Endgame V - Slay Or Be Slain
Buffy opened her eyes slowly, trying not to move so as not to alert the Emperor to her presence. Unfortunately, she was facing away from Thriss's possessed body. She'd have to be stealthy, but Buffy took solace in knowing that she had been a Slayer long before she had become Sith.
Faith opened one eye and immediately registered the tips of her fingers still touching Buffy's. She smiled at the connection they felt, though she privately dreaded whatever would happen next. Either they'd all die, or else they'd end up killing Buffy's lover. Even thinking of the Child of the Emperor as a vampire didn't make things any easier.
Buffy felt Dalen return to consciousness in the Force, and she sent a small nudge of encouragement to him with her mind. She felt the thought reciprocated, along with a general sense of caution.
Faith saw Tal and Vira moving slightly, and she nudged them further awake with the Force. Locking her eyes with Buffy's, Faith hoped that they could coordinate some sort of strike against the Emperor, who was contemplating the Rakata computer terminal several meters away.
Buffy gestured with her head to the spot where she had thrown her and Faith's weapons aside during their brawl.
Faith nodded and crawled as quietly as she could towards her Scythe-Saber, while Buffy moved with her to collect her lightsaber and dagger.
Tal, Vira, and Dalen slowly got to their feet and readied their weapons.
Buffy reached her lightsaber just as Faith reached her Scythe-Saber.
Faith rose to her feet and held up three fingers with her free hand once Buffy was up right as well.
Faith lowered one finger, then a second, and then the third.
Tal and Vira opened fire with their gun and Dalen summoned a wave of lightning while Buffy and Faith both used the Force to propel themselves into flying leaps at the Emperor's possessed Child.
Thriss's electrostaff was out in an instant, deflecting the blasterfire from Tal and Vira while a shield of electric energy absorbed Dalen's lightning.
By the time Buffy and Faith were descending to attack, the Emperor was looking up at them through Thriss's glowing red eyes without emotion.
Both Slayers were thrown backwards through the air before they could touch the Emperor's vessel, though they managed to land on their feet.
All five companions readied their weapons as the Child turned to face them, her arms parted. The electrostaff was hovering parallel to her torso.
When Thriss spoke, it was with the voice of the Emperor.
"The circle closes," he intoned ominously. "The end begins."
A sickly purple aura surrounded Thriss's hands, and a sound like hissing steam ushered in the sudden appearance of fifteen figures – identical to Thriss, each wielding an identical electrostaff – in a circle surrounding the five fighters.
Buffy charged at one of the clones, which parried her initial lightsaber strike, but vanished when Buffy's dagger found its throat.
Faith engaged two of the clones at once. One of them attacked with its staff, while another shot lighting at her. Faith endured the pain of the lightning and cut down the offending clone, only for it to vanish like evaporating fog. The staff-wielder soon followed.
Buffy and Faith leaped to the rescue of their friends as they fought off the army of illusion-clones. Though they seemed to lack physical substance, their attacks felt real enough.
Vira and Tal were able to take out six of the clones with blasterfire before they were forced into close quarters combat.
Faith was there in an instant, helping to beat back the attackers one by one.
Buffy joined Dalen back to back as they teamed up to confront the small army of illusion-clones converging on them.
Despite the real threat these things provided, Buffy could tell that they were mostly just a psychological trick to throw them all off edge. She could feel Faith realizing the same thing, and they both dreaded the Emperor's true power.
Eventually, only one clone remained, and it was cut down from either side by Buffy's red blade and Faith's blue one.
All throughout the fight, the possessed Child had walked closer to them all, and was now within striking distance.
Buffy and Faith each brought up their weapons, ready to strike in an instant. Dalen joined them a moment later, followed shortly by Tal and Vira.
Thriss's face was impassive as it observed them all.
"It's over," Buffy snarled.
"Any last words?" Faith added.
The Emperor was inscrutable as he surveyed them.
"Billions have risen to challenge me over the millennia," the Emperor said. "They have all perished and been forgotten. Only I endure."
"Why do this?" Dalen asked desperately. "Why throw away your Empire? What will you rule over if the galaxy is made barren?"
The Child's face did not move.
"You discern only a fraction of reality," he said. "Beyond this galaxy are thousands more, each with worlds as numerous and diverse as this one. I will experience or ignore them as I choose. I will discern the truth behind all of the mysteries of the universe, from the beginnings of all existence to the life of a simple man. When the universe finally succumbs to entropy and expires, and the cycle begins anew, I will remain."
Vira snorted. "You'll remain all right. You'll be nothing but remains when we're done with you, Your Majesty," she said derisively.
"You've destroyed too many lives!" Tal shouted. "Now it's your turn."
"There is no death," the Emperor said calmly. "There is only the Force. And I am its Master. I will transcend this galaxy. You cannot halt the inevitable."
Buffy and Faith looked to each other and nodded.
"We're sure as hell gonna try," Faith said.
"Damn straight!" Buffy agreed.
The Emperor brought Thriss's hands together and grasped her hovering electrostaff.
"Your strivings are insignificant," the Emperor said.
"Let your deaths be the same."
Buffy and Faith both struck at the Emperor, but their blows were easily deflected by Thriss's electrostaff just before a blast of electricity sent both Slayers and their friends flying backwards.
Sections of the ground began to crack and rise up as large rocks.
"Watch out!" Tal cried.
Buffy rolled as a large rock was thrown at her, going into a somersault to get back to her feet.
Faith dove to knock down Dalen as a boulder shot towards him.
The rock went beyond Dalen and Faith toward Vira.
A high-impact shot blew the boulder to pieces, and Buffy saw that Tal and his assault cannon were to thank.
Vira turned to fire at the Emperor, but a shield of electric energy came into being around Thriss's body, which levitated off the ground.
The machinery of the Purge Engine started up again, and the pedestal began displaying a number of species in turn as the Emperor seemed to mull over his choices.
A bolt of purple lighting struck the ground at Dalen's feet, just barely missing him.
"Buffy!" he shouted. "Look up!"
Faith followed Buffy's eyes and saw the storm of energy building up above them.
"Everybody move!" Faith shouted.
The five warriors bolted away from the oncoming storm, but Buffy and Faith could sense that they wouldn't all make it out before it hit.
Working in tandem through the Force, the two Slayers threw their friends out of harm's way just as the lightning descended down upon them.
Buffy and Faith shrieked in agony as the storm ravaged their bodies. Faith tried to shield herself as she remembered Ralto doing just before he died, but she was having trouble mustering the energy needed to bring it about.
A sudden warmth told Faith that Buffy had grabbed her hand and was lending Faith some of her strength.
Together, the two Slayers channeled the Force to form a hemisphere of protective energy around themselves and began to expand it.
Slowly but surely, the Slayers' protective field grew to encompass the full circumference of the storm.
Dalen, Tal, and Vira bolted back through the protective field and forward to strike at the Emperor's floating form.
A combined onslaught from Tal's assault cannon, Vira's blaster rifle, and Dalen's lightsaber were enough to draw the Emperor's focus away from his lightning storm, though they did not penetrate his shield.
Free of having to protect themselves, Buffy and Faith joined hands and ran towards the Emperor.
Vira, Tal, and Dalen made way for the Slayers as they ran forward and jumped towards Thriss's immobile body.
Their arms clotheslined the Emperor's Child and brought her down to solid ground.
A wave of electricity passed through both Slayers, but neither felt much pain for longer than a fraction of a second.
The reason soon became clear. Dalen, Tal, and Vira were trying to reach their friends, but the Emperor's shield had grown to encompass the Slayers as well.
"You have tried my patience for the last time," the Emperor said as he drew Thriss's electrostaff again.
Buffy went in high for the attack while Faith came at the Emperor from the middle.
The Emperor brought the staff around in a circle and knocked Buffy's blade aside while catching Faith in the stomach with the butt of the staff.
Faith kicked out at the Emperor, but he jumped away just as Buffy tried to thrust her lightsaber into Thriss's chest.
Thriss's staff pushed Buffy's blade to the side and towards Faith, who dodged the blow and brought the axe section of her weapon towards the Child's neck.
The Scythe-Saber stopped halfway through Faith's movement as the Emperor held the weapon back with the Force.
Buffy tossed her lightsaber towards the Emperor, guiding it with the Force, while she charged in with her knife at the ready.
The Emperor wrung Buffy's lightsaber away from her control and tossed it into Faith's Scythe-Saber, sending both weapons flying away from the melee.
The Emperor's Child did not move in time to avoid the knife catching Thriss in the gut.
Buffy and Faith paused for a fraction of a second to observe the Emperor's reaction, and they knew immediately that they had made a terrible mistake.
Ignoring the blade protruding from his Child's stomach, the Emperor unleashed a torrent of lightning from both hands at the two Slayers, sending them flying backwards and landing next to each other, screaming in pain as the Dark Side of the Force ravaged their bodies.
The Emperor walked towards the two Slayers, his ire palpable in the Force.
"Your presence here is an accident," the Child said with the Emperors voice. "A product of chance from the infinite mystery that is the Force. You were never more than a meager curiosity, and your time is now over."
Buffy and Faith looked up as the Emperor raised Thriss's hands for another electric attack.
The two Slayers clasped hands as they prepared for the coming onslaught.
Thriss's body suddenly went flying backward from a small explosion.
"Don't just lie there," Tal shouted, his assault cannon smoking. "On your feet!"
Buffy and Faith realized quickly that they had drawn the Emperor's attention so completely that he had neglected his shield protecting him from their supposedly 'weaker' friends.
"We'll cover you," Vira said as she let loose with an automatic hail of blasterfire. "Finish the bastard! You with us?" she shouted to Dalen.
Shar Dalen readied his lightsaber. "I am a Lord of the Sith Empire, and I will not let that Empire fall. Not even to you, Your Majesty. Buffy, Faith: Get your collective arses into motion and destroy this monster!"
Feeling their companions' presences in the Force filled the two Slayers with a burst of energy to propel themselves to their feet and charge at the Emperor's Child.
The Emperor was trying his best to deflect the incoming hail of fire from the Republic's finest while also repelling an onslaught of rage-fueled lightning from one of his fellow Sith.
Buffy and Faith both leaped into the air and reached out with the Force, summoning their weapons to their hands.
As they fell towards Thriss's possessed body, the Emperor looked up at them with the tiniest hint of emotion: Fear.
The Slayers realized their purpose as their blades came down parallel to each other and each lopped off one of the Child's arms.
Buffy grabbed her knife and twisted it, bringing the Child to her knees.
"I'm sorry," Buffy said quietly.
"Me too," Faith said. "But it's gotta be this way.
Buffy thrust her lightsaber blade into Thriss's chest, and Faith twirled her Scythe-Saber around so that the sharp wooden end was facing forward, and she plunged the stake straight into Thriss's heart.
In both Slayer's minds, Thriss remained untouched and whole, but they both felt an immediate sense of satisfaction from slaying the Emperor.
Buffy and Faith retrieved their weapons and let Thriss's body fall to the ground.
The tension in the cavern was palpably thick.
"Is that it?" Vira asked breathlessly. "Is the Emperor really dead?"
"I doubt it," Dalen said carefully. "The Emperor is a being of immense power, far more than any other Sith has ever held. I believe he merely abandoned Thriss's body."
Faith looked to Buffy and decided that she could trust her sister Slayer with some important information.
"The Republic's attacking Dromund Kaas and trying to get people down to face the Emperor in person, Faith said. "Hopefully we at least softened him up for them."
Buffy nodded. "Good. One less thing to worry about. Although I doubt that Shar and I will ever be welcome back in the Empire if we ever get out of here.
"You had our backs," Tal said firmly. "I can't guarantee anything, but I'll put in a good word for you to my superiors if you come with us."
"We can't exactly go anywhere," Dalen pointed out. "Not unless we use this infernal weapon. If there's even the possibility of it helping the Emperor, then we can't do that."
"Definitely not," Buffy agreed.
The cavern shook violently, and the machinery surrounding the five warriors began to whir and whine as purple electricity shot out from mysterious instruments, damaging the walls of the room and sending debris flying.
"What the hell is happening?" Faith shouted above the din of noise, trying to stay on her feet.
"Oh no," Buffy said. "Faith! Look!"
Faith and the others all turned to where Buffy was pointing.
Thriss's dismembered body was floating off the ground, and bursts of energy were crackling forth from her body.
"If I must be denied my victory," the Emperor said loudly, "then so too shall you be denied your lives!"
Klaxons began to blare, and the cavern glowed red as a high-pitched mechanical voice began saying something in the Rakatan language.
The rocky walls of the cavern began to explode, sending stone debris flying in all directions.
Buffy, Faith, and their companions gathered close to each other as the Slayers erected a shield with the Force to protect them from the falling rocks.
"This will not protect us from what I suspect is a self-destruct sequence," Dalen pointed out.
"I think we all get that," Vira snapped. "If we're gonna die, though, I'd rather go out with a bang then be hit by a random piece of rock."
"I'll echo that sentiment," Tal said. "And for what it's worth, if I have to die, at least I'm surrounded by… Well, I'm not sure if I'm ready to call you two friends just yet," Tal admitted to Buffy and Dalen. "But at the very least, we're all pretty big damn heroes."
"Hell yeah!" Faith agreed enthusiastically over the sounds of the cavern exploding all around them.
"Buffy," Dalen said seriously. "Since I may never have the chance again, I just want to tell you how proud I am of who you are and what you have become. You've been far more than an apprentice and a fellow Sith to me. You are a dear friend, and I wouldn't face my end with anyone else at my side."
Buffy felt her face flush with emotion. In a distinctly un-Sith-like gesture, Buffy flung herself at Dalen and wrapped him in a fierce hug.
"You were a great teacher, Shar," Buffy said. "You still are. I just wish Thriss was here."
"I hear you, B," Faith said. "I never really knew her, but if you loved her, then she must've been someone special."
"She was," Buffy said sadly. "Dammit! This is all so fresh, and Thriss is dead, and I don't want to betray her."
Faith had a feeling what was coming next.
"But…" Faith prompted.
Buffy sighed. "But I can't picture dying without you here with me, Faith."
"Hey now!" Vira said loudly over another explosion. "I gotta get this in. Faith, you're a hell of a fighter and a damned good friend. Whatever comes after all this – Heaven or the Force or whatever – we'll be there with you, and we'll always have your back."
"We sure will," Tal agreed.
The alarm klaxons began to blare increasingly loudly and at a faster pitch.
Buffy felt something in the Force, and she knew that the Purge Engine was about to explode. A quick look at Faith told her that her sister Slayer sensed the same thing.
Without speaking, without thinking, Buffy and Faith grabbed each other and locked their lips together in a passionate kiss.
No words were needed as the Slayers held each other and affirmed their love for each other.
The cavern exploded in a ball of fire, and then the world went white.
It was the smell that first told the Slayers that they were somewhere else entirely than where they had been a moment ago.
Buffy and Faith opened their eyes only to find themselves in a dark alley with an overflowing dumpster right beside them.
The two women realized that they were still kissing, and they let themselves come apart long enough to catch their breath.
A quick look around told them that Tal, Vira, and Dalen had joined them in the alley, which both Slayers realized was very familiar.
"What happened?" Tal asked. "Where are we?"
"Earth," Buffy answered. "North America, United States, Ohio, Cleveland, if you want the details."
"This is your homeworld?" Dalen asked, his voice full of shock. "You told me it was primitive, but I never expected it to be quite this backwards."
"Enough of that," Vira said. "What just happened?"
"I think," Faith said carefully, "that someone's wish just came true. Buffy?"
"I think you're right," Buffy said breathlessly. "I just… I don't want Thriss to think that-"
"Buffy," Dalen said softly. "Thriss would want you to be happy. She was never the selfish type. Wherever she is, she will always love you for who you are."
Faith shifted on her feet nervously. "Damn. I don't want to be the bitch who steals you away just because we had an apocalypse to stop."
"It's okay, Faith," Buffy said. "I need some time to process all of this, but I can't deny how I feel any longer.
"I really do love you, Faith."
Faith wanted to have a witty comeback, but all she could muster was, "I love you too, Buffy."
"Well don't just stand there," Tal shouted with a silly grin. "Kiss already!"
Buffy and Faith grinned and moved forward to kiss each other.
"Well lookie here!" an unwelcome new voice said loudly.
"Dinner and a show," another newcomer said.
The Slayers looked to the side and saw a pair of men coming their way, their deformed faces marking them as vampires.
"Dalen, stand back," Buffy said firmly.
"Tal, Vira: You too," Faith said with a grin.
"And what do you think you're gonna do to stop us?" the larger of the two vampires said confidently.
Buffy activated her lightsaber while Faith drew and activated her Scythe-Saber. Both Slayers grinned like the predators that they were.
The vampires were either too hungry or too stupid to run away, and both of them were quickly decapitated by either Slayer's lightsaber blade before dissolving into dust.
Before anyone could say anything else, the sounds of people running towards the alley caused the two Slayers to raise their guard again.
Rounding the corner, however, were Xander, Willow, Dawn, and Kennedy.
"Buffy?" Willow said. "Is that you?"
"Yup!" Buffy said with a sigh of relief. "It's me."
"Hey, I'm here too," Faith said with a grin. "And we brought some friends with us."
"How long were we gone?" Buffy asked.
"You just vanished from the club a few moments ago," Kennedy said. "And Dawn keeps saying that it's my fault for some reason."
"That's because it totally is your fault!" Dawn shouted. "Are you okay, Buffy?"
Buffy looked to Faith and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. "I'd say we're all okay."
"Better than okay," Faith said with a smile.
Xander made a show of looking past the two Slayers. "Is anyone gonna fill us in on why there are some people in really heavy-looking armor with really big guns behind you?"
Faith looked back to Tal and Vira. "Stand down, kiddos. We're as safe as we're likely to be here."
"I'll ask it one more time," Tal said stubbornly. "What the hell happened?"
"I'd like to know that as well," Dalen said.
"This had better be good," Vira chimed in.
"It's a long story," Buffy said.
"Definitely," Faith said. "But can it wait until morning?"
"Why the wait?" Tal asked.
"Because we've been gone for too damn long," Faith said. "Right now, I just want to spend a few hours in my own bed."
"Why does it have to be your bed?" Buffy mock-whined.
Faith laughed at that. "Fair enough, B."
"Come on, Faith," Buffy said. "Let's go home."