The Night Remembers - Part 33

"Angel?" Buffy croaked, then spit to rid the dust in her mouth. Her throat
felt as if she'd inhaled the Sahara in one breath.

"Buffy?" Willow voice came weekly from the side.

"Will!" the slayer cried, crawling towards her voice over boulders that had
fallen down from the ceiling. Without warning a part of the sewer tunnel had
collapsed above them, burying them underneath. "Oh God, Willow," Buffy took
her friend's hand. "Are you alright?"

The redhead coughed, "I... think," she replied groaning. "But I'll be black
and blue tomorrow. What was this?"

"I have no idea," the blond said. "There was this blinding light and then
the ceiling came down on us."

Willow struggled to sit up, and then rested her back against the wall. "I've
lost my flashlight," she complained, "and I can't see anything. Where is
Tara? Oh God, Buffy, I can't find Tara," she wailed.

"Shhh," the slayer pressed her palm into her friend's hand, suppressing the
panic she felt herself. It was completely dark around them and Angel hadn't
responded to her previous shouting. Plus she had no idea what was going on.
Had they been wrong about the time? Willow and Tara had sworn that nothing
would happen before ten past midnight and yet it seemed as if the hellmouth
had erupted in some way.

"Tara," Willow whispered again into the darkness.

"Buffy!"

"Angel!" the blond cried, the relief making her suddenly feeling weak.
"Angel," she repeated his name.

"I'm here," he said and she could hear him coming closer and then he was
beside her, his hand on her arm. She threw her arms around him, holding him
close. "Buffy," his voice was muffled in her hair. "Are you hurt?" he asked
urgently. "Buffy, are you hurt?"

"No," her voice was muffled as well as she shook her head on his chest. "I'm
fine. And you?"

"Okay," he said, kissing her lightly on the skull. "Willow and Tara?" he
asked.

"Willow is fine, but we can't find Tara."

"Tara," the redhead's voice came again, more desperate. "Angel I can't find
Tara."

"Tara's over there," the vampire replied letting go of Buffy's hand. "I can
see fine," he explained the two surprised girls. "Vampire sight and all.
She's buried under a large boulder," he informed them. "Tara, can you hear
me," he kneeled down beside her and checked for her pulse. To his relief he
found her still alive. Her pulse was weak but steady. "She's unconscious but
I don't think it's serious. I can't smell any blood, and her heartbeat is
steady."

Willow began to cry in relief and tried to scramble over to Angel's side, to
her lover's side. "Wait," he told her, then walked over and took her hand.
"I'll lead you. You could fall and hurt yourself." As soon as the two
witches were reunited, Willow stroking Tara's face again and again,
whispering endearments in her ear, Angel walked back and crouched down
beside his girlfriend.

"Are you really okay?" he asked again.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just shaken. What was that?"

"I don't have the slightest idea," Angel replied. "I don't know what
happened. It was like an explosion of light. Extremely bright light. But
there was no growing of energy from the hellmouth."

"That's what I thought. I didn't feel increasing power or something like
that," Buffy said. Her first thought had been the hellmouth, but her slayer
senses had told her it couldn't be. "But if it wasn't the hellmouth, what
happened?"

"If only I knew," the vampire sighed deeply. "But whatever it was I don't
like it." His eyes darted towards the witches. "We need to take care of
Tara. To make our plan work we need both of them. Awake."

"Yeah," she agreed. "I just wonder how much our plan's worth after this."

Angel didn't say anything but secretly he wondered it too.

****

"Bloody hell." **Or whatever this is now.**

"Using bad language will not help in this situation." **Why did anyone
invent vampires, anyway?**

"Shut up." **Whoever made vengeance demons should be sucked dry.**

"You both. Shut. Up," Faith barked into the darkness of the tunnel. "I'm
really not interested in your private bickering. Now is not the time. Anya,
where is Xander?"

"I'm here," came the answer from behind.

"Are you alright?" the slayer asked.

"Yeah, fine. Just a bit shaken. What on earth was that?" he wanted to know.
First there had been a blinding light, then nothing but darkness. Xander
felt like suddenly waking up in a nightmare. Not that the situation had been
like a dream in the first place. But at the moment he had a really bad
feeling.

"Spike?" Faith turned towards where she'd heard the vampire's voice before.

"How the hell should I know? Am I God?" **How did I get to be part of this?
Just stake me!**

"Certainly not," Anya muttered under her breath. "I'm sure God had nothing
to do with your existence."

"You know, ex-demon-girl," Spike said acidly. "I see just fine down here."
**I wonder how an ex-demon tastes. Bloody chip.**

"Empty threat, you can't hurt humans."

"Maybe we should check the theory with ex-demons," the vampire offered. And
maybe he would meet one of his old buddies down here and ask him for a
favor. Xander and Anya really earned each other.

"Shut up," Faith barked again. "I hear another word out of either of you and
*I* am going to shut you up. Did I make myself clear?"

Silence was her answer. "Good," she took a deep breath. She had now idea
what was happening, but the last thing she needed was those two tearing her
nerves. "What do you see Spike?"

"A lot of dust," he sniffled the air, "and it smells a bit like sulfur."

"Sulfur?" she parroted.

"Yeah," he confirmed, "and it's getting stronger. Where ever that comes
from."

"Guys," came Xander's voice again, "I'm not a good Christian or anything,
but even I can remember that sulfur had something to do with Hell." **God,
why did I ever pay attention in Chemistry. At least then I would run into
this without knowing.**

"Oh boy," Faith frowned. "Well, then let's go. And let's hope the others are
alright."

***

"Dawn?"

"I'm okay, Giles. What was that?"

"I have no idea," the watcher replied, struggling to sit up. "Kate?"

"I'm fine," she said, trying to see something through the darkness. Her head
hurt and something had hit her right shoulder, but in her life as a police
officer she'd had worse and she knew that whining wouldn't get anyone to
respect you as an equal, especially if you were female. They would surely
pity you, but respect had to be earned.

"Everyone still around?" Gunn asked. When he heard several voices answer he
nodded and reached into his pocket to get the flashlight he had there just
in case. Switching it on he could see the others blink because of the
unexpected brightness. "Looks like the 2nd World War to me," he said dryly.

Kate shook her head to get the debris out of her hair, and then she suddenly
stopped and frowned, "Does anybody else smell that too?"

"Ewwww," Dawn wrinkled her nose, "It's like Chemistry."

"Sulfur," the Police Officer stated.

"Sulfur?" Wesley was on his feet in a flash, "I think we need to hurry.
Rupert?"

"Yes, yes," the older man agreed, giving Kate a grateful smile when she
offered him a hand. "Let's hurry. This can't be good."

"Why?" Dawn wanted to know.

"Because sulfur is a sign that at least something is happening with the
hellmouth," Wesley explained.

"Brain storm, English." Gunn shook his head. Most of the time he liked the former
watcher, but sometimes he could be really dense. "Who would've thought. What else
should've caused this."

"I doubt it was the hellmouth," Giles replied, and then he suddenly noticed
something in a distance. "Maybe we should ask our friends over there," he
said and nodded into the direction of the hellmouth where they could see
two or three dirty figures coming towards them.

"That's what I wanted to tell you before all hell broke loose," Gunn said,
coughing. "As I see it our friends, the soldier-boys, took the wrong turn."

"Riley," Giles acknowledged the commando who was the first to reach them.
"What are you doing here? You were meant to come from the east."

"The second squad is there," the blond explained. "We thought we'd try to
meet you down here."

"That's against the plan," Wesley raised a brow at the commando. "And why
didn't you tell us about the second team?"

"I..." Riley began, averting his eyes. He felt uncomfortable with this. He
hadn't known about the new plans of his superiors, he just heard them just
before they were moving, but he had a cell phone and could have called - but
he didn't. "New orders," he said hesitantly.

Giles eyed the young man speculatively, and then narrowed his eyes, "Does this
new plan have something to do with explosives?" he asked.

Dawn's eyes widened "Do you mean-," she gasped. "Riley?" her accusing eyes
rested on the commando.

"Hey, I'm just a small number in this," he tried to defend himself. "Our
superiors thought some explosives would be the best solution for the
problem."

"So they just placed a bomb on the hellmouth?" Wesley asked incredulously.
So much for common sense, he thought. But then the military and common sense
never worked out.

"Is he right, Riley?" Giles wanted to know, nailing the young man with his
eyes. "Did they do that?"

Riley closed his eyes, and then nodded slowly, "Yeah. They did."

"Well, that's bloody brilliant," Wesley, shouted. Everyone's head snapped
around and they were staring at him for his unfamiliar use of language.
"What?" he said. "I'm British. Bloody comes naturally to us. And I learned
to swear when I was very young. Usually I'm just too well educated to use
it. But now seems an appropriate time to me. My God, Riley, do you have any
idea what they did?"

"They wanted to close the hellmouth forever with it," the commando replied.

"I know what they wanted," Giles said coldly, "but maybe they should think
before they do something next time, because what happened was the exact
opposite. They opened the hellmouth for them and saved the vampires a lot
of work and time. Which means our whole schedule is askew."

"You," Dawn gulped, "you mean the Gate of Hell is open now?"

"No," Wesley shook his head. "Not quite. But the hellmouth is open. That's
the smell around us. To open the Gate of Hell they need some magic, but by
God, these stupid idiots risked to get us all killed," he turned towards
Riley, giving him a deadly glare. "You move. We need to get going. Our
schedule might be askew but that doesn't mean our friends won't need us.
Unlike some soldiers we stick to the plan."

They all exchanged a short glance then started to walk again.

That was when the second explosion shattered through the tunnels.

... to be continued