TITLE: Beginning In The Past. To Shape A Future. (3/?)

AUTHOR: CrAzY E

RATING: NC-17

PAIRINGS: B/F, Xe/G, W/T, Xa/A

DISCLAIMER: Joss, ME, Renaissance Pictures, Rob Tapert etc own them. I’m just playing with them for my own amusement :) I own nothing bar my comp, my car and my girl’s heart! And though the last one is invaluable to me I doubt it has any monetary value so please don’t sue :-p

FEEDBACK: Well yeah lol. Esp seein as am venturing WAAAAAAY outta my comfort zone here and writing my first x-over. But at least it’s a fandom I love… even if only just discovered in last 18 months.

DISTRIBUTION: Ya want it? Take it. Have it. Just lemme know where it goes.

SPOILERS: S-3, S-4 BtVS. X:WP up til season 4, after “Between The Lines”. Let’s pretend too that the conceit is actual fact and the show came about from Gab’s scrolls. Gabrielle didn’t throw away her staff ala Eli’s Way either. Oh, and Riley… he’s gone the way of Parker and Angel already. Mainly cuz I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of getting rid of him :)

SUMMARY: Dite makes a trip back in time to pick up some help to save her latest project and throw a kink in Are’s plans for the most recent reincarnation of Xena’s soul.

NOTES: This was ORIGINALLY intended for The Buffyverse Femslash X-over of the month back in like September 2006.

A/N2: Any Greek Mythical Beings mentioned are a) based partly on fact and b) based partly on Xena-lore and all thrown together in my own way.

DEDICATIONS: As always to my heart, my life. Laina, without you I would be incomplete. And to our Lovely Lady of the Oasis. As a beta she totally rocks. Damn woman, you make the drivel I write sound almost professional. So this is my thank you. *BIG smiles*

BETA: Val, Lovely Lady of the Oasis.

It took Gabrielle a full half hour to talk Willow into casting the shield over the Summers’ residence, but she had finally managed it. It had taken both the little blonde and Joyce to talk her into it. Joyce had firmly decided she didn’t want somebody influencing her decisions and told Willow so; right in the middle of her ‘Faith is evil’ rant at Gabrielle. Willow stopped arguing and raised the barrier, albeit unwillingly. Everybody noticed the effects almost immediately, their antagonism towards Faith lessening immediately and realizations slipping into place. With the exception of Willow who, surprising everybody else but the duo from Greece, remained as hostile as ever toward her.

Things remained in pretty much the same state for the next couple of days. Willow had refused to go home and in the end everybody but Xander, Anya and Giles camped out in the Summers’ home. Any time a suggestion remotely resembling Faith leaving the basement was made, Willow protested. It was really starting to get on everybody’s nerves.

Faith herself, for the most part, was happy to stay camped out in the basement, not quite ready to face her former… former, well she didn’t know what. No matter what her feelings towards any of them, the other slayer in particular, she couldn’t call them friends.

She’d been coerced upstairs by Joyce for one particularly uncomfortable meal with Willow staring at her vindictively from the other end of the table. There had been nothing in the way of conversation. Joyce followed Faith to the basement afterwards and apologized for the awkward meal.

Faith had to give the older woman kudos. Joyce was trying, as was the younger Summers. Though she honestly had no idea why, she was grateful for it anyway. It made the days more bearable. One could say Faith was inflicting the solitude on herself as the beginning of her path to redemption.

After all, someone had believed in her enough to send two of her heroes forward in time to help her turn things around. Faith figured she at least owed the fight her best shot. The girl Faith had been before Allan was beginning to come back, but it was a more focused Faith. She was going to make it count.

****

It was around lunchtime a day or so after the dinner debacle when there was an insistent knocking on the front door. Xena hurried to open it. As soon as she did a figure covered by some flaming material rushed past her, and into the living room followed by a tall brunette woman; and a shorter bespectacled male.

Before she could even close the door her senses told her vamp. Spinning towards the guests, her hand reached instinctively for her chakram; which lay on the bedside chest in her room. She began looking around for a weapon when there was a stilling hand upon her arm.

“It’s ok.” Buffy spoke softly to her, as she moved past the warrior aware of what Xena’s intentions had been. “He’s the one with a soul.” She stopped in the doorway staring at the tall man stamping out the fire on the blanket. “Angel?” The slayer was completely stunned to see her former love standing in her living room.

The brooding vampire turned to his love and instantly his boyish smile appeared. He couldn’t believe how happy he was just to see her.

“Buffy, I got word you needed some help with a rogue slayer; so here we are.” He was hoping his knight in shining armor appeal would still work. He really thought there was a shot at helping Faith, if what Willow told them was right.

He remembered how angry Buffy had been after hearing he was leaving Sunnydale. No matter how much he loved her, they would never work. He also remembered the cold shoulder she was so good at giving when she was angry.

Wondering how he had known about Faith she queried, “You got word?” She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. Who else knew Faith wasn’t at large beside those here?

He nodded, his demeanor becoming more serious as he sensed the change in her. “Willow rang and said Faith needed more help than you guys could actually give, and could I help her by taking her to LA and working with her? Y’know, cause of my past, knowing what she has to go through.”

Buffy was in shock. Willow? She’d known Willow disliked Faith, but enough to send her away? Without telling her. With Angel’s answering nod she spun about looking for the red head. It wasn’t a long look. Everybody had come to see who had been at the door, everybody but Faith; who hadn’t heard the bell ring.

Buffy was so angry at her best friend. She’d asked them all specifically not to tell anyone Faith was here. Regardless of the fact that Buffy knew he could help Faith. It also meant Faith leaving Sunnydale, and Buffy wasn’t sure if she was ready for that. By the time the blonde had opened her mouth, her feelings had culminated into a scream.

“You rang Angel?”

And it was this scream that brought the brunette out of her hiding place even though she hadn’t heard the words. Everybody turned to look at her as they heard the basement door bang as Faith came skidding to a halt in front of them.

She turned bright red realizing they were all looking at her. She hurried to explain herself.

“I thought… I thought y’know, B screamin’like she was … demon.”

She hung her head and muttered the last word as she turned; heading for the basement. She hadn’t taken the time to notice all of the room’s occupants.

“Faith?” the vampire looked at the girl before she turned away. He knew instantly that no matter what Willow said, Faith was indeed changing. It was obvious from the looks Joyce, Buffy and two other strange women were giving her, that she had the help she needed.

The brunette turned in surprise. “Soulboy? I heard you’d left town.” She had found out during the first couple days in the basement, when they insisted on posting watch and Xander had taken a turn bringing her comics to read. She had been grateful to him for his kindness. Especially after everything she had done. She wasn’t able to apologize to any of them yet. But she felt remorse for her actions.

Angel smiled at her, trying to show his good intentions.

“How are you doing? I heard you needed a hand but I can see we’ve been misinformed.” He swung his arm out to encompass the two behind him.

Wesley and Cordelia waved at them sheepishly from behind Angel.

“Hi.” they chorused.

Faith looked all around the room. “I’m doin’ okay Soulboy, thanks for asking…”

“I couldn’t let you take her anyway, Angel.” Joyce spoke up, the warm smile on her face directed at Faith. “Faith’s invited to Christmas dinner.” This statement shocked just about everybody as they all knew Christmas was well over six months away.

“What!! NO!!” Willow finally spoke up. She was angry. This was not how it was meant to go. They were all supposed to agree to sending Faith off with Angel. She wanted things back to normal, so she could get her best friend back. The friend who had been missing since Willow yelled at her on Faith’s first night here. She glared around the room angrily.

Tara reached out from behind the wiccan and caught her arm, trying silently to stop what she could see coming next. She had tried for days to talk Willow out of this.

“How can you all stand here and have a normal conversation when she has to leave? She can’t stay here anymore… I won’t allow it.”

Joyce chose this moment to step in. “Ahem, Willow forgive me for asking, but who’s house is this?”

Willow immediately realized her poor choice of words and apologized to Joyce, though she still continued. “I’m sorry. Poor word usage. Ok, maybe I can’t make her leave, but her staying can’t be for the best. We can’t help her. Surely you all know that?” She looked around the room for support and found none, not even from Xander. What she did find was a pair of ice blue steel boring into her from the doorway. Willow gulped. She had angered the Warrior Princess.

Xena took her eyes away from Willow and softened her expression to look at Gabrielle. Things had gone too far and now there were outside influences. It was time for the other plan.

“Time for Plan B?” She asked her partner anyways, knowing the blonde agreed with her even before she nodded in reply. Xena stepped forward breaking the silence.

“Right, so I’ve had just about enough of this.” She looked about the room. “We came here to help Faith. And all but you agreed.” She stared directly at the red head, who averted her eyes from the warrior’s glare. She looked about the room, searching for the source of the tingle she’d been feeling for the last five minutes. Finding a slight pink sparkle floating in the corner, she knew all was in place.

“It’s time for a new plan.” The warrior grinned, happy for the first time in nearly a week. “And you don’t get any choice but to go along, Red.” Deliberately using Faith’s moniker for Willow showing how unhappy she was with the wiccan. She questioned Gabrielle, “What did that girl do with her pretty red shoes that you liked so much, in that moving picture you watched?” Xena shrugged, answering her own question with, “Never mind. I like Home James! better!” The warrior chortled as the room started to spin. Oh yes, she was happy. She was going home.

****

The world stopped spinning and the brunette warrior looked around her spotting Argo just off a ways as she caught and steadied her bard, who landed rather clumsily beside her. The grin that spread across Xena’s face completely lit it up. Oh yeah…. she was home, at last.

A chorus of ‘Ooomphs’ behind them had the duo turning only to see four bodies tumbled about on the ground and they started laughing. Yeah, traveling by “God Express” the first time can be a bitch.

“So welcome to Ancient Greece.” The warrior addressed the four women in front of her.

Buffy and Faith scrambled to their feet quickly while Willow stood and attempted to help Tara to her feet. They looked about them before looking over at the Greeks.

“So where the hell are we, and what did you say before, cuz seriously, it was all Greek to me?” Buffy questioned them.

Gabrielle and Xena stared at them somewhat stunned. They were puzzled about being able to understand the blonde’s question, yet the slayer had not understood them.

“Erm… Dite?” Xena called out. “You might wanna fix this if we’re gonna do anything at all. Cuz ya busted something in transport.”

Tara spoke up quietly from behind them. “Um g-guys. I th-think we’re in Ancient G-greece.” the blonde wiccan had spotted Argo grazing a little way off.

“WE ARE WHERE?!!?” Was the only response Buffy had.

TBC

Disclaimer: No slayer, witches, warrior or Bard’s were seriously harmed during the making of this motion FIC and subsequent time travel. However, some backsides were bruised for several days.

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