Rising Dawn
(The Next Day)
"Angelica," She mumbled shifting restlessly, her awareness fluttering between total unconsciousness and a vague awareness of the fact that motion caused her pain but she was no longer cold and wet. Her body felt heavy and the more she fought against the sleepiness, the more the numbness in her muscles seemed to strengthen. She shook her head, becoming aware of the slight pressure against her cheeks and the cool air in her face. With great effort she forced her eyes open and allowed her horribly blurred gaze to slowly sweep the room. "Angelica?" She questioned noticing the blurry child-like figure standing close to the bedside.
"Who is Angelica?" Renesemee questioned curiously.
The more she tried to force her vision to focus the stronger the pounding in her head became to the point that tears began pooling at the corners of her eyes, "Angelica is my daughter," she whispered feeling the color all but drain from her face in response to the overwhelming pain that had started in her head and now seemed to be all over.
"Oh, why is she not here with you?" She reached up and gently put her hand against Buffy's arm, the touch enough to calm the storm of tears that had flooded down Buffy's cheeks around the oxygen mask in response to the overwhelming pain and the fact that her vision was still unfocused and growing blurrier by the moment.
"I'm…I can't…" Her words faded as she grew more and more distressed by the intensity of the pain and the fact that she couldn't get her vision to focus. "Who are you?" She managed, the calming effect of Renesemee's touch easing enough of her distress that she could at least breathe a bit easier.
"My name is Renesemee Carlie Cullen but everybody just calls me Nessie. What's your name?"
"Buffy, where am I? I can't…"
"We're in my Grandpa and Grandma's home," Renesemee answered, "And you are hurt so Grandpa and my Dad are taking care of you and the one you came here with. Don't worry, you are very safe." She soothed turning at the sound of footsteps on the basement stairs.
"Are you sure about that?" She questioned her voice strained and fading beneath the hissing of the oxygen.
"Yes," Nessie answered listening as the footsteps grew ever closer. "Who is the one you came with? What's his name?"
"Angel, he's my husband. Angelica, where is she is she…?"
"Renesemee, how did you end up down here?" The footsteps had been Carlisle's and his voice was enough to not only get Nessie's attention but also Buffy's. She froze and if she could have disappeared into the mattress of her hospital bed she would have.
"Grandpa, I was only visiting," Nessie gave Buffy's arm a gentle squeeze, turning focus back to her briefly, "I don't know where Angelica is, I haven't seen her, I'm sorry." She whispered moving to the side as Carlisle motioned her out of the way.
"Of course you were," He assured carefully studying the monitors and examining Buffy, "You and your companion took quite a beating, do you remember what happened?" He questioned waving his pen light in front of her eyes.
Buffy blinked frantically trying to get her vision to focus to what she thought was a light. "I…everything is really blurry and…" She sucked in a ragged breath in response to the horrible throbbing pain radiating inside her skull. She hurt all over but of all of the pain her head hurt the worst. "We were ambushed by Kale and…" It was obvious that her memory and her vision had been temporarily affected.
"Okay, just relax," Carlisle soothed examining the swollen contusions, one on her forehead and one near the back of her head on the right side. "I'm going to start you on some anti-inflammatory medication which should help your vision to return."
She listened, turning slightly toward the sound of his movements as he retrieved the medications and returned to her bedside. He added another set of bags to the IV and reset the drip sequence. "Pain…"Her voice faded in response to the pain emanating from her head and the wounds she'd sustained during the battle with Kale. "Angel is he…Angelica where is she, is she…"
"Easy, calm down," Carlisle soothed, "Your companion is being taken care of," He injected the contents of a syringe into the IV port in her arm. "The pain should begin to ease with the medication. You need to rest so that your injuries will continue to heal."
"Angelica," She insisted, tears welling up in her eyes as the prospect of losing her daughter became foremost in her mind. "I have to…"
Carlisle looked down to find Nessie's hand against his arm. In her eyes, he could see that she already knew who Angelica was and why Buffy was so adamant about her being alive and unharmed. "Angelica is her daughter," Nessie revealed knowing without further explanation that her Grandpa could gather the rest of the story. "Something isn't right, they are here with us but where is Angelica?"
"I'm not sure Ness, but we will find her okay?" He questioned giving his granddaughter a hug in an effort to comfort her sudden concern for the two strangers that were now in their midst.
"Right," Nessie answered watching Carlisle clean and redress Buffy's wounds and check the equipment surrounding her.
The medication had finally taken effect and diminished her pain and relaxed her muscles enough that she could rest. He placed his hand against her shoulder; the pressure bringing her back to awareness briefly from having dozed in response to the sleepy effect of the medications. Once he was certain that he had her attention enough that she would remember what he said, he spoke, "Rest for now, once you've gained some strength and aren't in so much pain, we will talk more about the reason you're here and the disappearance of your daughter."
Buffy managed a nod in agreement before drifting once again into a comfortable sleep. "Is she going to be okay, Grandpa?" Nessie questioned as Carlisle checked the monitors one more time before taking her by the hand.
"She needs to rest but I see no reason why she wouldn't be. You," He lifted Nessie into his arms, "Don't worry, we're going to take care of them and find out why they are here and what has happened to bring them here, deal?"
Renesemee smiled, "Deal." She agreed as they moved back up the stairs toward the main part of the house.
You've been lied to
Just to rape you of your sight
And now they have the nerve
To tell you how to feel (feel)
So sedated as they
Medicate your brain
And while you slowly
Go insane they tell you
"Given with the best intentions
Help you with your complications"
(Lyrics to Song: Nightmare: Artist: Avenged Sevenfold)
"Giles, I think we may have a problem!" Willow's voice was raspy as she carefully eased herself into a sitting position on the floor of the crypt. Clouds of dust infused smoke filled the air making breathing or talking without bursting into an unrelenting coughing fit almost impossible. She rubbed her face with the sleeve of her shirt and let her gaze filter around the area.
"Willow, Xander, are you two okay?" Giles questioned rushing into the anteroom from the corridor just beyond. "What happened?"
"The portal slammed shut," Tears began to stain Willow's bruised and dirty cheeks as she realized that they had failed to save Buffy, Angel and Angelica from Kale's clutches. "We lost them and if we don't do something soon, we're going to have even bigger problems. Kale's threatening to open the Inner Gate."
"We will find them, for now we must return to the library," Giles gently rolled an unconscious Xander onto his back. His face was covered in grime and his shirt was torn in several places, exposing bloody cuts to the unsanitary conditions of the Marseaux Crypt. It was the only crypt within a hundred miles that held the proper artifacts to open the gates to the Plane of Souls and also Hell—the place where Kale, the Hunter, took all of his victims to be tortured before they were permanently destroyed.
"This means that Kale will have access to the Hell Mouth and the portals to every other plane and lay line center around the world. Who knows where he might've taken them that is if he didn't…" She couldn't even finish the sentence; just the thought was enough to curdle her stomach. "What are we going to do? We can't fight the entirety of hell without Buffy; we'll be annihilated for sure."
"We'll figure it out back at the library, come on," Giles insisted lifting Xander's limp form into his arms as Willow rose to her feet, a bit woozy, and followed him out the way they had entered…
"Just one question," Oz studied his girlfriend and the others as they entered Giles' office in the library, "Were you trying to provide Mike Tyson a practice round?"
"No," Willow answered as Giles laid Xander down on the couch and handed her an ice pack. "We lost Kale." She insisted pulling a chair over next to Xander and sitting down. She wrapped the icepack in a towel and placed it across his forehead where a nice sized goose egg had already formed.
"Okay, so," Oz looked around, realizing at that point that Buffy, Angel and Angelica had not returned with them. "So where's…" His question faded as his gaze settled on Willow. Her expression provided him an answer without her even needing to explain. "Oh shit, that's not good."
Willow shook her head, "No and what's worse is that Kale now has access to not only Hell but the Plane of Souls as well. Who knows where he took them that is if they are still even…"
"Don't say that, Buffy won't go down without a fight," He shook his head, the sound of faint rustling catching his attention. Xander was finally beginning to slowly regain consciousness after taking a hard blow to the head, "So now what?"
"We find Buffy and the others before Kale opens the Inner Gate." Giles answered before anyone else could even find their voice. "We must work quickly as I don't think we have much time."