Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Spike was utterly, completely, and irrevocably in love. Because his girlfriend was dangerous, wild, and just the smallest bit strange that would always have him fascinated, trying to figure her out when it was impossible to do so completely.

That said, currently she was going a little stir crazy, and so was he, and he was quite possibly annoying her just as much as she was annoying him.

"Will you stop that?" he asked, watching her pace the room once again, like she wanted to start running but there wasn't enough space.

After leaving graduation, they'd immediately found a crypt of their own and then begun to lay low while the underworld of Sunnydale was in chaos and attempting to fill the gap of leadership it suddenly found itself with. Spike and Buffy had talked, and both had decided that they felt no need to take the position that had once been theirs before the Mayor had revealed himself. Managing minions was just tiring, and annoying, and Spike liked it better off on his own. Buffy agreed. Still, that had been at the beginning of the summer, and now the season was ending and the dumb demons still hadn't figured out who would be in charge now. It was almost enough to convince him to go out and take over, because there was clearly no one else competent enough to do it.

Almost, but not quite.

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Sure, once the sun goes down and I can go kill something. Seriously, why couldn't we get another mansion instead?"

"Because, love, we'd just worked with the Slayers and their little gang to overthrow the standing power around here. We needed to lie low for a little while. And just yesterday you were saying how nice the place was."

"Well, it's been a long while, and we're still laying low. Also, you left out the context."

Spike had, in fact, left out the context, even if he rather liked said context. "Things are getting better, love, don't worry. You'll see. It's all quieting down a bit, at least."

"Well, I don't want to wait."

"Oh, I'm sure I could think of something to help pass the time."

"Really." She leaned in closer, pulling them together in a passionate kiss.

"So, how's college going?" Xander asked. The group of six walked in pairs. Willow and Oz, the two actual college students, Kendra and Faith, the Slayers, and Xander and Anya, who were... still somewhat of an odd match, but everyone had long since gotten used to that.

"It's great!" Willow responded enthusiastically. "There's so many people, and so many cool classes, and professors, and stuff, and ooo, have you seen the library?"

Xander chuckled. "Sorry, Wil, but I haven't been in a library since the one we blew up, and I'm not in any rush."

Kendra and Faith began to lag behind. "Jealous?" Kendra asked.

Faith snorted. "Nah, I knew even before the whole Slayer thing that I was never going to somewhere like this. Never even finished high school." Her eyes grew far off for a moment, then she shook her head. "Forget about it."

"Sure." Kendra knew either of their pasts was a tough topic that no one really wanted to breach. Maybe someday Faith would open up, or she would talk about growing up with only her Watcher, but not yet.

She could continue pretending that it didn't feel like there was an unbreachable gulf between them whenever something like this was brought up.

A vampire ran through the woods. He glanced over his shoulder as often as he dared, but no matter how much distance he covered, he never seemed to be able to widen the gap between him and the people chasing him.

Then he tripped over a root.

Swearing, he tried to leap back to his feet, but in front of him, a masked figure stood. The gun in their hands pointed at him, and then a beam of electricity shot from it, and he fell unconscious.

No one noticed as the masked figures closed in on their prey, dragging him away.

Chapter Text

Parker had never seen the beautiful blonde that was arguing with the British guy at the party, but she was pretty. Maybe, if she wasn't with him- or wouldn't be for much longer- he could start getting closer to her.

"You never let me have any fun!" she snapped at her maybe-boyfriend- and oh, Parker loved the sound of that- before marching in his direction... and right into him. He let out a little oof, because she was pretty strong, and clearly not expecting anyone in her way- clearly she knew nothing about these parties.

"Sorry," she muttered.

"It's fine," he promised her, even if his chest felt bruised. The girl was tiny, there was no way it was actually that bad. "You okay?"

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, sure. As long as that-"

"Whoa," he said. "Bad breakup?"

"What makes you say that?"

"You sound pretty mad at him."

"Oh. I guess I do. I'm Buffy, by the way."

"Parker. Want to head out?" Maybe he was pushing it, but the girl definitely wanted to get away from her now-ex if her avoidance of the question was anything to go by.

"Sure." She smiled, and Parker grinned back. This one would be fun, he could tell.

Tara... was not stalking Parker. She was definitely not at the kind of party she'd never go to on her own terms because Parker was there. She did not have the materials for a spell that would- do nothing, because she was not going to do a spell. Even if Parker was an entitled jerk and had hurt so many people.

And clearly planned to do the same to the girl who was with him tonight. And Tara wasn't following the pair. Of course not. That was weird and creepy and all kinds of wrong.

But if Tara could protect this girl from being hurt... wasn't that worth it? Wouldn't her mother have wanted her to use her magic for that?

This was definitely not a result of- no, not thinking about that. It was fine. She's out, and she's... in the literal worst town for someone who might be... you know, but it didn't matter. Nothing was going to happen.

And she had a year before it did, anyway. Might as well make the most of it.

The girl fell back a little behind Parker, but Tara saw her face shift when he didn't. She ducked into an alley. Vampire. Not good. Okay, she needed to get out of there before the vampire smelled her. She didn't want to end up the second victim.

...Maybe she didn't feel too bad leaving Parker.

She faintly heard him ask, "Buffy?" She could picture him turning around, heard the shout of surprise but kept running, because it wasn't like she could do anything about it, anyway.

Note to self: keep an eye out for a 'Buffy' at night, and stay far away.

"Dru? Did you find it?"

"Yes, flower. It glows so prettily."

Harmony got distracted by a cool necklace. "Nice. So, what're you gonna do with it."

"Oh, I have a plan, sweet. You can go find us a nice place, I'll take care of it."

"So, what is this place?" Faith asked, looking through the treasure trove. "You know stuff. I just kill stuff."

Kendra sighed. "I wish you wouldn't put it like that."

Faith winced. "Too soon?"

"I would prefer it if we... didn't make jokes about that ever."

"Sure. Fine. I get it, believe me." Faith glanced around quickly. "So. They're not here. Whoever they are, and I'm guessing evil. Sunnydale doesn't get a lot of treasure hunters of the normal kind. What do you think they're looking for?"

"I don't know."

"Great. Okay. So, I'm going to go look for whoever did this. Maybe they're nearby."

"I'll stay. In case they come back."

Faith glanced at her. "Um. Sure. Okay."

Once she was gone, Kendra put her face in her hands.

"Seriously! All of a sudden, you're all cautious and wary and 'don't kill too many people, Buffy, someone might come looking'. I don't care if they come! Let them! I want to-" Buffy cut off as the door opened.

Spike rose to stand next to her. Drusilla was standing in the doorway.

In broad daylight.

"That's cool," Buffy commented. "I want to do that."

"She's all yours, love," Spike told her.

"What?! Why?"

"Because you're more resistant to the sun than I am."

"Ugh. Fine." Buffy lunged at Drusilla.

The first thing the other vampire did was pull them into the sunlight. Buffy could last a little- something about Slayer stuff- but not as long a Dru clearly could, given that she seemed fairly confident in her ability to stay out in the sun.

As Buffy started to smoke, Dru grabbed her from behind, and Buffy saw the ring on her finger. If Dru had a style, that wasn't it, and she put it together.

"That's pretty," she said, and ripped it off Dru's finger as she threw herself into the crypt. Dru made a horrified noise as she started to smoke, moving back and away from them, disappearing from view. Buffy grinned and held up the ring to Spike. "Look what I got."

Chapter Text

Dru was angry. Buffy had been mean to her, and had stolen her pretty ring. She'd walked with the sun for barely an hour before it had happened.

She'd leave both of them, Buffy and Spike, in pretty clouds of dust. Her Harmony had tried to make it better, but it only helped a little. She wanted her ring back.

She'd get it back. She'd take it-

There was a moment of pain, and then the stars were moving, and the ground beneath her, and there were masked monsters with their hands around her arms...

Oz was worried. Not much... okay, maybe a lot. But Veruca was different and she could be dangerous if she wouldn't lock herself up and he didn't want them to have to hurt her but if she wanted to just go around killing people and what was he going to tell Willow?

It wasn't him. It hadn't been him last night. But that didn't mean he hadn't noticed her before that.

Willow knew. He knew she did. She knew he looked at her. She had to know he felt bad about it, right? That it didn't mean anything? He'd never do that to her...

And yet, that night, he locks Veruca in with him, knowing what will happen if they're in wolf form together.

I'm sorry, Willow.

Riley couldn't help but feel glad he was out with Forrest at the moment. If he hadn't been... he liked Willow, she was cool and smart and even Walsh liked her a little, and Walsh didn't like many people. At the moment, though, she was very clearly not quite with them, and had almost been hit by a car because of it.

"You okay?" he asked, even though she very clearly wasn't. Physically, she looked fine, though, so that was a start.

"Willow!" someone called, and Riley looked up to see two girls running toward them.

"What happened?" the girl with a hint of an accent asked.

"She didn't look like she was paying attention," Riley told them. "Just walked out in front of the car." At least, he hoped it was that and not intentional. If whatever this was was that bad, and it had gotten bad this fast, that was something he didn't want to think about. Pretending to be a TA for a psychology professor had taught him enough to know just how bad that was. Like, someone died bad. Plus, Willow would be putting her own life in danger, which in Sunnydale (for whatever reason) was a death sentence.

"I'm going to kill Oz," the other girl muttered. The first one shot her a glance that seemed to say we talked about this, and the girl muttered, "Sorry." She clearly wasn't.

"Thank you," the first girl told Riley then. "I'm Kendra, by the way. That's Faith. We're Willow's friends."

"Riley," he told her. "And no problem. Couldn't let that happen."

"We'll make sure she's alright," Kendra told him. "Better go now." Willow agreed distantly.

"Sure. See ya."

As Riley watched the three girls walk off, Forrest commented, "Now she's hot."

"Yeah," he agreed, not really thinking until he realized what he'd said.

"Oh, not yours. Not that she's bad looking or anything, but not really my type. The other one. Faith. Kendra's all yours."

Well, yes. Kendra was very good-looking, both of the two in a badass way. And it was really sweet, the way she was looking out for Willow. And Riley might be slightly smitten, even just from one conversation.

That was a thought for another time.

"Now, I'm always up for a bit of vengeance," Anya commented from behind Willow, making her jump, "But are you sure this is what you want?"

"Yeah," Willow told her. It was. She didn't feel at all guilty about doing this to Oz. Blame where it belonged. Oz and Veruca. "It is."

"Got it," Anya said. "Because looking back at that whole thing with Cordelia, she made a spur of the moment wish for vengeance, with magic to complete it, and she ended up regretting it pretty fast. Especially when she died. And you don't seem very confident."

Maybe Willow was stalling. Just a little. It wasn't a difficult spell, and yet she'd checked every component, read over the spell and its effects so many times. "I need to do this."

"That's what I used to think about vengeance, when I was a demon. But half the time, the vengeance enacted just hurts the victim as much as the person who hurt them. And you're not yourself. I'm just saying, maybe give it a few days, let this sink in, and then try again if you still think this is the best path. Think it over a little. Can't hurt, right? I mean, if I'd actually gotten my necklace back and went right back to vengeance, I never would have found what I did with Xander. So sometimes I want that life back, but sometimes I'm grateful."

"This isn't like with you, Anya," Willow insisted. "Go away."

"Okay. If you're sure."

She was. She was. She-

Willow sighed and closed the spellbook. "How do you do it?"

Anya shrugged. "I'm probably not the best example- I mean, it took me a thousand years to get over it- but you find people to support you. Good people, who care about you, and you already have that."

She did. She should talk to Xander more. And Kendra. And even Anya and Faith.

"Ready to go?" Anya asked.

"Yeah," Willow said turning around. "I'll just clean this-" There was a crash behind her, and she whipped back around. Veruca had shoved Anya out of the way, and was now advancing on Willow.

Oz intervened in time, and Veruca died, but that didn't make it any better.

Faith sighed. New, weird, masked figures, Oz leaving, Willow was devastated, and everything else on top of that... all she wanted to do was talk to Kendra, address the tension between them (as much as she just wanted to ignore it as well) and she never seemed to have the right time. And it felt like they were running out of that.

Couldn't ever be easy, could it?

Chapter Text

It was so bright. The lights were burning little holes in her eyes. And all over her body. It wasn't sunlight, though. She remembered what that felt like- the sun was all fire, even before it burned her. These lights were cold. She didn't like them. She didn't much like the sun, either.

There was too much white. It was making her head hurt.

Drusilla curled up in a ball and decided to wait.

"Hostile 17 has shown no indication of doing much of anything since it woke up. This is abnormal behavior for its species."

"Hm. Give it twenty-four hours and then take it out for examination, whether or not its sedated."

"We should go summon something," Xander commented. "Something really, really evil, and really, really not dangerous. So then we could go kick its ass."

Giles glanced up. "I believe that would defeat the purpose of summoning such a creature."

Xander sighed. "Maybe. But I just want to do something. Kendra and Faith have been handling everything recently- and there hasn't really been much besides these commando guys that they'll probably take care of too- and I can't help Willow with everything she has going on, and I don't have college or even a job right now and I need to do something."

"We could go have sex," Anya suggested from his side.

"That's true," Xander agreed. "But we can't do that all the time."

Anya conceded that they couldn't, unless they did a spell of some sort.

Faith walked in. "Just us tonight, guys. Kendra's taking Willow to a party."

"They're going without you?" Anya asked. She looked like she was going to say more, but Faith was already answering.

"Yeah, we thought it would be best to have one Slayer on alert." She turned to Anya. "Girl's night?"

Anya looked at Xander, who shrugged. "Go ahead. I'll be fine."

Anya and Faith left, and Xander grinned. "I'll get the weapons."

Mean men came to get her, dragging her out of the room with the bright lights into the hallway with bright lights. There was a table, with wheels, and she didn't know what it was for but they had needles and Dru didn't like needles. So she struggled, catching them by surprise and she managed to wiggle her way out and run.

She would get home, and everything would be alright.

Harmony jumped up as Drusilla stumbled in. "Dru! Baby!" She'd been so worried. Dru hadn't come home, and now she was like this-

Harmony didn't ask what happened. Not yet. She just had to take care of her girlfriend for now. The rest could come later.

And Harmony wasn't much of a master vampire without Dru's help, but if she ever found out who had hurt her girlfriend, they would die in the most painful way Harmony could possibly imagine.

She'd been feeling like someone was watching her for days.

Talk to Willow. Talk to Willow. She should talk to Willow.

There was no way Tara would be talking to Willow.

Xander faced Harmony. Harmony faced Xander.

"Weren't you dead?" Xander asked. 

"Well, duh. I'm so a vampire now."

"Wait, actually?"

Harmony bared her fangs at him. "I'm going to bite you."

"I'll stake you first." The two squared up.

She slapped him.

He kicked her in the shin.

She jumped at him.

He pulled her hair.

They both flailed around for a little, before finally giving up and stepping back.

"What are you even doing out here?" Xander asked her.

"Well, I was going to go eat people, but then I saw Buffy and Spike on campus and I don't want to deal with that right now."

Xander ran off.

Riley was totally acting super awkward around Kendra because he was trying to get her to leave while staying in character and not being suspicious or saying anything about HSTs, not because he'd absolutely bungled things at the party. At least she wasn't with that guy... although he was in her friend group, so he shouldn't have gotten so jealous, but his friends had just gotten him so riled up, and...

And she totally thought he was a total jerk, because he was kind of acting a bit like a total jerk right now, and yeah. This was going great, really.

He was almost grateful when someone started screaming.

Buffy. That's who was following her. She must have known Tara was there that night with Parker.

Tara ran through the dorm halls. She saw Willow glance out her door.

And then the power went out.

Spike watched the doofuses pull their masks on just as the lights went out. Buffy would be fine. He just needed to get a better view of her being her usual amazing self.

Willow was so confused.

She'd seen Buffy, briefly, while she was chasing after some girl Willow didn't know. Then the lights had gone out, and she thought she saw the masked people come in. And then Kendra had run by her while the guys shot at presumably Buffy who used a fire extinguisher to block the shots, which exploded, and then Kendra set off a flare gun, which only made the smoke worse, and then she was fighting the masked guys and Buffy was gone and Willow didn't know where the other girl had gone.

The masked figures retreated just as the smoke cleared, and the hall stared in shock and confusion.

Tara hid around the corner. There was no way she was talking to Willow now. Even she didn't know what had happened back there, really. There had been so many people involved and Tara had no clue where they'd come from or who was on whose side and... yeah.

Maybe she'd talk to Willow after things calmed down.

After all, this stuff happened all the time in Sunnydale, and people would forget about it pretty fast. Yes, that was a good plan.

Chapter Text

"I've never really done a Thanksgiving before," Faith admitted. The gang was planning their Thanksgiving, sitting in a circle at Giles's house. She wasn't sitting next to Kendra like she normally would be. Instead, Kendra was standing, leaning against the couch were Willow, Anya, and Xander sat.

"My family doesn't do Thanksgiving," Willow agreed. "I don't like the idea- I mean, I don't particularly like the idea of celebrating how we came and killed people and took their land- but... I don't know. I think if maybe we took all the historical connotations out of it, I could stomach it. Maybe don't even call it Thanksgiving. Like, a family dinner or something?"

"Yeah," Xander agreed. "Like, seriously, am I the only one who celebrates Thanksgiving? I mean, Giles is all Britishy and stuff-" Giles attempted to protest this, but it was a hard thing to protest- "Kendra's in the same situation there, and I don't think demons celebrate Thanksgiving," he said, turning to Anya.

"Only the holiday ones," she said.

"Right. Anyway, I'll make a list of everything normal people eat on Thanksgiving and we can go from there."

Kendra was trying to ignore the awkward silence of walking with Faith from the store when they ran into Riley. She'd thought it would be nice to stop and talk for a moment before the holiday break, but Faith almost immediately jumped out with, "Look, they're selling coffee in the coffee shop. I'm gonna go grab," leaving her and Riley alone.

She wasn't sure how she felt about Riley, honestly. He was... a little weird, and the last time she'd seen him he'd just been a jerk, but tonight he was all shy and conversational. They talked about their Thanksgiving plans, and then he moved on. Kendra had to wait five more minutes for Faith to come back out.

"Have a nice talk?" Faith asked in an incomprehensible voice, and Kendra just nodded. She didn't know what else to say.

There was a knock on the door. Willow opened it, and then blinked a few times in confusion.

In her defense, it wasn't often you opened your door and who was waiting was two people with a blanket over both their heads. It looked a little funny.

"Wrong holiday!" Faith called. "It's Thanksgiving, not Halloween."

"Shut up," one of the people under the blanket grumbled, and Willow blinked.

"Harmony?" she asked. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, no," Xander said. "Oh no no no. I'm not that stupid, and I most certainly did not forget the fact that you're a vampire now."

Well, that explained the blanket, at least.

"Look, I need your help," Harmony said.

"No," everyone immediately responded.

"Well, I don't," she continued, "but my girlfriend does." One of the figures seemed to gesture to the other. They were still under the blanket, so it was a little hard to tell. "She got taken the other night by those masked guys, and now she's back and she can't hurt anyone. It gives her this pain in her head, and neither of us have any clue what's going on. We really need your help with this. Please, I promise, we won't even kill people anymore! She just needs blood and I'm no good of a vampire so I can't get enough for the two of us and we can tell you about these people! I mean, you like to know what's going on around here, right? We know stuff!"

Kendra and Giles shared a look. Neither liked the idea, but if they could find out more about the commandos...

"Come in," Giles finally admitted. Two pairs of legs moved forward, and then the blanket fell back as the door closed.

Willow once again blinked in shock.

"Is that Drusilla?" Xander almost yelled.

Kendra pulled Faith aside. "What's going on with you?" she asked.

Faith stared at her. "Oh, so it's all my fault now?"

"What?" Kendra stared at her.

"Look, if you want to start things up with Riley, fine. I'm sure he's a great guy. And his friend's got a thing for me, so I can always go down that path. Don't hold back on my account."

"What?" Kendra was looking more and more confused.

"This... thing you've got going on with Riley. I can see it, you know."

"Faith." Kendra was shaking her head now. "You do remember that I don't like guys, right?"

Faith froze. Blinked a few times. Her eyes widened. "Oh my God. And now I feel like an idiot. Fine. Okay, that seems stupid now. But seriously. You've been acting weird. I guess just seeing Riley had a thing for you was messing me up."

"Riley has a thing for me?"

Faith rolled her eyes. "I forgot how hopeless you are at this stuff. Look, I don't want to fight. I just want to have a nice, peaceful Thanksgiving."

"A bear! You made a bear!" Spike shouted.

Buffy was now struggling with said bear. "I didn't mean to!"

"Undo it! Undo it!"

"We can," Kendra said. "And... I'm sorry. It's been... hard. I don't know. It's like I want things to go back the way they were, but everything's so complicated, and sometimes I don't think I'm ever going to be able to forget it all."

Faith looked down. "I get it. And I know I'm not helping..."

"I want to be able to," Kendra said. "And I know... it's not going to go away. So... maybe we can just try to start over? Try this again, no hard feelings for anything we've done so far?"

"Yeah." Faith smiled. "We can try that."

The gang sat down for dinner together, with the added guests of Harmony and Drusilla sitting together at the table. Somehow, none of it was awkward. Not between the gang, the couples, or even the vampires and the humans.

Buffy offered Spike a hand. He took it. "Did we win?"

Kendra and Faith walked home together. As they walked down the street, Faith reached for Kendra's hand.

She took it.

Chapter Text

Willow ran into Riley hanging up a poster for the college's lesbian alliance. They were friendly enough, so she stopped to talk to him, teasing him about being a lesbian. "So," Riley said. "How... how's Kendra?"

"She's fine," Willow said.

"Great." Riley nodded. "Great."

Willow decided to take pity on him. "Why do you ask?"

"Oh! Uh, nothing, no reason. She's just really nice, and, um, I thought I'd ask. I haven't seen her since before the holiday."

Ah. "Well, she's doing just fine. Having a bit of relationship problems, but they're working it out."

"I didn't know Kendra was dating someone," he said. He sounded a little... was that disappointment? "Whoever he is, he's a very lucky guy."

Did Riley no know...? Willow had assumed, but, "You do realize she’s a lesbian, right?”

Riley stared at Willow. “Huh?”

“Yeah. She and Faith are dating. Did you not know?” Willow looked at him. “Oh God, you didn’t know.” It made so much sense now. Riley had a crush on Kendra. Wow. That was... that was... Willow didn't know what that was. Especially since...

"Um, wow." Riley blinked. "Okay. I'm going to go... I don't know. I'm going to go."

"Yeah," Willow agreed sympathetically. That couldn't have been easy. Tough luck, she guessed. That sounded harsh, actually. But still.

Riley walked off.

From the shadows, Buffy's eyes traced the large blond as he walked away from Willow. "Him?"

Spike nodded. "Yeah. Him."

"Him," she repeated, nodding to herself.

"It's like feeding a small child," Giles complained as Drusilla held two pieces of cereal in her hands and chased them around with each other.

"Please don't ever make that comparison ever again," Kendra groaned.

"So, they've told us nothing," Faith said. "Can we stake them now?"

"We need that information," Giles argued. "We'll get something out of them eventually, I'm sure. Drusilla is just... difficult to understand, and Harmony is..."

"Harmony," Willow finished for him.

Harmony and Xander were bickering on the other side of the room. Anya was watching and occasionally jumping to Xander's defense.

The four watched the scene for a moment and exchanged glances. Drusilla threw one of her pieces of cereal at Xander.

Deep below the ground, in a hall with white walls, a man in a white lab coat entered a room labeled 314. Walsh was waiting for him.

"We're getting closer," she told him, and he nodded. She continued, "Finishing here is our top priority."

"Understood."

Chapter Text

Can't even shout...

Can't even cry...

The gentlemen are coming by

Looking in windows,

Knocking on doors

They need to take seven and they might take yours

Can't call to mom...

Can't say a word...

You're gonna die screaming but you won't be heard

Kendra and Faith jolted out of their sleep, and stared at each other, both breathing heavily.

"It was creepy," Kendra told Willow as they walked around campus. "Faith had the same exact one. Slayer dreams haven't affected me like that since... well, since I was first Called and experiencing them for the first time."

"Wow," Willow said. "So, like, big evil is coming or something?"

"Yeah," Kendra agreed. "Giles is looking into the 'Gentlemen', but so far, nothing. And the rhyme has to be significant, but we don't know what it means."

"Huh." Willow frowned. "I talked to Riley the other day."

"Oh?" Kendra said.

"Yeah. Did you know he has a crush on you?"

"Faith mentioned it," Kendra said, wincing as she remembered that conversation. They were still working things out, but they were trying to be better. She hadn't realized it had gotten so bad that Faith would see her having interest in someone else, especially a man.

"Yeah, I told him about the two of you. He seemed a little bummed, but I guess it's better that he knows?" Willow didn't sound sure.

"I can't believe I didn't know!" Riley declared, walking with Forrest. "I can't believe any of this!"

"Yeah," Forrest agreed. "Too bad, man. I know you were into her."

Riley sighed. "Yeah. I guess there was really a lot I didn't know about her, if I missed something this big."

That night, as the town slept, something escaped from everyone's throats and made their way to an open box.

Kendra woke up next to Faith. Good morning, she tried to say, but no sound came out.

Faith looked at her, concerned. Her lips formed the words are you- before stopped as her voice too failed her.

Around the town, people panicked as they found themselves silent.

What's going on? Willow wrote.

We don't know, Giles replied. We're working on it.

Faith grabbed the notebook, and scratched out messily, THE GENTLEMEN?

The group considered it silently. No one knew the answer.

Kendra and Faith shared a goodbye kiss before setting out in opposite directions as the sun set.

Riley headed off, not expecting to find anything but looking all the same, just like they all were. Walsh expected that, so they would do as she asked.

Tara gathered up her notes. She'd researched this spell all day, and was finally ready to... talk to Willow. Maybe the fact that the spell required two people was a bit of an excuse to get her moving. She had put this off long enough. It was now or never, and this was the perfect reason to go over and reveal herself as a fellow Wicca.

Tara started out across the campus, but then something jumped out at her. She didn't know what it was, but it was attacking her, so she did the Sunnydale trained response- she dropped everything and ran as fast as she could.

Something drew Kendra's attention to the clock tower.

Riley watched a shadow on the face of the clock. He started in that direction.

Tara bolted down the hall of the dorms, crashing into a wall as she knocked on every door. No one answered. Anyone who had ever lived in Sunnydale at all would know better than to answer. Tara would know that.

Suddenly, she crashed into a familiar redhead.

Kendra battled away the last of the goons.

Suddenly, she turned, finding herself face-to-face with...

Riley?

Tara and Willow ran together, locking themselves in a room. But their pursuers were banging on the door, trying to break through. Willow tried to push the vending machine toward the door with her magic, and growled in frustration when it didn't work.

Tara didn't know what possessed her to take Willow's hand, but she did, and their power combined.

The vending machine flew toward the door, blocking the monsters.

Tara suddenly found herself very aware that she was holding a cute girl's hand.

Willow stared at their hands too, but probably for a very different reason. Tara wasn't going to get her hopes up that Willow might... no.

Kendra didn't have the time to try to figure out why Riley was there... and a commando... because there were more gentlemen to fight, and soon they battled their way up to the top of the clock tower, where they found...

That box. Kendra remembered that box. She lunged toward the table, but the gentlemen pulled her away.

She tried getting Riley to smash it, but he smashed a heart jar instead. Unhelpful.

If Faith were here, she would have joked something like ugh. Men. Useless. Kendra, instead, broke free of the gentlemen and smashed the box herself, giving Riley a raised eyebrow as she did so. Then- and oh was she not looking forward to this part- she screamed like she was in a movie, until all their heads exploded. Then she immediately stopped, considered the situation for a moment, and walked out of the tower.

Riley was in too much shock to follow her.

"I've actually been working up the nerve to talk to you for a while," Tara admitted.

Willow smiled. She liked Tara, even if she was just getting to know her. And it was nice having a fellow Wicca to talk to, as well as... maybe a friend.

"Maybe we should meet up again sometime," Willow said. "Talk, hang out... maybe do some spells?"

Tara grinned. "I'd love to."

"Kendra!" Riley called, jogging to catch up with her. Kendra had been on her way to meet up with Willow, and decided immediately that she did not want to deal with this right now.

She turned around anyway. "I don't want to hear it," she told him.

"But-" he looked disappointed and off-balance.

"No." She turned to walk away again. "I really don't care. Whatever that was last night... just leave it."

Whatever Riley was about to say in response was lost as the ground started shaking.

The shaking ended.

“Looks like the end of the world,” Buffy said offhandedly.

The world doesn’t actually end, but it’s a near thing.

Chapter Text

Willow didn't know why it took her a moment to work up the nerve to knock on Tara's door, but she didn't let that stop her. Maybe it was just because it was the first time she was visiting Tara since they'd first met, and even though they'd agreed that Willow should stop by, something in her that was still the Willow before she'd met Oz and... Buffy, before that, felt like maybe this was all a mistake. Maybe that had all been some Willow-dream that she had made up and had made her happy, and it was all about to come crashing down. She was wrong. Tara hadn't actually invited her, Willow had made that up on her own, and now she was just showing up and Tara would think she was weird and send her away and...

Willow took a deep breath and knocked on the door.

Tara opened the door, and smiled shyly. "Willow!" she greeted, and Willow relaxed. This was good. This was real.

"Hi Tara," Willow said. She smiled back.

"Come on in," Tara told her. "I've got some things set up for something that I wanted to try."

Excitement replacing her nerves, Willow went in and let the door close behind her.

Riley was not sulking, not matter what Graham and Forrest said. Yeah, he was a little disappointed about how things had gone with Kendra, but he was dealing. Really.

He'd even done what regulation demanded and reported Kendra's involvement in fighting Sunnydale's hostiles to Walsh, who had been curious, especially about Kendra's superhuman strength and other things Riley had noticed when looking back over that fight. And had brought up the terrifying idea that Kendra wasn't human at all. Riley might have fallen for a girl who wasn't actually a girl.

He slumped on a bench, the thoughts in his head too much to deal with.

He belatedly noticed there was a small, blond girl on the bench with him, who was looking a little awkward. He felt a little bad. She was cute when she was awkward. No, Riley, that's post-rejection thoughts getting to you, don't do that to some poor random girl.

"You okay?" she asked hesitantly.

He sighed, and glanced up. "Yeah, just... oh, it's personal stuff."

She nodded. "Ah. Yeah. Can't really help you there."

Riley chuckled a little. "All good. I wouldn't ask you to." He held out a hand. "I'm Riley."

She shook it, grinning a little. She had a strong grip. The ring on her finger dug into his hand. "Hi. I'm Buffy."

Chapter Text

Riley stared at Walsh. He'd gotten used to the idea that Kendra might be an HST- no he hadn't- but this... it was taking a moment to wrap his head around this.

"So it's not just her?" Forrest asks, eyeing Walsh with something between doubt and a 'let's go kick ass' look.

"I'd thought so, at first," Walsh said. "But I can't imagine she's around the others without them knowing. And there's four of them that are on campus all the time for no reason at all, given that they don't go here. They follow all the patterns we've observed in HSTs. We have to conclude that this is a group of HSTs, of a type we have not seen before."

"What about Willow?" Riley had to ask. "She is a student here, but she's close with all four of them. To varying degrees. What do we think about her?"

"Best to err on the cautious side," Walsh told him. "We have to assume she knows what they are, but also, we have records for her, so she could be a civilian. And we can't risk using force against her, just in case. But we do need to look into her along with the rest of them, just in case."

Riley nodded. He didn't think Willow could be a HST, but... he didn't know her all that well, either. Sure, they were casual friends, but she didn't talk much about much outside of college stuff, and... that one conversation about Kendra. Could HSTs be dating, or had that been an excuse to get Riley to back off so he didn't figure anything out? God, now he had to go over every conversation he'd ever had with any of them and overanalyze it and good job, Riley, couldn't you have fallen for a human girl?

Riley sighed. On that note, he was going to go talk to a human girl.

Riley didn't normally get nights off, but he didn't mind spending this one with Buffy. She was funny, if a little odd, and he found himself laughing with her as they walked down the street. And wandered into the cemetery, somehow. That put Riley on alert a bit, but not too much, because he was enjoying himself. Spending time with her was actually keeping his mind off the whole mess with Kendra and her friends, except for a few stray thoughts of feeling slightly guilty that she could probably still be considered his rebound at this point.

They laugh at another one of her jokes. "You're a little peculiar," he tells her, because honestly he didn't even understand what she just said, but that was what was funny about it.

Buffy chuckled. "My... brother calls me that too, sometimes."

Riley's eyebrows shot up. "You have a brother?"

"Yeah. Pain in my ass, but he's great."

"Something happen? You sounded like you didn't want to bring him up."

"Eh. Bit of a touchy topic, the time I spend with him, but... well. Don't worry about it."

Riley wasn't going to press. He was keeping his own secrets, and if Buffy didn't want to tell him everything just yet... that was fine.

Also, something jumped out at them at that moment, so he didn't get a chance to say anything anyway.

And Buffy moved. In a practiced motion, she whirled, a stake was in her hand, and the hostile was dust.

Riley wanted to stand there gaping, like he had the last time he'd been in this situation. Instead, he cautiously reached for the small handgun he always kept with him. It might not to anything to her, but it made him feel better. "What are you?"

Buffy eyed his gun. "Are you one of those demon hunters that showed up recently?"

"Sure." Riley wasn't quite sure if that was what he'd call the Initiative, but if that was what outsiders wanted to call it, he'd let them.

"I'm the Slayer," she called, and when had she backed up that much? "Look it up, if you don't know it. Slayer comma the."

Then she was gone.

Chapter Text

Sitting on top of a mausoleum, Faith kicked her legs restlessly. There was no big evil to conquer tonight. They hadn't even caught sight of a vampire yet. No, tonight was about facing their own personal demons, because they were going to do this right, this time.

"I'm not going to push," Kendra told her. "I understand there are things that you just... it's stuff you can't talk about. And I'm going to promise not to judge you for anything you don't tell me, whether or not it ever comes out, or if you ever change your mind. But I don't want to let it come between us."

Faith nodded. "Fair. Same with me. Although I think I've got your worst secrets."

Kendra looked away. "It doesn't have to be the worst thing you've ever done for it to be something painful you don't want to share."

Faith didn't have an answer to that. Scenes from a past life flickered through her mind, but she pushed them aside. She didn't really want to think about that any more than she wanted to talk about it. Maybe someday, but not yet, and maybe not ever.

"So, beyond that..." Faith sighed, "Everything behind us. All the secrets we've kept, everything I did last year-"

"It wasn't just you," Kendra interrupted. "We all had a hand in that, making you feel like the Mayor was the only person you could turn to. If I'm moving past that, you get to too."

"Fine." Faith smirked. "Just never mention any of it again?"

"Something like that."

Her smirk faded to a smile. "That sounds like a start."

"What's the Slayer?" Riley asked Forrest.

"Slayer? Band. Wait. The Slayer? Some story the HSTs have. Scare their spawn, keep 'em in line. Why?"

"So it's a myth? You're sure?"

"What? You think there's some girl with super-strength running around kicking HST ass- wait. This isn't about that Kendra girl, is it? Because I know it's tough, but you have to accept-"

"I know," Riley said. "It's not about her. I... ran into someone else, the other night. Killed an HST like it was nothing. Called herself the "Slayer"."

"Might be a wannabe."

"Maybe. But she was good."

"So are we. Doesn't mean she's actually some mythical "Chosen One". I mean, come on."

Riley sighed. He had to talk to Buffy.

Buffy was waiting for him in the cemetery that night. Riley wasn't sure whether to be grateful or disconcerted about that.

"I want you to meet my brother," she told him.

"Your brother?" Riley asked. "He real? Or just another story? I've been through this before."

"I don't know about that," Buffy said, "but I never said anything I didn't mean. He's my brother in every way that counts. We hunt demons together. They took his family from him, and then he found me. So we work together now."

"And you just... hang out here all the time?" Riley asked. They didn't seem to be leaving the cemetery.

Buffy shrugged. "Gotta live like they do if you want to be able to do this right. Besides, the rent's way cheaper, and our job doesn't exactly pay well."

Riley couldn't help a chuckle. "Guess I've got a leg up on you there."

"You actually get paid?"

"I'm part of a branch of the military. I get paid just like any other military job."

"Huh. Now I'm jealous. I've, like, never gotten paid in my life."

Riley chuckled. "I mean, I could see about getting you work with the Initiative."

Buffy glanced up. She was so much shorter than him, yet he could tell she was so much more dangerous, if she wanted to be. "You would?"

"Of course. We need all the help we can get, and I can't imagine Walsh will have anything against hiring freelancers if they can be trusted." Actually, he wasn't sure that was true, but they'd make it worth. Walsh appreciated results above all else, and he got the feeling Buffy at least, if not her brother, could produce results.

"Walsh?"

Oh. Right. "The head of the Initiative. I get the feeling she'll like you." Walsh didn't like very many people, but Riley just had that feeling.

Or maybe he was projecting.

Buffy opened the door to a crypt. "In here."

The man waiting for him was hidden by the shadows, but Buffy didn't hesitate. "Spike, this is Riley. Riley, this is Spike."

A chuckle sounded from the man in the shadows. "Nice to meet you, mate. Got a feeling we'll get along just fine."

Chapter Text

Walsh walked into 314. Something was coming. She couldn't tell what it was, but something didn't feel right about this whole situation. She needed the project finished now, and she needed to talk to Riley. Something was up with him, and she had a feeling it had something to do with that HST, the one that called itself Kendra. He'd had feelings for it, when he'd thought it was a girl, and it was throwing him off to know that it wasn't. He needed to put it behind him, get back on track, instead of disappearing every night.

Everything was still so unsteady. Hostile 17 had vanished, her top soldier had fallen for and HST, and there was clearly some element working right under their noses that she couldn't quite figure out.

It took her too long of a moment to realize the operating table was empty. "Adam?" she called into the room. Something was wrong.

Pain erupted in her chest, and she looked down to see a skewer through it.

"Mommy," came a voice behind her, and then nothing.

"Who is this?" the Colonel demanded, looking none too happy. Riley guessed he had just showed up to the base with two random people without sending any word ahead about who they were or that they were coming.

"I need to talk to Walsh," Riley insisted. "They're local, hunt HSTs, freelancers. Might be able to help us."

The Colonel looked the two up and down, unimpressed. To be fair, Buffy was tiny, for all her strength, and neither of them looked particularly strong. Riley hadn't even seen Spike fight- he just knew Buffy vouched for him. "I see. Come with me, Finn."

He led Riley down to the restricted labs, not seeming to care that Buffy and Spike followed them. They entered the hallways, and one of the labs where-

Oh.

Walsh lay on the ground, dried blood from the wound in her chest. A doctor- Angleman, Riley thought- was there too, standing in the doorway.

"I found her here earlier," Angleman said. "Don't know what happened."

The Colonel eyed the three of them. "Got any ideas?"

"Skewered," Buffy murmured. "Got any demons good at that?"

"Polgara," Riley said. He turned to the two. "Is it still in the cages?"

They shook their heads. "It was taken in here for experimentation," the doctor told them.

"What kind of experimentation would that be?" Spike asked. "Something in here have a chance to get loose? Something that could have gotten out?"

Something stuck itself through Angleman's chest. "Me."

Riley whirled. A huge... he didn't know what it was stood behind them, removing its skewer from the doctor. It looked part HST, part human, part robot- he'd never seen anything like it.

It was strong, too, he discovered as he was hurled into Spike. The Colonel backed off as they staggered to their feet, but Buffy launched right at the thing, managing to get a few hard strikes in and push it back a little before she was shoved aside. It batted the Colonel aside, launching straight at Riley, dragging him up. "Hello, brother."

Riley didn't even have time to think what? before Buffy was on it again, and it dropped Riley to focus on her. A couple of the boys burst in, but it barely paid them any mind, focusing entirely on Buffy.

Soon, however, it seemed to get bored. "Well, this was an interesting experience. Thank you." Then it pushed its way through the boys, batting them away like insects, before disappearing down the hallway.

"Lock down the Initiative!" the Colonel ordered, and a few of them went to spread the word. Forrest and Graham remained. The Colonel turned to Buffy. "How did you-?"

Buffy shrugged. "I'm stronger than I look."

Forrest frowned. He turned to Riley. "Didn't believe you about the Slayer until that."

"We could use the help," Graham told the Colonel. "With the strength of that thing, whatever it was, we might need her."

The Colonel sighed. He clearly didn't like it, but turned to Riley. "You sure they're-"

"Human?" Riley finished. "Yes." He wasn't going to make that mistake again.

"Alright." He turned to them. "You two want a job?"

Buffy and Spike shared a look. "We're in," she said.

"Wonderful. Get them set up with a room. We need to start hunting that thing as soon as possible."

The others left, but Riley grabbed the Colonel's arm. "What was that?"

He sighed. "I don't know. Look through Walsh's files, she might. Only the 314 stuff, though."

Riley nodded. He had to figure this out. Whatever that was, they needed to stop it.

Chapter Text

If there was one person Willow hadn't expected to meet up with tonight, it was Oz. She hadn't really thought he was ever coming back, honestly. But apparently he'd found the cure he was looking for, and Willow didn't know what to feel about that. Sure, part of her was thrilled, but...

Tara.

"So... you seem hesitant." Oz didn't sound accusing. Of course not. He was Oz. But it helped. "Is there... someone new?"

Ah. Right to the point, then. "Yeah," Willow admitted. She straightened up. "There's someone I want you to meet."

"Do they have to be here?" Faith whispered to Kendra, eyeing Anya and Xander. "We all realize you and I can kick ass on our own, right?"

Kendra sighed. "Yes. But having backup can't hurt. Or someone to notice things we can't see, if we end up fighting the commandos, because we're fighting them."

Faith glanced behind them doubtfully. Xander and Anya were arguing about something.

"...or also to run for help if we get in trouble," Kendra finished sheepishly.

Faith smirked. "Sure. Come on, girl, we got this. There's no need for-" She glanced behind them. Xander and Anya were no longer in sight. "What-"

Suddenly, blue erupted around her, and Faith fell to the ground with a yelp. Struggling back to her feet, Kendra beside her, she called to the commandos, "Come on! Takes more than that to-"

The commandos fired once again, and Faith felt consciousness fading.

Willow knocked on Tara's door. She knew she didn't have to- Tara had told her that- but this felt like something she should knock about.

Tara opened the door. "Willow? What-" she noticed Oz.

Willow steeled herself. "Tara, this is Oz. Oz, this is Tara. This is really awkward but we're going to put that aside and talk this out like mature, reasonable people."

Tara nodded slowly, and let them in.

Kendra awoke with a groan to Faith pacing in front of her. Immediately, she took in her surroundings.

White walls. A pane of glass separating her from the hallway outside. Faith pacing, Xander and Anya unconscious beside her. Demons in similar containment areas across the hall from them.

Well that wasn't good.

"Faith?" she asked blearily, sitting up.

"Good, you're up," Faith said, concern coloring her voice no matter the briskness of her words. "I think we got taken by those commandos. This is their base, or whatever. No sign of anyone, or a way out. Door's electrified, don't touch it." Kendra shot her girlfriend a look of concern. "I'm fine. Nothing like getting knocked out by those things." Faith groaned. "Now I'm wishing I'd asked our resident loony vamp how she got out of here."

"Oh," Drucilla said suddenly, perking up. Harmony and Giles glanced over at her, one with more interest than the other. Currently, Giles wanted nothing more than to have the vampires out of his house, but there was still a chance they would be useful, according to Kendra.

Honestly, he was starting to doubt it.

"What is it, baby?" Harmony asked.

"I don't know," Dru murmured. "It's coming."

"What's coming?"

"Something new. Something built. A project gone wrong. I've never seen anything like it before."

Giles was now paying more attention. That didn't sound good.

"Well, well," a familiar voice drawled. "Look who's here."

Faith stood a whirled, Kendra doing the same at her side. Xander and Anya, who had been facing the glass, leaped to her feet.

"How is it, I wonder," Buffy continued, "that you, the humans, ended up on that side of the bars, while we ended up out here?" Spike, smirking, strode up behind her. "Funny how that works, isn't it?"

"Oh, yes, darling," Spike purred. "Funny."

"How-?" Kendra asked.

"Well..." Spike drawled. "Planned ahead a little, we did. Got on their good side, you might say. Too much going on now with the big boss dead to look to hard at a bit of extra help."

"While you, from what I've heard," Buffy continued, "took that same opportunity and let it slip right by you. Not your brightest move, in my mind."

"So now," Spike finished. "Here we are. You in a cage, and us right where we want to be." He smirked. "Funny how that works, isn't it?"

"That's what I said."

"I know, love."

"Oh, shush. Your supposed to be my brother, remember?"

"Eh, your fake boy's not here to know, is he?" Spike straightened up. "Well, things to go, a very interesting character to meet, see you around perhaps?"

"We'll know where to find you," Buffy added, and the two disappeared. Faith growled after them. Kendra didn't look much happier.

"Wonderful," Xander grumbled.

"I don't know how to do this," Willow admitted. They were talking, and it was nice, and Oz and Tara seemed to like each other, at least. But there was still the part she didn't know how to deal with- the fact that she had to choose between them. "I don't want anyone to get hurt."

"You can't hurt us by doing what's best for you," Oz told her. "We both care about you, and both of us will be happy if you are."

Despite the two of them not having any conversation of this sort, Tara was nodding. "You should be with the one you love."

Willow smiled at them. They were both amazing people. She thought she loved them both, in a way. But...

She reached out for Tara's hand and turned to Oz. "You'll always be special to me. But Tara is part of my life now, and I love her."

Tara was beaming, and Oz smiled. "Good," he said.

"You should go visit it," Forrest suggested. "It would be good for you. Tell it to its face that you've got a new girl now, a real girl, and you don't need the fake one. Look at it, and look at this Buffy girl, and remind yourself that you've got something so much better."

Riley sighed. "I don't know. I don't know how to approach h- it. I don't know if I can look at it and not see Kendra."

"Come on, man. Bring Buffy with you, if you want. Introduce her to the ex, get it over with."

"Right. I'm going to tell my girlfriend, who's the Slayer, that I'm the idiot that fell for an HST."

"Relax. Hey, maybe she'll share some forbidden love story of her own. Some crazy affair with a vampire who she ended up dusting or something. Make you feel better."

"Buffy? Seriously?"

"What? You never know. Girl lives in graveyards and goes around killing things at night with her brother. She's got to have a wild side."

"Yeah. Right." Riley sighed. "I just... I don't want to deal with it right now. Besides, we've got bigger things to worry about than my love life. Like my existential crisis because apparently this thing was created by Walsh and has decided I'm its brother."

Forrest shook his head. "Man, you have a weird life."

"You're telling me."

"What are you going to do?" Willow asked, because the conversation had dwindled and Oz had implied he wasn't going to stay.

"Don't know. Traveling in the world was fun, I'll say that, and college was never really my style. Maybe I'll reconnect with my old band, or meet a new one, go on tour or something."

Willow laughed a little. "That sounds nice."

Oz nodded. "That or I'll wander a bit, just see the world, you know?"

Willow and Tara nodded along, and Willow couldn't help but feel like things were going to be okay.

"Time to go," Faith muttered. The unconscious scientists and commandos who had come for them were lying on the ground, and alarms were blaring, but she couldn't help but find it thrilling. A breakout. That was new.

The four ran out into the main room, a huge space filled with commandos, scientists, and gear, with a huge hole in the ground for experimentation.

"I think we took a wrong turn," Xander commented.

"Look!" Faith pointed out. "Exit!" A pair of commandos had just walked in from an elevator.

"Great," Xander said. "How do we get there?"

Faith gave him a grin. "Run really fast?"

The four slipped through racks of equipment and behind trucks, making it most of the way before they were spotted. Then, they went with Faith's plan, the two Slayers occasionally throwing something in the way of the pursuing commandos. Reaching the elevator, Faith cursed as it asked for identification.

They created a hole in the roof instead.

Prying the doors open after desperately climbing up the shaft carrying Xander, Faith breathed a sigh of relief on the floor of a college dorm.

"Wonderful," Kendra said. "Let's never do it again.

The group groaned their agreement.

"Wow," Willow said. "I can't believe I missed all that."

"Hey, you had important things going on," Xander reminded her. "How'd it go?"

"I'm staying with Tara," Willow told him. "Oz is trying to see about going on tour, with his old band or a new one. He's not staying, but it was nice to see him."

"I may have learned something important," Giles announced, bringing them back to business. "Drucilla had- had a vision, I believe, earlier today. She said something's coming, something to do with a project gone wrong."

"Sounds like Initiative territory," Faith muttered. "Plus, Spike said something about their boss being dead. I don't see how much more wrong a project could go."

"We'll have to look into it," Kendra agreed.

"I wonder what it could be," Willow said.

There were vampires in Adam's new home. The pair of vampires that had been working with the Initiative, last he was there.

He wondered why they had come. He said so.

"Thought we might offer some help," the male vampire said.

"Really." How intriguing. "What makes you think I require your help?"

"You're new in town," the female vampire said. "We're not. We know things."

"I see."

"This Initiative's grand and all," the male vampire said. "You could probably take them just fine without us, I'm sure. But they're not your real problem."

Adam leaned forward. Now that was interesting. "Oh?"

Chapter Text

Riley didn't know how he knew the path to the cave on the hill. Wasn't even sure why he was trying to get there, only that his body was jogging in that direction, military-precise. He could hear his breath in his ears, could think that he should probably call for backup before entering what was almost certainly an HST hideout in this town, but he couldn't stop moving.

He wasn't immediately attacked upon entering the cave, fortunately, instead forced to slow to a walk and continue forward.

Adam was in the cave. "I've been waiting for you," he said.

"And here I am," he responded, because he couldn't really think of what to say to that, besides what the actual hell, which wasn't going to be productive.

"Well, well," drawled a familiar British voice. "That's quite the adjustment from the last time I saw you, soldier boy. Impressive." Spike turned to Adam. "What exactly did you do? There's a certain broody ex of my girlfriend's that I'd like to try that on."

A chuckle. Riley managed to turn his eyes in its direction, and they widened. "B-Buffy?"

She sauntered into his view, and... no.

There was no way he'd fallen for another-

"But," he whispered. "But you said-"

"I was the Slayer?" Buffy shrugged. "I was, when I was alive. Technically still am, probably, but I'm out of that business, because, well... you get the idea." She flashed her fangs at him. "So, what do you think? This a better look on me?"

Riley could only stare.

"It's ironic, too," she continued. "If that's what ironic means. How do you even use ironic? Anyway. Ironic, because you did fall for a Slayer. And you thought she was a demon."

If Riley could move, his jaw would have dropped. Kendra was-

"Yes, yes, it's honestly hilarious," Spike said. "However, back to my question." Buffy scowled at him. He smiled flirtatiously back. She rolled her eyes, kissed him, and then shoved him into the wall with a laugh.

Oh. He... wasn't her brother, was he?

"Mother installed a behavioral chip in his chest," Adam answered Spike's original question. "Different from the ones she installed in the hostiles. I control his every move."

"Fascinating," Spike said. "I really do have to get my hands on some of these things. Now. You said you had a plan?"

"In less than twenty-four hours, the power will go off in the Initiative, releasing all the captives. All exits will be locked, and a battle will occur. Then, when the sub-terrestrials win, they will soon turn on each other after realizing there is no way out." If Adam were the smiling kind, he would have smiled. "And then the Initiative will be mine."

"You'll have to clean out a bit," Spike commented. "But that's your problem, not mine."

"Yes," Adam replied. "You spoke of another factor."

"Make that two," Spike said. "Slayers. They have no clue you exist, at this moment, but they do know what the Initiative's up to. And I'm sure they're mighty pissed about being mistaken for demons and brought in. So sooner or later they'll come looking. And then they'll find you. But say... say you bring them in. Lure them to the party somehow. Then you don't have to worry about whether or not your demon survivors are going to kill each other, because you can put a Slayer in there to do it for you."

Adam seemed to consider that. "Interesting. Very interesting." He stood. "Come. We must go get ready."

"I don't like this," Kendra admitted.

"What?" Faith asked. "Splitting up? It's the only way we're going to be able to cover enough ground as quickly as we need to. We don't know how much time we have."

"We don't know what we're dealing with at all," Kendra pointed out. "I- I don't want you to get hurt."

"I'll be fine," Faith promised, maybe a little more careless than she should have. But she was always like that whenever someone implied she couldn't take care of herself, so she was sure Kendra knew that Faith wasn't brushing off her concern. It was just... how she was.

Kendra nodded, and the two set off in opposite directions.

That was how Faith found the cave. Inside, she found a huge demon- or was he a demon? He was nothing like anything she'd ever seen before. He had metal parts, for one. And his face...

His face was human.

Faith wasn't sure what to think about that. She shoved aside the memories of the man's shocked face as he collapsed.

It was just like... like those animals that pretended to be other animals so they wouldn't get eaten. That was all. It wasn't the same thing, at all.

The... the demon looked up. "I didn't expect you to get here so soon. I'm impressed."

Faith smirked. "Thanks. Can't say the same of your lair choices, unfortunately. Both cliché and-" she gestured around the cave- "not in the best shape."

"I'm moving out soon," he said, conversationally. Then he stood up from his... computer? That was also new- and faced her. Faith lunged.

And was promptly thrown across the cave, hissing in pain as she hit the wall and then the ground, the wind knocked out of her.

He was strong. Good to know.

Stronger than her, she discovered quickly, as he barely moved no matter how many times she hit him. It was frustrating. Especially when she was getting knocked around like she hadn't since she was a fresh Slayer.

She dropped to the ground to avoid the skewer that was aiming for her chest, which scraped her temple. Then she had to roll to avoid the second skewer, and that was when she realized that, unlike the tosses and punches that he'd thrown, he was being slow with his skewer. Which meant he didn't really want her dead. Which meant he was playing with her... or...

Or he wanted to drag her off someplace and Faith had no interest in being whatever this demon had in mind, especially when that thought, phrased that way, brought up old memories that she didn't like to think about from even before Sunnydale and okay, she needed to get out of here, regroup, probably grab Kendra, and stop thinking about every traumatic moment in her life, what was wrong with her right now?

Which was when Faith decided to shove a boulder in the demon's general direction and run.

It was fine. She was fine. She'd just grab Kendra, and they'd come back and deal with it.

She swore she felt eyes on her back, but that was crazy, because if the demon was watching her, he would be coming after her, and Faith was alone.

Kendra walked through the woods silently. She still wished she and Faith hadn't split up, but it was fine. She knew Faith could take care of herself. And yet-

That thought was interrupted by a demon's hand on her shoulder, and Kendra whirled. And then froze midway through her punch, because she was staring up into Riley's face.

The hesitation cost her, and she barely had a moment to take in the fact that he was suddenly part demon before he was throwing her into a tree, and everything went dark.

Spike watched the unconscious Slayer stir. "Very nice. Where's the other one, if you don't mind me asking?"

Adam's face was impassive. "Oh, I'm sure she'll find her way soon enough." The soldier boy- or the new version, anyway- was standing in the background.

Spike whirled to Adam. "Yeah, find her way here. I thought you were going to take care of the problem, not make it worse. The moment she finds out her girl's here, she'll come in with no hesitation about taking down any of us." He wasn't concerned about Buffy, but even he knew better than to go up against an angry Slayer.

"She will be no problem. I assessed her personally, and she showed no sign of being a difficulty. She will handle the survivors, and this one will make sure on Slayer survives intact. They... fascinate me. I would like to do further study."

Spike wasn't going to question that, unless Adam got it in his head to take a look at Buffy, which neither of them would be going along with. Whatever the man wanted to do, he could do. As long as an angry Slayer didn't come around trying to kill Spike, because at that point Spike was going to throw Adam to the wolves, deal or not.

"Me and Kendra are going to face him," Faith said. "And the rest of you are going to stay here."

"Let's not be hasty," Giles protested. "We don't even know what we're dealing with here-"

"Weren't you listening?" Faith asked briskly. "Big. Strong. Part robot. Part demon. Weird human face. Nearly killed me."

"And that's doing so much to support the fact that you two should go alone," Xander pointed out.

Faith glared at him. "What good are you guys actually going to do? Get killed? Yeah, that will help so much."

"We don't know what he's planning," Giles continued. "We don't know what he wants-"

"And by the way," Xander interrupted, "Personally, I don't know why we're having Willow and Tara take the vampires to track Kendra down like bloodhounds, because there is no way that could go wrong-"

"That's not even what we're talking about, Xander," Giles snapped, annoyed at being interrupted.

"Xander has a point," Anya said. "While Willow and Tara could probably handle... Harmony and a disabled Drucilla, at least, we have no proof that they are actually helping us-"

"That's beside the point," Faith snapped. "We did it, and either they'll come back with Kendra or they won't and she'll come back on her own-"

Willow burst in, Tara and the vampires behind her. "Something happened to Kendra."

Faith whirled to face them. "What?"

"We followed her scent into the woods," Willow said. "And- well- there had been a fight, and something got bashed into a tree that was probably a person, and we found this." Willow held out Mr. Pointy to Faith.

Faith swore. Kendra would never leave her lucky stake behind. (And what good what it do against that thing anyway?)

"Another one," Drucilla murmured. "Not enough time. Put together too quickly."

That was it. "This thing has to have a weakness of some sort," Faith said. She turned to Dru. "Is there anything? Can you see anything?"

Drucilla smiled up delightedly. "Tear out its heart."

Well. That was something. "Fine," Faith said. She turned to Willow. "I need a way to get near it. Anything. Is there some sort of spell you could do that could slow it down?"

Willow frowned. "We could try a paralyzing spell," she mused. "But I don't know any..."

"There's one I know of," Giles added. "It needs an experience witch to perform it." Willow brightened, but her face fell when Giles added, "But it's in Sumerian."

Faith sighed. "Right. You can speak-?" Giles nodded in conformation- "Sumerian, but don't have the experience, Willow has the experience but needs to speak Sumerian, which she doesn't, and I'm concerned with either of you dying immediately if you go anywhere near this thing anyway. Honestly, I'm concerned with me dying if I go up against this thing again."

"So what we need," Xander said, "Is for Faith to suddenly also become Willow and Giles and have both the magic experience and the language requirement needed for this. Combo-Faith." They all stared at him. "Yeah, I know, it's a stupid idea."

Faith was ready to move on, when Giles says. "He's not wrong. Except... there is a spell."

Faith turned to him. "I'm listening."

Kendra opened her eyes to find herself in a lab surrounded by demons. Buffy and Spike were there, with a huge demon that looked like it had been pieced together with random parts, and... Riley.

Who looked very similar to the pieces demon.

Okay. That was new, but this was not the time or place to deal with that. She needed to regroup, find Faith and the others and warn them, if they didn't know already, and make a plan. She couldn't fight all of these people, not alone, not here. Escape was her best chance. Even if she didn't know where she was, or how she'd gotten here, other than that Riley must have brought her.

Cautiously, pretending she was still unconscious, she began to fiddle with her restraints.

"I thought we were never doing this again," Faith grumbled.

"Yeah," Xander agreed, "Although at least this time there's harnesses."

Faith chuckled. "Fair point. I'm not carrying all four of you down."

"Please no," Xander joked, before turning. "Sure you don't want to bring your girlfriend, Wil?"

Willow shook her head. "Someone needs to watch the vampires," she said, "and I'm not sure I want Tara in the middle of all this anyway. Not when we barely know what we're walking into."

Xander looked sympathetic.

"I'm going to make sure none of you die while doing this spell," Anya spoke up. "I get it. I don't want to leave you in there all helpless without knowing what could be trying to eat you at any moment." She looked worried. "Don't get eaten, Xander."

"I won't," Xander promised. "You'll make sure of it." He glanced down the elevator shaft. "Are you sure we're going to the right place? All we have is Drucilla's word."

"It makes sense," Faith said. "This thing looks like it came out of a lab. And it's too much of a coincidence." And she could almost feel Kendra getting closer. This was right. She was sure of it.

"And we're just going to walk around unnoticed?" Willow asked doubtfully.

That was the... questionable part of the plan. "It'll be fine," Faith said, wishing she sounded more confident. They touched down. "I get the feeling he'll be waiting for us, anyway."

The power shut off.

Faith sighed. "And normally I like being right."

In the lab, the power was still on. But in Adam's control center, he watched the screens show the power failure across the rest of the Initiative.

"This will be interesting," he said to himself.

Then he opened the cells.

When they got the elevator doors opened, the stepped out into a war zone. Soldiers and demons battled as scientists scattered, trying to escape. Faith gestured for them to follow her and ran, leading them through the room toward the room Drucilla had described. Disappearing into room 314, Faith rooted around until she found the secret door. Then she turned to the gang. "You guys will be alright?"

Xander gave her a smile. "We got this. Go kick ass."

Faith turned and began to run.

Kendra didn't know where the others had gone, but she was alone with Riley now. He still didn't seem to notice that she was awake, but it was only a matter of time. She was almost free...

Faith burst in, drawing Riley's attention. Her gaze darted from him, to Kendra, and she snarled, advancing. "Get away from her."

Riley turned. "You're supposed to be out there," he commented. "But this will work as well." He charged, and Faith dodged blows as he pushed her back, managing to throw her across the room. Much stronger than he should have been, but he was a demon now. Who knew what he could do. Kendra didn't know what had happened, or how, but she needed to help her girlfriend now. That was all that mattered.

She slipped free.

Riley slammed Faith into a table, one hand around her throat, choking her, while the other kept her pinned. "Is that all you've got."

"No," Kendra said, kicking him away, knocking him back across the room. "She has me."

Faith hopped up. "Thanks." She paused, glancing between Riley and Kendra, concerned. "I- I have to go find the big guy. Will you be alright?"

Kendra nodded. "I got this." As Faith turned and ran, Kendra launched herself at Riley, showering him with blows. He was strong, knocking her back. He threw her, and she crashed through electrical cables. She landed next to a huge gas canister, and an idea came to mind. In the back of her mind, an explosion bloomed from Sunnydale High School. She grabbed the canister, attacking Riley with it, knocking him back and opening a valve on the side. He grabbed the heavy container.

"I'm sorry, Riley," Kendra said, knowing what he would do next.

Riley kicked her away, raising the canister over his head as if to throw it at her. The broken cables sparked.

An explosion blasted through the lab, taking Riley with it.

Kendra sank to the floor, exhausted.

Faith entered the room, eyeing the demon's cameras. "Enjoying the show?"

"I do appreciate violence," he replied, turning to stand facing her.

"I get that," she commented, before launching toward him. She didn't know how long it had been, but she only needed to hold him off a little, just long enough for the ritual to kick in. So she dodged his attacks and tried to get in what she could, though it seemed to do nothing to him. Triumphantly, she managed to snap his skewer. "Broke your arm," she snarked.

"Got another," he responded, and her eyes widened as his arm seemed to retract, exchanged for a huge gun. Faith swore and dove as he fired, shots ringing out around her.

Demons with guns. Wonderful. Never thought I'd miss boring vampires.

Faith ducked behind a control station.

In 314, Anya watched as Willow finished the ritual and power surged from the group.

The control station exploded, and Faith stood, seemingly unfazed by the occurrence. Her eyes were orange and she radiated power.

Adam fired at her, but she simply raised her hand, and an invisible barrier blocked her shots. He launched a shell at her, but she slowed it and transformed it, doves harmlessly flying away. Then she waved her hand, chanting, and his gun retracted back into his arm. She advanced. He tried to attack, but she effortlessly dodged, knocking him back.

"How?" he asked.

"You can never hope to grasp the source of our power," she said, and her voice echoed with that of Willow, Xander, and Giles. She reached forward, and her arm plunged between the metal and flesh of his chest, wrapping around the core, where his heart would have been as a human. She pulled, and ripped it from him. "But yours is right here."

Adam fell to the ground, and Faith let the core hover, clenching her fist and whispering a spell. The core crushed in on itself and disappeared.

And then Kendra was behind her to catch her as she fell, exhausted, suddenly alone in her body again. "What was that?" Kendra whispered.

"I'll tell you about it later," Faith said, and kissed her. "I'm glad you're okay."

A demon broke down the door of 314. Anya hit it with an axe.

On the floor behind her, the others sat up, still dazed. "Wow," Xander said. The other two chuckled.

Faith and Kendra burst in through the other door. "It worked," Faith breathed, almost giddy.

"You were great," Willow told her.

Faith shook her head. "We were great," she corrected. No one commented on Faith not taking the credit for herself like she might have only a few days before.

"There's still a mess out there," Xander pointed out.

Willow agreed. "I don't want to leave people there, even these guys," she added.

Faith nodded. "Let's go, then."

Buffy and Spike slipped away into the night. "That was doomed the moment he pissed off a Slayer," Buffy told Spike. "Believe me, I would know."

"Another time, then?" Spike asked.

Buffy grinned. "Another time."

The battle of the Initiative was harsh and brutal. The survivors were few, but the fact that there were survivors was better than their commanders, if they would have admitted it, had anticipated when the battle began and the outer doors were locked. The Initiative was over, the soldiers retrieved and the others returning home.

It was over.

Chapter Text

The gang sat in a circle in Giles's apartment, exhausted. The battle was over, and now Kendra, Faith, Xander, Willow, and Giles had returned to Giles's apartment to discuss what had happened.

"Alright," Giles said. "We'll try to keep this brief."

A moment later, they were all asleep.

Willow sat in the passenger seat of Oz's van. His fingers were tapping on the wheel. "What are you doing?" she asked.

"It's code," he told her.

"Oh," she said. "I don't know it."

"That's okay," he said. "I don't either." He turned back to the road ahead of them. "Where do you want to go?"

Willow frowned. "I'm not quite sure yet. It's so hard to choose."

"We could go up," Oz suggested. "Or down. That way, we're not really going anywhere at all."

"Things never stay the same like that," Willow said. "Everyone's always going somewhere."

The desert spanned out all around them.

"That's true," Oz agreed. "But if you move quickly enough, you won't have to catch up with them."

"I'm always trying to catch up to everyone," Willow agreed. "But I don't know what else to do."

Oz shrugged.

Willow blinked, and she was in the old cafeteria at the high school. Students were bustling around her. "Everyone's in a rush," Xander said. "I don't know where they're all going."

"Everywhere," Willow said. "And also math class."

"I don't like math class," Xander said. "Can you do a spell to make math class go away?"

"Magic doesn't fix everything," Willow told him.

"It made the fire go away," Xander said. "But don't bring it back. It's better off where it is."

"But we need it," Willow protested. "We need to burn the Eiffel Tower down."

"No," Xander said. "You can't bring it back, Willow."

"But-" Willow started to protest, but then she saw Buffy running out the door. "Wait!" She chased after Buffy, who darted down the hallways, leading them into the library. It was empty, except for Faith, who was playing with a paper airplane.

"Catch!" she called, tossing it at Willow. Willow moved to grab it, but it soared up, over her head. "I can't jump that high!" Willow protested. "I'm not a bunny!"

"No bunnies!" Anya shouted. "Keep away the bunnies!"

"Come on," Faith said. "We can bunny-proof the room. That way, they can't get at us." She turned. "You want to help?"

Kendra stood at the top of the stairs, looking torn. "I- I need to check. I need to check." She took off, running into the stacks.

Willow frowned. "She could get lost back there."

"Then you'll have to go find her," Faith said. "The bunnies might try to get in, and we need to prepare for the siege."

"I'd love to stay," Willow said, "but I have to find the watermelons. They've gone missing, you see, and I need them."

"Do you think bunnies are afraid of watermelons?" Anya asked.

"Did you steal my watermelons?" Willow asked.

Anya started crying.

"Now look what you've done!" Faith snapped. "It's okay," she continued, wrapping her arms around Anya. "I'm here."

"No you're not!" Anya replied, turning and running into the stacks.

Faith started up after her, before turning back at the edge of the stacks. "Go on," she said to Willow. "You don't want to be the last one left."

"That's going to be you," Willow told her. "Besides, I don't know where to go."

"That's me!" Faith chirped. "Always first, always last. Now go. You have to hurry up, or she'll catch you."

"Who?" Willow asked, but the walls started shaking, and a bookshelf fell toward Faith, knocking her into the stacks and away from Willow. "Wait!" Willow called, running up the stairs, but there were suddenly so many stairs, and she kept going up and up and up until she finally stopped, trying to catch her breath.

"I can't go farther," Willow said.

"Maybe not," Giles told her, "but you certainly can't get any closer."

"No," Willow agreed. "But that's no good, anyway."

"Then you have to keep going," he said. "You can't just stay in one place, Willow. Everything's always moving. You have to get ahead or it will run right over you."

Willow sighed, but kept up the stairs. A few more steps, and a small man with glasses greeted her. "Follow the cheese," he advised, gesturing to the cheese slices laid on the steps in front of her, until one dropped off the edge. Willow shook her head, sinking to the ground-

And she was back in the desert, standing there alone.

Something was coming, in the distance.

Willow turned back, and Tara was waiting for her, sitting in a car. "Come on," she said. "It's time to go."

"Yeah," Willow replied serenely. "I think it is." She got in the car, but the thing was closer now.

"Faster," Willow said. "Tara, faster." But it was too late. The thing jumped up onto the car, reaching for her, draining the life from her body-

As she slept, Willow gasped for breath.

"Xander, come on!" Willow said, tugging at his hand. "It's your big day, you can't be late!"

"Why does it have to be a big day?" he complained. "Why can't it be a small day? I want all the big days to come later."

Willow shrugged. "Yeah, but the all-knowing ancient people said it's a big day, so it has to be a big day. Besides, it will make Anya happy."

"Okay," Xander said. He let Willow pull him downstairs, into the main room of Giles's apartment.

"He's here!" Spike announced. "Took him long enough, too. I was about to step up and pretend to be you if you took any longer."

"Spike!" Willow scolded. "Who would do the ceremony if you were pretending to be Xander?"

"I don't know," Spike said. "We could have a ghost do it or something. There's plenty of them around here."

"Excuse me," Giles said, making his way through them. "Have any of you seen Ethan? I'm supposed to be challenging him to an arm wrestling competition right now, and I can't find him."

"Giles!" Willow scolded. "You know he'll cheat. Why would you challenge him?"

"He's right over there," Spike said. "I don't know exactly bloody what he's doing, but he's doing it over there."

Anya, in a gorgeous white dress, made her way over. "I want to watch! We'll need to put off the ceremony for a few days, but I want to see them do it."

"Stop delaying the bloody ceremony," Spike snapped. "I've lost track of how many times I've shown up to do the ceremony, just to not do the ceremony."

"Begin with the wrestling of arms!" Anya said, ignoring him. "May the best man win!"

Spike raised an arm up in the air, a single finger raised. "Alright, where's the best man?"

"I- I have to go," Xander said, and he turned and ran into the crowd without another word. He bumped into a table where a man was stacking cheese slices.

"They'll never fall," the man said. "Unless they're pushed." Xander backed away from the table, turning back into the crowd again.

He ran into Willow, her fangs barred.

"When did you switch out?" Xander asked.

"She needed me to step in," Vamp-Willow responded, gesturing to a side room. Inside, Willow lay on the couch, gasping for breath.

Xander frowned. "What's wrong with her?"

Vamp-Willow shrugged. "It'll pass." Tara walked up behind them. They turned.

"Come on," Tara said, tugging at Vamp-Willow. "They've just set out Twister and the fruit punch."

"I don't think you should go with her," Xander told Tara, gesturing to Vamp-Willow.

A blink, and Tara's face was that of a vampire as well. "Why not?" she asked.

"Because you said you weren't coming back," Xander said, "and I'll miss you."

"We won't leave until after the party," Vamp-Willow promised, and dragged Tara off toward Drucilla and Harmony, who were having a fight with pool noodles.

"Who invited all the vampires?" Xander grumbled. He turned to see Faith up on a podium, Anya in her dress and Spike dressed in his clothes facing each other happily.

"I'm so excited, Xander!" Anya said, and Xander groaned.

"I'm not Xander, pet," Spike reminded her.

"At least he can tell the difference," Xander muttered.

"You get yourself and Spike confused too, don't you?" Buffy asked from behind him. Her face was human. Sunlight shone on her, but she didn't burn.

"Only on Fridays," Xander responded.

Buffy gestured to the podium. "Well? Go on."

Xander turned to go. Behind him, Buffy flickered, a wilder being replacing her before she returned.

Xander started pushing through the crowd. The thing raced after him, as he shoved people aside, trying to reach Anya. Suddenly, a few feet from the podium, it tackled him from behind, reaching through his chest to ripe his heart out-

In Giles's apartment, Xander's back arched in pain.

Giles stood at the head of the classroom. "The paradox of the paradox," he said. "Is that the paradox itself is a paradox, unable to be explained, and therefore should not exist. And yet it does, and this has caused confusion in all beings for centuries."

He turned to the class. Only Kendra sat there watching, Sitting in the seat directly in the middle of the desks, notebook in front of her as she diligently took notes. The desks, arranged in a five-by-five grid, felt like they were watching him, without the students to occupy them. Giles frowned. "You're not the only one supposed to be in my classes."

Kendra shrugged. "I'm the only one here today. You know how she is."

Giles sighed. "I guess we can put aside the lesson, then, and focus on the vampire in the room instead."

Harmony sat grumpily in the teacher's chair, watching. "I still don't see why I have to be here."

"I agree," Faith said from the doorway, before turning her gaze to Kendra. "Come on, I have something to show you."

Kendra stood. "Is it the cake you said you were going to make? Because I'm not sure I want to see that."

"You'll come anyway," Faith said. "You wouldn't dream of doing otherwise."

Giles turned back to Harmony. "Look, if I'm ever going to let you out of my sight, you're going to have to be on your best behavior at all times, unless you want me to get the principal in here. And that means no biting."

Harmony dropped the body to the floor guiltily. Buffy's hair spilled out around her, blood gushing onto the floor from the twin marks in her neck, the gaping wound in her heart-

Giles stumbled back, tripping on a desk, sending him tumbling to the ground-

"Easy there," Xander said, from where he'd caught Giles in a crypt somewhere. "Don't want to go out like that, do you?"

"I'm not going anywhere," Giles promised, before turning, his eyes widening. "Xander? What happened?"

Xander had a hole in his chest, blood dripping from it. Behind him, Willow lay on the coffin, struggling for breath.

"Something's after us," Xander said. "All of us. We've got to find out what it is, Giles."

Giles nodded. "Yes, yes, there's got to be something-" his eyes caught on something. "The spell! The spell must have done something-"

A twinkle of magic swirled by him. Tara stood in the doorway, tracing its path through the air with her finger- or perhaps creating its path? Giles wasn't sure. Willow laughed as it swirled around her, but that only increased her coughing.

Giles moved for Tara, but she disappeared, and he stumbled out into the dark cemetery.

Buffy was waiting for him, a baby in her arms. She cradled it as it cried, whispering to it.

"Buffy," he called.

She glanced up. "Take care of her," she begged, clutching the baby to her chest.

"Of course," he vowed. "Nothing will happen to her."

Buffy stared up at him blankly. Around them, blood began to pour out of the tombstones. "Yes it will," she said, her voice as dead as she was. The wind was screaming in his ears, and there was something behind that tombstone-

Giles was back in the classroom. Except, on the board, there were hundreds of tally marks, covering its surface.

"There's only supposed to be one," Anya said from behind him, frowning at the board.

"Well there isn't," he said.

When he blinked, she was gone.

A man with cheese coating his hands was in the doorway. "It keeps me warm," he said.

There was something behind the desks. Giles moved cautiously toward them, focus narrowing in on where it moved. "It's you," he realized. "Of course."

It began stalking towards him. "You can't beat me," he said, not sounding as confident as he wished. "Not in my own mind."

Suddenly, a knife was at his temple, and blood was running down his face-

Giles twitched in his sleep, his glasses falling from his hand.

Faith sat cross-legged in the doorway of a room in the small apartment she and Kendra rented. It was not their room, yet there was a bed inside.

"You were supposed to have been here already," said a voice from behind her. "Now the clock's all wrong."

Faith glanced behind her at Drucilla. "We can always change it."

"Not enough," the vampire responded. "Not enough minutes. Or too many. I don't quite know which."

Faith considered it. "Does it really matter?"

"I suppose not. The time's just the same, anyway."

"I thought it didn't exist."

Drucilla just smiled.

Faith stood up. "Is Kendra home?"

"She's not here yet," Drucilla said, then frowned. "She wasn't supposed to be here at all, but she found her way in anyway."

"I should go find her," Faith said, and hurried off.

Drucilla watched her go. "Be back before dawn," she called.

Faith stepped outside to find Forrest and Riley standing outside, watching Graham play basketball. "You guys aren't playing?"

"Nah," Riley said. "It's live players only."

She turned to Forrest. "But aren't you-"

"Bored to death," he said, chuckling.

"We should have a race," Riley said, gesturing ahead. In the distance, a drop-off loomed. "First to jump wins."

"What does the winner get?" Faith asked.

"Glory," Riley suggested.

"Nah," Forrest corrected. "Glory's with the losers, if you jump."

"I don't like glory," Faith commented.

"Maybe not," Forrest said. "But lots of people do."

"It's crazy," Riley agreed.

"Have any of you seen my girlfriend?" Faith asked.

"No," Riley said. "She was already taken when I met her."

"Ah," Faith said. "Thanks anyway."

"You could ask the others for help," Riley suggested. He gestured to the left. Willow was struggling for breath, Xander had a hole in his chest, and Giles's head was bleeding.

"I think they're busy," Faith noted.

"You'll need them," Forrest said. Faith ignored him and headed for the basketball court. As she approached, a man stepped into her path. He held a piece of cheese folded like a paper airplane. "Want to see how far it goes?" he asked. Faith pushed past him-

And into a house she didn't recognize. She watched from another bedroom doorway as Buffy packed a suitcase. The other girl glanced behind her. "Oh, there you are. I was waiting at your place, but you never arrived."

"Dru was there to tell me everything I need to know," Faith said.

"You'll never know all of it," Buffy said. "Not quite yet. It doesn't make sense until it's too late."

"I'll keep it in mind," Faith said, turning to go.

"You'll need these," Buffy said, holding out the suitcase. Faith turned back looking at it. She didn't take the bag. Buffy smiled. "I was supposed to need them, but then the road closed. You need them more than me, now."

"I'll manage," Faith told her.

Buffy chuckled. "Not long now."

"So I've been told. You coming?"

"Not just yet." Buffy smiled sadly now. "I have my own mountains to climb. Longer than yours. Like a rope. Except you won't get a rope."

"Maybe not," Faith said. "But I can always climb without one."

Buffy looked at her oddly. "You think you know. What's to come, what you are. You haven't even begun."

Kendra was behind her, suddenly, staring at Buffy. Frozen, almost. "Kendra," Faith said. Kendra didn't move. "Kendra," Faith asked, more forcefully.

"She's only half here," Buffy said from behind her. "Not quite all the way through. She can hear us, but she needs more time to push through." Buffy tilted her head. "Or we could do this." And Buffy lunged forward, shoving Faith into Kendra, and then the two of them were rolling down a hill in a desert, before finally coming to a stop.

Faith stumbled to her feet, pulling Kendra up with her. Kendra responded this time, glancing around them.

"You're really here?" Faith asked. "In my dream?"

"She is," Drucilla said, from where she was making her way across the desert. She stayed in the shadow of a dune, watching them.

"You're not," Faith said.

"I was borrowed," Drucilla responded. "Someone needs to speak for her."

There was a figure making its way across the desert toward them. Faith and Kendra turned fully toward it, ready to attack if necessary.

"Who is she?" Faith growled, watching.

"She is you," Drucilla said. "And not. From a time long before, and right now. She is the bloodshed of the demons you kill and the blades you wield in your hands."

"The First Slayer," Kendra whispered, awe coloring her voice for a moment before she asked, "Why?"

"Too many," the First Slayer growled.

Faith whirled on her. "What do you mean?"

"There's too many of you," Drucilla said. "Too many. The Slayer is meant to be alone. And yet you have friends. And yet you have each other."

"And we're not going to let each other go," Faith snarled. She rolled her head back. "I'm done with this."

The First Slayer launched at them-

And then they were in Giles's apartment, the others still asleep around them. "What the-" Faith managed, before the First Slayer attacked. Faith gasped as she tumbled back, the First Slayer stabbing her in the stomach-

It wasn't doing anything, was it?

"I think that's enough," Faith said, shoving the other Slayer off her. Kendra was immediately at her side, checking to make sure she was alright. Faith waved her off. She turned to the ancient Slayer. "Here's how it's going to go. You can't do anything to me. I want you out of my head. So you're going to go. And if I ever see you again, I will-"

They woke up. All five of them glanced around at each other.

"It must have come from the spell we did," Giles said. "By uniting ourselves using the power of the Slayer, it was an affront to that power."

"And then it tried to kill us," Faith said. "That would have been nice to be prepared for."

"I did say there could be dire consequences," Giles pointed out.

"Dire I can handle. That was just weird." Faith sighed. "At least you guys didn't dream about the guy with the cheese. All the weird Slayer stuff, and somehow that's the weirdest thing in the dream."

She turned to lead Kendra away, not noticing the others exchange glances behind them.