Chapter 1

It was a truth universally acknowledged that when things on the Hellmouth were about to go kablooey, it more often than not was likely to be a Tuesday.

This time it was not kablooey in an apocalypse kind of way.  Just kablooey in Buffyland.

Quiet settled around 1630 Revello Drive as everyone hurried off to do their daily routine.  Except for Buffy.  She didn’t have a daily routine.  She wasn’t even used to the noise and pain of not being in heaven anymore.

Buffy stood on the stairs staring at the picture of herself, Dawn, and her mom.  Something was off.

Dawn appeared to glow green with a faint hazy of blue.  Buffy didn’t find that surprising.  Her sister was, after all, a dimensional Key.

Joyce Summers, on the other hand, was gray and faded.  At the exact location of the tumor that killed her, Buffy could see a swirl of blackness.  Curiosity got the better of Buffy, and she stepped up the stairs to the picture of Joyce’s mother, Janet Bennett

Buffy knew that her Grandma had died just a few years back of a stroke.  Sure enough, Grandma Bennett was gray in her picture with a black stripe down the middle of her face.

Going back to the picture taken with her mom and sister, Buffy studied herself.  She flickered from gray, which obviously meant death, to blue, which Buffy decided meant alive.  But what did the faint hue of yellow mean?

Time for more research.

Buffy went to her bedroom to pull out her senior yearbook. 

Harmony Kendall’s picture was a yellow-tinged gray with a dark bite mark on her neck.  Her picture flickered back and forth ever so slightly to show off her vampire visage. 

Amy Madison’s picture was blue, indicating that she was alive, but her picture flickered to a rat.  There was also a tinge of purple surrounding the former girl, current rat.

Larry Blaisdell’s picture was gray, but the only thing that showed on him was a line across his neck to indicate that his neck had been broken when Mayor Wilkins slapped him down with his snake tail.

The one lone picture of Mayor Wilkins and Principal Snyder was creepy enough to make Buffy slam that book closed in a heartbeat.

Buffy went through all of her yearbooks looking at the blues and grays.    There were a few kids with a mixture of yellow and blue.  Buffy wondered what the yellow meant.  She pulled out a notepad and pen to write down what she’d discovered so far. 

Buffy wasn’t sure what to do now.

Downstairs, the back door slammed open, startling Buffy.  Then, she heard it bang closed, followed by some frantic stomping.

Ahh, Spike.

“Slayer, I know you’re in here.  I can hear your heartbeat!”

Buffy stepped to the door of her bedroom.  “I’m upstairs, Spike.”  She went back to the desk where she was looking at her yearbooks.

In a few moments, Buffy heard Spike clomp up the stairs to find her.  She wondered if she should tell the vampire about her new ‘ability’. 

“Feelin’ all nostalgic-like?” Spike asked while he gestured towards the books.

“Not exactly.”  Buffy made a quick fire decision.  “Things are a bit wonky for me right now.  I can see dead people.”

“You mean like ghosts or whatnot?”

Buffy shook her head.  “No, like I can look at a picture and I can tell if the person is dead or alive.  If they’re dead, I can tell how they died.”  She flipped over to Harmony’s picture again.  “Like Harmony here.  The picture is gray with a bit of yellow and there’s a black bite mark on her neck.  And she fluctuates between human and vampire.”

Spike leaned over the desk.  “Show me.”  So, Buffy did.

Spike couldn’t see what Buffy did, but he believed her every word.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

“I just can’t figure out what yellow means,” Buffy said.

“We should just keep looking at pictures until we figure it out,” Spike suggested.

Buffy nodded.  “Okay, that sounds good.  We could look at the photo albums in the living room.”

Spike and Buffy traipsed downstairs.  They sat on the couch with a photo album and the list of color meanings on the coffee table.  Buffy flipped to the back where there was a picture of everyone that had been taken at a BBQ hosted by Joyce the summer before she died.

Even Spike had been invited.

Buffy squinted at the picture.  Confused, she grabbed her list.  “Okay, by this, in the picture, you should be gray with a tinge of yellow and have a bite mark on your neck.”

“So, what am I?”  Spike sounded confused.  “I clearly remember Dru turning me into a vampire.”

“You’re a glowing gold color.”  Buffy gave Spike a sly look.  “It’s really beautiful.”

“I think you mean all manly.  A very manly gold,” Spike protested.

Buffy shook her head.  “Nope, very beautiful.”

“You take that back.”  Spike and Buffy started to tussle on the couch.  They were interrupted by someone clearing their throat.

Buffy looked over Spike shoulder.  “Oh, hey, Xander, what’s the what?”

Spike pulled away from Buffy while he tried to appear cool.  Buffy smoothed her shirt and combed her fingers through her hair.

“What are you two doing?” Xander demanded while he pointed at Spike and Buffy.

Anya sighed.  “You keep telling me to stop talking about our orgasms, and yet you ask Buffy about hers.  I’m beginning to think you don’t really want to marry me.”

“Marriage?” Buffy squeaked.

Spike patted Buffy’s hand.  “That’s not important right now, pet.  You need to gather the troops and have a meeting about the thing.”  He nodded towards the photo album.

“Oh, right, Scooby meeting tonight.  Here.  7 p.m.  Spread the word.  Tell everyone to bring their photo albums.”

“Will do.”  Anya pulled Xander towards the front door before he started to speak again.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> 

The Scoobies were gathered in Buffy’s living room, photo albums in hand.  Tara was playing hostess, serving lemonade and cookies that she’d somehow managed to scrounge up from Buffy’s paltry pantry.  Xander appeared like he wanted to say something, but Anya kept glaring at him.  Giles just looked confused.

“So, I bet you’re all wondering why I’ve called you here together,” Buffy started.

Dawn snorted.  “Finally.  How many years have you been waiting to say that?”

“Oh hush you.”  Buffy stuck her tongue out at Dawn.  Then, she turned back to the others.  “I’ve been noticing something since my return.  This morning I decided to do some research.”

Xander opened his mouth.

“Alexander Lavelle Harris, not a word.”  Anya pointed at Xander.  “Not one word.”

Xander closed his mouth with an audible sound.

“Go ahead, Buffy.  We’re all ready to hear about your orgasm research with Spike.”

Buffy burst out laughing.  “I wouldn’t call a Scooby meeting about that, Anya.  Sorry.”

“Well, pooh,” Anya said in a disappointed voice.  “I need someone to talk about them with.”

“Maybe later.  Anyway, what I wanted to talk about is this.  Something happened when I came back,” Buffy said.

“Not another monster, I hope,” Giles commented.

Buffy shook her head.  Then, she laid all of her research on the coffee table and told her friends what she’d discovered that day about what she could now see in pictures starting with the pictures of her mom and her grandma, moving on to her high school yearbooks, and finishing with the picture from the BBQ.

“Okay, so here is our group.”  Buffy showed the others the picture.  Xander, the only color you have around you is blue.  So, you’re a living human.  Anya, your color is mainly blue with a tinge of yellow.  I think yellow represents demons.”

“No, she is not a demon!” Xander jumped up from his seat, finally unable to contain himself.

“Of course I’m not … now.  However, I was one for over twelve hundred years.  That had to have left a mark.”  Anya jerked Xander back down into his chair.  “Now, hush and let Buffy finish.”

Buffy turned to Giles.  “Giles, you are blue with purple, as is Willow and Tara.  Amy’s picture also has that tinge of purple.  I’m going to say that purple represents magical ability.”

“What about me?” Dawn asked.  “I’m blue, right?”

“Yes, you are, but there is also a green glow to you.  Nobody else had that, so, I’m thinking that represents your being the Key,” Buffy replied.  “Now, we come to Spike.”

Willow pointed at the picture.  “You forgot Riley.”

“He’s just blue.  Now, Spike should be gray with a bite mark and have his vampire superimposed on his picture.  Instead, he is glowing gold,” Buffy said.  “No one else’s picture is like that.”

Xander gestured towards the pictures.  “These are all pictures of people that you know what happened to them.  This is just some kind of scheme dreamed up by Spike to get in your pants.  What is wrong with you?”

Everyone in the room turned towards Xander with surprise, disgust, or both in their eyes.  To their surprise, Anya pulled out a ball gag and stuffed it in Xander’s mouth.

“I warned you.”

Giles pulled off his glasses to polish them.  He was clearly scandalized by Anya and Xander’s actions.  “Xander does have a point there.  These are all people you know, even if it is peripherally.”

“That’s why I asked everyone to bring their photo albums,” Buffy said.

Buffy and her friends spent the next hour pouring through the albums while she told them the status of their friends and family with perfect accuracy.

“You know who you need to talk to?” Anya said.  “In Los Angeles, I order from this ancient little gnome named Pete.   He’s older than me even.  I bet he’ll know what is going on with you.”

Dawn bounced up and down in her chair.  “Road trip!  It’s been awhile since we’ve been to the big city.”

Buffy turned to Spike.  “Since you’re part of this, will you drive us?  We’ll go Friday night at dusk.”

“Sounds like a plan, Slayer.”