THE END IS ONLY THE BEGINNING
Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters except for the ones that I created.
CHAPTER 2-EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN
The small silver cross felt like a feather in his cold dead hand. Or at least it should have, but new sensations suddenly began to flood through his body, and he felt the edges of the small cross tickle his palm instead of setting it ablaze. A jolt of pain blasted his mouth open and he took his first real breath in over a century and a half. The sensation of breathing shocked him at first, but he slowly acclimated himself to it. With labored breaths and pained muscles he slowly began to pull himself from the pit of blood. The sharp rocks tore at his hands and knees, opening wounds and letting fresh blood flow. The scent of his own blood confused him at first, for he truly had never had the chance to smell his own blood when he had been a vampire. With strength that he didn't know he had he used the nearby wall to pull himself up to his feet. No sooner had he gotten to his feet then he felt like he was going to pass out. He started to mutter something before a fountain of blood and bile surged up from his stomach and forced its way out of his body. Despite his best efforts he collapsed back to the ground, smearing the mix of blood and bile all over his body as violent convulsions wracked his body.
* * * * * *
"Are you sure you know where you're going Giles…," Xander called out from a few seats behind the drivers seat as he groggily pulled himself up to a seated position. The bus had pulled away from what was left of Sunnydale only half an hour earlier and the carpenter had suddenly become struck with a case of impatience.
"Of course I do…why would you think otherwise…," Giles replied with a worried frown on his face as he kept his eyes fixed on the road ahead of them.
"Uh G…maybe because you just missed the L.A. turnoff," Faith chimed in with a tired smile on her face as she walked towards the front of the buss after checking on Robin and the other potentials. Giles nearly ran the bus off of the road in shock before Dawn pointed out a sign that said that there'd be another turnoff a few miles ahead.
They had left the devastation that used to be called the great city of Sunnydale with every intention of making the fastest trip to Los Angeles that they could. Many of the potentials and Wood needed medical attention and everyone except for Buffy was growing impatient about how long the trip was taking. Buffy had moved to a solitary seat at the back of the bus immediately after telling Giles where to drive to. She had refused when first Willow and then Dawn had asked if they could sit beside her. She wouldn't even tell them what was wrong. Instead she just sat in the back seat of the bus and stared out the back window as Sunnydale disappeared out of view. After that she sat like a stone, staring out the back window, a never ending trickle of tears running down her cheeks, with a heart wrenching sniffle thrown in from time to time. Xander had thought about interrupting her but when he had sat down next to her and seen the look in her eyes any doubt as to what she was doing evaporated. She missed him, that much was clearly evident. Even after what he had done Xander found it hard to not harbor at least some feelings of anger and resentment towards the vampire. But he knew that if he voiced any of those feelings that he'd probably be threatened with the loss of his other eye.
Willow and Kennedy entrenched themselves near the front of the bus, sound asleep. Willow's head was leaning against the window with someone's coat as a pillow, allowing Kennedy to use her lover's shoulder as her pillow.
"Has anyone put even the slightest bit of thought about what we're going to actually do when we get to Los Angeles," Giles asked with a tired and frustrated look on his face as he moved the bus onto the off-ramp.
"It's simple, we stop in and see Angel, Wes and the others and stay there until everyone's healthy enough, and then…," Faith replied with a confident smirk on her face as she lightly patted Giles on the shoulder.
"What if they don't have room," Dawn inquired with a worried look on her face as she leaned over the front seat and stared idly out the front window.
"They live in a hotel…they've got plenty of room to spare," Faith reassured Dawn with a very certain smile on her face before she looked down at the speedometer. "Ya might wanna lay of the gas…we don't wanna get pulled over…a bus full of injured girls would be pretty hard to explain…especially when I'm a wanted fugitive," Faith continued in her usual aloof tone of voice, but hidden in there Giles could hear a few small flakes of fear in the slayers voice. She had tasted what the good life was like, fighting on the side of good and obtaining more friends than she ever thought she'd have, and had not interest on returning to prison anytime soon.
"Anything we should know before we get there…just so we don't get surprised…like Cordelia's a vampire or something like that…," Dawn asked with a worried frown on her face as she turned and looked up at the brunette slayer.
"Angel's copasetic…Gunn's chillin…Slim…Fred's fine, Lorne's frantic, Wesley's got it going on in a George Clooney Brad Pitt kinda scruffy hunk way…and Cordelia's pregnant," Faith said, seemingly reciting a list that she had made up in her head a long time ago, smiling widely as she described the former watcher and then becoming more serious as she got to the former cheerleader.
"George Clooney…," Andrew said with a big smirk on his face as he leaned his head up against the window and closed his eyes. Dawn smiled back at him before Giles nearly drove off of the road at Faith's last truth.
"Cordelia's pre…pregnant," Xander stuttered out with a look of complete shock on his face as he almost tripped over someone's shoes that had been carelessly left on the floor.
"Wait…sorry about that, she was pregnant…but it was some demon thing that took control of her…," Faith said with a slightly embarrassed frown on her face before she turned around and headed towards the back of the bus.
* * * * * *
It was several minutes later before either Wesley or Angel moved a muscle. Instead the two kept their ears open and their eyes peeled to the television screen. Wesley's heart was racing as he tried to keep his emotions in check and look at the destruction of Sunnydale logically. Angel, on the other hand, closed the shades and sat in his chair, an unspoken fear consuming his thoughts. Neither spoke until the newsbreak had ended and the channel returned to regular programming.
"Do you think they made it," Wesley asked calmly, even though Angel could tell that the former watcher was about ready to come apart at the seams.
"They have to be…we can't even think of the alternative," Angel answered more with hope in his voice than any certainty. Wesley was about to ask another question when Angel's phone rang. "Yeah…speaking…what, okay slow down…okay we'll be right there," Angel stammered out as the person on the other end of the phone was speaking a mile a minute.
"Who was that," Wesley asked politely as he looked back at Angel as he began to slowly flip through the channels, hoping to find something more about the destruction of Sunnydale. Angel's face darkened before he responded.
"An informant…there's something big killing demons and humans alike down in the warehouse district, my informant says that he'll tell us the rest when we get there," Angel replied with a very serious look on his face. A look that the two and a half century old vampire usually got when he felt that a tremendous amount of danger was imminent, a danger that there was no conceivable way of avoiding.
"Should I go tell Fred and Gunn," Wesley asked nervously as he ran a hand through his hair and turned off the television before tossing the remote back onto Angel's desk.
"No…you and I can handle this one…I hope, just tell them to get over to the Hyperion, if Buffy and the others made it then that's where they'd go," Angel glowered with a worried frown on his face as he stood up and stormed out of the room, without pushing his chair back in. Wesley followed closely behind, trying to push the negative feelings that threatened to drown him to the back of his mind.
About twenty minutes later, after Wesley had told Gunn and Fred what Angel had wanted him to tell them and the two had taken a ton of medical supplies and left for their old headquarters, Angel pulled one of his newest vehicles under the overhang of one of the old rundown factories and shut the engine off. Wesley initially only took a crossbow in with him, but Angel could smell the gun oil clearly enough to know that Wesley was also packing both his pistols and his shotgun underneath his coat. For his part Angel hid two small throwing axes, in the small of his back underneath his coat, along with his usual long sword. The two slowly made their way into the nearest warehouse before Wesley voiced a concern.
"Angel…are you sure that this isn't a trap," Wesley asked with a concerned frown on his face as he slowly looked around the decrepit old warehouse, trying to make sure that the two were alone.
"No…but even if it is someone went through a whole lot of trouble to get us here…and I want to know who…," Angel replied coldly as he strained his vampiric senses to the max in his sweep of the premises.
"Then the time has come for you to find out Angelus…," A low rumbling voice bellowed from seemingly everywhere, sending Wesley and Angel almost into a panic.
"Angel…that voice…it can't be…you killed it…," Wesley stammered out more from confusion than actual fear before he swallowed hard and clicked the safety's off of his two pistols.
"You only thought you did Angelus…didn't you think that it was just a little…to…easy," The low booming voice continued, almost in a mocking way, as it seemed to be getting closer and closer.
"Whoever you are…show yourself," Angel growled angrily as what little patience he had was rapidly evaporating.
"I will soon enough…but first…here's a little example of my power," The voice added with a very arrogant tone to it before the ground started to rumble. Wesley and Angel could only watch in abject horror as day slowly turned into night once more. Wesley rushed to a window to confirm his worst suspicion.
"My God…the sun's been blocked out…again," Wesley gasped out with the fear readily visible on his face as Angel gritted his teeth and slipped his game face on.
"That is just a mere parlor trick…a small fraction of my true power," The voice mockingly added before Wesley and Angel spun around and came face to face with the owner of the voice.
"No…you're dead…Faith told me…," Wesley exclaimed quickly as his heart began to race.
"I killed you…," Angel growled angrily as he took a step forward and raised his sword, nervously waiting for an opening to strike.
"No…you didn't," The voice laughed with a mocking tone to its voice before it lifted a rock encrusted hand and surged forward on its hooves.
"Then we'll just have to do something about that," Wesley exclaimed in defiance before he lifted his crossbow to fire off a bolt but never got to do so as the Beast blocked Angel's first strike easily with its arm before swinging its arm into Wesley's ribs. With the sickly sound of ribs cracking and breaking Wesley was flung back a great distance before he crashed through an old stained glass window.
"Wesley…," Angel shouted at almost the top of his lungs before he lunged at the Beast again, only to have it laugh at him as it knocked his sword out of his hands and wrapped the opposite hand around his throat, lifting him off of the ground.
"Pathetic," The Beast growled under its breath as it locked gazes with Angel, all the while tightening the grip on the vampire's neck.
* * * * * *
She could feel pain. Funny considering the fact that's he was dead. Or at least she thought she was dead. She remembered the curved blade being rammed through her back and then everything went black. The next thing she had known had been that cold, void space. She thought that she would be alone there forever until Cordelia and then Spike showed up. Joyce's appearance had been a complete shock, and then had come her question, would she choose to go back to the man that she loved, the man that had stood her up at the alter, or choose an entirely new path in life. At this point the pain pushed all of those thoughts out of her mind. Her only thought being to alleviate the pain that she found herself in. She cautiously opened one and then the other, shocked to find herself pinned up a rather large slab of concrete. Looking down she let out an angry moan.
"Look at this shirt…I got blood all over it…now it's ruined," Anya moaned sadly as she shook her head as best she could before she tried to yell out for help. At first it didn't seem like a soul had heard her, but then she heard someone yell out a curse and her hopes lifted. "Hey…whoever you are…get this thing off of me," she shouted pleadingly as she hoped that whoever it was would come to her aid before the large concrete slab could smash her. She heard a grumbled reply, and the faint smell of leather and cigarettes before the large slab was slowly lifted off of her. "Thank you I…Spike," Anya started to say with as polite a tone as she could muster without feeling it to corny before she looked up into the eyes of the now alive Spike, standing in the sunlight covered in patches of drying blood. His hair was a bright pink, garnered from the bloody mixing with his blond hair. Anya blushed deeply and tried to look away, but kept sneaking a few peeks back, when she noticed that Spike was completely naked, save for an oddly familiar small silver cross that hung from a battered chain around his neck. Spike didn't seem to notice his lack of clothing until the third part of the odd trio arrived.
"Well…guess that explains Buffy's fascination with vampires…," Cordelia chimed in with a very happy grin on her face as she blushed deeply and tried not to look. That comment finally seemed to snap Spike out of the doldrums that he was stuck in. Frantically looking around he pulled what was left of a robe off of one of the bringers and slipped it over his head with a sickly grimace on his face.
"Guess he really is William the bloody now," Anya chimed in with an amused smirk on her face at the sight of Spike covered in patches of drying blood. Cordelia and Spike pretended not to notice the bad pun before Spike spoke up.
"Smells like something died," Spike muttered angrily as he wrinkled up his nose before looking back up at the two women in front of him.
"Something did…see, a one of those ugly bringers, hopefully the one that stabbed me," Anya started to say with a joking smirk before her expression became very serious and she looked as if she were about to cry. Straightening up suddenly Anya instead walked over and gave the dead bringer a few good kicks before starting to collapse to her knees as tears poured down her cheeks.
"Whoa now…what's with the waterworks…," Spike exclaimed with a thin look of anger on his face as he moved forward and caught the ex-vengeance demon in his arms as she sobbed into his chest. From a few feet away a startled Cordelia could only use the confused look on her face and a shrug of her shoulders to try and ask Spike what was going on. Before he could answer Anya backed away from Spike and gave Cordelia the answer to her question.
"Sorry about that…just got a little emotional for a second, it's just a little weird coming back from the dead," Anya said calmly as she stopped crying and wiped away a few stray tears before sniffling.
"Tell me about it," Spike muttered sarcastically as he kicked the nearest bringer in the head before Cordelia cried out in pain. "What is it…what's wrong," Spike asked with a concerned and confused look on his face.
"Nnh…oh no…it's happening again…," Cordelia mumbled out with a pained grimace on her face as she clutched her head and slammed her eyes shut. Spike and Anya looked to each other with the same confused frown. "The Beast has returned…we have to go to L.A….now," Cordelia continued with a horrified and frantic look on her face as she opened her eyes and started to turn around.
"Why…what's the big hurry," Anya asked with an almost bored look on her face as she pulled some hair off of her face that the light breeze had blown.
"If we don't hurry everyone…Angel…Xander…even Buffy and Dawn will die," Cordelia replied with an extremely impatient scowl on her face before Spike snapped to attention.
"Then what the hell are we standing around here for, let's go," Spike exclaimed with an alarmed look on his face before the three tore off towards the edge of the crater, hoping to find some means of transportation away from the destroyed city before it was to late.
* * * * * * *
Giles had piloted the bus to almost the outskirts of Los Angeles before the day turned into night. At first everyone on the bus, save one, looked on in awe and fascination. Willow even went so far as to wake Kennedy up for it so that the two could gaze up at the odd occurrence together. Sitting a few seats back from the driver's seat Andrew started to postulate as to what the event could be and what could be causing it. Wood pointed it out to Faith just as the two were leaning in for a kiss, causing her to curse bitterly.
"Fuck…," Faith growled bitterly as she began almost flying from one side of the bus to another, looking all around and up towards the direction of the sun.
"You've seen this before…haven't you," Wood asked with a growing look of concern on his face before he coughed painfully and leaned back up against the back of his seat. Faith didn't verbally answer him; her only response was to solemnly nod her head before racing to the front of the bus, followed closely by Buffy, who had finally snapped out of her semi-coma.
"What's happening…why'd it go dark," Dawn asked Buffy with a worried and scared look on her face as she propped herself up on her knees on her seat to get a better view.
"I don't know Dawnie…but whatever it is we'll find out…but don't worry, everything will be okay…," Buffy replied with a forced look of calm on her face, a look that Faith easily saw right through.
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch B…this is some wicked shit alright…and if it's anything like what happened the last time then we're in for one hell of a fight," Faith said with a dreadfully serious look on her face as she purposefully avoided the confused and scared gazes of everyone in the front of the bus.
"What do you mean the last time…you mean this has happened before," Giles asked with a startled look on his face as it was apparent that the old watcher was trying to figure out how something of that magnitude had happened so close without his knowing.
"Yeah…when Wes…visited me he told me all about it…sun gets blotted out and L.A. becomes a demon and vampire paradise, they get free reign," Faith answered with an unaccustomed look of concern and worry on her face as she only looked at Buffy.
"You said this…thing…happened before…how'd it end…I mean who…stopped it, brought back the sun," Buffy stumbled through her question as she was desperately trying to process the level of the threat so close after the one that they had just faced.
"Angelus killed the Beast with a knife made from one of its bones…nearly let the damn thing finish me off first to boot, then he got the genius idea to come after me, luckily I was able to shed a little light on the matter…until Wesley could get to me," Faith recanted the important bits and pieces of her previous encounter with Angelus and the Beast with a very serious look in her eye. A look that seemed to soften as she spoke of her former watcher, giving Buffy the impression that most likely Wesley had saved her life.
"Angelus…what…," Buffy stammered out with a worried and slightly angry look on her face as she turned from the front of the bus and looked back at first Faith and then Willow.
"It's why I went to L.A. in the first place, to give Angel back his soul…but like you said he…he's all better now," Willow said, stuttering a bit at times, as she tried to find the right words for her answer.
"Uh…who's Angel…and who's Wesley," Kennedy asked calmly, holding her hand up as if she were back in school. For a split second Buffy feared that Faith would reach over and slap Kennedy upside the head. But thankfully the rogue slayer calmed down before answering.
"Angel was B's first love…then the whole vampire with a soul and a happiness clause left Sunnydale and set up shop in L.A., Wesley…well he…he…was my watcher…before I went rogue…and did some things that I'd rather not talk about," Faith said slowly and deliberately, not revealing to much to fast as she doubted that Buffy wanted her early romantic history recounted like a story told around a campfire.
"So we find Wesley and Angel and they'll know what to do," Xander asked with a worried frown on his face as he peered out of the dust caked bus windows at Los Angeles.
"That's the plan…let's just hope we're not to late," Buffy replied with a very frustrated and worried look on her face as she sat down next to Dawn and sighed deeply. The darkness continued to descend as the solitary school bus made its way into the heart of the city of angels.
END OF CHAPTER 2