Title: Help From The Future For The Past

Series: Help From the Future

Author: Kimberly aka last_days_of_pern

Rating: now PG-13, but who knows

Disclaimers: I own nothing, please don't sue me.

Summary: A future Scooby travels back in time to keep someone from ruining their life, and the lives of everyone they know.

*Summers' Home*

The sun was just beginning to set over Sunnydale when a teary eyed blonde looked out the window lost in her own thoughts. A soft rustle behind her alerted her to the presence of someone else in the room. Buffy Summers turned around to look at her little sister Dawn quietly walking into the room.

"Hey, you um, are you going on patrol?" the younger Summers asked of her sister the slayer.

"No, Giles, Xander, and Willow are handling that tonight. So any dinner type thoughts?"

"Pizza?"

"Sounds good lets go out though, I need to be somewhere not right here for a little while." With that said the two girls walked out of their house, completely unaware of someone watching them go.

*Giles's House*

"How do you think Buffy is holding up?" a very concerned watcher asked of his slayer's best friends.

"She's the Buffster she'll pull though, if for nothing else then for Dawn, right Will," said the young man moving to sit next to his girlfriend.

"Xander her mom just died, she may seem ok, but she'll probably never really be over it, but you're right she will be strong for Dawn. I can't even imagine what they're going through."

*A Street in Sunnydale*

Buffy and Dawn walked down the street quietly lost in their own thoughts when Buffy heard someone scream from a nearby ally, "Stay here!" And with that she was off and running to do what she was destined to do, save people.

After about ten minutes of just standing there Dawn decided she should go check on her older sister, even if she really wasn't her older sister, yeah she was still trying to figure that one out. As she walked to the entrance of the ally she saw Buffy fighting three

vampires at once, and not only that she was doing really well, until a vamp decided he would try to sneak up on her, "Buffy behind you!" Dawn yelled as loud as she could. Buffy quickly spun around and staked the bothersome vamp, and then dispatched of the other two in rapid succession.

"I thought I told you to wait."

"Your welcome, any time."

"Huh? Oh yeah, thanks."

Just then the two heard someone clapping from the back of the ally. As the clapping grew louder they could just barely make out a tall, dark haired women walk out of the shadows.

"Very good slayer, but is it good enough?" And with that she disappeared into thin air.

"Who was that?" Dawn asked with fear creeping into her voice, the last thing they needed was someone else out to get them with Glory roaming around.

"We better go see Giles," Buffy stated in monotone already heading in the direction of her watcher's house.

*Giles's House*

"I still don't see why we have to patrol tonight we don't have super powers, shouldn't Buffy, or Willow and Tara be going?" asked a very distraught Anya as Xander handed her all kinds of vampire protection things.

"Well Tara has that study group thing tonight, and Giles has Willow looking things up on the computer, so it's you, me, and the G-man."

"Yes well then everyone ready to, er, um, Xander have you seen my crossbow?" Giles asked as he walked into the room. Before Xander had the chance to answer Buffy and Dawn walked in.

"That's so not fair I saw her too, you can't kick me out of things this time!"

"Dawn couch now," Buffy said before even acknowledging the other people in the room, then… "Giles we need to talk."

"Erm, um, yes is something the matter?"

"Some lady said Buffy was good, then asked if it was enough and disappeared."

"Disappeared as in poof, gone?" Xander asked trying to worm his way into the conversation just as much as Dawn.

"Buffy, could you please explain exactly what you saw?" Giles asked trying to get to the bottom of just what the young girl said.

"Dawn summed it up pretty well actually, I was fighting three vamps, dusted them, some lady clapped said yay for me, then asked if I was good enough, and yes Xander then she went poof." Buffy said seeming quite proud of the way she summed things up for everyone.

"Are you saying she was human, er, other than the disappearing thing, correct?"

"Looked human enough to me, and she didn't even set off my senses, till she clapped I had no idea she was there, so I'm hoping…" Buffy didn't have a chance to finish that thought as Tara ran into Giles's house.

"Tara, what on…"

"Sorry Giles I didn't mean to just rush in, but someone is here."

"What, who? With you?"

"Huh no, I mean someone who doesn't belong here, is here, I was working on a project with my study group when some woman came up to me and told me that the time is almost here, and that was it, she just sort of vanished after that. I was getting really strange vibes, like she didn't belong here."

"Tall and dark hair?" Buffy asked thinking that the new girl in town was sure making her rounds, and challenging even Angel in the cryptic department.

"Yeah that sounds like her, did you see her too?"

"Yup, she clapped for Buffy."

"Huh," as she was often, Tara was completely confused by what Xander was saying, but then again isn't everyone.

"She visited me all cryptic like too."

"Perhaps we should call Willow, and then research this, see if we can dig up anything, on our new, er, new visitor."

*Angel's Investigations*

Gunn, Wesley, and Cordelia were all sitting around waiting for something to happen while Angel was out brooding or doing other vampire with a soul things. It had been a slow week, only one or two paying customer and no visions, although Cordelia was more than happy about that. Of course when they thought something they should have been more specific, because that's when Faith and Kate walked in.

"Faith! I, I ah, I thought you were, um, in prison!" Wesley all but shrieked as he saw the young woman who he used to be in charge of watching.

"Yeah I was, and then some chick walks in my cell, right through the bars and tells me to get my ass to Sunnydale, she disappears and the guard shows up and says I'm free, so I came to talk to soul boy, he around?"

"I saw her pacing around outside and figured she should just come in, by the looks on your faces I'm thinking I was wrong…"

"AHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"Delia what do you see?" Gunn asked as he appeared by her side to keep her from falling over.

"War, Buffy dieing, Willow and some blonde doing a spell, and Angel and Faith joining in the fight. Ow. Have I mentioned how much I hate these visions?"

*Giles's House*

Buffy, Xander, Anya, Giles, Willow, Tara, and Dawn were all seated around Giles's living room doing various research when the phone began to ring.

"Um, yes, hello… Angel good to hear from you…yes Buffy has met her as well… yes…ok…REALLY?…Um yes I'll let her know…tomorrow then…goodbye."

"So, what did he have to say?" Buffy asked already getting very impatient, which really wasn't a good sign at all. So Giles decided to prolong this discussion as long as possible, he slowly took off his glasses and began to clean them, seemingly in deep thought.

"Giles!"

"Huh, oh yes, um, well that was Angel, and he erm, he's coming here. Ah tomorrow along with Wesley, his associate Gunn, and Cordelia, and um, well he'll also be bringing someone else, and um, well…"

"Giles just spit it out already, you're probably making this out much worse than it is, it's not like he's bringing Faith…" at that Giles simply took off his glasses and began to thoroughly clean them once more. "Oh god, he's not bringing her is he, she's in jail, he can't bring her, I'm nor ready to deal with her yet, tell me it's not her!" At this point Buffy was clenching her fists so tightly that her knuckles were turning white.

"From what Angel told me, um, well this women who has appeared here twice now, she ah, well she visited Faith in jail, and told her to come to Sunnydale, and so she ah, well, she's accompanying Angel and others."

"She visited Faith, was she any more clear as to what it is she is here for, or was she as vague as before, and with the whole disappearing thing as well?"

"Hmm, oh well Angel said she walked through the bars and simply told Faith she would be needed here, and then the guards simply let her go."

"That doesn't sound right, shouldn't there be legal stuff that has to be done," Xander asked already beginning to panic.

"Well if this woman doesn't want to hurt us, then I guess we should assume she is trying to help, and if that is the case then if she says Faith should be here, then maybe there's a good reason," Tara

said surprised that she managed to say so much without stuttering. She was finally beginning to feel apart of the scoobies; of course the fact that the strange woman saw that she was important enough to visit helped, a lot.

"Tara I hope you're right, come on Dawn you have school tomorrow you should be at home doing sleepy type things."

"They should get here around 9 p.m. tomorrow, you will ah, you will be here correct?"

"What and miss the L.A. crew, Faith, and all of us in the same room, you better believe I'll be here!" Buffy stated while dragging Dawn out the door.

"Er, well um, that ah, that went better than I, er, than I thought it would.

*Willow's dorm room, the next day*

"Why? Why does she have to come back here, she does nothing but hurt people, and we've all been hurt enough by her, she, she just shouldn't come back now, or, or ever even!"

"Willow honey, calm down, breathe," Tara soothed, she knew her girlfriend and the other scoobies really didn't want Faith around, who could blame them what with all she did, but still she didn't like Willow putting herself into a state of panic like this. "It's going to be ok, I mean, maybe she changed since you last saw her, Buffy did say that she tried to apologize, and then she did turn herself in."

Before Willow could comment a tall brunette woman appeared in her room and looked at Tara quizzically. "Did you give the slayer my message?"

"Hey, hey how did you get in here, I didn't invite you, which hey is good that means you not a vampire, but that still doesn't explain why you're here in my room," Willow managed to babble out.

"Yes, I gave her the message, but that doesn't mean we know what on Earth you're talking about. And who are you?"

With that the woman smiled and said, "for now all you need to know is I am Iz, and all your questions will be answered at the reunion tonight."

"Hey how do you know about that?" The woman didn't have a chance to answer because that's when she decided to vanish, again into thin air.

*Xander's Apartment*

Xander and Anya were loafing around until it was time to leave for the Scooby meeting; currently they were lying on Xander's bed, Anya with her head on Xander's chest. "Your heart is racing, what's wrong?"

"Huh? Oh, ah, well it's just this whole Faith thing, and well the Cordy thing too."

"You mean cause one was your first love, and the other your first orgasm buddy?"

"Well yeah, that and the fact that Faith is a psycho murderer, and Cordy is the biggest bitch to ever exist in Sunnydale."

"Xander, you know I love you right?" When Xander shook his head yes she continued, "good, now quit acting like a dope and get over it. You know Cordelia has changed, and I'm sure Faith has too, and if not then Buffy can kick their asses." With that Xander just chuckled and went back into his thoughts of what it was going to be like once they all arrived later that night.

*Just outside of Sunnydale*

"Welcome to Sunnydale"

*Outside of Giles's house*

"So are we going to stand out here all night, or go in?" a very frustrated Kate asked. The L.A. crew had been standing outside of Giles's house for almost ten minutes now, and no one seemed to be in any hurry to go in. When no one answered her Kate grew even more agitated. "Alright fine, I'll go knock on the door, and we can have this ultra weird meeting out here by the fountain that doesn't work!"

"Ok we'll go in, there's no reason to raise your voice, sheesh who put the ex-cop in charge?" Cordelia sighed as she approached Giles's door, and knocked.

"Oh er, um, hello, do ah, do come in, we were ah, just waiting for you to arrive."

"Thank you Giles. Buffy, Willow, Xander…" after that Angel trailed off not quite sure of anyone else's name.

"Hey Angel, this is Tara and the girl over next to Xander is Anya, hi you must be Gunn," Buffy said so that she wouldn't have to keep looking at her ex-lover and ex-slaying partner.

"The one and only. And the blonde chick is Kate."

"Right well then, ah, since all the er, introductions are complete, can we ah, get started?" Just then a woman walked out of the shadows from a corner in the room and sat down on an unused chair.

"Yes please let's begin."

"Who are you?" Buffy jumped right in while everyone else was trying to figure out just where the woman had appeared from.

"As I've already told your friends," with that the woman pointed to Willow and Tara, "my name is Iz, and I'm here to help right a wrong."

"Here from where, and how do you keep appearing and disappearing like that, it's unnerving!"

Iz gave the smaller slayer a lazy smirk and shook her head knowing this was going to be a very long night. "Magic is how I appear and disappear Buffy, and I'm here from Sunnydale, 2134."

"2134? You're from the future?" Tara voiced the question everyone was silently asking.

"Yes Tara I am, now why don't you let me tell you my ah, story, and maybe that will answer some of your questions." When everyone shook their head yes, and got comfortable the brunette began. "First off as I've told you can call me Iz, all my friends do. As for the reason I've come 133 years into the past, well, soon there will be a war, followed shortly by, well let's just say it won't be pleasant.

"The reason I've gone to so much trouble to get you all here, is because originally you weren't here for the war, and that's what I'm here to fix. Now I know you all must have lots of questions, but I can't tell you anything about your future's, not only would that put

me in a lot of danger, but I don't really know a whole lot, I'm simply going on a journal, and stories that my father past down to me." Iz took a deep breath and continued before anyone could interrupt her.

"I'm sure some of you have guessed that this war includes Glory, well those of you from Sunnydale. The way history goes is when she decided to attack, she brought an army with her, and since no one was anticipating this, Dawn was captured. And then she was killed along with the rest of Sunnydale, and a big chunk of southern California.

"Not much was salvaged except for some journals that Willow," Iz said pointing to the red head in question, "managed to e-mail to Fa…um Angel."

"But if there is a war coming shouldn't there be signs, something leading up to it?" Anya asked actually paying attention much to the surprise of the Sunnydale gang.

"According to what I know, no, no signs, no help, no hope. Shortest war in history, it took Glory and her army about 24 hours to take you down when you were alone, now you have help, and the knowledge that she's coming."

"Wait a minute, who the hell is Glory and why is she so gung ho on taking out everyone?" Faith asked not really caring if everyone gave her dirty looks for speaking.

"I'll let someone who knows more about that explain, but for now I must go, there are other preparations I must make." Before anyone could argue she was gone.

"Meeting adjourned?" Everyone just glared to Xander after he spoke up, but couldn't help but hope that they could go get some rest.

"Do we trust her?" Buffy asked Giles, but for once he didn't have an answer for her, on seeing his hesitation she looked around the room, "Meeting adjourned."

Buffy walked home after the meeting trying to figure everything out. At this point snippets of the conversation were flying around her head, and she couldn't sort it out for anything. She was so deep in thought she didn't even notice the vampire coming towards her till it was too late.

"Hello luv, isn't it past your beddybye time?"

"Go away before I stake you Spike!"

"Oh well if that's the way you're going to be I'll just keep all this lovely Glory information to myself, have a nice life luv."

"Wait! What information?"

"Hmm, I'm getting the feeling I'm being used here." With that Buffy let the stake from her jacket sleeve slip into place in her hand. "Alright, alright keep you knickers on, anyone ever tell you, you have anger management issues? Ok then, Glory super god bitch, she's got this recruiting thing going on, getting demons and humans from just `bout everywhere. Oh yeah, the best part luv, that new boy toy of yours, the one that's always wearing pajamas, he's Glory's lil' brother." With that Spike just started walking away letting her chew on what he just told her, when he was out of earshot he muttered under his breathe, "That ought to do it just fine."

Buffy stared after Spike for a long time, and then finally sighed and went into the house to check on Dawn, if things got any worse she knew she would have to send her away somewhere. But she really, really didn't want to do that.

*Willow's dorm room*

Willow and Tara were snuggled up to each other trying to get some sleep when Tara heard a quiet sigh from Willow. "Honey what's wrong?"

"Hmm, oh just thinking about everything that went on tonight, what with Faith, Angel, Cordy, Wesley and this new girl Iz hanging around, it's nerve wrecking," Willow might have kept on babbling if Tara hadn't placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Not that I mind at all, ever, but what was that for?"

"Willow darling I love you, and one of the things I love most about you is your concern for others. Your downfall however," Tara smiled as she continued, "will be worrying over things you can't do anything about. We'll get through this, what ever this is, together, the whole Scooby gang, so please try and get some sleep, for me." Tara gave her best pout, the one she knew Willow could never refuse, and leaned down to kiss her love again. Then she snuggled back into Willow's side, and together they drifted off to dream land.

*Angel's mansion*

"Dust, you've got to be kidding me, I refuse to dust on vacation!" Cordelia looked around what was to be her home for her time in Sunnydale, and noted that Angel sure had a thing for large, and dusty.

"Don't worry Cordelia you won't have to dust, why don't you just go and find a room and try to get some sleep." Angel offered knowing if she didn't get enough sleep they were all in for it tomorrow.

As Queen C the former bitch of Sunnydale walked towards the rooms in the mansion she could be heard muttering about dust, and if Faith tried to kill her in her sleep she would haunt all of them for the rest of their lives. The rest of the gang followed Cordelia down the hall, all except Angel, who held Faith back.

"Are you ok, you haven't talked much… What, what are you laughing at?"

"Sorry soul boy but you saying I haven't talked much," at his serious look she decided to let it drop for now, "don't worry I'm five by five, just chill out, we'll save the day, you'll go back to L.A. and I'll…" She trailed off not sure of what she was going to do when all this was over, if she even survived that is. She hadn't made any plans; she figured she was going to be in jail for the rest of her short life.

"You know you're welcome to come back with us, you could work…"

"Don't sweat it Angel, hell I may not even live through this shit, so we'll talk about this if I do." Then she walked down the opposite hall from where the rest of the gang had gone, knowing that she wouldn't be wanted any where near them. Angel just stared after her with his normal broody type expression firmly in place. After he was sure everyone else was tucked in for the night, he went out, he had some information to gather. And he knew just who to beat up to get it.

*Spike's Tomb*

Spike was pacing around his home sweet home, waiting for his visitor to arrive. "Spikey would you like some blood?" He looked at his robot Buffy and just shook his head no. He had more important things on his mind.

"Spike you'll wear a hole in the floor that way." This time the voice was different he turned around to face the tall, dark haired woman, "did you do as I asked?"

"Sure did ducks, she bit into it real good too." The woman just smiled at him and vanished. "I hate when she does that."

*Angel's mansion; morning*

Angel came running into the mansion his coat slightly smoking; everyone stopped what they were doing to look at him for a moment, and then went back to their morning time activities with out a word. Angel walked into the kitchen to find Kate and Faith having coffee.

"Want some coffee Angel, oh wait do vampires like coffee, or just…never mind," Kate was still trying to get used to being around Angel, even if he had a soul, he was still a vampire.

"No thanks." Angel smirked for Kate's benefit, even if it was out of character.

"Hey soul boy you're like what 200 somethin' years old, don't you know by now you're not supposed to play in the sun?"

"Well I was just trying to get some idea what is going on, so I went to visit the demon population, it took longer than expected and still no one talked, that's not like them."

"Well then I would venture to say this is bigger than anything we've faced before, and if Iz can be trusted then we should definitely be preparing in ah, some way." Wesley said as he came in on the tail end of Angel's conversation with the two women.

"I'm thinking this is when we all go to see Giles, right?" Gunn asked coming into the room with Cordelia knowing with Angel around it was safe to be near the rogue slayer.

"Giles, right, I'll take the sewers and meet you there."

*Summer's House*

"This is so not fair, if I'm the one everyone is after then wouldn't it be safer if I'm with you?"

"Dawn you are going to school!" Buffy was so not the maternal type, she was about ready to strangle Dawn and it was only 7:30 in the morning.

"Well what if Glory tries to get me at school?"

"Then sic the gym teacher on her."

"Fine I'll go, but I refuse to learn anything." With that Dawn walked out to what was formally her mother's car and got in so Buffy could take her to the aforementioned place of loathing. As Buffy came out of the house after Dawn she was muttering under her breath about how she would torture Dawn when her life wasn't in danger anymore. She was thinking summer school.

When Buffy got in the car she had an evil smirk on her face. "What?" Dawn definitely didn't like that grin, oh no she didn't.

*Sunnydale University*

Willow and Tara were just walking to their first, way to early, class of the day when Willow heard someone shouting her name, on further inspection she discovered it was Xander and he was running towards them.

"Hey Xander what's up?"

Xander put his hand up signaling them to give him a minute and took a few gasps of air before telling them of the meeting at the Magic Box.

"But we have class." Willow hated missing class, she could miss something important that was going to be on the final.

"Hey I'm missing work for it." Xander grinned at them.

"Yeah but you like missing work," Willow mumbled as she and Tara followed Xander to his car and got in noticing a very unhappy looking Anya in the front seat.

*The Magic Box*

When the foursome arrived they noticed that the store was closed, and they were apparently the last ones to arrive, even Iz was already there.

"Ah good you managed to track them down, good boy."

"Do I get a treat?" Xander grumbled when Iz treated him like a fetching something that fetches.

"Can we get this over with, so we can open the store and make money," Anya hated morning meetings, ok she hated all meetings but morning ones were the worst because everyone was always so cranky, more so than usual.

"So Iz, more news on this war no one seems to know anything about?" Angel asked hoping to catch her off guard and give a vital piece of information away. It didn't work.

"There's a warehouse, near the dock, you all have to be there tonight. It may even prevent the ah, war, from happening." Before anyone could argue she did what she did best, disappeared.

"Wow she's even better than you at that Angel," Xander grumbled.

"Do we trust her?"

"Do we have a choice?" No one answered that. The door chime went off signaling that someone had entered the door. Giles was about to say something to the bothersome customer, but never got the word out.

"Oz my man, what are you doing here?"

Kate to Faith, "Who?"

"Wolf boy."

*Spike's tomb*

"Do you think they will show?"

"Don't stress it ducks, if you told them they could prevent a whole out war, they'll show." Spike was lying down while robot Buffy gave him a nice massage. It was seriously starting to freak Iz out.

"Tell me again why you have a robot version of the slayer."

"Buzz off."

"Right, see you later."

"Where are you going now?"

"To visit Ben of course." Iz gave an evil little smile then vanished.

"I hate when she does that. Oh yeah, a lil' to the left love." Robot Buffy just continued Spike's massage, so that he would be happy, because she was programmed to make him happy.

*Magic Box*

"Ok, let me get this straight we're going to trust this woman simply on her and Spike's word that there is an army coming, oh and a very vague vision from Cordelia, right?"

"Yes well, ah, that does seem to be the er, basis for our going, but Buffy and ah Faith can scope out the area," at Buffy's look Giles immediately added, "er separately of course."

"You got it G-man, see ya later," Faith said walking out the door.

"Wait up," Oz jumped up and said, "I'll come with you."

"Just remember no biting or humping my leg and we'll be…"

"Five by five, yeah I remember." Could be heard as the door to the magic box closed.

"That was disturbing, so what do the rest of us do in the meantime?"

"Huh, oh well there isn't ah, really anything to do, why don't you ah, visit you're old friends and family, it's ah been some time since you've seen them right?"

"No thanks, I think I'll just hang out here." Cordelia got up and decided to give herself a tour of the magic shop, much better than the stuffy old library they would meet at in high school. Much more... class.

*Warehouse near the docks*

"So what have you been up to?"

"Me? Ah you know, visiting monks, controlling the wolf, avoiding Sunnydale."

"I know I've said this before, but thanks for you know, writing me and stuff when I was in jail."

"You're welcome. So enjoying freedom?"

"Oh yeah! Of course this whole war thing is freaking me out, and if you ever tell that to anyone I'll deny it and kick your ass."

Oz just smirked at his friend, "right, wouldn't want that. So this Iz woman visited you all too?"

"Yup she's the chick that sprung me."

"Cool. Getting along with everyone, playing nice with others? Faith just glared at him, but she couldn't hold it and smiled at the little werewolf. Her friend, she couldn't say that about very many people, but she could with him. As they were walking Oz lifted his head and sniffed, nothing.

"Want to grab some grub?"

"Ozzie me boy you read my mind!" And with that they took off to find some ah, grub.

*Sunnydale Hospital*

Iz walked into the room that was for doctors only and found the

particular doctor she was looking for. "Ben, nice to see you again, how's your sister doing?

*Warehouse by the docks*

"Is anyone else thinking trap right now?"

Iz walked in just in time to hear Xander's question, "Xander I would hope you'd have more faith in me, and after all I'm here to help you and your friends."

"Yeah well that still hasn't been determined."

Iz just laughed, then everyone heard a strange groaning sound and began looking around trying to figure out where it was coming from and what it was. "Oh don't worry about that sound, that's just the warehouse shutting down and locking you all in."

"Aha, I knew it was a trap!"

"What do you want from us?" Buffy was really starting to get mad, she didn't like being held prisoner, especially by someone saying they were there to help.

"The other day I started explaining to you why I was here, maybe now I should finish," when no one objected Iz continued, "Right, well my name is Elizabeth Faith Chase, Iz for short, my father named me after the three most important women in his life, well his life as a vampire anyway."

Buffy interrupted Iz there, "whoa what the hell are you talking about?"

"The prophecy," when everyone stared at Wesley he continued, "the prophecy that says Angel will one day be human again, Angel's your father isn't he?"

"Very good Wesley, my father was right about you, you're very bright. Anyway, I'm here just as I said, to prevent a war, but not the kind of war you're thinking."

"My God, she's just like you Angel!" Everyone stared at Cordelia for a minute then returned their attention to Iz.

"The kind of war you're about to face has nothing to do with the demons out there, and everything to do with the ones in here, your personal demons. You are so busy fighting and hating each other, that it will get most of you killed in the upcoming weeks." Everyone looked around at the people they loved and hated wondering how they were supposed to fix whatever was broken. "You are here to slay your inner demons, then you'll be let go to slay the real ones, I'm afraid I can't help you any more than this, goodbye." Poof. She disappeared leaving them all trapped there.

"Well this is just great, hey you guys are witches, can you do anything witchy like and get us out of here?" Gunn asked hopefully.

"I don't know of anything, Tara?"

"I could probably come up with something, but I won't."

"What, Tara why?"

"Because Iz is right, for such a small group of people there are a lot of unresolved issues between us, we should at least try to solve some of them like Iz said."

"How?" Before anyone could answer a man in a butler's suit and a large screen appeared.

"You!" Angel said with malice in his voice.

"Hello sir, nice to see you again."

"No one here is dieing, so no one is going to play your stupid game!"

"Angel?"

"That's the guy who almost killed me then wouldn't save Darla."

"Well sir, today I have a very different game I assure you, no life threatening involved. The Powers that be sent me here to help you resolve your issues, and if I may say that is some daughter of your's to pull all this together."

"What game?" Buffy was really pissed now, well other than the fact Angel named his daughter after her, ok focus.

"It's simple really, since most of you don't know the others, we're going to play this is your life, so that we will all understand each other better. Because after all the first phase of forgiveness is understanding. Right then who's first."

"This is ridiculous." Buffy didn't want her life and that of her friends broadcast to everyone in the room.

"Ah a volunteer then," with that said the screen came to life first of all with pictures of baby Buffy. The images kept changing with no sound, showing her whole life to that point, all of her most life changing events, her loves lost, the betrayals everything she didn't want to have to live over again. When the images stopped everyone just looked at Buffy.

"You were adorable Buffy," Xander laughed hoping to lighten the mood of the room a little.

"Gee thanks wait till it's your turn."

"Who's next? We're on a clock here people."

The screen next came to life with images of Gunn's life on the streets of LA and how his gang fought with vampires, how his little sister was murdered by one. Then joining the fight with Angel and crew.

Kate's scenes were also short, filled with her father, and her father's death. How she became obsessed with killing the things that had killed her daddy.

Angel and Anya's lives were both long and filled with countless acts of violence and torture. And their struggled to fit into the human world they were occupying.

While the teenage years of Giles's life were plagued by black magic, after that his and Wesley's lives matched well. Both scholars who became watchers because it was expected of them. Both sent to Sunnydale, their failures and achievements there.

Oz and Xander were short scenes filled with the friends they loved, and not the families they didn't need. Cordelia's life though richly endowed was lonesome. Dawn being the youngest had the shortest life to show. And most of that hadn't even really happened.

Tara's life was filled with a beautiful mother who loved her more than anything on Earth, and taught her the magic of their Goddess. The darker side to the images were an unrelenting bigot of a father, who taught well his hatred to his only son. Though the men were cruel they never physically hurt the young girl. The happiness of the young girl seemed to drain more and more out of her innocent blue eyes during the days following her mother's death. Until the picture of the moments she met a small red head's eyes across the circle filled with want-to-be witches.

Willow's life came next. Hers was well off yet lonely, much like Cordelia's. The only family the small child ever seemed to have around was Xander and Jesse. The children in school were cruel to the tiny red head, and yet through it all she persevered, holding tight to the courage she gained through her friend's love, showing a strength no one had fully realized Willow had save for the blonde holding tightly to the small freckled hand.

When the screen was quite again the butler type man looked at Faith, "we saved the most important for last."

"Yeah, what makes mine so important, it was crap." Faith had worked really hard making sure nothing about her slipped to any of the Scooby gang members, and now that was all about to go down the drain.

"Your's is so important because you are the one no one understands, and most have issues with. Well then let's begin."

Right away everyone noticed that Faith's screening was going to be different, it had sound included.

The first of the images was of Faith as an one or two year old sitting alone among all kinds of alcohol bottles and different kinds of drug stuff, in the back ground you could hear a man and woman screaming at each other.

"You stupid bitch, what the fuck did you think you were doing?"

"I'm sorry I didn't mean to I …" Slap. Slap. Slap.

The man walked into view and you could tell that the man was Faith's father, "come on Faithy, mommy's taking a nap so I'll take you to the park."

The little Faith giggled and said, "daddy" in her baby voice.

The next image was of a five year old Faith just coming home from school. She walked into a falling down apartment and went in search of her mother.

"Hi mom."

"Hey there's my little firecracker, how was school?"

"To easy." The door in to background opened and shut and a very drunk man walked into the room glaring at his wife.

"Faithy go to your room honey me and your momma have to talk. The little Faith looked at her mother's scared face and ran to her room and hid in her closet covering her ears. In the background you could hear muffled screams and the sound of flesh hitting flesh.

The next scenes were all alike and with out sound, Faith's father either beating her or her mom up. And the one scene of Faith in bed trying to sleep when her father came in, it was dark and had no sound but it wasn't hard to figure out what her father was doing to the young Faith under the covers. Faith just turned her head and let tears roll down her face; it was the first and the only scene that showed Faith crying.

The next scene was of a preteen Faith standing on the sidewalk outside the same rundown apartment with coroner employees bringing out two body bags. An old woman walked up to the girl and put her hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Faith honey I'm sorry about your parents."

Faith just stood up straight put on a mask of indifference and said, "don't worry `bout it, I'm five by five," Faith said grabbing her duffle bag and leaving with her grandmother.

After that there were more silent scenes from Faith's life, of her watcher and being told she was a slayer. Of a happy Faith doing her role in life, her destiny.

Then it showed her watcher's death, and her running to Sunnydale and meeting the Scoobies for the first time. And for the first time the Scooby gang got to see just how they treated Faith when she first came to town, and they didn't like themselves very much for it.

It showed Faith and Buffy slaying together, then dancing, then it showed Finch and how Faith accidentally killed him, and her face when she did it. Everyone in the room got to see for the second time Faith put on her mask to hide her emotions from the world.

The following scenes were a whirlwind of the her going to the mayor and how he treated her, and of her final battles with the Scooby gang and finally her confession and being locked away behind bars. When the bars slammed shut the screen was silent once again, and everyone looked at Faith.

"Faith…"

"Don't!"

"But…"

"Just shut up B, I don't want to hear it, just `cause my life was shit I don't want you feeling all sorry for me and shit ok, so just don't."

"I don't feel sorry for you, I just… it explains a lot about you and the way you are, and I should have, I don't know, I could have helped or…"

"No B I wouldn't let you remember, so don't go all blaming yourself for my screw-ups, they're mine."

"This still doesn't explain how we're supposed to resolve our issues and get out of here," Xander piped up.

"We start with I'm sorry," Oz said in a solemn tone looking directly at Tara.

"And follow that up with I forgive you," Tara said in the same tone meeting Oz's gaze.

"Is it really that easy?" Willow asked.

"I don't see why not, and it does make sense for most of our problems, but there are still some things that can't be resolved by an I'm sorry."

"Then we talk about it until it is resolved."

*Upstairs in the Warehouse*

"How do you think it's going down there?" Iz asked concerned that all her efforts wouldn't be enough.

"They are talking, that's all they can do for now, it's a start. Will you go home now?" the butler type man asked.

"No I'm going to stick around till the fight with Glory is done, and then I may not even exist anymore."

"And that doesn't bother you?"

Iz looked down at her father and his friends working things out and knew that what she was doing was the right thing, "No, it doesn't.

*Many, many hours later*

"Well then, everyone is still alive that must be a good sign," Iz said as she walked into the room.

"We were just planning out how we were going to kill you actually," Buffy said with a straight face although she was grateful to the girl, most of the things that could be worked out were on the fast track to being that way.

"You already have."

"Huh?"

"Think about it Buffy, the events that led up to my birth have changed, even if I exist in the future now, it won't be me, so in a sense you've already killed me."

"But you still helped us, why?"

Iz looked directly at the man who would one day be her father with a sad expression and simply said, "It was the right thing to do."

"Can we leave now, I'm hungry and me and Xander should have had sex a long time ago." After she said that they heard a loud groaning for the second time that night, when it stopped the door opened to reveal Spike.

"'Bout time, I was beginning to wonder if you would ever make it out."

"What are you doing here Spike," Buffy asked annoyed, she still wasn't comfortable with the neutered vampire being in love with her.

"Helpin' out my goddaughter luv."

"Thanks Spike, but they've been through a lot, maybe you should go home. Isn't…"

"Huh, oh right, home gottcha, bye bye now." With that Spike took off towards his tomb, maybe he'd have sex with robot Buffy for a few hours till the sun came up.

"Wait a minute, shouldn't you have staked him B?"

"He's harmless now, Riley's little military friends neutered him." Iz just looked away knowing if she told them the truth they would stake him, and he'd helped her out so much her entire life she couldn't let that happen.

"I ah, think we should all er, go home and eh, get some rest, it's been a long night." Giles then stifled a yawn and started towards his car.

"Right home for sleepy type goodness *yawn* sounds good," Willow said while taking her girlfriends hand and walking after Giles.

"Hey Ozzie where ya stating?" Faith didn't want her friend out in the cold, ok so it wasn't cold in Sunnydale but we know what she meant.

"With Devon at the old apartment, I'll see you tomorrow." Oz walked off to his old beat up van and got inside, waved, and took off. The remaining people looked at each other, said their goodbyes, and left for their homes.

*Summer's House*

"Well that was eventful," Dawn, said as she and her big sister walked into their home.

"Yeah it was."

"Do you think we can win?"

It took Buffy a minute to catch her meaning before she answered, "I don't know Dawn, but I promise I'll die trying if I have to, I'm not letting Glory have you. You've got a lot of people who are on your side just remember that."

Dawn looked thoughtful for a moment staring off into space, thinking about all the people who were there just to save her. "Thanks." She walked up the stairs and headed for her room to get some sleep.

After a few minutes Buffy also went up stairs to go to bed. When she got into her room she noticed a shadow in the corner, "alright whoever is there come out, I'm so not in the mood for this!"

"Chill B, I just came to talk to you."

"Faith?"

"Yeah, I wanted to ah, I wanted to thank you."

"For what?"

Faith smirked her trademark smirk and replied, "for not beating me to death."

"What… Oh I didn't really mean that…"

"Sure ya did B, when you said it, you meant it."

Buffy sat on her bed still in the dark. She had had a little time to talk to Faith during the night, but they still had a long time to go before everything between them was solved. She looked up to see Faith staring intently at her. And not for the first time she noticed just how beautiful the younger girl was.

Faith kept repeating over and over "don't run" in her head; she was determined to talk to Buffy no matter what. But she'd be damned if she was going to take the next step, she had already taken step one and two just by showing up and sayin' thanks.

*Tara's Dorm Room*

Willow and Tara were getting ready for bed when Tara suddenly looked up at her girlfriend and said, "I'm proud of you," she then walked up to her and gathered her in a tight embrace.

"Why?"

"For facing your fears and working things out with everyone."

"Well then I'm proud of you too, I know how much you didn't want to ever talk to Oz again, but you did, that was very brave and…" Before Willow could babble anymore Tara attacked her lips with a passionate kiss. "Mmm, I love when you shut me up that way." And Tara did just that again, and again, and well you get the point.

*Buffy's Bedroom*

The two girls stared at each other until Buffy finally got the nerve to ask what she had wanted to ask for a very long time now, "Why?"

"Why what B? I did a lot of stuff you'll have to narrow it down for me."

"Why did you center your anger at me, I mean I know I did stuff and I had more than you, but everything you did was aimed at me," Buffy looked down at her lap and added. "Just like Angelus."

Faith knew she would have to face up to this sooner or later, but damn she wished it was later, a lot later, but she knew she had to tell her, she owed her that. "Damn B, well I guess, shit, for the same reason I guess."

Buffy looked up at Faith, looked into her eyes and saw that she was telling the truth, that she was telling her she loved her. Buffy knew a long time ago, but did what anyone would do in the situation, she ignored it. But now she couldn't ignore it anymore, Faith had laid her heart out on the line, and it was only fair she did the same.

Buffy tried to open her mouth to talk, but she couldn't, she was all choked up on emotion, so she did the only thing she could do, she got up walked over to the other girl, took her face between her hands, and kissed her.

It took Faith a second before she realized that Buffy was kissing her. Her of all people. And for the first time in her life, she was truly happy.