Sorry this took so long but this chap is 40 pgs long so give me a break!
Balance chp 10: The Realm of Beginnings
"Not more bloody stairs!" groaned Spike, "The way back is going to be a long one!"
"If there is a trip back!" muttered Vi to Rona. Buffy shot them an annoyed look, but said nothing. Connor and Calista went first down the stairs. This was a tunnel of rock, lit by fire, casting eerie shadows around them.
"Are we heading down to hell?" wondered Sorcha her Irish lilt more obvious when she was scared.
"Maybe this is the main hell mouth!" suggested Amanda gulping and tightening her grip on her weapon.
"Well that fish was ugly enough to be from hell." murmured Buffy to herself.
"Have you never heard the saying look fairer, feel fouler?" asked Connor looking at her as he led the way down.
"I have! In Lord of the Rings, that's what Frodo says to Merry when Merry asks if Strider who's really Aragorn can be trusted!" piped Andrew eagerly, Connor gave him a strange look which made him nervous, "I guess you haven't seen it yet." he muttered uncomfortably. Angel couldn't help but smile in amusement, Connor definitely got that intimidating look from him. Connor rolled his eyes then continued to lead the way, his body in an almost animal like movement. He was a fox looking for prey in the dead of night, his eyes missed nothing, his ears detected any noise, his nose followed the scent of the prey, waiting for them to show themselves. They came out of the tunnel and into the last thing they expected.
"Bloody hell!" breathed Spike his eyes wide as they all stared in complete shock at what they saw. Giant trees towered above them, as big as redwoods. Stairs twisted around the trunks to houses in the trees, like children's tree houses, only they were much more intricate and impressive. There were a couple on the ground as well. The top was like a sky of brown stone and green leaves. But that wasn't the thing that had them so shocked, although it wasn't as if they expected to see a forest of trees two kilometres under the earths crust! No, it was the fact that the ground was littered with bodies! Brutally slaughter as if a massacre had taken place here in a place that seemed to be a kind of sanctuary. Some were obviously children and the rest looked like teenagers.
"Oh my god!" gasped Fred looking in shaking horror at the destruction. Dawn clutched Xander's arm and Anya held the other. Willow edged nearer to Kennedy.
"What happened here?" whispered Calista, shaking, Connor held her close.
"What is this place?" asked Wesley looking around, his watcher instincts making him insatiably curious.
"The realm where things began!"
"How do you know Connor?"
"Wes, that wasn't me!" said Connor his eyes wide as he looked around for the voice that sounded like his. Suddenly he froze and said quietly
"Um dad? Do I have a twin?" Angel frowned in utter confusion
"No why?" Connor just pointed behind him and Angel whirled around and like Connor froze. There leaning against a tree trunk, looking completely at ease was Connor! Or at least something that looked like him, except there were deliberate mistakes. The most noticeable one was his face had black lines all over it and the Scoobies were instantly reminded of when Willow was evil and she went all dark she had similar marks to the ones on this guy, another was his outfit, it looked like some thing out of Lord of the Rings, with out the weapons. Then the next thing you notice was his eyes, they were a dark blue almost navy and seemed otherworldly. But other then that he could have been Connor's twin!
"What the hell is going on?" asked Gunn as he looked from Connor to the new guy and back his eyes nearly popping out of their sockets.
"Good question!" said the look alike, straightening and smiling warmly at them, "What is going on? What's this world coming to?" he paused as if thinking, "Hmm, certainly has changed, and not all for the better either."
"I told you the humans would abuse our gifts!" said another voice, and a Calista look alike appeared from behind another tree, except she looked like a wannabe Galadriel, with same styled hair and dress but her face was Calista's. Strange enough the outfit and hair looked good on her and she was obviously not pregnant. Connor and Calista stared in complete shock at them while they looked almost bored.
"Well I was hoping it wouldn't be this bad." sighed Connor's double
"Connacht, I know and we tried our best, but we only gave them chances, it was up to them how to take them." she said quietly.
"Excuse me but what the bloody hell is going on here?" yelled Spike. The two doubles looked at them as if remembering they were there.
"You're in the realm of beginnings." said Connacht as he was apparently called.
"Where thousands of happenings were decided millions of years before they occurred."
"And you are?"
"Them!" said Connacht pointing at Connor and Calista, who were looking more and more shocked each passing moment.
"Or are they us?" asked Calista's double, Connacht gave a half shrug,
"Good question."
"Are you two gonna answer us straight or am I gonna have to hurt you?" threatened Buffy stepping forward.
"Give me your best shot slayer!" said Connacht calmly stepping in front of her. Buffy hesitated then gave a strong swing for his head. Her arm passed right through him, and he was unfazed. Buffy tried a couple more times but still passed through him. "You know you can stop that now." he said sarcastically. Buffy back away a little
"Why can't I hit you? Are you The First?" For the first time the calm look disappeared and he looked completely insulted, he scoffed angrily and turned and paced away, there was much bitterness in his voice
"The First, the beginning of all evil, the plague of my kind, because of It we lost everything," he turned to them, "We lost our families, our children, because of It and Its manipulation!"
"Connacht calm down, they don't know, but they will, we will show them." said the girl. Suddenly Connor and Calista came up to them and they stared at each other. Finally Calista whispered
"Who are you?"
"We are you, you are us, whatever way you want to look at it. My name is Connacht and this is Calida, we were the ones who looked over this place."
"So you were in charge." clarified Connor
"Not so much, but we did keep things running, yes."
"Ok, now why do we look like you?"
"Because you are our reincarnations, more or less." They took a moment to process this information, then Connor asked
"What is this place?"
"This is our realm, it stretches across the world although only underneath it."
"What are you?"
"We are children of vampires!"
"Oh bloody hell, how many are there?" exclaimed Spike throwing his hands up. Connacht's eyes darkened angrily but he said nothing. Calida spoke instead
"We were alive during the demon ages, we were born of true vampires."
"I was the first to be born, Calida was second, after that many more were born, and we met and learned with each other and explored our powers. However it became obvious we were better then the demons, for we aren't demons ourselves, more powerful and stronger." said Connacht, Calida continued
"And for that they hated us, and tried to destroy us. They hunted us like animals, we had no place to go. Our numbers began to drop and we knew we had to find somewhere, so here was the one place the demons couldn't follow."
"It was small at first, little more then a hole in the ground really, but through time we managed to build this." Connacht indicated to the great forest.
"Impressive." complimented Wesley, Connacht nodded
"It is, the greatest realm ever created, one kind all unified by the desire to live."
"Wow!" said Willow.
"What happened to you if you were so great?" asked Xander tactlessly.
"Wait are you two dead?" asked Fred now quiet confused. Connor rolled his eyes and shot her an incredulous look. Connacht suddenly turned and walked away beckoning them. They followed through the mass of bodies each quiet uneasy. Connacht stopped and pointed at one body that was lying on its stomach and the face was hidden.
"Would you mind?" he asked pointing at the body. Connor shrugged and bent down and rolled over the body. The others couldn't see it but Connor let out a yell of fright and shock and jumped back, almost knocking Angel over. Lying there, was Connacht's body, his dark eyes open and staring at them, a dagger in his heart. Connor was breathing heavily and Angel realised that that must have been seriously unnerving for him considering the huge similarities.
"Creepy!" said Andrew bouncing on his feet nervously.
"Gee you think?" snapped Connor irritably, he then became serious again and asked quietly
"What happened here?" Connacht sighed and said
"We'll show you." and closed his eyes. They watched as the bodies disappeared and sounds of chatter and laughter. Slowly the area filled with people again, but they were alive and happy. Some children were chasing each other and giggling. The older people were lying on the grass talking or messing, some were even making out! There was life in everything around them, it could almost be felt in the air. "This is our domain at its prime." said Connacht nostalgically with a sad smile.
"You will see things as they happened." said Calida, "But you cannot interact with this, for they cannot see or hear us."
"Before we go on can I ask you something?"
"Of course!"
"How did you get those marks on your face?" asked Connor motioning to them. Connacht smiled again and traced one of them softly
"It was when I was in a fight with some demons, we had just managed to destroy what you would call an old one, and then a demonic spider jumped on my face and bit me. It turned into a joke after; I could destroy an old one and still be beaten by a small spider. Anyway the poison got through most of my system before they could remove it and stop it from killing me, and stained all my veins black. A little reminder to be a bit more careful on the surface."
"Why are all of the older ones only about eighteen or twenty?" asked Wesley curiously.
"When we reach a certain age, it's never the same with any two people, we just cease to age, you see we gain vampire immortality at that age, and our children inherit it from us."
"How old are you if you're the oldest two of your people?" asked Angel his eyes a bit wide
"I am, without counting the years I've spent dead, four thousand, two hundred and sixty three years old, and Calida is four thousand and two thousand and fifty eight years old." said Connacht patiently, "Now no more questions, it will all be explained if you watch this." They quickly kept quiet and started to watch.
Connacht was eating an apple lying on the grass staring up at the stone that was the sky. He was looking for the images in the crevices and bumps in the stone. Suddenly a shadow passed over him. He knew who it was and deliberately ignore them as they sat down. They sat in silence for many moments until finally they spoke
"You should be in bed Connacht." Connacht sighed and turned his head to look at his concerned friend Orlando.
"This is just as good my friend, besides I've been in bed for two weeks, if I had to stare at that room any longer I would have gone ballistic!"
"Calida was not pleased that you snuck out, need I remind you what happened the last time you went off after a serious injury that almost killed you?"
"Please do, my mind does not recall such a thing." he said in an annoying tone. Orlando sighed irritably and said
"You hid on the healers and then had a relapse and almost died again!"
"Ah yes now I remember, oh well if it happens again then that's just another notch in the belt!" Orlando rolled his eyes and then frowned
"What does another notch in the belt mean?" Connacht smiled in amusement and looked back up at the 'sky'
"It's a saying that will become well known in the new species world. It means that's just another one for the list."
"Oh! By the way, the council is demanding for a name for them, it's annoying to have to call them the new species!"
"Alright, alright! I'll come up with a name for them later on today, right now though all I plan to do is find out why that scluk is eating Washington!" said Connacht. Orlando took on a look of pure bewilderment and he looked up to try and see what he was seeing. Shaking his head he said
"I shall never see what you see in that 'sky' my friend. Well enjoy it while you can because once Calida finds you she will lock you in a cell for a month." Connacht snorted
"Yeah right, like she'd do that… again!" Orlando then stood up and wandered off. Connacht began to hum softly as he stared. He took a bite of his apple and hopped to his feet walking off. He nodded to people who greeted him and smiled, as he made his way up to his private room, no one would bother him there, even though he would have rather stayed outside. However this required for him to sneak past the healing wing. If he was caught he would have to probably stay in the wing instead of his own room and that was even worse because every healer would be watching him with sharp eyes. He was about to run past after making sure he had the all clear when he heard a familiar voice screaming protests coming from the opposite way. A twenty year old looking woman, India, was dragging a five year old boy, Wales, who was kicking and screaming. Calida, of all people, came out into the hall to see who was disturbing the peace and sighed tiredly as she saw the cause.
"Good day India, Wales, is it time for Wales check up already?" The way she said it showed she wished the time between was longer. Connacht turned to get away before Calida saw him but then India called out
"Oh Connacht! Perfect timing, can you come here and convince Wales that there's nothing to worry about?" Connacht cringed inwardly as he turned with an almost comical forced smile. He took in Calida's tight smile and angry eyes and India's sweet smile that told him she'd gotten him caught deliberately. Her son Wales was still trying to get away, but India had an iron grip.
"Sure!" he said with strained cheerfulness. He went over to the trio and crouched before Wales, who stopped struggling to snap to attention. "Wales what's wrong?" he asked calmly. First rule of child pacifying; give the child the chance to explain why their upset.
"I don't want to go to a check up, I always get a poky healer, I don't like being poked!" declared the small boy. Connacht could definitely sympathise with the child, he hated the healers even if his mate was one. He glared up at Calida who was smirking.
"You are loving this far too much!" he stated to her, which only made her smirk even more. He sighed and dropped his chin to his chest for a moment to brace himself for walking straight into a trap. "Wales, you have to go to the healers to make sure that everything's ok, and if you want to grow up big and strong and be able to fight then they have to check you. They do that by poking unfortunately but we all have to go through it, even the healers themselves." The boy looked extremely surprised by this fact, "It's true now the longer you fight the longer it'll take, so you may as well get it over with." Wales sighed and nodded. Connacht ruffled his hair good-naturedly and stood up. India smiled in thanks then went in. He looked at Calida who tapped her foot and smirked at him, waiting, "You're going to kill me, aren't you?" She nodded seriously, he nodded back, saying, "Right I figured." She grabbed him by the ear and dragged him in.
A few hours later Calida was satisfied he was well enough to be out and released him. He literally bolted out of the room, not caring if he was teased about it later. Orlando did tease and laughed at him but he could live with that. After Orlando had had his fun he became serious again.
"We have got to do something Connacht! We have lost five people for this new species, and they don't even know it!"
"Humans!"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Humans, I thought about it and I decided they should be called humans!"
"That has got to be the most ridiculous name you've come up with yet!"
"Even more ridiculous then dinosaur?"
"Ten times more! And about that, I don't see how if they will call demons demons that they have to call them dinosaurs!"
"No you see my friend millions of years from now they will dig up the fossils-"
"The what!"
"The bones of the demons will be found and they will think that they were giant lizards that ruled the earth and then died out."
"And just how did they die out?" Orlando asked sarcastically
"Oh I never did that part, I just left it for them to figure out on their own!" said Connacht, going down a table full of food piling it up on his plate, passing stuff that wouldn't fit to Orlando to carry. The older looking man didn't notice, he was to busy trying to understand his friends reasoning!
"And the demons that survive to the time when they start to dig up these, fo-fosi-fosilies, these bones, will they be called dinosaurs too?" he spluttered, setting down the apple that Connacht just passed him.
"No! They won't be known about by the people who take up studying their ancestors, only a select few will know about them and they will fight them, although by then the line between black and white will be gone and it shall all be grey of different shades. Some demons will even fight for the light." If Orlando had been flustered before it was nothing to how bad he was now.
"Demons fighting for good?" he exclaimed, "I think your sanity's in question Connacht! I don't think Calida was thorough enough with her check up."
"You think too much Orlando." said Connacht with a smile of amusement to himself, his friend was so easy to wind up. Orlando growled and set down the fourth apple Connacht handed him, and continued to talk.
"Connacht, don't you care that we have lost five good people in the same amount of months? What if there are more? What then? Will you just sit back and do nothing?" Connacht stiffened and his eyes narrowed. Slowly he turned around to face Orlando, who realised too late he had played into dangerous territory.
"Don't ever question if I care about every single person here, you know I would bring back every one of them if I could even if the price was high!" he hissed, all smiling and joking gone, "It haunts me to know that they are gone, because I'm the one who told them to go do that fight, to go protect that race! But it's our job Orlando, the powers have commanded us to use our power to give them chance upon chance, gift upon gift, paths upon paths! I know it's hard but we have no other choice, the Powers could easily strip us of all our strength and power and then where would we be? As much as I hate it Orlando it's the lives of the many outweigh the lives of the few or the one, if I could change that I would but I can't without the Powers permission." Connacht sighed and rubbed his face tiredly while Orlando looked ashamed of accusing his friend wrongly, then Connacht exclaimed
"Where's my stuff I gave you to carry?" Orlando stared at him blankly and then growled irritably and said in a whinging tone
"You are impossible!"
"That's why you all love me so much!" smirked Connacht as he picked up a fifth apple and bit into it, wiping his chin with the heel of his hand as the juice ran down it. Orlando sighed and picked up a plate and began to pile on some meat and vegetables.
"How's Pacific?" asked Connacht, speaking of Orlando's mate, Pacific was one of the female warriors, a complete contrast to Orlando, but maybe that's what drew him to her.
"As stubborn as ever. She's not happy you won't let her go out on fights and patrols any more." Connacht sighed and shook his head.
"Well she's five months along, it's just too dangerous for her and the baby!"
"That's what I explained to her but she still wasn't happy."
"I don't care if she's unhappy, as long as she's safe! Keeping her happy is your job!" Connacht was lying there, he hated when people were unhappy, but he had to do the right thing first. Just then Greece came up to them.
"Hello you two!"
"Hi Greece!"
"Good evening!"
"Connacht we need another counsel meeting scheduled!"
"Why?"
"There have been many complaints from the warriors and their families about the new species. They wish for us to wean them off our protection and onto their own." Connacht sighed and rubbed his eyes tiredly.
"First day back after almost dying again, you'd think they'd give me a day to enjoy myself!"
"I'm sorry Con, but we need to get this done, Scotland and Italy are at each other's throats practically."
"What else is new?" asked Connacht sarcastically, "I don't care if they're fighting over the same girl they have to start working together for the counsel to stay together."
"By the way are you sure destroying that city was a good idea?"
"Yes, Mt. Vesuvius will cover that town completely and then in the future people will learn much of that time period and the culture in that part of the world, and can we please talk about this in counsel, I just want to eat!" he whinged like a child. He then walked away from them, but not quick enough to miss them saying
"I think something's going on, he's so unwilling to talk about anything."
"But maybe he just wants to not have to think about it for a day, like he said."
"Well we'll see…" Connacht sighed and sat down enjoying his meal a little less then he had hoped.
"Ok this meeting is now in order and its purpose is to 'wean' the humans off our protection and onto their own, no sniggering at the name!" he said all in one breath. The counsel was in a private room, with no windows and only a table and chairs. There were seven people, Calida, and six men, Connacht, Orlando, Scotland, Italy, Greece, and Germany.
"Well I think we should just stop leaving our realm, stop having anything to do with the world above, we have no ties to it any more, we have all we need here." said Scotland. Italy shot up and cried,
"You would have us abandon a species that has no defence or strength against the demons?"
"They should not be of our concern, we are losing people for them and even if they knew it they wouldn't care."
"You don't know that!" insisted Italy angrily. Scotland stood up,
"Yes I do, these beings kill each other over food and they will have at least one world war!"
"All in the name of progress."
"We make progress and we don't kill each other, or separate off into smaller factions! They do and will continue to do so!"
"They will have different views, different ways, it'll give them reason to share!"
"Or reason to kill!"
"Both of you sit down!" snapped Connacht, "And Scotland get over yourself! We will not abandon the humans just like that, we will give them a defence first then we will slowly back away and disappear. Now any suggestions on how we do that?" There was silence as they looked from one to the other as they thought of ways to protect the species.
"Well what will the humans biggest problem be once the demon age ends as it should very soon?" asked Germany, Connacht chuckled and said
"Vampires!"
"What!" spluttered Orlando, "That's not possible, vampires are at the bottom of the food chain!"
"Well it seems that the vampires that will exist after this present age, will be half breeds, not true vampires like our parents."
"Half breeds?" asked Scotland sitting up and leaning forward.
"Yes, you see, you know vampires aren't reproducing anymore, because, well they hate us, but they found a new way with the humans. They drain them of blood, then make the human drink their blood and that changes the human, turning them into a half vampire, they will have all the memories of their lives as humans but they will be soulless demons!"
"Soulless! But the very fact that vampires have souls is the reason-"
"The reason we exist and why we are on the side of light!" finished Connacht rubbing the bridge of his nose, "This in effect is their new way of reproducing, only, there are a couple of downsides, generally the new vampires are weaker then true vampires, and much easier to kill. Also since they are soulless they will be affected by Christian objects like, the cross, holy water, also fire and they will be burned to ashes if they are exposed to natural light so they in effect are creatures purely of the night while humans are of the day. Fitting in a sense isn't it."
"Wait!" said Greece leaning forward, "If I recall I was out on a defence attack for a large colony of humans and we had defeated the vampires that attacked. A man came up and he was strange, he felt cold and dead. He looked human but then his face… changed, it became like a vampire's and he lunged at us. Thankfully one of our warriors was quick to act and beheaded it."
"Well that's good but next time try to capture one of them so we can experiment!" said Scotland, his dark brown eyes shining with the idea of learning more.
"We'll do our best." said Greece, rolling his eyes once Scotland looked away.
"Back to the matter at hand, how will we defend the humans?"
"Well, didn't the powers say they would choose their own champions?"
"Yes but they will come and go, we need to create something that will always be there!"
"How about some magical defence, like a shield that takes effect when demons are near?" suggested Italy
"That won't work, even if we could do that for the humans that exist right now, there's no way to pass it on to their offspring, the effect would only be temporary and, knowing how short a human lifespan is, a waste of time." said Scotland derisively, his eyes narrowing at the dark haired boy who looked seventeen, but was the same age as him even though he appeared to be twenty five. Italy opened his mouth to retort but caught the murderous look on Connacht's face and clammed up. There was silence for a moment, something that was becoming too common these days. Each knew something was up, but none of them knew what, except that they were being affected, which lead to a cold feeling between everyone. Most tried to ignore it, but the council couldn't.
"Well how about a warrior, a chosen one?" suggested Germany
"I like that, the chosen one." said Orlando, rolling the last three words in his mouth.
"We could have one human and he could have the strength of the average true vampire. We can make it so he can sense a vampire and destroy it."
"But how will they know what they are? Who will train them?" asked Scotland
"What about a society of people who watch over them? They could collect information and then send the warrior out to do the work. They would train them and teach them." said Calida, looking around.
"I like that." said Connacht nodding, "Anything else?"
"What about the name of this warrior? And Connacht, if you come up with some insane, weird name then so help me I will hurt you!" said Orlando looking at him sternly. Connacht mimed locking his mouth and throwing away the key.
"The great defender." suggested Greece
"That sounds like something from a- yeow!" yelped Connacht, glaring at Calida who had kicked him sharply.
"The human saviour!" said Germany, who was trying and failing to hide his amusement.
"Technically that name was taken by Jesus." Connacht said.
"Who?"
"I'll tell you later."
"The Vampire Slayer." murmured Calida softly, her eyes gaining a far away look.
"I like it." said Orlando. There were words and sounds of agreement. "Vampire Slayer it is!"
"Anything else?"
"One more thing." said Calida, "The warrior will be female." There was silence for a long time as the men stared at her in shock, then all at once they spoke
"No way!"
"You can't-"
"-Human woman are treated as good for nothing but breeding and cooking!"
"They'd never be good fighters!"
"Are you all quite finished?" she asked as they quieted.
"Um I am!" said Connacht, raising his hand. Calida shot him a 'not funny' look.
"The warrior will be female for the reasons you have just spoken, if a vampire has a choice of a woman or a man to kill which would it choose?"
"The woman of course."
"Why?"
"Because they're weaker! No offence."
"Exactly and none taken. But what if that woman instead of screaming and crying actually fights the demon and kills it, no one will believe her, and that's what we want, this warrior isn't fighting for glory, it can't because it's too dangerous-"
"And because most human women are weaker in strength, there's no suspicion." finished Connacht smiling as he understood.
"Exactly." nodded Calida
"Has anyone still got a problem with that?" they shook their heads and then Scotland said
"Well if they're going to be female I think we should make it so that they can't have children." Several things happened at once in the next few seconds, Connacht covered his face with his hands, Italy ducked under the table and Calida shot up and slapped Scotland across the face. The sound of her hand hitting his face echoed through the room, making all of them flinch.
"How dare you!" she screeched, "You think you have the right to take away a woman's right to have a child, something that the female of every species has in common! You have no right to even think of taking that away just because the woman will be a warrior, if the warrior was male would you cut off his manhood so he couldn't produce children? No, you're only saying it because the warrior will be a woman, you're no better then the humans if you think a woman can't be a warrior and a mother!" Connacht stood up and grabbed her hand as she raised it again to hit Scotland.
"Ok, ok, easy, easy! Now calm down Calida, we won't do that but I'm sure, or at least hoping, that Scotland had a very good reason for suggesting that, now sit down." Slowly she obeyed, but still glared daggers at Scotland who now had a split lip. Italy poked his head up over the edge of the table and asked
"Is it safe?"
"Uh, yes, I think it is." said Orlando uncertainly. Italy sat in his chair, the corners of his mouth twitching as he looked at Scotland. Connacht sighed and asked
"Is that everything?" they looked at each other and nodded, "Ok then, uh, lets finish this up, paper please!" At once a scroll appeared on the centre of the table and Connacht grabbed it. He opened it to read what had been written and nodded
"Well everything's here, so… who's the unlucky one?" Nobody moved for a moment then slowly and reluctantly Calida raised her hand.
"Me." she said grudgingly. None of them could blame her for being reluctant, she was the one who would have to lead the ritual and give the sacrifices of blood, bone and flesh.
"Well lets get it over with!" said Connacht.
"I hate that ritual, I hate that ritual, I hate that ritual!" was Calida's only words for hours afterwards. The ritual itself wasn't complicated, but whoever was leading it would have to step into the circle made by the six others and place their hands, while holding the scroll with everything written on it, into a special pool of lava. Not exactly pleasant! Calida was used to it as were the rest of the council members, but that didn't stop them from hating the damn thing. Connacht sat beside her as she had her hands and arms bandaged. Finally she was done and she fell back onto the bed.
"Did you get that feeling from the Powers?"
"Like a sadness or sympathetic feeling?"
"Yeah, it was strange, I've never felt that from them before."
"Hmm!" was all Connacht said.
"Well, hopefully things will be alright now, we won't lose any more people."
"Hopefully."
(A few years later)
"Everybody inside, now!" yelled Connacht as the entrances to their safe heaven closed and disappeared, sealing them in, and the demons out. This was the tenth time in four years that they had attacked all the doorways at once. The children of vampires had lost more then thirty people, including Orlando. Connacht and Calida ran up to the top of the tallest tree where their command central was. Calida went over to a window and after a few seconds of gazing through it she said,
"Everyone's present and accounted for!" Connacht nodded and jumped as there was a great bang, the demons were trying to break their way in. He swallowed nervously as Scotland's voice spoke from an unseen place.
"Connacht you'd better send Calida down to the healing wing, Wales was hit in the first wave!" They shared horrified looks and Calida rushed out leaving Connacht on his own to think. Something was seriously wrong, had been since they created the Vampire Slayers. There had been no more beginnings for the humans, no council meetings. To top it off, there was something wrong with their defences, before all this started the demons wouldn't have had a hope in getting this close but now they were very close to breaking in.
"You look a mess Connacht! When was the last time you slept?" Connacht whirled around at the familiar teasing voice, to see Orlando standing there looking at him with concern. He relaxed and took on a bored look.
"Oh it's you!" The First narrowed its eyes at him.
"Feeling tired Connacht? Ready to give up?"
"No not really." said Connacht in that same bored tone.
"Are you still in denial?" it sneered.
"About what?"
"About how your kind is going to be destroyed!"
"Not going to happen!" Connacht sat down behind the table, slouching in his seat and crossed his arm. There was another deafening bang and both looked in the direction it came from.
"Your magic is failing." It smirked
"Come again."
"Oh, come on Connacht stop with the dumb act we both know better then that, a couple of years ago the demons wouldn't have been able to even come within a hundred yards of the entrances to the realm of things begun, yet now they're only a knock away from coming on in."
"Maybe that's what I want, to let them think that they have a chance of beating us and then sending them off to hell."
"If that were true then you wouldn't have told me."
"Why not, it's not like your telling them what to do, because they're way too smart to need help from a… whatever you are."
"You know what I am, I am The First Evil, the cause of all evil, and of course I'm helping them, without me, those demons wouldn't know their back from their front!" snarled The First angrily before it could stop itself. Connacht smirked at it, while it glared at him, furious that it had let him get the best of it again! He was the only creature to have ever gotten under its non-existent skin. Deliberately calming down it said coolly
"So, what if I am helping the demons, does that make a difference, are you still going to hide in fear, like little insects that run and hide in little cracks every time the ground shakes a little." Connacht dropped the casual act and stood up, leaning over the table, his hands resting on the smooth wood. His eyes were cold as ice and intense like a fire, his face a picture of angry determination. It took all of The First's willpower not to show fear; the look was severely intimidating. He spoke quietly but his voice was like a deadly arrow that struck its target.
"You're talking about us feeling fear when the only reason that you're helping the demons is because you know we have the power to destroy you."
"Had the power, but you're losing it, I doubt you could even launch an attack at me with out putting your little safe haven in danger."
"We have enough power to destroy you ten times over!"
"Then why don't you try to." It hissed, leaning closer. Connacht didn't say anything for a minute, then said.
"I bet you'd just love that, attacking you when you expect it, so all your defences would be up, and you had that little friend from the higher plain giving you extra juice, you may be stupid, but I'm not!" The First shrugged saying
"Whether it's now, or in ten years when you've lost everything you won't be able to destroy The First!" Connacht straightened up and gave it a mock salute and then walked around the table and straight through the illusion and out the door saying,
"If I don't, someone will, no evil is invincible." The First smirked, and said to itself thinking he couldn't hear it,
"Neither is good!" Connacht stopped and said over his shoulder
"At least we acknowledge it."
Connacht walked into the healing wing, recoiling at the feeling in the room. Death! Going to the only occupied bed in the large beautiful room, he sighed sadly at the sight. Wales was pale as snow and he was clearly in a lot of pain from the horrid stab wound in his stomach. India was crying silently, Calida gently stroking the boys' forehead. Wales opened his eyes and looked at Connacht who smiled sadly, and squeezed his shoulder gently.
"I killed one Connacht!" he rasped out, the pride evident in his voice that was getting weaker as his life slipped away. Connacht grinned
"Nice, was it massive?"
"Humongous!" grinned the small boy.
"I'll bet you had no trouble killing it!"
"It scratched me but I killed it anyway."
"Well done Wales, you'll get a great prize for it."
"Really? What?"
"Whatever you want."
"Anything?"
"Anything kid." promised Connacht swallowing hard to keep from crying.
"I want a huge cake, with cream and strawberries and blackberries, raspberries, oranges…"
"What, no apples?" teased Connacht. The little nose wrinkled in distaste then he smiled
"I hate apples, my favourite fruit is…" they never knew what it was because the last of his life slipped away. India buried her face into Connacht's chest and sobbed. Calida sighed deeply and gently closed his eyes, then looked at Connacht with tear filled eyes. Connacht's own eyes were dry, his mind running over everything that had been happening. He came to one realisation.
They needed answers!
(A few days later)
Again the demons had given up and left a little while after Wales had died. Connacht had a funny feeling that they knew that someone had died and he knew well who told them.
The First!
That thing was starting to really bug him, he'd been bantering with It from the beginning, It kept coming back. He sat alone at a square table, with three spare chairs, his crossed arms resting on the table, his chin resting on his arms, not looking at anything in particular, brooding. Presently Calida came over; he noted dully that she was wearing that blue dress he liked on her, with the matching accessories. She stood before him and asked
"Are these seats taken?" he looked up at her and said as dully as his mood was,
"Can't you see I'm in an important session with Gloom," he pointed to the chair on his right, "Sadness," the left chair, "and Despair?" the one opposite him, "Good crowd, I've been hanging out with them a lot lately, but I guess you haven't noticed since you and your girlie friends have been wrapped up in… girlie things." She gave a half smile and said
"Can I join you, I'd really like to meet your friends here?" she smiled at each of the chairs as if there was really someone there. Connacht shrugged but his head didn't lift. Looking around she grabbed a free chair from another table. She put it opposite him and sat down, copying his posture.
"So what's the discussion in the group, are they telling you about this total bitch called Happiness, I've met her and I don't know why anyone would want anything to do with her, or her groupies, Cheerfulness, Perky, Smiley… complete bitches!"
"Yeah they were just giving out about how they're just annoying and completely bitchy." said Connacht, "Hey would you mind grabbing a chair for Worry and Fear, they're always running late."
"We may need a bigger table." She stood up and retrieved two more chairs and placed them side by side on the left of the chair on his left.
"Can you move that one to the other side, Fear and Worry don't get along." She rolled her eyes and said to the chair on her right,
"Despair, could you move down a chair please so Fear can have mine? Thanks." She moved to the chair beside her own.
"Oh here they come! Now the gang's all here!" said Connacht with mock cheerfulness.
"You forgot Jealousy." she pointed out.
"He's with Italy and Scotland, always is, I can't believe you never noticed." She sighed and straightened up.
"Well… have fun!"
"With these guys? Always do!" Calida nodded, and left.
"How was he?" asked Italy as Calida entered the room they had been waiting for her in. She made a noise between a groan and a sob, and sat with her face in her hands,
"He playing emotions can talk again!" The four men all groaned,
"That bad?" asked Greece. Calida nodded,
"Oh remember the last time he did that was when… when Orlando died." A heavy silence hung in the air.
"Well he really cared about Wales." sighed Calida, Germany stood up and went to a cupboard and pulled out a large bottle of wine. He poured it into five glasses and passed them around.
"There's something I will probably never understand." said Greece, swirling the drink in his glass, staring into it thoughtfully, "You and Connacht both adore children, and yet you never tried for your own. Why?" Calida shrugged and said
"We just never found the best time."
"What's that rhyme the children say? Liar, liar, pants on fire?" smirked Scotland quietly from where he sat on the ledge his feet on the table. Calida smiled softly shaking her head,
"I'll never forgive Connacht for teaching it to them." They chuckled then fell into thoughtful silence. Presently Calida said
"Do you remember about, ohhhh, a thousand years or so ago? We were performing the ritual for something for the humans, I forget what it was, something to do with the 4th of July 1716, or something like that."
"Oh yeah at the end you collapsed or something, right?" said Italy his brow scrunching in thought.
"No, she just sat on the ground, said 'Oh!' and started crying." said Germany
"Thanks for the recap!" she muttered, "Do you remember what it was that made me sick?"
"Not really some bug I think the healer said, and we agreed that was it as you'd been sick a lot, not eating, throwing up in the morning…" Germany trailed off, his mouth hanging open slightly as the realisation dawned on him and the others. Calida smiled sadly and nodded
"Miscarriage. I had a weird feeling when I found out I was so I didn't want to tell anyone except the healer and Connacht, I didn't want to tell him but he deserved to know. You should have seen his face, he was delighted… then we lost the baby."
"Did you not want to risk it again?" asked Greece
"At first yes," she sniffed as unshed tears formed in her eyes, "But a couple of years later… I found out that the miscarriage had caused a problem, I can never have children."
"That's when you and Connacht locked yourself in your room for a month, isn't it?" said Italy, she nodded,
"We just needed to just have time to think and support each other. Besides even if I could still have children we wouldn't have one now."
"Why not?" asked Scotland quietly, although they knew he, like themselves, knew why.
"Because something's happening to us, it's like a cloth is covering us, suffocating us, killing us slowly."
"So you noticed that too." Scotland sighed and looked over his shoulder as singing struck up, it was evening, Connacht had dimmed the lights so there was a blue darkness everywhere. This time of day was when people would dance and sing. Suddenly he frowned and said
"Where is Connacht?"
"At that table there." said Calida coming over and pointing only to frown as she saw the table was devoid of life. For some reason she had a funny feeling about this, like something was seriously wrong.
"Where is he?" asked Italy looking over Scotland's shoulder.
"He's gone."
"Wait there he is!" said Scotland pointing. Connacht was hurrying up the stairs that wound around a tree. He hesitated and looked up at them, then turned and ran upstairs.
"There's only one place he could be going to up that tree!" said Calida closing her eyes and resting her forehead on the cool stone of the building they were in.
"He's going to contact the Powers!" murmured Italy, his eyes huge.
"We have to stop him!" turning Greece raced out followed by Calida and the others. They ran as fast as they could but knew they wouldn't be quick enough. Calida was the quickest of them and crashed right into the door of the room where Connacht contacted the Powers That Be. It was locked!
"Connacht! Connacht, open the door, don't do this you never know what's going to happen to you…"
Connacht ignored Calida and his friends hammering on the door and sat on the ground cross-legged. Closing his eyes he concentrated and cleared his mind. This ritual wasn't so much as bringing the Powers down here, rather they met in a middle point. The whole thing was physically, emotionally and mentally draining, if you weren't strong enough this could kill you. Connacht had done this more then once and by now was able to do it with great ease. He quickly slipped into the coma-like state and passed through many levels of existence, finally stopping in a kind of heaven; little spheres of light, ranging in colours, floated around, the ground was like clouds, if clouds were firm and smooth. Before him stood four people, regal and proud, a black man and black woman and white man and white woman, each handsome in their own way. Connacht straightened to his full height, chin raised defiantly.
"What brings you Connacht!" boomed the black man.
"You know damn well!" said Connacht barely keeping a lid on his fury, "A little boy lost his life because of the demons getting too close, something is happening to our magic, we're getting vulnerable, why?"
"What makes you believe we have anything to do with it?" said the white woman, in her quiet voice. Connacht rolled his eyes,
"Please, The First has no chance of doing this, no one does, unless you guys let it. So what's going on? Why are you suddenly doing this?"
"Suddenly? We do nothing suddenly." declared the black woman. Connacht frowned as he thought, then threw his hands up in disgust as realisation hit him,
"This has been going on for years, even before we created the Vampire Slayers, hasn't it?" None of them spoke so he knew he was right. "What you doing?" he cried angrily, "Are you trying to tell me something, because if you are you'll get no cooperation from me, not until you stop killing my people!"
"You have already done so." said the white man, and Connacht froze in shock.
"That's why we, you, you were killing those warriors because you, you wanted us to create the Vampire Slayer! What? Was the normal sacrifice not good enough for you?"
"We knew that if you lost people you would give the humans their own defence to spare your people. That was the final beginning you were to create for them after that you had fulfilled your duties and have become of no further use to us." It took Connacht a few moments to process their words and went he did he was furious.
"What's that suppose to mean?" he demanded
"It means that your kind are of no more use to us or the world, so you will come to an end." said the black man
"In three days, as the sun rises, you will all be stripped of your strength and power and will be done away with." Connacht stepped back, his eyes wide and he shook his head,
"You're going to let us get massacred by the demons aren't you?"
"The boy is sharp." smiled the black woman, but it was a nasty smile.
"Don't you even care, that there are four hundred and twenty five people down there?"
"Four hundred and twenty four, you counted the boy."
"IT DOESN'T MATTER!" roared Connacht, "YOU'RE GOING TO KILL US ALL! YOU CAN'T DO THAT! WE DID EVERYTHING YOU TOLD US TO DO, HOW CAN YOU JUST DECIDE TO DO THIS?"
"We are the Powers that Be!"
"THAT'S NOT AN ARGUMENT!"
"Three days, I suggest you use this time wisely."
"Wait! You can't just-"
"That will be all." Connacht was forced to return to his body before he could say another word. He fell back and panted both in fury and in exhaustion. Shakily he got to his feet, the banging on the door was making him angrier. Without thinking he flung his hand out at it and a burst of raw powerful magic flew at it hitting it with such a force that the door exploded.
Calida jumped back as the door gave a loud bang. Once the dust had clear she saw Connacht, looking terrified and furious, standing there. She rushed in and hugged him tightly, saying,
"Oh Connacht, I was so worried, are you ok? You shouldn't have done that, you scared us so bad." Connacht said nothing only held onto her tightly. She noticed he was shaking and that her shoulder was getting wet with tears.
"Uh, mind if I ask what the door did?" asked Italy uncomfortably.
"Nothing except make a racket!" muttered Connacht, his voice muffled. Finally he let go and wiped his tears away.
"We need to talk." He spoke quietly and hopelessly.
"How can they do this to us?" sobbed Calida into Connacht's chest,
"After everything we did for them, for the humans, they just decided we don't have a reason to live?" Italy stated more then asked.
"Why!" rasped Scotland, his voice hoarse with anger.
"Because we're too strong." said Connacht suddenly.
"Come again?"
"Think about it, we are the most powerful beings on this plane right?"
"Used to be!"
"Still are, but what if… what if it's bigger then that? We all know the only reason the Powers are so 'great' is because they are on a higher plane of existence. I bet if we were on the same level as them we'd be more powerful then them!" Calida looked up at him as she started to understand what he was getting at.
"They're scared of us." she whispered, her ice like eyes wide, Connacht shook his head
"No it's more, they took advantage of our power to make the humans the dominant species, got us to do their dirty work, but they were planning all along that once we had done everything they would have to get rid of us to spare their own hides, the cowards!"
"Why?"
"Because they believe eventually we will replace them, we have the power to do so, but because they're higher up they call the shots!"
"Those bastards, don't they know, we only want to be left alone, to live our lives as fully as possible without the worry of demons or anything else?"
"If they do they don't care, they can't rest easy with such a dangerous rival around." said Connacht sarcastically. They sat in silence for a while, then Germany murmured
"What about the others?"
"We can't tell them!" exclaimed Connacht, "The children, I won't let their last few days be lived with the knowledge that they and their families will be slaughtered."
"Well we can't not tell them. They deserve to know, they need to know the truth or they'll die thinking we, you failed them."
"Didn't I?" whispered Connacht. Calida brought her head to be level to his and said
"No! You did everything you could and more to protect them and keep them happy, they deserve to know you did everything you could to save them." Connacht refused to meet her eyes, the guilt having buried so deep in his heart already, eating at him, if it kept up it's pace it would kill him before the massacre. Cupping his face in her hands she made him look at her,
"Connacht, you've kept us alive for thousands of years, kept us going. It was you who gave us the strength to fight back in the beginning, to find a home of our own. We would never have survived without you, please Connacht don't blame yourself, it's not your fault." Connacht gave a small nod but still didn't speak. Knowing that was the best she would get at the moment she sighed and stood up.
"We should tell them now, so that they have as much time as we can give them. I want you to call everyone and have them gather in the usual area, we will tell them when they are all together."
"They'll panic." stated Scotland, almost distantly.
"Then we'll just have to keep them calm won't we." said Italy.
Of course, there was panic and it took Calida sending out a simple spell of calm to stop them from running around.
"Sit down everyone!" she said gentle but commanding. They did as she said, albeit reluctantly. Connacht had yet to say anything, he just sat on a root of a tree staring at the ground. The others were speaking,
"We know this is hard, if not impossible to believe or accept but we're afraid there's nothing we can do."
"Then you haven't tried hard enough!" shouted Texas, leaping to his feet. Many others shouted out similar things. The five council people tried to regain order. Alaska, a pretty little girl with dark hair and eyes, no more then seven went over to Connacht who hadn't moved yet. She tugged on his sleeve to get his attention. He looked at her with sad eyes she swallowed and said
"Connacht is it true? Is there no hope for us?" Connacht said nothing for a long time only staring at her intensely, his brow slightly furrowed in thought. The others had managed to restore calm when a voice was heard, singing gently but as they listened it grew in strength and determination.
It's been a long road, getting from there to here.
It's been a long time, but my time is finally here.
And I will see my dreams come alive at last,
I will touch the sky
And they're not gonna hold me down no more,
No their not gonna change my mind.
Cause I've got faith of the heart
I'm going where my heart will take me
I've got faith to believe
I can do anything
I've got strength of the soul
No ones gonna bend or break me
I can reach any star
I've got faith
I've got faith
Faith of the heart…
They looked at Connacht who, instead of looking defeated and small, looked strong and powerful, his eyes burning with a heartening intensity. He stood up and walked slowly looking at each of them hard, as if studying them. Most straightened up meeting his gaze with determination. Connacht nodded and smiled slightly, saying,
"Is there no hope?" he sighed pensively crossing his arms across his chest. "We can't stop the massacre from happening… but if the Powers think we'll just let them do this without a fight then they haven't been paying much attention to us." Connacht was starting to get that smile on his face, the one he often had on when he'd pulled a very good prank on hard to get people.
"What are we going to do?" asked Russia curiously, biting his lip.
"We're going to make it so this world will never forget us." smiled Connacht, "I want each of you to think of something that you feel makes us so unique, it can be anything as long as it means something to you." They all thought hard, some even closed their eyes tightly. After a few moments Connacht went over to a woman called China and asked her without saying a word what she had thought of.
"That we have names and are individuals that all work together to make this world better." He nodded and then moved to a man, his name was Morocco. He narrowed his eyes in thought and said
"We have artistic skills." Next was a small boy, Liechtenstein. He grinned cheekily and said
"We have great treats!"
"Hey that was mine." chuckled Connacht as several people smiled and laughed. Next was Austria, a twelve year old girl.
"We've got you Connacht, and your as unique as possible. No one could ever be like you."
"Thankfully." muttered Italy, loud enough for all to hear. Connacht bent down, picked up a small stone and threw it over his shoulder without even looking.
"Ow!" exclaimed Italy, clapping a hand to his forehead where the stone had struck with perfect accuracy. There was laughter all around. Connacht smiled and said
"I want each of you to concentrate on the thing you've chosen, and we are going to pour ourselves into this world, into its very core. As time goes on we will be remembered without anyone but the Powers knowing it. And there isn't a thing they can to stop it!" Shouts of approval were heard all around and people clapped and stamped their feet. They followed Connacht's instruction and stood in a circle holding hands with the people on either side. Connacht stood between Calida and Italy and took their hands. He closed his eyes and began to chant softly. The chant was a word, a colour, an emotion all at once. Slowly others began to pick it up and then as one they began to walk in a circle, clockwise. They chanted louder and louder their minds focused on one thing, moving faster and faster, the energy they were creating getting stronger. It was building up, their very life force powering it. Suddenly they all stopped and they flung their hands up in the air, the power they had created flying out of them into the world. Those they had lost added their power, their very spirits to it. They all fell back feeling awed at their own power. Connacht was the only one who remained standing. He grinned and said
"Now that was fun!" Calida just shook her head as she stood up. He put his arm around her waist and said to them, "You have two days, use them wisely. Do the things you've always wanted to do, right any wrongs, make peace with each other. On the third day come back here before the sun rises on the surface. We will fall together, as a unit." There was no cheering and no clapping, there was just understanding. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Italy going over to Scotland and holding out his hand, Scotland eyed his hand then looked up, a debating look on his face, then with a smile he shook it.
"Wow, miracles can happen." smiled Calida
(Sunrise of the third day)
Everyone had gathered again, sitting on the ground families clutching each other. The children were shaking in their parents arms, and looking all around as if their end was going to appear out of no where. Connacht and Calida were holding each other tightly, Calida shaking badly.
BANG!
Everyone jumped as the noise echoed around the realm.
BANG!
Another one, the doors that sealed the entrances groaned under the strain.
BANG
BANG
CRASH!
The doors gave way. Creatures poured into the realm, vampires, humans, demons all gathered to destroy them. The children of vampires didn't move to fight, didn't cry out in fear or pain as they were slaughtered, they refused to give them the satisfaction. A few minutes later and they were all dead… their lives torn away because of jealousy and hatred.
Ok just let me say that this was completely my own creation, if you wish to borrow it for your own story please send me a review or e-mail. Also the song Connacht sings belongs to Star Trek: Enterprise, a great song and very inspiring. Also the names I used like Orlando and Calida were places around the world which is how they are remembered but please note none of the personalities reflect on my opinion of the country, in case anyone was offended. There is a meaning behind Connacht though, can anyone guess what?
Night's Darkness
