Chapter 36

Xander and Connor were sweeping up broken glass from the floor. Xander stopped and addressed the room. Buffy was doing research at the dining room table, sitting next to Willow who was using her laptop computer. Anya and Dawn were on the couch in the living room looking through books. Angel brought in a cup of tea for Buffy.

Everyone had explained to Buffy, Angel, Connor, and Xander (who had come over later after checking on his apartment) what had been going on. Spike was missing, Faith wouldn't stop searching for him, robed guys had destroyed Buffy's downstairs, Spike had destroyed Buffy and Angel's wall in their room, and the First was back. Fun times.

"It's a loop.. Like the Mummy Hand. I'm doomed to replace these windows for all eternity. You know, maybe we should just board these up until things are less Hellmouth-y." Xander said.

"Whatever you want Xander." Angel said, sitting next to Buffy and paging through a book.

"Nothing.. And nothing." Anya said. She held up two other books, one in each hand. "Cliff Notes to nothing. Nothing abridged.."

"Yeah, my search isn't turning anything up either. Are you sure this thing called itself the First?" Willow asked Buffy.

"Pretty sure. It claimed to be the original evil, the one that came before anything else." Buffy said.

"Please, how many times have I heard that line in my demon days? 'I'm so rotten, they don't even have a word for it. I'm bad. Baddy, bad, bad, bad. Does it make you horny?' Or terrified. Whatever." Anya said.

"It wasn't a line. When I came up against this thing, I felt it. It was ancient and enormous. It nearly got Angel to kill himself. And if we don't rescue Spike soon, God only knows what the First'll get him to do."

"I wish Sleeping Ugly would come to. He's been out all night." Xander said, looking at Andrew.

"Yes, he was just starting to squeal when the spooky SWAT attacked. Said the First was held up at the Seal of.. Danzar something?" Anya said.

Dawn stood and walked to Andrew. "Hmm. Maybe he's just faking so he doesn't have to answer any more questions." She punched him in the face and stood back to observe. "Hmm. Or maybe he's in a fugue state." She reared back to punch him again, but Buffy interrupted.

"Dawn."

"What?"

"He'll come to when he comes to. Keep reading. If we're gonna rescue Spike, we need to figure out how to fight this thing." Angel said.

"Anya gets to hit him."

"Hey! Here, The First!.. Bank of Delaware. Sorry." Willow said.

"Hand me the Watchers' Codecs again." Buffy said. Someone handed her the book.

"Can I get you anything else, baby?" Buffy looked up. Her mother stood there smiled at her. "How 'bout some tea?"

"Mom? You're not real."

"Ok, is that, uh, slang, like you're not for real, or..?"

"You're the First."

"Oh, baby, you're so tired, you're not making sense. Maybe you should get some sleep."

"No."

"You can't win against this thing. Not if you don't rest."

"Stop. Stop being like this. It's a lie!"

"I don't want to scare you, but I want you to take care. You need to wake up."

"What?"

"You're dreaming baby. Wake up." Angel said. He gently rubbed her back.

Buffy sat up and looked at him. "Hmm? Did you see it?"

"There's nothing to see. You were just doing a little dream talking, that's all."

"Oh."

"You ok? What'd you see?"

Buffy looked at Angel. "Nothing. Can you come into the kitchen?"

Angel nodded and followed Buffy. "What's wrong?"

Buffy started to cry. "Mommy. She was.. She was here! I saw her. She was here. I could feel her touching my hair!"

"Baby, it was just the First."

"No! It was her. The First can't talk like that!"

"Like how?"

"Lovingly!"

"Oh, sweetie. It can. It took the form of Ms. Calendar. The things it said.. It can make you feel.. Loved."

Buffy buried her face in Angel's shoulder. "It's too much! The Beast and now the First? I can't take all this! Two apocalypses at one time is too much for me to handle!"

"We'll do this together. You have Faith to help too. Please don't cry." He stroked her hair and back and kissed the crown of her head until she calmed down. The dream had shaken her pretty badly. The First really knew how to bring on the torment.

After she had calmed down enough and wiped the tears from her face, they walked back into the living room. Anya and Dawn were headed towards the kitchen, but when they saw Buffy and Angel coming, they changed course and sat on the couch.

"Whoa! Hey!" Anya said.

"Hi! Nothing!" Dawn said.

"What?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, um, I thought you were gonna ask us what we were doing."

"No, was going to ask.." Buffy was cut off by Andrew coughing.

"Oh! Look who's awake!" Dawn and Anya walked over to Andrew.

"Silly Andrew!" Anya said, slapped his chin gently. "You drooled all over yourself!"

"I'm-I was about to be dead. You saved me!" Andrew said.

"That was Faith.. For the time being. But if you don't tell us what we need to know, then I'm gonna offer you to the First on a platter and let him chop you into tiny pieces." Buffy said.

"The First what?"

"The name of the evil thing that pretended to be Warren to get you to kill Jonathan." Anya said.

"Oh, not very ominous sounding."

"No, i-it is if you understand the context." Dawn said.

"No, an evil name should be like Lex or Voldemort or.."

"Hey, I was intimidating here." Buffy said.

"Oh, sorry. Um, go ahead." Andrew said.

"Forget it. Where's the seal?"

"I'll have to show you. I can't remember the way down there."

"Down where?"

"The High School's basement."

Buffy rolled her eyes and untied Andrew. She shoved him out the door and into the van. Angel jumped in the driver's seat while Xander and Dawn flanked Andrew on each side in the back. Buffy climbed in the passenger's seat and they sped off towards the High School. Connor, Anya, and Willow were going to stay at the house and research.

Angel stopped and they all piled out of the van. Angel grabbed Andrew's arm and walked him into the building, down the steps, and into the basement. Andrew led them through the basement.

"It's around this corner, I think." He said.

"You better be right this time." Buffy said.

"I told you: I'm not sure."

Andrew walked into a huge room filled with dirt. A huge seal lay half buried on the ground. Xander didn't notice it at first. "Maybe you should get sure. I'm sick of all the runaround with you.." He saw the seal of Danthazar. "Whoa. Check out the goat-heady badness."

"What's it do?" Angel asked.

"I don't know. Something not good. It didn't work 'cause.. there wasn't enough blood." He turned to leave. "Ok!" Buffy stopped him.

Dawn was investigating a wheel. "There's blood on this. Lots. Looks like the First made another sacrifice. Or a music video."

"The seal could've been activated. I bet that's what the First needed Spike for." Angel said.

"That wasn't there before. I had nothing to do with that." Andrew said.

"Thanks for clearing that up cause otherwise we might've thought you were up to no good here at the satanic manhole cover. You killed your best friend!" Xander said.

"He's in a place of joy and peace. He told me."

"No, nobody told you. You got tricked by a fake ghost." Angel said.

"Boys, can we save the encounter session? We need to cover this thing up." Buffy grabbed nearby shovels and handed them out. "Whatever it does, we can't leave it exposed like this."

They got to work on shoveling dirt over the thing. After they covered up the seal, Xander took Andrew ahead of the group. They talked about something and then Xander got mad and shoved Andrew forward. Principal Wood passed them carrying a shovel and looking disheveled.

"Buffy?" he asked.

"Hey." Buffy said, a little surprised.

"Hey. I thought that you were, um.."

"Sick? She was. Oh, vomiting and oozing from various places and.." Dawn said.

"Yeah, I remember, so please don't go on."

"Oh, but now, it's amazing. The doctor gave her some cream.."

"Pills." Buffy amended. "And a cream. And I'm all better." She stared at the shovel in the Principal's hand.

"Oh, yeah, um, apparently somebody left this in the courtyard, and I was just returning it." He said.

"That's some full-service principal-ing."

"I try."

Buffy looked at her own shovel. "Oh, Angel and I were down here helping Dawn with a school project."

"For science." Dawn said.

"We buried a, um, uh, time capsule."

"Hello people of the future. Kids of today like Red Bull and, uh, Jackass."

"We better go."

"Buffy?" Principal Wood asked. Buffy turned back to face him. "You know if you are feeling better, I could really use you back at work. I've been wait-listing kids who really want to see you."

"Oh, uh, yeah. Uh, I'm sorry, you know, I was just.. I've been ill and stuff."

"No, no, it's fine, and I understand. It's just things are starting to back up."

"Well I-I-I'll be there tomorrow. No problem. 100% ooze free."

"Good."

"Ok."

They all turned and headed in their own directions. Buffy looked back a couple of times. That had been a weird encounter. Angel obviously sensed it too. They decided to ask Willow if she could do a locator spell to find the First. If that was even possible. When they got home, Dawn went straight to work researching the seal while Xander helped Willow prepare.

"How's it going?" Angel asked. He and Buffy stood in the foyer watching the goings on.

"Dawn's trying to find out anything she can about the Seal of Danzalthar. Will's about to do the locator spell, see if we can find the First." Buffy said, finishing with a yawn.

"Why don't you go get some rest. You haven't slept for two days. We'll call you if we find anything."

"Nah, I-I couldn't sleep. Too much going on."

"It'll be ok, Buffy. We've faced this kind of stuff before."

"You saw the First. Just as I did. We felt it. It was like.."

Suddenly, a magical explosion sent Anya and Xander back against the wall in the corner. The bowl in front of Willow glowed red. Dawn shrieked and Connor yanked her back from the table, crawling away to hide. The red light surrounded Willow then entered her body through her nostrils. She threw her head back and a demonic apparition, huge with two horns on its head and glowing red eyes, escaped her mouth, lunging toward Buffy.

"WILL!" Buffy and Angel started to head over to her.

The demon went back inside Willow, and she stood, sending red lightning bolts from her mouth. The bolts are aimed at Buffy and Angel, knocking them down and sending them across the floor on their backs into the foyer.

"You only make me stronger!" Willow said in a demon possessed voice.

Xander grabbed the glowing bowl from the spell, and threw it against the dining room wall, shattering it. The light disappeared, and Willow collapsed, crying and twitching. Xander went to check on Anya. Buffy kneeled at Willow's side, holding her head.

"Will." Buffy said.

"It's still in me. I feel it!"

"No, it's not. It's gone. You're ok."

"I don't want to hurt anybody. Please, Buffy, don't let it make me. Oh, God!"

"We won't. I promise, ok? I promise. We won't use magic to fight this thing until we know what we're doing."

"I can't. I can't. I'm sorry."

Buffy looked at Angel as she stroked Willow's hair. This last thing had really done it for her. She hated to see her friend like this. It was time to move into action. Buffy helped Willow stand while Angel went and got her a cool rag. Soon, Willow was standing off to the side of the room. Anya, Connor, and Dawn were sitting on the couch. Buffy had her coat on, ready to leave. Angel was discussing the plan with her.

"At least let me come with you." He said.

"I'm going alone."

"You said yourself, you don't know how to fight the First, or even where it is."

"It's out there. It's hurting my friends. I'll find it."

Buffy opened the front door to leave, but saw Giles standing there on her front porch when she opened it.

"Buffy." Giles said.

"Giles!" Buffy went to hug Giles, but was cut off when three girls she'd never met walked right into her house.

"Nice place. Bit of a mess." The first girl said in a thick British accent.

Another one walked in and then the third sized her up. "This is a Slayer?"

Buffy stared at the girls and then looked at Giles confused. He smiled slightly and said, "Sorry to barge in. We have a slight apocalypse."

Buffy blinked and then stepped back to allow Giles to come in. She took her coat off and followed him into the living room.

Angel asked the question on her mind. "Who are they?"

"They're slayers. Well, potential slayers."

The girls were lined up in a row, standing and looking around the house. Buffy nodded and looked at Giles. "Maybe I should call Faith."

"Maybe."

Buffy walked into the kitchen with Angel and called Faith. "Faith?"

"Yeah B?" Faith asked.

"You, uh.. You might wanna be here for this."

"Be there for what?"

"Well, there are three girls standing in my living room along with Giles and they're all Slayers. Well, potentials anyway."

"Are you shitting me?"

"Nope."

"I'll be right there. Wouldn't wanna miss this."

Buffy hung up and turned to Angel. "She's on her way."

"Good." Angel said.

"This is interesting."

"I noticed. Potentials."

"One's who might be called when I.."

"Die." He said softly. "Which, lucky for them, isn't going to be for a long time."

"Easier said than done."

Giles walked into the kitchen. "Is everything ok?"

"Yeah. Faith's on her way." Buffy said.

"I really am sorry about barging in with no word."

"It's ok. Really. I just wish you'd been here the past couple of months. Things have really been.. Bad."

"How so?"

"Well, I've gotten my ass kicked by this thing called 'the Beast,' and we don't know what it really is. Now we've got the First done here and it's got Spike. Spike has a soul.."

"Yo B! Where you at girlfriend?" Faith called.

"Be there in a sec Faith!" Buffy called. "Let's go before she grills the new girls."

Angel nodded and they headed back into the living room. Dawn was standing in front of the three girls Giles had brought with him. The three girls were lined up against the wall, and Dawn was inspecting them, arms crossed in front of her. Faith sat on the couch, leg flung carelessly over the arm. Connor sat on the fireplace step watching them wearily.

"They're all Slayers?" Connor asked.

"Potential Slayers. Waiting for one to be called. There were many more like them all over the world, but, um, now there's just a handful, and they're all on their way to Sunnydale." Giles said.

"The others were murdered." Buffy said.

"In cold blood. As well as their watchers. We always feared that this day would come, when there'd be an attack against not just an individual Slayer, but against the whole line."

"The First. That's what it wants."

"Yes, to erase all the Slayers in training and their watchers along with their methods."

"And then Faith, and then me. And with all the potentials gone and no way of making another, it's the end. No more slayer. Ever."

"But we haven't found any information on the First. No documentation.." Willow said.

"That's because it predates any written history, and it rarely shows its true face. The only record I know was in the Council Library." Giles said.

"What about the Council? What do they say about this?" Angel asked.

"Gone."

"What?" Willow asked.

"Obliterated. They were in session, and, uh, there was an explosion."

"That means all the Council's records are.. Are destroyed?"

"Annabelle." Girl #2 nodded and unzipped her book bag. She brought out two books and a stack of files and laid them on the coffee table in front of Willow. "That's what's left." Willow, Angel, Dawn, and Buffy each took some of the new material and read it. "The mystic secrets of the Watchers. And whatever I could find on the First. When I learned what was happening, I- I, um, I stole them."

"And you blew the Council up! See, this is what happens when you're all stuffy and repressed. You overreact." Anya said.

"Not.. I didn't. Must've been an agent of the First, after my little burglary session. The knowledge contained in these files had to be protected, and there wasn't time for.. For bureaucracy or debate. The Council knows no other way."

"And it cost them their lives!" Andrew said loudly from his chair. Everyone turned and stared at him. He sat back. "Go on."

"Can we gag him?" Buffy asked. Connor jumped up with a smile and went to Andrew. He put duct tape over his mouth. "But what do these records say about the First?"

"Uh, very little. It can change form. Uh, it only appears in the guise of someone who's passed away."

"Our ghosts." Willow said.

"Also it's not corporeal. It can't touch or fight on it's own. It only works through those it manipulates. And its followers, the Bringers."

"Those freaks in the black robes." Girl #3 said.

"Yeah, with the hoodies and the crazy alphabet eyes. I never saw 'em, I just heard.." #1 said.

"Shh! Molly, Mr. Giles doesn't need us prattling on." Annabelle said.

"The First is unlike anything we've faced before. I mean, there's evil and then there's the thing that created evil, the source." Giles said.

"And that's what this thing claims to be?" Angel asked.

"That's what it is. It has eternities to act, endless resources. How to defeat it, I-I honestly.. I don't know. But we have to find a way. If the Slayer line is eliminated, then the Hellmouth has no guardian. The balance is destroyed. I'm afraid it falls to you, Buffy. Sorry. I mean, we'll do what we can, but you're the only one who has the strength to protect these girls, and the world, against what's coming."

"But no pressure." Connor said bitterly.

"Hey! I'm here." Faith said.

"Sorry Faith." Giles said.

"Sure I've been a little busy with this whole Spike thing, but I'm here now. I live in this world and there is no way this stupid thing is going to stop me from doing that. I may not be as strong as B, but I'm still a Slayer."

Giles nodded. Girl #3 looked around. "That's it? That's the plan? I don't see how one person, even a Slayer, could protect us. I saw what those Bringer guys can do. They tore apart my watcher."

"Of course we'll use all our resources.." Giles said.

"And if this thing is the root of all evil, isn't the Hellmouth it's number one vacation spot? I mean, don't you think we should be hiding our asses on the other side of the globe?"

"Kennedy!" Annabelle said.

"No, she's not wrong. We need more muscle. That's why we need to find Spike." Buffy said.

"Yeah, he'll help. You know, if he's not crazy or off killing people or dead. Or, you know, all of the above." Anya said.

"We seem to have a lot of muscle here." Molly said, eyeing Angel.

Buffy moved closer to Angel and took his hand. "Giles, I may know where we can find the First. Or maybe some Bringer people."

"Yes?" Giles asked.

"Do you remember that Christmas when it snowed? When Angel tried to kill himself and the snow stopped him?"

"Of course."

"I saw the First. Well, it was in the form of Ms. Calendar, but I saw it. Angel saw it too. It haunted him, remember?"

"I suggest that we go and take a look."

"Wouldn't hurt." Angel said. He, Giles, and Buffy got their coats on.

"Faith, you stay here and keep an eye on everybody. We'll be back as soon as we can." Buffy said. She, Angel, and Giles left.