A/N: Okay, here it is - the final chapter of part one. I probably won't begin writing part two until around Christmas (and winter break, yay!) so maybe you should read this slowly... I think this chapter answers a question or two, but raises a whole ton, so if you're confused, ask, and if I can clarify without ruining the plot, I will. Okay. Now, go ahead and read. And review dangit! I can't survive without reviews!!

P.S. This chapter is rated R for semi-graphic violence and one solid expletive.
Actually, there's a couple, but only one that might upset someone. Heh.

~Chelle~




When the door to the chemistry lab was finally forced open, the Bringers found an empty room. They turned their sightless faces to and fro, picking up the ambience noises that hummed and pinged around them.

The leader (or at least the one who was in front) stepped cautiously into the room, not believing that the three girls could have found a way to escape from this room when he could not find a way in. He walked down the first row of sinks and pipes, listening.

One step. Two steps. The Bringer paused as he noticed a hissing noise in front of him and to the left. Three steps. He turned an ear towards the sound and moved to take another step.

Click. FWOOOOOSH!!!

The Bringer felt the heat moments before his body erupted in flames. Shrieking, he stumbled backwards into his comrades and together they fell into a smouldering heap.

Dawn cranked the gas valve closed and tossed the Bunsen lighter to the floor as she raced past the burning Bringers and out the door, her friends on her heels. They were met with the remaining five demons, but Jade wasted no time and cleaved her axe through the air, effectively chopping the nearest one in two.

Amanda pulled a bottle out of the sac she carried and threw it at one of the Bringers. It broke open and immediately its skin began to burn. She grabbed another bottle and hurled it, not even bothering to check the labels - she had only chosen the most corrosive chemicals, so it really didn't matter what she picked.

A hand grabbed Dawn's shoulder and she whipped around, coming face-to-face with a smouldering Bringer. She tried to pull free but its grip was strong; she'd have to fight. Memory rewinding to a combat lesson Buffy had given her over the summer, she placed her foot on its knee and forced it into an arch away from her attackers body, effectively causing it to lose its balance. Then she slammed the heel of her hand into its jaw, snapping its head back. Lifting a fallen sword from the floor, she plunged it into the demon's body and watched in satisfaction as it fell to the ground, dead.

Two of the Bringers were now lying in chemically-burnt piles of flesh, which still left two to deal with. One brandished a flaming sword, and Jade wanted a challenge. She let it lunge towards her and at the last moment she stepped to the side. Its momentum caused it to continue past her, and she buried the axe into its back. The Bringer fell to the ground.

Amanda took the flaming sword from the dead demon's grasp and moved menacingly towards the final Bringer. It rushed towards her, but she didn't flinch. Their swords met in a clash of metal and a flurry of flames. The Bringer attacked fervently, but Amanda somehow managed to fight with equal ferocity.

She felt something burning inside her, felt it taking hold of her. It bubbled to the surface, sharpening her movements and enhancing her strength. In moments she had felled the creature, not quite knowing how, but realizing that this was just the beginning.

"She's a Potential," Dawn whispered. Jade eyed the lanky brunette sceptically, but nodded in agreement; a normal girl could not have done what Amanda just did.

Amanda glanced between the two girls and furrowed her brow. "What's a Potential?" she asked, but never received an answer because at that moment windows broke and doors burst open, and suddenly the trio was surrounded by Bringers once again.

****

Buffy led the way down the main hall, pausing only to stare at the bloody pulp that had been Shawn. 'That could have been my sister,' she thought. As if he'd read her thoughts, Spike lay a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"We'd best keep moving, love," he urged her. She nodded numbly and quickened her pace to the second floor stairs.

****

Jade grabbed Amanda's arm and pulled her back. She and Dawn flanked the Potential and held their weapons at the ready, prepared to protect the girl with their lives. Dawn took a quick count and realized that there were at least twenty Bringers closing on them.

Amanda tried to move forward but Jade pushed her back. "What are you doing?" she demanded. Jade risked a glance over her shoulder at the girl.

"These demons are here to kill you," she responded with frankness. "It's my job to protect you…well, sort of."

"I don't get it," Amanda muttered, fear evident in her features.

"Neither do I," Jade whispered and turned to face the crowd of demons once more. As one, the Bringers closed around the teens in a wall of solid menace. "Lord help us," Jade prayed as she launched the preliminary blow that separated a Bringer from its head.

****

The sound of breaking glass caused Spike's unbeating heart to…well, it didn't beat, or even jump, of course, but he certainly felt anxious and more than a little concerned for his Nibblet.

Buffy, driven by fear-induced adrenaline, practically leapt up the last flight of stairs. Metal meeting metal rang in her ears, and she stifled a scream as she saw her sister standing in the middle of a heated battle, sweaty, bloody and, surprisingly, holding her own.

Despite the fact that her sister was in no way defeated, Buffy nevertheless furiously launched herself into the fray and took out two Bringers simultaneously. Spike came right behind her and cracked two demon skulls together, getting them out of the way - he'd kill them later.

The boy knelt at the top of the stairs and knocked an arrow into place. He looked up and took aim at the Bringer fighting Jade and pulled back the string. The Bringer grabbed her by the neck and lifted her a foot off the ground; high enough to piss her off. She grasped its wrists and pulled her feet up, placing them on the demon's face. It turned its head to and fro, trying to dispel her, but she persisted. Finally the soles of her shoes rested against her enemy's jaw line and with a firm push she snapped its neck.

As the Bringer died they fell to the ground and Jade realized in horror that Zeke was here, he was firing an arrow, and where she had once stood there was now a clear path to Dawn.

The image from her dream flashed before her eyes. Zeke standing menacingly behind Dawn, Dawn's dead body lying beside her, the burning Ubervamp as she thrust the torch into its body…this was the consequence of revealing herself. She would lose everyone she cared about, one at a time, until there was no one left that knew her name, no one left to tell her secret.

No! Jade closed her eyes and focused, pushing the sounds of the raging battle from her head, concentrating only on the magic. A ward of protection was simple enough. She formed the spell in her mind and then released it from her fingers.

The arrow hovered in the air above her, inches from Dawn's unsuspecting skull. Jade stood slowly and plucked it from the air. She turned it over in her hands, the emotions from earlier, of hate and fear and anger and loss, warred in her heart before she finally let them go as she plunged the stick into the face of the nearest Bringer.

She met Zeke's eyes over the melee, and she sent him a message with her glare: Fuck you! He tossed the bow to the side and drew his daggers; she beat the shit out of a Bringer who thought he could take her.

Buffy and Spike made short work of the Bringers that opposed them, cutting a path to Dawn and Amanda. They reached the two girls and Spike stepped between Amanda and the demon she was fighting, tearing into it with his bare hands, punching and gouging until his fear for Dawn was replaced with satisfaction from the carnage he'd created.

Buffy pulled her sister into a quick hug before turning her left and right, inspecting her wounds. A few shallow cuts, a bruised shoulder, but otherwise she seemed fine. Dawn gave her a crooked smile before Buffy launched back into the battle.

There were only about ten Bringers left, Zeke having loosed his deadly knives on several unsuspecting victims while Buffy and Spike killed quickly and efficiently. The young girls willingly stepped out of the fight for a while and watched the others work.

Zeke was quick with his daggers, felling demons before his hands even appeared to move. Buffy and Spike fought like a well-oiled machine, back to back, and when one sensed the other was in trouble, they switched positions. It never ceased to amaze Dawn how beautiful the duo looked when they fought, whether partners or enemies; one of the best knock-out drag-out battles she'd seen was between the two blonds.

Amanda watched the scene with growing fascination. She'd never dreamed that demons were real, yet when Spike morphed into vamp face she found she wasn't frightened. In fact, what she really wanted to do was ask questions until she was blue in the face, but that could wait until after the life or death altercation before her.

Jade, on the other hand, wasn't paying any attention to her surroundings. She had sunk against the wall, her eyes unfocused and her arms hanging limp at her sides. The images that flashed before her eyes were not of blond warriors and dead demons, but rather a piece of the never-ending puzzle being cryptically acted out for her by the Powers That Be.

****

She felt the scratchy sand beneath her cheek and palms. Wasn't I on the mesa? She stood with some difficulty and discovered that she was standing in what could only be described as a giant sandbox of a desert.

"Ah, there you are," came a voice behind her. She turned around and had to squint against the sun. Black leather, check. Platinum locks, check. But who was this guy?

"You don't know me," he answered as if she'd voiced her query aloud, the cockney timbre of his voice sending a shiver up her spine. He grinned wolfishly at her as she visibly quailed from him.

"You're a vampire," she whispered, unconsciously taking a step away from him. His hearty laugh came from deep inside his chest, but it was patronizing and sinister.

"Well now," he murmured, closing the distance between them in three swift strides, "how did you now that, eh?" A cold hand reached out and stroked her cheek; she swallowed the scream that threatened to leap from between her clenched teeth.

Another man appeared over his shoulder, and her eyes widened. It was this vampire, but very human, very…humble. Not at all the cocky ass that was descending upon her neck.

"Leave her alone!" the tweed-clad man demanded, his voice wavering and not at all convincing. The vampire pulled away from her like she had burned him. He growled, then turned towards his counterpart.

Suddenly the two men were fighting, the dark one pummelling the light one into submission. Tara appeared beside her.

"What do you see?" she asked the girl. A delicate frown, a tilt of the head.

"They are the same man, the good and the evil warring. The evil appears to be winning."

Tara nodded. "That is how it appears, but what do you see," she pressed.

That's when the girl noticed the woman standing off to the side, her blond hair streaming in a non-existent breeze. Her pure white gown flowed like quicksilver around her ankles. The sunlight glinted off her image and she glowed like something holy.

And it was in the instant that the mysterious woman approached the men and touched them, bringing them together into one being, minus glasses, minus duster, that the girl realized who the woman was.

"Buffy?" she whispered. The woman didn't look up from where she held the sobbing man in her arms, the man who on the surface looked menacing, but wore his heart on his sleeve.

Tara touched her arm. "You should ask them. It's what you came here for."

The girl nodded and walked towards the pair huddled in the sand. Buffy looked up as she approached and she seemed benevolent.

"There's something I need to know," the girl asked. Buffy didn't respond, only regarded her with curiosity. The man looked up at her and the girl couldn't help but stare back. She knew him, she'd met him somewhere, but…she couldn't recall where.

"Who am I?" she asked, eyes never leaving the blue ones that searched her own.

"You know who you are," Buffy replied, "but you deny it. You run from the truth in an effort to avoid pain, but that is not your path, daughter. You are pain. You are destruction. And you are also our only hope."

****

Buffy was fighting three stubborn Bringers and didn't notice when Spike fell to the ground, a demon at his neck. He struggled, but it gripped his neck firmly. He felt it pulling, felt it stretching, and suddenly realized he was about to be beheaded.

He tried to call out, tried to yell to Buffy, but his windpipe was closed, and all the energy he had left was directed toward extricating himself from the living guillotine.

And then the demon was falling on top of him. He looked over the dead Bringer's shoulder and saw Dawn standing there, knife in hand, hands covered in his assailant's blood. She had sliced its throat. For him.

Despite the pain in his neck, he gathered the girl in his arms. Dawn felt numb. She couldn't feel his strong body wrapped securely around hers, couldn't feel the slick liquid on her hands. Which was probably good, because if she could feel it oozing between her fingers, she would have retched.

Never before had she truly bloodied her hands. It was different when she had cut herself; she was scared and angry and it had hurt. But this, this was…death. She had dealt death with a knife which she still clutched in her hand.

Is this how Faith felt?

The knife dropped to the floor.

****

"Why am I the only hope? Can't you have another hope?" the girl begged. "I don't think I can bear this weight on my shoulders."

Buffy smiled. "Don't worry, my child. You are not alone. You will never again be alone."

"Why is that?"

"Because you've found me," Buffy answered, as if it were the most obvious answer. The girl nodded in understanding.

"Then I shall go," she whispered, and disappeared.

****

Jade awoke to find Zeke hovering above her. She sat up quickly and took in her surroundings. All the Bringers were dead, and Buffy was currently in deep conversation with Amanda. Spike and Dawn were standing at a nearby water fountain and he was helping her wash blood from her hands.

Zeke reached out to touch her, but Jade pulled away in disgust. "I thought you were done killing my friends," she spat.

She was satisfied to see pain cross his features before settling once again into his mask of indifference. Glaring hatefully at him once more (for good measure), she rose to her feet and cautiously approached Buffy.

"I need to ask you something," the girl spoke, interrupting the conversation between the Slayer and her protégé. Buffy looked at her quizzically. The look in Jade's eyes made her uneasy, especially given the way she had fought: clearly well-trained and her animal ferocity rivalled her own. She nodded and allowed the girl to speak.

Jade stared at her intently before speaking. "You're strong; stronger than a human. And I know the man with you is a vampire."

Spike looked up when he was mentioned. If he hadn't been curious before, he was now.

"You're right," Buffy admitted. Jade didn't respond. She'd known the answer. The vision had told her.

"You're the Slayer - the one girl chosen in all the world to fight the forces of darkness. You are destined to stand alone, but…you don't. You are unconventional. And that is why I'm here."

"I don't understand," the Slayer replied. The others had begun to form a circle around the women, watching the conversation like a tennis match.

"Neither did I, but you showed me. I cannot run from my destiny any longer - it has found me."

"Jade," Zeke growled warningly, but she cut him off with a wave of her hand.

"This is it, Zeke. This is what we've been searching for," she whispered. He stared at her, a mixture of anger, fear and expectation on his face.

"I've been searching for the Warrior. I was told I would meet you, but I didn't know - I had no idea -"

"Get on with it!" Amanda yelled, clearly becoming agitated by all the cryptic talk that she didn't understand.

"I am the Prophet," Jade said, a tranquility in her voice that surprised even her. She knelt before Buffy and bowed her head.

"I am here to serve you."