Disclaimer: I did not own Buffy, Angel or characters from the Silmarillion and the Lord of the Rings. The Angel Academy and Institute are my own creation.
NOTE 1: This is a short AU of my story, the New Watcher. It takes place after the battle with the First Evil and after the War of Wrath in the First Age of Middle-Earth.
NOTE 2: If you want to know about the Angel Academy and Institute, read chapters 1 and 2 of the New Watcher; and read chapter 4 of New Life to see how Dawn got her wands.
NOTE 3: When Angela or anyone from the Angel Institute are speaking to any of the Valar or Maia, they are speaking in the angelic language, except for the meeting that will be held with the slayers.
Everyone watched as Lord's Namo and Eonwe walked to Eru Ilúvatar's Herald's tent without an escort the following morning. Eonwe was dressed in his finest armor and Namo told him everything the Valar knew the night before.
"There coming," Vi said, peeking out of the tent flap.
As Namo and Eonwe approached, Dawn was waiting to escort them inside. "Good morning," she said, with a smile on her face.
"Good morning Dawn," Namo replied returning the smile and introduced Eonwe.
Eonwe studied Dawn. He knew she was Buffy's younger sister and Lord Namo told him of the power she possessed, and that she was a healer and magic wielder. He also saw the light around her and wondered why Eru Ilúvatar would give such a young mortal female that much power.
"Right this way," Dawn said, and opened the tent flap.
When they entered, everyone turned and looked at the visitors and then went back to what they were doing. Eonwe saw strangely dressed young mortal men and women and noticed they didn't give any deference to either Lord Namo or himself. He could feel the power coming off all of them and could tell which ones were half-Ainur.
They both noticed the tent was sectioned off in three areas; one for dining; one for lounging, and one as a work area. All the tables were round and the leather furniture was very strange to them. They also saw a kitchen. They noticed that the women wore pants, just the men, and some of the female's tops were somewhat revealing; and all the men had short hair, along with some of the females. One man had a bald head.
"Hello Eonwe my name is Angela Simone and I'm Eru Ilúvatar's Herald and Dooms Women," she said, when she appeared in front of him.
Eonwe looked at the young mortal woman and knew this was the woman the Vanyar elves were still talking about.
"Hello," he said.
"Everyone will introduce themselves," she said.
Everyone said hello and introduced themselves.
After the introductions, Giles, Buffy, Angela, Namo and Eonwe sat down at one of the tables, while the rest took seats around the room. The Valar and Maia were watching from the Máhanaxar in Valinor.
"To understand what's going on, we have to start at the beginning," Angela said. "Mr. Giles."
"Our world did not start out as a paradise. For untold eons the Old Ones walked the earth. They made it their home, their hell. But in time, they lost their purchase on our reality and the way was made for animals and the human race.
The Old Ones were huge, powerful, pure-breed demons that had different shapes and each had ferocious power. One had four heads and when they walked, the ground shook. They ruled over vast territories, commanded fearsome demon armies, and constantly made war against each other. Some left our dimension voluntarily; others were killed, and some were driven out.
The last Old One was defeated by a slayer using the scythe. 'Into each generation a girl is born: one girl in all the world, a chosen one. She alone will fight the vampires, demons, and all the forces of darkness; to stop the spread of their evil and the swell of their numbers. She is the Slayer.
When one dies, another one is called. The slayer's power comes from the shadow demon, which is a very powerful power pure-bred demon. They also have other abilities that no angel has because they need them. They have almost instant healing; superior strength, hearing, eyesight and speed; far superior than any elf, if you're wondering, and the moment they pick up a weapon, they know how to use it," Giles finished.
"I was called as slayer when I was 15. I didn't know I was the slayer until a man named Merrick approached me and told me I was the Chosen One and what my destiny would be; and he informed me he was my Watcher. He died protecting me a few months later," Buffy told them. "When we moved to Sunnydale, Giles was there waiting for me and told me he was my new Watcher. A Watcher is a member of a secret organization called the Watchers' Council, who prepares the slayer to fight demonic forces, and the town of Sunnydale was built over a hellmouth."
"The hellmouth is a place where the barriers between dimensions are weak and has a focal point, which serves as a portal between earth and hell. Because of this, the hellmouth attracts demons and other supernatural creatures, becoming a 'hot spot' for supernatural activity. There are many hell mouths on our world, but only one is active at any given time," Giles told them.
"The hellmouth in Sunnydale sank into a deep crater three years ago after our battle with the First Evil's army, the Turok-Han," Faith said.
"Imagine combatants numbering three times what you've just fought Eonwe; and each had great power; waiting to come out of the hellmouth to overrun our world; which they would've done in only a few days, if not for Eru Ilúvatar's magic in the scythe that called up an army of slayers. Even then, that wasn't sufficient.
An amulet was given to Buffy, via Angel before they went into battle. Armed with an amulet they knew nothing about and the slayer scythe that holds the key to the slayer line; with magic and power they didn't know if they could control, they went into the hellmouth to battle the First Evil's army, with Buffy as their Captain.
Spike was wearing the amulet around his neck during the battle and stopped fighting when it started to glow. He knew it was the end for him; and a few seconds later, Eru Ilúvatar's power was released from the amulet and all the Turok-Han in the hellmouth were killed instantly. Then his power shot up and opened a hole in the roof of the building to let in the sunlight and the remaining Turok-Han, on that level, were killed by the sun.
When Eru Ilúvatar's power was released, the Sunnydale hellmouth was closed forever and the whole town sank into a crater, as Faith stated earlier. Had the First Evil and its army prevailed, they would've gone on and destroyed all of Eru Ilúvatar's creation including Arda and Valinor," Angela said to Eonwe.
"We all thought the Turok-Han were a myth. We found out later they left our dimension when the Old Ones did," Giles said.
"The Old Ones had come and gone on our world millions of years before any of you descended into Arda," Angela said.
"They're that old?" Eonwe asked.
"They were old before they came to our world, that's why they're called the Old Ones," David said.
"Only Eru Ilúvatar's power can kill an Old One," Angela stated.
"Who's the First Evil?" Namo asked, after Manwë asked him to ask the question.
"The source and embodiment of all that is evil; and it transcends all dimensions and realities. It was here long before creation, hiding in the shadows, and it will be here long after creation ends, still hiding in the shadows," Giles answered.
"Anyone or anything that is evil is ultimately serving the First Evil," Aaron said.
"The First Evil was here long before angels were created," David told them.
"How long has this battle with evil been going on, on your world?" Eonwe asked.
"No one really knows. Our world wasn't always like this, but something happened on our world eons ago, which caused our dimensional walls to become weak; and God knew that hell would open and the demons would escape, and he told us we would have to live with them. This fight will go on until the Great Day of Judgment.
God created our world for us to live in, and unlike Arda, we don't have elves or dwarves. Only humans live there, or as you call them, the race of men or mortals. We call ourselves humans; human beings; or the human race; and contrary to what you might think, it's a very beautiful place," Angela answered.
"Dawn, show them what our world looks like," Giles said.
Dawn took out a wand, waved it, saying a few words in Latin, and a globe appeared.
"See," Angela said, turning the globe. "We have over six billion people living on our world and 71% of the surface of our world is water, which should please Ulmo."
"I am pleased to hear it," Ulmo said to her mentally, in the angelic language.
Then the globe disappeared.
xxx
"Five years ago, a demon hell goddess named Glorificus, came to Sunnydale. Glory, as we called her, was banished from her hell dimension into our earthly dimension. She was from a higher demon dimension with powers that her fellow Lords and Ladies in the other hell dimensions couldn't possibly conceive.
When they banished her, they put her in a human form, and she was known as the Beast; She Who Should Never be Named, and The Abomination. If we ever looked upon her in her true form, we would go insane.
Glory wanted to return to her hell dimension, however, when her brethren kicked her out, they made sure she could never return. She found a way to get home, but in order to get there, she had to open all the hell dimensions, which she tried to do. That's what you felt five years ago; all the dimensional walls were coming down and began bleeding into one another. Buffy closed the portal by jumping to death and Glory was destroyed," Giles told them.
"That came from your world?" Namo asked.
"Yes it did," Giles answered.
"Some things that happen on our world can have consequences for Eru's entire creation," Angela said. "Glory and the First Evil, for example."
"That's why a portal formed on Arda and two other worlds. We closed all the portals and killed the demons on the other worlds and the only thing left for us to do is track down and kill the demons here," Rona said.
"How did you became a half-Ainur?" Eonwe asked Angela, curious to know.
"My father is one of the Powers in the Timeless Halls and my mother is human. When my grandmother gave birth to a baby boy, Eru Ilúvatar sent his spirit into that baby's body.
"Did he know who he was?" Eonwe asked.
"No. None of you do and all of you grow up and lead normal human lives until it's time for you to return to the Timeless Halls," Tess answered.
"You also have no power and suffer the same ills as everyone else, mentally and physically," Aaron stated.
"One abandoned her family because of her schizophrenia, which means, she suffered a mental break from reality and became delusional and sank into the depths of darkness and madness. She also became an alcoholic and was homeless," Bobby told them. "She suffered for years and no one could possibly know her torment. She was trapped in her own mind and couldn't get out."
"She lived in an abandoned building in her own filth. Members of the Angel Institute were told where to find her and when they did, they found her on her knees with her arms opened wide and her eyes were burned out. We knew then she had been taken back to heaven. An autopsy was performed on body and the Medical Examiner said she only a few months to live because her liver was about to give out," David told them. "She was also my mother."
There was gasped in the room.
"I'm sorry," Giles said to David.
"Thank you Mr. Giles," he replied. "If wasn't anyone's fault. She has a mental disease that could not be cured."
"What's an autopsy?" Namo asked.
"It's the examination of a dead human body to discover the cause of death or the extent of a disease. Autopsies are performed on every dead human on our world because a cause of death has to put on the Death Certificate," Bobby answered. "The cause of death we put on David's mother's Death Certificate was Liver Failure."
"Your lives are not peaches and cream when you are sent to earth to inhabit a human body. This is not the Timeless Halls and there is no bliss here. Everyone gets something and no one escapes it and David's mother got a disease of the mind, called madness," Dan told Namo and Eonwe.
"That's life and you have to go with the flow," Angela said.
"Life is a bitch and then you die," Charlie said.
"You got that right," Rona said.
"How did you know she was taken back to heaven?" Faith asked, still confused.
"That's how it's done and my father died the same way when they came for him, and they always come at night when everyone's asleep. When one appeared outside our home, I woke up. Then two more appeared in the living room. I heard my father go downstairs and when I started to get out of bed, one appeared in my bedroom and made sure I couldn't get out of bed. He then brought my head to his chest and I couldn't open my eyes.
I found out later that he died on his knees, with his arms out wide and his eyes were burned out," Angela answered. She could see a few confused looks on the slayer's faces. "He looked upon a Seraphim in all his glory."
"The Seraphim's are the highest order of angels," Dan replied.
"Is that what you call them," Namo asked.
"Yes," Angela answered.
"They are the big dogs, as we like to say," Charlie said.
"We can't look at them?" Rona asked.
"Not unless you want to give up your soul and that's what happened to them. Their spirits are either taken back to heaven or they go themselves," Tess answered. "We don't know which."
"My money is on they went themselves," Angela stated.
"Why?" Giles asked.
"They know their way back and forth," she replied.
"What was your father like?" Eonwe asked Angela.
"He was just an ordinary man who worked hard to take care of his family. He loved his family more than anything and he used to show me off," she answered with a smile. "That's what the rest of you don't understand. You don't know what it's like to have children and be parents, except Aulë. When my father looked at me the first time, he wept, because he had never felt such love for anyone in all his whole life. It's a different kind of love than you for a spouse. That love is endless and will be there forever. Love between a man and a women can come and go, but the love for a child is everlasting because you helped make them and they are part of you."
"That's why we have it better than you," David said. "I have three children and my wife and I love them more than you can ever know."
"You don't know what true love is until you have children because they are your creation," Dan said.
"None of you will ever love us because you really don't know what true love is, and that love is only between a parent and child," Tess said.
"We love our children more than we love you and we don't love you at all," Angela said.
"Why?" Eonwe asked.
"We don't have to and you are an abstract to us, which means existing only in the mind," Angela answered.
"In order for humans to like or love anyone they have to get to know and trust you. We don't like or love you because we don't know you. You would know that if you knew humans," Bobby replied.
"The only ones we like or love in the Timeless Halls are our parents because we know them," David said.
"You really don't understand us at all," Charlie said.
"It's time for lunch and I'm starved," Caridad said.
Everyone laughed.