A/N: I know that random scene in there with Spider-man and Jean is a little out of place, but after doing a bit of research to find out Dr. Connors' wife's name, I stumbled across what happened between Peter and MJ in the comics. I put in that scene as a little tribute to the couple and what I hoped could have happened, but didn't. I hope it wasn't too jarring and if it is, I apologize.

The Web of Our Life: Part VI

By Gaeriel Mallory

"The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together." -- Shakespeare, Twelfth-Night, IV, iii, 83

Buffy lowered her arms from her face. Jean had warned her a split second before the firestorm engulfed them all. She put her stake back into the sheath in her boot and when she straightened up, she scanned the room. Over in one corner, Jean had passed out in Morbius's arms. The red-haired student -- John? -- lay slumped against the floor on the other side of the warehouse. Giles was bent over the boy.

Wait. When did those two get here? She spotted Tara helping Willow to stand as well as Remy and Jubilee. Slowly, the entire group reconvened at where Buffy was standing.

"What now?" Spider-man asked.

"We get the wounded out of here," Buffy said, "and then we go after Ororo and stop the Rising. Just because the vamps are gone doesn't mean that this Grarrum won't still be born."

Spider-man took John from Scott and Jean from Morbius. "I'll see them back to the hotel," he said quietly. "I don't think I'll be much use to you guys against Grarrum."

"Can you handle both of them?" the Slayer asked.

"I'll manage. Don't worry." He set off into the night.

After he had left, Logan pointed at the tunnel. "There's something down there. I can smell it."

"Okay." Buffy reached into the weapons bag that Giles at brought and took out a broadsword. "Down the tunnel it is."

* * *

The stairs were dark and narrow. Remy led the way, a playing card half charged with kinetic energy lighting the way. The group had to walk single file down the steps. "I don't like this," Willow whispered. "What if this is another trap?"

"Then we'll fight our way out of it," Cat replied.

In hushed tones, Giles explained to Buffy that fire was needed to kill Grarrum. The Slayer frowned. "But we don't have John any more. He would have been our ace in the hole."

Giles nodded. "We're hopping that Jubilee and Gambit will make up for that. And Willow and Tara have that spell for fire."

"What if it's not enough? Then what do we do?"

Giles stared grimly at their sole source of light in Remy's hand. "We do what we always do, Buffy. Our best."

* * *

Any passerbys would have been greeted with the odd sight of Spider-man talking into a payphone with two unconscious bodies leaning against the pole. It would have been ample reason for a police officer to try and arrest the wallcrawler. Luckily, the street was deserted.

Peter had been unsure as to whom to call for a ride. The obvious choice was Mary Jane, but neither she nor Peter had a car. He ran through the short list of people he knew that could be trusted before finally taking a deep breath and dialing a number.

The phone rang in his ear and he waited for someone to pick up. "Is Dr. Connors there?"

Dr. Curt Connors was someone Peter knew in both of his identities. The scientist was someone who knew the importance of secrets, having one himself. After a neogenics experiment to regrow his missing arm he had become The Lizard and Spider-man had been forced to capture his friend and mentor.

So Connors had reason to do Spider-man a favor. And best of all, he had a car. Peter explained the situation briefly to the scientist and waited impatiently for him to arrive. After a short eternity, a pair of headlights cut through the darkness and a station wagon pulled up. Curt Connors got out of the passenger side and stepped up to the superhero. "Spider-man?"

"It's me, Doc." Spider-man lifted up John in his arms. "Thanks for coming out here. I know it's late."

"After all that you've done for us, it was the least we could do." Martha Connors exited from the driver's side and went to kneel by Jean's side.

"Can you see them to the Ramada? Ask for either a Charles Xavier or a Rupert Giles at the front desk." Spider-man straightened up after putting John in the car. He reached for Jean when the redhead stirred. She moaned softly and peered up at him.

"What happened?" she whispered. "Did we get everyone out?"

"They're still back at the warehouse. I have some friends of mine taking you and John back to the hotel."

Jean closed her eyes again and leaned back against the post of the pay phone. "What about you?"

"I'm going back there. What else am I going to do?"

Green eyes looked at him. "There's nothing you can do there that they can't do. Just...go home and spend some time with..." She let her words trail off as she peered cautiously at the Connors.

Spider-man knelt down in front of her. "What is it? Is there something you know that I don't?"

She misses you, Jean whispered in his mind. If you don't stop being Spider-man and spend more time being her husband, I'm telling you that she'll walk out of your life. She smiled faintly. "With great power comes great responsibility," she quoted softly, "but you have to accept all of your responsibility, not just the responsibility of being a superhero."

He nodded and scooped her up in his arms. "I'll be sure to remember that," he told her before setting her into the back seat next to John. "You rest now."

Spider-man turned back to the Connors. "Thanks again for everything." He swung out a webline. "Say hi to Billy for me." He then headed home and to Mary Jane. He sent a brief prayer skywards for his friends and allies still in the warehouse.

* * *

The stairs led down into the sewers. Buffy squinted in the darkness. "Can you get more light out of that thing?" she asked Remy.

The teenager shook his head. "Not without it explodin', cherie."

Buffy sighed and turned towards the group. "Which way then?"

Logan sniffed the air and pointed towards the right. "That way. It doesn't smell...right."

"It's the sewers. Nothing smells right," Jubilee muttered, but followed the rest as they started walking through the muck. "Ugh."

Remy led the way again, the sole source of light. The glow cast eerie shadows onto the walls and the ground as he walked. They all kept their eyes focused on the playing card, trying to ignore what they were walking in and what they were walking to.

The sewer tunnel emerged into a large room that was free of the usual muck found in underground. A set of stairs led up to a platform that was as large as the warehouse floor had been. On an altar on the far side was a nest made of cloth; in the nest was--

"The egg," Willow whispered. "From my dream."

As they watched, a white snake uncurled itself from the blankets were it had been hidden. Its forked tongue tasted the air. "Sssomeone'ssss here," it hissed audibly. "Welcome." It slithered down the altar and across the floor, approaching the group.

Each one of them was mesmerized by the snake's eyes, glowing a sickly green. Buffy knew that she should attack the snake but she could not move. All she could do was stand there, watching as the large snake came closer and closer.

* * *

Willow tried to scream but she could not. It was her dream again, the snake wrapping itself around her body so that she could not move. The snake's body bound her arms to her sides and its head appeared over her shoulder and moved so that it was face to face with the witch. "Yessssss. Welcome." Willow closed her eyes and shuddered internally as its tongue caressed her cheek.

"Wh-wh-who are you?" she stammered out.

"I'm the Keeper," the snake whispered in her ear. "Namelesss sssave for that title. And you...I claim you..."

Willow felt the snake's fangs sink into her neck, pumping something into her that caused her knees to weaken and black spots to appear in front of her eyes. "Claim me for what?" she managed to ask.

"For Grarrum," the snake whispered as she fell to the ground.

* * *

Logan hated feeling helpless but whatever spell the snake had put over them had made him just that. Vampires appeared from tunnels off of the platform and had physically picked each one up one by one and shackled them to the wall by their wrists. Their weapons were taken from their frozen hands and taken into a tunnel off to the side of the open area.

He watched as the snake directed two vampires to place the unconscious Willow at the floor in front of the altar. The snake then curled up around the egg again, wary eyes keeping track of its prisoners.

* * *

Black Cat felt the spell dissolve around them and she was able to move again. She groaned as she slumped back against the wall, her head pounding. "Good move," she muttered, "walking into another trap."

"How were we to know?" Buffy asked her. The two women had been chained next to each other. The Slayer tested her bounds but they held.

"We should have known. Everything else up to now has been one." Scott looked over at her. "We were stupid."

Across the way, Willow stirred and her eyes sprang open. "Grarrum," she whispered. She slowly pushed herself into a sitting position and looked around her. "Buffy?" She approached her friend. "What happened?"

The Slayer looked up at her friend with tired eyes. "You guess is as good as mine, Wills."

The witch reached for one of the shackles that was around Buffy's wrist. When her fingers touched the metal, she gasped and lightning danced over her body. There was an explosion and Willow's body flew across the open space until she landed in front of the altar.

From one of the shadowed doorways behind the altar, a hooded figure emerged. He had the Keeper wound around on arm. The snake hissed at Willow who shrank away from it. "Foolisssh ccchild," it admonished her. "You cannot sssave your friendsss now. They are marked for Grarrum. As are you."

"Wh-what do you mean?"

The snake glided onto the floor and approached Willow. "You have sssuch fassscinating dreamsss, don't you?" The Keeper raised its head so that it was level with hers. "Dreamsss, they sssay, are a doorway to the sssoul...and the eyesss are the window. And what wondersss I sssaw through your windowsss." The snake turned around and made its way up the altar and wrapped itself around the egg. "Yesss, sssuch wonderful dreamsss."

* * *

Ororo Munroe winced at the sudden light as the door opened with a clank. Two vampires entered and walked towards her. "Wakey, wakey," the male taunted her. "Your friends are here to join the party."

She glared at the two vampires as they released her from her chains. "Oh, what's the matter," the female asked with a smirk. "Scared of the dark?"

Ororo's only response was to try and attack the vampires but he legs, unused for several days, failed her and she pitched forward onto her face. She snarled as she heard the two laughing at her. She did not resist when they pulled her back onto her feet and shoved her out of the little dark room.

"Ro!" a familiar voice called out.

She lifted her head and peered through the white strands of her hair. Logan? They were all there, chained to the wall as she had been. As she will be again, seeing as the two vampires were dragging her to an empty spot next to Scott. She struggled briefly before the male growled and brought his fist up to her cheek hard. While she was dazed, they quickly locked the shackles around her wrists and left. "Wh-what happened?" she asked. She saw a figure curled up into a ball on the other end of the platform. "Willow?"

The redhead raised her head and looked at the group. "I'm sorry," she said. "It's all my fault."

* * *

All her fault... Willow tried to get up but the Keeper hissed at her warningly. "Ssstay," it ordered her. "Or I have you chhhained like your friendsss."

Willow sank obediently back to the ground and looked at her friends. "Buffy?" she asked meekly.

"Don't worry, Wills. This isn't your fault. And we'll get out of this. We always do."

The snake started to laugh an odd hissing laugh. Willow glared at it. "What's your problem?" she demanded.

The snake just continued to laugh.

* * *

Scott tested his bonds again. So long as that snake was there watching them, it would be hard to try something. However, he still had his visor so could feasibly blast the albino snake if he aimed well enough. He focused and let loose--nothing. Scott frowned and tried again. Still nothing.

He felt something teasing his mind. Something missing, Cyclops? Laughter flooded into his brain and he winced in pain.

"What do you want?" he whispered under his breath.

Simple. The end of humanity. Grarrum will see to that. Across the room, the white snake stared intently at the mutant. Your days are numbered, Scott Summers, he was warned before the psychic connection was cut with such abruptness that Scott reeled at the pain.

"Hey, Cyke? You all right?" Logan asked him.

Scott gritted his teeth as he fought from passing out. "Just peachy," he managed to ground out. "The snake took our powers somehow."

"Izzat so?" Logan glared at the snake who had curled back around the egg. "Well, there's something it can't take away from me." He grinned fiercely at Scott. "So what do you think?"

Scott studied the room. "You'd have to run pretty fast to kill it," he observed.

"I know."

"If the thing has a chance to summon the vampires, you wouldn't stand a chance."

"I know."

Scott turned back to his friend and teammate. "It's going to hurt like hell," he said mildly.

Wolverine grinned even wider. "Oh, I'm counting on it."

* * *

Willow had shrunk inside herself. Every time she tried to move or reach for her magic, the snake somehow knew and hissed a warning. She had not yet gathered up the courage to actually see what the snake would do if she did not listen but something told her she did not want to know.

In her mind, a litany of blame ran through her head. All my fault. My fault. I should have realized -- Buffy's the one who always get the dreams, not me! Stupid stupid Willow. All my fault...

Thus, she did not notice what Logan was attempting until the snake's severed head landed in her lap, the green eyes staring accusingly up at her. She screamed and jumped up, only to knock into Logan who was bleeding profusely from where the adamantium blades had ripped through the skin on the back of his hands. His face was contorted with pain and anger. As she watched with a grotesque fascination, the flesh regrew and mended until the blood had stopped dripping on the ground and fresh unmarked skin surrounded the claws.

Logan sighed with relief and cut the shackles off his wrists. Willow saw that he had severed through the chains to free himself from the wall. They dropped to the ground with a clank. "You okay?" he asked her gently.

Willow nodded, unable to speak. Logan then went and freed the others from their bonds. Tara immediately ran to her lover and hugged her. "Are you all right?" she whispered in Willow's ear. "Tell me you're okay." Tara looked at the other witch with worry when Willow did not respond. "Willow?"

Willow blinked, focusing her eyes on Tara and then the decapitated snake still coiled around the green egg. "Yeah," she answered slowly. "I think I'm okay."

"Good."

* * *

Buffy was the first to notice the egg rocking back and forth on the altar. "Um, guys?" she said. "Guys?" she asked again, louder, when no one noticed. "We have a problem."

Giles bent down to observe the hairline cracks that appeared on the green surface. "Good lord," he muttered. "It's a full day early. The death of the Keeper must have triggered this."

Buffy yanked her Watcher away. "Analyze later, Giles. What do we do now?"

The egg split down the center and Grarrum appeared. Black eyes blinked away slime and studied the crowd gathered in front of it. A forked tongue tasted the air as Grarrum raised one of its legs and wiggled its toes experimentally.

"That's Grarrum?" Jubilee asked. "It doesn't look so scary. Like a large hooded gecko thing."

The lizard yawned, displaying pointed teeth. As they watched, the teeth descended upon the dead body of the Keeper and tore a huge bite from it. Grarrum swallowed and took another mouthful. With each successive bite, the lizard grew in size. By the third swallow, it had covered the entire altartop.

"Um, Giles?" Buffy asked as she backed up. "I don't suppose you have something pointy hiding in all that tweed?"

"No," he answered. "I'm afraid not."

"Oh."

Remy reached inside his trench coat and removed a deck of playing cards. He shuffled them nervously in his hands. "Fire, you say?" he asked Giles. "How much you gonna need?"

The Brit studied the ever growing demon. "As much as you can give me."

Grarrum swallowed the last of the snake that was the Keeper and stretched before tasting the air with its tongue again. Its head turned towards Willow and it leapt, teeth bared.

Remy let lose with the cards, which exploded against the thing's skin. It howled in pain and snarled in anger. It lunged towards the red haired witch again but was hit in the side by Jubilee's fireworks. Scott raised a hand to his visor and added his own burst of 'fire.' He waved towards the others. "We've got this covered. Go after the rest of the vampires."

Buffy and Blade had retrieved their weapons from the side room and they were quickly handed out to their respective owners. The Slayer led her band of Scoobies into the tunnel behind the altar.

* * *

Blade, Morbius, and Cat studied the situation. The three mutants were herding Grarrum into a corner but aside from that, their powers were not doing much. "There's not enough fire. Too bad that boy passed out in the warehouse," Cat observed.

"Do you think we can do anything here?" Morbius asked her.

"Well I don't know about you two, but I'm sure as hell going to try." Blade grasped his katana in both hands and leapt on top of the giant lizard. With all his strength, he plunged the blade into its neck, only to have the sword bounce back off the lizard's hide. Grarrum bucked its back, sending the Daywalker off the platform and into the sewer proper.

* * *

Willow was holding onto Tara's hand tightly. "Do you think we should have just left them back there? I mean, that was a pretty big lizard."

Giles stepped carefully along the tunnel, scanning for any sign of vampires. "There's not much we could have done. The creature could only be destroyed by fire. I only hope that between Scott, Remy, and Jubilee, there'd be enough."

Willow exchanged looks with Tara. "Um, maybe the two of us should go back. I mean, we do have that fire spell."

Giles stopped in his tracks, causing Buffy to almost walk into him. "Good Lord, you're right. Why didn't I think of that? Yes, go back and help."

The two witches returned the way they had come. Buffy looked at her Watcher. "Was that a good idea? I mean, this Grarrum thing has it out for Willow and you just sent her back there?"

Giles sighed. "What else would you have me do? Willow and Tara are the best hope to kill the demon now that John's not here."

It was then that the vampires decided to attack so there were no further chance for conversation.

* * *

Logan tried to slash at the demon with his claws but only succeeded in making the lizard angrier. He followed Blade into the sewer with a splash.

Ororo and Cat had helped the two out as Morbius flew overhead and landed on the thing's shoulders. He wrapped a length of chain around its neck and squeezed, causing the mouth to open. "Quick!" he shouted. "Aim for the mouth!"

Scott blasted red beams down Grarrum's throat. The lizard's eyes rolled with pain and it finally collapsed to the ground. It's body twitched but other than that, it made no other move. "Is it dead?" Jubilee asked.

"I sure hope so," Scott answered.

* * *

The creature known as Grarrum bided his time. The three with the fire had hurt him, but not enough to kill him. He sensed the presence of the one chosen for him. She was coming closer. He wanted that power.

* * *

Willow stopped at the mouth of the tunnel and stared. "Good God," she whispered. The giant lizard lay stretched out on the floor, easily twice her size in length. She walked forward into the open area. "Guess you didn't need our help after all."

Suddenly, the thing's eyes snapped open and it lunged, mouth wide open, towards Willow. She did not have time to scream as Grarrum picked her up with his tongue and pulled her into its mouth. The teeth closed around her.

* * *

"Willow!" Tara cried out. She readied the fire spell and let it loose on Grarrum. She could still feel the link between the two of them. It was not yet severed. Yet. That means that there was still a chance to get her lover out of this alive.

She barely noticed when Scott and Jubilee started attacking the monster. Small explosions told her that Remy had joined the fight.

It's all right, Willow's voice whispered in her head. I'm still in once piece. It's dark and pretty icky but I think I can burn this guy from the inside out.

Grarrum roared in pain again and tried to add Scott to its collection in its stomach but the X-man leaped out of the way. Suddenly, the lizard froze, it's eyes turning red and rolling faster and faster.

The explosion was a surprise. The smell of burnt flesh reached Tara's nose and she grimaced. Grarrum slowly tipped over onto its side and landed on the ground with a thud. The entire right half of the lizard was gone. A hand emerged from the wreckage that was the dead demon. Tara overcame her paralysis and ran over to help Willow from the carcass.

The red-haired witch surveyed her handiwork. "Well, that went better than I thought it would."

* * *

Buffy and Giles emerged from the tunnel, shaking dust from their clothing. The tired, battered, and gore covered group that met them gave them pause for a moment.

Willow and Tara were sitting on the ground and the two witches looked at the Slayer. "Buffy," Tara said. "Let's go home."