CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE:

Message in a bottle…

Michael felt the warmth of the sun on his face and he slowly opened his eyes. He blinked to focus and wake up. He was greeted by a female voice.

"Good morning sleepy head…"

Michael turned his head and he was greeted by Faith lying next to him. She was lying on her stomach with her hands folded under her head. It appeared that she had been watching him while he slept.

He moved on to his side to face her, "Were you watching me sleep?" he asked with a tone of mock concern.

Faith smiled, "I thought that turnabout would be fair play… Plus I was wondering if I could play connect the scars on your body… You do seem to have more than your fair share of them…" she said teasingly.

"Well they do say that chicks dig scars…" he replied keeping up the banter.

"Yeah… I'm getting all weak-kneed just seeing all these scars." Faith said in a more suggestive tone now as she lightly ran a finger along some of his scars on his arm then across to his chest. Faith then sighed and she moved closer and rested her head on Michael's chest as he moved to lie on his back again.

He saw the look on her face, "What's wrong?" he asked suddenly concerned.

"What's going to happen to us?" Faith asked.

"Well if everything goes as planned… I'll be back where I belong and in a few months this time line's version of me will arrive here…" he replied.

"What if you couldn't go back? What if I don't want you to go?" Faith said still resting her head on his chest.

Michael sighed as he knew where this conversation was heading, "I told you… I can't stay here… It's not my time… You'll be with me… A younger me…that has more energy to keep up with you instead of this old man."

Faith snorted, "For an old man you do pretty good keeping up and then some…" she paused for a moment and then continued, "I think I can understand all this time travel stuff without getting too bad of a headache… I know that your younger you will be here soon, but it's not you…you right now. The Michael that I met on that patio… You understand me right?"

Michael sighed again as he understood exactly what she meant. To have had the chance to meet Faith twice and get together was a very rare blessing. He could understand how she felt. The younger Michael would be different from him in some ways—the environment and events that will shape him and his relationship with Faith would be different. Even with those changes, Michael also knew that his younger version would still love Faith with no hesitation or reservations. He had to think carefully of how he would word his response as he felt himself torn about leaving her as well.

"Faith… It will still be me… Just slightly different and a lot less experienced in how relationships work, but he will love you the same as I do now… You'll just know him…me… a lot better and some of the crap we had to go through won't happen now. You'll have more time together. That is the one precious commodity that no amount of wealth can buy in any universe or dimension." Michael said as he gently stroked Faith's hair.

He heard Faith sigh, "You didn't answer my question… What happens if you can't go back to your time line?"

Michael hesitated for a moment as he had dreaded this question. He had never lied to Faith and he wasn't about to start now. "If I can't go back… I'm going to portal to Virgil and then I'm going to have him portal me back to my home dimension… I won't be coming back…" he said.

Faith heard what Michael had said and she'd had a feeling that this was what he was going to do. She tried to control her emotions, but her eyes glistened and the tears started to come silently and she tried to keep herself from sobbing. She was sad and angry at the same time.

Everyone in my life has either disappointed me, hurt me or used me… I finally find that one person that I connect with and actually want to be with and we can't be together… This is the man I love and want to be with and the universe wants to take him away from me… It's not fair! Faith thought trying to maintain some composure and control.

Michael watched as Faith lifted her head and she moved to get on top of him to straddle him. He could see the tears in her eyes. She leaned in and kissed him with an almost desperate passion. He could feel all her emotions in that kiss—love… loneliness… wanting… desire… and the pain of loss.

oOoOo

Giles opened his door to answer the knocking. He was greeted by Xander and Oz standing at the door.

"Oh Xander… Hello Oz… I wasn't expecting you this early… Is there anything wrong?" Giles asked as he let in both men into his place.

"Uhhh… Nothing really… I just wanted to talk to you first about this plan…" Xander said hesitantly.

"I see… You have some concerns." Giles replied.

"Yes… Especially this talk about creating 'kill zones'… This plan could get pretty ugly." Xander said.

Giles sighed, "Yes I understand what you are talking about… If it makes you feel any better I raised the exact same concerns with Michael when he outlined this plan." Giles replied.

"What did he tell you?" Xander asked.

"He said it was a calculated risk…" Giles said awkwardly as he turned away.

Oz picked up on Giles's body language, "What else aren't you telling us?" Oz asked quietly.

Giles sighed again and removed his glasses to clean them. Xander got a real bad feeling as seeing that Giles did this mostly when he was worried and nervous.

"You must promise to not to repeat this to anyone else…especially Faith." Giles asked.

Xander and Oz both hesitated for a moment and looked at each other and then nodded their agreement to Giles.

"Michael expects that the Mayor will attempt to kill him at the ceremony… It almost seems like he is counting on that. Michael has stressed that evacuating everyone out of harm's way is the priority and he will kill the Mayor or keep the Mayor in the kill zone…and then set off the explosives." Giles said.

"That's not too surprising or too bad." replied Xander.

"My dear boy… You seem to not realize that by trying to keep the Mayor in this kill zone that Michael will have to stay in it as well." Giles replied seeing both Xander's and Oz's eyes widened as they comprehended that Michael was putting his own life at risk.

"Does he understand what he is doing and risking?" Oz asked.

Giles sighed once more before answering the question, "As Michael put it to me when he outlined his plan… His survival is secondary… Making sure that the Mayor does not leave the ceremony alive and protecting the civilian population is the primary mission goal."

Xander and Oz were both quiet as what they had been told sunk in and they tried to understand what it took to make that kind of decision and sacrifice.

oOoOo

Michael spent the next several days working with Giles, Xander and Oz getting the explosives ready. Giles, Xander and Oz had picked up all the required material and they had taken it to the warehouse, where Michael was hiding out. To say that Xander and Oz had been intimidated at first when meeting the Spartan was an understatement. Luckily, Michael had decided to meet them not wearing his battle armor, which reduced some of the tensions of the introductions. After the initial awkwardness was out of the way, he walked them through all the steps on to assemble the IEDs properly in order to direct the explosion in the direction they wanted.

"How are we going to set off each of these devices and the main device in the school?" Xander asked.

"There's no 'we' in this situation…" Michael said smiling.

He continued, "We're going to rig up remote command detonators and I will control them through my suit once everything is armed."

Xander looked at the Spartan, "…and what do we do if something… uh… happens to you?" he asked.

"Once armed… If anything happens to me that I become incapacitated or die… My suit's AI will detect and act like a dead man's switch and set off everything at once… WHOOSH!" Michael said still smiling and moving his hands up in the air mimicking an explosion.

Xander gulped, "What happens if we're still inside this kill zone?" he asked hesitantly.

Michael looked Xander straight in the eye, "Make sure you're not… That would be really…really bad."

Oz raised his hand with a question, "How are we going to disguise these barrels to not draw attention to them?"

Michael had given that some thought and he smiled as he answered the question, "The best way to hide something is usually in plain sight…" He walked over to one of the barrels he had completed and turned it around to show the others. He could see the looks of disbelief on their faces as they read what he had put on the barrels acting as their home-made claymore mines—Save the Environment… Keep Sunnydale Clean!

"Just make sure you place them at the locations that I marked on the map. This will provide enough coverage… Also make sure that the 'Save Environment' wording is facing towards the school… That is the front of the claymore and most of the explosive force will go in that direction… Again really bad if it is turned the wrong way and you're close by…" Michael said making sure that they understood all the instructions he had given them.

Michael looked at their handiwork and he knew it was going to be close, but they were going to have everything in place the day before the ceremony.

In these last waning days, each evening Michael would return to Faith and they would spend their diminishing time together. Their love making was taking on an almost desperate tone as they each realized how close the final day was coming. They found themselves holding on to each other tightly, after they had finished, they wouldn't say anything for quite a while as neither one of them wanted to let go or say good-bye.

oOoOo

The days past quickly and it was finally the last day before the ceremony. Giles had rented a U-Haul truck to move all their improvised claymore mines. To speed up the process, Michael helped to load all of the drums on to the truck. He was still working without his battle armor, he went with the others to the school to help place the oil drums. Even though he was wearing street clothes, there was still a risk of him being spotted by one of the Mayor's henchmen, but it was a calculated risk as he could help speed up the unloading and placing of the drums with the others due to his augmentation.

As they placed the last couple of IEDs, Michael went over the mental checklist in his mind to make sure he had covered off everything for this plan. He was satisfied that they had placed more than enough explosives in the library to take out the whole school and a good portion of the surrounding area. As he'd planned, it had been easy to place all the explosives in the library with it taped off by the police.

After finishing placing all the mines, Michael had the others drop him off at the warehouse. He had some tasks to complete before the tomorrow's event and then he wanted to spend one last night with Faith.

Michael went through his ritual of system and weapons checks as he armored up. He double-checked everything and confirmed with Junior that there were no problems with his armor at this late date. His mind wandered as he was planning to spend this last night at Angel's with Faith. He looked around the basement room to make sure he had everything he needed with him as he was planning on spending the night with Faith with all his equipment.

He tried to focus on the mission and went over his plan again—making sure that he had considered all contingencies and to make sure that he'd covered off all the angles and areas where things could go wrong and how he could/would react to them. He knew that there was a high risk with such a flimsy plan, but there was no more time left.

Michael put his helmet on and stood looking around the room for a long moment. He finally spoke, "Junior… I want to record two separate messages… I want the first message buried on the public networks and encode a Spartan ID into it that will start broadcasting out at 0138 local time on November 17, 1999… The second message will be a delayed send to Willow's email account two days from now… Understood?"

"Understood Michael… You may commence message recording when you are ready." replied the AI.

"Record first message… Michael… Adriana… If you are receiving this message then it means that you have successfully arrived in this dimension. I know that this may come as a surprise and a shock, but… how do I put it… I'm you…. From eleven years in the future… There is a lot to tell and not enough time… There will be data package included with this message that will contain everything you need to know… Michael… If I can give you one word of advice… Live your life and be happy… I envy you right now… You are at the beginning of a path that will change your life for all the best… Don't blow it!"

Michael went on to cover off all the major details of the when and where's and the how's. He covered off that some events could now be avoided and dealt with. He explained to his younger self about Faith and how important she would be to him and his life.

He finished up the message to himself, "…Just remember that you'll be able to rely and trust Faith… The transition is going to be difficult for her and I'm sorry that I'm leaving you with this relationship mess to clean up and knowing that you aren't equipped right now to deal with it… Trust your instincts… Trust Adriana to help you and guide you and remember to have some fun and enjoy life… Good luck and long life… This is Sierra-113 signing off."

Michael closed off the message and he instructed Junior to do a data dump of everything his doppelganger would need into a compressed file and attached to the message. It didn't take long for Junior to upload the message to different computer networks where Adriana would be able to find it. Michael wasn't worried about anyone discovering it as the encryption level prevented anyone but a Spartan from accessing it.

Michael let out a sigh as Junior told him that the upload was complete as he now knew it was time for the second and more difficult message he was leaving.

"Junior… Record second message… Willow I used your email account to receive this message. Could you please ensure that Faith hears it as it is important to her...?"

Michael paused before continuing, "Faith… If you are hearing this message it means that I'm… gone. I can't begin to even express into words how much I love you… I know that we've only spent a short time together here, but the years I did spend with you in the other time line were the best of my life… I know that you will find it hard to accept that I'm gone and it may be difficult to accept that when my younger version arrives that it is me, but understand my love… That younger version of me will become this person with you by his side… I have traveled between dimensions and traveled through time… I have fought through the Hellmouth and other enemies and it was to be with you… When I was younger I always had a feeling that I was running to or destined for something… I thought it was my being a Spartan that was my destiny, but I realize now that becoming a Spartan and going through everything I endured was only the path to get me to my destiny…. You. It was always you… I told you once in a different time and in a different place that we were meant to be together and I still mean it…"

He continued on explaining some things and events to Faith that she should be prepared to deal with to help Buffy and the others. He also provided her with the date that his younger self would arrive in Sunnydale along with the GPS co-ordinates.

"There is one more thing… I have hidden a dimensional recall device in my hideout… This will allow you and Michael to go see Virgil. He's a good…person…and can help both of you out. Enjoy your life Faith and live up to your potential… I always believed in you and will love you forever… Be happy."

Michael found his legs weak after recording the second message for Faith and had to sit down. He found himself emotionally exhausted and numb. He had cast his few remaining pebbles into the pond and he had no idea how the ripples would affect this time line. He took a few moments to gather his thoughts and focus. He knew that tomorrow would be busy and that there was much uncertainty in how it would all turn out. The only thing he was certain of right now was that he'd planned to spend this final night with Faith and say his final good-byes. Michael closed his eyes to rest for a moment, he would wait until darkness to go to her. As he tried to rest, his mind was filled with so many thoughts, feelings and memories, but one thought came to the forefront.

There's so little time left now…