Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Energy
Willow: Energy can't be created or destroyed but only transferred…
Part 1
Destroyed, that's the word that stung the most. Angels mind could only think of one thing, one person, Fred.
Fred's soul was destroyed, robbed of an afterlife or of any chance of resurrection, but how? A person soul, essence is just energy, it transcends through times, dimensions, bodies. He had witnessed enough soul hacky sacking to know how it works. But for it to be completely erased, Destroyed, seemed unfair, inhuman.
There must be a way.
'Angel there's no way, it's not fair but it happened, that was the description on the label or more fitting the tomb' explained Willow, she herself a friend of Fred, although not in the same stride as Angel and the others but she shared a respect of Fred's intelligence, her extreme kindness, and immense bravery. 'You said it yourself Willow, Energy cannot be destroyed, it has to be somewhere- it has to be' Angel's heart swollen, his jaw seemed full of liquid weighing down his face with tears he could not let out. 'Fred is somewhere, and I will find it'
'I will help you, but … I have no idea how-'
'We'll find a way, we have to'
After the destruction of Sunnydale Willow had gone to finish University at UCLA, disregarding all the rest of her options for her Masters in Science and computing, she decided to stay in LA because of the aftermath of the fall; residual evil still stalked the streets. She and Buffy live together in the Hyperion; it is no longer the base of operations for Angel Investigations but is now the home to 200 Slayers in training. Since Willow performed the awakening spell on all potential slayers it seemed like the natural thing to have a base in LA and England for all of the slayers. Andrew and Giles where leading the operations in England whilst Faith and Robin where part of the rehabilitation programme designed for troubled and rogue slayers in a remote village in Mexico. Xander was living in LA working as manager of a construction site overseeing a new addition to the LA skyline.
Dawn was starting her first year of college in Brown, living as close to a normal life as she has ever had, which is something both Buffy and Willow where thankful for.
Part 2
'Kennedy? There's something I need you to do'
'Sure Mrs Boss Man, What's the job?'
'Faith needs a team sent to her, there is a tribe of Kwarloke demons overrunning a village not far from her, she needs backup and she doesn't want to test most of her girls in battle yet, think you're up for it?'
'Hell Yeah- who should I take?'
'Some of the newbie scoobies? They haven't really been tested in battle and that sorta needs to change- you'll leave tomorrow, we've got you safe passage across the border and Faith will fill in the rest'
Kennedy nods and walks back to the training room, things with Buffy and Kennedy have calmed down, Kennedy had always gotten her way and always been in charge of what she was doing, until she met Buffy. Buffy was the leader, there were no doubts about that, Buffy is the reason Kennedy is as strong as she is and the reason that there is one less Hellmouth on the planet. Kennedy does not envy her as she used to because she now has everything Buffy has minus the responsibility, and it's better for her, since her and Willow separated she is treating the whole slayer experience as a job, one she is very good at it, and without the romantic pressure from a person on the inside it is now a job she can leave at the end of the day and not have to worry about until the next.
Buffy glances at the books Willow is reading, 'Rituals of restoration'- her heart stops.
Angelus is back-
She snaps herself out of it in the knowledge that she saw him 15 minutes ago and he in fact wasn't back... which begs the question.
'Will, whatcha doing?'
'Just research'
'Into soul putting back in-ing?'
'Well you're an observant little beaver'
'I try- who's are you putting back in where?'
'Fred's'
Buffy never knew Fred that well, but her resume spoke for itself, she was Angels Willow.
His key guy, she knew of her as the most tragic story of loss she had heard of, but for one reason that didn't make sense for Willows research. Buffy had lost a lot of people, her mother, her friends, but she always took solace in knowing that they had moved on to a better place, having been to the better place, she knew they were at peace. But Fred, Fred never got an afterlife, she didn't even get a post life nap, she just stopped being. This concept made Buffy's stomach turn, and makes her have to shake her eyes to stop thinking about it.
'Willow... Fred's-'
'Gone? I know, but it doesn't make sense to me… it doesn't make sense to the laws of magic, or physics, Energy can't be –'
'Destroyed I know but she was ingested by a super demon from the blue lagoon, hollowed out, I don't know if this is gonna work'
'Angel asked me to help Buffy, there has to be a way'
'Well I hope you find it. For her'
part 3
Angel was hunting, searching for something evil to plunge a stake into. But it is just his luck that the one night he wants to kill evil things, no evil things show up. An hour passes nothing. Another hour. Can't go back yet, come on… Nothing. This frugal attempt at hunting was so abysmal he almost laughed, then suddenly a shadow rises through the opening of an alley way, looming over the street, Angel readies himself… stake in hand…. Game face on….turns the corner… and… Cat... A small ginger cat. He has half a mind to kick it. He doesn't but he could've.
'that's it I'm going home'
He walks through the graveyard on the way back; just in case. But still he has no luck. Where did this bloodlust come from? Why does he need to fit in a night time smackdown more tonight than ever before? He reaches the Hyperion and lets himself inside. The Lobby is completely empty, it was as if 200 more people didn't live there. Suddenly through the office door holding a multi-coloured coffee mug comes Willow, she looks tired but reserved, less quirky than her normal face but judging by the hour and her lack of outfit changing she hadn't slept.
'Morning'
She jumps a little startled to see the tall dark figure in the tall dark room.
'Already?' she snorts
'Angel? When you lose your soul... what do you remember? I mean there must be unaccounted for time where you wasn't in a body, what do you remember?'
'Nothing. From the moment I leave the body till the moment I come back it's as if I just blinked. The memories of what Angelus did flood back after a while but I don't remember anything else. I feel like I hadn't gone anywhere. Although … I do realise I've missed things, I remember when you brought me back… the first time… I felt like I hadn't left Buffy's side but that I missed her, as if I was paused and her life continued. That answer your question?'
'Yes and No, when you lose your soul it is held in the ether between planes, not moving on and not having a corporeal body to connect your essence to a realistic time frame, whereas when Buffy died, she remembers her soul being at peace. What I'm trying to say is, when you lose your soul, when your soul has no connection to a realistic time frame or any awareness of its existence...'
'Does it exist?'
'Exactly, what if Fred's soul is somewhere, but it is just… paused?'
Angel could kiss her; she truly was a brilliant woman.
'So what's next?' he asks her, waiting for her to amaze him further.
'I'm gonna find her soul'
part 4
Kennedy and the troops, ten girls all of different races and sizes gathered in the foyer.
'Ok ladies, five in each car, Rona, Sarah, Candice and Kathy you're with me, Molly will be taking Patrice, Robin, Marcy and Phoebe, everybody ready?'
They all nod in agreement, Buffy gestures at Kennedy.
'Here is what we know about the Kwarloke tribe, they worship a demon called Cargaroth who is supposedly dead but 3 guesses where his tomb is?'
'Exactly where we're going?' she says feigning shock.
'Where else? I don't know how they will revive him but I have enough faith in you guys that you can sort it out, any problems just call us we can get there any time'
'Will do; let's go kick some ass'
Kennedy joins the rest of the troop out front
'Get the hell out the driver's seat! You think I organise this to sit in the back'
Buffy laughs, 'So glad I'm not going'
Part 5
Willow gathers four white candles, and places them in a circle around her, the animal bones in front of her and the runic stones already scattered. The Orb of Thesulah resting on a bed of red velvet.
'Probably shouldn't have got the decorations out before I started rewording the spell but what the hell?'
'Rewording?'
'The ritual of restoration is intended for you, specifically, it is your curse, I just need to change the words vampire to physicist and he too she'
'Cursed many physicists?'
'Only if they made me cranky' she smiles 'and I obviously have to remove the word curse'
What is lost, return,
Not dead, nor not of the living,
Spirits of the interregnum, I call,
Gods, bind him, cast his heart from the evil realm,
I call on you, Lord; do not ignore this request,
Let this orb be the vessel that will carry his soul to him,
It is written, this power is my people's right to wield,
Return to the body what separates man from animal.
So shall it be, with the help of this magic crystal globe.
So it shall be! So it shall be!
Now! Now!
What is lost, return,
Not dead, nor not of the living,
Spirits of the interregnum, I call,
Gods, find her, find her soul from the ether realm.
I call on you, Lord; do not ignore this request,
Let this orb be the vessel that will carry her soul to me,
It is written, this power is my right to wield,
Return to the body what separates man from animal.
'… Man from animal... Damn that's a tricky one, I'm gonna cut that line out…'
So shall it be, with the help of this magic crystal globe.
So it shall be! So it shall be!
Now! Now!
Willow recites these words, a jolt her heart pounds into her ribs, her bones freeze up, it's happening.
The power is emanating from her the words she speaks fluently now are words she couldn't hope to recall when she isn't under this trance. The furniture in the room vibrates each at a different frequency none moving in the same direction, none moving at the same pace.
The Orb of Thesulah in front of her glows, it worked.
The room stops. Angel looks stunned, whilst he had all of Wolfram and Hart's disposals at his fingertips he couldn't have figured this out.
Was this too good to be true? Was that honestly the soul of Winifred Burkle?
'Now what do we do?' his gaze still locked on the luminescent sphere.
'We set her free'
Part 6
2 blacked out Land Rovers screech to a halt sending a cloud of sand into the air in their wake.
In front of them a small village house with a wall made of sandbags. Faith and Robin resting against it, Robin with his arms folded and his right leg raised on the wall, and Faith sitting on the floor with her back against it cigarette in hand, smoke billowing from her mouth.
'Looks like you're hiding from the principal'
'No he's right next to me' Faith quipped back,
'Don't wanna set a bad example to the girl's y'know what I'm saying?'
'No offence but most of the girls you're hiding smoking from have... um… done worse'
'Valid argument, so who've you got for me?'
'All of us' the rest of the girls come out of the car and stand behind Kennedy.
'Y'know when B thought of this whole slayer army thing d'ya think she intended for us to look like a Pussy Cat Doll tribute act?'
'I think it was unfortunately overlooked'
Kennedy smiles sharing the same opinion as Faith, the girls look harmless, but that's kind of their charm right?
'Listen up Scherzingers, we got a tribe of demons, trying to make bigger demon come back to life… we're gonna go in and kill all of 'em'
Robin stands up straight to back Faith up.
'The Kwarloke tribe are ferocious animals; they are much more powerful than your average vampire so is warned'
A small girl with bright blonde hair wearing a bright pink juicy tracksuit and bright pink Nike blazers has her hand in the air.
'Yeh?'
The sickly sweet voice says 'what about this Cargaroth thing? What if he undies?'
'Whoa. I've never been so suddenly irritated in my life, and that's really sayin' somethin'
'If he "undies" I thought we should probably kill him? Sound like a plan Britney?'
The Blonde bows her head in defeat, Rona standing next to her scolds her 'told you that was a stupid question'
'Can't believe she called me Britney'
'Ok then' Faith beckons the group through the gap in the sandbag fence, 'it's about time we killed something'
Part 7
Back in Willows room, she and Angel are discussing how to go about removing the soul from the Orb, or more importantly where to put it.
' Should we smash it?'
'We can't just release it here because it would be the same situation we just overcame, kinda pointless waste of my energies to be honest' Willow snaps …should we smash it…
'So it's a game of pick a person any person?'
'Whoa? No? I thought this was a plan to set her free? Not resurrect her?'
'Why not willow? We can now? We can funnel her essence into another living thing, why are we not considering it?'
'Because it's wrong! Because that is exactly what happened to her. Illyria was funnelled into Fred's body and Fred was kicked out. And what we have just done was because of how unjust that was and now you want to inflict that on someone else?'
'Why not back into her own body then?'
'Because it's like putting her essence into a decomposed corpse, her body is dead, her organs are non-existent, and the only thing inside her body is a super strong smurf demon, whom I do not think will like the idea of a roommate'
She breathes, she knows there is no easy way to do this, Fred died, and it's not there place to bring her back. She learnt that lesson; her decision to bring Buffy back killed a lot of girls in the aftermath.
'We need to let her rest Angel. She deserves to'
Part 8
In the desert the group of slayers stand in a circle facing out, Kwarloke demons walking towards them from the darkness.
The demons are chanting. It's deafening, the words echo through the desolate area. All at different pitches, all saying different words, getting louder and louder. Faith raises her crossbow, aims at one's head and fires.
The chanting stops.
The Kwarloke Demon falls to the floor blood spewing from the new hole in his skull.
'One down'
The demons scream in unison, a war cry, and charge at the group of slayers.
Faith looks up at Robin, who is hidden up a tree about 100 ft. away, he is holding a remote.
The battle commences swords slicing through the air and bodies being flung to the floor, the blonde slayer fighting three demons at once using ones chest to rebound a kick another in the face. She stamps on its neck, dead. Pulls a knife from pocket straight in the heart, dead, her last attacker grabs her from behind and throws her. She lies on the floor struggling to get back up; he grabs her by the hair and raises a clenched scaly fist. She can't move until suddenly through his right eye comes the pointy spear of an arrow the demon falls on top of her to reveal Faith in the distance smiling.
Kennedy is swinging an axe, smooth and fast, through a demons neck but with such fluidity it could've just gone through smoke. One last demon runs at her from 30 ft. away she turns and throws the axe through the air. Slides though his face and lands perfectly enclosed in the sand.
'What now faith?'
'We see if Cargaroth is up and running then we get Margaritas'
The girls all follow some scratched but none with bad injuries, they are at the entrance to a cave not far from where the battled just erupted, and Faith looked back at Robin who was still in the tree.
'Kennedy it's just you and me going in, everyone else guard the perimeter, nothing in nothing out, ya'll know the drill'
'After you Faith'
Faith walks in, her eyes immediately adjust to the darkness, Kennedy follows. At first sight the cave seemed tiny but it was as if every time they think they see a wall when they got closer it was just more space. They finally see a torch burning in the distance, one solitary torch, the get closer and closer, the torch getting bigger the illuminated space becoming more visible. The torch was being held by a Kwarloke demon, he seemed older than the others they had just fought. His skin was harder looking, and his horns had drooped he was also skinnier than the others. Cargaroth caruman! The earth shook the two brunettes knocked to their feet, Faith held up her crossbow and shot the elder Kwarloke in the head. He falls to the floor, Dead. The torch is still flickering on the stone floor. The girls run toward the light and pick it up.
'Ready?'
'For what?'
'Running?'
The floor beneath them starts to crack open, and separate. Faith on one side whilst Kennedy is on the other. Faith jumps to Kennedy's side just as a giant birdlike claw grabs the edge of the rift. The other hand grabs the rift and pulls up a large scaly head. It was a dragon, the demon Cargaroth was an enormous winged beast. The Exit was still on the side that Faith and Kennedy where on. Faith reaches in her pocket to reveal a small device, wires coming out the top and a flashing red light on its side.
'Kennedy run'
'But what are you doing?'
'Kennedy Go!'
Kennedy runs Faith waits for the demon to acknowledge her.
Cargaroth looks at her opens its giant scaly mouth to reveal slimy yellow fangs.
Faith reacts fast grabbing an arrow from its holster she jams it lengthways into the creatures' mouth and kicks the chin with such force that the arrow goes through the roof of the mouth and the bottom of the chin.
The Cargaroth screams in pain. Faith runs back the way she came and the Cargaroth attempts to follow her she turns and throws the device down its neck, and runs back through the cave.
Kennedy emerges from the cave, Robin notices but waits, come on faith- get out of there.
3…
2…
1-
Faith comes running from the cave
'Move, Move, Move!'
With that Robin presses the circular button on his remote and instantaneously the earth rumbles. The cave entrance is nothing but smoke and debris.
The girls stop turning and look back at the explosion.
Kennedy was standing behind Faith 'You blew it up?'
'Hell yeah'
'But… Why?'
'Cos I've never blown somethin' up before! Okay?'
Kennedy looks astonished, amazed at the destructiveness of this mission, but she understood. It was a break from routine. It was necessary, it was Faith being unpredictable, and honestly she would've rather faith be blowing up dragons unpredictable than killing innocent people unpredictable.
'So… Margaritas?'
'Oh yes'
Part 9
The Hyperion was foyer was laid out with white chairs; a white carpet was rolled down an aisle between the two sides. A stone podium was at the front centre with the Orb of Thesulah on it. The room was full of people, slayers, witches, some vampires and some peaceful demons, some civilians where there as well. They were probably old college friends or employees of Wolfram and Hart. All were there for one reason, to see Fred Burkle finally find peace.
Willow was presiding over the events and was wearing a long white hooded gown, everyone had a white flower some on the lapels of the men's' suit jacket, some on the wrist or in the hair of the women.
Buffy was wearing a yellow long dress with a white orchid in her hair, she sat next to Angel.
'She was a remarkable woman Angel, the things she had to go through the things she had to overcome, all without the aid of superpowers. She chose to fight in this war, she chose to protect the innocent… help the helpless or whatever it is we do. I know this isn't what you want, I know you want to have her back and right the wrongs done to her, she didn't deserve to die. But neither do most people. But when they do it should be permanent. I've been to the place she is going to go; I've seen the beauty of it. You cannot imagine what you would be denying her.' She holds his hand 'you really are a champion Angel, and I know you want to help her, but Fred… She didn't strike me as helpless.' She smiles and stands to move seats.
Angel grabs her hand tighter; she turns herself back to face him.
'Sit with me?'
'Of course'
She sits back down, their hands interlocked.
'I wish Wesley was here to see this, to see her soul move on.'
'I have a feeling he knows'
Epilogue
I knew you'd end up here my love.
Wesley?
Yes.
What happened?
We made it. We can finally be happy.
Together?
Always.
'
