Hellmouth Cavern
Sprinting into the cavern with the scythe in hand, Xander ducked his head down the stairway to see an endless tirade of übervamps barrelling up the cliff to attack the newly made Slayers. Some übervamps managed to escape the cavern.
Xander ran down the steps spotting Buffy fighting off an übervamp. "Buffy!"
Buffy whirled around to see Xander and held out her hand for him to toss her the scythe.
She caught the scythe and easily fought off the swarm of übervamps attacking her.
Xander swallowed terrified for her safety but he knew she'd be okay. He looked down at the amulet in his hand and tried to remember the phrase Tara had told him.
Blessed be to the something… Shit! Xander cursed gripping the amulet in his hand. Blessed be to the… uh, Powers That Be! He ran down the steps, carefully dodging the übervamps as they fought the new Slayers. Show me the Warrior's sparkle!—Sparkle?—What? No… The Warrior's, uh… twinkle? Daylight? Flashlight? Fuck! Xander panicked trying to remember the phrase. Light! That's it, light! Duh! Okay, all together now: Blessed be to the Powers That Be, show me the Warrior's light!
"Keep the line together!" Xander whirled around to hear Buffy's voice calling out to the Slayers. "Drive them to the edge, we can't let them—"
His heart leapt into his throat when he saw a point of a sword coming out from her body just under the right side of her ribs.
"Buffy!" Xander ran over to her and shoved an übervamp out of the way without even registering it. He slid onto his knees unsure how to approach her.
Laying flat on her stomach, tired and beaten from the battle, Buffy lifted her head from the dirt. She looked at Xander and held the scythe to out to him. "Xander, I need you to give this to Faith."
"Buffy—"
Buffy shook her head trying to push the pain of the stab wound from her features. She needed him more than ever. "Please, Xander you have to focus. Give this to Faith, tell her to hold the line."
"But—"
"—Honey," she coughed and looked at him, "please do this."
Xander clenched his jaw and nodded his head taking the scythe from her hand. "I'll be right back." He told her then moved to give the scythe to Faith, who was fighting across the cavern. He sliced and diced a pathway towards the dark-haired Slayer.
Buffy swallowed and moved her hand over the stab wound, looking at the blood. She released a breath clenching her teeth, the wound hurt like hell. She raised her eyes to see newly risen Slayers being picked off to their deaths one by one by a platoon of übervamps.
The First wearing Buffy's body slowly approached the fallen Slayer with a triumphant grin.
"Ooh, ow, Mommy!" The First looked down to the stab wound identical to Buffy's. "This mortal wound is all itchy!" The Evil ghost knelt down to Buffy with a twitching grin. "You pulled a nice trick. Hey, you came pretty close to smacking me down. But this is it, Slayer… This is where I take everything away from you… Your White Knight, your kid sis, your friends, your Slayers… everything." The First devilishly smiled. "All of it is taken away right now... By me. What more do you want?"
"I want you…" with fury seething in her green eyes, Buffy slowly pulled herself up from the ground staring the Evil entity straight in the eye, "… to get out of my face."
Taken back by the determination etched in the Vampire Slayer's eyes, the First appeared worried. The First easily masked its worry with a sinister smile happy to finally meet the legendary Vampire Slayer that the Hellmouth's greatest demons feared.
Faith gestured for Xander to look at Buffy standing back up glaring at the First.
Buffy held out her hand catching the scythe in her hand being tossed back to her without looking away from the First.
With gritted teeth, Buffy diced the übervamps bravely swarming her. The First watched as its precious demons slain one by one without a moment's hesitation.
Xander smiled relieved that Buffy was not dead as he feared. He looked down at the amulet in his hand and went to the edge of the cliff. He looked down the pit of a never-ending stream of übervamps climbing up the side. He kicked his boot over an übervamps head and tossed the amulet high into the air and shouted, "Blessed be to the Powers That Be, show me the Warrior's light!"
Xander backed away from the cliff and picked up an axe from a fallen Slayer. He fought against the übervamps rushing towards him.
The amulet floated over the Hellmouth pit for a moment when a beam of white energy shot straight up into the ceiling of the cavern, through the high school, from the sky. The white energy turned into pure sunlight.
Buffy felt a tingle in her hands gripped around the scythe. She looked down and noticed the ancient weapons glow. Her heart pounded as a wave of power shot through her entire body. Buffy lifted her eyes and looked around seeing the surviving Slayers fighting against the übervamps had a slight yellow glow to them.
Buffy looked to the amulet and watched a prism of pure light derived from Powers That Be and the essence of a Champion; the Slayers, blast down into the pit and the remaining übervamps fighting against the Slayers. The übervamps were instantly wiped out but the light began to tear the cavern apart.
Shifting unsteadily to the earthquake, Buffy looked to see the Slayers, Spike, and Faith running to the cavern entrance.
Remembering Xander was still in the cavern, Buffy looked around for him, dodging the collapsing rocks from overhead.
"Xander!" Buffy shouted his name terrified something had happened to him. A familiar sting of guilt washed over her. "Xander!"
"Buffy! Come on!" Faith hollered, ducking under fallen debris.
"Xander!" Buffy looked around with horror. She didn't see him anywhere.
It felt like everything was in slow motion as boulders fell around her. It was getting too hard to see, she knew she needed to escape the collapsing cavern.
Turning her gaze from the crumbling walls around her, Buffy felt her vision blur and a sob caught in her throat as she sprinted out of the cavern. She dodged of the failing school, that was being swallowed by the destroyed Hellmouth.
Buffy made it outside to see the yellow school bus filled with the survivors speeding away.
Needing an escape plan, Buffy found a ladder to the roof of a building.
As fast as her supernatural power could take her, Buffy climbed the ladder and ran across the rooftops.
She glanced back over her shoulder to see the town of Sunnydale being swallowed by the Hellmouth.
With the scythe in hand, Buffy squinted through the heavy smoke and debris to see the school bus speeding straight out of the town.
Following the bus path, Buffy ran harder and faster as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop.
Making a quick glance over her shoulder, Buffy saw the Sun Cinema crumble into the ground, into a cloud of dust.
She gritted her teeth as the school bus tore through the town to safety. Losing a bit of hope, Buffy gathered the last bit of strength she had left with the determination to survive and ran.
Finding her opportunity to leapt off of the building before it fell to the ground and landed with a hard thud on the rooftop of the school bus.
Buffy kept a tight grip on the bus and looked back at the town she had been destined to protect for the last seven years collapse unforgivingly to the ground. Everything sank into a black smoke crater, leaving nothing of remembrance of the town of Sunnydale.
Making it to a safe area, the bus slowed down to a full stop at the outskirts of the town.
The survivors inside the bus jumped out from the back door along with Xander. He looked around at the faces surrounding him terrified that he lost Buffy again. "Did you see?" He asked for anyone who would listen to him.
Andrew frowned and shook his head, "I was scared, I'm sorry…"
Xander frowned blinking his eye trying to understand what Andrew had been talking about when he realised, Anya had died during the battle. "Did you see what happened? Was she…"
"She was incredible. She died saving my life." Andrew told him.
Xander nodded and swallowed his pain when he heard Dawn's voice call his name.
He whirled around to see Buffy standing ten feet behind him. Xander let out a breath and went to her, cupping his hands around her face. He dipped his head down capturing her mouth.
Buffy let a tear escape from her eyes, she had been so scared that she had lost him. Her hands wrapped around his wrists then circled his neck. She broke the kiss and hugged him tightly. "Oh, god, I was so scared that I lost you." She told him with a muffled voice.
Xander kissed her shoulder and held onto her tightly, "I didn't see you behind me and I… I thought you left. When I got on the bus I realised you weren't there." He drew his head back holding her face between his hands, "You gotta stop scaring the shit outta me."
Letting out a tearful laugh, Buffy kissed his mouth once more.
"I don't understand." Giles stood at the edge of the crater looking down. "What did this?"
Buffy moved beside the former Watcher held tightly under Xander's arm. The rest of the surviving gang moved to stand around them, except for Spike, who was stuck inside the bus hiding from the sunlight.
"The Powers That Be," Tara replied, pressing her mouth against Willow's head.
"Looks like the Hellmouth is officially closed for business." Faith said, cracking her knuckles.
Giles removed his glasses and stated, "There is another one in Cleveland." The group turned their eyes to him. Giles frowned, "Not to spoil the moment…"
"We saved the world," Xander said, kissing the top of Buffy's head and removed his arm from around her as she stepped to the edge of the crater looking out.
"We changed the world." Willow's smile grew large. "I can feel them, Buffy. All over. There are Slayers awakening everywhere."
"It's pretty powerful," Tara added.
Dawn looked at her older sister, "We'll have to find them."
"We will." Willow nodded.
Giles placed his glasses back over the bridge of his nose and said, "Yes, because Bloomingdales was actually in Sunnydale, so no hope of going there tomorrow…"
Dawn faced the group appalled at the thought, "We destroyed Bloomingdales? I fought on the wrong side…"
"All those stores gone... The Gap, Starbucks, Toys R Us…" Xander began.
The conversation faded into the back of Buffy's mind as she looked out to the town she had lived in, protected, died for, kept living for and it was now a hole in the ground. A small smile crept across her mouth finally feeling a sense of relief that there was a future she could finally have.
Buffy suddenly faced Xander, still holding her arms across her chest. "Xander,"
He looked at her with a questioning gaze.
"I need to tell you something and you're gonna be pissed."
Xander stepped to her, holding his hands around her shoulders. "We—most of us survived." His heart stung with a pain of losing Anya. "Most importantly, you're alive. Nothing in the world is going to change that." He gave her a tugging smile.
"Okay," Buffy nodded, "keep that mindset then…"
"Whatever it is, you can tell me. I promise I won't—"
"—I'm pregnant." Buffy cut him off mid-sentence.
Xander stopped and stared at her, frozen.
"A little over fourteen or fifteen weeks I think." Buffy continued. "I've known for a while and I wanted to tell you but… I swear I was going to but… I was afraid you'd do something—Xander-ish, ultra-heroic that would've gotten you killed and I couldn't have that 'cause I love you and our baby needs a father and…" she trailed off lifting her eyes to Xander's face. It was blank as he slowly processed the news in his overactive mind.
Feeling nervous, Buffy looked away from him and said with a small voice, "Okay, now is the time to say something… anything."
Suddenly, Xander came back to life and he glared at her. "You fought an apocalypse!" He shouted at her. "You knowingly put yourself and our child into danger! You got stabbed!" Xander pointed at the blood stain to a now-healed wound.
"I know! And I'm fine!" Buffy yelled back. "But I had to do it! I had to save the world!"
"That's it!" Xander grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the bus. "I'm not waiting anymore. We are driving to the nearest courthouse."
"What?" Buffy frowned at him taken back by his whirling mind.
Xander looked her with a serious eye, "We're getting married, right now!"
Buffy rolled her eyes, "Okay, now you're being ridiculous."
"No, no, missy… I wanted to get married sooner but you were all, 'No, Xander, let's wait until we're not fighting an apocalypse'." He poorly mimicked her voice. "Meanwhile, you're carrying our child—my child. We're getting married right now."
"Xander—"
"—No more waiting… You can plan the extravagant wedding another time." He pulled her towards the bus.
"Or," Willow's voice stalled the arguing couple in their tracks, "you can get married right here… right now…"
Buffy and Xander turned their heads to see Willow magically conjured a State of California marriage license certificate from thin air.
"Seems pretty fitting, B… and I don't have to wear a dress." Faith smirked holding her hands into her back pockets.
"Yes, and I can officiate—even walk you down the aisle," Giles added.
Dawn beamed with happiness for her sister, "Yeah, Buffy, what do you say?"
Buffy looked around at their faces then looked up to Xander. He stared down at her with a pleading eye. Buffy knew no matter what, she'd have no choice but to get married today. More than anything, she wanted this. This is what she fought for. This is what inspired her; the prospect of being a wife and mother, something normal in an abnormal world.
A slow smile slid across her face. "Okay," she said, "let's do it."
Xander returned her grin and kissed her hand. He passed her hand off to Giles and quickly stood at the edge of the crater in front of the Sunnydale town sign. Willow stepped beside him playing his 'best man'.
Dawn walked down the makeshift 'aisle' first then stood across from Xander and Willow, followed by Tara, who stood behind Dawn.
Giles wrapped Buffy's hand around his arm and led her to towards the edge of the crater. Surrounded by her family and the surviving Slayers, and Spike, who was stuck inside the bus, Buffy faced Xander taking his hands.
"Well," Giles began holding his hands together at his front. "We are all gathered here today because we fought and once again averted an apocalypse…"
Kennedy, Rona, Vi, and the other surviving Slayers smiled watching their fearless leader wed.
Buffy lifted her eyes when she felt Xander gently squeeze her hands. Giles' words fell on deaf ears, only hearing the sharp sound of her own pounding heart.
"Buffy," Buffy whipped her head to Giles, slightly startled to hear her name, "do you have anything you'd like to say?" He asked.
Swallowing her clattering nerves, Buffy nodded and turned her eyes back to Xander. Suddenly the entire world fell away and all she saw was him standing in front of her giving her that boyish lopsided smile. "It's taken me a long time to find you. And you were right there—right under my nose." She softly smiled. "I know, I'm not easy. I know that sometimes I drive you nuts. I also know, I don't say 'I love you' enough when I do, with all of my heart. I loved you before the visions and after—it never changed."
Xander felt his heart pound in his chest.
Buffy continued, "You are the only one I wanna walk through the rest of my life with. You make me better. You make me strong. I love you completely—even when I'm so mad at you." Xander's smile grew. "You're the only one I want to argue with… laugh with… You're it."
Giles smiled then turned his attention to Xander, "Xander, would you like to say something?"
Silently nodding, Xander tightened his hands around hers. "I have to… catch my breath to believe that this is real, that I'm marrying the girl of my dreams—my best friend. From the moment I saw you, I was in love. I can't explain it but," Xander shrugged, "I just knew I wanted to be with you in that forever—lets grow old together kind of way."
Buffy felt her eyes moisten.
Xander reached out and wiped her fallen tear away with the pad of his thumb. "There aren't enough words that can possibly express the dreams I have for our future or the depth of my love for you. Or the fact I will always fight for you and follow you—wherever you go. Or that our kids will be little superheroes…" Buffy let out a laugh. "I don't have the words to explain that to you."
He paused for a moment then said, "But I swear to show you, every day for the rest of our lives. I vow to respect you. To always be proud of you. And to be completely in love with you."
With a nod, Giles continued, "Buffy, do you take Xander to be your lawfully wedded husband, to have and to hold, from this day forward, in sickness and in health, until death do you part?"
A tugging smile crossed her mouth, Buffy tearfully whispered, "I do."
With a smile, Giles looked a Xander, "Xander, do you take Buffy to be your lawfully—"
"—I do," Xander said with an urgent haste.
The girls surrounding him let out a small laugh.
Shaking his head with an eye roll, Giles continued, "Well then, by the State of California, and the Powers That Be, I now pronounce you man and wife, Xander you may kiss your—"
Xander cupped his hands around Buffy's face and captured her mouth, unable to hold back a moment longer. Buffy held her hands at his sides, smiling into their kiss, letting him deepen it.
After a moment, the hoots, hollers, and clapping entered their ears. Breaking the kiss, Xander pressed his forehead against hers and matched her grin. They were finally married.