Title: Again, the Crimson Road (1/??) Author: Tim Williams Rating: TV-14 or so. Violence, adult situations, etc. Pairing: Buffy/Xander, a few hints at others Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, etc. Even the ideas are probably things I've read and half forgotten. Joss owns Buffy, Xander, and crew. The newer characters are owned by someone else entirely. Distribution: Take my fanfic! Please! Also try, if you're looking for past parts, etc. http://www.angelfire.com/tn/twillia/buffy/bufindex.html Feedback: I'm definitely looking for feedback, in the worst way. Anything you can tell me, even if it's just "I read it." is wonderful. Spoilers: Some general stuff. Season 1, heavily, mentions of Season 4 (nothing important, I wouldn't think, besides Adam). Summary: Sequel to Carve the Crimson Road and Walk the Crimson Road. It got into Xander's hand and things went bad. Xander ha(s/d) a magical disk implanted in his left wrist, which turns out to be an elemental weapon capable of forming tendrils and weapons from metal. Think Terminator 2 but more so. Now they (Buffy and Xander) have just stepped into a space/time rift that was tuned under a great deal of stress by someone who's only done it a couple of times before (if at all). Good luck, folks! Author's Notice: Well, it's the dawn of a new day, new part, etc. I know that the general idea (maybe) of some of this stuff was just recently done, and done pretty well, by another author on this list, but... it's one of the top ten most used scenarios for fan fiction (of most all sorts, it's kind of what I did in a Sailor Moon fic a couple years ago), so I'm doing it anyway. But I believe the characters will be making more mistakes in my version ;) Or maybe not. Anyway, there's a major change, which should be quite apparent by the second scene... I'm not sure if I'll be able to write it well or not, but I'll give it a shot. This piece is short since I want to get a little feedback before I continue the story this way. I might end up doing the other version of this chapter in addition/instead of this one. Also, thanks to everyone who's read this and my other parts, and especially those of you who mailed me feedback :) Your contact is much appreciated. *** I'm dead. Damn. I hate being dead. Not that I'm all that experienced, or anything, but I've done it before. Once. I have to say that it's not something I enjoy. But, it's different this time, somehow. I'm floating in the same sea of inky blackness. There isn't a white light. Of course, there wasn't last time, either. I think it has something to do with the soul hanging around the body a while after death. Then again, I'm probably wrong. The blackness is changing now. I'm being pulled towards something. My body? Something else? I don't know. I've never been dead for this long before. Wait, how can I tell how long it has been? My heart is not beating. There are no clocks. No sun or stars. Just the blackness. How long has it been? I'm there. There is a sudden rush and... *** I gasped for air as I started breathing again, sitting up as I panted. My hands griped the sheets, turning white at the knuckles as my heart raced. I'm alive. Was it all a dream? I'd be lying if I said that I never had nightmares about being dead or dying. It comes with the job. Super powers, short life expectancy. There was a knock and I heard my mother calling from the other side of the door, "Buffy?" "Mom?" "Don't want to be late for your first day." "Deja vu," I muttered. "First day?" I looked around and finally figured out what had bothering me for the last few minutes. My room didn't look like that. Well, I mean, it did, but that was four years ago, back when I was still in high school... Uh, oh. *** I'm going crazy. That's the only explanation. I managed to live four years in a dream and wake up the next morning in time for school. Maybe it's part of being a slayer. Maybe it's part of being a mental patient. I might never figure that one out. Everything felt so real... both times. Which one was reality? In any case, what was I going to do? When you're stuck in a dream, do you have to play along? If you don't do so willingly, will the dream force you to play? Maybe it's a coma. Like Faith. Great, I thought, now I'm going to wake up a psychopath. Or did that ever really happen? No, wait, she was a psycho before I put her in the coma. I shook my head to clear out the swirling thoughts. Autopilot had seem me through my morning absolutions and the ride to school. I can back to reality just as my mother was imploring me not to get kicked out on my first day. "I won't Mom... I promise." She smiled encouragingly and gave me a thumbs up. Too weird. It'd been like this in the other world, I was disinclined to think of it as a dream, it was just too real. But this was real, too. Or I'm nuts. Someone tapped me on the shoulder, and, distracted as I was, the slayer reflexes took things into their own hands. I grabbed, twisted, and thud, they were on the ground in front of me. Xander. "Hey, Buffy, not so rough." He was smiling, not wincing in pain like he should have been. That's when I realized a disk of cool metal was pressing into my hand where I'd grabbed him for the throw. That'd been in the dream, too. "Xander?" "Yeah, that's my name." He looked around and I realized that virtually everyone had stopped to watch us in confusion. "Help me up?" I hauled him to his feet easily and he said loudly, "That was a great move, Miss Summers, I'll have to start taking Judo lessons, too. Thank you for the demonstration." Okay, so it was corny, but Xander isn't what you'd call the world's best actor. I grinned a little, for the first time not so worried about my sanity. "Want to go surprise Giles?" I nodded, still not sure what in the world was going on.