River blinked rapidly, trying to shield her eyes from the blinding whiteness. She rubbed her eyes before she could hold them open without pain. All she could see was a long white room. She pivoted seeing the same from all angles. The brunette quickly got the feeling she was no longer alone.
"Whose there?" A deep uncertain tone asked. She wasn't sure what direction or how many times she had spun until she saw the tall darkly dressed man.
"Old, ancient." She muttered as she looked him over critically. She didn't see him as a threat but the room bothered her more. It reminded her too much of the Academy, sterile and empty.
"I wouldn't say ancient." He sounded mildly affronted as he stepped closer.
"There are no wings for you." She frowned deeply, unable to read much from him, just vague, maddening hints that lead her nowhere.
"Who are you?" He asked more uncertain, sensing something was off but he knew this room and he was here for a reason.
"The future, your future." She replied as if he was should have already known. He knew she was human, the heartbeat was a dead give away. Yet something was nagging at his senses.
"Does my future have a name?" He was trying to hide his irritation but the look she gave him was like a laser beam and he had the feeling nothing was about to escape her.
"River." She said quickly, shifting her gaze back to the seemingly endless room. "What is this place?"
"It's the White Room." She gave him a look of impatient annoyance at his obvious answer. "It's the conduit for the Senior Partners of Wolfram and Hart. It's not suppose to exist anymore, none of it is." He ended leaving them both confused.
"You say the room doesn't exist, yet here we are. Shouldn't our presence give the room purpose and make it exist?" She questioned, trying to shut out the nothingness around her.
"This room was a part of something that I helped destroy." He answered. Her gaze found his again but this time it was full of questions. River felt angry vengeful voices clawing at the inside of her brain. She jerked forward, her hands pushed at her temples trying to block out the pain.
"Reborn, reformed. Not wholly gone." She gritted out as images of demons, vampire and devils with blue hands crowded her head. She didn't understand what she was saying or where it came from.
"What?" Angel quickly wrapped his hand around her wrists and brought her face to look into his. Every time she spoke he wanted to ask an thousand more questions.
"Rebuilt, five hundred years to remake glory, five hundred years to wait for revenge." A fresh wave of agony washed over as he touched her. Images of heedless carnage, uncounted massacres and blood flowing like rivers at his feet.
"What did you do?' She asked horrified, wrenching herself from his grasp. He stood still unable to understand what she was asking, unable to understand her obvious pain. Half forgotten memories flitted through his head, Cordelia screaming in terror on the hotel floor as visions rampaged through her mind.
"What do you see?" he asked stunned at the implications. In her own mind the room was no longer pristine and white, it was dripping red with fresh blood. She could smell the coppery tang of death surrounding her as she tried to focus.
"Noses to the ground. Searching, hunting." She whispered, trying to keep herself from screaming.
"Who?" he demanded, fear leaking into his senses. He wanted to swoop her up into his arms like he had done with Cordy so many years ago but River was slipping farther away from him as she visibly became more tortured. Everything was losing its focus now and becoming dark as blue hands reached out for her, ready to rip her apart. She could feel herself ready to tear apart slowly and then it stopped as two cool strong hands gripped her shoulders.
"What is it?" He asked again, his brown eyes boring into her. Her body stiffened from the onslaught of new barbaric images and she couldn't hold back the ground shattering scream.
"The Wolf, The Ram, The Heart." She paused unable to keep herself conscious. But one last word slipped from her parted lips. "Alliance"
