Destiny

By PSUBrat

House of Cards

Fred curled into a tighter ball against Gunn as she dozed in the sunlight streaming through the windows. Subconsciously, she knew that she wasn't home in her bed. Her bed was nice and soft and comfy, this bed was hard and kinda cold. She felt Gunn's strong arm pull her closer as she began to settle back down into that deep, blissful state of sleep. Her mind began to wander as she drifted, going over theorems and quantitative studies as well as the puzzle of the prophecy that brought them here to...Sunnydale! She sat bolt upright. Something felt wrong. Her eyes scanned the living room. Other than her, Gunn and Lorne, no one was there. How could this be? Surely she would have heard twelve people get up and about.

"Charles," Fred whispered, shaking him out of his dream state. "Charles, wake up. Something's very wrong here."

"Fred," Gunn mumbled as he tried to pull her back down to the floor. "Go back to sleep. I'm sure if English needs us, he'll wake us up."

She paused for a moment and listened to the house. It was quiet, almost too quiet. "No Charles, I don't think he will. I think he's missing. I think the whole house is missing!"

Gunn opened one eye and looked up at her. "What? How can a whole house disappear? I still see a ceiling. Go back to sleep."

"No, silly. Not the house. The people in the house!"

"What?" He asked in an irritated tone as he sat up. He hated when she messed with his sleep. Sleep was essential to his well being.

"Look around us, Charles. Do you see anyone else but us and Lorne?"

He did as she said and swept the room with his eyes, noticing only Lorne sleeping happily in the corner. Blankets and pillows were left strewn across the floor, evidence that there had been others there with them. But where were they now and why hadn't he heard them get up? As packed into the living room as they all were, he was positive that at least one person would have stepped on him while trying to get to the bathroom. He stood up, surveying the room more closely now. Walking over to the pullout couch, he pulled the sheets back.

"Okay, this is really strange," he stated as he stood there looking under the sheet.

"What? Did you find something?" She asked as she ran to see what he was looking at.

"Well wherever they went, they went naked."

Fred stared at Xander and Anya's clothing, lying neatly under the covers. She frowned as she met Gunn's look of concern. Quickly moving to where the others had been sleeping, she pulled the blankets up one by one. The same thing greeted her in each spot, neatly pressed clothing, as if they had just disappeared right out from under them. "I'm worried now," she said shaking. "This can't be good."

"Hey, can you two kids pipe down over there? I'm trying to sleep."

"Lorne!" Fred cried. "Get up. We have to find the others!"

"What? What others?"

"Everyone," Gunn replied, folding his arms across his chest.

Lorne sat up and looked from one to the other. "How can everyone be missing?"

"They just are!" Fred declared. "All they left behind is their clothing. I'm pretty certain that Anya wouldn't leave the house without her clothing. I mean, she's pretty free about certain things but somehow I don't think she's an exhibitionist. At least she didn't seem that way to me. Well, maybe. Still, something had to have taken them!"

"Calm down, precious. I'm sure everyone just went out for breakfast or something..."

"Naked?" Gunn asked glaring.

"Well no, but that doesn't mean they're gone. Maybe they played strip truth or dare. I played it this one time in San Pedro with a couple of lovelies, what a time that was..."

"Lorne, I don't think this is the time to reminisce about the good old days. We need to find these people and soon."

"Alright, Mr. Clean. Have you searched the rest of the house yet?"

"No," Fred responded as she let the blankets drop to the floor. "We haven't gotten out of the living room yet."

"Okay. So there's still a possibility that there are people here, correct?"

Both Gunn and Fred nodded in response.

"You two take the upstairs and search the rooms up there. I think the witches, along with that other British guy and 'Little Miss Green Glow Ball' were up there. I'll check the other rooms down here and then I'll check the basement. Kapish?"

"Okay Lorne," Fred stated shakily. "I hope we're wrong and we find some more people."

***

While Fred and Gunn slowly crept up the steps, Lorne stood up and stretched. Sleeping on the floor had not done a thing for his back. Some days he thought he should hit Angel-cakes up for hazard pay and this was one of them. Sleeping on floors was not in his job description. Then again, did he even have a job description? Probably not, he decided.

"So much for the slumber party," he said to the room as he moved into the hallway on his way to the kitchen. It did seem kind of eerie that there weren't any signs of life except for them.

Nothing looked out of place in the kitchen. Not that he could see. There were the normal dishes in the sink and a half empty mug of hot chocolate sitting on the island. It looked like a normal, everyday type kitchen to him.

As he moved towards the dining room door he heard Fred and Gunn coming back down the steps. "Did you find anything?" He asked them as they entered the kitchen through the dining room.

"Nada," Gunn replied. "Everyone's gone, including the big guy."

"Yeah. We found his clothing upstairs on the floor in Dawn's room. Looks like him and Cordelia were sleeping there, watching over Connor and Dawn."

"Well, nothing's amiss down here. It's all pretty ordinary."

Fred shook her head as she looked around the kitchen, searching for anything that might tell them what had happened.

"Hey," Gunn stated as a thought popped into his mind. "Have you checked downstairs yet? I remember Buffy saying something about her and Spike sleeping in the basement."

"No. I didn't get a chance to get down there yet. Look around for weapons. I'm not going into any basement without weapons."

"Why?" Fred asked as she gave Lorne a wide-eyed expression. "Do you think that whatever took them is holding them down there against their will and might attack us if we try to rescue them?"

"No, I just hate basements. They're all dark and musty and just down right dirty. Makes my skin crawl."

Gunn rolled his eyes at Lorne's reply.

"Hey, don't be rolling your eyes at me. No respectable demon would be found dead in a basement! It's just not natural!"

"Then why did you volunteer to look down there?" Fred asked with a frown.

"Cause I didn't think I'd actually have to go down there."

"Whatever!" Gunn responded as he slowly opened the basement door. "Hello," he called down the steps into the semi-darkness. "Anyone there?"

Silence answered him.

"We should go down," Fred stated as she stepped forward.

"Maybe Gunn should try yelling again. You never know, it might work."

"You know for a demon you sure are a big scaredy cat."

"Meow."

"Alright, fine. I'll yell down again." He paused and took a deep breath. "Buffy! Spike! You guys down there?"

The three of them listened intently from the top of the stairs. The only thing that answered back was the quiet.

Fred sighed and hugged herself. "This isn't good you two. It's just the three of us..."

Just then the sound of a doorknob jiggling caught their attention.

***

A head of sandy brown, tousled curls poked out from the room as the door slowly opened. "What's a bloke got to do to get some sleep around here?" William demanded from the bottom of the stairs as he caught sight of Gunn, Lorne and Fred peering down at him from the kitchen. "I need my sleep if I'm gonna stop the world from ending, don't you people know that?"

"William!" Fred yelled, flying down the steps and hugging him tightly as if they had been long lost siblings separated at birth. "It's so good to see you!"

"Uh, what's with the bird, mate?" He asked as he was almost knocked to his feet with the force of her impact.

"Is Buffy with you?" Lorne questioned, a look of seriousness crossing his face.

William frowned. "Yeah. She's sleeping or at least she was sleeping before all the commotion." He tilted his head to the side, still frowning and trying to extricate himself from Fred's grip. "Why do you want to know that?"

"Everyone's missing," Gunn replied.

William's eyes narrowed. "What do you mean everyone's missing?"

Fred disentangled herself from William to answer his question. "They're just gone. Everyone. All but the five of us. Only thing left is their clothing."

He watched as Fred began to wring her hands together. This definitely couldn't be good. "Are you serious?" He asked, eyes widening as a look of concern began to spread across his face.

"As a heart attack," Lorne replied.

William turned to go back into the room to wake Buffy, but to his surprise she was already standing at the door, dressed. "So you heard then?"

"Yeah, everything." She folded her arms across her chest, letting the slayer in her take control. "Dawn?"

Fred lowered her eyes to the floor, continuing to wring her hands as she answered Buffy's question. "Gone."

Buffy closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "Okay. This is what we're going to do..."

Before she could finish her sentence there was a loud pounding on the front door.

***

Buffy and William looked at one another and then raced up the steps, first to the living room to grab some weapons and then to the front door. The pounding was incessant. Who ever it was at the door wanted inside in the worst way. Cautiously Buffy peered out the side window and crinkled her nose. "Uh, there's two guys at the front door. I don't know them but the one looks like a Watcher."

William frowned and peeked around Buffy's shoulder. "Bloody hell!" He screamed as relief passed over his face. He threw open the door and grabbed the one into a bear hug, crushing the man against him. "It's so good to see you mates!" By this point he had already started hugging the Watcher looking fellow while Buffy stood by, glaring at the scene. "What brings you blokes half way round the world?"

"You of course, you stupid git," the one that William hugged first answered. "Hard to have a pint and watch the telly, cheering for Man U when you're not about."

"I take it you guys know each other?" Buffy asked as she folded her arms across her chest, clearly looking agitated by the lack of introductions.

After patting each other on the backs and a couple more rounds of manly hugs, William finally took notice of Buffy's posture and her annoyed glare. "Sorry Slayer," he stated, slipping back into his less refined British accent. "These guys are mates of mine from the Watchers Academy."

"Well that does explain a few things," she muttered under her breath, only Lorne catching exactly what she said and smiling in reply.

"What's that Luv?" He asked with a frown, thinking he had missed something important.

"Nothing," she said, smiling sweetly to him. "Are you going to introduce us or not?"

Before William could begin introductions, the more outgoing of the two visitors strode forward and took her hand in his, bringing it up to his lips. "You must be the infamous Buffy Summers. We've heard so much about you from our William."

Buffy blushed as he kissed her hand and gave her a warm smile.

"Ever the charmer, aren't you?" William teased as he walked over to Buffy and put his arm around her. "Buffy, this here charming bloke is Geoffrey Ashcroft. Best watch out for him, Luv, he fancies himself a real Don Juan."

"Stop. I bloody well do not," Geoffrey retorted as he gave Buffy another warm smile and a wink.

"And the quieter, well dressed Watcher type over there is Garrick Lewisham-Smythe."

"Pleased to finally meet you Ms. Summers," Garrick replied as he shook Buffy's hand.

William introduced the others to Garrick and Geoffrey as they made their way into the living room to sit down.

"A Pylean? Here?" Garrick asked, fascinated with the green being before him. "We've only read about them. I didn't think any existed here in our dimension."

"You'd be amazed at what exists here, buddy," Lorne stated dryly.

"Did you have a slumber party last night?" Geoffrey teased as they entered the cluttered room. He chose a spot on the coffee table across Buffy and William. Garrick followed his lead.

"Something like that," Lorne sighed.

"Okay," Buffy interrupted, "I hate to sound all un-hostessy but we've got bigger problems to worry about right now, like where our friends disappeared to."

"So it's started then?" Garrick asked as he shared an anxious look with Geoffrey.

"You know about this?" Buffy demanded, frowning at the two who were sitting across from her. "I should have known the Council would have their hands in this."

"You'll have to excuse her," William apologized as he glared at Buffy. "She's not too big on the Council as you well know. Luv, they were helping me and Giles translate the prophecy. They're trustworthy."

"If you say so." She wasn't convinced.

"Buffy, please do relax," Garrick stated in a comforting tone. "We know what went on before and I want to assure you, neither Geoffrey or myself totally buy into everything the Council does. Besides, it might help you to know that I'm Rupert's cousin and I'm well aware of his stance on things."

"Funny," she growled at him. "Giles never mentioned you before."

"No. I would guess he wouldn't. It's not something that we do outside of the Council. It's best not to for security reasons, you know. If the enemy knew of family, chances are it would attack them first."

"I suppose I see your point," Buffy stated begrudgingly. "But I still don't like it."

"Very well, I'll accept that," Garrick said with a smile. "Now, for the reason for our arrival..."

"Yeah, get to the point already," Gunn grumbled as he turned to Fred. "They're all like English, aren't they? That school must turn them out like robots."

"What's that then?" Geoffrey asked with a frown, looking to William for answers.

William shrugged and waved his hand, gesturing for it to be dropped. "Please continue, Gar. Have you found something else?"

"Quite. According to a missing piece of the prophecy, which Rupert wasn't aware of before he passed through the portal to here, there is a spell in the Book of Rentar that will invoke the powers of the Twelve so that the Slayer and the Souled can defeat the Master before he brings Hell on earth."

"So where is this Book of Rentar?" Fred asked quickly, her eyes becoming wide with hope.

"We were hoping you could tell us that," Geoffrey replied. "The book was supposed to be at headquarters, but it's missing, along with Rupert's notes and some other books. We just assumed that he had brought it all with him."

Buffy jumped up. "Everything Giles brought back with him is in the dining room. I bet that's where the book is!"

"Great! Then let's get at it," Geoffrey said as he stood up to follow Buffy into the dining room. "No time to spare. Sunset is in six hours."

***

Giles and Wesley arrived at the circle of torches following a brilliant flash of light. The translocation had made them disoriented, leaving them lying on the ground semi-conscious. After a few minutes passed, Wesley slowly pulled himself up into a sitting position and tried to let his eyes adjust to the dim light. Giles was to his left, still lying on his backside and blinking rapidly, probably trying to get his bearings, Wes assumed. He also wondered if the translocation affected each person differently since he seemed a little more with it at the moment than Giles did. As his eyes finally adjusted, he noticed a flayed figured tied between two trees and then another lying in a heap on the ground not too far from the first.

"Dear god," he whispered, trying to stand up.

"What?" Giles demanded as he sat up, trying hard to fight the disorientation he was feeling.

Without saying a word, Wesley raised his arm and pointed towards the bodies.

Giles stood and then let his gaze fall in the direction Wesley was pointing. "No!" He screamed as he recognized the lifeless form on the ground.




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