An alternate ending to the BTVS episode 'Chosen.' I don't own any Buffy characters, they all belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy. So there!
What's Up With Buffy?
"I'm not worried...as long as Willow can work her spell before they see us." And with that, a thousand Ubervamps marched in unison out of the Hellmouth's depths and up toward the Slayer and Potentials. Buffy peered over her shoulder, waiting for the magic to happen.
"Uh, guys?" To her horror, the Potentials weren't exactly being imbued with super girl power. Quite the opposite, in fact. The slayer watched with mouth agape while girl after girl fell down on one knee, gasping for air like something precious was being stolen from them. "Retreeaat!" Buffy yelled out as a hand grabbed her ankle and tried to drag her down to the pit below.
Faith also felt like she was losing power, and since she already had more than the Potentials to begin with, the effect knocked her completely unconscious. The last thing she felt before blacking out was her heart being hammered from the inside out. Her face fell down to the floor, and she wasn't even able to taste the Hellmouth dirt that flew in her mouth upon impact.
Spike, confused as to what was going on, tried his best to fight off the Ubervamps with a few punches and kicks ..but it was to no avail, there was too many of them. The souled vampire gazed across at Buffy, fingering the amulet and pressing it in hard against his chest. The two made eye contact for a meaningful second and she mouthed the words 'I love you.' Then, an Ubervamp tackled Spike from behind and began feasting.
Never one to give up hope, Buffy rolled over on her back and tried to kick the Ubervamp off that was pulling her down. Amazingly, not only did her shoe connect, it also penetrated right through the Ubervamp's strong-as-steel sternum, dusting the ugly bastard with no weapons involved! Buffy flipped up and before wondering what was going on, she decided to put her new found power to good use. The slayer effortlessly punched, backhanded and high kicked her way through hoards of Ubervamps, dusting them all easily with bare hands and legs.
However, Buffy wasn't able to slay everything despite her strangely enhanced slayer strength and the Ubervamps she couldn't get to began killing off ex-potentials left and right. There wasn't much to be seen except throat slashing, neck biting, and decapitating. A few Ubervamps even raped girls in the corners behind stalagmites. The young women were forced to watch their best friends get defiled, waiting patiently for their turn so they could hurry up and die already.
"Shouldn't they be coming by now?" Dawn asked Xander impatiently. She eyed her sword, hoping that she wouldn't have to use it and Xander and Anya's sun trap thingie would do all the work for them. True, Dawn whined about how she wanted to be in this fight but that was really just the stubborn inner teen talking. Honestly, she didn't know how she was going to fend off Ubervamps without any superpowers.
Xander shook his head. "Dunno Dawnster, but I wouldn't worry. Buffy knows what she's doing." He smiled and put a comforting hand on her shoulder.
Dawn nodded, although it really wasn't Buffy that she was worried about. Something about this preemptive strike seemed too easy. If the First was indeed omniscient, you'd think there would be a traitor in the group. Or the First would be sending everything it got once it heard about Buffy's plan. There was no time to tell Xander her fears as it would seem, since an ex-potential began running at them down the hall. Vi. "Something went wrong with the spell!"
Dawn grimaced, not surprised. Watcher junior instincts right once again. An eyebrow was raised, signaling Vi to continue.
"I don't know what happened, exactly." Hot tears rolled down the girl's face, but she didn't bother to wipe them away. "It kinda feels like the spell is working for a second, but then…we're losing power. All around me, girls were being ripped apart. And Buffy… Oh God."
Xander shook his head, expecting to hear the worst. You're my strength Xander. For seven long years, the boy sacrificed himself to take care of Buffy. Even when she was being a bitch, even when she'd ignore him…. And especially when she danced with him to make a vampire jealous. He was always there. And two days ago, he finally heard what he wanted to hear all this time. That Buffy really cared. "Don't. Just don't, okay? We need to go to Willow. See what happened." Xander couldn't bear the thought that Buffy was dead. It was such a typical Sunnydale cliché, though. Two people finally connect and somebody in the relationship has to die. Not this time though. If Buffy was dead, he wouldn't hear about it.
Annoyed, Vi went after Xander and Dawn who began running toward the principal's office. "You don't understand! Buffy's not dead, she's…." Her voice trailed off. It was useless. They weren't listening and it wasn't long before Xander opened the door to the witch's room of mojo.
"Oh my God!" Dawn dropped her sword, totally oblivious to the clanking sound it made as it hit the tile.
The last fighter left standing, Buffy fended off the Ubervamps to the best of her ability. Not like it was all that difficult, since she could dust a whole lot of them with a basic punch or kick. After all the bodies of the ex-potentials lay littered on the ground, a few Ubervamps tried to crawl their way out of the Hellmouth and into the world the First wanted so much for them to rule.
The blonde rolled her eyes at the attempted retreat. If Angel had to use that second front, she'd never hear the end of it. He'd stick around with that puppy dog face, thinking she needed to be protected because she lost. No, she wasn't going to lose. Super Feminist Buffy ran as fast as she could to the spot where the Ubervamps were attempting to escape and pulled them down as if they were light as throw pillows. Poof, poof, poof. A few more Ubervamps tried to make their way towards the exit, but Buffy kicked off the wall and aerial roundhoused their heads off. She watched and smiled as three black clouds of dust surrounded her before sprinkling down to the floor. But it still wasn't enough. She needed more power. Her eyes shifted toward Spike's fallen body. The amulet.
Anya held up her sword, waiting impatiently for the Ubervamps to arrive so she could do her part and go back to having lots and lots of sex with Xander. "This is so like Buffy! I knew we weren't needed in this stupid apocalypse anyway. This is probably just one of her little stunts to show us how much better she thinks she is. Oh look at me, I effortlessly slayed a hundred Ubervamps without the assistance of any man-made weapons. Hah, I doubt even Buffy can do that."
Andrew listened attentively to Anya, agreeing with everything she said with a quick nod of his head. He was just glad they didn't have to fight. "Soooo, you wanna play rock, paper scissors?"
Xander and Dawn's eyes were glued to a dead Kennedy with the slayer scythe protruding out of her spine. A small pool of blood had seeped underneath her. Vi was right behind Xander and Dawn, therefore noticing the murder shortly after them.
It took Xander a little longer than Dawn to register Willow in the corner of the room with her head rested between her knees. Without looking down at the body, he ran toward his best friend. "Willow, I'm so sorry." The young man did the only thing he knew how, he took Willow in his arms and rocked her.
"It was horrible, Xander! I thought I was ready, …but I wasn't. I messed up, t-that evil force went inside me again and the next thing I know I killed Kennedy. I snapped out of it but it was too late and ….and I ruined it for everybody!" A dribble of tears landed on Xander's shoulder. She clenched him tighter.
"Shh, shhh" Xander whispered in the redhead's ear. "It wasn't your fault Will, you didn't know." He continued to hold on to her as hard as he could. He wanted to feel her guilt and pain, but something was…off. Like he knew deep down that she could have done that spell. Being the man that he was, however, he couldn't confront her about that now.
The bonding moment was broken by a teenager's trademark sign of disgust – a big fat sigh (with an eye roll to boot). "Xander, why are you coddling her? She's the reason everything is messing up. Willow, stop being a crybaby and try again!" A sharp bitterness rolled off her tongue and onto the witch. Dawn had about enough of this 'I can't do magic' crap. She wanted Willow to start acting like the strong witch she knew and loved.
Almost immediately, Vi jumped to Dawn's defense. "She does have a point, but it's probably too late. I was the only one that escaped. All the other girls were killed. Well, not every -"
Paying Vi no attention, Xander's focus was instead directed at Dawn and her recent outburst. "Shut … up!" His voice trembled as the two words escaped his mouth. Beady eyes stared right through the two girls, like he could turn them both to stone if he wielded any supernatural powers. He continued to comfort Willow while giving Dawn the carpenter-look-of-death. "It's okay, Will. It's okay."
Buffy leaned down over Spike, almost hypnotized by the two bite marks welted in the vampire's neck. She had always thought she'd die with a stake through her heart, but now the irony had hit one of her friends instead.
Petite fingertips caressed Spike's face. Buffy looked down through his lifeless eyes as if she had lost a child. "William…" Holding back the tears that began flooding her eyes, she gave him a quick peck on the forehead before slowly removing the amulet around his neck.
"Oh shit!" While she was distracted, a few Ubervamps managed to escape up the stairs – headed straight for Giles and Principal Wood. Instinctively, Buffy held out her arm and was shocked to see some sort of ripple appearing in the air and traveling right at the exit. The slayer watched a pack of Ubervamps trying to follow their comrades out into the school above, but were knocked back on the ground by a magical barrier. Astonished, Buffy stared at the hand that created the barrier. "What's happening to me?" she whispered to herself.
Buffy put on the amulet and almost immediately, a violent burst of holy energy crashed through the top of the Hellmouth and burned the Ubervamps to a crisp. After about thirty seconds, every last Ubervamp was destroyed and it wasn't long before she felt the Hellmouth rumble beneath her feet. A rainstorm of rocks fell from above, causing the empowered slayer to stumble.
This was the part where Buffy herself made a choice. She could stand right here, be the hero and completely destroy the Hellmouth once and for all. Her friends would escape in time and she would die a noble death. Yet it was no different than what she did two years ago! Moreover, the burden of the slayer was back on her more than ever. Someone would bring her back from heaven and the cycle would continue. Her second option? Go back up and see just what the fuck was wrong with Willow. She trusted her, she believed in her. She chose her. Ultimately, Willow was the one who took the dream away from Buffy. The one with the picket fence, children, and 9 to 5 job. The normal life she had always wanted. This was Buffy's choice, and she was gonna choose the latter.
Pissed off, Buffy yanked the amulet off her neck and threw it down so hard it shattered. She didn't mean to break the damn thing, it just did…it was probably never meant to be anyway. She stomped on the remaining amulet debris and spread it in with the rest of the dead rock. A few moments later and the Hellmouth stopped shaking. The brave, fighty fight music that was playing in her head began to fade. She would save the world another day. This time, it was personal.
The walls from the teachers smoking had stained the lounge's walls a dull yellow, complimenting the sewery smell of death and war quite nicely. Rupert Giles heard the gnarling of the Turok Hans crawling their way up to the teacher's lounge. The next thing the watcher knew, an Ubervamp stood before him – wearing that god awful tattered leather outfit. Giles swung the axe, but the more powerful creature effortlessly disarmed him. A punch was sent to Giles' face, and it took everything within him to stay conscious. The Ubervamp swiped at Giles, but he moved out of the way and picked up the axe. He took another swing, only this time, faked a blow to the vamp's heart and instead took his head off with one clean stroke.
Lacking super strength, Robin Wood flicked open a pocket knife and slashed the throat of another Ubervamp. While the monster grabbed his throat in pain, principal Wood plunged a stake in his heart. The Ubervamp still stood, and kicked Wood in the groin. He landed on a desk, breaking it in half upon impact. Wood grabbed the lighter piece of the desk and swung it at the incoming Ubervamp with all his might- but it didn't slow him down any. "This is getting silly!" He hollered and used the desk to ram the Ubervamp up against a wall. By doing so, he managed to push the stake deep enough into the Ubervamp's chest to dust him.
Giles never thought slaying two Ubervamps would be this difficult. Sweaty palms were grabbing onto an axe for dear life while he tried to soothe his breathing down to a less life-endangering level. There wasn't time for rest, however, signaled by a blazing fast figure punching principal Wood so hard through the chest that the hand appeared through the other side of his body, richly soaked in blood and guts.
Prepared for the worse, the sudden death triggered Giles to mutter a few phrases in Latin while he shuffled through his last-resort pocket. He pulled out some orbs and threw them on the floor. The creature became instantly trapped in a light-blue magic bubble.
"Dear Lord…" Giles removed his glasses then squinted at the frozen figure before him. It was an Ubervamp…only this one had breasts!
"What? Only the good guys get female power?" Giles turned around with axe in hand, but lowered the weapon when noticing it was just the powerless First Evil in the form of Buffy. "You're not going to win" Giles assured the First.
Ignoring Giles threats, The First continued the taunting. "Ooh, the black guy got killed. How politically incorrect of me." It laughed, watching the scowl forming on Giles' face. "Oh, that? A female Ubervamp. Never know what I'm gonna get out of the Hellmouth." The First eyed the magic bubble up and down. "You know that won't hold her for long, right?"
Giles ignored the First until it orbed out. He gripped tightly on the axe, waiting for whatever was next.
Crrraasshhhh. The door to principal Wood's suddenly flew off its hinges. Vi and Dawn screamed in unison while holding their heads to protect themselves from flying splinters. The door smacked itself on the opposite end of the wall, then fell down right next to Xander and Willow – about a centimeter away from knocking them into a three-year coma.
The scoobies stared at the figure that crashed in, expecting to see some bloodthirsty Ubervamps, but instead one peeved-off looking slayer.
"I thought you were…" Xander ran up to her and was about to make with the hugs, but stopped himself when noticing the vengeance in her eyes. Gulping, he backed a few steps away. "Whoa, cool down there Buff. Willow didn't" - Xander couldn't finish his sentence on account of him being pushed through a wall.
Intervening, Dawn hopped up in Xander's former spot. "Buffy! What's wrong? Willow made you evil, didn't she." She turned around at the crying witch in the corner. "See what you did, Willow!!!"
"Dawnie, sweetheart?" Buffy batted her eyelashes. "Please move out of the way or you'll join Xander." There was an icy condescension in her voice, making the youngest Summers quickly back off. Vi also stepped away. Ubervamps were one thing, but an Uberslayer looked about ten times scarier.
"Get up!" Buffy commanded. She easily pulled the witch up to her feet with one hand locked tightly around her red hair. A fiery stare burned through Willow's being before she felt her shoulders being slammed against the wall. "On second thought, I think you should stay down…where you belong. Sit, bitch." Buffy let go of Willow's hair and the witch slumped back down to her corner, looking up at Buffy with eyes similar to an orphaned puppy dog.
Buffy continued the vehemence. "What the hell is wrong with you! My little pep talk wasn't enough for you, huh? I guess you really are the little nobody in High School…can you even begin to comprehend the damage you caused? Because what, you're scared of yourself. Scared of your own shadow, like a little kid. Oooh look, I'm Willow and I can't do a spell. Waaah, Xander – pleathe help me! Make everything better for me. Help me pretend my life isn't pathetic as…"
For a split second, the only thing Buffy wanted was to field goal Willow's face and watch the cartilage from the witch's nose to fly right up to her brain and make her a retard for the rest of her life. Fortunately, she stopped herself just in time. "God, oh God…Willow. I'm so sorry." She looked behind at Xander, trying to grasp what she just did … and what she was about to do.
Strangely, Willow grinned from ear to ear then pulled herself up on two feet via levitation. "Well, isn't this turning out lovely!"
Bewildered, Dawn, Vi and Buffy stared at Willow's sudden change of character. "I knew Willow should have finished that How Not to Be Evil class in England!" Dawn nervously quipped while scurrying beside Vi, who was hiding behind Buffy.
"Surprise! I'm not Willow." A hand was waved and 'Willow' was revealed to be …Amy Madison! "By the way Buffy, niiiiice. I agreed with everything you said.
The slayer had to practically order her leg not to snap up and kick this bitch right in her smarmy face. She needed to know the truth. "What did you do?" Her fists clenched tightly together, knuckles turning white. Buffy knew she had enough power to knock Amy's head off in one shot.
Amy smiled. "As you wish…but first, I think we need the whole gang in on this. It'll make the shock effect just that much more interesting, ya know?" With a snap of her fingers, Giles, Anya, and Andrew appeared in the room along with the dead body of Spike and the unconscious body of Faith.
"Well now that" - Amy was interrupted by Spike…moving? The vampire pulled himself up. He noticed the amulet was missing but was more concerned why the hell he was even in this room. He looked at the dead girl on the floor and Amy standing right above her all bad-assy. "Great, woke up just in time for a brawl." He stared threateningly at Amy before his eyes moved toward Buffy along with that coy, sexy smile. "Now's not the time for a we don't hurt humans speech love. Please tell me we're about to fight here."
A spark of her former self returned to Buffy's face when she realized that Spike was all right. Should have known vampires can't die that way, Buffy thought. "No, no fighting. Not yet. More like…listening." She would try to explain later.
Spike sent Buffy a sarcastic smile. "Remind me again why I fight with the lot of you." He stood next to Dawn in case anything happened to her. He couldn't forgive himself if anything happened to the bit. He was also worried about the fact that Xander's legs were sticking out of a broken wall, but he didn't say anything. Spike had a macho image to keep up, after all.
Frustrated, Amy placed both hands on her hips. "Anybody else want to conveniently get up from being knocked out?" After that was said, Faith's eyes started opening and the next thing Amy knew, Andrew and Anya were helping the brunette slayer stand up on both feet.
"Whoa- ow…hey, what's up?" Although Faith had many questions, the most obvious one had to be asked first. "We supposed to be fighting her or something?" She pointed at Amy with a raised brow.
"Listening" Spike answered, approaching Faith while patting his pocket for a cig. He pulled out a cancer stick and lit it, then gave one to Faith. He noticed the empty look on the slayer, but all he could offer her was a shrug. "Confused as you are, pet."
Buffy's attention turned back to Amy. "Okay Drama queen. Now that you've got an audience, wanna tell us what you did with Willow?"
Amy smiled wide and her eyes twinkled with evil. "Boy, have we kept you guys in the dark for awhile. Willow offed herself months ago." Amy waved her hand and a semi-distorted image of Willow in the UC Sunnydale bathroom played before everyone. She was popping some pills in her mouth. The screen fast forwarded to her corpse being dragged out by a few Bringers. "Happened a little after her confrontation with the First. Guess she bought all that junk about joining Tara in heaven. Wonder how that worked out, huh?"
Dawn's face turned pale after watching the horrid suicide. She looked behind her to find Andrew crying and Anya frowning worriedly. Giles muttered some 'dear lords' under his breath and started excessively cleaning his glasses.
Buffy couldn't take much more. Suddenly, a left hook crashed into Amy's face and the screen before them vanished.
The witch caught the blood that splattered out of her nose with an outstretched palm. "Ah come on Buffy, you're holding back." She knew it was easier than ever for Buffy to cross that line and kill a human. Even somebody as twisted and wrong as Amy, the line would still be crossed.
"At least I still have the power TO hold back." She pulled Amy up and slammed her against the wall.. "So you took Willow's place after she died." The less experienced witch was always jealous of Willow's power. "But what did you do to me? To the girls?"
"Gave all the potentials slayer powers. Just like you wanted."
Wrinkling her forehead, Buffy made a 'huh' face.
Amy grinned and continued, "For about two seconds. Then I transferred all the slayers' power to you. The chosen line now flows with one…and only one. Don't you feel special?"
Feeling defeat, Buffy didn't even feel like punching Amy in the face anymore. "And making me a hundred times more powerful is going to help your side how, exactly?" Buffy's voice shook as she spoke, because she already knew the answer.
Amy smiled. She knew Buffy wasn't this stupid. "You're about choices, right? Well, it's only a matter of time before you choose us. For seven years you've fought with everything you had to lead a normal life and this is the day where you learn that's impossible. The one thing you wanted the most, you'll never be able to have…so you'll join us." Amy paused like she was finished, but she wasn't. "It doesn't really matter anyway. The power of the slayers is slowly traveling through you. You'll gradually become less and less human everyday… and eventually turn into an absolute force of destruction. The true power of the slayer."
"Buffy, you mustn't give up. There's still the scythe! We can get the coven to reverse this."
The comforting voice of Buffy's father figure momentarily pulled the slayer out of her depression. She made eye contact with Amy and noticed the 'uh-oh' stamped on her face. That cued Buffy in for the fight scene.
While throwing herself backwards, Buffy kicked Amy against the wall then somersaulted on top of Kennedy's dead body. Just when Buffy was about to pull the scythe out of her corpse, she was telekinetically thrown against Spike and Dawn.
"Now we fight…" Buffy told Spike as she rolled off him. Spike, Faith, Giles, Dawn, Anya, Vi and even Andrew charged at Amy while Buffy ran toward the scythe.
With a snap of Amy's fingers, all of Buffy's allies instantly vanished out of the principal's office and into opposite ends of the school. Using the slayer's confusion to her advantage, Amy telekinetically slid the dead body toward the other end of the room, while telekinetically tossing Buffy in her own direction. She punched Buffy in her nose while she was still soaring through the air, then levitated and double-kicked her face before she could recover.
This chick is good, Buffy thought. She took a swing at Floaty Amy, but all her fist managed to hit was air. Buffy then noticed the area around them getting dark, so she used her new shield power to protect herself against an incoming lightning bolt. A fireball was also sent Buffy's way, but she ducked in the nick of time. "You know, I always thought girls who wore those element shirts were pretty morbid" Buffy snarked, distracting Amy long enough to jump off a desk and tackle her back to the ground.
A kick and a punch flew at Amy's face. The witch got up and tried to punch Buffy, but she blocked and countered with a forceful backhanded. Amy's body went spiraling out of control, smashing into the cheesy 'There's no I in Team' poster. "I'll kill you if I have to" Buffy threatened, waiting for Amy's next attack.
Amy laughed hysterically, coughing out some blood. "No, you won't. Not yet anyway."
Angrier than ever, Buffy grabbed a pencil on the desk and flicked it at Amy's hand with alarming accuracy. The sharp object swiftly penetrated through her palm, causing the witch to scream out in pain. This gave Buffy more than enough time to run to Kennedy's body and get the scythe, although she was surprised to discover that it had already been taken. Xander. He must have grabbed it while they were fighting. She smiled and ran out of the room.
"Buffy, come on!" A voice called at her from the hallway. She looked back at the sole survivor of the ex-potentials. "The others are waiting. We're leaving."
Buffy started to walk out of Sunnydale High, her brain trying to gather everything that happened so far. The slayer line flows through her… all the Potentials killed besides Vi. Willow's been dead for months. Yet after everything she learned today, one thing remained the same. The scythe was still their only hope. She had faith that Giles and the others would find a way to reverse Amy's spell. Before Buffy went out in the daylight to join her friends, she looked down at the shoe that was about to seriously harm the person she thought was Willow. She wouldn't become the evil she was destined to fight. No, she'd never let that happen.
NEXT CHAPTER: 'What's Up With Xander?