::Author's notes: Hello again. So, Angel is over and this story has gotten more and more AU by the moment. Anyway I'm giving you a WARNING. I do not like Buffy Summers. I think, after the 4th season, she becomes a self-righteous, self-centered character who treats the people in her life—particularly her various lovers and her sister—like crap. Yes, she goes through a lot, but so do the others and they don't all turn into self- pitying jerks. I really stopped liking her after she chased Faith to LA in Season 1 of Angel and gave him such a hard time, and that whole "Immortal" thing in this season of Angel did nothing to make me like her any more. Anyway, this chapter is not flattering to her, so if you're a big fan of Ms. Summers, be warned, and I apologize if I offend you.::
Rupert Giles shot out of sleep with a start. The dream he was having had been pleasant; Jenny was alive and they were celebrating their son's second birthday, just the way things should have been if only life were more like a Disney fairy tale. They had just been about to smear cake into each other's faces, mimicking their toddler, when a feeling of utter dread and horror slammed into him with all the subtlety of a jetliner. Sweat dripped down his face, soaking his nightshirt through. Giles could not quite put his finger on what was wrong, but he was absolutely certain that the world was on the brink of a catastrophe of such magnitude that it would make all of their previous near-apocalypses seem like a cakewalk.
Fumbling for his glasses on the endtable, he threw them crookedly on his face and quickly padded out of his hotel room door, heading for Willow and Buffy's room. The waves of dread were disorienting even as the phantoms of dreams left him. They were in Italy now, had been for nearly two weeks, searching for the location of an ancient artifact that would help Willow undo the spell she had cast when creating the Slayer army. Or rather, he hoped they would find said artifact. The ancient scrap of papyrus they uncovered in London had pointed to this tiny Italian town, but so far every piece of information they had uncovered had simply been archaic riddles pointing to the location of the next clue. The three of them had been hopping all over the world as if they were on a treasure hunt, finding clues leading to even more clues, but no miraculous talisman.
'I feel like I'm living in the bloody Da Vinci Code.'
Giles was so distraught by the feeling that the spiritual world had been knocked off its axis that he didn't notice Buffy until he had literally walked into her. Buffy was not faring much better than her Watcher. The blonde was clearly distraught, hair disheveled, a tiny line of stress formed between her eyebrows. "Giles," she said, tugging at his arm anxiously. "It's Willow." She turned and headed back to her room with a pace that Giles would have envied had he not been so preoccupied by the feeling of impending doom which seemed to be growing.
Giles quickened his steps but a middle-aged Englishman could not come near to matching a twenty-something Slayer in her prime. Willow was on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, moaning to herself, hissing as though she were in physical pain. Buffy crouched beside her, speaking the witch's name, trying to bring Willow back to herself. Giles had a fleeting thought it was strange how, not so long ago, the women had found their positions reversed with Willow cajoling and coaxing the preoccupied Slayer back to herself. Willow was more in tune with the mystical world more than anyone he had ever met, and that was saying a lot. If he were feeling dread powerful enough to make Giles want to retch, it followed that she must be in pure agony.
"Willow," Giles whispered, doing his best to sound comforting and strong, just like he knew the girls needed him to be. "Willow, I'm here."
The redhead's eyes cracked open the slightest bit. "Giles?" she asked, voice hoarse.
Giles nodded. His fingers traced soothing patterns through her knotted hair.
"Giles," Willow continued, so softly the Englishman practically had to press his ear to her lips to hear her. "Giles, something is wrong. So wrong... Out of balance, the whole world."
"Willow, you're not making any sense!" Buffy said anxiously, and looked none too pleased when Giles shushed her. "What could possibly be out of balance? The Hellmouth is gone."
Giles shot Buffy a silencing glance, but paid her words no mind. "Yes, something's wrong," he said, doing his damnedest to sound encouraging. "I feel it too. But Willow, can you tell what it is?"
"The whole world is wrong. All wrong. It should never have happened. It's been forbidden since the struggle began." The redhead shot up suddenly to a sitting position, her fingers clawing at the Brit's pajama sleeves. "We have to stop her. Giles, we have to stop her before it's too late."
"Will, we know about Abbey. That's why we're here."
"I don't think she's talking about Abigail...at least, not directly, Buffy," Giles said.
"Well, who else could she be talking about?" Buffy was indignant. Months of jet lag and minimal sleep did not make for a perky Slayer.
"I don't know, Buffy," Giles said, a bit more snappishly than he really intended. "But Abigail has been in power for almost a year now, and this...shift...in the mystical energies happened just tonight. Rather suddenly, I might add. Can't you feel it?"
Buffy was silent for several moments before agreeing with the Watcher.
"So don't you think it follows that this is something new?"
"Or, it could be that Abbey has done something to make everything else all wacky," Buffy countered.
Giles considered. "Perhaps."
"I think it's both."
Giles and Buffy turned their attention back to Willow, who had just spoken. The witch was deathly pale, save for the bright red splotches on her cheeks and sheen of sweat on her forehead that made her look like a child with a bad case of the flu. Giles took Willow's hands firmly in his own. Looking at her now, struggling through obvious pain and discomfort, made him feel what he could only call a paternal sense of pride.
'She's suffered so much, since I first met that shy and mousy girl at Sunnydale High. Oz, Tara, Kennedy—she lost them all, and nearly lost herself in the process. Such a brave girl.'
"Talk to me, Will," Buffy was saying. "What do you know?"
"I felt a new power rising," Willow responded weakly. "Something big. Something dangerous. Something like the world has never seen."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Like I've never heard that before."
"But it's different this time, Buffy," Willow insisted. "It's like the whole world has gone out of balance."
"It's different every time, Will!" Buffy said, voice raising in frustration. "Every time it's something new, something even more dark and dangerous than the last monster I had to kill! Bad enough I had to fight The Master and The Mayor and Glory and Adam and The First. Now I have to fight a whole army of Slayers who are supposed to be on our side and you're telling me there's something else?"
"Buffy," Willow insisted. "I'm sorry but..."
"Everybody is always sorry! I am sick of people being sorry. Fighting The First was supposed to be the end, Will. It was supposed to be the last big battle before I got to live a normal life! We awakened hundreds—no, thousands—of Slayers. They should be the ones taking over the fight. I've done more than my share."
The witch looked as though she'd been slapped. The glare Buffy pinned her with was almost a physical blow. Willow looked as though she wilted inside her skin. Giles could only guess it was the guilt still haunting her from finding out she had saved Buffy from her eternal reward. He had enough from his former charge.
"Well, believe it or not, everything isn't always about you," Giles snapped.
Buffy's mouth dropped open and she gawked at her Watcher in utter disbelief. "What?"
"I know you wanted to retire. I know that you wanted to have freedom, Buffy, and I'm truly sorry that things did not work out as you planned. But the fact is, we all had a part in awakening Abigail, and we all have a responsibility to stop her; even if she isn't the last Big Bad we ever have to face. And really, Buffy! Did you honestly think that once we defeated The First that all the evil in the world was going to disappear with it? Did you really intend on just turning your back on your responsibilities and on the rest of the world? Suppose all the new Slayers had the same attitude? Did that thought even cross your mind?"
Buffy's jaw snapped closed with an almost audible snap. For a moment, Giles felt terribly guilty. Maybe he had taken it too hard on the girl. She had suffered, after all, more than any human being ever should have too. Just because she had grown preachy and prone to giving condescending speeches that her younger self would never have tolerated did not lessen his love for her.
Unfortunately for the Watcher, he didn't have time for her wounded ego just now; never mind that he wanted nothing more but to hold the two frightened young women in front of him and play the father, promising that the monsters were not real. There was no time. Right now, there were more important things to worry about, no matter how deeply that pained him.
"Willow," Giles said to redhead—who was clearly shocked at the Watcher's outburst. "Do you think you can find the source of the disturbance?"
The witch's eyes fluttered briefly shut. Her head dropped and her shoulders slumped from the exhaustion. But nonetheless, she nodded. "Yes. Just give me a minute, okay?" Her voice was filled with hesitation, as if she expected Giles to snap at her the way he had at his Slayer.
The Watcher smiled gently. "Of course. Take whatever time you need."
Willow looked about ready to faint with relief.
"What about Abbey?" Buffy asked.
"If what Willow says is true, and they are related, hopefully we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."
Buffy folded her arms over her chest, still clearly annoyed at Giles earlier snippiness. "And if they're not related?"
Giles sighed. "Then I guess Abbey may just have to wait."
Buffy rolled her eyes once more. "What else is new?"
::Feedback Response::
Again, thanks for the feedback! It makes me so happy.
rma: Well, you can see I've let you know what Buffy and Willow have been doing finally. Only took me 9 chapters to do it. And I will get back to Faith in the next chapter, I swear!
bsktballchik: Thanks for your continued patience! You know—I don't know if I want Faith to end up with Angel or with Spike. What do you think?
Darklight: Thanks. I just have this thing where I like dark, angsty fics. No idea where that came from in me, but what can you do?
Rupert Giles shot out of sleep with a start. The dream he was having had been pleasant; Jenny was alive and they were celebrating their son's second birthday, just the way things should have been if only life were more like a Disney fairy tale. They had just been about to smear cake into each other's faces, mimicking their toddler, when a feeling of utter dread and horror slammed into him with all the subtlety of a jetliner. Sweat dripped down his face, soaking his nightshirt through. Giles could not quite put his finger on what was wrong, but he was absolutely certain that the world was on the brink of a catastrophe of such magnitude that it would make all of their previous near-apocalypses seem like a cakewalk.
Fumbling for his glasses on the endtable, he threw them crookedly on his face and quickly padded out of his hotel room door, heading for Willow and Buffy's room. The waves of dread were disorienting even as the phantoms of dreams left him. They were in Italy now, had been for nearly two weeks, searching for the location of an ancient artifact that would help Willow undo the spell she had cast when creating the Slayer army. Or rather, he hoped they would find said artifact. The ancient scrap of papyrus they uncovered in London had pointed to this tiny Italian town, but so far every piece of information they had uncovered had simply been archaic riddles pointing to the location of the next clue. The three of them had been hopping all over the world as if they were on a treasure hunt, finding clues leading to even more clues, but no miraculous talisman.
'I feel like I'm living in the bloody Da Vinci Code.'
Giles was so distraught by the feeling that the spiritual world had been knocked off its axis that he didn't notice Buffy until he had literally walked into her. Buffy was not faring much better than her Watcher. The blonde was clearly distraught, hair disheveled, a tiny line of stress formed between her eyebrows. "Giles," she said, tugging at his arm anxiously. "It's Willow." She turned and headed back to her room with a pace that Giles would have envied had he not been so preoccupied by the feeling of impending doom which seemed to be growing.
Giles quickened his steps but a middle-aged Englishman could not come near to matching a twenty-something Slayer in her prime. Willow was on the floor, curled up in a fetal position, moaning to herself, hissing as though she were in physical pain. Buffy crouched beside her, speaking the witch's name, trying to bring Willow back to herself. Giles had a fleeting thought it was strange how, not so long ago, the women had found their positions reversed with Willow cajoling and coaxing the preoccupied Slayer back to herself. Willow was more in tune with the mystical world more than anyone he had ever met, and that was saying a lot. If he were feeling dread powerful enough to make Giles want to retch, it followed that she must be in pure agony.
"Willow," Giles whispered, doing his best to sound comforting and strong, just like he knew the girls needed him to be. "Willow, I'm here."
The redhead's eyes cracked open the slightest bit. "Giles?" she asked, voice hoarse.
Giles nodded. His fingers traced soothing patterns through her knotted hair.
"Giles," Willow continued, so softly the Englishman practically had to press his ear to her lips to hear her. "Giles, something is wrong. So wrong... Out of balance, the whole world."
"Willow, you're not making any sense!" Buffy said anxiously, and looked none too pleased when Giles shushed her. "What could possibly be out of balance? The Hellmouth is gone."
Giles shot Buffy a silencing glance, but paid her words no mind. "Yes, something's wrong," he said, doing his damnedest to sound encouraging. "I feel it too. But Willow, can you tell what it is?"
"The whole world is wrong. All wrong. It should never have happened. It's been forbidden since the struggle began." The redhead shot up suddenly to a sitting position, her fingers clawing at the Brit's pajama sleeves. "We have to stop her. Giles, we have to stop her before it's too late."
"Will, we know about Abbey. That's why we're here."
"I don't think she's talking about Abigail...at least, not directly, Buffy," Giles said.
"Well, who else could she be talking about?" Buffy was indignant. Months of jet lag and minimal sleep did not make for a perky Slayer.
"I don't know, Buffy," Giles said, a bit more snappishly than he really intended. "But Abigail has been in power for almost a year now, and this...shift...in the mystical energies happened just tonight. Rather suddenly, I might add. Can't you feel it?"
Buffy was silent for several moments before agreeing with the Watcher.
"So don't you think it follows that this is something new?"
"Or, it could be that Abbey has done something to make everything else all wacky," Buffy countered.
Giles considered. "Perhaps."
"I think it's both."
Giles and Buffy turned their attention back to Willow, who had just spoken. The witch was deathly pale, save for the bright red splotches on her cheeks and sheen of sweat on her forehead that made her look like a child with a bad case of the flu. Giles took Willow's hands firmly in his own. Looking at her now, struggling through obvious pain and discomfort, made him feel what he could only call a paternal sense of pride.
'She's suffered so much, since I first met that shy and mousy girl at Sunnydale High. Oz, Tara, Kennedy—she lost them all, and nearly lost herself in the process. Such a brave girl.'
"Talk to me, Will," Buffy was saying. "What do you know?"
"I felt a new power rising," Willow responded weakly. "Something big. Something dangerous. Something like the world has never seen."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Like I've never heard that before."
"But it's different this time, Buffy," Willow insisted. "It's like the whole world has gone out of balance."
"It's different every time, Will!" Buffy said, voice raising in frustration. "Every time it's something new, something even more dark and dangerous than the last monster I had to kill! Bad enough I had to fight The Master and The Mayor and Glory and Adam and The First. Now I have to fight a whole army of Slayers who are supposed to be on our side and you're telling me there's something else?"
"Buffy," Willow insisted. "I'm sorry but..."
"Everybody is always sorry! I am sick of people being sorry. Fighting The First was supposed to be the end, Will. It was supposed to be the last big battle before I got to live a normal life! We awakened hundreds—no, thousands—of Slayers. They should be the ones taking over the fight. I've done more than my share."
The witch looked as though she'd been slapped. The glare Buffy pinned her with was almost a physical blow. Willow looked as though she wilted inside her skin. Giles could only guess it was the guilt still haunting her from finding out she had saved Buffy from her eternal reward. He had enough from his former charge.
"Well, believe it or not, everything isn't always about you," Giles snapped.
Buffy's mouth dropped open and she gawked at her Watcher in utter disbelief. "What?"
"I know you wanted to retire. I know that you wanted to have freedom, Buffy, and I'm truly sorry that things did not work out as you planned. But the fact is, we all had a part in awakening Abigail, and we all have a responsibility to stop her; even if she isn't the last Big Bad we ever have to face. And really, Buffy! Did you honestly think that once we defeated The First that all the evil in the world was going to disappear with it? Did you really intend on just turning your back on your responsibilities and on the rest of the world? Suppose all the new Slayers had the same attitude? Did that thought even cross your mind?"
Buffy's jaw snapped closed with an almost audible snap. For a moment, Giles felt terribly guilty. Maybe he had taken it too hard on the girl. She had suffered, after all, more than any human being ever should have too. Just because she had grown preachy and prone to giving condescending speeches that her younger self would never have tolerated did not lessen his love for her.
Unfortunately for the Watcher, he didn't have time for her wounded ego just now; never mind that he wanted nothing more but to hold the two frightened young women in front of him and play the father, promising that the monsters were not real. There was no time. Right now, there were more important things to worry about, no matter how deeply that pained him.
"Willow," Giles said to redhead—who was clearly shocked at the Watcher's outburst. "Do you think you can find the source of the disturbance?"
The witch's eyes fluttered briefly shut. Her head dropped and her shoulders slumped from the exhaustion. But nonetheless, she nodded. "Yes. Just give me a minute, okay?" Her voice was filled with hesitation, as if she expected Giles to snap at her the way he had at his Slayer.
The Watcher smiled gently. "Of course. Take whatever time you need."
Willow looked about ready to faint with relief.
"What about Abbey?" Buffy asked.
"If what Willow says is true, and they are related, hopefully we'll be able to kill two birds with one stone."
Buffy folded her arms over her chest, still clearly annoyed at Giles earlier snippiness. "And if they're not related?"
Giles sighed. "Then I guess Abbey may just have to wait."
Buffy rolled her eyes once more. "What else is new?"
::Feedback Response::
Again, thanks for the feedback! It makes me so happy.
rma: Well, you can see I've let you know what Buffy and Willow have been doing finally. Only took me 9 chapters to do it. And I will get back to Faith in the next chapter, I swear!
bsktballchik: Thanks for your continued patience! You know—I don't know if I want Faith to end up with Angel or with Spike. What do you think?
Darklight: Thanks. I just have this thing where I like dark, angsty fics. No idea where that came from in me, but what can you do?