Chapter 77

Spike pushed open the creaky front door to the mission as Andrew stood nervously behind him. Angel and Spike sighed and walked in, followed by Andrew.

"No one's here." Andrew said. "These kinda places make me feel funny inside."

"I'll buy that." Spike said. "You and me got something else in common after all."

Suddenly, someone jumped out of a closet as they walked past. They grabbed Andrew and pushed him against the wall. Andrew squealed. Angel pulled the robed man off of Andrew, and the man punched Angel. They started to fight. Spike pushed the man against the wall, and he fell to the ground. Angel pushed the hood off of the man's face to reveal a burn mark on the man's cheek. The mark looked like something Caleb made with his ring.

"Tell me about the mark." Angel said.

"Oh...." The monk covered the scar.

"Hey! Are you part of Caleb's faction?"

"No! No!"

"Then tell me what happened."

"I c-can't."

"'Can't' is a 4-letter word!" Andrew said, bending down. "I'm Andrew. I'll be your bad cop this evening. You don't start singing, my associates here...." Spike grabbed Andrew and pulled him away, allowing Angel to work.

"We're trying to fight him. Caleb. We need your help." Angel released the monk and he stood up.

"You can't fight him. You can't stop him. You can only run."

"'Run' is a 4-letter wor.... A 3-letter word." Andrew broke in again. Spike pulled him away and told him to shut up.

"Talk."

"I'll do better. I'll show you." The man grabbed a candelabra. "One night, some time ago, a man arrived at our doors."

"And you said, 'come in, do some damage'?" Spike asked.

"We are.... we are a benevolent order, and, yes, we welcomed him. We offered to feed him.... but he had come for something else." The monk walked up to a statue of Mary in an alcove, just as seen on the picture that led Spike, Angel, and Andrew here in the first place. He touched a secret lever, causing the statue to swing out of the way, revealing a secret compartment behind it. "Behind this, he revealed something even we didn't know was here. A secret room. He was excited, talking the whole time.... destiny, that sort of thing."

"Yeah. We hear he's a real smooth talker." Angel said.

"He was going on about this ancient inscription."

"Neat." Andrew said.

"He read it.... and he didn't like what it said. His temper.... He was the purest evil I've ever seen. He burned his mark upon me. And then I ran and I hid.... and I listened to the others die."

"Running away.... saved your life." Angel took the candelabra from the monk and he and SPike walked up to the inscription. "What does it say?"

The inscription was Latin words written with Greek letters. "Non tibi est. Ei solae tractare licet." Angel read. He smiled, knowing who the inscription was talking about. "'It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield.'"

There was a hastily made yellow banner painted with 'WELCOME HOME' in big red letters hanging over the fireplace. They had found out that Xander was going to be coming home that night. Giles, Dawn, and the potentials were gathered in the living room as Buffy and Willow escorted Xander in the room. Faith and Robin Wood followed, closing the door behind them. Xander looked around. "Oh, God."

"We didn't have time to do more. You have to pretend there's a big party here." Kennedy said. Dawn hugged Xander tightly. He looked around. "That's fine. Parties in this house, I usually end up having to.. rebuild something."

"Welcome home, Xander. Angel and I wanted you to be here for this." Buffy said. "I think you'll be interested in what we found out."

"W-what did you find out?" Willow asked.

"I-it's about the cellar. Look, I know that night wasn't fun for any of us.. but I figured out some things about that place, and I realize now what we have to do. We're going back in." The room went to complete silence. "Look, I know what you're thinking, but I had a visit at the school today from Caleb."

"Buffy, why didn't you...." Daw started.

"I'm fine. I mean, it wasn't fun, but I'm fine. I'm better than fine. I- I figured something out. He kept making all this noise about the school."

"Is it that seal again?" Wood asked.

"Do we need to try shutting it again?" Willow asked.

"No, that's just it." Buffy said. "We've spent all this time worrying about the seal and the Hellmouth. Why isn't Caleb guarding them? Why doesn't he have someone there protecting it? Why is he camped out at the vineyard? The bad guys always go where the power is. So if the seal was so important to Caleb and the First, they would be there right now. They're protecting the vineyard or something at the vineyard."

"I say it's their power, and I say it's time we go in and take it away from them."

"Or, in the alternative, how 'bout we don't?" Faith said. "I mean, it's a neat theory, B, but I'm not going back in that place, not without proof, and neither should you and neither should they."

"I'm not saying it's gonna be easy."

"I think Faith had the floor." Wood said.

"Maybe it ends ok the way you wanna play it, but maybe it doesn't." Faith said. "And right now, I don't think I want you playin' the odds."

"You wanna fight?"

"Listen, we're fighters, all of us, but you gotta give me something to fight, something real, not...."

"Windmills." Giles said.

"There is something there." Buffy insisted.

"Maybe. But we can't be sure of that. This is a hell of a lot to ask."

"Too much." Wood said.

"I-I don't understand this. For 7 years, I've kept us safe by doing this.... exactly this, making the hard decisions. And now, what? Suddenly you're all acting like you can't trust me?"

"Didn't you say to me today you can't trust us? Maybe there's something there that should be addressed." Giles said.

"Is that why you sent Angel away, to ambush me?"

"Oh, come on."

"You know what? I am sick of your deal with Angel. This isn't about him. This is about you. You're being reckless." Rona said.

"What?" Buffy asked incredulously.

"You are! I don't even know you, and I can tell! You are so obsessed with beating Caleb, you are willing to jump into any plan without thinking."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"Well, that's how it feels to us. People are dying." Kennedy said.

"Kennedy...." Willow started.

"Why are you always standing up for her?"

"I'm not."

"What do you mean, you're not?" Buffy asked through surpressed tears.

"With everything that's happened, I-I'm worried about your judgment."

"Look, I wish this could be a democracy. I really do. Democracies don't win battles. It's a hard truth, but there has to be a single voice. You need someone to issue orders and be reckless sometimes and not take your feelings into account. You need someone to lead you."

"And it's automatically you." Anya said. "You really do think you're better than we are."

"No, I...."

"But we don't know. We don't know if you're actually better. I mean, you came into the world with certain advantages, sure. I mean, that's the legacy."

"I...."

"But you didn't earn it. You didn't work for it. You've never had anybody come up to you and say you deserve these things more than anyone else. They were just handed to you. So that doesn't make you better than us. It makes you luckier than us."

"I've gotton us this far."

"But not without a price." Xander said.

"Xander...."

"I'm trying to see your point here, Buff.... but I guess it must be a little bit to my left.... cause I just don't."

"Look, I'm willing to talk strategy, ok, I'll hear suggestions on how to break this down, but this is the plan. We have to be together on this or we will fail again."

"We are clearly demonstrating that we are not together on this!" Giles said.

"Which is why you have to fall in line! I'm still in charge here."

"Why is that, exactly?" Rona asked.

"Because I'm the Slayer."

"And isn't Faith a slayer, too?"

"What?" Faith said. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. So not what I meant. I'm not in charge chick anymore. I think B here needs to just.... chill out for a little bit, take a siesta or something. But I'm not the one you want."

"Maybe we need a vote...." Kennedy said. "To see who wants Faith to have a turn in charge."

"No." Buffy said sternly.

"No, what?"

"No. You don't get to vote until I've had my chance to pal around, you know, get everybody drunk. See, I didn't get this was a popularity contest. I should have equal time to bake them cookies, braid their hair...."

"Learn their names?" Faith asked.

"You're just lovin' this, aren't you?"

"You have no idea what I'm feeling."

"Come in here, take everything that I have because my back's turned.... You did it before. Did you tell them that? Did you tell them how you used to kill people for fun? Hey, you guys think that's nifty?"

"Buffy, that's enough!" Giles said.

"I didn't come here to take anything away from you, but I'm not gonna be your little lapdog, either. I came here to beat the other guy, to do right, however it works. I know I can sort of lead here.... But the real question is.... can you follow?" Faith said.

"So we vote." Wood said.

"Wait. Guys...." Buffy looked around. Anya crossed her arms and stared back with pursed lips and Willow looked away. Buffy searched their faces. "I can't watch you just throw away everything that...." She looked at Xander and at Dawn who weren't meeting her glance. Buffy held her head up high. "I know I'm right about this. I just need a little.... I can't stay here and watch her lead you into some disaster."

Dawn walked up to Buffy. "Then you can't stay here. Buffy, I love you, but you were right. We have to be together on this. You weren't a part of this before and you can't be a part of it now. So I need you to leave. I'm sorry, but this is my house, too."

Buffy looked around, then turned and grabbed her coat, walking out the door. Faith came after her. "Hey. Look, I swear I didn't want it to go this way...."

"Don't." Buffy said.

"I mean it, I...."

"Don't.... be afraid to lead them. Whether you wanted it or not, their lives are yours. It's only gonna get harder. Protect them, but lead them." Faith walked back inside the house. Buffy walked down the front walk alone, tears staining her face.