Chapter Eleven – Find Some Peace
"You bastard," Faith yelled in unison with Buffy.
Faith looked to Wesley to see if he could do anything. Not only had Wesley's eyes turned black, the hair was now black, and veins had popped out along his forehead. Faith could hear the freakin' huge creature screeching as Wesley squeezed the thing with all his might. But would he succeed?
She couldn't believe that Angel was gone. She didn't want to believe it. Should she shift again, to see if she could find another opening, take the mofo down once and for all? Her mind raced as she watched the veins in Wesley's arms start to turn black. If she didn't stop him, he'd turn evil. Just like Willow had, only he wouldn't come back from it. Giles had been able to infuse her with good magicks, she'd heard. They didn't have access to any of that.
So she steadied herself and jumped, turning time back to right before Angel was picked up by the ugly, blue creature. This was more than slowing things down to be able to fight, this was changing history. She could save Angel. The creature had been so intent on crushing Angel, it hadn't noticed what she had done. Walking over to her best friend, she shoved him out of the way until he was far enough out of the fight. Then she slowly walked over to Wesley and put her hand in his. Then she brought herself back to the present. The rush of what she had just done wasn't lost on her. She collapsed at Wesley's feet, exhausted from the effort. Angel fell back, quite alive (well, dead still, but that didn't matter). He was still around, still able to fight the good fight. She had saved him, just like he had saved her in that alley so many years ago.
Wesley turned and looked down into her eyes, turning his head slightly. Just his eyes were black. Then he smiled at her and with a flick of his wrist, decapitated the gargantuan beast, spraying them with blue blood. The other twenty feet of its body fell to the side with a crash, causing the ground to shake intensely for a few moments.
"Oh, nice shot," she told him as she tried to wipe off the blue blood from her face. "And wicked disgusting."
"Quite exhilarating, too," Wesley grimaced as he pulled his hand from hers to wipe the blue from his face.
She climbed up off the ground to see if Wesley was back to normal. Unfortunately all the blue stuff made that a little hard until she could see the blue of his eyes from underneath all the gunk.
"I'm feeling the urge to vomit just about now," he added, legs shaking beneath him.
Faith grabbed hold of him to keep him steady. "Just don't aim it my way. And warn me. Blue goo and barf? Not a pretty combination."
Angel and Buffy had stuff on them too, but not as bad as the two of them. They hadn't been as close to the exploding demon as Wes and Faith had been. Buffy made an eww face as she came up to them.
"I for one want to have whatever you have. I'm all for new powers," Buffy huffed out, tired from battling a ten-ton beast.
"We need to find the rest of them. If that thing wanted into the Deeper Well, I'll bet that's where the others went," Angel pointed out, heading to the tree that the demon had been so focused on before.
"How do you open it?" Wesley asked as the four stood at the threshold of the tree.
"Hey, got it under control." Angel said something under his breath, but no entrance appeared. "Um, it worked last time. I'm the Champion here. Just open up, will ya?" Nothing happened.
"Perhaps another entrance is available?" Wesley suggested.
Angel just scowled in return. "OK, now I mean business. Open up or I'll tear you limb from limb. And I mean that literally."
The door opened. "Unbelievable," Buffy muttered.
As Sam came out of hiding and approached the tree, he looked all around for the four that had done battle with the really scary, pincered, enormous demon. "Where'd everyone go?"
"Bloody hell, I'm not a ball to play with. Just blast him, Red," Spike yelled as she jumped in front of him.
He did not want to be the cause of any more strife than necessary. But he knew that Ethan character would not just let the others go. He needed Spike for something, but he wasn't going to cooperate with the mage.
Willow sent a blast Ethan's way, but he batted it away like he was a child hitting a ball. Giles joined her, adding his power, but nothing happened. Both ghost Fred and Lindsey, although Spike always thought of him as Doyle, tried to help also, but couldn't get a purchase on this reality. But all he could think about was that Fred was OK. She was a ghost, mind you, but she wasn't just scattered to the nether regions like that jerk doctor had told them. He really should have just snapped the guy's neck when he wouldn't give them any more information about Fred. Would have made Percy feel a whole lot better, in addition to giving him someone to take out his anger on.
"You insignificant being. You dare to enter this sacred chamber and defile it with your magicks. I will crush you into dust. You will be vermin under the heel of my boot. Dead vermin under the heel of my boot," Illyria warned the invader.
Spike smiled. This is what he loved about Illyria. She could look so fierce one moment, then like a child the next. Oh how he missed both Fred and Illyria. Too bad they couldn't have been in two separate bodies.
"Giles, we don't have enough power," Willow called out.
Rayne slammed her against the railing, almost making her tip over into the nothingness below. Spike knew that it went all the way to the other end of the world. If Willow fell, no one would be able to save her. He grabbed onto her arm and held her for dear life.
"You can't hide behind the witch, Spike. Come fulfill your destiny. Open the Well. A new age will be born."
While Rayne had been ranting to Willow and Spike, Giles had almost made it next to Ethan and started to put his hands around the man's neck.
"No fair, Rupert. You're playing dirty." With that quip, Ethan pushed Giles and he fell.
Willow's screams filled the cavern twenty times over as Giles toppled over the other railing. Spike dove for the watcher's hand and couldn't reach him in time. Someone else died because of him, trying to protect him.
"You son of a bitch," Spike spat out, pulling himself up to full height beside Rayne.
"No one else needs to be hurt."
"But they will. Don't you see? You open those things up, the world will cease to exist as we know it. You will cease to exist. You're a fucking moron if you think for one moment that they will let you live. Tell him, Illyria."
Illyria's blue eyes glowed in the dim light of the cavern. She looked at Spike, wanting him to help her make the speech. She knew exactly what she was before, he thought. Why should she look to him?
"Your kind is beneath the Old Ones. They will have no use for you. You would be crushed for your insolence, human. Do not think that your powers would save you."
"You don't know what you're talking about." Rayne looked a little worried, Spike realized. Maybe Blue got through to him. Or maybe not.
"My mate has been vanquished. You have lost. The Well must be sealed for all eternity," Illyria announced.
"You don't know the power," Rayne started, until he felt hands on his neck.
"Care to finish that statement?" Wesley said from behind him.
"Giles?" Willow sputtered through her tears. Her veins started to turn black.
All of a sudden, everything stopped. Time froze for Spike. It only seemed like a moment, then it whooshed back into reality. He didn't have to take a breath, but he did just for good measure as he saw Giles sitting on the ground next to the railing. Angel held Faith in his arms as she slumped over. What in hell just happened?
"He's OK," Faith mumbled out, collapsing in Angel's arms.
Wesley's hands moved ever so slightly when he looked at Faith, which gave Rayne the advantage of getting out of his control. Elbowing Wesley in the face, Rayne took off down the corridor, with Buffy on his heels.
Fred backed into the next corridor, not wanting the others to see her. They didn't know, she thought. Neither Angel nor Wesley knew what she was. Would they be happy for her? She was dead, for goodness sake. Her soul was intact now. Illyria had seen to that by dying.
"Your help was appreciated," Illyria said from behind her.
Fred whirled around, face-to-face with the ghostly demon that had taken on her face, her body. Not only did it creep her out, she didn't know how to answer in return.
"They must find some peace. We all must find some peace. I regret that I ended your life."
"You're apologizing to me?" Fred exploded, hoping that the others would not hear her. They were all too busy tending to each other's wounds to notice. "You hollowed me out to make a new shell for yourself? And you're apologizing to me?"
"It is not enough. I know that now. Your forgiveness is not warranted," Illyria offered.
"It's not coming. It will never come," Fred seethed right back at her. "Close the Well, Illyria and let it be done. Don't let anymore of you come out."
"What did I do to you, human, other than take your shell?" Illyria retorted.
"You hurt my boys. And for that I will never forgive you."
Illyria backed up a few paces from Fred. She couldn't do anything to Fred and Fred couldn't do anything to her. But the gesturespoke volumes.
"I understand," Illyria whispered, bowing her head.
Lindsey had watched this scene play out with his mouth open, ready to say something. But Fred stopped him. She didn't need nor want any advice right then. She just wanted to get out of there as fast as she could.
"Let's go, Lindsey. I think our work here is done."
"We need to mind wipe everyone first."
"Get it done."
Fred even sounded bitter to her own ears. She didn't like that feeling down in the pit of her stomach. That same feeling when she was going to kill Professor Siedel. They had prevented the Old Ones from being resurrected. Illyria would see that the Deeper Well was sealed permanently.
Illyria turned to rejoin the others, the other living beings in the vast cavern. Fred wished so much that she could walk into that room too. But she had a mission to fulfill. And if it kept her boys safe, then she'd die right over again to see that it happened.
Wesley had hesitated one instant when he watched Faith collapse. And Ethan Rayne had made a run for it. In addition to the blue covering his body, his nose felt disjointed. He just hoped that the man hadn't broken it. As Illyria's ghostly form approached the group, Wesley wondered why she was doing this. Why did she want the Deeper Well sealed? He had gleaned that was what she had wanted. Only why hadn't it be done before?
"You all must leave this place," she commanded.
Wesley saw it in her eyes. She wanted to help them, save them. Something that she had done before, in that alley with Angel and Spike. She had been the one to take Gunn to the hospital before he succumbed to his injuries. Obviously he had done his job well, even though it eventually killed him.
"The Well will be sealed. The Old Ones that inhabit this place will never darken your doorstep."
"Put a cork in it and make sure it doesn't ever pop again, Blue," Spike added.
"Why didn't Drogyn ever seal the Deeper Well, Illyria?" Wesley asked, curiosity getting the better of him.
"He did not have the power that is required to perform the sealing. You do," Illyria said, pointing to Wesley.
"Borrowed power only. Your power, if I'm not mistaken."
"You do not understand the essence of your power, human. Maybe one day you will."
The cavern started to shake as Illyria finished off her little speech. The last part didn't make much sense to him, but if the Well were sealed, Wesley would contemplate that later. Everyone hurried off to the exit. Wesley watched as Spike said his goodbyes to the blue ex-god with the exterior of Fred. It was like he was saying goodbye to Fred finally. Illyria would not be there to torment him anymore. She would be where she belonged, encased in the Deeper Well for all eternity.
"Your powers will dissipate shortly after the Well is sealed," Illyria explained as Spike looked at her for one last time.
"I'm not sure what you gave to Percy, the poof and the slayer, but it's much appreciated," Spike replied. "I will miss you."
"I will miss you too," Illyria haltingly told him.
Another shake rattled Spike as he turned to look at her one last time. "Rest in peace."
Spike ran along the corridor, expecting to hit the outside dirt shortly. But as he rounded the corner, he could see Buffy and the others scrambling to get the only way out open.
"When I catch up with Rayne," Faith growled as she, Buffy and Angel put their backs into opening the door.
Spike leant his strength and noticed that the door budged just slightly. Pushing Buffy and Faith out of the way so they wouldn't get hurt, he kicked and the ancient wood splintered, making the door fly open. Super strength. Too bad he hadn't noticed that one before.
"Not cowering in a bloody corner any longer. Spike's back, baby and he's itchin' for some payback."
Everyone piled out of the Deeper Well, running for the hill. The explosion that happened a few minutes afterwards knocked them all down, with Spike landing directly on top of Buffy, shielding her from the heat.
Wesley had turned just as they all came out of the Deeper Well's entrance. He was supposed to seal it up? But how? In his mind, he imagined that happening. If there were no door, how would anyone know where to look for it? If Rayne had started the process with a ritual to release the Old Ones, could he negate it and destroy any way of getting in?
Building up heat behind his hands, he aimed a well-placed fireball at the entrance. Everyone else had already taken off for the top of the hill. He made the fireball so large, that the surrounding trees caught on fire also. Then when the ball was large enough to destroy the tree where the entrance was, Wesley chanted an ancient spell that he had discovered while researching Illyria. It had stuck with him because at first he thought he could use it to vanquish Illyria for good. But he didn't have the power to perform it properly. Now he saw exactly why it had been written down. Someone knew that one day this would come to pass. And that someone would actually have the power to seal the Well forever.
The power that he held in his hands was enticing, but he put that away for the job at hand. Unfortunately, he should have realized that he was too close to the explosion that ripped apart the tree. Sailing backwards, he didn't have time to think about what a stupid git he had been. His body smacked into the ground hard and once again, his world went dark.
"Wesley?" Faith screamed from Angel's arms.
Stupid vampire had to practically carry her up the hill to get out of the way for whatever her stupid ass of a watcher had planned. He had just nodded Angel's way and turned to do what he needed to do. She understood that. She had to do it that way too many times to count.
So when she saw him sail through the air after the explosion, she just wanted to shake the crap out of him. He wasn't dying on her watch. No, watchers weren't supposed to die before their slayers. And she had already buried one, if she didn't count him that first time he had died. She wouldn't bury another.
Getting up from the ground where Angel had fallen on her during the explosion, Faith ran to Wesley's prone body, Angel hot on her heels. She had tried time shifting, but it wasn't working. Must mean that the Well is sealed up for good, she concluded.
"You lousy, condescending prick. You're not dyin' on me, do you hear?" Faith shouted.
Taking his shirt with her bruised hands, she picked up his unconscious body to will him to wake up.
"Faith, put him down," Angel urged her to do, bending over to check and see if the jerk had survived the blast.
The rest of the group quickly joined them, followed by Sam, who had a cellphone to his ear, calling for help.
"This is so not happenin'. You hear? Newsflash for ya, you aren't dyin', if I have to drag you kicking and screaming back from hell."
"Faith, he's alive. Scorched, but alive," Angel informed her.
Faith took in the sight before her. Wesley, partially covered in some blue stuff, hair singed, shoes partially melted, pants filthy, face blackened, blue embedded in his fingernails. He was wicked gross. At least he cleaned up nicely.
TBC
Next: The last chapter. Wow. Of course, nothing is solved (author sighs).
Author notes: Last chapter coming up. Yeah me. Nothing is solved. Guess that means sequel. I really like trilogies. Does anyone else? This one has been harder, but for different reasons than the first. It is very heavy on the action and there are lots more characters than the first. I need to pare them down for next time. Or not. We'll see.
Thanks go out to everyone who has been following this fic and the previous one. I love it that I've been able to do a beginning (Guardian Angel), a middle (Guardians of the Gate) and an end. Often, the middle sags a bit. I hope this one didn't. I'm posting too fast. Only three people have reviewed. Oh well. No biggie. Just as long as people are reading it. Thanks to Imzadi, Doza and pari106 for all their helpful reviews.
Answers to questions
Doza—I would never kill Angel (she says sarcastically). Oh come on, he can't die, yet. And yeah, her mate is freakin' huge. I hate describing demons. I'm not good at it. Kind of like Joss, who used to put into the scripts something like "really gross demon". Not my thing, unfortunately. Sorry that you're confused. Did you read Guardian Angel? I wasn't sure, but it does explain some of the things going on here. And I'm not finished.
Imzadi—I said the same thing to Fred, but does she listen? We'll see. More stuff from them in the sequel. Lots more. They're kind of fun together. No permanent Angel dusting. I'm not that crazy (heehee).
Pari106—We'll see about Fred. Powers here today, gone tomorrow. Yeah, role reversals. Totally freaked Wes out. Now we see how much he cares. We knew he did. I need a little more on Mark, but not in this one. More exploring. You'll see. (Oh, God. Here I go promising.) Fight scenes are really difficult to write. I'm learning.