Chapter Thirty: Mind Games
Phoebe had been standing next to her sister when the cloud suddenly rushed over the cliff edge towards them but now she was on her own. She shouted and walked about waving her arms around but couldn't find anybody else. As she moved about she became aware of a rising dread within her, a feeling that something awful was about to happen and she'd better get out of there as quickly as possible.
"Buffy!" called Willow, "Prue! Anybody?" But there was no reply, just a uniform greyness. Or rather not quite uniform because Willow could just about see shadowy figures moving at the edge of her vision. She moved towards them but could not seem to get any nearer. She thought about calling a witch light but decided against it in order to avoid draining herself any more before she really needed to.
Angel stood motionless. He had decided that whatever happened he would stand firm. If this was The First he was determined not to let it get to him again in the way it had done before. He had not expected everybody else to pretty well vanish but assumed that it was another trick.
As Angel remained in place and looked around him for any tangible sort of threat he heard whispering in his ear. He turned completely around but could see nothing. Listening intently he could not make out any words but the whispering seemed to be getting louder.
"Rona!" called somebody evidently in pain. Rona turned and rushed over to where she thought the voice was coming from but she got it wrong because the voice called again from behind her. "Help me! Please!" Rona dashed back again and only at the last moment managed to stop herself from rushing off the edge of the cliff.
Caridad stood shivering. She was cold, very cold. She started to move around to try to keep warm but she just seemed to be getting colder. "Hello!" she shouted but there was no reply. "What's happening?" she called, but still no response.
It's a trick Caridad told herself, a trick, I'm not really cold. Oh yes I am she thought. Not knowing what else to do she waited, she gripped her sword and waited but as she did so she began to feel afraid. She had been afraid for a long time but this was somehow different, and it was getting worse.
As soon as the cloud appeared all around them Prue tried to use her power to drive it away. Either she was having no affect or all or the cloud that she was moving was simply being replaced by more cloud swirling back into place. She stopped and began to think. This thing plays mind games does it? Well perhaps this cloud is all in the mind. She began to concentrate.
For Buffy everybody gradually faded away. She went towards Willow but couldn't find her. At last she saw somebody standing still, holding a sword. It was Angel. He confirmed that like Buffy he had not been able to see or hear anybody else once the cloud had arrived. Together they walked through the thick clouds of vapour to try to find the others but without success.
"I've been thinking," said Angel. "This is Hell. The rules are different here."
"I know," said Buffy. "Not for as long as you did but I've been on a visit before. It was nothing like this though."
"There are many hells," said Angel. "I was there for years or that's what it seemed like. Perhaps we have to stay here for years."
"Time went differently in the hell I visited," said Buffy. "One day on Earth was several years in hell."
"It was the same for Connor," said Angel. "He was only gone for a few weeks but years passed in Quortoth. He grew up there from a baby to a teenager. Maybe we could be here until we die of old age and only a little time will have gone by on Earth. The First might just have to wait long enough and it wins anyway."
"You don't get old remember," said Buffy. "Anyway I don't believe that. If all it had to do was wait it wouldn't have made all those other attacks."
"Those attacks may not have come from The First," said Angel. "There are more powers than The First down here and we're not exactly popular with any of them."
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Caridad was still cold, freezing cold. She hugged herself, jumped up and down and stamped her feet but nothing seemed to help. She kept moving within a small area but still couldn't see or hear anybody else. She was now quite terrified, terrified of the unknown, terrified of being alone, terrified that she was the last one left and that everything depended on her.
Suddenly she saw it. The stairway leading back up to the Hellmouth. Up those stairs was the way out. Up those stairs were friends. The Whitelighters were still there, they'd be able to help. She began to move in that direction.
Rona tried to stop listening to the voices but they still continued to cry out. She thought she could recognise some of them, they sounded like other potentials that had not made it this far. I've got to stand firm she kept telling herself. I might be the only one left. "You're not gonna trick me again." she shouted remembering how she had nearly fallen over the cliff edge. She started shivering.
Phoebe had considered flying up above the cloud to get away from the awful whatever it was that she knew was coming. The only thing that stopped her was the conviction that leaving the area was exactly what The First wanted her to do. Phoebe was terrified of what was coming but she half believed that the terror had been brought on by the cloud, The First or whatever it was. The other thing that prevented her from moving was another fear entirely.
Phoebe had already lost one sister, maybe two but she still had Paige back on the other side of the Hellmouth. Paige was safe and sound and that's the way Phoebe intended it to stay. If she let this, whatever it was, get past her Paige was the next in line as well as all those millions of people who would die if that meteor came down. As far as Phoebe was concerned nothing was getting past her to attack Paige. There would be at least one sister still standing when this was all over.
Willow had so far been visited by The First in the form of Buffy and then of Tara but she had tested each of them and they had both promptly disappeared. It was quite pathetic really she thought because The First should know that everybody knew by now that it could imitate the dead. It should really come up with a new trick.
But why hasn't it come up with a new trick thought Willow? Why doesn't it pretend to be Giles or Xander or one of the others we've lost since coming in here? Because it can't thought Willow. Perhaps what we've done already has weakened it or perhaps it's just too obvious.
Perhaps it's just distracting me while it works on the others thought Willow. Maybe it's not my turn yet she thought and shuddered. "Whatever you're up to it's not gonna work," shouted Willow. I hope, she added to herself.
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"If this goes on much longer I think we should try to get clear of the cloud," said Angel to Buffy. "It didn't look all that big. Perhaps we can climb above it. We might be able to see everybody else from up above."
"You're wasting your time you know," said Buffy to Angel, "I'm not going anywhere. I know you're not really Angel, you're The First. You can come up with as much gloom and doom as you like, I'm staying right here and you're not gonna reopen the Hellmouth."
Angel or rather The First smiled. "Then you're gonna be here for a very long time," he said. "If fact, with no way out you're dooming not only yourself but everybody else who came down here with you."
"But I'm not dooming the people back on Earth?" asked Buffy picking up on something The First hadn't said. "In that case I'm winning and, more to the point, you're losing."
"You think you know it all now don't you," said Angel/The First. "You know all about The First Evil, all about how to keep the Hellmouth closed, all about how to defeat me. Well think again." With that The First morphed into Joyce Summers and walked towards Buffy. To Buffy's astonishment Joyce/The First slapped Buffy hard across the face.
"You're not my mother!" said Buffy stepping back. "Just because you're now corporeal. You're still The First."
"Yes she is," said a voice behind Buffy. "But I'm not."
Buffy turned to find her mother stood behind her. She turned quickly back to see The First/Joyce still in front of her and rapidly backed away so as to see both Joyces at once.
"This is a trick," said Buffy. "Another trick. I know you're stronger down here. It doesn't make any difference. The Hellmouth stays shut."
"I'm afraid you don't understand Honey," said the new Joyce. "The First always wanted you to shut the Hellmouth. It wants you down here permanently, where you can't stop it doing what it wants back on Earth."
"Then perhaps you'll tell me what it wants to do back on Earth," said Buffy. "Since you know all about it."
"Oh honey," said the new Joyce. "You never used to be like this. Things must have been very hard for you since I died. I'm so sorry."
Buffy took a deep breath and tried to convince herself that the new Joyce wasn't getting to her. "Just... please answer the question."
"OK," said the new Joyce. "The First was woken up when you were pulled out of heaven. It created an imbalance that won't be restored until you return. Until that happens The First can still operate. It can keep trying to become corporeal and eventually it might be able to enter the Higher Realms itself because of the imbalance."
"So what are you saying?" asked Buffy.
"You've got to return," said Joyce. "You've got to go back to Earth and then you've got to return to heaven. It's the only way to stop it. I'll be there with you honey."
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Prue continued to concentrate on trying to see what was there, what was really there, not the fog that she thought was clouding her mind. She knew that Phoebe must be somewhere nearby. There's no way I'm leaving her and I'm just as sure she'd never leave me behind she thought.
Prue had now devised a suitable spell chant and began to chant in a loud voice over and over:
"Clear my mind
Let me see
Bring my sister near to me"
"That's very clever dear," said Patty Halliwell. "But don't you think you should give this a little more thought?"
Prue nearly stopped chanting at the sight of her dead mother but forced herself to ignore her and continue. I'm not going to be distracted by this First thing she thought. It's not mom, not really.
"I think you're making a big mistake," said Patty Halliwell before fading away.
Phoebe heard a whispering but could still see nothing through the fog. She circled slowly with her hands outstretched but could feel nothing. The whispering continued and gradually became louder. Phoebe realised it sounded like Prue. At last she could understand the words of the chant and joined in. As she did so the fog thinned a little to her right and there was her sister. Keeping up the chant she went towards Prue and embraced her.
"OK," said Prue, "That worked, let's continue." She started chanting again with one minor change and Phoebe, holding tightly to her sister's hand once again joined in:
"Clear my mind
Let me see
Bring my friends near to me"
Willow had become used to seeing shadows and hearing whispers but being unable to come to grips with anybody or anything making the shadows or the sounds. She had gotten to the stage of trying to ignore them both. She had decided to throw everything into a last effort spell to try to get rid of the cloud and was trying to work out something suitable when one particular whisper began registering.
The whisper sounded like a chant, a spell chant and she gradually made out the words. She hoped it was the Halliwell sisters but anyway could not see how it would do any harm if she joined in. She added her voice to the chanting and began concentrating on the meaning of the words. Of course she thought as she continued with the chant, this cloud's only in the mind.
The whole cloud began thinning, at least for Prue, Phoebe and Willow. As it did Willow at last saw the sisters nearby and went over to them. Willow clasped hands with both Halliwells and all three witches continued the chant.
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Buffy was now in a quandary. Should she stick to the original plan and stay put thus making sure that the Hellmouth stayed shut or was this second Joyce telling the truth? Was it really her mother and if it was, was she right in what she said or had she been deceived somehow? She suddenly smiled as she realised the solution.
"Now it's you who thinks she knows it all," said Buffy smiling at the new Joyce. "You think you're so clever but you've made a few mistakes and I know you're still The First and not really my mother." In fact Buffy knew nothing of the sort but she had played a little poker with her friends and had decided to bluff. The First doesn't know what I'm thinking she thought or we wouldn't have gotten this far.
"Well it's up to you honey," said the new Joyce. "Maybe you're right. You always knew more about what was going on than I ever did."
"Do you remember the tales of Br'er Rabbit?" said the other Joyce, the admitted Joyce/The First. "Don't throw me on the briar patch!" With that Joyce/The First laughed and disappeared.
Buffy knew the reference very well. The story concerned told of how the crafty rabbit got his enemy to do just what he wanted by telling him not to do just that. The First was still playing games by implying that even if the other Joyce was really the First she was telling Buffy the right thing to do knowing that it was the last thing Buffy would actually do.
Buffy now turned to the remaining Joyce. "You've forgotten something," she said. "You've forgotten I'm The Slayer." And that means I solve problems by fighting them she mentally added. With that Buffy swung the Battle Scythe at Joyce in order to cut her head off.
Buffy had decided to take the bluff the whole way. She still wasn't sure that this new Joyce wasn't really her mother but she did know that her mother was dead so she couldn't kill her and she knew from Tara and Jenny that her mother had moved on. The First on the other hand now seemed to have become corporeal, at least this side of the Hellmouth so perhaps the Scythe could now kill it. Maybe that was The First's big mistake.
The Scythe would have gone through Joyce's neck had she not moved but she jumped back to avoid its swing. Now Joyce snarled and morphed into the giant arthropod form that The First had shown on a few brief occasions. Pretending to be somebody as nice as my mom must be a real strain for something called The First Evil thought Buffy.
The First in its monster form was big and it was fast but that didn't faze Buffy. She was used to fighting big and fast monsters. In fact in the past few hours she'd been fighting bigger and faster creatures than the First was now. Buffy wielding the Battle Scythe was now more formidable than she'd ever been. Try as it might the creature could not get past the fast whirling blade.
Buffy was jubilant. She was right. It wasn't really her mother, it was The First all along and it had been trying to get her to reopen the Hellmouth. No way was she going to allow that to happen now. Now it was all down to fighting and that was just the way she liked it. Now she could really enjoy herself.
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As the witches continued to chant their spell other figures began to appear out of the fog although as they did so it became apparent that the fog had not cleared for them. Rona was standing nervously clutching her sword and glaring suspiciously about her. Angel, less obviously nervous was doing much the same but Buffy and Caridad were missing.
"Look!" said Phoebe pointing upwards. Her call distracted the other witches from continuing their chant but by now the cloud had cleared, at least for the three of them and the halting of the chant did not bring it back.
Phoebe had pointed to Caridad who was twenty feet up the rock face and still climbing.
"What's she doing?" asked Prue.
"She's been tricked by The First," said Willow. "We'd better get her down."
Phoebe flew up alongside Caridad and put her arms around her and then dropped the two of them back to the ground.
"What... what's happening?" said Caridad. "What's going on?" She still seemed to still be unaware of the others as her questions were directed to nobody specific as she glanced around her.
"Caridad!" said Willow taking the girl's arm and looking into her eyes. Suddenly Caridad could see them as the fog faded from her vision.
"You can see OK now?" asked Prue. "No more cloud?"
It turned out that Caridad had thought she was going up a stairway back to the Hellmouth entrance until Phoebe brought her down.
The witches now went over to Angel and Rona and released them from the cloud by calling their names from nearby.
"So where's Buffy?" asked Angel.
"She's here," said Willow. "I can feel her. We just can't see her. The First hasn't finished playing its games." She called Buffy's name but nothing happened.
"We'd better carry on with the spell," said Prue. "We need to bring her out of it with that before we can release her." With that she started another chant which the others quickly joined, even the non-witches:
"Clear my mind
Let me see
Bring The Slayer near to me"
Buffy continued to fight the creature. The fight was taking longer than she had expected but she was in no hurry. The Battle Scythe was proving to be powerful enough to damage The First. She had inflicted wounds on two of its legs and it had slowed down a little from when the fight had started.
The longer the fight went on the more confident Buffy felt. Instead of defending all the time she was attacking more and more. Most of the time now the creature was backing away and Buffy was moving forward. Maybe the magic in the Scythe is strong enough to kill the First thought Buffy.
"Buffy stop!" yelled Willow from behind her and Buffy stopped, more in surprise than anything else.
Buffy had been moving forward towards the creature but now everything seemed to change focus, the ground, the rock walls, the creature, everything.
"You're right on the edge," added Willow. "Move back."
Now Buffy could see two images in front of her. One showed the creature, still threatening her from a few feet away, with its back to the rock wall. The other image showed Buffy that she stood on the edge of the cliff, about to fall onto the plain below. Slowly, still keeping up her guard, she backed away. As she did so the other image and The First faded away.
Everybody gathered round and exchanged details of what had happened to them but Buffy wasn't the only one to keep up her guard with her weapon.
"Does The First count as the seventh horde?" asked Rona. "Because it wasn't exactly a horde. There was only one cloud or only one First Evil and we didn't exactly kill it."
"I think horde was only a very approximate translation of the original wording," said Willow. "Anyway the horde might be all the people it pretends to be."
The cloud had now completely dispersed. "Is that it?" asked Buffy. "Is this real or am I being deceived again? We haven't killed The First but have we beaten it?" I wish Giles were still here she thought. He always had an answer to the difficult questions.
"So what happens next?" asked Phoebe. "If we did win can we leave now? How do we do that without opening the Hellmouth again?"
"I don't think we..." began Prue but she stopped talking as everything around them rapidly faded from sight.