Title: The Last Stop
Author: Evil Willow
Rating: R
Category: Story/Angst/Adventure
Spoilers: Up to season 5 of Buffy. Mostly the Glory/Dawn
storyline and also The Body.
Pairings: Buffy/Angel, Anya/Xander, Tara/Willow and also
Spike/Buffy in a very bizarre way
Disclaimer: Not mine. Joss runs the show, even if he doesn't do
it well. No copyright infringement intended, blah, blah, blah... The Last Stop
by Dave Matthews Band inspired the idea for the fic and the title. Again, it
belongs to Dave and whoever else wrote the song.
Keywords/Warnings: multiple character deaths, blood/gore/violence and angst
Distribution: If anyone wants it, sure. Just let me know where
it's going.
Summary: Five years from now, Buffy and the rest of the
Sunnydale gang have a really, bad day.
Author's Notes: Blame it on Dave Matthews. I swear, the song
inspired this idea months ago, I told the idea to go away. It wouldn't. This
plot is twisted, it's depressing, but I had to write it for the sake of my sanity.
I'd say it's darker than most of my stuff, so I'd be interested to know if anyone
likes it at all... The lyrics to "The Last Stop" are at the end of the fic, I didn't
want to do a songfic and break up the emotion of the story.
Author's notes2: Buffy's Point of View
Author's notes 3:
***** = an undefined passage of time.
%%%%% blah blah blah %%%% = flashback.
Dedications: To Dru for encouraging me and being my awesome
beta.

====================================================================
I can't believe my eyes as we drive down the street. It's pitch
black outside, but it's only four p.m. Isn't it? I check my
watch to be sure and yeah it is. So much has happened....

Dawn. The Key. My sister. She set all of these things in motion.
She runs off constantly, ever since Mom died five years ago. I
guess she ran off again today, but how was I to know that if she
did, things would be different this time? I guess she ran
straight into Glory's path.

I wasn't there to stop her, I wasn't even there to go out
looking for her afterward. I was stupid enough to leave her at
home... but she WAS nineteen. I thought... It doesn't matter what
I thought now, this is just one more failure on a long list of them.

I was in the magic shop with the others. I guess just as we were
reading that stupid prophecy, it was coming true.

%%%%%%%%%%
Giles hands me the book. I read the article aloud. "Glory wishes
to rule the earth, using demons as her source of power to help
her do this. This is why she has been searching for The Key for
thousands of years. The Key is an energy force, which, when used
properly will open the hellmouth and free the demons to walk
unrestrained upon the earth. There is an ancient prophecy which
speaks of the day when Glory will find The Key in the possession
of the Slayer. She will capture The Key and defeat the Slayer.
This is what humanity has been dreading for thousands of years,
for this will alow both Glory and all demons to have free reign
over the earth."

"Oh shit," I can't keep that from escaping my mouth as I look
back up at Giles again.

"That is one way of putting it," Giles agrees.

"Why is it these prophecies never tell us WHEN these fights are
gonna happen?" I ask. Not that I expect an answer.

As if in answer to my question though, there's a loud explosion,
followed by an earthquake. I didn't know Sunnydale had
earthquakes. After we all get over the initial shock, we
remember running for the doorways is a good idea. I don't know this
but I do: Dawn's gone. Glory's got The Key.

"Giles! What do we do?!" I yell as I try to stay on my feet.
Again, I don't know what I'm expecting as an answer, but he's my
watcher. I don't care if I am twenty-four, I still depend on him
to tell me what to do.

A crash of thunder drowns out anything he tries to say. I look
out the window and see the dark storm clouds quickly moving in.
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

There have been several earthquakes since then. Buildings are
collapsing throughout the city. That isn't the worst part,
though. The worst part is the demons. There are hundreds...
possibly thousands... of demons running through the streets,
setting everything still standing on fire. The fire gives the
city sky an eerie glow. To top off the image, there are people
everywhere, too. They run around in a panic, screaming, being
murdered by the demons, right in front of me.

Whoever said 'This is the way the world ends...not with a bang
but a whimper' really didn't get that right at all. This is
a pretty big bang and I know it's not even close to being over
yet.

"WHY don't they just stay in their homes?" I ask. "I can't save
them all!"

"Of course you can't," Giles says. He puts a comforting hand on
my arm without removing his eyes from the road. Guess he doesn't
want to run over anyone...not anyone with a soul, anyway. "Your
main concern has to be stopping Glory, Buffy."

"HOW?" I demand. Giles just shakes his head. I was afraid of
that.

"If this is the end... I'm glad it was over more quickly for
Dawn," I say as I look back out my window again.

I can see in the rear view mirror that Xander and Anya are still
behind us in his car. That comforts me, somewhat. At least we'll
all be together. Almost all of us anyway. But I am glad Angel's
not here. I would rather know he's safe. For now anyway. I doubt
anyone with a soul is going to be safe for too long, if I can't
stop Glory.

**************

I make a quick check to reassure myself that everyone is still
intact. We got out of our cars and started walking. The general
plan was make Glory come to us. Well we got the demons to come
to us, but so far no sign of Glory.

I don't know how long we've been fighting. Hours? Days? There's
no sense of time when the sun won't come up. My watch was ripped
off my arm during a fight with a Mohra demon. I consider myself lucky
that my arm wasn't ripped off along with it.

We're in a cemetery near the Bronze now. I look over to the
south entrance after I behead a slime demon. Xander and
Anya have stationed themselves at that entrance to hold off any
demons from getting in the cemetery. Willow and Tara are about
fifty feet away from me in the other direction. A group of vampires
are keeping
them busy.

Where's Giles? Oh, there, about a hundred feet away. He just
beheaded a ...something. Oh shit, no. "GILES! BEHIND YOU!" I
yell as the Chaos demon approaches him from behind. I take
off toward him but I have the sinking feeling that I won't get
there in time. Oh god, no. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Giles turns around
and the demon buries a sword in his stomach.

"GIIIIIIIIIILES" I trip and fall to my knees, and I feel like
I've been stabbed too. I don't even have time to process the
whatever that tackles me, before it disappears in a cloud of
dust. I roll over and forget to breathe when I see who saved me.

"Angel?"

He reaches out a hand to help me up and I take it.

"How?!"

"Cordelia. Vision," Angel replies in typical terse
Angel-fashion. "I wish I'd gotten here sooner," he adds with a
sad expression as he looks around. I won't look back at Giles.
He's dead, I know it. Instead, I look in the other direction and
I see that Cordelia, Wesley, and another man I've never met, an
African-American, have joined the fight.

"Doesn't matter," I reply. "You guys are here now, and you're
definitely needed."

"NO! Leave him alone!"

My heart stops at the sound of Anya's scream. I turn and run in
the direction of her voice, as fast as I can run. I ignore the
voice in my head that's telling me they're a good five hundred
feet away and there's no chance I'll reach them in time. I WILL.
I HAVE TO! I WON'T watch that happen again. I can save some of
them, damn it!

Xander's lying on the ground. Please don't be dead. Jump up,
smile that smile that makes my life seem like it's half-way
worthwile, please!

Anya is pissed and you don't piss off an ex-vengeance demon. She
tackles the vampire that apparently attacked Xander, knocking him
to the ground. She stakes him without seeming to expend too much
effort.

"LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" I scream at her. She rolls out of the way
as a very ugly blue demon with horns swings a sword at her.

"NO! XANDER, DON'T!" I yell in horror as Xander jumps on the
demon's back and is brushed off like a fly. Thank God I'm almost
there.

"FUCK!" I scream as about twenty vampires charge me out of
nowhere. "DAMN IT ALL!" I yell; I have to stop and fight them. I
watch out of the corner of my eye as the blue demon turns back to
Anya and slices her in two. Oh god, I didn't know Xander could
scream like that.

Everything seems to go into slow motion at that point. Stake, punch,
kick, stake ... I look over to Xander in time to see him run at the
demon, who grabs him and picks him up. Xan is thrown onto a
headstone and I hear the sickening snap as his back is broken.

The vampires are dust. But I was too late for it to matter.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Was that my voice?

Somehow I've ended up on my knees again.

Why is my face wet?

"THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!" I scream to the sky.

"WILLOW!" That was Tara's voice. Dear God. How much more do I
have to take? I turn to look at the two witches and sigh with
relief when Wesley steps in to kill the Chaos demons who are
attacking them.

I hear laughter.

Glory.

Glory laughing.

I jump to my feet and turn to look. She's perched on top of a
headstone nearby, smiling.

"ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS, YOU PSYCHO BITCH?!" I yell as I
approach. "Is this how you get your opportunity to reign? By
creating this war against humans? Do you HONESTLY think that
you'll have any kind of peaceful world this way?"

"Who wants peace?" Glory shrugs. "I just like to see the rain of
tears. Pain and suffering is so enjoyable to watch."

"The ONLY pain and suffering is gonna be yours, because you CAN'T
WIN!" I close the distance between us and swing my axe. Axe? I look
over to see Angel running off again. Oh. He handed it to me and I
didn't even notice. I smile gratefully at him when he glances back
at me.

Then I return my attention to Glory. I swing my axe again but
Glory grabs the handle. She throws it and me fifty feet away.
Ouch. I think that's a sprained ankle.

"I already won, Little Girl," Glory says in reply to my earlier
statement. She slides off the headstone and to her feet. "All you
silly humans need to do is accept that I am the new ruler of this
earth, or you can die. It's your choice, either one is fine with me."

The fury overtakes me. I run at Glory but she kicks out. She makes
contact with my stomach and I go down again. Before I can recover,
there's another powerful kick and I feel at least two ribs break. I
grab her foot though before she can pull back. I pull her off balance;
she shrieks as she falls uncermoniously on her ass.

I have to laugh at that. I jump to my feet. "You should do
something about your sense of balance. And by the way, Glory,
about that little prophecy? It's not coming true. You will NOT
rule the earth."

"Oh?" Glory gets to her feet and grabs my neck. I can't pry her
hands off as she lifts me off my feet. She laughs and throws me
against the wall of a crypt. Okay. Dislocated shoulder that
time.

"Who's going to stop me?" Glory asks as she comes closer.

"I am," I gasp as I get to my feet slowly and painfully. "It's
what I do. I'm the Slayer, I kill evil. You're evil, therefore
I'm going to kill you."

Glory stops in her tracks and laughs. "I know, I know. 'In every
generation', yadda, yadda yadda..." She shrugs. "Do you KNOW how
many slayers I've seen killed, in the past two hundred years
alone? You're nothing different, Buffy. I'll prove it to you. If you
were so special, you would be able to stop that." She points. I
don't want to look. I can't. Please.

I look.

"Oh, God, no." I gasp.

Cordelia, Wesley, and their friend are lying dead, by the north
entrance to the cemetary. A good two hundred feet away from me.
Near them are Angel, Tara and Willow. Angel is trying to protect
the girls from a pack of about twenty werewolves. He's bleeding from
a gash in his side and another one in his leg... and all he has is an
axe with which to defend them.

"DON'T DO THIS!" I yell at Glory. "DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" I
feel the tears streaming down my cheeks but I don't care. I know
I can't save Angel, Tara and Willow. Maybe one, but not all
three of them. And I won't even make that decision, it would kill me.
I'll convince... beg Glory, if I have to. She's the only one who can
stop it all.

"It's not my concern," Glory replies, folding her arms over her
chest. Her expression is completely indifferent. "It's what makes me
a god the demons respect, Slayer. I let them do their thing, they help
me rule."

"What about us?!" I ask.

"You think I care about humans? There's no purpose for you,
all you know is selfishness, and evil. You're worse than demons, you
know; you're as evil as them, but you try to pretend otherwise. So I
prefer the demons, they're more basic. Simple. Honest." Glory says as
she circles me. "Does that make me a 'bad god'?" She airquotes the
last two words. "I don't think so, Dear. I just treat you the way you
deserve to be treated.

"Don't you want to see your love's last moments, though, Buffy?" Glory
adds with a smile.

I can't. I'd rather die.

But I can't not watch, either.

The werewolves all jump at Angel and the girls, as ten vampires come out
of nowhere to join the attacke. I scream and run toward them. I'm almost
there, please, God. Don't do this to me. Fifty feet away and both Tara and
Willow go down, werewolves tearing at their throats. A sob escapes me and
I scream. "NOOOOOOOOO!" I run faster, but I know...

Angel is tackled by a vampire; he snaps its neck easily and
jumps to his feet again. NO! Don't look at me! Watch out-- "GOD,
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A vampire buries a stake in Angel's back.
There is a moment when our eyes meet; I swear I hear the words,
"I love you." Then he's gone.

I hear a scream and I think it's mine. I double over and grab my
stomach, I think I'm going to be sick. I'm sure my heart is
broken; I want to be dead too. Why am I not dead? Why do I
have to live?

"NOOOOO! THIS ISN'T REAL!" I sob. "WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU HIGHER POWERS?!
FUCK YOU FOR NOT STOPPING THIS!"

Glory's laugh brings me back to the present.

"You are going to die for this," I promise, as I try to pull myself back
together.

"Isn't that line getting tired, Little Girl? I realize it's hard
to let go of being The Chosen One, but it's over, Buffy. This is
the last stop." With that, Glory turns to go.

"WHERE ARE YOU GOING, BITCH?!"

"Where am I going???? I'm leaving, Buffy. I'm through, I've done what I
needed to do in order to win this game. You may go. I'm not worried
about you, you won't be any trouble for me... not anymore." Glory
replies with a smile.

"WHAT?!"

"Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you have anything left to fight
for," Glory challenges me.

"I... I..." I look around me. The bodies. The remains of the
only man I ever loved. The body of the man who was more of a
father than my biological father. The bodies of all my
friends... No. More than friends. Family. These are the only
people left that I love.

But they're all dead, casualties of war. A war they were never
supposed to be part of. A war I got them involved in. So it all
comes down to this: it's my fault they're dead. I might as well have
killed them myself. A sob is torn from my throat as I start
crying again.

"That's what I thought," Glory says. She turns to go. I watch
her, but I don't move. Glory can go. I don't care. There's
nothing left. No point.

This is the last stop.

************

I don't know how long I sit in the cemetery by Angel's ashes,
crying. I slowly come to the realization that no other demons
are coming for me. Glory just wanted to take away my reasons for
fighting, she didn't even care enough to kill me and put me out of
my misery.

So I guess this isn't the last stop then. Not quite. I stand and look
one last time at Angel's ashes. "If there is a higher power out
there, I'll be joining you soon, My Love."


I don't have to try too hard to find him. He is a creature of
habit. "I'm ready to dance."

He's watching his stupid television of course. I would find it funny
if I could even manage a sense of humor right now. Spike was watching
television while the hellmouth opened. Go figure.

He looks behind himself at me finally. He doesn't seem to have
registered what I said. Shit, I don't feel like saying it again.
Just take away all the pain, please.

He gets up from his chair and walks over to me. I catch a flash of
sympathy, just a flash, as he looks down at me. Then it is
replaced by the patented Spike-smirk, "End of the world happened
finally, huh?"

"Where were you?" I ask. Stupid question.

"I was right here, Pet. Watching the telly."

I nod. I should probably be upset about that. I actually thought
he was ... not a friend, but at least an ally. I even accepted the
fact that he ... loves me. It still creeps me out, but it's a fact
I can't change.

Besides, he's proven his loyalty to me, or so I thought. He got
the chip removed two years ago. I'm the only one who knows about
it. We were sparring one day and he got a good punch in. He b roke
my nose and didn't even flinch. I put a stake to his chest of course.
I promised him that if he ever so much as looked the wrong way at
me or any one of my loved ones, I'd stake him. He promised to behave
and I took a chance he was trustworthy. He's almost made me believe
that I could trust him, over the last two years; he's fought by my
side through so many battles.

Except this one. But what was I supposed to expect? Thinking
rationally now, I was stupid to believe his 'love' for me would
change who he is, fundamentally. He is Spike. He is a soulless
demon. There's no conscience here, just selfishness. The only reason
he hasn't killed me or the others is because he thought if he
behaved he could have me some day.

I guess he was right, because I can't find the energy to be upset
with him for not helping us tonight. It wouldn't help to be upset,
anyway. It wouldn't change anything. Angel, Willow, Tara, Xander,
Anya, Giles, Dawn... They'll still be gone. I'm the only one left
to bear the pain. Well, I don't want it. I want it to go away.
Spike can make it go away.

He's still watching me, half afraid that I'll beat him up and
dust him. Well I'm glad there's still one creature left on this
earth that's afraid of me.

"Doesn't matter," I say with a shrug. "It's all over, Spike.
There's nothing left here for me. Just promise me you won't
bring me back. I want this to be the last stop."

Spike smiles. "I think I can arrange that, Luv." He pushes me
back against the wall as he vamps out. I don't fight him, I'm
not afraid. I'm ready. "It's a shame," he says as he takes my
face in his hands almost tenderly. "I was beginning to think
nothing would break you. What did it?"

"They're all dead," I reply, almost a whisper. I have to close
my eyes to shut out the pain. "Dawn. Giles. Willow. Xander.
Tara. Angel," The last name comes out in a sob.

"Ah." That's Spike's profound response.

I open my eyes, surprised he hasn't got some snarky comment about
anything I just said. But there's no triumph in his eyes, and that
makes up my mind for good. "Just do it," I say. "I'm not
going to change my mind."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Spike shrugs. He lowers his face
to my throat and I feel his fangs graze my throat. I can't help
the shudder in reaction. He tightens his hands on my arms and
sinks his teeth into my neck. I don't even feel pain. I'm
surprised at that. I just feel relief. Relief that soon it will
all be over. I've gotten nothing but pain and agony for my
loyalty to The Cause. Let another slayer try to clean up the
mess.

He pulls away after quite some time. I'm still alive, barely,
but I can feel the darkness moving in. "Such a shame," he says
as I slip to the floor. "So long, Slayer. It's been fun. Now I
gotta find that Glory and thank her for agreeing to let me have
that dance...." Spike chuckles and walks outside, whistling
happily.

I lay here, darkness creeping in, and all I can think is: That
fucking son of a bitch.

&&&&&&&&&&
The End

Last Stop - Dave Matthews Band
Fire
The sun is well asleep
The moon is high above
But fire grows from the East

And how is this
Hate so deep?
Lead us all so blindly, killing, killing
Fools are we
If hate's the gate to peace
This is the last stop

For raining tears...

War
The only way to peace?
Well, I don't fall for that

Raining tears

You're righteous, so righteous, so righteous
You're always so right
Go ahead and dream
Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one.

Raining tears...

Oh no
Gracious even God
Bloodied on the cross
Your sins are washed enough

A mother's cry:
"Is hate so deep
Must my baby's bones
This hungry fire feed?"

Smoke clouds roll in
The symphony of death
This is the last stop.

Scream
Right is wrong now
Ha - shut up your big lie
This black and white lie

You comb your hair to hide
Your lying eyes
You're righteous, so righteous, so righteous
You're always so right

But why your lie
Go ahead and dream
Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one
This is the best stop.

Here there's always blowing up
And I hope that we can break it down
So it's not so black and white
This is the last stop.

Here there's more than showing up
And I hope that we can break it down
So it's not so black and white
Black and white
You're righteous, you're righteous, you're righteous
You're always so right

And there you are nailing good to a tree
And then you say forgive me, forgive me
Go ahead and dream
Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one
This is the last stop...

Here there is more than growing up
And I hope that we can break it back
It's not so black and white
So right...