Part Four

There were two born, in the beginning, given souls and set on a path that no other beings could endure. They were darkness and light, fire and earth, air and water. They were matched perfectly, and only together could they find the strength they would need.

They were born to fight. Darkness is their enemy, Light their only hope of salvation.

They were born to suffer. Pain is their teacher and their enemy. Love is their savior.

One shall be known as the Slayer and the other shall be called the Angel.

And as they were there at the Beginning, so shall they be at the End.

The Diary of Mihai Svjatopolk, 999 A.D.

Buffy

There were five of them. Big, with very long claws and the ugliest faces I have ever seen.

And they had wings.

"Hi guys," I said with a nervous smile. "Imagine meeting you here."

They didn't really want to chat.

I got in a few good kicks, but they didn't seem to be doing much. In fact, I had the distinct feeling they were toying with me. I hate that feeling. I backed one up into the wall and pummeled it before another one pulled me off and cut my arm in the process. I jumped up on the wall and kicked the second one's head, and suddenly found myself being smothered by a huge winged thing descending on me from above.

I decided this would be a good time to run.

I kicked the thing off me and took off towards my dorm. These things wouldn't be so bad if I had some weapons to work with. Give me a sword, a cross bow, a good battle ax, or one of those missile launchers Xander was so fond of and I'd take them all easily.

Me, alone, with two stakes was not quite as good of an option.

So I was running, and getting away just fine. When I heard Riley's voice. Yelling for help.

I should have left him there. I told them not to send anyone out, and if he was out it was his own damn fault. I should have let him live with his choices.

I just couldn't do that.

I turned around and sized up the situation. Riley was trying to zap them with his little gun-thing, and it was having less than no effect. They almost seemed energized. "Don't you demons have anything better to do with your time?" I asked under my breath and broke off a tree branch before running into the fight.

I swung it, hitting one of them in the side of the head. It reeled slightly and the others backed away. Riley stared at me, unmoving. "Run!" I yelled. It took him a second, but he finally got the picture. I held them off for a few more minutes with the tree branch, then dropped it and followed as fast as I could. When I passed him, I grabbed his hand and pulled him faster after me.

"What are those things?" he asked.

"Don't ask. Just run!" I yelled back, pulling him faster. I risked a glance over my shoulder and ran faster at the sight. Three of them were right behind us, their wings flapping in the dark night. We were nearing the dorm and with one last burst of speed we pushed into the door. I peeked out enough to see the three wheel upwards at the very last second, circle for a moment and then fly away. I relaxed against the door, then remembered Riley and spared him a glare.

"What the hell was that?" I demanded. "Don't you know not to leap into something you're completely unprepared for? Just be glad I saved your sorry ass!"

"I thought I could stun them," he said in a shocked voice. I rolled my eyes.

"Riley, you don't know what you're doing. And I would suggest you stop doing it. If you don't get yourself killed, you're going to get someone else killed. Leave it to people who know how, okay?" I wanted to hit him. Really hard.

I walked away.

"Wait," he called. I paused momentarily, but didn't turn back. "What did you mean about the Apocalypse? And what were those things?"

"You tell me, I'll tell you. Good night Riley," I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. I took a deep breath and kept walking.

"Well that was spectacularly unhelpful," I muttered to myself as I walked back up to my dorm room. I wondered if Riley would be smart enough to stay here until morning. I decided I really didn't care. I let myself back into the room. Willow was still sleeping. 4:13. Should I call Giles, or wait until morning?

Well, someone should get some sleep, I decided, climbing into bed without changing. Maybe this time I would be able to sleep without dreams.

Maybe.

Giles

"Why didn't you call me at once?" I asked. Buffy shrugged, looking a bit too nonchalant for some who had encountered five Korika demons the night before.

"It was four in the morning Giles. I wanted you to sleep," she said firmly. I repressed the desire to roll my eyes.

"I was awake reading. Next time something of this nature happens you should call me at once," I told her.

"Sorry." She glanced around the living room. "Any news?"

"I haven't been able to find anything decisive, unfortunately." Unfortunately indeed. I'd been up all night reading. I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes. "How is the Riley thing progressing?" Buffy made a face.

"Could he be more annoying? It's Professor Walsh that really gets to me though! Adults should know better than to throw impressionable young people out to the demons like that without any real training!"

I smiled softly. "And what did I do to you?"

She looked startled, then smiled and shook her head. "You know it's my sacred duty Giles. Besides, you always made sure I was super-prepared. Never a demon I didn't know!"

Not yet anyway. But I was worried about this End of Days thing. True, Angel's "prophet" could be simply a man in need of mental help, but the signs all pointed to true prophecies.

Which is what worried me.

Korika demons were also not a reassuring sign, especially since by what Angel had described of the man's visions, they seemed to be recurring figures. Korika meant "Bringer of Death" in ancient Moruvian. Their word for "death" could also mean "destruction" or "endings". None of the meanings seemed to point towards happy conclusions.

What I couldn't tell her was that I had found a prophecy. A prophecy I'd always regarded as idiotic until I read it again and found another mention of a Slayer and an Angel together. Two hundred pages apart the man spoke of them again. It couldn't be ignored as coincidence.

I wished I could ignore it. It isn't a pretty prophecy. Better to be prepared, I suppose. I just couldn't bring myself to tell her. I hadn't even told Angel. I kept hoping he would find it out on his own, and I wouldn't have to tell him. As if they hadn't gone through enough. As if we all hadn't.

"Giles?" Buffy asked, in the tone of someone who had said it several times before. I started.

"Y-yes?" She rolled her eyes.

"I'm gonna go do homework. Patrol a little later. With lots of weapons. Do you think they'll be hanging around?"

"Hmm?" I asked, a little distracted by thoughts of the approaching Apocalypse.

"The Korka demons," she reminded me.

"Korika," I corrected her absently.

"Whatever. Do you think they're still here?" I shook my head.

"No, the Korika are constantly on the move. They can't stay in any place for very long because they..." She cut off my explanation.

"Okay, thank you. Just checking." She picked up her purse and started toward the door, then paused and glanced back at me. "Oh and Giles?" I nodded, looking up at her. "If I happen to come across anyone like, say, Riley doing stupid things, could I punch him? Please?"

I smiled and shooed her on her way.

John

I was sitting in Angel's kitchen, sipping tea. It was a nice apartment, nothing next to what my home had been like. I missed it. Mostly though, I missed my kids, and my wife. My Sam. But whenever I looked at her, all I could see was her lying dead on the floor, a monster (Angel called them demons) ripping her open.

I had to warn her. I had to. But she didn't understand. Or she did, she thought I was crazy. I am crazy.

I missed her so much.

And Laura, and Eric, my perfect little children. I couldn't close my eyes without seeing visions of them, visions of horrors to terrible to even imagine.

I sat in Angel's kitchen and sipped tea, and missed them.

And then another vision came.

It ripped into me like they always did, tearing open my insides and laying them before the universe. I watched as the picture solidified into reality. They were so real, I could feel the heat of the fires, hear the screams and cries, see the sharp gleam of claws and the blood of innocent people everywhere...

I stumbled and fell to my knees, crying out in horror as my hand came up from the ground covered with blood. I tried to get up, struggled and fell again, and then rose and ran. I ran and ran, but everywhere was the same. The horror didn't end. And up in the sky was that terrible blackness, that utter emptiness.

My legs gave out and I fell, staring up at the wall of fire that was coming. I struggled to stand again, reached out to a big sign, the end ripped off like it was a piece of paper, not solid wood. I grasped it and pulled myself up, seeing, just before I was pulled back into reality, the remaining words on the sign.

Welcome to Sunnydale.

Part Five

It's the End of the World as we know it
It's the End of the World as we know it
It's the End of the World as we know it
And I feel fine
I feel fine

"End of the World As We Know It" by REM

Angel

I resisted as long as I could, but when John saw a blond girl fighting a demon and dying in one of his visions, I couldn't stop myself.

So there I was, in Sunnydale. Again. And I couldn't for the life of me decide what to do.

I knew I shouldn't sneak around behind her back again. If she found out, she would be angry, she would, what? Come talk to me again? Change my universe in one day that she will never even know existed? But we both agreed that it would be better not to see each other. Two weeks later I show up on her doorstep? I don't even have much to say. There isn't really any immediate danger to fight.

But I couldn't stay in L.A., hearing secondhand about visions of her doom.

I lingered on the campus, staring up at the light in her window. Doyle had looked up her building and room number for me. Her silhouette crossed the window. I could tell it was her, not Willow. No one else has her slender, strong body. I can still feel it against mine...No. Bad thoughts. Unproductive thoughts.

I wanted to run to her, to beg her to remember, to search her soul for anything, any moment, any lingering memories of that day.

I knew, if I did, there would be none to find.

So I waited, I lingered, hoping for some demon to appear. Something I could fight. Something I could kill, to prove to myself I had made the right choice, I was protecting people after all.

Something stirred in the bushes. I cocked my head, listening, not wanting to give away the fact I knew it was there. It would try to surprise me, and I would be ready.

I waited.

And then everything went black.

Buffy

"Angel" Buffy murmured, shaking herself awake. She opened her eyes and glanced over at Willow, who was curled up on her bed listening with headphones to music. Buffy shook her head, looking at the clock. No one should be awake at 6:30 in the morning. She pushed herself up and got out of bed, waving a hand in front of Willow to notify her friend she was there.

"Oh, good morning!" Willow said brightly, taking off the earphones.

"Morning. Aren't you the Wakey Girl?" I asked, heading towards the bathroom.

"I couldn't sleep," Willow confessed.

"Yeah, I had...interesting dreams," I said. "Shower." I closed the door of the bathroom and wondered how it was possible to have the same exact dream every night for two weeks.

*****


"Buffy!" Riley called. I winced, but stopped and turned to regard him.

"What?" I asked, crossing my arms.

"Professor Walsh wants to talk to you," he said, obviously trying to put some meaning into the words. I sighed.

"Fine. Make it quick, I have work to do." He nodded and I followed him through the hall into Walsh's office. She looked up from her desk when we came in. Riley shut the door.

"Did you come to your senses and decide to share?" I asked. Walsh's lips thinned.

"I've thought long and hard about this, and I'm going to share information with you. On the condition that you tell me everything you know."

"Everything?" I asked. "That could take a while."

"Everything about vampires," she snapped. I smiled sweetly.

"Oh. That. Still might take a while." I decided I might be laying it on a little thick. "Can I sit down?" She nodded. I took a seat. "Okay, I will tell you everything you want to know about vampires. If I'm satisfied you're telling me the truth."

"I wouldn't deign to lie," she replied icily. I bit the inside of my cheeks and smiled at her.

"Are you going to tell me, or are we going to sit here and throw insults at each other?" I asked, softening a bit. She sighed and relaxed a little.

"It started about five years ago," she said. "My husband was killed by vampires."

"Oh, so this is a vengeance gig for you?" I heard myself say, realizing with shock when I'd said the words before. She gave me an odd look.

"In a way."

"Sorry. Go on."

She proceeded to tell me about recruiting students and scientists, developing vampire-stunners, and with a combination of personal funds and money from several companies (she wouldn't give names) that wanted the results of her research, building underground laboratories where they held demons and did tests on them.

"So what did you do to Spike?" I asked when she was done.

"We implanted him with a chip that won't allow him to harm any living beings. We'd never tested it on the outside world before, but Riley tells me it's working perfectly."

"Like a charm," I agreed.

"Do you believe us?" Riley asked. I started. I had almost forgotten about him. I thought about the question. It seemed a little odd, but then, most things on the Hellmouth were. And the story fit with everything Spike said and I'd observed.

I nodded judiciously. "I'd like to see the laboratories though."

"Well, Riley can take you tonight?" Walsh asked, looking to her T.A. He nodded. Great. Just what I'd always wanted! I nodded though.

"All right. So what do you want to know?"

"Who and what are you?"

"I'm Buffy Summers. I never lied about that. I'm also the Vampire Slayer, well, one of them. The other has been in a coma since last May."

"What precisely is a vampire slayer?" Walsh asked. I bit my lip and drummed my fingers against each other.

"Do you know anything about vampire lore?" I asked, wondering how long this was going to take.

"I know who Count Dracula is," she replied dryly.

"Not really what I meant. Giles, my former Watcher, I'll tell you about that in a minute, could explain this a lot better, but basically, the world was once one big Hell and demons ruled it. Then they got banished, but some of them mixed blood with humans and that created vampires. Ever since there's been vampires, there's been the Slayer, one girl in the all the world with the strength and skill to fight the vampires, yadda yadda yadda. And that's me. I kill vampires and demons professionally. It's a sacred duty thing. I've been the Slayer for five years now."

"I thought you said there was another Slayer," Riley pointed out.

"Well, I died once, for a minute, so another Slayer came. Now there's two," I explained.

"What¹s a Watcher?" Walsh asked.

"Someone who guides the Slayer on her path, trains her, watches over her. I quit the Watcher's Council though, I'm a freelance Slayer now. Giles still helps me out."

We went on a question and answer thing. They questioned. I rolled my eyes and answered. It was literally sad how little they knew about things supernatural. Especially considering Walsh had been doing this as long as I had

I tried to imagine being as clueless as she was. I shuddered at the thought. Of course, she'd never actually killed a vampire. She'd never even tried. She recruited young men (no young women) to hunt them for her. Sexist much?

When she seemed to have exhausted her quest for knowledge for the moment I excused myself and arranged a time to meet Riley for my little tour, oh what fun! How would I ever survive that long?

Willow

Something was wrong. That is, something else was wrong.

I was just trying to do a little spell. All I wanted was to warm up the coffee I'd forgotten. It should have been simple. You just pull in a little energy, think about heat, and voila! Steaming hot mocha.

It's not supposed to burst into flames.

I thought it must be me at first. It's not like my emotional control was really working at it's premium levels. I decided to do a little meditation to try and clear my mind, and get it off Oz and how much I miss him.

I never really understood what Buffy went through last summer before. Now I understand it all too well. I wish I could have been more supportive but, well, I'm getting off track.

I decided to meditate. The moment I cleared my mind and started to focus, it hit me. The wrongness. It was like, the energy was turning bad. I don't know how to explain it. It just felt off. Like hearing a note off-key (as Oz would say. Oh great, more Oz thoughts). It was almost normal, just not quite.

Basically there's this...stuff all around us. Energy or magic or whatever you want to call it. It's what you use to do magic. You pull it in, and use a spell to make it do what you want. But it was distorted. All of it felt wrong. It was pulsing and it had the slightly sense of evil to it. Not overtly, but definitely there. Even after I opened my eyes and shook myself fully conscious again, I could feel it. Like the universe was watching me, like everything was wrong.

I was afraid to so much as lift a pencil with my magic anymore. No telling what could happen. And the change was so subtle, people not used to looking for wrongness might not notice it. Which means anyone doing magic could be in serious trouble. And this stuff isn't just used for magic either. It makes up everything. Which means that everyone and everything was just a little off. And could be getting worse.

I decided I should go see Giles. Wouldn't want anyone blowing up any coffee cups on accident.

Go to Part 6