They finally made it to the Magic Box. 

 

Buffy was surprised that after all was said and done, everyone had fallen into their familiar routines.  Sometimes it felt as though they had never left Sunnydale.  She just wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. 

 

“Can I help you?” a man asked as they walked in the door.  Seeing Spike, he added, “I remember you!  You like this place?  You keep coming back.  Maybe you’ll actually buy something this time?”

 

Spike smiled and approached the man.  “’Eh Chuck, brought some friends this time.”

 

“What can I do for all these lovely ladies… and gentleman?”

 

Spike laughed.  “Gentleman, now that’s a stretch.”

 

“You’re not talking about me, are you Spike?  I know of all people you wouldn’t be talking about me like that, would you?”

 

Buffy so didn’t have time for this. “Sorry Chuck, but there’s a few things we need. Willow, you have the list?”

 

“Yep,” she said, handing it to him.  “We need all of those items and  the amounts specified, please.”

 

Chuck studied the list, muttering to himself.  He glanced around occasionally, checking the list and then scratching his head.  Eventually he handed the list back to Willow.  “Sorry sweetheart, but we don’t have any of this stuff here.”

 

Buffy saw the confusion she felt reflected on everyone’s face.

 

“It’s a magic shop, how can you not have any of it?” Faith asked.

 

“Sorry girlie, I’ve never heard of anything on that list before.”

 

Faith looked at Buffy.  “Did he just call me girlie?”  She turned back and took a step towards Chuck.  “You didn’t just call me girlie did you?”

 

Buffy stepped in front of Faith, choosing to ignore the retorts that were flying back and forth.  “I’m with her.  How can nothing on that list look familiar to you?  You must’ve seen them before.  And don’t think of calling me girlie.” Buffy warned.

 

Chuck shrugged his shoulders.  “Because they don’t… blondie.”

 

Buffy felt like going over the counter after him.  By the look on Faith’s face, she was ready to race her there.

 

“This is going well,” Spike said.  “Chuck.  ‘Tis nothing major here.”  He took the list from Willow’s hand.  “Conjuring powder, some magical talismen, an incense or two, and a couple candles.  Shouldn’t be a problem, eh?”

 

“Spike, I’m not trying to be difficult.  It’s the honest truth.  I have never heard of any of these things.”

 

“Candles, you have heard of candles right?” Xander asked, amazed.

 

Chuck’s face lit up.  “Candles!!  We do have candles.” His smile dropped.  “Well we did have candles.  We’re all sold out now.”

 

“Oh my God!” Faith exclaimed.  “You are not sold out, you idiot.” She stormed to the shelf left of the counter, grabbing two candles out of a stack of them.  “Are you blind or just plain stupid?”

 

“Back off a bit, pet.” Spike said.

 

Chuck looked confused.  “I … Umm… I never noticed them there before.”  He scratched his head.  “I don’t know what to tell you folks.”

 

“Do you mind if we look around?” Willow asked softly.  Chuck acknowledged her by shaking his head, the look of confusion never leaving his face.  “I’m going to find what I need,” she said to the others.  Her attention turned to Xander.  “Come with me?”  She and Xander headed behind the counter where they knew most of it could be found. 

 

“Chuck,” said Spike.  “I’m going to show the ladies around a bit.”

 

“Yea, go ahead Spike,” he said, sitting down on a stool that was by the cash register.

 

They headed for the training room.  None of them spoke.  Buffy suspected none of them knew exactly what to say.

 

“What’s up with that?”  Faith asked, indicating back towards the door they just came through.

 

Buffy sighed heavily.  “I have no idea.”

 

“Doesn’t make any sodding sense, now does it?” Spike continued.  “Same thing happened at Willie’s.  They think they’ve always been here, but you call ‘em on it and they get all flustered.  Confuse real easy.  The Devil would be in the details.  Wanted you to see it for yourself.  Strange innit?”

 

Buffy was getting even more confused.  “You knew this was going to happen?”

 

“Kind of ‘spected it.”

 

“So what do we do now?” Faith asked.

 

Buffy knew they only had one choice.  “We do the reveal.  We need it even more now than we realized.” Buffy walked towards the corner of the room where something had caught her eye.  That’s what she thought.  One of her bags was here.  She opened it and found stakes, holy water, a couple crosses – all her slayage tools. 

 

“This was an extra,” she said turning towards Spike and Faith.  “I left it here in case of emergency.  Is it really here?  Is any of this really here?  Maybe we’re just seeing what we want to see.” She stopped, another thought coming to her mind.  “But if that were true, my mom would be here.  Tara would be here – Anya would be here.  What we remember?  Probably.  But not necessarily what we want, because things would be different.”

 

“That could explain why Giles’ isn’t picking up on anything.  There’s nothing to pick up on,” Faith suggested.  “Well, besides that really big power thing.”

 

“Maybe the power is the spell that’s recreating Sunnydale?” Buffy suggested.

 

“Nothing here but the spell?” Faith asked.  “Why do that?  Why fake an entire city?”

 

“That would be the question,” Buffy said.

 

“Maybe we haven’t run into any blokes we know,” Spike said, “because no one here is real.”  He looked at both Slayers.  “Sunnydale’s a fake and so are all the people.  Well, ‘cept us.”

 

“Don’t forget about us,” Willow said, coming into the room.  “You guys come up with something?”

 

“Not really,” Buffy said.  “Just trying to get a handle on what could be going on.  Did you find what you needed?”

 

“Yep, ready to do this?  Back at the high school, right?”

 

“How about doing it here?” Xander asked.  “Ol’ Chuck up there is acting like we’re not here anymore.  Besides, do we really want to do this right over the Hellmouth?”

 

Buffy considered Xander’s suggestion.  “Less chance of being interrupted.  Give us a better idea of what we’re working with before we go anywhere near the Hellmouth.  We could leave through the back if we had to,” Buffy agreed.  “I like it.”

 

“Good idea,” Faith said giving him a light push.  “The more I think about it, the less I like being out and about lately anyway.”

 

“Kind of gives me the wiggins,” Buffy said.  She glanced towards the windows.  “It’s going to be dark soon.  I can feel it.”

 

Faith shuddered.  “So can I.”

 

“Can you do it, Red?” Spike asked.  “Ready now?”

 

“This I can do,” Willow said confidently.

 

“Maybe we should go downstairs,” Xander suggested.

 

“Why?” Willow asked.

 

“Little more private… don’t want Chuck to wake up all of a sudden and come looking for us in here.  We can lock him out,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.

 

“Look at that, Harris has a plan.  Splendid!” Spike said, slapping him on the back.

 

“Why do people keep doing that?” Xander said still rubbing the spot Faith where had pushed him. 

 

“Let’s go,” Buffy said, not wanting to get into yet another Xander and Spike exchange.  Sometimes those two could be tiring, now being one of those times.

 

Buffy watched as Willow began setting up.  She had Xander drag a table over for her so she could lay everything out.  From what Buffy could see, everything they needed was accounted for.

 

“That’s double?” Faith asked.

 

“You got even more than double,” Buffy said.

 

“Kind of a last minute decision,“ Willow said.  “Figured with two of you and maybe needing it to last a little bit longer, we might need it.”

 

“Good thinking,” Buffy said.

 

“So what’s the plan?  I mean exactly?” Xander asked.

 

“The spell’s a little different since I’ll be doing it; Buffy did it on her own before.”  Willow looked around.  “Buffy and Faith need to come sit here.”  She motioned to a place in the middle of the floor.  “They'll need to sit side-by-side, holding hands so they can connect to each other.”  Willow looked at them, concern showing in her eyes.  “I’m hoping if you’re connected before the spell, you’ll stay connected after it.  I don’t want to take the chance of you two going in different directions once it's been cast.  You’ll be bound to each other.  Where one goes, theoretically the other won’t be too far behind.”

 

Buffy and Faith sat down.  Willow took a small bag from the table and began sprinkling what looked like sand around them, leaving Buffy and Faith enclosed in a circle.  “This is the conjuring circle,” Willow announced. 

 

She then retrieved the incense and placed them evenly around the outside of the circle.  “This is to keep you connected and contained within.” 

 

Next came the talismen, both Buffy and Faith were given one to hold. 

“This is to ensure yourself a place within the spell.” 

 

A candle was placed in front of each Slayer.  “To light your way.”  Willow lit the candles.  “You two okay?” she asked, smiling weakly.  “I’m ready to go if you are.”

 

Buffy and Faith glanced at each other.  “Ready if you are,” Buffy said.

 

“I’m with ya B.  We’ll still be here though, right?  We’ll just see what’s real?” Faith asked.

 

“That’s how it worked last time.”  Buffy looked at Willow.  “Same thing this time, right Will?” Buffy tried to keep the trepidation out of her voice.

 

“Yep.  It's kind of like what’s here will be here.  You’ll be able to see it.  It won’t go away – like us.  Anything that’s not here will fade in and out.  Kind of like a bad radio station… Umm except it’s not a hearing thing, it’s a seeing thing.”

 

“Guess that makes sense,” Faith said.  “How long will it last?”

 

Willow sighed deeply.  “If it works, anywhere from five minutes to...”

 

“Bugger!  Just bloody get on with it,” Spike shouted.

 

Buffy looked at him as he stood against the wall, running his fingers through his hair.  She wouldn’t have been surprised if he started pacing along with it.  She turned and saw that Faith was giving him a small reassuring smile. 

 

“We’ll be okay,” Buffy said.  She knew he cared about both of them and this entire thing was probably causing total freakage.

 

“Okay,” Willow began.  “Let’s get going.  Take each other’s hand and close your eyes.  Focus on the words I’m going to say and make sure you grip the talisman tightly with your free hand.”

 

Buffy took Faith’s hand and picked up the talisman as Faith did the same.  Both Slayers squeezed the other’s hand slightly and closed their eyes.

 

Willow began walking slowly around the circle and lighting the incense as she went.  She began to chant.

 

“Show them the way

 

Show them the path

 

Guide them

 

Reveal the truth

 

Shadow the lies

 

Illumine the real

 

Let them see with their own eyes”

 

Buffy should have been prepared, she had been through this before, but she wasn’t.  As soon as Willow had completed her chant, Buffy felt her head fall and her shoulders sag. A huge rush raced through her.  It started in the pit of her stomach and radiated out, her head whipped back suddenly and she almost dropped the talisman.

 

Quiet.

 

She was aware that she was still holding Faith’s hand.  A couple times she was afraid that Faith was going to let go.  Faith had inadvertently tried to pull away from her, but Buffy wouldn’t let her hand go, gripping it tighter.  If Faith hadn’t been a Slayer, Buffy knew that the force she was using to maintain contact would’ve broken the fine bones in her hand. 

 

As quickly as the overwhelming feeling came, it stopped.  The spell had been cast.

 

They were about to discover the truth about Sunnydale.

 

Buffy opened her eyes.

 

XXXXX