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Chapter 105- Shiny Happy People
"It is here", Buffy muttered to herself as she turned the recording on.
The woman smiled at Angel and Connor, and picking Cordelia's cloak, covered her nudity, calling the world wonderful, and thanked the comatose Cordelia for carrying her in her womb, and called the world perfect.
"Stay, away from her!" Dawnster growled at the being.
"So, they are both whammied, right?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, they are, and she can do that to everyone", Summers sighed.
Angel was ashamed, saying he'd come to kill her and must be punished. She picked up the sword, raising it, but the killing blow never came as Angel opened his eyes to see the woman gone.
"Only one who has to be punished is that thing", Willow snarled.
"She will be, don't worry", Rosenberg assured.
Fred was gathering scattered books and Lorne was drinking a seabreeze, while Wesley and Gunn were heard dismembering Skip in the basement. Fred wondered why the Beast master hadn't chosen an evil, horrible person to be its vessel, and then asked if Angel had found Cordelia and Connor, and he could have been too late and the thing would already be born.
"Yes, it is born, sadly", Tara sighed.
"And Angel and Connor are already under its control", Giles muttered.
"I'm guessing they will be too", Buffy realized.
"Yes, they will be", Dawn confirmed grimly.
Fred wondered if Angel would kill Cordelia and Lorne said he would to save the world. Fred slumped into a chair, dejected, then looked up as the door opened and angrily ran to Connor, holding a knife to his throat, but he was calm and smiling now, and Angel was there, Cordelia sleeping on the sofa. Wesley and Gunn arrived too, and Angel seemed dejected, the others confused, and then Angel and Connor they won't kill the thing, because they were saved and needed to worship it.
"Not saved, enslaved", Maclay muttered.
"So, this thing enslaves people, and makes them believe they've been saved, right?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, and it feeds that bitch's ego", Harris scoffed.
"I'm guessing they're going to need an unconventional way to stop it", Willow realized.
"Yes, something unexpected", Summers confirmed with a nod.
Wesley tried to explain to Angel he was under an enchantment but then the woman arrived there. Angel and Connor dropped to their knees, and one by one, the rest of them did as well, now asking to be ordered.
"Oh my God!" Tara said, summing up everyone's horror at what had just happened.
"All of them are under its control now, LA is defenseless", Buffy realized, eyes wide.
"So, it's going to rule the city?" Giles asked.
"For now, yes", Rosenberg sighed. "It is too powerful, and the whamming is next level."
"So, they just see her walk by and poof?" Xander asked.
"Not just that, seeing her on TV or hearing her on radio is enough", Maclay revealed, horrifying them more.
Later, Gunn lighted candles as the rest tended to Cordelia, Fred saying she must have been honored to bring the woman into the world, but the woman said she was the one honored, saying it was good to be back. "Yes. In the beginning, before the time of man, great beings walked the earth. Untold power emanated from all quarters: the seeds of what would come to be known as good and evil. But the shadows stretched and became darkness and the malevolent among us grew stronger. The earth became a demon realm. Those of us who had the will to resist left this place but we remained ever watchful."
"So she always wanted to rule Earth, huh?" Willow asked.
"Yes, it was her dream, and now by working some events in her favor, she has finally managed to return", Summers told them.
"But did she really manipulate all those events just so she could come to Earth?" Giles asked.
"No, that's just crap to mess with the team, we'll tell you what really happened after this is done", Dawn assured.
Jasmine then revealed that 'Man' had risen afterwards, and the Powers had failed them by just observing, so she needed to return, and she needed a miracle, which was Connor. She had arranged one through Angel and Darla, and she had arranged it through Lorne when he had sent them to the trials, and Angel had earned a life, the life being Connor. These events had unfolded for her to re-enter the physical world.
"She is so full of shit", Buffy scoffed.
"Yeah, as if anyone with common sense is gonna believe she arranged it all", Dawnster shook her head too.
"Well, right now none of them are in their senses", Maclay pointed out.
"She is a master manipulator, I will grant her that, but none can be that good", Giles agreed with a nod.
Angel asked if Cordelia would wake up and she said Cordelia would once they'd taken hold of the world. Now they must destroy evil and change the world.
"Let's start with you", Xander snarled, clutching his fists angrily.
"Yeah, you need to die really painfully", Buffy agreed.
A Vampire tried to play bowling with a human head, and there were 15 more. Angel and his team then appeared with the woman, and they battled the Vamps while the woman circled the melee, Fred next to her, crossbow at the ready. She then had Fred sit with her as they watched the battle, and started thinking of what to name her.
"Evil, raping bitch from Hell who no one wants!" Dawnster snapped angrily. "Long, but fits you to a T."
"The Vampires aren't falling to their knees", Tara noted.
"It only works on those who have a soul", Rosenberg revealed.
"So, if he was Angelus…" Buffy trailed off.
"Oh yeah, he'd be totally fine then, but then you know, more stuff to worry about", Summers pointed out.
One Vamp then attacked the woman, sinking its claws into her arm before Angel pulled him off, and an anguish-stricken Fred apologized, but she assured Fred it wasn't her fault. Angel hurled a Vamp into the bowling alley's cement wall while the one that had attacked the woman ran behind the lanes into the nest of shadows among pin-setting machinery. Angel chased him through an outdoor café, while he ran into a patron as both tumbled to the ground. Angel yanked it to its feet as Connor tossed him a stake and he killed it while the people watched in shock and awe when the team and woman appeared.
"So, they are gonna be under her thrall too, right?" Xander asked.
"Yeah, sadly, this is just the start though", Maclay said.
"She plans to get the whole world", Dawn added.
"Well, that didn't work out", Willow muttered. "Since we were never mind-controlled by her, we didn't even see her till now."
"Yeah, she was stopped before she could take over the world", Summers revealed to them. "How, you will see in a while."
Everyone dropped to their knees at the woman's sight, awed by her as she assured a woman called Margaret that her life won't be empty anymore. The patron into whom the Vamp had bumped looked at the woman in horror and picked a knife to kill her, but Angel's face went feral as he intercepted the guy and pounded him over and over, till the woman stopped him. The man was sobbing, asking if the rest couldn't see it, but then she caressed his cheek, and asked Wesley to call an ambulance. She then told the people this man would be alone in his anger forever, but the rest were together in their love.
"Now why wasn't he affected?" Buffy asked.
"Is he able to see something the others cannot?" Giles asked.
"Yes, he is", Rosenberg confirmed. "He could see her for who she truly was."
"How's that?" Dawnster asked.
"You'll know by the end of this one", Summers assured.
"This is like when cult mobs crucify someone they don't like", Willow said, everyone even more disturbed by the comparison.
Later, at Hyperion, Wesley and Gunn thought of more names to give to the woman, and Fred was holding the woman's torn shirt, trying to get the stain away, and in spite of the woman's assurances, she wanted to wipe it clean, and ran off as Wesley and Gunn said they should let her do her thing.
"Their personalities and all are pretty much the same as before, other than Connor who is nicer", Tara commented, as now all realized it too.
"Yes, she brainwashed them to do her bidding, but their personalities are still the same, only they are being used to benefit her instead", Rosenberg explained to them all.
"Well damn!" Xander said. "She already got Luke Skywalker's very distant cousin, who will be next?" [1]
"This city", Maclay sighed.
The woman told Wesley and Gunn both loved Fred very much so that love should bring them closer, and they exchanged a look of understanding while she showed Connor her wound was healed, which was because she healed fast due to being a former Power. Connor asked why the man wanted to hurt her, and she seemed momentarily troubled before saying change frightened some people.
"I will admit, it does", Giles said, and they knew he was speaking of his former disdain for computers and technology. "But there is nothing that can be done about it, so it is better to just let it happen. But you are not change, you are a monster, and that man knew it."
Everyone nodded in agreement.
"Former Power, heals fast, guessing she will be hard to kill too", Buffy noted.
"Yes, very hard", Dawn nodded. "But there are aces in the hole, you'll see."
She then walked to the garden where Angel sat, staring into the night, and sniffed a lovely fragrance which Angel said must be the jasmine. Angel said he'd shamed her but she said he wanted to protect her. Angel revealed it wasn't easy to honor her due to the happiness he was feeling, as being too happy would unleash Angelus, but she assured none of it will matter soon, and only beauty will be left, so they would eradicate all evil. She told Angel he was her general and she had faith in him, and all her other warriors. They were up to the task.
"So, this form of happiness isn't perfect?" Buffy asked.
"No, it is not true happiness", Rosenberg explained. "It is induced by her power, Angel needs to feel true perfect happiness to lose his soul."
"And she is not it", Maclay shook her head.
"Which means she isn't as good for the world as she's making herself out to be", Dawnster snarled.
Summers once more remembered Darla admiring these Jasmine flowers about 2 years ago, and now this woman would name herself that after smelling their fragrance.
Later, Angel and his team arrived at a warehouse, battling the Vampires and Demons like true believers in a crusade, easily defeating them all after a short fight while Fred scrubbed the woman's shirt really hard, trying to clean the stains. "You're not alone anymore. I will be with you everywhere you go. I'll be at your side, guiding your hands, giving you strength. With my help, there will be no doubt… no worry… no fear… for you will know you cannot be beaten."
"Believers in a crusade", Tara muttered, disturbed, like the rest.
"Fred is scrubbing that shirt like Lady Macbeth scrubbed her hands", Willow said, remembering reading the play.
"Yes, pretty good comparison there", Rosenberg agreed.
"Shows how bad the thing's effects are", Dawn sneered.
Later, Angel and his team watched the news where the results of their works were talked of. Angel then shut it off as they said they could make LA a Demon-free zone at this rate. Lorne then came down, having a surprise for the woman, and led her upstairs as all of them admired her, and Fred arrived with the shirt, then started crying as she revealed she'd brought a brand new one, and she was crying because the woman wasn't here, and she hurt when she wasn't near her, even if she was upstairs.
"Wow, she has got them all wrapped around her fingers, her most of all", Xander said in horror.
"Yeah, she does", Summers agreed, but the past people didn't notice her smirk. Fred wasn't gonna be wrapped around her finger for long.
"She is a false deity enjoying the pleasures of being worshipped on Earth, not a do-gooder", Giles snarled in anger.
"If there were any doubts, what she did to Cordelia cleared those", Buffy scoffed.
Lorne led her to her suite, and she found it lovely, smelling jasmine again, and then he walked out while Connor appeared, and she knew he was troubled. He said he'd helped bring her here but he didn't deserve this happiness, but she said he deserved all the happiness she could bring him. He was a unique soul, and so she had needed him to be born, and now they would transform the world. Connor pointed out his dad was the Champion but she said it was his destiny now, and he nodded, liking what he was hearing.
"Did she pick him before he was born?" Dawnster asked.
"Oh that she did, but she wasn't as responsible for his birth as she is claiming to be", Maclay explained to her.
"She didn't make most of the events happen, she saw them happen, and used them to her advantage", Rosenberg added.
"Makes sense", Willow nodded.
Fred then arrived with the shirt but when she looked at the woman she saw a rotting corpse crawling with maggots, and recoiled in horror, staring in revulsion. The maggots and worms squirmed on her face and twisted in her empty eye sockets, and when she spoke, vermin dropped from her mouth onto the floor, but the rest still saw her as the beautiful and radiant woman.
The past people were all horrified and disgusted on seeing the woman's true form.
"Ewwww", Dawnster groaned, cringing in absolute disgust. "Maggot faces. Vocah had one, now her too, why can't we ever be rid of those?"
"Maybe he was her brother or something", Xander quipped, trying to hide his own disgust.
"So this is her true form", Willow realized grimly.
"And seeing it breaks the spell", Tara added.
"I believe this is what that man saw too", Giles asked the future people.
"Yeah, he saw this form", Summers confirmed.
"How did they see it though?" Buffy asked.
"Just wait, it is going to be explained in a while", Rosenberg assured.
Fred started sobbing, putting her hands over her eyes as the woman and Connor were confused, and the rest arrived, just as confused, as Fred made an excuse that while the woman was here she was thinking of what it'd be like if she wasn't, and lost it. She burst into tears again and giving Wesley the shirt, walked off as they watched, puzzled.
"That was a narrow save", Willow said as the past people sighed in relief.
"Yeah, she was terrified but managed to use her wits just in time", Maclay nodded, everyone impressed.
"So now she and that guy know", Buffy summed up.
"Yeah, just them", Harris nodded.
Fred sat next to the comatose Cordelia. "Cordelia? It's me. I'm here. Hello? Remember before the big brain suck, when Lorne read you and it was all scary, headachy, pukiness? Well, what if that's all true? Only worse, 'cause we don't even know to fight back, not even Angel. Cordelia, I wish you could—" "I know what you're thinking." Fred turned to find Angel standing in the doorway. "You do?" Angel told her. "Sometimes when I look in her eyes, I've seen it, too. It's overwhelming. The lies, the deceit…" Fred sighed, relieved. "…it just melts away. Nothing left but the beauty." Fred covered. "Yeah. It's… incredible." Angel looked down at Cordelia. "I can't believe I almost…" he sighed. "Seems like a lifetime ago." Fred said. "It's all so different from what we expected." Angel agreed. "Big hideous evil trying to end the world? Nice to be wrong." Fred added. "Yeah, and now that she's here, everything just… seems so easy." Angel said. "I know. Feels like a dream." Fred then asked. "But have you noticed how we all just kind of… do what she says? Don't ask questions?" Angel asked. "Isn't it a relief? The constant questioning… it's finally over." Fred nodded and smiled, realizing she was not going to get through to Angel.
"Only seeing her true face will really break her hold", Buffy sighed. "Not talking."
"Yes, and now Fred knows there is no other alternative", Dawn confirmed.
"So she is going to try and fix things", Summers added.
"Well, good luck Fred", Willow wished her luck.
"From all of us", Tara added.
"Oh she has survived a world dead set on making her a beast of burden, this is nothing", Rosenberg told them with a smirk.
"Yeah, it's hard, but she has got it", Maclay assured.
"Awesome", Xander nodded.
"And Angel is wearing a shiny shirt", Buffy noted, everyone now noticing it too. "He is…"
"Her words managed to make him fine enough to let go of his past", Summers revealed.
"Oh", Buffy said. "But isn't that a-"
"It is, but the price is the rest of the world, do you want the rest of the world to suffer and be enslaved just so Angel stops feeling guilty?" Summers asked her pointedly. "And he hasn't actually stopped feeling guilty. It's all induced by her."
"No, if the rest of the world suffers, then it is not worth it", Buffy agreed.
Fred approached the reception desk of the ER, asking for John Stoler, and made excuses that she was a family member, and eventually found out he was in the psychiatric wing. Fred entered the wing but the door was locked with an electronic keypad, only for a nurse to come out of the other side as Fred ducked out of sight, then went in before the door closed. She entered the dark room where Stoler lay, looking away from her, as she revealed she'd seen it too, and then he revealed the other half of his face where the woman had touched him, revealing his skin there had melted and his eye was gone.
"Oh my God!" Buffy said in horror and disgust, the other past people watching in anger too, freaked out.
"Her touch caused that?" Willow asked.
"Yes, it did, her punishment to him for trying to attack her", Harris shrugged. "There's your benevolent deity, loving you as long as you don't try to kill her."
"Some deity", Xander scoffed.
Stoler wanted to be let out to kill it, and since Fred had seen it too, he said they were both chosen to take it down, and it was their duty, but Fred said others could help if they saw it too. Fred then got called by Angel and decided to go, thanking Stoler for his time and apologizing for disturbing him.
"Do they know what she's up to?" Dawnster asked.
"Not yet", Rosenberg assured as they sighed in relief.
"Feel bad for the guy but have to say, he didn't exactly help his credibility", Xander pointed out.
"He wasn't like that, her touch did that to him", Maclay revealed, and now the past people were just more disgusted.
"Evil bitch", Xander snarled.
Fred then arrived at Hyperion, and found the lobby crowded with dozens of people. Lorne told Fred the woman had gone out for a walk and the people had all followed her back here. Fred then made a beeline for Wesley, and he sensed she wanted to speak privately and pulled her aside, and then she started telling him what she'd seen. Gunn looked down at the two from above as Wesley assured Fred she'd done the right thing coming to him, and then the lobby filled with applause as the woman entered, flanked by Angel and Connor, and they walked to the upper lobby, looking down at the rest.
"Did she do the right thing there?" Dawnster asked.
"I do not think so. Even if there was a chance Wesley can be reached, it wasn't a chance worth exploring, considering how strong her hold is", Giles said. "And I do not think he really believes her."
"Oh he does, but he thinks she must be stopped now", Summers revealed, horrifying them all again.
"Well, that's going to suck", Xander said lamely.
"Oh you have no idea", Dawn said.
Wesley assured Fred he'd help her and walked up the stairs. She watched as he met Gunn halfway and whispered something to him. They both turned and stared coldly at her, then Wesley continued on up toward Angel and Connor while Gunn circled the perimeter of the crowd toward Lorne. Fred backed slowly toward the weapons cabinet as Wesley whispered to Angel and the woman and Gunn did the same for Lorne. Lorne turned around, his eyes searching Fred out among the crowd, hatred on his face. She opened the cabinet doors, slipped a dagger into her pocket, then quickly loaded a crossbow. She spun around, crossbow raised and aimed directly at Jasmine. "I'm sorry." She fired but Angel took the shot, falling down as Lorne stalked to Fred, furious, only for her to hold the dagger to his throat, as the rest stopped in their tracks.
"Poor Lorne, but this time it was understandable", Buffy said as they all sighed. "So she shouldn't have told."
"Yeah, but now that she has, she will make sure to make a better plan next time", Maclay assured.
"Now all of them see her as evil, sucks for her", Xander commented.
"Yeah, but she knows they're not themselves", Harris added.
"I'm just hoping she makes it out of here", Tara said as they watched, tense.
Fred threatened to kill Lorne, then pushed him into Angel before bolting out the front door as Angel caught Lorne, and was about to chase her but was stopped by the woman, who said they shouldn't let Fred take away their peace. Fred drove through the dark alone, then pulled over to the side of the door, breaking down in tears.
"At least she's out of there now", Dawnster said as they sighed in relief over that.
"But all alone", Willow said sadly. "Against a powerful enemy."
All watched grimly now.
Later, at Hyperion, the team and woman were alone as she said now all saw the reality of what hatred could do to someone. They eventually concluded Stoler had done something to her, and the woman said not knowing her own reasons for her actions made her even more dangerous. They first decided to kill her but the woman said they could try to help her first, and needed to find her, which would happen the next day, since they'd have eyes everywhere.
"The whammied ones are gonna help, aren't they?" Buffy asked.
"Yeah, they are, but not in the way you think", Summers said grimly as they tensed even more.
"Whatever it is, I have a bad feeling about this", Xander said.
"Hold onto it", Harris told him.
Next morning, Fred sat at the counter of a diner, watching TV as she commented to the cook she'd lost all her friends but he said that was life in the big city. The host of the morning news show welcomed a special guest- Jasmine! Fred looked up in shock to see the woman, now named Jasmine, in the news, as she greeted everyone on TV. The host asked her to tell everything from the beginning and Jasmine gave the same speech she had to Team Angel when she'd whammied them all earlier. The whole diner now kneeled on the floor to Fred's horror as she shakily got to her feet and walked out, unnoticed by the enthralled customers. Fred walked out of the city and made her way alone to the city's heart. The screen went black.
"And now she has gotten the city", Willow said grimly, everyone watching with wide eyes and dropped jaws.
"Damn it!" Dawnster snapped.
"And she has a name now too", Buffy muttered, mouthing it off in disgust. "Jasmine."
"Not her real name though", Summers told them. "That is something else."
"Whatever the name, she needs to die a brutal, painful death", Xander snarled.
"So Team Angel is mind-controlled, so is most of the city, and Fred is all alone", Tara summed up sadly.
"Yeah, it's Fred against LA now", Rosenberg sighed.
"And she alone has to do it", Maclay added.
"I hope she can find a way", Giles said.
"She will", Dawn assured.
"So, you all hungry?" Harris asked.
The past people shared looks before Willow said. "Yeah."
And so they got up and made their way out of the room, still tense.
[1] Sam Witwer, who played Stoler here, also voiced Galen Marek/Starkiller in the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed games, and I've heard that Luke's name was originally supposed to be Luke Starkiller before being changed to Skywalker, and so Galen Marek got Starkiller. Plus, Marek's face is also modeled after Witwer's. Witwer also played Davis Bloome/Doomsday in Smallville Season 8, and Agent Liberty in Self-Righteous Girl Season 4.
Anyway, hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter. Stay safe from the coronavirus ya all!