DISCLAIMER:No, I don't own any of the characters that appear in this story.

RATING:PG

BACKGROUND: Season 4 story. Occurs during Parting Gifts and just before Doomed. A prelude to Motivation and all the following stories.

The Powers watched the dark-haired vampire walk off, upset that they would not help him save his friend. "So we did not tell him?" The female turned to the male.

"Of course we didn't. It is of no concern to him, why we chose to change his life for the Slayer and not for the Seer."

"How can it not be his concern? He loves the her," she stated firmly.

The male shook his head, "We folded time to save her life because the path chosen for her is not the one chosen for him. He cannot know that by her sacrificing her life for him would have brought the end to all that is. We could have never told him that her fate is entwined with another. That other is on the path we must worry about." He jerked his head at the direction the vampire had departed in, "What happens next will not affect him."

"What happens next will affect everyone, including him."

"It holds no meaning here. Our concern is the steps that will be taken by the other one." The male paused, "So all of the pieces are in place?"

"Yes, as they have ever been."

"The course of action has been decided on?"

She inclined her head, "It is time to put the plan into action."

"This has never been done before."

"The need has never been so great before." She reminded him.

"And this will work? What we are asking is against all they have ever done, and there is so much at stake. The future is depending on them."

"The wheels of the future have been set on this course long ago. Now it is time for the answering force to respond."

"Mortals," he snorted. "Lower beings all, but yet we expect so much from them. I do not believe this was wise."

"It is not for us to judge the wisdom or the folly. And these lower beings," she eyed him carefully, "We can only control their actions for so long. No matter how we may guide and push them, in the end, as it has ever been, it will be up to them."

He looked at her inquiringly, "So it begins?"

"The pieces are in place and the scene has been set. Let us begin."