Summary: Set post-Chosen. After the Slayers are activated, the balance between good and evil is disturbed, and the Scoobies are flung to the far corners of the world to respond to the crisis. In the midst of all of this, will they be able to keep their relationships strong? Or will they be divided by circumstances and torn apart by fate? Follows my short story Yesterday.
Rating: PG-13
1 :: 2 :: 3 :: 4 :: 5 :: 6 :: 7 :: 8 :: 9 :: 10 :: 11 :: 12 :: 13 :: 14 :: 15 :: 16 :: 17 :: 18 :: 19 :: 20 :: 21 :: 22 :: 23 :: 24 :: 25 :: 26 :: 27 :: 28 :: 29 :: 30 :: 31 :: 32 :: 33 :: 34 :: 35 ::
“…This must be a short message, I’m afraid. Xander tells me that the darkness is growing, and it seems a real push is being made to overcome the Oribi. Corey and Nàtali have not yet returned, and I haven’t heard from them. We’re growing concerned here…” ~Excerpt from an email from Miles Bennett to Rupert Giles
Miles stood in the doorway of the school, looking out at the setting sun. Corey should have called yesterday, and the fact that she hadn’t worried him. She’d always been a very conscientious girl. As soon as Rupert had contacted him, wanting help and suggestions on who might be good to recruit, he’d thought of her.
He’d never say it out loud, but the girl would have been wasted as a Slayer. Their lives were too short, too brutal, and he knew that her parents had been more relieved than anything else when her eighteenth birthday passed without her being Chosen.
It had been harder on Corey, of course, but these sorts of things generally were.
“Miles?”
He turned to see Whit standing behind him. “What is it?”
“Have you heard from them yet?”
“No, I haven’t.” He mustered a smile. “I’m sure they’re fine.”
“Have you told Xander?”
Miles swallowed. He’d seen the way Corey’s eyes lit up when the young man walked into the room, and the way Xander seemed to stand taller when she was next to him. If anything happened to either of them… “No. There’s no point until we have more information.”
“What are we going to do if they don’t come back?” Whit asked.
Miles saw the look of apprehension on the boy’s face, and he understood it, but they couldn’t afford to give into fear. “We’ll soldier through, my boy. Why don’t you check on the girls? I’ll lock up out here.”
Once he had locked up, Miles followed his impulse and lit candles to place in the windows. Then, with a satisfied nod, he went to bed.
~~~~~
Corey awoke slowly, with no memory of where she was, or how she’d come to be there. The darkness around her was thick enough to choke on, and she drew in a gasping breath, trying not to panic. A thin hand came down over her mouth, and she heard, “Sshh.”
She took a deep breath, trying to remember what exactly had happened. She and Nàtali had been in Johannesburg, looking for the new Slayer. After discovering that she was an orphan, and living on the streets, they had come close to catching up with her a couple of times, only to—
Only to what? Her memory stopped there, and she felt a chill.
The distinctive sound of a match being struck filled her ears, and she saw the quick flare, then the steady flame of a candle. The face on the other side of the light was definitely not human.
“Who—who are you?” she whispered.
“A friend.” The voice was female—she thought. “I helped when I saw that it had taken your little one.”
“My—” Corey looked around frantically. “Nàtali?”
The demon shook its—her?—head. “I was not in time. They took her.”
“I have to get to her,” Corey said, trying to scramble to her feet, and sinking back onto the makeshift bed almost as quickly.
The demon patted her cheek. “I know. They took my little ones, too.”
“Who are ‘they’?” Corey asked, feeling tears of frustration and anger welling up, and fighting them back impatiently.
The demon shook her head. “They welcome the darkness. You should rest now.”
“I have to contact my friends,” Corey insisted. “Please. They can help Nàtali, maybe even your children.”
The demon stared at her suspiciously. “Why?”
“Why would you help me?”
After a moment, the demon inclined her head in a gesture of respect. “I will try.”
“That’s all I ask.” She took a breath. “My name is Corey.”
“Brinda.” The yellow skin on her face and hands seemed almost to glow in the candlelight. “I will see what I can do. I will leave the light for you.”
She was gone momentarily, leaving Corey to look around the dank chamber with its low ceiling and dirt floor. Sitting up experimentally, Corey wondered whether Xander even knew she was missing yet.
Taking another deep breath, Corey closed her eyes, focusing on her breathing, on the need to be calm. She would find Nàtali and get word to Xander and Miles.
There was no other choice.
~~~~~
Xander held on to the door of the Land Rover as they bounced into the Oribi village. Kei had gained permission from the elders to bring him and Emily in, although he couldn’t help but wonder what that meant.
If the elders so rarely allowed strangers to see where they lived, then what dire straits were they in now? And what could they possibly hope to do about it?
He winced as one of the bumps jarred still-healing ribs and reminded himself that this was a reconnaissance mission only. Xander knew that anything else could result in more permanent impairment.
And he was already impaired enough.
Kei glanced over at him. “There is something you must know before we enter.”
“What’s that?” Xander asked, wincing again.
“There are many who do not believe you can or will help us.”
“I don’t know about ‘can,’” Xander said candidly, “but I can do ‘will.’”
A smile touched the Oribi’s solemn face. “That will have to be enough.”
Emily leaned forward from the backseat. “Why wouldn’t they believe that we would help? I mean, if bad stuff is going to happen to you, it’s probably going to happen to everybody.”
“I think that you say, ‘every man for himself?’” Kei queried.
Xander sighed, knowing the truth of that statement. He’d lived in Sunnydale most of his life, after all, where not getting involved was the main method of survival. “When things go bad, most people have the tendency to pretend that if they don’t get involved, it won’t effect them. That’s kind of the point of the Slayer—getting involved when no one else will.”
“Didn’t you get involved?” Emily asked innocently. “I mean, that’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”
He smiled, remembering the first time he’d seen Buffy. Maybe he had helped for all the wrong reasons, wanting to impress her so that she’d see him as something more than a friend, but his motives for continuing the fight had been pure.
Mostly.
“Pretty much,” he said, deciding that the entire story was too complicated, although he might end up telling her someday. “In this case, however, I think that Kei may also be referring to the fact that humans and demons don’t mix, and they don’t help each other out.”
Kei nodded in confirmation. “No, but we helped you so that you would do the same for us, and now you are. That will do much for the doubters.”
The Oribi pulled to a stop outside a house that was oddly low to the ground. If they hadn’t been so close, Xander probably would have mistaken it for a hill. Glancing around, he could see other “hills” close by, and he shook his head. “Pretty smart.”
Kei smiled. “Yes. We like to remain inconspicuous.”
“Very cool,” Emily breathed, getting out of the Land Rover, before Xander could tell her to wait.
He had no idea what sort of reception they were facing, and while he trusted Kei, he also didn’t want Emily wandering off on her own. Xander was just getting out of the vehicle, ready to call her back, when the front of the house seemed to disappear and a young Oribi came out.
Kei called out in a language that Xander couldn’t understand, and didn’t think he’d ever heard before, and the boy stopped, looking at them. “My son,” Kei explained. “He does not speak English.”
The young demon said something else, then immediately ran back to the entrance, glancing over his shoulder quickly before the hill appeared to swallow him up.
“He tells me that they are waiting for us,” Kei said. “We should go.”
Xander squared his shoulders and followed his friend, hoping that they could do some good.
~~~~~
The ringing of the phone woke Whit out of a fitful sleep. He’d become quite attached to Corey and Xander and the Slayers while in Pretoria, and the idea that they had lost anyone caused a lot of fear. He’d lost too many people he loved to rest easy as long as there was any doubt that they would return.
He fumbled for the receiver, finally grabbing it and holding it between his ear and shoulder. “Yeah?”
“Whit?”
“Corey!” Relief rushed through him. “Where are you? Are you alright?”
“I’m in Johannesburg,” she replied, “and I don’t know. Nàtali’s been taken.”
“What?” Whit sat up a little straighter. “By who?”
“I don’t know. Maybe by the same demons who are harassing the Oribi, but it’s hard to say. As best as I can tell, they’re kidnapping children for some kind of sacrifice to open the Hellmouth.”
“Shit.” Whit thought quickly. “Do you know—never mind. Of course you don’t know what kind of demons they are. Let me do some research. There aren’t that many rituals for opening a Hellmouth that call for child sacrifice, and Miles might know who would be making a power play like that in the area.”
He could hear her sigh of relief. “Thanks, Whit. You and Miles be careful. Grabbing Nat might have been random, but I don’t like trusting coincidence.”
“That probably isn’t a good idea under the circumstances,” he agreed. “When should I call you?”
“I’ll call you,” Corey said. “I don’t have ready access to a phone, so there’s no way you can get in touch with me, I’m afraid.”
“Be careful.”
“You, too. Give my love to Xander when he calls.”
The line went dead, and Whit hung up the phone, wearily running a hand through his tousled hair. The clock indicated that it was just after 2 am, but there was no way he was getting back to sleep now.
Rolling out of bed, he pulled on a shirt and padded down the hall to the study. Miles was seated at the desk, a large book open in front of him. “Was that Xander?” he asked, not looking up.
“It was Corey. Somebody took Nat.”
Miles’ head shot up, and he removed his reading glasses, giving Whit an intense stare. “What exactly did she say?”
Whit repeated the conversation word for word, then asked, “What are we going to do?”
Miles closed his eyes, leaning back in his seat. A silent minute or two passed before he said, “We’re going to allow her to do her job. There isn’t much else we can do, I’m afraid.”
“What about Xander?”
“We’ll tell him exactly what she told us to.” Miles sighed. “He is in a very delicate position, Whit. He has a responsibility to our allies, and knowing about Corey and Nàtali might result in an inability to carry out those responsibilities.”
Whit shook his head. “But this is Corey! She’s one of us, and Nat’s our Slayer. The Oribi are demons.”
“Yes, they are,” Miles replied softly. “But we have given our word, my boy, and Corey knows the risks.”
“And Nàtali?” Whit asked as his stomach twisted, thinking of the laughing, happy girl.
Miles’ eyes were haunted. “She’s a Slayer. They are born to fight and die, so that the world might go on.”
As much as he hated that answer, Whit knew that Miles was right.
~~~~~
Thunder boomed as the man Kei had pointed out as the head elder rose to speak. Xander really hoped that this wasn’t some sort of sign. “Kei has told you that there is a force gathering on our borders.”
Xander nodded. “He has.”
“Our scouts tell us these demons are preparing for war, and that they have taken the sacrifices necessary to open the Hellmouth.”
He swallowed. “What kind of sacrifices?”
“Human and demon. It requires the blood of children.”
Xander felt like he was going to be sick. “We have to stop them.”
The elder smiled, and Xander could feel some of the tension leave the room. “Yes, but how? We are very much outnumbered, even with the addition of you and your people.”
“Do you know how many?”
“Perhaps one hundred?”
“And how many can you put in the field?”
The head elder glanced at Kei, who responded, “Perhaps twenty-five. We are small.”
Xander quickly did the math in his head, and he didn’t much like it. Then again, they had defeated the Mayor and his goons with little more than a few dozen kids who had never held a weapon before, and a big bomb. “We’re going to need more Slayers,” he decided. “How long do you think we have?”
“One week, perhaps two,” the head elder responded. “Is it enough time?”
Xander nodded. “It’ll have to be. I need to contact my boss and find out how many more Slayers we can get down here. We might be able to get a few witches from the coven, too, and maybe some more Watchers.”
The head elder gave him a little bow. “Shall I allow Kei to continue as our liaison?”
“That would be great.” Xander glanced over at Emily, who had been by his side, silent, the entire time. He could see both fear and determination on her face, and he thought that Buffy would probably understand how she felt at this moment.
Leaning down to whisper in her ear, he said, “The first apocalypse is always the hardest, kid.”
She looked up at him, startled, and some of the tension left her frame.
The meeting appeared to be breaking up, because all the Oribi except for Kei were leaving. “How many do you think you will be able to get?” Kei asked.
“I don’t know,” Xander admitted. “Most of the Slayers are pretty young, but this is their fight. If things go sour here, we’ll have that much more trouble down the road.”
Kei inclined his head. “Indeed. I will take you back to the school.”
“Stick around,” Xander invited. “I might be able to get you an answer sooner that way.”
The Oribi seemed to hesitate, but then nodded. “Yes, of course.”
Xander could only pray that they would have the help they needed. He had no idea what things were like for Giles in Bath, but surely there would be a few Slayers around who could be trusted to know the right end of a weapon.
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