Avalon's Glory IV

by Aesop

BTVSGargoyles 10: The Key has been activated, scattering Humans and Garogyles across worlds known and unknown. Xander finds himself somewhere more alien and frightening than he could have imagined.

AVALON'S GLORY:  REMEMBERANCE

By Aesop

DISCLAIMER:  I don't own any of the characters from Gargoyles or BTVS and don't make any money off of this, so don't bother suing. This is just for fun. This story takes most of season five into account.  My thanks to StorySeeker for the basic idea and the help he provided by beta reading my work.

SUMMARY:  The Key has been activated scattering gargoyles and humans across worlds known and unknown.  Xander finds himself in a place more alien and frightening than he could have imagined.

Only Xander and Ophelia were left to retrieve, and time was almost up.  Oberon's deadline was only minutes away and Titania was working quickly to eliminate the remaining portals in search of the one they had fallen through.

Anya bit her lip, reminding herself repeatedly that pestering the queen would not help matters.  A hand on her shoulder nearly caused her to jump out of her skin.

"Come along dear, you're just distracting her."  The woman was gray-haired, but still striking.  The accent reminded her of earlier days.  Scotland had been one of her favorite haunts when she was a vengeance demon, although she was never certain why.  Rivalries between the various human clans ensured that there was always plenty of work for her, but that had nothing to do with why it was one of her favorite places.

Maybe it's just the accent.  The accent is nice.  "Oh.  Right.  Don't want to do that.  I'm sorry," she said, remembering the manners Xander had tried to drill into her.  "Who are you?"

"I'm princess Katherine.  Tom an' I lived here with the gargoyles while Oberon and the rest were out wanderin' the world."  She led Anya to a bench at the edge of the garden, steering clear of where Willow and Tara were holding each other tightly, in favor of a spot by the hole Oberon had made upon exiting the garden earlier. 

Anya spared a glance at the witches.  They wouldn't talk about what they had seen on the other side of the portal they had gone through, but both looked profoundly frightened. Willow was a basket case and Tara, badly shaken herself, was attempting to comfort her.  Giles had just advised everyone to give them space.

"Yuir nae the only one worried you know?  My little Ophelia is missing as well.  I won't have ye distracting the queen."

"I know.  I need to be patient if I want him back." 

"He means a great deal to you?"  Anya nodded mutely.  "I do know the feeling.  If my Tom were missin', I'd feel the same way."  The two sat and compared notes for a time, distracting each other from their respective worries.

Anya told the princess about her days as a vengeance demon and Katherine told of the fall of castle Wyvern and how she came to be on Avalon with so many gargoyle 'eggs.'

***

"Okay Alex, I'll take 'where the hell are we?' for $100."

Ophelia glanced at her companion, not sure what to make of his statement.  After a moment's consideration, she deduced that it was meant as a question.  "No part of Avalon, tha' is certain," she shook her head while surveying the bleak desert landscape.  The most striking feature in sight was one that neither of them could place. 

"I don't know of any part of the outside world," Xander stated, venturing a few steps closer to the edge, "that has a big honkin' hole."  It looked like it might have been an impact crater like that left by a meteor, but if so, he thought that it must have been one big falling rock.

They had been making their way around the edge for most of the night, hoping to find some trace of civilization since the way back to Avalon had apparently vanished.  Worried as they were about their friends, survival took precedence.  The terrain looked as if it had seen better days.  There were areas that might once have been farmland, but had been reclaimed by the surrounding desert long ago. 

The two talked as they traveled, trading stories and talking about their lives.  Ophelia was fascinated by Xander's tales of battles against demons, and she surprised him by knowing Goliath and Elisa.  Her story about that adventure made him shudder.

What had they been thinking?  Refuge on Avalon?  "Should have listened to Goliath," he muttered under his breath.  "After meeting Cin-an-ev, you think we'd know better."

"You have met others of the Third Race?"

"Only one," he answered, accepting her help in climbing a rough mound of broken stone that might once have been a building, as they tried to gain a better view of their surroundings.  "I'm sure I don't have to tell you, a little goes a long way."

"Strangely put," Ophelia remarked, "but I take yuir meaning."  They surveyed the land from the top of the heap of stone.  "It is closer to dawn than I realized," she commented.  "Maybe half-an-hour."

"That may be enough time," Xander said excitedly.  "I see a road!"  Following his gaze westward along the edge of the crater, she discerned a strip of darkness that resembled a narrow stream to her, but was unnaturally straight.  A strange looking road, she thought, but it had to lead somewhere.  She knew enough of deserts from stories told to the hatchlings by the Guardian that water would become a real problem for her companion during the day.

"We should go then," Ophelia nodded with certainty, "but I can nae make much distance before morning."

"Plus," Xander added, "we don't know what kind of people might use that road.  "You'll probably be safer during the day if you stay out of sight."

It was a valid point, but she didn't like the idea of being a burden on him, keeping him alone in the desert for the entire day.  Early on she had considered gliding with him, but the only way to gain any altitude would be to dive off the edge of the crater, but for some reason the idea of doing so sent something cold slithering along her spine.  Xander apparently felt the same way or perhaps it just hadn't occurred to him.  Ophelia was grateful either way.  It made her feel ashamed, but she couldn't shake the feeling the place gave her.

"We can find you a good spot to sleep not far from the road and I can do a little exploring, maybe get an idea of where that road leads."  He caught her eye and smiled.  "Don't worry, I won't wander too far."

They found a safe roosting spot for her in a small bowl formed by the base of three hills, completely hidden from anyone not standing on top of one of them.  It was only a short walk or glide from the road. 

Xander stayed with her until sunrise and then turned away toward the strip of ancient looking blacktop he had seen earlier.  He glanced back once, at the top of the hill, still amazed by the transformation.  He had seen stranger things to be sure, but this was amazing in a new and different way.  Shaking his head, at a loss for words, he turned back toward the road.

It had looked bad from a distance, old and little used.  Up close it became clear that no one had passed that way in a very long time.  "No surprise," he muttered to himself.  "Where would they be going?"  Turning to follow the road with his eyes, he could just make out the edge of the giant pit.  The road led straight to the edge.  "What the hell happened here?"

Receiving no answer from the universe at large, he turned his back and headed in the other direction.  The road ran straight for some time, remaining visible for the most part, but in places it had been completely covered by the encroaching desert.  He was close to turning back when the sound of a distant motor caught his attention.

Moving off the road into the brush, he waited.  An ancient looking vehicle trundled its way along the broken road, easing over the rougher patches as if the driver was taking great care with his old car.

Xander watched the car drive nearly to the edge of the pit.  The driver proved to be an old man, weary looking, but unbowed by his age.  Standing by the driver's side door for a moment as if contemplating something he finally sighed as if resigning himself to something.  "I know you're there.  I saw you in the mirror."

Xander didn't move from the small gully where he had hidden himself.  Turning from the pit, the man looked in Xander's general direction and scowled.  "Well?"  Deciding the old man seemed relatively harmless, Xander rose slowly and faced him.  "That's better.  What are you doing all the way out here kid?"

"You could say I got lost, I guess," his answer deliberately non-committal.  "What are you doing out here?"

The old man snorted in annoyance, but let it slide.  "I'm visiting friends," he told the young stranger, keeping his answer equally uninformative.  Suddenly he stiffened as the man became clearer in the early morning light.  "Who are you?"  Suddenly on his guard, he slid one foot back, positioning himself for a fight, something he hadn't done in over a decade.  The younger man stopped in his tracks on seeing this, suddenly wary.

Xander doubted the stranger, ancient as he appeared, posed much of a threat, but looks, as he well knew, could be deceiving.  Although resolving to be cautious of the old man, he saw no reason not to answer.  "My name's Xander, Xander Harris."

"Don't see how that's possible," the old man's eyes narrowed in suspicion as if gauging the threat Xander posed.  "I'm Xander Harris."

Xander stared at the old man for a moment, not sure what to make of this claim, finally he fell back on the sarcasm that had always served him so well.  "Sorry to disappoint, but you're a bit old for the part."

"And you're a bit young for it," the old man countered.  His expression grew thoughtful as he gave Xander a closer look, and after a moment's consideration asked,  "Can you prove what you're saying?"

"So now you're thinking you're not me?"

"If you are Xander Harris you can think of ways we could both be telling the truth."

This statement gave Xander pause and he considered.  "Well… I'm not a robot.  How 'bout you?"

"Flesh and blood."  A look of realization crossed the man's face.  "What was the name of the first robot you met?"  The younger man nodded, coming to the same conclusion.  "We test each other.  Ask questions only Xander could answer, agreed?"

"Yeah, okay.  Ted.  He was called Ted, and he was dating Buffy's mom.  My turn.   What did Buffy use to stop him?"

"A frying pan if I recall correctly.  Willow took him apart and we scattered the pieces in junkyards all over town."

The two spent the next half hour quizzing each other, asking increasingly personal questions.  Finally both were satisfied, if extremely confused.  "So," the younger Xander asked, "is this a time travel thing or an alternate universe thing?"

The older shrugged.  "Who knows?"  Both lapsed into silence, not sure which of the many questions they had to ask first.  "How did you get here?"

"I fell through a portal Dawn created by accident.  We were on Avalon remember?  We went there to try to get away from Glory." 

"Avalon?" he frowned.  "I think things were different for me.  We found a weapon, a way to beat Glory."  He sighed.  "It was all so long ago, and things have changed so much.  I wonder if that's where the time line split off?"  He puzzled over it for a moment but finally shook it off.  "I know about Dawn's portals though.  They only opened once.  It was just another apocalypse to stop."  Glancing out over the pit he shuddered and hastily glanced away.  "It wasn't the last though."

"I hear that.  There's always another just around the corner."  He noticed the solemn look on the older man's face.  "It was bad?"

"The worst," the old man sighed, "and my last."

Xander stared at the older version of himself, not knowing, or able to imagine what could keep him out of the fight.  One possibility occurred to him, but his mind shied away from it.

"What happened?" he finally asked.  "What is this?"  He gestured out at the pit.

Sighing, the old man looked out over the edge, and an expression crossed his face that made it plain he was seeing something quite different.  "This is, or was, Sunnydale.  Welcome home Xander."

Xander stared out over the pit, not believing it.  "What… How… It can't be.   What could do that to an entire town?"  The old man considered his words and his tone.  His younger self didn't believe him.

"Can't say I blame you," he muttered.  "I still find it hard to believe myself, but its true.  It happened."

Xander had long ago come to the conclusion that somewhere in his brain was a switch labeled 'Too Much,' and that switch was thrown when he was faced with something, a monster or a situation that couldn't be comprehended without an hour or two of quiet introspection, preferably spent hiding in a closet sucking his thumb.  It took a moment for that switch to trip, allowing him to deal without having to comprehend.  "How?'

The old man waited for so long that he thought, perhaps, the other wasn't going to answer.  "We were desperate.  It was the only plan we had, but it was a good plan.  We had all our bases covered, I thought."

60 YEARS AGO

Book tucked safely under his arm, Xander threw the sunlight potion Willow had developed.  The blast was intensely bright and the ubervamps didn't even have time to scream. 

The Bringers, being eyeless, were of course unaffected, but Xander had a way of dealing with them as well.  Retreating around the corner, he pulled his second surprise out of his jacket pocket as they advanced, weapons at the ready.  Ready to chop me into kibble, I don't think so.  He hurled his surprise around the corner and ran.

The concussion grenade, a leftover from the Initiative, did its job nicely and Xander was able to leave the old mansion the way he had come in, careful not to step in what was left of the bringers.  "In some ways," he mused aloud, "I prefer the vamps.  They're so much tidier when they die."

He was through the mansion and out into the street seconds later and dashing for his car.  He found the way clear of obstacles and hoped he had gotten all of them in the immediate area, but checked his backseat before he got in.  There was nothing hiding there.  Probably watched too many horror movies, he thought as he climbed behind the wheel placed the ancient volume carefully in the passenger's seat and started toward home, but hey, if it works for fictional psycho killers why not real life monsters?

Home these days was the Summers' house, shared with Buffy, Dawn, Willow, Anya, Andrew, and thirty-odd potential Slayers.  It was getting decidedly cramped.   The plan was his, and the risk was almost worth it to get back to his own place with his own bathroom. 

The drive was mercifully uneventful.  No Bringers attacked.  No ubervamps jumped out of the bushes and no dead people appeared in the seat next to him.  The First had been making quite a nuisance of itself recently, and since it could appear as Buffy or Spike, mistaking it for one of them was becoming a problem.  Both Slayer and vampire were growing short-tempered about people touching them to see if they were solid, however necessary it was.

The plan, Xander suspected, would be risky.  Even obtaining the items needed for it would be risky, which was why he had gone after the most important parts of it alone.  The spell book and the amulet were surprisingly easy to get.  The amulet had been found in an abandoned house in the middle of the day.  Its owner, a witch who had hastily split town like everyone else, had left quite a few interesting possessions behind.

The book was harder to get.  Apparently the First had become aware of his acquisition of the amulet, and realizing what it might mean, sent guards to keep it safe just in case.  It felt good he had to admit, to catch the First with its metaphorical pants down.

If the amulet and the spell that drove it worked as advertised they could seal the Hellmouth.  He hadn't shared this with the others.  He hadn't told them what he was doing because of the risk involved in using the spell.  The texts that referred to it were vague, but there was a price to pay.  There always was with magic that strong.  He would have to tell them now though.  He couldn't cast the spells involved, and it might well be that this was too dangerous or unworkable for some reason he didn't understand.

He came through the door with his burden, just after the sun dipped below the horizon.  "Cutting it a little close aren't you?"  Andrew greeted him at the door.  "I need a hand in the kitchen, come on."

"That can wait.  I need to see Buffy and Willow."  Andrew shrugged.

"Okay, but you get to explain to the potentials why dinner is late."  Xander tossed the book in a chair and headed for the kitchen.  It was almost an hour before he got back to it.  Willow was already paging through it, frowning fiercely over what she was seeing.

"Will."

"Where did this come from?"  She demanded.

Xander could see she was angry rather than excited.  His plan, even before he had a chance to lay it out, was about to be shot down.  "I brought it back.  There's a spell in there that…"

"I know," she cut him off, glancing around quickly, as if afraid of being overheard.  "It won't work Xander.  For one thing we'd need the amulet.  For another-"

"I have the amulet." 

Willow drew a deep breath, striving for patience.  "For another, there's a huge cost for this spell."  Again she looked around, for what Xander wasn't certain.  "We'd need a willing sacrifice," she finished in a whisper.

"Sacrifice?"  Xander felt himself pale at the prospect.

"Shh!"  Willow glanced around the room again.  A few of the potentials were watching TV, but there was no sign of Buffy or Dawn.  Giles, she knew, was out of town, on some mysterious errand.  "This could work, but Xander we can't show this to Buffy."

"Sacrifice."  He grimaced.  "I should have known it would be something like that.  Is there a way around it?  A loophole?""

"I don't know."  Willow looked dubious.  "I could look?  Maybe find a way to make it work without one."  She didn't sound hopeful, but she put on her resolve face and nodded.  "I'll find a way."

That had ended the discussion for the time.  Xander was soon caught up in the struggle for simple existence that had become their life in Sunnydale over the past few weeks.  Buffy continued to train the potentials with his assistance and then with Faith's.  The First's army continued to grow, although Buffy managed to kill several of the ubervamps, and all but a few of the Bringers that came against them. 

Caleb was proving one of her most dangerous enemies to date.  Twice she had led raids against his stronghold at the winery.  Each time she had lost potentials.  The loss of Amanda during the second raid had been especially hard on Dawn.  Her sister had vehemently disagreed with her decision to go back after the first attack had cost them two of the girls.  Xander had supported her staunchly though, and his words had swayed Willow.

The second raid proved as disastrous as the first, and Buffy hadn't even considered trying again.

***

"We're not getting anywhere," Buffy fumed.  "We have no idea how to stop the First.  We have no effective weapon against the ubervamps and no way of knowing how much time is left before its army is ready to emerge."  She looked at each of them in turn.  Giles looked graver than usual, unable to offer even a minor suggestion.  Willow's resolve face was slipping, allowing traces of the growing despair she was feeling to show through.  Xander looked equally grave, but there was something else in his expression, something she couldn't put her finger on.  Andrew just looked scared.  The others weren't present.  Anya and Wood were distracting some of the potentials with Dawn's help.  Faith and Spike were out on patrol with the rest. 

No helpful ideas from her friends unless…  "What is it Xander?"

"Huh?  What?"

"You know something."  Willow's eyes widened slightly and Buffy, noticing this, switched her attention to her redheaded friend.  "Will?"  Neither answered immediately.  "Come on folks, its crunch time.  If you have an idea, I need to know about it."

"Maybe," she offered reluctantly.  "I've been working on it.  Unfortunately the spell has a high cost and I haven't found a way around that."

"What cost?  What does this spell do?"

Willow hesitated still, but at the look on Buffy's face, she crumbled.  Buffy wasn't angry with her, that Willow could have handled.  Buffy wasn't preparing arguments either.  Willow had her own arguments to counter any Buffy could raise.  It was worse.  Her friend was starting to lose hope.

"If it works as advertised… it'll close the Hellmouth permanently, seal up the First's army on the other side."

Buffy's jaw dropped.  "Wh-why haven't you said so?!"

"The cost Buffy.  I haven't found a way around it."  She drew a deep breath.  "It requires a willing sacrifice, a soul to seal the portal forever."

Her friend was silent for a moment, considering.  "We're low on options and running out of time, but keep it as an option.  Find a way."  Willow nodded, not sure she liked the look on the Slayer's face.

Options were low and Willow knew that every possibility had to be explored.  That didn't mean she had to like it.  Preparations for the spell were made at Buffy's direction, and in her spare time Willow exhausted every source of information she had available to her.  A call to New York to speak with Goliath and various contacts magical and conventional yielded vague possibilities but nothing that came close to being as certain as the spell Xander had found.

The next few days saw an increase in the First's activities.  There were more Bringers in the area and more and more of the super vamps by night.  On the third night, Buffy dreamed. 

Standing above the pit where the seal was located, she saw Bringers killing Kennedy, allowing her blood to flow over the seal.  When it opened, the demons began to emerge, and they kept coming in a seemingly endless stream.  The scene shifted and she saw herself and her friends fighting an overwhelming force, and she watched them die, one by one.  The First's army spread and continued to grow, destroying everything in its path.

Buffy woke without a sound, even though she wanted to scream, she wasn't able to do so.  Her chest tight and her hands clenched, she stared into the darkness of her room, a room now shared with four potentials and silently raged over what she had seen.  It was coming.  That night.  Only one option remained to her.  The spell to seal the Hellmouth required a willing sacrifice and it would have one.

***

"We can't afford to wait.  If you don't have another option now, we'll go with this plan."

"But Buffy-!"  Willow broke off, knowing it was useless to argue any further, not after what the slayer had told her about the latest prophetic dream.  "I… I'll get ready," she finished in a small voice.

"NO!!"  Dawn who'd been standing near the door where neither had seen her.  "I won't let you."

"Dawn please," Buffy began, but her sister was shaking her head adamantly.  "Its what I do Dawn, and it's the only way."  She didn't even try to convince Dawn that their plan was something other than what it was.  This was going to be hard enough.

"You've sacrificed yourself for the world already!  Shouldn't once be enough?"

"Doesn't work that way Dawn and you know it."

"It should."  The quiet voice barely registered for the sisters, so he spoke again.  "It should be enough.  You've done enough." 

Buffy glanced over, annoyed.  Andrew had entered the kitchen right behind Dawn, silent and meek as he usually was around Buffy and the Scooby core.  "Go away Andrew.  I don't have time."

"You will," he told her.  "You'll have lots of time.  I'm doing it."  Finally they were paying attention to him.  "Nobody takes me seriously, and its time you did.  I can't contribute much.  I know you all think I'm worthless, and you're right, but I can do this, be like that guy on Independence Day, the crazy, drunk veteran who wound up saving the planet.  I…"

"This isn't a movie Andrew!"  Buffy snapped, finally losing her patience with him.  "This is real."

"Don't you think I know that?!"  It took all his courage at that point to shout her down.  "I helped make this mess.  Let me help clean it up.  I'm not good for much.  You're right about that, but I can do this."

Buffy stared at him, taken aback.  She had never seen him so assertive.  She moderated her tone, realizing that he was serious.  "Andrew.  I know you-"

"No you don't.  You're not taking me seriously!  I can do this and I want to do it.  You're too important.  Let me help clean up the mess I made."  Usually his tone would have been   whiny or pleading at this point, or he would have been putting on a brave face, imagining himself to be a comic book character, but he wasn't whining, and Buffy could tell he wasn't playing.  "I heard you talking.  I know about the spell.  Kind of a perk of being the guy nobody notices.  I'm next to invisible sometimes." 

Andrew could feel a babble coming on as the terror gripped him, but he swallowed hard and forced a steady voice.  "You need a willing sacrifice.  I'm willing.  Let me stop this."

"Andrew…"  Buffy trailed off.  He wanted a chance to redeem himself, and he saw this as the way to do it.  She understood, but she couldn't let him.

"Its an involved spell, Buffy.  The person who sacrifices himself has to read a long portion of it aloud, declaring their intentions.  The First isn't gonna sit still for it.  I can't fight off Bringers and super vamps, but you can.  You can keep them off me long enough to do this.  It's the only way."

Dawn and Willow were staying carefully out of the argument, neither wanted to be seen as taking sides in an argument that would see one of their friends dead.  Willow scolded herself for even hoping that Buffy would agree to let Andrew work the spell, but at the same time she couldn't help hoping that the Slayer would lose this fight.

"Its logical Buffy.  I… fly down the trench to the vent and you keep the tie-fighters off my back."  He felt like kicking himself for resorting to a movie reference, knowing full well that it was one of the reasons they looked down on him.  "Let me-," no, not a request; she'd turn him down.  It had to be a statement.  "I'm doing this."

Buffy wanted to argue.  It wasn't in her nature to let someone else take the risk, or make the sacrifice, in her place.  Andrew wasn't doing this to protect her, that at least she couldn't take issue with.  One of her friends might have tried to step in to save her, but that wasn't Andrew's motivation.  He wanted to redeem himself. 

She appreciated that, but she couldn't let him do it.  "Andrew-"

"No arguments.  You're too important.  What happens if this spell prevents the next Slayer from being called?  The sacrifice serves as a kind of cork in a bottle, keeping the genie in if I understand the spell right.  What if it doesn't kill you and you're just stuck there? No more Slayer."

"He's right Buffy." Willow's eyes widened.

"There's still Faith."

"Yeah," Willow snorted, sounding less than impressed, "but no Watchers to train the new Slayer when she dies.  You're both needed Buffy, and we're out of time to argue."

Willow was right.  The spell would take time to prepare and they had other preparations to make as well.  Buffy nodded reluctantly.

The next four hours were spent in frantic preparation.  The potentials were armed and prepared as best they could be, not only with swords but also with sunlight potions and whatever other surprises Xander, Wood, and Spike could muster between them.  Long range weapons weren't going to win the battle though.  It was going to come down to hand to hand fighting and they all knew it.

"If it's a bringer, target the head, neck, and chest.  If it's a vamp, go for the heart or the neck.  We're looking for killing blows only people.  If you need to disable one to get in close, go for the eyes, everything's got eyes."

"Except the bringers," one of the potentials broke in.

"Except the bringers," Xander acknowledged.

"What if its something else?"  Rona asked.

"Could happen, so here's a handy tip.  Go for center mass.  Don't be distracted by all the fancy tentacles or whatever just 'cause they're waving in your face going 'look at me!'"

"Xander?"  Andrew had come into the room quietly, unnoticed as usual.  Xander turned to face him.  "Could I talk to you?"

"Sure."  He turned back to the girls.  "Give us a few."  When they were alone, Xander turned to him.  "What's up Andrew?"

"I need you to do something for me."  He handed Xander a folded sheet of notebook paper.  "I want you to take care of this… y'know, after."  Xander started to open it, but Andrew held out a hand to stop him.  "Its my will."

"Oh.  Oh right.  I'll take care of it."  He couldn't think of anything else to say, but Andrew apparently didn't want to talk about it.  He turned away, already lost in thought.  It was one thing, Xander realized to risk your life on a mission, but Andrew knew that he wasn't coming back from this.  The fact that it had come to this, that they were desperate enough to even consider it was almost incomprehensible to him.

They had examined it from every angle though, and no one had come up with a better idea.  It still sucks. 

Shortly after noon, the school bus they had appropriated from the deserted school district office building rolled away from Ravello drive carrying one Watcher, two Slayers, 28 potential Slayers, a witch, a carpenter, a vampire with a soul, a high school principal, and two teenagers; one of whom, the core of the group knew, wouldn't be coming back.  It ate at them, but no better ideas had occurred to them, and they were resigned to pushing forward with their plan. 

"The place'll be crawling with bringers," Xander reasoned.  Buffy nodded.  It was a safe bet that the First knew they were coming.

"We'll open the place up to a little sunlight as well," Buffy nodded.  "Limit the movement of the super vamps."  She glanced at Spike, anticipating his objection.  "I'll need you with me, down by the seal."  As per the plan they'd made they spread out.  Xander took seven of the potentials and went in a back entrance, searching for bringers and tearing down blinds and shutters to let in as much sunlight as possible.  Two other crews led by Wood and Giles respectively took other entrances, following the same procedure.

They met surprisingly little resistance, killing a total of nine bringers and only suffering minor injuries in the process.  They met in the main hallway where Buffy and the rest had secured the main entrance, the office and the surrounding classrooms.

"This was too easy," Faith opined, glancing around suspiciously.  "We should have met heavier resistance."

"Agreed," Giles nodded. "Something is off here."

"You think we're walking into a trap?"  Buffy asked, glancing thoughtfully at her watcher.

Xander scowled.  "Gee, ya think?" 

"So let's walk into it already," Kennedy cut him off.  "We know where the sewer entrances are.  We know the weapons we have will work against them and we can set lookouts at key spots."

"We're not going to get another chance at this," Buffy reminded her friends.  "We do this now, regardless of what preparations the First has made.  No choice."

They took their positions and Buffy led the way down to the seal.  "It'll have to be open for the spell to work, Buffy," Willow reminded her.  "We have to go in."  The Slayer nodded and drew her knife.  One by one the girls cut themselves and bled on the seal.  It opened and Buffy went in, followed closely by Spike, Willow, Andrew, Faith, and 23 of the potentials.  The rest had been spread out around the school to guard against an expected counter-attack on the surface.  They found themselves at the top of a steep hill, looking down at the First's army.

"Get to work Will.  It won't be long before they notice us.  Andrew….  Stick close to Will and be ready."  Andrew nodded, deathly pale, at the thought of what he had to do.  He helped Willow set up the spell as best he could though, even though his hands shook terribly. 

Below them on the fire-dotted plain the demons suddenly stopped squabbling and fighting among themselves and, as one, looked up.  They charged together, looking more like an incoming tide than an advancing army.

"Ready!  Throw!"  Seven of the potentials tossed small bottles brought along for the occasion.  Four shattered on the ground before the advancing demons.  Two landed farther back in their ranks, and one was shattered in the air by a chance encounter with a sword. 

Seven miniature suns sprang into existence for a few seconds, reducing several dozen demons to ash and driving others back.  It was a temporary reprieve.  More vampires pushed forward to take their place.

"Second wave!"  More bottles and several cans flew through the air trailing burning paper fuses.  The Molotov cocktails hit the ground well ahead of the advancing horde, and exploded.  The burning gasoline and oil spread from the shattered bottles spread, consuming more of the creatures. 

It barely slowed them.  Some leaped the flames, some went around.  Not all made it, occasionally falling short or pushing each other into the fires in their eagerness to get to the prey that had wandered willingly into their domain. 

Buffy glanced back at Willow to see how the spell was coming she was nearly finished, but Andrew was nowhere in sight.  "Andrew?!"  She couldn't leave the line, not with the enemy growing closer by the moment.  "Rona.  Go find Andrew."  The girl nodded and ran for the stone stairway that led up through the seal.  It was the only way he could have gone.

Andrew ran.  Blind panic driving past the point of exhaustion.  What had he been thinking?  What was he doing now?  Have to get away!  He had to go back.  He had promised.  But his legs kept moving him forward, away from the seal, away from the school.  Away from the people he knew depended on him.  Whatever shame he felt though, he never slowed.

Rona turned and headed back to the basement after a brief search.  There was no sign of Andrew, and she couldn't waste any more time on it, knowing that she would be needed.

Xander parried the bringer's swing and thrust the sword he carried between its ribs.  He didn't know if that was where bringers kept their hearts, but it seemed to work.  The bringer fell away, as silent as ever, but now motionless as well.  With his own area clear for the moment he turned to see how Dawn was doing.  She had just dispatched a bringer of her own.

She gave him a brief nod before turning to face the next.  They were coming out of the woodwork now, leading both to wonder where they had all been hiding.  It didn't really matter though, what mattered was keeping them from reaching the seal and attacking Buffy's group from the rear.  A head bounced off the shoulder of the one he was fighting, distracting it just long enough for a fatal blow.

The spell was ready.  All that was needed now was Andrew.  Willow looked up.  Preparations and casting had claimed all of her attention, and the rest of the world had been shut out, a distant murmur at best.  Rarely had she encountered a spell that required so much of her concentration and energy.  Her work complete she gradually became aware of the world around her, rather like waking from a deep sleep.  Willow woke to a nightmare.

All around her the potentials were dying.  Vi hit the ground next to her, throat torn out, and the demon responsible lunged for Willow.  A desperate shout and a flash of steel later the demon and its head parted company and Rona was there.

"We have to go now!"

"Where's Andrew?!" Willow looked around desperately.

"Run off," the potential shook her head and split the skull of a demon clinging to Chau-An's back.  The Chinese girl gave her a grateful look and moved to help another.

"Everyone out!"  Buffy shouted.  She, Spike, and Faith were fighting harder than Willow had ever seen them fight but it wasn't enough, not against such numbers.  "Out!" She shouted again, and the girls obeyed, falling back quickly, and making their way toward the stairs.  "You too Willow.  It's to me to do the cleanup here.  Out!"

She didn't know where Andrew was, and it hardly mattered.  They couldn't hold long enough for him to reach the top of the circle Willow had made.  Buffy stepped into it without hesitation, and the fight was over for her.

Willow tried to reach for her, desperate fear on her face at the thought of what was happening to her friend.  The spear that tore into her side and kept going till it had severed her spine was barely noticed before her sight dimmed.  All she saw was Buffy as the Slayer began to glow. 

Faith saw Willow fall, and killed the beast responsible, but in doing so she left herself vulnerable for a split second as the last of the surviving potentials escaped up the stairs.  Five of the creatures piled on top of her, dragging her down.

From his vantage point at the bottom of the stairs, Spike used a battle-axe taken from one of the bringers upstairs to fend off the First's army for just a little while longer.  He saw Faith fall, saw Willow's lifeless body crumpled at the feet of the Slayer he had come to love so dearly. 

Buffy herself was aglow.  The demon's shied away from her, barely able to look at what was becoming blinding, yet somehow contained   It was as if a barrier held the light at bay, but it was growing fast, becoming a small star, a small sun.  She had never been more beautiful.

"Oh Buffy," he breathed in the second before the barrier gave way and sunlight filled the world.

THE PRESENT

"I don't really know what happened, that's the killer.  I only have a few facts.  We all broke for the bus when the ground began to shake.  Giles dragged principal Wood back, badly hurt.  He didn't make it to the hospital.  Anya and the potentials that went with her never showed up.  Out of nearly forty potentials that arrived in town, only seven made it out.  They didn't look back, so they didn't know that Buffy, Willow, and Faith weren't right behind them."  He didn't mention Spike, having rarely found the need to grieve for him.  Full up of grief, no room for more.  He shook off the thought.  "Rona never forgave herself for not going back for them.  She was the next Slayer, but only lasted a couple of months."  The old man paused in his narrative to sigh.  "I told her not to blame herself, but she never listened.  Buffy used to tell us the first rule of slaying was, 'don't die.'  She never accepted that it wasn't her fault.  She was the one who got the last few potentials out in one piece, probably activated as soon as Faith died."

"Guilt's a killer," the younger nodded.

"Yes.  Yes it is."  They were silent for a long time.  Finally, the younger spoke.

"What about Andrew?"

"Don't know.  He ran, I know that, but did he make it out of town?"  He shrugged.  "Who knows?"

"You don't know that Buffy…"

"It was Buffy.  You're forgetting Cin-an-ev.  Buffy would have survived thanks to his spell.  She would have come out by now."  He glanced at his younger self and saw the realization.

"Oh my God…"

"She's still in there, keeping the Hellmouth shut."  He choked and his next words were so quiet that the younger couldn't hear him over the roaring in his ears.

She's still alive.  Trapped, alive and immortal in hell!  "No… It can't…She can't be."

"I don't know," the older replied, staring out over the pit that was all that remained of his childhood home.  "I hope I'm wrong."  He glanced up to see the sun beginning to sink in the west.  "But I know I'm not."

The younger said nothing for a long time.  Cin-an-ev's words rang in his ears as clearly as if he was hearing them again.  You are content as you are, and so shall you stay-.

"Until the last demon has vanished away."  The older finished the thought as if the younger had spoken aloud.  "I looked for him.  Giles and I spent nearly three years once chasing rumors, but I never found him.  I don't think he would've helped anyway, but for a while, I managed to convince myself…"

"Can we get her out?"

"No.  She's got her finger in the dike and if she takes it out… the Hellmouth opens again, worse than anything we've seen before.  Giles worked on it for years.  So did Dawn.  They both reached the same conclusion.  It would mean the end of the world."  He shook his head again and stared down at his shoes.  Finally he stood and moved to his car.  Reaching into the backseat, he brought out a bundle of flowers that had wilted in the heat of the day while he had told his story. 

Walking to the edge of the pit he pulled a single flower from the bundle.  "Kennedy."  He took out another.  "Vi."  The recitation continued for what seemed like hours, but Xander knew it had only lasted a few minutes.  When the last flower chased Willow's name down into the pit the old man turned back to his car.  Without a word he opened the door and climbed behind the wheel.  Starting the motor, he backed away from the pit and made a u-turn, but paused as he straightened out again. 

"Remember what I've told you," he called.  "Remember and find a way back."

Xander could only nod as the old man drove away, leaving him to return to the world, a world that Xander knew he wanted no part of.  "I'll find a way to stop it," he whispered.  "I swear."

***

"Here they come!"  Anya was jumping up and down with excitement as Xander and Ophelia came through the portal.  She ran to him.  "You're here!  And you're okay!"  His failure to return her hug stopped her in her tracks.  "You are okay aren't you?"  She pulled back and looked him up and down.

"I'm fine," he assured her.  Now his arms did go around her, pulling her close.  "Everything will be fine.  I promise."

NOT THE END