Title: What Was
Author: Kate R.
Series: God Crystal (Prologue)
Pairings: A/J, C/S, G/E, W/T, X/S, H/P, A/H, Z/H, W/A possibly more. Uncertain as of yet.
Rating: PG-13 to R
Summary: The God Crystal must be found to end the twilight
Disclaimer: own nothing and no one used herein
Fire all around. Burning, gasping, choking, spitting. It burned their lungs had they actually needed to breathe. Which something told the observer, they did not.
"CUPID!" A deep, male voice bellowed. "Get the baby and Strife and get yourselves back into that temple! You can't help!"
"But Dad!" the observer heard the voice of Cupid cry.
"You Can NOT help Cupid!" a female voice shouted over the din. "Please baby, take Bliss and go into the temple. Everything will be all right!"
He went. Not happily, the observer could tell, but he went. And the fury that was battering the beings got worse suddenly. And he could see in the fury, a storm of Angel wings. And suddenly he was glad he was a lapsed catholic. His attention was however drawn back to the group standing in the large, open area of this mountainous place. 16 being stood in a circle. Or, more accurately, 15 beings stood in a circle and surrounded a lone being. The lone being carried a Staff that he whirled above his head while the other beings fed energy into the air around them. The staff seemed to be drawing the energy into it when suddenly, the man struck down with the pointed end of the staff. When it struck the ground, there was an incredibly bright flash of light.
A flash so bright that the observer had to shield his eyes and pray. When the power surging outwards stopped, he looked at this vision again and saw only silence. The beings that had been in a circle seemed to have fallen where they stood. Floating above them now was a beautiful, swirling crystal of all colors and shades. It pulsed over the mountain before flaring bright and then solidifying and hovering over the staff, still slammed into the ground. All the Observer felt was a terrible sense of loss and pain. Cupid's voice came again. Shaking the shoulders of a woman and man before he threw his head back and screamed.
"NNNNOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!" his wail screamed around all the beings still awake on this place. The observer could tell the beings were only sleeping and he watched as the ones left awake carried the fifteen into temples around them. The one who had used the staff could not be moved. It was not certain why. The observer felt it was due to the Crystal. The Crystal had been brought in to being by his act of energy pooling. It would remain where it was, as would he.
"WAKE THEM!" sounded in his mind a split instant before the scream of a telephone woke him. He sat bolt upright gasping as the pain and fear he'd felt from cupid and the desperation he'd felt from those 16 beings, continued to slam and roll around him. Slowly, easily, his breathing became less labored and he reached for the phone.
"Hello?" he asked.
"Rupert?" a voice on the other end said. "We have a job for your Slayer and her team. Specifics will be arriving at your apartment today."
The call ended abruptly and he gasped as his breathing continued to slow.
What the hell had that been he wondered? He had a feeling that the dream and the mission were somehow connected. Rupert Giles felt his breathing finally slow as he heard again in his mind the command/plea: "Wake Them"
"I will," he whispered. He did not know how he knew but he knew it was imperative to wake those beings. Something told him it was desperately needed.
"I swear I will find the way."