"End of Days" by Felicity

Part Eight

In the last days, the signs shall appear. A baby shall be born with eyes turned inwards. Visions shall come of what is most feared. The Sleeper shall Awaken and the day shall turn to Darkness.

‹Books of Gregorios, 879

Angel

It was worse than I thought.

Cordeliaąs good at exaggerating things, so I figured they werenąt really holed up in my apartment refusing to speak. Of course, sometimes she just tells the truth.

"Theyąve been down there for two days?" I asked.

"UhŠyeah!" Cordelia exclaimed. "What did I say?"

"I heard you. All he said was that he couldnąt believe it?" I asked, wondering if Doyle would talk to me. Iąd walked in to my living room and stopped. Neither of them had looked up. Doyle had been sitting on my couch with a shot glass in his hand. John was asleep opposite him. Iąd gone back upstairs.

"He looked pretty stricken. And he stared at me for like five minutes! Just stared. It was kind of freaksome. Then he went straight for the whiskey. I should have known!"

"Right. Iąm going to go talk to him," I said.

"Ya think?" I gave her a look and went down the stairs.

"Doyle?" I said softly, approaching the couch. He downed his glass and poured himself another, then looked up at me, squinting.

"Angel?"

"Iąm back. I got kind of sidetracked," I apologized. "Can I sit down?" Doyle stared the seat beside him for a few minutes, then finally nodded.

"Go right ahead," he said, his voice slurred. I sat.

"Would you like to tell me about your vision?" I asked. Doyle downed the contents of the current glass and poured himself another.

"Not really."

"You want to tell me why youąve been down here for the past two days drinking?" I asked, taking the glass out of his hand and setting it down on the other side of the table. He stared at his hands for a moment.

"I saw her."

"Who?" I asked gently.

"Cordelia."

"What about her?"

"She was dead," he whispered. I stilled, wondering what life would be like without Cordeliaąs odd commentary and frank statements.

"We can stop it," I promised him, knowing that whatever I felt at the thought was multiplied many times for Doyle, who cared about her more than either would admit, and furthermore had seen the vision. Itąs never the same second hand.

"We canąt," he choked, his voice ragged. "Iąve been thinkiną about itŠbut theyąve all come true. Every single one. Theyąre just warnings, so you can stop what comes next, but this oneŠGod Angel, sheąs goiną tą die."

"No sheąs not," I said firmly. "I wonąt let her. We wonąt let her. Butyouąre certainly not helping her down her drinking yourself into a stupor. Look at yourself. We have work to do. And I need you. Cordelia needs you."

"Right," he laughed bitterly. "Cordelia wouldnąt need me if I was the last man on earth."

"Youąre a liar," I told him. "Come on, time for a cold shower, and then a nice long nap. Youąll feel better in the morning."

"Sure, after hours of dreaming about her dead?" he snorted. "I donąt think so!"

I tried to imagine having a vision of Buffy dead, but it was too painful to think of. Too painful to even imagine. Iąd had so many nightmares of it, been shown it so many times as I suffered in Hell, but to truly believe it would come and there was nothing I could do about it‹I couldnąt even imagine.

"Come on," I said softly. "We have things to do."

Buffy

I broke Rileyąs nose. Oops.

That was pretty much the only thing I learned at school that week. The rest of the time I was trying to slow the extreme influx of demons into town, cramming for the finals I was pretty sure I was going to fail, and trying to convince my mother to cancel Christmas this year. I mean, I love Christmas, but I thought of all the places one could be when the Apocalypse came, Sunnydale probably wasnąt the best. It took some doing, but I convinced her to visit my aunt. Theyąll fight the whole two weeks, but hopefully not die.

The really terrible part was we didnąt know when. It could come any time. It could come that very second and we would be completely unprepared. Well, as unprepared as you can get when youąve been gathering all the weapons in the county together. I had this odd feeling that thirty crossbows werenąt going to do much good when it came to fighting these "Lords of Hell".

The whole Spike thing worked out. He was so excited at being able to bully other vampires that he was even willing to kill a few now and then. Thank god vamps all hate each other.

Anyway, I was at Gilesą house, torn between my French notes and discussing possible attacks with Giles. He thought the Hellmouth would most likely open, and we should be there to combat it. Xander was firmly convinced that something was just going to come out of the sky and destroy us all in one big blast.

"You know, you were wrong about graduation," Willow informed him.

"Maybe I was sensing my death now," he said darkly. Willow and Oz were curled up on the couch. At least one happy thing was happening.

"Xander, could we please move on?" Giles asked. "With theŠthe Lords of Hell we canąt precisely know what to expect, but we must assume that it will have something to do with the Hellmouth."

"So now we donąt even know what to expect?" I demanded. Giles opened his mouth to reply, but I shook my head. "No, donąt even say a word, unless itąs a cheerful or excited word. Or a French conversation."

"Hey, guys, look at this!" Anya exclaimed from her seat near the window.

"What?" Xander asked, going to sit beside her. "Woah." I did my best to ignore them.

"Oh my," Giles breathed, having gone to stand beside them. "It appears you were correct Oz."

What were they looking at? I focused on subjunctif verb conjugations.

"Buffy, you might want to come look at this," Willow suggested. I sighed and put my book down, walking over with my arms crossed.

"What?" I demanded, nothing immediately obvious in the view.

"There," Xander said, pointing. I followed his finger to the horizon. And stopped. Because all along the edge of the sky, where there should have been more skyŠthere wasnąt. It was justŠgone. Black. Complete and utter darkness.

"Ouch," I heard myself say quietly.

"You can say that again," Xander agreed.

"Um, Giles, could we get on that research now?" I asked hopefully, eyeing the thing.

"Y-yes, of course," he stammered, not quite able to pull his eyes away from the slightly-pulsing dark line of sky.

The phone rang. And rang again.

"Someone want to get that?" Xander asked. Anya gave him an annoyed look and went for the phone. The rest of us kept looking out the window.

"Buffy?" she said a moment later. I turned, wondering who had called. Anya looked confused, and possible a little worried. "Itąs the hospital."

Faith

It was nice there. Maybe a little boring, a little cliched, but nice. It looked exactly like the park I used to go to when I was little, before my mom got into alcohol. I know it wasnąt, because they bulldozed the place to put up apartments later, but it looked the same. My mom was even there sometimes. She would braid my hair and we would lie on the blanket together, staring up at the sky. Or whatever that was.

Okay, I admit, having this pearly luminescent stuff instead of a sky and sun kind of threw me at first. But you get used to stuff like that.

I thought maybe it was Heaven. I mean, I remember dying. Or, almost dying anyway. I remember being so amazed that B had actually done itŠand sad too. Not because I was dying, but because sheąd given up that innocence of hers and actually done it.

Which, when I think about it, is really screwed up.

The weird thing was, I would hear her. Not all the time, but every now and then she would come and sit in the playground with me, or ride the merry-go-round, laughing and collapse next to me in the sand. Mostly she just talked. Sheąd tell me all this stuff, about how much she missed Angel, how many vampires sheąd killed the night before, what it was like in college. Sheąd give me all the juicy details of her latest fights, or tell me what it felt like to be dumped by that sleazeball‹what was his name? Parker. I told her to beat his ass, but she never seems to hear me.

Sometimes it makes me mad when she comes. Like how come she gets to be out there doing all this stuff and Iąm stuck here‹wherever I am? And who gave her the right to be nice to me? And why should I want that anyway?

Sometimes it makes me sad.

Oh God, does that sound pathetic. What am I? A freaking loser? It would be nice to get out and live a little though, yą know? Stuck here with no one to talk to, or fightŠit gets kind of lonely. Not that I need anyone else, butŠ

Sometimes I like to see her. She doesnąt seem to hate me anymore, though since this entire thing is obviously in my head, this whole "sisterhood" thing must be my subconscious playing some kind of crappy joke on me. It used to be fun hanging out with B though. She understood was it was like to be the only one. Even if she was a goody two shoes.

Then all of a sudden one day, it all went weird. The sky turned black and the park was gone‹it was this weird barren landscape. Freaky cool. And I hear this voice, telling me that my timeąs up. Whatąs that supposed to mean? Wasnąt I already dead?

But suddenly I started thinking, maybe I wasnąt. And maybe I didnąt want to be. Maybe I could live some more. I know Wilkins is gone, B told me all about it. For a while I thought maybe there wasnąt a reason to live. Maybe it was better sheąd killed me, cause Hell, no one else cared, right?

And then standing out in the middle of this weird place, with smoke and fire everywhere, and this black sky, I thought, Maybe I could live some more. Maybe thereąs things left to do.

And the voice goes silent.

And Iąm not there anymore.

The first thing I heard was this beeping, and it was speeding up. There was something on my mouth, and I reached up to pull it off and realized I hurt all over. God, I couldnąt be dead. It wouldnąt hurt that much. I gulped in air‹stale, hospital air, I thought‹and opened my eyes.

Sure enough I was in the hospital. A sign outside the door said ICQ. I was hooked up to all these monitors. The beeping was my heart. Across the room was another bed, with some old guy hooked up to all the same things I was. "Doctor!" I heard outside and people started to rush in, demanding if I was all right and how I felt.

I smiled and whispered, "Hello world."

Part Nine

Light alone cannot defeat Dark. Darkness itself must stand beside Light. So, in the end, must the Dark One stand beside the Chosen, or the End of Days shall truly come for all time.

‹Writings of Arioch, 793 B.C.

Buffy

The news reports were pouring in from all over‹skies turning black, raining blood, hundreds, thousands of "prophets" suddenly appearing, telling of the end of the world, deformed babies being bornŠFaith waking up. Xander was a little freaked out, to say the least. Not like the rest of us were in Utopia or anything, but Xander retreated to his basement with a bunch of old books and blockaded the door, calling whenever he found anything he thought might be helpful. He still let Anya in. Figure that one out.

We were all sitting around Gilesą living room (our favorite meeting place lately, seeing as he had all the research materials) discussing Faith. Or, more accurately, what to do about her.

"She did try to kill Angel," Willow pointed out.

"Not to mention me," I added, arching my eyebrows at her. She flushed.

"Right." I shook my head, sighing slightly. Iąd never really told any of them about the dream I hadwhile I was in the hospital‹the dream that helped me kill the Mayor. Had that really been Faith? Or just my own subconscious?

I tried to visit once a week. Itąs not like there was anyone else to care, and what if she could hear? Itąs not like sheąd always been bad. She was just neglected. She didnąt have what Iąd had. You couldnąt really blame her for what happenedŠwell, okay, you could, but it certainly didnąt hurt me to go talk to her, and maybe it helped her.

I wondered if sheąd heard me. If sheąd changed.

"Well we obviously canąt just leave her toŠher own devices," Giles said, sitting on the arm of the couch. I moved over to give him room.

"But we shouldnąt just go attack her. I meanŠmaybe she changed," I pointed out, knowing Iąd let hope creep into my voice.

"Whoąs changed?" a familiar voice asked from the doorway. I looked up and met her eyes. She grinned at me. "Aww, were you guys talking about me?"

"Faith," Willow said flatly.

"Thatąs my name. So, B, what the sitch? I heard something about the end of the world. Itąs on all the news stations. Gone for the public approach, have we?"

"Not exactly our choice," I told him. "How are you feeling?" Faith put a leg over the back of a chair and slid down into it.

"Oh, Iąm great. Never felt betterŠokay, so I have, but Iąm awake right? No permanent damage done, B. Told you you couldnąt."

I decided not to rise to her taunting. I was too tired and I didnąt have time. "Thatąs nice. Are you here to help, or to mock us with your health, cause personally, Iąm not traumatized by the fact that youąre all right. Iąm even, god knows why, glad I didnąt kill you," I told her, half sarcastic and half sincere.

"Yą know, me too," she grinned. After a moment, she lost the smile and looked around. "I know Wilkins is dead. I mean, youąre all here, right? So itąs not like I have any reason to fight you. And Iąd rather not live in Hell for the rest of my life soŠIąm with you."

"Promise not to kill anyone?" I asked, serious despite the teasing note in my voice. She returned the serious look.

"For now." Somehow, hearing something in her voice, I knew that it was a promise, and that it wasnąt just for now. That something had changed.

"Good. So hereąs the dealŠ"

Xander

We were going to die. Especially me.

I know I said the same thing before graduation, but this time I really knew it. I could feel it in my bones. I was going to die soon.

Why couldnąt I have been born in some nice normal place like Cuernavaca?

I was kind of torn between not wanting to die and wanting to spend my last moments of life with the people I loved‹I decided there were probably a few moments left, and I didnąt want to see the sky anyway. Nothing says ŚDeath approachesą like the utter lack of a sky. Plus thereąs the whole Faith issue. Last time we were in close contact she tried to kill me. I decided avoiding her was the best policy.

And then, to top it all of, Angel called. Me. "Xander!" my mom yelled through the door. "Thereąs a friend on the phone!"

I figured it was Buffy or Giles with more bad news. Imagine my surprise when instead I hear Dead Boy. "Xander?" he asked.

"UhŠyeah. Dead Boy?"

I swear, I could almost hear the non-existant sigh. That guy needs to learn how to breath. "Yes, itąs Angel," he said.

"Thatąs what I said."

"Right."

"Can I help you?" I snapped. "Iąm a little busy contemplating my doom, so if you could get to the pointŠ"

"The point? I found a prophecy, involving you."

"How do you know?" I asked suspiciously, hoping this was a good prophecy.

"It lists off peopleŠnot by name, but itąs pretty easy to see whatąs going on. By the way, has anyone checked up on Faith lately? Do you know if her conditions changed at all?"

"She woke up," I said dryly. There was a pause.

"Oh. How is she?" I thought about telling him she was fine and dandy, but since I knew that wasnąt what he meant, and he knew that wasnąt what he meant, I decided against it.

"Sheąs with us. Or so she says," I replied darkly.

"Oh good. Sheąs supposed to be."

"Supposed to? What does that mean?" I asked.

"Prophecies. The one I was speaking ofŠincluded Faith as well."

"So what does this prophecy say?" I asked, flopping into a chair and propping my legs up on the bed.

"That by banding together weąll delay the End of Days." Sounded good to meŠuntil I realized exactly what heąd said. I sat straight up.

"Delay?!"

"Unfortunately yesŠbut that is better than nothing."

"Oh yeah, cause Iąd so much rather die next week," I snapped.

"Xander, Buffy needs your help. Cordelia needs your help." His voice sounded extremely troubled at the second (not like he was all chipper about Buffy).

"What about Cordy?" I asked, frowning.

"SheąsŠweąll take care of her," Angel said, not sounding extremely sure about the fact. "But Iąm calling to make sure you help. Without you, Willow, Giles and Faith, Buffy wonąt stand much of a chance. Do you promise youąll help?"

"You didnąt need to call," I said softly. "I would have helped anyway."

"I know, but I had to. IŠthank you," Angel said, sounding just a tad on the emotional side. Woah. That guy really must be wigging out. Not that I blamed him, since I was a little on that side tooŠ

"Sure. YouŠtake care of yourself Angel. Buffy would be very upset if anything happened to you," I told him, sounding a little awkward. He made this odd sound, almost a bitter laugh.

"Yes, Iąm sure she would be," he said, his voice tinged with bitterness and sorrow.

"Yeah, sheąd come kill you for not taking care of yourself," I assured him.

"I have to go Xander. Thanks," Angel said.

"Youąre welcomeŠGood bye," I said, and hung up the phone, wondering what I was missing, and if Angel was this worried, maybe I should just kill myself now and save the Lords of Hell the trouble.

And that was the last time we talked before I died.

Cordelia

I was just walking to work. I knew I should have taken a taxi! But I didnąt think I could afford it, what with the End of Days or whatever coming soonŠthough it was bringing in a lot more businessŠbut Angel tended to ignore the business and spend all his time researching prophecies from like, a thousand years ago. But I digress.

I was on my way to work. It was kind of freakish, cause it was eight in the morning, and the only blue sky was this teeny tiny little fringe on the very edge, and you couldnąt see the sun at all. The entire street was dark, likeon a moonless light, and all the street lights were goingŠit was majorly weird. Also hell on my sleeping routine. You know, if you coordinate sleep with when itąs light, you look much more rested. Minimizes bags under the eyes and so forth.

All right, I was going to work, and the whole place was dark, like it was the middle of the night, except more crowded. On every corner there was one or more people talking about the end of the world. This one guy actually tried to grab me. Whatever!

"You have to listen," he said in this weird breathy tone. "Itąs coming."

"Duh!" I exclaimed and yanked away from him, walking as fast as I could down the street. I decided rather than weaving through all the crazy people and the ones trying to go to work like I was, Iąd go down the alley.

I think it was the dark getting to me. I must have learned a little more than that in all my time working for Angel! Of course, I had my pepper spray and a stake, so I figured I was protected.

Right.

I was about two blocks away from the office when the entire world went as black as the sky.

Go to Part 10