Disclaimer: All the characters belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Fox,
etc... except of course the ones I make up.
Summary: While Dawn is dealing with balancing school, slaying and dating, Buffy and Spike are dealing with their relation. And all together they are dealing with impending apocalypse.
Spoilers: Well, it takes place about a year and a half after "Normal Again", but it's pretty AU. Xander and Anya are married and Tara is alive.
Continuity: It's the sequel to "The Delegation of Aurelius". However, you don't really need to read it to understand this fic. It sort of just picks up where "TDoA" left off.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
APACOLYPSE NOW... AGAIN
Chapter 11: Answers
Xander's heart was pounding furiously in his chest as he held his wife's head in his lap. His hands shook while he was softly patting the damp cloth that Willow had retrieved all over Anya's almost colorless face. He thought he would pass out with relief when her eyes fluttered open and she focused on him.
"Anya? Honey, are you alright?" He asked as he lifted her up and embraced her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged back. She felt so disoriented and wasn't really sure what had happened until it came to her.
"Ayanathla!" She suddenly shouted. "Where is she?"
Xander looked puzzled. "Who?"
"Anyanathla," Spike answered knowingly. "Demon or whatever that that Fyarl was serving the other night."
"Not a demon," Anya mumbled, fear and sadness in her voice.
"You've heard of, uh, her?" Giles asked.
"I knew her."
"I take it she wasn't the nicest of people?" Willow added, seeing as how Anya had fainted at the mention of her.
"She was though, then everything changed. Everything went wrong. So many people died. We will die," Anya told the Scoobies sadly, placing her hand gently over her stomach.
"What? No one is going to die," Buffy insisted. "Anya, please, what is going on?"
"It seems like only yesterday it happened, it was so horrible. So many people were lost stopping her. She wasn't even really stopped."
*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*! *!*!*!*
England, 1563
"Blessed be," chanted the sisters of the Meishta coven. There was a sing- song sound to their chants and prayers and they always seemed to end on a good note.
Yana stood from the place where she had been kneeling, and politely nodded her head at her sisters. It was late and she figured it best to hurry home to her family. Her husband and two young children might be worrying and she wanted to avoid conflict and unnecessary interrogation concerning her whereabouts.
She slipped out of the meeting quietly and hurried home. The door was open a crack and she thought it strange but figured that her four year old daughter Lizabeth had probably just been making mischief and her father did not notice. She walked inside to a dark house, all the candles had been blown out. It was unlike John not to wait up for her though she insisted that he not.
Yana continued to walk into her home and she tripped over a toy that belonged to her two year old son, Michael. She rolled her eyes and moved it out of the way. She found a candle and lit it. What she saw when the flame was bright enough made her think that her heart would beat out of her chest. Tables and chairs had been overturned and there was broken glass everywhere. Drawers were pulled out of their places and when she turned to look for more damage she could see that the door to the washroom was ajar.
As she walked closer her heart began to beat faster and faster until she could feel it pounding in her chest and stomach and throat. She pulled back the door all the way and shrieked in horror at what she saw.
John was laying face down on the floor in a puddle of blood. His throat had been slit and his eyes were wide open as if he were still staring in horror at his murderer. Yana knelt down by his side, not caring about the fact that her long layered skirt was now drenched in blood.
She placed her hand gently on his face which was cold and pale. How could this happen? She thought. She closed his eyes carefully and leaned over and kissed his smooth cheek. It was then that she noticed the washtub was full and there were puddles of water all around the edge. She got up apprehensively and walked to the side of the tub.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.
Lizabeth and Michael were laying below the water, still and dead. Their faces and bodies were a bright blue, their little fingers intertwined. Yana felt all the feeling in her body melt away as she left the washroom.
It took her a minute to find what she was looking for but she did find it and she reentered the washroom, a large wool blanket in her arms. The witch stepped callously over her husband's body and placed the blanket on the ground. Carefully, she lifted each of her children out of the tub and placed them on the blanket. She wrapped the blanket tightly around their lifeless bodies and pulled the small bundles to her chest.
"There now," she cooed. "Nice and warm."
She rocked back and forth with them in her arms for hours until she noticed light entering below the crack of the washroom door. Carefully, without putting down her children, she stood and walked into the main room of her house. She placed the little ones down on their bed and she turned to face the center of the room.
"Ankyank!" She cried. "Come to me! I summon thee for vengeance ye shall wreak! Come to me! COME TO ME!"
With a puff of smoke Anyanka appeared elegantly in the house. She smiled at the sight of her friend. When she saw how pale and terrible she looked, worry conquered her happiness.
"Yana? You look terrible."
"Who did this?" Yana asked, pointing at the bed.
Anyanka looked puzzled. "Who did wha- oh my god," she gasped, at a loss for words. "I- what happened?"
"I found them, drowned in the washtub. John lays slain on the floor, so tell me, who did this?"
The demon's eyes filled with tears at the sight of the dead children. She turned back to the witch who's eyes were flaring with anger and hatred.
"Oh Yana, there's no way I can know," she said, looking around the house. From what she could tell all the good silver was missing as well as the more expensive linens. "I think it was just men stealing from your home."
Yana nodded and walked toward the door. Anyanka quickly grabbed her arm. "What are you doing."
"They will pay," Yana answered.
"No!" Anyanka insisted. "Let me, let me make them pay, it's what I do."
"No," she insisted, shaking her friend's hold on her. She walked to the door when she was interrupted again by Anyanka's voice.
"Yana!"
"NO!"
And with that Yana psychically threw the demon across the room so that she hit her hell and fell unconscious.
Completely oblivious to the world around her, Yana stormed to the underground place where her sisters would meet and pray. Many were already there for the morning prayers that Yana did not attend. When she was seen by her sisters, a look of worry spread across all of their faces.
Lea walked over to Yana and placed a concerned hand gently on her sister's elbow.
"Yana?"
"Mortate," Yana mumbled and her friend dropped dead at her feet.
The some of the other sister's screamed in shock and other just gaped in horror. Many ran at her or tried to stop her but her magic was just too powerful.
"There is no good in this place," she repeated as she walked to where the dark magic books were kept. She pulled the book of DARKEST MAJICKS off the shelf and absorbed the energy and power from it.
Any color left her face was completely drained and her beautiful blonde hair turned black. She transported from the room and left her sisters in a stunned and horrified silence.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It took about half an hour for all the sisters of the coven to gather underground. They all had looks of extreme worry on their faces and some of them were even tearful at what they considered the loss of two sisters.
"We have to stop her!" Someone shout out from the crowd of women.
"I know," Maya, the head of the coven said above the rest. "We're working on a way to bind her powers."
"I don't see why we just can't kill her," Lea's sister Malina mumbled.
"Because it is not our way," Maya answered softly. Before long she was instructing her sisters on what they must do to accomplish the spell. Yana had always been more powerful then the rest and they all knew it. However, she had never lost control.
The sisters all agreed that they would do what was necessary to stop Yana, no matter how dire the consequences may be.
Yana stood atop a hill looking over the town she had grown in. It seemed so small from where she was now. Not the hill, she had been up there before in her youth, but her rather her place in the world. She was above the lower beings now, she knew she no longer truly belonged on the mortal plain.
She figured she would call herself Ayanathla instead, Yana meant nothing to her now. Ayanathla to her meant power, and Yana to her meant loss.
She summoned all the power from within herself that she would need. "Destroy the good," she chanted to herself, "destroy the good."
Before she knew what was happening, she felt her world begin to spin. She felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs and her knees could barely hold her own weight. She realized what was happening and let out a shriek to challenge the banshees as she was locked in her underground prison.
Back in the gathering place of the coven, all that was left were ashes.
TBC...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sorry that took so long to update, I have had an unbelievable amoutn a schoolwork. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up sooner.
Anyway, please review!!! :-)
Summary: While Dawn is dealing with balancing school, slaying and dating, Buffy and Spike are dealing with their relation. And all together they are dealing with impending apocalypse.
Spoilers: Well, it takes place about a year and a half after "Normal Again", but it's pretty AU. Xander and Anya are married and Tara is alive.
Continuity: It's the sequel to "The Delegation of Aurelius". However, you don't really need to read it to understand this fic. It sort of just picks up where "TDoA" left off.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
APACOLYPSE NOW... AGAIN
Chapter 11: Answers
Xander's heart was pounding furiously in his chest as he held his wife's head in his lap. His hands shook while he was softly patting the damp cloth that Willow had retrieved all over Anya's almost colorless face. He thought he would pass out with relief when her eyes fluttered open and she focused on him.
"Anya? Honey, are you alright?" He asked as he lifted her up and embraced her tightly. She wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged back. She felt so disoriented and wasn't really sure what had happened until it came to her.
"Ayanathla!" She suddenly shouted. "Where is she?"
Xander looked puzzled. "Who?"
"Anyanathla," Spike answered knowingly. "Demon or whatever that that Fyarl was serving the other night."
"Not a demon," Anya mumbled, fear and sadness in her voice.
"You've heard of, uh, her?" Giles asked.
"I knew her."
"I take it she wasn't the nicest of people?" Willow added, seeing as how Anya had fainted at the mention of her.
"She was though, then everything changed. Everything went wrong. So many people died. We will die," Anya told the Scoobies sadly, placing her hand gently over her stomach.
"What? No one is going to die," Buffy insisted. "Anya, please, what is going on?"
"It seems like only yesterday it happened, it was so horrible. So many people were lost stopping her. She wasn't even really stopped."
*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*!*! *!*!*!*
England, 1563
"Blessed be," chanted the sisters of the Meishta coven. There was a sing- song sound to their chants and prayers and they always seemed to end on a good note.
Yana stood from the place where she had been kneeling, and politely nodded her head at her sisters. It was late and she figured it best to hurry home to her family. Her husband and two young children might be worrying and she wanted to avoid conflict and unnecessary interrogation concerning her whereabouts.
She slipped out of the meeting quietly and hurried home. The door was open a crack and she thought it strange but figured that her four year old daughter Lizabeth had probably just been making mischief and her father did not notice. She walked inside to a dark house, all the candles had been blown out. It was unlike John not to wait up for her though she insisted that he not.
Yana continued to walk into her home and she tripped over a toy that belonged to her two year old son, Michael. She rolled her eyes and moved it out of the way. She found a candle and lit it. What she saw when the flame was bright enough made her think that her heart would beat out of her chest. Tables and chairs had been overturned and there was broken glass everywhere. Drawers were pulled out of their places and when she turned to look for more damage she could see that the door to the washroom was ajar.
As she walked closer her heart began to beat faster and faster until she could feel it pounding in her chest and stomach and throat. She pulled back the door all the way and shrieked in horror at what she saw.
John was laying face down on the floor in a puddle of blood. His throat had been slit and his eyes were wide open as if he were still staring in horror at his murderer. Yana knelt down by his side, not caring about the fact that her long layered skirt was now drenched in blood.
She placed her hand gently on his face which was cold and pale. How could this happen? She thought. She closed his eyes carefully and leaned over and kissed his smooth cheek. It was then that she noticed the washtub was full and there were puddles of water all around the edge. She got up apprehensively and walked to the side of the tub.
Nothing could have prepared her for what she saw next.
Lizabeth and Michael were laying below the water, still and dead. Their faces and bodies were a bright blue, their little fingers intertwined. Yana felt all the feeling in her body melt away as she left the washroom.
It took her a minute to find what she was looking for but she did find it and she reentered the washroom, a large wool blanket in her arms. The witch stepped callously over her husband's body and placed the blanket on the ground. Carefully, she lifted each of her children out of the tub and placed them on the blanket. She wrapped the blanket tightly around their lifeless bodies and pulled the small bundles to her chest.
"There now," she cooed. "Nice and warm."
She rocked back and forth with them in her arms for hours until she noticed light entering below the crack of the washroom door. Carefully, without putting down her children, she stood and walked into the main room of her house. She placed the little ones down on their bed and she turned to face the center of the room.
"Ankyank!" She cried. "Come to me! I summon thee for vengeance ye shall wreak! Come to me! COME TO ME!"
With a puff of smoke Anyanka appeared elegantly in the house. She smiled at the sight of her friend. When she saw how pale and terrible she looked, worry conquered her happiness.
"Yana? You look terrible."
"Who did this?" Yana asked, pointing at the bed.
Anyanka looked puzzled. "Who did wha- oh my god," she gasped, at a loss for words. "I- what happened?"
"I found them, drowned in the washtub. John lays slain on the floor, so tell me, who did this?"
The demon's eyes filled with tears at the sight of the dead children. She turned back to the witch who's eyes were flaring with anger and hatred.
"Oh Yana, there's no way I can know," she said, looking around the house. From what she could tell all the good silver was missing as well as the more expensive linens. "I think it was just men stealing from your home."
Yana nodded and walked toward the door. Anyanka quickly grabbed her arm. "What are you doing."
"They will pay," Yana answered.
"No!" Anyanka insisted. "Let me, let me make them pay, it's what I do."
"No," she insisted, shaking her friend's hold on her. She walked to the door when she was interrupted again by Anyanka's voice.
"Yana!"
"NO!"
And with that Yana psychically threw the demon across the room so that she hit her hell and fell unconscious.
Completely oblivious to the world around her, Yana stormed to the underground place where her sisters would meet and pray. Many were already there for the morning prayers that Yana did not attend. When she was seen by her sisters, a look of worry spread across all of their faces.
Lea walked over to Yana and placed a concerned hand gently on her sister's elbow.
"Yana?"
"Mortate," Yana mumbled and her friend dropped dead at her feet.
The some of the other sister's screamed in shock and other just gaped in horror. Many ran at her or tried to stop her but her magic was just too powerful.
"There is no good in this place," she repeated as she walked to where the dark magic books were kept. She pulled the book of DARKEST MAJICKS off the shelf and absorbed the energy and power from it.
Any color left her face was completely drained and her beautiful blonde hair turned black. She transported from the room and left her sisters in a stunned and horrified silence.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
It took about half an hour for all the sisters of the coven to gather underground. They all had looks of extreme worry on their faces and some of them were even tearful at what they considered the loss of two sisters.
"We have to stop her!" Someone shout out from the crowd of women.
"I know," Maya, the head of the coven said above the rest. "We're working on a way to bind her powers."
"I don't see why we just can't kill her," Lea's sister Malina mumbled.
"Because it is not our way," Maya answered softly. Before long she was instructing her sisters on what they must do to accomplish the spell. Yana had always been more powerful then the rest and they all knew it. However, she had never lost control.
The sisters all agreed that they would do what was necessary to stop Yana, no matter how dire the consequences may be.
Yana stood atop a hill looking over the town she had grown in. It seemed so small from where she was now. Not the hill, she had been up there before in her youth, but her rather her place in the world. She was above the lower beings now, she knew she no longer truly belonged on the mortal plain.
She figured she would call herself Ayanathla instead, Yana meant nothing to her now. Ayanathla to her meant power, and Yana to her meant loss.
She summoned all the power from within herself that she would need. "Destroy the good," she chanted to herself, "destroy the good."
Before she knew what was happening, she felt her world begin to spin. She felt like all the air had been sucked from her lungs and her knees could barely hold her own weight. She realized what was happening and let out a shriek to challenge the banshees as she was locked in her underground prison.
Back in the gathering place of the coven, all that was left were ashes.
TBC...
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~* Sorry that took so long to update, I have had an unbelievable amoutn a schoolwork. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up sooner.
Anyway, please review!!! :-)