Day One

Day - Sunnydale High School - Outside

It was lunch hour at Sunnydale High School.

The camera panned at a very low angle along the sidewalk past the stairs at the front of the school. Seniors were coming and going. The camera came to rest on two pairs of legs, one standing calmly, the other rocking back and forth, heel to toe. The camera panned up to their faces, revealing it was Eric and Willow, waiting for their friends so they could go. Eric was calm.

Willow was swaying around, almost nervously. "I'm giddy."

Eric nodded in amusement. "I can see that."

"It's the freedom," Willow told him. "As seniors, Zoey, Oz, Xander, Cordelia and I can go off campus now for lunch. It's no longer cutting. I's legal. Heck, it's expected. Wow, it's, uh, also a big step forward, a senior moment, one that has to be savored. But you can't go with us, Eric, not legally. I mean,  I know that you wanna see Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen, but you're not a senior and this? This is you breaking the rules."

"Well, this is me not caring," Eric replied. "I'm going with you, Zoey, Oz, Xander and Cordelia, so that we can meet up with Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Carmen and Wyatt for lunch, and that's that."

"How do I have a brother that doesn't care about the rules?" Willow asked.

"How do I have a sister that cares way too much about the rules?" Eric replied, looking back to see Zoey, Oz, Xander and Cordelia walking closer.

"But Eric--" Willow started. Eric and Xander exchanged a look, nodding. Xander headed for Willow's side opposite Eric, and the two boys each grabbed Willow's arms and started to pull her down the steps. "Oh!" Zoey and Oz walked alongside the left side of Eric, Willow and Xander, while Cordelia walked on the right side on the other side of Xander. Willow started to resist, leaning backward with all of her weight. "No, I can't!"

Eric and Xander just lifted Willow by the arms to pull her along. Zoey and Cordelia smiled at the spectacle while Oz smirked.

"You can," Xander assured.

"See, you are," Zoey told her.

Willow shook her head. "Oh, but, no! What if they changed the rule without telling? What if they're lying in wait to arrest me, and--and throw me in detention and mar my unblemished record?"

They reached the other side of the street, and Eric and Xander steadied Willow on the sidewalk.

"Breathe," Zoey told her. "Breathe."

Willow took a breath, letting it out, calming herself. "Okay. Hmm." Oz took Zoey by the hand, and Xander put his arm around Cordelia. They began walking into the small park in front of the school. Willow relaxed. "This is good! This is... Hey, we're seniors. I mean, besides Eric who's breaking the rules."

"Let that go, will you?" Eric asked in amusement.

They saw Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen in the park, having laid out a blanket in the shade of a palm tree by a bench, setting out serving plates of food and bottles of drinks.

"Ah, friends and food," Xander told them.

"Maybe we shouldn't be too couple-y around Carmen," Zoey stated, concerned.

Cordelia nodded. "Oh, you mean 'cause of how the only guy that ever liked her turned into a vicious killer and had to be put down like a dog?"

Xander smiled admiringly. "Can she cram complex issue s into a nutshell or what?"

They came up behind the tree just outside of the others's view.

"All right, prepare to uncouple," Oz stated. "Uncouple."

Zoey/Oz and Xander/Cordelia let go of each other as they came around the tree, and joined Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Carmen and Wyatt.

"You guys, banned from campus, but not from our hearts," Zoey told them. "How are you and what's for lunch?"

Oz climbed onto the bench and sat on the backrest. Zoey sat on the bench as well. Willow, Xander and Cordelia sat on the other side of the bench.

Eric sat on the blanket next to Buffy, who smiled.

"Oh, we just threw a few things together," Buffy told them.

"When did you guys become Martha Stewart?" Cordelia asked, impressed with the food.

"First of all, Martha Stewart knows jack about hand cut prosciutto," Brooke told them.

"I don't believe she slays, either," Brady told them mockingly.

"Oh, I hear she can, but she doesn't like to," Oz told them.

Zoey smiled.

Alice opened her bottle. "Second of all, we have way too much free time on our hands since we got kicked out of school."

Alice took a drink.

"Oh, I'm sure that Giles convinced Snyder to let you  guys back in and get me my job back," Wyatt told her. "Your father can be very threatening to the human race, Alice."

They chuckled.

"Yeah, don't you guys have a meeting with Principal Snyder?" Xander asked.

"We're seeing Snyde-Man tomorrow," Carmen answered.

Zoey noticed a boy. "Ooh, Scott Hope at eleven o'clock." Carmen looked toward Scott. Zoey looked at Carmen. "He likes you. He wanted to ask you out last year, but you weren't ready then."

"But I think you're ready now, or at least in the state of pre-readiness to make conversation," Willow told her. "Or--or to do that thing with your mouth that boys like." Carmen gave her a look. Willow realized her slip up. "Oh. I didn't mean the bad thing with your mouth. I meant that little half-smile thing that you... I'm gonna stop talking now."

Willow took a drink.

Eric smiled a bit in amusement. "Good idea, Will."

Scott had finished talking with his friends, walking toward them. Carmen watched him nervously, not ready to get back out there.

As Scott passed, he looked over at Carmen, smiling. "Hi, Carmen."

Carmen waved a bit. "Hi."

Scott continued to walk away.

Buffy smiled. "I think that went very well."

"Don't you think that went very well?" Brooke asked.

Cordelia shrugged, nodding. "He didn't try to slit our throats or anything. That's progress."

Carmen and Zoey gave Cordelia a look but weren't surprised.

Alice looked at Carmen. "Hey, did you do that half smile thing?"

Carmen sighed. "Look, I'm not trying to snare Scott Hope. I just want to get my life back. You know, do normal stuff."

"Like date?" Brady asked.

Carmen looked down.

"It's okay if you're not ready yet," Wyatt told her. "God knows that it took me this long to even want to date anyone else besides my last girlfriend. Brooke being my next one."

"Yeah, well, that's different, Wyatt, since Spike killed your last girlfriend to try and make you go insane, and he would have done to every other girl you wanted to date like he tried to do to Brooke," Buffy pointed out.

Brady nodded in agreement. "Luckily Brooke was able to defend herself. And had others to help."

"Buffy, Brady?" Brooke asked. "Not helping."

"Not everything is about dating, you know," Alice told them.

"No, it is not," Wyatt agreed.

Carmen shrugged. "But shopping, hanging out and going to school and saving the world from unspeakable demons."

Buffy nodded. "Yeah, I wanna do girlie stuff."

∞

Night - Happy Burger - Outside

The camera panned down from a shot of the building, past the restaurant's mascot, a fat boy eating a burger, and stopped on the building again. 

A black stretch limo pulled into the parking lot, heading toward the drive through lane. 

A boy inside fitted with a speaker and mic took their order. "Welcome to Happy Burger. May I take your order, please?"

A vampire named Trick was inside the limo. "Diet soda, medium."

"That'll be 89 cents at the window, sir," the boy told him.

Trick sighed. "Sunnydale." He looked at the vampire next to him. "Town's got quaint. And the people?" He smiled. "He called me 'sir'. Don't you just miss that? I mean, admittedly, it's not a haven for the brothers, you know, strictly the Caucasian Persuasion here in the Dale. But, you know, you just gotta stand up and salute their death rate. I ran a statistical analysis, and hello darkness. It makes... DC look... like Mayberry, and ain't nobody saying boo about it. We could fit right in here. Have us some fun."

The other vampire, Kakistos, was hidden by the shadows in the limo. "We're here for one thing."

Kakistos pulled his cloven hand from Trick's knee.

Trick looked at the cloven hand, disgusted. "Kill the Slayer and Guardian, yeah. Still, big picture..."

Trick lowered the window again, looking out, handing the boy at the window a dollar.

The boy handed him back the soda, a straw and his change. "Have a nice night, sir."

Trick smiled. "Right back at ya."

Kakistos looked at Trick. "The Slayer and Guardian. I'm going to rip their spines from their bodies, and I'm going to eat their hearts and suck the marrow from their bones."

Trick considered that for a moment, smacking his lips. "Now I'm hungry."

Trick lunged out of the window, vamped out. The boy was shocked, and tried to move away, but Trick quickly grabbed him by the shirt, pulling him out of the building and part way into the limo. The limo took off with the boy's legs kicking outside the window, screeching through the parking lot and into the street, while the boy was screaming as Trick was feeding.

The camera stopped on the Happy Burger mascot, its mouth wide open to take another bite from the burger that it was holding.

∞ Slayers and Guardians ∞

Carmen's Dream

The Bronze

(Song:) The Background - Third Eye Blind

The camera panned past several couples dancing slowly to the music, coming to a rest on Carmen and Angel. They held each other close and looked deeply into each other's eyes as they slowly danced.

"I miss you," Carmen told him.

At a nearby table, Oz, Zoey, Willow, Cordelia, Xander, Buffy, Eric, Brooke, Wyatt, Brady and Alice were watching them dance. Across the way, Bianca was also watching. Their faces were devoid of any expression.

Carmen moved her left hand with her Claddaugh ring down Angel's arm to take his hand. The ring was loose on her finger, and before she could clasp his hand, it fell off and clinked on the floor. Angel and Carmen both looked down at the ring. Angel reached down to pick up the ring.

(Song Ends)

Angel stood up, holding the ring, giving Carmen a wounded look. Carmen looked at the ring, frightened, flashing back to the mansion.

In 2.22, Carmen tried hard not to start crying, kissing Angel gently for their goodbye. Brooke and Alice sadly and slowly pulled Carmen away into their arms, holding her sympathetically. Buffy drew back her sword, thrusting it into Angel's chest. Bianca was completely in shock, bewildered by everything going on. Angel held out his hand to Carmen. When the vortex met him, it suddenly closed into Acathla's mouth without so much as a spark, taking him with it. Carmen felt the pain of losing her soul mate, starting to break down in devastation, as Brooke and Alice held her standing, and Buffy turned to face her sadly in sympathy and regret. Wyatt and Brady looked down sadly. Bianca was just completely confused and in shock.

Now, the camera settled on the gang at the table, and Bianca across the way. All of them were still watching, still expressionless.

Carmen was still with Angel on the dance floor. "We had to."

Angel's breath was shaky. He looked down at the ring in his fingers, clenching it in his fist. Blood began to ooze from between his fingers and dripped to the floor. He looked intensely at Carmen. "I loved you."

Carmen watched aghast as the blood continued to drip, horrified when a bloodstain appeared on his shirt at mid chest and grew quickly to begin to soak the front of his shirt, frightened and worried, reaching out to his wound. "Oh, God. Angel..."

Angel backed away. "Go to hell!" Carmen looked up from his chest wound to his face, which had turned green, and one side was rotting. Angel smiled and laughed smugly as he looked back at her. "I did."

∞

Reality

Day Two

Morning - Chase Mansion - Carmen's Room

Carmen woke from her dream with a start, jerking her head from the pillow. Realizing it was only a dream, she put her hand to her head, pulling it back through her hair. She sat up in bed, looking over at her nightstand, reaching over, pulling open the drawer, lifting out a chain on which she had placed her Claddaugh ring. She sat up straight in her bed, looking closely at the ring again: Two hands for friendship, a crown for loyalty, and a heart for love.

∞

Sunnydale High School - Snyder's Office

Snyder was sitting behind his desk, having a meeting with Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Carmen and Wyatt. "Here are the terms of re-entry for classes or getting Wyatt's job back. Take them or leave them." Brooke took a letter opener from his desk, beginning to play with it. "One, that you pass a makeup test of every class you skipped out on last year." Brooke looked around absentmindedly and tapped the letter opener on her hand. "Two, that you provide, in writing, one glowing letter of recommendation from any member of our faculty who is not Wyatt and who is not an English librarian who is Alice's father." Snyder was starting to get annoyed by Brooke's tapping with the letter opener. "Three, that you complete an interview with our school psychologist..." He stood, walking around his desk. "Who must conclude that your violent tendencies..." He took the letter open from Brooke. "Are under control."

Wyatt crossed his arms over his chest smugly, knowing where this was going. "I'm not sure I like your attitude, Snyder. We spoke with the school board, and according to them--"

Snyder walked back around his desk. "I'm required to educate every juvenile who is not in jail where they belong. And I had no grounds to fire you, Mr. Pratt." He stopped, looking out  the window with his back to them. "Welcome back."

The six looked at each other and smiled.

Buffy stood. "So let me get this straight. We're really back in school and Wyatt has his job back because the school board overruled you. Just like how you couldn't kick Zoey out because you had no grounds to."

Snyder faced them.

"Wow," Brooke said tauntingly, standing up. "That's like having your whole ability to do this job called into question, when you think about it."

Brady stood. "I think what my sisters are trying to say is..." He did a taunting sing song as if saying 'you can't catch us', or in this case, get rid of them. "Na, na-na-na, na."

Alice, Carmen and Wyatt couldn't help but smile. They all gave Snyder a defiant look, walking out of the office, proud of themselves. Snyder blankly watched them go.

The intercom on his desk buzzed. "It's the Mayor on line one."

Snyder's eyes quickly widened with worry.

∞

Library

Wyatt pushed open the library doors, walking inside. "Guess who's back."

The girls, Eric and Brady followed him in.

Willow smiled. "It's so great that you guys are back."

"Giles and Layla say what they wanted?" Buffy asked. "Do you think they're mad?"

They stopped at the counter. There were bowls and jars of various dried herbs arrayed on it.

"No, I don't think so," Alice answered. "I think they just needed to see us." She smiled. "You'd know when my father's mad, even when he won't say anything, because he makes that weird cluck-cluck sound with his tongue." 

Zoey smiled. "Yeah, and my mom does this thing with her hair when she's mad."

They smiled.

Giles and Layla walked out of Giles's office.

"Hi, Giles," Brooke told him. "Hi, Layla."

Zoey and Alice turned to face them.

"Oh, hi," Zoey told them. "Been in there long?"

"Not long," Layla answered.

Giles was preoccupied. "Good timing. We were wondering if you would like to begin training again sooner or later, given that you all have a lot to get accustomed to."

"I'm good for sooner rather than later, but that's just me," Brady answered.

"And my and Zoey's offer still stands about filling in for slaying until they get back on their feet," Eric added.

"Zoey, Eric, that's very kind of you, but I really think you two shouldn't be the only ones out there anymore," Layla told them. "Besides Bianca, I mean."

"Layla's right," Carmen agreed. "I wanna get back to normal, so that includes patrolling, and making sure that you and Zoey aren't out there alone anymore, Eric. I mean, I know Bianca helps, but she wants to do so far away from us."

"I could also use your help," Giles told them. "I trust you remember the demon Acathla?"

"Giles, Layla, contain yourselves," Brooke told them. "Yes, we're back in school, and Wyatt's got his job back, but you know it embarrasses us when you gush so."

"Let's just skip all that and get straight to work," Wyatt told them.

"Oh, ah, well, I, um..." Giles trailed off. "Well, of course. It's wonderful to have you back."

Layla smiled. "That goes without saying." They all smiled. "But... You enjoy making us say it, don't you?"

Brady smirked. "Yeah, a little."

"Sorry," Buffy told them.

"It's just that us kids love to see the parents of Scoobies admit these things," Eric told them, kinda teasing/taunting.

Giles rolled his eyes. Layla gave them a look, and the teens laughed. Wyatt smirked.

"So what about Acathla?" Alice asked.

Zoey played with a bowl on the counter. "What are you doing, making him some demon pizza?"

Zoey picked up a bundle of sage, sniffing it, wincing at the horrible smell, holding it toward Buffy, Brooke, Alice, Willow and Carmen to smell, who all had similar reactions as the girls smiled at each other.

"We need to make sure that he remains dormant and that the dimensional vortex is sealed tight," Giles told them.

"Rupert wants to know if a binding spell is necessary, but I don't think it is so," Layla explained.

"Layla, we must be sure," Giles told her.

Willow perked up. "Oh, a spell? Can I help?"

"I'd love to help," Eric agreed.

"Possibly, with the research," Giles told them. "It's very sensitive, and..."

Willow looked hurt. "Oh. Who's more sensitive than me or Eric?"

"And a difficult spell, if we even need it," Layla told them. Willow and Eric frowned. "It involves creating a--a protective circle around... well, I don't want to bore you with the details, but, uh, well, there's a litany that one has to recite in Aramaic, and it's very specific."

"Sounds like Wyatt's kind of spellwork," Carmen told them.

"Indeed," Giles agreed.

"That's if we need it," Wyatt told them. "But I agree with Layla. I don't think we need to."

Layla smirked. "Hmm, so Rupert has to admit that I'm right for a change." Giles sighed, shaking his head, causing the others to smile. "Why? We only got a few details from what happened that day from Bianca since she's tried to keep her distance."

"Besides the fact that Bianca had just gotten her soul and was very confused that day because she hadn't remembered everything until a little while after," Eric agreed.

"So you guys got questions?" Buffy asked. "Fire away."

"I've put the time at about, um..." Giles trailed off, checking his notes. "6:17, around, about half an hour after Eric and Xander rescued me."

"Less," Brooke told them. "More like ten minutes."

"Oh, was the vortex already open?" Layla asked.

"Barely," Brady answered.

"I see," Giles told them. "This is where Bianca's memories were convoluted because of the gypsy curse giving her soul back and she didn't remember what she had done until after what happened. About Angel and all."

"There was a big fight with me, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Wyatt and Carmen against Bianca and Angel," Alice answered. "Zoey and Layla's curse worked and they got their souls. But it was too late for Angel because he had already opened the vortex, and only his death could close it again."

"Angel got the pointy end of the sword, Acathla sucked him into Hell instead of the world," Wyatt finished. Carmen looked down sadly. "That's about it."

Giles wrote a few notes. "Yes, well, that, um, should be very helpful."

"So Wyatt and Layla are right, right?" Willow asked. "The spell's not needed?"

"I believe not," Giles answered. "Yes, Wyatt and Layla are right."

Layla smiled. "I never get tired of hearing him say that I'm right."

The others smiled.

Zoey knew that this subject was very hurtful for Carmen, checking on her best friend. "Carmen? You okay?"

"Yeah," Carmen answered. "I just... I wish we could have stopped Angel before he opened the vortex. And since your and Layla's spell worked to give Bianca and Angel's souls back... if we had stopped him... then he could still be alive. And things may have been different. I never thanked you, Zoey. After you and Layla gave Angel and Bianca's souls back even after everything they had done, especially after everything Angelus did to you and Layla. And I'm sorry."

Zoey shook her head. "You don't have to thank us, Carmen. And I'm sorry too."

The others looked at them sadly in sympathy.

Brooke checked her watch. "Oh, no, we have to go take an English makeup exam." 

Buffy got her pile of books from the counter. "They give you credit just for speaking it, right?"

The others gave her a look.

"All right, we better go," Brady told them.

"Yep," Alice agreed. "But at least the exams will be a breeze for me."

"Lucky," Carmen told her.

Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice and Carmen left to go take their makeup exam.

Willow picked up the bundle of sage, sniffing it. "Mm, sage. I love that smell." She reached into a jar. "And marnox root. You know, a smidge of this mixed with a virgin's saliva..." Giles and Layla gave her a look. Wyatt raised his eyebrows. Willow and Eric exchanged a busted look. "Does something I know nothing about."

Zoey smiled.

"Eric, Willow, these forces are not something that one plays around with," Giles told them.

"What have you been conjuring?" Layla asked.

"Nothing... much," Eric told them. "Small stuff. Floating a feather, fire out of ice, which next time, we won't do on the bedspread." Giles looked down. "Are you mad at us?"

Giles looked up. "No, of course not, no." He gave Zoey a significant look, speaking of when Alice and Zoey stated the clear signs when Giles and Layla were angry. "If I were, I would be making a strange clucking sound with my tongue."

Layla gave Zoey a look, amused, tilting her head. "And I would be doing something with my hair."

Busted, Zoey gave them a cute smile. "Sorry." Wyatt smirked. "By the way, I'm not the one that said that about you, Giles. Alice did, so take that up with your daughter."

Wyatt chuckled. "Layla, Giles, don't worry. With me and Carmen and Alice and Brooke back, we can help you two and Zoey with teaching Eric and Willow about the magic and power. And how to be careful with it. And Eric's pretty advanced already. Willow's taking it slow."

Willow nodded in agreement. "Yes, slow. I don't wanna move too fast or anything."

"And both ways are good to work with," Wyatt told them. "Don't worry. We can build up from whatever you two learned from Giles, Layla and Zoey and on your own and help improve on it."

Eric and Willow smiled. "Thanks, Wyatt."

"And if you think you need any help with Bianca's spells on her mind, let me know," Wyatt told them. "But I think you two have that pretty much covered. She was a lot saner at the zombie party than when we last saw her. Let's keep that up."

They nodded in agreement.

∞

Night - The Bronze

(Song:) Cure - Darling Violetta

The camera panned into the dance area, pausing on the band for a moment.

Most couples were dancing normally, but there was one couple that was a bit more energetic about it. In the energetic couple, the girl was named Faith.

The camera panned to a girl by the bar where a guy was hitting on her. Her name was Hope Lehane.

Hope was clearly a little drunk, and trying to brush off the guy that was hitting on her. "Row, row, row your boat, gently the hell away from me."

"I just wanna dance," the guy told her.

"Yeah, well, that's your story," Hope replied. "There are two sides to every story, but you're a douche in both of them. Too bad you can't fix an ugly personality. Or facials." She waved sarcastically. "Buh-bye."

Hope stood, walking away, passing by an alcove furnished like a turn of the century parlor, with a love seat, a couple of armchairs, tables and a lamp with a pink shade.

Zoey and Oz were sitting on the love seat, kissing sweetly and passionately, not noticing Hope as she walked away without noticing them.

Buffy, Eric, Brooke, Wyatt, Brady, Alice, Carmen and Willow walked over to Zoey and Oz to hang out.

"Don't let us interrupt," Alice told them.

Zoey looked up with a cute smile. "Sorry."

Carmen smirked. "Don't be sorry, Zo. I'm glad that you finally get to be happy with someone, too, like Oz, who's name I just realized is spelled in the reverse order of your nickname. Damn."

The others smiled, sitting down, handing out drinks.

"Thanks," Oz told them.

Brooke noticed Buffy's cheery mood, smiling. "Are you..." She looked at Brady. "Is she all glowy?"

Buffy rolled her eyes up to the right, giving her siblings an innocent look.

"Yeah, I suspect happiness," Brady answered.

Buffy smiled. "I passed my English makeup exam, hanging with my friends, finally getting back to normal with boyfriend Eric." Buffy and Eric held hands, smiling. "Hello, my life, how I've missed you."

"Yeah, your life missed you too," Eric told her. "I know I did."

Buffy and Eric smiled, kissing.

Wyatt smirked. "All right, Buffy, Eric, enough of that."

The others laughed.

Scott approached them.

"Hi, Scott," Willow told him. "What are you doing here?"

"You told me if I came after 8:00,  could run into Carmen," Scott told her. Carmen gave Willow a look. Willow was embarrassed, hiding behind her drink, taking a big sip. Scott looked at Carmen, smiling. "Uh, I'm sorry, I'm a bad liar. It's not good for the soul." He gestured to his face. "Or the skin, actually. It makes me blotch."

"Well, hi, Scott," Carmen told him.

"Hi," Scott told her. Things were a bit awkward now. Scott looked around for something to comment on. "Don't you love this song?"

"Uh, yeah," Carmen answered. "Actually, I do."

"Well, would you like to..." Scott trailed off, gesturing to the dance floor.

"Dance?" Carmen asked. "Um..." Zoey smiled at her encouragingly. "I don't know." Willow frowned. Buffy and Brooke gave Carmen a look, but Zoey and Alice nodded as if they expected that. All the girls were understanding. "I'm bad with... well..." Carmen fidgeted. "Thank you for asking, it's just that there..."

"Okay, you know what?" Scott asked. "I'm just gonna go stand by the dance floor. If you change your mind, you can mosey on over, and then if not, then you don't mosey. No harm, no foul, right?"

Carmen nodded. Scott walked off to find a place to wait. Carmen rolled her eyes, leaning her head back, mentally kicking herself for the way she handled that.

"Come on, Carmen," Willow told her. "I mean, the guy is charm, and normal, which is what you wanted to get back to."

"Plus, bonus points for the use of the word 'mosey'," Oz told her.

"Guys, it's okay if Carmen's not ready," Zoey told them.

"She did lose her soulmate," Alice agreed. "That's not something to come back from easily."

"No, it is not," Wyatt agreed.

Carmen gave Zoey, Alice and Wyatt a weak smile in appreciation.

Cordelia and Xander walked up to them.

"Check out Slut-O-Rama and her Disco Dave," Cordelia told them, pointing and looking onto the dance floor as she and Xander sat on a low table against a wall.

They followed her gaze to the energetically dancing couple, including Faith Lehane. Although Faith's style was more contemporary, the guy was dancing way too fast for the music, with an unmistakable '70s disco influence.

"What was the last thing that guy danced to, KC and the Sunshine Band?" Cordelia asked.

Oz and Zoey tilted their heads to look toward Faith and the guy she was dancing with.

Buffy noticed Hope standing by the dance floor and watching Faith and the guy. "Do you see that girl watching them?"

Faith and the guy continued to dance, getting close and touching each other at one point, then separating again.

The Scoobies continued to watch, really beginning to wonder about them.

Faith and the guy got close again. Faith pointed at the door. The guy took the hint, leading her out with his arm around her. 

The Scoobies watched them go, suspicious.

The guy waved to his buddy, the guy that had been hitting on Hope at the bar, for him to follow them, heading out of the door with Faith. The buddy followed them. Hope walked out of the club to follow the three of them.

Alice and Brooke let their eyes glow with red Guardian energy to determine whether or not they were vampires, seeing that the two guys were.

"Those two guys don't thrive on sunshine," Brooke told them.

"There's something off with the girls, too," Brady told them.

"Team up?" Brady asked.

"Team up," Eric answered.

"Go get 'em," Xander told them.

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen stood, walking toward the door.

Scott saw Carmen, stepping over to intercept her. "Hi."

Carmen stopped short, startled. "Hi. Oh." She frowned. "No. I..." She pointed at the door. "I--I have to..."

"Carmen, come on," Zoey told her, making up an excuse to help Carmen get out of there. "If I don't get back before curfew, my mom's gonna kill me."

Scott looked at Zoey. "Oh." Carmen gave Zoey a thankful look. "Uh, sorry." Scott looked at Carmen. "My bad."

"No, it's mine," Carmen told him. "It's really mine, but I..." She glanced back at the others. "I have to go."

(Song Ends)

∞

Outside

Carmen followed Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric and Wyatt outside.

"Where'd they go?" Buffy asked.

They took a few steps down the alley to the left to check things out.

Cordelia, Xander, Willow and Oz followed them out.

"I bet it's nothing," Cordelia told them. "It's probably just a double date thing."

"Brooke and Alice saw that the guys were vampires, Cordelia," Brady told her.

"And who knows about the girls," Brooke told them.

They continued to look.

They heard Faith call out in a complaining tone. "Hey!"

They heard a loud noise, as if something had just broken.

Buffy and Brady pulled out stakes from their jacket pockets, heading in the direction of the noise, with the others following. Zoey, Brooke, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen prepared to use their powers if they had to.

"That's not what making out sounds like, not that I would know," Willow told them.

They rounded the corner, seeing the four people they were looking for.

The first vampire had Faith up against a section of temporary chain link fencing that was leaning against the building. "Stop struggling. This won't hurt."

Vampire 1 vamped out, moving in to bite Faith. Faith grabbed him by the neck, pushing him away a bit, elbowing him in the face, making him stumble back. He regained his balance. Faith jumped onto a crate, doing a jumping roundhouse kick to his face, making him fall to the pavement, landing on the ground.

Vampire 2 tried to punch Hope.

Hope caught Vampire 2's hand, twisting his arm around behind his back, making him face away from her. "Did you hear that, Faith? I think I broke his arm."

"Too easy," Faith told her. "Twist it again to be sure."

"Sure thing," Hope agreed, twisting Vampire 2's arm again, breaking it completely, making yell in pain.

"Let go of me, you bitch," Vampire 2 told her.

Hope raised her eyebrows. "I'm sorry, are you talking to me? You're such a poor excuse for a vampire that I'm confused. Wow, the creatures of the night hit the jackpot with you."

The teen Scoobies and Wyatt saw all of this, looking impressed.

Faith noticed them, approaching them with a smile. "It's okay, we got it." She looked at the Slayer and Guardians of the Scoobies. "You're Buffy, Brooke and Alice, right?" Vampire 1 came up behind Faith, grabbing her by the shoulders. Faith headbutted him in the face, grabbing onto his arm. "I'm Faith. That's my sister Hope."

Faith twisted Vampire 1 around, shoving him into the section of chain link fence.

Hope conjured red Guardian energy to shoot into Vampire 2's chest, throwing him down so hard he was sent flipping backward.

"I'm gonna go out on a limb and say there's a new Slayer and Guardian in town," Eric told them with honest sarcasm.

Faith kneed Vampire 1 in the gut from behind. Vampire 1 turned around, trying to backhand punch her, but Faith easily ducked it. Faith punched him in the gut, then the face.

Vampire 2 tried to restrain Hope from behind. Hope used red energy to send through her own body into Vampire 2's chest to make him let go, turning to face him, to send a burst of red energy into his chest to make him fall back.

Everyone just watched.

Xander followed Faith and Hope's movements with jerks of his head.

Faith did a high side kick to Vampire 1's jaw, grabbing onto his shirt and neck, throwing him to the ground. Vampire 1 did a no hand front roll to control his fall.

Hope raised an arm, shooting red energy into Vampire 2 to pin him, waving her hands together and sending them apart to rip the vampire apart into ashes, killing him.

Faith took the stake from Brady's hand. "Can I borrow that?"

Vampire 1 used the momentum of his roll to get back to his feet, running at Faith, throwing a punch as he came. Faith ducked, hooking her hand on his shoulder, turning him around, pushing him back into the fence. She staked him cleanly, taking the stake out. The vampire instantly crumbled into ashes.

The others just watched them in confused amazement.

Hope turned to face them, smirking. "Thanks, guys. Couldn't have done it without you."

Hope walked past them toward the Bronze. Faith handed Brady his stake back, following Hope. The Scoobies turned to watch them go, unsure how to react.

∞∞

The Bronze

The camera followed a waitress holding a tray of 12 muffins past the pastry counter and into an alcove where Faith and Hope had joined the gang.

Faith was telling them one of their stories. "The whole summer it was, like, the worst heat wave. So it's about a hundred and eighteen degrees, and I'm sleeping without a stitch on." The waitress set the tray of muffins on the table, leaving. "And all of a sudden, we hear this screaming from outside, so we go tearing out, and I'm stark nude." Xander looked down at her body, licking his lips. "Hope's all like 'whatever, let's just get this done."

"And this church bus has broke down, and there's these three vamps feasting on half the Baptists in South Boston," Hope explained. "So we waste the vamps, and the preacher comes up, and he's hugging us like there's no tomorrow, when all of a sudden, the cops pull up and they arrested all of us."

Faith and Hope both reached for a muffin.

Xander stared blankly ahead, trying to picture the scene. "Wow. They should film that story and show it every Christmas."

Cordelia, sitting next to him with her arms and legs crossed, turned her head to Xander, giving him a look.

Faith tore into her muffin. "God, I could eat a horse. Isn't it crazy how slaying just always makes you hungry and horny?"

Willow, Oz, Xander and Cordelia all turned their heads to look at Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen. Wyatt smirked, while the others were sort of uncomfortable.

"Well..." Buffy trailed off. "Sometimes, Brooke, Brady and I eat afterward. How about Zoey, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen?"

"Uh, none of the above?" Zoey asked what sounded like a statement, trying to change the subject off of her. "You heard Buffy, Brady and Brooke's answer. Ask Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen."

Hope looked at them curiously. "So, Alice, Brooke and Buffy are the Slayer and Guardians of the group, but Zoey, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen and Brady all slay too?"

"It's a long story," Wyatt told them.

"Zoey and her mother Layla are gypsies, they use their powers to help, and Zoey was once a ninja and with some training from Buffy, Brooke and Alice's Watcher, AKA Alice's father Giles, now Zoey can fight like a Slayer," Willow explained. "Wyatt and Carmen are witches and they help out a lot, and Eric and I are coming into powers, but Eric also fights since he turned into a commando guy once and he trains a lot to be a demon hunter like Brady."

"Apparently not that long, when you put it that way," Alice told them.

Brady realized. "I get it. The two Slayer and three Guardians thing. Buffy, Brooke and Alice died for like two minutes, so then Kendra and Sofia were called, and then when they died, Hope and Faith were called."

Hope and Faith nodded.

"But why were you called here?" Eric asked.

"Well, we weren't," Faith told them. "Our Watcher went off to some retreat thing in England, and so we skipped out. We figured this was our chance to meet the infamous Buffy, Brooke and Alice and compare notes." 

Buffy, Brooke and Alice nodded, smiling small smiles.

"So, did you really kill the Master after coming back to life?" Hope asked.

"Uh, yeah," Brooke answered, leaning forward. "Actually, it's a funny story."

Xander cut her off, looking at Hope and Faith. "So what was the, uh, story about the alligators? You, uh, said something... before."

"Uh, there's this Big Daddy Vampire out of Missouri who used to keep them as pets," Faith told them with a lot of hand gesturing. "So he's got me and Hope wrestling two of them, okay?"

"These things must have been 12 feet long, and we're--" Hope started.

"So was this, um, ahem, also naked?" Xander asked.

"Well, the alligators were," Hope told them, smirking.

Xander smiled, laughing.

"Xander?" Cordelia asked. Xander looked at her. Cordelia gave him a look. "Find a new theme."

Faith shook her head. "I tell you, I never had more trouble than that damn vamp."

Hope shrugged. "Most kills are easy for me. For Guardians like me, Brooke and Alice in general, since these powers give us the ability to rip them to pieces. I hear Zoey, Wyatt and Carmen can do that to with their powers. I'm guessing that means Layla can too?"

"Yeah, but it takes a lot out me, Zoey and Layla to do that," Carmen answered. "It's easy for Wyatt to do it since he's been around for a long time, being an immortal witch with more powers than he might even know himself."

Wyatt nodded in agreement. "That's true. I try to keep it to just a few powers because it could be overwhelming and could easily turn someone dark."

Hope was impressed, intrigued, smiling. "Wow. You guys got to show me your magic. Eric and Willow too, even though they're newbies."

Eric and Willow smiled.

"Yeah, sure," Eric agreed.

"It would be awesome to hunt with all you guys," Hope told them. "Not having to do things alone anymore. At least for now."

"Something occurring," Oz told them. "Uh, now you all kill vamps, and who could blame you?" He looked at Faith and Hope. "But I'm wondering about your position on werewolves."

Zoey put a hand on Oz's shoulder. "Oz is a werewolf. He got bit."

Hope and Faith exchanged a look.

"Hey, as long as you don't go scratching at me or humping my leg, we're five by five, you know?" Faith asked.

"Fair enough," Oz told them.

Hope smirked. "Yeah, we're good. The vamps, though, they better get their asses to defcon one." She looked at Buffy, Brooke, Alice and Faith. "'Cause we are gonna have fun, you know, Watcherless and fancy free." She looked at Zoey, Eric, Carmen and Wyatt. "So how good are you guys at killing vamps?"

"Oh, we're good," Zoey answered.

"Good?" Willow repeated. "She's being modest. They're excellent."

Brooke smiled. "Yeah, definitely modest. Wyatt's god like with spells and powers."

"Not literally," Wyatt told them. "Brooke's exaggerating."

"Sometimes," Buffy agreed. "Other times Wyatt really is god like."

They laughed.

Alice looked at Hope and Faith. "Wait, back up. Watcherless?"

Faith looked around at everyone. "Didn't yours go to England, too?"

Brady shook his head. "No."

∞

Day Three

Morning - Sunnydale High School - Library

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen, Xander and Willow were introducing Layla and Giles to Hope and Faith.

Giles stood at the end of a table with his hands in his pockets. "There's a Watchers' retreat every year in the Cotsworlds." He walked to the other end of the table. "It's a lovely spot. It's very serene. There's horse riding and hiking and hunting." He smiled. "And lectures and discussions." Zoey rolled her eyes. Layla gave her an amused look. "It--it's a great honor to be invited." Giles turned a tad bitter. "Or so I'm told."

"Oh, it's boring," Hope told him. "Way too stuffy for a guy like you."

"Um, maybe we should introduce you again," Zoey told them. "Hope, Faith, this is Alice's father Giles."

The others smirked.

"I see him," Faith told them. "If we'd have known they came that young and cute, we would've requested a transfer."

Giles took off his glasses.

"Raise your hand if 'ew'," Brooke said, grossed out, raising her hand.

Zoey, Buffy, Brady, Eric and Carmen raised their hands. Xander raised his hand, but hid it by scratching his cheek. Wyatt smirked.

Layla gave them a look. "All right, enough."

Wyatt looked at Hope and Faith. "Layla and Giles are kind of a thing, so..."

Hope smirked. "So the gypsy doctor lady and the Watcher. And Layla being Zoey's mother and Giles being Alice's father, making a Guardian close knit tie with an assassin gypsy. Nice." She sat down. "So let me get this straight for couples around here. Assassin gypsy Zoey is with the werewolf Oz, Slayer Buffy is with warlock commando/hunter Eric. Guardian Brooke is with immortal warlock Wyatt. Guardian Alice is with demon hunter Brady. Xander and Cordelia."

"Yeah, that's about it," Carmen answered.

"What about Carmen and Willow?" Hope asked. "Who are they with?"

There was an awkward pause because of Carmen's history with Angel but not wanting to get into that yet.

Giles changed the subject back. "Well, um, uh, leaving aside for the moment, the interesting tales of romance between species and hunters, and my, uh, youth and beauty..." He walked to the copier. "I'd say it was, um..." He grabbed the newspaper. "Fortuitous that Hope and Faith arrived when they did."

Giles walked back to them with the newspaper.

Willow pointed toward the ceiling. "Aha!" Everyone looked at her. She lowered her finger. "Sorry. I just meant..." She pointed at the ceiling again. "Aha! There's big evil brewing."

"Hope, Faith, you'll never be bored here," Wyatt told them. Hope and Faith smiled. "'Cause this is Sunnydale, home of the big brewing evil."

Alice took the newspaper from Giles to read the article he wanted to show them. "Yes, well, I don't know how big an evil it is, but, uh, two people have disappeared from the Sunset Ridge District."

"I would help patrol, but I have to work at the hospital tonight," Layla told them. "I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it, Layla," Eric told her. "We're good for patrolling."

"Lateish, though," Brady told them. "Buffy, Brooke and I promised Mom we'd be home for dinner."

Buffy looked up. "Zoey, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen are good to patrol though, right?"

Zoey smirked. "What do you think?"

Brooke smiled. "Of course, you'll have to wait till after dinner with our mother." Alice looked at Buffy, Brooke and Brady, nodding to Hope and Faith. Brooke looked at Hope and Faith, getting the hint. "Um, to which you're also invited, of course, dinner with us."

"Dying to meet the fam," Faith told them. "I'm in. Hope?"

"Sure," Hope answered. "Why not?"

"Great," Buffy said. "Great, then we can patrol. Also together."

Eric looked at Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice and Carmen. "Hey, don't you have that health science makeup?"

"Oh, yeah," Alice remembered.

Brady looked at Alice and Willow. "Actually, we could use a little coaching."

Carmen nodded in agreement, standing. "A lot coaching."

Willow hopped off the table, smiling. "No problem."

Wyatt looked at Hope and Faith. "You know, you can hang out with Zoey, Eric, Willow and Xander while Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice and Carmen are studying."

"Yeah, you wanna?" Zoey asked.

Xander grabbed his things. "Say yes, and uh, bring your stories."

Xander smiled, walking toward the door.

"You guys go," Buffy told them. "It's fine. Fine. I'll just..." She sat down. "Sit."

"Okay," Hope told them. "Hey, later."

Faith looked at Giles. "We will talk weapons."

"Xander, Willow, Eric, why don't you show Faith and Hope around?" Brooke asked.

"Sure thing," Eric answered.

Eric, Willow, Xander, Hope and Faith walked out of the library. Zoey, Brooke, Buffy, Brady, Alice, Wyatt, Layla and Giles watched them go.

"These, um, these new girls seem to have a lot of zest," Layla told them. "Are you sure you don't need help with patrolling tonight?"

"Looks like we've got all the help we need, Layla," Brady told her.

"Yes," Alice agreed. "Zoey, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen and I can do a first sweep while Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Hope and Faith are having dinner with Joyce."

"And then when we meet up we can do another sweep, split up if we have to, to make sure everything's covered," Wyatt agreed. "There's 12 cemeteries in Sunnydale and a lot of sketchy places. Could use the help."

"Sure," Carmen agreed. "Layla, Giles, look, we've got makeup tests to past, missing people in Sunset Ridge, and a zesty new Slayer and Guardian to help out. You don't have to worry about us. Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Hope, Faith and I've got it covered. And Bianca, who I know will be out and about, but hopefully we'll have the chance to explain to Hope and Faith about her before we run into her again so there's not a misunderstanding."

"Hopefully," Layla agreed. "Given Hope and Faith's stance on slaying, one of us should tell them about Bianca and tell Bianca to be weary. We don't know if Faith and Hope would have the same opinion of her as we do."

They nodded in agreement, leaving the library.

∞

Hallway

Eric, Xander, Willow, Hope and Faith were walking through the hallway, as they were giving Hope and Faith the tour. Zoey met up with them.

Willow pointed at the lunch room door. "And over here, we have the cafeteria, where we were mauled by snakes."

Xander pointed down the hall. "And this is the spot where Bianca and Angel tried to kill Brady and Alice."

"Before Zoey and Layla gave Bianca and Angel their souls back, mind you," Eric told them. "Bianca's good now." Xander rolled his eyes. Hope and Faith nodded, skeptic. Eric pointed to the student lounge. "Oh, and over there in the lounge is where Wyatt's brother Spike and his gang nearly massacred us all on Parent-Teacher night."

Hope and Faith were finding all of this pretty incredible, smiling.

Zoey pointed up to the stair well landing. "Oh, and up those stairs, I was sucked into a muddy grave."

They stopped walking.

"And they say young people don't learn anything in high school nowadays, but, um, I've learned to be afraid," Xander told them, smiling.

Willow nodded in agreement.

Faith grinned, laughing. "You guys are a hoot and a half. If we had friends like you in high school... we probably still would've dropped out, but we might've been sad about it, you know?"

They nodded, exchanging a smile.

Hope crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey, so what's up with Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen? They seem wound kinda tight. Needs to find the fun a little. Like you, Zoey and Eric. Like me and Faith."

"Well, um, they..." Eric trailed off.

Faith saw the drinking fountain, pointing at it. "Oh, water."

Faith walked toward it.

Cordelia walked toward them.

"Oh, and then the alligators story," Xander told them. He looked at Willow and Eric. "They've got something, don't they?"

"You got a thing for Slayers or Guardians now?" Cordelia asked. Xander turned around to face her. "Maybe I should dress up as one and put a stake to your throat."

"Please, God, don't let that be sarcasm," Xander told her, taking her arm, smiling.

Faith finished her drink.

Scott came out of the cafeteria, nearly bumping into Faith.

Faith took a step back.

"Oh," Scott said. "Excuse me."

"Sorry," Faith told him. She looked at him curiously. "I know you from somewhere."

"The Bronze," Scott told her. "You're friends with Carmen, right?"

"Yeah," Faith answered. "I'm Faith."

Scott shook her hand. "I'm Scott Hope. Nice to meet you."

"Nice to meet you," Faith told him. "My sister's name is Hope, ironically."

Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice and Carmen walked down the stairs, standing next to Eric, Willow, Xander, Cordelia and Hope.

"Well, we're two for two with makeup tests," Buffy told them. "Proud, yes, but also humble in this time of..."

Brooke noticed they weren't paying attention. "We're looking at what?"

They followed their gaze to see Scott talking and laughing with Faith.

"Does anyone believe that is her actual hair color?" Cordelia asked.

"Jealous much?" Hope asked in amusement. "Believe it or not, both of ours are natural."

Cordelia narrowed her eyes at Hope, walking away.

The others continued to watch Faith and Scott.

"I haven't seen him laugh like that," Willow told them. "Hey, maybe Faith and Scott could hit it off." Carmen looked at her. "I mean, if you're done with him." Willow realized she was doing it again. "Not that you used him."

"Willow, shut up while you still can," Eric told her.

Willow nodded in agreement, frowning.

Carmen looked back at Scott and Faith. "Well, I... hadn't definitely one hundred perfect said no for all time. It's just, you know... you don't enter into these things lightly, you know. There's repercussions to consider and..." The others exchanged a look. "Why am I seeing a look?"

"You guys really do need to find the fun again," Zoey told them.

Hope smirked, walking up to Faith and Scott. "Hey, Faith."

"Hey, Hope," Faith told her. "Scott Hope, this is my sister, Hope."

"Hope's my last name," Scott explained. "Weird, right?"

Hope didn't find him interesting at all. "Yeah, crazy world."

"Uh, Faith has been telling me tall tales," Scott told her.

Hope forced a smile. "Faith's funny." She grabbed Faith's arm. "And we're leaving. We have to go."

Scott was disappointed. "Oh."

"Bye," Faith told him. Hope pulled Faith toward the others. Faith gestured back. "He's a cutie. Is he seeing anybody?"

No one answered.

"So, we all still on for tonight and patrolling?" Hope asked. "I know Faith, Buffy, Brooke, Brady and I have dinner plans, but Zoey, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen still patrolling with us later?"

"You can count on it," Eric answered.

Hope and Faith did a fist bump with Zoey, Eric and Carmen.

"See you then," Faith told them.

Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Faith and Hope walked away. The others smiled.

 ∞

Warehouse

Kakistos and Trick were holed up in the warehouse. The lights were low and candles were burning everywhere. Trick was typing away on his palm top computer.

"Mr. Trick, talk to me," Kakistos told him.

Trick looked up. "Check this out." He walked closer. "This town, this very street, wired for fiber optics." He grinned. "See, we jack in a T-3, um, 2500 megs per, we have the whole world at our fingertips." Kakistos looked up at him, not really understanding. "What I'm saying is, we stay local, where the humans are jumping and the cotton is high, but we live global. I mean, you know you get the hankering for the blood of a 15 year old Filipina, and I'm on the Net, and she's here the next day, express air."

Kakistos was losing his patience. "I want the blood of the Slayer and Guardian."

Trick couldn't believe Kakistos's shortsightedness, looking aside for a moment. "On that note, there's good news and bad. Rumor has it that this town already has a Slayer and two Guardians. Which now makes two Slayers and three Guardians in this town. Plus two gypsies, a demon hunter, a demon hunter witch, three more witches, and an unbalanced vampire with a soul and Guardian magic. I'm not real sure how that happened, but..."

Kakistos jumped up from his chair, shouting. "I don't care if there's a whole army! I'll kill them all!" He indicated his scarred, blinded eye. "Hope and Faith are going to pay for what they did to me."

Trick nodded. "Yeah, they are." There was a knocking at the door. "I'm running a computer check on every hotel, rooming house and youth hostel in town." Trick went to get a welder's glove. "Meanwhile, as soon as the sun goes down..." He pulled on the glove. "We're out in force." He walked toward the door. "Food's here, boys."

Trick opened the door, hiding behind it from the bright daylight outside.

A pizza man looked in. "You guys order a piz--"

Trick lunged out with his gloves arm, grabbing the pizza man by the shirt, yanking him inside, making the pizza fall to the floor along with the delivery man as he slammed the door shut, roaring, bending down for lunch.

∞

Summers House - Dining Room

Joyce was serving dinner to Hope and Faith. "So you're a Slayer and Guardian, too. Isn't that interesting? Do you like it?"

Joyce set down the bowl.

"God, we love it," Hope answered.

Buffy wanted the bowl. "Uh, Mom?"

Joyce waved her off. "Uh, just a second, honey." She scooped broccoli onto Faith and Hope's plates. "You know, Buffy and Brooke never talk that way. Or Brady as a hunter. Why do you love it?"

Buffy, Brooke and Brady grabbed some food themselves.

"Well, when we're fighting, it's like the whole world goes away and we only know one thing," Faith answered. "That we're gonna win and they're gonna lose. We like that feeling."

Faith and Hope started to eat. Joyce smiled, taking her seat.

"Well, sure," Brooke told them. "Beats that dead feeling you get when they win and you lose."

Hope shook her head. "I don't let that kind of negative thinking in."

Joyce pointed at Hope, shaking her finger. "Right, right. That could get you hurt. Buffy, Brooke and Brady can be awfully negative sometimes." She looked at her kids. "See, you gotta fight that."

Brady smiled back weakly, taking some fries. "We're working on it."

Joyce noticed Hope and Faith's empty glasses. "Hope, Faith, can I get you another soft drink?"

Hope and Faith handed over their glasses.

"Oh, you bet," Faith answered.

Joyce took the glasses. "Right."

Joyce stood to go into the kitchen.

Hope smiled. "She's really cool, huh?"

Buffy nodded. "Best mom ever. Excuse us. Brooke, Brady?"

Brooke and Brady looked up. Buffy nodded for them to follow her, walking into the kitchen. Brooke and Brady exchanged a look, standing, following Buffy.

∞

Kitchen

Joyce was getting out a bottle of cola, bringing it to the island, opening it, looking at her kids. "I like Hope and Faith."

Joyce poured the soda.

"They're very personable," Brooke told her. "They get along with our friends, our Watcher, Layla, our mom." She leaned back to look into the dining room. "Look, now they're getting along with our fries."

Joyce closed the soda bottle. "Now, kids..."

"This is creepy," Buffy told them.

Brady crossed his arms. "Nobody else thinks Hope and Faith are creepy."

"But they're not the ones getting single white femaled here," Buffy told them.

"You're being way over dramatic," Brady told her.

"Brady, we're just getting our lives back," Buffy told him. "You, me, Brooke, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen are finally getting back to hunting with Zoey and Eric, and hanging out with Willow, Xander, Cordelia, Oz, Zoey and Eric. And now Hope and Faith are here to share all of that?"

"Well, there are some things I'd be happy to see you share more," Joyce told them. "Like the slaying. Zoey and Eric have been doing so well even without you three, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen here, but they've been putting so much pressure on themselves to do it alone."

"Yeah, but they're not alone anymore," Brooke told her. "Buffy, Brady, Alice, Wyatt, Carmen and I are back. And Hope and Faith..."

Joyce looked at Buffy and Brooke. "They're a Guardian and Slayer just like you two and Alice. And all of you fighting together is a lot more safer, right?"

"Yeah," Brady answered.

"Unless, I mean, you heard them," Joyce told them. "Hope and Faith love the slaying. Zoey thinks the slaying is a rush. She loves it too. Couldn't they take over for you two? Alice, Wyatt, Carmen and Eric would still be able to help."

"Mom, no one can take over for us," Buffy told her.

"Buffy, you and Brady going to college next year," Joyce told her. "Brooke will be going the year after. I think it would be--"

"Mom, the only way you get new Slayers or Guardians is when the old ones die," Brooke explained.

This quickly registered in Joyce's mind. Brooke realized she had just said way too much.

"Then that means..." Joyce trailed off, upset, looking at Buffy and Brooke. "When did you die? You never told me you died."

"No, Buffy, Brooke and Alice died just for a few minutes," Brady assured. "Wyatt, Eric and I brought them back."

Joyce started to pace nervously. "Oh, I hate this. I hate your lives."

"Mom, we--" Buffy started.

Joyce turned to face them. "Buffy, Brooke, I--I know you didn't choose this, I know it chose you. And Brady chose to train and help because he never wanted either of you or Alice to get hurt again. I have tried to march in the 'Slayer/Guardian Pride' parade, but..." She was very solemn. "I don't want any of you to die." Buffy, Brooke and Brady gave their mother an embrace. "Oh..."

"We're not gonna die," Brooke told her. "We know how to do our job." They pulled away. "Besides, like you said, we've go help. A lot of it now."

Brady looked into the living room to see Faith and Hope eating, raising his eyebrows. "We've got all the help we can stand."

∞

Alley

Zoey, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen were in the middle of patrolling when Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Hope and Faith met up with them.

"Hey, guys," Hope told them. "You been out here long?"

"For quite a while, actually," Zoey answered.

"Double checking this street," Alice told them.

"Double checking?" Faith repeated.

"Yeah," Wyatt answered, being sarcastic but honest. "Funny thing about vamps. They'll hit a street even after you've been there. It's like they have no manners."

Hope shrugged. "Mm. You've been doing this the longest."

"Yeah, Wyatt has, for over a century," Eric agreed.

Faith chuckled. "That's a little too long for me."

They smirked.

"Did you already hit the cemeteries?" Buffy asked.

"All 12," Carmen answered. "Split up to do so."

Brooke gave them a look. "We told you to wait for us."

"Yeah, but you know we can take care of ourselves," Zoey replied.

"Still, better to be safe than sorry," Brady told them.

"Did you run into Bianca?" Buffy asked.

"Not yet," Alice answered. "Bianca's been avoiding us."

They walked around a corner, running into Bianca as they did.

Bianca sighed, tilting her head. "Apparently not good enough." She looked at Zoey, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen. "I thought you guys would be done for tonight and that they wouldn't have to hunt tonight since you were out here."

"Sorry for the inconvenience," Brady told her sarcastically.

Bianca looked at Faith and Hope in confusion. "Who are they?"

"New Slayer and Guardian," Eric answered. "Bianca, this is Faith and Hope."

Bianca eyed Faith and Hope, a little awkward. "Right. Hi, Hope. Hi, Faith."

"What happened to you avoiding?" Faith asked. "Seems like a good thing to me."

"Don't talk about things you don't understand," Brooke told them.

"What's there to understand?" Hope asked. "Bianca's a vampire."

"You got a problem?" Bianca asked.

Wyatt and Carmen looked from Hope to Bianca as if they could see something the others couldn't, exchanging a look of surprise. "Uh-oh."

Faith spread her arms. "We're five by five, Bianca. Living entirely large, actually wondering why they haven't killed you yet."

"We told you," Wyatt told them. "She has a soul. Zoey and Layla gave it to Bianca and Angel."

"Yeah, that's the thing I still don't get," Hope admitted. "Having a soul, does it stop her from being the monster that killed the last Guardian Sofia, and tried to kill Brady, Brooke, Alice and Wyatt, or let Angel torment Zoey, Layla, Carmen and the others?"

"Yeah, actually it does," Zoey answered. "She was sick before she turned into a vampire. Back off."

"All vampires are sick, Z," Faith told her.

"No, she means actual sickness," Buffy corrected.

"Bianca had cancer and brain tumors that melted her brain until she turned into a vampire, and her brother manipulated her into doing things to betray us in order to turn so they could both live," Brady explained.

"After Zoey and Layla gave Bianca her soul back, Eric and Willow have been casting spells in order to heal her so she's not so..." Brooke trailed off.

"It's okay, Brooke, you can say insane," Bianca told her, being half sarcastic.

"Okay, crazy," Alice agreed. "But she's been trying to make amends since then."

Hope looked moved by this, a little more understanding but mostly still confused and lost. "Sure."

Faith was not the least convinced. "Whatever."

"Hope, Faith, I got an idea," Bianca told them. "How about from now on, you two don't come at me for things of the past or anything else involving me in my life. Which, by the way, is my life."

"What are you getting so strung out for, Bianca?" Hope asked.

"Why are your lips still moving, Hope?" Bianca replied.

"Did I just hear a threat?" Hope asked in amusement.

"Would you like to?" Bianca replied.

"All right, enough, guys," Eric told them.

Hope laughed lightly. "Wow. Think you can take me? Vampire with a soul, madness and Guardian powers."

"Yeah," Bianca answered. She looked behind the others. "I just hope they can't."

The others looked at Bianca in confusion.

Bianca pushed Hope aside to safety as Vampire 1 attacked, making her fall into Faith and making them fall to the ground, punching Vampire 1 in the gut, making him fall onto his back.

Vampire 2 punched toward Eric. Eric ducked. Vampire 2 tried to punch him two more times, and Eric blocked with both of his arms each time, punching him in the face and the gut, taking his head in both hands, twisting, making him fall to the ground.

Vampire 3 and Vampire 4 tried to punch Zoey. Zoey caught both their wrists before they could high five, twisting their arms around to make them spin around and lean forward with their backs to her as she put their arms in an arm lock, breaking both their arms, shoving them to the ground.

Faith and Hope stood.

"Willow wasn't kidding when she said Z was being humble," Faith stated, amused and impressed.

Vampire 5 ran closer punching Brooke in the face, circling around her. Brooke waved her arms to create a powerful burst of red energy, throwing it into Vampire 5 to burn him alive, making him fall to ash.

Alice waved her arms to throw bursts of red energy to throw into Vampires 6 and 7 to burn them out of existence and make them fall into ash.

Buffy smashed Vampire 8's head with a trashcan, blinding him. She took hold of the can, pushing him into a sheet of drywall. The board broke, falling on top of him as he fell over.

Vampire 9 ran toward Brady. Brady rolled out of the way, onto his feet, spinning around to kick him in the stomach, making him back away, making him hit his head hard into a low pipe behind him.

Hope was standing still, using her power by waving her arms, leaving trails of red energy in the air, throwing five vampires through the air, ripping them apart slowly with red energy, making them scream in agony as she was tearing them apart and killing them.

Without looking, Wyatt flicked a finger toward Vampire 10, using his power to make him fall unconscious, creating a magical fire that burned the vampire alive.

Carmen used her power to freeze Vampire 11, levitating into the air, flipping through the air to kick Vampire 11 in the head, knocking him down, flipping into a crouch, using telekinesis to throw Vampire 11 into wood sticking out of the building next to them, piercing his heart, making him explode into ashes.

As Vampire 1 continued to try and attack Bianca, Bianca used bursts of red Guardian energy to block the moves, grabbing Vampire 1 with the energy, spinning to throw him into the wall, ripping her hands apart so that she could tear him into ashes.

Vampire 2 stood behind Eric, throwing him into a stack of plywood, making him hit the wall behind it and fall to the ground. Eric quickly stood. Vampire 2 jumped onto the stack of plywood. Eric kicked up into his stomach, using a blast of yellow magic to make him flip back and land on a dumpster hard on his back before he rolled off and fell to the ground. Eric staked him in the heart to kill him, making him burst into ashes.

Vampire 12 punched Faith in the face.

Faith wasn't fazed, blocking two punches with her forearms, backhand punching him in the face. "My dead mother hits harder than that!"

Faith grabbed him by the sweater, throwing him onto a couple of sheets of drywall laid across two sawhorses, breaking them instantly under his weight, running up to him, grabbing his sweater, continuously punching him in the face.

Buffy flipped Vampire 8 in an awkward open front layout, making him land hard on a large duct pipe, making the pipe crush under him.

Zoey took off her gypsy necklace, causing her necklace and hands to glow purple, creating a loop of magic out of purple gypsy energy, swinging it around Vampire 3's head to lock it around his neck, tightening it around his throat, spinning around to throw him into the wall, then turning around to throw him into the ground, making the magic loop burn into Vampire 3's neck enough to where she could rip his head off, making his head and body fall into ashes, as she let the loop fade and caught her breath.

As Vampire 4 tried to jump Zoey from behind, Brooke caught him using her red Guardian energy, using it to throw Vampire 4 into a wall with a wave of her arms, making her fall. Vampire 4 jumped up to attack Brooke. Brooke used red energy to catch his foot before being kicked, waving her arms to throw him away into the ground, circling her arms in the air and pulling them apart, using the red energy to rip the vampire apart, making him burst into ashes.

Vampire 13 pushed Alice into a building, trying to bite into her. Alice used red energy to block and shield herself, releasing a small scream of red energy to throw him away, using enough red energy to make him explode.

Wyatt went to go set a vampire on fire, but was surprised when instead his magic had caused the vampire to explode on a molecular level, killing him all the same. "Okay. Either I got the new power of the year or I just found a power I didn't realize I had before."

Hope used red energy to bring five vampires to their knees with a burst of her power in the middle of her hands, spinning it around to break the ground underneath the vampires, throwing them through the broken ground very deep into the underground, ripping her hands away from each other to rip the vampires to ashes as she did.

Faith was whaling away on her vampire with continuous punches to the face.

"Faith!" Hope told her. "Stake him already!"

Carmen used telekinesis to throw a vampire into the wall, using a two by four to hit him over the head, making him fall, jabbing the wood through his chest to kill him, watching him explode into ashes.

Vampire 9 tried to punch Brady. Brady ducked, staking him in the side to distract him, making him roar in anger as he tried to attack Brady. Brady ducked, slashing the stake at the vampire, but Vampire 9 ducked. Brady shoved him back into a building. Vampire 9 grabbed Brady by his jacket, throwing him to the ground, making him land on his stomach. Vampire 9 grabbed Brady, pushing him to the ground, keeping him pinned against the wall behind him.

Buffy's attacker grabbed Buffy from behind, holding her in a chokehold.

Faith kept whaling on her victim. "This is me--" She punched him. "You un--" She punched him. "Dead--" She punched him. "Bastard!"

"For Kakistos, we live," Vampire 9 told them. "For Kakistos, you'll die!"

Zoey, Brooke, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen, Hope and Bianca turned to see Faith still whaling on her vampire, and Buffy and Brady in a dire situation.

∞∞

Carmen, still having the two by four, used it to hit Vampire 9 over the head to make him let go of Brady and fall to the ground.

Faith kept punching her vampire.

Alice, Brooke, Bianca and Hope used their powers to throw away the vampires that had almost gotten the best of Brady and Buffy, exchanging a look as they let the power fade.

Brady grabbed the two by four from Carmen, swinging it up at Vampire 9 in the face, staking him in the heart to kill him and crumble him into ash.

Buffy staked the vampire that had attacked her in the heart, making him explode into ash.

"You guys all right?" Brooke asked worriedly.

"Yeah," Buffy answered.

"Fine," Brady told them.

"Faith!" Zoey told her. "Hope, what's wrong with your sister?"

Hope sighed, walking toward Faith.

Faith was still whaling on the vampire, long after he was too dazed to fight back. "You--" She punched him. "Can't--" She punched him. "Touch--" She punched him. "Me!"

Faith shook the vampire a bit, going back to punching him.

"Faith!" Hope told her, but knowing that she wasn't going to stop, waved her arms to use red Guardian energy to pull Faith off of the vampire, and to use it to rip the vampire into pieces with a thought.

Alice looked at Faith. "What is wrong with you?"

"What are you talking about?" Faith asked.

"About you 'living large' on that vampire," Eric answered.

"Gee, if doing violence to vampires upsets you..." Faith trailed off, giving Bianca a significant look. "I think you're in the line of work, guys."

Bianca rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

Wyatt looked at Faith. "Yeah, or maybe you like it a little too much. And you, Hope. We saw the way you tortured those vamps before killing them. You may not as take forever like Faith, but you could easily lose yourselves in torturing anything like that, even vampires."

"And lay off of Bianca, okay?" Carmen asked. "She helped us kill all those vampires, and saved Hope and Faith's lives, in case you didn't notice."

Bianca sighed. "Thanks, Carmen."

"Yeah, I noticed," Hope answered. "Didn't ever think there would be a vampire that would help us out with killing other vampires. Or saving me or Faith. So thanks, Bianca."

Bianca bit her lip. "Whatever, Hope."

"I was getting the job done too," Faith told them.

"The job is to slay demons," Alice told her. "Not beat them to a bloody pulp while their friends corner your friends."

"You, Zoey, Brooke, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen and Bianca seemed to be doing pretty damn good job themselves, Alice," Faith replied. "Buffy and Brady had a tough break, but they got through it. And I know Hope always got it handled."

"Whatever," Bianca told them. "I'm gonna go. Gotta get in before the sun rises." She spoke sarcastically. "Thanks for the group outing."

"Bianca..." Zoey trailed off.

Shaking her head, Bianca walked away, as the others watched her go. Hope and Faith were still kinda skeptic of her, but Hope was curious. The others were exasperated with Faith.

∞

Day Four

Morning - Sunnydale High School - Library

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen were explaining to Giles and Layla about the night before.

"What you must realize is that Hope and Faith have a very different temperament," Giles told them, taking a sip of his coffee.

"Yeah, and it's not a sane one," Zoey told him. Layla couldn't help a chuckle. "The girls are not playing with a full deck, Giles. She has almost no deck. She has three."

"You said yourselves that Faith killed one and Hope's killed at least 12 that you've seen," Layla pointed out. 

"Faith was whaling hard on a vampire and would not stake him," Carmen told them. "Hope... she was so brutal with killing groups of vampires at a time. Ripping them apart slowly and sending them into the ground six feet under before she killed some."

"They're just plucky fighters who got a little carried away," Giles told them. "Which is natural. They're focused on the slaying. They don't have a whole other life here."

"They don't need a life," Buffy told them. "They have ours."

"What are you talking about?" Alice asked.

"Come on, Alice," Brooke told her. "You know it as well as we do that they're more interesting than we are and that they're getting more attention and friends and--"

Brady rolled his eyes. "Here we go again."

Eric smirked in amusement. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. Are you seriously--"

"Yes, we are seriously, Eric," Buffy told him.

"Hope had our backs, but Faith almost got Buffy and Brady killed," Wyatt told them. "Bianca's not the only one in town that needs help now. I think Hope and Faith do too."

"All right," Layla agreed. "Rupert, can you see if you can reach their Watcher at the retreat?"

Alice nodded. "Yes, please. I mean, they're eight hours ahead now. I guess they're probably sitting down to a nightcap."

Giles stared off into space. "I wonder if they still kayak. I used to love a good kayak." Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen became very bored, which caused Alice and Layla to smirk in amusement. "You see, they don't even consider..." Giles saw their bored looks. "Sorry. I digress."

"What about the vampires that attacked?" Brooke asked. "They were way too well organized."

"And they had a lot of them," Carmen agreed. "I don't think they were local."

"Well, what do you remember?" Layla asked. "Ancient or modern clothes? Amulets, cultish tattoos?"

"Uh, no tattoos," Wyatt answered.

"Crappy dressers, but yeah, kinda old school," Eric answered.

Brady remembered something. "Oh, the one that nearly bit me mentioned something about kissing toast." A spark of recognition appeared on Alice, Wyatt and Giles's faces. "He lived for kissing toast."

"You mean, 'Kakistos'?" Alice asked.

Zoey shrugged. "Maybe it was taquitos. Maybe he lived for taquitos." She looked at the others. "What?"

"Kakistos," Wyatt answered.

Carmen frowned. "Is that bad?"

Giles walked toward his office.

Alice sighed. "Kakistos is Greek. It means the worst of the worst."

"It's also the name of a vampire so old that his hands and feet are cloven," Wyatt explained.

Giles walked into his office, walking out with a book, setting it on the counter, leafing through it.

"Now this guy shows up two days ago, right?" Brooke asked. "Right around the same time Hope and Faith make the scene."

"You think he, Hope and Faith are connected?" Eric asked.

"Eric, there are two things that I don't believe in," Buffy told him. "Coincidence and leprechauns."

"Well, it's entirely possible that he arrived here by chance the same  same time Hope and Faith did," Layla told them.

"Okay, but was she right about the leprechauns?" Zoey asked.

Giles thought for a moment. "As far as I know, yes."

"Good," Brady stated. "Okay, you get England on the phone. Someone's gotta talk to Hope and Faith, see if 'khaki trousers' rings..."

"Kakistos," Alice corrected.

"Kakistos rings a bell," Brady told them.

"Or an alarm," Zoey agreed.

"I think Buffy, Brooke and Alice should go," Eric told them. "Some Guardian and Slayer talk."

Zoey nodded in agreement. "Yeah, that sounds right."

"But what if Kakistos is here in town for Hope and Faith?" Buffy asked. "I mean, that explains the army of vamps last night."

"He could be out to kill Hope and Faith," Brooke agreed.

"Then you go to talk to them," Carmen answered. "And Zoey, Brady, Eric, Wyatt and I'll be nearby in case you need any help. Whatever happened last night, Hope and Faith need help."

"Even if they don't want to admit it," Wyatt agreed.

"Right," Zoey agreed.

"Right," Buffy agreed.

Buffy, Brooke and Alice walked out together.

"The older a vampire is, the more dangerous he is, the more powerful," Giles explained. "Which means that Guardian powers or standard witch powers might not be able to kill him on their own."

"Not a vampire as old as Kakistos," Wyatt agreed.

"Then let's go," Brady told them.

Zoey, Brady, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen walked out together.

Layla watched them go worriedly. "You think they'll be okay?"

"I have no doubt in my mind, as long as they're together," Giles answered.

Layla sighed. "I have to get to work soon. Just wish there was more I could do."

"Layla, you do more than you need to," Giles told her. "But I understand the feeling of wanting, or needing, to do more."

∞

Hallway

Carmen was walking.

Scott approached her. "Hi."

Carmen was surprised to see him. "Scott."

"How are you?" Scott asked.

"Uh, okay," Carmen answered. "You know, I--I gotta..."

"I know, be somewhere else, right?" Scott asked. "Think of this as my last ditch effort. I realize that one more is gonna qualify as stalking. I've given it a lot of thought, some might say too much thought, to--to how I might be a part of your life. It beings with conversation. We all know this. Maybe over a cup of coffee, or maybe at the Buster Keaton festival playing on State Street all this weekend."

Carmen found this very sweet, smiling a bit. "You know, come to think of it, I--I don't think I've given a fair chance to... Buster Keaton. I--I like what I've seen of him so far. I--I think it might be time to see a little more."

Scott took a deep breath before releasing it, smiling. "Keaton is key." He reached into his pocket. "Um, I got you a little present." He pulled out a small box. "The guy in the retro shop said that it represents friendship, and that's something I would very much like to have with you." Carmen took the box, looking up at him, and then back at the box. She took off the lid, looking at what was inside, shocked to see that it was a Claddaugh ring. "You like?"

Carmen immediately had an anxiety attack, dropping the box, as the ring fell free of its padding and hit the floor with an echoing clink. "I can't." Zoey walked into the hall, just in time to see the ring fall, and seeing that it was the same ring that Angel had given to Carmen in 2.13, knowing why it upset her so much since Zoey had been there when Angel had given it to her on the dock before Angel had lost his soul and everything was ruined, concerned and worried for her best friend. "I-I-I-I can't do this."

Scott bent down to pick up the box and the ring, looking at her and then at the ring. "Okay, I get the message."

Scott walked away.

Carmen stood there as if in a trance.

Zoey walked closer, reaching out to her. "Carmen? Are you okay?"

Carmen looked up. "Uh, Zoey... I, uh..." She wiped a tear. "Yeah, I'm fine." Zoey was not fooled, giving Carmen a reassuring, comforting hug. Carmen sighed in relief, returning the embrace. "I could never fool you."

Zoey shook her head in agreement. "Never. It's okay, Carmen."

They pulled away.

Carmen took a deep breath. "Please, just take my mind off of it."

Zoey looked at her sadly in sympathy, but knew they had more to worry about at the moment. "Giles reached the retreat."

"What--what did Hope and Faith's Watcher say?" Carmen asked.

"Their Watcher's dead," Zoey explained. Carmen stared in disbelief. "We have to tell the others. Hope and Faith are in a lot more trouble than we realized."

Carmen nodded in agreement.

∞

Night - Motel - Hope/Faith's Room

The motel manager was having a talk with Hope and Faith. "The room's 18 dollars a day. That's every day."

"Yeah, we know," Hope told him. "We'll get it to you by tomorrow, I swear."

The manager sighed, shrugging. "It's not like I own the place."

Faith gave a sly smile. "But I bet you will someday."

"Not if I listen to broads like you," the manager replied.

Buffy, Brooke and Alice appeared at the door, stepping inside.

"We're visiting," Buffy told him.

The manager walked out of the room. Brooke closed the door behind him.

"So what brings you to the poor side of town?" Faith asked.

"Cloven guy," Brooke told them. "Goes by he name Kakistos."

Hope was taken aback. "What do you know about Kakistos?"

"That he's here," Alice answered. The looks on Hope and Faith's faces betrayed their apprehension at hearing this. "We're not happy to see old friends, are we? What did he do to you two?"

Hope quickly grabbed her bag. "It's what we did to him, all right?"

Hope and Faith both started to pack.

"And what was that?" Buffy asked. "Hope, Faith, you came here for a reason. We can help."

Faith looked at them. "You can mind your own business. We're the ones that can handle this."

Brooke nodded. "Yeah, you're real badasses when it comes to packing."

"You don't know us," Hope told them. "You don't know what we've been through."

"Look, I know that vampires as old as Kakistos, they're not easily dealt with by a stake, or by Guardian power, or even witch or gypsy power," Alice told them. "But if we work together, we can defeat him together."

"We'll take care of this, all right?" Hope asked.

Faith and Hope walked toward the door.

"Like he took care of your Watcher?" Buffy asked. Hope and Faith both stopped cold, looking sad, before turning to Buffy, Brooke and Alice. "He killed her, didn't he?"

"They don't have a word for what he did to her," Faith told them.

There was a knock at the door.

Hope looked through the peephole, seeing that it was the manager, looking very strung out. "Oh, what now?"

"Hope, Faith, you run, he runs after you," Brooke told them.

"That's where the head start comes in handy," Faith told them.

Hope opened the door, seeing Kakistos standing behind the dead manager, holding it up. Hope backed away toward the other girls in shock. Many vampires were behind Kakistos.

Kakistos dropped the manager's body, smiling. "Hope. Faith."

∞∞

Kakistos roared, grabbing Hope and Faith by the necks. They tried to fight him off but he was too strong, and Hope's Guardian power was not enough to hurt him.

"No!" Faith grunted.

Brooke and Alice, combining their powers with Hope's as all three Guardians attacked Kakistos with their red energy, sent Kakistos stumbling out of the motel room. Buffy slammed the door on his arm. Kakistos yelled in anger and pain, having to pull his arm out. Buffy slammed the door shut, locking it, putting on the safety chain.

Alice used Guardian energy to put up a barricade in front of the door. "I just bought us a little more..." Kakistos punched through the door, trying to reach for them. "Time!"

Faith panicked, screaming. "No! No!"

"Scream later!" Buffy told them. "Escape now!"

Alice, Brooke and Hope used their Guardian powers to make a small burst in the wall so they could run out with Buffy and Faith.

∞

Alley

Buffy, Faith, Alice, Brooke and Hope ran into the alley, but ended up surrounded by vampires.

Zoey, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen walked closer, using their combined powers (purple, yellow, black/blue and light blue respectively) to throw all of the vampires to the ground. 

Brady ran closer to help, tossing a stake to both Buffy and Faith, keeping one for himself. Buffy and Faith caught their stakes in relief.

While Zoey, Wyatt, Carmen, Alice, Brooke and Hope all used their powers to rip vampires apart, Eric, Buffy, Brady and Faith all staked one, making them burst into ashes, but more were coming.

Zoey led them away. "Come on, this way!"

"Let's go!" Brady told them.

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen, Hope and Faith ran down the alley, as the vampires were pushing them toward a warehouse.

Wyatt used his explosion power to knock down the wall to let them inside.

∞

Kakistos's Warehouse

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen, Hope and Faith turned to look out of the hole in the wall that Wyatt had created, watching the vampires that had been chasing them run right past.

"We're okay," Eric told them. He looked at Hope and Faith. "What happened?"

Hope and Faith were too freaked out to think straight, frightened and shaken up.

"Hope, Faith, what happened?" Wyatt asked.

"We--we were there when he killed our Watcher," Hope answered. "And we saw what he did to her, what he was gonna do to us. And we tried to stop him, and we got close to killing him, but all we could do was blind him in one of his eyes."

"We couldn't kill him," Faith told them. "And we ran."

"Hope, Faith, first rule of slaying?" Buffy asked. "Don't die. You did the right thing, okay?"

"You didn't die," Carmen told them. "Now you do the math. His weaker vampires, we can deal with no problem."

"And he might be stronger than you can handle on your own, but you're not alone," Zoey told them. "There's one of him, and ten of us."

Hope looked past them, shaking her head. "No."

"Yes," Brooke told them.

"No," Hope repeated.

They turned around to see what she was looking at, seeing the bodies of the pizza man and many others. They were waking up as vampires.

"This is his place," Alice realized.

"He drove us here," Brady told them.

"Get ready for another army of vampires situation," Wyatt told them.

"Right," Eric agreed, taking out his crossbow. "Glad I brought this then."

More vampires walked in through the busted out wall, as the newbie vampires were starting to get up.

Carmen tilted her head. "Oh, come on."

The group began running through the warehouse, and the vampires gave chase.

Buffy stopped by a bucket, putting her foot in, kicking it into Vampire 1's face, making him stumble backward and over a chair. She did a full spinning hook kick to Vampire 2 and a side kick to Vampire 1 behind her, making her fall backward over a table, using her stake to stake them both cleanly.

Zoey ran toward a table, jumping onto it, log rolling over it to kick Vampire 3 in the stomach, making him fall. She rolled up to stand on the table, picking up a crowbar, swinging it like a baseball to hit Vampire 4 in the face, hitting her in the neck, knocking her down and out. She used her gypsy power to throw Vampire 3 and Vampire 4 against the wall, picking up two pieces of wood from the table, throwing them into both of their hearts to kill them with bursts of dust. 

Kakistos walked into the building, his one eyed gaze fixed on Hope and Faith, advancing on them while they were fighting.

Zoey noticed. "Faith! Hope! Don't die!"

Zoey tossed her crowbar to Faith.

Faith caught the crowbar, but before she could swing it at Kakistos, he punched her hard and knocked her into a bunch of large wooden beams leaning against the wall. Faith hit the floor as the beams went tumbling. Hope, Brooke and Alice used their Guardian energy to shield Faith from the beams before they could crush Faith, keeping her alive.

Trick walked in calmly, vamped out, nodding his head, observing the fight.

Brady knife handed his attacker vampire in the neck, throwing him into an assisted front tuck to the floor, staking him in the heart, dusting him.

A vampire lunged at Eric. Eric ducked, doing a roundhouse kick to knock the legs out from underneath him, shooting an arrow from his crossbow right into his heart to kill him, dusting him. As Eric was reloading the crossbow, another vampire tried to attack him, but Eric used a burst of yellow power to throw him back, staking him in the heart with his usual stake, turning to shoot another vampire with an arrow from the crossbow to kill them both. The two arrows that Eric had used to kill the vampires were now lying on the floor after the vampires had turned to dust.

A vampire tried to knock Carmen to the ground. Carmen levitated into the air to make him miss, doing a backflip through the air, thrusting her arm to the side to use telekinesis to throw the vampire onto a table, freezing him in place before he could get up, magically taking one of Eric's arrows from the ground where it was left after he had killed a vampire, letting herself glide down to stand on the table so that she could stake the vampire in the heart with the arrow, making him burst into ashes underneath her.

A vampire tried to attack Brooke. Brooke did a horizontal flip through the air over him to make him miss, landing on her feet on the other side, waving her hand to create a sphere of red Guardian energy in front of her, thrusting it into the vampire as he turned to face her, ripping her apart with the red energy as his ashes were sent flying through the air behind him as she did.

Wyatt created a line of fire on the ground to make vampires back away, but they all dodged the fire. Wyatt released a breath of ice onto the closest vampire to freeze him in place with ice, making an explosion gesture with his hand to explode the next vampire into ashes, waving his other hand to turn another vampire into ashes by disintegration like he did many times before, creating a twirl of rocks around his fingertips, twirling them around, forming them bigger into a boulder to wrap around another vampire, making them unable to move and fall to the ground, trapped, using fire to kill the two that he had trapped within ice and the boulder.

Another vampire tried to attack Alice. Alice used her Guardian energy to block him, shooting the red energy to shoot into his chest, throwing him down to send him flipping back to the floor, ripping her hands away from each other to rip him into pieces.

Overwhelmed with the fear and need to survive, amplifying her powers, Hope waved her arms to create a powerful burst of red energy, throwing it into five vampires to burn them alive, making them fall to ash with ease, but hard to control due to her emotional state.

Kakistos calmly stepped up to Faith as she scrambled up against the wall, cowering. He reached down to grab her by the shirt, picking her up off of the floor.

"No!" Faith told him.

Once Kakistos had her up, he punched Faith in the face, hitting her hard enough to knock her from his own grip onto the floor.

Hope saw this, worried about her sister. "Faith!"

Hope used red energy to levitate herself closer, to attack Kakistos, spinning in the air to kick him in the head, spinning around to try and backhand him in the head, but Kakistos caught her arm, turning to throw her to the floor. Hope stood, spinning to backhand him in the face.

Trick walked up to one of the only remaining vampires. "If we don't do something, the master could get killed." He considered that for a moment, deciding that wouldn't be such a bad thing. "Well, our prayers are with him." Trick and the vampire turned to leave. Hope was trying and failing to rip Kakistos apart with Guardian energy. Kakistos grabbed Hope by the hair, lifting her up and throwing her back to the floor next to Faith. Trick looked at the vampire as they were leaving. "There's a reason these vengeance crusades are out of style. It's the modern vampire who sees the bigger picture."

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Eric, Wyatt and Carmen, having finished the other vampires, ran over to help Hope and Faith.

Kakistos looked at Hope and Faith mockingly. "The Slayer and Guardian need all of this help to get rid of me?"

Kakistos laughed mockingly, cackling insanely.

Zoey, Brooke, Alice, Eric, Wyatt, Carmen and Hope looked at each other knowingly, as Hope rose up to her feet. With combined power of purple gypsy from Zoey, red energy from Brooke, Alice and Hope, yellow from Eric, black/blue from Wyatt, and light blue from Carmen, they all focused all of their power onto Kakistos, yelling as they were burning and ripping him apart, making him scream as he was getting weaker. Faith found a beam that was broken at the end, lifting it up over her shoulder, thrusting it through his chest and out his back through his heart. Kakistos exploded into ashes.

Buffy and Brady stared in amazement.

They all looked around to make sure nothing else was about to attack, looking at the pile of ash left by Kakistos.

"You hungry?" Brady asked.

"Starving," Eric answered.

"My treat," Zoey told them.

They all walked out together.

∞

Day Five

Morning - Sunnydale High School - Library

Zoey, Buffy, Brooke, Alice and Wyatt were talking with Giles and Layla.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't help last night," Layla told them.

"You take too much guilt for not being able to help, Layla, while you're saving lives at the hospital," Brooke pointed out. "Sunnydale needs a doctor like you saving lives."

"Yeah, don't feel bad," Zoey agreed.

"The Council has approved our request," Giles explained. "Hope and Faith are to stay here indefinitely." He nodded to Buffy, Brooke and Alice. "I'm to look after you all until a new Watcher is assigned."

"Good," Buffy told them. "Hope and Faith really came through in the end. They had a lot to deal with, but they did it. They got it behind them."

"I'm glad, too," Wyatt told them. "They needed the help."

"And we can help them," Alice told them. "I believe that. Hope and Faith don't have to be alone anymore either. Like Zoey and Eric don't have to defend the town alone anymore. Just wish that Bianca realized that she doesn't have to do things alone anymore either."

They all nodded in agreement.

∞

Hallway

Scott walked out of a class.

Carmen saw him as she was walking. "Scott."

Scott stopped. "Uh, hello."

"Hey," Carmen greeted. "Uh, I was, um, I was hoping to talk to you."

Scott nodded. "Oh. Um, why?"

Carmen took a deep breath. "Um... there was someone a while ago, and, uh, the ring sort of confused me. But I liked what you said about friendship. I liked it a lot. And Buster Keaton. Big fun. And I'm capable of big fun even though there's no earthly way you could possibly know that about me. Wow. If I knew I was gonna go on this long, I probably would've brought some water. Uh, what I'm trying to say is, um.... if you would still like to go to the film festival, and I would understand if you didn't... I'd pretty much love to go with you."

Scott looked around awkwardly. "Uh, I don't know, Carmen. I'm--I'm really gonna have to think about this." Carmen nodded in understanding. Scott started down the hall for a few steps, stopped, and immediately came back. "Okay, you know what, I thought about it, and I'm in. When do you want to go?"

Carmen couldn't help a small smile. "Uh, well, I have on thing that I have to do tonight with my friends, and then I'm good."

Scott smiled. "Good."

Carmen nodded, walking away.

∞

Angel's Mansion

Bianca slowly walked into the room where Acathla had been placed in 2.22, when Angel and Bianca had been in battle against Buffy, Brooke, Brady, Alice, Wyatt and Carmen. She looked sort of upset to finally come back into this room after months of not walking in. She sat down where Acathla had been set up, letting red Guardian energy dance along her skin to try to distract herself. She waved her arms around aimlessly, leaving trails of red Guardian energy in the air around her, flashing back to the fight and the death of Angel. The camera showed Bianca from above at a high angle, giving a good view of the cavernous room lit up with Bianca's red Guardian energy as she was making a beautiful show of the power in order to distract herself and make herself feel better about being alone.

A moment later, a bright beam of light started to illuminate Bianca and the red energy around her, causing Bianca to be very surprised and suspicious, as the beam got more and more intense, and the room started to vibrate. Bianca realized that she was unintentionally doing this, trying to stop the red Guardian energy and the beam of light, but it continued as if on its own, opening a dimensional portal above Bianca and the red energy, as Bianca watched in utter shock. Suddenly the room was awash with a blindingly bright white light emanating from he portal above her. A body fell through and hit the stone floor hard in front of Bianca, in the spot where Angel had been killed in front of Acathla, while Bianca remained in the spot where Acathla had been. The portal closed, causing the light to fade and the red energy in the air to disappear.

Bianca didn't know if this was real or if it was her mind playing tricks on her, closing her eyes. "This isn't real. This isn't real." She opened her eyes, only to find that it was real, and the man lying in front of her was naked. The man was unsteady as he tried to get up, but he was too weak to do more than lift his head, revealing his face to Bianca. Bianca was absolutely shocked to see who it was. "Angel?"

Angel looked very dazed, more animalistic than human. His breathing was shallow and labored, and he shivered violently as he looked up at Bianca in front of him.