Buffy grimaced and tried to get to her feet. She couldn't. She screamed in pain as she made it to all fours. She craned her neck to see the other Slayers in pain, some writhing, some fading out as they died. Faith growled and snorted as she was standing, but just barely. She saw Buffy in pain and smiled, trying to walk to her Sister in Arms. Faith fell flat on her face with her second step.
"Faith…" Buffy said, trying to get back to her feet. She screamed in pain again and made it to one knee. Something gleamed in the corner of her eye. She turned.
"Take my hand." Warlock offered, extending the Infinity Gauntlet. Buffy took it and she was pulled to her feet.
"The others…" Buffy began.
"They can no longer fight. Their wills have been broken by this conflict. Without the will to fight, there can be no battle on this plane." Warlock said, steadying her.
"Mine's not broken yet." Buffy said, looking to the First who was standing perfectly still no giving them any regard whatsoever, "What's up with him?"
"His attention is…elsewhere."
The First struck Galactus with a mighty blow that sent the Devourer of Worlds into his ship and out the other side. The First followed, roaring in airless space. Galactus raised his head and fired two beams of the Power Cosmic from his eyes. The First shrieked in pain and held its chest, where hellfire blood was flowing. Opening its mouth, a beam of pure force enveloped Galactus and slammed him into the moon…. which was millions of miles away. Galactus raised his hand sent out a beam of force that caught the First fast. A tractor beam. The First was pulled to the moon against his will and when he came within a few miles of Galactus, the tractor beam became an immense blast of the Power Cosmic. The First landed on the moon and lashed out with its tail, taking Galactus off his feet. But Galactus began to float before correcting his posture and firing on the First again. The First fired back and their energy met. A massive explosion rocked the moon and threw both combatants back.
"Okay, so what's the plan?" Buffy asked.
"What?"
"You said the others were beaten because their wills were broken. Mine hasn't been so what's the plan?" Buffy asked again.
"Astute. The First is being distracted physically, you must attack it spiritually." Warlock replied.
"How do I do that?" Buffy asked.
Warlock's gauntlet shimmered and Buffy was struck by energies that swirled about her creating a suit of armor like that of a gladiator's. In her hand was a glowing green sword.
"It is often believed there are only six Infinity gems. There are actually seven. The Wisdom or Spirit gem is the seventh. You now have the knowledge necessary to strike at the First, as well as the energy of the Soul gem as your weapon. You know how to defeat the First." Warlock said.
"Yes…I feel it…. but you've had six gems on your gauntlet since you've been to earth. I counted. Where's the seventh?" Buffy asked.
"Somewhere safe." Warlock said with a knowing smile, "You should attack now."
Buffy twirled her sword and with a might leap was on the back of the First, hacking away, "Don't have to tell me twice."
The First roared in pain clutching its back, as Galactus fired on it again lighting up the sky. He was once again divided. The First did not like this, but fired back at Galactus with all his might in the material plane as it swung its head back into Buffy's face on the astral. He would not be defeated.
On earth, the intense light show in the sky was being watched with great interest. The lights were blinding at times and came suddenly. Thanos watched with great interest as this battle was deciding their entire existence. Batman stood at his side, sharing the same expression. Tara was kneeling with Poe at her shoulder and Ernie at her side, praying to the Gaia that all might be spared. Angel held Cordelia and looked to Spike who merely watched with a grim face.
"If it's any consolation, William…I'm proud of the man you've become." Angel said.
Spike looked over and smiled, "Thanks Pea…Angel."
Xander looked at the brightly lit sky and felt Anya's hand wrap around his. He looked down to her and couldn't help smiling despite her fear.
"X-Xander…. I'm scared." She said fearfully.
"I am too An. I am too. But it'll be okay. We always pull through. We'll win this." Xander replied, his mind going through a gamut of fear and doubt.
"I love you Xander." Anya says, almost crying out loud, but stopping just short of doing so.
"I love you too Anya." Xander replied, kissing her, as tears started to fall.
He looked in her eyes and smiled, hoping to get her to return it. But her eyes were expressionless. Her hand had slacked and was no longer squeezing his. Xander felt confused and looked at her again. Her eyes were a void. Dead.
"NO!" Xander screamed out loud, "NO ANYA! DON'T YOU DO THIS TO ME! SNAP OUT OF IT!"
He was shaking her hard, almost violently as the others watched. Anya was limp in his arms as he screamed, his tears of fear now tears of rage and sadness.
"YOU CAN'T GO NOW! ANYA, DAMN IT NO! We just found each other again. You can't die on me now. We're going to win this, I swear we are. So you have to stay alive. You have to stay with us here, so we can be together. I love you, so you can't go. Not yet." Xander bawled. Anya laid still, her eyes vacant and watching. Xander laid her on her back and began to perform CPR. His hand pressed against her chest. His mouth went to hers to give her life. He listened for breathing and watched to see if her chest would rise or fall. It didn't. He went back to pumping her chest.
"Come on. Come on baby, come on. I saved Buffy like this once, I can save you." Xander said, frantic.
Giles, snapped out of being Ripper by the new situation, walked over and put his hand on Xander's shoulder. Xander looked up at him, the man who was more like a father to the Scoobies than any of their biological fathers had been.
"Giles help me. Do some magick to help her! Help me get her breathing!" Xander said, his face now red.
"Xander…." Giles started with a hint of sadness.
"NO! We can help her. Her wounds aren't that bad. They're not." Xander said as he went back to giving Anya mouth to mouth. He frantically began to press against her heart again. More tears came out and he howled in pain before he laid his head into his arms, crying hysterically.
Giles felt sadness for this surrogate son of his, and felt a wave of grief for Anya. She had been a friend, one that could always be counted on to help with information in a crisis or just the truth when it was asked of her. He pulled Xander up and into a tight hug. Xander cried frantically into his shoulder, not wanting to look at the dead form of the woman he loved anymore.
"It's not fair." He said with a crack in his voice.
"No. No it is not." Giles replied.
Xander dared to look up, and was thankful he had done so. He quickly pushed Giles off and ran towards the porch.
Seconds earlier, as Xander was still crying over Anya's form, Caleb smirked and entered the back door of the house. The Turok-Han were mostly dead now thanks to the sun returning. The master was undoubtedly going to be upset, but Caleb knew he had bigger problems at the moment. He was glad that he had been told what Warlock's plan was by his Lord in the previous few days. He would enter the house and kill the Slayers while they were in their sleep. Sure enough, there they were all lying in the living room asleep. Dirty girls all of them. Some were dead, but some like the annoying blonde was still alive. Caleb nearly jumped when he saw the red haired witch and a golden skinned man sitting cross-legged in the room as well. But they made no move to stop him. They didn't even acknowledge him.
Caleb walked over and waved his hand in front of their faces and chuckled slightly when they made no response. They were both in some sort of trance too. Two more victims for him. Mana from Hell as it were. The dark preacher peeked outside and saw all of the Slayer's allies standing around looking at the sky or at a dead woman. The boy he nearly blinded in particular was crying loudly. If he did this quickly he could be in and out before they knew he was even there. Hell, even if he was caught the master could always revive him later, if he so chose. If not he would gladly die for him. Caleb withdrew the hunting knife from his coat and smirked. He began to make the sign of an upside down cross in the air with the knife as he knelt down at Buffy's head. He traced over her neck lightly with the tip of the blade. He then raised his knife to the air and prepared to make the Slayer a sacrifice.
A sound however caught his ear. Caleb stood and instantly knew what the sound was. It was a gun cocking. Caleb turned and saw Xander standing only a few feet away, holding Wesley's discarded shotgun. A small group had gathered behind him. The dirty blonde witch and her bird, and the older man with glasses amongst others.
"You killed Anya." Xander growled.
Caleb smirked and tapped his blade to his chin, "The woman you were blubbering about out in the yard? Well I reckon I didn't."
Caleb's head exploded a moment later in a shower of red gore. His body tensed as it fell backwards. What was left of his face was that same smirk that he had only an instant before. Xander stood with the still smoking shotgun in his hands, tears rolling down his face in hatred.
"You'll do."
The First threw Buffy from its back and swung its tail at her. She did a handstand over it and swiped at the First again with her "soul sword" as she called it. Energy bursts flew from the First's eyes as Buffy deflected every single one with her blade. The First's hands came up and fired an even larger blast that could not be blocked. Buffy took the brunt of it, falling back. She dropped her sword as she began to tumble, but as she rolled through she caught it again. The First's fist slammed into the back of her skull making her fall flat on her face. The First then slammed its foot down atop her head, pushing it into the "ground". All Buffy could do was reach for her sword, that seemed to be miles away.
The First smiled in the material world as it held Galactus in a crushing grip. Fists charged by ancient energies slammed into the armor of Galactus repeatedly. Galactus grunted in pain.
"IT WOULD APPEAR I'M DOWN ONE ANNOYANCE AND READY TO DO AWAY WITH ANOTHER." The First scowled before biting down into Galactus hard making even the Devourer of Worlds scream. With a mighty shove, Galactus was sent forward, staggering. As he turned he was hit by an immense blast of energy that sent him into the moon's orbit.
The First followed and slammed into Galactus at enormous speeds, sending him sprawling out into space. Galactus righted himself and fired intense beams of energy back at the First. The First avoided them and launched forward. Black energy began to circle the First as it slammed into Galactus with an intense explosion that rocked the area. Galactus fell further back into nothingness as the First followed. Gripping Galactus by the throat, the First laughed.
"AS FAR AS CONTINGENCY PLANS GO, THIS WAS PATHETIC. YOU'RE POWERFUL GALACTUS. OF THAT THERE IS NO DOUBT. BUT YOU ALSO EXPEND ENERGY QUICKLY WHILE I GROW IN POWER WITH EACH PASSING MOMENT." The First smiled.
From behind The First was struck by energies equivalent to a wasp sting.
"Heralds…. forward!" the Silver Surfer cried aloud as he flew into battle, firing bursts of the power cosmic.
He was followed by Nova. Then Firelord. Then Air-Walker. Red Shift. Plasma. Pulling up the rear was Terrax. The combined Heralds of Galactus threw their might at the First who was frankly unimpressed. With a mere gesture the Heralds were overthrown and driven back.
"AND WHAT WAS THAT INTENDED TO ACCOMPLISH?" the First sighed, unimpressed.
"A DISTRACTION." Galactus said, placing two anti-matter bombs on each side of the First's head. Galactus jerked free and flew back as the two weapons went off. The First roared in pain as it fell backwards, clutching its now bleeding head. Galactus knew it was time, "SHIP INITIATE THE FINAL PROTOCOL!"
A beam of white light erupted from the ship of Galactus, many millions of miles away and struck both its master and the First. Within seconds, the First and Galactus were gone.
Buffy felt the foot of the First press down against her, crushing her helmet. She would die if she didn't get free soon. She felt the First slack, as if something had injured him, and then press down again harder. This would be the end of her. Her whole life led to this moment when she was going to die at the hands (or rather feet) of the First. Everything was pointless. All of her pain was pointless. Saving the world was pointless. Everything that had happened for the last seven years had no purpose. Angel going to Hell, Spike nearly raping her, Faith turning on her, her mother dying, hell she herself dying. It had no point.
That made her mad. Digging her fingers into the ground she pushed with all of her might. Perhaps it was her rage, perhaps it was the armor Warlock had made, and perhaps it was something more intangible. Whatever the case, she threw the First off and grabbed her sword. The end was here. The end of the First.
"INTERESTING PLACE YOU'VE BROUGHT US TO. THE STILL ZONE, THE PHANTOM ZONE, WHATEVER YOU WISH TO CALL IT." The First said to Galactus, before delivering a crushing backhand that broke one of points of his helmet.
The two titans floated about in nothing. It was an empty universe filled with white. There was literally nothing save the First and Galactus. A tail swipe broke the other point of the helmet and sent him tumbling even further back.
"I BROUGHT YOU HERE FOR A REASON, VILLAIN. TO END YOU." Galactus bellowed, producing something at his side, "SO THAT WHEN YOU DIE, THE UNIVERSE WILL NOT!"
In his hand, Galactus held a weapon so potent that the mere act of it firing would destroy the natural universe. He held the Ultimate Nullifier. The First merely laughed.
"YOU'RE AN IDIOT GALACTUS. EVEN IF YOU DID USE THAT WEAPON, YOU YOURSELF WOULD BE DESTROYED. THAT IS SOMETHING I KNOW YOU WOULD NEVER ALLOW. WITH YOU GONE THERE IS NO EQUITY BETWEEN ETERNITY AND DEATH. YOUR UNIVERSE WOULD BE LOST." The First laughed.
" UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES, YES. BUT THE LAWS OF REALITY CAN BE RE-WRITTEN FOR A TIME." Galactus said, removing his helmet and upon his brow rested the seventh Infinity Gem, the Reality Gem, "WARLOCK LENT THIS TO ME TO DEAL WITH YOU AND ALSO PROTECT ME FROM THE BLAST. HE ALSO WANTED ME TO GIVE YOU A MESSAGE. CHECKMATE."
Galactus pressed the simple button on the Nullifier. The First's eyes went wide as the Still Zone, an entire dimension caught fire.
Light issued from the First on the astral plane as it screamed in agony. The light nearly blinded Buffy, but she charged anyway with Faith and the others looking on. The knowledge from the Spirit Gem was kicking in. She had to strike his mind, his soul at the exact time that his body died. Otherwise, the First would simply return to being non-corporeal. Her sword, powered by the Soul Gem glowed a bright green. Buffy jumped into the air and to her perceptions she must have been thirty feet up. She came down and heard the First speaking to her.
"No more. When my body is destroyed I will go. I will go to Hell and never trouble you or your species again. I vow this."
Buffy kept descending.
"No more. I will give you riches beyond your wildest imaginings if you let me go. I will give you your mother back if you merely let me leave."
Buffy's hand tightened on the hilt of her sword as she approached the First.
"No more! I will give you all the knowledge that I have of everything! Eons of knowledge! You could solve the problems of the universe! You will be wise upon wise! Do not be so selfish!"
Buffy roared in anger and buried her sword into the First's head and sliced downward with as much strength as she could muster. When her feet hit the "ground" of the astral plane she withdrew her sword.
"Oh yeah? If you're so smart, how come you thought you could buy me off? I'm a Slayer. You're an evil demon. I see, I slay. And I don't take bribes." Buffy said with smirk, "Feel free to die now."
One half of the First began to slide. Then the First merely fell apart, sliced down the middle in perfect symmetry. The halves went to nothing as they impacted the ground. She then turned to Faith and the others.
"Now…let's go home and sleep for a zillion years."