Part 18: The Fates' Revelation

Once again, Angel surveyed his home, and muttered to Buffy, "You want me to wake them up this time...or cook?"

Buffy gazed at their houseguests, then said with a malicious gleam in her eyes, "Let Darkmoon wake them up, and we'll cook together."

A panther's roar broke the still morning air, as all within the mansion -- but those who lived there permanently -- started awake suddenly.

"Rise and shine everybody!" Buffy called out from the entrance of the kitchen cheerfully. "Breakfast will be done in half an hour... I'd suggest you get this place clean before then!"

"Coffee is on the dinning room table for all who want it," said Darkmoon as he took on his Familiar form again, his job done.

As people were slowly getting up, Angel shouted from the kitchen, "If this place isn't cleaned up by the time breakfast's ready...you aren't getting any!"

Stillness settled over the group, then everyone exploded into action, either getting a cup of coffee or starting to clean the disaster zone that was the mansion...which had the Slayer laughing hysterically at the sight.

"Why is it that every time we have a party, it has to be at my place?" Angel muttered, as he surveyed everyone eating breakfast.

"Perhaps because yours is the only place they can safely party at, without drawing attention to why they're partying. You also have the biggest home of all the others," Darkmoon said matter-of-factly.

Angel glowered, as he slouched further down in his chair, and said, "I would just like to have the place to myself and Buffy, for once."

The familiar jumped up onto his master's lap, and said as he sat down, "You just want a romantic night with your wife, huh?"

"With no interruptions...whatsoever!" Angel said in agreement.

Just then, Buffy and Angel's Beacons went off, which caused Angel to growl in frustration.

"So what's the emergency, this time, Giles?" Buffy asked in annoyance, Angel uneasily following her into Giles' home.

"The Fates are ready to give you the knowledge of how to defeat the Harpy," Giles said calmly, as he polished his glasses.

It was only then that Buffy and Angel noticed the Fates sitting on Giles' couch.

"Hi!" Buffy said, startled. "Didn't notice you there."

Inclining her head in acknowledgement, Dawn, the Fate of the Past, said as she stood, "It is understandable, my Lady. Until we wish it so, our presences are never known."

"Such is our way," spoke Eve as she too stood.

Nodding, Buffy asked as she crossed her arms and leaned back into Angel, "So...how are we going to do this?"

Cora nodded her understanding, and replied, "We shall go into a trance-state, then you may ask what you need to know."

"When can we do this?" asked Angel softly.

"Now," said Cora as she stood in-between her two sisters, and took their hands in hers, all closing their eyes at once..

The moment there hands touched, the three Fates began to glow faintly green, then blue. They opened their eyes.

"I am the Fate of the Future. Ask of me what you will, Lord and Lady," spoke Eve in a haunting and ageless voice, her eyes blacker than night.

"I am the Fate of the Present. Ask of me what you will, Paladins," said Cora with the voice of a child, her eyes as silver as the stars.

"I am the Fate of the Past. Ask of me what you will, Warriors," spoke Dawn in the voice of an old and wise woman, her eyes whiter than the full moon.

Giles, Angel, and Buffy gazed at the three Fates in awe. After a moment, Giles stepped forward.

"Why did the Harpy come to this plane?"

The light within the Fate of the Past's eyes intensified, before she and her sisters spoke in unison -- their voices eerily filling the room and making it echo --, saying, "The Harpy was brought to this realm by a dark sorceress. The sorceress sought to destroy the last of the Pendragons completely... But her plan failed."

"How so," asked the Watcher.

"She herself was of the Pendragon line. She was the first killed by the Harpy."

"Why did she seek to destroy my mother's bloodline?" Angel asked, his voice low and intense.

"She sought to seek revenge for the wrongdoings of the Pendragon's king's sister...for 'forcing' her to conceive his only child."

"No," Angel whispered as he shook his head, "it was the other way around. He didn't even know who she was when she took him to her bed. Only afterwards did he learn who she was. He did not even know she had conceived until she brought their son to him many years later."

"Words," said the Fates, "spoken by one of this line never rang so true."

"If the goal of the Harpy was to destroy the Pendragon line -- which has happened --, why hasn't she left?" Buffy asked curiously.

"Because one still remains," spoke the Fate of the Present -- her eyes seeming to take on the appearance of rolling storm clouds --, as she looked towards Angel. "As long as he continues to exist, she will hunt for him."

"Only through her destruction will the threat to his life be no more," spoke the Fate of the Future, her eyes seemingly luminous...even though they remained dark.

"Which brings us to our next question: how do we destroy the Harpy?" Buffy asked quietly.

The Fates began to float off of the ground, as their voices filled the room like thunder.

"Dark and Light must join, forever bound.
The Familiar must join with his Master and become the Guardian.
The Bloodline must be acknowledged.
Three powers join and become one.
Three souls bound forever more.
Mounts and Riders reunited.
The Sword returned to its Master's line.
Souls ravaged.
Powers lost.
By Will and Love alone, shall the Harpy be no more."

As one, the three Fates fell to the ground unconscious.