Title: Where Do We Go From Here?
Disclaimer: I own none of this stuff so please don't sue me.
Authors Note: Hey everyone, chapter 8 is up and newly edited.
Katherine Elizabeth
Chapter 8: The Dark Mark
"Oh fudge, where are all the books?" Dawn asked, disappointment evident in her voice. Giles looked around; perplexed, while Buffy, Faith, Xander and Willow stood with wide eyes, as they took in the huge empty room. There was silence as Mr. Sutten walked around the room staring into every corner, as if he were looking for something.
"Where is it?" the elderly man suddenly yelled out.
"Whoa, calm down, where's what?" Xander asked.
"Th...the door." Mr. Sutten stuttered, as though he were afraid
"What door?" Buffy asked sternly.
"There is a sss...secret d..d...door." The old man stuttered in reply.
"Oh, What kind of secret door?" Willow asked.
"Is it invisible?" Dawn asked.
"Ooooo that would be so cool." Willow said excitedly.
"um.. you guys.." Buffy said, but was ignored
"Yeah, but how could you find it if it's invisible?" Faith remarked.
"You would use magic, duh." Dawn smirked.
"Hello people, you're a little off subject here..." Buffy tried again, but was interrupted.
"What if you can't do magic?" Xander exclaimed.
"Then you can't open your door." Willow replied.
"Not fair!" Xander and Faith protested.
"Hahaha, you can't do magic," Dawn joked. "Sucks to be you." Dawn and Willow laughed at Faith and Xander in a joking way, before they were interrupted.
"GUYS" Buffy suddenly screamed, getting the attention of the other Scooby's, who turned to her with guilty faces. "I think we are a little off topic, now aren't we?"
"Oh, sorry." Willow blushed.
"Oops," Dawn grinned.
"Ditto," Xander put in.
"Yeah, Sorry B." Faith smirked. Buffy rolled her eyes, and looked over at Giles who was cleaning his glasses.
"Yeah whatever," Buffy replied, looking back to Giles, "Now can we please get back to this door thing or whatever it was, so that we can get outta here, this place gives me the creeps."
"Yes, ah...Charles, would you mind explaining just what it is you were talking about?" Giles asked Mr. Sutton, who was staring at the Scooby's, with fear in his eyes.
"Err..." The retired watcher paused while he collected himself. "Well, when I was first assigned the job of watching over the Bletchley Park Vaults, I was told about a secret door within the vault, but I wasn't told where to find it."
"That's a start," Buffy said, "But where does this door lead?"
"It leads to another vault, which contains the 2nd largest library of prophecies in the world." Mr. Sutton explained. "Unfortunately, I do not know where the door is, for I was never deemed important enough to be privy to that information."
"Oh," Dawn said quietly, "So what do we do now?"
"I believe that we had better look for the door." Giles replied, and after everyone nodded he turned to Willow. "Willow, do you think you could do a few revealing spells?"
"Of course." Willow replied and reached into her bag to get her small bag of spell supplies. "Dawn, do you want to help?"
"Yes!" Dawn's face lit up at the thought of putting her magical abilities to good use.
While Dawn started mixing a few herbs Willow walked around the room, every few moments she would pause and close her eyes, before moving on. Willow finally stopped near the far right corner, and closed her eyes, this time lifting her hands up as if reaching for the ceiling. A smile spread across her lips as she let her hands fall and turned to look at the others, whom were all staring at her, waiting.
"This is were the door is," Willow said pointing up, "I can feel it, right above me."
"Whoa," Xander said with pride.
"Good job, Red," Faith grinned.
"So why can't we see it?" Mr. Sutton asked.
"It's been hidden by spells," Giles supplied.
"Yup, that's how I can tell where it is, I can feel the magic." Willow smiled, then turned and looked up again with a thought full expression. "Hmmm..." She said as she raised her hands up and gathered up her energy before speaking again.
"Reveal" Willow whispered softly, and a soft glow formed between her hands and the ceiling, but the light soon faded, and nothing had happened to the ceiling.
"Oh well," Willow grinned, "It was worth a try."
After Willow and Dawn had finished the spell: mixing the herbs, and reciting several incantations, all they had left to do was create a circle under the door, and say one last spell. All the Scooby's, and Mr. Sutton stood in a circle beneath where the door should be, with Willow in the center, and Dawn walking around the circle, sprinkling the herb mixture on the ground.
Once Dawn was done, Willow asked everyone to be quit as she tilted her head back with her eyes closed and said in a low powerful voice.
"Goddess, reveal what is hidden, open this door, end this spell, and take down these charms, FINITE INCANTATUM!" As Willow yelled the last few words the spot directly above her began to glow scarlet and gold, before there was a bright flash of light, which was gone as quickly as it had come.
"Did it work?" Dawn asked excitedly, as she and the others rushed foreword to look up at the ceiling, where there was now a square outline of a door, and a small black doorknob.
"Wow," the Scoob's chorused. After a moment Giles looked down from the ceiling and smiled at Willow.
"Good job,"
"Thanks" Willow smiled.
"Alright, now, shall we see what's behind that door?" Giles asked.
"You mean above it?" Faith asked smartly, Giles rolled his eyes.
Buffy interrupted, by clearing her throat and looking at Willow, who nodded, and with a wave of her hand the door had fallen open. Unexpectedly, a set of stairs also came down with the door, leading the way up into the secret vault. Giles and Faith had to jump aside, seeing as they were the only ones still standing under the doorway.
"Well," Giles spoke after he had composed himself, "Shall we?" he motioned up at the door.
After everyone had climbed up the ladder, Giles and Mr. Sutton were the only ones left in the room. Giles motioned for Mr. Sutton to go first, but he declined, and said he would keep watch in the main vault. So Giles climbed up the latter, and when he reached the top he saw the Scooby's waiting for him in a small, almost closet sized room.
"Oh my, what's this?" Giles asked as he took in his surroundings.
"I think you need to put your hand in the wall again G-man." Xander stated as he pointed at the wall, which looked just like the wall where Giles had given the password to enter the first vault.
"Ahh, yes" Giles stepped forward, and placed his hand in the circle in the box, and stated his name and rank again, before pausing.
"What's the matter Giles?" Buffy asked.
"You see, there could be dire consequences if the wrong password is spoken, and..." Giles paused, "I don't know the password."
"Oh,"
"So what do we do now?" Asked Faith.
"We could try and figure out the password." Buffy suggested.
"We could ask Mr. Sutton." Dawn put in.
"No, he wouldn't know the password, he was never even told where this door was." Giles replied.
"In that case, if we can find some tools, I might be able to brake through the door," Xander supplied.
"Or maybe we could save some time, and have Wills take a crack at it." Faith suggested.
"Brake down the door?" Willow squeaked, "I don't know about that."
"Why not, it won't take much more magic then it did to open this door." Buffy said.
"Yeah, But..."Willow tried.
"Come on Willow, I can help you, it's not like you haven't blown stuff up before." Dawn said.
"Yeah red, what's the big deal?" Faith asked.
"Well..." Willow tried again.
"Well what?" Xander asked.
"If you would let me finish a sentence I could tell you what," Willow huffed.
"Sorry,"
"What I was trying to say is that I don't think it would be a good idea for me to blow up the door because..." She was interrupted by everyone asking 'why?' but she just held up her hand, and motioned for them to be quiet. "...Because," she said again, "I have a better idea."
"Oh, so what's your plan?"
"We're not going to break down the wall, we're going to go through it." Willow grinned.
"And how are we gonna do that?" Faith asked.
"With magic," Willow said.
"Duh red," Faith rolled her eyes, "But how?"
"Oh it's easy, I don't even need a spell or anything, just concentrate a little energy on the door and it should turn liquidy enough for us to move through it." Willow explained.
"A little energy, Wills?" Xander asked.
"Ok, a lot of energy, but it should be fairly easy if a can break through whatever protections spells are placed around the vault." Willow smiled.
"I don't doubt your abilities Willow, but there are probably an awful lot of spells placed on that door, and on top of that I think it's steal, it will take a lot of power to open that door." Giles reminded them all.
"Oh," Willow sighed, "Well we should still try it."
"Of course," Giles agreed.
Everyone backed up a few steps while Willow stood by the door, and held out her hands, attempting to make the wall incorporeal. After a moment or two the door started to shimmer, as if it were a thick liquid, and it began to give off a soft silvery mist, that surrounded them. Meanwhile the liquid was gradually getting thinner, until it was swirling around like water. Finally Willow began to move her hands as if directing the strange metallic liquid to move to the sides of the wall. Soon there was a shimmering hole in the middle of the door.
"Wow," Giles was speechless.
"I second that," Xander said.
"That was awesome red,"
"Yeah, definitely the coolest thing I've seen all day."
"Wicked,"
"Ok, you guys can go through now." Willow told the others, who bravely stepped through the mist into the vault. Willow dropped her hands, and dashed through the door before the metal door began to reform. Willow looked around and saw that the room was filled with silver mist, so she could barely see the others, but not for long, as the mist was dissipating rapidly. When the mist finally cleared, the Scooby's gasped at what they saw.
Hovering in the air above the center of the vault it hung; an omen of horrible things to come, even to those who didn't know what it was. Evil seemed to pour off the deadly looking snake as it emerged from the open mouth of the skull which made up the rest of the image. The Scooby's shivered as they took in the misty green sign, knowing that it could only mean something bad, however they could not know how much of an impact this would really make on their lives.
"Do you feel that?" Buffy asked, referring to the evil surrounding the omen.
"What is it?" Faith asked.
"The Dark Mark," Giles said quietly.
"It gives me the wiggins," Xander replied.
"It feels evil," Dawn said her eyes never leaving the mark.
"It reeks of it," Willow said.
"It is evil," Giles told them.
"What is it Giles?" Buffy asked, "Do you know what it means?"
"The Dark Mark is the sign of the Dark Lord." Giles answered.
"Who?" Buffy asked.
"Never mind that right now, we need to get out of here." Giles motioned for them to leave.
"Ok, but could you tell us what it means first." Buffy asked. Giles sighed, removed his glasses, and cleaned them on his shirt before answering.
"It means that we could be in great danger."
"Nothing new about that." Buffy muttered.
"So what do we do now?" Faith asked.
"Well we need to report this to the Ministry of Magic." Giles explained, "But first we need to get out of here."
"But..." They all protested.
"I will explain everything once we get back to the house." Giles stated, before leading them all out of the vaults.
An hour or so later the Scooby's were gathered in the living room, having left Mr. Sutton on guard at the vaults, they had driven back to the house, to discuss their new problem. Giles sat down and told everyone about the Dark Lord.
"Ok, so this Moldyfort guy was a wizard?" Buffy asked.
"Wait I thought his name was Voldydort," Xander asked.
"Actually, your both wrong, its Voldemort" Dawn told them.
"Whatever," Buffy said.
"So," Giles continued, "Voldemort heard about this prophecy, that said that one little boy would be his downfall, so he found the boy and his family, and killed the parents. When he got to the boy he tried to curse him, but the curse rebounded, and killed The Dark Lord instead."
"So what happened to the boy?" Dawn inquired.
"I believe he was alright, except for a scar on his forehead." Giles explained.
"If Voldywort's dead then who put up the Dark Mark in the vault?" Buffy asked.
"It had to have been one of his followers." Giles told them
"Those people with the funky tattoos?" Faith asked.
"Yes, it must have been a Deatheater." Giles conferred.
"Ok, so what happens now?" Willow asked.
"Tomorrow morning I will be making a trip into London to send a report to the Ministry Of Magic." Giles told them. "We should get a visit from an Auror, magical law enforcement, within the next few days."
The next day after Giles had left to send his report, Buffy and Willow had gone to the Watchers office to check up on things, and Dawn had went to the park to meet Harry, leaving Faith and Xander alone in the house. Xander was in the kitchen, where he was making himself lunch, when Faith walked in from the backyard, where she had been training.
"Hey, Xandman, what's up?" Faith asked as she opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water.
"Not much, I'm just making myself a club sandwich," He replied, "You want one?"
"Urg," She wrinkled her nose, "No thank you, I've tried your club sandwich's before, and I would prefer not to ever have to experience that again."
"Oh come on it's.." But Xander never finished his sentence, because there was suddenly a flash of light that went through the house, accompanied by a boom.
Faiths eyes went wide, and she ran from the room. Xander followed her into the living room, where they stood wide eyed, and stared. Standing in the center of the room, facing away from them, was a tall elderly man with a long hair, and beard, wearing periwinkle blue robes, and holding what looked like a really wimpy stake. The two Scooby's stood stock still as the old man turned around and smiled at them with twinkling eyes.
"Hello," he said cheerily, before there was a loud pop. And a young, women, with short bubble gum pink hair, appeared, next to him, out of thin air, also holding a sorry excuse for a stake. She immediately tripped over a coffee table, and a large amount gold sparks erupted from the tip of the stake.
The old man turned around to help her up, and Faith grabbed two swords that were leaning against the wall, and aimed them at the two intruders, while Xander pulled a crossbow off the wall, and followed her lead. When the intruders turned around, the surprised women whipped out her stake, and aimed it at the two Scooby's, while the old man just frowned.
They all stood still, eyes never wavering from the people across the room from them, in complete silence, until finally the old man's twinkling eyes seemed to light up, as he began to laugh.
TBC...
Authors Note: Pretty much changed nothing in this chapter, so on to the next.