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A/N: Your reviews bring a smile to my face...smile...smile...smile...:-)
Chapter 16: Tales from the Past 2
Alec gazed at Buffy, his hazel eyes boring into hers, waiting for her reply. Buffy dropped his gaze, turning her focus to the half-open window beside her. The rain had finally ceased, with only a mild drizzle left, sprinkling little droplets to the world below. The pale moon had even peeked out from behind the gray stormy thunderclouds, giving out the most of its light, dim and soft. Buffy sometimes wished that she could be like the moon; it had the easiest job in the whole world. Just sitting up there, doing nothing...
"My story,..." Buffy trailed off, getting a lost trance-like look in her eyes. For the first time since spending five whole years of happiness in 'heaven', Buffy felt the world crashing down on her, just because of the thought of her past. It was funny how one single memory can create a large hole in your heart, how one single memory can tear your inner subconscious apart without mercy. It was during times like these that Buffy wondered what hurt the most. Physical or emotional pains? But to what she was feeling now, the latter seemed to be the right answer.
Recollections of all that happened in her history flooded her mind, each of the most painful ones lingering longer than it intended to, her mother's death, Tara's death, when Willow brought her back to life. That was probably the worst. On that very occasion was Buffy nearing the very edge of hatred to her best friend...because of betrayal. Her friends had took her out of her peace, took her out from her contentment, just like the Powers did right now...
"Buffy?"
Buffy snapped out of her painful reverie as Alec spoke her name. She really didn't know where to start, from the beginning? It seemed far away. But then Alec had told her everything. She was about to open her mouth to start off when Max stirred beside Alec, earning the attention of everyone in the room.
"Max?" Alec placed, blinking at the beautiful girl beside him. Max's eyes slowly fluttered open, it was obvious that she was still weak from the seizures, and blood transfusions didn't seem so energetic.
"What—what was wrong with me?" she asked, struggling to sit up. Alec helped her up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Unmatched DNA," Alec said simply, though his eyes were glowing with a faint spark of anger at the mere thought of Logan.
"Unmatched DNA?" Max echoed. "But we were breeding partners at Manticore, our DNAs are supposed to match. Manticore can't be that stupid."
"Not my DNA," Alec said calmly, suppressing the urge to barge over to Logan's and kill him right then and there. "Logan's. When you gave him some of your blood."
"Oh."
Alec rolled his eyes. "Anyway...Buffy? Care to continue?"
Buffy managed a small nod, as Alec told Max what they were talking about.
"I was sixteen when I was first called. It was then that my whole life turned upside down." Buffy said pausing, remembering how she had taken the news. "I was a normal teenager, living a normal life, and then...all this happened." Buffy shut her eyes for a split second before opening them as a fresh wave of misery swept through her. "I was given a Watcher, someone who 'handles' the slayer and guides her...his name was Giles. We worked together for months and months, and it wasn't too long till we grew closer. There were even times when I referred to him as a father, something I lacked in my life. He helped me, not only in hunting down vampires, but he helped me in times when I felt weak, inside."
Buffy glanced at her three companions and saw them listening intently, even Spike. Guess his conscience gave him some sympathy towards humans. "And because of Giles caring for me, he was almost fired by the Watcher's Council."
"Why would he get fired for caring?" Max asked.
"Because a slayer works alone, independently, no connections whatsoever. The Watcher is only there to make things easier for her, helping her around, blah blah blah. But then I made friends..." Buffy said, a hint of a smile appearing in her face at the thought of her friends.
Xander, though a little goofy had always been fun to be with. He was her TV buddy, and they loved watching movies together. He had always cared for all of them, especially Willow. Xander had been the only one to stop her from creating the ever so deadly Apocalypse, by only three simple yet caring words: 'I love you'. He had stuck with all of them, through good times and bad. And yes, he was the only 'mortal' one in their gang. Even Dawn had a power; she was the key after all.
Willow on the other hand was her best friend. She was there to listen with open arms. Forget the fact that she brought her back to life, forget the fact that she tried to destroy the world and kill each of them one by one. Those were a few mistakes that Buffy could forgive and forget easily. As long as Willow was around, her world was whole. Hell, even Anya made a good friend. If you liked to talk about sex, and orgasms. Then your fine.
"Let me guess, the Watcher's Council blew the roof." Max said with a grin.
"You got that right," Buffy said with a smile, but it slowly sobered when the next episode in her life flashed in her mind. The memory of Sunnydale High school going down in fire, had to be one of the worst. Many lives were lost in that incident, many innocent lives at that. "Would you believe if I told you that I burned my own school down into ashes?" Buffy asked quietly.
Max nodded, her eyes clouding over with something that resembled—pain.
Buffy managed a small smile. "Sometimes, when bad things happen, you gotta make choices, even if both of those choices aren't so good." The slayer lowered her eyes to the floor. "A few months after that incident, I died." She waited for their reactions, they came quickly, but they weren't as shocked as she expected them to be.
"Welcome to the club girl," Max said exaggerating a cheerful grin. "I died too."
"Really? How?" Spike asked interestedly. He loved these kinds of stories, death, blood, and gore. His conscience however gave him a painful tug, but the vampire ignored it. It wasn't always he got to listen to these tales.
"I got shot by my clone," Max said simply as if it was no big deal. "You?"
"I got drowned while battling the Master, an ancient vampire almost impossible to kill." Buffy answered, weirded out at how much she and Max had in common. "I was brought back by my best friend, Xander, through using CPR." Buffy smiled at the thought of her bestest friend. He was the only reason she was able to live through the next couple of years in her life. "How about you?" Buffy asked the X5. "Was it Manticore?"
Max's chocolate brown eyes clouded over for a split second, and her cheerful smile faded in almost an instant replaced by a sad one. "My brother, Zack, killed himself, and gave me his heart." Max said. "Manticore was responsible for the transplant...the next time I saw Zack, he was a walking robot, with no memory of me."
"Wow," Buffy said softly. That was even worse than her. Her brother died for her, which must hurt...a lot. "I'm sorry."
The transgenic nodded, and gestured for her to continue. "Like I said before, when one slayer dies, another is called...her name was Kendra."
"Wait a minute," Max interrupted. "Does that mean that there were two slayers then?"
"Yeah, but she didn't last all that long." Buffy said quietly. "Not many slayers get to live past their eighteenth birthday."
"So then another slayer was called?" Alec asked.
"Yeah. Her name was Faith. Bad news was, her darker side got the better of her. She went rogue after killing one of the Mayor's lackeys." Buffy said with a sad sigh. She and Faith may not have gotten along so well, hell Buffy even hated her at one point in time. But now...now she had forgiven her. "I had to fight her, there was no other way around it. I sent her into a coma and brought her to the hospital. After that, she was taken to jail. And one day, I just received news that she died. I didn't even know how." Buffy said, her eyes on Max the whole time she retold this certain story of Faith.
Max was staring at her, a strange look on her face. Alec seemed to have noticed it too because he raised an eyebrow at the brunette. "Anything wrong Maxie?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I just remembered something, that's all." Max said with a forced smile. "Buffy? Continue?"
"Uhm well after that, I had to save the world from ending when portals from all kinds of hell dimensions opened up. Only my blood can end it. So I sacrificed myself and died...again." Buffy said.
"Again?" Max screeched. "Damn girl, do you have nine lives or something?"
Buffy had to laugh. "Two of my friends were witches, and with the use of very powerful dark magic. They managed to bring me back to life." Buffy paused, as she recalled the terrible feeling of being sucked out of her 'heaven'. "I wasn't too happy about that. When I died, I never really knew if I was at heaven or hell, but either way, I was at peace. And my very own friends tore me out of there."
"Hey guys," Buffy said with an exaggerated grin. "You guys know that third time's the charm right?"
"Wait—you mean you died again?" Alec asked looking stunned.
"Yeah. The Master was resurrected, and as you remembered he was the only one able to kill me, and so he killed me again." Buffy said. "How did I come back to life? The Powers sent me back right here, in Seattle, to unveil a certain prophecy from a special woman's skin." Her eyes locked with Max who looked shocked.
"And that girl is?" Alec asked interestedly.
"Max."
Chapter 16: Unveiled
A prophecy is the foretelling of one's future. An accurate prediction of the upcoming events in one's life. Something that Max never believed in before. But then, anything was possible. She recalled a certain occasion in her life that involved faith and most of all belief. When she was eight and still in Manticore, one of the kids in her unit started to have seizures, bad ones at that. All of them didn't know what to do. They were too scared to ask for help, knowing that their superiors will take him away and take him apart.
It was one of those nights that he had one, it awoke every one of them. They would gather around his bed in a semi-circle but would eventually break apart every time they would hear footsteps coming from the hallway, thinking that they were the guards, checking to see if they were still awake because if they were still awake, then they would be taken to serious beating. It was a common order back at Manticore to do as told, that meant after lights out, everybody should be dead asleep.
But that one night, it wasn't a guard who checked up on them, it was the janitor. A black janitor, who believed with all his heart to what their unit called the 'Blue Lady'. The janitor prayed over the kid who had seizures, and the strangest thing happened, his seizures stopped. After that, they never gave up on the Blue Lady. Not until...Max killed her brother...Ben.
That's why now, she never let's herself get into believing things that weren't real, even prophecies. But after hearing Buffy's life, her factious life, about magic, slayers, vampires, and being brought back to life for three whole times...Max felt herself giving in. Though the distrust was still in the air, she was going to give Buffy a chance,...especially when so many things made sense.
Buffy had talked about the slayer called after her first death, the girl with the name Faith, how she was brought to prison for taking innocent lives. Could this Faith be the Faith Logan told her about,...her mother? It was like pieces to a puzzle, in which Max was trying her best to fit together.
Buffy had said that the prophecy lies on her skin. Would that mean the Runes? If so, what does it say? Does she really know the answer? But what if she was lying through her teeth? What if she really was working for Manticore? Or even worse, working for White? All these questions were making her head dizzy, and she needed answers, she needed them fast, or she swore she was going to kill someone.
"Max," Buffy said snapping her out of her light-headedness. "Do you know who your mother is?" Now that question surprised her. Alec was shooting her a curious glance and Max knew that it was now or never.
"Yeah, I do, actually know who she is." Max said biting her lip before continuing. "Her name's Faith Wilkins."
A spark of sadness flashed behind the slayer's warm hazel eyes. "That's her alright," she said, nodding her affirmation.
"Wait a second—Max, how'd you know about this?" Alec asked, his inquiring gaze drifting from Max to Buffy then back to Max again.
"Logan found it on one of his researches." Max said to Alec then turned her attention back to Buffy. "I know how she died." Max said, feeling culpability spread through her.
Buffy stared at her, reading her guilty gaze. "How?"
"She died giving birth to me," Max said quietly. Because of her superior genes, she had remembered everything the minute she was born, even if they were a little blurry, the voice of her mother was trapped in her head, as well as the cruel ones of the Manticore doctors. "As you know, Manticore had this sick thing of paying women to be planted with embryos in their wombs, and give birth to us. But my mother was different from all of them. She was the only one who didn't want to give her baby up, me."
Buffy looked astonished. "I never knew Faith would have it in her," she said, disbelief in her face. Faith had after all killed, it was strange how she actually cared for someone other than herself.
Alec seemed to have realized something because comprehension dawned on his face. "Then that must be why you don't have any junk DNA—because your mother was a slayer. A person already loaded with enhanced genes.
"Yeah I know, that's what Logan told me. But now that I know what she is, it all makes more sense." Max said nodding. "So Buffy, what exactly is this prophecy?" she asked. Prophecy, fake or not, she was curious to hear it.
"Did something weird sort of become visible on your skin?" Buffy asked.
Alec and Max exchanged a glance, and with Alec's nod of approval, Max rolled up the sleeve of her denim jacket. Buffy moved closer as Max held out her arm. Buffy took it and squinted at the wiggly ink-black figures. "There's some on my back too," she added, smiling inwardly at who had seen those first.
"I think we'd better see that too," Spike drawled from the armchair. That earned him a glare from both Buffy and Alec.
"Will you just *shut up*?" Buffy said to him.
"I HAVE shut up, now's the first time I've spoken since Alec shared his whole 'story'." Spike said rolling his cool blue eyes as he leaned casually back at the rough back of the bottle green armchair.
"That was because you fell *asleep*." Buffy retorted, pulling back a few strands of blonde hair that had fallen across her face while they retold their precious histories.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get your knickers in a twist!" the blonde vamp said in his lilting British accent. They chuckled. Brits had such an amusing way with words, and a way with saying it. But right that very moment, things weren't exactly all so amusing. They had some pressing matters to deal with...like what the Runes was about.
Though she hated to admit it, Max was a tad bit nervous of knowing the meaning of the Runes. She recalled what Renfro had told her just before she blew up Manticore: 'You're the one we've been looking for 452.' That very phrase sent chills down her spine. The Manticore director made it sound so important, so important that it might involve her death.
"Buffy!" Max cut in. "What does the Runes say."
Buffy's mouth shut from arguing with their favorite vampire. A sheepish smile came across her face before her expression turned serious once again.
"Unborn child within thy womb, will end all evil intimidating humanity."
A/N: Once again I THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK everyone who sent their e-mails to me and helped me with this chapter!!! They really really really really helped a lot!!! Thanks again! And remember to REVIEW!!!! And when I say review I mean you!!! Oh, and I want to tell BEAUTIFUL DISGRACE that she SHOULD review because she owes me a bunch of them... :-) See ya'll soon!!
A/N: Your reviews bring a smile to my face...smile...smile...smile...:-)
Chapter 16: Tales from the Past 2
Alec gazed at Buffy, his hazel eyes boring into hers, waiting for her reply. Buffy dropped his gaze, turning her focus to the half-open window beside her. The rain had finally ceased, with only a mild drizzle left, sprinkling little droplets to the world below. The pale moon had even peeked out from behind the gray stormy thunderclouds, giving out the most of its light, dim and soft. Buffy sometimes wished that she could be like the moon; it had the easiest job in the whole world. Just sitting up there, doing nothing...
"My story,..." Buffy trailed off, getting a lost trance-like look in her eyes. For the first time since spending five whole years of happiness in 'heaven', Buffy felt the world crashing down on her, just because of the thought of her past. It was funny how one single memory can create a large hole in your heart, how one single memory can tear your inner subconscious apart without mercy. It was during times like these that Buffy wondered what hurt the most. Physical or emotional pains? But to what she was feeling now, the latter seemed to be the right answer.
Recollections of all that happened in her history flooded her mind, each of the most painful ones lingering longer than it intended to, her mother's death, Tara's death, when Willow brought her back to life. That was probably the worst. On that very occasion was Buffy nearing the very edge of hatred to her best friend...because of betrayal. Her friends had took her out of her peace, took her out from her contentment, just like the Powers did right now...
"Buffy?"
Buffy snapped out of her painful reverie as Alec spoke her name. She really didn't know where to start, from the beginning? It seemed far away. But then Alec had told her everything. She was about to open her mouth to start off when Max stirred beside Alec, earning the attention of everyone in the room.
"Max?" Alec placed, blinking at the beautiful girl beside him. Max's eyes slowly fluttered open, it was obvious that she was still weak from the seizures, and blood transfusions didn't seem so energetic.
"What—what was wrong with me?" she asked, struggling to sit up. Alec helped her up and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.
"Unmatched DNA," Alec said simply, though his eyes were glowing with a faint spark of anger at the mere thought of Logan.
"Unmatched DNA?" Max echoed. "But we were breeding partners at Manticore, our DNAs are supposed to match. Manticore can't be that stupid."
"Not my DNA," Alec said calmly, suppressing the urge to barge over to Logan's and kill him right then and there. "Logan's. When you gave him some of your blood."
"Oh."
Alec rolled his eyes. "Anyway...Buffy? Care to continue?"
Buffy managed a small nod, as Alec told Max what they were talking about.
"I was sixteen when I was first called. It was then that my whole life turned upside down." Buffy said pausing, remembering how she had taken the news. "I was a normal teenager, living a normal life, and then...all this happened." Buffy shut her eyes for a split second before opening them as a fresh wave of misery swept through her. "I was given a Watcher, someone who 'handles' the slayer and guides her...his name was Giles. We worked together for months and months, and it wasn't too long till we grew closer. There were even times when I referred to him as a father, something I lacked in my life. He helped me, not only in hunting down vampires, but he helped me in times when I felt weak, inside."
Buffy glanced at her three companions and saw them listening intently, even Spike. Guess his conscience gave him some sympathy towards humans. "And because of Giles caring for me, he was almost fired by the Watcher's Council."
"Why would he get fired for caring?" Max asked.
"Because a slayer works alone, independently, no connections whatsoever. The Watcher is only there to make things easier for her, helping her around, blah blah blah. But then I made friends..." Buffy said, a hint of a smile appearing in her face at the thought of her friends.
Xander, though a little goofy had always been fun to be with. He was her TV buddy, and they loved watching movies together. He had always cared for all of them, especially Willow. Xander had been the only one to stop her from creating the ever so deadly Apocalypse, by only three simple yet caring words: 'I love you'. He had stuck with all of them, through good times and bad. And yes, he was the only 'mortal' one in their gang. Even Dawn had a power; she was the key after all.
Willow on the other hand was her best friend. She was there to listen with open arms. Forget the fact that she brought her back to life, forget the fact that she tried to destroy the world and kill each of them one by one. Those were a few mistakes that Buffy could forgive and forget easily. As long as Willow was around, her world was whole. Hell, even Anya made a good friend. If you liked to talk about sex, and orgasms. Then your fine.
"Let me guess, the Watcher's Council blew the roof." Max said with a grin.
"You got that right," Buffy said with a smile, but it slowly sobered when the next episode in her life flashed in her mind. The memory of Sunnydale High school going down in fire, had to be one of the worst. Many lives were lost in that incident, many innocent lives at that. "Would you believe if I told you that I burned my own school down into ashes?" Buffy asked quietly.
Max nodded, her eyes clouding over with something that resembled—pain.
Buffy managed a small smile. "Sometimes, when bad things happen, you gotta make choices, even if both of those choices aren't so good." The slayer lowered her eyes to the floor. "A few months after that incident, I died." She waited for their reactions, they came quickly, but they weren't as shocked as she expected them to be.
"Welcome to the club girl," Max said exaggerating a cheerful grin. "I died too."
"Really? How?" Spike asked interestedly. He loved these kinds of stories, death, blood, and gore. His conscience however gave him a painful tug, but the vampire ignored it. It wasn't always he got to listen to these tales.
"I got shot by my clone," Max said simply as if it was no big deal. "You?"
"I got drowned while battling the Master, an ancient vampire almost impossible to kill." Buffy answered, weirded out at how much she and Max had in common. "I was brought back by my best friend, Xander, through using CPR." Buffy smiled at the thought of her bestest friend. He was the only reason she was able to live through the next couple of years in her life. "How about you?" Buffy asked the X5. "Was it Manticore?"
Max's chocolate brown eyes clouded over for a split second, and her cheerful smile faded in almost an instant replaced by a sad one. "My brother, Zack, killed himself, and gave me his heart." Max said. "Manticore was responsible for the transplant...the next time I saw Zack, he was a walking robot, with no memory of me."
"Wow," Buffy said softly. That was even worse than her. Her brother died for her, which must hurt...a lot. "I'm sorry."
The transgenic nodded, and gestured for her to continue. "Like I said before, when one slayer dies, another is called...her name was Kendra."
"Wait a minute," Max interrupted. "Does that mean that there were two slayers then?"
"Yeah, but she didn't last all that long." Buffy said quietly. "Not many slayers get to live past their eighteenth birthday."
"So then another slayer was called?" Alec asked.
"Yeah. Her name was Faith. Bad news was, her darker side got the better of her. She went rogue after killing one of the Mayor's lackeys." Buffy said with a sad sigh. She and Faith may not have gotten along so well, hell Buffy even hated her at one point in time. But now...now she had forgiven her. "I had to fight her, there was no other way around it. I sent her into a coma and brought her to the hospital. After that, she was taken to jail. And one day, I just received news that she died. I didn't even know how." Buffy said, her eyes on Max the whole time she retold this certain story of Faith.
Max was staring at her, a strange look on her face. Alec seemed to have noticed it too because he raised an eyebrow at the brunette. "Anything wrong Maxie?" he asked, arching an eyebrow.
"I just remembered something, that's all." Max said with a forced smile. "Buffy? Continue?"
"Uhm well after that, I had to save the world from ending when portals from all kinds of hell dimensions opened up. Only my blood can end it. So I sacrificed myself and died...again." Buffy said.
"Again?" Max screeched. "Damn girl, do you have nine lives or something?"
Buffy had to laugh. "Two of my friends were witches, and with the use of very powerful dark magic. They managed to bring me back to life." Buffy paused, as she recalled the terrible feeling of being sucked out of her 'heaven'. "I wasn't too happy about that. When I died, I never really knew if I was at heaven or hell, but either way, I was at peace. And my very own friends tore me out of there."
"Hey guys," Buffy said with an exaggerated grin. "You guys know that third time's the charm right?"
"Wait—you mean you died again?" Alec asked looking stunned.
"Yeah. The Master was resurrected, and as you remembered he was the only one able to kill me, and so he killed me again." Buffy said. "How did I come back to life? The Powers sent me back right here, in Seattle, to unveil a certain prophecy from a special woman's skin." Her eyes locked with Max who looked shocked.
"And that girl is?" Alec asked interestedly.
"Max."
Chapter 16: Unveiled
A prophecy is the foretelling of one's future. An accurate prediction of the upcoming events in one's life. Something that Max never believed in before. But then, anything was possible. She recalled a certain occasion in her life that involved faith and most of all belief. When she was eight and still in Manticore, one of the kids in her unit started to have seizures, bad ones at that. All of them didn't know what to do. They were too scared to ask for help, knowing that their superiors will take him away and take him apart.
It was one of those nights that he had one, it awoke every one of them. They would gather around his bed in a semi-circle but would eventually break apart every time they would hear footsteps coming from the hallway, thinking that they were the guards, checking to see if they were still awake because if they were still awake, then they would be taken to serious beating. It was a common order back at Manticore to do as told, that meant after lights out, everybody should be dead asleep.
But that one night, it wasn't a guard who checked up on them, it was the janitor. A black janitor, who believed with all his heart to what their unit called the 'Blue Lady'. The janitor prayed over the kid who had seizures, and the strangest thing happened, his seizures stopped. After that, they never gave up on the Blue Lady. Not until...Max killed her brother...Ben.
That's why now, she never let's herself get into believing things that weren't real, even prophecies. But after hearing Buffy's life, her factious life, about magic, slayers, vampires, and being brought back to life for three whole times...Max felt herself giving in. Though the distrust was still in the air, she was going to give Buffy a chance,...especially when so many things made sense.
Buffy had talked about the slayer called after her first death, the girl with the name Faith, how she was brought to prison for taking innocent lives. Could this Faith be the Faith Logan told her about,...her mother? It was like pieces to a puzzle, in which Max was trying her best to fit together.
Buffy had said that the prophecy lies on her skin. Would that mean the Runes? If so, what does it say? Does she really know the answer? But what if she was lying through her teeth? What if she really was working for Manticore? Or even worse, working for White? All these questions were making her head dizzy, and she needed answers, she needed them fast, or she swore she was going to kill someone.
"Max," Buffy said snapping her out of her light-headedness. "Do you know who your mother is?" Now that question surprised her. Alec was shooting her a curious glance and Max knew that it was now or never.
"Yeah, I do, actually know who she is." Max said biting her lip before continuing. "Her name's Faith Wilkins."
A spark of sadness flashed behind the slayer's warm hazel eyes. "That's her alright," she said, nodding her affirmation.
"Wait a second—Max, how'd you know about this?" Alec asked, his inquiring gaze drifting from Max to Buffy then back to Max again.
"Logan found it on one of his researches." Max said to Alec then turned her attention back to Buffy. "I know how she died." Max said, feeling culpability spread through her.
Buffy stared at her, reading her guilty gaze. "How?"
"She died giving birth to me," Max said quietly. Because of her superior genes, she had remembered everything the minute she was born, even if they were a little blurry, the voice of her mother was trapped in her head, as well as the cruel ones of the Manticore doctors. "As you know, Manticore had this sick thing of paying women to be planted with embryos in their wombs, and give birth to us. But my mother was different from all of them. She was the only one who didn't want to give her baby up, me."
Buffy looked astonished. "I never knew Faith would have it in her," she said, disbelief in her face. Faith had after all killed, it was strange how she actually cared for someone other than herself.
Alec seemed to have realized something because comprehension dawned on his face. "Then that must be why you don't have any junk DNA—because your mother was a slayer. A person already loaded with enhanced genes.
"Yeah I know, that's what Logan told me. But now that I know what she is, it all makes more sense." Max said nodding. "So Buffy, what exactly is this prophecy?" she asked. Prophecy, fake or not, she was curious to hear it.
"Did something weird sort of become visible on your skin?" Buffy asked.
Alec and Max exchanged a glance, and with Alec's nod of approval, Max rolled up the sleeve of her denim jacket. Buffy moved closer as Max held out her arm. Buffy took it and squinted at the wiggly ink-black figures. "There's some on my back too," she added, smiling inwardly at who had seen those first.
"I think we'd better see that too," Spike drawled from the armchair. That earned him a glare from both Buffy and Alec.
"Will you just *shut up*?" Buffy said to him.
"I HAVE shut up, now's the first time I've spoken since Alec shared his whole 'story'." Spike said rolling his cool blue eyes as he leaned casually back at the rough back of the bottle green armchair.
"That was because you fell *asleep*." Buffy retorted, pulling back a few strands of blonde hair that had fallen across her face while they retold their precious histories.
"Yeah, yeah, don't get your knickers in a twist!" the blonde vamp said in his lilting British accent. They chuckled. Brits had such an amusing way with words, and a way with saying it. But right that very moment, things weren't exactly all so amusing. They had some pressing matters to deal with...like what the Runes was about.
Though she hated to admit it, Max was a tad bit nervous of knowing the meaning of the Runes. She recalled what Renfro had told her just before she blew up Manticore: 'You're the one we've been looking for 452.' That very phrase sent chills down her spine. The Manticore director made it sound so important, so important that it might involve her death.
"Buffy!" Max cut in. "What does the Runes say."
Buffy's mouth shut from arguing with their favorite vampire. A sheepish smile came across her face before her expression turned serious once again.
"Unborn child within thy womb, will end all evil intimidating humanity."
A/N: Once again I THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK THANK everyone who sent their e-mails to me and helped me with this chapter!!! They really really really really helped a lot!!! Thanks again! And remember to REVIEW!!!! And when I say review I mean you!!! Oh, and I want to tell BEAUTIFUL DISGRACE that she SHOULD review because she owes me a bunch of them... :-) See ya'll soon!!