Standing on the Edge of Tomorrow II: The Rising Sun
Notes: Passionate Darkness – In answer to your question, yes, but probably not in the way you expect, and it will happen a bit later in the story.
Previously:
The third Power had been sent through space and time, from the realm of the immortals, the gods, down to the realm of men, in living flesh. More importantly, he was currently lying unconscious on the side of the road just outside of Los Angeles completely vulnerable and alone, without any powers. "Okay, think this through. I can pick him up. Angel left his car," Cordelia said aloud, rushing into Angel's office. "He's so gonna kill me for this," Cordelia said as she threw the car into drive and peeled off down the street.
Chapter One:
It had been six months since the final battle with the First. In that time, much had changed in Sunnydale. First was the unprecedented marriage of two slayers, Buffy and Faith. With the Council now running out of Sunnydale, the rest of the slayers were quickly dispersed around the globe to combat evil on all fronts. "We now have slayers in Rome, Moscow, Mexico City, London, Munich, Sevilla, and Hong Kong. In addition, we have slayers in New York, Chicago, Miami, Houston, and Las Vegas. We're looking to ship slayers out to seven different countries within the week. The Council is to be commended for establishing such a presence this quickly," Giles reported.
"Thank you, Rupert," Jack said, smiling warmly at him. "Have we addressed all issues relating to international communications?" He asked
Kara officially zoned out. There were only so many Council meetings that she could tolerate. Though she found some of the topics interesting, the majority of the meetings were spent discussing administrative issues, rather than anything of substantial relevance to the life of a slayer. Kara sighed and leaned back in her chair, surveying the room. Much had changed in the passed six months. With his newfound Council responsibilities, Giles found himself spending long periods away from the Magic Box. Accordingly, he decided to turn management completely over to Anya, though he retained partial ownership. The ex-vengeance demon couldn't have been happier and eagerly took to work.
She and Xander had just bought a house not far from the Summers residence. Shortly after Buffy and Faith were married, they moved into Kara and Kennedy's house, feeling the need to have some sort of independence. With Spike living out of the basement of her old house, Buffy didn't feel quite as bad about leaving her mother. After all, she still had Dawn. Though Spike wasn't as much protection as a slayer, Buffy trusted his abilities enough to assign him the task of looking after her mother in her absence, which elated the blonde vampire.
Willow and Tara had moved into an apartment near downtown Sunnydale, both advancing rapidly through the Council's ranks. Willow was quickly assigned the task of updating the Council's technology, which she did with gusto. Though the old Council had been opposed to modern methods of doing things, the new Council found them much more efficient. With every slayer and watcher outfitted with laptops and cell phones, communication between continents was practically instantaneous, though there were some kinks that needed to be worked out.
"Are you even remotely paying attention?" Kennedy asked, poking Kara in the side with her elbow.
"Absolutely not," Kara replied, smiling over at her. Kennedy rolled her eyes.
"What are you thinking about then?" Kennedy asked, feigning exasperation. Kara smiled mischievously and slowly licked her lips.
"Much more exciting things than international communication," Kara replied, her voice taking on a sensual tone that made Kennedy's knees turn to jelly.
"Really? Care to elaborate?" Kennedy asked, her voice slightly ragged. She found herself getting lost in Kara's captivating gaze. Kara thought for a moment before smiling widely.
"I would, but you seem to be paying such rapt attention to Jack, I wouldn't want to distract you," she said, before chuckling to herself and looking away. Kennedy glared at her.
"See if you get any tonight," she whispered under her breath. Kara nearly burst out laughing.
"I wouldn't be the only one suffering," she replied, her voice equally as hushed. However, neither spoke quite low enough to escape slayer hearing.
"Didn't you ever learn not to talk about having sex around your parents?" Buffy asked, as Faith desperately tried to control her laughter.
Kara looked over at Buffy and rolled her eyes. "You know, now that you mention it, I don't think we ever discussed that. Must have been the end of the world and all. See the things I missed out on," she said, her tone bordering on sarcastic as she shook her head.
"Pay attention, kid. You might learn something," Faith said, attempting to bring everyone's focus back on the meeting at hand.
"Kid? You do realize I'm older than you, right?" Kara asked.
"You do realize I can still kick your ass, right?" Faith retorted, smirking slightly.
"Yeah, yeah," Kara replied, shifting her attention back to Jack, who was addressing financial concerns. "I gotta get some air," Kara said, discreetly getting out of her chair and walking out of the front door. Though the Council had their own facilities, they always held their meetings at Joyce's house, mostly out of tradition. The Scooby meetings had always been held there.
Kara leaned against the porch railing and looked up at the sky. It was nearing ten o'clock at night and the stars were shining brightly. Looking over at the moon, Kara gazed at it intently. The edges had a red hue to them, almost the color of blood. Closing her eyes, Kara listened to the world around her. Everything seemed in chaos. The wind whispered of betrayals and the ground shifted uneasily. The leaves rustled anxiously and in their voices, carried out through the night air, Kara could hear murder. Her eyes flew open and she stood up straight. Something had happened, something to cause nature to fly into a fit of panic. Kara wracked her brain, trying to figure out what it was, thinking of everything she knew of the future. Though most of that knowledge was useless, now that the First was defeated, some basic details held true.
"Blood on the moon, that's never a good sign," Tara said, walking up behind her.
"Couldn't take it either?" Kara asked, referring to the meeting. Tara smiled and nodded.
"Finances aren't my thing," she replied. "What do you think happened?" Tara asked, her gazing straying up to the moon. Kara followed her eyes and shrugged.
"I don't know. But I have a feeling we'll find out soon enough."
..................................
"Don't crash the car," Cordelia whispered to herself. "Whatever you do, don't crash the car." She was pushing eighty, and though the car handled beautifully, she could easily see herself losing control and destroying Angel's most prized possession, or at least one of them.
Cordelia was finding it nearly impossible to locate the fallen Power. Though she could clearly see him in her mind, every stretch of road looked exactly the same. "I'm never gonna find him," she muttered to herself. "The world's gonna end because of my incompetence," she said, then thought for a moment. "Though I doubt that would really surprise anyone back home."
Just when she had given up hope and was contemplating turning around, she saw someone walking along the side of the road just ahead of her. Squinting her eyes, she noticed that he was stark naked, and it wasn't a particularly bad view. "Bad, bad, naughty thoughts," she said, chastising herself. Pulling the car over to the side of the road, she jumped out and quickly located a blanket in the backseat. She imagined Angel used it when he underestimated exactly when the sun would rise, which he often did, despite all of his two hundred some years to figure it out.
"Hey!" Cordelia called out, cautiously approaching the man. His back was to her and he stopped walking as soon as he heard her voice. "You're Lucian, right? I got a vision about you," she said, drawing closer. He turned slowly and looked back at her, his face masked in shadow.
"I don't know," he said slowly.
"What do you mean you don't know?" Cordelia asked, handing him the blanket as she stopped a few feet in front of him. He graciously accepted it and wrapped it around his body. He stepped closer and the moon revealed his face. Cordelia glanced him over, noticing that he looked much younger than she expected one of the Powers that Be to look. He seemed to be in his mid twenties. His eyes were a deep shade of blue that resembled the color of the waters in Hawaii. Though his face was smooth and youthful, his eyes held a certain quality of wisdom to them that only came with age. His blonde hair was shaved close to his head and stubble adorned his cheeks and chin.
"You said my name was Lucian? I don't remember...I can't. I can't remember who I am," he said quietly. "I just woke up on the side of the road."
"Well, shit," Cordelia muttered to herself. "This just makes everything so much better."
"Where am I?" Lucian asked, looking around.
"Just outside of Los Angeles. It's the year 2004 and you really have to trust me when I tell you that it's not safe for you here. I can explain everything, but you have to get in that car with me," Cordelia said adamantly.
Lucian studied her face for a moment before nodding. "Okay, but first," he said as he and Cordelia began walking back to her car. "What's your name?"
Cordelia smiled and extended her hand. "Cordelia Chase," she said, shaking his hand as he took hers.
"Good to meet you," Lucian responded. "Do you know my last name?"
"I don't think you have one, Luc," Cordelia said, jumping into the driver's seat. "You're a little different from everyone else."
"Where are we going?" Lucian asked as Cordelia started the car. "Back to Los Angeles?"
"No, I'm afraid not," Cordelia replied, pulling back out onto the road. "We're going to Sunnydale."
"What's in Sunnydale?" Lucian asked, settling back in his seat. He found himself becoming more and more comfortable around Cordelia. Though they had just met, he felt like he had known her for a long time.
Cordelia smiled grimly before answering. "Hell."