Sorry I took soooooooo long! But well.. at least it's longer this time.. :D
Chapter 3
Awareness
"Buffy?" Angel uttered in disbelief. He thought that it would just be a simple day; kill the demons and get back to L.A. It became more than that. When they burst through the door, they had expected to see demons, ready with their weapons. When the woman called for the stake, Angel knew that she was a witch. He deduced that the other two with her were witches as well. He was quite surprised when the short-haired woman knew he was a vampire. 'She must be some sort of empath', he thought but when that stake missed his heart by mere inches, he knew he had to get rid of them. He vaguely heard his son defend him. Angel gritted his teeth and pulled out the stake from his shoulder. He heard himself speak something. It could have been incoherent, he didn't know. His vision was going out of focus and he thought he was going to faint but then he saw her, the one true love of his life and suddenly his vision cleared up and he stared into Buffy's eyes.
When Buffy saw Angel, all the pain came flooding back into her being. The pain she felt when he turned into Angellus, the pain when she had to kill him and the pain she had to endure when she learnt that he was alive. 'I was supposed to be away from all this!' her mind whined. She tried to keep her composure and said, "Where are the demons?" Wesley stood in front of her and explained all that had been going on. She realized that there were three other people in the hallway. She knew about Fred and Gunn from Willow but there was this boy standing in front of Angel who looked vaguely familiar but yet she knew that she had never met him before. She was about to speak when one of the women interrupted her.
"Well since we are all here to kill demons and since we don't see any, I suggest we sit somewhere and have a talk about what's going on," Paige said. She wanted this discussed back in the manor where they could use the Power of Three if needed. "And I know just the place," she said, winking at Chris. Chris nodded and the hallway was filled with blue and white swirls of light.
When the whole group rematerialized in the manor, Angel nodded with understanding and stated, "Whitelighters." Gunn managed to croak a feeble 'Whoah!' while the rest were just very confused. Paige nodded at Angel and then said, "Actually, half-whitelighter." She looked at the rest of the group and then said, "Alright people, listen up. We are in my house now so we follow my rules ok," Spike took a step forward and said, "Oh yeah, and what if we don't?" Chris raised his hand and Spike flew backwards, missing the grandfather clock by a few centimeters. Spike gasped for breath and said, "Ok, point taken." Buffy was the next to speak, "I don't know what's going on but if I don't get some answers soon, I'm going to think that he's the demon and I'm going to kick his butt!" She pointed to Lorne and he opened his mouth in surprise and mock hurt. Piper entered with Phoebe at that moment. Obviously, it looked as if Phoebe had told Piper what had just occurred. She directed everyone into the living room and proceeded to tell everyone how they came to know about the demons.
When everyone had exchanged their version of the demon-hunting stint, a momentary understanding settled in the manor. "Ok, so you're the vampire with the soul. Cursed by gypsies over 200 years ago and have been helping innocents ever since. Formerly known as Angellus,' Phoebe read from the Book of Shadows. "You mean he's actually in there?" Spike said, pointing disbelievingly at the Book. "You're in here too. William the Bloody, sired by Angellus. Nothing more than a sidekick," Phoebe read. "What?! Sidekick? I'll show em' who's the bloody sidekick!" Spike roared, shaking his fist at the Gods above. Angel shrugged and Phoebe turned to Buffy. "And you are?" she asked. "The slayer. Vampire slayer," Buffy replied, looking at Angel and Spike. Phoebe got up from the chair and stood with her sisters saying, "and we are the Charmed ones. We are witches.. well just the two of us anyway, Paige is half-whitelighter." Buffy turned to Connor and asked, "What about you?" Connor looked trapped and managed to say, "Uh... I'm Connor." Everyone waited for more and when it looked like it wasn't coming, Angel carried on, "He's my son." Buffy had a questioning look in her eyes but she left it at that. "Wait, vampires can't have children!" Chris interjected. "Long story," Angel replied, not bothering to explain. "And the rest of them are my gang. We work in a law firm by day and kill demons by night. Ok so sometimes, we kill them during the day too," he continued. Paige looked at Dawn and she started, "I'm Dawn, the slayer's sister. Well, maybe not exactly. I'm a key to the different dimensions." She didn't want to be left behind in this place where everyone seemed to be something great. "I'm Willow. I'm a witch too. Not as powerful as the Power of Three though," Willow gushed. Buffy looked at Willow and thought, 'Yeah right, and I'm the Queen of the Underworld.' "But what I really want to know is who's this green fella?" Buffy asked, pointing at Lorne. "Ahem... People call me Lorne. Originally from Pylea, but escaped from a portal. I can read people's destinies when I hear them sing," Lorne said, showing them his winning smile. When no one bothered, he muttered, "I'm severely unappreciated,' and shook his head.
"Wow, so you are like the product of two vampires! Cool!" Dawn gushed. Buffy strained her ears to hear every word and finally understood. Now wonder the boy looked familiar. He looked so much like Darla. Secretly, she seethed and blamed Angel for his betrayal, but then she had betrayed him too by sleeping with Spike. She looked at Spike and winced. She had no idea that he would go through everything he did just to get a soul. She really appreciated him but knew that no one could ever replace Angel in her heart. She once thought that Riley had but then he got married and she had not seen him since. She stood beside the stairway in the manor and secretly wished that she could walk out of there. Everyone seemed engaged in conversations and she felt left out. She looked at Willow and saw her approaching this cute guy with brown hair. 'Great! My best friend deserted me for a guy,' she thought to herself and sighed. Piper approached her and said, "I didn't really introduce myself. I'm Piper," she said. "And I'm Buffy," Buffy replied. "Nice to meet you," Piper smiled. "You're with child?" Buffy asked Piper. "Piper nodded and Buffy muttered a 'congratulations'. Piper acknowledged her statement and said thanks. Buffy nodded and looked back at Angel. "You love him, don't you?" Piper asked Buffy. Buffy wrinkled her eyebrows in curiosity and asked, "How..." Piper smiled and replied, "I know how it feels to have loved and lost. I can recognize that look. It's the look I always give myself when I look in the mirror," Buffy could only nod her head in understanding. She had always been the leader but in this room full of special people, she felt left out.
"Uh... I heard from one of the Charmed Ones that you are from the future?" Willow asked Chris. Chris looked at the woman in front of him and nodded. "So, I'm sure you must have known about this? About this chanced meeting?" she questioned. Chris shook his head. "I swear I heard nothing about this. There was no mention of this meeting," he defended. Willow gave him a curious look and said, "I wasn't questioning your truthfulness. Why are you so defensive?" Chris looked trapped and then sighed, "It's been something of a norm around here. I'm from the future. I keep so many secrets. The Charmed Ones never really trusted until they found out," Chris replied. "Found out what?" Willow pestered. "That I'm a Halliwell. You see, that woman over there, Piper, she's my mother and the child she's carrying is me," he replied, feeling curious as to why he was revealing everything to this complete stranger. Somehow, she managed to put his guard down, which was very unusual. Chris never interacted with strangers. "Oh, that's... tough. You know, watching yourself grow in front of your very eyes," Willow said, unaware of Chris' conflicting emotions. "Yeah, and I'm hurting my mom by avoiding her. It's not that I want to, it's just that something happens to her in the future and I'm afraid of being close to her again," he replied, surprised at himself. This was way too much information. He gave himself a mental punch and steadied himself but looking into this woman's eyes was keeping him from guarding his secrets. "My dad was never around much. Well, not for me anyway. He always had Elder stuff to do. My brother was involved in some event or other, and when he became evil, well.. let's just say, we hardly talked. My mom was great and she loved me as much as she loved my brother but then when she died, my world just collapsed, you know," Chris replied with emotion in his voice. Willow nodded in understanding and said, "Yeah, when Buffy died, I couldn't control myself. I couldn't stand my best friend being taken away from me. I even resorted to raising her from the dead." Chris smiled and then he asked, "Do you have a whiteligher?" "Oh no, I don't. I guess I wasn't meant to become a witch so I was never really assigned one. It was... unexpected," Willow replied.
"So you're a key? To other dimensions?" Connor asked Dawn. Dawn nodded and said, "My life and memories were fabricated. It was created for me. Things that I remember happening in my childhood never really happened at all." Connor could understand, after all he had been through that, when his father fabricated a life for him. Sometimes, having two sets of memories was extremely confusing. Sometimes, he couldn't differentiate between reality and the illusion created for him. "Well, if only you existed in Quor-toth, I could have gotten out of there earlier," Connor said, with a smile. Dawn furrowed her eyebrows in confusion and Connor said, "Long story." Dawn left it at that. She didn't have any boyfriends. Guys never took her seriously and so she counted her blessings that she was chatting up with a cute guy. She decided that she liked him. Behind his confusing life, she could see a wonderful guy with many wonderful qualities.
Spike looked around the room he was in and snorted. 'What a buncha losers,' he thought to himself. So what if they are witches or whitelighters, he really didn't want to be here, in the same room with Buffy. He looked at her and saw her staring at Angel, 'Well so much for the sacrifice I went through. She still has her eye on Peaches,' he thought. 'I'm not sitting around in this bloody room anymore. I'm going to get some bleedin' answers.' Spike stood up and coughed. When no one paid any attention, he rolled his eyes and coughed louder. Still no one even glanced at him. "Can't a vampire have some bleedin' attention around here?" he shouted. Everyone stopped talking and faced him. "Ok... so we have all exchanged pleasantries. Very nice. Now, back to the demons in question. Obviously, we haven't found them yet and I suggest we start doing so before they find us," he said. Angel interrupted and said, "Spike's right. We need someone to tell us what's going on." Piper stepped forward and shouted, "Leo! LEO!" Almost immediately, orbs of blue and white swirls appeared in front of Piper. "Ah... Piper, blessed be. You appear frustrated. A moment of meditation might calm you... down," Leo said as he noticed Piper's swelling tummy. "What..." he started when Piper interrupted him, "Not now. First tell us what's going on!" Piper said, pointing at every group in the room. Leo looked around and said, "I see you have all met. That's good." Piper was surprised. "You mean we were supposed to meet somehow?" she asked. "It was never written in destiny that you should meet but the apocalypse has changed all that," Leo answered. "It has already started," Angel stated. "Yes, it has," Leo said, looking straight at Angel. "Wyatt," Angel recognized. Piper looked confused but refused to interrupt. "It's been a long time, Angel," Leo said. "So it has. I see you're an Elder now, Wyatt. Wasn't it just a few decades ago when you were against them?" Angel questioned. Leo chanced a look at Piper's disapproving face and replied, "I was but that's another story. The slayer," he acknowledged. Buffy nodded and said, "How do we stop the apocalypse?" "You can't. It has to happen. You need to fight it," he revealed. "I believe you have found a house here. Go back and wait. We need to plan our defense," he said to Buffy. He looked at Willow and Chris and said, "Willow, a witch without a whitelighter is technically defenseless and has no way of contact with the Elders. Chris, Willow will be your charge. From this moment on, you have no other charges except for Willow and the Charmed Ones." Chris wanted to object at his ridiculous statement but stopped himself and gave a slight nod. "Connor, you are very special. You were brought to this world not only to kill Shah-jhan but to aid your father in battle. I have something to tell you but it' private so I will speak with you and Angel later," Leo added. Connor furrowed his brows in confusion and muttered an, "All right." Leo's eyes fell on Spike and he said, "William, you have showed us your resilience, loyalty and strength. You are not just a sidekick, we know that much now. Your place in this fight is as important as Connor's. We need you." Spike raised an eyebrow and exclaimed, "You're bloody right that you need me!"
Leo left with Angel and Connor to speak with them in the kitchen. Dawn looked around and felt small. The Elder addressed everyone but her. Did that mean that she was useless? She wanted to cry but didn't want to show signs of weakness. She walked to her sister and said, "Let's go home."
Buffy was impressed with the way Dawn had handled herself. She knew that Dawn was hurting about not having a duty to fulfill. When Dawn wanted to go home, she looked over at Willow. She was still talking to her new whitelighter. She decided to leave her first, to get her acquainted with her whitelighter. They headed towards the door and slipped out. "What is so important, Wyatt?" Angel asked. "I'd prefer it if you called me Leo. That has always been my name," Leo replied. Angel raised an eyebrow and Leo continued, "Anyway, the news I have might cheer you up. It's about Darla." With that, Connor looked directly at Leo's eyes and said, "What about my mother? Is she all right? Is she in trouble." Leo raised his hand in an effort to silence Connor. "She's fine. I just thought you should know that she's now a higher being. The Elders were impressed by her sacrifice. Not every vampire can stake herself to save her child. Now, I need to leave. I believe I have neglected somebody. Till we meet again, Angel," Leo said before orbing out. "I pray that day never comes again, Wyatt," Angel muttered.
Dawn tried with all her might to maintain her stoic composure but it was hard to keep it all in so she allowed a tear to trickle down her cheek. She looked around her room and wished that she was back in her old one. Suddenly, blue orbs filled an empty space in the room. Dawn jumped up from bed and clenched her fists, ready to fight. Leo saw her fighting stance and raised a hand in peace. He noticed the trail the tear left on her cheek and said, "I know that you must be feeling very hurt and left out but let me tell you something. You have a very important place in this world." With that, Dawn brightened and she said, "What's my place? What do I do?" Leo noticed her enthusiasm and announced, "Being the key revokes many rights to your existence but it is not without it's advantages. You have the power to travel through dimensions. You just have to hone that skill and you need to keep practicing fighting." Dawn's eyes widened in disbelief as she said, "But who's going to teach me? Buffy will never have the time. She'll be involved in many things herself!" "There is one who comes to mind. One who has the patience and skills of a professional. One on whom you can rely on. Connor," Leo said. "Connor? But... but... I can't fight in front of a guy! That would be so embarrassing!" Dawn whined. Leo raised a hand and said, "You'll be in good hands, Dawn. I'll inform him to come over tomorrow to train. Learn well, Dawn." With that, he orbed out. "Connor?! I'm going to see Connor tomorrow? Hmm... maybe this trip was not such a bad idea after all," Dawn thought to herself, a cheeky smile plastered on her face.
I knowI probably can't update for another week or so. School projects and all, but i promise to do so asap. Thanks for reading!!