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Angel stood in line at the supermarket, waiting for his turn at the cash. It was his first time ever in a supermarket, but he thought that he had handled himself quite well. Looking down at the basket he held in his hands, a wave of uncertainty washed over him as he speculated upon whether or not he had chosen suitable food. How was he to know what sort of food teenage mortals preferred these days? He had contemplated buying fast food, but realized that Kendra would probably need at least a day to recuperate enough that she would be able to walk. So, he had bought a day's worth of food: some fruit, bread, cereal, etc. At least, if she didn't like the beverages, he could drink that. The cashier gave him a wide smile as he paid for his items. Angel half-smiled at her before taking the bag of food and leaving. As he walked down the street towards his apartment, his thoughts drifted towards the girl's story. She says that she doesn't remember anything, he considered, but my gut tells me that there's something else... Walking past the Bronze, Angel noticed that many teenagers were still loitering around the only club in Sunnydale. He thought it was strange, considering the incident that had occurred there only a few months ago. Rounding a corner, Angel stepped into his building and walked up to his front door. As he removed the key to unlock the door, a thought crept into his mind. It was possible that once he entered his apartment, he would discover that the teenage girl was no longer there. But, he quickly dismissed that thought, knowing perfectly well that the girl was probably too weak from her injuries to even make it to the door, let alone out of the building. Once entering the apartment, Angel set the groceries down next to the refrigerator. Could he breathe, he would have let out a sigh of relief; she was still here. The scent of her blood was still so pungent in the whole apartment and he could hear the beating of her heart. The smell of her blood and the pulsing of her heart was intoxicating and Angel could feel the demon within him stir. Walking over to the bed, Angel saw that Kendra was lying down with her eyes closed, but he could tell that she wasn't asleep. After a few moments, she finally opened her eyes and once again Angel felt like her mere stare could see into the depths of his very essence. "I brought you some food," stated Angel quietly. She nodded. "Are you well enough to walk?" Again she nodded. Slowly, Kendra sat up and swung her legs out of bed. As she applied a little bit of weight upon her heels and tried to stand vertically, her world started to spin. Angel noticed that her legs were buckling under her weight. With inhuman speed, he rushed to her side, grasped her waist and supported her weight upon himself. They started to inch towards the table. After a few seconds, Angel realized that if they continued at this pace, it would be several minutes before they reached their destination. Before she even knew what was happening and without offering her an explanation, Angel swept Kendra up in his arms, walked over to the table, and set her down in a chair. She contemplated protesting, but dismissed the thought thinking that it wouldn't get her anywhere if she did. She silently observed Angel as he removed the groceries and put together a sandwich for her. He set down the food and a glass of Coke. Kendra stared at the food for a minute, as if searching for something wrong or treacherous, before grabbing the sandwich and devouring it in a few bites. She finished off her meal by gulping down her drink. Kendra inwardly smiled. It was nice to taste food again and have the feeling of food in her stomach. Looking back at Angel, she noticed that he happened to be staring at her. "So, care to finally tell me where you're from?" he asked with a sly smile. Kendra was caught off guard by this blunt question. She thought that he had bought her previous story. She grasped the glass tightly in her hands, hoping to find some answer in it. Sighing softly, she returned her gaze back to the vampire in front of her. "I believe that I am from an alternate universe." A spark of light went off in Angel's eyes as he absorbed this information, yet his actual expression remained neutral. "That is all that I can remember," said Kendra. "Ms. Calendar told me that somehow the spell that she was performing brought me to this universe and I am supposed to help the world in some way." Angel nodded, surprising her with his calmness. ... "The one thing that I don't understand is why she told me to seek you out," proceeded Kendra, "and why the Master was after her. Also, wasn't someone supposed to stop the Master from rising?" "These are all things that I can answer," replied Angel. "First of all, some of us did try to stop the Master. Unfortunately, we failed. The Harvest proceeded as foretold. He used a vampire named Luke as his vessel. The vessel had to feed on enough humans in order for the Master to have enough power to rise." Kendra nodded, remembering how her Watcher had spoken to her once about the proceedings of the Harvest. "I had thought that someone was going to come and try to stop him but nothing happened... maybe the Slayer... but no one came." Angel appeared to sigh. "So, on the eve of the Harvest, I went to the Bronze because I knew that that was where Luke was headed. I didn't have a plan at the time but I knew that I had to do something. On my way there, I ran into Ms. Calendar. She somehow knew about the Harvest and the Master and had gathered a group of people to try and stop him. I informed her that the vessel was going to the Bronze. So, we went and tried to stop them. We were able to kill all of the vampires and incapacitate Luke." Angel paused as he recalled plunging a stake into Darla's chest. The expression on his sire's face, as he had reduced her to dust, still haunted him. He cleared his throat as he put the thought out of his mind. "However, we were too late to stop them from completing their mission. Luke had fed on enough humans and the Master was able to break through his dimensional prison. As a result, the Hellmouth was open and many demons escaped onto the Earth." "Is the Hellmouth still open?" inquired Kendra softly, as she contemplated the dire consequences that must have reaped this planet because of what had transpired. Now she fully understood what Ms. Calendar had been trying to tell her about the whole world being afflicted by what had happened. "No," replied Angel. Kendra gave a slight sigh of relief. "Ms. Calendar and a few others that were sorcerers performed some sort of spell, using the vessel as their conductor. The spell resulted in the Hellmouth being resealed and the vessel being sent to Hell." "Is that why the Master sent his assassins after Ms. Calendar?" asked Kendra, between stifling a yawn. Angel nodded. "The Master sent his assassins after all the sorcerers that had a hand in sealing the Hellmouth. Ms. Calendar was the last one. Fortunately, the spell that they performed is still binding, even in their death. There is only one way that the Master could open the Hellmouth again. I and a few others are the only ones who know exactly how to do it." As Angel finished his last sentence, he noticed that Kendra's head began to droop a little as she yawned again. He could see and sense the tiredness that threatened to overtake her entire body. In order not repeat the same scene that had transpired when she had first tried to walk, Angel picked her up again and carried her back to the bed. This time, Kendra was too tired to even consider protesting. As soon as her body came in contact with the soft bed, her only reality was the one to be found in her own dreams. Pulling out a cigarette, Xander brought it to his lips as he observed the Master's servants' scour the cemetery. This was the last cemetery to be checked out. If they don't find anything this time, the Master's going to be pissed, thought Xander while striking a match and lighting his cigarette. After a few minutes, he got bored of his cigarette and dashed it on the ground. Just as the butt hit the grass and died out, one of the minions scurried towards him. "We've found something." stated the minion. "The eight vampires that were missing probably fell in battle. There are two stakes on the ground and their dust remains are everywhere." Xander nodded slowly in response to this information. He contemplated upon whom could have dusted eight vampires in one night. "There's something else," continued the minion. Xander cocked an eyebrow. The minion withdrew a piece of material from his pocket and gave it to Xander. "We found this next to one of the dust piles." The instant the material was in his hand, Xander could smell the traces of blood. Looking at the cloth, he noticed that it was white and there were drops of blood upon it. He'd take it to the Master. Turning away from the minion, he stated, "Let's get out of here." Taking the cloth he rubbed it softly against his cheek, as if searching for some answer in its touch. Also, there seemed to be something familiar about it. Something, he couldn't quite place... Kendra's eyes fluttered open as the last remnants of her dream faded away. It had been three days since her talk with Angel and the two of them had fallen into a daily routine. He would nurse her wounds and feed her every day. Mostly during the day she would sleep or lie in bed just thinking about things. But as Kendra rose from the bed, she could feel that today was going to be different. She had almost completely healed from her previous injuries and was managing just fine on her own now. Angel no longer had to carry her anywhere. Their relationship was a silent one. She didn't say very much and the same went for him. Besides, Angel slept mostly during the day and during the night went to pick up some food for her and every now and then, his nourishment. Kendra always felt slightly guilty about the fact that he would sleep on the floor, due to her occupation of his bed. That morning, however, Angel was not asleep. Kendra found that slightly surprising, but assumed that maybe Angel also felt that today was going to be different from the past three-day norm. There was some breakfast laid out for her on the table and Angel was sitting across from her usual seat. As she sat down, the fact that Angel wasn't facing her somewhat bothered her. He looks as if he's waiting for something, she thought. What could he possibly be waiting for? There was an awkward moment of silence as she thought of something to say. Finally, Angel turned around to face her. Kendra opened her mouth, but he spoke first. "You've recuperated enough," he stated flatly. "There's nothing more that I can do for you." Kendra nodded her head slowly at this statement, knowing perfectly well where he was heading with this. It is time for us to part ways, she thought. Without touching her breakfast, she quickly rose and grabbed her boots. After putting them on, she headed towards the door, and grasped the doorknob. Kendra opened the door, preparing to venture forth into a world that was not her own, but before she could walk through the doorway, he spoke and his words made her stop in her tracks: "So, where are you going to go now?" Kendra furrowed her brow slightly as her mind considered his question. She realized now that she had not thought ahead. She had not thought about what she would do after she had recuperated. Perhaps it would be wise to go back to my home country and seek out Mr. Zabuto... but... wait a minute! If this is an alternate reality and if Buffy is the Slayer here, then I would still be training with Mr. Zabuto. Could this mean that there are two of me in this same reality? What would happen if I came in contact with myself? Kendra quickly dismissed that thought and her mind came back to the situation at hand. Besides, that was more than she wanted to think about at the moment. Next, Kendra considered looking up Buffy's Watcher from her reality: Mr. Giles. However, now that I think about it, he might be like Willow: completely oblivious to what is happening. If he's working at the high school, then there is no way that he could be a Watcher in this reality if the Slayer (if it is Buffy) has never been to Sunnydale. Kendra sighed. She was not getting anywhere. The answer to Angel's question was pretty obvious now, to her. "I don't know... there, in fact, is nowhere for me to go... I have no one..." Her eyes looked at the floor as she finished her last sentence. But as she considered her last words, something dawned on her. Her statement wasn't exactly true. Lifting her gaze and looking back at him, she thought, I think that maybe... I'm not as alone as I thought... Looking him straight in the eye, she said, "Do you think... I mean..." her voice caught slightly in her throat. Clearing her throat, she continued, "What I'm trying to say... umm... is... would it be possible..." her voice trailed off as her gaze hit the floor again. After a few seconds, she raised her eyes a little to determine his reaction. His face had a serious look upon it, but looking harder, she noticed with quiet shock that his eyes were dancing. He thinks this is funny!, her mind pronounced, outraged. Yet, she couldn't stop her cheeks from becoming a crimson hue. Angel knew what she was trying to ask him and decided to make it easier for her by saying, "Would you like to stay here?" Kendra looked up at him, hope shining in her eyes. He could swear that her look seemed to say, "Really? Do you mean it?" But, he never heard her speak those words. Closing the door behind her, Kendra's only reply was, "Yes... thank you." << Back Next >> |