HERE IS GONE
Spoilers: Set in the middle of Ats's "Benediction" and BtVS's "Two to Go". It would have taken too much work to work out the Angel-getting-buried-in-the-sea thing.
Summary: In the chaos of the Ats's 3rd and BtVS's 6th season's, Dawn and Conner are destined to find each other. But the forces of darkness have other plans. Maybe with a little divine intervention, something can change. Can the Scoobies and the Fang Gang save their superkids from the wrath of Sahjahn? And what will become of Buffy and Angel, who haven't spoken since her resurrection?And where the hell is Spike and his shiny new soul in all of this?
Pairings: Buffy/Angel (B/A{forever}), Conner/Dawn (C/D), Willow/??, Fred/Gunn, flashes of C/A, B/S, X/Anya, Willow/Tara, plus some surprise pairings.
Feedback: YES, please! But all you C/A, B/S fans keep your nasty little flames to yourself. Or mail 'em to that bloody poofter Joss Whedon.
Email: guardianshaven@hotmail.com
Author: Jean_theGuardian
Author's Notes: 1) Featured here will be one of my favorite new songs, Here is Gone, by the Goo Goo Dolls( hence the title). Also featuring "Hero", from the new Spider-Man Movie. 2) Some other songs will be sprinkled throughout the story. 3) Cordelia hasn't become a Higher Being yet. Keyword here: YET. 4) Some surprise character pop-ups throughout the story.
Rating: R, possibly. Some sex, though nothing too tacky; violence, strong language.
----------------------
The young Bracchan demon stared directly into the swirling purple portal. He watched uneasily as he watched past, present and future events in the Earth planes merging, swirling, converging into one long
frightening tapestry.
"C'mon, lad", he whispered earnestly. "Don't do it. Don't listen to that woman. SHE killed Holtz, not your dad! You'll never forgive yourself...."
And yet, despite his pleas, he could only watch in horror as a young, wiry, brown-haired boy sealed up his father, the vampire with a soul, with the aid of a wild-eyed redhead, and tossed him into the sea like a sac of old garbage.
His father. His real father.
Angel.
Just as quickly, the swirling continued to another vision. A young woman, a Seer, was now ascending to a higher plane. To become a Higher Being. Her hair was blonde now, but somehow she was just the same as the young half-demon remembered her.
Cordelia. His beloved.
"Perhaps 'ts fer de best, Alan", a beautiful Jamaican girl tried futily to comfort her friend.
"How could this possibly be for the best, Kendra?", the half-demon snapped as he turned to look at the former Slayer. "Angel just got chucked into the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, by his own SON, no less, Connor's been brainwashed by that sick red-headed lass, and Cordy, the only person who could possibly know where they are, just got sucked up into some Higher Plane, while the Powers conveniently left the rest of Angel's band to wonder where the hell are the REST OF 'EM!" He paused. "And stop callin' me Alan! It's Doyle. Just Doyle."
"Wh-what about S-s-Sunnydale", asked a timid young blonde woman, who appeared out of nowhere.
Doyle whirled around to find the girl nervously clutching her sides. He felt some sympathy for her. She had just arrived recently and she was obviously having trouble adjusting to the surroundings of their environment.
Which was, by the way, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and yet at the center of everything. How exactly they found this place was a mystery even to them.
"Sorry, lass", Doyle said apoligetically. "Eh, Tara, was it? Friend of the Slayer's?
The witch nodded nervously. "Um...d-do you think it's p-p-possible to s-see what's going on in S-s-Sunnydale since I've b-been..." Her eyes were downcast.
Kendra nodded. "I t'ink dat can be arranged. Can't it, Ala..er, Doyle?"
Doyle nodded. "Sure."
He turned back to the swirling portal. "Oh, Seeing Eye, witness to the Past, Present, Future and the Never Was, show us the events happening with the Slayer and her kin since Tara's passing."
Lightning flashed from within the Eye, making the portal glow pink for a moment then back to purple, and
the images flashed before them. Willow's destructive magickal powers erupting from within her, transforming the gently red-head into a raven-haired weapon of darkness and fury. Her brutal torture and murder of Warren, the one responsible for Tara's death. The battle between the Dark Wicca and her friends. Buffy's near-rape at the hands of Spike, Giles' return and battle with Willow, to his defeat. The raising of the Satanic Temple of Proserpexa in an attempt by Willow to incinerate the whole planet. Buffy and Dawn's struggle against the earth demons. Willow finally breaking down in remorseful tears in Xander's arms. And finally, and most surprisingly, the return of Spike's soul at the hands of an African demon.
Tara's eyes were brimmed with tears. She wondered in shock how all of this had happened. And to think that her own death had been the catalyst for all of these events to happen made her feel more than a little guilty.
"You see?", Doyle shook his head "Somebody screwed up majorly. And the Powers allowed this to happen! This wasn't supposed to end like this! It wasn't supposed to--"
Without warning, the whole realm began to shake and rumble.
"Wh-what's happening, Alan?", Kendra asked the half-Braccen.
"We're not alone anymore, Kendra", he stated as he and the others struggled to regain their footing.
"Who dares to enter the Sacred Place?", an otherworldy voice demanded angrily from the skies above.
Doyle stepped to the center of the platform holding them up. Summoning every ounce of courage he had, he called back, "It is I, Alan Francis Doyle. A messenger from the Powers That Be. I also have Kendra, the Vampire Slayer and Tara the Wiccan with me."
"You have no premis to enter here, Seer!",the voice declared. "You all belong in the other worlds, the heavens reserved for the fallen warriors! Your unlawful entry into the Sacred Place is punishable by spending the rest of your eternities in the darkest of Hells, and the forfeit of your reincarnations!"
"Wh-who i-i-is that?", a nervous and frightened Tara whispered to Kendra.
"Dat is the spirit of Chronos, a former Greek God", Kendra evenly replied in her Jamaican patois. "The Powers That Be assigned him to guarding the Sacred Place eons ago, after the fall of the Greek Gods.They spared him the fate of oblivion, unlike his Greek counterparts, after they attempted to seize control from the Powers themselves. "
"Wh-why is this place so important that they'd assign a g-god to g-guard it?", Tara asked.
"Legend says that Sacred Place possesses the ability to let viewers pass through time itself", she explained. "Dat is a power too dangerous to let go unguarded."
"The events on the Earth's plane will affect the entire universe", Doyle pleaded to the fallen God. "You must not let these events happen! Allow us to speak to the Powers! Their Chosen Warriors are in danger, the souled vampire is already imprisoned in a watery grave, and the Slayer needs time to recoup from the events of the recent past--"
"Your very presence here violates the Sacred Place as we speak!", Chronos said. "Lower beings were never meant to set foot into the core of the eyes of destiny!"
"For GOD's sake, LISTEN, man!!", Doyle angrily cried out, pointing to the Eye. "This fate was not supposed to have happened like this! Sahjahn's meddling with the time continuum has cost our Warriors greatly, and endangered the Earth and countless other dimensions in the process! YOU KNOW THAT!! This has to be fixed--"
"That is no concern of mine, Half-Breed!", Chronos rebuffed. "What has passed shall be and what has not never was meant to be! Take your grievance to the Powers! But leave the Sacred Place immediately!"
"Gee, that'd be just great, wouldn't it?", Doyle shot back sarcastically. " Complain to the Powers, why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, because no lower beings can EXIST IN THEIR REALITY!"
"Leave this realm NOW!", Chronos roared. "If you insist on defying me, I shall invoke upon you torment on your eternal souls the likes of which none could bear! Your very essences shall be devoured by the darkness of the worst of hells and there your shall perish a thousand upon a thousand times over for all time!..."
While this was going on, Tara noticed a small green glow eminating from beneath the Eye itself.
"What's that?", she asked.
Kendra turned her eyes from the heated argument between Doyle and Chronos to pay attention to what the witch was talking about. "What? Dat? Oh, dat is the Time that Never Was. It's all the events of history itself that would have happened if the timeline were altered in some way, through certain events taking place, or not taking place."
"Y-you mean...wha-what c-could have b-been?", Tara asked, with increasing interest.
"Yes", Kendra nodded. "I haven't had the courage to look at it meself. Maybe I've been afraid of what the future would have held for me, what things I could be experiencin' right now...if it weren't for the vampire bitch with the sharp fingernails."
Tara stepped closer to the Eye, going unnoticed by the defending God, who was supposed to be omniscient. Big laugh there. With a streak of fear racing through her, Tara reached for a piece of the swirling underbelly of green cloud and mist. The mist that was supposed to hold the details of all that never was...or could have been...
"YOU, WITCH!", Chronos ordered. "Do not touch the Eye of the Never Was! Your mortal hands are unworthy of it!"
"Tara, DON'T TOUCH THAT!", Doyle warned.
"But whu--"
Too late. Tara's hand instinctively jerked into the mist. A green light shot out from it, sending the startled Tara stumbling back on her rear end. Kendra and Doyle let out frightened cries for Tara's safety as they each rushed forward to help the Wiccan to her feet.
"FOUL BLASPHEMERS!", Chronos roared. "YOU DARE TO BREACH THE EYE? THAT WHICH WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE TOUCHED BY LOWER HANDS?! YOU--"
"Ah, put a sock in it, will ya?", Doyle snapped.
"Alan, look!", Kendra pointed out. Doyle turned his gaze to Tara.In her trembling hands, she held a fragment of the Eye of the Never Was. She held a piece of a present and future that could never be...
And as if the fragment could sense her desire, she was shown the future of her world.
Many images of people, loved ones flooded the shard-like piece. Destinies altered, lives saved, battles fought.
But in particular one event caught their eyes.
A young, dark, haired girl, about 15. Living, loving, fighting side-by-side with a wiry, but handsome boy of about the same age. Separate, they were formidable. Together, they were powerful. Unstoppable, even.
Their strength, their courage, their love would affect and change the world around them...
"Doyle...this...", Tara began, but the words caught in her throat. What she had seen was...so beautiful, and so tragic at the same time to realize that it would never be.
Suddenly, Doyle got a glint in his wily Irish eyes. He stepped abruptly away from the women and closer to the rotating Eye.
"We saw it, you know that, don't ya?", Doyle taunted the god. "Some guardian YOU are! Can't even keep a bunch o' lowly beings from tappin' yer precious Eye, then, huh?"
"IMPUDENT TRESPASSER!", Chronos roared so that the entire realm began to tremble. "YOU DARE TO MOCK CHRONOS IN THE SACRED PLACE?"
"Oooh, big scary Chronos, eh?", Doyle continued mocking him. "Can't beat the Powers, can't guard the Eye...not good fer much, are ya? Ever consider getting a day job as a sanitary worker? I mean the job, well, stinks, and the hours a re a wee bit long, but the benefits are worth it--"
"Alan, what the hell are you t' inkin?", Kendra whispered fiercely.
"I Shall flay the soul off your core and make you beg me for death before I devour you, arrogant Brakken fool!",Chronos warned as the sky began to flash warningly.
"All talk and no brass, that's the lot o' ya godly types", Doyle snickered, while inside his heart, he whispered a prayer to anyone who was listening that he knew what he was doing. "You're really beginning to be a bore, Chronie, old pal. Ever consider doing one of those sleeping tapes to help insomniacs? You'd make a killing off of the royalties--"
KA-TOOM!
Without warning, a blueish bolt pierced from the skies and headed straight for Doyle.
"ALAN!!", cried out Kendra in horror.
But Doyle's demon reflexes (blessed be his father for that) reacted quick enough to get him out of harm's way. Barely.
The bolt pierced the Eye, however, and instantly, a purple tear opened up within the Eye itself.
Fierce winds immediately swept through the Sacred Place. "What did you do?", Tara yelled over the howling winds.
"Got him to open a door for us", Doyle responded, taking her hand. "C'mon, lass! We've got no time to lose!"
"Alan, what are you intendin'?", Kendra demanded as she struggled to her feet.
"Trust me, Kendra. I'll tell ya when we get there", Doyle said. "You just have to trust me."
He extended his free hand (one was holding Tara) to the Slayer. Reluctantly, Kendra grabbed it.
And in one burst of a step, the trio flew towards the portal.
"Stop! STOOOOP!", Chronos roared in anger. "DO NOT ENTER THE EYE'S--"
But the three had already taken flight. Doyle speared through the air in a wild leap, aiming himself for the torn portal in the Eye, cradling a frightened Tara in his arms. Kendra followed behind him. Even though she could have easily outrun him with her Slayer speed, something told her to hold back, just enough for him to get through first, but fast enough to get there in time...
The desparate god, attempting to seal the portal, sent another bolt flying towards the Eye...
Just as the three wanderers disappeared into it.
"NOOOOOO!!!", Chronos bellowed in a voice that echoed with frightening resonance throughout the Sacred Place. The god had failed. And now he would have a lot of explaining to do to the Powers That Be.
Who weren't very pleasant when unpleased....
----------------
The portal ripped open and the three heroes tumbled out onto a cold, painfully hard concrete floor.
Gasping, each of them sat up, gathering their thoughts and their bodies together.
"Oooh, me achin' head", mumbled Kendra.
"Ouch", Tara winced, rubbing her arm tenderly. "I thought things didn't hurt anymore when you're dead."
"I don't really think we're dead, lass", Doyle said cautiously. "At least, not for the moment."
Tara blinked in surprise. "Wh-wh-what? We-we're n-n-not d-d-dead??"
Kendra got to her feet. "Alright, Alan Francis Doyle, you'd better start explainin' now. I trusted you through this insane plan of yours, now where de hell are we?"
Doyle took a few steps before stepping out of the alleyway where they landed. He peered around. Whooshing cars came roaring about from the streets, honking furiously at each other as the traffic became clogged. Men walked in business suits, talking on cell phones. Women sported ensembles for high-powered female brokers, talking with clients on the streets. Teens blasted their music from the stereo systems in their flashy cars.
Doyle looked up in the sky. Judging by the sun's position, it should have been early noontime.
A man reading a newspaper was walking down near the alleyway, when Doyle jerked the paper from him abruptly.
"Hey! Let go of that! That's mine, you jerk!--"
But off the dark look from Kendra, the man thought twice and turned away.
"Wh-where a-are we?", Tara asked, clutching her sides protectively.
Doyle flashed a grin as he saw the date. But more importantly, the title of the paper.
" I think the name speaks for itself."
Both of the women's eyes widened as they saw the headline of the paper...
The Los Angeles Times.
"Ladies", Doyle smiled mischievously. "Welcome to L.A.."
All Kendra and Tara could do was blink.
In stunned silence.
--------------------
To Be Continued...
INT. MAGIC BOX -
MEANWHILE - NIGHT PANNING ACROSS what looks like a WAR ZONE. The shop is in shambles. A LARGE BEAM fallen where the ceiling has partially COLLAPSED, moonlight drifting in. Much of the wall across from the SHATTERED COUNTER is BLOWN OUT, exposing the side alleyway and the brick facade of the building next door. All of the bookcases and shelves are overturned, merchandise smashed and strewn about the floor; SMOKE and FIRE rising from SMOLDERING, SINGED BOOKS; SPARKS flashing off fallen fixtures. A hell of a battle's been taking place... TILT UP onto WILLOW as she steps into frame. A couple of minor lacerations and bruises indicate she's taken a few blows. But she's unbowed and only marginally weakened.
WILLOW
That all you got, Jeeves?
ON GILES standing across from her. He, too, is also bleeding, most noticeably from a gash near his temple, though he appears to be considerably more spent and shaky. WIDEN to see them facing each other across the rubble, like gunfighters.
WILLOW
(cont'd)
'Cause I could stand to go another ten rounds.
(eyeing him)
Whereas you can barely stand, period.
GILES
Your powers... may be significantly greater... But I can still hurt you. If I have to.
WILLOW
(scoffing)
Hurt me? Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me anymore.
(re: her wounds)
This...?
She waves her hand across her face. Her injuries and bruises vanish.
WILLOW
(cont'd)
Is nothing. It's all... nothing.
GILES
I see. You lose someone you love and the other people in your life... The ones who care about you become meaningless.
BUFFY, recovering now, appears at the opening in the shattered wall of the training room, behind Giles, watching. Willow doesn't notice.
GILES (O.S)
I wonder... What would Tara say about that?
Willow eyes him, stonily.
WILLOW
You can ask her yourself.
Her hand shoots out toward the Upper Landing:
WILLOW
(cont'd)
Obruo!
She brings her hand down, hard. The pillar snaps. BUFFY rushes at Giles, tackling him out of the way as the Landing above them suddenly comes CRASHING DOWN, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air. ON BUFFY and GILES, on the floor, next to some still burning books. As the dust settles, they look up to see WILLOW, standing over them. She glares at Buffy, peeved.
WILLOW
(cont'd)
You're always saving everyone. It's kinda pesky.
Maybe", a familiar voice said evenly. "But that's why I love her."
All eyes shot to the doorway, where they found a sight they never thought they'd behold.
There, standing in the doorway of the Magic Box, stood the Dark Avenger himself.
Flanked by Cordelia and two men they'd never seen before, one of them no older perhaps than Dawn herself, Angel's eyes gazed directly at what he recognized only in form to be Willow Rosenburg, his one-time friend from this hellish town.
Buffy's eyes widened in shock and recognition as she saw him. Yes, it was Angel. Her Angel. He appeared somewhat different. His hair had changed, and he appeared to be a little more heavier, but in a good way.
And yet, somehow, he was the same as the day she last saw him. The gorgeous dark eyes, which held the weight of his guilt and the love from his soul. The furling black coat flapping in the unnatural wind caused by the magical battle. And of course, the tingle.
The sixth sense they had when the other was near. After all this time, it was still there.
"Angel!", she said softly in awe.
"Buffy", he returned, concern and love flooding his face as he beheld the woman who held a strangle hold on his heart for all time.
"Angel?", Giles said, stunned by the vampire's appearance.
"Giles!", Cordelia exclaimed to her former fellow Scooby.
"Cordelia!", the Watcher echoed in confusion.
"Buffy?", Cordelia scruntched her eyebrows in recognition.
"Cordy?", Buffy returned with a quizzical look on her face.
"Gunn, Connor", Gunn muttered , uncomfortable by this reunion with people he never met before.
Connor scrunched his face in confusion and uncertainty. He knew within a few seconds that everyone somehow knew everyone. But what he didn't understand was why his father sensed a dangerous threat among people who were supposedly his friends.
Willow raised her eyebrows. "Well, well, well...look who's come to save the day!", she sang sarcastically. "Straight from the Land of Movie Stars and Heroes Crusades, out of our lives but not from Buffy's heart...Aaaan-gel!"
Angel took a step forward, giving Willow the once-over, but for a good long time. "I didn't want to believe it when they told me", Angel said. "But I guess it's true. You really have become the dark power I've been hearing about."
Willow chuckled. "Angel, honey, I really think you've picked a bad time to come blowing through Sunnydale. I mean, if you're jonesing for another heartache fest with the blonde wunderkind over there, maybe you should stop by tomorrow. That is, assuming they're all alive tomorrow. But hey, no big for you, right? You'll probably have just moved on by then. That's what you do, right? Move on? Be the strong one? Run away from the only thing in your little eternity of existence that ever made you feel something other than dead?"
The words struck a nerve in Angel. The old wounds were still there, the pain still present, but not as raw as it was before. This was definitely not the Willow Rosenberg he knew and cared for years past. The one who restored his soul. The Willow who tried so hard to make Angel and Buffy work out romantically. The Willow who traveled all the way to LA to inform Angel of Buffy's death a year ago, and who held him that night as he sobbed mercilessly in her arms in private.
This Willow was different.
Cold. Harsh. Devoid of life and reeking of death and destruction.
"Willow", he began softly, but his voice unwavering as he maneuvered his way to Buffy's side. "I came here to talk, not to fight. I want to help you. But if you harm one hair on either Buffy, Giles or any of theirs or mine--"
"You'll...what?", Willow asked dryly. "Bite me? Torture me for hours on end? Kill my loved ones while I watch? Hey, how about maybe you break up with me in a sewer, then stalk me in the shadows while you fulfill your little mission involving me without telling me you're there?" She paused mockingly, pretending to remember. "Ohhhh, yeah, that's right. Silly me. My hair's not blonde, so I guess that puts me off your 'things-to-do' list."
"Hey!", Cordelia spoke out. "Don't start messing around with blondes now!"
Willow's eyes darted to Cordelia, and a look of hatred flinted through her dark orbish eyes. "Oh, don't worry, Queen C, I haven't gotten to you just yet. You're dessert."
Cordelia snorted. "Was that some weird lesbian come-on, 'cause honey let me tell you, I'm on a fish-free diet."
"Cordy", warned Angel and Buffy simultaneously.
Cordelia shrugged. "Sorry. Old reflex habit."
Willow's eyes narrowed. "You know, since the day I met you, you've just never seemed to get when you should shut your mouth. That's something I can help with--" She raised her finger.
"Willow, I came here because I care about you", Cordelia said sincerely. "I just want you to get through this."
Willow paused for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. And without warning, she started to snicker.
"Oh, yeah, right", she snorted. "That was good. REAL good. Queen Cordelia stepped down from her floating castle to help poor little Willow?" Her voice hardened. "I don't need your charity, Prom Queen. And I certainly don't need whatever it is that you pass as feelings to help me see through this. You don't even know this. You don't even know what I lost, couldn't even begin to comprehe--"
"I can."
Cordelia stepped closer. "I lost someone I cared about. REALLY cared about. Maybe even loved. But he...HE did it to save the world. The same world that you're threatening right now. He was taken from me, from the world, from his calling because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
She broke off, emotional. Thinking about Doyle and his sacrifice still hurt to talk about. She never told anyone, but she silently grieved and mourned for him for a long time after his death, and she had only recently begun to get past the pain.
Spoilers: Set in the middle of Ats's "Benediction" and BtVS's "Two to Go". It would have taken too much work to work out the Angel-getting-buried-in-the-sea thing.
Summary: In the chaos of the Ats's 3rd and BtVS's 6th season's, Dawn and Conner are destined to find each other. But the forces of darkness have other plans. Maybe with a little divine intervention, something can change. Can the Scoobies and the Fang Gang save their superkids from the wrath of Sahjahn? And what will become of Buffy and Angel, who haven't spoken since her resurrection?And where the hell is Spike and his shiny new soul in all of this?
Pairings: Buffy/Angel (B/A{forever}), Conner/Dawn (C/D), Willow/??, Fred/Gunn, flashes of C/A, B/S, X/Anya, Willow/Tara, plus some surprise pairings.
Feedback: YES, please! But all you C/A, B/S fans keep your nasty little flames to yourself. Or mail 'em to that bloody poofter Joss Whedon.
Email: guardianshaven@hotmail.com
Author: Jean_theGuardian
Author's Notes: 1) Featured here will be one of my favorite new songs, Here is Gone, by the Goo Goo Dolls( hence the title). Also featuring "Hero", from the new Spider-Man Movie. 2) Some other songs will be sprinkled throughout the story. 3) Cordelia hasn't become a Higher Being yet. Keyword here: YET. 4) Some surprise character pop-ups throughout the story.
Rating: R, possibly. Some sex, though nothing too tacky; violence, strong language.
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The young Bracchan demon stared directly into the swirling purple portal. He watched uneasily as he watched past, present and future events in the Earth planes merging, swirling, converging into one long
frightening tapestry.
"C'mon, lad", he whispered earnestly. "Don't do it. Don't listen to that woman. SHE killed Holtz, not your dad! You'll never forgive yourself...."
And yet, despite his pleas, he could only watch in horror as a young, wiry, brown-haired boy sealed up his father, the vampire with a soul, with the aid of a wild-eyed redhead, and tossed him into the sea like a sac of old garbage.
His father. His real father.
Angel.
Just as quickly, the swirling continued to another vision. A young woman, a Seer, was now ascending to a higher plane. To become a Higher Being. Her hair was blonde now, but somehow she was just the same as the young half-demon remembered her.
Cordelia. His beloved.
"Perhaps 'ts fer de best, Alan", a beautiful Jamaican girl tried futily to comfort her friend.
"How could this possibly be for the best, Kendra?", the half-demon snapped as he turned to look at the former Slayer. "Angel just got chucked into the bottom of the Pacific Ocean, by his own SON, no less, Connor's been brainwashed by that sick red-headed lass, and Cordy, the only person who could possibly know where they are, just got sucked up into some Higher Plane, while the Powers conveniently left the rest of Angel's band to wonder where the hell are the REST OF 'EM!" He paused. "And stop callin' me Alan! It's Doyle. Just Doyle."
"Wh-what about S-s-Sunnydale", asked a timid young blonde woman, who appeared out of nowhere.
Doyle whirled around to find the girl nervously clutching her sides. He felt some sympathy for her. She had just arrived recently and she was obviously having trouble adjusting to the surroundings of their environment.
Which was, by the way, somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and yet at the center of everything. How exactly they found this place was a mystery even to them.
"Sorry, lass", Doyle said apoligetically. "Eh, Tara, was it? Friend of the Slayer's?
The witch nodded nervously. "Um...d-do you think it's p-p-possible to s-see what's going on in S-s-Sunnydale since I've b-been..." Her eyes were downcast.
Kendra nodded. "I t'ink dat can be arranged. Can't it, Ala..er, Doyle?"
Doyle nodded. "Sure."
He turned back to the swirling portal. "Oh, Seeing Eye, witness to the Past, Present, Future and the Never Was, show us the events happening with the Slayer and her kin since Tara's passing."
Lightning flashed from within the Eye, making the portal glow pink for a moment then back to purple, and
the images flashed before them. Willow's destructive magickal powers erupting from within her, transforming the gently red-head into a raven-haired weapon of darkness and fury. Her brutal torture and murder of Warren, the one responsible for Tara's death. The battle between the Dark Wicca and her friends. Buffy's near-rape at the hands of Spike, Giles' return and battle with Willow, to his defeat. The raising of the Satanic Temple of Proserpexa in an attempt by Willow to incinerate the whole planet. Buffy and Dawn's struggle against the earth demons. Willow finally breaking down in remorseful tears in Xander's arms. And finally, and most surprisingly, the return of Spike's soul at the hands of an African demon.
Tara's eyes were brimmed with tears. She wondered in shock how all of this had happened. And to think that her own death had been the catalyst for all of these events to happen made her feel more than a little guilty.
"You see?", Doyle shook his head "Somebody screwed up majorly. And the Powers allowed this to happen! This wasn't supposed to end like this! It wasn't supposed to--"
Without warning, the whole realm began to shake and rumble.
"Wh-what's happening, Alan?", Kendra asked the half-Braccen.
"We're not alone anymore, Kendra", he stated as he and the others struggled to regain their footing.
"Who dares to enter the Sacred Place?", an otherworldy voice demanded angrily from the skies above.
Doyle stepped to the center of the platform holding them up. Summoning every ounce of courage he had, he called back, "It is I, Alan Francis Doyle. A messenger from the Powers That Be. I also have Kendra, the Vampire Slayer and Tara the Wiccan with me."
"You have no premis to enter here, Seer!",the voice declared. "You all belong in the other worlds, the heavens reserved for the fallen warriors! Your unlawful entry into the Sacred Place is punishable by spending the rest of your eternities in the darkest of Hells, and the forfeit of your reincarnations!"
"Wh-who i-i-is that?", a nervous and frightened Tara whispered to Kendra.
"Dat is the spirit of Chronos, a former Greek God", Kendra evenly replied in her Jamaican patois. "The Powers That Be assigned him to guarding the Sacred Place eons ago, after the fall of the Greek Gods.They spared him the fate of oblivion, unlike his Greek counterparts, after they attempted to seize control from the Powers themselves. "
"Wh-why is this place so important that they'd assign a g-god to g-guard it?", Tara asked.
"Legend says that Sacred Place possesses the ability to let viewers pass through time itself", she explained. "Dat is a power too dangerous to let go unguarded."
"The events on the Earth's plane will affect the entire universe", Doyle pleaded to the fallen God. "You must not let these events happen! Allow us to speak to the Powers! Their Chosen Warriors are in danger, the souled vampire is already imprisoned in a watery grave, and the Slayer needs time to recoup from the events of the recent past--"
"Your very presence here violates the Sacred Place as we speak!", Chronos said. "Lower beings were never meant to set foot into the core of the eyes of destiny!"
"For GOD's sake, LISTEN, man!!", Doyle angrily cried out, pointing to the Eye. "This fate was not supposed to have happened like this! Sahjahn's meddling with the time continuum has cost our Warriors greatly, and endangered the Earth and countless other dimensions in the process! YOU KNOW THAT!! This has to be fixed--"
"That is no concern of mine, Half-Breed!", Chronos rebuffed. "What has passed shall be and what has not never was meant to be! Take your grievance to the Powers! But leave the Sacred Place immediately!"
"Gee, that'd be just great, wouldn't it?", Doyle shot back sarcastically. " Complain to the Powers, why didn't I think of that? Oh yeah, because no lower beings can EXIST IN THEIR REALITY!"
"Leave this realm NOW!", Chronos roared. "If you insist on defying me, I shall invoke upon you torment on your eternal souls the likes of which none could bear! Your very essences shall be devoured by the darkness of the worst of hells and there your shall perish a thousand upon a thousand times over for all time!..."
While this was going on, Tara noticed a small green glow eminating from beneath the Eye itself.
"What's that?", she asked.
Kendra turned her eyes from the heated argument between Doyle and Chronos to pay attention to what the witch was talking about. "What? Dat? Oh, dat is the Time that Never Was. It's all the events of history itself that would have happened if the timeline were altered in some way, through certain events taking place, or not taking place."
"Y-you mean...wha-what c-could have b-been?", Tara asked, with increasing interest.
"Yes", Kendra nodded. "I haven't had the courage to look at it meself. Maybe I've been afraid of what the future would have held for me, what things I could be experiencin' right now...if it weren't for the vampire bitch with the sharp fingernails."
Tara stepped closer to the Eye, going unnoticed by the defending God, who was supposed to be omniscient. Big laugh there. With a streak of fear racing through her, Tara reached for a piece of the swirling underbelly of green cloud and mist. The mist that was supposed to hold the details of all that never was...or could have been...
"YOU, WITCH!", Chronos ordered. "Do not touch the Eye of the Never Was! Your mortal hands are unworthy of it!"
"Tara, DON'T TOUCH THAT!", Doyle warned.
"But whu--"
Too late. Tara's hand instinctively jerked into the mist. A green light shot out from it, sending the startled Tara stumbling back on her rear end. Kendra and Doyle let out frightened cries for Tara's safety as they each rushed forward to help the Wiccan to her feet.
"FOUL BLASPHEMERS!", Chronos roared. "YOU DARE TO BREACH THE EYE? THAT WHICH WAS NEVER MEANT TO BE TOUCHED BY LOWER HANDS?! YOU--"
"Ah, put a sock in it, will ya?", Doyle snapped.
"Alan, look!", Kendra pointed out. Doyle turned his gaze to Tara.In her trembling hands, she held a fragment of the Eye of the Never Was. She held a piece of a present and future that could never be...
And as if the fragment could sense her desire, she was shown the future of her world.
Many images of people, loved ones flooded the shard-like piece. Destinies altered, lives saved, battles fought.
But in particular one event caught their eyes.
A young, dark, haired girl, about 15. Living, loving, fighting side-by-side with a wiry, but handsome boy of about the same age. Separate, they were formidable. Together, they were powerful. Unstoppable, even.
Their strength, their courage, their love would affect and change the world around them...
"Doyle...this...", Tara began, but the words caught in her throat. What she had seen was...so beautiful, and so tragic at the same time to realize that it would never be.
Suddenly, Doyle got a glint in his wily Irish eyes. He stepped abruptly away from the women and closer to the rotating Eye.
"We saw it, you know that, don't ya?", Doyle taunted the god. "Some guardian YOU are! Can't even keep a bunch o' lowly beings from tappin' yer precious Eye, then, huh?"
"IMPUDENT TRESPASSER!", Chronos roared so that the entire realm began to tremble. "YOU DARE TO MOCK CHRONOS IN THE SACRED PLACE?"
"Oooh, big scary Chronos, eh?", Doyle continued mocking him. "Can't beat the Powers, can't guard the Eye...not good fer much, are ya? Ever consider getting a day job as a sanitary worker? I mean the job, well, stinks, and the hours a re a wee bit long, but the benefits are worth it--"
"Alan, what the hell are you t' inkin?", Kendra whispered fiercely.
"I Shall flay the soul off your core and make you beg me for death before I devour you, arrogant Brakken fool!",Chronos warned as the sky began to flash warningly.
"All talk and no brass, that's the lot o' ya godly types", Doyle snickered, while inside his heart, he whispered a prayer to anyone who was listening that he knew what he was doing. "You're really beginning to be a bore, Chronie, old pal. Ever consider doing one of those sleeping tapes to help insomniacs? You'd make a killing off of the royalties--"
KA-TOOM!
Without warning, a blueish bolt pierced from the skies and headed straight for Doyle.
"ALAN!!", cried out Kendra in horror.
But Doyle's demon reflexes (blessed be his father for that) reacted quick enough to get him out of harm's way. Barely.
The bolt pierced the Eye, however, and instantly, a purple tear opened up within the Eye itself.
Fierce winds immediately swept through the Sacred Place. "What did you do?", Tara yelled over the howling winds.
"Got him to open a door for us", Doyle responded, taking her hand. "C'mon, lass! We've got no time to lose!"
"Alan, what are you intendin'?", Kendra demanded as she struggled to her feet.
"Trust me, Kendra. I'll tell ya when we get there", Doyle said. "You just have to trust me."
He extended his free hand (one was holding Tara) to the Slayer. Reluctantly, Kendra grabbed it.
And in one burst of a step, the trio flew towards the portal.
"Stop! STOOOOP!", Chronos roared in anger. "DO NOT ENTER THE EYE'S--"
But the three had already taken flight. Doyle speared through the air in a wild leap, aiming himself for the torn portal in the Eye, cradling a frightened Tara in his arms. Kendra followed behind him. Even though she could have easily outrun him with her Slayer speed, something told her to hold back, just enough for him to get through first, but fast enough to get there in time...
The desparate god, attempting to seal the portal, sent another bolt flying towards the Eye...
Just as the three wanderers disappeared into it.
"NOOOOOO!!!", Chronos bellowed in a voice that echoed with frightening resonance throughout the Sacred Place. The god had failed. And now he would have a lot of explaining to do to the Powers That Be.
Who weren't very pleasant when unpleased....
----------------
The portal ripped open and the three heroes tumbled out onto a cold, painfully hard concrete floor.
Gasping, each of them sat up, gathering their thoughts and their bodies together.
"Oooh, me achin' head", mumbled Kendra.
"Ouch", Tara winced, rubbing her arm tenderly. "I thought things didn't hurt anymore when you're dead."
"I don't really think we're dead, lass", Doyle said cautiously. "At least, not for the moment."
Tara blinked in surprise. "Wh-wh-what? We-we're n-n-not d-d-dead??"
Kendra got to her feet. "Alright, Alan Francis Doyle, you'd better start explainin' now. I trusted you through this insane plan of yours, now where de hell are we?"
Doyle took a few steps before stepping out of the alleyway where they landed. He peered around. Whooshing cars came roaring about from the streets, honking furiously at each other as the traffic became clogged. Men walked in business suits, talking on cell phones. Women sported ensembles for high-powered female brokers, talking with clients on the streets. Teens blasted their music from the stereo systems in their flashy cars.
Doyle looked up in the sky. Judging by the sun's position, it should have been early noontime.
A man reading a newspaper was walking down near the alleyway, when Doyle jerked the paper from him abruptly.
"Hey! Let go of that! That's mine, you jerk!--"
But off the dark look from Kendra, the man thought twice and turned away.
"Wh-where a-are we?", Tara asked, clutching her sides protectively.
Doyle flashed a grin as he saw the date. But more importantly, the title of the paper.
" I think the name speaks for itself."
Both of the women's eyes widened as they saw the headline of the paper...
The Los Angeles Times.
"Ladies", Doyle smiled mischievously. "Welcome to L.A.."
All Kendra and Tara could do was blink.
In stunned silence.
--------------------
To Be Continued...
INT. MAGIC BOX -
MEANWHILE - NIGHT PANNING ACROSS what looks like a WAR ZONE. The shop is in shambles. A LARGE BEAM fallen where the ceiling has partially COLLAPSED, moonlight drifting in. Much of the wall across from the SHATTERED COUNTER is BLOWN OUT, exposing the side alleyway and the brick facade of the building next door. All of the bookcases and shelves are overturned, merchandise smashed and strewn about the floor; SMOKE and FIRE rising from SMOLDERING, SINGED BOOKS; SPARKS flashing off fallen fixtures. A hell of a battle's been taking place... TILT UP onto WILLOW as she steps into frame. A couple of minor lacerations and bruises indicate she's taken a few blows. But she's unbowed and only marginally weakened.
WILLOW
That all you got, Jeeves?
ON GILES standing across from her. He, too, is also bleeding, most noticeably from a gash near his temple, though he appears to be considerably more spent and shaky. WIDEN to see them facing each other across the rubble, like gunfighters.
WILLOW
(cont'd)
'Cause I could stand to go another ten rounds.
(eyeing him)
Whereas you can barely stand, period.
GILES
Your powers... may be significantly greater... But I can still hurt you. If I have to.
WILLOW
(scoffing)
Hurt me? Boy, you just don't get it, do you? Nothing can hurt me anymore.
(re: her wounds)
This...?
She waves her hand across her face. Her injuries and bruises vanish.
WILLOW
(cont'd)
Is nothing. It's all... nothing.
GILES
I see. You lose someone you love and the other people in your life... The ones who care about you become meaningless.
BUFFY, recovering now, appears at the opening in the shattered wall of the training room, behind Giles, watching. Willow doesn't notice.
GILES (O.S)
I wonder... What would Tara say about that?
Willow eyes him, stonily.
WILLOW
You can ask her yourself.
Her hand shoots out toward the Upper Landing:
WILLOW
(cont'd)
Obruo!
She brings her hand down, hard. The pillar snaps. BUFFY rushes at Giles, tackling him out of the way as the Landing above them suddenly comes CRASHING DOWN, sending a cloud of dust and debris into the air. ON BUFFY and GILES, on the floor, next to some still burning books. As the dust settles, they look up to see WILLOW, standing over them. She glares at Buffy, peeved.
WILLOW
(cont'd)
You're always saving everyone. It's kinda pesky.
Maybe", a familiar voice said evenly. "But that's why I love her."
All eyes shot to the doorway, where they found a sight they never thought they'd behold.
There, standing in the doorway of the Magic Box, stood the Dark Avenger himself.
Flanked by Cordelia and two men they'd never seen before, one of them no older perhaps than Dawn herself, Angel's eyes gazed directly at what he recognized only in form to be Willow Rosenburg, his one-time friend from this hellish town.
Buffy's eyes widened in shock and recognition as she saw him. Yes, it was Angel. Her Angel. He appeared somewhat different. His hair had changed, and he appeared to be a little more heavier, but in a good way.
And yet, somehow, he was the same as the day she last saw him. The gorgeous dark eyes, which held the weight of his guilt and the love from his soul. The furling black coat flapping in the unnatural wind caused by the magical battle. And of course, the tingle.
The sixth sense they had when the other was near. After all this time, it was still there.
"Angel!", she said softly in awe.
"Buffy", he returned, concern and love flooding his face as he beheld the woman who held a strangle hold on his heart for all time.
"Angel?", Giles said, stunned by the vampire's appearance.
"Giles!", Cordelia exclaimed to her former fellow Scooby.
"Cordelia!", the Watcher echoed in confusion.
"Buffy?", Cordelia scruntched her eyebrows in recognition.
"Cordy?", Buffy returned with a quizzical look on her face.
"Gunn, Connor", Gunn muttered , uncomfortable by this reunion with people he never met before.
Connor scrunched his face in confusion and uncertainty. He knew within a few seconds that everyone somehow knew everyone. But what he didn't understand was why his father sensed a dangerous threat among people who were supposedly his friends.
Willow raised her eyebrows. "Well, well, well...look who's come to save the day!", she sang sarcastically. "Straight from the Land of Movie Stars and Heroes Crusades, out of our lives but not from Buffy's heart...Aaaan-gel!"
Angel took a step forward, giving Willow the once-over, but for a good long time. "I didn't want to believe it when they told me", Angel said. "But I guess it's true. You really have become the dark power I've been hearing about."
Willow chuckled. "Angel, honey, I really think you've picked a bad time to come blowing through Sunnydale. I mean, if you're jonesing for another heartache fest with the blonde wunderkind over there, maybe you should stop by tomorrow. That is, assuming they're all alive tomorrow. But hey, no big for you, right? You'll probably have just moved on by then. That's what you do, right? Move on? Be the strong one? Run away from the only thing in your little eternity of existence that ever made you feel something other than dead?"
The words struck a nerve in Angel. The old wounds were still there, the pain still present, but not as raw as it was before. This was definitely not the Willow Rosenberg he knew and cared for years past. The one who restored his soul. The Willow who tried so hard to make Angel and Buffy work out romantically. The Willow who traveled all the way to LA to inform Angel of Buffy's death a year ago, and who held him that night as he sobbed mercilessly in her arms in private.
This Willow was different.
Cold. Harsh. Devoid of life and reeking of death and destruction.
"Willow", he began softly, but his voice unwavering as he maneuvered his way to Buffy's side. "I came here to talk, not to fight. I want to help you. But if you harm one hair on either Buffy, Giles or any of theirs or mine--"
"You'll...what?", Willow asked dryly. "Bite me? Torture me for hours on end? Kill my loved ones while I watch? Hey, how about maybe you break up with me in a sewer, then stalk me in the shadows while you fulfill your little mission involving me without telling me you're there?" She paused mockingly, pretending to remember. "Ohhhh, yeah, that's right. Silly me. My hair's not blonde, so I guess that puts me off your 'things-to-do' list."
"Hey!", Cordelia spoke out. "Don't start messing around with blondes now!"
Willow's eyes darted to Cordelia, and a look of hatred flinted through her dark orbish eyes. "Oh, don't worry, Queen C, I haven't gotten to you just yet. You're dessert."
Cordelia snorted. "Was that some weird lesbian come-on, 'cause honey let me tell you, I'm on a fish-free diet."
"Cordy", warned Angel and Buffy simultaneously.
Cordelia shrugged. "Sorry. Old reflex habit."
Willow's eyes narrowed. "You know, since the day I met you, you've just never seemed to get when you should shut your mouth. That's something I can help with--" She raised her finger.
"Willow, I came here because I care about you", Cordelia said sincerely. "I just want you to get through this."
Willow paused for a moment, an unreadable expression on her face. And without warning, she started to snicker.
"Oh, yeah, right", she snorted. "That was good. REAL good. Queen Cordelia stepped down from her floating castle to help poor little Willow?" Her voice hardened. "I don't need your charity, Prom Queen. And I certainly don't need whatever it is that you pass as feelings to help me see through this. You don't even know this. You don't even know what I lost, couldn't even begin to comprehe--"
"I can."
Cordelia stepped closer. "I lost someone I cared about. REALLY cared about. Maybe even loved. But he...HE did it to save the world. The same world that you're threatening right now. He was taken from me, from the world, from his calling because he was in the wrong place at the wrong time..."
She broke off, emotional. Thinking about Doyle and his sacrifice still hurt to talk about. She never told anyone, but she silently grieved and mourned for him for a long time after his death, and she had only recently begun to get past the pain.