Harry Potter and the Other Slayer by TruSlayer
Chapter 4: Becoming - Part Two
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"At the museum. A tomb..." Drusilla said with a toothy smile, "with a surprise inside."
Angelus held up a hand to Dru's head and asked, "You can see that all in your head?"
"No, you ninny. She read it in the morning paper," Spike remarked dryly as he handed over the newspaper.
The headline of the Sunnydale Press read, "Mysterious Obelisk Unearthed: Excavators Discover Ancient Artifact."
"That's what's been whispering to me," Drusilla said in a small voice.
"Oh, yeah. Don't worry though. Soon it'll stop," Angelus said to Dru, then turned his head to Spike, "Soon it'll scream."
Angelus throws a smile to Spike while Drusilla waves her head around open-mouthed and playfully snaps at Angelus' cheek.
SUNNYDALE HIGH - LIBRARY
"What are you saying?" asked Giles as he walked to the center of the room.
"The Curse," Jenny Calendar said as she held up a printout in her hands, "This is it."
Giles took the printout to examine the text and replied, "I thought you said that it couldn't be done."
"Well, I tried anyway," Jenny threw back, "I developed a computer program that could replicate the actual ritual."
"How did you do it?" Willow asked from her seat at the table.
Jenny turned her attention to the redhead and replied, "The program basically translated the words using a sample of the text."
"This is good, right?" Cordelia asked in curiosity, as Buffy paced by her thinking, "I mean, we can curse him again."
Jenny sighed and remarked, "If only it were that easily done."
"Um, well, this, um... certainly points the way," Giles added as he approached the table, "but... the ritual itself requires a greater knowledge of the black arts than I can claim."
"What about you?" Buffy asked Jenny, having been drawn out of her daze, "It was your people who cursed him in the first place, surely you can..."
"I'm not powerful enough," Jenny answered bluntly, "The last time my people preformed the ritual, it took our entire clan to pull enough power for the spell to work. Lately, our numbers have been dwindling."
"Maybe I can do something," Willow jumped in, "Lately I've been looking through the internet, and researching the black arts, for fun, or educational fun, and I may be able to help work this."
Giles, sounding very concerned responded with, "Willow... channeling... such potent magicks through yourself, it could open a door that you may not be able to close."
"I don't want you putting yourself in any danger, Will," Buffy commented.
"And I don't want danger," Willow replied, "Big 'no' to danger. But next to Jenny, I might be the best person to do this."
"Hi! For those of you who have just tuned in," Xander said as he got up from his chair and walked to the end of the table, "everyone here is a crazy person. So this spell might restore Angel's humanity? Well, here's an interesting angle," Xander started to talk in a harsh tone, "Who cares?"
"I care"
"Is that right," Xander retorted with in an unsurprized manner.
"Let's not lose our perspective here, Xander," Giles said, trying to calm the boy down.
In the middle of all this, Willow could only stare at Xander in disbelief of what he was saying.
Xander, standing his ground, replied with, "I'm Perspective Guy. Angel's a killer."
"Xander..."
"It's not that simple," Buffy added.
"What? All is forgiven?" Xander asked in digust, "I can't believe you people!"
"Xander has a point," Cordelia said, getting up.
Then, Xander turned on to Coredelia in a raised voice, "You know, just for once, I wish you'd support me, and I realize right now that you were, and I'm embarrassed, so I'm gonna get back to the point," Xander went on, now turning to the others, "which is that Angel needs to die."
"Angel is of more value to us alive than he is dead," Jenny countered.
"Did I ask for your opinion?"
This caused Giles to go "Ripper" on Xander, "Don't you ever speak to her in that tone again!"
"Can't you hear what I'm saying?!" Xander yelled back.
As they continued to argue heatedly, Buffy rushed over and got between them, "Stop it! Stop it!"
They all shut up and spared a moment to glare at each other. Buffy turned away and walked over to Willow, clearly upset, and Giles started to pace, he too was very fired up.
"What do you wanna do?" Willow asked Buffy quietly.
"I don't know. What happened to Angel wasn't his fault."
"But what happened to everyone he killed between then and now, is," Xander said, still trying to make an argument.
When Willow and Buffy only stared at him, he continued to say very coldly, "You can paint this any way you want. But the way I see it is that you wanna forget all about those murders so you can get your boyfriend back."
"Now before this argument gets out of hand," Giles interrupted, "If I may remind you there is still the issue of needing more power to allow the spell to work."
The sound of the door opening to allow someone else in could be heard, "Well, if it's an issue of power," everyone turned their heads to see Tom standing in his trademark black outfit, "I can surely be of some service."
"My God, Tom," Giles said, as he slowly approached his former charge and friend, fearing that he would dissappear.
"Hello, Rupert," the young slayer replied as he came up to pull Giles into a hug.
"I almost thought that you would never come," Giles said, his voice cracking up.
"Oh, please," Tom replied, holding Giles at arm length, "Not even death can keep me away."
They hugged once more and Tom released his old friend, and turned to Buffy.
"And this must be the infamous Buffy Summers," Tom greeted, extending his hand to her, "Did you know that you even have the demons in England quaking in their boots?"
"Never knew that I was so well-known," Buffy replied as she took his hand, "And I guess you must be Tom Riddle."
"You guessed right," Tom answered, then got to the point at hand, "Now what is this spell I'm hearing so much about."
"Several Months ago we lost an ally," Giles told his younger charge, "a vampire that was cursed with a human soul."
This struck a nerve with Tom, but he didn't let anyone know it. Perhaps this was another vampire with a soul.
"And I assume that somehow he lost his soul."
"Yes," Giles replied, not noticing the inner turmoil his long, lost friend was going through, "There was a loophole of sorts in the curse that made it if he ever experienced a moment of true happiness, where the soul did not plague him with thoughts of those he killed as a demon, then the soul would be taken from him."
"So the spell you were talking about is one to restore his soul," Tom suggested.
"Yes," Jenny cut in, "but the problem is, we don't have enough power to preform the ritual."
"But I do," Tom replied, making a stand, "I can make the spell work. But first, who exactly is this vamp that I'm supposed to save."
"His name's Angel," answered Buffy.
This just tore at Tom, "I see."
"What's wrong?" asked Giles, who had finally noticed his friend's pained expression.
"It's nothing," he quickly replied, but at Giles' look, he started to back down, "Okay, maybe it is something."
"Maybe we can help," Willow suggested, "Sometimes it helps to just tell someone."
"Perhaps you're right," Tom replied and started to give away his story, "I don't even know where to start."
"The most sufficient place would be the beginning," Giles offered.
"Yes, I suppose it would be," Tom replied, "It was the end of my fourth year at Hogwarts, Rupert's seventh, finals were over with and we practically had one foot out the door already. Around that time I started seeing things, ghost of the demons I had already killed or innocent bystandards that were lost in the crossfire. By the time I got home for the summer, the hauntings increased and I was getting attacked during patrols, by these horrific creatures, they looked human enough but they had their eyes gouged out and carried jewel-encrusted knives. This made my search much easier. In my research, I found these guys to be called the Bringers, humans who were corrupted and became priests of an entity known as the First."
"My God," Giles interrupted, astonished, "Why did you never tell me?"
"You'll see," Tom said as he continued the story, "For those of you who don't know, The First is the original evil, older than human or demonkind. In one of the few texts about the First, it says how the First was driven out of our dimension as the human race grew larger, and how it can only manifest itself in the form of those who have died. With this, I figured that the ghosts that I had been seeing was all the First, trying to shake me up."
"What did you do?" Cordelia asked.
"What else?" Tom asked rhetorically, "We fought. I found a means of hurting the First and before I could deal the final blow, it got inside my head. It tried to take over me so it could gain a foothold in the world. But, there was one thing it didn't think I knew. The First is a culmination of all of the world's evil, but the world it was in was my mind."
"I don't see how this works," Xander commented.
"Well, the First exists only when there is evil in the world it is in," Tom answered, "All I had to do was summon up every good thought, every happy memory, and it started to die. But, before it left my mind, it left something there, a demon of it's own creation. Then, at long last, I didn't feel it's presence anymore."
"So the First is dead," Buffy asked.
"No, unfortunately," Tom replied, wishing it wasn't so, "The First is an integral part of the universe and cannot be destroyed. You know, Ying and Yang, Dark and Light, Good and Evil. One cannot exist without the other."
"I'm more interested in the demon the First left in you," Giles stated to his old friend, "What happened concerning it?"
"Whatever it was, it was powerful," Tom said, "too powerful for me to beat at that time. It started to kill me, corrupt my mind, my soul, and take my body as it's own. I realized that it would hurt anything that mattered to me and so, I sent Rupert away," Tom spared a glance at Giles, "Told him to never seek me out again. Thankfully, he took my words to heart, and left. I spent my entire summer looking for a way for me to banish a demon from my mind, but of no use. The Wizarding World had no means of helping me, and I left. When the time came for Fifth year, I ignored all the letters that came from the school and started traveling the world, studying all sorts of magicks that could help me in any way. In the course of a year I became an extremely powerful wicca, but still I had found no spell that could help. My soul was starting to feel the strain of holding back the demon, I gave it about 7 months to a year before my soul would die."
"What did you do?" Jenny asked.
"I kept looking," Tom answered, "If this demon got a hold of my powers, who knows what it could do with them? My travels took me to Los Angeles, a place called the Hyperion Hotel. Nothing really special about it, but what caught my attention was a guy who lived on the same floor as me. He was tall, dark, mysterious, handsome, if not a little broody."
"Angel," Buffy guessed, getting a nod in reply.
"I didn't know that he was a vampire at that point, but I always knew there was something different about him," Tom pressed on, "I was patrolling one night when I was attacked by a group of vampires. I had just staked one when another took me by suprise and knocked me out. When I came to, Angel was vamped out and fighting for my life. When the fight was over, he helped me up and asked me if I was alright. He was something I didn't expect, a vampire cursed with a soul, it went against everything I had ever known about vampires, but somehow, I was alright with it. We kept in contact, patrolled together occasionally, and one thing led to another and we started going out."
"You too!" Xander exclaimed, "God, what is with Deadboy and Slayers!"
"Xander, if you would please control yourself," Giles made an attempt to shut the boy's mouth, then turned to Tom, "Please, go on."
"Well, after a few subtle lunch dates and romantic candlelit dinners, Angel learned of my situation, and he started to help me look for a spell or some other way to expel the demon. After an incident with a paranoia demon, Angel and I skipped town and continued to search in other towns, for a short while we were here in Sunnydale. When my time was almost up, Angel and I found ourselves back in England, but before I could tell anyone about what was happening, the demon started to take over. In days, I died in Angel's arms. It was there, that I realized that I loved him."
"I'm glad you don't have to see him now," Buffy commented.
SUNNYDALE MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY
Back at the research lab of the museum, Dr. Perren went over his notes to find some clue as to what the obelisk was. All of a sudden, he started to hear whispering coming from behind him. He turned around to look, but no one was there.
"Hello?"
When no answer came, Doug slowly got up and walked over to the obelisk, the whispering getting louder as he approached. He reached up to the runes on the face of the rock and touched them, the whispering seemingly coming from the inside. He placed his hand flat on the face of the rock and stared at it in amazement as a hand wrapped around his mouth from behind and pulled his head back to expose his neck. Drusilla leant in and bit him hard as he struggled to get away. Behind her, Angelus and two other vampires approached the obelisk.
"I'l have one of these to go," Angelus remarked as the two other vampires circled the obelisk with a length of rope to haul it away.
"Dru..." Angelus said as Drusilla jerked her head up from her victim, growling and smiling evily, "Save me some."
SUNNYDALE PARK
It was around midnight and Buffy and Tom were patrolling while playing a game of "Anywhere but Here."
"Okay, my turn," Buffy said, "I'm in a hotel room laying on satin sheets being fed peeled grapes every few seconds... and Brad Pitt is massaging my feet."
"Good one," Tom commented as they rounded a corner, "My Turn. I'm laying on a beach in the south of France, it's sunset and the sky is colored a firey red. It is starting to get colder and Angel pulls me into his warm arms and I fall asleep to the sound of his heart beating."
"Beautiful," Buffy managed to say, "You really love him, don't you."
"Yeah I really do," Tom replied.
"When we get him back," Buffy said with a downcast look, "You should tell him, you two deserve each other."
"Buffy what's wro-" Then Tom realized, "Oh, my god."
"Oh, your god what?" Buffy asked.
"That's what Xander meant," Tom replied, "You and Angel were dating before he lost his soul."
"Yeah."
"Buffy, I'm so sorry," Tom apologized, "I'm running off at the mouth about my relationship with Angel, and I must be making you feel so bad."
"Don't be sorry," Buffy responded, "Like I said, Angel deserves you. I see the way you look when you talk about him. You obviously have something that I never had with Angel."
"But what about you?" Tom asked.
"I'll survive," Buffy stated, "It might hurt at first, but I'll be fine. I'll be able to move on with my life."
"Alright," Tom said, "But no matter what happens, lets stay friends."
"Deal," Buffy said as she pulled her brother-slayer into a hug, but pulled apart as they heard something in the trees.
"You heard that?" Tom asked, recieving a nod as an answer.
Together they walked into the trees, and when they saw nothing, they turned around to check for anything they missed. When something definitely came behind the two, they turned around and as Tom went for his stake, Buffy stopped him.
Buffy exhaled and said, "You know, polite people call before they jump out of the bushes and attack you."
"Just wanted to test your reflexes," Kendra replied in her Jamaican accent.
"How about test my face-punching?" Buffy asked rhetorically, "'Cause I think you'll find it's improved."
"I was on my way to your house. Saw you walking. Couldn't help meself," Kendra replied.
"Which begs the question, and don't think I'm not glad to see you, but, why are you here?" Buffy asked, and before Kendra could answer, Buffy interrupted, "Oh, wait. No, let me guess. Your watcher informed you," Buffy said before imitating Kendra's accent, "dat a very dark power is about to rise in Sunnydale."
"Dat's about it."
"Oh. Before I forget," Buffy said, "Tom, this is Kendra, the vampire slayer. Kendra, this is Tom Riddle, the vampire slayer."
Kendra could only stare as Tom smiled and said, "Great. So, you have any idea what this dark power is?"
ANGELUS' MANSION
"It's a big rock," Spike said as he sat in his wheelchair, hearing Drusilla and Angelus approaching him from behind, "I can't wait to tell my friends. They don't have a rock this big."
"Spike, my boy, you never did learn your history," Angelus remarked.
"Let's have a lesson then."
"Acathla the demon came forth to swallow the world," Angelus said as he strutted across the marble floor, "He was killed by a virtuous knight who pierced the demon's heart before he could draw a breath to perform the act. Acathla turned to stone, as demons sometimes do," He placed his hand on the stone, then turned to Spike, walking away from the obelisk, "and was buried where neither man nor demon would want to look."
"Unless of course they're putting up low-rent housing. Boys..." Angelus motioned to the two vampires standing by the obelisk, each holding a crowbar. They pryed open the tomb, the lid crashing to floor, stirring up plenty of dust. Inside, was a tall, horned, heavily built stone demon, with a sword protruding from it's chest.
Upon seeing him, Drusilla closed her eyes and raised her hands to the sides of her head and started rocking it back and forth, "He fills my head. I can't hear anything else."
"Let me guess," Spike said, "Someone pulls out the sword..."
"Someone worthy..." Angelus cut in.
"The demon wakes up, and wackiness ensues," Spike finished.
Drusilla opened her eyes and lowered her arms as she said, "He will swallow the world."
"And every creature living on this planet will go to Hell," Angelus added.
Angelus walked up to Acathla for a closer look and turned to Spike and Drusilla, "My friends... we're about to make history... end."