The Angel's Knight #30 - Into the Darkness

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110 miles north of Los Angeles, October 16, 2017

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According to my watch we just passed midnight. How did the time pass so fast? We started moving into the town shortly after sundown. Where did all the hours go? Then again, thinking back, I spent nearly two days here in Sunnydale, looking for the source of all these dreams I've been having, and I don't think I slept, ate, drunk, or peed even once. Maybe time has gone all screwy in here after the Hellmouth erupted. Wouldn't surprise me in the least.

So much has happened in a mere 48 hours. Most of it happened elsewhere, of course. Story of my life, I guess. Xander Harris, fighting against evil for twenty years now, but somehow I always manage to miss the really big things going down. I wasn't there when Buffy fought the Master, I only arrived later to pick up the pieces. I wasn't there when she fought Angel over Akathler. I wasn't there when she hunted down Faith or suckered the Mayor. I wasn't there when she died, giving her life for Dawn.

Why am I thinking of Buffy so much right now? Oh yeah, big evil shapeshifter that tried to trick us into thinking it was her. God, just when you think the likes of Wolfram & Hart can't sink any lower than they already have. That thing is dead now and the only thing it did achieve was to get everyone well-pissed and fired-up for the big battle.

Then the kid. Angel has a kid. A kid who tells us that everything we've done, everything we've seen, isn't quite what we thought it was. That things haven't happened the way they appeared to. That some here aren't even the people they appear to be. And the cause we've been fighting for? Basically a big tug-o-war between two forces that couldn't care less about us. It's all about which of them gets to lay down the law for all the universe. Order or chaos.

I've got to get myself a different life. This one is way too confusing and depressing.

Now this: The reason I came here to Sunnydale for in the first place. Willow. For so long I've been dreaming about her. That she was still alive, that she needed my help. I finally listened when I couldn't close my eyes anymore without seeing her face. I figured she might still be alive somewhere in this graveyard that was once my hometown.

Turns out I was right.

The glare before us fades slowly. The place where a larger-than-life cheerleader statue with an emancipated body on top of it stood about a minute ago is now empty. No, not quite empty. The statue is gone, but something else is in its place now. Two somethings, to be exact. Two people I never thought I'd see again.

Okay, granted, I never spent much thought on one of the two, but still, you get my point.

Willow is standing before us, not looking a day older than the last time I saw her nearly fifteen years ago. Was that really her body that hung on the cheerleader statue? I am not sure, but she is back. My best friend since kindergarten is back and I can't quite decide whether to run toward her for a big hug or to run for my life in the other direction.

Right next to her is Catherine Madison, Amy's mom. As I said, I never spent too much thought on her after Buffy took her down. God, that was long ago. I think it was one of the first cases we all solved together, the Scooby Gang, shortly after Buffy came to Sunnydale. We were just kids then. I don't think any of us imagined the kinds of threats we'd be facing in the future. Or the kind of people we would become in the process.

Catherine certainly wasn't a world-class threat. Just a bitter middle-aged witch who stole her daughter's body to relieve her glory days. Now, though? With her standing before me, also not a day older than the last time we saw her, having been stuck in the Hellmouth for two decades, I have some trouble not considering her a threat.

Then the scariest thing happens.

Willow and Catherine blink. Both of them. At the exact same time. With the exact same look on their faces.

"Mom?" Amy mutters, fear clearly etched onto her face. The last time she saw her mother the bitch had just stolen her body and then tried to banish her to some place that, as it turns out, was a cheerleader statue. I certainly can't blame her for being a bit suspicious. Or downright frightened at that.

Tara is standing right next to me and so is Oz. I didn't even notice him and his wolf pack arriving until they were tearing apart vampires left and right to help us open up a path toward the old high school ruins. He has reassumed human form and is staring at the girl he once loved. And Tara? I can't make heads or tails of the look on Tara's face, but her entire body is trembling.

Everything and everyone around us has come to a stop, all of us waiting with held breath for something to happen. I see a group of black-clad mages standing opposite us, also with mixed expressions on their face. They expected the Hellmouth to open up beneath them. That hasn't happened, not yet at least. Instead they got two witches and I doubt even they know what they're going to do.

Could somebody please do something? Anything?

Almost as if on cue Willow and Catherine's heads snap around as one, black eyes focusing on the dark mages behind them. Identical looks of rage fill their faces and the mages have about a second to realize that running would be a really good idea now before the first of them catches fire. Moments later the clearing among the ruins is lit by a dozen and more human torches, screams filling the air.

I try to move, but I can't. I don't understand what is happening here. Somebody has to explain it to me.

A minute later all the bad guys are gone, burnt to ashes. The demons don't approach this place, staying outside the ruins. I can't blame them. Willow and Catherine look back towards us again, their eyes no longer black. Their faces soften, identical again, and I allow myself the slim hope that maybe ...

Then they move, coming toward us. Willow stands before Tara, Catherine stands before Amy. All around me people tense, ready to defend their friends at a moment's notice. But there is no fire springing forth from their hands, no eyes filling with black.

"I'm so sorry," they both say, their voices blending seamlessly into one another.

Again there is silence and I guess we are, all of us, waiting for Tara and Amy to react to what just happened. Willow, my God. What happened to you? I take half a step toward her, causing both Catherine and her to look at me. No black eyes, but it still gives me the wiggins.

"Willow?" I ask, not really certain whether I'm really addressing my old friend here.

Her expression, both their expressions, soften. "Hi, Xander," they both say.

Tara seems to come out of her shock and narrows her eyes, the air around her humming slightly. I know the signs after all these years, she is looking at things no normal person can see. Suddenly she gasps, her hand flying to her mouth.

"What is it?" Angel asks her, standing with battle axe at the ready. I can't really blame him.

"They're ... there is no distinction. It's Willow, but ... it's also someone else. Two auras blended into one. I've never seen ..."

"My God," Amy mumbles, apparently understanding. Does Tara mean that Willow and Catherine ... God, just when I thought this couldn't get any weirder. How the hell ...?

"It's what happens when you spend fifteen years trapped in a focal point of magical energy," a new voice announces and I see Angel's kid walking closer. Something about her sends shivers down my spine. Good or bad shivers? I have no idea. The only thing I'm sure of is that this little girl isn't even remotely normal. Then again, we all guessed that already, didn't we?

"I know you," Willow and Catherine say, their eyes now resting on Celeste. "You are ..."

"Yes, I am," she interrupts them. "And I wish we had time for the tearful reunion, but we don't."

Before anyone can ask her what she is talking about this time, before anyone can wonder what Willow / Catherine was about to say, Riley's radio crackles to life and he listens to someone giving a report. His face is growing even darker than it was before.

"A large army of vampires and assorted demons is gathering about half a mile north of here. They seem to be coming our way."

"They will try and reach the Torch first," Celeste says. "It's the prize of this contest. They can't afford us getting it."

"Okay, everyone stop for a moment," I yell, throwing my hands up. "This is all getting way over my head here. I thought we came here to stop these black magic guys from opening up the Hellmouth, only we didn't. Yet I don't see a Hellmouth anywhere, do you? Where is that giant tentacle creature we saw before? Where is the hellfire and brimstone?"

Wesley narrows his eyes as he looks at Celeste. "He is right, child. We only have your word that something terrible is about to happen. I hope you can understand that we are somewhat weary at the moment."

"But she is right," Cordelia interjects. I didn't even notice she had come along on the charge until now. She is blind, by God! She should be somewhere safe. "I have seen it all happening, Wesley. Angel, the Torch is down there, I can feel it. It's the source of all these extra-painful visions I've been getting."

There is something of a twitch in the faces of Willow and Catherine, almost as if they suddenly realized something. The expression fades as quickly as it came, replaced by something that looks like ... guilt?

"Angel," Darla pleads with him. "Celeste is telling the truth. I can't give you any logical proof for that, but I know it deep in my blood. And I believe you do, too."

Angel says nothing, just lets his eyes wander across the assembled people. I don't think I've ever seen him as pissed as he is today, the rage from seeing Wolfram & Hart send that shape-shifting thing among us still hasn't faded. He has pushed it down, though. You can see it smoldering in his eyes, but he's using his brains. I guess if you live as long as he did you learn something about impulse control. I wonder if I'll ever get old enough to pick that one up.

"Angel," now Celeste talks to him. "I know it's been a lot to absorb. I know that everything that has happened these last 48 hours has left you with thousands of questions and little in the way of answers. But please believe me, if we don't prevent these demons from getting to the Torch none of you will live to ever hear those answers. Our world will drown in chaos and, if we're very lucky, it might just become a place like Phylea. If we're unlucky ..."

She doesn't finish that sentence and I guess she doesn't have to. Deadboy has been to Hell, or at least someplace deserving of the name if that kid is to be believed. He knows worst case, oh yes. Still, can we really afford to take everything that happened in stride without slowing down and just head off towards the next battle?

Tara is still looking at Willow. Tara and I talked about our feelings for Willow once, only once. How much we both loved her, though in different ways. How much it hurt to find ourselves betrayed by her, how much it hurt to see that she didn't even feel guilty for it, didn't see the harm she had done. I look over at Willow and know that Tara still loves her, yet hates her at the same time.

I know exactly what that feels like, Tara.

Then there are the other people along on this ride. Darla and her child. Diana, the new Slayer. Cordy, who might already have been driven mad by her nonstop visions. Can we trust the words of any of them right now? I just don't know and part of me is very happy that I'm not the one who has to make the decision.

Everyone is waiting for deadboy to decide.

"I know I'm not exactly on the up and up about all this," Diana suddenly says, looking at Angel, "but a huge demon army coming to lay claim to this Hellmouth thingy? If nothing else, we shouldn't allow that to happen, right?"

Well, if we ever needed someone with a little perspective around ...

"You're right," Angel says after a moment. "We can't allow that to happen."

The decision made, everyone explodes into action. Riley and Graham start coordination what is left of our own little army. Oz tears himself away from staring at Willow and gathers his wolves, all of them shifting back into animal mode. Angel, Diana, and Faith take quick stock of what weapons we still have available.

And Celeste is talking to Willow / Catherine.

"Why haven't they tried to stop you from interfering?" Willow / Catherine asks.

"I am not part of their game, which is kind of the ultimate irony. They don't see me, because I am not supposed to be here. They don't see her, either."

Her? Who is she talking about? Celeste is gesturing towards someone who ... who is that? Was that woman there the whole time? Why didn't I ... Dawn?

"In order for us to stop them both ..." Willow / Catherine begins.

"I know," Celeste interrupts her again. I thought I had just seen someone else standing there, but I guess I was mistaken. Man, I really need some sleep. Fat chance of that happening anytime soon.

"Is there no other way?" a voice that hails from two mouths but sounds like a single person asks, two faces wearing identical expressions of pain.

"I wish there was, Willow. Catherine. I really wish there was."

Some part of me is screaming to put a stop to all this. Something is monumentally wrong here, something we have to prevent from happening. It's like the feeling I had on our final day of school when I just knew that I wouldn't survive graduation. Only I did and the feeling turned out to be wrong. This time it's a thousand times worse.

I don't say anything, though. I don't walk up to those three women (or is it four?) and ask any of the million questions I have on my mind. I feel like I'm caught up in some kind of current, carrying me along helplessly, my path, all our paths, already laid out before us. It's like we're actors in a play and can't deviate from the lines, no matter how much we might want to.

"The demons have started moving," Riley yells. "They'll be here in two to three minutes."

"The ruins will provide us with some cover," Angel says. "Have everyone spread out, we'll try to pick them off individually as much as we can before they get here and ..."

"No," Celeste suddenly cuts him off, stopping him in his tracks.

"What do you mean no?" he asks her, his rage still smoldering in his eyes. The kid's credit wasn't really big to begin with and if she's trying to tell us how to fight now ...

"We must face them where the prize is," Celeste says.

All our eyes are drawn to the spot where the cheerleader statue stood a couple of minutes ago. The one where the Hellmouth should have erupted, but didn't. Something did happen, though, happened so quietly that none of us noticed until now.

There is a hole in the ground. I can just make out a staircase, hundreds of steps leading down into the darkness.

"Down there," Celeste concludes. "We have to fight them down there."

You know that feeling I was talking about? I just got a lot stronger again.

TO BE CONTINUED