( Chapter 2 )
Disclaimer: No copyright infringement is intended, all characters belong solely to the creator, Joss Whedon. On the other hand, this idea belongs to someone I met on aol but forgot to get his name before he changed his SN. So, I won't take credit for the idea, Buffy was played by me and he was Riley and Angel. This whole story is more or less mine though, since I typed it all up and what not. If you wanna use it, ask me first please. ^_^
Pronunciation and Reference:
Chratylia: ( pronounced Shruh-teel-yuh )
Chratyl: ( pronounced Shruh-teel, he is the demon who guards the gates of hell )
The Next Day
She had come straight home yesterday and cried herself to sleep, and neither Joyce nor Dawn were particularly interested in inquiring why; they didn't want to double the chances of her becoming more upset than she apparently already was. It hadn't even been 24 hours since she had watched Riley take his last breath, but she still hadn't completely come to grips with the fact that he was gone. When she woke up that morning, she couldn't remember having a dream, or a nightmare for that matter. She had gathered her things together from the floor, next to her bed where she had dropped them the night before. She threw on a pair of jeans, a sleeveless black sweater, and black hiking boots. As she slowly headed downstairs, Dawn ran past her hurriedly.
"Better hurry up Buffy, I'm already late and well...you're going to be too," she screeched in a cant voice as she turned the corner at the bottom of the staircase. Buffy hadn't heard a word of what Dawn told her, her mind was off in a place it couldn't be reached at that point. When she reached the bottom of the stairs, she remembered the last words he ever spoke to her.
"Buffy....you'll make the right de--" she knew what he wanted to say, she'll make the right decision. What did he mean by it? Did he possibly believe she was going to find who had murdered him and claim revenge? An overwhelming sense of ambiguity flooded her mind, what exactly did Riley mean when he said that? As she walked into the kitchen, she waved her mother toward the door, hoping that Joyce would take it as a sign that she was busy thinking. Joyce let out an audible sigh of disappointment as she rushed Dawn out the door and closed it behind her with a clunk. Buffy was feeling drained and completely disoriented, but she found it in her to turn on the radio that was sitting on the kitchen counter, next to the knife holder. She had spent nearly twenty minutes just trying to decide what she would eat, considering the fact that there were 3 boxes of cereal, bagels, some donuts on the kitchen table, and two cartons of milk in the refrigerator. When she had finally decided on having cereal, she heard her mother return home as the front door opened and closed quickly.
"Buffy, are you going to class today?" her mother yelled from the entry way. When no answer came, Joyce made her way into the kitchen with a look of confusion on her face. "Buffy? Sweetheart are you okay?" she asked in a concerned voice. She had just pulled a glass bowl from the dishwasher and began walking back to where she had left the cereal, she hadn't acknowledged anything until the radio had caught her attention.
"This just in, police discovered the body of a twenty to twenty-five year old young man who has been identified as Riley Finn, early this morning. His body was found in the basement of an abandoned building on the border of town. Sources say, the only associations he had were with the late Professor Maggie Walsh of UC Sunnydale where he worked as her teaching assistant until her untimely death, and fellow classmate Buffy Summers..." peices of glass scattered everywhere as the glass bowl hit the linoleum floor, Buffy had frozen in mid-stance as she caught the first few sentences of the news report. Joyce's eyes darted down to the floor and then back up to Buffy, who was now standing in the middle of the kitchen without moving, and completely silent. She began slowly sinking to her knees onto the floor as Joyce kneeled down next to her. She wrapped her arms around her daughter and pulled her close in an effort to comfort and console her.
"Oh Buffy....sweetheart I'm so sorry..." she whispered over and over to the still mute and motionless Buffy. After a few moments she placed her hands lightly on either side of Buffy's face and tilted it toward her own. "Is this why you were crying when you came home last night?" she asked rather randomly. Buffy had barely heard her mother, but she gave a short nod as if she was obvlious to everything else around her. Joyce then put her arms back around her daughter and hugged her close, she began to cradle her lightly so as to ease a little of the pain Buffy was going through. Buffy realized in the very last part of her mind that she had to go to class and face it all. Her friends, her classmates, but worst of all, the reporters trying to scam a quick story and earn their paychecks from her suffering.
"...Mom, I'll be fine...don't worry about me," whispered an unexpected response. So many obstacles were running through her mind at that point that she hadn't realized what she had said. Of course she wouldn't be alright, her boyfriend's corpse had been found in an abandoned building! Why would the U.I.C.O. take him there? Could she even be sure that it was the U.I.C.O. that had burst into her dorm room the day before?
"...Buffy? Do you want me to drive you to class? You don't look in any condition to be driving yourself," her mother said with a great deal of concern and worry in her voice.
"Yeah...yeah mom," she said as she looked back to her mother. She hugged her tightly as a sign of her appreciation for trying to make her feel better, even though it didn't do the least bit of good. She had to face it all, she knew it in her heart, she couldn't wallow in her misery forever. She had to get used to her new life without Riley, 'how' was a whole new battleground.
UC Sunnydale Campus
As Joyce pulled up into the student parking lot of UC Sunnydale, Buffy looked out at the campus from the passenger side window. She'll have to hear the questions, the 'I'm sorry' speeches, and the irrational stories of how they knew what she's going through. As she leaned over to hug her mother, she realized that Joyce hadn't questioned her once about the whole ordeal. Buffy was thankful for that, then she took a deep breath and opened the car door. She stepped out and turned to close the door behind her, she just stood there in silence as she watched her mother drive away. She was on her own now as she slung her bookbag over her shoulder. Crossing her arms in front of her and taking, yet, another deep breath, she began walking toward campus. She hadn't even reached the hall entry way before she began hearing the whispers and gasps of shock.
"She probably did it..." whispered one girl, while her companion giggled in agreement.
"Poor Buffy...look at her, she couldn't even dress fashionably because she's so miserable..." whispered another girl to a group of friends. She wanted so badly to turn around and set them all straight, but she also wanted them all to seriously understand her. Buffy pushed open the swinging glass doors with all her anger and pain backing her up, as they slammed shut behind her, she could still hear them whispering and giggling at her misfortune. She clasped her books to her chest tightly as she walked quickly down the hallway to her classroom, of which she had missed half an hour of already. She heard numerous people shout out at her, 'I'm sorry Buffy' and, 'I hope you feel better.' She sure could have used some real comfort instead of the random attempts she was getting. When she finally reached her classroom, she quickly stepped into the room, stopping in her tracks when she saw the looks on everyone's face.
"Um...Buffy..." her teacher sprang up out of her seat automatically, "I-I didn't expect you to come today...what with the recent...discovery...and all..." As the teacher trailed off, she had forgotten how to phrase her sentence. Buffy nodded as if she understood right away and made her way to her seat quickly. Her attention span was nowhere focused on the lessons being taught in any of her classes that day. When she had finally finished her first day at school without seeing him, she had found her way to the student lounge, where her friends were waiting. As she walked into the lounge, she stopped as soon as she had gotten past the doorway, and stood there.
"So...Buffy...how's it..." Willow didn't bother finishing her sentence, she knew it wouldn't work no matter what she said.
"Never better Wil," Buffy answered with the last bit of the Buffy sarcasm she still had left in her.
"We're all very sorry Buffy, we probably couldn't consciously understand what you're going through right now, but we'll do our best to help you overcome it in any way we can," interrupted Giles, as he stood up from behind a sofa by the window.
"I second that idea," exclaimed Xander, as he stood up from the sofa he was lounging on.
"I third...it," claimed Willow, sounding a bit confused by what she had just said.
"Thanks...guys, really...I appreciate it," Buffy replied with a slight smile on her face.
"So, how do we plan on doing it?" Willow asked as she looked over at Giles.
"Yeah, give us the game plan Stan," Xander said, also looking over to Giles hoping that his bad humor would liven the atmosphere.
"W-Well, maybe we should ask Buffy, I'm not the expert on how to console girls who have just lost their boyfr--" Giles new better than to keep going, "..uh..boy..uh...well, you see.." Buffy's attention was no longer on anyone in the room as she could only center her mind on one thing, Riley.
"I wonder if he went up or down," Buffy asked out of nowhere. She hadn't even realized she had spoken at all until her line of concentration was broken by Giles nervously clearing his throat. "Oh...I'm sorry...I.." as Buffy was trying to figure out an excuse to cover up her outburst, Willow came over and embraced her best friend tightly.
"It's gonna be alright Buffy...y'know? We're all here for you," whispered Willow sympathetically.
"I know Wil, there wasn't a time when you let me down in that department," replied Buffy, returning Willow's embrace. "It's just that...it's going to take a lot of 'being there' for me to shake this, and I mean a lot," she finished obscurely.
"How about going to the Bronze? I mean, I know...about Riley..and all, but it'll be good for you to get out in public again," suggested Willow.
"Wil, I was never gone from public in the first place...I just don't..want to deal with all the....talking, you understand right?" answered Buffy dimly, as she broke their embrace and looked at Willow hoping she would agree with her.
"Of course...Wil understands," Willow glanced behind her to the other two, "Xander and Giles understand too right?" she inquizitively questioned the two.
"Y-Yes, of course, completely," replied Giles quickly.
"Gotcha," replied Xander, with half a smile on his face.
"Um..Buffy...are you going to be on the hunt tonight? Or do you need a break from that too, 'cuz...y'know we'll take over if you don't feel up to it," inquired Willow.
"No...I'll go...it's what Riley would have wanted me to do instead of pining over him for the rest of my life, y'know?" Buffy replied with unusual ease. Just this morning she could hardly speak, now she's saying his name as if he were still alive and she would see him soon. She wished her thoughts and her heart would make up their minds, so she could find a mood and stay there.
"Okay, do you want us to keep you company?" Willow asked again.
"I think I'd better handle this one on my own tonight, but definitely tomorrow night," Buffy replied as she hugged Willow once again. Willow broke the embrace and abruptly pointed toward the exit.
"Go on Buf, you need to go home and rest if you want to handle patrol at least half-way sanely tonight," Willow comically retorted. With that, Buffy turned around and slowly walked out of the lounge. Willow was right, she needed 'plenty' of sleep if she expected to get through the night patroling without Riley. As she made her way toward home, she couldn't help but believe that she wouldn't admit it to herself; she was scared to patrol without him. One thing was for sure, she needed to find this Chratylia, whatever it was, and stop it before it murdered someone else.
Later That Day
She woke up at about eight-fifteen that night, Dawn's music in the kitchen was blaring, and Joyce had to run a few errands. As Buffy sat up and rubbed her eyes gently, she felt a sudden chill, but her window wasn't open. Strangely, the chill had felt completely familiar to her, as if she had felt it all her life. She shrugged it off after a few moments of contemplating it, and she stood up to look around her room for some warmer clothes to go patroling in. Walking over to her closet, she opened it and looked the aisle of full hangers up and down. It took her a while to spot a sleeveless black nylon shirt, her black leather jacket, and some black soft leather pants on the floor under a heap of other clothes. Reaching down, she grabbed the three items and threw them on the bed as she began changing. Almost five minutes later was closing the bedroom door behind her, then she headed downstairs to grab something to eat before she left. When she reached the bottom of the stairway, her eyes caught sight of the picture she had left on the dining room table a few days ago. Her and Riley had went to the mall to see if they could accomplish having a 'normal' date, they saw the picture booth and decided on giving it a try. As she was staring down at the picture, her concentration was interrupted by Dawn as she surprised her from behind.
"Hey Buffy, can I go patroling with you tonight?" Dawn asked anxiously.
"I'll pass, thank you very much," Buffy replied sarcastically, as she widened her eyes and pursed her lips together.
"Why can't I ever go out with you, when you're on the...hunt...or whatever it is you do out there?!" Dawn exclaimed.
"Don't take this the wrong way Dawn, but you'll only be in the way in case I do have to fight whatever decides to resurect itself from the ground tonight," Buffy replied authoritatively.
"I can handle it, believe me! I watch the soaps on t.v.!" Dawn shot back, hoping it would sway Buffy's decision.
"No such luck Dawn, patroling requires serious skill rather than the knowledge of whether or not Janet is going to leave James for Robert and take over the family company," Buffy retaliated. She hadn't known why she was acting this way, she should have been sulking her heart out, yet she was yelling at her younger sister for wanting to patrol with her.
"Great...what am I supposed to do on a Saturday night by myself if my own sister won't let me do sisterly things with her?" Dawn questioned, obviously trying to throw a guilt trip on Buffy. Joyce had returned from her errands and made it through the front door in time to hear Dawn's little speech.
"...Go upstairs and clean your room," Joyce exclaimed happily, answering Dawn's question with a slight smirk on her face.
"Mom! Can I go out with Buffy tonight?" Dawn begged, hoping her mother's decision would help get her out of the house.
"Patroling isn't your kind of thing, Dawn," Joyce replied steadily, "your thing is being a good kid and cleaning up your room."
"I'm not...a kid! Grrahh.." growled Dawn as she grasped the railway and slowly began her way up.
"You're my kid," Joyce replied in a sing-song voice after Dawn. Buffy and her mother turned to look at each other, Joyce knew her daughter was trying as hard as she could to overcome her incredible loss. "I'm very proud of you Buffy," she mouthed slowly, then with a smile, she turned and walked toward the kitchen. "Oh, Buffy! How late should I be expecting you home sweetheart?" she called back as if she had forgotten to ask earlier.
"Um, I'm not sure...I'll be home before midnight though," Buffy replied, her mind not completely focused on the question.
"Alright, be careful out there," Joyce replied as she heard the front door open and close lightly.
What was that familiar chill she felt earlier? Maybe she was just imagining things, after all, she hadn't had this much time to herself to think about anything since the beginning of her 'career' in slayerhood. As she stepped off the porch and walked toward the sidewalk, she couldn't help but get caught up in the perfect silence of the night. She shoved her hands into the pockets of her jacket as she made her way across the street, then she was suddently hit with the stunning realization that Riley wouldn't be waiting for her when she reached the cemetary. She walked for what seemed like miles, the only thing on her mind was that he wouldn't be there, tonight, or ever again. She hadn't realized how fast she was walking, but her pace slowed as she made her arrival at the cemetary.
"Sunnydale cemetary...here I am..." she whispered to herself as she lifted her right wrist to look at her watch. It was nine-fifteen, she now had a few hours to kill before going back home. She walked over toward the gate, opened it with a slight creak, and left it ajar without even noticing. She found an unmarked, freshly filled grave, could that possibly be Riley's final resting place? She didn't even known what the police had done with her boyfriend's body after they'd found it; the truth being, in the very back of her mind, she didn't want to know. She decided that it couldn't be his grave because they hadn't done an autopsy or anything with Riley's body yet, from what she knew. She gained her composure back up from collapsing right there on the spot, taking a seat on the tombstone of one of the fresh grave's neighbors. She stared down at the unmarked, packed down soil, and waited. She always had the short end when it came to discovering the demon before it left the grave, she only knew one who could accomplish what she couldn't. Unfortunately, he was nowhere arou--.
"The prophets refer to it as Chratylia..or the gathering. Where a hundred men will be taken, dead, to the gates of hell and fed to the demon Chratyl. After which he will rise, and bring hell to earth..." he cut her off in mid thought when his voice came quiet, soft from behind. He had slowed to a stop to her immediate left and back three paces as he finished the story, gentle hued irises settled on her. Her eyes then fixed themselves on the gates of the cemetary, as she ran over the things of the previous day in her mind, once more. They kept confusing her, but at the same time making everything clear for the last time that she was alone; the truth she never wanted to have to face, at least not on her own. She knew why she was there, to try and come to grips with Riley's death among other things. After a few moments had passed, she spoke.
"He's gone...they..." she sighed deeply as she trailed off, not even wanting to finish the sentence. She would only be adding another page to the 'big book of reality' she had been writing lately.
"..Took him..." His voice was distant, sympathetic, he knew what it was like to lose someone he dearly loved. He was at that very moment, watching the one he had lost, "a sacrifice..." he said, quietly finishing her sentence. She turned to look back at him, her eyes softening against his appearance. Hating that she found herself holding back the tears that were welling up behind her painful gaze, she didn't want to cry anymore. The truth was, she knew she was back to square one; alone and without someone to understand the entirety of all she was, just like him.
"But why not....me...? They could have taken me....he didn't deserve it..." she whispered, letting a few tears escape the barrier of her lashes and trail down her face.
His troubled stare bounced away from her, his voice coming in etchy, distant whispers, "I'm glad they didn't...the world needs you.." She swerved around on the tombstone, hopping down from it slowly. Her eyes locked on his expression, she began walking toward him with semi-large steps. She wasn't completely aware of what he was thinking or feeling, come to think of it she never was an expert at that.
"The world needs me? The world has always needed something, but it hardly needs me the way I am now," she replied, keeping her voice as concrete as she could. Had he the breath, it would have tightened, and quickened, her nearness always affecting him so powerfully. He stared down on her for a good long moment, he wanted so much for the silent gentleness to last.
"..He'll be waiting for you...now, there..are other things..about Chratylia...you'll need to know." She looked downward, she knew he wasn't going to admit that there wasn't just one reason for his return. She never understood why he couldn't swallow his pride when he was caught in a lie.
"I...I don't want to deal with this...thing now...I mean what can I possibly do to destroy it..?" she asked, sounding a bit disoriented and confused.
"..It..can't be allowed to walk..." his brows twitched slighty, dark on pale complected skin. It was much simpler to him, it seemed, she didn't quite appear to understand the process she would have to go through to defeat this evil.
She was trying so hard to neglect the surge of pain that was returning to her, him returning only meshed old memories with the new and tormented her more. She sniffed lightly and quickly wiped away her tears, changing the subject rather quickly, "Angel...why did you come back..?"
"..Chratylia.. I.. you'll need help..." he replied a little surprised. He should have expected her to ask that question, after all, he did suddenly show up when she was in the middle of a crisis. He was acceptionally good at coming at the most inopportune times.
"That isn't the only reason...you and I both know it..." she shot back, she locked her eyes onto his so he could see her determination to get an answer.
"..It's tonight.." he whispered in reply. He struggled free of her stare and began moving away, his lips parting in a vague respire, "that's why." Gritting her teeth, she slowly reached out to gently grasp his left wrist. As her fingers delicately wrapped around his wrist, her touch abruptly brought his eyes back to hers.
"I've lost Riley, Angel. My heart isn't in the stablest of conditions...the least you can do is try and avoid lying to me..." she retaliated. His steps had been halted at her gentle touch. His gaze flickering towards the slender fingers across his wrist.
"..You're still..hurting...I don't want to--try and get tangled in the middle.." he whispered softly, closing his eyes. He hadn't wanted to admit that to her, but how could he have kept it in? She was always good at getting him to talk, she had that affect on him.
She allowed her eyes to slant slowly, "Lying to me isn't making my pain lessen Angel...it hurts me more when I'm lied to. Especially by the one I used to lo--" she closed her eyes tightly, a few more tears had broken through her lashes only to leave tracks down her face. Breathing in deeply, she wet her lips, and asked the question again, "Why did you come back?" If his heart was truly alive, it would have been pounding loud enough for even her to hear it. Hearing those words from the only person he'd ever truly loved in his entire existence, completely and totally ravaged his emotions. Even though he maintained his outside composure, his reply reflected proof enough of what was going on inside him.
"..You used to..." he replied subtly, following up on her sentence as he slowly pulled free, "..maybe I never stopped."