FIC: Inner Battle (4/?)

["Roman" <rrivaso@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE (Tentative): Inner Battle
AUTHOR: Roman.
E-mail: rrivaso@xxxxxxxxxxxx , imroman@xxxxxxxxxx
PAIRING: Buffy/Willow
DISCLAIMER: All BTVS characters belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I'm
just borrowing them for a little while and I'll retun them as undamaged as
posible. <g>
SPOILERS: Set like 3 or 4 months after Who are you. Adam's still at large,
or is he now?
SUMMARY : Let it be a surprise for now, ok?
DISTRIBUTION: If you want to place this on a website just e-mail me and I'll
say yes.
FEEDBACK : This is my first attempt to write a fic on any fandom so please
be gentle. However if it is your honest opinion that it s*cks, please tell
me. Just remember I have a weak heart <g>.
SPECIAL DISCLAIMER: There are references in this part to some characters
that are not mine nor Joss', they belong to Missy Good and although the
references are indirect and vague (no names are mentioned) if you have read
her stories you'll find them familiar. Missy graciously gave me permission
to do so. If you want to read some of her stories ( reschedule your agenda
to free 6 or 7 hours straight because you won't be able to stop reading <g>)
visit her site http://www.merwolf.com

Just one more part to go and I'll finish chapter 1. Sorry about the delay in
posting.

----------
It was 2 a.m. by the time Buffy and Spike got to Gile's place. They found
the gang very busy trying to figure out something that could shed a light on
the sudden dissappereance of the undead population of Sunnydale.

Giles, Tara and Xander were up to their knees in books, looking codex by
codex, trying to find some prophesy that was about to be fullfilled,
something or other connected to this particular day or the weeks following
it. So far they'd had no luck at all.

Willow was focoused on her laptop searching through the city records for any
unusual activity happening recently while at the same time lauching bots to
search the web for anything that could be remotely connected to what was
happening.

The blond vampire didn't bothered with formalities and made a beeline to the
refrigerator in the kitchen, taking out a pint of blood and pouring some in
a cup just before placing it in the microwave.

The slayer however, said a quick hello to Willow who waved a hand at her
absently, her attention completely focused on the flat screen. She then
greeted the rest of the gang and sat next to Giles to start recouting the
events in Willy's.

"Did you recognize what kind of demon it was?" Asked the Watcher after Buffy
finished her tale.

The Slayer shook her head "No. I hadn't seen anything like it before. But
Spike said he knew what it was" They all turned to watch said vampire
sitting on a kitchen stool, taking and sip of blood from the now warm cup
and Gile's raised a questioning eyebrow silently urging him to elaborate.

The vampire met the Watcher's eyes and nodded. "It was a Berseker." He
watched the other eyebrow join its twin to create a look of astonishment on
Giles' face. He raised a hand forestalling the question he knew would come
next. "I hadn't seen one in person before, but he matched the desciptions
entirely. I'm almost 100 % sure."

"Well that puts a new twist on the matter. We now may have a starting point
to figure out the situation."

Xander asked the question in 90% of the minds in the room "Ok, so what's a
Breathwrecker?"

"Berseker." The watcher corrected."They were...are foot soldiers. Basically
they live in a constant state of extreme pain from the moment they are born,
and become insane just a few years after. They will attack anything that is
in front of them and they suffer from such excrutating pain that any
external stimuli is not registered, you could cut it in half and it will
still be fighting until it dies from blood loss, without even noticing it."

"That explains why he didn't even blinked whe I cut his arm" Was the
slayer's comment her face one of realization.

The watcher now had everyone's attention including Willow that had left the
laptop still on but leaned closer to the group to hear better.

Giles nodded a little."Yeah. They are fueled by rage. There is no thinking
behind their actions. You could easily defeat one, maybe two at the same
time. Three or more would prove more difficult though."

Now she had a target. "So, where do we find these Bersekers?"

The watcher's face reflected his "That's the odd part. There is no record of
a Berseker since when they were supposedly whiped out, during the Second
Great War."

"You mean they're Nazis?"

The watcher turned to Xander who'd had asked the question. "That's the
Second World War." Was the slightly bemused reply. "There has been three
Great Wars against the Darkness throughout human history. All of them
against huge armies of demons and their allies. Each time, an Army of Light
rose and defeated them sending them back to where they came from."

The watcher rummaged around a little among the pile of books, picking up two
and opening one, going through the pages until he found the one he was
looking for.

He turned to them and then began to summarize the contents in the tome. "The
first Great War was on 538 B.C. The first Army of Light was a combined force
from all the known world of that time. Warriors and amazons from Greece,
legions from Rome, celts from Britannia, warriors from China and fierce
gigantic half man half lion warriors." He scratched the side of his head a
little. "Hmmm... they maybe referring to warriors from Africa and their
ritual war aparel...oh well anyway ...in total, two hundred thousand strong
lead by two women took a stand just outside the city of Amphipolis and
destroyed most of the army of darkness and made the rest scatter all over
the world. There is a witness account that the two leaders of the army were
badly wounded trying to kill the General of the army of darkness who is
described here as "evil enclosed within a body's boundaries". Anyway the
witness said that their daugther jumped in to the frey and kept the beast in
check until its forces where defeated entirely, at which time it retreated
with what remained of its army. She then turned to aid her parents but they
just disappeared in thin air and no one saw them ever since."

"You said their daugther, as in the two of them?" Tara asked curiosity
culoring her tone.

The watcher perused through a couple of pages and then nodded. "Yes, they
were married and had lived with their daugther in Amphipolis for a long time
beofre the war started."

Xander perked up a little bit at this. "This Amphipocolis wasn't by any
chance the capital of Lesbos, wasn't it?"

Tara rolled her eyes a little. "Same gender relationships weren't as frowned
upon at that time as they are in present days" Tara gave the teen an
exasperated look. "And no, it wasn't."

Giles had turned a little pensive during this exchange. "Now that I take the
time to study this more carefully I realized something." He said looking up
to the group. "It maybe a coincidence, but all three armies of Light were
lead by women"

Willow throwed a worried glance towards Buffy. "Could they have been
Slayers?"

The watcher picked another book and followed the writting with a finger.
"No. The Council only took part on the last War and its participation was
more on the logistics side. At that time the Council was still in its early
stages and they were training the first official Slayer in England while the
War was taking place in Northen Africa, so the leader was not a Slayer and
that leads me to speculate that neither were the others."

"So , what does this all has to do with that berseker I killed" Was the
question from the slayer.

"The Bersekers have only been sighted during these conflicts. They seemed to
be an exclusive part of the dark armies." He looked up. "There is a constant
in these three wars and that is the leader of the demon's army, the General
I was telling you about earlier. No one knew his name but the descriptions
of him show that it was the same creature the three times. He was supposed
to have been killed in the last battle of the third war back in 1025, but if
bersekers are involved we can assume that that information is wrong and he
is back to start a fourth war or that someone has taken his place and is
rebulding the army."

"That can't be good"

"It isn't"

A beep from Willow's computer broke the uneasy silence that had fell upon
them after this words. The hacker quickly opened a window to look at the
results of her search in the city records.

"I have something here. Here's the address of a very large state just within
the city limits that was adquired recently. It was paid in full at the time
of contract. In cash." She looked up to the group. "The middle man was Ethan
Rae"

Giles peered over Willows shoulders to look at the data on the screen. "It
looks like a possibility." He then looked at his watch. "It's almost 3:00. I
think it will be best if we get some rest and check this place in the
morning". He held up his hand when he saw Buffy was about to protest. "We
all have to be on our best condition to go against whatever it is we are
facing here."

The slayer nodded, acepting the statment and then stood up. "Ok, we all can
crash here." Now she turned to Giles "Are the two guest rooms still
available?" Wathching him nod she continued. "Then Will, Tara, Anya and I
will take them." Now she faced Xander. "You get to sleep in the comfortable
couch."

A little 'Yay' from Xander and they all went to make the necesary
preparations to get the oh so needed sleep.

*********************
Melor walked in to the main chamber in the cave complex under the state they
were staying in. There, he could see his now 6 month companion in this town
finishing the spell that would open a vortex so they could communicate with
their Master, as they had been doing once a week since they'd arrived here.

"Hello Melor. Did the girl defeated the berseker as I predicted?" Malcom
asked not bothering to turn and face the newly arrived demon.

The small blue demon stood dwarfed by his much taller companion. "Yes she
did. You were right, she is different from the previous ones. She didn't
have a hard time dispatching him."

Malcom only nodded. "The spell is complete."

A tiny point of light appeared in front of them. After a few seconds it
started to grow to finally become a swirveling disc of white light, about 2
feet in diameter from wich a booming voice could be heard.

"Report on your mission" the voice said.

"We finished the observation stage. After six months of observing the chosen
one we can conclude that her commitment with her cause is real and she can't
be strayed from her path" Malcom and Melor were now down on one knee facing
down in sign of respect.

"If that is the case we must kill her before she is appraised on her destiny
and begins to get organized" The disc of light pulsated with each word
coming from it.

"I'll engage her in combat then." Malcom replied lifting his face. "It will
probably happen later today or tomorrow. With what she's seen it is just a
matter of time for her and her group to find us".

Melor turned to the taller being at this side. "Wouldn't it be better if we
gather some of the locals to make sure of the outcome of the encounter"

Malcon glared at him. "No. It would not. There is safety in numbers, but
there is no honor"

The blue demon rolled his eyes.

The voice resonated again against the cave walls. "Then it's settled. You
will kill the girl and then we'll enter the next phase of our plan. Success
is the only acceptable outcome."

With this the vortex started to collapse on itself until it finally
disappeared with a flash of light.

Malcom stood up and left the chamber in silence.

Melor saw him leave and he shook his head, wondering where his master had
come up with this Malcom fellow. "An honorable demon. Now I've seen
everything"


TBC