SquidgeWorld Archive

(This is original creative material copyright Chris Kenworthy, based on characters that he has no right to owned by someone else blah blah biddy blah...)
Author's note: The gang is stuck in a dimensional limbo, Buffy and Xander are together. Willow and Angel kissed, and now neither Oz nor Angel is talking to Willow. Angel's pregnant, Joyce Summers was mauled by a dragon, Queen Kaliya is getting ready to kill them all while Jenny has started a remarkable plan to get them all out of Limbo.

Prolog

"Okay, okay, stop quirming sissy," Cordelia muttered. "I'm almost -- hey, there, I'm done. Have a look."

Willow swivelled around in her chair, lifted her face back up and stared at her reflection in the bathroom mirror. For a second, she almost didn't recognize herself.

Bangs, about an inch and a half long, hung down to cover her forehead in a shallow, graceful arch. Her hair was now shorter around the sides, letting her ears show, and it had been sheared off level at the back, about an inch below the jawline. What was more, all of it had been, as Cordelia had put it, 'lightened two shades -' instead of the vibrant auburn-red it had been for months, her mane was now a shiny golden-blondish red.

"So," Cordelia pressed. "Do you like?"

"Uh, yeah," Willow said, dazed. "It's great, really."

"You sure?" Cordelia said, peering into Willow's face through the mirror to make sure that she was just speaking oddly because of mere surprise, not sarcasm. "It's a very powerful style," Cordy chatted on. "Very dramatic. But not too dramatic for you to pull off." Cordelia's face fell. "Uh, I didn't mean to imply that you weren't..."

"It's okay," Willow told her. "I like it. Very 'Hey I'm not your doormat anymore.'"

Cordy laughed. "Is... is that why you wanted to change your look?"

Willow considered that a moment, and sighed. "Well, yeah, kinda. I'm, you know, the assistant watcher, taking care of business, but I was still looking and dressing like a little girl. And Angel, and Oz... I can't shake the feeling that whatever they feel for me, they don't really take me seriously."

"Well, if anything can change that, this will," Cordy said. "With the new wardrobe, of course - no makeover is complete without one." She smiled as she led Willow back into her bedroom. "Okay, we've got some great stuff here. It's cheaper shopping in Limbo, or scavenging, or whatever," Cordelia reflected, "but not nearly as much fun. Oh well."

Willow couldn't help but laugh at that. "So, what d'you have for me?"

"Take a look." Cordelia started reaching into plastic bags and spreading clothes onto her bed. T-shirts, halter tops, tank tops, designer jeans and short skirts. Plenty of shoes, jewelry, and other accessories also made their appearance.

Willow shook her head nervously. "Oh - I can't wear this stuff."

Cordy smiled warmly at her. "Of course you can! You said you wanted to look more mature, more capable, didn't you?"

Willow just shot her a nasty look and picked up a skimpy tube top and a very short skirt. "Mature and capable?"

This time, it was Cordy who laughed. "Okay, so not all of them are your style... I needed some new clothes too!" She smiled teasingly at Willow. "But, well, how about these?" She fished out an understated emerald green tank top, a forest green jacket, and light green skirt.

"Um, uh, okay," Willow said. "Sure, I'll try it."

Cordelia smiled brillantly. "Great. You'll need these, too," she said, gathering a small pile of accessories and underclothes. Willow smiled uncertainly and took it all back into the bathroom to change.

"So," Cordelia asked her, leaning against the bathroom door. "Who'd have thought the two of us would be hanging out, two months ago??"

"Not me," Willow said, smiling, as she started to get changed. "Two of love's losers, consoling each other, I guess, huh?"

"Love's losers?" Cordelia asked, surprised. "You've got two guys adoring you! Three, if you count Xander!"

"I've got two guys *ignoring* me," Willow corrected her, "and an old friend who's with my best friend now."

"Just you give Angel and Oz time. They'll come around once things start to sort themselves out. Just guys being guys, right," she said, smiling.

"Hahaa!" Willow laughed, remembering the conversation she had had with Cordelia about guys and their 'guy games.' Just before they had found out that Oz was a vampire. "Yeah, we gotta cut them some slack, don't we?"

"While I," Cordelia continued on, "have no such prospect for relief."

"What about Darrell?" Willow asked. "He's cute, and I think he likes you..."

"Yeah, he's a honey," Cordy said. "but kinda creepy too. I talked to Vanessa about him, and he's into some really spooky stuff. I mean, magic dark enough that she wouldn't touch it."

"Hmm," Willow considered. "Why didn't you, uh, well, you and Xander, and Buffy..."

"Why didn't I try to take Xander back from Buffy?" Cordelia finished for Willow. "Do you really think I'd have had a chance? Buffy's always been his dream girl. Besides, I... I don't wanna be that kind of bitca anymore."

"Uh, really? Well, I guess you're doing well at that..." Willow stepped out of the bathroom in the new outfit, crossing over to the full-length mirror in Cordelia's room. The outfit was stylish, intriguing, and yet somehow very her! The jacket only just reached around her shoulders, quite a few inches from being able to close in the front, but that seemed to be the idea, and actually it looked pretty good...

"Willow?" Jesse's voice rang out. Willow looked around, trying to see where the teenaged ghost had popped in.

"Jesse?" she called. "What's up?"

"It's Angel," he said. "He... his time..."

Oh. "He's having the baby?" Willow asked unneccesarily.

"Uh, yeah..."

"I'll be right there," Willow told him, dashing towards the stairs.

* * * *

"Michelle!" Kaliya called out as she passed through the main room of the hideout. "Status?"

"All preparations are going according to schedule," Michelle told her. "We your troops will be in full readiness to follow you into battle by the morrow."

"Make sure that you are," Kaliya told her, then noticed Darla, Luke, and Jasper loitering a few feet away. "Darla. Attack me?"

This confused Darla. "My lady?"

Kaliya reached out, grabbed a short sword, and tossed it over to her other blonde vampire. "Try to cut my head off."

Darla shrugged, charged, and then as Kaliya waved a hand, she *stopped*! She tried to move closer, but it seemed as if her body was confined in a tiny invisible bubble that rippled as she pressed against it.

Darla sighed. "Very good, my lady. Will that be all?"

Kaliya laughed. "You are at Michelle's disposal, yes?" Darla nodded frustratedly. With a blink of Kaliya's eyes, the enclosure was gone. "Mister Giles!" Kaliya called, heading off to the private quarters. "What new reports have you for me??"

Act One

"Okay, I'm here," Willow called as she hurried into her parent's house. Buffy, Oz, and Xander all stared at her. "Willow, is that really..." Buffy started.

"Yeah, it's me," Willow assured her. "New hair, same Willow. So, where's Angel?"

"Uh, in the master bedroom," Buffy told Willow, heading upstairs with her. "I'm sorry, I just..." Buffy fumbled for the right words. "You kinda surprised me. It looks great, though."

"Yeah, thanks," Willow said distractedly, speeding up as they finished with the stairs. Angel was lying on her parent's bed, or the copy of it, and Vanessa and Jesse were already there. "How's it going?" she asked.

"Fairly well, given that it's only just started," Vanessa told her. "I... I don't know what to do, though. Given Angel's circumstances, most of traditional midwifery isn't likely to apply. We can try to make it as easy as we can on him, surround him with the people he finds it comforting to be near, but this is a journey that Angel will have to make very much alone, in some ways."

"Well, I'll help all I can," Willow decided. "That is... Angel?" She turned to look the vampire in the face. "Do you want me to stay?"

Angel's handsome face seemed to be torn with indecision for a moment, and then he nodded. "Yea- Yes," he moaned.

Buffy looked over at the vampire. "What about me, Angel? Do you want me to stay?"

A longer pause this time, and Angel shook his head. "I... I don't think that would be a good idea."

Buffy's face fell sadly. "Okay. Is there anyone I should tell to come in?"

Angel looked from Vanessa, to Jesse, to Willow, and shook his head. "I think I've got as much company as I really need."

Buffy looked back at him sadly. "Okay." She slipped quietly out the door and was gone.

Willow cast one sad look in the direction her best friend had gone, then tried to focus on the subject at hand. "Uh, okay Angel," she said nervously. "What can we do to help?"

Angel groaned. "I don't know," he said. "Anything that'll help keep my mind off the pain."

"Uh, okay!" She seized on this, coming over to sit on the edge of the bed. "Well, I don't know if this will help, but when I broke my leg when I was ten, the only way I could keep my mind off the pain 'til the ambulance came was to talk. I just kept talking on and on to Xander for like twenty minutes. Um, I don't know if that'll work for you, but..."

"Well, I'll try anything," Angel muttered. "Okay, well what should I talk about? Don't answer that 'cause I shouldn't stop to listen for an answer if I have to keep talking, right? Okay, well, I'm having a baby, right? I'm a vampire and a guy and I'm having a baby. Probably the first person who could ever say that, right? And it's Buffy's baby and I can't be with Buffy anymore because being around her makes me happy, and if I get too happy, I'll lose my soul again and make Buffy and everyone close to her very *unhappy*. And Buffy's with Xander now anyways, so it doesn't seem to make any difference whether I still love Buffy, now does it? On the other hand, there's you, Willow, isn't there. I feel so guilty about that kiss we shared, and the fact that it ruined everything between you and Oz, but I do like you."

"You..." Willow breathed, but Angel was continuing on without even pausing to listen, as he had said.

"...it was so much easier, and more comfortable, when I was talking to you, so maybe I should stop being such a stubborn idiot about staying away from you and let you, unh," he groaned painfully, "take the lead. Owww - someone else talk now."

"Huh?" Jesse said.

"Talking so much... uh, it takes a lot out of me," Angel said. "Someone else take over. Just keep talking, never stop, and I'll focus on the sound of the voice instead of the pain."

"Uh, okay," Willow said, catching on. "Well, I don't know any more than you what I should talk about, and you ended up talking about you and me, so maybe I should do the same, even though it seems really weird with you going through this and Vanessa and Jesse just standing here oh well. I... I think I like you better than Oz at this point, Angel." she blurted out. "I don't know why, really..."

* * * *

"How's he doing?" Xander asked as Buffy got back downstairs.

"Well enough for now, I guess," Buffy said quietly. "I don't think the pain has really started to get bad yet. That'll come later, right?" Xander nodded. "Oh, and by the way, I don't want to hear a single crack from you on this whole subject, Xander Lavelle Harris."

Xander winced as she used her full name. "A crack? What do you mean?"

"Oh, you know. Anything about who wears the pants between Angel and me, or about a male becoming pregnant striking a blow for the women's lib movement... need I go on?"

Xander's face fell. "Oh, I wasn't even thinking of it," he lied.

"I'm sure." She turned to face Giles and Jenny. "So, where were we?"

"Making our plans for Project Elysium," Jenny said. "According to my researches, one aspect of the spell will *have* to be cast in the school. The library, to be precise, or its Limbo equivalent or whatever."

"Uh, okay," Buffy muttered. then did a double-take. "Mind me asking why? I mean, this is your own magic, right? So who's telling you what you have to do? And why the library?"

"Because the Hellmouth opened there," Jenny said. "And we're inside the Hellmouth. It's complicated to explain, but the formulae only work out if we cast the secondaries at that point."

"Uh, okay," Buffy said. "Will we need any other locations?"

"Yes," Giles said, taking over. "One primary, where most of the group will cross over. Probably a residence where no-one will be there to see you mysteriously appear."

"Your house or mine?" Mister Tojo inquired. Buffy hadn't even realized that he was in the room, standing off to the side and somewhat behind her.

She considered a moment. "Ours. We may need the extra space." Tojo nodded in acquiescence.

"And," Jenny continued, "the Elysium chant will need to be repeated by those of us who are ghosts. An area centered around our location at that point will, we hope, become the model for Elysium - a spiritual domain in which we can remain indefinitely, after Limbo is gone and you guys have headed back to earth. We were thinking of Giles' place."

"Kendra and Jesse have agreed to 'room' together in the unit beside mine," Giles added.

Buffy smiled. "Cool. So, any other preparations need to be made?"

"In a bit," Jenny told her. "We've almost finished writing the final spells - we should get back to them. Once they're worked out, we'll let you know what you can do to help."

"Okay," Buffy said. "I think I'll be out on patrol, meanwhile. Xander, you wanna join me?"

* * * *

"So, is all in readiness?" Giles asked, entering Kaliya's chamber.

"Quite." She flashed that charismatic smile on him. "Tomorrow, we ride into battle. Well, ride in a metaphoric sense, I mean..."

"I realized that," Giles told her smoothly, crossing over to sit down on the bed. "By this time tomorrow, one way or another, Limbo will have passed on, I suppose."

"Most certainly," Kaliya assured him. From where she was sitting further up the bed, she swung herself around, lifting her legs up onto the bed, crossed between themselves, and she gazed intently into his face as Giles unconsciously mimicked her new position. Giles had to exert effort to pay sufficient attention to her face and not excessively much to her legs, most of which were showing as her robe rode up.

"I shall miss it," Giles found his place and continued. "Uh, Limbo, I mean. Just because it was here that we... you and I..."

"Bedded each other?" Kaliya expressed it, shocking Giles somewhat. "Well, that's quite charming, Giles, but considering that we were already confidantes, business partners, and well on the way to being lovers before we got here... I think it would have happened regardless."

"Well, yes," Giles admitted. "I didn't say that we wouldn't have. Just... that I'll miss Limbo."

"Ah." Kaliya looked around the room, which hardly gave away that it was currently located in Limbo - there were no windows, of course, by which the colored and curlicued ribbons of the Limbonian sky could be seen. "I suppose I will too, in a way."

"Yes." Giles sat there a moment before the impulse building strength in his mind could no longer be denied. "Well, we have one more night here - let's turn it into another experience to remember!" He scrambled over the bed towards Kaliya, pushing her torso down against the pillows as he grabbed for her thin white gown - and what was beneath it.

"Hey!!" Kaliya shouted out, unable to quite mask her grin. "Since when do you make the first move, *my son*?"

"Since now!" Giles shrugged at her. "And why not? Shall we not drink deeply of the cup of passion tonight, my lady, since tomorrow doom may befall us?"

That got rid of Kaliya's grin. "Don't talk like that," she said, pushing Giles off of her. "Neither of us are going to die tomorrow."

Giles was not nearly so sure. In fact, all day he had been having disturbing premonitions about the coming fight - premonitions of death by fire for himself or Kali. That probably *was* why he wanted so much to possess her again tonight - in case he lost her tomorrow, or in case it was the last night of his unlife. But... but he knew that he couldn't tell Kaliya that. "No, of course not."

"My victory tomorrow will be complete and without losses," Kaliya continued. Giles wasn't sure if she was trying to persuade herself or him.

"Of course," he told her soothingly. "It will be your moment of greatest triumph."

She looked up at him, her eyes bright. "So it will!" And with that, she grabbed him, threw *him* down on the bed, and climbed up on top of him...

Act Two

"Come on, Angel," Willow told him desperately. "Hold on. *Hold* on." The 'talking' routines had been left behind for now, four hours into Angel's labour, and Willow was just holding Angel's hand and trying to comfort him.

"Ecch," Vanessa said, after examining Angel's pelvis. "We've got lacerations here, major ones. I was kind of expecting this, but... Angel!"

"Yuh?" Angel groaned back at her.

"How do you feel? Are you feeling weak or drained - aside from the pain, I mean?"

Angel seemed to have a hard time concentrating on the question. "Not sure," he finally answered.

"Why are you asking him that?" Willow said. "What's wrong?"

"He's lacerating - his bodily tissues inside are tearing, and bleeding. In a normal birth, it's a definite danger sign. Here, it was pretty much inevitable, considering that the baby's been growing in a body cavity with no direct access to the outside, but there's more bleeding than I was hoping. His flesh is that of a vampire, but he's losing too much blood."

"So he... he should be feeding?" Willow summarized.

"I, uh, I'd r-reccomend it, yeah," Vanessa stammered.

"Fine," Willow decided, reaching out to pick up a knife, still holding onto Angel's hand with her other hand. "Get me a bowl."

"What?" Jesse stammered. "Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing? You're gonna feed him blood? Your blood, Will??"

"Well, yeah," Willow replied defensively. "Controlled - like a blood transfusion, taken orally." She turned to Vanessa. "We can make it safe, right?"

"I think so," Vanessa said, placing a bowl and some bandages in front of Willow.

Not waiting for an official go-ahead, Willow set the bowl in front of her, and cut at her wrist. "Owww!" she cried out, almost falling over with the sudden pain, but with an almost insane determination she kept the blood dripping into the bowl. After a few seconds, she picked it up, still collecting more in it all the while. "Drink, Angel," she said, tipping the bowl to his lips. "Keep your strength up."

* * * *

"Hey, check this out," Buffy said as she and Xander walked back into the Rosenberg's house. In one hand she held a tiny stylized pistol, colored a burnished red.

"What is it?" Oz asked her, but Buffy waved the question on, letting Xander field it.

"Millitary incindiary pistol. We dodged through the army base to take a look around and found this baby in an experimental armories lab."

"Incindiary?" Cordelia repeated. "It shoots fire?"

"It shoots a flaming bullet, supposedly," Buffy told her. "The thing catches fire when you shoot it and builds temperature as it flies. The specifications say that by fifty feet, it can set a provide enough heat to set a wooden board blazing."

"We were hoping it might have a similar effect on a vampire," Xander clarified. "Only drawback is, there's only one charge in it." He sighed. "So, what did we miss?"

"A fair number of yells and other odd noises from upstairs," Oz told them. "Angel only cursed your name that one time, Buffy, so I'd call that a good thing. Meanwhile, the Council of Wizards has been waiting for your arrival downstairs."

"Okay, I'm on my way," Buffy said, heading for the back stairs.

Xander paused only long enough to glance upwards in the direction of the Master bedroom and give one all-over-body shudder. Then he headed quickly off after his girlfriend.

* * * *

"It's gonna be a little hectic, with the key moment so close ahead and Angel's, uh, 'delivery' not complete just yet," Jenny told them. "But I figure we had better start the preparations now. The portion of the spell to be cast over at the school will require five participants - probably best two witches and three normals. Any..."

"For the sake of speed, why don't we say me, Amy, Xander, Cordelia, and Oz??" Darrell proposed, cutting the technopagan off.

"Uh... I suppose... any objections? Any at all?" No-one raised any. "Okay, that settles that. I guess that means the primary casters over at Summers' will be... um, Vanessa and Willow, who are upstairs, and you, Akira."

Akira Tojo nodded gravely. "Master Jim and Miss Paula will be able to assist, will they not?"

"Of course," Jim answered him.

"Okay," Jenny said, catching her bearings. "So... you all should probably start setting up at your assigned locations, then. Buffy, do you want to help set up at your mom's house or stay around here?"

Buffy considered that a moment. "I'll stay put for now."

* * * *

"Okay, c'mon, Angel," Jesse told him, starting to get into the role of the birth coach. "Push. Push! PUSH!!"

"I'm pushing, alright," Angel snapped. "I kinda don't have a say in the matter."

"Well, push harder anyways," Jesse told him.

"Oh, gee thanks."

"He's right, though, Angel," Willow broke in. "This little guy's moving. All you gotta do is get him the rest of the way there."

"You - can - tell - it's - a - guy?" Angel said between groaning pushes.

"Uh, no. Well, maybe," Willow qualified. "I've got a very strong feeling about it."

"Well - we'll - see - a - bout - that..."

* * * *

"Okay," Kaliya said, turning away from the magic mirror to face the assembled troops. "They're splitting up into three groups. We'll split into three too - to take each party prisoner."

"Prisoner?" Luke spat. "We should kill them."

"And so we will," Kaliya assured him. "But *not* until I have captured the Slayer. She will have to see each and every one of her friends die." Luke, and a few others smiled at that thought. "Luke, Darla, the two of you will work with Mister Giles. Take what troops you will need and intercept anyone moving towards the Summers house. Michelle, Jasper, the two of you will ambush and overtake the party whose destination is the school. I'll take the Rosenberg house itself, with a half a dozen soldiers."

"But..." Darla choked off her protest, then decided to continue with it. "But none of us have been invited to that house. How will you be able to pass its threshold?"

"That won't be a problem," Kaliya told her. "Now, I'd like to take a moment to remind you all about the promises that we've made - the promises I've made to lead you to great victories, and the promises each of you have made to me, to uphold my best interests above all else. Before your own, if it comes to that. As we go now into glorious battle, those promises become doubly and triply important. For, you see, in giving your trust completely to me, you become able to trust each other. I don't ask your loyalty for my own glorification, but because only with that loyalty can I lead us all in the best way possible. So, I hereby renew the vows of leadership I've made to all of you, and I'd like to ask for an 'aye' from each of you as a renewal of your oaths of fealty."

"Aye." "Aye!" "Aye..." They echoed for a few seconds, and then fell silent.

"Alright. Let's go capture a Slayer!"

* * * *

"Say," Buffy started to Giles out of the blue. "If you and Jenny are going to be afterliving together, that means you wouldn't want us to curse you back to the vampire Giles, doesn't it?"

Giles turned to look at his Slayer for a moment. "Buffy, I wouldn't have wanted that anyways," he admitted. "Seeing what that life's been like for Angel... it really is a curse. I know I couldn't handle it as well as he does."

"Oh," Buffy said, frowning a moment. "Then I'll kill him for you. The vampire Giles, I mean."

Giles shook his ghostly head at her. "Buffy, that's not necce-"

"If we're not bringing you back, it's something I have to do," she told him. "That vampire, in a sense, is the thing that killed you! You said that once to Xander, about Jesse. I'm going to kill him for you, I swear it." Buffy smiled teasingly at the ghost-Giles. "Whether you want it or not.

"Very well then, I guess," Giles said, sighing. There was silence for a moment. "Oh, no," he exclaimed after returning to his work. "There's, um, there's something I forgot to tell Mister Tojo, about the ritual he'll have to do."

"I can go tell him!" Buffy called out, jumping up at him out of sheer boredom.

"Uh," Giles thought a moment. "Yes, that might be best... actually, if you could fetch a book from his apartment and ferry it over to your house, Buffy?"

"Uh, okay, sure."

"Okay, the book is 'Dethreading the dimensional vortex -' it would be in the bookshelves in his private study, I think. And tell him to integrate the dynamic model in chapter seven before preparing the tertiary invocations I showed him."

"Uh, sure," Buffy said. "Wait a second - what was that title?"

He went over the information again, which Buffy in the end noted down on a piece of paper. "Okay, so I'll get the book, and then go over and hang with the crowd at my place, right? Willow and the rest will follow once they're done with Angel, right?"

"Yes," Giles said, nodding.

"Oh! And they'll bring my mom over, too, right?" Her mother's recovery was still proceeding slowly, although Vanessa had said she was 'much more optimistic' this week.

"Of course," Giles assured her.

"Okay, I'm off." Buffy smiled and charged out of the room.

* * * *

Jasper grinned diabolically, made sure that the handsome young warlock was right in his sights, and pulled the trigger. Darrell screamed faintly and collapsed.

His companions immediately tensed up and looked around, trying to determine the source of the attack. Right then, Michelle let fly with her 'bola.' The wieghted lines of the strange-looking weapon whizzed through the air, zeroing in on the other witch, Amy. Soon enough, they brushed into her, and the weights arcced their way around her, guiding the tough plastic cord, trussing her up tighter than a Thanksgiving turkey.

Jasper tried again with the stun gun - the Harris twerp was a fool and let himself get tagged, but the wereboy and ex-witch were more alert and kept dodging as he oriented on them. Oh well - it was now down to two on two. Between them, he and Michelle could nullify these two fools hand-to-hand.

Act Three

"One... more... push," Vanessa urged Angel. "There." A soft cry began. "It's a boy! Angel, you're the proud father to a perfect little, uh, half-vampire boy."

"Great," Angel groaned. "Where are the damn cigars?"

"Somehow I don't think so," Willow told him, giving Angel a little bit more blood to drink. "Uh, Vanessa, should we be, um," she gestured with the bowl, "feeding the baby, too?"

"I have no clue," Vanessa admitted. "I'm not even sure *what* we would feed this little guy if we were to try. Blood? Milk? A mix of the two??" She finished wrapping the baby up and gave him to Angel to look at.

Willow and Jesse giggled at what Vanessa had just said. "So, have you thought of a name, Angel?" Willow asked him.

"Yeah. His name is Obayana Jesse Summers Calhoun."

"Jesse?" Jesse exclaimed.

"Yeah - it's just a nice name. 'The gift,' you know."

Willow, on the other hand, seemed disappointed. "Uh, Calhoun?" she asked.

"My family name, back when I was alive," Angel clarified. "I think it'll be good for this little guy."

"Uh, okay, cool," Willow said, still seeming a little morose.

Suddenly the entire house seemed to shake - and then it *lurched*. In a second, the bedroom was noticeably tilted over, and the three of them who had been standing up were stumbling wildly, trying desperately to keep their balance. (Willow thought idly that it was strange that a ghost like Jesse should need to worry about such things, but the ghosts did align with material things, even if they couldn't affect them, and in any event the mortal reflexes would have been still there.)

With a horrendous cracking sound, the floor seemed to break on three sides of the room, and tilt down a few inches, then a foot, then five feet. Willow and Vanessa screamed as they tumbled helplessly down into the living room below.

"Willow!" Jesse called out, jumping after them. Soon enough, the bed itself slid down and crashed onto the first floor floor, Angel still on it, holding little Obayana.

As if that had been a signal, the entire house above the first floor *blew* away. The room upstairs they had just been in - most of the living room walls, all of it - just lifted up and away, going they knew not where. Willow caught just a trace of the unbelievable wind that must have destroyed her house, (or the copy of her parent's house, whatever,) before it died suddenly and instantly down.

"See?" a voice rang over the wreck. "No house, no no-invitations rule any more." Willow felt herself being lifted up - tried to struggle, but her strength had been drained from the ordeals she had gone through, and her hands were cuffed behind her quickly. She was dumped on the couch with Vanessa and Angel. From here, she could see Queen Kaliya leaving the room, holding the baby emotionlessly in her arms. Jesse, she now saw, was restrained by an ectoplasmic arm.

Soon Kaliya and her toughs had returned, with the other ghosts under restraint. Kaliya was furious. "The Slayer!" she screamed out. "Summers!!" Where is she??"

Willow had no idea. "Tell me!" Kaliya roared out, striking Willow cruelly across the face. Willow couldn't stifle a whimper of pain and confusion. Kaliya glared out at all of them. "One of you knows, don't you?" Giles' ghost set his face carefully. "*You*!" Kaliya called at him, not speaking his name, (possibly because, to her, only the vampire was Giles - not the ghost.) "You are the one who sent her away, yes?"

Giles considered carefully. "I am."

"Tell me." Giles crossed his arms defiantly. "I may not be able to hurt you, ghost, but I can hurt *her*." She gestured threateningly at Willow again.

"Don't tell her, Giles!" Willow called out, mostly because it seemed to be the thing to do when you were being threatened to put leverage on another person. Kaliya swung her arm towards the couch, and even though she didn't touch Willow, the teenager found herself thrown over the couch and was sent sprawling into the front hall floor by a gust of wind that had come out of nowhere. For a second, Willow was absolutely sure that she knew what her house had felt like.

Kaliya seemed to be calming down now, though. "It doesn't matter. I don't need to find Summers. I will take the rest of you, as planned, and I will make certain that she knows where to find me. When she realizes that you're gone, she will try to save you. But I should leave her a special surprise." The golden-haired vampire turned and strode into the hall. Willow thought she could hear a cry and muffled sizzling. Mrs Summers!!

"It is done," Kaliya said tightly when she returned. "Let's move 'em out, boys."

* * * *

"No, my lady," the Vampire Giles was saying into a handheld radio. "There were only the three of them... hang on a moment." He headed over to inspect the newly manacled figure Darla was bringing over. "Yes, we've gotten Mister Summers as well, now. Is that all of them? All except one? You don't know where the Slayer is? Okay, I see. Well, shall we remain and wait if she tries to pass through our cordon, then? Oh, very well." He put the radio away and called out to his team. "That's it for now, boys. And ladies," he said with a bow to Darla. "We take our prisoners and fall back to Zone Four."

"Zone Four?" Luke said, unimpressed. "Why should we..."

"Because Kaliya wishes it so," Giles said flatly. "Is that clear?"

Luke pouted. "Clear enough," he mumbled.

* * * *

Buffy headed down Rebello drive towards her mother's house. It had taken her a bit longer than she had expected at Tojo's apartment, partly because she had forgotten, in all the excitement, to get a key to it. Oh, well, so she broke some windows to get at the door lock. This was all just a Limbo copy - Tojo's real apartment would be fine. And it had taken longer to find the book than Giles had implied it would. Wasn't that always the way?

There was the house up ahead. No lights on. She hurried up to the porch - the door was locked here, too, and no signs of any activity. This couldn't be right.

She picked up the spare key - hidden under the stone flower block as always, and checked the house out thoroughly. No-one was here.

But they were *going* to be here, weren't they? Buffy shook her head in confusion and figured out where she should go next. Back to the Rosenbergs? That was the only place that made any real sense.

She realized that the Rosenberg's house was mostly missing as soon as she saw it. Or, to be more precise, she saw that it wasn't in its usual place, mostly because she saw the other house that it had crashed into. What in Limbo could have generated that kind of power? Buffy didn't know for sure, but was suddenly very much afraid that it was either the Witch Queen Kaliya or something that was now working for her.

She dodged up to what remained of the first floor. There wasn't much debris, and no bodies. Which was both good, and bad. No sign of the ghosts either. She checked every room in the basement on the first level before it occured to her to try the infirmary.

Angel's couch was empty, of course, and her mother was lying sprawled on the other. The pose seemed eerily familiar, and after a few moments Buffy realized what it was. Back, soon after Kaliya had come to Sunnydale, she had cast a spell to bring Buffy into a nightmare world, where all of her friends and loved ones had come to various assorted ends.

Mister Tojo had mysteriously disappeared, Willow had been drawn into a Thessulan orb, Xander had become an undead revenant and turned Cordelia into a vampire - Oz had gone into a werewolf rampage and killed her father before Buffy had been forced to shoot him with a silver bullet. In due course, the real Willow and Mister Tojo had been able to help Buffy out of the nightmare world.

But one of the atrocities of that nightmare had been shrouded in mystery. Buffy had gone to her mother's house to apologize, and found her brutally murdered. In the context of the dream, who had done the deed had never been determined - other events had kept Buffy from tracking down the killer.

Now, standing at what had once been the doorway of the Rosenberg den, and later the infirmary, Buffy knew that she would find the same thing if she inspected her mother. Sure enough, as she crept forward, Buffy saw the slices into her throat - so deep and so many that they mangled the skin and flesh. Blood had run down onto the couch, onto the blankets, onto Joyce Summers herself and her clothes...

This time, it was no dream. This time, Buffy knew exactly who had done this - only Kaliya would have dared. And this time, Buffy knew exactly where to find her.

For, next to the bed, letters had been burned into the hardwood floor. B R O N Z E.

Buffy delayed only long enough to pass through the kitchen and pick up the small, dull red pistol from where she had left it. This time, Kaliya was gonna pay.

Act Four

"Hmm, there, that should do it," Queen Kaliya said, as the containment chain winked into existence around her many prisoners - the corporeal ones, that is. The ghosts were well enough restrained by the ectoplasmic arms, but Kaliya had thought of something more special for the humans and the vampire who had helped them. Two walls of rippling barrier energy surrounded them all, crossing in between the captives so that each was imprisoned within their own ovoid prison chamber, the lot of them stretching across the Bronze's dance floor like a string of beads. Angel's baby had been set aside in a makeshift bassinet - the tiny thing was hardly a threat. Her vampire troops were getting ready to support her against Buffy Summers' inevitable attack, but Kaliya was expecting another arrival first. Sure enough, Jasper pushed a very unfortunate soul through the front doors and toward her - Dalton.

"I'm not happy, Dalton," Kaliya whispered to him softly, putting her arm around his shoulder and leading him to the other side of the containment chain. "I gave you a very simple job, didn't I? To monitor the enemy on my magic mirror and report to me with the radio if there were any problems." She spun Dalton around in front of her so she could glare him in the face. "Couldn't you even do *that* right??"

Dalton knew he was in trouble now. "B-but, your majesty... the radio, it wasn't..."

"The radio wasn't working?" Kaliya said, with deceptive softness once more. "Well, tell me then, were you at least able to FIND the Slayer, if you couldn't report her disappearance to me?"

Dalton shook his head, his eyes closed in anticipation.

"Look at me!" Kaliya snapped. "And answer my question aloud, you snivelling wretch."

"Uh, n-no, I couldn't." Dalton whispered. "I was checking the other parties when she left, and I tried, but it's a big town..."

"That is enough!" Kaliya snapped out. She turned away, walked that way a few paces, and spun back around to face Dalton. With a snap of her fingers the Hellmouth demon appeared, tentacles tearing at Dalton's arms and legs. After playing with the poor scholar for several moments, the thing chewed of his head - and groaned as the vampire exploded into dust. Deprived of its meal, the demon sank back into the floor - and Kaliya staggered onto her knees in sudden weakness.

"My lady!" Giles cried out, noticing her misstep. "Are you alright?"

"I am fine," Kaliya assured him, steel in her voice.

"You do not seem fine." Giles began to walk, very slowly, closer to her. "Perhaps this magic has been overexerting you. You summoned the winds twice at Rosenbergs, you're confining a dozen prisoners. That demon may have been too much magic in a short space of time."

"Yes, you are probably correct," Kaliya said. "Nevertheless, I shall recover."

"Not if I have anything to say about it, you won't!!"

Everyone looked to see the source of the new voice. It was Buffy Summers, of course, her chocolate-brown curls blowing back ever so slightly as she strode boldly forward from the rear exit to the Bronze's main room, the incindiary pistol in both hands, pointing unerringly at Kaliya. Instictively protective, Giles moved smoothly between Kaliya and Buffy. All of the other vampires were near to the front door, waiting for Buffy to make her entrance from that direction, and on the other side of the containment chain. For the moment, both they and the prisoners could do little but watch as the action proceeded between three participants - Buffy, Kaliya, and the Vampire Giles.

"A gun?" Kaliya said, almost laughing. "I would have thought such an experienced Slayer as you would know better than to draw a gun on a vampire."

"It'll do what I need it to do," Buffy said tightly. No point in letting her know the true nature of her weapon, after all.

"What? You hope to incapacitate me with bullets long enough to stake me? Well, it's an idea, I suppose, though one messy and unfair enough I doubt any other Slayer has tried it. But it isn't just me you need to worry about, Buffy. Do you think you have enough bullets to fire into Giles that you can get a clear shot at me?"

Buffy didn't answer that. "Well, if you're going to try, you might as well do it soon. Giles, please move towards me, still maintaining your interception between myself and herself."

"Don't let her do it, Buffy!" Willow called out from her containment cell. "Kaliya's low on magic energy right now, and can't muster up any more without letting us go. But if she touches Giles, should could draw a little bit of his vitality to get more magic - imprison you, call up a demon. You can't let them touch!"

Buffy saw that she was right - at least, she couldn't let Kaliya survive more than a second after touching Giles. If she timed it just right, she could probably ash them both with the single charge, if they were touching. But that would be close.

"Don't wait," Xander assured her. "Flame Giles and take Kali on hand-to-hand."

That would be risky too - since once she used up the pistol and engaged Kaliya in melee, there would be no good reason for the other vampires to remain where they were. More importantly, Xander had just, like the complete doof he was, given away the secret of her weapon.

Surely enough, Kaliya had caught the reference to 'flame.' "So, this is a literal fire gun?" she asked. "Ooh - I hadn't anticipated that. Surely deadly to a vampire - but probably not to two, unless they're in physical contact." She pondered that. "And so, we remain in tableau. I can't attack you magically without giving you an opportunity to kill both of us with the flame, and you can't shoot without giving me the opportunity to bring my greater numbers into play."

Kaliya waited a few seconds, letting the truth of that hang in the air for a few moments. "You know, it really shouldn't have been this way - special weapons and great magics. It doesn't have to be that way either. If you just put the gun down, I'll call my troops off, and the two of this can settle this matter hand to hand. For all the marbles. What do you say?"

Buffy considered the matter. Kaliya would probably keep her word - up to a point. She had a thing about the glorious and honorable battle - as long as she thought she could win. But if Buffy got the upper hand, Kaliya would call for assistance, or use her magic if she recovered any energy during the fight. Buffy had no such escape valve. "No deal."

"Well, then, I guess I'll just have to call on my troops anyways. Jasper, Michelle!" The two vampires came to attention as she called out their names. "Come around the containment wall and approach me. Do not worry about Miss Summers' inevitable threats - if she shoots Giles, then she shoots him. If she turns to threaten you, then by all means wait or take cover." She chuckled. "While Giles and I kill her."

Uh-oh. This could work, surely enough. Which means that Buffy couldn't afford to wait anymore - she had to kill Giles with the gun and try her very best to kill Kaliya hand-to-hand before her help arrived.

And so she fired the gun. The charge streaked out, catching fire as soon as it was under way, glowing red and then white-hot.

But Giles... Giles was already dodging away, tumbling ahead and to the left. Kaliya, on the other hand, was not. As Buffy watched, the flaming bullet streaked into the vampire witch's shoulder, the flames spreading over the top half of her body - not even licking down to her legs before her body exploded into dust.

The containment field popped into nonexistence. With a roar, Kaliya's vampires charged their former prisoners. It didn't look good - Angel was still weak from his labors, the witches were disorganized and not ready with any spells, and Buffy was still twenty feet away from all of the rest of them. "No!" Willow called out in a fit of desperation. "You can't kill us!"

Darla sneered at her. "And why not, little girl?"

"Because that means you'll die too. Limbo is collapsing, you know that, right?" Jasper nodded, and the rest of the vamps took their cue from him. "Kaliya might have brought you all out of it with a single thought, but she's dead now. You'll need another way out, and as it stands, we're it."

The vampires considered that, and the Scooby gang and witches took the opportunity to gather their ranks and edge towards the back door. "How do we know that you're really gonna save us?" Luke asked cynically.

"You don't," Vanessa said, "except that I say I'll do it. More to the point, if we don't get out of here *now* and start casting our spell, we're gonna save nobody. So, we're gonna go now, and if you attack us, you're dooming yourself." They backed carefully away.

"Where's the baby?" Angel called out in desperation..

"In the bass-" Willow started, then cut off. The bassinet was empty. Giles was nowhere to be seen. "Giles took him - but we've got *no time*!"

"Okay," Vanessa shouted out as they cleared the Bronze. "Darrell, take your team to the school as planned. Ghosts, pop off to Giles' condo. Everyone else, follow me to chez Summers!"

* * * *

"So, are we really gonna bring the vampires over?" Buffy puffed as they jogged up her porch.

"Yeah, probably," Willow said. "Not sure about the reborn ones - it depends on how Kaliya brought them back. We won't have spot control - we're sending everything back the way it came."

"Oh," Buffy said. "Wait, so what about Angel? If he came from Hell..."

"Will he get sent back?" Willow said. "No. His origin was Earth, so that's where he'll identify with..."

"Willow!" Vanessa called over to her.

"I gotta go," Willow told her. "Wish us good luck!"

With that, Willow, Tojo, Vanessa, Jim, and Paula gathered around a diagram in the middle of her living room. A circled pentagon, Buffy thought, recalling some of the little she had picked up about witchcraft over the past few months. Benevolent.

"We call upon the god Tyr," they chanted. "Judge of all the worlds, keeper of the balance. Let his wisdom pass through all that remains of this Limbo, and deal with each part as is most fitting." An unearthly keen started to pass through the room, setting Buffy's hair on edge.

"To all those that came of Earth, let them return to the Earth. To those things that came of hell, let them be sent back to the shores of Hell. To the ghost spirits that passed out of the Ether, let them build their own Elysium. To any creatures which are part and part of Earth and of Hell, let them be cast into the Ether. To that which was borrowed of Earth and Hell, let it be returned."

The keening got louder, and a slight breeze started to stir in the room. "All this, we ask in the name of order and law. Let it be done!!"

A moment of vertigo struck Buffy, but when it was over she was standing in the exact same spot of her house. But the magic diagram and accoutrements were gone. "Are we... home?" she asked.