Beginnings and Endings
Author: Verinthalia
Summary: What happened between the end of season 7 Buffy and season 4 Angel, and the set up for season 5 Angel?
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy
Rating PG-13. adult themes.
Chapter 1 Aftermath
Angel and Wes stood on the sidewalk in the gathering twilight watching as the faded dusty yellow Sunnydale School District bus dwindled in the distance. They turned and walked back into the cool clean marble and glass foyer of the Wolfram and Hart building that was now the home/office of Angel Investigations. Both lost in thought and remember the last week of shocking news and developments. Neither they nor their lives would ever be same.
Seven short days ago Fred had called in full battle mode, ordering the vast resources of Wolfram and Hart to the Hyperion where scant moments before she had be besieged by a flood of young, bloody and haunted survivors. They had flowed through the double doors into the lobby like wind tossed flotsam, gaunt eyed, stiff limbed and stumbling survivors of a horrific war.
Only the sight of Willow standing firm like a commanding red haired goddess at the head of the flow had kept Fred from full panic. The powerful witch's terse explanation and list of needs sent the slim ex-Texan into action. Her call to the office had also summoned The Angel Investigations team to hand. Lorne and Gunn were in charge of fitting out and finding rooms for the new 'guests'.
A true measure of the toll the final battle had taken on the new slayers was the blank eyed resigned acceptance of aid and direction from the dapper Gunn and the talk green skinned, red horned demon in a flamboyant yellow silk suit. Not a one balked or hesitated to comply with their instructions. Fred and Willow marshaled the medical teams and the turned to catering and clothing the contingency.
Faith grabbed Angels arm as he strode into the hotel, quickly commanding him to Giles presence in Wes' old office. Angel's mind had begun to spin at warp sped. How to remove Cordy and Conner as well as Conner's new family, where to send them, what would they need to safe guard them, he stumbled as he entered the office his thoughts just now turning to Buffy, and then only because Dawn was slumped, bedraggled and exhausted in a wing chair. Her eyes closed, face a mask of loss and grief.
Giles stood at the edge of the desk shoulders rolled forward gazing at his feet.
"How long do we have before the First arrives?' Angel spoke.
"Huh, oh .Angel. The First was defeated, but I'm afraid the cost was extremely high." Giles struggled to stand straight.
"Buffy?" Angels whispered, his voice sounding rusty.
"No Buffy is out there" Giles waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the lobby. "Tending her troops. Sunnydale is no more. It was swallowed by the earth itself as the hell mouth was destroyed." The ex-librarian ex- watcher collapsed on the leather sofa, as Angel rummaged in the desk drawer freeing a bottle of scotch and 2 glasses.
He quickly poured a generous three fingers and handed it to Giles. "Thanks"
"Destroyed?" Angel looked stunned and unbelieving.
"Yes, I only have a few sketchy details. The others fled as Spike invoked the amulet. It seems that is began to channel an intense light into the hellmouth. Buffy and Spike were the last ones left in the hell mouth itself. She has only said that Spike did it. Nothing else. She had to run to escape the explosion and following collapse just barely making the bus roof." Giles stopped like a puppet with his strings cut.
"What does my irritating grandchilde say? I assume his boasting and preening with his success?" Angel snarked.
"Spike did not survive." Giles said quietly.
"Oh I find that hard to believe, he's a weasel, a cockroach. He'll turn up at the worst possible time." Angel quipped.
Dawn launched to her feet, her hand a blur as she slapped angel's face. "SHUT UP! Spike died. He died to save us. Nothing could live through that." She collapsed at his feet in tears. Angel stood stunned his mouth open.
"The explosion was beyond anything I have ever witnessed, even the tapes of the nuclear bomb blast are like a child's holiday crackers compared to the light, heat and energy that emanated from the epicenter." Giles ground out Ripper very much present in his tone, and manner.
Angel slumped to the desk his face stunned. A quick flash of hope lit his face. He closed his eyes and went still, after a moment his eyes opened, his face stunned. Then he wrapped his arms around his chest, seeming to draw in on himself. "Giles, you're right, he's gone. I can't feel him. He's a childe of my childe, one of the line of Aurelious I should be able to feel him. But it's gone, he's not there."
The three sat staring off into the distance all stunned and two of them grieving.
"Giles, What do you need?" Wes asked as he entered the office.
"Ah, Wesley, I assume you know about the First's attack on the Council?" Giles began to regain his animation.
"Yes, yes. I've heard all about it. There are a few that survived, those on location, and such. I've been in contact." Angel had left the office at that point, gently leading Dawn out to the ordered bedlam in the lobby. " Lorne, this is Dawn, Buffy's sister she needs to." His voice petered out.
"Bath and Sleep" were Dawn's flat answer.
"Well aren't you the lucky one, I am in charge of rooms sweetcakes, so if you'll come with me, I'll settle you in as snug as a cute little bug." Lorne tenderly laid his arm around the teenager and lead her up the stairs to a room. He chatted softly of the amenities, and wonders of a good hot soaking bath. Just mindless drivel to easy the shocked and stunned girl into a well needed rest. With each step she lean more on his tall frame finding comfort and security in yet another demon protector.
Angel turned searching the buzzing room full of people. His eyes searching the sea of bodies in motion and finally finding her. Buffy knelt beside a young African-American girl holding her hand and talking softly as the field medics worked franticly to tend her. Angel stood behind her watching as the injured girls eyes drifted closed and the medics signaled that they were ready to move her Buffy sighed deeply her shoulders slumping before she drew a deep breath finding her core of energy and rising to move on to the next wounded girl.
He reached out and gently laid his hand on her shoulder, she spun face set for the next crisis. "Oh, Angel. I have to, um.later, 'kay?" she mumbled as she moved away.
Her turning away from him stung. He had wanted to be her strength. He had expected her to need to lean on him. He stood and watched as a woman he had never truly seen before moved through the large room.
He watched finally seeing her for the first time in over 2 years. There was no doubt that she was in charge, they were her followers. They had followed her to the very pits of hell and they would obey her without question, but instead of leaving them to clean it up, as he would have done here she was elbow deep in the aftermath.
Tending to them, still working to keep them safe and comfortable. He understood it then. She was 'cookies' and she didn't need him.
He watched finally seeing the young innocent girl he loved had become the wise battle weary woman he now admired. Marveling he stared as she pulled it all together. Calming them, offering them hope, pride and peace. She was a balm to their injured souls.
Deep inside he knew that what they had shared in Sunnydale years ago was past. Her future and his would not be together. Friendship, and a deep abiding love they would always have, but the days of being in love, of needing each other were gone.
Like a well-oiled machine the Angel team and the Scoobies made quick work of the chaos in a short time the injured were seen to and the other had been ensconced in rooms to sleep the exhausted sleep of the just and victorious warriors that they were.
Around 10am the next morning they gathered in the large communal kitchen, nine people, one vampire and one demon the survivors of the holocaust, and the team that had received them.
"I know we are all at the end of our ropes, but I need to talk about what happened." Willow began. "It's to big for me to understand it, to take it all in." She cleared her throat, " But before we start talking, I want to offer you all a little comfort, I can do a simple spell that will give you a little boost of energy, a clarity of recall, and a buffer against the emotional hurts."
"Willow, did your time with the coven teach you nothing? Controlling other's emotions is a direct violation of ." Giles began but she cut him off.
"Giles not that kind of spell, it's a warding. It's called the Brynwyd Dreft, just a little Novocain like numbing for only this place at this time. It does not affect the people, but the place."
She looked at him with deep understanding, "It makes this a hallowed spot. A place, were the truth with all its sharp edges and rawness does not harm those that hear it. A sacred place, that brings understanding and clarity, where you hear, understand and remember what others say. There is so much that we need to discuss, and we need to be able to say it and have everyone hear it without worrying about the pain the truth will cause us all."
"I'm impressed. That's old magic. You learned so very much more from the coven that I thought." Giles was humbled.
"Will I don't need." Buffy began.
"Buffy please, we all will be dealing with our loses, our pain, new and old. Did the last 2 years not teach us that we have to be truthful, or did you enjoy all the hurt feelings, and missed signals?" Willow asked.
"I guess you're right." Buffy sighed and hung her head.
"Whoa, whoa whoa. Is this like your 'forgetting' spell?" Dawn asked.
"No, every one here must agree, then and only then can I set the wards around this room. Once they are set anyone in this room will speak only truth, and the pain felt by those hearing it will be dulled to little 'twinges'. We can face the loses and process them with out being over come by our grief and pain." Willow explained. " When we finish I will dismantle them."
A chorus of yeahs, and oks sounded around the room. Will opened her bag and set eight stone die each about 1-inch square on the table arranging them. Four soft yellowish cubes were laid together to form a square, then the other four a deep mossy green were laid corner to corner with the inner square. This formed extended corners or cardinals to the center square.
She closed her eyes and centered herself before she began a soft chant almost like a prayer. They watched as the cubes began to glow softly lit from deep within. Willow opened her eyes, and then with a hand that flowed like water she touched the yellow cube at the upper left hand side. "Prime" she intoned. The cube flashed, as if lit from within. Her finger moved to touch the upper right one "Seconde". It flashed as well. "Tierce", the lower left flared, " Quarte" and all four yellow cubes came to life creating a small glowing square.
Her hand moved to the upper left green cube, "Quinte" on the upper right the cube flared to a rich green glow. "Sixte" then to the lower ones in clockwise order, "Septime", Octave" each cube igniting to life as she named them.
She drew in a deep breath and exhaled before she lifted the first yellow one prime and as she set it on the one to its oblique corner she spoke "Primus". They all heard the sound of a lock clicking into place, as the two cubes became a soft spring green oblong with the soft wave of her hand it levitated to the left corner of the room in front of her.
She lifted the second yellow cube 'Seconde' and mated it with 'Sixte' naming it "Secundus" again floating it to the corner ahead of and to her right. She solemnly mated 'Tierce' with 'Septime', named this pair "Tertius" and placed it behind and to her right, then she mated 'Quarte' with 'Octave' this was called "Quartus" and as she sent it to the left hand rear corner of the room she stood and raised her hands out to her sides in supplication.
"Primus, Secundus, Tertius et Quartus, Fiat Lux" raising her arms as she spoke she clapped her hands over her head as she finished. A soft light washed the walls, floor and ceiling. The occupants of the room felt a soft wave of love and safety wash over them as the light blended with the physical boundaries of the room and faded from sight.
Again Willow drew in a deep breath and flashed a brilliant smile at those assembled around her.
"I am astounded. I thought that the wards were lost in myth." Wes breathed softly.
"No just protected. Only those that truly need them are permitted to use them. The coven in Devon felt as if we might need them." Willow shyly admitted.
Giles cleared his throat and rose to his feet, "Just to sum up, the First Evil tried to become corporeal, it seems according to Beljoxa's Eye that because Buffy was brought back from the dead by Willow that the balance of power was shifted and this gave the First a chance at manifestation. It enlisted a human named Caleb and empowered him to marshal its servants the bringers. The Council's headquarters were destroyed and with it our vast library of data and scholars. People whose families had been part of the Council for generations." Giles began.
"As far as we have been able to ascertain the bringers began a worldwide campaign to eradicate all of the potential slayers and their watchers. The plan was to leave Buffy and Faith as the sole women on earth that were able to assume the legacy. Then it planned to end the line of slayers with the death of the only two left. At that point the hellmouth was to open and the earth would become a demonic world with the first in control."
Giles looked at Willow, "You all had 'visits' from the first in the form of a dead person, would you tell us what it said and how it hoped to control you?" He asked gently.
"I think maybe Andrew should go first, he saw it before we did. Please stay on topic, no flights of fancy." She nodded to the nervous young man.
"Um Well. You all know what happened with Warren and Jonathan right? Well, see it started as a game. Like let's take over Sunnydale, become big time crime bosses. It was just suppose to be fun. We just wanted to be rich and powerful. You see, not geeks anyone. But Warren got real serious about it, and I just followed along. Then after the whole Darth Rosenberg episode, Jonathan and I went south of the border, you know. Hiding out. big outlaws. but then I started to see Warren when I was alone."
He swallowed audibly. "He showed me the Seal of Danzathar, and said that I had to get Jonathan to go along. If I could just get him there, then it would be OK and we would be redeemed, and empowered. That we could live like Gods, in a land of grace and power."
The frightened youth began to twist and wring his hands, his mobile face quivering and moving.
"Andrew, it's Ok. It's all over. We just need to know what it said and did, so we can move on, stop thinking that if I had only. You see?" Dawns calmed him with a hand on his arm.
He nodded and began to speak, " Then Warren-it, told me what I needed to make it work, the knife and a book of magic. It showed me a prophecy. The prophecy said that it, um the seal, could be turned off to stop the darkness from rising. Jonathan translated a description of the darkness literally as 'it eats you from the bottom'. But I think it meant 'from beneath you it devours'. Then we both started to have nightmares."
He stopped and shuddered, his eyes growing wet before he continued. "I was seeing us as playthings of the dark one, but Jonathan was seeing what would happen to the world if it rose. So we came back. Jonathan wanted to uncover it and come to you for help Buffy, but Warren-it, had another plan. We dug up that seal. It convinced me that I had to sacrifice Jonathan, that his blood would stop it, and that he would be in a place like the Elysian Fields. I was supposed to ascend and join him and Warren."
But once I had...sacri. killed Jonathan it wasn't enough blood." Warren got mean, and kept pushing me to find more blood. That was when Willow caught me at the butcher shop." He seemed to collapse in on himself. But thanks to the wards he felt lighter, cleansed almost by telling his tale.
Sorry not the best place to stop, but I hate really long chapters. I'll try to keep 'em short and to the point.
Author: Verinthalia
Summary: What happened between the end of season 7 Buffy and season 4 Angel, and the set up for season 5 Angel?
Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy
Rating PG-13. adult themes.
Chapter 1 Aftermath
Angel and Wes stood on the sidewalk in the gathering twilight watching as the faded dusty yellow Sunnydale School District bus dwindled in the distance. They turned and walked back into the cool clean marble and glass foyer of the Wolfram and Hart building that was now the home/office of Angel Investigations. Both lost in thought and remember the last week of shocking news and developments. Neither they nor their lives would ever be same.
Seven short days ago Fred had called in full battle mode, ordering the vast resources of Wolfram and Hart to the Hyperion where scant moments before she had be besieged by a flood of young, bloody and haunted survivors. They had flowed through the double doors into the lobby like wind tossed flotsam, gaunt eyed, stiff limbed and stumbling survivors of a horrific war.
Only the sight of Willow standing firm like a commanding red haired goddess at the head of the flow had kept Fred from full panic. The powerful witch's terse explanation and list of needs sent the slim ex-Texan into action. Her call to the office had also summoned The Angel Investigations team to hand. Lorne and Gunn were in charge of fitting out and finding rooms for the new 'guests'.
A true measure of the toll the final battle had taken on the new slayers was the blank eyed resigned acceptance of aid and direction from the dapper Gunn and the talk green skinned, red horned demon in a flamboyant yellow silk suit. Not a one balked or hesitated to comply with their instructions. Fred and Willow marshaled the medical teams and the turned to catering and clothing the contingency.
Faith grabbed Angels arm as he strode into the hotel, quickly commanding him to Giles presence in Wes' old office. Angel's mind had begun to spin at warp sped. How to remove Cordy and Conner as well as Conner's new family, where to send them, what would they need to safe guard them, he stumbled as he entered the office his thoughts just now turning to Buffy, and then only because Dawn was slumped, bedraggled and exhausted in a wing chair. Her eyes closed, face a mask of loss and grief.
Giles stood at the edge of the desk shoulders rolled forward gazing at his feet.
"How long do we have before the First arrives?' Angel spoke.
"Huh, oh .Angel. The First was defeated, but I'm afraid the cost was extremely high." Giles struggled to stand straight.
"Buffy?" Angels whispered, his voice sounding rusty.
"No Buffy is out there" Giles waved his hand vaguely in the direction of the lobby. "Tending her troops. Sunnydale is no more. It was swallowed by the earth itself as the hell mouth was destroyed." The ex-librarian ex- watcher collapsed on the leather sofa, as Angel rummaged in the desk drawer freeing a bottle of scotch and 2 glasses.
He quickly poured a generous three fingers and handed it to Giles. "Thanks"
"Destroyed?" Angel looked stunned and unbelieving.
"Yes, I only have a few sketchy details. The others fled as Spike invoked the amulet. It seems that is began to channel an intense light into the hellmouth. Buffy and Spike were the last ones left in the hell mouth itself. She has only said that Spike did it. Nothing else. She had to run to escape the explosion and following collapse just barely making the bus roof." Giles stopped like a puppet with his strings cut.
"What does my irritating grandchilde say? I assume his boasting and preening with his success?" Angel snarked.
"Spike did not survive." Giles said quietly.
"Oh I find that hard to believe, he's a weasel, a cockroach. He'll turn up at the worst possible time." Angel quipped.
Dawn launched to her feet, her hand a blur as she slapped angel's face. "SHUT UP! Spike died. He died to save us. Nothing could live through that." She collapsed at his feet in tears. Angel stood stunned his mouth open.
"The explosion was beyond anything I have ever witnessed, even the tapes of the nuclear bomb blast are like a child's holiday crackers compared to the light, heat and energy that emanated from the epicenter." Giles ground out Ripper very much present in his tone, and manner.
Angel slumped to the desk his face stunned. A quick flash of hope lit his face. He closed his eyes and went still, after a moment his eyes opened, his face stunned. Then he wrapped his arms around his chest, seeming to draw in on himself. "Giles, you're right, he's gone. I can't feel him. He's a childe of my childe, one of the line of Aurelious I should be able to feel him. But it's gone, he's not there."
The three sat staring off into the distance all stunned and two of them grieving.
"Giles, What do you need?" Wes asked as he entered the office.
"Ah, Wesley, I assume you know about the First's attack on the Council?" Giles began to regain his animation.
"Yes, yes. I've heard all about it. There are a few that survived, those on location, and such. I've been in contact." Angel had left the office at that point, gently leading Dawn out to the ordered bedlam in the lobby. " Lorne, this is Dawn, Buffy's sister she needs to." His voice petered out.
"Bath and Sleep" were Dawn's flat answer.
"Well aren't you the lucky one, I am in charge of rooms sweetcakes, so if you'll come with me, I'll settle you in as snug as a cute little bug." Lorne tenderly laid his arm around the teenager and lead her up the stairs to a room. He chatted softly of the amenities, and wonders of a good hot soaking bath. Just mindless drivel to easy the shocked and stunned girl into a well needed rest. With each step she lean more on his tall frame finding comfort and security in yet another demon protector.
Angel turned searching the buzzing room full of people. His eyes searching the sea of bodies in motion and finally finding her. Buffy knelt beside a young African-American girl holding her hand and talking softly as the field medics worked franticly to tend her. Angel stood behind her watching as the injured girls eyes drifted closed and the medics signaled that they were ready to move her Buffy sighed deeply her shoulders slumping before she drew a deep breath finding her core of energy and rising to move on to the next wounded girl.
He reached out and gently laid his hand on her shoulder, she spun face set for the next crisis. "Oh, Angel. I have to, um.later, 'kay?" she mumbled as she moved away.
Her turning away from him stung. He had wanted to be her strength. He had expected her to need to lean on him. He stood and watched as a woman he had never truly seen before moved through the large room.
He watched finally seeing her for the first time in over 2 years. There was no doubt that she was in charge, they were her followers. They had followed her to the very pits of hell and they would obey her without question, but instead of leaving them to clean it up, as he would have done here she was elbow deep in the aftermath.
Tending to them, still working to keep them safe and comfortable. He understood it then. She was 'cookies' and she didn't need him.
He watched finally seeing the young innocent girl he loved had become the wise battle weary woman he now admired. Marveling he stared as she pulled it all together. Calming them, offering them hope, pride and peace. She was a balm to their injured souls.
Deep inside he knew that what they had shared in Sunnydale years ago was past. Her future and his would not be together. Friendship, and a deep abiding love they would always have, but the days of being in love, of needing each other were gone.
Like a well-oiled machine the Angel team and the Scoobies made quick work of the chaos in a short time the injured were seen to and the other had been ensconced in rooms to sleep the exhausted sleep of the just and victorious warriors that they were.
Around 10am the next morning they gathered in the large communal kitchen, nine people, one vampire and one demon the survivors of the holocaust, and the team that had received them.
"I know we are all at the end of our ropes, but I need to talk about what happened." Willow began. "It's to big for me to understand it, to take it all in." She cleared her throat, " But before we start talking, I want to offer you all a little comfort, I can do a simple spell that will give you a little boost of energy, a clarity of recall, and a buffer against the emotional hurts."
"Willow, did your time with the coven teach you nothing? Controlling other's emotions is a direct violation of ." Giles began but she cut him off.
"Giles not that kind of spell, it's a warding. It's called the Brynwyd Dreft, just a little Novocain like numbing for only this place at this time. It does not affect the people, but the place."
She looked at him with deep understanding, "It makes this a hallowed spot. A place, were the truth with all its sharp edges and rawness does not harm those that hear it. A sacred place, that brings understanding and clarity, where you hear, understand and remember what others say. There is so much that we need to discuss, and we need to be able to say it and have everyone hear it without worrying about the pain the truth will cause us all."
"I'm impressed. That's old magic. You learned so very much more from the coven that I thought." Giles was humbled.
"Will I don't need." Buffy began.
"Buffy please, we all will be dealing with our loses, our pain, new and old. Did the last 2 years not teach us that we have to be truthful, or did you enjoy all the hurt feelings, and missed signals?" Willow asked.
"I guess you're right." Buffy sighed and hung her head.
"Whoa, whoa whoa. Is this like your 'forgetting' spell?" Dawn asked.
"No, every one here must agree, then and only then can I set the wards around this room. Once they are set anyone in this room will speak only truth, and the pain felt by those hearing it will be dulled to little 'twinges'. We can face the loses and process them with out being over come by our grief and pain." Willow explained. " When we finish I will dismantle them."
A chorus of yeahs, and oks sounded around the room. Will opened her bag and set eight stone die each about 1-inch square on the table arranging them. Four soft yellowish cubes were laid together to form a square, then the other four a deep mossy green were laid corner to corner with the inner square. This formed extended corners or cardinals to the center square.
She closed her eyes and centered herself before she began a soft chant almost like a prayer. They watched as the cubes began to glow softly lit from deep within. Willow opened her eyes, and then with a hand that flowed like water she touched the yellow cube at the upper left hand side. "Prime" she intoned. The cube flashed, as if lit from within. Her finger moved to touch the upper right one "Seconde". It flashed as well. "Tierce", the lower left flared, " Quarte" and all four yellow cubes came to life creating a small glowing square.
Her hand moved to the upper left green cube, "Quinte" on the upper right the cube flared to a rich green glow. "Sixte" then to the lower ones in clockwise order, "Septime", Octave" each cube igniting to life as she named them.
She drew in a deep breath and exhaled before she lifted the first yellow one prime and as she set it on the one to its oblique corner she spoke "Primus". They all heard the sound of a lock clicking into place, as the two cubes became a soft spring green oblong with the soft wave of her hand it levitated to the left corner of the room in front of her.
She lifted the second yellow cube 'Seconde' and mated it with 'Sixte' naming it "Secundus" again floating it to the corner ahead of and to her right. She solemnly mated 'Tierce' with 'Septime', named this pair "Tertius" and placed it behind and to her right, then she mated 'Quarte' with 'Octave' this was called "Quartus" and as she sent it to the left hand rear corner of the room she stood and raised her hands out to her sides in supplication.
"Primus, Secundus, Tertius et Quartus, Fiat Lux" raising her arms as she spoke she clapped her hands over her head as she finished. A soft light washed the walls, floor and ceiling. The occupants of the room felt a soft wave of love and safety wash over them as the light blended with the physical boundaries of the room and faded from sight.
Again Willow drew in a deep breath and flashed a brilliant smile at those assembled around her.
"I am astounded. I thought that the wards were lost in myth." Wes breathed softly.
"No just protected. Only those that truly need them are permitted to use them. The coven in Devon felt as if we might need them." Willow shyly admitted.
Giles cleared his throat and rose to his feet, "Just to sum up, the First Evil tried to become corporeal, it seems according to Beljoxa's Eye that because Buffy was brought back from the dead by Willow that the balance of power was shifted and this gave the First a chance at manifestation. It enlisted a human named Caleb and empowered him to marshal its servants the bringers. The Council's headquarters were destroyed and with it our vast library of data and scholars. People whose families had been part of the Council for generations." Giles began.
"As far as we have been able to ascertain the bringers began a worldwide campaign to eradicate all of the potential slayers and their watchers. The plan was to leave Buffy and Faith as the sole women on earth that were able to assume the legacy. Then it planned to end the line of slayers with the death of the only two left. At that point the hellmouth was to open and the earth would become a demonic world with the first in control."
Giles looked at Willow, "You all had 'visits' from the first in the form of a dead person, would you tell us what it said and how it hoped to control you?" He asked gently.
"I think maybe Andrew should go first, he saw it before we did. Please stay on topic, no flights of fancy." She nodded to the nervous young man.
"Um Well. You all know what happened with Warren and Jonathan right? Well, see it started as a game. Like let's take over Sunnydale, become big time crime bosses. It was just suppose to be fun. We just wanted to be rich and powerful. You see, not geeks anyone. But Warren got real serious about it, and I just followed along. Then after the whole Darth Rosenberg episode, Jonathan and I went south of the border, you know. Hiding out. big outlaws. but then I started to see Warren when I was alone."
He swallowed audibly. "He showed me the Seal of Danzathar, and said that I had to get Jonathan to go along. If I could just get him there, then it would be OK and we would be redeemed, and empowered. That we could live like Gods, in a land of grace and power."
The frightened youth began to twist and wring his hands, his mobile face quivering and moving.
"Andrew, it's Ok. It's all over. We just need to know what it said and did, so we can move on, stop thinking that if I had only. You see?" Dawns calmed him with a hand on his arm.
He nodded and began to speak, " Then Warren-it, told me what I needed to make it work, the knife and a book of magic. It showed me a prophecy. The prophecy said that it, um the seal, could be turned off to stop the darkness from rising. Jonathan translated a description of the darkness literally as 'it eats you from the bottom'. But I think it meant 'from beneath you it devours'. Then we both started to have nightmares."
He stopped and shuddered, his eyes growing wet before he continued. "I was seeing us as playthings of the dark one, but Jonathan was seeing what would happen to the world if it rose. So we came back. Jonathan wanted to uncover it and come to you for help Buffy, but Warren-it, had another plan. We dug up that seal. It convinced me that I had to sacrifice Jonathan, that his blood would stop it, and that he would be in a place like the Elysian Fields. I was supposed to ascend and join him and Warren."
But once I had...sacri. killed Jonathan it wasn't enough blood." Warren got mean, and kept pushing me to find more blood. That was when Willow caught me at the butcher shop." He seemed to collapse in on himself. But thanks to the wards he felt lighter, cleansed almost by telling his tale.
Sorry not the best place to stop, but I hate really long chapters. I'll try to keep 'em short and to the point.