Chapter 33
They had been stuck in there a while. Buffy and Angel tried almost everything to try to get up there. The sun had already come up. They were all getting a little edgy.
Buffy looked up and around her. "Ok, Angel give me a boost."
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
"See those roots? I'm gonna try to climb out using those."
"Oh." Angel stuck out his hands in a cradle position and Buffy stepped a foot into it. She counted to three, one number for each bounce, then Angel tossed her up. She gripped the roots and held on. "You got 'em?"
"Yeah." Buffy started to climb up. She was doing pretty good until she grabbed a lose root and it gave on her. She fell back down and landed hard on a coffin. "Ouch!"
"Are you ok?" Conner asked.
Buffy stared back up at the opening. "We have to get out of here!" Buffy stood up from the coffin and looked up. "XANDER!?"
"I think I saw him hit his head." Conner said.
"Damn it!"
"Buffy!" Angel said.
"Sorry. This is just really annoying!"
"This looks a little like Spike's old place. Y'know, under his crypt." Dawn said.
Buffy ignored Dawn and headed towards a coffin stuck in the dirt. She started to pull on it. Angel joined her after a second, but nothing happened.
"What are you doing?" Dawn asked.
"We can... pile up some of these... coffins. Give us some height to... Uhh!" she and Angel gave up. Buffy walked over to the sword that had nearly fallen on her face and picked it up.
"Maybe one of the tunnels Spike uses is around here. If we could get to his place." Buffy used the sword to try and dig. "That's the last place we need to be."
"Oh, but it was good enough for you to take me and Conner there after what he did to you."
"What he.?"
"Tried to do, whatever."
"Xander!"
"So it's true?"
"Dawn, we're in big trouble. Now's not the time to."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't need to know. And it was a long time ago."
"Yes, I do! I need to know! I'm not a kid anymore..."
"I'm trying to protect you!"
"Well, you can't! Look around, Buffy. We're trapped in here! Willow's killing and people I love keep dying and you cannot protect me from that!"
Buffy stared at her sister a few seconds and then she looked at Angel and Conner. This was all making sense, but she didn't want to admit that. Angel smiled his lopsided smile at her and she smiled back. Buffy turned back to Dawn. "Dawn."
"Hello?" Xander called from the opening above them.
"Xander?" Buffy and Angel moved to the opening.
"Buffy, Angel, you ok? Where's Dawn and Conner?"
"Here." Dawn said as she and Conner stepped up to the opening.
"Jonathan and Andrew up there with you?" Buffy called.
Xander looked around. "No. They must've skedaddled while I was out. Weasels. Whoa." Xander cried as a piece of earth fell from under his hand.
"Xander, try to find a rope or something and get us out of here." Angel called.
"Right. Okay. I'll... take a look around."
"And hurry before." Buffy started, but Anya popped into existence right next to her.
"Holy frijole!" Anya said.
"Anya! What are you doing here?" Angel asked.
"Where's Giles?" Buffy asked.
"He's.still at the Magic Shop." Anya said.
"Giles? Giles is here? You guys didn't tell me that!" Dawn said.
"Did he stop Willow?" Buffy asked.
"No. And things just got a whole lot worse."
"How worse?"
"End of the world worse. Willow's going to destroy it."
"She.she can do that?" Conner asked.
"She can and she will when she gets to where she's going." Anya said.
"Where's that?" Angel asked.
"Big old satanic temple. On Kingman's Bluff."
"There's no temple on Kingman's Bluff." Buffy said.
"Yes there is." Angel told her. "Or, there used to be. It was a temple to Proserpexa."
"Proserpexa...? Who's she?"
"Way up there in the hierarchy of she-demons. Her followers intended to use her effigy to destroy the world. They all died when the temple got swallowed up in the earthquake of '32." Anya explained.
"So, seventy years later Willow's going to make their dreams come true?"
"She's going to drain the planet's life force, funnel its energy through Proserpexa's effigy, and burn the Earth to a cinder."
"Not if I can help it."
"You can't." Buffy looked at Anya. "Something else Giles said. No magic or supernatural force can stop her."
"What does that mean?" Angel asked.
"I don't know. He said 'the Slayer can't stop her.' Then he said a bunch of other stuff... he wasn't too... clear. I should hurry and get back to him. He's... alone."
"What do you. Is he ok?" Buffy asked picking up on Anya's meaning.
"I. I don't think he has a lot of time left." Anya looked Buffy in the eye. "I'm sorry." Then she vanished again.
Buffy's eyes welled with tears before she wiped them away and looked up at the hole. "Xander? Where's that rope?"
"Buffy." Angel said.
"XANDER! Where is he?" Buffy headed over to a coffin and dragged it over to the one she had fallen on.
"You heard what Anya said. What Giles said."
"I heard. And I don't care. I have to try. I'm not just gonna sit here while Willow incinerates what I'm chosen to protect. I have to stop her..."
"Always a slayer right to the last." Willow's voice came from everywhere and nowhere.
"Willow?" Buffy and Angel asked in unison.
"And it is the last, you know. For all your fighting. Thinking you're saving the world."
"Buff." Dawn started to say something, but Buffy threw up a hand to stop her.
"And, in the end, I'm the only one that can save it." Willow continued.
"By killing us?" Buffy asked.
"It's the only way to stop the pain. I. I can't take it anymore. But I know you two. Buffy and Angel, Juliet and Romeo. You're both warriors. You won't go without a fight and I really don't have time for one. But you guys should go out fighting."
"Willow, what do you.?" Angel asked.
"Buffy, it was me that took you out of the Earth. And Darla who put Angel in it and took him back out. Well, now. the Earth wants you both back."
Suddenly all around them, dirt demon things popped out of the Earth. They were hideous and there were bony scissor like things where there hands should be. They were surrounded.
Buffy and Angel looked at each other and then they attacked. The demons outnumbered them all, but Buffy wasn't about to let that stop her. Buffy landed a solid kick to one of the demons before she flipped back and landed next to the two swords. She picked them up and turned to face off with more of the demons. One monster headed towards Dawn.
"Buffy!" Dawn screamed.
Buffy looked over her shoulder as she beheaded two of the demons. The demon cornering Dawn was nearly on her when Buffy came and landed a roundhouse kick on the things head. Then another monster burst from the wall and knocked Angel and Conner back at Buffy and Dawn's feet. Angel stood, vamped out and looked at Buffy.
"I can't take them. They just keep coming." She said to him.
"We need help. Conner, you, and me can't take them." Angel said.
Buffy knew what he meant. She looked at Dawn. "Dawn, will you help us?" Buffy handed her sister a sword.
"I got your guys' backs." Dawn answered.
Angel smiled and Buffy nodded. They fought again, driving the demons back only to be surged back to where they started again. Then, the place started to rock. It felt like an earthquake, but Buffy knew better.
"Willow." Buffy and Angel murmured.
Dawn got backed into a corner and she screamed for help.
"Dawn, I'm comin'!" Buffy called. She got rid of the three demons she was fighting and turned in time to see Dawn roll away from the demon and grab her sword only to pop back up, stab the demon in the chest, then behead him. Everyone, especially Buffy, stared at her incredulously.
"What? You think I never watched you guys?" Dawn asked.
Buffy was speechless. All she could do was stare at her little sister. Then more demons came out of the wall. Buffy, Angel, Conner, and Dawn all formed a back-to-back circle. This was the slayer's family and it made her proud to know them all. Buffy smiled. It was towards both her family and the fact that she was back in action finally. Not just "going through the motions" as she had once sang.
Then she was hit with a kind of vision. She could still see the fight at hand, but she could see Willow and Xander too. It was like a picture over a picture. Xander was shot down by Willow's dark magic and she started to direct some sort of dark funnel thing at a nasty looking statue. Xander got up and blocked the flow.
"You can't stop this." Willow said.
"Yeah, I get that. It's just. where else am I going to go? You've been my best friend my whole life. World gonna end, where else would I want to be?"
"Is this the master plan? You're going to stop me by telling me you love me?"
Buffy shot a few kicks at a demon and knocked him back. She tried to focus on the fight, but Buffy-Buffy couldn't bring herself fully into it, so she let Slayer-Buffy take over the fight.
"Well, I was going to walk you off a cliff and hand you an anvil, but it seemed kinda cartoony." Xander said.
"Still making jokes." Willow said icily.
"I'm not joking. I know you're in pain. I can't imagine the pain you're in. I know you're about to do something apocalyptically evil and stupid and hey, still want to hang. You're Willow."
"Don't call me tha."
"First day of kindergarten you cried 'cause you broke the yellow crayon and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far, ending the world, not a terrific notion but the thing is, yeah, I love you. I loved crayon-breaky Willow and I love scary veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. You wanna kill the world you start with me. I've earned that."
"You think I won't?"
"It doesn't matter. I'll still love you."
"Shut UP!" Willow made a scratching motion and scratches appeared on Xander's cheek.
Xander stood straight again. "I love you."
Willow made more slashing motions and Xander's shirt tore. He doubled over, but stood back up. "I love."
"SHUT UP!"
Willow blasted him with magic again, but Xander didn't go down despite the fact that he was thrown back a little.
"I love you Willow."
Buffy prayed silently for Xander. She decided to help him. "We love you Willow." Buffy said silently. Willow seemed to hear it.
Willow started to cry. "Stop!" She blasted him again, but the power was leaving her
"I love you."
"We love you."
Xander walked up to her. She started to hit him. Xander took the blows, even though they did hurt. Willow was sobbing and shaking her head. She sank to her knees and Xander went with her.
Then the image faded and Buffy found herself amidst the fight again. But it didn't last long. The monsters started to wail then fall into piles of dirt. Everyone but Buffy looked stunned.
"What happened?" Angel and Dawn asked.
Buffy smiled weakly.
"I... I think it's over, Buffy. The world's still here." Dawn said.
Buffy collapsed onto the broken coffin and started to cry.
"Sorry to disappoint." Then Dawn realized that Buffy was laughing through her tears. "Wait. Is that happy crying?"
"Yeah, dummy... You think I wanted the world to end?"
"I don't know. Didn't you?"
"Dawn. All of you, I'm so sorry."
Dawn went to hug Buffy and so did Angel and Conner.
"It's ok Buffy. It's ok." Dawn whispered.
"No. It hasn't been. It hasn't been ok. But it's gonna be. I see it now."
"See what?"
"You. And Conner. And Angel." Buffy looked back at Dawn. "Things have sucked lately, but it's all gonna change, and I want to be there when it does. I want to see my friends happy again. And I want to see you and Conner grow up. The woman you're going to become... And the man Conner's going to become. Because they're going to be beautiful. And they're going to be powerful. I got it so wrong Dawn. I don't want to protect you from the world. I want to show it to you. Oh, Dawn... There's so much I want to show you, to show you and Conner both." Buffy hugged Conner and Dawn together. She kissed them both on their heads as they all cried. Then she went to Angel. He was crying too. "Angel, I love you so much. I can't believe that even though I had you and Conner and Dawn, in the back of my mind, all I wanted was to go back to the peace I knew in death. But I know now that I don't have to die to get that back. It's right here." Buffy pointed to Angel's chest and used her other hand to motion at Dawn and Conner and Sunnydale.
He pulled her into his arms. She laid her head on his shoulder but decided that she had to kiss him. She leaned her head up and met his lips. They kissed freely for the first time since Angel had first made love to her. Everything had went to hell with them after that night, but now. now it was ok and neither one of them was scared of loving each other like they had that night. They pulled apart, both with the brightest smiles on their faces. They looked at Dawn and Conner and they ran into Buffy and Angel's arms. The four stood and hugged for what seemed eternity before breaking apart.
Buffy and Angel went to work on getting enough coffins out of the wall to stack up and get most of the way up. They climbed up out of the whole and stood in the beautiful daylight. Buffy took Angel's hand in one and Conner's in the other. Dawn held Angel's free hand. They walked through the sunshine and headed home.
FIN!
They had been stuck in there a while. Buffy and Angel tried almost everything to try to get up there. The sun had already come up. They were all getting a little edgy.
Buffy looked up and around her. "Ok, Angel give me a boost."
"Where are you headed?" he asked.
"See those roots? I'm gonna try to climb out using those."
"Oh." Angel stuck out his hands in a cradle position and Buffy stepped a foot into it. She counted to three, one number for each bounce, then Angel tossed her up. She gripped the roots and held on. "You got 'em?"
"Yeah." Buffy started to climb up. She was doing pretty good until she grabbed a lose root and it gave on her. She fell back down and landed hard on a coffin. "Ouch!"
"Are you ok?" Conner asked.
Buffy stared back up at the opening. "We have to get out of here!" Buffy stood up from the coffin and looked up. "XANDER!?"
"I think I saw him hit his head." Conner said.
"Damn it!"
"Buffy!" Angel said.
"Sorry. This is just really annoying!"
"This looks a little like Spike's old place. Y'know, under his crypt." Dawn said.
Buffy ignored Dawn and headed towards a coffin stuck in the dirt. She started to pull on it. Angel joined her after a second, but nothing happened.
"What are you doing?" Dawn asked.
"We can... pile up some of these... coffins. Give us some height to... Uhh!" she and Angel gave up. Buffy walked over to the sword that had nearly fallen on her face and picked it up.
"Maybe one of the tunnels Spike uses is around here. If we could get to his place." Buffy used the sword to try and dig. "That's the last place we need to be."
"Oh, but it was good enough for you to take me and Conner there after what he did to you."
"What he.?"
"Tried to do, whatever."
"Xander!"
"So it's true?"
"Dawn, we're in big trouble. Now's not the time to."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"You didn't need to know. And it was a long time ago."
"Yes, I do! I need to know! I'm not a kid anymore..."
"I'm trying to protect you!"
"Well, you can't! Look around, Buffy. We're trapped in here! Willow's killing and people I love keep dying and you cannot protect me from that!"
Buffy stared at her sister a few seconds and then she looked at Angel and Conner. This was all making sense, but she didn't want to admit that. Angel smiled his lopsided smile at her and she smiled back. Buffy turned back to Dawn. "Dawn."
"Hello?" Xander called from the opening above them.
"Xander?" Buffy and Angel moved to the opening.
"Buffy, Angel, you ok? Where's Dawn and Conner?"
"Here." Dawn said as she and Conner stepped up to the opening.
"Jonathan and Andrew up there with you?" Buffy called.
Xander looked around. "No. They must've skedaddled while I was out. Weasels. Whoa." Xander cried as a piece of earth fell from under his hand.
"Xander, try to find a rope or something and get us out of here." Angel called.
"Right. Okay. I'll... take a look around."
"And hurry before." Buffy started, but Anya popped into existence right next to her.
"Holy frijole!" Anya said.
"Anya! What are you doing here?" Angel asked.
"Where's Giles?" Buffy asked.
"He's.still at the Magic Shop." Anya said.
"Giles? Giles is here? You guys didn't tell me that!" Dawn said.
"Did he stop Willow?" Buffy asked.
"No. And things just got a whole lot worse."
"How worse?"
"End of the world worse. Willow's going to destroy it."
"She.she can do that?" Conner asked.
"She can and she will when she gets to where she's going." Anya said.
"Where's that?" Angel asked.
"Big old satanic temple. On Kingman's Bluff."
"There's no temple on Kingman's Bluff." Buffy said.
"Yes there is." Angel told her. "Or, there used to be. It was a temple to Proserpexa."
"Proserpexa...? Who's she?"
"Way up there in the hierarchy of she-demons. Her followers intended to use her effigy to destroy the world. They all died when the temple got swallowed up in the earthquake of '32." Anya explained.
"So, seventy years later Willow's going to make their dreams come true?"
"She's going to drain the planet's life force, funnel its energy through Proserpexa's effigy, and burn the Earth to a cinder."
"Not if I can help it."
"You can't." Buffy looked at Anya. "Something else Giles said. No magic or supernatural force can stop her."
"What does that mean?" Angel asked.
"I don't know. He said 'the Slayer can't stop her.' Then he said a bunch of other stuff... he wasn't too... clear. I should hurry and get back to him. He's... alone."
"What do you. Is he ok?" Buffy asked picking up on Anya's meaning.
"I. I don't think he has a lot of time left." Anya looked Buffy in the eye. "I'm sorry." Then she vanished again.
Buffy's eyes welled with tears before she wiped them away and looked up at the hole. "Xander? Where's that rope?"
"Buffy." Angel said.
"XANDER! Where is he?" Buffy headed over to a coffin and dragged it over to the one she had fallen on.
"You heard what Anya said. What Giles said."
"I heard. And I don't care. I have to try. I'm not just gonna sit here while Willow incinerates what I'm chosen to protect. I have to stop her..."
"Always a slayer right to the last." Willow's voice came from everywhere and nowhere.
"Willow?" Buffy and Angel asked in unison.
"And it is the last, you know. For all your fighting. Thinking you're saving the world."
"Buff." Dawn started to say something, but Buffy threw up a hand to stop her.
"And, in the end, I'm the only one that can save it." Willow continued.
"By killing us?" Buffy asked.
"It's the only way to stop the pain. I. I can't take it anymore. But I know you two. Buffy and Angel, Juliet and Romeo. You're both warriors. You won't go without a fight and I really don't have time for one. But you guys should go out fighting."
"Willow, what do you.?" Angel asked.
"Buffy, it was me that took you out of the Earth. And Darla who put Angel in it and took him back out. Well, now. the Earth wants you both back."
Suddenly all around them, dirt demon things popped out of the Earth. They were hideous and there were bony scissor like things where there hands should be. They were surrounded.
Buffy and Angel looked at each other and then they attacked. The demons outnumbered them all, but Buffy wasn't about to let that stop her. Buffy landed a solid kick to one of the demons before she flipped back and landed next to the two swords. She picked them up and turned to face off with more of the demons. One monster headed towards Dawn.
"Buffy!" Dawn screamed.
Buffy looked over her shoulder as she beheaded two of the demons. The demon cornering Dawn was nearly on her when Buffy came and landed a roundhouse kick on the things head. Then another monster burst from the wall and knocked Angel and Conner back at Buffy and Dawn's feet. Angel stood, vamped out and looked at Buffy.
"I can't take them. They just keep coming." She said to him.
"We need help. Conner, you, and me can't take them." Angel said.
Buffy knew what he meant. She looked at Dawn. "Dawn, will you help us?" Buffy handed her sister a sword.
"I got your guys' backs." Dawn answered.
Angel smiled and Buffy nodded. They fought again, driving the demons back only to be surged back to where they started again. Then, the place started to rock. It felt like an earthquake, but Buffy knew better.
"Willow." Buffy and Angel murmured.
Dawn got backed into a corner and she screamed for help.
"Dawn, I'm comin'!" Buffy called. She got rid of the three demons she was fighting and turned in time to see Dawn roll away from the demon and grab her sword only to pop back up, stab the demon in the chest, then behead him. Everyone, especially Buffy, stared at her incredulously.
"What? You think I never watched you guys?" Dawn asked.
Buffy was speechless. All she could do was stare at her little sister. Then more demons came out of the wall. Buffy, Angel, Conner, and Dawn all formed a back-to-back circle. This was the slayer's family and it made her proud to know them all. Buffy smiled. It was towards both her family and the fact that she was back in action finally. Not just "going through the motions" as she had once sang.
Then she was hit with a kind of vision. She could still see the fight at hand, but she could see Willow and Xander too. It was like a picture over a picture. Xander was shot down by Willow's dark magic and she started to direct some sort of dark funnel thing at a nasty looking statue. Xander got up and blocked the flow.
"You can't stop this." Willow said.
"Yeah, I get that. It's just. where else am I going to go? You've been my best friend my whole life. World gonna end, where else would I want to be?"
"Is this the master plan? You're going to stop me by telling me you love me?"
Buffy shot a few kicks at a demon and knocked him back. She tried to focus on the fight, but Buffy-Buffy couldn't bring herself fully into it, so she let Slayer-Buffy take over the fight.
"Well, I was going to walk you off a cliff and hand you an anvil, but it seemed kinda cartoony." Xander said.
"Still making jokes." Willow said icily.
"I'm not joking. I know you're in pain. I can't imagine the pain you're in. I know you're about to do something apocalyptically evil and stupid and hey, still want to hang. You're Willow."
"Don't call me tha."
"First day of kindergarten you cried 'cause you broke the yellow crayon and you were too afraid to tell anyone. You've come pretty far, ending the world, not a terrific notion but the thing is, yeah, I love you. I loved crayon-breaky Willow and I love scary veiny Willow. So if I'm going out, it's here. You wanna kill the world you start with me. I've earned that."
"You think I won't?"
"It doesn't matter. I'll still love you."
"Shut UP!" Willow made a scratching motion and scratches appeared on Xander's cheek.
Xander stood straight again. "I love you."
Willow made more slashing motions and Xander's shirt tore. He doubled over, but stood back up. "I love."
"SHUT UP!"
Willow blasted him with magic again, but Xander didn't go down despite the fact that he was thrown back a little.
"I love you Willow."
Buffy prayed silently for Xander. She decided to help him. "We love you Willow." Buffy said silently. Willow seemed to hear it.
Willow started to cry. "Stop!" She blasted him again, but the power was leaving her
"I love you."
"We love you."
Xander walked up to her. She started to hit him. Xander took the blows, even though they did hurt. Willow was sobbing and shaking her head. She sank to her knees and Xander went with her.
Then the image faded and Buffy found herself amidst the fight again. But it didn't last long. The monsters started to wail then fall into piles of dirt. Everyone but Buffy looked stunned.
"What happened?" Angel and Dawn asked.
Buffy smiled weakly.
"I... I think it's over, Buffy. The world's still here." Dawn said.
Buffy collapsed onto the broken coffin and started to cry.
"Sorry to disappoint." Then Dawn realized that Buffy was laughing through her tears. "Wait. Is that happy crying?"
"Yeah, dummy... You think I wanted the world to end?"
"I don't know. Didn't you?"
"Dawn. All of you, I'm so sorry."
Dawn went to hug Buffy and so did Angel and Conner.
"It's ok Buffy. It's ok." Dawn whispered.
"No. It hasn't been. It hasn't been ok. But it's gonna be. I see it now."
"See what?"
"You. And Conner. And Angel." Buffy looked back at Dawn. "Things have sucked lately, but it's all gonna change, and I want to be there when it does. I want to see my friends happy again. And I want to see you and Conner grow up. The woman you're going to become... And the man Conner's going to become. Because they're going to be beautiful. And they're going to be powerful. I got it so wrong Dawn. I don't want to protect you from the world. I want to show it to you. Oh, Dawn... There's so much I want to show you, to show you and Conner both." Buffy hugged Conner and Dawn together. She kissed them both on their heads as they all cried. Then she went to Angel. He was crying too. "Angel, I love you so much. I can't believe that even though I had you and Conner and Dawn, in the back of my mind, all I wanted was to go back to the peace I knew in death. But I know now that I don't have to die to get that back. It's right here." Buffy pointed to Angel's chest and used her other hand to motion at Dawn and Conner and Sunnydale.
He pulled her into his arms. She laid her head on his shoulder but decided that she had to kiss him. She leaned her head up and met his lips. They kissed freely for the first time since Angel had first made love to her. Everything had went to hell with them after that night, but now. now it was ok and neither one of them was scared of loving each other like they had that night. They pulled apart, both with the brightest smiles on their faces. They looked at Dawn and Conner and they ran into Buffy and Angel's arms. The four stood and hugged for what seemed eternity before breaking apart.
Buffy and Angel went to work on getting enough coffins out of the wall to stack up and get most of the way up. They climbed up out of the whole and stood in the beautiful daylight. Buffy took Angel's hand in one and Conner's in the other. Dawn held Angel's free hand. They walked through the sunshine and headed home.
FIN!