Title: A Mother's Wrath

Author: Tycho

Contact: tychocelchu@optusnet.com.au

Series: BtVS

Chapter: Prologue - The Order Falls

Rating: PG-13

Code: B/S

Summary: An AU of the Glory Saga. The Monks create someone closer than a sister.

Timeframe: "Something Blue"

Archive: You betcha. Just tell me about it.

Disclaimer: Whedon owns all.

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Glorificus strode through carnage. Ordinarily slaughter was something she enjoyed, regardless of who the slaughterer was. But not this night. Viciously she twisted her heel on the throat of a dying man, a knight of the Byzantium Order. He died with a choked gurgle, the last of his kind; but Glory did not take any pleasure in his death.

For the Vessel was empty, and the Key was gone. Her Key Was GONE! For 25 years she had tracked it across the world, the monks one step ahead of her, the knights one step behind. For 25 years she had been able to sense the Key's presence in the world. It had always been there since she was exiled to this hole of a world. Always she would know its general location - that way or this, near or far. They were irrevocably bound, one to the other.

But now it was gone. Now Glorificus, Hellgod and Fashion Queen, could feel nothing. And not one of those stupid monks had remained alive to tell her where it was.

Or did one?

Labored breathing and an unsteady heartbeat told Glory that there was one left. She pulled him from behind the altar by the front of the robes that denoted him as abbot of the order, and held him high.

"Where is my KEY!" the Hellgod's voice echoed among the vaulted ceilings of the abbey.

Blood flecked his split lips as he gave a faint smile of triumph. "The knights ....succeeded. It...is gone. Forever. And now.....I die." The abbot clacked his teeth together and began to convulse as the poison in the false tooth did its work.

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In a small cupola in the roof, crouched in terror and praying that his heart wasn't truly beating as loud as it seemed to be, a young novice - about 25 - watched as a Hellgod threw a tantrum. One hand brushed through jet-black hair soaked with sweat. The other clutched a passport and an airline ticket. Destination: Sunnydale, California.