Chapter Sixty-Four

Slayers

A/N Last one for Chosen, sort of. The final scene is in the epilogue but still, this is the battle. You'll notice I've swapped around some positions in the battle so different people get injured. Omg the amount of times I had to skip over Anya dying, seriously.

Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 2003

"I hate this. I have being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there's evil and that I was chosen to fight it. I wish a whole lot of the time I hadn't been and I know a whole lot of you wish I hadn't been either. This isn't about wishes, this is about choices. I believe we can beat this evil. Not when it comes, not when its army is ready, now. Tomorrow morning, I'm opening the seal, I'm going down into the Hellmouth and I am finishing this once and for all. Are you coming?" Buffy said, she looked directly at Faith then at Willow to mouth a quick 'ready?' before continuing. "It's true, none of you have the power that Faith and I do. So here's the part where you make a choice." She paused as Faith stood closer and backed her, she had her own stuff to say but it would come in time, they'd made an agreement.

"What if you could have that power? Now? In every generation one slayer is born, because a bunch of men who died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men," Buffy's tone had changed from sweet to her determined slayer one, the part of her so entwined in demon was speaking, rousing the troops because they had a battle to win. Then she pointed over to where Willow and Tara were standing. "These women are more powerful together than any force I've ever seen, and more powerful than all those men combined. And it's love that wields that power, not evil." Willow gave a blunt embarrassed smile but Tara held firm, she believed the words because she'd seen Willow's power and she believed in it.

"So I say we change the rule. I say my power should be our power." Buffy let Faith step forward so they shared the same space, they were both in line for this after all. Then she paused, it was the moment they'd all be awaiting, the reveal of the plan. Why Buffy wasn't barmy for wanting to go and face the First in the morning. So they waited a few seconds, everyone in the room, tens of bodies radiating heat sat on the edges of their chairs whilst Buffy revealed the plan. "Tomorrow, Willow and Tara will use the essence of the scythe to change our destiny. From now on every girl in the world who might be a slayer, will be a slayer. Can stand up, will stand up. Slayers. Every one of us, make your choice. Are you ready to be strong?"

It was an order for the masses and they cheered, scattered applause even as Buffy stood at the helm of this ship that would carry them to safety. When she thought about it, she'd only be using sheer force, it was when the First had told her she'd always be alone. It struck her as odd because she'd felt alone, but was always surrounded by people. Even from day one Willow and Xander had wanted to help her slay the demons, she couldn't do it alone. Without them she'd be dead and even more dead. Willow was so powerful and they weren't using it, they weren't using her own internal strength to their advantage. She'd been the only one to be able to injury Glory, an actual hell god. And she'd been the one to resurrect her body from the grave. She'd restored Angel's soul. So many things, they needed Willow and they needed everybody, every slayer fighting for the right to live in peace.

As they walked through the empty school halls something felt nostalgic, it might not be the same building but something about being here one last time, about it being the school and the Hellmouth where they fought their final battle. It felt right. Everybody eventually splintered off in pairs to the different rooms. Buffy and Faith taking all the potentials down to the seal, Willow, Tara and Kennedy setting up in one of the side rooms for the spell, the others fighting the top flank because they knew the evil wouldn't stay contained in the Hellmouth down below. Xander and Anya fought together in an empty classroom, Robin took Andrew to another room - possibly once a science lab. And Giles was to take care of Dawn, get her out first if everything went wrong.

As they all stood in the soil, surrounding the source of so much war Buffy sighed. "You first B." Faith said, holding out a knife to the blonde, handle up. She looked at the blade for a few seconds before slicing open the flesh and letting her palm bleed onto the seal. Each girl one at a time took a carving out of their hand and let the blood drip onto the cold metal face below them. Each drop opening the cogs slowly before its metal twisted and shone, illuminating the dark basement in an eerie glow. The iron clinked and snapped back like chains rubbing together, the rust scrubbed away by friction. Then it opened. The face fell away to reveal a hole, a set of spiral stairs leading down to a deep brown pit.

Thousands. There were thousands of them gathering in the darkness. The army of Turok Han swarming deep below them with weapons gleaming in iron. Great smoke clouds being kicked up into the air but the stampeding of them all. Spike stood nearest the edge, amulet swinging round his neck as he looked down at the carnage below him. As they all did. They were waiting for the spell to take effect - for Kennedy to run down with the scythe as they did battle. Then the army began to run, marching up the cliff with intense speed, the army of potentials held their weapons out at large as Buffy waited for the vampires to see them. She was hoping the spell would kick in before that point but it was too late. Now they were charging in her direction and she had to fight.

They all felt it when it hit, the power surging through every fibre of their being, Buffy and Faith felt it too, the fight, the battle the surge of energy pushing them to be their best selves. Kennedy ran down into the pit soon after, wielding the scythe with a strength she hadn't had before that moment. That split second of magic hit them before activation. Then there was suddenly a huge army of uber vamps to defeat. Kennedy jumped down the stairs and threw the scythe into the air, it flipped once as it flew through the air and Buffy caught it with an outstretched arm. They fought with power and suddenly it was like release instead of torture - the fight that would once lay their limbs limp was now pushing them on further, they had to win, they had to defeat.

Bodies fell all around them, Buffy beside Faith as she threw the scythe through a clean neck, dusting after dusting in an inevitable cycle. It was a rush. The heat of battle. When they started retreating upstairs, Buffy knew the others would have to fight now, her friends, her loved ones, the ones she needed above all else. But she believed in them. Xander and Anya stood side by side, swords in each of their hands, Xander wielding the one Buffy had used to kill Angel all those years ago, the one she'd put through Anya just months before. It was a weapon of skill but he just stared at it's glinting metal as she looked at him.

"I didn't think I would be this nervous." Anya said staring at him, "I was a vengeance demon, I didn't think, I just thought I wouldn't be scared. And now I am." Xander took his eyes from the hallway for just a second to meet her pleading eyes, she had a fear in them that made him want to take her and run far away from this but he couldn't. He'd made a promise to Buffy to fight until they won.

"Anya, you're braver and have been eviler than anyone I've ever known, you'll get through this, you're strong." He replied, then swiftly reacting as the first uber vamps came screaming in through the halls and he swung his sword through three heads at once. Anya gasped at his skill as she swung her own sword through the enemy, running head first into the army.

"Think of happy things Andrew, a lake, candy canes, bunnies, and it'll all be ok." Andrew was saying quite out loud to himself, earning him a eyebrow furrow from Robin, who stood ready beside him. A reassurance that it would all work out ok, that he would fight his best fight. But there was this nagging feeling so strong in his mind that he was going to die, it felt just. A punishment for everything he'd done, an end worthy of battle because he wasn't strong, he wasn't powerful and he didn't have superpowers.

Part of him wondered how he even got into this situation, how he was dragged into this stupid world. He could've gone to college, instead of becoming what? A sidekick? Robin was so much stronger than him, he was the son of a slayer, he had fighting in his blood, a birthright. Andrew was a comic nerd and a criminal. Robin was sure to survive, he actually deserved to.

Dawn had set up a sun trap for the vampires which dusted them in an instant, she smiled as they burned, Giles looking at her with a sense of pride, it wasn't the most usual father figure/daughter relationship, but then again, when did they ever live in a usual world. He gave her a smile back as she lunged her body forward and projected into the army of vampires, using all her assumed strength to fight them off. Giles thought she really could make a great watcher one day.

As the army forged on ahead, Faith and Buffy were still side by side as they swung sharpened blades high through the air. Then it hit her from behind, thin pointed metal plunged through her abdomen so far that she could see the edge poking out from her bloodied shirt. The pain made her look down in shock, before realising her legs felt like jelly and they weren't going to be able to hold her up much longer. As the blood trickled down her skin and seeped into her clothes her legs gave way and she fell. The sword had been pulled out almost as quickly as it had been driven through her. Her body fell limp against the harsh dust of the pit, her head lifting gently over the scythe as she felt Faith kneeling down beside her.

The brunette was worried, she saw Buffy's gritted teeth and the leaking gash on her forehead. Slowly Buffy lifted her arm and held the scythe out to Faith, her breathing only getting heavier as her fingers closed around the woven handle of the ancient weapon. "Hold the line." She said wearily holding the scythe out to Faith, who hesitated for a couple of seconds, not sure what Buffy was asking of her. And she worried. Grabbing the silver handle of the scythe Faith stood up and ran back into the raging battle, leaving Buffy gasping on the floor. The pain washing through her, barely noticeable now that Buffy's attention was turning to those laying dead around her. Only the bodies of the good remained in the pit, vampires dusted when they were killed, only the army of the good could be counted, memorialised.

As the bringers came running through the building, they beat Andrew to the floor, his back crashing against one of the walls as he struggled to to fight back. Robin was fighting them off still on his feet. Pausing for a second to scan the room he missed the attackers from behind. Andrew tried to point but Robin didn't see, a curved blade slicing through his shoulder and through his torso, his body falling at deadweight to the ground. He'd taken one final sharp inhale of breath before the fall took him. Andrew just stared at the deadness of him, he couldn't fight anymore. Robin had been taken so unfairly and now he was left useless on the floor.

Anya swung her sword out the wrong way, only knocking into a bringer and not through it, she'd missed, he was coming at her with a sharp lunge and curving knife. Xander darted in between them and the sharp metal dug into his stomach with a fierce swooshing sound, the clanging of silver as he fell backwards into Anya's arms. She couldn't handle losing him, his body was so limp that he fell to the floor too, him amongst the many. Anya bent over him for a few seconds and tears welled in her eyes. But it went out of her mind, standing up and swooping her body round she sliced her sword through the air in a tight circle, knocking down the evil with one fell swoop.

Suddenly, the walls started to wobble, Buffy had been able to stand and beat down the nearest vamp her eyes darted over to where Spike was stumbling. The amulet on his chest glowing as a huge ball of energy burst through him and made a hole in the roof, a hole in every floor between him and the sun. The sunlight exploded from his chest, bursting as Faith called for everyone to evacuate. The walls of the school were falling around them Spike burned the last of the First's army. Everyone started running and Giles called for them to get on one of the bright yellow school buses.

Spike felt his soul splitting into a thousand tiny atoms as the walls still crumbled, everyone shouting and running as someone yanked Andrew from his cowering spot in a corner, the body of Robin long forgotten as Anya tried to drag Xander out of the building. Giles made sure Dawn was safe before ushering yet more now-slayers onto the vehicle, running to Anya's aid and pulling Xander up and onto one of the chairs. As Faith ran out of the building they had to go - there wasn't time to wait for Buffy, Willow thought she might not have made it.

There was so much chaos it was hard to tell what was what anymore, but as Giles drove away Dawn spotted Buffy running from the dust cloud at lightning speed. Her legs bounding over broken concrete and bodies as the road behind them started to crack and fall into the pit. The school building was already gone, Dawn was the only one who could still see Buffy behind them. Anya was walking up and down trying to pick out their medical supplies, holding Xander's hand as he tried to pack the wound almost gutting him. Andrew was silent as he contemplated why he was still alive and why Robin had been so unlucky.

Buffy ran at full speed but the town was disintegrating beneath her feet - she needed to get higher. She jumped to get onto a staircase, it was a set of apartment buildings. Her legs pushing her further she climbed onto the roof and ran along the edge of the building, the crumbling brick, jumping to get to next roof along. The bus was so yellow her eyes turned it into a fuzzy blob in her periphery. As it drove the length of the falling town and into the desert Buffy thought she might lose it but her legs carried her to last distance. With one final jump she leapt from the building and flailed her legs until she hit the top surface of the bus, grabbing hold of the ladder fastened to the back door she gripped on for dear life as the bus swerved and stopped mid-road in the desert.