Destiny

By PSUBrat

Messages & Prophecies

An old pickup truck, containing three out of place visitors, cruised the somewhat deserted streets of Sunnydale. Gunn looked around the town as he slowly drove through. It was nothing like Los Angeles, which was usually bustling with activity at all times of the day and night. It seemed to him that when the sun went down here, the sidewalks got rolled up and people hid in their homes.

"Are you sure they're going to be at this magic shop?" He asked Cordelia doubtfully as he continued to navigate the streets. "Cause I'm thinking that I'm gonna run out of gas before we can find Angel. I thought you grew up here?"

Cordelia rolled her eyes. "Yes I grew up here Gunn, but the Magic Box wasn't around."

"Why couldn't we just go to this Buffy's house and wait for them there?"

"Because they probably aren't there. From what Willow has told me, anytime something big happens, they go to the Magic Box. I'm pretty sure this qualifies as something big."

"I hope you're right."

"Of course I am. Turn here!" She said excitedly pointing to her right.

"Are you sure? Cause like I said earlier, gas…"

"Just turn here Gunn. I think it might be near the store where I used to work."

With an exaggerated sigh, Gunn turned the truck onto the street Cordelia requested.

"What kind of work did you do?" Fred asked quietly, trying to listen to the conversation as she took in the sights of the town.

"When the IRS caught up with my father, I went to work at one of the best dress shops in town. No one knew, except for Xander and he was gentleman enough to keep it quiet." That had amazed her. Of all the people she expected to revel in her downfall, he had surprised her and done the opposite.

"I can't believe we're actually going to meet the Scooby gang," Fred said excitedly.

Gunn laughed at his girlfriend's remark. "Fred, they don't sound any different from us and what we do for the man."

"But Charles, we're going to meet Buffy!" As soon as she said the words, she regretted it. Cautiously she glanced at Cordelia who was now wearing a scowl. "I'm sorry Cordelia, it's just that…"

"I know Fred. It's okay. Buffy and I weren't exactly friends but we were friendly. Things are different now. I'm sure Angel has already told her about us."

***

"Slayer," Darius began in an even tone. "The Master requests your presence tomorrow night at sunset, you and the rest of the Twelve."

"What if I decide to stay home and wash my hair?" Buffy asked sarcastically. "I mean I am a busy person. Demons to slay, you know the deal. Who's the Twelve? Is that some kind of new band? Cause I gotta say if it is, it's a pretty lousy name…"

"I wouldn't be so flippant if I were you. The Last Judgment is almost upon us. Which side will you be on?"

Buffy turned to Angel and frowned. "Do you understand a word this whack is saying?"

Angel shrugged his shoulders and looked back at the messenger. "Not really, then again I was never one for small talk. Maybe if we hold him down and threaten him, he'll be able to enlighten us more."

Buffy moved quickly and overtook the vampire in seconds. She stood behind him with one arm around his neck and the other with a stake pressed to his heart. "Tell your Master that Drusilla has already invited us to his little party and we have declined the invitation."

"I'm afraid I cannot do that. You are expected. If you do not show at the precise moment, the Last Judgment shall arrive unopposed."

Anger enveloped her. She pulled him tighter in her grip, breaking the skin on his chest with the stake.

"I'm not afraid to die," Darius declared.

"But you should be," Buffy stated coldly as she pressed the wood deeper into his skin, hoping that it would have some kind of positive effect on him. They needed information to understand what they were going up against.

"Let me take it from here, Buffy," Angel said quietly as he punched Darius in the face, breaking his nose. The young vampire howled in pain as he fell to the ground.

"You must be Angelus," he said behind his cupped hand. "Master has spoken highly of you on several occasions. Do not worry, for you will be back in the order before long."

Angel stared incredulously at Darius. "The order died a long time ago. The Master is a fool if he thinks otherwise!"

"No Angelus" Darius declared still holding his nose. "You're the fool. The Master will have you as his right hand. You'll see."

***

Xander and Anya walked over to the table where Dawn and the demon were sitting.

"Oh! There's something you don't see everyday," Anya exclaimed.

"What's that hon?" Xander asked in a sarcastic tone. "A big green monster with red eyes and horns talking to our Dawnster?"

"No silly," she said, smacking his chest. "A Pylean in our dimension!"

Lorne examined Anya closely. "I'm sorry. Should I know you?"

Dawn giggled. "It's okay, Anya is our resident ex-demon."

"Vengeance demon. I used to travel dimensions, mostly for business but I went to Pylea for fun once with a tour group."

"And what did you think of my home?" Lorne asked, interested in hearing her response.

"It was sort of fun at first, like the dimension without shrimp. The two suns thing was great for getting a tan but did you know they don't have music there?"

"You don't say," Lorne gasped theatrically.

Anya nodded but continued. "Anyway, things were going great until there was this cow uprising, which we didn't get to stay for since our vacation was over and we had to leave but I heard later that it had gotten pretty intense. Kind of hard to imagine a bunch of cows just deciding to not give milk or something."

Lorne just stared at Anya and chuckled. He liked this girl; she was honest and spoke her mind. He had no doubt that the two of them would get along just fine; however, the young man with her was a different story. "So glow girl, wanna introduce me to your friends?"

"I'm sorry Lorne. Anya and Xander, this is Lorne. He's one of Angel's friends and came through the portal with us."

"Nice to meet you Lorne," Anya said smiling cheerfully.

"Any friend of Angel's…" Xander stated in the same sarcastic tone as earlier. He felt there were already more than enough demons, ex or not, hanging out at the Magic Box this evening and they certainly didn't need ones from L.A.

"Why do I get the feeling you don't really mean that?" Lorne asked, studying Xander closely.

Xander shrugged and noticeably bristled when William joined them at the table. "Hey dead boy," Xander snorted. "Wanna tell us what's going on. You were pretty vague on the phone."

Lorne shook his head. He could tell this Xander person was a self-righteous, pompous, pain in the…

"The pizzas should be here momentarily," William said with a sigh and sat down heavily on the chair. Truth be told, he was exhausted and didn't feel like dealing with the whelp this evening.

The shrill sound of the phone ringing instantly refocused everyone's attention. William walked over to answer it, relieved that the phone had saved him from speaking to Harris.

***

"What do you think Buffy? Should we kill him?" Angel glared at the young vamp that was sprawled on the ground in front of him.

"I'm thinking, nah. We still need information from him."

Angel nodded in agreement. He raised his foot and placed it on the vampire's neck, slowly applying pressure. "So is there anything else you might think you need to tell us?"

Darius glared at the older vampire.

"Wanna share the details of the Last Judgment with us?" Buffy asked casually as she folded her arms across her chest.

"I will not reveal anything other than my message to you and that I have already done."

Angel pressed his foot harder on the minion's neck; any more pressure would result in breaking the vertebrae. "You might want to rethink that because the sun will be up before your neck heals, should I break it."

"I have delivered my message. Kill me now if you wish but I will not say anything more."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "Never mind Angel. Let him go. This way we can send him back with a message of our own." Buffy leaned over Darius, grabbed him by the collar and scowled. "Tell your boss that I'm going to find him and when I do, he's going to have a feeling of déjà vu. Now get out of here!"

Darius leapt to his feet and sprinted off into the night while Buffy and Angel continued on to the Magic Box.

***

"Watcher, how's it going?" William asked into the phone, concern coating every word.

"Not the best I'm afraid. Is Buffy there yet by chance?"

"No her and Peach, err, Angel were going to meet us here after their talk."

"I just spoke to them not fifteen minutes ago. They said they were leaving for the shop right away."

William's heart began to pound in his chest. What if something had happened to her while she was on her way here? Certainly she'd be able to hold her own and with the ponce along with her, she should be safe, right? "I should go look for her then. We ran into Drusilla earlier…"

"Drusilla? Oh my. It's worse than I thought. Listen to me closely William there isn't much time. Is Dawn with you?"

"Yeah, Bit's here, why?"

"I need you to have her open a portal to us in England. As I explained to Buffy, there's no time for air travel. We need to get there immediately." He hoped that his tone of urgency was getting through to the new watcher.

William waved Dawn over to him. Covering the mouthpiece, he explained to her what needed to be done. "Think you can do it?"

Dawn bit her lip and rocked on the balls of her feet. She had never opened a portal on demand, nor had she done two in one day. If this were a true dire emergency as Spike had told her it was, what would happen if she couldn't open one? Would they all die? She looked up at the man who had become her surrogate brother. "I don't know…what if I fail?"

"Bit, all I'm asking is for you to try, okay?"

With tears forming in her eyes, she nodded and stepped out into the middle of the room. She wasn't sure she could do this, not without everyone watching but she had to try.

"Okay Rupert," William said, his voice wavering. "She's going to give it a whirl. I can't promise anything though…"

"Right. Just try to help her out as best you can."

Nodding to himself, he put the phone down on the counter and walked over to Dawn. "Ready?"

***

"There he is," Fred yelled as she pointed to a spot off to their right, not far from the Magic Box.

"About time," Gunn sighed as he looked down at his gas gauge. The yellow light had come on about a minute ago, signaling that he was almost on empty.

"Angel," Cordelia called, rolling down her window and waving at him. She tried not to look upset when she saw Buffy walking next to him.

"Is that the Fang Gang?" Buffy asked with a smirk.

Angel laughed. "Is that what you guys call them?"

"Well yeah," she replied noticing that Angel had really laughed. Was that the first time she had ever seen him do that? "We're the Scoobies and you guys are the Fang Gang." She hoped that he could sense that she was being playful and didn't mean any disrespect by it.

Gunn pulled the truck up to the curb and Cordelia jumped out and ran to Angel. "I was so worried…" she cried as she threw her arms around his neck.

Angel shook his head and took a step back, out of the embrace. This isn't how he wanted Buffy to find out about them. He squeezed her arm and gave her a slight smile. "I'm okay Cordelia."

A pained look crossed her face as she realized that Angel hadn't come clean to his one time love. She should have known better. He was always going to love Buffy, wasn't he? "Right. I just wasn't sure that you, Lorne and Dawn made it through the portal okay."

Buffy watched the exchange with a smile.

"You must be Buffy," Fred stated in a giddy tone as she extended her hand to the vampire slayer. "Angel has told us all so much about you. Oh, well, it's not like he talks about you all the time or anything but…" Realizing that she was babbling, she quickly changed the topic. "I'm Fred and this is Charles."

"Hi Fred," Buffy laughed as she shook the girl's hand and then the young man's. "I seem to be getting a lot of that tonight," Buffy stated giving Angel a sideways glance.

Angel smiled sheepishly and then looked away. After seeing Cordy again, he had no doubt now that he was still in love with Buffy.

Just as Buffy was turning to greet Cordelia, she heard screaming coming from the shop and then the windows blew out. "What the…?" She turned and started running, only one thing going through her mind, something had happened to Dawn.

Continue