First Wave: "Destiny is what you do with it..."
Disclaimer: See chapter 1
Expect trouble as an inevitable part of life and when it comes, hold your head high, look it squarely in the eye, and say, "I will be bigger than you. You cannot defeat me."
-(Not sure who the author is)
She had never felt the complete an utter exhaustion that she did at that moment, it was like she had run a marathon, then, after not sleeping for two weeks, run another marathon.
"I give up!" she declared "you try calming her down."
Liz smiled at Maria in sympathy, before turning her attention to Isabel. She had arrived not ten minutes earlier to find a weary Maria trying to calm Isabel down, apparently Alex had seen her in her dress or something "Isabel everything's fine, the cake is already in the hall, Max has the rings, the flowers are perfect…everything is perfect…you're perfect, this wedding is perfect."
"I know, I just keep worrying that something is going to go wrong, or that Alex will change his mind" admitted the alien princess, formally known as the Ice Queen, which seemed a strange description of the frantic girl who was standing in front of her.
"Hrmph! You'd have to drag Alex out of here kicking and screaming to keep him from marrying you" grumbled Maria good naturedly.
"I still think it's so romantic that he changed his surname back to Whitman so that you could have his family name" said Liz, knowing that it would calm the harried woman down.
When Maria and Alex had been hiding from an exploitive foster father, who had discovered her abilities, they had changed their surname to DeLuca, a surname that Maria had chosen to keep. Whitman, had never been her real surname anyway, although she had loved Alex's family as if they had been her own parents, she had grieved as much as he had when they'd died in the fatal accident caused by her former foster father.
Alex had finally decided that he was tired of running, and hiding who he was, and more importantly, he wanted to have children who would one day carry on his family name, not the fake one they had used the last couple of years.
Isabel sighed dreamily "he is sweet isn't he?"
Liz and Maria didn't know whether to laugh or scream at Isabel's change in mood.
"Hey what are you two just standing there for? Get dressed! On the double!" announced Isabel, already in a flurry of activity after her mood change.
Both Liz and Maria moved to put on their satin ice blue figure hugging gowns, the dresses that Isabel had chosen for her bridesmaids.
Isabel, who was already back in her gown, began placing small daisy's in her upswept hair.
After contemplating her appearance, Isabel waved her hand over her face and changed her eye color to a more subtle shade of blue.
With that done, she continued to study her appearance in the mirror. With a wry smile she recalled that on many occasions people had commented on how she took after her mother in physical appearance. It never failed to amuse either her or Diane as any resemblances were purely coincidental.
The two bridesmaids got caught up in their preparations and didn't notice when the soon-to-be-bride began to down spiral again, so both found themselves surprised when Isabel spoke.
"I wish my mom could be here."
Maria's smile fell as she quickly made her way over to her sister to offer support in the way of a hug.
"This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, you can't think about that now, and you definitely can't cry 'cause it will ruin your make-up." She grinned, trying to get a laugh out of Isabel.
Maria gave Liz a look of desperation, although she was Isabel's sister, they had only known each other for a little over two years, and she wasn't sure if she was qualified in the sisterly area to deal with this situation. Liz gave her a supportive look, nodding for her to continue.
"You know what I think? I think your mom is watching over you right now, and I think that she's the happiest that she's ever been."
Isabel smiled at the picture Maria had just painted for her; a solitary, unbidden tear ran down her cheek. "yeah, I think maybe you're right."
Liz handed her a tissue, before reaching over to give her a hug. Before she could pull away, Maria joined them, and that was how the three girls sat until Max came to get them.
Alex wiped his sweaty palms on his pants and continued to look down the isle for any sign of Isabel.
"Chill man, trust me when I say she's not gonna let you off the hook that easily" smirked Michael.
Alex nodded distractedly, his attention on the entrance, looking for any sign of his own sweet Angel.
Instead of the traditional wedding march, Isabel had elicited to have the Shania Twain song 'From this moment' sung by a choir.
He felt his heart flutter as the music began, indicating the start of the ceremony and the imminent arrival of his bride.
I do swear that I'll always be there.
I'd give anything and everything and I will always care.
Through weakness and strength, happiness and sorrow, for better, for worse.
I will love you with every beat of my heart.
From this moment life has begun
From this moment you are the one
Right beside you is where I belong
From this moment on.
Alex watched as Liz, followed by Maria came down the isle, and then the room seemed to light up with a bright glow, his features twisted into a smile of utter love and devotion as his one and only love entered the room, everything else faded as he focused on her.
From this moment I have been blessed
I live only for your happiness
And for your love I'd give my last breath
From this moment on.
With a loving kiss goodbye, Max handed his sister over to Alex "she's yours now, take care of her."
I give my hand to you with all my heart
Can't wait to live my life with, can't wait to start
You and I will never be apart
My dreams come true because of you.
Isabel had been in such a euphoric daze that she was surprised to find that the time had come to exchange rings, which they did quickly. Alex lifted the veil and placed his lips gently on hers just as the church erupted into applause and cheers. Isabel broke away from the kiss and smiled, Alex returned the smile and together they turned to face their guests, making their way out of the church as they'd done so many times during rehearsals, only this time it was as husband and wife.
With a shared look of live, Max and Liz joined hands behind the newlyweds and followed them down the aisle leaving an uncomfortable Michael and Maria to follow.
With a forced smile, Maria linked hands with Michael. The two had been dating for almost two years, although most of the time had been spent arguing with each other with the occasional spectacular break up row for spice. Currently the relationship was on hold, neither wanted to officially break up, but neither willing to be the one to apologise for the latest argument. Both believed the other to be at fault.
If Maria had been forced to be honest, she would admit that she couldn't remember the reason for the latest fight, but she would be adamant that whatever the reason, Michael was the cause, so for both of their sanity she had moved out of his apartment and into her own, believing the separation was what they both needed at this time. Also, she hoped her absence would bring Michael to his senses and that he would eventually cave and beg her forgiveness for being a 'big fat alien jerk'.
"Dammit Maria, could you quit squeezing my hand so hard, it hurts!" Growled Michael, sending his girlfriend a disgruntled look.
"Let's make a deal" hissed Maria "you grow up and admit you're a jerk, and I'll stop squeezing your hand too hard you big baby!"
With a sigh, Michael pulled his hand out of Maria's death grip and massaged it.
Isabel wrapped her arms around Alex and pressed her body to his as they swayed to the music. She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't a dream, and that she was in fact Mrs. Alexander Whitman, she sighed in contentment.
"How soon do you think we can make our escape?" She whispered into Alex's ear.
"So impatient to get me into bed Mrs Whitman?" He teased.
With one look, Isabel's eyes conveyed all that she was impatient to do with her husband as soon as they were alone.
Alex felt his body flush at the intensity of her look "you take the front door, I'll make for the bathroom and climb out of the window" he said, feeling the very impatience for 'alone time' that he had accused Isabel of being. "It'll be ten minutes before anyone knows we have gone."
Isabel giggled at the urgent look on her husbands face, before pulling him closer, completely at peace with the outcome of her life. Things were good!
Looking over her husband's shoulder she saw Cade Foster talking to the Sheriff near the doors of the hall they'd rented for the reception. This can't be good she thought to herself as she pulled away from Alex and pointed out the men. "Somehow I don't think he's here for the wedding."
Maria who'd been watching her sister and adoptive brother, now brother-in-law dance, turned around to see what had disrupted their romantic moment together. By this time, Mr. Evans had joined Cade and the Sheriff.
"Uh Oh" she sighed "happy time is over".
"What?" questioned Michael, forever at a loss to what Maria babbled about, this time being no exception.
"Well it looks like our few years of peace are over and war is about to hit us again."
She pointed out the small group now huddled in the corner of the hall.
"I'm going to find Max and Liz; you go and see what's going on" said Michael, instinctively knowing that something was up. "I seriously doubt he's here for the wedding."
Maria nodded; before walking over to join the group, which had now grown to include Alex and Isabel.
Cade addressed the group. "Can we all meet somewhere quiet, I don't think this is the place to discuss what I've come here to say."
ONE HOUR LATER AT THE CRASHDOWN
"I can't believe that it was only two years ago that your dad gave me a job here to help pay the bills when Alex and I first came to Roswell" said Maria as she helped Liz pour the drinks. "It seems like a lifetime ago."
"A lot has happened since then" agreed Liz.
"Not that I'm not grateful for the well timed job, I can't tell you how happy I am that I don't have to wear that god-awful uniform. It was an insult to my heritage"
Liz giggled "Imagine my embarrassment when I first started dating your brother."
"So you sure there is no chance your parents will walk in on this impromptu meeting?"
"They seemed to be having too much fun at the reception, I doubt they'll be back for at least another hour or two."
"I hope you are right, I can't imagine having to explain this one to the parentals."
"Yeah, me too" agreed Liz.
Seated at one of the booths across the room, Cade addressed the wedding couple.
"Alex, Isabel, I'm really sorry to ruin what is meant to be a special occasion for you, I just didn't think this could wait any longer" began Cade, his tone conveying his deep regret at the interruption of the couple's happy day.
"Hey, it's not your fault; you're just the messenger of what is obviously bad news" replied Alex.
"So what is it that brings you here?" Asked Max, ever the vigilant leader.
Cade held off his answer until Liz and Maria had finished handing out drinks to all those present, once they had seated themselves he began.
"From what I have deciphered from the quatrains, it looks like the Second Wave is about to hit us full force."
Isabel frowned in confusion "I thought you said the Second Wave would never happen, could never happen, unless the four of us were dead?"
After Max had been rescued, Cade had sat down with the four of them and had explained all that he had discovered from the Quatrains of Nostradamus, including the fact that whatever planet the King inhabited could not be destroyed because his essence protected it. That, however, did not stop the Gua from trying and they were very capable of doing major damage without destroying the planet.
The First Wave included experimentation of planets inhabitants, similar to what had been done to Cade and his wife.
The Second Wave, which had yet to begin, was the destruction of Earth's leaders, so that chaos reigned, allowing them the opportunity to take over as Earths Leaders. Invasion from above.
Fortunately for Earth, this could not be done without killing it's protectors, who Nostradamus had named as the Royal Four.
Nostradamus said that Earth's only hope was the Twice Blessed Man, and he was right, in that if not for Cade, the four aliens would know nothing about the war or their part in it. Cade was their guide, and the only one among them with any experience is thwarting the Gua.
If the Gua were lucky enough to kill them, they would be able to move past the Second Wave quickly and straight into the Third Wave as the Earth would no longer be protected by the King.
Cade looked at Isabel, worry etched into his face, as realization dawned she could feel the strength ebb from her body and she was grateful when Alex put an arm around her.
"So all we have to do is keep them from dying..right?" Asked Liz, her worry also evident, although a little more hidden.
"I don't know if it's going to be that easy, we have no idea how it's going to come about, or what to expect" answered the Twice Blessed Man. "Even if we do manage to keep you alive, it won't stop them from beginning the Second Wave."
Max eyed the weary group and made a quick decision "The only thing we can do is make sure we're prepared for anything. So I suggest we all get a good night sleep, and meet back at my place tomorrow to come up with a plan."
SUNNYDALE CEMETARY
The lone woman stalked her prey…the hunting ground…a cemetery. She cursed as her prey swerved, almost causing her to run into a tombstone, luckily her reflexes were quicker than that of a normal person.
She jumped the headstone and landed on the vampire, shoving her wooden stake smoothly into his heart. He exploded into dust, his scream of anger cut short as he disappeared.
She dusted herself off and looked around for any other vampires
Looking around she tried to find the remaining vampire "Hello? Mr Vampire…Slayer blood here, just waiting for you to taste!" She taunted, knowing without a doubt that her blood was an irresistible temptation to anything un-dead. It was like their mission in life to kill her…in fact, every time she came across one it was like a repeat performance of "I'm gonna kill you."
Her spider senses tingled, or what she at least referred to as spider sense, giving her ample warning to turn around and send a stake through the heart of the vampire creeping up behind her.
Shaking the dust off her arm, she decided she'd had enough of patrolling. Before heading back to her small apartment she made her way to her ex-watchers house, he'd left a message for her to meet him there after patrolling.
He opened the door, looking flustered and tired.
"Ah good Buffy, everyone's been waiting"
"Everyone? You mean it's a party…for me? How sweet" she quipped.
Giles ignored the sarcastic banter, he had learned long ago how to tune out when the children got into this mood. Instead he led her through to his small living room.
Xander came through with a cookie in each hand "The Scooby Gang is ready and awaiting further orders" he mock saluted, still holding the cookie. It was obvious he was relishing the midnight meeting, since the end of high school he had found himself in endless jobs, searching for his little place in the world and feeling more and more like a redundant member of the group.
Giles sat down on one of his sofa's and began his explanation for the late night meeting "About a month ago I received a shipment of books, ancient scrolls and such from an acquaintance in England, since I no longer have the resources of the Council I am forced to look elsewhere for the archaic texts we require."
"Is there a point to this, or are we all here to discuss the boredom that is life after Sunnydale High?" Questioned Xander, receiving nods of agreement from the rest of the Scoobies.
"Right, never mind. I was reading up on some er….stuff and that's when I came across the prophecy…"
Buffy interrupted "No wait let me guess, we are yet again facing the end of the world and we're all in danger."
"Yes as a matter of fact…" he paused to give his charge a long suffering look before continuing "In any case, it mentions nothing of demons, so we have some unknown entity involved, something very dangerous…of apocalypse proportions."
"Could it be a new type of demon or something, or a very old one, like before the written word or…"
Giles interrupted, knowing the young wiccan could pursue the line of thought for quite some time. "I couldn't actually make out the whole uh...uh prophecy, b-but I don't think so."
"Well that's informative, I'm glad you called me out at midnight to discuss…this" snarked Buffy good naturedly.
Giles gave Buffy another look of impatience, before picking up a very old and badly preserved scroll and began to read, "…and after that will come the Second Wave, it will be an invasion from above…" he placed the scroll back on the table before continuing, "the details are sketchy at best, but the prophesy is clear, if this invasion from above succeeds, it will bring about Armageddon."
"There's more. I got a call from Angel…" continued the Watcher.
"Angel?" repeated Buffy, her heart thumping in her chest at the thought of her former vampire lover.
Xander frowned, he had little time for anything 'Angel' related "What did dead boy want?"
Willow glanced at Buffy, a worried look on her face, knowing the pain of separation even after a couple of years was still strong in the deceptively frail looking Slayer.
"It's okay Will, I'm fine. So what did Angel want?"
"Apparently there is a lot of unusual activity going on in a town in New Mexico, and it all seems to tie in with the prophecy" answered Giles "Angel has some contacts in a spiritualist group, they trace and track any type of psychic energy, they've been picking up on large quantities of psychic vibrations from this town for some time. Until now, they were not concerned as most people have some small amount of psychic ability, recently however, these vibrations have increased, far beyond the natural abilities of most people. They believe that it's about to reach its crescent and when it does…it will bring the end of the world with it."
"Okay, nothing we haven't faced before. So, what, is there like another hellmouth there or what?" asked Xander, pretending to be less worried than he felt.
"Not that I know of, but it's not entirely improbable. What is strange is that from what I have been able to translate, the scroll was originally transcribed from a lost book of prophesies in the sixteenth century made by Nostradamus. The author of the scroll refers to Nostradamus as an Old one."
"I thought all of this end of the world stuff happened around hellmouths?" Questioned the usually quiet Oz.
"That's actually a common misconception, although most apocalypse's are experienced in and around places of strong mystical energy, such as a hellmouth, they can in fact occur anywhere. Although many conspiracy theorists believe that Roswell is a place of mystical energy…which led to Aliens visiting it in the late forties" answered Giles.
"Come on Giles…Aliens?" Smirked Buffy, giving her watcher a disapproving look.
"Yes, well…we can't rule anything out, including…little green men" he smiled mischievously at his ward.
"Was that a joke out of the mouth of our very own british up-tight?" teased Xander.
Buffy giggled, before turning serious "So I guess I'm going to New Mexico?"
"Not alone you're not, like I said previously, this is the unknown you're going into; you're going to need all of our help" intoned the watcher.
"Okay, not that i'm ungrateful for the support or anything, but in-case you've forgotten, we have a hellmouth of our own that will be sitting here unprotected whilst we're all touring around New Mexico."
Giles removed his glasses from his face and began cleaning them, a sign that Buffy was probably not going to like whatever it was that he had to say.
"That's why Faith is currently on her way here."
"Are you insane?" Exclaimed Xander. "Your plan is to protect the Hellmouth with a supernaturally strong psycho killer?"
"I'm with Xander on this one" agreed Willow.
"Whilst I share your doubts, I do believe that Faith is making a concerted effort to reform herself, and Angel believes that she is more than capable of handling the Hellmouth whilst we are away."
Xander snorted in disgust, "well if the psycho killer dead guy thinks that the psycho killer Slayer is reformed, then I guess that's okay" said Xander, obviously still believing Giles to be mad, whilst Willow looked to Buffy for her opinion.
"You're the only one whose seen her since...since she got out."
"We can trust her" Buffy replied firmly.
She may not like Faith, but she'd seen enough to know that the girl was sincere in her quest for redemption, and, after all was said and done, Faith was her sister Slayer. The only other girl in the whole world who knew what it meant to be the 'One girl in all the world with the strength and ability to fight the forces of darkness'.
"Okay, but if she kills anyone I get first dibs on 'I told you so'." Informed Xander.
"So...New Mexico?" Said Oz, drawing the conversation back to the task at hand.
"Road trip" sang Xander, excited about the impending adventure "or is it air trip? How far is this place exactly?"
The group of demon fighters began making travelling plans and arrangements to take leave from their respective jobs/schools.
Gaiea watched the interaction of the scoobies from across the road, her heightened senses allowed her to follow the conversation without having to be in the room.
Obviously her mind insertion had worked.
She'd been waiting patiently for the past couple of years for the Watcher and the Slayer to discover on their own their connection to Roswell and the Royal Four.
Unfortunately things were progressing much faster than she had anticipated in Roswell and she could no longer wait for the Sunnydalians to come across the information on their own, so she had, had to take things into her own hands and insert into the British mans mind a slight control, pushing him to read the prophesy that would invariably lead him to Roswell.
Fortunately it had worked, as they were now making plans to visit the infamous town.
Fortunately too, her slight control over the spiritual group had given her access to the souled vampire as he too would be needed in the fight to come.
Although the Mind Insert had worked, Gaiea was not happy. She should not have had to interfere in the path of the Slayer, her job was that of an observer, allowing them to take their own paths, interfering only if there was little other option available.
This had been one of those occasions.
Apparently the watcher was not as wise as his ancestors had been, otherwise she would not have had to interfere at all. This gave her cause for concern, the part of the Watcher in this pre-ordained destiny was integral, she hoped he would be able to live up to it.
Shaking her head solemnly Gaiea reminded herself that she'd had little faith in the Royal Four ever finding each other, but, after the dream-vision she'd sent them about the Pod Chamber, they'd done very well and had proven themselves worthy of their titles. Perhaps she shouldn't be so hasty in her opinion of the watcher.
Glancing at the other occupants in the room, Gaiea consoled herself with the fact that if the Watcher was unable to complete his part in this pre-ordained destiny, that there was another among the group who had the potential.
Holding her palm out, Gaiea whispered a few words in her native tongue. As she spoke, a small golden ball formed in her palm.
Drawing in a breath, she blew on the golden light and sent it into the only other person in the room capable of taking over if the Watcher failed.
She hoped however that he did not for she did not think the other would be ready in time should the Watcher not do his part.
With a final sigh she turned away, she had played her part and set the Destiny's in motion. Let fate handle the rest.