Banner by Selene
Banner
by Selene
Chapter 3: It's Really You
Los Angeles
Wesley’s Office, Wolfram & Hart
Wesley sat in his seat behind his desk, while Fred sat near him, perched on the
edge of the desk. Both were deeply engrossed as the two stared at the scroll
laid out before them on the desk. Several books were scattered over the top of
its surface, each book was open to various places to help them translate the
scroll before them.
Empty, discarded take-out Chinese boxes took up the remaining empty spaces.
Wesley looked at the text again. Just when he thought he was on the right track,
he’d be brought to a halt by another translation in a different book. So far,
they had only been able to get two lines translated and they’d been working on
it since yesterday.
ZBS ZSHH HOSJA KLT LAK (Spawned from darkness and evil)
AHGASHT AHKSHGK THASJ AHDS (Yet, but for love willingly chose)
ATELLV SLPPRS LCMNPWN SLSJNPA
LSLWPW DLMCX XCCOWS
DSLDL EIMOSPW DHSLS SSLSWOWY
DMCLS SLSLWPW SLSOWPQ SLNCWP
SCSKS IWOECOPS SLSNSAP SAANSLLOS
DLMCX XCCOWS SLSANL SLNCOC
SOCMD DJDIEMDK SKSOWRUR SJXMIE
CMQOW QOSXZ AOLCKCH ALNCLS
CPAMA ALOCEKS XLCOWZ ALCOA
COAANLL ALCOALA ACOQNAE ACOAKAB
“Hmmmm…” Fred grabbed another book and flipped to a page marked with a
scrap piece of paper. (Couldn’t dog-tag these pages, Wes would have a fit!)
“This may help us with the next part… Yes, that’s it!”
“To give up the demon inside…For which a soul now grows… It looks like
this is the translation for the next two lines. Wow… Wes, this sounds like
Angel.”
The person they were talking about chose that moment to knock on Wesley’s
office door.
“How’s it coming, guys?” Angel asked.
“I think we’re finally starting to make some headway. It looks like we have
the first part translated.”
“We’ll know better how it relates once we get the whole thing transcribed,
but the first part says ‘Spawned from darkness and evil, Yet, but for love
willingly chose, To give up the demon inside, For which a soul now grows,”
Wesley replied.
“Well, keep at it, guys,” Angel said. “And, let me know when you have it
finished. I’ve got feelers out with other departments to see if we need to be
worried about anything that might be coming.”
“Right. We’ll let you know what we come up with.”
Fred and Wesley once again bent over the scroll on his desk and got back to
work.
~*~*~*~*~
Rome
Buffy’s Residence
Spike walked though the entryway taking in his surroundings, Buffy cradled
gently in his arms. Bypassing the main hallway, which appeared to lead to
various living rooms, studies and such, he quickly ascended the stairs in an
attempt to seek out Buffy’s bedroom. At the end of the second floor he noticed
a door ajar. Pushing the door all the way open with his foot, he realized that
this was Buffy’s room. Not because of any personal effects, the room actually
looked quite barren. Rather, he just sensed that this was her room - her scent
being more concentrated here.
Spike laid Buffy gently on her bed, and then sat down next to her looking at her
face. With hands that shook, he smoothed the hair back off her face.
“Luv, wake up,” Spike whispered, his eyes starting to tear.
Buffy looked like hell. Her skin was pale, and she looked like she'd lost weight
that she had no business losing. Dark circles prevailed under her eyes.
‘She looks like the walking dead.’
He got off the bed to shut and lock the bedroom door. Next, he walked over to
the drapes (nice, thick drapes, he noticed) and pulled them shut, sealing out
any possible sunlight that may filter through come morning. Spike made his way
back to the bed and pulled the covers down on one side before carefully removing
Buffy’s clothes and sliding her beneath the covers. He then stripped off his
own clothes and laid them over a chair before slipping into the bed beside her,
resettling the covers around himself. Slipping his arms around her, he gently
pulled her back into his embrace. Idly, he ran his hands lightly down her face,
whispering words of love she undoubtedly couldn’t hear. Spike held her like
that for what seemed like hours before he too finally succumbed to sleep.
~*~*~*~*~
Los Angeles
Angel’s Office, Wolfram & Hart
Angel was seated behind his desk talking to Lorne and Gunn when Fred and Wesley
hurried into his office.
“Whatcha got, Wes?” Angel asked.
“I’m not sure what it means, but we’ve managed to finally get it
transcribed. It took awhile because it wasn’t written in one distinct
language. Rather, a blending of languages, if you will.”
“What does it say?”
“I’m not one hundred percent positive. Like I said, blending languages and
all, but this is what I’ve...we've... come up with,” Wesley replied, then he
began to read the transcribed scroll in its entirety.