Disclaimer: The story's mine - the characters aren't. Neither is Sunnydale, LA, or...well, heaven for that matter. I'm time-sharing the Oracle's chamber, though - does that count?? Don't sue me. Please.

Spoilers: All of it - the whole kit and caboodle. Every single one of the 100 eps are fair game here (If you haven't seen 'The Gift' yet you may not want to read this)

Distribution: I'm thinking yeah...as long as I know where it's going beforehand and my name is on it.

Summery: Spike gets tapped by the Powers That Be to restore the way things should be. Problem is, Spike doesn’t work and play well with others. He is none too pleased with the PTB’s suggestions, either. S/B eventually, otherwise what's the point?

Rated: R

Note: “italicized words” equal mind speech.

Dedications: Kelly, I don’t have the words to tell you what you mean to me. You are the reason, and I thank you. Helen, Trish, and Isabelle – you’ve all been staunchly supportive, and you deserve a bucketful of gratitude for being patient with my many neurosis. Thanks.

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When Eternity Lies In The Balance

Chapter 1

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In a room with walls of marble and a floor of granite, two entities stood anxiously by and stared into the dark pool of water at their feet. Images flashed in the reflecting surface and the entities frowned as one as they watched the players struggle against their fate. Despite their efforts, it was soon over and the dimensional walls fell before the entities' speculative gaze.

Hell, all manner of Hell, had been released as it was foretold, though they had observed the warriors’ futile battle to prevent such a thing from ever happening. Nothing foretold ever failed to come to pass, however, and such grave matters as an apocalypse were closely monitored by the creatures whose job it was to maintain the balance between the forces of dark and the forces of light, not just in the world they were currently observing, but in all worlds and all dimensions.

All in all, things were progressing nicely.

The entities started to relax.

It had been a close thing, a near disastrous thing, they thought. The girl, the Slayer as she was called, had almost succeeded in preventing the walls from falling. One of the two entities frowned at the child's unpredictability. There was no telling with that one, she thought, and her companion - her brother - heard the words in his head as if his sister had spoken them aloud.

“It is that unpredictability that has kept her on our path,” he chided his sister mentally. “Were it not for the strength of her will and her, shall we say, stubborn personality, the foretold would have been in jeopardy.”

A mental grumble was the only reply and he chuckled.

“Come now, sister, all is as it should be. The walls are down. Soon they will come back up and the balance will be maintained. The girl will continue on the road set for her and we will enjoy the play as it unfolds before us.”

The scene did continue to unfold before their discerning eyes. They watched as their tool, the Slayer, tried to send The Key away from the opening portal. The Key turned, and they listened to her - for energy had been transmuted to form as it was written - explain to the Slayer that she needed to close the portal before more creatures could come through.

All was as it should be. The Slayer will allow the sacrifice, comprehending the duty set before her, and all will be in balance.

So engrossed were they in the scene before their eyes, the entities failed to notice the slight rippling of waves in the Waters of Time and Space, the pool that contained both the history and future of the eternal orders of the universe. Even had they noticed, there would have been little time to react, and their powers insufficient to prevent the unseen conflict, besides.

With no warning, they watched in growing alarm as the Slayer turned, and as if in slow motion, leapt off the two hundred foot high scaffolding and into the dimensional portal. The response to that action was not long in coming, and the entities shielded their eyes from the flash of light that preceded the restoration of the walls between dimensions.

The entities were silent. They stared in horrified fascination as the group of humans clustered around the body of their fallen warrior.

It was the sister who pulled herself together first. Frantic to discover the affect of this unseen occurrence, she waved her hand over the pool and brought future events into focus. Normally stoic and rigidly unemotional at the things that they had seen over an eternity of watching and guiding, they both gasped in surprise at the darkness and evil that was yet to be unleashed.

"This is not good," said the brother. His thoughts were in too much turmoil to attempt mind speech.

His sister whirled on him, angry and irritated. He winced slightly at the force of her mental reprimand.

“No. It is not. She is as she was made. Her...stubbornness, as you so graciously put it, has thrown off the balance completely. This was unforeseen. Do you see this?" She waved her hand quickly over the watery images displayed at their feet. "None of this was supposed to happen. Look at what she has done!”

The world's light, the universe's light was quickly being extinguished before them. It was a grim reality and they knew they had to stop it. The brother wasn't entirely sure what to do or what to think. By all accounts, the Slayer should have allowed The Key to fulfill its destiny.

"It was her sister, you fool." She interrupted his thoughts, after reading them, of course, and spoke in a ragged whisper. "She was not just human form, she was made from the Slayer. She was her sister. I warned you about that."

The brother winced at the reminder. It was true; his sister had been against allowing the transformation to human form. He was never going to hear the end of it, and there was an eternity yet to exist with her. A glance down at the future of carnage and despair made him realize that an eternity spent watching this new reality would be unbearable indeed, especially when combined with being tormented by his twin.

"We will fix this," he said to her, trying to inflect a small degree of confidence into his voice. "We can still fix this."

The sister glanced at her brother, a coldly impersonal look on her face. "No, brother. You have done enough. I will fix this."

She turned back the pages of time on the pool and reopened the chapter to the current events. The friends of the Slayer were still collected around her body and the entity reached out her mental powers to weigh the heart, mind, and soul, of each of them. They were warriors, though not as effective as the Slayer, and it was among them that she would find the one to assist her. On her third scan she stopped, tilting her head to listen to the thoughts of the one she was reading. A small smile teased the corners of her lips and she stood back from the pool.

Glancing at her brother, who had been watching her perform, she stretched out an arm and pointed down at the creature displayed in the pools reflection.

"That one. He is the one."

She clapped her hands imperiously and was rewarded with a hasty reply to her summons. One of the many assistants that were at their beck and call appeared at her elbow.

She pointed out the one she wanted and said, "Bring him to us. Now."

With little more than a stir of cool air, the assistant was gone. The entities waited anxiously for his return.

And for the arrival of the vampire that would help them.