Rating: Varies...will be posted at beginning of each part.
Disclaimer: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, its characters, yada yada yada belong to Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, Sandollar, WB, and Fox.... I’m just borrowing them, (although I wish Angel was mine!) Everything else belongs to me!
Author’s note: This is your usual generic story. Angel is still good, so basically in my story surprise/innocence didn’t happen. Willow and Oz are together, and Xander and Cordy are still hiding their secret utility closet rondevu’s. This is going to be a long story, and will take some time so be patient with me. I’m not very good at story telling, so if this totally sucks and isn’t read-worthy, just let me know. Oh yeah, and I want feedback, feedback, and more feedback. I don’t care if it’s good or bad, just tell me what you thought of it.

It was a beautiful day in Sunnydale. The sun was shining, the birds were chirping, and there hadn’t been a vampire attack in days. This worried Rupert Giles. He knew that some kind of evil would be coming to Sunnydale. He could sense it. The only problem was that he didn’t know what was going to happen, or when. He feared for Buffy, Xander, Willow, Jenny, and even Cordelia’s safety. If anything ever happened to them, especially Buffy, he would never forgive himself.

Giles sat in the library, going through all his books, but he was having no luck. He had been up all night researching. His worries had made him unable to sleep. “This is hopeless,” he sighed and put his book down. “I can’t find a damn thing.” He took a quick glance at the clock. “10:00 a.m.” With his elbows propped on the table he closed his eyes and rubbed his aching temples. Slowly the watcher opened his eyes and glanced down at the open book. He was about to close it and give up, but something caught his eye. He picked up his glasses and turned on his desk lamp. “What is this?” He began reading:

He stopped reading, and laughed at himself. “Well this is almost the same damn thing as before,” He had the sinking feeling of defeat, but decided to read the rest of it.

He started violently choking on the drink of water he had taken. “Dear *cough* God *cough*.” When he was able to compose himself, he almost felt as if he would throw up. “Angel? Leading the vampires?” Giles grabbed the book and finished reading

Giles felt his heart almost stop. “Oh God,” he breathed and panic set in. He looked over is shoulder at the calendar. The next full moon was Saturday. That was only four days away. “This can’t be true.” He sat there, trying to stay calm. He read the prophecy again and again. As he got to the last line, fear overwhelmed him. “By his side will be his one true love, and together they will rule the earth....” his voice trailed off. “Oh no. BUFFY!!!” he cried out loudly. “What am I going to do? I can’t tell her this.” He sat in his thoughts, not knowing what do to. Just then the silence was broken by two familiar voices.

“So which color looked better on me? The blue or the green?”

“The blue. It brings out your highlights.”

“Are you sure? I mean, the green goes with most of my clothes.”

Giles looked up to see Buffy Summers and Willow Rosenburg laughing and talking as they strolled on over to their usual table.

“Hey Giles, what’s up?” Buffy asked in her usual cheerful way. She hopped up on the table and crossed her legs.

He just looked at her, not knowing what to say.

“Hello? Earth to Giles? Come in Giles?” she said, waving her hand in front of his face, trying to get his attention.

“Huh? W-What? Oh, oh yes. Hello Buffy.” He turned his back to her.

“Um, is there something wrong? Are you okay? You seem kind of, well, out of it. Like your mind is somewhere else.”

The watcher just stood there, not knowing what to tell her. “Uh...I...I am fine, Buffy.” He knew that he had to tell her about he prophecy, but he was afraid of how she would react. He thought back to when she overheard him and Angel talking about how she would be led into hell and the Master would kill her. She was hysterical. He didn’t want to put her through that pain again.

“There is something wrong, isn’t there?” Buffy could always sense emotion. She knew that there was something terribly wrong with him. She sensed his fear.

Giles couldn’t look at her. “I won’t lie to you. Yes, there is something wrong.”

“Then tell me what it is.” He slowly turned to face her. Her blue eyes gazed at him intently, waiting for his answer.

He hesitated. “W..Well, Buffy, I have come across something very disturbing...I-I had begun to get worried on account of the lack of vampire activity, so I consulted my books and....” Interrupting him, Xander Harris bolted into the library with Cordelia Chase right at his heels. They were arguing about something.

“Excuse me, monkey boy, but I’m not finished with you!” Cordelia shouted, annoyed.

Xander spun around so quickly it caused Cordelia to run right into him. “Ooooohhh. Is Cordy getting mad? You shouldn’t be getting angry. It leads to stress, and stress causes zits. You wouldn’t want a blemish, would you?” Xander said, mocking her.

“Shut up!!! Maybe if you weren’t such a complete moron, I wouldn’t have to get angry!” she snarled.

“God, Cordelia. What is your freaking problem?!”

“My freaking problem is you!!!

“Why are you like this? Every day you drag me into that closet to do God knows what, then you yell at me. Just admit it. You know you want me....” Cordelia sharply elbowed him and Xander stopped talking and looked up and saw Buffy, Willow, and Giles starting at them with perplexed expressions on their face.

“Uhhh...you uhh...uhh...you, uhh...want me to fix your car,” he said, quickly and walked as far away form her as he could. Cordelia gave him a dirty look. “So guys, ha ha ha, what’s up?”

“Everything okay?” Buffy asked suspiciously.

“Of course it is!” Cordelia said, with fake enthusiasm. “Xander and I were just, arguing, about, um, stuff.” She knew that they weren’t buying it, so she changed the subject. “So, what’s on the agenda for today? Vampires, obituaries, Inca mummies, oh, lemme guess...you found a dead body in the locker room?”

“Well Giles was just about to tell me something important. Giles?” The slayer said.

The watcher took a deep breath and started to speak. “W..Well y..you all need to hear this,” he stammered, “so listen carefully. I’m going to warn you that this horrible news. I have come across a new prophecy.” He looked at Buffy and almost shed a tear. , he thought, He took another deep breath, and noticed his hands were shaking. Giles bent down and picked up is book. “I’m going to read something that will affect us all.”

With a deep breath, he spoke. “O-on the n..ight of the first full moon in the f-first month of the One thousand nine hundred and ninety-eighth year ‘El Noche del Ascende’ will fall over the earth, and all the vampires in the world will join together and create an unstoppable force, killing everything in their path, taking no mercy...” He stopped, not wanting to keep reading.

“Its okay, Giles, just keep reading,” Buffy said softly.

He felt a huge lump in his throat and gulped. He wiped the sweat of his brow, and looked down. Buffy just stared at him. All of the sudden she felt overwhelming fear and grabbed the book away from him. “Buffy! No!” he cried, but it was to late. She began to read.

“Leading them will be...Angelus,” she heard Willow gasp. Buffy stopped reading and looked at Giles, but he looked away. She continued, “He will be named as the new Master at midnight on the full moon for the true Master was killed by the slayer. In a ceremony he will become the most vicious and powerful vampire. By his side will be his one true love, and together they will rule the earth.”

“Oh my God.” she said softly. She dropped the book and backed away from it. Buffy felt like her body was going to collapse. She flung her hand over her mouth as tears formed in her eyes. “That can’t be true.”

Everyone sat there in silence. Buffy started turned to her watcher and grabbed his arms. “This can’t be true! The other prophecy didn’t come true? Remember, I lived. I didn’t die. I lived. I lived damn it! And I killed the master!”

“No Buffy,” Willow said softly, “You died. Even though it was only for a few moments, you still died.”.

“No. It won’t happen to Angel. We have to do something. We have to stop it.” She ran over to the pile of books that Gills had been searching through and threw one at him.” She did the same to Cordy, Xander, and Willow, but they just stood there, not really knowing what to do. “What are you all waiting for? Start looking!”

Xander put down the book and walked over to his blonde haired friend. “There isn’t anything we can do.” He tried to put his arm around her but she pushed him away.

“No. There is something. There has got to be.” She pleaded. But she knew deep in her heart that it was hopeless. She sat down on the steps and didn’t say anything. She didn’t cry. She didn’t move.

There was an awkward silence. Giles spoke first. “Buffy, we have got to keep you safe.”

“Me? What about Angel? It said...Oh God...no...” her voice trailed off into silence.

“This is awful. What can we do?” Willow asked, putting her arms around her still friend. “Its gonna be okay,” she whispered to Buffy.

“I don’t know Willow, I just don’t know.” Giles replied. He felt so helpless.

“What does “El Noche del Ascende’ mean, Giles?” Willow asked.

“Uhh...roughly translated, it would be spanish for ‘The Night of the Rising’,” he told her.

Cordelia spoke up. “Well who is Angel’s true love?”

“Duh Einstein. It’s Buffy. Everyone knows how much he loves her.” Xander said dryly.

“Just can it, Xander. Stop trying to be funny, ” snapped Cordelia.

“What? All I said was...”

“Your not helping!!!” she interrupted.

“Huh? Why I oughta just...” Xander stood up and started walking toward her, but Giles stopped him.

“Cordelia, Xander, please stop it. We don’t need you arguing right now. This is a very serious matter and the whole damn world is at stake,” Giles said. The two teenagers stopped and gave each other dirty looks. Even thought they pretended to hate each other, secretly there was such passion and chemistry between them that they couldn’t control.

“Xander, you are right. Buffy is Angel’s true love. That is why we have got to keep her away from him.”

“No.”

“What?”

“You heard me, Giles. I said no. There is no way you can keep me away from him.”

“But Buffy you read the prophecy. It said that his true love will rule by his side. They will make you a vampire.” Willow said.

“I’m sorry but I will never stay away from him. I love him too damn much.”

“Buffy you are one of the strongest slayers in history, but there is no way that you can take on an army of that caliber and force.” Giles said.

“No. I have to face it. It is my job. I can’t just run away when something like this happens. Maybe your right. Maybe I will die, but I will die fighting.” Buffy walked over to where her weapons are kept and picked up a crossbow. “I’m the slayer and I was chosen to fight all the vampires, and that is exactly what I will do.”

“Buffy...”

“I’m sorry but this is a risk I will just have to take.”

“Look. You wanted me to run when it was prophesied that the Master was going to kill me, and when Spike and Drusilla came into town, but I can’t do it. I can’t run away from these things. It is my destiny to fight.” The Slayer slammed the crossbow down on the table, snapping it in two, and picked up Giles’ book. “I can’t believe all this is happening.”

“We will do all we can. I’ll see what I can find in my diaries.

Willow, uh, uh, you should s..start looking on that blasted machine--”

“Do you mean the computer?” She asked with a smile.

“Y..y.es. And Xander, Cordelia and you--”

“..should start looking in all the books. I know I know.”

“Uuggghhh!!! Why do I always get stuck with him?” Cordy whined.

“NOT NOW, Cordelia!” Buffy, Xander, and Willow said in unison.

“Well fine then,” she muttered under her breath.

“Well what should I do Giles...” Buffy was cut off shortly by a loud slamming of the library door. She looked over and saw Principle Snyder walk in.

“Well well well. Isn’t this a quaint little meeting. May I ask why you are all not in class? Maybe you can provide the explanation, Ms. Summers?”

“Uh...Uh, Well...We were all just leaving, right guys?” Buffy stammered as she grabbed her bag. The four friends scrambled to leave the room when he cut them off. He pushed his way in front of them.

“Not so fast, Ms. Summers. Now you listen and you listen good.” The evil look on Snyder’s face almost frightened Buffy. It was almost as bad as a vampire. “I don’t like you. I don’t like you at all. You give off the aroma of suspension. Maybe even expulsion. That is why you are going to show around the new student that just transferred here from San Diego.” He smirked at her. “She is waiting outside. Go introduce yourself.” When she just stood there, he got angry. “NOW!”

“With all do respect, Mame, Uh I mean Sir,” Xander said while Willow put her hand over her mouth and tried to stifle her laugh, “If you don’t like Buffy then why would you put the care of a new student in her hands?”

Snyder glared at him. “You’d better watch it, Mr. Harris. One more comment like that out of you and its detention time.” he snapped. “Don’t question my authority.” And with that, he walked out of the library.

“Yikes. What crawled up his butt this morning?”

“I heard that Mr. Harris.” Snyder’s voice said from the hall. “Are you coming, Ms. Summers?”

Buffy sighed. “Yes Mr. Snyder. I’ll be right there.” Buffy picked up her black leather bag and made way to leave when she turned around and said, “Guys, Please do everything that you can.”

“Don’t worry Buffy, we will,”

Buffy pushed open the heavy door and looked over at Snyder, who was talking to a girl that Buffy didn’t recognize. . Buffy thought. She stood there for a moment, looking at her. She was very pretty, with bright green eyes and long blond hair that fell past her shoulders. . As Buffy made her way over to Snyder, she suddenly got the shivers. She could feel the hair raise on the back of her neck.

“Ah, Ms. Summers. Good of you to *finally* join us.” he said in his usual cynical tone.

“Ha Ha, right. Join you.” she said with a fake laugh. “So, ha, this must be the new girl.” Buffy moved closer, and with every step, she got more of an uncomfortable feeling. .

“This fine young lady is Hope Wilson. Hope, this is Buffy Summers. She will be your guide around Sunnydale High School.” Hope reached out to shake Buffy’s hand. When their palms touched, a warm tingle sensation shot through her body. Buffy gasped and dropped Hopes hand.

“Is there something wrong?” Hope asked, slightly offended.

“Oh, uh, no. Not at all,” she managed a slight smile. “Its uh, nice to meet you.”

“Um, yeah. Nice to meet you too,”

“Well I have things to do.” As Snyder began to walk away, he whispered in Buffy’s ear, “Remember. I’ll be watching you. Don’t mess up.”

Buffy felt extremely uncomfortable around Hope. The aura coming off of her was extraordinary. She had never felt anything like it. When their hands touched and Buffy felt that sensation, she knew that something was very different, yet very familiar about her. Finally after what seemed like hours, Buffy spoke. “Well, um...” she said. Then something sparked. She had to show this girl to Giles. “I’d like you to meet some of my friends,” she said quickly, and grabbed Hope’s hand as she pulled her thought the library doors. No one in their looked up, not even when the door slammed shut behind them.

“Hey! Guys! I want you to meet somebody. Her name is Hope Wilson, and she is new at SHS.” The slayeretts got up and came over to say hello. “Uh, Hope, this is Willow, Xander, and Cordelia.”

“Hi,” Hope mustered to say. She was very nervous.

“Wweellll Hello there,” Xander said in his suave tone, “It is *such* a pleasure to meet you.”

“Hello! Are your hormones raging much?” Cordelia said, and gave him a ‘what do you think you are doing’ look.

Xander ignored her comment and continued to speak. “My name is Xander, and I was wondering if I could be of *any* assistance to you.” .

“Down Boy!!!” Cordelia yelled. She was extremely jealous.

Willow felt a twang of jealousy ignite in her. Xander always seemed to go ga ga over every girl but her. She could see the same look in his eyes that shone when he first saw Buffy. . As Willow went to say hi, Buffy dragged her away from Hope.

“Will where is Giles?”

“Um, he is in his office, why?”

“I have to talk to him...”

At that moment Giles walked over to the group. “What do you need, Buffy?”

“Giles! Come meet the new girl.” Buffy pulled Hope over to where he was standing. “This is Hope. Hope, this is Giles.”

Giles looked at the girl and was about to speak but stopped. He just looked at her with the oddest expression. Buffy knew that he felt it too. Even though he was just a watcher, he too had a strong sense for weird, unexplainable things.

“Um, is there something wrong?” Hope asked.

“W-Whhat? Oh, uh, no. O..o-of course not,” he stumbled over his words. “Its nice to meet you, Hope.”

At that moment, the bell rang. “Oh look...the bell. Its time you kids got off to class.” Giles gestured to Xander, who immediately got the hint.

“Right. Class. Well, ha ha, We’d all better go then. Hope, may I escort your beautifulness there?” he asked, taking her hand.

“Jeez, drool much?” Cordelia muttered.

“You may,” she said, blushing. She turned to look at them. “Like I said, it was really nice to meet you all.”

“I’ll talk to you after class Hope. We can all eat lunch together!” Buffy said with half a smile. “Bye!”

The moment the two teenagers were gone, Buffy grabbed Giles’ arm.

“Okay, what the *hell* is going on? I get the weirdest sensation when I’m around her, and when we shook hands, I got warm tinglies all over my body. Something isn’t right here.”

Giles was at a total loss for words. “I...I don’t really know. I could feel it too. It really quite perplexing” He managed to say.

Cordelia sighed. “Well you guys can finish your little conversation alone. I’ve better things to do.” She said, leaving the library.

Willow grabbed her arm before she made it through the doors. “Stop, you have to stay here.”

“I don’t’ have to do anything,” she replied in her snobby voice.

“There is still a lot to be done, and now we have more things to worry about” Cordelia just stood there, looking at her. “You are going to say here and help us figure this all out. Now sit down and grab a book and start looking!” Willow commanded.

She didn’t want to stay, but she knew that they needed her. “Ugghh. Fine.” She walked over to the chair she had been sitting in and sat down with a plop.

“This is all giving me a major case of the wiggins. I have to find out more about Hope. Where she lives, where she used to live, if she has any kind of connection with the weird forces of the Hellmouth, or if she has any kind of connection with this prophecy.” Buffy said.

“I have an idea.” Cordy piped up. The three of them turned to look at her with disbelief. “Uggh! What?” she said with disgust. “Anyway,” she continued, ignoring them, “we should take her to the Bronze tonight. That way you can learn get more info about her.”

The Slayer thought for a moment. “That’s a real good idea Cordelia. Willow, you can bring Oz, and I can get Xander and we can take Hope...”

“*Excuse me*? *Who* came up with the idea?”

“We can take Hope *and* Cordelia to the Bronze.” Buffy plopped down next to Willow, who was searching on the net. “Any luck, Will?”

“No, not yet. Sorry, Buffy.”

“Its okay. Just keep searching. All of you should keep researching. Meanwhile, I’m going to go see Angel. I’ll be back before school get out,” she got up and grabbed her bag.

“Wait! Buffy!” Willow jumped out of her chair and grabbed the girls arm.

“What?” she asked, with a confused look.

“If Snyder finds out you have left, you’ll be toast. You have to stay here with Hope.”

“Oh God, I almost forgot!” Buffy groaned and slapped her forehead. She plopped back down in her chair. “Now what do I do?” At that moment, the bell rang. “Well, class is out. I have to find Xander and Hope.” She looked at the clock. It said 11:15. She glanced at Giles. “Giles, I can’t stay here all day long. There are more important things we have to get done.”

He pondered for a moment. “Well unless something happens, school won’t get out early.”

“School get out early, school get out early,” Buffy repeated quietly. “I’ve got it! Somehow I have to get school let out early. But how?”

“Well last time we had an early release it was because of a power outage. The school’s generator broke down.” a familiar male voice said.

Startled, they all looked at the door to see Oz standing there. “Uh, hey guys. Sorry, I didn’t mean to listen in to your conversation, but I couldn’t help overhearing.”

“That’s okay,” Willow said, her face lighting up when she saw him. She jumped up and gave him a hug. Buffy smiled. She was so happy for her friend. she thought.

“I ran into Xander a couple of minutes ago, and he briefly explained everything to me, and I thought I should come and see if you could use some help.”

“We definitely can. So what is this you said about the generator?” Asked Buffy.

“Well last year the power was cut off for a week because a couple of kids broke into the electrical room and busted it.” Oz said.

“Oh I remember that! They jammed it with a broom...right into the core of it.” Willow said.

“Well all I have to do then is somehow jam it again.” The Slayer said.

“Uh, and how do you expect to manage that? Since it happened the janitor put a big lock on the electrical room door, and I doubt that he is just going to *let* you in.” Said Cordelia.

“Than I will just have to break the lock, and I’ve got just the plan to do it.”

A piercing scream broke the usual lunchroom chatter. Everyone shot their heads in the direction of it.

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELP!!!!!!!!!” screamed the voice again.

Just then Cordelia jumped up on one of the tables and screamed. “SOMEONE CATCH IT!!! OH MY GOD IT’S DISGUSTING!!!!!”

Everybody stared at her in confusion. “Catch what?” a voice yelled.

“A RAT! ITS A RAT! OH MY GOD!” she screamed. Her outburst caused an uproar. Soon everyone was screaming and trying to get out of the room.

>From the corner door of the room, Buffy, Willow, and Oz crouched. When they saw Snyder and all the other staff run in to try and break up the chaos, Buffy whispered to her friend, “You ready?” and Oz responded, “Yep!” “Then let them go!” At her command, Oz opened the box and a dozen rats into the room, causing even more of an uproar. The three of them immediately left, so they wouldn’t be spotted.

“I have to give Cordy some credit. She is one good screamer.” Buffy said, laughing.

“I didn’t think it would work!” Willow giggled.

“Well the riot will only last so long so we’d better hurry.” They ran down the hall to the other end of the school to the electrical room.

When they got there, Buffy grabbed the lock. “Well here goes nothin’!” she said, and pulled down with all her strength. The lock broke open easily. Buffy smiled when she saw Oz’s eyes widen “Ha. Cheap locks. Gotta love em’.” Buffy opened the door and stepped inside. “Okay, keep a watch out.” she whispered.

“No prob.”

Buffy turned on the light, which caused dust to go flying everywhere. “Good Lord! Its like no one has been in here for a hundred years,” she coughed. Looking at the main power source, she thought to herself She leaned in for a closer look, and saw a big lever. She pulled down hard and it broke off. “Uh Oh!” she said, and the power when out. She turned on her flashlight and grabbed a stake out of her bag and rammed it into the machine. It started sparking and smoke rose from behind it.

“Buffy! Are you okay in there?” called Willow. She opened the door and Buffy came out, coughing. “We’d better get back to the library before someone catches us.” The Slayer nodded her head in agreement. She shut the heavy door and grabbed identical lock from her pocket that she had taken from Giles’ office and locked the door. They quickly left the scene.

“Whew! I’m so glad that worked!” Buffy said with relief as she walked through the doors of the library.

“Damn. I didn’t think you could do it.” Oz said with a smile.

“Oh..Buffy! I’m glad that your okay. The power when out and I wasn’t sure of what was going on...” he stopped speaking when he noticed her mischievous grin. “Oh dear. That was you?”

“A job well done! They won’t be able to fix that generator for a while, so it’s only a matter of time before we should be getting the notice to leave.”

Giles rubbed his temples. “Is that before or after your expelled?”

Ignoring him, she sat on the table. “All we have to do is wait.”

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