Disclaimer: Hi to anyone who reads these disclaimers, as you should know by now sadly I do NOT own Angel or any of the other wonderful characters created by the genius- Joss Whedon. I do however own the characters described on my page (just click on the blue link to cutepony for those who don't know what to do). This chapter was partly inspired by the second Lord of the Rings movie, so out of politeness, thank you Peter Jackson.
Chapter 8: A day for beginning
Ena woke up late the next morning and left her room to find most of the people from her crew spread out around the living room. The TV was blaring away and she winced at the loud noise and scanned the faces of everyone around her, they were all serious and some of them had the look of one who is in some far away place, or wishing they were.
She new how they felt, she wanted two things, to have her twin back and to be a million miles away from here where Mara couldn't hurt or even find them. The young girl approached the curtained window and peeped around the edge of the curtains looking down at the beach just across the road from the hotel apartment she was currently in. Four figures stood slightly away from the other people who were slowly filling up the small beach. Ena knew who they were and what they were doing.
Della and Taft stood knee deep in the frothing ocean water, Taft with his arms around her as if they were just a young couple staring out at the sea and enjoying the breeze. That wasn't the case, Ena knew that Della's eyes were shut and her mind was searching every nook and cranny of land and sky, Ena knew that Della was searching as far away as her magic could reach.
The other two people were Seth and Asa, by all appearances it looked as if they were sunbaking, taking advantage of the Mexican beach and sun. Asa, indeed would be taking advantage of that but at the same time he was making sure no one disturbed Seth as he did the same as Della. Seth was searching as hard as he could for Bren, and Ena knew that he wouldn't stop searching until he had either found her or he couldn't search any further.
Ena stepped away from the window and looked around at her friends and half-brother, they hadn't moved apart from to shift positions in their chairs or stretch a cramping muscle. Zev appeared to be the only one capable of doing anything else, he had currently achieved the status of the most active in the room. Not a difficult task at the moment but he was at least doing something, even if it was only running his finger around the rim of his empty glass as he stared into it.
Ena shook her head at all of them and began to clear away their dirty dishes from breakfast. No one reacted much to Ena's busy behaviour, they noticed it and would acknowledge her with a grunt or a mumble but no one actually managed to form words.
Once Ena had finished collecting, washing, drying and putting away the dishes she once again surveyed the room and people around her. Her friends didn't seem to be livening up at all and she doubted that one of them was going to find their vocal chords any time soon. She turned her full attention to the room, it wasn't very dirty or messy, in fact it was almost spotless but she had to do something so she set about occupying herself until the four on the beach returned.
By the time that Seth, Della, Taft and Asa returned from their beach trip it was a miracle that Ena hadn't cleaned the room away. Seth and Della looked a little worse for wear from their efforts but they wouldn't make their crew wait any longer.
The moment that they entered the room the whole crew seemed to suddenly be a in a rush to be doing something. Even Spike bothered to do something, although it was only getting Della and Seth each a drink of water it was the thought that counted and from Spike it meant a lot.
Once everyone was finished fussing over Della and Seth they once again settled down to wait for their friends to tell them what they had found during their search. Everyone except for Ena who continued fussing over anything she could find to be fussed about. When she stopped to look for another thing to busy herself with Seth reached out and took her hands, stopping her from wringing the skin off them.
"Sit down," He said in a gentle voice as he pulled her carefully down onto the couch next to him, "I need to be sure that you're okay about all this and I need to know if it all sounds right or if something's missing. You would know best of all of us if something doesn't fit."
Ena pursed her lips and looked meekly down at her lap where she carefully folded her hands as Seth let them go, she nodded her understanding, "So tell me," she murmured.
Seth looked across at Angel who looked at him expectantly, Seth looked at Blaze and then began, "I didn't exactly find much, there was something but it was blocked off from my magic by something else, it was magic but I couldn't break through that barrier. With enough time I might be able to but I couldn't have done that down there on the beach with so many distractions. I did see that Bren hasn't left the general area of that warehouse but every time I tried to find more than that," Seth stopped and shook his head. "I do know that Bren hasn't left that street or the streets around it for about five blocks either way."
Angel nodded, "Anything else?"
Seth nodded and looked down, "Ena's dream last night was right, there was definitely a hurt Unipeg there and Bren's the only one in that area."
"You're sure that it's not just that another Unipeg has come from the Cloud Realm and crash landed?" Trixie asked.
"As much as I would love to prove Seth wrong in that area," Lani said moodily from her armchair, "The elders in the Cloud Realm know that there's already enough Unipegs and their Riders in this area to take care of this planet, they won't send anymore down unless we call for them."
"No one called for any help did they?" Clarissa asked from where she sat on the coffee table.
All of the Unipegs and Riders present shook their heads in answer.
"What about Bren?" Asa asked cautiously.
Ena's head snapped angrily around to face him as an angry fire erupted in her light eyes, "Bren would never do something like that, not even if it cost her life," Ena said sternly.
Asa sank back into his seat, unnerved by Ena's sudden flare of fury, he'd never once gotten on the wrong side of her before and now that he had he really wished that he hadn't.
"Ena he didn't mean to say that to offend Bren," Nab said calmly as he placed his hand on her shoulder, "He was just looking into all possibilities."
The girl looked back down at her hands and nodded, all traces of the fiery anger of a moment ago completely gone, replaced by the meek, submissive, lost girl, mirroring how Bren had appeared the night before.
Angel let everyone digest what they had just heard and seen before he turned to Della, "Find anything more?"
"Not much," Della replied, "Bren was definitely in that area like Seth said, there were also vampires surrounding her. There was quite a variety, all ages and strengths, there were a few possessing knowledge of magic and the ability to use it."
"How many vampires?" Angel asked, "And how many knew how to use magic?"
Della cocked her head in thought, "No less than a hundred vamps maybe two hundred and among them say about five, ten vamps tops can use magic. They've got magical barriers up all over the place protecting it from nosy passers-by or anyone like us trying to find a missing person. This explains why neither Seth nor I could find anything other than these few morsels to go by."
Angel nodded and looked around him assessing each of his companions, he didn't doubt their strength or their courage for a minute but he couldn't let them do anything around Mara at any worse than their best. The next few days would be a test on their abilities and he didn't want any of them to crack under the pressure. He knew somehow that no matter what he had to get Bren back, she had some part to play yet that no other could and Earth needed her to survive. But he also knew that the planet would need all of his crew to keep it safe from the regular apocalypses to which the majority of the planet's population remained completely oblivious.
One by one the members of his crew looked at him, when it came to the decision of what to do, that fell on his shoulders. Angel looked over at Spike and realised that even his defiantly rebellious vampiric grandson was looking at him for the verdict.
Sighing Angel scanned the expectant faces, "Relax, check your weapons, Della and Seth I want both of you to go get some rest, I'll think this over and when I've figured out what to do then I'll tell you."
The crew dispersed and retreated to their preferred areas of the apartment, all except for Spike who stayed in his seat looking straight ahead at the glass top of the coffee table. Angel leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees and putting his head in his hands.
There was silence for a while as both vampires mulled over the events since they'd left the hotel yesterday afternoon.
Eventually Angel broke the silence, "Of all people to get taken hostage I wouldn't have expected it to be Bren, she was so careful when it came to Mara."
"Well no one is perfect, with the possible exception of me," Spike said eyes still locked on the coffee table, "She had to slip up sometime, only thing is that she chose the wrong time to do that."
"That wasn't a slip up, she did that because she loves Ena enough to not want her to have to go through whatever torment that she knew was coming," Angel said, quietly angry.
"Maybe she's been around humans for too long," Spike suggested.
"What do you mean?" Angel asked in annoyance.
"The joys of love made her human and the agonies of love destroyed her," Spike said, "I heard that somewhere and thought it was a load of bull but maybe it has some truth in this case."
"Care to explain?" Angel asked wearily.
"The first part, relevant because she loved Ena so much that in a humanly action she would sacrifice herself, bringing about the second part, Mara will destroy her for giving in to that weakness that her love for Ena made," Spike said in a simple as that tone.
Angel shook his head, it made sense but he couldn't let Mara slowly kill the best chance this world had at surviving, "She still has a very big part to play in saving this world, I can't leave her to be killed, I can't let Mara kill any part of her."
"So what are you going to do about it?" Spike asked.
"We have to get her back, but first we have to find exactly where she is," Angel stopped, frowning, "Della said that there was some sort of barrier blocking her magic so if she and Seth can find a way around it then we can find Bren and start on the rescuing."
"How are they supposed to find a way around it? They're two teenagers, well actually a teenager and a Unipeg who is in all probability older than your age added to mine, but still there's two of them and Della said that there could be ten vampire mages with Mara," Spike stated matter-of-factly.
"Maybe if they merge their power and Della uses the sea again then their combined power will be enough to break through the barrier," Angel said, with that he got up and went to find the two to ask them about the idea.
"Angel," Spike said sharply just as the older vampire was about to leave the room, "What if it doesn't work and they can't break through the barrier? What then?"
"Then we find another way to get to Bren," Angel said quietly before he left the room.
Later that afternoon Seth and Della returned to the beach to test Angel's theory that maybe if they couldn't get through the barrier on their own then they might be able to break through together. Both of them had warned Angel that it might not work and not to be too disappointed if it didn't work out.
Angel watched from a slit in the curtains as the two of them casually made their way across the road and down to the sea, acting like a pair of carefree teenagers. Indeed if they didn't know so much about the bad things in this world then they would be carefree, things would have been a lot different for Angel if the younger members of his crew hadn't found out about the demon's occupying the planet.
Angel kept a close eye on Seth and Della as they dumped their towels on the beach and made their way down to the water. They splashed around for a while so that to any watching them it would just seem that they were two teenagers enjoying their youth and freedom. When they got tired of doing that Angel watched as they stopped and held hands, looking out to sea and watching the afternoon glow on the water. They weren't really focusing on the water, Angel knew that their sight as well as their magic was far away trying to break through the barrier that kept them from pin pointing exactly where Bren was.
Watching them and the area around them Angel didn't move from his seat until he saw them make their way back up the beach towards their towels. He found Asa and brought the young healing mage into the living room to wait for Seth and Della to get back.
Angel waited patiently while Asa made sure that both Seth and Della hadn't overdone anything. When he was done checking them over, Asa pulled Angel aside.
"Any problems?" Angel asked the youth.
"Seth's fine, from what I can tell he hardly broke a sweat, he put in much more of his power than Della did but it hasn't troubled him," Asa replied, "Della on the other hand may have put in too much strength. Not being a Unipeg or related in any way to a divine being she doesn't have Seth's power and control. I think that if you want anyone to do anymore searches by way of magic then let Seth, he can take much more of a magical beating than what that barrier could ever give him."
"Okay," Angel said, "But it's still all right if I ask her questions isn't it? It's not going to put her under any excessive stress?"
Asa chuckled good naturedly, "No, just as long as she doesn't over do it with her magic then she'll be fine," Asa turned to go back to his room but then turned back again, "Oh and no fights for her for a few days, but it'll probably take us that long to find Bren."
Angel nodded grimly, "I wish it were sooner, I don't like knowing that she's in pain and not being able to do anything about it."
"I know," Asa said, "But you can trust Seth to find a way around any problem, that barrier won't stop him for long, especially when it means so much to Blaze."
Angel smiled at Asa's optimism and then returned to Della and Seth, questioning Seth more than Della about what had happened. Nothing had changed, the two of them hadn't been able to break through the barrier even with their power merged. After Angel asked whether Seth could put anymore power into breaking through the barrier Seth lost his temper and Asa came half running out of his room to see what had gotten his friend so worked up.
"What's up Seth?" Asa asked from the mouth of the hallway, "Calm down and tell me what's wrong."
"He wants me to use more power to see if that can break through the barrier, that's what's wrong," Seth replied.
Asa looked at Seth, one eyebrow slightly raised, "All right, sit down, calm down and tell me what the trouble with that is?"
Della answered the question for him when Seth merely continued to pace the room, "Seth has a heck of a lot of power, and he only uses it in small amounts for a reason. If he lets too much of that power loose to break that barrier then he could damage a lot of the buildings around it and it could hurt him to use that much of his power. To do something like that Seth would have to let his magic take over, at least to a certain extent, but unleashing that much power? There's no guarantee that he's going to be able to harness it again."
"You mean he could lose control?" Angel asked steadily.
"Pretty much," Della said, "I don't have enough power that it could cause serious damage if I lost control but Seth? Being the son of a battle goddess as well as a Rider, that amplifies what power he has."
"See Angel," Seth said, having gained control of his temper again, "It's not that I don't want to find Bren but sacrificing possibly everyone in Nogales? She'd understand why I said no."
No one said anything for a long time, then Angel spoke, thinking aloud as much as speaking to those around him, "So we've tried going round the barrier and through the barrier, what about over the barrier?"
"Tried that this morning," Seth said sounding depressed.
"So how else can we find Bren with that barrier there?" Angel mused.
"Angel?" Blaze asked from the hallway.
"What is it?" Angel snapped, sounding annoyed at the interruption of his thinking.
"Angel," Blaze started again, "Ris, Darla and I were thinking about the whole barrier problem."
"You're not the only ones," Asa assured them.
Blaze smiled in his direction before continuing, "Angel it may sound a little on the loco side of things but seeing as we can't go around, over or through the barrier then why don't we try driving Seth or Della inside the barrier and then getting them to try to find Bren. It's a mighty big long shot but, it could work, I think."
"Well at the moment I'm open to suggestions, crazy or not," Angel said with a wry smile, "I guess it's worth a try."
"Then I'll go," Seth said, "Della, I think you might need a bit more than a nights rest to be well enough to use your magic again, no offence meant."
"None taken," Della said, shaking her blue hair out of its pony tail, "I could do with a little extra nap time anyway, now speaking of naps, good night all."
A chorus of good nights followed Della out of the room.
"Seth my dear Rider," Blaze said in a more cheery tone to the one he'd adopted since his Bren had been taken, "I am thinking that it would be a good idea for you to also have a little siesta. You want to be well rested tomorrow when you try searching with your magic again, can't have you running dry on the power part can we?"
"No Mummy," Seth replied cheekily, "I'm going; don't hurt yourself worrying so much."
"I won't," Blaze said as he affectionately ruffled Seth's black hair, "I'll see you in the morning."
"Are you sure that you're not gay?" Spike asked as he entered the room.
"No Spike I'm gay as the fab five and I've had my eye on you for many years," Blaze said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
Spike gave him a strange look, the best that Blaze could make of it was disgust but there was something else there that wasn't revolted by Blaze's words. Blaze shook his head and stopped trying to figure Spike's behaviour, he'd known Spike for years before his days as a vampire began but he still didn't understand his ways at all. Spike headed straight for the kitchen and helped himself to a cup of the cow's blood that was kept in the fridge at all times for him and Angel.
Angel watched the younger vampire closely as Spike drained the cup, put it in the sink, gave it a very quick rinse and returned to his room. Once Spike had left Asa bade everyone present good night and disappeared into the darkness of the hall leaving Angel and Blaze alone in the room.
"Sorry about being so snappish at you when you came in," Angel said to Blaze, "It's just that I hate being powerless to help Bren and…"
As Angel trailed off Blaze looked up at his friend, "Angel it's all right, everyone's getting snappier, we all want to find Bren or something along those lines and get her back, we also want to get Mara out of the picture. It's unnerving to know that someone so ruthless and malevolent, so uncaring is on the loose as it is without knowing that she holds one of our own captive."
Angel nodded, not looking at Blaze, he knew the look what he would see in the boy's eyes. His feelings conflicted so much, his half sister, his leader in battle was being held hostage by his earthly mother, the one who'd raised him and re-shown him the dangers of this world. He knew deep down what had to be done but he wasn't sure if he wanted to do it, or could do it.
Blaze spoke again, breaking the silence that had grown between the two ancient beings, "Angel I would like to go with Seth tomorrow, as protection, I don't doubt that if he had all his strength gathered together and focused on one thing then he would be perfectly capable of caring for himself. But he will have his attention on finding Bren and so will be made vulnerable, he's my Rider and therefore my responsibility. If anything should happen to him then…well let's just hope nothing more does happen."
This time Angel did look into Blaze's eyes, he could see the determination in them, the desperate need to keep the rest of his loved ones safe, there would be no point denying him, he was just asking first to give an idea of what he was willing to do.
Angel nodded his consent to Blaze's wish, he gave a tight smile to his friend, it concealed none of his feelings of worry for each and every member of his crew. Seth and Blaze, having been partnered for life long ago were each others responsibility, the same went for all of the other Unipegs and their Riders. But in the same instance, they were his responsibility, as long as he took them on these missions with him he was responsible for what ever happened to them. It was a heavy task and one that Angel took very seriously.
His thoughts were once again interrupted by Blaze, except this time he wasn't speaking aloud, his voice was in Angel's head, his hand resting on the vampire's shoulder.
"Angel, you do not have to bear this burden of yours alone," His voice said calmly, "All of your crew members from the Cloud Realm are here to help you in your appointed task. We're not only here to protect the children of the Gods and Goddesses."
"It's not your burden to bear Blaze," Angel said aloud, "It's mine as long as I lead you."
"No it isn't Angel," Blaze's mind spoke again, "Your burden is to protect this world and fulfil the prophecy, not to nurse 16 teenagers and one Spike. Let us worry for ourselves, you worry about the task that you have been appointed."
"It's not that simple Blaze," Angel said, "I can't forget that it was me who got us into this."
"It wasn't you who got us into this Angel, we chose to follow you," Blaze reminded him, "We will follow you willingly to whatever end we may meet. Even if you had gotten us into this, you need not worry about getting us out, that we are perfectly capable of doing ourselves."
"Blaze…" Angel began again but was cut off by the firmness of Blaze's mind voice.
"Angel we can take care of ourselves, worry about yourself for once, it would only take one stake to your heart and then the prophecy won't be fulfilled ever, the only worry for us that you need burden yourself with is that we are still by your side, now and always," Blaze finished, breaking the mind link he'd created.
Blaze then raised his hand in a sign of fare well, in this case good night, leaving Angel to ponder over his words of wisdom.
