GOING UNDER
Mya once again wakes up to a pitch-black night. 'God, I hope nothing goes twisted today.' Mya thinks. She gets up and heads to the bathroom to go wash her face. She looks at a broken piece of glass on the floor, 'No reflection. Check.' Mya thinks. Mya then puts her hand above her pulse point on her neck and thinks, 'No pulse. Check.' Mya then tries to speak and hard as she can and sadly thinks, 'Voice. No Check.' She sadly walks towards the cooler and dishes out a bag of pigs blood. She sits down on the couch, staring at the blank television set. 'At least I don't have anything funky going on, for now.' Mya thinks. Suddenly, the First magically appears as if Mya had been beckoning it. 'Just my luck' Mya thinks.
"And how are we, my favorite vampire?" The First, as Spike, says while walking towards Mya.
'Fine, until just about 10 seconds ago,' Mya replies.
"Oh, come on now. Don't tell me you don't enjoy my visits." The First says while pretending to be hurt.
'Just tell me why you're here and get out. I don't have time for this.' Mya warns.
"Oh really? Cuz, to me, it seems like you have all the time in the world." The First retorts.
Mya walks towards the First and goes to push her hands through the non-corporeal force, but she is stunned to find out that the First is now touchable.
'That can't be good,' Mya thinks.
"Oh but it is, love. You see, I now have the power to touch, to feel. But not enough though," The First answers, "My best bud has helped me in achieving this state mine. And you know who that is?"
'MC Hammer?' Mya thinks sarcastically.
"Oh god no!" The First exclaims, "You."
'And how, may I ask, have I done so?' Mya asks.
"You have great power within, I've just borrowed it," The First informs.
'So you mean that I have no strength whatsoever?' Mya questions.
"Exactly," The First says happily.
'Great, absolutely great. Lemme guess, now you're going to take over the world with your newly found powers and destroy every living thing on Earth. Anything else you wanna tell me about?' Mya thinks sarcastically.
"No, that just about sums it up." The First says.
Mya flails her hands over her head in frustration. She can't believe that she is still stuck in the battle that she chose to leave. She starts pacing around the warehouse trying to sort out everything and trying and figure out what to do.
'What do I do, what do I do?' Mya rambles, 'I can go tell Buffy and the gang. Yes, go tell Buffy and the gang.'
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," The First advises.
'And why not?' Mya asks.
"You'll pay," The First utters.
'Sorry, don't have any money on me,' Mya replies and rushes towards the door. She barely gets outside before being greeted by the First.
"You heard me, you try and you try, but you'll fail. And then you'll pay." The First says grimly.
'Why don't you try and stop me and we'll see who's paying who.' Mya comes back with.
"Oh, you're in for it missy." The First says harshly.
Mya runs for her life in the direction of Buffy's house but she is tripped by the First who grabs her ankle and prevents her from moving. Mya grabs at the ground trying to push her self away and she kicks her foot trying to loosen the First's grip, but it's no use. She has no super-strength, and without her strength, she's no match against the First. The First then pulls her away from her direction and flips her over. Mya flies through the air and she hits the ground with a loud thud. Mya groans as her body aches but she tries once again to get away from the First's hands. But she's once again caught by the First and is held up against the wall by her throat.
"Did you really think you could escape me?" The First asks while holding Mya in the air. The First's tightens it grip on Mya's neck and its eyes light up as Mya's face contorts with pain.
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"Ok you guys, are you ready?" Buffy asks while firmly holding a sword in her hand.
"Ready," Willow, Xander, Spike, Anya and the potentials say as they gather and head out to the door.
"Dawn, try and find out as much as you can with Giles and stay safe, all right?" Buffy says.
"Don't worry I got everything under control." Dawn says confidently.
"And if anything goes happens-" Buffy tries to say.
"Call you on your cell phone, I know I know! Just get on it!" Dawn says, annoyed.
"All right," Buffy says, "OK everyone. We're headed to the cave in the Christmas tree lot. Make sure you always have someone with you, don't fight alone. If you see anything suspicious, just let me know."
Everyone nods in approval and they head out the door to find the Dagger of Cheninmae.
"All right, Giles. Let's get to it!" Dawn says excitedly.
"Yes, let's do." Giles replies.
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Buffy and the gang arrive at the Christmas tree lot, weapons at hand. They quickly survey the area making sure that there aren't any disturbances and then take a look down into the hole.
"You ready guys?" Buffy asks.
They all nod and one by one they head into the darkness below. Once they are all in the cave Buffy checks to make sure everyone is all right. They cautiously walk through the cave hoping that there aren't any harbingers in the area. But, before they have stepped 3 paces, 5 bringers lung at the gang. Buffy and Spike both fight 2 harbingers back to back. The other 3 are left to the potentials and the other Scoobies. Buffy and Spike make a great team. Both experienced fighters are going full force against the bringers. It doesn't take long before Spike snaps the neck of the first bringer and Buffy decapitates the other. They trade glances at each other, making sure that they're ok. The potentials are doing good, but not as good as the couple. Every potential gets a punch and a kick at the bringer but it still seems to get back up and put up a fight. Xander quickly comes up to help the girls as he decapitates one bringer and goes on to the next. The girls split up one the last 2 bringers hoping that this fight is going to be over. Finally, Rona swings her axe around and proudly cuts the head off one of the last bringers. Not too long after, Xander once again decapitates the final bringer.
"Everyone ok?" Buffy asks.
They all nod once again while they pant off the fight. They all continue walking using the torches on the walls of the cave for light. Buffy and Spike lead the group into the back of the cave where they suspect the dagger to be. They finally reach to the end of the cave to find nothing.
"That was a waste," Rona says while dropping her axe to her side.
"Do you think there's even anything in here?" Kennedy asks.
"That's what Willow's spell showed us," Buffy answers, "It showed us this cave. Where exactly it is, I have no clue."
All the girls sigh and start looking around the walls of the cave trying to find an entrance or opening of some sort. They walk around in groups of two, scanning the walls. They run their hands over the old cave lining hoping to find something, anything at the least. They search for about an hour until Vi finds something.
"Uh, guys, I think I found something." Vi shyly says.
Buffy, Spike, Willow, and Xander all head to the part of the cave that Vi is standing by. They all take a look at the script written on the walls, wondering what it says.
"Wonder what it says," Xander ponders aloud.
"You shall conquer, you shall defeat. What you need, is what's beneath," Spike reads.
"What?" Willow, Xander, and Buffy all exclaim.
"That's what it says. 'You shall conquer, you shall defeat. What you need, is what's beneath,'" Spike repeats.
The whole gang wonders about what this message reads. Everyone stands in their positions pondering and scraping through their minds trying to decode this riddle. On the other hand, Spike walks about looking at the ceiling of the cave trying to find something. Everyone is concentrating too hard to notice until they hear scraping.
"Spike, what are you doing?" Buffy asks.
Spike doesn't respond. He is determined to find the dagger and he's going to dig with his hands if he has to. Buffy grabs her axe and starts pulling away the dirt, helping Spike uncover what may be hidden below. In a couple minutes time, they find a wooden box. Spike and Buffy both heave the box out of the hole and place it on the ground. Spike raises his axe and breaks the lock on the front. Buffy pulls the lock off and cautiously opens the chest. They open the box to find a long sword. Buffy picks up the sword out of the box and gets the feel of it.
"Guess this is it," Buffy says while swinging the sword around. "I kinda like this. I feel…"
"Manly?" Xander helps.
Buffy glares daggers at him and puts the sword at her side.
"I guess we've found what we were looking for." Buffy announces, "Now let's get outta here."
Everyone quickly files out of the cave and they relish in their victory. They have found the Dagger of Cheninmae, the weapon that can defeat the First. They finally feel like they've done something right.