*Justin*
"It is not working."
"The boy is six years old. You thought it would?"
Again, I watched the strange man and woman as they paced back and forth in the white room. This time, I looked around, trying to get a clear look of where I was so that I could tell Daddy, or whoever the man I was staying with was, something he could use.
The room I was in was simple. The floor and walls where made of white tiles with gray designs. There was an opening-- no doorways-- in the middle of the back wall. After that, it was a long corridor of which I could not see the end of. The corridor walls were really lots of archways one after the other made of the same tiles as the walls.
I then turned my attention to the man and woman. They were both dressed in black. The woman had curly black hair, adorned with a golden accessory, and the man had blonde hair, slicked back as if with gel.
But what called my attention the most was their skin. Were they really human? I started doubting my referring to them as man and woman. They had golden skin, streaked with blue designs. As they talked to each other, they walked slowly in zigzags across the room.
The... female... stopped walking and turned to me. "You do not know your purpose," she stated. It was not a question.
I shook my head wordlessly.
She rested a hand on my head and closed her eyes. "He is confused," she said as she turned to the male. "He knows nothing of what to do."
The male raised an amused eyebrow. "That was obvious. Humans are so simple."
Ignoring him momentarily, the female turned back to face me. "It was not his time yet," she said.
"You must stop him from dying," the male continued.
"The Powers do not yet realize this, but they will."
"You must warn him."
"He is crucial to the survival of your Earth."
"Without him, the Slayer does not function properly."
"Besides," the female added. "It's Christmas."
By the time I finally found my voice to try and ask some questions, I was awake again. Or back in the apartment, depending on what it is that happened. I shook my head to clear some sleep and got out of the bed. I found Daddy asleep on the couch, snoring softly.
I didn't want to, but I gently shook him, trying to wake him. "Daddy?" I called softly.
At first, he didn't respond, but after several moments, his eyes opened. He looked at me with a frown and then blinked the sleep out of his eyes. With a small chuckle, he stood up. I wondered why he chuckled. He must have seen the question in my eyes because he smiled and answered.
"I could've sworn you just called me 'Daddy,'" he explained.
I nodded, but didn't really respond. "I saw the strange people again," I said.
Daddy blinked in surprise. "Did you now?"
Again, I nodded eagerly. I explained to him everything I could remember about what happened and he listened in rapt attention. Realization suddenly seemed to dawn on him. Did he know what it was now?
"The Oracles."
I cocked my head to the side. "What's that?"
I really didn't care. I just wanted to do whatever it was they wanted me to do and go home with my real mommy. Despite what everyone had said about me being really smart for my age, I was just a little kid inside who wanted his parents. I see this now that I have time to sit and think about it.
Daddy smiled and shook his head. "Forget about it." He glanced out the window and I turned to look outside with him. The sun was just barely starting to go up. Besides that, I saw nothing of importance and turned to look at him again.
"Come on," he said. "We have to get to the rest of the guys now before the sun comes up."
I frowned but didn't question it. We got to a house about five minutes later. Daddy was going fast, as if worried about something. He knocked urgently on the door. It didn't open until about two minutes later. It was Grandpa Giles.
He seemed to awake completely at that very moment and let us inside. "Angel, what a surprise. How may I help you?" He stole a glance at me, but said nothing.
"Has Buffy told you what happened?" Daddy asked.
Grandpa Giles nodded. "Vaguely, yes. I frankly don't see what we can do to help. If his parents are... gone, I think we should hand him over to the police and have them do whatever it is that they're supposed to do."
"We can't do that, Giles," Daddy disagreed. He looked at me with a slight frown. "He talks to the Oracles."
Grandpa Giles' eyes widened considerably. "The Oracles?" he said in awe. "Why... oh, my. Not anyone can talk to the Oracles. You must be pure. A... a true warrior. They... the Powers..."
"I know," Daddy said.
I blinked, feeling way too confused. Oracles? Powers? It was normal for Grandpa Giles to stutter, but this... well, let's just say he was awed. He looked directly into my eyes, as if trying to read my thoughts.
"What did they say to you?" he asked me.
"It was not yet his time," I answered.
Grandpa Giles frowned. "His? Who, um, who is he?"
I shrugged. They hadn't told me. They had just assumed that I would know. I figured they might be talking about Daddy, but they had said something about a Slayer. Who was the Slayer?
"Justin," Daddy said, setting me down on the couch and crouching down in front of me. "Who was your father?"
******
*Angel*
I was surprised to see him point at me. "You."
I looked up at Giles with a frown and then back at Justin. "Me?"
Justin nodded. "And my mommy is called Buffy. We live in a big house in Sunnydale, California," he said, as if feeling proud.
"I think you're confused," I told him. "Buffy and I don't have any kids. Certainly not a six year old."
Justin shrugged. "We wanted Mommy to make us spaghetti for dinner," he said. I turned my head to the side, waiting for him to continue. "But she had no sauce, so she sent us to get it. Only when we were leaving the store, we were attacked and..." he stopped with a sob, "the bad men with weird faces twisted your neck. You fell and never woke up."
I glanced up at Giles. "You think he's from an alternate dimension?" I asked.
Giles shook his head. "I think he's from the future."
I would've laughed if the situation had been any different. The future? What kind of sick joke was Fate playing on us? I was a vampire, I could have no children. Yet, here he was, standing in front of me, telling me of my final death. Why was he here?
Running a hand over my face, I stood up and walked over to one of Giles' books. I took it and handed it to him. "Read, research, do whatever you do. Just... figure this out. I wanna know what's going on, and I wanna know now."
Giles looked down at the book. "I think there is an easier way to figure this out," he said softly.
I raised an eyebrow, waiting for him to tell me.
He looked up at me with a serious expression. "You must speak to the Oracles."