Sunnydale, 2001

Whilst Buffy had been trying to track him down, Jeffery had been hiding in a rundown, abandoned church, mulling over how best to locate Glory. One look at the position of the stars had informed him that he was not where, or rather when, he had planned on being. The slayer’s untimely disruption of his spell had thrown him to a different time than he had been aiming for. His plan had been to avert Glorificus’ death at the hands of the Watcher, use his considerable magical prowess to help her defeat the slayer, thus ensuring that the portal would remain open and then……. then he would walk among the Gods --- for such was his destiny. Instead, here he was, wasting precious hours hiding from that wretched slayer. He needed to find Glorificus soon. His new plan was to garner his God’s favour by offering his assistance to her in any way she desired.

Jeffery ultimately decided that the most expedient, albeit risky way to find her would be to keep an eye on the slayer of this time. He recalled from the many tales he’d heard during his tenure at the magic school, that Buffy had had several run-ins with her early on. If he was lucky, she might just lead him to his destination.

It was indeed quite fortuitous for him that he chose that very moment to venture out from his temporary hideout. He was confronted by the sight of a horrendously oversized snake being chased by a flame-red convertible carrying what looked like a rather pissed-off and determined slayer. On a hunch, he followed the careening car, relying on the sound of its screeching tires to guide him whenever he lost sight of it. Thankfully, the chase didn’t last long, and after the slayer had slain the beast and left, he started inspecting the surroundings in the hopes that he was at least close to his goal. He wasn’t disappointed.

Unfortunately for Jeffery, he had fatally overestimated his importance. Once he had gained an audience with Glory and revealed the Key’s identity, she had little use for him save as a source of nourishment. So it was, that as Buffy was devising a plan to track down Jeffery, the man in question was lying in a heap at the Hellgod’s feet, mumbling unintelligibly.

~*~

The gang’s plan to keep their Buffy out of the loop went about as swimmingly as their earlier attempt to keep from her the news that Giles had unknowingly sold Glory ingredients for a transmogrification spell. That morning, Buffy walked into the Magic Box on her way to the hospital, took one look at their stammered hellos and shifty eyes and knew. When are they going to learn that they can’t keep secrets from me? She planted her hands on her hips as she spoke. “Do you guys have any idea how badly you suck at trying to hide things from me?”

Willow and Xander wore almost identical guilty expressions. Tara bowed her head her head, chagrined, her hair obscuring her face. Anya poked Xander in the shoulder. “See, I told you it was pointless. I mean, we tried before with the snake, and look what happened.”

“What happened?” Xander gave his girlfriend an incredulous look. “You happened -”

“I did not! I’ll have you know Xander Harris, I am quite -”

“Guys!” Buffy interrupted, in an exasperated tone. “Can we not do this? I have to go the hospital and I would like to go knowing that that world won’t be ending while I spend some time with my sick mom.”

The quartet looked at her apprehensively. After glancing at Xander for affirmation and receiving a shrug in response, Willow said “There’s something we have to tell you, Buffy.”

“Gee, really? I would have never guessed,” Buffy retorted sarcastically.

“I’m sorry, Buffy. It’s just that with everything you have going on with your mom, we thought this could wait.”

She rolled her eyes. “Didn’t we do this, like, just yesterday? How many times do I have to tell you – Glory. Is. Dangerous. Keeping stuff from me is a good way to get any one of us killed. I can’t protect Da – us if I don’t have all the information.”

“It’s not like that. It’s different this time,” Xander said. “Look, we need to call Giles, ok? Once he’s here - ”

“Now,” Buffy bit out. Resignedly they told her about the other Buffy.

“Me, from the future,” Buffy said aloud, wonderingly. “Where is she now?”

“M-Mr. Giles and she are at his place,” Tara responded. “He’s helping her find Jeffery and we’re researching – looking for time-travel spells.”

“Ok, I’m going over to the hospital, but I’ll be back in a couple of hours. Tell Giles and -” she hesitated, “-Buffy, to meet us here.” She whirled around without waiting for anyone to object, and left.

“Well, that went well,” Xander said, staring at the door as it slammed shut.

~*~

“Perhaps a locator spell?” Giles suggested. He popped two slices of toast from the toaster and handed them to Buffy.

Buffy’s eyes lit up and her head bobbed up and down. “Why didn’t I think of that? Willow uses them all the time!” she said, her mouth full with the piece of toast she shoved in after a forkful of scrambled eggs. Then she remembered that a locator spell required something that belonged to the target, and her smile fell. “No can do. I don’t have anything of Jeffery’s.”

Giles was disappointed. “Yes, of course.” He sipped his cup of tea silently for a few minutes. “There may be a way to modify the locator spell. Perhaps if we use you as a substitute….”

“Um, no need to go looking for me, Giles. I’m right here,” Buffy quipped, although her face showed confusion.

“No, what I mean is, what the two of you have in common is that you both don’t belong here. So, if we could modify the spell to look for something that doesn’t belong, that has your-” he grappled for the right word, “-signature, we just might be able to locate Jeffery.”

“Signature?”

“Something about you that is unique to your time – something that is common to you and Jeffery alone,” Giles explained as best he could, having not quite worked out what that ‘something’ might be. He paused and frowned. “Unless of course, there are others from your time also running amok here?”

“Giles, that is brilliant! And, no - the portal closed as soon as we came through.”

Giles acknowledged her compliment distractedly. Buffy was about to ask him to elaborate on the ‘something’ but never got the chance.

“Did you just mention Willow? Willow from your time?” he asked, partly curious, although wearing an expression of reproach.

She gave him her best ‘oops-I screwed-up-but-can-you-really-blame-me look.’ “Hey! Cut a time-traveler some slack will ya? Still new to this gig.”

“Yes, I sympathise, but surely you realize how even the slightest bit of information -”

“I know, alright, believe me. It won’t happen again. I promise.”

The ringing of the phone, followed by Willow’s message from the other Buffy interrupted any further discourse. An hour later they were at the Magic Box.

~*~

Scotland, 2009 – Slayer Command Central

“What’ve you got there, Snacksize?” Spike asked Dawn, gesturing with his head at the book Dawn was poring over. He was trying his best to practice patience as they waited for Willow, who had left to gather some other ingredients needed for the spell, promising to be hasty. That had been almost twenty-four hours earlier. Since the witch’s departure, Dawn and Spike had managed to catch some much needed sleep. Then, after a few of hours of trying, but failing to do anything besides worry about Buffy, they had agreed to wait for Willow in her room. Dawn had busied herself with some of the witch’s spell books, leaving the vampire somewhat at loose ends, with little else to do besides wait, and worry.

“Looking for references to essence of the light,” she told him, her eyes riveted to the text in front of her.

Spike’s gaze softened as he considered the young girl. He’d always marveled at her resilience and courage. She, like her sister, had experienced tremendous upheaval in her short life. Somehow, through it all, she had kept herself together and emerged from the darkness and the mayhem even stronger, and mature beyond her youthful years. He recalled, how when years ago, she had discovered her mystical origins, she had been so frightened at first – frightened and angry – as was her right. But in the end, she had been willing to die to save the world. His brave li’l Bit. Not so little anymore. He smiled. But still so brave, and still my Bit.

“Find anythin’ interestin’?”

Dawn started to shake her head. “Wait, here’s something. It says that the essence of the light is actually a misleading translation. The original word, which I can’t even pronounce, can mean either light or darkness, depending on the context.” She screwed up her face and snorted. “That’s stupid. How can one word mean two completely different things?”

Spike chuckled wryly. “Yeah, well, languages are funny like that.” He walked over to where she was seated and took a look at the passage himself. “Never did put much stock in translated texts, m’self. Always coloured by the bias and perceptions of the translator, if you ask me.”

She raised an eyebrow mockingly. “Well, why don’t you read the original text then and tell me what you think it means?”

“Don’t know the language,” he grumbled, smacking her good-naturedly on her shoulder. “You should ask Red. Reckon she knows somethin’.”

Dawn gave him an apprehensive look. “Spike, if I am this essence thing, do you think th-”she swallowed the knot in her throat, “that maybe……” she trailed off.

Spike cocked his head as he considered the anxious girl. “What, that you’re made of some dark magic?”

She nodded hesitantly. “Willow implied that dark magic’s required to get it, didn’t she? Why would you need to do dark stuff to get something that’s good?”

Spike hunched down until his face was level with hers. “Now, Bit. Seems we’ve been down this merry road before. I told you then, an’ I’m tellin’ you now – there is nothing dark about you. You, you are everything that’s pure and good in this soddin’ world. No two-bit translation of some bloody ancient text is goin’ to change that.”

Dawn sniffled and gave him a tremulous smile. “What were you saying about bias?”

Spike grinned and dropped a light kiss on her forehead. Willow’s appearance postponed any further discussion of Dawn’s origins.

“Red, finally! Where the bleedin’ hell ’ave you been? Anythin’ could’ve happened to Buffy-”

Willow forestalled any further objections with a wave of her hand, her words coated with exaggerated sarcasm. “Why, thank you Willow, for pulling out all the stops and cashing in all your IOUs.” She emptied the contents of her bag onto the desk while speaking. “Oh, you’re welcome, Spike. You know I would do anything for Buffy –my best friend.” She punctuated the last three words meaningfully.

Looking properly chastised, Spike offered an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Red. Twiddlin’ my thumbs is not my cuppa, you know?”

“No biggie,” she said and began sorting through the ingredients on her desk.

“What happens once Spike finds Buffy?” Dawn asked.

“Then I have to focus the portal on it.” Willow shrugged, a small frown marring her elfin features. “But to be honest, I don’t know if the spell will work like that. It’s meant to open a gateway, kinda like a small window that spans realities. Once we locate Buffy, I am gonna have to do a wee bit of magical mischief to anchor it to wherever Buffy is, and oh, make it so it’s an actual portal – you know, one which you can stick more than just your pinkie through.”

“Er, what kind of mojo modifications are we talkin’ about here, Red? Not the kind that has your um, special touch, right?”

Willow grimaced. “No need to get your knickers in a twist,” she assured him, mimicking his accent. “No bad mojo. Just a bit of a tweak.” She flashed the duo her trademark ‘you can trust good ol’ Will’ look.

Spike and Dawn exchanged concerned glances, not entirely assured. However, since Buffy’s safety was of paramount importance, by unspoken agreement they decided to trust that Willow would come through. After all, it’s not as though they had any other option.

“Well, what’re you waitin’ for, then? Let’s go get our girl.”