Destiny

By PSUBrat

Reacquainted

Giles sat at the table, a stack of opened books surrounding him. It was well into the early morning hours now; sunrise wasn't that far off. His head was pounding and his eyes felt as though they were crossing. He glanced at the Council's notes again. Their translation of the prophecy had to be wrong; it just had to be. How else could he possibly explain it? He couldn't, which meant that either they were wrong in their translation or he was just in denial. He'd hoped that it was the prior and not the latter. Taking off his glasses and sighing heavily, he rubbed his brow. He had to be certain about this or people were going to die, people that he loved. Finally, he decided that the only way to know for sure was to start over and that was exactly what they were doing now.

"Uhm, Giles," Willow said hesitantly from across the table. "This text you gave me to translate…well…it's not sounding so great." She pushed her notes across the table and watched as he put his glasses back on to read.

"No," he responded with another audible sigh. "I guess it wouldn't."

Tara looked up from her book. "This isn't any better either." She turned the book around to show them what she had been reading. There on the right, was a picture of the world burning.

"Could this be any more depressing?" Willow sighed.

"Giles?" Tara asked. "What exactly is it that we're looking for? I'm not sure I really understand…"

"I don't understand it much either, Tara. Let's go over what we do have so far, shall we?" Two heads nodded back at him. "We know that this prophecy deals with Buffy and the Master, and her possible death at his hands." He paused and then added, "Again."

"Why do these prophecy things always have to deal with death?" Willow lamented. "Why can't they say something good, like 'Buffy kicked butt, the Hellmouth closed and the world was saved…forever'?"

"I wish it were that simple Willow," Giles agreed tiredly.

The three lapsed into silence once again as they turned back to their own tasks. The moments seemed to drag on forever. Giles was certain that they were running out of time. If only…

"Hey," Tara said excitedly. "Didn't you mention a 'Drawing of Twelve' or something?"

"Yes," Giles said with a frown. "Have you found something?"

Tara nodded her head. "It's all in Latin. I'm sure I'm translating it right. 'Duodecim' is the title."

"May I see that?" Giles asked, extending his arm across the table towards Tara.

Passing the book to Giles she said, "I-I'm not sure, but I think it refers to us."

***

Buffy, William and Angel walked towards the Summers' home in complete silence. Each had their own thoughts playing through their minds. Buffy felt like she was starting to drown in the tension that was now surrounding them. Not only did she have to deal with the Master skulking about somewhere, but now she had to deal with Angel and Drusilla as well. When it rained, it poured. She had so many things to say to Angel now that he was actually here but she was more concerned about the things that he was going to say to her. She knew she wasn't going to like anything he had to say but that didn't matter anymore. He had made the choice to walk out, not just on her, but on their relationship. He had chosen to go on and so had she, not that he had really given her much of a choice or anything. Trying to find comfort from all that had happened this evening, she instinctively curled her arm around William's. It was a small gesture, but one that she knew would mean a lot to her watcher. She could only imagine what was going through his mind.

***

William walked on in silence. Tonight wasn't supposed to be like this. Tonight he had planned on curling up next to the love of his life and sleeping contentedly, but then he should have known that nothing ever went right on the Hellmouth. Nothing had gone right for him since the moment he had arrived in this God forsaken town five years ago. But he had stayed, for her and he had left and come back, all for her. It was almost ironic, he thought, that the same day that Buffy and he had shared their love for one another, Angel walked back into her life. He was almost certain that Buffy would discard him now that Angel was here; afterall, the ponce was the love of her life. At least he had been during her most impressionable years. He desperately tried to clear his mind of images of Buffy and Angel together, but he couldn't. A feeling of loss began to spread throughout his being. He yearned for her touch but refused to make the first move. He didn't want to push her away. That's when it happened. She reached out and snaked her arm around his. Such a small thing, really, but it made his heart sing.

***

Angel quietly walked behind Buffy. So many thoughts swirled around in his mind. First and foremost was Connor. Why had the boy come here? What had he hoped to gain by killing Buffy? None of it made any sense, at least not at the moment. Slowly coming out of his reverie, he caught himself gazing at Buffy's form. In all his time on this earth, the last thing he ever thought he would see would be Buffy in love with Spike. The Powers That Be had a strange sense of humor, if that's what you wanted to call it. He supposed that he had no right to judge or interfere, afterall, wasn't he in love with Cordelia now? If that were true, then why did his heart ache every time he glanced into Buffy's eyes? He watched, silently seething, as Buffy wrapped her arm around William's. Their tenderness and familiarity made him bristle. Just how far had this relationship gone? He guessed he would know soon enough.

***

As the three of them approached the front porch, Buffy was the first to break the silence. "Before we go in," she started in a stern tone. "I want to make a few things perfectly clear. Angel, you will not touch William again. Understand? Because if you don't abide by my request, I will throw you out and track down your son myself…and I won't be responsible for what happens to him."

Why was she being so hard on him? This wasn't the Buffy that he remembered. The Buffy that he remembered would have moved heaven and earth to help him. He wanted to protest, but closed his mouth and gave her a slight nod in agreement, knowing that in the mood she was in, anything he said would be held against him.

"Good," she said as she turned to William. "William, you will not bait Angel into another fight, nor will you stake him. Understood?" She knew she was asking a lot from him but she had to do it in order for them to all work together.

"Buff…" William almost pleaded, trying to put on a good show for the poof. He knew that his relationship with Buffy had to be eating away at his grand sire. He kind of felt sorry for the old guy.

She folded her arms across her chest, giving him that look that he knew so well. The last thing she needed tonight was for their fragile male egos to keep clashing, especially since they had bigger problems to contend with this evening.

Knowing that he was defeated, he sighed. Man, was he whipped. "Agreed," he said rolling his eyes. Maybe he'd goad the poof into a fight out back if he got the chance, later of course, and out of Buffy's sight. He may not be Spike any longer, but he still had that itch for a good scrum every now and then.

***

The darkness of the cave where Gavin was held was but a fraction of the darkness that he felt in the presence of the Master. He had helped to create the monster and now the monster was going to be his undoing. He had been so cocky, so self assured that nothing could ever harm him. How wrong he had been. The torches that lighted the cave sent shadows dancing across the walls next to him. He was never sure if he was alone or if someone was with him because all he could sense was his own fear and impending doom. If he hadn't been gagged and bound, he wouldn't have screamed out anyway because he knew, no one would come looking for him. He was expendable, just like all the other Wolfram and Hart employees. There was no kidding himself there.

Several vampires came into the chamber, followed closely by the Master. Gavin knew that his time was up; he just prayed that he would find forgiveness on the other side.

"Can I play with him, pretty please?" The singsong voice crooned.

"You were naughty my dear," the Master replied in a not so playful tone. "You went out when I specifically asked you not to. Now they know you are here. I was hoping to spring that on them during the trials. No matter. I will still prevail."

"Pretty please, Grandpa-pa. My belly calls for him," she said, whining like a small child as she rubbed her stomach.

"Perhaps I will let you have a small taste after I am done with him. Now be a good little girl and go fetch me Darius. I need him to run another errand."

Drusilla pouted but walked away to do as she was told. She didn't want to upset Grandpa-pa anymore than she already had. If she were good, he would let her play with the new toy later.

After Drusilla and the others left the chamber, the Master turned his attention to Gavin. "Mr. Park, so nice of you to drop by. You have no idea how long I've been waiting to do this. Don't expect this to be fast because I intend to make you scream for a very long time."

Gavin closed his eyes, bracing himself, knowing that this was, indeed, the end of his retched life.

***

Dawn and Lorne sat on the couch waiting for the others to return. Lorne had tried to reassure the teen that everyone would be home safely, and soon. He didn't think she was buying it though because she still looked nervous and uncertain. Hoping to allay her fears for a while, he began telling her about Pylea and why he had left.

"Humans are called cows on your world?" She asked with wide eyes.

"That's right."

Dawn began to giggle and then it turned into a full on laughing fit. She noticed Lorne looking at her strangely. "I'm sorry," she said trying to breathe and waving her hand in front of her face. "It's just that I would have loved to have seen the look on Cordelia's face when she was called a cow!"

Lorne chuckled. He didn't know Cordelia as well as Angel or his Sunnydale counterparts, but he got the feeling that she had been quite the snooty one. Interesting. He'd have to explore this a little more and tuck the information into the back of his mind for later use.

"I guess when they get back, they're gonna want some time to talk, huh?" Dawn asked, scrunching up her nose as she changed the topic back to her sister and the two men.

"I would think so glow girl," Lorne replied in agreement.

Just then, the front door opened and the three in question entered the house. They looked unharmed as far as Dawn could tell. She got up from the couch and ran to her sister and William. Tears were still fresh in her eyes from her laughing fit.

"Dawn are you okay?" Buffy demanded after taking one look at her sister.

"Huh? What?"

"Tears?"

"Oh. Yeah. I'm fine. Just the thought of Cordelia being a cow."

Buffy frowned in confusion wondering what her sister and Lorne had been up to while they had been taking care of Drusilla.

"Never mind," Dawn said giggling again. "Just a little story Lorne told me."

Angel shot a glare over at Lorne who just shrugged his shoulders in reply.

"Come on Bit," William said as he steered her back towards the living room. "I think big sis and Peaches need to be alone for a while."

Buffy put her hand on William's arm and gave it a slight squeeze to let him know she appreciated his understanding. She almost melted when he looked at her with those sapphire eyes, conveying his love for her in one long glance. She smiled at him to let him know she felt the same way.

***

After it was decided that there would be a Scooby meeting following Buffy and Angel's talk, William took Dawn and Lorne and headed for the Magic Box. Once there, he would call Anya and Xander. Buffy stood at the door watching them disappear into the night. She wouldn't have let them make the trip without her if it hadn't been for the fact that she knew both William and Dawn could handle themselves. Closing the door, she turned to walk into the living room but Angel was standing right there, startling her out of her thoughts.

"Geez. Still big on the sneaking thing much I see."

Angel just looked at her and gave her a small shrug. "Old habit, I guess."

"Well," she said sighing as she motioned to the living room. "Let's get this over with." The sooner the better, she thought to herself

He followed her in and took a seat in the armchair. They sat in silence for several moments, neither knowing how to start or where to begin.

"About Connor…" Angel started nervously.

"About William…" Buffy began at the same time.

They both gave a small laugh. "You first," Buffy stated.

"No, really, go ahead." He was more curious to find out about her and William than he was to tell her about everything going on with him.

"Mine can wait. I want to know about your son."

"Are you sure?" He asked, trying to read her body language to see if she was being honest. "It's not going to be easy hearing what I have to say…"

"I know and I'm going to hate hearing it, I'm sure. But we can't just pretend that we don't have lives without one another."

Angel nodded and then began, hesitantly at first, watching her every reaction.

Buffy sat in silence, her stomach twisting and her heart aching as Angel told her about his tryst with Darla and then about the miracle child. Yes, she had questions, and a lot of them but she was surprised that her first thoughts hadn't been 'It should have been me' but 'Thank God it wasn't me.' When he reached the part about Connor's abduction, she heard the hitch in his voice and saw the pain in his eyes. A part of her wanted to reach out to comfort him since he had been such a large part of her former life but a larger part of her, told her that it wasn't her place any longer. As if all he had said wasn't enough, she was stunned when he told her how Connor and Justine had trapped him and tried to send him to a watery grave.

"Your own son?" Buffy asked incredulously. "That's awful, Angel. I'm sorry." She had meant that. No one deserved to go through that, certainly not him. "What happened? How did you get out?"

"Cordelia."

"Cordelia?"

"She rescued me. There's a lot you don't know about her. Before Doyle died, he passed on his gift of vision to her so that we could continue to help people. The visions began taking a toll on her. She was never supposed to have them, they weren't meant for humans. Eventually, she willingly agreed to let the Powers make her part demon…"

"Cordelia is part demon? Are you serious?" She tried to stifle a laugh. Somehow, Buffy just couldn't picture Queen C being anything but the bitchy cheerleader. "Sorry, it's kind of ironic."

"Yeah, well, she's got some really powerful abilities. She still has visions, but they're not as painful anymore. The Powers considered her a higher being, that is until she defied them and helped me."

Buffy frowned as she tried to picture Cordelia as a selfless, higher being. Nope. Just couldn't see it.

"Stopping time is one of her abilities," Angel continued in a voice filled with emotion. "That's how she saved me from Justine and Connor. After pulling me out of the box, she filled it with sandbags that she found on the boat. As soon as she had us well out of sight, she resumed time and Justine and Connor were none the wiser. They believed they had sent me to my death."

Buffy buried her face in her hands. She couldn't believe the story that she just heard, a son hating his father so much that he had tried to send him to his death. She thought her family had been screwed up. Finally, she looked over at Angel. "I'm sorry you had to go through all of that. At least Cordelia was able to save you. I can't imagine…"

"There's one other thing," Angel said lowering his eyes.

"You mean there's more?" Buffy asked with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah. About Cordelia…"

***

The Master sat on his makeshift throne, wiping the blood from his chin. There was nothing sweeter than revenge, was there? Certainly not for him, and certainly not this evening. He watched in pleasure as Drusilla toyed with Gavin, his screams echoing through the chamber every time she pulled out a fingernail and sucked the blood that gushed out from the open wound.

"Don't drain him yet, my dear. There's much more torture to be had."

Drusilla looked up from her snack, blood covering her mouth and chin. "Just a little more and then you can have him back," she said with a wicked smile.

"Very well." He then turned his thoughts to the Last Judgment. Things were still coming together nicely, albeit slowly, but that would change in the next day. He knew that the one of The Twelve that had left had now returned, and with her she had brought the sixth. Excellent. The others would arrive tomorrow. He closed his eyes to revel in his visions. It was then that a blonde, tall, well-built vampire entered the chamber and bowed before him.

"Ah Darius," the Master crooned. "There you are. I have a little message I'd like you to deliver to the Slayer."

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