"This Montesi Formula," Agatha commented. "you've seen it work?"
"The character I became that Halloween cast it and yes, it worked." Xander replied. "It drew power from the Hellmouth, which is a good thing given it came from the Darkhold and wiped out all the vampires as intended and drained the Hellmouth of energy in the process. Angel, the cursed vampire, the Magic of his curse modified it and made him human. With no souled vampire to corrupt there was no use in driving a Slayer insane, so Twilight abandoned its plans in our reality. If Dr. Zabuto is correct, then Twilight exists beyond time and space and has no counterparts. Which means it needs only one reality to get it right "
"I've never heard of the Darkhold, but a name like that suggests dark Magic." Agatha observed
"It is, if you're not strong enough it'll corrupt you, which makes sense since the Darkhold was believed to have been created by the Elder god Chthon and he may have also been a demon. But the Darkhold contains both the spell that initially created vampires in its original reality and the Montesi Formula, the spell that can destroy them. And since the Magic systems are the same in both that reality and ours -."
"The spell works in ours as well. My Coven may be strong enough to cast it, but I won't risk them and wouldn't you know it, there's another Hellmouth here in England. Not as large as the one Sunnydale had before Miss Summers some how shut it down, but still substantial."
"Is Buffy taking credit for the Hellmouth shutting down?" Cordelia asked. "I thought Xander came up with the plan and built the bomb, Buffy made a comment that you guys needed an army of your own, but Xander did all the work."
"Buffy did the important part." Willow defended her. "She lured the Mayor."
"She was the only one who could run fast enough to not get eaten." Cordelia retorted. "Someone riding a motorbike could have done the same thing. Buffy had nothing to do with the Hellmouth shutting down, something else was responsible. Maybe the Mayor was tied to it somehow, he did build Sunnydale so it could be an all you can buffet for vamps and demons."
"That makes sense." Agatha agreed. "But we're unlikely to ever know for sure. My Coven and I will study this spell, Alexander and when we feel we're ready, we'll cast it. Neutralizing Twilight will save our reality, our Earth, from destruction."
"Buffy would never go along with it and neither would Angel!" Willow insisted.
"By the time Twilight was ready Buffy would be insane and Angel corrupted." Xander told her. "We've been to a reality were that Buffy could most definitely be considered crazy, but then she'd died three times and you'd resurrected her once and forgot to dig her coffin up and if I remember correctly from Day of the Nightmares, that's one of Buffy's worst fears, having to dig herself out of her own grave. Things like that can definitely drive a person insane and explain why she got involved with a soulless Spike after being brought back."
"Do you know what spell she used?" Agatha asked, feeling sick.
"Ritual of Osiris, according my counterpart and yes, I know what that ritual entails, I looked into it once we were back in our reality."
"Oh, gods." Agatha ground out, horrified, she did too. "That ritual requires a living sacrifice, the heart's blood of an infant. A human life for a human life. That's one of the foulest, darkest spells ever created. Why would she be willing to do something like that?"
"Somehow, without bothering to check, she'd become convinced that Buffy's soul had ended up in Hell and she had to save her, which is how she convinced our counterparts to go along with it."
"Alexander, why did you begin studying Magic yourself?" Agatha asked curiously.
"I kept some of Dr. Strange's knowledge and some of the power from that night." He answered. "I wanted to understand it so I asked Jenny Calendar, a technopagan of the Kalderash People, to teach me. My counterpart went as a soldier and he also kept what he knew that night, but given that we're Oracles and descended from gods, that makes sense."
"That does not make sense!" Willow protested. "Why would you think you're an Oracle, let alone descended from gods? Our Xander certainly isn't."
"The same messenger that the gods sent to tell me I'd earned the ankh told me. When the gods pull you into a pocket dimension filled with demigods and a centaur tells you he's got messages from the gods for you, you tend to pay attention." Xander retorted. "He's got credibility."
"Given the strength and control you have, your counterpart may also be able to develop a strong magical ability as well." Agatha said thoughtfully. "Perhaps I could offer him an apprenticeship with us." A shocked Willow was rendered speechless by this offer but that changed to horror by the visiting Xander's answer
"I'm afraid that's not going to be possible." He handed Agatha the comic book. "He and his Cordelia have been transported to another reality by a god, which god I don't know and trapped there. I used the comic book to locate the reality. It's writing itself as it follows their adventures. This is the original, we've already discovered regular comics are being sold in stores. it's seems Batman and the Justice League are real in that reality. A story here, real life there. That Cordelia has been transformed into an Amazon and he's been given a Green Lantern ring."
A horrified Willow read and reread the comic book he handed her, she saw for herself as the Dawn girl explained things she didn't want to believe, saw Xander's test with the ring, saw the counterparts arrive and read the explanation for Faith's behavior and just kept shaking her head, it couldn't be happening. It had be a trick of some kind and Willow was determined to figure it out and save Xander.
Agatha frowned at the young woman and just knew she was going to be trouble.