To Live in Freedom

By Melanie Walker

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Al Abar A.K.A. The Djinn Dimension

Four hundred years ago

 

She stood proud in her defiance although fear was coursing its way through her body. Hands shackled behind her back within magical restraints that kept her from accessing any of her powers. She could blink all she wanted and it only looked as if she had something in her eye.

 

Although she was shackled and bound as a prisoner, her clothing identified her as someone of more importance than that.

 

Dressed in her native wear, her gauze pants, split down the side to reveal tanned legs. The waistband encrusted with the jewels of her house, the symbols of the power that was going to be stripped from her.

 

Her top was heavily embroidered, not as revealing as others within the chamber, she had her family’s name to care for after all so it showed just the tiniest bit of her cleavage, the puffed sleeves also split at the top to show tanned arms.

 

She, her brother and her brothers mate had spent hours on the shore of Al Saman tanning. Wading through the water, sifting sand through their fingers.

 

And now she was chained before them. A prisoner in name, if not in dress.

 

From the corner of her eyes she could see her love, also standing straight and proud. Hands also shackled behind his back. His chocolate brown eyes filled with anger… and trepidation.

 

He was scared.

 

She’d wanted to scream in fury when she’d been brought to the Hearing chamber and seen the condition of her love.

 

He’d done nothing wrong after all, save want to be with her. Regardless of his treatment at the hands of their captors she knew they would not punish him too severely for that transgression.

 

She on the other hand… she could see from the expression on her brothers face that the news he was about to deliver was not good and she braced herself. As much as he was her brother he was also their leader, he could not afford to have his love for her sway him and not see a revolt from his adversaries.

 

William stood slowly, his sapphire blue eyes meeting her emerald green for just a moment before he crossed his hands in front of him.

 

Behind him his wife of two years, Druscilla moved to stand at his right. Darla, his advisor moved into position at his left.

 

A position that she had held until she’d been snatched from her bed in the dark of the night. Now her adversary, the leader of one of the most fanatical Djinn movements to ever exist was standing in it.

 

William’s sapphire amulet glittered brilliantly as he gazed down at his younger and only sibling. “Elizabeth do you have any final words on your behalf before I pass judgment?”

 

Her eyes filled with tears at the sound of her birth name on his lips. He only called her Elizabeth when he was angry, normally her nickname would be the one spilling from his lips.

 

When they were just children he’d had difficulty with her name. Never able to pronounce it fully she’d been Buffy since shortly after her second birthday.

 

“No,” she stated bitterly. For her crime banishment would be the punishment she knew. She wondered briefly for how long it would be in affect. Banishment was harsh, confined to her bottle, shuttled through dimensions until such time as it was lifted.

 

“Bring him forward,” he gestured towards the mortal whose eyes were flickering around the room watching the proceedings. He struggled in the arms of his guards as he was moved into position beside Buffy.

 

“He’s done nothing wrong,” Buffy cried, struggling against the restraints that kept her from assisting him.

 

William ignored her, instead his gaze settled on the mortal that had won his sisters heart. He fought to contain the anger at the thought of his sister in the mortals’ arms.

 

“Liam Angelus,” he began, his voice ringing through the cavernous hearing room, all those Djinn that had been allowed to be present silencing at the sound of his voice. “Will be returned to his native dimension to live out his mortal life, all memories of this dimension and its inhabitants will be stripped from his mind. This is my decree to be carried out immediately.”

 

“You can’t do this,” Liam yelled as he was forcefully dragged from the chamber. “I have rights you know.”

 

“Not here my boy, not here,” William murmured turning his attention to his sister. “Clear the chamber,” he ordered.

 

“William…” Darla protested stepped forward she pressed a hand to his shoulder. “They have a right to hear the punishment. To see what happens when one breaks our laws.”

 

“Clear. The. Chamber.” He hissed coldly, his eyes flashing violently.

 

“You heard him Darla,” Druscilla turned to stare at the blonde. She knew that Darla was untrustworthy. Knew that the various coup attempts could be laid directly at her feet. She had to wonder how Darla had managed to engineer all that happened in the last few days. As long as she had known Buffy she had never been a rule-breaker, was always a stickler about following them to a T.

 

Darla scowled as she obeyed. She had no choice after all. Snapping her fingers those within the room, despite their protests all vanished. Leaving only William, Druscilla, Darla, Buffy and her guards.

 

“William…” Buffy started miserably tears filling her eyes she gazed up at the family that was her life. Without Liam, without William she was nothing.

 

“You know what the punishment will be sweet,” William said softly stepping forward. He touched the emerald amulet glittering at her neck.

 

“Banishment,” she whispered her eyes dropping.

 

“They all know, they know what the punishments are for breaking our rules, its what they’ll expect… if I don’t let it be carried out…”

 

Buffy closed her eyes, forcing back the tears that were poised to fall. Things were already hard enough for William without him having to worry about her feelings to. He was attempting to maintain control here.

 

“I didn’t bring him here,” she mumbled. “I would never have brought him here; you have to believe me William.”

 

“I do… but the evidence is damning, my hands are tied,” William sighed heavily. From the corner of his eye he could see the smirk on Darla’s face; he knew that she’d been instrumental in his sister’s lover being here. He couldn’t prove it yet… but he would. “He wears your markings; you’ve chosen him as your lover, as your mate and by all indications he was brought here by you…”

 

“I wouldn’t…”

 

“I’m ordering an investigation but until then…” he trailed off as he saw the look of defeat on her face. The look of sadness etched into her features.

 

“You’re going to banish me?” she asked, her voice tiny and small as a child’s, it tugged at his heart strings and he fought to keep from gathering her within his arms.

 

“I have no choice… if we find out the truth…” he murmured cupping her cheek gently, willing her to believe in him.

 

But her terror was too great, her knowledge of their history to in depth.

 

No Djinn that had ever been banished had ever been released from their bottle. And now she was being consigned to that fate herself.

 

“Listen to me Buffy,” he said, when she gazed up at him, her eyes filled to overflowing with tears that would not fall he smiled gently. “When we find out the truth you’ll be released or… ” casting a glance over his shoulder at Druscilla he saw the look in her eyes and a moment of clarity raced through him. With a smile he turned back to his sibling. “If your mate, or one of his line finds your bottle and opens it I’ll allow you to be freed from its confines.”

 

“You can’t do that,” Darla said angrily, grabbing Williams arm she attempted to turn him to face her, desperate to stop him before he finished the decree.

 

“This is my decree to be carried out immediately,” in finished quietly.

 

“William?” her eyes widened in disbelief.

 

An out… he was offering her an out. If she could land in the right dimension, if Liam or one of his kin could find her bottle… they could set her free.

 

“It’s the best I can do pet,” he whispered even as he lifted his hand. Their eyes remained locked even as one guard held her bottle aloft. The other released her restraints allowing her hands to fall to her side. “You won’t need the out; I’ll prove that you’re innocent.”

 

“I love you.”

 

“Love you to… safe journey sister,” William bowed as Buffy’s arms crossed in front of her. With a nod of her head, a blink of her eyes her form shifted to its pale green cloud and she entered her bottle, her prison.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Al Abar

Current Times

 

William tossed aside the papers he was reading and slumped once more in his chair closing his eyes.

 

Another dead end, they were never going to find her.

 

“William?” Dru’s soft voice came from behind him, lifting a hand she settled hers within it and he drew her around the chair into his lap. “Nothing?”

 

“They’ve spotted her bottle everywhere… but whenever we get there…”

 

“It’s gone again,” she murmured pressing her lips to his temple. “You will find her, you proved her innocent, it’s only time before she comes home.”

 

“It’s been over four hundred years Dru… everything’s different, Liam is dead. What reason does she have to even want to return…? If only Darla had confessed earlier.”

 

“She confessed that’s all that matters. Buffy was proven innocent, her name cleared.”

 

“But is that enough… she’s been gone for so long, confined to her bottle for over four hundred years what if she’s…”

 

“She’s your sister Will, she loves you, she believes in you… and you will find her.”

 

“We’re getting ready for a revolution. I need her here, standing by my side, fighting with us… every time I send men out to search… we’ve been so close so many times and every time, right at the last moment her bottle shifts dimensions and we have to start all over again.”

 

“She’s always been stubborn,” Dru smiled. “She’s making you work for her presence just like she used to when we were children.”

 

“Sometimes I’m scared that it’s all for nothing. That we’ll find her bottle and it’ll be cracked and she’ll be dead. We have no idea what type of worlds she’s been shuttled through.”

 

“I have faith… so should…” Dru trailed off as the door burst open and two of William’s most faithful comrades burst through.

 

“We found her,” Timothy said breathlessly.

 

“Where?”

 

“One of the mortal dimensions…”

 

“Well that narrows it down considerably,” William rolled his eyes as he rose to his feet. “Which mortal dimension?”

 

Timothy exchanged a wild eyed look with his partner and mate Jasmine before he turned back to his king. “Uh… fifteen sire….”

 

“And where is her bottle now?” he looked expectantly between the two of them and their empty hands. “Don’t tell me you didn’t go get her.”

 

“Well she’s in the middle of a fairly large body of water at the moment…” Jasmine began.

 

“And this mortal dimension doesn’t have boats?”

 

“Well yes but…” Jasmine started glaring at her mate. She’d told him they should get the bottle before reporting the sighting to William but he’d insisted that their king would want to know that his sisters’ bottle had been located as soon as possible.

 

She should never listen to him he always ended up getting her in trouble.

 

“She’s going to wash ashore shortly,” Timothy said defensively.

 

“Dru, sweet…”

 

“I understand… you should be there when they open it, it might help adjust her if she sees a friendly face,” she smiled reassuringly at him before kissing his cheek softly.

 

“What shape is her bottle in?” William asked as he led them from his private study.

 

“It’s… well its in one piece,” Jasmine fumbled. “We can’t be sure…”

 

“She’s alive… I’m sure of it. I would know if my sister were dead.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

It was dark in her bottle as she pulled her blankets tighter around her. She contemplated changing back into her sleeping attire but then decided to wait just a bit longer.

 

It had been so long since she had felt the silk of her pants in so long, the rough lace of her top, she hadn’t felt the smooth metal of her jeweled belt in so long that it felt constrictive for a moment before it adjusted itself.

 

She had no idea what had compelled her to don clothes after 350 years of not donning them.

 

She’d been in mourning for that long, ever since she’d felt her chosen mate die. Had felt his life ebb from his body through those markings that proclaimed him as hers. She had been mourning since.

 

She had refused to don her clothing, refused to adorn her hair and skin with makeup and jewels when his life had been extinguished.

 

What was the point after all if he was gone? There would be no one to open the bottle for her.

 

She’d long since given up hope that her brother would rescue her. He’d had four hundred years to prove her innocence but obviously those that had framed her had covered their tracks well.

 

She hoped that Dru was taking good care of William

 

And she hoped that Darla died a fiery death.

 

But all of that seemed so far away from her as she waited in the dark for something that she couldn’t feel but that called to her.

 

She’d wait just a bit longer… all she had was time after all.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Sunnydale California

 

Liam ‘Angel’ Chase had no idea when he’d woken early that morning that his whole life was about to change. The day had started normally enough. Well as normal as you could get in Sunnydale after a three day rainstorm of toads.

 

He’d turned the news off that morning before he had the chance to hear the rational explanation that he was sure they would come up with.

 

Nobody just came right and said that they lived on a Hellmouth thus weirdness happened every day and twice on Saturday; no everyone had a rational explanation for it all.

 

The truth, regardless of what the news anchors decided was that a Warlock had messed up a spell. It had taken Willow, Giles and Anya to put it right.

 

And him and Faith to defeat the vampire minions of said Warlock. All the while they had been fighting the vamps Faith had kept telling him what his problem was.

 

He should have dumped her by phone, after he got to LA.

 

So all in all when the bottle bumped into his ankles and seemed to hover in the water as he was wading it seemed perfectly normal.

 

And it seemed even more natural for him to pick it up.

 

He studied it for a moment before preparing to toss it back but something stayed his hand. .

 

Maybe he could clean it up and make it a gift for his sister Cordelia… god knew that they weren’t going to get anything from their parents.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Well, well Mr. Demon Hunter finally decided to grace us with his presence,” Faith muttered sarcastically from the table.

 

Angel rolled his eyes, ignoring Cordelia’s smirk as he headed straight to Anya and Giles who were both standing behind the counter. Setting his bottle, which on the walk to the Magic Shoppe he had decided to keep; on the counter he waited patiently for one of them to turn their attention to him.

 

Which Anya did with a loud, “What the hell is that and why is it on my counter?”

 

“I don’t know what it is and I was hoping one of you could tell me what I could use to clean it,” he frowned down at it. “It’s kind of filthy.”

 

“Kind of? Kind of?” Anya sputtered. “It’s getting crap all over the place.”

 

“It’s not that bad.”

 

“Are you blind Angel?” Cordy came up behind her brother, sparing a glance at the ex-demon who was currently attempting to date her ex-boyfriend. “Where’d you get that?” she wrinkled her nose. “And don’t tell me you bought it… because if you did you got seriously ripped off.”

 

“I found it down on the beach, it was floating in the water,” Angel said by way of explanation. “There’s some markings down here around on the bottom.”

 

“Really?” Gile’s Watcher ears perked up in interest. “Markings?”

 

“Yeah… can’t really make ‘em out. Kind of why I wanted to clean it, see if anything matched up to any of the books.”

 

“Maybe it’s a Genie bottle,” Xander put in from the table where he was currently snatching the last donut from the box in the center of the table.

 

“There’s no such thing as Genie’s Xander,” Willow grinned as she joined the group hovering around the bottle.

 

“That’s not true,” Anya murmured absently. “Although they prefer Djinn.” She rubbed at the markings on squinting as she tilted her head attempting to make sense of the wording.

 

“Can you understand it?” Angel asked as he watched the ex-vengeance demons’ brow furrow even deeper.

 

“I think it’s a banishing spell,” she said softly, turning the bottle her fingers traced symbols on the opposite side. “One side is the banishing spell; the other contains instructions on how to open it.”

 

“So how do we open it?” Angel asked quietly his entire being focused on her.

 

“I don’t know… I’ll… can I keep this? Just for tonight…” Anya said as she saw the reservation on Angel’s handsome face.

 

“I don’t…”

 

“I won’t try to open it, I want to clean it and see if I can get these symbols to make more sense.”

 

Angel almost grinned as he saw the reverent way that she was now clutching the bottle to her. A far cry from her ‘What the hell is that?’

 

“Okay… but if you decipher can we try to open it tomorrow?”

 

“Hey if we open it tomorrow what are you going to wish for?” Xander asked.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

In an apartment high about Sunnydale, in a room that her sources told her an actual Goddess had lived in for several months Darla relaxed back in an overstuffed leather chair.

 

She’d been defeated of course. Darla could only assume that they didn’t make God’s like to last like they used to. In the old days this world would have been just a memory.

 

In fact she remembered days… with a swift shake of her head, careful not to disturb her hair which she’d just had done she shook off her musings of the past. The past was past and was unimportant in the large scheme of things.

 

And the past was definitely] in the past. She, Buffy and Dru would never be the best of friends again. When she had planned all this way back at the beginning she had planned on the three of them ruling the new Djinn world together.

 

But Dru had chosen William. Buffy had chosen Liam and Darla had been left alone.

 

So she had struck out at those that had been her friends.

 

Rubbing a finger gently against her hand she frowned as she studied the moisture settling on her skin.

 

Sweat.

 

She hated this mortal realm with a fiery passion.

 

It was boring… even with all the vampires and demons that ran rampant over its surface. The most exciting thing that had happened since she had tracked Elizabeth’s bottle to it was the three day rain of toads.

 

That had been fun; of course then the Slayer, the Hunter and their little band of do-gooders had saved the day. She hadn’t realized until she’d gotten a good look at the Hunter in the course of their fight the night before who he was… or who he’d been anyway.

 

She had to wonder if William knew that Liam Angelus had obviously been reborn… so caught up in tracking the damn bottle that Elizabeth was in she had obviously missed some very important rumblings.

 

But as she’d watched the battle, from a safe distance of course, she wasn’t a warrior and didn’t pretend to be one, she could see his soul. The markings that Elizabeth had placed on him proclaiming him her mate, in essence her husband were still in place. Obviously dieing had not washed his soul clean. So those markings were there… as well as the protections.

 

Of course those protections were worthless as long as she was trapped in her bottle.

 

And Darla meant to make sure she stayed there… unless of course she could persuade the banished princess to join her side. The Reformist Djinn could use someone with her background in their fight against the Traditionalist Djinn.

 

But somehow Darla just knew that Elizabeth would never join a side poised against her beloved brother, so she would just have to remain in her bottle till the war was over.

 

That should only be another few years or so… she had all her people in place, William was stretched thin using most of his best trackers to search for his missing sisters bottle.

 

“Did you find my bottle?” she asked those that were currently entering her chambers. She tapped one long perfectly manicured finger against the arm of the chair.

 

“It washed ashore.”

 

“And where is it? I don’t see it in your hands,” her brow arched as her eyes narrowed.

 

“There was a man on the beach… the bottle…” he exchanged a look with the man standing by his side.

 

“The bottle what?” Darla queried softly as she stood.

 

“It… well the bottle chose him… hovered around his feet in the water… we couldn’t get to it with raising suspicion.”

 

Darla stalked forward slowly, her gown floating around her feet as she moved, stopping in front of them she dismissed the one as unimportant with a roll of her eyes the other’s chin she gripped tightly as her eyes bore into his.

 

“Get me that bottle,” she hissed.

 

“He took it to a magic shop; there are wards around it that we can’t breach.”

 

“I don’t care… get me that bottle. Buy it from him, steal it from him, I don’t care. If I don’t have that bottle in my hands by the end of today you’re going to wish that I had let you face William on Al Abar. Because trust me his punishment would have been far less painful than the one I’ll inflict on you.”

 

“I’ll get it… I promise,” he wheezed. With a brilliant smile she released him.

 

“Excellent… Oh Daniel,” she called as they turned to leave her presence. “I’d suggest getting the bottle before William.”

 

“Our king is here?”

 

“Oh… did I forget to mention that?” she murmured as she casually resumed her position in her chair. With a blink of her eyes a magazine appeared within her hands and she idly flipped through its pages. “You’d better get a move on… you don’t have much time.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Anya ran a hand through her hair as she hunched further over the bottle she was studying. It had taken her most of the night to clean it of all of the grime it had been covered in, and she was pretty sure that it had been shuttling through dimensions.  The thick, mucous colored goo that she had scraped from one section could only be found that way.

 

So absorbed in her task she hadn’t even slept that night, she’d forgone sex with Xander, she’d let Giles take care of the money in the register and hadn’t even retorted when Cordy had snarked at her first thing that morning.

 

The pad next to the bottle was filled with symbols that she wished that she could understand that she was currently painstakingly copying from the sides of the bottle. She wished only momentarily that she had a better grasp of the Djinn language, the dialect was old and she could only actually make out a few words before it made no sense.

 

But she was still excited.

 

Angel had found an authentic Djinn bottle.

 

An authentic sealed Djinn bottle… which meant that the Djinn that had been confined to it might still be inside it.

 

Although she knew she was going to have to tell Angel they couldn’t open it. She had translated several symbols that had told her the date it had been sealed, and it had been floating around between dimensions for at least a few hundred years.

 

They had no idea what kind of shape the Djinn within its confines would be in.

 

It could be mad, insane. It could be homicidal. So as much as she wanted to have the opportunity to meet another real live Djinn she didn’t think this should be the one it should be.

 

It was frustrating though. She knew demons that had met many a Djinn jetting through the various dimensions… and you would think that as her work as a vengeance demon that she would have been one of them.

 

But no.

 

In her over 1000 years as a vengeance demon she’d only had the opportunity to meet one Djinn. A female whose mate had cheated on her. She’d offered her services and been turned down.

 

The Djinn took care of their own, they never used outside help when they could handle it themselves.

 

But if it was safe… she might have the opportunity to meet another. Someone important at that.

 

She couldn’t decipher from the symbols who exactly they would find inside.

 

But from the looks of the bottle she’d stake her hard earned money on Djinn royalty.

 

The bell ringing over the door drew her attention only momentarily, she glanced up saw two men and a woman entering the shop glanced at Giles and went back to her perusal.

 

“Can I…” she started when the light she had been using was abruptly blocked. A blonde head, one of the males from the door, bent down near hers and as she looked up a scowl firmly in place her sentence trailed off. “Help you?”

 

“That’s a pretty bottle you have there,” the blonde murmured, reaching out one hand he touched it with just the tips of his fingers before Anya yanked it away.

 

Angel was bigger, and eying the blonde she decided he was most likely stronger, what with all that Demon Hunter strength he had, and since she liked her arms and legs right where they were… on her body she stated with her most haughty salesperson, try and prove me wrong voice:

 

“It’s not for sale.” Even as the words left her mouth she inwardly winced. She never, ever thought she’d ever say them.

 

“Come now…” he said softly, the bottle out of his reach he glanced down at the pad she had been writing on. “Everything’s for sale,” Anya’s scowl deepened as a smile crossed his face.

 

Looking up that sapphire blue of his eyes she found herself momentarily stunned as she stared at him.

 

“I… uh…”

 

“The bottle is my brothers,” Cordy said loudly, both Anya and the male turning to her. Anya in surprise that she had moved there without her hearing and the male with something akin to amusement.

 

“Then as his sister… how much do you believe he would want for it?”

 

“It’s not for sale…”

 

“Well then we have a problem then… that bottle is mine, it was… ‘misplaced’ several years ago and I had only recently discovered it’s whereabouts.”

 

“It was found in the ocean by my brother,” Cordy frowned. “Did you just accidentally misplace it in the water?”

 

“It’s a long story and I don’t want to bore you with the details… but the bottle has extreme sentimental value to my family…”

 

“It has sentimental value to my brother to.”

 

“He’s had for only a short while how attached could he have gotten to it?”

 

“Enough that it’s not for sale.”

 

“Well then where can I locate your brother? Maybe we can come to a more amenable solution to this problem. Because I mean to have that bottle.”

 

“Well you’re in luck then because he just walked in.”

 

With a frown the blonde turned, his frown deepening, the woman gasping, the other man gaping openly at the man that stood in the doorway confusion marring his handsome features.

 

“What the hell is going on here?”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Angel’s eyes darted between the five, finally locking on the blonde that had been talking with Cordy and Anya. That man looked angry and he had no clue why.

 

Wracking his brain he couldn’t place him anywhere… so he was no one that was known. But if he didn’t know him why did the blonde look as if he was going to tear his head off and feed it to him.

 

“William,” the woman murmured.

 

“Not now Jasmine,” William said softly.

 

“Okay did I miss something?” Faith asked as she shoved past her ex-boyfriend who seemed to be frozen in the doorway.

 

“This gentleman wants to buy Angel’s bottle,” Anya started her eyes locking on Angel’s. From the look in them Angel could tell that she quite desperately wanted him to send the man and his companions on their way.

 

“So sell it to him… I mean it’s not worth anything right?” Faith glanced back and forth between them.

 

“It’s has familial value but there is no market value to speak of,” William stated.

 

“So how much is he willing to pay for it and we go from there, how hard is that?”

 

“The bottle is not for sale,” Angel stated stubbornly, walking into the shop he allowed the door to close behind him walking slowly over the counter where the others were conglomerating.

 

“Oh come now… I’ll pay you enough that you can buy several bottles identical to it. I’ll even give you the names of several sellers who I personally deal with.”

 

“Then why don’t you deal with them,” Angel snapped.

 

“Because I don’t want just any bottle. I want this bottle, it’s mine, it’s been in my family for generations and I’m not leaving without it.”

 

Angel glanced around at his group. Anya was shaking her head no, but the others all had questioning looks on their faces. Possibly wondering when he had lost his mind and grown attached to a bottle of all things.

 

With a sigh he looked back at William “How much?”

 

A slow lazy smile crossed the blonde’s face and Angel had the sudden urge to withdraw the question at the look of that smile.

 

“But Angel man we haven’t even opened it,” Xander protested. “What if it’s really a… oooph,” Anya’s elbow jabbed sharply into his side. “Anya!”

 

“My arm slipped,” she said casually. Tracing her fingers down the side of the bottle she twisted the stopper at the top frowning when it didn’t budge.

 

“What are you doing?” William asked in alarm. Jasmine and Timothy moved up beside him, similar expressions on their faces.

 

“It’s stuck,” she muttered struggling to twist even slightly.

 

“You’re weak girl,” Faith rolled her eyes, hopping up on the counter she grabbed the bottle from the ex-vengeance demons hands. “Let me try it.”

 

“You can’t do that, the bottle is priceless, if you open it…” William said in alarm as he moved forward attempting to intercept the bottle as Faith handed it off to Angel. Anya gasped as his shirt gapped open, his sapphire amulet glittering brightly in the light.

 

“Angel,” she started her eyes widening in recognition and alarm as he twisted the bottle. “Don’t do that.”

 

“What? I thought you were the one who wanted to open it?” Angel grumbled as he twisted the stopper, somewhat surprised after all the trouble that the others’d had that it twisted quite easily in his hand.

 

“But you don’t know what’s…” Anya backed away as Angel pulled the stopper free. Jasmine and Timothy falling to their knees, Williams arms crossing over his chest his eyes lit with something akin to hope.

 

“What the…” he started as a green mist started to drift from the confines of the bottle. The stopper and the bottle both dropped from his hands as he stood motionless in his shock just like the rest of the Scooby’s, with the exception of Anya who’s eyes were filled with anticipation of what was to come.

 

She was the only one with anything to say.

 

“Now you’ve done it.”

 

**************************************************************************************

 

Angel waved a hand in front of his face as the green mist wafting through the room slightly mystified when it instead of dissipating it instead seemed to caress the skin of his hands.

 

The strange thing was that it had seemed thicker when the bottle had first opened, now it curled lazily around each member of the room as if inspecting them.

 

Obviously it didn’t like Faith, because while the others were giggling she was batting at it in frustration. He himself couldn’t get the image of a warm hand wrapping around his out of his head. Or the hint of vanilla that he could swear that he smelled.

 

Because strange green mist smelling like vanilla… well that would actually be normal for the Hellmouth.

 

But he also couldn’t quell the strange sense of familiarity that raced throughout his body.

 

He felt, deep in his bones, in his heart that he had seen this once before. And he could almost envision what the Djinn would look like once she assumed her solid form.

 

She’d be small, petite… long blonde hair that seemed to glow in the sun, emerald green eyes that sparkled with passion and humor.

 

How he knew that he had no clue. Across the room he could see the odd threesome, two on their knees, the male, their spokesperson standing regally a small smile playing on his lips. For someone that hadn’t wanted the bottle opened he didn’t seem all that upset about the fact that it had been opened.

 

In fact he seemed pleased.

 

Confusing memories were flooding him.

 

“What do you think our children will look like?” she asked idly. Playing with a strand of his hair she was curled up on his chest like a kitten. Arching into his hands as he stroked her back.

 

“What makes you think we’ll have any?”

 

“Dru said I’d have two,” she looked down at him a smile on her face.

 

“And Dru’s never wrong beloved?”

 

“Not in recent memory.”

 

“So you think these children will be with me?”

 

“Of course… who else?”

 

“Well I think your brother might have something to say about that.”

 

“My brother doesn’t rule my life,” she murmured, when his brows arched at her she flushed slightly. “Okay he doesn’t rule my heart. I say you’ll be the father of my children and you will be… A boy and a girl.”

 

“Really.”

 

“Yes… And the boy will look like you and the girl…”

 

“Will look like you,” he nipped at her nose capturing her lips with his, tongues tangling their arms wound around each other.

 

“It’s a beautiful thought beloved… but your brother will never allow it. He hates me.”

 

“He doesn’t hate you, he just…” she frowned unable to find the right words to describe her brothers actions.

 

“He hates me,” he reiterated. “He thinks I’m beneath you.”

 

“Well what he thinks doesn’t matter.”

 

“It should… I don’t like upsetting someone who can blink and turn me into a Llama.”

 

“That was an accident.”

 

“Right.”

 

Angel frowned as the memories assaulted him. The blonde he was sure would appear from the mist but that he could swear he’d never seen before had been curled up naked on his chest. And he was positive they’d been talking about the man that was currently staring at the mist with that pleased grin.

 

He wasn’t sure but Angel was positive that he’d never seen him pleased before, in fact that last memory he had he’d swear that the Djinn king had been furious. He hadn’t shown it of course… especially once his decree had been voiced.

 

“Liam Angelus, will be returned to his native dimension to live out his mortal life, all memories of this dimension and its inhabitants will be stripped from his mind. This is my decree to be carried out immediately.”

 

He shook his head as the memory flooded him. He’d never met the blonde man before. Had never heard the commanding tone of his voice.

 

Had never met the blonde woman that had been wrapped so intimately around him.

 

So why was he so sure he had?

 

Through the mist he saw that the clothing the threesome had been wearing had changed, altered into something that he hadn’t seen before. The sapphire amulet hanging around the blonde’s neck, obviously what Anya had seen when she had tried to get them to stop at the last moment, was flashing slowly. Like a beacon in the night it was showing the way home to a wayward traveler.

 

Then to his surprise from within the mist he saw flashing as well, in time with the sapphire, weak but becoming brighter as the mist began to clear.

 

And he was proven right.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

“Now you’ve done it,” the salesperson that William had been bartering with had said and he couldn’t agree with her more.

 

His sister’s bottle had been opened. And while he felt unspeakable joy that she was about to be freed after such a long captivity a small part of him was bracing himself for the unimaginable…

 

That because of her long captivity in her bottle that she might be less than sane.

 

When he had originally set out on this trip with Jasmine and Timothy to get the bottle his intent had been to open it immediately, Elizabeth had been confined long enough.

 

Enroute though he had decided that it might be best get his hands on the bottle then open it on Al Abar.

 

That way if she was insane, the energies on Al Abar might have a chance to calm her as well as revitalize her.

 

She had been away from home for so long that she was bound to be weak.

 

But the mortal had opened it… When he’d first laid eyes on the man in the door he’d know exactly who he was looking at. The man standing there, a brunette female’s arm casually touching him was his sisters chosen mate… obviously reborn since William knew that Liam Angelus had died over 350 years ago.

 

He stood waiting as the mist that was his sisters’ form began solidifying. With a lazy smile on his face he watched as it cleared, leaving Elizabeth standing, head bowed in deference to the one that had opened her bottle.

 

She looked exactly as he remembered.

 

Jewels glittering brightly in her hair, her emerald amulet flashing in unison with his.

 

He wouldn’t let her captivity from her bottle be ended by not announcing her presence.

 

The flashing of the amulets was his way of telling all twelve houses, hers and his included that she had finally been freed from her bottle.

 

He never even gave thought that some of those houses were no longer loyal to them. That three of the houses would begin plans to hunt them down and destroy them before they had a chance to return to their seat of power on Al Abar.

 

They would fail of course. He had not come all this way to find his sister only to fail in returning home.

 

He watched her eyes rise slowly. Locking on the shocked reincarnation of her mate in front of her. A slow smile crossed her face as she studied his face, cocking her head to one side as one hand lifted to stroke his cheek.

 

“Liam,” she breathed and William sighed.

 

Here they went again.

 

**************************************************************************************

 

She was free. Free, free, free. She felt like singing from the roof tops of the nearest palace.

 

She felt like dancing and laughing and whirling in joy.

 

To say that Buffy was giddy with the emotions that freedom entailed her would be an understatement.

 

No more confinement to her bottle. No more wondering which dimension she was traveling through and hoping that this time she would locate an elusive offspring of her mate. She knew he’d married; his memories of her and their time together had been wiped from his mind so he’d had no reason not to.

 

She knew that he’d had two sons and a daughter. Children that she’d wanted to bear for him but never would.

 

She knew that he’d been happy with the woman that he’d chosen as his wife and she’d been happy for him… well at least she tried to be. All she’d ever wanted was for him to be happy.

 

She would have preferred of course that it had been with her.

 

But confined to her bottle she knew that it was an empty hope. While her life was at a standstill his had moved forward.

 

But now she was free.

 

She filtered out of her bottle slowly. It had been finally opened so she might as well give them the full show. But she’d also taken the time to take stock of those within the shop.

 

She could feel William’s impatience from behind her, could feel Timothy and Jasmine’s joy.

 

But they weren’t the ones that had opened the bottle.

 

The man had been.

 

Her man. Her Liam.

 

Oh rationally she knew that the man that had twisted the stopper to the bottle wasn’t her Liam. Her Liam was long since dead. But this man had her Liam’s soul. As well as the markings that she had placed upon it once up on a time.

 

But even as her mist form caressed her lost loves new body it attacked the brunette next to him. That girl thought she had a claim on her Liam and that just wouldn’t do… not at all.

 

The others were harmless… with the possible exception of the ex-demon behind the counter… but that woman had been the one to lovingly clean her bottle so Buffy put aside her misgivings and enveloped her within her mist.

 

There would be enough time for worry later.

 

Slowly she allowed her mist to take form, relishing the fact that she could feel the cool air upon her skin. She stood, although it was customary for a Djinn upon being released from the bottle to kneel… she was a princess after all and the only person she ever kneeled for was her brother. In deference to her releaser she did lower her eyes.

 

Against her skin she could feel the cool humming of her amulet, she didn’t need to look down to see that it was flashing in concert with William’s. She just knew that he was announcing to everyone and everything that they were strong once more.

 

Raising her eyes slowly she allowed them to focus on the face of the man before her and a gasp caught in her throat. His soul was the same… and he was the same.

 

Chocolate brown eyes gazed down at her, had he always been so tall, filled with something akin to confusion. Confusion that she herself was filled with as her hand rose of its own volition to stroke his cheek.

 

“Liam?”

 

Beside him she could hear the brunette that had dared touch him draw in a harsh breath, heard her brother sigh behind her then her hand was knocked away.

 

Glaring at the brunette with narrowed eyes her arms crossed and she heard the silent ‘Oh shit’ from William before his hand touched her shoulder gently.

 

“Elizabeth,” his tone was light but she could hear the underlying warning in it and she almost growled in frustration.

 

“Hands of the goods blondie,” the brunette practically snarled at her.

 

“Faith,” Angel said softly his voice filled with exasperation.

 

“What? I’m just protecting my interests,” Faith muttered.

 

“Goods?” Buffy asked in confusion exchanging a look with William who had moved up beside her. Jasmine and Timothy flanking them on either side. “You are his owner?”

 

“Pssh… I’m his girlfriend…”

 

“Ex girlfriend,” Cordy intercut with a saccharine sweet smile at Faith.

 

“Whatever… that point is Angel’s mine… he’s not up for grabs.”

 

“Up for grabs?”

 

“Oh for gods sake it’s slang blondie, you’re in the country learn the language.”

 

“This has all been charming but we really need to go now,” William said forcefully. A slight motion of his head had Timothy rushing forward to collect the bottle and stopper that had fallen from Angel’s hands.

 

“But William…” Buffy protested softly her eyes flicking between her brother and her lost love.

 

“There’s all the time in the world sweet,” William stated with raised brows. Almost daring her to go against his wishes. “There’s things happening and we need to be back on Al Abar.”

 

“But… I’ve been banished,” she mumbled. “Remember?”

 

“I told you I’d prove you innocent, have I ever failed you before?”

 

“You proved me innocent?”

 

“Coerced Darla into confessing he did,” Jasmine grinned from behind them. “You should have seen it… it was great. He had her in tears on her knees sobbing… play it over and over in slow motion when I get bored sometimes.”

 

“I’d like to see it,” Buffy smiled sadly. Darla had been her best friend once upon a time. How had their friendship turned to this? That one of those that she had most trusted would turn on her. “How long?”

 

“A couple of days after your bottle was let loose in the dimensional stream… I’ve had people searching night and day for you ever since. I’d hoped to find you before Liam… but that didn’t work out… Every time we’d get close your bottle would abruptly vanish, there was a couple of times I thought Darla and her followers would find you first.”

 

“Darla? You didn’t banish her?”

 

“She escaped… along with a group of her most faithful… we’ll find her though, people like her don’t inspire devotion someone will give her up eventually… hopefully before the Civil War that we’re on the brink of has a chance to begin.”

 

Buffy smiled suddenly, a large smile straight from her heart as she gazed at her beloved brother. Behind her she could feel her Liam, Angel, watching with narrowed eyes unsure of what the relationship between the blondes was.

 

“I missed you,” she murmured her eyes bright.

 

“And I you… Druscilla missed you as well. So many times I was so close to giving up, thinking you dead or worse and she’d remind me of who you were. That you wouldn’t allow yourself to expire without proving your innocence first. She’ll be anxious to see you alive, well and free finally, we should go.”

 

Turning to the small group that was watching the proceedings with much interest her sad gaze fell on Angel. He still looked confused and she wondered what type of life he led here.

 

He seemed happy; his aura was filled with bright colors and hues. And if he didn’t seem satisfied with all that life had offered him thus far she had to wonder if dragging him into her world was a good idea.

 

It hadn’t worked out so well for him the first time. Maybe leaving would be for the best… at least for now.

 

“Yes.”

 

Turning on her heel she started towards the door that Timothy was standing by, her resealed bottle in his hand.

 

“Hey wait a minute what about Angel’s wishes? He did open the bottle afterall doesn’t she belong to him now?” a lanky brunette male called out from behind them.

 

Almost instantly regretting his words and cowering in on himself as William turned angry eyes towards him, the ex-demon behind the counter leaning over to smack him upside the head.

 

“Told you that Djinn don’t grant wishes,” she hissed as William stalked across the room.

 

“Does my sister look like a slave to you? Does she wear the bands of slavery?” her brother snapped angrily Buffy and Jasmine exchanging worried looks. William didn’t lose his temper very often but when he did… the outcomes were normally not very pretty.

 

The humans as a group turned to the threesome standing at the door. Buffy standing there jewels in her hair, adorning her body. Gauze and satin clothing her.

 

“Uh… no,” Xander gulped.

 

“Then why would you think that she would belong to anyone besides herself? She wears the jewels of our mothers’ house; she’s one of the most beloved members of our family… she grants wishes for no one other then herself.”

 

“William,” Buffy murmured quietly her brothers flashing eyes turning towards her. “I’ll grant him a wish.”

 

“Elizabeth…”

 

“One wish William… what harm will it do?”

 

“You’re to kind sweet,” William grumbled. “You have one wish mortal, use it wisely.”

 

Angel’s eyes widened as he stared at the tiny blond woman who was waiting expectantly for his wish. Turning dazed eyes to his sister he found Cordy staring back at him with a blank expression, as if to tell him that he was on his own in this one. Beside her Xander was practically jumping in his skin he was so excited.

 

“Your wish…. Angel?” she asked softly a small smile creasing her face.

 

“I… don’t know what to wish for,” he stated truthfully. And he didn’t, besides wishing her to stay forever… and where had that thought come from? He didn’t even know her.

 

“We don’t have time for this,” Timothy muttered earning a glare from William.

 

“Do you need time?” she asked kindly. “It is a big decision.”

 

“Uh…”

 

Turning to exchange a look with William she moved forward slowly, pulling a small emerald ring from her finger she cupped one of his hands within hers, setting the ring in the center of his palm she closed her hand around it staring up at him.

 

“When you’re ready to make your wish hold this ring within your hands and say my name.”

 

“What’s your name?” he whispered.

 

“You know my name,” she said with a mysterious smile as she backed away to stand beside her brother once more. “Look within yourself and you’ll know it.”

 

Turning she followed Timothy out the door, Jasmine and William following leaving Angel staring at the ring within his hand and the others alternating between staring at him and the Djinn that had just left.

 

“Buffy,” he murmured to himself.

 

“Okay that was surreal,” Xander muttered. “Was there really just four live Genies within this shop or did someone drug us?”

“They were real, we didn’t die… and Angel even got a wish out of it,” Anya stared at the unmoving demon hunter. “What are you going to wish for?”

 

“I have no clue.”

 

 

 

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