Beginning

Chapter 3.

Disclaimer: I own nothing! Even the storyline isn't the most original…. hehehe.

Note: Hey guys! I'm finally back! Today was the last day of school for the term so you know what that means! MORE UPDATES! I'm now finally back on track so I'll be updating more frequently…enjoy!

Buffy walked out of the office and into the lobby full of people. Her eyes settled on the man who was standing next to Xander.

"Giles!" Buffy said, walking over to where Giles stood. When neither he, nor anybody else replied, she looked around at the suddenly quite room.

"What happened?" Buffy asked.

"Willow and Wesley seem to be on the verge of starting a 'Giles is a stuffy British guy' club. And I don't even understand what is going on." Xander replied. Buffy looked confused as Dawn spoke up, "Uh, Spike, who was Fred?"

Spike looked at Buffy, who was staring at him with an impassive look on her face before speaking. "One of the contenders of Angel Inc. Fred was…" Spike stopped and looked at the ground. "I don't even know how to explain her." Spike said finally.

Buffy glanced at Giles, who looked abashed. "She died?" Buffy asked softly, looking back at Spike. "Fred got sick a couple of days after Wesley and her finally got together. A sarcophagus containing an old one was…uh…. released into Wolfram and Hart and took over her body. Hence Illyria." Gunn spoke up, gesturing towards the old one who was staring at everyone with cautious eyes. Everyone looked at her when Buffy spoke, "You can't kill her?" Buffy asked coldly.

"They couldn't if they tried!" Illyria snapped, turning and storming out the door. "Wes couldn't. She looked too much like…" Gunn drifted off, looking at the now closed door. Silence echoed through the hotel; no one knew what to say.

Spike was the first to break the silence. "So, uh, any clue on what happened to apocalypse now?"

Buffy shook her head, forcing herself to turn her head around to Giles.

Giles took off his glasses and cleaned them. "Well, you could start with what happened." "I don't know. One minute it was mass of demons, the next…poof." Buffy replied.

"Poof?" Giles asked, looking bewildered. "It was more of a pop than a poof." Xander spoke up.

Giles put his glasses back on. "Thank you Xander, that cleared it up greatly." He picked up his bag and placed it onto the counter when Wesley and Willow walked back into the lobby.

"This is all I've got left." Wesley said, placing no more than 6 books on the counter. "The rest of my collection is at Wolfram and Hart. I didn't think I'd need them anymore…" He said, sitting on the chair. When no one replied, Wesley turned around and looked around the room.

"Uh – Where's Illyria?" Wesley asked. "Blue got all snarky when Buffy asked why we didn't kill her. She stormed out in her usual fashion." Spike said, walking to where Wesley put all his remaining books.

Willow pulled Buffy aside. "How's Angel?"

Buffy sighed. "Seriously freaked. But not in the normal way of being freaked, in the broody sort of way which is Angel's known characteristic. Emotions really are void in that man." Buffy finished roughly. Willow raised her eyebrows. "Sorry." Buffy said, "We had words. Not so pleasant."

Just as Buffy finished, the office door creaked open and Angel walked out, looking extremely reluctant.

"Have we got anything?" Angel asked, still looking slightly sulky. Buffy rolled her eyes. "Uh- well, we don't have much to go on." Wesley replied, flipping through a rather old compendium. Angel looked up and saw Giles. "Giles." He said, in the same manner Wesley had greeted him with. Angel also did not forget what little help Giles offered in bringing back Fred. "Angel." Giles nodded, adjusting his glasses. He still looked a little shaken up from Wesley and Willows previous fiery comments.

"Now that we've got that sorted," Buffy began, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms, "What's going on Giles? I'm pretty sure this is the only apocalypse which hasn't ended…apocalypsy." "I'd have to check with some sources but as far as I'm aware this is the only apocalypse in which that has happened. Normally an apocalypse…-" Giles was saying when Wesley muttered,

"An apocalypse."

Everyone turned to face Wesley. "What?" Angel asked. Wesley looked up. "Don't you remember what Lindsey said? This wasn't just an ordinary apocalypse; it was 'the' apocalypse. But it didn't exactly go to plan. We decided to take down the black thorn before they were fully prepared. Therefore we altered the system."

"Ok- Freeze. The black thorn, who are they?" Buffy asked, looking utterly confused. "The black thorn is a society which controls the senior partners doings on earth. They basically run the apocalypses." Wesley said, walking over to the few books Giles had brought. "How come we didn't know about them?" Xander asked. "We didn't either until Angel got himself in." Gunn replied. Everyone's eyes immediately landed on Angel.

"I'm not evil." Angel said. Buffy eyed him beadily. "I'm not!" Angel replied to the glare. 'He did it so he could know what was going down. An inside scoop. Now he's the only living member." Gunn said. "Ok, so you guys go all terminator on the senior partners puppets, murder them all and then the senior partners reign hell on earth in a mass of horrible vengeance?" Willow asked. "That's the general gist of it. But with more complicated plot twists and less mention of pop culture but – wait, you didn't know why you came to fight?" Wesley asked Willow.

"I got a phone call from the coven in England and they told me there was a major battle-a-brewing. Didn't get the cliff notes." Willow replied shrugging.

"So all these apocalypses we've been fighting have only been preparing us for the ultimate?" Buffy asked. Wesley nodded. "Then how come all the demons vanished? Didn't seem real ultimate to me?" Buffy replied. "Still working on it." Dawn spoke up from the table where she was reading one of Wesley's books.

Giles, who had remained quite through all of this, finally spoke up. "So now that the Black thorn is destroyed, who controls the doings on our plane?" Everyone looked at Wesley, "Honestly," He began, "There's no telling what's going to happen next."

Everyone was silent for quite a long period of time before Giles spoke. "I suggest that we all see if we can figure out what happened. All of us shouldn't be cooped up in the hotel, with so few books. Xander, Dawn, you stay here with Wesley and see if you can decipher anything from the texts. Willow, call the coven and see if they know of anything. Buffy, Spike, work the streets, see if you can see any unnatural behaviour-"

"And I'll go to Wolfram and Hart." Angel said.

"Angel, are you sure that's a good idea? You don't know whose there, or how stable the building is." Wesley asked, looking up.

"I'll be fine." He replied walking out the door and letting it close behind him.

Willow looked at Buffy, "He really likes a grand exit doesn't he?"

I hope you liked this chapter. I wrote it all during Religion funnily enough…

Anyways, Next up we see a bit of Buffy and Spike, Wesley and Giles have a conversation and there is an appearance by our favourite geek… REVIEW PLEASE!