CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: SLAYERS
The battle raged, and the Slayers fought with all their might, the scythe back in Buffy's hands, making a maximum amount of damage. Turokhans burst to dust, and the sounds of fighting echoed around the cavern. The Turokhans broke through the defences of the Slayers and made their way into the school where the Scoobies waited, swords and axes ready.
Anya twisted the sword in her hands, her heart pounding rapidly.
"Oh god…I'm terrified," Anya said.
"Anya, you'll be fine," Giles assured her. "You've lived for a thousand years, you know how to defend yourself."
Anya wasn't mollified at all by his words.
"That doesn't help," she complained.
Giles sighed and readied his sword as he heard footsteps running in their direction.
"Just pretend that they're bunnies trying to steal your money," he suggested.
Anya glared at him, but the moment of levity calmed her down. The Turokhans burst into the lounge area, and the battle began.
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Connor stood in his position in the north hall, Andrew pacing nervously behind him.
"Stand still will you," Connor snapped. "You're breaking my concentration."
"I'm just nervous," Andrew complained.
"Well…picture the things that you want to fight for," Connor suggested. "Your friends, your family."
Andrew's brow furrowed. "I killed my best friend. And my brother hates me."
"Then picture all the friends you're gonna make when you make it outta here alive. Picture some pretty girl that you wanna marry someday," he suggested.
"But I'm gay!" Andrew cried unhappily.
"Then picture your future boyfriend!" Connor cried, becoming exasperated.
A dozen or so Turokhans burst into the hallway and Connor flew into motion. Andrew watched in awe, before finally swinging his own sword at a Turokhan, injuring it slightly. Purely by accident, he swung again and decapitated another of the primordial vampires. He looked at Connor once more.
"I don't suppose you'd be interested…"
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Angel killed another two Turokhans, understanding why Buffy had looked so battered when she'd come to visit him in LA several weeks earlier. He suddenly felt a searing pain rush through his chest, and he brought up his hand to touch the amulet that was beneath his shirt. Even through the fabric, he could feel it burning him. He suddenly had a very bad feeling about whatever it was that he'd put around his neck.
"Buffy!" he called out.
But Buffy was too busy in her own fight.
"Whatever this thing does, I think it's starting…" he trailed off as the pain became unbearable, and he was unable to help but cry out.
Buffy heard him yell for help, but she was too busy defending one of the newbie Slayers who had been attacked by five Turokhans at once. She spared a moment to glance over at him, unsure of why he had yelled out. He wasn't even fighting any of the vampires.
"Keep the line together!" Buffy called out to the other. "Drive them to the edge, we can't let them-"
Her sentence was cut off by a searing pain in her abdomen. She looked down, startled by the point of a sword protruding from the right side of her stomach. Her mind went blank, except for the pain. The sword was pulled slightly up and out, and Buffy swayed unsteadily on her feet for several moments before collapsing into the dirt.
"Buffy!" It was Faith who noticed her fallen sister-Slayer first. The darker Slayer raced to the blonde's side, and Buffy lifted her head, looking at her second-in-command, her eyes wide and afraid. Faith knelt beside her, unsure of what to do.
Buffy pushed the scythe into Faith's hands. "Hold the line."
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Dawn and Xander were holding their own in the atrium. Dawn had worked out a system of a rope to open the sunroof, which allowed streams of sunlight to enter the room. It was an incredibly effective method.
"Call it the greenhouse effect," Xander quipped. "Very dangerous."
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One of the Bringers trying to escape crept up on Anya, but the Watcher quickly called out to her. "Anya!"
Anya turned panicked, and quickly jumped back, the knife nicking her skin, trailing small dots of blood across her front. Had she not moved back in time, it would have split her open. Angered, she swung her sword and decapitated the Bringer, and the battle continued.
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Buffy lay face down in the dirt, her entire body aching, the life literally dripping away from her from the fatal stab wound to her gut. Was this what Faith had felt when Buffy had stabbed her on that rooftop so many years ago? What Angel had felt when she'd thrust the sword through his chest? Buffy looked up weakly, taking in the sights and sounds of the battle. One of the Slayers fell to a bite from the Turokhan, Amanda fell, blood on her face, her neck snapped. She looked around for Angel, but couldn't see him in her line of sight.
Just as Buffy was about to lay down her head and let herself finally rest, a familiar voice began to mock her. Buffy looked up and saw the spitting image of herself, scars, bruises and the stab wound all showing on the image of herself, the form the First had taken.
"You pulled a nice trick. You came pretty close to smacking me down. What more did you want?" it taunted.
Buffy grit her teeth angrily. She wasn't going to be defeated this easily. "I want you…" she struggled to get to her feet "To get out of my face."
In that moment of renewed faith and strength, the battle began to change. With a second wind, the Slayers seemed to be more determined to win this fight. And when it looked as though they might just make it out alive, Angel stumbled backwards clutching his chest. His back hit the wall just next to the stairs leading up to the surface.
"This can't be good," he commented quietly, and a burst of light shot straight upwards, through the very centre of the hellmouth and up into the sky outside, as though draining the light from the sun. Beams of sunlight burst from Angel's chest, decimating every single Turokhan that the Slayers had been battling.
Buffy turned to look at what had just happened, complete panic taking over her when she saw what was causing it.
"ANGEL!"
The cavern that they were in began shaking, rocks beginning to fall as the entire place began to fall in on itself. Faith was quick to give the command.
"Everybody out, now!"
The Slayers weren't about to argue, and began fleeing in a panic, ducking beneath the beam of light emanating from Angel's chest. Buffy ran to Angel's side, her eyes flicking across his features wildly.
"What's doing this?!" she demanded.
His shirt fell open and Buffy saw the amulet that Angel had refused to tell her about. She reached out to touch it, but could feel the extreme heat coming from it. She pulled her hand back and looked Angel in the eyes.
"Angel…"
"I can feel it Buffy," he whispered.
"What?" she asked, still not comprehending what was happening.
"My soul."
The Slayers continued to flee, even as Buffy hung back, her mind trying desperately to catch up with what was happening.
"Angel…Angel please, we have to go," she said, beginning to fully panic.
He looked at her and gave her the soft smile that had won her heart so many years ago.
"You of all people should understand," he whispered sadly.
She shook her head frantically. "No! NO! Angel, please! I can't lose you!"
"It has to be done," he explained, looking at the Turokhans that were still trying to escape even in the collapsing cavern.
"C'mon B, c'mon!" Faith yelled.
Buffy looked at Faith, torn between survival and staying with Angel. Faith saw that Buffy wasn't going to move, and quickly fled the building, following the other Scoobies and Slayers onto the yellow school bus that was parked outside.
"I'm not leaving you down here," Buffy said forcefully.
"You have to go!" Angel yelled, beginning to panic, not for himself, but for Buffy. He hadn't done this for them to die together, like some fairytale. He'd done this so that Buffy wouldn't have to die. "You have to survive! You have to take care of Connor!"
Buffy felt as though she'd just received a kick to the gut. Her eyes clouded with emotion. "Connor."
"Yeah, baby, Connor remember. Our son! You have to look after him. He can't lose both of us!" he yelled.
It was in that moment that Buffy knew that she would be leaving him in that cavern to die. She stood completely still and looked at him, her eyes trying to convey what words could not. She took his outstretched hand, ignoring the searing pain it caused when their hands burst alight, flames dancing around their entwined hands.
"I love you," she whispered.
"I love you," he replied.
A very similar time flashed through Buffy's mind, and she echoed the words spoken so long ago.
"Close your eyes."
He choked back a sob, remembering the last time she'd asked him to do that. He did as he was told, and as before, he felt her lips on his. Except this time he knew that it would be the last time they ever spoke, ever touched again.
The ground shook violently, and Buffy fell away. She felt a sob threatening to choke her.
"Go!"
She hesitated another second, before physically and mentally forcing herself to run up the stairs, mindless of the tears that fell from her eyes.
Angel closed his eyes, memorising his beloved's face, her eyes, her smile. He opened his eyes again to watch as the cavern collapsed around him. A searing pain burned throughout him, and he felt his entire being begin to be ripped apart. Inch by agonising inch, he felt his body give way, his very insides beginning to burn and crumble.
The amulet gave a final burst of light, and with that, Angel was dust.
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Uh oh…this does not look good for our hero. (Although when the hero dies, it does tend to look kinda bad.) Mega thanks for all the reviews!
Toodles.