Disclaimer: I do not own anything you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help on this idea too.

This would take place after 'The Contest of Champions'. Enjoy people.

Guest 1: Thanks for the review. That will come sometime.

Guest 2: Thanks.

Chapter 61- A friend at peace

Earth-92

The Scooby Gang were in their base, preparing more tools for the hunting of Vampires and other Demons in the night.

The whole thing with the Contest had been traumatizing for them all, whether they had been forced to participate, or forced to watch, though obviously it was worse for those who had been forced to participate.

Yet, due to the memory wipe spell that had been spread over the Multiverse, at least their secret work still remained secret, which was good for all of them.

Sadly, now they had more trauma in their lives to work through, like almost all of the Heroes in the Multiverse.

But, being who they were, they would work through it and do their jobs, like they always did, because they were Heroes. They lived for the safety of other people more than they lived for themselves.

"I think this is a good one", Xander lifted a stake gun he had made, which fired stakes at the speed of an arrow, making it near impossible for anyone who wasn't aware of the incoming weapon to dodge.

"Nice work, Xander", Buffy complimented him, when suddenly, Xander staggered around a bit.

"Xander, you okay?" Willow inquired, as everyone watched him in concern.

Then suddenly Xander shook his head and looked around at all of them with his one eye, his expression different from usual.

"Huh? My man's holding a gun, that always was so exciting", Xander commented while looking at the gun in his hand, putting it down, before touching his face, and then his chest. "Wow, it feels even better from his point of view."

"Uhh, Xander, did you lose it?" Dawn asked, everyone cringing a bit.

Then Tara's eyes widened as she used her aura powers to sense something, Willow sensing it at the exact same time.

"That is not Xander", Tara was the first one to tell them. "Its Anya."

There was pin drop silence for a few seconds.

"WHAT?" Everyone else went together at that point.

"Bloody hell!" Giles then finally said, looking at Xander, or rather Anya in his body. "Anya, it is-"

"Good to see you too, Giles", Anya in Xander's body hopped cheerfully, then hugged Giles, him having a weird look, before he smiled and hugged her back.

"It is lovely to see you here, Anya", Giles commented, as she then looked at Tara.

"Good to see you're back to life, I would have skinned that scumbag myself for doing that to you if Willow hadn't done it first", Anya assured Tara, sharing a hug with her too, Tara smiling and hugging her back.

"Thank you, Anya. It is so good to see you…..kind of see you at least", Tara said, before Anya embraced Willow, who was caught off-guard, but returned it anyway.

"Hey Anya", Willow muttered.

As they parted, Anya quickly hugged Spike as well.

"Bloody hell!" Spike muttered, as she was in Xander's body. "Still, good to see you too, luv."

"Oh I know, Spike", Anya said, before hugging Buffy and Dawn in quick succession as well, while sharing a nod with Faith. "So, how is everyone here?"

"The usual", Buffy sighed. "But, how are you in Xander's body?"

"Not that its not amusing", Faith added.

"Well, in case you don't know, my soul is D'Hoffryn's property", Anya revealed, making them exchange looks of sadness.

"We're sorry, Anya", Willow told her with utmost sincerity.

"Well, I did sign the contract twice, but ya know, its getting suffocating there, then I found out I still had some power that I could use to reach out to those I knew, so I reached out here", Anya revealed to all of them. "Again, its not a necessity or anything, but I'd appreciate it if you could maybe save me from D'Hoffryn."

"We are going to come for you", Tara assured Anya at that moment. "We will track down wherever D'Hoffryn is, and we will save you."

Buffy gave a nod as well. "Yes, we will, worry not."

"Thank you so much guys", Anya said, before Xander staggered around again, holding his head, then looked at everyone with his one eye.

"Uhhh, what just happened guys?" Xander asked everyone, his face looking weirded out.

Later, D'Hoffryn's Realm

D'Hoffryn had already sensed the intruders into his realm with his powers. They had tried to come in sneakily via their own magic, but he was too experienced to be tricked by something like that.

And then, there were sounds of fighting. Within minutes, Buffy was there in front of him with the M? in her hands, Faith next to her holding the Troll Hammer, and Spike and Dawn armed with a sword each, Giles with a crossbow, while Willow and Tara had magic glowing in their hands.

"D'Hoffryn, how unpleasant to see you again. Heard you had a friend of ours, we'd like her back." Buffy told him, as Xander aimed his gun.

D'Hoffryn scoffed and pointed out. "Anyanka's soul belongs to me ever since we made our deal almost 1,200 years ago, her powers belong to me, as do all Vengeance Demons'."

At that moment, all the Vengeance Demons appeared, surrounding the group, making them look around with narrowed eyes.

"I don't think we thought this through that well", Faith muttered.

And then D'Hoffryn began to glow, an orb near him glowing as well, this being the container for Anyanka's soul. "With her power and mine, I shall now wish you all to the horrible fates you brought upon yourselves."

"Kind of saw that coming, mate", Spike shrugged.

Their lack of fear actually took him aback. "What was that?"

"What, you think we came here knowing you have all these wishy powers and not have a backup plan?" Willow now inquired.

"Well...yes."

Xander thought about it and admitted. "Technically he's not wrong, we do tend to try to beat more powerful Big Bads with just punching and kicking."

Buffy got defensive. "Not all the time, and it works, mostly."

Dawn then pointed out. "You tried to kill Anya when she went bad again, when she had her powers and immortality. Did that work?"

Buffy was silent, then pouted and deflated.

D'Hoffryn got annoyed by the inner squabbling among them and got their attention, "Can we go back to why you're here and how you'll die?"

"Take your best shot, horn head." Faith urged him.

D'Hoffryn and the orb with Anyanka's soul started glowing again, the entire realm lighting up, only for the light to suddenly fade.

The Vengeance Demons all looked around in shock before an ankh appeared, and now Doctor Fate was hovering near the Scoobies.

"Fate has decreed you shall not use your powers any longer", Fate told all of the Vengeance Demons, including D'Hoffryn, who felt themselves weaken bit by bit, their eyes widening in horror.

"NO!" D'Hoffryn screamed. "NOO! This can't be!"

With his own reality altering powers, Fate had cancelled the wish powers of D'Hoffryn and his Vengeance Demons.

"I believe my work is done", Doctor Fate commented.

"Thank you very much for your help", Tara said to him gratefully, as he gave a nod before disappearing using another ankh.

"Come on, take them out!" Buffy then said before using her M? to slice the throat of the nearest Vengeance Demon, killing it, since now they were weakened and only had very basic abilities.

Faith brought the Troll Hammer down on another one's head, as they all began battling their foes.

D'Hoffryn was more powerful than the rest though, so he still retained some magic, and made thorns appear over the Scooby Gang, the thorns falling upon them.

Willow and Tara held hands, raising a magic barrier. The thorns passed through those but turned into drops of water instead, falling down harmlessly.

D'Hoffryn then fired lightning at them but Willow glowed, twisting her hands, the lightning turning into harmless tree branches instead that broke and fell down.

The lead Vengeance Demon roared in rage, spikes rising from the ground to impale them, but Tara aimed at them, chanting, as they now turned into green grass at that point, increasing his rage.

Willow then fired lightning directly at him, making him fly back and fall down, groaning in pain while smoke rose from his body.

Then, he got an idea. Make their victory meaningless!

He roared again, a shockwave emanating from him, making the two Witches fly back and roll away, before he gathered his power, concentrating it, and used it to form a dagger of energy.

Then, he hurled at the orb containing Anya's soul. It sped towards the orb, as fast as a bullet, to shatter it and take out Anya's soul as well.

Everyone watched with horror-filled eyes, seeing it get closer, knowing they couldn't stop it in time, with Xander's screaming being the only sound heard.

From up above, Lord Vishnu in his Lord Krishna form was watching the whole thing. Due to how much Mar-Novu and The Powers That Be had manipulated this world, making its condition worse, he had decided to personally oversee it for sometime and help out the Heroes indirectly, for some of them would be very important in the Crisis that was coming very soon.

Some others of the Council were doing the same with Earth-98, which was in a bad condition as well due to the Elders, Tribunal and Mar-Novu having done manipulations there.

Now, seeing this, Krishna knew it was another time to indirectly provide aid.

Mahabharata 2013 Shri Krishna Govinda Hare Murari plays

Reaching up into his crown, Krishna pulled out one peacock feather, then held his hand out, the peacock feather flying away.

Right before the arrow could hit the orb, it was blocked by a glowing peacock feather, which shattered the arrow just as the feather faded away.

D'Hoffryn could only watch in horror, when Buffy used the opportunity to swing her scythe, chopping off his head as well in that moment.

Willow and Tara exchanged a look, wondering what had saved Anya's soul, then shrugged, thankful for whatever it was, as were the rest of them.

The two Witches walked towards the orb, touching it as they glowed with power, and then the orb melted away, a spectral form rising from it, taking the shape of Anya finally, the former Vengeance Demon looking down at all of them.

"An…." Xander trailed off, a tear rolling down his one eye while he held out his hand. "An, I missed you so much. I wanted to-"

"I know, Xander", Anya assured him, holding out her hand, her spectral one now touching his in a way, and she didn't sound snippy like usual, for obvious reasons. "You came for me, that's what matters. Thank you."

Xander simply nodded, before she sighed. "If only that weasel had died in my place. I'm just annoyed that I died instead of him."

"Join the club", Faith added. "Though he's dead, just to let you know."

"And you are alive too", Anya looked at Tara. "Well that's better."

All of them simply smiled, Buffy telling Anya. "It was great to see you again, Anya. We were happy to help you out here."

"I know, time to be at peace now", Anya shrugged.

"We hope the same for you", Willow told her.

"Indeed, you deserve it", Giles nodded as well.

"Goodbye", Dawn waved at her.

"Hope you enjoy it up there", Spike added.

"Goodbye, Anya", Tara waved to her as well, Anya smiling at them all.

"Anya", Xander gave her a bittersweet smile. "I love you."

Anya returned his smile with her own. "I love you too, Xander."

With that, she turned into a spectral form and went upwards, fading away, finally at peace.

Xander looked down, struggling not to break down, as Buffy and Willow both embraced their best friend, knowing he needed them right now.

But, all of them were glad that they had helped their friend find peace at last.

And that's Anya saved, she's at peace until post-Crisis when she will be brought back to life.

Thanks a lot to Brainstorm Sorcerer for his help once more.

Originally was going to use Wanda or Loki but due to having seen 'Black Adam', I'm in a Doctor Fate mood right now, so used him instead.

Hope all enjoyed and see you all next time with another chapter.