Though Separate Paths prologue 1b

TITLE:  Deep Dark Prologue 1b
AUTHOR:  Claudia MelGregory
DISCLAIMER:  All characters owned by Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. I own nothing.
PAIRINGS: Willow/OC/Tara eventually. Buffy/Faith. Dawn/Xander
SUMMARY: After Willow's Slayer Activation spell, an adversary's successful bid for vengeance has devastating and far reaching consequences for Willow, the Scoobies and for the world.
SPOILERS:  Everything is fair game.
DISTRIBUTION:  E-mail me please.
AUTHOR'S NOTES:  Angst. Hurt/Comfort/Horror - scenes from Sunny Dale high school taken from original Whedon script.
WARNING: Violence. Same Sex relationship. Het Relationships Dark fiction. And a lot of other things people might find Squicky ... I’ve always colored outside the lines. Mention of Child abuse
THANK YOU: To my wonderful and patient Beta Readers. lily_rose21 and antianira22
RATING:  NC 17 Not suitable for reader under 18. You have been warned.


Deep Dark Prologue 1b


MAY 2003 - WEST AFRICAN JUNGLE NEAR SUNSET

She tossed the two-way aside with disgust.

She'd been barking into that thing for almost an hour. No return ... just static and dead air.

Mulari stripped down to her skivvies, grabbed the jars of body paint and went to work, occasionally distracted by the continued crackle of static from the radio.

Howie wasn't one to tweak out on her. Especially not at the tail end of an operation.

It was getting close to crunch time. They'd agreed ... two months of radio silence ... and then a final check in. So where the hell is he?

She frowned while completing the makeup job on her face. She wore her long braids free and loose. They'd add to the camouflage effect.

She was ready. Mulari removed a quartz crystal from her pocket. She held it between thumb and forefinger as she'd been taught, and focused all her attention on it, letting tension drain from from her body, emptying her mind for the beat of ten seconds and then put the crystal away.

She crawled from her canvas tent and stretched.

The sun was just setting over the jungle horizon. From her view point, it was a giant ball of flame, as close as she ever wanted to get to it. Though the effects were lost on her and the aesthetics never quite pierced her conscious thought. The florescent orange streaks and purple splashes simply marked the time. Africa was no more than background setting for the latest play, props in place from stage right or left.

This play had been in the works for month and she'd done her run through over and over until she had it down pat, even in her sleep. There had been nothing else to keep her occupied, unless she'd wanted to converse with the monkeys or take up swinging through trees.

She figured the show was still on. There had been ample time to halt production, if it weren't, but still it'd been nice to have confirmation. Her eyes narrowed, she allowed a last peek into the tent. There sat the radio ... mocking her with silence.

What the hell, Howie? Fucking weak ass shit.

She disliked anything being off its mark. Everything about her thrived on routine. And it was routine for Howie to make a last contact, with a sign off of "Break a leg, Kid." Or "Knock'em dead." An old lame ass joke. Wasn't funny the first time he said it. Nor the last, but it was routine.

She never got stage fright, not since her first debut, but anything could go wrong in the opening act and missing a cue just wouldn't go over well on this gig.

Out here in the middle of Tarzanland with mosquitoes big as birds chewing on her ass and flowers too pretty to be anything but dangerous, she was on her own.

She slapped her forearm crushing a mosquito beneath her fingers. Mulari took a deep breath and cast one last look at the setting sun.

All right. Center stage, people.

*********************

21    INT.    BASEMENT AT SUNNYDALE HIGH, Sunndydale CA - DAY
Buffy joins Faith and the other potentials in the basement room where the Seal of Danzalthar is located. They form a circle around the edge of the seal. Buffy stands beside Faith.

FAITH
You first, B. (hands Buffy a knife)

Buffy sighs and takes the knife from Faith and uses it to cut the palm of her hand so that it bleeds. She hands the knife to Faith. Moments later, after all the girls have cut their hands, they all hold their cut hands out over the seal, activating it. It opens and parts sink into the ground forming a staircase into the hellmouth. Buffy goes in first, followed by Faith.

Cut to:

22    INT.    PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE AT SUNNYDALE HIGH - DAY
Willow is sitting on the floor of the Principal's office with a semi-circle of white candles lit in front of her. There are other candles in the room as well. Kennedy sits across from Willow, watching her.

WILLOW
They should be in place. (sits back with her hands on her knees) OK, magic time. You ready to, heh heh, kill me?

KENNEDY
Starting to be.

WILLOW
Good. Fun. Great. Brace yourself.

KENNEDY
(whispering) Come on, Red. Make it happen.

*****************

JUNGLE

Like trying to inhale volcanic winds.

She couldn't believe how hot it had gotten.

Sweat trickled down her arms and legs, built up a fine sheen on her light brown skin, painted to blend with foliage and earth, plastering the braids to the side of her face. At this rate the body paint would melt off, and she wouldn't need to worry about a hot soak later. Her arms trembled, body sluggish from thick oppressive heat.

She felt off. Like she was lying in vat of molasses. She didn't like the feeling. Mulari tried to ignore it. Trepidation--the sensation that something huge was about to happen, but she wasn't sure if that feeling were coming from below.

So far nothing had gone awry of the script. But that gut feeling remained.

A far cry from her usual instinctive 'pack up and get out dodge', gut sensation. It was unnatural, and more than once she felt the tiny hairs on the nape of her neck stand up as she observed the gathering below through night vision goggles.

The priests were dancing in a frenzy, ripping the garments from their lanky frames like crazed beasts desperate to shed their own skins. The Zanzu women retained their squatted positions thrusting their hips wildly in a mimicry of sexual passion. ... long spears held in their hands, the sharp heads rising and then lowering to strike the ground between their feet. Penetrating the earth. And the women moaned in time with each strike, as though they themselves were being penetrated by virile lovers.

Sweat dripped from Mulari's skin to the ground, and she caught a bead with a forefinger, before it could salt her eye.

The drum beat was exotic, lulling, hypnotizing ... and the temptation to close ones eyes and move with the rhythm was compelling.

Mulari swallowed her discomfort, forced her eyes to remain open and her body to remain still. Her hips fought the instinctive need to buck in time with the women below. To hump the ground. It took sheer will to not tear from her hiding place to join them below.

God. She just wanted this be over.

In her long career she'd felt nothing like it. Wave after wave of heat burned the air and she was thankful of having had the foresight to wear as little clothes for this as possible. The jungle could be hot enough on its own.

But this ...

********************


Cut to:

23    INT.    HELLMOUTH - DAY
Buffy, Spike, Faith and the other girls have climbed down through the seal into the hellmouth.

SPIKE
(looking at the amulet worn around his neck) Not to be a buzzkill, love, but my fabulous accessory isn't exactly tingling with power.

BUFFY
(psyching herself up as she looks around slack-jawed) I'm not worried.

SPIKE
I'm getting zero juice here and I look like Elizabeth Taylor.

FAITH
Cheer up, Liz. Willow's big spell doesn't work, it won't matter what you wear.

Buffy, Faith, Spike and the others walk forward to the edge of a cliff where they can look out and see thousands upon thousands of Turok-Han below them on the floor of the hellmouth.

BUFFY
I'm not worried.

The Turok-Han are growling and making noise as they mob below them. Spike backs up.

BUFFY
I'm not worried.

RONA
Really? 'Cause I'm flashing back to Xander's whole bathroom speech.

AMANDA
(frightened) Buffy—

BUFFY
I'm not worried...as long as Willow can work her spell before they— (the Turok-Han look up at Buffy and gang) see us.

The snarling Turok-Han army rushes toward the cliff where Buffy and gang are positioned.

******************

JUNGLE

Mulari tensed, feeling the atmosphere below her hiding place on the hill intensify.

She swiveled her head to the right, binoculars in place and spied the high priest approaching, with  the young celebrant. He dragged the young man along, kicking and screaming. But he seemed unmoved by his captive's unwilling participation in the rite. The drums and loud singing drowned out the sounds of the young man's cries.

She put away the binoculars and settled on viewing the scene below through the single scope.

Come on ... come on. She mouthed the words but gave them no sound. Time for the money shot.

The Priest and his captive stood just outside their sacred circle. She smiled as her target became perfectly aligned with the scope.

Action.

Muari's finger froze on the trigger. The air grew thick. A moth, fluttered in front of the scope's lens, wings rising and falling at a snail’s crawl.

Time trickled to a stand still before her eyes.

******************


24    INT.    HELLMOUTH - DAY
As the Turok-Han army advances toward Buffy and gang, Buffy holds her ground.

BUFFY
(under her breath) Willow...

Cut to:

25    INT.    PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE AT SUNNYDALE HIGH - DAY
Willow is performing a spell while holding onto the scythe laid out in front of her. Suddenly, she's overcome with power. She looks up, as the scythe and Willow start to glow with a bright white light.

WILLOW
(breathlessly) Oh...my...Goddess...

Cut to:

26    INT.    LIVING ROOM AT BUFFY'S HOUSE - DAY
FLASHBACK: Buffy is addressing a living room full of potentials and her friends.

BUFFY
So here's the part where you make a choice: What if you could have that power...now? In every generation, one slayer is born... because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men. This woman (points to Willow) is more powerful than all of them combined. (Willow whimpers) So I say we change the rule. I say my power...

Cut to:

26a    INT.    PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE AT SUNNYDALE HIGH - DAY
Kennedy sits up smiling and confident.

BUFFY (V.O.)
...should be our power.

Cut to:

26b    INT.    HELLMOUTH - DAY
Vi, Rona, Amanda close their eyes and breathe in with a start.

BUFFY (V.O.)
Tomorrow, Willow will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny.

Cut to:

26c    MONTAGE EXT. BASEBALL DIAMOND - DAY
A young woman stands at the plate staring at the pitcher, waiting to bat. She looks a little nervous.         

BUFFY (V.O.)
From now on, every girl in the world who might be a slayer...

INT. HIGH SCHOOL HALLWAY - DAY
A young woman breathes heavily as she leans on her locker for support.

BUFFY (V.O.)       
            will be a slayer.

INT. LIVING ROOM - DAY
A young woman is lying across the floor, having fallen out of her chair.

BUFFY (V.O.)
          Every girl who could have the power...

INT. DINING ROOM - DAY
In a Japanese-style dining room, a young woman stands up at family dinner.     

BUFFY (V.O.)
        will have the power... can stand up,

INT. BASEMENT - DAY
A young woman grabs the wrist of a man who's trying to slap her face, preventing him.     

BUFFY (V.O.)
          will stand up.

EXT. BASEBALL DIAMOND - DAY
The girl at the plate changes from nervous to confident, smiling as she waits for the pitch.

BUFFY (V.O.)
          Slayers... every one of us. Make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?

Cut to:

26d    INT.    PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE AT SUNNYDALE HIGH - DAY
The scythe is glowing white in Willow's hands.

Cut to:

27    INT.    HELLMOUTH – DAY
The Turok-Han rush toward Buffy and team as they stand on the cliff's edge waiting for battle.

VI (confidently) These guys are dust.

The Turok-Han army rushes Buffy's gang. Buffy fights them off with kicks and punches as usual, but the other potentials have super strength now as well.

Vi jumps and kicks a Turok-Han down.

Rona punches a Turok-Han in the face, knocking it down. Faith fights one off.

Amanda stakes a Turok-Han through the heart.

Vi beheads a Turok-Han.

Cut to:

28    INT.    PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE AT SUNNYDALE HIGH – DAY


Kennedy, smiling at her newfound power, looks around and stops in amazement when she sees Willow.

KENNEDY
Willow?

Willow's hair is completely white, and she's still glowing with white light from the spell. Willow's facial expression is one of divine ecstasy as she looks heaven-ward.

Willow pants as the power runs through her. When the scythe stops glowing, so does Willow.

Willow's hair is back to normal, but she herself is still recovering from the incredible experience of that spell.

KENNEDY
You...are a goddess.

WILLOW (smiles, weakly)
And you're a slayer. Get this to Buffy. Willow hands the scythe to Kennedy, who takes it and runs out of the office.

Willow sits there, panting, then collapses to her side, still smiling.

WILLOW
Ha! That was nifty.

**************

JUNGLE

Mulari gasped.

A burst of energy flooded her blood stream with white heat, dizzying like a quickening. The euphoric sensation enveloped her whole being and she could remember only one time before feeling anything similar. She'd been ten ... and the sensation had left her too quickly to hold it, leaving her shaken, numb, and empty.

But this time ... this time it felt different. It felt like it was there to stay.

The world sped up to normal time. Mulari was left with a stillness within, the kind of feeling she got after hours of meditation.

She eyed the target who was just seconds from entering the circle and fired. The sound muffled by silencer. The celebrant dropped, just as she'd watched him do, in the thousands of run-throughs in her head. She aimed a few centimeters left, the High Priest in her sight.

He stared dumbfounded at the useless corpse which lay at his feet.

And suddenly he raised his head in her direction. As though he were looking right at her, through her. Through the lens she saw his lips moved but couldn't make out what he was saying. But it was as though he were speaking directly to her. He smiled, an eerie curving of the lips that chilled her. Her heart thudded hard. But she grasped at that stillness again.

And took the shot. A head shot. The man dropped.

Mulari leaned to the right, driven by newborn instinct.

A spear whistled past her and imbedded into a nearby tree. Still riding on the instinct of this newly awakened awareness, she rolled to the left.

An arrow stuck in the imprint her body had left in the ground.

With the rifle and binoculars in hand, Mulari used her shoulders pushed off the ground and was on her feet. Chased by angry Zanzu, yodeling and screaming their wrath, she'd never been able to run this fast in her life.

She leapt over tree limbs, narrowly avoided rocks. Made impossible jumps, across wide ditches, never once losing her feet.

What is this? What's happening to me?

She could feel the arrows and spears flying at her back. She sensed where each would strike. She dodged, weaved, zigged and zagged, and not a missile struck true.

She wanted to laugh and cry. Untouchable. She was untouchable.

The angry shouts fell behind until she could no longer hear them. Mulari doubled back ... heading towards her camp. The tent came into sight. She stepped into the clearing. Feeling like a little celebration of her own was due.

Mulari froze. The hairs on her arm rose. And on the nape of neck.

She felt them before she could see them.

Live by the sword ...

Fitting she mused the day of her quickening would be the day of her death. In an instant she felt the stain of every gig, every perfect shot. She saw every face she'd ever sighted through the single lens of a rifle scope.

Whatever this was, firing the blood in her veins, making her feel invincible...

She was unworthy. And fate or whatever Gods and goddesses there might be had come to snatch back their gift.

Mulari remained still, as they stepped through the bushes. She dropped her weapon. Several Zanzu warriors surrounded her.

They were intimidating men to look upon in the day, tattoos burned into the flesh of their faces and bald heads. At night they looked ominous, like demons from hell raised to snatch away unwary souls. Eyes wild with bloodlust, rage and vengeance, because of her trespass, her blasphemy, the striking down of their high priest ... and the disruption of the ritual sacrifice.

Spears aimed ready to thrust.

Her chest rose and fell heavily ... heart hammering the last seconds of her life as though trying to get in as many beats as possible.

The spears flew. She braced herself, closed her eyes. And as seconds ticked by without the feeling of her flesh being pierced, she wondered if her heart had simply stopped before the first spear had struck.

She opened her eyes and was blinded by jewel green light.

The light faded.

And it was day in this strange afterlife.

Mulari found herself hovering over a crater, floating. Below the remains of buildings, and cars, houses, trees partially buried beneath the rubble of rock, stone and dirt jutted into view. As though the earth had opened its mouth and swallowed a city. Off to the side, she could just make out a green highway sign, the words, indiscernible, emblazoned in white. The green sign, rocked and then tumbled into the crater, below.

She gasped, fearing she would be following the sign next.

Mulari averted her gaze, forcing herself not to look down. Staring straight ahead, she made out the image of a yellow bus, a school bus coming into focus. A small group of women and two men stepped from the vehicle, looking tired and battle worn. Some were wounded. They didn't appear to see her, as they huddled around a short blonde bleeding from a cut on her forehead and what looked like a stab wound in side. The small group looked to the petite blonde woman for answers.

And then they stared out over the crater.

"Hey! Hey! Can you see me?" Mulari called to them. She waved her arms frantically. But they looked passed her and through her until she gave up.

When suddenly one of them broke away from the group.

None of the others seemed to notice as the redhead stepped off the cliff and walked on the air. She approached Mulari with a smile, that was bright and sunny, but the depth in her eyes bespoke of ancient knowledge and something chilling.

Magic used to be 'Once upon a time' fairy tales. When Mulari was a little girl her mother had shared those stories with her at bedtime. The Zanzu had opened her eyes. She'd seen Zanzu magic which had defied imagination. Perhaps that kind of sudden enlightment might have driven another person insane.

She’d kept her focus on the mission.

The job ... the mission had always been important.

This, she eyed the redhead with awe, is different.

"You should be more careful," The dream woman said. The apparition stopped right in front of her ... reached out with a hand that passed through Mulari's face.

Mulari felt the warmth of the intended contact like the mild brush of a gentle spring breeze.

“Are you a goddess?” Mulari whispered, feeling a tightening in her chest, that brought a stinging of moisture to her eyes.

“Funny.” The redhead grinned, “I’ve been called that before.”

For a moment the woman’s hair seemed to transform to a pale white, her eyes black and then silvery before, hair and eyes changed back to red--green.

Mulari felt overwhelmed and small in the face of such a presence. “I’ve sinned,” Mulari whispered, head bowed. "Forgive me."

“Can’t be that bad.” The redhead, sighed, looked past Mulari. “Doubt you tried to end the world.

"You don't know what I am," Mulari whimpered. “What I’ve been.”

"We all have blood on our hands."

Mulari shuddered, feeling a sharp tug at her center.

No. She wasn’t ready to go. Not yet.

"You wanna live forever?"

It was odd question to ask. Since Mulari was certain that she was already dead and maybe hovering over her own passage to hell.

"We all gotta die sometime," she told the goddess.

"Maybe." The apparition's smile was wider and warmer. Mulari felt her heart squeeze. "But not today."

And with those words said Mulari fell. A soundless scream on her lips as she flailed arms and legs. She couldn’t close her eyes as she crashed through what may have been the remains of a town, through debris, rock, dirt, and rubble ... earth.

Something touched her, passed through her, swept over her and clung with an electric tingle, almost as overwhelming as having been in the presence of a deity.

Mulari sucked in a sharp breath. Her eyes closed.

The falling stopped. There was no sudden painful thump, with her body shattering into millions of pieces or her insides exploding everywhere.

She had simply stopped.

She opened her eyes again. The warriors stood stock still staring at her with horror. And with good cause as the spears hovered in the air just centimeters from piercing her flesh, just floating on the air. She raised her right hand and pushed one of the floating spears aside and stepped out of the deadly circle of missiles. The spears crashed to the ground. The warriors yelped, screaming in terror and with a single glance at her and then each other, they fled.

She blinked once then twice, feeling the sensation of walking through a dream. She stared at the spears scattered harmlessly on the ground.

Mulari walked numbly into her tent to find her radio still crackling with static. Picking it up with trembling fingers, she attempted the call in.

"Slay Baby here. over." Nothing. Her voice shook. "Uncle ... are you reading me? Over." Her shoulders drooped. "The show's over.” Mulari’s voice rose, sounding panicked, bordering on hysteria. “The curtain fell. And I gotta standing O, you fucking bastard! Answer me!"

She tossed the useless device aside. A sob welled up from deep within her. Tears she hadn't cried since her mother's death, fell. Mulari dropped her face into the palms of her hands.

What's happening to me?