"I'll never kill you, or make you feel afraid.

I'll never beat you, or make you feel ashamed.

You don't know how much I hate you." - King's X - Hate You

(O.O)

As soon as Wesley used the rod on Fred, the entire room was filled with a bright white light that prevented her from seeing what happened to Fred's body when the rod hit it.

Once the light cleared and she was finally able to see again, her heart dropped at the sight.

Wesley was over Fred's bed, cradling her lifeless body. Everyone in the room stared hopelessly as the former Watcher cried out for his beloved.

"Fred? Fred, Luv, please wake up. Please… Please…" he cried as he hugged the body.

She knew that there were several kinks to their plan. Wesley even provided them with some of the possibilities of what would happen should they go through with it. But Fred took a chance and consented to the use of the rod to separate Illyria from her because she thought it was better than doing nothing.

The young woman was brave.

Now, she was no longer there, and she felt responsible for what happened since she was the one who suggested to everyone that they use the rod.

As they all mourned Fred's loss, the scientist's eyes suddenly opened and changed into a crystal blue hue, before her body started twitching and convulsing. Next thing they knew, Wesley was being kicked away, and he found himself flying across the room. Fortunately, Spike caught him.

Fred's body continued to convulse until it fell on the floor, where it twitched some more.

Everyone watched frozen in horror from their side of the room as Fred stood up from the ground. However, instead of her normally light brown hair, it was now in the same shade as her electric blue eyes. There were also tints of blue around the edges of her face and she wore a maroon form-fitting bodysuit.

Fred looked down at her arm and hand to examine it, flexing her fingers. "This will do," she said.

"Fred?"

Wesley tried to approach the being, looking hopeful, but an arm stopped him. He looked down and saw that it belonged to Spike.

"I don't think that's her, mate," the vampire said.

She nodded in agreement at her vampire's assessment. Whatever that thing was, it was making all her Slayer senses tingle. This being was dangerous and it needed to be stopped.

The being inside Fred's body walked to one side of the room where a small mirror was and stared at its reflection, ignoring the wary looks everyone was giving.

"Illyria?" Wes said, gaining the being's attention.

It turned and faced the former Watcher. "My name." It then looked positively livid. "You would presume to speak my name."

Wes backed away slowly as it approached him.

"Because I have returned in the body of the human, you think you can speak to me. It's disgusting."

"Who is Winifred Burkle?"

Illyria continued to make its approach. "I thought the humans would have long died out by now." It looked around the room and found that everyone already had a weapon in their hands. "Instead, you've grown bold."

"So you don't know who Fred is."

"Nor care. Bleat at me no longer. We're done." It rolled its eyes and turned to walk away.

Before the God-King could leave, it was stopped.

"Yeah, I don't think so."

A roundhouse kick was delivered and sent the would-be god flying across the other side of the room.

"That's for not remembering the woman you killed, bitch," she said, approaching Illyria.

The God-King was quick to recover and was already on its feet.

"You're strong for a mortal," it said.

"That's 'cause I was made to kill demons like you," she told it and she launched another attack.

She sent a series of punches and kicks the God-King's way. Some of her hits were blocked, others landed. Those that did connect to her opponent clearly showed that it hurt the would-be god.

She's weaker than Glory! She thought as she sent another roundhouse kick towards her opponent's stomach.

However, before her kick connected, the Old One caught it and used it to fling her away.

She landed on the ground and groaned in pain.

Okay, she was probably just as strong as Glory.

She raised her head as she heard cries from the other occupants in the room who all charged at Illyria.

Lorne sent two crossbow bolts towards the demon, which was easily avoided, while Gunn and Wesley charged at it with their weapons, a sword, and a battleax. It caught both blades with its bare hands and snatched the weapons away from the two, before using the blunt edges of the weapons to hit both men in the head.

"Pathetic pests," Illyria said, raising its hands, ready to finish off the two men with their own weapons.

However, its attack was halted when it felt someone attempt to slice its head from behind. It turned and found that a halfling was responsible for the attack. It swung its arm at Spike, who was quick to step back and avoid the attack.

"How dare you!" Illyria stated angrily.

"No, how dare you. You killed a really special girl and you didn't even take the time to remember her," Spike responded, equally enraged.

Her vampire rushed at the God-King with speed she never knew he possessed and attacked with full game face on. The two demons exchanged blows and for a moment it seemed that her vampire was winning, at least until Illyria caught one of Spike's punches, and as it did with her, it flung the souled vampire away.

Spike was quick to recover and was already standing ready to attack again. She did the same and took on an attack position similar to her vampire's. This bitch was going to pay for killing Fred.

"Do you all not see? It is futile to resist. I am stronger than any of you," Illyria said.

"You may be strong, pet, but you're not invincible. I smell blood on you," her boyfriend said.

The God-King looked confused before it touched the back of its neck at the back where Spike had hit with a sword earlier. It was wet and when it pulled its hand, there was indeed blue blood.

It was its blood. It was bleeding.

"I do not understand," it said, "I am Illyria the Merciless. God-King of the Primordium. I should not bleed. Something is wrong with this shell-no, something is wrong with my powers. I do not have all of them."

It turned back to face the rest of the occupants in the room and eyed all of them in suspicion.

"You all did this," it accused, "You made me weak."

"Hey, now. Don't go blaming us for your inadequacies, Luv," Spike said. However, instead of a reply the God-King suddenly disappeared and reappeared behind her vampire.

"Spike, watch out!" she warned.

But it was too late and the Old One grabbed hold of her boyfriend's head and slammed him on the floor so hard that she heard a loud crack.

The god wasn't done yet. It disappeared again and appeared in front of Lorne before punching the Pylean in the gut. Blood dripped as its punch practically left a hole on the Host's stomach.

Two down and now all it needed to do was to deal with the humans left in the room.

Charles saw his green friend go down and rushed straight towards the God-King, who simply swatted him with the back of its hand, causing him to fly a few meters away. Gunn was unconscious before he even touched the ground.

Unable to contain herself after seeing the Old One attack, not just her vampire, but his other friends as well, she too rushed towards the God-King. Unlike with Gunn, she was quick to avoid her opponent's attack and once again rained a series of combinations of attacks against the powerful god.

The God-King responded in return with its own attacks. Every punch and kick she threw at the Old One's way, it blocked and countered. However, whenever her attack connected, the god noticed that it was hurting it, despite the armor it was wearing.

"Nuisance," it told her, before she disappeared and teleported behind her.

She was about to do another round kick but her body froze.

The God-King had used its powers on her and now she was left standing, still midswing.

It raised its hand in front of it, before saying, "Perish."

A white light shot from its palm towards her and she cried as she felt as though her entire body was being shredded to pieces.

Fortunately for her, the God-King was not able to finish its spell for Wesley came to her rescue by sending a crossbow bolt and hitting the god's shoulder blade.

The being screamed in pain surprised that such a weapon could hurt it. Its eyes zoned straight in Wesley's direction.

"Insignificant worm. You will pay for that." It released its hold on the Slayer, who immediately went down on the floor and raised its hand towards Wes.

The man's hands clutched around his neck and he found himself unable to breathe.

"I shall exterminate you first."

It was choking the life out of him and he was unable to do anything. His companions were all down for the count. However, despite the fact he was about to die, his only thoughts were of the woman he loved.

"Fred," he barely choked out those words as his vision was slowly fading.

BOOM!

Illyria and Wesley's eyes both darted towards the source of the noise. The double doors that were the entrance to the magically sealed-off room were smashed to smithereens. From the rubble, a figure walked inside the room.

"Hey, bitch. Let my boyfriend go," the figure, who turned out to be the real Fred, said looking pissed off at God-King.

Illyria stared at its look-a-like in confusion.

"Who are you?" it said, before receiving a powerful punch in the face by Fred, who somehow teleported in front of it.

"I'm the owner of that body," the Texan said, "And I'm going to make you pay for hurting my man and my friends."

TBC

(O.O)

Thanks for reading.