Prologue

A lone figure stood on a slab of concrete overlooking a wasteland. While things moved in the distance, there were no humans among them. After a few more moments the air stirred with a brief glance, he looked at who was sitting next to him. “Cordy, I take it there is a reason for the visit?”

Cordelia Chase looked at her old boyfriend, and then turned back to the wasteland. “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. Look at what happened and it wasn't even our fault.”

Alexander “Xander” Harris looked at her. “No this fuckup was someone’s idea of a plan and another screw-up of massive proportions. The monks should never have put the key in a human body. It was asking for trouble. Willow activating all the Slayers was a screw-up beyond screw-up’s. God Cordy, after all this time and all the fights humans have lost.”

“Giles taking over the Council after it was destroyed, and not realizing the spells in place. Buffy and her inability to find a decent man. I mean you may draw evil women, but they aren't evil towards you. Buffy can't seem to draw anything but scum, and yes I am including Angel in that.”

Xander looked over at Cordy in surprise, she snorted. “Yes, I was drawn to him as well, but in the end I can see what he really was, it's where the bleach killed what few brain cells Buffy had.”

They both sat looking across what at one point had been New York City and what was now a demon-infested hole. What few humans were alive, were wishing they were dead, due to the torture they were undergoing.

“I never thought Willow was that far gone. In my mind she always was the little girl I remembered and not something I needed to take out. I should of killed her on Kingman's Bluff.”

Cordy snorted. “You couldn't have, you didn't have it in you. If there was any way of redeeming her you were going to try.”

“And it was too late for that; the First Evil had already been released. Why didn't Giles double-check the spell? He knew she had problems. They purposely made sure I was never around her spell casting, their 'magic goes funny when your around Xander' complaint. Yeah it went funny because she was casting funny, not due to me. Found that out with some Shaman in Africa. They could caste without problems even on me and it never went funny. And gee, felt a lot better when they removed the three dozen spells Willow had placed on me over the years, especially the magic siphon. Sending us each to a content to find slayers was a stupid move. And no one stayed in North America looking. Faith and Robin had Cleveland but they were not looking for slayers. And especially after Faith, they should have realized not all slayers are in a good spot when they got called, and to call everyone with potential. There were six-month-old slayers and ninety-year-old slayers. Girls that would never normally find themselves called due to brain damage or other problems all of a sudden had the 'Yeah that was a good plan', NOT.”

Both looked out and watched a few demons tear into each other in the distance. “In the year Willow was in South America the only slayer she discovered was Kennedy and can we all be glad she went to South America because otherwise Kennedy's dad would have had Willow in jail for statutory rape charges. What was Willow thinking? Kennedy was just over 16, too late to be called normally but way under the legal age for a 22 year old. Though, Willow did delve farther into Black Magic while down there. She tried saying she was studying Earth Magic and then when the siphon got cut you could hear the desperation in her voice, the addiction was so bad and she went right back to it. She was making deals left, right, and center at that point to get more power. There was no way she could say no when the dealer wanted Dawn. Giles was so screwed up and we didn't even realize it. Hearing from Angel that there was an invasion planned, and yet they were doing nothing. My girls and I got there just after Fred fell. They were all down and if we hadn't stepped in, we would have lost LA. And Giles going off the deep end and declaring us all rogues because we weren't following Council procedure. I should have known and done something.”

Cordy slapped his arm. “Why are you the one that is always to blame? Andrew was in England with Giles, and Dawn was there. Buffy was in Rome. There were slayers and others all around them. You were doing your job and helping find and train slayers in Africa.”

“Because no one else did anything. Maybe if I had paid more attention and did something...”

Cordy snorts again, “Yeah, right, they would've listened to you – NOT. Remember who you’re talking about. Princess Airhead Buffy and her “I just want to be a normal girl” and “You can't do anything because you’re normal”, Mr. Semi Evil Andrew Wells who is even more of a geek than you, and believe me I didn't think that was even possible. Ms Dawn 'Someone pay attention to me' Summers who was probably the most put together of the bunch and the head idiot Mr. Rupert “Let me work with magic but have no protections on myself” Giles who is really to blame for the slayers mess. If the council is in charge of the slayers, and he is head of the council then hey the buck stops with him.”

Xander let a small smile grace his face as he listened nodding to himself. “Yeah, but it's still hard to look out there and see our world end and think of all the sacrifices made, all we put up with, it was for nothing due to a witches addiction and a spelled idiot.”

“You all knew Dawn was the Key. And Giles was in charge of research, he should have looked up everything to do with her. If he was so stupid, he honestly thought she was only good for one instance why the hell did they have the key locked up with a bunch of monks for millennia? They could have gotten rid of it when they got it. Buffy wanted Dawn to just be her little sister because then she was still 'Special Girl' and Dawn was nothing. If it was acknowledged that Dawn was an ancient artifact, while Buffy was just another slayer. Buffy's ego did not like that thought.”

“Yeah the Governments of the World were starting to round up their new Super Strong fighting forces, Willow giving Dawn to that demon who used her to open the a new hellmouth and let the other realms come in. It was a matter of who killed everyone first, the Governments or the demons. The slayers that killed as ordered going psycho and killing everyone in sight. Getting a Kill order on all slayers, the demons starting to take over the world and the fucking immortal that Buffy was seeing using the distraction to do his spell on Buffy transferring all the slayers powers onto his army. Yeah nice and joyful that was. She had the fucking scythe with her and using it and he got all slayers.”

Cordy quietly stated, “The lucky ones died in the first month. It is the first time that slayer rule one was wrong.”

A tear started working its way down Xander's face. “With everything we are and everything we have done, instead of helping save the world we help end it.”

Cordy looked over at Xander. “What would you change?”

Xander looked puzzled at Cordy. “Change?”

“If you could go back and change anything. Though make sure it's not Buffy not coming to Sunnydale because that was not cool when I did it and the Vampire you was very scary.”

Xander looked back over the field. “You know, the stuff with Buffy, all that. I couldn't change most of it. The pattern was set. All everyone ever saw was the joker and the mask I put on. Same as you were just Queen C. The change would need to be before then. Otherwise, at that point it would be too late. The mask was too entrenched; all ours were at that point, and all our reactions to each other.”

In a room under what used to be a warehouse a small girl leaned over and brushed her hand over the hair of the older man that had tried so hard to save her. When the world went to hell two years ago, he first saved her from the army that was trying to kill her and then demons. They both knew they were going to die but the time was unsure when. Leaning over she moved the eye patch back over the socket without an eye as her tears splashed on the cooling corpse. Moving his fingers from the death grip, she looked up as she heard the monsters trying to tear their way down to them. She looked down at the switch in his hand and smiled. As the demons burst into the room, she released the switch and smiled. Nothing would remain; the switch was tied to every type of device he could find. The White Knight was going to take as many with him as he could. And make sure any human still alive died before they could endure more pain, within a month the fallout of the weapons would wipe the planet clean of life. Perfect balance would be attained.

Cordy looked over at Xander turning into D'Hoffryn. “Granted.”

Xander looked startled at D'Hoffryn. “I didn't say wish!”

D'Hoffryn smiled, “My vengeance demons were killed when the gateway opened. And who is to say it was your wish I granted. Maybe it was mine to make sure everyone lives. Without humans I have no reason for being, nor do my subjects.”

Xander screamed. All of a sudden, he is comforted in a hug. “It's ok Alex it was just a dream. I know you’re worried about starting school soon but it was just a dream.”

Xander looked up at his mother. “Everyone was dead and demons were taking over the planet and ...”

A hand fell on his shoulder and a quick squeeze took the quick tensing of muscles down, “It's OK son. Do you want to crawl in with your mother and me for the rest of the night?”

Xander looked at his father and mother then shook his head. “No just a really bad dream.”

Tony looked at Xander. “Want to talk about it?”

Xander looked at his dad. “You went out with Robert Chase and got drunk and stayed that way and lost your job when they said you were incompetent. Mom soon lost hers as well because you both were drinking so badly and stayed that way for years. You would hit us whenever we were in reach or anything set you off.” Xander shuddered and shrank into himself expecting to be hit. Jessica and Tony looked at each other.

Jessica looked at Xander. “Alex, why didn't we leave him if he was drinking like that?”

Xander looked at her. “Alex... I haven't been called that since before I started school. Willow called me Xander and it stuck. We didn't leave because you joined him.”

Tony looked at Jessica and let out a breath slowly. Jessica wrapped Xander in a hug and Tony went to get a small tape recorder they had. Coming back with the tape recorder and a bunch of tapes, he looked at Jessica and nodded. “Son, why don't you tell us everything you remember from your dream.”

Xander looked up at his father. “Why would you be concerned?”

Tony looked at Xander. “Because both my parents are alcoholics and I slipped once in college and it took Jessica and all my friends months to get me sober. I have noticed Robert trying to get me to drink multiple times, and this is Sunnydale. If someone warns you about something you should listen.”

Xander looked at his father. “Then why are we still here considering the nightlife?”

Jessica looked sad. “I didn't realize I was pregnant ‘til I was about four months.”

Xander looked up. “And you’re the High School librarian so you were overtop the hellmouth all that time.”

Tony and Jessica exchanged quick glances then Jessica nodded. “Tony even went job hunting in LA, but when you crossed the stone marker outside the city limits you wouldn't stop screaming. It was like we were hurting you. You kept wanting the warmth back.”

Xander cocked his head. “So I'm tied to the hellmouth. Then why... Ok that wasn't in the dream.”

Tony looked over. “Or it was, but in such a way you never realized it. Jess would have left me immediately if I had started drinking. We made that pact before we got married. She was to kick me out and you and her were to live here.”

“What about Uncle Rory?”

Jessica looked at Tony. “Uncle Rory?”

Xander nodded. “Yeah, taxidermist, you guys were together a lot.”

Jessica looked at Xander. “Please describe everything for the tapes. Your language skills are a lot higher right now than they should be for a five year old. After we hear everything hopefully, we can help. If what you saw was that bad.”

Tears ran down Xander’s face “The road to hell is paved with good intentions. And how will I be able to face everyone if I know all this?”

A flash of light appeared in the room. “Describe everything in your dream onto the tapes. When you fall asleep after the information will recede into the background of your mind. The tapes will help in the future.”

Tony had taken a defensive position in front of Jessica and Xander when the being entered. It smiled at Tony. “I am D'Hoffryn. What I am is not important. Xander you know how I work. You have the chance.”

Xander looked at D'Hoffryn. “And the catch? You never do anything for free and without strings or dire consequences.”

D'Hoffryn stood looking at Xander, slowly Xander nodded. “Yeah, I don't ever want to see that happen again. If it helps stop the masks. Ok. I wish that Tony and Jessica Harris never started drinking and never became the alcoholics from my dream.”

D'Hoffryn nodded “Granted” he then went to Tony and waved a hand, then at Jessica. Tony looked at D'Hoffryn with distrust. “I just increased your willpower to refuse, and moved the trigger from any taste of alcohol to getting drunk.”

Tony nodded. “Thanks, but as Xander said what’s the catch.”

D'Hoffryn smirked. “The 'catch' is that you will be actual parents to Xander. The mask changes because he is no longer trying to hide from abuse and problems at home.”

Xander looked up. “No Zeppo mask this time.”

D'Hoffryn smiled at Xander. “Even Groucho admitted that Zeppo was the funniest of them and it wasn't as good after he left.”

Xander smiled shyly. D'Hoffryn nodded to both his parents and left. Tony looked at Jessica and both just nodded. “Alex, why don't you start talking to get the story out so you can sleep?”

Xander looked at her. “Yeah if you want to leave it, you both should sleep before work tomorrow.”

Tony snorted then messed Xander’s hair. “Right son, if you believe that. Things will be a lot different this time.”

Over the next two hours, Xander talked about what had happened while Jessica rocked him and Tony soothed his hair and kept him going. Finally, after a couple tapes Xander fell asleep. Jessica moved and tucked him into bed and Tony and Jessica left the room with the door open and a nightlight on in the room tears streaming down Jessica's face and Tony's looking very sad.

Chapter 1

“Hey why you crying?” Xander asks the small red haired girl in class a few days later. She holds up her yellow crayon sniffling. Xander looks at her confused “So...”

She sniffles some more “I broke my crayon!”

Xander looked at her. “So why are you crying. Jesse and I break crayons all the time and there isn't a reason to cry.”

She looked at him in awe. “But mom said I had to take care of my things or I wouldn't be allowed new stuff.”

Xander looked at her and frowned. “Here,” He hands her his unbroken yellow crayon, “but you’re a kid and as my mom says we are made for getting into stuff and breaking stuff.”

The teacher looked over at Xander and the red haired girl “Alexander, Willow. This is coloring time not talking time.”

Xander looked at the teacher. “Why can't it be both?”

Jesse pipes up from the a few rows away. “Because she can't think of doing two things at once.”

Harmony, Cordy, and the rest of the class started laughing Xander spoke up. “But she's a teacher. There are more of us than her and she knows she is going to have to help us all. If she can't do two things at once, she shouldn't be a teacher. Mom says that teachers are some of the most important people in molding us to adults but if they aren't good teachers they are as bad as child abusers.”

At this point, the teacher is turning purple in rage. Xander and Jesse are watching her. Willow is looking on with wide eyes. “My mom says you should never talk back to teachers because they know more.”

Xander looked over at Willow. “This is the same mom that would be upset that you broke your crayon? Your mom is strange. My mom teaches at the High School. She says she wants to make sure I get the best education I can but to understand what being a teacher means. I saw her with her classes last year when I couldn't go to daycare. She could handle the students doing multiple things at one time. She told me she enjoys getting them mvoleved because then she knows they are learning.”

“Involved,” The teacher corrected automatically before shuddering. “Ok everyone, why don't you break into groups and color and talk together.”

Jesse came over by Xander and looked at the girl. “Hi, I'm Jesse.”

Willow looked at both boys. “I'm Willow.”

Xander looked at her. “I'm Alexander.”

Willow looked at Xander. “Xander”

Jesse laughed. “If you want he can be Xander. The other is a lot. You were named after a tree? Couldn't your parents think of anything else?”

Willow started to tear up and both boys groaned at her before Xander spoke up. “Willow, if you want to hang around us you need to stop acting like such a girl. The crying is not good. Tears are for major things not little things.”

Willow sniffled and looked at Xander. “But I am a girl.”

Xander looked at her and laughed. “But I'm a boy. Jesse is a boy. So you can be an honorary boy.”

Jesse laughed and Willow smiled. Jesse looked over at the teacher and saw she was working with some kids a ways away. “So the teacher.”

Xander smirked. “Mom said she heard she had taught a bunch in Portland, and she wondered why she was here. Mom was contacting some friends to get more info on her.”

Willow looked at Xander in awe, “but she's a teacher.”

Jesse looked at Willow. “Didn't you say that already? And so?”

“Wow my mom would never think of doing that. She says that teachers are to be listened to and to follow their instructions without question.”

Jesse looked at Xander and they scowled at each other. “What does your parents do?”

Willow brightened. “They are psychiatrists.”

Jesse looked at Willow. “What are psychiatrists?”

Willow looked confused; Xander looked around and spotted the teacher. “Hey Ms. Anderson what is a psychiatrist and what do they do?”

The teacher smiled. “Your mother taking you to see one?”

Xander smirked. “No Wills parents are psychiatrists and I wanted to know what they do and she didn't know.”

A small “Wills?” was heard in the background. Jesse looked at her “If you can change his name, he can change yours.” A thoughtful look crossed her face.

Ms. Anderson looked at the three children then noticed the entire class was looking at her. “Psychiatrist are doctors that people see to help them overcome issues. They talk with the psychiatrist and they help them fix what is wrong.”

Cordy looked at Ms. Anderson, “My mom sees a psychiatrist, she says everyone is doing it and she was talking about sending me to one but they said to wait until I was older.”

Harmony piped up, “My mom is sending my older brother to one. Says he has anger issues. He told mom that he didn't want spinach with dinner last month.”

Xander frowned. “What's wrong with not wanting spinach with dinner? I usually try to get out of eating it as well.”

Harmony shrugged. “Mom heard from a friend that she should so the doctor could get Dave on some pills. I know Dave has been acting strange since he started taking them. I mean he acts like a zombie from TV.”

Another boy in class piped up. “Yeah my mom says that all psychiatrist are for is giving out drugs. She was talking about how bad it was.”

A glassy eyed girl chimed in. “Yeah the psychiatrist put me on these pills because he said I was ADHD whatever that is.”

The class shuddered looking at her. Xander spoke up. “Are you even in there – you look and act like you’re not.”

The girl looked in the area Xander was in. “Everything is fuzzy and I feel like I'm floating. Nothing can touch me.”

Jesse looked at Willow. “Your parent's do that!?!”

Willow started to tear up when both Xander and Jesse gave her evil looks. She quickly brought the tears under control. “I didn't know.”

Jesse looked at her. “If your parents believe everyone should act like that. Boy do they need help.”

Xander nodded. “Yeah, they want robots not kids. Explains the stupid things they tell you as well.”

Ms Anderson looked at Xander sternly. “We do not call other children's parent's stupid.”

Xander looked at her then looked at the glassy eyed girl. “Parent's that believe that is what we should be like are stupid. We are kids. My mom says the definition of kid is part headache, part heartache, and all trouble.”

Ms. Anderson laughed at that one. “And I am sure you try and live up to the trouble part.”

Xander and Jesse's faces both started to change to more evil and smirked at her. “You have no idea.”

At which Ms. Anderson went white and ran to her desk. The rest of the class laughed. After trying to clear her throat a few times, she finally squeaked. “Why don't you all go outside and play for a bit.” Everyone went outside laughing.

Tony came in late again that night. He looked at Xander and Jessica at the table going over Xander's homework and some additional things Jessica bought for him.

She looked at Tony and he shook his head. “I don't know what is wrong with Robert. Every night for the last two weeks, he has tried to get me to go out to a bar to discuss stuff after work. Last two nights I have gone and all he is doing is trying to get me to drink. I had to go to the bartender and threaten him that if he put alcohol in my soda again I was going to press charges. I told the bartender I am a recovering alcoholic. He said Robert was paying him extra to put the alcohol in the drinks.”

Jess looked scared. “Did you....” Tony shook his head “No, it seems that thing did help. Otherwise I would be right now.”

Xander nodded. “D'Hoffryn has his reasons.”

Jess and Tony looked at Xander. “Alex, honey, what do you remember?”

Xander looked at his parents. “Sorry it came and went. Maybe I got some of those funny drugs they have Melissa on.”

Jess looked startled. “Melissa is on drugs.”

“Yeah, we were asking about psychiatrists because Wills said her parents are that and Melissa said that her mother sent her to one and he put her on these drugs for ADHD or something like that. She is strange says everything is cloudy and nothing is touching her.”

Tony looked at Xander. “Wills?”

“Yeah met her the first day of class. Her parents are strange. She was crying because she broke her crayon because her mother was going to be upset. I gave her mine. She calls me Xander so I call her Wills. Jesse and I are teaching her the proper way to act. She actually believed that adults should never be questioned. Why would a mom be mad that she broke a crayon?”

Jess looked at Xander. “Not all mothers are moms. Some are mothers. Just as some fathers are dads and some are fathers.”

Xander looked at his mom. “Thanks mom that helps.”

The next day at school during a playtime Xander went over to Cordy. “Cordy is something wrong with your father?”

Cordy looked at Xander “Not that I know of. He hasn't been home for the last few nights ‘til after I went to bed.”

Xander nodded at Cordy. “He keeps asking my father to go out to bars with him and trying to make him drink. Even paid the bartender to put stuff in his drink.”

Cordy looked stunned then a little scared. “If I try to find out will you and Jesse leave me and Harm alone for a few days?”

Xander looked at Cordy. “If you think you can get him to stop sure.”

Cordy then looked sad. “I don't think I can. But my mom is seeing Alice at the hair place this afternoon.”

Jesse came over. “If it works we will leave you and Harm alone for a week.”

Cordy nodded and left to go back over to Harmony. Xander looked at Jesse. “I thought you were looking forward to painting that lizard pink and putting it in Harms hair?”

“It can wait. Whatever has you worried enough that you would agree with Cordy on that?”

Willow at this time had wondered over.”Yeah, dad says that each night Robert Chase has been trying to get him to drink. Grandpa and Grandma Harris are both alcoholics. And dad says he slipped in college.”

Willow looked at Xander. “What are alcoholics?”

Xander glanced at Willow. “You know those guys at bars that act more out of it than Melly?”

A disgusted look crossed Willows face. “The ones that smell gross?”

Xander and Jesse nodded. “If dad started drinking he wouldn't be dad anymore. I don't know what would happen just that it would be bad.”

After school, the three were walking around town. “Xander what are we looking for?”

Jesse looked at Willow. “Cordy said her mom would be at the hair place this afternoon. We are going to see if we can find her. Xander will ask about why Robert’s been after his father and she will go home and confront him.”

Willow looked at Xander then Jesse. “Why would she.”

“Willow remember when everyone laughed at that dress and how sad you felt and the other feeling?”

Willow nodded, as she turned red at the memory. Her mother had put her in a dress that everyone said looked awful on her. Her mom thought it was 'cute'. She had been teased by everyone. It ended up with Xander and Jesse taking her home and teasing her in front of her mother before her mother let her not wear it. Her mom and dad didn't really like Xander and Jesse. They said they were, “Bad influences”. That was until they realized Xander's mom was a high school teacher/librarian and his father was a Senior VP. Then they started getting false nice.

The three came up on the hair place and Xander smirked as he saw Mrs. Chase was in there. Motioning for the two of them to wait out there Xander walked in. “Hey Mrs. Chase, Why is your husband keep asking dad out and trying to get him drunk?”

Mrs. Chase sputtered as all eyes turned to her and whispers started. Looking around she looked back at Xander. “I am sure your mistaken Alexander.”

Xander smiled. “Nope. Dad says Robert asked him out every night for the last few weeks and when he went to the bar with him it was suppose to be discussing something about work but Robert kept ordering him alcohol and when dad refused paid the bartender to put stuff in dads soda. Dad said he had to have a talk with the bartender.”

Mrs. Chase looked at Xander. “I will be finding out. Don't worry about it.”

Xander looked at Mrs. Chase, “That’s good I was hoping he wasn't trying to make Cordy my sister.”

The place burst into twitters and Mrs. Chase turned beet red. Waving his hand, he walked out the door. Jesse and Willow were there waiting for him. Jesse snorted. “Make Cordy your sister. Oh man.”

Xander shrugged. “Had to be something major because she wasn't really going to do anything before I said that.”

Willow looked on in awe. “Wow”

Dinner the next night found all three kids at the Harris table as Jessica was serving dinner and Tony came in. Tony smirked at Xander. “I'm not sure what you did but Robert stopped asking me out. In fact he turned red when he saw me and mumbled something about Claire and pointy shoes that hurt.”

Xander looked at his father with innocence. Tony started chuckling “Like I would believe that face. You forget who I am.”

Xander smirked at his father, “I asked Mrs. Chase if Mr. Chase was trying to make Cordy my sister.”

Jess started laughing. “And where was Mrs. Chase when this happened.”

Jesse and Willow piped up, “Hair place.”

Tony and Jess started laughing out loud. After a few minutes, they calmed and she looked at the three “So Ice Cream with Chocolate syrup for desert?”

All three kids smiled happily at that. Tony and Jess shared a look over their heads, laughing softly. The same thought in both their minds. 'The three were terrors and very glad they are on our side but heaven help everyone when they hit their teens.'

Chapter 2

Little over a year later there was a knock on the front door on a Friday night. Going to answer the door Jess stood in shock. “Jesse what happened!” Hearing Jess, Xander and Tony ran from the living room to the front door. Jesse was leaning against the door jam. Both eyes were blackened and red marks on his face showed he might have jaw issues. His arms and legs were obviously hurt as well. Tony leaned over and picked him up gently while carrying him to the car. Xander ran and got his father’s keys and wallet as well as his mother’s purse while his parents put Jesse in the car. They were quickly on their way to the hospital.

At the hospital, Tony and Jess were explaining that he knocked and they answered and what they found. One of the officers that saw them hurrying to the hospital went to check on the McNally house. Xander was in the room holding Jesse. One of the nurses made a comment; the other looked at her with disgust on her face. “They are six year olds and one was just beaten. I don't think you have to worry about them having sex.”

Xander looked up the nurses. “No but she should worry about her health.” The nurse that was defending the boys looked quickly at Xander as well as the Doctor and his parents. The look on his face was scary. The other nurse sniffed and walked off... A few seconds later, there was a loud scream. The nice nurse went to check. After a few moments, she came back in looking at Xander. “Tripped over her own feet, fell through the window into the waiting room right onto someone's knitting needles that pierced both her eyes.”

Xander snorted. “Lucky.”

The adults all looked at each other and shuddered slightly. Yeah she was lucky, if Xander wasn't comforting Jesse it would have been a lot worse, they didn't know how they knew they just knew.

The nurse looked at Jesse closely; she could see some of the bruising fading. “Doctor,” when he looked at her she nodded at Jesse. He looked and noticed what she was seeing. “Alexander, let me take Jesse and do X-rays and pictures and fix the bones so they heal in the correct places. We don't want to have to re-break them.”

Xander nodded as the Nurse quickly and gently moved Jesse to gurney and rolled him away for pictures. Xander got off the bed and came over to his parents, hugging his mom as he stood there.

A few minutes later Jesse's father and the officer came in. His father was covered in bruises and stuttering. The officer looked at the doctor. “Could you please take pictures of the damages to Mr. McNally as well?”

“Oh no, Gladys will be upset if we did that. I need to go home so Gladys calms down. You understand that Gladys doesn't like things out of order or making a mess.”

Tony looked at Jesse's father. “Steve what happened to Jesse?”

“Oh Jesse spilt his milk at dinner. Gladys was most upset. I tried to clean it up quickly but Gladys says that dinner was ruined.”

Tony looked at the officer, he shook his head. “Way the code was written in town we can't really do anything, we can make it so Gladys has no say over Jesse but unless Steve does something he will go with his father, who is heading back into the abusive situation.”

Xander looked up with his eyes narrowing. Tony dropped his hand onto Xander's shoulder and squeezed. Tony looked at Steve. “Steve, you know I think Gladys would be a lot happier if Jesse came to stay with us. You know she has said multiple times.”

The relief at the suggestion was easily seen on Steve's face. “Yes, Gladys would be most happy if Jesse stayed with Alexander.” The officer smirked and the CPS women coming up the hall heard that and smiled as well.

“Mr. McNally, I'm Leslie Sands. If you will sign these forms we will move the custody of Jesse over to Mr. and Mrs. Harris.”

Steve quickly signed all the forms she offered. Everyone smiled and Xander looked relieved. “So the room next to mine gets switched for him. You guys going to get his stuff while the doctor finishes up here?”

Leslie nodded. “I will head back with Officer Rogers and Mr. McNally after they are done here to get Jesse's stuff.”

Jessica nodded. “I will leave to get the room ready and you guys can bring the stuff right over.”

Jesse and the Doctor returned and after moving Jesse back onto the hospital bed and Xander, crawling in with him the Doctor came over to the adults. “Two broken ribs; 6 cracked ribs; hairline fracture of right Clavicle; hairline fracture of right Mandible; right Ulna broken in three places; three metacarpal bones in his right hand are broken and another two are fractured; two fractures in the Pelvis. Left femur broken in two spots; left tibia and fibula both broken; two Metatarsal in his left foot. And we are watching his kidneys due to bruising in that area as well as the extensive bruising around the face and stomach.”

The officer and the CPS worker looked at each other before Leslie asked. “You have copies ready?”

“Oh yeah, I have them ready. And who did this?”

The officer looked at the Doctor. “His mother. We also need you to take a look at the father. He seems to have some damage but no where that extensive.”

The nurse heard and shook her head. “Shows that it can be anyone. Everyone was betting on the father in a drunken rage.”

Tony looked at Jess both thinking of what Xander had said about his drinking and abuse. Tony closed his eyes at the close call. It could have been Xander in there with that damage and he would have been responsible. Jess stroked his back in understanding.

Jess nodded to everyone. “I will head home to start getting the room next to Xander's ready for Jesse.”

The adults all nodded at each other turning to look at the boys again. Xander was back to holding Jesse and they watched as the bruises were fading more and color was coming back into him.

Later that night Tony and Jess were looking at the rooms in their house. The room next to Xander's had been cleaned out and most of Jesse's things were moved in there. Tony looked at Jessica. “Think we should get the other room ready as well? We can say it's a guest room or if Willow stays over or something.”

Jess closed her eyes nodding. “Yeah, I have that feeling as well. We can clear out the basement and make a play area for them. Ask the boys what color they want the walls and what they think for the guest room. You wouldn't mind. Seems we are growing from our only child and may end up with three that most of the town seems to call 'terrors'.”

Tony gently squeezed Jess around the waist. “Oh that letter from my grandmother that I got the other day. Seems she was happy to find out I didn't become an alcoholic like my parents and she told me to bring my three children to see her soon.”

Jess smiled while shaking her head. “You think that started it, my grandfather and great grandmother were both suppose to have some version of knowing things in advance and my grandmother was able to tell when someone was lying just by looking at them.”

Tony looked at Jess. “Remember watching the original Twilight Zone and the one with the kid that changed people into jack-in-the-boxes when he got angry.”

Jess looked confused. “Kinda.”

“We will make sure our Terrors don't become like that little boy. They will be well loved but not feared. I saw the brief fear on the doctor and nurse’s face after the one that called them queer boys fell through the window. They hid it but I could see it starting. I think watching him heal Jesse relieved some of their fears.”

The next morning Tony and Jessica were in the hospital room looking at the boys. “So what color paint do you boys want in your rooms?”

Xander smiled. “Blue.”

Jesse grinned. “Green.”

Tony nods. “And we are thinking of turning the fourth bedroom into a guest bedroom what color do you think for it?

Xander and Jesse looked at each other then at Tony and Jess. “She hates pink and red because she’s always teased about her hair.”

“And green because they call her Christmas.”

“Browns are boring.”

“Purple or yellow?”

“Purple works; make it not too overly purple. Don't want to think about Barney when you look at the room.”

Both parents and the nurse walking by shudder at the mention of Barney. Tony and Jess smile at the boys. The nurse came in. “The Doctor said that Jesse is showing rapid improvement and probably head home today with a bunch of care instructions.”

Everyone smiles at that. Jess looks at the nurse. “Checkout is what time?”

“The Doctor will be making rounds in about an hour. That checkup will tell him if it’s ok for Jesse to leave. So far the kidney's and stomach seem ok, and all we can do for the broken and fractured bones is let them heal.”

A small red haired girl slipped into the room the nurse raises her eyebrows as the girl climbs in bed with the boys. “I just heard. My parents think I'm at Xander's.”

The boys nod. “Do you like the idea of purple paint on the walls in our guest bedroom?”

The girl looked confused. “I thought walls had to be white. Mom said that all walls in a house should be white.”

Jess leaned over. “In a house white works, but in a home the walls should match the people living there. That is one of the differences between a House and a Home.”

The girl still looked confused. “People will buy it if it has different color on the walls? A house is used for resale and investment and you don't want to do anything to damage your investment.”

The nurse was staring at the girl in horror. 'Purple walls in the guest room, doesn't like red or pink, yep they figure she will be with them more than with her parents and good thing too.'

Tony looked at Willow. “Walls can be painted without problems.”

Willow looked at him. “Oh, Ok, yeah purple sounds good, but more light not dark. Like violet or something otherwise it will look like that dress Ms. Anderson wore last year.” All three kids shudder at the memory.

Jess looked at the kids. “So are you all thrilled with entering first grade next month?”

The three kids looked at her and Willow frowning. “Mom just ordered a bunch of clothes from the Sears catalog. She said we didn't have time to go shopping. Hope they don't fit.”

“Hopefully nothing like that pink dress again.”

Willow looked sad. “I saw some of what she ordered – can I hope none of it fits. More pink and red dresses. And green. The rest of the kids are going to be mean.”

The adults looked at the girl in a beige cotton jumper with a pink top and pink tights and shoes. The clothes were bad and looked wrong on her with her coloring.

A few months later on a Wednesday night Jess looked at the clock and the three children in her basement. “Willow, shouldn't you be heading home before your mom gets worried.”

Willow looked at her. “Oh they are on a tour for the next few months. They said I'm old enough to be on my own. They have the bills coming out of their checking account and left some cash for me to get food.”

Jess looked at Willow. “When are they due back?”

Willow thought. “July 10th. They will be in LA for July 4th and head back after they said. I have their itinerary on the fridge at home.”

Jess smiled tightly. “Is it ok if I go over and get it and some clothes for you so you can stay her the next few days?”

Willow looked up and smiled. “Sure, that would be great. I was hoping to stay here some but figured I shouldn't ask because I didn't want you to think I was a baby.”

Willow handed Jess her key and Jess walked upstairs to grab her purse and Leslie's card. After she arrived at The Rosenberg’s she let herself in with Willow's key and looked around. There were notes telling Willow when to take the trash cans out, what was ok to buy at the store, how to do laundry, and other things like that. On the fridge was an itinerary that showed they were touring for the next five months. Jess just looked at the fridge and then pulled up the card she had for Leslie Sands and dialed the number on the back for her home since it was 7pm at night.

After explaining to Leslie what she had found she went to grab clothes for Willow while waiting for Leslie to arrive. Leslie arrived with Officer Rogers again. Looking through the house you could see the disgust growing on both of their faces.

“So they left their six year old daughter alone for five months while they do a book tour on parenting?”

Officer Rogers snorted in the background. “Want me to check out that they are there.”

Leslie nodded. “Of course she will join your other two and you want custody if they did abandon her.”

Jess nodded. “They told her she was a big girl and could take care of herself. She didn't want to ask to stay over because she worried we would think she was a baby.”

Officer Rogers came back in. “They arrived in New York last night they will be there for a week doing guest lectures and book signings.”

Leslie nodded. “Ok forward their phone to my office and check the house daily, I am going to be very nice and give them two days. And it's clear from the notes and lists left around here that are addressed to Willow not a caregiver that they had no one designated to take care of her. I figure by this time tomorrow night if they haven't returned for their daughter or assigned care for her than its clear Abandonment and neglect. That would mean we could have them arrested in the middle of their presentation at Columbia.”

Everyone laughed at that and then after gathering some stuff for Willow and forwarding their phone they left going back to the Harris household.

After Leslie talked some with Willow and assured her she wasn't in trouble for asking to stay somewhere instead of in the house alone, and what her parents did is wrong and against the law. They were not to leave their six-year-old daughter alone at home for months without an adult to look after her. Willow was setup in the violet room.

As Leslie and Officer Rogers were leaving and getting back into their cars. “So all three of the Terrors are together?”

Leslie looked at Rogers. “Does that really surprise you?”

He shook his head. “Actually it is kinda a relief. I would hate to think what would have happened to those three kids with the way the other two parents went.”

Leslie looked at him. “There are rumors that Anthony Harris is a recovering alcoholic. And someone was trying to push him back into being an alcoholic.”

Rogers looked at the house shuddering. “And where would those kids be if all three sets of parents where off like that. With Gladys going off the deep end and now the Rosenberg’s abandoning their daughter if Tony was drinking it would have destroyed those three.”

Leslie nodded. “Yeah, some how it feels right that all three are together, if I was a romantic I would say something like “the future is saved” but how those three terrors would save the future?”

Rogers looked at her. “Think what would happen if you messed with them or their friends.”

Leslie raised her eyebrows and thought on the situation. “I think I will suggest Lee's Dojo to Jessica for the three kids. The discipline of a martial art could help.”

Rogers looked at her and his eyes double blinked both normal and sideways “Oh.”

“Something the Matriarch said awhile back, 'The three terrors are reunited. The guardian is back with his brother the shield and his sister the red tree. Their strength is our salvation. If they are weakened the past will become the future and there will be no saving us this time.'”

Rogers looked at her, shuddered, and then got into the car. “Maybe they need to do some of the other after school activities I'm sure Mrs. Harris never heard about. Any idea which is which of the boys?”

Leslie shook her head about the boys. “I will ask the Matriarch about the after school programs.”

Chapter 3

Tony and Jess sat across from Mrs. Schmidt the children’s second grade teacher and the principal Mr. Elleckson. Both were acting very nervous while greeting the trio's parents and you could see the sweat on Mr. Elleckson's neck.

Tony smiled. “So Parent/Teacher conference. I didn't realize the principal was coming. Is there something I should know about the trio?”

Mrs. Schmidt took a sip of water on her desk and forced a smile. The answering smile from the Harris's shook that off her fast and she looked at the principal. “Mr. Elleckson wanted to talk to you about the trio.”

Elleckson threw a look at her like she betrayed she looked at him then the Harris's and you could almost see her saying 'I'm not going to cross them.'

Elleckson put on a fake smile and looked at Tony, and then he quickly dropped the smile as well. “Um... Yeah... We... You see... Um... It's kinda... Well...”

Jess laughed. “Nope, don't see because you haven't said anything yet. Now how about telling us what is going on.”

Mrs. Schmidt tried again. “Well you see. We would like to separate the trio. We have noticed a decline in Willow's behavior being around the boys that much and thought if we maybe put her in a different grade than them and split them up it would be better.”

Tony looked hard a Mrs. Schmidt. “A decline in Willow's behavior?”

Both the principal and Mrs. Schmidt nodded.

Tony's voice went hard. “You mean like when Mr. Richards told her to take off all her clothes and let him play with her and instead of doing what he wanted she ran screaming to the two of you. And from what I remember, you told her to not talk about it and he was a teacher she should listen to him. She then told the boys. If I remember right. They then found out he had been doing more than looking at Melissa Grant.”

Jess took over then. “Yes, I remember hearing how they confronted Mrs. Grant at the Hair Salon and told her that her allowing her child to be that drugged set her up for Mr. Richards to hurt her and she was as much at fault as he was.”

Tony took over. “I remember that he left school screaming the next day before class started. If I remember right he pulled Cordelia Chase in to look at when the trio broke that up.”

The principal started sweating more and the teacher looked pale.

“So you’re saying you want to punish the children for doing what you as educators are suppose to do? I am sure the other parents will agree with me when I tell them about this talk that maybe you both shouldn't be in charge of young, growing, minds.”

Both the principal and the teacher were shaking at this point. They could see the parents in their minds especially when it got out about Cordelia. “No maybe we were being hasty. Yes, keeping the three together would be best.”

Tony looked at Jess. As one, they got up and left the office. The teacher started crying and the principal ran to lock himself in his office. Less than an hour later the mob of angry parents had pulled him out of his office and thrown his stuff out as well as both teachers. Leslie and Officer Rogers where waiting for the disgraced trio of teachers. “So you allowed a pedophile loose on the children and did nothing about it; and then tried to get revenge on the children that stopped it. I'm sure they will love this story in prison.”

With all of three, the adults crying Officer Rogers click cuffs on them and read them their rights. The crowd of parents cheered as they were put into the police cars.

In the back of the group, Mrs. Grant approached Jess. “Jess.”

“Hello Helen, How can I help you?”

“Thank your three for me. I guess I liked the idea of her so calmed down and not running everywhere I didn't think of what I was really doing to her.”

Jess nodded at her.

“And Jess. Alice's is now considered information central. And I admit none of us want to see your three coming but if they need to inform us of something. Alice will get whomever they need to talk to when they need them. We all know someone’s going to be upset when they come. But usually it does help.”

Jess looked at her surprised. Claire Chase came over. “Yes, it is very embarrassing for your three to arrive. But usually it does help. Robert didn't know why Richard was paying him to get Tony to start drinking but he thought it would be funny. With Tony catching Richard’s fraud and everything Robert is worried that he will be tarred with the same brush as Richard.”

Ellen Wells came over. “Yeah, your three do make us want to run when they say our name. But... Tucker is getting help. I just thought it was boys being boys with Tucker picking on Andrew that way. The embarrassment of them pointing it out made sure I would get it stopped. If that is what it takes to make us stop this we are all for it.”

Lisa Blaisdell came over. “Yeah, then again they could do like they did to Chuck. Chuck kept telling Larry to be a man he has to pick on weaker people. You’re three... Larry and I still laugh at the image of when Chuck came home that night after your three proved that picking on the weak was wrong.”

Claire looked at Lisa in surprise. Lisa looked at her explaining. “Chuck had told Larry that he wasn't a man because others didn't fear him. The trio did some things to him. He came home covered in horse shit, clothes shredded, feathered, with the word IDIOT all over his face.”

The women all laughed. Jess shook her head. “Those three. I thought the karate lessons would help.”

Lisa looked at Jess. “That sounds like a nice disciplined sport for them. I'm sure it will, where are they going? I will ask Larry if he wants to go. It would be nice for him to see more sports than football.”

Ellen looked interested as well. “Yes Andrew may like it as well.”

A week later Tony and Jess were back for another Parent/Teacher conference. Only this time the teacher was Officer Rogers father Mr. Rogers, he was also subbing in as principal until a new one was found, and the rest of the bad teachers cleared out. No one wanted to think what would happen if the trio ended up in a class with a bad teacher. Or heard about one.

Mr. Rogers smiled at Jess and Tony. “Well, your three are a handful, not surprising considering their ages and temperaments. Willow is learning to think outside the box and what rules are and when they are important. She had a bad habit of thinking some basic rules shouldn't apply to her. Like gravity.”

Both parents laughed. They had that discussion with her as well. “Give her time I'm sure she will figure out how to work around it.”

Mr. Rogers looked at them sharply. “Yes, that is what has us concerned.”

Both parents sobered and looked at Mr. Rogers intently. He looked back at them. “Do you want me to beat around the bush or do you know something that could help us help them.”

The parents looked at him. He looked at them. “Our matriarch made a comment about the guardian returning with his brother the shield and his sister the red tree to remake the future.”

Tony and Jess nodded. “We know a little. Alexander woke up with a nightmare that seemed to be one version of future we all hope doesn't happen.”

Rogers looked at them. “Any idea if he remembers it.”

Tony looked. “We have it taped. D'Hoffryn moved it to the background.”

Rogers glanced at them sharply. “D'Hoffryn! Ok, so more major than we knew. Is it possible we can get copies of the tapes? I know you want to horde them but the more copies the better chance we can make sure it doesn't happen.”

Tony looked at Rogers. “It wasn't pretty. By the end, it was all we could do to hold him. The gateways came down and demons ran the world. And it seemed it was not lesser demons like is here now.”

Rogers exhaled slowly. “I take it we have time.”

Both parents nodded. Rogers reached for the phone. “Cecilia, could you meet me and some others at the Harris household tonight. Maybe have Lee keep the kids for his later classes. I know there are clan children in there that don't all look human yet. Yeah I think the three could deal with it and it will be better if they learn early about realmers.” He looked at Jess and Tony “Was a slayer involved?” There was a noise on the other end of the phone like a scream “what!” Jess and Tony nodded. “Yeah we need to teach them that not all realmers are evil and other things before the slayer gets here. Does the slayer arrive soon?”

Jess looked at Rogers. “Define soon.”

“Within the next five years.”

“No.”

“Was a watcher with her?”

“Yes.”

“Cecilia ask the matriarch if she wants anyone else there to listen to the tapes.” He let out a shuddering breath as he hung up the phone.

In the hallway, three children looked at each other. “So we get to meet realmers, wonder what they are?”

“Should we let them know we heard?” Xander looked at the others.

“Yes. Especially Rogers. Make it known not to try and keep stuff from us.” The other two nodded in understanding. Whatever was on those tapes was bad, but not something, they needed to know now. They all knew the tapes were no longer the future.

Later that night in the crowded living room of the Harris household, some beings were looking very stoic. Mr. Perkins from the grocery store was shaking his head. Leslie Sands and Officer Rogers were shell-shocked. And around the room, the reactions differed.

Mr. Perkins looked at everyone. “We knew this town was made realmer friendly. Most of our clans came here because of the peace of living without having to worry. To find out Wilkins is doing this for the ascension.”

Officer Rogers looked ashamed. “The buildup of vamps and other harmful demons and the lack of the police to do anything.”

Tony looked at Rogers. “Is that why the child laws in this town are the way they are? Jesse was beaten badly by his mother and according to the city laws, you couldn't remove him. If Steve hadn't signed over custody he would still be there.”

Leslie looked about to cry. “I can think of another forty cases over the last five years that I would of loved to remove the kids from abusive households but I couldn't.”

Jess nodded. “So the children here are being brought up to be sheep ready for the slaughter. It also explains the heavy anti-gay feelings in town. Don't want the food sources to diminish.”

Emily Pinkers looked at Jess. “A lot of our children intermix with the human children. As our children get older, they are more able to pass as human children. The education standards being lowered each year for the last five and by the time the current elementary classes are in High School it will be so low we will fail every state standard makes sense now.”

Mr. Henderson principal of the High School nodded. “The education cuts and budget shifts and mandates from City Hall are making more sense now. However, the issue is how to stop it.”

Emily laughed. “I go have a discussion with the mayor of course. While it coming from some of us can be ignored. But to ignore me...”

Jess looked at Leslie. “It explains why Elleckson kept the pedophile in the elementary school and was trying to get Willow back to sheep status.”

The rest of the people there looked at Jess quickly. “Pedophile in the Elementary School!”

Jess nodded. “Yes, he tried with Willow and she complained. It’s also why the boys confronted Helen Grant after finding out what he was doing Melissa who was so drugged she couldn't have really talked.”

“I take it the pedophile as well as the ones that allowed it are gone.”

Leslie nodded. “Jess got the parents riled up and they threw them out.”

The adults all nodded and continued to make plans. They had a lot to do and about ten years to grow the trio from children into full protectors, and probably a lot more of the town’s children. The idea of the future of their town was not something they wanted.

A week later on the playground at the elementary school. “Hey Larry, why don't you have your mom sign you up for karate with us.” Jesse asked.

“I asked. Dad says it's sissy stuff.” Larry pouted.

Xander looked at Larry. “Is your dad calling Chuck Norris a SISSY?”

Larry got a grin on his face. “Chuck Norris does karate?”

The trio nodded, as Larry's grin got wider.

“Hey Andrew. You and Jonathon going to make karate tonight?”

Andrew and Jonathon looked over at the trio kinda scared. Andrew hesitated before answering. “My mom talked about it but I didn't think you wanted us in there with you?”

Willow laughed. “Come on guys. The more of us in there the better. If we ever have a teacher like that creepy Mr. Richards we can get him before he hurts anyone again.”

Cordelia and Harmony looked at the trio. “But karate isn't good for girls.”

Willow looked at Cordelia. “Improved balance, coordination, and defense. As well as great for keeping in shape as we get older and worry about our figure.”

All the girls giggled. The perfect way to sell it to their parents.

Rick looked at the trio. “And besides being another form of aggression what can boys get out of it?”

Jesse smirked. “Actually Karate is about learning control and discipline as well as helping relieve the anxiety and excessive energy of youth.”

Rick and the other boys smiled.

“And Chuck Norris does it.” Jesse added with a laugh.

Everyone laughed at that.

Peter came over “You guys thinking of joining Cub Scouts?”

Xander shook his head “Willow couldn't join with us. They would want her in Girl Scouts and that doesn't sound as fun. Also dad was talking he doesn't like how the Scouts are against gays. He said everyone has the right to happiness.”

Larry shuddered. “My dad is so against gays.”

Willow looked at him. “Why.”

“He says they aren't real men.”

“Your father is warped you know that Larry.”

Larry nodded. “You have no idea. He was mad because mom bought a premade dinner the other night instead of cooking it. He went on how she’s the woman and her job is to cook and clean. She looked at him and told him if he was supporting them without her working maybe. But if she is working then he is helping clean. You could hear him yelling at her, until she threw the chicken at him, then the potatoes, then the veggies, and gravy and started at the silverware. I think he's still over at his parents.”

Cordy piped up. “I think my mom was talking to your mom the other day. Mom was telling her that yeah looks are nice but if they can't afford to keep you in style, they should be dropped. She was going on how your dad didn't live up to his potennel and should be traded in for a better one.”

The teacher on yard duty came up while Cordy was talking.”Potential do you mean.”

Cordy shrugged. The teacher looked at everyone. “And why is everyone over here.”

Xander looked at her. “We are talking about taking Karate.”

The teacher looked at Xander, “Everyone?”

The trio smiled at her and she nodded then walked away. A small ways away, she shuddered. “Oh Heaven help everyone if they all do. I hope they have a great teacher.” Mr. Rogers heard her and looked at her; she looked over at him “The trio is trying to get everyone into Karate classes.”

He nodded. “After Richards can you blame them? I know the trio are going to Lee's Dojo.”

That afternoon as while some of the more advanced kids were working on their forms, Mr. Lee noticed the increase of elementary school age children and their parents. He and a few of his assistants were signing a bunch of the kids up for class he looked at one. “Why the sudden interest.”

Andrew looked at him. “Xander said it was ok if we came to class as well. He was saying it would help us with discipline and control as well if we have another bad teacher.”

Lee looked started for a minute then nodded. Looking as more students came in. He looked at Andrew. “How many do you think are coming?”

Andrew’s mother looked at Mr. Lee “Every child in elementary school. So about a 300 total.”

Mr. Lee chocked. “Three Hundred!”

Ellen Wells smiled. “I think only about fifty today. The others will come in on different days but since the trio is here today the others wanted to be in the same class.”

Lee nodded. “The trio... of course. Steve, Mark, see about getting the larger room ready.”

The two teens nodded. Claire Chase looked at Lee. “I understood this was good for girls as well yet I don't see many.”

Mr. Lee smiled as four of the senior girls came over to help as well. Claire smiled and looked at them. “Cindi I didn't realize you took karate.”

Cindi looked at Claire. “I stared in Karate as a child Mrs. Chase, now I do Tai Bo and other forms that help a lot with cheer leading and dancing. As well as making sure my dates don't get too grabby.”

Claire smiled. “That’s great dear and exactly what I am hoping for, for Cordelia.”

Cindi smiled and said conspiratorially. “Then again the boys in the classes are not ones I have to worry about. They usually are some of the most mannered and polite boys. It’s the heathens that aren't in here. Some of the girls have said they won’t date a boy ‘til after they get a black belt from here now.”

Most of the mothers there laughed at that and the girls mothers were all relieved.

Hours later after all the small kids were gone and the High School and older kids were still around with some of the demon children Mr. Lee looked at Cindi. “You seemed surprised to see them.”

Cindi nodded. “I never thought I would see Claire Chase doing something for her daughter that would be other than dressing her up as a Barbie. And the number of kids here. That was shocking and a little scary.”

One of the others came by. “They had a pedophile at the elementary school that the principal was leaving alone. The parents are upset to say the least. And the trio have been pimping the program. They even have Lisa Blaisdell on their side and was able to get around Chuck by laughing at him calling Chuck Norris a Sissy.” Everyone laughed at that one.

Lee looked over at all the older students. “If even a fraction of the amount they thought was going to come, come we will need to move some of you to helping the younger students.”

“It would be nice if some of the other children our age came to class as well.”

Everyone looked around and spotted Xander in the shadow. “Alexander shouldn't you be at home now?”

Xander looked at Mr. Lee. “There are more people in town than just those in the elementary school. It would be best if we saw some of the others. Let the parents meet them this way as well. We need to stop the division before the Slayer gets here.” Everyone was looking at Xander. The tone and inflection of the voice was not of the boy they knew.

“The Slayer?”

“Yes, the Mayor is now trying to hide the buildup for the ascension because Mrs. Pickers confronted him. However, he isn't stopping it. The Slayer will still come, and if she comes to an area that is stable and knows who and what she is and about realmers the Watcher with her will have it easier to break the spells the council put on him.”

Xander then shook and looked at Mr. Lee. “Why am I here? I thought I was at home.”

Cindi smiled, “Come on Alexander, let me call Jess then I will take you home.”

Xander nodded. “Boy if this is sleepwalking I must really have been excited for the next class.”

Mr. Lee nodded and glanced at some of the others. Many were slipping away to make phone calls to their clans. Whatever was talking through the boy was going to be listened to.

A month later Larry looked at Mr. Rogers. “Why doesn't Echarro have to come to school with us?”

Most of the class nodded. “Yeah, why is he so lucky?”

“Yeah he’s our age he should be in here with us.”

Mr. Rogers looked shocked. “Um… Echarro isn't the same as you and most parents would be upset with him here.”

Cordelia looked at Mr. Rogers. “Mom said it was a shame the school was segregated like it was. She thought they had stopped that.”

Mr. Rogers looked at Cordelia. “Segregated. Um... Well yes. Um. It would mean a lot more students and some schedules would have to switch.”

All the students just stared at him. “Um. Right. I will look into it.”

The kids nodded after that and went back to talking and working on their writing. Mr. Rogers let out a breath. 'That was not planned. Wonder what the Matriarch will say.'

After the next PTA meeting that month where again the Segregation was brought up the school schedule shifted and the classes doubled. All young went to the elementary school. The Mayor turned fuchsia when informed about the change and that the students expected it all through school. And the funding for schooling needed to increase and since the revenue had a large portion going to a special project. Well that special project just got canceled much to the Mayors anger. And the remarks about no election recently seemed to really get him mad. As well as people commenting about problems that he let grow and maybe a new mayor was needed.

“What are realmers? Never heard that term before.”

Paul looked up. “Realmers are what we call ourselves. We are from other realms than this one. Some other dimensions close to this one or able to mix with this one. Demons are from dimensions that are more violent and are more out to destroy others. Many like to use demon for both classification while most realmers are not violent except when they find themselves attacked by violent beings. Think of them of as people similar to yourself with a different structure. Like a Clan or something.

At the meeting, the next month where both realmer parents as well as human were there the idea of scouts was brought up by Peter's mother. One of the realmers looked at her. “What do your scouts say about realmers in them?”

The problem was discussed and a new program was agreed upon. Since scouting like to segregate, the girls and boys and the children were fighting the separation a new group would be formed for all children. Since everyone in the elementary school also attended the Karate classes there was other classes some about the different cultures as well as educational for all the children. Mr. Lee looked at the parents. “The more they knew the easier for the Watcher to break the spells.” Most of the parents looked at him in surprise.

Jess looked over. “Alexander?”

He nodded. “The night he came back to the dojo. That was one of his comments.”

Claire Chase looked at Jess. “Major.” Jess nodded.

“What do we need to do?”

“Support the children. Make sure they don't isolate themselves. Make sure they grow up strong.”

“And what is a Watcher.”

Mr. Rogers looked over. “That is a little harder to explain.”

Claire looked at him. “Then simplify it.” A lot of the human parents nodded since it seemed the realmers knew what about it.

Mr. Rogers looked across the room. “Centuries ago a tribe in Africa wanting to get out of a deal with a clan of realmers decided to create a slayer. They tied a young girl of the tribe in a cave and called for a demon to take her over. Once the demon essence entered the girl they caste spell after spell to control the essence and have it work for them. Over the decades the men controlling the girl became known as the Watchers.”

Jess looked at him. “And the girl.”

One of the realmers looked at her. “Cannon fodder.”

All the humans looked horrified. Mr. Rogers nodded. “The girls are activated when around 13-15 years of age. The watchers train them to kill without thought, so good, neutral, and evil; all are targets of the slayers. The slayers fight alone while the watchers sit back and record. When a girl dies, the essence activates the next one and the cycle continues. It is highly unusual for a slayer to live a year after she is called. Because she will attack without thought, even those that are peaceful find ourselves having to defend from them. Many have died trying to take out peaceful clans because their watchers tell them all are evil.”

“So by making sure everyone in town handles their own problems and we work together if/when a slayer gets here their entire system will crash because the humans would side against her as well. And spells on the watcher?”

“The Watchers demand obedience of their members. The way it sounds they got a rebel back in the midst and most likely by covering him in spells and controls.”

“How sure are we of this?” Lisa Blaisdell asked.

Mr. Rogers looked at her. “We are a redo because of a wish for the annihilation that happened last time to the Earth to not happen now. From what I understand it is our only chance.”

Claire looked over. “The Trio?”

Jess looked at Claire “Not only the trio, there were many involved. Some in minor ways some in major but everyone in Sunnydale is involved. Since Sunnydale was involved.”

Lisa Blaisdell. “So what all do the children need to know so they can change it? My boy needs to learn that football and bullying are not all there is to life. And if anyone wants a lump for a husband, you can have Chuck he is useless.”

“Rogers I have a question. The boy called it the Hellmouth. Yet the gateway is neutral not evil. Why would he call it evil and an evil taint like radiation to fill the town.” One of the realmer parents asked.

Rogers and the others looked at each other in shock. "Good question Charrark. The portal is neutral, and leads to many dimensions. Many that are considered angelic as well as hell based.”

Mr. Lee looked over. “Unless someone caste things on it to try and warp it.”

Claire looked over. “It seems there is a lot we don't know or understand. However, I am sure Cordelia will have an excellent understanding of all this when she gets older.”

Mr. Rogers blushed, a light green, causing many of the human parents to laugh.

After a few more hours, the meeting broke up with many lesson plans for the children. They will be studying each clan and species to get a better understanding and language lessons in more languages than could be thought of were heading for the children.

Chapter 4

“I understand.”

“Yes I understand that our demographics are a little strange with 50% of the student body Caucasian and the other 50% other but that is the best ethnic category for them.”

“No I am not disrespecting any ethnic group.”

“No I am not trying to demoralize any group by saying they can only be Caucasian or it doesn't count.”

“Ma'am why don't you come and administer the next test yourself if you are so concerned.”

“Very good Ma'am, we will see you Monday with some of your staff to correct the demographics and administer the testing.”

Principal Rogers placed the receiver back on the base then banged his head on his desk. Mrs. Edenricks the Vice Principal looked in and laughed. “Paul why are you giving yourself a headache that way. If you want one I'm sure some of the students have done something that will cause one.”

Paul Rogers looked up and grimaced. “That was the Secretary of Education for the State of California.”

Mrs. Edenricks hissed. “Ouch, so what are they concerned about.”

Mr. Rogers laughed. “Oh, what are they not concerned about? For twenty years, our stats were placing us further and further down the state list of schools. We were next to the bottom three years ago. Then all of a sudden about two years ago, our stats on the mandatory tests started to rise. First for the elementary students and now our Jr. High, stats are also raising eyebrows. We went from the bottom ten percentile to the top ten percentile in two years. However, our high school student’s stats have remained the same.”

Mrs. Edenricks looked at him nodding. “Yeah, because none of the new students have started high school yet. When the current 7th graders reach high school the high school stats will change.”

Mr. Rogers looked at her. “And it will probably take what we had to do to the elementary school two years ago and the Jr. High last year. Getting rid of a lot of the old teachers because they can't deal with our diverse student body.”

Mrs. Edenricks snickered. “Diverse Student Body. That’s one way of putting it. What else was there?”

Mr. Rogers mimicked. “We have noticed that you are forcing students of other ethnic backgrounds to put other if they are not Caucasian. Since 50% of your student body is Caucasian the other 50% are obviously being made to feel inferior due to being classified as other than their true ethnicity.”

Mrs. Edenricks snorted and started laughing loudly. “I would say you are kidding but that is so stupid it could only be thought up by a bureaucrat. The obvious answer is there is nowhere on the form for their species, and the form was only for human ethnicities. And you invited them here for the testing next week… oh… should we inform the students.”

Mr. Rogers started laughing. “Could you see the children, oh I could see Charrallac asking why Mohra's are not listed and Marrak asking why they only limit themselves to a few colors since Pracha have close to thirty colors on their bodies.”

Mrs. Edenricks. “Oh and just think what the trio would do to them. Maybe you should make sure the Secretary of Education does the fourth graders.”

Both of them cracked up laughing thinking of what the state educational people were going to walk into next week. Knowing that the visit would soon be discussed around the school.

Principal Rogers and Vice Principal Edenricks both smirked as they looked around the school the following Tuesday. The Secretary of Education and her people were due in soon and the students were in fine form. No group had more than two humans to it. Everyone was chattering in multiple languages. The students were showing magic in a wide variety of displays. The realmer children that could look human were not even attempting to, to make sure they were seen as “Other”.

When the rental SUV pulled up and a group of people got out, giving the place a look that let you know they were looking down their nose at it. As the group was coming towards Mr. Rogers and Mrs. Edenricks a couple Harrl's came flying around the group. The grav-boards that allowed them to float and fly vs their normal slither helping them get around the school quickly. Both students chattered at them in their language and rushed off to class. The administrators looked startled. Just then, the Trio came running up throwing an energy ball between and threw the ball right through the middle of the group. Making sure to not catch but instead keep it in the air Xander cupped his hands saying “wind” as it drew near him, causing the ball to blow towards where he pointed and change from fire to air. The administrators were starting to look a little green.

Mrs. Edenricks said quietly out of the side of her mouth. “We better get them inside before they crack. They look like just the glimpse is shattering their world and the students would be upset if they broke this fast.”

Rogers snorted before. “Alexander, Jesse, Willow, get to class. Remember we have tests today.” The three students nodded before rushing off to class.

Rogers then looked at the stunned group before him. “Welcome to Sunnydale Elementary I am glad you made it without problems.”

“Yeah, the students would be upset if they didn't get to traumatize you.” Was whispered beside him.

One of the women shook herself. “Interesting theatrics.”

Rogers raised an eyebrow. “Theatrics. Sorry no. We don't have a theatre program at this level. Shall we go inside and get ready to start giving the tests or would you like to hold an assembly to talk with the students first?”

One of the men quickly regained his attitude. “An assembly first so we can point out to the students that they should classify themselves correctly and not degrade their heritage by putting 'Other' on the forms.”

Mrs. Edenricks smiled. “I will go and tell the classes to gather in the cafeteria after roll call. So about fifteen minutes. Is that enough time to setup?”

One of the women looked at her. “Yes”

The head woman looked on. “Yes, show us to the cafeteria so we can setup. I am sure your announcement is expected.”

About twenty minutes later the classes start to stream into the cafeteria. The administrators were turning pale as they realized the children wore no costumes. Watching one drink from his stomach and looking in the mouth helped cure the costume thought.

One of the women looked at the head woman. “I see Caucasian and unable to classify. Anyone else?”

The head woman looked sick. “I want to know what hallucinogenic is in the air around here. This is not possible... “

One of the smaller men smirked at her laughing inside. He saw Rogers looking at him and nodded to him then blinked his eyes both ways. Rogers smiled and whispered the fact to Edenricks.

Rogers went up before the students and introduced their guests. The Secretary of Education went up and started talking about the importance of the tests. After ten minutes, she opened the floor for questions. Rogers and Edenricks laughed when she did as every student raised their hand.

“Why do you only list groups by colors? Most of us list by species, then clans. Colors are usually individualized due to personality.”

“Why are you giving us the same tests repeatedly? The tests do not show a good understanding of the subject but instead whether we studied the test material.”

“How do you expect to judge how well we do on subjects when you limit your tests to such limited subjects?”

“Why do you care if I like Shakespeare?”

“Why am I being asked about alcohol and drug usage? And if I was really doing it do you really expect me to tell you?”

“Giving so many tests do you believe we are going to answer them all correctly? Because after the third one each year I normally just play fill in the bubbles without reading them because they are useless if you have to do them that often.”

“Why would we care about what you think we should learn? You aren't here and I don't see you wanting to move here.”

After thirty minutes of questions, the administrators were looking like they were hit repeatedly with baseball bats when Rogers stepped to the microphone. Raising his hand the questions stopped and he looked at the students. “Ok everyone, they heard your complaints. Back to class for another fun filled test. And Jonathon I know you have taken two others so far this year but try to read this one instead of just play. “Make a design from the bubbles.””

The students laughed as they got up and headed for class. Rogers looked at the Secretary and raised an eyebrow. “I thought we were going to discuss 'classifying themselves correctly so they don't degrade their heritage'?”

The look on the snobby man’s face was priceless. He looked crestfallen and shocked. “They weren't.... They don't fit... They can't... It's not possible....”

Rogers smiled and led them toward the classes. “So I thought you would each take one class in each grade level. Mrs. Edenricks will show the 1st-3rd year classrooms for you people to distribute your tests. I will show you the 4th-5th years.”

After school let out and the administrators had left, claiming hallucinogenic drugs in the water made them see the realmer children but agreed that 50% of the student body was other. Rogers and Edenricks were looking over the yard the children left for the day.

A month later on the night of the full moon, at 11pm, Xander sat up in bed. He got up and got dressed quickly and semi quietly. As he was opening his door, he saw Jesse and Willow looking at him from their doorways. “Someone is planning to do something to the portal.”

Jesse nodded. “You wearing the necklace so I can caste shields on it and over you?”

Xander nodded. “Yeah have it on.”

Willow nodded. “Good, we will use the crystal to watch your health. If I see you in trouble I will use the necklace to try and heal you or if need be Jesse and I can pull you back if you pop the black bead on the band.”

Xander nodded and headed toward the stairs when the hall light flipped on. “How do you plan on getting there?” Jess was standing in their bedroom doorway and Tony came up behind her pulling on a t-shirt and stuffing his feet in shoes as he walked.

Tony looked at the others that had quickly disappeared into their rooms; they came back out less than a minute later dressed. Tony nodded as they all headed down to the car. Jess went to make some snacks for when they returned.

At 11:30pm, Xander walked into the basement of the High School under the Library and saw the group there. A bunch of vampires and Mayor Wilkins. Xander shook his head. “So you’re the one trying to move the portal from where it was to only hell dimensions?”

Wilkins glared at Xander.”I will have to have a serious talk with your parents about you wandering around after curfew.”

Xander laughed. “I don't think that is what you have to worry about.”

One of the vampires lunged toward Xander. He held up his hand, “Fire” and a blast of fire ignited the vampire. The others stood there in shock. He looked at them “Fire” “Fire” “Fire” “Fire”. Soon the only one standing there was Wilkins. The mayor looked at Xander. “Well Gosh, that wasn't nice of you.”

Xander smirked. “I never said I was nice. I am Guardian. You are trying to cause problems for the town. I am your judge, jury, and executioner.” The mayor looked startled the voice was not Xander’s; he could hear tones of others in it. He looked at the portal seal and saw that it had changed in such a way he couldn't access it.

Wilkins smiled at Xander. “Well it seems we are at an impasse.”

Xander snorted and raised his hand. “Guilty”. The scream should have been loud but it barely sounded at all. The Mayor was ripped apart at the molecular level.

Xander nodded and walked up to the car. Tony looked at him. “Alexander are you ok?”

Xander looked at him. “Wilkins was found guilty.” The others looked concerned for the voice did not belong to Xander. He shook and looked at his dad. “I think I'm ok but will need to discuss the guardian with some of the elders.”

Tony nodded and drove the children home. After he and Jess gave them a snack and hot chocolate, then tucked them into bed Tony went and called Emily Pinkers.

“We just got back from the Portal. Xander said that Wilkins was found Guilty but the voice wasn't his. He wants to talk to the elders about the guardian... 11pm saying someone was planning to do something to the portal... Yeah, thanks, will keep you informed as well.”

Tony then headed back to his bedroom and hugged Jess. “And think they are only ten years old. The fun part of their teen years hasn't started yet.” Jess hit him with a pillow for that remark.

Chapter 5

Mayor Ray Henderson met with the principals of his schools, Mrs. Eugene Edenricks for the Elementary, Mr. Paul Rogers for the Jr. High and Mr. Charles Robertson for the High School.

“Charlie, how did the teachers do the first year of mixed students?”

Charlie laughed. “We ended up replacing about 90% of the faculty. Though Jess Harris took over for Freshman English as well as running the library. In a lot of ways, the change in faculty has greatly improved student moral. Though some of the older students still look at the new students strangely, especially the older ones that have not had to mix with them before. Another thing to note is that they will not put up with bad teachers. The old Freshman English teacher Snyder by the second day of class was totally ignored and at one point silenced and hung from the ceiling.”

They all laughed at that having met him before. “Any other cheery news?”

Charlie looked over at them. “So what are we planning for college? Some of the older students are seeing the benefits of the mixed classes. I have one cry on me because I must hate her because we didn't do this for their year and the freshmen are already so beyond them educational and statistically that they could never catch up.”

The others looked over Paul said. “Beyond them?”

Charlie nodded. “You have been with them the entire way so probably don't notice it. But most of the incoming freshmen this year place at doctorate level for most subjects. The ones that are considered lower are still beyond basic requirements for a Bachelors at any Ivy school.”

Ray winced. “So our students are so far beyond the norm normal colleges would not take them.”

Charlie shook his head. “Oh normal colleges would love them; they would also have major problems. Can you see our students in a 300-room auditorium listening to a teacher drone on regarding something they learned in Jr. High? And we know that a lot of the college professors are not really teachers. They are more researchers because of the 'publish or perish' way of the college systems and the grants they need to keep funding themselves.”

Paul winced. “So the teacher would be a jibbering wreck in 10 minutes, and hanging from the ceiling. And depending on the mood of our students they would be disappointed at the narrow field of studies they can do.”

Charlie nodded. “We created a major problem in that the students are so advanced and stay advanced from such a young age that we need to move UCS from the UC system to our own within the next two years. As it is, a bunch of the current students want remedial classes and a JC locally so they can catch up to the others and wait for the college to open.”

Eugene looked over. “If they have the option for other colleges why would they want to wait?”

Charlie looked at each of them. “Take Steve Roberts, straight A student all his life. Has read every medical text out there and really wants to be a doctor. Graduates at the end of the year. What do you think his reaction was when he saw someone healing a patient? Not using the tools he was wanting to learn but healing a patient.”

“Envy, wonder, want.”

“Yes, he wants to study healing and when we explained that it took years of study and some aptitude he immediately wanted tested. I took him to Healer Rrarrack. Steve did very good and will be apprenticing with the healers during off school hours but now he is in a quandary. Healer Rrarrack did explain to him that there are some things Doctors do better than Healers and some things that Healers are better at doing. So now, Steve wants to train to be both a Doctor and a Healer to help the most he could. However, if he left the area to further his college ambitions towards being a doctor he would not be available for his internship on healing.”

“Could Healer Rrarrack maybe switch his internship to another healer during his college years?”

Charlie shook his head. “While the human/realmers interactions here are normal could you see a Healer in New York or somewhere if a human child came to them having spent a year learning healing? Unfortunately, a lot of the places outside of Sunnydale still have the divide that we have totally blasted away. Even the adults here that until four years ago didn't know about us think nothing of the mix. We live openly next door to each other. Eat at restaurants together openly, work together, our children go to school together. Right now there are more realmers teachers at the high school than humans, and I believe it is close at the other schools as well.”

The other principals nodded. “Yeah, I think we are 2-1 at the elementary level.”

“About that at the Jr. High Level as well.”

Ray looked at the three principals. “So we have blasted apart the barrier between humans and realmers and in the process have raised the human children to such a level they could no longer interact with their own world counterparts.”

Charlie shook his head. “Not just the human children. Realmers as well have changed dramatically here. During the last get together of the Pashra Clans last year the clans here felt like they were distant neighbors because the problems the others were talking about, human interactions, encroachment, possible wars with other realmers, they had no bearing to any of the clans here. We have such strict inter-cooperation, respect policies in place that we no longer even understand why they have problems. Some of the older of the clans have removed themselves to other clan that couldn’t adapt but that was when it started. Now everyone who remains is mixed thoroughly and some of the young of other clans want to come here and start new clans in the open environment.”

Eugene. “What about new humans? We need to increase the human population as well or it will soon be more realmers than humans.”

Ray looked at the others. “Would a new college with strict inter-respect clauses that does strict recruitment to other humans that would be open to our ways and possibly stay here be the best bet?”

The others nodded. “Have the college mixed. We may need to let outside realmers in as well but if everyone had the strict screening, it would be better. However, most of the country is so far behind our students the levels of classes will be staggered significantly.”

Ray laughed suddenly. The others looked at him questioningly. “I think the Secretary of Education would love to close UCS and allow us to open a college. She would probably help us get accredited as well. Since the last time we talked she was taking Sunnydale's scores out of the reports because we blew too many curves.”

Paul and Eugene smiled remembering the visit two years earlier. “She still having a problem with the students marked as “Other”?”

Ray laughed. “She was talking at one point of just adding a different question “Resident of Sunnydale? If yes skip to question X.”

They all laughed at that one.

After a bit more planning Paul looked up. “I see an upcoming issue. In two years the trio hits high school.”

Charlie nodded. “And Jess is a teacher as well as librarian there. While I can't lose her yet I was going to suggest when I switch to the college, Paul you take the High School, Eugene you move to the Jr. High and give Jess the elementary school.”

Eugene laughed. “What did she do to earn your ire like that?”

“I think she could handle it. Then again, she will be the only human principal but for starting, the kids off it should be ok. And Glark would be her VP.”

“We need to do something for Wells and Levinson. Their fly-boards have greatly helped some of the realmers be able to make classes. And their other inventions are just as insane but usable.”

“Talk about child prodigies, those two are quite the inventors.”

The planning for switching UCS to a specific college went well into the night

Later that week Jess looked at the children as she picked them up from their after school classes, shaking her head thinking. 'In four years the entire world seems to have turned upside down. Alexander is great with languages and people, and let’s not think about his destructive powers. The boy flings energy bolts around like they are darts. Jesse is already in internship with the master warders. The boy is a wonder at warding; our house is now protected from everything imaginable. This is good on the days that Alexander tries new things. The mess of the combined energy bolts that everyone said that couldn't be done that nearly took out the elementary school while he worked on them. Then Jesse learning how to ward against something that is impossible to do because Alexander just did it. Willow is training with Healer Rrarrack as well as others in learning how to heal and teleport, she won’t start her formal internship for healer until she is older because of the energy draw. However, talking with Steve has helped her a lot. Between the two of them they will both probably be some of the first Healer/Doctors that the communities have.'

As the three kids ran toward her she nodded at one of the adults who motioned her over. She looked at the three and all three put on their “Angel” face. Jess groaned. Going over to Tutor. “So which one did what this time. By the look on their faces it wasn't pretty.”

Tutor laughed. “We had visitors from off realm here today. While a few understood, their language and we could communicate and trade Alexander kept giving them funny looks. After a bit he came over to them and in Sharralla asked them what they were trying to pull. Too, say everyone was surprised and confused is an understatement. So we asked him what he meant and he commented that they were not Kclarkks like they said but actually Sharralli and the Heart Stones we were trading with them for, they stole from a clan that is now dying. They protested of course and he nodded at Willow. We are not sure how but she hooked with him and opened a portal into their realm. Were we saw the tribe of Kclarkks and when Alexander brought back their Heart Stone and placed it in the proper place you could see the energy returning to people. After Alexander had placed the Stone, Jesse went to it and warded it. Then the three caste something we are still trying to decipher that allowed the stone to recharge itself so it would not run out of energy for a long time.”

Jess hung her head. “So ...”

Tutor laughed. “So the children just saved a clan in another realm and caught thieves that had been stealing Heart Stones from friendly clans and selling them.”

Jess looked at Tutor. “And...”

Tutor laughed. “And, Alexander is expected to train on Ckarrla for a few hours each day.”

Jess looked at Tutor. “Ckarrla? I am not familiar with that or them.”

Tutor nodded. “No, and we are not much either. They are a guardian clan that protects most of us peaceful clans. They call the boy one of theirs. Considering his nature we could understand that.”

Jess nodded. “So when do they want Alexander and what about the others.”

Tutor shifted her three heads. “Each afternoon after other learning, Alexander will go to them. The warders will take Jesse for more learning and Willow will join the healers. So instead of picking them up at this time, pick them up 3 hours later.”

Jess frowned. “That would put their pickup at 8pm. That leaves little time for homework and dinner.”

Tutor frowned. “You are correct. Schoolwork must be done and sleep must happen to help growth. Food could be had here.”

Jess shook her head. “No, food is done as family unit to discuss the day and connect with family. Tony and I will not allow you to destroy family bonds.”

Tutor looked at her startled. “Most sorry, did not realize. Again most sorry. If you wish to come in and we can all discuss this.”

Jess nodded than looked at the trio. Motioning for them to go ahead and start their homework she followed Tutor in to talk with everyone concerned. However, part of the conversation was done through a dimensional gateway or a projected image was strange but something she was getting used to.

An hour later, the family came home with pizza. Tony looked up as they came in the door and looked at dinner then Jess. “Take it; it was a longer day than normal.”

Jess looked at him. “All days are about to get longer.” Jess then motioned everyone into the kitchen and started handing out plates with pizza on them. Everyone started laughing and discussing the day. Part way through dinner Xander and the others went into what happened that afternoon. Tony looked quickly at Jess and she nodded her head.

After they finished the tale, Jess looked at them. “So starting tomorrow we get up at 5am so that at 6am you are at Tutors and with your specialized training. Meaning Jesse will be with the warders, Willow the Healers and Alexander the Ckarrla. School starts at 8:30 and they will transfer you back to Tutors at 8am so you can get to school on time. After school will be like normal with you going to Lee's Dojo on Wednesday and the other days to Tutors. We will see how this schedule works for the next few months.”

The trio looked crestfallen. “You mean we have to get up at 5am!”

Jess nodded. “Yes, I am not having you miss family dinners and rush homework.”

Tony nodded in agreement. “I totally agree. Better to do it early than mess up the family.”

The trio looked at each other then nodded before smirking. Alexander looked at Jess. “Thanks Mom!” The other two echoed the thought. “Thanks Mom!” “Thanks Mom!” Leaving Jess with a startled look on her face as they left the table to head down to the basement to finish their homework.

Tony started laughing at the look on Jess's face.

Dinner two months later had everyone at home discussing the day and what was happening. Jess looked at the trio. “So you’re nearly done with Sixth Grade, how does it feel to be one grade closer to High School?”

Jesse looked at her. “Have they decided what to do about College yet? Since that seems to be a major issue with some of us getting ready to go soon.”

Jess nodded. “UCS is closing at the end of the year. They are citing poor scholastics as the reason. Wilkins College will open in the fall.”

“Not Wilkins.”

“Alexander?” The voice was not Xander’s and everyone realized that something was talking through him.

Xander walked to the wall and waved a hand, all of a sudden all the principals and the Mayor were on vapors on the wall. It looked like viewing portals where none had been. They looked as startled as the ones in the Harris household.

“He was declared Guilty the College will not bear his name.”

Ray Henderson looked at Xander. “We were doing it to honor the fact that he did make this a safe haven for all and while he may have had plans it was mainly due to his efforts...”

“NO. The name will not be. Choose something else. If you disregard the school will fail. He was using everyone for his own needs and plans. There was no co-operation with him. The new College is to be about co-operation and growth.”

Jess looked at Xander. “Who exactly are you?”

“I am Guardian.”

Jess looked helplessly at the screens and they looked as bewildered. Ray nodded. “OK what about Haven.”

Jesse spoke up. “Sounds like a place for runaways not a serious college.”

Willow spoke up. “Sun Harbor? Harbor could be used as a haven as well. The college will be a private college.”

Paul looked at Willow. “Sunnydale Harbor?”

Alexander spoke then. “Whatever you want to decide but not Wilkins or any others that planned to destroy us.”

Ray looked at Alexander. “We will discuss it and remember to not name it after someone who would destroy us.”

Alexander nodded then waved his hand again and the images faded. He blinked a couple times than looked at his mother. “Sorry but Guardian was very upset with the name.”

Jess looked at him. “Who is Guardian?”

Xander looked at her confused. “Guardian.”

Jess nodded. “Yes Guardian, who is Guardian.”

Xander looked at her like she wasn't all there; she scowled at the look on his face. “Guardian is Guardian. Who else did you expect him to be?”

Jess thumped her head against the wall. Tony looked at her and Willow piped up. “That makes sense.” Jess looked at Willow. Willow nodded. “Healer Ssaccka said that Xander was one of the few he had ever seen that was a full medium. I didn't understand what he was talking about but he tried explaining it as “Someone who spirits or energy entities could inhabit without issue.”

Jesse looked at her. “Does he need wards from them?”

Willow shook her head. “Somehow Guardian is keeping it so nothing else can get in. It's like he has another identity which is Guardian.”

Jess looked at Willow. “So he's possessed by Guardian and is that good or bad.”

Alexander looked at Jess. “Mom, Guardian is what he is. Just like the Ckarrla are guardians, he is like them. In fact, the Ckarrla are helping us integrate. Though he is a bit stick in the mud about the energy bolts. Would you believe he didn't believe I could make a rotating bolt that would cycle through the different elements until finding a weakness and then keep doing that if the weakness is fixed? It took me a week to make the bolts work right but finally got it.”

Jesse looked at Xander in wonder. “You didn't tell me you did that! Why didn't you show me so I could look at making a ward for it?”

Xander looked at Jesse. “I did show you. You and Warder Rixer. Remember when you guys placed those wards in various patterns and I loosened the bolts and let them work through them?”

Jesse looked at Xander, “But we thought they broke due to strength not bypassing the elemental properties. OK Xander we need to do that again tomorrow.”

Willow sighed. “Oh Great I will let the healers know. Usually when you two start doing that we need to soon heal someone.”

The next day a town meeting was suggested for the naming of the new college and other issues, the meeting was set for one week later with suggestion boxes for the new town name to be across town. During the meeting the citizens will vote for the names, they liked the most.

That afternoon the trio were with Tutor again going over the bolts. Warder Rixer was looking very embarrassed for not realizing or asking how Alexander broke the wards. Chief Warder Harrax patted him on the back “Next time you will ask not assume.” Warder Rixer nodded. He understood the gentle rebuke for what it was.

After 20 minutes of Xander’s bolts destroying all the wards and shields put up all the warders were in there trying to stop the bolts. Jesse, Willow, and Xander were talking and Jesse was watching the building of the bolts. Nodding a few times to Xander and Willow, Jesse then built a strange ward that caused Chief Warder Harrax to stop what he was doing and motioned for the others to watch.

The first attempt saw the shield holding the longest of any of them before failing. Willow looked at him. “Ran out of energy.”

Jesse nodded. “Can't sustain the required energy.”

Willow looked at him, “Make it again.” As he did, she started to add to the ward and blended in a way to renew the energy.

Xander smirked to the side. “This will be fun”

The second attempt went much better with the shield holding and Chief Warder Harrax was coming over to have the new shield explained when he heard .“Ok Xander, your turn to break it.”

Xander smirked again. He looked at the shield then smirked, and the shield dissolved like it was never there. Jesse and Willow looked at what he had done and yelled. “How did you do that?”

Harrax looked at the trio in growing awe before saying. “We would like to see the finished shielding and damage when done. Also if possible to teach us the steps so others can add their thoughts.”

After Jesse and Willow went over to explain how to put up the shield one of the young interns looked at Xander. “You cut the link to the power source.”

Xander nodded. “The shield linked to a renewable power source, so the quickest way to down the shield was to destroy the link.”

Willow looked frustrated that he had destroyed her idea so quickly. Xander looked at her. “Don't make it so obvious that anyone could see it. You were not looking at it as a shield but a place to put a link. It must be a shield. The application was bigger than you were thinking and you didn't take into consideration all the consequences of your actions.” Everyone looked at Alexander and realized Guardian was speaking through him. “You must look beyond what you think you see to the effect overall and on everything. You are blinding yourself and your abilities by doing things that you do not think all the way through. I know Healer Rrarrack has mentioned this to you before. You are a young adult now, no longer a child. You must think beyond yourself and only yourself.”

Xander blinked looking at Willow. “Wills, please, for all of us. Start to think things all the way through. It is very important. Quick and easy is easily broken or can turn bad easily. Please, think of all the effects and consequences.”

Willow looked at Xander's face and realized there was more to it than that “Major?”

He nodded. “Major Majorly.”

Willow nodded looking sober. “I... I just want to help so much.”

Jesse looked at her. “It would be like closing the skin on a bleeding wound without checking for dirt or if an artery is torn or something is damaged.”

Willow nodded understanding that. Healer Rrarrack had been telling her to take more time and assess all the problems and with Xander telling her to or it would be 'Major Majorly Bad' she knew she had to, as well as worried about what would happen if she didn't. Xander may be her brother, but the guardian would take over in that case and she never wanted to have to hurt him to have to judge her. Jesse saw the look on her face and nodded in understanding. He knew he was to help keep Xander balanced with the humans so the Guardian did not become the main force of Xander. He had discussed the problem with some of the elders of the various clans. Guardians where feared and not understood. However, they were what helped keep everyone working together instead of everyone at war and wars within clans.

A week later at the town meeting everyone was gathered to discuss issues with the town. They were using the High School football field since the entire town had shown up.

Mayor Ray Henderson walked onto the platform created for this event. Looking around he motioned for silence and started “Tonight we are here to discuss the future and our plans for Sunnydale. As most of you know, we will be closing UCS at the end of the school year and next fall will open our new school. It will be a private college of a diverse student body. We have had many complaints from graduates the last two years about how behind the rest of the students they are and the new college will have many challenges. Due to our diversity and demanding students, we are above all the public schools and most of the private ones in the United States scholastically. That means that when we bring new students in there is a high likelihood that they will be very far behind what our children think is normal for their level.”

There was a buzz of talking through the area as the information was discussed.

“Will the new college bring in more humans or more realmers?”

“We are going to try for more humans than realmers at first because we are noticing that we are getting more realmers here just from word of mouth and the humans would soon be vastly outnumbered.”

“Why the concern about new humans?”

“We have requests for fifteen clans to move to Sunnydale within the next five years. Bringing a total of 10,000 new realmers. At this point, every human above the age of 12 would need to have three children every year for those five years and we would still not make the number of realmers that are moving in. That does not include realmers born from parents that are already here.”

Paul looked at them. “We are trying to keep the situation diverse and co-operative. Humans (Sorry humans but this is something we have noticed) like to feel they are equal at least in numbers, like any of us if they are outnumbered badly they start to go on the defensive. We want to make sure the humans stay feeling comfortable here, just like we want all clans to feel comfortable here.”

There was another buzz of chatter but many were nodding their heads in understanding. Larry stood up. “Why don't we try getting more young humans here? In the major cities, especially have many human children thrown away either into orphanages, foster care, or on the streets. Why don't we offer them a chance at a new life here?'

Leslie Sands stood up. “That is a good idea. And in some of the cities, the street children have seen realmers so they wouldn't be as huge as shock. We of the care group will look into that idea more.”

There was a buzz of conversation and more nodding and chattering. After a few more minutes, the meeting continued well into the evening finally stopping after 3 hours with more discussion needed. None of the names for the college got instant approval and the first time that Alexander said no in the Guardian's voice people realized the name needed serious thought. Another meeting was set for later. They had six months to get everything together. The California Board of Education was already waiting to get them accredited. The work of the high school and their tests scores were already the same as many of the colleges so they were not worried about the educational levels. That and they never wanted to have to come to Sunnydale again. The last group was still in therapy.

Chapter 6

Jess was in the living room watching TV and thinking about the upcoming school year. School started on Monday for the trio's sophomore year of high school and by what they knew the slayer would be arriving soon. The watcher was already here, talk about conceit of The Watchers Council, to think no one would pay attention. Why else would someone with The British Museum even think of a job as a high school librarian in Sunnydale? Especially one that required a work visa.

Hearing another burst of laughter Jess got up to see what the Xander was doing in the yard and who was with him. Jesse and Willow were both away visiting other realms for training; Xander's training with the Guardian's reached a point where he didn't go as often. Looking out the window, she swallowed quickly and went to the phone. “Hey Ray, um... could I borrow someone? ... Oh, just to let me know if I should worry about the dog Xander is playing with in the yard... Well, the fire from its eyes and stuff kinda has me worried. .. Great see you in a few.”

Tony came in from the kitchen and joined Jess at the window “Um...”

“Ray is coming over.”

“Should we ask Xander?”

Jess headed for the door “Hey Xander, where did the dog come from?”

Xander looked at her shaking the scruff of the dog and rubbing its head. “Oh, this cute little puppy? I found him nearby looking lonely.”

Jess looked at Xander and raised an eyebrow. He smiled back. “You and dad did say if we kept our grades up we could get a pet.”

Jess raised her eyebrows, “I'm sure the puppy's mommy is missing him.”

Xander looked at her. “He knows how to see her and she already came by to check on him.”

Ray and Eugene walked up to the house looking in the yard. Ray nodded to Jess. “Hey Jessica, Xander. Xander what a fine puppy?”

Xander beamed “Yeah Skarr here is great. You wouldn't believe how he sees things and looks through things. And Shella has stopped by a few times with some of the others.”

Ray looked at Xander. “Shella?”

Xander tossed something in the air and Skarr teleported over and caught it. Eugene moved next to Jess as Tony came onto the porch. Eugene whispered to Jess and Tony “Hellhound, Perfectly safe for the trio and you guys.”

Xander looked at Ray. “Yeah Skarr's mom. She’s really nice. Showed me what they prefer to catch and how to help train Skarr best.”

Tony yipped. “Hellhound! They eat people!”

Eugene frowned “No, they eat corrupted souls. They don't eat flesh. They may tear it apart for fun but not for food.”

Jess blinked. “Corrupted souls?”

Eugene smiled “Some clans have agreements with the hounds; they protect the children from predators. Let’s just say a molester would never get close to them. To the hounds, people that like hurting other people are their food of choice. So murderers, abusers, the more corrupted the soul the tastier to the hounds.”

Tony sighed in relief. “So very good guard dogs?”

Eugene. “Very, Very, good.”

“Buffy wake up – you’re going to be late for your first day of school.”

Down in the kitchen still being setup was an older woman making breakfast and worrying about the future for her and her daughter. When her daughter had burned down the gym of her old High School, she couldn't believe it. Her life seemed to unravel after that. Hank and her fighting more than finding Hank with his secretary. While Buffy was in the mental institute her losing her job because, “She didn't portray the correct image, what with her daughter being 'off'.”

Looking up at the ceiling again. “Buffy! Get up, we leave in ten minutes.”

Joyce Summers drank more of her coffee, the new job was a godsend and they had to move anyway with the divorce. 'The interviewing process for this job sure was weird. Met more strange people and the questions were more than they looked like. I still say that one person had antenna in her hair but there is no way. Hank would say that proves that Buffy's illness comes from my side if I told him I saw antenna in someone’s hair that wasn't obviously removable.'

Just then, the blond whirlwind known as her daughter comes into the room dressed like she normally would for school. Joyce nods at Buffy. “Ready?” Buffy grabs some toast and juice while nodding yes.

As they got closer to the school, both were looking a little unsure. “Um... must be costume day and no one said anything.” Buffy said as she watched a seven armed purple and mauve two headed five foot tall being walking with a couple human looking (except for one having antenna) and some other strange beings.

Joyce looked at Buffy and then at the “costume”. 'Yeah right, animation, some blue screen, but not kids walking to school. But Buffy isn't freaking out about it. She is more concerned about my seeing it than it being there. I wonder if this has anything to do with the burning of the gym.’

After dropping Buffy off at the school on “Costume day” snort, Joyce finished the drive to work. Looking around. ‘Gee Buffy; the town must dress up, 'There are more things between Heaven and Earth than ever dreamed about'.”

Joyce smiled at her boss, the owner of the Gallery, who introduced herself as “Chattlarack of Clan Mrrraa, but please call me Chatt.” After a few minutes finding out the six foot nine inch tall walking multicolor painting was a Pashra 'realmer' and what that really meant the conversation went better until Chatt looked at Joyce. “It must be hard being the mother of a slayer. We were most glad to see the Watchers Council had not taken your daughter from her home as they do most of the young ones to raise for fodder.”

Joyce looked at Chatt. “Slayer?”

Chatt's expression was clear to read even on a face that different in appearance. “Did she not explain about Slayer's and their Watchers that treat them like weapons?”

Joyce looked at Chatt. “No but I'm sure it has something to do with burning down a school gym.”

Chatt nodded. “Probably a problem her Watcher sent her in to fix alone. Would you like our version of the Slayer legend and information on her Watcher here so that you could ask him as well as your daughter on their version?”

“Version?”

Chatt smiled benevolently. “Dear, everyone has a version of truth that they see; some are more truthful than others. How we see Slayers depends on our clan’s history with them. How Watchers see Slayers is depending on how they feel about them and how the Slayers see themselves depends on what they think they know. The Watcher will be cleared of all influences before being allowed to continue near your daughter. The school will not allow the mind control they have on their Watchers near our youth. The children will help your daughter see more versions of the truth than she currently knows.”

Joyce smiled tightly at Chatt. “How about your version of the slayer first, and about this town because there is something very unusual here.”

Chatt nodded and for the next few hours Joyce and Chatt discussed the town, slayers, clans, prophecies, children that aren't and schools. By lunch Joyce was smiling at Chatt and asking for the best restaurants and if there was a guide for new humans to help them adjust. Chatt looked at her. “The new children have orientation and mentoring with older children.”

“Children?”

Chatt nodded. “A couple years ago we realized that our human population was not growing at the same rate of the realmers. Also there are many human children your world throws away. We started a program to bring some of the children from other cities that have thrown them away here and let them start over. It has helped us grow as well since we have found that our children's education levels are much advanced from the rest of the world we use it to help them connect to regular children and the children the advantages of living here. The program is only two years old and we have three hundred children here from other cities. These are children your systems will not help but we can.”

Joyce looked stunned. “So street children...”

Chatt nodded. “The throwaway children. How many parents each day throw away a child for a reason that could be solved? We do not take those that could not live here and abide by our ways. It is sad but even at a young age there are many children that hate is all their soul knows. They are not welcome here. The Guardian would not allow them to stay if they came.”

“Guardian?”

“As is his name, Guardian. They are what the Watchers were trying to create the slayer to imitate and wanted to control. The Guardian is not controlled.”

“So the Guardian is a protector, but with a mind of its own. Does the title move like it does for the Slayer? So if the Guardian dies another is called, and I am going to have a long talk with Buffy about this I can't believe she fell for the 'one girl in the whole world' nonsense.”

Chatt laughed. “No the Guardian is not the same. There is a clan of guardian's they are the main protectors, however, the Guardian is something else. He trained with the clan when we/they realized what he was but... You can tell when the boy is talking and when the guardian is talking. Though the boy is integrating himself and the guardian into one being.”

Joyce looked at Chatt. “Why do you think the creators of the slayers used girls?”

Chatt looked at Joyce. “Think of your own society. Look at your history. It is easy to see why they used a girl. It is also easy to see why the Watchers make sure they control the children. Even today most of the slayer children are not in your major countries.”

Joyce looked startled then resigned nodding her head.

Chapter 7

Principal Paul Rogers walked into the library at Sunnydale high and looked at Rupert Giles then nodded.

Giles looked at the principle. “Mr. Rogers, can I help you with something.”

Paul looked at Giles. “Yes you can. We have a problem that is easily solved. You know this is an institute with impressionable young minds?”

Giles nodded. “Well it is a High School.”

Paul smirked. “And if you knew of someone under controlling spells and modifiers what would you do?”

Giles looked startled and took his glasses off and grabbed his handkerchief to wipe them down. “Spells? That sounds like magic and we all know there is no such thing.”

Paul laughed out loud and two more individuals entered the room. Giles straightened looking at both of them. “Interesting costumes.”

Chief Warder Harrax and Healer Ssallaa laughed. “Come Mr. Giles, you know what we are. Just as we know you are a Watcher and your slayer will be starting here today.”

Giles started then looked at them closely, Harrax waved a hand and Giles nodded slowly. Paul looked at them. “The question Mr. Giles, is if you want to stay here all controlling, monitoring, and behavior spells need to be removed. Do you agree to have the spells removed or should we get some students to help you pack your office.”

Giles started to turn red, nod his head, shake his head, and look like he was in serious trouble. Ssallaa nodded at Paul. “He cannot answer; the spells are interwoven in a way to make it so he has very little free will left.”

Giles had a quick begging look on his face as he glanced at Ssallaa. “Ethan.” Was whispered then he jerked like a puppet on a string and fury crossed his face and he sneered. “Rayne is nothing but trouble”

Paul nodded at Ssallaa and Harrax and they started to work on clearing Giles of all the spells. Ssallaa put out a call and a few of the healing students as well as warding students came in to help including Willow and Jesse. It took over an hour to get the first level most controlling spells off him.

Giles looked around the library after they were done; he looked younger and more carefree as well as a hint of dark. Paul looked at him closely. “Hmm, Chaos Mage. That is a surprise. How the hell did you let the Watchers get a hold of you?”

Giles looked at Paul. “My father and a few of the others used their control of a few of my friends to call Ephyon. When that happened, those under their control was killed and they easily grabbed us. I got reprogrammed into the son father always wanted and to hate what I was and Ethan. Ethan was pushed farther into Chaos. I have to find him and the others. Have to break Ephyon's hold on us.”

“Ephyon is no longer a worry.” A strange voice said from the side of the room. Guardian looked at Giles “After we finish clearing you of spells we will help you find your friends and break the control but it must be done quietly and wards put in place so it does not happen again. Also you must realize the Watchers will realize if you do not play your game and you, your friends, your slayer, are all at risk until we can get everyone protected.”

Giles looked at Alexander. “I do not have a slayer. And my friends are more important.”

Alexander grinned. “Friends are the family you want. Yes they are important, but your slayer needs a lot of help.”

Giles shook his head. “No slayer would follow a me. They are trained for a specific mindset. Fodder for the game the watchers play for TPTB.”

Alexander smirked. “She was not council raised. And the game TPTB play is interesting, and if they were allowed to play it out the way it did last time... let us say there is a reason for it being stopped this time.”

Giles looked at Paul and raised an eyebrow. Paul looked at Alexander. “Xander. What does the Guardian mean?”

Alexander looked at Paul. “TPTB's game is what we played last time. All the way through and perfect balance was achieved. This time they have been sidetracked.”

Giles looked at Paul. “Something I should know?”

Paul looked at Alexander then returned Giles look. “Yes, but not now. School will be starting soon and from the signal I just got the slayer has arrived and needs processed.”

Giles looked sharply at Paul. “I see.”

Alexander than spoke up “We also seem to have a vampire in a cage underground who is gathering its childre. A few have came into town in the last few weeks and tried snacking. The eating hasn't been to their taste, they seem to end up with heartburn when they think about it. Nest is his name and he is master of the Aurelius line.”

He looked straight at Giles, Giles nodded. “After school then and we can bring the slayer along for the discussion.”

Alexander laughed. “I would be more worried about her mother. Her morning has started interestingly and Chatt is explaining things to her.”

Paul looked at Alexander. “Guardian is that wise?”

Guardian laughed and then the laughed changed to Xander’s more familiar tone. “Oh there will be many discussions. The slayer needs to be unprogramed; however, Mr. Rogers there will be issues. She will have many adjustments to make. Schooling wise she is below the level of many of our Cityers.”

Giles raised his eyebrow at the word Paul shook his head, Giles nodded in understanding that it would be explained that afternoon.

Chapter 8

“You must be Buffy.” Buffy whirled around at the voice and found herself facing a dark haired girl dressed similarly to her. The girl had a look on her face that was like she was seeing through Buffy and reading her intentions.

Buffy nodded her head. “Who are you?”

The brunette turned and took two steps then looked at Buffy. “I'm Cordelia Chase, Mr. Rogers has asked me to show you to Admissions and answer questions. He said you had been a cheerleader so we would have something to discuss.”

Buffy nodded. “Yeah I was a cheerleader at Hemphry High School in Orange.”

Cordelia nodded. “Didn't Hemphry place 15th overall during the last West Coast meet?”

Buffy nodded in surprise. “Yeah we did.”

Cordelia. “It was obvious that your team wasn't as trained in martial arts and gymnastics as the others but still did ok. If you plan on being on our team you will find that we alternate one hour a day during practice between martial arts and gymnastics.”

Buffy looked at Cordelia. “But wasn't tryouts already done? The school year started.”

Cordelia snorted. “Another thing to realize – this is Sunnydale. We do things differently here than what your used to. If you have questions ask, but everything is geared towards education and peace.” She looked sideways at Buffy. “I should say peace and education. As you can see we have many different realmers here.”

Buffy squeaked. “They are demons!”

Cordy looked at her like she was mental. “I said realmers. Demons are from a few hell dimensions that want to control others. Realmers are from all types of realms with are more like alternate dimensions.”

Buffy looked at her. “So they aren't dangerous.”

Cordy snorted again. “A mouse can be dangerous if cornered. Most are peaceful, and the police force here is more of a peacekeeping force. We have no real crime, however, anything smacking on hate crimes or prejudice is met with force. They also make sure no clan wars are started or something tries to take over the area. When you meet with Mr. Rogers he will explain everything. And before you think of it, believe me he has heard all the jokes. I even said some of them to him in elementary school.”

Buffy looked at Cordy in surprise. “So far he has pretty well traveled with us from elementary school. However, he will stay here when we hit college since Mr. Robertson is Dean of Sunnydale Academy or as we call it 'The Clan House'.”

“He traveled with you?”

Cordy laughed. “The old mayor was preparing for an ascension; the schools were the lowest in the state and getting worse. He was having the humans raised as sheep so when he ascended he would have a buffet waiting for him. Once we started to upgrade the schools and mix with the realmers most of the old teachers couldn't or wouldn't accept the change. Usually the first year to hit school caused the school to be reorganized within the first month. Right now SDH is not listed for the State of CA on tests because we blow the curve with our scores now. If our scores are used no school in CA is near us and believe me they don't want to think of more schools like SDH.”

Buffy looked shocked then depressed. “Great, no way for me to fit in.”

“You don't listen well do you? I said we do things differently here and everything is geared towards peace and education. You will be getting a few forms about likes and stuff to help place you and maybe some tests. Also after school today you will go with the Cityers and get the orientation guide and more orientation classes.”

“Cityers?”

“Yeah, kids from cities that threw them away. Parents abandoned or ran away due to home issues and still able to be open and live here. We have no drug problems, gang problems, or anything like that. The entire town is geared for helping everyone become the best they can regardless of the past.”

Buffy was looking at Cordy in shock and not really paying attention. “Wow” Cordy smirked and then looked at the women behind the desk. “Admissions, this is Buffy Summers.”

Admissions nodded handing Buffy a clipboard and some papers. Buffy kept looking at the head of Admissions and its twelve eyes, four noses, pointy ears and no mouth. She then looked at Cordy and saw she was talking with a multicolor painting that walked.

She slowly took the clipboard and the pen and set down to fill out the forms. 'Everyone says LA is strange, it has nothing on Sunnydale.'

Admissions looked over at Buffy with the third set of eyes narrowing and a wrinkle in her second nose.

Thirty minutes later Buffy was still working on the forms.’Why do they want to know about my interests and future plans. The questions about hobbies was interesting but strange. I haven't heard of Archeology in high school let alone Anthropology, Zoology, Paleontology and a few others.'

After a few more minutes Buffy looked over the papers again then took them up to Admissions. Admissions lifted her head and looked through Buffy before Buffy heard in her mind. “Admissions is an Archarra realmer. We are telepathic; your mind is not a nice place young one. I am surprised Guardian will allow you to stay. You have much to relearn.”

Buffy backed up to her seat in confusion. “Who is Guardian?”

Admissions looked at her. “The archetype of the slayer. But they wanted to control it. Guardian's cannot be controlled so they made the slayer that they could control.”

Buffy looked shaken. “The slayer was created to fight darkness.”

Buffy could hear Admissions and a few of the others around her laugh. “No, slayer was created as attack dog. Most that slayer sent after is peaceful, but has something they want. They use slayer to steal from others.”

Buffy sat down hard looking shaken. “But... But... That's not...”

Principal Rogers came out and looked at Buffy. “You will be meeting with your new watcher this afternoon. You have a lot to learn or you will be removed from Sunnydale. There is a non-violence pact on the town. We also have police officers that enforce that so there is no reason for you to hunt. In fact if you do there had better be a very good reason. Come inside Ms. Summers we have a lot to go over.”

Buffy shakingly got up and headed into the principal’s office. Sitting down across the desk from the principal he looked at her. “From your record I assume that there was a reason you burned down your old gym.”

Buffy nodded her head. “You know about the slayer? It was full of vamps and I had to stop them.”

Rogers nodded. “Understand, now you need to understand, here in Sunnydale all things like that are handled by our police force. You are a child and in most of our cultures the fact that the watchers are using a child would call for immediate death sentences on them. If you have dreams or anything inform your watcher who will inform us. This will be gone over in more detail after school with the meeting with the town leadership and your watcher. Right now we have a problem with your education. You place very low even for a Cityer. Your likes and goals for the future are ... well to be blunt dismal. You have no real goals or any thoughts for your future. Transferring your class lists from your old school to here I see you are a 'C' student whose main interest is cheerleading and partying. Well, we have a different system here as I'm sure Cordelia explained on the way in. If you maintain a 'B' or above average you can go to all cheerleading events. A 'C' average means you can only do one event a week and if you have lower than a 'C' in any class you will be on restriction that means you will be doing nothing with the club until your grades are back in line.”

Buffy just stared in shock at the principal. “So long as I keep a 'B' average, meaning I can have a couple 'C's if I have A's to balance.”

Rogers shook his head... “I guess I explained that wrong. Your lowest grade can be a B and you remain on the team. If you have one C and rest B's you have one semester to bring it all back up. Also, we understand your not up to our normal classes so the classes would be more in line with what your used to if we have an equivalent or the closest we have. However, we need you to start thinking about your future so we can start tailoring your education to help you the most.”

Buffy looked startled. “Future... I’m a slayer there is no future” Shaking her head at Rogers frown “Also why worry about that now – I mean, I'm just a sophomore in high school and I still have three years here and college.”

Rogers looked at Buffy intently. “I guess you weren't informed that Sunnydale is one of the top schools in the nation. We are classified a private school though all residents of Sunnydale attend it. We also feed directly into Sunnydale Academy. Your mother will have a lot of input into your classes and future we find it best when parents and students work together for goals. That also allows us to stop parents that have goals that would not be great for the students. Take Larry for example. His father thinks football is all he should think about. Larry however excels at math and loves law. Working with both his parents and him we were able to work out a balance so if Larry has an injury and can't play pro football he has something to fall back on... or that’s how we explained it to Chuck when in reality Larry wants to be an lawyer but will play football for his father.”

Buffy just looked at Rogers stunned imitating a fish. A quick flash of a look crossed Rogers face before he shook himself. “Ok, we will sign you up for career education every day from 10am – noon for the next semester. That means you will be trying something new each week ‘til you find something you like. As for your other classes, we have basics in math and English. Also beginning biology and we will need to test you for gym since your slayer abilities should come into play there.”

Rogers finished filing out the forms on his computer and sent it to the printer. A few minutes later Admissions enters with the printout of Buffy's schedule. Handed the printout to Rogers who scanned it then handed it to Buffy. “Here is your schedule. Since its 9:30 you can go to basic English. Jacob in there can show you were the career class is this week. After school meet in the Library to discuss the slayer stuff and meet your watcher.”

Buffy just looked at the principal in shock before nodding and heading out the door. After she left Admissions looked at Rogers. “The girl will be problems. She would normally not be allowed here.”

He nodded. “I don't know how much Guardian is allowing her to stay because of the old timeline or what; there was comments about friends in the old timeline but looking into that girl... I have a hard time believing she would allow anyone near her she couldn't control.”

Admissions looked questioning. “Maybe it is another reason.”

Chapter 9

After classes ended for the day a group was heading to meet in the library to discuss the slayer and how that would interact in Sunnydale. As they were heading there Xander fell into step with Mr. Rogers outside his office with Admissions and Jesse not far behind. Paul tilted his head letting Xander know that he was listening. “Sometimes the best observations can be done by not mentioning things and letting personalities play out. Yes there is a reason she is allowed to stay. And maybe some of our uniqueness should not be mentioned. Power is after all a great draw, for many people. If people forget and only think of things in the lines of power there is much missed.”

Jesse looked around. “And Willow is one that will miss much.”

Xander’s tear laced eyes looked at Jesse “I hope Willow will not follow her footsteps from last time. Darla is dead, along with Luke and soon Nest. I will not have to kill the vampire you this time my brother.”

Jesse nodded turning white. “And the reason you tortured her so much before death.”

“That was two-fold my brother. For your death is her first major crime, then in five years she is brought back to bring Angel in line, and delivers a child of his.”

Paul and Admissions stop and look at Alexander. Jesse turns to his brother. “The magic laws that violates, the problems it creates.”

Alexander looked at Jesse. “Armageddon. The Destroyer was born and with him the pissants were able to try and bring forth many different prophecies including peace on the world. And Cordelia paid the price for this in mind, body, and soul. ‘Til the world was destroyed and I saw her again in the playground I thought that the soul of her destroyed beyond all possibilities of return.”

Paul looked at Alexander and waited for Alexander. “We need to see how it plays. I am sorry that there will be some problems. I will be watching and many future events already will not happen because of the changes. Others will play differently. However, some must be tested. With the known weaknesses if they fall, they will always fall. D'Hoffryn changed my father so he was still able to become an alcoholic but moved his trigger back some. At any point he could have become the Tony Harris I grew up with. He however, has withstood the temptations presented and remained strong. I am hoping others can as well.”

Jesse breathed softly. “Willow.... you worry about Willow.”

Alexander was looking at the wall when he nodded his eyes seeing something only he could see. “With your death tomorrow in the old timeline I was too weak to end her the many times I should of.”

Paul looked at Alexander. “There is stuff not on those tapes isn't there.”

Alexander still looking at the wall nodded. “The tapes are highlights. The information on them does not represent everything. How can two hours of tape cover nine years of life?”

Admissions looked scared; she was watching Alexander and shaking her head at what she was seeing. Jesse and Paul both put their arms on her to help stabilize her. Alexander looked at her. “Sometimes seeing what I know is worse than not knowing. I think I need to work with you brother on shields. Admissions will need help, I am sorry you saw that there is much I am hoping to change.”

Admissions nodded while looking pale. “For a brother to kill a sibling is not a simple undertaking. And you already had to kill one; I do not envy you your lives for each you have more pressure than you should.”

Alexander looked at Admissions. “Maybe that is why Guardian is more in the front ground this time? Maybe so I can do what needs to be done without losing myself. If Xander had done what he needed last time? Both Buffy and Willow would not have lived through high school. He would have to have destroyed them. Both broke before graduation while Willow's was minor at that time it started her process and cemented in her mind her thoughts in such a way she never could learn otherwise.”

“So Guardian will just be a generic name with no mention of who – but Willow will know and say something.”

Alexander snorted. “How much has Willow really paid attention to Guardian? Very rarely does he say anything in her presence anymore for a reason. He has tried to guide her many times but she still won’t listen. And she feels that Guardian is just a possession of mine. Not real, but an extra memory with no powers or abilities. She has no real knowledge of Guardian. The healers need no real understanding of Guardian for they are peaceful.”

“But she knows you can do the bolts. She knows how dangerous you can be.”

“Does she? How long since I have done anything like that. Two years? A little over that. I hope she does not fall this time.”

Jesse stared at Xander a heartbroken look on his face. Xander returned Jesse's look and had tears in his eyes. Paul and Admissions nodded in understanding.

Chapter 10

Across campus a small group was sitting at the picnic benches and going over homework assignments and what was review as well as setting up that afternoons tutoring sessions. Buffy approached the bench and looked around spotting Willow and came up to her smiling. “Hi, I'm Buffy.”

Willow smiled and reached her hand out. “Willow and these are Crystal and Cheryl.”

Buffy took and shook her hand while smiling at her without looking at the other two “I heard that you were able to help us with homework.”

Willow nodded. “We are setting the sessions for tonight’s study groups right now. Which ones are you going to need help in?”

Buffy groaned. “All of them.”

Willow blinked. “Um... I don't think you have 48 classes so I need a little more information than that.”

Buffy looked startled then handed Willow her schedule. Willow nodded. “You have a meeting in the Library in,” glances at her watch “ten minutes than going with Cheryl to Haven for Orientation right?”

Buffy nodded. Willow just glanced at the schedules. “Ok, starting at 5:30 we have the basic open study group at Haven and orientation should be over by then so just wait around and we will work on it.”

Buffy smiled at Willow brightly and headed back into the school to head to the library. Willow looked at her frowning when Cheryl said to Crystal. “You know, it’s always funny when a new Cityer tries to smarm a Daler.”

Crystal nodded “Yeah, takes them a while to realize that Dalers have no idea about fake faces and actually don't pay attention to them.”

Willow looked quickly to Cheryl and Crystal with a question in her eyes. Crystal looked back at her. “She was wanting to get you alone as a study partner, probably to “help” her do her homework. She paid no attention to Cheryl or I.”

Willow frowned. “Oh great, someone wanting something that they really don't understand.”

Cheryl and Crystal looked at each other and nodded, sometimes it took a Cityer to know a Cityer. And a lot of the time the Dalers were too caught up in other things to think of things like the fame game in city schools. There were no real “in” or “out” groups in Sunnydale, they were all “in”, out was not in Sunnydale. That isn't to say there were different ideas and interests. In fact because everything was open there were more than their old schools. However, everything was welcome and no group was totally separated out from the others like they were used to from the City schools.

Buffy opened the door into the Library and paled. There next to the principal was her mother and another man. Looking around the room she noticed many different types of demons as well as some humans and other kids, including the girl who had met her at the entrance. Buffy walked in a bit further letting the door close behind her.

Looking at her mom. “Mom what are you doing here?”

Joyce looked at her daughter. “Why meeting your watcher? Where else would I be?”

Buffy paled even more “uhhh...” before she could make more than sound the door opened behind her and Willow walked in smiling at everyone. Looking around she went over to the other students.

Buffy looked around. “All this for a meeting?”

Giles looked at Buffy and frowned. He saw some of the problems already, while she may not be council trained she had a lot of the attitude of superiority that the Watchers like to put in their slayers, it makes the slayers less liked by others and more likely to “Lone Ranger” it than work with others.

Principal Rogers looked around. “Everyone is here or represented so we can begin. Buffy you know your mother and this is our Librarian Rupert Giles who also works for The Watchers Council. I know you know who they are. In the green is Leslie Sands, Social worker and representing the Realmer Clans, Chief Warder Harrax and Healer Ssallaa representing the main teaching and support for the town.”

Buffy looked at Giles with anger and betrayal in her expression. “I'm the slayer how could you tell them all that and get their support. That is against what a Slayer is.”

Joyce looked at Buffy and coldly stated. “Buffy Anne Summers who do you think you are and how dare you take that attitude.”

Buffy looked at Joyce. “I'm the Slayer.”

Cordy snorted then looked at Xander then Buffy. “That attitude is what caused you to free a Serial Killer and not stake him because you “Loved” him. That allowed over 150 people to be killed.”

Buffy turned at Cordy and looked at her in horror. Giles noted that most looked briefly at a boy he had been introduced to as “Alex” or “Xander” before looking at Cordy.

“In case that doesn't sink through. We are in a redo, this is our last chance, and your attitude is the reason. You helped cause the end of the world, you happy. Demons won because of you and your attitude. And I don't mean Realmers I mean True Demons came back and took over the Earth. We were the bottom of the food chain, Vamps and Realmers were above us and they were wiped out as well as us.”

Buffy looked at her shaking her head no... Eyes and face pleading for her to stop and it not to be true. Cordy looked at her. “So let me make sure you understand. You will learn. The superiority complex will stop and you will work as a team or you will die. If the Guardian doesn't take you out I will myself because I will never again be used by a true demon as a mode of transport into this plane and destroy my friends.”

Buffy ran out of the library crying. After she left Joyce was looking shocked and a little unstable. “Destroyed the world?”

Cordy turned and hit Xander. “Why didn't you tell me I had done that. I said you could talk through me but ... What else do you know that could affect me that majorly?”

Xander looked at Cordy slowly then a surprised expression crossed his face as he reached for his cell phone. “Hey Dad, Just want to make sure of something, Every Officer in the company has their tax statements on record right? ... Yeah, can you make sure the Chases are there. .... Yeah Dad kinda. ... Um… Ok, yeah there was a reason but adds more questions now. Ok Thanks will explain at dinner.”

Cordy looked over at Xander reached grabbing his phone and hitting the speaker function “Mr. Harris this is Cordy, would it be a terrible inconvenience if you had company for dinner.”

Tony Harris's laugh could be heard over the speaker before he spoke “Maybe you guys should call Jess or me back in a few with how many extra for dinner? We can BBQ.”

Xander looked at Cordy as he answered his father “Thanks dad.” Closing the cell phone “are you happy now?”

Cordy looked at Xander “I will be after you explain during dinner.”

Xander rolled his eyes while Jesse and Willow laughed loudly. Xander looked over at Giles and Joyce. “You guys want to come as well and we can just do an informal get together? More a get to know you?”

Both Giles and Joyce nodded their acceptance. Then Rogers looked at Xander. “Why did you tell her that.”

Xander looked at Rogers and you could see the shift. Everyone straightened as the voice of the Guardian spoke from Xander. “Looking at her even her watcher saw the problems. It had to be broken before it got bigger and on her own she will not break it. She likes the power. In truth the only reason she is allowed in Sunnydale is because Alexander is hoping she can change. I do not see it. After seeing her today and reading her I wanted her destroyed immediately. However, this is her one chance. I allowed part of her previous future known to show her the problem with her attitude.”

A quiet voice near the door asked. “I'm really evil then?”

Guardian looked at Buffy. “You do not worry about those you hurt? You do not worry how to solve it? You only worry about a concept you do not even understand?”

Buffy flushed. “I would never hurt anyone.”

To the side Cheryl snorted. “Thought I would see what is going on, and yeah you would Buffy. You do it without thought. When you met Willow, you were so focused on bringing Willow to your side you totally ignored Crystal and me. You were a cheerleader at Hemphry, how often did you tell people they were stupid or cut people down because you felt they weren't as good as you? If you felt the person wasn't worth much would you put the effort into helping them? Or would you allow them to be hurt and figure it wasn't your problem?”

Buffy paled looking at Cheryl, Cheryl nodded looking at Buffy. “I'm a Cityer it means I know the games you played. The Dalers don't because they destroyed that system, there is no “in” crowd or “out” crowd, there are students. And I have to say I learned more since I came here than I would ever in NY. At my old school survival was key, if the drugs don't get you the gangs would. Your attitude is like a lot of the gang kids. They feel superior because they are in a gang. All it does is get them killed faster.”

Buffy looked at Xander. “Why?”

Guardian looked at her. “Your one chance to change. If you do not you will be killed as a threat to humanity. And Slayer, I do not mean a fake face. Like admissions I read people. Admissions wanted to bathe many times after she looked at your mind, what does that tell you Slayer?”

Buffy whimpered, “I need a lot of work.” Joyce went over to her daughter and wrapped her in a hug.

Guardian nodded. “Your mother has walked both sides of the fence. She allowed the prestige of her old life to guide her too much, she is working on making herself into a better person and can help but you will change.”

Guardian switched back to Xander as he frowned, Jesse looked over. “He change the plans on you?”

Xander nodded. “What he saw in Buffy... It was worse than I had thought.”

Joyce held her daughter as her daughter started shaking hearing Xander’s words. Joyce looked at Xander. “How bad? How much time, it’s not going to be fast.”

Xander looked at Joyce sadly. “Mrs. Summers ... I ... Last time you were the mother of the group. Jesse died tonight to Darla, My parents were drunks and Willows were either gone or trying to get us killed. This time my parents are whole. They can help parent the group and give Buffy another family to lean on. It won’t be easy and time means different things to Guardian than it does to you and me. Giles is whole this time, that will help a lot and once his friends get here it will be another support group for Buffy....”

Xander trailed off trying to think of how to word the next part and everyone figured that out quickly, he took a deep breath. “Buffy grew up a Cali Princess with all that entails. Most of which is an airhead that only thinks of herself. It is also using anyone and everyone to get what you want and not care about the “little” people. You yourself saw the consequences of your old lifestyle when you were no longer in the “in” crowd.” With that Joyce had closed her eyes in pain hugging Buffy tightly.

Xander looked at Joyce. “If Buffy wasn't a Slayer this would never be an issue, it would be your and her choice. However, Buffy is a Slayer. And while she will not have the hunt/die life of a normal Slayer her life here will be like a normal kid. However, it will not be like it was before she was called. It cannot be. I hate to say it but she is in a situation where she needs to adapt or die. If she cannot change she is a threat to others and that is not allowed.”

Joyce nodded in understanding and in her arms so did Buffy. Xander looked at Cordy. “Why don't we do the BBQ on Friday?”

Cordy looked at him then over to Buffy before nodding. “Sure Xander, potluck style? I will let mom and dad know.”

Xander looked at all the adults in the room then looked straight at Giles mouthing. “Seven PM tonight my place”. Giles nodded in understanding. Xander looked at Rogers to see if he got the message and he nodded. With that Xander, Jesse, Willow, and Cordy left the room. Cheryl turned and left just after them followed quickly by the others in the room with Joyce and Buffy leaving next to last with Giles closing up his office and walking them out.

Chapter 11

Buffy looked out the window of the car on the drive home but couldn't see anything but the words Guardian had said to her. Looking back over her life she thought about what she had and what she was now. Was being a Slayer worth it? The responsibility was more than she knew. Why did her watcher side with the others, didn't he understand he was suppose to be there for her and only her.

“Because he was doing it for your own good. Or would you prefer to be dead without knowing why?” Joyce said quietly.

Buffy whipped around to look at her seeing the car was parked in their driveway. Joyce looked at her. “Yes you said the last part aloud about your watcher. Let’s go inside and get some snacks and talk.”

Buffy looked at her mom. “I will just go to my room mom. I need to think.”

Joyce snorted. “Yeah but not alone, you just proved how your thought process went. Immediately looking to blame someone else. You do realize that before you got to school this morning they removed a bunch of controlling spells that had been on Giles.”

Buffy looked at her mom with wide eyes and then started to get out of the car and head into the house.

“But he’s a Watcher. He shouldn't have told them I was coming or who I was. A slayer is alone against the creatures of darkness.”

“Bullshit.”

“MOM!!!”

“You know what a Slayer is by realmer definition. Cannon Fodder. The Watchers set the slayer up to just be cannon fodder.”

“No, no, that’s not true. I am special. No one can do what I do.”

Joyce started making hot chocolate and grabbed some snacks. “Buffy, who told you, you alone were the only protection of this planet.”

A quiet. “Merrick.”

“Who is Merrick?”

“My former watcher.”

“So Merrick was in the fight with you?”

“No Merrick didn't fight, he just told me where and I would go there.”

“So you were fully trained by Merrick and could take on things you could handle without problems.”

“No, he sent me out and I got hurt but healed.”

“Is that someone who really cared about you?”

“But he was my Watcher.”

“You didn't answer. If you had a child you were overseeing, would you send them into a life-threatening situation without backup and no training? Grab some chips from the pantry and let’s move into the living room.”

After they were seated in the living room. “You didn't answer Buffy. Would you send a child into a life threatening situation without backup and training?”

Buffy looked into her mug. “No”

Joyce just sat back and waited while sipping her chocolate.

“When he told me I was special and the only one in the world I felt so good. Some of the girls were better Cheerleaders than me, and some more popular but this made me the only one. The power I felt going through my body and the thoughts had a reason now.”

Joyce nodded. “When I went to the gallery this morning I talked with the owner. Her name is too long for me to remember but she had me call her Chatt. She told the history of the slayer from the point of view of the realmers. She also made the statement that there is many sides of truth, depending on who you listen to. Merrick may be trying his best to be a good watcher. However, that may not make him the best for taking care and mentoring a functional young woman. If slayers don't live that long after they are called there is no reason to worry about future plans are there? I remember when you used to talk about modeling and trying to be a model. Do you still dream of it?”

Buffy was looking into her cup. “I'm the Slayer.”

Joyce looked at her. “So, do you still dream of being a model, then going on to design high fashion clothes?”

Buffy looked at her mother. “Most of my dreams deal with monsters. Since I was called at first I saw the past slayers and what their fights were like and then since gym it has been them and all they did.”

Joyce looked sharply at Buffy. “So you only have nightmares in one form or another right now.”

Buffy nodded. “Except in the institute on the drugs. Merrick said it was normal. Said it was to help train me.”

“Bullshit. I will talk with Giles about that. No one can live on nightmares. I am beginning to understand why the Realmers hate the Watchers so much.”

“Well they are demons.”

“Explain.”

“Well Watchers are good and Demons are Evil and Realmers are just a fancy word for Demon.”

“How do you figure Watchers are good?”

“They stop demons.”

“Do you know what Chatt was telling me? She was talking about the time 20 years ago a slayer went into a village in South America. The Demons as you call it hadn't been outside it in centuries, totally pacifist. However, the Slayer went into their village and wiped out every last one of them, even the newborn. You know why? Greed. The village had a lot of gold and artifacts from the Inca's. So the Watchers sent their slayer in to destroy the demons.”

“But that’s the demons view – I'm sure the watchers had reason.”

“Buffy. If they weren't violent, not hurting anyone, never would because of their beliefs how are they evil and the Watchers good? The Watchers wanted what they had and used the “all demons evil” philosophy and their slayer to destroy a pacifist village. Buffy in case it escapes you pacifist don't believe in violence in any way even self-defense. They were slaughtered for their gold and artifacts not for any higher goal.”

Joyce sighed. It was going to be a long night and she needed to talk to Giles about the nightmares. “Buffy, I need to call Giles and see what we can do about the nightmares. Why don't you think on what we talked about and what you heard today and I will be back to discuss with you later.”

Buffy nodded silently then headed up to her room. Her mind already running in circles with the information from that day.

Joyce moved into the kitchen and called Giles.

Chapter 12

As they were leaving the school Cordy looked over at Xander. “So the adults will be at your house at 7pm that gives you plenty of time to explain to me what happened.”

Xander's eyes flashed to Willow briefly then back to Cordy. “Don't you have cheerleading practice?

Cordy looked at him having seen the look to Willow nodded. “Yeah, Tai Bo today. Later everyone.”

Jesse and Willow had also noted the glance. Willow looked at Xander .“The warnings about learning about consequences, and seeing the whole picture. Your statement also made it sound like Buffy wasn't alone in causing the end of the world was she. What have you been trying to protect me from? What part of myself did I lose?”

“Willow.”

They waited a few seconds before Willow signed in exasperation. “Yeah? So what did I lose?”

Xander turned and looked at her seriously, “What you lost was Willow. The person willing to help others. The person who cared. All you cared about was Buffy and Power. You went dark many times. Now that I know that the Chase's have filed taxes all years I am pretty sure you are the one that hacked into the IRS and deleted their records then sent the IRS after the Chases because you hated Cordy. The first time you nearly destroyed the world I should have killed you then but having already lost Jesse I kept hoping you would change. You would for a while but after resurrecting Buffy then to activate all the slayers you thought you could do no wrong. Between you and Buffy you sold humanity to the demons, you for power and Buffy through willful blindness.”

Willow and Jesse were looking at Xander in shock as Willow started to sink to the ground crying. Xander looked at Jesse. “Take her home, I have to deal with a Master Vampire.”

Jess looked up as Jesse brought a crying Willow into the house, he gave Jess a light smile as he helped Willow to her room. After getting her settled in her room he came back down and headed into the kitchen.

After getting a snack and sitting at the table he spoke. “Bad News Day. Met the slayer. Not impressed but then again considering Guardian pretty much told her she has one chance only and he didn't like her I'm not that worried. Then to find out in the old timeline Willow was one of the ones that sold out humanity that caused this redo. That was later but still Wills is...”

Jess clenched the counter not believing what she heard. “I'm sorry Jesse but I thought I heard you say our Willow was one of the ones that sold out humanity to the demons.”

Jesse looked straight at her with tears in his eyes and nodded. “That’s why Wills is broken right now. Guardian was not in a good mood and you could tell he was pushing Xander. I don't know why but...”

“And where is Xander.”

“He said he had a master vampire to take out.”

Jess walked over to the phone and dialed Officer Rogers. “Did you know that Xander was taking out a master vampire right now? ... Ahh so he did grab some of you guys to do it. That is very good to know. .... Yeah I'm hearing about the rip Guardian has been on today. .... Figured someone must have told the community what he said to Willow. ... That would be good, I'm not sure how to help but Healer Ssallaa has been her mentor for quite a while and probably could. ... Sure so far we have seven extra for tonight at 7pm a few more won’t matter, small bar-b-que then. ... Yeah just bring what you want for potluck style. ... Skarr ... Very true that will help for the short run. Jesse please remind Willow that Skarr eats corrupted souls and hasn't even thought of looking at her like she was dinner.”

Jesse ran up the stairs laughing to tell Willow while Jess finished the call.

Jesse came back down smiling with Willow following slowly behind him. As Willow sat down at the table Jess put a drink and a sandwich in front of her. “Healer Ssallaa will be over tonight to talk to you Willow. I know what you heard was shocking.”

Willow looked at Jess. “How??”

The door opened and Xander came in nodding at everyone. “Nest, Master of the line of Aurelis is dead. I now need to find Angel and figure out what to do about him and Jenny Calendar. Hey Willow, Cheryl is taking over tonight’s orientation at Haven and having more of a general “get to know you” since Buffy won't be able to make it and your upset as well. Figure by tomorrow night you can help with the homework setup. Though I think it would be great if Cheryl ran it. You and her can work together so she can take over. I am really hoping she stays after The Clan House and helps run Haven. This will help free up more of your time to help Healer Ssallaa.”

Willow looked at Xander and nodded in understanding, he was subtly trying to help her not crave power, how often would he say something that in ways helped her in the long run because she was running things others could do and help with just because she liked to be seen as “The One” everyone went to for a task.

Chapter 13

The grill was cooling, paper plates were being thrown into the fire pit and a fire started that was being gathered around. The backyard full of people sitting and talking, quietly, waiting for the real discussions to start. Dinner was for connecting with family and friends, hard discussions were for after dinner.

As everyone started to seat themselves around the picnic table and relax back with drinks of soda and ice tea, everyone knew that no alcohol was ever served at the Harris household and none was to be brought in.

At a nod from Paul to Giles, Giles sighed and nodded. “I had a call from Joyce before coming over here. There is an issue I am not sure about. It seems with the Slayer package also comes constant nightmares. Buffy has stated that since she was called she has not slept a single night without nightmares except when drugged in the institute.”

Healer Ssallaa nodded. “We have wondered before about that. We think in their creation of the weapon and the molding of the energy this is a side effect.”

Paul looked at Ssallaa. “Anything you can do for it?”

Ssallaa shook her head. “If we release it enough for her to dream normal we will have issues with the demon. If the human control is broke the demon will start affecting her every action.”

Xander looked at Ssallaa. “Would the Slayer force leaving her help her or cause the demon to start affecting her more.”

Ssallaa looked at Xander. “If the controls created to control the energy moved to another than the demon influences would be stronger.”

Willow and Jesse looked at Xander. “What are you thinking?”

Xander frowned. “If we allowed the spirit to move on could we be able to remove the remaining taint?”

Ssallaa looked at Rrarrack and Harrax questioningly. “I am unsure.”

Rrarrack nodded. “If she would allow us to look at her we would be able to see. But the only way for the controls to move is for the child to die. And if the child is dead there is no need to remove the taint.”

Most of the people around the table were looking at Xander questioningly. Xander looked at them. “Yes but death is not always permanent.”

Giles looked at Xander sternly. “I am sure Buffy does not wish to be turned.”

Xander laughed. “You are only seeing the supernatural side. There are people walking around every day that have died that are not vampires or anything like that.”

Willow brightened. “Oh, like when you do a valve replacement. You temporarily stop the heart therefore the person is technically “Dead” yet brought back immediately.”

Xander smiled at Willow. “Exactly. In the last timeline at the end of this year the Slayer was killed by Nest. She was drowned. I performed CPR and brought her back to life. The essence moved on but with your statement Healer Ssallaa I realize now why she got worse after that. If the controls over the demon are gone and it influenced her more a lot of her actions make more sense now.”

Giles looked at Paul. “Last timeline?”

Paul nodded. “As Cordy said in the library, we are in a redo. And if we mess up this time there is no third chance.”

Giles shuddered and nodded his understanding. More was at stake than a young girl.

Joyce answered the ringing phone just before 9pm that night.

“Hello?”

“Joyce, Rupert. I talked with the healers in town tonight and they would like to look at Buffy if she would allow it to try and think of ways of helping her. The obvious ones are too dangerous to her in the long run.”

Joyce's hand shook as she listened calmly to Giles. “Thank you Rupert. I will ask Buffy in the morning... Never mind I will ask her in a few minutes she’s up. I will let you know. When would they want to see her if she agrees?”

“They were insistent on soon. Guardian is not liking your daughter and if they can think of a way to help her it would allow you and her more options. I am sorry but I am unsure Buffy will ever be welcome here totally.”

Joyce nodded slightly and sadly while saying. “Good Night Rupert.” Then hanging up gently.

“Rupert talked with the healers and they would like to work with you on maybe helping you. They said the obvious ways are too dangerous in the long run.”

Buffy laughed harshly. “Long run, I'm the Slayer.”

Joyce looked at her daughter. “In Sunnydale you are not. You are a teenage girl again. There are others here and the atmosphere is one that a Slayer is not needed.”

Buffy started shaking her head “they are demons and evil and are just sucking everyone in so they can kill them. I need to kill them.”

Joyce shuddered and tears started in her eyes. “My God, what did Merrick turn you into? Where is my loving Buffy who wanted to be a model then design clothes.”

Buffy looked at her mother. “I'm the Slayer. My watcher is obviously corrupted. I need to go do my job.” With that Buffy started to head for the door. Joyce realized she had a few weapons on her as she watched in horror.

As Buffy closed the door Joyce picked up the phone and dialed Rupert “Rupert... she... my god.. what did they do to her? She is heading out to kill anything she can. What did that bastard Merrick do to her!”

Rupert closed his eyes listening to Joyce. “Joyce, calm down. Did she head out with weapons and what did she say. This is important. If she hurts anyone in town she is DEAD!”

“Oh my god. Rupert she said she needed to kill the demons and saying you had been corrupted.”

Rupert shut his eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Joyce. I will be over in a few minutes but I need to get people out there to stop her or she is in major trouble.” He heard the gentle crying in the background then a soft click.

Picking his wallet he found the number and called. “Paul, Rupert. Joyce just called... Buffy went out hunting.”

Paul nodded sadly in his living room. “I understand Rupert. Let me make a few calls.”

Chapter 14

The young couple was leaving the movie theater and were walking close smiling and holding hands. The girl was giggling softly at her date. “Oh Mmmbbbrspt that is funny. The movie was so stupid. Who would believe in vampires that acted like that?” Just then a small blond girl appeared in front of them with a sword coming toward Mmmbbbrspt's neck.

Before the sword could connect there was a flash and they saw the girl destroyed. Looking around they saw Guardian looking toward them and then he nodded to them and the police that were rushing toward them from the diner. All had seen the girl start to attack them for no reason.

Officer Rogers arrived and looked at Xander. Guardian looked around him. “She was only allowed here on the hope that she could change. She knew there is no way she would be allowed to hurt anyone. She set up the encounter and the end.”

With that they saw Guardian recede and Xander take over. Looking at Officer Rogers. “Could you drive me to her mother’s house? She should hear it from me and why.”

Officer Roger started to shake his head no. “Xander, One of us officers need to do the notification. You don't have to.”

With a shake of his head Xander just looked at him and turned to start walking towards Revello drive. As Xander turned the corner and was out of sight he pulled out his cell phone. “Dad, Could you contact Rupert and let him know there is a situation coming. Xander is back in control but heading towards her mother’s house. … No, she won’t need to wait up for her nor do we need a casket. Guardian destroyed her.”

On the couch at Joyce's house Rupert sat with a cup of cocoa and a sense of dread in his stomach. The ringing of his phone had both of them jumping as he quickly answered it “Paul. I see. When should we expect him here. I see. Yes I will try.”

He looked at Joyce as he hung up. Before he could say anything. “She's dead isn't she? He had to kill her.”

Rupert kept eye contact with Joyce while he nodded. “She was attacking a young couple when he saved them.”

Joyce shook. “My god what did your people turn her into.”

A quiet voice said from the entryway. “A very hurt young girl that totally believed the only way to stop the nightmares and find happiness again was to die. She knew when she left she would die. She planned on it. I am sorry but I could not allow her to hurt others.”

“But couldn't you have stopped her? There has to be something. She didn't have to die.”

“She went to the center of town where multiple officers where eating dinner. She watched as a young realmer couple left the theater and waited ‘til they were right outside the diner when she attacked them. She was hoping for a bullet or something to stop her before her sword connected.”

Joyce shook her head no. Xander looked at her holding her gaze. “I wish there were words. I wish Guardian understood why I wanted to give her a chance but in the end I remember the old Buffy from the other timeline and remember how unhappy she always was. Thinking of the other slayers I now realize looking at it from outside that they all have a death wish. None want to live after they are called. They are all trying to find the one thing that will destroy them so they could stop themselves.”

Rupert looked at Xander sharply. Xander looked at him. “We will talk later. You have more important things to do right now. I know Kendra was called after Buffy. We met her about 6 months later. Think her watcher was a Sam with a last name starting with M or Z or something like that. She was from somewhere around Jamaica or so.”

“I know who you are talking about.”

“That is something to worry about later. Right now Joyce needs you. We have a dinner planned on Friday night. Please come to that. Joyce you are welcome to stay in Sunnydale but I understand the wanting to leave because of her death.”

Joyce looked at Xander. “Did the watchers screw you up as badly as they did my Buffy?”

Xander looked at her. “I am unimportant. Remember the Buffy of old. Before the Gym fire. Remember that girl. Not what she was turned into.”

With that Xander turned around and walked out heading towards his own home. Everyone was in the living room as he came in. He looked at his parents than Jesse and Willow before swallowing. “She wanted to die. She didn't want to deal with it and she truly believed that the only way she could stop was to die. The loss of her old life had her fragile and the realization that she didn't even have the specialness of being a slayer here. Because of our ways she could not be a “Queen” of any group here. Added to that the underlying wish to be free from the demon controlling her. She set up the entire encounter hoping to die quickly and before she hurt anyone. She was thinking a lot about a young demon Merrick sent her after telling her that he had stolen an artifact that would destroy the world. While she was fighting him and his family he asked why. She said she was there for the stolen artifact and he had told her it was a family heirloom and they were pacifists. She slaughtered the family believing in what Merrick told her and believing that they were lying. She realized that she had been used. In her mind she considered herself as evil as the worst demon.”

Jesse got up and grabbed Xander’s arm pulling him to the couch to sit between him and Willow. Everyone lost in thought just sitting and comforted by the feel of family around them. After a while they all headed to bed still contemplating the situation.

Chapter 15

Friday afternoon came around without any real notice for most of Sunnydale. Buffy had barely hit anyone’s radar being how short of time she was there, those that knew were not surprised that she lasted so short of time. Xander had not gone into the library all week to save the confrontation with Giles until that night.

Cheryl walked up to Xander in the hall just after school let out and looked at him pointedly. Xander looked at her questioningly. “I heard why you are trying to break Willows' habit of having to be the go to girl and since your talk in the hall Monday it has been interesting.”

Cheryl paused looking around then back at Xander. “So far she has taken herself out of the program as the main tutor and set up leads from others in the program. We have different people now leading each study group. We also talked with each other then Tutor and have setup for more realmers to come in and teach us their culture starting when we get here.”

Xander smiled and nodded. “I am glad.”

Cheryl nodded. “You knew that we were getting frustrated with her didn't you? We all love Willow don't get me wrong, but her believing she was the only one to know anything was getting very frustrating. We all want the chance to prove ourselves.”

Xander smiled. “So do you think you could play den mother to younger children as well? And then maybe add some realmer children in with the others?”

Cheryl arched her head back like bird and looked at Xander. He smiled “While a lot of the realmers will not admit it, there are clans that toss their children away as easily as humans. Also, the rescue teams have mainly worked on teenagers, feeling younger children have more of a chance. We both know that is both true and false and a lot of the decisions that has been made have to do with the way the clans protect their young. It would be good for Leslie to actually get a good grip with reality in a large city. She still doesn't see everything because of the biases she doesn't know she has. Maybe the children of Haven should talk with the rescue team leaders and explain reality.”

Cheryl snorted. “Many won’t want to come to Sunnydale or be able to... You’re thinking of setting up houses in other cities aren't you?”

Xander just looked at Cheryl. “What do you plan on doing? It is not my decision or thoughts that matter but what others want to do.”

Cheryl looked down while talking to herself. “Some want to go back outside Sunnydale for college. It would give a chance to set things up other cities. We could go where a Daler couldn't. They wouldn't understand the mindset or atmosphere. Mylax was talking about not being able to leave Sunnydale because he doesn't feel safe outside the city with hiding himself like he would have to and that after Sunnydale he is used to the easy interaction between realmers and humans. However, a safe place for humans and realmers. Taking in strays from both sets... It would be an interesting challenge and Crystal would love it. She wants to go to Columbia, has since she was a child and it is a dream of hers.”

Cheryl looked up at Xander sharply. “You bastard. You know we are going to go nuts trying to figure it out.”

Xander smiled at her. “I hope you do. Remember BBQ at my place tonight at 7. I'm sure some of the senior Haven crew will want to come for the discussions and food.” Closing his locker he turned and walked away.

Cheryl watched him. “Bastard...” A couple other Cityers came over looking at her. “I will explain tonight at Haven. Let’s just say Xander is a bastard. I love him to pieces and if I thought I could keep up with him I would try for him but he is a bastard. That bastard is setting Haven up to be its own entity.”

The Harris' backyard may not be as large as some but it seemed to easily hold the thirty odd people there that night for the BBQ and QA. While many of the people were familiar some of the faces were new. Joyce was talking with Giles and another gentleman that was new in town. When Xander saw him he smirked before heading over to them. Looking at Ethan through his eyes instead of Guardian's he saw the spells and that a lot had already been removed but some were still in effect. Reaching them he looked at Joyce. “How are you doing Mrs. Summers?”

Joyce sighed “Chatt and everyone has been very helpful. I still feel I should of stopped her someway. Though I did hear there may have been more behind her action than you first said.”

Xander looked at her “Remember her from before. What happened after she was called... Like the spells on Giles, some of the controlling spells transfer when she is called.”

Giles looked at him “And the realization that killing the family of Marlax realmers for the artifact the Watchers wanted had a lot to do with her breaking.”

Xander looked at Giles quickly, Giles looked back at him “I got her chronicles when I informed the council that she was here. They arrived after her death and as I read them I realized that you were hiding it from Joyce. I felt it was better for Joyce to know part of the reason she committed suicide. And we all know she did.”

Xander looked at Joyce “I was hoping to spare you some of the nightmare she was living with.”

Ethan looked at Xander “Noble, but not always prudent. Though I guess I should be asking you if I will have issues staying here.”

Xander looked at Ethan “Once all the controlling spells are removed you shouldn't have an issue.”

Giles and Ethan started, looked over at Paul, “Interesting, we thought they had been removed. Do you see a lot still in effect?”

Xander looked around “Jesse, Wills”

Jesse and Willow came over, Paul and a few others as well. Xander nodded at them “Do you see the spells still on him?” pointing at Ethan.

Jesse and Willow looked at each other “We went through and cleaned him. Give us a minute to check again.”

While they were scanning Ethan a couple of the healer and warders were as well shaking their heads. Xander looked at them when Shallark replied “We see nothing else on him.”

Jesse and Willow nodded “Are you sure Xander?”

Xander looked at them “Yes, I see a bunch of them still on him. Though a few look like their tiered with his shield and two of them are going to be interesting to get rid of because they seem to have triggers with other ones that will recast.”

Jesse looked at Xander than grabbed his arm, Willow immediately did the same with the other arm “Shoot, didn't see them. Shallark, can you help with this.” Jesse reached back toward Shallark and as Shallark touched him he saw what Xander saw. Shock showing on his face, using his other arms he touched those around him.

Joyce had moved over and was talking with Jess after a few minutes of watching the others work on removing the spells. Joyce looked at Jess “Your children seem to be quite the handfuls.” Jess laughed “At times they are too normal then they do something that not only has you but everyone around you looking in shock. Speaking of that.” She looked around finding Paul and moved towards him with Joyce following. After coming over to Paul and Lesley Jess asked “What shocked Shallark and the others so much?”

Paul looked at Jess “Shallark has some of the highest mage-sight known. And the idea that Xander, not Guardian, but Xander, saw spells he didn't was one part of it. The other part is that Jesse and Willow grabbed him and he allowed them to see thru his eyes and then allowed that to transfer to all touching them.”

Lesley picked up “I don't think it can be explained how rare and valuable that is.”

Jess looked at Lindsey “So more lessons or...”

Lesley laughed “Didn't you see how Xander understood what he was looking at immediately and was able to tell the others then pull them in? There is nothing they could really teach him because a lot of Mage-sight is individualized. Take a controlling spell. I would see it one-way and you another, though we are both looking at the same spell. It’s how we individually process the information.”

Joyce looked confused “But he pulled the others in and they saw the spells? So weren't they using his sight so see it like he does?”

Lesley was shaking her head even before Joyce finished “That is part that makes it so amazing. It isn't like he showed them a picture of what he saw. He allowed them to use his ability then their sight through it. It’s like you were looking at what you thought was outside, but then he opened a door showing you that you were looking at a wall.”

After thirty minutes and multiple people working on both Ethan and Rupert before Xander said they looked clear. Seems a lot of spells went into effect if they were near each other and the Watchers had really layered several so that if others were removed they would come back.

Everyone was sitting at the tables again when Jesse looked at Giles “When did the Watchers take over the Slayers.”

Giles looked at Jesse and the others questioningly “The Watchers have always looked over the Slayers. Since before written word.”

A few of the realmers looked confused “But the Slayer is only 600 years.”

Giles looked sharply at that, then thoughtful “That is entirely possible. I admit much of my knowledge is what the Watchers teach.”

Ethan looked curiously “The cursed village of Eearra?”

Several of the realmers nodded their heads.

Ethan looked at Giles and then the others “I am not sure I know the full story but there was a village in Africa that the men were not liked and had to steal wives – even then the women would run away as much as possible and do everything they could to abort any child. No girls were born in the village and the men had taken to trying to raid nearby towns and raping their women, then leaving the women there. However, the women would abort the child as soon as they knew they were pregnant. The comments were “it feels like evil slime growing” were often stated. The village disappeared around 3-400 years ago.”

Willow piped up “When they started shipping the African slaves to different countries?”

Jesse looked at them “So some British guys find the village about 400 years ago and find out about the curse. The slavery trade is starting to boom and we know the British Empire was really strong then. They took the villagers and started breeding them. After a few generations and a bunch of spells they were able to have the kids not feel “evil and slimy” so they shipped them all over the world as slaves.”

Giles nodded “Considering how Slayers are treated and even the consequences of the potentials that are not called.” Joyce looked sharply at Giles. “It was one of the many reasons I disliked and rebelled against my father so much. My father trained five potentials, of them two became slayers. Of the other three I have fifteen siblings that are considered bastards and my father will not claim. Of the girls when it became that they could no longer have children they were killed.” Giles took a drink “The split between my father and myself started when I was young and one of the girls he had I really liked as a friend. After she turned 16 and wasn't called she got pregnant. My father acted like she was a slut but she told me only one person ever touched her and it was my father, I thought she was lying and didn't know why she wouldn't tell me the truth. When I saw the child after it was born I realized she was telling the truth and the child was my brother. She had two more and then couldn't have anymore. The day after the Doctor told father that she couldn't have any more children she didn't wake up.”

Jess looked over at Giles “So the Watchers created the new slayer line through slave trading to get the gene out in the open, now it uses the girls as they please as either cannon fodder or sex slaves. And they think of themselves as good guys. No wonder Xander hates them so much.”

Xander laughed “No I hate them for other reasons, never knew this side of it. Guardian may know it, his hatred is more general than mine. Mine is more for specific actions.”

Willow frowned “General?”

Xander nodded “We hate terrorist, don't know any personally and while they haven't attacked me personally I hate them and their ways. It’s a more general hatred.”

Willow nodded “Where your hatred against the Watcher is more because of things they have specifically done.”

Xander nodded “Some of the lower guys are ok once they are removed from the direct influence of the Watchers... shit Wesley... ok going to have to figure out how to save him... maybe....”

Giles looked at him “Wyndam-Price?” Xander nodded. Giles shuddered. “Haven't met him though his father is a friend of my father's so it’s very likely he was spelled as badly as I was.”

Jesse and Willow laughed “So some of the lower guys you feel are ok but some of the others.”

Xander snorted “Last time Travers had three contracts out on me. One inside the watchers where they were to make sure I was hampered every way possible and if any chance of getting me killed they were to take it. He sent three strike teams to take you and me out... you never realized and I think Giles only had a inkling of a clue. He tried to get one through The Order of Takara but they wouldn't take it because he is head of the Watchers.”

Giles looked at Xander. “Some of the spells on me, I can see me being a self absorbed git that didn't do much of anything outside the path they set. How bad was I?”

Xander looked at Ethan then Giles “Giles, I remember bits and pieces. It has been over 10 years since I woke in the new reality. You were our father, Joyce was our mother. Other than that – it doesn't matter, this time has already changed so much and frankly while I wish we could of saved Buffy, the fact that my parents are here and whole, the fact that Jesse is still alive and Willow is not needing to prove herself so much that she will do anything for power. I am sorry but in my mind that outweighs everything else. And while I am sorry for Joyce, in some ways Guardian is right in that it is better for Buffy that she is dead. Looking at her through his eyes, I cannot find the words to even start to explain to you what was happening to her.”

Ethan put his hand on Rupert's arm then looked at Xander “You said that you had a possible idea?”

Xander smiled at Ethan nodding thanks for shifting the conversation “I know Kendra was called after Buffy. May already be too late to change much there and I know Faith was called after Kendra then until the mass activation no others were called.”

Giles looked shocked at hearing about the mass activation but kept quiet and nodding “I talked with Sam. At this point Kendra has not activated and he is sending her here. However, I think I should warn you that Sam is very old school in his thinking.”

Xander snorted “Yeah, figured that out when we found out Kendra had one outfit total, never went to school, and wasn't allowed to talk to boys.”

Joyce looked at Jess startled “One outfit total? Never went to school? Want me to take her since you already have those three?”

Jess smiled “Yes please, my three keep me on my toes as it is. Adding another into the mix....”

Xander fake laughed “Ha Ha mom. Though I am kinda worried about Faith. She didn't have the best home-life though I think Linda was ok with her.”

Rupert looked at Xander “Linda and Faith are on their way here. I know Linda and surprised she is a Watcher, yes I expect a lot of spells on her as well. I remember you talking about Faith and figured it would be good to get her here as well.”

Xander looked at Rupert “How did you get them to come here and Sam to send Kendra.”

Rupert smirked and Ethan laughed “I lied my head off. Well more so with Sam than Linda. I made it sound like we could use the help and possibly throw some potentials at a mess. The current slayer is in Europe right now however, since we are not sure if she was in the original timeline since Buffy's death is months early according to your memory. However, the current girl is... I should say she is a niece of mine though we haven't met.”

Tony nodded at Rupert “Messy.”

Rupert looked out at the gathered group “Very.”

Jesse looked at Xander “What about the Watchers. If something changes with the Slayers they will still be there and now there will be girls all over the globe that may lose the only home they have ever had?”

Rupert smirked and Ethan snorted at that, then Ethan shifted “I have been working on something for that.” Seeing everyone looking at him Ethan smirked “There are a lot of people that are no longer part of the watchers due to the differences in thought regarding the slayers and their treatments. After talking with some of them they are getting ready and if we are able to break the cycle they will go in to help the girls. There are also parts of the Government that would love to get the watchers and actually if we can stop the slayer cycle they will grab as many as possible for terrorist activities, kidnapping, child abuse, and the list will grow as they can find more stuff. The Watchers started out helping people but over the last few decades have become a problem. They feel they don't need to answer to the Crown. And we all know how the Crown will feel about that.”

Xander looked at Ethan “Why wont the Crown step in before that?”

Ethan frowned “They are worried about the girls. The watchers have an army at their disposal that no soldier wants to fight. Can you imagine sending soldiers out to stop 10-15 year old girls. They would not use force and the council proved in the past they have no problem making the girls into killing machines. A few mind spells and the girls see everyone as demons and go on killing sprees. They can take out units thinking they are taking out an invading army. This happened over thirty years ago when one of the PM's tried to get the Watchers under control. They spelled the slayer into thinking something had taken over an area that was actually a MI:6 training area. She slaughtered everyone in there.”

The look of horror on everyone there's face were matched with grief and disbelief in Joyce's “our daughters, they turn them into monsters without blinking. They make them into monsters worse than what they are suppose to fight. My Buffy.. god, what all would they have done to Buffy?”

Jess reached over and held Joyce. The horror shaking her to the core of what had been happening and could of happened to her daughter. Xander looked at Rupert and the others. “So we need to break the cycle. See what spells are on the potentials and if more are on Kendra because she has been in the system most of her life versus Faith that has only been recognized recently.”

The discussion went on for a few more hours with ideas thrown out but nothing decided because they needed to see the girls and what happened to them.

Chapter 16

Wednesday Rupert called letting everyone know Linda had arrived with Faith and Kendra was here. A meeting was set for that night.

Rupert and Ethan walked in with Joyce and a new woman and two teenage girls. The warders and healers looked at the girls and one started to cry when she saw Kendra.

Linda and the girls were introduced to everyone and the one healer looking at Kendra hugged her. Kendra was at a loss on how to respond and you could see on her face the idea of a realmer hugging her was so strange she didn't know what to do.

Healer Ssallaa looked at them “The spells on her are... I cannot believe that any sane being would put them on someone.” Ssallaa was so upset she could hardly talk.

Joyce looked at Ssallaa “Kendra still hasn't been called, with the changes since Buffy died early we are unsure if she will be now.”

Kendra looked at Joyce “What spells?”

Linda looked embarrassed and replied “The Watchers put a bunch of spells on potentials. It is one of the reasons I haven't told them about Faith. That and she would immediately be put under a different watcher. A male watcher that would than mold her for himself instead of letting her be herself. When I found her I couldn't let them do that to another girl.”

Just then the door came open and a young man appeared “Mr. Giles, I do not understand why you asked me here if you are going to keep.... Hello, um.. Mr. Giles, what is going on!”

Xander laughed “I had forgotten how bad he was when he first arrived.”

Wesley drew himself up “I do not believe we were introduced.”

Xander laughed “Your Wesley Wyndam-Price yeah.. Don't worry once you remove the stick the watchers stuffed up your.”

“Alexander Lavelle Harris”

“Mom, it’s true. He was a prick until he loosened up, then he became one of the best fighters and voices of reasons for our side.”

Wesley looked at Xander “And you know this how? Since we haven't met before.”

Xander looked at everyone “Geez, no one told him anything?”

Rupert and Ethan shook their heads no then Ethan said “He is as bad as Rupert was under those spells and it made me want to do quite a few things I am sure Guardian wouldn't like.”

Wesley straightened “Guardian? As in the spirit of humanity that works through a human to make sure humanity survives when on the brink of destruction! That Guardian?”

Everyone looked at him in surprise, Rupert looked at him closely “Bugger I totally forgot about that.” He turned and looked at Xander “You woke with Guardian fully awake in you this go round?”

Xander smirked “Yep.”

Wesley looked at Rupert and Ethan “Redo?” both nodded “Bugger”

Joyce looked at the men “If I am remembering my British slang correctly if one of you say that again I will wash your mouths out with soap. Just like I would one of the kids.”

All three men blushed at that comment. Wesley looked at Rupert “Spells the watchers placed?”

Rupert nodded “There were many that were cleared off me, Linda has a few on her but she seemed to have most cleaned off her, you.. let’s just say you are controlled about as much as I was. They will take a while to clear you. Then we have the potentials. Kendra is council raised. From the reactions of the healers and warders the spells on her must be inhumane. Luckily Linda was able to keep Faith from being bespelled.”

Linda looked at everyone “So we are in a redo and a Guardian is present. From what I understand he's in the young man there. Now why do you want these two potentials?”

Xander looked at Linda “Buffy was the slayer, In May she would of died to Nest and I would of performed CPR and brought her back to life. At which point there were two slayers. Kendra is the one I knew about. After Kendra was killed by Dru, Faith was called. I do not know how many between each one but those are the ones I met.”

Faith looked at Xander “And now?”

Xander nodded “Right now the slayer is in Europe, don't know if Kendra will be called in order now since we changed the timeline so much. Buffy committed suicide last week.”

Rupert nodded “I explained a bit on that to them before coming over.”

All of a sudden Kendra straightens up and looks around the healers look at her and shake their heads Ssallaa spoke for them “She just activated. The spells that went into place are.”

Rupert looked at Kendra who nodded and pulled out an amulet “I can sense what they are saying. Sam would be ecstatic that I am called. However, I do not like the idea of the spells. Since you cannot show us what you see and make it believable.”

Jesse smiled “Yes we can. Or I should say Xander could. He can show you what he sees and we can caste something on you and you can see what changes.”

Faith looked at Linda who nodded then looked at Kendra “Can K and I talk for a few. This is all new to us and think we need to understand and frankly you all are on the same side and we don't know for sure that it’s the side we want to be on.”

Xander smiled “Sure Faith, why don't you girls go shopping or something – since I think Kendra needs clothes.”

Faith snorted “You got that right. Mrs. S went crazy when she heard that K only had the one outfit and only ever had one outfit.”

Kendra looked at Jesse “Can we see first what spells you see?”

Jesse looked at Kendra “Xander is the one that can – you can touch him and he will let you see using his vision. Both you and Faith can and look at everyone.”

Kendra and Faith nodded then moved over to Xander. Each took an arm and looked around at everyone. Faith nodded as she looked at people, looked at Wesley and shook “Man do they have him warped.” Kendra nodded on that then looked at Faith “I see very little on you.” Faith nodded looking very unhappy “Can't say the same K. Shit they weren't kidding about the spells.” Kendra looked down at herself and a look of pure grief went over her face before she shook herself. “So shopping you say? I could use another top.”

Joyce laughed “You could use more clothes period.”

Rupert nodded handing Kendra a credit card. “I have you both as an authorized signers for this. Please do not run it up over a thousand.”

The girls looked at him and nodded before letting go of Xander and heading off. Paul remark as they were leaving “Make sure you get stuff for school. You both will be starting classes tomorrow so you need school clothes as well as supplies.”

Faith and Kendra looked over shocked “SCHOOL?”

Paul nodded “School. There is no getting out of it. Both of you will go. No child in Sunnydale skips school and slaying is not an excuse because we do not expect you to slay here. Adults are here if needed. You are children and will be treated as such.”

Faith looked at Linda “I don't have to go do I?”

Linda nodded “Yes you do. It will be good. I couldn't risk you going to school in Boston but here you can.”

Kendra looked at Rupert “Sam said I can't go to school. It is nothing but a distraction from learning about slaying and boys are there and they would distract me from my future.”

Rupert smirked “Yes, we hope they do distract you. You need to learn to be a girl not a machine.”

Joyce looked at Rupert “Is keeping them out of school part of the way they keep the potentials for themselves? If the girls have no knowledge of the outside world or of boys.”

Wesley and Rupert nodded “yes.”

Ssallaa looked at Wesley “We need to start clearing the spells off you. While the girls are shopping we will do that.” Looking at Kendra “There are many spells on you, some that have been on you since you were a baby. They will take a long time to break. We are unsure what all to do about the Slayer essence. If you want we can meet tomorrow after school and discuss our ideas. It will give you time to get used to the essence.”

Kendra nodded “Yes, and Rupert talked about dreaming and Joyce is worried about nightmares. I wish to see what she is worried about. Sam told me that if I ever activated that the dreams are to help me train and gain knowledge. I want to see if he is right.”

Joyce looked at Kendra “You are hoping he wasn't lying to you your entire life. We understand. Your parents gave you to the watchers when you were young. Or at least that is what you were told. The idea that your 'father' would lie to you has you unsettled. We understand and I really wish my Buffy felt she could of talked with me when she was called. Then again I was not the same person I am now.” Joyce looked confused for a minute than turned to Rupert “Why did the watchers allow Buffy to be placed in the mental institute for six months? Wouldn't they want her out slaying?”

Wesley looked at Joyce closely “This was after she activated?”

Joyce nodded “After she burned down the school gym. I guess Merrick was dead already and when she tried to explain why she did it she sounded insane talking about it being filled with vampires. The court had her placed in an institute for six months.”

Wesley looked at Rupert “Trying to break her?”

Ethan nodded “Most likely. To prove she needed a watcher and to not go against the watchers because she could have that happen to her. Since she wasn't council raised they needed to make her obedient.”

Kendra looked at Faith “I guess the ladies in town were right. Sam was raising his personal toy.”

Faith straightened and looked at Kendra “What do you mean K?”

Kendra looked at Faith with tears in her eyes “I heard a couple of the women in town talking about how Sam was raising his perfect toy. Willing to do anything for him, and how a bunch of the men in town were commenting on needing to get a young child and train them up themselves. The women hearing that nearly took the men apart, they commented that while Sam may be doing it if any of them tried they would rip them to shreds. The only reason Sam got away with it was because of money the watchers paid in bribes around town. I wanted to believe they were lying but... it looks like they weren't and if I wasn't called Sam would of... he started to make comments about me being 15 and on my 16th birthday if I hadn't been called we would have a special party.”

Faith looked at Kendra and put her arm around her. “Come on K, let's go spend some watcher funds.”

Kendra started towards the door then turned towards Jesse “Does any of the spells on me change how I feel things?”

Jesse looked at her then Willow, Willow nodded. “Yeah there's something there that blocks something. I'm not sure what but it is to block noticing something.”

Jesse nodded “There seems a couple on blinding as well as binding. Not sure what all they are for.”

Kendra looked at Jesse and Willow “Can we remove the blocks on noticing things and the blinding spells. If I make a decision I want to know as much as possible before I make it.”

Jesse and Willow looked at Ssallaa and the others they nodded. Jesse looked at Kendra “Would you trust Ssallaa and the others to work on you?”

Kendra looked at Faith “Faith will watch through Xander while they do it?”

Xander nodded “No problem. We understand.”

After Faith moved over and had a firm grip on Xander's arm Ssallaa and a couple other healers moved over to Kendra. Ssallaa looked at Kendra “We will remove the block last since it is strongest. We will remove a the blindings first. Let us know what you feel after each one.”

Jesse frowned “Hold for a sec Ssallaa. Can anyone replace the block or the blindings? In case there is a problem?”

Ssallaa and the others shook their heads “No, the magic is foreign to us and by its very nature and what it does we cannot caste anything like that. To do so would violate our oaths and cause us to die.”

Jesse looked at the Brits “Guys?”

Ethan and Rupert shook their heads no, Wesley looked “Um... I can't do magic.” That caused the others to frown. Rupert looked at him “Bu..” quickly looking at Joyce with her raised eyebrow “Shoot, they seem to have blocked that in you, I see the ability there.” Wesley looked at Xander who nodded and moved over to touch Xander's other arm. Looking down at himself “... So that is why Richard kept saying I was changing.” looking around at the others looking at him “Sorry, a few years ago a friend at the time said that I was changing a lot every weekend. I told him he was wrong and we stopped talking not long after.”

Ethan shook his head “Another wonderful Watcher parent molding their prodigy into the perfect child.”

Jesse snorted “Ok, now back to the problem, any idea what to do if something we remove needs put back?”

Kendra looked at Jesse “Is there a way of blocking it without putting the spells back? I want to understand what is going on without a lot being spelled either way.”

Jesse looked at the healers and warders then Xander, “we may be able to cobble something but it won't be permanent and you may have bleed through.”

Kendra nodded “Fine. Then I would know what is there, instead of being blind and feeling just wonderful power. Right now I can think of nothing but the joy of the power I have. The sense of purpose, of power. That I am most important.”

Joyce looked at Kendra “That you are the most special girl in the world? That you know everything and nobody is as good as you?”

Kendra nodded “yeah, I feel like I can do no wrong and nothing is as powerful as me.”

Joyce started to tear up “My god”

Kendra and Faith looked at her questioningly Linda looked at the floor shaking her head. The guys looked at each other in confusion. Wesley finally “I do not understand?”

Joyce looked at Wesley “We will explain later. Let them do the spells. It is very hard to explain but the feeling they are giving the girls are so contradictory of what a teenage girl normally feels and is in line with a want so deep. It is the ultimate 'want' of a teenage girl. During our teen years we mostly feel lost and we are looking for acceptance and to be special.”

Faith and Willow both nod their head “Yeah, to belong and be the 'one' that everyone looks to.”

Xander and Jesse looked at each other then at Willow understanding a bit more about how she had fallen last time. Willow looked at them nodding in understanding about herself and her other self.

Xander looked at Joyce “We all want to be special as teenagers?”

Joyce looked at Xander “And if you suddenly went from being a nobody to feeling like the most important person in the world?” Xander was looking at her blankly, Jesse snorted “um..” Wesley snorted “She says to the boy holding the Guardian inside him.”

Joyce frowned and Wesley looked at her “He doesn't feel things like that because of the spirit inside him. Guardian will not let him feel special or anything like that. He wouldn't have been chosen if it was a major part of his psyche and Guardian makes it so he never will.”

Jess looked at Wesley “Can we talk more about the Guardian later. You seem to know a lot about it and since it’s in my son I would love to know more.”

Wesley nodded at her “later.”, Jess and Tony nodded back.

Jesse looked at Kendra “If you have a problem after something we will stop and we will try to cobble a ward against what you are feeling together. I cannot promise how it will work but we will try our best I promise you that.”

Kendra nodded, then looked at Ssallaa “Please begin when you are ready.”

Ssallaa and the others nodded “give us a few minutes to discuss the best order. We will tell you before we do each one and after each one we will wait a few minutes to make sure there is no negative effect.”

Xander looked at everyone “Maybe we should split up. Everyone doesn't need to be here for this. We can all meet for dinner tonight after the girls shop some and then after school tomorrow. Wesley do you want to stay or come back later? Depending on the spells they remove from Kendra and if there is any problems we may have to wait to clear you.”

As some of the people like Paul, Jess and Tony got ready to leave Wesley looked at Xander “Is it ok if I stay and watch? I would like to see what they are doing, there is something in the back of my mind that keeps trying to come forward and I keep getting a shooting pain when I try to catch it. Since the memory became more active when you mentioned the spells on Kendra I think it has something to do with the spells on the potentials.”

Rupert nodded “that would make sense. Same as the reason I didn't get along with my father was because of what I found out he did with his potentials that were not called.” Kendra and Faith both looked sharply at Rupert then swiftly at each other.

Chapter 17

After it settled down in the library again the healers and warders were ready to start. Faith and Wesley were each holding an arm of Xander as they watched the group removed spells on Kendra. After the first spell Kendra just sniffed a bit and looked around but shook her head. Kendra came over by Xander and Wesley started to move when Xander smiled “Faith, touch Kendra” Faith reached out and touched Kendra's arm and Kendra smiled “Wow” Kendra looked down at herself “Not a major change but you can see that one of the ropes is gone.”

They continued on for about an hour checking with Kendra after each one and sometimes the swift looks of pain or anger that crossed her face had everyone worried but she shook her head no when asked if she wanted to stop. She continued checking with Faith and looking after each one. They finally got to the last block. This one had become active when the slayer essence came in and was extremely strong. Ssallaa looked at Kendra “We are worried about this one.” Kendra looked at Ssallaa and frowned “If you feel it is best not to go forward we can stop.” During the process you could watch as Kendra no longer was as distrustful of the realmers as she had been.

Jesse walked over “You saw what it looked like, we are all concerned that its hiding the feeling of the demon. From what we remember of the legend of the village of Eearra the women that the men raped and got pregnant said they the child felt 'Evil' so we are worried that you will feel that way.”

Kendra straightened, while Faith looked at everyone and Wesley quirked “Village of Eearra... ouch.. um what were we talking about.”

Everyone looked at Wesley, Jesse looked at Ssallaa “Think we should do that block on Wesley before hand? If he knows something it may help.”

Kendra nodded “It seems he knows some about the block, if everyone is so worried it would be best.”

Jesse nodded reaching out and putting a hand on Kendra's shoulder in comfort. Kendra started but didn't move away. Faith smirked at her.

Moving people around they started on Wesley. As soon as they finished removing the memory block he rushed to a trashcan and threw up crying. “Oh shit. Don’t touch that block yet. Shit....”

Joyce and Linda looked at each other in concern and Rupert and Ethan moved to help him. Finally getting him able to stand without throwing up he looked at Ssallaa “The block is on the demon feeling and removing it is... She will feel it inside her. Right now subconsciously she knows it’s there and reacts but.. “ drawing a deep breath to steady himself “I was 15 and the slayer was visiting. I saw the block on her and removed it before they realized what I was doing. Father screamed when he saw what I did, I said I saw the block and how it warped her and was trying to help. She was screaming about the feeling inside her and grabbed the sword she was training with and killed her watcher and was going after father for doing this to her, she said they were responsible for it spreading and hurting the girls. The demon knows everything that happened to all the girls, even the uncalled potentials. When a slayer sleeps the demon goes into her dreams to tell her what happened and is happening to her sisters. She was killed quickly and they bound my magic and mind that afternoon.”

Kendra looked at Wesley “Is there a way of loosening the bond without opening it? So I could maybe talk with the demon?”

Wesley looked thoughtful, Jesse looked at Xander and Willow, “Talkies?”

Xander nodded “May work, it sounds like its similar in some ways. Guardian is not happy but that is not new. Actually he is very, very, mad and …. that would be interesting...” Everyone looked at Xander as he was talking and his eyes flashed between white and brown. He looked closely at Kendra and moved over to walk around her looking at her and you could see the internal conversation going. Willow looked as well “But if we did talkies and then side plane it would she still have the slayer package?”

Jesse looked. “We would just be talking with the demon and setting it up in its own area, allowing her and the demon to talk. The essence that passes with the slayer would still be there but the demon wouldn't be as prominent.”

“Won't work”

Jesse looked at Xander “Why?”

“A clan of Orchorracks were looking to move from where they were. There were four clans in the area and it was having problems supporting that many. They made a deal with the Eearra's. They gave the Eearrans weapons and supplies to help start a village for the new clan and secure the area up for their arrival. The clan that was moving was young and newly formed. The Eearrans took over all the other villages in the area using the weapons the Orchorracks gave them instead of setting up an area peacefully for the clan. Then before the clan arrived they created the slayer so when the clan arrived for their new home they were attacked. The Orchorracks subdued the slayer easily and the disgust at what the villagers had done was extreme. They cursed the villagers for their greed and treachery. Both to the Orchorracks and the young girl.”

“So that was why they couldn't have girl children?”

“No women born.”

“But, the Slayer Essence”

“They pulled a demon into a girl. Think about what the demons saw. A new way to escape the hell dimensions and come here. The blood of the villagers would be a free gateway into a person. So every Eearran was a carrier of a demon. However, the spells the Watchers did made it so instead of everyone with Eearran blood only the girls when they activated would be infected with a demon. The activation of a slayer is the same as when someone turns a human into a vampire.”

“My god, so when a slayer activates she has a demon take up residency inside her?”

“Yep. The main difference between a slayer and vampire is that the girl is mainly in control versus the demon in the vampire. However, same thing.”

“Before the Watchers changed things every Eearran would have a demon reside in them. They would be in control but they all were influenced. Also due to the curse they were mainly males born so no females were infected. The Watchers 'freed' the men by locking the demon only into the slayer.”

“The evil feeling, even an unborn infant carried a demon... To mask that.”

Ethan looked at Xander “So instead of the Eearrans dying out they are now around the world in the hundreds and with daughters that the watchers made demon holders?”

Xander nodded. Rupert looked at Xander “So the watchers broke the curse Orchorracks put on the villagers?” Xander shook his head “None of the children are born in the Eearrans village. When the Orchorracks put the curse they worded it 'No female child born in the village.' Which you think was sloppy of them but what do you know of the Orchorracks?”

Ethan and Rupert shook their head Paul and a few of the realmers frowned in concentration when one of the healers looked at Xander “I remember a tale as a child of an Orchorrack clan that was betrayed, the curse they did was purposely weak and when another clan asked why they smiled and said. 'They are now demon shells, why allow them the freedom of what they did to themselves?'”

Rupert looked thoughtful “The uncalled potentials usually have sons. So no daughters in the village they must of reduced the birth rate for girls down even farther. Of the 15 children my father had from his potentials there was only one girl. And I remember hearing that Travers had 28 children from his uncalled potentials and none of them were female, though one of his grandchildren was.”

Faith and Kendra looked at Rupert “Children from uncalled potentials?” Faith quickly looked over at Linda who was looking at the ground nodding “That is a major reason I didn't inform the council about you.”

Kendra looked at Linda. “So if I hadn't been called... Sam would of...”

Linda nodded slowly. Kendra turned red, then white, then red again. “Shopping... yes.. let’s go shopping Faith, I need new clothes and lots of boys.”

Faith laughed loudly “Sure K, lots of boys.” noticing the frown on Jesse's face she smirked “At least lots of clothes to catch boys.” Looking at Jesse “So where is the mall?”

Jesse glared at Faith while Xander laughed “If you want a few of us around, Cordy is the best at shopping and Cheryl and some of the others from Haven can help fill in. Cordy is a townie, but Cheryl is relatively new to Sunnydale as well. Cheryl will be helping getting you accustomed to Sunnydale, she is over Haven and that group.”

Faith looked at Xander questioningly, he looked at her “Cheryl can explain it best. I've been here my entire life and like my brother and sister in the middle of everything. She can help from a newcomers viewpoint. Cordy.. Cordy has been a friend since kindergarten. Would suggest Wills but her idea of shopping is similar to Jesse and mine, ask mom what we need and forget about it.”

Faith looked at Kendra who nodded quickly. Faith turned realizing she was still holding Xander’s arm, “sure line us up. If someone can help get us there it would be great or if its close guess we can hoof it.”

Joyce looked at the girls “I can drop you off and pick you up since we were all going to meet for dinner anyway.”

Joyce started herding the girls while Xander called Cheryl and Cordy to arrange the shopping with Faith and Kendra. He knew Faith and Kendra were listening in and made sure they saw him looking at them when he told Cheryl to help give them the lowdown on the town and how it worked and why.

After they left Jesse looked at him and shook his head “Oh boy” Xander smirked “Yeah” Willow snorted “you two.” Then the three burst out laughing.

Chapter 18

“Hey Willow, wait up” Jesse and Willow stopped and looked back as Xander ran and caught up with them outside the school library. It had been a long day with Kendra and Faith's first day of school and the strange mood Kendra had been in. Both frowned as they looked at Xander

“Xander, what are you wearing and why. You definitely didn't leave the house in that this morning and you weren't wearing it at lunch.” Jesse and Willow was looking at the Hawaiian print over-shirt Xander was wearing with plaid pants, both frowning.

Xander frowned at them “Well, whatever, Wills, I have found the most perfect spell for you to do. It would be the ultimate revenge and get everything back as it should be.”

Willow and Jesse looked at each other than Xander “You found a spell? Why? And when?”

“Yeah, it needs an uber-wicca to do. And Wills could pull it off and put everything to right. “

Jesse was frowning and started to say something when Xander looked at him and his expression went blank, Xander than went back to smiling at Willow “So what do you say? Come on uber-wicca girl power and all that. This spell needs power, which is you. Otherwise we would need like a whole coven or so.”

Willow looked at Xander frowning “What.. Xander your not making sense.”

Xander handed Willow the spell “Come on Wills, see it’s a simple spell, and think of the good it will do. It will right all the wrongs and put things back where they belong. Think of the good it does.”

Willow looked at Jesse noticing he was blank, then looked at the spell. Reading through the spell she looked at Xander “What.. Where did you find this. It’s a major curse. To do it pulls in dark energy to get revenge on someone. This would open the caster up to dark magick.”

“It's not really a curse, it’s actually for the greater good. See, you’re putting the soul in charge of a vampire and it will make him not eat people. It’s for the good of the people, so he won’t hunt.”

Willow frowned looking at Xander “And we both know there is no way I will do this curse. If I do this I would be breaking my healing oaths. You know that Xander. Why would you ever think I would do something this harmful. Putting a conscience into a vampire, that’s what this does. That harms both the vampire as well as the spirit you pull into him, even if it was himself it would still cause damage to the soul. What are you playing at.”

“The question should be 'What made you think you could play it at all?'” Said Xander from further down the hall. Standing next to him were Kendra and Faith with Wesley behind them with Paul, Cordy, Cheryl and Healer Ssallaa.

Willow frowned looking between them then smiled at the real Xander “Ahh” With that she took a hold of Jesse and pulled him out of the way, moving so Healer Ssallaa and she could break what was done to him.

The Xander that was standing by Willow looked around “Come on, you can't believe that guy is me. Why he dresses totally wrong.”

Xander smiled and Cheryl spoke “Funny, I've known Xander only for two years and I can say I never saw him wear what you are. So who is dressed totally wrong.”

Cordy smirked “Let me guess, last time you wore something like that?” Xander nodded Cordy and the others smiled “So, his talk on bringing things back to the way they belong.” Xander nodded. Cordy walked up to the other Xander, smiled, then brought her foot up and kicked him so hard in the balls that he rose a few inches off the ground. “You want what happened last time to happen. Oh I want a few words with you. The brief parts I saw I really want words with you.”

Faith looked over at Cordy “Kinda hard for him to talk... howl yeah, but not sure he could talk.” Cordy just looked at her “Well I said have words with him, never said I wanted to listen to what he had to say.”

At that point the guy stopped holding the look of Xander and you could see him change. Cordy snorted “Now he looks like a reject from a 50's gangster movie. What is he suppose to be.” The guy panting looks at Cordy “Names Whistler.”

At which point Cordy nods, Jesse looks over “Hey Cordy, could you hold off til I make sure I have the shield done to block what he did. Want to make sure no one can be whammied by it again.”

Willow looked at Xander “So that spell.” Xander looked at her, “when you 'souled' Angel in the last timeline. It was the start of your fall.” “I see.. Cordy, I have rights to him. He just tried turning me evil.” With that Willow got up and looked at him, Whistler backed up looking scared. Willow narrowed her eyes staring at him coldly. “Cordy, he's yours to torture.... he's not worth breaking the Healing Oaths over.” Jesse and Xander started to laugh.

Whistler looked shocked and then scared as Cordy smiled at him “Luckily I never qualified for healing. Though I think he will be great for us to practice our 'Chuck Blaisdell beliefs' on.”

Jesse, Xander and Paul shudder. Wesley, Faith, and Kendra look on in puzzlement. Cheryl leans over “Chuck is Larry's dad. He would fit in with the Watchers. Only the Watchers treat the potentials better than he would. Major chauvinist. Guess it was worse when Larry was younger, Chuck telling him that he needed to bully people and everything like that. The Cheerleading squad has a training session for all girls in town, and some in other cities. Its mainly how to stop any attack, general safety and basic self defense for women. They call it 'Chuck Blaisdell Beliefs' and we all learn how to take the man out, and what to do if we can’t. A lot of it is how to get them down and make sure they stay there so they can’t hurt you. A cop friend in NY saw the training session and commented that it was worse than what he was taught in the military on dirty tactics. But damn good and had his sister and girlfriend in the next class.”

Kendra and Faith nodded in understanding as Whistler looked at Cheryl then Cordy in horror. “Oh no, there is no way I am sticking around for that.”

Xander looked at Whistler “So why did they send you? Were you to try and get things back on track for the nitwits that were?”

Whistler looked at Xander “Kid you don't understand what you’re doing. I don't know why your changing things so much but your causing major waves. The balance won’t be able to be maintained.”

Wesley looked at Xander frowning “Balance?”

Xander nodded “They call themselves 'The Powers that Be' and believe in maintaining a balance between light and dark. We played their game last time.”

Whistler frowned “Last time... what are you... what was she talking about evil, the spell would open her up but it would balance out with the good of the vamp not being able to hunt.”

Willow snorted “So you think changing something’s natural order is ok. Consequences happen. Even I finally learned that one. And you think changing the natural order of something is done lightly. No way. There would have to be consequences and paybacks and.. shit.. Xander.”

Xander nodded “Yeah thought about that. Actually have a few ideas.”

Jesse nodded “Yeah, but why...” “Later, after this nitwit.” “ok” Whistler looked at them all confused. “Anything you want to tell me.” Everyone laughed then said “NO”. Whistler “Ok, how about we try working together.” Again a lot of snorting and laughing before Xander moved in front of him smiling “How about you go play.” and waved his hand. With that Whistler disappeared. Paul and the others looked at Xander before Paul comments “Xander”

Xander turned to Paul with his eyes white with black specs moving through them. “He’s playing with the powers... a new game. One they normally play on their champion, I just have them playing it themselves this time. It’s called 'try to stay alive in against an overwhelming force' oops, just lost one, and the other is down.. gee how bad. Hmmm... Whistler just found a hole and crawled into it hiding.”

Jesse looked at Xander “Alexander... Brother.. You there.” Faith, Kendra, and Wesley looked over in fear. Willow moved next to Jesse “Alexander?” Wesley shook his head “Considering his name means 'defender of man'..” Jesse and Willow nodded “Yeah, his first and foremost thoughts... Come on buddy, is the mouse worth the game.”

Xander smiled at Jesse “Yes, they needed to be removed. Before we could go forward they had to be taken out.” The look on Xander’s face changes slightly and he shakes then nods “Ok, have that taken care of and those lines closed off. Sorry, we did their game last time. Perfect balance was achieved.”

Jesse looked at Xander “But to do that...” Xander nodded “Yep, no life on the planet.”

Faith and Kendra jerk up in surprise and Wesley shudders. “Shit, what game are you really playing?”

Xander turned and looked at Wesley, his eyes blazing white and his body starts to glow white with golden aura around it “The only one I ever play. Keeping humanity alive and free.”

Wesley nods slowly. Everyone looks at each other and starts to meander towards the library.

Chapter 19

As they enter the library Faith and Kendra move over toward Giles and Linda. The others spread out around the room. Wesley looks at Giles, “It seems 'The Powers that Be' are now 'The Powers that Were'. Since Guardian was upset with them pretending to be him and trying to change the timeline back to what it was.”

Giles scowled, “With Buffy's death there is no way to get the timeline back to what it was.”

Willow snorted, “Buffy was part of it. I was the other. I went power hungry after doing a major curse in the old timeline. Between Buffy and me... well let’s just say I put a trigger in myself that if I ever do anything like that again I will lose all my power.”

Xander and Jesse looked at Willow, “Wills..”

Willow shook her head. “After everything you said and what little I have seen. Can you blame me? I sold out humanity for power because I believed it was the only thing. I destroyed the world. And don't try and get technical on me and say I didn't. I helped cause the end of humanity, or how you put it “Perfect Balance was achieved” and we all know the only way that can happen is if there is no life on the planet. Tell me I'm wrong.”

Xander looked at her, “I achieved perfect balance not you.”

“Yeah and why did you do it?” Xander looked at the ground Willow snorted. “Yeah, to save people from a worse fate. Why did I do it?”

Xander looked at her. “I know why Willow. And you will not go there this time. You have proven your stronger.”

Willow looked at Xander. “No, I proved I could learn this time. He was wanting me to do a spell that required a lot of power and you said it was the starter. So last time I was much more powerful. And if your being honest you will agree. I listened to the tapes. I closed the portal. It was considered a Hellmouth at that time. I resouled Angel which is what he was having me do. I nearly destroyed the world. I did a “my will be done” spell without realizing it. Oh I was much more powerful, and completely clueless. I was easily led and believed that power was everything. I built my entire persona around that. I may have picked that up from Buffy but I followed her like a sheep. Cheryl talks about cliques and stuff in other cities. I was a flunky of Buffy's. No matter what you say we both know it is true. You said it yourself, what I lost was Willow. I will not have that happen again and there is no way my body can be used by another and do it either.”

Xander looked at her and his face took a harder look. “You would not get the chance this time. I am happy that you saw what your problems were and went to fix them because it will not be allowed again.”

Everyone looked and nodded at Guardian. They could tell it was him even though he sounded like Xander.

Xander looked at Kendra. “So how was your night?”

Faith snorted and Kendra looked around. “Faith and I talked a lot about what I learned last night. If what the demon normally does to slayers nightly the Watchers call helpful I am sure Guardian can help them relearn the word.” Faith snorted again and Kendra nodded “Between what we loosened and everything the Demon in me and I was able to communicate some. It was not a nice night. I pulled Faith in since you said you knew she was a slayer after me. He also showed where she was tainted already just by being a potential.”

Ssallaa looked at Faith. “I do not read you as tainted, nor did I read Kendra as tainted before she activated. Did he say how they hid the taint?”

Kendra nodded. “He told me a lot. Like Guardian they are not happy. They agreed with the Orchorracks and are furious that it was taken and twisted like it was. The Eearrans should of died out from this hundreds of years ago. The Watchers use the “Killing of demons” part to offset the damage done by inserting a demon into what they thought was only their girl children. Part of the it was the first guys that became the watchers made a deal with the Eearrans. The Eearrans helped them gather up people in the nearby villages as slaves to sell, they worked on making it so the women wouldn't abort the children. While some of the old lines don't have Eearran blood in them many of the others do. Take Sam, he may not realize it but he is tainted the same as Faith and I. He has Eearran blood in him. His mother was an uncalled potentials. The watchers not in the main lines where they keep watch of the bloodline for other reasons.” Ethan smirked “Snobs” Rupert and Wesley turn red “Yes we know how we are about bloodlines for titles and such.” Everyone else smiles at them.

“It is also interesting to note that the blood has been destroyed in many areas. While the slaves were shipped around the world, some areas did not agree even after the Watchers hid the taint, many of the Eastern cultures still saw it. While one or two may slip through, more in areas that the English had sway over since many of the soldiers were second or third onward of Eearrans and Watchers mixed. If you compare the number of slayers in China versus the rest of the world you would see a disproportioning amount. In China there is 3 potentials. That is all. Considering the population that is incredibly small amount. There are more in Jamaica than that, with a much smaller population. I found out that there is 50 of us over 10 islands.”

Ethan looked startled at that. “Is that potentials or Eearrans? Since our records only show 4 girls that we need to rescue in the area.”

Kendra looked at Ethan. “They are classified as 'not eligible' so they aren't on your list. They are on the reproduce lists for more babies. Some of them are only 12 or 13 years old and already have 2 kids.”

Ethan and Rupert looked sharply. “Not eligible? I do not remember seeing that.” Wesley scowled looking at the floor. “Is that the same as the 'parts only' list?”

Kendra nodded and everyone got a sick look at the mere thought of what the watchers really thought of the girls. Rupert looked at Ethan. “Those girls need out first and fast.”

Kendra nodded her head crying. “Yeah, what they are doing to a lot of them.. and it’s not all girls though most of them are. There are a bunch of boys in there too. All kids of potentials that they didn't like and didn't want to 'taint' the line so they are trying to clean it up.”

Faith looked at them. “So K brought me in a lot last night while she and Big B talked. It was … Big B kept showing her and opened the taint in me a bit more so I would see some of it. The Demons were to be called into the Eearrans and then while not exactly the driver’s seat they took over more and more as the kid aged. A kid would still mostly be in the front seat and at the early teens the demon would take over more. However, they are a different breed that what comes in for vamps but same principal, however, they are in for life. The no female born is was to try and free us from what the Eearrans opened themselves up to. They didn't realize it but by offering Aaeala up for possession then trying to control her she was considered a victim of theirs at first as well. The Orchorracks wanted to make it so there would be no females to breed with, and to get revenge for Aaeala. Aaeala was used because her husband wanted to bring 3 more brides in but she didn't want that. She told him if he did he wouldn't be in her bed, since one of the 3 he wanted was someone she didn't like. So he gave her over for this and took the 3 other brides. Let’s just say Aaeala lived longer than those 3, since when they got pregnant they felt the demon in the baby. The first one aborted and saw the fetus. It wasn't human. Aaeala had been ostracized by the village since she didn't do what they wanted. They wanted her to kill all the Orchorracks so they would be out of the deal. She didn't. They thought they had spelled her to attack everything, the demon in her made it so they couldn't. That’s part of the reason when they worked with the watchers they started raising the girls to be totally obedient. Since the Demon make it so they can’t be taken over so easily since the demon likes being more in control. And the Demon goes into control the longer a slayer is alive. It’s not a kill everyone and take over the world type, more a small dictator. Setting up their area where they are boss. From what little we gleaned from you guys that is what happened last time to the slayer who lived so long.”

Xander frowned, “Is the demon more in control or less?”

Faith looked and Kendra said, “Influence more than control. He's a voice in the back of my head telling me things.”

Xander nodded. “So someone trying to take control of their life is more likely to not listen to him than someone who is just wanting to go back to what she was?”

Kendra nodded looking skeptical, “Why?”

Xander looked at Kendra. “It explains Faiths ability to come back to good.”

Faith jerked up, “What!”

Xander looked straight at her. “Friendly fire accident, you killed a human Buffy threw at you. We weren't supportive and the Council was out for a new slayer. You went to the old mayor and joined his side. However, you also later turned yourself in and went to prison. Yeah, the prison only held you because you wanted it to. You repented and stayed on the straight and narrow... or your version of it, from then on. You never developed like Buffy the Queen attitude. If it’s because you didn't listen to the demon then the attitude comes a lot with the demon.”

Kendra shook her head. “No, the demon just takes what’s in us and uses that.” She glanced from Xander to Joyce then back to Xander “Buffy wanted Power, she wanted to be Queen. In her mind popularity, social standing, all that was the most important thing. I know you are trying to find excuses but the demon just brings out our worse traits and tries to push what we feel most strongly about. He showed me what he saw in me and what was seen in Buffy. And since he has been in me since birth.”

Ssallaa jerked. “So all Eearrans still have a demon in them, they are just hidden. And they stay in contact with each other?”

Kendra nodded. “Male, female, it doesn't matter, we all have demons in us. The watchers did a lot of deals to get the shielding around us we have. That is why most of the old line looses two children every decade from the main tree, maybe an outside branch but off the main line. Many deals were done in the main families, they tried using some of their offspring from the Eearrans and the children were refused and they were informed it was as if they were attempting to break the contract. Every 10 years each of the main lines take two children and they are given to the Brallats.” All the realmers and Ethan, Rupert and Wesley jumped and shook their heads no at that. “They dealed with the Vranas and the deal is 2 children, under the age of 10, every decade to the Brallats. What the watchers also forgot is that by keeping the children in the main tree they have current families for every main line watcher and blood ties back.”

Ethan, “They could destroy the Watchers whenever they want, why are they waiting?”

Kendra smiled. “Why should they, they have control of the group without them knowing it and free children every decade that they train as assassins. The watchers think their kids are dead or something not really caring. However, the Brallats actually give the kids to the Vrana's, the kids are then taken and trained and informed why they were there and see their parents drop off the next ones when they are teens. Most of the humans in the Order of the Takra are actually children of Watchers.”

Willow looked at Xander, “So how to you plan on helping the slayers and yet not getting everyone mad when we do. It seems there is a lot of things going on that is tied to the slayers.

Xander smiled. “I understand that a lot of demons are going to lose out on their deals. However, my concern is Humanity. And if you look you will see in the last 100 years the numbers have grown of children with the demon inside of them. Buffy was missed as a child, more because she is from a line of an unknown affair. There are more like her out there. Do you honestly think the watchers kept control of all the slave lines. After they made it so the women didn't feel the evil in the baby and it looked normal, every female they caught wasn't sold until she was pregnant. Then she and the baby went to their new owner. That child then had many children and so on. The taint isn’t in a few hundred people.”

Seeing that everyone was looking confused. “Ok let’s do simple math. Rupert you are the first Eearran child in the area. You are male since there are more male children born. You have a bunch of female slaves, etc and maybe 4 or 5 kids. Or more, in that time period it was common to have a lot of children. That’s 6 of you in 20 years, since it’s easier to use than say 16 or so. Each of your 5 children have 6 children that’s 30 grandchildren and 6 of you for a total of 36. Your maybe 40 at this time. Next time, your 60, your 30 grandchildren each had 5 children, wow you now have 150 great grandchildren. Add all together, 186 and your 60. So your now 80, your 150 great grandchildren has 5 children apiece so that’s 750 great great-grandchildren? 936 by the time your 80. Now we know they aren't doing only 5 children apiece. Why your dad had 15 children from the potentials. That’s only this generation. You already know how many nieces and nephews you have from that 15. you said it yourself only one was a girl and I bet they grew up with the 'go forth and multiply' so firmly in their physique that they don't even realize it.”

Rupert blushed. “I have 35 nieces and nephews. But your point is well made. The taint is out there badly. However, I cannot see the demons allowing us to remove them.”

Kendra looked at Xander who nodded before speaking. “The demons being used won’t care. They aren't in the driver’s seat now. The only ones they get any sort of freedom with is the slayers, and they die before they can do a lot, purposely, the watchers do not want the demon growing strong enough that the we realizes what is happening.” A flash of pain and despair flashed across Kendra's face. Xander nodded and watched as Jesse went and put a hand on Kendra she moved closer and he put his hands on her shoulders and stroked her, offering support.

Ethan looked at Xander. “And the Watchers are tainted as badly as the Eearrans. Come boy, it took a bit but when I finally found how they hid the taint on Faith I looked around. Wesley, Rupert, and Linda all carry the same taint as Faith.”

Xander looked at Ethan. “The Orchorrack's are furious. Their revenge has been reversed and actually there are more of them now than ever before. The initial deal between the demons and the Eearran's have had that broken. The Vrana's know that the watchers used them and actually considered the initial contract void when they started giving them tainted children. At this point the Watchers have broken every deal out there. This allows us to do what we need to do to free all the children.”

Wesley looked at Xander, “For some reason I don’t think the Vranas or the demons care about the children so how did you get them to agree.”

Willow looked at Xander, “Balance... consequences... Xander you mean you really...”

Jesse looked. “No, brother you mean you... wow.. and they agreed?”

Xander smirked, “The deal has changed and the other parties like how it has changed. The Orchorrack's want children protected, the Vrana's don't care much about it since they have what they want, many lines dedicated to them. With the children they got from the watchers their numbers have re-grown after their war with the Prollecs. They now have enough to actually survive and defend themselves without issue. And the lines are fully dedicated to them. The demons want a way in and the ability to take over some people. They are not the same as most other demon races, they are more like realmers in some ways but more violent and they are not able to take a solid form. They are more vapor/mist like.”

Willow looked, “And the spell needed to do this?”

Xander smirked. “Spell... Why would we need a spell?”

Jesse looked over, “You don't expect a major demon to give you a boon do you.”

Xander snorted. “Hell no.”

Cordy looked at Xander. “The deals were reworked. When does the new deals go into effect?”

Xander looked at Kendra. “It is not my decision.”

Kendra looked at Xander. “And this 'New Deal'”

Xander smirked. “Why don't you ask your passenger. You write down what he says, I will write down what I know. We make sure they match. And we go from there.”

Kendra nodded and Faith handed her a notebook and pen she got out. Willow handed one to Xander. After a few moments of pen scratching on paper Xander handed his to Faith. Kendra looked and handed hers to Willow.

Faith read and they saw her eyes get wide. “Oh shit, they agreed to this?”

Willow looked up wide eye. “Wow how did you get this agreed to?”

Chapter 20

Rupert looked at the girls. “And the rest of us would love to hear each document. Willow you first please, since your version is from the demon. Then Faith's from Guardian.”

Willow looked up and read. Everyone around the room went wide eye then Wesley laughed. “Oh that is great. I love it.”

Rupert nodded, very nice. Looked at Faith, “You now dear. Word for word.”

Faith cleared her throat. “The new deal is, anyone intentionally hurting or misusing a child of Eearran blood, with the term of hurting or misusing a child as anything that causes the child any harm or future harm with their own kind. Like raising a child away from other children so they will be totally obedient, that is considered misusing, will now become a host for the Xllara Demons. If the new hosts have children under the age of 15 those children will be given over to the Vrana's for them to raise in a more supporting environment. If the person that hurts the child of Eearran blood is their guardian than the child will be given to the Vrana's to finish raising.” Faith looked around “Guys, with the way this is worded, if someone offered the kids drugs they will become hosts for demons.”

Xander smirked, Jesse looked at him. “That’s going to be a hell of a lot of demons taking over people.” Xander sat there smirking and looking at Kendra. Kendra looked back at him and moved closer to Jesse “yes it will, for a brief time. The Xllara Demons aren't mass killers. They like the thrill of the hunt/kill but only on things they consider equal or worthwhile.” Xander frowned “Hunt, thrill, Shit, Spike... and Dru.. um..”

Kendra looked at Xander. “I am not sure I want to know what you know about William the Bloody and Drusilla the Mad. But from what Blar is saying yes he would be fun to play with.”

Xander smirked at her, “Same as Spike loved a good slayer for a challenge.”

Kendra nodded. “Yes both the ones in the two other slayers he killed talked about that. They commented it was like a Xllara went inside him instead of the ones that normally go in vampires.”

Xander looked out, “Yes, more hunters out there. The deal isn't perfect but... which do we want, the children to keep being taken advantage of, or those that prey on children to become prey.”

Kendra looked at Xander, “Blar is saying that a person is judged before he is taken over, in this case especially. Depending on the type of person and personalities involved the demon may actually be an improvement. And if it ends up somewhere like jail or something the demon will kill the host and go back to waiting for the next one. In many cases he will make sure he is caught by police, for the hunt. They are strange in some of their thinking. They will be using those that hurt the children to find decent hunters to play against in the future.”

Jesse looked at Kendra. “Blar?”

Kendra nodded then looked at Jesse, Jesse scowled then “ahh” and nodded.

Faith snorted. “Yeah well Blar, wonder if I can talk more to Ral like you do or I have to wait.”

Kendra looked at Faith then Xander. “And those of us already tainted?”

Xander looked at Kendra. “They will stay. You will know he is there, the others may or may not, and it is up to you guys. They can make it so you know them so you know the voice that makes suggestions in your dreams or you can stay blind to it, but they will still be in the background hinting.”

Wesley, “So if we want we can open the doorway between us and them so we get familiar with them enough that we realize when they are saying something versus just having them in the background making suggestions that we think is our own mind.”

Xander nodded .“As I said the deal isn't perfect.”

Rupert looked at Xander. “It does free the girls from the watchers, makes it so the girls are not cannon fodder or slaves anymore. It does free more demons in the world going forward. Since the terms are vague and broad it will be.. What about offering children military careers or so. That can be future hurts. The wording has me worried.”

Xander snorted. “Do you know the current wording? No you do not, but you’re worried about the future wording because you can see where someone that may have to hurt a child.. oh yeah what’s a child again. Under 15 is the term we set. So how many countries in the world send children under 15 into war... oh yeah the guerrillas in Africa and drug runners. Gee yeah they after all have the best interest of the child in mind when they force them at 12 to become soldiers or die.”

Rupert looked down. “I didn't realize you meant it that way. I was thinking of it meaning any age which can be used with the wording.”

Xander looked at Rupert. “Gee a rapist gets taken over by a demon. Poor rapist. I really think he should be in hell personally. If the person joins the military than a drill Sergeant isn't out there trying to hurt them for shits and giggles. You know, if people learned that if you hurt certain people you are taken over do you think some people may learn to treat everyone better because they never know.. What is your real problem Giles.”

Rupert looked up sharply then Ethan looked at Rupert. “Are you worried about your father or what? This does have a lot of bad, as Xander said it’s not great but why are you trying to protect the old way.” Ethan continued looking at Rupert who was looking at the floor. “Ahh, your younger brother and your nephews.” Rupert flushed red. “You're worried about them. You don't want to think they are as bad as your father but you’re worried about them because of how they were raised and that they got on with your father better than you.”

Rupert looked up opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again then nodded. “I don't want to think they are but... can we give some warning like family members.”

Faith snorted. “Yeah, like the warning K had about the demon taking her over, or the others. Maybe the warning Buffy had and the training as well. Gee how much training did they give her before sending her in the field.”

Rupert looked around the room and saw the looks, realizing that he was behaving in the same fashion as his father. Not caring about the girl as much as power. “I'm sorry I don't know why but... I guess I am more brainwashed than I know.”

Xander looked at Kendra. “The choice is yours. You’re the current slayer. When you say so, the new deal goes into effect. Most of the spells have been broken so your hunt/kill drive isn't as strong but Blar will push for it, it is one thing he thrives on so you will need to do some. However, once it goes into effect the slayer is dead. No one will ever become a slayer again, unless someone else does something stupid to make it, but otherwise the curse on the Eearra village will be lifted. There may be an increase in girl children in the next generation.”

Faith looked at Xander. “And you can make it so I can talk with Ral more? He may not be the best for me but he will be with me and my survival. I guess to have someone that is there for you and only you... I know Linda tries but... she’s a different world.”

Xander nodded. “The healers can open that up for those that want it. The same warning does apply. He will push the hunt/kill drive in you. And without the slayer package it will be bad.”

Faith snorted. “Unless I became a bounty hunter or something that hunts down criminals and try to outsmart them. That sounds like something Ral would like.”

Xander and Kendra nod, Kendra looks at Faith. “Blar said that sounds like fun but he said I should do college first. I don't know why but he keeps saying it is better to finish school and go from there. That I am too young yet.” With that she looked at Xander.

“You are 15, not even 16 yet. The Xllara have different ideas on children and adults. We agreed on 15 though to them 15 is still a baby. We talked about the differences in our cultures and that we only live about 70 years not 700. We talked a lot and I explained about what lets you go farther in this world. That is when we discussed the military and stuff like that. Since it is great for the hunt/kill instinct. There is a world agreement between all the nations about not letting people under 18 into combat. We used that for the military thing. Otherwise everyone on the other side of a battlefield would be taken over when they tried to kill you. War is understood. However, if one of your unit behind you decides they don't like you and fire at you... well I'm sure they will love having their body taken over.”

Kendra looked at Xander. “No more girls being brought up to be the perfect women for someone? No more watchers having children with their potentials?”

Xander looked at Kendra. “Not unless the potential wants it and starts it. Nature works at times too. Say Faith fell for Wesley. There is no one to say it’s wrong if that’s what Faith wants. He would not be taken over, even if they broke up later. However, if Wesley brought up Faith to be the perfect women for him and to think of him first then makes a move. He raised her for that purpose, not to make her strong but to make her a doll for him. He would be taken over. I'm sorry but there are slayers out there that could use this against their watcher and him not want to do anything wrong. It’s not perfect but.”

Kendra nodded and looked at everyone. “To the future of no more slayers. Where the children of Eearra are free and protected.”

Chapter 21

Wesley looked sharply at Xander. “What’s coming?”

Xander smirked and quirked an eyebrow at him. Jesse looked sharply at Xander then back at Wesley. “Wes?”

Wesley began to speak softly, “During this all, he has talked with the other races since yesterday. He is verifying things as we talk but the deals in place. Think about it. He talked with the Vrana's, the Xllara are in agreement so much so that they are opening up communication with their host. That has never happened before.”

Jesse looked at Xander. “Protection. The Xllara need humans. He said they are not substantial in this dimension so they need humans to be here, protecting their hosts and future hosts. The Vrana's have fought off major enemies, after they won that war everyone tried to take them over and failed. This ties them more with humans as well.”

Xander looked at Jesse and Wesley. “the Xllarans need humans is true. It will not be a situation like Blackthorn, however, humanity is alone at a time it should not be. And who says the reason I am creating this is for something during your life? I am Guardian. My purpose is to keep humanity alive and free. Slaves to demons are not free, however, currently there are no protections for humans and we are getting closer and closer to losing to the demons. The populations of both have grown substantially in the last few centuries. Humans are no longer minor pests. However, due to humans nature we have formed no solid ties to any races. One of the major things I saw in the old timeline. When we needed help, there was none because we had never tried to form ties. We could of survived and prospered if we had had allies.”

Cordy looked at Xander. “So not only would it save the girls, break the old system, but help for allies for humanity when needed against some of the more demonic races. Why would the Xllara's do this? What’s really in it for them.”

Faith snorted. “We can merge.” Everyone looked at her. “It makes the most sense. If we can merge with the Xllarans then we can be hosts for them with both of us not fighting but in control. They would help protect us and give us other benefits. They turned the girls into slayers with a minor compulsion and broken deals, what can we be if we merge willingly? If needed we could become a cross between Xllaran and Human and survive where alone neither could.” She was looking straight at Xander. “So where am I wrong?”

Xander smiled then turned to Kendra. “The choice right now is yours. What I want is unimportant. It is what you want and what you do that determines the future.”

Cheryl looks sharply at Xander. “That's what you said when I asked about Haven, Xander.”

Xander turned and smiled at her, then looked around the room. Jesse nods. “Humans have to try and do it on their own. You can help when absolute necessary but it’s up to humanity. Its Kendra's choice if the girls stay slayers or the new deal goes into place. Its Cheryl's place about making sanctuaries in cities for humans and realmers. It’s all down to humans making choices.”

Xander smiled at Jesse and Wes looked startled. “Guardian.. why does it keep slipping that everything he does is done with Humanity in mind.”

Cordy snorts. “How often have you actually seen that happen in your life. Or have you seen more often where people will say one thing and do something else. Guardian is doing what he says. His first thoughts are not himself but others.”

Wes shook his head. “Yes, and he means what he says. It’s our choice. If Kendra doesn't take the deal he will work with what he has still. Damn. How many side deals do we not know about have you been doing?”

Xander snorted and Cordy looked at Wesley. “You expect him to tell you? Can I sell you a bridge?”

Wesley blushed at that. Ethan snorted. “It doesn't matter what else he has done. Its none of our concern. Our concern is Slayers and Kendra's decision. We may be field commanders but he is the general in back running the show that has all the information. Our information is only what we have and need. We probably are missing critical information because we haven't asked the right questions, what does Haven have to do with Slayers yet he has given it the same consideration so there is a connection we don't know.”

Willow looked up “Allies” then turned to Jesse. “So did you finish your homework yet? I didn't understand what Mrs. Schmidt was really wanting did you?”

Rupert looked at Willow opening his mouth. “Willow, there are more important things than Homework to discuss. We need to know why we need allies, we have to prepare for whatever is coming and start.”

Cordy snorted. “No we don't. We have nothing to do with anything else at this point. Boy you guys are narrow minded. We need allies yes. And why does it have to be for a planned reason. If you’re smart you gather allies while you can in case you ever need them. Humanity hasn't. Up until now we have no allies and if someone tries taking us over tomorrow we have no one to help us. And you guys know what. That’s your fault. You are the ones that haven't made allies in the past. Even with the information that we need allies your immediately trying to take control and choose which allies we need. You don't want allies per say but to stooges to use.”

Ssallaa looked at Rupert. “She is correct. Hearing your words and watching your reactions I would not recommend alliances with you. You just plan on using us and would not be true allies. You have much of your thoughts are still in the way of the watchers.”

Rupert and Wesley paled then Rupert looked around. “Dear Lord. I am sorry everyone, you are correct. I... I can't really say why but.”

Wesley snorted. “We are well programmed to believe we are the only ones that can do anything. I think the solution would be for all of us watchers to step back and have no say. We have already proven we can't be trusted.”

Xander looked at Wesley. “No you cannot be trusted right now. However, there is hope in the future you will change.”

Xander then turned to Kendra. “The decision is yours Kendra. What will it be?”

Faith snorted and Kendra looked straight at Xander. “You know there never was any real choice. The idea of the current situation growing is not really an option.”

Xander just looked at Kendra without saying another word. Kendra held his eyes then looked to Jesse. He moved over and put an arm on her shoulder and she leaned back into his arm. “I accept the deal with the Xllarans and the Vrana's. May the children be protected and the slayers no more.”

Xander slowly nods and glows then smiles. “And the nightmare ends. The facility in the British Virgin Islands has just fallen to the Xllarans. The Vrana's have opened a portal to gather them. As well as the 3 facilities in Peru. The 7 in Africa. Many young people are finding their nightmare over. Thank you Kendra.”

With that Xander turned to Willow and Jesse. “So shall we finish our homework?” He turned and looked at Faith and Kendra. “You guys ready to work?”

Wesley looked over at Xander and shuddered before muttering quietly. “You won't tell us, and it’s probably for the best. How do you handle it?”

Xander looked at Wesley and shook his head before turning his back on them to work on his homework.