By bitmaxmouse
Disclaimers: Buffy doesn't belong to me.
Note: HEY! Last chapter! We're done
Michael walked silently with Lucifer through the marble hall which was one of the strange buildings that appeared out of nowhere in this desolate dimension. It was the perfect fighting grounds for one of their final battles. The entire land was barren, covered with a deep, reddish clay-like dirt. The suns were closer to this planet, creating an oppressive sort of feeling, but the planet wasn't particularly hot. It sort of reminded Michael of how mars would look like if the sky a dark orange color surrounded by 3 suns and 5 moons.
Every few miles there was a building, which appeared out of nowhere and didn't fit with the environment at all. Michael knew that they were materialized by Lucifer as one of the headquarters to be used to gather his minions and allies. There were deformed and hideous creatures roaming everywhere in the hall. Michael glanced over at Lucifer's solemn face and spoke, "Have you talked to the other Archangels?"
Lucifer gave him a strange look, "No. Whatever for?"
"Did it ever occur to you that we might be able to negotiate the situation?"
"But Metatron."
".Isn't the only Archangel. You could have talked to Uriel, Raphael or Gabriel."
"They're too embedded with their 'morals' I would never get through to them."
"But I know that they don't particularly like these battles that we have every few millennia."
Lucifer shook his head, "It's already too late."
Michael shoved his hands into his suit that he hadn't changed out of and he sighed. "I can talk to Raphael, I'm closer to him."
Lucifer shrugged, giving a 'it's kind of pointless' look. "Sure. If you can do it."
Michael nodded. "Be back soon."
~~~
The policeman looked strangely at the ranting manservant, "So you're saying that your boss, William Dale, was in the apartment one second and suddenly he disappeared?"
"Yes!"
"Did it ever occur to you that he could have just gone out?" The policeman said sarcastically.
"No! I would have heard him! And besides I reviewed all of the security tapes in the penthouse and none of them show him leaving."
The policeman shook his head as he wrote down the missing person's report. "It's not very much to go on. I know he was accused of killing that reporter gal. what's her name? Stephie?"
"Stephanie."
"Whatever. Maybe he hopped a plane out of the country."
"But all of his personal jets are accounted for and he hasn't registered any seats on any airline!"
The policeman held his hands up, "Hey man, calm down. It was just a speculation, I'm just as lost as you are. We'll get a detective on this case, the best money can buy right?"
Jeff nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah.. yeah."
~~~
The only sound coming from the room was Raphael sharpening his sword.
"What do you want?" Raphael asked the thin air.
Michael suddenly materialized, "Just here to talk."
"You shouldn't be here. It's almost started." Raphael answered, his tone was monotonous and indifferent.
"I'm trying to reason to with you."
Raphael whipped his head around and scoffed. "Reason? It's a little too late for that traitor."
"Metatron has blinded."
"No!" Raphael cut in, "Lucifer has blinded YOU!"
"How could you say that, he was one of us!"
Raphael took the sword he was sharpening and pointed it at Michael's throat. "Like how you were one of us?"
"There needs to be a balance." Michael answered.
Raphael took the sword away. "It's not too late Michael, for you to come back to us."
Michael rolled his eyes and backed away, "Oh~! And it's too late to stop this f*cking war!"
Michael glared at Raphael in disgust, "Hypocrite."
And then Michael disappeared from the room, leaving a frustrated Raphael to contemplate the situation. ~~~
A moody Michael greeted Lucifer as he walked out into the hall, "Things didn't go well?"
Michael strapped on the sheath with the crystal sword, "I don't want to talk about it."
Lucifer nodded, "You'll get over it soon enough. I did, eventually. It's just the price you have to pay for making the right choice."
Michael ran his hand over the metal belt, holding the sheath to his waist, "The 'right choice' is relative. Look, I'm only going to fight if it looks like your side is losing."
Lucifer sighed heavily and tilted his head down, "Yeah, I thought you would. It's all right."
Michael was silent, but his face was contorted in apology.
"No, you aren't sorry, you're just doing the right thing and I recognize that. I just hope it isn't a decision you're going to regret."
~~~
The blood red sky looked like an imminent omen for both side, Michael could have sworn that it probably rained blood on this planet. If not, it was going to this afternoon.
Michael stood watching from the cliff above the valley where the two sides would engage into their mindless battle. Michael looked over to where Metatron was standing. His energy was far stronger than the last time they met, this battle was going to be over soon.
Within moments the battle began, the echoes of screams carried itself from the depths of the valley, a lake of blood seems to appear from the massacre from the middle. Metatron had decided not to wait and he was slicing the demons effortlessly. Lucifer and a few other top-level hell gods were already having a difficult handling the archangels. One of the demon witches used a spell and bound Gabriel and Uriel midfight, which gave the hell gods an opportunity to pound on them. However, Metatron came in and swept the hell gods' bodies away in one blow.
Michael frowned, he knew that he had to face Metatron before he annihilated everything. He took a small step forward and few pieces of rock scattered under his heavy feet. Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'Now.'
~~~
Metatron laughed as he plowed through the bodies easily with his long sword. Michael yanked an arrow out of a dead body and took a bow from the hands of a dead archer, then he concentrated on the tip of the arrow until a blazing flame grew on the end. Michael aimed at Metatron's distracted figure, directly at the upper spinal cord. The arrow hit bulls eye, however, it barely affected the hulking figure.
Metatron turned around and smiled viciously.
"It looks like the traitor has finally decided to join us!" Metatron said with a gleefully false tone. "By the way, nice host. I hope he doesn't mind that he won't be getting his body back. I mean, there won't be much left of either of you when I'm done."
Michael drew out the crystal sword and held it menacingly at Metatron. Unexpectedly, Metatron began to laugh. "Oh~hoho. I see why you got the weak mortal body now. You wanted to play with the pretty shiny sword. Well, you know what? It's not going to save you."
Metatron closed his eyes as his body started to cackle with a white-ish electricity that danced threateningly. Faster than a blink of an eye, Metatron disappeared and reappeared behind Michael and sent a powerful blow down his spine. Michael let out a scream as he felt one of his arms pop out of its socket.
Metatron shook his head in disappointment, "tsk.tsk.tsk. I Michael, the greatest warrior of the Archangel. You know what? You're pretty pathetic. I have no idea why you."
Michael sent a powerful kick into Metatron's gut with enough momentum to send the enormous being flying into the group of battling angel and demons. While Metatron had been bragging, Michael had started to tap into his own energy source. Michael concentrated harder as he called forth more energy. But within, there were complications. ~~~
Nemi and Will screamed as the entire dreamscape illuminated and started to fall apart, like it was disintegrating from the sheer power that was being sent through the body.
"I-I-.." Will cried as he clung onto Nemi. "I feel like someone is tearing me apart."
Nemi watched as the barriers fell apart and the Creature begin to enter, however in that instant a column of force swept through and annihilated it.
"It's gone." Nemi whispered as he watched the Creature slowly fade away. "Will, it's gone!"
"Will?" Nemi asked as he shook the little boy's limp body. "No.."
Nemi grew hysterical as he tried to wake up the younger soul. Nemi took Will in his arms and started to run towards the main bubble where Michael usually resided, "Michael! Michael! Will's hurt!... Michael?!"
There was no answer. Nemi let out a desperate wail as he walked around in circles. Eventually he ended up in the center of the dreamscape- The last place that could stand while everything else crumbled.
~~~
Michael lurched suddenly, something was wrong. But he barely had time to think as Metatron shook himself of the sickening pieces of demon body parts and blood and started to stalk towards Michael. Metatron grinned as he dropped his own weapon and his arm became a blade. Michael felt a bit of dread in his stomach as the other archangel stalked over.
Their blades met once they were close enough to each other and to Michaels surprise, Metatron's arm was still intact.
'sharpened down to an atom. cuts through archangels.'
His breath quickened. Could Lucifer have given him a malfunctioned sword? Was this a setup?
Metatron started to tisk as his presence started to force Michael to back up. Michael swallowed, the acid taste of bile mixed with fear didn't help his situation. Metatron's bladelike arm changed into a Triton and caught Michael's neck in between the two spikes.
Then Metatron took a lazy hand and reach over to pry a butcher knife from one of the more primitive demons, his face was immensely smug.
"Not feeling so powerful anymore huh little boy. I expected better. Oh well, this was so easy. But then I did tap into God's power-"
Suddenly Metatron stopped talking and lurched forward. Lucifer was standing behind him with his sword on his lower left side - indicating that he had sliced down on the archangel.
The Triton trapping Michael's neck disappeared and retracted to become Metatron's right hand once more. Michael quickly shifted and pulled himself out from underneath Metatron's bulking body. Michael then looked up at Lucifer with fury, "What the hell are you trying to pull?!"
Michael held up his crystal sword, "This thing doesn't work!"
Lucifer lifted an eyebrow and shrugged, "Sorry, forgot that both swords need to be out in order for the magical property to work."
Michael hissed, "And you found that you didn't have to tell me this vital information?!"
"It kind of slipped m-" Lucifer stopped mid-sentence as the sound of a 'Whoosh' was heard. Then he looked down and found that he had an arrow, imbedded perfectly in his sternum. Lucifer's sword instantly flipped downward to support him as he crouched down, trying to handle the pain.
Michael was about to run towards Lucifer until he saw Metatron was slowly inching towards Lucifer, fingers outstretched. 'He's going to leech off of him!' Michael suddenly realized.
He looked down at the crystal sword, "You better be right."
Then he flipped the sword facing down and stabbed Metatron in the spine. The bulky archangel let out a wail as blood and saliva gurgled out of his mouth Then Michael pulled out the sword and raised it above Metatron's head, "Just like decapitating a vampire. better safe than sorry."
As sickening crack of bones and squish of flesh could be heard in the distance.
~~~
Lucifer cringed as he glanced down at Metatron's head that had rolled towards him, "That's lovely Michael, really you have no finess- Arg!"
Another arrow had imbedded in Lucifer's knee. Michael looked up and his eyes quickly scanned the skies, "Who the hell?"
But apparently Lucifer had seen them, "By the blond Hell god's body."
Michael looked towards that direction and briefly recognized Glory's corpse. There was a small flicker of shine from the tip of an arrow. One someone's arrow shined like that.
"It's Raphael."
"I know." Lucifer grunted as he pulled the arrow out of his knee. "Urg, that's going to leave a scar. Come on, let's get out of here."
"What about?"
"No, forget him. He'll be taken care of."
"What? By whom?"
"Explain later. Just give me a hand here." Lucifer held his left arm out and Michael hooked the arm over his shoulders and supported Lucifer up. Suddenly another whoosh could be heard, but it missed by an inch.
Michael quickly gathered his bearings and disappeared with Lucifer.
~~~
There were back in Michael's room when both of them reappeared. Michael first lay Lucifer on the bed and broke off the shaft of the arrow, but leaving most of the point in Lucifer's body, "I need my knives to deal with that."
Lucifer nodded grudgingly.
Michael went into the bathroom and came back with a few dry towels and hot wet towels. He cleaned most of the blood from both of them and then treated Lucifer's more minor wounds first, especially the one on his leg.
Lucifer winced as he felt a needle pull through his knee, stitching the gaping wound together, "Can't you just use magic?"
Michael shook his head, "All tapped out. I didn't realize the crystal sword also leeched energy."
Lucifer sighed and then squirmed, "It's alright, probably better anyways."
Michael continued to sew, "Why do you say that?"
"God will be pissed, better not to call attention to ourselves so fast."
"Why would he be pissed? He's probably in a different universe right now."
"No he isn't. Or at least he'll be here soon."
Michael was confused, but then Lucifer had been around longer and he knew these sort of things, "Why?"
Lucifer cleared his throat, "Remember how Metatron said he tapped into God's power?"
Michael nodded.
"Well, it's not so much as tapping as ripping a hole in God and then sucking the power out.. Slimy bastard. I didn't think he'd stoop to that low." Lucifer hissed.
"So God's going to be running in to see why he's leaking power and then flame whoever did that to him?"
"Wouldn't you?" Lucifer shot back.
Michael shrugged, "Okay. well, so." He gave a sigh, "If God comes here, he'll realize what happened. After he's done with Metatron, he'll deal with us?"
"Not too sure." Lucifer shook his head, he looked worried, "I mean, I'm riding on the hope that he'll realize we were following the first and foremost rule, and that's: maintaining balance. He might not like the way we dealt with it. I just hope he isn't too pissed after he's done with Metatron."
"Wait. I thought I finished." Michael started, but Lucifer's laughed stopped him. "What?"
"You only destroyed Metatron's physical body. Spiritual castigation is far more painful than being physically killed."
Michael cringed, then he froze and he suddenly realized.
"Oh shit,"
Lucifer frowned and lifted his head slightly, "What's wrong with you?"
"My host's soul. Shit! I was ignoring it while I was fighting. Something must have happened when I touched Metatron when he charged up!"
"Well what are you rambling for! Go deal with it!" Lucifer scowled at Michael. "You're such a dunderhead, I can't believe you're only a thousand years old younger than me. When I was your age."
Lucifer's words drowned out as Michael closed his eyes and went to check on Nemi and Will.
~~~
Michael looked around the shattered dreamscape, "Oh God no."
He actually had to levitate because everything had fallen into the abyss. except for a small platform in the center where Nemi and Will were lying. Both of them were half dead. Michael looked at both of them helplessly, "What do I do. what do I do?!"
Suddenly a hand touched Michael's shoulder. Michael looked up, it was Lucifer. Apparently the older archangel didn't trust Michael to be able to deal with the situation. Michael felt a flash of resentment and relief. Lucifer's spirit form was fine, as opposed to his physical form.
He quietly pushed Michael to the side and studied the two unconscious souls. "You can't restore them, not unless you want give up your own soul."
"How did this happen?"
"You know how it happened. You just told me earlier."
"But I wasn't sure"
"Well I'm SURE."
Michael swallowed, "What do I do?"
"One, stop sounding like a broken record. Two, do as I say, I'm going to be doing a Convergance."
Michael nodded. Convergances were when you combined two half souls to make one new soul. Then he held out his hand, "But wait, Nemiphoren is a demon soul."
Lucifer shook his head, "Doesn't matter, he had enough humanity in him to converge without a problem."
Lucifer levitated to Will's head and put both his hands on his head. He glanced over at Michael, "Do the same as me, but on Nemiphoren."
Michael followed Lucifer's instruction and did the same.
"Ready."
"Yeah.."
~~~
William groaned as he sat up. He looked around, "Wasn't I. I'm not in the dreamscape anymore."
A voice spoke next to him. William quickly turned his head. It was Michael, except he was transparent. William gaped, not sure what was going on, his head throbbed unkindly every time he strained to recall something. Michael held out a hand, "Don't bother. It'll come back throughout the week so you don't need to strain yourself."
William blinked, "Okay.not to be offensive or anything, but what are you doing here?"
"To give you my Gifts." Michael told him vaguely.
"Gifts?"
Michael nodded, "As a way to repay you for allowing me to use your body as a host. I couldn't have done it without you."
William blinked, "Oh. alright."
Michael held out his transparent hands and placed them on William. William felt a strange cold air from where Michael hands should have been, had he been tangible. Then a rush of energy surged through him. And as soon as it came, it disappeared.
William was very confused now, "Would you mind at least telling me what you did."
"I gave you the powers that you possessed while I was in you. You need that because once you start remembering, you'll want to try to perform certain tasks that require that kind of magic.. Umm.. heh. Lucifer probably could have explained it better. But he's talking to God right now, trying to keep the both of us from being maimed."
William nodded, but the conversation was a bit weird. It would have helped if he could remember things other than his name.
Then Michael held out a glowing silver sphere, "This is a very dangerous object that can only be used three times. And what it does. is it takes it's keeper through time. Either to the future or past. And it will allow for you to change the future if you decide to go into the past. Note: if you do go into the past, there will be two of you in existence, be sure not to kill your past self, for that will erase your own existence. And also, you must realize, there are consequences if you change too much. So be warned, use it carefully and if you do decide to return to the past, hold your tongue before telling anyone of the future. You can only ripple time, not splash it."
William took the sphere in his hands and then looked up at Michael, "Why?"
Michael smiled, "When you start remembering, you'll see."
"Wait." William said as Michael tried to leave. The archangel stopped, "Yes?"
"Won't that undo everything you did?"
Michael shook his head, "The battle was on another plane entirely. Your appearance in the past shall not change the fact that I used your body as a host. It cannot change the world you are currently. But it can increase the amount of possibilities for a better future."
Then Michael disappeared leaving William alone and still utterly confused in his bedroom.
~~~
The words of the archangel started to make more sense as William recalled everything throughout the week, despite the messes he had to cleanup from his disapperance. He felt the sphere in his pocket, itching to be used. He wanted to go back and change everything. He didn't want the Scoobles to suffer. He didn't want Buffy to look so lost and used. He wanted to take that betrayed and downtrodden look out of her eyes. He wanted heal her urge to return to death. He wanted to stop Tara from dying, he wanted. and Joyce too. he wanted. too much.
He couldn't really figure out which point in time to return to. She he return right before Joyce died and get her to the hospital? Should he go back to that time Buffy ran away from home after killing Angelus? . Or perhaps he should go back all the way to the beginning before Buffy became a slayer.
'Yes.' a small voice in him urged.
He could take over Angel's role becoming Buffy's shadowy guardian. He could be Buffy's first love. He wasn't under some sort of stupid Gypsy curse. He wouldn't leave her, never leave her.
'Is that what I want. Is that what I decide?' William asked himself. 'But what of the other me, what if the 'me' in that world also loves her too. Aren't you being a bit selfish for denying him the ability to love her? He was there first.'
William sighed and sat down on the park bench near the lake and watched the ripples of water.
A soft voice floated over to him, but it was hard and steel-like, "Mind if I sit down?"
William mentally cringed and remembered that he had sent Buffy to jail. He reluctantly looked up and noticed that Buffy was standing at the end of the bench, he smirked, "It's a public park."
Buffy sat at the other end of the bench, as far away as she could from him. Her eyes were full of suspicion and malice, "What have you done to Spike. Get out of his body!"
William closed his eyes, 'Thank you for giving me this mess Michael, was this also one of your Gifts? You could have been a bit less nasty to her. despite what she did.'
"He's not in me anymore Buffy."
Buffy tensed and then looked up at William, he eyes didn't hold the same malice as when she saw him the last time. "Spike?"
"Yeah. well.. sort of. I mean. I'm still me, Michael isn't in my body anymore, but I'm not really the same anymore either." William mentally lashed himself, 'Spoken like a true idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about.'
Buffy was still staring at him, after all. as she had to base on was his words. She wanted to trust him. but after that whole stalking and then jail business.
"How do I know you're not lying."
William shrugged, "I guess I can't prove anything."
"So I can't trust you."
William shook his head. "That's for you to decide."
"Why? Why did you do it?!"
"What? Follow you?"
"And send me to jail."
"I told you, that wasn't me. That was Michael!" William's voice rose. He hated that fact that she was looking at him like that, like he was worse than the dirt under her shoe.
Buffy shook her head, "Look." She sighed, as if she had come to a conclusion. "I can't prove that you're right. or that you're wrong. But please promise me something?"
William looked up at her, curious, "What is it?"
"You have to promise first." Buff insisted.
"If I don't know what I'm promising."
"Look, I want you stay away from me and Dawn and my friends. That includes Angel and his friends too."
William felt a strong stab of hurt, "What?"
Buffy shook her head, "After what you did to us. I can't trust you. And I know how powerful you are. I mean, destroying Wolfram and Harte in one night. Even Angel couldn't do that for that last five years."
William was bitterly looking down now. "I can't promise you that."
Buffy waved his answer away, "Forget the promising.. just. That's not going to work. I'm not asking you to promise. I'm telling you what to do, for my sake and my sanity. If I ever see you again." She trailed off, but William understood the implication. He nodded.
Then Buffy nodded and walked away.
As soon as Buffy was out of sight, William pulled the sphere out of his pocket. "I'm allowed to be selfish.."
Without warning, William disappeared.
End.
Author's note: Winces. I know. I know. open ended ending. I'll consider writing a sequel, but no promises.
Disclaimers: Buffy doesn't belong to me.
Note: HEY! Last chapter! We're done
Michael walked silently with Lucifer through the marble hall which was one of the strange buildings that appeared out of nowhere in this desolate dimension. It was the perfect fighting grounds for one of their final battles. The entire land was barren, covered with a deep, reddish clay-like dirt. The suns were closer to this planet, creating an oppressive sort of feeling, but the planet wasn't particularly hot. It sort of reminded Michael of how mars would look like if the sky a dark orange color surrounded by 3 suns and 5 moons.
Every few miles there was a building, which appeared out of nowhere and didn't fit with the environment at all. Michael knew that they were materialized by Lucifer as one of the headquarters to be used to gather his minions and allies. There were deformed and hideous creatures roaming everywhere in the hall. Michael glanced over at Lucifer's solemn face and spoke, "Have you talked to the other Archangels?"
Lucifer gave him a strange look, "No. Whatever for?"
"Did it ever occur to you that we might be able to negotiate the situation?"
"But Metatron."
".Isn't the only Archangel. You could have talked to Uriel, Raphael or Gabriel."
"They're too embedded with their 'morals' I would never get through to them."
"But I know that they don't particularly like these battles that we have every few millennia."
Lucifer shook his head, "It's already too late."
Michael shoved his hands into his suit that he hadn't changed out of and he sighed. "I can talk to Raphael, I'm closer to him."
Lucifer shrugged, giving a 'it's kind of pointless' look. "Sure. If you can do it."
Michael nodded. "Be back soon."
~~~
The policeman looked strangely at the ranting manservant, "So you're saying that your boss, William Dale, was in the apartment one second and suddenly he disappeared?"
"Yes!"
"Did it ever occur to you that he could have just gone out?" The policeman said sarcastically.
"No! I would have heard him! And besides I reviewed all of the security tapes in the penthouse and none of them show him leaving."
The policeman shook his head as he wrote down the missing person's report. "It's not very much to go on. I know he was accused of killing that reporter gal. what's her name? Stephie?"
"Stephanie."
"Whatever. Maybe he hopped a plane out of the country."
"But all of his personal jets are accounted for and he hasn't registered any seats on any airline!"
The policeman held his hands up, "Hey man, calm down. It was just a speculation, I'm just as lost as you are. We'll get a detective on this case, the best money can buy right?"
Jeff nodded absentmindedly, "Yeah.. yeah."
~~~
The only sound coming from the room was Raphael sharpening his sword.
"What do you want?" Raphael asked the thin air.
Michael suddenly materialized, "Just here to talk."
"You shouldn't be here. It's almost started." Raphael answered, his tone was monotonous and indifferent.
"I'm trying to reason to with you."
Raphael whipped his head around and scoffed. "Reason? It's a little too late for that traitor."
"Metatron has blinded."
"No!" Raphael cut in, "Lucifer has blinded YOU!"
"How could you say that, he was one of us!"
Raphael took the sword he was sharpening and pointed it at Michael's throat. "Like how you were one of us?"
"There needs to be a balance." Michael answered.
Raphael took the sword away. "It's not too late Michael, for you to come back to us."
Michael rolled his eyes and backed away, "Oh~! And it's too late to stop this f*cking war!"
Michael glared at Raphael in disgust, "Hypocrite."
And then Michael disappeared from the room, leaving a frustrated Raphael to contemplate the situation. ~~~
A moody Michael greeted Lucifer as he walked out into the hall, "Things didn't go well?"
Michael strapped on the sheath with the crystal sword, "I don't want to talk about it."
Lucifer nodded, "You'll get over it soon enough. I did, eventually. It's just the price you have to pay for making the right choice."
Michael ran his hand over the metal belt, holding the sheath to his waist, "The 'right choice' is relative. Look, I'm only going to fight if it looks like your side is losing."
Lucifer sighed heavily and tilted his head down, "Yeah, I thought you would. It's all right."
Michael was silent, but his face was contorted in apology.
"No, you aren't sorry, you're just doing the right thing and I recognize that. I just hope it isn't a decision you're going to regret."
~~~
The blood red sky looked like an imminent omen for both side, Michael could have sworn that it probably rained blood on this planet. If not, it was going to this afternoon.
Michael stood watching from the cliff above the valley where the two sides would engage into their mindless battle. Michael looked over to where Metatron was standing. His energy was far stronger than the last time they met, this battle was going to be over soon.
Within moments the battle began, the echoes of screams carried itself from the depths of the valley, a lake of blood seems to appear from the massacre from the middle. Metatron had decided not to wait and he was slicing the demons effortlessly. Lucifer and a few other top-level hell gods were already having a difficult handling the archangels. One of the demon witches used a spell and bound Gabriel and Uriel midfight, which gave the hell gods an opportunity to pound on them. However, Metatron came in and swept the hell gods' bodies away in one blow.
Michael frowned, he knew that he had to face Metatron before he annihilated everything. He took a small step forward and few pieces of rock scattered under his heavy feet. Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
'Now.'
~~~
Metatron laughed as he plowed through the bodies easily with his long sword. Michael yanked an arrow out of a dead body and took a bow from the hands of a dead archer, then he concentrated on the tip of the arrow until a blazing flame grew on the end. Michael aimed at Metatron's distracted figure, directly at the upper spinal cord. The arrow hit bulls eye, however, it barely affected the hulking figure.
Metatron turned around and smiled viciously.
"It looks like the traitor has finally decided to join us!" Metatron said with a gleefully false tone. "By the way, nice host. I hope he doesn't mind that he won't be getting his body back. I mean, there won't be much left of either of you when I'm done."
Michael drew out the crystal sword and held it menacingly at Metatron. Unexpectedly, Metatron began to laugh. "Oh~hoho. I see why you got the weak mortal body now. You wanted to play with the pretty shiny sword. Well, you know what? It's not going to save you."
Metatron closed his eyes as his body started to cackle with a white-ish electricity that danced threateningly. Faster than a blink of an eye, Metatron disappeared and reappeared behind Michael and sent a powerful blow down his spine. Michael let out a scream as he felt one of his arms pop out of its socket.
Metatron shook his head in disappointment, "tsk.tsk.tsk. I Michael, the greatest warrior of the Archangel. You know what? You're pretty pathetic. I have no idea why you."
Michael sent a powerful kick into Metatron's gut with enough momentum to send the enormous being flying into the group of battling angel and demons. While Metatron had been bragging, Michael had started to tap into his own energy source. Michael concentrated harder as he called forth more energy. But within, there were complications. ~~~
Nemi and Will screamed as the entire dreamscape illuminated and started to fall apart, like it was disintegrating from the sheer power that was being sent through the body.
"I-I-.." Will cried as he clung onto Nemi. "I feel like someone is tearing me apart."
Nemi watched as the barriers fell apart and the Creature begin to enter, however in that instant a column of force swept through and annihilated it.
"It's gone." Nemi whispered as he watched the Creature slowly fade away. "Will, it's gone!"
"Will?" Nemi asked as he shook the little boy's limp body. "No.."
Nemi grew hysterical as he tried to wake up the younger soul. Nemi took Will in his arms and started to run towards the main bubble where Michael usually resided, "Michael! Michael! Will's hurt!... Michael?!"
There was no answer. Nemi let out a desperate wail as he walked around in circles. Eventually he ended up in the center of the dreamscape- The last place that could stand while everything else crumbled.
~~~
Michael lurched suddenly, something was wrong. But he barely had time to think as Metatron shook himself of the sickening pieces of demon body parts and blood and started to stalk towards Michael. Metatron grinned as he dropped his own weapon and his arm became a blade. Michael felt a bit of dread in his stomach as the other archangel stalked over.
Their blades met once they were close enough to each other and to Michaels surprise, Metatron's arm was still intact.
'sharpened down to an atom. cuts through archangels.'
His breath quickened. Could Lucifer have given him a malfunctioned sword? Was this a setup?
Metatron started to tisk as his presence started to force Michael to back up. Michael swallowed, the acid taste of bile mixed with fear didn't help his situation. Metatron's bladelike arm changed into a Triton and caught Michael's neck in between the two spikes.
Then Metatron took a lazy hand and reach over to pry a butcher knife from one of the more primitive demons, his face was immensely smug.
"Not feeling so powerful anymore huh little boy. I expected better. Oh well, this was so easy. But then I did tap into God's power-"
Suddenly Metatron stopped talking and lurched forward. Lucifer was standing behind him with his sword on his lower left side - indicating that he had sliced down on the archangel.
The Triton trapping Michael's neck disappeared and retracted to become Metatron's right hand once more. Michael quickly shifted and pulled himself out from underneath Metatron's bulking body. Michael then looked up at Lucifer with fury, "What the hell are you trying to pull?!"
Michael held up his crystal sword, "This thing doesn't work!"
Lucifer lifted an eyebrow and shrugged, "Sorry, forgot that both swords need to be out in order for the magical property to work."
Michael hissed, "And you found that you didn't have to tell me this vital information?!"
"It kind of slipped m-" Lucifer stopped mid-sentence as the sound of a 'Whoosh' was heard. Then he looked down and found that he had an arrow, imbedded perfectly in his sternum. Lucifer's sword instantly flipped downward to support him as he crouched down, trying to handle the pain.
Michael was about to run towards Lucifer until he saw Metatron was slowly inching towards Lucifer, fingers outstretched. 'He's going to leech off of him!' Michael suddenly realized.
He looked down at the crystal sword, "You better be right."
Then he flipped the sword facing down and stabbed Metatron in the spine. The bulky archangel let out a wail as blood and saliva gurgled out of his mouth Then Michael pulled out the sword and raised it above Metatron's head, "Just like decapitating a vampire. better safe than sorry."
As sickening crack of bones and squish of flesh could be heard in the distance.
~~~
Lucifer cringed as he glanced down at Metatron's head that had rolled towards him, "That's lovely Michael, really you have no finess- Arg!"
Another arrow had imbedded in Lucifer's knee. Michael looked up and his eyes quickly scanned the skies, "Who the hell?"
But apparently Lucifer had seen them, "By the blond Hell god's body."
Michael looked towards that direction and briefly recognized Glory's corpse. There was a small flicker of shine from the tip of an arrow. One someone's arrow shined like that.
"It's Raphael."
"I know." Lucifer grunted as he pulled the arrow out of his knee. "Urg, that's going to leave a scar. Come on, let's get out of here."
"What about?"
"No, forget him. He'll be taken care of."
"What? By whom?"
"Explain later. Just give me a hand here." Lucifer held his left arm out and Michael hooked the arm over his shoulders and supported Lucifer up. Suddenly another whoosh could be heard, but it missed by an inch.
Michael quickly gathered his bearings and disappeared with Lucifer.
~~~
There were back in Michael's room when both of them reappeared. Michael first lay Lucifer on the bed and broke off the shaft of the arrow, but leaving most of the point in Lucifer's body, "I need my knives to deal with that."
Lucifer nodded grudgingly.
Michael went into the bathroom and came back with a few dry towels and hot wet towels. He cleaned most of the blood from both of them and then treated Lucifer's more minor wounds first, especially the one on his leg.
Lucifer winced as he felt a needle pull through his knee, stitching the gaping wound together, "Can't you just use magic?"
Michael shook his head, "All tapped out. I didn't realize the crystal sword also leeched energy."
Lucifer sighed and then squirmed, "It's alright, probably better anyways."
Michael continued to sew, "Why do you say that?"
"God will be pissed, better not to call attention to ourselves so fast."
"Why would he be pissed? He's probably in a different universe right now."
"No he isn't. Or at least he'll be here soon."
Michael was confused, but then Lucifer had been around longer and he knew these sort of things, "Why?"
Lucifer cleared his throat, "Remember how Metatron said he tapped into God's power?"
Michael nodded.
"Well, it's not so much as tapping as ripping a hole in God and then sucking the power out.. Slimy bastard. I didn't think he'd stoop to that low." Lucifer hissed.
"So God's going to be running in to see why he's leaking power and then flame whoever did that to him?"
"Wouldn't you?" Lucifer shot back.
Michael shrugged, "Okay. well, so." He gave a sigh, "If God comes here, he'll realize what happened. After he's done with Metatron, he'll deal with us?"
"Not too sure." Lucifer shook his head, he looked worried, "I mean, I'm riding on the hope that he'll realize we were following the first and foremost rule, and that's: maintaining balance. He might not like the way we dealt with it. I just hope he isn't too pissed after he's done with Metatron."
"Wait. I thought I finished." Michael started, but Lucifer's laughed stopped him. "What?"
"You only destroyed Metatron's physical body. Spiritual castigation is far more painful than being physically killed."
Michael cringed, then he froze and he suddenly realized.
"Oh shit,"
Lucifer frowned and lifted his head slightly, "What's wrong with you?"
"My host's soul. Shit! I was ignoring it while I was fighting. Something must have happened when I touched Metatron when he charged up!"
"Well what are you rambling for! Go deal with it!" Lucifer scowled at Michael. "You're such a dunderhead, I can't believe you're only a thousand years old younger than me. When I was your age."
Lucifer's words drowned out as Michael closed his eyes and went to check on Nemi and Will.
~~~
Michael looked around the shattered dreamscape, "Oh God no."
He actually had to levitate because everything had fallen into the abyss. except for a small platform in the center where Nemi and Will were lying. Both of them were half dead. Michael looked at both of them helplessly, "What do I do. what do I do?!"
Suddenly a hand touched Michael's shoulder. Michael looked up, it was Lucifer. Apparently the older archangel didn't trust Michael to be able to deal with the situation. Michael felt a flash of resentment and relief. Lucifer's spirit form was fine, as opposed to his physical form.
He quietly pushed Michael to the side and studied the two unconscious souls. "You can't restore them, not unless you want give up your own soul."
"How did this happen?"
"You know how it happened. You just told me earlier."
"But I wasn't sure"
"Well I'm SURE."
Michael swallowed, "What do I do?"
"One, stop sounding like a broken record. Two, do as I say, I'm going to be doing a Convergance."
Michael nodded. Convergances were when you combined two half souls to make one new soul. Then he held out his hand, "But wait, Nemiphoren is a demon soul."
Lucifer shook his head, "Doesn't matter, he had enough humanity in him to converge without a problem."
Lucifer levitated to Will's head and put both his hands on his head. He glanced over at Michael, "Do the same as me, but on Nemiphoren."
Michael followed Lucifer's instruction and did the same.
"Ready."
"Yeah.."
~~~
William groaned as he sat up. He looked around, "Wasn't I. I'm not in the dreamscape anymore."
A voice spoke next to him. William quickly turned his head. It was Michael, except he was transparent. William gaped, not sure what was going on, his head throbbed unkindly every time he strained to recall something. Michael held out a hand, "Don't bother. It'll come back throughout the week so you don't need to strain yourself."
William blinked, "Okay.not to be offensive or anything, but what are you doing here?"
"To give you my Gifts." Michael told him vaguely.
"Gifts?"
Michael nodded, "As a way to repay you for allowing me to use your body as a host. I couldn't have done it without you."
William blinked, "Oh. alright."
Michael held out his transparent hands and placed them on William. William felt a strange cold air from where Michael hands should have been, had he been tangible. Then a rush of energy surged through him. And as soon as it came, it disappeared.
William was very confused now, "Would you mind at least telling me what you did."
"I gave you the powers that you possessed while I was in you. You need that because once you start remembering, you'll want to try to perform certain tasks that require that kind of magic.. Umm.. heh. Lucifer probably could have explained it better. But he's talking to God right now, trying to keep the both of us from being maimed."
William nodded, but the conversation was a bit weird. It would have helped if he could remember things other than his name.
Then Michael held out a glowing silver sphere, "This is a very dangerous object that can only be used three times. And what it does. is it takes it's keeper through time. Either to the future or past. And it will allow for you to change the future if you decide to go into the past. Note: if you do go into the past, there will be two of you in existence, be sure not to kill your past self, for that will erase your own existence. And also, you must realize, there are consequences if you change too much. So be warned, use it carefully and if you do decide to return to the past, hold your tongue before telling anyone of the future. You can only ripple time, not splash it."
William took the sphere in his hands and then looked up at Michael, "Why?"
Michael smiled, "When you start remembering, you'll see."
"Wait." William said as Michael tried to leave. The archangel stopped, "Yes?"
"Won't that undo everything you did?"
Michael shook his head, "The battle was on another plane entirely. Your appearance in the past shall not change the fact that I used your body as a host. It cannot change the world you are currently. But it can increase the amount of possibilities for a better future."
Then Michael disappeared leaving William alone and still utterly confused in his bedroom.
~~~
The words of the archangel started to make more sense as William recalled everything throughout the week, despite the messes he had to cleanup from his disapperance. He felt the sphere in his pocket, itching to be used. He wanted to go back and change everything. He didn't want the Scoobles to suffer. He didn't want Buffy to look so lost and used. He wanted to take that betrayed and downtrodden look out of her eyes. He wanted heal her urge to return to death. He wanted to stop Tara from dying, he wanted. and Joyce too. he wanted. too much.
He couldn't really figure out which point in time to return to. She he return right before Joyce died and get her to the hospital? Should he go back to that time Buffy ran away from home after killing Angelus? . Or perhaps he should go back all the way to the beginning before Buffy became a slayer.
'Yes.' a small voice in him urged.
He could take over Angel's role becoming Buffy's shadowy guardian. He could be Buffy's first love. He wasn't under some sort of stupid Gypsy curse. He wouldn't leave her, never leave her.
'Is that what I want. Is that what I decide?' William asked himself. 'But what of the other me, what if the 'me' in that world also loves her too. Aren't you being a bit selfish for denying him the ability to love her? He was there first.'
William sighed and sat down on the park bench near the lake and watched the ripples of water.
A soft voice floated over to him, but it was hard and steel-like, "Mind if I sit down?"
William mentally cringed and remembered that he had sent Buffy to jail. He reluctantly looked up and noticed that Buffy was standing at the end of the bench, he smirked, "It's a public park."
Buffy sat at the other end of the bench, as far away as she could from him. Her eyes were full of suspicion and malice, "What have you done to Spike. Get out of his body!"
William closed his eyes, 'Thank you for giving me this mess Michael, was this also one of your Gifts? You could have been a bit less nasty to her. despite what she did.'
"He's not in me anymore Buffy."
Buffy tensed and then looked up at William, he eyes didn't hold the same malice as when she saw him the last time. "Spike?"
"Yeah. well.. sort of. I mean. I'm still me, Michael isn't in my body anymore, but I'm not really the same anymore either." William mentally lashed himself, 'Spoken like a true idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about.'
Buffy was still staring at him, after all. as she had to base on was his words. She wanted to trust him. but after that whole stalking and then jail business.
"How do I know you're not lying."
William shrugged, "I guess I can't prove anything."
"So I can't trust you."
William shook his head. "That's for you to decide."
"Why? Why did you do it?!"
"What? Follow you?"
"And send me to jail."
"I told you, that wasn't me. That was Michael!" William's voice rose. He hated that fact that she was looking at him like that, like he was worse than the dirt under her shoe.
Buffy shook her head, "Look." She sighed, as if she had come to a conclusion. "I can't prove that you're right. or that you're wrong. But please promise me something?"
William looked up at her, curious, "What is it?"
"You have to promise first." Buff insisted.
"If I don't know what I'm promising."
"Look, I want you stay away from me and Dawn and my friends. That includes Angel and his friends too."
William felt a strong stab of hurt, "What?"
Buffy shook her head, "After what you did to us. I can't trust you. And I know how powerful you are. I mean, destroying Wolfram and Harte in one night. Even Angel couldn't do that for that last five years."
William was bitterly looking down now. "I can't promise you that."
Buffy waved his answer away, "Forget the promising.. just. That's not going to work. I'm not asking you to promise. I'm telling you what to do, for my sake and my sanity. If I ever see you again." She trailed off, but William understood the implication. He nodded.
Then Buffy nodded and walked away.
As soon as Buffy was out of sight, William pulled the sphere out of his pocket. "I'm allowed to be selfish.."
Without warning, William disappeared.
End.
Author's note: Winces. I know. I know. open ended ending. I'll consider writing a sequel, but no promises.