Xia #6 Kindred Spirits

XIA #6: Kindred Spirits Search:The WebAngelfire Report Abuse � Previous | Top 100 | Next � share: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | furl | facebook

From alt.drwho.creative, it's Crossover Internet Adventure #3: Doctor Who / Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Kindred Spirits

Contains: Chapter 1: "The Prodigal Sub"* by Rebecca Dowgiert Chapter 2: "Staff Outing"* by David Robinson Chapter 3: "Conniption Fitz" by K. Michael Wilcox Chapter 4: "Dimensional Anomaly" by Aron Toman Chapter 5: "24 Hours Later..." by Julian Eales Chapter 6: "Missing Time" by John Seavey Chapter 7: "Thrown to the Wolves" by John Seavey *This chapter was originally untitled.

Chapter One: The Prodigal Sub by Rebecca Dowgiert No one noticed the blue box right away. That could have had something to do with the fact that it had landed in the school library. No one ever went in *there*. Well, no one except for Giles's little gang. It was between school periods when it arrived, and the Librarian was out much of the day on an errand picking up some 'important reference books for the library' from a certain antiques dealer in nearby Carver City, so the sudden appearance of the blue cabinet went unnoticed as it shimmered rather noisily into existence in a shadowed corner behind the book stacks on the mezzanine. No one saw the figures who slipped out, then made their way out of the school. About 11:50 am, a red-headed girl with a sweet freckle-speckled face cracked open the library's wooden doors and peeked within. No one. The doors creaked gently on their hinges as she quietly departed. Buffy Summers adjusted her backpack and strode through the Library doors, slinging the too-full (in her opinion) bag onto the polished table before folding herself into a chair and stretching luxuriously. "You sure he wanted to meet us today?" "Thought so. He had some errand to run; getting some new books or something. Said he'd be back right after school." Buffy completed her stretch and returned to her normal length. "New books?" Her friend's face lit up.

"Old books, actually." Buffy punctuated that with a yawn. "You know how Giles is." She glanced peremptorily around the dusty room. "No books more recent than, say, fifteen-hundred. I'm pretty certain he pays for them out of his own pocket." "Oh." Willow sounded disappointed. Then she perked herself up with an effort. "Well, I'm sure the school board will give him some money to buy books *next* year..." She trailed off momentarily. "...after we've graduated." "Brave heart," Buffy smiled, resisting the urge to pat her best friend on the shoulder. "There's a *whole* world of books out there, waiting to be read by you." "Brave heart?" Willow looked bemused. "You know. The movie. Scottish hunks? Being brave?" Ah. A Buffy joke. Willow wrinkled her nose in a smile. That was when the library doors *crashed* open. Buffy got an impression of dark green, chestnut curls, a head with short-cropped blonde hair, a dark-haired man on one side... outflung limbs, gasps, wide-eyed looks-All that in the few seconds as she leapt to her feet, every fighting instinct flaring. Sanctuary, Invasion-No. Not an attack. Just a staggering shape, being supported by two people. Willow was gawping next to her. "Help us!" one of the two supporters gasped. "He's hurt!" The blonde. Not much older than her and Willow. British accent. Friend of Giles? The other helper, seemingly in his twenties, merely grunted. The person they were helping said nothing, head lolling, red-brown curls bobbing. He was dressed in dark green velvet. Buffy saw the trickle of blood down the man's neck. Too dark. Then his face rolled aside, affording her a clear look. She sighed inwardly. It was that mysterious 'Doctor Young'. The Substitute Hunk, among the nicknames that diversion-seeking Sunnydale High girls had given him the last time he'd been here. It was going to be another typical Sunnydale day. Which meant basically that all hell would break loose. More, now that *he* was here... Then she and Willow were on their feet, helping the two strangers maneuver the Time Lord to a chair. He sat down limply, barely responsive. "We should get him into the TARDIS. Maybe she'll know what to do..." The blonde bit her lip, about to haul the rumpled man to his feet again. He was muttering faintly. "What happened to him?" Buffy asked the blonde intently. The man looked up. "Blood loss...or maybe poisoned. We're not sure exactly what happened after he was kidnapped...." Also British, his words said with a trace of defiance. This sort of thing was nothing new to him, nor to his friend, who was trying to get a response from their wounded friend. Upset, but not panicking. Different companions from the last time the 'Time Lord' known as the Doctor had visited their friendly little town, but still kindred spirits. Used to Weirdness. What had happened to Wil Young? "Damn. Giles would probably know what to do," Buffy muttered. "Maybe you should--" And it was with exquisite timing that Giles the next moment staggered through the library doors, clutching a large cardboard box piled high with old leather-bound books. He paused, blinking at the scene before him. "Oh *dear*," he muttered, before plunking the box down on the rarelyused check-out counter near the door, raising clouds of dust as he hurried to help.

The Doctor came alive as they stretched him out on top of the library table so that Giles could employ the first-aid kit. His eyes snapped open, that startling blue, then his mouth. He frowned. Five anxious faces peered down at him. Then a sixth, as a dark-haired lad he vaguely remembered appeared, blinked, and said "Having a rough day, I see." That extra head disappeared. "Sam..." the Doctor said, still frowning. "Why am I lying here?" "Vampires," she said, matter-of-factly. "Probably." "Oh. Are we in San Francisco?" "No. Sunnydale." "Oh... Oh, *yes*!" He tried to sit up in his enthusiasm, and several hands reached out to help. He smiled around at his friends, his own hand going to the wound on his neck, a small ragged gash surrounded by a purplish ring of mottled bruising, the blood already drying. He inadvertently glanced up at Sam and saw the expression on her face. "Sam... I'm all right," he said gently, in answer to her unspoken concern, and dark memories. She didn't quite reach for the small scar that was no longer there on her own neck. "Are you sure?" Willow inquired. "You were pretty out of it." "Yes, a vampire bite is nothing to dismiss," practical Giles said, reaching forward with cotton and peroxide. The Doctor let him minister, taking on a distracted expression. "That's just it. It wasn't a vampire who attacked me." "Sure looks like a vampire did that," Buffy said matter-of-factly. "Several men grabbed him while we were in the center of town," said Sam's friend. Buffy and Giles exchanged worried glances. Not vampires it was still a fully sunny day. Humans, coerced into supplying the local vamp larder? "And...?" Xander prompted. "Someone had ordered out for lunch, and you were the special of the day?" The slim, self-assured blonde and her friend (boyfriend?) glanced at each other as the Doctor smiled. The girl was amused, Xander noticed with satisfaction. Now if only he could be sure that she was laughing *with* him, not *at* him. "We followed them to a warehouse on the edge of town, but couldn't get inside right away." Boyfriend's tone of voice was matter-of-fact, a dry recounting of what would have been frantic minutes. "When we did, we found just him lying there, half-dead, and brought him back here..." Now that the immediate panic was over, they were relaxing, taking stock of one another. "Oh, my manners," the Doctor tutted. "Sam, Fitz, this is Rupert Giles, Willow Rosenberg, and Buffy Summers." There was a *cough* from behind the figures surrounding him. "Oh..." The Doctor leaned to peer around Sam. "Hullo, Xander! These are Sam Jones and Fitz Kreiner, my friends." Xander flashed his most charming, schmarmy smile. "Well, any friends of the Doctor are friends of mine." Sam wasn't even looking at him. Sam tilted her head. "So, which one of you is the 'vampire slayer'?" she asked, a hint of challenge in her tone. Buffy smiled, half-raising her hand. "That'd be me," she said, lightly. "Show me a vampire; I slay it." Sam swept a somewhat skeptical glance up and down Buffy's capri and tank-top clad form, at her hair swept up in untidy glamour in a plastic clip. Perhaps the Doctor's friend had been expecting 'Ripley' from _Aliens_, or something.

Then again, most people didn't believe that Buffy Summers, one-time Ditz, could fight her way out of a shopping bag the first time they met her. They learned. His neck wound cleaned and dressed, leaving Buffy with the definite impression of 'hicky', the Doctor sat on the edge of the library table and beamed as he tugged up the collar of his white, white shirt. That was when she realized he was wearing *exactly* the same clothes he'd had the last time he'd been here. She frowned. "What do you remember, Doctor?" Giles asked. "I remember being grabbed.... We went to a warehouse near the docks. There were a number of... well, I wouldn't call them *people*..." Giles smiled slightly as he adjusted his glasses. "Indeed not." "I know a Delphighnin when I see one." "A *what*sit?" Xander. "A Delphighnin. From the Derobus Cluster." There was a short silence. Giles opened his mouth to speak, then paused, his face crinkled in bemusement. "You're saying we have more 'aliens'. Here in Sunnydale." The Doctor shrugged. "You can't expect to be sitting on top of an anomaly like *this* one..." Here he gestured, his hand moving in a fluid gesture that managed to include the entire library and what lay below. "...And not expect it to... attract things." "Like us," Fitz muttered to Sam. "Yes, but *demons*. Vampires... not, not..." The Doctor tilted his head as he peered owlishly at the librarian. "Yes, well... all right," Giles concluded reluctantly. "What do these 'Delphighnins' want?" "*That*," the Doctor declared, waggling an index finger, "is a very good question." His next comment had them all staring at him. "I believe they want... vampires."

Chapter Two: Staff Outing by David Robinson A little while later. The Time Lord, the Slayer and the Watcher were still in the Library. Two of them were still talking about possible motives that the enemy could have for its actions, what they should be doing about it and how nice the tea was. The third was watching, thinking that perhaps she should have gone to the Bronze with all the others. After it became obvious that there was no immediate threat, and that there wasn't really anything they could do at the moment anyway, Buffy had insisted that Willow and Xander should go, and take the Doctor's friends with them. Buffy made an obvious display of looking at her Pokemon watch, yawned loudly and interrupted the conversation. "So what you guys are saying is that we have no idea what's going on, or what to do about it?" They both looked at her with an almost identical 'well yes' look on their faces. "So shouldn't we go and find some clues or something?"

"Buffy does have a point Doctor." The Doctor rubbed at the wound on his neck. "Yes, yes, I should go back to the warehouse and have a look around." Giles stood up and walked over to the check-out counter. "Yes. Buffy why don't you go along with the Doctor? I'll try and follow up a few contacts that may have some information." "Sounds like a plan, major lacking in detail, but a plan nonetheless." Buffy linked arms with the Doctor and they walked out of the library and into the golden Sunnydale afternoon. The Doctor waved a little silver rod at the window. The rod seemed to make a slight humming noise, and the window popped open. The Doctor insisted that is was a very simple piece of technology, the workings of which were easily explained by a few scientific principles. Buffy believed him, but decided to think of it as a 'magic unlocking wand' anyway. The Doctor gave Buffy a leg-up and she slipped in through the window. She hit the ground on the other side and landed in a crouch, aware of green velvet landing beside her. The warehouse was empty. Completely. The late afternoon sunlight was streaming in through embarrassingly clean windows; the floor was perfectly spotless concrete. The Doctor was looking around. "I've seen a lot of warehouses in my time, but there is normally at least *something* in them. People are normally hiding something, or themselves." "This place looks brand new." Buffy walked slowly across the floorspace. The Doctor had stopped and was examining a spot of floor that looked amazingly like the rest of the floor. "Found something?" she asked after failing to see what is was that had the Time Lord's attention. "Nothing at all." "Something missing?" "Yes." He looked up. "This is about where I was lying when the others found me. But there're no blood stains." "Why do I get the feeling that someone is trying to keep us busy while they do something else?" The Doctor stood up and looked at Buffy. "Because this is exactly the sort of thing that happens everyday and you have developed an acute awareness for this sort of thing. The question is where is it that whoever it is doesn't want us to be?" Most people were at the Bronze, that being one of the very few places to go in Sunnydale. There were a few there that you wouldn't call people, but they tended to mind there own business so no one was bothered. Willow & Oz, Xander & Cordelia, Sam & Fitz were all there. They were generally chatting and getting to know each other better. There wasn't really anything much happening in the place, but the it was still early. "So," Xander was saying, "have you know the Doctor long?" He was asking them both but only looking at Sam. "Four and a bit years, on and off." Sam decided that short, accurate, but not very informative answers were the order of the day. "How long have you guys known him for?" "Oh, he was here about two years ago," Willow replied. "Where and when are you two from anyway?" Oz this time.

Sam smiled. She liked this question. "Well, that depends. What year is it?" "1998, October," said Oz. "Hmmm," Sam thought out loud, "that would mean I'm due to meet the Doctor in about a month." Sam saw the brief flash on puzzlement cross their faces. "Yeah, and I meet him about 30 years ago." Fitz said, as if it happened every day. "I'm going to get a drink. Anyone want anything?" It was now dark, and that meant Buffy was on call. Buffy and the Doctor had left the warehouse and its complete lack of any leads to follow, and they were now heading back to the Bronze to meet the others. They just happened to be taking the dark back lanes, which Sunnydale seemed to have in large quantities. Neither of them was surprised when three nasty looking vampires came charging around the corner and straight for them. Buffy had produced a stake from wherever she had been carrying it. She took a step forward and with her left hand motioned the Doctor to hold back. The Doctor pressed something into her hand. Something cool and metallic. She glanced at it, not taking her eyes away from the oncoming vampires. In her left hand was a solid silver quarter staff, each end sharpened to a lethal looking point. How had the Doctor fitted this into his pocket? Choices, choices, pointy wooden stick, or point sliver staff of death. She dropped the stake. The staff spun in a sliver blur and pieced the first vampire before he was close enough to touch her. The other two skidded to a stop, suddenly somewhat uncertain this had been such a good idea. They turned on their heels and ran, so Buffy threw the staff at them, javelin style. She got them both, and they were temporarily skewered to the wall before they both exploded in a puff of ash. The Doctor picked up the dropped stake, while Buffy retrieved her new favorite weapon. "Nice toy." She said looking at it more closely. At about the middle there was a small dimple, but otherwise it was a single, seamless piece of metal. "Do you always carry this around?" "Only when I happen to be in a town that's infested with vampires." Buffy touched the dimple with her thumb. With a small sound that was somewhere between flowing water and clockwork the staff shrunk (folding? flowing?) down to about the size of a ball point pen. The Doctor grinned a Buffy. "Keep it if you like; it's not my type of thing." Fitz had detoured towards the men's room before heading to the bar. It had taken a little while just to find the men's room but eventually he had. It was as he was coming back out that he realized he was being followed. Followed wasn't the right word, because the person following him hadn't moved, they were watching, very carefully. He headed towards the bar while trying to work out what he should do. Don't let on that you know your being watched. Act casual. Get your drink, go back to the others, tell them about it. His plan would have worked if he had left out the 'get your drink' part. On the third floor of a low rise office building two of the Delphighnin were trying to solve the puzzle. They knew that the artefact they were

looking for was in this town. They just didn't know were it was or, for that matter, what it looked like. The only clue they had was three scraps of pale green plastic. Pages from a long lost ancient text, apparently. A third Delphighnin entered the room. "The Doctor went back to the warehouse," ey said. "Did he?" replied the taller of the two. "He wasn't supposed to do that." "Perhaps the information we have about him isn't accurate," said the other. The taller one was tapping eir lips in thought. "The warehouse was clean?" "Nothing left, not a single trace." "We will simply have to deal with him later." "You know what I really hate about this job?" Buffy asked the Doctor, not really expecting an answer. The Doctor thought about it for a moment as they continued on their stroll. "The way that the friends you meet are willing to put their lives on the line for you." How does he do that, she thought to herself. "More people you've got to protect." The Doctor stopped, grabbed Buffy be the shoulder and spun her around to look at him. "Your friends are not a curse! They're good people. They know what they're in for. They believe in you, and it's their belief that makes *you* strong." Buffy blinked a tear from her eye. "And what happens if they get hurt and you can't save them?" The Doctor's eyes seemed to change colour, they were a dark grey. "I do everything I can, and if that is not enough I do more." He blinked, the spell was broken, and strangely Buffy felt just a little better. Sam was having a good time. The new people she had meet were nice, friendly, good people. They dealt with the same kind of stuff the she did every day. It was good to be able to talk about it. She had been told stories about vampires, demons, and all sorts of other monsters. The Doctor was standing behind her. She wasn't sure how long he had been there, but she could just feel that he was there now. "Hello everyone." He said casually, then leaned down and asked Sam, "Where's Fitz?" She was just thinking the same thing. "He went to the bar about half and hour ago, hasn't come back yet." She paused. "Do you think he's in trouble?" "Normally I'd say no, but as there are about six Delphighnin here, I'm just a little bit doubtful." Buffy raised an eyebrow. "What, here?" The Doctor nodded carefully. Sam scanned the room, but couldn't spot anyone out of the usual. "How about number 14?" the Doctor asked Sam. Sam grinned and then said, "But I left the rubber chicken in the TARDIS." Which left the others wondering just what 'number 14' was. Oz was the only one to smile (well almost smile). "Oh well, then I'll just have to improvise." And before anyone could ask, he reached out and grabbed a suddenly startled kid (15, 16 tops, Buffy thought) that had been standing near by.

With all the seriousness the Doctor could muster he said; "Take me to your leader, please."

Chapter Three: Conniption Fitz by K. Michael Wilcox The Doctor held the struggling boy by the collar of his Diamondbacks T-shirt. "Take me to your leader, please." "I dunno what you're talking about!" the boy shouted, drawing more than a few stares. Buffy looked at the gangly youth, but she couldn't see anything odd about him. He was fairly plain, but not suspiciously so, any more than the kid in the Brewers T-shirt standing by the stairs. Or the one standing at the door in his Padres shirt. Or the two over there wearing Rockies and Marlins... "Why didn't anyone tell me," Xander said, "it was National League Shirt Night?" Buffy smiled and tilted her head toward the alien boy. "Next time you and your friends want to remain inconspicuous, try shopping at different stores." "Or at least somewhere stylish," Cordelia interjected. "I rather think," the Doctor said, "that the shirts were probably thrown in by whoever sold the Delphighnin their human suits." At the mention of his race, the boy stopped struggling. At the same time, the others began winding through the crowd toward them. "Umm, guys?" Willow said. "Perhaps now would be a good time to leave?" "I'm for it," Oz said as he gently squeezed Willow's hand. The Doctor's friend, Sam, glanced toward the door. "There're more waiting by the exit." Buffy looked around, but their table had been too central. A dozen or so Delphighnin, who were now thumby in the sorest way, had them surrounded. "We're trapped," she admitted. Mro set the page down to rub eir eyes, and it immediately curled back up. "Are you okay?" Leri asked. "We have been backward and forward through this human writing, and I still can't even begin to think what sort of code it's in." Ey tried to shake eir head, but Leri immediately reached out and grabbed it. "That," ey said, "is why we need this Rupertgiles person." The office door opened and a Delphighnin entered, still wearing eir disguise. "We have the human," ey said. "You're sure it's this Rupertgiles?" Mro asked. "He is human; we did a bioscan this time," the newcomer said, receiving approving almost-nods from the others. "He was with the children, and he had the described vocal impediment. Just in case, though, most of the observers are still at the Bronze." "And this human?" "He's downstairs in the trunk of the Buick." "Well, blindfold him and bring him in," Leri instructed. The disguised Delphighnin left. "I'm hungry," Mro complained. "There're still the vampires we captured earlier." "No, thank you. The last one gave me the most horrible indigestion."

Fitz Kreiner was not enjoying himself. Being kidnapped and left in a car boot was bad enough. Even worse, since he hadn't been able to get away from Sam all day, he was still out of smokes and his lighter was in the TARDIS. He was about to burst into another round of profanities when he heard movement outside the car. At least two sets of footprints were coming closer, and someone was jangling keys. Fitz twisted into as close as he could get to a crouching position, ready to surprise his attackers by leaping out as soon as the boot lid was opened. The moment he saw a sliver of night, he leaped. However, instead of going forward, he bounded straight up and slammed the back of his head on the lid and knocked himself out. Sam put her hand on the Doctor's shoulder. "Forget it, Doctor," she said. "Let him go." Reluctantly, the Doctor released the Delphighnin. It scampered back to its comrades, who faded back into the crowd until Sam couldn't see more than one or two. "That was fruitful," Oz deadpanned. "Mildly so, yes," the Doctor said. "Have we met? I'm the Doctor." "Oz." "He's my cuddle man," Willow cooed, hugging Oz. "Except for those nights he's her big, hairy cuddle wolf," Xander quipped. In that instant, Sam regretted taking that last sip of bottled water as it came back out through her nose. "Excuse me," she gasped. "Buffy," the Doctor said, "Sam has no place to stay tonight. Is it fine if she, umm, sleeps over with you?" Sam shook her head. "I'm coming with..." "No, you need to rest. Don't worry, I'm sure Fitz will be fine." The sting from the slap was the first sensation Fitz had as consciousness returned. The throb in the back of the head was second. "He is awake now," a voice said. Fitz slowly opened his eyes. He was tied to a wooden chair in a small, dark room. One of his kidnappers was standing in front of him, and two large, thin insects stood to either side. "Are you Rupertgiles?" the taller bug on his right asked. "Huh? Wha?" "Are you Rupertgiles?" the other insect repeated. Through the pain, Fitz deciphered the question and decided what he must do. "Two words," he said, letting just a bit of Sean Connery brogue slip into his voice. "What?" the apparent human asked. "It's two words. Rupert Giles. Two words. Now who might you be?" "That is not important," the taller insect said. That's hardly fair, Fitz thought. The villain was always supposed to reveal himself to his captives. Besides, these ropes were too tight, and he didn't have his lighter, and the headache was getting worse, and... "Listen, you bug-eyed dried-up piece of camel flop!" he shouted, utterly failing to notice he wasn't swearing. "I don't how they do things on whatever forsaken dust-bowl third-world backwater planet you things come from," he continued, so worked up he was positively bouncing, "but here on Earth we have rules about this sort of thing and rule number one is that when you kidnap a guy, you flippin' give your name when he asks for it!"

Fitz bounced so hard that one of the chair's legs snapped, and the whole thing collapsed. Fitz seemed to barely notice as he rose to his feet and faced the shorter bug. "You want to take this town's vampires, great!" He spun around to face the tall one. "You want me to help you with something, fiiiiiiiine!" He turned to the captor who looked human. "But don't try this intimidation nonsense! And if you're really a Delphighnin, would you please drop the disguise? It's awkward with you standing there looking like a kid." The figure shrugged and grabbed his lips. As he pulled them apart, a bug squeezed through the gap. Within seconds, a full-sized Delphighnin, almost as large as the one on Fitz's right, stood before him. For the first time, Fitz was distracted from his anger as he wondered how in the world that huge bug had fit inside. He tried not to let it show, though, as he looked at the small bug on the left. "And you are?" "Mro." Fitz turned to the tall bug. "And you?" "Leri." Suddenly, Fitz felt the adrenaline in his system drain away. He looked at the middle bug. "Tell me you're not Curly." "Krurli is dead," Leri said indignantly. "Ey was the best of us," Mro added. "I am Xyzyxukyyzkyx," the middle insect said. "Umm, I'll call you Shemp." "It's very nice to meet you, Sam," Joyce Summers said. "How do you know Buffy?" "Mom, you remember Doctor Young?" Joyce considered for a moment. "That science teacher that they said..." "He didn't, Mom, believe me. He's one of the good guys. Actually, he's, umm, an alien." Joyce sighed. "An alien, from outer space." She looked at Sam. "Are you an alien, too?" Sam laughed. "No, I'm from London. I just travel with the alien." "I see," Joyce said, betraying almost no surprise. "Through time and space," Sam added, enjoying the look on Joyce's face. "Ow!" Xander yelled, stopping and rubbing his arm. "What'd you do that for?" Cordelia kept walking a few yards before she turned around and pointed at him. "Don't think I didn't see how you were flirting with that Sam girl," she said. She turned back around and continued walking. Xander jogged to catch up. "I wasn't flirting," he lied. "I barely noticed her at all." Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Right. Anyway, she's way too old for you." "Old? She's the same age as the college guys you used to date, remember?" "That's totally different," Cordelia insisted. Hiding behind a hedge, the vampire watched the young couple arguing on the sidewalk. Soon they'd be close enough for him to attack. Just then, a twig snapped behind him, and the vampire spun around to confront the two boys staring at him. Grinning, the vamp bared his fangs and stepped closer to the boys. Suddenly, one of them pulled off his skin, revealing a giant insect

which pulled the vampire into the air. The last thing the undead man saw was the inside of the bug's mouth. As soon as the Delphighnin bit off the vampire's head, its body turned to dust. Coughing, the Delphighnin began spitting ashes over the ground. "Dolt," the other one said, "you have to eat the limbs first." "I forgot," the insect said as it climbed back into its suit. "We never had this problem with Delphigh Nosferatu." Sam laughed as she unrolled the sleeping bag. "Do you know how long it's been since I've done this?" she asked. Buffy tossed her a pillow. "Why didn't you follow him?" "Hmm?" "The Doctor," Buffy said. "Why didn't you try to sneak off after him?" "That's not part of a Number 14," Sam answered. "The one with the rubber chicken?" Sam grinned. "Nah, the Doctor slipped a tracker inside the kid's shirt. Once he loses the Delphighnin following him, he'll march straight to their headquarters. Probably have the whole thing wrapped up before morning." "Really?" Sam pretended to mull it over a moment. "No, probably not." Fitz let the second sheet roll back up and examined the third. "It's in Spanish," he finally announced. "What is Spanish?" Mro asked. "It's a language," Fitz answered. The Delphighnin looked confused. "But," Leri said, "I thought it was in the Earth language." "Spanish is an Earth language," Fitz explained. "We have hundreds of the things. The one we're speaking now is called English." "How very inefficient," Xyzyxukyyzkyx said. "However do humans communicate?" "We manage, usually." "So do you understand this Spanish, Rupert Giles?" Leri asked. "Sorry. I had some Latin in school, but that was ages ago. The only word on here I know is 'frijoles,' which means beans." "Oh," Mro said. "We were told you could decipher this for us." "Well, I can't do this myself, but maybe I can show these to the Spanish teacher at the school. I could probably get this done by, say, tomorrow." The Delphighnin stepped away from him for a moment and huddled together. Then they returned. "That sounds acceptable," Leri said. "We will give you the documents, and Xyzyxukyyzkyx will meet you at the school after the class day ends." Fitz tried to keep his joy concealed as he pondered the offer. "It's not a lot of time, but you have a deal." He was about to reach out to shake Leri's claw when the doors flew open. "There you are, Fitz!" the Doctor declared as he strode into the room. Instantly, the three Delphighnin turned from the Doctor to Fitz. "What did he call you?" Mro hissed. The Doctor stopped. "Fitz?" he squeaked. "You are not Rupert Giles?" Xyzyxukyyzkyx asked. "Well, now, I never actually said I was Rupert," Fitz said. "I just..." "Kill them!" Leri ordered. "Kill them both!" Mro added.

Chapter Four: Dimensional Anomaly by Aron Toman What's this Police Box thing doing in the library? Must belong to Giles, another one of his collectibles. Oh no, it's the Doctor's - you know I just can't wait for Cordy to complain about his costume - purple dressing gowns in public is just so passe. Oh, what's this about Daleks? Xander proposes Buffy slay them. All in favor? Aye! Ok, Dalek hunting? Why are Spike and Drusilla hurting those two humans? Better sort them out. Oh no, Daleks in the library! Help! Better slay them - but it's a Dalek, not a Vampire! Should we burn it? Willow brought marshmallows. Nah, better idea. We'll go to the Muppets and get Whoopi Goldberg to help us destroy Davros, since he's the one that can't destroy the world without getting rid of Buffy. Buffy. Buffy. Buffy. "Buffy! Buffy! Wake up!" Buffy jumped and looked up at Sam, who was gently shoving her. "You were having a dream," she said, quietly. Buffy smiled. "Well duh! Don't you usually when you sleep?" Sam attempted a grin. You were tossing and turning - looked like you weren't enjoying it" Buffy nodded. "I don't suppose I was." she trailed off. Most of the details of the dream were fuzzy now - she hated it when that happened. Except when it didn't. "You know, at least that dream was different" Buffy said quietly, her bubbly nature subsiding. "It didn't have -" She stopped. "Didn't have what?" Buffy looked up, her eyes no longer happy. "I think I can trust you but if I tell you, you can't tell the others." Sam nodded. "Cross my heart" "I had this lover - Angel. He was different to other boyfriends. He was... was..." "What?" "A vampire. But he had a soul, cursed by some Gypsy tribe. Anyway, we were in love until -" Buffy's eyes began to water. Sam put on her comforting expression. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to." "The curse was broken when we - we - it broke. And he became bad again. And then he tried to destroy the world by releasing Alfalfa - I mean Acathla - and -" A phone ringing interrupted them. Buffy sat up in alarm and swung over to the phone. Before answering it, she wiped her eyes quickly. "Yes?" "Buffy? I hope I didn't wake you." It was Willow. Buffy grinned, or tried to. "Nah, Sam and I have just been just sitting up all night chatting away. She's a real chatterbox. Ow!" Buffy tried to listen to the phone as she pulled away the pillow Sam threw at her. "I'm at the library and I'm worried about the Doctor. Has he called you at all?" Buffy looked at her little Pokemon watch. "Will, it's 2am. Why are you at the library?" "I couldn't sleep, and anyway, tomorrow's the full moon, so I thought I'd get the cage ready. Are you sure that he hasn't called?" Willow's voice was wavery and frightened. She was genuinely worried. "I'm supposed to be asleep, so he wouldn't wake me up. It's the middle

of the night, Willow!" "Even more reason for him to call!" Willow's voice went up a pitch. "I mean, there may be vampires - it is night remember. And, and, werewolves. No, not werewolves cause that's tomorrow night and this is tonight night." "Ok, Willow, calm down. I'm coming over, is Giles there?" "Yeah, he's busy doing research. He's trying to find out if these Delphighnin things are in the books. I tried to help, but the words went all blurry." "Tell him Sam and I are coming to help then." She brought the phone down onto her shoulder. "If that's ok with you?" Sam shrugged, baffled at the one-sided phone conversation she was hearing. "We're on our way" "Good" Buffy could imagine Willow nodding. "Cause this TARDIS of his is doing some weird beeping noises - that's the other reason why Giles is here" "Beeping noises?" Sam asked Willow in the library later. "Darn tootin'!" "What kind?" she asked, running her hands along the blue paintwork. "Well, it was kinda like a..." She did a few bip noises. "And then worp, worp, worp" "Are you sure?" "Kinda." Sam sighed and tried the door. Locked. "You know, this is the reason I've been bugging the Doctor about a spare key." "Well, what were you going to do if you could get in?" Sam shrugged. "I don't know - make sure that it's not the dimensional circuits?" "I found it! I found it!" All three girls turned to watch Giles coming out of the small room that backed onto the counter. In his hand was a book and in the other his glasses, which he hurriedly put on. "The Delphighnin are a race of extra-terrestrial entities who frequent this planet for many objectives but habitually to acquire representatives of other entities of a demonic nature" Buffy raised her hand. "I think I speak for everyone here when I say 'huh?'" Giles looked up from the book. "Um, well, it means that they're aliens that come to Earth for the sole purpose of stealing demons for food." Buffy grinned. "Oh, then why not let them stay and I can retire?" "They're not as ethical as you are, Buffy. They take Vampires for food, and they won't stop when the vampires are all dead. They'll keep a few to continue the spread of Vampires, turning more humans, and won't leave until the planet has been completely stripped of human life. "Like a parasite?" Sam asked. "Precisely" "These Delphingys, do they manipulate dreams?" Giles glanced down at the book, then back to Buffy. "No, why do you ask?" "Oh, no reason" "You haven't been having unusual dreams have you? If you have, and they're prophecy..." "No, no, it's nothing like that. Just a query, that's all. So, how do we kill one of these All-night-Delis?" "Delphighnin," Giles corrected. "And I don't know. As I said, they're aliens, and the Watcher's Council booklists don't really focus on the terrors from beyond the stars, but more so from beyond the Hellmouth."

"Well, what other info can you get?" Giles shrugged and put the book on the table. "That's all I'm afraid." Buffy stomped. "This is stupid!" Willow put her hand of Buffy's shoulder. "Calm down, Buff, we'll get rid of them" They all heard a weird bipping sound, closely followed by a worp, worp, worp. "That was it!" Willow was exited. "That was the sound!" All four of them turned toward the Police Box, sitting alone in the corner. "Um I'm not sure that killing us would be a good idea." "Kill them!" Leri repeated. "Doctor, do something!" Fitz called. One Delphighnin was moving toward him, while another seemed to be going toward the Doctor arms - or tentacles - outstretched. "Oh dear, hang on a minute!" The Doctor shoved his hands deep into his pockets, and pulled out the first thing that came to hand - an apple. "Oops." He threw it at the approaching Delphighnin and watched it bounce off its head. The Doctor gulped. "Destroy them!" Mro declared. "Would you be quiet please?" the Doctor called. "I'm trying to think!" Fitz rolled his eyes. "Doctor, hurry!" The Doctor delved into his pockets again and clutched something metallic. "Ah, luck!" he muttered as he extracted the Sonic Screwdriver. He held it out at the Delphighnin and poised his thumb over the button. "Stop!" he bellowed. "Come any closer and I send sonic disruptions that will vibrate you to dust do I make myself clear?" The Delphighnin before him stopped, as did the one heading toward Fitz. "You are bluffing!" Mro called. "Am I? Fitz, come here. I might be bluffing, but are you game to test it?" Fitz scurried across the floor and stood next to the Doctor. "Now, you will give us thirty seconds to leave, and anyone that I find following us will be Sonic Screwed, if you get my meaning." Fitz rolled his eyes at the dumb pun, as the Doctor lead him backward toward the door, keeping the Sonic Screwdriver in their sites. As soon as the door closed between then, they turned around. "Doctor," Fitz asked, "were you really bluffing?" The Doctor nodded. "This couldn't do much to them. Probably tickle them, like it would you." Fitz agreed, then glanced behind him. "So, how long until they realize this?" "Oh, any second now. After you?" Fitz didn't need an extra invitation. "Alright, stand back, Sam, I'm going to shoulder-charge it" Sam shook her head. "Nothing can get into the TARDIS unless you've got the key." Buffy pouted. "Well, can I try anyway?" Before Sam could answer, she heard another beeping noise from her pocket. She pulled a little black object out and looked at the number, knowing who it was going to be anyway. "It's the Doctor. He's given me the number of a payphone." Willow giggled. "He lives in a telephone box and he has a pager?" Sam wandered over to the library phone and shrugged as she dialed. "One of his old companions insisted he use it and he kept it. Not a bad idea

providing that there're telephones on the planet you're using. Doctor? Is that you?" She paused, as presumably the Doctor talked a bit. "Oh, Fitz, hi." Buffy shrugged. So it was Fitz, which meant he was ok. "So he rescued you in the end?" Her voice was acting indifferent, but the smile and the thumbs up Sam gave were an obvious sign that she was overjoyed. "Really? Two out of three stooges then? All right, two very buggy stooges then. What? We're at the library. No, just Buffy, Willow, Giles and I. I don't know, Willow was here with Giles and she rang Buffy. Yep, ok. Sure. Huh? What did you say? Fitz? Fitz!" She dropped the phone. "He got cut off!" Willow tried to put on a brave face. "Well, maybe they ran out of money?" Sam shook her head. "He told me they'll be on their way here. But that sounded like the phone being yanked out." "Maybe he gets angry when he runs out of money?" Willow always looked on the bright side. Buffy sighed. "Well, looks like I'll have to rescue them again. Let Giles know I've gone." "But you don't know where they are!" Sam called. "Sunnydale's a small town, and most of it's covered with cemetery. There's only one payphone!" Buffy walked over to the book cage and pulled out a crossbow. She loaded it and marched toward to door. Before she could get there, the door swung inward and a horrible being stepped inside. He was short, bald, had a face like a rat and an evil glint in his eyes. "Principal Snyder!" Buffy said, not with fear, but more with disgust. "Well, well, well. Miss Summers." The little man walked into the room casually. "I don't believe you were given permission to return to school property." "I thought Mr. Giles cleared that up." "Well, you thought wrong, didn't you Miss -" He cut off as he saw Sam across the room. "Who might you be?" Sam glanced at Willow, then back at the weasel in human form. "Umm, I'm Sam. Giles' niece. From England. How are you?" He sniffed, then turned back to the Slayer. It was now that he noticed her crossbow. "What is this?" "What's what?" "The crossbow you have in your hand." Buffy looked down and acted as if she hadn't seen it before. "Hmm? Oh, this, well, umm. It's a prop. For a school production of, um, um," she faltered. "Dracula!" Willow piped up. She suddenly subdued when three sets of eyes spun around to look at her quizzically. "Well, vampires can be killed with crossbows, can't they?" Snyder turned back to Buffy. "Give it to me. It's an illegal weapon." Buffy glared at the little man. "Believe me, if you don't get out of my way soon, you will get it." "Ach! Doctor!" Fitz called, as he felt something grab him by the scruff of the neck. Bending backward under the pressure, he looked up into the face of the Delphighnin that grabbed him. No, that wasn't the bug features of a Delphighnin, it was a humanoid. Well, except from the fact his face was all puckered and his teeth were sharpened. "Oh great, vampires!" he muttered. The demon grimaced and brought his mouth down toward Fitz's neck. Fitz jumped as he felt the vampire let go suddenly and fly off elsewhere. He collapsed, his body not used to that position without any support and happily looked up at the stars. His curiosity got the better of him, however, and he sat up to see what had gotten rid of the vampire.

It was the Doctor - why didn't he guess that? - and he seemed to be having fun. There were two vamps - or three? He couldn't see; it was just a bit too dark. Buffy must have had to eat plenty of carrots to be able to fight them in this light. So must the Doctor. One vampire grabbed him in a bear hug while the other tried to come toward him. The Doctor leant back into the other vamp and kicked out at the one in front of him. As soon as his feet hit the ground again, he spun, elbowed the vamp in the head, grabbed his neck and sent his midsection down into his knee. As the vamp dropped to the ground, the Doctor stepped away and put a hand into his pocket. As the vampires rose to their feet, the Doctor grinned. "Well, having fun? I certainly am. My, you do look tired! Getting weak?" The vampire on his left growled. "I'll kill you for that!" "For that? Then what were you killing me about before?" The vampire leaped as the Doctor ducked sending the vampire soaring over the top of him. The vampire fell into a roll and came to his feet. The Doctor rose to face him. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and held the Sonic Screwdriver. Oh no, thought Fitz. He's going to try it again. The Doctor looked at the screwdriver with a smile, then, holding the knobbed end in his fist, plunged it into the chest of the vampire coming up behind him. The vampire immediately turned to dust. Without pausing to look in shock, he spun the screwdriver about so he was pointing it at the remaining vampire in much the same way he did to the Delphighnin. However, this time he pressed the button. As a small buzzing sound came from the little tool, the vampire dropped to his knees, his hands to his head and screaming with pain. Then he joined his comrade in turning to dust. Fitz stood up and walked over to the Doctor, who turned off the Sonic Screwdriver and returned it to his pocket. "I thought you said it was a bluff." "It was," the Doctor replied, still looking at the Vampire's last position. "It wouldn't have done anything to a Delphighnin but vampires are a different story." Fitz looked and heard a noise in the bushes. The Doctor touched Fitz on the shoulder lightly and pointed down the road. "How fast do you think you could get down there?" "Why?" "The school's that way." Fitz grinned. "I could beat you." "Good, when I say run -" Fitz groaned and took off. The Doctor glared at him angrily. "I hadn't said it yet!" "So, we are back where we started, Leri?" Mro said. "Do not blame me, Mro, I did not see Xyzyxukyyzkyx assisting!" Xyzyxukyyzkyx raised eirs nippers in surrender. "I was trying to avoid the human that wasn't Rupertgiles from stealing the documents." "And were you successful?" Xyzyxukyyzkyx nodded. "Of course!" Ey opened the drawer of the desk and pulled out the paper. Ey displayed it with a smug look on eir face. "You see?" Leri picked up the paper and examined it carefully. "This is interesting. Five packets of smokes, four bottles of milk, three packets of teabags, two loaves of bread -" Ey looked up at the others, baffled. "And a partridge in a pear tree." "It is a fake!" Mro roared. Ey sent eir clipper toward Xyzyxukyyzkyx's proboscis device and applied pressure. Xyzyxukyyzkyx collapsed to eir knees, the pain beginning to be unbearable.

"You have failed us, Xyzyxukyyzkyx" ey whispered menacingly. "What is there to stop me from killing you now?" "I - I - I have an idea!" Xyzyxukyyzkyx stuttered, unable to breathe. "We can get them back!" Mro released em, and awaited em to get back to eir feet. "Talk" "There is a dimensional anomaly here -" Xyzyxukyyzkyx began. "We know that" Leri interrupted. "That is why we came here" Xyzyxukyyzkyx held up a clipper, indicating he wanted to finish. "We can summon the one who isn't Rupertgiles to us. There is a formula we can recite that can tap the power of this anomaly." Mro smiled. "Tell me more, Xyzyxukyyzkyx. You have just saved your life." Xyzyxukyyzkyx bowed, and stood again. "Apart from getting the document back, we would be able to have many more demons on which we could feed." "There's no use threatening me, young lady," Snyder said coldly. "I told you, give me the weapon." Buffy tried a grin on him, but decided it wasn't worth her effort. "You know, it could be very easy to kill you right now. You kicked me out of school, forced me to run away from home. Hell, I could even blame you for all these Daleks we're facing." "Delphighnin" Willow corrected. "Whatever" Buffy said, as she raised the weapon at Snyder's head. He paled and immediately stepped back. "So what's it gonna be?" "You don't scare me, Miss Summers" Snyder said, although it was obvious she did. "Oh come on! You'd wet your pants except you know it would lower your low reputation. Now, I'm asking you for the last time. Move out of my way!" "Excuse me, is there a problem Mr. Snyder?" Giles stepped out of the anteroom, holding a book in his hand. He glared at the little man. "Um, ah -" Snyder gulped, quite at a loss for words. "Miss Summers -" "Buffy, don't kill him please," Giles said, quietly. "But Giles -" "It's not worth it." Snyder sneered. "You know how much trouble you'd be in if you killed me!" Giles took off his glasses and looked innocently up at the principal. "Oh no. We're running low on arrows and we have to conserve our stocks." Buffy reluctantly lowered the crossbow, and Snyder visibly relaxed. Buffy was not amused. "Get out, now, before I decide to ignore him." Snyder nodded. "But I'll be watching you Miss Summers. All the time." Buffy rolled her eyes and Snyder, very calmly and smugly, opened the library door. The next thing they knew, Snyder was on the ground in a heap of green velvet and brown curls. "Doctor!" Sam called, leaping over the counter and over to help them up. "Fitz! What happened?" "Vampires" The Doctor said with a smile. Then he looked down at the unconscious wreck beneath him. "Who's this?" "Oh nothing, just a weasel" Buffy muttered. "Can I kill him?" "I think the school might frown upon that," Giles said quietly, heading back to the anteroom. "Well, I found the Delphighnin hideout, although I don't expect them to be there for a while." The Doctor strolled across the library and made himself comfortable at the book-covered table. "Now, Fitz - did you find out anything while you were there?"

He nodded. "Sure. Vamps can be dusted with Sonic Screwdrivers" "No, apart from that?" "Sonic Screwdriver?" Willow asked. Sam turned to Willow. "I'll explain later." Then she glanced at the Doctor, before casting her eyes at the sky. "Now I'm doing it!" "Well, they wanted me to translate this" Fitz reported, whilst fishing a piece of paper out of his pocket. "Let me see that," Giles said, taking the paper away. "It's in Spanish." "I know that. They wanted me to translate it for them. I had to tell them I couldn't - they thought I was you." Giles pulled off his glasses and looked quizzically at Fitz. "They were looking for me? Well, I must say I'm flattered, and not surprised as I can speak Spanish fluently." "Well, don't keep us in suspense, Giles. What does it say?" Buffy seemed to be becoming interested. "Hmm? Oh. Well, um" He examined the document, reading it carefully. "Hmm, interesting. Very interesting." "But what does it say?" Sam exclaimed. "Oh, it says -" The door suddenly burst inwards. Everyone jumped back toward the table as three Delphighnin stepped into the room. The Doctor leapt to his feet and began to shout at the three of them. "Now look what you've done to that door! You've wrecked it!" "Silence!" "And it wasn't even locked!" The Delphighnin on the left turned and looked at the unconscious principal lying beside him. "Who is this?" "A weasel" Buffy said. "You can kill him if you like" "You!" The head Delphighnin in the middle pointed at Willow. "Get it up." Willow turned pale, contrasting with her red hair. "You mean I have to touch him?" "Just do it!" the Doctor whispered. "Ok, ok." Willow leapt up from her seat and began to rouse Snyder. The head Delphighnin turned back to the Doctor. "Where is the dimensional anomaly?" "The what?" Giles looked baffled. "It means the Hellmouth," the Doctor supplied. "I can't tell you." "Then we will find it ourselves." It waved a device in its nipper around the room and paused when it pointed under the table. "It is there." "Lucky guess" the Doctor muttered. "Mro," the Delphighnin on the right said. "We don't need to open the anomaly anymore. We have the humans and the document!" "But imagine all the food we can eat when we do open it" "Open it?" Giles muttered. "You don't mean?" The Doctor nodded, and glared at the Delphighnin. "Yes. They're going to open the Hellmouth!" Buffy squirmed under the ropes they'd been tied in. All in a circle in the book cage, so that even if someone did get the endless ropes untied, they'd still have trouble trying to get out of the cage. "Can you get the ropes untied?" Willow asked. "No use trying" the Doctor whispered. "They're made of deriliam they're only there in your mind. They can't be untied without either turning off their machine or deep psychotherapy. I'm afraid we're stuck." Buffy groaned and relaxed a bit. "Just my luck Slayers can't do anything about mind weapons. Will, what are they doing?"

"They've moved the table - Giles, some of those books are never going to be the same again." "Never mind that" Giles muttered. "What else?" "They're sitting in a circle chanting. They're sitting around the actual Hellmouth!" The Doctor groaned. "They're using their psychic powers to open it. Not a good thing to happen for the rest of this planet." "What will happen Doctor?" Fitz asked. "Well, it's a gateway to another universe" the Doctor replied. "One where what you'd call demons and monsters exist. According to Giles, it's where all the monsters and what have you retreated to when mortals took over the Earth. Of course, since then they've been trying to get out, hence all the demons you see about here." "So if it's opened completely -" Sam started. "Monsters galore and an all-you-can-eat for the Delphighnin," the Doctor supplied. "Um, Doctor. It looks like they're almost ready!" Willow exclaimed. There was a rushing wind, and a weird cracking sound. The TARDIS began to make a blipping sound, followed by a worp, worp, worp. "Oops, Doctor, I meant to tell you about that noise the TARDIS was making." The Doctor tried to glance at the Police Box. "It's reacting to the Hellmouth opening" "Then why was it doing it before, Doctor?" Buffy asked. "What? You mean it was doing that earlier?" Buffy nodded. "That's why Willow called me to the Library earlier." The Doctor looked over at the wall. "Oh dear." "Doctor, the Hellmouth's open!" Willow exclaimed. Buffy screamed. "I've had this!" She pushed at something in her head with all her might. The willed herself to realize there's nothing around her. There's nothing around her. There's - Angel! The ring seemed to vanish - for her at least. She stood up and delivered a sharp and strong front kick to the lock of the cage. It sprang open with a snap as she ran over to the Hellmouth. The Delphighnin seemed very much out of it - trying to keep the damn thing open, she supposed. "So, this is what it looks like," she muttered. She missed out last time it opened, due to the fact she was dead. She looked around at the still Delphighnin, doing nothing but sitting. "Oh, come on! It's no fun when I don't get attacked!" Buffy was attacked. A tentacle from inside the Hellmouth suddenly reached up and grabbed her by the foot, pulling her down. She slipped and grabbed the edge of the Hellmouth and held on. Edge of the Hellmouth? Gee, that was a phrase she never expected to think. "Buffy!" called the Doctor as he leapt up from the weird rope and switched off the power. He dived out the door and reached down into it. "Give me you hand!" Buffy tried to reach up, stretched and grabbed the Doctor's forearm. Slowly, he eased her out of the hole. "What's going on?" Snyder suddenly awoke, oblivious to what was happening. He looked up and saw the Doctor bending over the hole. "Oh no. Not more strangers on my campus!" He stood up and marched over. He tapped the Doctor on the shoulder, who spun up to look at him. The Doctor slipped and suddenly fell into the Hellmouth with Buffy. Arms flailing wildly, the Time Lord grabbed the nearest thing available - Snyder's foot. A few seconds later, Principal, Slayer and Time Lord were flying through a vortex of monsters and demons.

Chapter Five: 24 Hours Later... by Julian Eales Brimstone filled the air of the library for the second time in successive nights, as the maw of Hell gave back its prizes in a major throat-clearing exercise. It spat up three bodies as dead weight, landing unceremoniously upon the floor among the debris. Finally, another figure began to climb from the Hellmouth, arms scrabbling for purchase on the lip, only the leather of their jacket cuff was visible to anyone who might have been watching by the light of the moon, at the height of its power. Perhaps a pair of yellow eyes observed from the farthest corner of the room, behind the protective bars of a cage; feral nature recoiling in primal terror at the heart of nightmare before it. Hauling himself over the top, the stranger made an attempt to brush himself off, though he was no more dishevelled than normal. It seemed as if he was trying to throw off any vestigial trace of Hell that still clung to him. The most abrasive shower would not wash away that taint. That ran deep. Bone deep. In the blood, you might say. He turned back to the hole, which remained open, and leaned over cautiously, in case the sentinel was alert to his presence. "Were ye brought up in a barn or something? Ye're letting an almighty draft in." His accent betrayed his ancestry immediately. Where he was from, the whisky was spelt with an 'e'. The Hellmouth began to move beneath him as it stitched back the fabric of reality to something approximating its original form. As the hole grew smaller and smaller, he could not resist a parting comment. "Don't ferget to write. Love to Uncle Nicky!" There was a rumbling from the deeps, as though a guard dog had been roused from slumber by a burglar, only to find the gate barred before it. Allowing himself a brief smirk, he went over to the bodies of his recent companions in arms, making sure that the Lethe water they had drunk had merely rendered them unconscious and nothing more. Satisfied, he took the opportunity to admire the physique of the girl, a Slayer, if his sources were accurate, and they were seldom anything less than on the money. "I don't suppose ye'll ever know just how lucky ye were that the Powers That Be took an interest in ye. Shame really. Ye might have felt the need to thank me personally, for like, saving yer life." He knelt before Buffy, hand outstretched to stroke her hair away from her eyes. Time to exit, he thought, stepping over the bodies of the two men, one dressed as if for a fancy dress ball, and the other the epitome of authority, trapped in a Napoleonic body. As he crossed the library, he had to pass the cage. "Must be some dangerous books they have here," he remarked, running his hand along the bars, noticing the brand new lock in place. Unprepared as he was for the sight of a crazed lycanthrope bounding at him from out of the darkness, the sights he had witnessed down below, coupled with exhaustion prevented him from his natural instinct to have it away on his toes. With him, it was not so much 'fight or flight' as 'flight now or flight yesterday' As it was, he barely raised an eyebrow, as Oz snarled his fury from safe distance. Glancing out of the window at the full moon, he turned back to study him more carefully. "Christ! What a mangy old fleabag ye are! Mind you, who am I to talk? Anyway, time I wasn't here, before sleeping beauty and yer men there wake up. I got people to see and a long trip home." With that, he left,

finding that breaking out of Sunnydale High was every bit as easy as breaking in had been. As the Greyhound bus pulled into the station, the man in leather needed to be nudged awake by one of the other passengers, otherwise he would have missed it. He was momentarily disoriented as to where he was. He checked for his wallet; still there. He definitely wasn't in LA then. Not that he had much in his wallet to tempt a thief, other than the bus fare home, but nobody in LA would have woken him to tell him his ride had arrived. He was fairly conspicuous among the assortment of families and other travellers, weighed down by an assortment of bags and cases, the trappings of lives on the move. He had no luggage, no sign that he was doing anything other than riding a bus with no destination in mind. As he queued to go aboard, checking his change, passengers were disembarking, brushing past as they entered Sunnydale, weary from the ride. Like the outgoing passengers, most of them carried their lives in their baggage. As he tried to scrape together the exact change, his eyes lit upon a pair of legs the like of which he could not remember. An eye for the ladies had always been his weakness. Well, one of his weaknesses. As his gaze moved up, the view just kept getting better and better, until he fixed on the jade pendant she wore. Magic fairly sang from it. Bad news. He redoubled his concentration upon his coins and tried to make himself as small as he could as she passed by, like him, without luggage. She stopped to sniff the air for a moment in front of him, but shrugged it off as some sort of effect of the proximity to the Hellmouth or something. She strode purposefully through the station, though she had never been here before. It was always a good feeling to find somewhere new, ripe for her to work her will, and that of her Masters. It would take her a few weeks to settle in and find the weak links, but then she could go to work. Buffy was the first to regain her wits. It was probably something to do with her Slayer metabolism, hypercharged as it was. Even the Time Lord, with his alien physiognomy couldn't match her resilience, and so for the first time in his memory (long as it was), he was the one being watched struggling back to consciousness in an undignified manner. Drool hung from the corner of his mouth, staining his cravat in the process. The Doctor could not disguise a pang of jealousy mixed with a little embarrassment at his vulnerability, but this incarnation soon shrugged off such feelings. He was no longer given to bouts of brooding in the manner of his immediate predecessor. He gave thanks for the ability to shuck his personality traits the way other races discarded old clothes. Buffy may have physically recovered, but she was still at a loss to account for her actions in the recent past. She could clearly remember being dragged into the Hellmouth, and reaching out to the Doctor, his sure grip filling her with confidence that all would be well. That was all, until she awoke in the library, with the Doctor, the weasel of a Principal beside her and everyone else absent, apart from Oz, who was rattling his cage a day early. The waxing moon in the sky soon told her the truth of the matter, though it could not explain what had happened to them. At the veil between the waking world and sleep, she felt the lingering memory of something gently brushing her forehead. A kiss? Angel? Her heart leapt for a moment, until the image of the way she condemned her lover to Hell with a single sword thrust came flooding over her. Comparing notes, it transpired that the Doctor remembered little of their escapade either, though he appeared less concerned by the missing time than Buffy was.

"Some things are best left buried. If I were you, I wouldn't let it trouble you." The Time Lord was used to the gaps in his own memory. Sometimes, the imagination fills such holes much better than the facts ever could. "As long as I don't find I've got a tattoo on my butt," Buffy decided. Snyder finally stirred, a series of snorts and grunts issuing from him as he rose from the depths of slumber. Buffy concluded that his essential piggy-ness was showing itself to the world. "Whuzzat? Where am I? Oh. Buffy Summers. I should have known that this would have your name written all over it. What did you do to me, and why are you on school premises at this time of night? I thought I'd made myself clear about your suspension, young lady." It didn't take long for the blustering nature of the man to rise to the fore, clutching at any reasonable explanation for the situation they found themselves in. He protected himself from the unexplainable with a shield made of school rules and standards of decent behaviour. The irrational did not stand a chance against his belief in the way things were supposed to be. In a town like Sunnydale, you did not rise to a position of any kind of authority without the ability to turn a blind eye to things. Just ask the Mayor. "I have just about had enough of you, you..." Buffy struggled to find words to describe Snyder that reflected her growing anger. She settled for "Poophead!" "You are so expelled, they haven't invented a term for just how expelled you are, Miss Summers." The Doctor could see that Buffy was rising to Snyder's bait, her fists clenched and unclenched as if she was just waiting for him to stop yakking before giving him a knuckle sandwich to chew on. He did not need to be able to glimpse the future to see how this was going. He stepped between them, hands upraised for silence, his best pacifying smile in place. The scenario played out much as every other confrontation between Buffy and Snyder, with the Doctor substituting for Giles. After a glowering battle of wits, eyes throwing daggers at each other, Snyder broke first and headed for the exit. "Some of us have school in the morning. If you haven't left the campus by the time I finish lecturing the campus watchman for sleeping on the job again, I'm sure he'll be only too happy to give you a ride to the police station." He turned his attention to the Doctor briefly, "What is it with you Brits in my school? Are you breeding in the Chemistry lab or something?" He made his way to the door, ignoring the debris from the frequent opening and closing of the Hellmouth, as per normal. Snyder sighed and made a mental note to get the cleaners in to repair the damage in the morning before the students arrived for classes. As he passed the cage, Oz made a lunge for him, once again surprised on some level at the lack of reaction from the Principal. "Get a haircut." Giles called in sick, unable to face the library so soon after the Hellmouth had swallowed his young charge, the Doctor and Principal Snyder. Willow and the displaced travellers, Sam and Fitz were staying at his house, hoping against hope that one of the books from his private collection would hold the key to their return, but they knew it was a lost cause. Fighting elder spawn like the Master (either model) was one thing, but to enter the source of such evil was a far greater level of magnitude. He could only be thankful that the effort of opening the gateway had proven too much for the Delfighnin, whose corporeal forms had shrivelled into mere

husks, as flimsy as the human suits they had worn as disguise. Xander had offered to keep watch over Oz, safe in his cage for the night, and Giles was sure that he would not be sleeping on the job this time. As things stood, he did not think that any of them would be getting much sleep. Sam held fast to the belief that the Doctor would find a way to escape. It was in his job description. She attempted to contact him with her pager, but apparently the underworld was not part of the Vodaphone network. While the youngsters huddled together to share some of the pain of losing their friends, Giles was on the telephone to the Watchers' Council. He had yet to pluck up the courage to call on Joyce to explain about her daughter, but felt he must tell his organisation to be prepared for the calling of another new Slayer. How many had been called in the last few years? Were there enough in reserve, or was there a limit to the number of potential candidates for the job? Giles was sure that the Inner Council were bound to have discussed such a scenario at length in one of their interminable round table meetings, but since he had become Buffy's Watcher, he had found little time to keep up with the minutes, much to his relief. He had been on the phone for twenty-seven minutes already, attempting to get in contact with one of the elder Watchers, but so far he remained trapped by the minutiae of red tape, pomp and ceremony of the order. He had given all the correct code responses, more or less, but was still being given the runaround. Perhaps it was the irritation in his voice which was acting like a red rag to the woman on the end of the line, who seemed to think it was her personal crusade to prevent the Elders from being disturbed. "All right! The red bloody robin goes bob-bob-bloody-bobbing along... Will you please connect me with Elder Samuel now? It really is most urgent." Just then, the doorbell rang. Giles indicated with his finger that someone else should answer it. If he hung up the phone now, he'd probably have to go back to the beginning again. Sam bounded up to the door and opened it. Her eyes grew wide and she threw herself around the person standing at the threshold before he could take a step inside. It was the Doctor, with Buffy and Xander in tow. Xander had arrived late, as always, bearing the doughnuts he'd been out buying to help him through the vigil over Oz, and missed all the fun in the library. "Bloody hell!" Giles exclaimed, his jaw slack with surprise. His telephone nemesis chose that moment to admit defeat and transferred the call to Elder Samuel. "Rupert? What's so damn important that you couldn't tell Marjorie?" Giles' attention was elsewhere, his mouth answering on autopilot. "What? Um... how's the weather?" He replaced the receiver and went to hug Buffy, to prove to himself that he was not seeing things. Buffy found herself buried under a mound of hugs. Xander stood back, aware that he was not the centre of attention. "Hey! I brought doughnuts!" No reaction, as the others all fought to ask for some kind of explanation for the miraculous escape. "They have sprinkles." He bit into one, making appreciative noises as if this were the finest doughnut on God's green Earth. It would have been a textbook example of salesmanship were it not for the squirt of jam, which shot onto his shirt. Luckily, nobody was paying him any heed. As per usual, Xander was beginning to feel like a spare bride at the wedding, but shrugged it off in favour of joining the group hug session. Fitz shook his head in mock cynicism. Once the others had been informed as to how little Buffy and the Doctor remembered of their journey into Hell, they returned to the matter at hand. Where were the Delphighnin, and what could they do to thwart them? One of the Delphighnin had remained apart from the others. Ey was still hungry, but had been sent to locate eir missing comrades. Ey believed that

ey would find them fishing from the dimensional anomaly they had detected in this region. When he discovered their fate, eir stomachs began to churn, digestive juices seethed, and not just due to lack of sustenance. Ey could not even pay eir respect to the deceased, for there was not a shred of flesh on either of them. What was ey going to eat? Ey could scent something in the room that might suffice. Within the book cage, Oz paced his prison, biding his time, in order to strike if the bug-man should step into range of his claws. The Delphighnin was smarter than ey appeared (at least to human eyes), and remained at a safe distance while ey examined the catch of the day. A Lupine, or lycanthrope of some manner. Local species, of course, but one had to make sacrifices in the name of authentic cuisine. Ey thought ey remembered a recipe acquired from an Androgum chef of eir acquaintance, though had never before had the opportunity to test it, until now. Ey wondered what it would taste like...

Chapter Six: Missing Time by John Seavey People don't think about much in lines. There's a sort of Zen contemplation you wind up in as the line moves forward. You shift from one leg to the other, you count the number of people in front of you, you watch the clock shift from one second to the next, and a small portion of your life drifts away without your conscious knowledge or volition. But sometimes important things happen in lines. Sometimes when you're waiting in line to get out of Sunnydale, having already fulfilled a fairly major, and all-too-hazardous duty to the Powers That Be (hazardous enough, in fact, that you're hoping this'll clear the slate between you and them, and that this is the last time you'll have to get another one of them). Well, the last part of the sentence doesn't even make it through your mind, because you're too busy having one of them mindnumbing, brain-cracking, heart-stopping visions of yours. And so you have what looks like a small epileptic fit; perhaps you even drool a little. And when you're done, you stagger back to your feet with a mutter of "Not again...", and you get out of line to head back into town. Some people wish they didn't have much to think about in lines. There was a sharp shower of sparks, and a loud hiss as the Delphighnin cut eir way into the cage that held the captive lycanthrope. Well, it wasn't a lycanthrope anymore. It had just undergone metamorphosis, even as the Delphighnin was consdiering the best way to get into the cage it was trapped in. A shame, really; most of the best recipes for Lupine insisted that the beast be killed in its wolfen form to seal in the juices. But there were still quite a few good ones left, and this particular one looked very succulent; especially the way it had been penned up. Probably they'd locked it up here to keep it from getting stringy and gamey, an excellent choice. Suddenly, the lycanthrope looked up. It gathered together a few shreds of fabric, tugging them over itself, probably out of some impulse of modesty. "This is bad," it said, its brow furrowing in consternation. "In the not-good sense of the word." "Do not panic," the Delphighnin said. "Please. Panic sours the blood, and can make you difficult to digest later on."

"--and then you, and Snyder, and the Delphighnins were all gone! Needless to say, if Oz and Xander hadn't picked that moment to arrive, I..." Xander shrugged self-deprecatingly. "You would have been lost without us." "--wouldn't have received the thwacking great lump on the head that I got while trying to reseal the Hellmouth, is what I was going to say," Giles offered cuttingly. "We came back here to try to research the subject, hoping we could find some way of getting you back, but I'll admit, I'd rather lost hope." He paused. "How did you get back, anyhow?" The Doctor looked at Buffy; Buffy looked at the Doctor. "Don't remember," Buffy finally offered up. "It was... no, nothing. Sorry." The Doctor shook his head as well. "I recall... a... no. It's gone." Giles sighed. "In any event, Oz is locked away in the library. It was the night before the full moon last night, and he needed to be penned up." He looked at the window. "Still, he should be back to human form now. Xander, perhaps you should go and unpen him? Instead of devouring all the doughnuts that you were supposed to be purchasing for me?" Xander said something, but his mouth was muffled with custard. After a brief, munch-filled pause, he repeated, "Willow caught up with me at the donut place, said she'd do it. I think it's a 'cuddle' thing." There was a moment of uncomfortable silence, and the Doctor finally broke it with, "However it is we're back, we are now back. The important thing now is to try to recover some of the lost ground on this problem, and that means we need to find the rest of the Delphighnin and discover why it is they're here." "I thought it was obvious," Fitz commented from where he was sitting, near Giles' record collection. He hadn't joined the conversation, or even looked up yet. Everyone turned to look at him. "I guess the Beatles really make a go of it," he commented by way of reply, still engrossed in the albums. "I thought they were just a flash in the pan." Sam ahemed. "Fitz? Could you finish your highly relevant, dramatic revelation that you were involved in?" "Oh. Right. It just seemed pretty simple to me. Between the vampires, werewolves, and old professors with occult libraries, this place is pretty much like the Hammer holiday camp. If these Delphighnin really do snack on the monsters, then this place must be an all-you-can-eat buffet. No puzzle there." The Doctor blinked. "You're right--" Sam grinned. "Oddly enough." The Doctor shook his head. "No, I mean he's right, it is obvious. So why do I keep thinking there's something more to it?" His hand went, involuntarily, to his pocket, only to close on empty air. He leapt to his feet. "I need to go for a walk. Clear my mind. Everyone else, stay here. Unless you have school, in which case go there and learn something important. Student apathy at this school is horrible, if I remember rightly." "Yeah," said Xander, "it's that whole 'tomorrow I could be eaten by a hideous monster' thing. Kinda makes tests seem pretty irrelevant." "You know," Oz said to the Delphighnin as ey finished slicing through the bars, "I think I'm actually missing a test right now." He darted back from the gigantic alien as it squeezed its bulk through. "Kinda seems... irrelevant, now."

The Delphighnin chittered at him. "Sorry," it said, "but if it comforts you any, I am a gourmet. You'll taste quite delicious, and your leftovers should last days." Suddenly, the bar ey had cut seemed to slither from where it lay on the floor to twine between eir legs. Ey crashed to the ground with a thud, missing Oz by inches. Willow unclenched her hands, the effort of moving it causing her to gasp for air. "That's... for trying... to eat... my boyfriend!" she gasped out. Oz looked down at the alien, even as he stepped over it to get out of the cage. "You're getting good at the witchcraft," he commented, taking her hand as the two of them beat a hasty retreat. "Y'know, if you want to skip college, I'm sure we could work up a great act in Vegas." Willow shook her head. "I get stage fright." Oz shrugged. "Maybe. But I'm betting you'd look great in the spangled outfit." The Doctor was drawing more than a few odd stares as he walked along the streets of Sunnydale, smacking his own forehead as hard as he could. "Think," he muttered to himself, "thinkthinkthinkthinkthink!" An Irish brogue from the open-air cafe rang out. "Keep smackin' yer forehead like that, an' I don' think you'll be doin' much thoinkin at all!" The Doctor stopped short, the uncanny familiarity of the voice catching his attention. He spun around. "Have we met?" "We have," said the man who sat at the table, dressed in a floralpatterned shirt and a brown leather jacket, "but you'd not be in the way of rememberin' much of it. Name's Doyle, by the way. Didn't get a chance to tell ye before, because I didn't think it'd matter, what with all of ye drinkin' the waters of Lethe." "Waters of... Lethe? It's... that was how we escaped, wasn't it?" Doyle nodded. "There was a portal back to Earth at the mouth of the river. Not that ye'd have remembered that, either. S'why it doesn't get used much. Ye dive in after it, and five minutes later ye come floating back downstream because ye've forgotten how te swim. But ye got a little aid from a buddy of moine." He paused. "Well, not really a buddy. But he promised to look the other way when ye left and even help ye get to the mouth of the river, in exchange fer me forgettin' a few gambling debts for 'im." He prodded the Doctor in the stomach. "An' that was five large, there, but don't ye be thinkin' ye owe me or nuttin'. Glad te be of service." "You were there with us. In... the otherdimensional realm. In... Hell." The Doctor sat down. "Tell me more." "Not much ta tell, really. I've got a few, eh... relatives down there, so I can travel back an' forth if I haveta. But only if I haveta. There's more'n a few down there that don' like half-breeds, and they're not shy about showin' it. If it weren't for the fact that the Powers That Be wanted me to, I--" He paused. "This is where ye ask about the Powers That Be, right?" The Doctor shook his head. "I've met them. Well, a few of them. Go on." Doyle clutched the Doctor's sleeve. "Really? Listen, ye couldn't put in a good word or two with 'em for me, could ye? It's just that these visions I get, they're really messin' up me social life, and--" The Doctor coughed delicately. "I don't find them. They find me. And when they do, I don't usually get to ask them favors. It's more... the other way around, actually." Doyle sighed. "Just my luck. Anyhow, they wanted me to get ye back up here after ye'd learned what ye needed te learn. Problem is, the closest

portal that doesn't rip apart the fabric of reality got shut down a few months back, after some bit of a girl broke up a recruitment center and killed the local recruiter. So I had to bring ye back the long way." He paused. "Probably for the best, really. That girl with ye looked pretty broken up when she found her boyfriend." The Doctor blinked. "I... remember this bit! It was Angel. He looked horrible... like he'd physically aged." Doyle nodded. "Bein' in Hell for a thousand years or so'll do that to a fella, even if he is a vampire." "A thousand years? But I saw him, not more than two years ago." Doyle rolled his eyes. "Listen, mate. Time flows differently in Hell, even differently in different parts o' Hell. You were there for a few hours, and it came out as a day here. Angel, he's been in a part o' Hell that's kept him in constant torment for a thousand years; and there weren't no way we could get him outta there, either. They're keeping a close eye on him. That was what got her so broken up." "And the Delphighnin? What happened to them?" "They were in a bad way when I last saw 'em. Wouldn't leave, kept goin' on about 'great cuisine' or somethin'. I coulda tol' em, even shark steaks aren't worth swimmin' in a shark tank for. They went down under a pile o' pissed off demons, and the Powers That Be don't pay me enough to dig for 'em." He smirked. "Come ta think of it, they don't pay me at all." "So why did you stay here after rescuing us?" the Doctor asked. "I didn't. I was on my way outta this town, but I got another vision and wasn't that a beaut. See, the other two, they ain't gonna remember nuttin'. They're too human. But you, you can piece it back together with a little help." Doyle slapped his own chest. "That's my job. I prod you, and you'll remember." The Doctor burst into Giles' house. "I know why they're here!" Everyone looked at the Doctor. "Didn't we, um, cover this?" Xander asked. "Yes, but - no!" Buffy blinked. "Thanks. A perfect example of 'vague'. Now we can frame it." The Doctor shook his head. "I remembered what happened to us when we went through the Hellmouth! The aliens -- they had some papers I'd stolen! I deciphered them, but I must have lost them when we got out!" Buffy pouted. "You remembered? Howcome I didn't get to remember?" The Doctor smiled gently. "You're only human, Buffy." His smile turned abruptly into a frown. "The aliens - they're here after a Nexus Crystal!" "And that is?" asked Sam. "It's a crystal... it can focus and absorb trans-dimensional energies!" "Oh, good," commented Fitz. "Just what I always wanted, but the shops were out of them. They tried to pawn me off with bath salts, but those never worked as well." The Doctor sighed in exasperation. "Don't any of you get it? They're trying... to steal... the Hellmouth!" Several blank stares were exchanged. Finally, Buffy asked, "And this is a bad thing? I say good riddance!" The Doctor shook his head. "They feed on monsters, remember? Monsters need to feed on people. They drain entire planets dry. If they can find the Nexus Crystal, they'll take the Hellmouth with them, unleash it on every inhabited planet they come across to manufacture their own portable larders. "They'll be a scourge across the entire universe."

Chapter Seven: Thrown to the Wolves by John Seavey The Doctor burst into Giles' house. "I know why they're here!" Everyone looked at the Doctor. "Didn't we, um, cover this?" Xander asked. "Yes, but -- no!" Buffy blinked. "Thanks. A perfect example of 'vague'. Now we can frame it." The Doctor shook his head. "I remembered what happened to us when we went through the Hellmouth! The aliens -- they had some papers I'd stolen! I deciphered them, but I must have lost them when we got out!" Buffy pouted. "You remembered? How come I didn't get to remember?" The Doctor smiled gently. "You're only human, Buffy." His smile turned abruptly into a frown. "The aliens -- they're here after a Nexus Crystal!" "And that is?" asked Sam. "It's a crystal -- it can focus and absorb trans-dimensional energies!" "Oh, good," commented Fitz. "Just what I always wanted, but the shops were out of them. They tried to pawn me off with bath salts, but those never worked as well." The Doctor sighed in exasperation. "Don't any of you get it? They're trying... to steal... the Hellmouth!" Several blank stares were exchanged. Finally, Buffy asked, "And this is a bad thing? I say good riddance!" The Doctor shook his head. "They feed on monsters, remember? Monsters need to feed on people. They drain entire planets dry. If they can find the Nexus Crystal, they'll take the Hellmouth with them, unleash it on every inhabited planet they come across to manufacture their own portable larders. "They'll be a scourge across the entire universe." There was a long moment of silence. Then another one, as everyone tried to take in the idea of 'scourge across the entire universe.' Finally, as always, it was Xander who broke the silence first. "I just can't see E.T. as a vampire. Although I guess that big, glowing heart would be a lot easier to find and stake, huh?" The looks everyone else gave him suggested that silence would probably have been a better course. Giles spoke up. "The papers -- they were the same ones that I read before the Hellmouth opened?" The Doctor nodded. "Yes, well, I didn't get a very good look at them, but they appeared to be records of the Spaniards that inhabited the area during the 1800's. Perhaps the writings I already possess contain copies of the notes?" The Doctor shook his head. "No need. I read the whole story; it described a Spanish expedition in 1852. Apparently they were heading south, in search of a legendary city of gold--" "El Dorado," Oz commented, with his usual tendency to pinpoint a fact with the minimum of words involved. "Precisely! They were unable to find the city, but they did locate an Exxilon spacecraft -- not that they knew that, of course; they thought it was some sort of temple. But the description tallies. They plundered it for everything they could find, and returned. Or nearly so, I imagine. The accounts end very abruptly, and there's some talk in there of illness, probably some sort of contamination from the ship's reactors. The Exxilons always did use very dirty technology." "So we're no closer," commented Fitz.

"Well, we're a bit closer. We know that it would have been in with several relics of the Spanish occupation of these parts, for example." Giles shook his head. "That doesn't help very much, Doctor. My contacts at the museum have been very vocal in the past about the cavalier treatment of authentic historical artifacts in the area. Anything worthwhile is as likely to be sold in an antique store, or passed off in an art gallery--" Buffy went dead white. "Art... gallery? Doctor, what did this Lexus Crystal look like?" "Nexus, not L--" "I do not have time," Buffy snapped, astonishing the group. "What did it look like?" The Doctor frowned. "About the size of a human fist, dark purple -deeper than amethyst -- irregularly shaped. Why?" "It's at my mom's art gallery." Joyce Summers tried to conceal her frustration as she displayed yet another piece to her prospective customer. This time, she'd picked a beautiful vase, hand-crafted by a local artisan who still worked in the traditional manners of the local Indian, and it was waved away before she could complete her sentence. "No, Miss Summers," the man said, distantly, "it is not what we require for our purposes. We are looking for something else." Joyce struggled to keep the smile affixed to her face. "Perhaps if you could be a bit more specific, Mister...?" Internally, she moaned in frustration. "I'm sorry, I appear to have forgotten your name." Then in a flash, it came to her. Green! She'd known it was a color. It was just rattling her, the way he was acting. "Brown," he said. "Mister Brown. And we are looking for something smaller, we believe. Something... transparent? Translucent? We are sorry, the words you use, they are confusing; we have difficulty speaking them." Joyce nodded, her smile becoming ever more plastic. She looked around for some of the cut-glass work she'd gotten in a few days ago. "Like this?" she asked, handing him a piece. Mister Brown reached over, took it, and crushed it in his hand. His skin ripped to reveal greenish-black chitin, but he didn't seem to notice. "No," he said. "Too delicate. It will be something impossible to destroy." Joyce's first reaction was anger. "Now, listen," she said, "that piece was--" Then she noticed his -- its hand. "What are you?" she asked, in a tone of shock mixed with familiarity. She'd feared something like this happening ever since she found out the truth about Sunnydale. "You're not human," she continued in a more steady tone. "I know that." It smiled, and its face ripped and shredded as the thing within uncoiled. "We are Alk-klar, Atriarch of the Delphignin. We seek the Nexus Crystal; we have travelled light-years to find it. You possess it; one of the teams we sent out has traced it to this location. You will deliver it to us immediately, or we will destroy you, destroy this entire building, turn this city into dust, and sift through the ashes." Giles was already in motion, grabbing the keys to his Mini. "Buffy, weapons," he said quickly. "The bag next to the bookshelf. Xander, Doctor, let's get the car started. Buffy, you meet us--" But the Doctor was already in motion himself, giving a different set of instructions. "Buffy, go with Giles and Xander to the art gallery. Sam,

you go with them. You still remember how to do emergency first aid, right?" Sam nodded, silently. "Good. Willow, Fitz, Oz, you're with me. We've got to--" "To what?" Buffy asked. "My mom is at the art gallery, they could be there with her now." "Which is why you are going there now," the Doctor broke in smoothly. "But if they do get the Crystal, then they'll be taking it to the Hellmouth, and that means that they'll be heading for the school library. Where the TARDIS is. If we can get there before them, we might be able to head them off. Now, no more time for discussion. Let's move!" Everyone scrambled, each with their own private thoughts. And now Giles' slightly dilapidated Mini was pulling up to the doors of Joyce Summers' art gallery, and before he'd even come to a complete stop, Buffy was out the door, shouting out for her mother. Giles hurried after, entering just in time to see her help Joyce to a chair. "...Wasn't sure what to do. I know I probably shouldn't have given it to him, but..." "No, Mom. You did the right thing. You couldn't have stopped him, and he'd have just ki... just taken it anyway. It's alright; we know where they're heading." "Are you alright, Ms. Summers?" Sam asked as she entered, already looking around for things to use as improvised bandages if need be. Joyce nodded. "Just a bit bruised," she commented. "Once he got what he was here for, he left." Giles nodded. "Then we should too. The Doctor's going to need help." The four of them ran towards the school at full pace, the Doctor easily outdistancing the other three. Fitz gasped for breath somewhere at the rear, silently cursing himself for taking up smoking and cursing Sam for letting him know how unhealthy it was. This left Oz and Willow in the middle together. "I don't wanna worry you," Oz said, quietly, as they ran, "but the sun's gonna be down pretty soon, and, y'know... no cage, 'cause the aliens cut it up. You might wanna grab the tranq gun from Giles desk. I think you might need it." Willow gulped, but nodded. The two of them ran faster, trying to outrun the Doctor, the aliens, and now, too, the sun. The four of them almost ran directly into the doors, such was their haste, but the Doctor managed to stop himself with an almost casual disregard for the laws of momentum and fling them open. Then there was a careening race down the hallways, and finally they burst into the Library. The air was suffused with a reddish tint, as though a haze of blood had settled over their eyes from the exertions. In the center of the room, the Delphignan Atriarch stood, holding the Nexus Crystal over eir head. It pulsed with darkness, and blood-red lightning crackled around eir form as the Crystal sank its tendrils into the floor in a search for the dimensional energies that it could absorb. The Doctor moved as close as he dared to the display, with Oz and Fitz right behind him (in various states of exhaustion) while Willow went for Giles' tranquilizer gun. The Doctor, as was his wont in these situations, cried out, "STOP!" The Atriarch looked at him. "It is far, far too late for that," ey said. "Our race is dying, Doctor. The creatures we need to feed on are long, long gone from our world, from all the worlds of our galaxy. It is only here, on the distant end of Mutter's Spiral, that we can still find the food we need. We ask only to live, Doctor, only to survive."

The Doctor's eyes were filled with sorrow. "You destroyed the supernatural ecosystem of your world, and a dozen others just like it with your callous hunting. You slaughtered the creatures that you needed to live on, and now, you want to unleash them on worlds that have no defenses against them. There is a balance -- a design to the universe that shapes our ends. What you are doing will destroy that design to save your own lives, and I cannot allow it!" Alk-Klar's eyes shone blood-red now, as the Crystal's pulsing darkness increased its speed and the tendrils of lightning shot down deeper into the ground. "And what will you do?" ey asked. Eir voice rang out like thunder above the rising din. The Doctor frowned. "I'm going to check my watch," he said. He looked down. "And then I'm going to RUN, Fitz!" He darted for the bookshelves, dragging a startled Fitz behind him and leaving only Oz. But it wasn't Oz who stood there anymore. Already, his eyes had gone black-on-black, and his hair was growing, and then his nails extended into claws, and his jaws stretched and elongated, and fur sprouted everywhere as he became one, once more, with the Wolf. The Atriarch tried to move, but ey was rooted to the floor by the Nexus Crystal, unable to halt the process ey had started in motion. And then the Wolf leapt, and chitin crunched under its jaws even as bloody lightning coruscated up and down its form, and the Nexus Crystal was dropped and forgotten by lifeless hands as the lifeblood flowed from the last Atriarch of the Delphignin. And then Willow shot her boyfriend in the back with a tranquilizer dart, and it was all over. Two days later... The guitar sang out in chords of pain and anguish, joined by a handsome young man with a rough, husky voice that seemed as much to be shouting out its words as singing them. "We've been living here, up against the red/I've been feeling/I'm dead again..." In the Bronze, Dingoes Ate My Baby had packed them in again. Among the audience was an adoring Willow, an appreciative Doctor, and a relaxed Xander, Giles, Buffy, Sam, and Fitz. "He plays quite well," the Doctor shouted to Willow over the music. Willow nodded. "He does a lot of the songwriting, too; Devon likes the lyrics, but I think he gets creeped out sometimes." Up on the stage, Oz was focused only on mastering the diminished E chord, any effects of the Nexus Crystal apparently gone under the onslaught of loud rock and roll. Fitz whispered to the Doctor, "These guys don't play half bad. I wonder if they need another musician?" The Doctor smiled. "We'll be leaving in the morning, I think. Sunnydale doesn't need a Doctor anymore, and I don't want to cramp Buffy's style. But I'm sure Oz wouldn't mind if you sat in for a night." And on the edge of damnation, the party went on.

Back to the Sandminer Site Sponsors