Thanks to all the reviewers:
TTrunks: Glad you liked the chapter, I hope you like this one too.
Charmed Chick: I love the Buffy Baddies too, but I can't write them for toffee. Thanks for reviewing.
Jazzy Punker: Kennedy is under the imperious curse, that's why she wants to kill Faith. Sorry, I should've made it clearer. Thanks for reviewing.
NixiNox: Sorry I annoyed you! I've got to say, the thought of Dawn being pregnant never occurred to me (which is weird 'cause I wrote a fic based on that a while back). But she will not get pregnant in this story.
Bunny Kat; Please don't be angry with me! I didn't mean to kill them, it was an accident!
Matt: Thanks for proofing and reviewing.
Kev: I guess you'll have to wait and see. A masterpiece? I don't think so, but I'm flattered you said it.
A/N: The beginning of this chapter overlaps the end of the last one. Also through out there are time overlapping bits, but I think it's pretty clear, just keep that in mind.
CHAPTER 24- PROPHECY GIRLS (except for Harry; who is, of course, a Prophecy Guy)
[A/N: Before Willow's spell]
Kennedy raised her sword, ready to strike at Faith. Faith killed the death eater she was fighting and took a step forward, not noticing the slayer under the imperious curse standing behind her.
She was about to fight another death eater when she noticed a shadow on the wall next to her. She spun round as quickly as she could and raised her own blade to block Kennedy's.
Faith's eyes suddenly bulged with recognition. "Kennedy? What are you doing?"
Kennedy didn't reply. She raised her sword again, but was blocked by Faith who pushed her back as hard as she could.
Kennedy stumbled back...right into the path of an Avada Kedavra. Faith watched in horror as one of the girls she had trained fell to the floor and didn't bounce right back up like she did in training. She'd killed Kennedy.
At the same time, little Emily Flinch-Fletchedy was fighting a man twice her size. She looked rather clumsy to begin with, but soon got into the rhythm; punch, kick, punch-punch.
To say the death eater was surprised by the young girls power is an understatement. But he didn't get the chance to be surprised for long and Emily moved onto her next opponent.
Jaden was fighting another death eater, but hers was a woman. Like Emily, she was fighting without a weapon, but had her wand safely tucked away.
She aimed a punch at the death eater's face and the white mask went clattering to the ground. Jade gasped. "Pansy?"
The girl smirked evilly. "Hello housemate." She aimed a sloppy punch at Jade who ducked easily.
"You bitch!" Jaden shrieked before lunging at the older girl in a flurry of kicks and punches. Somehow, Pansy managed to stay standing during the slayers onslaught. The smirk on her face widened as she looked over Jade's shoulder.
Jade cautiously turned around. A wand was pointed right at her. The death eater's lips started to move into the words she had learnt to dread.
Jaden grabbed Pansy's arm and swung her round, placing her in-between the curse and the slayer. She drew her wand and aimed a body bind curse back at the death eater before Parkinson's body had a chance to touch the ground.
Jade took in a shuddering breath and stepped over the body of Pansy Parkinson and back into the fight.
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[A/N: After Willow's spell, but before Dawn's death]
Faith and Wesley's slayers had soon joined Angel and Gunn's in the main cavern. Willow's spell had been a blessing as any demons with magical powers and the wizards were both weakened. That left them with good old fashioned trolls, giants, vampires and other such demons that relied on brute force.
They came across the odd demon or death eater that had escaped Willow's spell, but they were soon dealt with by the masses of slayers or the hundreds of good wizards still possessing their magic.
Outside, night had fallen. This meant that Xander's troops were busier now as various demons tried to escape. The demons were quickly shot down by the waiting slayers and Hogwarts students; they were finding it so easy that Xander actually sent thirty slayers into the caves to help out in there.
Although the slayers and demons had the skill advantage, the demons still outnumbered them and they were having a fairly difficult time getting the numbers down to something manageable.
In one fairly small part of the caves, Ginny was fighting two demons with a slayer from the Asian hellmouth that she had become sort of friendly with.
Ginny plunged her sword into one of the demons stomach and sliced upwards splitting it in two. The demon fell to the floor like so many had that afternoon and evening and added his blood to the rest.
Ginny immediately moved onto the next demon. She lunged at it with her sword, but it dodged. She tried again, but once again the demon side stepped the blow. The demon raised the sword of his own and lashed out intending to take Ginny's head, but she ducked and rolled to the side.
The demon may not have got its intended target, but it did decapitate something. The slayer standing behind Ginny had not seen the sword coming so did not attempt to move from the danger she was in.
Seconds later she dropped to the ground; she didn't even see her death coming and the daggers in her hands clattered to the ground uselessly. Ginny looked down at her dead almost-friend.
She didn't see the demon raise his sword over her head and prepare to strike.
"Ginny!" Flick shouted from where she was fighting, but Ginny seemed to be in a trance staring down at the body.
Flick shoved the demon away from her and leapt through the air like only slayers can. She swung her sword decapitating the demon before landing gracefully.
"That could've been me." Ginny said softly. "If I hadn't moved...I'm gonna be sick."
Flick stood guard over her friend as she emptied the contents of her stomach. When she was done, Ginny wiped her mouth and straitened up. She took in the scene around her.
Angel was in game face. He fought like a man possessed, who in a way he was; he swung his axe around, knocking three vampires back and decapitating another all in one swing. On vampire jumped on his back while another charged at his stomach forcing him to drop his sword.
Skye was dodging a demon that was slicing at her with a heavy axe, her own weapon laying a few yards away as she desperately tried to reach it. Jade had her sword risen above her head, clashed with the sword of a demon each pushing to see who would back down the first. Jaden seemed to be losing. Flick was trapped in a circle of five demons. They closed in on her, forcing her to the ground where she had no escape.
Then a green wave of what felt like pure energy swept through the cavern. The fighting seemed to stop momentarily, but when it started again it was like the tide had turned.
Ginny regained her wits and plunged back into the battle, sword raised and ready for action.
Angel threw the two vampires off him with an almighty shake and swooped down to pick up his sword and beheaded two demons in one powerful stroke.
Skylar ducked and rolled away from the demon attacking her, picking up her weapon part way through. She stood up behind the demon and forced the blade through its neck killing it.
Jaden gathered all her strength and pushed the demon away from her. She dropped her sword and sliced across the brownish grey monster's mid section.
Flick kicked out, throwing two green demons away from her. She punched and kicked to get rid of the rest before straddling a demon that was about to get up and giving his neck a sharp twist.
Gunn and Angel stood back-to-back, taking a momentary break from the fighting.
"Looks like the odds have gone in our favour." Gunn said with a look around that showed him demons falling to the ground.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Angel replied. Gunn shot his friend/ boss a puzzled look. "I recognised that energy; it was the key."
"You mean Dawn's dead?" Gunn gasped.
Angel nodded before ducking an attacking vampire and quickly killing it.
Luna Lovegood was one of a kind. She was always off in her dream world, and now was no exception. She'd lost count of the number of time's Dawn had told her to stay focused, yet during a life-or-death battle she couldn't quite seem to recall that particular fact. The fact that she was still alive was more dumb luck than anything else.
Luna was quite possibly the strongest of all the witch-slayers, but she lacked the speed and motivation that would make her one of the greats, and it was her strength that was keeping her alive. Most of the demons she had fought had been dumb and slow and she had slayed them easily.
'Father would be fascinated by this.' Luna thought as she fatally stabbed a stumpy blue demon which was quickly replaced with a taller green one. She lunged at her new opponent who quickly dodged. Luna stumbled slightly before she regained her balanced and kicked out connecting with the demon's shin.
The demon howled, but the sound was lost in the din of battle. Luna gave a satisfied smirk as the demon hopped about. When she saw it had regained its balance, she raised her sword to kill the demon. The demon also prepared to strike, lifting its sharp scythe above its head. Both of them hit each other. Luna decapitated the demon just as he dropped his sword down in front of him. Luna screamed as the sharp blade penetrated the skin around her wrist. The demon fell to the floor. But so did Luna's weapon and the hand that had been holding it.
A normal person may have passed out from blood loss or pain, but not a slayer. The blood had already started clotting at the point where her wrist should be attached as Luna dumbly clutched her useless arm to her body.
Pain is a funny thing; it can either make you totally zone out, or make you more alert. Luckily for Luna, in her case it was the latter. With a speed no-one knew she possessed, she dodged her way to the nearest slayer who happened to be Emily.
"Shit!" Emily saw upon seeing her friend. "I-is that your blood?"
Luna nodded silently and allowed Emily to see her injury. Emily flinched at the sight; she had never seen anything like it.
"We've got to get you out of here." Emily lead Luna out of the caverns, fighting off whatever they came up against.
When they got outside, both girls gulped in the fresh air. It had smelt a bit ripe underground anyway, but when you combined it with the stench of sweat and the iron smell of blood, it was not at all pleasant.
In the distance they saw Xander and his crew pointing various weapons at them, but when he saw who it was he gave them the order to put down their arsenal. They started across the grounds, as did Xander and they met in the middle.
"Injury?" Xander asked unnecessarily as he was already inspecting Luna's wound. "Can you take her to the portal?" He asked efficiently; he'd seen so many battle injuries that nothing surprised him anymore. "She needs to get this seen to."
Emily nodded and she and Luna stumbled forward. Xander swept Luna up into his arms, not caring about the blood he was getting on his shirt, although he did briefly wonder if it was the same mystical forces that caused Buffy and Dawn to wear high heels to battle that made him wear a nice new shirt.
When they reached the portal, Xander stepped through with Luna, closely followed by Emily. He lay her down gently on a bed and turned to Emily.
"I've got to get back to my troops, stay with her and make sure she's okay."
Xander ran back through the portal to his group where his appointed second, Ron Weasly, was commanding the slayers to fire at two death eaters who were trying to escape.
Meanwhile in the caves, their friends were beating back the armies of demons and vampires. The number of demons may have been decreasing, but there was still the matter of the powerful wizard to defeat.
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Harry held Dawn close to him. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. Off to the side Giles stood shocked; he had thought that he was prepared for this to happen; but can you ever truly be ready and he never expected her to die like this, killed by a humble death eater's sword.
Buffy stood off to the side staring at her sister's body. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she didn't acknowledge them, nor did she acknowledge Spike's arm draped around her shoulders. She just wanted to hide; to go back to when Dawn was a baby and everything was easy.
Buffy could feel the outside world becoming more and more detached to her. She felt herself drift further and further into her mind. She saw herself sitting at a little plastic table cradling a doll. Her younger self looked up in surprise.
"You're back!" Young Buffy said to her older counterpart. The six year old didn't wait for a reply but ran to her front door, pigtails bobbing merrily as she greeted her parents. "Mommy! Dad! You're back!"
Buffy watched as her younger self took baby Dawn into her arms. She was so pure. Young Buffy turned to her.
"Isn't she little? I just want to hold her like this forever and ever and keep her safe." She said with all the innocence of a child and the love of a big sister. She turned back to her mother.
"I could take care of her sometimes, if you need a helper. Can't we?" Both Buffy's looked at each other for a moment, understanding. "Mom; can I look after her?"
Buffy watched the scene unfold; the perfect family. She could almost hear Dawn urging her to go back and not to give up. Her younger self turned to speak to her for one last time.
"You're going now aren't you?" she said sounding much older than just her six years.
Old Buffy nodded, Dawn's voice still in her head telling her to help the others.
"You're not coming back, are you?"
"No; I'm not." Buffy spoke for the first time.
Young Buffy nodded. "Goodbye, Buffy." She looked down at the precious bundle in her arms. "Take care of her."
With a jolt Buffy realised that she was back in the present. The last words of her inner self echoed in her mind: Take care of her.
It was too late for that now; Dawn was dead. But she could make sure the...thing that ordered her death was put down, for good.
Buffy cleared her throat. "Harry? We've got to go after Voldermort."
The young wizard looked up at her stunned. "I can't; I can't do this anymore."
"You've got to; you're the only person who can." Buffy pleaded. "Do you think Dawn would want you to give in? After all she's sacrificed." The tears were falling again, would they ever stop?
"Buffy;" Giles said softly, "we're tired and injured, do you really think we stand a chance?"
"We have to...for Dawnie." Buffy's voice cracked.
Harry lay Dawn down on the floor gently, slowly stood up and spoke dully. "Which way did he go?"
"Up there." Spike said huskily, pointing to an almost hidden spiral staircase and starting to move towards it.
Harry followed Spike up the narrow stairs towards a tower at the top of the room. They entered the room cautiously; it appeared to be empty.
Harry walked into the middle of the room, holding his wand out in front of him.
"Shielus." A voice said from the corner, and Voldermort appeared as if from nowhere.
"We meet again, Harry." He spat.
Giles, Spike and Buffy tried to go to Harry, but they seemed to run into an invisible wall.
Voldermort laughed cruelly. "I think this is best if it stays between you and me, don't you?"
Harry looked back to his friends and then to Voldermort. It looked like he would have to do this on his own after all.
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Meanwhile; Rona and Vi still stood ready to kill Willow if she turned out to be evil. She hadn't moved since the spell, unless you count the twitching that was pretty much constant.
The thing that worried them most, however, was the light flickering all over her body. About half the light was white, and the rest black and it seemed to be having its own little battle.
The black energy (the magic drawn from the death eaters and demons) would try to push the white energy back so that it could take over Willow's body, and then the white energy would push back to try and regain its hold on Willow.
Whilst this happened, the two slayers were powerless to do anything but watch as Willow appeared to have a bad dream.
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Willow found herself back in Sunnydale Park, but this time it was night time. She looked around and saw she was not alone. She was in the presence of the figure who haunted her nightmares; black hair, gothic outfit, dark lips. It all added up to one thing; Dark Willow.
"What are you doing here?" Willow asked a lot more boldly that she felt.
"Isn't it obvious?" Dark Willow took a few steps closer to Willow and stared her straight in the eye. "I want my body back."
"It was never yours." A new voice said.
"Tara." Willow breathed. "I should've known you'd come."
Tara smiled briefly at Willow, before addressing them both. "I am here as a messenger; I can't interfere. Originally you were one person; the good presiding over dark. Then something changed and you became two; light and dark, good and evil. Since then you have been separate, two people sharing one body. You locked the dark inside of you, but it didn't go away. Now, dark energy has entered the body so you are both equally strong; you will not leave here until one of you beats the other. The stronger person will triumph; whoever wants it most will win. Do you understand?"
Dark Willow nodded with a sneer and regular Willow nodded with a gulp. "So we duel?"
Tara nodded. "Yes; when you are both ready."
The Willow's looked at each other, preparing themselves for the fight ahead. Two will enter, but only one shall leave.
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[A/N: Directly after Dawn's death]
When Dawn awoke; she was painfully aware of the stab wound in her abdomen. She tried to move, but winced as the pain travelled up her body. But then, the wound closed itself and she was filled with an enormous sense of peace.
She realised that she must be in heaven, and this is what Buffy felt for the six months that she was dead. Dawn stood up and took a couple of steps forward experimentally. It was then she noticed her surroundings.
Dawn almost laughed when she realised that she was sitting on a cloud; it was just so cliché! She looked over the edge and that's when it hit her. She was dead. She could see all of Malfoy Manor, even inside the buildings; Willow lying in the grounds with Rona and Vi next to her; Faith, Angel, Wes and Gunn commanding the troops and urging them forward; her slayers fighting with all their energy; Harry cradling her body whilst the others looked on.
Suddenly she was aware of a change of scenery. She was standing in a house that looked vaguely familiar to her. There was a young blond girl with her hair in pigtails sitting with her back to her.
The girl turned to look at Dawn and the brunette gasped in surprise. "Buffy?"
Yong Buffy didn't say anything. She turned back to her doll and then spoke, but not to Dawn. She spoke to the other Buffy, the one Dawn knew so well.
"You're back."
"Buffy!" Dawn said, but Buffy either didn't hear or took no notice.
Dawn watched as 'she' was brought home for the first time and heard Buffy's promise to protect her.
Something was familiar about all this. But she couldn't put her finger on it...
Willow's voice echoed in her mind. "It killed her when Glory took you, not literally. She got trapped in her memories of when you were a baby."
Trapped? But Willow wasn't here to get her out this time. What if she stayed in here forever? What if she can't get back and help?
Dawn; forgetting that Buffy didn't hear her; tried desperately to reach her sister. "Buffy; you have to get out of here. You can't give up; please, Buffy! The others need you, you have to fight!"
Dawn was back on her cloud, but it was different. There was a stone archway with ivy climbing all over it and roses planted at the sides.
Dawn looked over the edge again and sighed in relief. Buffy had snapped out of it and gone over to Harry. Now they were climbing the stairs to what looked like an empty room. She saw Voldermort appear and trap Harry inside with him.
That scared her. Harry shouldn't be doing this on his own; he needed people to help him!
"Dawn?"
She didn't even need to turn around to recognise that voice. It had haunted her dreams for nearly three years. "Mom?"
Joyce Summers stood in the archway dressed in a long white dress. A bright light shone from behind her and gave the impression that she was a Goddess.
"It's good to see you again, honey."
Dawn rushed over and enveloped her mother in a big hug, which she gratefully returned.
"Oh, Dawnie; I've been longing for this day, but I've been dreading it too."
"Me too." Came Dawn's muffled reply from somewhere in her mother's dress.
"My precious little pumpkin belly." Joyce said stroking Dawn's hair affectionately. "I love you darling, you and your sister. I love you both very much and what I'm about to say might not make much sense now, but later it will.
"You have to go back Dawn." Joyce said firmly.
"What? Why? I want to stay with you." Dawn pouted.
"I know you do sweetheart, but your time isn't over yet. You are still needed down there." Joyce replied softly.
"It's hard there; and it hurts. Here, it's...peaceful. Don't make me go back." Dawn begged.
Joyce led her daughter to the edge of the cloud and forced her to look over. "If you don't go back, they'll die, all of them. If you do then at least they stand a chance. To ask you to stay would be selfish of me; you're needed there."
Dawn winced as Harry was thrown back against the shield and even she could see that Voldermort was only playing with him; he could kill Harry at any moment.
"Together they will fight the darkness; they will stand united." Joyce quoted. "Both can triumph, for they make a formidable team; but without each other they shall surely fail. You've heard the prophecy. If either of you tries to fight alone you would fail; the only time you can win if when you're together, when you combine your powers."
"I have to go back, don't I?" Dawn's eyes brimmed with tears, as did her mother's.
Joyce nodded, wiping away a stray tear that had spilled over. "Be brave, my darling; I'm so proud of you, of both of you." Joyce slowly walked back through the arch. "I'll keep waiting for you."
Dawn blinked back the tears, but when she opened her eyes, she wasn't in heaven. She was back in the tower.
Dawn held her hand out in front of her and twisted it, her eyes wide in shock. She was glowing bright green! Her key powers weren't even supposed to work, but here they were, as green as... something really green.
Her head snapped up as she heard a thump from up the stairs followed by an exclamation of pain. She got to her feet, took a deep breath and forced herself up the stairs.
She entered the room where the fighting was happening. To say the others were shocked was an understatement. Surprisingly it was Voldermort who spoke first.
"You! But- but you're dead!" He stuttered, under any other circumstances it would've been funny.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Dawn turned to Buffy, Spike and Giles. "Hey, guys." She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Dawn?" Spike croaked.
"It's me; you guys should know better than to leave a Summers' girl for dead."
Buffy pulled her younger sister into a hug, using all her slayer strength.
"Buffy- can't- breath!" Dawn panted.
"Sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Dawn soothed.
Buffy looked up into her sisters eyes; "Is it?" she asked seeing a haunted look that she recognised from when she was resurrected, although it wasn't nearly as strong.
Dawn nodded with a grin, which quickly faded. "Harry; look out!"
Voldermort had decided to take advantage of the group's distraction and had fired a curse at Harry. To give him credit, Harry didn't look around to see what was coming, he just dived to safety.
Dawn walked through the shield (which left Voldermort stuttering again) and over to her boyfriend. "Hi Harry."
Harry stared at her. "You're back." He whispered.
"You can't get rid of me that easily!"
Suddenly Harry's eyes went wide and he dove at Dawn making them both fall to the floor. A bright green light flashed over their heads; the killing curse.
Dawn tried to fire a spell at him but it reflected off and bounced around the shield before flying out the window.
"You can't hurt him with magic;" Harry explained, "he shares the protection in my blood. The spell has to come from me. Stuperfy!"
Voldermort deflected the curse easily. "Impedimenta!"
Harry dodged the curse. Neither was getting very far; it was like they were dancing. One would fire a spell; the other would dodge and then fire their own curse which would be deflected and so on.
"The only time we can win is when we combine our powers." Dawn whispered, echoing her mother's words. She knew instinctively what to do. "Harry; please trust me."
Thirty seconds later, Harry felt energy pouring into him. He looked back to Dawn who was standing just in side the shield with her eyes fixed on him, muttering something.
He saw her mutter 'trust me' so he did; didn't need to think twice about it. He and Voldermort continued swapping curses for a bit longer ("Impedimenta!" "Stuperfy!" "Expellidemus!" "Perificus totalus!"), until Harry felt energy build up inside him.
He let the energy enter him until he could take no more, ignoring the noise around him. He raised his wand to channel all the power.
"Intereo iam!" He yelled at the top of his voice.
Harry felt the energy leave him. It travelled down his wand and came out the other end in a pale yellow light. It hit Voldermort directly in the chest and he screamed. He continued screaming as he got shorter and shorter, or so it appeared.
What was really happening was that he was turning into black goo, starting with his feet. When the spell was finished, Voldermort; the most feared wizard of the generation was nothing but a bubbling pile of ooze on the floor.
The shield collapsed and the spectators of that rather magnificent finale rushed forward. Harry dashed over to Dawn, as did the others.
"Dawn; are you ok?" He asked urgently.
"I'm great!" She said dreamily before passing out...again.
Buffy grabbed Dawn's wrist and anxiously searched for a pulse. She sighed in relief and turned back to Harry.
"She just passed out, coming back to life and doing that energy transfer must've taken a lot out of her. What about you, are you-"Buffy started, but she was interrupted by a loud rumble.
"What was that?" Harry asked unnecessarily; as he could already see that the pile of crap that was Voldermort was bubbling more violently and it was causing the castle to shake.
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Meanwhile; Willow was battling against her alter (and darker) ego. Willow was the most skilful, just; but Dark Willow was willing to play dirty and use dark magix so they were pretty evenly matched.
Neither had spoken since they started fighting; they were both to powerful to need words and the only sounds Tara could hear from where she was standing were thuds as one of the witches was thrown into something or a yell of pain.
She winced as Dark Willow threw her hands forward and blue lightening bolts flew out sending Willow flying back with a cry. But Willow wasn't out for good. She retaliated with some lightening of her own, but hers was a mint green.
The spells stopped as the Willow's got to their feet but they were at it again soon. Willow sent a huge gust of wind to her counterpart, but it was deflected off towards a tree in the distance. Dark Willow threw a blood red beam at Willow.
"Ahhh!" Willow didn't get her shield up quickly enough and the light rattled her bones. She mentally begged the Goddesses for their help as she pushed a mini ball of sunshine at Dark Willow.
The golden ball hit Dark Willow in the stomach and sent her crashing into a tree trunk, which promptly collapsed on her.
Willow advanced on her fallen doppelganger. She looked into the eyes that were so like her own but blacker and she couldn't bear to kill the figure that, even if she didn't like it, would always be a part of her. But she had to, or they would be stuck here for ever. Setting her mouth in a resolved line she raised her hands.
"Vintunda!" A shimmering green smoke came out of Willow's fingertips and wrapped around Dark Willow, binding her arms to her sides. Once it was still, the smoke turned pearly white and started to be absorbed into Dark Willow.
Dark Willow realised what was happening. "No! No, stop it! Stop it! I won't give in; I won't!"
But even as she spoke her hair was getting lighter and the veins on her skin were receding.
Soon there was no Dark Willow, just two regular Willow's staring at each other in wonder.
"What did you do?" Tara asked in awe from the sidelines.
"A combination of the spell Giles used to stop us before and the essence of magic. I gave her back her humanity." Willow replied smiling at her double.
Tara nodded. "I know you could do it. Now you are one." As she spoke, the previously Dark Willow walked slowly over to her partner and carried on walking. She walked right into Willow and continued to go through her...but she didn't come out the other side. Now there was only one Willow.
"You are more powerful now," Tara continued; "you are too powerful to be human, it would over load your system."
Tara walked over and placed a hand on Willow's forehead. "Cordelia could tell you more about this if she was still around; you're more powerful than the oracles, than the champions; Willow; you're a higher being."
"A what?" Willow exclaimed. "No, I can't be. Higher beings are all woooo!" She said waving her hands in front of her to demonstrate. "They're like junior P.T.B!"
Tara smiled. "You have to go back now, baby. This doesn't mean anything has to be different. You'll get visions, but they won't hurt you, I won't let them hurt you ever. And you can stay on your plane of existence." Tara placed a light kiss on her lips. "See you in our dreams." She said before fading into blackness.
Willow sat bolt upright, back in the forest to see two cross bows pointed at her face.
"Are you evil?" Vi asked, not dropping the crossbows.
"Do I look evil?" They didn't budge. Willow rolled her eyes. "No; I'm not evil. If I were evil you'd be dead by now."
"That's convincing, what with the death treats an' all." Rona said, still not dropping her crossbow.
"That wasn't a death threat!"
"I know how to settle this!" Vi proclaimed. "If you're not evil, then who is the president?"
"George Bush, but that doesn't prove- never mind." Willow stopped when she saw they had dropped their crossbows.
There was a large rumble. "What was that?"
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[A/N: A bit after the last cavern scene]
Down in the caverns, things were going well. The tide had turned in their favour a while ago and since then there was nothing stopping them. They were currently on one demon for five slayers, and the numbers were still going down.
The wizards, except the order members, had already left via the portal taking all the death eaters with them and the Hogwarts students had soon followed, most of then having killed nothing throughout the battle. The action had mainly kept inside the caves with fifty or so demons trying to escape towards the end.
Wesley and Gunn stood up from where they had been talking with Angel and Faith.
Wesley yelled out to everyone fighting (there were now about a hundred slayers standing about uselessly plus the odds had gone up to one demon per eight slayers) having had his voice magnified with a sonerus charm. "Hey! We want everyone who's injured to follow Gunn out now!"
That got rid of most of the girls standing around the edge, plus a few more. Angel, Faith and Wes had another heated discussion.
"Wes, take the second line back." Angel urged. "There are too many fighters here and they're injuring each other."
"What if something else happens?" Came the reply.
"He's got a point Angel."
"Keep them near the portal and if we need them back one of Xander's lot will tell you."
Wes nodded and ten minutes later only the uninjured first line remained. Faith and Angel stood on the sidelines, ready to jump in if anybody needed it, but now the less experienced members of the army were gone and the hundred or so slayers left actually had room to move the numbers were rapidly depleting.
There was a loud rumble that echoed around the tall caves.
"What the hell was that?" Faith yelled to Angel.
"I don't know; but I don't like it." He replied, looking around.
The ground began to shake quite gently at first but it got more and more violent. Rocks and stone started to fall from the ceiling showering the girls with rubble.
"Everyone out!" Faith bellowed, but they didn't need to be told.
Most of the girls were heading towards the tunnel exit as it was the quickest way out. Some of them dashed through the house, avoiding falling rubble and ignoring the cries of the portraits, but Faith stopped them.
"No! It'll cave in any minute!"
There was still a massive bundle at the tunnel exit and the debris was starting to fall more quickly and in bigger chunks. There was a loud crash followed by screams as the house fell in. Thank God no-one was in there anymore.
Faith and Angel stood at the end, making sure everyone got out ok before diving to safety themselves and not a moment too soon. Faith and Angel had just reached Xander when there was a massive roar and the cavern collapsed in on itself.
Faith watched wide eyed as the shaking began to stop.
"Faith!"
She looked around to see Xander calling her name and waving franticly. He suddenly rushed forward and barrelled into her sending them both rolling to the floor. He rolled the two of them over a couple of times before Faith could get her act together.
"What the hell was that-"She was silenced by a crash as a large tree smashed down, falling where she had been standing moments before. She threw her arms around Xander's neck.
"Thank you." She whispered. She released Xander from her hold and looked around. "Where's B?"
Everyone looked around panicked. The house they were supposed to be fighting in was rubble. Sure, they were all out ok, but what about Dawn, Harry, Buffy, Spike and Giles?
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Cliffie- the last of the story! The reason that I finished there is that I'm still deciding if I should kill them off! It will either be way to sad or a big kaboom for the 'grade finale'
Battle chapters are all done, thank God! The magical ones especially are not fun to write. One more chapter which I'll put out in about a week; please review!!!
TTrunks: Glad you liked the chapter, I hope you like this one too.
Charmed Chick: I love the Buffy Baddies too, but I can't write them for toffee. Thanks for reviewing.
Jazzy Punker: Kennedy is under the imperious curse, that's why she wants to kill Faith. Sorry, I should've made it clearer. Thanks for reviewing.
NixiNox: Sorry I annoyed you! I've got to say, the thought of Dawn being pregnant never occurred to me (which is weird 'cause I wrote a fic based on that a while back). But she will not get pregnant in this story.
Bunny Kat; Please don't be angry with me! I didn't mean to kill them, it was an accident!
Matt: Thanks for proofing and reviewing.
Kev: I guess you'll have to wait and see. A masterpiece? I don't think so, but I'm flattered you said it.
A/N: The beginning of this chapter overlaps the end of the last one. Also through out there are time overlapping bits, but I think it's pretty clear, just keep that in mind.
CHAPTER 24- PROPHECY GIRLS (except for Harry; who is, of course, a Prophecy Guy)
[A/N: Before Willow's spell]
Kennedy raised her sword, ready to strike at Faith. Faith killed the death eater she was fighting and took a step forward, not noticing the slayer under the imperious curse standing behind her.
She was about to fight another death eater when she noticed a shadow on the wall next to her. She spun round as quickly as she could and raised her own blade to block Kennedy's.
Faith's eyes suddenly bulged with recognition. "Kennedy? What are you doing?"
Kennedy didn't reply. She raised her sword again, but was blocked by Faith who pushed her back as hard as she could.
Kennedy stumbled back...right into the path of an Avada Kedavra. Faith watched in horror as one of the girls she had trained fell to the floor and didn't bounce right back up like she did in training. She'd killed Kennedy.
At the same time, little Emily Flinch-Fletchedy was fighting a man twice her size. She looked rather clumsy to begin with, but soon got into the rhythm; punch, kick, punch-punch.
To say the death eater was surprised by the young girls power is an understatement. But he didn't get the chance to be surprised for long and Emily moved onto her next opponent.
Jaden was fighting another death eater, but hers was a woman. Like Emily, she was fighting without a weapon, but had her wand safely tucked away.
She aimed a punch at the death eater's face and the white mask went clattering to the ground. Jade gasped. "Pansy?"
The girl smirked evilly. "Hello housemate." She aimed a sloppy punch at Jade who ducked easily.
"You bitch!" Jaden shrieked before lunging at the older girl in a flurry of kicks and punches. Somehow, Pansy managed to stay standing during the slayers onslaught. The smirk on her face widened as she looked over Jade's shoulder.
Jade cautiously turned around. A wand was pointed right at her. The death eater's lips started to move into the words she had learnt to dread.
Jaden grabbed Pansy's arm and swung her round, placing her in-between the curse and the slayer. She drew her wand and aimed a body bind curse back at the death eater before Parkinson's body had a chance to touch the ground.
Jade took in a shuddering breath and stepped over the body of Pansy Parkinson and back into the fight.
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[A/N: After Willow's spell, but before Dawn's death]
Faith and Wesley's slayers had soon joined Angel and Gunn's in the main cavern. Willow's spell had been a blessing as any demons with magical powers and the wizards were both weakened. That left them with good old fashioned trolls, giants, vampires and other such demons that relied on brute force.
They came across the odd demon or death eater that had escaped Willow's spell, but they were soon dealt with by the masses of slayers or the hundreds of good wizards still possessing their magic.
Outside, night had fallen. This meant that Xander's troops were busier now as various demons tried to escape. The demons were quickly shot down by the waiting slayers and Hogwarts students; they were finding it so easy that Xander actually sent thirty slayers into the caves to help out in there.
Although the slayers and demons had the skill advantage, the demons still outnumbered them and they were having a fairly difficult time getting the numbers down to something manageable.
In one fairly small part of the caves, Ginny was fighting two demons with a slayer from the Asian hellmouth that she had become sort of friendly with.
Ginny plunged her sword into one of the demons stomach and sliced upwards splitting it in two. The demon fell to the floor like so many had that afternoon and evening and added his blood to the rest.
Ginny immediately moved onto the next demon. She lunged at it with her sword, but it dodged. She tried again, but once again the demon side stepped the blow. The demon raised the sword of his own and lashed out intending to take Ginny's head, but she ducked and rolled to the side.
The demon may not have got its intended target, but it did decapitate something. The slayer standing behind Ginny had not seen the sword coming so did not attempt to move from the danger she was in.
Seconds later she dropped to the ground; she didn't even see her death coming and the daggers in her hands clattered to the ground uselessly. Ginny looked down at her dead almost-friend.
She didn't see the demon raise his sword over her head and prepare to strike.
"Ginny!" Flick shouted from where she was fighting, but Ginny seemed to be in a trance staring down at the body.
Flick shoved the demon away from her and leapt through the air like only slayers can. She swung her sword decapitating the demon before landing gracefully.
"That could've been me." Ginny said softly. "If I hadn't moved...I'm gonna be sick."
Flick stood guard over her friend as she emptied the contents of her stomach. When she was done, Ginny wiped her mouth and straitened up. She took in the scene around her.
Angel was in game face. He fought like a man possessed, who in a way he was; he swung his axe around, knocking three vampires back and decapitating another all in one swing. On vampire jumped on his back while another charged at his stomach forcing him to drop his sword.
Skye was dodging a demon that was slicing at her with a heavy axe, her own weapon laying a few yards away as she desperately tried to reach it. Jade had her sword risen above her head, clashed with the sword of a demon each pushing to see who would back down the first. Jaden seemed to be losing. Flick was trapped in a circle of five demons. They closed in on her, forcing her to the ground where she had no escape.
Then a green wave of what felt like pure energy swept through the cavern. The fighting seemed to stop momentarily, but when it started again it was like the tide had turned.
Ginny regained her wits and plunged back into the battle, sword raised and ready for action.
Angel threw the two vampires off him with an almighty shake and swooped down to pick up his sword and beheaded two demons in one powerful stroke.
Skylar ducked and rolled away from the demon attacking her, picking up her weapon part way through. She stood up behind the demon and forced the blade through its neck killing it.
Jaden gathered all her strength and pushed the demon away from her. She dropped her sword and sliced across the brownish grey monster's mid section.
Flick kicked out, throwing two green demons away from her. She punched and kicked to get rid of the rest before straddling a demon that was about to get up and giving his neck a sharp twist.
Gunn and Angel stood back-to-back, taking a momentary break from the fighting.
"Looks like the odds have gone in our favour." Gunn said with a look around that showed him demons falling to the ground.
"I wouldn't be so sure." Angel replied. Gunn shot his friend/ boss a puzzled look. "I recognised that energy; it was the key."
"You mean Dawn's dead?" Gunn gasped.
Angel nodded before ducking an attacking vampire and quickly killing it.
Luna Lovegood was one of a kind. She was always off in her dream world, and now was no exception. She'd lost count of the number of time's Dawn had told her to stay focused, yet during a life-or-death battle she couldn't quite seem to recall that particular fact. The fact that she was still alive was more dumb luck than anything else.
Luna was quite possibly the strongest of all the witch-slayers, but she lacked the speed and motivation that would make her one of the greats, and it was her strength that was keeping her alive. Most of the demons she had fought had been dumb and slow and she had slayed them easily.
'Father would be fascinated by this.' Luna thought as she fatally stabbed a stumpy blue demon which was quickly replaced with a taller green one. She lunged at her new opponent who quickly dodged. Luna stumbled slightly before she regained her balanced and kicked out connecting with the demon's shin.
The demon howled, but the sound was lost in the din of battle. Luna gave a satisfied smirk as the demon hopped about. When she saw it had regained its balance, she raised her sword to kill the demon. The demon also prepared to strike, lifting its sharp scythe above its head. Both of them hit each other. Luna decapitated the demon just as he dropped his sword down in front of him. Luna screamed as the sharp blade penetrated the skin around her wrist. The demon fell to the floor. But so did Luna's weapon and the hand that had been holding it.
A normal person may have passed out from blood loss or pain, but not a slayer. The blood had already started clotting at the point where her wrist should be attached as Luna dumbly clutched her useless arm to her body.
Pain is a funny thing; it can either make you totally zone out, or make you more alert. Luckily for Luna, in her case it was the latter. With a speed no-one knew she possessed, she dodged her way to the nearest slayer who happened to be Emily.
"Shit!" Emily saw upon seeing her friend. "I-is that your blood?"
Luna nodded silently and allowed Emily to see her injury. Emily flinched at the sight; she had never seen anything like it.
"We've got to get you out of here." Emily lead Luna out of the caverns, fighting off whatever they came up against.
When they got outside, both girls gulped in the fresh air. It had smelt a bit ripe underground anyway, but when you combined it with the stench of sweat and the iron smell of blood, it was not at all pleasant.
In the distance they saw Xander and his crew pointing various weapons at them, but when he saw who it was he gave them the order to put down their arsenal. They started across the grounds, as did Xander and they met in the middle.
"Injury?" Xander asked unnecessarily as he was already inspecting Luna's wound. "Can you take her to the portal?" He asked efficiently; he'd seen so many battle injuries that nothing surprised him anymore. "She needs to get this seen to."
Emily nodded and she and Luna stumbled forward. Xander swept Luna up into his arms, not caring about the blood he was getting on his shirt, although he did briefly wonder if it was the same mystical forces that caused Buffy and Dawn to wear high heels to battle that made him wear a nice new shirt.
When they reached the portal, Xander stepped through with Luna, closely followed by Emily. He lay her down gently on a bed and turned to Emily.
"I've got to get back to my troops, stay with her and make sure she's okay."
Xander ran back through the portal to his group where his appointed second, Ron Weasly, was commanding the slayers to fire at two death eaters who were trying to escape.
Meanwhile in the caves, their friends were beating back the armies of demons and vampires. The number of demons may have been decreasing, but there was still the matter of the powerful wizard to defeat.
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Harry held Dawn close to him. She couldn't be dead, she just couldn't. Off to the side Giles stood shocked; he had thought that he was prepared for this to happen; but can you ever truly be ready and he never expected her to die like this, killed by a humble death eater's sword.
Buffy stood off to the side staring at her sister's body. Tears trickled down her cheeks, but she didn't acknowledge them, nor did she acknowledge Spike's arm draped around her shoulders. She just wanted to hide; to go back to when Dawn was a baby and everything was easy.
Buffy could feel the outside world becoming more and more detached to her. She felt herself drift further and further into her mind. She saw herself sitting at a little plastic table cradling a doll. Her younger self looked up in surprise.
"You're back!" Young Buffy said to her older counterpart. The six year old didn't wait for a reply but ran to her front door, pigtails bobbing merrily as she greeted her parents. "Mommy! Dad! You're back!"
Buffy watched as her younger self took baby Dawn into her arms. She was so pure. Young Buffy turned to her.
"Isn't she little? I just want to hold her like this forever and ever and keep her safe." She said with all the innocence of a child and the love of a big sister. She turned back to her mother.
"I could take care of her sometimes, if you need a helper. Can't we?" Both Buffy's looked at each other for a moment, understanding. "Mom; can I look after her?"
Buffy watched the scene unfold; the perfect family. She could almost hear Dawn urging her to go back and not to give up. Her younger self turned to speak to her for one last time.
"You're going now aren't you?" she said sounding much older than just her six years.
Old Buffy nodded, Dawn's voice still in her head telling her to help the others.
"You're not coming back, are you?"
"No; I'm not." Buffy spoke for the first time.
Young Buffy nodded. "Goodbye, Buffy." She looked down at the precious bundle in her arms. "Take care of her."
With a jolt Buffy realised that she was back in the present. The last words of her inner self echoed in her mind: Take care of her.
It was too late for that now; Dawn was dead. But she could make sure the...thing that ordered her death was put down, for good.
Buffy cleared her throat. "Harry? We've got to go after Voldermort."
The young wizard looked up at her stunned. "I can't; I can't do this anymore."
"You've got to; you're the only person who can." Buffy pleaded. "Do you think Dawn would want you to give in? After all she's sacrificed." The tears were falling again, would they ever stop?
"Buffy;" Giles said softly, "we're tired and injured, do you really think we stand a chance?"
"We have to...for Dawnie." Buffy's voice cracked.
Harry lay Dawn down on the floor gently, slowly stood up and spoke dully. "Which way did he go?"
"Up there." Spike said huskily, pointing to an almost hidden spiral staircase and starting to move towards it.
Harry followed Spike up the narrow stairs towards a tower at the top of the room. They entered the room cautiously; it appeared to be empty.
Harry walked into the middle of the room, holding his wand out in front of him.
"Shielus." A voice said from the corner, and Voldermort appeared as if from nowhere.
"We meet again, Harry." He spat.
Giles, Spike and Buffy tried to go to Harry, but they seemed to run into an invisible wall.
Voldermort laughed cruelly. "I think this is best if it stays between you and me, don't you?"
Harry looked back to his friends and then to Voldermort. It looked like he would have to do this on his own after all.
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Meanwhile; Rona and Vi still stood ready to kill Willow if she turned out to be evil. She hadn't moved since the spell, unless you count the twitching that was pretty much constant.
The thing that worried them most, however, was the light flickering all over her body. About half the light was white, and the rest black and it seemed to be having its own little battle.
The black energy (the magic drawn from the death eaters and demons) would try to push the white energy back so that it could take over Willow's body, and then the white energy would push back to try and regain its hold on Willow.
Whilst this happened, the two slayers were powerless to do anything but watch as Willow appeared to have a bad dream.
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Willow found herself back in Sunnydale Park, but this time it was night time. She looked around and saw she was not alone. She was in the presence of the figure who haunted her nightmares; black hair, gothic outfit, dark lips. It all added up to one thing; Dark Willow.
"What are you doing here?" Willow asked a lot more boldly that she felt.
"Isn't it obvious?" Dark Willow took a few steps closer to Willow and stared her straight in the eye. "I want my body back."
"It was never yours." A new voice said.
"Tara." Willow breathed. "I should've known you'd come."
Tara smiled briefly at Willow, before addressing them both. "I am here as a messenger; I can't interfere. Originally you were one person; the good presiding over dark. Then something changed and you became two; light and dark, good and evil. Since then you have been separate, two people sharing one body. You locked the dark inside of you, but it didn't go away. Now, dark energy has entered the body so you are both equally strong; you will not leave here until one of you beats the other. The stronger person will triumph; whoever wants it most will win. Do you understand?"
Dark Willow nodded with a sneer and regular Willow nodded with a gulp. "So we duel?"
Tara nodded. "Yes; when you are both ready."
The Willow's looked at each other, preparing themselves for the fight ahead. Two will enter, but only one shall leave.
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[A/N: Directly after Dawn's death]
When Dawn awoke; she was painfully aware of the stab wound in her abdomen. She tried to move, but winced as the pain travelled up her body. But then, the wound closed itself and she was filled with an enormous sense of peace.
She realised that she must be in heaven, and this is what Buffy felt for the six months that she was dead. Dawn stood up and took a couple of steps forward experimentally. It was then she noticed her surroundings.
Dawn almost laughed when she realised that she was sitting on a cloud; it was just so cliché! She looked over the edge and that's when it hit her. She was dead. She could see all of Malfoy Manor, even inside the buildings; Willow lying in the grounds with Rona and Vi next to her; Faith, Angel, Wes and Gunn commanding the troops and urging them forward; her slayers fighting with all their energy; Harry cradling her body whilst the others looked on.
Suddenly she was aware of a change of scenery. She was standing in a house that looked vaguely familiar to her. There was a young blond girl with her hair in pigtails sitting with her back to her.
The girl turned to look at Dawn and the brunette gasped in surprise. "Buffy?"
Yong Buffy didn't say anything. She turned back to her doll and then spoke, but not to Dawn. She spoke to the other Buffy, the one Dawn knew so well.
"You're back."
"Buffy!" Dawn said, but Buffy either didn't hear or took no notice.
Dawn watched as 'she' was brought home for the first time and heard Buffy's promise to protect her.
Something was familiar about all this. But she couldn't put her finger on it...
Willow's voice echoed in her mind. "It killed her when Glory took you, not literally. She got trapped in her memories of when you were a baby."
Trapped? But Willow wasn't here to get her out this time. What if she stayed in here forever? What if she can't get back and help?
Dawn; forgetting that Buffy didn't hear her; tried desperately to reach her sister. "Buffy; you have to get out of here. You can't give up; please, Buffy! The others need you, you have to fight!"
Dawn was back on her cloud, but it was different. There was a stone archway with ivy climbing all over it and roses planted at the sides.
Dawn looked over the edge again and sighed in relief. Buffy had snapped out of it and gone over to Harry. Now they were climbing the stairs to what looked like an empty room. She saw Voldermort appear and trap Harry inside with him.
That scared her. Harry shouldn't be doing this on his own; he needed people to help him!
"Dawn?"
She didn't even need to turn around to recognise that voice. It had haunted her dreams for nearly three years. "Mom?"
Joyce Summers stood in the archway dressed in a long white dress. A bright light shone from behind her and gave the impression that she was a Goddess.
"It's good to see you again, honey."
Dawn rushed over and enveloped her mother in a big hug, which she gratefully returned.
"Oh, Dawnie; I've been longing for this day, but I've been dreading it too."
"Me too." Came Dawn's muffled reply from somewhere in her mother's dress.
"My precious little pumpkin belly." Joyce said stroking Dawn's hair affectionately. "I love you darling, you and your sister. I love you both very much and what I'm about to say might not make much sense now, but later it will.
"You have to go back Dawn." Joyce said firmly.
"What? Why? I want to stay with you." Dawn pouted.
"I know you do sweetheart, but your time isn't over yet. You are still needed down there." Joyce replied softly.
"It's hard there; and it hurts. Here, it's...peaceful. Don't make me go back." Dawn begged.
Joyce led her daughter to the edge of the cloud and forced her to look over. "If you don't go back, they'll die, all of them. If you do then at least they stand a chance. To ask you to stay would be selfish of me; you're needed there."
Dawn winced as Harry was thrown back against the shield and even she could see that Voldermort was only playing with him; he could kill Harry at any moment.
"Together they will fight the darkness; they will stand united." Joyce quoted. "Both can triumph, for they make a formidable team; but without each other they shall surely fail. You've heard the prophecy. If either of you tries to fight alone you would fail; the only time you can win if when you're together, when you combine your powers."
"I have to go back, don't I?" Dawn's eyes brimmed with tears, as did her mother's.
Joyce nodded, wiping away a stray tear that had spilled over. "Be brave, my darling; I'm so proud of you, of both of you." Joyce slowly walked back through the arch. "I'll keep waiting for you."
Dawn blinked back the tears, but when she opened her eyes, she wasn't in heaven. She was back in the tower.
Dawn held her hand out in front of her and twisted it, her eyes wide in shock. She was glowing bright green! Her key powers weren't even supposed to work, but here they were, as green as... something really green.
Her head snapped up as she heard a thump from up the stairs followed by an exclamation of pain. She got to her feet, took a deep breath and forced herself up the stairs.
She entered the room where the fighting was happening. To say the others were shocked was an understatement. Surprisingly it was Voldermort who spoke first.
"You! But- but you're dead!" He stuttered, under any other circumstances it would've been funny.
"Sorry to disappoint you." Dawn turned to Buffy, Spike and Giles. "Hey, guys." She said with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.
"Dawn?" Spike croaked.
"It's me; you guys should know better than to leave a Summers' girl for dead."
Buffy pulled her younger sister into a hug, using all her slayer strength.
"Buffy- can't- breath!" Dawn panted.
"Sorry, I'm sorry."
"It's ok." Dawn soothed.
Buffy looked up into her sisters eyes; "Is it?" she asked seeing a haunted look that she recognised from when she was resurrected, although it wasn't nearly as strong.
Dawn nodded with a grin, which quickly faded. "Harry; look out!"
Voldermort had decided to take advantage of the group's distraction and had fired a curse at Harry. To give him credit, Harry didn't look around to see what was coming, he just dived to safety.
Dawn walked through the shield (which left Voldermort stuttering again) and over to her boyfriend. "Hi Harry."
Harry stared at her. "You're back." He whispered.
"You can't get rid of me that easily!"
Suddenly Harry's eyes went wide and he dove at Dawn making them both fall to the floor. A bright green light flashed over their heads; the killing curse.
Dawn tried to fire a spell at him but it reflected off and bounced around the shield before flying out the window.
"You can't hurt him with magic;" Harry explained, "he shares the protection in my blood. The spell has to come from me. Stuperfy!"
Voldermort deflected the curse easily. "Impedimenta!"
Harry dodged the curse. Neither was getting very far; it was like they were dancing. One would fire a spell; the other would dodge and then fire their own curse which would be deflected and so on.
"The only time we can win is when we combine our powers." Dawn whispered, echoing her mother's words. She knew instinctively what to do. "Harry; please trust me."
Thirty seconds later, Harry felt energy pouring into him. He looked back to Dawn who was standing just in side the shield with her eyes fixed on him, muttering something.
He saw her mutter 'trust me' so he did; didn't need to think twice about it. He and Voldermort continued swapping curses for a bit longer ("Impedimenta!" "Stuperfy!" "Expellidemus!" "Perificus totalus!"), until Harry felt energy build up inside him.
He let the energy enter him until he could take no more, ignoring the noise around him. He raised his wand to channel all the power.
"Intereo iam!" He yelled at the top of his voice.
Harry felt the energy leave him. It travelled down his wand and came out the other end in a pale yellow light. It hit Voldermort directly in the chest and he screamed. He continued screaming as he got shorter and shorter, or so it appeared.
What was really happening was that he was turning into black goo, starting with his feet. When the spell was finished, Voldermort; the most feared wizard of the generation was nothing but a bubbling pile of ooze on the floor.
The shield collapsed and the spectators of that rather magnificent finale rushed forward. Harry dashed over to Dawn, as did the others.
"Dawn; are you ok?" He asked urgently.
"I'm great!" She said dreamily before passing out...again.
Buffy grabbed Dawn's wrist and anxiously searched for a pulse. She sighed in relief and turned back to Harry.
"She just passed out, coming back to life and doing that energy transfer must've taken a lot out of her. What about you, are you-"Buffy started, but she was interrupted by a loud rumble.
"What was that?" Harry asked unnecessarily; as he could already see that the pile of crap that was Voldermort was bubbling more violently and it was causing the castle to shake.
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Meanwhile; Willow was battling against her alter (and darker) ego. Willow was the most skilful, just; but Dark Willow was willing to play dirty and use dark magix so they were pretty evenly matched.
Neither had spoken since they started fighting; they were both to powerful to need words and the only sounds Tara could hear from where she was standing were thuds as one of the witches was thrown into something or a yell of pain.
She winced as Dark Willow threw her hands forward and blue lightening bolts flew out sending Willow flying back with a cry. But Willow wasn't out for good. She retaliated with some lightening of her own, but hers was a mint green.
The spells stopped as the Willow's got to their feet but they were at it again soon. Willow sent a huge gust of wind to her counterpart, but it was deflected off towards a tree in the distance. Dark Willow threw a blood red beam at Willow.
"Ahhh!" Willow didn't get her shield up quickly enough and the light rattled her bones. She mentally begged the Goddesses for their help as she pushed a mini ball of sunshine at Dark Willow.
The golden ball hit Dark Willow in the stomach and sent her crashing into a tree trunk, which promptly collapsed on her.
Willow advanced on her fallen doppelganger. She looked into the eyes that were so like her own but blacker and she couldn't bear to kill the figure that, even if she didn't like it, would always be a part of her. But she had to, or they would be stuck here for ever. Setting her mouth in a resolved line she raised her hands.
"Vintunda!" A shimmering green smoke came out of Willow's fingertips and wrapped around Dark Willow, binding her arms to her sides. Once it was still, the smoke turned pearly white and started to be absorbed into Dark Willow.
Dark Willow realised what was happening. "No! No, stop it! Stop it! I won't give in; I won't!"
But even as she spoke her hair was getting lighter and the veins on her skin were receding.
Soon there was no Dark Willow, just two regular Willow's staring at each other in wonder.
"What did you do?" Tara asked in awe from the sidelines.
"A combination of the spell Giles used to stop us before and the essence of magic. I gave her back her humanity." Willow replied smiling at her double.
Tara nodded. "I know you could do it. Now you are one." As she spoke, the previously Dark Willow walked slowly over to her partner and carried on walking. She walked right into Willow and continued to go through her...but she didn't come out the other side. Now there was only one Willow.
"You are more powerful now," Tara continued; "you are too powerful to be human, it would over load your system."
Tara walked over and placed a hand on Willow's forehead. "Cordelia could tell you more about this if she was still around; you're more powerful than the oracles, than the champions; Willow; you're a higher being."
"A what?" Willow exclaimed. "No, I can't be. Higher beings are all woooo!" She said waving her hands in front of her to demonstrate. "They're like junior P.T.B!"
Tara smiled. "You have to go back now, baby. This doesn't mean anything has to be different. You'll get visions, but they won't hurt you, I won't let them hurt you ever. And you can stay on your plane of existence." Tara placed a light kiss on her lips. "See you in our dreams." She said before fading into blackness.
Willow sat bolt upright, back in the forest to see two cross bows pointed at her face.
"Are you evil?" Vi asked, not dropping the crossbows.
"Do I look evil?" They didn't budge. Willow rolled her eyes. "No; I'm not evil. If I were evil you'd be dead by now."
"That's convincing, what with the death treats an' all." Rona said, still not dropping her crossbow.
"That wasn't a death threat!"
"I know how to settle this!" Vi proclaimed. "If you're not evil, then who is the president?"
"George Bush, but that doesn't prove- never mind." Willow stopped when she saw they had dropped their crossbows.
There was a large rumble. "What was that?"
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[A/N: A bit after the last cavern scene]
Down in the caverns, things were going well. The tide had turned in their favour a while ago and since then there was nothing stopping them. They were currently on one demon for five slayers, and the numbers were still going down.
The wizards, except the order members, had already left via the portal taking all the death eaters with them and the Hogwarts students had soon followed, most of then having killed nothing throughout the battle. The action had mainly kept inside the caves with fifty or so demons trying to escape towards the end.
Wesley and Gunn stood up from where they had been talking with Angel and Faith.
Wesley yelled out to everyone fighting (there were now about a hundred slayers standing about uselessly plus the odds had gone up to one demon per eight slayers) having had his voice magnified with a sonerus charm. "Hey! We want everyone who's injured to follow Gunn out now!"
That got rid of most of the girls standing around the edge, plus a few more. Angel, Faith and Wes had another heated discussion.
"Wes, take the second line back." Angel urged. "There are too many fighters here and they're injuring each other."
"What if something else happens?" Came the reply.
"He's got a point Angel."
"Keep them near the portal and if we need them back one of Xander's lot will tell you."
Wes nodded and ten minutes later only the uninjured first line remained. Faith and Angel stood on the sidelines, ready to jump in if anybody needed it, but now the less experienced members of the army were gone and the hundred or so slayers left actually had room to move the numbers were rapidly depleting.
There was a loud rumble that echoed around the tall caves.
"What the hell was that?" Faith yelled to Angel.
"I don't know; but I don't like it." He replied, looking around.
The ground began to shake quite gently at first but it got more and more violent. Rocks and stone started to fall from the ceiling showering the girls with rubble.
"Everyone out!" Faith bellowed, but they didn't need to be told.
Most of the girls were heading towards the tunnel exit as it was the quickest way out. Some of them dashed through the house, avoiding falling rubble and ignoring the cries of the portraits, but Faith stopped them.
"No! It'll cave in any minute!"
There was still a massive bundle at the tunnel exit and the debris was starting to fall more quickly and in bigger chunks. There was a loud crash followed by screams as the house fell in. Thank God no-one was in there anymore.
Faith and Angel stood at the end, making sure everyone got out ok before diving to safety themselves and not a moment too soon. Faith and Angel had just reached Xander when there was a massive roar and the cavern collapsed in on itself.
Faith watched wide eyed as the shaking began to stop.
"Faith!"
She looked around to see Xander calling her name and waving franticly. He suddenly rushed forward and barrelled into her sending them both rolling to the floor. He rolled the two of them over a couple of times before Faith could get her act together.
"What the hell was that-"She was silenced by a crash as a large tree smashed down, falling where she had been standing moments before. She threw her arms around Xander's neck.
"Thank you." She whispered. She released Xander from her hold and looked around. "Where's B?"
Everyone looked around panicked. The house they were supposed to be fighting in was rubble. Sure, they were all out ok, but what about Dawn, Harry, Buffy, Spike and Giles?
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Cliffie- the last of the story! The reason that I finished there is that I'm still deciding if I should kill them off! It will either be way to sad or a big kaboom for the 'grade finale'
Battle chapters are all done, thank God! The magical ones especially are not fun to write. One more chapter which I'll put out in about a week; please review!!!