of the others took notice of that. For as long as the two lovers had been together they had shared that day only with themselves, an unspoken rule over the past decade that no one asked about. It was their day, a secret only they knew and no one had the right to take it from them.
"It-it would appear so..." Giles shared a look with Buffy.
Magic Lab
They entered the large lab, various workstations littered the huge room, the most prominent station, Willows, was in the centre. As soon as Willow had entered she had been given a clipboard by a woman in a lab coat, the Head Wiccan reading quickly and then signing a few sheets. Kate now walked alongside Dracula, the Master Vampire permitting the girl to hold his hand, an action that felt strange, and yet right. Xander walked on her other side, talking heatedly with Chuma, his daughter Dalili trailing behind.
"Just let me see the scars Alex," Chuma followed Xander. "Otherwise I will have to insist we perform the blood and pain rites once more. You may not be from this world, but I still sense you are like our Alexander."
"Chuma, I'm not taking my shirt off in Will's lab." Xander shook his head at his friend's insistence.
"Spoilsport." Dalili smirked.
"Trust me, I have the scars." Xander waved off.
"Mkuu yako anakuamrisheni" Chuma snapped in Swahili.
"Hamjakuwa ujumla yangu katika miaka" Xander answered back.
"Mtoto wajinga!" Chuma smiled.
"Mwendawazimu umri..." Xander smiled himself as people started to pay attention to them.
"Ukaidi moja jicho..." Chuma threw his hands up in the air.
"Always with the one eye," Xander laughed in English turning his back to the Old Man. He shook his head as he began to rise up his shirt. Chuma's hands moved over the raised scars that littered his back.
"It is you..." Chuma smiled to himself, his fingers tracing over the straight and jagged cuts. He patted Xander on his back and the Watcher lowered his shirt, turning around, Chuma placing his hands on both of his shoulders. "He was cut down too young," he pulled Xander's head down to his, their foreheads touching, their eyes closed. "May you live up to his shadow Alex."
"May the sun of the plains deem me worthy to cast the same silhouette." Xander placed his hands on Chuma's shoulders.
"They just might Mwanangu, they just might." he said quietly as they both hugged.
"Xander," Willow called, indicating a stool for the man to sit on. "If you could sit..."
"Right, yep." he smiled down at the old man before moving around him and taking the offered seat.
"Now," she placed a hand on his chest for a few seconds that began to glow with a yellow light before walking away, the glow staying. "Sit still and I'll try to track where you come from and hopefully what brought you here..." she looked at him as the yellow glow began to spread, a sad smile on her face.
"I'm sorry this happened Wills..." Xander bowed his head.
"So am I..." Willow sniffed, the glow now covering Xander. She took a deep breath before nodding to herself and began waving her hands around before him. Runes began to glow and shimmer in the air before her before moving to circle around him.
"Careful Witch," Dracula growled. "I'm watching you."
"Master," Xander waved the Vamp off.
"Dee," Kate squeezed the demon's hand. "Hush."
"It's ok," Willow said, her hair moving from red to white.
"Wow..." Kate's eyes went wide as she took in the now equally glowing Wiccan and the mystical wind that seemed to move her hair around her. "Isn't she beautiful Dee?" she turned a large smile to the Vamp, the horrors she had faced less than an hour ago no longer on her face.
"She isn't homely I'll give her that..." Drac murmured, Kate elbowing him lightly, the vamp smirking at the young slayer.
The mystical wind began to pick up now, papers around the large lab beginning to take flight about the room. Willow continued, her movements faster now, a slight look of strain on her face. Xander began to glow brightly, the runes surrounding him glowing red as they circled him faster and faster. With a large boom the wind seemed to change direction and headed right for the Head Wiccan. The force blew her back across the room, Willow tumbling several times as an old voice echoed in her head.
'Too soon... We are not ready in the Dale...'
Once Willow had come to a stop everyone moved to her, the glow around Xander disappearing instantly.
"Will!" Xander skidded to his knees next to his friend, her hair still bright white. He placed a hand to her cheek, and then checked her pulse before muttering a quick activation charm and his right hand began to glow. The tattoos turned gold and began to move over his hand as he used it to scan her magically. "She's ok," he said as several Wiccan's in lab coats joined them with a stretcher. "She's just knocked out." At Chuma and the other's looks he gave a small smile and indicated his hand. "Simple diagnosis charm." he flourished his fingers, the glow subsiding and the tattoos returned to normal. "Willow upgraded my tatts after Drac helped me get them; it's just a few minor spells and charms."
"Well, we better still transport her to the Med lab." an older lady in a lab coat arched her eyebrow over her horn rimmed glasses before instructing the other Wicca's to lift Willow onto the stretcher.
The West Coast
Mortin paused in his walking and clutched his staff tighter, an action not missed by the demons around him, especially his daughter.
"Father," Guardie asked, "What's wrong?" she looked about them quickly, her hand on her dagger as she waited for an attack.
Mortin turned away from her and raised a claw to silence her and the others as they then too paused, many taking sharp breaths as they experienced the same feeling. They saw it in their minds, a white haired Wiccan, her arms spelling runes into the air about her, the runes moving to...
"The Animus!" Several of the demons gasped. "He has returned!" Mortin made a gesture to the others, a small wind moving through them and they all silenced.
"Too soon..." Mortin muttered, gripping his staff tighter, the wood creaking under the strain. "We are not ready in the Dale..." he intoned. "But we will be..." he added opening his eyes and stepping forward slowly up the slight sandy incline they were on. As he crested the top he stopped, his daughter at his side and they took in the view before them. The large lake stretched on into the horizon as far as they could see. "We are here..." he smiled. "Quickly, we haven't much time, the witch will finish soon and they will be coming, we must prepare for them to arrive."
Sometime Later, Med Wing
He had died...
He was still processing that. It had finally happened. The thing that had been threatening to happen to him ever since he first met Buffy all those years ago in Sunnydale. Oh who was he kidding, it was a miracle he had survived that long in Sunnydale before meeting Buffy to begin with. Growing up the way he had, the many years he had camped outside at Christmas, the fact that even after he knew the world had a darkness to it he still camped out every year... He should have been done in ages ago.
And now he was.
Or he had been... Or was it a 'Xander' had been.
Because it wasn't him. He was still here. He hadn't fucked up, another Xander had. But why had he been brought here? It was the question on everyone's minds. Why had he been brought here after their Xander had been taken?
'Well, this Xander doesn't care,' he thought to himself as he sat vigil in the observation room that overlooked where Willow was lying in a hospital bed still unconscious. 'The only thing that concerns me right know is how do I get Katie and myself back.'
Kate was snuggled into his side as she slept. After they had discovered there was nothing that could be done with Willow besides waiting for her to wake he had insisted the pair was given a chance to clean themselves up. The slayer had not wanted to leave him so he had been forced to use the slayer dorms bathrooms, silently thanking God and all those on high he had listened to Buffy and Faith when building the compound and installed cubicle showers. He loved Kate and had been with her for a couple of years, but he drew the line at seeing her bathe.
He smiled to himself. Kate was taking it all in stride besides the chaining up. She still clung to him, much like she had when he first rescued her from the family compound all those years ago. Human contact seemed to comfort her; she had rarely received it from her family besides undoing her bonds so she could pray, and the occasional backhand. Most slayers he had rescued couldn't stand to be touched, Faith herself sometimes shied away from his embrace at times, but not Kate. She held him tighter in her sleep and he moved his hands from her back to brush the hair from her face, causing a small smile to appear on both their faces.
In the few hours Willow had been unconscious he had asked Giles if he knew anything about the Adams Family church compound in Valdosta, Georgia, and Giles said he had never heard of it. But half an hour later he had returned with some disturbing news. The whole farm and compound had been raised to the ground by a fire years ago.
They had concluded that was why Kate was unknown to them, as she had died in this world before she had been called. When Kate had been told that her Grandfather could no longer get her because he was no longer alive she had merely stared at them both before first jumping into Xander's arms to hug him and then jumping on Giles, her sobs of "Thank you, thank you, thank you" all she said on the matter. Giles had wanted to further explain all the information he had gathered, but Xander had waived him off and said it could be sorted out later.
Faith had kept her distance the few times she came to check on the comatose Wicca along with Buffy and each time Xander felt more and more troubled by it.
Faith didn't look at him.
He didn't know if it was her grief at what she had been though the past few days after finding out he was dead, the fact that he wasn't her Xander, or because she was afraid that he could be hers, but still she didn't look at him.
He understood. If Faith had been taken from him, his Faith... He wasn't sure what he would do. He knew he would mourn her, he would cry, he would hit things, maybe even slip back into the bottle...
He fingered the Zippo lighter in his jacket pocket.
He was tempted to slip into the bottle now.
His finger traced over the small engraving on its face, then the small dog biscuit that had been added below it. He wondered if Faith in this world had given her Xander a similar Zippo as well. Sure, he didn't need the lighter, he didn't smoke after all, and if he wanted to light anything he had his tattoos, but Faith had said it was a symbol of who he was. No longer a Zeppo, he was now a walking Zippo, her Zippo. He smiled to himself as he always did when she made that joke, or he thought about it.
"What are you smiling about?"
The voice was soft, and came from the other side of Kate. Dawn was sitting there watching him. She too had not left his side since Willow was knocked out, but he suspected it was more out of her guilt for chaining up Kate.
"Just thinking about things, Life, the Universe and Everything." he said, pulling the lighter out of his pocket. "Wondering if some things are the same or not." he held up the lighter. "Did he have one of these?"
"Ah... Yeah..." Dawn looked at the scuffed up silver lighter. "He did, Faith got it for him."
"Did he ever let you use it?"
"Yeah, all the time..." She said turning back to the large window before them, watching Willow sleep. "It's pretty handy in a pinch."
"So you know what it says...?" Xander looked down at the lighter in his hand, his thumb tracing the engravings again.
"No..." Dawn shook her head. "Faith had Willow give it a glamour when she enchanted it, Faith said she only ever wanted you to be able to read it."
"You mean him," Xander corrected.
"I-I guess..." Dawn frowned.
"What was the reason for giving it to him?" he asked.
"Well..." she looked to Xander, the man still staring at the lighter. "If I remember what Faith said when she gave it t-to..." she faltered. "Him, it was one of the few possessions she had always had with her ever since she was called."
"And why did she give it to him?" He looked up at her.
"Ah... I think you should ask Faith..."
"I don't think she wants anything to do with me." He looked back to the observation window. "I think it hurts her to see me walking around."
"I still don't trust him, either of them." Buffy said, watching the monitors.
She was in Dawn's office, Giles and Faith joining her. She was currently staring at two screens, the first one showed Dracula, his box of dirt now returned to the school, the Dark One sleeping amongst his precious earth. The other screen showed Xander, Kate and Dawn in the observation room overlooking Willow's hospital bed.
"I'm not saying we do trust them, especially not Dracula," Giles sighed. "But as far as we can ascertain that is Xander." he pointed at the monitor. "Maybe not our Xander, but still a Xander."
"He has Magicks Giles!" Buffy turned to the Head Watcher. "Xander doesn't have Magicks."
"This one does."
Faith watched the Xander on the monitor. She couldn't look at him when she was in the same room as him, but behind the screen and several hundred feet away she watched him. She saw him smile and she found herself smiling as well. She missed that smile, she missed everything about him. She watched as he pulled something out of his pocket, the object glittering slightly on the screen. She stifled a gasp before her hand went to her own pocket and fished out the silver object she had decided at the last minute not to include in the casket.
Her finger traced the engraving as the Xander on the screen held the Zippo lighter up for Dawn to see. She looked down at the Zippo in her hand, the battered and scratched lighter feeling heavy in her grasp. She smiled as she read the engraving to herself.
To X,
My Favourite
Scooby Snack
~F
She remembered what she used to say to her Xander about the lighter and why she gave it to him. The tears threatened to fall again. Why did he have to come here? Why now? Could she trust him? Could they trust him? Did he just turn up to taunt her with what she couldn't have anymore?
Or was he here to replace her Xander...
Her Xander... Gone, and replaced with this man who had killed a woman so he could get her power. A power that was mixed up with Drac. She had only ever met the Vampire once, Drac having tracked down Xander and tried to entice him to join him once more. He didn't succeed, and Faith got to kick Drac's ass in the process, which had been fun. Xander had asked her to let the Vamp go in the end, and she had agreed, even if it was against her instincts. She had slapped him down and her man had rebuffed him once more. And here he was again, trying to weasel his way back into their lives.
"And we still don't know why Willow passed out?" Buffy asked Giles, knocking Faith out of her thoughts.
"No, none of the other Wiccans can explain it." Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them. "She seems perfectly fine, she appears to be collecting her energies, for what, they cannot say. The spell she had been performing on Xander was a tracer to find the ones responsible for our duplicate and his charge."
"Any more info on the girl?" Buffy asked.
"Kate," Faith spoke up, now paying attention to the two. "Her name is Kate."
"Kathryn Nancy Adams to be precise." Giles picked up a thin folder off Dawn's desk. "I'm afraid she is dead in this world," he explained, handing the folder to Buffy, the Head Slayer opening it. "Six years ago, about the same time, that Xander," he pointed to the screens. "Rescued Kate in his world, the Adams family compound in our world, aptly named 'The Garden', was stormed by ATF Agents. The Patriarch, Pastor Joseph Adams had been on a watch list for some time due to his radical teachings and behaviour. They suspected him of various crimes, torture, illegal weapons and such... A number of wayward souls had joined him over the years, some intergrading themselves with the congregation, others eventually found years later in a mass grave on the outskirts of the county," He frowned. "He believed he was a Prophet and doing God's work as his right hand.
"His sermons were mostly filled with fire and brimstone, that the rapture was near, and many different groups around the world were quickening the world to its downfall. The various religions, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, any ideology for that matter was corrupting the world from the true path of the Lord..." He rubbed his forehead. "They even had several strong words against Homosexuality and the Military that I would never repeat in polite company or bad company for that matter...
"Be that as it may, ATF Agents tried to storm the farm, a large firefight ensued, and rather than be taken alive Pastor Adams barricaded himself, his family and their congregation in their chapel and proceeded to lead them all in self-immolation." he paused at Buffy and Faith's looks of shock. "He believed the fire would cleanse them all and pave their way to Heaven. The fire took the entire compound; Kate was on the list of the dead, along with the rest of her family."
"Guess Xander wasn't lying about Kate's Grand-Pop." Faith said, taking the folder from a stunned Buffy. "He really did get the screwed up girls huh?" she said quietly reading through the couple of pages held within. "I wonder if that's why he was with her," she looked up at Giles and Buffy's confused looks. "His Faith."
"Don't say that," Buffy sat next to her on the desk. "Xander wasn't with you because of your past."
"I know that," Faith looked up at the blonde. "But maybe that Xander was... He's different Buff. He has magic sure, but he paid a terrible price to get it." As both Buffy and Giles shared a look Faith went on to tell them all that Xander had told her once Giles had left his cell.
"Xander killed a woman?" Buffy stared back at the monitors.
"She was a Witch Buffy," Giles corrected. "We have dealt with their ilk before; we still don't know what happened to the fate of Miss Madison's Mother."
"Yes, but we always try to avoid killing Humans, by the sounds of it he went hunting for her."
"Which brings me to my point," Faith watched Xander on the monitor again. "Maybe he was with her because they were both screwed up..."
Willow tossed and turned a couple times, the monitors next to her beeping more frequently. Xander paused mid-sentence as he and Dawn noticed the sudden activity in Willow's room. He sat up, waking Kate, as a couple medical staff entered the hospital room and began checking on the Witch.
"What's going on?" Kate mumbled, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. She looked to Xander and then Dawn, both staring out the observation window. "What's wrong?"
"I don't know..." Dawn stepped forward, pushing a button on a small call box by the window. "Doctor? What's happening?"
~We're not sure...~ one of the white coated people turned to the window. ~All her vitals are spiking.~ she turned to one of the nurses. ~Get the Wicca's back in here!~
"What do you mean spiking?" Dawn asked.
~I mean, by these screens, she should be awake and talking...~ the doctor grabbed a sheet of paper that was being printed from an EEG next to the bed. ~There is a huge spike in her brainwaves, she's talking or doing something with Magic that's taking serious mental strain.~
A group of four women, dressed similarly in white lab coats entered the room at that moment. All moved to the bed, but stopped suddenly a few feet away. They each paused before standing straight and freezing on the spot. Willow's hair was still brilliantly white, but now it began to glow and glitter, a faint hint of a mystical wind made it move about her. The rumble that accompanied it began softly, growing by the second before people were grabbing onto any stationary object about them to help maintain their footing.
The observation window smashed from the shaking, Xander grabbing Kate and Dawn, shielding them with his body to protect them from the falling glass. Dust fell from the ceiling as things on shelves and desks fell to the ground around the campus. Xander watched as the four Wiccan's seemed still not to move, despite the earthquake they were now experiencing. Alarms were now going off around the school, Dawn's walkie on her hip squawked repeatedly as calls went out from various departments.
"Say again!" Dawn shouted into the radio. "I repeat, say again!"
~This is Libby over in the Wicca Labs!~ Came the reply. ~All the Witches are frozen! They just stopped whatever they were doing and froze!~
"SUNNYDALE!" All four Wicca's in the room cried as one, the shaking stopping instantly as all four fell to the ground.
The West Coast
They placed the seal down on the ground, each of the demons standing around the large stone circle. Mortin raised his arms up, his walking stick held aloft. "It is time..." he spoke softly. The other demons looked at each other with trepidation before each raised their arms as well. As one they all began to sing, the chant low in their throats and strung out.
The seal, a large circle of red rock, a pentagram on its face along with several different runes and a large bleeding heart, began to glow red. The demons closed their eyes, some shaking their arms as they droned on, and filled the area with the last of their energies.
Guardie stood behind her father and the others, watching them, her tongue licking her suddenly dry lips. She was nervous. Her tribe had settled on many a place throughout the millennia, but they had never had to take such a drastic course of action as they were doing now. Especially after being forced to leave Cleveland the way they had. So many had died each time they were forced to move, in Sisimiut, Greenland there had only been fifty of them, when in Kongsberg, Norway before that there had been hundreds in the tribe. But it seemed every time the energies began to wane, Essen, Germany, Tolyatti, Russia or Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, all the way to the very first Hellmouth in Asyut, Egypt all those millennia ago there were less and less of them. What they were doing now, what they were forcing this once plentiful place to do was to save their tribe, and in turn save the world.
She knew the Slayers would not see it that way. And for that she was scared. She had grown up hearing the stories of the Slayer, hearing of their triumphs against her fellow demons. How the Last Slayer had changed the rules to suit herself and made all her sisters. And now the last of her tribe, even her own Father, were actively going to put themselves in her and her Slayer Army's path. Guardie nervously checked over her weapons again, making sure she had everything, as once the spell began, they would be casting a large enough beacon into the Magical ether that even the Old Ones would feel it.
Then again, she paused as she looked down the edge of her large sword, making sure there were no nicks or dents, that was the plan wasn't it? If they didn't do what they were planning to do, the Old Ones would awaken once more and all would feel their wrath, Demon and Human alike. She returned the sword to her scabbard on her back and looked over the last of her tribe as they each began to sit around the new seal.
Their chanting grew louder and faster, what started out as a low, drawn out dirge was now becoming livelier and more hurried. She squared her shoulders, cracking her neck as she looked around them. They were on a small island in the middle of the lake, no bigger than a tennis court. The water lapped gently at the small shore, seemingly in time with the chant. That was when she noticed the water had begun to move more, waves undulating higher and higher. She took a deep breath; she could feel the tribe's magicks in the air now, and the familiar feeling of a Hellmouth nearby.
And then she blinked.
The chanting had stopped.
And she was alone.
She turned around several times as she took in her new surroundings. She was in the front yard of a suburban home, trees lined the street, several cars were either parked along the thoroughfare or sitting in driveways of neighbouring homes. Guardie resisted the urge to draw a weapon; instead she placed one hand around the hilt of the dagger at her side. She looked up the path that lead up to the two story house whose front yard she found herself in. It looked nice, as far as houses looked, not that she had seen that many.
A small hedge lined the front of the house, broken by a set of steps that lead to a porch with picture windows on both end, and a large bench with a couple pillows on the right side of the front door. Guardie slowly walked up the concrete path to the door where she could see lights were on. She still looked around her, listening intently for any noise that would alert her to danger. That was when she heard the woman call out someone's name from inside.
When she reached the stairs she contemplated them for a second before slowly stepping on the first step. When nothing happened her shoulders slumped in relief, she hadn't realised how tense she had been. Taking a deep breath she walked up the steps and onto the porch. Guardie had just enough time to read the number 1630 next to the front door before the porch light above her turned on and she shielded her eyes from it as the door flew open.
"Buffy? Dawn?" An older woman stepped out quickly.
Guardie took a step back, her hand still on her dagger, her other moving to the sword on her back.
"Who are you?" the woman asked, an angry edge to her voice. "If you've hurt my daughters..." she took a step forward.
"I haven't done anything to your daughters." Guardie said quickly.
"Good." the woman eyed the demon before her. "Good..." she took a step back to within the house's threshold. "Do you know where they are?" she asked, looking around the front yard.
"They are at their School..." Mortin said softly from behind her.
"Father," Guardie smiled at the demon.
"What are you doing in my house?" The woman turned around quickly, pulling a small blade hidden in the window sill of the window next to the door, a smart idea Xander had when he was charged with rebuilding the front entrance after a demon attack.
"Please relax Mrs. Summers..." Mortin raised his claws in surrender. "We mean you no harm. Guardie, stand down." he looked over her shoulder as his daughter was about to attack the woman.
"No harm...?" the woman repeated, looking back at Guardie as she returned her own dagger to its sheath on her hip. "No harm, and yet you have weapons."
"Only to defend ourselves." Mortin smiled. "Please, come," he gestured to the dining room, where a couple other demons were just sitting down at the table. "We have much to discuss before your daughters and their friends return to their long lost home."
"Long lost home?" the woman repeated, the dagger in her hand falling to her side.
"Yes..." Mortin bowed his head and leaned heavily on his staff. "We have brought the Hellmouth back."
Author's Note 2: Surprise! Or at least I hope it was. Let me know what you liked, disliked, and all that in a review please, I've been getting less and less of them lately...
