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Chapter 6: The Fight

"But you're not going to the fight?" Willow said almost a half an hour later when Buffy had finally finished explaining everything to her and Xander.

"No, I, I can't." Buffy sighed. "I never wanted to get back in with them, and if I fight for them like I used to then I'll never be free again."

"Plus there's no way you could fight Angelus." Willow said softly.

Buffy shook her head sadly, a few tears trailing down her face.

"Not even after what he did?" Xander asked in a harder voice.

"No." Buffy sobbed. "I still love him, no matter what he did. I don't think anything he ever does could change that."

"Then why don't you go tell him that?" Willow gave her friend a slight smile.

"Cause he'll be at the rumble." Buffy's voice got lighter and more sarcastic on the last word, as her friends had heard it do several times throughout her story. She apparently found it funny that the gangs had chosen to call the fight such an old-fashioned word.

"Then go there." Xander advised. "You said you wanted to stop it anyway."

"I don't know if I can stop it." Buffy's voice became urgent.

"But if it's as important to you as it sounds, you have to try." Willow urged.

"I know I do." Buffy stood up. "I'm just not sure how to do it."

OoOoOoOoOoO

"Is everybody here?" Luna asked as she looked around at the young men and women in the mansion's old ballroom.

"Angelus ain't." One of the Kings replied.

"He's not coming, mate." Spike spoke up, counting his eight men. "Yeah, we're all here."

"Same here." Both Ares and Krystal answered, counting their own people. The Queens had only seven, knowing that Cordelia would be added to their numbers.

"Then let's get this going." Luna said as she gestured towards one of the doors to the room. Kat, Siren, and Rosa came in, bringing the number of Ladies in the room up to seven. Luna still held out hope that Leilani would come, despite what she had said. Following them, looking none the worse for wear, was Cordelia.

Head held high, she walked over to the Queens and was greeted by a round of hugs. They put their heads together for a minute, and when they broke apart again Cordelia moved to stand next to Spike.

He put an arm around her briefly, "Partners?"

"Yup. I've got a bone to pick with these Ladies." Cordelia said the word 'ladies' as if it was the biggest joke she had ever heard.

The two of them stepped forward together.

Chandra and Diablo came together on the other side of the room, took hands, and stepped forward to meet them.

"Everyone ready?" Luna asked after the four had completed the odd bows the groups always used.

She got four affirmative answers, and the fight began.

At first, it seemed as if there would be two separate fights entirely; Cordelia immediately went after Chandra, who she recognized as one of her captors. Diablo went after Spike in a similar fashion, simply because he knew the bleached blond loved to fight and would press any advantage if he wasn't immediately put on the defensive.

The two pairs circled warily, trading light blows and feints meant to test the strength of the other person. All seemed somehow reluctant to land the first serious hit.

"Stop this!" A voice suddenly called out.

All heads in the room turned to find Buffy charging into the room.

"Leilani! You made it!" Luna came over to her excitedly. "They haven't started yet, you can still…"

Chandra moved over towards them, ready to leave the fight and let Buffy in.

"No, I'm not taking your place." Buffy turned to Chandra. "I'm trying to end this. We shouldn't be doing this."

"Too afraid to fight your own battles?" Spike taunted from across the room, still keeping a wary eye on Diablo.

"No, there doesn't need to be a fight at all!" Buffy moved towards where Cordelia had come to stand by the blonde's side.

"You just know I'd beat you in a fair fight." Cordelia sneered. "When you're not with six of your friends to back you up." She shoved Buffy lightly.

Buffy stumbled slightly, but came right back to face her. "I'm not fighting." She repeated.

Luna edged toward the very front of the crowd, determined to defend the girl she loved like a sister if she didn't start defending herself.

Cordelia got right up in her face. "No?" She shoved her harder, causing Buffy to fall back into the crowd gathered in a circle around them. Luckily, she fell into the group of Ladies who immediately helped her up.

"Don't take this crap from a Queen, Leilani!" One of the girls hissed.

Buffy turned to see who had said it, and when she turned back to the center of the room again Cordelia was right in her face. "Just you and me, Lady. Cut out the guys, this is personal." Cordelia offered.

"Deal." Luna said from beside Buffy, throwing a hard punch at Cordelia's midsection. The Queen sprawled out onto the floor, looking up in shock.

"Oh, you so shouldn't have done that." Cordelia jumped up, coming at Luna.

The two circled rapidly, and began a quick succession of punches and kicks. This wasn't the warming up that had been going on before; these two were all out fighting.

"Cordy!" Krystal yelled after the fight had gone on several minutes without either of them looking like they would come out on top.

Cordelia turned towards her friend just in time to see a silver object come flying through the air. She grabbed it and flipped it open, holding the switch out in front of her.

Luna snarled and reached down into her boot, pulling out a short knife that had been in a holder there.

Both girls slashed at each other, neither drawing blood but coming very close.

Luna eventually got the upper hand, her knife slicing through Cordelia's sleeve and putting a thin line of blood on her arm.

Momentarily shocked, Cordelia was knocked to the floor and Luna loomed over her.

"No!" Buffy shouted, running into the fight and pulling her old best friend off of Cordelia. "Don't." She knew Luna would have killed her if she hadn't been stopped.

"Stay out of it, Lani." Luna hissed, breaking free of her friend and charging back towards Cordelia. She failed to see that Cordelia had her knife back up.

Luna charged towards Cordelia, intent in bringing her blade down upon the Queen. Just as she was about to do so, Cordelia suddenly thrust upward with her smaller switchblade, impaling Luna in the stomach.

Time seemed to slow.

Luna's eyes widened in shock, her free hand going to her stomach.

"NO!" Buffy screamed, moving towards her friend.

Cordelia dropped the knife in shock, letting it clatter to the floor.

Spike started moving towards her, as did Krystal and Aurora.

Ares and Chandra were right on Buffy's heels.

Buffy reached Luna as her friend started to slump to the floor, catching her and lowering her so Luna's head was in her lap.

"Leilani." Luna looked right into her eyes, pressing her boot knife into Buffy's hand.

"Luna, I'm sorry." Buffy whispered.

But her friend was beyond hearing.

Ares reached down to put a hand on her shoulder, but Buffy was in motion before he could touch her.

Getting up, the knife firmly in her hand, Buffy stalked towards Cordelia, and reached her just as Spike had taken her arm, intent on leading her away.

Buffy brought the knife up fast, stabbing down into Cordelia's chest. "Murderer!" She cried, unaware of the irony of the word, spoken as she did the very thing she was accusing the other girl of.

"Cordy!" Aurora cried as the girl went down, Spike barely catching her.

Buffy dropped the knife in shock. "No." She whispered.

Suddenly, she heard the wail of police sirens in the distance.

Chandra was suddenly beside her, pulling on her arm as kids rapidly cleared out of the room. "Leilani, come on!"

"Angel." Buffy whispered, barely hearing her friend. "Oh gods, Angel, what have I done?"

Spike, still kneeling by Cordelia, looked up at her in shock at hearing a name he assumed could be none other than Angelus's. Although where the girl came up with such a girly nickname for his friend he had no time to wonder.

Snarling at her, he abandoned the task of trying to carry Cordelia away, in his panicked state he couldn't even lift her. Taking one look back, he fled the scene, hot on the heels of the rest of the gang members.

Only Buffy and Chandra remained.

"Leilani!" Chandra gave her friend a hard yank, pulling her towards the door.

Buffy finally started moving, fleeing the scene as fast as her legs could carry her, tears streaming down her face.

Chandra looked around quickly, grabbing both knives from the floor before taking off herself.

When the police of Sunnydale finally arrived, reacting to a tip by a neighbor who had seen lots of kids going into the old, abandoned mansion, they found only the dead bodies of two girls, and a lot of unanswered questions.

OoOoOoOoO

Ring

Ring

Angel had his cell phone open before the third ring. "Talk to me."

"Angelus man, we need help." Spike sounded more panicked than Angel had ever heard.

"What happened?" He snapped.

"At the rumble…..the girls pulled knives…..they, oh, man, they……" Spike continued to ramble, but Angel couldn't get much out of it.

"Buffy! Is Buffy okay?" Angel asked, panicking almost as much as Spike.

"Who the bloody hell is Buffy?"

"Leilani. Lady Leilani, is she…." Angel screamed.

"She killed Cordelia!" Spike yelled, the hatred in his voice now directed partly at Angel as he confirmed what he had suspected when he heard Leilani whispering his boss's name.

"What?" Angel said, sinking down on the bed in shock.

"She's dead, Angelus." Spike's voice grew hoarse. "And so is one of the Ladies, look, man, we gotta do something before.."

"Gather up everyone you can find." Angel snapped. "Get them out of town, now. Both girls were wearing their pendants, the cops will know who did this as soon as they find the bodies, and they'll arrest any King or Queen they find in town."

"What about Leilani?" Spike growled. "She lives here."

"I know." Angel snapped, "I'll take care of Leilani."

"What about yourself?"

"I'll get out as soon as I can. Now go gather everyone." Angel said as he hung up and threw the phone across the room. It shattered on his wall, and he looked around for something else to throw. He found a picture of him and Buffy and started to rip it in half.

"Please don't." Buffy whispered from the window, where she had been for the last several minutes.

"You!" He spun on her, looking as if he was about to hit her. "Why? You said you didn't want to fight, why…"

"I didn't want to." Buffy said, venturing a little further into his room as she realized that no matter how mad he was at her, he was going to let her explain her actions. "I got there late, and I tried to stop the fight, but Cordelia just wouldn't stop pushing. I wouldn't fight back, though, so Luna jumped in for me. She was always the sister I never had, I loved her so much, and when Cordelia killed her, I…." She trailed off when she saw his face.

"You didn't know?"

"No." He whispered hoarsely, all the anger draining from him as he slumped back onto his bed. "Spike just said that Cordy and one of the Ladies were dead, and that you killed Cor. He didn't say she had killed your best friend first…"

"He probably didn't even know she was my best friend." Buffy whispered, sitting next to him carefully. She was relieved when he didn't move away. "I think if we hadn't heard the sirens, he would have come after me for killing Cordy just like I went after her for killing Luna. Then Ares or someone would have tried to avenge me, and so on. It wouldn't have stopped, Angel. It'll never stop now."

"Yes it will." He whispered, wrapping an arm around her when he realized she was crying. She leaned into him gratefully. "I ordered all of the Kings and Queens out of the city. They'll head back to L.A."

"I did the same with the Ladies." Buffy whispered, still in shock over the fact that they had turned to her for leadership with Luna dead. "And Ares is rounding up the Knights, and then they're leaving too. But they're just gonna go back to L.A. and start the killing and the fighting all over again."

"No, they won't." Angel said gently, stroking her hair. "We'll find a way to end it."

"Will we?" Buffy asked brokenheartedly, even as an idea began to slowly form in her brilliant mind. "Angel, I…..I killed someone. I've never, I mean…."

"It's okay, Buffy." Angel said. "It was an accident. You weren't thinking straight. It's okay, beloved." He continued to hold and touch her comfortingly.

"Angel, can we get out here?" She asked softly. "Sunnydale, I mean. Just leave together, and never come here or to L.A. again. Start our lives over."

"That's about the only thing we can do."

"I think I know a way."

"How? I mean, what can we do?" Angel asked as she pulled back to look in his eyes.

Buffy outlined her plan.

TBC….