by NewRuthRising » Fri Oct 10, 2008 5:55 am
New reader! Hurrah! Here's your welcome kit: pith helmet, binoculars, giant Amazon hunting net, inflatable double mattress. Go to it!
Meanwhile, here's the next chapter.
Alternatives Chapter 27
The meal had passed in relative calm, the twins had been put down for a nap, and people had begun drifting back into thoughtful silence. Despite the chaos of the morning, an atmosphere of relaxed friendliness encompassed the great house. Luc rarely strayed from his wife’s side and frequently reached out to touch her and their new daughter, sleeping soundly in her mother’s arms. Similarly, Kel kept Sophie within arm’s reach, unwilling to be away from her adopted daughter for even a moment. As dusk began to settle, Kel cleared her throat, and dipped her head toward the family room.
“Shall we resume our discussion?” She asked softly.
The assembled Scoobs filed quietly back into the room, arranging themselves on the comfortable furniture. Willow and Tara, still a little unsure of each other, dithered for a moment before finally snuggling up together on a loveseat with happy sighs. Buffy watched them with a smile, wrapping an arm around her sister’s shoulder. Xander perched on the arm of Anya’s chair, throwing her a tentative smile. She watched him uncertainly for a moment, then reached out to thread her hand into his, squeezing briefly. Xander beamed, encouraged by this small sign of reconciliation. Giles stood near Luc, who had wrapped his family in his arms. Faith sank warily in an armchair, eyes darting around the room. Sophie disentangled herself from Kel and wandered across the room to clamber into the young Slayer’s lap. The Scoobs tried not to stare openly as Sophie whispered something to Faith that tugged a small smile from her, and had to try even harder when Faith hugged the young girl affectionately and visibly relaxed.
“Well-“ Kel began, and was interrupted by a high-pitched ringing, like a wet finger dragged across a crystal glass.
“Oh, fine!” Kel exclaimed, “Might as well get them involved.”
A gesture from the angel and once again the Angel Investigations team were standing, baffled, before her. From the position of the group and the magical paraphernalia they held, it appeared they’d been in the middle of a summoning ritual.
There was a moment of perfect stillness, then the AI crew burst into action.
“Get her!” Wesley yelled. Angel, wide-eyed with fear, advanced with a short sword. The others moved to flank Kel.
Kel sighed testily.
“Do we have to do this every time?” She enquired in a weary tone. Another brief gesture and the weapons vanished.
“Sit down, guys. We need to talk.”
“Don’t trust her!” Cordy yelled. “Buffy, help us!”
“Is that Faith?” Wesley spat, growing angrier and more confused by the second.
“Um, guys?” Fred ventured. “These people, who I’m assuming from your calling her ‘Buffy’ are Buffy and her friends, they don’t seem too worried. Maybe we should just stop for a second, cause last time we didn’t even touch that girl, and by the way you look awful familiar to me, have we met? Anyway, maybe the hack-and-slash idea isn’t the best, right now, is what I’m saying.”
“I think you’ve got competition for babbling, Will,” Tara murmured in Willow’s ear, making her shiver delightedly.
“Angel,” Buffy called, deliberately not moving from her seat, “it’s okay. Relax.”
“Buffy, you have no idea who this is!” Wesley said.
Kel watched them for a moment. Slowly, she stood to her full height. Silence fell as her presence filled the room. Without moving, without speaking, she drew everyone’s attention.
“Wesley,” she said, her accent slipping into a soft Gaelic lilt, “be quiet. Sit down, all of you.”
Her voice seemed to rumble through the earth itself. The thought of defying such a voice was impossible to conceive. It was an elemental force, raw and powerful. They sat.
When Kel spoke again, it was in her normal tones, through a trace of Gaelic remained in her accent.
“Let me guess, Cordelia, you had a vision?”
“Yes.” Awestruck, the seer could not meet Kel’s eyes.
“You saw me. Killing Buffy, perhaps? Or Angel? Sacrificing Connor?”
“You ended the world.”
Kel chuckled.
“Of course. They always did like a big finish.”
“Listen to me, all of you. Things have been set in motion, things not even I can undo. The higher realms are on the verge of civil war. The forces arrayed against us are innumerable, their power incomprehensible. There are dynamics at play here that even I probably don’t know about. The most important piece of advice I can give you, the only useful advice I can give you right now is this: trust yourselves, trust each other, trust absolutely nothing else. Not the ground under your feet or the roof over your head because, as of now, nothing is safe. Any questions?”
“What are you?” Connor’s voice piped up from behind his father, for once without it’s usual sullen undertones.
“My name is Kellyn,” she replied, her voice once again swelling with ethereal force.
“What I am is more complicated. I’m a shadow, and a shield. I’m the Wolf and the lamb. I am breath and blood and the dying gasp of life. I’m dust in the grave, rot in the wound and the scream of a newborn child. I am a god and a child of gods. I am a girl and a child of a man. I am salvation or damnation. I’m an angel, Connor, and I’m trying to help you.”
“Oh.”
“All right, let’s get everyone up to speed, shall we?” Luc broke in.
They talked for hours, explaining the events that had led to this moment. When the Scoobs had finished, the AI crew gave their own account, with frequent meaningful glances at one another. It was clear that although circumstances had forced them back together, it would be a long time before there was real trust between any of them.
“Okay, listen,” Kel spoke for the first time in an hour. “Here’s the situation now. We’re safe here, no matter what. I can’t go into detail, but suffice it to say that if the factions opposing us tried to get to us here, they’d fail, lose all support and the entire civil war would turn against them. Some things are still inviolate.
The problem is, we can’t stay here. They’ll use every resource at their command and tear the rest of this world apart. The war will still be fought and we’ll probably lose. Even as we speak, the Sisters of Jdhe are trying to get the Sunnydale Hellmouth open again. Justine and her little band of Holtz wannabes are on the rampage in L.A. Things are getting nasty.
We have two options. You won’t like either, but hear me out.
One. Luc and I take the twins, Dawn, Connor and any future children that any of you may produce. We remove all memory of them and of the last few weeks. You return to your respective battlefronts and fight until you die. Luc and I will raise, guard and train the kids to fulfil their destinies. You won’t remember them, they won’t remember you, and we’ll probably all be dead inside of a decade.
Two. We leave things as they are. We do our best to stay alive long enough to figure out what’s going to happen and try to stop it. Luc and I will try and turn the brunt of the war away from you all, but you’ll still probably be dead within the month.”
“Why us?” Dawn asked. “What’s so special about us?”
“Dawn, you’re still the Key, sweetheart. The power you have inside you wasn’t linked to Glory, she just wanted to use it for her own ends. Connor is an impossible thing, a miracle, created at the whim of a higher being. He has power over them, and he’s a heck of a fighter. The little ones are the two most powerful magical beings in the world right now. Tara comes from generations of witches and Willow…well; you all know how powerful she is. Separately, those two would be formidable. Together, they’re nigh on unstoppable. The problem is that the nature of all your power comes from family. If we take you from them, even if you don’t remember, you’ll be weakened.”
“It sounds to me like you don’t know what you’re doing, Kel,” Anya commented.
“Anya, I haven’t a clue. I’m making this up as I go along. I don’t know what the consequences of my actions might be and I dare not find out before they happen. I’m keeping a low profile right now and bouncing around the timeline would attract a lot of unwelcome attention.”
“So we’re flying blind?” Buffy asked.
“Blind, deaf, mute, lame and wrapped head to foot in bandages, Buffy.” Kel answered. “Whatever happens, the Apocalypse is upon us, and I’m not talking about your usual end-of-the-world crisis. I’m talking full-blown, four horsemen, seven gates Book of Revelation Armageddon. Seas boiling, skies raining fire, the whole deal.
If we can’t stop this, everything ends.”
Luc spoke up again.
“Kel, let’s give them some time to deal with this. You and I can see what else we can find out.”
“Yeah, okay.” The two angels stood and left the room.
Willow was the first to speak.
“I don’t know about you guys, but I’ve only been a…a mom for a few days. I barely know my children. I don’t want to lose them. I want to see them grow up.”
Tara smiled widely and nodded her agreement.
“Kel said our power was rooted in our family. I think we should stay together,” Dawn offered.
“My fa…Holtz always told me angels watched over us,” Connor said, almost to himself. Angel turned to his son but no words came to him. Instead he carefully laid his arm across Connor’s shoulders, surprised when the gesture wasn’t rejected.
“Guys, I’m not sure about this,” Anya said. “Kel always, always has a plan. Usually, plans within plans. Either she’s lying about not having one, in which case we can’t trust her or she really doesn’t have any idea what to do, which could only happen if things were monumentally screwed up.”
“I don’t think she’s lying,” Tara responded. “I’ve never seen her so unsure of herself.”
“Nor have I,” Giles said.
“Giles, see reason,” Wesley snapped. “This creature has been an enemy of the Watchers time out of mind. Clearly this whole thing is a ruse to keep us off our guard. We should be trying to subdue her!”
“Wes, did your brains leak out of that hole in your jugular or something?”
“How dare you!” Voices began to overlap each other.
“Shut up!”
“Guys, we shouldn’t-“
“Why are you even here?”
The peace that had pervaded the atmosphere was shattered as the entire room fell to arguing.
Several hours later, Willow rolled over in bed, sighing unhappily. As part of their plan to reacquaint with one another, she and Tara had taken separate rooms. Now she found that not only was it impossible to sleep without Tara next to her, but she was missing the twins as well. She caught herself listening for their breathing as often as she reached for the empty side of the bed. Motherhood had come as a shock, but over the last few days she had adjusted to the fact of her children, and right now the separation was killing her. She couldn’t shake the need to open the door adjoining her room to Tara’s.
I suppose Tara wouldn’t mind me checking on the twins, she thought. It’s not like I’d be intruding.
From the other room came the faint sounds of crying. Before her mind has time to react she was on her feet and opening the door. Inside, Tara was holding their daughter, looking frazzled as she cried lustily.
“Will, thank the Goddess. I was just about to knock.”
“What’s up?” Willow asked, walking to the crib and checking on Alex who grinned happily at her.
“She just won’t settle. Will you hold her for a minute?”
In lieu of an answer, Willow held her arms out and took the screaming child from her. Almost immediately, the crying subsided to slight grizzling. Tara smiled tiredly.
“Look at that,” she whispered. Moving without thought, she moved to embrace Willow from behind, resting her chin on the redhead’s shoulder and smiling down at their daughter.
“I hope she’s not this bad when she’s Dawn’s age,” Willow mused.
“Assuming we still know who she is,” Tara reminded her.
“Tara, I’m not giving them up,” Willow insisted.
“Good. Nor am I.”
Surrounded by her parents, Willow Junior drifted off to sleep. They stood for a few minutes, basking in the experience, before Willow carefully put the baby down next to her brother. Turning to face Tara, she suddenly registered the fact that the other woman was wearing nothing but a pair of boxers and a very thin shirt. She shivered.
“I should go…go back next door.” She said without much enthusiasm.
“Willow,” Tara said, her voice low and rich, “please stay. I…I couldn’t sleep without you next to me.”
“But…”
“We don’t have to do anything. I just…I need to hold you. I don’t think we should be apart right now.”
Willow moved into Tara’s arms, sighing happily.
“Tara?”
“Hmm?”
“I know we’re taking things slow and everything, and it’s a really good idea, but I just want to tell you that I love you. I love you so much, baby, and I’m so sorry for what’s happened to us. For what I did. I promise I won’t ever do anything to hurt our family again. I swear to you.”
“I believe you, Willow and I love you too. I’m just not ready to-“
“I know. I have to earn this. It’s okay, Tara. I can wait.”
They smiled at each other and kissed, chastely.
"And beyond the Wild Wood?" asked the Mole.
"The Wide World," said the Rat. "And that doesn't matter."
all round!!!
