Destiny

By PSUBrat

Dreamscapes

The tensions in the Magic Box increased ten fold when Wesley suddenly announced his presence by crashing through the door. Each side of the shop had their own reasons for their dislike of the scruffy looking man in the doorway. A low, steady growl began to emanate from within Angel; the demon wanting to take over and rip the man apart, the man that had betrayed him in the worst possible way. Lorne reached over and placed a hand on the vampire's shoulder to ground him, let him know that he was still surrounded by those who cared. On the other side of the room, Buffy was already standing, her annoyance with the man written all over her face. He was the last person that she had expected to see this evening and she tensed even more when she saw just who he had brought with him.

"Do you have it?" Giles asked hopefully, heedless of the glares from the group.

Wesley nodded as he harshly pulled Lilah in behind him. Connor followed the woman, his eyes cast downward, not wanting to make contact with anyone in the room, especially not Angel or Dawn.

"What is he doing here?" Xander demanded as he protectively placed his arm around Anya's shoulders.

From his position behind the counter, Angel hadn't seen his son enter behind Lilah. He slowly stood and walked over next to Giles. "If you don't get rid of him, I will." His eyes flashed gold as he tried to keep the demon at bay.

Before Giles could answer him, Cordelia gently placed her hand on his arm. "Angel, look." She nodded towards the doorway where Connor was trying to look inconspicuous.

"Connor?" Angel asked incredulously. When his eyes met with Connor's, the boy quickly looked away. Pain etched its way across the vampire's features. Why was his son with the traitor? Had Wesley taken him away yet again? He would kill the son of a bitch this time if he had.

Dawn rose from her seat and hesitantly walked to the bottom of the stairs, trying to make eye contact with Connor. She needed to know why he had tried to kill Buffy. She needed to know because she was in love with him and just the thought of him trying to play her, ripped her apart inside. "Steven?" She had tried to sound strong but her voice choked out the name instead as her tears threatened to spill down her cheeks.

The anguish in her voice brought him out of his thoughts. He wanted to run to her and hold her, to tell her that things would be okay and that he loved her, but he knew that he could not do these things. Not anymore. Not ever again. He had failed on so many levels, this being the worst of all.

"Dawn," Buffy said in protective mode, never taking her eyes off the boy who had tried to kill her earlier. "Get away from him. Now."

"But Buffy…"

"I mean it. Now."

"I want you all to take a seat immediately," Giles demanded, tiring of the standoff that was occurring. They had very little time to formulate a plan. When no one moved, his voice took on a menacing tone, one vaguely reminiscent to his Ripper days. "Bloody hell people! I will not tolerate any more of these outbursts. We have things to do and an apocalypse to avert. Now sit the hell down!"

Perhaps it had been his tone or maybe it was the look in his eyes, but those who were out of their seats, quickly sat back down again and were quiet. The trio on the top landing hesitated at first but then found seats as well.

***

Giles went to the back, to the corner of the shop where the bookshelves were located and brought out a thick book, along with all of the notes that he, Willow and Tara had made before they passed through the portal into Sunnydale. He used the research table to spread the items out, so he could ensure that he didn't forget to mention anything

"If you'll recall, before Wesley arrived, I was explaining that we were all brought together for a reason. It's called the Drawing of the Twelve. Most everyone in this room will be playing a major part in what is to come. We don't know all of the details or exactly who all twelve are since the prophecy is very vague but we do know a few of the key players. Dawn and Buffy are mentioned by name, the Key and the Slayer."

"How lucky for me," Buffy sighed. "Nice to know I'm always prophecy worthy."

"Hey," Dawn replied. "You're not alone this time."

"Quite right Dawn," Giles continued. "As I said earlier, parts of the prophecy are missing but through some effort, Wesley has been able to secure the rest of it. Hopefully it will shed some light on who the other key players might well be."

That was Wesley's cue to hand over what he had been able to discover in the vaults at Wolfram and Hart.

"Thank you Wesley. Before I continue, I believe that it is absolutely imperative that every one of you understand the role Wesley has played in the translations of the prophecy."

"I really don't care what he did," Angel growled. "He's a traitor. To his friends. To himself. I refuse to work with him. I can't even stand to be in the same room as him!"

"Angel you don't have a choice…" Giles began but was interrupted by Wesley.

"It's okay Rupert," he said as he lifted his head to stare boldly at Angel. "I may have made mistakes in the past Angel, but I never set out to hurt you intentionally. Don't you think I haven't had to live with what I did everyday since then? Dole out your best punishment Angel because chances are, it'll be nowhere near to how I've punished myself already."

Angel continued to glare at the man who had taken Connor away from him, but the pain in Wesley's eyes told him that what he had said was true. There was no punishment that he could throw at him that was worse than what that the man hadn't already done to himself. He closed his eyes and turned his head. He could feel Cordelia's hand on his, trying to calm him.

After Wesley had taken his seat again, Giles continued. "Several months ago, Wesley contacted me about what had happened in Los Angeles. At that time, the prophecy was still going through preliminary analysis for authenticity. The members of the Council who were authenticating the document, ran across the mention of a prophecy that was linked to this one; one that they knew was in the possession of Wolfram and Hart. It was then that Wesley and I devised a plan for him to infiltrate their offices and get his hands on the prophecy that we needed." He paused and glared at Lilah. "You gave us the perfect opening."

Lilah's face fell when she realized what Giles was referring to, the night Wesley took her to bed for the first time. She had been played and quite well. If Wesley hadn't been blocking her path to the exit, she would have bolted immediately but she was trapped. She could feel the anger rising in her cheeks but she couldn't act on it. She sat and listened. "You bastard," she stated venomously.

"Sorry, sweetheart," Wesley stated dryly. "But you know how it goes…anything to get the job done properly."

"I hope you burn in hell," she yelled at him.

"I believe I'm already there, but if not, be a dear and save me a seat, would you?"

"Let's focus, shall we?" Giles demanded with a growl. "There'll be plenty of time later for everyone to kill one another." He looked around the room; everyone's attention was back on him, or so it seemed. Good. "I'm going to read off the other twelve that are mentioned in the prophecy. We have some idea of who they may be, but it's only our best guess. The remaining twelve are; the Watcher, the Witch, the Loyal, the Demon, the Sorceress, the Prodigy, the Seer, the Champion, the Souled and the Betrayer."

"We think," Willow stated, "that I'm the Witch and that Tara is the Sorceress. Makes sense, right?" Several heads nodded back at her, including Wesley. "We're a little unclear on who the Watcher may be since there are three of you in this room right now."

"Giles has been a watcher the longest," William commented. "He's also the oldest so I say he's probably the one they're referring to."

"I don't believe seniority, or age for the matter," he said, giving William a hard stare, "have anything to do with who each of the Twelve are."

William smiled at his friend and nodded. "Well then, let's have a little brainstorming session to suss out who's who."

"Splendid idea William," Giles said sarcastically. "I don't know why I didn't think of that before."

Fred giggled and Buffy covered a smiled. This didn't have to be all serious, did it?

"Obviously the Souled is Angel," Cordelia interjected trying to add her thoughts into the discussion. "That's a given."

"No," Wesley replied. "It isn't."

***

Dawn walked through the sand. Her hair loose and flowing in the gentle breeze. She shielded her eyes from the sun as she tried to take in her surroundings. How had she gotten here? Hadn't she just been listening to Giles talk about the Drawing of the Twelve? Creepy. Slowly she walked on. The sand was warm and soft beneath her bare feet. She felt free, yet there was a sense of urgency nagging at the back of her mind. In the distance, she saw a woman standing with her back to her. The woman's hair gleaned gold in the sun while her white tunic fluttered with the air currents. Suddenly Dawn's heartbeat increased as recognition set in.

"Mom," she called out to the woman in front of her.

Joyce turned to face her daughter, a wide smile covering her face. "My little pumpkin belly," she cried as she held out her arms for Dawn to run in to.

"Mom," Dawn sobbed as she threw herself at her mother, hugging her tightly. "I've missed you so much."

"I know sweetheart. I've missed you too but don't be upset. I'm very happy and at peace."

Dawn hugged her mother tighter to her and cried. "I love you, Mom. Things are so different without you."

"I love you too sweetie. Of course they're different. Nothing is ever meant to stay the same. Dawn, darling, I want you to listen to me, okay? Can you do that?"

Dawn nodded into her mother's chest, still clinging to her.

"Sweetie, look at me," Joyce demanded as she cupped her youngest daughter's chin in her hand and lifted it gently. "The Last Judgment is coming…"

"I know. Giles is telling us all about it…"

"Then you know it's going to be very dangerous. You have to be strong and you have to have faith in one another in order to defeat him. There's no other way. Believe in yourself and in the others. Can you do that for me?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about…"

"I've delivered my message to you Dawn, I have to go…"

"No," Dawn screamed trying to reach out to her mother who was now fading away.

"Believe," Joyce whispered as she disappeared.

"Dawn," a voice called to her from behind.

"Steven?" She asked incredulously as she spun around to face him. "What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sure but we have to leave." His voice was insistent. There was something wrong, something awful coming for them.

"You do realize that I'm mad at you, right?" She asked him, her voice full of anger and frustration. "You tried to kill Buffy! She's never going to let me see you again and I really don't know if I'll fight her on that. How could you?"

Before he could answer her, they were both suddenly transported to the inside of a cave. Dawn looked around wildly trying to see in the somewhat darkened interior. Had they not just come in from the blinding sunlight, she would have been able to see without problem. Steven instinctively put his arm around her to calm her and protect her. His eyesight was fine. He supposed that was one of the advantages of being born the son of two vampires.

A sound from behind them sent chills down both their spines. "Ah yes and so it has begun. I knew you would come, both of you. It was only a matter of time."

"Who, who are you?" Dawn demanded, terrified of the voice.

"I am the beginning and the end. The alpha and the omega," the voice laughed evilly.

"Show yourself!" Steven demanded. "Are you a coward?"

"Far from it my boy," the Master stated as he stepped out of the shadows.

Dawn gasped while Steven struck a defensive posture.

"I think you two shall be the most fun. I just love young ones. So innocent. So sweet." He lunged for Dawn and sank his teeth into her neck. All Steven could do was stand helplessly and watch.

***

"No," Dawn and Connor both shouted as they woke from their dream. Their screaming startled everyone.

"Dawn, what's wrong?" Buffy asked urgently, reaching for her sister who had fallen asleep at the table.

Dawn stood up abruptly and gazed at Connor. The two locked eyes and stared at each other intently, questioningly, acknowledging that they had indeed just shared the vision.

"I…I mean we…we just had a vision of the Master," Dawn sputtered. "How?"

Giles took off his glasses, closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. It had started, right in front of them. There was no turning back or stopping it now. The best they could do was hope and pray that they could defeat the Master. "This is how we are to be called. In dreams and visions. Steven is to be your partner then. The prophecy states that those who are called will be partnered with another of the Twelve."

"Let me get this straight," Gunn interrupted, frowning. "I'm gonna have a vision of this bad ass ugly creature? He's gonna come crawling around in my mind? I don't remember signing up for anything like this."

"I'm sorry young man," Giles said softly with a smile. "I cannot remember your name…"

"Gunn. Charles Gunn."

"Mr. Gunn, I'm not certain of anything but I do know this, there are sixteen of us in this shop, only twelve are being called. My guess is that you are not one of them."

Gunn took a deep breath and sighed. "Thank God for that!"

Giles chuckled softly and continued. "We need to continue with the task of eliminating the possibilities…"

Cordelia stood up and placed her hands on her hips. "Well I for one want to know what Wesley meant when he said that Angel wasn't necessarily the Souled guy."

All eyes turned to Wesley and waited for his explanation.

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