Where dreams end...
6. Mi'ihen Hidden Fayth
"Angel." The word was quietly whispered, almost as though in just speaking his name, the man before her would disappear, like a dream fading upon awakening to reality. For a moment, Buffy didn't know what to do, what to say. Silence settled over them; they seemed frozen in that one moment.
"Buffy, you out here?"
The moment ended, as Wakka rounded the corner. Angel's game face slid over his face. He snarled viciously and leapt up onto the roof. He vanished over the roof with inhuman speed.
Buffy shook herself free of her shock. It all seemed to have happened in slow motion. She started after the vampire, only to have her arm caught in a firm grip by Wakka.
"What's goin' on?" Wakka demanded. Buffy tried to pull herself free from his grip, but he managed to hold on. "What were you doin' talkin' to that fiend?"
"He's not a fiend," Buffy protested.
"Didn't look that way to me," Wakka said.
"I don't care! Just let me go!" Buffy said. Wakka held on. Buffy spun around, and slammed her open palm into his chest. The force of the blow was not enough to seriously hurt the blitzer – god only knew he had to have taken harder hits in training – but it was enough to throw him into the travel agency wall.
Wakka gasped, his hand going to his chest in an attempt to ease the
pain. "What are you?" He managed, but Buffy was already gone. He watched
her move across the darkened highroad. Her speed was incredible, almost
unbelievable, and she was soon lost to the darkness.
I didn't like hitting Wakka like that. I have to admit I liked him,
even if he is a little dense. I didn't want to hurt him, but I had to catch
up to Angel; I had to make some sense of this, of why I was here in Spira…
The path before her stretched out into the darkness, twisting away from the highroad. The path might at one point have been another road, maybe for one of the ancient cultures apparently destroyed by Sin. Whatever the case, it was little more than a dirt trail now. The only evidence that it had ever been paved was occasional, and hard to recognise.
It was anger that was driving her now, pure and simple. She was angry that Angel left so abruptly. She was angry that he'd attacked her. She was just angry.
And she was taking risks that she normally wouldn't have taken. There was only one fiend that got in her way, a huge beast. The thing put her in mind of what a mad scientist might get if he or she crossed a giant bird, an ape, and something green, maybe a lizard. It had scaly hands and feet, not unlike those of a chocobo, though its arms were much longer than its legs. The monster had no real neck to speak of, just a head jutting straight out of its broad shoulders.
It didn't even give the young Slayer pause; she hit it hard enough to kill it in one blow, then continued on her way. Buffy followed the winding road down, aware that she could be ambushed at any time but indifferent to the fact.
Lost in a whirlwind of dark emotions and thoughts, Buffy stumbled into a clearing. There was a camp fire going in the middle. At the far side, she could see Angel, his eyes following her every movement, studying her. She walked towards him.
In the firelight, she could clearly see that, even though this was Angel, it wasn't the Angel she remembered. His chestnut-coloured hair was long and unkempt, framing a perfectly pale face, and his eyes were cold and uncaring. He was dressed in a patchwork mess of blackened armour, and armed with a long black sword. He'd gone medieval on her.
"So, you wanna tell me what was with the disappearing act back there?" Buffy asked. She couldn't help the edge in her voice.
"You're not her," Angel said coldly.
"What are you talking about?" Buffy asked, her frustration more than a little evident. She shook her head, trying to organise her thoughts. "I thought we were past this cryptic crap. I just want a straight answer, Angel."
"Sunnydale's gone," Angel said.
Buffy's mouth opened and shut, as she tried to think of something to say. "G-gone? As in…?"
"The Hellmouth opened," Angel explained. His voice was cool, dispassionate. "All of them, actually, but the one under Sunnydale opened first. The world was swallowed by darkness."
Buffy felt her knees go weak, felt herself falling to the ground. She felt almost detached from herself, but it was only because she was having trouble comprehending the magnitude of his statement.
"Why…? How…?" Buffy couldn't bring herself to form questions. She wasn't sure she even wanted answers.
"A demon threw her here," Angel said coldly. "Before it all went down. Who knows? She might have been the one to stop it all, but because she wasn't there, it turned out all wrong."
"Who are you talking about?" Buffy demanded.
"Buffy," Angel whispered, his eyes wandering to the fire.
"I'm Buffy!" Buffy snapped angrily.
"You're not her!" Angel roared, leaping to his feet. "You'll never be her!"
"You son of a—" Buffy started, jumping to her feet. She never got to finish her accusation. Angel leapt across the fire at her, landing a powerful blow to her jaw. Buffy was thrown to the ground.
"You'll never be her," Angel repeated, his demonic visage shifting into place.
Buffy picked herself up, slowly, rubbing the feeling back into her jaw. "Okay," she said slowly. "That hurt."
The young Slayer punched Angel back, punched him hard. She launched herself at Spira's only demon, attacking with a high roundhouse kick. Angel ducked underneath her leg, and punched her hard in the stomach.
Buffy doubled over in pain. Angel hit her with a vicious uppercut, sending the young girl to the ground. The vampire came at her to finish her off. Buffy only just managed to roll out of the way, as he brought his foot down hard.
She kick-flipped to her feet, jumping back from him to put some distance between the two of them. A steady trickle of blood ran down her face, from a gash in her forehead. Her nose was bleeding too.
Buffy wiped the blood away with the back of her hand. "I-is that the best you got?" She asked, unable to keep her voice from sounding a little uncertain. "The Angel I remember would have kicked your ass by now."
Angel roared in anger, and launched himself at her. Buffy was ready for his attack, twisting out of the way in a seemingly impossible manner. She grabbed his sword, pulled it free from his belt, and impaled him with it, in one smooth motion.
The vampire fell to his knees. Buffy tore the huge sword free, raised it, and brought it around in one powerful arc.
A moment later, she was alone in the clearing. She let the sword fall
to the ground, unable to hold on to the weapon any longer.
I killed him. I had no choice. That didn't mean I felt any better
about it. I was alone again. I was always alone… and it hurt.
It seemed like a short eternity, before she was able to pull herself together, to some semblance of numb consciousness. It wasn't her Angel. It couldn't have been him; he hadn't even recognised her.
Try as she might, she couldn't convince herself.
Why had Angel come here? Buffy got the distinct impression that he had been leading her here, for some unknown reason. She glanced around, taking note of her surroundings for the first time.
There was a cave at the far end of the clearing, well concealed by thick vines and plant growth. The only reason that Buffy saw it was because she was used to looking for caves and places used by vampires to hide. There were subtle indications that the cave might have been artificially constructed, but those were signs that went completely over Buffy's head.
Buffy knew enough to recognise an invite when she saw one. Angel led her to this place, whether that was his intent or not, and whatever was in the cave was the reason.
She was beyond caring about whatever danger she might have to face inside. She stepped into the darkness, and stopped when she crossed over the threshold. Thousands of little lights lit up, each one a cold blue-white. They lit up the ceiling of the cavern like stars lit up the night sky.
Somehow, it was a comfort. It made her feel like everything would work out, like it would all be okay.
The door sealed itself heavily behind her. "Guess that means I can't change my mind," Buffy muttered to herself. She looked around for the first time, taking in her surroundings in detail.
This felt like a crypt, a classy one, but still some place where the dead were laid to rest. Buffy was familiar with the feeling.
The young Slayer found herself in a large circular chamber. If she'd missed the evidence outside, that the cave was artificially constructed, she certainly couldn't miss it now.
The walls were smooth and uniform, made of black stone, almost like polished onyx, undecorated, save for the illusion of a star-filled sky.
There was a pedestal in the centre of the room, simple and built of the same black stone that the walls were constructed of. There was a sphere-shaped recess in the top of the pedestal.
Stepping further into the chamber, she saw a statue on the opposite side of the room, a statue bearing a remarkable resemblance to her. It was spooky. In her hands, the statue held out two spheres: one glowed darkly and the other glowed brilliantly.
"So, one of these has to be a key," she muttered. But which one? If she picked the wrong one, she could be in serious trouble. So she picked them both up.
Buffy walked back to the pedestal. "So, which one of these things do I use?"
The young Slayer measured the two spheres in her hands, trying to decide which one was the key. There were no obvious differences between the two spheres, except that one was dark and the other was light.
"Here goes nothing," Buffy muttered. She inserted the dark sphere and pocketed the other. Buffy squeezed her eyes shut, almost expecting a the large rolling boulder, like in that Indiana Jones movie.
When nothing happened, Buffy opened her eyes. Just in time to witness a pillar of darkness envelop the pedestal. One by one, the artificial stars overhead winked out. Buffy watched as the last star was extinguished, an uneasy feeling settling itself in the pit of her stomach.
The ground beneath her feet began to tremble. It was almost unnoticeable at first, but by the time Buffy realised what was going on, it was already too late. "Oh no," she muttered.
The ground collapsed underneath her weight. "Ow!" She complained. She would have looked around, but she was left in complete darkness, without the light from the artificial stars. "I guess that was the wrong sphere."
Buffy pulled the other sphere from her pocket. She was almost instantly sorry she did.
Pale light illuminated her surroundings, painting them in stark light and shadow. Including a rather large dog-like fiend. At least, it would have been dog-like, except for the deep blue scales, the glowing white eyes, and the razor sharp claws.
"Crap," Buffy muttered. The fiend slammed into her, throwing Buffy through the air. She landed hard, skidding a couple of feet before coming to a complete stop. The sphere rolled from her grip, making the shadows dance wildly.
Buffy flipped to her feet, jumping out of the way just in time to dodge another of the fiend's attacks. In the jumbled moments that followed, she exchanged blows with the monster whose snarling, snapping, attempts at reducing her to snack size never seemed that far off.
The young Slayer wasn't entirely sure what happened, but somehow she prevailed, jumping onto the creature's back and wrenching it's head all the way around, until she heard and felt the sickening crack. The monster collapsed beneath her, exploding into thousands of pyreflies even as it did. Buffy was once again dumped unceremoniously on her backside.
And for a long moment, she stayed there, just catching her breath. After a long moment, she stumbled to her feet, still feeling the adrenaline coursing through her system. She walked over, and scooped up the sphere she's dropped, holding it higher now.
The ground was littered with bones, of people, animals, whatever managed to find itself down here. The room, like the one above, appeared to be roughly circular, made of the same polished black rock.
Now that the fiend was dead, lines of light bled down from the room above, and there were once again artificial stars. "Now what?" Buffy muttered to herself, looking around.
Almost as if on cue, a polished black stone door slid open, as if beckoning to her, calling her to enter the darkness. She shrugged, pocketing the sphere she still held, and picked her way towards the door.
It led to a long winding staircase, which in turn led to another large roughly circular room. There was a treasure chest, sitting in the middle of the room. This looked easy enough. Maybe this was what Angel had been guarding.
Buffy stepped cautiously into the chamber. She tried to spot any possible traps, but she really wasn't a tomb-raiding type, so she really didn't know what to look for. When nothing happened after a moment, Buffy walked over to the treasure chest.
It was a simple enough, except for the sphere-shaped indentation in the lid. Buffy pulled out the light sphere, and slipped it into the hole. It made sense.
There was an audible snap, and the latch gave way. Buffy pushed the lid open. Inside, she found a number of things: a sword, a belt for the sword, another sphere, this one different from the first two. She reached in, pulling the sword out.
It was a superb weapon, perfectly balanced and with an inexplicable sense of strength flowing through it; the weapon felt like it amplified her already formidable power.
It was a simple-looking weapon, no fancy hilt or anything, a functional weapon. It was about three feet long, the blade made of a reflective crimson metal.
"Wow," Buffy muttered, whirling the blade around in an experimental arc. She may not have liked her destiny as the Slayer, but she could still appreciate a thing of beauty. This sword was certainly that.
She reached into the treasure chest. The young Slayer strapped the belt around her waist, picked up the sphere and pocketed it.
The ground started to shake beneath her feet, triggered by the fact that she'd just emptied the treasure chest.
The treasure chest vanished, evaporating into a cloud of pyreflies. A ribbon-like symbol burned on the ground, encompassing the entire room. For a moment she was illuminated by the brilliant blue-white light.
And then, darkness.
Maybe I passed out, I don't know. The next thing I knew, I was in a totally different chamber.
I found the words of the Kilika priest coming back to me. "The fayth
are people who gave their lives to battle Sin," he said. "Now they live
forever trapped in stone." And I felt an inexplicable sense of dread settle
into me.
There was a light, faint though it was. It was coming from just a few feet ahead of her.
Blinking her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness, Buffy managed to stumble over to the light. The contents of the treasure chest hadn't been what Angel was guarding; they were just another key to getting here, to this place and time.
She fell to her knees, understanding what the source of that strange light was.
There, set into the ground before her, was one of the living statues, one of the fayth. The statue was strangely alive, an image that Buffy couldn't quite put into words.
It was also vaguely horrifying. There was something about the statue, an underlying sense of despair rolling off it, that just sent shivers down Buffy's spine.
The carving was that of a knight, though it wasn't by any means a human knight. The knight had the torso of a man, partially armoured in brilliantly polished armour, but that was the only human thing about him. His lower half was that of a horse, a powerful white stallion. The knight had three sets of wings: four wings protruding from his back, and two from the powerful shoulders of the horse's body.
Buffy couldn't help but be impressed. It looked almost alive, in a creepy kind of way. She found herself reaching out to touch it.
"Hey Buff."
Startled, Buffy jumped back.
The ghostly shade of Xander, the boy she knew so well, hung over the carving. He was dressed very differently, in clothes Buffy had come to associate with Spira, but it was still him. He still had the same dark hair, the same warm brown eyes, that she remembered.
"Long time no see."
"X… Xander!" Buffy gasped. Questions threatened to overwhelm her. Xander couldn't be the fayth! He just couldn't! This was some kind of dream. It had to be.
"I'd give you a hug, but I'm a little insubstantial right now," Xander said, with a grin. Buffy couldn't smile, couldn't see the humour in the situation. Numbness returned to claim her again.
"You're…" Buffy couldn't finish the sentence, as though speaking it would render any chance at changing things impossible.
"I'm a fayth," said Xander, nodding. "It seemed necessary at the time."
Buffy closed her eyes, and tried to come to terms with this. Xander didn't push her. After a long moment of silence, Buffy opened her eyes again. "Can you tell me… what happened?"
"It's a long story," Xander responded, with a grin.
"I want to know," Buffy insisted.
A serious look settled itself on Xander's face. "We came here looking for you, me, Willow, and Angel," he said, his tone as serious as the look on his face. "Without the Slayer – without you – there to keep it from happening, the Hellmouth opened up the first chance it got. It swallowed Sunnydale whole. Then, the others around the world started to open. The world was engulfed in darkness."
Xander shook his head. "I'm not really sure how we survived, but some of us did. I guess we had no choice really. We learned to fight, to survive." He chuckled. "Willow was quite the witch."
"So it's true," Buffy whispered. "My mom…?"
"She was… lucky. She died in when Sunnydale was destroyed," Xander said. "She didn't have to see the suffering that the demons inflicted on the survivors."
Buffy felt tears welling up in her eyes, tried to fight them, and failed. "I'm sorry, Buffy. I really am," Xander consoled.
"She didn't… suffer, did she?" Buffy asked quietly.
"No," Xander said. "It was almost instant."
"Good," Buffy said. She hugged her legs, resting her cheek on her knees. Again, a long moment of silence settled over them, as Buffy tried to come to terms with what she now knew. "Why… why did you become fayth?"
"It's complicated," Xander said, after a moment. "Willow and me, we learned a long time ago that you have to grab hold of whatever happiness you can get, even if it only lasts a heartbeat."
"A thousand years ago, I became a fayth to help a friend find her happiness," Xander said. "Willow too. We pretty much gave up on ever seeing you again, and, to be honest, we had to help Lenne and Shuyin."
"It was the right thing to do?" Buffy offered, with a weak smile.
"Right," said Xander. "Seeing you again… it means so much to me, but… you have to understand, Buff. It's been a thousand years for me, a thousand years trapped in an insubstantial form, unable to touch, or to affect the world around me."
"Xander…" Buffy whispered.
"A thousand years, with nothing but Deadboy for conversation," Xander added darkly. "A thousand years…"
"I want to help," Buffy said.
"Even if it means I die?" Xander asked. After a long moment, Buffy nodded. Xander was one of her best friends. She owed it to him to help in any way he wanted her to. Even if it meant he wanted help dying. "Then beat Sin."
"I'm hanging out with a Summoner," Buffy offered. "She's trying to do just that."
"No," Xander said, shaking his head. "You can't use the Final Aeon to beat Sin. You have to beat it without using Summoners, without Aeons."
"But why?" Buffy asked.
"The Summoner you're hanging out with… you get along?" Xander asked.
"Yuna? Yeah, she's great. Her and Tidus, they kinda remind me of you guys," Buffy said, with a smile. "Why?"
"If you let Yuna summon the Final Aeon, then she'll die and Sin will still come back," said Xander. He shook his head, and closed his eyes, as if trying to straighten something out in his head. "It's like this. Sin isn't the problem you gotta deal with. It's what's inside it that's the problem."
"I don't understand," Buffy said, frowning slightly.
"Yu Yevon is inside Sin," Xander explained. "Every time the Final Aeon is summoned, it kills Sin, but it doesn't touch Yu Yevon. He kinda possesses the Final Aeon, and creates Sin around himself all over again."
"So, if I kill this Yu Yevon guy, then…" Buffy let her sentence trail off.
"Then Sin will be destroyed, and it will never come back, and we'll finally be allowed to rest," said Xander. "The only problem is getting close enough without being squashed like a bug."
"So, how do I do that?" Buffy asked.
"That's where me and Will come in," said Xander.
"Huh?"
"I'll help you whenever you need help, Buff. You just gotta ask," said Xander solemnly. "Willow will too, I'm sure. You just gotta find her fayth."
"Oh."
"You ready?" Xander asked.
Buffy stood up slowly, stretching. "I'm ready," she said, a determined look settling itself on her face.
"Help us make our dreams come true," Xander said. Then he flew towards the young Slayer. Buffy threw her hands up out of habit to protect her face. Xander passed right through her. When she turned around, he was gone…