Repost FIC: Terra Australis Incognito 19-21/29

["Tony McD" <o163210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

TITLE: Terra Australis Incognito 19-21/29 
AUTHOR: Tony McD (o163210@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx)
DISCLAIMER: All characters belong to Joss Whendon, Mutant Enemy, WB and 
others. This is for fun, not profit. 
SUMMARY: Buffy, Willow, and Xander have their lives turned upside down and embark on a new destiny together. (B/W/X). First of my Terra/Trinity/Destiny series.
SPOILERS: AU around season 4. 
RATING: R (for language)



Authors Note: I'll be posting the entire series in sequential order over the next week or 2. The stories are (in order) Terra Australis Incognito, La Vita Nuova (written by Kirayoshi), Let the Games Begin (also by Kirayoshi),Bucket Full of Sunshine, Trinity's Child, and Destiny's End.

 
 
Chapter 19
 

It had been 6 days since David brought Xander back from the Dreamtime. In that time they had sat down and researched Murg Dor while keeping an eye on Xander. They had listened as Xander had flashbacks through his life, from the beginning to the more recent times. The good times, the funny times, andas Willow had warned, a lot of bad times. The abuse by his parents, his failures at school, his broken relationships. It was heart breaking to witness Xander weeping as he unconsciously recounted the night Jesse died. He hadbeen quite now for about three hours and Giles slept in the chair beside Xander's bed. 


Buffy came in and on seeing Giles sleeping she smiled at the sight. His glasses were half way down his nose and a leather book lay in his lap. Buffy felt a special love for the man who was her Watcher. He had been more of a father than Hank Summers had ever been. Giles had put his life at risk more times than she could recall for her. Not only her but all the Scooby Gang. He would never abandon her, never hurt her, he would die to protect her. She quietly picked up the book out of his lap. Giles woke with a start. 

 

"Whuh? Huh? Oh. Buffy." He said coming fully awake "Where's Willow?" he asked. 


"She is sleeping in the room next door. Any change in Xander?"


"No, he has been quiet for a few hours. How is Spike?" he asked. 


"He left about an hour ago. Said he was tired of being cooped up. I think he just needs some space to figure out what is happening with his life. Well, unlife." she amended. The loss of his arm and the conflict of feeling he had towards the gang was a lot for him to deal with. 


"You haven't heard anything from David yet?" she asked him. He just shook his head. Buffy inwardly raged at David. He pissed her off, he had hurt her and Willow, and he had put Xander in danger and then run off. But she held her tongue for Giles sake. 


"I take it that you haven't found anything more on this Murg Dor since lastnight?" she inquired. 


They had found a few things on Murg Dor. Murg Dor was a powerful demon warlock who had raised an army of vampires to rid the world of humanity. He andhis army was defeated and banished to the ethereal plane by a group of ultra powerful witches and a small band led by the then Slayer and mysterious man. Both the Slayer and the man died of the wounds they sustained in the battle. Murg Dor had powerful magics to conjure demons, slow time, command vampires, and a host of other things that were not pleasant to read. But they had not found out how to defeat Murg Dor or why he was after the Slayer and Scooby Gang. Xander stiffened, signalling another flash back. 


"Come on, Will. Look, you don't have a choice here. You gotta wake up. I need you, Will. I mean, how am I gonna pass trig, you know? And who am I gonna call every night... and talk about everything we did all day? You're my best friend. You've always... I love you." Xander said. Willow's voice sounded from Xander. 




"Oz?"


Tears rolled from Xander's sky blue eyes. Silence pervaded the room, only to be broken by the sound of sniffing coming from the doorway. Buffy and Giles turned to see Willow standing in the doorway, she too had tears in her eyes. 


"Willow! Wait!" Buffy called out but Willow ran into her room and locked the door. Buffy knocked frantically on the door. 


"Willow, please let me in. Let's talk about this." Buffy pleaded. After a few moments Buffy heard the door unlock. Buffy went through and saw Willow laying on the bed crying. Buffy held her lover and Willow cried in her lap. Buffy felt helpless to console Willow, a multitude of thoughts and feelingsgoing through the Slayer. 

 

Soon Willow would be willing and able to talk, but Buffy didn't know what to say to her lover. 




Chapter 20
 

Willow's sobbing had eased enough for her to talk. "Damn him! How could Goddamn Oz do such a thing! I always thought that it was Oz that said 'I loveyou', but it wasn't and he knew it but he let me think that he had said it. Damn you Oz! Damn you to hell!" Willow began sobbing in earnest again. 


"Shhhh... it's OK Willow" Buffy said cradling Willow in her arms, trying tocomfort her. "Maybe Oz was afraid off losing you to Xander. You're the most wonderful person in the world and no one would want to loose you to anyone else." Buffy said, partly to explain Oz's motives but mostly to express her own feelings right now. Willow took a deep breath and wiped her eyes. 


"Willow, tell me. How do you feel towards Xander?" Buffy asked, fearful of the response. Willow was silent for a moment, contemplating her feelings. 


"Buffy, I love Xander." Buffy's heart stopped. "I loved Xander since I was little and I guess I always will love him. But too much has happened, too much water has passed under the bridge between him and me. Xander and I can never go back to the way things used to be. I love him but not in the same way I love you. He has always been a part of me and I hope he always will, but you Buffy, you are the one for me. You are like the sun's morning rays chasing the darkness away. I want to fall asleep in your arms at night and wake in them in the morning. I want us to be together. I want you. I love you." Willow kissed Buffy softly on her lips. 


Buffy's heart soared. Happiness flooded her very being. She kissed Willow back and embraced her, never wanting to let her go. They held each other forthe longest time, just thinking and feeling. Buffy thought about the people in her life. Willow was the most important thing in her life. She thoughtof her mother and how brave and understanding she had been for Buffy over her life. 


She also thought of the men that had entered her life and of all of them; her father, Angel, Parker, Riley; only two would never abandon her. Giles and Xander. Giles loved her like a father, indeed he had been sacked from theCouncil for just that. Buffy wished he was her real father. She could not think of a better man to be her father, nor a better man to care for her mother. That thought both attracted and repulsed her at the same time. Xander. It was hard to describe what she felt for Xander. An image flashed through her mind. Xander, clad in white armour, astride a white horse like a knight of old, bearing her and Willow's standard. At times he fought dragons, at others, windmills. Buffy wasn't sure why she had that image in her mind. But the more she thought about it the more it became appropriate. He was her paladin, her champion, whether she needed one or not. He would go into battle for her and Willow regardless of the danger. 


Her thoughts were interrupted by a commotion from down stairs. 


"Hello? Dad? Anybody home?" David's voice called out. Buffy leapt up and raced down the stairs. David saw Buffy charging down the stairs. 


"Hey Buffy, where's..." he got no further as Buffy's fist smashed into his face, sending him flying. Giles came down the stairs, followed by Willow. 

 

David picked himself off the floor, rage burning in his eyes. "Don't you ever just say hello? What the fuck is your malfunction?" David demanded to know. Giles and Willow looked on, not daring to interrupt. 


"You! You're the malfunction! You are nothing but trouble. You come here and cause all kinds of trouble. You get some kind of hate spell put on me andWillow which nearly killed Xander and then you take him and get some otherspell which causes all sorts of bad memories to surface then you leave him!" Buffy nearly screamed at David. 


"Bad memories? You think that Xander or you are the only ones with bad memories? Everyone has bad memories, things they would rather forget. Well guess what? Xander and I don't have the option of forgetting. He will have to live with the memories of everything he ever did wrong in the forefront of his mind for the rest of his life. As I do too. As the Slayer you have had death and woe as your companion. Big fucking whoop! I'm a soldier. I also have death as my constant companion. But unlike you, my battles have not beenso black and white. Human verses demon. Good and evil. I fought people, with souls like you or I. Some of those had committed unspeakably evil acts while I had to watch and do nothing. Sometimes I later got the chance to avenge the death of innocent people, but sometimes not. I've had to kill others who's only crime was being scared for themselves and their families because some thug told them they were to fight us or have their family butchered."


"I also lost friends. People who I spent years with, people who I had the strongest bonds you could not imagine. Maybe you could. They were to me likeWillow and Xander and Giles are to you. I had to give orders to some of them that guaranteed their death for the sake of the mission. I also had someof them die because I fucked up. I walked the unit straight into an ambush. Fine, we beat them. They give me medals and promotions but they could notgive me peace. They cannot take away the memories. The memories of my friends being cut down, the memory of holding my best friend, crying like a baby as I watch his blood and brains ooze out of what remained of his head after a bullet blew it open. They can't take away the memories of wives that lost their husbands and children asking where their Daddy went. No one can. I have to live with all this every second of the rest of my life. "


"So you ever so much as think that I don't care about Xander, or you, or Dad, or Willow, I will blow your fucking brains out and hope the next Slayer isn't such a selfish bitch."


David and Buffy glared at each other, their breathing ragged with rage. Thesound of Xander coming down the stairs interrupted them. 


"Xander, what..." Willow began to ask but Xander walked right past her, hiseyes sky blue, walking in a trance. He stopped. Lifting his hand Xander created a shimmering silver screen. Images began to appear. It was an army. An army of vampires. They were charging up a hill towards a group of people. There was hundreds, maybe thousands of vampires racing for the summit where the small group of people were. Arrows fired at the people, their shaftsfilled the sky. The sky was dominated by the sun, eclipsed by the moon, casting its shadow over the land and bringing forth night. The images slowly faded and Xander began to speak. 


"Six shall be called. The Chosen One and 5 who must protect her lest hell return to earth. Six shall fight the army of the demon prince." Xander's eyes rolled back and he collapsed on the floor. Buffy and Willow raced to the fallen Xander. 

 

David didn't move. His face was blank from shock. Finally David spoke. 


"My God! It's the War Of The Six!" 



Chapter 21
 

They all sat in the lounge room, trying to come to grips with what had happened. Buffy and Willow bombarded Xander with questions at such a rate that he couldn't answer the few questions that he could. Giles looked at David who was still in shock. 

 

"David, what is this War Of The Six all about?" Giles asked gently. 

 

David came out of his shock and shook his head as if to clear it. "Uh, I need to talk to you Dad. In the library. Now." David said getting up. 

 

Xander looked at David. "Where are you off to now?" Xander asked. 

 

"To the library to talk to Dad. In the mean time I recommend you talk to these two." David said indicating to Buffy and Willow. David and Giles disappeared into the library. 

 

"So, Xander. What exactly happened with you when you went to see the Dreamtime Spirits?" Willow asked her friend. Xander thought for a moment before responding. 

 

"I saw... I saw you, and Buffy, and Miss Calendar. It was at this beautifulwaterhole. And you and Buffy were little. Like 7 or 8 years old. Jenny gave me the magic for that vision I showed you and the memory thing. You guys gave me a present each too. Here." Xander said as he dug around his pocket to retrieve the items. He held the three-leaf clover and the black opal. 

 

"Willow, you gave me this opal. You told me to keep it because I'd need it some day. And Buffy you gave me this clover." Xander told them.   

 

"Great, Willow gives you precious stones and I give you grass." Buffy mumbled. Willow smiled at Buffy's comment before continuing on. "Was there anything else, any clues to what we are up against?" asked Willow. 

 

"No. That was all that happened," lied Xander. Until he figured out a few things he wouldn't tell the two girls the rest. 

 

Willow could tell that Xander was holding something back, but she didn't push it for the moment. For now she was happy to have her best friend back. They all just sat and contemplated. Xander gave a little chuckle. 

 

"What?" Buffy asked him. 

 

"It's just this memory thing. I remember everything. Every class, every math textbook, every lesson I ever sat through. And you know what?" he asked them. 

 

"What?" Willow asked. 

 

"I'm really pissed that this had to happen AFTER my SAT's." They all laughed at the thought. 

 

While the other three were talking in the lounge, David and Giles were deepin conversation. 

 

"Ok. Explain this War Of The Six. I haven't come across this in any of my books." Giles told David. 

 

"Of course it's not in any of your books. It's not in any book. Writing hasbeen around for what? 8 or 10 thousand years. This prophecy is 10 times older than that. Six people, The Chosen One and 5 others to protect her, willfight a vampire army. If they loose then hell comes to earth. The War Of The Six marks the beginning of turmoil in the forces of good and evil and ofhumanity. At the end of the turmoil there is to be a final battle. The battle to decide who shall rule the earth, good or evil. But this will only occur if the War Of The Six is won by good. From what we saw it looks like, the War Of The Six takes place here in Sunnydale. That hill looks like the one I took Xander to."

 

"The eclipse!" Giles raced to a bookshelf and started to leaf through an almanac. 

 

"When is the next eclipse due?" David asked his father. Giles looked up from the book. 

 

"Six weeks. The next total solar eclipse in Sunnydale is in six weeks." Giles informed his son gravely. David exhaled. They had a little bit of time to organize. 

 

"Ok. So we know that in six weeks, Murg Dor will unleash an army for vampires to open the gates of hell by killing the Chosen One, who will be protected by 5 others. The question is who is the Chosen One?" David asked. 

 

"I think it would be safe to assume that Buffy is the Chosen One." Giles said. 

 

"Ok. Buffy is the Chosen One. I take that Willow, Xander and you will fightwith her. I'll be there, so that leaves us with needing one other person. Who?" David and Giles thought for a while. Giles had a thought. 

 

"What about Spike? He has fought for Buffy." Giles put forward. David shookhis head. 

 

"No. Murg Dor can control demons and vampires, remember? No. It needs to bea person. Skilled at fighting. Strong." David grew silent. A thought slowly entered his head. 

 

"I'll talk to Albert." David said. Giles looked at David incredulously. 

 

"You can't be serious. Fine, Albert has got powerful magic but the man is 100 for heavens sake!" Giles told him. 

 

"No! I don't mean for him to fight. I need him to try to convince the Watcher's Council to send us the other Slayer."