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Part 5
He was wandering through a grassy field near a busy road. The wind was cool and fresh against his face and the sun shone warmly over head. Gabriel squinted into the distance, searching for something. He was here for a reason, he knew. There was something here he was supposed to learn.
A familiar feminine voice called to him, seemingly from all directions at once. He turned and Buffy was standing less than a foot away from him wearing a light summer dress and smiling brightly.
"Hi." He said, stunned a little by her appearance. She was older than he remembered, but still far younger than her present day friends. She looked to be in her late twenties.
"I've missed you." She smiled, taking him by the hand and leading him toward the road, "You've been gone for so long."
He followed her unresistingly, his feet brushing through the tall grass.
"Where are we going?" he asked, as they approached edge of the road.
The field was gone now and in its place was a huge city, alive with lights and people. It was night-time and the sky was clear and full of twinkling stars. All around them, people milled about, happily calling out to one another and going about their business.
"Careful now." She advised with a giggle, leading him through the gridlocked traffic.
She took him to a building that was small in comparison to the other ones around it. Boxy in shape, with a single tall spire in the middle and stained glass windows lining the upper reaches of the walls, Gabriel recognized it immediately as a church.
"Do you know where this is?" she asked, pushing the door open and walking inside.
"It's a church." He answered flatly, not understanding any of what was going on here.
"It's the Saint Peter's church." She laid her hands on his shoulders and leaned her face in close to his, "It's special."
Gabriel shuddered slightly and stepped out of her embrace. Her touch was only semi-solid and cold, like the feather light caress of a ghost.
"Saint Peter." He echoed. Peter was his father's name. Another half-buried memory that nagged at his brain.
"You don't remember me." She realized sadly, "At least not the way I remember you."
"Why did you bring me here?" he asked, feeling strangely cold in the expansive church.
"Peter is here, Gabriel." Buffy drew her arm wide and an ancient man, whose eyes looked worn and heavy was standing near the altar.
"F-Father?" Gabriel's eyes went wide. The man looked like hell. Physically, he appeared to be impossibly old, withered and frail, but the most disturbing part was his eyes. The closer Gabriel looked, the more sick and haunted they became.
"Find my son, my Seventh Son." The ancient man pleaded through cracked lips, "Find him and he will help you."
"But I am your seventh son." Gabriel pointed out. There was something distant about both Buffy and Peter that unnerved him. Like they were there and yet not.
"So is he." Peter nodded plainly, backing away.
"Wait." The auburn-haired young man reached out to the apparition, but a slender hand touched his shoulder. He turned quickly and found Buffy's ghostly form watching him, her hands by her sides. He could see through her now, as if she was slowly fading away. Looking back quickly, he saw that Peter was gone.
"It's almost time to go." Buffy reminded him, "We don't have much time left."
"What do you mean?" Gabriel asked, feeling confused and a little disoriented by his surroundings. Everything seemed to be telling him that he did not belong here.
"You'll wake up soon." She whispered sadly, stepping close to him and wrapping her slim arms around his waist. He could barely feel her now. "And then I won't be able to see you or talk to you anymore. You have to find him, Gabriel. He holds the key."
"Who?" he shifted enough that he could look down at her, "Who do I have to find?"
"Peter's seventh son." She answered, "It's the only way."
"But I AM his seventh son." He sighed sharply, frustrated, "I don't understand."
She reached up and pressed her palms to his cheeks and smiled, a glitter of tears in her eyes.
"You will." She assured him, "Protect my daughter. Our daughter."
Gabriel was overcome by a wave of remorse and sadness over what had become of her and the pain he had caused her.
"I'm sorry." He whispered, reaching out to cup her chin in his hand, a single tear crawling slowly down his cheek, "About everything."
"I know. And I forgive you." She leaned into him, her eyes closed and her face upturned, "That's why you have to go now. Give my love to Oz and Willow. And Angel."
As his lips brushed close to hers, the room filled with light and he felt her dissolve in his arms. He jerked and sat up in bed, still feeling her closeness, his heart pounding in his chest. Pressing his hands to his face, he blew out a long sigh and crawled out of bed.
Another dream. Was Buffy trying to tell him something? Or was it just his overactive imagination getting the best of him? And if she was trying to tell him something, what was it? Find the Seventh Son. Peter's Seventh Son.
His head ached dully and he took a moment to massage his temples. He had yet to get an uninterrupted night's rest since he had arrived in this time period and it was starting to take its toll on him. He needed to clear his head, as much as he could considering the empty haze that still concealed some of his memory. Maybe if he took a walk, he would start to relax and he could get a fresh perspective on the dream. If Buffy was truly trying to tell him something, he had to be able to figure it out before it was too late.
A sharp knock sounded at his door and he rose groggily to answer it. The door opened on its own and Alex rushed in.
"Get your uniform on." She commanded, snatching up his jacket and throwing it at him, "Emergency meeting in the council room. Now."
Gabriel caught the garment under his arm as she walked past him into the room. Getting his uniform together was not much of a task. Aside from the clothes he had arrived in, it was all he had and he was already wearing it. The mysterious chute in the wall returned him a set of clean clothes everyday and he had alternated between the two outfits out of necessity, assuming that his stay was going to be a short one. By the looks of things, he was going to have to make arrangements to obtain something else to wear.
"What?" he blinked confusedly.
It was strange to see Alex after what he had found in Buffy's old files. Up until this point, he had believed Xander was her father, but now things were different. Protect my daughter, Buffy's words wafted through his mind again. Our daughter. His daughter.
"How did you get in here?" he frowned, slipping the jacket over his shoulders and, reaching for his belt and the two pistols holstered to it. Clipped it around his waist, he buttoned the front of his jacket. He doubted weapons would be needed in the council, but having them with him made him feel more comfortable.
"You're part of my squad." She shrugged, holding up her keycard, "I have access to all Red Squadron rooms. You ready or what?"
"Yeah, I guess so." He allowed her to usher him into the hall and toward the council room, "But why do you need me? I got the impression that council meetings are for squad leaders only."
"They are." She answered, tucking her jet black hair behind her ears in a swift and easy motion as she walked, "They asked us to bring a subordinate along this time. I'm not sure why."
"So why me?" he turned sideways and half-jogged, trying to keep up with her driven pace while still facing her, "I'm hardly someone you'd want to consult on battle strategy."
Alex gave a small chuckle, "You think Dar's gonna be able to sit still through an entire council meeting? Besides, you're better than you give yourself credit for." She gave him a friendly prod with her fist, her green eyes twinkling, "That stunt you pulled with Fides was pure genius. Too bad it probably didn't do any lasting damage."
He nodded in agreement as she pulled up just short of the council room doors. The memory of the armored demon's resonant voice still reverberated chillingly through his bones.
"I guess what I'm saying is that I trust you." She continued, laying her hand gently on his shoulder, "And people you can trust in this day and age are hard to come by."
"I'm glad you feel that way." He smiled unintentionally, feeling a genuine connection with her, a daughter who was older than he was, "Let's go inside and see what this is all about."
He pressed the button for the door and they walked inside together. Cole was just taking his seat at the end of the central table while one of his teammates remained standing next to him, to his right. There were only enough seats for the squad leaders, so, apparently, the subordinates would be required to stand for the duration of the meeting. He hoped it wouldn't be a long one. Alex took the seat across from Cole while Gabriel remained standing next to her.
"So what is this all about?" Alex pressed Cole for an answer.
"Beats me." The Gold Squadron leader shrugged, "Your guess is probably as good as mine."
Oz and Angel were also present, as were half of the other squad leaders and their subordinates. Although he was doing his best to seem calm and unconcerned, she could sense a deep worry in her uncle's eyes when she looked down the table at him.
She sat back in her chair and folded her arms tightly across her chest. At least none of the other squad leaders seemed to know any more than she did. Small comfort. Looking again to the far end of the table, she caught the Head Director watching her. Angel's dark eyes darted away instantly.
They said he was the last living vampire on the planet, the others of his kind having fallen quickly in the first days of the war. She found him creepy, always lurking, always watching her, it seemed. But he was a great commander. Everyone knew without a doubt that, without him, the resistance would have collapsed long ago. She could respect that, at least.
The last of the squad leaders and their subordinates took their place at the table and Angel flicked off the lights, leaving only the cloudy beam of a projector to cast illumination on the wall. He slipped a clear stencil over the source of the light and a topographical map appeared on the wall. Alex recognized it immediately as an area referred to as the 'forbidden zone', in the direct center of which stood the legendary Tower.
"Based on information retrieved on the last raid, we have learned some very disturbing news." Angel informed the assembly in his usual grim manner, "The demons are raising new Hellspires. Five of them."
A chorus of shocked gasps and mutterings ran through the gathering.
"How is that possible?" the leader of Green Squadron broke through the chaotic murmuring, scratching the stubble on his chin and frowning, "The manpower costs alone would be incredible."
"You're right." Angel nodded, "But they know we don't have the soldiers to launch five separate attacks of this scale. And it gets worse. Take a look at the locations."
The vampire produced a small, red marker. Taking the marker, he made five small X's in the rough shape of a circle on the map. Drawing a series of lines between them, he made the shape of a five pointed star, a pentagram.
"What do you think is right in the middle of all this?" Angel asked, tapping the tip of the marker into the center of the pentagram, his voice heavy with foreboding.
"The Hellmouth." Alex breathed, stunned, "They're going to widen it, aren't they?"
Angel regarded her with deadly seriousness, "More like blow it wide open."
The dark-haired girl folded her arms across her chest and leaned back in her chair, her face knotted in thought.
"So what are we going to do about it?" she asked determinedly.
Oz slipped the current stencil from the projector and replaced it with a new one, some sort of weapon schematic.
"We aren't without a plan." The old werewolf said, his eyes dark with worry, "But it's very dangerous and it will involve every soldier we've got."
Alex grinned in a show of manufactured bravado, "I don't know about the rest of you, but I wasn't expecting to die of old age."
The other squad leaders nodded and thumped their hands on the table in assent. Gabriel looked down at Alex and smirked to himself. He could imagine Buffy saying those very same words.
"The demon forces have to be spread thin," Oz reasoned, "so we're going to take a big risk and go for the heart. One team will attack each of the five Hellspire sites and keep the demons there busy. Four more squads will take on the Tower."
Gabriel did a mental count in his head and came up one squad short.
"What about the last squad?" Cole voiced Gabriel's question for him.
"Theirs is the real mission. They will infiltrate the Tower through the old Burrower tunnels underneath it." Oz nodded slowly, tapping a thick finger on the weapon schematic, "Academy Master Marcus is putting the final touches on an explosive that we think may be powerful enough to disrupt the structure of the Hellmouth and close it off. The only problem is that it has to be set off at ground zero."
"No sweat," Alex dusted her hands against one another and smiled, "My team will be in and out of there in no time. The demons won't even know what hit them."
"Forget about it, Summers." Cole chuckled, "This assignment has Gold Squadron written all over it."
"Cole's right, Alex." Oz pointed out, "Your team will be better off on the surface assault."
Alex jumped to her feet, indignant, "You can't be serious! You want the best team you've got to run distraction while the real work is going on inside? One team won't make a difference outside, but it could change everything within."
Angel was shaking his head, disagreeing with her before he even heard what she was saying.
"I agree with Alex." Gabriel opened his mouth for the first time since the meeting had begun, "We have no idea what's inside the Tower. You might be sending Cole and his team in there to die."
Angel fixed the auburn-haired young man with a withering glare. That's exactly what we're doing, he thought. The chances of the infiltrating team escaping alive were next to none, but they had no other option. Someone had to do it. Angel had felt another small part of his soul turn black when he had made the choice. Most of Cole's team were Terakans, if anyone would choose to die, it would be them. But it still didn't make it any easier.
"The decision has been made." Angel declared resolutely, "There will be no more discussion."
"Then don't discuss it." Alex's temper flared, "Reassign my team and move on."
Angel's eyes narrowed and his fist tightened in his lap.
Cole raised his hand slowly, "Red and Gold squadrons DO have a pretty good record on tandem missions. We might really need them."
Alex favored Cole with an appreciative glance, her almond-shaped green eyes smiling and warm. The stern Terakan softened immediately under the look.
Angel folded his hands tightly in front of him. What they were saying made sense on a logical level. If this mission failed, then the world would never be the same. It was his responsibility to ensure that it didn't. But he was afraid. Twelve years ago, Buffy had been killed in an explosion. There hadn't even been a body left behind for him to mourn over. Now, her daughter was asking for the same fate.
He was faced with an impossible choice. Sacrifice the last fragment of his love or sacrifice the rest of the world. What would Buffy have done? He knew. She had been faced with this decision once before, a long time ago.
"Fine." He agreed with a heavy heart, feeling like he had just thrown away something of unfathomable importance, "Red Squadron may be reassigned to the infiltration team if they so choose."
"Yeah." Alex crowed gleefully and leaned across the table, grinning at Cole, "I'll try not to leave your team out of ALL the fun."
"Order, order!" Oz thumped the brass cylinder crossly on its wooden pedestal, "This is nothing to be laughing about. The chances of coming out of this alive aren't good. Think about this before you decide."
The old werewolf prayed that she would reconsider. He and Willow had known Alex since she was a newborn and personally taken care of her ever since he mother had died. She was as much a daughter to them as Darlene and now he was faced with the very real possibility of losing them both. But he could tell from experience that she was not going to back down. His sadness was matched only by the great respect he had for her dedication and fighting spirit.
"I'm aware of the danger, Uncle." She assured him confidently, "And I fully intend to get us out of there in one piece. Red Squadron stands by the new assignment."
"So, how is this explosive supposed to be go off?" Cole directed his question to Angel, "A timer?"
"No, the timer is only a secondary means." Angel informed him, "You'll set it with a remote detonator and then signal a mass retreat for yourselves and the surface troops."
Oz tapped his finger again on the projected stencil image, "Just in case things get really bad, there is a manual detonator, as well, which is indicated by a red light here" he indicated a small panel on the side of the bomb diagram.
"You'll be given the activation codes before you leave here today. In the event that the squad leader is unable to set the bomb, it will be the responsibility of their chosen subordinate to complete the task. Any questions?" He looked around and saw the same expression of resigned resolve on the faces of everyone in attendance. They all seemed to be aware of what their responsibilities would be.
Angel stood and inhaled a deep breath, "Oz will take care of the specific strategies. I need to rest for a while. Permission to leave the proceedings?" He couldn't participate in this anymore. He could not be a part of a plan that was going to kill Buffy's daughter. Oz nodded and Angel left the table.
Gabriel had observed calmly throughout the briefing, his insides twisted in nervous agitation. In a few hours, he was about to take part in a mission that would determine the fate of mankind. The weight of the decision was intimidating, but he refused to turn away from it. He glanced at Angel and found the vampire glaring in his direction as he walked to the doorway and exited. Gabriel's lips tightened in determination. No matter what it would take, he would prove himself to them and make amends for what his elder self had done.
The briefing turned out to be pretty straight forward. Using a device called a geometer, Red and Gold Squadrons would traverse the extensive tunnels underneath the forbidden zone and locate the base of the Tower. After that, they would infiltrate the structure and set the explosive on the Hellmouth. After sounding the order to retreat, they would, themselves, escape and then detonate the bomb. End of the Hellmouth, end of the Tower, end of the war. Piece of cake, right? Somehow, he doubted it would be that easy.
After the briefing ended, Gabriel slipped away and made his way down to a room on the lower levels, near the firing range. He sat pensively before three bronze statues, imagining them to be real, living people. He had no idea why he had come here, but he wanted to be around old friends, ones who remembered who he really was. They all looked older than he remembered them, but he was starting to get used to that.
It was strange how the upcoming battle had become so important to him. When he had first found himself stranded in this time period, his only desire was to get home and leave this place behind, a distant memory. The loneliness and destitution of the place had shaken him to the core. But gradually, he came to see the lighter side of things, the 'little pockets of goodness' as Oz called them. The Resistance was filled with caring, dedicated people, he had witnessed that in the actions of Cole, Darlene and Alex. Now, he wanted to be a part of that, to spend his life in the pursuit of freedom and to protect those who needed it.
Even though he had never known it until it was too late, all the extensive, grueling training he had undergone since childhood had been solely for the purpose of his father's personal gain. Without his father to guide him, he had lost focus, having had no goals in life other than the ones that had been fed to him. Here, he was accomplishing something, fighting for a better tomorrow. This was his chance to make a difference. It was unfortunate that his whole world had had to come crashing down around him before he could experience such a revelation.
He smiled sadly at Buffy's statue. She had known that simple truth from the start. He had seen it in her from the first moment he had laid eyes on her and it had drawn him to her and inspired him. Within her had been a fighting spirit that would not be conquered. She had been, in every sense of the word, a hero.
There was a shuffling sound behind him and Angel staggered into the room, a bottle of liquor in his hand. He stopped short, swaying, and focused his bleary vision on Gabriel.
"What are you doing here?" he demanded angrily, "You have no right!"
Gabriel raised his hands non-threateningly, "Look Angel, I just came down here to do a little thinking, all right?"
"No, it's not all right." The drunken vampire snarled, his left eye twitching, "I know what you were doing. I know you went into her files. How much did you find out?"
Angel's face was flushed and blotchy with drunkeness and rage. Gabriel forced his voice to remain calm in an effort not to antagonize him.
"I know about my involvement with the Resistance." He stated carefully, "And I know about my connection to Buffy. And Alex."
The two names hit Angel like sling stones, battering his wounded heart. His face turned hard and his jaw set. He closed his eyes tightly against the memories.
"Why did you do it?" he asked plaintively, "How could you leave them?"
"I don't know." Gabriel wished he had an apology for his other self, "I'm not the same man as the Gabriel you knew."
"You had everything!" the vampire hissed, falling back against the wall, and shook his fist at the auburn-haired young man, "You had your own command, you had friends and you had HER!"
Angel's body seemed to collapse in on itself, shuddering brokenly with inner torment. Gabriel realized that he was crying.
"I did my best to be happy for her, for both of you, to try and forget my own needs." He sobbed, "And for a while, I did. She was genuinely happy when she was with you and as long as she continued to smile, I could live with the fact that she was not with me."
The drunken vampire advanced on Gabriel, stabbing an accusing finger in his direction, "You had EVERYTHING. Everything that I could ever dream of and you threw it all away! And then Alexandra came along. And it was all perfect. But it wasn't me!"
Angel leaned forward challengingly, tears streaking his cheeks and his pointed teeth clenched in choking emotion.
Gabriel backed up a step, then another as the vampire drew closer to him. He was drunk and emotionally unstable for the moment. Gabriel didn't like the wild look in the vampire's pain-ridden eyes.
"I hated you for leaving her. For leaving THEM." He slowed, seeming to get lost in his own thoughts, and looked at Gabriel sadly, "She never gave up believing in you, you know that? Even after you abandoned her. She kept seeing you in her dreams, begging her for help. She kept it a secret from the others, but she came to me and told me she was going to the Tower to rescue you. I knew it was a mistake, but she wouldn't listen."
Angel straightened, collecting himself, and glared at Gabriel, "You'd been dead for eight years and she still loved you enough to risk her life on a million-to-one shot at getting you back. And they murdered her for it."
"I - He couldn't have helped it. He must have been killed. I wouldn't have just left her." Gabriel's heart was pounding in his chest as his mind ran rampant in search of an explanation. "There must have been a reason."
"There IS a reason." Angel growled, coming nose to nose with the seventh son, "You're a coward."
Gabriel could smell the stink of alcohol on the vampire's breath and feel the heat of the rage that burned inside him. He needed to get away, to think things through. This person that Angel hated so much couldn't have been him. He would never do the things that his other self had been accused of. But, apparently, he had.
"Get out of my way. I have to go." Gabriel refused to look Angel in the eyes, his heart heavy with guilt. But how could he defend himself over things he hadn't even done yet?
Angel wouldn't budge, intent on turning the encounter into a physical fight.
"It's your fault she's dead." Angel whispered brokenly, "If you had left her alone she would still be alive now."
His eye continued to twitch, more violently now.
"Shut up!" Gabriel shoved the vampire and pushed past him.
Angel grabbed him by the arm and spun him around, his face contorted into an animalistic visage, "I won't let you do the same thing to Alexandra."
Gabriel looked to Angel's hand on his arm and then looked the vampire in the face.
"Let me go, Angel." He said with enforced calm, "You're drunk. You need to sober up and cool off."
"No, this is all YOUR fault!" he snarled, "You came back here and stirred everything up again. You couldn't just leave us in peace." His face fell suddenly and his voice became weak and tired. "You couldn't leave . . . her . . . in peace."
His lip curling in anger, Gabriel grabbed Angel by the collar of his jacket and pulled him in close.
"You probably don't remember it, but I owe you a great deal." He said, his green eyes hard and penetrating, "And that's the only reason why I'm not going to knock you out right now."
Shoving the drunken vampire hard against the dais, he spun on his heel and stalked out of the room, his hands clenched into fists at his sides. Angel hit the solid surface and fell to his knees, overcome by a fresh bout of tears.
Gabriel stormed through the wide, sterile hallways, his jaw clenched and his brow furrowed in anger. A few people noticed him as he walked and moved quickly to get out of his way. At first, he was headed for his quarters, but took a sharp turn halfway there. He wouldn't be able to find peace here. He needed someplace that was entirely removed from the Resistance base and all the history that went with it.
Coming into the sub train loading bay, he found one of the cars empty with the door wide open. Walking inside, he closed the door behind him and climbed into the driver's seat. He had no idea how to operate the vehicle, but it didn't seem that hard. The thing was on tracks, so it wasn't like he had to steer or anything.
There was a grid-like console directly in front of him with a top view of a map with various points, presumably drop off points, marked along a series of lines representing transport tunnels. Not really caring where he ended up as long as it was away from the base, he tapped his finger on a random dot. The engine jerked and roared to life and the car started moving. Apparently, it was automated. Still fuming, Gabriel folded his hands tightly before him and settled in for the ride.
Fides stood on a high landing on the huge central chamber inside the Tower. Below, in the great bowl which formed the floor, hundreds of demons were gathered, prepared to hear her latest command. The armored demoness waited, purposely holding her servants in suspense. Even after all these years, she had never tired of that feeling of power. But it was time to get down to business.
She stepped to the edge of the landing and spread her arms high overhead.
"The time has come to end this!" she bellowed, her resonant double-voice reaching even the farthest corners of the chamber, "We have waited long enough. The earth should be ours!"
The congregation of demons roared in a chorus of agreement. Fides let the sound rise to a crescendo before dropping her hands in unspoken command. The multitude of cries fell into silence in an instant.
"I have discovered the location of the Resistance's home base." She grinned darkly, as the sea of followers bristled with tension, "We're going to launch an attack."
And the sea burst forth with a tumult of ecstatic, bloodthirsty screams.