SquidgeWorld Archive

Prolog

"You are, aren't you?" Kevin said, standing arrogantly above Oz and Willow. "You know, they say that the blood of a Slayer is the richest known. I wonder what the blood of a Slayerette is like?" He laughed, and moved to grab Willow's arm.

Oz's left hand darted quickly into the pocket of his jeans. He judged the throw carefully; he would only have one shot at this...

Just before the vampire could get Willow in his grasp, Oz tossed the tiny silver cross necklace at his face. The tiny missile flew between Kevin's lips, through his teeth, and collided with his tongue, which has been high in the mouth as the fiend laughed. That laugh turned instantly into a cry of pain. "Come on," Willow muttered, grabbing Oz's arm.

The cross bounced back off Kevin's tongue and rested for a second on his lower lip, before the vamp spit it away with a pained spasm. He charged forwards, but Willow and Oz were neither where they had been nor running down the outer wall of the hotel, as he had expected. He turned around in confusion, then saw the side door, still wide open. With a snarl, Kevin charged back into the hotel, not even bothering to resume his human face.

* * * *

After spinning around several times, listening for whatever the sounds of black magic might be, Buffy turned back to Xander. "What are you doing here?"

"Um," Xander ummed. "As uncomfortable as the answer to that might be, I would have thought it was also kinda obvious."

"It seems to me," Cordelia interrupted, swiping the bedsheets and wrapping them around herself to look for her clothes, (Xander yelped and grabbed for a blanket,) "that the better question is," (she picked up a chiffon see-through top, examined it critically, and tossed it onto the bed,) "what are *you* doing here, Buffy?" Cordelia scooped up her black dress triumphantly and set off for the bathroom.

"Um, well, I thought it was Willow who was in here, with Oz," Buffy started lamely...

"And you were planning on bursting in and interrupting *them*?" Xander shot back.

"No! Well, kinda," Buffy allowed. "But not just for the sake of it. There's big trouble goin' on, and we need Willow's help. You know, with the research, and the computers?"

"Uh-oh," Xander groaned. "Who is it? Queen Kaliya?" Buffy nodded. "Looks like it's Scooby time again." He looked around. "Um, could someone hand me my pants?" He pointed onto the floor. "They're, uh, right there."

"Sure, stud," Buffy drawled sardonically, tossing the black jeans onto his lap. Xander quickly yanked them under the blanket and started to change under the cover.

Cordelia emerged from the bathroom, in the black dress and nothing else. She sat down in a chair and quickly strapped her heels on. "Well, I gotta go now. See you tomorrow at school, Xander, and good luck destroying the world, Buffy!" She stood up again and confidently strode out of the suite.

"But..." Buffy called after her, and then seemed to change her mind. "Aww, thanks for all your best wishes," she muttered bitterly.

"So, what's the sitch?" Xander asked, sitting up and looking around the room for his shirt.

"Um Whistler told me Kali big spell could kill me but Mich killed Whistler before he spilled when where or how." Buffy shook her head and tried to recover a decent level of punctuation. "Tojo thinks it has something to do with a big demon named Samael, and maybe with the Autumnal Aquasocks, which is from midnight now to midnight tomorrow, but he can't figure the details yet. I thought Willow might be able to find the info in her e-spell-book." Buffy patted the laptop, which was still under her arm.

* * * *

"Ah-ha! I see you, Slayerettes!" Kevin roared out, charging down an empty kitchen corridor. Willow squealed and dragged Oz down a cross-passage, but Kevin was there in seconds and followed her in...

Act One

"So, what should we do?" Xander asked as he pulled his socks on.

"Hmm." Buffy considered. "Akira, you should probably go back to the library and get back to the research. Xander, go with him. I'll look around for Willow here at the hotel, call in if I find her - you beep me if you get a breakthrough. Sound good?"

"Perhaps you should come back to the library with us, Buffy," Tojo advised gently. "How do you plan to get home if you don't find Willow and Oz before they leave?

"I'll make my way," Buffy muttered. "Now on with you."

* * * *

Kevin rushed threateningly into the storeroom and looked around. "Okay, where are you?" he called.

"Right behind you!" Willow called, running towards him, stake in hand. The vamp started to twist around, but he couldn't get in position to attack before Willow ran right into him. They both fell to the floor. Willow tried to scramble on top of Kevin and use her weapon, but the vampire got hold of her shoulder and used that leverage to keep her away, shaking her slightly.

Oz dashed forward and grabbed at Kevin's right foot with his left hand. This distraction made Kevin let go of Willow, but he kicked out at Oz, who lost his grip and staggered back into a rack of metal shelves. The impact knocked loose a pot, and Willow saw it slowly fall of the high shelf as if in slow motion.

"NO!" she screamed out loud, charging reflexively towards Oz. But she had far too little time. The pot collided with Oz's head, caromed off of it, and clattered to the floor. Oz sank into a heap.

"Yes!" Kevin cried out, kicking out with the same leg to trip Willow and knock her back down to the ground. "Your friend can't help you now, and I'm gonna feed on him just as soon as I've drained you dry!"

This was her last chance, Willow somehow knew. If the vampire got ahold of her again, she would never be able to free herself in time. Instead of trying to get away she dived at him, the stake still in her hand leading. She felt Kevin's arms come up, trying to ward her off, grabbing at her shoulders, but nothing he could do could stop the determined thrust of her first strike.

But was Willow's thrust true? At first it seemed to her that it wasn't... that it would miss the vampire's heart by a good several inches to the side. Then the stake started to slide into his body, and she wasn't sure anymore. It went up into the vampire's chest to three-quarters of its length, and stopped there.

A second passed, a second in which it seemed nothing in the entire world made a sound. And then Kevin screamed, and his body flew apart in tiny motes of dusty gray ash. Willow collapsed onto the floor, breathing heavily.

But, of course, she didn't stay there for long. After only a few seconds she scrambled over to her boyfriend. His pulse and breathing were strong, but he wasn't moving. "Oz?" Willow said, shaking him fiercely.

"Wha?" Oz moaned, turning over slightly.

"Come on, honey," Willow said pleadingly. "You might have a concussion, so you gotta stay awake. You gotta stay with me, at least until we get you to the hospital. After all, I don't think I can drive the van without an *awake* licensed driver in the front seat..."

"Huh?"

Willow smiled at him. "Don't worry about it. Just lean on me - we're getting out of here."

* * * *

It was about 1 am when the beeper went off.

Buffy checked the display quickly to make sure it was the library's number, and headed off for a bank of payphones. Slotting in a quarter that she had quite luckily found in her pocket, she tapped out the number and waited.

"Hello?"

"Hi, Xander, it's me. What's the word?"

"Well, Mister Tojo's doing some more research, but he's fairly certain that he's tracked down the feast of Samaeon."

"Samael?"

"Whatever. Here's the thing, though. It hasn't started yet. It's supposed to start at sunset tomorrow, er, today... The next sunset that will take place, okay?"

"So, since Whistler said midnight, he probably meant midnight just under a day away, not midnight that's just happened?"

"That's what we're thinking."

"Any idea yet where this spell is going to be cast, or what has to be done?"

"None yet, as far as I know. Should I put Tojo on the horn?"

Buffy considered. "No, no big need. Um, tell him that Willow and Oz don't seem to still be here, and that no-one at the dance has seen them around for over an hour. He should probably try Willow's house as soon as I'm off the phone. I'm heading back to Dad's place at this point, and I'll check in with him first thing tomorrow morning. Oh, make that first thing after detention. Got it?"

"Got it," Xander repeated. "Listen, about me and Cordy..."

"Goodbye Xander," Buffy snapped and hung up the phone.

* * * *

"C'est tout ma faute, Madame," Michelle cried out desperately. "I was not commited enough in the task you gave me," she continued, switching to English with a thick French accent, "and failed to reach the demon Whistler in time. I accept any consequence you choose to visit on me, only *please*, Madame, do not be angry!"

"I am not angry, Michelle, " Queen Kaliya asserted with a confident calmness, "and it was *not* your fault. I know. You left here as soon as you could, taking the access tunnels to the sewers just outside the high school, with a heavy coat to protect yourself against the twilight. You couldn't possibly have gotten there any more quickly."

"Oui madame," Michelle agreed, her head hung low.

"It is my fault, really," Kaliya continued, almost musingly. "I shouldn't have assigned you to a task where the natural vampiric limitations are a liability. I didn't want to, but there was nobody better available at the time - which again is my oversight." Michelle nodded ever so slightly. "That situation has been remedied."

"Pardon, madame?" Michelle said, confused.

"Obviously, I was mistaken in thinking that I could play out this scheme with only a traditional vampire security detail. Thus, I have contracted the services of a few special mercenaries to help you in that respect."

Michelle only looked at Kaliya, a feeling of dread now rising to her face.Kaliya gestured, and two human-like figures entered the room. "This is Rancid," Kaliya said formally, indicating one of them, who was tall, muscular, dark-skinned, and wore simple clothing. "And Gennor." Now she indicated the other, who was almost as tall, and considerably brawnier, with lightly tanned skin, dark curly hair past his shoulders, and wore a leather jacket and a dark shirt and jeans.

"Neither of them is what they appear to be - they are both one-time members of the Order of Taraka," Kaliya said. "Would you please demonstrate your talents for Michelle, honored ones?"

"Certainly, m'lady," Rancid said politely. He quivered, then dissolved into a mass of protean substance, flung several tentacular appendages out, waved them, and then returned to his original shape.

"It would be a pleasure," Gennor declared gutturally. He brought out a small object, possibly a faceted stone, and suddenly a light show emanated from the object to the far wall of the chamber. One beam hit a bulls-eye target that Michelle had been practicing with using her short bow, and it shriveled in a second into ash. Gennor's body seemed to be flickering while the light show went on, but then he stopped and put the stone away, and Michelle couldn't swear to what she had seen.

"Rancid and Gennor are your responsibility now, Michelle, as well as my vampire guard," Kaliya said. "They are at your disposal. Only make certain that the ceremony tonight is undisturbed."

"My lady?" Giles interrupted, poking his head into the door of Michelle's room.

"Good news, my sweet?" Kaliya replied, walking over to him. "Are your own preparations for the ritual complete?"

"They are indeed. The one I wish to be my second is making his way to town as we speak, and should be right here by five this afternoon. All else is in readiness."

"This afternoon? Is he human, by chance?"

"Yes." Giles looked into Kaliya's face. "Is that a problem?"

"No, not if he can be trusted."

"I assure you, my lady, the magician I have in mind will not be troublesome. For anyone but the Slayer, that is!" Giles grinned and left the room. Kaliya followed him.

Michelle looked from Rancid to Gennor, a frown deepening on her face. Ex-Tarakan mercenaries were known to be extremely offended by having to take orders from anyone who wasn't directly paying their fee. This was going to be a difficult day.

Act Two

After Buffy finished dressing the next morning, she went over to the mirror to pull her hair back into a scrunchy and look over her outfit. She was wearing a tight black short-sleeved polyester-spandex bodysuit, a gray denim skirt, just long enough to pass Snyder's dress code, and black leather boots. It was an okay outfit for slaying, but also very sexy.

Sexy. Suddenly a memory flashed into Buffy's mind - Xander telling her off in the library yesterday. "What's with the way you've been coming onto me lately? The sexy wardrobe choices, the flirting the teasing. There's only one explanation that I can see." He had looked at her with genuine anger in his eyes. "You're making sure I'm still on the fence. You're too scared to let me come to you, but you can't stand to see me happy with Cordelia. Because you admitted that you want me, you feel rejected if I don't make it obvious that I want you, every second of every day."

Buffy turned to go back to her closet. But another memory surfaced: Xander and Cordelia, lying unaware in the hotel room bed. Buffy took one more look at herself in the mirror. "I'll wear whatever the hell I want to!" she declared to no-one at all, and left the bedroom.

* * * *

When Buffy came into the student lounge after detention, the whole gang was gathered around a table: Mister Tojo, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, and...

"Willow?" Buffy looked at her friend quizzically. "While I'm pleased that you seem to like that hairdo so much, wasn't it uncomfortable to sleep on it?"

Willow's hand reflexively went up to her hair, which was still bound up in the exotic fantasy-princess style from last night, though Willow was in a sweatshirt and jeans.

"Um, uh, yeah," Willow allowed. "Except that..."

"Except that my Willow didn't *get* any sleep tonight," Oz groaned. "Neither did I."

"Really?" Buffy blinked in surprise as she sat down. "And just what were you up to all night, then?"

"Oh, tracking down and slaying a vampire at the dance," Willow began with a sigh, "waiting around the emergency room until someone could get a look at Oz's head, and then researching Samaelic spells once Mister Tojo got ahold of us."

"Vampire at the dance? Emergency room?" Buffy pouted. "Okay, someone please fill me in here."

"There was a vampire at the dance," Oz repeated unneccesarily. "We tried to get ahold of you, but there was no answer at your home or the library. We went after it, got in a bit of trouble, and I had a pot fall on my head."

Buffy digested that for a second. "Okay. The vamp?"

"Dusted. Willow got the job done after I was knocked out."

"You okay I hope?"

Oz shook his head. "Well, they say I should stay awake for the next thirty-six..." he checked his watch, "twenty-eight, rather, hours, to make sure there aren't any complications with the concussion. After that, I'll be fine. After I get some sleep."

Buffy paused for breath. "Next question. How goes the research? Any new leads?"

"Some," Mister Tojo admitted. "We're beginning to get a picture of how and where the ritual will be cast. There must be a prepared space, of specially intense connection to the Hellmouth nexus, in which preparations will begin hours before midnight. Five people will cast the spell, including the principal caster, and his second, or skilled assistant."

"Okay." Buffy nodded. "Any requirements? Blood sacrifices? Magical potions necessary?"

"None of that is indicated so far. We should continue our research."

"Sounds like a plan, Giles," Xander interjected. "Is that all the business for now?"

"Um, excuse me?"

"What?" Xander scanned across the table, finally finding a very annoyed-looking Akira Tojo.

"Giles?" he demanded severely.

"I... uh, I didn't mean it, Mister Tojo..." Xander started off uncertainly.

"That much is quite apparent," Tojo observed. "I would have thought, though, that after three months, it would be the least you could do to remember my name."

"I do!" Xander exclaimed. "I - it's just... it just seemed so much like all the other times we've planned and prepared to save the world by midnight... with Giles. For a second I just kind of - forgot - that he wasn't here anymore." Buffy, and several of the Slayerettes, nodded sympathetically.

Mister Tojo looked at him for a few seconds. "I believe I understand," he intoned gravely.

Xander sighed. "Could I have a moment alone with Buffy, guys?"

Tojo, Willow, and Oz nodded. "What do you have to say to her?" Cordelia asked suspiciously.

Twelve worried glances shot around between the others. "Um, if I wanted to tell other people, we wouldn't have to be alone, now would we?" Xander said.

Cordelia did not look convinced. "Come on, Cordelia," Oz said gently to her. "Let's just go out to the courtyard... come on now." Slowly he persuaded Cordy out of her chair and out of the lounge. Tojo followed.

"Thank him for me," Xander whispered to Willow as she got up to leave as well. Buffy waved a weak goodbye to Willow, without turning an unimpressed attention away from Xander.

"Whoa!" Xander muttered quietly when he noticed the setting Buffy's angry stare was at. "Deja vu all over again."

"What?" Buffy asked, trying not to let her curiosity get in the way of her resentment.

"A deadly threat, a countdown to disaster, and one of my favorite girls in the world angry enough to spit at me over something I did with Cordelia. It's the night before the Judge all over again."

"Whatever," Buffy said witheringly.

"Buffy, I..." Xander started, but Buffy burst out talking before he could get any further.

"Look, Xander. I realize that this situation hasn't been a picnic for any of us, least of all you, and I realize that you were mad at me for having been such a skank these past few weeks." She looked down at the bodysuit she was wearing. "Maybe still - I don't damn well care right now."

"I..." Xander tried, but Buffy just kept on talking.

"But I thought we had an understanding, Xander! I thought that we had agreed that we meant something to each other, no matter how many reasons there were that we couldn't be together right now. Was I wrong?"

"Um, no, I guess not, but..."

"I don't care that we're not together," Buffy hissed. "You sleeping with Cordy is just as big a betrayal of our love as anything could be. And if you were going to forget your feelings for me and move on with Cordy, the least you could do is let me know, fairly."

Buffy's speech stopped at that point, though Xander just sat and stared at her for a long while after she finished talking. After a while, he whispered softly, "So that's it, huh?"

Buffy didn't say anything. "You're not even going to ask or think about my side of things. You just take your steps of thought and gather up your conclusions, and close the book on you and me without a second's hesitation?"

Now it was Buffy's turn to look unbelievingly at Xander. "Yes! You sleep with someone else, I close the book. Even if it was your girlfriend!"

Belatedly Buffy realized that her voice had risen, and that kids at other tables in the lounge were starting to stare at them. "Gee," Buffy muttered sardonically. "The first time someone overheard us talking about private stuff, and it actually doesn't have to do with vampires or monsters. What were the odds?"

Xander glared at her. Without saying a word they got up and left.

Act Three

At nine o'clock that evening, determined research in the library had not yet made any more significant progress on determining the likely location of the Samaelic Ritual of Restoration.

"What about this, Mister Tojo?" Willow asked, pointing to a reference in a thick book. Tojo went over and scanned the text.

"Well?" Buffy chimed in.

"A hotspot of psychic energy from the Hellmouth, about a buried table of living rock in a field just past the cemetary," Tojo remarked aloud.

"So, sounds like a candidate?" Buffy decided.

Tojo shook his head. "Perhaps, but it's rather unlikely for a demonistic invocation such as this. You see..."

"Save the lecture," Buffy snapped. "Aahrgh! If Whistler hadn't wasted so much time, we could have gotten to this before Michelle came along."

"As long as you are playing 'what if,'" Tojo remarked shortly, "why not arrange a scenario where we would have been paying attention and could have saved Whistler's life?"

Buffy nodded ruefully. "I get it, Akira. Re-hashing doesn't get anything useful done."

"Then again, neither is anything else," Xander interrupted. "What does any of this have do with that Whistler guy, anyway? Was he the one who gave you the tip-off about this spell?"

"Yeah," Buffy nodded. "After he spent ten minutes talking to me about the time I died and its prophetic implications. Just as he gets on the topic, Michelle shows up and assasinates him with a battle discus."

"Ooh," Willow groaned. "Off with his head?"

"Only way to kill a demon," Buffy muttered sarcastically.

"I found his hypothesis on your death and revival fascinating, Buffy," Akira commented. "If true, it resolves many of the questions that incident brought up... especially the apparent exception to the rule that 'there can only be one Slayer.'"

"You would," Buffy told him witheringly.

"What did he say?" Willow asked.

"Um, something about Slayer spirits..." Buffy started.

"The basic premise that the vampire slayers are successive incarnations of a single immortal spirit is a common one," Tojo started, "and is referred into many of the legends of Slayer origins and Slayer history. Whistler's theory is that when Buffy died, the Slayer spirit moved on to Kendra, and Buffy's soul passed on into the etheric afterlife, where it was intercepted by a second Slayer spirit, who guided her back to her body."

"So it wasn't your CPR that saved my life," Buffy told Xander triumphantly, suddenly glad that this conversation had blown up so that she had another item of emotional ammunition to hit him with.

"Not entirely, at least," Tojo said. "He said the spirit needed a slayer who had died and yet could live, and without Xander's efforts your body might have become unviable."

Buffy scoffed. "If we believe any of this, that is."

"Well, it corresponds to at least one piece of independent evidence," Tojo said. "As I might have told you, Rupert Giles began corresponding with me just after Kendra's first trip to Sunnydale, since that was when he first got the idea of revising the Slayer handbook. He mentioned a special test that he had done on you and Kendra, in an attempt to resolve the 'there can only be one' controversy."

"I don't remember any test," Buffy said.

"You wouldn't," Tojo confirmed. "Giles would have given you both something to induce sleep and forgetfulness, as I did with..." he broke off, glancing only briefly at Cordelia. "It is an ancient test used by Watchers to verify the Slayers, a test of blood. Under certain conditions, the blood of a Slayer will turn white while that of a normal girl will remain red - or so the ancient texts say."

"And?" Willow said impatiently.

"Kendra's blood turned white. Buffy's turned sky-blue. This confirms the idea that Kendra, and presumably now Marea, were Slayers in the original tradition, while Buffy since her death, has become a new kind of Slayer."

"Very interesting," Buffy said. "But the fact remains, Whistler wasted the last few minutes of his life telling you this stuff about my death in the Master's lair, while he could have told us where the..." Buffy broke off for a second, a look of fantastic comprehension spreading across her face. "The Master's lair? Could that be where this thing is going down?"

Tojo considered for an instant. "Very possible. It's certainly intimately associated with the Hellmouth, and the locale seems appropriate in all other ways."

Buffy was already talking again. "Of course! He couldn't say it all straight out for some reason... he was like that when the Acathla thing went down too. He couldn't say everything, he had to hint around."

"Well, if we presume that it's the Lair, that raises tactical problems," Tojo said.

"Yep," Buffy agreed. "There's only one way into or out of that cave, and Kaliya's gonna have Michelle and the vampire guard there... and it'd be really hard to fight our way through that if they suspect that we'll be coming."

"Um, guys?" Willow interjected. Everyone turned to look at her. Willow was crossing back over to the computer. "That's not the only way into the lair!"

"What do you mean, Willow?" Buffy asked.

Willow smiled shyly. "You remember when the Master went up? He went straight up, right through the ground, tunneling up to street level."

"I remember," Buffy said, nodding.

Xander had nodded too. "Are you thinking of climbing down through that tunnel Will? They filled it up, right after. I remember seeing the construction."

Willow shook her head satisfiedly. "There was construction on it, but it didn't get filled up." She pointed to the computer's screen, which was showing some kind of schematic. "They converted it into an access tube... it was cheaper than filling it up or something."

"So we can just climb down into the lair?" Buffy asked disbelievingly.

"There's a ladder along the side. Once we're at the botton, it's just an eight-foot jump from the ceiling of the lair to the floor."

"Hmm." Buffy considered. "Okay, Tojo, Willow, we take half an hour to prep for action. Then we swing by the other spot, the table, just in case, and if that's clear head over to the tube and start our way down. Okay?"

* * * *

"Aberestene como vor ci ablati," Giles called out. "Ascadi corno vorti ble samala."

"Vorti ble samala," the other four figures gathered around the glowing pentagram repeated. Kaliya, standing directly in the center of the five-pointed diagram, wearing her usual thin white robe, said nothing, her head cast down.

Softly, slowly, about fifteen feet away from the pentagram, something started to happen. A wall of rippling distortion slowly phased into view, passing straight through the cavern, a plane of ever-changing fluctuations in the air.

"The Hellmouth barrier," Giles breathed softly. "It was what kept Master Nest trapped in this cavern for sixty years. Now we see it in a closer approximation of its true power." He scowled at the others. "I hope that I don't need to remind you not to touch it. The amount of power that will be flowing from the Hellmouth nexus through that barrier to us will be remarkable. Any interference with the barrier could have unimaginable consequences." The others standing around the circle nodded quickly.

Giles checked his pocket watch. "Five minutes to midnight. The final invocation will only take two minutes, so we must wait for the remaining time."

"Oh, say - why don't we liven things up for you?" Giles recognized Buffy's voice instantly, but as he looked around he couldn't see where it was coming from.

"That's quite alright," he called out in response. Suddenly, behind him and to his left, there was a thumping impact. He turned around, and sure enough, there was Buffy Summers, a cross around her neck, and a stake in her right hand.

"Please," she shot back. "I insist." Two other figures dropped from the ceiling to land on their feet behind her - Akira Tojo and Willow Rosenberg. Tojo was carrying a vial of holy water and Willow was wielding a short but sturdy staff.

"Security!" Giles called. But Michelle, the mercenary demons, and the vampire guard were already charging into the cavern. "Take care of them!" Giles rapped. "And whatever you do, don't touch the barrier!"

"And do not harm the Slayer!" Kaliya called out. "She is mine!"

"This should be interesting," Giles' second observed out loud. Buffy and Willow recognized the voice, and turned towards that figure, unnoticed so far.

"Hello, I'm back, hon," Ethan Rayne said, smiling. "Love the hair."

Act Four

"The hair?" Buffy said, plunging a stake into one of the vampire guard, then quickly releasing and watching him disintegrate. "Oh, thanks, but it's really more of a personal statement than a fashion one."

"Really?" Ethan Rayne replied, sounding politely interested. "What is it supposed to say, then?"

Buffy punched a vamp away, trying to get closer to the pentagram. "That I won't rest... ungh... (or change my hair color again,) until I've dealt with her." Buffy pointed accusingly at Kaliya.

"How interesting." But Buffy now too occupied with vamp guardsmen, and Rancid, who had morphed into a multi-tentacular form and using his extrusions to harass all three intruders and bar Buffy from the ritual. Tojo was sparring, and doing fairly well, against Michelle, while Gennor was moving threateningly against Willow, bringing out his lightstone. Willow was able to parry one beam of energy awkwardly with her staff, the heat blackening the heavy wood where it hit, but another caught her in the shoulder, staggering her.

"Willow!" a voice rang down from above, and suddenly Xander was jumping down. He had apparently tried to land *on* Gennor, but hadn't been able to get quite enough lateral momentum, and stumbled to the rock floor just behind the demon mercenary. Two vampires rushed forwards to grab his arms and Gennor turned around, bringing the lightstone to bear.

"Xander!" another voice called out. A cold wind blew through the cavern as Cordelia lightly landed. With a grandiose gesture, she pointed at the vampires keeping her boyfriend restrained, and bolts of lightning knocked them away. Gennor turned again to face this new adversary, but a wave of Cordelia's hand sent a blast of wind into him. Gennor's body went motionless, and seemed to flicker in and out of existence again.

Giles, Ethan, and the others had started the ritual again at this point. Willow and Tojo were locked in serious combat with Michelle and Rancid, while the vampire guard was trying to keep Buffy contained without risking harm to her. Cordelia was simply standing, sending a burst of some kind of magic or another towards anyone threatening herself or Xander, and Xander had just realized this and was trying to push his way towards the pentagram without getting close enough to anyone that Cordy might hit him as well.

Suddenly, Willow noticed the barrier over Michelle's shoulder. The ripples through it seemed to be shorter than they had been at the beginning, but that was not what captured Willow's attention. Through the ripples could be seen, not the far side of the cave, but a desert landscape, unlit. Among the hills and dunes could be seen very little - a few strange-looking spiny trees of some description perhaps, and a human-like figure.

Then the distortion cleared up a little more, and Willow could make out that it was more than human-like - it was a male vampire, and she recognized him. "Angel!" she breathed in utter shock. Even though she hadn't seen Angel that often in his vampire face, there was absolutely no doubt in her mind that it was him... not only his body, but the soul within that she had come to know, the soul that Buffy loved, not the horrible demon that manifested when the human soul was not there.

The question of how it was that Willow was seeing Angel again didn't even intrude on her awareness; similarly the realities of the battle around them all faded from her mind. Jubilantly she called out: "Buffy! It's Angel!!"

And got a stunning right hook from Michelle that dashed her to the ground. Michelle drew out her signature weapon, the stake-like steel spike, but Tojo tagged her with a dose of holy water. Michelle screamed and retreated, and Tojo rushed over to Willow lay and glared about, as if daring any other foe to challenge him, or attack his fallen student.

Meanwhile, Buffy had knocked away the vamp she had been sparring with, and turned towards the barrier. "Angel," she breathed, much as Willow had, but a flood of tears came to her eyes and started to run down her cheeks even as she said the word. "*ANGEL*!" she called out loud.

The figure turned to look at her through the barrier. "Buffy?" the word came like a distorted whisper on the wind. Without even waiting for an answer Angel came charging towards her. Buffy kicked away a vamp who had gotten too close and ran over to meet him. They drew up on either side of the barrier, which was quickly becoming clearer; the ripples fading away, turning it into a glass-like wall, and they brought up their hands to try to touch each other.

"No!" Giles called out. "Don't touch the barrier!"

But they didn't listen or care. Their hands moved forwards, and came up against that wall, standing between them, seperating them utterly.

"NOO!" Kaliya called out from the pentagram. A rushing sound was heard, and suddenly a wave of ripples *moved* into the cavern, parallel to and approaching the glass wall. Another could be seen behind Angel, moving towards him. As the wave passed through people, slight cries or gestures of discomfort could be heard, except for Kaliya, who screamed in immortal agony as the wave passed over the pentagram.

And the two waves converged in on the wall of glass. Suddenly it wasn't there anymore, and Buffy and Angel's hands closed that final distance to clasp together. Angel cried out loudly as his fingers first touched Buffy's.

"What's going on?" Giles asked out loud. The pentagram had suddenly ceased glowing, and Kaliya was lying in a heap in the center of it. He charged forwards to turn her over. "Are you well, my lady?" he inquired softly.

Angel was doing better, still able to keep his feet, but Buffy turned around to help support his weight, and then turned to see what Giles and Kaliya would do.

"I am... not well," Kaliya muttered weakly. "Samael, in his anger, has struck me with weakness instead of the strength I sought. But something more vast has taken place. Call a retreat."

"But, my lady..."

"Call a retreat!" Kaliya repeated. "I must figure out what has happened - it is far more important than continuing the battle against the Slayer at this point." She struggled vainly to get up, but could not, and Giles simply gathered her up in his arms.

"Retreat!" Giles announced out loud. "Form a guard around Our Lady, to protect her safety." Michelle quickly organized this, frowning.

"Should I come too?" Ethan Rayne asked Giles.

"If you wish," Giles said curtly. Within a few seconds, before any of the Slayerette gang had had time to gather their thoughts, they were gone.

"Angel, I presume?" Tojo said, crossing over to Angel and Buffy and extending his hand.

"The almost-human version," Angel assured him weakly. His voice was raspy and quiet.

"What now?" Xander asked, looking around the cavern. Willow had gotten back to her feet, and Cordelia was looking around, confused. The witch-personality had probably left her again.

"Get back to the surface," Tojo said. "Kaliya's spell went horribly wrong somehow, and I think the effects spread further than bringing Angel back to Earth." Angel groaned uncertainly.

"Okay, let's see if we can get back up to that ladder," Buffy said. "Oz, you still there?"

"Yes I is," Oz called down.

"Can you try and grab people if we get them up to you?"

"Will try," Oz assured her. With a little effort, everyone was boosted back up to the ladder except Buffy, who leaped for the tube entrance without assistance easily.

After a difficult climb, Oz pushed the manhole aside again and climbed out. "Uh-oh," he muttered as he gave Angel a hand up.

When Buffy finally got her chance to come out, she realized what he was meaning. The street, which was normally one of Sunnydale's busiest, was empty of people or moving street traffic. A few cars were visible, not only parked but also just stopped against other cars or buildings, with the motors still running. And the sky, instead of familiar stars and perhaps a quarter moon, was filled with ribbons and streams of reds, purples and greens around featureless black patches.

"This can't be good," Xander said understatedly.