Disclaimer: Don't own any of the series mentioned in this story.
Author's note: So it's been way too long since I updated this story. I've been focused on other stories that I've had a hard time trying to come up with anything new for this one. Also I've been working for months now, so my updates won't come as frequently as they did before. But now I'm updating this story, and hopefully there will be more as time goes on.
Angel Investigations
Los Angeles, California
Mid May, 2003
The hotel's occupants filled the lobby of the former hotel where everyone had come together after relaxing and taking comfort in knowing that they had survived what would be considered an apocalyptic event. The potential, now transformed, slayers sat and discussed typical teenage and female discussions as they felt a great weight coming off their shoulders. Gabriel and Alucard, or Trevor as he was allowing himself to be called again, looked around as they thought on how the war against the darkness still wasn't over.
A bright flash alerted them to the arrival of an angel, and saw that it was actually the Ariel native to this universe. She looked at the two vampires and regarded Gabriel. "The Halliwells are ready for you whenever you are."
"Hold on," Gabriel said as he stepped towards her. "What exactly are you asking me to do?"
"The garrison that I led held three divine powers that would turn three humans into what they knew as Old Gods. During humanity's earliest days, the titans were running amok and the Elders gave three humans those powers, and defeated the titans. Unfortunately, given the nature of humans, it's easy for them to become corrupted by power."
"And now you're asking my father to take them down. Why aren't you able to do this yourself?" Alucard asked.
Ariel looked a bit put out by the question. "I could but I've been asked to leave it to Gabriel."
Alucard appeared mollified by the reply and decided to drop it. With one look to his father, he nodded and the elder vampire left with the archangel in a flash.
Halliwell Manor
San Francisco, California
Piper, Phoebe and Paige waited in the living room of their home when they saw a bright flash of light. They were greeted by Ariel and a men in a long, blood red coat with pale skin and red eyes. The ladies were ready to use their powers when the archangel stopped them. "It's alright. He's the one I told you about. He's here to stop the titans."
"He looks like a demon," Phoebe said warily.
"I'm not," Gabriel said before he rolled his eyes and continued. "Not exactly."
"What's going on exactly?" Paige asked.
Gabriel went about explaining how he was a human turned vampire and what led to his becoming known as Dracula, very much unlike the demonic vampire who took the name. The sisters shivered at the thought of a demon as powerful as the Forgotten One, as many of the demons they fought were powerful in their own rights. However, their greatest consolation was that he was someone who had beaten the first of the fallen, and gaining enough power to take on almost anything, even a lesser deity.
"So what can we do to take these guys down?" Piper asked.
"Out of the four of us, I have the raw power to be able to take them on directly. Since you won't be using the powers of the Olympians, then I will have to rely on you all as a rearguard. Your abilities come from the divine source, so there's no reason you shouldn't be powerful enough to do more than your regular powers."
Piper spoke up, "What do you mean more than our regular powers? All we have are our active and passive powers. And those can only grow over time."
"And yet your enemies are capable of enacting more powers and abilities than beyond their inherent abilities. Those fallen have powers beyond what most humans do, but then what about the warlocks and dark witches?"
"You mean them using energy balls? We can't do that. Those powers are associated with demons. They're fueled by evil," Phoebe jumped in.
"Are you so sure about that?"
"You've been told about how our powers work. How can you ask us that?" Paige said.
Gabriel looked to the youngest sister. He could see why they didn't like the prospect of using other powers. But he had long seen examples of power corruption. But then again, those corrupted by power had to have their hearts corrupted to begin with. But he could see how these ladies would not have to worry about corruption. They had people to fight for, much like he did. Unlike him, they still had everything dear to them.
"Let me show you how to truly use your power," Gabriel said.
Angel Investigations
Alucard went in search of Xander wondering how the young man was coping with his new-found power. He remembered his training with the brotherhood when he was told who he was and what he was capable of. He figured the young man could go far. He found the room that Xander, Faith, and Dawn decided to share. He was still a little skeptical about the bonds forming between the three but chose not to say anything. He knocked on the door and was greeted by the sight of Faith without her jacket while Dawn and Xander were laughing up a storm. As he looked at the young girl, he sensed that she had an incredible aura of power.
"Hey Al. What's up?" Faith asked.
"I wanted to speak with Xander about how training to use his abilities. Are you all alright?" the white haired vampire replied.
"We're fine. Great actually. I've never felt so alive before today," Dawn said.
Alucard studied the girl, noting how she still had the amulet from Wolfram and Hart. However, he sensed how the amulet seemed to providing power to the girl combined with whatever power she had lying dormant within her.
"Perhaps you'd like training yourself?"
Dawn gave a look of confusion before she replied, "But Buffy already trained me."
"She trained you how to fight as a normal human. But with your new powers, you need to learn how to control it, especially since this war likely isn't over," Alucard said.
"Damn. He's right. Even if we scrunched Lilith, there's still whoever gave her power to begin with," Xander said.
"My father defeated him before when he was still limited. He can come again, next time stronger than before."
"So what do you want to train us in?" Xander asked.
"Your powers may very well differ in their source, but it's still possible to channel them in a similar manner to how my father and I did when we were human."
"You mean that whole light and shadow thing?" Faith jumped back in.
Alucard nodded before he continued, "In a way. Even the light and shadow energies require channeling energy in order to make them work. The same goes with the Alexander who visited us. With his energy projection, it requires that he concentrates on pushing out his energy in certain ways as well as manipulating it to whatever effect he desires. It's the same for invocations, but none of you will require a pagan deity to rely on it."
"Guess we had to get down to it sooner or later," Xander said.
Alucard smirked and motioned for them to follow.
Halliwell Manor
The sisters breathed heavily as they're training session ended. Gabriel had shown them how to channel the energy that existed in creation to help them not only channel their power, but allow them to perform other abilities that they had seen. They had managed to fire energy bolts as well as use other powers, such as levitation (Phoebe's secondary power), forming barriers, and even telekinesis. However, performing these feats had caused them to feel near exhausted.
"This...is interesting," Gabriel mused.
"Interesting? All this stuff we pulled off and interesting is the only thing you can come up with?" Paige snapped out.
Gabriel simply dismissed her attitude as he replied, "It's interesting because of how quickly you drained your reserves of power. That and the fact that you didn't rely on the energy that lies beneath your home. With the nexus right beneath your feet, you had a potentially infinite source of energy."
"I don't think we would've been able to really handle that kind of power. And what did you mean about our reserves of power?" Piper asked.
"It's certainly true that you can gain more than one ability when you use the energy. Whether it's freezing someone, telekinesis, or forming barriers, manipulating energy to various effects can be learned. But to be able to use these powers more often, you have to build up your reserves. Using invocations for some builds up those reserves, but for others it's about the same as exercising a muscle."
"In other words we can't do much, trying to use powers we weren't born with can wear us out unless we keep training," Piper surmised.
"Yes. The powers that you were born with are yours to do with however you want," Gabriel added.
"But we don't use our powers that way. If we use them for just any old thing, it backfires on us," Piper said.
"That much I understand. You should always be cautious when your powers aren't being used outside of battle or training. But if those rules are true, well...the warlocks you've faced would be suffering."
"What?" all three sisters asked.
"I've come across my fair share of witches who used their powers for evil, especially where it concerned their worship of the first of the fallen. Whatever services they performed in the Devil's service, they didn't suffer in the manner that most people think they should."
"Meaning that the rules and reed we follow aren't necessarily as true as we think," Piper said.
"Yes. It was a long time before I was reaffirmed in this, but there is a reason why God works in the ways He does. He works towards something greater."
"I guess we should've understood that a little sooner," Phoebe said with a soft smile.
"More on that later. For now, I need to take care of these so-called Titans. Then I need to have a chat with the Elders," Gabriel said with a bit of anger.
"You may need some help with that," came the voice of another man. The eavesdropper appeared to be a young adult male with his hair in bangs that were combed away from his face.
"And you would be?" Gabriel said as he was ready to summon his sword.
"This is...Chris. Chris Halliwell. He's mine and Leo's son," Piper answered. Gabriel looked oddly at her before he realized and voiced his guess at how it was possible. "Time travel."
"Yeah. I came back tot his time to prevent a dark future from happening. But I thought about helping with the Titans since they're going to try and take over the Upper Realms and Earth."
"Do you know where they will be?" Gabriel asked the young man.
"I might have an idea."
Golden Gate Park
Botanical Garden
Cronus, Demetrius, and Meta walked the park after they appeared. They had immediately wanted to enter the Upper Regions to destroy the Elders but found that they didn't have the ability to enter there. Instead, they figured that finding whitelighters to steal their orbing ability would be more efficient. However, the three false gods sensed a powerful presence. They turned to see who what was behind them when they saw a man with a blood red coat, black pants, boots, and black hair. What was particularly striking were his red irises and his claws.
"Well, you're rather interesting. It's not many humans like you in the world," Cronus said.
Gabriel smirked as he replied, "I haven't felt human in a long time."
"It doesn't matter. You'll die just like any other mortal," Meta snapped.
"I've beaten a false god before. And I did that when I was human," Gabriel spat back.
Demetrius took a look at Gabriel as he tried to get a deeper sense of his power. He had sensed an underlying power beneath the dark aura, which turned out to be a holy light the deeper he looked.
"Hold my siblings. He may be telling the truth. There is something about him that is off," the deity said.
"Please, he's just one man. We've made men bow before us. And this one will do the same," Cronus said. He and Meta immediately threw fire at Gabriel who simply leaned to his right, making the flames pass by. Demetrius charged lightning in his right hand before he shot it out. Gabriel simply summoned his Void Sword, with the blade absorbing the opposing energy.
Gabriel dispelled his sword and immediately charged them. He had slashed out at Meta's face before he swung his fist at Demetrius, knocking him out. Cronus backed away in fear at seeing how easily he could catch them off guard. Cronus shot out more fire which Gabriel didn't bother dodging. Cronus felt proud for all of five seconds as he saw that the man didn't disintegrate into ashes. Instead, the flames simply surrounded him before the vanished, leaving fire surrounding his forearms.
"H-how? No human has ever been this strong," the false god said in fear.
Gabriel frowned at him before he coldly replied, "I' haven't been a man in a long time. When I was, I was forced to kill an Old God who was fighting on the side of the One True God. That was when I was a man. I never feared false gods. I certainly don't fear you."
"How does a man have darkness and light in him at the same time?" Cronus shouted as his companions rallied to his side after recovering.
"I am now the most powerful vampire man has ever known. But when I was a man, I was chosen by God to save the world. I defeated an Old God, and defeated Satan before sending him back to prison. You are nothing to me!"
The three gods simply stepped back in fear. It didn't save them as Gabriel charged and grabbed Meta with one of his flaming fists. She let out a blood curdling scream as the flames burned her inside and out before her body turned into a burned and withered husk that he dropped to the ground. Demetrius tried to shoot lightning, which Gabriel absorbed with his sword again. He charged the second member of the group and impaled him with the sword, which made him freeze before he shattered to pieces. Cronus was the last one left. He was left in a daze as Gabriel simply swung his sword and decapitated the false god. With all three dead, the power that made them what they are left their bodies and floated in the air.
Before anything else could happen, twelve lights had shined from the sky before they came to the ground. The lights faded and revealed human looking individuals in white robes with gold trimmings and sashes.
"I take it you are the Elders," Gabriel stated rather than ask.
The lead elder, who appeared as an older black man with salt-and-pepper hair and beard, stepped forward and replied, "Yes, we are."
"Then perhaps you can tell me why you allowed mortals to have this power. I heard about the brilliant idea that you gave mortal the power of lesser deities because you thought they could defeat the titans, only for them to be corrupted by that power."
"You're one to talk seeing as how you're a vampire claiming to fight for good when centuries before, you were fighting against the brotherhood of light, who raised you."
"You go too far angel!" Gabriel felt ready for a fight when Ariel showed up. She has a sneer on her face that marred her features, yet made the Elders back down as they looked tot heir superior.
"Ariel. We were simply defending our actions. We really didn't have much choice at the time, the titans were threatening to spread."
"But you also helped fuel the spread of false gods." Ariel turned to Gabriel. "In the time of 1000 BC, Father called myself a few other archangels to rally together for certain preparations. I left the elders in charge to get rid of the titans. But the power they gave the mortals was pure, raw, divine energy straight from the source. It's something that humans couldn't handle, not during the Old Testament days when mankind was on the path to self destruction. That was why the Creator is the one to empower humans to enact his will. It was to show them what He could do for them and through them."
Ariel turned to the Elders, who kept their heads down from hearing how the choices they've made in the past only came back to bite them.
"What of Prue Halliwell?" Gabriel said.
"Her death was not one that was meant to happen as far as we can tell. But that has changed recently," she explained.
"She's alive? Do her sisters know?"
"No. But in time, things will change. For the moment, your task is over," Ariel said.
"Not yet. There is one thing I wish to take care of," the vampire replied.
"And what's that?"
"I'd like to get rid of a certain group of demons," he replied.
"Alright. In that case, I have someone whom I think you'd be interested in meeting. He can also helping you in taking out their minions. After all, it never hurts to have back-up," the archangel said with a smile.
Gabriel simply stared at her in confusion.
Castlevania City
Wygol, Romania
Victor Belmont exited the cathedral of the church, ready to try and find evidence to bring down the major factions of the city. He had long known that the Bioquimek corporation, the weapons manufacturer, and the organized church of the city had been run by leaders who were not only acolytes of Satan but also his half-angel children. However, it was hard to take them down when their followers were willingly taking their orders, and most of the city believing themselves to be safe.
Before he could muse further, a bright light has flashed behind him. He turned to see a lovely brunette woman in white robes. However, the man accompanying her is what caught his attention. He prepared to attack the vampire when the woman lifted her head. He immediately sensed her rise in power and stopped as he recognized that she wasn't human.
"Easy Victor. He's not here to attack anyone," Ariel said.
"And I'm not surprised. The brotherhood finally decided to take responsibility for the truth behind my family's unfortunate legacy," Victor responded.
Gabriel's eyes widened slightly in surprise. "So you know the entire truth."
"You mean how Fate had planned manipulated you. How Satan through Zobek manipulated you to murder Marie. How when you looked into the mirror, you saw yourself become what you are now. And how you had no other choice. Then there's what happened to Trevor. Need I go on?"
"No."
"I've taken a look into the mirror myself. It showed me dying at the hands of one of Satan's acolytes. But afterwards, the mirrors showed me other images about what could happen to me, as if Fate no longer has any idea what it's trying to show me."
"You mean Fate cannot determine the future any longer?" Gabriel said.
Victor looked to his ancestor as he replied, "It would seem so. I have questions but I can save them for another time. Why exactly are you here?"
"We need your help," Ariel said as she handed Victor a silver, shimmering sword.
Entrance to the Underworld
Deep inside a cave system outside of San Francisco, the Triad members stood around in a circle with their minions. Their were meeting to come up with another plan to defeat their hated enemies, the Charmed Ones. However, their meeting was soon interrupted by the sound of one of their minions letting out a blood curdling scream before their body was thrown down towards the center of their circle. What appeared before them was a charred husk of the body the former demon inhabited.
The triad looked to see who intruded upon their gathering when they saw two men, one of whom they easily recognized.
The first to speak was Asmodeus. "Well. It seems the so-called Dragon is still alive. We all believed you dead."
"You were mistaken demon. For all the claims your kind makes to make yourselves greater than God, you're still nothing. None of you can stand against me and my distant son."
Baliel stepped forward with a sneer on his face, "You Belmonts think that you're something special. Destroy them!"
The demonic minions immediately moved to intercept when Victor pulled out the sword that Ariel gave him. The sword itself had a three foot long, double-edged blade, with the hilt taking the shape of a crucifix. The demons saw the blade and cowered in fear from recognition. However, as they remembered that it's current wielder was still human, they charged again. Victor concentrated before the blade of the sword was surrounded by light magic energy. The modern Belmont swung at the first demon that came close, cutting off his head and killing the demon. This gave the other demons pause as they saw that this human was not one to be underestimated, especially given the status of his ancestor. They became even more fearful when Gabriel summoned his own Void Sword.
Over the next twenty minutes, the combined might of holy power within the Belmont men, and the dark powers assisting Gabriel, allowed the two to overcome and defeat the minions of the Triad. With only the aforementioned demons left, Victor and Gabriel stood before them, looking none the worse for wear.
"So, it's just us now. What will you do? You are the commanding force behind your demons after all," the vampire mocked.
"Damn you vampire!" Asmodeus wailed out before he shot out a blast of magical power. The power behind it engulfed the Belmont men. However, once it dissipated, the triad found that Victor had erected a divine shield while Gabriel had erected his Void Shield.
"Is that your best?" Gabriel asked. Before any of the triad could move, Gabriel had used his mist power to reappear behind Baliel and Candor. He had summoned his sword and impaled the former. The latter had been caught in the grip of Gabriel's Chaos Claw in his left hand. Candor writhed in pain as the fires torn at his very being before his was completely annihilated.
Asmodeus backed away in fear as he looked to Victor Belmont. He began thinking over every decision made and immediately regretted rebelling in the early days of creation. He didn't on it much longer when Victor, using those metal boots and the Seraph Shoulders, had dashed towards Asmodeus and pierced him where the equivalent of his heart would be. The demon looked down at the sword before the light exploded inside of him. As he screamed, his physical body disintegrated as well.
Victor stowed the sword away in his own personal, pocket dimension before he turned to his great grandfather. "Seems ferocity in battle runs in the family."
"Hmph. It would appear so," Gabriel said with a small smile.
Before they knew it, they were at the Halliwell manor. The two men were surprised as the sisters were to see them suddenly appear.
"So you've taken care of them?" Chris asked.
"Yes we have," Gabriel replied. Ariel appeared from around the corner of a door frame between the living room and entryway.
"The triad has been taken care of as well. Any remaining demons that were under their command are abandoning their attempts to claim the nexus," the archangel stated.
"So what does that mean for us?" Piper asked with hope.
"It means that the nexus will be claimed by the heavens. The demons will not be able to enter the territory that encompasses it. It's a good thing too with the hellmouth gone," Ariel said. Before the sisters could ask any further, they noticed that Chris was fading in and out.
"What's going on?" Paige asked.
"He's going back to his own time. With the course of events changing here, he could very well end up back in his universe, but a new timeline will be created," she started before Chris disappeared completely. "But if there's one thing he can say now, it's that he's learned that there is always hope. I'm glad I was tasked with being the one who helped move it along."
Phoebe simply nodded along before she turned tot he female archangel with a questioning look. "What did you mean about the hellmouth? And what about you being asked to help out?"
"You've understood that there are forces that have been around longer than you think. But there is something greater than them that created everything that you've seen and known. Or rather...someone."
"You mean God," Piper said as she recalled her fear of approaching church grounds thanks to history's view of witches.
"Yes. Father put myself and some of my siblings in charge of groups to enact tasks for certain people. But as you saw with my garrison, they thought that trying to keep a balance was necessary for the inevitable was more necessary. But some thing have happened that involved others who have been fighting the same fight. You could say that there's a reason Father had things happen this way."
She decided to sit down and explain everything that happened only days ago while thinking about the girl that the Belmonts had inadvertently saved, and that she had sent home when the battle was over.
Angel Investigations
Xander, Dawn, and Faith laid on the bed of their shared room as they felt exhausted. Alucard had trained them and the former potentials to be able to channel their new-found powers by controlling energy. For the potentials and former demon-possessed slayers, it was channeling their energy into physical attacks. Xander managed to learn how to create the same effects his dimensional double had made, while dawn had learned that she could cross the dimensional barrier to transport herself and maybe others to wherever she could think of. Needless to say, everyone was coming to accept the changes made. However, they would be in for the surprise of their lives for what awaited them next.
Author's note: there it is. Not much action mostly because training montages are better for movies. Also, the antagonists featured in this chapter, when Gabriel Belmont is introduced in the mix, wouldn't last long and in the series they came from, were mostly inconsequential. Lastly, form a creative writing perspective, bringing back bad guys who were dead doesn't always go well, writing-wise. Mainly because there is only so much you can do with them before they're just run to the ground and what made them likable gets torn to pieces. And because the triad had been gone for years when they first died, bringing them back normally says the writers didn't know what else to do, and the later seasons by some viewers were considered to have been less favorable with how the writing went into the comic book territory, not to mention making the same mistake that most shows like it make, which is establishing certain rules only to either contradict them or "pull something out of their asses" (it's an actual trope with writing). Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a less angry version of my Hand of Fate stories so far. I will try to update this and others more.
