Okay, here's the next chapter. I did this in a couple of hours, can you believe that. I definitely lied when I said the next chapter would be up in 2 weeks time.
A big surprise in this chapter, and also, a lot of references to previous chapters. Mainly things are taken directly from previous chapters (copy and paste).. You'll see.
Chapter 28
A Couple of Million Years Ago
She looked around at the people in the small room before her. She sized them all up, in terms of their magickal abilities. None of them were even close to her power, but there were some in the room who were quite powerful, some who were just dabblers. She had managed to call at least ten people to her for her first meeting, seven of which were female, three of which were male. Amy Madison had cast a common, yet complex glamour spell on herself, to hide her dark eyes and hair from the group. She needed them to see her as just another ordinary person. She took looked around to the people in the room again, decided that now was a better time to start than ever.
"Everyone, please, listen up," she called out, quietening everyone and getting their attention. When she was satisfied that her audience was going to listen to her, she began to speak. "Everyone, I have requested this gathering, as it as come to my attention that there is a great danger to this world," Amy started. "There is a witch that I know of, who used to be my friend, who has acquired too much power. So much in fact, that she can freely end the world and kill all of us whenever she wishes to." She heard a couple of people start murmuring and whispering amongst themselves. "She has tried to before, and the only thing that stopped her was her long time friend. However, she is unstable, having lost control numerous times since then. She is a danger to everyone on this planet, and if something isn't done soon, she will lose control," Amy continued. "The reason that I have gathered you here is that we need to take that power from her. She will not give it up, and someone needs to make sure that this world is safe. We need to help her, before she destroys herself and takes who knows how many people with her… I have tried to take some of this power from her, but I am not strong enough. No body on this earth is strong enough. Everyone in this room combining their power wouldn't be strong enough for us to save her," Amy lied and convinced. She needed these people to believe that they were doing the right thing, that they'd be helping the world, instead of helping her. "We need to gather more people to us if we are going to save her. That's why I need all of you to go out and tell everyone you know who has even the slightest magickal ability to come here, in three nights time. We need more power if we're going to stop her before she loses control. Again," Amy said. She heard everyone talking to each other, but she couldn't make out what any one of them was saying.
"What's the girl's name. Who is it who has become so powerful?" one of the males asked. "Her name is Willow Rosenburg, and she lives in Sunnydale," Amy replied.
"How did she come to have so much power and have no one notice?" someone else asked.
"She already had a good natural talent for magick, but then, due to circumstances beyond her control, her control, her lover was murdered. This sent her on a rampage after the murderer, she sucked dry the town's mystic, who provided advice to those who wanted it. Then, her mentor and friend, a watcher none the less, tried to stop her after he was imbued with the powers of a very powerful coven in England. He didn't succeed, and she sucked all of the power out of him," Amy lied, knowing that that would be enough to convince them all.
"What happened to the murderer?" Someone asked. "Did she get him?"
"Yes, and flayed him alive," Amy replied. She was sure that everyone would be convinced by that, and pleased that they walked right into that one. "Tell everyone you know of this place, and meet here again in three nights time. We need to act soon," Amy said, a smug smile spreading across her face as everyone left the room, chatting adamantly about what she had just told them.
Willow had just spent the last five to six hours telling Tara everything she knew about her life before she came back. Telling her about her parents and how she had loved her mother and how she was a natural witch. Telling her about her father and cousins and how they had tricked her into thinking she was part demon. They had been in the living room the whole time, Giles, Xander and Dawn stopping in on occasion to add pieces, and even Oz came at one time to just listen. Willow had just finished and was about to head into the kitchen to get a cup of coffee when Buffy came rushing in through the front door, carrying a limp form in her arms.
"Giles, Oz, Willow, Everyone!" Buffy shouted. Tara got out of the way as Buffy raced to the couch, carrying Michaela in her arms. Faith came in right after her, carrying another body in her arms, and she lay it down on their other couch, revealing it to be Connor.
"Oh my God," Willow heard Oz say.
"Oh my God," Willow heard another voice say. She turned to see that it was Fred, looking at the body of Connor.
"What Happened?" Oz asked anyone who was listening.
"Willow, get over here. They haven't woken up yet, and their noses have been spurting out blood at least since we woke up," she heard Buffy say. "Oh my god, what if they're dead?" Buffy started. "What if they're dead and it's my fault?"
"Buffy, they're not dead, their chests are still rising and falling," Willow heard Giles say. She bent down and had a close look at Michaela. There was blood all over her face, all of which had obviously come from her nose.
"She's been haemorrhaging, her brain is or has been bleeding," Willow said.
"Is she going to be alright?" Willow heard Oz ask her.
"I think so. Yes, I mean. Yes, I think so," Willow replied to him. She created a bright magickal glow around her index finger and moved to open Michaela's eye to see if there was any response, indicating brain activity. She was shocked however to see that Michaela's iris was an iridescent green colour. "That's not right," she said as she heard a loud thump behind her. She turned to see that both Cassia and Naomi had just dropped a large box with carvings all over it in the middle of the room. "Someone check Connor's pupils," Willow said. Fred who was sitting by Connor's side in the same position as Willow opened his eye lid and gasped.
"They're bright blue," Fred said.
"Willow, can you do anything to help them?" Giles asked her.
"I..I.. I can try," Willow stammered, the pressure getting to her. She closed her eyes and concentrated, building the energy up within her, trying to not lose control. She drew energy from within the earth as well, hoping that it would ground her. She began to feel positive about the results when she held her control as the energy kept building up. When she thought she had enough to heal Michaela, she lay opened her eyes and lay her hands on her, surprised to see a greenish glow laced with yellow coming from them. She started to push the energy inside of Michaela and visualised it starting to heal her body and fix it's organs. In a sudden rush, the energy was pushed back out of the body and straight at Willow, sending her flying back from Michaela's body and landing on the floor.
"What happened?" Wesley asked her as soon as she opened her eyes.
"There's something inside her, blocking me. Whatever it is, it's powerful," Willow replied.
"Buffy, you need to tell us what happened," Giles asked of her. The whole room became quiet as they waited for Buffy's answer.
"We went to the High school, and they were there already. We saw them in the room, there were two Syophers and a Turokhan. We came out of our hiding spot, and we saw that there were two more Turokhans there. We managed to fight them off, that was easier than I thought it would be. There were vampires around the Hellmouth, and the Syophers didn't even come near us. They were doing some kind of ritual, and I could feel it Giles. I could feel the power go through the air. There was energy swirling around the Hellmouth, and then the next minute, Michaela steps out in front of everyone and tells everyone to get back. She did something, something to protect us. I think she had some idea of what was going on. And then the next minute, Cordelia explodes into balls of energy. Then, the next thing I know is that I'm waking up on the floor of the room we were in. We all eventually woke up except for Michaela and Connor, who had blood coming out of their noses. We picked them up and came here," Buffy explained, recalling just about everything she could remember.
"And that?" Giles asked, pointing to the box that Naomi and Cassia had dumped in the middle of the living room.
"That was the only thing that the Syophers left, so, we took it," Buffy replied.
"That box might have something to do with Connor and Michaela's current condition," Wesley said.
"Yes, I agree," Giles answered. "Wesley, Willow, Fred, anyone else who wants to try, we'd best take a look at this box. Everyone else should try and help Michaela and Connor."
Amanda was glad when all of her group showed up at their regrouping point fifteen miles away from where the ambush took place. She was also glad when none of them had commando's with them. It was morning by now, and they were starting to look out of place in their black leather suits.
"How did they know? Aren't these necklaces meant to hide us from The First?" Carmen said to her.
"Maybe they didn't know it was us. Maybe they just knew that there was to be a meeting with a contact from the Coven, and that they were meant to give us the Slayer Tracking Device," Amanda said. "And then, they set up the ambush."
"But how did the American Military's O Ops know? Don't they usually operate out of the country?" Jonathon stated.
"Maybe things are worse than we thought. If the American Military has pulled it's O Ops division back to it's own soil, they must know that something's going on. And if the American Military knows, whatever is going on must be fairly significant," Amanda replied. "That's why we need to get to Sunnydale by midday, we can't afford to lose any time in capturing The Slayer."
Three hours had passed, and they had finally finished translating all that they could on the box. There were many markings that had to be looked up, which no one could identify, but they were confident that they would find out it's meaning. Fred had started feeling sick right in the middle of their research, and everyone else insisted that she go and lay down, but she was determined to see this through, and see if they could help Connor and Michaela. It wasn't until Giles and Buffy started talking did she take a rest, as her head was starting to spin.
"So, what's it say?" Buffy asked Giles.
"It was easy to translate, most of the inscriptions are in ancient Hebrew. It mainly tells us of the story of the Old ones. It also has some markings indicating that it has the ability to manipulate time, and that it will "Return what has been Lost", and that it is Only to be used by The Slayer. It also has instructions on how to use it," Giles said.
"What, you mean that this box is for me?" Buffy replied.
"I'm uncertain, but, by the way it looks, it is for either you or Faith, or both of you," Wesley replied to Buffy's question.
"So, what are we waiting for, let's use this thing. We've got nothing to lose," Faith said. "If it's for the Slayer, it's got to be good. We can use it to our advantage."
"How about we wait and find out what all those other markings say. It still may not be safe," Dawn said. "What if it talks about it being to End the Slayer line or something like that, instead of that it's for the Slayer. How do we know that?"
"Because it is said that only the Slayer is to use it, and that only she holds the capacity to use it's full potential and to 'unlock the gates of evolution', whatever that means," Willow replied. Everyone was looking at Buffy now, as Faith's viewpoint on the thing was clear.
"Okay, what do we need?" Buffy asked them.
"Only you, Faith and a drop of each of your blood, I guess," Giles said.
"You guess?" Buffy and Faith simultaneously asked.
"Well, there are two Slayers now, and it says that it needs a drop of blood of The Slayer," Giles replied. They walked over to the box and looked down at it. It was large, about two and half feet wide and long, and the same height. It was completely covered in carvings, depicting various pictures with writing underneath most of them. In the top of it was a small impression where they guessed Buffy and Faith's blood was meant to go. Buffy pulled a knife out from the back of her jeans which she still had there from the fight at the Hellmouth, and sliced a cut across her palm. She then gave the knife to Faith who did the same. They held their hands over the box and watched as their blood dripped onto the box, missing the impression. They were amazed when the blood began moving with almost a lifelike quality to it towards the impression. As soon as the drops of blood entered the impression, the box began to emit a soft blue glow. Everyone took a step back and watched as the air began to shimmer above the box. A tear in the air appeared and gradually became bigger and larger until it was large enough for a person to walk through. The strange thing was that there was nothing coming from it, no sound, no rushing of air, nothing associated with all the portals that they had seen.
"Are you game B?" Faith said to her, standing beside her in front of the portal.
"If your going, I'm going," Buffy replied.
"Right then," Faith replied before rushing forward into the portal, Buffy on her heels.
Fred watched as the portal closed behind the two Slayers, and she felt her world spin. She noticed that there was blood coming out of her nose right before she collapsed onto the ground.
Buffy and Faith were standing on the top of a hill, in the middle of a desert. Below them, they could see thousands of bodies, humanoid in shape, but with black skin, large fangs, and yellow eyes, fighting. Buffy realised that it was a war, they had come into the middle of a war. She squinted her eyes, trying to get a closer look, and she was shocked when it became almost like she was standing right in the middle of the fighting. She relaxed her eyes, and her vision returned to normal. For the moment, she and Faith were safe, nothing had noticed them on top of the hill. In a sudden rush, bodies were racing past them both, these ones also humanoid in form, but their skin appeared to be scales. They were running right past Faith and Buffy over the hill, down to the battle below. Buffy saw one coming straight at her, and went to move out of the way, but the creature passed right through her.
"We're ghosts," Faith said. "What is this?" she also asked.
"Giles said that the box had something to do with time, so maybe this is history?" Buffy suggested. Suddenly, the bodies around them began to fade, and shimmer away. In a couple of moments, they were standing in the middle of a sea of dead bodies, some of the forms of which she recognised as the ones that had just been fighting. In front of them, they could see a large structure, with a symbol of an upside down triangle enclosed in a circle, which was enclosed in an upright triangle. There was a large demonic form, which must have been metres high, walking through what seemed to be a portal next to the structure. The world around them shimmered again, and the next thing they knew, they were standing in the middle of a clearing, with naked, human like forms around them.
"Cavemen," Faith said. They saw in the distance another large demonic form similar to the one they had seen before, and they saw a beam of energy go shooting from it to one of the humans that were surrounding them, morphing it's features and turning it into something that resembled a Turokhan.
"I know this," Buffy said. "This is how the first Vampires were made, Giles told me about it once." They watched, as the First Vampire ran around, biting and draining the life out of the humans around it.
The world shimmered again, and they were in a cave, with a girl chained to the wall and three men with large canes chanting in a semicircle around the girl. They watched as a large dark shadow emerged from a box they had in the middle of the floor and entered the girl. Buffy and Faith watched as the girl tried to fight against it, but failed.
"The First Slayer," Faith said quietly.
"They forced the spirit of the demon inside of her," Buffy said. They watched the life of The First Slayer, as she walked the earth, fighting against the Turokhan, with greater ease than Buffy and Faith had managed. They watched as she died, and another Slayer was chosen. They watched the line of the Slayers, and how easily they could be killed. They watched as the Turokhan evolved into the modern vampire as their blood became more diluted with that of the humans. They watched, as countless Slayers had their lives taken away in combat. They could see every one of the members of the Slayer line in front of them.
Next, their world shifted again. This time, they were standing in the middle of a ruined city, traces of civilisation long gone, the sky overhead blackened with clouds darker than Buffy had ever seen. The Clouds were almost black. Rubble was scattered everywhere, and there was small traces of dying vegetation. Buffy and Faith waited until something was to happen, for whatever it was that they were meant to see, happen, but nothing did.
"What's the go here? I thought this was to do with history?" Faith said.
"Maybe it's not history. Maybe it's the future," Buffy said.
"Yeah, like it's showing us what we've got to stop?" Faith said. They decided to walk. They didn't get far, when they managed to see a piece of paper on the ground, almost in pieces, and faded so much that it was hard to read the ink. They noticed that it was a newspaper, and that the heading said
The Boston Herald. They looked down at the main picture on the front page, and they immediately recognised it as the symbol from the structure they had seen next to the portal and the large demon."It's the symbol for The First," a voice said behind them. Both Buffy and Faith spun around to see an image of someone who greatly resembled Michaela standing before them.
"Michaela? What are you doing here?" Buffy asked her.
"There's not enough power. You need more power. My time has been. We have left. You do not wish us to return," the image of Michaela said. "The world and demons have evolved, yet the Slayer hasn't. It's time to begin your journey," she said before she just disappeared in an instant.
The world around them shimmered again, and this time they were standing in the middle of what seemed to be a large building. It was filled with people, most of which were fighting. They both heard a familiar voice behind them, and they turned around and looked through a doorway. They were surprised when they saw both Spike and Willow talking.
"How could they…" Spike started. "Why do all the women I've met so far, since this has all happened possess the ability to send me face first into the ground?" Spike said.
"It's easy," Willow replied. "They're all Slayers." There was a slight pause as Spike took in what Willow had just said.
"They're all slayers?" Spike repeated.
"Yeah. God, where have you been for the last year and a half?" Willow replied casually. Spike looked to see that the girl who had been escorting him walk directly up to Willow.
"Willow, it's Amy," was all she said.
"Okay, I'm on it," Willow replied before turning away and walking directly into the portal, just as if she was walking through an ordinary doorway.
"Well why the hell didn't we use a portal in the first place?" Spike exclaimed. The girl who had been guarding him looked over her shoulder.
"Because they're dangerous now. They collapse very easily because the fabric of reality has been altered. You may end up opening up a portal, and then once you step through, it may collapse and there'll be little pieces of you in a thousand dimensions. Only the powerful witches can use them now," she said.
"So, how come you opened the portal here?" Spike asked.
"Like I said, only the most powerful witches even dare to use portals," the girl replied.
"Skye, come on, we've got things to do," another girl said who had come through the portal. (Taken from Previous Chapter, Spike's part)
They watched as both of the women left the room, leaving Spike there alone. They entered the room and looked at him with his back turned to them.
"When do you think this is?" Faith asked.
"I don't know, the not too distant future?" Buffy replied. They decided to explore the complex before their next change of scenery took place. They just turned around when they heard two thumps behind them. They turned around to see the last thing they had expected: themselves. Their other selves had come through the portal and landed hard on the ground. They watched as their alter egos began to talk.
"We can't win this fight B. The First's too powerful, you saw exactly what I did. There was too many vamps, not even our combined resources could handle them," Faith's alter ego said.
"Then we get more resources. We go out, find more Slayers. There's got to be a good hundred more hiding underground somewhere," Buffy's alter ego replied. "We'll come up with something, we always do."
"But we aren't facing The First's full legions every day B, well, except for the last three years anyway," Faith's alter ego said. "We're missing something, we can't keep this up. We're not strong enough."
They never got to see any more when their scenery changed again, and they were standing in the middle of a battlefield with bodies lying all over the ground. Buffy could see that they were human bodies, and when she had a closer look, she almost collapsed to the ground. Right in front of her, was a body without a head. The head had been chopped off and had rolled five feet away. She had seen the face of the head, and she recognised it as Dawn's. She looked around her, there were hundreds of bodies lying on the ground, most of them young girls. They heard a noise behind them, and they turned to see an image of Faith and Angelus fighting.
"Oh my god," Faith and Buffy managed to say simultaneously. They heard another noise behind them, and they turned to see an image of Buffy, surrounded in vampires, dust filling the air as she twirled around, dusting anything that came near her, going faster and using strength and speed that neither Slayer thought possible. They were now standing in the middle of the battlefield, and they saw Tara fall. Moments later, they saw an image of Willow rising up, floating off of the ground, power radiating off of her.
"No! Don't do this!" they both saw Buffy's alter ego scream. They watched as energy radiated off of Willow, swirling black and red energy going towards the hoards of vampires and turning them to dust. They watched, as a spirit entered Willow's body, and she fell to the ground convulsing. They saw Cordelia approach Willow.
"The First's inside of her, it's taking over her body," Cordelia shouted out to the remaining survivors and Buffy and Faith. They watched as Cordelia's body immediately disappeared and a large blue ball of light was left in her presence. The ball went down and enveloped Willow's body, but was pushed back and destroyed. They watched as Willow's body stopped convulsing and she stood up, and red and black swirling energy came out from her and killed everyone around them except Buffy's alter ego. Both Buffy and Faith watched as Buffy's alter ego turned around, a ghast look on her face at the dead bodies around her. They watched, as Buffy's grip on her sword tightened, and she spun around, accurately and swiftly swinging her sword into motion as she approached Willow's former body.
"No one's left to bring you back this time," Willow's body said as it unleashed hoards of energy at Buffy's alter ego. (Last part taken from Buffy's Dream of the future in Chapter 21-Set in Motion)
"It isn't enough," a voice said behind them. They spun around to see the image of what looked like Michaela standing behind them again. "Be warned, bear arms when you set out on this journey. Your enemy is the key. Use it to unlock the gates of evolution. Fight for it." With that, the image that resembled Michaela disappeared.
The world around Buffy and Faith shifted again. They were now standing in the middle of Sunnydale. When they looked down the middle of main street however, they could see an transparent image of a large structure in the middle of the desert.
Both Buffy and Faith woke up in the middle of the Summer's living room, with everyone standing around them. Immediately, Buffy and Faith got up. Buffy, still with the image of Dawn's headless body on the ground, ran to her to hug her, but unusually, Dawn started backing off.
"Dawn," Buffy said as she went to hug Dawn, but instead passed right through her and fell to the floor.
"Dawn?" Xander asked. He moved towards her and waved his hand through her, expecting it to stop and meet solid flesh.
"It's not Dawn," Giles said in a low voice.
"Well, if it's not Dawn, who is it?" Gunn asked.
"The First," both Faith and Oz replied at the same time.
"There is nothing you can do to fight against me. Your box here of tricks is useless," the image of Dawn said. "Your sister is gone. The Key is Mine," it said before disappearing in a flash.
Lindsey McDonald approached the building with Caelecae behind him. This was the place where they had been told to bring her so that she could meet with The Senior Partners and discuss whatever it was that their purpose for bringing her back was. He knew that it was tied to The First Evil, as the Syopher emerged with Caelecae from the building above the Hellmouth, as he was told was going to happen. They entered the small shack, which didn't have anything in it except a bed. Lindsey watched as Caelecae stepped into the middle of the room and closed her eyes. The shack began to shake as a portal opened up and engulfed her whole, leaving no trace of her brief existence on the earth in the last couple of million years.
If you're wondering when Dawn 'died'. She didn't 'die'. She was reverted back into the form of the Key. Remember in the chapter when there was a large shockwave that sent everyone haywire? There was a bit about Dawn glowing green and feeling like she was turning back into the key. Well, she actually did turn back into the Key. Everything that's had dawn in it from there has actually been "The First". I had planned it that way, so it would be a big shock because no one (the readers) wouldn't have realised that Dawn actually turned back into the key until then.
Nifty eh?
Tell us what you think plz.
Next Chatper…
Haven't thought of the name yet. Will try to get it up soon. Not tonight tho as it's 1:45 in the morning.