Title: Knight Fall (10/?)
Author: DarkDyer
E-mail: DarkDyer@aol.com
Rating: PG-14
Summary: Another Prophecy looms over the Scooby Gang and Xander is keeping secrets, with the help of.,.,., Angel?
Disclaimer: The characters belong to Joss, they're just dancing to my music.
Distributions: Ask and ye shall receive.
KNIGHT FALL PART 10
Buffy was getting really anxious, they had been on the move for ten minutes and had encountered no resistance, and no sign of any recent struggles on their way towards the Master's lair.
This had a good side and a bad side in Buffy's mind. On the plus Angel and Xander hadn't met any trouble and were probably relatively OK, on the minus, nothing had slowed them down so they probably had a good start on them.
Buffy stopped as she came to a fork in the tunnel, when she was down here last time she hadn't been exactly in the frame of mind to take note of local landmarks. Soon Oz and Willow caught up to her and Giles was not far behind.
Willow met her friend's eyes, "Any sign that we're catching up with them?"
Buffy shook her head, "No,.,.,., no blood, no dust, not even an empty Twinkie wrapper."
"It appears we have a decision to make," Giles said indicating their two possible directions. " Oz?"
Oz sniffed the air for a minute then pointed down the left passage. "Xander is that way."
Giles had been meaning to as Oz something, "Your sense of smell isn't what it would be in your lupine form, how are you certain that we are on the correct path.
Oz was reluctant to answer, knowing the effect the information would have on the group, but the way everyone was looking at him convinced him he really didn't have a choice.
"His leg, I can smell the blood."
Giles began to rub his nose, pushing his glasses up. "I was afraid of that."
"Why Giles?", Willow asked, her nervousness very apparent.
"Willow, if Oz in his less than top form can smell the blood, then,.,.,"
"Then so can other things," Buffy finished. "DAMN."
Buffy continued to swear, she had been doing that a lot lately. "So even if they haven't hit trouble yet, with Xander smelling like dinner, that probably is going to change."
Giles nodded, "I'm afraid so."
Buffy turned to start down the left tunnel as she spoke, " Well we had better going, who knows,.,.,,"
Buffy was interrupted by what sounded like the echoes of a scream.
Willow, Oz, and Giles exchanged glances then Willow whispered, "That sounded like,.,.,"
Oz finished the sentence for her. "Xander!"
That's when they noticed that they were now alone in the tunnel, there was no sign of the slayer.
"BLOODY HELL," Giles started to follow the path the slayer had taken. "It would appear Buffy came to the same conclusion, come, let us catch her before something else goes wrong.
Giles rushed to catch his slayer, Willow and Oz close behind, with worry in his heart. Buffy might be able to handle herself, but in her current state of mind he feared she might do something rash, and usually that was Xander's job. Leaping headfirst into the deepest amount of danger seemed to be a latent talent in the boy, how he had managed to survive let alone save the lives of almost everyone in the group over the years, was beyond the watcher. In fact if they all lived through this he and the boy would have to have a very long chat. His reverie was cut short as they came around a bend in the tunnel to discover a frantic slayer pacing back in front of a fork in the tunnel.
"OZ, get over here, C'mon. Which way."
Oz was never one to be surprised but when the slayer grabbed his shirt and lifted him off of his feet, surprised would be and understatement.
"WHICH WAY!!!"
Oz blinked as Buffy screamed in his face.
"Buffy, put him down." Giles said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. "We all have the same goal, to find them and bring them home safely, this will not help."
Willow peeked over her boyfriend's shoulder and smiled at her friend. " And beside Buffy, I kind of like all his parts where they are, no rearranging necessary."
Oz raised a hand. "I second that motion."
Buffy's eyes started to tear up as she suddenly dropped the werewolf. "I'm sorry guys, I'm just really startin to wig here, I don't know what's wrong with me."
Willow had her ideas but now was not the time. "We can figure all this out after everyone is safe."
Buffy nodded as Giles looked to Oz who sampled the air.
"He went this way." Oz pointed down the right tunnel and Buffy started to move when she found herself restrained by the musician.
"How about I take lead, just in case any more forks come up." Buffy looked like she was about to argue when Oz added with a grin. "It won't even cost you a Scooby snack."
Buffy slowly smiled and held her hand out. "After you." And once again the hunt was on.
Angel was not happy, the day had started badly and just gotten worse. He looked down at the pale face of the boy he was carrying, who seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open.
"How you holding up there Xander?"
Xander looked at him with an exaggerated grin and gave him a thumbs up, "Getting my second wind man, I feel fine."
"Yeah, you may feel fine, but you look like shit. You've lost a lot of blood."
Xander gave the vampire the "are you crazy" look.
"PFFF, your worry to much, I mean look how fast we're moving and I'm not even breathing hard."
"That would be because I'm carrying you moron."
A surprised look crossed Xander's face for a moment. He looked in the direction they were heading, then at himself, then at Angel.
"I knew that."
Angel just smiled.
"No really, I knew,.,., never mind. Are we there yet?"
"As a matter of fact."
Angel came to a stop as they passed through the entrance to the Master's chamber.
Xander looked around the chamber taking in the damage the rather large explosion in the school above had caused.
"Well there goes that chance at the "Good Housekeeping" cover."
Angel chuckled and moved further into the room. As they walked passed a rather large rock that used to be part of the ceiling, three men came into view.
Two of them Angel had never seen before. One was a tall blond, with blue eyes, wearing a tailored white suit, the other tall and dark, in a matching black suit.
The third man Angel had no trouble recognizing, only one person wears clothes that loud.
"Whistler, what are you doing here?"
The shorter man moved forward, "Hiya kid, good to see you again. Jeez, your buddy here's seen better days."
Xander was looking the demon up and down, then noticing Whistler was looking at him decided he should say something.
"Nice suit."