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Part 3
“So what are we going to do? We don’t know when he’s going to attack, or where—though the graveyard or the Bronze are the usual spots—and we don’t know how strong he is,” Buffy said to the assembled group the next day.
“That is-is a problem,” Giles agreed. “According to the prophecy he is . . . he is quite strong, to say the least. If only there were some way to get around it. If we could defy any aspect of the prophecy, the rest could very well not happen.”
“Well, Angel sort of nixed our chances for THAT, so—” Xander began, but stopped at a deadly look from his wife. Angel’s expression didn’t change from the emotionless mask he had worn all morning. In fact, since the night before, when Brian and Buffy had gone home together. Angel was staying with Giles. Which Buffy regretted—though, if she had her choice, they’d BOTH be someplace else at night, at least for a little while—but Brian did live with her, and she couldn’t just kick him out. Besides, she’d gotten used to having someone in her bed, warm arms to hold her. Someone who could comfort her when she had nightmares. Which was becoming a more frequent occurence.
“Basically the prophecy says that he will kill Buffy and Angel, and then lead the vampires to take over the world, right?” Cordelia said. Giles and Brian nodded and she continued. “So we have to keep him from killing Buffy and Angel. But isn’t that sort of the point anyway? I mean, we should be spending time figuring out how to DO that, not that we need to do it!”
“Cordelia has a point, we’ve been wasting time. Important time,” Buffy agreed.
“We don’t know what else to do,” Willow said, speaking up for the first time.
“How did you beat the first such prophecy?” Brian asked. He’d heard parts of the story, but never the whole thing. Buffy didn’t really like discussing the past much, especially not the past with Angel.
“We didn’t exactly BEAT it,” Willow said reluctantly.
“It was more like a . . . shortcut. Sort of,” Xander put in.
“Buffy died,” Angel said quietly, breaking his brooding silence. “Xander and I revived her. Xander gave her CPR and she started breathing again. But the Master was impatient, and Buffy was lucky. Most vampires wouldn’t make that mistake.”
“So letting Buffy die and then reviving her is totally out?” Xander asked. Cordelia and Buffy turned on him, both opening their mouths, but he put up his hands in a warding gesture, and then Brian started talking.
“You beat him though, after you were revived?” he asked.
“Yup,” Buffy said. “It was hard, but I did it. And just in time—he’d already opened the Hellmouth in the middle of the library! The first time . . . it wasn’t really a fight. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t fight him or do anything. I was totally powerless, and he just . . .” Buffy trailed off, giving a little shudder, and Angel reached for her, to comfort her, but Brian was there first. He put his arms around her, whispering reassurances to her. She put her head against his chest, but her eyes were open and looking at Angel, who was watching her with pain in his eyes.
“I dreamed it before it happened, you know. And I dreamed . . .” Buffy trailed off, remembering when she had come to Angel’s apartment one morning, sick with worry for him. And her mother . . . dropping the plate and asking if she was ready. She’d been having dreams again. And it was those that really scared her.
“Those didn’t mean anything, Buffy. Remember? They didn’t come true,” Angel told her softly. She could feel his need, see it in his eyes. The need to take her in his arms and tell her everything would be all right. But Brian was doing that now. She shook her head.
“It was worse though . . . so much worse,” Buffy whispered.
“It’s over now,” he said softly. “It’s long over. All that is done. What’s important is now. Is Eythan.” Buffy nodded and slowly pulled away from Brian and took a deep breath. He let go of her reluctantly, his face showing his concern plainly.
“I’ve been having dreams again. That’s why I thought of them. I didn’t want to believe these dreams might be the same sort, but I’m afraid they are,” Buffy said, trying to keep her voice level.
“What happens in your dreams Buffy?” Giles asked urgently, though there was a note of worry in his voice. Buffy looked down at the floor and bit her lip hard, tears springing to her eyes despite herself. She avoided looking at either of the men she loved as she spoke.
“In my dream Brian fought Eythan. And killed him. And died,” Buffy whispered, then turned quickly to Brian. “It doesn’t have to happen though! It could just be a dream, and the ones I had about Angel didn’t come true, after all. Dru didn’t kill him after all . . . I did. But that doesn’t mean anything either. Promise me you won’t get yourself killed Brian?” Buffy pleaded, grabbing at his arms. His blue eyes were dark, his expression equally heavy, holding none of the lightness and fun that was usually Brian.
“I can’t promise Buffy. I can’t,” he said. She nodded quickly, her eyes filling with tears.
“You have to! You can’t go fight him by yourself! You can’t!” Buffy exclaimed. He took her into his arms and bent his head to kiss away the tears that had spilled onto her cheeks.
“Shh. I won’t do anything stupid. I’ll promise that. After all—I’m doing this for fun, remember? I wouldn’t go get myself killed if I didn’t think it would be fun,” Brian said, trying to make his voice light. Buffy choked on a laugh, though it sounded more like a sob.
“Bri, you shouldn’t joke. This is serious,” she gasped, though she knew his teasing was helping more than any reassuring words. She wiped at tears then pulled away and took a deep breath.
“Um, Buffy, this may not be the time to tell you this, but—and I mean this in the best possible way—you look like hell,” Cordelia told her. “I mean, I know you can’t always keep your emotions in check, but couldn’t you save your tears for a time when you’re NOT wearing mascara?” Even Xander was staring at Cordelia in disbelief. And then Buffy slowly—with hiccuping—began to laugh. Suddenly Brian smiled and started to laughed. Willow laughed, shaking her head. Giles smiled faintly. Xander leaned over and kissed his wife full on the lips (much to her protests—”Not NOW Xander!”). Even Angel smiled, remembering other times when Cordelia had meant it. Realizing that now he was there for all the meetings. Now he was human. He could come in during school hours—be there for Willow’s lunch hour. He was no longer a silent stranger outlawed to the night. He was human. But now he no longer had Buffy.
Cordelia grinned at her triumph—she had singlehandedly turned the mood of the room from despairing to amused—and then suddenly gasped, clutching at her large stomach.
“What is it?” Xander asked, alert at once. Cordelia turned to Xander with a very strange look on her face.
“Your daughter is extremely strong,” she informed him. “And also extremely cramped. And she just kicked me in something rather vital to my existence. My kidneys maybe. Or my liver. Someday, they are going to invent something that allows a man to carry a child. And then you’ll see what it feels like! Until then, I’m just biding my time, and—oh!—getting kicked!” Xander looked extremely strange and happy at this evidence of his child, and the room was completely content and happy for one moment, watching the soon-to-be parents.
And then, of course, everyone remembered Eythan.
“I’m worried about Brian,” Buffy confided to Willow later that day. “Did you see him this morning when I told him about my dream? You don’t think he’d go fight Eythan by himself, do you?” Willow shook her head, then stopped and hesitated.
“I don’t think he would. But he might if he thought it would save you. He really loves you Buffy. He doesn’t want you to get hurt. And he really wants to help—to save the world, even though he always says he does this for fun. He does it because he knows it’s doing good. If he thought he could win he might try and fight Eythan,” Willow said truthfully.
“That’s what I was afraid of. Besides, no matter how many times he’s seen me fight, he thinks I’m . . . fragile. I mean, he doesn’t try and stop me from being the Slayer, but when I’m not fighting vampires he treats me like I could break or something! Even though I’m better than he is,” Buffy said, studying her nails to make sure her polish wasn’t chipped.
“I think it’s sort of a man thing,” Willow said. “Not that I would know . . . but it seems to me that most men have a thing about protecting the women they love. I mean . . . look at Xander. And I’m not just talking about Cordelia. In high school he was always really protective of you, even though you could have him on the ground in under a second if you tried.” Buffy pursed her lips, then smiled and nodded.
“You’re right. Angel never really did that though. Maybe he got used to Drusilla being independent,” Buffy mused.
“Or maybe he faced too many Slayers!” Willow suggested. Buffy smiled and stood up, walking over to her friend and bending to put her arms around her.
“What would I do without you Will?” Buffy asked plaintively.
“Try and cure Cordelia of that ‘much’ thing?” Willow teased. Buffy hugged her friend impulsively, then sat back down.
“Where did Brian go anyway? I mean, Angel went with Xander and Cordelia in case anything tried to bother their lunch, and Giles is fixing my crossbow so it won’t backfire on me next time I try to use it—but where’s Brian?” Buffy asked, a bad thought occuring to her suddenly. “He was looking in the Codex and then he wasn’t here.”
“Do you think he found something bad in it?” Willow asked. Buffy went white and jumped to her feet, going over to the shelf where Giles kept the precious book of prophecy.
“The only reason he would have gone without a word is if he did and he went to find Eythan!” she exclaimed, pulling the book from he shelf and flipping to a page marked with a little scrap of yellow paper.
“Let me see,” Willow said, reaching for the book. Buffy handed it to her, nearly frantic. Where would he go though? He wouldn’t be stupid enough to go TO Eythan anywhere. Willow scanned the page quickly as Buffy fidgeted.
“Here it is! It says something about the master of the day coming to the room of the night on the day when the moon waxes full. The room of the night! This is the full moon, but where would that be?” Willow asked, looking up from the big, musty book.
“The Bronze!” Buffy exclaimed. “That’s our best chance anyway. Do you have any stakes?” Willow nodded and opened the large bag attached to the arm of her wheelchair. She pulled out two stakes and handed them to Buffy.
“Thank you. If you see anyone, tell them where I am,” Buffy said, then turned and half-ran out of the library door. She emerged into the hall and ran straight into Angel, standing beside Cordelia and Xander.
“I think Brian went to face Eythan himself! At the Bronze. We have to go right now!” she exclaimed. Angel nodded and glanced at Cordelia, who looked very strange all of a sudden, and Xander, who was nodding. Buffy and Angel turned and raced down the hall. Buffy refused to think about what it could mean . . . running with one of the men she loved to save the other one. And she would not let herself imagine what Angel might be thinking.
As it happened, she didn’t need to worry, because Angel was hoping they could save the man Buffy loved, so that she wouldn’t be in pain.