Chapter Twenty Seven
The sky was pitch black and thundering as Angel and Buffy made their way through the alley behind the Hyperion. Angel with a sword and Buffy with her favorite scythe. The pouring rain had already soaked them to the skin, but they knew the cold wetness would be the least of their problems.
They reached the end of the alley and stopped near the chainlink fence. Buffy swiped her matted hair away from her eyes and turned to Angel.
"See anyone else?" she shouted as lightning flashed across the sky, briefly illuminating the alley. Angel didn't have to answer as they both caught a glimpse of platinum blonde hair. Buffy allowed herself a smile. "Spike!" He smirked in greeting as he and Max made their way over to them. Both had several cuts on their body and a few rips in their clothing, but were otherwise fine.
Spike twirled his sword in his hand as he looked upwards, squinting his eyes against the downpour. "You feel the heat?" Angel nodded.
"It's coming," he replied, keeping his eyes trained down the alley.
"Not the only thing," Max commented as they witnessed Alec, Faith, and Gunn running down the street towards them. Max felt her body stiffen as she and the others realized Gunn was limping. When he got closer another flash of lightning showed that his pant leg below his knee was covered in blood.
"You're supposed to wear the red stuff on the inside, Charlie boy," Spike pointed out as Gunn leaned heavily against the side of a building. He shook his head.
"I'll be fine. A vamp just got lucky," he replied.
"Think we have time to bandage it?" Faith asked. Gunn made a show of looking around the alley.
"With what?" Before anyone could answer, Illyria, Jondy, and Krit dropped down from the chainlink fence behind them. Without a word, Jondy took off her jacket and ripped the sleeves off.
"Improvisation," she stated tersely as she wrapped them around Gunn's bloodied leg. "And if you lose too much we'll have plenty of transgenics that you can choose a donation from." Gunn laughed weakly.
"Universal donors, right?" Jondy nodded as she stepped back to examine her handiwork. "Thanks."
"You still sure about backup coming?" Angel asked. "'Cause so far I haven't heard a peep." Max and Alec simultaneously raised an eyebrow at him.
"You wouldn't," they chorused. Angel gave them an odd look.
"Helicopters don't peep. They make more of a whirring noise." Alec vaguely twirled his hand in a propeller motion. Angel's odd look changed into one of indignant surprise. "We are soldiers, remember? Don't let our good looks throw you off."
"Never have," Angel deadpanned. Alec rolled his eyes.
"I'd prove you wrong, but we have a huge battle to fight so I'll just settle for reminding you of that time you tried dirty dancing with Max when you were a puppet." Spike laughed out loud. Angel gave him a look before turning back to Alec.
"I was drunk!" Alec just smirked.
"That's always a sound argument," Lindsey commented as he, Xana, and Kennedy joined them. A clamor sounded out down the alley.
"Where's Lorne?" Gunn asked. They shrugged.
"He took off after we killed the Sahvrin," Kennedy replied. "He said Angel would know why." Everyone turned to look at Angel, who nodded solemnly without commenting. Kennedy looked casually around the alley, but didn't see who she was looking for. "Where're Willow and Wesley?"
"Somewhere close," Buffy answered. "Wesley probably stayed with her to help with the magic. Xander and Oz should be with them by now too." Kennedy's expression remained carefully blank as she took this in.
"So where's the demon army?"
As if in answer to her question a loud, inhuman roar shattered the sky. Everyone turned their attention away from each other to look down the alley. Hundreds, if not thousands, of demons of all sorts, shapes, and sizes were approaching them at a steady pace.
"Okay...You take the thirty thousand on the left..." Krit commented dryly. Someone elbowed him sharply in the ribs and he glanced over at Max in question, but her eyes were on something in the sky. "What?"
"Um..." She raised her hand, which he was surprised to see shaking, and pointed at a dark figure flying toward them. "What is that?" Krit and the others around them lifted their eyes and squinted into the night.
"It looks like..." Faith trailed off in shock as realization dawned on them.
"It is a dragon," Illyria finished. "It's fire will be troublesome, as well as it's large shape." Angel nodded mutely and stepped forward, tightening the grip on his sword. A slow smile played across his lips.
"I've always wanted to slay a dragon." Buffy snorted as she sidled up next to him.
"You're gonna have to get in line, buddy. That dragon's mine," she stated firmly, though there was a playful glint to her eyes. Angel's grin widened.
"Guys? Huge demon horde not getting any deader," Xana commented.
"Girl's right. Let's get a move on already," Lindsey added impatiently. Gunn shot him a glare as they formed a straight line and slowly walked towards the crowd of demons.
"Do me a favor shorty, get yourself stabbed by an ugly ass demon so I won't have to do it myself," he growled. Lindsey's response was only to smirk.
"Ready?" Angel called out. They all tightened their grips on their chosen weapons and quickened their pace. "Let's go to work." Their speed as well as the demons' increased to full out running as they charged forward.
Buffy swung her scythe in a wide arc, slicing the stomachs of at least three demons. Without pausing, she kicked another in the head before stabbing a second in the throat with the stake end of her scythe. She ducked to avoid the sharp edge of a sword belonging a scaly, pus green demon with a squashed-in face. She lashed out at its knees, bringing it down easily. Then she dropped to the ground and swung her legs up in a handstand. Her feet connected with the jaw of an oncoming bright yellow demon. She felt it crack but couldn't hear the howl of pain over the booming thunder. Back on her feet, Buffy swung her scythe in another wide arc, claiming the lives of a few more demons before the weapon was knocked painfully from her hands.
Gripping her sword tightly in both hands, Jondy ran it through a hairy demon that looked like it could use a few goes on a Stairmaster. She felt the bite of another blade cutting through the flesh on her shoulder and grit her teeth against the pain. She kicked out backwards, catching the assaulter in the stomach. Then she violently twisted her sword out of the hairy demon and twirled it to pierce the creature that had cut her in the chest. As it fell dead, Jondy kicked out at a vampire with slicked black hair. She headbutted another before wrenching her sword free once again and claiming a few heads.
Faith simultaneously stabbed two demons in the chest and used them as leverage to flip over their heads, pulling her knives from their bodies in time to slash the throats of a few more once she landed on her feet again. She elbowed the face of a demon with horns and pummeled him a few times before using said horns to whirl him around, knocking down quite a few surrounding demons. Faith allowed herself a small smirk before cutting off the horned demon's head.
"Better than dominoes..." she muttered as she stabbed a vampire in the eye for punching her.
Alec had just slashed an orange demon with boils all over its body in half when he heard a faint noise that sounded distinctly like a whir. His face split into a wide grin as he mowed down a few more demons, attempting to get closer to where he had last seen Max. He caught a glimpse of her catapulting a demon through the air with the force of her legs before she disappeared from sight and he received a kick to the face from a demon that resembled a lizard. He lashed out with a hard right hook then gripped the back of the lizard demon's head and its jaw before giving a violent twist, effectively snapping its neck. Without watching the body drop, Alec kicked another demon below the waist and twirled in the air, landing two consecutive kicks to a few more. Then he found himself back to back with Max.
"Did you hear the helicopters?" she shouted over her shoulder as she blocked the attacks of a frighteningly slim, pale blue creature with fangs at least seven inches long. Alec nodded before realizing she couldn't see him.
"Yeah! I'm waiting for them to drop down already and save our asses!" he hollered back. His comment elicited a wry chuckle from her.
"Eh...it's not so bad," she replied just before the creature landed a vicious swipe on her face. Four gashes oozing blood appeared on her cheek and she screamed in surprise. Taking advantage of her distraction, the demon cut into her arm as well. Max stumbled away, clutching her new wound in shock. Before the blue thing could attack her again, a loud cry of rage pierced the air and it suddenly collapsed, dead. Max blinked at the sword sticking out of its head, not quite registering the change.
"Max!" Her gaze moved from the demon's oozing blue blood to the face of Spike. "You alright, luv?" he asked as he retrieved his sword from the creature's head. Max nodded numbly and ducked just in time to miss her head being bashed in by a mace-wielding troll.
"I'll be fine!" she shouted back as she rolled away to grasp her fallen sword, letting the rain wash over her wounds. Just when she was about to jump back into the fray, six ropes fell between her, Spike, and Alec. Knowing who would be coming down, Max grinned widely and lashed out at the troll.
Feeling relief as a few ropes dropped around him as well, Angel headbutted a demon with a new sense of vigor. Help was coming and he might as well face it: they could use all the help in the world. As he speared two creatures at once with his sword, a loud roar drew his attention to the sky.
The dragon.
A smile spread across his face as he swung his sword in a wide arc, clearing a small temporary path towards the direction the giant beast was flying. Barely paying attention to what he was doing, Angel blocked attacks from the surrounding demons and killed more than he cared to count.
He was almost to the set of stairs on the outside of one of the nearby buildings when a particularly huge demon with the color and texture of bark as its body armor stepped into his path wielding an axe. Angel cursed his luck but chose to make the first move. He lunged forward but quickly had to spin out of the way as the demon expertly swung his axe dangerously close to where his head would have been if he hadn't moved. Angel backed away a few steps to observe his opponent for any weak spots. The demon quickly advanced and with an inhuman shriek, swung its axe at him again, this time aiming for his side. Angel twisted out of the way and brought his sword up to cut into the demon's arm. It let out another shriek and Angel quickly dove across the ground. After doing a small somersault, he was back on his feet and behind the demon, who was too slow to turn around before Angel lodged his sword into its head. Without waiting to see the body fall, he hurried towards the stairs again, but was again stopped by a few more demons.
With a seemingly bored expression on her face, Illyria snap-kicked a demon in the jaw before flipping another that had attempted to attack her from behind. She snapped that one's neck easily and used its shield to block a few spears that a couple more had hurled at her. She wrenched the spears free and used them as her own weapons as she mowed down more of the demon army. Once she had a small clearing around her, she used one of the spears as a pole vault. She spun back to the ground with the edges of her weapons slashing into any demons that were within six feet of her.
After beheading what seemed like the millionth demon, Max spun around to attack those behind her and froze. For a few seconds she wondered if one of the creatures had either done some freaky spell or had simply held up a mirror as she stared at her own face. Then reality set in.
"Hey Sam," she greeted with a faint smile. The woman with her face returned it briefly before momentarily turning her attention to a couple of demons that had attacked her. When she had gotten rid of them, Sam turned back to Max.
"So this is how you've been keeping busy since the war with the Familiars. Not sure I'd say it's a step up," she commented. Max smirked and what was about to retort when an astonished Spike suddenly joined them.
"Bloody hell!" His blue eyes widened as they darted back and forth from his girlfriend to her clone. "There's two of you!"
"Catch on pretty quick don't you, Billy Idol?" Sam replied dryly. Spike's eyes narrowed as his chin tipped up a fraction of an inch indignantly. Realizing what was coming, Max quickly interrupted.
"One, don't call him that. Two, we've still got a few thousand demons to kill so we should probably stop the chitchat." Sam rolled her eyes.
"Still giving orders, I see."
"Being the leader of a transgenic army kinda gives her the right," a familiar female voice commented from behind them. Max grinned widely as she turned to greet her.
"Jace!" As the three women started exchanging pleasantries while fighting the still oncoming demon horde, Spike slipped away and found himself next to Alec. The booming roar of the dragon flying above them attracted both of their attentions. As did the cloud of red-hot fire erupting from its mouth. Then they caught a glimpse of Angel rushing towards a building to get to higher ground. Alec and Spike exchanged identical mischievous looks.
"I'm game if you are."
The sounds of the apocalyptic battle taking place only a few stories below her chosen spot gave Willow indescribable feelings of horror. She had no way of knowing if her friends were alright. At least not yet. She'd already tried looking over the edge of the Hyperion's roof to identify where they might be and was rewarded with a strong feeling of vertigo and a few knives thrown up in her direction. She had only managed to finish her protection spell, which had created a dome of energy that secluded her and the few others with her from the demons. She had tweaked it a little to keep them from getting drenched by the rain, too. But she still had to set up her offensive spells and her shaking hands combined with the anxious, fidgeting group of people surrounding her were not helping.
"I can't um...concentrate," she announced over the battle cries and newly arrived helicopters that had brought hundreds of transgenics and slayers alike, along with Giles, Dawn, Andrew and two of Max's old friends who had introduced themselves as Original Cindy and Sketchy. Wesley and Giles gave her identical looks of sympathy.
"There's not much we can do to ease that," Giles replied.
"Think of your happy place," Andrew offered with his usual boyish grin. "Shining waterfalls and serene rivers..."
"That'll just make me want to pee," Willow interrupted bluntly. Andrew's smile turned awkward as he resumed his fidgeting and fell silent.
"There's nothing we can do to help her?" OC asked. The two former watchers shrugged.
"The ingredients are there, she has the power. We can only offer support." Wesley explained vaguely.
"Or become life-size batteries if we have to," Dawn added sardonically, causing Willow to chuckle nervously. OC glared at them.
"Well I don't know about you, but I'm not the type to just sit waiting on my ass while some other chick does all the work. No matter how juiced up with witchy mojo she is," she snapped. Willow found herself smiling.
"You want to help?" she asked. The others just looked at her. "Then please, just stop fidgeting and looking at me with all that..." she trailed off, unable to find the right word. "Just...don't distract me."
"Knew I should've brought some playing cards," Xander commented from his spot on a couch that he had insisted the others help him bring up. They hadn't bothered starting an argument as they already knew he should be lying down. And with time running against them, a pointless fight wouldn't help any.
"Could've relieved some of the stress," Oz added.
"I didn't think to bring any with me either," Sketchy replied distantly as he warily watched the edge of the roof. OC rolled her eyes.
"Didn't the redhead just say not to distract her?"
Willow closed her eyes as she forced herself to ignore the bickering. She had more important things to do. Like save her friends from being eviscerated by zillions of demons.
Gunn tried vehemently to keep weight off his injured leg, but he felt himself tiring. Fighting a massive demon horde will do that to a person. He'd lost sight of the others a while ago and was beginning to wonder how far away he actually was from all of them. He'd seen quite a few helicopters zoom overhead, even witnessed some of the much talked about reinforcements getting dropped off, but otherwise the only beings surrounding him were demons. He could only identify a small handful of the ones he killed and settled for hacking the ones he knew nothing about into pieces, just to be on the safe side.
The icy rain wasn't helping much either. He didn't have any superpowers, just the experience of fighting vampires and various other demons since he was a little kid. Gunn knew he was at a disadvantage in this fight, but that didn't stop him from making what he believed to be his last moments as memorable as he could.
Xana had long lost her gun and had to resort to the pair of knives Kennedy and Lindsey had convinced her to strap onto her belt. She found herself preferring these anyway as the bullets hadn't been as effective as she'd hoped. She was used to fighting more human-like people after all. Not demons.
After seeing the many transgenics and slayers drop down from the helicopters, Xana had kept her eyes open for her brother Deryc, but she hadn't seen any sign of him.
He better be here, she thought, almost bitterly. It'd probably be just like him to skip out on the bulk of the battle and then arrive at the last minute and pretend he was here the whole time...
No sooner had her brain formed that criticizing thought then she whipped around and was face to face with her brother. Unwillingly she felt her face break out into a wide grin.
"What? You really think I'd miss this?" Deryc taunted. As usual, he'd seemingly read her mind. Xana gave him a playful punch to the shoulder.
"Shut up and get to work," she ordered.
After retrieving her scythe, Buffy had turned her attention to making a path for herself towards the dragon that she had challenged Angel for. She figured he'd be on his way there as well.
Her assumption was proved correct as she finally reached the building she'd seen the dragon fly for. She felt an almost overwhelming sense of happiness on her way there when she'd glimpsed the familiar faces of slayers that she had trained.
We can actually win this.
She sent Angel a grim smile as they both jumped onto the fire escape and began hurrying up the stairs. The dragon was flying quite a few yards above them, a little bit below the roof of the building, but they happily chose to accept this challenge. The friendly rivalry between them made it all the more interesting. But just a few seconds before they would have gotten close enough to attack, they saw two figures jump from the roof onto the back of the dragon. One of the figures had platinum blonde hair.
"Spike!" Angel bellowed. The only response he got was a cheery one-handed wave as Spike and the person riding with him slashed at the dragon's head with their swords. A flash of lightning revealed a smugly grinning Alec at Spike's side.
"Hey, that was supposed to be ours!" Buffy hollered. She got the cheery waves as well. The dragon elicited a series of ear-piercing shrieks as it flew in stilted lurches away from the building. Buffy and Angel continued to watch in disappointment as Alec and Spike killed what was supposed to be their prize. It let out one more tremendous shriek of pain before tumbling through the air and landing on a quite a few dozen demons, instantly squashing them. They couldn't tell if Alec and Spike had managed to jump off it before it fell, but they had no doubt that they did.
"Well that kinda sucked," Angel commented bluntly as he and Buffy stared down at the ongoing battle below them. Buffy was about to reply when a gigantic fireball suddenly engulfed a large group of demons. It was followed shortly by a number of others that instantly killed at least a few hundred demons. Angel watched in awe. "But that...was pretty damn cool." Buffy's grin was brilliant.
"Way to go, Willow."
Those same words escaped Kennedy's mouth before she returned her attention to the demon she was fighting. It was the color of stale bread and had claws and fangs that put serrated butcher knives to shame. They'd already bit into her flesh a few times, but she was determined not to let them again.
She ducked to avoid the demon's swing and managed to graze its torso with the blade of her sword. Kennedy groaned in frustration and swiftly blocked another attack before punching it in the face. A trickle of blood flowed from the demon's mouth. The smile it gave her in return momentarily gave her a spark of terror before she lashed out with her sword again. It grabbed onto her wrist so she bent forward and brought her leg up to kick it in the face. The demon relinquished its grip on her and she instantly pulled away. But it suddenly kicked her feet out from her and wrapped its claws around her throat.
Kennedy first wriggled angrily to get out of its grip, but as the demon tightened his hold, her attempts to break free became more frantic. She let out a small whimper as the claws slashed her skin. Her breaths became gurgles as blood streamed from her wound and filled her mouth. She barely registered the taste as her eyes finally closed.
Her killer had only a few moments to relish his victory before the largest fireball yet engulfed him and a hundred other demons.
Giles, Xander, Dawn, Oz and the others could only watch in helpless dismay as Willow's previously calm face twisted into one of vengeful sorrow. The cause of the change was only vaguely explained when she suddenly shrieked, "KENNEDY!" Her voice had held many emotions, the strongest of which became the need to vent her grief. Xander, Dawn, Giles, and Andrew were the only ones on the roof that had seen that look of painful loss in Sunnydale a few years ago and now watched with bated breath to see if any other of the same symptoms occurred.
But instead of getting black hair and prominent veins, Willow's body seemed to steadily emit a bright red-white light. The others continued to watch in astonishment as the energy seemed to grow within itself and slowly spiraled away from Willow. It resembled a gigantic blanket as it continued to expand across the sky. Then it stopped.
A gasp escaped Willow's lips, but her eyes remained closed. Giles instantly guessed the problem.
"She's draining. This is taking too much out of her," he stated softly. It took only a moment before Xander attempted to get off the couch. He outwardly winced and forgot to hide it.
"No, it could kill you. You're in no shape to give what little energy you have left," Wes told him. Xander glared defiantly at him and was about to retort when he realized Oz had already gone to her side.
The others watched in silence as Oz laced his fingers through Willow's. The blanket of energy brightened almost instantly and continued to grow even more.
"That's definitely some freaky stuff..." Sketchy commented dazedly, staring transfixed at what was going on above them.
"Got that right," OC muttered in the same tone.
Lindsey watched in complete awe as the previously dark, thundering sky was covered by a bright reddish-white energy cloud. A enigmatic smile played across his lips as he said aloud, "Damn that girl's got major power. Wonder why the senior partners never tried to recruit her." He turned his attention back to the demon horde, taking advantage of their fixation with the phenomenon taking place only a few hundred feet above them.
"That's 'cause she's good down to the core while the senior partners prefer mass murder," Gunn's voice came from behind him. Lindsey laughed wryly.
"Come to see if any ugly ass demons have stabbed my gut yet?"
"Can't you hear the disappointment in my voice?" Gunn retorted. Lindsey didn't respond.
"You guys bicker almost like Spike and Angel. Only with more uncovered murderous rage," Jondy commented as she joined them. They both gave her sullen looks but didn't reply. Jondy smirked and rolled her eyes. "Fine, be babies, just don't...Look out!"
While they'd been talking, a demon had snuck up behind Gunn and was about to bash him in half. Gunn turned to block the attack, but Jondy already knew he'd be too late. Without hesitating, she blurred forward to push him out of the way and took the brunt of the swing. She cried out in pain as she felt the demon's spiked club slash into her skin and break a few ribs. She stumbled away and dropped her sword as she pressed both of her hands against her wound, which was gushing blood. Lindsey and Gunn managed to behead the demon before turning to her.
"You okay?" Lindsey asked. Jondy couldn't answer.
"We need to get you to away from here," Gunn stated as he carefully wrapped his arm around her waist, forcing himself to take most of her weight as well as his own on his still injured leg. Jondy nodded her agreement and Gunn turned to Lindsey. "Cover me til we get to the Hyperion. The others can help bandage her."
Lindsey nodded and the three of them began fighting their way through the horde of demons with a new sense of urgency. Only a few minutes had passed before Jondy found herself knocked out of Gunn's grasp. She smacked into a wall with such force she felt her teeth clack together. Without support, Jondy crumpled to the ground with a groan. Breathing in short gasps of air, she slowly took her hands away from her stomach wound only to quickly put them back. Her blood was still flowing freely.
When Jondy finally raised her eyes to the battle in front of her, Gunn and Lindsey were fighting off a group of demons. Biting her lip to keep from letting out another cry of pain, Jondy slowly eased herself back up to her feet just as a spear flew in her direction. Without thinking, she let herself fall down again and the weapon imbedded itself in the wall behind her. Its thrower now charged towards her with a nasty looking scythe. She already knew she was too weak to dodge his attacks so she reluctantly squeezed her eyes shut. But the anticipated blow never landed.
Cracking one eye, Jondy saw her would-be-killer and quite a few others assaulting someone else. Krit. Both her eyes flew open as she realized he was already badly wounded. There were deep gashes on his legs and chest. He was fighting primarily with his right hand as he kept his left cradled against his body. The soldier in her calculated he wouldn't last much longer if the four demons circling him didn't lay off.
Without wasting another moment, Jondy stumbled back on her feet. Keeping one hand on her injury, she body-slammed two of the demons. She landed painfully on the ground again, but quickly picked up one of the demons' swords with her free hand. Just as she managed to cut off the head of another and injure a second, she glanced over at Krit in time to see an arrow pierce his right shoulder. He cried out and the demon he was fighting took advantage of his distraction, much to Jondy's horror, and shoved the tip of its sword through his chest.
Excruciating pains that had nothing to do with her broken ribs and gushing stomach wound flooded her body. Her blood seemed to freeze and her mouth dropped open in a silent scream as Krit fell to his knees.
No...no...no...
Jondy swiftly slashed the throat of the demon she had just injured before letting her sword clatter to the ground as she rushed to his side. She barely noticed Gunn and Lindsey fighting off the demon that had stabbed him.
The sword had gone straight through, with the bloody tip protruding out the back. Jondy let out a sob as she cradled his limp body against her own.
"No...You can't leave me, Krit...You can't..." Tears began to cloud her vision as she frantically clutched at his shoulder, hair, cheek, anything she could touch. He didn't answer and she let out another heart-wrenching sob.
"J-Jondy, we've got to get you inside," she hardly registered Gunn's voice as she began shaking her head.
"No...no..." she tightened her grip on Krit's body.
"Yes, we have to. You've still got to be healed...You can't do anything for him now..." Lindsey was saying. She just continued to shake her head, feeling as if all things sane had left her. Suddenly a pair of firm hands gripped her shoulders and she out a scream of objection.
"Don't leave him out here! Don't leave him alone for them to get!" she shrieked as she futilely tried to break free from Gunn's grip. He gave a nod to Lindsey, who sighed and immediately picked up Krit's body, but not before wrenching the sword from his chest. Jondy flinched at the sight as Gunn ran with her in his arms towards the Hyperion.
"Max!" Faith hollered in warning. Max whipped around in time to dodge a pair of knives a demon had hurled in her direction. She blurred towards him and backhanded him across the face twice before slashing his throat with her dagger.
Max hurried back to Faith's side. "Thanks." She only gave her a swift nod in response as she fought off a few more creatures. When they managed to make a break in the horde, they turned their eyes up to the sky.
Willow's spell had expanded over what they expected to be the entire throng of demons and since the last time they checked, the blanket of energy had begun descending rapidly towards its targets.
"Just another minute or two, I suspect," Spike announced his presence. Max grinned tiredly at him. "Don't know about you luv, but I'd say it's about damn time. The sun's coming up soon." Her expression changed to one of worry.
"We have to get you to shade then." Spike smiled.
"My thought exactly..."
"Uh, guys...?" Faith's voice brought their attention back to the sky. A split second after their eyes looked up, a blinding white light forced them to shut them again. Max brought her arms up protectively over her face as the sound of thousands of inhuman shrieks mingled with the loud crackle of energy. It was deafening.
But almost as quickly as it had begun, it disappeared. The white light dissipated and the shrieking stopped. Max cautiously lowered her arms and blinked in confusion.
The demons were gone. She glanced at Faith, who had been in the same position she was. Farther off she could make out Alec, Sam, Illyria, Gwen, Halley, and quite a few other slayers and transgenics. The smile that began to slowly make its way across her lips froze. Spike wasn't there. Faith quickly caught on to her sudden agitation and they both frantically spun in circles, looking for any sign of him.
"Spike!" Max shouted. Finally her eyes fell on him a few hundred yards away. He'd apparently been thrust backward by the energy and crashed into a nearby building. The wall had cracked with the force ofhis impact. "Spike!" She hurriedly rushed over to him.
"He's unconscious," Faith commented as she and Max kneeled by him. Without thinking, Max held her index and middle fingers just below his jaw where his pulse would be. As Faith watched with furrowed eyebrows, Max let out a sigh of relief.
"But still breathing," she stated. A beat of shocked silence stretched between them as it began to register on them what she just said. "W-wait...that can't..." She exchanged a wide-eyed look with Faith before bending her head over Spike's chest. The sound of a beating heart was unmistakable. "H-he's alive."
"Did Willow's spell do this?" Faith asked in a soft whisper. Max gave a slight shake of her head.
"I don't know..." Another long silence stretched between them. Alec suddenly blurred to their sides.
"Hey guys, Buffy's freaking out. Angel was thrown back by that white energy thing that got rid of all the demons and now he's got a pulse. Hey what happened to him?" He gestured to Spike. Both females ignored him and he quickly got the message. "Let me guess, the dried-up walnut in Spike's chest is showing signs of life, too?" Max gave him a swift slap on the leg. "Ow."
"Come on, we should get over to the Hyperion, tell everyone that you meet on the way there to follow us," Max ordered. Alec rolled his eyes and gave her a mock salute before striding off. Then she and Faith carefully picked up Spike, slinging his arms over their shoulders.
The lobby was pandemonium. Injured slayers and transgenics were strewn about, all either sitting, standing, leaning, or laying down. Wesley, Giles, Andrew, and a few others were helping to bandage wounds and whatnot.
"Max!"
Jerking her head towards the source of the voice, Max's worried frown slowly transformed to a welcoming smile. Original Cindy and Sketchy practically barreled through the groups of injured people to reach her. Keeping one arm secured around Spike's waist, she used her free one to engulf both of them in hugs.
"Geez Max, we haven't seen you ages," Sketchy proclaimed. OC nodded her head in agreement. Max opened her mouth to reply when Faith suddenly spoke.
"Um...I can see there's a heartfelt reunion about to take place. Want me to take Spike?" Max hesitatingly bit her lip, which caused Faith to give her a warm smile. "It's alright. It looks like the few people that might have an explanation for what happened are busy anyway. You've got time." Max finally relented and carefully extracted Spike's limp arm from her shoulders as Faith took the brunt of his weight, carrying him up the stairs to find a vacant room. OC's worried brown eyes locked onto Max's.
"What was that about, Boo? What happened to your honey?" Sketchy's eyebrows lifted in surprise.
"That was your boyfriend?" Max tilted her chin up a fraction of an inch.
"Yeah." He continued to shake his head in disbelief. Max felt her eyes narrow. "What?"
"That's just a...big...difference...from Logan, I mean," he replied. Max's demeanor softened and she let out a small laugh.
"Very big. And believe me when I say it's better, too." The previous events that hadn't happened too long ago came flooding back to her and once again her face was pinched with worry.
"If it's so great, why do you look like your dog just died?" OC asked softly. Max gave herself a slight shake.
"I'm just worried about him. After Willow's spell he got thrown backward into a wall. Now he's got a heartbeat." Both OC and Sketchy's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Why wouldn't he?" Remembering too late that she hadn't yet filled them in on what Spike was, Max sheepishly opened her mouth to explain. But the words stuck in her throat as her eyes fell on a figure that was sitting alone on the top of the stairs. It took her a moment to realize it was Jondy. And her stomach clenched in fear at the state she apparently was in.
"E-Excuse me a minute..." Max hurried away from a bewildered Cindy and Sketchy and took the stairs two at a time to reach her sister. "Jondy?"
Vacant blue eyes slowly turned up to look at her. Max swallowed hard and looked down at her stomach where a large bandage was in place. Jondy's eyes didn't show any recognition. Ice cold fear began to grip Max's body.
"J-Jondy...what happened?" Jondy blinked and a flicker of something eerily familiar passed across her face. Max recognized that look. It was the same one she saw everyday for almost two months every time she looked in the mirror last summer. It was after Spike died. Suddenly she felt extremely lightheaded and quickly gripped the rail to keep herself from falling down the stairs.
When she spoke again, her voice was strangled and hoarse. "Krit...where's Krit?" Jondy's eyes filled with tears and she began to steadily rock back and forth. Max knew what had happened even before Jondy finally voiced it aloud.
"Gone...He's..." Her lower lip began to quiver and she buried her face in her hands. Max slowly sank to the floor in numb shock.
He was gone. Her brother was dead.
A sensation only akin to having a zillion knives thrust into her body began to overwhelm her. She tried to draw in air, but she felt like two blocks of ice had replaced her lungs. A single tear rolled down her cheek and a second later she was all-out sobbing.
She barely heard the pounding footsteps and she chose to ignore the hands that grasped her arms, pulling her into a standing position before engulfing her in hug. She covered her face in her hands and let herself be carried away.
When she finally raised her head from Alec's chest, she realized she was in one of the hotel rooms. A still unconscious Spike was laying on the bed, but otherwise the room was empty. She bit her lip to keep another onslaught of tears from falling and looked up at Alec's face.
He was obviously weary from the fight and his hazel eyes were welled up as he returned her look. Another sob hitched in Max's throat and she buried her face in his chest again. He gently placed a kiss on the top of her head.
"I'm so sorry, Maxie..." he whispered. "I wish I could do something..." Max looked up at him again.
"Me too..." her voice didn't sound like her own. It was weak and fragile. She drew in a shaky breath and slowly moved away from him towards Spike. "How is he?" Alec didn't answer. Max sighed heavily and sat down on the bed. "I...There'll be more...I'm not sure..." She couldn't even form a coherent sentence. She squeezed her eyes in frustration.
Alec gently placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.
"It'll be okay, Maxie. We can get through this, it'll just take some time."
"Don't you think I know that?" she snapped. Alec withdrew his hand as if she'd slapped him. She sighed again before standing up to face him. "I'm sorry. I know you're only trying to help..." He smirked softly.
"Don't worry, I'm used it." The corners of Max's mouth hitched up a little in an apologetic smile. Alec simply drew her in for another hug. "I gotta go check on the others. See if I can use my advanced bandaging skills." Max let out a small laugh and immediately felt guilty. Alec lifted her chin up with the crook of his finger. "Don't. You really think Krit would prefer you to celebrate victory over an army of a gazillion demons by mourning over him?" Max solemnly shook her head. "That's my girl." He smiled and gave her a quick brotherly kiss on the forehead. "Try to catch a few 'z's with non-dead boy over there after I send someone up to help you with your injuries."
Awaking from a surprisingly dreamless sleep, Max felt like someone's eyes were watching her. She rolled over and found herself face to face with a just-as-awake Spike. He grinned softly at her.
"Hey luv. How was your snooze?" She let out a small yip of joyfulness and immediately latched her lips onto his. When she buried her face in his neck, she jolted away in surprise at the feel of a pulse and very warm skin. Then she remembered.
"That's gonna take some getting used to," she commented softly. A strange look passed over Spike's features.
"Don't I know it..." he muttered. Max's brow furrowed.
"But it's okay...right?" she asked hesitantly, unsure about his true feelings. The look disappeared and Spike forced himself to smile encouragingly.
"Of course."
Then he laced his arms around her in an embrace, neither of them noticing the look of identical pensive worry and insecurity on each other's faces.
"So was it Willow's spell or not?" Buffy asked impatiently. Giles and Wesley fidgeted uncomfortably under her, Angel, Spike, and Max's stares.
"We don't really know...to be honest," Giles answered. The others sighed. "All we do know is that Willow's spell got rid of all the demons, both dead and alive. Whether that means killed or just placed elsewhere...we don't know either. But that might've effected the demons in both Angel and Spike. Temporarily or permanently..."
"That's more 'or's than I care for," Max interrupted suddenly.
"That sounds like you think it was Willow's spell," Angel commented. Wes sighed.
"Well, I know what you're thinking, Angel, but I don't believe this is related to the Shanshu Prophecy. It only speaks of one vampire with a soul, not two." Both Buffy and Max's eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Shan what?" they chorused. Angel glanced over at Spike, but saw that he was seemingly detached from the whole conversation. He was too far away to discreetly elbow in the ribs so Angel settled for just asking him a question.
"You want to field this one, Spike?" Without answering, Spike just shook his head. Angel stared at him in confusion, unable to tell the reason for his peculiar behavior.
"Wesley filled me in while you were all recovering," Giles began. "The gist of the prophecy is that the vampire with a soul who plays a major role in the apocalypse will be granted life."
"But there were two vampires with souls," Wes added. "And there isn't really any way to tell who the prophecyis actually pertaining to." He let that sink in for a few beats before speaking again. "So yes, based on that, we believe that this change is one of the effects of Willow's spell."
"So what should we do?" Spike asked, speaking for the first time. Both Wesley and Giles shrugged.
"For now...I suppose you can do whatever you like. It's been a few days since the battle and no news of evil of any kind is planning on attacking," Giles replied. Both couples exchanged questioning glances before rising from their seats. Silently they exited the office into the lobby of the Hyperion.
Buffy tentatively slipped her hand through Angel's as they walked out into the garden. It was flooded in sunlight. They stopped just at the edge of the shade.
"Last time this happened..." Angel began softly. Buffy gave him an enigmatic smile.
"I remember," she replied, trying to put as much understanding in her tone as was possible. "We can take it slow." Angel could only nod before he took another step into the sunlight, taking Buffy with him.
Spike and Max weren't paying any attention to the scene going on between Buffy and Angel. They had their eyes firmly locked onto their feet. Unable to take the tensed silence, Max raised her head to look Spike in the face.
"You don't want to be human, do you?" she asked bluntly. Spike's eyes widened in surprise.
"What? Of course I want to be human," he replied, though Max could still detect a hint of doubt in his voice.
"Yeah? Then what's the problem?" Spike didn't answer. Max grit her teeth. "These past few months have been pretty traumatic and we've gone through a lot. But if you don't start talking to me I'll put your ass through the ringer." Spike gave her a humorless smirk.
"Careful, something like that might kill me now," he replied bitterly. Realization dawned on Max. She slapped her palm to her forehead.
"Unh. I can't believe I didn't realize it...Is that what this is about? You no longer having superpowers?" The grim set to Spike's jaw told her that was at least part of it. Max sighed heavily as she sank onto one of the couches. "Spike, you don't need superpowers. I just want you to be you."
Spike swallowed hard before coming to sit by her. "I know that's what you want. But you see...I don't...I don't know what I want." Max felt her body stiffen. "I thought I wanted to be human but now...All this extra pain and...I just don't know." He angrily raked a hand through his hair. Max sighed and covered it with one of her own.
"It's only been a few days. Will you at least give it some time?" Spike didn't answer at first and Max felt her heart clench. Then he finally nodded.
"Alright, we can take this body for a test drive," he relented. Max grinned at his choice of words. Spike rolled his eyes. "You know what I meant."
The End
A/N-Whew! To me this felt kinda rushed and I didn't get to have a miniture ending for each of the characters likeI hoped, but I probably will be doing another sequel, but that will most likely be a while, especially since I've got other ideas rolling around in my head. Anyway, thanks to all those that read and reviewed, you made my writing life a lot easier! See ya next time!
;o)