AU Note: Sorry its taken so long for me to get this chapter out…its been sitting on my computer for weeks while I stared at it…attempting to work out all the kinks, anyway here it is; it's a bit longer :D I hope you all like it. The POV's switch between Angel/Angelus and Buffy so I hope it's not too hard to follow.

Day of Reckoning: a Sweet Surrender

Chapter 4: "The End" He Says

POV: Buffy

It's been 3 days since the first dream. They are all the same but I can't seem to figure out what he means. It's like they are on repeat in my mind. Every time I close my eyes, all I see is Angel asking if I'm ready, and telling me the End is coming, but what 'End' is as good a guess as any.

I decided to stay at the mansion; I just could not bring myself to leave the next day. I spent hours after waking up that night trying unravel what was going on and what he was trying to warn me about and when it finally came time to go home…it was just too hard. I figure I could stay here for a little while since Mom is out of town, and I won't feel so lonely. Even though he isn't here, I can still feel him.

"Slayer."

Geez, can't they come up with anything better to say?

"You will die tonight."

I just don't have the will to chat with them anymore, so within mere seconds an upper cut to the jaw, block, right hook, round house kick to the head, and stake through the heart.

'Knock, knock'

"Buffy?"

"Hi Giles…can I come in?"

"Oh right, of course. So what brings you by?"

Really? It's been a week since I gave him my last update. "Uhm just thought I would stop by and give you an update on the slaying."

"Ah right, so how was it?"

"Good, I guess, just your run of the mill everyday vampires. There were three in Restfield Cemetery and two in Shady Hill cemetery…" Is he even listening? "Giles?...Giles?"

"Ah, right, yes so you say five vampires tonight, yes?"

"Yeah, just the five."

"All right then, it seems to be pretty slow these past couple of weeks and I read of nothing big coming, so why don't you take the next night off hmm?"

What? "Uhm, Giles are you sure?"

"Well yes, in fact I am quite sure. Willow tells me you've been seeing this Riley fellow and I think you deserve a night off to go to the movies or what ever it is kids do these days."

You have got to be kidding me. "Really Giles, its okay…"

"No, I insist Buffy."

"Alright." I guess I'll just do a sweep on my own then tomorrow night because I am not going out with Riley again…ever.

"Well good. Now if that's all you needed…"

Is he really telling me to leave? "Uhm, actually Giles, I was wondering if I could talk to you for a second."

"Very well, have a seat. Tea?"

"No thank you. I was just wondering if you've heard of anything lately about something called 'The End'?"

"Hmmm the End you say?"

Yeah, I'm not quite sure what it is exactly, I've just uhm heard it recently."

"Ah, well how did you come about hearing this?"

"Well, it was actually a dream I had."

"Prophetic?"

"See that's the thing, I'm not exactly sure."

"Well, did the dream say anything else?"

"Not really, just that I have to be ready."

"Well, I can't exactly say what you dreamt was prophetic or not since there isn't really much to go on nor have I heard or read anything as of yet, but I'll give it a look."

"Thanks Giles. Do you mind if I get a head start?"

"No, that's fine. You can take some books home with you... I'm just going to head up to bed though; it's been a long day."

Giles passing up research? Well then.

"Ugh!" This is getting pointless, I've read through 3 books already and nothing speaks of the End. Sure it would help if I knew what the End meant but I can't know everything! Hours later and 4 books down, I doze off into yet another fitful sleep.

"HELP ME! HELP!"

"What happened?"

"It's an attack…They are everywhere!"

Oh god.
"Buffy."

"Angel! Thank god you're here, you have to hel..."

"Are you ready?"

"What? NO! I'm not ready Angel…I don't even know what I need to be ready for!"

"The war Buffy."

"What war…what are those things?"

"Can you face it alone?"

"Damn it Angel…what am I facing?"

"Do you need help?"

"I... wha…Angel! Angel…help me understand! Angel!"

I wake up screaming Angel's name. My throat raw, my body sweaty. I still don't understand what is going on. There is a war but who's waging it…and what were those things? I have so many questions but no one to answer them for me…and what did he mean do I need help? As I look at the time, I decide to do another quick sweep of the cemeteries before the sun decides to rise, and I have to figure out what is coming.

I've been wandering Sunnydale for the last half hour and have not come across one vampire. It's almost as if, they've just disappeared…or fled. This can't be good, it's too quiet.

"Slayer."

How did I not sense him? "Yes, and you would be?"

"It does not matter who we are."

"We?" I swallow hard. 4 creature-things surround me. They remind me of the 'Three' Angel and I fought that one time but worse. Covered in full leather with burnt amber striping and metal casting, their dark eyes search me out as I get ready to fight. They throw the first punch; I block but get kicked from behind. The fight continues for how ever long, I'm not sure…it's a fury of punches and grunts. One goes down, but before I can stake him, two of the other three grab me and throw me against a wall. I can feel the blood drip down my forehead as I push myself up; I block another left hook before throwing an upper cut to my right and a roundhouse kick to my left. The third comes at me from behind, before I have a chance to prepare, I am on the ground, blood now seeping out of the cut across my lip. I slowly work my way back up once more throwing a jab to the one in front and kick towards my back, feeling my foot connect with another's stomach. I see my stake lying on the grass a few feet away, I run towards it but before I can reach it, my neck is grabbed in a vice grip, lifting me off the ground. I claw at my handler as I struggle for breath. One comes forward, crimson eyes glowing dark.

"You should have ran while you had the chance little girl."

I move more violently, attempting to break his hold on my throat, he only loosens slightly. "Yeah well that's not my forte."

"Do you think you can beat this?"

"Well I thought I was handling myself pretty well." I choke out as his hand once again loosens a bit more.

"You naïve child, we are not the war… just the messengers."

"The messengers for what?"

"The End, youngling."

"The End?" I start to panic slightly, is this what Angel was talking about?

"La Caminata de Muerte."

He releases my neck and I fall to the ground, gasping for breath. I can feel my bruised body start to crumble as I grip the tombstone so I can push my self back up. I can feel my broken ribs and my dislocated shoulder trying to mend themselves. I lean against the mausoleum next to me as I try to rein in my pain. Before I can do anything else, one turns around sliding his sword into my body. I choke out a scream as my body sinks to the ground; I attempt to swallow the blood bubbling up my throat. I faintly hear him sheath his weapon before speaking,

"Like I said…we are the messengers."

I can feel myself loosing consciousness, I can't help but find it ironic that my death is near the same mausoleum that I first learned Angel's name. My last words nothing but a soft whisper, "Angel." before everything goes black.

POV: Angel/Angelus

"BUFFY!" I wake up gasping for breath I don't need, my soul screaming out in agony. Buffy.

What are you still doing here? She's hurt! We have to get to her!

I know.

I race out of my room grabbing my weapons bag on the way.

"Angel?"

Hurry up soul boy, Buff's hurt!

"Angel! Where are you going?"

"Cordy I don't have time for this, I have to go."

"Now you wait right there mister, what happened?"

I can feel a growl rip through chest before I can stop it; I turn my golden eyes on Wes and Cordelia as I speak around my fangs. "Buffy." And with that I leave out the Hyperion's front doors.

I can feel her…she's not well.

I know.

Faster!

I speed down the highway towards Sunnydale, breaking as many traffic laws as there is in my rush to save Buffy. As I pass the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign I can't help but feel myself slip into game face, as Buffy would call it. I need to find her. I park my car at her house and take off on foot, hoping to catch her scent.

15 minutes and 4 cemeteries later, I finally sense her.

Buff! She's bleeding!

I rush in looking for my blonde love. I find her crumpled on the grass blood seeping out of her wounds. I breath out a sigh of relief as I hear a weak but steady heartbeat…She's going to be fine.

She better be or I'll rip this world apart to find out who did this.

You and me both.

I carefully cradle her in my arms as I walk back the way she came from, her scent leading me back to the mansion. I can't help but wonder why her scent is so strong here. Has she not been staying at home? Or the dorms?

Half an hour later and many bandages, I finally tuck my love into bed. I can feel Angelus' growl pulsing inside me as I take in all the wounds riddled across her body.

What did this to her?

I have no clue, but I'll find out and when I do…they'll wish they were dead.

She's been staying here.

I know.

She misses us…she needs us.

I need her.

POV: Buffy

Pain. So much pain, my throat burns, my head's pounding. I slowly start to open my eyes, afraid as to where I might be.

"Buffy?"

Angel? Am I dreaming? Wait, do you feel pain in dreams?

"Angel?" I whisper. I try to sit up but yelp as pain shoots all through my stomach.

"Stay down baby, I don't want you to tear open your wound."

Wound? What happened? I blink a few times...adjusting to the dim lighting, and see none other than the man of my dreams sitting next to the bed.

"Angel?"

"Yes love?"

I try to speak a few times, but nothing comes out, and as I look into his dark eyes full of worry I do the only thing I can…I burst into tears. I feel his arms gathering me close to him, mindful of my wounds and it only makes me cry harder. I feel his lips against my forehead as he starts whispering nonsense words of love to me, gently rocking me. I continue to sob into his shoulder, letting everything out. The pain from my last battle, the ignorance of my friends, the loneliness I have felt over the past 2 months, and lastly his abandonment of me. I grip his shoulders tightly as he runs his hands up and down my spine with a caring tenderness of one lover to another.

He starts to speak softly to me again as my tears start to lessen.

"Sshh Buffy, you have to be careful with your wound."

"Angel?" I whisper.

"Yes love?"

"Is this a dream? Please tell me you're really here." I beg brokenly …I know how desperate I sound but I have to know if he's here right now or if this is all just a dream.

POV: Angel/Angelus

"Is this a dream? Please tell me you're really here."

I look down into her hazel eyes and my heart breaks and the sadness I see dwelling beneath them.

"I'm really here love."

I can't help but gently stroke her cheek, running my thumbs to wipe the few tears that have slipped out.

She looks so…broken.

I know. She got hurt really bad.

No! I mean she looks broken and alone.

I swallow hard…I know.

Then do something! Fix it! This is not my Buff, she's not weak.

"Buffy?"

"Yes?"

"What happened tonight?" As I listen to her account of what happened I can't help but get angrier and angrier at the fact that she was alone. Where were her friends? Her Watcher? They were supposed to protect her, keep her safe.

Yeah they did such a good job at that…Good job leaving her with them.

Shut up.

She continued on with her story as I started to take her in. I started noticing smaller details that most people would miss like the dark circles under her eyes, her clothes that used to fit tightly around her soft curves hanging loosely, or how she seems to hunch over almost as if to protect herself.

"…they all had these dark almost greyish eyes except for the one, his were a deep red and their clothes were really weird too, but anyways we fought for a long time trading punches and kicks. I was holding my own pretty well for a while,"

Of course you were Buff, you're my slayer.

"until I got grabbed from behind… his hand wrapped around my neck and he had these nasty claws and they started talking about the End, and I didn't understand but got really freaked out because I've been having these dreams and…"

"Wait, dreams?"

"Uhm yeah, I talked to Giles but since I wasn't sure if they were prophetic or not he said he couldn't really do much. But they said they were the messengers for the La uhm La Caminata de Muerte and that I should have ran away when I had the chance. Then he stabbed me, and said 'See, we are the messengers' or something. What bothers me though is I didn't even know they had weapons on them, they weren't fighting with them Angel, it was all hand to hand."

"Why don't you get some rest and I'll do some research on this, okay?"

"Uhm, o..okay."

I watched her eyes slowly flutter shut before going out in to the main room to make some phone calls.

POV: Buffy

I woke up a few hours later, still sore but not as bad. My wounds were healing up slowly. I was walking down towards the main room when I heard other voices.

"Angel, what happened?"

"What are we doing back in Sunnyhell?"

I knew that voice…Cordelia.

"Guys please. Buffy was injured last night, and I think we need to help."

"Did she ask for it?"

"What?"

"Did she ask for help?"
"Well not exactly…no."

"So what makes you thinks she needs it?"

"Cordy, she was stabbed last night and left alone in a cemetery do die."

"Oh dear lord."

Wesley came too?

"She said they said something about the End, we need to help."

"I agree completely Angel, I'll start wi…"

"Uhm."

Everyone turned their heads towards me immediately; I started shuffling my feet as I looked at everyone in the room. Angel, Cordelia, and Wesley were here but so was another face didn't recognize at all.

"Buffy, what are you doing up already?"

"Thirsty." I lied.

"Well it's good to see you again Buffy, even if the circumstances are less desirable."

"You too Wesley. Hi Cordy."

"How are you Buffy?"

"Been better, you?"

"Good."

An awkward silence passed over the group before the guy I didn't recognize cleared his voice and came walking over to me.

"Hey Buffy, name's Gunn. Nice to meet you"

I shook his outstretched hand and returned the greeting.

Angel was watching me closely; I assumed trying to figure out if I was really okay or not. I gave him a slight smile and he came walking over to me.

"Buffy, can we talk for a moment?"

I nodded. Angel exchanged a quick glance with everyone else then Wesley spoke up immediately.

"Right, well I'll start on the research."

"Cordelia?"

"Yes Wes?...Oh, right I'm going to go get some food for this place coming Gunn?"

"Ah," he looked between everyone in the room before shrugging his shoulders and following Cody out.

"Buffy?"

Right, follow Angel.

We walked into the kitchen and just looked around, neither of us really wanting to start a conversation. Angel ended up giving in first.

"I hope this is okay Buffy… I mean bringing the team down to help research and figure out what it is exactly we are going up against."

"We?"

"Uhm, yes?"

"Look Angel, I can take care of this thing myself, I don't need any help but if your 'team' wants to stay here and waste their valuable time then go ahead."

"Buf…"

"I need to take a shower Angel; I'll be back down to help research in a bit." I know I was rude to him but he's been gone for months and then just walks right back in…I just I need to be careful.

Please feel free to hit the button below and let me know what you think so far (please no hateful comments) ...I know its slow and kinda dull right now but I promise it will get better! :D