Chapter 16 – Bad Moon Rising
Part 1
I see the bad moon arising
I see trouble on the way
I see earthquakes and lightnin’
I see bad times today
I hear hurricanes ablowing
I know the end is coming soon
I fear rivers overflowing
I hear the voice of rage and ruin
Hope you got your things together
Hope you are quite prepared to die
Looks like we’re in for nasty weather
One eye is taken for an eye.
J.C. Fogerty
It wasn’t the easiest thing
for him to do but he had accomplished it.
Wesley reluctantly pulled his
hand away from the phone, wishing he could pick it back up and tell her he’d
been wrong. He wished he could have left her to deal with the already
overwhelming load she was carrying without adding to her growing burdens.
“Is she coming?” Giles
asked, twirling his glasses from his seat on the other side of the younger
Watcher’s desk.
“Yes, she is,” Wesley said.
“She always does. It’s her sacred duty and you’ve trained her well.”
“Now, that’s just bullshit,”
Giles remarked with a growing smile. “Buffy has never listened to me or taken
orders. Ultimately, it’s always been her decision as you’ve come to discover
for yourself old chap.”
“Old age has indeed mellowed
you. You never used to use such vulgar language even in the most trying or dire
of circumstances.”
“It’s not old age, my
friend. Far from it,” Giles intoned adamantly, annoyed at being labeled old by his colleague. “It’s living in
this environment. They have a tendency to rub off on you,” Giles commented,
with a small wave of his hand. “Two hundred head strong teenage girls all with
the ability to snap your neck with one hand. You have to learn to be with it or
they’ll plow right over you.”
Wesley nodded his agreement.
Neither of them ever thought they would end up here with so many charges but it
was like Giles said earlier, it was a Buffy decision. And one
that the Council had adamantly disagreed with. He suddenly felt tired.
It never ended. He stood to gaze out his window. His view was of the courtyard
and of the young Slayers gathering there. Laughing, joking and talking about
their training, about the current pop star they were crushing on, and always of
clothes. Quite possibly as soon as tomorrow afternoon things could dramatically
take a turn for the worst. This innocent idyllic period of their lives would be
over...again.
Once Buffy knew, once
everyone knew everything, it would be back to a hell worse than the days of the
First. Until they had found the prophecy they hadn’t a clue that the First was
only the beginning of the battle. From what they could tell the fate of the
world rested in one unknown person’s hand.
“I wonder if this time we’ll
survive,” Wesley commented more to himself than to Giles. An ominous sense of
foreboding sending chills up and down his spine.
“I don’t know…I just don’t
know anymore,” Giles said. His tone implying that he was just as weary as
Wesley was.
~~~~~~~~
Buffy put the phone down on
the counter. She stared at it for a long moment while Wesley’s words sunk in. It
seemed that the battles she had hoped to avoid by sending Spike away was going
to happen anyway. No matter which way she turned it was inevitable. Her only
fear was that she would lose her husband the way it had been revealed to her.
But hadn’t they always weathered whatever came their way? She sighed, pushed her
shoulders back and turned to face her family. Connor along with three of her
children sat at the kitchen table.
“What’s up, Mum?” Raven
asked, looking up from the chemistry textbook spread before her.
“We’ve been called to
The tension rose
immediately. They all knew what it meant. Another apocalypse, another battle,
more fighting and death, and none of them wanted to face it again.
A soft voice broke the
silence. “Is it coming back?” Joy asked, with her lip trembling. Wide blue eyes
scanned each one of them in turn waiting for an answer as her tiny fists kept
clenching and unclenching. It was a habit that was reminiscent of her father.
The little girl was
immediately scooped up into Connor’s arms and hugged.
“No, baby, it’s not,” Buffy
said with determination. “It’s going to be stopped before it happens.” She gave
Connor a grateful look for his quick response to comfort Joy. It was times like
this that she really missed having Spike there with them. He was always the one
who knew how to comfort everyone when she had to bear the responsibility of
being a Slayer.
The glances exchanged
between the four at the table were impossible to miss. It only confirmed
Buffy’s suspicions that whatever Elijah and Raven knew had been shared with the
other two. She needed a moment to think, to decide, before confronting them.
So, she resorted back to Mom mode.
“We’re wanted there this
afternoon,” Buffy said, taking a seat at the table. “Do you two want to go?”
She looked at Elijah and Joy, but she already knew the answers. Joy was an
enthusiastic yes that took away the lingering fear from her eyes. With Eli there
was a slow shake of his head in response to her question. He would want to go
but
“How many outfits, Mummy?”
Joy asked, sliding off Connor’s lap.
“Three to be on the safe
side,” Buffy said, holding up three fingers. “And pack your bathing suit and
one nice dress.” She had barely finished her instructions before her daughter
was racing from the room with a quick “’kay” echoing in her wake. Shaking her
head slightly, she turned back to her son. “Are you sure you don’t want to go?
You can stay at the beach house with Cordelia.”
“No, I’ll stay here,” Elijah
said with a resigned look upon his boyish face while tracing a finger along the
table.
It broke Buffy’s heart to
see her child have to be so grown up when he was so young. Eli knew his
limitations and lived by them religiously. Dealing with others emotions
sometimes left him dealing with things he should never have to. Filtering
through people’s thoughts, fears and joys was too much of an emotional overload
for anyone to process much less a child. She remembered the day that she had
taken him aside to tell him about the time that she could read minds and the
hell it had given her. His face had lit up as he realized that she really did
understand what he went through on a daily basis. No longer did he have to hide
his torments.
“I’ve got an idea,” Connor
said. “It’s Friday so maybe Aidan can come over to spend the night. I’ll stay
with you and we’ll camp out in the living room. Make tents, light a fire and
roast hot dogs and marshmallows.”
“Yeah, we can turn the
hallway into a swamp again,” Elijah added.
“Sounds good,”
“Thanks,
“Yeah, I know,”
They all laughed but it was
true. Buffy stood to start her own packing. She saw the look that Raven gave
Connor over Eli’s head. Making a note to talk to her daughter while they were
gone, she moved to head upstairs. A corner was going to be turned in the next
few days and she had a feeling that when she returned to Sunnydale, nothing was
going to be the same.
~~~~~~~
Joy bounded up the stairs,
excited that she was going to go to
It only took her a moment
detour to pull her pink suitcase from the hall closet and haul it back to her
room. She opened it up on her bed before turning to her own closet. Daddy had
hung the rod low enough so that her clothes were within her reach. Everything
was hung by outfits that were selected with the help of the older women around
her. Mostly Mummy and Raven but everyone bought her clothes. It was one of her
favorite presents.
Choosing which outfits to
take was the hard part. Mummy had said three but there were so many that she
wanted to take. It was warm so that meant shorts and t-shirts. She selected a
purple matching terrycloth outfit with a cat on the front of the shirt. The
next two were harder but finally she pulled out a pink and a baby blue outfit
from the closet to lie on the bed. Her mother would give final approval before
they actually made it into her suitcase. Joy grabbed some jeans and a sweater
just in case she got cold. She was just turning to her dresser when her door
opened and Elijah slipped in. He sat on her bed without saying anything and she
felt that little curl of fear in her belly again. It was coming. She just knew it despite what Mummy told her.
“Is it going to be bad?” Joy
asked, sitting next to her brother sensing that he needed to be comforted like
she had been earlier.
“I think so,” Elijah said,
hiding his face in his hands. “I’ve been dreaming about him every night. He
keeps telling me how Daddy is going to fail.”
“Don’t believe him. He
lies,” Joy said emphatically. “Daddy promised he was coming home to us. He doesn’t lie. I gave him my treasures to
keep him safe.”
“They don’t understand,
Journey, they don’t,” Elijah said, looking up at her. His grey eyes filled with
such loneliness that Joy could almost feel it. She slipped an arm around his
shoulder. “Every thing they do is changing what is coming. If they tell Daddy
before it’s time…” He shuddered beneath her hand.
“Don’t give up,” Joy said.
“He won’t let us be hurt. Daddies love their children more than anything.”
“And sometimes they go away
anyway,” Elijah said, tears slipping down his cheek.
Joy ran her fingers through
his hair like her Daddy did with her. She knew at one time her siblings had
other parents. She didn’t understand everything but knew they had all been sad
before they came to live with her parents.
“Daddy won’t go ‘way,” Joy
repeated, unsure of how to help Elijah. It scared her for a moment to think
that maybe her father wouldn’t return and let the bad things get them.
Ultimately, though her belief in her father’s promise was stronger than
anything else. He had kept her safe before and he would again.
The two children looked up
when the door opened. This time Raven and Connor slipped in. They took seats
next to each on the floor.
“We need to talk,” Raven
said. “All of us.”
~~~~~~~~
The door closed behind the
two young people making Buffy sigh in frustration. She had put this off for as
long as possible. It was time. It had to be done before they left for
She knocked softly on the
door then opened it before waiting for a reply. They all stared up at her in
trepidation and she had an insane desire to laugh. The new Scooby gang was all
she could see looking down at them. Stifling her amusement she took a seat on
the floor across from Raven. She held her arms out for the two youngest. Joy
took her place on her lap while Elijah sat next to her.
“We do need to talk,” Buffy
said softly. “May I join you?” This time she did wait. In turn each of them
nodded their consent for her to be a part of their meeting. “Thank you. I feel
it’s best that we don’t tell each other everything.” She held a hand up. “Let
me explain then I will listen to you as open minded as I hope you will listen
to me.”
“Go ahead,” Raven said,
obviously taking the lead and accepting her mother’s terms.
It was down to the two of
them, slayer to slayer. Each came to the battle and were
willing to compromise for the good of their family, Spike and finally the
world. Buffy nodded, taking her daughter’s position seriously. There had been
times when she had to take orders from Raven and she would again if the
situation warranted it.
“You know that I had the
vision of a future without…Spike,” Buffy said, hugging Journey tighter. “It’s
why I wanted him to leave so that maybe we could beat fate at her own game.”
She sighed. “I also know that there is something else that you all know and
that it’s not only connected to my vision but to the prophecy that Wesley
found. Am I right so far?”
Raven nodded.
“This prophecy centers
around Spike, doesn’t it?”
It was Elijah that nodded
this time.
“Are you the one who
discovered it?” Buffy asked.
Elijah turned to Raven to
get permission to speak so Buffy turned back to her daughter for the answers.
Apparently whatever Elijah knew he had passed it along to his sister to decide
what to do with it.
“Yes, Mum,” Raven said. “The
First showed it to him last year. It came in the form of our mother.”
Her heart ache was
instantaneous as Buffy slipped her arm around her son and pulled him close. She
kissed the top of his head. There wasn’t anything she could say to him.
Whatever had been revealed to him had been taken to his sister where she had
comforted and advised him. It hurt that she hadn’t known, that she and Spike
weren’t there for him but she understood.
“I’m going to assume since
neither Spike nor I were informed of this that there was a good reason?”
“Yes,” Raven said. “The
First has implied to Elijah that whatever is coming is based on the choices
that Daddy makes. If you know or he knows exactly what it says then,” She
glanced at Connor. “We’ve deduced that it could alter things and create more
trouble…”
“Then trusting that in the
end he’ll do the right thing,” Buffy said.
“Yes, ma’am,” Connor said.
“We all believe in him. It wasn’t hard for any of us to decide to let things
unfold naturally.”
“All of you know?” Buffy
asked.
“Yes, Mummy,” Elijah
answered, leaning closer to her. “Joy knows, too, but…not everything.” The last two words were spoken telepathically to
Buffy and she squeezed his hand to let him know that she understood.
“Do you all agree then that
we should try and keep the others from discovering the truth?” Buffy asked,
looking at Raven. She knew that whatever Raven decided the other three would
follow. The secret had been kept for a year now. She was the one who was
leading them now.
“Yes,” Raven said. “Neither
Wesley nor Giles fully trust Daddy so I’m afraid their interference would
create a situation that would end in chaos.”
“I agree,” Buffy said. “So,
you and I will talk more on the way down. Give us more of a concrete plan for
handling them.”
With Raven’s agreement they
broke apart to prepare for the trip. Buffy pushed back her wayward emotions
until she could afford the luxury of breaking down. Spike had always come
through for her, starting all the way back in the days of Glory. He would do it
now. She would believe in him until she had proof that she couldn’t.
to be continued…