Chapter 37
The demons walked in and followed Buffy, Angel, and Gunn back into the conference room. "Amanda." The leader said. He held his arms wide and Amanda stood, turning to him with a smile. "Ya look wonderful, huh? Huh?! So full of life. So how's our little oven-bun? Still kicking up a storm, I hope. Third trimester. Any more pressure, shortness of breath?" Amanda nodded. "Well, that's normal. Are you taking the black cohosh we sent?" Amanda nodded again. "Lovely. Bipmep cut some articles out of this month's 'Fit Pregnancy'. We'll send those along."
"We can get under way." Angel said.
"Ah! Good, good." The demons started signing papers. "And.... there.... and done." He handed the papers to Amanda. "There you are, Amanda."
"Wait a minute. Gordabach?" Gunn asked, reading the contract.
"Yes. Gordabach. Just sign right there, mom."
"No, hang on. I just wanna get this clause straight. 'The child will be pampered, worshipped, and fed a holy diet of berries, panda meat, and urine.'"
"Well, it's consecrated urine."
"'And on the eve of his 13th year, he will be prepared for the rites of Gordabach.'"
"That's what, like a bar mitzvah?" Amanda asked.
"Well, there'll be gifts." The demon said.
"Amanda.... it's a ritual sacri...."
"Whose lawyer are you?!"
Illyria burst into the conference room, making the door slam open. "You will speak to me." She said to Buffy and Angel.
"In the middle of something." Angel said.
"Then I will end it."
"Illyria...."
"Yeah, ok." Buffy said, standing up. "We'll talk."
"Who's this?" The demon asked.
"Come with me." Angel said. He and Illyria walked out.
Buffy looked at the demons and Amanda. "This'll only take a second. She's new to this world." When Buffy made it to the hallway, she found Illyria holding Angel up against the wall.
"Ridiculous apes." Illyria spat. "My death won't prevent your dying. What have you done to me?!"
Buffy grabbed Illyria and hauled her away. "Get your damn hands off him."
"You do not know. Not yet." With that, Illyria stormed off. "It's too early."
"What'd you do to her?" Buffy asked. "Why'd she...."
"She's crazy, that's what." Angel said.
Lorne walked up. "Psst. Ya gotta keep your thingy on for this to work, ok?" Angel pulled Lorne's hat off. "Oh, that's mature!"
"Boss, it's getting a little shouty in your office." Harmony said.
"Let Gunn take care of it." Angel stormed off.
"Angel!" Buffy ran to follow.
He headed to the science lab where Dawn, Spike, and Wesley were. "Illyria's blown all of her gaskets, man. She's outta her mind."
"How can you tell? Yesterday she spent 2 hours mind-melding with a potted fern." Spike said.
"She thinks I'm trying to kill her."
"Aren't you?" Buffy asked.
"Tell me you have something, Dawn. Just anything."
"She is unstable." Dawn said. Spike pressed buttons on the laptop and Dawn went to him. "Overloading, to be more accurate. The fusion between her demon essence and her host's body seems to be deteriorating. It's like the human part of her can't hold the demony power inside." She looked at something through a magnifying lens.
"Hmm. We're thinking that she cracked her engine block and now she's leakin' petrol all over the building." Spike said.
"She's going to self-destruct, violently, and soon." Wesley said.
"And you were gonna tell us this when?" Angel asked.
"I wasn't. Spike, Dawn, and I were dealing with it."
"We're motivated go-getters." Spike said, patting Dawn's shoulder.
"The good news is the crack in her engine block may give us a chance to get to her." Dawn said. She took a large metallic weapon out of the box on the table and handed it to Wesley. "This is a Mutari generator. It makes a pinhole to an infinite extra-dimensional space, a negatively charged pocket universe, that should draw her power into itself by process of a...."
"Dawn. Will it kill her?" Angel asked.
Dawn looked at Wesley. "Yes." He said. "Shall we go?"
"We have to find out where she...." Buffy started.
Spike grabbed the laptop and showed the display to Buffy and Angel. "Oh, here." The display showed a blue dot moving through a map of the building. "Training room, looks like. And gushin' petrol like a geyser." They headed out of the lab and down the halls to the training room. "So what sort of damage are we lookin' at if Illyria Chernobyls on us?"
"Conservative guess, several city blocks." Wesley said.
"And what about unconservative?" Angel asked.
"Rand and McNally will have to redraw their maps."
Lorne was standing outside the training room. Buffy looked at him. "Is she in there?"
"Do you two even know how to use this thing?" Lorne asked, following them inside. There was no one there. "That's funny. I didn't even see her leave."
"Well, that's the problem. You don't always see her when she's...." Spike explode into ash. "Gaah!"
"SPIKE!" Buffy yelled. Illyria appeared behind Spike, staking him. She bent over, clutching her stomach.
"Illyria." Wesley yelled.
"Wes, do it now." Angel charged Illyria. Illyria kicked Angel in the face, sending him across the room. She grabbed a dagger off the wall and hurled it at Wesley, piercing him in the chest; he fell to the ground. She sent her fist through Lorne's chest. Dawn threw herself at Illyria before Buffy could stop her and Illyria snapped Dawn's neck. Angel vamped out and jumped through the air, lunging at Illyria, but not before she grabbed a battle-axe from the wall. She swung it at him, slicing off his head. He turned to ash.
Buffy let out an anguished scream. "Angel! Dawnie! No."
Illyria stood in the center of the room, holding the battle-axe, surveying her handiwork, and smiling. She looked around the room at the bodies of Dawn, Lorne, and Wesley and the piles of ash that used to be Spike and Angel. Buffy, fire in her eyes, launched herself at Illyria just as the demon god clutched her stomach, doubling over in pain.
"We haven't done anything to you." Angel said. Buffy looked up to see him standing in front of Illyria. Buffy herself was just outside of the hall.
"Jealous. Plankton envying the ocean that holds them." Illyria said.
"Yeah, that's great. Listen, I got things...." Angel started to walk off.
Illyria pinned him up against the wall. "Ridiculous apes. My death won't prevent your dying. What have you done to me?!"
"Get your damn hands off him." Buffy yelled as she grabbed Illyria to pull her away. Illyria doubled over in pain and when she looked up, she found herself in Wesley's office having just knocked a glass of water off of his desk. Buffy was there with her.
"Are you all right?" Wesley asked.
"No, I'm not all right." Buffy said. "What the hell did you do to me?"
"Buffy."
"You weren't here before." Illyria said. "Either of you."
"Who.... where did.... what just happened?"
"An aberration in the time line. It wasn't like this...." Illyria doubled over, clutching her stomach, screaming in agony. "Aaaaah!" Illyria recovered to find herself in the basement of the suburban house where Gunn was imprisoned. Buffy was there this time.
Buffy started to flip out. "Damn it! What the hell was this?"
"You followed me."
Buffy saw Gunn lying on the table, still wearing the necklace. "Gunn?"
"You've been swept up in my wake."
"This is the holding dimension."
"How did you worms accomplish this?"
"We didn't. We.... accomplish what?"
"You ripped me out of linear progression, tore my time line into shreds, and stitched it back together out of sequence."
"You killed my family!"
"You caged me in this fractured time frame, in moments that repeat themselves over and over without deviation. But I don't say these words. I rip the necklace off. I lift him from the table. We speak. And the demon attacks again." Illyria punched the demon. "Is it of your sciences? How do you unweave time in this way?"
"This isn't us. We don't have the power to do...."
Illyria punched Buffy, sending her flying across the room. "Do you know what you were when I was young? You were the muck at our feet."
"Will you just shut up for once?!"
"What?"
"My God, the speechifying. Has it ever occurred to you that now might not be the best time for when-we-were-muck stories?"
"You dare to speak to me in this...."
"Yes, I dare. And, yes, we are looking for a way of controlling you any way that we can. I can't have an 'x' factor like you bouncing around unchecked."
"Bouncing around?"
"Yes, and I know you would do the same thing. I know that for a fact. But this is my kingdom, crazy bitch, not yours!"
"Your kingdom! I am Illyria, god-king of the primordium, shaper of things!"
"And I'm Buffy Summers, the longest living Vampire Slayer ever recorded." Illyria doubled over in pain, screaming. When she recovered, Illyria found herself in the training room. Buffy was there with her, but so were the bodies of Dawn, Lorne, and Wesley. "This is.... Now."
"Yes. Nothing's what it used to be, is it? These are the fruits of your attempt to murder me. Your kingdom turned to ash and stale wind. I slew the white-haired one first. And then Wesley, as he raised his weapon.... and your demon clown as he wilted in terror. Then you're precious sister and you're husband."
"And I'm next."
"No, Slayer." Illyria threw her axe into a pile of dust that used to be Angel. "You are last."
"Why? I never attacked you."
"I didn't give you the chance. That you learn when you become a queen." Illyria doubled over, holding her head. "Unh! You learn to destroy everything that's not utterly yours. All that matters is victory. That's how your reign persists. You're a slave to an insane construct. You are moral. A true ruler is as moral as a hurricane, empty but for the force of his gale. But you.... trapped in the web of the Wolf, the Ram, the Hart. So much power here, and you quibble at its price. If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your ambition. Aaaah! Oh, you have not lied. My undoing is beyond you, your people. Something is broken inside me." She grasped at her head, staggering. "Aaah! My power is too great! I know this now, as I know it every time I come to this moment."
"Illyria, if I'm here, if I am paradox, then this can all change, can't it? Things had been altered, what you said, what you did. You can change this outcome!"
"Change is constant. Yet things remain the same." A glowing blue fracture appeared in Illyria's cheek. Her body started cracking apart, shooting out blue light everywhere. She exploded, sending Buffy back in the force of the explosion.
When Buffy recovered, she found herself doubled-ever in pain, groaning in the hallway while Dawn, Angel, Wesley, and Spike walked with the weapon toward Illyria in the training room.
"So what sort of damage are we lookin' at if Illyria Chernobyls on us?" Spike asked.
"Conservative guess, several city blocks." Wesley said.
"Buffy?" Angel asked, holding Buffy up.
"Angel!" Buffy hugged him tightly. "You're alive! Guys.... Illyria, she's self-destructing. She's a time bomb."
"Read today's paper, did ya?" Spike retorted.
"What?"
"We've been yapping about bloody nothing but that for the last 10 minutes."
"No, no, no. I just watched you guys get killed. I attacked her and we phased through time. I don't think she actually meant to do it. She's overloading. She's gonna explode."
"Yes, we know. Buffy, we've been over all this." Wesley said.
"Do you even know how to use this thing?" Lorne asked, following them in the training room.
"She's come unstuck in time, Wes! She knows what happens. She's seen it. She knows we want to kill her." Buffy said.
"Yeah, she said that to me as well." Wesley said.
Buffy realized what was going down. "Oh, guys.... this isn't good."
"Well, that's funny. I didn't even see her leave." Lorne said.
"Well, that's the problem. Don't always see her when she's...."
"Spike!" Buffy rushed Spike to move him out of the way just as Illyria appeared. She grabbed Illyria's arm and spun her away. Illyria went to attack again, but Buffy held up her hand. "Illyria, wait. Please. Wes, put that thing down. Spike, nobody move."
"This, too.... all changing." Illyria winced as she suffered another attack of pain and clutched her head. "Uh!"
"I know what happens. I know you kill us all."
"Oh, a bit pessimistic, aren't you?" Spike asked.
"And then you shudder, and you convulse with pain, and then the power inside you explodes."
"You were swept up in my wake." Illyria said to Buffy.
"You're not a king anymore. Your domain is gone, swallowed by time."
"And we've had this conversation."
"You explode. I was there. It was powerful enough to blow me back through time. I have no idea what it does to the building."
"More like the continental shelf, actually." Wesley said.
"Buffy, what are you talking about?" Angel asked, concern etching his features.
"I have to stop that. Do you understand? I cannot have your death blow away my...."
"Your kingdom?!" Illyria shot.
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
"You ask me to allow you to murder me."
"It's not murder if you say yes." Spike said.
"Spike, shut up!" Buffy said.
"No one is murdering you." Wesley said. "This device won't kill you."
"What? You said...." Angel started.
"I lied. Illyria, this device will draw the energy away from you safely. It will allow you to live."
"Your intent is not murder." Illyria said.
"It never was."
"Well, no harm, no foul." Lorne said.
"But you tried to destroy me to bring back Fred." Illyria said.
"That didn't work. It was a failure. But now I know you're all that's left." Wesley said.
"You want to take my power.... to let me live. But I am my power. And I would rather be a titanic crater than to be like unto you." Illyria kicked Wesley in the stomach, sending him flying across the room." Buffy kicked her in the face. "I kill you. That's how this ends." Illyria charged at Buffy, but she grabbed her and flung her away from her into a wall.
"You want to fight me? I've destroyed a god before and I'll do it again." Buffy said. Spike charged at Illyria, but with a wave of her hand, she slowed time in the room. She stood to walk out, but the pain in her stomach happened again, causing her to double over in pain, losing her focus and restoring the speed of time in the room. Spike landed against the wall, but got to his feet. "Illyria, the future can change here. You can choose a different path."
"And be nothing."
"And be what you are. Fighting to hold on to what you were.... it's destroying you."
"You would do this to me." Illyria said to Wesley.
"I'd try anyway. Every time." Wesley said.
"I possess so much grace, more grace than this bag of sticks could express. I was the immaculate embodiment of rule." A glowing blue fracture appeared in Illyria's cheek and her body started cracking apart, shooting out blue light everywhere. "I blame this on the weakness of your species."
"Fair enough." Wesley aimed the weapon at Illyria, pulling the trigger. The weapon shot out a beam of light, hitting Illyria in her stomach. It drew the blue light energy from her into the weapon. Spike watched in shock. Lorne grimaced, pained, as he stepped away from the ordeal. Angel watched Buffy intently as she watched Illyria's power be stripped away. Dawn looked from Buffy to Illyria to Wesley and back, confused at what had just happened. Wesley continued using the weapon on Illyria until all the fractures in her body re-sealed themselves. When he turned off the weapon, Illyria collapsed to the floor, convulsing for a moment. "Illyria...."
"Touch me and die, vermin." Illyria said.
"Not a very dramatic difference, really." Spike said.
"Everything is different." Wesley said.
Buffy looked at Wesley as she held Angel's hand tightly. They were standing in the observation room watching Illyria stilled curled in a ball on the floor of the training room. "So what's the prognosis?"
"She won't be stopping time.... or walking through dimensions. And I suspect her physical strength has decreased somewhat." Wesley said.
"That's what I wanted to hear."
"You're gonna stay with her, aren't you?" Angel asked.
"Yes."
"Wes.... I don't like where this is going. I don't like where this has been."
"I'm not in love with this thing, Angel. But.... for some reason, I need it right now."
"Yeah. That's just weird." Buffy said. She and Angel started to leave.
"She could still prove to be problematic for us. Much of what she was is still intact. I doubt she'll ever stop trying to conquer.... everything." Wesley said.
"Serve no master but your ambition."
"What's that?"
"You were right before.... about Illyria being a resource. She just might make the team yet." Buffy looked at Angel and he just looked away.
As they walked back into the lobby towards their office, Buffy and Angel were stopped by the yelling demons, Gunn, and Hamilton. "Yes, well, that would be more.... Buffy and Angel's business than mine." Hamilton said.
"She won't make it through another day." The lead demon said to Gunn.
"You think we can't protect her?!" Gunn yelled back.
"The Fell are everywhere. We are a force of nature."
"Gunn. The baby belongs to the Fell." Angel said.
"What? She hasn't signed anything. There's nothing on paper." Gunn said.
"Gentlemen." Angel walked into the conference room, followed by the demon brethren.
"What are you doing?" Buffy asked.
"What we're supposed to. Serve our clients." With that, Angel closed the door behind him.
Buffy glared at Hamilton and then looked back at Gunn. "If you need me, I'll be packing my bags."
"Where're you going?"
"To Italy. I'm going to stay with Faith for a while."
"Does Angel know?"
"He'll find out when I'm not home and there's a note on the bed." With that, Buffy turned and headed to the elevators.
"Buffy." The Slayer turned. "Are you ok?"
"I'm tired of playing second fiddle to this place. I need a vacation. I'll send the number to you, Wesley, Spike, and Dawn. Don't tell Angel."
"You're not getting a divorce, are you?"
"If I am, you'll probably be the first to know." With that, the doors of the elevator closed.
The demons walked in and followed Buffy, Angel, and Gunn back into the conference room. "Amanda." The leader said. He held his arms wide and Amanda stood, turning to him with a smile. "Ya look wonderful, huh? Huh?! So full of life. So how's our little oven-bun? Still kicking up a storm, I hope. Third trimester. Any more pressure, shortness of breath?" Amanda nodded. "Well, that's normal. Are you taking the black cohosh we sent?" Amanda nodded again. "Lovely. Bipmep cut some articles out of this month's 'Fit Pregnancy'. We'll send those along."
"We can get under way." Angel said.
"Ah! Good, good." The demons started signing papers. "And.... there.... and done." He handed the papers to Amanda. "There you are, Amanda."
"Wait a minute. Gordabach?" Gunn asked, reading the contract.
"Yes. Gordabach. Just sign right there, mom."
"No, hang on. I just wanna get this clause straight. 'The child will be pampered, worshipped, and fed a holy diet of berries, panda meat, and urine.'"
"Well, it's consecrated urine."
"'And on the eve of his 13th year, he will be prepared for the rites of Gordabach.'"
"That's what, like a bar mitzvah?" Amanda asked.
"Well, there'll be gifts." The demon said.
"Amanda.... it's a ritual sacri...."
"Whose lawyer are you?!"
Illyria burst into the conference room, making the door slam open. "You will speak to me." She said to Buffy and Angel.
"In the middle of something." Angel said.
"Then I will end it."
"Illyria...."
"Yeah, ok." Buffy said, standing up. "We'll talk."
"Who's this?" The demon asked.
"Come with me." Angel said. He and Illyria walked out.
Buffy looked at the demons and Amanda. "This'll only take a second. She's new to this world." When Buffy made it to the hallway, she found Illyria holding Angel up against the wall.
"Ridiculous apes." Illyria spat. "My death won't prevent your dying. What have you done to me?!"
Buffy grabbed Illyria and hauled her away. "Get your damn hands off him."
"You do not know. Not yet." With that, Illyria stormed off. "It's too early."
"What'd you do to her?" Buffy asked. "Why'd she...."
"She's crazy, that's what." Angel said.
Lorne walked up. "Psst. Ya gotta keep your thingy on for this to work, ok?" Angel pulled Lorne's hat off. "Oh, that's mature!"
"Boss, it's getting a little shouty in your office." Harmony said.
"Let Gunn take care of it." Angel stormed off.
"Angel!" Buffy ran to follow.
He headed to the science lab where Dawn, Spike, and Wesley were. "Illyria's blown all of her gaskets, man. She's outta her mind."
"How can you tell? Yesterday she spent 2 hours mind-melding with a potted fern." Spike said.
"She thinks I'm trying to kill her."
"Aren't you?" Buffy asked.
"Tell me you have something, Dawn. Just anything."
"She is unstable." Dawn said. Spike pressed buttons on the laptop and Dawn went to him. "Overloading, to be more accurate. The fusion between her demon essence and her host's body seems to be deteriorating. It's like the human part of her can't hold the demony power inside." She looked at something through a magnifying lens.
"Hmm. We're thinking that she cracked her engine block and now she's leakin' petrol all over the building." Spike said.
"She's going to self-destruct, violently, and soon." Wesley said.
"And you were gonna tell us this when?" Angel asked.
"I wasn't. Spike, Dawn, and I were dealing with it."
"We're motivated go-getters." Spike said, patting Dawn's shoulder.
"The good news is the crack in her engine block may give us a chance to get to her." Dawn said. She took a large metallic weapon out of the box on the table and handed it to Wesley. "This is a Mutari generator. It makes a pinhole to an infinite extra-dimensional space, a negatively charged pocket universe, that should draw her power into itself by process of a...."
"Dawn. Will it kill her?" Angel asked.
Dawn looked at Wesley. "Yes." He said. "Shall we go?"
"We have to find out where she...." Buffy started.
Spike grabbed the laptop and showed the display to Buffy and Angel. "Oh, here." The display showed a blue dot moving through a map of the building. "Training room, looks like. And gushin' petrol like a geyser." They headed out of the lab and down the halls to the training room. "So what sort of damage are we lookin' at if Illyria Chernobyls on us?"
"Conservative guess, several city blocks." Wesley said.
"And what about unconservative?" Angel asked.
"Rand and McNally will have to redraw their maps."
Lorne was standing outside the training room. Buffy looked at him. "Is she in there?"
"Do you two even know how to use this thing?" Lorne asked, following them inside. There was no one there. "That's funny. I didn't even see her leave."
"Well, that's the problem. You don't always see her when she's...." Spike explode into ash. "Gaah!"
"SPIKE!" Buffy yelled. Illyria appeared behind Spike, staking him. She bent over, clutching her stomach.
"Illyria." Wesley yelled.
"Wes, do it now." Angel charged Illyria. Illyria kicked Angel in the face, sending him across the room. She grabbed a dagger off the wall and hurled it at Wesley, piercing him in the chest; he fell to the ground. She sent her fist through Lorne's chest. Dawn threw herself at Illyria before Buffy could stop her and Illyria snapped Dawn's neck. Angel vamped out and jumped through the air, lunging at Illyria, but not before she grabbed a battle-axe from the wall. She swung it at him, slicing off his head. He turned to ash.
Buffy let out an anguished scream. "Angel! Dawnie! No."
Illyria stood in the center of the room, holding the battle-axe, surveying her handiwork, and smiling. She looked around the room at the bodies of Dawn, Lorne, and Wesley and the piles of ash that used to be Spike and Angel. Buffy, fire in her eyes, launched herself at Illyria just as the demon god clutched her stomach, doubling over in pain.
"We haven't done anything to you." Angel said. Buffy looked up to see him standing in front of Illyria. Buffy herself was just outside of the hall.
"Jealous. Plankton envying the ocean that holds them." Illyria said.
"Yeah, that's great. Listen, I got things...." Angel started to walk off.
Illyria pinned him up against the wall. "Ridiculous apes. My death won't prevent your dying. What have you done to me?!"
"Get your damn hands off him." Buffy yelled as she grabbed Illyria to pull her away. Illyria doubled over in pain and when she looked up, she found herself in Wesley's office having just knocked a glass of water off of his desk. Buffy was there with her.
"Are you all right?" Wesley asked.
"No, I'm not all right." Buffy said. "What the hell did you do to me?"
"Buffy."
"You weren't here before." Illyria said. "Either of you."
"Who.... where did.... what just happened?"
"An aberration in the time line. It wasn't like this...." Illyria doubled over, clutching her stomach, screaming in agony. "Aaaaah!" Illyria recovered to find herself in the basement of the suburban house where Gunn was imprisoned. Buffy was there this time.
Buffy started to flip out. "Damn it! What the hell was this?"
"You followed me."
Buffy saw Gunn lying on the table, still wearing the necklace. "Gunn?"
"You've been swept up in my wake."
"This is the holding dimension."
"How did you worms accomplish this?"
"We didn't. We.... accomplish what?"
"You ripped me out of linear progression, tore my time line into shreds, and stitched it back together out of sequence."
"You killed my family!"
"You caged me in this fractured time frame, in moments that repeat themselves over and over without deviation. But I don't say these words. I rip the necklace off. I lift him from the table. We speak. And the demon attacks again." Illyria punched the demon. "Is it of your sciences? How do you unweave time in this way?"
"This isn't us. We don't have the power to do...."
Illyria punched Buffy, sending her flying across the room. "Do you know what you were when I was young? You were the muck at our feet."
"Will you just shut up for once?!"
"What?"
"My God, the speechifying. Has it ever occurred to you that now might not be the best time for when-we-were-muck stories?"
"You dare to speak to me in this...."
"Yes, I dare. And, yes, we are looking for a way of controlling you any way that we can. I can't have an 'x' factor like you bouncing around unchecked."
"Bouncing around?"
"Yes, and I know you would do the same thing. I know that for a fact. But this is my kingdom, crazy bitch, not yours!"
"Your kingdom! I am Illyria, god-king of the primordium, shaper of things!"
"And I'm Buffy Summers, the longest living Vampire Slayer ever recorded." Illyria doubled over in pain, screaming. When she recovered, Illyria found herself in the training room. Buffy was there with her, but so were the bodies of Dawn, Lorne, and Wesley. "This is.... Now."
"Yes. Nothing's what it used to be, is it? These are the fruits of your attempt to murder me. Your kingdom turned to ash and stale wind. I slew the white-haired one first. And then Wesley, as he raised his weapon.... and your demon clown as he wilted in terror. Then you're precious sister and you're husband."
"And I'm next."
"No, Slayer." Illyria threw her axe into a pile of dust that used to be Angel. "You are last."
"Why? I never attacked you."
"I didn't give you the chance. That you learn when you become a queen." Illyria doubled over, holding her head. "Unh! You learn to destroy everything that's not utterly yours. All that matters is victory. That's how your reign persists. You're a slave to an insane construct. You are moral. A true ruler is as moral as a hurricane, empty but for the force of his gale. But you.... trapped in the web of the Wolf, the Ram, the Hart. So much power here, and you quibble at its price. If you want to win a war, you must serve no master but your ambition. Aaaah! Oh, you have not lied. My undoing is beyond you, your people. Something is broken inside me." She grasped at her head, staggering. "Aaah! My power is too great! I know this now, as I know it every time I come to this moment."
"Illyria, if I'm here, if I am paradox, then this can all change, can't it? Things had been altered, what you said, what you did. You can change this outcome!"
"Change is constant. Yet things remain the same." A glowing blue fracture appeared in Illyria's cheek. Her body started cracking apart, shooting out blue light everywhere. She exploded, sending Buffy back in the force of the explosion.
When Buffy recovered, she found herself doubled-ever in pain, groaning in the hallway while Dawn, Angel, Wesley, and Spike walked with the weapon toward Illyria in the training room.
"So what sort of damage are we lookin' at if Illyria Chernobyls on us?" Spike asked.
"Conservative guess, several city blocks." Wesley said.
"Buffy?" Angel asked, holding Buffy up.
"Angel!" Buffy hugged him tightly. "You're alive! Guys.... Illyria, she's self-destructing. She's a time bomb."
"Read today's paper, did ya?" Spike retorted.
"What?"
"We've been yapping about bloody nothing but that for the last 10 minutes."
"No, no, no. I just watched you guys get killed. I attacked her and we phased through time. I don't think she actually meant to do it. She's overloading. She's gonna explode."
"Yes, we know. Buffy, we've been over all this." Wesley said.
"Do you even know how to use this thing?" Lorne asked, following them in the training room.
"She's come unstuck in time, Wes! She knows what happens. She's seen it. She knows we want to kill her." Buffy said.
"Yeah, she said that to me as well." Wesley said.
Buffy realized what was going down. "Oh, guys.... this isn't good."
"Well, that's funny. I didn't even see her leave." Lorne said.
"Well, that's the problem. Don't always see her when she's...."
"Spike!" Buffy rushed Spike to move him out of the way just as Illyria appeared. She grabbed Illyria's arm and spun her away. Illyria went to attack again, but Buffy held up her hand. "Illyria, wait. Please. Wes, put that thing down. Spike, nobody move."
"This, too.... all changing." Illyria winced as she suffered another attack of pain and clutched her head. "Uh!"
"I know what happens. I know you kill us all."
"Oh, a bit pessimistic, aren't you?" Spike asked.
"And then you shudder, and you convulse with pain, and then the power inside you explodes."
"You were swept up in my wake." Illyria said to Buffy.
"You're not a king anymore. Your domain is gone, swallowed by time."
"And we've had this conversation."
"You explode. I was there. It was powerful enough to blow me back through time. I have no idea what it does to the building."
"More like the continental shelf, actually." Wesley said.
"Buffy, what are you talking about?" Angel asked, concern etching his features.
"I have to stop that. Do you understand? I cannot have your death blow away my...."
"Your kingdom?!" Illyria shot.
"Yeah, sure, whatever."
"You ask me to allow you to murder me."
"It's not murder if you say yes." Spike said.
"Spike, shut up!" Buffy said.
"No one is murdering you." Wesley said. "This device won't kill you."
"What? You said...." Angel started.
"I lied. Illyria, this device will draw the energy away from you safely. It will allow you to live."
"Your intent is not murder." Illyria said.
"It never was."
"Well, no harm, no foul." Lorne said.
"But you tried to destroy me to bring back Fred." Illyria said.
"That didn't work. It was a failure. But now I know you're all that's left." Wesley said.
"You want to take my power.... to let me live. But I am my power. And I would rather be a titanic crater than to be like unto you." Illyria kicked Wesley in the stomach, sending him flying across the room." Buffy kicked her in the face. "I kill you. That's how this ends." Illyria charged at Buffy, but she grabbed her and flung her away from her into a wall.
"You want to fight me? I've destroyed a god before and I'll do it again." Buffy said. Spike charged at Illyria, but with a wave of her hand, she slowed time in the room. She stood to walk out, but the pain in her stomach happened again, causing her to double over in pain, losing her focus and restoring the speed of time in the room. Spike landed against the wall, but got to his feet. "Illyria, the future can change here. You can choose a different path."
"And be nothing."
"And be what you are. Fighting to hold on to what you were.... it's destroying you."
"You would do this to me." Illyria said to Wesley.
"I'd try anyway. Every time." Wesley said.
"I possess so much grace, more grace than this bag of sticks could express. I was the immaculate embodiment of rule." A glowing blue fracture appeared in Illyria's cheek and her body started cracking apart, shooting out blue light everywhere. "I blame this on the weakness of your species."
"Fair enough." Wesley aimed the weapon at Illyria, pulling the trigger. The weapon shot out a beam of light, hitting Illyria in her stomach. It drew the blue light energy from her into the weapon. Spike watched in shock. Lorne grimaced, pained, as he stepped away from the ordeal. Angel watched Buffy intently as she watched Illyria's power be stripped away. Dawn looked from Buffy to Illyria to Wesley and back, confused at what had just happened. Wesley continued using the weapon on Illyria until all the fractures in her body re-sealed themselves. When he turned off the weapon, Illyria collapsed to the floor, convulsing for a moment. "Illyria...."
"Touch me and die, vermin." Illyria said.
"Not a very dramatic difference, really." Spike said.
"Everything is different." Wesley said.
Buffy looked at Wesley as she held Angel's hand tightly. They were standing in the observation room watching Illyria stilled curled in a ball on the floor of the training room. "So what's the prognosis?"
"She won't be stopping time.... or walking through dimensions. And I suspect her physical strength has decreased somewhat." Wesley said.
"That's what I wanted to hear."
"You're gonna stay with her, aren't you?" Angel asked.
"Yes."
"Wes.... I don't like where this is going. I don't like where this has been."
"I'm not in love with this thing, Angel. But.... for some reason, I need it right now."
"Yeah. That's just weird." Buffy said. She and Angel started to leave.
"She could still prove to be problematic for us. Much of what she was is still intact. I doubt she'll ever stop trying to conquer.... everything." Wesley said.
"Serve no master but your ambition."
"What's that?"
"You were right before.... about Illyria being a resource. She just might make the team yet." Buffy looked at Angel and he just looked away.
As they walked back into the lobby towards their office, Buffy and Angel were stopped by the yelling demons, Gunn, and Hamilton. "Yes, well, that would be more.... Buffy and Angel's business than mine." Hamilton said.
"She won't make it through another day." The lead demon said to Gunn.
"You think we can't protect her?!" Gunn yelled back.
"The Fell are everywhere. We are a force of nature."
"Gunn. The baby belongs to the Fell." Angel said.
"What? She hasn't signed anything. There's nothing on paper." Gunn said.
"Gentlemen." Angel walked into the conference room, followed by the demon brethren.
"What are you doing?" Buffy asked.
"What we're supposed to. Serve our clients." With that, Angel closed the door behind him.
Buffy glared at Hamilton and then looked back at Gunn. "If you need me, I'll be packing my bags."
"Where're you going?"
"To Italy. I'm going to stay with Faith for a while."
"Does Angel know?"
"He'll find out when I'm not home and there's a note on the bed." With that, Buffy turned and headed to the elevators.
"Buffy." The Slayer turned. "Are you ok?"
"I'm tired of playing second fiddle to this place. I need a vacation. I'll send the number to you, Wesley, Spike, and Dawn. Don't tell Angel."
"You're not getting a divorce, are you?"
"If I am, you'll probably be the first to know." With that, the doors of the elevator closed.