Night Falls

Notes: This is the final chapter. Thanks to all who have read and reviewed. I appreciate all of your comments and support. Shortly, I will begin posting my next story, Animatus, which, according to my internet research, should be the past participle of animare, which is Latin for "to make alive." At any rate, it will be a Buffy/Faith story, set in season four, around the premise that zombies have invaded Sunnydale. I hope you all enjoy it, as I hope you've all enjoyed this story as well. Thanks for reading!

Previously:

Spike suddenly stopped fighting and looked down with awe and dread at the medallion hanging around his neck. Something was happening. An intense pain flooded his chest and he screamed in agony. Faith was by his side in a matter of seconds. "What's wrong?" She asked concernedly.

"I think it's working," Spike forced out, despite the pain. "I can feel my soul," he said with wonder. "It kinda stings." Suddenly, a white light issued forth from the medallion. The ground began to shake. A rumble roared up from the earth and everything started to collapse.

Epilogue: Where Do We Go From Here?

Colleen ran through the darkened tunnel, following the smell of death and the sound of violence. Suddenly, a brilliant, white light illuminated the passageway. She could see the Slayers just ahead of her. The fighting had stopped, as everyone turned to face the light. She could not see Maria among them. "Maria!" She shouted, over the deafening roar of the earth shaking. She strained to hear any reply, but all she heard was a sound akin to the rushing of a freight train. Finally, she heard her name being called over the din.

"Colleen!" A weaker voice yelled. "Aqui!" Colleen ran, following the voice along the outskirts of the group, until she came upon her friend. Maria was lying against the wall, her face bloodied. She held her arm close to her chest and Colleen could see that it was badly mangled.

"We have to get you out of here," she murmured, slipping the girl's good arm around her shoulders. Pulling Maria to her feet, she glanced up, and saw Spike standing alone in the center of a beam of light. The beam was coming from the medallion that hung around his neck.

"The others?" Maria asked as Colleen lifted her to her feet.

"They'll be okay," Colleen answered. Suddenly, the light expanded, its golden glow encompassing everything in the room. The Turok-Hans issued a collective wail, scrambling to avoid the light. As the beams touched them, they burst into flames, the dust of their disintegrating bodies filling the air. Colleen heard Buffy's voice clearly over the wail of the vampires.

"Everybody get out!" Buffy yelled, struggling to be heard. The girls turned from the site of the battle and fled, running back through the passageway, and towards the Seal. Colleen pulled Maria into the crowd, her feet carrying them both towards salvation.

"What the hell is going on?" Faith asked, looking back at Buffy, who watched with awe as the vampires exploded into dust.

"I don't know," Buffy said. "But we have to get out of here."

"What about Spike?" Faith asked, gesturing back towards the bleach blonde vampire.

"It's alright," Spike said calmly. "Go on now."

"What?" Faith questioned.

"I think I understand everything finally," Spike smiled. "About being a champion. Having a soul isn't enough. You have to know what to do with it. And you have to know when it's time."

"We can still get you out of here," Buffy argued.

"No, you can't," Spike shook his head. "And don't give me that look," he said, cutting off Faith before she spoke. "It's been fun and all, but I've gotta clean up the mess."

"If you stay here, you'll die," Faith reminded him.

"I think I've lived quite long enough," Spike said. "I'd get outta here if I were you, this place is coming down."

Buffy grabbed Faith's arm and pulled her back towards the passageway. Spike looked up as the roof above him began to collapse. The school was falling. Already, through the rubble falling down into the pit, he could see blue sky. The sun was shining. It was morning. The medallion shone brighter as the sunlight fell upon it. Spike smiled and closed his eyes. "Besides," he added to himself, "I want to see how it ends."

……………………………..

As Buffy and Faith joined the crowd of girls pulling themselves up through the hole in the Seal, Faith felt Buffy's hand leave her shoulder. The pulsing crowd pushed them apart and Faith lost sight of her lover. Some of the girls were too injured to climb up through the hole without aide and Faith lingered behind, lifting them up. Finally, when she was the only one left, she looked back down the passageway. She could no longer see Spike. Jumping up, she grabbed the sides of the floor, and pulled herself through the hole. The ground began to shake with more intensity. She felt herself falling back down for a moment, but gathering her strength, she hurled herself out of the Hellmouth.

Rising to her feet, she began to run. She charged through the passages, up the stairs, and through the door. The ground around her began to sink. The roof was collapsing. The building was falling in on itself. Faith ran harder, pushing her way through the kitchen and down the hallway, towards the front door. As she was running, a form in front of her caught her attention. Skidding to a stop, she noticed a hand sticking out from under a pile of rubble. She knew that she had to run, but she did not want to leave anyone behind. Reaching down, she removed a heavy piece of the roof. The girl's face became clear to her and she grabbed her by the arms, pulling her out.

"Hailey?" She asked, desperately searching her arm for a pulse. Sighing with relief, she found a weak, but steady pulse beating underneath the older girl's skin. Throwing the unconscious girl over her shoulder like a fireman, Faith ran from the building. She had just burst through the front doors when the school collapsed behind her. She resisted the urge to look back and, instead, charged towards the bus. It was starting to pull away as she threw Hailey on and climbed aboard. Buffy was at her side within moments.

"I thought I lost you," she said, throwing her arms around Faith. Faith smiled and buried her face in Buffy's hair, losing herself in the smell of vanilla.

"I'm still here," she said softly, closing her eyes. The bus rambled forward, over streets that were starting to crack and sink.

"Are we gonna make it out of here?" Xander asked from his seat behind Wesley, who was driving the bus.

"I have absolutely no idea," Wesley replied, gritting his teeth, as the bus bumped and jolted its way over the forming fault lines.

"Very reassuring," Xander muttered.

"Help me with her," Faith said, pulling out of her embrace with Buffy. Reaching down, the Slayers hauled Hailey to her feet and carried her to the back of the bus, where Willow was resting.

"Is she okay? Is she alive?" Willow asked with alarm, wiping tears from her eyes. They had been waiting on the bus for the others when the school began to collapse. With dread, she watched the other Slayers board the bus, but did not see Hailey. The bus had started to move when Faith jumped on board, but Willow had not noticed her lover in Faith's arms. She had thought that Hailey had died in the school, or else had been left behind. But upon seeing her lover's pale face, hope rekindled in Willow's heart.

"She's alive," Faith confirmed. "I found her under some rubble. The roof collapsed on her."

"First the Watcher's Council headquarters and now this," Buffy said, shaking her head, "it's a wonder she isn't phobic about multi-story buildings."

Hailey stirred, her eyes fluttering open as Buffy and Faith laid her down on the seat next to Willow. "Where am I?" She asked weakly, staring up at the roof of the bus with a confused expression on her face.

"You're on the bus," Willow said, tears of joy now escaping from her eyes. Smiling, she leaned down and kissed Hailey gently on the forehead. "You made it."

"The wheels of the bus go round and round," Hailey murmured, struggling to sit up. "I think I hit my head."

"You did. Must have been pretty damn hard," Faith nodded. Willow helped her lover into a seated position. Hailey blinked several times, looking around the bus at the people who survived. She smiled when she saw Colleen, Maria, and Kennedy.

"We won?" She asked, after several long moments.

"We won," Buffy replied, lowering herself into a seat in front of Willow. Turning around, she looked at Hailey. "How do you feel?"

"A little dizzy," Hailey answered. "And my head hurts. But that's nothing new."

"I feel ya," Faith muttered. "I still get migraines from that first damn explosion. Slayer healing my ass," she grumbled.

"So what happened?" Hailey asked, glancing around at her friends.

"The medallion worked," Buffy said, sighing heavily.

"So where's Spike?" Willow asked, noticing that the blonde vampire was not on the bus.

"He's gone," Faith said softly, looking down at the floor. Hailey exhaled slowly, a deep sadness filling her heart. She had hoped to see Spike again when the battle was over. She could almost envision she, Faith, and Spike seated around a crummy table in some dark and smoky pub, sharing a victory brew. The three had developed a unique friendship that she had not expected. But she was honored to have shared in it.

"He died a hero," Buffy added. "He finally got what he wanted."

"What was that?" Faith asked, struggling to hide the tears that glimmered in her eyes. She never thought that she would feel so sad about the loss of a vampire. But, somehow, Spike had worked his way into her heart. She longed to hear his voice again – simply to sit with him and Hailey and talk about nothing in particular, though those conversations seemed like everything.

"To truly be one of the good guys," Buffy answered.

Hailey smiled crookedly, memories of her time with the vampire flooding her consciousness. "He always was," she murmured. "Even if he didn't know it."

"Uh, guys?" Willow said, looking out of one of the windows. "Am I seeing this right?"

"Holy shit," Faith said, starting from her seat, and unconsciously rubbing the tears from her eyes. Though the others saw it, none of them mentioned it. Buffy simply smiled and glanced out of the window, watching as Sunnydale erupted in a cloud of dust and disappeared.

"The whole bloody town is collapsing," Hailey muttered. The bus shot forward, sailing passed the city limits. With a deafening roar, the entire town of Sunnydale vanished. The bus screeched to a halt as Wesley slammed on the brakes, breathing heavily in his seat.

"Well, I didn't think I'd be saying this," he said, breathing a tremendous sigh of relief, "but, we're clear. And to think…I've never actually driven a bus before," he stated proudly.

"Are you serious?" Xander deadpanned. "Why the hell did we put you in charge of the bus then?"

"Want take a look?" Anya asked, as Wesley opened the doors of the bus. The opened with a hiss and the warm, California air streamed in the bus. Xander smiled over at her and nodded. Those that could filed off of the bus to view the remains of Sunnydale. Buffy noted that though many of the new Slayers were among the survivors, many more had been left behind, and many were too wounded to join the group outside.

"You know," Xander said, throwing his arm around Anya's shoulder, "I think it's time for a fresh start."

"Like what?" Anya asked suspiciously, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.

"You want to go out on a date with me?" He asked seriously, looking down at her. Anya smiled and nodded.

"Only if you're paying," she replied. Xander chuckled.

"That's my girl," he murmured.

"Well," Giles said, surveying the damage, "I think the prophecy was fulfilled."

"What do you mean?" Wesley asked, looking over at him, and shoving his hands into his pockets.

"I would call this utter destruction and ruin, wouldn't you?" He said, smiling. Wesley laughed.

"You know," he nodded, "I think you might be right."

Hailey gazed out over the ruins, the memory of a dream coming back to her suddenly. "I saw this," she said softly.

"What?" Willow asked, brushing a strand of Hailey's dark hair from her face. Willow was struck, in that moment, by how beautiful her lover truly was, and how powerful. She could see the strength of the Slayer resting in her eyes. The witch wanted nothing more in that moment than to show Hailey how much she loved her.

"I had a dream about this. I saw a giant crater where Sunnydale used to be. Everything was destroyed. And on the very edge," she said, pointing to the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign that was tottering on the brink of the chasm, "I saw that." The sign swayed in the gentle breeze and collapsed, falling into the pit. "I guess I knew all along that we would win," she said, shrugging. Willow smiled.

"So does this officially mean that the Hellmouth is gone?" Buffy asked hopefully.

"This one, yes," Giles stated, and then added, "Not to ruin the moment or anything, but there's another one in Cleveland. I dare say we still have a lot of work ahead of us. No rest for the weary as they say."

"Cleveland?" Faith asked.

"Who is this 'they' and where can we find them?" Xander grumbled. "I'd like show them a thing or two."

"Yes, Cleveland," Giles nodded, ignoring Xander's sarcastic comment. "We might consider going there."

"I think a vacation might be in order first," Buffy said, as Dawn walked up to her. Throwing her arms around her sister, she pulled the young girl into a tight embrace. "You saved my life back there," she whispered into Dawn's ear, feeling nothing but pride in that moment, to see how beautifully Dawn had grown up. "I don't know how to thank you," Buffy said, blinking away tears.

"You don't have to," Dawn replied, shrugging. "You've done it for me. Besides, that's what sisters are for."

"A vacation sounds good," Faith commented. "Somewhere nice and warm, with a beach maybe, and lots of alcoholic drinks with little, colorful umbrellas stuck in them."

Willow smiled as she stood beside the former rogue Slayer, who she now considered a friend, and rested her head on Hailey's shoulder. "I love you too, you know that, right?" she whispered, mimicking Hailey's last words to her before the school had collapsed. Hailey looked down at her and grinned.

"I know," she said, leaning down and kissing the witch gently on the lips. Wherever she went, whatever demons she faced, she knew that she was home as long as she was with Willow.

Buffy gazed out over the ruins of what had been her home for seven years. The smoldering pit resembled nothing of Sunnydale. Everything was gone, her house, all of her possessions, all of the places that she had known, and, most importantly, her mother's grave. Her entire life had been blotted out in a matter of minutes. Buffy smiled, suddenly realizing that her life had only just begun and that she no longer had anything to hold her back. She was a Slayer and she was free. There were so many things that she needed to do. The Council had to be rebuilt, in a fashion to best serve the Slayers. They had to locate all of the Slayers that they had awoken with the spell. Finally, they had to find a new place to call home. "So where do we go from here, B?" Faith asked, slipping her hand into the blonde Slayer's and giving it a gentle squeeze. She knew how emotional Buffy must have felt in that moment. Though Faith had only been in Sunnydale a short time during the course of her life, she had come to regard the small town as more of a home than anywhere else. Despite some of the bad memories that it held, she was sad to see it destroyed.

Buffy shrugged, smiling at the tingles that ran up her arm from the feel of Faith's hand in her own. No one else had ever provoked that reaction in her. She knew that no one else would. "Giles…," she said, looking back at her Watcher. "You said something about Cleveland?"

"Yes," Giles replied. "I'm so glad someone was actually listening," he mumbled, shaking his head. "If I haven't said it before, I'm saying it now, this world is doomed."

Buffy threw one, last look back at the smoldering pit that had once been Sunnydale and turned from it, never to look upon it again. "Alright guys," she said, her voice taking a commanding tone once more, "looks like we've got our work cut out for us. Everybody back on the bus."

The End.