AN: I recently rediscovered Buffy and while it is getting quite old now, it is so well done I could easily see it holding it's own today. Give those kids cell phones and you still have today's school system. It inspired me to write this little story, and while this isn't my first foray into fanfiction, it is my first time in the Buffyverse. I hope I do it justice.

This story is set during Season 5, picking up during 'Checkpoint' and then veering off into AUville. While I normally try to stick to cannon, for some reason my muse made this one go into extreme left field. I hope it works. This story is finished. I will post one chapter a day until it is complete. Reviews and Constructive Criticism are greatly appreciated. Enjoy.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything is owned by the very talented Joss Whedon. I'm just taking his toys out and playing with them. I promise to put them back, relatively unscathed. Also several lines of dialog have been taken directly from the show, in the first few chapters especially. As the story veers away from cannon it will happen less and less frequently. My only defense is that the show is so well done I couldn't think of a better way to do some of these scenes. Also I don't consider this a crossover, but I do think Angel and his group, and Buffy and her group would help each other out whenever they were needed. Enough talking. I hope you enjoy reading.

Warnings: Violence, but nothing too graphic and a few swear words, but nothing too bad.

"Your Slayer is late," Quentin said with a touch of self-importance. He glanced at his watch, "Twenty minutes and counting."

"Buffy will be here," Giles muttered distractedly, not even bothering to look the older gentleman in the eye. He knew how important this meeting was to her and he knew what would've had to happen for her to miss it. Nothing short of a disaster, natural or otherwise, would keep her away.

"Yes," Quentin replied with an impatient huff, "but when?" Giles had no reply to that. Quentin moved away. Horrific thoughts began entering his mind, bringing horrible visions of his Slayer lying dead or dying somewhere. Glory laughing as she killed the young woman he had grown to love like a daughter. Or anyone else in their little family. He looked up. Relief washed over him as his eyes told his mind something he knew all along. Willow, Xander, Anya, and Tara were all right, waiting for Buffy like everyone else in the room. But that still left Joyce, Dawn, and Buffy herself unaccounted for. He stood up, ready to go searching for them when he remembered the members of the Watcher's Council.

Living up to their name, they were intently watching every move the various members of the Scooby Gang made. Especially his. Silently cursing their presence, and having a more in depth understanding of why his Slayer didn't want them here, he moved over the staircase instead of heading to the door like he was initially planning. He wouldn't be the reason they failed this review. He would let them continue to ransack his shop, tutting about tardiness and inadequate manners. He would take whatever criticisms they could throw at him. For Buffy. At least for now.

Across town Buffy cursed as she looked at her watch. She was just barely going to be on time, and that was before her encounter with Glory and her subsequent detour to Spike's Crypt. She sighed and put on a burst of speed, wondering how much this was going to hurt her review. She was so intent on getting to the Magic Box that she didn't see or sense the large body until she was literally swept of her feet. And not in the good way as she was thrown into a wall hard. Disoriented for a few seconds she quickly recovered, not quickly enough though. Three chain mail wearing things manage surround her.

"I don't have time for this," she mumbled under her breath as the three figures began to circle her. They had their weapons out and were brandishing them with skill. "Hey guys," she said, slowly getting into her fighting stance, "There's some place I really have to be and I'm already late. And I'm sure there's better things you could be doing tonight. So can we reschedule? Let's say for tomorrow?" In response the three figures attacked.

Buffy easily countered their attack while at the same time wondering how much this new delay was going to affect her review. She allowed her body to flow on autopilot while her mind remained focused on Quinten and the other members of the Council. God how she hated them, but she also needed them which led to the fact that she hated them even more but couldn't do anything about it. There was only one member of the Watcher's Council she ever truly trusted, and they kicked him out for getting too attached to her. Sometimes life just wasn't fair. "Maybe if I brought them a shiny new demon to play with," she thought out loud, "then they would see I'm doing my job and help." Refocusing on the fight she was surprised to find two of the three figures unmoving on the ground. The third was waving a sword widely in front of her. She easily batted it away with a metal rod she picked up somewhere before tackling them both to the ground. She positioned the rod across her opponent's neck, easily holding him on the ground. "Let's see what we have here," she said as she ripped off the mask. "Or who," she amended when she revealed the all too human face underneath. Her shock only lasted a minute as the defeated man answered her.

"One soldier in a vast army."

"I so do not have time for this," she mumbled, resisting the temptation to look at her watch again. Instead she refocused on the man beneath her. "What army?" she demanded.

"An Ancient Order," he told her proudly. "The Knights of Byzantium are now your enemies."

"Great. Just what I need. Another enemy." She pauses as a scary though enters her head. "You work for Glory?" she asked cautiously. Glory was proving hard enough to defeat, but if she had an entire army working for her… Buffy shuddered at the thought. She wasn't the only one as the Knight shuddered in disgust at the thought.

"You must be mad if you think we would ally ourselves with The Beast," he snarled in disgust.

"You're the ones that attacked me," she replied, before frowning. "Why did you attack me?"

"You protect The Key," he said simply. Buffy felt herself grow cold.

"From Glory," she immediately protested. How could she protect Dawn from an entire army as well as their mystery Big Bad?

"If The Beast gets The Key all will be lost," the Knight told her simply.

"Which is why I'll stop her," she demanded, pushing down harder on the rod in her anger. The Knight spluttered and she reigned in her temper once more.

"You cannot stop her," he forced out. She eased the pressure on the rod and the Knight took a grateful breath before continuing. "The only way to stop her is to find The Key before she does. Find it and destroy it."

"And you don't care how many innocent people you have to kill before you achieve your goal," she said bluntly. She noticed the other men starting to come around again and quickly rolled to her feet and assumed her attack stance once again. The Knight rubbed his throat and sat up, but made no move to get up.

"We don't wish to harm anybody," he told her truthfully.

"Anybody like me or my family," she snorted, her gaze shooting from one man to the next as they carefully regained their footing.

"We attack you because you guard The Key," the Knight explained as he carefully stood up. "We would never attack your family. That is something The Beast would do."

"Wait! Wait! Wait!" She held her hand up when the two downed Knights begin circling them again, although this time it was slow and cautious. "You don't want to hurt my family?"

"Why would we?" The Knight looked truly confused at this thought. Buffy's mind was reeling.

"Can we call a truce for a minute? Calm down and just talk? I promise at the end I can go back too kicking your asses if you feel the need." The three Knights looked at each other momentarily before they nodded in agreement. The two stopped circling and stepped back, lowering their weapons but not putting them away. Buffy also lowered her weapon, relaxing her stance as she turned toward the unmasked Knight.

"Just to be clear," she started, "You fight against Glory."

"Yes," the Knight replied.

"And you're here for the Key."

"Yes," the Knight repeated.

"And this fight? You attacking me?"

"You protect The Key."

"Right," Buffy said, different thoughts racing through her mind. "But what if I didn't?"

The Knight looked at his companions in confusion. "You protect The Key," he said again.

"I know and I always will," Buffy told them, "but what if I didn't? What if, and that is a cosmically big if, what if I gave you the Key right now? What would you do?"

"You know what The Key is?" the Knight asked hopefully.

"What?" Buffy was thrown for a minute before it clicked in her head. "You don't?" The Knight shook his head slowly.

"We are merely scouts sent to gather intelligence before the army arrives. We saw you, The Slayer, and knew the Monks had entrusted The Key to your care. We thought we could defeat you and find The Key. We were fools."

"More than you know," Buffy whispered. "So you don't know … what the Key is but I'm assuming when you find it you're going to destroy it right away." She paled a little at the thought but forced herself to continue. "But what about me? If I were to reach in my pocket right now and hand over the Key. Would we keep fighting?"

The Knight stared at her pocket as if trying to see the mystical Key hiding inside before bringing his eyes up to meet hers once more. "If you stopped protecting The Key we would have no reason to quarrel with you."

"You'd go back to fighting Glory." It was a statement, not a question but the Knight nodded anyway. "I'd go back to fighting Glory. So why aren't we fighting her together."

"You still protect The Key," the Knight pointed out.

"I always will," she stated harshly, "but I don't understand why I'm fighting you? We both want the same thing. Why are we fighting instead of joining forces?"

"Destroying The Key is the only way to stop The Beast," the Knight insisted. "If it takes a hundred men we will send a hundred men. If it takes a thousand we will send a thousand."

"And if you send a hundred men I will destroy them. Send a thousand men and I will defeat them. I will protect the Key and I will find a way to defeat Glory!" Buffy yelled. "But your army will be a thousand men short and I will have wasted a whole lot of energy for no reason. Energy I will need to defeat Glory, and men your army will need to defeat the Beast. We need to work together to defeat her, not rip each other apart and make it easier for her to finish the job."

"The only way to stop The Beast is to destroy The Key before she finds it," the Knight repeated again and Buffy sighed wearily. How many times had he said that line now? Talk about a one track mind.

"I know you think that," she conceded, "but I can't afford to. There has to be another way besides sacrificing the Key. And I'm going to find it. The question is are you going to help me or are you going to stand in my way? Together we are stronger, but I will fight both of you if I need to."

The Knight stared at her for a minute before speaking. "If we still have a truce I will send a message to my General requesting a meeting." He picked up his sword and handed it to her. She took it cautiously. "I cannot guarantee he will meet you, but we will honor this truce until we have his response." The Knight bowed and quickly the three faded into the darkness. Buffy stared at the sword in shock, finally allowing the slightest bit of hope to shine through as her feet automatically traveled to the Magic Box. Could she really have allies in her fight against Glory? Allies besides the Watchers Council, who she didn't trust on a good day? Her mind raced, making connections that previously eluded her, lighting the way like street lamps down a darkened road.

"You're late." The condescending tone of Quentin Travers broke through her musings. She realized she arrived at the Magic Box, though she couldn't really remember the trip. It wasn't until she heard the worried tone of her Watcher that she was able to tear her eyes away from the sword.

"Was there an attack?"

"Yeah," she said looking up just as Giles was standing up from his position on the staircase. She shot him a look that clearly said 'we'll talk later' and watched as he immediately understood and backed down. She realized then that she needed someone on the Watcher's Council, someone she could trust with her life and more importantly the lives of everyone she cared for. There was only one person she ever truly trusted from the Council. Trust that he earned through years of sacrifice, years of standing by her side, years of following wherever she led.

"We can begin the review at last," Quentin said in an almost bored tone and Buffy realized he had already made his decision and was simply using this as a way to criticize her decisions, just as he used the physical demonstration to all but openly mock Giles's new training regime. A cold fury erupted inside her, but this time she was able to channel the anger and use it instead of simply reacting to it.

She lay the sword across his books, looking into his shocked eyes. "There isn't going to be a review," she said simply. Realizing she had every eye on her she started her speech, instinctively realizing that it was the right thing to do. She needed the Watchers, but she needed them from a distance.