Betaed by Maria and Flight Of Fancy.

One night, Kendra got into a fight while trying to stop some vampires from robbing a mausoleum. Though she managed to dust several of the vamps, in the end she lost, because one of the vamps managed to escape into the night with a cloth-wrapped packaged clutched to his chest.

After a short chase, she realized that she had lost the vamp with the package, and decided to go back to the mausoleum to see how much damage the vampires had done. She was pleased to see that the destruction was minimal. It was clear they were very focused on their task and didn’t take extra time to smash anything else in the crypt. I'd better get a note to the caretaker about this.

Kendra cast the beam of her flashlight into the hole in the wall made by the robbers. At the far end, hidden behind a second little wall, was an old yellowed cloth that was wrapped around something.

Kendra quickly realized that her arms weren’t long enough to pry the package from the hole.
Looking around, she scanned the room for tools she could use. There, I can use that. She smiled and went over to collect the crowbar that one of the vamps had discarded on the floor. The package had been well protected in its hiding place, but she was able to knock over the inner wall without much trouble. She laughed to herself as she finally pulled her prize free, taking her time and working carefully to make sure she didn’t damage whatever it was that she had found.

The Slayer from the tropics had changed since arriving in Sunnydale. Making friends for the first time in her life had allowed her to develop confidence in herself. She became more relaxed and free, no longer taking everything so seriously and often laughing and smiling.

She laid the packet on a sarcophagus, and then used skills taught by her first Watcher to carefully unwrap what she had found. It came as no surprise when Kendra discovered the wrapping was hiding a book. That's what she'd guessed, just from the shape of the package. Well then, this is off to Mr. Giles. I know he'll want to see it right away. Hired as her temporary Watcher when Kendra arrived in Sunnydale, Giles continued to support and guide her, and she knew how very excited he became whenever he received a new book or piece of parchment.

Kendra was right. Giles got excited. From what he could tell, the book was written in several languages, and there were only a few words that he could translate right away. He was able to understand just enough to know that the prophecy was about a Slayer. He spent the next few weeks trying to translate the book, while Cordelia Chase finally got lucky and met up with Angel at the Bronze. Willow also made a new friend, one she hoped would be more than a friend with time. “She was so excited about her new relationship that she could hardly talk about anything but Oz and the band he played with.”

It took a lot of time, but Giles was slowly able to make some headway in the translation. He found that every success led to a greater understanding of the total prophecy. It was now clear that the prophecy was about two Slayers working together. Giles had to question the translation at that point. There had never been two Slayers in the world at the same time, well, aside from the current situation where Buffy was alive in body, though not in spirit. Giles didn't see how the prophecy could possibly be fulfilled, but failure seemed to promise an apocalypse.

After Giles had been working on the prophecy for a few weeks, he called Joyce's home to invite Kendra to a sundown meeting at his home. Though he was Kendra's Watcher, Joyce had made it clear that she felt it was inappropriate for the young girl to be living with a single older man. Xander was also phoned, and was asked to bring Cordelia with him. A final call to Willow, who would make sure Angel knew about the meeting, and everyone had been invited.

-----------------------

It was Joyce who answered the phone when Giles phoned to invite Kendra to the Scooby meeting. Since she didn’t want to be left out, she invited herself along by offering to bring snacks for the group. “You can’t live on doughnuts, even if Xander wants to. What time should we be there?” Joyce asked.

“Just after sundown, Dear.”

“We’ll see you then.”

----------------------------------

Joyce and Kendra were the first to arrive at the house that night. “Sorry we’re early, but there were fewer people in the grocery store than I expected.”

“That’s quite alright, Joyce. How are you, Kendra?”

“I’m fine, Mr. Giles.”

“Will you help me with the snacks, Kendra?” Joyce asked.

“Sure, Mrs. Su...Joyce.” She looked down, embarrassed.

Joyce laughed a little and gave her the bags. “Will you take them to the kitchen? I’ll join you in a minute.”

Joyce allowed Giles to help her with her coat. “Are you okay, Rupert? You look tired.”

“Yes, I confess I am somewhat tired. I’ve been researching around the clock for weeks now. It’s so exciting. I never suspected that part of the prophecy would be realized in my own lifetime. For some reason I thought it might have been set in the past, or perhaps far into the future. I’m not positive though, and that’s why I have called this meeting.” The Watcher turned to hang up her coat

“Then I think you should relax a little, while Kendra and I get some snacks ready for the gang. They’ll be here soon. Would you like a cup of tea?”

“If you don’t mind?”

“Not at all. One cup of tea, coming right up.” Smiling, she went into the kitchen.

A little later, the three of them were sipping warm drinks and sitting in comfortable silence. On the table in front of them were plates filled with assorted snacks.

The quiet didn’t last long. Shortly after the sun went down, Xander stormed through the door with his body half turned towards Willow, who followed at a slower pace. Oz and Cordelia trailed in as the childhood friends were taking off their coats.

“Yeah! Healthy snacks,” Xander grumbled sarcastically, while rubbing his hands.

Joyce looked up at him and smiled. “It’s good for you, Xander. You’re starting to get a belly,and it doesn't become you.”

Xander looked down and felt his stomach. After one last look at the treats on the table, he sat down and didn’t mention snacks again for the rest of the evening.

Joyce offered the group a choice of tea or cocoa, and Willow followed her into the kitchen to help make the hot beverages. Willow loved spending time with Joyce, and frequently wished that Joyce was her mom. Xander had the same wish, but he was trying to be manly and wouldn’t admit it, even to himself. What both of them were overlooking, was that it was only since the attack that Joyce had cut down on her travel for the gallery and really started paying attention to Buffy.

They were all relaxing with their hot beverages when Cordelia broke the silence. “So, why were we all asked to come here on a perfectly fine evening? Until you called, I was out shopping for a new outfit for a party my parents are giving in a week.”

The Watcher frowned at the young socialite. “We are waiting for Angel to arrive, and then we’ll begin.”

“Why did you invite him?” Xander, spat out.

“We need him, Xander.”

“We don’t need him. He’s not part of the group.” Xander looked as if he had just bit into a lemon.

“He’s lived for a long time, Xander. He knows a lot more than we do,” Giles explained.

Xander refused to reply, looking down at his lap, where his hands were tightly fisted. There was nothing to say. Giles was right.

“Excuse me, but who is Angel?” Joyce looked around at the surprised faces.

Giles got her attention by touching her hand. “You mean to say that you don’t know Angel? That you haven’t yet met him?”

“No, I don’t think so.”

“He’s a bloodsucking, evil, disgusting thing, and not to be trusted.” There was no doubt about the disgust in the young man’s voice.

“Xander! Stop it.” Willow stroked his arm in an effort to calm him down.

Joyce was confused by the mixed messages she was receiving from the group.

Giles cleared his throat, took off his glasses, and started to polish them. ”Well, you see, Angel is a vampire. He works with us.”

“But vampires are evil!” Joyce appeared shocked.

“That’s what I said.” Xander crowed triumphantly.

“Mrs. Summers, Angel has a soul. He’s a good vampire,” Willow hurried to explain the souled vampire’s unique condition, before Xander started up with his harassment. She knew him, had for years, and knew the blind hatred he was capable of. Thank God, I got over my crush on him, she thought to herself. Oz is so much better looking.

Finally, there was a knock on the door. The last guest had arrived.

Giles opened the door. “Angel, come in.” Angel immediately walked over to Joyce.

“Mrs. Summers, I’m Angel. A friend of Buffy’s.” They shook hands.

“I didn’t get your last name?”

“It’s just Angel.”

“Or Angelus part of the scourge of Europe. Evil undead. Killer of thousands,” Xander informed Joyce maliciously.

“That’s enough, Xander. If you can’t hold your tongue, or at the very least be polite, you can leave.” Giles was irritated by Xander’s rudeness. The Scooby gang was used to it, but Joyce was not.

The young man looked hurt. “But...But.”

“No, Xander. No more,” Giles said firmly. “Either you sit down and keep quiet, or you leave.”

Xander started to open his mouth.

Giles raised his hand. “No.”

Though angry and frustrated, Xander sat down, head bowed. He realized that if he wanted to stay, he had to shut up. For now.

“Do you want a cup of tea or cocoa, Mr. Angel?”

“Just Angel, Mrs. Summers, and no, thank you.” He took a seat, as far away from Xander as possible.

“Now that we’re all here, we can start.” Giles leaned over to pick up a package from the table. ”This is a book that Kendra found a couple of weeks ago.” He set the package down again, and put on a pair of surgical gloves. “I have been trying to translate it, since it was brought to me. It’s very old and a bit fragile. That is why I will be the only one to touch it. Is that understood?”

Giles looked around at the people gathered in his home. “It is in several old languages, and it has been difficult to translate.” He closed the book and lay it carefully down on the cloth-covered table. “I have written some examples of the different languages down. I was hoping that you might recognize some of them, Angel.” He handed a sheet of paper to Angel.

“I’m sorry. I don’t recognize any of them.” Angel gave the paper back to Giles.

“It was worth a try.” He replaced the single sheet of paper with a writing pad. “The book is mostly about a Slayer, though I haven’t found out which one, yet. However, I’m confident that it will become clearer with time, and the number of words translated. One other thing that I have come to realize, is that there are two prophecies in the book. One of the prophecies appears to be about Kendra.” He looked up. There was only silence, even from Kendra. The group just sat there, waiting for him to continue. “What I have thus far is:

Slayer------Dark----
-------------------island.
-- -------------------------
Work---------------------
-----------------------light.
----------------------------
----------------------------
----------------------------
The slayer----------dead.
---------------------slayer.

That’s all I have. I’ve worked on it for weeks now, and I think it might be important. The other prophecy, I believe can wait, since it talks about a golden haired Slayer, and as we all know, Kendra is dark haired. I would like your help to translate the rest of the prophecy.”

Kendra was the first to talk. “Am I going to die, Watcher?”

Giles took off his glasses, and rubbed his brow with his free hand. “We will do our best to prevent that. As we know from recent conversations, a prophecy can be changed.”

Joyce laid a comforting hand over Kendra’s. “I can’t research, but I can keep the food and drinks coming.”

“We should start right away,” Willow said, smiling.

Xander jumped in. “Where are the books, G-man?”

It didn’t take long before the table was covered with books. They had to stop early in the evening though, as the children still had to attend school, or they would have Snyder on their backs. When school was out again, they gathered once more at Giles’ place. Joyce had already been there with snacks and was also taking care of shopping for dinner for all of them.

Once dinner had been served, and the washing up taken care of, Joyce left by herself to pay Buffy a visit, as she did every night. After saying goodnight to Buffy, she returned to the research party before she went home. The Slayer's mom then got an update on the progress the team had made, so she could plan meals for the next day.

In the beginning, they were translating at least two words each day. One day, Xander decided to start guessing at the words. Surprisingly, the technique seemed to be working, and the group found that Xander’s guesses were right almost half the time. In under two weeks, it seemed that the prophecy had been translated. The final result was:

Slayer with dark skin.
Coming from the island.
Came out of sleep.
Work together.
With The Eternal Light.
Close to the changeling.
Forever will stay gone.
The slayer is dead.
Long live the slayer.

Kendra was scared. She believed that the prophecy foretold that she was going to die in some upcoming battle. Everyone in the group tried to comfort and support her, but they really weren’t very successful.

-------------------------------------

Everyone agreed to take the weekend off before starting to decipher the rest of the text. Oz and his band, The Dingos, had a gig at the Bronze, and Willow and Xander headed to the club with them. Willow was happy for a chance to gaze at her boyfriend, and Xander was hoping to bump into some beauty on the dance floor.

Cordelia joined the group partway through the evening. In her normal, self-absorbed way, she showed no interest in anyone in the group, and simply asked them if they had seen Angel, and if they knew whether he was planning to show up at the popular club that night.

Joyce chose to head to the hospital during her break. She used the extra time to brush her daughter’s hair to a fine sheen, and massage a lubricating lotion into her skin because it was starting to become dry.

Giles went out to get some adult company, and enjoy an alcoholic drink or two. His break didn’t last long though. Giles was too much of a Watcher to stay away from the prophecy for more than a couple of hours. Parts of the prophecy were easily deciphered, but the majority of the document remained a mystery to him. Giles hoped that others would have more success solving the prophecy’s code.

Much to Giles’ chagrin, he knew that the Slayer and her friends were often very good at solving the mystical puzzles they ran into. Unfortunately, the gang wouldn’t be there until after school was out the next day. Even Kendra was enrolled in school at Joyce’s insistence. Giles would just have to be patient.

That night, Giles couldn't sleep. He tossed and turned, time and again, trying to figure out what this latest challenge would mean for his Slayer.

It was almost light outside when he jumped up from his bed with an idea. The other prophecy might hold the key. Maybe they are linked. He got dressed and put the kettle on, then found his papers and the book. It wasn’t long before he was settled down at the table and had completely forgotten about his morning tea. So much so, that he was startled when the kettle whistled. Distracted for only a moment, Giles made himself a cup of tea, and then promptly forgot it.

Giles started to compare the translated prophecy with the one that he had put aside for later, and quickly realized that it would take ages to translate the second one. It was three or four times longer than the first. I don’t think we’ll ever get it translated without more help, and then we will need to understand it. Why can’t the Powers write prophecies in plain English, or at least in one language? Why in God's name does it have to be in riddles? Giles felt like throwing the book at the wall but, like the proper Englishman that he was, he restrained himself.

The others would be there soon, and he didn’t know what to do, what to tell them. He hoped that together they could come up with an answer, although he had a bad feeling about this prophecy. It was the same feeling he had experienced before, when he read about the Master killing Buffy. Somehow he knew, everything was about to change yet again.