There will be a proper synopsis of the story in the next part. This part is more of a scene setter, and I don't want to ruin the surprise. Please reserve judgement until you've got to the end of the part.
Spoiler warning: 'To Shanshu in LA', I suppose, and later on there will be spoilers for Buffy and Angel canon up to the end of Buffy Season 6.
Disclaimer: I haven't paid for any characters or places, so I own none of them. Nevertheless, just as Joss has creative control of the show, I suppose I have creative control of this story.
Champion:
I burst through the window, scattering glass shards over the marble floor, but I'm too late. The chanting has already begun, and the thing leading the chanting is that very warrior of the underworld that tried to hurt my friends. As I raise my weapon – his weapon, actually – and advance, he places the ritual scroll on the big, foreboding crate in the middle of the room and comes towards me.
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Demon:
He's disrupted the ceremony; this pawn caught up in a game too large for his comprehension. With him present I cannot continue the ritual lest he disrupt our plans. So I place the Scroll of Aberjian – a truly ancient relic even compared to myself – onto the great box into which we will summon the Beast that will cause the downfall of the world, and turn to face him, conjuring a silvery blade into my hand. This 'hero' has one just like it – he must have taken it from one of my previous victims, no matter. As I move to confront him, that contemptible lawyer picks up the scroll and continues the ritual in my place.
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Lawyer:
Everything's going wrong. Well, no, one thing's going wrong – he's here. Just a short time ago he tried to take me under his wing, and now he has the audacity to break into this place of worship and disrupt our ceremonies. He has to, of course; 'protecting the innocent' is his duty. And so, because of the interruption, our ritual master has to stop the chant to fight him. The ritual is unattended, the monks are getting confused and the boss is becoming very agitated. So I step forward and snatch up the parchment – the very parchment that I had helped steal – and begin reading. I shout for the monks to pick up the chant over the din of the battle being waged only feet away. Weapons clash as the two figures move back and forth across the room, slashing at each other, and still I read.
And now, the ritual is complete.
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Demon:
Even though I'm engaged in furious combat, I hear the chanting cease and can see as the sacrificial vampires bound around the box turn to dust, and I know that the Beast has been summoned within. I know that I'll surely be slain in this battle, but I'm now willing to pass on knowing that my mission is complete.
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Champion:
The ritual is complete and they're wheeling away that ominous box, but I can't stop them because, for the moment, I'm still fighting this monstrous demon. The blades clash and it doesn't take long for an opening to present itself. As soon as he drops his guard, I swing the blade into his skull and rip it away again, revealing his hideous face. And as I watch his death throes, I realise that he never meant to win and that this fight served only one purpose: to prevent me from stopping the ritual. That just leaves me and the lawyer, and he's still holding the Scroll of Aberjian. That's why I'm here, to reclaim that scroll, and he knows it, so why didn't he flee? There's a brazier by one of the walls, and now that he's realised that I'll stop at nothing to get it back, he tries to destroy the scroll by burning it. My blade cleanly severs his limb, and as he kneels there, clutching at the bloody stump, I reclaim the scroll and leave him there.
But that monster, that Beast, summoned into the box, must have been summoned for a reason. We'll need to do some research.
What was that?
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Creature:
The last thing I remember was the Slayer, Buffy, staring up at me in awe and terror. Then a sharp pain in my back as I felt a wooden stake suddenly penetrate my heart. I turned in time to see my own childe behind me. He truly loved her, I realised, but then he had a soul now, so why couldn't he? Then I turned to dust.
Being staked is the most curious feeling and few get to remember it. First the sharp sting of the stake itself, which soon becomes a gentle numbness. You can feel nothing – no pain – but a slight burning sensation permeating your entire being. Then sweet oblivion.
The next thing I knew, I had form again and I was stuck in a cage, bathed in sweat. I never sweat as a vampire. And I was breathing heavily. And it hit me as I remembered the last time I was like this – I'm alive! But before I could contemplate the how or why of it, the cage was wheeled away.
I was kept like that for who knows how long before my senses began to clear and now, finally, I can hear three people talking. For the moment though my eyes are still blurry and my hearing still fuzzy, and I can barely discern how many voices there are, let alone what they're saying. Then one of them approaches me, a woman, and tries to calm me down.
"I know it's a bit confusing," she soothes, "but it's gonna be better soon… a lot better… Angel."