Work Text:
The Puzzle Comes Apart
by Mike TN
“Angel, look out!”
Wesley’s warning came too late. The Qobask demon emerged from the shadows at Angel’s back, and with a maniacal laugh, he embedded a dagger deep in the souled vampire’s shoulder. Angel collapsed to his knees and released a scream of agony that filled the night air. All of the fighting stopped at Angel’s cry as Wesley, Cordelia, and Gunn raced to Angel’s side. The Qobask demon and his soldiers slipped away into the night unnoticed.
The dagger in Angel’s shoulder began to hum and embedded itself deeper in Angel’s body. His cries of agony faded to soft whimpers as tears of blood streaked his pale skin. With a pleading glance at the helpless trio, Angel collapsed to the ground, the dagger’s tip protruding from his chest.
*************************
Earlier that evening…..
“What’s next?”
“I don’t know, Gunn. I suppose we wait for Cordelia to have another…”
“Vision!”
Both men scrambled as Cordelia shouted and grabbed her head. Gunn cradled the young Seer to his chest while Wesley ran for water and medication. Cordelia was helpless during the Visions, and they were quite painful for the young woman. She was often left with a near-migraine after each premonition.
“Here, take these,” Wesley offered as he placed the pills in a shaking hand. Cordelia swallowed the tablets quickly while Gunn eyed her with concern.
“Thanks, Wesley. We need to move now.”
“Where? What did you see?”
“Warehouse district. Something’s after Angel.”
“Angel? Are you sure?”
“Yo, dawg,”Gunn challenged, “if she said Angel, she meant Angel.”
“Of course, Gunn. I didn’t mean to imply…”
“Enough already.” Cordelia pushed away from Gunn and stood, glaring at both. “We don’t have time for this. Angel’s in danger. Grab weapons and move it.” Cordelia snatched up her purse and baton and stormed out the door.
“I love that woman.” Wesley smiled at Gunn’s admission. “Here ya go.” Gunn tossed Wesley an axe and crossbow before picking up his own weapons. They quickly followed their determined Seer.
*********************
“The stars are telling me about a new game. It looks to be so much fun.”
“Dru, what are you talking about?”
“All the King’s horses, and all the King’s men won’t be able to put Humpty Dumpty back together again.” Dru twirled in the moonlight, dancing to a song only she could hear. Darla eyed Dru with confusion. Although Drusilla was insane, her ability to see the future was not to be ignored. She could only wonder about Dru’s rhyme.
*********************
“This is amethyst. These two are both types of quartz. The pink one is rose quart, and the dark one is smoky quartz.” Tara smiled as she placed each stone on the tabletop. “All three are good for protection in general although each one also has specialized used.”
“Protection?” We should load up on the stuff!”
“Xander…” Willow smiled as she elbowed her oldest friend. “Don’t interrupt. You’re the one who wanted Tara to teach you about gems in the first place.”
“She has a point, Xander.” Giles peered over his inventory list to smile at the group. “As simple as
gem magic is, it’s relatively safe. You never know when it might come in h…”
Giles was interrupted as the three small stones shattered into piles of dust. Willow, Tara, Anya,
and Xander looked at one another, confusion and worry evident in their eyes.
“Oh dear,” Giles whispered.
**********************
Buffy stood outside the Bronze, keeping an eye open for trouble. The club was devoid of life and the streets were completely empty. Her heels clicking on the pavement seemed to echo in the stillness.
A small breeze carried in a thick fog which blanketed Sunnydale. Off in the distance, she heard a
faint howl and an even fainter gunshot. <A farmer protecting his livestock> Buffy thought.
A scream pierced the unnatural stillness. Buffy turned and ran as fast as she could towards the
scream. In her heart, the Slayer knew she’d be too late. Rounding a corner, the scream led her to
familiar territory, the burned out husk of Sunnydale High School. Its ruins still stood while the city chose to build a new school elsewhere.
Her wildly beating heart froze in place. Her friends and loved ones were waiting for her: Xander, Willow, Tara, Giles, Dawn and her mother. Their heads sat upon pikes set into the ground, their headless bodies piled off to the side. Blood still flowed down the pikes, and their dead faces were set in expressions of horror. Buffy fell to her knees as her world reeled.
“Hiya, B.”
Buffy whirled and assumed a fighting stance. To her surprise, her counterpart stood before her, broken and helpless. She wore a collar and was shackled at her wrists and feet, all three bindings connected by a chain that even a Slayer couldn’t break. Her eyes were bloodshot and full of unshed tears, and her face bore the marks of battle.
“Faith…”
“The evil’s coming, B. Be ready. I wasn’t strong enough, wasn’t ready. My heart wasn’t in the fight. To save everyone, you have to be ready to fight…”
Faith never completed her sentence. Her head was jerked violently to one side, and Faith cried out as teeth pierced her throat. Buffy moved to help Faith, but strong hands suddenly grabbed hold of her arms and legs. To her horror, Buffy found herself being held by the headless bodies of her loved ones. Gore and ichor coated their chests and hands, and Buffy fought to maintain control of her emotions as terror threatened to unhinge her. She turned back to see Faith’s body fall to the ground.
“Faith!” Buffy screamed. She finally broke free of the zombies’ cluthes and ran towards the fallen
Slayer’s body until she witnessed the killer. Drusilla calmly licked her lips.
“Now, I’m even with my precious Spike. I see why he liked Slayer blood. It’s quite yummy. I wonder which of us will kill a Slayer next.”
“Dru…” Buffy’s voice dripped venom.
“My family’s all together now. We’ll see you soon enough.”
Buffy woke with a start, her body coated in a sheen of sweat, anger and fear warring in her for control. She grabbed the ringing phone by her bedside out of reflex.
“Hello?”
“Buffy?”
“Yeah, Giles. I know. I’ll be at the magic shop as soon as I get dressed.”
**********************
“Wesley, what do we do?” Tears flowed freely from Cordelia’s eyes as she tried to wake up Angel.
“I don’t know. I really don’t. The dagger is obviously magical.”
“Well, I know what I’m gonna do,” Gunn growled as he seized hold of the dagger in an attempt to pull it out of Angel’s body.
“Gunn, don’t!”
For the second time that night, Wesley’s warning came too late. Black and green flames flared out from the dagger’s hilt and engulfed Gunn’s body. His face contorted into a mask of agony, and his mouth hung open in a soundless scream. The roar of the flames drowned out all other sound, and Wesley and Cordelia fell back from the heat of the flames. The flames flickered out as suddenly as they came to life, and Gunn’s unconscious body crumpled onto the pavement alongside Angel’s. Cordelia crawled to Gunn’s side while Wesley tried to tend Angel.
“Cordelia, this is going from bad to worse! How is Gunn?”
“He’s breathing okay. Pulse okay. I think he’s just unconscious. I can’t tell anything else…” Her relief was palpable.
“Oh, thank God.” Wesley released a breath he didn’t realize he had been holding.
The dagger began to pulse rhythmically, and a scream seemed to emanate from the blade itself. Wesley and Cordelia attempted to shield their eyes and ears from the unearthly and unholy display. Wesley thought he heard the Qobask chanting from within the enchanted dagger.
All at once, the light and sound simply stopped. Turning back to Angel, they found two identical
bodies lying where only one had been mere moments before. Both began to stir, and the dagger was nowhere to be seen. An all-too-familiar laugh caused Cordelia’s flesh to crawl.
“Oh no…” she whispered in terror.
“Oh yes!” With a shake of his head, Angel stood and grinned at the former cheerleader, Game Face in place.
“Angelus…”
“You betcha! Well, well now, breakfast is served.” With a leap, Angelus dove at Cordelia only to be met by a flying kick from Angel.
“Not hardly.” Angel swayed on his feet but eyed Angelus warily.
“Oh, good. Soul-boy wants to fight. Well, it will feel so good to finally kill you.”
“You won’t get the chance, Angelus.” Wesley stepped in front of Angelus.
“Oooohhhh, so what are you going to do, talk me to death? You were too lame to even be a Watcher,” Angelus sneered.
Wesley produced a large cross that he thrust into Angelus’s unsuspecting face. With a hiss, Angelus quickly backpedaled and put a safe space between himself and the holy symbol.
“Alright, fine. Round one goes to you. I’ll take my time. Besides, I have a former girlfriend to attend to first. Soul-boy, you’ll be the last on my long list of people to kill.” Angelus turned and ran off into an alley.
“I’ve got to…” Angel took a step before falling to one knee.
“You’ve got to rest. The spell that sundered you into two parts obviously drained your human side more than it did the vampiric side. We need to get you back to the hotel and prepare.”
“We need to do a lot more than that,” Cordelia whispered as she clutched her own cross. “This is
going to be bad, and I don’t need a Vision to know that.”
end part 1