Title: God Crystal
Author: Kate R.
abelard950@aol.com
Disclaimer: own nothing and no one used herein
Pairings: Ares/Joxer, Cupid/Strife, Giles/Ethan, Wesley/Tara, Xander/Spike, H/P, A/H, Z/H, W/A possibly more. Uncertain as of yet.
Rating: PG-13 to R
Summary: The God Crystal must be found to end the twilight
God Crystal
by Kate R.
Prologue: What Was
Fire all around. Burning, gasping, choking, spitting. It burned their lungs had they actually needed to breathe. Which something told the observer, they did not.
"CUPID!" A deep, male voice bellowed. "Get the baby and Strife and get yourselves back into that temple! You can't help!"
"But Dad!" the observer heard the voice of Cupid cry.
"You Can NOT help Cupid!" a female voice shouted over the din. "Please baby, take Bliss and go into the temple. Everything will be all right!"
He went. Not happily, the observer could tell, but he went. And the fury that was battering the beings got worse suddenly. And he could see in the fury, a storm of angel wings. And suddenly he was glad he was a lapsed catholic. His attention was however drawn back to the group standing in the large, open area of this mountainous place. 16 being stood in a circle. Or, more accurately, 15 beings stood in a circle and surrounded a lone being. The lone being carried a Staff that he whirled above his head while the other beings fed energy into the air around them. The staff seemed to be drawing the energy into it when suddenly, the man struck down with the pointed end of the staff. When it struck the ground, there was an incredibly bright flash of light.
A flash so bright that the observer had to shield his eyes and pray. When the power surging outwards stopped, he looked at this vision again and saw only silence. The beings that had been in a circle seemed to have fallen where they stood. Floating above them now was a beautiful, swirling crystal of all colors and shades. It pulsed over the mountain before flaring bright and then solidifying and hovering over the staff, still slammed into the ground. All the Observer felt was a terrible sense of loss and pain.
Cupid's voice came again. Shaking the shoulders of a woman and man before he threw his head back and screamed. "NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" his wail screamed around all the beings still awake on this place.
The observer could tell the beings were only sleeping and he watched as the ones left awake carried the fifteen into temples around them. The one who had used the staff could not be seen at first. It was not certain where he went.
The observer looked up with the one he seemed ot be seeing this through and saw why. The Gatherer was suspended in the crystal. He seemed to be in the same position as he had been. Arms at his sides, standing surrounded by the Crystal he had brought into being with the act of energy gathering. He was the center, the one who held all. And the Observer knew he would not be woken until the time was right.
The staff he had used to gather the energy suddenly flared nova bright and vanished. The staff...the Observer Knew that staff. Where had he seen it before though? Where had he...
"WAKE THEM!" sounded in his mind a split instant before the scream of a telephone woke him. He sat bolt upright gasping as the pain and fear he'd felt from Cupid and the desperation he'd felt from those 16 beings, continued to slam and roll around him. Slowly, easily, his breathing became less labored and he reached for the phone.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Rupert?" a voice on the other end said. "We have a job for your Slayer and her team. Specifics will be arriving at your apartment today."
The call ended abruptly and he gasped as his breathing continued to slow. What the hell had that been he wondered? He had a feeling that the dream and the mission were somehow connected. Rupert Giles felt his breathing finally slow as he heard again in his mind the command/plea: "Wake Them."
"I will," he whispered. He did not know how he knew but he knew it was imperative to wake those beings. Something told him it was desperately needed. "I swear I will find the way."
Chapter 1:The Players
Giles stumbled down the steps after his nightmare and the phone call from the council. He needed a drink and to think. He knew something. He understood now. But damn if it did not confuse him. Giles' hand trembled as he reached for the Scotch and glass.
"Rupert?" a voice asked softly from behind him.
Giles spun around and growled at the vampire standing in front of him. "Dammit Spike," he snarled. He stopped as he saw the tired lines around the vampire's face. He knew. He just knew looking at Spike. "The Crystal?" he asked.
Spike nodded and pulled his t-shirt off. Over his heart was a mark Giles recognized.
"I was right," Giles said. "You are Dionysus/Bacchus."
"You've had them too then?" Spike asked.
Giles nodded and poured two glasses of Scotch. Then, handing one to Spike, he gestured to the couch. The two of them sat. "As far as I can see, we have to wake the Gods of Olympus. The Council called me tonight, which tells me they know and they don't want this to occur. They're sending things to guide us into doing it their way. I don't plan on doing it their way."
Spike nodded and looked at Giles. "I been havin' the dreams since Thanksgiving," the vampire said quietly.
"I have as well" Giles said. "You bear the mark of Dionysus/Bacchus. I carry three but most people can only see 2. You all likely can see all three."
"Who all do you think are the other ones then Rupes?" Spike asked.
Giles stood then and walked to his desk, returning a moment later with a list of names and a god corresponding to each person. Spike looked at it and looked up at Giles. "It fits mate," he said as he read Giles' script. The list was in two columns and read as:
Giles- Hades/Zeus/Poseidon
Wesley- Apollo
Faith- Artemis
Willow- Athena
Angel- Ares
Tara- Aphrodite
Cordelia- Hera
Buffy- Demeter
Joyce- Hestia
Xander- Hephaestus
Ethan- Hermes
Spike- Dionysus/Bacchus
Dawn- Persephone
"Everyone coming here then Rupes?" Spike asked.
Giles nodded looking again at the list. Spike smiled to himself when he saw how Giles' glance lingered on Ethan's name. The Watcher still loved the Sorcerer.
"I believe Angel, Wesley and Cordelia are on their way now," Giles said. "They should be here by sunrise."
Spike nodded. Normally he hated his Sire but for this he would put the hate on hold.
The Watcher and the vampire sat in companionable silence for an hour.
At the end of which time, there was a knock on the door. Giles went to it and opened it revealing Angel, Wesley and Cordelia. Giles invited them in after a strict and emphatic 'No Staking Spike' rule was laid out for them. Angel simply nodded. He had known instinctively his Childe was a part of this prophecy.
Once the three were in, Giles asked to see what mark each carried. His thoughts were confirmed as he saw the marks of Ares, Hera and Apollo on
Angel, Cordelia and Wesley respectively.
"Well, that answers that," he said quietly as he looked out the window. It would be dawn soon, he knew. Giles sighed as he put on a pot of coffee. He was interrupted an hour later by another knock on the door. Wesley opened it, took one look and called Giles. Giles' face contorted with rage when he saw who was on the other side.
Ethan he had expected. And Faith as well. But the two men behind Ethan, they were not expected and Giles stared at them coldly once he had Ethan across the threshold.
"Get the fuck off my property," he snarled as he guided Faith into the house. "I know what we have to do, I don't need your files to tell me," he said as he slammed the door in their faces. He led Ethan over to the couch that Angel and Cordelia got off of and sat, pulling the sorcerer against his chest. Ethan was staring blankly at nothing and Giles couldn't stand it.
"Come back to me Ethan," he called to Ethan's soul. "Come back to me now luv, I need you. I know you can hear me. I'm here. You're safe."
Ethan whimpered in Giles' arms and Giles growled swearing blood for this. He knew Ethan had retreated into his mind to escape the pain from the torture. By the gods, there would be retribution for this.
"Giles!" Buffy yelled slamming the door open. He mother and sister as well as Willow, Tara and Xander followed her in. She made a face seeing Ethan laying in Giles' arms and Giles simply glared at her saying succinctly
"Put Up or Shut Up."
Spike sniggered and went to pull the chairs from the dinning room for everyone. Ethan seemed to be waking slowly.
"I'll kill them for this Ethan," Giles vowed.
Ethan smiled weakly and sat up slowly. Oh, his bones ached.
OOOOOOOO
On Olympus, a little godling woke up from his nap feeling something on the edge of his mind. "Gwampa?" he said. He traced the feeling and found someone who hummed with Ares' power. Immediately, he flashed down to it. His father and stepfather both looked blank before running to the hall of time to find him.
What they saw confused them.
"They have the marks?" the adult blond with wings whispered to himself. He and his husband looked at each other and then followed the baby.
OOOOOOOO
Back in Giles' living room, Angel was making himself comfortable when a flash of light preceded something dive-bombing him and latching onto him. More like Glomming onto him.
"Hi," Angel said being well used to the strange. "Can I help you?"
"Feel wike Gwampa," the little one said.
Angel felt the child hug him tightly and looked at Giles.
"Bliss was the grandson of Ares, God of War," Giles said softly. "You carry Ares' Mark so I'm guessing he was attracted to you."
"Oh, okay," Angel, said stroking Bliss' hair gently. "He can stay then."
Giles nodded and went back to explaining everything. They all looked up when another flash filled the room revealing an older blond with wings and a man with wild dark hair and dressed in leather looking like it was being held together with safety pins.
"Bliss!" the older blond with wings hissed.
Angel looked up and smiled. "It's okay. He's fine," he said.
Giles looked at Xander then. "Xander, could you get more chairs from the dining room for our other guests? And I do believe others will be arriving shortly."
"Sure G-Man," Xander said as he went into the kitchen. The living room was getting way crowded now. Xander couldn't wait to see who popped
in next.
Chapter 3: Stories, Past and Present
Giles was explaining who they were to Cupid and Strife when two more flashes filled the room and revealed two more beings. One in a leather minis dress and one wearing black adn white.
"Hi Ma," Strife said to the female. "Hey Jox. This is them."
"Them?" Strife's 'Ma' asked, as she looked closer. What she saw stunned her. 16 marks between them, one with three, one with two, the rest with 1. The man who seemed to be the leader was the one with the three marks of the Royal houses: Asphodel, Olympus, and Oceania. The blond Bacchai carried both Dionysus and Bacchus. The Dark haired Bacchai carried Ares. The Blond Slayer carried Demeter and the dark Slayer carried Artemis. The redheaded Witch carried Athena; the motherly looking woman carried Hestia. A dark haired girl carried Hera, a dark haired man carried Apollo. There was a younger girl who carried Persephone and another blond girl who had Aphrodite. Discord couldn't believe it. She also saw the ones who carried Hermes and Hephaestus.
She stared at them for a moment and then smiled before she got worried. "What are you going to do?" she asked.
"Wake them," The leader replied. "Can you tell us what happened?"
"Hades stopped the twilight to prevent Total War and a few other things," Joxer told them all as he sat down making all the chairs comfortable for everyone. "In the last days before the Twilight, the Light laid siege to Olympus. We didn't know what the Council had planned. We didn't know they would do this. But they did. They had planned it in a closed meeting. When the attack came at it's worst, Hades went to the very heart of Olympus, Gaia's Field, and he stood in the dead center. Everyone surrounded him then. The ones of the Council plus Persephone and they surrounded Hades. He began to spin his trident above his head and he pulled power the other Big Gods gave him. He pulled it in and then, he struck his staff points down into the ground and there was this huge explosion of power. When it cleared, Hades was in the crystal he'd built with his gathering, the others were as they have been for two hundred years, and his staff vanished. The Staff is the key to Olympus. We don't know where it is though. We don't know..."
"I do," Giles said quietly as he stood. It had hit him as Joxer spoke about what had happened. It had been Cupid's eyes he'd seen it through but he knew that staff. He walked up to his bedroom and came back down a few moments alter carrying something he'd never told anyone he had. Something he hadn't understood the significance of until the dream tonight when he finally saw the entire story, and Joxer telling them what the staff was.
"Is this it?" he asked.
"Where did you get that?" Buffy demanded.
Giles raised an eyebrow and she sat back down. "The day of the Ascension, the plunger for the detonator did not work," he told them all quietly. I'd found this in the ground, prongs down, and some instinct had me slam it into the ground by the butt. It caused a tremor that rumbled through the school and broke a live wire off. Gas was already flooding the school from the mayor thrashing from the attacks. I believe he ruptured a line. Anyway, the wire sparked the gas, which started a fire, which in turn set off all the flammable stuff we'd put in the library. The resultant explosion had a feel of powerful magic to it as well as the power from the blat. It served its purpose and then, I brought it home and put it up in my room. I used it one other time although, Xander and Willow do not remember. I had it with me when we took out the Initiative. I caused the earthquake that sealed the entrances so nothing could follow us out. I did not wish to tell you because I did not understand how I, who was not a divine being, was making something that was obviously the property of a God work. And then, the dreams got more intense. Leading up to tonight where everything culminated
intone thing and I saw...I saw the staff and I knew it but it wasn't until a moment ago, when Joxer shared the images of what each God looked like on that day, that Is aw the staff and realized it was the one I'd used twice now. I do not know what I am supposed to do with it when we get there but I have a feeling I'll know when the time comes. So...when do we need to leave?"
"As soon as possible," Eris said in a small voice. She was still in shock over what Giles had just said. Everyone was apparently. "We need to go a soon as possible."
Part 3b: Angel's Piece of the Puzzle
"Cupid," Angel asked, as they were on a private jet Ethan finagled for them.
"What Angel?" the God of Love asked him.
"Your father...did he carry a sword? I mean, a really big sword?"
"Yeah he did," Cupid said. "Why?"
"Well, I keep seeing flashes of things. Giles says we all hold pieces of this puzzle. And I keep having these flashes of all of us, in a circle, holding things. I'm not sure what things they are but we're holding them or we call them to us. And we hold them as we're in positions like the people we represent were in. Only, two slots are empty cause Giles is in the middle. I think we need a couple of people to stand in there."
"I think we can figure it out when we get there, Angel. You just get some rest and prepare, okay?"
Angel nodded and lay back against the seat, closing his eyes and drifting off. He was tired. The dreams had been coming regularly for some time. He felt a stirring in his mind and a gentle touch from...was that Angelus?
Telling him he thought he understood part of what was going on.
"Wes," he called suddenly sitting up. "That prophecy you read the other night that you didn't understand the meaning of? Can you remember what it said? I mean word for word?"
"Well," the younger ex-watcher began. "I believe it went 'Three Marked as One shall help One Marked as three when the time of gathering comes and the Crystal must fall to save all. Three marked as one will become three in the time of danger and One Marked of Three will take the place of The Gatherer while The Two of Three marked as One take the places of the Second and Third of the One Marked as Three.' Why?"
"Because I think I know how we can have Giles marked with three but only standing as one an yet still have a complete circle."
"Oh?" Cordelia asked. Everyone was now looking at him and he shrugged. He figured it would come to this eventually.
"Okay, for starters, I'm not Liam. Nor am I Angelus. I'm a combination put here by the gypsies when they cursed the demon. Liam and Angelus however, are both inside of me. So, I am Three Marked as One while Giles is One Marked of Three. From what I can figure out, when the time comes to stand in the circle, the Three Marked as One will become three separate people. The other two of the Three Marked as One will then take the two marks of the One marked as Three that belong in the circle and not in the center. This will leave Giles as The Gatherer."
"Where did you find this prophecy?" Giles asked.
Wesley shrugged. "One of the books we took from the Council. Er, one of he books I neglected to give back. I didn't understand it before but Angel is right, it fits."
"Well," Giles said. "That's one mystery solved. Now we just have to figure out how it happens. All right, lets all get some rest then and prepare for the next step. Things are going to get bumpy from here on out."
PART 4: Three Marked as One and One Marked as Three
"Okay," Angel said as they looked up at Mt. Olympus, shining above them and towering. "I guess we climb. Hard as anything but here we go right?"
"Climb and climb and climb," Giles confirmed. He and Ethan could both free climb, as could Angel and Spike and maybe Wesley. But the others would all need the gear they'd brought. "There are 13 of us. Five of us can free climb. We'll go first and set up anchor points. Then, two each will climb the ropes we set, all right? Ethan, climb with me. I'll need you to help me set the points."
Ethan nodded and they started to climb. Five of them could and did set up the anchor points. It took the better part of a day and a half to reach the summit, not stopping. They were far too driven to stop.
"Well," Giles said on reaching it. "This looks like the place."
And indeed it did, temples lay about, dingy now from disrepair in most cases but still standing, waiting it seemed. They took a step and Angel cried out and dropped to his knees.
"Christ!" He exclaimed as the pain burned and he felt an odd tearing sensation. When the pain stopped, on either side of him, was a look a like. One he knew was Angelus, the other was Liam. They got to their feet, all three of them, but only Angelus and Liam approached Giles. Angelus touched the left mark, Liam the right and power flared. The marks transferred and Angelus and Liam had Poseidon and Zeus.
"Alright," Giles said as he felt things speeding up. "The first things we need are the gods in place, exactly as they were they day they did this. Positioning has to be exact. Can you do that?"
"Yeah," Cupid said. The entire mountain seemed to be waiting and as soon s Ares, the first one moved was brought out of his temple, the spinning symbols stopped moving. Cupid placed Ares beneath his symbol and Angel knelt behind him. So it went for the others. As each god was placed, the person with their symbol knelt behind them as if waiting. Giles nodded.
"Before we begin, I need to explain some things to you all..."
PART 5: Shattering the Crystal
"When we do this, you all will be acting as Channels," Giles said. "As the energy is pulled from the crystal, it will pour through you and then back into the God it was taken from. Alright?"
"Fine Giles," Dawn said. She was kneeling behind Persephone.
Giles nodded, took a deep breath, and then walked into the center of the circle.
He looked up and directly above him, was the God Crystal. Giles took a deep breath and slammed the trident point down into the ground. As it ended the last time, so did it begin this time. The staff began to hum as Giles touched it again, this time to draw it out of the ground. He saw all the others tense and wait. The junior gods, the Scoobies, even the sleeping bodies seemed to be holding their breath in anticipation.
Giles began to whirl the staff in a counter clockwise motion, spinning it faster and faster and from above; the crystal returned to the energy state it had been in when it was first formed.
The counterclockwise motion began to draw power out of the glowing; crystal shaped energy and dispersed it into the combined members of Angel Investigations and the Scooby gang and from them, into the Unconscious Gods.
It was working beautifully. Ares was the first to awaken. He stood, making sure Angel was still behind him as the mortal and God joined in one purpose for the first time in years. Once everyone was awake, Giles twisted the staff so it swung at his side for a moment, three turns and then slammed butt down into the ground. Power flared and it shot straight up into the air, going to the man still suspended in air and touching his hand.
When that happened, there was a tremendous explosion of power and a flash of light as the world snapped back into alignment. When it cleared, Hades stood there, in front of Giles. He turned to look at the mortal he knew was responsible for waking him and he smiled.
"Thank you," he said. "We owe you...The World owes you...a tremendous debt. The time of the Gods has come again! We are awakened now to return the world to balance."
And a crack of power filled the air, and Olympus was restored.
Giles sighed with relief. A weight leaving his shoulders.
"Thank all the Gods who ever were," he whispered.
END