Disclaimer: I do not own BtVS, AtS, or any of the characters portrayed therein. They belong to Joss, Mutant Enemy, etc... of which I have zero affiliation. I'm just borrowing them to entertain myself for a little while.

Author's Note: This is a short chapter, I don't have much to say about it... enjoy!

Chapter 24: Death

Buffy became like a ghost around the Hyperion after the incident in the courtyard. She patrolled the streets constantly; usually with Gunn by day, and Spike by night, it seemed almost like she didn't sleep.

She avoided conversation with me at all costs, the only time she so much as looked in my direction was before I began training Dawn. Her only words, "Go easy on her," to me, and "Listen, and be careful," to Dawn.

The others had taken notice of her mood, and began to tread carefully around her. They were almost as weary around me.

Spirits were beginning to wane, and I knew there was nothing that could be done about it until the worst hit. Giles and Wesley, with the help of Xander and Anya had exhausted our resources, Willow and Tara had tried every spell they could find with no success; the only one that had worked was a cloaking spell, so at least the Hyperion was safe from looters. Those of us who actually left the hotel were reduced to nothing more than riot control.

Los Angeles had fallen into a shell of it's former self. Businesses had been ransacked, hospitals and clinics were either on lockdown, or had already been raided, and the streets were awash with the sick, the dying, and the mad.

People had even stopped praying. Too many attacks had occurred when demons caught wind of groups of people gathering in churches. Anyone who hadn't lost their minds, hid in their homes and held to the dismal belief that they would wake up from this nightmare soon.

After repeated attacks while the military attempted to deliver supplies, they stopped coming, and it was then that I knew the end was near. Famine and Pestilence had succeeded, while War continued to create chaos outside of the safety of the hotel walls; it wold only be so long before Death reared its ugly head, bringing forth creatures from the darkest corners of Hell at its tail.

Dawn seemed to be using our training sessions as a distraction from the escalating chaos. She was unusually focused, and cooperative; or perhaps she was simply realizing that the chances of her actually having to march out onto the front lines of the battlefield were growing every day.

Faith eventually began to join in when she was around. It seemed once she had exhausted the pent up energy she'd accumulated after the few years of incarceration, that the lack of routine and order she'd began to get accustomed to were wearing heavily on her.

It was a testament to how much she had changed; her former self would have revelled in the anarchy outside, but instead she seemed drawn in by the discipline needed to train a teenager.

I was thankful to have her there, so that Dawn could have someone closer to her own size to spar with. Though she would protest, I always felt that I had to go easy on her, that with our difference in size and strength, that I would hurt her accidentally.

"Hold back, Faith!" I warned, as Dawn managed to narrowly dodge her Bo staff, the weapon whistling by far too close to her ear for my comfort.

"Why? You think anything that's out there roaming the streets right now is gonna take it easy just because she's a kid? It'll probably just make them more eager to jump her!" Faith grunted, taking another swing at Dawn.

"Hey! Not a kid," Dawn retorted, repositioning her staff to block Faith's attack "And also, that's not creepy or perverted at all..." she added sarcastically.

"Purely non-sexual," Faith replied, "I meant it in a more jump-on-you-then-eat-your-entrails kinda way."

Panting heavily, Dawn took a swing at Faith, who expertly managed to block the attack, disarm Dawn, and knock the teenager to the ground in a single move.

"Oh, of course, that makes me feel way more safe!" Dawn scoffed.

"Okay, no one is getting their entrails eaten!" I interrupted, "Faith, how about we call it a day?"

She simply shrugged, and tossed the Bo staff in my direction, "You're the boss," she crossed towards Dawn, and offered her a hand. Dawn took it, and let Faith help pull her back to her feet, "You're getting the hang of it, don't stress," she offered encouragingly, "Besides, it's not like you'll be out there alone, everyone'll have your back."

Dawn smiled weakly in thanks, and Faith disappeared up the stairs. She watched the empty staircase where the Slayer had stood with a frown on her face for a few moments, as I moved towards her. She seemed lost in her thoughts, almost as though she'd forgotten I was there. She snapped back to reality when I crossed in front of her to pick up the discarded Bo staff.

"I guess it's getting pretty hairy out there..." she muttered.

"Ah... well... no... it's..." I turned back towards her after placing the two staffs back into one of the weapons cabinets, she had an incredulous expression on her face, and I realize I was falling back into my old habit of coddling and protecting her. "Yeah. It's escalating pretty quickly."

She nodded cooly, and moved to take a seat on one of the bottom steps, "Is that what's gotten Buffy so on edge?" she asked, "Or is it something else...?"

I turned back to the cabinet, and pretended to be re-arranging its contents, "Isn't this something you should be talking to Buffy about?" I muttered. I had no desire to ruminate over the fact that I was about to sacrifice myself, while Buffy and I were so fractured. I kept trying to convince myself that it didn't matter, that it would be better for her, for me, to not be holding onto any emotional attachments right now. Yet some part of me just refused to accept it.

It had been mere moments before she'd died last time that we'd finally been able to clear the air between us, and it had been terrible, traumatizing, devastating... I couldn't do that to her, not if I wanted her to succeed where I had failed. I knew her too well, and I knew that she would hold herself responsible, that she would regret not giving me a chance to speak.

"Right," Dawn scoffed, "Because she talks so openly about all her problems to me, that she'll definitely be one-hundred-percent honest about anything involving you."

"Who says it has anything to do with me?"

"When else does she get in such a snit?"

"Dawn," I scolded.

"It's true!" she retorted, "I've seen her when she comes back from patrolling; she looks fine until she steps into the lobby, and then I see her look around anxiously to see if you're there... or maybe make sure that you're not... and when you are she looks even more anxious, and when you're not... she just looks disappointed."

I crossed the room towards her, "We shouldn't be having this conversation, let's get back upstairs... maybe you can help Willow and Tara with something."

"I just want you guys to work it out before we all die!" she exclaimed, jumping up off the steps to block my path.

"We're not going to die, Dawn," I reassured her, placing a hand gently on her arm, and trying to push her aside.

She wasn't having any of it, "Everyone else thinks we are," she argued, "I heard Giles and Wesley talking the other night, and they were saying how as long as you two are at odds with each other we may as well just run out into the streets with targets on our backs."

I frowned, "I'm sure that's not what they said."

"Well, I'm paraphrasing, they used a lot of British slang that I can't remember right now..." she grumbled.

I sighed in frustration, if our rift was drawing the attention of the others, then Dawn may have a point, "Dawn, I'm not gonna-"

"Discuss this with me," she interrupted, "I know... nothing new there. It's just... you guys are the fearless leaders, and if you're-"

She was cut off by the door to the basement being flung open noisily, and the sound of someone crashing down the stairs. Gunn stumbled to a halt just in time to avoid bowling Dawn over.

"We need you upstairs, Man, and fast," he panted, then turned and bolted back up the way he came without even looking back to make sure I was following.

Unsure of what was happening, I pushed past Dawn, and took off running after him. I caught sight of him in the lobby, just as he was turning to run up the steps, and chased after him. I could hear the scuffle of Dawn's feet trying to keep up with me, I contemplated telling her to stay back, but figured she'd be less of a sitting duck if she wasn't cornered in the basement.

When I reached the top of the stairs, I found Willow, Tara, and Wesley huddled around someone on the floor, while Xander and Anya looked on, fear apparent on their faces. Gunn was jogging down the hallway towards them. From between Wesley and Tara a could glimpse a foot, encased in a strappy sandal, and I knew exactly what had happened.

"What's going on?" came Dawn's voice from behind me when she finally arrived at the top of the stairs

Ignoring her I sped down the hallway, the others turning at the sound of my footfalls thundering towards them. Willow immediately stood, pulling Tara with her so I could get closer.

"How long has she been like this?" I demanded, kneeling next to Cordelia, who lay crumpled in the hallway, gasping for breath, her eyes rolled back in her head, and twitching as though she were on the verge of a seizure.

"We don't know..." Willow whimpered, "We were heading to our room to get some more supplies for another spell and we found her like this."

"Sh-she was trying to speak when we got to her..." Tara stammered, "But then I think she passed out..."

"This is the worst one yet," Wesley muttered, his eyes wide in terror, his hand supporting the back of her head.

"That we've seen," Gunn interjected, "We all know she's been hiding out in her room most of the time, there's no tellin' how many attacks she's had when no one's been around."

"This isn't normal, they never last this long," I added in a hushed tone as I took her hand.

"Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?!" Xander finally shouted. I looked up at him, frozen in place, all colour drained from his face.

"She's having a vision," Anya stated, still matter-of-factly despite the evident tension, "She'll be fine," she added in a seeming attempt to comfort her fiancé, however upon turning her attention back to Cordelia, still unconscious on the ground, her brow furrowed, "She will be fine, right?"

"Should-should I get anything?" Came Dawn's frightened voice from behind me, when suddenly Cordelia gasped, and her eyes shot open.

"Cordy?" I said softly.

Blindly, she wrenched her hand out of my grip, and tried to scramble to her feet, but in her weakened and disoriented state managed nothing more than to flail helplessly.

"Cordelia stop!" Wesley pleaded, grabbing her hands and forcing her back to the ground.

Slowly, she seemed to regain her senses, and though she still looked around frantically, she seemed to recognize where she was, and whom she was with, "Wha... I... Oh god... Oh god..." shaking, she rested her elbows on her knees and buried her head in her hands.

"What happened?" I pressed gently.

Tears filled her eyes, as she turned to me, "We're too late," she whispered, "They've done it."

She looked past me before she continued to speak, her expression was so pained and defeated, I knew what she'd seen before she spoke to whomever had snuck up the stairs behind me, "They've summoned Death."

I finally turned my attention away from Cordelia, to see whom she was staring at so pleadingly, and discovered Buffy standing at the top of the stairs, Faith and Giles rushing up behind her.

I locked eyes with her for a mere moment, and saw the sheer anxiety that Dawn had been speaking of downstairs, before she turned her attention away to study the others gathered in the hallway, a pensive expression on her face.

"How long do we have? Could you tell?" Wesley asked.

Cordelia began to shake her head, then winced, and raised a hand to her temple, "Not long at all... hours at the most... maybe."

A door swung open at the other end of the hallway, and Spike stumbled out, pulling on a t-shirt, and looking like he'd just rolled out of bed, "What's goin' on out here?"

"Cordelia had a vision," Dawn explained.

Spike was uncharacteristically silent as he looked around at our sombre expressions, "And?" he asked hesitantly.

"It's time," Buffy answered coldly, "We've got a war to fight."

Without so much as another word, she pushed past Giles and Faith and disappeared down the stairs.

"Buffy-" I called out, and made a move to follow her, but Wesley had already begun to help Cordelia back to her feet, and I found one of her arms being flung over my shoulders as she lost her balance again. I brought my attention back to her, and supported her as she pulled herself up off the ground. By the time I turned back to the stairs, Buffy and half of the others had disappeared into the lobby. I could hear the sounds of cabinets and trunks opening, metal clashing together as weapons were pulled out of storage.

My heart sunk as Wesley and I helped Cordelia back to her room; this was the end, and I still hadn't gotten a chance for a proper goodbye.

3 to go!

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