Track B in Track A  

She slept for an entire day. 

Angel, finally able to relax slightly even with the myriad questions still crashing around in his head, did so as well. He longed to curl up next to her, hold her tightly against his chest as he used to, and sleep. Sleep knowing that she was safe and in his arms, and yes, he wanted to beat Riley to a bloody pulp for…well, a lot of things. For being able to do that, for being able to feel her smooth skin against his, for being able to do all that without fear. 

And then there were all those questions that still needed answering. 

But knowing that she was upstairs was something. 

And if it wasn’t really his Buffy, well, at least this one was here and safe and he’d make damn sure that she stayed that way and they found a way to get his Buffy back. He had long ago promised to keep her safe, even if that meant keeping safe a Buffy from another world. And on that confusing note his mind shutdown. Angel rested his head on the pillow Giles lent him, still facing Buffy, sleeping peacefully on her watcher’s bed. He pulled the blanket more securely over him as he settled on the floor in Giles’ room, and had his first decent amount of sleep in days. 

When she finally did awake and stumble down the stairs in Giles’ condo, everyone was still gathered in the living room looking slightly better than they had the last time she awoke. Combing her hair away from her face, she looked around the room and wondered which episode of the Twilight Zone she had ended up in. 

There were only two familiar faces but there was a sense that she should know…him there, the dark one, the one who pulled her in and made her want to rest her weary head against his strong arms. 

“Buffy, ah, good you’re awake.” Giles rose from her preferred chair at his table and offered it to her. She looked tired still; her face drawn and shoulders slumped. But it was her eyes that drew him the most. They were hollow, tired – not just from her ordeal, it seemed, but from something else, something like her entire life – and definitely confused. 

She paled even more when he motioned to her, but took the seat anyway. 

“Giles,” she said as she sat in the chair, warily eyeing her Watcher. “You know no one has called me ‘Buffy’ since mom and dad died.” Her voice held a faintly scolding note in it. It was not so much out of pain, but more that he should have known that. 

“Ah, yes then…er…?” 

More than confused now, Elizabeth looked at her watcher and said slowly, as if he were the one who was lost. “Elizabeth.” 

“Right, Elizabeth, yes. Do you, er, do you remember anyone else in the room?” After she had acknowledged only himself and Cordelia earlier, Giles had tried to find any reference to dimension displacement that he could, but he, too, was running on fumes and had fallen asleep on the only reference he could find. He’d save that revelation for later, after they had figured out a little more of this situation. 

Giving him another odd look, Elizabeth directed her gaze to Cordelia. “Cordy, of course, but no, not…really.” 

What was she supposed to say? Elizabeth rubbed a hand across her eyes, willing the pounding headache away. She didn’t recognize anyone else in the room. Well, the tall brooding one in the corner felt familiar but she was sure she’d never actually met him. And if she voiced that, they’d think she was crazy. However, with the undercurrents in the room there seemed to be a strong possibility that they wouldn’t. 

“Can I have something to drink?” Elizabeth asked, surprised that Giles hadn’t offered her something sooner. He was always right on top of the whole hospitality thing, even in the midst of a crisis. 

Riley walked a few steps forward, trying not to appear as desperate as he felt. He had serious insecurities when it came to his relationship with Buffy, not the least of which was her still obvious relationship with her ex. And now that she was even stronger than before, since that weird melding she and the First Slayer had done – and that no one would tell him the details of – his insecurities were even stronger. 

“Buff…er Elizabeth?” When her gaze drifted to his, distant, cool, uninterested, he smiled. “You don’t remember me?” 

“Um, no. Should I?” Her questions were blunt; in her world there was little time to waste on niceties.  Her gaze shot back to her friend, or the only friend she knew. “Want to tell me what’s going on here, Cor?” 

Cordelia had had some time to think the situation over. Could she and Buffy have been friends? There was a possibility, they had hit it off fairly well that first day and it wasn’t as if they hadn’t gotten along later, well before the whole Xander/Willow incident, but Cordy had been more interested in her status at school than anything else. That had shortly changed with the advent of so many strange things, especially those centered on Buffy, but there was always that…possibility. 

So she took a deep breath, scanned the area of past and present ‘Scoobies’ once more, and jumped in to the fray. 

“Riley here is your boyfriend.” She pointed distastefully at the man who had just asked her if she remembered him. “He is, or was, part of some government program that captures demons and turns them into harmless little puppies with chips in their brains.” 

Though everyone tried not to, their eyes were drawn to Spike. Spike growled at them, glaring back. Angel hadn’t moved, but he didn’t look at his Grandchilde, either. The elder knew what being neutered, such as it was, had done to his once favored and he wasn’t about to rub it into Spike’s face now. 

Elizabeth didn’t notice and narrowed her eyes growling, “You!” 

Apparently, she did remember him. 

Rising fluidly to her feet she stalked, like the predator she was, the few paces necessary to stand before Riley. Her eyes darkened, fist clenched and she was more than ready to lash out at the man before her. Power streamed off her, buffeting the rest of the room and making both Angel and Spike growl at the feel. 

“You bastard!” She snarled, “I thought you were dead.” Elizabeth forced herself to stop several paces from Riley and not hit him. It was difficult, but she stopped anyway. 

“You kidnapped Giles,” she accused, “In an attempt to get to me so you could do your little ‘experiments’ on me as well. Wanted to know what made me ‘tick,’ you and that bitch Walsh, wanted to know from where I got my powers you said, how I was able to kick your ass and your entire stupid ass squadron without breaking a sweat.” 

She was shaking with rage and Riley had no choice but to back up under her onslaught. His back hit the wall as he tried to sooth her, but she wouldn’t let him get a word in edgewise. 

“You tried to kill my friends and allies,” Elizabeth accused, “You tried to undo everything I spent four years trying to fix, to balance.” Another step forward and the Slayer knew she was losing her battle with her temper. How many times had Giles warned her of that, how often had her generals accused her of letting her anger lead her? 

“You and that pathetic organization tried to undo the balance I finally, finally had over the Hellmouth and then had the nerve, the sheer gall to look me in the eye and wonder what a Hellmouth was. Wonder why the demons, good and bad, that you preformed your little tests on were so drawn to this tiny little town and not even have the brains to ask someone who knew!” 

She was so worked up, had seen too many demons she had considered allies worked over by the association Riley associated himself with that she couldn’t hold back any longer. 

Fuck calm. Fuck control. Before anyone had a chance to react Elizabeth’s fist connected with Riley’s square jaw, throwing him the remaining step into the wall at his back. Angel snickered and did nothing to stop her. She was magnificent in her anger! Slumping to the floor, Riley’s hand automatically went to the bruised area but wisely, he stayed where he had fallen. 

Spike whistled, “Way to go, Slayer.” 

Whirling back to face the room in general, she spared a glance for him before zeroing in on her watcher. “Giles,” she demanded, anger still pulsing within her, eyes shooting fire at her watcher. “Where am I? And what the hell is going on here?”
~~~~~~~~~~
An hour later Elizabeth sat in the recliner, a soothing cup of tea in her hands and the remains of a sandwich on the plat next to her. She was still shaking her head at the revelations each member in the room spoke of. Her first assessment was right; she was in the Twilight Zone. 

“So there isn’t a War going on here? I mean in the big worldwide sense? And The Watcher’s Council is still intact? Hell, England is still more or less in one piece? American and France aren’t at war again?” 

No one said anything; they had just answered these questions, or ones very similar, already. But the shock in her eyes, the hope in her voice made Angel ask, “What do you mean war?” 

Elizabeth shifted her dazed eyes to his and wondered yet again at the…connection she felt with him. All she knew of him was that he was a vampire, as was the blonde sitting on the steps leading to Giles’ bedroom. They had been introduced as allies, friends even, but Elizabeth felt there was something else to it. 

The waves of longing coming off him told her that he wanted her and the Slayer wondered at that. Many vampires wanted to drain the Slayer, but this was so very different. This wasn’t some vamp trying to prove his worth and it wasn’t the need of a starving vampire to sate his blood lust. No, this was a different kind of lust. This Angel wanted her. 

He wanted her with an intensity that made Elizabeth tingle to the core of her being, made her wonder how he could make her feel that way when she’d just met him. Everything happened too fast, waking up in this strange place, learning about all the strangeness that was going on around her, the world was not the one she remembered…it was too much. 

And yet the feelings this Angel gave off, the answering ones within her, made Elizabeth wonder. And long. And possibly, hope. 

“In the late 1800s there was a coup,” she said, answering Angel’s question. She spoke to everyone but looked only at him. “Members of the Order of Aurelius overthrew the Master of their order, Fredrick Nest. The new Master along with his mate and two Childer ruled the Vampire Council for several years before suddenly disappearing. The power vacuum left when they disappeared was incredible; no one could take their place. Since then, various and sundry vampires from across the world, mere Fledglings and old Masters alike, have attempted to fill that void.” 

Elizabeth shifted, setting her mug of tea on the floor and focusing on her story. She reluctantly tore her eyes from Angel’s but found they drifted back to his, the dark brown capturing her. 

“It always proves impossible, though,” she told him and recognized that his attention was focused solely on her, too. “Aurelius no longer has a Master and the Order refuses to recognize a new one despite more than one declaring him or her self as such, and until they do so, a new Council Leader can not be appointed.” 

Steeling himself, afraid to know the answer though he was pretty sure he already did, Angel took a step closer to the woman who looked so much like his Mate. He felt Spike’s eyes on his, but didn’t glance at the other vampire. His grandchilde knew what he was about to ask. 

“Who was he?” Angel demanded, his question coming out harsher than he intended. “The vampire who overthrew Nest, who was he?” 

“Angelus,” Elizabeth said immediately. 

Then, noting his flinch and that of everyone else present, she understood. How she missed it before, Elizabeth couldn’t have said; but then it’d been a weird day all around. But wow, she’d missed it; after all the studying she’d done, she hadn’t connected…rising slowly she walked the few paces that separated she and Angel, but resisted touching him. Not because she was afraid of him, more because it was Angelus before her and…wow. 

Elizabeth felt like an awed schoolgirl meeting her idol for the first time. 

“You’re him aren’t you? Angel, Angelus of course,” her hand hovered inches from his face, “Why didn’t I see that before? Wow.” She let out a slight chuckle and grinned like a fool. She was actually meeting the Master of Aurelius, standing right in front of him and…this was more than historic, this was just plain cool.

“Wow, this is like…meeting the President or the Tsarina of Russia or the Pharaoh of the Egyptian Empire or something. You’re the Scourge of Europe, the Ruler of the Council…you, you…” She pointed with one hand though both moved in front of her as she tried to articulate her excitement. “Wow.” 

Spinning to look at Spike, she said with something close to glee in her voice. Of course.  “That must make you William the Bloody.” 

At his nod Elizabeth laughed, delighted. “You’re legends! I mean for the other side of course,” she hastily added but couldn’t control her enthusiasm. “But you’re like these myths, everyone has a story, how they met one or the other of you, how they fought with you, I even heard one about how he beat you; no one believed that,” Elizabeth admitted with a frown. 

“It was always speculated,” she said and turned to Giles who was looking like he had landed in his worst nightmare/best dream. “That if you hadn’t disappeared then none of this would have happened, that you would’ve gone on to rule the Vampire Council and order would at least have been…preserved.” 

Giles sputtered a little, taking off his glasses to vigorously clean them as he tried to digest everything Elizabeth had just said. The Slayer snickered at the movement but said nothing. If this wasn’t her Giles, he certainly had the same mannerisms and she found a great deal of comfort in that. 

Angelus in charge of everything; Giles shuddered at the thought. It was just bad in his opinion. And yet the knowledge that Elizabeth obviously possessed of her world was stunning and fascinating; Angelus wasn’t around in her time, which meant that she’d never met him – Angel – either. The fact that she was, that she was very much in awe of Angel/Angelus and Spike/William…and it frightened Rupert Giles more than anything. 

If Elizabeth was in such awe of these two, then would she be vigilant enough to guard against them? Buffy knew, she knew what they were capable of, had survived it herself. But she still bore the scars from those encounters. Would this girl, this mirror image, be able to do the same? 

“Giles you were right,” she was said, “But then you’re not my Giles.” She harrumphed but then smiled again. “Still, this is like seeing a huge ‘what if’ scenario. You always thought that they’d still be in power, knowing the resources they controlled and the will they all had it was practically a given that they’d still be rulers of the Council.” 

Elizabeth explained at Giles’ look, knowing how interested her watcher was in this. This Giles didn’t seem to be any different – another comforting fact. “In fact, there are several factions that believe it’s only a matter of time before they do return, kind of like this grand vampiric messiah.” 

Spike looked at the girl who wasn’t the same one to give him so much trouble these last few years. His gaze shifted to his Sire and he knew what the poof was thinking. There were only two others they had run with during that time period, and yet Elizabeth hadn’t mentioned either of them. 

Feeling as if he should somehow take away the burden of having Angel to ask, Spike spoke up. “Who were the others?” 

Still looking like she had stumbled onto the greatest find in the history of any world, Elizabeth asked, “What? Which others?” 

“The others who ruled with Angelus, who were they?” 

“Oh, um, your consort Drusilla,” she told Spike and noticed how the vampire’s eyes lighted up at the thought. Where was Drusilla, anyhow? There was so much about this world that confused Elizabeth and no one was offering her any explanations. “And Angelus’ mate,” she said. 

“Her name was never mentioned in the Watcher Journals; no one has any idea what her true name was.” Elizabeth shrugged. It was a mystery that was unsolved for over a hundred years; she doubted that these people could do so. “There was rumor and innuendo, of course, but nothing solid, nothing on which to even form a solid theory. Before they disappeared, even the demons and once rival Orders were afraid of her, no one spoke her name, just things like ‘She Who Shall Not Be Named’ or ‘The Mistress of All.’ I think Angelus called her his Queen, but that’s rumor as well.”

“How very ‘Harry Potter’ of them.” Xander said, still trying to accept the fact that the woman he had considered his best friend for four years didn’t know him…or something like that. 

Elizabeth cocked her head to the side and looked at the strange man who said that. “Who?” 

When he shrugged it off, the Slayer let it go. Honestly, she had no idea who Willow or Xander were; she had never met them before waking up in this strange world. Wondering if it was because their histories were so different Elizabeth turned back to Angelus. Wow, in the flesh, a real legend. She was practically giddy. And, okay, he was evil, but he was still the most powerful vampire in her world despite him not really being there. 

Swallowing unnecessarily Angel asked in a surprisingly steady voice, “And Darla?” 

“Darla, Darla…” Elizabeth narrowed her eyes for a moment, trying to place the name. “Oh, your Sire. Dust. Apparently she and your Mate…the other you, your Mate…” she was confusing herself. “You understand what I’m trying to say here?” 

At his nod and rueful smile, she continued with a grateful sigh. Oh, boy was he sexy. That little smile, the way his eyes sparkled when he looked at her, the way she wanted to see them sparkle all the time…how she wanted to see a full-blown smile on his handsome face…Elizabeth didn’t understand her reaction to him, he was a vampire for the Power’s sake. 

But she wanted him. Every time she looked at him a thrill of need coursed through her. Her blood pumped faster and her breathing stopped up. It was a reaction that she didn’t understand and wasn’t sure she wanted to. 

“Right then, they didn’t get along, no one really knows the story all that’s recorded on either side is that she was killed by a Slayer.” 

“Wish I could have seen that.” Spike mumbled though both she and Angel heard him. Angel growled at the younger vampire to be quiet, but Elizabeth just wondered at his words. As far as she knew, they all got on with Darla. Then again… 

“As I said, no one really knows what happened,” she said and then added, “But the general theory is that she was cast out and the Slayer found her…though there’s another theory that the Slayer was really in Russia at the time, but when Council Headquarters was destroyed too many of their things were as well.” 

Wesley spoke up for the first time, still unsure as to his welcome by the woman who had never really been his charge. Apparently, he was never her watcher, either. This Buffy, Elizabeth, had never died at the hands of Nest, so neither Kendra nor Faith had never been called. Rupert Giles had never been replaced, leaving no reason for him to have been placed as her watcher. 

He wasn’t as confused as he thought he should be, and that led Wes to think that he was missing something. 

“How did that happen?” He was shocked that such a thing was even possible, but it didn’t look as if Buffy, this Elizabeth, was making it up. “The Council has so many wards in place that it’s virtually impenetrable.” 

Elizabeth shook her head a little sadly. It had hit everyone hard when the Council had fallen. Some had survived and there were enough substations in place for their work to continue, but without the command center, things just weren’t the same. Potential Slayers were still sought, but it was much harder now than it was. 

“A combination of several things, actually,” she said, sitting back in her chair and picking up her now cold tea. She looked to Giles for more and smiled when he automatically refilled it. Ah, she missed him. 

“The Second Great European War was being fought for one. Several countries had tired of so many demons overrunning their populace and decided to take it out on their neighbors whom they blamed – erroneously obviously– for it.” Elizabeth leaned back against the chair, closing her eyes as if she could see all this. 

And maybe she had, Angel thought and wanted to comfort her again. Maybe this was something she’d witnessed. Maybe this was the cause of her nightmares; for she had nightmares, of that he was sure. She was the Slayer and no Slayer ever slept soundly. 

“England, once it was realized that The Watcher’s Council was located there and had known about these nightmares all along, was the focus of their combined attack. It was…horrible. Slaughter,” Elizabeth whispered and for one who had witnessed so many atrocities, this had broken something deep within her. “There wasn’t anything left on. Or of, the island,” she whispered. 

“Simultaneously, France had declared war on America again.” Explaining, for she wasn’t sure how different their histories were, Elizabeth added, “The French blamed us for their incredible lack of success with their own revolution.” 

Elizabeth opened her eyes and looked at the room, rapt in their attention. Even Riley seemed interested and Elizabeth had to stifle the urge to kick his ass. Again. Taking a deep breath, she was assaulted by the scent of Angel even from across the room; something deep within her stirred and Elizabeth couldn’t help her response. She knew both he and William were aware of it, but couldn’t stop her body from wanting the handsome vampire. 

Trying to explain the multiple reasons that so many things in her world had been destroyed, she struggled with the right words. And tried to block out the way the vampire made her feel. It was disconcerting and annoying and Elizabeth was not at all pleased that a demon, a vampire, could make her feel that way.++ 

“Both The Russian and Egyptian Empires came to our aid, but by this time everyone had become involved. England was deemed a necessary casualty and as many of her citizens as possible were evacuated; there were less than four days to do it and…it was pandemonium, horrible things happened as everyone tried to get off. Still, The Council tried to move all their information to America, but they didn’t have enough time. There’s never enough time, is there?” She asked rhetorically but the sadness in her voice held something else. 

Elizabeth closed her eyes again, assaulted by the images she had seen. The Slayer was sent to help with the evacuation; she and her Army had kept the demons at bay as the island was evacuated. She was there when they pulled out, running out of time. Nukes, magicks, bombs, all manner of horribly destructive weapons landed on the British Isle. 

There was nothing left. 

“Most of the island itself was destroyed, too; it appeased several countries, those that had no idea what was truly happening, but as no one bothered to ask what it was that was happening, no one had the answers needed to fight. So the circle continued. And now it was without the resources of the Council.” 

Leaning back in the chair she didn’t remember sitting in, Elizabeth looked over at Riley, who had been quiet since their earlier altercation. In a flat voice that held contempt, hidden horrors, anger, she told him, “A small but apparently influential faction in America thought that by experimenting on the demons, without bothering to separate the good from bad, they’d be able to control and eventually win over them. They had no true idea what they were facing.” 

She snorted, looking once more at Angel as she finished her tale, Elizabeth ended. “When you and your group realized that I had powers you could never hope to have let alone understand, you poisoned Giles. It was in an attempt to capture me. It worked.” 

Absently Elizabeth rubbed a hand over her stomach, remembering the many tests they had subjected her to before she had regained consciousness and escaped. The ruins of the underground complex had caused a crater to form and the Slayer was not one bit sorry about the soldiers that were caught in that explosion. 

Her hand resting lightly over her empty womb, Elizabeth’s eyes never left Angel’s. Not that they were ever in her future, but she could no longer bear children, Walsh had seen to that. 

“I escaped and two days later my Army and I attacked the compound.” And destroyed the laboratory where Walsh was trying to ‘grow’ Slayer embryos. “There was nothing left of it but some rubble and a gaping hole in the ground under UC Sunnydale.”

Part 6        Part 8

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