Story: Destiny Unravels: Into The Dark

["Femvamp " <femvamp000@xxxxxxxxx>]

Disclaimer: I don't own Buffy TVS or Angel: The Series. Joss Does. 
I am just angsting them out a whole lot. 

Note: Doyle isn't dead.

DESTINY UNRAVELS

Part 1: Into The Dark

Cordelia Chase drove out of Sunnydale like a bat out of Hell. The 
farther she got, the faster she drove. When it came to the little 
Podunk town, there was no such thing as too fast or too far.

It was time for a change. That's all Cordelia knew. It was time for 
her to make something of her life. She was going to be an actress. 
She was going to be a star. Of that, Cordelia had no doubt. 

There was nothing back in Sunnydale for her. Yeah there were her 
friends, but they had their own bothers and Cordelia was tired of it. 
She wanted a life where the biggest worry was whether or not you 
needed plastic surgery. Not whether or not you were going to survive 
the night.

Cordelia drove. She drove to forget the past. She drove to forget 
how much she missed Xander. She drove to forget how devastated she 
had been when he had cheated on her. Cordelia drove away from her 
past and toward her future. 

Cordelia was going to be a star. It was her destiny.

---------------------------------------------------------------
One Year Later

Buffy Summers wandered through the streets of Sunnydale. She knew the 
streets better then anyone. She knew every little crack in every 
little wall. It was her job to know. She was the Slayer. 

Suddenly Buffy stopped. She saw a shadow in the distance. Her Spidy 
senses when bonkers. It was a vampire. 

This is a job for Slayer-girl.

Buffy went after the vampire. It didn't seem to notice or care. 
Buffy continued to follow it waiting for the right moment to pounce. 
She had to be sure that no one saw. 

Finally the vampire entered an alley. Buffy followed him. He still 
didn't seem to notice she was there. Buffy hastened the pace. It was 
time.

"Hey vamp boy. Wanna go for a bite to eat."

The vampire turned around with fire in his eyes.
-------------------------------------------------------------
In L.A.

Angel walked into the office. He immediately saw Cordelia sitting at 
her desk. She was reading some fashion magazine. Angel smiled. It 
had been a tough year for Cordelia. Her acting career hadn't gone as 
she had planned it so she took what was supposed to be a temporary job 
working for him. That was a year ago. Now she was a staple in The 
Angel Detective Agency and Angel couldn't imagine his life without 
her.

"Cordelia do you know where Doyle is?" 

"Oh what?" Cordelia asked looking up from her magazine.

"Doyle?"

"I'm right here. Sorry I'm late."

Cordelia went back to her reading while Angel and Doyle talked about 
the night's activities. Cordelia barely noticed when Detective Kate 
Lockley walked into the office.

Kate Lockley had been a regular at the detective agency in the last 
few months. Every time there was a case that looked a little iffy she 
brought it to Angel. It was an un-easy relationship to say the least, 
but it the crazy mixed-up universe they all lived in, it worked. 

The phone rang and being the good secretary that she was, Cordelia 
ignored it. After a few rings and an angry stare by Angel, Cordelia 
shrugged and picked up the phone.

"Angel Detective Agency, We help the....."

Just then Cordelia jumped as she saw Doyle fall to the floor. She 
immediatly dropped the phone and held him as the visions came to him. 

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Sunnydale

"Hey guys." Buffy entered Giles' flat.

"Hey Buff." Xander smiled, "How was the Slayage?"

"Boring actually. Not much to kill."

Xander smirked, "Only you would judge a night on a kill ratio."

Just then Giles entered the room followed by Willow and Anya. They 
had been working on the latest prophecy of doom and destruction. In 
other words, doing the same as usual.

"So G-man, When is the world gonna end this time?" Xander walked 
toward Anya and kissed her own the cheek. "I wanna be able to plan my 
schedule.

"What schedule? Since when did you have a schedule?" Willow asked.

"I've always had a schedule. I just never told you about it."

"Yeah. Let me see." Buffy rubbed her chin in mock-thinking, "Sex 
with Anya, shower, eat, sex with Anya, work, eat, work again, eat, 
research with Giles, eat, sex with Anya, eat, sleep." Buffy paused, 
"Does that sound right?"

"Sounds good to me." Xander smiled.

"Well if we can get back to the matter-at-hand." Giles said 
uncomfortably.

"Sorry Giles." Buffy walked toward her mentor, "So who do I have to 
kill and when?"

"Well according to this you already have."

"OK now I'm confused." Buffy frowned.

"A new woman for the Slay books, a prophecy about a demon you already 
killed."

"Well that's just it. It wasn't something she killed but someone she 
fought already."

"Giles and I went over a couple times and it always says the same 
thing."

"Willow, books rarely don't say the same thing." 

"That's not what I meant." Willow said, "Just listen."

Willow took the book from Giles and read the passage:

The madness of a slayer will be the downfall of all. When one turns 
on their own another will follow. The Catalyst will bring the downfall 
of all as destiny unravels. 

"Faith." Buffy said sadly.

"That's what we think." Giles commented, "But she's in jail."

"But what about this destiny unravels thing?" Xander asked.

"That's the part we don't understand." Giles commented.

"Well then, I guess its a late night research session." Buffy smiled, 
"Xander you know what we like."

Xander grinned, "Yeah yeah yeah. Donuts and lots of um."

"Don't forget the jelly." Giles grabbed a book from a shelf.

"Anya coming with?"

"Why not." 

Xander and Anya left Giles flat as the others pulled out whatever 
dusty book they could find. No one noticed a pair of eyes staring 
through the window.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

In LA

Cordelia helped Doyle up. Everyone gathered around him and waited for 
him to stand.

"What did you see?" Angel asked conserned. 

"The end of the world." 

---------------------------------------------------------------
Sunnydale


Buffy and Spike walked through the graveyard. After the prophecy 
everyone separated into groups to patrol or research or go on food 
runs. No one was to be left alone.

Buffy wasn't happy to be paired with Spike but he was better then 
nothing. She just wished that that damned chip in his head had done 
something to change his personality a bit. 

Spike was doing his usual to piss her off. It was working. Buffy was 
getting angrier and angrier at the vampire. It was taking all her 
self-control, not to stake him.

"So Slayer, have ya heard from the Poof lately." Spike asked knowing 
that she hadn't.

That was it. Buffy lunged at Spike. Spike tried to fight back but 
every time he tried to through a punch he got a shock to the head.

"Slayer this isn't a fair fight." 

"Don't care." 

Buffy continued to punch the vampire. She hit him, she kicked him, 
she even did a really cool headbut. Then she saw that he was 
unconscious. Buffy considered staking him, but then realized he was a 
lot more fun alive.....and helpless. Buffy grinned an evil grin. 

Buffy continued to wander through the graveyard. She was more relaxed 
now. There was nothing wrong with the world.

-------------------------------------------------------------

LA

"Again?" Cordelia asked.

"Again?" Kate asked no one in particular.

Everyone ignored a very flustered Kate and continued to help Doyle. 
Doyle looked up at them with what looked like a tear in his eye.

"Its all wrong. Something as gone wrong."

"What do you mean?" Angel asked.

"It's not supposed to happen like this."

"Like what?" Cordelia asked.

"The Slayer." Doyle gasped.

Cordelia felt the tension in the room grow to the point where you 
could cut it with a Plato knife. Angel had suddenly turned from his 
usually broody self to something much much worse. He was now a broody 
lovesick vampire. That was bad. Real bad.

"What about Buffy?" 

"They've got it wrong." Was all Doyle said before he passed out.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Buffy walked into Giles' flat whistling a tune. She immediately saw 
the group reading from dusty old Giles books. Buffy just smiled. 

"Hey Buff." Xander grinned at her, "Kill anything interesting?"

Buffy saw Willow cringe a bit and then smile. Buffy loved it when she 
did that. The little witch was the light in Buffy's life. The one 
thing that kept her centered.

"Nahh. Didn't see a thing. Boring night."

"Where's Spike?" Willow asked.

Buffy felt the jealousy. She knew that Willow had a thing for Spike. 
She always had. That's one of the reasons why Buffy hated the vampire 
so much. Willow was hers. Not his.

"Don't know." Buffy shrugged, "Just wandered off."

"Oh." Willow said sadly.

"Need any help with the researching."

Giles looked up startled, "You want to help?"

"Sure why not. Nothing to kill, so I might as well learn to read." 

Buffy walked over to the table taking a seat next to Willow and began 
to read from an old book that was sitting in front of her.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Two Days later in LA.

It had been two days since Doyle's last vision and the group was 
trying to decide what to do. They had absolutely no clues except for 
Doyle's cryptic message about the end of the world. Everyone was very 
tense to say the least.

The only thing that was even of the good, was that Cordelia and Kate 
had been spending time together. Kate had come to trust the odd group 
of Detective and even stranger had come to like them. Especially 
Cordelia, who was a strange mix of attitude and compassion.

"I still say we should go to Sunnydale and check things out." Angel 
said.

"You just want to see Buffy." Cordelia stated.

"Doyle said that Buffy was in trouble."

Cordelia frowned, "Look I want to know what's up too. I just want to 
make sure we're not walking into a trap."

"I agree with Cordelia." Kate said, "We should at least wait for 
Doyle to wake up."

"That's another thing. He has never been unconscious for two days 
straight before."

Cordelia stifled a laughed, "Unless he comes here plastered."

Angel just gave her a dirty look. Cordelia was about to say something 
when there was a knock on the door. Angel went to see who it was. 

No one was prepared for what happened next. As soon as Angel opened 
the door, Spike stumbled in. Before he passed out he spoke.

"The Slayer."

-----------------------------------------------------------------

A shadow in the distance laughed. Everything was going according to 
plan. The Slayer would be his.