Disclaimer:

Everything connected to the television show - the Watchers, the Slayer, her friends - are owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy Productions and the WB.

The Hunter, his friends, the Order of the Silver Star and any settings used in this story not used by those mentioned above were created by me. Please don't use any of them without my permission. Thanks!!!

"The time is coming."

Reginald raised his head and looked at the young man sitting on the other side of his desk. He laid his pen down. "I don't think so, Andrew."

"How can you not see it?!" Andrew exclaimed, standing up. "I gave you all of my research. I presented all of it to the Council in full assembly. Everyone saw it. Part of the Council even agreed with me!" He gestured to the shelves of books along the walls. "Part of my research came from this room!"

"I'm well aware of your research and where it came from. I read all of it."

"How can you say you don't think the time is coming?!? It's all there! You personally assigned me to this. Now that I've completed what you wanted me to do, you don't believe me. What is wrong with you?!"

Reginald slapped his hands on the table and stood. "You forget yourself, young man! Do you think you are the only Watcher to bring me sayings of doom?"

Andrew visibly shrank.

"I hear these things every day. Yes, I assigned you to this particular subject. You did a smashing job with the research and your presentation before the Council was excellent. You spoke eloquently and convinced some of the Council your findings are true."

"I cannot allow myself that luxury. I have to weigh more factors than you are aware of. I have years of experience at my disposal, as well. The time you are convinced is approaching is, in fact, not."

Andrew walked away from Reginald and his desk. He walked to the double doors, opened the door on the right and started to leave the room. He turned back before he left. "I hope you're right." Andrew turned and left, pulling the door closed behind him.

Reginald sat down behind his desk and picked up his pen to return to his work. He looked up at the door Andrew had just shut.

"So do I, my young friend. So do I."

* * * * *

The two girls were sitting at the large table in the school library. One of them was trying to focus on the book in front of her while the other girl was opening several boxes in front of the table.

Buffy sighed and pushed the book away from her. Willow looked at her best friend and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Something's up. I don't know what it is, but something is definitely up."

"Why do you say that?"

"Nothing has happened in weeks. No major threats have came our way in over a month. We haven't met up with any powerful vampires in almost twice that time."

Willow looked at Buffy with a strange look. Buffy caught it. "I'm not complaining or anything. It just doesn't feel right not having to save the world on a major level. It feels so…so…"

"…odd," Giles finished, walking out of his office.

"Yeah," Buffy agreed.

Giles laid the four books he was carrying on the table. "I can understand how you must feel. It can be rather disconcerting not being in strenuous situations when it seems like you have been in strenuous situations for months or years."

"Which means it feels weird when you've been in so much danger lately and then you're not," Xander translated, walking up to the table.

"Ah, Xander. I didn't hear you come in," Giles said.

"Hey, I can be quiet like a mouse when I want to be," Xander replied, sitting down across from Buffy.

Giles turned and saw the boxes Willow had began to open. "I see the new infernal box is here."

"Now, Giles," Willow started. "You know the last computer helped us a lot. Actually, I'm glad it burned up. It was practically belonged in a museum."

"It was only two years old, Will," Xander said.

"Exactly!" Willow grunted, as she lifted one of the bigger boxes from the floor and put it on the table. "I designed this system to be able to last for awhile. And it's got everything we need." She hesitated for a second. "Well, almost everything. I'll need to download a few programs off the 'Net and then we'll have everything we need."

The phone rang in Giles' office. "I'll leave it in your very capable hands, Willow," said Giles, walking into his office and answering the phone.

The double doors of the library opened. Cordelia, Oz and Faith walked in. Buffy could see Cordelia trying to stay away from the other two as much as she could. Oz immediately went to Willow and began to help her.

Cordelia placed the booked she was carrying on the table and then walked out, not saying a word and paying none of them any attention. Buffy looked at Xander as he watched Cordelia walk out. She could see the pain on his face and in his eyes.

Giles walked out of his office just as Faith sat down beside Buffy. She saw the look on Giles' face and asked, "Something up?"

"You could say that," the Watcher answered. "Willow, I need that machine running as soon as possible." Giles paused and looked at each of them, his gaze finally stopping on Buffy and Faith. "It seems we have something major coming."

"I knew it," Buffy said, standing up. "Do you know what it is?"

"Only that it is "big", as Xander would say. I remember hearing something about it during my training as a Watcher. But, no one paid it any heed."

"What are we talking about here, Giles" Faith asked, rather impatiently.

"It has many names…the Reunion…the Rejoining…and others."

"What is it supposed to be?" Xander inquired.

"We're not sure. No one paid any attention to the prophecies concerning the Rejoining, which is what I was instructed to call it. No one believed the event that was supposed to herald the Rejoining would actually occur."

"What was the event?" Oz asked, opening another one of the boxes.

Giles looked at Buffy and Faith again. "Two Slayers would appear, one out of the death of another. But, the Slayer who perished would return."

"Whoa," Oz whistled, looking at the two Slayers. "I'd say that comes close to describing it."

"What is this Rejoining supposed to be?" Faith asked. "What do we know about it?"

"Almost nothing."

That answer silenced everyone. All of them looked at Giles with a stunned look, with only one question in their eyes.

Giles knew the question. "As I said, no one paid any particular to the prophecies of the Rejoining because no one ever believed the line of Slayers would sunder into two lines. It was ludicrous to even think about it."

"Until it happened," Faith interjected.

"Why haven't we heard anything about this since the "event" happened? It's been more than two years since I died temporarily and Kendra was called," Buffy observed, as she walked around the table and the boxes still in the floor to stand in front of Giles. "Sounds like the Watchers were caught with their pants down."

"Not entirely," Giles said, somewhat embarrassed. "I don't know the entire story, but there is a group of Watchers enroute to Sunnydale as we speak. I'm sure they will tell us everything they know about this."

"In the meantime-" Faith began.

"-we find out what we can until they get here. That means full research mode. I'll start the round robin," Xander added, getting up and walking to the telephone. He dialed his number as Oz and Willow went into Giles' office to use his phone.

Faith stood. "I'm going on patrol. Since we found out something is coming, I'm sure things will pick up around here."

"You go on," Buffy said. "I'll catch up in a little while, after I call my mom."

"You got it." Faith turned, walked into the "cage" and took a small crossbow off its hook and left the library.

Buffy looked at Giles. "What's up?"

Giles tried to look confused. "I don't know what you mean. I told-"

"I know what you told us," Buffy interrupted. "Now, what are you not telling us? And there is something you're not telling us."

Giles was silent for a few seconds. "I'm not sure, Buffy. There is something, but I can't be sure of anything just yet. If I find out what I believe to be true, then you will be the first to know."

Buffy simply nodded. Willow and Oz came back to the table and picked up where they had left off. Buffy walked into Giles' office as Xander walked up to help Willow and Oz.

A couple of hours later, Buffy and Faith returned to the library with only a few cuts and bruises with only a few cuts and bruises, which were quickly healing. Willow was sitting at the back of the large table in between the staircases leading up to the main part of the library. She had the new computer up and running and had the serious research look on her face.

Oz was sitting to Willow's right, reading a book. Xander was sitting on Willow's left, but two seats away from her, reading a book, too. The table was covered in books and the printer on a shelf behind Willow was hard at work.

Faith walked back into the cage and hung her small crossbow back on its hook. She walked out of the cage to see Buffy staring at something. "Buff, you okay?"

Buffy pointed to a picnic basket on the table. "Mom's been here."

"And I'm still here," Joyce Summers said, coming from behind a bookshelf on the second level. "When you called and said something was up and all of you had to pull and all-nighter, I knew hunger would set in. So, I brought everyone something to eat."

"Boy, was it good!" Xander exclaimed, trying hard to imitate a southern accent.

"It really was quite good," Giles added, walking out of his office.

"And when I saw how hard everyone was working, I volunteered to help. How did patrolling go?"

"Nothing major," Faith answered, sitting down gingerly in the chair beside Oz. "We dusted ten vamps, though."

Buffy walked to the chair between Willow and Xander and sat down slowly as Faith had. "We got double teamed once and they got in a few good shots. But, they didn't last long after that."

"Ten? Is that a usual number for one night?" Joyce inquired, sounding a little worried as she descended the stairs behind Buffy. She almost bumped into Giles and they quickly avoided each other.

Buffy caught the uncomfortable motions from her mother and her Watcher and saw the uncomfortable look pass between them.

What's up with them? Buffy thought.

The double doors of the library opened and four men walked in. Two of them appeared to be a little older than Buffy and her friends. One of the other men looked to be about Giles' age and the last man was much older, walking with a cane.

Xander stood up. "Sorry, we're closed."

Giles looked at him. "It's after midnight, Xander. I think they know that."

"Oh." Xander sank back down in his chair.

Giles turned back to the four men who had just entered the library. The man with the cane came forward and Giles walked toward him. They hugged one another, slapping each other on the back.

The other man stepped back. "It's good to see you, Rupert."

"Likewise, Charles."

Everyone could see the pride in Charles' eyes when he looked at Giles. "I always knew you would be a great Watcher - the Watcher of a Slayer. But, you went beyond even that! You're the Watcher for two Slayers, at the same time!"

"Only for a short time, I'm afraid. The Council is supposed to assign a new Watcher for Faith soon."

"I don't know about that, Rupert."

Giles looked at Charles. "Why do you say that?"

Charles motioned one of the young men forward. "Andrew can tell you that."

The young man named Andrew stepped forward. He looked at Giles, at Buffy and Faith and again at Giles. "The time of the Rejoining is at hand. The Slayer and the Hunter will soon be reunited."

Silence spread through the room. No one said anything or made a sound. The look passing between Giles and Charles spoke volumes.

Buffy finally broke the silence. "Giles?"

Giles slowly turned to her. "I'm afraid the something I wasn't sure about is very real. I'm afraid your destiny is about to take a very dangerous turn."

"The four of you got here pretty quick," Faith observed, breaking the look passing between Giles and Andrew.

"We were on a plane when we called you a few hours ago," the other young man said. "We thought you might become alarmed if we appeared out of nowhere."

"I think calling and telling me the time of the Rejoining is approaching alarmed us enough, yes?" Giles asked. Everyone heard the sarcasm dripping from the comment.

"I know you're a little upset, Rupert. But, we had to stay silent for as long as we could," Charles said, walking toward Xander. "Do you mind if I take your seat, young man? These old bones of mine are not what they used to be."

Xander quickly stood. Charles sat down and the three other men moved toward the table.

"Let me introduce my companions. You've already met Andrew Langley. The other young man is Trevor Ames. And then we have my lifelong friend, Richard Denton."

"Why did you have to stay silent for as long as you could?" Joyce asked. Everyone turned to look at her.

"Part of the Council believe the Rejoining is upon us. However, Reginald does not," Charles said. "Andrew, take Trevor and bring the boxes in from the car."

The two young men left the library and Charles waited for a few moments after they were gone to continue.

Charles looked at Giles, his expression hard. "Something is wrong with Reginald and part of the Council."

Giles held up his hand to stop him. "Perhaps we should talk about this in private."

Charles looked at everyone sitting at the table. None of them had hardly said a word since the group of Watchers had arrived. Charles shook his head. "No. They already know of us. I'm afraid they're going to learn that the Watchers may be in trouble."

"What?" Giles asked, sounding stunned. "What kind of trouble?"

"For the last few months, a few of the most senior Watchers have noticed certain, shall we say, happenings." He looked at those sitting at the table again. "It's time for a small history lecture. We'll try not to bore you too much." He smiled a little. When no one else did, Charles turned to Richard and nodded.

"The Watchers are a group of men and women of all races and such dedicated to the preservation of history and mankind, helping the Slayer and Hunter with their missions in the war against the darkness," Richard began. He walked to stand at the end of the table with his back to the library's doors. "Since the inception of our order, there has been the Watcher Council, comprised of thirteen Watchers of all standing chosen by their peers. One of those thirteen is chosen to be the head of the Council and, essentially, head of the Watchers."

"As Charles said, in the last few months, several of the other Watchers, ourselves included, have been noting certain happenings that have us concerned."

"Such as?" asked Buffy.

"Council members not attending regular meetings which are held two or three times a week. Missing a meeting every now and then can be expected for various reasons. But, recently, some of the Council members have missed several weeks of meetings without giving significant reasons. It was brought to the attention of the Council, but it was quickly pushed aside. It was also made clear it was not to be discussed again," Richard answered.

Charles continued. "There have also been major shifts in the ranks and positions in the last few months, as well. Watchers have been reassigned many times, over and over. Well respected Watchers, such as Kendra's Watcher, Mr. Zabuto, are being left out of the loop, so to speak." Charles looked at Giles. "A Council member usually speaks with you two or three times a week, usually after a Council meeting. When was the last time you actually spoke to a Council member and not one of their flunkies?"

Giles thought for a moment and a disturbed look appeared on his face. "It has been quite some time, actually. I've tried to reach Council members, as you said, two or three times a week for the last six months. The calls from their "flunkies" even stopped. I felt it was my duty to contact them for what I had come to consider situation reports."

"Reginald dismissed five Council members almost four weeks ago."

Giles looked at Richard, shock plastered across his face. "That's impossible!"

"I'm afraid it's very possible," Charles said, standing as Andrew and Trevor walked into the library. Both of the young men were carrying two medium sized boxes, which looked to be packed to the point of falling apart.

"This is all of Andrew's research," Richard explained, taking the two boxes out of each young man's arms and putting them on the table. "Andrew was assigned to this by the head of the Council. He presented all of it to the Council in full assembly, with Watchers piled on top of each other in the Council chambers."

"Some of the Council members believed me and moved to take measures to ready ourselves, the Slayers and the Hunter for the Rejoining. The other Council members did not respond too kindly to that," Andrew said, looking at the boxes on the table. "I dedicated almost a year of my life to researching anything and everything to do with the Rejoining. I researched everything that had anything remotely to do with it…every small bit of information or legend or prophecy. And then he threw all of it in my face!"

Richard grabbed Andrew's shoulder to calm him. "We'll leave everything here for you to go over. I think we're going back to our hotel to get some rest."

Joyce jumped in when she saw no one else was going to say or do anything. "Of course! All of you must be exhausted from your trip. We had planned to be here all night, so we'll go through as much of this as we can."

Andrew and Trevor said their good nights and started toward the double doors. Richard and Charles told everyone good night and shook Giles' hand.

"Get back to us as soon as you can, Rupert," Richard said as he and Charles started toward the doors. "We have a little time. We're not sure how much, but we do have a little. Don't waste too much of it."

"I'll contact you as soon as we read through everything. Then we'll be able to make a better judgement as to what we're going to have to do."

Giles waked the men to the doors and continued to talk to them for a few minutes. Joyce walked to the table and opened the first box she came to. She took out several binders and passed one to everyone around the table, except Willow.

"Start reading. Take notes. Do whatever you need to do to understand what we're dealing with here." She took a small box out of the one she had just opened and tossed it to Willow. "Look at these disks and see what you can find out. Print anything you think is important. I'm sure most of it is."

"We're going to need more food and drinks, so I'll go down to that new open-all-night grocery and pick up a few things. Xander, you come with me. We'll be back as soon as we can," Joyce said, turning around and walking toward the library doors. Giles, Charles and Richard were still talking.

Xander looked at Buffy. "Has anyone ever told you you're mom is a major control freak?"

"Now, Xander," Joyce called from the doors.

"Coming!"

Giles walked back to the table. "Oh, good. You've already started. The sooner-"

"Giles, I have a question," Buffy said. "Who is this Hunter those guys are talking about?"

* * * * *

The Hunter’s leg swung around and caught the vampire in the midsection. His arm came up in a flash and smashed the vampire’s face. A wooden stake appeared in the vampire’s chest and he vaporized into dust.

The Hunter drew his sword from the scabbard strapped to his back. He turned to the three vampires that had been with the vampire he had just killed. The vampires saw the sword glisten in the moonlight and knew it to be forged, in part, out of silver.

The vampires turned around to run but found three people standing in their way. They never felt the sword slice through their necks, instantly killing them.

The Hunter replaced the sword in its scabbard and walked passed his three friends, toward their vehicle parked not far away. His friends quickly followed him and caught up with him as he was putting the scabbard and sword in the Tahoe’s back hidden compartment.

"This town is clean," the girl said, putting her bow and arrows in with the sword. The boy placed his daggers and the other man’s crossbow in the weapons compartment and shut the door.

"What’s the next town?" the Hunter asked, opening the driver side door and sliding under the wheel. He started the Tahoe as his friends got in, the boy and girl in the back and the older man in the front passenger seat.

"We need to go back to the motel to pick up a few things," the older man said. He looked at the young man who was driving. "We could take a break, Jayden. You’ve been on this massive crusade for over a year. I can honestly say that I’m already to the point for a break – a small one, at least. I know Simon and Aeron are fast approaching that point, as well."

"You’ve done incredible things in the last year, Jayden. You’ve killed more vampires in a single year than any Hunter before you, besides one. But, even with your enhanced abilities and capabilities, you are going to need a break soon, too. Now would be a good time to take one."

Jayden kept driving and pulled into the parking lot of the Dreamland Motel, where they had been staying for the last three weeks. He parked the Tahoe in the parking place between their rooms, opened the door and got out. The others followed him.

"You’re not going to be able to bring her back, Jay," Aeron said, before Jayden reached the door of his room.

"Not now," Simon told her.

"Yes, now!" Aeron fumed. "We have been travelling and moving from city to city and town to town like crazy for over a year. We go in, we track the vamps down and we take them out. We move to the next city or town and the cycle starts over again."

"I’m with William on this one. We need a break." She looked at Jayden, who hadn’t moved since she had brought the painful subject out. "We all loved her, Jay. We know you loved her, probably more than we could ever know or understand. But, she’s gone. Trying to depopulate the world of vampires in record time won’t bring her back."

They could see Jayden’s shoulders trembling. He turned to them and the anger and pain was bright on his face.

Aeron looked closely at him as she walked to him. "You haven’t grieved, have you?" She reached up and hugged him. He slowly put his arms around her.

Aeron drew back and looked into Jayden’s eyes, which were brimming with tears. "Why, Jay? She’s been gone for over a year. We thought you were grieving in your own way and would open up to us when you thought it was time. But, you haven’t grieved at all. Why?"

"I thought if I could find and kill the vamp who killed her and all the rest of them, there maybe a chance she could come back to me…or we could find a way to bring her back," he replied, breaking the embrace. He looked at Aeron. "Pretty corny, huh? I miss her so much, Aeron. It hurts so much to even think about her. I’m in a profession whose life expectancy isn’t very high. Kyra was one of the few things that made me want to be the best…the greatest Hunter who had ever lived. If I could be that Hunter, Kyra and I could be together for a long time."

"I hate the day the three of you found out what I am. That day changed your lives forever and put you in danger. I put you in incredible danger."

"Don’t you dare blame yourself, Jay," Simon jumped in, walking to stand beside one of his best friends. "We knew the dangers. We all did. They presented themselves pretty early, if you’ll think about it for a second. We were old enough to make the decision to stand beside you and help you. By making that decision, we accepted the dangers and the possible consequences that could happen to us."

William came to stand beside Jayden, where he was facing Simon and Aeron was still facing the Hunter. "You have to stop blaming yourself for her death, Jayden. There was nothing you could have done. We fell into that trap and you saved the three of us. Kyra gave her life so you could do that." William saw the pain reappear on Jayden’s face. "Yes, you weren’t able to save her. But, you did save that city in one fell swoop. I know that doesn’t seem like much in situations such as this, but in our line of business…it means everything."

Aeron looked directly at Jayden, her face set. "I don’t care if you’re the Hunter or the second coming…we’re taking a break. We all need one. I don’t think anyone would begrudge us a few weeks to ourselves. And if they do, then tough for them."

The three guys smiled as Aeron looked at William. "We’re going somewhere sunny and warm. Take care of it."

"Yes, ma’am," William said, trying to act prim and proper. "Do you have any suggestions?"

"We’re in Arizona. I say we go somewhere in sunny southern California."

A couple of hours later, Jayden, Simon and Aeron loaded their luggage in the vehicle and got in, waiting on William. A few minutes later, William walked out of his room and to the back of the vehicle. He put his suitcase with the others and shut the back doors.

"Why do I not like the look on his face," Simon said, as William slid into the front seat.

"I’m afraid we’re not going to get that break," William finally said after a few seconds. "Something’s come up." He paused. "Something big."

"Where are we going?" Jayden asked, putting the vehicle in reverse.

"Sunnydale, California."

Jayden pulled the Tahoe out of the parking lot as Aeron opened the atlas to look for their destination.

"At least we still get to go to southern California," she said, trying to sound excited.

"That's a good question," Faith said. "That Andrew guy said something about this Hunter person a couple of times. Who is it?"

Giles sighed and sat down in the chair Charles had just vacated. He took off his glasses and laid them on the table. "It's going to require another history lecture, I'm afraid."

"The Hunter is like Buffy and Faith," Willow blurted out.

"Yes, he is," Giles confirmed.

"The Hunter is a he?" asked Faith. "And I thought this was a girls only club."

"Let's hear it, Giles," Buffy said.

Giles looked at his original Slayer and nodded. He bowed his head for a second, took a deep breath and began. "What I am about to tell you is known to usually a select few. But, that has apparently changed in the last few months."

"Willow is right. The Hunter is similar to the Slayer in abilities, with the only true difference being the Hunter is a male."

"The line of the Slayers is older than the line of the Hunters, but not by a great number of years or however you wish to look at it. The Hunter came about by accident. A young Watcher was assigned to one of the early Slayers. Eventually, they began to fight side by side and were actually very effective."

"They were chasing a radical sect of druids who were trying to open one of the focus points of power on this planet in what would become Great Britain. No one knows why the druids were trying to open the point. It was known that opening that point would bring about the destruction of this world in some way. The Slayer and her Watcher were sent to stop them."

"They found the druids in the middle of the ritual that would open the point. Naturally, the interrupted it. But, while they had interrupted the ritual, they still haven't arrived in time. An incredible amount of power had been drawn to the point and while the Slayer and her Watcher were fighting the druids, something went wrong. A massive explosion occurred, which has been debated down through the years…but that is how it is described in the archives and the records."

"When the smoke finally cleared, the Slayer and her Watcher walked away, virtually unscathed. But, the Watcher began to exhibit the traits of the Slayer…the strength, the heightened senses and so forth. No one knew if another Hunter, as he became to be known, would be called after this hybrid died. But, the Watchers of the day knew when they saw an advantage of any kind."

"The Slayer and this Watcher/Hunter hybrid remained together, carrying the war to the vampires and the darkness as none had before or ever since. Vampires all around the world fled at the mere rumor of the Slayer and her companion coming to hunt and slay them."

"There have been certain…stories and legends of the Slayer and the Watcher/Hunter. You have to understand, the records we Watchers maintain are highly detailed, with some events detailed down to the very second. The records of this Slayer and her companion have caused massive amounts of debate down through the centuries. Some of the events chronicled happened around the world, some within hours of each other."

"It has been suggested…that the Slayer and the Watcher/Hunter-"

"Do these people have names?!" Faith exclaimed.

Giles paused. "The Slayer's name was Alara. The Watcher/Hunter's name was Gregory. As I was saying, it has been suggested that Alara and Gregory had the ability to somehow travel great distances in a small amount of time. No one knows due to the fact several volumes concerning Alara and Gregory have disappeared. It is almost certain the extent of their powers were explained in the missing volumes. Others who do not believe that believe the records of their time were mishandled and the times are wrong."

"The most powerful vampires of the world at the time decided it was time to do something about Alara and Gregory. They were decimating the population of the vampires around the world. So, the vampires formed an alliance and met Alara and Gregory in battle."

"Alara and Gregory fought well, destroying hundreds of the vampires during the battle. But, because of numbers, they eventually fell. Their Watcher barely escaped with her life, as she had watched from nearby. She wrote the last volume of the chronicles of Alara and Gregory and then she retired to the main compound of the Watchers in the countryside of Great Britain."

"Another Slayer was called, as she should have been. With the magical resources of the time, it was discovered that another Hunter had been called. A Watcher was assigned to each of them…the Council of the time decided to keep them apart, not allowing one of know of the other. Why it chose to do that is not known. But, it has remained that way for the thousands of years since that time."

Giles looked at the four young people sitting around the table. "You're probably wondering what this has to do with the Rejoining?"

"It had crossed my mind," Faith said, sarcastically.

"Soon after the Council decreed the Slayer and the Hunter were to never know of the other, prophecies began to appear. Mystics of the time would enter into a trance and would literally spout prophecies concerning the time when the Slayer and the Hunter would once again reunite in defense of this realm."

"The prophecies were written down and brought to the Watchers, who began to study them. The one thing that made Watchers of the day, and down through the years to now, disbelieve the prophecies was the sundering of the original line of Slayers. No one believed it would ever happen. The magic and powers, which had created the line of Slayers shortly after the appearance of the vampires, had been lost, thought to never be found again. They were lost to antiquity."

"The prophecies and writings of the Rejoining were ridiculed and thrown into a dark corner to be forgotten. The Watcher of Alara and Gregory, whose name was Anna, I believe, championed the prophecies of the Rejoining. She warned the Council to always stand at the ready, to be prepared in the event of the Rejoining."

"They laughed at her. Many had resented the fact she had been given the honor to be Watcher of the Slayer and the original Hunter. And, along with the time period, she was a woman. The men of the Watchers resented her even more. She was eventually laughed out of the order and simply disappeared. It seemed as though she had vanished from the face of the earth. It was only a short time after her disappearance that the volumes concerning her Slayer and Hunter were found missing."

"Only a note from Anna remained in their place…a note again warning all Watchers to be ready for the time of the Rejoining."

"It appears that time is upon us."

Everyone sat in silence for a few minutes after Giles had finished. Giles looked at each of them again, trying to read the expressions on their faces.

"So what are the Slayer and Hunter supposed to 'defend this realm' against?" asked Faith, getting up and walking around. Everyone could see her discomfort. "It sounds serious."

"I'm not exactly sure."

"That whole not paying any attention to it, again, huh?" Oz asked, as he opened the binder Joyce had handed him before she had left.

"I'm afraid so. The Rejoining was only mentioned briefly in my training as a Watcher. Charles and Richard said Andrew had done an in-depth study, as he himself also said. I think the only thing left to do is to start reading so we can understand what lies ahead."

"And how to deal with it," Willow said, inserting one of the computer disks into the computer.

Giles looked at Faith, who was pacing around. "Faith, why don't you go on patrol again. I know research isn't your forte`."

"Excellent idea." Faith walked into the cage. When she came out, she was wearing a full size crossbow across her back, the smaller one in her hand and a sling full of wooden stakes hung at her side. "I'll be back soon," she said, hurrying out of the library.

"I never thought I would see the time of the Rejoining," a voice said behind and above everyone in the room.

They all turned to see Angel, dressed in his usual black, leaning on the banister above Willow and Oz.

"You know of the Rejoining?" Giles asked.

"Any vampire of age knows of the Rejoining…or, as we call it, the Return. The time of the Slayer and Hunter alliance is legend among us," Angel answered, walking down to the table. "It is a thing many of us fear. The most powerful vampires around will move to stop it, at any cost."

"So, you knew about this Hunter and never said anything," Buffy commented, not sounding pleased.

"I thought you knew about the Hunter. To be honest, I haven't thought about the Hunter in the last few decades. I haven't heard anything about him in a long time."

"The line of Hunters hasn't been the strongest in the last two hundred years or so. It was thought the line may come to an end somehow, but no one had any idea how that would happen. That is, until the current Hunter. He seems to be very good." Giles saw the look on Buffy's face; it was one he hadn't seen in awhile. "Buffy, is something wrong?"

"The Watcher Council," she said simply. "If they know this Rejoining is coming but refuse to do anything about it, where does that leave us? And what is going on with the Council in the first place? I don't like this, Giles. This isn't good."

"What about this Hunter? When do I meet him?"

"Soon. He's on his way, as we speak."

"So, she's just like Jay," Simon said, taking his suitcase out of the back of the Tahoe and setting it down on the ground.

"Yes, she is. They have the same abilities and same mission…hunt and slay vampires," William confirmed, as he handed each of them their room keys. "Settle in and relax for a little while. I need to make some telephone calls. I'll let you know when I find out what our next move will be."

"Don't worry about the telephone, William," a voice said behind them. "We're already here."

All four of them turned around and Jayden moved to stand in front of his friends, ready to defend them.

William moved past Jayden and the others. He embraced the older man with the cane and shook hands with the other man.

"Quick introductions…I'm Charles and this is Richard. And we all need to get to the high school immediately."

"What's at the high school?" Jayden inquired.

The man with the cane walked to stand in front of Jayden and looked up at him. The man studied the Hunter's face for what seemed to be an eternity.

After a few moments, Charles simply nodded. "At least the stories I've heard about you are true. If you must know, the Slayers are at the high school, with their Watcher. We need to get there as soon as possible."

Richard moved toward the Tahoe.

"What do you think you're doing?" Jayden asked, moving to stop Richard.

"As Charles said, we have to get to the high school immediately. It would be easier for me to drive...I know where I'm going."

William touched Jayden's shoulder. "We can trust them, Jay. They're friends."

Jayden did not look happy but slowly nodded.

"Put your belongings back in your vehicle. You won't be staying here tonight," Charles told them, getting in the front passenger seat. Richard slid under the wheel as Simon put their suitcases back where they had been.

Jayden and his friends squeezed in the back seat. Richard backed the vehicle out of its parking place and drove out of the parking lot.

Minutes later, Richard parked the Tahoe in front of Sunnydale High and turned the engine off. Jayden immediately got out and went to the back of the vehicle. He opened the back doors and shoved the suitcases out of his way. The others got out in time to see him place the scabbard on his back and draw his sword.

"Jay?" Simon asked.

"There are vampires close by." Jayden turned his slightly as if he were trying to listen to the wind. Simon, Aeron and William moved to get their own weapons. When they were armed, they made their way into the high school.

They were only a few steps inside when they heard a very loud crash and breaking glass.

"The library!" Charles exclaimed. He looked at Richard. "Go!"

Richard took off running, the Hunter and his friends following him. Charles was following them as fast as he could when he heard something behind him.

The five of them flew through the library doors to see a massive battle going on. Two girls, a man in black and an older man were fighting vampires on the main floor. A red headed girl ran behind the bar to the right of the doors, with a vampire right behind her. Simon immediately moved to help her.

Another boy was on the second level of the library fighting two vampires. The dark-haired girl dusted the vampire she had been fighting and ran to the second level to help the boy, who was being pushed back. More vampires continued to come through the windows.

Jayden heard two twangs and saw two vampires turn to dust. William and Aeron had begun their own attack. Richard hurried to move a woman and another boy, who had apparently been knocked out when the attack had first started.

Jayden moved to help the blond girl and the man in black but was hit from behind and knocked to the floor. He looked back to see a vampire over him and more coming through the main doors.

Jayden quickly stabbed the vampire that was standing over him without thinking. The silver of the sword touched the vampire's undead heart and destroyed it. He quickly stood and attacked the vampires coming through the doors.

The Hunter's sword slashed through the air, slicing through the hearts and necks of the attacking vampires. He never saw the one knock William out and come up behind him. Jayden felt a sharp pain in his back. He looked down to see a knife protruding from his side where the vampire had plunged it in. Jayden instinctively turned and sliced the sword through the air. The sword cut through the vampire's arm, severing it. The vampire fell to its knees. He stabbed it through the heart in one motion and pulled the knife from his side. The Hunter felt the wound immediately begin to heal.

Jayden whirled around to face the vampires still coming through the doors. The blond girl walked to stand on his right, with the man in black standing beside her. The dark haired girl walked to stand at his left, with Aeron and Simon beside her.

The vampires had stopped coming through the doors; they looked to be frozen in their tracks.

"You're smarter than you look," the dark haired girl said, looking at the vampires. She looked at Jayden. "Hi. I'm Faith."

"And I'm Buffy," the blond said.

"Are you this Hunter guy we've been hearing so much about?" Faith asked, returning her gaze to the vampires.

"That would be me," Jayden answered.

"What do you say we finish this up and get to the real business at hand," Buffy suggested.

"That Rejoining thing?"

The vampires didn't allow Buffy to answer…they attacked. Minutes later, the last of the vampires vaporized into dust.

Buffy and Faith turned to Jayden. Faith looked at Buffy and nodded toward the Hunter. "Not bad, B."

"I agree. He does have potential."

Jayden smiled and slid his sword back into its scabbard. "I'm Jayden." He held his hand out to the two Slayers. After they had shook hands, he held his hand out to the man in black. But, when he saw the man's face, he gasped. "What the-"

Buffy caught his arm before he could reach for his sword. "It's okay. He's on our side."

"I think you can lose your game face, Angel," Faith told the man in black. Angel's face lost its ridges and settled back into the face of a man.

Jayden looked at Buffy with a questioning glance.

"He's been cursed," she said. "He has a soul."

"Buffy, are you okay?" someone asked from behind them.

"Yeah, Mom. I'm okay," Buffy answered, walking to the woman Richard had pulled away from the fighting. "How is everyone else?"

"A little shaken," another man said, standing at the end of the bar nearest to the main table.

"But not stirred," the boy from the second level said, walking down the right side stairs. When everyone looked at him, he just held up his hands. "Nobody gets me these days!"

William rubbed the back of his neck as he stood up. He looked at the man who was standing at the end of the bar and asked, "Giles?"

"William?" Giles asked, in return. "My God, it's been ages!" The two men shook hands and slapped each other on the back.

"Willow, you and Oz okay?" Angel asked.

The redheaded girl, standing beside the boy who Richard had moved away from the fighting, nodded. "We're okay."

"I bet I'm going to have one huge headache tomorrow, though," Oz added.

"Joyce?"

"I'm okay," Joyce answered. She looked at her daughter. "So, is this a usual day at the office for you?"

Buffy just shrugged. "Depends on how much trouble the world is in."

"This is interesting." Faith stood up from a pile of vampire ashes she had been looking at. She handed something to Giles. It was a ring.

William and Giles inspected the ring and then looked at each other, their expressions showing disbelief. Giles handed the ring to Richard, who looked at it closely.

Richard's eyes grew wide when he saw the insignia etched into the ring's surface. "Charles, it is as we feared. It's-" Richard stopped at looked around. "Where's Charles?"

"Oh, no," Aeron gasped.

Jayden raced from the room, drawing his sword. He found Charles only a few feet from where they had left him. Charles' body was badly broken and he was bleeding from multiple wounds.

Buffy ran up and fell to the floor close to Charles' head. She cradled it in her lap as Richard, Giles, William and Angel finally caught up with them.

Giles, William and Richard knelt down beside the fallen Watcher.

Charles opened his eyes and looked at Richard. "Octavian?"

Richard nodded, slowly.

Charles looked at Giles and William. "My worst fears have been confirmed." His voice was low and scratchy. He coughed hard and bloody foam gathered at the corners of his mouth. "You were my best students and have become the greatest Watchers I have ever trained. You're old teacher is quite proud."

Tears had formed in the eyes of the Watchers at Charles' side. He looked at Richard. "It's up to you now, Richard. The others will follow if you will lead."

"I will see it finished."

Charles smiled and was overtaken by another rack of coughs. When the coughs subsided, he looked up at Buffy and Jayden. "You are everything I had hoped you would be. You are ready to face this part of your destiny, together. You have almost everything you need. What you do not have, Richard will see to it you get it soon. I'm sure Giles and William know some of it, but they do not know all of it."

"A great responsibility has been placed upon your shoulders and the shoulders of the other Slayer. I wish I could see what you will achieve together and what each of you will become. No other Slayer or Hunt-"

Charles gasped and arched his back in pain. He took two ragged breaths and then he was gone.

Those around him remained silent for a few minutes after Charles' passing. Richard ran his hand down Charles' face, gently closing his eyes.

Giles looked at Angel. "Will you take him to my office. There's a couch we can put him on for the time being."

Angel nodded. He knelt down and picked Charles' body up easily off the floor. The three Watchers fell into step behind Angel.

Jayden and Buffy did not move; Jayden remained standing and Buffy remained sitting on the floor.

"Why does it feel like I just lost a part of my family?" Buffy asked, sounding confused and her voice filling with emotion.

"I was standing here, thinking the same exact thing," Jayden said. "I knew him for less than an hour and it feels as though I've known him my whole life. And we hardly said a word to each other in the time I did know him."

Jayden held his hand out to Buffy. She put her hand in his and he helped her to her feet. They walked back to the library together, in silence.

Buffy stopped Jayden just before they reached the doors of the library. He saw the anger and determination in her face and knew his own expression held the same emotions.

"We do this the right way."

"The only way we know how."

Buffy nodded and they walked into the library. All of their friends were gathered around the main table. Buffy saw the door to Giles' office was closed.

"Listen up, guys," Buffy said. "I don't know about any of you, but Jayden and me…we're ready to get this show on the road."

"It's about time." Faith walked to stand on the opposite side of Jayden from Buffy.

"Charles said a name," Jayden recalled. "Octavian."

"Willow, search those disks to see if Andrew included any information on the name Octavian," Buffy ordered. "The rest of us will look for anything about him, her or whatever it is in Giles' books."

"That won't be necessary, Buffy," Richard told her, walking out of Giles' office. Giles and William followed him. Richard moved to stand a few feet away from the main table, with his back to the double doors and his hands behind his back. Giles took the same stance a few feet to Richard's right and William did the same to his left.

"As you know, after Andrew presented his research to the full Council, certain members moved to prepare the Watchers, the Slayers and the Hunter for the Rejoining. When Reginald and his allies refused to take measures, the members who had called for preparation put their own plans into motion," Richard explained.

"Charles and his fellow Council members began to study the prophecies of the Rejoining, line by line. They studied over twenty different prophecies and found all of them to contain similar passages. Why this was not brought to someone's attention before then is still a mystery. The common passages described the danger of a realm invading another. They also described how this would come to happen. As they continued to study and piece things together, Charles and the others noticed a being of some kind was also being described. They pooled the descriptions of this being from each prophecy and realized it described a First One."

"What you are about to hear will seem to be utter fantasy, beyond what you already know to be true," Giles continued. "As I told Buffy and her friends when I was first getting to know them, the world did not start out as a paradise. The world was filled with demons and other such creatures…the word "hell" does not quite fully convey what the world was like during that time."

"We call these demons and the hellspawn the Old Ones. But, there existed a race even older than the Old Ones. The First Ones existed long before the demons and their kin broke into this realm and they kept to themselves even when the demons came. The hellspawn did not dare attack the First Ones or their areas of the planet they still claimed as their own. There were some who tried, but the First Ones destroyed them easily."

"Then, for reasons unknown, the First Ones went on the offensive, driving the demons and their hellspawn kin from this realm. Those who refused to go willingly were destroyed. The portal where the hellspawn first entered this realm was still open. The First Ones forced the demons back into their own realm and resealed the portal."

"But, before the portal was resealed, the final battle was fierce," William picked up. "One of the last demons, who happened to be one of the great demon lords, was fighting one of the First Ones' greatest warriors. Before the demon lord was forced through the portal, it infected the warrior with its bite."

"The birth of the vampire," Joyce observed.

"Yes," Richard confirmed. "But, this was no ordinary birth. The First Ones were not human, although they appeared to be that way. Each First One had powers of his or her own…powers of sorcery." He paused. "As all of you know, when a person is bitten by a vampire and later rises, the soul is lost and a demon spirit takes its place."

"This was no different. The demon spirit invaded the First One's body and took possession of it. It also took control of the First One's powers, which were considerable even then. As a race, the First Ones grew in power the longer they lived. They are not immortal, even though they come very close to it."

"It was Octavian," Buffy said. "He was the First One who was infected."

Richard went on. "The First Ones tried to contain him, but he was their greatest warrior. Every First One sent against him was killed. The First Ones finally attacked him using sorcery, but he held up against the first assaults. The demon spirit's powers added to that of a First One made him almost unstoppable. But, eventually, he weakened under the continuous onslaught. Do not misinterpret any of this as happening over a small time period. It was not like that…all of this took place over several hundred years."

"Octavian took human slaves, as the demons had done before him. He made some of those slaves into vampires, who, in turn, began to spread in large numbers. His minions hid him away where he could heal and return once again, to try to bring his demonic brothers back into this realm. Octavian has made attempts down through the millennia to reopen the original portal, which the First Ones simply named the Eye."

"Each time he was repulsed," Giles said. "The last time he attempted to open the Eye, the Slayer and the destined-to-be first Hunter were sent against him. The sect of renegade druids were, in fact, Octavian's vampire minions."

"Again, as you all know, during the battle between Octavian, the Slayer and the destined-to-be first Hunter, something went wrong. You know all that from what you were told about the origin of the line of Hunters. What you don't know is Octavian was seriously wounded from the backlash of the explosion during the battle…wounded far more seriously than he had ever been before. Again, his minions hid him from the world."

"The Slayer and the Hunter realized how much of a danger Octavian was. They began to track him around the world, tracking down even the slightest rumor or smallest lead. Everywhere they went, Alara and Gregory destroyed every vampire they came across."

William jumped in. "It has been theorized that the Slayer and the Hunter became extremely close to finding Octavian's hiding place several times. The most powerful vampires of the time, who claimed Octavian as their sire, sent their armies against the Slayer and the Hunter. You know the rest."

"So, this Octavian has been in hiding and healing from his last attempt to open the Eye for thousands of years," Joyce said. "He must have been incredibly hurt."

"We don't know the extent of his injuries," Giles supplied. "We do know he has not tried to open the Eye, or any other focus point, since the day of that explosion."

"Where did the First Ones go?" Willow asked, timidly. "I think it's obvious they began to heal the planet after they had exiled the demons and Octavian was forced into hiding."

Willow looked at everyone. "Okay, so maybe it wasn't obvious. But, did they simply disappear or go away or…or…what?"

The three Watchers looked at each other. "We don't know," Richard admitted.

"The last documented sighting of a First One was shortly after the creation of the Hunter. A First One, known as Gwion, conversed with Anna, the Watcher of the Slayer and the Hunter. He told her they were going to remove themselves from the world for a time. They were not completely leaving…they would still be here, we would just not see them or be aware of their presence."

"Anna asked him if, and when, they would return. Gwion told her they would fully return when they were needed. He, for a lack of a better word, left. As did all the First Ones."

"Our best bet is to go to where this Eye is and wait for this guy to show," Faith stated. Everyone could hear the need for action in her voice.

"And then?" Aeron asked.

Faith looked at her. "Simple. We take him out."

"Preparations are being made, as we speak, to take the Slayers, the Hunter, their Watchers and some of your companions to the Eye," Richard explained. "The jet we used to travel here is being readied at the airport. There are other focus points where the doorway to the demon realm can be reopened. Those other points are being monitored carefully. If Octavian chooses one of those instead of the Eye, we will know almost instantly and we'll be able to get you there as fast as possible."

"I'll go home and get some of your things ready," Joyce said, walking to Buffy. "We'll talk before you leave."

Buffy nodded and Joyce began to walk out of the library. Buffy looked at Faith. Her fellow Slayer caught the meaning of her look.

Faith nodded and smiled. She hurried after Buffy's mom. "Hey, Joyce! Wait up!"

"Do you know where we're going?" Jayden asked.

"Of course we know where we're going," William answered. "And all of you know where we're going, as well."

"The Eye is a world renowned tourist attraction," Richard informed them. "It has been studied for centuries and its true meaning is still being debated. So far, no one has came remotely close to scratching the surface of what it truly is."

Giles put his glasses on and looked at everyone gathered around the table. "We're going to Stonehenge."

"You're going to need all the help and every weapon you can get your hands on."

Everyone looked at Angel, who was sitting on the stairs to the right of the main table.

"Huh?" Xander asked.

"Octavian is a legend…no, he's more than a legend to vampires. In some areas of the world, he's a religion. There are cults who worship him as a god and who believe everything they do, all the praying, sacrificing and anything else they can think of, will strengthen him and bring him back sooner. If they realize the time of the Return is at hand, they will move against the Slayers and the Hunter, with all the force they believe to be necessary."

"Octavian's powers are frightening, even among vampires. We're talking about the first vampire to ever walk this planet and from which every vampire is ultimately descended. It is said he could control any vampire with a single thought, no matter how strong the called vampire had become…it made no difference. The stories go on from there, from being able to control every vampire in existence all at the same time to being able to kill a vampire with fire anywhere he or she was. I don't think I have to tell you that the stories of his powers get worse."

"What do you suggest?" Simon asked, his voice betraying his mistrust of the vampire.

"Silver," the vampire answered. "Lots of it. Jayden's sword and your daggers are a start, but they are far from enough. Aeron and William's arrows need to have silver heads placed on them and they're going to need a lot of them. Crosses, holy water -"

"- flame throwers," Xander interrupted. "We get the picture. We use a lot more of what we're using now."

"Then we'd better get started," Buffy said, looking at Richard. "You heard him. We need weapons equipped with silver. You've got the resources to do that, right? Because if you don't, you'd better find them."

"We have them," Richard confirmed. "I'll have our resources, as you say, begin to forge swords, arrows, crosses and a few other things immediately. While I'm doing that, you need to decide who is going with you and who is staying here," he said, walking back into Giles' office.

"I have to stay here," Oz told them. "That time of the month starts in a couple of days."

"He's a werewolf," Willow announced, after she saw the strange looks on Jayden and his friends' faces.

"We're a diverse group," Xander commented.

"You can say that again," Aeron interjected.

"Yeah, and the really obnoxious and arrogant member of our group isn't even here," Willow added. But, when she saw the hurt look on Xander's face, she wished she could take it back.

"Willow?"

Willow looked at her best friend. "I don't know, Buffy. I'd like to go with you, but Oz needs me here. I don’t know what to do."

"Go with her," Angel said. "I'll be here with Oz." He saw the look on Buffy's face. "I can't go with you. Someone needs to stay here and watch over the Hellmouth."

"If we all go, you'll be left here alone…to face whatever may happen," Buffy reasoned. "I need you there with me."

"You don't need me this time. You have all the help you need for this. I have to stay here."

"He won't be here alone," Simon said.

"Simon."

Simon looked at Aeron. "Like Buffy said, he can't stay here by himself. And…this part is going to sound crazy…it just feels like I should stay here."

"Are you sure?" Jayden asked him.

Simon nodded. "Completely."

Richard came out of Giles' office. "Everything is in motion. The weapons are now being forged. Most of them should be ready by the time we arrive. The jet is fueled and ready to go."

"Xander?" Giles asked.

"Has anyone though about how to explain why we're not going to be here for what could be a while? And then there's the part about telling our parents…and there's probably dozens of other things that I'm forgetting!" Xander exclaimed, nervously.

"It's been taken care of," Richard told him. "The Watchers have certain…connections at our disposal to help the Slayers and the Hunter in situations such as this. Certain members of the board of education will be talking to your principal tomorrow morning concerning your absence. No questions will be asked. As for your parents, they will be told you are on a cultural education trip you applied for and they will be able to reach you if they need to."

Everyone looked at Xander. He just shrugged and said, "When you put it like that…I'm in."

"Principal Snyder isn't going to be a happy camper," Oz observed.

"Who cares," Buffy said. "Xander, Willow, I'm sure you guys want to go home and get some stuff together."

"We'll take them," Jayden volunteered. "Everything we need is in the Tahoe. And I'm sure William, Giles and Richard have other things to take care of before we leave." He motioned toward the three Watchers who had walked back into Giles' office.

"Is it just me or is Giles' office really popular today?" Xander asked.

"Sounds like a plan," Buffy said. "I'll tell Giles what's up and we'll meet you at the airport in an hour."

"I wish you were coming with us."

Angel and Buffy were holding hands, walking slowly toward the large jet sitting on the runway.

"I know. I wish I were going with you, too. But, someone has to stay here and I'm the logical choice. Oz will be here and Simon is staying. We'll keep things under control." He turned to look at the three sets of headlights just coming around the tower and toward them. "You have all the help you need."

They reached the jet and Buffy hugged Angel hard. He hugged her back and kissed her on the forehead. He was still holding her when the three vehicles pulled up beside them.

The three Watchers got out of Giles' Citroen as Joyce and Faith got out of Joyce's Cherokee and Jayden and the others got out of the Tahoe. Buffy and Angel walked to Joyce's vehicle get Buffy's suitcases. Giles and the rest were getting their things and walking toward the jet.

Angel took the two suitcases out of the backseat and walked toward the jet. Faith hugged Joyce and followed him, leaving Buffy and her mother alone. Both of them kept opening their mouths to say something, but clamed up just before they did.

Finally, Joyce broke the silence. "This isn't easy. This goes way beyond watching your daughter leave on a simple trip. This doesn't come close to a simple trip. You may not come back."

Buffy hugged her mom. "We're going to beat this Octavian guy so bad, he'll want to go into permanent hiding."

Joyce took a deep breath and Buffy could see the unshed tears in her mother's eyes.

Joyce hugged her daughter one more time. "I think I'm going to go before you take off. I might try to chase you down the runway if I watch you leave."

Buffy just nodded, as Joyce slowly walked around her vehicle. She got in, wiped the tears from her face, looked at Buffy one last time and quickly left.

As Buffy watched her mother leave, Angel came up and wrapped his arms around her. "I'll stop by every now and then to check up on her while you're gone."

"Thanks."

"Buffy."

Angel withdrew his arms and they both turned to see Giles behind them.

"We're ready to go."

Buffy saw that everyone else had boarded the plane besides her and Giles. Oz was standing at the Tahoe, beside Simon. Andrew and Trevor appeared in the doorway at the top of the small stairway that led into the jet. They met Giles at the bottom of the stairway. Giles held something out to Andrew and dropped his car keys into the young man's outstretched hand.

Giles looked at Angel. "Andrew and Trevor are staying here. One of them will be in the library at all times should you, Oz or Simon need anything. They know about Oz and they are to help you watch over him when the change begins in a couple of nights. And, they'll know how to contact us if the need should arise."

Angel nodded. "Good luck." He looked down at Buffy, kissed her one last time and walked toward Oz and Simon. Giles walked up the stairway into the plane. Buffy followed him, but turned back just before she went into the plane. She looked at Angel for a few seconds and waved to him one last time. She walked into the plane and Richard pulled the stairway up into the plane and sealed the hatch.

Buffy opened her eyes and stretched. She saw the blinders on the windows had been pulled to darken the room. But, some sunlight made it through and lightened the room enough for Buffy to see where she was.

Buffy finally remembered she and Willow had gone into one of the bedrooms in the back of the plane to get some rest. Xander had brought up it that it had been a wonder they had ever landed a jet this size of this one at Sunnydale Airport. Willow told him they had been awake too long, the rest of them didn't care and to go to bed. Buffy and Willow had taken one of the bedrooms, while Aeron and Faith had taken the other one.

Jayden had found pillows and sheets in a pantry between the two bedrooms and he and Xander set out to make their beds on the large sectional couch. The couch sat outside the bedrooms, along the right side of the plane, running along the wall and curved into the middle of the plane. Xander and Jayden made their beds in the cushions of the couch and quickly fell asleep.

The three Watchers had isolated themselves at the front of the main cabin of the plane. When they had boarded, everyone found the plane was basically divided into two sections. The first section contained a work area, with a large table and two laptop computers ready to use. The table was U-shaped, but the middle was not cut out. The flat end of the table faced a wall, which contained a large screen, which went from floor to ceiling.

There were five smaller screens arranged in a column on either side of the large screen, with a small control panel beside each smaller screen. Giles, William and Richard were still talking and working at the table when Buffy and the others went to bed. Buffy could see all three of them planned to be up all night.

Buffy looked over and saw Willow was still asleep. She sat up and slowly got out of bed. Buffy walked to the door and opened it, being careful not to wake her best friend. She walked into the main cabin and saw Jayden and Xander were still asleep, too. She looked up to see the three Watchers were still working at the large conference table.

"Did we land?" she asked, approaching the table.

"Just to refuel," Richard answered. "We're about to cross the Atlantic."

Buffy walked to one of the side windows and looked out. "Is that New York City?" She didn't wait for an answer as she turned back to the three Watchers. "Any chance we can go shopping?"

All three Watchers wore the same expression as they looked at her.

"It didn't hurt to ask," Buffy said, walking to the table and sat down across from William and Richard. Giles was sitting at the head of the table in the arch of the table, looking directly at the floor-to-ceiling screen.

"I have a question," Buffy said. "What exactly are we supposed to do?"

"That's a very good question," William said. "We're not exactly sure."

"Charles and I, along with our associates, had several theories on that very subject. And Andrew arrived at some of the same ones," Richard explained. "But, we went over the common passages that all the prophecies were discovered to share again. The only thing we can piece together is that the Slayer and the Hunter have to rejoin, ensuring the demon realms remains sealed away from our own."

"And before you ask," Giles said, "we don't know what the process of you and Jayden rejoining is or how it will occur. The common passages only state the Slayer and the Hunter will have a guide of some sort to help in the rejoining."

"Okay, this is just an observation. Every time any of you have talked about this Rejoining thing, you've said the Slayer and the Hunter." Buffy stopped. The expressions on the faces of the Watchers never changed. "The Slayer and the Hunter. Hello! Shouldn't it be the Slayers and the Hunter, instead of just the Slayer and the Hunter?"

Buffy didn't like the look that passed between the Watchers after she made her observation. She got a sick feeling in her stomach. "Is one of us going to die?"

Giles looked her. "We don't know."

The three men were led into the large chamber and their blindfolds were removed. Even though the chamber was dim, their eyes still had to readjust to their surroundings.

The chamber they were in was dark and dank, the only light coming from torches hung on the walls. The sconces holding the burning torches were black wrought iron and were spaced a few feet from each other along the wall. The chamber itself was circular in shape and the men could tell it was manmade due to the fact the floor and walls were smooth.

The walls arched above them into the darkness to form the ceiling none of them could see, reminding one of the men somewhat of a cathedral or large dome. One of the men estimated the length of the chamber to be over three hundred feet or more as he began to walk around. Their guides had left after removing their blindfolds.

"What is that?" the older man asked his companions, pointing to the center of the chamber.

The two other men looked to where their companion pointed. The three of them began to walk slowly to the middle of the chamber.

When they reached the middle of the chamber, they found four pillars rising from the floor and arching into the air, similar to the walls but nowhere near as tall. The pillars did not meet and form an apex; instead, a huge crystal hung suspended in midair between the tops of the pillars. Between the pillars, they found a circular pool that touched the base of each pillar and was about thirty feet in diameter.

Their attention was drawn to what was in the pool. What appeared to be some type of liquid crystal constantly moved. But, when it stopped for only a few seconds, images appeared…images of demons, other hellspawn and hideous sights of blood and death flashed before them.

"What is this place, Reginald?" the youngest of them asked.

"I don't know, Benjamin. This is the first time I've been here." Reginald looked at the young man, whose face had become extremely pale within the last few minutes. "Are you okay?"

Benjamin slowly nodded and backed away from the pillars and the pool. "I'll be fine."

"Can you feel it?"

Reginald looked at his other companion, who had walked to the opposite side of the pool and was inspecting the pillar on that side.

"Feel what, Phillip?" the head of the Watcher Council asked.

Phillip looked at Reginald, a look of disbelief on his face. "Can't you feel the power of this place? The age?" He gestured to the pillar he had been looking at. "There are glyphs on this pillar that matches the others. And…" Phillip pointed at his feet and around the pool. "…there is a row of stones, made of the same material as the pillars, surrounding the pool with the same writing."

"What does the writing say?"

"I have no earthly idea," Phillip said, walking back around the pool. He looked at Benjamin and stopped. "You look rough. You'd better sit down before you pass out and hurt yourself." He looked at the two pillars he was standing between and then turned to look at the wall directly behind him.

"What is it?" inquired Reginald, walking to stand beside Phillip.

"There are four more pillars," Phillip said. He pointed to the wall. "Look. There are four larger pillars in the walls themselves. But, they're not in perfect alignment with the others. They're aligned to stand between the smaller ones, almost as if the builders of this place wanted to cover all the angles."

Phillip walked to the wall, laying his hand against it. "These pillars have the same markings as the smaller ones." He looked down at his feet. "And there is a single row of stones that runs in front of these pillars all around the room with the same markings."

Phillip walked back to the smaller pillars in the center of the room and looked up. The chamber was so high, the light from the torches did not illuminate the highest part of the chamber, leaving it in darkness. "And I bet there is a larger version of that floating crystal up there."

"Well done, Mr. Lochley."

Benjamin stood from where he had been sitting on the floor. The three Watchers looked toward the opening they had been led through earlier to find someone walking toward them. Two more people stopped at the opening, as the third walked into the light.

He was tall, over six foot six, and he carried himself with confidence and strength. His face appeared young, even with the jagged features of his face. His blue eyes almost glowed with intelligence and knowledge. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and his goatee was trim and neat. But, it was the color of both that caught the Watchers' attention…stark lightening white.

The man stopped and extended his hand to Phillip, who immediately shook it. "I'm impressed, Mr. Lochley. Most of those who have been here before fail to notice a tenth of what you did."

"Please, call me Phillip. Archaeology is one of my passions, I'm afraid," he said, walking to stand beside the nearest small pillar. "Every time I walk among discovered ruins or newly discovered ruins, my curiosity gets the better of me. It doesn't matter whether the site has been studied before or not…my mind begins to wonder about who had been there, what had happened and other questions that come into my mind."

Phillip stopped and placed his hand on the small pillar he was standing beside. "This place is ancient. No, ancient doesn't come close. I can almost feel the power that surges through this place. It would be the opportunity of a lifetime to study all of it, to unlock the secrets it holds."

"Then you shall have that opportunity."

Phillip looked at the man, disbelief etched on his face.

The man laughed. "I asked the Watcher Council for someone to study this place, to find its true meaning. I don't want to turn it over to an entire team of archaeologists and whomever else they would bring with them, who would damage it somehow. It took quite a while to get a message to the Watchers, but I can that it was well worth the wait."

"But, there are stipulations. It's going to take years to study this place and you're going to need help. I only want eight people, yourself included, to be on your research team. I want to keep this under wraps for now. And make sure you can trust the people you choose. There are a few other things we can go over later. I know you probably want to get started, so my associates will see you and your young friend back to your compound. Mr. Archer and I have a few things to discuss and then he will be along."

Phillip shook the man's hand. "Thank you very much, Mr.-"

"-Norrington," the man finished. "It's my pleasure, Mr. Lochley. I know this place could not be in better hands."

Phillip grabbed Benjamin and they almost ran to the opening where the two men were still standing. They placed blindfolds over the two Watchers' eyes and led them into the opening and the tunnel beyond.

"This is the place, isn't it?" Reginald asked, excitedly. "This is the Eye."

"Yes," Norrington replied, holding up his hand to tell Reginald to stay silent.

A few minutes later, someone appeared in the opening. "They are gone, Lord Octavian."

"Good," Octavian said, his face morphing. "I never have enjoyed wearing the face of an ordinary man." He looked at Reginald. "Do they suspect?"

Reginald shook his head, the ridges on his newly transformed face standing out. "No one suspects. My remaining colleagues on the Council have all been…brought over to our side, so to speak."

"Remaining colleagues?"

Reginald paused. "I had the other members who supported me brought to our side completely. I dismissed the other four members from the Council who wished to prepare the Slayers and the Hunter for the Rejoining. They continued to speak out, even after I-"

Reginald flew through the air and crashed into the small pillar behind him. He fell into a crumpled heap and Octavian walked to stand over him.

"How did someone as stupid as you ever become head of the Watchers?"

"My lord?"

"Why didn't you just have the ones who continued to speak out against you "brought over to our side" as you keep saying?"

Reginald remained silent.

"When you dismissed those four Council members, did it occur to you to keep a close eye on them and what they were up to?"

"They were ordered to desist in their speaking out and to leave the subject of the Rejoining to the Council."

Octavian reached down, grabbed Reginald and pulled him to his feet. "So, that means you left them alone to their own devices, you have no idea what they have been doing and what they're doing as we speak, correct?"

Reginald hung his head.

"Find out what they're doing," Octavian ordered, throwing Reginald into the same pillar again.

Octavian turned and walked toward the opening. Halfway there, he stopped and turned back. "Did you say…Slayers?"

Octavian walked back to where Reginald was still lying crumpled on the cavern floor. He knelt down and looked at the head of the Watchers. "Slayers? Meaning more than one?"

Reginald nodded, afraid to get up. "There are two of them now. The recent Slayer of the original line died for a few minutes after battling the Master before she was revived by some of her friends. Since she did die, the next Slayer was called. But, when the original Slayer was revived, that action split the single line of Slayers into two lines."

Octavian became enraged. "Why wasn’t I told of this?!?!"

"I thought you knew," Reginald cowered, crawling back against the pillar behind him. "All of our prophecies concerning the Rejoining hinge on the line of Slayers splitting into two lines."

"The Rejoining?" Octavian asked, falling silent.

"The Return, Lord Octavian," a vampire said, stepping into the light. She walked toward them with grace and ease, her tall lithe body showing more strength than most would have given her. "The Rejoining he is speaking of is known to us as the Return."

"The Return!" Octavian spat. "So, Alara and Gregory return to haunt me. But, our prophecies said nothing about there being two Slayers. Can you explain why that is, Astra?"

"No, I can't," Astra replied. "I'll send some representatives to the cults which hold you in such high esteem to find out why you were not informed. I also sent your regards to those you first sired who are still alive. I haven't heard back yet." She paused and looked at Reginald. "This means we need to examine the prophecies that do concern the two Slayers and the Return. That's where he comes in."

"I'll leave immediately and return with them as soon as I can," Reginald promised, rising to his feet slowly.

Octavian looked at him. "Go. And find out what you're former colleagues are doing. We don't need them giving us any trouble."

Reginald nodded and hurried to the opening that led to the surface.

Once he was gone, Octavian looked at Astra. "The man is an idiot. Send someone to watch after him; he may find himself in trouble and need help. I have no doubt he'll be able to find out what his former colleagues are up to. But, when it comes to the Slayers and the Hunter, I prefer to have someone I trust watching them." He stopped and thought for a moment. "Send Draven and his team to find them and keep an eye on them. He is not to let them out of his sight."

"When Reginald returns, have Elizabeth and Beatrice study those prophecies. I want to know anything and everything concerning the Slayers and I want it yesterday. Is that understood?"

Astra bowed. "Yes, my lord." She turned and walked away.

Octavian waited until he was alone and then walked to the four small pillars in the middle of the chamber. A few feet from the pillars, he was stopped. He raised his hand and encountered an energy field that rippled enough for him to see it and which didn't allow him to pass.

Octavian could see some of the images that appeared in the liquid crystal only a few feet away from him. He watched the crystal continuously move and memorized the images that appeared.

"Soon," Octavian said. He turned and walked away.

Minutes later, the limo driver opened the door and Octavian got in. Astra was waiting for him.

Octavian waited until the door was closed before asking, "You have something already?"

"They're on their way here, as we speak," Astra answered.

"What?!"

"The Slayers and the Hunter, some of their friends and their Watchers are enroute to Great Britain as we speak. They left the Sunnydale Airport at five thirty this morning, Pacific Time. The arrived at LaGuardia International around ten forty-five in the morning, Eastern Standard Time."

"The jet they are on was refueled but was delayed due to an engine problem. When the engine was repaired, they left LaGuardia at two forty-five in the afternoon, Eastern Standard Time." She looked at her watch. "It's ten oh-five now, which means they should arrive here in Great Britain around five in the morning."

Octavian tapped a button on the door to his left and the limo began to move. He was silent for a few minutes and Astra knew several trains of thought were going through his head at the same time.

"Can you find out where they will land?"

"It shouldn't be a problem."

"Excellent. I think we should arrange to throw the Slayers, the Hunter and their friends a party, welcoming them to Great Britain."

"You wanted Draven and his team to find them and to keep an eye on them. Since I already found them -"

"Have Draven arrange our little welcome for our friends," Octavian interrupted. "Tell him to use what he thinks will be appropriate."

"In other words, use whatever needs to be used to eliminate them," Astra translated.

"All of them. Everyone one that jet dies." He looked at her. "With them dead, our plans should proceed without any threat of any kind."

"And when the next Slayers and Hunter are called?"

"They should pose no threat," Octavian replied. "With Reginald and his fellow members being my vampires, whoever is assigned as their Watchers will be kept in the dark and, by extension, so will those called."

Octavian laughed. "And even if they do find out, they'll be too late to do anything about it."

"Xander, if you ask me how much longer until we land one more time, I'm going to throw you out the hatch," Giles said, as Xander walked up to the conference table.

"Touchy, touchy," the teen said, sitting down in one of the empty chairs.

"We have almost an hour and half before we land," Richard said. He looked at his watch. "It's going to be around five in the morning when we land. You may want to get a little more sleep to help cope with the time change."

"Nah!" Xander said. "I've slept most of the trip and I feel fine, ready to face anything."

"You may have to."

Xander looked at William. "What?"

"You may have to face anything and everything you can think of," Jayden's Watcher answered. "Once Octavian knows the Slayers and the Hunter are in Great Britain to stop him, he'll throw everything he can at us."

"Meaning?" Aeron asked, looking up from the book she was studying. She was sitting beside Willow, who was sitting at the head of the table in the arch, working on a laptop.

"Meaning he will send every vampire, demon or whatever else he can think of against us, hoping to kill the Slayers and the Hunter," Giles explained.

"Oh, goody," Xander commented.

The Slayers and the Hunter were sitting on the large sectional couch, not listening to the conversation taking place at the conference table.

Buffy looked at Jayden and Faith. "Can I ask you guys a question?"

"Absolutely," Jayden said. Faith simply nodded.

"Have you been feeling any different since we got on this jet?"

"Like how?"

Buffy shrugged. "I don't know how to explain it. It just feels like…like…"

"You feel like you're getting stronger and your senses are heightened," Jayden stated, looking at Buffy. "And there's a sense of…" He paused as he searched for the words. "…coming home, somehow."

"You're kidding, right?" Faith asked, looking at them as if they were crazy. "Both of you are feeling this…this…this stuff? I don't feel any different…I feel great."

"Maybe some of the others feel this way."

Jayden shook his head. "I doubt it. For some reason, I think it's only us."

Faith stood. "I'm not staying around here for the Obi-Wan mumbo jumbo." She walked around the couch and went to the conference table.

Jayden looked at her walk away and then looked at Buffy. "Is she always so-"

"-so brazen, impatient and rough around the edges?" Buffy finished, smiling.

The Hunter laughed. "Yeah."

"Always," Buffy replied, smiling. "She's always been high on life and ready to grab the bull by the horns all the time." She noticed the look on Jayden's face. "What?"

He smiled. "I never thought I would hear a girl from California use that expression!"

"Lock the chair in place, Xander."

Xander looked across the table at Jayden. "And how do you do that?"

"That button right there on the right arm of your chair that's labeled "Lock"," Jayden said, pointing to the arm of Xander's chair.

Xander looked down at the arm of his chair and saw the button glaring at him. He pushed it, heard a hissing sound and felt his chair become latched to the floor. "I knew that!"

Minutes later, the landing gear tires touched the ground and the engines immediately reversed, slowing the jet down.

"Where are we?" Aeron asked.

"Great Britain," Xander answered.

Aeron punched him in the arm.

"An old abandoned small airport that's on one of our colleagues estates. We're about an hour away from Charles' estates, where we'll be staying," Richard explained. "There should be cars waiting for us."

When Buffy felt the plane begin to really slow down, she unstrapped the seatbelt, walked to the hatch and looked out. Jayden did the same, but went to the opposite side of the jet to look out one of the windows.

"Guys, what is it?" Willow asked.

"There's more than cars waiting for us," the elder Slayer said. "We have company."

"A lot of company," added Jayden. "Break out the artillery."

"All of it's in the cargo hold, with our luggage," Aeron told him.

"That's not a problem," Richard said, releasing his seatbelt and standing up. He walked to the floor-to-ceiling screen and touched one of the small control panels beside it. The screen split down the middle, with the two halves moving outward. A large compartment was revealed.

"When you're at war, you should always be prepared," the Watcher said.

Inside the compartment hung weapons of several varieties. Two long swords hung across the top, with two short swords and several daggers below them. Crossbows of varying sizes, already loaded with silver arrows, hung below the daggers. There were several guns arrayed at the bottom of the compartment.

Jayden walked to the compartment and took one of the swords from its perch. He turned it at he was looking at it. The sword was designed for a person trained to use it with one or two hands, due to the fact the hilt was so long. The hilt was adorned with a dragon, whose crystal wings were spread. The Hunter saw the blade was made of silver and saw a small etching was engraved at the base of it, just above the head of the dragon.

He looked at Richard. "It was forged by the same metalsmith who forged mine."

Richard smiled. "I know."

Aeron and Xander took their weapons of choice out of the compartment: Xander the other long sword and Aeron a pair of hand crossbows.

Xander just looked at the sword he was holding, unsure of what to do with it.

Jayden looked at him. "Do you know how to use that?"

"Sure," Xander said. He pointed to the tip of the blade. "That end goes into people."

Jayden rolled his eyes. "This is no time to be quoting movies. Don't get yourself killed and I'll show you how to really use that."

Willow walked to stand in front of the compartment but didn't take anything out. Richard took a small handgun from the bottom row and the gun's magazine from below the gun's hook.

He slid the magazine into the gun's handle and handed it to Willow. "The bullets are made partially of silver, filled with concentrated holy water. They are designed to release the holy water upon impact."

"Maybe something a little less…lethal?"

Richard thought for a moment. He put the handgun back on its hook and reached for a gun in the lower left corner of the compartment. "This gun maybe a little less lethal than the other, but not by much." He slid the magazine into place and handed it to Willow.

Willow looked at the gun in her hand and then at Richard. "What does this one do? It looks just like the other one."

"The magazine is filled with concentrated holy water and when the trigger is pressed, it fires a stream of it."

"A water gun?" Xander asked.

Richard laughed. "Basically, yes…but, with a lethal difference. Thanks to incredible technological advancements, the gun is designed to fire a stream of holy water only a few molecules thick. In simple terms, it's a water knife."

"It's supposed to be a little less lethal than the other one?" Willow asked, unsure. She looked at the gun she was holding and then at the weapons still hanging in the weapons compartment. She sighed. "I guess I'll take this one."

"Just be careful where you fire that thing. More importantly, who you fire it at," Xander said. "I don't want to lose anything vital."

Aeron punched him in the arm again as Willow's face fell.

"What?" Xander asked, rubbing his arm.

The three Watchers took the three guns remaining in the compartment. Faith walked over to take the two short swords.

"I could get used to this," Faith said, moving the swords through the air. She stopped and looked at Jayden. "Are you sure there are vampires out there?"

Jayden looked puzzled. "You can't feel them?"

"They're out there," Buffy said, walking over to choose her weapon. "A lot of them."

Everyone felt the jet come to a complete stop. Seconds later, they heard pounding on the hatch.

"Richard, tell them we're having problems with the door. It'll give us a few more minutes to get ready," Buffy ordered, still looking at the remaining weapons.

Richard walked to the hatch and yelled what Buffy had told him to those pounding on the door outside.

Buffy's eye caught what was standing just inside the compartment doors to the right. She pulled out a long quarterstaff, which gleamed silver in the light. The staff measured over six feet in length, with a silver blade on each end. There was a mesh of woven leather strands in the middle for the wielder to use to hold onto the staff in times of battle.

"I like this," the elder Slayer said.

"We'll go out first," Giles said, walking to the hatch door.

Buffy looked at her companions, Jayden and Faith in particular. "They're probably going to attack us the second we step out that door. Let's make this quick and very painful for them."

"Now you're talking," Faith added.

"Can you tell how many are out there?" Jayden asked. "It feels like there's more than two dozen of them."

Giles looked out the window beside the hatch. He looked at Jayden and then again out the window. "That would be fairly accurate. And it would seem they've grown impatient waiting for us to come out. They're coming this way…all of them."

Buffy, Jayden and Faith walked to the airlock.

Buffy tapped the control panel, the door began to open and the small stairway began to extend to the ground. The two Slayers and the Hunter moved to be the first to walk out when Giles objected.

"Buffy, I said-"

"I know what you said, Giles," Buffy interrupted.

The door completely opened and a vampire tried to jump inside, but was throw back.

"They keep forgetting about that whole invitation thing, don't they?" Xander observed.

Buffy continued. "When the three of us are out there, Giles, William and Richard will stay on the stairway, playing assassination. Do not get off that stairway unless one of us is in serious trouble."

"Buff-"

"No, Xander. I know you're armed and dangerous and want a piece of the action. But, I'd rather you stay out of harm's way for now. And I'm sure this won't be the only time we fight vamps while we're here," Buffy said, moving to stand in front of the open hatch. Jayden and Faith took up position behind her.

Another vampire jumped at the hatch. But, just before he hit the invitation barrier, Buffy stabbed him, in midair, through the heart. He turned to dust and Buffy walked slowly down the stairway to stand on the ground. Faith walked down to stand halfway on the stairway and Jayden remained standing in the main hatch. All three were tensed and ready to move.

The vampires in front of the group moved back and began to part when Buffy walked down the stairway. Buffy carefully stood her silver-bladed quarterstaff beside her. She watched the large group part and a single vampire walk towards her.

The lights on the plane, along the wings and body, and the moon lit the surrounding area well enough for Buffy to see the hatred on every vampire's face standing before her. The hatred on the face of the vampire that now approached her was the most intense.

The vampire stopped a few feet from her and said, "So, you're the Slayer. I thought you'd be…taller."

Buffy smiled a little, remembering those were almost the exact words Angel had spoken to her when they had first met.

"Let me guess," Buffy started. "You're the welcoming committee." She looked around at the group of vampires before her. "Wow."

The vampire looked at her. "What?"

"You're a little short-handed to take on two Slayers and a Hunter, aren't you?"

Buffy smiled again as the weight of her question sank in. Several of the vampires began to fidget where they stood while some of the hatred on their faces changed to fear and uncertainty.

Another vampire close to the one in front of Buffy stepped forward. "Draven, Octavian never told us about-"

"Silence!" the vampire now known as Draven boomed, his arm swinging out and launching the other vampire into the air.

Buffy picked her quarterstaff up and began to walk to her left, around the group of vampires. She hoped Faith and Jayden could see what she was doing and would follow her lead.

"You didn't have to do that," Buffy explained. "We already know Octavian is the one who's going to try to open the Eye again." She saw Faith had descended the stairway and began to walk around the vampires on the other side. Jayden had taken up the position Buffy had vacated at the foot of the small stairway.

"It seems to me that you're caught between two rocks and a hard place," Jayden stated.

"There are over thirty of us and only three of you," Draven said, smiling. "You may be good, but not that good."

"We like to think we're better," Faith said, her short swords gleaming in the light.

"I don't know about my friends, but I'm in a very giving mood," Buffy said, stopping and putting one end of the quarterstaff on the ground. "We're going to let you go. The only thing you have to do is tell Octavian that history will repeat itself…he will fail to open the Eye again."

"I don't think so," Draven said, facing Jayden. "Now!"

The vampires attacked and the two Slayers and the Hunter instantly found themselves surrounded.

Jayden began to swing his sword through his practiced way, taking a hand or slicing into one of the vampires that found themselves too close to him. Faith took the battle to the vampires attacking her, the short swords slashing out. Buffy's quarterstaff flashed out before the first vampire got to her, severing the vampire's head.

Faith was knocked to the ground when a vampire managed to get behind her and kicked her legs out from under her. One short sword was kicked away but she held onto the other one. She kicked out, taking the knees of two vampires out. She swung her remaining sword toward them, taking their heads when they doubled over in pain. A split second later, she felt blinding pain in her head and she braced herself for the killing blow. She heard gunfire, opened her eyes and saw the vampires above her explode into ash. Giles stood above her, holding two Uzis.

"The handgun just wasn't getting the job done." He looked at the guns in his hands. "These remedied the problem."

Buffy and Jayden managed to move together and were fighting back-to-back. Both of them had cuts on their arms and some of their clothing had been ripped. William and Richard we're taking the vampires out who were staying back, waiting to make their attack.

It was over soon after that.

"Is everyone okay?" Richard asked.

"A few scrapes, but nothing major," Jayden answered, lowering his sword.

Faith retrieved her other sword and joined the others. Buffy and Jayden were breathing hard and Buffy was leaning on her quarterstaff for support, trying to catch her breath.

"Some of those vamps could pack a punch," Buffy said. She thanked William and Richard for taking the taking out the vampires that were hanging back. She looked at Jayden. "Thanks for watching my back."

"No problem," he said, smiling. "We need to clean these weapons and get to wherever it is we're going. Hopefully it's a little safer, so we can figure out what our next step is."

"Draven escaped."

Faith looked at Buffy. "What? How?!"

"As soon as he gave the order to attack, he hightailed it. I knew you and Jayden would be busy, so I tried to yell to Giles. But, I got punched just before I could say something and I had to concentrate on the more pressing issues around me."

"Well, at least your message will be delivered," William said, leading the others back to the jet.

"The time is coming."

The man looked at the woman walking at his side as they walked to the center of the dome-like cavern. He took her hand. "I know."

They stopped at the edge of the pool and watched the liquid crystal continuously move and watched the images that appeared, from the other side of the portal.

"The Chosen Ones and their companions have arrived," he said, turning to look at her. "The appointed time is truly almost upon us."

The woman looked at the man at her side and took his hand in hers. "This will be the final time, Gwion." She paused as she looked at him. "Are you ready? Truly ready?"

Gwion looked at the images that appeared in the liquid crystal and then looked at his companion. He squeezed her hand. "I have to be."

Draven ran through the front door of the large manor just as the sun was coming up. He quickly slammed the door, fell back against it and slid to the floor, exhausted.

Wisps of smoke were rising from his clothes as his strength slowly returned to him. He slowly stood and surveyed his surroundings. The manor was almost totally dark, with only Draven's vampire sight cutting through the darkness. He walked forward a few steps toward the large spiral grand staircase in front of him.

Draven looked in the room to his left, which looked to be a ballroom of some sort. He noticed the windows in the large room blocked the sunlight from the newly risen sun. He looked to his right into another room and saw the windows of that room doing the same thing.

He turned back to his left and walked into the ballroom. The room ran the width of the manor. Five chandeliers hung from the ceiling at regular intervals and a set of arched doors were located on the end opposite to Draven. Draven could see the walls were painted with murals of some sort, which immediately lost his attention.

Draven moved to look at the windows nearest to him. He thought the glass had been painted black, but the closer to the windows he got, he found that wasn't true. He stopped just a couple of feet from the largest window and leaned forward to look at what was blocking the sunlight.

Draven's eyes widened. "Whatever it is, it isn't natural."

"Amazing, isn't it?" a voice asked, behind him.

Draven turned quickly to see someone standing in the doorway. "Astra."

"In the flesh," the lady vampire said, walking to stand beside him. She leaned down to look at the blackened window. "You're right, it isn't natural," she said, her eyes staying focused on the windows.

"Then what is it?"

Astra straightened, looked at him and smiled. "What else? Sorcery." She walked away from him but stopped in the doorway and turned back to him. "He has another assignment for you."

"I doubt I'll be around much longer," Draven commented. "My team and I failed."

"He knows."

Draven's eyes widened.

Astra laughed. "What? You thought you would have to tell him yourself, didn't you?" When Draven didn't answer, she continued. "Lord Octavian knew you would fail. He sent you against two Slayers and a Hunter, their friends and a Watcher jet probably loaded with weapons designed to kill vampires. Yes, there was a chance you would kill one of the Chosen Ones or their friends, but he knew your team would ultimately fail."

Anger and frustration appeared on Draven's face when Astra's information fully registered with him.

"I am sorry about that, Draven."

Draven turned to look at the other end of the long room. The arched doors had opened and a shadowed figure stood in the doorway.

"Why?" Draven asked. "Why?!?!"

"I had to know how good they are," Octavian said, starting to walk toward his two servants. "I needed to know how good the Hunter and the newest Slayer are before I made the final preparations."

"What about the blond?" Draven asked. "Didn’t you want to know about her?"

Octavian stopped. Anger appeared in his eyes. "I already know about her."

"She killed Adam," Astra explained to Draven.

Draven's eyes widened. "What? How?"

Astra began to walk toward Octavian. "It happened more than two years ago. Lord Octavian sent Adam to open another one of the mystical points on this planet. But, he failed."

"The first time," Octavian added.

"Adam was caught in a type of bubble, somewhat trapped between one dimension and another," Astra continued. "He tried numerous times to break free, all of them unsuccessful. Even the Harvest was not enough."

Draven looked stunned. "That's saying something. I always wondered what happened to him. There were rumors and stories about what he was supposedly doing. One story had him hunting down the Slayers one by one."

"That's a good idea, "Octavian said, as Astra stopped beside him. "I never thought of that."

"Adam did gain his freedom and opened the mystical point. He was even killed the blond Slayer. But, she was revived, we don’t know how and was somehow strengthened. She killed Adam and the point was resealed."

"The other Slayer was called when the blond was killed, wasn't she?" Draven asked. "So that's how there came to be two lines of Slayers." He paused and then looked at Octavian. "You have an assignment for me?"

"Yes, I do," Octavian answered. "A new force has been assembled and is waiting for you." The vampire lord turned and walked back toward the arched doors. He stopped before going through. "Pack your bags, Draven. You're going to sunny southern California." He walked through the doorway and the doors closed behind him.

Draven looked at Astra.

She smiled. "You're going to open the Hellmouth, just like Adam did."

* * * * *

"Hey, Braniac."

Willow looked up from the computer screen to see Xander, who she hadn't heard enter the room.

"What's up?" she asked.

"Just hiding," he answered, walking across the balcony to the double windows to Willow's right. He looked down into the courtyard to see Buffy and Jayden talking. They were standing next to a large fountain depicting dolphins jumping the waves and a large blanket was spread out beside them. The sunlight glinted brightly off each weapon that was arrayed on it. Xander could tell each weapon had been forged with silver.

Willow smiled as she leaned back in her chair. "Still sore after practice yesterday?"

Xander turned his head to look at his best friend. "I'm sore in places where it isn't humanly possible to be sore in. Those three are slave drivers." He looked back out the window to see Faith, Aeron and the other five people the Slayers and the Hunter were training for the coming battle.

Jayden looked up at the window and caught Xander before he could move back. The Hunter smiled and motioned for Xander to join them. Xander sighed and slouched a little.

"Get caught?"

Xander began to walk toward the doors he had entered, but stopped in front of Willow. "Why can't I be a plain research guy? I mean, I'm kinda good at it."

"Don’t start, Xander," Willow said, grinning.

Xander slouched from the room and Willow stood to stretch her muscles, which were stiff from sitting in one place for so long.

She walked to the edge of the balcony she had chosen for herself and looked around the cavernous library. None of them had suspected to be taken to a castle after destroying the vampires that had attacked them when they first arrived in Great Britain. Richard had told them they would be staying on Charles' estates. But, they weren't expecting to be staying at a castle.

Even though they had slept during the flight, the Slayers, the Hunter and their companions were fatigued. Servants met them at the main doors and led them to their rooms, where everyone proceeded to fall asleep.

Later in the afternoon, Willow awakened and decided to explore. She found the others were still asleep and decided to explore on her own. She wandered the hallways, losing herself in the hallways. Willow found herself in front of a set of large doors. She turned the handle on the right door and pushed hard, believing the door would be difficult to open because of its size. The door opened easily and she almost fell to the ground.

Willow could not believe her eyes. She found herself in a library, but one unlike any she had entered before. She walked a little farther in and looked up. The library comprised four floors, but she couldn’t' tell how truly large it was…so, she explored every inch she could. Rupert and Richard found her a couple of hours later, sitting at one of the tables on the balcony she was now on and surrounded by books.

"Rupert told me we would find you here," Richard laughed. "So, what do you think?"

"What do I think?!?" Willow asked. "It's- It's- It's-"

Both Watchers laughed, as Willow remained speechless.

"We have a job for you," Giles said. "And I think it's right up your alley."

Since then, two days ago, she had been trying to hack into the Watcher Council's computer system. But, everything she had tried up to this point had failed. And, she was running out of things to try. She hoped the latest algorithm she had written would work.

Willow walked back to her computer on the table and sat down again. She looked at the time counter on the computer screen and sighed.

"Another snag?" Giles asked, as he and William walked onto the balcony. Both of them carried trays loaded down with food and drinks.

"I don't know. It's taking longer than everything else I've tried, but that's because this algorithm is bigger than the others. It's going to be at least a few more minutes before we know if it works," Willow explained, standing up again.

William walked to the same window Xander had been at and looked down into the courtyard. Willow walked to stand beside him to watch Buffy and the others practicing. She watched as Buffy flipped over her practice partner, knocking him to the ground and stop the point of the blade on her staff barely an inch from his chest.

"Giles."

Buffy's Watcher looked up from the book he was reading and set his cup down. "Yes?"

"Have you noticed anything…different about Buffy since we got here."

Giles removed his glasses. "Different?"

"It's like she's stronger, if that's possible. And I don't just mean physically. Her attitude is almost completely changed. She thinks faster than ever. And, her senses are…" Willow paused, searching for the right word. "…heightened. Don't you remember when she sensed those vampires near the plane almost before we landed. It's not only Buffy. Jayden is the same way."

Willow looked at William. "Has Jayden ever been able to tell how many vampires are around him? Buffy never could; she could only sense their presence."

William shook his head. "Jayden was never able to sense how many vampires were around. And I've also noticed changes in him, as well." He looked at Giles. "Any theories?"

Willow's computer began to beep and she hurriedly returned to her seat. William walked to stand beside Giles, who had stood up.

Willow punched a couple of buttons on the keyboard and the computer beeped again. She looked up at the two Watchers and smiled. "We're in."

Angel walked into the library to see Trevor and Andrew sitting at the large table, books opened and sprawled all over the table. He heard a roar and looked to his left.

Oz, in his werewolf form, crashed into the door of the cage, hoping to escape. Angel saw the pure animal rage in the werewolf's eyes. There was no trace of the laid back musician he had come to consider a friend.

Angel looked at the two young Watchers. "The two of you need to go into research mode."

"What is it?" Andrew asked.

"A large group of vampires came into town a couple of hours ago. The leader talked to the town about something and now him and his group have disappeared."

"Couldn't they have just left?" Trevor inquired.

"You can't move over thirty vamps into or out of a town easily, even using small numbers. The leader's name is Draven. At least, that’s the name he gave Willie. I need you to find out about this guy so we'll know what we're up against," Angel said, turning and walking toward the doors.

"What are you going to be doing?" Trevor called out, standing up.

Angel stopped before walking through the doors. He looked back and said, "I'm going to try to find them and see what they're up to. I'll be back an hour before dawn." He turned and walked out of the library.

"Tunnels secure, Draven."

Draven looked at the vampire that had just spoken. "Extend the perimeter again, Lockley. Leave five guards here and use the rest. I don't want anyone to disturb us when we get started."

Someone cleared his or her throat and Draven turned to see whom it was.

"Sorry, Lonra. I meant I didn't want anyone to disturb you when you begin the opening." Draven looked back at Lockley. "Get started. The time to open the Hellmouth is fast approaching. Let's make sure things go smoothly."

Lockley nodded and left immediately.

Draven looked around the large cavern he was standing in, remembering his friend. "Adam must have slowly went insane, being imprisoned here for so long."

"Who cares," Lonra said, continuing to draw something on the floor. "He had a job to do and he failed. He apparently was too over confidant something wouldn't go wrong. Adam was always arrogant and full of himself. I thought Lord Octavian put too much trust into what he could-"

Lonra flew through the air, crashing into the wall behind her and falling to the floor beside the dust covered throne. She grabbed her cheek and looked up at Draven, who was walking toward her.

Draven took something from the inside of his jacket. He grabbed Lonra by the throat, hauling her to her feet and ramming her up against the wall. Lonra felt bones break in her back as she saw it was a wooden stake Draven in his hand. He raised the vampire mystic with his left hand and kept her against the wall. He placed the point of the wooden stake over her heart and pushed the tip into her skin.

"Your job is to open the Hellmouth. That's it. Your entire existence is to do that and only that. And if you have an opinion about something or someone, especially my friends, then…" He pressed on the stake, sending it a little further into Lonra's chest. "…I suggest you keep it to yourself. Understood?"

Lonra nodded as best as she could. Draven threw her across the cavern into the opposite wall and she crumpled to the floor. He walked down from beside the throne, around the pool and up to the main opening. "I suggest you get back to work. We have a schedule to keep."

Draven looked at the vampire standing beside the opening. "Keep an eye on her. Help her if she needs it. I'm going to check on the perimeter. Find me if anything happens, find me." He turned and walked through the opening.

Lonra slowly picked herself off the floor. She crossed the chamber gingerly, careful of her back that was quickly healing from the abuse it had just been through. As she was walking across the chamber, she pulled her shirt out a little and looked at her chest. The wound where Draven had pushed the tip of the wooden stake into had healed.

Lonra quickly checked her earlier preparations, making sure everything was still in order. Once she was satisfied everything was as it should be, she picked up where she had left off.

The large doors opened. Gwion and his companion, Gwyneira, walked into the large hall hand in hand. They were dressed as befit their station of royalty among their people.

Gwyneira was dressed in a simple royal blue dress that clung to her figure. Her long, straight, raven hair was pulled back into a single lock, reaching to her waist. She wore a simple bracelet of platinum on her right wrist and a ring of platinum, with a sapphire embedded within it, on her left hand. A torc of shining platinum and deep blue sapphires encircled her neck. A simple band of gold encircled her head, meeting at a gemstone, which continuously changed color, at her forehead.

Gwion was dressed in all black, his long blond hair pulled back and a circlet of gold encircled his head. He wore a larger ring that was a twin to Gwyneira's on his left hand. A torc of gold embedded with diamonds circled his throat.

The hall was decorated with royal blue, accented by white in the appropriate places. Chandeliers hung from the ceiling, glowing with otherworldly light and illuminating the more than human guests in the hall. Others of their people crowded the hall, attending at the invitation of their king and queen.

Gwion and Gwyneira walked toward the other end of the hall, nodding or speaking quickly to those they recognized. Finally, the last of their people parted or fell away and they found themselves below two thrones sitting upon a dais. A man and woman, for the lack of better terms for they and their people were more than any human could imagine, looked down upon them. Gwyneira curtsied and Gwion bowed deeply.

The queen was dressed in pure white, in a dress similar to Gwyneira's. A belt of white gold, encrusted with emeralds, hung at her waist and a torc of white gold hung around her neck. A crown of pure diamond sat upon her head.

The king was dressed in the royal blue and white, reserved to be worn only by royalty. A belt of white gold circled is waist and a torc matching the belt hung around his neck. His crown matched his queen's.

"It is good to see you, my son," the king said. "You most especially, Gwyneira."

Gwyneira smiled as Gwion said, "I'm sorry we are late, lord father. But, we were indisposed at the Eye. I'm afraid the time I have feared was approaching is almost upon us."

"Llyr," the queen said, looking at her husband.

The king stood and walked down to Gwion and Gwyneira. As the queen descended to them, the music stopped and everyone turned to the king.

Llyr made a small gesture and the music immediately continued. He looked at his wife and she immediately took his hand. Llyr nodded to the man and woman standing on either side of the dais. He led his wife, son and daughter-by-marriage toward the side of the hall.

They entered a large room Gwion knew to be his father's library and personal refuge. The man and woman had followed them into the room and shut the doors behind them.

The queen stopped and walked to stand in front of her son. She looked into his eyes for what he thought was an eternity. "It has to be done," she said, breaking the silence.

"Etayn," Llyr said lightly, leading Gwyneira to a chair.

Etayn looked at her husband. "We've known this was coming. I need to know." She looked back to her son. "Will you be able to do it?"

Gwion looked at his mother and the emotions that were in her eyes for a few moments before saying, "Yes."

Etayn's face fell a little as she walked to the chair beside the one her daughter-by-marriage was sitting in. Gwyneira saw the pain on the queen's face and tried to comfort her.

Llyr stood beside his wife's chair and looked at Gwion. "The fate of our world and countless others will rest upon you. It matters not how you felt for Lassar in the past. Those times are gone, forever swept across time."

"I know. But Lassar must not be allowed to open the Eye. We have sacrificed so much in the past to allow him and these attempts to go on. He must be stopped, no matter the cost."

Llyr looked at the man and woman standing at the doors. "Tigrin, Athyn…begin preparations for battle. We must be at the ready to support Gwion if the need arises."

Tigrin and Athyn simply nodded and left the room.

"What of the Slayers and the Hunter?" Etayn inquired. "With the Rejoining approaching, I'm sure the line of Slayers has "sundered" as the prophecies decreed."

"It has," Gwyneira answered. "Both Slayers and the Hunter are here, trying to prepare for the coming battle. But-"

"They have no idea what their part in the coming battle is. The Watcher Council has been compromised. Lassar has infected the ruling Council with the disease of his vampires and they do not have the information they need," Gwion interrupted. "Someone must go to them, to teach them."

Gwion and Gwyneira looked at each other and Llyr saw what passed between them. "When do you intend to go to them?" the king asked.

"Llyr, no!"

The king looked at his queen. "It needs to be done." Llyr turned and walked to the only wall in the room that was not covered in bookshelves filled with books. Tapestries and trophies from past deeds and hunts hung on the wall, except in one spot.

A small area had been set aside as a memorial, of sorts. Two long swords, which gleamed in the light, were crossed to form an X above a shimmering piece of round crystal about the size of the wheel of an old horse carriage. A single image hung suspended within the crystal itself and the king smiled when he saw it, as he always did. He touched the two pendants, one a sword and the other a shield, which hung beside the crystal on the wall.

"I miss them a little more each day they are gone from us," Llyr said, emotion filling his voice. He looked back at the others. "And they have been gone for so very long." He looked at his daughter-by-marriage, who he considered to be a true daughter.

"I have no idea what you and Gwion went through when you had to let her go…let both of them go."

Gwion walked to stand beside his wife's chair and held her hand when she reached for it. He had to brace himself against the hurt, emotions and feelings of loss that now attacked him.

"She fell in love with him the first time she saw him and he with her. He being mortal and she close to immortal made no difference to them. When Lassar was changed and Grandfather proposed the need of a Slayer, she jumped at the chance, even though she knew what that meant. Even through all the danger, Gregory stood beside her," Gwion recollected.

"I thought they were strong before he was changed," Gwyneira continued. "But, they became even stronger afterwards. Their love was stronger than anything I had ever seen or what I've seen since. Even at the end." She clung to Gwion's hand as she cried. Etayn, too, was crying and trying to now comfort her daughter-by-marriage.

Gwion looked at his father and raised his left hand. A small globe appeared and began to expand. Two images appeared, one of a blond girl and the other of a brown haired boy.

Etayn gasped and Llyr stared at the images, speechless, as his son said, "Alara and Gregory have returned."

Angel walked into the library to see Andrew and Trevor still reading at the large table. He looked to his left at the cage to see Oz, still in werewolf form, asleep.

The two young Watchers looked up as Angel walked in. "We know who he is," Trevor said.

"He's old," Andrew explained. "He's a henchman for Octavian and he's been with him for a long time."

"He's taken up residence in the Master's lair," Angel added. "He's spread his vampires through the tunnels leading to the cavern, probably to make sure no one sneaks up on them."

"The Master?" Trevor asked, closing the book he'd been reading.

"Adam."

Trevor looked at Andrew, dumbfounded. "Adam?" He thought for a few seconds and his eyes widened. "You mean the Garden of Eden Adam?"

"That would be him," Andrew confirmed.

"I need to get back to my mansion," Angel said. "Try to figure out what Draven and his group are up to. I'll be back when the sun goes down."

Angel was gone before they could say anything.

"It's going to happen in the next few days," the black haired young man said, sitting down on the bed. "Octavian wouldn't have sent his right hand man and his force here unless something big was about to happen around here. It's going to happen soon."

"And what's going to happen?" a blond girl asked from across the room, sounding aggravated. "We've been over this time and time again. We don't have a clue what's going to happen, if anything. He could be here to secure the place in the event the Slayers and the Hunter stop his boss."

"Why would Draven be halfway around the world from his master at this point in time if something wasn't going to happen, Elle?" the same guy asked. "Octavian is supposedly readying his forces to try to open the Eye again. Why send your number one guy around the world when you're about to do that?"

"We should be in England to help stop him!" another young man said, standing by the door.

"Don't bring that up, too, David," the girl said. "Both Slayers and the Hunter are there. They'll stop him, one way or another. This Buffy seems to be good when she's not expected to win." She looked back at the guy who had sat down on the bed. "You still haven't answered my question from before, Nathan. What do you think Draven is here to do?"

The door to the room flew open, almost knocking David to the ground. An older man walked into the room and shut the door behind him. He leveled his grey eyes on Nathan, who could still not hold his gaze for long. The man looked at Tara, who held his gaze for only a few seconds and then looked away.

The man smiled. "I suppose the five of you are still arguing and trying to figure out what Draven is up to," he said, looking at Nathan, David, Tara and the other young man and woman who had yet to enter the conversation.

"You know us," David commented, walking to stand beside the brunette girl, who hadn't said anything. "Tara and Nathan were discussing what each one thought Draven was up to and we-"

"He's going to try to open the Hellmouth," the man interrupted, sitting on the same bed as Nathan, but on the opposite side.

"What? How?" Tara exclaimed. "He's never been inclined to use magic or sorcery before."

The man stretched out on the bed. "Draven won't be doing the conjuring and opening himself. He brought a vampire mystic with him. And from the description I got, it's Lonra."

"This doesn't make sense," Nathan said. "It's like I was trying to tell Tara, Octavian is readying himself and his forces to try to open the Eye. Why would he send Draven halfway around the world to open the Hellmouth?"

"Two possible things…insurance or diversion," the other boy said, joining the conversation. "Think about it for a minute. Both Slayers and the Hunter were taken to Great Britain to take Octavian down, hopefully for the last time. What if they succeed in doing it? Everything Octavian has ever worked for goes down the drain and Hell or whatever other dimensions he wants to release are still sealed away. If he does fail in opening the Eye, then he still has a chance by sending Draven to open the Hellmouth."

"If you have two points open to hellish dimensions open instead of just one, you have more little friendlies pouring into our world. Octavian probably believes the Hellmouth to be practically unguarded and he's sent Draven here to open it. That's insurance."

"The other is diversion. The Slayer has been working her tail off here, killing vamps left and right and whatever else seems to pop up around here. She's gone and has left the Hellmouth pretty much unguarded…at least Octavian thinks so. He could want the Hellmouth opened as a diversion, to make the Slayer return to try to close it."

The older man nodded. "Very good, Julian. But, we are not the only protection the Hellmouth has at the moment. Miss Summers' boyfriend remained here and has been keeping an eye, so to speak, on Draven. Two young Watchers and the boyfriend of Miss Rosenberg remained, as well."

"Boyfriend?" the other girl asked. "You mean she's really in love with a vampire? I thought that was just a story."

"No, Elayne, it's not," the man said. "Angel is very much in love with Miss Summers. There's one thing about Angel that makes him different from other vampires."

"What could be so different in a single vampire?" asked Tara. "They're all the undead and abominations. What's so special about this one?"

"Angel has a soul."

The room fell silent as what the man had said registered with all of them.

"That's impossible, Joseph," Julian said. "Vampires don't have souls. Their souls are lost once the demon invades the body. He can't have a soul."

"But, he does," Elayne said, looking at Joseph. "He has to have one or he would never fall in love with anything or anyone. Without it, he would just be another monster."

"Angel's demon self, Angelus, is a monster in the purest form," Joseph explained. "Angelus has done some heinous things and Angel is now paying for them and making up for them."

Joseph got up from the bed and went to the closet. He opened the door and took out a sword and scabbard. "The Elders have ordered us to help Angel and his friends stop Draven from opening the Hellmouth." He looked at his young charges. "Get your things together. We're going to find a place to practice and then we're going to meet our new friends."

Angel walked into the library, wearing his long coat with a look of determination on his face. Oz was sitting at the table, using a whetstone to sharpen the edge of a sword. Wooden stakes were piled on the end of the table opposite the main doors. Two large crossbows lay in front of the stakes and four smaller ones were beside them, two on either side of the larger ones. Three quivers, full of arrows, were lying in the floor in front of the table.

Angel looked at Oz. He nodded to the sword the musician was holding. "Do you know how to use that thing?"

"It's interesting you should ask that," Oz said, standing. He wiped the blade with a cloth he picked up off the table. He held the blade with the cloth and handed the sword to Angel, hilt first. "It's for you. And I'd be careful if I were you. Andrew said it was forged with silver. The rest of us are going to use crossbows and stakes. I just hope we have enough."

"We should," Andrew said, walking out of Giles' office. He walked to stand beside the table and picked up one of the bags with a long shoulder strap out of the first chair. The young Watcher looked at the vampire. "We do this tonight, right?" He looked at everything laid out on the table. "If not, we've done all this for nothing. Well, if we don't, then we'll be ready for when we-"

"We're going tonight," Angel interrupted. He looked at Oz. "Scabbard?"

"In the cabinet in the cage," the musician answered, setting his own bag on the table. He unzipped it and began to fill it with stakes. Angel saw him pick up a few crosses and bottles of holy water to add to the contents of his bag.

I missed those, Angel thought, walking into the cage. He opened the large cabinet and took the large leather scabbard from its hook. He shut the cabinet door and walked out of the cage.

Angel slid the sword home into the scabbard and began to adjust the strap to fit across his back. He stopped at the table and looked to how Oz and Andrew were doing. He saw Trevor had joined them and had been stocking his own bag. But, all three had stopped and seemed to be looking behind him.

Angel looked puzzled. "What?"

Andrew pointed behind him. "Company."

In a split second, Angel had whirled around, drew the sword and morphed his face. Oz had picked up one of the large crossbows and was now standing beside him.

Six people stood before them, one older man, two young women and three young men. All looked to be armed to the teeth with crossbows, crosses, swords, stakes and what Angel thought to be throwing stars.

The older man held up his hands. "We're not that kind of company. We're here to help you, if you will allow us."

Something caught Angel's attention and he walked forward slowly. He kept the sword drawn and the tip of the blade reached the older man. Angel guided the tip to a chain around the man's neck. As the tip touched the chain, the blond boy's arm shot out.

Angel caught the silver throwing star only inches from his chest, in front of his heart. He looked at the runes etched into the surface and saw it was made out of silver. He looked at the boy who had thrown it and flicked his wrist. The star lodged itself in the floor between the boy's feet. The five young people looked at the star in amazement.

The man looked sideways at the boy who had thrown it, careful of the blade close to his throat. "No more, David. You're probably lucky it's not in you somewhere." He looked back at Angel. "Nice throw."

"Thanks." Angel used the tip of the blade to raise the chain. The emblem, which had been half hidden in the man's light duster, fell into the light. Angel heard a small gasp behind him.

"That's impossible!" Andrew said, walking up to stand on the other side of Angel. "How?"

"What's not possible?" Trevor asked, still standing beside the large table.

"The Order of the Silver Star," Angel answered. "It was thought to have been wiped out by Octavian and his forces the last time he tried to open the Eye. That was about a thousand years ago, give or take a century or two."

"My name is Joseph Dane. And yes, we are of the Order of the Silver Star." He looked at Andrew. "I'm surprised you knew of us. After the Council decreed the Order to be invisible and all trace of it erased, only those on the Council knew of our existence. How did you know?"

"When I was researching the Rejoining, I gained access to the Archives," explained Andrew. "There were several volumes in the Archives on the history of the order, from those that followed Alara and Gregory who founded the Order to its now supposed death during the Crusades." He paused for a moment. "Why?"

Joseph smiled, knowing the meaning of the young Watcher's question. "Octavian faced a battle with the Slayer, the Hunter and the Order the last time he tried to open the Eye. The battle to get to him was fierce, the Order held his vampires back as the Slayer and the Hunter fought Octavian and almost killed him. He escaped but ordered his vampires to continue the battle. By the time the battle was finished, Octavian's vampires were dead, but so was the Hunter and all but ten of the Order."

"The decision was made to circulate the news of the downfall of the Order. But, the ten who remained went into hiding to rebuild to continue the war, but only from the shadows. And there we have remained, until now."

"The history lesson is interesting," the blond girl said. "But we have a job to do."

"Quite right," Joseph said. "Let me introduce my team. On my right, armed with the swords, are Julian Tonneau and Tara Brighten. On my left, armed with the crossbows, are Elayne Marsh, Nathan Grainger and I think you know David Billings from a few moments ago."

Angel lowered the sword. "This is Oz," he said, nodding toward the musician. "And this is Andrew Longley and Trevor Ames. Do you know what's going on?"

"Of course we do," David said, sarcastically. "Why do you think we're here?"

"Enough, David," Joseph ordered. He walked to the table and sat down in the chair across from the one Oz had been sitting in. "The time Octavian is waiting for is only a week away. By the look of things here, you planned on attacking tonight."

"That's right. There's no reason to wait," Angel stated, walking to the chair Oz had vacated and sat down. He laid the sword and its scabbard in front of him on the table.

"Draven has a vampire mystic with him, right?" Andrew asked, walking to the table as Trevor, Oz and Joseph's team walked to stand around the table.

Andrew pointed to the books that were stacked in the middle of the table. "Everything we've been able to find on Draven indicates that he's only Octavian's strong arm. He's never used magic himself, at least during the times that have been recorded."

"He's got one," Elayne said. "Her name is Lonra."

"Lonra?" Angel asked, looking startled.

"You know her?" Julian asked.

"I met her once, about one hundred and fifty years ago. She's powerful, probably one of the most powerful still in existence," Angel explained. "She was searching for some kind of talisman in Egypt. I don't know if she ever found it."

"What was it supposed to be?" Trevor asked.

"It doesn't matter," Angel said. "If she's here and she begins the opening of the Hellmouth, it won't take her very long. I don't think we need to let her barely think to get started."

"I agree," Joseph confirmed. "But, I'm sure Draven has made arrangements to insure Lonra is not disturbed when she begins the opening."

"He has. There are certain tunnels he has had barricaded and other where he has posted guards. The tunnels are very secure and it'll take too long to battle our way through. So, I plan to go in the back door."

"The back door?" Tara asked.

"The Master's lair has a back door?" Andrew inquired.

"This is the Adam guy, right?" asked Trevor, looking visibly shaken after asking the question.

"Yes, it does." Angel leaned forward. "There's a tunnel that lead from an old mausoleum in an abandoned graveyard to the Master's cavern. It opens directly behind the Master's throne."

Joseph looked at Angel for a few seconds. "You know the ones you were going to take with you will most likely not survive. Once the vampires in the outer tunnels hear the fighting, they will return to the cavern to see what is going on."

Angel lowered his eyes. Oz walked to stand beside his chair. "He knows." The musician looked at the two young Watchers and then back to Joseph. "And we know. That possibility comes with the territory when you're friends with a Slayer."

Joseph smiled at him. "Well said." The older man looked back at Angel. "We offer our help. Combined, we all stand a better chance of surviving and succeeding." Joseph extended his arm across the table to Angel.

Angel looked at Oz and the two young Watchers. He clasped Joseph's hand.

Aeron was sitting on the edge of the walkway at the top of one of the walls of the castle. She had walked up into one of the towers that stood at the corners where the walls met. She had been feeling a little closed in with all of the intensive training Jayden and the others had been putting her and the others through. None of them really talked to each other after the training was over, except the Slayers and the Hunter. Aeron was beginning to feel lonely.

She had been in her room relaxing after a hot bath when night fell. She decided to take a walk and had found herself where she was now. She was sitting over the large garden that was beside the courtyard and the fountain where they had been practicing day in and day out since they had arrived.

Aeron looked up and she immediately began to feel something she hadn't in quite a while. The main lights near the front of the castle were blocked from her view and the sky was full of twinkling stars. As a child, and up to when she found out about Jayden, she had always felt at peace gazing at the stars.

Aeron leaned back and laid down on the walkway, her legs from the knees down dangling over the side. She clasped her hands together and laid them on her stomach. After hat only seemed to be a few minutes, she heard something. She looked to her right to see someone walking toward her.

"Would you like some company?" Willow asked.

Aeron sat up. "Sure. Have a seat."

Willow walked the rest of the way to Aeron and sat down beside one of her new friends, dangling her legs off the edge of the walkway. "Stargazing?"

Aeron smiled. "Yeah. I used to do it all the time…it helped clear my head and helped me relax."

"Let me guess," Willow said. "You haven't had much of a chance to do it since you found out about Jayden and decided to help him, right?"

Jayden's friend laughed. "Exactly."

Both of them heard the voices and laughter below them. They looked down into the garden to see two blond heads and two brunettes walking, their laughter reaching up to them.

The two blondes, Buffy and Jayden, stopped in a small clearing between the largest trees in the garden. Two benches sat in front of the two largest trees and the original Slayer and the Hunter sat down beside each other on the one closest to them. Faith and Xander sat on the other bench, which was only a few feet away.

Willow could see the way Buffy and Jayden were becoming closer.

They should be, Willow thought. Their futures already chosen for them, their lives always in danger. They're almost identical.

Willow looked over at Aeron and knew the look on the girl's face. "Why don't you tell him?"

Aeron looked at Willow. "Tell who what?"

"Tell Jayden how you feel."

"Is it that obvious?" asked Aeron, lowering her head.

"Not really," Willow assured her. "I wasn't for sure myself until just a few seconds ago. So, why don't you tell him?"

Aeron looked at her. "There's no point. We're friends and friends only, Willow. If something more happened, our friendship would probably suffer or die, and I'm not willing to let that happen. And, there is another reason." She paused. "If I tell you, you have to promise me not to say anything to anyone…especially Jayden."

"I won't say a word."

Aeron took a deep breath. "Jayden is only twenty, almost twenty-one, but he has only been with one person and loved only that one time. I mean, look at him, Willow. He's gorgeous, handsome, and fine as hell…" She stopped as she realized what she had said.

Aeron reddened with embarrassment. Willow just smiled and touched the other girl's arm. "I know. I've seen him, too."

Aeron grinned and continued. "We were all in school together. It was Jayden, Simon, me…and then there was Kyra. She was my cousin and my uncle had just transferred to one of his company's new divisions. So, he moved his family to Wilmington and that's when Kyra first came to school."

"Jayden was a year ahead of us in school…he was a sophomore and the three of us were freshmen. They saw each other the first day she came to school." Aeron smiled as that memory flowed through her mind. "I had never believed in love at first sight. That is, until I saw Jayden and Kyra look at each other for the first time. Let's just say magic was in the air."

"We were all together when William came to find Jayden. Jayden had been telling us had had been feeling different for a few days, but we wrote it off. William tried to get Jayden to leave them for a little while, but Jayden wouldn't hear of it. So, we found out about everything about Jayden at the same time he did. Kyra was the first to announce she was helping Jayden and Simon and me quickly followed. William couldn't do anything to change our minds."

"Giles went through something like that," Willow laughed. "He hasn't been rid of us since."

Aeron smiled at the similarity. "We finally graduated high school and after some quick talking to all of our parents, we joined Jayden and William. They had been fighting vamps and other stuff since Jayden had graduated. We had been training since we had found out about him and since we had promised to help him."

Aeron paused for a few moments and Willow could see tears had formed in her friend's eyes. Aeron took a couple of deep breaths and pressed on. "We had been together for almost a year, fighting side by side. Shortly after we joined Jayden, we began to track a big vampire…a very powerful vampire. We had hunted him across the country, into Canada and then to Mexico. We thought we had him cornered in some old Aztec ruins. We were wrong."

"Jayden led the way into the old temple and we were immediately attacked. The master vamp attacked Jayden while his underlings kept us busy. All of a sudden, we were surrounded by complete darkness."

"I remember putting my hand directly in front of me and I couldn't see it. And it was during the day, Willow. It was just an hour or so after high noon. The vamps ran and after a few minutes, the darkness disappeared. We had been fighting just inside the doors at the top of the temple. And Kyra was gone."

"We found a staircase that led down into the temple, so we followed it. There was only one hallway we could follow. It opened into a large room, a huge hall. Our torches showed walls full of writing and inscriptions. We walked to the end of the hall and I saw something I will never forget."

The unshed tears Willow had seen minutes ago had fallen and others were following. But, Aeron kept going.

"The large hall we were in opened into another large chamber. And there, at the bottom of that chamber, Kyra had been chained to some kind of altar. The master vampire we had been hunting was standing over her. His arms were raised above his head and he was holding a knife. There was some kind of statue behind him, its eyes glowing and whatever it was holding in front of it was glowing, too. It looked like some kind of jewel but we didn't get a chance to get a good look at it."

"Jayden had found a stairway that led to the bottom of the chamber at the edge of the ledge we had been standing on. He had drawn his sword and was running down the stairs to get to Kyra. The master vampire had been chanting something the entire time. He stopped, looked at Kyra trying to scream for Jayden and then looked at Jayden and laughed."

Aeron finally broke down. Willow put her arm around her friend's shoulder. Aeron laid her head on Willow's shoulder and cried.

"He plunged the knife into her heart. She screamed at the same time Jayden did. I was still standing above him on the ledge and I saw the hate and anger and sorrow in his eyes. He raced down the stairs and the vampires who had been around the altar attacked him immediately."

"The master vampire had ripped Kyra's heart out and placed it inside of whatever the statue behind him was holding. The vampires that attacked Jayden didn't stand a chance. He reached the altar but it was too late. The master vampire was already gone."

"Jayden just looked at Kyra, his heart in his eyes. It destroyed him. He held her hand and he kissed it. He closed her eyes, kissed her forehead and said his goodbye. That's when we were attacked."

"We were holding our own, but when he did reach us, it was incredible." Aeron took her head off of Willow's shoulder and looked at her. "He as mad, Willow. There had to be fifteen or more vamps attacking us. He went through them in minutes. He went back and carried Kyra's body and he wouldn't allow any of us to help him. I think he was still a little mad as he carried her. He took her home to her family…I don't know what he told them. I don't get along with my parents anymore and I never really did and I haven't talked to them in a while."

"When Jayden came back to us, he went into massive Hunter mode. We'd been going from city to city and town to town, hunting and destroying vampires. I think Jayden was hoping to find the master vampire we'd been hunting in Mexico, but we never did. We had been doing that for almost a year until William was contacted and about all of this."

Willow looked down at the blond young man sitting beside her best friend. All of them were laughing as Aeron said, "That's the first time I've seen him really laugh in months."

"I think you should tell him."

Aeron looked at Buffy's computer wizard. "There wouldn't be any point." She nodded to the two blondes sitting beside one another below them. "He's found someone else. Granted, it's pretty quick for them to start something, but he's already found someone else."

"Buffy?" Willow asked. She shook her head. "I don't think you have anything to worry about. Buffy's with Angel."

Aeron laughed. When she saw the look on Willow's face, she stopped. "I admit, it is a little poetic that a vampire and a Slayer are in love when they're supposed to be mortal enemies. But, do you think it will last?"

Willow averted her eyes and Aeron knew what she was thinking. Willow had always tried to be supportive of Buffy and Angel when no one else would be. But, she had been having doubts about how things would turn out…she just hadn't told anyone about them.

"He's immortal, Willow. Well, close enough," Aeron stated. "He won't be growing any older but she will. Will he be able to watch her grow old and die? Will she want him to watch her grow old? Will she even have a chance to grow old in the first place? You know her job has certain drawbacks to it." She paused. "I wish them both all the luck in all the world, but it's going to be hard. They're going to face more than we can even think of if they stay together. And her and Jayden have a lot in common. But-"

They both saw the bright light to their right at the same time as their friends below them. Buffy, Jayden and Faith jumped up and were in their fighting stances in a flash. Xander was behind them as Willow and Aeron hurried to the tower to their left, which led down into the garden.

The two girls came to stand beside Xander and behind the others just as the bright light stopped only a few feet in front of them. The light flashed brightly and all of them had to cover their eyes. When they uncovered their eyes and could see again, a man and woman stood before them. But they could sense and tell the two newcomers were more than an ordinary man and woman.

The woman bowed her head. "Hello, my friends." Willow saw the way she looked at Buffy and Jayden. She thought the woman's expression was one of remembrance and love, but she wasn't sure.

"It is good to see all of you," the man said, his voice full and resounding. All of them could feel the power in his voice. "We have been watching you closely for quite some time and we know you prepare for the coming battle…the Rejoining. But, I'm not sure you are correctly preparing for the roles you are to take on."

"We thought we'd find Octavian, fight him and his goons and then kill them," Faith said, sneering.

"Sounds good to us," Buffy and Jayden said at the same time.

The man laughed as the woman smiled. The woman looked at Buffy and Jayden and both could feel the power in her stare. "Any other time, that would probably be a good plan. But, not this time, I'm afraid." She placed her hand on the man's arm. "We need to talk."

Angel and Joseph led the group of young men and women through the old abandoned graveyard, toward its center. Over time, and with no caretaking, the graveyard had begun to decay, the walkways were vanishing, trees grew wild and the tombstones had begun to fall apart.

They came to a large building almost in the center of the cemetery and Angel pulled the large door open. Air hissed and dust flew as the door opened for the first time in what most of them thought was a long time. Angel nodded to Joseph and walked in, with Joseph remaining at the door.

Joseph turned to the group behind him. "Ready yourselves."

Oz, Andrew and Trevor loaded their crossbows and opened their bags that were slung across their shoulders, to be able to get to their other weapons. Elayne, Nathan and David followed their example, loading their crossbows and readying their throwing stars. Tara and Julian readied their stars and drew their swords, the moonlight gleaming off the blades.

Joseph drew his own blade when they heard a loud sound, metal on metal. Angel appeared in the doorway, the sword Oz gave him naked in his hand.

"It's clear," the vampire said. "Let's go."

All of them followed Angel into the mausoleum, instantly turning their flashlights on. Joseph's young team had small flashlights attached to their shirts at the shoulders, which illuminated the entire interior of the building. The interior was a single large room with three large block coffins between the main door and the other side of the room, where Angel was standing beside a large opening.

On the wall to the left of the main doors, there were tombstones arranged on the wall from the floor to the ceiling. Trevor walked to stand before the wall, wiping away the grime and spider webs that had come to cover the stones. He read the inscription on the stone he cleared off and said, "Josiah Anteri."

"They were sorcerers," Andrew stated. He had stopped halfway to the other side of the room, but something had caught his attention on the middle stone coffin. The others looked at him as Joseph asked, "How can you tell?"

Andrew took a deep breath and blew it out hard, sending dust into the air. He looked at the area he had cleared on the top of the coffin and pointed to it. "There's a symbol here…the North Star inside a box, with lines going across it from the corners and intersecting the star. I saw it in several volumes I read in the Watcher Archives. I don't know where it comes from, but each time I saw it, it was beside those who were sorcerers. But, it's an ancient symbol, hardly used anymore. This family was truly old."

"This is fascinating," Julian said, walking to the large opening on the other side of the room. "We're kinda busy here…we can come back later and study."

"You're right," Andrew agreed. He walked the rest of the way to the opening.

"Remember," Angel said. "Tara and Julian, you're to take out the vamps in the room as quickly as you can. Those of you with the crossbows, holy water and whatever else are to give us all cover."

"When the other vamps in the tunnels hear the fighting, they're going to come running. Once Tara and Julian are finished with the vamps in the room, they're going to take on who- or whatever comes through the main openings. When they move to the opening, the crossbows go with them. If anything moves, take it out."

Angel looked at Joseph. "I know you're somewhat of a sorcerer yourself."

Joseph looked surprised, as did his team. "How did you know?"

"The Order of the Silver Star was founded by magic users," Angel explained. "To lead a team such as yours, you have to have the talent or what the Order calls the "gift." You've faced her before?"

A faraway look appeared on Joseph's face and the others could see he was reliving a memory. "Yes," he finally answered. "I've faced her once before. And I almost had her…but Octavian interfered."

"Personal?" asked Angel, with a low voice after seeing the expression on Joseph's face.

Joseph nodded. "Very."

"Do what you have to do," the vampire ordered. "I take Draven. I don’t want heroics out of any of you. Leave him to me. If he does kill me, then you can try taking him out as a group, but only if that happens." He looked at the young faces before him, seeing the determination on their faces.

Joseph looked at the young people at the same time as Angel. He shook his head slightly.

So young, he thought.

"Let's do this!" David exclaimed, with fire in his eyes and his voice.

Angel looked at Joseph, who simply nodded.

Angel looked at them again, turned and walked into the opening, swallowed by darkness.

The other followed.

Buffy and Jayden were sitting beside one another on one of the tables on the bottom floor of the library. Willow was sitting in a chair beside Buffy. Aeron and Xander were sitting in chairs on the other side of Jayden. Faith had gone to find their Watchers and the group hoped she returned soon.

They were looking at the two strangers who had just appeared in the garden. The man and woman were standing a few feet in front of them, talking to each other. But their voices were too low for Buffy or any of the others to hear.

After what Buffy and her friends thought to be an eternity, the main doors of the library opened. Faith walked into the room, followed by Richard, Giles and William. On seeing the two strangers, the three Watchers froze. Faith walked to stand beside Willow.

"Oh, my," William said, grabbing hold of the nearest chair.

"You could say that, yes," commented Giles, who bowed to the two strangers.

Richard also bowed. "It is a pleasure and an honor to have thee here, my lord and lady."

The woman laughed. "Good try, Richard. But, we have progressed as you have…we don't use 'thees' and 'thous' anymore."

"Excuse me," Buffy interjected, raising her arm like she was in a classroom. "Who are these people?"

"My friends, we are in the presence of the Sidhe," Richard explained.

Willow's eyes widened. "Whoa."

Faith looked at Willow. "Are they someone important?"

"They're mythical," Willow replied. "Down through the ages, especially in Celtic history and mythology, they've always been secretive and kept only to themselves, unless something of great importance was approaching. It was considered good luck to catch even a glimpse of the Sidhe. They've always been friendly to mankind and they were known…" She paused. "They were known to be among the greatest sorcerers and magic users to have ever existed."

"Close enough for now," William said, still visibly shaken. "The history and the meaning of the Sidhe go beyond anything we could possibly fathom."

Jayden looked at the two strangers. "Who are you?"

"I am Gwion ap Llyr," the man said. "And this is my wife, Gwyneira ferch Thyrya."

"A prince of the Sidhe?" Giles asked. "This must be serious."

"Wait a minute," Aeron interjected. "You said your name was Gwion. Any relation to the Gwion our Watchers told us about?"

Gwion smiled. "I am the one and the same."

The looks of amazement and confusion on the faces of everyone in the room besides the Watchers brought a smile to Gwion and Gwyneira's faces.

"You look great for someone of your advanced age," Xander commented. Aeron hit him in the arm. "What?" he asked.

Gwion laughed again. "I'm quite a bit older than you think. Quite a bit older, actually."

"You were there, weren't you?" Jayden asked. "You are of the First Ones. You were there at the last battle, when Octavian was bitten and was turned into a vampire."

Gwion looked at Jayden. He nodded. "Yes, I am…and yes I was there. Who you know as Octavian was a great friend to me. I miss a little more each day. That is why it will be so hard for me to kill him."

The Slayers and the Hunter's expressions showed their confusion.

"I thought-" Faith began.

"You though you would hunt him down and kill him," Gwyneira interrupted. "If you try, you will die."

"He can only be killed by another First One, one of the Sidhe," Buffy said, looking at Gwion. "I know I'm right, so don't worry about saying I am. If you're the one killing Octavian, they why are we here?"

Gwyneira walked to stand in front of Buffy. The lady of the Sidhe leaned down and looked directly into Buffy's eyes. It took everything Buffy had not to look away.

"How have you been feeling lately, Buffy?" Gwyneira inquired, her eyes never leaving Buffy's.

Buffy shifted a little and averted her eyes. "Fine. Why do you ask?"

Gwyneira shifted her gaze to the Hunter. "What about you, Jayden? Have you been feeling any different?"

Jayden looked at Buffy. They both knew they were caught. Gwyneira saw the look pass between them and smiled. "That's what I thought."

"Buffy, what is she talking about?" Giles asked, concern filling his voice.

"What do you know of the first Slayer, Richard?"

Richard looked at Gwion for a few seconds, confusion appearing on his face. "Only that she existed, I'm afraid. The first Slayer we know of is Alara and that’s only due to the fact some Watchers wrote of her in their private journals and because of the prophecies calling for Alara and Gregory's ret-" His eyes grew wide and he slowly looked at Buffy and Jayden.

"I think we need to clear a few things up, dear," Gwyneira said, pulling one of the chairs from under the table in front of Buffy and the others. She sat down.

"The first Slayer was Alara," Gwion stated. "I know that may be a little hard for you to grasp right now."

"A little hard?" William repeated. "Try very hard! That means Alara was the Slayer for almost a thousand years! And Gregory was the Hunter, too. How is that possible?"

"Alara and Gregory were of the Sidhe," Aeron said, joining the conversation. She had been looking at William but turned her head to their visitors. "Right?"

"Close," Gwyneira said. "Alara was of the Sidhe."

"Octavian had been bitten by the last great demon and had been transformed into the first vampire," Gwion began. "He fled to recuperate before we could move against him. We were still in shock at what had happened and he began to spread vampirism among our human allies and the humans who had been enslaved by the demons. Soon, he had thousands standing beside him. And we, the Sidhe, marched again into war…to kill one our own."

"With the power of the Sidhe mingled with that of demons, Octavian became virtually unstoppable. But, we did reach him. We captured him and killed those he had transformed."

Gwyneira took over. "We worked at restoring Octavian's soul and expelling the demon for many of your years. Nothing worked. The demon had actually entered into Octavian and taken him over and used everything at its disposal and Octavian's to keep its hold. Besides being the greatest of our warriors, Octavian was also one of our greatest magic users. For all our magical power and might, nothing could return our Octavian to us."

"He naturally tried to escape many times and almost succeeded on several occasions. We had found we could affect his mind on a small scale, the demon side of his mind. So we implanted what would best be described as restrictions. Fear of direct sunlight, being stabbed through the heart with a wooden stake or something of nature's origin or concoction and others."

"So that's where they came from!" Faith exclaimed.

"Yes, we put them in place. At least some of them, but not all of them. Some have crept into vampires psyches over the millennia," Gwyneira said. "How, we do not know. The fear of the cross somewhat stumps us. But, that's another story. We do not watch mankind as we once did." She looked at the Slayers and the Hunter. "We watch only a select few."

"But, he did escape us. He bit two of our people and they were the first to join his new ranks. They fought their way out of the prison where we placed him and immediately attacked our human allies again."

"The wars were over," Gwion stated, leaning against the table nearest him, beside Gwyneira's chair. "The demons had been banished from our realm. We sealed the mystical portals on this world with magic and began to decide what to do concerning Octavian."

"The humans had began to build their own civilizations all around this world, but none of them were able to stand again Octavian. He didn't attack openly, striking at night among the shadows, due to our restrictions we implanted. His vampires were growing and with his powers, he could send any of them anywhere in the world to begin their own cell, coven if you will, of vampires. That's exactly what he did."

"We gave the humans the information on how to kill them, but that did not slow the attack at all. We helped when we could, but our people had taken the brunt of the wars, at least the magical side. Many of us were lost, more of us were injured and we take a long time to heal, even with our magic. We had to take care of ourselves before we could completely help our friends. But, my grandfather had an idea." He stopped and looked at his wife.

She smiled and slightly nodded. "King Norric proposed a plan to send one of our people to live among the humans and to protect them or stand beside them in what was becoming an ongoing war with Octavian and his forces. Only one our people stepped forward to volunteer."

"Alara."

Gwyneira looked at Richard. "Yes. Alara. She was one of the youngest among us. She was trained by Octavian himself before he was turned as a warrior and she was also one our most powerful sorceresses, trained by Queen Niahna, her grandmother, herself. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough. Our people have never been terribly strong, physically, even our warriors were not what you would call extremely strong. If Alara were to join the humans, something would have to be done."

"Gwion's grandfather was one of the greatest sorcerers in our people's history. Using magic now lost even to us, he strengthened her. She became stronger, healed faster than anyone had before, her senses were heightened and her magic was strengthened. Alara became what King Norric wanted to send to protect his friends. He had always had close ties to humanity and he had watched many of his human friends die or be killed by Octavian or his minions. So, he sent his only granddaughter to live among the humans, to protect them and to fight beside them."

"Excuse me," interjected Aeron. "If he cold strengthen Alara, then why didn't he strengthen the rest of your people?"

"Because when my grandfather strengthened Alara, it killed him," answered Gwion. "The magic he used needed a strong life force to work. He used his own."

Silence ran through the room as the weight of his answer registered with them. Willow looked at Gwion and could see the pride of what his grandfather had done, but she could also see the sorrow and loss, too. Aeron and Xander looked at each other and just lowered their heads. The Slayers and the Hunter focused their attention on the two Sidhe.

"He didn't die right away," Gwyneira clarified. "He gave of his own, so much that he only had about a year of life left. He had spoken to some of his human friends and arranged for them to take her in, to watch over her and to help her. Those friends had learned much from us in the times of war and were shaping civilization in this part of the world. They had already began to build their own structures, some had discovered the magic that surrounded them and tapped into it and to record their own history."

"The Founders of the Watchers," Giles said, his voice betraying his amazement at what he was hearing. He and William had sat down at the table beside the one Buffy and her group were sitting on. Buffy and Willow looked at him. He saw their stare and said, "The Watchers were founded by an order of druids and scholars. Some of the earlier Watchers fought side by side with their Slayer or Hunter, using their earth magic to defend their charges. It is a little known fact. "

"You think?" Xander asked, sarcastically. Aeron hit him in the arm again. He looked at her. "Will you stop doing that!"

Gwion smiled at the exchange. "Alara did not go to them right away. She stayed with her great-grandfather until the end, hardly ever leaving his side. When he died, she laid him to rest, joined his friends and began her long fight."

"One of King Norric's friends had a young son and he and Alara…what would you say these days?" He paused and then grinned. "They clicked. From that point on, Gregory and Alara were inseparable. He trained beside her and fought beside her. He recorded everything they did and his family helped him."

"Saying they became a thorn in Octavian's side would be an understatement. His vampires had spread across the world and had begun to terrorize the humans as they began to create their own identity as people and nations. In some areas, vampires had set themselves up as gods and the humans were powerless against them. Alara and Gregory, to put it lightly, didn't like that. Using her mastery of sorcery, she transported herself and Gregory wherever vampires had gotten out of control and they took care of the problem."

"While they were away from this part of the world, Octavian decided to try to open the Eye again. He decided to try to have someone else do it. He-"

"I think we've heard this part before," Faith interrupted. "This is where the Slayer and her Watcher crash the party and the Hunter is born, they walk away without a scratch, yadda, yadda, yadda…right?"

Gwyneira smiled lightly as Gwion's face darkened at being interrupted. Before he could say anything, Gwyneira said, "Yes, that's right. That's also when the magical balance at the Eye was unbalanced."

"How do you mean?" asked Richard. "We've always known the Eye was a center and a focus point of power, but it's unlike any other focus point we know about. We assumed a focus point such as the Eye was always unbalanced."

"Not necessarily," Gwyneira continued. "Most focus points are balanced between the barriers between worlds or dimensions, whichever you prefer. If the balance remains in place, it is very hard to upset it, due to both barriers being in perfect alignment and the same in power. But, if one of the barriers is weakened, the other does not automatically grow stronger to compensate for it. It simply remains imbalanced and easier to open. It does matter how weakened one of the barriers, or both of them, are, but that's an entirely different discussion."

"Thank you," Buffy said, looking at the Watchers. She could tell by the expressions on their faces they wanted Gwyneira to continue on.

"This dimension and the dimension you call a demon dimension border in only one place…the Eye. Before you ask, the Hellmouth you guard borders another dimension all together different than the one we are dealing with. The demons ripped the border apart at the Eye and entered our world. We didn't catch it in time or we would have stopped it. Once we sensed what had happened, we closed the rift and had it covered. We used our strongest sorcery and magic to seal and guard it."

"When Octavian send his vampire druids, which is a contradiction in terms, to reopen the Eye, he believed they could handle it. He was wrong. They underestimated the wards we put in place, but somehow got through them. We think Octavian helped with that. But, they couldn't control the powers and energy that was unleashed when reopening a rift, especially this rift. The magics they released were out of control once Alara and Gregory arrived. They killed the vampires easily but the rift was ripping open."

Gwion put his hand gently on her shoulder, telling her he would finish. "As we said before, Alara was always one our strongest magic users. She began to try to control the powers that were raging out of control. She stopped the rift from opening any further, but she couldn't completely close it. She knew she had to do something, but she didn't have the strength."

"Gregory offered his to help her."

"He insisted and she knew she had to, even though she knew it would probably kill him. So, she linked her mind to his and they merged. It took Alara hours to do what she planned. Some of the wards we had placed were still partially there, so she had something to build on. She had just finished when something happened. She didn't know what it was and we still don't know for sure ourselves."

"She had been placing a block on the rift, to keep it closed, but not entirely sealed. We think something attacked her and Gregory from the other side. They didn't know themselves; they only remembered the pain and then waking up. We believe the attack came as Alara put her block completely over the rift. It that's what happened, part of the demon attack made it through before the block was in place."

"There was an explosion, of that we are sure. And due to that explosion or something during the explosion, Gregory some of Alara's powers and abilities. You all know he became the first Hunter. He even gained some of the powers of sorcery she had. Which is what Buffy and Jayden have to use in the coming battle."

"Whoa, wait a minute," Buffy said, hearing that last part. "We don't have any magic or sorcery to use."

"Are you positive about that?" Gwyneira asked. "Have you been feeling any different, almost stronger, since you arrived here? Your senses are heightened, you sense vampires easily now and their numbers and you're able to do things you've never been able to do before, such as move things with a single thought. And, most important, you're able to sense objects and how they are made and intertwined with everything around them and how they can be manipulated. Am I close?"

Everyone looked at Buffy and Jayden as the original Slayer and Hunter looked at one another.

"I can't do any of that," Faith stated. "Why hasn't any of that happened to me?"

"When Buff died momentarily after Adam attacked her, the line of Slayers split. Buffy is of the original line and the only one who would manifest the powers passed down from Alara. You, Faith, only received those powers which are common to most ordinary Slayers," Gwion answered.

Everyone could see the explanation Gwion gave did not sit well with Faith. Gwyneira could see the hurt in her eyes. But, she also saw something else…resentment.

"Who's Adam?" asked Willow.

"Yeah, the Master is the one who killed Buffy, not some vamp named Adam. I think-" Xander stopped in midsentence and shook his head. "Oh, no, are you saying-"

"There's no way," Aeron said. "Adam? As in-"

"Don't worry about it," Jayden interrupted. "Buffy dusted him. Who cares who he was…he's not a concern right now." He looked at the Sidhe. "If Buffy and I are supposed to right the balance thing, who takes care of Octavian?"

"That would be me," answered Faith, smiling.

"I'm afraid not," Gwyneira corrected. "As I said before, Octavian would defeat all three of you together in the end. None of you are strong enough." She looked at Gwion. "There's only one person who can face him and do what needs to be done."

"Why you?" Willow asked, lowly.

"Because only one our kind can kill another," Gwion said. He looked at the group before him and stayed silent for what seemed to be forever. "And because…Octavian is my brother."

Angel led the group following him through the wide passage, which began to slope downward once they entered the opening in the mausoleum. Thoughts of the coming battle flowed through his head.

"So, did this Master guy know this tunnel is here?" Nathan asked.

"I doubt it. If he did, I doubt we'd be here right now," Angel answered, not looking back. He kept his sight in front of him because of the downward slope. He wanted to see any obstacles to their path if any appeared.

"Then how did you know it's here?" asked Tara, walking just behind him to his left.

"Let's just say I have my sources," the vampire said, still not looking at any of them.

"I still can't believe this is Adam we're talking about," Trevor observed. "Adam. The Garden of Eden. Does-"

"You're going to have to let that go," Elayne told him, walking beside him.

They walked in silence until the passageway stopped at a flat landing in a cavern. All of them looked around, not seeing another opening.

"Great," David said, looking around. "Some back door."

"David-" Tara started.

"No!" yelled David. He walked toward Angel, who was slightly bent over, looking at an area of the wall opposite the opening they had just walked through. "I knew we couldn’t trust him! He's led us to a dead end. We should have went through the front door instead of this back door crap." He jabbed Angel in the shoulder. "Hey, dead guy." The vampire turned his head to look at him. "What's your brilliant plan now?"

Angel reached out to the part of the wall he had been looking at and pushed. A small section the size of the vampire's hand fell back into the wall and all of them heard a creaking noise. A large section of the wall directly opposite the opening from the passageway began to open like a doorway. Light flowed through the opening, growing brighter as the section continued to open more and more.

The section of the wall stopped and Angel walked through, not looking at David. Anger and embarrassment showed on the teen's face as the others followed Angel.

Joseph was the last to move toward the opening, but stopped in front of David. David looked up as his teacher said, "We need to talk once this is over." Joseph walked through the opening and David followed slowly.

Joseph almost walked into the group because they had stopped just inside the opening. David did bump into Joseph's back and move to stand beside him to see why he'd stopped.

The cavern they were in was larger than the one they had just left and larger than the mausoleum above ground. Along the walls, eight large blue marble columns ran from the floor to the ceiling. A ring of marble circled the room at the top of the columns, connecting all of them. The ceiling itself was domed in section, where each section began at the marble circle and arched upward to a point.

The group spread out through the room slowly, most of them looking at the walls and columns.

Elayne looked at the section of the wall in front of her closely, running her hand over its surface. "What is this place? It almost feels alive." She placed her hand flat against the wall. "This isn't normal stone…it's smooth, reflective like polished marble…and it's warm to the touch. It almost feels like it's…pulsating."

"Look at the symbols," Julian said, from the other side of the room. "These look like Egyptian hieroglyphics."

Elayne looked at the symbols in front of her. "These aren't Egyptian. They look like ancient Greek."

"You're close, but not quite."

The group of teens turned toward the voice that came from the center of the room. Some of them gasped when they noticed what was in the center of the room for the first time.

Three rows of stones had been placed in a circle, reaching almost waist high to Angel. The teens walked toward it and came to stand beside it. They looked into the circle and their eyes widened in amazement.

Where they thought to see a stone floor turned out to be a liquid of some kind that almost reached the top of the top row of stones. In the middle of the circle, eight poles rose to hold a triangular platform. And above that platform floated a tear-shaped glowing crystal.

"I guess we know where the lights are coming from," David said, turning the light on his shoulder off. He looked at Joseph. "You said they were close, but not quite. What's up?"

"It's not possible," Andrew said, his eyes glued to the floating object.

Joseph looked at him. "You know what this is?"

"Oh, yeah," the young Watcher said, his gaze never leaving the object. He looked away for an instant at Angel. "Do you know what it is?"

Angel was standing beside one of the columns on the opposite side of the cavern. He began to walk forward slowly. "Yes, I know what it is. I knew the former guardian of it. He was the last of his line…the magic he was entrusted with had failed. He couldn't call another guardian because he had no magic to pass on. So, he entrusted it to me."

"It should have been destroyed millennia ago!" Joseph snarled. "What wasn't it? It's caused enough problems down through the eons…why was it preserved?"

"Okay, time out," Nathan stated. "This may seem to be a dumb question to some here, but what is it?"

"It's the Tear of Atlantis," Andrew whispered.

"Fantastic. Here we go again," Trevor whined.

"Atlantis? The lost continent, Atlantis?" Elayne asked.

"Yes, that lost continent," Andrew answered. He looked at her. "You asked what this place is? You said it felt almost alive." He motioned to the floating tear-shaped crystal. "You were right…it is almost alive."

"You're saying that thing up there is alive," intimated Julian. "How's that possible?"

"I feel another history lesson coming on," David groaned.

"You all know the legend of Atlantis and how it was supposedly far more technologically advanced than even our present civilizations, I know you do," Joseph began. "But, there are a few things about Atlantis very few know. I'm surprised Andrew knows of the Tear." He looked at the young Watcher. "I'd say you went through the Archives a little too thorough, more than your superiors believed you did."

"Who wouldn't?" Andrew asked, smiling.

Trevor raised his hand. "I wouldn't."

Andrew ignored him. "I couldn't allow that opportunity go by. There was so much more I wanted to research, but I didn't have the time. I came across the Atlantis section of the Archives by accident. Atlantis has always fascinated me, so I nosed around as much as I could. That's when I learned about the Tear."

"Well, we know it's called the Tear," Tara observed, sounding impatient. "Can we get the history lesson going? The sooner it's over, the better."

Joseph frowned at her as Angel said, "The Atlanteans were able to create objects of incredible power that could tap into the very fabric of existence and ultimately alter reality itself. Some objects were more powerful than others. Some were small objects used to lift objects, change objects, make objects…you get the picture."

Joseph took over. "In time, they created that." He pointed to the floating crystal. It was spinning slowly, its color changing every few seconds. "The high priests of the Atlantean faith, along with a few of their scientists, were able to create a matrix of sorts, able to sense the fabric of creation…and control it."

The group of teens was looking at each other with expressions of bewilderment on their faces.

Andrew sighed. "That thing is able to sense something, look at how it's made and able to do anything you want to it. In essence, you could play God with it. Which is what the Atlanteans believed they were."

Angel began to walk around the room. "The Atlanteans began to play with their new toy, altering the landscape here and there, building cities wherever they wished, changing the flow of rivers and oceans, never once taking into account what effect they were having on the Earth itself…the Earth, in time, retaliated."

"Atlantis sank," Nathan said, lightly.

"They had altered their lands so much, so quickly in a short amount of time, the Earth couldn’t take it," Joseph explained. "The support of the continent had given way under so much stress…yes, it sank."

"The Tear was thought to have sank with Atlantis and been destroyed, but it surfaced a hundred years after the continent sank," Andrew stated. "The age old stories apply…it fell into the wrong hands, for years wars were fought to control it until a group of Aldaran Knights appeared out of nowhere, took it from Egypt and disappeared. No mention was ever made of the Tear again, except in legend…at least, in the Watcher Archives, that is."

"Aldaran Knights?"

Andrew looked at Trevor. "Long story…suffice to say, they were Atlanteans." He looked above him into the dome and moved his gaze down to look around the room for the first time. "This is the resting place of the Tear from the Atlan Tower in the capital city of Poseidonis. I'm sure of it. It was described in great detail in the Archives."

"There were eight nations of Atlantis, each with its own culture and so on. The tower was constructed to be a monument to each nation, with a wall in the tower representing each one. It was constructed from the hardest material known, which had been created with the help of magic. That doesn't explain how it got here, though."

"When Atlantis was sinking, the High King was in this room, surrounded by his personal knight bodyguards and one of the high priests," Angel explained, still walking around the room. He had placed his hands in his pockets and was looking at each wall section as he went by. "They realized their mistake, but it was too late. They didn't want to die, so they used the power of the Tear to transport the tower and them to safety. But, somehow, along the way, the Tear vanished. And wound up in the hands of a vampire known as Eve."

Trevor began to say something but Tara clamped her hand over his mouth. "Don’t even."

"The High King and the high priest were killed in the transport…the knights survived." Angel stopped walking beside Joseph. "But, the crystal didn't materialize here. The knights knew they had to find the crystal and keep it out of the wrong hands. These knights were not your ordinary knights…they were trained in the magical arts. It took them time, but they finally found it and captured it. They returned here because they knew this place was the only place it could be hidden and not detected."

Angel saw the question in each of their faces. "This chamber is in a constant state of flux. I have no idea why, so don't ask me. I only know what I was told. While the crystal is here, its magic can't be detected and even if it was and someone tried to enter, the chamber itself would take measures to stop that. And don't ask me about that…it's another one of those things I was told."

Julian looked around the chamber and cleared his throat. "Um, is there another way out of here that leads to the Master's lair? I don't want to sound pessimistic, but I don't see another doorway, unless it's hidden again."

Angel smiled. "We're taking another way into the Master's lair. There's another passage in the outside cavern that we'll take."

"Then why did you bring us here?" asked Elayne.

"Lonra is one of the strongest vampire mystics that has ever existed. If she's in the middle of her spell to open the Hellmouth, she'll have herself protected. She was a big fan of force fields the last time I saw her. We may not have the time to worry about Draven and the other vampires before we have to worry about her. One of us is going to use the Tear to take her out." He stopped and looked to his left. "Right, Joseph?"

Joseph only nodded slowly. Andrew looked at the vampire and the member of the Order of the Silver Star with an expression of unbelief. "There's just one problem. Anyone can carry that thing, that's not a problem. Only someone with powerful enough magic can use it and then there's no certainty they'll be able to control it. It had built-in defense mechanisms to prevent any kind of illegal use. No offense, Joseph, but I doubt you have the strength to control it."

Angel left Joseph's side and continued to walk around the chamber. "I don't know about that, Andrew."

Andrew looked at Angel. "How's that possible? The High King, his family and the High Priest could only control the Tear. There's no way Joseph could-" He stopped midsentence and looked at Joseph.

Joseph was looking at Angel with a look of astonishment on his face. "How'd you know?"

"What are you trying to say, Angel? Spit it out," Julian ordered.

"As Andrew said, the High King, his family and the High Priest could control the Tear. The High King and the High Priest were killed, but the High King's family wasn't completely wiped out. Atlantis had outposts all around the world. Many of them lie in ruins, still being studied today, such as Easter Island, a few scattered ruins in Indonesia, assorted others."

"But, there is one outpost that still survives today and is hidden from view from everyone. There happened to be members of the High King's family that ruled this outpost and they still rule there today…as far as the last guardian knew. The Atlantean High Family all had the same birthmark in the shape of a tear somewhere on their body." Angel stopped directly across from Andrew. "Your sleeve came up enough for me to see something on your arm. You have one."

Joseph looked down at his right hand and nodded slightly. He pulled the sleeve of his duster back and turned his arm over. A few inches up his arm from his wrist was a tear-shaped birthmark.

The group of teens all looked at one another and then looked at their leader. Joseph looked at each of them with a look of regret. "I'm sorry I couldn't tell any of you. The Elders know…my people have been backing the Order since its inception, when some of the original members learned of the Slayer and the Hunter and saw their need for additional help. My family still rules at the last outpost, but I doubt anyone could call it a simple outpost now. Arilyndryn is a beautiful city, larger and unlike any other on Earth."

"We believed the Tear to have been destroyed during the Cataclysm, when Atlantis sank into the ocean. We tried to be certain and searched for it, but it's magic protected it from any type of detection. So, we were sure it had been destroyed and it simply became part of our history. Now to find it still exists…well, it changes a few things."

"Can you use it?" asked Andrew, his voice barely above a whisper.

"There's only one way to find out," Joseph answered. He looked at Angel. "But, there's something else you want me to do, isn't there?"

"A couple of things actually. Can the Hellmouth be sealed permanently?"

Joseph thought for a few seconds. "I don't know. But, like I said a few seconds ago, there's only one way to find out." He looked directly at the vampire. "You want me to send you to her, don't you?"

Angel averted his eyes while he looked at the Tear and then back at Joseph. "Yes. You can use it to sense when the battle at the Eye begins. When it does, send me there. She's going to need all the help she can get."

"Very well."

"Then I guess that's our cue to get going," David said, turning toward the doorway.

"Not yet," Angel said. "We've got to wait on someone. He should be here anytime."

"Who is it?" Nathan asked, unsure.

"That would be me," a young man said, walking into the chamber. He was dressed in regular clothes, the crossbow hanging across his back and the short sword he carried in his hand the only things showing them he was to join them.

"I was wondering where you'd gotten to," Oz said, smiling.

The young man walked to stand in front of Joseph and stuck out his hand. Joseph shook his hand and the young man said, "I'm Simon."

"Joseph Dane."

"Nice to meet you." He looked at the others in the chamber, nodding to Andrew and Trevor. "We can worry about other introductions later." He looked at Angel. He took something out of his pocket and held it up. "Everything's in place. Once we get finished, all you have to do is push this button," Simon explained, pointing to a red button.

"What happens when you push the button?" Elayne inquired, turning her head to look at Angel.

"Boom," Angel said, with a smile. "Simon has been scouting the positions of Draven's vampires in the tunnels that lead to the Master's chambers. He's been placing a few little surprises for the vampires that may be left behind."

"You're going to blow the tunnels," Elayne stated. She smiled. "Good idea."

"You know, the two of you are getting along now," Trevor observed, looking at Simon and Angel. "Last I remember, the two of you were cool toward one another."

Simon laughed. "Let's just say we had a talk." He looked at Angel again. "Are we ready to do this?"

Angel nodded. "Let's go." He walked around to Simon but turned back before he went through the opening. "Joseph, get started. Take Lonra out as soon as you can. It shouldn't be too hard once you use the Tear. Then see if you can seal the Hellmouth for good. We'll take care of the rest." He looked at Andrew. "You and Trevor stay here. I know you want to go over this chamber with a fine-toothed comb and Joseph may need protection…you never know what will pop up in Sunnydale." He looked at the rest of them. "Let's do this."

Draven stood just inside the main entrance, looking down into the chamber his long-time friend had been forced to call home. His gaze fell to the woman who was a few feet away from the throne and beside the small pool that was in the middle of the floor.

Lonra had drawn runes into the ground and was now surrounded by a dome of energy. Draven could see the runes glowing and could tell she was chanting. Her eyes were closed and she was swaying slightly, the runes continuing to get brighter and brighter.

Draven looked at the vampire standing next to him. "I hope this doesn't take long. I'm getting hungry."

The vampire was about to say something back but Draven heard a hissing sound and watched the vampire vanish into dust. He looked back down into the chamber to see a group of people standing beside the throne, one of them still holding a crossbow up.

"Who the hell-" Draven stopped midsentence and looked at the man dressed in all black who was standing beside the throne with his arm on the back of it. "I think I've heard of you…actually, we've met. Adam and I were somewhere in Europe at some stupid party and that little slip of a vampire, what was her name…Darla, introduced us. Angel."

Angel stepped down from beside the throne to stand beside the dome that surrounded Lonra. He looked at her for a few seconds, drew his sword and discarded the scabbard. "I can't allow you to open the Hellmouth. You know that."

Draven laughed as he walked down the earthen steps onto the floor. He picked up his sword beside the pool, drew his blade and threw his scabbard away from him. "You can't stop me." He pushed the tip of his blade against the dome around Lonra. Sparks and waves in the dome itself appeared when the tip came into contact with it. "Correction…you can't stop her. I'm just an innocent bystander. I'm here to protect her and right now, she doesn't need any protecting. But, let me guess…you're going to try anyway."

Draven didn't allow Angel to say anything…he leapt to the attack, his sword swinging in a large arc toward his opponent. Angel responded by bringing his blade up and blocking the attack. Draven and Angel took a step back and began to circle one another, each one taking a shot at the other, probing the other's defenses.

Oz led the group of teens across the other side of the pool but they had to climb up to the main entrance. As Angel had predicted, the vampires in the tunnels came to the chamber when they heard the sounds of fighting. Soon, Oz and the others were involved in the fighting themselves as Draven's vampires tried to force their way into the chamber.

Tara, Julian and Simon, not having to take care of any vampires in the room since there were none besides Draven and Lonra, had taken their positions on the landing in front of the main entranceway. They met Draven's vampires head on, their swords dancing through their well-learned techniques. The others used their crossbows and throwing stars if Julian, Tara and Simon suddenly found themselves outnumbered. Elayne and David took up position on the steps leading down into the chamber, just in case a vampire or two got passed the three in front of the entranceway. Oz and Nathan kept their places just below the landing.

All of them continuously looked at the sword fight taking place behind them. The two vampires were attacking each other fiercely; their swords slashing through the air so fast, the teens could hardly tell the blades existed. Already each vampire had numerous cuts and slashes to their arms; Draven had cuts on his sword arm and opposite leg; Angel had cuts on both arms and a slash across his chest. Both of them continued to fight with amazing speed until Draven finally backed off.

They circled each other and Draven considered his opponent. "You're not even two hundred and fifty years old…I'm impressed. I didn’t think you'd be very much competition. I'm enjoying this. But, you must know you can't win."

Angel didn't say a word. They continued to circle each other when Oz noticed something. He nudged Nathan and pointed across the pool. "Look."

The teen looked to where Oz had pointed and gasped. The dome surrounding Lonra had begun to waver, parts of it disappearing and then reappearing. Both of them could see she was having a hard time focusing her concentration, as if she were in her own battle, and the runes had began to lose their glow.

They heard Tara scream and looked to see her fall to the ground, a gaping wound in her stomach. Simon attacked the vampire who she'd been fighting and Oz and Nathan pulled her down to where they were. Nathan laid her head in his lap as Oz tried to examine her wound. What he saw scared him and he looked up at Nathan. The other teen saw the look in Oz's face and hugged his friend to him.

David had picked up Tara's sword from where it had fallen and had stepped up onto the landing to stand beside Julian and Simon. Both young men had cuts and slashes all over them and they were sweating profusely and breathing hard. Elayne saw what had happened to Tara and had moved down to where she was with Nathan. Elayne took their teammate from Nathan and he took her place on the steps. She cradled Tara to her and yelled, "Joseph! Help!!!!"

Oz cleaned the wound as best as he could but it continued to bleed. As he was about to bandage it as best as he could, the wound began to glow and he could see it began to slowly close, the skin knitting itself back together.

"Oz." He looked up to see Elayne looking across the pool. He looked to see Lonra trying to stand, the dome expanding to allow her to do so. The runes around her had stopped glowing and the dome was in danger of collapsing. Both of them could see the vampire mystic strained against Joseph's attack. Then the pool between them and Lonra began to glow.

Oz looked at Elayne. "That can't be good." He heard Elayne gasp and looked at her. She was looking at Tara and he looked down. The glowing around the wound had disappeared and it was bleeding again, worse than before. Oz took his top shirt off and pressed it against Tara's wound, hoping to stop the bleeding. He looked to see the pool glowing brighter than before and could see Lonra didn't strain as much as she had seconds before.

He looked up and behind him to see Nathan had joined the others on the landing, his arm flying back and then forward. Oz saw the glimmer of one of the throwing stars as it sailed through the air. He saw a burst of light and knew another vampire had been destroyed.

Tara groaned in pain. She looked up at Elayne, tears streaking out of the corners of her eyes. "I'm not going to make it, am I? What-" Her back arched in pain and she cried out.

Elayne looked at her friend, tears coursing down her cheeks. She was speechless. Oz took his shirt away and saw the wound had gotten worse and was bleeding more. He put the shirt back in place and pressed down, knowing it wouldn't do any good. Tara looked at him and he saw the thanks in her eyes but also saw she knew the end was near.

Tara looked up at Elayne again and reached for her friend's hand. Elayne grasped her hand tightly and hugged her friend to her tightly. Tara gasped in pain again and Elayne looked down at her.

Tears stained Tara's face as her body was wracked with pain. "It hurts, Elayne. Oh, God, does it hurt!" Her back arched again and the light in her eyes faded, her body going limp. Her eyes remained open, staring up at her friend.

Elayne cried out and Oz took his hand away from the shirt, leaving it where it was. He saw Elayne slowly move her hand up to Tara's face and gently close her eyes. She laid Tara down on the ground and cried. Oz felt something wet on his face and he wiped his hands across his cheek, looking to see his hand was damp.

There's a first time for everything, he thought.

Draven and Angel had stopped their battle and were again circling each other. Draven kept himself turned sideways, keeping his sword pointed at Angel the entire time. Angel circled cautiously, his sword by his side. Both of them were covered in cuts and their clothes were slashed open in numerous places.

Draven laughed. "I would never have thought you'd put up this much of a fight. I'm going to enjoy killing you."

"I'm not dead yet," Angel sneered.

A blood-curdling shriek ripped through the chamber. Everyone looked to see the dome surrounding Lonra fade, the pool cease glowing and the vampire mystic fall to the ground.

Angel struck out suddenly, his sword coming up in an arc, slicing through Draven's wrist. The ancient vampire's hand and sword fell to the floor and he fell back holding his injured arm to his chest. He looked at Angel with astonishment and then anger filled his eyes.

Draven roared and lunged toward his enemy. Angel brought his sword up at a slant, slashing Draven across the chest. Draven's upper body was flung back and he fell to his knees. In his weakened state, the wound began to close slowly.

Angel walked up to him. "You're lucky. This sword doesn't have any silver in it." He rammed the sword through Draven's heart. The ancient vampire roared in pain and began to fall all the way to the floor, but Angel grabbed his hair and held him in place.

Angel looked around and he finally saw Oz. The musician knew what he needed. Oz quickly moved around the pool and reached into the bag he still had strapped across his shoulder. He reached in, pulled out a wooden stake and handed it to Angel.

Angel motioned to the sword and Oz was taken aback for a second. He realized Angel wanted him to remove it and his stomach immediately turned. Oz reached out slowly, taking the hilt in his hand. In one motion, he ripped the sword from Draven's chest. Draven again howled in pain.

Angel held the stake up in front of Draven's face. "Now this…this is going to hurt." Angel drew his arm back and plunged the stake into Draven's heart and releasing his hair.

Draven looked down at the wooden stake sticking out from his chest. He looked up toward the ceiling and vanished into a cloud of dust.

The vampires that were fighting on the landing saw their leader vanquished. They immediately fled, flinging their weapons down as they did.

The four who were on the landing were surprised when their enemies fled and immediately turned around. They saw Lonra lying on the floor, Angel ready to collapse and Draven was nowhere to be seen.

Oz looked up at them. "I think you can come down now."

All four of them made their way down the steps onto the floor of the chamber. Nathan, Simon and Julian walked to stand with Elayne, who hadn't left Tara's side. David walked around the pool to stand over Lonra.

"David," Angel warned. "Get away from her. She's still-"

"Give me a break," David said. "She's harmless. She couldn't hurt a-"

Lonra rushed up and grabbed David around the throat with both hands. With one swift motion, she broke his neck and let his body fall to the ground. Angel was across the room in a flash and plunged the same stake that had killed Draven into Lonra. She disappeared into dust.

Angel fell to his knees beside David's body. Julian and Simon ran to him and knelt beside him. "I tried to warn him. I don't-"

Julian put his hand on Angel's shoulder, tears running down his face. "No. You did what you had to. You warned him. That's all you could have done."

"Everyone, get back here," Joseph's voice rang in their heads. "We have a another problem."

"Let's get them out of here," Angel ordered, picking up David's body and starting toward the passageway behind the old throne. Nathan picked Tara up gently and followed him, with the others following behind them. They walked in silence.

Minutes later, they walked into the chamber to find Joseph sitting on the top row of stones with his face in his hands. He looked up when he heard them walk into the room and he stood slowly. Tears filled his eyes as he walked toward Angel and Nathan as they laid their charges on the ground. Joseph knelt beside them as the others spread out into the room.

Joseph stayed there for a few minutes, just looking at two members of his team he had lost. Elayne broke the silence. "Why didn't you keep healing her, Joseph? You couldn't have saved David, but you started to heal Tara. Why did you stop?"

Joseph stood slowly and turned toward all of them. Each one could see the guilt and anger etched on his face. "I heard you cry for help for Tara, so I used just a little of my strength and the power of the Tear to help her. That was the glow you and Oz saw. I still didn't know how to fully control the Tear but Lonra was weakening, almost to the point of collapse. I almost had her, but something…appeared is the only way I can describe it. Something started to help her."

"That must have been when the pool beside her began to glow," Oz observed. "Could the Hellmouth have tried to help her?"

"It's possible," Angel surmised.

"When this new presence added its strength to Lonra's, I had to have every ounce of strength I had…so I had to let Tara go," Joseph explained. "Those few minutes were the longest of my life. I had to open myself up to the Tear more than I wanted to, but it worked and Lonra gave up. I repaired the breach she had started and began to see if the Hellmouth could be sealed permanently."

He looked at Angel. "It can't be sealed…at least, right now. This rift is younger than the Eye and still more unstable, if you can call a rift stable at all. There are a couple of things I can put in place to make it harder for someone to open."

"Is that the problem you mentioned?" Nathan asked.

"No, it's not," Andrew answered, before Joseph could say anything. "Joseph, you'd better sit down again. You're about to fall apart."

Joseph only nodded and walked back to where he had been sitting before. He sat down and nodded to Andrew.

"When he began to use the Tear, something amazing began to happen," the young Watcher said. "The eight walls in this room began to change, the writings on all of them vanishing. The walls themselves became what I would call screens, showing scenes from different places around the world. The only thing I can think of is that it was showing the eight mystical convergences around the world. We watched your battle on this wall behind me."

"Trevor and I tried to identify the other places but we didn't know where they were…except one. I've never seen it, but I've seen diagrams and read how it is described in the Archives. I saw the chamber of the Eye."

Angel sat a few feet from Joseph, the battle with Draven beginning to catch up to him. "What's the problem?"

"There were people there…regular human beings. It looked like some kind of archaeological dig or something. What really got my attention were the vampires that appeared and took the humans captive. Something's up."

"Could Octavian mean to open the Eye before the right time?" Julian inquired. He thought for a second. "Unless we calculated the time wrong."

"We have to get to Buffy," Angel stated, standing up. "She's going to need help and we're it."

"We need to rest first," Joseph told him. "We're exhausted. I can stay linked with the Tear and keep an eye, no pun intended, on the Eye. If something happens, I'll be the first to know. Octavian won't try anything for the next twelve hours or so anyway. It's still daylight in Great Britain. If he wants any of his forces to be there with him to keep the Slayers, the Hunter and their allies away from the Eye, he'll have to wait until at least nightfall."

Everyone could see the emotions cross Angel's face, knowing he wanted to help Buffy. "We meet back here in eleven hours, ready to go at a moment's notice." He looked at Joseph. "Can you get us there when we're needed?"

Joseph nodded. "I'm sure of it. We'll be ready."

Angel looked everyone in the chamber. "Then get some rest. The war's not over yet."

Gwyneira looked at Buffy and Jayden and smiled. "A little tired?"

"You could say that," Buffy said, leaning against a table and bringing her hand to her forehead. "I didn't know all this magic stuff took so much out of you."

Jayden pulled out a chair from the table Buffy was leaning against and sat down. "I know what you mean. Give me a sword and an honest fight any day."

Gwyneira laughed. "It gets worse. Take a few minutes to rest and I'll get us something to drink." She turned and walked across the room and out the main double doors.

Buffy looked around the room and felt the walls begin to close in. Jayden saw the look on her face. "Want some fresh air?"

"Definitely." She and Jayden stood and walked across the room. Buffy concentrated, trying to send a message to Gwyneira. The sound of Gwyneira's laugh sounded through her head. "Good job, Buffy. You're getting better. I'll see the two of you in the courtyard garden."

Jayden opened the door and Buffy walked through and he quickly followed. "Gwyneira says she'll meet us in the courtyard garden," the Slayer said, walking down the hallway, making her way toward the nearest door to the outside.

"I know. I heard," Jayden said. Buffy could hear the smile in his voice as she said, "Sorry. I've got to get better at that."

"Don't worry about it," the Hunter said. They reached the door that led to the courtyard and he opened the door and she walked through. The instant they felt the fresh air on their faces, they felt instantly revived. They walked into the garden and Buffy's senses were immediately assaulted. She faltered and Jayden caught her.

"You okay?" he asked, as he led her to one of the benches in the part of the garden they had been sitting in when the Sidhe had first appeared.

She sat down and he sat down beside her. Buffy kept her eyes closed as she tried to find out what was happening to her. She could feel her surroundings hum with life, the trees felt more alive to her and the ground beneath her feet felt as if it talking to her. Then she felt another presence like hers beside her, but not entirely like her.

Buffy tried to say something out loud, but her voice failed. She concentrated a little harder, using her mindspeech.

Jayden?

Yes, the other entity answered. What's happening?

I don't know, Buffy answered. But whatever it is, it's incredible. I think I can sense the life in everything around us. This is amazing. She spread her senses out farther from her slowly and felt Jayden's follow her. They encountered the tree beside the bench first and the feeling of age and patience washed over them. They saw the way the tree had thrived for nearly a century but also felt the tree's pain. They adjusted their senses and found the problem…someone or something had chopped a section of the tree's trunk.

Can we do something about that? Buffy asked her companion.

Jayden didn’t respond but felt his presence move closer to the tree and felt his mind probing around the wound on the tree's trunk. She felt a surge of some kind and her senses felt what Jayden was doing. The wound in the tree trunk began to mend slowly. Jayden had to stop a couple of times to consider what to do next but when he figured it out, he continued as though he had never stopped. Buffy added her strength to Jayden's and the job was done before they knew it.

That was a tree trunk, Jayden said. Think we can mend a rift? His question held a laughing tone.

I guess we'll find out, she thought back. Let's see what else we can do like this.

After sensing he agreed, Buffy began to spread her senses out even more, taking in more of the castle they were staying at and its surrounding grounds. Jayden's presence was beside her the entire time, his senses and hers combining to sense everyone and everything around them. They sensed their friends in the castle, the people on the grounds, the creatures that were on the grounds and felt nature course through them all.

Jayden poured more of his strength into his senses and felt something that he thought didn't quite belong. He sent his feelings to Buffy and she agreed they should investigate.

He led the way as he flung himself in the direction of the disturbance he felt.

Seconds later, Jayden stopped and Buffy felt what he had first felt. They combined their senses to find out what they had sensed. A tickling of feeling just beyond their sense had them moving forward slowly until the disturbance was visible to them in their present form.

The disturbance came into view as their combined selves topped a hill that dipped into a valley not far from the castle. The valley stretched out before them, hills rolling into more hills as far as the eye could see. A small river ran from one end to another, coming from over the hill to their left, falling into a waterfall and then running around hills and snaking its way to the end of the valley.

What they had sensed hung above the waterfall. To them it looked to be a shining light hung suspended in the air above the falls itself, wavering in the light.

Do you think anyone can see that with normal sight? Buffy asked.

I don't know. Let's move a little closer and see if we can find out what it is, Jayden suggested, moving ahead when he felt Buffy agree.

They approached the light slowly, allowing their senses to reach out in front of them. When their senses touched it, they stopped. For a few minutes, they used their senses to probe around the shining light, getting a feel for it and trying to draw conclusions as to what it was.

Well, we can definitely say it's not natural. It has the feel of magic around it. Powerful magic, Jayden said, in mindspeech. How did I know that?

Let's worry about that later, Buffy returned. If it is magic, then we have to fix it. Do you get the feeling we're being tested?

Yeah, I do, the Hunter responded. Well, what do we do now? The same thing we did with the tree?

Let's see if we can poke around anymore and see what we can do. If it is like the tree, you can bet this will take longer to mend than the tree did, Buffy thought. She took the lead this time, letting her senses probe around the shining light and deeper into it. She took her time and felt Jayden's senses beside her own, ready to help or defend.

It's a rift, Buffy finally said. It feels like a doorway and I can sense something on the other side, like it's trying to break through.

Do you know how to close it, though, the Hunter asked her. It feels like there's something at the edge of my mind that will let me close it, but I can't grab it. Does that make sense?

It makes perfect sense. It feels like there's a wall in my mind that's holding something back that I need to know, but I can't get through it, Buffy said, thinking about what they were about to do. Do you want to try this? We're going to have to in a few days anyway. Might as well get some practice in.

Jayden agreed. Let's do it.

The Slayer and the Hunter merged their senses and powers and began to work. They traced the edge of the rift, trying to see if they could do this easily. They found they couldn't. They examined the rift for a few minutes more, becoming accustomed with the energy radiating out of it, the power it had in itself and set to work.

They found the rift was somewhat oblong-shaped, so they began to work on the ends of it, closing it slowly. They used the power of the rift itself to mend the rip. Ever so slowly, the rift closed. As time went on, both of them were tiring quickly and the rift was only about halfway closed.

Both of them began to reach into themselves farther than even they had ever been and the walls they sensed within themselves crumbled and fell away. The knowledge and power that had been hidden away came rushing forth and in an instant, they knew what they had to do. Seconds later, the shining light faded and the rift closed.

Buffy and Jayden were elated at what they had been able to do. But, even with the new knowledge and strength, both of them were tired, coming close to exhaustion. The combined senses split and Buffy and Jayden raced back to their bodies.

When their eyes opened, they were still in the garden but they weren't alone. Their friends were around them and Gwion and Gwyneira were standing over them, looking down at them, pride shining on their faces.

Gwion smiled. "Well done."

Buffy and Jayden smiled at one another and tried to stand. They made it halfway to their feet and found they were more tired than they believed. Gwion caught Jayden and held him up while Gwyneira helped Buffy get to her feet.

"It was incredible," Buffy whispered, afraid her voice wouldn't work. "I never knew a Slayer had ever had that kind of power."

"None have since Alara," explained Gwyneira. "And now you."

Aeron and William came up to Jayden and Aeron moved to put her shoulder under his arm. "What happened, Jay?" she asked.

Jayden looked at her and a look of wonder passed across his face. "I don’t know if I can describe it. Incredible freedom. We could feel everything around us, all the life and the Earth itself felt like it knew us."

"Whoa, can we go next time?" Xander asked, standing beside Willow. "Sounds like fun."

Willow punched him in the arm. Xander just stared at her. "Why do you and Aeron keep doing that?"

Willow looked at her best friend and could see that Buffy had changed in a way Willow couldn't put her finger on. Her friend looked the same but something was different. Buffy looked more powerful than she did a week before but she still looked the same.

Buffy looked at Willow. "You wouldn't believe it, Willow. It was amazing." She motioned her best friend over to her and Willow walked to her. Buffy held out her hand and Willow took it in hers. Buffy's eyes closed. Willow felt herself immersed in energy and her eyes closed. Images flowed passed her eyes and feelings assaulted her senses and she knew Buffy was showing her what she had just been through.

The energy faded away and Willow opened her eyes. She looked at Buffy, who was smiling at her. "That was beyond amazing, Buffy. That was…amazing!"

Buffy smiled at her best friend and put her arm around Willow's shoulders. "I never thought I would be able to do any of that."

"You can do that and more," Gwyneira said, as Giles walked up to them.

Buffy's Watcher looked at her and a look of wonder was on his face. "Well done, Buffy. Gwion and Gwyneira showed us what you and Jayden did. It was-"

A flash of light cut Giles off and everyone turned around. A man was walking toward them and Richard moved in front of the group. He bowed to the stranger. "This old castle is blessed yet again. Welcome, my lord."

The man who had appeared smiled and bowed slightly. "Thank you, Richard. You are known to us and we now count you as friend. As are all of you."

Gwion left Jayden with Aeron and William and walked to stand beside Richard. "It is good to see you again, Tigrin."

Tigrin bowed to his prince. "As it is to see you, my lord. He wishes to see them." He looked at Buffy and Jayden with reverence and respect with just a little awe mixed in. "He felt what was going on and he and the queen watched what they just accomplished. He realizes the Slayer and the Hunter must be tired and they must rest. But, he truly wishes to see them."

Gwyneira left Buffy to Willow and Giles and went to stand beside her husband. "Please go back and tell him they will rest for three hours and then we'll bring them to see him. They'll recover faster than we think they will. The walls we placed in the line of the Slayer and the Hunter to keep the powers held back until they were needed have crumbled. He'll know what you speak of."

Tigrin smiled and nodded. "Yes, my lady." He looked at Buffy and Jayden again and bowed to both of them. He bowed to Gwion and Gwyneira and turned and walked away. Even though everyone was looking at him, none of them saw him disappear.

Gwyneira turned back to the group behind her, noticing Faith for the first time. The expression on Faith's face worried Gwyneira but she knew she could do nothing about it now. They had more important things to worry about. She looked at the Watchers and said, "Get them to their rooms and make sure they get some rest. They only have three hours and then we must leave for awhile."

"Excuse me, but who are you taking them to see?" Faith asked, her expression still filled with a tinge of jealousy.

"Llyr and Etayn," Gwion answered, turning to look at her.

The younger Slayer shrugged her shoulders. "Is that supposed to mean something to me?"

"They're going to meet the king and queen of the Sidhe, Faith. It should be pretty obvious, don't you think?" Willow said, walking past Faith while helping Buffy up to her room. Everyone left the garden and Faith was left by herself.

Gwion and Gwyneira led them down a long hallway, richly decorated in blue and white tapestries hung along the walls. Some depicted battles, others looked to tell a story of some importance and others looked to be just artistic.

Both Jayden and Buffy had been apprehensive about meeting the king and queen of the Sidhe. When the time came for them to leave the castle, Buffy and Jayden asked how they were to journey to the Sidhe stronghold. Gwion and Gwyneira had just laughed and

told them to follow them across the courtyard. Buffy and Jayden had followed them toward the main gate and looked back toward their friends once. The next instant, they were surrounded by mist of some kind and their defenses kicked in. When the mist faded and disappeared, they found themselves in a large oval room with rugs on the floor and tapestries along the walls. Torches were shining from their sconces on the walls and Jayden and Buffy's defensiveness melted away.

As they were walking down the hallway, Buffy looked at Jayden and asked, "Do you feel any different?"

Jayden thought for a few seconds before replying. "Yeah. I'm calm. And I mean really... calm. I haven't felt this calm since before I found out what I am. But, there's something else…but I don't know how to describe it."

"It feels like I'm home," Buffy said, as they reached two large doors.

Gwyneira turned to them and smiled. "You are the first true humans to come here since Anna, Alara and Gregory's Watcher. Forgive our family and friends if they stare or whisper or some such thing."

Gwion reached out to open the doors and said, "And then there is the resemblance."

Gwyneira squeezed his arm as Buffy asked, "What resemblance?"

Gwyneira looked at them again. "We meant to tell you before now, but we had so much to do to help you understand your roles in the coming battle. We never got to it."

"Forgiven," Jayden said, quickly. "Now, the resemblance."

Gwyneira looked at her husband one more time and then back to them. "Buffy, you somewhat resemble Alara, as Jayden somewhat resembles Gregory."

"That's it?" the Slayer asked, looking relieved. "I thought it was something major."

Before Gwyneira could say anything, Gwion pushed the doors open and the light from the room before them flooded the hallway. The large hall was full of people, dressed in every color imaginable. The hall itself was trimmed in purple and white, the darker color taking precedent with the lighter color accenting it in the right places.

The music stopped and everyone stopped dancing or talking and turned to see who had entered the hall. Buffy instinctively moved closer to Jayden when she thought she heard a collective gasp run through the room. They had walked through the doors and stopped, even though Gwion and Gwyneira continued forward and the crowd parted for them.

Buffy felt Jayden take her arm and begin to move away from her. She followed him, his hand still on her elbow. He walked to the right of the main doors, following the wall and leading her along with him. Everyone in the room watched them as they came to a stop.

Buffy looked up at Jayden to find him looking at something on the wall. She looked toward what he was looking at and when she saw it, she gasped, not believing her eyes.

On the wall hung two large frames of pure gold, with each side etched with runes and encrusted with jewels. Buffy moved a few steps to look at the frame on the left. What she saw made her weak at the knees.

Inside the frame she looked at hung an image, seemingly suspended in time. She had expected it to be a painting or picture of some kind, but the image changed before her eyes, but the subject never did. The girl in the image looked like Buffy, only with smaller eyes and a slimmer nose. Buffy could not believe what she saw before her.

Buffy looked over at Jayden as he turned to look at her. She glanced at the frame in front of him and saw that the image within the frame matched her friend exactly. Even that cute little curl that hangs down on the side of his forehead. Buffy shook her head. Where did that come from?

They heard a small gasp behind them and they both turned. A woman with bright golden hair stood before them, dressed in a simply white gown and a crown atop her head. The lady's hands were gathered at her mouth and both of them could see the tears in her eyes.

The lady came forward to Buffy first, bringing her hand gently to Buffy's cheek. She looked at Jayden next, doing the same to him. She gathered both of them to her in a strong hug and without knowing it, they hugged her back tightly. Buffy could barely see Jayden's face on the other side of the Lady's head, but his expression matched her own…it felt right to hug her.

They heard two claps and the hall began to clear. In what seemed to be only seconds, the hall was clear and only eight people remained. The lady released Buffy and Jayden as Gwyneira walked up to them. The lady looked at Gwyneira with tears in her eyes and Gwion's wife put her arm around the lady's shoulders.

Gwyneira looked at the two of them and smiled. "Jayden, Buffy…may I present Etayn ferch Melana, wife of Llyr, father of Gwion and Queen of the Solas Sidhe."

Jayden and Buffy looked at one another and then back to the two ladies. Jayden bowed stiffly and Buffy tried to curtsy, but didn't quite make it.

Etayn laughed and hugged them again. "None of that, heartlings. None of that. You are among family now, no matter how far removed we are from one another."

A man dressed in deep purple walked up to them slowly. The Slayer and the Hunter could immediately see Gwion's resemblance to his father. Gwyneira moved to stand between the man and woman, her arm still around Etayn's shoulders. The man moved his arm around Gwyneira's waist as she said, "And may I present Llyr ap Norric, husband of Etayn, father of Gwion and King of the Solas Sidhe."

Llyr moved to them quickly and engulfed them in another hug. The Slayer and the Hunter had the same feeling again, returning the hug as best as they could around the large man who had them in his arms. Llyr backed off and just looked at them for a few seconds before saying, "They have returned to us."

"Yes, they have," Gwion confirmed, standing beside his father. Pride glowed on both of their faces as they looked at Buffy and Jayden. Both came close to blushing, feeling awkward.

Tigrin and another woman walked up to them after another man said something to Tigrin and then almost ran from the room. Tigrin cleared his gently cleared his throat. "Your Majesties, I'm afraid I need to speak with you. It is very urgent."

Llyr's expression darkened for a moment and he looked at his guests apologetically. "I'm sorry. It would seem Gwion and I have something to attend to. But, I'm sure Etayn and Gwyneira can entertain you until we settle this."

"Of course," Jayden said, his voice faltering a little. He seemed taken aback that his voice sounded so weak and just smiled.

The king and his heir walked away from them and Tigrin and the other woman followed behind them. Buffy looked at Etayn. "I was wondering…can we…if it's alright, that is…"

Gwyneira and Etayn both laughed and Gwyneira said, "It's okay, Buffy. Go ahead and ask whatever you want."

Buffy blushed and looked up at Jayden, to see him laughing at her, too. She stuck her tongue out at him and his smile grew. She looked back at the two Sidhe and asked, "Is there any way we could see more of this place? This is so…so…"

Jayden chuckled. "That's what I was going to ask."

"I think that can be arranged," Etayn said, motioning them to follow her. "I have a few friends in high places who can help us if anyone tries to stop us."

The four of them laughed at the queen's small joke as they made their way out of the large hall.

Etayn and Gwyneira led them through hallways that connected the different sections of the home of the Sidhe, showing them libraries, sitting rooms, lushly decorated apartments, rooms of art and other rooms throughout the complex, meeting and talking to other members of the Sidhe.

"So, all of the Sidhe live here?" asked Jayden, who had stopped to look at a large mural on the wall, illustrating a battle of some kind.

Gwyneira smiled. "Good heavens, no. There isn't enough room here for all of our people. We have spread out all over the world, with structures like these to protect us from prying eyes and those we do not wish to see."

They had just left another large library when they heard a clanging sound, repeating itself. "That almost sounds like someone striking metal or something," Jayden observed.

Gwyneira and Etayn smiled at one another as Etayn said, "I think this may interest the both of you. Come."

They followed the two Sidhe down another corridor and found themselves assaulted by waves of heat. The two Chosen Ones looked ahead, beyond the two women, to see a bright light at the end of the corridor. When they reached the end, all four of them walked into a large forge.

The room itself was a large cave, which had been cleared of debris and other cave structures to open the floor for the smiths to work. The floor and walls had been cut to a smooth surface, reflecting the light of the fires like glass. A waterfall flowed from a ledge up on the high wall on the other side of the room and fell into a large pool in the floor. Three men of the Sidhe were working as they watched, one hammering on a long piece of metal, one shoving another piece under the waterfall and the other working to etch something into the blade of a sword that looked to be finished.

The one who was hammering saw they had visitors and immediately stopped, putting his hammer down. He motioned to the one at he waterfall and he pulled the now cool metal from the water. The one who was etching something into the blade of a sword looked up and almost fell off his stool, making Buffy and Jayden smile.

The three men walked to them and bowed, their eyes leaving Buffy and Jayden for only a few seconds. When they stood, Buffy and Jayden saw that two of them were older looking than the others, looking older than Etayn, who looked to be the same age as Buffy's mother.

Gwyneira motioned to the one on her left, the blond-haired Sidhe. "This is Amaric and beside him, Donal. They have forged our weapons and some of our greatest art for as long as any of us can remember. May I present Buffy Summers and Jayden Sinclair…our Chosen Ones."

Jayden bowed his head to them and pride burned in their expressions. The Hunter looked over at Buffy and found her looking at the last of the three Sidhe who were in the room when they arrived. When he looked closely at the third Sidhe, he could see why she looked so perplexed.

Buffy looked at the third Sidhe with wonder and a sense of déjà vu ran over her. His face was a little longer and his jawline was a little wider, but there was no mistake in his features. He could be my twin brother, Buffy thought, not able to take her eyes off of him. He saw her look at him and smiled at her. She could see the pain in his eyes when he looked at her and she took a step toward him.

Gwyneira came to stand beside her and put her arm around her shoulders. "Yes, Buffy. He's Alara's twin brother…and could be yours, truth be told," she said, guessing what Buffy was thinking. "This is Alaryn."

Buffy took one more step forward, standing only inches from Alaryn and looking up to him. She put her hand on his cheek and he raised his hand to hers, unshed tears in his eyes. She smiled at him again and he laughed, taking her hand from his face but still holding her hand in his.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Buffy," Alaryn said, smiling down at her. He looked at Jayden. "You as well, Jayden. I thought I was seeing two ghosts walk in the door."

Amaric laughed deeply. "As did I, my friend. As did I. The resemblance is remarkable." He looked to Etayn. She smiled at him and simply nodded. He touched Donal's arm and the Sidhe, who had yet to say anything, walked across the room and into another doorway, disappearing.

"We know you're time here with us is short, at least on this visit," Alaryn said, releasing Buffy's hand and walking back to where he had been working. He picked up the sword he had been working on, looked at the blade one more time, blowing on a part of it and then walking back to them.

Alaryn held the sword by the blade carefully as he walked slowly to them. He held the sword out to Jayden, hilt first. Jayden brought his hand to the hilt slowly and Alaryn released the blade. Jayden backed away from them, almost to the doorway, and began to swing the sword through the air. His face became brighter and brighter as he continued to swing the blade around, becoming accustomed to it.

He stopped and looked at the workmanship on the hilt and the blade itself and his face curled in confusion. He held the sword in front of him and put his other hand on the other side of the blade, not touching it. His eyes widened and he looked up. "I can see through the blade! Not clearly, but still!"

Alaryn smiled. "I forged the blade with four different silvers, two of which cannot be found here on this planet. All four deadly to vampires, demons and whatever else you may encounter. The blade itself is only four tresens, what you would call molecules, thick. It will cleave through everything we know of but is one of the strongest blades ever forged." He paused. "And it's yours."

Jayden looked at him, surprise written across his face. He walked back to where the others were standing. "I can't take this. This should go to your father or the king. It's the blade of royalty, not a common warrior such as myself."

Amaric looked at Alaryn. "Tell him."

"That sword was to be Gregory's," Alaryn explained, looking at the sword with pride. "I worked on it for over a year, making sure the silvers would stay sealed together and placing certain magics on the blade itself to insure they would. I was about to begin the etchings when I found out Alara and Gregory had been killed." He paused again and pointed to a section of the wall behind where he worked. On the wall, each of them could see the outline of a sword that had been hung there. "It hung there until Grandfather asked me to finish it. I told him no, it was meant for Gregory and Gregory alone. Then he showed you to me." He looked directly at Jayden. "I finished it for you. Please…it is yours."

Jayden looked down at the sword in his hand with wonder and then he looked back up at Alaryn. "Thank you. I'm honored."

Donal walked through the doorway he had disappeared through minutes before, pushing a cart in front of him. He guided the cart to a stop in front of the others and reached in, taking out a large box. He balanced the box across two corners of the cart and Amaric helped him remove the top. Donal reached in and brought out two bundles, handing one to Buffy and the other to Jayden.

Buffy began to open the one Donal handed her, but Jayden was having trouble opening his bundle and holding onto his sword. Alaryn took the sword from him and went to his workspace again, opening a large cabinet and looking in. Buffy got her bundle opened first, quickly followed by Jayden. Buffy moved to the table that sat to the right of the door and put the bundle on the table. She reached down and pulled out what was on top.

The cloth expanded and Buffy held a shirt out in front of her. She looked down at the bundle and saw more cloth that she guessed to be a pair of pants somehow. Jayden brought his bundle to the same table and did the same thing. The shirts were deep royal blue with a diagonal white stripe that went from the left shoulder down to the right side of the shirt and up the back, meeting at the left shoulder again. The pants were solid blue.

"Those attire were designed for Alara and Gregory," Donal explained, as Amaric took a smaller box out of the cart. "They are made out of the strongest material we have, entwined with the four silvers Alaryn made Jayden's blade from. The first time you put them on, they will attune themselves to your bodies and only your bodies. You are the only ones who will ever wear them. If anyone else tries to put them on, the clothes will kill them. When you put them on, they will become skintight, even though it will feel as if you have nothing on. They repulse outside heat and help keep you cool the entire time you have them on, especially in battle. They will serve you well."

Buffy looked at the large Sidhe. "Thank you."

He bowed his head, turned and walked away, picking up in his work where he had left off. Jayden looked at him oddly and Etayn saw it. "Be easy on him, Jayden," she implored. "He is Alara's uncle and like Alaryn with Gregory's blade, he wasn't able to complete them by the time Alara and Gregory really needed them. He has blamed himself for so long for their deaths, even to this day."

Amaric walked up to Buffy, carrying the smaller box he had taken out of the cart. Alaryn returned, carrying the sword, which was now encased in a scabbard with a shoulder strap. He handed the scabbard to Jayden when he noticed the box Amaric had handed Buffy.

Alaryn looked at Amaric. "Thank you, my friend. I'd forgotten where I put those."

"You'd better be glad I'm the neat one around here!" laughed Amaric. "You and Donal would lose yourselves in here if it weren't for me."

Everyone laughed as Buffy took the top from the box. Inside were four silver stakes, arranged in a simple line, side by side, with two pieces of cloth on either side of the box. Alaryn came forward and took one of the pieces of cloth out and stretched it out and Buffy saw it was thicker than she had first thought.

"I made these for Alara," he said, sadly. He looked at her and Jayden. "I know you've probably heard Alara and Gregory's names so much since you arrived here, you're probably sick of them. They never asked for our help or our weapons or anything…so Donal, Amaric and I decided to help them anyway. Unfortunately, we weren't in time. This time, we mean to make sure we make it, with time to spare."

He looked at Buffy. "If you're anything like her, you like hand to hand combat and using stakes better than using swords and magic."

Buffy smiled. "You could say that."

Alaryn took the cloth in his hand and put it around her upper arm. The cloth immediately clung to her arm, becoming skintight. He took two of the stakes from the box and slid them into the cloth, careful not to stab Buffy's arm. The cloth held them in place, tight and secure. "The other cloth will do the same with the other two. And the stakes are made, again, from the same four silvers that are in Jayden's blade. They'll take out whatever you want them to."

Buffy looked at the stakes on her arm, the ones still in the box and then back at Alaryn. She hugged him quickly and Jayden grabbed his upper arm in a strong grip, in a clasp of friendship. "Thank you so much. I don't know what else to say," Buffy said, stepping back.

Movement in the corner of her eye made her turn to her right. The woman who was with Tigrin in the large hall walked in the doorway. She looked at all of them and then finally at Etayn. She bowed and said, "King Llyr asks me to bring all of you to him."

Etayn nodded. "Thank you, Athyn. Please return to him and tell him we are on our way." The woman left the room in what Jayden thought to be a hurry. Etayn looked at all of them and said, "Come, we must go. Something is dreadfully wrong, I can feel it. Amaric, you and Alaryn come with us." She saw Buffy look to Donal. "He won't come Buffy."

Etayn and Gwyneira led them from the forge and through the hallways they had traveled through before back to the large hall. When they walked in, Llyr, Gwion, Tigrin and Athyn stood at the foot of the dais upon which two thrones sat toward the other side of the room.

Llyr looked at them as they walked up. He looked at Buffy and Jayden. "We think Octavian is about to make his move to open the Eye."

"What? This soon?" Etayn asked, moving to stand beside her husband.

Gwion nodded. "Yes, this soon. We don't know why. But there are eight true humans in the chamber of the Eye. We don't know why they're there but you know what points toward. He's getting ready to do it…maybe even tonight."

Gwyneira saw something on her husband's face. "What else? And don't try to give me that look. I can see it on your face, as always," she said, softly.

Gwion looked at his father, who nodded slightly. He looked back to his wife. "The wards we put in place to tell us who goes into the chamber sensed something."

"Sensed something?" Jayden asked. "Good or bad?"

"That depends," Llyr answered. "We may be wrong, the wards only sensed it for a few seconds and then it was gone. But, if it's what we think it is, there may be another player in this."

Gwion looked at his wife and his mother. "The Tear."

"What?!" Gwyneira exclaimed. "That’s impossible! It sank with-" She caught herself in midsentence, the weight of Gwion's comment finally hitting her. She looked at her king. "You know what this means."

Llyr nodded slowly. "Unfortunately, I do." He looked at Tigrin and Athyn. "Spread the word." He paused. "The Sidhe ride to war."

Buffy slipped the shirt over her head and as Donal had said, it meshed itself to her, skintight. She rubbed her arms and found Donal had also been right in saying it would feel like she wore nothing at all. She slipped the pants on and they fitted themselves to her. She put the clothes she had back on and reached for the box on the bed when there was a knock at the door.

"Come in," she said, opening the box, not looking at who had walked in. She picked up one of the pieces of cloth from the box and another hand picked up the other one. She looked up to see Jayden standing in front of her.

He took the cloth in his hand, spread it open with his hands and held it out to her. She slipped her hand through and he slid it up to her upper arm. He took the other one from her and did the same for her other arm. Buffy took the stakes out of the box and placed two of them in each piece of cloth.

She looked at Jayden to see his sword in its scabbard, strapped across his back. He smiled down at her when he said, "I don't know why they gave us these weapons. We're not going to be the ones to go after Octavian."

Buffy laughed as they walked to the door. "I hadn't thought of that. Maybe we have to fight our way to the Eye. There's always hope."

They walked out into the hallway and to their right. The hallway led directly to the great hall, where they found several Sidhe already assembled in armor. Gwyneira saw them enter and motioned them over to the large table that was below the thrones. When the reached the table, they saw an ancient map had been put on it and Llyr and Gwion were talking with each other and pointing to certain points on it.

Llyr looked up at them. "It looks like we're going to have to fight our way to the Eye. Our scouts just told us there are hundreds, maybe thousands, of vampires outside the cave that leads to the chamber. Our wards were shredded two hours ago, so we don't know how many there are in the chamber itself. If I know Octavian, there's a large number down there, to protect himself and that mystic of his when they try to open the Eye."

Jayden looked over at Buffy and smiled. "I guess you were right. We are going to get to fight a little."

"I sent Tigrin to fetch Faith and any of the others who wish to join the battle," Gwion told them.

"I wish they would stay out of it, just this once," Buffy stated, her concern for her friends heavy in her voice. "But, I know they won't."

"They'll meet us at the point where we'll begin our attack," the prince of the Sidhe said. He pointed to star on the map. "This is the cave that leads to the Eye. It's usually hidden from sight, but Octavian's destroyed those wards as well." He shifted his finger to a point slightly above the star. "This is where we will gather our forces." He looked at the Slayer and the Hunter. "Are you ready?"

Buffy and Jayden looked at one another. Buffy simply nodded. Jayden looked back to Llyr and Gwion. "Let's rock."

Octavian walked down the steps into the main chamber. White orbs burned in sconces along the wall and with the light emanating from the center of the room, the entire chamber was illuminated, all the way to the top. Vampires walked up the stairs and bowed as he went by. The ones in the chamber stopped their talking and whatever else they were doing when he walked in.

The vampire lord looked to his right to see a group of humans sitting on the ground, surrounded by his personal guard. He walked over to them and one of them stood, but did not try to move toward him.

"Yes, Mr. Lochley. What can I do for you?" Octavian asked, sweetly.

"What's going on, Mr. Norrington?" the archaeologist Watcher asked. "These…creatures…took us prisoner and refuse to tell us anything. We tried to explain we are here only to study this place, but-"

"Shut up," Octavian ordered. "I'm so glad most humans are so gullible. You aren't here to study this place. You're here to help me open that." Octavian turned slightly to his left, looking at the four pillars in the center of the chamber, with the crystal object still hanging above them.

"What do you mean 'open'?" Lochley asked, looking nervous. "I have no idea how to open anything-"

"You won't be alive when you help me," Octavian interrupted. "None of you will. I just need your help getting started."

The other seven humans still on the ground began to wail and talk loudly until two of the vampires surrounding them hit two of the, silencing the noise. Octavian looked at the vampire on his right and ordered, "Take one of them to each pillar and make sure they stay there. Don’t kill them, under any circumstances…at least until I tell you to. Once Astra gets here, we'll start."

The vampires surrounding the group began to grab a human each and take them around the room. Lochley looked at him with anger as he was walked to one of the central pillars. Octavian heard crying coming from a couple of directions in the chamber and knew some of the women had begun to fall apart. Some of the men, too.

He walked as close as he could to the central pillars before the invisible barrier flared in front of him, preventing him from going any closer. Soon, my brothers. Soon.

The mist dispersed and six more people stood upon a hill above the cave entrance, leading to the chamber of the Eye. A group of Sidhe had already gathered and a small group of humans, who moved to the new group when they appeared.

"Buffy," Willow said, walking up to her. Buffy could see the gun Willow had used when they had to fight the vampires when they first got off the plane here in Great Britain. The gun was in a holster, strapped around Willow's waist. Buffy smiled because it was odd to see her best friend wearing a gun. Willow could hardly stand hurting a bug.

Xander and Aeron followed the young witch to their friends, both of them armed. Xander had his sword in his hand, holding at his side. Aeron had her quiver full of arrows hanging at her hip and her bow hanging at her back. Buffy and Jayden moved to stand beside their friends as Llyr and Gwion moved to talk to some of the other Sidhe.

"Are you all ready?" Jayden asked.

"I know I am. I can't wait to get this show on the road," Xander said, sarcastically. He moved out of the way of Aeron's arm as she tried to swat him on the arm. "Ha! You missed!"

Jayden looked at Willow and saw her indecision. "You don't have to go, Willow."

The young witch looked at him. "Yes, I do. My place is with Buffy. No matter where that place is."

Jayden looked to his right and saw someone standing farther down on the incline of the hill they were standing on. "What about her?"

The others looked to see Faith looking toward the hill they had to cross to get to the cave entrance. She had a sword strapped across her back and a spear grasped in her right hand.

"She hasn't said a word to anyone since the two of you left a couple of days ago," Willow told them, looking at the second Slayer.

Buffy looked at Jayden, confused. She looked at her best friend and asked, "What do you mean a couple of days ago? We've only been gone about a day."

"I don’t think so," Xander said. "You've been gone almost two days. And boy did we have fun while you were gone! Training, training and more training. I didn't know Giles was such a taskmaster."

Buffy turned to Jayden to say something, but Llyr cut her off. "Are you ready, Chosen Ones?"

Jayden looked at Buffy, saw the expression on her face when she thought of their coming battle and looked at the Sidhe king. "We're ready."

"Then we go to battle," Llyr said, walking down the hill. He walked past Faith and she fell into step just behind him. Buffy could see her fellow Slayer's body already tense, ready for the fight ahead of them.

Buffy and Jayden fell into step beside each other, with Gwion and Alaryn coming to walk beside them. Their friends fell in behind them and then the hundreds of Sidhe warriors followed them.

Joseph was facing the altar in the center of the room and the Tear with his eyes closed when Angel and the others walked into the chamber. The Tear seemed brighter to everyone and it was spinning faster than it had been when they had first laid eyes on it.

Joseph opened his eyes seconds after everyone had entered the room and turned to them. He looked at Julian, a question in his gaze.

The look on Julian's face answered Joseph's question before the youth said, "It's been taken care of. They came this morning and took them."

Joseph nodded slowly, looking at the rest of them. "It's starting."

Angel looked at everyone. "Is everyone ready?"

Julian nodded, speaking for everyone. "We're ready."

"This fighting has already started," Joseph told them, turning back to the Tear. "You may also want to be careful. When I did my initial scan of the Eye, I ran into wards someone had put in place."

Angel heard something in Joseph's voice. "What's wrong?"

Joseph looked back at him and then back to the Tear. "The wards felt familiar somehow. The magic that put them in place is old, very old."

"Have you ever felt wards like these before?" Andrew asked.

Joseph thought for a few seconds. "Yes, but they were ancient and had become weak over the centuries. These wards were new but had the same feel to them as the old ones did."

"Then what does it mean?" asked Elayne.

"I'm not entirely certain. But, the wards sensed me, so whoever put them in place may think there's someone else coming to the party. So, be careful. Andrew, Trevor, you stay here with me. The portal will remain open if any of you need to return but I'll need to keep the link with the Tear very intense, in case some of you need help. And if someone else comes through the portal who isn't very friendly, then Andrew and Trevor can take care of them."

"Then let's get this show on the road," Simon said, drawing his sword.

Joseph closed his eyes again and concentration wrinkled his brow for a few seconds and then was gone.

On the other side of the room a small point of light appeared and began to widen.

Buffy, Jayden and Alaryn were fighting side by side, the moonlight from the full moon above them glaring off of the two men's blades and off of Buffy's silver stakes. They found themselves fighting through an endless sea of vampires. Another group attacked them as soon as they killed one. They were making slow progress to the cave opening and were almost there when a group of Sidhe ran past them, falling on the vampires in front of them in a fury. Seconds later, there was no one between them and the cave opening leading to the Eye.

Tigrin looked at them as he and the group he had just led walked toward them. All three of them could see the coating of dust on his armor. "Finish this," he said, as he walked by.

Buffy looked at Jayden and Alaryn. "You heard the man."

All three of them walked into cave opening and were momentarily engulfed in darkness. The tunnel headed straight for a time and then began to curve to the right and began to slope downward. They reached another landing and the tunnel turned to the left. This time, the downward slope had been carved into steps and the three of them began to descend further into the Earth.

There were sconces along both walls but they did not hold torches. The sconces themselves looked to be cone-shaped, the point of the cone pointing to the ground, the top of the sconce ended with a flat top. Where the torches were supposed to be hung globes of white light, shining brightly and illuminating the tunnel as if it were day.

They descended the steps slowly and carefully, ready for any kind of surprise that might present itself.

A few minutes later, Jayden looked at Alaryn and smiled. "You think we're going to come out in China?"

Alaryn smiled back when all three of them noticed a bright light ahead of them. They slowed down as they stepped through the entrance into a large cavern. When they entered the cavern, everyone who was in the cavern turned to look at them.

All three of their eyes widened at what was before them. The cavern was fully alight, with the same orbs floating above sconces along the walls. Most of the light was coming from the center of the room and looked to be coming from the floor and a large floating object above the four central pillars.

What got their attention were the eight humans, each one standing near a pillar. Four pillars along the walls were moving slowly toward the center of the cavern. When they were fully exposed, they stopped.

"Well, well. What do we have here?" a voice called out. They looked to see a vampire walking toward them from the center of the cavern. Buffy felt Jayden tense beside her and she looked up at him, seeing anger and rage on his face. The Hunter gripped the hilt of his sword and began to step forward until Alaryn grabbed his arm, stopping him.

Jayden looked at the Sidhe. Alaryn saw the same emotions on Jayden's face as Buffy had. He looked Jayden in the eye and said, "Control it. You know you can't take him, no matter how good you are."

"He's right, you know," the vampire said. Since he was closer to them now, they could tell what he looked like. His lightning white hair almost glowed in the light and the sneer on his face shined brightly. He looked at Jayden. "I remember you. I ripped your girlfriend's heart out in Mexico for a ritual I had to do." His sneer grew. "She was good."

Jayden tensed even more and Buffy moved to his other side, putting her hand on his arm.

Octavian looked at Alaryn. "You would be smart to join me, nephew. I'm about to win."

Alaryn looked at his uncle with contempt. "I'm not your nephew. My uncle died a long time ago. I'll never join you."

"Then you can die with everyone else." Octavian turned his head back to the center of the room. He nodded to a female vampire behind him. She raised her arms out from her and leaned her head back and began to speak, but none of them could understand what she said.

The sound of stone moving against stone filled the air. Buffy looked around to see one of the sections of each pillar opening, revealing a compartment inside the pillars themselves.

The female vampire lowered her arms and brought her head back down. The vampires at each of the pillars grabbed the humans with them by the hair of the head and pulled them to their feet, holding them in place.

Octavian nodded. The vampires plunged their hands into the humans' chests, pulling out their hearts. To Buffy's horror, the hearts were still bleeding. The vampires dropped the bodies to the floor and each one of them laid the hearts they held in the pillars' compartments. The compartments sealed themselves and the runes on the pillars began to glow.

"So it begins," the white haired vampire said.

The vampires immediately charged them, forcing them to defend themselves. While the fighting was going on, Octavian looked at another vampire standing near him. "Reginald, you'd better get to the surface and bring some reinforcements. We're going to need them."

The leader of the Watcher Council looked at his master and asked, "Are you sure, my lord?"

"Move!"

The cowardly vampire ran toward the opening, going around the battle in his way. The vampires in the battle with the Hunter, Slayer and the Sidhe were not faring well, with only four of them remaining.

Octavian looked at the female vampire. "Get to it, Astra. We may not have a lot of time."

Astra turned and walked to the center of the room to stand between two of the pillars and beside the pool of liquid crystal. She looked up at the crystal object that floated above the pool that had morphed into a perfect sphere. She raised her arms out to her sides and placed each hand flat against the glowing pillars she stood between. Her eyes closed and her head leaned back again. The pillars began to glow brighter and the pool of liquid crystal began to churn.

The last two vampires vaporized when Jayden stabbed one through the heart with his sword and Buffy staked the other one, her silver stake gleaming in the light. Jayden looked at Octavian and began to move toward him when Alaryn moved to stop him again. But, he didn't need to.

"Hold, Hunter!" a voice boomed from behind them.

The three of them looked backwards to see Gwion, Llyr, Faith and Gwyneira standing in the opening. Gwion walked to stand beside Jayden, his gaze staying on Octavian. "He is mine, Hunter. Remember that. You have a job to do. Leave him to me. The others will protect you as you and Buffy fight your battle. You'd better get to it…time is running out."

The Sidhe prince walked forward, his sword gleaming in the light. Llyr, Faith and Gwyneira came to stand beside the other three as the two powerful beings faced one another.

"Yield now, Morric," Gwion implored. "Make this easy on both of us."

Octavian turned his head slightly. "There's a name I haven't heard in a long time, brother."

"It is your true name."

Octavian laughed. "I'm afraid not, brother. Morric died centuries ago."

Gwion's face fell a little. "Then my brother is truly dead." He raised his sword, the blade standing horizontally in front of his face, saluting his opponent.

Octavian began to raise his sword, but hesitated. He tilted his head to the side a little and a grin broke across his face. He looked back at his opponent and the others standing behind him. "Maybe you should be the one to yield, Gwion. Your warriors are being beaten back. I have plenty of vampires to throw at them…they won't last forever."

Gwion slashed his sword through the air, back to his side. "They don't have to last forever. They only have to last until I kill you."

Octavian laughed and the sound of metal upon metal filled the chamber.

The others heard noises coming from behind them, coming from the tunnel. "Octavian has called for reinforcement it seems," Llyr observed. He looked toward the center of the room, his eyes avoiding the sword fight taking place in front of him. "Buffy, you and Jayden have got to seal the Eye. Astra is already trying to rip through the wards Alara and Gregory put in place long ago. But, from the way it looks, she's fortified herself with the magic in the pillars. You're going to have to defeat her another way than simply staking her. You'll have to find another way."

Jayden looked at Buffy. "We'd better get started."

The noises from the tunnel were getting louder. "Get going," Faith said, moving to stand in front of the opening. "I'll do the slaying. You do the mending. You seem to be good at that."

Buffy was stunned by the animosity in Faith's voice as she and Jayden walked toward the central pillars. They avoided the sword fight by going around it, watching it with disbelief. The two swords met each other in a blaze of speed and the two opponents continued to attack one another with all of their strength.

Jayden led Buffy to the opposite side of the pool, directly across from Astra. The vampire mystic's face was tense with concentration and the pillars she touched glowed brighter than the others did. Both of them looked down to see the liquid crystal churning, waves lapping at the edge of the pool. Images appeared in the waves themselves, demons in flight, ripping each other apart, fire exploding around them. One image held for a few seconds longer than the others, a large horned demon looked at them, fury and hate in his glowing eyes.

Buffy looked up at Jayden. "Do you think we can do this?"

"We have to," Jayden replied. "Are you ready?"

Buffy looked across the pool at Astra and back at the Hunter. Instead of saying anything, Buffy made herself relax and her stretched her senses outward. She felt Jayden do the same and his presence soon joined hers. Instead of moving around, they decided to stay where they were and their senses were immediately assaulted. They discovered the rift manifested itself in the glowing crystal orb, suspended in the air above the pool. When they began to probe the crystal itself and found it was linked to another orb above it, hidden from view in the ceiling.

The sound of stone rubbing against stone filled their ears again and Buffy and Jayden pointed the senses up to see a part of the ceiling moving to one side and more light flowed into the chamber. A larger version of the orb floating above the pool began to slowly descend toward its twin. Their senses automatically sensed what was happening. The larger orb was the Eye, the smaller one the key to opening it.

We have to destroy that key, Jayden thought to her.

Agreed, the Slayer thought back. Their senses turned their attention to the smaller crystal orb and began to feel their way into it, trying to find how to destroy it. But then, another presence made itself known.

Well, well, the female presence said to them. You actually had the nerve to try to seal the Eye. We'll see about that.

Their senses were immediately under attack, pain flowing through into their minds. Daggers of pain swept over them as Astra began her magical attack against them. Buffy's instinct took over and something appeared in her mind. She immediately unleashed her own furious attack at Astra, feeling the vampire mystic shrink back.

How did you do that? asked Jayden.

It just popped into my head, Buffy told him. I don’t know where it came from. It just popped in there when I felt I was in danger.

They were attacked again, this time with Astra putting more strength behind her attack. Jayden's presence immediately shielded both of them against the attack and flung his own attack against Astra. This time, Astra stood her ground against them, attacking again.

We're not getting anywhere, Buffy thought to her friend. That large orb thingy is getting closer and closer to the smaller one.

Jayden was about to ask her something but both felt the onslaught of Astra's newest attack. They could sense Astra had split her abilities, using only part of her powers to attack them and the other part to continue opening the Eye.

Attack her from both sides, Jayden suggested. It feels as if something inside my head has opened and I know how to use all sorts of magical attacks and other stuff I had never even thought of. Instead of us just taking pot shots at her back and forth, we attack her at the same time, full strength.

Buffy sent her agreement to him and they turned their full attention to Astra. When the vampire mystic's latest attack slacked off, the Hunter and the Slayer attacked her instantly, taking her unaware. Instead of attacking again and again, both of them kept their attacks constant. Minutes after they had began their attack, they felt Astra become weaker.

Astra's body began to move slightly, as if it were becoming weak. Buffy and Jayden felt her shift some of her power from opening the Eye to defending herself. They felt her defenses strengthen but continued their own attack, trying not to give her any kind of rest.

Gwion and Octavian backed away from each other, circling one another, never taking their eyes off one another. Both had their swords at their sides, slightly raised, not trusting the other one. Both of them appeared to be fully rested, neither one winded. Both of them could see the other planning their next attack, still circling one another.

Gwion risked a glance to his left and saw the large orb had slowed its descent and watched as Astra's body wavered the slightest bit. Buffy and Jayden were standing on the opposite side of the pool from Astra, facing each other. He looked back at Octavian and smiled. "Astra is faltering, Octavian. She's apparently like you…she thought she was more powerful than the Slayer and the Hunter combined. Looks like she's learning the hard way."

"Don't count her out quite yet," the first vampire said. "There's help on the way."

Gwion saw the larger orb began to glow brighter and saw Astra's body straighten. He looked over Octavian's shoulder to see hundreds of vampires flow out of the main tunnel to attack his father, son, wife and the other Slayer.

He looked at Octavian and knew his expression betrayed the feeling in his stomach.

Fear.

The floating point of light that had form had changed from white to a bright red and had begun to expand. But, when it was halfway open, it stopped expanding and hung in midair.

Simon looked at Joseph. "What's wrong?"

"There's a battle going on at the Eye and not just with swords and fists. Someone is trying to open the Eye and someone is trying to keep it closed," Joseph explained, keeping his eyes closed. "It's hard trying to get the portal to open on the other side. There's a lot of mystical energy being released over there." He tilted his head to the side a little. "Get ready. You're going to be fighting the second you get there."

The entire group moved to the other side of the room, their weapons in their hands, ready to go through the portal. The point of light began to expand again until it was taller than Angel and the vampire moved to walk through.

"Wait," Joseph said, stopping anyone from walking through. "You're going to be on your own completely this time. I'm going to try to help seal the Eye, try to even the score. I can sense someone, or something, is trying to help whoever it is trying to open it. I'm going to help the ones who are trying to seal it."

Julian and Nathan led the others through the portal slowly. When they came out the other side, Angel had stepped a few feet away from it, waiting for their arrival. The scene before them froze them in place: a sword battle between what looked to be two gods, Buffy and Jayden standing in front of one another, their eyes closed, and hundreds of vampires pouring out of an opening with only four people facing them. They all looked up to see the large crystal orb descending toward the center of the room.

Elayne began to move toward the vampire on the other side of the pool, but Angel stopped her. "Buffy and Jayden are fighting their own battle. Stay clear of it." He looked at the remaining members of Joseph's team. "I hope you have plenty of those throwing stars." He nodded to the vampires running toward them. "We're going to need them. Fight in at least a group of two, do not become isolated. If you do, you're dead."

The vampires fell upon them fast and furious. Oz and Elayne hung back close to the portal, their crossbows armed and ready. Simon and Julian paired off and met the vampire attack with their own attack, dusting two vampires quickly. The vampires who attacked Angel and Nathan were momentarily confused to see what they believed to be one of their own ready to attack them. Four vampires fell to their swords before the others shook the confusion off and attacked.

Astra drew off some of the strength she was using to completely open the Eye to defend herself against the attack of the Slayer and the Hunter. She had been surprised at the strength of the two's combined attack. A feeling of resentment flowed through her when she had to take more strength from opening the Eye to protect herself. She'd been practicing magic for millennia and here they are showing more strength than she had possibly thought.

Even with the added strength to shield her, their combined attack continued to weaken her defenses. Trying something she thought they would not expect, she sent a fire pain attack spell at them, only to find it thrown back at her. Her defenses faltered for a second, the pain searing across her senses. She continued to weaken as Buffy and Jayden's attack continued, never ceasing.

Her link to the magic in the columns began to grow weaker and the large crystal orb's descent began to slow, almost to a stop.

No! Astra thought. She reached down into herself, drawing more of the power around her into herself, coming close to losing control of it. She channeled the energy that flowed into her toward her defenses, but surprisingly, it didn't help. The Slayer and the Hunter were hurling new and different attacks at her every time the previous one was through, as though they were learning new ways to attack her every second.

The latest attack hit her shields head on with fury. Her defenses faltered a little more and she began to weaken further. The next attack hit with more fury than the last and she almost lost control of her link with the magic of the Eye. Astra tried to draw more power into her from the pillars she touched, but she was near her limit to control what she already had.

Out of nowhere, a presence washed over her, its passing almost causing her to lose her grip on what she was trying to do. All of a sudden, power rushed through her, her defenses strengthened and her conjuring to open the Eye began in earnest again, the orb began its descent once more.

Do not worry, mystic, a voice said, in her head. We have waited for eons to return, we do not intend to wait any longer. More power flowed through her and she immediately used it to attack the Slayer and the Hunter, feeling elation when she felt their surprise at her renewed attack. Now, let's have a little fun.

Gwion's sword swung up in an arc, catching Octavian by surprise and sending him reeling backwards, away from the silver blade that came close to his chest. Octavian laughed. "That was close, Gwion. You almost had me."

Gwion stayed in his stance, his sword in front of him, ready for Octavian's next attack. "I would have thought you would have been practicing since the last time we faced each other," the Sidhe prince said. "But I can't seem to tell any difference in you."

"I think you're not getting it, brother," Octavian sneered. "We're both still here."

Gwion laughed and relaxed a bit. "I seem to remember the last time we fought, it took a little while for me to get where I wanted you. This time will be no different." Gwion smiled as he saw the rage in Octavian's eyes glow with renewed strength.

"I saw the look in your eyes a few minutes ago, Gwion," the vampire lord said, knowing the reaction it would evoke in his opponent. He didn't have to wait long. The expression on Gwion's face told him he had hit home. "It was fear, Sidhe. You know it and I know it. Your forces are being beaten back. My vampires are beginning to press your warriors to the limit."

Octavian risked a glance behind him. He smiled and motioned to the same direction to Gwion. The Sidhe prince looked in the direction Octavian motioned to and saw his father and his son were surrounded, fighting for their lives. The other Slayer and his mother were not far from them, both of them in the same situation.

But, as he and Octavian watched the battle at the opening, both of them saw a group of four people attack the vampires at the opening, killing several of them before the other vampires knew what was going on. Gwion smiled to see the tide slowly turning in that battle. He heard Octavian laugh and looked at his enemy.

The vampire lord was looking toward the center of the cavern and a look of triumph glinted in his eyes, replacing the rage from a few moments before. Gwion looked to see Astra standing strong, the pillars she was touching glowing brightly. Buffy and Jayden were now holding on to one another, both of them looking weak and frayed around the edges. The orb continued to descend to its smaller twin, it now being only a couple of feet from it.

Before Octavian could react, Gwion attacked, his sword slicing outward. The tip of the sword pierced Octavian's shoulder of his right arm, the one holding the sword. The tip came out the other side, smeared with blood. Octavian roared in pain, dropping his sword to the ground and almost falling to his knees. Before the vampire lord could make a move, Gwion gripped the hilt of his sword with both hands and wrenched the blade upward. Octavian roared in pain again as the blade ripped through his shoulder, cutting through bone and muscle.

Octavian grabbed his sword with his other hand and ran from Gwion, his right arm hanging useless at his side. The vampire lord tried to run past the Sidhe prince, but Gwion tripped him as he went by and Octavian fell in a heap, his sword cluttering across the floor away from him. His ruined arm cradled to him, Octavian began to crawl backwards, slowly. Gwion saw Octavian was trying to get to his sword. The Sidhe prince walked toward him, making Octavian crawl even faster.

Gwion smiled down at him. "You should have practiced."

Astra felt invigorated as more and more energy passed through her. The demon that had made itself known to her was taking care of the Slayer and the Hunter. They had latched onto one another under the assault of the demon's attack. Probably trying to draw strength from one another. How pathetic, Astra thought, concentrating on removing the last two wards between her and opening the Eye.

Very good, little one, the demon told her. It's about time Octavian found someone who knew what they were doing. Good help can be so hard to find.

Astra went ahead with her unraveling of one of the last two wards, only to find Buffy and Jayden were trying to block her. Their attack against her magic was weak to say the least and she batted it out of the way easily. The first of the last two wards crumbled away and she moved to the last ward, the orb hanging only a few inches from its smaller twin. Astra knew the last ward to be the strongest so she paused for a few seconds, to allow the demon's energy that flowed through her to restore her own strength.

She willed her eyes to open. She looked across the pool to see Buffy and Jayden in each other's arms, appearing to be under a great strain. Sweat dotted their foreheads and they looked ready to collapse. Astra saw movement on the other side of them and when she focused on it, she saw four vampires moving to attack the Slayer and the Hunter. When she saw nothing would stand in their way, she closed her eyes and began to unravel the lone remaining ward.

The four vampires had broken off from the group fighting at the main opening and were almost to Buffy and Jayden, their weapons gleaming in the light. The two in the front did not hear a lone Sidhe warrior creep up behind them and kill their two companions behind them. The two remaining vampires were almost to Jayden and Buffy when one of them vanished in a blaze of dust. The remaining vampire stopped, turned around slowly.

Alaryn smiled at him before he rammed his sword through the vampire's heart. When the silver of the blade touched the vampire's heart, it immediately combusted and the vampire exploded into a cloud of dust. Alaryn walked to Buffy and Jayden and when he was only a couple of feet from them, he turned around, his back to them. When Alaryn turned around, he saw another group of vampires walking toward him.

"Mind if I join you?"

Alaryn turned to see a young girl standing beside him, holding a fully loaded crossbow. She was also wearing a sash across her body, loaded with silver throwing stars. She looked at him and smiled. "I'm Elayne. Thought you might like some company."

"Alaryn," he said, smiling back at her. He turned to see the group of vampires almost upon them. "Welcome to my little party."

Alaryn's sword struck at the first vampire as Elayne used her crossbow to take out the other vamps that tried to get to Buffy and Jayden. Faith, Gwyneira and Llyr had made it to each other and finally begin to break through the huge number of vampires that had first came through the main opening. Nathan, Julian, and Angel were on the other side of the remaining large group of vampires and they were working their way towards them.

Buffy and Jayden's combined presence reeled under another attack by the powerful force that had began to help Astra when the vampire mystic had been close to collapse. The next attack that came almost destroyed the shield around them completely.

We're not going to be able to take much more of this, Jayden thought to Buffy. One or two more attacks like that and we're done for.

Their senses told them the giant orb was close to the smaller one and they both knew what happened when the two orbs merged. Buffy could sense Astra was attacking the last rune and was having a hard time trying to get rid of it. The powerful force sent another attack at them and pain shot across their senses, almost sundering their link to one another.

Take care of Astra, a voice said to them. I'll take care of what is attacking you.

Who is that? Jayden asked.

I'm a friend. You do your thing. Let me do mine. Just do not allow her to open the Eye, the voice said.

You heard the man, Buffy said. She felt Jayden agree and they both sent their senses toward the large orb, feeling the last ward that was wrapped around it weakening. The both sensed Astra's attack and began to fight it, strengthening the ward each time Astra weakened it further.

Astra felt the ward being strengthened and she instantly knew who was doing it. She waited to sense the demon attack the Slayer and the Hunter so she could continue her job unhindered. She waited for what felt to be an eternity and then flung out, What's wrong?!

The demon voice roared through her head and the energy it had been channeling through her suddenly stopped. Astra's presence immediately became overwhelmed. She had brought too much of the energy of the pillars she touched into herself. She had no way to control it now and it threatened to burn her to cinders.

Astra immediately drew all of her own power to her, trying to sever the link between her and the pillars. She wrapped her power around the energy channeling into her through her hands, trying to gradually close it off. But, it was no good. The power flowing into her continued to do so and she had no way to control it. Astra tried to divert it to unraveling the last ward, but still the power overran her.

She immediately felt the attack of Buffy and Jayden, pain searing across her senses. Just as before, they did not allow her any rest and they continued to attack. Her defenses down and with the power of the Eye flowing into her unchecked, Astra lost control of everything.

Astra opened her eyes and tried to pull her hands from the pillars. They wouldn't move. She looked across the pool again to see Buffy and Jayden still in each other's arms, but both standing strong, their eyes closed. The vampire mystic could almost see the power the two commanded by them. With those powers combined, it truly scared her.

Astra felt the power burning within her, her heart searing inside her chest. She felt the energy raging inside her trying to find a way out. She felt it begin to eat away at her, her heart being the first to go. She threw her head back and screamed, the sound of it filling the chamber. Light engulfed the vampire mystic and she screamed again as she vanished in a cloud of dust.

Gwion looked down at the creature he once called brother. Octavian still cradled his useless arm to him and Gwion could see the injured shoulder trying to knit itself together. Octavian had reached his sword but was still on the ground. The look of defeat appeared on Octavian's face and he looked up at Gwion.

The first vampire and the greatest vampire lord slowly got to his feet, his sword in his one surviving hand. He saw the last of his vampires cut down in front of the main opening and saw four new people he did not know enter the cavern. The one with the fiery hair stood out to him, he could see and feel the power she would eventually come to command and control.

Octavian saw three people walking toward him and Gwion, knowing two of them instantly as those he once knew as his father and Gwion's wife. The other radiated a power of her own and he guessed her to be the other Slayer. But, this one seemed to have a cloud of some kind over her…almost a sense of what could be considered dark and evil.

Too bad, he thought. She could have been a powerful ally. I could have corrupted a Slayer. Imagine how that would have gone over.

"It's over. And guess what?" the second Slayer said. "You lost."

Octavian laughed. "It would seem that you are right. I have lost." He laughed deeply. "I can't believe I, of all creatures, said that. But, it would seem to be true. Astra is dead and the Eye remains closed. My vampires here in the cavern are no more than dust on the floor. And I'm sure my vampires on the surface are meeting the same fate. Seems the tide has turned."

The vampire lord looked down at the sword in his hand and then back to Gwion. Llyr saw the look in his eyes and stepped forward a couple of steps. "Don’t, Morric. Surrender to us. You don't have to die. We can still try to help you."

Octavian looked at the Sidhe king and the others behind Gwion. He noticed one of his own was standing beside Llyr, his face still the face of a vampire. When the vampire felt Octavian's gaze, the ridges disappeared and the face of a man looked back at him. He looked at Gwyneira, standing just behind her husband and saw the expression on her face, wanting him to surrender.

"I am sorry, sweet Gwyna. I can't surrender anymore than you can join me willingly," Octavian said. He gripped his sword and surged forward, his sword swinging out in front of him.

Gwion struck like lightning, knocking Octavian's attack aside, causing him to drop his sword once again. The Sidhe prince brought his forearm up and struck Octavian across the face, dropping the vampire to his knees. Octavian looked up at Gwion.

Before Octavian could say anything, Gwion plunged his sword through Octavian's chest.

Octavian felt the sword pierce his heart, the silver in the blade itself immediately attacking, spreading out through his body like wildfire. The vampire lord saw images flash across his eyes and he knew he was truly dying. He felt the life force within him being destroyed quickly. He fell to his side and looked up at those standing above him.

The greatest vampire lord smiled…and exploded into dust.

Gwyneira moved to her husband, who hugged her to him. Llyr moved to his son and put his hand on Gwion's arm, showing the pride he had in his son. He looked back at the rest of the group who were standing near them. Tigrin had brought Willow, Xander and Aeron to the cavern to tell them the battle on the surface was over. The vampire ranks had been broken and only a few remained. The casualties on their side were higher than they first thought, but none of the Sidhe warriors had been killed.

The friends of the Slayer and the Hunter had been wounded but their wounds had been tended. But, the king of the Sidhe could see they were tired. He looked to his left to see the vampire and the group he had led into the battle, all of them looking uncomfortable in their surroundings. He looked at everyone not of his people and saw the same look on their faces.

"It will soon be over and we can leave," Llyr said to all of them. "The cavern of the Eye has given me the creeps before, too."

The younger people in the group looked at one another and began to laugh when what he said finally registered with them. Gwion laughed as Alaryn still looked at his grandfather with uncertainty; the young Sidhe couldn't believe what he said.

Llyr looked at his grandson and smiled. "What?"

"Um, I don't think he ever thought he'd hear a king say something has ever given him the creeps before," Oz said, standing beside Willow.

"You can say that again," Alaryn said, still surprised at what his grandfather had said. He looked to his left to see Faith looking toward the center of the cavern. "What is it?"

Faith ignored him and continued to stare at Buffy and Jayden. Alaryn didn't like the expression on her face and began to say something but Gwyneira touched his arm, stopping him.

Faith turned to find Alaryn looking at her. "What?"

"Just wanted to know if something was wrong."

"Nothing's wrong," Faith told him. "Like anyone would care if there were anything wrong."

Alaryn was about to say something else when a bright light flashed across the room. Everyone turned to see the large crystal orb had begun to fracture. They saw the smaller orb had also begun to crack. Fractures continued to appear in both orbs and more and more light spilled out.

"Look. The portal," Elayne said, from beside Angel and the other two men that had been introduced as Julian and Nathan.

The portal Angel and the others had used to join the battle began to grow smaller, becoming a twinkling light and finally fading away.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say that's not good," Xander said.

"You think?" asked Aeron from beside him.

The orbs are close to fracturing, a voice said in all of their heads. Once they completely fracture, the Eye will be sealed forever. But, when they do, there's going to a very big explosion.

"Would someone mind tell me who that is?" Faith said. "Or am I the only one hearing voices?"

"That's Joseph," Nathan said. "He's the one who opened the portal we used to get here. He's back in Sunnydale."

"He's using the Tear, isn't he?" Gwyneira asked.

Julian looked at her, surprise written on his face. "Yes, he is. How did you know?"

There is no time for that now, Joseph's voice said. Buffy and Jayden have their own defenses to protect them when the orbs finally fracture.

"We understand," Llyr said out loud. "Gwion, Gwyneira, Alaryn, you know what we must do. Everyone, gather to us."

The others looked at one another, unsure at first, but then moved to stand as close as they could to the Sidhe royalty. When they were as close as they could get without being uncomfortable, the four Sidhe joined hands and closed their eyes. The others saw the air around them begin to shimmer and then an opaque shield solidified around them.

"Look!" Willow exclaimed, pointing to the center of the cavern.

Both orbs were heavily fractured, with light pouring out. They could see the liquid crystal churning, waves hitting the sides of the pool and splashing out. The pillars around the pool ceased to glow and began to crumble. The parts of the pillars that hung over the liquid crystal broke off and fell into the pool. The rest of the pillars crumbled to the floor. The larger pillars around the wall of the cavern went through the same, falling apart and falling in large chunks to the cavern floor.

A thunderous sound, like the breaking of glass, echoed through the chamber as the orbs completely fractured. A flash of light burned across the cavern and the force of the explosion knocked everyone off their feet.

Angel opened his eyes to see the shield around them had held, but he couldn't see anything passed it due to the dust that had been thrown into the air. He got to his feet and tried to walk toward the last place he saw Buffy, but the shield stopped him.

Angel felt a hand on his arm and looked to see Gwyneira standing beside him. Gwion and Alaryn were helping the others to their feet behind them. Gwyneira saw the expression on Angel's face and didn't say a word. She looked back toward the center of the cavern and held her hand out. The dust began to swirl and to clear. Minutes later, the dust had been settled.

Gwyneira reached out further and her hand touched the shield, which immediately vanished. Angel hurried across the chamber, avoiding the rubble from the pillars and parts of the cavern's ceiling that had fallen in the explosion. The others quickly followed him.

Angel found Buffy and Jayden on the cavern floor, a few feet away from where they had been standing beside the pool. Jayden had thrown himself on top of Buffy to shield her from falling debris. But, as soon as Angel tried to touch them, he found their shield to still be intact.

Jayden opened his eyes and raised his head slowly. When he saw Angel standing over him, Angel saw the shield shimmer and fall away. The vampire helped the Hunter to his feet but saw Buffy hadn't opened her eyes and wasn't moving. Angel reached down and drew her to him, cradling her in his arms.

"She's exhausted," Jayden explained, as everyone else finally got to them. "We figured out how to crack those orbs and we went at it, full force. We had to attack both of them from different angles…and don't ask me to explain it because I couldn't even begin to describe it. You'll just have to take my word for it." Jayden slowly got to his feet, wobbling the whole time. Tigrin moved to his side and put his arm around the Hunter's waist, just in case Jayden collapsed.

Llyr looked at the Hunter and said, "I don't think Buffy is the only one who's exhausted."

Jayden smiled. "I don't know what you're talking about. I feel-" The Hunter's head lolled to the side. Gwyneira smiled as Gwion moved to take Jayden from Tigrin. Angel gently picked Buffy up from the floor as a bright light appeared. Tigrin gave Jayden to Gwion and moved to stand in front of the group and the light grew larger. Seconds later, three people appeared.

Elayne yelled out and ran to the tallest form and jumped into his arms. "We won, Joseph!"

Llyr moved to stand just in front of Tigrin and Joseph led Andrew and Trevor to the large group. Joseph stopped a few feet from Llyr and looked at him for a few seconds. Then, Joseph bowed. "Your Majesty."

Llyr walked to stand directly in front of Joseph. "So, you controlled the Tear."

Joseph nodded. "Yes, I did."

Gwyneira moved to Llyr's side. "You know what this means, Your Majesty."

Llyr smiled. "Yes, I do." He hugged Joseph to him. "Welcome home."

Everyone else looked at the exchange with confusion written on their faces. Llyr released Joseph and turned to those behind him. He saw their expressions and laughed. "I'll explain later. We need to get Buffy and Jayden back to our home."

Joseph looked at Llyr with awe in his eyes. "You mean Dun Taryllian?"

Llyr nodded. "Yes, our oldest home here on this world. Come, all of you. All of you need rest. And when you are fully recovered, we will celebrate as we have never celebrated before. Tigrin, return to the castle where the Slayer, the Hunter, and their friends were staying. Bring their Watchers as soon as you can." He started to lead all of them to the main opening. "We have a party to get to."

Jayden was walking down one of the hallways to the main hall when he came upon Buffy. When he first saw her, he thought she was looking at something on the wall but when he finally reached her, he found she was looking into a large doorway. She didn't acknowledge his presence so he looked through the doorway to find out what had her attention.

What he saw amazed him.

The room beyond was not a room. It was a large cavern, but unlike any cavern he had ever seen. The walls seemed to make of pure diamond that reflected the tiniest spark. He could see what appeared to be water in the middle of the cavern and there was some kind of island in the middle of it.

Buffy walked into the cavern, leaving Jayden in the doorway. Buffy looked down to see a small walkway had been laid to the edge of the water and looked around the cavern. Three small waterfalls fed the small area of water in the room, one to her right, one to her left and the other on the other side of the small island. At the end of the walkway, a small bridge led from the small shore to the small island. Flowers bloomed on both sides of the walkway all the way to the walls to Buffy's right and left.

She knelt down beside a growth of red flowers and touched them with her hand. She immediately felt peace and relaxation flow over her and she took her hand from the flower. She stood and continued on toward the edge of the water.

By the time she reached the walkway, Jayden had caught up with her. He looked around the cavern with a look of wonder and bumped into Buffy when she stopped at the walkway, not crossing it. Jayden looked at the small island in the middle of the small lake in the cavern and saw what Buffy was looking at.

The island was larger than it looked with a table and two chairs sitting at the edge of it on their left, a low sitting bench in the middle and flowers surrounding both of them. And on the right side of the island…

Buffy crossed the walkway slowly with Jayden following beside her. When she reached the island, they found a small walkway had been laid to the right side of the island, but only a couple of feet wide. They walked along the small walkway slowly, finally stopping in front of what completely held their attention.

Two headstones stood side by side, one made of diamond and the other sapphire. Both of the stones had been shaped into hearts and were joined together on the mutual sides. The one made of diamond held the name 'Alara' and the one made of blue sapphire held the name 'Gregory'. Below the names, an image hung suspended in the stones themselves. Both Buffy and Jayden had seen the images before, in the paintings in the main hall.

"Both of them loved this cavern," a voice said behind them.

Buffy and Jayden turned to see Gwyneira and Alaryn standing on the walkway looking at them and Etayn walking toward them. When she reached them, she stood between them and put one arm around each of them.

The queen of the Sidhe looked down at the two headstones and Buffy and Jayden both saw the tears appear in her eyes. "They loved one another so much, it hurt many people who knew them to look at them. Those people knew they would never know a love such as theirs. I still expect to see them walking down the hallways here or into the hall when we have a gathering. And when the two of you appeared with Gwion and Gwyneira, I thought they had truly returned."

"Gwyneira, Alaryn and I brought their bodies back here after they fell in battle," Etayn told them. "Donal fashioned the headstones, diamond for the glint in Alara's eyes he always said he saw and the blue sapphire for the pure color of Gregory's eyes and for the emotion that betrayed his feelings for Alara each time he looked at her. They have laid here since the day they fell, here in the cavern they loved."

Tears began to fall down her cheeks and Jayden wiped them away gently. She hugged him as Gwyneira and Alaryn joined them. Alara's twin brother looked down upon her grave, tears also in his eyes. Buffy moved to his side and his arm automatically went around her, pulling her to him. She held him as his tears fell and the link between them was truly forged.

Gwyneira caught Buffy and Jayden's attention and motioned them to lead them back toward the hallway. Carefully, Jayden turned himself and Etayn and led her toward the walkway, his arms still around her. Buffy did the same thing with Alaryn. They reached the hallway and the sounds of the celebration taking place echoed down to them. With Gwyneira leading them, they walked toward the main hall to join their friends, who they considered family, in the celebration of their hard-earned victory and the end of the long war between Octavian and the Sidhe.

Sunnydale High School Library:

Jayden shut the back doors of the Tahoe and turned to look at Buffy. Their Watchers and their friends were talking to one another next to the vehicle, smiling and laughing. The last rays of sunlight disappeared and Jayden knew Angel would be showing up soon.

Buffy looked at him and said, "I can't believe you have to go now. I was hoping we'd have more time to actually get to know each other and each other's friends before you left again. From what Aeron told Willow, you need to take about a six-month vacation."

"Can't," the Hunter replied, smiling and walking back up on the sidewalk. "But, I do intend to take things a little slower for the next month or two. So, you don't have to worry too much. And I'm sure Aeron will torment me to take it easy for awhile, so you don't have to worry too much."

Buffy laughed. But her laughed was cut short by the kiss Jayden planted on her. When Jayden backed off, they both looked at their friends, seeing all of them still talking and not noticing what they were doing.

Buffy looked up at Jayden with a question in her eyes. Jayden saw it and smiled down at her. "I know you and Angel are together. But, if anything should ever happen…look me up."

Buffy was about to say something back to him but saw Angel walking toward them over Jayden's shoulder. Jayden shook the vampire's hand. "Take it easy, Angel," the Hunter said. "Simon told me what you, him and the others who were here with you went through. Sounds like you had an adventure yourself."

"You could say that," the vampire said, as Simon walked up to them.

Simon handed Angel a small, long, narrow object. "I think you might want this. We forgot to use it…all the excitement, I suppose."

Angel smiled and put the object in his coat pocket. "I'll take care of that tonight."

Simon gripped Angel's hand firmly in his own. "I'll stand beside you at any time. All you have to do is ask." He released Angel's hand and walked to the other side the vehicle, getting in. Xander and Willow were still talking to Aeron, who had already gotten into the vehicle and was talking to them through the open window. William was standing with the front passenger door open, talking to Giles. Jayden watched his Watcher get in the vehicle and shut the door.

"Well, I think that's my cue to leave," the Hunter said. He looked at Buffy. "I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again."

"Yeah, maybe it won't be as stressful," Jayden laughed, walking to the driver side and getting in. All of them watched the Tahoe pull away and watched its brake lights disappear when it rounded the corner at the end of the street.

"There you all are," a voice said, behind them.

All of them looked to see Cordelia, in a cheerleading practice uniform, walking out of the front door of the school. "Where have you people been?"

"Well, Cordy, it involved saving the world and putting our lives on the line," Xander told her. "We just thought you were too self-absorbed to be of any help."

Cordelia just looked at him with disdain. "Whatever." She looked at the rest of the gang. "The story was all of you were on some kind of cultural trip or something that sounded just as boring. It didn't have anything to do with the History Club, did it? I'm still mad because that company didn't take my hat back after that Aztec whatever-it-was showed up here a few weeks ago."

"Trust me, Cordelia," Buffy said, walking toward the school. "This was way worse than the Aztec thing. But, next time we have a situation that involves the world being saved with a facial, you'll be the first person we call."

Not giving Cordelia any time to come back with something, Buffy and her friends walked away, leaving the cheerleader frustrated. Cordelia just stomped her foot and walked toward the parking lot.

Minutes later, all of them were in library around their familiar table when Oz asked, "Where's Faith?"

"I don't know. I told her what time Jayden and the others were leaving. I guess something else came up," Buffy answered.

"What about Joseph and the others?" Willow asked. "And Andrew and Trevor?"

"Joseph and the others left yesterday," Angel answered. "They were asked to return to the Order's main holding for the services for David and Tara. After that, I have no idea. I'm sure something will have to be done concerning the Tear, but that may take awhile. But, I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again, too. Just like Jayden said about us seeing them."

"Andrew and Trevor stayed with Richard," Giles explained. "With Reginald dead, along with most of the Council, they're going to help him get things in order with the new Council and then Andrew will return here. Seems Richard has a few new ideas about 'on-the-job' training, I suppose. And I'm sure Trevor will be staying in Britain for a long while. He seemed somewhat rattled after everything happened."

Buffy suddenly remembered something and looked at Angel. "What was that thing Simon gave you?"

Angel smiled and reached into his coat pocket. He laid a small black object on the table in front of all of them. Xander looked at him and asked, "What does it do?"

"It sets off a bang," Angel replied. He slid it toward the young teen. "Go ahead. Push the button."

Xander picked the object up off the table and saw the button Angel was referring to. He placed his thumb over it and pushed.

Immediately, they all felt the vibrations and sound of rumbling came from under them. All of them looked at Angel, who had a smile on his face.

Giles was laughing. He looked at Angel. "The Master's cavern?"

Angel nodded and smiled. "Yeah. It went out with a bang."

The woman was sitting at one of the long tables in the library when she heard the door open behind her. She continued to study the book in front of her, her right hand still writing on the paper beside the book. She heard the door shut and she laid her pen down.

"It's good to see you again, Joseph," she said, standing up and turning to him.

Joseph bowed. "As it is good to see you again, Archon."

"I heard about David and Tara. I'm sorry. I wish I could have known them and I know you have requested to bring them here many times, but you know that could not happen."

She could see the pain in his eyes when he thought of the two young members of his team he lost in battle. "I know you tried to help them as much as you could, but even your healing powers-"

"I was using the Tear," Joseph interrupted.

The Archon's eyes widened. "What? That's impossible!"

"It survived the Cataclysm and I found it. Actually I was led to it," Joseph explained. "There's something else. The Eye has been sealed…permanently."

"The Slayer and the Hunter-" The Archon broke off in midsentence when she saw the answer on Joseph's face. "We have to be certain. Are you-"

"It's completely sealed. The Hunter and the Slayer rejoined that which was sundered, in themselves and in the Eye. You know what this means."

The Archon sat down again and Joseph moved to stand beside her chair. He watched as his mother sat thinking for a few moments.

"We have to make certain everything that is supposed to happen has happened. Call a meeting of the Scholars for tomorrow morning. We need to get them to research everything we have and what we don't have concerning the Restoration." She looked up at her son. "And get some rest. I know the journey here is a long and hard one. How long do you have?"

"A week," Joseph answered. "I wish it were longer, but I have to get back to Julian, Nathan and Elayne. We have work to do."

"Yes, I'm afraid you do. Go on. Tell Mertryn and have him make sure the Scholars are here tomorrow morning, two hours before noon." When Joseph didn't move to leave, his mother looked at him. "Is there something else?"

"I have been to Dun Taryllian."

The Archon looked at her son with disbelief. "By the gods. Is it possible? No, that's not important. Of course it's possible." She smiled, a look of wonder in her expression. "Is it as incredible as the legends say it is?"

"Even more."

The Archon sat back in her chair, a smile gleaming on her face. "Go on and get some rest, Joseph. We will talk again of this before you leave." She laughed. "I want to know everything!"

Joseph smiled, kissed his mother's cheek and left the room. The Archon closed the book she had been studying and returned its place on the shelf just to the right of the table she had been sitting at.

She turned around and leaned her back against the shelf. "The Restoration."

"Gods help us all."