Disclaimer: No, I'm not this evil...evil, but not this evil. Joss owns 'em.
Author's Notes: Okay, this is therapy fic for IWRY, also involving prophecies, apocalypses and whatever odd things pop into my head...but mostly B/A-ness. The parts are all gonna be first person from different people's points of views. Bad things will happen. This is gonna be very angsty, but I promise, it will all work out in the end!
Teaser: The End of Days is coming to Sunnydale...
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Part Four
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There were two born, in the beginning, given souls and set on a path that no other beings could endure. They were darkness and light, fire and earth, air and water. They were matched perfectly, and only together could they find the strength they would need.
They were born to fight. Darkness is their enemy, Light their only hope of salvation.
They were born to suffer. Pain is their teacher and their enemy. Love is their savior.
One shall be known as the Slayer and the other shall be called the Angel.
And as they were there at the Beginning, so shall they be at the End.
—The Diary of Mihai Svjatopolk, 999 A.D.
Buffy
There were five of them. Big, with very long claws and the ugliest faces I have ever seen.
And they had wings.
"Hi guys," I said with a nervous smile. "Imagine meeting you here."
They didn’t really want to chat.
I got in a few good kicks, but they didn’t seem to be doing much. In fact, I had the distinct feeling they were toying with me. I hate that feeling. I backed one up into the wall and pummeled it before another one pulled me off and cut my arm in the process. I jumped up on the wall and kicked the second one’s head, and suddenly found myself being smothered by a huged winged thing descending on me from above.
I decided this would be a good time to run.
I kicked the thing off me and took off towards my dorm. These things wouldn’t be so bad—if I had some weapons to work with. Give me a sword, a cross bow, a good battle ax—or one of those missile launchers Xander was so fond of—and I’d take them all easily.
Me, alone, with two stakes was not quite as good of an option.
So I was running, and getting away just fine. When I heard Riley’s voice. Yelling for help.
I should have left him there. I told them not to send anyone out, and if he was out it was his own damn fault. I should have let him live with his choices.
I just couldn’t do that.
I turned around and sized up the situation. Riley was trying to zap them with his little gun-thing, and it was having less than no effect. They almost seemed energized. "Don’t you demons have anything better to do with your time?" I asked under my breath and broke off a tree branch before running into the fight.
I swung it, hitting one of them in the side of the head. It reeled slightly and the others backed away. Riley stared at me, unmoving. "Run!" I yelled. It took him a second, but he finally got the picture. I held them off for a few more minutes with the tree branch, then dropped it and followed as fast as I could. When I passed him, I grabbed his hand and pulled him faster after me.
"What are those things?" he asked.
"Don’t ask. Just run!" I yelled back, pulling him faster. I risked a glance over my shoulder and ran faster at the sight. Three of them were right behind us, their wings flapping in the dark night. We were nearing the dorm and with one last burst of speed we pushed into the door. I peeked out enough to see the three wheel upwards at the very last second, circle for a moment and then fly away. I relaxed against the door, then remembered Riley and spared him a glare.
"What the hell was that?" I demanded. "Don’t you know not to leap into something you’re completely unprepared for? Just be glad I saved your sorry ass!"
"I thought I could stun them," he said in a shocked voice. I rolled my eyes.
"Riley, you don’t know what you’re doing. And I would suggest you stop doing it. If you don’t get yourself killed, you’re going to get someone else killed. Leave it to people who know how, okay?" I wanted to hit him. Really hard.
I walked away.
"Wait," he called. I paused momentarily, but didn’t turn back. "What did you mean about the Apocalypse? And what were those things?"
"You tell me, I’ll tell you. Good night Riley," I said, trying to keep the anger out of my voice. I took a deep breath and kept walking.
"Well that was spectacularly unhelpful," I muttered to myself as I walked back up to my dorm room. I wondered if Riley would be smart enough to stay here until morning. I decided I really didn’t care. I let myself back into the room. Willow was still sleeping. 4:13. Should I call Giles, or wait until morning?
Well, someone should get some sleep, I decided, climbing into bed without changing. Maybe this time I would be able to sleep without dreams.
Maybe.
Giles
"Why didn’t you call me at once?" I asked. Buffy shrugged, looking a bit too nonchalant for some who had encountered five Korika demons the night before.
"It was four in the morning Giles. I wanted you to sleep," she said firmly. I repressed the desire to roll my eyes.
"I was awake reading. Next time something of this nature happens you should…should call me at once," I told her.
"Sorry." She glanced around the living room. "Any news?"
"I haven’t been able to find anything decisive, unfortunately." Unfortunately indeed. I’d been up all night reading. I took off my glasses and rubbed my eyes. "How is the…Riley thing progressing?" Buffy made a face.
"Could he be more annoying? It’s Professor Walsh that really gets to me though! Adults should know better than to throw impressionable young people out to the demons like that without any real training!"
I smiled softly. "And what did I do to you?"
She looked startled, then smiled and shook her head. "You know it’s my sacred duty Giles. Besides, you always made sure I was super-prepared. Never a demon I didn’t know!"
Not yet anyway. But I was worried about this End of Days thing. True, Angel’s "prophet" could be simply a man in need of mental help, but the signs all pointed to true prophecies.
Which is what worried me.
Korika demons were also not a reassuring sign, especially since by what Angel had described of the man’s visions, they seemed to be recurring figures. Korika meant "Bringer of Death" in ancient Moruvian. Their word for "death" could also mean "destruction" or "endings". None of the meanings seemed to point towards happy conclusions.
What I couldn’t tell her was that I had found a prophecy. A prophecy I’d always regarded as idiotic—until I read it again and found another mention of a Slayer and an Angel together. Two hundred pages apart the man spoke of them again. It couldn’t be ignored as coincidence.
I wished I could ignore it. It isn’t a pretty prophecy. Better to be prepared, I suppose. I just couldn’t bring myself to tell her. I hadn’t even told Angel. I kept hoping he would find it out on his own, and I wouldn’t have to tell him. As if they hadn’t gone through enough. As if we all hadn’t.
"Giles?" Buffy asked, in the tone of someone who had said it several times before. I started.
"Y-yes?" She rolled her eyes.
"I’m gonna go do homework. Patrol a little later. With lots of weapons. Do you think they’ll be hanging around?"
"Hmm?" I asked, a little distracted by thoughts of the approaching Apocalypse.
"The Korka demons," she reminded me.
"Korika," I corrected her absently.
"Whatever. Do you think they’re still here?" I shook my head.
"No, the Korika are constantly on the move. They can’t stay in any place for very long because they—" She cut off my explanation.
"Okay, thank you. Just checking." She picked up her purse and started toward the door, then paused and glanced back at me. "Oh and Giles?" I nodded, looking up at her. "If I happen to come across anyone like, say, Riley doing stupid things, could I punch him? Please?"
I smiled and shooed her on her way.
John
I was sitting in Angel’s kitchen, sipping tea. It was a nice apartment—nothing next to what my home had been like. I missed it. Mostly though, I missed my kids, and my wife. My Sam…But whenever I looked at her, all I could see was her lying dead on the floor, a monster (Angel called them demons) ripping her open.
I had to warn her. I had to. But she didn’t understand. Or she did…she thought I was crazy. I am crazy.
I missed her so much.
And Laura, and Eric, my perfect little children. I couldn’t close my eyes without seeing visions of them, visions of horrors to terrible to even imagine.
I sat in Angel’s kitchen and sipped tea, and missed them.
And then another vision came.
It ripped into me like they always did, tearing open my insides and laying them before the universe. I watched as the picture solidified into reality. They were so real—I could feel the heat of the fires, hear the screams and cries, see the sharp gleam of claws and the blood of innocent people everywhere…
I stumbled and fell to my knees, crying out in horror as my hand came up from the ground covered with blood. I tried to get up, struggled and fell again, and then rose and ran. I ran and ran, but everywhere was the same. The horror didn’t end. And up in the sky was that terrible blackness, that utter emptyness.
My legs gave out and I fell, staring up at the wall of fire that was coming. I struggled to stand again, reached out to a big sign, the end ripped off like it was a piece of paper, not solid wood. I grasped it and pulled myself up, seeing, just before I was pulled back into reality, the remaining words on the sign—
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