This is my fourth story. This is a HALO Buffy crossover and is the follow up to my stories "Faithfully Spartan", "Eternal Spartan" and "Requiem for a Spartan". I appreciate all constructive comments and editorials. I have discovered from writing that to become a decent writer you must have no self-esteem :-)

This is a HALO - Buffy the Vampire Slayer crossover story and contains an original character of my creation. I just want to say thank you to the creators, writers and designers of both the HALO and Buffy franchises. They have provided me with hours of enjoyment and entertainment. All characters are the intellectual property of their respective creators and publishers; this story may not be sold or distributed on a profit-making basis.

The 4th story in the series. Faith and Michael have been enjoying their "retirement" and raising their daughter… Adriana, when Buffy comes to ask for their help dealing with a possible apocalypse back in Sunnydale. Faith and Michael reluctantly agree and return to Sunnydale to help. In one tragic moment, Michael losses everything he holds dear. How far would a Spartan go to get back what he has lost? What cost and sacrifice would someone make especially a Spartan when they have nothing left to lose?

CHAPTER ONE:

The End or the Beginning?

Sunnydale, California – November 22, 2010

Michael was struggling through the horde of Quasit demons that formed a barrier between him and the Quasit demon high priest that was starting the ascension ritual. He caught glimpses of Buffy and Faith as he fought, each of them were engaged in their own battles with the demons in the underground temple.

Michael tried to keep his focus on the fighting and not worry about Faith. There were too many demons between them as the demons used their bodies as a living wall to keep them separated and away from their high priest. He knew the only way to end this was to fight his way through and kill the Quasit demon priest before he ascended—which would be bad for everyone.

Michael slashed at the demons with his combat knife as the close-quarters fighting made using his MA5 almost impossible. It was looking like an impossible task to get through the demons because it seemed as he killed one demon another would jump in to the fray to rebuild the living wall between him and his objective.

The demons knew they couldn't stop Michael, they were only hoping to delay him, Faith and Buffy long enough so that their high priest could finish the ritual and begin his ascension.

Michael realized there was only one way to quickly clear himself a path. He pulled out one of his last few frag grenades, activated it and dropped it right in front of him. As the grenade fell to the ground, he dropped into a crouch and activated his armor-lock mode. A smirk came to his face the he saw the looks on the demons' faces as they realized what was about to happen.

The demons tried to scramble to get out of the way. Michael had considered the risks and wasn't worried about Buffy or Faith—they were outside the grenade's blast radius and there were more than enough demon bodies in the way to absorb the blast…

oOoOo

The underground temple reverberated with the explosion as the grenade went off in the enclosed area. Michael disengaged his armor-lock before the demons had a chance to recover. He rushed forward over a path strewn with broken and shredded demon bodies towards the demon high priest.

The demon priest faced Michael as he approached and laughed as he began glowing, "You're too late! My ascension has begun!"

Michael saw Faith had broken through the demons trying to block her and she was trying to flank the demon priest from behind. The high priest must have caught sight or wind of her. The demon turned quickly, he was holding a staff with a large crystal on the end. The demon priest pointed the staff at Faith—a lightning bolt shot from the crystal. Michael found himself helpless looking on in horror as he saw the bolt of lightning strike Faith throwing her backwards against the temple wall. He was frozen in his tracks as he watched his wife crumple to the ground after hitting the wall.

"FAITH!"

The demon priest laughed as he turned to face Michael. All Michael could see was Faith lying on the ground unmoving. He snapped and rushed at the demon. Michael's shields flared as the demon fired more bolts of lightning at him. He could feel the power of the bolts through his shields and armor. His rage pushed him over the edge and he shrugged off the pain.

Michael saw the look of shock and fear on the demon high priest's face as he got closer surviving the barrage of bolts. The demon desperately swung the staff at the Spartan's head, but Michael easily deflected the blow with his armored left arm and quickly countered with his right hand grabbing the staff.

The demon struggled to maintain his grip on the staff, but he was hopelessly outmatched in this hand-to-hand fight as Michael ripped the staff from his grasp. Still overcome with rage, Michael proceeded to mercilessly beat the demon with the staff. Michael's anger was still not satiated as the demon priest collapsed to the ground. The Spartan lifted the staff above his head and with both hands thrust it downwards through the chest of the demon impaling him to the ground. A hideous scream echoed through the temple from the demon.

The high priest's screams were still echoing as the few remaining Quasit demons saw what had happened and they turned and fled the temple in a panic.

Michael was breathing heavily and feeling a mix of hate and indifference as he stood over the impaled body. He finally got enough control of his anger to look around the temple—there was only the bodies of the dead demons left behind littering the floor of the temple. He felt a wave of panic and fear as his gaze shifted to where Faith was lying crumpled on the ground.

He found himself again frozen and unable to respond, but that feeling quickly changed as he saw Faith move slowly at first—then finally raising her head. Buffy was already by her side checking on her and Michael let out a huge sigh of relief as he saw that his wife was going to be okay. He started to call and move to her, when a dying voice spoke diverting his attention.

"You…You… You think you've defeated me… Even when you win… You lose…" the dying demon high priest said gurgling out his last words.

Before Michael had a chance to figure out or respond, the demon managed to reach up with his last gasp of strength and snapped the crystal off the end of the staff.

Michael saw a searing white light flare from the crystal. His shields flared as yellow and red warning lights flashed on his helmet display. He couldn't move and his memory was seared as his last image was seeing Faith start to dematerialize in front of him. He saw a look of fear on her face and could hear her start to scream his name.

"MICHA—"

He was helpless as he watched in horror and panic as Faith, Buffy, the demon bodies and then the underground temple start to vanish around him. He screamed out in a mix of anger, fear and panic as everything disappeared.

"NOOOOOO!"

His last conscious image was of a blinding white light and then he felt nothing and then there was only darkness…