Ok, so it's been a month this time instead of six. I've been in Guatemala doing humanitarian relief work outside of Guatemala City. I speak Spanish and absolutely adore the people and sights of Central and South America. It was a great time, but now, I get to return to writing! Ah, the joys of having absolute control over a world. This is the final chapter. Let me know what you guys really think! I love feedback, good or bad.
The battle in the caves and tunnels was very much what Xander and the Scoobies expected. The close quarters gave them the ability to fend off their attackers with much less trouble than out in the streets of Sunnydale. Wave after wave had come crashing into them, only to be dusted by the crossbows and driven back by the sight of Holy Crosses. The forces seemed to be thinning out now though, after an hour of constant combat, as though either they had slain most of the forces there, or more likely, that they had fallen back to defend their Queen and the ritual that would assure their survival.
Finding a brief moment to collect themselves the group stopped to prepare for the final rush. Xander and Giles, having done much of the fighting were bumped and bruised and had some cuts which Willow was attending to. Anya and Tara were collecting the arrows left on the ground from the dusted vampires to keep their supply up.
"We are nearly to the center I think," Giles said while wiping sweat from his brow. "The caves are becoming wider, the torches brighter. We can expect that the Queen is very close."
Xander didn't even reply. He was lost in thought and reloading his crossbow slowly and deliberately. Giles decided to let it go and not repeat himself.
"So what do we do if the Queen's already started the ritual?" came Anya's voice from a few feet away.
"Well, this ritual is all a matter of timing," Giles started, looking a little like the old, smug British Giles they all remembered from a few years ago. "The Queen must start the incantation after Faith has been prepared with different mixtures of potions and slimes and after she has been prayed over by priests of the Nether-gods. Once she starts the incantation she must finish before midnight and then precisely at midnight, Faith will be cut from the neck, down her chest and stomach and let bleed."
"Eewwww…" came Anya's reply, as the rest of the gang stood in appropriate silence.
"S-s-so w-what do we d-do," Tara started to ask.
"…if we get there and Faith has already been cut?" Giles finished and starred off into space somberly.
"We die," Xander said, finally looking up. "So let's go stop it."
The group gathered what their things and started to move, following Xander, who felt the weight of the world on his shoulders once again.
***
Faith felt more disgusting than she had in the eight months she had been hanging by her wrists without a shower, or a toilet, or any clothing. Her body was smeared with awful smelling, slimy mud in designs and ancient letters, obviously a part of the ritual that Buffy had planned for her. She was still pinned to the cold stone table with chains and a brace that held her head in place. All she had managed to see in the last few hours she had been awake were the hands of the vampire priests as they smeared the mud, and the occasional bodies of vampires as they passed in and out of the room.
Faith heard the shuffle of feet behind her head and called out.
"You! What are you doing to me! Where's that slut Buffy?" she yelled without pause, the desperation in her voice starting to shine through.
Suddenly the face of a vampire appeared in her vision and it was very angry.
"Sacrifices to not speak," it growled. "And if we did not need you for tonight, I would torture you for referring to the Queen like that you worthless piece of flesh."
Immediately the face was gone and the sound of feet continuing their way out of the room was all Faith was left with. Well, that and her thoughts. The idea of death, at least her own death, had never seemed real to Faith. She was a Slayer, a powerful kick-a$$ Slayer who got whatever she wanted. She had never faced anyone before who she really thought had the power to kill her, not even the mayor, or Buffy…
But here she was, lying on a cold stone table, bleeding from her wrists, unable to move, to kill, to command. Here she was in the hands of a woman she hated before out of jealousy, who now lusted after her blood. It was like everything she ever thought or felt or knew was wrong, all wrong. At the point that all that rushed through her head, invading the innermost parts of Faith's mind, she did something she hadn't done in years, something that she never saw herself doing again. She cried. She cried from the bottom of her heart as though the tears would wash away the pain. And she lied there and waited for her fate, hoping against hope that somehow she could just die before Buffy had her way.
***
Riley felt his heavy eyes begin to open and his consciousness coming back to him. He sat up and held his head for a moment, feeling like he wasn't even in his own body. Something was different. Suddenly Riley felt a rush of energy and strength pass through his body, like a super adrenaline rush. It was amazing. The strength; the power; to clarity he felt. It was like being a god…
"I'm offering you godhood," to words rang out in his mind.
"I am a vampire," Riley thought to himself. And then out loud, "I am a god!"
For a minute or two he sat and took in the new feelings. The silence in his body was astounding. No heartbeat, no digestion, to flowing blood to cause noise over his thoughts. There was no fatigue, there were no aches in his muscles, only energy and strength. He could jump 15 feet in the air, or run miles without rest. Why had he been afraid of such power before? What a fool.
As the body of Riley Finn, now a vampire, rose from the table and began to walk around he experienced an old feeling mixed in with all the new ones. That feeling was disrupting the perfection. It was clouding his thoughts, replacing the feeling of godhood with a twinge of weakness. Confused for a minute Riley returned to his table and sat back down. What was it that was confusing his power, disrupting his godhood? Damn, what was it?
Almost instantly the remembrance of the feeling came back. He knew what it was and how to return to his "godhood." He rose once again and headed for the door, determined to feel that assurance again, to be godlike. The feeling was hunger, and once he satisfied that hunger the feeling would return. Only then would the pain go away, only then could he become once again powerful and clear-headed. He needed to feed and the first living human that Riley came across was going to be his dinner.
With that Riley Finn rushed out of the room and down the hall, seeking godhood.
***
The Scoobies knew they must be close to the center of the caves. There were rooms with doors, some electric lights, and all sorts of stashes of jewelry, televisions, and other things the vampires ripped off their victims. It was like a flea market down here. Xander had been leading the pack the whole way but for the last ten minutes, there had been no sign of vampires, like they had all fled.
"We have to find the Queen," Xander said, mostly to himself, still running down the corridors. "She has to be nearby."
The gang came around a corner and immediately Xander put on the breaks, causing the rest of the team to smash into his back. If Giles hadn't seen what Xander did and grabbed the falling teen, they would have lost their fearless leader. Xander hung by the grip of Giles over a very, very deep pit in the middle of a circular room.
"Holy Sh*!" Xander hollered in terror.
Giles and the girls pulled him back onto the adjacent ledge with the rest of the group, all huffing and puffing as much from fear as from fatigue.
"Are you alright Xander?" Giles asked.
"I'm fine," Xander replied, sounding a little annoyed. "Let's just keep moving."
Before the team could even get themselves up off the ground to get on their way they were stopped by the voice of Anya.
"Um, guys…" came Anya's voice. "Look up there."
The whole team looked up and knew immediately what it was they were seeing. Hanging from the ceiling were chains that ended in shackles and those shackles were covered in blood. This was the room they kept Faith in all this time.
"Then we know we're getting closer," Xander spat out, trying to sound strong. Ignoring the fear that rose into his mind by picturing the Queen holding Faith without a problem for at least a few months, Xander got up and started moving. The rest of the team followed suit.
At this point everything in the tunnels, well, now they were into the lair; everything in the lair started to look alike. There was door after door on either side of them that lead to small, empty rooms. Still they ran on, hoping that each new turn would bring them into the room that held the Queen, Faith and the chance to save the world, yet again.
"Haven't we been in this corridor before?" Willow asked through heavy breathes.
"I don't know," Xander replied. "Just keep running."
Once again Xander came to an abrupt stop causing the team to slam into his back. This time Giles wasted no time in grabbing Xander before he fell.
"What is it Xander?" Giles asked confused. They had stopped in the middle of a corridor.
"I heard something…" Xander trailed off. "Like someone in chains moving."
"Where?" Willow asked.
"Shhh…" Xander quieted her. "I hear it again. Back there."
Pushing his way through the others, Xander walked back about twenty feet, with his right ear cocked up and ahead of him. The rest of the group followed slowly behind. Xander stopped and looked into one of the barred windows on his right, paused, squinted and looked back again and then suddenly grabbed the bars and shook the doors violently, much to the confusion of the rest of the team.
"Angel!" Xander screamed, bringing the rest of the scoobies running.
***
Faith had stopped her tears but lied still in fear and exhaustion on her table, waiting for her fate. Somehow it seemed poetic that she should die at the hands of Buffy, an evil and twisted Buffy. She had spent so much time using her strength to cause pain, for Buffy, for Sunnydale, for people in general, just so that she could be comfortable. She had fought side by side with the things she was supposed to be destroying and only Buffy, in her self-righteousness and do-gooder style had managed to stop her. Then the model of Slayer disgusting Slayer self-sacrifice herself turned evil, and is making "Want, Take, Have," her motto. Amazing how the tables turn.
What had brought her to this spot? It wasn't just a stupid moment with a vampire eight months ago. What had made her loose it? Why in the world had things gone the way they had… No, no. Faith was not willing to think that way. No one in the world would look out for her. Everyone looks out for themselves. That's the way it works. Survival of the fittest. Might makes Right. Want, Take, Have…
But what about Buffy? What about her god-awful friends with poor taste in clothing and cheesy blind love for each other? They don't really look out for themselves. Maybe they do. How in the world could a person become that simple, that Naïve? Comon, nobody really loves without expecting something in return. No one had ever loved her that way, in any case.
On and on the thoughts, the questions spiraled in Faith's head, all useless as her death approached, but worth thinking, at least for right now. The time seemed to drag on, each thought, each painful realization sinking in and making her sick to her stomach in it's time, and then making way for the next one and the next knot in her gut.
Faith heard a scuffling of feet around a corner and a howl. Before she could take in the sounds a vampire rushed over her body and reared back to back her neck. Exhausted, and grateful for the attack, Faith rolled her head back, ready to die.
***
The strike to his head had almost made the vampire that had once been Riley Finn black out. He sat there on the floor with an odd sense of déjà vu about the sensation. Anger was still burning in his body and if it hadn't been the Queen who had struck him, Riley felt he may have destroyed a whole city block in rage. But it was the Queen and when he saw her for the first time again, as a vampire now, he immediately understood the fear that the others felt for her. The power that emanated from her, it was like scent of a million deaths on her breathe, the blood of more than he understood on her hands. She was the Queen.
Still, he was angry about getting hit. He had simply been hungry. While trying to find his way out of the tunnels to find human blood he stumbled into this chamber room, the room where just a few hours ago he had been sired, by the Queen herself, and he found a perfect human body, ready to be drank, ready to restore his godhood. When he saw her he could smell all the smells of her still-living body and hear the sweet sound of her still-beating heart. The shear joy, the rapture of the idea of drinking and restoring that feeling, being a god!
As soon as he could get his feet moving he dashed over to the table and leapt upon the naked woman, ignoring her perfect figure that a day before would have left him stunned, and instantly dropped his head to bite the waiting neck. Before he could even get his teeth deep enough to break the skin the blow from the Queen sent him reeling back off the table a several feet across the floor.
So there he sat, looking up at her in semi-fear, semi-love, waiting for her to speak. She, of course, obliged.
"You fool!" she screamed, "do you realize what you might have done?"
The power coming from her body flowed out of her as she spoke and forced Riley up into a ball against the wall, trembling in fear. The sight of which seemed to dull the Queen's rage.
"Oh," she said now sounding patronizing. "You poor, simple, powerful, little god. You just want your fix, don't you?"
Riley managed to look up at her and nod a little, feeling her energy and power ebbing back into her. He suddenly felt the need to please her with all he had.
"You have much to learn my child," the Queen said, softly taking Riley's chin and pulling his face to meet hers, her eyes reassuring. "The time will come when you will satisfy your hunger; Very soon, actually."
"Yes," Riley sputtered out. "Please, soon…"
The Queen was standing again, but looked down at the pathetically needy, strong man. Before she could continue into whatever new knowledge she had for him a number of vampires filed into the room, some dressed in long red cloaks, others in street clothes. One came immediately to the Queen's side and whispered in her ear.
"We're ready then," she said turning to Riley, brushing off the vampire at her side. "Go little god. Kill, Drink, Feel…"
Riley rose hesitantly, looking cautiously into the Queen's eyes the whole while he made his way to standing.
"You begin your new life as a god," she continued. "We will start the ritual, and you will have your blood."
Riley found himself eagerly smiling at the Queen, proud of her approval, and excited at the opportunity to experience the perfect silence and peace that came with the drinking of blood.
"Where?" Riley asked hungrily.
"Down those tunnels a few hundred feet," the Queen said, pointing to a door. "Kill them all. Leave their lifeless bodies in the tunnels and whatever you do, keep them from this room. Understand?"
Riley nodded absent-mindedly, already walking for the door. The thirst for blood had overcome his desire to please the Queen and nothing was going to prevent him from satisfying that thirst.
The Queen turned to the robed vampires and nodded. "Time to begin…"
***
The greetings in the dank cell were brief, the reminiscing left for later, after the world had been saved. Willow had worked a little magic and unlocked the door to Angel's cell. Then with the axe Giles had been carrying on his back Xander was able to break the chains binding the cursed vampire to the wall. Once he was on his feet, and the group made a concentrated effort to ignore the disfigurement, they explained the situation to Angel.
"I know the way to the chamber," Angel said in his best "let's get moving" voice. Xander noticed the distinct difference, the weariness that ran underneath in the voice and shuddered to himself at the things he thought Buf… The Queen must have done to break the spirit of this vampire.
"That's great Blinky," Anya said, the only one willing to voice the group's confusion. "But, no eyes, remember?" Xander was gonna hafta work with her on that whole tact thing. Before anyone could respond Angel replied.
"I used to live down here," Angel said softly. "I know where we're going."
Without hesitating Angel moved through the crowd, walked into the hall and started moving down the corridor. Xander shrugged at the rest and followed, leading the others out and after the blind vampire. He saw no reason to doubt a man who had nothing left to lose and only revenge to gain.
***
Faith was sobbing. She had stopped crying for a time but now the threat of death was being realized and all she could do was sob. A few minutes ago Buffy had approached the table with a group of other vampires, all dressed in red. In her time as a Slayer, Faith actually got to fight a nasty baddie or two, and nothing had ever come close to scaring her as much as those vampires in the red robes, there to brutally take her life. Immediately she began to tremble and cry, and when the fear overcame her completely she wet herself and then lay there still, softly crying. The sobbing came when Buffy leaned over her, breaking the solemn spirit of the ritual and winked at her with a smile. The end was here, and Buffy was enjoying it.
So there lay the dark-Slayer, helpless, laying in her own urine and covered in different mixtures of muds, slimes and God-knows what else and sobbing while the incantation started. Above her head Buffy stood, rocking back and forth, and chanting something in an ancient tongue. The vampires in the red, stood all around her, softly echoing in whispers Buffy's spell.
Faith glanced up for a brief second and in that time saw all the red vampires simultaneously take shining metal blades from their cloaks. Overcome once again with fear Faith screamed with all the force her tired, slayer body could muster.
***
The scoobies had made it through about another two hundred yards of tunnels, including several twists and turns when the scream came. Angel stopped dead in his tracks. The scream had come from a room about another fifty yards ahead of them. They had found the Queen. Xander turned to the group, looking into each of their faces and reading the fear, and the assurance in their eyes. How had he been shifted into leadership? Why in the world would they put their faith in him?
"Let's go," Xander said, ignoring the doubts rising in his mind. Now was not the time to deal with those. "Only three minutes till midnight."
The group echoed their approval with nods, and softly whispered "yes's" while Xander moved to the front of Angel, ready to lead everyone to save the world, or their deaths, but ready, nonetheless.
Just as Xander took his first step he heard a shuffle behind him and turned in time to be knocked into my the rest of the team, as they fell to the ground. Xander kept his balance but almost fainted when he looked up at what had caused the tumble. It was a huge vampire holding Anya in his grasp and his teeth firmly planted in her neck, allowing blood to trickle out, but not biting deep enough to kill her. Without thinking Xander grabbed for a stake and moved towards the vamp.
"Xander!" Giles screamed from the floor, stopping the young hero in his tracks. "Only two and a half minutes!"
A million things invaded Xanders head at that moment: The night before, holding Anya while she slept and he couldn't; The face of the Queen when he had seen her in the streets; the idea of the Hell Mouth opening. Here was his love, about to die, and he had to choose between her, and the whole world. What's the world worth without her?
Xander took another step towards the vampire, who was now backing away down the corridor.
"Xander!" Giles screamed again and he pulled himself and Willow to their feet. "Please!"
Xander felt his heart and his head at war within him. His feet felt like lead, his head was spinning. The vampire was biting a little harder now, the blood starting to drain out and down Anya's neck, staining her shirt. She couldn't die!
"Comon little man," the vampire said, coming up from Anya's neck for a few seconds. "I'm going to drink her dry and unless you think you can stop me."
Xander and Anya's eyes met, both filled with tears and longing to be out of this situation. That was it, he had to save her.
"Two minutes," Giles roared as he turned and started moving in the other direction. Willow came to Xander's side, leaving Tara with Giles and Angel for a moment.
"I'm so sorry Xander," she whispered. "Please…"
Xander's gaze met the floor and then he looked back up into Anya's eyes again. Her's were full of tears, as much from emotional agony as physical, but she nodded as best she could at Xander and mouthed "go."
The tears streamed down Xanders face as he looked at the floor again and then turned and ran after Giles and the others with Willow, trying his best to ignore Anya's horrible, gurgling scream as she died from the vampires bite, while his heart died inside of him.
***
The taste of blood sent orgasmic pleasure through the entire body of Riley Finn as he ripped into the flesh of this weak little woman. He could feel the power of her life start to surge into him, to settle his stomach, to silence the hunger. Once again, he felt like a god, untouchable. Unfortunately his hostage ploy had been unsuccessful in preventing the others from proceeding down the corridor. Now he had to rush down all the blood and chase after them, and then deal with the Queen for failing to stop them from continuing.
Riley wondered if all humans squirmed this badly while they were dying or if it was unique to just the women. Obviously he was being a little rough, tearing the flesh and breaking bone, but it was his first feeding. It's expected that he might not be as clean as some other vampires. What he enjoyed was all the whimpering and crying she was doing. Almost like the moans during sex enhance the whole experience, all this painful shrieking just pumped Riley up for more.
Wait, stop… The others… Give chase. She's dead now. Go after the others…Comon Riley, GO!
With broken thoughts and an already renewed yearning for blood, Riley started after the other humans, leaving the corpse there for the other vampires to clean and tend to. He had some killing to do.
***
Xander rounded the corner into the ceremony room and found Giles, Angel, and Tara already in combat with several vampires, who were keeping them from getting to another group of vampires, all in red and standing in a circle with the Queen at the head. She was chanting something and doing a very good job of ignoring the commotion around her.
His mind still awash in the pain of losing Anya, Xander paused for a moment, dumbfounded, when he saw the Queen. He hadn't been this close to her since she was human. She looked so alive, so real… She had Anya killed! She's not Buffy. Anya is gone… Buffy is gone… Save the world…
"STOP!" Xander yelled at the top of his lungs and then rushed at the group of red vampires, knowing that Faith was there amongst them. His mind was burning and pounding in his head and his stomach was turning over and over again, preparing to vomit, and Xander knew to do was to fight. He had to save the world. There will be time to mourn later, maybe.
Before Xander could make it to the other group, one of the regular vampires tackled him and the two rolled round on the ground, fighting for position. Realizing he still held the stake he had meant for Anya's assailant, Xander rocked his body and pushed off with that hand to force the vampire into the air, on that side. As he fell again, Xander twisted his hand around and met the falling chest of the vampire with the pointy end of the wood.
Before the dust in the air cleared, Xander was on his feet and moving again, determined to get to the Queen. The crowd of vampires had thinned a bit as they were being dusted here and there by the group. Even Angel had found new strength and was wrestling the vampires that approached him to the ground and staking them with one of the darts from the crossbows.
Another three vampires leapt at Xander, who suddenly found himself standing with Tara and fighting to protect both of them. Tara was humming again and seemed to be deflecting most of the attacks but really wasn't able much to do any killing. So Xander wielded his stake around and forced two of them back, out of his reach. The third grabbed Tara at the neck and pulled her in close.
The young witch was able to fend him off for the second Xander needed to jump to her rescue and stake the demon in the back, sending him swirling into a cloud of dust.
"Look out!" Tara screamed, as the other two vampires both moved towards the distracted Xander.
Heeding the warning, Xander spun, stake sideways, and put the tip through the side of one vampire and knocked him into the other, sending them both sprawling onto the floor. All the extra hours working with Giles on fighting techniques had really paid of. He'd have to thank the old Brit for it if they got out of this alive.
"Xander!" came a scream from Willow, who was backed into a corner, fending off vampires with brief, musical barrier spells. "Look!"
Xander spun back around in time to see the Queen draw a huge sword from her side and hold it up to cut Faith. Without another thought, before he even realized it Xander started moving for the Queen, knowing that only few seconds were left between them and death.
Tara followed after, the only other free scoobie, and started speaking a spell in Latin that ended with a shriek. With that shriek all the red-cloaked vampires flew away from the table as though blown away by a hurricane, revealing a naked, crying Faith, who suddenly looked up, shocked to see Xander, or anyone, coming to her rescue.
At that moment the Queen was bringing her sword down to cut Faith, Xander almost there. He leapt with all his strength at the Queen and tackled her with all his might. The result was somewhat anti-climatic as she merely stumbled to the side and Xander fell to the ground, feeling as though he had just hit a brick wall. The stumble, as brief, and disappointing as it was, was just what they had needed. Midnight had passed before she could cut Faith; the world was safe.
The rest of the scoobies had managed to kill off the last few vampires in the room and were gathering themselves to stand and face Buffy, knowing that their victory could be short-lived. If she killed them all now, then she could hold Faith for the next Blue Moon. The Queen had to be stopped here and now. If they failed now, then they only managed to delay the apocalypse, not stop it.
"NO!" The Queen screamed in rage, and then leapt after the nearest target: Tara.
Tara had continued moving after Xander and had ended up only a few feet away from the Queen, who now had her in her grasp. Xander tried to stand and come to her defense but as he rose, met the foot of the Queen, which easily held him down on his face.
"Willow," the Queen said with a smile on her face that contrasted the fire in her eyes. "Hi honey! I have some terrible news for you…"
Willow could only stand there in shock, crying and shaking with fear and sadness.
"I'm really going to enjoy doing this…"
With that, she grabbed either side of Tara's head and twisted it violently, snapping her neck and killing her instantly.
"No!" was all Willow could get out as she watched her lovers body fall limp to the ground.
Suddenly Angel dashed from his spot and tackled the distracted Queen, having much more of an effect than Xander's tackle, sending the two of them flying across the floor in a wrestling match, each bent of revenge.
***
Riley rushed into the ceremony room only to find no ceremony, and no vampires for that matter, except for the Queen and that Angel guy from that cell, locked in each others grips. Confused, he stood for a second and took in the room. The woman with the perfect body was still laying there on the table, still untouched and ready to be drank. There was a dead woman on the ground and the rest of those humans all just getting to their feet. It seemed like a perfect time to kill.
"Riley!" came the chilling voice of the Queen from her fight. "Kill them for me! Be a god!"
Needing no other guidance or invitation Riley jumped to work and went after the old man and the little crying girl in the corner. He rushed with all his might, hoping to pin them into the corner and bite them while he crushed their bones against the stone walls, but just as he was about to crush them the girl yelled something he couldn't understand and Riley felt himself bounce off the air around them and fall back, dazed. He gathered himself and rushed in again, only to bounce again off.
"Little witch," he growled. "Can't keep that up forever."
The huge vampire of a beast called Riley started pounding away at the air protecting the old man, obviously wounded, and the little girl. He knew that if he could just hit it enough times the girl would fail and he could taste the blood he already smelt in the air. The girl seemed to affirm his plan as she screamed for help between pounds, knowing that he spell would soon fail and leave them helpless.
Riley felt another presence moving towards him from behind and spun with his fist in time to meet the face of the dark-haired boy who had been on the ground near the Queen. He paused for a moment to watch as the boy fell unconscious across the floor.
"I'll have a free drink later," he mumbled to himself before turning his attention back to the girl and the old man.
***
Faith had been completely shocked when she saw Xander rushing to her rescue from the corner of her eye and then felt a wave of relief and another of new fear wash over her when he stopped the sword from killing her. Now all she could do was listen and stare at the ceiling, still crying, just hoping that somehow she could die and get away from all this. That it could all just end.
She could hear the voice of Willow screaming for help from somewhere off to her left and the shuffling and scraping of Buffy fighting with whoever she was. None of it seemed real though. It was all a dream. Part of that hazy quiet that comes just before someone dies. She was drifting away and this all seemed to be a dream. Her spirit was shattered. He heart was broken. She was a failure. She was dead.
Faith thought back again over what had brought her here, what made her like she was and how foolish it had been for her to keep hope alive all these months, hanging over a bottomless pit. The end was here. She was dead. Stop thinking and just die… Why can't I just die!
Suddenly Faith heard someone call her name.
"Faith!"
It was Willow…
"Faith help!"
How willow? You fool… I'm strapped to this table.
Faith heard what seemed to be a soft shattering and a scream, again from Willow.
"Faith… Eloquietim, shaukenti, Quenephom…"
Before Faith could wonder what the words meant she felt the shackles on her wrists and ankles fall away. She was free. For the first time in months, almost a year, she was free!
Faith worked her head loose from it's bindings and looked up to see the vampire that had assaulted her earlier holding Willow by her neck up in the air, shaking her violently. Turning she saw, was that Angel? She saw Angel wrestling Buffy while both of them uttered profanities.
"Faith!" came a new voice, this time Giles. He was on the floor with a deep wound in his side.
"Fight! Save us…" Giles yelled.
Fear again welled up in Faith, and she started crying again. She couldn't fight. She was weak, broken. She just wanted to die. Yes, she could die now. Looking down, Faith spotted Buffy's sword and reached for it. Now she could die…
"Faith!" came Giles voice again, demanding now. "Get up and be a Slayer! Fight. Save the World!"
Taken aback at Giles command Faith paused, looked back down at the sword and then rushed into action. Maybe this one deed would redeemer her. Maybe she could die a hero instead of a villain. Maybe she'd die anyway and finally be done with all this. In any case, she was the Slayer. She had to fight, fear and all.
***
After her little spell had failed, Riley had grabbed the little girl by her neck and was ready to drink again. The old man, and the dark-haired boy could both wait. She was the biggest threat now and so, she died first.
Without warning the big vampire man was sent flying into the wall, dropping the dazed girl to the ground, as he received a nasty kick to the back of his neck. Shaking his head and standing to face his assailant, Riley almost found himself laughing when he saw it was the naked woman. How she got out of her chains he didn't know, but she had just been bumped up to threat number one, and so now she was going to have to die.
Lunging in at her with his fists Riley was once again surprised as she dodged him and landed and solid kick to him stomach as he slid past. She was fast. Time to play it smarter.
Remembering the combat training he received in the military the blood-thirsty vampire settled himself a bit and started to fight, using technique and brains, coupled with his newfound strength and awareness. This woman was absurd, with every punch she was moving and dodging, she was inhuman. The two were fighting and spinning almost too fast for the eye to catch, but just slow enough that either one of them could, at any moment seem to get a block in. Each was landing a shot or two here and there, but neither was truly budging much.
Riley felt his anger rising with each punch or kick she blocked. Nothing he could come up with was fast enough. So confused. This woman was breathing, he could hear her heart beating, but she seemed to fight with the strength of a vampire, or more.
In his slight distraction of thought, Riley felt a punch land solidly on his face and send him stumbling backwards. When he looked up the naked woman was picking a stake from the floor. Riley rushed again at her, unafraid of a mere stake. He was a god. He was not going to fear a little, weak, naked woman, no matter how fast or strong she was.
That was the last thought that Riley Finn, the demon, the vampire, would ever think. The woman jumped forwards just as Riley began his rush and threw the stake, which landed in his chest. A dry sensation, like all the liquid in him was rushing away ran through his body before everything disappeared into blackness. The demon was dead.
***
Faith hadn't killed a vampire in a very, very long time. It was good to know she still had it in her, sorta. Up until today she knew but everything in this last twenty-four hours had turned her world upside-down. She was scared. She was tired. Nothing made sense, but at least the big nasty vampire was dead. The simple joys of being a Slayer never, ever match up to all the pains that come with the job.
Faith walked to Willow, who was still shaken and hurting on the ground.
"You ok?" she asked softly.
"No," Willow replied crying. "but I am alive."
Faith started to help Willow to her feet but then paused in fear. She had heard the sound of rushing wind and smelt fresh dust on the air, a sign of the death of a vampire. Turning slowly around, a terrified Faith looked up and saw Buffy standing there on the table, sword in hand.
"Angel," Willow mumbled.
"…Is dead," Buffy continued, sounding annoyed. "It was about time I took care of that little nuisance."
The Queen stepped down from the table and walked towards the three in the corner, sword still in hand.
"Time to die," Buffy said simply, causing Faith to start her crying again.
"Faith!" Giles grunted.
"Oh Giles," Buffy said, scolding. "Stop harassing the girl. You were always so difficult."
Something in Faith had died. Her spirit. Her will. Whatever anyone would wish to call it. It was dead. She couldn't find it in herself to stand, let alone to fight, or even to think. She just looked up into Buffy's eyes, looking for a sign that the end was near.
Suddenly, Buffy cocked her head to one side and smiled.
"New plan!" she almost chuckled.
Taking the sword to her own shoulder, Buffy, the Queen, cut herself and then looked down at Faith, with a grin.
"Drink," she said, "and you can die."
Faith nodded softly and with that Buffy knelt and let the other Slayer drink. Shortly after Faith began, the Queen plunged her own teeth into her neck and began drinking until she felt the life slip away from her and her body start to go limp.
***
Xander was lost in the warmth of unconsciousness, swimming in his own thoughts and dreams; his body at rest for the first time in months and months. Oh, what a wonderful feeling to have a rest after such a long, long time without one. It was so peaceful.
He saw the days of high school in his head. He was there again, making jokes about ridiculous things, chasing after Buffy, or Cordelia, skipping as much class as he could get away with. The smells and sights of Sunnydale High; It all seemed so real in his head. What a wonderful place. Soft yellow painted walls, simple people, and simple demons and bad people to deal with. It all was so much simpler and happier. That was where he'd met Anya…
Anya… dreaming of her embrace. The smell of her hair. The way she smiled when she wanted to be kissed. The way she walked when she had a surprise for him. Her body was so soft against his at night. Her voice was so soothing, when she wasn't being absolutely shameless, but that was part of her charm. He could just stand there and stare at her image for hours and hours in his head…
And then the demon came. That vampire was invading his head. He was here too. He was dragging her away and biting her neck, making her perfect flesh bleed.
I'll kill you! I'll kill you!
But the world… the world
needs saving.
Xander, let her go! Let her die so the whole world can live. Don't you see how that's better?
Xander. Two minutes!
YOU HAVE TO COME! TWO MINUTES.
"Go…"
The light rushed back into Xanders eyes and before he could even get them open all the way they were attacked by the image of Faith's body falling limp to the ground and Buffy's standing up. She wasn't looking at him. He could save the world. He could make it worth something.
"I think you're next Wil," he could hear the Queen say.
Frantically Xander looked around for something, anything, to attack the Queen with and today, the Fates were smiling. Giles crossbow, still loaded with it's last dart, was within arms reach. Taking pains to be silent, Xander reached out and grabbed the crossbow and lifted it from the floor, turning it at the Queen.
"Goodbye Wil," she said, taunting.
"Goodbye Buffy," Xander thought silently, and pulled the trigger.
The dart hit true and Xander watched as the Queen, the demon infesting Buffy's body turned and looked at him, in pain, shocked. Good. Anya is avenged. The world is safe for all it's stupidity to go on. We win.
And with that the Queen, the most feared of vampires, disappeared forever into dust, leaving her three friends, her three victims, alone.
Xander stood slowly and walked over to Willow and Giles.
"She drank…" Willow managed to sputter out, pointing at Faith's dead body.
Xander took Buffy's fallen sword and silently chopped Faith's head off, making sure the demon wouldn't rise to plague them. This was the end of the Queen, or any version of her.
Xander helped the wounded Giles to his feet and the three started to move out of the room, to head to the surface, each burning with loss.
"The world is safe," Giles whispered after a few steps.
Xander looked up at Giles and then over at Willow and sighed softly.
"Till next week…"
FIN
--- *** ---
AUTHOR'S NOTES:
So after a long, long time, this story finally comes to a close. I don't think I've ever written anything that took me seven months to complete before. EVER. This project had a life of it's own and it seemed to decide when and how it wanted to be written. So I just went with the flow and wrote as I felt compelled. Hopefully everyone enjoyed it. If you didn't, tough luck. I did. And that's what's important. I loved writing this. So there…
I wanted to add some authors notes at the end cause I know that there are people out there who likely want to FLAME me badly for the ending of this story and there are some who are just downright curious as to why the heck I did what I did. I am a twisted person sometimes, but I do have my reasons for why certain things happened and how I developed the characters.
The first thing that I did was (in case you didn't notice) pick three perspectives to write from and then explore their personalities in settings that Joss and the crew never could. The major character that I developed was Xander (my favorite) and then after him there was Riley Finn and Faith, both characters that I've always had mixed feelings about. In essence, I wanted to take their personalities somewhere that they really honestly could go, if given the right motivation. So I created the motivation and watched them change. Let me explain…
Xander is, on the show, ever loyal, ever trusting and willing to work. He does whatever it takes to make those around him happy, even at the expense of himself. So I imagined him in a world where he was thrust into leadership, where Buffy was gone and people were relying on him to be the hero. What I did was actually mirror Buffy in Xander, throughout the story. If you would remember, he was haunted and morbid, unable to sleep, eager for action and yet weary of this life of constant expectations. Sound like the Buffy of the last couple seasons? I actually think Joss wanted to end the series because he had taken Buffy to such a dark place that he couldn't find a way to redeem her without the show becoming ridiculously hokey. She really annoyed me the last two seasons. She was so morbid and tired, unwilling to change and rise above. So I took Xander to a similar place. The world is going to come to an end and here he is, in a position to try and help and haunted because it's going to mean killing Buffy, his dear friend. Not only that, he thinks he's gonna get everyone killed but doesn't see any other way to try. His emotions are raging back and forth and all he can do is blindly act. My favorite twist was killing Anya. I wanted to find a way to create the same situation that Buffy experienced with Angel (your Lover or the World?), which is really where I think Joss started the whole, dark/depressed Buffy. And then of course there was the last line, "Until next week." Here I was kinda poking fun at the show for having an apocalypse once every couple weeks and at the same time, kinda showing how Buffy has been trapped this whole time. She saves the world and loses her own soul, and no one knows it and next week she had to do it again. Ah, I enjoyed this story.
Riley was a little different. I wanted to make Anti-Riley. The perfect, hard-working, clean-cut, self-sacrificing Riley needed to be dethroned a little. I wanted to see evil Riley who was only concerned with himself, and while that took a little while to develop, I was happy with the outcome. Knocking him out every couple of pages was just cause I thought it was funny. No real reason. I coulda moved him without knocking him out all those times. I just liked whacking the guy in the head for some reason. Besides all that, I always wanted to write from the point of view of a vampire and explore what it feels like. Writing Riley's death was cool… But then writing addicted Riley, that was better. I got to play with the "why" of vampires for a while. Can you imagine your body and mind being at perfect peace, being powerful and clear-minded and then suddenly having that stripped away and clouded with hunger? No wonder they rush after blood like they do. It's like the drug they need to stay high. Always needing more to feel good, and always having this hunger to feel good must be terrible. Well, that's my take on it anyways. I thought it was clever…
Faith, well… I never had a strong affection towards Faith. I don't know why. I've liked other characters that were jerks and hated everything around them. I think it was because I always knew that her character was terribly fake. She acted so strong and fearless because she was really emotionally empty and afraid that someone might find out she wasn't happy. It took Joss until he took her to Angel to explore that at all, and he only did one episode of it… A character that screwed up, and that real, needed more time devoted to her. So, taa-daa! A Faith that pees herself and cries. I know it wasn't very nice to kill her in the end but watch that episode of Angel. She woulda let Angel kill her if he had tried. I was just being true to her personality.
Angel was another personality I got to toy with. He's always able to bounce back and be strong again. He always knows the answer and has the wisdom for moment. He's like Giles, but he dresses in leather instead of tweed and he banged Buffy instead of Joyce. I just wanted to take him to the point of absolute despair and let him bounce back one more good time before I dusted him with the rest of the excess characters.
As for Buffy, the Queen, whatever… she just facilitated all the fun. She's cooler than a depressed, "do I have to kill another one?" Slayer that we might have seen. I got to make her cruel and nasty and more or less do the same thing to her as I did to Riley. So yeah, that's about it about her.
As for killing Tara, yes I'm a Xander/Willow shipper but that's not why I did it. I wanted to leave the original scoobies alone at the end of it all. Not for any real reason, just cause I thought it would be cool. They're back to square one in Sunnydale. New beginnings are always an interesting way to end a story with. It leaves everyone reading thinking as to what's in store next.
Well, that's about all… Thanks to Zatrex, Lyle and Scott Timms for sticking with the story every step of the way. Hopefully you guys all enjoyed it. Scott, if you guess the ending of my next story after only the first part I'm gonna hafta kill you, so everyone else can enjoy the story and not have the ending ruined. Thanks again guys… you rock.
To everyone else out there on FanFiction, thanks for reading my story! PLEASE REVIEW this for me. I want EVERYONE'S opinions. Tell your friends to come read this story and review it. Even if it's just to FLAME me… thanks again…
~Saint