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Back in the present day....

Giles had protested, loudly, about Buffy’s plan, with Xander at the sidelines adding to his argument.

Cordelia, who could care less, said nothing, while Oz, who did care, kept quiet too.

Willow had picked up the book Buffy had presented them with and was pouring over the spell eagerly. She knew Buffy. Once she had her mind set on something she did it. Willow knew that Buffy would attempt this spell with or without their help, but with their help there was the chance she might succeed.

The spell was a good one. For once Buffy had researched thoroughly, had actually read the words on the page, and Willow would have picked just this text if she had been looking herself.

Willow cleared her throat as noisily as she could then blushed when all eyes turned to her. “Uh,Giles, while I agree that Buffy going to hell is so not of the good, I think this would work, and uh wouldn’t actually be that dangerous.”


Giles mouth fell open while Buffy beamed at her. Of all the people in the room Giles trusted Willows judgement the most. Cordelia only thought of how things would affect her, Oz kept what he was thinking to himself, most the time what Xander thought was of little use to anyone, and Buffy always followed her heart. Willow used her head, she weighed and measured things and formed a considered judgement. So he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“See, this spell opens a portal to another dimension, and I know we don’t know exactly which dimension Spike’s in, but we can use something of his as a kinda anchoring point, it’ll make the portal open wherever he is. Buffy would just have to get in, get him and get out and it could all be done in minutes.”


“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you Giles, it’s just gonna be a poof! In and out job. I can totally handle it.”


Giles almost snatched the book from Willows hands and poured over it intently. Suddenly he jabbed his finger at the page, “Buffy, the portal will close as soon as you go through it, and has to be reopened from wherever you end up. How do you expect to do that without Willow and I?”


Buffy still looked triumphant. “Spikes way good with magic Giles, like annoyingly good. If I take a copy of the spell with me he could so open the portal. Piece of cake.”


Giles started to polish his glasses. It was going to be a long day.



It was midnight (of course) and the scoobies were gathered in a graveyard.

Cordelia had elected to stay at home, due to the fact that she had ‘Spent enough fricken time in graveyards, thank you very much’.

Oz was also absent, though nobody really knew why.


The full moon shone down on Willow, who stood at the head of a human triangle. Giles and Xander made up her other points while Buffy stood in the centre, clutching a piece of black fabric and looking more nervous then she’d led the others to believe she was.

The ‘anchoring point’, as Willow called it, was a t-shirt of Spikes, which Buffy had had to wear home after one of their training sessions, when Spike had ‘accidently’ slit hers open with a sword point. Why she had never returned it to him she wasn’t sure, but it did smell so very nice.


Giles gave Buffy a stern look, “If you want to back out of this ridiculous scheme then now’s your chance to say so Buffy. No one would think any the less of you.”


Buffy fingered the dark fabric and an image of Spike, teasing her in the sun, flashed through her mind. Suddenly her fear was gone. “Were doing this Giles.”


Giles gave her a curt nod, while Xander looked sulky.
Willow was a mixture of confidence and trepidation. She knew she could do this, she could, but a bit of the little self doubting Willow, class nerd and generally ignored, remained within her. What if she couldn’t do this? What if she ended up sending Buffy someplace else?

Buffy’s voice punctuated her ramblings. “Wills? Are you ready?”

Willow flushed, “Uh, yep, as ready as a ready thing! Uh, this is all in Latin, so this might sound mega weird... hope my pronunciations right and I don’t turn you into a toad, or a a rat, or a pigeon or something!” her nervous laughter made the confidence of everyone dip a little. Giles was about to speak up and bring a halt to the whole thing, when Willow began to chant.


It was the strangest thing. One moment it was Willow, their Willow, stumbling over her words with the book held closely to her face. The next moment she wasn’t their Willow at all. She was a witch.

Her head was thrown back, her eyes, which shone in the moonlight, had become blackened orbs. Every inch of her was radiating power. The book fell at her feet, forgotten, as she chanted from memory in a language she didn’t know.
Buffy felt a shiver at the sight of it, but then something began to happen and she forgot to be afraid of her friend’s new power.

The t shirt Buffy had been holding onto so tightly was invisibly yanked from her grasp. It began to spin, becoming a glowing ball of light which twisted and grew. Before Buffy’s wide eyed gaze a doorway was formed. A doorway through which Buffy could feel a searing heat. She gulped loudly and tightened her grip on the short sword Giles had insisted she take.

She gave them all a determined look, twisted with a loving smile. Giles stepped forward, as though to grab at her, but it was too late. Buffy had jumped through and the doorway was suddenly gone.




It was the strangest feeling, Buffy felt as though her insides were melding, wrenching, becoming outsides. She fell, she didn’t know how long for, or how far, but she fell.

When she landed she landed heavily, on a floor which shimmered with heat. The heat was everywhere, it pressed in on her relentlessly, making her skin shimmer with sweat in an instant. She got to her feet unsteadily. It was hard to know exactly where she had ended up, it was dark, light, everything all at once and yet nothing at all at the same time.

Buffy felt a little sick, and the heat made her very uncomfortable. She brought the sword before her and strode determinedly forward, into a tunnel that had appeared before her. She knew it was the right way to go when a sound, reverberating off the walls, met her ears. A groan. An anguished groan, and definitely a groan that sounded like Spike. Spike was up ahead.


Buffy broke into a run. Before it seemed humanly possible she was rounding a corner and a sight which she had never expected to see came before her eyes. her joy at seeing him was quickly squashed. She gasped, “Spike?!”


In the middle of a cavernous place a formal looking table dominated. Around the table a hideous assortment of creatures were gathered. Some had horns, and grasping claws, some had scales or were covered in slime. All looked at her with an evil gleam in their varying amounts of eyes.

At the head of the table Spike slowly turned round to face her. He was slumped in a chair, with an attitude of utter defeat.
Clasped in his hand were playing cards. Scattered on the table in front of him, and the less savoury individuals, were more cards, as well as a wicker basket. It was soon pretty obvious to Buffy what had been going on.

She drew herself up to her inconsiderable height. And pointed the sword at Spike. Her voice was low and deadly when she spoke. “You’re playing poker!??”





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