Lorne Green sat patiently in the waiting room, exchanging one magazine for another from the small end table beside him. He began flipping through the lightly scented pages until he found a story that seemed remotely interesting and engrossed himself in it for a few moments.
When the tiny bell let out a ding he lifted his head up from the magazine and turned to look at the two young women coming inside. "Come on, Tara," the one with the curly red hair said gently to the other. She reached a hand out to the blonde and assured here that everything was fine.
The blonde slowly came inside, she was babbling like a young child he noticed. She was in pajamas and had a cast on one hand. When they passed him, the blonde girl seemed to stop being so "out there" and she looked directly at him. He threw her a happy smile. She began to rock back and forth. "Something is coming," she said.
The redhead turned her head and shot him a polite smile. She then turned her attention back to the blonde beside her. The redhead said some soft whispers and tucked some of the hair that had fallen from the blonde girls' ponytail back behind her ear. Soon she had the two of them walking up toward the front desk to check in before going to find themselves some seats.
Lorne gave the pair another glance before going back to his magazine.
It was a few minutes later when she, the blonde- Tara, started to hum. A shock rippled straight through Lorne at the very first note. He sucked in a sharp breath and listened as she continued. She hummed and soon began to rock her body as well as she sat in the office chair, her eyes wandering aimlessly around the small room.
One again, out of nowhere it seemed, Tara looked right at him. "You saw it too, right?" she asked him.
Lorne swallowed. He slightly nodded.
OoOoO
Angelus woke up a loud grown. He laid in bed for a few extra moments before he forced his body to roll over and he turned his alarm off. Sitting at the edge of his bed Angelus scratched at his neck, he yawned and then rubbed at his tired eyes. It took a few repeated cycles before he actually pulled himself up to his feet and went to use the bathroom and start his shower and start getting ready for another day ahead of him.
Angelus sat down for breakfast in his usual spot, his eyes flickering to the large television screen while the servants busied around him, getting his meal and finishing the table up for him. As the report coverage for the story ended they directed attention over to the meteorologist. At this Angelus rolled his eyes, he had half a mind to remove such a thing as weather reports from Wolfram and Hart all together. Yes, they had better days and worse days but hardly enough difference ever for it to be considered "news."
With a growl, he turned the television off and forgot about breakfast all together.
OoOoO
Wolfram and Hart was a kingdom more popularly known as "The Dark Realm." And to that, it certainly lived up to its name. From the darkness, to the evil that flowed in the air here, to the fact that the sky was endlessly overcast in gray and the rain poured down all day, every single day.
One day the storm clouds had gathered and they had just never left. The sun never broke through enough, though you could still slightly understand when it was to be daylight as opposed to night. No matter how much effort they all put into creating artificial light it seemed to make little different there too, inside or out. Their world was black... the light was always somehow dimmed. Headlights on the cars were always in use, streetlights always on. There had been additional attempts to make it brighter outside and everything helped as much as it could. Houses were never bright enough, offices never lit up right.
It was always cold here, but livable for the most part. The actual temperature never ventured far out of a ten degree range. It just remained like this... cold, wet, dark. The wind always seemed to be blowing, lightening crackling across the sky daily, and the rain... it just fell and fell and fell.
A handful of times the weather increased, getting out of control, storms gathering that devastate everything in their path... but for the most part, things remain the same here, at the end of the worlds.
As for the curse that had made all this dreary mess possible... it had brought the weather, it had brought the endless dark... and all of it had traced back to an ancestor to Angelus Hart.
Once upon a time this area had all been ran together by three families: The Wolf family, Ram family and the Hart family. That is how it always had been for as long as anyone could remember. Then, over time, a rift in the workings started to form. By the time his great grandfather was in place, the land had fallen to the brink of chaos. The three families couldn't get their acts together for anything.
There's been many theories, but the most popular is the tension and chaos erupting between these men and this land actually created the witch... that she came to exist all because they left "an opening" for her. Nevertheless, she came... and when she did, the three families broke apart completely. And everyone else living here went into an uproar. She had come to each of them, the witch did, using their anger, using their greed, their power. She manipulated them further against one another and the people they ruled over. The riots rang out. The slaughtering began.
The three families were the worst of it, basically going into all out war with one another.
His great-grandfather was almost lost, feeding into along with everyone else. According to him though, at the very last moment before it would all fall, something he called "an angel" saved him. Saved all of them. In almost a single instance, he regained himself, regained his family heritage. He stopped the madness with himself first then went to work on the kingdom. His family and a few close friends bound together and formulated a plan, guidance in here from this so-called angel, and they went after the evil witch.
Defeating her in the end... or so they thought. After all the damage that had already been done she went out with an even larger bang. Before they could get to her, the witch murdered the Wolf and Ram families in their entirety. She went after the families of everyone helping the Hart family, nearly wiping them out completely as well, only a scattered few surviving. Members of his own family were picked off, one by one, until he was the only one standing.
Her last words rang out, loud as she could make them, in a language no one knew. After she finished, and as he had gotten to her, the iciness ran through him and somehow he understood what she had cursed him with.
Then, the flooding began.
In a matter of seconds, the kingdom was all but washed away. And as quickly as it came, it went.
The body of the witch, gone.
And that's when the dark crept in. The rain began. Evil remained hanging in the air.
Most of the land was destroyed. Families were gone... from the fighting, from the flooding, from the witch herself. But with who they had left, they rebuilt with what they had left. Against all odds.
But, as time went on, the realized more and more at what cost.
OoOoO
Angelus Hart was approaching his thirtieth year. He had been crowned king nearly two decades ago now. His crowning itself had caused quite an uproar given his young age at the time, but they were without much choice. His father had taken his own life and there was only Angelus left to take his place. He was also the only one even willing to take the throne.
His father's act had been nothing short of a blessing for Angelus. In fact, he had no doubt that he'd played a huge part in the reasoning behind his father's choice. At the end of the day though, he didn't really care if he was or not... not after the hell his life had been while that man had been alive. Not after all those years of abuse and neglect at his father's hands.
His mother had been what his father called nothing short of a mistake, and that made him one even worse than that in his father's eyes. A drunken one night stand with her had led to his being, a wedding held to avoid scandal, and later her death during his birth. This all left him alone with a father who wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
The Hart's had all been left cold since the curse came into play but his father was evil well beyond the darkness that ran through this bloodline. He made for one awful ruler and a monster of a parent.
They'd had to take six months before actually presenting him out to the public as the new king. He was nothing but a mess when they'd first come for him, finding him chained up in a room in the basement of the mansion, beaten, starved, near death with illness. But with his father's death he was finally found, he was finally freed, he was given the care he so desperately needed. And when he was up for it, he took his place as the leader of this land.
Even with the dark future this task held, it was still brighter than what his past had been. He swore to himself and to all others that he would do the best that he could, that he would not be like his father, that he would change things for the better for these people. He wanted to to help his people, his kingdom.
As time went on, there were times that this was hard to remember, to remember he was better than the darkness, to remember who he was. The cold inside of him could take control at times, that evil would let itself be known, but he always managed to gain control back over it.
They were all cursed here. He was... and with some of the worst of it. His entire land was cursed. Every last person who lived here, in one way or another, had bits of the curse effecting them. But he was trying, they all were.
OoOoO
Angelus ducked from under the hood of the black umbrella into the comfort of the backseat of one of his cars. He nodded to the man who had helped him out and watched as the door closed. He let out a sigh then called out to the driver, letting him know of the plans for the day.
A few minutes later, they were heading down the long driveway to the mansion and then on out the gate.
Angelus sighed, leaning his head back. He felt tired and hungry. He also felt a bit of dread as he didn't like where they were headed to next. The last time he had gone to one of these stupid meetings he'd nearly lost his cool with a lady in another non-stop argument. He'd put this off for as long as he could though, so he figured he might as well get it over with and hope for the best.
They were only a few blocks away and stopped at a red light. Angelus sighed again, mentally going over what he intended to say once they arrived plus he worked on practicing some calming techniques just in case all hell happened to break loose. Leaning forward, he grabbed a bottle of water and then... he heard... nothing. Angelus' hand stilled where it was, his fingertips barely having touched the white cap to the bottle. His mouth was slightly opened, his eyes going from one side then up and over to the other.
There was a cough from the front seat. "Um, s-sir?"
His head turned slightly and he let out a slow, long breath. "It stopped," he whispered. The driver's mouth opened as well but nothing seemed to come out. Angelus swallowed hard. He told the driver to unlock the back doors.
Once he heard them click, Angelus carefully opened his side, feeling afraid of what might be out there.
Stepping out, Angelus noticed the throng of other dumbfounded people doing the same as he. They got out of their cars, were coming out of houses, buildings, all staring. Angelus looked at everyone and then up toward the sky. The sky was still dark... but no rain was falling.
Angelus' eyes traveled across the dark sky, nothing seemed otherwise out of place... until he spotted it. He nearly jumped at the sight. Far off from where he stood there was a... spot. It was almost like a hole in the sky. Yellow beams fell through it. "What is that?"
He felt someone move closer to him from behind. "I... well, I believe it's... su-sunlight?" his driver's voice spoke.
OoOoO
Angelus pushed the double doors to one of his homes' libraries which gained the attention of the two men he was tracking down. "What the hell is going on?" he asked them.
Wesley opened his mouth, then it shut. Opened it again, tilted his head... and his mouth shut once more. Wesley looked across the table.
Rupert Giles cleared his throat and stood, taking his glasses off in the process to wipe on the bottom of his shirt. "Well," he puffed out a chuckle, "we honestly have no idea," he replied truthfully.
Wesley stood up quickly, holding out his index finger. "Not yet anyway!" he threw out there.
"Are you kidding me?"
"Well, it is quite unexpected," Wesley said, sitting back down at the glare the king sent his way.
"The rain that has plagued this place for over 150 years just ups and stops one day," he said, starting to pace the floor. "And a beam of what I am told is freakin' sunlight shows up out of nowhere and apparently is growing out there, cutting a line across our skies, and no one happens to have a clue as to why?! Is that correct?"
Giles let out a sigh, finally putting his frames back on his face. "We are looking into it... but no, as of right now, we have no answers to give you."
Angelus sighed. "What am I supposed to tell them?" he asked after a moment. "Everyone has questions." He had been getting flooded with them the entire way here- from himself and anyone else he happened to cross paths with. It was nearly a mob back on the road before they'd turned around and come back home. His driver wouldn't shut up. There'd been cars and people just running after them, following them. People were packing up at the gates, people inside the mansion chasing him down as soon as he'd stepped inside.
Why had the rain stopped? He hadn't a clue. How had it? No clue. Was the rain gone for good? Was something else coming? Was the witch returning? Was the curse broken? All of these were very valid questions but he had no idea how to answer them. Was this a good thing? A bad thing? What the hell was a sunbeam doing here? Why did it seem to be growing? No. Idea.
He had never seen actual sunlight like this before. He had never left the kingdom, he knew nothing but what they had lived with here his whole life. He had seen films made in other lands a handful of times, learned about them in teachings, read books, seen artwork depicting such a thing, even seen live photographs.. but this was all very new to him. To everyone.
OoOoO
It was about an hour later when Wesley had stepped out on the front steps of the mansion to host a short press conference. He released a long statement about their current state of affairs and then went on to take questions. They had no good answers to give but they'd decided it was best to at least address the situation and reassure the public the best that they could.
"Where is King Hart?" one young reporter asked.
Wesley cleared his throat. "The King thought it would be best if he went to personally investigate..."
OoOoO
The area which was now lit up from the sky having opened was a mess by the time Angelus arrived. He growled in the car as they had gotten closer, seeing the endless crowd of people who'd obviously had the same idea as he to come see this up close and personal. Thankfully he had figured this would be the case though before they'd arrived and brought some back up security in the event they'd be needed.
Besides the obvious, nothing seemed different he noted. Nothing seemed out of place.
Angelus let his men deal with the crowd control and sent others to do their own investigating while he snuck off.
Angelus stood under the beams of light, amazed by the warmth that hit him. His eyes squinted against the light coming through as he looked up and then he looked around him, trying to spot any sign to an answer of why any of this was happening. Most seemed to be trying to follow the path the line was making, he decided to retrace it and see if he could figure out exactly where it started from.
By the time he reached the spot, the day was nearly gone, night starting to fall on them. But to be honest, looking up through the hole in the world, even that was different than what he had known and seen his whole life. Angelus reached the fenced wall that marked the beginning of Wolfram and Hart. It started underground and went up. He wasn't sure exactly how high but it seemed to go on forever. You couldn't see under, around, through or above it. And as far as he could tell, it was as it always had been.
When the sun finally set, the stars came out, stealing the king's breath away. He used to believe they went on forever. But there's an end to everything, as he learned later. As with everything here. Their universe was in a dome, they were on one end and somewhere out there was the other. The sky, the stars, the sun... only went so far until it reached the top. The ground below them only went so far. There was always beyond that he supposed, somehow, what was outside of the walls, but no one knew.
Many remained in the area, and though he would have liked to as well, he gathered up those he needed and said he was returning home for the night.
OoOoO
At the sound of the thud, the car slammed to a stop. A feminine scream was year a bit in the distance. Angelus cursed. Getting out of the car, he cursed again, watching a form slide off the back of the vehicle. "What the hell are you doing?"
"Tara!" a voice shouted.
Angelus looked to the side, seeing a redhaired girl being held back by guards. Behind her, a crowd was still gathered. He sighed and went around to the girl climbing to her feet. She stood on shaky legs and looked up at him, her eyes half-wild. "We have to help her," she told him.
His eyes went back to the redhead. "What's wrong with her?"
The blonde grabbed his hand. She didn't seem to notice his eyes flashing black when she did or him taking a step away from her and out of her grasp. "Not her," she said, then repeated that a few times before going into babbling nonsense.
"Tara!" the other girl shouted. "It's okay, honey." She looked at Angelus, eyes pleading. "I'm so sorry, she just... I could't catch her or stop her in time," she told him. "She doesn't mean any harm, I promise." She paused for a moment. "She's a Glory kid," Willow explained.
Angelus growled at the mention of that particular beast. He took a deep breath next then waved the redhead in. She rushed over and began comforting the blonde.
"Willow," this Tara whispered. "She's in danger."
"Who is she talking about?" he asked before shaking his head. Most likely it was no one. Those who came in contact with Glory had been left rather mentally impaired. Some more than others.
"Nobody," Willow quickly replied. "I just need to take her home."
He was about to turn away when the girl spoke again. "The girl... the girl who brought the sun."
This made him look back at the pair. "You know how all of this happened?" he asked despite the situation.
"She brought the sun."
"Who?"
"The girl..." she began then suddenly jumped to a another babbling fit. "She's not from here," Tara continued after it was over.
At that, he decided he had enough and excused himself. There was no way that was possible. There was no way in or out of this place. Not since the curse.
"I... I can prove it!" came from behind him. "Tomorrow. Tomorrow I can prove it. I can show you."
OoOoO
Buffy made her way back up the tree she had claimed for the night. It'd taken a lot of time and effort for this given the flock of people who seemed to be just everywhere. She got back to her spot and retied the rope around her waist then reached for one of her two bags she had with her. She grabbed a few berries she was saving in case she got hungry after her meal and ate those and one of her containers of water to wash them down with. She reached in for her blanket and put it across her the best she could. Having gone kingdom to kingdom had introduced her to many things, including a wide variety of climates, but she was apparently not made for any of these cooler places.
At least the rain and wind had stopped when she had fully made it over. She didn't know too much about The Dark Realm honestly but she'd heard the rumors and stories and was not exactly looking forward to what she knew about the place.
But, on the other hand, it worried her. It couldn't just be an accident that the weather changed once both her feet his the ground. That suddenly the sky opened up above her and seemed to be following her. And that she did not need. The attention that brought, she did not need. This was supposed to be her safe haven, if she could just keep out of sight. No one was supposed to be able to get in or out. No one was going to be looking for her here of all places. She'd skipped through several lands, several kingdoms to get here, to the end of the world. It'd taken nearly everything she had to make it, and some stupid opening of the sky was trying to ruin that.
If she needed to, she thought she had probably saved enough dust to get back on the other side. But what would she do then? Keep running from one place to another? Running here sounded better in her plans. It was different here. She could make it work. Had to.
She put the water back into the bag and then tried to get a little more comfortable. Her eyes closed and she tried to get her mind to turn off. She needed rest if she was going to come up with a plan. She'd been going non-stop for days. Tomorrow... she could come up with her next move. Right now, she just needed a few hours of sleep.
OoOoO
"Tara, what are you thinking?" Willow whispered.
Tara stroked her girlfriend's face. "Believe in me, believe in this," she told her. Next she walked around, clumsily, gather items from the mansion, all with a handful of people watching her every move. Sometimes she would ask for help or directions but mostly just fluttered about on her own.
Once she gathered everything that was needed up, she asked the king about a certain item. A mirror. "How do you know about that?" he growled.
She giggled and went off into her own world for awhile. "When the new day approaches, I can show you where she is." Tara turned to Willow. "I'm going to need you. I always need you."
Willow gave a sad look her way. She'd never seen Tara act this way and didn't know how to handle it.
