Birth RightBy Alecca
3rd degree burnLos Angeles
2083
Wolfram & Hart Demon Hunting Inc"That hurt, you bloody ingrate!" Spike said wiping the blood away from his chin. Angel, still in full vampire mode growled at him. "Down, pussycat!" he hissed at him.
"Could you like stop for a minute?" Harmony asked exasperated. The fact that she seemed to be the voice of reason in the room made Angel come to his senses. He let his vampire face slip back and now glared at Spike with his human one, giving him a dirty look.
"Why ingrate?" Fred 2 suddenly asked and Spike seemed to finally notice her.
"Fred?" the blond vampire asked amazed staring at the girl only a few feet away from him.
"2," the girl added, feeling her face was beginning to turn red. Her brother rolled his eyes behind her.
"What?" Spike didn't understand.
"Huh?" Fred 2 finally snapped out of her dazed state, a bit embarrassed and extending her hand towards the vampire, quickly said: "Fred 2. I'm her great-granddaughter."
"Little Fred?" Spike was again shocked. "I was actually there when you were born. This whole demon herd chasing your mom...Most disgusting thing I ever saw - the birth I mean - and that includes the...," he interrupted his own words realizing he was making Fred 2 uncomfortable, so he cleared his throat and asked: "Didn't you have a twin brother?" Wes 2 rose his hand and Spike smiled: "Figures he'd look like old Percy."
"What did you mean by ingrate?" Fred 2 asked again.
"Well, here I come to help him save the day and he punches me in the bloody chin," Spike explained looking back at Angel.
"I don't need you to save the day," Angel replied angrily throwing himself in his chair. He reminded Lonny, for a brief moment, of a spoiled little child who didn't want to share his toys with the other kids.
"I'm not happy about this either, but the man said I gotta take you along for the ride," he looked out the windows of the office for a moment before adding: "He made himself pretty clear what'll happen if I don't."
"Someone bossing you around?" Lonny asked rising her eyebrows.
"That's another way of putting it...," Spike wouldn't have admitted it for the world.
"You going soft after thirty years?" Lonny was amused.
"What are you talking about? I'm as hard as rock. I could still take you down with one hand tied behind my back," Spike said measuring her up.
"Really?" Lonny had a defiant look in her eyes that promised no good.
"Stop it. The both of you," Angel told them and then turned to Spike: "And what exactly are you supposed to help me with?"
"He wasn't very precise. Ugly bugger too, he said something about a girl going into the past or..." Spike began and Harmony interrupted him giddily:
"Uh-uh! He means that slayer bitch that broke into your apartment the other day!"
"You know her?" Spike looked over at Angel.
"Sort of. She stole something from him," Wes 2 answered for Angel. "The thing she used to get into the past with. It was from his safe."
"So this is all your fault?" Spike asked angrily. "I should've figured out as much."
"Hey!" Angel frowned. "I didn't plan this. You think I don't have any better things to do than to chase some lunatic slayer god knows where into the past?" he paused for a moment before admitting: "Okay, so maybe I was a bit reckless."
"Damn right you were," Lonny agreed with him smiling.
"Do we know where we're going?" Angel stared back at Spike.
2083
The sunny beaches of Rio de Janeiro"Oh, c'mon! You're gonna make me go all the way back to the hotel?" Danielle Dervain asked pouting. "It's not fair, you can make your skin not burn...It's just sunscreen, you could zap up a few bottles like that," she snapped her fingers.
"And that's exactly why I won't. Using magic for even the most insignificant thing is a bad habit. Makes you lose touch with reality. Makes you think you can do anything by snapping your fingers," she imitated her gesture and then pointed with her hand behind them towards a few small wooden shacks in the horizon: "And you don't have to go all the way back to the hotel. You can buy anything from fruit to clothes right there."
"Oh," Danielle seemed a bit embarrassed that she hadn't noticed them too. "I'll be right back," she told the witch and grabbing her beach bag she got up and scattered off towards the wooden shacks. Willow smiled and let herself lay back down on the sand. Danielle reminded her so much of herself and that was the main reason she had taken her under her wing. The other was loneliness. She had had enough fights with evil to last her an eternity, she had seen and experienced things the human mind could only imagine... she had had enough of lovers she had loved and lost...and even sexuality had lost its unique spark. She laughed to herself, her body was young, but inside she was slowly becoming old. A wiseman - a wise old woman actually. A shadow had laid itself over her, standing between her and the light of the sun.
"Hey!" she yelled lazily and opened her eyes. The moment she came across the person in front of her she said in a semi-amused voice: "Oh, it's you."
The tall strange figure simply stared at her.
"Is something wrong?" she asked half-standing up in a more serious tone.
"Are you sure about these...vampires?" the Hur'dha asked looking down at the witch with a rather doubtful look in its eyes.
"You asked for heroes, I gave you heroes. The best there are," she assured him as her eyes stopped upon the long wooden staff in his hand that she knew held immense power. She knew because a long time ago she had held it in her hands for a brief period of time. The feeling was indescribable...
"I asked for your help" he reminded her.
"And I have long stopped giving any," the witch said in a rather cold voice. "I showed you real heroes that would help you for one reason or another. And now you're here, making pouty faces at me. Don't you trust me?"
"I...," the Hur'dha began, but the witch interrupted him, correcting herself:
"Okay, maybe not me - you have all the right in the world after what happened, but don't you trust my judgement either?"
"I see trouble," he told her avoiding to answer her question.
"You said that before. It's the girl," she reminded him.
"No, it's a boy this time. He wants to stop them - your heroes," his dark blue eyes met hers and Willow whispered:
"Rupert."
Los Angeles
2083
The LA Slayer Association HQThe young watcher woke up feeling dizzy and nauseous. He grabbed on to the nearest leg of the table and pulled himself up slowly. His sight was blurry and he wasn't quite sure what had happened. He threw himself in an empty chair and realized something was wrong. The chair was cold, but he knew only moments ago Angel had been sitting in it. Then suddenly it all came back to him like a painful jolt of electricity crossing his body. Willow...
"THAT BITCH!" he screamed, now fully awakened. He looked around the conference room and saw the two older men still out cold at the other end of the table and something resembling ashes scattered on the floor. Rupert wished those ashes would've been part of Angel's scattered staked body, but knew too well, they couldn't be. They were remnants of a transportation spell. Willow had helped Angel escape. If she wanted war he was going to give her one. He searched his pockets and pulled out his cellphone. He dialed a number quickly and as soon as the person on the other end picked up, he said:
"We have a code red on our hands."
The Hollow Crossroads
NowhenWillow sighed looking around the empty landscape. She had been here before on several occasions, none she remembered with great delight. The place itself gave her a disturbing feeling in her stomach and made her hair stand on end. The worse thing was it awakened within her a boundless melancholy, because this was the place where all the threads of past things met and she could feel the memories creeping in through the infinite hollow crossroads straight into her heart and mind.
"Can you feel him? The anger?" The Hur'dha looked back at her.
"It's strong," she nodded.
"Why does he hate you so much?" he asked turning away from the empty patch of ground he had been staring at. "I've looked and looked into your past to find the reason, but I have yet to find one."
"He's young. Desperate to prove himself and horrendously immature. He doesn't need a reason to hate. It comes with the age," she said smiling and then added: "I'm all the things he stands against. Evil - in his mind anyway - too much power, his own past, his own lineage. He's ashamed of being related to the Giles I knew. And that alone turns him into someone worth hating in my eyes," her eyes flashed black briefly and then returned to normal. She blinked several times before she continued: "Sure, me and Giles, we had our differences at one point or another, but he saved me so many times, helped me out of so many seriously bad situations, taught me so many things...He was an amazing person. He should be building him a monument not be ashamed of him."
"You have to understand history seen from inside the Watcher's Council can be very different from that seen outside it. Your Giles was a betrayer, a weak link to them and because all he ever wanted to be was a watcher, this young Rupert, has taken on the same beliefs. It doesn't necessarily mean he truly believes that he says. Deep inside, he might acknowledge the truth," the Hur'dha told her in a rather absent tone.
"You have too much free time on your hands," the witch laughed softly. "Tell me, have you been analyzing every little moment of my life since I left here?"
"Not every moment," the Hur'dha said, a smile crossing his blue hairless face. "You make a fascinating case study."
"From many points of view - that was creepy," Willow said and then sighing asked: "So is the time right now?"
"Just about. You know what you have to do?" he turned towards her.
"Every little thing," her eyes flashed black again for a moment before, turning back to normal, they stared in the same direction as the Hur'dha's.
2003
SunnydaleThey were all a bunch of incompetent whiny little girls. No wonder Buffy had had to spread her powers to get herself a real army. Watching them training in the backyard, Mina stood aside, shaking her head. One of the girls - what was her name? Kenny-something - had told her she could sit aside in the beginning and watch them. She could join them whenever she felt she got the hang of it cause otherwise she'd just be in the way. Their moves were ridiculously slow and as far as Mina could tell, not one of them would survive in a fight with a-few- years-old vampire.
"Hey, Kenny!" she yelled after the dark haired potential that was running the training session this morning.
"It's Kennedy, not Kenny," the girl said while she neared her.
"Right," she couldn't have cared less.
"What is it?" Kennedy asked overlooking the potential slayers with a certain feeling of pride.
"Doesn't the slayer ever train with you?" Mina asked forwardly.
"She taught us the moves. But right now she has more important things to take care of or weren't you listening when she was talking in there?" she pointed towards the house.
"I was listening," Mina lied. By the time Buffy had finished her loooong speech she had counted all the spots on the ceiling and all the lines in the carpet and had had enough time left to reorganize her schedule for next week mentally too.
"Wanna give it a try?" Kennedy suggested gesturing towards the group.
"Why not?" Mina asked smiling. "Who's up for a one on one?"
2083
Wolfram & Hart Demon Hunting Inc."A great woman? Like Mother Theresa?" Fred 2 asked rising her eyebrows.
"Why would anyone want to kill or stop Mother Theresa?" Wes 2 seemed skeptical.
"Willow said it was personal," Angel suddenly remembered. "A great woman I knew..." there was a brief pause before he and Spike said at the same time: "Buffy."
"Bullshit," Lonny said knowingly. "Why would a slayer go after Buffy? They practically worship her! They did everything but built her a temple. They have a National Buffy Summers day in their calendars for god sakes!"
"She's the greatest woman I've ever known," Angel pointed out.
"Just think for a moment," Fred 2 told them. "From everything that Buffy has done in her entire lifetime, what would a slayer want to change?"
"That's easy," Lonny immediately answered her question. "To stop her from spreading her powers."
"That's ridiculous!" Wes 2 protested. "That was the event that made all these girls slayers. They suddenly don't want their superpowers anymore?"
"No, you're thinking about it the wrong way," Lonny explained. "Any slayer that's a little too cocky for her own good gets into her pretty little head that she's somehow better than the rest of 'em and that maybe she was supposed to be the one and only. The slayer. And they get all these stupid ideas about how famous and rich and glorious they'd be if there was only one slayer."
"Bollocks," Spike mumbled to himself. Those girls had no idea how a slayer faced the world alone. He had seen it and it was a sad sight.
"Yeah, well I'm just telling you how it is," Lonny said lifting her shoulders.
"That's still ridiculous," Angel said thoughtfully.
"Why?" Fred 2 asked curious.
"Because if she hadn't spread her powers, then..." Angel began, but gave up continuing his phrase when the phone on his desk rang. He quickly picked it up. "Angel."
"It's Mantley from security. Sir...there are some rather anxious people who want to talk to you," the man on the other end of the line said.
"Who exactly?" Angel asked and there was a small pause before Mantley said:
"The SA, sir. They seem to think they have a right to enter the building. A legal right."
"Hold them off as long as you can," he ordered him before hanging up. "The SA's here."
"Are we gonna make a run for it?" Lonny asked and Angel gave her a rather desperate look. If the SA wanted them badly enough there wasn't really a place they could hide in until things cooled off. Mainly because when it came to the SA something like this never cooled off.
"Life on the run, think of the excitement. Living in caves, feeding on rats. A must do," Spike said smiling. Before Angel could reply a flash of light followed by a cloud of dust filled the room. When the dust settled two figures were standing in the middle of the room: Willow and the Hur'dha.
"Sounds fun to me," the witch said smiling.
"Red? This is turning out to be a bloody reunion, but without the party hats and good blood and with an extra blue friend," Spike gestured towards the Hur'dha with his head. "Don't tell me, you know him?"
"We're...uhm, old...fr-friends," Willow said having trouble finding her words.
"Funny, I'm an old friend and I'm not three feet tall, blue and freaky," Spike noted.
"No, you're a British blond vampire with a soul and a smoking problem," Willow replied.
"Uh - touché," Spike smiled and then asked her: "So does the big reunion call for a hug?" he suddenly felt a great pain in his left leg inflicted by a high heel. "HARM!"
"Sure you want to hug the ubberwitch, but you didn't want to hug me," the blond vampire was insulted.
"I'm afraid you don't have much time," Willow told them. "You have to go."
"Go where?" Lonny asked confused.
"Hur'dha," the witch turned towards the blue creature and it nodded. Then turning towards the others she said: "I'll explain later. There's really not much time..." the sound of an agitation was heard outside the doors of Angel's office.
"Great," Angel mumbled.
"One, two...," Willow's eyes shined dark. "Three."
The Hur'dha rose his staff in the air and in a blinding flash of light, all but Willow disappeared. Smiling, the witch sat down in Angel's chair and put her feet up on the desk. The sound of people running towards the office could be heard, then, a few seconds afterwards the door swung open and a young watcher, surrounded by a group of slayers entered the office.
"Hello, Rupert," Willow smiled victoriously.
The Hollow Crossroads
Absolutely nowhenWhen she uncovered her eyes she found herself in a bizarre empty landscape that spread as far as the eye could see. Looking around, she spotted the figure of the strange blue creature standing a few feet away from her. Next to her, her twin brother seemed in as much shock as she was.
"What is this place?" Fred 2 asked first.
"These are the Hollow Crossroads, child," the Hur'dha said with his eyes still glued to a point somewhere in the horizon.
"Where's blondy bear, you freak?" Harmony asked feeling uncomfortable in that strange new place.
"Angel's missing too. And the witch," Lonny noticed looking around.
"They're gone...I've sent them into the past," the Hur'dha told her. "Willow said I should keep you here until she settles things with the young one."
"You think I'm scared of a pipsqueak watcher?" Lonny asked revolted immediately understanding who 'the young one' was.
"No, I don't believe you are, Alonna. But not even you can fight an army of slayers," the blue creature gave her a quick look before returning to the point in the horizon.
"Don't call me that," Lonny replied coldly.
"So what are we supposed to do? Just wait?" Wes 2 didn't like the sound of that. The Hur'dha did not answer him.
Sunnydale
2003Kennedy was laying on the ground breathing hard. She looked up at Mina. She hadn't even broken a sweat during their fight. The potentials had formed a circle around them and had followed the entire fight breathlessly. Mina was strong, extremely skilled and possessed a power they had seen only in Buffy and Faith before. Of course none of them thought about the possibility of a third slayer because it was impossible while the other two still lived. Blood ran down Kennedy's chin and Mina looked down at her with a cold smile. The potential had put up more of a fight than she had expected.
"Who put you up to this?" a voice suddenly startled the potential slayers and turning back they discovered the origin of the voice to be Buffy.
"No one," Kennedy said standing up, badly bruised and still bleeding. "I just thought it was time we tried..."
"It was my idea," Mina interrupted her. "I wanted to see if I had the right moves for this outfit. I thought Kenny here would be the most suitable one to establish that since you're busy with...all the important things you have to take care of. For the big plan."
"Kennedy," the potential corrected her again and stared at her angrily.
"You have great moves. I saw the end of the fight," Buffy told her and Mina smiled defiantly desperately wanting to ask: you want to see just how great? "But this isn't the time or place for a stunt like this. We need each and everyone of you tomorrow. In one piece. Fit to fight, got it?"
"Got it," Mina said dryly.
Sunnydale
2003When he fell, Spike hit the already deformed shape of the Welcome to Sunnydale sign, while Angel landed on the empty road.
"Au!" Spike let out as he fell off the sign and his head started spinning. When his vision finally cleared he came face to face with that familiar sign that welcomed people to the hellmouth. "Welcome, home," he whispered to himself as somewhere in the background Angel rose off the road feeling just as beaten as he did.