FIC: Terra Australis Incognito 26/?

[CDRERamius@xxxxxxx]

TITLE: Terra Australis Incognito 26/?
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: MA 15+ (Australia)
AUTHORS NOTES: Day word: Cottonmouth. Action word: Jericho. Command word: 
Trinity


The next few days were so hectic that they were a blur. The new 
Slayers Council began setting up and elected Albert to head it. Both the 
Watchers Council and the Slayers Council had a Slayer. Buffy and the rest of 
the gang returned to Sunnydale to continue with the preparations for the up 
coming War Of The Six. The Slayers Council along with Giles and Willow 
researched more into Murg Dor and spells that could be used in the battle 
against him and his army. Buffy, Xander and David trained together; while 
neither David or Buffy would ever admit it, they learnt from each other in 
the rare moments that they were not pissing each other off. There was only 
one major question that hadn't been answered. Who would be the sixth person 
in the war.
With the split within the Watchers Council, the second Slayer was 
under the control of the Watchers Council and would not be part of the war. 
At various times, everyone asked David who would take the second Slayers 
place. All were told the same thing.
"Don't worry. I've got it fixed." David knew what was going to happen, 
not all of what was going to happen, but enough to know what he had to do. 
All he could do was wait for events to unfold. Three weeks from the war, the 
first event in the chain reaction foretold happened.
Buffy and Willow were patrolling when they were ambushed by a group of 
demons. The fight was fierce, too fierce. The fight had reached its peak when 
David and Xander, who were patrolling separately from Buffy and Willow, 
showed up. It was at that point that one demon ran Buffy through with its 
dagger. Xander and David finished off the demons while Willow tended to Buffy.
The wound was deep and was so close to her heart. Buffy's lungs were 
filling with blood. Willow was frantic. Her lover was dying before her eyes. 
Willow cried and begged Buffy not to die. David and Xander rushed to the 
fallen Slayers side. David quickly examined the wound. He looked into 
Willow's tearful eyes.
"We can save her. But I need your help, I can't do this with out you." 
David told the grief stricken Wicca.
"Anything! Just save her!" Willow cried out.
"I need to draw upon your power and combine it with mine so we can 
heal her. It's risky but it's the only way to save her." David said.
"I don't care how risky it is! Let's just do it!" Willow nearly 
shouted at the young man. 
David took Willow's hands in his and closed his eyes. He began 
speaking in the language of his people and a white light formed around their 
hands. He then lowered their hands over the wound. Buffy and Willow screamed 
as the light flared and David chanted louder. The wound glowed white then 
closed over. Exhausted, David let go of Willow's hands and grew silent. 
Willow nearly fainted beside Buffy while Xander looked on, fear blazing in 
his eyes. Fear for Buffy, for Willow, for the world should Buffy die.
Buffy sat up and examined the wound. It was gone, save a small scar. 
With the help of Xander she stood up and helped Willow up. All three looked 
at David who was still knelling on the ground.
"What did you do to me?" Buffy asked in a hushed tone. David slowly 
looked up at the Slayer, a look of incredible age on his face.
"I combined my power and Willow's power to call upon the Chimea 
spirits to heal you. It was risky, the spirits might have killed me for 
disturbing their slumber, but I had to do it. If you die before the War Of 
The Six then the world is lost." David got to his feet.
"Come back to my place. There is other things that we need to decide 
on." David said. They all walked in silence back to David's place where Giles 
met them.

"I can't just stop patrolling for three weeks! The death toll in this 
town is high enough." Buffy forcefully told he Watcher. Giles, upon hearing 
of Buffy's close call, decided that until the war, Buffy should refrain from 
patrolling. He paced about, deep concern on his face.
"Buffy, if you die then the world will die. We can't risk losing you." 
he said to her.
"Giles!" Buffy exclaimed. Up until now only Buffy and Giles had 
spoken. Now David stepped forward.
"I think I have a solution. It's risky and neither of you will like it 
much." he said in a quiet reasonable tone. Buffy and Giles looked him.
"Well? What's this big bad solution?' Buffy demanded to know. David 
paused for a few moments before speaking.
"It's an Aboriginal ritual. It confers a limited invulnerability to 
the recipients. But its got a couple of risks and drawbacks." he told them.
"Well, what are they?" Xander asked.
"The ritual confers an invulnerability against injury from things not 
of tooth or claw. Daggers, swords, bullets will not be able to harm you. It 
will also have the effect of not allowing Murg Dor to cut you down in a hail 
of arrows during the war. It won't stop a vampire from tearing you apart with 
its hands or draining you. Basically it means that in order to kill you, they 
have to get close enough for hand to hand combat.
"The ritual must be performed on the young, so I'm afraid that it 
can't be done to you Dad." David told Giles sadly. David continued.
"If I'm going to do this then I would want Buffy, Willow, Xander and 
myself to under go it. The ritual involves bringing about a soul messenger 
forth from each person. This soul messenger then travels to that persons 
soulmate."
"Soulmate?" Willow asked.
"It is an ancient belief that each person is created from a lump of 
clay which is divided in two, each half becoming a person, each half being 
the soulmate of the other. The soul messenger seeks out the soulmate. Once it 
does then each person will know who and where their soulmate is. Then the 
soulmates are brought into physical contact with each other and their souls 
rejoin and become one. Regardless of where in the world your soulmate is you 
will know where they are and I'll be able to get them here within 48 hours."
"So what's the risk?" Giles asked his son.
"The risk is that should the persons soulmate be dead, then the soul 
messenger will also die, killing that person." There was silence as everyone 
contemplated that thought. David turned to his father.
"I think that we should leave them so that they can discuss it, hey 
Dad?" Giles nodded. As they left the room, David had one more thing to say. 
He turned to Xander.
"Oh. By the way, the dress code is the same as last time." David 
informed him then left. Willow looked quizzically at Xander.
"Dress code? What's the dress code?" she asked her friend. Xander 
blushed, feeling awkward.
"Um... well... you see... there is none. You have to be naked as the 
day you were born." he said.

The argument had been going on for almost 10 minutes. Buffy was 
reluctantly for the ritual. Willow was against it, privately afraid that she 
would lose Buffy to her soulmate. Xander had not said a word, deep in 
thought. Finally he spoke up.
"Willow, I think that we should do the ritual. It's the only way that 
we can have any chance." he said. Willow rounded on him.
"No! No way Xander! We shouldn't risk it! There has to be a better 
way!" she yelled at her friend.
"Will, this is the only way. Please trust me on this. Please." Xander 
said in a calm soothing voice. Willow opened her mouth to speak then stopped. 
She remembered what David had said that early morning. David's voice told her 
to trust Xander, he knew what he was doing. She looked down at her hands.
"OK. Let's go through it." Willow reluctantly agreed.

The four of them gathered at the hill top where David and Xander had 
gone to visit the Dreamtime Spirits. It was also the same hill top that the 
War Of The Six would take place. Buffy, Willow and Xander had stared at each 
other when they had removed their clothes. Xander could not believe how 
beautiful the girls were and it took him supreme effort not to react 
biologically. Buffy and Willow gawked at Little Xander, Buffy even going as 
far as making a quiet remark to Willow.
"I thought we killed the Mayor?"
David, for his part was all business. He gathered them around the fire 
where they began the ritual.
The ritual reached its peak. David's eyes glowed white, then a mist, 
every colour of the rainbow, lifted from him and hovered over his head. The 
soul messenger then disappeared into the night sky.
Xander, then Willow, then Buffy's eyes glowed white. Their soul 
messengers floating above them in a slow dance of motion. Willow, first took 
Buffy's hand with her left hand, then Xander's hand with her right. Xander 
and Buffy held hands, completing the triangle.
It was then that David heard a tone. Clear, pure, perfect. It was the 
same tone that he had heard when he had transferred Xander's pain and 
emotions to the two girls. Above their heads the three soul messengers 
twisted about each other. They fused in a dazzling flash of light, then 
disappeared. David stared at them in shock and awe.
"Oh my God!" David breathed. "Trinity!"