I probably should give an angst warning for this part. So.... Be warned. This part is especialy angsty in places.
Other than that... Enjoy. And I'll have the epilogue up as soon as I can.
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Xander sat in the dark room, poring over the ancient book. The only source of illumination being a candle sat on the table on which he worked. His brow furrowed not by the visage of his vampiric face, but by concentration he meticulously examined the book.
He looked up as the door swung open.
"Here to check up on me?" He asked Spike, who was standing in the doorway.
"Too right." Spike replied. "You're taking far too long over this. And that little private excursion of yours didn't exactly help speed things up, even if it did warm the cockles of my heart to see you pay a visit to dear old mom and dad..... It's something everyone should do."
"Well, you needn't worry about me taking so long over this." Xander replied. "I'm almost done. In fact we should be good to go just as soon as I figure out this last bit."
"What last bit?" Spike walked over to the table as he spoke, looking down at the work that Xander was doing.
"that bit there." Xander said, pointing at a part of the page.
"what, that bit?" Spike scoffed. "that's easy as piss... Show me what you got."
"That's what I got worked out." Xander said, handing a piece of paper to Spike.
"Uh huh.... yep.... hmm..." Spike mused as he compared what Xander had given him with the book. "So that goes there.... And that.... We got it."
"You're kidding me." Xander said.
"Nope, we're ready to fire this up." Spike replied. "Now let's
get up there and do it, Dru reckons we've got trouble coming."
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Buffy led the way as the three of them marched down the road toward the mansion in the darkness, Robert and Willow walking a short distance behind. The moonlight glinting off the sword in her hand, Buffy looked back to check up on the other two.
"You guys still back there?" She asked.
"Yeah we're still there." Robert replied. "Just some of us have a little trouble keeping up with you, that's all."
"How much further is it Buffy?" Willow spoke up.
"Not much further now." Buffy answered. "A couple of minutes and we'll be there."
"So, do we have any kind of a working plan for what we're gonna do once we get in there?" Robert asked Buffy.
"Yeah we do." Buffy replied. "Between the crossbow and that flying fatality thing that Willow tells me you do we should be able to put the henchmen down without too much trouble. Then we pair by opponent if we can. Willow, you'll take Drusilla. She looks like she'll be the weak link. I'll take care of spike. And Robert, that leaves you with Xander. We watch out for each other and assist if we can. That work for you two?"
Robert and Willow nodded in unison.
"Good." Buffy said. "There's the mansion. Stealth mode from here
on in."
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Xander looked around the room at the arrangements. The ruby red curtains that Drusilla had insisted on putting up, the candles that encircled the immobile form of Acathla, The red carpet that ran under his feet to the statue brought a smirk to his face that it took some effort to suppress. But still it nagged at the back of his mind. That what he was about to do here was terribly wrong. He'd tried to push it aside, that didn't work; it always came back sooner or later, usually sooner. And no matter how much he tried to ignore it, it still gnawed away relentlessly at the pit of his stomach.
He looked at the vampires that stood before him, the few that Spike could still summon on short notice after the debacle at the library. not one of them would meet his gaze. They knew what he had done, news travelled fast. The mere fact that he had killed a Slayer gave him power over them. They feared him almost as much now as they feared her. More maybe, they knew that the worst she would do to them would be to kill them.
He looked across at Spike and Drusilla. Dru could hardly contain her glee as she surveyed the room. Spike looked back at him, and looked to be about as enamoured as he was with the decorations.
"Got nerves?" Spike asked.
"Big day." Xander replied. "We're gonna change the world."
"I'll say." Spike chuckled. "We're gonna end the world. That should change it some."
Xander chuckled along with Spike. But this wasn't right. As much as he denied it, as convincingly as he hid it from Spike, his heart just wasn't in it
After a moment he broke the silence.
"Well, are we gonna get this started?"
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Buffy crept through the shadows, along the corridors that led to the main chamber. Just behind her, she knew was Robert and Willow. Rounding a corner, she found Herself looking through an archway straight into the main chamber. Gesturing back to Robert and Willow, she turned forward and proceeded carefully.
Peering through the archway, Buffy observed the goings on inside the main chamber. Acathla had pride of place in the room, and someone, most likely Drusilla had even gone so far as to lay a red carpet from it to the main entrance to the room. Buffy counted the vampires, Spike, Drusilla, Xander and ...4 minions. Impressive minion gathering abilities especially considering the mess Spike had made of attacking the library.
Carefully she moved behind the archway to unwrap the sword, before
stealthily moving toward the closest vampire.
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Standing at the entrance to the room, Xander took one long look at the notes he had made before handing them off to the nearest minion. Stepping forward, he took the blade that Spike offered to him.
"Acathla, I stand before you." He began, putting the blade up
to the palm of his hand and drawing a long, wicked gash across it. "My
blood, flowing before you cleanses me. Makes me worthy to free you." As
Xander took his second step toward Acathla all hell broke loose.
Everyone's attention was drawn to the gurgling sound that the first minion made as his head was neatly sliced off. Seconds later another two minions were impaled almost simultaneously, one by a crossbow bolt, another by a flying stake.
"Oh Bloody Hell!" Spike shouted as Dru, Xander and the one remaining minion formed around him. "Would you stop killing all the minions already?"
"But why would we do that when it obviously makes you so happy?" Buffy said, moving into the room as Robert and Willow took up position on either side of her.
"Oooh... Pretty lights." Dru crooned, gesturing at Robert. "This one sparkles."
"Will he still sparkle after I pull his head off?" Spike snapped at Dru.
"That's not very nice.." Dru pouted at Spike. "He'll stop sparkling soon anyway."
"Is she always this annoying?" Buffy said. "Or is she just making an extra special effort for us?"
"Watch it Slayer!" Spike growled. "That's my Drusilla you're talkin' about."
"Watch it or you'll do what exactly?" Buffy asked mockingly.
"I'll show you what I'll bloody do!" Spike snarled, charging into the attack.
For a moment there was chaos before the fight resolved itself.
Buffy ducked out of the way of Spike's initial attack, and came up guard
raised, ready to fight. Willow squared up to Drusilla. Both kept the distance,
wary of closing. Robert made straight for Xander, but the remaining minion
blocked his way.
Robert stepped in underneath the vampire's punch, and delivered an upward punch that would have shattered the thing's nose if it had been human. As the vampire reeled from that, Robert knocked it's legs out from under it and continued toward Xander, who was purposefully striding down the carpet towards Acathla.
Buffy brought the sword up inbetween her and Spike, spinning it in a complex spiderweb like pattern.
"I fought a slayer that did that twice as good as you." Spike said. "Didn't make her any less dead though."
Spike leapt at Buffy, his foot picking the flat of the blade out
from the storm of edges and sending the sword sliding across the floor.
Buffy reacted by rolling away for distance, and executing a roundhouse
kick as she rose from the roll, clipping Spike on the side of the head
with it.
With astonishing speed, Drusilla launched herself at Willow, but with equally astonishing speed Willow took a step back and swung the crossbow in her hands like a club. Drusilla staggered to one side under the force of the impact that snapped the crossbow in half like a twig, Willow followed up by launching a kick that knocked Drusilla back against the wall. Willow snapped a shard of wood off what she had left of the crossbow, making a functional stake before casting what was left of the crossbow to the ground. Stake in hand, she lunged at Drusilla. Dru twisted out of the way, evading the stake by a frighteningly small margin. The stake embedded itself into the stonework, and Willow ducked to avoid having her head crushed against the wall by Drusilla's foot.
Abandoning the stake wedged in the wall, Willow backed off to
preclude another such attack by Drusilla.
As Robert came within striking distance Xander spun around with a backhanded blow that Robert ducked under. Dodging sideways to evade Xander's followup attack, Robert went low and struck out with his leg, toppling Xander to the ground.
Xander jumped back onto his feet almost immediately and struck back at Robert. Blows and counterblows were exchanged for a few moments until Robert's superior speed told. With one swift blow to the solar plexus, Robert knocked Xander back. Catching his heel on the red carpet Xander fell, landing unceremoniously on the floor. Before he could get back to his feet Robert was standing before him.
"From experience I know how hard it is for them to forget the person that you were. So I can understand why they won't, maybe can't kill you." Robert said, pulling a stake out of his pocket. "But I can."
Before Robert could strike, a pair of arms clamped themselves
around his own. Robert strained to look over his shoulder and saw the face
of the vampire he'd just fought staring back at him.
Buffy brawled with Spike, the fight having turned to close quarters
in the absence of weapons. Despite Spike's greater size, slayer strength
was allowing Buffy to more than hold her own. As Spike's punch sailed over
her left shoulder, a left hook followed by a pair of kicks sent Spike flying
to the floor. He didn't stay down for long though, and came up with a cocky
grin on his face. But by the time he had Buffy had retrieved the sword.
When she heard Robert's words, it took only a fraction of a second for the shock to hit Willow. Reflexively she turned to look although her whole body was screaming for her not to. Taking advantage of the apparent distraction, Drusilla lunged at Willow. Willow however caught the movement in her peripheral vision, and snapped out a kick that caught Drusilla in the midriff. Doubled up, Dru staggered backwards, and Willow turned her attention to Robert.
Robert was by now struggling to break free of the other vampire,
and Xander was striding purposefully toward Acathla. Desperately Willow
started running toward Xander.
Robert struggled in vain against the grip of the vampire, the thing was easily strong enough that he couldn't break it's grip. He only considered himself fortunate that it was too stupid to use it's teeth. As a last resort he pulled his leg up and kicked backwards, his heel connecting just above the vampire's kneecap. There was a hideous wrenching noise, and the vampire screamed in agony as it half collapsed, letting go of Robert in the process of clutching it's leg.
With his arms now free, Robert drew his arm forward and then sent
his elbow crashing into the vampire's face, which was now at about chest
height. The vampire fell backwards onto the ground, out cold. Robert wasn't
taking any chances this time though, and rammed the stake through it's
heart for good measure.
Drusilla winced as she looked up. Willow was half way across the room,
her and the sparkling one would soon be together against Xander. But her
Spike was fighting a slayer, and he needed her help. That mattered more.
Pushing off from the wall she had been leaning against, she began to run
towards Spike and Buffy.
Xander smiled as he stepped up to Acathla. He afforded a quick glance around as he raised his hand up to the hilt of the sword embedded in Acathla's chest. Willow was closing fast, but she was just that little bit too far away.
"Now......." He said, clamping his bloodied hand around the sword
handle. "To hell with it!" He shouted as he wrenched the sword free. The
brilliant blue light silhouetted him for a brief moment as he worked the
sword around into a more manageable grip and turned to face Willow.
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Spike and Buffy continued their dance of death, both seemingly unaware of what had just happened. To the contrary, both of them were very much aware of it, but they could ill afford the luxury of reacting to it. However, as Buffy lashed out with the sword and Spike twisted and dodged to evade it's deadly caress, Drusilla's approach remained undetected.
Undetected right up until the moment that Dru tackled Buffy to
the ground, sending the sword skittering across the floor. Buffy twisted
around, and punched Drusilla from her position on the floor. When Drusilla's
weight shifted from on top of her she rolled out of the way and gracefully
clambered to her feet, but she was now fighting two at once and she no
longer had the advantage of a weapon.
The deathly calm on Xander's face betrayed the turmoil inside as he advanced on Willow, sword in hand. Willow stood her ground, scanning with her eyes for some trace of humanity, some trace of the old Xander.
Xander raised the sword, and struck with it. The blow was slow and ill aimed though, and Willow was able to dodge it despite her lack of preparedness. Xander swung again, still to slow and to poorly for it to be any real danger to Willow. His eyes told the story, he was fighting not one battle, but two. One on the outside, one on the inside.
As Xander raised the sword to take another swing, Robert jumped
in from the side and knocked the sword from Xander's hand. Xander whipped
round to face Robert, but before he could effect a counterattack Robert
distanced himself, picking the sword up from where Xander had dropped it
in the process.
Spike and Dru smiled evilly as they moved to surround Buffy. As she moved, Drusilla seamlessly bent down to pick up Buffy's sword from where it had fallen.
"Scared yet, Slayer?" Spike licked his lips as he spoke, although that had more to do with Dru bending over than anything else.
When Spike lunged forward on the attack, Buffy was more than capable
of evading it and even planting a kick of her own for good measure. The
followup attack that Drusilla delivered scant seconds later was however
mere inches away from slicing the top of her head off, and came away with
a lock of her hair despite her best efforts to avoid it.
Xander backed away from Robert and Willow as they carefully advanced on him.
"Give it up." Robert said. "It's over, you haven't got a chance now."
"At least I can take pleasure in the fact that your slayer isn't any better off than me." Xander responded, gesturing over to where Buffy fought Spike and Dru.
Robert cast a cautious glance in that direction whilst keeping the sword pointed square at Xander. Willow was far less cautious, turning her whole body to gape in disbelief at the fight.
Xander took his opportunity and rushed at Willow, pushing her to the ground. Robert snapped his head to Willow as he saw the rush of movement, and saw Willow just getting up onto her hands and knees.
"Go..." Willow said before Xander planted his foot in her stomach, knocking her over onto her back.
"Help Buffy!" Willow completed the sentence upon landing as she scrambled to her feet.
Robert was torn. For a brief moment he stood looking back and
forth between the two fights, then he realised what Willow had and started
running to Buffy's aid.
Willow dodged backwards, evading another blow from Xander. The attacks were more accurate now than they were before though, Xander had stopped pulling his punches.
"I know you," Willow emplored. "I know you're in there, and I know you can fight this thing."
"Oh, he's in here." Responded the demon that wore Xander's face. "But it's not his fault that he's such a weakling."
"If you think that then you're wrong." Willow said back. "He's strong."
"Yeah, so strong that he couldn't say he loved you to your face, couldn't even tell the others. The only time he was strong enough to say it to you was when you were unconscious."
"He was strong enough to kill Angelus." Willow retorted.
"Actually Spike did the deed." Xander replied callously. "Although I will give him points for going a full ooh... Two rounds with Angelus before Spike stepped in."
"He's still strong enough to stop you." Willow said defiantly.
"Believe what you like." Xander replied calmly. "Soon your friends
will be dead, the world will be hell, literally. And you..." He said, bringing
his vampiric features to the fore. "...Will look a lot like this."
As Robert neared Spike, Dru and Buffy, he singled out Spike as his target. However, Spike was not completely unaware of this and extended his leg in a kick that would have done serious damage had Robert not passed underneath it. As it was, the fact that Spike had one leg in the air made it even easier for Robert's slide to topple him over.
Robert's forward momentum carried him on past Spike and almost to Buffy. He held the sword out for her and Buffy snatched it from his hand as she dived out of the way of one of Drusilla's sword strokes.
Fending off a quick slash from Drusilla, Buffy afforded a glance down at Robert as he quickly clambered to his feet.
"Why do I have the sword?" Buffy said to him.
"Because my knowledge on how to fight with them gets a little fuzzy after 'point it at the enemy'.
"Not done much weapons training have you?" Buffy asked, making an exploratory attack against Drusilla's defence as she did so.
"Never got around to it." Robert said as he watched Spike get
up. "Time's always the limiting factor."
Xander's face was a picture of duress as he fought Willow back across the room. Not that she was making him sweat for each foot that he pushed her back, she was hardly putting up an adequate defence, let alone fighting back with any conviction. The hardest part of it was fighting against himself.
"Your little lap dog is gone." Xander growled at her. "The sooner you accept it and start putting some effort in, the sooner I can start having some real fun."
"You're not enjoying this." Willow said as she ducked out of the way of one of Xander's kicks. "The only reason you want me to fight back is because you don't want to feel quite so bad about it."
Willow dodged Xander's next attack by jumping backwards, using magick to extend the jump and put some real distance between them was easier than she expected it to be.
"In fact..." She said as Xander closed some of the distance to stand about six feet away. "I don't think you want to fight me at all."
Xander looked at her for a moment, then across at the others, then turned back to look at her. She could see the turmoil in his face, see him almost literally fighting with himself. Her strongest impulse was to go to him and comfort him, and she still had to make a conscious effort not to, despite knowing what he was.
"Not quite that easy is it?" She said to him.
"No..." He responded, quite obviously finding it difficult. "...But it can be done."
As he finished speaking, Xander pulled himself into a combat stance and advanced on Willow. Willow quickly moved backwards the short distance necessary to put her within reach of the stake she had stuck in the wall. A quick tug freed the impromptu stake from the wall, and Willow turned with stake in hand to face Xander.
"Going to stake me now?" Xander observed. "Think you can bring yourself to do it?"
"If I have to." Willow replied.
Buffy and Robert maintained a defensive formation as Spike and Dru carefully approached them, looking for a weakness to exploit.
"No need to rush yourself Spike," Buffy said as Spike growled with impatience "We've got all the time in the world."
"All the time in the world eh?" Spike perked up considerably as he spoke. "If the big stone demon over there has any say in it, then that'll be about five minutes then." He continued, grinning from ear to ear.
"Ideas?" Buffy said quietly to Robert.
"I think I can hold Spike off long enough for you to deal with her." Robert said, gesturing to Drusilla. "You get the sword over to Willow and Xander, do what needs to be done."
"Ten swords." Drusilla said. "All sparkly and bleeding at the same time. Can't decide which one is yours." She continued, pointing at Robert. "But they're all for you."
"Whatever..." Robert said.
Then he advanced toward Spike.
The battle was joined with frightening speed, Robert and Spike colliding in a swirling mass of fists and feet. As soon as Robert was clear of Buffy, she advanced on Drusilla and the clash of steel on steel also reverberated throughout the room.
Robert was having a little more trouble with Spike than he had been with Xander. Spike was an experienced fighter, and knew perfectly well how to deal with a faster opponent. Every opening that Spike presented was a double edged sword, a means for Spike to strike back whilst he was extended.
"You smell human enough.." Spike snarled whilst Blocking one of Robert's attacks, his own counterattack coming dangerously close to connecting. "But don't much look it from the way you fight. What say we open you up, see if it's human on the inside?"
"Y'know I think I'd rather not, if you don't mind." Robert shouted back, diving and rolling away to gain some much needed distance.
Buffy grimaced in frustration as her sword darted back and forth.
Whatever advantage she may have had in unarmed combat was immaterial, with
a weapon Drusilla was a most capable combatant. Certainly good enough to
fight her to a standstill.
Xander was aware of the fact that he was fighting. The various attacks, defences, and counterattacks played in front of him as if someone else was doing the fighting, he was fighting on instinct and reflex pure and simple. He had more important things to worry about than the fight.
Like it's outcome.
It wasn't hard to follow the path of the fight to it's final conclusion. He would win. Either he would snap her neck or something equally wasteful, or he would turn her. Willow was strong enough to win, but held back. And holding back would kill her.
He was a vampire, demon. Killing her shouldn't be a problem, but
it was. He knew it was wrong, all of it. One of the burdens of having a
conscience. He could feel his soul, fighting it's way up from the depths
of his consciousness. This was worth fighting him over, and his soul was
just as strong as he was, maybe stronger.
Robert was getting desperate. On a good day he would have given himself nice odds to beat Spike. But now... Between being on the wrong end of a fairly sound beating last night and the fighting he'd already done today he was starting to slow down.
Spike's next attack caught him. Barely winging him, the kick caught
his arm, knocking it to one side. Robert was shocked enough that an attack
had connected at all that Spike was able to strike him directly with his
next attack, A simple punch that caught Robert square on the jaw and knocked
him off his feet.
Xander and Willow continued to fight. Xander still fighting on little more than instinct, Willow fighting defensively and unwilling to attack. Several opportunities to stake Xander and finish it passed before her, but she couldn't bring herself to take any of them. Xander fought himself as much as he fought Willow, trying to gain control and stop himself before Willow did the inevitable and made a mistake.
Ironically it wasn't until Willow made a mistake that the urgency helped him find the strength he needed.
In blocking one of his attacks, Willow overbalanced. A quick backhanded blow delivered to Xander's face precluded his attacking while she stumbled the few necessary paces backwards to regain her balance, but it didn't keep Xander off balance long enough to stop him diving at her before she could fully recover. It was in that moment that Xander realised the fight had come to an end. He could see the look reflected in Willow's eyes, she knew it too.
And in that moment he reached out for control with every ounce of strength he had.
"Just a fraction of a second too late" He thought as he felt his feet leave the floor.
He was going to hit her. He couldn't stop himself any more than she could move fast enough to get out of the way. He couldn't even shift his path enough to change where Willow was pointing the stake she had reflexively raised for defence. He knew that, but it didn't make any part of it less startling.
It seemed to happen in slow motion. The dull thump of the full body impact, followed by the searing pain as the stake jabbed into his chest. The world tilting crazily as the force of the impact carried them both down to the ground. The jolting impact with the ground, only lessened slightly by outstretched arms and Willow's body beneath him. The sheer agony as the impact with the ground drove the piece of wood still deeper into his chest.
Deep, but not quite deep enough.
Xander opened the eyes that he never realised he had shut on the way down. Willow's face was right beneath his, staring back up at him. Fear was still etched across her features, but only for a the moment it took for her to look into his eyes.
"Xander?" Willow whispered.
"It's me." He replied wearily
Willow sighed with relief. "I Thought I'd lost you."
Xander didn't reply. He couldn't lie to her, he never could. And he couldn't bring himself to tell her what he knew in his heart. This was only a temporary victory. The demon was still there, clawing it's way up from the depths of his subconscious. Maybe he could hold it off for days, weeks maybe even. But sooner or later it would take control, if only for a short time. And those he loved would pay the price.
"You are ok, aren't you?" Willow asked. Worry creeping into her voice.
"I've won the battle." Xander said. "But it's still inside me, I can't control it all the time."
"We can do something." Willow said, far more anxious now. "Fix the spell, make it work properly. We'll make it better."
She was clutching at straws, he knew that. She'd try and fix the curse, of that he had no doubt. But that curse was ancient magic, long since lost to this world and very dangerous. She'd tear herself up looking for a solution that probably didn't even exist. And he dreaded to think of the damage he could do in the meantime.
No, there was only one way out of this.
"There's only one thing that'll make it better." He said softly.
And he pulled himself closer to kiss her.
A tear rolled down his cheek at the agony of the stake, pressed between the two of them being pushed the last few inches to where it needed to be.
Their lips met, ant for a split second he was content, at peace. It seemed like an eternity since he'd last felt like that.
Feeling the disintegration starting, he pulled away just a little so he could look into her eyes, and saw the tears welling up in them.
"I love you. You know that?" He whispered. He couldn't have said anything any more substantial if he had wanted to.
Willow nodded her head, her lower lip quivering slightly. Speech of any kind was beyond her at the moment.
He took one last look at her, then closed his eyes tight, burning
the image into his memory.
Then nothing.
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The rush of energy was unmistakable for anything else. Flowing through the room, carrying (what would have been, if it were sound) a low mournful tone with it. Robert winced as he felt it, knowing it all too well for the departing soul that it was.
Momentarily distracted by the departure, he only just managed
to roll out of the way of Spike's foot as it descended where his head had
been. He climbed up to his knees, but before he could get to his feet Spike
had clamped a hand on his shoulder.
Buffy and Drusilla continued their swordfight despite the goings on
around them. With weapons such as what they were using the two of them
were almost perfectly matched. Drusilla had the slight edge in finesse,
but Buffy had superior speed and strength, and more importantly knew how
to use them. However, neither of them had the advantage needed to swing
the fight beyond the stalemate that it was rapidly developing into.
Keeping one hand clamped on Robert's shoulder, Spike grabbed the arm with his other hand and twisted. Robert grimaced in pain as Spike steadily turned up the pressure.
Spike hauled Robert around so that he was directly facing Acathla. The eyes of the statue were glowing ominously, and Robert could have sworn he could see the thing's mouth inching it's way open.
"See that?..." Spike shouted at Robert . "That thing there will pull this world down to hell."
"Tell me something I don't know." Robert retorted.
"You'll live to see it." Spike said. "Don't get me wrong, I am going to kill you. Kill you good and proper, but not until you've watched this world go to hell."
Robert strained against Spike's grip, trying to get himself onto his feet. For his trouble, Spike responded with a quick twist on his arm which yielded a loud pop as the shoulder dislocated.
Robert clenched his jaw to avoid crying out as Spike added a little extra bit of pressure, just for the hell of it.
"Try it again and I'll pull your arm right off." Spike said menacingly.
In a daze, Willow slowly pulled herself to her feet. This wasn't reality,
any of it. Because things like that just don't happen. Almost without thinking
she started to brush the dust from her, only to stop mid way into the first
stroke as the reality of what she was doing hit her. Silently she sank
back down onto her knees holding her face in her hands, the shuddering
of her shoulders dispelling any doubts there may have been that she was
crying.
Straining against Spike's grip, Robert tried to turn his head, to see the goings on he could hear in the rest of the chamber.
"Worried about your friends?" Spike mocked, tightening his grip to prevent Robert from looking around. "Well, your slayer's having fun. But your little witch is not happy at all. Must have something to do with..." Spike let out a dissatisfied sigh as he pieced together what had happened. "Bloody Pillock, he had to get himself staked didn't he.... But then again, that means you can't stop out boy Acathla here now, so I guess it was worth it."
Thoughts raced through Robert's head as he looked straight ahead at the only thing there was to see: The slowly opening maw of Acathla. Most of the thoughts were a clutter of panic, a bad idea here, an even worse one there, nothing that would help him break the stranglehold that Spike had on him. One line of thought though was calm, deliberate, ordered. Robert focused on it and as he did so, realised that it was also not his own. Robert made his best effort to identify it as he followed the thought. It was familiar, but he couldn't quite pin it down. It was also quite, quite crazy. Crazy enough that it might just work.
Robert closed his eyes as he began to charge, reaching out with his mind to tap the fledgling portal in front of him, the growing dirty yellow vortex that unchecked, would be the destruction of this world. The energy was sickly, it made him want to retch, but tapping the portal was the only way to accumulate sufficient energy to have a chance at what he was about to attempt. Nature is not without a sense of irony. Fighting the urge to spew his guts up all over the floor, Robert bent the energy to it's first task.
Spike.
The shockwave came complete with audible accompaniment and complimentary flash of light, and it threw Spike back a good ten feet. Slowly and painfully, Spike got to his feet, regarding his opponent with a new perspective. Robert also got to his feet, and turned to face Spike. For just a moment their eyes met, each scanning the other as if to get the measure of their opponent.
"Sod this!" Spike said after a moments silence. "I got better things to do than stick around and get pulled apart by that magic crap of yours." He turned and ran over to where Drusilla and Buffy fought.
Robert ignored Spike, turning his attention back to Acathla. As
much as he would have liked to kill Spike, he simply didn't have time.
Buffy backed away from Drusilla as Spike approached. Keeping her sword levelled at Dru, but allowing herself room so that Spike couldn't just leap into the middle of the fight.
"Dru, honey. We're leaving... Now." Spike said with a quiet urgency as he took up position beside her.
"Awww" Dru pouted. "I was enjoying myself." She swished her sword back and forth through the air a few times for emphasis.
"Yes love, but we're leaving now because of that." Spike replied, pointing at Robert.
"Oooh.." Drusilla exclaimed as she and Buffy both turned their
heads to look at the object of Spike's gesture. Buffy however had enough
restraint to stay silent.
Robert could feel the rush of air being sucked into the vortex as he continued to draw in as much energy as he could. He could almost feel himself glowing with all the energy he'd drawn in, much more energy and he probably would start glowing. This was however the least of things he had to worry about, the vortex had reached sufficient size that it was actually carving a gout into the stone floor just in front of Acathla's feet. Any misgivings he had about what he was doing were secondary to the fact that it had to be done, and done now.
"Spiritus supra," He said. He had no idea where the words were coming from, he had never learnt them but somehow he knew them.
"Ego vos advoco." The air around him crackled with energy, arcs
of what looked like static electricity rippling from him and down to the
floor.
"You see why we have to leave now?..." Spike said
Dru pouted even more. "Pretty lights. Can't we stay for the show?"
"If you think I want to be anywhere near ground zero when that goes off you've got another bloody thing coming!" Spike snapped back at her.
Dru moaned softly in protest, but when Spike started tugging her
in the direction of the door she offered no resistance.
"Porta esto foramen," Robert was now shouting into the vortex, which was at least ten feet in diameter now.
"Id mos termino." The tiny arcs of energy seemed to be crawling all over his body now. He raised his good arm above his head.
"Ego vos devoco. Porta termino." He shouted, this time seemingly up at the ceiling.
"Ego organum vester es." The arcs of energy were bigger now, a few even arcing directly down to the ground from his raised arm and creating a strange kind of umbrella effect.
"Accipio me," The words were almost broken by the pain, as if in speaking them he had opened himself to what had otherwise been passing over him.
"Accipio me tunc porta termino." The words were spoken with slow deliberation, the kind that suggests that it was necessary in order to concentrate enough to form them properly. The bolts of energy ran down him in a cascade now, almost like water in running down his body and scattering on the floor.
"Id termino!" His voice cracked as he forced the words out. But
they were said, that was enough. The cascade of energy stopped, as if simply
switched off, and he was left standing with his arm raised to the sky for
just a moment.
"You can run now..." Buffy shouted after Spike and Dru as they left the room. "But we'll come for you. We'll hunt you down and slay you. So get the biggest head start you can, and keep running."
Spike and Dru didn't look back as they fled the chamber. Buffy let out a small sigh of relief as they rounded the corner of the corridor and disappeared from sight.
"I think that sounded convincing." She said quietly as she turned
back toward the room. She was just forming the words to ask what the hell
was happening when the ceiling seemed to explode.
The bolt of lightning arced down through the building, completely unimpeded
by the roof, and the floor above the chamber... And struck Robert square
on the top of his shoulders. The mere shockwave from the bolt was almost
enough to knock Buffy off her feet, but she retained her footing as masonry
scattered from the hole in the roof tumbled to the floor. By luck none
of it hit her, and Willow was far enough from the impact not to be in any
real danger. The rubble however seemed to avoid Robert by design, although
that probably had something to do with the fact that the bolt of whatever
it was still persisted, looking for all the world like a giant spark of
electricity skewering Robert through the shoulders.
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There was no pain.
Implausible. A bolt of what may as well be lightning has just impaled you. That can't be good for you, therefore it has to hurt.
"True, true." Came a familiar voice from behind Robert.
Robert opened his eyes. It was as if the time had stopped. He turned around to look at the source of the voice and saw Buffy walking toward him.
"But if you felt the pain that it should cause, your head would probably explode." The Buffy said in a matter of fact fashion. "Being only human and all."
Robert observed the Buffy as she gingerly stepped around the rubble on the floor.
"You're not Buffy." Robert stated.
"Of course not." The Buffy replied. "But again..."
"I know... I'm only human." Robert said. "If I saw your true appearance my brain would fry and my heart explode?"
"Something like that." It responded.
"Why did you call us?" Spoke a second voice from behind Robert.
Robert turned around to see Willow.. Or what appeared to be Willow standing behind him.
"Can't you see this?" Robert gestured to the vortex.
"It is unfortunate, to be sure." Willow said.
"But it has happened..." Buffy continued.
"For what purpose would you have us change it?" Willow asked.
"The entire world is about to be destroyed, and you ask me for what reason I would have you prevent it?" Robert said with a slightly incredulous tone to his voice.
"You presume that the world which you exist in is unique." Buffy responded, the edge to her voice acting to caution Robert about his manner. "I assure you, it is not."
"If you will not save it for it's own merit, then for what will you save it?" Robert asked.
"He expects a price." Willow said.
"You care enough for this world, that you would forfeit your life in it so that we would save it?" Buffy asked.
"Yes." Robert said.
"Interesting." Willow said.
"We must confer." Buffy elaborated.
The two of them seemed to simply fade out of existence. Robert could hear the sounds of them conversing, but it was nothing intelligible to him. After only a moment or two they returned, fading in exactly like they had faded out only moments ago.
"We have decided." Buffy said.
"That your world will be saved." Willow continued.
"There will be a price." The Buffy said to Robert.
"You are still willing to pay it?" Willow asked.
Robert nodded.
"Then it will be done." Buffy said.
"Now." The Willow finished the sentence and Robert suddenly snapped
back to the reality of his world.
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The pain hit him as his awareness came back to here. Not pain, but the
kind of white agony that blots out all other awareness. He couldn't see,
hear or feel anything besides the pain... Or if he could, he couldn't focus
on it.
Buffy however, could see exactly what was happening.
The huge bolt continued to pour energy into Robert. For a few moments it built, to the point where the air around Robert practically crackled with it, but the energy had to go somewhere.
Then Buffy understood. Robert was the weapon, there was a reason
he was pointed directly at the vortex. Just as she finished that thought
a secondary bolt of energy, almost as big as the one that still connected
with Robert's shoulders leapt out from his chest and straight into the
vortex.
The energy washed over the vortex, forked, lightning like tendrils snaking their way out and around the vortex. Amazingly the vortex was shrinking, the barrage of energy beating it back. Buffy watched as the vortex shrunk from nine feet to three, and then to no more than twelve inches across. Then with a fairly small and pathetic display, the vortex closed upon itself.
The energy however, did not stop. It poured into the statue, saturating
it to the point where tiny sparks of energy could be seen upon it's surface.
Then the bolt stopped.
The secondary bolt continued to pour into Acathla for perhaps a second
longer, then it too ceased. Acathla stood proud for just a moment after
this, then collapsed under it's own weight as if it were no more than sand.
Robert dropped to his knees, barely stopping himself from flopping onto his belly by arresting his fall with his good arm. Slowly awareness came back to him, and he was aware of a hand gently resting on his shoulder as well as a voice.
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked.
Robert turned his head to look at her. Something was wrong. He was still alive for one, but more than that something just wasn't right. The world looked to all intents and purposes like it was in black and white. As he looked at Buffy he suddenly realised what he should be seeing: Her aura.
"Are you okay?" Buffy asked again.
"Something's wrong." He croaked out. His mouth was so dry that he could barely talk. "I can't see."
"You sure?" Buffy said. "You seem to be looking at me just fine."
"No, no." He responded. "I can see. I just...."
"What is it?" Buffy asked, confused.
"I can't see it, any of it." Robert said.
"What? Magick?" Buffy asked. "Give yourself a few days rest. It'll come back to you."
"No." Robert said distantly. "I don't think it will."
"But you are okay?" Buffy said.
"I'll live." Robert said quietly. "Damn foolish of me to think they'd take what I expected them to."
"Huh?" Buffy said. "Again for the mere mortals in the room?"
"Doesn't matter." Robert replied. "Pop my shoulder back in and
I'll be fine. Then you should go to help Willow, she looks like she needs
it."
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