A/N: Sorry for the extreme lack of not updating the story. It's just most of the time I've been busy on the computer. "Having fun" busy, not "writing stories" busy, but I'll promise to go back to the "writing" type of busy, with the occasional "playing games on the computer" busy, so here's the fourth chapter! And thanks for the reviews!
Destiny: Chapter 4
The demon roared, or rather, growled loudly. In one hand, it was grasping one of the entrance doors, and raised it as if it prepared to throw it at both Spike and Willow. Willow reached her hand out in the air in front of her, and said something. The door flew from the demon's hand to the side of the lobby, where it crashed into a vending machine, causing the vending machine to fall down to the floor with a crash that echoed throughout the lobby.
"I need to go warn the others!" Willow said to Spike as she got up and ran out of sight.
"Right," Spike said cautiously. He stood. "Guess I'll take on the Big Bad myself." He sighed, and then ran at the demon, preparing to tackle him to the ground. The demon stepped to the side, while knocking Spike to the ground instead with one if it's clawed hands.
Willow looked on at the battle of Spike vs. the Doxalton demon from the hallway. A twinge of guilt developed in her as she stared on at the fight, but she ignored it as she turned, and ran down the hallway to Xander's room. As she neared the room, she saw Faith.
"Faith!" She cried out, halting to stop. Xander's door was closed, and as Willow tried the handle, she figured it must be locked too.
"What's wrong?" Faith asked hurriedly. "Where's the fire?"
"Why is his door locked?" Willow asked worriedly, trying to open the door even though she knew it was locked. Any second now, the Doxalton demon could knock Spike unconscious, hunt down Xander, and—Willow gulped at the thought—and possibly even kill Xander. "I need to warn him!" Willow said through clenched teeth.
"He's getting changed into decent clothes," Faith answered slowly just in case Willow broke down and attacked her. "I figured we can all hang out together tonight at the Bronze. You know how it is, a big apocalypse is coming and we need to party, right? We need to shake off these stressed feelings out of our bodies by dancing."
Willow ignored Faith, and struggled against the doorknob. Hoping to suddenly have Slayer strength, she grasped it hard, and tried to remove the doorknob, or, perhaps break it so the lock was broken. "Come on!" Willow urged softly, speaking almost as she wanted the door to unlock for her will. A large roar echoed across the lobby faintly, and reached Willow and Faith.
"What was that?" Faith asked as she looked down the hallway.
"That's it," Willow said confidently, and more loudly. The demon's footsteps echoed as it grew closer to them, and she was done playing games. Her hand hovering above the doorknob, she said something, and the door flew open. Luckily, Xander was putting on his shoes, and had on jeans and a white T-shirt.
"Willow?" Xander looked up from tying his shoelace. "What's the matter?" He asked, standing up.
"Xander," Willow breathed. "Xander, we need to get out of here…" then she added as another roar echoed around them, "Now."
"Why? What's the matter?" He asked again. "And plus, what was that roar?"
"I'll explain everything along the way," she answered as she looked from Xander to Faith, then back to Xander. "We just need to get you out of here safely. I won't let it kill you," she added, sadness looming on the edge of her voice.
"Let what kill me?" Xander asked, now as worried as Willow.
Faith had a curious look on her face, and added, "Who's going to kill him?"
"A Doxalton demon," Willow answered, and made no time for Xander and Faith to reply. "He kills those who have visions of the future. I don't know why," she added as Xander opened his mouth to speak. "All I have is the information from Spike, and he isn't very useful at some times."
"Okay, I'm not so much confused, as that wasn't information hardly," Xander laughed, "but that's where the dinosaur-like roar came from?" Willow nodded frantically. "And it's going to kill me?" Willow nodded again. Xander was about to say something else when Faith spoke up.
"Wait a sec. You're saying that the Doxingthing demon kills only those who have visions of the future, right?" She asked Willow, who nodded once again. "Then…" she started, then trailed off as realization finally hit her. "You're the one who has visions!" Faith turned to Xander and eyed him appreciatively. Willow saw that look in Faith's eyes and was immediately jealous.
"Yeah," Xander answered monotonously, and looked to the ground. He had a grim look on his face. "Guess the secret is out, huh, Will?"
Willow also had a grim look on her face. "Yeah, but who cares." Then, to change the subject, she said, "Look, Xander, we have to go somewhere. Away from here…away from the demon," she added, recovering from a curious Faith gave her. "And not just you and me, Xander. Everybody—the potentials, Buffy, you—" she glanced at Faith—"Spike, Giles, Andrew—everybody needs to leave town in case the Doxalton demon follows us right back to home." Willow could hear people screaming in the distance, somewhere from in the hospital. She could hear people pass their doorway, mostly doctors and patients who were able to run. The ground vibrated with each running step people took. Another roar echoed in the distance, and more people screamed. Willow was glad that the potentials that got hurt were upstairs instead of downstairs.
"It doesn't work that way," came a voice from the doorway. Willow turned, expecting to see the demon, but instead saw—
"Spike? What happened?" Spike was battered slightly, his leather coat torn at one shoulder, and he was limping slightly.
Spike ignored Willow's question, and said, "The demon's only got his eye cast on one thing, and that's Xander. It will only go after Xander. But now that we're protecting him, the demon will probably want to kill all of us."
"How do you know that Xander--?" Willow began, but trailed off.
"Us vampires, good hearing…do the math."
"But why does this thing want to kill Xander?" Faith asked this question. "I mean, I get that it wants to kill Xander, but what's the purpose of the demon killing Xander."
"That's the problem, see? A couple summers ago, about the time when she was dead—" Willow figured that he was referring to Buffy—"I was bored and decided to look at the various books Giles had. I came across the Doxalton demon, and read a few theories on why it killed the people who could see into the future. One: it wants to collect all the powers from people who have power. For example, he'll take your power—" he acknowledged Willow, who frowned—"he'll take Xander's power, and the Slayers' power. Then, once he has all the power he needs, he'll destroy the world."
Faith shot an alarming look to Spike who nodded as if to say, "It's true."
"Another theory is that he kills the people who have visions of the future because he feels as if they don't deserve to live—"
"Hey!"
"Easy, whelp, I didn't write the book. Anyway, and the last theory—which doesn't really fall under the theories marked 'Xander'—is that the demon finds vampires with a soul, and kills them so the vampire spends an eternity in Hell."
"So, is it going to kill Xander?" Willow asked worriedly, bringing the theories back to Xander.
"That's the problem, pet—" Willow blushed after Spike acknowledged her as 'pet'—"when it was just me and Dru, the Doxalton demon was after one of those people who could see into the future. I think he was part of our line, something like that because he was very tight in our gang. Maybe he was a vampire, I don't really know. But he did have the marking of a vampire with a soul."
"And that marking is…?" Xander asked.
"Back then, when a vampire was cursed with a soul, they usually have a mark of a cross burnt on the left shoulder. It was usually done by the vampire who sired them, and, from what I heard, burnt terribly, too. It stopped about the time when Angel got a soul, though." Spike shook his head. "What a shame."
"So, is it after Xander, or you?" Willow asked.
Spike shrugged. "Don't know. Maybe the both of us." He leaned against the wall. "In any case, that Doxalton demon fled for its life after I beat it down with a chair."
Willow felt a rush of gratitude towards Spike, then noticed something. "What happened to your arm?" She asked.
Spike looked at his left hand. "Think it's broken, or possibly I strained it." He tried to move his fingers of his left hand. "In any case, I don't think I can write anymore," he added a little brightly.
"Okay," Willow tried her best to summarize everything, "a demon is after Xander…or Spike, possibly…this psycho preacher guy is on our tail, along with the First, who wants to kill all of us, I bet, and we've got hundreds of girls at home who aren't even Slayers yet, so that's a bust. What if that preacher summoned the demon? And the only way to kill the preacher guy is to kill the demon?" Willow guessed.
"Doesn't work that way," Spike said. "It seems the preacher guy is only going after the potentials. And plus, don't think he needs more strength to go along with his already superhuman strength."
"Well, who did summon the demon?" Willow asked. Nobody answered, nobody made any comment as they just stared at the floor or out the window.
Finally, Xander spoke. "Buffy…" he began, but trailed off as he closed his eyes.
"What?" Willow asked, but it was a statement of knowing what Xander meant.
"The demon will attack her…"
"The Doxalton demon?" Willow breathed, and then added, "Does she win?"
Xander opened his eyes, tears visible. "Unless someone rescues her soon, then…" he sighed, then continued. "It was all very vague to me. It was like I was there, but not actually there. There were—" he corrected himself—"are two people that are going to fight the demon. One dies."
"And who's that one?" Willow asked eagerly.
Xander was about to speak when Faith said, "Spike."
Both Willow and Xander looked at Faith. "What?" Willow asked, frowning.
"He left. I think he went to help Buffy."
He could see her in the distance, fighting off the demon. The demon knocked her down to the ground, leaving her no time to get back up, leaving her exposed so he could bring his clawed hand down on her.
After Faith reported that Spike left, they all swept out the doors quickly. Still weak, not being up to running, Willow decided to stay behind with Xander, leaving Faith to run ahead. Even though they weren't running, they were walking at a fast pace. "So, Xander, tell me one thing, did you have a…vision…of what would happen at the vineyard, did you…tell anyone? Why did you let yourself suffer when you could have saved yourself?"
"Well, I figured that going in there, risking myself to at least save somebody, I would be a better man," Xander replied.
Willow looked to him, frowning slightly, and wondered why Xander needed to be a better man. "But why do you need to be a better man? You already are."
"I guess I wanted to be the better man because of what happened last year with Anya," Xander said, but half-heartily with a tone that meant he was just guessing partly.
"So you risked your life for Anya?"
"And the rest of the gang. I thought, 'Well, if the apocalypse is coming, might as well make a lasting impression on everyone.' I wanted everyone to remember me if I did die that night."
"So, what you did that night, was out of honor?"
Xander nodded. "I guess." But a few seconds later, he changed his answer. "I went in there, ready to fight, or die in the process. Because in the past everybody was always saving me sometimes, I wanted to repay them."
"Oh…I get it."
They were still not closer to the fight of Buffy, Spike, and Faith vs. the demon even though they were about running, but still walking.
"Sometimes I wish that I don't have this power," Xander said, breaking the silence. "It's like a curse at times when I think about it," he continued.
"Why?" Willow insisted, a bit shocked. "I think it's great that you have this power. You can save lives with it."
"There are only two reasons that I can think of, Willow, so bear with me. One: I shouldn't mettle with knowing something before it happens. Sure, it saves lives, but what if I do the wrong thing? What if that throws the whole universe out of balance?"
"Okay, you're reminding me of Doc Brown from Back to the Future. Xander, you're saving lives with this power," Willow repeated.
"I know. Some people think that the future of our lives is already written while others think that the future is not yet carved in stone and that our future is what we make it. I'm with the people who think that our future is not carved in stone yet, and we make our future."
"I don't get what you're saying, Xander."
"What I'm saying is, what if, with these visions I have, I'm already making their future for them?"
"So you're saying what if you are the cause if the rest of their life is bad or good? But Xander, you said it yourself. The future isn't written."
"But what if I'm making their future written?" Xander said as they reached the fight at last. Willow was about to ask Xander what the second reason was when Xander said, "Let's go help them."
Buffy was knocked out, lying on the ground. She was the first person Xander and Willow ran to. Xander knelt on the ground next to Buffy, checking her pulse. "She's still alive," Xander reported excitedly. "She's just knocked out."
Willow breathed a sigh of relief. "Thank God," she whispered to the sky above, then looked back at the fight. Faith was trying her best to beat the demon when finally the demon threw her into a park bench nearby.
"That hurts," Faith demanded as she got up. "And I'm through with playing games." She ran at the demon. This time, the demon swung a fist at Faith who ducked in time to avoid the clawed fist. "Yo, Willow, I think I could use some magic done over here!" She yelled as the demon swung another clawed fist at her and she fell to the ground.
"Just a minute!" She yelled back as she saw Spike on the ground. At first, she thought he might be dead, but remembered that he was already dead. Still, she thought as she cast a spell on the demon so the demon couldn't punch Faith, it wouldn't hurt to check if he's conscious, at least.
"Thanks for the spell, Willow!" Faith shouted as the demon's punch didn't make contact. She regained ground immediately and continued fighting.
"Spike!" Willow shouted as she dropped down to the ground next to the unconscious—or conscious—vampire. "Spike!" Willow called again, shaking his shoulder. Spike was lying on his back and, at least Willow thought she heard, mumbled something. "What?" Willow questioned and tried to hear what Spike was saying.
"A pure soul…" Spike mumbled. Willow leaned in closer, trying to not be distracted by the overhead thunder and lightning. "Tell Buffy…the power to beat it…is a pure soul…"
"What 'it'?" Willow shouted as another rumble of thunder came in. "Which 'it'?"
Spike said something else, although Willow couldn't hear him as more thunder rolled in, along with a flash of lightning.
"Willow," Faith panted as she came up to her. Willow sighed, and stood up. "The demon disappeared," Faith stated, gesturing to a circular burnt patch of grass to her left, where she had been fighting the demon.
"Interesting," Willow examined as she bent down to get a closer look. "Are you sure it wasn't lightning?"
Faith shrugged. "I don't know, but the demon was standing right there one minute, then the next, it was gone."
"At least it's gone," Xander stated. He was watching the whole fight from another park bench nearby.
"And no one died," Willow added brightly as she stood back up. "So is Buffy okay?" She asked Xander. "I mean, is she conscious?"
"A little bit. At least, as conscious as she is so she can get back home." Xander stood up.
"Well, Spike is a little bit out," Willow pointed out. She squinted at the horizon. "Daylight is almost coming. Xander, you stay here with Buffy while Faith and I carry Spike back home."
"Nah, I can help Buffy home," Xander informed as he helped Buffy get to her legs.
"Thanks, Xander," Buffy said weakly.
"I'll walk you home," Xander offered. "That was a pretty good fight you put up," Xander judged by a thin cut along Buffy's cheek.
"Yeah," she sighed. "Hey, I didn't know the doctor released you from the hospital."
Xander forced a laugh. "Yeah, I didn't either. He was in a rush to…get away from the hospital quickly that he released me early."
Faith knelt down next to Spike. "Are you sure he's unconscious? What if he's dead?"
Willow shrugged. "Faith, he's always dead."
Faith laughed a bit. "I always forget that they're dead," she replied.
"Buffy…?" Spike mumbled.
"I think he's coming to," Faith said. "Spike? Spike, can you hear me!"
Spike groaned. "I can bloody well hear you. No need to shout."
"Fine," Faith replied irritated. "I was just checking to see if you were all right." She stood up.
Sensing the demon around the area, Willow decided to cut the happiness short. "Can you stand up?" She asked Spike. "Or possibly walk?"
"Yeah. I think so," he added as he got up from the ground. Willow could tell the vampire needed fixing up, especially his left hand. "The demon…it almost killed Buffy…"
"It almost killed you," Willow said. "And if we haven't come to rescue you guys from the demon, it might have successfully killed you."
Despite minor scratches on Spike's face and a bruise on his cheek, he grinned. "I'm a vampire. I'm already dead."
"The demon could have staked you, then," Willow said.
"Come on, guys, let's go home already," Faith broke their little conversation, and left for home.
"We need to patch you up when we get home," Willow told Spike as they followed Faith. "Make way for Dr. Rosenberg."
"You don't need to worry about me. I'll heal."
"Okay." Then Willow added, "Just promise me that you won't get into any other fights where you come out seriously injured."
Spike grinned. "Fine, I'll keep that promise. Now you promise me one thing."
Willow frowned. What promise does Spike want me to keep? He never makes promises. "What?"
"Promise me that you'll look after Xander." Willow was about to reply when Spike continued, "And don't keep this promise for me, keep it for Xander, for the two of you. If you guys do make it out of this apocalypse, get married, have kids, and have a good life together. And," he added, "if I don't make it out of the final battle—the final apocalypse—tell Buffy…tell her to live. Tell her to live her life…even if it has to be without me. Tell her not to worry about me, and that wherever I am, that I'm—"
Willow cut in on Spike's speech. "Whoa, wait a minute, what are you saying? You'll survive the final battle. You won't die."
Spike sighed, bothered by the fact that Willow intruded on his little speech. "The way I see it, a warrior has to die sometime. Might as well make the final battle my last. Just do me a favor and keep my promise, okay?"
They reached Buffy's house, sunlight barely creeping up on them. Willow nodded determinedly. "I will."
They went in to the house.
A/N: I hope you enjoyed this chapter! By the way, the Doxalton demon will have a lot to do with Caleb and the First Evil. And I'll try to get two chapters out at the same time from now on, so you guys have more to read before I get the next two chapters out.