The morning of the graduation of the class of 1999, Sunnydale's centennial, three groups were giving last minute instructions to each other.
Mayor Wilkins to his vampire followers:
"It's crucial to the transformation that I feed quickly and alot. What that means is, I see blood on any of your lips and it's a trip to the woodshed for you."
Wesley reading aloud from the pages of the book of Ascension:
"And darkness will follow as day becomes night."
"An eclipse." Xander said, Joshua having already figured that out. "The Mayor has vampires, we know that."
"Puts me in play." Angel said.
Jessica addressing the group:
"Magic involves a great deal of symbolism. The Hellmouth is not only evil and represents evil, it's the doorway to more evil. To close it, we need the opposite. Symbols that represent good. There are seven of us adults, seven is a holy number in a number of different faiths. Each of us will be stationed around the exterior the school, equidistant from each other and each of us holding different religious icons. A cross, a Star of David, etc. within an individual circle of protection. The last thing we need is vampires interrupting us during the eclipse. We call on the gods and goddesses of the sun. Apollo, Helios, Amerterasu, etc. the sun was the first object of worship for humans. Plus, it'll disrupt the eclipse and destroy the vampires. We have to time the start of our ritual to just after the Mayor transforms. He'll have pulled an enormous amount from the Hellmouth at that point and it's when it'll be at its weakest. If we wait, it'll begin to regenerate. Any questions? You each have the prayer to the god or goddess you need to call on."
The eclipse happened just as predicted. The Mayor began to transform. Buffy called out the start of the battle and Xander took his place and began to call out the order of attack. Timing their ritual to the exact moment the transformation completed, nearly a minute before Buffy called out the start of the battle, the group began to call on the gods and goddesses of the sun. Shards of light began to pierce thru the darkness of the ellipse. As a beam of sunlight struck a vampire and it caught fire Angel realized he was in danger and dove for the nearest manhole cover, barely making it inside. Buffy taunted the Mayor with the fact that she'd stabbed Faith with the knife she was holding in her hand and the Mayor-snake became enraged and chased after her. She led him straight to the library, where she jumped out of a window. Giles pressed the detonator button and the library exploded, taking the Mayor-snake with it.
Seconds later, a massive wave of black light energy burst thru the floor and surged towards the sky. The eclipse abruptly ended, igniting the rest of the vampires as sunlight surged forward to meet the black wave. For a single moment in time, the world held its breath as the opposing forces met above their heads. The onlookers were awed by what they were seeing. As the black light dispersed, the sunlight returned to normal. The parents decided it was part of whatever had caused the explosion in the first place.
"Giles! What was that?!" Buffy gasped.
"The Hellmouth. Somehow the explosion must have affected it. I can't think what else it could have been."
The crowd quickly began to disperse as officials began to arrive. Surprisingly, the Scoobies found only three people had died. The Mayor-snake had eaten Snyder and one of the students. Larry's back and neck had been broken when his flamethrower had run out and the Mayor-snake had snapped its tail and thrown him across the courtyard.
Buffy became distraught when she realized vampires had been dusted by the eclipse collapsing.
"Angel! Where's Angel? Has anyone seen Angel?" No one had. It would be after dark before he made contact with her. But it wasn't to reassure her that he wasn't dusted.
Angel had waited out the day in the sewers. Once the sun had set, he crawled out and headed for Buffy's. He was passing near the building the Mayor had set Faith up in when he saw something that shook him. Something he had trouble wrapping his mind around. He quickly raced to Buffy's and knocked on her door. Buffy flung open the door and dove into his arms.
"Angel! Angel! I was so scared. I was afraid you'd gotten caught when the eclipse ended the way it did."
"No, I realized what was happening and got to cover. Buffy, we've got a problem, a big problem. How big, I'm not exactly sure. Call Giles and Wesley and Willow and Oz, but not Xander and Cordelia. I'll explain when they get here." Buffy made the calls and as soon they were all assembled, Angel explained what he'd seen.
"I came out of the sewers near the apartment the Mayor got Faith. I saw Xander and Cordelia pull up in the convertible he got from his uncle. They parked in front of the building. Faith got out of the backseat. I heard her say, this'll just take a few minutes. She went up to the apartment and came back down with a packed bag and got in the car. I thought she was in a coma in the hospital. How is she walking around without any signs of injuries. And what are Xander and Cordelia doing with her?"
"She must have them under a spell!" Willow declared. "Why else would they be with that evil skanky ho?!"
"We need to find them and help them." Buffy said. "It's just like Xander to get in trouble!"
"I'll call his house." Willow said. After hearing the line ring several times and getting no answer, she said. "No one's answering. I'll try Cordelia's place." Someone picked up on the second ring. Willow recognized the voice. "Mrs. Chase? This is Willow Rosenberg. I'm looking for Xander or Cordelia."
"They're here, dear. Why don't you come over? Bring the rest of the Scoobies. We have alot to talk about."
Shaken, Willow set the phone down. "Mrs. Chase says that they're there. She invited us over. Us, as in the Scoobies. How does she know that name?"
"I don't know." Buffy said grimly. "But I mean to find out. Let's go. I want answers."
