Disclaimer: The characters aren't mine so please don't sue me.
A/N: I was really disappointed with the 'finale' of Angel (If you can call that a finale!), so I knew I had to do something about it and so the story is born. This piece is for all those who also share my view.
Warning: Mild language and Kennedy dies.
This was it. The end. The four remaining people stared in horror at what was awaiting them. An army of
thousands against the four of them.
A dragon screeched above. Turning, Angel told Aleiria, Gunn and Spike 'The Dragon's mine. I've
always wanted to kill a dragon.'
Gunn smiled sadly 'So I guess this really is the end. I know I never really expected to survive this but…'
'I know' Angel finished, understanding where Gunn was headed.
'I'm not one for the big bloody group hugs and such, but it has been interesting…oh what the hell, its been fun.'
Spike suddenly told the group
'Enjoyment is a wasted emotion yet so is grief, so why do I feel them?' Aleiria asked.
'It's part of being alive' Gunn told her tiredly, not realising he was holding his wounds tightly trying to stop
the bleeding.
'I wish…I wish Buffy could have seen this, realised that even though we were working for an evil firm, we did
do good.' Angel murmured,a few moments after checking the demons hadn't moved from their holding
position. Spike nodded in agreement.
'I suppose we had better get this show on the road. They aren't going to wait forever for us to come out. It
may be to our advantage to fight in a wider area.' Gunn told them as he staggered to his feet, grabbing a
double-edged axe from a bag that the group had hidden in the alley earlier that day, ready for the fight.
'I agree.' Angel told them as he drew out a sword. Spike followed suit by also picking a sword while
Aleiria decided to go unarmed. Although drained, her strength was still formidable.
'Well, here we go. I just wanted to say, it has been an honour and a pleasure working with and knowing all of
you.' Angel told them all.
'Here! Here!' Spike countered.
Turning to face the armies, they took deep breaths and waited for Angel's signal.
Angel raised his hand, about to motion to go, when a voice called out, stopping him mid wave.
'Hope we're not too late to join the party' the voice called.
'Buffy?' Angel and Spike called out surprised as they spun to see where she was.
Upon seeing Spike and Angel's eyes grow even wider with shock when they had turned, Gunn and Aleiria
turned, only to see Buffy, Dawn, Xander, Andrew, Giles, Faith and Kennedy standing in front of an army of
Slayers. Floating above them, Willow's white hair flew out behind her as she magically brought the rest of
the army to L.A.
When she had brought the last few to the intended destination, she blew away the fence and came to rest in
front of her friends, her hair and eyes returning to their usual colour as she did.
'I saw you needed some help from the astral plane, and all the slayers we had so far trained agreed to come
and help. Wow you guys look beat!' Willow told them. With a flick of her fingers, all the cuts and bruises
disappeared leaving them in peak condition and full of energy once more. 'I've also got some other people
whom the Powers That Be sent as a thank you for dealing such a severe blow to the Senior Partners.'
As Willow finished speaking, a silvery mist spread across the floor of the alley. As they watched, the mist
turned into seven humanoid shapes. The misty shapes began to solidify revealing two men and four
women. To the amazement of all, they then turned into those who had died in the battle against evil. First
Wesley appeared, followed quickly by Cordelia, Anya, Doyle, Kendra and finally Tara.
Realising there was no time for greetings or tears to be shed over the fallen ones, Willow carried on to
explain 'They're here as a gift. They are solid until this battle ends, and can control whether they are solid or
gas at all times. Thanks to your actions, the Powers That Be are launching a large attack on the Senior
Partners. They say thank you, and this is one of your presents.'
As Willow finished speaking, Buffy came forwards, heavily armed like the rest of her army, 'I'm sorry I ever
doubted you, but I'm here now to make it up. Lets get this show on the road.'
'Okay' Angel answered, preparing to make the signal to charge.
'Hey, wait for me' another voice called out.
'Connor!' Angel spun, surprised once more.
'You really thought I would let you do this on your own? Besides I brought more back up. I met them outside
Wolfram Hart. They were apparently tracking a large swarm of demons coming this way.' Connor explained.
As he finished, he revealed a man and woman who were running after him.
'Buffy! Angel!' The man cried out in surprise.
'Riley! Sam!' Buffy spoke, 'I shouldn't be surprised really, everyone else is here' Buffy muttered to herself.
'You don't have to do this. It's our fight, we knew what we were getting into when we took out the members
of the Black Thorn Gang.' Angel told Buffy quietly.
'The good guys need to stick together, that's what makes us the good guys. We work as a team and we stick
up for one another.'
'Okay, Good Luck. Lets go everyone' Angel shouted back.
As they rushed forwards Angel could hear Xander, Faith, Giles and Buffy shouting orders to their vast army.
Willow soared into the sky, her hair and eyes once more turning white as she and Tara began incinerating
clumps of Demons.
Angel leapt up onto the back of the Dragon, narrowly missing being set alight as the Dragon blew flames in
Angel's direction. Up on the Dragon, Angel found a slight problem. The Dragon's back was covered in a
thick armour plating, impenetrable to his sword. Grabbing the dragon's neck, Angel forced the dragon
towards the nearby ocean. Once over it, he swung his legs back over the dragon and hung for dear life
around the beast's neck, enabling him to pierce the Dragon's unprotected neck.
The Dragon let out an ear splitting shriek that was heard for miles around. Realising he was going to be
pulled under by the Dragon once they hit the water, Angel quickly swung himself back onto the beasts back,
then dived into the ocean.
Following the others in the surge to the awaiting Demons, Doyle sneezed, allowing him to have a slightly
bigger advantage in strength. Unfortunately this action also caused a few of the slayers to almost fall over in
surprise.
Before he had time to think any more of the incident, they were in the fight. Demons from every purebred
species were in the midst. Teeth and blades sliced through the air, not caring who was at the receiving end of
the blow as long as there was a body at the end.
Doyle broke the neck of the first Demon before he even had time to blink, then spun to save a slayer from
being sliced in half by a demon from behind.
There was little strategy to the fight, every person was paired up, it was each other's job to keep him or her
safe. This didn't stop the deaths though. Casualties on either side were high, but in the end, good had the
upper hand. The Demon army had few weapons between them, expecting only four or five contenders. To
suddenly be against an almost equal army put them at a serious disadvantage almost immediately. But this
didn't stop the fight.
Axes and swords were swung, heads rolled and punches were thrown. People died and were injured;
Demons were dusted and incinerated. The battle raged on until finally the last demon was slayed.
At this final blow, all the demons disappeared just as suddenly as they had appeared.
Angel and Buffy stared at all the destruction. Buildings were missing windows and walls. The pavement and
paths were in ruins while bodies of dead, dying and injured littered the streets. There was only one thing left.
Mourning.
The cost had been high. Many slayers had been killed including Kennedy. One of Xander's arms hung limply
at his side, broken and useless. Dawn was unconscious while Riley and Connor were bleeding from several
serious cuts. There was no one who had escaped unhurt.
Those with minor injuries than others helped stack the bodies to be burned. There were too many to
transport or bury, while the more seriously injured were on their way to hospitals.
As the sad task of burning all those who had fallen came to an end, a great white light filled the streets where
the fighting had taken place. In this bright light, a beautiful woman came down. Dressed in a simple white
gown, her golden hair hung loosely around her shoulders. When she spoke, her voice had a soft English
accent and caused all those to hear it feel calm and at peace within themselves.
'Thank you. All those fallen are safe in what you call heaven. Their fight was not in vain. You all helped
Good win a major battle today. The Senior Partners were severely weakened by your and our attack on them.
In return, we have a prophecy to fulfil. Spike, Angel, in the Shan Shu prophecy, it says a vampire with a soul
will be made human. We believe this would be more of a curse than a gift, so we have decided to give you
the same gifts as Connor, as well as making you human.' As she spoke these words, the two vampires
glowed brightly for a second, and then turned back to their usual colour.
'I can hear my heart beat!' Angel shouted out in shock.
'Me too!' Spike added, also in amazement.
'As for the rest of you, Aleiria, you will be sent to an alternate universe in which your army lives. Fred, you
will get your body back and Wesley you will also get to live once more. Doyle, Anya, Tara, Kendra and
Cordelia will also receive this same gift. Buffy and all the other slayers will receive longer life spans;
something that should have been done many many centuries ago. Dawn, Willow, Xander, Riley, Sam, Giles,
Andrew and Gunn, you will all receive a greater strength, the same as a Slayers to help you continue your
destiny in helping mankind. Once more, We thank you.' At this the bright light once more swirled around the
woman, and as quickly as she had come, she went.
'So what now?' Angel asked.
'Well, there are many more Slayers to find and train, as well as a few more Hellmouth's to close
permanently…' Buffy started to answer.
'I meant more about us, but that is a good point, I also have a burning desire to permanently shut down all
branches of Wolfram Hart' Angel interrupted.
'Well, about us…I suppose you don't have a ring on you to finally propose?' Buffy asked.
'Still have the Cladaharrah ring I gave you?'
'As a matter of fact, here' Buffy handed over the ring to Angel. Getting down on one knee, he took her hand.
'Will you marry me?' He asked.
'Of course' Buffy answered, putting the ring back on. Since he was so tall, Buffy jumped up, swung her
arms around him, kissing him swiftly on the lips.
A cheer erupted from the congregated slayers and other friends. Anya and Xander, now plastered up, were
holding hands once more, Tara and Willow were once again together, Wesley and Fred were finally reunited
while Doyle and Cordelia had decided to give a relationship a shot.
'A happy ending don't you think.' Angel asked Buffy.
'Ending, this is just the beginning' Dawn shouted out to her new brother-in-law-to-be.
The Beginning…