What will happen, will happen. And what has to happen will be done, by the Call of Need or supplication to Osiris or invocation of Gilderash. The latest opens the gates to another world, and they must be closed by the blood which opened the portal into which the Slayer fell, and the blood of the son and daughter's daughter. Osiris will ask a testing, and the forces call to them a darkness. If this is the path that must be taken, there are many steps to many endings. The Lover will know hate, true hate. And the one who knows will loose the one who feels, and the world will lie on the shoulders of the one who sees.
This second is the darkest path, but the surest to the strength that will be required when the last days come. The chances that things will be different are many, but it shall conspire that you will not see where they are when they are there. Only in hindsight will you glance at what may have been. The end must come and you must be able to fight.
If this book is read there, in the war room, shall be gathered the greatest group ever gathered with any Slayer. And with them, the three strongest since the three who first called the Slayer shall come together. Although they did not know each other before they came. Their strength will need the others to be focused. They will make the Call of Need.
The apocalypse must be allowed to come. It will always come and if any tries to prevent the beginnings there will be no chance to prevent the end. As always, the centre will be the mouth of hell. Know that you will allow the hellmouth to open. Know that it must happen, and the last Slayer to fight alone shall be the last to guard the hellmouth. Know that this needs to be done.
The strength of the one who knows, the one who feels and the First Witch shall be joined, for they are joined already by ties of praise. This shall be the focus, and the pain will be shared. The one to call will be the sister, who never was a daughter.
The need is what you lost when the fighter died. The Key, her saviour; The Spear-maker, his hunter; The Writer, his hiding place; The Highest Ranked, his screen; the Leader, his certainty; the one who knows, her innocence; the one who feels, her faith; the one who sees, his commander; the Demon, her moment. The ones who should have been and wasn't lost her rest; the one who should not be but is lost her dedication. The confusion lost his explanation. The First Witch will feel the loss of the family she found. And she will hold the group together from their loss.
The Key and Fighter stand together in their loss and each will gain differently. The pain is due, and it must be done. If you do this, do it for yourselves. Those with the greatest to gain will face the greatest losses. Your friend does not need you as you need her. But need is enough.
Of the threes, one plus one will, with the one who returns, make three. The one who should have been but wasn't and the one who should not be but is, not the one who is. The Spear-maker and Highest Ranked, not the Rogue. The thinker and feeler, not the mother. The lover and the enemy, not the friend. One plus one will equal three. Seven plus six will bring out one.
Do all will it so?
The group was staring at Marbury as he asked the last question. He looked around the bemused faces.
"What the fuck does that mean?" Spike demanded.
"Spike," Willow gestured to Dawn.
"Do you all agree to the risks in this plan?" Marbury asked. "Do you agree to pay the price for what you need? Do you promise against everything to finish what you begin, despite any argument that may be made against it?"
He addressed himself to the Sunnydale group and slowly they each nodded. So did Abbey and C.J, who each had some idea of what the price might be.
Marbury asked for permission from the last three with an impatient raise of one eyebrow. They shrugged. He pointed a finger at each of them.
"Know that you have sworn," he said.
"Have you?" the President asked.
"I do swear to walk this path, unto the end whatever may be said, and pay the price for my walking. As do all in this room. It will begin."