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"Chosen Ones"Written By: Dùlin
Archive: This arc is archived on this site with permission. Do not reproduce it anywhere without permission. Disclaimer : I don't own them. Life is not fair. Rating : R to NC-17 for violence Warnings : Crossover GW/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
which means, AU and OOC-ness for the GW characters (since they're
not humans, niark niark !) Pairings : 1x2, 3x4, 6x5, explicit references to past 13x5 Author's note : You need to know quite a bit about
the Buffy universe to understand this fic. If you don’t know
what Buffy is or stopped watching after season two, just take a browse
on the official UPN site to see what the heck this is all about. The greatest thanks to the ever faithful Karina, to Amejisuto and the best beta-reader of the world, Laurence-sama ! Please do not take or reproduce without permission.
"Chosen Ones"
Part 16 - The Craftsman of Peace “Buffy !”, Willow yelled. “We can’t hold them back much longer !! There are too many of them !!!” “Thanks, Will, I hadn’t noticed !!!”, Buffy groaned, dusting a vampire. From the corner of her eyes, she saw the four evil spirits get inside the school. She looked for Giles. “Giles !!! We must get inside to the library !!! If we stay here, they can overwhelm us too easily ! We must trap them inside of the building !!!” Giles nodded and beckoned to Angel, Xander and Anya to get inside. They were soon joined by Buffy, Willow and Tara. “What do we do now ?”, Xander asked. “Anyone got an idea ??” “We must protect the library !”, Buffy said. “Zechs and the guys need as much time as we can give them. We take the beasties down, and we leave the four clowns to them !” “It means we will be very close to the Hellmouth anyway”, Giles pointed. “We must be careful and not interfere with the powers there, or it could become very dangerous.” “Top priority, staying alive”, Buffy said. “Okay ?” Everyone else nodded. They jogged along the corridors to the library. A blinding white light was filling the room, preventing them from seeing anything inside. There was no sign of Morgoth, Treize, Une and Dorothy. “Do you think they’re already inside, Giles ?”, Buffy asked. “I don’t know, but I’ll take the white light as a good sign for the moment. Maybe we should spread out around the library and take down any vampire or demon who will try to enter. We can’t do anything else anyway.” “Let’s do that”, Buffy said. “They trusted us to do that, we can do it. We will make it. And if I ever catch that Relena girl, I’ll make sure that she can’t morph back her nose this time !!!” **** The five spirits were gripping each other’s so tight that their knuckles were white. They were all chanting the incantation now, the white light filling the room, the atmosphere so tense it vibrated around them. “We bow to the power of Love. We revere it and accept it in our hearts. For the love of the World, we forsake our powers and offer them to the Chosen One, for him to become the Living Incarnation of the Real Power. Come forth, Craftsman of the Peace. We call Thee. We beseech Thee. Come forth and unveil your power, so that the Right shall be restored and the Wrong punished.” A white light erupted from the five spirits eyes and went to hit the white jewel on Milliardo’s brow. The tall Spirit was barely discernable in the blinding light, his element. When the rays of power hit him, though, his body shone even brighter. The red stains of blood on his outfit disappeared, and his wounds closed. A dome of white light encircled the six Spirits. Sally and Nataku were silent vigils at the door, their eyes not even flickering in the light. There was a sudden veil on the light when a cloud of dark smoke erupted near the door and swelled. When it dissipated, the tall form of Morgoth and his three followers could be seen. They almost absorbed the light, reducing it to nothing in the darkness that surrounded them. Dorothy’s eyes widened with fear when she understood what their enemies were doing. “An Incarnation Spell ! Master, we must go …” “Silence ! I have not passed through Hell and torture to give up now ! And you will follow me to the end, Dorothy ! You swore to serve me ! I don’t like traitors !” “As Wufei pointed out to me”, Treize said amazingly calmly, “we are already traitors to our own people. What does one more treason matter now ?” “Can we get out of this alive, Dorothy ?”, Une hissed. “We can if we leave now !”, Dorothy snapped back. “Or if they made a mistake with the invocation, but knowing Quatre as I do, this is most improbable. He would not have taken this risk if he wasn’t sure of what he was doing !” “You cowards !!!”, Morgoth sneered. “I offered you my trust and powers beyond anything you knew, and you would give in now, just because you want to stay alive !!!” “So Dorothy is right, then”, Treize said frowning. “You just needed us to help you get here. You had no intention of rewarding us afterwards.” There was a sharp intake of breath under the dark cloak. “You cannot go back now !”, Morgoth snapped. “They won’t let you. Follow me and you’ll live ! Fail me, and I will myself make sure that you die of a most painful death.” “Threats ?”, Dorothy snickered. “How unworthy of such a high Spirit as yourself”, Treize said. “You don’t need to threaten us. Just prove us that we were right to follow you. Defeat your enemy, and we will defeat ours.” “Go away from my sight, you unfit servants !” Treize shrugged to the sarcasm and turned around to make his way towards the door. Dorothy and Une began to follow him, but they were stopped by the two Spirits guarding the door. “Are you going somewhere ?”, Sally asked sarcastically. “Move over !”, Une said aggressively. “Your presence is requested for a ritual”, Nataku said, her face unreadable. “Trying to escape it and fly away would cause you much damage.” Dorothy tried to brush the Justice Spirit away. The Chinese girl blinked once, and the three Dark Spirits were sent backwards by a red flame. Sally then immobilized them under a dome of green light. “Don’t worry”, she said with a smile. She turned to the white light. “It won’t be long now.”
The white light concentrated on him, leaving the room to light the man in white. The five younger Spirits broke the circle and went to form a line behind their leader. Their eyes were all blazing white, with no discernable pupils. And so it was, darkness on one side and light on the other. The two Spirits were facing each other, white against black. Wisps of dark smoke were dissolved by the light, light was absorbed by darkness. They stood for a while without a move. Then, Morgoth took a step forward and sneered : “Zechs, do you really think that this little trick is going to stop me ?” “I am not Zechs Merquise”, the Light Spirit answered, and although the voice was unmistakably his, one could hear in it the voices of his five young helpers, as they stood motionless behind him as a silent guard. “I am Milliardo Peacecraft”, the Spirit kept on. “Incarnation of the Power, Wielder of the Good, Punisher of the Wrong. I am the one who keeps the balance of the World.” “Funny”, Morgoth said, “I am just about to destroy that balance.” A smirk appeared on Zechs’ face. “Bow before the Real Power or fade, Morgoth.” “My power is the real power”, Morgoth snapped back. “I will not fail. I have been preparing for this for too long. It is you who must acknowledge my power and disappear into nothingness !” “Thy Power is an illusion, Morgoth. Based on hatred, treachery, treason of kin unto kin, lie and destruction. It will vanish in the wind like a bad memory. Only the Power of Love will prevail.” “Love ! Love is the illusion ! The creatures of this world don’t love. They just need to be scared enough to follow anyone’s lead !” “Thou art wrong and shalt be proved so. Love is the essence of this world. They will fight for it.” “Will they, now ?” “Yes, we will !!!” Morgoth turned to see who had spoken. Buffy and the Scoobies had broken into the library and were facing the dark figure. Buffy took a step forward. ”What did you say ?”, Morgoth hissed. “I say that this is our world ! Ours ! I say that you don’t understand shit about what we feel for our world ! I say that your look sucks ! And I say that I will fight for my world, even though I can die, because I love my world the way it is, and if there’s any way to prevent a big fat supernatural arrogant lump like you to take over it, then I take the chance to try and kick your ass !!!” Willow nodded vigorously at her side. “Yeah !”, she said. “And it’s not because we’re scared of you that we will follow you and … Buffy is right, you look like a pile of dirty rags and I don’t even see why we should be scared anyway !!” Xander also advanced. “Well, I personally don’t have anything witty to say right now, except maybe ‘watch out behind you, I think the guy over there is about to kill you.’ ” Morgoth turned around to face Zechs once more. With each word of love and confidence, the Light Spirit could feel his power grow. He turned his blazing white eyes to his opponent. “For the last time, bow before the Real Power or prepare to meet thy end !” Morgoth took a step back. “No !! You won’t stop me !! The world is mine !” “Will he stop saying that already ?”, Buffy sighed exasperatedly. “You didn’t see the ‘No Trespassing’ sign when you took that dimensional portal, did you ? Don’t worry, that’s no biggie, Zechs’ll show you the way out ! Oh, and, we won’t be seeing you, don’t bother to keep in touch.” The white jewel on Zechs’ brow began to shine. A ray of light erupted from it and came to hit straight under the hood. There was an inhuman and chilling scream as the figure beneath the cloak began to convulse. It looked like the light was destroying him from the inside. The wailing rose, filling the room. The humans covered their ears as the Spirits watched, supremely unconcerned by the noise. Finally, the dark form exploded in tiny wisps of dark smoke who were absorbed by the white light. “Is it over ?”, Buffy asked. Giles shook his head. “They still have to perform whatever is necessary to break the link between their world and ours.” “You mean they are going to slaughter the three over here.” Giles looked thoughtful for a moment. “Basically, yes”, he finally admitted. “I suppose that’s it. Why do you children always have to go straightforward to the point anyway ?” “It’s called ‘speaking like a normal person’, Giles. I’m afraid you only took the basic ‘English Librarian talk’ lessons, but I can coach you for that.” Giles just smiled. Zechs turned to face the five Spirits behind him and bowed, hand on his heart. “Accomplish now your task, Spirits of the World.” The five Spirits, eyes still blazing white, bowed in return, and Quatre gestured to Sally to move closer. The Healer used her telekynesic abilities to levitate the three Spirits she had trapped. She made them land exactly on the Hellmouth, and the five others closed their circle around it again. Buffy was sure she would see that image again in her nightmares. Well, maybe not forever, but at least for a month. Dorothy was face to face with Quatre, Une with Heero and Treize with Wufei. Duo and Trowa just stood there and prevented them from going away. Heero extended his right hand, and a blue glimmer faintly showed behind the creepy white of his eyes. A bolt of lightning was sent straight to Une and wrapped around her body, paralyzing her and burning her body, until she basically faded into dark smoke. Quatre merely looked at Dorothy. Golden sparks came out of his extended hand and hit Dorothy in the face. The ex-Dream Spirit’s eyes widened and she let out a deafening cry before falling down. Her body exploded into dark smoke before she touched the ground. Finally, Wufei extended his own hand, and a big flame was sent straight at Treize. The Spirit was consumed in about a second, his own nature helping the combustion. “OK, who’s hungry ?”, Xander asked. The white glow in the room brutally disappeared. Zechs’ eyes went back to normal, as did those of the other Spirits … and suddenly they all fainted and fell on the floor. Buffy watched the sight in disbelief for a moment. “OK”, she finally said, “what are we supposed to do now ?” Sally came forward. “I’ll take care of them”, she said with a smile, “I just need you to tell me where I can take them safely.” “What’s happening to them ?” “They used a very complex spell, and drew energy from an unwilling source. It can be tiring even for them. Trowa will probably wake up soon, and he will help me with the rest of them. Just tell me where I can take them.” “Well, I suppose my mom’s room can be a Spirit dorm again, then”, Buffy sighed. “Thank you. By the way, you fought bravely. I was impressed.” Giles suddenly straightened up as if remembering something. “What about the vampires and demons outside ?”, he said. “Do we have to get through to come out ?” “No”, Sally said. “They were here because Morgoth and Dorothy had them under a controlling spell. As the Spirits who cast the spell are now dead, the spell is removed. They are already gone.” “Thank God, finally good news !”, Buffy exclaimed. “Now let’s get home ! I want to take my bubble bath.” **** Sally had teleported the Spirits back to Buffy’s house after having dismissed Nataku. She then locked herself in the room with her patients, and worked with all of her skills. As she had predicted, Trowa was the first to wake up. Once he was well enough to keep on her task, she left. Gradually, all of the spirits except Zechs came back to consciousness. They were still weak, and going back through the dimensional portal was out of question for the moment, but they were alive. Wufei was very worried, though. “Don’t worry”, Quatre told him. “Trowa is the best. Zechs just worked harder than any of us, it’s normal for him to need more time to recover.” “I know”, Wufei said. “I just …” “It’s OK”, Quatre interrupted with a smile. “I probably should not start a discussion on this subject with you right now. I am not the person you need to talk to.” Quatre got up and yawned, crawling back on an armchair. “When it’s over, though, think of getting me my boyfriend back”, he said before curling into a ball and falling asleep. Wufei couldn’t help smiling. On the other side of the bed, Trowa grinned too. His hand was on Zechs’ chest, and the body of the Light Spirit was bathed in green light. He looked pale, but his breathing was even. “Is he going to be okay ?”, Wufei asked anxiously; “He will wake up any time now”, Trowa reassured him. “He almost spent all of his energy. Sally did a good job.” Trowa took back his hand, and the green light disappeared. “He doesn’t need me anymore”, he said. “And I must confess I need rest.” “I will stay with him.” “You can talk to him. He can hear you. It will probably help him come around sooner.” With those last words, Trowa went to the armchair Quatre was asleep in. He tenderly lifted him, sat in the chair and settled Quatre comfortably on himself. Quatre didn’t even stir. Heero and Duo were curled up together on the carpet, also sleeping. Wufei looked at the pale face. He was surprised to feel that his heart was not aching for Treize’s death. In fact, that looked like a little incident in his life. He almost failed to understand why it had been so important once. Why revenge had been all his life for so long. Maybe that was because he had come face to face with the Real Power. The first time he had killed Treize, he was fulfilling a revenge : he was full of hatred and anger. This time, he had killed him to save the world, and the person he loved : totally different motives. Wufei brushed the white blond bangs away from his lover’s face and kissed him softly on the lips, drinking his breath. Then, he settled his head in the crook of Zechs’ neck, lying by his side. “Zechs, wake up”, he whispered. There was no movement. “I know you can hear me”, he kept on. “Trowa said you could. I want you to wake up. We did it, you know. We saved the world, this one, and ours. Thanks to you. And now, you’re scaring me because you don’t wake up. I don’t wanna lose you, you know. You said you would share my life if I did let you. Well, I want to let you. I want to be with you. So wake up, now.” Wufei tried to look up, but that was difficult because of his position. He somehow managed to bring his mouth near Zechs’ ear. “Wo ai ni.” Zechs’ eyes fluttered open. Wufei felt strong arms close around him, and suddenly he was sitting on Zechs’ lap and looking straight into the ice-blue eyes. Zechs held out his right hand and brushed Wufei’s silky black hair out of his face. This was useless, though, the smooth strands fell again all around the Chinese Spirit’s face. The Light Spirit smiled weakly. “Do you mean that ?”, he asked in a hoarse voice. “You’re not saying a lie so that I come around, are you ?” Wufei held back the smack he was burning to aim, because Zechs was obviously still in pain. “I’m not lying”, he said with a smile. “I cannot lie to you.” “Good. Because I am really not in the mood.” Wufei bent over and kissed Zechs tenderly. After a while, Zechs answered to the kiss. It felt so good to taste each other that way, after so much pain, so much tears. The kiss seemed to go on forever. When they finally broke it, Wufei lay down on Zechs chest, and began to play absentmindedly with a white blond strand of hair. “We did it”, Wufei said. “Yes, looks like the world is still there.” “That’s not what I am talking about”, Wufei said quietly. Zechs looked puzzled, but then he understood. “You did it by yourself, Wufei”, he said. “I told you you were stronger than he was.” “Maybe, but this time, it was different.” Wufei straightened up a bit to watch Zechs in the eyes. “This time, I had something more to fight for than my petty revenge. It was not just because my pride had been hurt. It was not just because he was a traitor. This time, I had someone to protect.” “Me ?”, Zechs asked jokingly. “Are you insinuating in any way that I am not able to protect myself, Chang Wufei ?” “Well, you passed out for two days, mister”, Wufei answered, poking him in the ribs. “Looks like you could use a nurse for a while.” “I am allergic to any nurse who is not Chinese and male.” “That can be attended to, sir”, Wufei said with a smile. He went for another kiss, but was stopped when he heard a chuckle not far from him. He looked up and realized that Duo was awake and watching them, still in Heero’s embrace. “Don’t stop for me, guys !” Duo chortled. “You are sooo cute !” Wufei frowned, but Zechs smiled. “How are you, Duo ?” “Five by five ! Just a bit disappointed because I didn’t get to gut Une before Heero fried her, but I’ll get over it eventually.” Zechs looked pointedly at Heero. “He’s okay too”, Duo said. “He had lost a lot of blood from that nasty wound, but Trowa and Sally patched him up alright. He just needs rest. Like you, so no smoochies, Wu !” “My name’s Wufei, Maxwell ! And now, I know for sure that the world is back to normal !” Duo sighed happily and lied back down. “I hope Cat will be able to bring us back soon, though. I feel like going home and taking a long vacation.” “How about the other Spirits involved ?”, Zechs asked. “The legions of the Dreams are okay. Some Maguanacs had to be eliminated before we could turn them back, though. Gave Cat quite a blow. Dorothy will burn in Hell forever for that.” They all turned to watch the blond spirit asleep on Trowa’s lap. “You’re right”, Zechs finally said. “We need to go home.” “Yes, but not now”, Wufei objected. “None
of us is fit enough for dimensional travel. We need some more rest.
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