Author's notes: Here's the final chapter. Thanks to everyone who took the time to check out a somewhat unusual crossover. I appreciated the comments (and the heads-up on some typos. Whoops!) :)

And now we try to put the pieces back together:

---

Willow sat on the floor of her room with her back against the bed and feet flopped out in front of her. She twiddled a hair-band in her fingers as Xander practiced his rusty braiding skills. It had been ages since they had spent an evening in front of a small TV, with nothing stretching ahead of them but a night of girl-talk (people-talk, Willow quickly amended in her head), and she felt a comfortable warmth in her stomach. Her friendship with Xander had been feeling a bit stretched at the seams lately. At least now she knew why. The world was slowly getting back on track.

Willow looked in the hand-held mirror with approval. "You're getting better. Next time, we'll learn the French braid."

Xander let the braid flop on her back. "Remind me again why you locked me in your room?"

Willow responded pragmatically. "Because you were freaking out over spending smoochy time with a certain silver-haired guy we know. So consider yourself officially shanghaied until you give in and talk to me about it."

"Oh yeah. That."

"You don't want to talk. I get it. We can just watch another Disney movie." She flicked on the TV and started scrounging through the DVD pile.

"For the love of puppies, woman. No more singing mermaids. I'll talk, I'll talk."

She set the DVD down with a triumphant grin, only to have her grin fall seconds later as the TV segued to a breaking news report. A heavily made-up reporter was relaying the latest news with a gleam for ratings in her eye. "—people found dead in Sunnydale. The bodies appeared to have been sliced with a large blade. Reports are trickling in about a young teen with silver hair leaving the scene…"

The two stared in shock as a passable likeness of Kadaj flashed up on the screen.

"I don't think we'll be having that talk, " Xander muttered dumbstruck.

"I think we need that talk more than ever," Willow said wide-eyed. She hugged her knees in her arms. "Yazoo's brother. The guy you…. The guy I…."

Xander stared at the screen not saying a word, which was unusual enough to cause Willow to grow concerned. "Xander, stay with me. Hold it together."

She put a hand on his shoulder but could feel his body tense up at her touch. Dropping her hand, she backed away to give him space. She chewed on her lip. She felt like she was in over her head and she wasn't sure what to do.

Buffy was going to kill the brothers. That was a given. And Kadaj deserved it, there was no doubt in her mind.

"I never liked that guy," she said out loud. "But Yazoo…" She wasn't exactly sure how she felt about him. But there was no denying her feelings had softened since their first meeting.

Xander finally tore his eyes from the news report. They were steely.

"Buffy can't kill Yazoo if I kill him first."

She shrank back from the venom in his voice. She could understand the feeling. She could. They'd spent their lives battling evil and now it was right in front of them, by their - well, not her side, but Xander's, at least. But she also remembered Yazoo standing in this very room, saying, " I want to save him from being hurt."

She trod carefully. "I don't think Yazoo was involved. They said a sword, right?"

Xander slammed his hand down on the desk. She flinched at the barely restrained rage in his movements. His laugh verged on hysteria. "Not involved? Not involved? Those guys even admitted it. They're three of one. From the same person. Whatever the hell that means. If Kadaj did this, Yazoo was involved."

Willow's mind went into overdrive, as it was wont to do in times of crisis. She'd been working through the idea of a Lifestream in her head – a flow of energy around the planet where people went when they died. While it had its share of the creep factor, it also seemed more tangible - closer at hand - than their own version of Heaven. It could be construed as comforting… in Opposite World, she guessed.

The rest got a little murkier. These three were from the Lifestream, the spirit of one guy, brought back as three schisms of his personality. But just because they came from the same place, that didn't mean they stayed that way. She tried to think of the right way to approach it with Xander. She went for bluntness.

"Yazoo came here last night."

Xander's head shot up in alarm. "Did he hurt you? I'll kill him if he laid a finger on you."

"No," she soothed. "He came because he said they had to go back. To their own planet. And because… because he was worried about you."

Xander snorted. "That's a laugh. This is how he shows he cares? Like a cat bringing home a dead bird for its owner?" He paused. "And I think I just totally freaked myself out there."

"You're missing my point."

"Point?" He bit the word out, but she knew the anger wasn't directed at her.

"Xander, he came here alone. The time he spent with you, doing," she coughed delicately, "you know - he was alone. His brothers weren't there. They may have started as 'three of one' but they grew. They all had their own experiences. They each changed in their own ways."

"Will, don't tell me you're sticking up for Yazoo." Conflicting feelings raced across his face and fought for dominance: relief, anger, betrayal… hope…

"Well, I don't know him that well… Probably nobody really understands them. Except for Kadaj," she added under her breath. "He's pretty easy to understand. Craaazy-sauce," she sing-songed. She snapped back to the point. "But Yazoo… I don't think he was part of it. Whatever that was," she trailed off dejectedly as she waved at the screen.

Xander physically deflated, his shoulders sagging. "It doesn't matter. The line's been crossed. A line with big signs all along it saying 'If you cross this, you die.'" He sank down on to the bed. "There's no going back."

Willow couldn't disagree. But at least the anger was gone from Xander's body and he no longer looked like he would run off to confront Yazoo, or force a confrontation that would get him killed. Instead, he looked… hopeless. In the 'not getting yourself killed' sense, hopelessness was better. Though it was admittedly the lesser of two evils.

She perched lightly next to Xander on the bed and folded her hands in her lap. "What do we do now?"

Xander met her eyes briefly before lying back on the bed and turning on his side, a pillow hugged between his arms. "What can we do?" With those words, he closed in on himself and slipped from Willow's orbit, to a darker place where she couldn't follow.

---

From the depths of his pillow, Xander heard Willow patter out of the room. He tuned it out. There weren't even old country songs in his head this time, one too many disasters having snapped him past the point of comfort. There was only a spiraling darkness that threatened to drag him under.

But he couldn't tune it out when Willow barged back in the room with a package in her hand. She threw the package into a duffel bag and grabbed supplies from a rack labeled 'Spices'. There was supposedly some chaos to the order, but none that Xander could see.

She shouldered the bag with resolve and grabbed Xander's hand. "Let's go."

"Go. Go where?"

Xander was being hustled out the French doors onto the balcony and he climbed down the tree under worry of being pushed in Willow's stampede.

She followed behind, sliding down the tree with a practiced ease that belied her innocent demeanor. "I'm not sure I can do it. It's a little soon, but it's worth trying. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't at least try. Since it's sort of my fault for bringing them here, I can at least try to fix it." She finally paused for breath. "You know?"

"Um, Will? No, I don't know. What are you talking about?"

Willow abruptly stopped walking and faced Xander. "I can send them back."

"But you were still working on the ingredi—"

"My bat heart came today." She patted at the duffel bag. "And I can substitute oregano for the jingo weed. It's not ideal, but most of the time it's in there for show anyway. Witches get all hoity toity and think that they look 'cooler'," she airquoted, "if they have some jingo. " She snorted. "Just a bunch of wannabes."

She finally wound down. "Um, I haven't had any time to practice and, with the substitution, I'm not sure it will work, but it has to be worth a shot." She paused. "If you want to."

Xander's brain was still stuck back under the pillow and things were moving too fast. He finally dragged his hand through his hair. "But they're just going to die if they go back to their time."

Willow's head snapped up.

"What?" Xander said. "Did you think of something?"

She didn't answer, simply threw her hand up with a command. "Wait here. You think things over. I'll be right back."

She shimmied back up the tree and left Xander with a question that had no answer. Let Buffy kill them in this world, or let Cloud kill them in the other. Both options sucked. He craved the pillow again.

Willow jumped back down next to him, and she was moving slower now. She placed her hand on his shoulder. "Xander, I know this is a hard decision. But Yazoo wanted to go back. He didn't want to see you hurt. And I don't think he wants you to have to live with the idea that one of your good friends killed your, um…" she stumbled around for a word.

"Lover?" Xander supplied. "Unconventional boyfriend?" He grew serious. "How about just someone I really care about." He had new insight into the pain that was Buffy last year.

Willow didn't say anything, just nodded.

Xander felt the dam break in his chest. "I don't want to see him die, Will. I don't want it to be so final." He squeezed his eyes shut a second before opening them back up to meet Willow's concerned gaze. "Send him back. Leave me the fantasy that they can wiggle out of it." Willow's hand tightened around his in commiseration. "Yazoo knows what's coming this time. He can do it, right?"

The last part came out as a plea, but Willow understood.

"Right," she nodded. "Of course they can do it."

Xander straightened up. "Then let's go."

They headed out with renewed determination.

---

Buffy strode into her room, grabbed her duffel bag, and threw her supplies in. She'd missed the brothers at the Mansion and it only fueled her outrage. She should have done this weeks ago. She'd been too lax. And now people were dead. She tossed a vicious knife on the top of the pile.

It ended now.

---

Loz put the finishing touches on Dual Hound, snapping the electrical device back onto his arm with a decisive click. Kadaj polished Souba, rubbing the sword with a fine cloth until the blade gleamed in the weak light powered by the generator. Yazoo oiled up Velvet Nightmare, thumbing the cylinder slowly and methodically before seating it back into place.

They were ready.

---

Willow and Xander struggled through the brambles, stopping briefly when the duffel bag caught in a bush.

"Come on, Willow, hurry." Xander tried to keep the strain out of his voice but, now that he'd finally made the decision, his stomach was in knots. They couldn't get there fast enough.

Willow simply nodded in understanding, gave a final tug, and they made their way to the outside of the crypt.

It was now or never.

---

Yazoo whipped out his gun and had it aimed at the door before Xander even made it over the sill. His hands flew automatically into the air.

"Woah, it's just us - me and Willow, Willow and me is us." He waved a finger between the two of them to illustrate the 'us'ness. Yazoo peered around for the rest of the gang that he knew must be close behind. He saw only Willow.

She peeked nervously out from behind Xander's shoulder. "There's no one else," she offered.

Yazoo kept the gun up. He nodded to Loz, who slipped wordlessly out the door to check the perimeter. Yazoo didn't drop the gun up until he returned with his assessment.

"I didn't see anyone. It's clean."

Kadaj had been watching the show from his perch on top of the crypt. He hopped to the floor and wandered lazily in front of Willow, peering out at her with interest from behind his bangs. "You two came alone? Two little humans without your Slayer? How… brave."

She started to shrink back but then straightened. "We came to help." After getting that much out, she deflated and nudged Xander. "You tell them."

Xander jerked, then came to attention. "Oh. Yes. Help."

Kadaj was finding the whole conversation extremely funny. "But you don't even know what we want. It was nice of you to come and save us the trouble though."

She frowned at Xander and he shook his head, as confused as she was.

Yazoo raised an eyebrow, still unsure what they were doing here. He wished he could feel Xander with the same surety he could feel his brothers. Instead he had to rely on body language and facial expression – all the little bits and pieces of Xander he'd picked up over their time together. He felt like a blind man, but he also had the strange underlying feeling that Xander was being straight.

"Kadaj, let me talk with them."

His brother's narrowed his eyes but Yazoo met his stare, steel clashing against steel.

"Sure," Kadaj relented, a little too easily. "We'll just check out your little love nest downstairs that you don't want us contaminating." He rammed a foot against the lock and it fell into pieces. It was his challenge to Yazoo for daring to ask them to leave. He wasn't keeping areas walled off from him anymore. "I'll leave you so you can say goodbye to your toy." He jerked his head. "Let's go, Loz."

They grabbed a light and jumped down the hatch.

Buffy slipped out the window and down the tree – something she hadn't done in ages. She didn't want to accidentally run into her mother. She wasn't up for any questioning and couldn't toss out an airy "Patrolling," should she ask. This wouldn't be an average night and the last thing she wanted was for her mother to worry.

Buffy was worried enough for both of them. She'd fought three on one before but these guys were a step up from the local baddies. And they had weapons that any of the local demons would drool over.

On that note, she took a detour past the library to pick out the longest, sharpest, heaviest blade in the arsenal. Weighing it in her hand, she nodded appreciatively. It would do. The weapon was enough. She was enough. It didn't matter that there were three of them. The brothers were going to pay for messing with her town, and they would pay with their lives.

Willow got straight to the point. "We can send you back."

Yazoo's gaze shot quickly to Xander - his words came slowly, in obvious disbelief. "You're okay with that?"

He shrugged. "What other choice is there?"

"You know what my brother did." It was a statement, not a question.

"We know."

The silence drew out. Xander looked like he was ready to blurt out questions, to demand answers, to ask for things Yazoo couldn't give. Instead, he opened his mouth, shut it, then seemingly grew a few years in maturity all in the space of a few seconds. "We know," he finally repeated with finality.

"Going back to your own world, it's…" Xander's grew agitated at the obvious outcome but then his shoulders sank with resigned acceptance. "But Buffy won't give up."

Yazoo understood. He wouldn't either, in her place.

They were being given a choice. It was more than he expected, or even deserved. He gave a quick nod of appreciation to Xander.

"Thank you."

"Well, we haven't done anything yet," Xander joked, but it fell flat under the heavy tension of the air.

"Willow," Yazoo asked, "could you leave us alone for a minute?"

She bit at her lip and looked at her watch. "We don't have much time."

"I know."

"Please, Will." Xander's expression almost broke her heart.

She softened. "Of course. I'll be outside." She waved to the crypt door. "It's not much but it will give you some privacy. But if you hear me yell 'vampire', you better let me in pronto, so no hanky panky business, Mister."

Yazoo almost smiled in the face of her finger waggle. "No hanky-panky," he agreed.

She slipped out the door to leave Yazoo in the weirdest situation he could remember: saying goodbye to someone. It had never happened before. He'd never let anyone in his short life get close enough to say goodbye to.

And it would be a short life, if they were going back to Gaia. But, at the same time, the Lifestream called to him and, with it, the knowledge he'd always be with his brothers no matter what.

He'd never had a problem with living fast before - play hard or go home - but looking at Xander, an unplanned hiccup in his carefree world, he felt the pangs of the shortness of their existence.

He said nothing, just cupped his hand against Xander's cheek and leaned in for a kiss.

Xander stopped him. "Wait. I've got to say this now or I'll always regret it." He cleared his throat and Yazoo saw him metaphorically leap. "It was definitely not a normal, um, relationship, and your brother is beyond certifiable." Yazoo frowned as Xander continued. "Buffy still doesn't know how far things went with us, and would probably kill me if Willow ever ratted me out." The list was growing long and Yazoo wasn't sure what to do about the tightening in his chest.

"But," Xander continued with emphasis, "I wouldn't change a thing. I learned from you - more than just fighting, and more than just sex, I learned about loyalty, doing absolutely anything for those you cared about, and um, patience. Something I'm not always the best at," he admitted.

He finally wound down. "And that's it, I guess. I'm no Shakespeare so that's the best I can do." He looked hesitant after the boldness of the speech and Yazoo wasn't sure what he was supposed to do.

Words were useless - shallow vacuous things that could never convey his true feelings - so he simply leaned back in for a kiss. He put everything he couldn't say into the touch of his lips and the accompanying stroke of his hand. He could feel time slipping by, the tick-tick growing louder, and it spurred him on. He pushed in harder, backing Xander up against the wall. Xander stiffened at his urgency but soon softened underneath him and answered with his own desperation. His hands slid up to tangle in Yazoo's hair. It was their last kiss and they both knew it. It was both everything and never enough.

Yazoo ended the kiss with reluctance, dropping his head briefly in the curve of Xander's neck. He finally stepped back. "Willow," he called out through the door as he kept his gaze on Xander. "It's time."

Xander allowed himself a few seconds to lean back against the wall. After a deep breath, he knew he couldn't put things off any longer. He exited the crypt… only to find Buffy barreling towards him, with Willow scurrying to intercept.

"Xander," Buffy said with a frown. "You shouldn't be hanging around out here."

"I was, just, uh…"

Willow popped up from behind. "We were just, uh, performing a quick séance to see if Xander's grandma knew where a can of pennies was buried." Xander gaped at Willow. "I know it's silly but we thought some ambience, you know, a crypt and candles would help." She looked frantically towards Xander.

He picked up the handoff a little raggedly but nodded with a desperate smile. "Yeah, that's it. That's what we were doing. Because the pennies, you know."

Buffy frowned again. "This isn't the time for parlor games, Will. The brothers are somewhere out here. And they're dangerous." Her eyes hardened with rage. "They killed. In my town."

She dragged her hand through her hair. "My god, who knows what they'd do to you and Xander if they ran across you. If they laid one hand on you…"

"We're fine, really," Willow chimed in quickly.

Xander nodded enthusiastically. "Yep, and we were just finishing up."

Buffy looked doubtful but relaxed. "You should go. I don't want you guys anywhere near here. I don't want you to get hurt—"

Yazoo sauntered out of the crypt to stand defiantly by Xander. He narrowed his eyes in challenge.

Buffy shouted, "Xander, watch out!" She raised her sword in preparation of an attack. Xander didn't stop to think, he just reacted. He leapt in front of Yazoo with his arms out in front.

She stopped her swing just in time and the scene froze. She shook her head back and forth in disbelief, her eyes indicating a confusion and betrayal so deep it hurt. "Xander?"

Yazoo wrapped his arm around Xander from behind, his hold tight, his grip possessive. "I would never hurt him."

Xander wanted to hide under a big rock. Of all the times for Yazoo to proclaim his feelings, this wasn't it. But the possessive gesture warmed him in a little part of himself he couldn't deny. Xander could hear Willow muttering softly to the side but he tuned it back out when Buffy's stare drowned out everything else.

Xander shrugged. "It's a thing. We're a thing." Yazoo tightened his arms around him. "I know I should have told you but it never seemed to come up: 'Hey Buffy, I'm in love with a demon. Oh, and I'm gay.' Not the kind of thing you drop in casual conversation." He tried to keep his tone neutral but it was coming out almost pleading.

"Oh, Xander," Buffy's sword tip dropped. "You thought I'd be surprised you were gay?"

He smiled wanly, then frowned. "Hey wait…"

"But him?" Buffy raised her sword back up.

Xander spread his arms, his voice low. "He didn't do it. His brother—"

"His brother did it." Buffy interrupted. "And they're both here together now, I'd stake my life on that, still as close as ever." Her rage was growing and her voice strained with the effort. "His brother killed three people, Xander. And I'll bet he knew all about it."

This wasn't the time to debate about different worlds and spells gone awry and different experiences and what went wrong first, and Xander started to panic. He picked up the trailing lilts and intonations of Willow's voice in the background. "But we have a pla—"

The bang of a trap door resounded in the crypt and Kadaj strolled out into the twilight. His eyes sparked with excitement when he spied Buffy.

"Are you keeping all the fun out here for yourself, brother? Shame."

He reached for Souba on his back, brandishing the sword out with a deft pull and an excited smile… only to be met by Yazoo.

"Brother, no."

Kadaj bristled with righteous indignation that quickly smoothed out into a deceptive mask.

"You're going to stop me from killing the girl?" he asked in a devastatingly soft voice.

Loz wandered out the door and stood off on the sidelines to watch. He glanced briefly at Willow then turned back to the scene. He waited.

The two brothers stared at each other in deadly silence. "You know she wants to kill us, Yazoo. And you're just going to stand there? Has your time here made you soft?"

With Xander in front of Buffy, and Yazoo in front of Kadaj, the whole scene was so bizarre, Xander didn't know whether to laugh or cry. What a fucked up night. He really wanted one of Willow's time spells to stop everything, even for a moment, to give him time to think.

Buffy switched her weight from leg to leg in frustration. He could tell when the leash broke. She shoved Xander aside, pushing him to the ground in her haste.

"I'm sorry, Xander, but you'll thank me later." Her eyes searched out Kadaj. "You're a monster. And yes, I want to kill you. I should have done it the first night I met you."

She closed the distance between them. Kadaj pushed aside his brother to wield Souba in defiance. Swords met in the middle with a clang that echoed through the cemetery and made Xander flinch.

Willow's voice rose in volume, in weird harmony to the rhythm of the sword fight, as she neared the end of her incantations. An electrical charge crackled around her and sent her red hair flying about her face. The various members of the tableau slowly looked her way, even Buffy and Kadaj taking a momentary truce to stare at the vision of Willow surrounded by a magic that made the air suffocating to breathe.

She sprinkled one last round of dust and clapped once, loud, sending smoke out into the air.

The air stretched tight then snapped back to fill in the space where the brothers used to stand.

Buffy and Xander stared at the empty space, then each other. It wasn't until Willow slumped to the ground with a small mewl of pain that they broke free from their paralysis. Buffy's sword dropped to the ground and everything else was forgotten.

Except for Xander, whose eyes kept returning to an empty patch of grass.

---

Xander and Buffy spent the next ten minutes in a strained truce as they sneaked Willow back into her room and situated her in her bed.

Willow finally shook off her hovering attendants. "Guys, I'll be okay. I … I just need to rest a bit."

Buffy sat near the end of the bed with her hand resting on Willow's ankle under the covers. "You scared me to death, Willow. Don't do that again."

I'm sorry, Buffy, I really am. There was just so much going on that you weren't aware of and we had the chance to send them back—"

Buffy stood up in frustration. "That's exactly why I'm so upset. I had no clue what was going on. You guys were keeping all this," she waved her hand at Xander, "away from me."

"Like you did with Angel?" Xander said softly.

"Stop! Don't even go there." Buffy went stock-still and her back ramrod straight. "It's different and you know it."

Willow spoke softly from the bed. "Yes, it was different. It wasn't Yazoo's alter ego that did those things. It wasn't Yazoo at all." She burrowed down in the bed at Buffy's glare. "I'm not saying what we did was right," she hastily clarified, "and you have every right to be mad." Her voice lowered. "There's not enough cookies in the world to make up for this. But," her voice strengthened, "we did what we felt we had to."

Buffy finally stopped pacing, though her shoulders remained stiff. "I just need some time," she finally offered. She leaned in with a hug for Willow. "You rest up. Slayer's orders." She turned towards Xander and finally met his eyes. She offered up a small peace offering, still a bit begrudging but a step. "We can talk later." She exited the French doors and jumped down to the lawn below.

Xander crawled on top of the covers next to Willow. "Do you think she'll ever understand?"

"I don't know. But we've done some pretty awful things to each other before and we always seem to come back stronger than ever." Her surety warmed Xander and gave him hope.

He was feeling hopeful enough to start wondering. "Do you think Yazoo… do you think they made it out alive?"

Willow pushed herself up against the headboard. "Xander, I have to tell you something. Remember awhile ago, when I told you I slowed time in the gym?" She rushed on, in a hurry to get it all out in the open. "I modified the return spell a bit. Or, at least, I tried. It was all last minute and everything was so crazy, and I know it was a risky move and, to be honest, I wasn't even sure it would wor—"

Xander held up a hand. "Willow, spit it out."

"I combined the translocation spell with a transchronoreversal spell."

"A transchrono what now?"

"It's a spell to send people back in time." She brightened. "And I think it worked. It's hard to explain but you can feel when a spell is completed correctly, and I think I sent them back to Gaia and back in time."

Xander's eyes widened.

"It wasn't very far back in time," Willow continued, "I'm not that practiced yet… but maybe it was enough?"

All Xander could do was stare.

She fidgeted. "I know we hadn't discussed it. But there was no time, and I hope you're not ma—"

He broke out into a grin. "Willow, you are a genius!"

He hugged her hard, smothering her in a Hawaiian print shirt of purple and green. She pushed at him half-heartedly. "Xander! I need to breathe." But she said it with a smile.

Xander snuggled back down next to her in the bed and took her hand in his. Bouncing it up and down lightly, he said, "It's a chance, isn't it? It's the most we could do."

She nodded. "It's up to them what they do with it."

Xander snuggled into the pillow, finally relaxing for the first time that day.

He craned his head towards Willow hesitantly. "We did do the right thing, right?"

"Do you regret it?"

"Not a bit."

Willow leaned over to give him a kiss on the cheek and plopped back next to him.

"Then, yes, we did the right thing."

He soon fell asleep on Willow's shoulder with dreams of silver hair and bright green eyes and a second chance at life.

---

Epilogue:

Yazoo, Loz, and Kadaj appeared in the middle of the road to find a truck barreling towards them at full speed. The driver laid on the horn as Loz pushed the two out of the way; he bounded over the top of the truck to hit the pavement behind it.

The Lifestream. Power. And they were alive. He hooted at the sky.

Yazoo dusted off his leathers and patted his body.

Kadaj just blinked. "What the hell?"

Loz may not have known all the details but he knew more than he let on. He liked to think of it as part of his charm. Regardless, he'd been prepared for it. Kadaj hadn't.

And Kadaj was pissed.

As he ramped up into a full-blown monologue of epic proportions railing against time, space, and stolen fights, Loz scoured the surrounding area to get his bearings. He finally figured out they were 10 miles out of town. 10 miles, and they didn't have their bikes. The desert was hot, the vegetation was non-existent, and Kadaj was in rare form as he got a heavily edited story from Yazoo. Loz sighed. It was going to be a long walk back.

But as he leapt to the top of a nearby rock formation, he felt the fluidity of his movements as he reconnected with the Lifestream. Yazoo was looking healthier too. Occasionally, he would cast brief looks up at the sky, as if looking for something. Loz expected it would become a familiar tic.

He flipped back down to the road. But they were home. And they were alive. It was enough. He started to walk, letting the brothers battle it out behind them. Even the sound of their bickering sounded like music to his ears. He broke out in a grin and blew a silent kiss to Willow as life slid back into normal around him.

The End