Hello! Awesome long Chapter Coming your way! really hope you enjoy it. I wanna thank everyone thats reviewed! I'm Still looking for a beta Thats Good at Spelling and Grammer! if you know of someone that you think would be a good fit drop me a line :) Until i find one i am just going to keep editting myself so sorry it's not perfect!
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Disclaimer: I don't own Anything but the idea, everything else belongs to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.
Chapter 11 Back to the Beginning
The Sun peaked over the horizon directly across from Buffy, lighting up the depths of the crater that used to be her home.
An earthquake is what the world had thought had engulfed the city. Sunnydale was known in the history books as one of the weirdest natural disasters. I mean an earthquake that makes a city collapse into on itself but only to the extent of the city limits is plain weird. But the fact that all of the residents of the city had left prior had scientist everywhere studying the event. And not one person had come to the conclusion of 'Hellmouth'.
Buffy finished her coffee and removed her keys from the ignition from the vehicle. It had taken her an hour and a half to get to Sunnydale from portal Willow had opened in L.A. in order to cut the travel time down. And the trip had been a success in her opinion. Sure there had been that incident where she had backed into the mailbox and had to convince Xander that she was not going to destroy his new company truck but otherwise she hadn't hit anything else!( the bird had hit her completely different.)
"Alrighty let's see..." Buffy opened up the map of Sunnydale and found the area where Giles had decided the Book of White must have been in. Surprisingly it was not anywhere the old location of the school. It seemed that it right on the outskirts of town but deep in the catacombs that Sunnydale had been built on.
Buffy got out of the car caring her backpack and walked towards the mouth of the crater. Looking down, Buffy could see mostly rock and debris but every once in a while she could make out an old land mark like the movie theatre sign or the roof of a house. Buffy spoke out loud almost for the crater "Welcome Back Buffy"
She tightened her shoes and put on a pair of gloves and sat on the ground with her legs hanging over the edge of the cliff. Buffy turned around and began the climb into the crater step by step hoping that the ground wouldn't give out beneath her.
Dawn was sitting in the cafeteria holding on to a cup of coffee while reading over her notes for her mythology class. She had been early for her and Cales coffee date but it was now 10 minutes past the designated time and she was starting to think she had been stood up.
A flash of dirty blonde hair flew into Dawn's peripheral vision and when she looked up she saw Cale sitting causally in the chair across from her. "Hey Dawn I'm sorry! My class ran late and it's practically across campus."
"Oh," Dawn said in a slightly shocked voice," No that's fine, don't worry about it."
"Well I see that you got coffee but do you want anything else while I go grab a cup? Donut? Cookie?"
Dawn's sweet tooth smiled and she relayed her order to Cale. It seemed that it took seconds for him to get the order and back to the table.
"So what are you reading?" Cales asked as he got settled in with his own cup of coffee and sprinkle covered donut.
"Ancient and Modern Mythology; Story's through time."Dawn answered, "It's for my online class. I have a paper due in a week on the similarities between ancient Greek myths and current day American myths."
"Wow. So you take online courses and go to school every day?" Cale asked leaning into the middle of the table.
"Ya, I plan on graduating within the next year and a half." Dawn explained, " then I'm off to Oxford for another 2 years,"
Cales mouth hung open." I'm sorry I didn't realize that I was in the presence of a genius!"
"Really I'm not. Average is how you would describe me. I just love learning about history."Dawn smiled self consciously, then quickly changed the focus from her to Cale " How about you? What are you majoring in?"
"International Languages is my major and world history is my minor." Cale explained," I'm hoping to do some translating in a prestigious library one day. But I'm not going somewhere as awesome as Oxford to finish my degree."
But enough about school, tell me about you." Cale smiled in a way that it reached his eyes making Dawn feel reassured, "I mean I only have another 35 minutes and 46 seconds to convince you that I'm worth a second date."
Dawn laughed outwardly at this "Well what would you like to know?"
"NO!" Spike yelled across the training room, "Watch again everybody!
Spike made a right jab at Angel's face which was dodged easily. Angel in turn made a side swipe at Spikes legs. Spike hit the floor and Angel pounced on top of him Spike used his legs and Angels momentum to switch positions so Spike was on top of Angel with a plastic stake to his heart.
"Alright to you catch it that time?" Spike asked the slayerettes "Anna! How did I get Angel on to his back?"
Anna had however be talking to Lily about how hot she though Spike and Angel were. "I-I ummm- you out powered him?"
"NO! Bleeding hell," Spike sighed and looked at Angel who looked just as pissed off at this point. "Maybe Anna you would get the move right if you weren't so busy talking to your mates about how buff you think Angel is! Pay attention. I'm helping you save your own life here!"
The girls looked thoroughly scared and this made Spike smirked and thought to himself 'I still got it.' "I want you lot to go grab some water and come back here Asap. Leah tell Vi I need her out here alright?"
The potentials rushed out of the warehouse and towards the kitchen. Giles had called Vi out about an hour ago about some book thing which left Spike alone to train the slayers which in his opinion were still potentials. It was a simple escape maneuver that Buffy had used multiple time in trying to escape him and hundreds of other demons in her years of service. "Don't know what she was thinking letting me help train them."
Angel knew that Spike wasn't necessarily speaking to him but he felt the need to answer anyway. "Right there with you." His comment got the desired reaction from the bottle blonde, "Oh alright I know why, it's because she trusts you."
"Not her best thought." Spike pointed out.
"I agree but you do stupid and dangerous things when you're in love." Angel said not without malice.
Spike looked at Angel out of the corner of his eye. "Hurt you that much to say?"
"Ya well be happy I'm even saying it at all." Angel ground out. "I guess an explanation is in order. I went to talk to Buffy last night before she left."
Spike was suddenly sitting straight looking intently at Angel with a childhood look of joy across his face.
"She didn't hit me Spike." Angel watched as Spikes shoulders slumped slightly. "She told me that she wanted me to leave when all this is done and over with."
And I'm going to go without a fight." Angel continued when Spike just sat in silence, "She doesn't need me anymore. More importantly she doesn't want me anymore. So I'm going to tell you right now: If you screw this chance up in a way that hurts her, you will be nothing but dust blowing in the wind."
Spike didn't give any emotions away. "Where will you go then? The girl you've been trying to be good enough for just sent you packing? What you got to live for anymore?"
"Over the years it stopped being Buffy I was trying to be a better person for. Cordelia is a higher being now, but maybe one day I will get to have a second chance with her." Angel thought out loud forgetting that Spike was listening "Our time wasn't long enough...But that's a long way off."
"No wonder you thought my poetry was good!" Spike exclaimed "You're as sappy as a greeting card!"
Angel raised his fist and was about to connect it to Spikes eye but was stopped when Willow came rushing in with Leah at her side. "BOYS! This is not the time. We have some issues that need to be dealt with."
"What kind of issues?" Angel asked lowering his fist
"Tears in dimensional walls and passed out Demon God issues" Willow snapped " Now do you want to keep asking stupid questions or do you want to save the only thing that is keeping the word from caving in on itself?"
Spike made his way for the door "I vote on the later."
Dawn had the best day at school. Coffee with Cale had gone extremely well in her opinion. They had talked for the remainder of the break then sat with each other in class, and before he ran off to his next class he had been adamant about getting her number.
"Dawn I'm going to give you this pen and paper and you're going to write down the first 7 digits that come to your mind that I could use to ask you out on another better date." Cale explained "If you don't want me to call you this is your opportunity to write down that horrible rejection line or just 555-5555."
Dawn laughed "Alright I will take that under consideration." She wrote down her cell phone number fearing that if he called the house Xander or gods forbid Spike would answer the phone.
"Sweet, I will talk to you soon Dawn!" Cale was smiling at her while he backed away...heading directly for the stairs.
Before Dawn could warn him, Cale was falling backwards landing hard on his back. Dawn rushed over trying to hide her laughter. "You know you should really watch where you're going. Seems to me you aren't very good at this walking thing."
Dawn had been reliving the whole morning over and over in her head the entire drive home on the bus. She couldn't wait to tell Buffy when she got back from her solo mission. Dawn reached for the handle of the fire house door and entered the library.
"Oh! Sorry did I miss something?" Dawn said surprised. Everyone was in the library even the potentials. This had to mean something big. "Is Buffy Okay?"
"She's fine Dawnie" Willow assured her, "Its Illyria... She's not holding up to well."
That's who was missing. The blue demon god was hard to miss in any size of crowd. Angel was also missing, but Dawn made the assumption that he was with Illyria. "What's happening?"
Giles rubbed his glasses "The walls are pressing down with an incredible strength, only a great force could cause that much damage to Illyria so quickly."
"She was fine this morning," Andrew reminded Dawn." She was asking what I was baking and why you went to school..."
"Yes exactly this morning she was fine, and out of the blue, if you excuse the pun, she had fallen to the ground in pain." Giles recapped, "My best conclusion is unfortunately the worst-case scenario."
"Tell me this has something to do with, a) master vampires b) giant snake mayors c) secret government operations d) The first original evil, because all of those things we can handle." Xander pleaded to the weary watcher.
"I'm afraid not Xander I believe that we are in fact dealing with-"
"Bunnies?" Willow cut in with desperation "I mean Anya always thought they would attack but-"
"Willow!I need you to take a few deep breathes and let me finish."Giles cut her off harshly, "I believe that the other dimensions have noticed the cracks in the walls and are trying to break through into our world. This would cause the pain inflicted to Illyria."
"So what's our next move?" Spike asked, he was met by blank stares," Oh bloody hell! I thought I was done with poor planning when I left the Angel brigade! What is the best way to stop this Rupert? How do we keep the demons at bay until the nibblet can lock the doors up nice and proper?"
Giles stood up and started to pace "Truthfully I'm not sure if there is way to keep them on the other side of the walls, without the Book of White, I don't really have a lot to go off of. I mean the translation explains some of the history and where to find the book, but it-"
"Sort of fails as an instructional guide?" Willow provided.
"Exactly."
"Well how long till the head Slayer is back in town then?" Spike asked "She said one day tops."
"I haven't checked since this morning," Willow admitted, she pulled out a small bag," Locus."
When Willow opened the bag a cloud of amber glowing lights headed for the open space in front of Willow, the organized themselves in an order that to Xanders' eyes didn't make any sense."What's it say Will?"
"She is fine ... A few minor scratches, probably just from have to climb down into the crater… Blood pressure normal, Pulse is steady..." Willow looked down into the bag and the lights all reassembled themselves inside. Except for on who buzzed around Willows head before it too entered the bag."Huh."
"Huh?" One of the potentials named Holly said, "What exactly does Huh mean?"
"Well there is a slight chance Buffy is having some difficulty locating the Book of White..." Willow tried to brush it off quickly before she alarmed the slayers anymore than they already were. The Scooby's however had caught on right away. Even Andrew knew that Buffy was lost somewhere in the catacombs underneath Sunnydale. "Girls? Why don't you take the rest of the day off? Hmmm? The groups who are supposed to patrol tonight meet back here at 730."
Once the troops files out of the room and their whispers became faint Xander spoke," We can't wait for Buffy to come back and hope that the walls haven't fallen by then, isn't there some way too reinforce the walls? Even temporarily until Dawn can do whatever it is we think she can do?"
Andrew spoke up, "Ya ummm wouldn't a simple but powerful repair spell fix the cracks and wholes that are in the walls? At least temporarily?"
Giles contemplated while Willow search for a specific textbook "Damn it, Giles I told you we should make these shelves shorter, can you reach that one with the black cracked spine?" Once Willow had the book down she flipped through the pages quickly obviously looking for something particular in the aged pages "What about a thickening spell? It wouldn't seal the cracks necessarily but it would add reinforcement to the Walls like we need which should reduce the pressure on Illyria."
"Should Red?" Spike questioned leaning forward placing his elbows on the table.
"Well we've been assuming that her illness is due to the walls pushing down on her, but what if it's due to the amount of force she is exerting on keeping them up?"Willow pointed out
"And if that's the case?" Xander asked already knowing the answer
"If that's the case, then Buffy had better hurry up and get home," Dawn answered morbidly "Because god knows we've lost to many friends in our life time."
Illyria was sitting up in a bed looking at her surroundings. There were pictures of people in capes and others with light swords, small tiny people made of plastic that Angel had informed her were children's toys. She was quite comfortable she decided except for this body crippling feeling that had over taken her.
She felt like nothing she had ever felt before. Illyria had always been the cause of pain, never the recipient. She imagined that this is what it would feel like if she had fallen into a volcano, or if she were to lay on her back and have someone place the word on her chest. Yes the second was more accurate she decided. She was not burning, rather like being squished until just before she would explode.
Pain. That's what Angel had told her it was physical pain. She had never felt physical pain before, she was God-King Illyria, the Worlds trembled before her for centuries. And now she was bed ridden staring at un-interesting items that the slave kept in his quarters.
Angel entered the room carrying a tray that had a glass with steaming coffee and a book from the library that Illyria requested. "How are you holding up?"
"The pain is excruciating." Illyria answered in her monotone voice, it did not reveal pain of any sort but the fact that the Demon God was in the bed was proof enough to Angel that the pain would kill any other being on the planet. "Why did you bring be the Coffee?"
Angel blushed slightly "It's what people do when another per- when someone else is sick. We'll normally you bring tea but I know that you like coffee so-"
"Thank you." Angel was so caught off guard by the appreciation that Illyria had shown that he barley was able to nod back at her before she was speaking again, "Angel I want you to explain something to me."
"I will not go over the reproductive process of humans with you." Angel stated quickly
"No, not that. I understand that fully now."Illyria dismissed Angel's wrong assumption quickly and moved on, "I was wondering the purpose of pain?"
"The purpose of pain?" Angels asked confirming the Blue demons question.
"I am unable to see why this pain is necessary, what is it supposed to do?" Illyria repeated trying to make her question more clear for the vampire.
"It's just something that non-gods deal with daily."Angel started "It's like a message that changes with the situation."
Illyria thought about that for a moment "Then what is my message?"
The Blue woman who looked so much like Fred was supposed to be all powerful; nations had bowed before her and trembled when she breathed. But Illyria was different, due to time spent with humans Angel suspected, time spent with Wesley. He knew she was slowly becoming different because never before had he heard the God's voice tremble. "I'm not sure 'Lyria"
She nodded in acceptance, and Angel swore he saw her gulp "Whatever it is, I fear it is for the worst"
It was mocking her. She was sure of it. The hellmouth was just playing games with her she was getting pissed off. Buffy sighed loudly and turned away from her third dead end in the last hour and began to retrace her footsteps. She had been at this since early this morning and it was now 2 in the afternoon. Dawn would be home from school by now and her date, and Buffy was dying to find out how it went. Spike and Vi should have just started the second session of training with the girls. Hopefully Spike hadn't lost his temper with them already. She knew he was already on a short fuse and that those girls tried her patience every day.
Buffy was about ready to head back up to the surface until she could get reception on her cell phone and get some help from Willow when she heard a loud high pitched scream. Buffy raced down the tunnel dodging the holes and rocks on the ground as best as she could with only a small flashlight to illuminate them for her.
The scream sounded again. Not a woman, Buffy decided but defiantly not a man. She prayed it wasn't a child stuck down in the hellmouth as she looked around a corner which revealed the cause of the screams. Buffy knew that this one by name only because she had battled it before. It was a Shirshu Demon. It was strong and fast, but normally it moved quite slowly because it was trying to hear what was happening. But once it had its senses locked on to you, you were as good as dead. The demon was an underground dweller so eyesight was not a requirement. It would help Buffy however in her fight against it.
Buffy leaned farther around the corner, no longer worried about being spotted, to see who the victim was. The Victim was as small as a child but the similarities ended there. It had large wide set eyes and big floppy ears that had a small set of horns beside them. It had a grey and white fur that covered the entire body, however this did not stop it from wearing a pair of ripped purple shorts. 'Kind of reminds me of Clem.' Buffy thought to herself.
Bending down Buffy picked up a fist size rock and hurled it at the Demon. This angered it making it drop the fur ball. It started making its way down the tunnel toward her. Quickly realizing that she couldn't keep backing up letting the demon run her out of the caves, Buffy threw another rock against a wall. This caused enough noise for her to scale the wall without being detected. The Shirshu seemed to go check out the falling rocks against the far wall then continue on its path down the tunnel hissing and snarling.
When it started to round the corner Buffy made her move. Pushing off of the wall she landed on the back of the Shirshu and swiftly plunged her short sword into the creature just below the neck. It roared in pain and flung itself into the nearest wall to try and remove the pain from its back. Buffy was almost crushed against the walls of the cave but had removed herself quick enough that only her hand had been caught. Searing pain shot up her arm, Buffy quickly assessed that her wrist was probably broken. The Shirshu was in worse shape however as it stumbled into the walls and thrashed around the narrow pathways.
Buffy with her right hand reached for her axe and then went to fight the demon. She evaded and ducked and tried to make a damaging hit but was unable to from the ground; the beast wasn't even fighting her. Its battle was still against the sword embedded in its flesh. Dodging another tail swipe Buffy made a quick jump and once again was on the top of the Shirshu. She pulled the sword out of the demon as soon as she reached it and immediately swung the sword straight through demons neck.
The front legs gave out first after the head hit the floor sending a green splash of what Buffy determined to be the equivalent of blood along the floor. Buffy quickly got off the back of the dead demon and made her way to pick up the axe and flashlight that had ended up on opposite ends of the tunnel.
When Buffy reached the flashlight however the fur ball was holding it out to her with a large toothy grin "Thank you Thank You Thank you! I was almost Shirshu dinner I was! But you saved me! What are you called?"
Buffy stared curiously at the little creature before answering "I'm Buffy."
"Buffy? Strange. I have never met a Buffy before. I thank you Buffy! "Again the fur ball grinned at her with a mouth full of pointed teeth that oddly did not make it look ferocious in the least, "And now as is my way I must offer you assistance! I could show you the way out of this place? Or give you a foot massage?"
The last of the creatures suggestions made Buffy laugh outwardly "I'm going to pass on the foot massage but thanks. Do you know where I could find the Book of White?"
The over grown rabbit backed up quickly and did a double take "You wish to go to the Book of White? It is not an easy trip, or an easy thing to control the white book. Are you sure I couldn't just show you the way out? Much safer journey I assure you!"
"Kinda important saving the world thing..."Buffy tried to explain
"I see I see."The demon paced back and forth, it seemed to be contemplating its options before stopping abruptly announcing," Alright I shall take you to the book!"
"Excellent!" Buffy smiled down at...it. "Hey do you have a name?"
"Name? What is a name?" Buffy remembered it had asked her what she was called and quickly restated the question, "OH! I am called a Carlosea demon. Guide to lost underground travelers and protector of relics!"
The Carlosea started walking down the tunnel away from the dead Shirshu. It was more of a waddle Buffy decided. "I'm going call you Carl."
"Carl? Also strange." Carl answered, "Follow me Buffy I will lead you to the Book of White."
There was no way she was going to do this. Vampires? Sure. Demons? Hell yes. Hellmouths? Bring it on! Bottomless pits of despair that you couldn't see the bottom of with no obvious way across, and horrible noises coming from the bottom? Not so much.
"Carl are you sure that this is the only other way?" Buffy asked looking down. A rumbling noise came from the pit followed by a sequence of growls.
"Unless you believe that you could in fact fit through the opening leading to the vampires nest?" Carl's voice sounded hopeful like he wasn't any happier that they had to cross here. Unfortunately the opening that he was referring to wasn't and opening at all, it was a hole that lead directly into an uber-vamp nest. It wouldn't really have been a problem for Buffy, there were only 4 or 5 vampires on the other side, but if She was able to fit her head though the hole she would be lucky never mind her shoulders or hips.
"I guess we are going to cross this somehow then?" Buffy said making Carl slump his shoulders slightly in gloom, "Is there a rickety old bridge or an old rope that we have to swing across on?"
Carl shook his head no then pointed across the cavern that had opened up just outside of the tunnel. The cavern was quite large spanning easily a mile in length and half of that in width, and had its own light suspended directly above the pit. The light did nothing to light up the darkness beneath them but it did make it possible to see the surface clearly "There is a small ledge along that wall. See? We will cross there but be careful of the Viatha. He will surely try to knock us off."
"Viatha? What's that?" Buffy questioned following closely behind Carl. They were deep underground Buffy determined. No way a town could be supported over an air pocket like this for very long if it was too close to the surface. Also the higher tunnels in Sunnydale had been packed down by a number of demons using them over time. But the ground was not smooth here by no means, loose rocks uneven ground and cracks and holes where everywhere, so when Buffy's foot kicked a rock over the edge of the canyon it wasn't on purpose.
Carl stopped dead in his tracks; he listened as the rock fell. Two minutes later there was a shriek that was coming from the pit. It was eardrum piercing like nails on a chalkboard and metal tearing but magnified to an unbearable volume. The walls shook and Buffy felt the ground shift under her feet. Carl took off at a run for the wall where the crumbing rock ledge waited for them "You hit the Viatha with a rock! Bad very very bad."
"I didn't know it would go crazy!"Buffy defended herself as she chased after Carl trying to keep her balance at the same time, "What is that thing?"
"Large, scarab like creature."Carl yelled over his shoulder, "If we do not make it there in time there won't be a bridge and more!"
Buffy kicked it into high gear happy that she had worn a pair of sneakers instead of something a little more high fashion. Grabbing Carl by the waistband on the back of his purple pants, Buffy swung the fur ball on to her back. With her one good arm free to balance her during the Viatha's temper tantrum and her guide holding on to her neck securely Buffy made a dash for the only way across.
Large parts of the ceiling and walls of the underground cavern began to fall with the demons thrashings. One almost fell on Buffy but she dodged it at the last moment. She didn't stay still long enough to watch as the ground beneath the broken bit of ceiling crumbled and slide directly into the Viatha's pit. Another shriek filled the air as Buffy leapt over a large crevice, racing now for the far wall like a god was chasing her. Crashes of more rock falling sounded behind her, but Buffy didn't look back. She was getting close.
400m
250m.
100m.
Buffy reached over her head with her right arm and grabbed Carl by the scruff of the neck and got ready to set him down so he could cross the bridge. "Get ready to lead the way Carl! Get us out of here!"
50m
25m
10m
Smack!
Buffy didn't stop in time before skidding into the wall with her left side jarring her broken wrist. Hissing in pain, Buffy shoved off the wall and followed the Carlosea demon. He was halfway across the small ledge, running as fast as his little legs could carry him. Within seconds Buffy was on his heels edging him on. "Come on Carl! Move it!"
Carl shot a look over his shoulder at Buffy "Carlosea demons don't have long legs like Buffy's do! Besides which of us infuriated the Viatha?"
"Blame me later when we aren't about to become squished." Buffy ground out. Almost there Buffy picked up and threw her guide the rest of the way just as a crack in the ledge became a gaping hole at least 5 feet wide.
"Jump!" Carl screamed as Buffy leapt foreword landing in a kneeling position on the other side. Where she had been standing was now disappeared into the bottom of the pit. Carl's voice pulled her attention away from the only way back to the surface that she knew "Quick before it's completely sealed!"
Carl was standing on top of a tower of rocks that were blocking an exit tunnel pointing with one of his clawed fingers into the darkness. Buffy made the distance disappear and was sliding down the back side of the rock barricade with Carl when another shriek rang out. Rolling to the ground on the other side The Slayer had just enough time to watch as a huge boulder fell blocking off the only source of light.
Let me Know What you think! Hopefully have the next chapter up within 2 weeks.
