|
"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 5 - When Darkness starts to creep … The next meeting at the Magic Box was far from relaxed. Buffy and Angel had arrived together. Quatre had immediately felt the tension in the room. He couldn’t help smiling. Emotions at their highest fed his empathy and gave him power. And right now, those humans were feeling a lot of complex emotions, from fear to anger, just because of that vampire. Zechs was looking at Angel with undisguised interest. “I am disappointed, Quatre”, he said with a smile. “Not at all up to your usual standards. You meet the only vampire with a soul that walks in this dimension and you fail to recognize him ?” Quatre laughed softly. “I usually block my empathy and telepathy when I deal with vampires. Most of the time, the only things they can think of is blood and maiming. It gets boring after a while.” The blond spirit got up and walked to Angel. The difference of size between them was almost comical. Quatre held out his hand. “I am sorry, though. Maybe you should try to find some other ways to come to town, and I won’t mistake you for the bad guy next time.” Angel shook his hand. “I promise I’ll try not to piss you off next time.” “Piss him off ?”, Duo laughed. “Ya didn’t piss him off, man ! He was just having fun. You’ve never seen a pissed-off Quatre and believe me, you definitely don’t wanna be the one to piss him off.” “You guys have a strange conception of fun”, Buffy said ironically. There was one good thing, though, she thought, they had accepted to change clothes. Heero, Duo and Quatre were still sticking to the tight black leather pants and the high combat boots, but Heero was now wearing a white T-shirt and a long black coat with a high collar, Duo had put on a black sweater with a priest collar, a leather jacket and sunglasses, and Quatre had opted for a white shirt made of some silky material that glistened gold in the light. Wufei had changed his clothes completely, showing up in a white Chinese outfit, and Trowa had put on tight jeans and a dark green turtleneck. Zechs’ outfit was still a bit outstanding. It was some kind of old military uniform, completely white. “We have some bad news”, Heero suddenly said. Duo jumped to the floor from the counter he had been sitting on. His face lost his brilliant smile. “I didn’t warn ya before because I wasn’t sure, and she could have heard me”, he said to Zechs. “I know it sounds crazy, but …. Une is still alive.” Buffy could immediately tell that this was bad when she saw the look on the spirits’ faces, but she was unable to say why. Who the hell was Une ? And what kind of a name is that anyway, she thought. Why didn’t those spirits have real names ? “How can it be ?”, Zechs asked, his voice suddenly very cold. “I have no idea, man, so don’t start ranting on me, okay ?”, Duo answered on the same tone. “For all I knew, Heero had killed her and she was dead. God, we all saw her fading !!!” “You know what it means, right ?”, Quatre suddenly asked. Uneasy silence fell as the spirits all gazed towards Wufei. The Fire spirit clenched and unclenched his fists, his eyes flashing red. “It means Treize might still be alive too”, Quatre kept on. “It can’t be !”, Wufei yelled angrily. “I killed him, for God’s sake ! You know it, Quatre, you were there ! You saw it !” “I saw exactly what they wanted me to see”, Quatre said, suddenly getting up and beginning to pace up and down. “You’re right, Duo. They played us. And I think I know who helped them.” Quatre slammed his fist on a counter. “I can’t believe I didn’t see this coming !” Trowa got up and put an appeasing hand on Quatre’s shoulder. The blond boy calmed down a bit. Zechs was looking straight at him. “How could this happen, Quatre ? What did they do ?” “A transfer spell”, Quatre said. “They shifted their allegiance. And they asked someone from my people to conceal it for them, which means this spirit must have shifted too.” “Dorothy ?”, Trowa asked. Quatre nodded. Duo let out an exasperated sigh. “Come on, now, ya’re telling me that you people of the Dream can make ‘me’ believe that some people are dead when they are not ?? How stupid is that ? I can feel every dead person’s essence in my blood ! And I can still feel those three ! They are dead ! They shouldn’t be walking free !” “It’s because of the transfer procedure, Duo”, Quatre said. “And Dorothy is gifted.” Quatre stopped suddenly. “Should I say ‘was’ ?”, he asked. “I am a bit lost.” “Guys ?” The spirits turned to Buffy. “Sorry to interrupt your nice little talk, but would you please care to share ? Who are Une and Treize ? Are they dead or alive ? What can they do ? And what the hell is a transfer spell ?” “Yes, I think that is pretty much what I would like to know”, Giles admitted. “Although I don’t think I would have phrased it that way.” Zechs smiled apologetically. “Sorry. I tend to forget that there is a lot you don’t know, but honestly, we really didn’t expect this.” “Will you stop your polite act for once, Zechs ?”, Duo said angrily. “We’re in deep shit, that’s what he’s trying to say. I mean, we were already, but now that we know for sure those three are here, we’re in even deeper shit. God, we’re swimming in shit !” “Duo”, Heero said warningly. “Ya know I’m right, Heero !” “Just let Zechs and Quatre explain, Duo”, Heero said. “So, who are these people ?”, Angel asked. “Demons ?” “No”, Zechs said. “They are spirits like us, and as Duo tried to tell you in his own colorful way, they are supposed to be dead. I myself believed it, but apparently, Quatre knows the answer to this mystery.” Everyone turned to Quatre, the humans wanting to understand what the hell was going on and why it made the spirits nervous, and the spirits eagerly wanting to know what had gone wrong. Quatre cleared his throat. “You remember what Zechs told you about spirits being divided into peoples, right ?” Giles nodded. He was taking notes, scribbling furiously on a pad. “Well we don’t really have leaders, we are ruled over by one of the Powers. The Powers have a universal competence, but each of them has some kind of link with one people or the other. But they do not command us. They guide us, and help us to develop our powers, that’s all.” “What does it have to do with those three you talked about ? What does ‘shifting’ mean ?”, Buffy asked “I know it’s complicated, but I’ll try to make it simple. Let’s take Dorothy’s example. She’s from my people, the people of the Dream. She was born a spirit of the Dream, and she should remain one as long as she lives.” “We follow you this far”, Willow said. “There is a spell that we only spirits can do. It allows you to change the people you belong to. To shift from one people to the other. That is the transfer spell.” “It is a forbidden spell”, Zechs cut in. “Spirits are not supposed to shift their allegiance. We were made what we are for a reason. We are not allowed to change it.” “But I thought you told us that some spirits could choose to follow Morgoth.”, Tara said. “That’s right, but that doesn’t make them spirits of the Darkness. They are still attuned to their own people and using their own powers. The transfer spell makes them change completely.” “But how did they do to hide this from me ?”, Duo asked. “I am Death. I should be able to tell if a person or a spirit is truly alive or dead.” Quatre turned to Duo. “It’s the side effect of the transfer spell. You felt them die because they actually died.” “Uh ?” “Let me explain better. The Dorothy I knew, as a fellow spirit of the Dream, died. A new Dorothy has then been born into the people of the Darkness. The same thing happened for Une and Treize.” “And why did none of us feel this ?” “The spirits of the Dream are the only ones to be able to perform that spell. Their powers give them the ability to conceal the newborn spirits. It even tricked me, Duo, you’re not to blame. If I didn’t see what happened, there was no way for you to understand it.” Giles put down his notepad. “That explains a thing”, he said rubbing his forehead. “But could you now tell us who those spirits are ?” “They are bloody traitors”, Wufei growled. “Ya’re damn right, Wuffie”, Duo said. “To sum it up, it’s because of them that Morgoth is on the loose now.” “That is unfortunately true”, Zechs admitted. “Treize was a Fire Spirit like Wufei. Une was a different kind of Warrior Spirit. And Dorothy was a Spirit of the Dream. They have gone to the other side thousands of years ago. We thought we had killed them when we defeated Morgoth last time. It appears they were actually waiting for us to do so, as it would allow them to be reborn in the people of Darkness, and thus to free their master again.” “So what do we do, now ??”, Buffy asked. “You detected only one of them, right ??”, she asked Duo. “Yup”, the spirit answered, “But if Une is here, it means that Treize is not far. I didn’t see any sign of Dorothy.” Zechs got up. “We will take care of the fight against these spirits. This is our fight. But, of course, we will still help you to fight whatever demons are threatening the town.” “Fine.” Buffy turned to Giles. “I’ll go see Willy, maybe he will have some info for me.” “Has anyone seen Spike ?”, Tara suddenly asked. “No”, Xander said. “Finally one good thing. The world is ending, but we were allowed a day without Spike before, thanks to God.” “We cannot risk him to work against us”, Giles said worried. “But the problem is he will not fight on our side unless he sees an interest in it for him, or if we force him to do it.” “I can do that”, Angel said. “No !”, Buffy exclaimed. “No. You leave Spike where he is. You’ve done enough damage to yourself. If you wanna fight, I need you in full capacity.” Quatre came forward, a smile showing up on his face. “Leave it to me.” **** “Are you alright, Wufei ?”, Zechs asked. They had come back to the hotel suite they were sharing, and the Fire Spirit was now sitting against a wall, hugging his knees. His eyes were flashing red angrily and he was slightly shaking. “Do I look alright ?”, he snapped. Zechs didn’t seem rebuffed by the harsh answer. He just took off his long white military vest, and folded it carefully on a chair. Of course, this was hard for Wufei. ‘What kind of a stupid question was that, Zechs’, the Light Spirit thought. ‘You should know better.’ “I thought it was over for good”, Wufei whispered. Zechs came to sit by his side on the floor. “I know.” “It’s the only reason why I’ve been able to carry on. Because I knew he was dead. Because I knew I had killed him and I would never see him again. Because I could forget his treason and how much he had hurt me.” Zechs didn’t say anything, but inside, he was fuming. He held out a long hand and undid the tie that was holding Wufei’s hair back. Long smooth black strands fell all over the Chinese spirit’s face, making him look like a fifteen-year-old for real. Zechs remembered only too well the last time when he had seen Wufei so devastated. It had been right after he had learnt that Treize had moved on to the other side. But the crowning insult had been when Treize had asked Wufei, in the name of their love, to come with him. This had been too much for the proud Chinese Spirit, and his love had turned into an indefectible hatred for his ex-lover. That hatred had almost consumed him. But he had finally controlled it, and he had joined Zechs’ team because he knew it would probably make him come face to face with Treize and allow him to kill him. When it had finally happened, Wufei had felt so free. And now, he had been told that he had not really killed Treize, that he had only helped him to move further on on the way to Darkness. “Wufei …” Before Zechs could add anything, Wufei burst into tears. Violent sobs made his body shake. Zechs took him in his arms and held him close. Very soon, his white shirt was soaked with tears, but he didn’t care. “I don’t know if I can do this again, Zechs”, Wufei said between sobs. “I don’t know if I’ll have the strength to face him again, and to kill him again.” Zechs shivered. He had feared this. “Wufei, listen to me. You will do it, and you will find the strength. You are strong, Wufei, far stronger than even you know. And you will always be stronger than him. You resisted when he gave in. You said no.” “I don’t know ….” “Wufei !” Wufei looked up, his jet-black eyes moist with tears. Zechs’ ice-blue eyes flashed briefly white, expressing his anger and fear. “I trust you, Wufei. You will fight, because that’s why you were born into the world. Don’t give up now. If you do, then he will have won forever.” Zechs lowered his gaze. His voice was trembling when he started talking again. “Don’t do that to me, Wufei. Don’t leave me like this. I need you. I need your strength.” “Zechs, I …” Wufei’s sentence was cut short as Zechs kissed him very softly. The black eyes widened a bit in shock, but soon, the Fire Spirit gave in, pulling Zechs closer in a desperate embrace. When they broke the kiss, Zechs wiped the tears of Wufei’s face with gentle fingers. “You are not alone, Wufei. Not anymore.” Combativeness came back on the Chinese boy’s face. He squeezed Zechs’ hand affectionately. He got up and shook his head. Zechs got up too, and put an arm around the younger spirit’s shoulders. “You should try to listen to Quatre, Wufei. Emotions are not a weakness.” “I am not a Spirit of the Dream. Fire doesn’t have emotions … usually.” “As something alive and intelligent, you should realize that what you are saying is absolute nonsense. Fire does have emotions. It’s just people who don’t how to read them.” “But you can ?”, Wufei asked mockingly. “At least, I can try. If you will let me, of course.” Wufei looked thoughtful for a while. “Give me some time”, he finally said. “I need to refocus on what I must do. I am lacking energy, I think my little crisis burnt it out. I’ll go see Trowa.” “Be careful. Une is not match for you and she knows it, but I think it would be best if they didn’t know we are already here.” Wufei nodded and disappeared into a red flame. **** Quatre got into Spike’s crypt. He had had no trouble to find it, but to his surprise, it was empty. It was a bit odd considering that it was daytime, but Quatre could afford to lose some time. He began to have a look around. He was actually looking at the blood stored in a dusty fridge in a corner when the door opened, and a big lump looking like a smoking blanket came in hurriedly. Quatre closed the fridge just as Spike got out from under the cover. The vampire gave a start when he realized someone was in his place. “Bloody hell, what are you doing here ? Don’t you spirits ever knock, or phone before you drop by ?” “I had to talk to you about something important. I didn’t think vamps got out during the day. You must be quite a funny show with your blanket.” “Yeah, well, some people have to eat, see ?”, Spike hissed. He took out a bottle of fresh blood from under his coat and took a long gulp. “Want a drink ?”, he sneered, handing out the bottle to Quatre. The bottle was snatched from his hand by something invisible. Quatre caught it and examined it carefully. “Pig blood”, he said. “Can’t you find someone to sell you human blood in this town ?” “This town is the place where the Slayer lives. Most demons don’t like that.” “Sure, I forgot.” Quatre suddenly let the bottle go and it crashed on the floor. The blood in it spilled on the floor in a puddle. “Hey !”, Spike yelled. “I had to pay 200 dollars for that !” “Too bad. Now to serious business.” “What do you want ?” “Giles reckons you won’t help us fight if you don’t see your interest in it. He even thinks you could give a hand to our enemies if given a chance.” “Well, for once he could be right ! Ya know what, I don’t give a damn what you spirits do of this world. I tried to save it once, you know ? I prevented sweet little Angel from destroying the world ! But right now, I don’t think I’m gonna do anything ! I’ll wait until your buddy shows up and starts his Apocalypse, and if it suits me, I’ll help him. Now go back and screw your drug-boy or whatever he is and leave me alone !” Anger flashed briefly in Quatre’s eyes. It was followed by a low laughter. A cruel smile appeared on the blond spirit’s lips. “You are someone stubborn, Spike. I didn’t
really expect you to come back to reason that easily, but in a way
… I knew you would react that way.” The atmosphere was strange. Spike was starting to think that maybe he shouldn’t have talked that way, but he had made his choice. He didn’t want to help them save the world again, they could all get fucked ! And anyway, this time, the little blond was alone. He was probably less dangerous alone than with his buddies. “You see”, Quatre said, coming closer, “I have been working day and night to open that portal for Zechs to arrive. Then, I had to try and locate Buffy so that we could ask for her help. And now, you come in the middle of all this and tell me that your own little selfish undead person is going to ruin the plans we made, just because you can't be the animal you're supposed to be.” “So what ?” “My current mission is to try and convince you to join our side. Willingly or not.” Spike laughed. “Yeah, they all think because I got the bloody chip in my head, I should be grateful they didn’t kill me and help them. I am bad, okay ?? Why don’t you try to understand that ? And if someone wants my help to hurt the Slayer and her friends, they’re welcome here anytime !” “You have a big flaw, Spike.” “Oh yeah, and what is it ?” “You always underestimate your enemies. See, you went here to kill Buffy, the one who slayed two Slayers. Look at you now. Two years later, you’re here, unable to harm her, and she’s still alive. And then, there’s Adam. You tried to play everyone and now you’re stuck with this chip that prevents you from feeding normally. How lame is that ? And now, there’s me.” Quatre took a step closer. “I do look kind, don’t I ? Innocent, gentle, so inoffensive.” Quatre’s eyes suddenly turned gold. Spike took a step back. “I won't let you ruin all this, Spike. I will make you help us”, Quatre said. “Whether you wish it or not.” Quatre held out his hands in front of his body. His image blurred a little into a golden mist. Spike had trouble understanding what was going on. The shape in the mist was growing, changing form. When it finally dissipated, Spike gasped and went back until he bumped into the wall. A tall woman with clear eyes, long dark hair and a red dress was looking at him with a cruel smile. Her eyes flashed briefly golden as she beheld the fear on Spike’s face. The vampire tried to regain control of himself. “Dru … Drusilla ?”
~*~ |
