The Golden Queen Series:
The Golden Queen
by Damia

Chapter Two

Earth

She was falling, floating. And freezing.

So cold.

In an endless blackness. There was no start, and there was no end. The sides wizzed past her but she seemed to be going so much slower than the rest. There were white specks in the walls, she noted, but they were not moving.

It was Chaos.

Stars and planets shot past her, as she travelled the endless pathway. And then there was an End, a bright light that out shone everything else. She reached for it, her fingers stretching but not quite touching. Fear clutched her heart, and she started to scream, grabbing her head, wanting it all to stop.

Then he was there. He reached out from inside the light and grabbed her hand. His large fingers wrapping around her tiny hand, and he pulled, fingers interlocked. Her hand that he was holding felt warm, as if wherever he touched her skin, warmth was pulsed into her. Warmth, and peace, and love.

She smiled. And then she could see his face. His beautiful dark face. He was looking down at her, love and laughter in his eyes. He let go of her hand and she gave a cry of loss. But she found that she still move towards him. He opened his arms wide and she floated into them. He folded his big, strong arms around her tiny body, crushing her to his bare chest. Bringing her face up, he cupped her chin, running his fingers over the plains of her face. Her nose. Her eyes. Her lips.... Then he brought his lips down and she fell into the kiss.

She had waited so long.....

She closed her eyes, sinking into his embrace. But once again she felt herself falling, being ripped from his arms. She gave a cry, and searched again for his face.

There he was, she smiled.

But he was leaving her, floating away. Away from the End.

She reached for him, going back the way she came. Grabbing him around the waist. But he turned around and gently took her hands away. She started to cry, not understanding, but he leaned over and kissed her on her forehead, the moon flashing beneath his lips. He gently reached up and touched the moon, his eyes opening in amazement.

Slowly he turned her around, turned her towards the End, that suddenly seemed so far away. He gave her a little push. She started to float away, not being able to stop it. She reached out her arms, but he just sat there watching her float away. She screamed out his name, but he just looked on happy and serine, peaceful.

And then she understood.

Her face broke out in a wonderful smile, and she stopped struggling against the pull. She let it take her. Slowly she turned back around, facing the bright end. And then he was there. Pulling her through. A happy understanding smile gracing his lips.

And she knew.

She had to let go of the past, for he was in her future.

When Buffy finally opened her eyes, she found herself looking into Nimisha’s identical jade depths. The girl was frowning slightly, a worried look on her dark, pale face. Slowly Buffy sat up, rubbing the back of her head. Looking around she was pleased to find herself sitting on grass, surrounded in trees. Nimisha was shivering slightly, and she soon joined her.

"Are you alright? You must have been weaker than we thought. I came out the other side and you just collapsed on the ground, gave me a hell of a fright."

Her daughter helped her up, and she leaned against her tiny shoulders.

"Is it going to be this cold in America?" Nimisha suddenly asked "‘Cause I bloody hope not, im freezing out here!"

Buffy frowned, still weak, and shook her head, "I dont think so..it’s going to be summer in California, anyway." She was still shivering.

But Nimisha barely heard her, she was looking around her in awe. They were in one of the huge forests that were still located in Ireland today. They seemed to be in a sort of clearing, but trees were all around them, rising to their massive heights. Nimisha had never seen trees so high.

The gate was located behind them, surrounded in vines and other types of wide life, partly hiding it from human view. Privately, Buffy thought that her great-grandmother had made a good choice in placing the gate here, for it was so deep in the forest that humans probably would never find it.

It wouldn’t really matter if they did, for they would have no idea what it is, and wouldn’t have a clue how to turn it on, Buffy mused.

Nimisha slowly took a step forward, amazed at all the different and foreign kinds of tree and flowers. Looking around her she couldn’t believe how green every thing was, on Allrelen there was different colours of everything, blue and reds, yellows, and white, there were endless colours of the trees and flowers, even the animals were different colours.

At the palace, she had a pet, (Buffy had told her looked something like a human cat but it was a bit bigger, about the size of a large dog), that was a pale purple colour. Her mother still had trouble getting used to seeing Sava walking around, she kept thinking it was some kind of demon.

Walking around the clearing, Nimisha slowly brought her hand out to touch a dark green fern, amazed a its rough texture. She was speechless. Everything was so beautiful, she couldn’t manage to get out one word.

Walking around slowly, she made her way around a group of trees.

And gasped in surprise.

They were standing on some sort of cliff, looking down on the endless stretch of forest. A beautiful sunrise was on the horizon and Nimisha couldn’t tear her eyes away from the wondrous sight. All she could see was trees. Never in her whole life had see ever seen so many trees in one place. Birds darted and swooped in the air, enjoying the early morning breeze.

Before that instant Nimisha had only the tinniest glimpse of what her mother must have been going through. Now she knew.

So this was what she had left behind.

Thinking back, she remembered only now, how many times she had gone looking for Buffy in the Palace but could never find her. Climbing the endless stairs that lead up to the tower she remembered thats where she always was. Looking out the high window, staring out at nothing.

She remembered laughing, and running to her as fast as her chubby little legs would carry her, and her mother would look down at her and scoop her up in her arms and together they would watch the morning or evening sunrise. And Buffy would be clinging to her, holding the little girl to her chest as she feared that she would be ripped from her arms and she would never see her again.

She would always tell her, about what Earth was like. About the great animals that lived in the ocean, the whales, and the dolphins. About the great plains of Africa, the endless cities of America. About the beautiful buildings in Italy, and France,and the huge pyramids of Egypt. And about Cleopatra,and Jesus, Joan of Arc, Princess Diana, and all the famous people in history.

The Council didn’t like that much. They thought the future Queen had no use for useless information like that. But Buffy didn’t care. She knew that her daughter would someday go to Earth. And she wanted her daughter to know as much about the world as possible.

But nothing she had ever known could prepare her for this.

It was simply the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

Turning her head she looked at Buffy, who was still at her place in front of the gate. Her mother was watching her with a sad expression on her face.

"Beautiful, isn’t it?" She said quietly, though from the tone of her voice, she already knew Nimisha’s answer.

Nimisha nodded, "Yes it is, its amazing." She finally managed to whisper.

Buffy silently walked over to stand beside her. She placed one delicately made hand on her daughter’s shoulder and began to speak.

"Whenever im lonely, or generally having a crappy day. I just close my eyes and think of this, the beauty in the world." She spread her arms wide, including everything.

"I think about every single breath of life, every lion, every orca, every leaf, every flea, and that makes it all better, you know? I just think that I had to do this, I had to leave my friends, my family, and my home, for all of this. If I didn’t save it, no one else could. And that usually makes me feel better."

Nimisha nodded, not speaking. She knew what her mother was talking about.

"It just so beautiful..." She said at last.

"Yeah well, it might be beautiful, but the last time I was here it was the middle of the night, so I wouldn’t have a clue where we are." Buffy said dryly. "Also I wasn’t in the best shape. I was so busy crying and in shock to noticed we weren’t in the car anymore. I think that was a blessing to Afraya, I dont think he was up to explaining how we travelled over 1,000 miles, a couple of seas, not to mention a few countries, in a couple of seconds."

Nimisha laughed, picturing how the shy Afraya would have managed to explain anything to a crying and frightened teenager.

"Yes, well, as much as I would love to show you Ireland, I dont think we have time on this trip." Buffy continued.

Taking the hint, Nimisha bent down and picked up he discarded backpack which she had dropped on the ground.

"Where are we going to ‘port to? Are we going to go straight to Sunnydale or try something a bit bigger?" Nimisha asked, eager to be on the way.

Buffy didn’t answer at first, she seemed to be going over her opinions in her head. When she finally answered her daughter, her voice was soft, but firm.

"How do you feel about having a little de-tour on the way? You always said you wanted to see LA, why dont we go there first?"

Nimisha frowned at her mother, wondering what the hidden reason was.

"But Afraya and Thian said..."

"Afraya and Thian aren’t here are they?" Buffy said, interrupting her. She had a mysterious smile on her face. "What they dont know, wont hurt them, and we will only be there for a few hours at the most. There are just a few places that I want to see in LA before we get to Sunnydale."

Suddenly Nimisha knew exactly why she wanted to go to LA.

As it drawned on her face, Buffy smiled, knowing Nimisha would love this.

"Father..." Nimisha whispered. Her eyes opening wide. "He lives in LA....." The rest went unspoken, but they both knew what this meant.

"We cant get to close, he will be able to sense me and he can’t see you.." At Nimisha’s suddenly sad expression she added, "Yet."

The girl’ face perked up and Buffy chuckled, "We’ll see, Nimi. I can show you the office if you want, its probably where he spends most of his time anyway. There’s really only my father’s house, and my old High School to look at so we should be only be a hour at the most."

The girl nodded, stunned at the thought of seeing all these places she had heard so much about in her childhood.

"So LA it is." Buffy said, "I know just the place, so just follow my lead. Are you sure you can make the distance?" When Nimisha nodded she said brightly "Okay then, lets go."

Both woman slowed their breathing and tried to calm there breathing. Slowly they closed their eyes. As the moons on there foreheads once again started to glow, they both started to feel rather light headed.

Then as one, they disappeared from their spots.

"Porting’ as it was called, was a common thing in the Alliance. More than half of its population could do it, even if it was only for a few miles. Porting was the art of transporting yourself and/or others over distance. The trick normally took years to learn and then, only the very sensitive could do it, for most people found it rather tiering. You can only travel over land, and it was impossible to travel through space.

Buffy and Nimisha were naturals, and had mastered the trick after only a few lessons. Buffy had shocked her teachers after successfully managing long distance after only two hours. When Nimisha was finally aloud to learn, (when she was 6) she had been not to far behind, only taking 4 or so hours of practice. Many people found that it was a very handy tool, and if it anything, it kept the traffic down in the cities. All you had to do to operate it was form a picture in your head, and want to go there. Less than a micro-second later, your were.

It was rather hard to transport other people and yourself though. You usually have to use the energy of the other person, mixed with your own. Thats why Afraya had touched Buffy’s arm that night in the car, he was catalysing Buffy’s power into his own body, allowing them to make the port. Buffy, of course, hadn’t been able to use it then, she didn’t know how, so Afraya didn’t feel guilty using her (at that time unknown) powers.

So thats what they doing now, transporting themselves over the thousands of miles of sea and land.

Buffy arrived first, less than a second after she had departed, Nimisha not a blink behind her. Getting her bearings Nimisha looked around and found herself behind a large building out of the sight of people.

They were in some of school, Nimisha realised, and it must be lunch time, for there were people walking all around, laughing, talking, and generally having a great time. They were standing on grass (exactly the same on Allrelen, Nimisha noted relieved) and were behind one of the classrooms, standing in the shade, but she could hear people not far away, laughing in groups. Shielding her eyes Nimisha looked up at the sky and was shocked to find only one moon.

Stunned, she turned to Buffy (who had been watching her reaction with amusement) and pointed up at the sky.

"You never told me there was only one moon! Wow, Ive never seen a planet with only one moon before, Allrelen’s got 12!" she said excited.

Buffy laughed at her daughter enthusiasm, but stopped when Nimisha went to move out in the sunlight away from the building. Using her Slayer reflexes, she reached out and grabbed Nimisha arm, pulling her back behind the building.

"Nimisha! You cant go out looking like that!" She said, a little angry at her daughter’s forgetfulness.

Nimisha look at Buffy in confusion before her eyes widened when she got what she was talking about.

Her hands flew up to her forehead, feeling the power pulse through the still dormant birthmark. Grimacing, she shot a apologising look at her mother, who was living up to her role as such, and looking at her with disapproval, her hands on her hips.

"The reason we are here, Nimisha is to get you away from the Vanquishers, and you know very well if they see that moon on you head that they will instantly know who you are, and where your from. That is why you cant use your powers *at all* when your here on Earth. Your probably going to be around Giles and the others a lot so you can not use your powers." Her hands flew up in the air, "Because then the birthmark will start to glow and they well see it and know your not human, and our whole plan will to Hell."

Suddenly her face crumpled and she looked very scared. "Nimisha, I dont want anything to happen to you, you have to promise me you will not use your powers here, but if something bad happens and you really have to, please make sure you dont do it in front of *anyone*."

Nimisha nodded, silently promising her mother. Then she frowned.

"What are we going to do about it? Is there anyway to cover it up?"

Smiling, Buffy brought her hand up and quickly waved it in front of Nimisha birthmark.

It disappeared.

Nimisha look at her mother in shock. Then her hands flew up to the place where the moon had once been. Shaking her head she looked at Buffy in confusion. Noting her reaction Buffy did the same with her own, and once again it disappeared.

"Its just an allusion, Nimi, its not for real. If you dont use your powers the moon will stay covered, but as soon as you do, it will be uncovered again, so thats why you *mustn’t* use them in public."

Nimisha nodded, understanding.

But Nimisha was still shocked. At home it was an honour to be one of the two only people in the worlds to wear the mark. She would never dream of taking it off.

Seeing all was well, Buffy asked brightly, "So, do you want to get going? Well go to the office first, for its only a couple of streets away, we can walk if you want. Dont get your hopes up though, there probably wont be anyone there at this time of the day."

Nimisha didn’t mind at all, and so with that they walked from out of behind the building, and across the school grounds to get to the road.

Nimisha noted almost instantly that people were staring at them. Whole groups stopped their conversations to stare at them when they walked past them. She wasn’t really surprised though, with Buffy lightness, and her own dark complexion, they looked for all like a striking pair of High School students. Nimisha smiled at the thought. People would never think that the 18 year old looking girl standing beside her was her mother.

They managed to get out of the school grounds without getting confronted by any jocks looking for fresh meat, and made their way down one the many main streets of Los Angeles.

Nimisha tried to take in everything, and was amazed at what she saw. There were people everywhere, primitive car-like things wherever you looked. As they walked past shops, Buffy had to practically drag her down the street, for she kept stopping and looking in the windows.

They walked past a vendor selling flowers and to Nimisha delight, Buffy got her a bundle of Lilies, all different colours. She hugged to flowers to her chest, smelling them, and generally acting like a over excited tourist. The vendor looked at her strangely when she asked Buffy what they were called, only to have the man give her a 5 minute lesson on the life-cycle of Lilies.

But the closer they got to the office, Nimisha started to get very nervous, her hands shaking, and almost biting through her bottom lip. Buffy grabbed her hand and gripped it tightly, seemingly needing the comfort as well.

But when they walked around the corner and the building came into view, Buffy couldn’t help but gasp. It looked exactly the same, well maybe the trees around it had grown a bit, but apart from that, the building looked the same as it did the last time she saw it.

They stopped and stared at it for a few minutes. All different thoughts flowing through their heads.

The building that held so many wonderful memories.

"So this is the place where I was made huh?"

Buffy laughed, swatting Nimisha on the arm, but the tension was broken. Looking around Buffy saw that there was not a car in sight. Nimisha seemed to come to the same conclusion, for the both looked at each other, mischievously grinning from ear to ear.

"What do you think? Could we make it?" Nimisha asked, grinning.

Buffy shook her head, but the smile wouldn’t leave her face.

"Nimi, we can’t!, what if someone sees us?"

"Oh, come on mama, you know as well as I do that there is no one round for miles. We will be gone in a few minutes, so they wont have time to tell on us."

Buffy pondered this for a few seconds, but the temptation was to great. Quickly they moved over to the side of the building and started to look in the windows.

They did this for a few minutes, but adventurally got separated, Nimisha staying around the front, but Buffy going around the back, seeing if she could find anything there.

Nimisha couldn’t believe it. She was finally here. Okay, so looking through her father’s window’s was hardly respectable, but hey...

"Can I *help* you?"

The voice was firm, but rather high, and it was definitely irritated.

Nimisha spun around, knocking a pot plant over in the process. Banging her knee, she started to swear, but it died on her lips as she raised her face to yell at the person for startling her, and found herself looking up at one Cordelia Chase, her dark eyes boring suspiciously down at her.

Nimisha’s mouth dropped open.

Her eyes just kept getting bigger and bigger on her shocked face.

With her hands on her hips, Cordelia silently looked down at the smashed pot plant, then back at Nimisha, and raised her eyebrows, seemingly waiting for an answer.

Looking over Cordelia’s shoulder Nimisha could see Buffy coming around the corner. She was looking down at the ground, deep in thought. But when she was about 10 feet from them she finally raised her eyes, and like Nimisha, her mouth too fell open as she saw her daughter being confronted by a very angry Cordelia.

Buffy froze on the spot. Wide eyes darting back and forth from her daughter and High School friend.

Quickly she bolted back behind the building, out of sight. Nimisha let out a relieved breath she didn’t realise she had been holding.

Cordelia was still staring at her, and by the look on her face, Nimisha sensed that she was getting madder by the minute.

"I, ah, um, was, um..looking for the front door! I couldn’t find anyone, so I decided to look around and see if the place was actually open." Nimisha deliberately kept her eyes open wide, going for the innocent, lost little girl look.

"Oh!" Cordelia’s whole face lit up, her eyes once again adopted the wide-eyed, happy look, and a brilliant smile graced her lips.

"Well I actually work here so I can take you round if you want. But "by the way Nimisha noticed that she kept looking down at her watch, and her perfect hair and clothing, she could tell that she wanted to get going.

"No that’s okay, It wasn’t really that important anyway." she said.

Cordelia stared at the girl for a long time. Never had she seen such a beautiful child. She looked about 15 but there was a definite innocent look in her dreamy eyes. Her black hair was loose, and fell down her back. Cordelia frowned, she was sure that she had meet this girl somewhere before, but couldn’t put a finger on where.

She looks a lot like Angel. She noted, and put it down to that.

But she still couldn’t shake off the strange feeling she got from this girl. The look she had given her when she first saw her was priceless. She was definitely shocked, that was clear, but it was something else. It was like she had knew me, but had never actually meet me before.

Strange.

"So you work here?" Nimisha asked, quickly trying to start a conversation.

"Yeah I do. 5 years and still counting." Cordelia was obviously glad for the company, Nimisha guessed that standing with anyone was better than standing

alone.Nimisha faked a frown, "But you dont own it?"

Cordelia barked out a laugh, much to Nimisha surprise.

Noticing that Nimisha was indeed serious, Cordelia looked down at her like she was mad,

"Are you kidding? No way, Why would I want to own that dusty, old building, uhh, Angel can have it."

Nimisha ears pricked up at the mention of her fathers name. Oh well, might as well get as much info as I can get.

"Angel, is that your boss?"

Cordelia smiled fondly at the use of her friends name. She obviously held him in high esteem.

"Yeah he is, and also one of the greatest guys on the

planet."Nimisha smiled slightly.

"Does he live round here?"

When Cordelia’s eyebrows shot up she added meekly,

"I mean, it must be pretty hard to find a car park if he had to drive to work everyday."

"Oh, no, he lives in the building, there is an apartment underneath the office, he likes it down there."

Nimisha faked another frown,

"But dont his wife and kids mind living under the ground?"

Gotcha.

This obviously hit a nerve. Cordelia’s whole face crumpled, replacing it with a worn, tired look and Nimisha could tell that she was opening old wounds that never probably healed.

"Angel’s not married."

It was barely a whisper, but Nimisha heard her. Cordelia’s voice was full with pain, and anguish that Nimisha drawed back in surprise.

"Im sorry, you obviously dont want to talk about it." Giving Cordelia a way out.

But Cordelia wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Lifting her head, Nimisha’s respect for the girl raised another few notches.

"No, no its okay, just a bit of a terrible topic thats all.

"What happened?" Nimisha asked quietly.

"She died."

Nimisha grimaced.

Oh shit, she thought, they *do* think she’s dead.

"Im, um, im sorry." Well I am, she noted forcefully, they have had to suffer for 4 years with out her, while Ive had her to myself for 16.

Cordelia was looking down at the ground, shuffling her feet.

"How did she die?"

Cordelia was still looking down, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion.

"We dont know, she just disappeared. We never saw her again."

"Well, then she could still be alive! She could have just run away!" Wanting to see what her answer for that was.

If possible the girl looked even sadder.

"Trust me," She whispered, "She wouldn’t do that, not again. She had to much going for her."

Knowing she had to get going, Buffy would be beside herself, Nimisha quickly ended the conversation.

"Oh well, Ive got to go, I hope your friends okay."

And with that she spun on her heals and quickly marched across the street.

But she heard Cordelia’s gasp of surprise, and her in take of angry breath.

"Well! That was rude!" She huffed. Continuing to glance at her watch, she waited for her ride.

As soon as she was out of sight, Nimisha rushed behind a bush on the other side of the road. Finding Cordelia, she sat and watched as she waited for whoever was picking her up.

"Is she still there?"

Nimisha startled and jumped about a foot in the air.

"Dont do that!" She hissed at Buffy who joined her behind the bush.

Excited, Nimisha turned to her mother and started quick fire questions.

"Has she changed? Did she look the same?"

"Well, I didn’t really get to see that much of her, Nimi," Buffy replied dryly, " But the back of her head looks the same as I last saw it."

"Mama!" Nimisha said laughing.

Just then they saw a car pull up with a dark haired man at the wheel.

"Doyle" Buffy whispered, eyebrows shooting up, smiling broadly in surprise.

Nimisha peered through the bush, looking at the half-demon that held such a large part of her fathers life.

They couldn’t hear what they were saying but by Cordelia’s angry hand movements, and Doyle’s grimace, Buffy could tell that she was pissed at having to wait.

Same old Cordelia.

She was exactly the same. Well, action wise. She physically looked different though.

Older. More mature.

Buffy decided that she suited the new, improved look. She had cut her hair, which surprised Buffy to no end, she had always thought the hair was off limits. It now sat just above her shoulders in a new, chic look. Over all it made her look more mature, and business looking.

Her clothes sense hadn’t changed much. The same fashionable top-of-the-range outfits, even if they were more subtle and not so overdone.

At 22, Buffy thought that she was even more beautiful than in High School.

But it was what look she found in her eyes that surprised her the most.

Having been at the receiving end of Cordelia’s wrath many a time, Buffy had grown to learn all the hidden looks that the girl held. She had always looked at Xander with what Buffy would call, ‘tolerance’ but the look that she graced this man in the car with were full of such love that Buffy was startled speechless. She never knew the girl could show such emotion in public.

Even when she was angry.

LA had done the girl good. It had not only toughened her up, but it had made her into a real woman. She didn’t have her parent’s money to rely on, she had to use her wits.

They continued to watch in fascination from their hiding spot behind the bush, as Doyle apologised profoundly to his lover, while Cordelia looked on, telling him to continue whenever he stopped for a breath.

Finally, after she had told him to stop, they watched her take her seat in the passenger side of the car and together they drove off.

Buffy followed them with her eyes even after the car was out of sight. Then she sat back, stunned. She had just seen the first glimpse of her forgotten life for the first time in 16 years.

As soon as Doyle started to drive away from the building, Cordelia told him to floor it.

"Why? We’ve got ages before we have to be there, the movie doesn’t start for another hour." The Irish half-demon asked in confusion.

But Cordelia didn’t answer, she had turned around in her seat, and was looking for something behind them.

"Delia, what are you doing?" Doyle asked frustrated

"I was just talking to the strangest girl Doyle. Before, when I was waiting for you. She had the most beautiful hair I had ever seen, pitch black, and it was so long, right down to her waist, I swear."

Doyle sighed, "So the girl was strange ‘cause she ‘ad nice hair?"

"Doyle," Cordelia laughed, and turned back around. But then she was staring down in her lap, fidgeting.

"She was asking questions about Buffy."

Doyle’s head snapped round in startled surprise. His eyes opened wide.

"Really? What kind of questions?"

"Well, she started by asking if Angel was married, then asking where she was, how she died, that sort of stuff."

Doyle looked at her for a moment, saying nothing.

He knew better than anyone how hard Buffy’s death was on Cordelia. Deep down she had cared for her school friend very deeply. She was devastated when they got the news.

Cordelia coughed, and discreetly pointed to the road. He turned his eyes forward, but continued to remain silent.

"Well, what do you think?" Cordelia asked, when she couldn’t take the silence.

Doyle didn’t look at her, but she noted that he was gripping the steering wheel so tightly that his knuckles were white.

When he finally did answer, his voice was hard, strained.

"I think we need to talk to Angel."

The meeting with Cordelia had placed a strange gloom over the two girls. The rest of the trip in LA was strained and both Nimisha and Buffy were on edge. Buffy, because she was no longer certain that her plan was going to go as planed, and Nimisha, because she couldn’t she couldn’t think what was wrong with her mother.

Buffy wanted nothing more than to get to Sunnydale and see

Willow.They spent a few more hours in LA. Buffy showed her Hemery High School, the house where she had grown up in, and her father’s home now.

She didn’t know why she did that, since Hank wasn’t technically Nimisha grandfather, but she put it down to time. 18 years had a lot of it. She had thought of Joyce and Hank as her parents for all of those years, they had been the only parents she had ever had, ever since she was a baby.

Even now she still found herself referring to Joyce as "Mom" much to the disapproval of her Council. As far as they were concerned, Semerritte was her mother, period.

But Buffy knew Joyce a lot more than she would ever know Semerritte, they couldn’t argue with that. She had been the one who had sung her to sleep, helped her after she had grazed her knee, who she went to when she first got her period and almost had a heart attack, when she had first kissed a boy.

There were things that you just could not change, no matter how technical you went.

She remember what a hard time she had when she first came to Allrelen. The nightmares especially. The were horrible. She was in an endless blackness, surrounded in people yelling at her, calling her evil for leaving her friends. Then she would see Willow, covered in blood, from head to toe. She would be cursing her. Yelling that she was the most evil thing on the planet for leaving them and sentencing them to death.

She would wake up screaming. And Afraya would be there. He always seemed to know whenever she was in trouble. A sixth sense. The dreams still came, even after she had Nimisha. Even now she still couldn’t count how many time the baby had been woken up by her screaming.

All she had wanted was her mother. Was for Joyce to come in and tuck her in and kiss her good night. Like she used to do when she had Slayer dreams. So she would wake up and reach for her mother, but remember that she was not here. That she was not in her own room. Her own bed. And her face would crumple and she would start to cry.

She was utterly alone.

Thats why Nimisha meant so much to her. The girl was her life. The only thing that was remotely to do with her other world. She was surrounded in people that she didn’t know, that weren’t really a thing like her. And she had felt utterly alone.

They had lunch in a small cafe that Buffy had gone to often with her parents before their separation. It was by the sea, and Nimisha couldn’t stop staring at the endless ocean that stretched out before her.

Although Allrelen was a water planet and there was probably more water on its surface than on Earth, it was frowned on for First Families to be seen swimming in public beaches. And since most of the beached anywhere near the Crystal Palace were public, Nimisha and Buffy didn’t get much chance of swimming in the sea, they had to make do with the palace swimming pools.

Buffy laughed at the girl’s expression, promising to get Willow to take her swimming at the Sunnydale beach.

They had just finished their lunch when Buffy looked down at her watch and gasped.

Nimisha looked up from her plate of pizza, (which she loved, and made Buffy swear would make for her when she got back to Allrelen at leased once a week) in surprise.

"Whats wrong?"

But Buffy didn’t answer, she got up quickly, and dropped a few notes on the table to pay for their meal.

Nimisha got up and followed her mother towards the back of the cafe. Only when they were both in the toilet stall did Buffy thrust her watch in Nimisha’s face.

Nimisha grimaced, when she saw the time, they had been in LA for over 4 hours.

"Alright, we *really* have to get going. Im going to lead us to one of the most discreet places I can think of in short notice. You ready?" At Nimisha nod she continued "Alright then, lets hit the road."

And with that, they both ‘ported out of toilet stall.

They were already gone when the staff member hesitantly knocked on the toilet door and asked,

"Are you all right in there?"

And of course, she got no answer.

The "discreet place" Buffy was talking about turned out to be the cemetery.

Nimisha took one look around her and burst out laughing.

Buffy looked sheepishly at her daughter, looking for an excuse. "Well I said it was discreet didn’t I? And behold my success, not a person in sight." She looked proudly around her, hands on her hips.

Nimisha was looking around, noting how the cemetery was the actually the same as back home. It seemed that it didn’t matter what side of the galaxy you were one, dead means dead.

Well, unless your talking about vampires, Nimisha mused.

She looked around at the place that her mother had spend so much time in protroling. It was late in the afternoon but Nimisha guessed that come night, this place would get *a lot* scarier.

Quickly Buffy lead the way out of the cemetery. They got past the gates, when Buffy suddenly stopped.

"What now?" Nimisha moaned out loud. All she wanted was a warm bed, and about 20 hours sleep.

But Buffy barely heard her, she was staring straight ahead, into nothing really.

"You know, it might not matter to you, Nimi, but its just occurred to me that I wouldn’t have a clue where Willow is. She won’t be at the dorm anymore, since she’s finished Collage, and I dont think she would have moved back in with her parents."

She tilted her head, and an expression formed on her face that told Nimisha that she was thinking.

"What we need is a good source of information. Someone that knows everything that happens in town, vampire *and* human." Nimisha said, but she couldn’t for the life of her think of one.

But by the look on Buffy’s face, she had.

Willie’s bar was closed, but Buffy knew it would be opening soon, they only had a few minutes of sunlight left.

And she really wanted to get to Willow’s before then.

Breaking the locks, they silently walked in, and Nimisha instantly scrunched up her nose, disgusted at the cigarette smell.

They found Willy behind the bar, facing the wall, polishing bottles. They stood in the doorway and looked around.

The lights were low, no doubt to hide both the decor and the patrons. The dirty chairs were up on the tables, but the floor had yet to be cleaned, probably any time this month.

He hadn’t seen them yet, they were in the shadow. But when Nimisha’s nose couldn’t take it anymore and she finally sneezed, Willy stiffened, but didn’t turn around.

His sighed and his shoulders sagged.

Uselessly he threw the rag he was holding over his shoulder.

"You know, is it just me or are people getting dumber by the day?" He sighed again. "When the sign says closed, I bloody well mean it!"

Buffy laughed quietly, and Willy stiffened again.

He would know that sound anywhere.

Slowly he turned around, and the broom he had been holding in his right hand cluttered to the floor as he stood there, speechless.

The figure moved slowly into the room, and Willy sucked in a breath

"Jesus, Mary and Joseph." He whispered in a stunned voice, wide eyes glued on the woman standing in the middle of his bar, wearing a bright purple sundress.

Buffy smiled sadly, hands clasped behind her back.

Willie’s eyes suddenly shifted over Buffy’s shoulder, as he noticed Nimisha come out of the shadow and stand behind her mother. He frowned in confusion. He couldn’t stop thinking how much she looked like another dark person that used to follow Buffy round in the shadows.

But the glance were only gone for a second, before his eyes were once again fastened on the blonde woman’s face.

There was absolute silence in the room, no one even breathed. They just stood and stared at one another.

Buffy finally broke the silence.

"Hi Willy." She said brightly, "Been keeping out of trouble?"

And despite himself, he smiled.

"Buffy..."

Then suddenly he shook himself out of the spell, and glared at her.

Very angry.

He started to walk over to them, taking big, long strides. He grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her, hard.

"Were the *Hell* have you been?!"

Buffy flinched at the tone of his voice. Nimisha let out a frightened cry. That was enough to get Buffy *very* angry.

"Get your bloody hands off me, you asshole!" She threw off his hands and proceeded to land a kick right in his shins. He howled in pain.

"What the hell did you do that for?" He yelled, holding his leg, jumping around on one foot.

"What the hell were you thinking when you grabbed me?!" She bent down and grabbed a fist full of his hair, forcing him to look at her. She put her face inches away from his and looked him right in the eye.

"You should know better than to grab a Slayer, Willy. Thought you were smarter than that."

"Okay, I sorry, just let go of my hair, would you?, your bloody hurting me!" He yelled.

"I’ll do more than hurt if you dont stop yelling, do you want everyone to know im here?, um Willy? Go find all you seedy little buddies and tell them that the Slayers back in town?"

She gave his hair and final tug, ignoring his cry of pain.

"You tell *anyone* that you even *saw* me and I swear to the gods, I break your neck." She waited for a few seconds, and when she was certain he wasn’t going to yell, she released his hair. He stumbled back and landed on his butt on the ground.

Shacking his head to get the ringing out of his ears, he finally lifted his head...

...and found himself graced with the presents of two of the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.

Buffy stood slightly in front of the other, who was obviously a few years younger than her. Willy frowned as he noticed the way she seemed to be protecting her. Why would she do that? Looking at the girl, he was sure she could take care of herself.

Buffy was standing legs slightly apart, a definite fighting stance, although by the look in her eyes, he was surprised to see that she didn’t really want to pummel him. Her blond hair was flying around her back, like a cloud, clashing with her partners beautiful black hair. Willy decided that he like the new longer look, but by the length of it, it would seem to take more than 4 years to grow that much.

The girl with her was a strange one though. Her eyes were all dreamy like, and she was looking around taking everything in. She looked at the chairs, and frowned in confusion. Silently she whispered something in Buffy’s ear from behind. A small smile formed on the Slayer’s lips even though she didn’t turn around, she stood facing Willy who was still laying on the ground.

"Its a chair. You know, like the ones we have in the Council room?, you sit on them."

The girl nodded, the confused look left her face.

But it was Willie’s turn to frown.

"She doesn’t know what a chair is? Where the hell does she live, Mars?"

Buffy chuckled, and the girl finally smiled. It was so beautiful that Willy sucked in his breath.

"Not quite, but your not far off."

Willy stared, eyebrows raised.

Slowly he got of the ground, and faced his two guests. As soon as he stood up, the dark haired girl moved back to stand behind Buffy, staring at him with frightened eyes.

Buffy finally backed off, lowering her hands. Willy noted that the movement was far more graceful than it used to be.

"So.." He tried again, "Are you going to answer my question, or are you going to leave me guessing?"

"Ive been around." She answered firmly.

Willy barked out laughing so suddenly that Buffy jumped, startled.

He was bending over in a fit of laughter, slapping his knees.

"You better come up with a better excuse than, Slayer. I don’t think that your friends are going to like that answer very much."

Buffy stiffened, and Willy noticed.

She didn’t want to tell him, that much was clear. But there was a look in her eyes that stopped Willy from asking again. It was pain. Old, unhealed pain, the kind that doesn’t go away very easily.

He straightened, took a seat down from the table, and straddled it. He put his hands on the back and rested his head on them.

He noticed that the girl was watching him, fascinated. Like she had never seen anyone sit like that before. She was looking him up and down, studying him. And he didn’t like it at all.

"Would you quit looking at me like that!" He barked, and she jumped, surprised, like she wasn’t used to having people yell at her.

"Watch it!" Buffy warned. "Dont you dare yell at her!"

"Sorry, sorry!" He held his hands up in a peace offering.

An awkward silence settled over the room.

"So I guessing that you haven’t come to see your old friend Willy just for a chat, am I right?"

When she gave in and nodded her head, Willy continued, "So what do you want? Money? Weapons?"

"Information, Willy, I want to know where my friends are."

He nodded his head, expecting as much. After the Slayer’s disappearance he had made it his business to keep tabs on the remainder of the gang. Not that he cared, he just wanted to know in advance if he should get the hell out of town. Now that the Slayer was gone, nobody expected them to last very long. They had surprised everyone though, they were all still alive and kicking, and had even stopped some pretty bad evil in the process.

He sighed deeply and gestured for them to take a seat.

They took one look at the chairs and remained standing.

"Their all alive, if thats what your worried about." He was pleased to see her sigh of relief, guessing what the Slayer would want to know first.

Then he got serious, "They were pretty cut up when you went missing though, didn’t have a clue where you went. The Witch, ah, whats her name.."

"Willow." Buffy offered.

"..Yeah Willow, she took it really badly. Worst than the rest actually. Wouldn’t stop crying for a week. They had everyone looking for you: the police, even thought they knew they wouldn’t find anything. Even the Watchers Council sent out searches. But you had just vanished without a trace. They funny thing is, I dont think they ever thought you would have run away or anything, when they couldn’t find your body they just knew you were dead. Like I said, cut them up really bad." He stopped and looked Buffy right in the eyes.

"You shouldn’t have done that, I’ll tell you how. It was incredibly selfish of you to just take off in the middle of the night like you did."

Buffy frowned, annoyed, "Its not like I had any choice in the matter, Willy."

His eyes opened wide and his mouth formed a O shape. He leaned forward, "You were kidnapped!?"

Buffy massaged the bridge of her nose. "Not really, no. It was my decision." She stopped and looked at Willy, "Just get this straight, I didn’t really want to go."

He frowned again, and leaned back, "Well, where in the gods have you been then?

Buffy decided to open up a bit. What the hell, who cares? He can’t do anything.

"On a planet about 100 light years from here, called Allrelen."

She had expected him to laugh, but he surprised her, he was obviously smarter than he looked. Years on the Hellmouth had obviously knocked some sense into his tiny brain.

But his eyes opened even wider, if possible, and his mouth fell open in shock.

"Please, please, tell me your kidding" He jumped off the back of the chair in one clear movement and backed up until he was pressed against the bar.

Buffy smiled sadly. "No actually, im not."

He was looking at her if she had grown another head.

"Jesus, Slayer, what the hell were you doing there?"

"Taking over my mother’s place as their Queen." She said simply.

He just stood there staring at her. Then his brows knitted together in confusion and he said,

"Huh?"

Buffy sighed, "My *real* birth mother was a woman called Semerritte. She was the queen of the Alliance, a group of planets, about 100 light years away. When I was born they had to send me to Earth, cause the worlds were at war. When the tried to get me back they couldn’t find me, and they spend the next 30 years searching the planet for me...."

Willy, who had been staring at Buffy the whole time, suddenly held up his hands telling her to stop her story.

"I dont really care for details, darling, and quiet frankly I dont want to know anything that is going to get me killed." He rubbed his hands over his face and Buffy noticed that his hands were shaking. He stopped and peered at her through his fingers. Finally he dropped his hands to his side, standing up straight, more confident.

"Just tell me one thing, and I swear I’ll never ask you any thing else."

Buffy waited, dreading what he was going to ask her.

Finally he blurted out,

"Who the hell is she?!"

Buffy laughed, and he stared at her, eyebrows raised.

"Willy," she said, smiling, "I’d like you to meet Nimisha....my daughter."

She enjoyed the shocked look that brought to his face.

"Your daughter?" He managed to get out. He frowned in confusion, "But she must be at least 14."

"Hey!" Nimisha yelled angry, "Im 16 and a half, thank you very much."

Somehow that didn’t make Willy feel much better.

"You dont have to know any of the details, Willy. Honestly I dont think your brain could handle it." When he nodded, fair enough, she continued,

"What I really came to you for, was Willow’s address..dont look at me like that Willy, I know you have them all. You were just waiting for the vampire with the most money to come along and then you would have given it to them in a flash."

Willy spread out his hands, "Thats my business, Slayer, get on with it." He scowled.

"I know Willow is not at the dorm anymore, they’ve all finished school, so I dont know where she would be. Nimisha is going to be staying with Willow for a few weeks, if she’s aloud, and I really would like to get there before sunset. But somehow I dont really think thats going to happen."

Willy looked at them for a few seconds, then sighing, he got up and went out the back of his shop. When he returned he was holding a little green notebook in his hand. When he reached them Buffy made to grab it but Willy pulled back.

"Never in my born days did I ever think I would end up helping a Slayer. Oh, what the Hell."

He then proceeded to flick through the book until he came to a certain page. Carelessly he ripped out a page and thrust it in Buffy’s face.

"She is living somewhere out on South Queens Street. Shacked up with that wolf boyfriend of her’s, got themselves a nice little burg. Mommy and Daddy weren’t very happy with the news, but funny enough, they didn’t seem to care a Hell of a lot."

Ushering them to the door, he pushed them out on the pavement.

"Go on, get lost, dont want any of my regulars to see me talking to the likes of you."

He was talking in a gruff voice but Buffy could tell that he was quite proud to be able to help them.

Gently she layed her hand on his arm. Surprised he looked down at it, as if stunned she would waste a warm touch on him.

"Thank you Willy, I will never forget this." Reaching up on tippy toes she gave him a quick kiss on the check. He blushed, but his eyes softened a little bit.

Laughing softly he flicked his hands in their direction, and turned to go back in side.

"Save your kisses for that boy of yours, Slayer, your’ll be needing them."

And with that he shut the door in their confused faces.

As they made tracks silently across Sunnydale, Buffy’s eyes were open wide, looking at everything. She couldn’t believe it. Here she was. In Sunnydale. For the first time in 16 years.

It hadn’t changed much, the Espresso Pump was still serving beautiful hot coffee, the Bronze was still in action. They actually had to walk past that to get to the address Willy had given them on the piece of paper. There were high school students standing out side, talking and laughing, waiting in line to get entry. They could hear the loud music blasting from inside, the fake lights flashing all different colours in the night sky.

As they walked past Nimisha stopped to have a look at the building that had held so many of her mother’s memories.

Good and bad.

Looking at it in disgust, she had to admit that she thought it was one of the most ugliest buildings she had ever seen. It just stood there, black, and boring. The buildings on Allrelen were beautiful. Works of art really, they had been there for over 10,000 years and were still going strong. The Crystal Palace, which was Buffy and Nimisha’s home, was the oldest and the most beautiful of them all. The whole outside was made of solid crystal. It had taken over 10 years to complete, but it was worth the wait. It stood, higher than any building known to Earth, with the beauty and elegance that represented the Tessionare line. People came from all over the galaxy just to look it. It was a symbol of all what the Alliance stood for:

Peace

Love

Order.

And Nimisha knew that if the Vanquishers were able to conquer the Alliance Scout Ships, it would be the first thing that they demolished. It was a symbol of the people’s hope.

Shaking her head, she had to run to catch up with Buffy who had walked on ahead. Falling into seet with her mother she couldn’t help but notice how quiet she was being.

"Are you okay mama?" She asked gently.

Buffy looked up and Nimisha was surprised to see that Buffy had gone quite pale. Her eyes were full with fear.

"Yeah, im okay, I just really want to get to Willow’s. But I am so scared of her reaction though. I just hope to the gods that she doesn’t hate me for what Ive done."

Nimisha grabbed her mother’s hand and held it tightly. She brought it up and kissed her knuckles in support.

"She wont hate you, mama. If all that you’ve told me is true, then I think she will forgive you, she will be very proud of you. You sacrificed a lot, and she knows that."

Buffy forced a smile, but Nimisha knew she wasn’t convinced.

They walked the rest of the way in silence. Nimisha was to busy looking around in to talk anyway. As they passed places that Buffy knew she would point them out to her.

The bus stop that Xander spend the night in. The playground where Buffy got some of the demon’s blood on her and was able to read minds. Angels old apartment. They stopped and had a look in there, and to their surprise, it was still empty.

But finally they turned into South Queens Street. Walking down the road they stopped when they found number 18. Turning they walked around the white picket fence and into the short driveway. They walked through the small white gate and started up the pathway.

The garden was on either side of them, and the smell of herbs filled the air. Looking up, Buffy was confronted by a simple but cosy one story bungalow. It was a light green colour and trees surrounded the house shooting up everywhere from the medium sized front lawn. There was a swing set on one of the large Willow trees and it was swinging slightly in the evening breeze.

As they got closer to the front door the sound of laughter filled their ears and they looked at each other in surprise.

"Are they having a party?" Nimisha asked a nervous smile playing on her lips.

Buffy didn’t answer, her eyes were glued to the old wooden red door. A broom hung above it and ingraved in black ink in the door’s centre were the words:

"Harm none, do what thy will"

And despite Buffy’s fear, she smiled slightly.

Pulling Nimisha closer, not letting go of her hand, she climbed the front steps and raised her hand to knock.

And stopped.

Buffy let out a ragged breath and only then did she realise that her hands was shaking.

She was paralysed with fear.

Nimisha looked at her, a bit frightened. "Do you want me to do it?" she asked quietly.

Buffy finally shook her head, but let her hand drop to her side.

Slowly she turned to her daughter and the girl saw that tears stained her checks.

"Oh, mama." Nimisha said sadly. Not really knowing what else to say.

But then Buffy brought her hand up and waved it in front of Nimisha’s forehead, the birthmark showing once again. Quickly she did it to her own, and they both shone beautifully with the nights sky.

"No lies, no allusions. If we are going to do this, we have to tell them everything, not leaving anything out."

Nimisha nodded, agreeing. But she could see just how hard this was on Buffy. Her whole body seemed to be shaking.

Buffy sucked in a tight breath and squared her shoulders. Lifting her head she brought up her still shaking hand and firmly knock twice on the old wooden door.

The laughter in the house died and she could hear someone walking toward the door.

"Please by the gods, Willow, forgive me." She whispered, just as the old wooden door was pulled opened and another chapter of her life closed.

Next Part

Its finally up! sorry about the wait, next will be a while. Im back at school after the hoildays so I will have homework.

Go here for more of Damia's stories.

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