Title: The One (The Peacemaker Prophesy, pt 20)

Author: Nimue

Rating: PG-13

Feedback: Yes, please

Disclaimer: All characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, UPN, Fox... Just Borrowing.

Summary: While the SG tries to save Spike, Buffy and her love are caught in the ether with the Peacemaker where they are told a story that changes everything.

The One

Emma sat down primly in the chair, her body glimmering in the ethereal

light. She moved as if she were made of the air itself; fluid and flowing and gentle and whole. She appeared to them as she had in hell. Young and ancient, delicate and stronger than the Earth itself.

"Emma?" Buffy muttered. The girl smiled in response.

'Sit down. I've a story to tell you," Emma said in her enchanting, warm

voice.

Spike and Buffy exchanged a glance. Wasn't it only a week or two ago that they had told her stories, changed her diapers, tucked her in? "Sit," Emma repeated, smiling broadly.

Spike dropped to the floor, crossing his ankles like a child in

kindergarten. Buffy eased down next to him, her hip flush to his. Spike pulled her hand back into his lap, felling his fingers ebb and flow through hers.

"In the beginning," Emma said, "there was but One..."

*****

"Angel?" Dawn said softly, "Is it working?"

The wound was closing slowly, but neither Buffy nor Spike had moved since Emma first touched him. "I... I don't know," Angel answered, confusion in his voice.

"His cut is closing. That has to be good," Willow, ever the optimist

recently, pointed out.

"But he's not...they're not... moving," Dawn stuttered.

"Maybe it just takes time, Dawnie," Willow commented, patting Dawn's knee.

"Is Emma OK like that?" the teenager asked, staring at the shimmering

shadow still stretched along Spike.

"I think," Anya began, "I think that's what she looks like. I mean really."

Dawn turned her head to look at Anya. "She's all...glowy." She thought for a minute. Not so far away from me, she thought. "Guess it must run in the family."

*****

"One?" Buffy asked. "What beginning? Which beginning?"

Emma smiled softly, reaching forward to put an impossibly soft finger over Buffy's lips. "Shh, this is not the kind of story of which you ask

questions," Emma continued. The silvery young woman took a deep breath,

sitting perfectly straight with her hands clasped atop her thighs. Spike was silent, watching.

"In the beginning, there was but One," Emma repeated. "One seed which

carried infinite power. The hopes and fears of all the world. Neither good nor evil, dark nor light. One." She held a shimmering finger in the air.

Spike and Buffy were enraptured by the pattern of her speech, her smell,

even the humble beginnings of her story. They stared at her like awed

school children. "The Powers that Be decided that no one being should carry the burden of such power alone. In the womb of the mother, the seed was split in two, but the fission was merely physical. In all other respects, the two were still but One. One heart, One mind, One essence, One soul.

The mother gave birth to twins, one male, one female. Alike in every sense of the word. Their thoughts were shared. Their emotions. Still but one soul animating them both. The pair existed symbiotically, almost as if one was the right hand, the other the left. In these strange times, demons and humans coexisted, albeit not always peacefully, but in understanding. The seed of the mother was neither demon nor human. Neither inherently good nor evil.

Draconius was the leader of the Council at this time... "

"The Council of Watchers?" Buffy asked, her brow furrowed.

"The predecessor of it, yes. At this time, there was really nothing to

watch. The Council oversaw and guided the peaceful coexistence of the

races and dimensions. Draconius felt the power of the pair born of neither one world nor another. He felt their connected essences. Their shared soul more powerful split in two than any other one in existence. The Council was a harmonious group, however, Draconius had an agenda. He made a blood pact with a particularly virulent demon cult. In return for eternal life and endless spoils, Draconius promised the division of the dimensions. You see, the demons knew that they were much more powerful than the humans, and without intervention from the Council, they could easily defeat the humans and lay claim to this plane of existence."

Spike stared at Emma intensely, listening to the one story he had not heard. Giles had alluded to the beginnings of this journey, but Emma seemed to know. As if she had been there. Buffy tried to pull it all together in her mind. Tried to understand why it was being told. Why now?

"Draconius saw the perfect opportunity with which to launch his plan in the two born of One. He cast a spell over the boy, utilizing all of the

borrowed black magic he could store. The spell did not remove the boy's

essence or disconnect it from the rest, but rather quelled it. Replacing it, overlaying it, with a demon soul. In effect, creating a hybrid. An inherently evil human. The monster dominating the man. The boy went nearly mad fighting the evil off, trying to rid himself of the demon and return himself to the rest, but eventually, he succumbed and began to infect others with the darkness."

"Vampires," Buffy muttered, looking up at Emma sheepishly for talking out of turn. Again.

"Exactly," Emma responded, her perfect, smooth voice lulling Buffy back to silence. "The remaining members of the Council caught wind of Draconius's plan a bit too late. The evil was becoming too widespread and too strong. In the end, they had only one option. To imbue the remaining half of the One, the chosen One, with all of the strength and power of good. Enough that the one half alone could conquer all of the evil."

"Slayer," Spike said, quietly.

"Yes," Emma answered. "They filled her with strength and courage and

virtuosity using all of the white magic that they could amass. Once

prepared, they sent her on a mission to destroy all evil and restore the

balance to this dimension. And she did, quite well. But a day came to pass when all that was left of her mission was she and her twin. A great battle ensued. One that changed the very fabric of time. However, when the moment came for the final blow, she could not finish her task. They had become polar opposites by design, but they were still One by destiny. No amount of magic could change the fact that they were but One. One shared essence. One shared soul."

"So she set him free?" Buffy asked.

"Yes," Emma answered. "And that is where good and evil diverged. Both

eventually were lost to the ether in body, but their essence, their soul, if you like, was passed down from generation to generation. Not along bloodlines, but along lines of strength. Lines of heart. Each generation saw more of a divergence, a shift in the essence. If the body is a chalice and the soul is that which fills the chalice, the Slayer's chalice became more full with goodness and nobility and light. The Vampire's chalice of soul became increasingly empty until only a drop remained.

The Council, now the Council of Watchers, had to maintain the balance and chose to align with the Slayer. However, a wise prophet in the beginning had foretold, that one day, the chalices would be even again. That the One that had been split would be whole again and the scales would tip even. The Council knew that this indicated that at some time, a Slayer would have to become more gray. The rogue element was the lightening of a Vampire. Once the scales were even, Peace would be restored between the worlds. Which, of course, brings me to you."

"To us?" Buffy asked.

"You," Emma began, looking at her mother. "You were chosen by the Powers long before your parents parents had been even a glimmer. You were the vessel, the chalice that could contain the essence of the One. In you, however, was also a rebuttal of your gift. Unlike any before you, other than the first, you altered your mission. Changed your being and shared your essence. First with your friends and then later.."

"Spike?" Buffy said softly.

"Right. But you are jumping ahead. Your headstrong ways and refusal to

comply with your parameters as Slayer gave the Council fair warning.

Warning that you may be the one to unite the halves. However, your chalice was still full and you possessed almost the entire remaining essence. Also, the remaining tiny piece, the drop that was missing and belonged to the boy, was still lost. The Council had thought it had been found again in Angel, when really his purpose lies elsewhere."

"Where?" Buffy asked. Spike looked at Emma and then at Buffy, gauging what they knew and what they wanted to, respectively.

"That is another tale," Emma corrected. "As our time is short, we must stay on course. No one had really noticed Father. Even the Powers had not thought to look there."

"Story of my sodding existence," Spike huffed. Buffy stifled a chuckle.

Emma smirked, making her father smile. She had been watching.

"Until Glory," Emma continued, coming back to topic. "Glory had been part of Draconius's plan, so when the Council heard of her resurgence in this dimension, they watched the situation closely. When Father went against the hell god with nothing to gain, no love, no victory, he acted selflessly. This is against the very nature of the Vampire. He acted with heart. With concern for other than the demon. His essence had shifted by his own power and the chalice began to fill. It became evident that the Vampire with a heart was the other half of the One.

However, to truly begin to restore balance, some had to have been drained from you, Mum. When you died that night on the tower, your soul was released into ether. Here to be exact. When you left this plane, that essence was restored to the other half. The scales tipped.

Willow brought you back against the natural order of things, so your essence was not restored with you. Actually, father had all of it. In his love for you, his ache for you while you were here, in ether, he returned your share to you, keeping only part for himself."

"So, that is why everything was so different?" Buffy asked. Spike squeezed her hand, stroking her fingers, feeling almost guilty that he had to be the one that had taken part of her light.

"Yes," Emma answered. "Although the transition was difficult, it brought balance. Began to restore the One. The convergence of good and evil began anew."

"Began?" Spike questioned, shifting, moving infinitesimally closer to

Buffy.

"For the union to be complete, the cycle has to be undone. The good must empty. The evil must fill. The halves must join in union of heart, of soul, of word, of deed and of blood. The two seeds must join into one."

"You," Spike said, staring at the shimmering girl in front of him.

"Correct. And therein Peace will be born anew. The convergence has just begun. The hearts have been joined. The words have been said. The deeds proven. For the union to be complete, the Slayer, the good, must truly accept the Vampire, the evil, for what it is. In that, he will be set free and the essences will return to balance."

"But I have..." Buffy stuttered. " I know Spike is a Vampire. It doesn't matter...anymore."

"You admit that you love the man, but not the beast," Emma said, simply.

"Be fair to your Mum," Spike said, scolding his daughter not as if she was a Chosen One older than time, but rather as an errant eighteen-year-old talking back.

Emma smiled, turning her attention to Spike. "She must be willing to love the beast. To trust the beast. To let it reclaim what is rightfully his. In that gesture, there will be no more human, no more monster. Only the One."

"I can't.. I won't... claim her," Spike stuttered, looking at Emma wide

eyed. "Not like that."

"The choice," Emma said softly, "is hers to make." Buffy looked at them as if they were speaking in a language that she did not understand. "If she does not, there is no punishment. There is no crime. But the essence will remain unbalanced and the union of the One incomplete."

"Please tell me what you are talking about," Buffy asked, frustrated, her eyes flitting nervously between them. Spike looked at her pretty eyes, studying her. He had hidden the monster from her for so long, knowing that she deserved better. That part of him was the one part that her very nature prevented her from understanding.

"Pet," he whispered to Buffy, stroking her hand again. "What she is saying is that for the balance between good and evil to be restored, you must accept both the good and the evil. That I need to embrace the lightness of you. And you have to embrace my darkness."

"I understand that," Buffy retorted, " although I'm not sure what essence really means."

"It is something without description. But, in your world, it is easiest

called a soul," Emma answered.

"So, Spike.. and I...."

"Share an essence." Emma completed. "Are the halves of the One."

"But I still have part of his half?"

"Yes," Emma answered.

"So, how do I give it back?"

Spike sighed, touching Buffy's face. She turned her head toward him.

"Accept the monster. Let the beast reclaim its share. But it doesn't

matter..."

"How?" Buffy asked, turning back towards Emma.

"He must drink from you. And you must give willingly," Emma answered.

"Blood for blood."

Buffy was silent. Spike's heart dropped. This was the one thing he never wanted to happen. He had become a man, or at least as much a man as he could hope to be, for her. She couldn't understand the monster. She only knew that to bite was to kill or to save. Spike knew that she could not love that. It was not in her nature.

"Spike," Buffy said softly, forcing him to look at her. "It's alright. I trust you." Her hands flitted to his face, landing on his cheeks as gently as butterfly wings.

"No, Buffy," Spike answered. "I have more of you than I deserve."

"It is not just you that the union effects," Emma said, looking at her

parents. "It is the beginning of the convergence of good and evil. The

consolidation of dimensions. My journey."

"You won't... nothing will happen to... if I don't... not to you..." Spike sputtered, staring at the beautiful girl in front of him.

"No," Emma said, serenely smiling. "I will still be your daughter. I am what I am. If the One is joined again, my journey is that much more

defined. My strength is that much greater as I am inextricably connected to you both. The One was the only force ever more powerful than the gods. To have that restored makes us all more likely to succeed in our quest, not to mention that it will give back what was once lost. Still, it is not my choice to make."

Spike looked lost in thought, his eyes now only on his hands. They moved over, through, around Buffy's as he thought. Buffy's heart almost broke watching him torture himself. It was her choice, her love, but he would prevent her from making it to ensure she did not get hurt. So, he was trying to make it his.

"What happens from here?" Buffy asked, trying to move on from this. To let it sink in.

"The cycle begins anew. There is an element rising in the Council that

wishes to destroy me and wishes to divide the union of One if it comes to pass. That is who helped Gwydion and that is who will send the rest," Emma replied.

"The rest?" Buffy asked.

" There will be many more threats, most of which will trace back to him.

He will hide behind the glamour of rank and rarely do his own bidding, but Draconius has returned and will not stop until we are all destroyed. The three of us. Or until we can defeat him. But it will take all three."

"But..." Buffy said, suddenly forgetting the tale and remembering how it

came to pass that they were here, together, to begin with. "Spike is.. he was.... Emma, he's..."

"Dying," Emma said, a sad look on her face. The moonstone girl reached out, taking one of her father's hands; the other still entwined in Buffy's. Spike looked at them both. They were so much alike, his girls. That pretty blonde hair. The slight build. The presence that filled a room with everything that was good about living. The last thing he wanted to do was leave them. Ever.

"Those who suffer in my name are saved in my name. If you wish to return, Father, you are free." Emma said, her eyes tearing.

"What?" Spike answered, his brow furrowing.

"I would like to know my father. Not stories of what he should have been, but I would like to know him for what he is. He of the heart," she said smiling. "The path is clear if you would like to come along."

"I'm not..dead? "

"No," Emma answered. "If you chose to follow us, you will be restored. If you chose to rest, the gates of Heaven will let you pass. Mum?" the girl said, taking Buffy's hand in hers. Slowly, she let her fingers slip from her father's hand. Buffy stood with Emma, looking down at Spike, her eyes trapped in his. She could feel their grip loosen, then his fingers gently pull from hers as if some unseen force had moved them apart.

"I love you," Buffy whispered, but the fog moved between them and he

disappeared from view.



To be contd.