A/N: Hey pretty good turnaround this time. Expect the chapters to come somewhat as fast as this one did. Once a week or something like that. ENJOY!

Also if you're feeling really 'help an author out' why not, if it's not too much trouble and time. Check out my new website that I spent a LOT of time on. The link is in my profile and tell me what you think of it. I only have my friends telling me I did a good job and I don't know if I can trust them 'cause there my friends. Now this is only if you have the time. Now pressure at all!

Disclaimer: Alas these characters were created by the wonderful Joss Whedon. He has all the right over them. Some of the characters are my own, but they aren't nearly as good as Joss's.

Distribution: If you actually think that it's good enough to go anywhere, but here, then by all means. Just ask first.

Spoilers: None

Chapter 21:

"That's impossible. You guys must be reading that damn prophecy wrong. And how come I heard the thoughts in Spike and Angel's head. I thought the potion would have worn off already. I mean they're found so why hasn't it worn off. And there is no way that I'm this savior guy." Xander said loudly enough to stir some of the sleeping people as he paced and ran his finger through his hair.

"Xander do calm down. Nothing is certain, but if we go by what the text says then it would only conclude that you are in fact the savior the prophecy talks about." Giles said.

"But, Xander Harris. I mean we're talking about... Xander Harris." Angel said.

"Um... standing right exactly here people. Don't talk about me like I'm in another country." Xander said.

"How come he could still hear our thoughts?" Spike asked.

"Really not the important issue here Spike." Maddy said.

"But what if it is. I mean what if it's directly tied into the prophecy so's we could take care 'f the whelp better." Spike said.

"He's right! Deadboy Jr. is actually right. This is all your fault." Xander said pointing his finger at Maddy.

"Me, what did I do?" Maddy said with slight confusion in her voice.

"I don't know yet, but you did the spell and well I don't really have a point here, but it's your fault." Xander said waving his finger a little more at the last sentence.

"I hardly think that finger pointing is in order. We have to figure out what the rest of the prophecy says." Giles said once again being the voice of reason.

"Okay so what do we got here so far. I mean you said something about a brother sister bond thing and ritual to restore the dead with the blood of something." Maddy said.

"Could that be Buffy. I mean she was restored from the dead by the blood of something or another. Willow didn't really go into the details. She just said black market stuff." Xander said.

"No, it's not a ritual to restore the dead. It's a ritual to invoke the dead. Into something, but then I don't understand how that ties in with the savior." Giles said.

"Then there is somethin' you're missin'. Somethin' prolly in that parts that you can't translate. It's probably the key to all of this." Spike said.

"Okay so we try and figure out a way to translate that part of the prophecy. A translator or perhaps like Spike said some sort of decoder." Angel said.

"Am I going to die." Giles, Spike, Angel, and Maddy turned to see Xander sitting on an empty spot on the ground looking slightly withdrawn.

"Most likely not." Giles said not really sure what to say to reassure the young man. There wasn't a way to tell for sure if this ritual would harm Xander or not.

"You're not going to die, Xander. We are supposed to protect you." Angel said.

"Even if we don't like you that much." Spike said.

"But what if you're only supposed to protect me until it's time for me to die? This is a lot to handle right now. I mean I'm supposed to save the world. I'm just Xander Harris. Glorified brick-layer remember." Xander said.

"Yeah, but you must be somethin' special if you're bein' prophesized about, right. Gotta be somethin' that sets you apart from all the other lil' boys and girls that could've been the savior." Spike said feeling not the least bit odd about comforting someone he considered an enemy for more then four years. Well, maybe a little bit weirded out, but that was to be expected.

"What if that something special is a die real well." Xander said. "I got nothin' left. Someone else's turn." Spike said.

"Xander maybe you should rest for a little while and we'll figure everything out in the morning. Personally I'm tired and need sleep especially if we're going to be battling evil later." Maddy said.

"I think Maddy's right. Rest would be in everyone's best interest at this point in time. There's nothing more we can do with the prophecy tonight." Giles said.

"Okay I think I can sleep." Xander said. He grabbed a pillow and curled up into a tight ball.

"You don't really think the boy is in an immediate danger do you?" Spike asked Giles. Giles fidgeted slightly under Angel and Spike's gaze.

"Well, if he is the savior, I don't think Willow would be too pleased with his living." Giles said.

"But he's obviously a part of her. Connected with her. Do you really think she'd kill him?" Angel asked.

"If the prophecy states that champions should be watching after him then I would say everything we thought before could just be thrown out of the window."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So it's Xander. How did you figure this out? Willow said turning to Amy with bottomless black eyes.

"The seers you have saw Xander standing up against you and almost winning. Their visions were cut off before anything conclusive could be obtained, but they said something about feeling another presence around him." Amy said.

"They could be close to figuring out what's going on. Do we still have a trail on them?" Willow asked.

"The last trail we had on them has mysteriously disappeared." Amy said.

"It could be the Initiative sticking their noses where they don't belong. It's quite possible that they interfered with the tracker." Willow said.

"What would like to do with them. They must be put down." Amy said.

"Yes, they must be put down, but we don't know their motives yet. It's obvious that they went to fix the vampires chip, but why remain here. No, I don't think now is the time to get rid of them. We must see how they interact with the little Scooby gang. There must be something we're missing." Willow said.

"Of course if you say so, Willow." Amy said.

"Tell me what was down with the rock demon that was sent to LA to get rid of Angel." Willow said.

"Brian took care of it. Said he sent the demon back to his home dimension." Amy said.

"Good I don't want another demon running loose in this world. It's mine. Now, go. Leave me." Willow said dismissing Amy with the wave of her hand. Amy left the room and ran into one of the followers.

"So, what did the Dark Mistress say. There are combats ready to be discharged." The frightened young woman said. She was one of the one's from the coven that Willow over took and had no interest in being part of Willow's plan.

"Tell the combats to go ahead. Discharge them." Amy said a grin spreading on her face.

"As you wish."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Okay so if I understand this correctly Xander is supposed to save the world." Faith said after moments of silence.

Everyone woke up pretty late in that afternoon and Giles wasted no time in telling them the details of what the prophecy entailed. Xander sat in a chair fidgeting at the stares everyone was giving him when Giles went through the details of the prophecy and what was to come.

"In a nutshell." Spike said.

"But, I mean no offense Xan, but Xander doesn't have any special abilities." Cordy said.

"That's what I've been saying. How can I save the world? The Zeppo remember. Doughnut boy all around Butt-Monkey." Xander said still protesting vehemently.

"You don't need power. You just need to do this dead ritual thing and then maybe you gain some power. We don't know anything for sure without the last part of the prophecy being translated." Giles said.

"So what does that take. A few more books." Gunn said.

"Quite possibly some muscle, Charles. If we don't have the scrolls then they must be somewhere else. Cordelia did you try all the demon sites we know." Wesley said.

"And then some. Nothing matches up to that text." Cordy said.

"And the vengeance demon files, although were helpful in locating the text, don't hold anything of value. We've checked and re-checked them." Fred said.

"I could go to my list of demon contacts. Talk to D'Hoffran. I'm sure ever since the wedding will it be spell Willow did he's been keeping a running tab on her." Anya said.

"How could that help." Dawn asked.

"He'd have checked into every prophecy he thought had something to do with her. I'm sure he has a running history." Anya said.

"Why didn't you say something before now." Buffy asked.

"Because D'Hoffran was off into some other dimension recruiting more girls. Although I am his favorite he would never have answered my call if he thought that he had some real talent. Hallie said he just go back yesterday." Anya said.

"Good. You should go check in with him. Like right now." Buffy said.

"Okay." Anya said snapping her fingers and disappearing in a swirl of wind.

"Now besides Anya's hunch what else do we have." Buffy said noting the curious looks on the LA gang's faces, but not caring at that point.

"Um... did she just... disappear." Connor asked bravely.

"Yes, she's a vengeance demon. 'S one 'f the many vengeance demon powers. Now back to business." Spike said. Buffy looked at him and gave him a grateful smile.

"Well we could contact the coven again." Giles said.

"I thought you said they were tapped out of ideas." Maddy said.

"They were, but they have seers that could possibly try again." Giles said.

"Too risky and I don't like the maybes." Buffy said.

"Hey I got an idea. It's pretty crazy and out there, but if we've run out of ideas then might as well try this one." Cordy said.

"What is it." Buffy said voicing what everyone else was thinking.

"We can have Lorne read Xander. Have him tell Xander's future. He's done it plenty of times for Angel and most of the time he's been dead on." Cordy said.

"That's not such a bad idea sweetness." Lorne said.

"What do I have to do?" Xander asked hesitantly. "Just sing a little." Angel said.

"Oh no. No, no, no. I swore no more singing after the musical incident." Xander said.

"Xander if it helps then why not. I mean it's not like there are any spontaneously combustible demons around that want to make you his bride." Dawn said.

"Dawnie that was you and no I can't sing. Singing's really bad. It leads to... bad things." Xander said.

"Not really." Spike said remembering that kiss he and Buffy shared in the alley behind the Bronze.

"Yeah not really." Buffy said smiling shyly at Spike.

"But..."

"Your protests aren't going to work Xander. Might as well do it." Cordy said.

"But I don't even know any songs. I mean I do, but there'll all country." Xander said.

"Anythin's better then Manilow." Spike said.

Angel growled at him and said, "It couldn't hurt Xander. I had reservations about doing it at first, but I got over it." Angel said.

"Besides it's not like you sing horribly." Cordy said.

"I do sing horribly." Xander said.

"Anything has to be better then Angel's singing, man." Gunn said.

Angel stopped glaring at Spike long enough to glare at Gunn until the young man wasn't looking at him anymore.

"Come on Xander. Do you want to save Willow or not." Dawn said.

"Good guilt trip, Dawnster. Okay I'll do it. Just give me a second to think up a song." Everyone waited patiently as Xander thought of a song to sing.

His choices were limited considering he didn't listen to much music and he didn't know the words to most of the songs he did listen to.

"We're all waiting patiently." Buffy said.

"Okay I've got one. Here we go." Xander cleared his throat and began to sing.

Did I drive you away? I know what you'll say, You say, "Oh, sing one we know," But I promise you this, I'll always look out for you, That's what I'll do. I say "oh,", I say "oh." My heart is yours It's you that I hold on to That's what I do, And I know I was wrong, But I won't let you down, (Oh yeah, oh yeah, oh yeah, yeah I will, yes I will...) I say "oh," I cry "oh." Yeah I saw sparks, Yeah I saw sparks, And I saw sparks Yeah I saw sparks, Sing it out. La, la, la, la, oh...La, la, la, la, oh...La, la, la, la, oh...

Xander finished his song and looked up to see everyone staring at him.

"I told you I was a bad singer." He said scuffing his foot on the carpet.

"No you were okay. Not the next American Idol, but okay. We were staring because of the song you chose." Lorne said.

"Oh, well it was the only song I could think of at the time and... yeah." Xander finished mentally smacking himself for how stupid he sounded.

"You still miss her." Dawn said.

"Yeah." Xander said. the Scoobies were quite for a second before Angel cleared his throat.

"What did you get Lorne."

"Well, it's not pretty. Not in the beginning anyway. Everything seems to turn out fine for you." Lorne said noticing Xander had blanched a little more at his first statement.

"But you saw what was going to happen right. With the scroll and the inpending apcalypse." Buffy said.

"Well there's not doubt this kid is the savior, but the task that needs to be performed... I didn't get the details, but it involves him and the champions going on a quest of some sort to find the mystical decoder." Lorne said.

"A long quest?" Fred asked.

"No more of a mission really. Go, get the thing and then come back. only thing is I can't really figure out where it is." Lorne said.

"How 'bout a spell. Some sort of locator spell. Done outside of the house." Spike said.

"It's probably our best bet." Giles said. So okay now that we know that much I guess it's time to suit up." Gunn said. "Lorne said it was only the champions." Dawn said.

"Yeah well do you think we're just going to let Angel, Spike and Xander go off on their own. Who cares about what hard quest they have to go on. They might end up killing each other." Buffy said.

"Buffy's right. I'm sure they can act civil towards each other, but let's not take that chance." Wesley said.

"'M shocked that you don't have more confidence in me." Spike said.

"It's not that it's just why leave it to three people when bigger numbers are better." Buffy said.

"So we perpare to fight. Shouldn't be to..." Angel was interrupted by a loud knock on the door. The group made their way to the front door and opened it to see Riley Finn and the three agents he introduced during the prior meeting stood there bloodied and battered.

"Hard."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Riley wasn't sure what he and Agents 1, 2, and 3 were doing on Buffy's doorstep. They had run from the attack after half the people the Initiative had sent over were either wounded or killed. The smell of blood would never be one that Riley got used to. It wasn't like he ran right away though.

He had stayed and fought his hardest before he and others were forced to retreat. Being the commanding officer he made the handful of people stay in the safe house while he and Agents 1, 2, and 3 went to do some re-con. They stopped at every sintch in town only to find that most of them were either dead or had skipped town.

So he went to the only place that he knew would have some answers. Sure he knew that Buffy would be slightly pissed off at him for undermining her authority, but surely she would take him in.

"What the hell are you doing here, Riley." Buffy said partically spating Riley's name.

Or maybe not. Riley thought as he searched his brain for some sort of appropriate answer.

"Look, Buffy, we were attacked. We think it was Willow's men." Riley said noting by the way Xander and Dawn glared at him that maybe that wasn't the appropriate thing to say.

"That still doesn't explain why you're here." Buffy said.

"I'm coming to you for help. If we just help each other..."

"We don't need your help, Whitebread, but thanks for not askin'." Spike interjected.

"Look we have orders..."

"Screw your orders. Did your orders say to attack Spike or Angel or Lorne. I think you owe Lorne an apology. Not only did you shoot him you made him listen to Spike and Angel aruging all night." Cordy said.

"I already had Barker apologize for that. I'm sorry for going after them, but we were just making sure everything was fine." Riley said.

"You may be able to fool your troops, but you can't fool me. I saw what you were plannin' on doing'. Gonna try and disect us you were, Finn." Spike said.

"Yeah okay so maybe those were the orders, but you got away." Riley said.

"That really isn't the issue. What if they hadn't got away. You were just going to disect them anyway." Dawn said.

"I don't really take well to people trying to disect me." Angel said a menacing tone in his voice.

"No we were just going to take them in. Make you understand that working with us is the best option. Those were the orders. There wasn't supposed to be any harm done." Riley said.

"That's not what I saw. look, I'm not sure you know how my kind of demon works, but we read people. There destinies and such. And when Angel started singing yet another horrible rendition of Barry Manilow's 'Mandy' I saw you and your little solider guys grabbing us when we're weak and taking us back to your little lab of evil. Facts like that don't lie." Lorne said.

"And it isn't like you aren't known for being gun happy." Xander said.

"So why should we believe that get Spike, Angel and Lorne and disecting them wasn't the plan. Or at least that you couldn't keep a tight enough leash on your men so that they didn't go disecting them." Buffy said.

"Look, Buffy we have no place else to go. we have to have a civil conversation." Riley pleaded.

"I think your done pleading your case, don't you think." Giles said. Buffy was about to shut the door when Patrick stepped up.

"Wait! They went about this the wrong way. I don't want to die, but the witch seems to want us dead. Now I'm not just going to stand around and let that happen. I have information you might find useful. Please just let us in and I'll share everything I know." Patrick said.

"Agent One this is unauthorized." Riley said harshly.

"Who cares. I'm not cut out for this life. my dad's the one that made me join this stupid branch. Just because I'm good at languages and intelligence and stuff like that. I don't even want to be here. If they can keep us safe then I'll do whatever they say. Even if that means dancing around in a tutu. I'm too young to die." Patrick said.

"Maybe Pat's right. I mean this is bigger then anything I've ever faced and I've been doing this for a year." Greg said.

"You guys are just traitors. I don't even know why we're here with all these demons." Jack said.

"Because we have nowhere else to go. Okay I'll tell you everything if you let us come in." Riley said.

"And you'll take down the spell around the house. We've tried everything we know to break it, but it's damn near inpentrable." Wes said.

"Yes, we'll do anything. Just please let us in to clean up." Patrick said.

"Okay, but no funny business. One foot out of line and you get up close and personal with William the Bloody and Angelus. Trust me, that's not something you want to do." Buffy said.

"Right no, funny business. Just us coming in, washing off and telling you everything we know." Patrick said.

"Alright come in, but don't get blood on anything."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"What the hell happened! Where is the Initiative? I thought you said we had a running track on them?" Willow yelled at Amy in a furious rage. Green light partically enevolped her.

"I don't know. Someone must have given the order to attack them." Amy said wondering if maybe she should have looked up a career in acting.

"What do you mean someone must have given the order to attack them? Who would have the audacity to defy me?" Willow asked.

"I don't know. Who have you been having the most problems with." Amy said.

"Brian! He did this. Bring him to me. He will know the consquences of crossing me."

"As you wish Mistress."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"So that's everything you know?" Buffy asked again.

"That was ever last thing. We found one of the followers that had been trailing you guys and we made him talk. Didn't take much pushing. He seemed to be all to willing to spill all the dirty little secrets. He said that they didn't know much, but told us what they did know. He was rather happt that we were going to try and take down the threat." Patrick said.

"But you went an' got yourselves attacked. Very cunning." Spike said in a mocking voice.

"We were doing the best we could. Better then trying to save the witch." Jack said.

*whack*

Xander slapped Jack as hard as he could.

"Okay ow." Xander said. Jack used his left hand to hold his burning cheek.

"Xander we don't need to resort to violence." Riley tried to reason although he was in no position to.

He was sitting on the Summers couch with two vampires, two slayers and a very pissed off Watcher standing in front of him perventing him from leaving or even moving his legs much. The rest of the gang stood quietly in the background waiting for the four men on the couch to somehow get lucky and over through the blockade that was in front of them. Xander turned a steely glare that Riley had never seen on the man before to Jack.

"You talk about here like that again and slap will be the least of your troubles." Xander said in a menacing voice that didn't fit the man but made Jack scrunch back in his seat.

"Way to go whelp. Didn't think you had the stones to pull off something that menacing." Spike said.

"Thanks Spike, I think." Xander replied.

"Okay so we know that Willow knows just aobut everything we know and we know that she's always somehow been two steps ahead of us. That still lives us in nowhere's land." Buffy said.

"Are you sure you're telling us everything?" Angel asked glaring his own special glare. The Initiative members on the couch flinched visibly.

"Yes, that's everything we know. Everything I swear." Patrick said.

"Well, that's not entirely true." Greg said.

"Greg we aren't aloud to disclose that information." Jack said.

"Damn it, Jack people are dying. Half of our people died today. If I have to I'll tell them everything." Greg said.

"What is it you know?" Giles asked in Ripper mode.

"The commanding officers. They know Riley's been weak for some time now since that whole Glen incident and they never really liked Patrick. They told me and Jack that this was a mission to 'Rid the Initiative of all it's expendables'. Riley and Patrick weren't supposed to know the details of what was going on. It was just supposed to be those two that... died, but then we found out about the situation here." Greg said looking anywhere but the shocked look on Riley's faced and the blanched one on Patrick's.

"Jack and I contacted the commanding officers and they said that they had captured a rock type demon. He told them everything. Layouts to the lair, plans of attack, everyone that was there that didn't want to be and everyone that was there because they wanted to be. Everything." Greg said.

"Do you have the layouts with you." Buffy asked.

"No they were most likely destoryed along with the rest of our place. But they did say something about the Kremlock cave. It's somewhere in the forest around here. Anyway it was a storage unit that the Initiative placed everything that wasn't of important value. Scrolls and text and magicks stuff like that. Apparently they've been keeping a small group of seers there. That's why they let Riley and the rest of us come here. Not only were they going to kill Riley and Patrick, they were going to use the ties Riley had with you to try and get you out of the picture." Greg said turning toward Buffy as he said the last sentence.

"So they sent you here to try and gain dominence." Xander said.

"Basically. The seers in the Kremlock Cave contact the Initiative yesterday to say that there was some sort of shift in energy near there in one of the other caves." Greg said.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Buffy asked.

"A new oracle was set up there. Apparently the oracles in LA were killed by something and they just sent new ones down to Earth." Everyone turned around to see Anya standing in the doorway.

"Meeting with D'Hoffran go well." Xander asked.

"Extremely well. Found out a lot of new information. No eye necessary. Apparently we need to talk to those oracles. They hold some sort of key. They can tell us where we can find what we need." Anya said.

"I remember the oracles. Didn't they get killed by that thing that blew up or first office?" Cordy asked.

"Yeah they did. They failed to mention that they could come back." Angel said.

"It's the same people, but in different bodies. They'll know who you are. All you have to do is go to them." Anya said.

"Sounds easy enough." Spike said.

"We'll need something to take to them. They're big on gifts." Angel said.

"Like what?" Dawn asked.

"Anything really. Something shiny and worth something. They like watches." Angel said.

"Here how's this." Maddy said giving them a strange looking necklace. It had a bright blue stone in the middle and was on a sliver chain.

"Should do." Angel said.

"So we go and talk to these oracle guys. Then we fight." Gunn said.

"Only two people are allowed to go. one that's going to talk to the oracles and the person that can perform the ritual. I never really bothered to learn after... I'll need someone to go with me." Angel said.

"Well what makes you think you were voted the person to do this." Spike said.

"Spike it's only logical. Angel has a history with the oracles. They'll be more accepting to him if he goes." Wesley said.

"Who's going to perform the ritual?" Fred asked. everyone looked over at Maddy.

"I don't know everything. I've never heard of these oracle guys before." Maddy said.

"Could they ritual be in one of the books?" Connor asked.

"It can be, but it's better if it's performed by someone who's connected to the Powers." Angel said.

"Oh that'd be me, huh. But I don't even know how to perform this ritual." Cordy said.

"You don't have to. It's something that you just know." Angel said.

"How did you get in after... after Doyle died?" Cordy asked.

"I yelled and screamed and kicked till they let me in. Then Wesley learned it." Angel said.

"Okay good you guys go do that. Find out whatever you can and then hurry back." Buffy said. Cordy and Angel grabbed their coats and walked out of the house.

"Okay so can you let us go now." Jack asked.

"What you thought we were jus' gonna let you leave after that story." Spike said.

"Do we get to tie them up?" Faith asked.

"Yeah I'll even let you make the ropes too tight."

A/N: First I'd like to say the song in this chapter is Coldplay's Sparks

. it is no way mine because I could never write something that beautiful. Next I want to say I know this chapter was boring, but all chapters serve their purpose and this one serves it's. I'm not exactly sure what that is right now, but just know that it does. Lastly, I want to say PLEASE review. If you have time. Hope you thought this chapter was okay.