CHAPTER TWENTY: WINNING
(If you HAVE NOT seen Chosen, and DO NOT want to be spoiled, please DO NOT read from here on in. If you read, it's of your own accord. Don't flame me and blame me [hehe, I can rhyme] for not giving you warning. Consider yourself warned.)
Buffy regarded the Guardian closely. The ancient woman had explained about the forging of the scythe, the hiding of it, and the new era that had come after the last pure demons had been driven off the earth. Hearing that it was the weapon that Buffy had found that had destroyed all the pure demons lifted Buffy's spirits.
"Does this mean I can win?"
"That is really up to you," the Guardian said, handing the scythe back to Buffy. "This is a powerful weapon."
"Yeah."
"But you already have weapons," the Guardian said cryptically. "Use it wisely. And perhaps you can beat back the rising dark. One way or another it can only mean, and end is truly near."
The Guardian dropped to the floor, her neck snapped by Caleb who now stood in her place.
"I'm sorry, I didn't catch that last part on account of her neck snapping an all. Did she say the end is near or here?" he taunted.
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Connor and Angel stood outside the crypt, both of them listening closely to what was happening inside. The conversation between Buffy and whoever she was talking to was slightly too quiet for them to hear, but they knew that Buffy was in no danger.
They did, however, hear the beginnings of what sounded like a vicious fight. They spared a fraction of a second to look at each other, before racing into the crypt, Angel in the lead, Connor following behind him. They were startled to see a man dressed as a preacher fighting Buffy. What was even more shocking than the man's attire was the fact that he and Buffy seemed to be evenly matched. And if they were really honest with themselves, they would admit that Buffy seemed to be at a slight disadvantage.
Buffy ducked a punch and Caleb's hand went through the stone pillar behind her. She ducked under his arm and quickly raced to the other side of the small crypt, seeing Angel and Connor now inside as well.
"You're not slipping out of this fight girl," Caleb goaded her. He blew on his knuckles, completely irritating the three warriors for the Powers That Be. "You see, you can't stop me."
"Everyone who's ever told us that's always been stopped," Buffy replied, her eyes meeting Angel's.
Caleb turned to see who else had intruded on their fight. He sneered as he took in the two newcomers.
"Two more measly men. Maybe I can take the eyes outta the youngen there. Make him like Xander. You can have a matched pair."
Buffy lunged forward, scythe swinging precisely, but still unable to get in any hits. Caleb managed to get her airborne with a hit to the stomach, throwing her against the wall. She crashed to the ground, losing her scythe. Angel and Connor jumped into the fray.
Connor was thrown off almost immediately, tossed to the other side of the room. Angel, now completely enraged, vamped out and attacked with fury. With a fierce upper-cut he sent the preacher sprawling to the floor, and a newly regrouped Buffy was quick to try and thrust the staked end of the scythe into Caleb's throat. Caleb caught the scythe with barely half-an-inch to spare.
He kicked out quickly, sending Angel spinning away. Another kick had Buffy on the ground, and Caleb flipped himself into a standing position. He viciously kicked Buffy's face, and followed it with two fierce punches, sending her sprawling across the dirt.
Buffy stood, only to be attacked once more. She felt as though she was fighting Glory all over again, the attacks leaving her stunned and defenceless. He threw her to the ground and walked away, his back turned.
"Now I gave you ample warning. Told you not to interfere," he said calmly. Buffy slowly got to her feet, her entire body bruised and incredibly sore. "But you chose not to heed."
Connor crept behind him and lunged for the preacher, only for Caleb to spin, grab Connor by the shirt and throw him onto a large pile of stacked bricks, winding him. He caught his breath and kicked Caleb quickly. Caleb regained his balance, grabbed Connor by the arms and swung him into one of the pillars with so much force that several of the large cylindrical stones moved outwards.
Caleb picked up the forgotten scythe and moved to the fallen Slayer who was still struggling to catch her breath. He sent a stunning roundhouse kick to her face, sending her once more to the floor. She rolled onto her back and saw Caleb spin the scythe expertly.
"I was kinda hoping it would go this way."
He went to swing the scythe down, but was distracted by Angel's voice behind him, and a solid punch to the jaw when he spun around at the distraction. Angel helped Buffy to her feet as Caleb was thrown to the side.
"You okay?"
"Peachy," she replied quietly. She moved to where Connor lay and helped him to his feet. "I wanna end this."
Buffy moved to grab the scythe and Angel and Connor hung back, remembering the plans they had discussed on the way to the crypt. Buffy had first shot at the preacher, and if she looked like she needed a hand, then they were to step in and help.
With a renewed force, Buffy continued the fight. Kicking, punching, dodging and weaving her way across the room. They fought for the scythe, Caleb and Buffy both gaining and losing it so many times that Connor and Angel lost count.
"He is so gonna lose," Angel commented quietly.
Connor grinned, just watching the way Buffy fought. "She's definitely good."
"Good? That's almost an insult," Angel replied. "God I missed watching this."
Buffy swung the scythe forcefully across Caleb's mid-section and watched, almost as surprised as Caleb was, to see that she'd made a fatal hit. Caleb laughed, obviously thinking that she couldn't have defeated him so easily. He grabbed the burlap cloth curtains and fell as they came undone, the preacher going completely still.
Connor and Angel approached Buffy carefully, knowing that it could be fatal to approach a wound up Slayer after battle.
"See…under control," Buffy said breathlessly.
Angel grinned and moved past her to check on Caleb. He bent down, about t check for a pulse, when he was suddenly thrown headfirst into a pillar. Buffy and Connor jerked backwards, surprised by the sudden attack.
Caleb stood, his eyes leaking black fluid, the insane agent of the First holding up an old, but very solid relic that he was using as a weapon.
"Are you ready to finish this? Bitch."
He moved forward quickly, not giving either Connor or Buffy enough time to work out what had just happened. Buffy swung towards him with her scythe, but Caleb got his hit in first, sending Buffy tumbling backwards. Caleb turned the attack on Connor, who struck at him with his bare-fists, but the weapon of Caleb's was strong and hard, and Connor was hit to the side of the head. He fell backwards and hit the wall, slumping down as his world went black.
Buffy stood up, angered. Caleb threw his weapon towards her, but Buffy expertly ducked.
"Okay…how many times do I have to kill you? Ball-park figure," she said with exasperation.
"You understand nothing," Caleb replied angrily. "You think you have power over me."
She sent a spinning kick at his head, and Caleb fell to the ground.
"Stupid girl," he said quietly, struggling to get to his feet. "You won't ever stop me. You don't have the-"
Buffy swung the scythe upwards between his legs, and Caleb's world exploded in a fiery furnace of pain.
"Who does nowadays?" she replied coldly, completely the upswing. Caleb fell to the ground in two separate parts just as Angel jumped to his feet and Connor began to stir.
"Okay, now I'm pissed," Angel proclaimed. He looked at Buffy, who was panting heavily, her scythe raised and bloody. "Where is he?"
Buffy looked down at the dead body on the ground. Angel followed her gaze and then looked back up at Buffy.
"He had to split."
Connor groaned, both from the pain in his head and from Buffy's joke.
"You're not funny mom."
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Buffy, Angel and Connor returned to the Summer's house, their spirits considerably brighter. One of their biggest threats in the fight against the First had been eliminated, and they couldn't have been happier about it.
Buffy opened the door to her house and entered, stopping short in the doorway when she saw her stony-eyed sister glaring at her. Dawn's foot shot out, connecting with Buffy's ankle.
"Ow."
"Dumbass."
Buffy looked into the dining room to see Xander sitting in front of Anya, who was playing with his hair.
"Don't look at me, this is a Summers thing. It's all very violent," Xander explained.
Buffy looked back at her sister and remembered that Dawn had been made out of her. Stubbornness and determination were practically the Summers' girls middle names.
"If you get killed I'm telling," Buffy said.
Dawn just rolled her eyes, and her gaze fell on Angel and Connor. "Angel!" she cried, flinging herself into the vampire's arms. She hadn't seen him since Buffy's funeral, and that hadn't been the best of times. Angel hugged her back tightly, still startled by the fact that he'd only ever truly met Dawn once.
"Hey Dawnie. God you're getting tall," he commented as they all moved into the dining room where Xander, Anya, Willow and Giles were gathered.
Dawn grinned happily. "I'm two inches taller than Buffy now," she said proudly.
Buffy folded her arms across her chest unhappily. "Do you have to keep telling that to everyone?"
"Yes," Dawn replied unrepentantly.
"You are on the short side mom," Connor commented, moving to stand beside her. He was nearly a full head taller than her.
"You're meant to be on my side Con," she complained.
"Wait, wait…mom?" Dawn asked, looking at Connor as though he'd gone insane.
Buffy smiled, and Connor wrapped an arm around the shorter woman.
"For those of you who missed the introductions earlier. Everyone, this is Connor. You all remember Angel, Connor's dad," Buffy said. "My sister Dawn, you already met Wills and Giles, and that's Xander and Anya."
"Yeah, nice to meet you," Xander said quickly, his one eye still focussed on the young man next to Buffy. "I think we're all still stuck on the whole 'mom' concept."
"Buff, he's older than I am!" Dawn commented.
"Prophecy, hellmouth, Powers That Be," Buffy replied succinctly. "Oh, and about 18 years of Con growing up in a hell dimension. He's technically about a year old."
Dawn looked at him appraisingly. Apparently she wasn't the only one with a screwed up birth. It was strange that both of their births were so out of the ordinary and centred around the same woman.
"Cool. I'm an aunt!" Dawn exclaimed.
Willow grinned at the young girls excitement, but knew that they needed to know whatever information they could about the scythe.
"Did you find out anything about the scythe?" Willow asked.
"It slices, dices and makes julienne preacher," Buffy replied, setting the scythe down on the table.
Giles straightened and looked at his Slayer with excitement. "Caleb?"
"I cut him in half."
"Literally," Connor added. He wrinkled his nose. "It was really gross."
Buffy grinned, and Willow looked around the table with excitement.
"Well alright!"
"He had that coming," Anya added.
"Hey, party in my eye socket and everyone's invited," Xander said.
His statement was followed by silence and looks bordering on worry and sympathy. Angel looked at the young man sympathetically. He'd never liked Xander, but he had to admire the young man for standing beside Buffy so steadfastly for so many years, even in the face of a horrible and permanent injury.
"Sometimes I shouldn't say words."
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Angel, Buffy and Connor were camped out in the living room amongst the Potentials, Faith needed Buffy's bed more to help her recovery. Angel had somehow managed to fall asleep amidst the snoring and light whispers, and rustling of sleeping bags, though Buffy would never know how.
Buffy sighed, carefully shifted out of the sleeping bag and quietly let herself out the front door, sitting on the front porch step. She heard the door open and close and felt Connor sit beside her.
"You okay?" Connor asked, taking a seat beside her.
Buffy nodded. She was tired, exhausted to tell the truth, but she couldn't sleep. Things were still so up in the air, and Buffy just wanted this fight over with so she could truly be with her family.
"Just tired," she admitted.
"You can't sleep though," he finished for her. "I can't blame you. Thirty girls, with half of them snoring…it's like listening to screeching bats."
"They're not that bad," Buffy defended half-heartedly.
She leant her head against Connor's shoulder, her eyes closing tiredly.
"I'm voting we go grab out sleeping bags and stay out here," Buffy said.
"I'm all for that," Connor agreed.
He stood before Buffy could tell him it had been a joke, but honestly, she was tired enough to be able to sleep on the front lawn with him. And it would be the first chance that she had alone with him. He returned holding two sleeping bags and their pillows, and they threw them across the lawn.
"Thank god winter's over," Buffy commented as she wriggled into the sleeping bag. She lay her head on the pillow, and Connor lay down close beside her. She sighed contentedly, wishing Angel could join them, but the sun was due to rise in less than two hours. It would be dangerous for him to be out there with them.
Nearly twenty minutes later, Connor was asleep. Buffy smiled down at him, enjoying the innocence that he still had left in him, despite all he had been through. She touched his cheek gently, her love for the son she barely knew swelling inside of her. She moved her hand away before she woke him up, knowing that he, like herself and Angel, would be an incredibly light sleeper.
She silently rolled out of her sleeping bag and stood up, stretching out her incredibly sore muscles. She made a mental note to go and have a professional massage done when this was all over. Unless she could convince Angel to give her one…she smiled at the thought.
She moved up onto the porch and sat down on the swinging chair that she and her mom had used to sit on and drink coffee together on in the mornings.
From out of the shadows came Caleb. But Buffy wasn't fooled. It wasn't Caleb it was the First. It stayed and taunted her, but Buffy refused to be down heartened by it. That was what it wanted, and she wasn't about to give in now that they were so close to winning. The First morphed into her own image, and recited the prophecy regarding Slayers.
"Into every generation a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world. She alone will have the strength and skill to…" it stopped. "There's that word again. What you are. How you'll die. Alone. Where's your snappy comeback?"
"You're right," Buffy replied after a few moments.
"Not you're best."
Connor awoke with a snort and looked around for Buffy. He spotted her up on the porch, a strange look in her eyes.
"Bu – Mom? Is something wrong?"
"Yeah. I just realised something. We're gonna win."
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