Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow

Note: This should be my religion paper...lovely how inspiration strikes at the most convenient times, isn't it? Also, I must admit that season 7 is a bit fuzzy for me and I don't think I caught all the episodes, so apologies if something isn't quite right.

Previously:

Suddenly the figure began to blur, its molecules rearranging into a new face – Jesse. Buffy blanched, staring into the eyes of Willow and Xander's dead best friend, one of the first people she had failed to save. "From beneath you it devours," he said, and then he was gone.

...............

"That, my dear, is why we called you. We cannot go there ourselves. You must be our emissary," Veronica stood, moving around in front of Kara, and kneeling. Taking Kara's hand in hers, she placed her other hand against Kara's temple. "Close your eyes," she instructed. Kara acquiesced, her eyes fluttering shut. A long moment passed and Kara wondered what was happening. Then a blinding pain stuck her and everything turned white.

Chapter Twenty-Six:

She was running. Her heart was pounding in her chest, squeezing and pushing blood out into her veins at an alarming rate. Echoes bounced off the walls from her feet pounding into the ground. The impact caused vibrations to shoot up her aching legs, burning the muscles. She had never run so fast in her entire life. Behind her, she could still hear the footsteps of her assailant, advancing closer and closer.

It was like a nightmare; no matter how fast she ran, he always seemed to be two steps ahead of her, always lingering, always waiting. She turned back to survey the distance between them, once again dismayed that he had caught up with her. When she turned back around, she noticed too late the figure rushing toward her. He hit her just under the chin with what looked like an iron bar. Her teeth slammed together and she could taste blood in her mouth from biting down on her tongue. The impact stopped her dead, dropping her to the ground.

Her eyes blurred over and when they cleared, she could see a man leaning over her with a knife in his hand. His eyes had been cut out, scarred with xs. He didn't say anything; he just stared at her, seeing nothing, but feeling everything. Then he reached back, and with one swift motion, plunged the knife into her chest. Pain shot through her mind and she mumbled something unintelligible, something in a different tongue.

Buffy shot out of bed at the same moment as Faith, both drenched in sweat, both panting from their nightmares. "Finch?" Buffy asked, looking over at Faith in concern. Faith shook her head.

"Girl getting gutted by some blind guy," she mumbled, falling back onto the bed and rubbing her head with her hand. Buffy didn't say anything; just continued to stare at her. "What?" Faith asked finally.

"I dreamed the same thing," Buffy whispered, lying back down, next to her girlfriend.

"What is that, like a slayer thing?" Faith asked, rolling to the side and propping herself up on an elbow. Buffy mimicked her position.

"Well, we've shared dreams before," Buffy said thoughtfully. "But this was different. We weren't actually in this dream. It was more like a movie, like we were just watching."

"Yeah, a movie with Technicolor and surround sound," Faith muttered. "Tell Giles in the morning?" She asked, running her free hand up the length of Buffy's arm, smiling as her skin reacted to the touch.

"Giles in the morning," Buffy answered distantly, losing herself in Faith's eyes. "Don't wanna go back to sleep," she pouted. Faith smiled wickedly.

"I can think of something else we can do," she said huskily, leaning forward and capturing Buffy's lips with her own.

...........................................

"Ow," Kara muttered as consciousness slammed into her, brining her back to reality. Two things she noticed immediately: she felt tingly all over, as if she had jammed her whole arm in a very large, very powerful electrical socket, and the second, it was damn hot. Opening her eyes, she instantly shut them again after staring directly into the sun. "Ow again," she mumbled, sitting up. Her head throbbed, though the pain was lessening quickly. Rubbing her face, she opened her eyes again and looked around.

She was lying in the middle of the plain that led to the portal of the Powers that Be. In the distance, she could see the rock formation that contained the caves. "How did I get here?" She wondered, distinctly remembering meeting with one of the Powers. However, she didn't remember leaving, much less falling asleep in the middle of an African plain.

The grasses around her were swaying in the breeze, which though hot, had a twinge of cool behind it. The sun was directly overhead, signaling noon. She wondered absently how long she had been laying there. Pulling herself to her feet, she wiped her hands on her black jeans. Something was different. She felt incredibly powerful. Looking down at her hands, she tried to remember what happened. Veronica had knelt before her, said something, and pressed her hand to Kara's head. She didn't remember anything after that.

"You have been safe," a voice behind her said. Spinning around quickly, Kara saw Veronica standing there, smiling indulgently.

"What's going on?" Kara asked. "I thought you couldn't come down here."

"Oh, I'm not really here," Veronica said, walking forward, passing directly through Kara.

"Okay," Kara said, turning back around. "Don't do that again, it's creepy."

"I apologize," Veronica said, a laugh in her smile. "I suppose you're wondering what I did to you?"

"The thought had crossed my mind," Kara muttered.

"Do you see that rock?" Veronica asked, pointing to a stone that lay a couple of feet away.

"Yeah."

"Melt it," Veronica instructed simply. Kara stared at her a moment.

"I can't," she said, wondering what kind of game the Power was playing.

"You can now," Veronica replied. "So melt it."

Kara turned to face the rock. Gazing at it a moment, she focused her mind on making it burn. When the rock burst into flames, melting down into a little pool of mud, Kara nearly fell over in shock. "Damn," she murmured, entirely impressed. "What did you do?"

"We may not be able to go to Sunnydale, but that doesn't mean we can't send our power there," Veronica stated, walking up to Kara. She paused just before the girl, leaning forward to whisper in her ear. "Listen closely."

.............................

Spike faintly whistled as he walked down the street. It was nearly three o'clock in the morning and he had decided to do a bit of grocery shopping at the 24-hour convenience store. He turned down his street, heading toward the house and Callum shared, with a brown, paper grocery bag in the crook of his arm. His missed Kara. She had been gone for nearly four months, without a word. Though Callum usually kept him company at night, the man had a job, and couldn't stay up with Spike through all the wee hours of the morning. Kara, on the other hand, was used to sleeping during the day. When she was around, she and Spike would stay up all night, talking, playing cards, or wandering aimlessly about Sunnydale.

Now he had to wander by himself. He briefly considered dropping by the Summers house to bother Dawn, but he figured Joyce would not particularly approve. Dawn was nearing her sixteenth birthday and everyday that passed, his feelings for her grew stronger. Now, more than ever, he needed Kara around to advise him how to proceed. He had tried to broach the topic with Callum over a couple shots of whiskey, but Spike immediately gathered that Callum was absolutely clueless about romance, or the future for that matter.

Spike chuckled, thinking of how the slayer would react to his dating her sister. He could only imagine the strict curfews, harsh looks, and perpetual threats he would garner from the blonde. Fortunately, he thought Faith would help calm the girl down. After all, he and Faith had become fast friends, and she relatively knew of his feelings toward the teenage key. If any of the Scoobies questioned it, Spike would only have to point to the fact that Buffy started dating Angel when she was fifteen, and Spike was even younger than his mentor.

Spike was so lost in thought that he didn't notice the group of men following him, nor the figure that dashed out behind him and whacked him in the back of the head with something quite heavy. Falling forward, he dropped the bag of groceries, landing on the road. "Not good," he muttered, semi-conscious, as the men picked him up and dragged him away. Then everything went black.

When he awoke, he was chained up, suspended above a very evil looking seal. Instantly, he recognized his location as being somewhere below the new high school, somewhere very close to the Hellmouth, possibly even over it. Two men with x'd out eyes approached him with knives, cutting his wrists. "Hey, that hurt," Spike howled, watching as his blood flowed out and dribbled down onto the seal.

Suddenly the ground began to shake. "Really not good."