FIC: Terra Australis Incognito 18/?

[CDRERamius@xxxxxxx]

TITLE: Terra Australis Incognito 18/?
AUTHOR: Tony McD
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy, WB and 
others. This is for fun, not profit.
SUMMARY: A stranger with many connections to the Scooby Gang arrives and 
changes their lives forever.
SPOILERS: General Season 4. Follows it for a bit then it's an AU.
DISTRIBUTION: Anywhere is fine, just email me first.
RATING: PG 13

David sped into the night. There was much he had to do and little time 
to do it in. He reached for the car phone and punched in a series of numbers. 
When the electronic chirp told him that he had an encrypted line, he dialled 
a number.
The phone which rang was the encrypted line, General Morris noticed as 
sleepily reached it. The general was a stocky man who lived on base alone. 
His marriage had failed years ago as the result of the extended absences from 
home that military service required. He now dedicated his life to the 
military as a way of protecting his 19 year old daughter who was attending 
college in Colorado.
"General Morris." the general said into the phone.
"Sir, it's Major McWray, the Australian Army liaison officer to the 
Initiative. I have an urgent matter I need to inform you of." David told the 
general.
"What ever it is it had better be worth waking me for." the general 
grumbled. He knew Major McWray to be a fine and experienced officer, but that 
fact didn't make getting woken up in the middle of the night any easier.
"Sir, the Initiative was attacked by a powerful HST sometime this 
evening. I regret to inform you that they took 100% KIA. I discovered this 
when I went there for a briefing with Special Agent Finn. I was able to track 
the HST to its nest where I disposed of it using 50 pounds of Thermite." 
David lied about the killing of the Jachyra. The general didn't need to know 
about magic or the Slayer, not just yet any way.
"My God! 100% KIA! What kind of HST could do such a thing?" the 
general said, sitting up and fully awake.
"I'm not sure but I have some slim evidence that this attack was 
organised by an outside group. I haven't got very much to go on but I believe 
that they might be heading to Europe, most likely London and then to a second 
country as yet unknown. I need to get to London as fast as possible to try to 
catch up with these people." David lied for a reason, he needed to get to 
England as fast as was possible, and the general could arrange faster 
transport than flying commercial airlines.
"Ok, I'll try to arrange some transport for you. Where are you?"
"Sir, I'm about an hour away from March Air Force Base." David told 
the general.
"Fine, I'll have your plane waiting there for you. But you are not to 
release any information about this incident or the Initiative operations to 
anyone with out my express permission. Is that understood?" ordered the 
general.
"Yes sir."
"Good. When you get back I want a full report. Good luck and good 
hunting, Major." the general said hanging up. David hung up and decrypted the 
phone. He then dialled a number.
"Hello, Albert? It's me, David. I'm coming to see you."

Buffy and Giles sat around Xander's bed reading through a pile of 
books, trying to find something on Murg Dor. Every now and then Xander would 
stir listlessly as if having a bad dream. Buffy slammed shut the book she was 
reading in frustration.
"Damn it Giles! Nothing on Murg Dor in here." she said in frustration.
"Well, go through this one." Giles said and handed her another thick 
tome to search through. Buffy looked up as Willow entered the room.
"How's Spike?" Buffy asked her lover.
"A little better, I left him some blood packets for him when he wakes 
up. I'm pretty sure that he'll be up and about in a day or so." Willow 
informed Buffy. She looked at Xander.
"Any change?"
"No." Buffy told her. At this point Xander stiffened suddenly. His 
eyes opened revealing the sky blue that swirled across them. He began to 
speak.
"Hello." Xander said, his voice was strange. Not the deep man like 
voice he had, but almost like a child.
"Hello." he said again, but this time the voice was that of a little 
girl.
"Does it hurt?" Xander asked in the little boy voice.
"What?" he said in the little girl voice.
"Giles, what's going on?" Buffy asked the Watcher who silenced her 
with a wave of his hand.
"Does your hair hurt? 'Cause it's all red like it's on fire." Xander 
spoke in the little boy voice. Willow gasped, she knew what was going on.
"No, my hair's not on fire, it's just red, see? You can touch it if 
you want." the little girls voice said.
"Oh. Cool!" the little boy said.
"My name is Xander." the little boys voice said.
"I'm Willow." the little girls voice replied. Xander smiled then 
closed his eyes and slipped back into unconsciousness.
"Willow, what the hell was that all about?" Buffy asked the wiccan.
"Um... When I first met Xander on the first day of preschool he asked 
me if my hair was on fire. He hadn't seen anyone with red hair before." 
Willow told her, stunned. The voices were hers and Xander's as they were as 
kids.
"Can anyone tell me what this is all about?" Buffy demanded to know. 
Giles contemplated for a few moments before saying anything.
"I can only hazard a guess, but David said that Xander had undergone 
the Yhi-ja. It is designed to give him the ability to remember everything. 
I'm guessing that he is in the process of remembering everything that has 
happened in his life. All the important things that effected him strongest he 
would remember the strongest. I suppose that meeting you Willow was an 
important event in his life." Giles reasoned. He was not far from the truth.
"Oh boy. I don't know if we want to around for many more of these 
memory flash backs." Willow told Giles and Buffy.
"Why?" Giles asked her.
"Because a lot of Xander's memories aren't exactly good ones." she 
said, a look of concern on her face.

The B1-B touched down in the early morning light at an airfield in 
England. David emerged from the plane very happy at the experience of flying 
in the giant swing wing bomber. He quickly located the car waiting for him 
and drove to Albert's place just north of Manchester.
"Good to see you, David!" Albert said as he hugged the young man. The 
pair sat in the living room with a pot of tea and some toast on the coffee 
table.
"So, what is happening with you lately?" Albert asked the young man. 
David told Albert everything about what had happened since arriving in 
Sunnydale. At the end of it Albert wore a very concerned look on his face.
"Murg Dor is after the Slayer?" Albert asked.
"It would appear so. Anything happening with the other Slayer?" David 
enquired. With the death of Faith in jail, the next Slayer had been called. 
She was 13 and she was in training in Scotland.
"Nothing." Albert replied. He nibbled on a piece of toast idly. "So 
you went to the Dreamtime Spirits and among other things they told you to get 
a book."
"The Chronicles of Golgotha." David told the old man.
"The Chronicles of Golgotha? Good luck getting them." Albert chuckled.
"What's the matter?" David asked.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that they are locked away in the Vatican Black 
Library." informed Albert. The Black Library was where the Vatican kept it's 
books which it regarded as too dangerous in the wrong hands.
"The Vatican you say. Well it looks like I'm off to Rome then." said 
David.
"Wait a minute. You think that they will just let you in there and 
take the book?" Albert asked.
"No, of course not. I'm going to nick it." David smiled back at the 
old man. The old man recognised the twinkle in David's eye. It was the look 
when he was going to do something very wrong and have a hell of a lot of fun 
doing it. David stood to leave.
"Well, I better get going now." David said.
"Ok. You look after yourself and try not to get arrested. OK?"
"All right. But I need you to do something for me." David told Albert.
"What is it?" Albert asked.
"Could you get hold of a big leather bound book? You know the type 
used for Watcher's Diaries, but with blank pages." he asked.
"Yeah, but why do you want it?" asked Albert.
"I need to write prophecies of what is to come. Some of it I 
understand. Most of it I don't."
"I'll have it ready in a day or two." said Albert.
"Good. I'll pick it up on my way back from Rome. The only problem is 
I'm not sure what to call it." David said.
"You will think of something, I'm sure of it." Albert reassured him.