Hey everyone! Here it is! Finally! Season five finale, last chapter of the season! I should let you know I will let some time pass before I start writing season 6. I will probably edit the previous chapters, correct any misspellings I come by and maybe add a thing or two, nothing too big. If you have noticed any grammar mistakes or similar, or want me to clarify something, just review or PM me.
And that's it. Hope you enjoy!
Lee out.
At the Summers house, while Buffy went to her room to her some weapons, Ally and Spike opened the chest in the living room, getting anything they could take with them, anything that could be useful.
"Spike." The vampire at first didn't realize Ally wasn't leaning over the chest anymore, but standing straight next to him. "We're not all gonna make it. You know that."
"Yeah." He bent down to grab a couple axes, noticing his love still didn't move and glancing over his shoulder to see her watching him, biting her lip to keep it from trembling. "Hey. Always knew I'd go down fightin'."
She shook her head, taking a deep breath to even her voice. "I'm counting on you ... to protect her. If anything happens to Buffy and me, I need to know you'll protect her."
He raised to his full height, looking down at her, determined. "Till the end of the world. Even if that happens to be tonight."
The tower hadn't been there before, had it? Not like Ally knew that part of town very well, yet she was pretty sure it wasn't there when she'd walked by before.
Ritual things.
As soon as Buffy and Glory started their fight, Giles, Anya, Spike and Ally barged against the hell bitch's minions and brain-sucked slaves near the stairs, trying to clear the way to the top, to Dawn.
However, when the Potential heard her little sister's screams, yelling for her eldest sister from the top, she froze. She was there. She was scared, and she needed help. She saw Buffy going up the stairs, Glory following her, and she had to focus on her battle again. If Buffy couldn't get to her, neither could she.
Then the Slayer and the god fell, landing on the other side of the tower, while the people and minions guarding the stairs regrouped, making the Gang go back behind a barricade of sorts, protected from the bricks and stones being thrown at them.
Giles could barely breath, panting like he had run a marathon. The Potential wasn't much better. Her bruises and previous ailments from the gas station were proving to be challenging. She couldn't hit as hard, as fast or fight as long as she did before. However, nothing could stop her, either, because she knew that any slip from her, from any of them, could mean the death of her baby sister, or any of her friends.
"Has anyone noticed we're going backwards?" Anya wondered out lout, clutching her baseball bat in her hands.
Spike tried to peek over the top of their barricade, a brick hitting him straight in the forehead and making him duck again. "It's crossed my mind."
For once, it was Giles who tried to be optimistic. "As long as ... Buffy can keep Glory down ... long enough, it doesn't matter. There's only a few minutes left to start the ritual."
So they could avoid getting Dawn killed, and Buffy and Ally dying. Maybe they could still win this thing. Maybe.
Xander leaped over the fence on their side, coming to join them, having done his part. "How we doing?" He whispered to his friends and undead ally.
"So far it's a tie." Anya informed him, making the Potential want to snort. Tie. In a tie against some hobbits with leprosy and mental ward patients.
"We haven't got up to Dawn, but then neither has anyone else." Giles extended the explanation, still crouching. Ally asked herself how he was doing, with the spear wound on his side and all.
But her vampire's next words made her hold her breath. "Someone's up there."
Her head whipped upwards, trying to see something at the top of the tower, anything. Vampire sight was much better, but he didn't seem able to make out the identity of the new arrival.
"Okay, we gotta charge or something." Xander pushed, worried, yet his words were muffled in the brunettes ears.
Someone was near Dawn. It wasn't Glory, or Buffy. Who could it be? Another minion sent to finish the job?
Then Spike frowned and started talking to no one in particular, like listening to a voice in his head. Suddenly, he got up and ran straight towards the stairs, just as the human barrier split, leaving the way somewhat clear.
It was their chance.
Ally didn't even have time to think about what she was doing before she charged behind the bleach blond, up towards the top. He ran faster, almost flying over the stairs, her trailing behind, trying to go as fast as possible. One minion ran after her, swinging an axe, making her have to stop to fight. At least, she would let Spike get to the top without any obstacles. He could help Dawn.
The minion lashed and she ducked, the weapon hitting one of the metal bars above her, sending sparks flying. She kicked his gut, the thing tumbling backwards, getting another hit in the chin, then the side. He edged close to the end of the platform, one feet away from falling to his death, and he took a moment to assess his opponent. The girl didn't look like much. She was clearly exhausted, dark patches covering her skin, face, arms and legs several different colours. Yet she didn't look like she was going to stop anytime soon. There was a strength, a conviction, that could match the magnificent god he served.
With one final side kick, the robed figure went flying out of the platform, followed by another leather clad silhouette falling from the top.
Spike.
Dawn.
Then Buffy was with her, both sprinting, lungs burning but resisting to give up when they heard their sister cry.
Finally at the top, there was a small man in a suit, his face reminding the girls of a toad, yet sinister, supported by the knife in his hand. He turned to look at them when Dawn saw her sisters and screamed, his face seemingly amused.
"This should be interesting." He muttered before Buffy sent him over the edge, approaching the teen tied to the end of the platform.
Both girls rushed to untie their sister's hands, one each, helping her move towards the stairs. Then Dawn stopped, looking back, holding her hand against the cuts on her stomach.
"Go!" The blonde tried to hurry up, only for the teen to announce what they feared most.
"It's started."
A giant ball of blue energy was floating under the platform, shooting rays of energy out towards the streets, making roads collapse, turning buildings into demonic beehives, letting winged monsters out of the portal.
"I'm sorry." Dawn apologized before trying to run towards the end of the platform, Ally stopping her before she took a single step.
"What are you doing?"
"I have to jump. The-the energy..." The youngest brunette shook her head, eyes set on the blue light, filled with unshed tears.
"It will kill you." The Potential held her baby sister's hands, looking at her in the eye.
"I know. Buffy, Ally, I know about the ritual. I have to stop it."
Ally couldn't take it. Dawn shouldn't have to do anything. She shouldn't feel like she had to do any of that. She was fourteen. She shouldn't have to die to save the world.
That's what Buffy and Ally were there for.
"No." She softly replied before the tower shook underneath them, making them stumble and hold onto each other.
"I have to. Look what's happening." The youngest insisted as lightings from the portal crushed structures all around, another giant creature coming out of it. "You have to let me go. Blood starts it, and until the blood stops flowing, it'll never stop." Tears started flowing, falling down her cheeks, her gaze jumping from one sister to the other. "You know you have to let me. It has to have the blood."
"Not exactly." Ally whispered, locking gazes with Buffy before looking back at the kid.
Dawn didn't understand. She was the Key. She opened and closed the portal. It was simple, really. It had to be her. Then, why did it suddenly feel like her sisters had some other plan?
And right in that moment, when the Slayer and Potential took each other's hand, she realized. "No!"
"Dawnie, we'll take care of it." The newest of them all promised, smiling softly.
"We have to." The blonde added, squeezing her companion's hand. Dawn just shook her head, unable to accept what they were saying. "Listen to me. Please, there's not a lot of time, listen."
Bolts of lightning crackled around them, Dawn crying and sobbing at her sisters' words. She barely held herself upright, sounds of the destruction going on around them muffling her whimpers. With one last kiss from Buffy and a hug from Ally, the teen was left on one side of the platform.
The eldest started running first, no time for hesitation, ready to destroy the barrier. Not five seconds later, the Potential dashed after the first, jumping over the edge just as Buffy fell into the bubble of energy. Before the middle sister reached the bubble, she felt power make her blood boil, shivers running through her from the tips of her fingers to her toes. And she knew, somehow, what exactly she was feeling.
The Powers that Be had a strange kind of sense of humour. She had been activated.
Buffy was dead.
She fell into the blue bubble and was struck with shocks of energy, like electricity, hitting her from all sides. She tried to scream, but no sounds came out of her. She fell, and fell, until one bolt dealt the final blow, her sight going white, her body limp, right when the ball of energy closed in on itself, letting the girl plunge towards the floor, right next to the body of her eldest sister, her hand seeming to reach out for the other's even after their souls left.
Later on, their graves would be placed just like they were in that moment, close to one another, always together. Because they were family. They were meant to be together.
