Sudden Changes chapter 18
Sudden Changes chapter 18
/…/ indicates telepathic talking
'…' indicates reciting the prophecy
Giles studied the tablet intently; his index finger drifted down the text; he took his glasses of absentmindedly, "Near as I can figure, this passage where it says 'With the help of the sorcerer who turned away from the enlightenment, then returned,' means…" he paused as he started thinking. "I have no idea what it means."
He heard Daniel sigh and looked over at the younger man; he had dropped his head into his hands from where he was sitting at the table; generally looked the complete epithet of misery and despair.
When Giles looked away from him he noticed that Dawn was now at his side and was reading the tablet over his shoulder; he watched her for second and felt a slither of hope inside him as she, "Hmm-ed," before picking up his pen and moving it to the only sentence he'd managed to translate.
"Well, it's not 'sorcerer'….'witch'," she crossed out the word and replaced it and then started looking at the others. "Enlightenment?' it's 'light'."
Giles raised his eyebrows and checked it, "Well done, Dawn!" he and Willow had taught her well enough that the much younger girl even surpassed them in language and translating skills; the girl was brilliant at translating demon texts in the same way that Willow was at Maths (her ability to work with numbers was as good as- if not better than- a calculator.)
He'd witnessed Xander asking her, when they were still in high school, what the square-root of eight-hundred and forty-one was; she had answered barely a second after she was given the question: twenty-nine. Willow was a prodigy at maths as Dawn was at languages.
Dawn blushed at the praise, but she continued to look over the texts, "Not 'help'… 'protect' or 'protection'." She crossed out the word hope and replaced it with 'Protection'. "Umm."
A few minutes later she had the line, "With the protection of the witch who strayed from the light, then found her way back." She looked at him. "How does that sound?"
"Great," he said, then he frowned. "Who does the line speak of?" With the protection of the witch who….well, there was Amy Madison; to name one of a thousand! But she wouldn't protect anyone; except maybe Rack when he was alive- but only to get her fix. No, the line wasn't referring to Amy.
Dawn shook her head, "Maybe if we translate the rest of it we'll find out." She did have a good point.
"Right then," he said. "Let's get on with it."
"Okay," started Dawn firmly. "First line is… "Made….from, um….guilt…pain."
No, that didn't sound right.
Giles looked at it, "OH! Oh! Um, "'Born'… 'guilt' was correct but… 'grief' not 'pain'." He scribbled out the word and replaced it quickly.
Dawn nodded, "Okay, so we've got, "Born from-'…no, wait…um, 'of'. 'Born of…comfort?
The ex-librarian checked it, "'Solace'. 'Born of solace from grief and guilt.'"
Dawn swallowed, "That's the first line." Time to read on.
Daniel suddenly jumped up, "Oh! Um, I ah, I translated some of it myself- if you wanna look."
He handed Giles the notes; the older man took them and read, "Okay, um, well we've established that 'made' is actually 'born'." He continued reading on. "'He's' mean… 'he is', which I'm sure is the second line of the text." He jotted this down on his own notes.
Dawn looked over Giles's shoulder, " 'The one'… not wait, that would be 'first' not 'one'." She saw Giles writing that down; so she continued. " 'of the …second…,'" she paused in thought.
Daniel jumped up excitedly, "I-I've translated that word; it means, 'Generation'."
Dawn nodded, "That's right; okay, now we've got 'Born of solace from grief and guilt, he is the first of the second generation; with the protection of the witch who strayed from the light; then found her way back.'"
She looked at Giles, "That's all I got; it's about a quarter of the prophecy."
He sighed, "We've got a long way to go."
"'The determination'…I think that's it, 'of one man, turned'….no 'corrupted by…" she paused, still looking painstakingly over the words; then shook her head. "I got that word wrong; Okay, we've got 'The efforts of one man, corrupted by greed and…um," she turned to Giles.
Daniel tilted his head slightly, everyone who really knew him knew that this was his habit when he was debating something; then he bounced, "Oh, I got it! Arrogance."
Jack frowned, "Greed and arrogance, huh. Beginning to sound like anyone we know?" He looked at Daniel wryly.
"Kinsey," the archaeologist mumbled.
Something clicked in Giles's mind, "The prophecy is talking about Chris-
"We know that," muttered Buffy irritably.
He glared at the blonde and continued, "It's talking about Chris, this 'Kinsey' person…"
Jack jumped up from his chair angrily, "I knew that arrogant, aristocratic-assed, son-of-a-bitch had a part in this."
General Hammond nodded, "The President DID say he was up to something." He turned back to Giles. "Anymore of the prophecy?"
Giles jumped, "Oh, yes!" no good could come from getting distracted. "Okay, the seventh line." He looked at Daniel's notes, the younger man had translated two of the words in the line. "'Will try to…end…the, um, first…child's…life." Well, that was easier.
The eighth line, "'Will…'oh no, uh, 'thus causing-'
Dawn blinked and smirked, "Nope, 'bringing about the'."
Giles nodded, "Very good, Dawn. 'Bringing about the End of Days.'
Daniel smiled to himself; Giles knew that his notes had helped somewhat in the process of translating the tablet.
Dawn pointed to the text, "That says, 'by the...uh, the hands of the one with the-' god, Giles; this part's talking about Willow."
"Really?"
"Yes! If anyone's gonna be angry that someone's hurt Chris- it'll be Willow," she remarked anxiously. She reread the text, "The one with anger and vengeance,' just like when Tara died."
"Well, yes," cut in Anya. "She was all about the vengeance." Then she froze with worry. "You know I just thought; If Willow tried to end the world when Tara died what's she gonna do when Chris does?"
Dawn glared at the ex-demon, "He's not going to, we won't let him die- not like we did-" she stopped talking and shook her head. "Let's not get into this right now, okay."
Anya shifted slightly, now looking guiltily at the floor; Xander put an arm around her shoulders and hugged her.
Dawn suddenly brightened, "Hey! We've almost finished translating." Eagerly, she once again concentrated on the text work. "Okay, the tenth line…hey, Daniel's translated two words in this; 'Hope'…I think that's the word, anyway. 'Hope comes in the-'…um…Giles?"
Both Giles and Daniel looked over the text again; the younger man got it first, "'Disguise' at least I think that's what it says."
Dawn nodded, then she remembered that they hadn't even found out where Chris and Willow were being hidden; she fidgeted nervously, "Um, Giles?"
Giles looked at her blankly for second, "Yes?"
"Shouldn't we get to work on the locater spell?"
"The location spell, right Dawn, you and Daniel will work on the texts," he turned to Anya. "Anya, you and I need to do the locator spell to find Chris and Will; the prophecy won't help us find them, it'll only allow us to help."
Anya nodded, "Uh huh, and we can't help if we don't know where they are."
As Dawn continued to go over the texts Giles looked at the general, "Is there a quiet place we can perform a location spell?"
The general nodded quickly, "Yes, you can use my office."
Giles looked at him surprised.
"I don't want any of the personnel here walking in on what you'll be doing, they'll see you as a hostile, alien threat," the balding man explained as he saw the man's befuddled look.
"Right," said Giles, he looked at Anya. "Come on, Anya." He grabbed one of the bags from the collection of their luggage and walked towards the open door of the general's office, he waved Anya in and then closed the door.
"Have you got the things we'll need?" she asked, hopefully.
"Yes, of course," he replied. He withdrew several items and got to work on the spell.
Dawn's POV
Dawn allowed Daniel to look over her shoulder at the text that she was in the middle of translating; she sighed warily and reread the sentence, "'Hope comes in the disguise of a man…'" she trailed off after that.
The archaeologist looked at the text briefly, and then he stopped in shock, "Oh god, I recognize this…I-it looks similar to every text that I've ever read that has the words, 'ring of the gods' on it. The last part of the tenth line is 'ring of the gods'-"
The former Key grinned, "Which is the stargate, right?" he had mentioned a while ago that other races often refer to the stargate as 'the ring of the gods' or the 'Chappa'ai'.
"'Not once but twice,'" Dawn continued to translate. "He is the one who can only he...' no, that's not right. 'He is the one who alone can stop the…'" she squinted at the text. "Ah, I think this says 'blaze'…or it could be 'fire' the next part of the text says, 'revenge' no, that's not it… 'hell' maybe." No, that made NO sense whatsoever!
She sighed exasperatedly, "'He is the one who alone can stop the…blaze or fire…revenge' no! argh, that makes NO sense." Then she blinked and tapped her lips with a finger. "I'll check that again."
She the two words and mumbled, "Blaze, fire…revenge." She paused, thinking. "Fiery…fiery! That's the word!" Daniel looked closely at the text from over her shoulder.
"That's not 'revenge'," he scribbled out the word and rewrote a different word. "'Vengeance'"
Dawn nodded grinning, "'He is the one who alone can stop the fiery vengeance from…' uh, oh! 'swallowing…ENCOMPASSING!'"
Daniel jumped slight has she corrected herself a little too loudly, and right into his ear too.
"'From encompassing us all,'" she breathed out in relief as she finished it. "Okay, no we got it; now we can figure out what it means."
Daniel picked it up and stared reading it out loud, "'Born of solace from grief and guilt, he is the first of the second generation with the protection of the witch who strayed from the light, then found her way back. The efforts of one man, corrupted by greed and arrogance, will try to end the first child's life, thus bringing about the End of Days by the hands of one with anger and vengeance. Hope comes in the disguise of the man who first opened the ring of the gods, not once but twice. He is the one who alone can stop the fiery vengeance from encompassing us all.'"
Daniel touched his lip with his index finger for second, "Dawn? This is referring to Willow…isn't it, I mean Tara came into my dream and said that I had to stop Willow from losing control like she did last time."
Dawn nodded, he had a point; "Hey, Daniel?"
The man looked at her, "Yeah?"
"You are the guy that opened the stargate here on earth, right?" she asked hopefully.
Daniel nodded, then stopped, "Well, TECHNICALLY I didn't open it first-" oh god, not more science talk…get enough of that from Chris and Willow.
"I mean the first time in OUR lifetime, Daniel," she explained.
He blushed, "Right."
"But, you are right?"
He nodded blankly.
Dawn pointed a finger at the text that he had in his hands, "'Hope comes in the disguise of the man who first opened the ring of the gods' Daniel, this is definitely talking about you."
Daniel ran a hand through his hair, "Tara was right, I have to help them; the 'first of the second generation' it's talking about Chris and 'the witch that strayed from the light' sounds an awful lot like Willow to me."
Dawn thought for minute, So, that's what the prophecy will come down to; that Kinsey guy will hurt Chris, Willow's son, Willow'll flip out and-
Her thoughts were interrupted as the door slammed open, the rest of the occupants, who had been silent until then, jumped up and started asking questions.
Giles and Anya had just come through the door to the general's office, the others were questioning them on where Chris and Willow were.
Giles looked at Daniel and said, "The NID's base resides in a hospital that has just closed down; they must have set up shop in the building. It's on the outskirts of Colorado Springs."
General Hammond nodded, "Right then, SG1 you have a go."
Jack nodded, "We're gonna bring them both back." It was more directed at Daniel than anyone else.
The general continued, "You'll probably need help if the situation deteriorates; I'll send three SG Teams after you leave. Also a medical team, you can never be too thorough."
Jack frowned slightly, "With all due respect, sir. Why after?"
"Because we don't want to attract too much attention," replied the general. "We also don't want the NID personnel there to become aware of our intensions too soon."
Jack nodded agreeing.
Dawn looked at Daniel as they turned to exit the briefing room, for the first time since she'd met the man he had a look of hope in his eyes as well as the determination; as they walked out and then along the boring halls of the SGC she turned to him, "Chris is a lot like Willow, but now I think about it- you and your son have a lot in common."
He smiled, "Really, what's he like?"
She grinned, "Well, He LOVES his 'rocks' and then there's the languages and Egyptian mythology." Daniel echoed the grin as Jack, who had been listening in on the conversation muttered, "D'oh!"
NID Base
Agent Grey wondered for the billionth time, it seemed, how he had managed to get himself into the mess he was in as Chris had yet again amazed and scared him; at the moment the little boy was talking to himself.
"We're getting closer now, mommy," he said to thin air. "Are you okay? You've got owies." He eyes were now downcast as he said this; he fiddled with Grey's collar worriedly, the man felt a glimmer of protectiveness for the boy as he realized how physically fragile a four-year-old really was- the boy had, amusingly enough, chosen to shake his hand as a thanks for helping him and, well, he was little surprised at how tiny and delicate the child's hand was.
He hadn't been around a kid since his baby sister had died of cancer when he was thirteen; she had only been eight. He could still remember how frail she was back then before the disease had taken her away from him and his parents.
Not for the first time, he felt hatred, anger and disbelief as he wondered how on earth his superiors could hurt an innocent child; yeah, he was powerful- in the magic sort of way- but he was just a kid. Those bastards had NO right to do those thing they did, he was just glad that he and Serena had saved him in time before Doctor Bryce had had his way with him; Grey had no doubt that the sorry excuse for a man would have tortured the kid.
"I wanna see you too, mommy," said Chris happily. "I'm fine, now; Mr. Grey's helping me." He frowned a moment later. "No, no, mommy- he's nice, he saved me from the bad man….yes…Serena did too, but…" he trailed off looking deeply saddened.
Grey hugged the boy comfortingly and yet again felt the protective urges inside him as Chris wound his slightly skinny, pale arms around his neck; his red hair brushed against the man's neck.
"Mommy? Just come quick, 'kay?" he mumbled into Grey's shoulder. "I miss you."
/I know, sweetie/ Willow communicated back. /We'll see each other really soon, okay/
She knew that Chris was talking instead of thinking; he had a habit of communicating with her using telepathy but while she used her thoughts to talk to him he used his mouth instead, she still needed to teach him how to stop the habit.
After Chris had mentioned her "Owies" she'd realized that she hadn't yet gotten the chance to heal them up yet.
/Okay, Chris. Just be careful around this Grey person, okay?/
/Okay, mommy, I will/ his voice sounded in her head.
Willow stopped walking for a moment and concentrated on drawing energy from the planet; she felt the bones in her arm relocate and mend themselves; the numerous cuts started healing. Veins resealed to where they were before; skin knitted back together and the raw redness around the wounds vanished.
After most of the healing was finalized she kept moving; she couldn't waste too much time.
She could feel him getting closer to her, she jumped and turned as shouting drew her attention; several armed soldiers ran towards her pointing guns; she glared at the men and gestured towards the weapons they were holding.
The soldiers gaped and backed away as their guns disintegrated into dust in their hands; she glared at them, "You're lucky I've got more self-control than I had five years ago." She muttered "Sleep," under her breath and watched emotionlessly as they collapsed to the ground.
She had other people that could use a lesson in pain, the darker part of her soul couldn't wait for a chance to burn them all up; fortunately, Willow had enough control to push that part of her away.
Willow walked around a corner and, after seeing that no one was guarding the hall, she continued to draw closer to her son; she could feel them getting closer.
NID Base
A few floors above
Robert Kinsey had the look of an insane nut-case that was just about to crack, "How?" he said through gritted teeth. He had just flown in several hours ago and already things were going down the drain for him. "You imbeciles!"
Now he had two powerful forces looking for him; he had no doubt that if the two former-hostages caught up with him he could kiss his life goodbye. And he couldn't die, he was too important to; the SGC was still under Hammond's and O'Neill's control and their goodie-goodie, lax methods for procuring alien technology would be the deaths of everyone on Earth; forget about the other planets- THEY lived in this one, HE did!
Colonel Franks gave the man an irritated look, "Now! See here-
The white-haired man ignored him, "I leave the hostiles in your care for ONE moment, and you-"
"Well, what did you expect?" said Captain Lionel exasperated. "They're two very powerful beings; now I think about it, the escape of the two hostiles was quite inevitable." The thirty-something-year old woman sat down thoughtfully.
Inevitable? INEVITABLE!? By god's! Kinsey growled incensed. Wonderful, he was stuck in this office with an annoyingly-thoughtful woman and idiot of a colonel; and then there was this office, HIS temporary office which wasn't fit for a criminal let alone a powerful, political figure such as himself!
The office they were currently in was nothing spectacular, it was small; only had a desk and a few chairs in it. For Kinsey, it was an added insult. He stomped around the office like a tyrant; red-faced and glowered at them hatefully. "I want those two recaptured."
And then HE'D do the torturing; creatures like that had NO place on his planet, it was preposterous that they had ever been aloud to walk free and undisturbed for such a long time. They were no better than any other alien threat that his nation had tried to hold at bay.
Franks scoffed, "Are you insane, go out there and face something that can kill us without lifting a finger?"
Kinsey went a rather scary shade of red, "I am a powerful man, colonel! They WILL heed to my will…or they'll be confronted with the US Army, the air force, the Pentagon; HELL, the big man himself- the President!"
Franks and Lionel looked at each other with disbelief written all over their faces; the woman shook her head and said, "Sir, I think it would be best for all of us if we just let them both go."
WHAT!? "Don't be stupid, captain!" he snapped at her. "You do anything to compromise what I'm trying to do and I'll have you locked up in federal prison so fast you're stomach will STILL be trying to find its way back to you by the end of your extremely long sentence!" the woman just gave him a cold look.
Kinsey snapped his head up to Franks's, "Anything you want to add to that, Franks!?" He'd better not, he had enough on his plate without having to expect treason from these two morons; and here he thought that soldiers were supposed to be fearless. So much for that assumption.
He glared at the man coolly and said, "Tell your men to bring them both to me- either alive or dead, I don't care- tell them that letting them both get away is not negotiable." Having them dead was better that not having them at all- at least he could still study them and see what makes them so different from other people.
He shooed them out quickly and sat back in his chair; How had those two managed to escape? They were both sedated for god's sake…unless. Kinsey leapt over to the Intercom and clicked it on, "Personnel, be on the look out for suspicious activity from any other agents! The two former hostages could be receiving inside help from one of our people."
They hadn't helped themselves, they couldn't have; he was looking at a betrayal probably more than one agent, too.
Edge of Colorado Springs
The dark silence was already filling the streets; the quiet was punctuated by two barking dogs and a screech of tires from two cars that had just pulled up behind a desolate-looking building. The cars were parked under some bushes, then out came nine people; they were quiet and were obviously used to sneaking around.
The youngest girl turned to the middle-aged man with the glasses, she said, "Giles? This definitely looks like the place." She pressed her hands against the brick wall and peered around the corner for any possible threats. There were three, damn.
Giles nodded, "I agree, let's hope we can get them both out without too much trouble."
Dawn scoffed and muttered, "Yeah, because we're SO good at NOT getting into trouble." Oops, better keep her voice quieter.
Giles glared at her, "Sarcasm, Dawn. The lowest form of humor." She rolled her eyes.
Jack looked at him, "Hey!"
Dawn shushed him and ignored his insulted look, "There are three other people around the corner, I just checked."
"Weren't we going 'round the back?" asked Jack in a low voice.
The girl sighed, "Do you know how many of these people have watched movies that ALWAYS have people going around the back way just because they think it's the safest? It might have been the safest before the 'going around the back' thing became a cliché!"
The colonel nodded and muttered, "I hate clichés."
"Let's go then."
They ran away from the back of the building and towards the front.
NID Base
Grey held the boy tighter as he started struggling suddenly, "Careful, kid. You'll end up falling."
Chris grinned at him and pointed to the corner at his left side, "Mommy's right over there, hurry up!"
How the kid knew this was beyond Grey, still; they were going that way anyway- Whoa, okay, "You were right," he said as the boys mom walked around the corner. He began to walk faster, the quicker they were away from this place, the better.
"Chris!" she whispered, loud enough for Grey and Chris to hear as she caught sight of them. She ran over as quickly as she could.
Grey lowered the little boy to the floor as he struggled out of his arms; as soon as the boy was standing he was running towards the redheaded woman; arms outstretched and a big grin stretching across his face from ear to ear, "Mommy!"
In the corner of his peripheral vision his noticed someone stepping up behind him, quickly he span around- panic already shooting down his spine, he didn't have a gun to defend either himself or the boy and his mom- and saw that Doctor Bryce stood there glaring hatefully and pointing a gun in the direction of Willow, Chris and himself, "You think I'd let you get away?"
Willow's head snapped up from her son as he was still running towards her, an expression of dread all over her now-pale face; Chris stopped and spun around in fear; Grey shouted and ran towards the two hoping he wasn't too late.
He pulled the trigger.