In my opinion, this is the BEST!!!!!! Chapter I have ever written in all my stories (This series, plus my "Slayers Series" series, although I'm a lil disappointed I couldn't pull off the intensity I have accomplished in the first half or so with the second half or so, but it's still bloody good! IF you can figure out what the word Renascence is you can figure out what this chapter is all about! It is a real word. I typed in a word into MS word and hit the theausarus to get this word, cause the original word I had was too obvious and sucky.
This is the BEST chapter, expect some old faces to come back! It's a very long chapter, and it keep the previous chapter in mind for this (Old Ghosts, New Problems parts 1 and 2)
Read and review please… pull this chapter apart! I wanna improve it! Take guesses as to what's happening, what's going to happen! I want to see if I'm throwing people offtrack, like I hope I am! Also, I don't know, but there may not be ANY more spike in this story, but the next one in the series (if I leave room for a next one) will pick up straight off where Spike left in this one… I don't know yet, all that's a maybe. But there is a lot to go in this, trust me, a hell of a lot.
Okay, r/r please! This is very good chapter!
Chapter 8
Renascence
It was a cold night for that region of the world, and it was a night that some of the people would never forget, including her. She looked around from the top of the cliffs, at the city below her. The city looked like it was just a large series of fireflies spread out to the horizon. It felt weird to be back here, again, but she knew why she had come back. She had to warn them all, and get them to protect her. An extremely large gust of wind came from behind her and it would have blown her off the cliffs if she wasn't supernaturally aided. She knew that those weren't quite the right terms, but, she couldn't think of anything else to describe herself as now, so much had changed about her since she had last been here. She looked up at the moon, needing to see it before it disappeared for the rest of the night. To anyone else, anyone who was normal, they would have said that a large storm was coming. But she knew differently. She was coming, and this storm that was coming now was just a side effect. The cold bit into her like a thousand needles, and she knew that the outer reaches of her body were now frozen, but she quickly fixed that by redistributing the energies in her body so that she could keep warm. Up here, in the mountains, the rain that soon came had turned to ice, and bit into her skin. She changed the pain threshold in her body now, so that she wouldn't register that pain. It was so easy to master the human body to it's full extents now, she could change her body to do whatever she wanted it to do. If only she had learnt that years ago, her life would have been much easier.
Soon, the rain was pouring down by the bucket full, and in the morning, it would be revealed on the news that it had been the heaviest rainfall in over a centaury. She mentally prepared herself for what was to come. She still didn't understand why she couldn't do any of it herself, but, understanding what was happening wasn't her job, not any more. She had to get them to protect her, and she knew that she couldn't directly interfere until the final battles were upon them all.
She closed her eyes, and searched out with her mind and feelings for these select few people who she had to contact, and luckily, she found them all in the one building. She could also feel Angelus, gathering what would be the start of one of two armies, doing The First's work. She knew that The First would try to kill the girl tonight, that's why she had to get her people there first. She was vital. If they didn't get this girl, there would be too much power on the other side, and they would surely lose. It already looked like they were going to lose as there wasn't enough time to prepare everybody for the upcoming battles. She knew that they were in the beginning stages of the end. She looked above her, and she just saw clouds that were almost blacker than the night sky. She knew why they were there. The storm had to generate energy, enough energy to create a person from scratch and give them substance, a conscience, a spirit. Creating the body was the easy part. She heard the first claps of thunder above her, and sheet lightning spread across the sky in short but quick bursts.
"So it begins," she said to no one in particular. She closed her eyes and felt out for the people she needed to reach tonight. Once she had found them, she let her feelings take over, splitting her apart and sending her to that location. She opened her eyes, and instead of having skin, she was shaped in energy now, and the tips of her fingers were breaking off into small balls of blue energy and heading to one point in the city below her. Soon, her arms were gone and she closed her eyes, and put all the energy she had behind the process, she had to hurry or she'd be too late.
Outside the Hyperion Hotel, small balls of blue energy appeared just outside the front doors. They started to shape themselves into parts of a person, and over the time of a minute, there was a light blue human figure standing there, featureless. Where the head was, was just a human shaped ball of light, no features such as eyes were able to be seen.
Fred was sitting having warm cup of tea after having to close up the hotel to the weather. She hadn't seen rain or wind like this, ever, and she knew that a big storm was coming. The television weatherman said that the storm had appeared out of no where and was caused by a large mass of warm air from the east meeting a large mass of cold air from the west, but Fred didn't believe that. She believed that they had no clue what was causing the storm. She was sitting in the foyer to the hotel, cup of warm coffee in her hands. She was turning over the events of the last couple of days in her mind. They now had Wesley with them after finding out second hand off a vampire in the streets that Angelus had returned. It had fitted, them finding the Angel Investigations card on the boat. They didn't know why Angelus was back, surely it couldn't be because he had experienced a moment of true happiness, that was for sure. What was the worst of all, they didn't have a clue as to where to start looking. Connor had tried to pick up his tracks, but he didn't find anything, meaning that Angelus was covering his tracks.
She knew where everybody was, which was a good thing. They had started to prepare what they'd do if Angelus showed up at the hotel. It was a very good plan they had so far: Yell as loud as possible, and hope that everyone else comes to help. In all truth Fred didn't know what she'd do if Angelus showed up. A very loud crack of thunder disrupted Fred from her thoughts. She could actually feel her stomach rumble as it rolled overhead. She was thinking of going to be and trying to get some sleep when she noticed something at the front door. There was a pale blue light showing through the windows. She put her coffee down to get up and go and investigate when she was frozen in her tracks. A blue figure slowly stepped through the door and came towards her.
"Who are you? What do you want?" Fred stammered out loudly. She could tell that the figure meant her no harm, but she was still scared of it. It slowly stepped towards her as it slowly took form. It was now in the shape of a woman, and slowly, features started to mould themselves into the figure. Fred was amazed at what she was seeing, it was like a person was being carved right in front of her.
She couldn't believe her eyes as texture slowly came to the figure. It looked a tiny bit familiar to her, but she couldn't put her finger on who it looked like. Then, in a few quick moments, the transformation completed itself and Fred was left standing at a figure that greatly resembled Cordelia Chase, but with long hair.
"Cordelia!?" Fred shouted in surprise, excitement, curiosity and apprehension.
"Please, there's no time," Cordelia said over the top of Fred. "You have to go to this address," she said while rushing forward and giving a piece of paper to Fred. Fred grabbed the piece of paper as Cordelia thrust it before her, she barely had time to look at it when Cordelia put each of her hands on each of Fred's shoulders and shook her a bit. Fred looked at Cordelia.
"Cordelia?" a voice said beside them. Both Fred and Cordelia looked to see Wesley and Gunn standing there, stunned.
"There, you will find a girl, and you MUST protect her, at all costs," Cordelia continued, looking back to Fred.
"Cordelia?" Both Gunn and Wesley said, again. Fred just stood there, stunned.
"Listen to me! The fate of the world depends on this!" Cordelia exclaimed. "Don't worry about the fact that I'm back… just listen!"
"Okay, what is all this about?" Wesley asked while approaching Fred and Cordelia. Fred was thankful that Cordelia backed off from her a bit.
"Go to the address I gave to Fred. There you will find a girl, she'll be disorientated, terrified and confused and won't be able to defend herself… You MUST protect her, even with your own lives if needs be. The First will be sending people out to kill her, and you have to get to her first!" Cordelia explained. "And most importantly of all, you have to keep her safe!" Cordy exclaimed.
"You've got to be crazy, thinking we're going to go outside in this weather," Gunn said.
"This weather is because she's being brought back! She has important ties to the final battle, and if you don't do this you'll all die!" Cordelia said almost shouting, getting sick of them not just listening to her. Fred saw her calm down and take a deep breath. "Just go, as fast as you can. You already might be too late," she said calmly now. Fred had moved past shocked, and was now at least thinking a bit. She took it to her to organise everyone.
"Wesley, you get the weapons… Gunn, you get the car… I'll look for where this place is," Fred said. They all moved off to do their respective jobs, and within five minutes, they were all in the car, save Cordelia, leaving the Hyperion Hotel.
Across town, Angelus was in the place where his small revolution began. He had to get the vampires in line, they were going out and killing as many people as they could without abandon. He should have thought of this sooner, and he had called a meeting. Or, what could be called a meeting. He had ordered that all the vampires assemble, and that he was going to give them instructions about how they were going to go about making their army, which, technically, he was. The room was filled with at least a hundred vampires now, which was good. It had meant that his revolution had grown in size over the last couple of days. That was one thing he was hoping would happen. That the word would spread that he was leading this army, and that that would swell its ranks.
He got up the front, on the stage that he had erected to speak to the vampires in the room before him.
"Listen! Everybody!" he shouted. The noise soon died down and he had the attention of every vampire in the building. "We want to make an army? Am I right?" Cheers went through the building and Angelus waited for them to settle down. "Then what are you doing? Going out and killing?" There was no noise after Angelus spoke this time. "The only thing you're doing by that is drawing attention to us… and before we've even started we'll all be killed off! Each and every one of us… we've got to lay low until we have enough numbers, and until we're told what to do! Or else the Slayer and her group will come here, and the other Slayer will come too, and the Watchers Council, and every other vampire hunter on earth, and we will have started a battle that we can not possibly win… We will take them over, but not yet, we've got to get stronger… so then we can win!" A loud cheer rose up within the crowd, and Angelus noticed that someone was standing beside him. It was an image of Druscilla, and Angelus knew that it was The First. It beckoned for him to follow it, and he did so. When they were in a back room, things started.
"Angelus. I need you to do something for me," it said to him while morphing into the image of Jenny Calendar. "There is a girl… you must get to her tonight, and bring her here," Jenny said.
"Why?" Angelus asked.
"Because she is important. She is one of the most important people in this whole apocalypse, and she can be used by either side, and I want to use her," the image of Jenny said to him. "You must hurry however… your former group is after her too, and they've already taken steps to get to her." Angelus knew that the whole deal to get him to lead the army by holding his soul at ransom was blackmail, but he was beginning to like the idea, of leading the vampire race to victory.
He went back out into the main room and got two of the vampires he trusted the most. These two, after all, he recognised as his sires. He felt it a pity that no vampires of any power had joined the revolution yet, but he knew that they would come.
They set out to get this girl that was apparently so important to The First. There was one thing keeping Angelus's motivation up however. Just before they had left, The First had threatened him, saying that it would return his soul if he failed in this mission.
The rain was pouring down harder than ever now, and thunder was heard overhead almost constantly. Everything had battered down for the night, there wasn't a person or an animal that was outside tonight, except those that had to be. The small park was devoid of all life. Torrents of rain poured down, and the lowest points in the park had flooded long ago. The ground was covered in a shallow layer of water which was ever increasing. The trees in the park were tall, big and haunting, casting their seemingly menacing gaze down upon everything that would have come across them.
In an instant, the rain, wind and thunder stopped, and the park was completely still and silent. To anyone who may have been passing by, they wouldn't have noticed as the effect was localised as the park shifted planes of existence, only for half a second, then reappeared in the world again. The foundations of life had been planted in the park by mystical forces, and from there, things started to occur in rapid succession to one another. The rain, wind and thunder resumed, and things started moving. Tiny molecules began to move together, attracting other molecules as they moved into a big clump. The very ground seemed to reshape itself around a blob of earth that had now formed in the park, no bigger than a fingernail. The blob grew into the form and size of a human being, and soon the material it was made out of, the earth, began to shape itself into a white hard substance. This formed the framework of the body being formed. It was it's skeleton. Tiny yellowish-pinkish specks of light formed above the body, and they swirled around the skeleton. More were forming and doing the same, which was forming the organs, nerves and skin of the human being.
A rip in the air above the figure which now resembled a person appeared. The rip was white, and literally looked like a rip in the air. Through it, a singular mass of yellow energy came through and floated above the person. There were no features on this person yet, but the small yellow blobs of light were still doing their work, forming the fine details of the girl. Her eyes were formed, along with eye lashes and eyebrows. The yellow lights swirled around the girl from head to toe now along the ground. A large group of them entered the girl through the nose and mouth, and went to work inside, etching out the blood vessels and creating the brain.
Once it was all finished, the girl lay there, spread out on the ground, eyes closed and motionless. There was now a body on the ground, being battered by the elements. The large mass of energy floated down towards the person, and in a flash it entered the body. As it did so, there was an earsplitting crack of thunder, which literally made the ground shake. A bolt of lightning hit a tree on the edge of the park, increasing the charge in the air, which made the infusion between body and soul possible.
Moments passed where the rainfall lightened and the wind died down a bit, but there was still no movement from the body. Then, the chest of the girl started to rise and fall slowly, and colour came to her as blood began to be pumped around her body. Her breathing increased, and her hands started to twitch. She took in a deep breath and opened her eyes.
Wesley was driving down the street at ninety miles an hour, and was barely in control of the car. Gunn was beside him, gripping on for dear life, and Fred was in the back. They didn't really know what they were doing, but they knew, from Cordelia who had just appeared on their doorstep and walked through the door that they had to get to this girl, and that apparently, everyone's lives depended on it. They were, at the most, a mile away, Fred guessed. There was a loud crack of thunder above, and Fred knew that something had just happened. The ground literally shook and she had to put her hands to her ears and Wesley almost lost control of the car.
They were now speeding towards the address Cordelia had given them, rain pouring down still, but it had lessened. Fred didn't know how Wesley could see out the windscreen however, she certainly couldn't. The rain was coming down too heavy. Fred had seen in the street directory that they were looking for a park, but she didn't know why someone would be outside in a park in this sort of weather. They saw the park and they pulled up to it. As soon as Fred got out of the car, she saw who she hoped was the woman they were supposed to rescue, sitting up on the ground, looking around, confused. She rushed over to her as she realised that she was naked, and that there was something awfully strange about her. As Fred approached her, the woman backed away along the ground. Fred knew that she was frightened. She heard shouts behind her and spun around only to see another car pull up, and three vampires get out of it, one of them being Angelus.
She was relieved that as soon as the vampires got out of the car, Wesley and Gunn had shot a consecrated crossbow bolt through each of their chests, turning them to dust. They then ran to Fred, both of them holding a crossbow in one hand, and a cross in the other, effectively keeping Angelus away. Fred rushed to the girl and put her hands on the girl's shoulders and wasn't surprised to find that she was shivering madly. She took off her drenched coat and wrapped it around the girl. It was at that moment that the rain started to bucket down again. Fred lifted the girl up onto her feet, and noticed that she had trouble walking by herself, so she put her arm around her and helped her to the car while Wesley and Gunn kept Angelus away. She put the girl into the back seat and got in the front and stated the car, beckoning for Wesley and Gunn to get in. Gunn ran back into the car first, leaving Wesley walking backwards towards the car, staring Angelus in the face. Fred knew that Angelus could easily knock the cross out of Wesley's hand, but she was guessing that he was smart enough to know that if Wesley's crossbow bolt didn't strike him in the heart, Gunn's would. Wesley backed into the car, and at the last moment, released his crossbow bolt towards Angelus, but he caught it with his hand. Luckily for them, he wasn't expecting a second crossbow bolt from Gunn as he shot it out of the window of the car. It hit him directly in the chest, on the opposite side to the heart, searing Angelus as it entered as the bolts had been soaked in holy water. Angelus stumbled backwards, ripping the bolt out of his chest, giving Fred enough time to floor the accelerator and drive away far enough so Angelus would not be able to somehow latch onto the car.
They were racing back towards the Hyperion Hotel, going as fast as Fred could make the car go. She knew that they were safe, and she took the time between looking at the road to look over at the girl next to her in the front seat. She was huddled up in a foetal position, obviously cold. Anyone could easily tell that this girl was terrified beyond her imagination, and Fred didn't particularly want to know what she had been through. She could remember Cordelia saying something along the lines of her coming back, and from the look on the woman's face, Fred didn't want to know what she had come back from. Maybe she had been trapped in another dimension, like she herself had been. If so, Fred figured that it must have been one much worse than Pylea. She was startled when someone tapped her on the shoulder.
"Fred, you can slow down you know… it is only pouring rain," Gunn said to her. She looked at her speedometer and noticed that she was doing one hundred miles per hour, and started to slow down, knowing that they were safe, for now. Inside her gut, she knew that that small but brief encounter with Angelus had shaken her up, a lot. She had never seen Angelus before, and she barely saw him then, but she could tell by the changes in the way he walked and acted that she probably didn't want to meet him.
Fred couldn't have been happier when they arrived at the Hyperion Hotel. She was guiding the woman they had found quickly into a room to get her some clothes as at the moment, all she had was Fred's jacket that she had given her. Fred could see that the girl was taking in all of her surroundings, and that she was a bit wobbly on her legs while walking. There was something wrong with the way the girl was acting though, she hadn't spoken a word, and everything seemed to startle her, and she had a distant look in her eyes. Fred motioned to her to sit on the bed, and it took a while before the woman understood what Fred was meaning. She told her that she'd be right back, and left the room, going to her own room to get some clothes. She picked out a pair of jeans and a warm long sleeved shirt, that looked like they may fit the girl, as she was too large for Fred's clothes. She also grabbed a towel so the girl would be able to dry herself before she got changed. She returned to the room, only to find that the woman was standing, looking out the window at the lights below; not like she could see much as the rain was still pouring down, cutting visibility short. She heard Fred shut the door because she turned to look at her. Fred handed her the towel, and the girl just looked at it, wondering what to do with it, before it seemed to just enter her brain what it was and what to do with it. Slowly, she started to dry herself, and once she was done, Fred lay her hand on the clothes she had put on the bed.
"After you put these on, come downstairs," Fred said gently to her. She looked as if she was running on remote control, not knowing what to do, and she looked distant. "Do you understand me?" Fred asked. The girl looked at her, and then tried to utter out some words, but all that came out was gibberish. To Fred, it seemed as if the girl didn't know how to talk. Fred decided to leave the girl alone and go downstairs with the others, where hopefully Cordelia would have some more news.
When Fred returned to the Foyer of the Hyperion, there was no one to be seen except for Cordelia. Fred looked at her, out of view of Cordelia, trying to discern if it really was her or not. The last time she had seen Cordelia, she hadn't been able to turn herself blue and walk through walls, and she had short hair.
"Cordelia?" Fred asked. Cordelia turned around to look at her. "Where is everyone?" Fred asked quietly.
"They've gone to barricade the building. We figure that more will come here to try and get the girl off of us by force. They think that we can hold them off until sunlight, if they come," Cordelia replied.
"Oh," was all that Fred said in reply. A silence grew between them until Fred finally broke it. "What happened to you?" she asked. Cordelia just looked at her, puzzled, and then realisation hit her.
"Oh… I became a higher being. Looked down at everything for a while, until they told me what I had to do," Cordelia replied.
"They?" Fred asked.
"The powers. They told me what I had to do, and what I could know," Cordelia replied.
"Oh," was again, all that Fred said in reply. "Don't hear that every day," she added.
"Yeah, I know… and the worst thing, those powers, don't have any fashion sense," Cordelia replied. Fred just nodded her head
"Yeah, that's got to be the worst thing about being on a higher plane of existence," Fred replied sarcastically.
"Totally," Cordelia replied. Another silence grew between them, until, it was Fred who broke it again.
"So, what is it that they told you?" Fred asked.
"I'm going to tell you all that, once Gunn, Wesley and Connor get back from the basement," Cordelia said.
"Well we'd like to hear," Wesley said coming into the room, followed by Gunn and Connor. They all stood around Cordelia, eager to hear what she had to say. She looked around at them all.
"Okay, I think you all may want to sit down for this," Cordelia told them all. Everyone but Connor sat down.
"I'll stand," he simply said. Cordelia let everyone sit down and get comfortable.
"Okay, right… The First is taking steps to start the apocalypse ," Cordelia said.
"Another one?" Wesley asked, straight away. Cordelia just shook her head in reply.
"No… this is the apocalypse. The last one. The final fight between good and bad. All the other apocalypse have been small minor distractions. In this one, there are two results. We win, or we lose. If we win, there will be no more, and vampires and demons will vanish from this plane of existence. If we lose, our numbers will have dwindled so much that the vampires and demons will control us, completely," Cordelia started to explain.
"But, how can this happen? Why will the vampires and demons be gone for good?" Fred asked. "How is that possible?" Cordelia sighed before she began.
"There is a certain balance of power that exists, and right now, it is in harmony. There are two sides to this power, none of which has a specific purpose but to exist. One power is more aggressive than the other, and you know it as Evil, although such a thing doesn't exist. It is just one collective power, and the earth was under that power until the dawn of man and the other power, which you know as good, although such a thing doesn't exist either. These two powers are in perfect alignment. For them to become out of alignment, the balance of power on the earth must tip in the favour of one of the powers. The collective subconsciousness of vampires, demons and all other things that abuse their power give to the overall power of "evil", while all the champions, humans and everyone else give to the overall power of "good". If the humans are killed off, the balance of power is disrupted and the dark power wins, taking over the earth, ruling again, as it once did. These powers are not specific entities, instead as I said before they are a collective unconsciousness. The more that believe in them, the 'stronger' they are," Cordelia explained. Everyone just sat around, taking in all the new information.
"And since when did you learn all these big words? It would be good to have this in English," Gunn said. Cordelia just furrowed up her brow while looking at Gunn.
"While I was a higher power, I actually developed an IQ," she replied. "And the English version is that there's going to be a war, and only one side can win, and that win will be total and complete. No more fighting afterwards," Cordelia said.
"You mentioned something about The First Army?" Wesley asked. "What exactly is that?"
"Not The First Army doofus… The First is raising an army," Cordelia replied. Everyone just looked at her blankly, and she guessed that another explanation was in order. "Okay. The First is an entity… well, not really… It is the source of all evil. It is a collection and personification of the powers of 'darkness', kind of. It's hard to explain. It has been there since the beginning of time, and it will be there at the end, except, for some reason, over the last decade or so, it has been able to appear in form now. It can take the guise of people that have died, and it can take on their roles, perfectly. It can become them, right down to the very last detail and memory…" Cordelia began. "It knows everything you do, and it is incorporeal, so, if you have a strong mind and can figure things out, it can not physically harm you."
"So, why's this thing so bad?" Gunn asked.
"While it can not physically harm you… it can mentally and emotionally destroy you. Anyone that has ever meant something to you, it can become. It will know your most intimate details about yourself, and can shake up even the most cold-hearted people. It can make you unsure of yourself, and manoeuvre you into the position it wants. This is it's most powerful weapon, the weapon of manipulation… It will make you believe you are doing the right thing, when in fact, you are doing the wrong thing. Watch out, it is smart, and will use all it can to turn you over to it's side…" but was cut short as they all heard a sneeze behind them. Fred turned to see that the girl was standing on the bottom couple of steps, hand on the wall to hold herself up, looking at everyone. Fred got up and guided her down to her seat, gladly giving it up for the girl. She saw Cordelia take a good look at her, and then turn back to everyone, addressing them all.
"The First has many followers and assets. Already, it has caused significant damage to the Watchers Council," Cordelia said, and at this, Wesley stiffened.
"How much damage specifically?" he asked.
"The Largest Headquarters outside of England in Västerås, Sweden, has been taken over and all it's resources are now under The First's control," Cordelia said.
"Control? How is it controlling the resources?" Wesley asked, alarmed.
"I was just getting to that," Cordelia said. "The Lieutenants of The First, they are called Syophers (Cy-o-fers) are the most deadly of all under The First's command. They appear as large black hooded figures, and are in charge of organising The First's attack against the human race. Not much is known about them, except that they can change into the shape of any dead person they touch, much like The First, but they can't keep up the image for long. They are deadly in combat, and if you encounter one, there is only one thing you can do… run! The sight of them induces a feeling of terror, but it is not real. Not much is known about what they really are, except there is a speculation that they are a different strain of descendants of The Old Ones mixed with humans, which once walked the earth many millennia ago," Cordelia said. "They have already started to move into position, and it is not known how many of these Syophers exist, but you can be sure that they all serve The First."
"So, we're in the very beginning of the setup of the apocalypse?" Wesley said.
"Oh, no, the setup is well under way. As we speak, Angelus's army that he has assembled already is increasing in it's number," Cordelia said.
"What?!" Gunn exclaimed, causing everyone to turn and look at him.
"Oh, yeah, forgot to tell you. It looks as if Angelus has been chosen to lead The First's army, or at least one of The First's armies," Cordelia said.
"How exactly did Angel lose his soul?" Fred asked while sitting next to the girl, who looked like she was trying to understand what was happening.
"It was extracted," Cordelia replied.
"Extracted?" Gunn asked.
"Yes, Extracted. Ripped out. Most likely by one of the many people The First is manipulating," Cordelia said. There was a large, long, awkward and strained silence as the reality of what Cordelia was explaining sunk into them all. Then, in a sincere voice, perhaps the most sincere voice any of them had heard from him, Wesley spoke up.
"How do you expect us to win this battle?" he asked, simply and plainly. Cordelia looked at Wesley now, but spoke to the whole group.
"You are not alone in this battle," Cordelia replied. "Already, an army is being formed on our side, even though none of the participants know what is happening," Cordelia replied.
"How, where?" Wesley asked.
"It's being raised in Sunnydale, by no one…" Cordelia started, but she was met with surprised looks from everyone.
"Sunnydale?" Wesley and Fred asked.
"Yes. At the moment, all potential Slayers are being instructed by their Watchers, who are being instructed by the Watchers Council of England, to go to Sunnydale and seek out Buffy Summers for protection. The Council doesn't know what is going on, yet, but they do know that their worldwide resources are under attack, and this includes Potential Slayers. All I know is that they will form the army to resist The First's efforts, but I don't know of any more details," Cordelia said to them all.
"I doubt that the group in Sunnydale would be able to handle this alone. A government would barely be able to handle this," Wesley said.
"Don't underestimate the Scooby Gang. They have been through a great deal since you have left Wesley, and they are up to the task," Cordelia replied. Fred could tell that she was now standing up by her roots, defending where she had come from, where as before, she never would have done that. "But there is one thing I didn't know about which I sensed right before I left that could change the tide of things a great deal," Cordelia said.
"And that is?" Wesley asked her.
"The First is manipulating Faith. It got her out of jail, and has aimed her against the Watchers Council," Cordelia said. Everyone just looked at each other as Cordelia continued. "One of it's agents sent a letter to her while she was in prison, saying that The Watchers' Council was going to kill her in order to get a better Slayer, and this caused Faith to break out," she started, but stopped when she noticed everyone looking at each other. "What?"
"We ran into Faith… she said that The Council was going to kill her," Connor said, speaking finally.
"Oh," was all that Cordelia said in reply. "Well, right now, Faith is in England, held captive by the Watchers Council," Cordelia explained.
"That's a good thing isn't it?" Fred asked. "If she's being held, she cant damage them can she?"
"That's exactly where she wants to be… You see, The First prey's on everyone's hopes, dreams and innermost insecurities. Faith believes that she is going to take this version of The Council down, and start a new one that treats the Slayers like people, instead of weapons, and believes that she can wipe her slate clean if she does this, believes that this is the path to redemption, when in fact, all she would be doing is great harm," Cordelia explained to everyone. "But a pity, there's nothing we can do about that… right now, our priority is her," Cordelia said while looking at the girl. "All I know is that she was made, tonight, again. Her body, her brain, all of it was created, tonight, out of nothing, and we must keep her safe…. I don't know any more than I have told you, but I know that it is of the highest urgency that she be kept safe at all costs," Cordelia said.
"If her body was created tonight, what importance is she? Her mind is only a few hours old. What can she do for us?" Connor said.
"I know that it is her memories that we must first recover, which will come in time. All our memories are in our soul, and while her body is new, her soul isn't. She is still the same person she was before she was brought back. She still knows things, but she will have to learn things. You all may have noticed that she has trouble walking, and doesn't speak much, and that is probably because, she either can't understand us, or she is too traumatised to do anything. I know that her learning will be highly accelerated though," Cordelia explained.
"And what about…" Fred asked, but was cut off as a flaming bottle came crashing through the front door. Everyone jumped up, and instantly knew that the Vampires were here, looking for the girl.
"What, not going to come out to play?" they heard an all too familiar voice shout from outside. "The boss is home!"
Gunn raced downstairs into the basement, grabbing all the weaponry he could find on the way. To him, nothing was going to get past their barricade of the sewer entrance to the Hyperion's basement.
Connor had raced after Gunn to the basement, but he returned, carrying a longbow and a quiver of arrows, plus a short sword which was strapped onto the belt of his pants.
"I'll go upstairs, start shooting at them through a window," he said.
Wesley and Fred both grabbed a couple of stakes and a crossbow each, and they started firing through the broken panel in the front door at the vampires outside, but quickly gave up when they saw that the vampires were easily dodging the bolts as they flew out.
"Can you do something?" Fred asked to Cordelia.
"No… I can't directly intervene, yet," Cordelia replied.
"What do you mean you can't directly intervene yet?" Wesley almost shouted to her, while he was trying to cover the front door.
"It'll tip the scales too much. I can't intervene until the final battles," Cordelia replied. Wesley was about to say something, but he noticed that some of the vampires outside were starting to move towards them. He signalled to Fred, and she understood his signals. She moved so she was perpendicular to the doorway, ready to shoot anyone from the side who came in the front doors. Wesley shot his crossbow bolt, missing the heart of the only vampire he had in his sights, but it hit him in the head, incapacitating it. He and Fred spun around as they heard murmuring from behind them. The mysterious girl was sitting, cross legged on the floor, chanting, using all her strength. A blurry sphere formed around the figure, and soon it slowly spread outwards until it was outside the hotel and still expanding. Wesley looked at the sphere, and noticed that one of the vampires touched it and instantly turned to dust.
"She's a witch," Fred said.
"And an extremely powerful one at that… look at this," Wesley said while pointing outside. The vampires were backing up, away from the sphere until it stabilised in one place. They all turned as they heard thumping at the stairway, only to see that Connor had rushed down.
"What happened?" he asked hurriedly.
"It appears that our mysterious girl knows some magick," Wesley said. "It looks as if it will keep the vampires away, for now." They all looked at the girl, who opened her eyes slowly, stood up, and looked at them all.
"I-I-I-I don't know h-h-how I did it, it just c-c-came to me, just like this is…. S-s-s-speaking," the girl said to them all in a soft voice.
"You can talk?" Fred asked.
"I-I-I can n-n-ow," the girl replied to her.
"Here, sit down," Cordelia said to her, motioning towards the seat.
Fred had just noticed that the rain had settled down a bit as they were sitting around with the girl, trying to get her to remember anything, which she couldn't. She didn't even know her own name, and she had described to them that she couldn't remember anything, that things just came to her. She had picked up her ability to speak from no where, which fitted with what Cordelia was saying, that her memories were locked away in her soul.
They had all decided that they had to do something about the vampire army, soon. The vampires surrounding the Hyperion had vanished, but they knew that they'd be back with a way to get through the barrier. So it was decided that everyone except the girl and Cordelia would go out, hunting. In one singular group they would as many vampires as they could in a couple of short, few hours because soon, it would be sun up, and they all doubted that the vampires would be back that night. It was to be hard and fast, a surgical strike, as Wesley had put it. Fred and Wesley and Gunn were waiting for Connor to come back, who had gone up to the roof to see if he could see if there were any vampires hiding anywhere near the entrance of the Hyperion. When he came down, everyone started heading towards the doorway. Fred was stopped short in her tracks as the girl almost shouted at them all, when she was really talking to Cordelia.
"Wait! I remember something!" She said. Everyone turned and went over to the girl, who looked at them all in wonder.
"What is it?" Cordelia asked in an unusually soft voice.
"Willow."
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So, yea, what'd you think of it! R/r please… Look forward to the next chapter "Just when things were looking up"
Oh, yea, this lil fact may surprise some of you… but can you believe I'm only 17?