It's a typical summer night in Sunnydale, California as Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer, patrols numerous cemeteries alone. She does not mind being alone. In fact, she relishes it. in Buffy reasoning, there is freedom in the night. It hides a multitude of sins, in its warm embrace. The nights cloak her, as she hunted prey. in the night, she can be a hunter. In the night, her senses awaken. Her eyes grow keen. Her hearing, her sense of smell, everything is better in the night. Her nostrils flared as she sense's something. Vampire! She takes a deep breath, and gives chase.

For years, she had hidden who she really was. Now she'd tired of hiding. After talking it over with Angel, she had decided that it was time to let the Scooby's in on the lie she had been living. They were great friends, and they deserved the truth. But as she staked the vampire, she felt a shiver of apprehension run through her. She was feeling worried about how to tell them. They would either embrace her or denounce her. Giles would probably have a stroke. But the one thing she knew for sure was that she had to tell them. She thought back to how she had been treated after Angel came back and that time she had left. She had told them that she had escaped to Los Angeles, but instead she had gone to Washington to visit a friend. She hadn't wanted to come back. She hadn't want to deal with the recrimination, the guilt and the doubt at all. Still, her friend had talked her into coming back.

But if that time had been bad, imagine how it would be when she told them that she had been lying to them. She could already see it in her mind's eye. 'Guy's, she would say. 'Buffy Summers isn't my real name.' Shaking her head slightly at the thought, Buffy continued to patrol, killing the few minions that were unlucky enough to cross her path on her way to her home. Her steps carried her pass Willow's house and seeing the light in the bedroom window, Buffy decided to stop by and say hello.

Willow Rosenberg was on the cusp of womanhood. She had shoulder length dark auburn hair and rich brown eyes that complimented her creamy white skin. From the moment Buffy had come to Sunnydale, Willow had been a great friend to her. Buffy climbed the trellis positioned outside Willow's bedroom. She made a mental note to herself to warn Willow to get rid of the trellis or at least keep her windows locked at all times. When they had first met, Willow had no idea about the subculture of Sunnydale, the man-eating vampire and demon subculture. Buffy peered through the window, but a gauze curtain partially obscured the window. She rapped on the window, trying to get Willow, whose attention was focused on the computer she was seated in front of.

Hearing the noise, Willow looked around. She was startled to see Buffy hanging in mid air outside her window. "Buffy!" she cried, rushing to open the window. "What are doing here?"

"Hey Wills," Buffy said smiling. "I saw your ligh and decided to drop by. What are you doing?"

Eyes wide in alarm Willow shifted from foot to foot. "Nothing," she said, mumbling.

"Oh come on," Buffy coaxed. She loved to tease Willow. She would get all tongue-tied.

"It's nothing," Willow said. Nervously she moistened her suddenly dry lips.

"Please," begged Buffy, amusement in her voice and eyes.

"Alright," said Willow. She walked over to her computer and gestured to it.

"What is?" Buffy asked, curiosity now taking hold. She walked over to the computer. "A naughty website?" She didn't know what to expect, but what she read on the computer screen was much worse.

"No, no I would never go to something like that," Willow said with an anxious little cough.

"What is it then?" Buffy asked, seeing the site for the first time. "Home World Security," she repeated, reading the words off the computer. Some sixth sense told her that there was more to this site.

Uncertainty crept into her expression. "Willow!" said Buffy trying to sound shocked but not quiet getting there. "I can't believe you hacked into Homeland Security."

Willow walked over to her desk. "No," she said. "It is Home World Security. It's a cool site. I just found it," she admits, bouncing over to the computer. "Get this, Buffy. It's a website about a thing called the Stargate which leads to other worlds. Apparently there is a name for this gateway, it's called the Chappa'ai."

"The what!" Suddenly the uneasiness Buffy was feeling bloomed into something pressing. "Let me see," she said pushing Willow out of the way. Her heart started to pound, she could barely catch her breath. She felt like she was going to faint. Through the roaring din, she breathed one word. "Chappa'ai." It was so surreal. One minute, she had been joking, then in the next split second her world fell apart.

"What's going on?" Willow asked, stumbling out of the way, confusion written all over her face. What did I do? What could make the Slayer pale like that?

Ignoring her, Buffy stared silently at the words on the screen. "He didn't," she moaned aloud. 'As the Commanding Officer of the Research and Defense Unit, General George Hammond commands the SGC. … the project was started under the leadership of Colonel Jonathon O'Neill. Daniel Jackson, the combined Archaeologist and Anthropologist who proposed that the pyramids had been built by a race much older than the Egyptians had opened the Stargate in 1998.

Shock yielded quickly to fury "I am so going to kill him." Her eyes wandered helplessly across the screen. For years they had tried to protect earth from invasion, now the threat was real again because the Chappa'ai had been opened.

'Samantha Carter second in command to Colonel O'Neill and an alien named Teal'c, a Jaffa, once enslaved under a so-called Egypt God Apophis…'

"Who are you planning to kill?" Willow squeaked, bewildered and annoyed at Buffy all at once.

"Not now, Willow," Buffy said, her tone curt and distracted. "I've got to go." she climbed back through the window.

"What's going on?" Willow demanded. Her hands fisted at her side. "Buffy?" she said with a laugh. "This is not a real website, it's like fan fiction. With X-men. This is based on a show called Wormhole Extreme."

However, Buffy did not hear her or at least pretended not to hear her.

Pushing her head out the window, Willow watched as darkness swallowed Buffy's retreating figure. "What's that about," she mumbled to herself, hitting her head on the window on the way back inside. "Ow," she said walking to computer. It was the same info she had on it before. Nothing had changed. She decided to do a more in depth search to see if she find out what had spook Buffy. Confused, she wandered restlessly around the room.

With her Slayer's speed, Buffy reached her house in no time. She hurriedly pushed the front door open and slammed the door shut as she raced up stairs to her room. "Is that you Buffy?" Joyce called from the kitchen. As the owner of a successful art gallery, she sometimes had to be up all night cataloging items. Sometimes she would acquire the most 'interesting' items at night. She would never tell Buffy, though she surmised that she knew already. Seventy-five percent of her collection was due to Buffy's, knack of acquiring fascinating pieces. This night was one of those nights an intriguing piece had fallen into her lap. She had a late meeting with a Mr. Curry, who was willing to part with several statues of Egyptian fertility goddesses.

"Yeah it's me," Buffy yelled down the stairs. Her mind was in a whirl as her thoughts flitted back to the information on Willow's computer. Suddenly a cold knot formed in her stomach. What was she going to do? For the first time, she thought she might panic.

Walking to the end of the stairs, Joyce shouted, "Is everything okay, dear?" Joyce Summer was a woman in her early forties, with light brown hair, blonde in the sunlight. She had moved to Sunnydale after a tempestuous divorce from her husband. She frowned. It wasn't like Buffy not to answer. She hesitated. Should she go up? After living on the Hellmouth after all these years, she was cautious even when entering her own home. Although Buffy had told her that vampire could not enter without invitation. But when she had asked about 'other' things, she did not get a straight answer.

Curiosity, her only fault, she thought, made her wander curiously up the stairs after not hearing an answer. Joyce walked cautiously towards Buffy's room. It was typical teenage room with posters of several male movie stars in sexy poses. The room was painted in shades of teal and white, and on the bed was the most famous pig of all time Mr. Gordo. Mr. Gordo was a beloved present from an old boyfriend of hers. However, Buffy always told her friends that he was a gift from her father.

At Buffy's bedroom door, Joyce stood silent for a few minutes. "What are you doing?" she asked curiously of the half hidden figure in the closet.

"Looking for something," Buffy said, her voice muffled.

Pointedly Joyce looked at her watch. "It's one thirty in the morning. Isn't time for you to be in bed?"

"In a minute," Buffy said distractedly.

Joyce wandered further into the room and sat on Buffy's bed.

"Got it," Buffy yelled triumphantly, showing Joyce a small makeup case in bright pink battered and scuffed in several places. That small case had been with Buffy for years. It contained her most precious secrets.

"What so special about that old thing that you had to find it tonight of all nights?" Joyce asked, looking at the item in Buffy's arm with curiosity. It was not the first time she seen that case. And although she knows of its importance to Buffy she had never seen the contents.

Buffy walked over to the bed and gently lay down. She reverently opened the case. It creaked a little, having not being opened for a while. "This," she said.

Buffy and Joyce peered into the interior. Inside the case, there were several bundles of yellow letters.

"What this?" asked Joyce, curiously reaching for something in the case.

"Don't touch it!" Buffy yelled slapping Joyce's hands away.

"Ow," cried Joyce, rubbing the sting out of her hand.

"I am sorry," Buffy said, contrite. "Please don't touch those. They were from Jack."

"Ah," Joyce said in understanding.

"I was looking for this," Buffy said, holding up a sword reverently. It was a katana. Buffy stood and swung the sword a couple times. It was perfectly balanced made for her hand. She hadn't seen anything in the case for several years; it was a symbol of her past. After seeing, that information on Willow's computer, it had brought home the fact, it was time to start wearing the sword again. As the resident slayer on the Hellmouth, she never needed 'the sword' but now, she would definitely feel comfortable wearing it. Looking into the chest had made her nostalgic, made her think of simpler times. In the case, there were a couple of fading pictures. One was of Buffy in the late 1920's her arm around a man and they were smiling at each other. There were others. Some of the pictures were of Buffy with several people; some of photographs were with her with one or two men. Each picture indicated a different era of time. As both Buffy and Joyce sat on the bed looking at pictures of yesterday, Buffy recounted what had happened earlier…

The next afternoon, Willow entered the library of Sunnydale High School, looking anxiously around the room. "Has anyone seen Buffy?" she asked the room large. In the library there were several young people sitting around. Xander Harris, a lanky teenager with shaggy dark brown hair, was sitting at a table with his eyes closed. He was slough in a chair, his head resting on the chair back and his foot on the table. Next to him was Cordelia Chase, May Queen. She was a brunette with blonde highlights in her hair, attempting to choose a nail polish to color, flamingo red or candy pink. And there was Oz, Willow's boyfriend, who was in a band called Dingoes eat my baby. He was average teenage with an ever-changing hair color. He says he did that to create individualism or sometimes to match his mood. Also in the room was Rupert Giles, Librarian and Watcher of Buffy Summers, Slayer. It was his job to guide and prepare the slayer for the forces of darkness.

Giles took his glasses and started polishing them. "What do you mean, have we seen Buffy. Is she missing?"

"Who missing?" murmured Xander, coming out of his nap.

"Buffy," said Cordelia.

"Well, she might not be missing," said Willow backtracking, anxious not to panic anyone. "She just didn't go to her any of her classes. I should know; I checked."

"Oh dear," said Giles, as fearful images quickly built in his mind. "Did anyone see her after her patrol yesterday?" he asked, walking to his office. His office was a mish mash of items. Books, magazine, potions and weapons. "Did you check with Angel?" he asked over his shoulder.

"Check with Angel about what?" Angel asked, walking silently into the room behind Willow.

"Arrgghh," said Willow, uttering a frightened squeak. "Don't sneak upon me like that."

"Sorry," Angel said contritely. To him, it seemed like he always apologizing. It was going to take a while before the gang was comfortable with him again. "What's this about?" he asked, speaking in a gentle tone, as if to make up for frightening Willow. Out of all the Scooby's, Willow was his favorite because she was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Have you seen Buffy?" Willow asked breathless. A delightful shiver ran up her spine. She looked over at Oz apprehensive, wondering if he could detect that she found Angel attractive. To quote Cordelia, he was all salty goodness. "She hasn't been at school all day," she continued. "And she hasn't checked in."

"Did anyone call her house?" Angel asked, speaking with a cool authoritative voice.

"I was just to do that, when you came in," Giles admitted. He suddenly had a quick and disturbing thought. What if something had happened to Buffy? He knew that she could take care of herself, but what if? Normally her patrolling was routine, maybe this time, had been one time something out of the ordinary had happened. For several months now, Buffy had patrolled by herself. She could handle it. Couldn't she? He turned to go to his office, trying not to show the kids he was worried.

Suddenly the library's double doors burst open and Faith and Buffy walked through the doors laughing.

"Where have you been? Willow yelled frustration and anger in her voice. For last couple of hours she had been on pins and needle, worrying about Buffy. Last night after Buffy had left so abruptly, she had gone back to the computer, trying to determine what on it had caused Buffy to freak out.

Taken aback by the other girl's tone, Buffy stopped in surprise, making the other slayer bounce into her.

"Jeez B, watch where you stop," said Faith, in a friendly relaxed manner. "Hey Red," she said walking around Buffy.

"None of your business," Buffy said as intense astonishment touched her pale face.

"What?" said Willow, her mouth hanging open in shock. All this time she had been worried about Buffy, only to be told it was none of her business. How dare she?

"Buffy!" Giles admonished, halting in shock. "Willow was concerned about you. We all were." He grabbed his glass and started polishing them.

"Yeah," Xander pipe up, totally bewildered at Buffy's behavior.

"I wasn't," said Cordelia blowing on her newly painted cotton candy colored fingernail. She shrugged as if unconcerned; although she would be the first one to volunteer to go look for Buffy, if it came to that.

"Except Cordelia," said Giles, rolling his eyes in exasperation.

"Hey, it isn't that I don't care," said Cordelia looking up from her hands. "I know Buffy can take care of her self."

"Thanks Cordelia," said Buffy, clearly surprised. Did the prom Queen just Buffy a compliment?

"No big," she said, feinting boredom.

"Buffy?" said Giles. He hesitated, measuring her for a moment. "Where have you been? You weren't in class," he asked.

Shrugging, Buffy walked toward the center of the room. "There was something I had to take care of," she said, sitting next to Xander at the table. "It's nothing."

"What was it?" Giles pressed, now concerned. It wasn't like Buffy to hide something from them, especially after the last time. Buffy had hidden Angel's return and it had caused a small rift in her friendship with her friends. "Maybe it's something we can help you with."

"I said it's nothing," she exclaimed in irritation as she jumped to her feet.

There was a stunned silence. Buffy never raised her voice at anyone, much less Giles.

In the silence, the telephone rang.

"Dang B," Faith muttered, giving her a disbelieving sidelong glance.

Flustered Giles answer the phone. He paused, looked at Buffy, and then said, "It's for you Buffy."

She hesitated briefly and walked to take the phone from him. "Hello. Yes, I had been trying to reach you" She listened for a while. "It's about Jack. We should meet. When?"

The group stared at her, not sure what was going on.

"Bye," said Buffy hanging up the phone. She turned around to see everyone staring at her. "I have to patrol," she said walking towards the library door. She needed a moment to orient herself.

Faith was unnerved at what had just happened. She looked around, not sure where she should be. She decided to follow the lesser evil. "B, wait up," she yelled, at the quickly retreating Buffy. Her mind was spinning with bewilderment. What happened?

"What's going on here?" Willow demanded, puzzled by Buffy's abrupt change of mood. "Do you think she's possessed or something?"

"Or something," murmured Angel, who had an idea about what was going on. Earlier that morning, Buffy had come by the mansion and they had talked about what she had found out, more so what she was planning to do.

Pushing away from the table, Xander got up, and made towards the door. "I don't know what's wrong, but she can't treat Willow like that," he said with a critical tone to his voice.

"Back off everyone!" said Willow surprising everyone. "I will handle it." With a resolved face, she marched out of the room.

Looking uneasily around the room, Giles said, "Yes, well let's everyone go back to work."

Seacouver, Washington.

Methos, known as Adam Pierson, the oldest living immortal put the phone gently in it's cradle, frowning slightly.

"What s wrong?" asked Joe Dawson, proprietor of Joe's Bar.

"I don't know," Adam said, pausing slightly. He felt the buzz of an immortal near. Unconsciously his hand went to the sword strapped to his side. "I have to meet a friend in couple of days." He looked around surreptitiously, sighing when he saw that it was the Highlander, Duncan MacLeod.

"So where are we going?" asked Duncan, moving to sit beside Adam at the bar.

"Mac," said Joe, surprised and delighted, as he welcome his friend back from his trip. "When did you get back?"

"A little while ago," Duncan said dropping a large and dusty bag at his feet.

"Yeah," said Adam. "When did you get back?"

"You didn't felt me?" Duncan asked concerned.

Rueful, Adam shook his head. "Not until you were almost upon me."

"You are slipping old man. If I were any other immortal, I would have your head."

Adam acknowledged that it was true.

"So you didn't answer my question," MacLeod asked, clapping Adam across his back. "Where are we going?"

"We?" Adam asked his brow rose questionably.

"Yes we," said Mac, draining the beer that Joe had put down in front of him.

Adam looked at MacLeod thoughtfully for a few minutes, and nodded his head. "California. Sunnydale, California."

"Never heard of it," said Joe, wiping down the counter with a wet rag.

"Lots of people haven't," Adam said, an easy smile playing at the corners of his mouth. "It a little suburb west of Los Angeles."

"How long will you be gone?" asked Mac, curiously. He had traveled all over the world but even he hadn't heard of Sunnydale.

"I don't know," said Adam. "Couple days at the most. Why?"

"I told you, I was coming with you. I need to get some fresh clothing," Mac said getting up from his chair. "Plus I need to check on Richie. Where is he by the way?"

"He's over at Lara's," said Joe. Lara was Richie's girlfriend. She was the most studious girl Joe had ever seen. At age twenty-three, he was not the most responsible person, but as long he was with Lara she made him buckle down and toe the line.

Duncan inclined his dark head. "Okay I'll give him a call," he said turning on his heel and striding to the door, his duffle bag heft across his shoulders. Richie Ryan was his protégé and foster son, an immortal like him. After his fiancée had died, Richie was all he had, and he tried to keep him close. But like all young men, Richie chafed under his restrictions. So right now, they had a somewhat adversarial relationship.

Sunnydale, California.

Buffy Summers and Faith gracefully battled vampires together. Seizing a chance moment, earlier Faith had asked Buffy about what had gone on in the library. However, Buffy did not want to talk about. She couldn't understand why it was always her sharing her inner-most thoughts. It was as if they had to have every piece of her. But Buffy knew it was about trust. They still hadn't forgiven her for not telling them Angel had returned. So the two slayers continued their jobs.

Feeling the buzz of an immortal, Buffy halted abruptly and Faith slammed into her body.

"Jeez B, what's with you and the sudden stoppage," she exclaimed in irritation. One was an accident, but twice?

Buffy put a hand up in a stop motion. Out the shadows, a man walked out. He was a tall blonde, wearing a long black leather coat, where he drew a long sword from it. "Isabella," he said. "I heard that you withdrew to this dinking little town."

"Dagon, why I am not surprised?" said Buffy. Shit, she muttered to her self. Why now? To aside to Faith, she murmured. "If its not one thing it is the other."

"Draw you sword," demanded Dagon, annoyed that Isabella doesn't seem surprised to see him. The time he wasted trying to find her. He had looked all over the fair grounds of Europe; he knows how she loves to party and now to find her in this nowhere of a town. That was the greatest of all ironies.

"This is holy ground," Buffy reminded him, her eyes flat and unreadable as stone.

"B, what's going on?" Faith demanded in a harsh whisper, her hand bunch into a fighting gesture. Faith could feel an undercurrent going on between Buffy and that strange guy. She hesitated, not knowing what to do.

"This is my fight," Buffy whispered back, pulling her along behind her. Well, Buffy thought. She had planned to tell the Scooby about her life, but this wasn't the way she had envision it. She felt so resentful of the situation.

"Can you handle him?" Faith asked skeptically, eying the huge man in front of them.

Buffy stare at Faith disbelieving for a minute. "The day I cannot handle one guy is the day, I put away my slayer's hat," she retorted.

"Is he a demon?" Faith asked, knowing that demons sometimes looked human. Plus, he didn't feel like a vampire.

"Enough!" roared Dagon, tired of being ignored. "It is time to fight. No more chitchat."

"No," said Buffy taking a sword it seemed, from mid air." He's not a demon.

Faith, eyes grew wide. "Dang B," she breathed as she watch the moonlight glisten off the silver of Buffy's sword. "Where did get such beauty?"

"I been waiting years for my revenge," said Dagon, giving Buffy a brutal and unfriendly stare.

"Really," said, Buffy walking a short distance away, out the cemetery gate. "I hope I was worth the wait," she said shrugging matter of factly. In a lighting fast motion, she spun around, and growled, "Lets dance."

Soon the mismatched pair engaged in fighting, a dance of some sort. Faith, had known that the senior slayer was proficient in weapons training, but this was the first time sheactually seen Buffy using a sword. It was breathtaking. The way she swung the sword, the thrust, the parry. She was getting hot just watching the fight.

Buffy, using the advantage of her strength had weakened the other man was going to give the deathblow, when she heard a scream behind her. Distracted, she glanced behind her. Dagon, cursing his weakness, saw an opening and thrust his sword into Buffy's side.

Buffy looked slowly back at Willow, who had screamed and looked down at the sword sticking out her stomach, "Shit, one of my favorite shirts," she muttered, knowing it was a grievous wound, and that she was about to die again. Then she slowly and gracefully fell to the ground.

Shock held both Willow and Faith immobile for a second. Then they both rushed towards Buffy's fallen body.

"B" yelled Faith, dropping quickly to the wounded girl's side.

"Buffy?" said Willow glancing down at the blood rapidly pulsating out of Buffy in disbelief.

Preoccupied, the girls never noticed when Dagon staggered off into the shadows to nurse his own wounds. "I'll be back," he whispered into the night.

Willow knelt down beside Buffy, not caring that her own clothing was being soaked with blood. Buffy's blood. Panic like she'd never known before welled in her throat. Earlier, she had searched Buffy's haunts, determined to have it out with her. She remembered the righteous anger she had felt and knowing Buffy's routine, she had followed her from Wilson cemetery all the way to Leigh-Hall, which is closer to the town. She hurriedly checked Buffy's pulse. There was none. "Come on Buffy," she cajoled. Grief and despair tore at her heart as tears fell unheeded down her cheeks. "Please don't die," she cried, taking pieces of her shirt to staunch the wound. "I am sorry, I sorry," she said, hot tears streaming down her cheeks.

"B?" Faith questioned. She was in shock. One minute Buffy was alive and kicking, enjoying the dance and the next she was lying on the ground, bleeding. "What did you do?" Faith yelled at Willow.

Taken aback, Willow could only stutter. "I-I."

"If it wasn't for you, Buffy would be alive. You distracted her," said Faith, as a suffocating sensation tightened her throat. What was she going to do without her friend? A bitter despair was slowly creeping into the recess of her lonely soul.

Willow stiffened in shock. Smothering a sob, she rushed away.