Open Your Eyes: Old Friends
Wesley couldn't believe what was happening, he had been prepared to tell Illyria his feelings – the crazy storm of emotions that was brewing inside him. He didn't really know one hundred percent what he actually felt for her, but it was definitely something far stronger than himself. But now, all that had taken a back seat.
There was trouble lurking ahead and, again, it was their time to save the world once more. It had been two years since the last time such actions had been needed and now here he was again. This time, though, the players were a bit different.
Spike and Angel had showed up with two unexpected visitors – Buffy and Giles. It had been such a long time since he had seen Buffy and almost a decade since seeing Giles. He had heard of their progress with the new Council. Apparently after having ditched her last fling, "The Immortal", Buffy had suddenly had all sorts of revelations and in the end had stayed in London to help Giles.
Everyone else from all the gang was moving on with their lives, settling down and getting married or globe trotting. The only two that still kept at it, fighting the good fight was Giles and his slayer.
That had been an hour ago and he still couldn't get pass his unbelievably bad luck. Had he just been able to have five minutes alone with Illyria then perhaps the stomping pain in his heart would of have already been alleviated. He knew that what ever evil was out there was bad and that his attention was needed on this particular case, but it was as if his head was on the case and his heart somewhere else.
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Illyria watched as they all discussed what was happening. There was trouble and by the look of the two strangers, it was very serious. Instead of participating in the actual conversation Illyria watched quietly from the outside. Her blue eyes would carefully study Wesley. She could tell that he wasn't entirely devoted to what was happening in front of him.
He had wanted to tell her something, perhaps what she had always longed for, but was now scared out of her mind to actually hear. What scared her was what would come next. After finally gaining his love, what would become of them? Would they move back to Seattle? Stay in L.A.? Marry? Live together? All the questions running through her mind were endless and a bit frightful, but in the end – the fear would naturally go away, that she was dead sure of, and the thrill and utter bliss of it all would finally sink in.
But there was still the chance that she was wrong, that he didn't love her. As for that situation, she also had tons of questions.
Basically it all boiled down to two very important questions for her: Did he love her? And if not, would his friendship be enough for her to live with?
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"We're not exactly sure on what kind of force we are dealing with. All we know is that its intentions are deadly. Seven of our potential slayers have already been killed and there are possibly more being killed right now as we speak..." Giles hurried rambling was interrupted by Wesley's own crisp voice.
"Calm down Giles, we need to do this in an orderly fashion, gathering all the facts. Now, you say that all potential slayers are targets...this sounds like the work of the First Evil. I thought you guys had taken care of it three years ago?" Wesley couldn't put all the pieces together; there were so many blank spots.
"This time it's not the First that I'm sure of, but our assailants are targeting all the potentials, killing them and leaving behind a sign branded on their skin." Immediately Buffy removed a couple of photos from her inside coat pocket.
Spreading them on the front desk of the lobby, they all gather around to see them.
"I've never seen a sign like this, definitely goes back a couple of millenniums." Spike commented as he took one of the photos and walked over to Illyria.
Grabbing it from him she studied the sign, it came from her time here on earth millions of years ago, if she could just remember what it meant, Illyira could feel everyone's eyes on her.
"Do you recognize it?" Wesley asked.
"Yes, I now remember. It means "The Order" it was a sign that was branded into the skins of all humans that were exterminated for reasons far greater than the purpose that they served on this earth. Perhaps these potentials of yours were in the way or they are a sacrifice of some sort.
"But for what?" Buffy asked out loud, not targeting the question to anyone specifically. Running her hand through her shoulder length, now brown hair, Spike suddenly noticed something quite interesting on her left hand – a wedding band.
Immediately he looked over at Angel who also had seen it. Shaking their head they both decided to focus on the important task in front of them and ignore such curiosities.
"This "Order" are they a cult?" Giles asked, the direness of the situation had both him and Buffy completely frazzled. Their slayers were being murdered one by one, at an alarming rate. Soon the entire line of slayers would be completely gone and he was afraid that Buffy would be next.
"They were the first vampires to walk the earth, although rare now in days they are far stronger then regular vampires...the sun doesn't affect them at all. The only thing that can harm them is killing the most powerful one, their leader, kill him and the rest are dead too." Illyria explained calmly.
"They're trying to kill all the slayers in order to what?" Giles asked, now he knew who they were up against, but for what reason were they killing?
"That I don't know, but their original purpose is to rule all immortals in order to build a strong army. With this army then they would take over the entire world, rule it and be worshipped as the old Gods use to..." she trailed of remembering the shouts of her army when she would stand before them. But that had been a long time ago and no longer of any importance to her.
"World dominance and they're vampires. Getting rid of the entire line of slayers will provide them free unrestricted access to the world." Angel finally put all the pieces of the puzzle together.
The six of them looked around at each other; this was far worst then anything else. Apocalypses, demons, regular vampires, and witches – they were use to, but this...this meant the entire world. They had to stop them before they killed all the slayers. If all the slayers were annihilated then there would be nothing stopping them from conquering the earth.
"Get all the potentials that are left and bring them here. We have enough room to house them all and it will also force them to come to us", Wesley once more assumed the role of leader that he had thought long gone. He could feel the adrenalin running once more though his body, it had been such a long time but it felt as if he had never been gone in the first place. Perhaps he had been wrong about not being meant to fight the war between good and evil....
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"Did you see what was on her bloody finger?" Spike asked Angel as they both walked into his room. Sitting down on one of the leather chairs he waited for Angel as he changed in the bathroom.
"Yeah, I saw it, it was a wedding band."
"Bloody right! I say we sit her down and demand an explanation..." Spike's rambling was cut short by Angel's stern look.
"It's been three years Spike, she's nothing of ours now and has all the right in the world to move on with her life" Angel was right but still it hurt to accept that she had moved on, clearly forgotten them.
"I wonder who she married? Probably some English twit or worst...one of those Italian stallions!" Spike bitterly cried out, totally ignoring Angel's last comment and still as curious as hell.
"Well, if you're that curious maybe you can talk to Giles, he should know." Angel offered and moved to go back down stairs.
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"There are four slayers remaining, not including Buffy and Faith. I have already talked to Faith and she would be here by morning with the other slayers." Giles informed them all as he took a seat. Rubbing his weary eyes he felt as if he hadn't slept in twenty years.
Looking over at Buffy he gave her a small smile, although she didn't like to show it, she was scared. Not only was her life in danger but also their child's. No one knew, only the two of them – Buffy was two months pregnant and scared out of her mind for her baby's protection.
Not long ago she had come back from Italy and told him that she had always loved him, that there was no one else that could understand her the way he did and that she wanted to spend the rest of her days with him. The moment she had declared her feelings for him he had been the happiest man on earth! Never in a million years had he thought that she would reciprocate his love.
Quickly they had wed, having a small very secret wedding with only the old gang present. Just when they had finally gotten the Council truly up and going, running smoothly, the murder spree had begun. The same day they had found the first slayer dead Buffy had told him that she was pregnant. Now not only was her life in danger, but also their child's. There was far more riding on this then they all knew...they just had to stop this thing. Failure was not an option this time!
TBC