RED SKY
DANIELLE FRANCES DUCREST
Disclaimers: Angel and its characters belong to Joss Whedon, David Greenwalt, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar Television, the WB, Twentieth Century Fox Productions, Greenwolf Corporations, and Kuzui Enterprises. Any copyright infringements were not intended. This story was written for entertainment and my Biology class and not for profit.
Spoilers and Timing: Takes place after "Couplet" with spoilers for that, "Waiting in the Wings," and pretty much every other season three episode before that.
Author's Note: I wrote this for my 10th grade Biology class. I had to mention a bunch of scientific terms that I don't completely understand. If you want to see more, or want to correct some of the things I mention, let me know.
Summary: Fred's thoughts are all on evolutionary theories and other related subjects while she, Gunn, and Wesley research an alarming apocalyptic prophecy.
*****
"I just think it's so fascinating," Fred commented excitedly. She licked the ice cream piled up in the cone she held. Her loose brown hair momentarily obscured her face from Gunn's limited view, but not for long. She turned and looked at him in the driver's seat, a big smile plastered on her face. "I mean, when you think of it it's hard to believe that all life evolved from this big glob of stuff like the theory of macroevolution says, but that was billions of years ago, you know? And if that theory's true, then all species just split apart from one original species, and that means humans are related to every species, even demons!"
Gunn just smiled at her and kept his eyes on the road. He loved it when Fred got like this. It certainly had been a good idea to visit the new exhibit on evolution at the Los Angeles science museum that day. Normally, he wouldn't have bothered visiting any museum, but Fred made it enjoyable.
"Demons?" he repeated, doubtful. "You mean I have a commonly shared ancestor with the six-horned, spikey-tailed demon we fought last Thursday?"
Her head bobbed up and down a few times. "Yep. Although that ancestor probably lived several billion years ago, you are related to Horash Demons. Not closely related, of course, but our bone structures, besides the tail and horns, are very similar. That's called homology. The spinal columns of both humans and Horash Demons enter through the bottom of the skull, and both species have arms that are shorter than their legs." She got a thoughtful look. "I wonder when humans and Horash Demons split off to form two different species? I mean, something must have happened where the Horash Demons needed spiked tails and horns to fight and impress the girls and humans didn't. And I wonder if there's any record of it in the fossil record somewhere that archeologists have just overlooked 'cause they didn't know about demons?"
"I think you're thinking too much about this, Fred," Gunn said, shaking his head in wonder. She'd be pondering all of this for hours, he knew.
He pulled up to the curb and parked the truck. Getting out, they headed through the courtyard of the old hotel building Angel Investigations used and walked inside.
Neither of them noticed the large Horash Demon watching them from a nearby rooftop. It watched them go inside, then took off, heading back to his clan to make a report.
*****
When Fred and Gunn entered Angel Investigations, a half-distracted Wesley Wyndham-Pryce greeted them. Wesley was currently bent over a book while he walked from the counter to his office door.
He glanced up at them briefly. "Oh, good. You're here. Grab some books, will you?"
"Hey, Wes. What's up?" Gunn asked.
"I think we need to do some more research on the Horash Demon clan we ran into last week. If I'm right, there's a prophecy that's about to come true, and the Horash Demons have a serious part in it."
"Prophecy?" Fred asked, a little nervous. She didn't like prophecies. After all, the last prophecy involved Angel's child being born and Angel Investigations being hunted down by several different groups of vampires, demons, humans, and employees of Wolfram and Hart. All of them had wanted Angel's son, Connor. Connor was special; it wasn't everyday that two vampires even had a child. In fact, it never happened before. Now that was definitely a big change in allele frequencies, Fred thought, although she had no idea how those sort of mutations could have taken place in both Angel's and Darla's genes.
Wesley nodded, oblivious to her anxiety. "I'm not too clear on the details yet, but I think it will result in a country-wide earthquake and the skies turning red."
"And the Horash Demons are going to make the prophecy come true?" Gunn asked. "Damn."
"I'm hoping we can avoid that. It was hard enough to take down the last one, so I'm hoping we can avoid a confrontation with an entire clan. That's why we need to do more research, to figure out if it is the Horash Demons or another type of demon involved in the prophecy."
"Okay, boss," Gunn said with a shrug. He grabbed a book off the stack on the counter and handed another one to Fred. Their hands brushed against each other for a minute and Fred looked up into his eyes. She smiled and he returned it. Fred couldn't help but think of the variations in their genes. After all, she was around 5'5'' and had pale skin and messy brown hair, while Charles Gunn had dark, chocolate-colored skin and a shaved head, and the deepest, most caring eyes she'd ever seen. They were so different, and yet they clicked together. The thought made her smile even wider.
She settled down next to him on the circular couch in the middle of the large lobby, and they started reading. Fred started looking for analogies, or demons whose tails and horns had similar uses as the ones possessed by the Horash Demons. With any luck, she'd come across a passage about Horash Demons.
Not long afterwards, she came across a whole paragraph about Horash Demons and settled down to read.
There were so many interesting things about this kind of demon. Fred discovered with excitement that the Hardy-Weinburg Equilibrium would work perfectly on this group of demons. They were from their own demon dimension where they had an annual mating cycle. During the cycle, mating was random, and every generation had the same allele frequencies: 15% always had a long tails and short horns, 30% had long tails and long horns, and the rest always had long tails and an equal number of short and long horns. There hadn't been any mutations in the Horash Demon population for millennia.
Baby Horashes were not born with tails anywhere in their vestigial structures, or skeletons. Instead, the tailbones first appeared around three years of age and continued developing until each Horash had a full-sized tail. Fully-developed tail sizes varied in each infant, but all sizes fell between four feet and five.
She reached the last page of the chapter and started reading. What she saw there made her stop short. Instead of historical and scientific information, this page talked about something just as important.
"Um," she said, getting Wesley's and Gunn's attention. "I think I found some more information about the prophecy."
Wesley walked over from his spot behind the counter, and Gunn slid across the couch to look over her shoulder. "Sure it's the right one?" he asked.
Fred nodded. "The first paragraph mentions a thousand-mile-wide earthquake and 'a sky filled with blood.'"
Wesley took the book from her and read from the page, "'Five Horashes will perform a simple incantation around a male Horash and his human female mate. Speciacion will occur, and the two will give birth to a new kind of demon known as Horash sapiens, incapable of breeding with either Horashes or humans, its two genetic parents. The Horash sapien will be the only kind of demon or human that will survive the earthquake that will spread across the nation known as the United States of America, when the skies shine bright with hellish fire. It will be the only kind of demon-spawn that is strongest and fittest enough to adapt to this post-earthquake world.'"
"Say what?" Gunn asked, confused.
Fred had understood all of it. "A group of Horashes are going to cast a spell that'll make a half-breed just different enough that it can't mate with either humans or Horashes for the rest of its life. Then they're going to cast a spell that will turn the entire country into a shifting land mass and make the living conditions unbearable for all species except the half-breed." It was like the opposite of natural selection. Instead of making an organism that would adapt better to the present environment than other organisms, the demons were going to change the environment so the organism would be the only one to survive.
"So only Horash/Human offspring will survive? Well, I don't know about you, but I'd rather keep living, so I vote that we try to stop the coast-to-coast earthquake spell," Gunn said.
"Agreed," Wesley said, nodding.
He headed for the weapons cabinet and started handing out weapons. "Where's Angel?" Gunn asked.
"He took Connor for a check-up at the doctor's office. I'll page him on the way."
"Exactly where are we going?" Fred asked.
"I'm guessing the place where we ran into them last is our best bet," Gunn said. Wesley nodded.
After weapons had been handed out, they headed for Gunn's truck.
THE END or TO BE CONTINUED
But only if you want it to! If you'd like me to continue this, just e-mail me at sword_girl@lycos.com. If you're at fanfiction.net, let me know in a review.