Deep beneath the city streets, a rat scuttled through the sewers. Suddenly, it stopped dead in its tracks, its nose twitching nervously. The ground began to shake violently and the rat raced away, but not in time to avoid the concrete shattering and splitting to reveal a gaping hole that seemed to stretch in to the very depths of Hell. A Hell that now began to erupt on to the streets of Los Angeles.

oooOOOooo

Gunn blinked hard, desperately trying to focus on the demon hordes approaching and ignore the screeches of the dragon far above that sent shivers to his core. He knew that this was going to be it for him, this was his last stand.

The wound in his gut was hurting less now. Gunn figured it was partly due to the distraction of a host of mass-murdering demons charging towards him and partly because he simply didn't have long left to worry about it.

He had been expecting this day to come for so long and suddenly it was here. No matter how much he had longed for it during the long nights of his vampire-infested youth, it had still come too soon. He'd been fighting with Angel and the gang too long. He'd gotten used to winning.

But now the gang was gone. Cordelia had never really recovered from her coma, Lorne had left, Connor was someone else completely, Wesley was dead and Fred…

He glanced at the strange creature standing in front of him, mourning the loss of Wesley. He was looking at a demon that had taken over the body of the sweet and gentle woman he had once loved, though she was still stood there with them, willing to fight from within Fred's body.

But Fred, the real Fred, she was long since gone. Just like his sister Alana. All of them killed by the evil threatening this world. He had gotten used to shades of grey in his formerly black and white existence. Hanging out with a green-skinned karaoke-singing demon, allying himself to a vampire with a soul and working for Wolfram and Hart would do that to you. It had also brought them here, to the end of the world.

Gunn knew that they were about to face the full fury of the Senior Partners. It seemed that every single resident of Hell had come out to play in this one little alley, and all that stood between them and world destruction was Angel and his band of merry men.

Flinching as he leaned his back against the damp wall, Gunn looked around at what was left of his fellow fighters. Spike's bleached blonde head was bobbing in the darkness next to Angel, full of the nervous excitement and adrenaline that comes before a stand. Illyria stood behind the only two vampires in existence to have a conscience, her eyes glazed with grief. Angel looked back at him, a concerned look in his eye.

Gunn straightened up as best he could on the box he'd been sat on. The pain may have lessened but it was still there. He nodded at Angel, the guy who risked everything time and again to save the world and defeat his demons, and then returned his gaze to the fast approaching hordes. Gunn looked at the others in turn, biting back the tears he felt for all the others who should have been there with them.

"Ok. You take the 30,000 on the left…"

Illyria took a step toward him, her grief mixed with what appeared to be mild concern for Gunn as she stared at his wound.

"You're fading. You'll last ten minutes at best."

Ignoring the finality in her tone and the fact he knew she was right, Gunn staggered to his feet.

"Then let's make 'em memorable."

Angel stepped forward in the alley, the others flanked round him. Spike glanced at their de facto leader.

"In terms of a plan?"

Angel's eyes never left the demons charging towards them.

"We fight."

"Bit more specific…"

Angel's gaze turned upward, ignoring Spike's sarcastic tone.

"Well, personally, I kind of want to slay the dragon."

The demons were just feet away now and coming fast. With the adrenaline pumping through his veins, Gunn could barely feel his wound. Angel's voice carried over the clamour of the crowd as he swung his sword in to the path of the oncoming storm.

"Let's go to work."

And with that command, Gunn took his homemade axe and followed orders for the very last time.