FIC: Breaking Through(Becoming One - Part 12)

["Pat Kelly"]

Part 12 Below. Enjoy.

BREAKING THROUGH


The beach was nice at night. Kind of cold, but it gave the four of them an excuse to wear jackets. Something you didn't get to do very often in Southern California. They had a basket full of food. Well, it used to be.

Buffy sat up against Willow with her eyes closed, and Xander and Cordelia looked at her with an amused look on their faces.

'You're being stared at.'

Buffy opened her eyes and caught her friends' gazes. "What?"

"Nothing.nothing at all." Xander and Cordelia said in rambling defense.

She sat up. "I like Willow warmth. And we had to sit through you two feeding each other grapes, you know." She looked at the empty soda cans around them, and noticed a bottle sticking out of the basket. "Is that champagne, Xander?"

"No. It's ginger ale. I took the label off." Cordelia gave him her best 'you're impossible' look.

Willow had to keep from laughing. It was nice to see them in rare form again. "So, things are better.with you guys?"

"Ooh! Yeah. I'm working at the Bronze now."

"Really? Doing what?"

"Bouncer." Buffy cleared her throat. "Does the Slayer have something she'd like to say?"

"I just.never thought of you as a bouncer before, is all."

"If it's about the lack of muscle, believe me, I'm making him bulk up." Cordelia said.

"Before my maleness gets attacked some more, allow me to explain. Most people refuse to take the job, because.most people die."

"Which leads me to add - why did you take this job?" Willow asked.

"Hey I can handle the run of the mill vamps, and because I was so enthusiastic, they're willing to pay me a nice chunk of change."

"I'm happy for you. Really. Just promise me, because I know how important this is to you, that you'll arm yourself?" Buffy said.

"To the teeth. Promise."

"And I called most of the colleges I applied to. They said I could take the summer session, and they're sending me financial aid things, and I'm learning to save my money, so." Cordelia said.

"That's great. So which one are you going to go to?" Willow asked. Cordelia looked down at her lap. "I shouldn't have asked that. Being quiet now."

"She's just not sure.yet." Xander said, looking at Cordelia to make sure he was correct. She nodded. "So.Buffy, how are you feeling?"

"Good. Almost a hundred percent even. I can take on anything the Hellmouth throws out."

Just then, they all felt the sand move underneath their blanket. They all jumped off, and watched as oddly colored, red spiked snakes slithered out from the blanket. They made their way to the ocean, quickly.

Xander rushed to one, and stepped on its head, killing it. He picked it up, and the rest allowed the ocean to carry them away.

"Caught one." He said.

"What were they?" Buffy asked.

Cordelia sighed. "Not again."

Buffy faced her, and noticed Willow and Xander fidgeting. "Again?"

***


Giles and Wesley were sitting quietly drinking tea and reading, when Buffy and the others came in. Wesley had learned that Angelus was somewhere underground and that had shocked them, because Angelus didn't seem like someone who would live in filth. They had not gone in search of him yet.

They were waiting for him to show himself. Wandering aimlessly in the sewers looking for him would not have been a very good or smart thing, to do.

"Did you have," Giles started to say when Buffy put the snake on the table, "a good time?"

"Don't hurt him, Buffy." Willow said, coming up behind her.

Wesley was drawn to the snake immediately, and picked it up. "You were actually able to capture one this time. Excellent."

"You can thank me for -" Xander began.

"What's been going on, Giles?" Buffy asked.

"Ah.recently." He looked up at anyone for help, but they all raised their hands and sat down on the couch. "There have been creatures appearing from time to time."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"They haven't been anything terribly life-threatening, and I didn't want to worry you over -"

Buffy's expression softened. "Giles, I know you're looking out for me," She grabbed his hand, "and I appreciate it, really. But I'm not going to break. I'm fully functional, and ready to slay. And if these things have shown up more than once, we need to figure out why."

He smiled at her. "I suppose my parental instincts have been outdoing my watcher instincts lately."

She hugged him. "I'm glad they are. But.I do have a job to do."

"Now that I have a closer look, I believe I recognize this creature." Wesley said.

"And?" Cordelia asked.

Buffy backed into Willow's embrace, and they and everyone else turned to him for an explanation.

"It's a Vyerdin. An ancient, demonic ancestor of today's snake breeds. It hasn't existed on Earth for thousands of years. It poisons -"

"Poison?" Xander and Cordelia panicked.

Xander pulled off his shoe and his sock and checked his foot for punctures.

"Which it releases from its tail. If you only impacted with its head, you should be fine."

"I think I almost had a heart attack."

"Breathe." Cordelia said.

"The next question - what are they doing here after a thousand years?" Willow asked.

"I have no idea." Wesley said.

"I was waiting for the brick wall. Here it is." Buffy said.

"Now, when it comes to demons and stuff, I'm no expert, but it seems like every time we've seen these things, they've come up from under the ground." Cordelia said.

Everyone's brains started working.

"And what's underground?" Buffy asked.

"Sewers?" Xander offered.

"And?"

"Angelus." Willow said.

"Can we go three for three?"

"Damn." Wesley cursed.

"The Hellmouth." Giles said. "It's at its weakest point directly underneath where the school was, so the Vyerdin are breaking through, and if Angelus is residing in the sewers."

"He's getting ready to open it." Xander said.

Their adrenaline was going; their hearts were beating faster, their blood pumping, anxiety rising.

"So what do we do?" Cordelia asked.

They just looked at one another. What were they going to do?

***


In a restricted wing of the Council's complex, Quentin Travers went to report to the founder of the institution. The boss. No matter how powerful Quentin was, his boss' orders were final. And they weren't always "good" orders.

The "right of passage" test that Slayers had to endure, though most didn't, was started by the founder. Except for the current slayer, of course. As much as people over the years of had objected to it, nothing changed, because the test was not to improve the slayer, it was to kill her. Which is what the founder wanted. Rupert had been right when he said it was barbaric, but Quentin didn't have a choice.

What most watchers and slayers didn't know, was that the very forces that they were trying to combat, started the Council. On the surface, the Council seemed to have good intentions, but it was all a sham. The darker forces used the whole idea of enlisting girls with slaying ability, to keep an eye on the enemy, and evil could fool even the most suspicious of people into thinking it was something it wasn't.

When the time came, when evil was to gain the upper hand once again, it could simply shut down the only organized threat to it. The Council. They trained their slayers and watchers to follow orders to the letter. Drones who would follow orders without question. So when everything was brought to a halt, they would simply disband, and no one would oppose them.

But, occasionally, rebellious types would spring up. Normally, they'd be taken care of quickly, but in the case of Buffy Summers and her Watcher, they had proved more resilient. And now that the Great Sorceress had been discovered, and she and the Slayer had joined forces, things had become complicated.

They had not anticipated a struggle, but it was Hell's time to reclaim Earth, and according to the boss, they wouldn't be stopped.

Quentin entered the large, dark chamber, and stood patiently.

"Travers." A deep voice said in the shadows.

"Yes?"

"My brethren call to me. The time is near."

"I understand."

"I also understand that you let the man, Pryce, leave with materials to aid the light warriors."

"No, of course not."

"Your tongue is lying. If it hadn't been for your meddling, the takeover would have been quick. Now, the Great Sorceress grows stronger, and the Slayer is powerful once again. Penance must be paid." Quentin was silent, as beads of sweat ran down his face.

"Have you nothing to say in your defense? I have watched over this place for thousands of years - at the request of my brothers in the Dark Dimension. Confined here, paving the way for our eventual triumph. It's so very near, and I will be free to roam this plane.

"Thousands will die in the reshaping of this world. Horrors the human eye will be frightened to look upon. Take solace in the fact, that you, will not have to see it."

Before Quentin knew what was happening, red eyes appeared in the darkness, and less than a second later, he was ash on the floor.

***


"I don't," Buffy punched the vampire she was battling in the gut, "have time," she kicked it in the head and it fell on its back, "for idiots," she staked it, "like you."

Willow was magically thrusting a vampire in the air, and with a wave of her hand, threw it into a branch jutting out from a tree. "Is that it?"

"You're showing off."

"Am not. Just using what I'm good at. Never thought I'd be able to be good at doing, that, though. Would it help if I said I was just trying to impress you?"

"It might."

"Okay that was twenty five percent showing off, fifty percent trying to see if I could do it and pushing myself, and twenty five percent impressing you."

Buffy walked over to her, and crossed her arms over her chest. "I only get twenty-five percent?"

"You have all my percents in every other area. Promise."

"Magick is your deal, so I guess I can let you off the hook. What does that mean anyway? Are they talking about fishing hooks, or phone hooks or what?"

"I've always wondered what the heck 'Yabba Dabba Doo' meant." Buffy gave her a strange look and started to laugh. "What?" Willow stuck her tongue out at her. "I like the Flintstones. I know he says it when he's happy. They're three separate words, though. I wanna know what they mean."

"It's a mystery for the ages. Actually, it was the sixties. They were probably all on drugs. Look at Scooby Doo."

"I know what you mean.wait. We got completely sidetracked, didn't we?"

"Uh huh. Side tracking is nice sometimes. But focusing. Must focus."

"Especially because of what Xander and Oz are gonna do. You think they'll be okay?"

"They volunteered, and everybody has to chip in, no matter how much we don't like it. Oz is sensible, and Xander's impulsive. They balance out. I just hope they don't take any risks."

"Giles is supposed to call to tell us what they find out."

"Then let's go play the waiting game."

***


Xander was standing beside the entrance to the Bronze accepting the price of admission from incoming clubgoers. He figured he must've had five hundred dollars in his pockets. Of course, he didn't get to keep any of it, but holding that amount of money was a thrilling experience for him. Plus he got to card people. He'd know everybody in Sunnydale eventually.

He had a zipped up jacket on. Not because it was cold, but for other reasons. One was to hide his lack of muscular build, so he could retain some menacing demeanor, and two, he was hiding vampire protection materials. Mainly, a couple strands of garlic, a large cross, and a few bottles of holywater.

He thought he noticed people smelling the garlic scent, because they were looking at him with bizarre expressions. He glanced over at Oz, who was similarly equipped, standing in the shadows across the street. This had been a bad idea.

Well, not necessarily a bad idea. Just one that probably could have used a little more planning on their part. They were looking for any sign of Angelus. The guy had to come out to eat, and the Bronze was in the center of town. They were hoping to see him, and then follow him to where he was holed up, get out, and then tell everyone.

That was what Xander wasn't too keen on doing. But he had asked, volunteered, so he had to stick with it. Besides, it was simple reconnaissance. See where Angelus was, try and see what he was doing, and get out. Quick, fast, and pain free. Or so he hoped.

There was no sign of him yet apparently, because he saw Oz shake his head.

And then Xander saw him out of the corner of his eye. Angelus was coming out of an alley, wiping what Xander assumed was blood, off his mouth.

"Damn." He said quietly. But there wasn't anything he or Oz could have done.

Then Angelus made his way toward a manhole up the street. He had to go. But he had his job. Why hadn't he factored that in? Then the manager came out of the club.

"I'm getting complaints from people about a smell. Is that garlic?" The man asked.

"Sorry. Superticious. Tell you what. I'll go home, get rid of it, take a shower, and come back here."

"Make it quick."

"Twenty minutes tops. Just.don't fire me."

"I like you, kid." Xander smiled inwardly. He was on good terms with his boss. That was a first. He was about to catch up with Oz and follow Angelus, when he felt the manager tap him on the shoulder. "The money?"

"Whoops. Unintentional." He handed over the money and started to run.

***


"To quote a great man, 'The waiting game sucks.'" Buffy said, as both she and Willow were sitting on their bed staring at the phone.

"Who said that?"

"Beats me. Had to be great, though. Cause this does suck."

"They're fine. I'm sure they are."

"Can you tell?"

"Just that they're not hurt."

"That's good. Wow. Is there a limit to what you can do?"

"I hope so. Being able to do some of things she taught me -"

"The Goddess?"

"Yeah. It's freaky. Mostly cause I can do stuff without even concentrating that hard anymore. Before the year started I could lift a pencil, and the biggest spell I did was barely making a five second duplicate of you."

"That seems like forever ago."

"So much.a lot.has happened."

Willow was becoming overwhelmed as she realized the scope of what she had been through. And then realized, that this was what happened when you stood between the world and its destruction. In her hacker/sidekick helper position, she had never fully understood. But Buffy knew. All too well. Just another reason for Willow to respect her.

"But we're still here. My mom, you're parents, Giles, is still here. Everyone's still alive. This is the Buffy statement on slaying - 'If you've survived, didn't lose any friends, and manage to stay enrolled in school, you're doing pretty damn good.'

"For someone new to this, you're really good at it. And I still think you're the greatest person in the world, still love ya, and you get bonus points for being so wiccany."

"It doesn't bother you that you're sharing your slaying with me is it?"

"You kidding? It's a major help. It used to be just me out there, even though you guys helped some. And then it was Kendra, Faith.now it's you. And I'm glad. Really.

"The only thing that scares me is the track record of people who slay with me, hasn't been so good. Kendra ended up dead, and Faith is in comaland. Which.I won't let happen."

"That goes for me too, you know. If I'm slaying, I take on as much responsibility to watch your back as you do for me."

"I wouldn't want anyone else to be watching it."

"You better not."

They laughed, trying to break the seriousness of the moment, and Buffy brought her hand to Willow's cheek and quickly kissed her lips.

"We've gotta stop having these heavy conversations. Especially with our friends out there. It's not good for my stress level."

"You know what we need?"

There was a knock at the door, and Buffy got up to answer it, leaving Willow's question hanging in the air. Cordelia was standing there, holding a carton in her hands. She came in immediately.

"I was driving Giles and Wesley nuts.I was driving myself nuts.so I came over here. I have ice cream."

"Kind?" Buffy asked.

"Fudge nut brownie."

"That's what we need." Willow said, answering her own question.

***


"The barrier is weakening. You're progressing well." The cloaked figure said to Angelus in the Master's lair. His ability to connect to the world was becoming stronger.

Around the room, black candles were lit, an eerie, blue flame washing the walls in light. There was a smell of incense in the air, and the Vyerdin were slithering about, looking for escape.

"These things are getting on my nerves."

"Get used to it. When the Mouth is fully opened, a lot of larger 'things', as you put it, will be coming through."

"That's great, really, but while I'm down here lighting candles, Buffy, and Willow, are getting better. Stronger. Not to mention the fact that they're still breathing."

"And whose fault, is that?" Angelus didn't answer. "Your problem is lack of patience. They will die. It's inevitable."

"You haven't faced them. It's easy to talk. She's not the same as she was three years ago." He was careful not to lash out at the figure.

"Which is why there will be reinforcements."

***




"Who's he talking to?" Xander asked in a whisper.

They followed Angelus discreetly and quietly, and were surprised that he hadn't sensed them. But seeing his agitation and distraction now, they could understand why. Needless to say, Xander was shocked when they saw the Master's lair in use again.

"I dunno. You know this place better than I do."

"No idea. We've seen enough."

"Agreed."

"Let's go report."

That's when Angelus looked in their general direction, and they heard the figure speak.

"It seems you have company. Although, I wouldn't -" Angelus was already on his way over.

"Xander, Xander, Xander. Don't you ever learn?"

He and Oz opened their jackets, revealing their hidden defenses.

"Yes." Xander said. He poured holywater over the backing up Angelus, and they took the opportunity to run. "We'll tell Buffy you said hi."

Angelus grabbed his face. The garlic, cross, and holywater combination had burned the side of his face.

"I tried to warn you." The figure said. "Impulsive and impatient. I pushed for your release. More and more, I question whether that was a mistake." It vanished.

***


"I suppose I should have suspected something. Angelus' single focus has always been Buffy's demise. For him to suddenly stop, disappear, was strange." Giles said.

"As you mentioned, your mind was elsewhere." Wesley replied.

"You find that irresponsible."

"I find that caring. I was honest when I said I wanted to see Buffy well when I came here. You and Buffy and her friends have influenced me greatly. I may not understand the depth of your caring for her or any of these kids, but I wouldn't penalize you for it. I envy you, actually."

"The Council doesn't allow for that. You were just following regulations."

"Perhaps I shouldn't have. I feel I've missed opportunities, some more fulfilling type of life."

"Better late than never. You could start now."

"I think I will. I owe you all thanks."

"You've done so much for Buffy and for Willow, and have helped us all tremendously. You don't owe anyone."

The phone started to ring, and Giles picked it up immediately.

"Oz? Are you two all right.good.really?.he went back to.okay then. Thank you.this helps. Get some sleep."

"Safe?"

Giles nodded, hung up, and started to dial the number for Buffy and Willow's dorm.

***


"Great, Giles. Good night." Willow said, and then hung up. "They're both fine."

All three girls took a deep breath.

"So what'd they learn?" Buffy asked.

"Giles didn't say much except that Angelus was in the Master's lair and that he'd talk to us after classes tomorrow."

"The Master's lair? Why there?" Cordelia asked.

"Beats me." Buffy said. But her thoughts betrayed her voice.

'The Master's lair. You don't think.'

'No way.he's dead Buffy. Completely.'

'Still. He could've picked anywhere. So what if the Hellmouth's a little more weaker there.'

'Relax. It'll be okay.'

Willow hugged Buffy to her. Cordelia looked at them.

"Willow warmth again?"

"It's comforting." Buffy smiled.

But just the thought that the only person, well not really a person, who had killed her, could have something to do with everything that was happening.she shuddered, and Willow held tighter.


"If I could just say a few words...I'd be a better public speaker." (Homer J. Simpson)

"You know what the secret of life is?"
"Your finger?"
"One thing. Just one thing."
"That's great, but what's the one thing?"
"That's what you gotta figure out."
(Jack Palance, Billy Crystal, City Slickers)

"I heard your heartbeat." (Buffy Summers, to Angel, ANGEL)