LEGAL A/N: Buffy the Vampire Slayer and all characters belong to Joss Whedon, Fox, UPN and the WB. The Dead Zone and all characters belong to Shawn & Michael Piller, Stephen King, Lion's Gate Television and USA Network. No profit is being made off of this and no copyright infringement is intended.
NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR: Sequel to Real. Post-BTVS S7 "Chosen" and post-DZ S4 "Vanguard"
10: Destined
"I've gotta quit renting hotel rooms," Johnny sighed as he lit a candle. "Somehow I feel this one's not going to work out very long either." He and Buffy were, in fact, in a brand new hotel room with the doors firmly locked and the curtains drawn.
"We just have to make sure we get done before sundown," Buffy answered as she lit a candle. A circle of sand was poured on the floor around the room with several candles, both lit and unlit, adorning the circle.
"Are you sure this is going to work?" Johnny asked skeptically.
"It's worked before," she answered. "I remember Giles telling me something about it sometime…"
"Oh," he replied as Buffy handed him another candle. "It's nice to know you remember all the important details."
"Give me a break," she shrugged. "A lot happened that day."
"You found out your little sister was the Key," he answered.
Buffy glanced up at him with a surprised expression. "Yeah… how did you—?"
"One touch," Johnny responded, lifting up a hand.
She gave him a sparkling half-smile. "Should've figured that one out by now." The thought of how hard it would be to keep things from him passed through her mind. However, now it seems that there would be nothing to keep from him. A boyfriend she could be completely honest with. She paused, nearly dropping the lit candle.
Boyfriend, she repeated. It was strange, but not really. In her mind, she had already classified him as such because of their frequent dream visits… moments… and other events that made her blush. She glanced up at him for a second as he lit the next candle, and then quickly pulled her eyes away. She was quite fine with that idea, but had to realize that he wouldn't be. He barely knew her.
"So how does this work?" Johnny asked, breaking her train of thought thankfully.
"Uh… um…" Buffy struggled to get herself on track. "Cloutier's trance will either get us in a connected state of mind," she explained, and added with hesitance, "or transport us to another dimension."
"Again I ask – are you sure this is going to work?"
"You got any other options?" she asked as they came to a stand.
He nodded, "Good point."
Buffy gazed around at the materials for the trance. "Okay," she breathed as she and Johnny sat down facing each other inside the circle. "Monsieur Silky Knickers," she nervously began, "show us your stuff."
Buffy held out her open hands to Johnny, again throwing him off balance. He looked down at her palms, and then gazed up at her. Once more, he found himself hesitating to touch her, but not for the normal, obvious reasons.
They both closed their eyes and joined hands.
After a deep breath, they both opened their eyes to find themselves sitting on a tiled floor in a spacious, darkened room with a familiar scent touching Buffy's nose. Buffy gazed around to view a check out desk with an old computer sitting on top of it next to a set of double doors with circular windows. She looked over to her right to see a locked, metal cage room containing shelves of weapons and musty books.
Johnny looked to the back of the room to see a two-level library with dozens and dozens of bookshelves and a huge, oak table sitting in the middle beneath a darkened skylight window. "Oh, my god," Buffy breathed, gazing around.
"What are we doing in your high school library?" Johnny asked in mystification. He held her hand firmly in his as they both came to a stand. Buffy turned around to face a tall, gorgeous, brunette woman with a tanned face, grey slacks and an expensive grey blouse of lace and silk. Deep brown curls framed her million-dollar smile of warmth as she gazed at Buffy with knowing dark eyes.
The Slayer gazed at her in amazement. "Cordelia?" she declared. Johnny turned around towards the beautiful woman who sat on the reference table casually with her legs crossed.
"Buffy," Cordelia grinned. They stared at each other quietly and in shock for several moments before Cordy offered, "How are you?"
"Psychic," Buffy answered. "You?"
"Dead."
"Dead?" she repeated in bewilderment.
"Yeah…" Cordy frowned. "But… luckily – the Powers owed me one. Or, two to be exact. And since I've already taken care of my boss, consider this my final payback for all those mean things I said about you in high school."
"Oh…" Buffy nodded, struggling to understand and going along with things. "Um… okay. Thanks." She looked over at Johnny, who stood with a bewildered expression. "Um, Johnny… this is Cordelia. Cordelia, Johnny."
"Uh… hi," Johnny smiled with a wave of his hand.
"My pleasure," Cordelia nodded, obviously in control of the situation. "Now, you've got questions. I've got some answers. Shoot."
"Is Ethan behind this?" Buffy asked as she and Johnny approached her, hand-in-hand.
"You betcha," Cordy said. "And this time he's got a little help from his friends. That greasy Stillson guy? One of his lackey's recruited Ethan."
Willow sat at her laptop computer at the hotel room table with Giles, Xander and Dawn surrounding her and Bruce and Walt sitting across from her. Her eyes were going wild reading the top-secret documents which she had hacked her way to. "Ethan Rayne was released from his high-security military prison with a pardon," she announced.
"Odd," Giles declared as he mused to himself. "Why would the President pardon Ethan Rayne?"
"Actually, it was different," Willow answered, shaking her head. "It-it doesn't really make sense. The pardon was signed by someone who usually wouldn't have the authority."
"Who gave him the 'get out of jail free' card?" Xander asked.
"A congressman from Maine," Willow responded, looking up from her computer with a baffled face. "Greg Stillson." Bruce's eyes went wide as he stared at her in bewilderment and sudden worry.
"Stillson?" Johnny repeated with near-surprise. "Since when does he dabble in the dark arts?"
"Since when does Ethan dabble in politics?" Buffy asked.
"You'd be surprised what people will do for money," Cordelia explained. "Ethan wasn't going anywhere without a pardon, and Stillson's people knew that he was the only warlock powerful and dirty enough to do them any good. They sprung him out free due to the fact that the Initiative isn't really there to stop him."
Buffy frowned in confusion. "So… is Stillson a vampire now?"
"No," Cordelia answered, granting them a sigh of relief. "Not yet, at least."
"Come again?" Johnny declared with a worried tone.
"They're planning a big resurrection that's going to make Stillson more powerful than you want to imagine," Cordy announced.
"Whoa, rewind," Buffy answered, wide-eyed. "Exactly what are they planning?"
Cordelia began, "It's said that the most powerful vampire that ever could live would have to be both human and demon. A living vampire. And once this takes place, the vampire no longer walks among ordinary demons. He becomes something much greater… and much scarier."
"A living vampire?" the Slayer repeated. "That doesn't even make sense…"
"Does it have to?" Cordy shrugged. Buffy and Johnny gave each other terrified looks as Cordelia struggled to put it in perspective. "It's okay though," she added and began to ramble. "It takes a while to work. There's like a whole ritual. First, the demon has to possess a host and there's got to be a sacrifice of hatred before it can consume the host's soul. Then you have to kill the host and stop the demon, or save the host by making some sacrifice of love thingy and…"
"Wait," Johnny said, trying to stay calm. "What happens when this thing possesses Stillson completely?"
"He loses the little soul he has left," Cordelia replied, "and becomes an invincible vampire god."
The two of them gave her a deer-in-the-headlights stare. "Oh," Johnny sighed as his problems amplified.
"Suddenly, I think I'm going to miss the disgusting politician in him," Buffy added with a mousy, quiet tone.
Johnny shook his head bitterly. "There's no way we can stop him then," he declared. "He becomes even more powerful than he already is. He wins. Everyone dies."
"Well that's not the 'yay team' spirit," Cordelia frowned. "You wanted more power, Johnny. You've already got it." He looked up at her, stunned.
"Okay," Buffy warily requested, "now is this the part where you explain why I'm getting more psychic and he's getting more Slayer?"
"What's happening to you two is way deeper than either of you could have imagined," she answered.
"What do you mean?" Johnny asked.
"Buffy," Cordy explained, "do you remember the exact date you became a Slayer?"
"June 6, 1995," Giles declared as he read through a file from the Watchers Council's records. He sat beside Willow as they both read the email sent from Andrew in England that Giles had requested. "The seers were alerted on this date and Merrick was assigned. Buffy was only fourteen."
"That's the night of Johnny's accident," Bruce repeated with understanding as he contemplated the eerie flukes.
"This isn't just a coincidence then," Dawn said as she looked up at Giles.
"That could be what's causing the disturbance," Willow answered with a bright, amazed smile. "The meeting of two champions."
"Champions?" Walt repeated.
"If they were indeed destined to be together," Giles replied, "then this is…"
"Fate," Johnny answered, staring at Cordelia in shock. Buffy held tighter onto Johnny's hand as she gazed down at the floor in incomprehension.
"Johnny," Cordelia said, "didn't you find it weird at all that just a year ago you couldn't walk cane-less without feeling like your leg was going to fall off and now you're running Scott-free?"
"You're telling me the hours of physical therapy were pointless?" Johnny reiterated.
"Welll... not completely," Cordelia tried to sound positive. "But just try not to think of the money."
Buffy asked with uncertainty, "So everything that's happened to me as the Slayer—"
"This goes beyond your destiny as a Slayer, Buffy," Cordelia replied. "It's your destiny as a human being. You two were meant to be together at this moment from the days that you were born."
"Which explains why I've been seeing your entire life," Johnny said, looking over at Buffy.
She gazed up at him, overwhelmed. "Everything we've ever done…"
"Led us here," Johnny finished. They stared at each other in stunned silence as he gripped her hand even tighter.
"You have to go now," Cordelia announced with a sympathetic tone. "While there's still time."
Johnny turned to her. "But we don't know—"
"You have everything you need," Cordelia declared comfortingly. "You'll make the right choice."
"You have to give us one more thing," Buffy said with firm resolve. "Armageddon, Cordy. How do we stop it?"
She stared at them both in silence as a frown formed on her face. Cordelia let out a tired sigh. "All right," she shook her head. "Just remember what I told you." In a flash, she reached out and touched them both on the chest, blowing them backwards with an enormous force
Buffy lay unconsciously on the ground with her eyes closed as blood gushed from the left side of her throat.
In the next instant, they could see the fires of Armageddon reverse themselves. They retracted over the Capitol and the Washington Monument, along with the whole of Washington, D.C., leaving the city unblemished and untouched.
Buffy gasped as she opened her eyes and let go of Johnny's hands, reeling back out of the circle inside the hotel room. Johnny's eyes opened as he reached for Buffy, trying to pull her to him. He folded her into his arms, calming her as she panted with horror and wide, teary eyes. Both of them were stunned beyond belief as they sat on the floor of the room in the darkness, the candles having been blown out a long time ago.
"It's okay," Johnny whispered. "It's okay… Everything's okay…"
"No," Buffy lightly answered with a shaky breath, confirming what they both knew to be true. "It's not." She looked up at him with the same fearful eyes that he'd seen before. "The only way to save the world," Buffy explained, "is for me to die."
He could hear the sound of his heart breaking as he gazed down at her wet, green eyes. Johnny felt as if he were losing everything all over again. His wretched curse was coming true. "No," he declared firmly. "No…"
"Johnny," she whispered, shaking her head with pity. He pulled away from her and came to a stand, beginning to pace around the room.
"This isn't happening," he stated in solid denial. "She's wrong. This isn't right. It doesn't make any sense…"
"You know the drill, Johnny," Buffy answered with a grim, yet calm tone. She wiped her tears and added, "If we see it, it's going to come true."
"It's not real," he boldly declared. Johnny faced her, kneeling down and grabbed her by her shoulders as he had dozens of times in her dreams. Buffy gazed up at his breathtaking blue eyes and saw the same strong and resolved man she remembered. He declared, peering into her eyes, "I won't let this happen."
"You heard Cordelia," Buffy whispered hopelessly, shaking her head. "This is the way it is."
"I don't accept that," he answered, shaking his head.
She softly and apologetically replied, "Johnny… You have to."
"No," he firmly repeated, but this time with more desperation in his voice. He pulled his eyes away from her, not being able to stare at those green eyes that saw straight into his soul. He gripped her arms tighter, like a child clinging onto his mother – not wanting to face the fear of his destiny alone. "I won't…" he whispered breathlessly, his voice full of agony and despair. Johnny's voice turned cold with hatred as the memory of Greg Stillson burying his fangs into Buffy's neck flashed through his mind. "I won't let him take you away from me. I… I…"
Buffy watched in anguish as his heart cracked and fell away with his words. Warm tears rolled down her cheeks as she gazed at him. "Please, Johnny…"
"There has to be some other way," he answered, looking up at her with a precious tone of slight hope. She only stared at him with a gloomy expression on her face as she shook her head in pity. He grabbed her face, wiping the tears away from her cheeks as Johnny felt tears coming to his own eyes. "I won't let this happen," he said with all the strength he could muster. His voice began to slowly break as he repeated over and over, "I won't let this happen… I won't let this happen…"
Buffy gazed at him in astonishment and wonder as he continued to hold her tightly. She closed her eyes as Johnny kissed her gently and lovingly. Their touch slowly began to mend their broken hearts as the caressed each other in peace and safety. Buffy wrapped her arms around his neck as Johnny held her close to him and they seemed to kiss for an eternity. They both realized how right Cordy was. Nothing that either had ever done had felt as right or true as their embrace.
For the first time outside of the gates of their visions and dreams, they became whole.
Johnny and Buffy suddenly broke apart as an explosion of shattering wood sounded out near them. The front door of the hotel room blew off the hinges and dissipated into nothing but splinters. Johnny turned towards the open door and the gang of vampires standing outside in the darkness as he wrapped his arms around Buffy instinctively and shielded her from danger.
"Uh oh," a brown-skinned, small vampire girl said as she stood with a twisted grin and a doll in one hand in the doorway. "Past sunset. Time's up."
A brunette vampire woman raised a pistol at Johnny and fired. "No!" Buffy screamed, but Johnny strength wouldn't let her react. He felt a sharp pain in his chest and looked down to see a tranquilizer dart sticking out of his navy blue shirt. A sudden force overtook him, stronger than any he'd ever known, as his body's weight became far too heavy for him to hold up. "Johnny!" he heard Buffy shout as the hoard of vampires rushed into the room towards them. Johnny collapsed on the floor and stared out at the slowly-rising moon. The sounds of loud voices and laughing screams became faint echoes as the world went black.