A/N I have one more chapter left. It is just the alternate endings that I had planned.

Chapter 24

Ascension day pt. 2

"Kendra what the hell are you doing?" Faith asked as she looked down at the crumbled body of Xander.

"Please, help me get him on de couch. I'll explain in a minute." Kendra said. Faith eyed her worrily, but helped her anyway. "Dat was Cordelia on de phone. She told me dat she had a vision dat Xander wasn't going to survive dis battle."

"But..."

"Oh my... what's happened to Xander?" Sheila asked as she came into the room. Then Kendra quickly explained what happened.

"Just please watch over him for me." Kendra said to Sheila as she walked over to her Fiancee.

"I'm sorry, my love." she said as she kissed him on the cheek. "Faith let's go." she calls over her shoulder as she turns to go out the door.

"But Xander..."

"Please Faith." Kendra said as she turned around. Her eyes were already puffy from the tears that fell from her eyes. "Just trust in what I had to do. I love him...I...I, just can't let it end de way Cordelia saw it."

"Okay." Faith said as she put her arm around her in support. "Let's go."

Sunnydale Library

Buffy walks into Giles office where Angel is sorting through weapons. When she sees Angel she hesitates for a moment, then continues in.

"Did you get what you needed?" Angel asked without turning around to see who came in.

"Yeah," Buffy said coming up beside him. "I did." she said glancing at the weapons. "This isn't going to be enough."

"Giles is on it." Angel said still looking down at the stuff on the table. "How are you?" he asks as Buffy turns and starts to leave.

Buffy stops and slowly turns towards him avoiding his eyes she says quietly: "Like my heart is broken in two." then louder: "So, are we sure that everyone knows what their position…"

Angel interrupts her still looking down at the table, and says quietly: "I'm not going to say good-bye." Buffy looks up at him with a frown, which slowly dissolves. Angel glances up at her, looks back down, swallows then looks back up: "If we get through this… I'm just going to go." Buffy slowly looks down.

"You understand?" Angel asks. Buffy nods slightly and swallows hard. "There is just too much to…" Buffy puts up a hand to stop him. Angel hesitates a moment then puts down the crossbow bolt he has been playing with and turns to leave quietly.

Sheila's home

Sheila watches Xander convulse on the couch, as she put's a wet wash cloth on his forehead.

"I wonder what's going on in dat mind of your's?" she says looking down at him.

Xander's Mind

Xander stands in the middle of a wasteland and looks around.

"Damn, why do girls like knocking me out?" he asks into the wind.

"Because she loves you." a voice said from behind him. Turning he saw that it was his old friend.

"Akin what are you doing here?" Xander asked. "More importantly what did you mean by she did it because she loves me?"

"She thinks that you are going to die." he says as he walks up closer to Xander. "And she has good reason to. I was more powerful then you are and I still died because of an Ascension."

"I can't believe she did this." Xander said as he started to pace around. "I know I might die, but I have friends that I needed to protect."

"Her heart is overriding her mind boy." Akin says with a shake of his head. "That's what true love does to you."

"Yeah..."

"You're about to wake up boy." Akin says as he looks up to the heavens. "Goodbye and good luck." he says as he starts to walk off.

"Hey Akin!" Xander shouts out. The Hunter spirit looks back at him. "You want to kick a little demon butt?" Akin just gives him a devilish smile as Xander's eyes pop open and he see's Sheila staring down at him.

"Xander are you alright?" she asks as he stands to his feet.

"Just peachy." he says as he rubs at his now sore head. "I have to get to the others."

"Xander wait! You don't know what's going on."

"I do." Xander said as he loads some clips into his 9mm's. "Kendra thinks that I'm going to get killed."

"No it's more den dat." Sheila said. "Cordelia had a vision of your death. She says dat you're not goin' to make it." Xander stops what he's doing as she says this. He let's the new information sink in as he finishes putting on his weapons.

"I'm going anyway." he says as he walks up to her. "But just in case I don't make it I want you to give Kendra this." he says as he kisses her on the mouth. The kiss is full of passion and love. Sheila almost melted in his arms, until she remembered the situation.

Xander broke away from the kiss and walked to the door and stopped.

"I want you to know something else." he said not turning to face her. "I love you... all of you... so if I don't make it... please tell the others what I said. And tell Kendra that I'm sorry." with that said he walked out of the door.

As Sheila fell weakly to the couch and cried, she heard Xander shout... "Akin give me your power." followed by the rumble of a powerful engine.

Sunnydale Quad

The graduating students take their seats. The music stops and the students sit down.

"Congratulations to the class of 1999." Snyder said as he stepped up to the podium. "You all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so: sit still and be quiet." he stops as he surveys the students.

"Spit out that gum. Now please welcome our distinguished guest speaker: Richard Wilkins the 3rd." then he looks down to one of the students. "I saw that gesture. You see me after graduation." then he turns and claps.

The Mayor shakes Snyder's hand and steps up to the podium. He smiles and takes out some cue cards.

The Mayor clears his throat and surveys the students: "Well. What a day this is! - Special day. Today is our centennial the one hundreds anniversary of the founding of Sunnydale, and I know what that means to all you kids: not - a darn thing. Because today something much more important happens: today you all graduate from high school. Today all the pain, all the work, all the excitement is finally over. And what's a hundred years of history compared to that? You know what kids? …"

"Oh my God. He's going to do the entire speech." Buffy says in horror.

"Man, just ascend already." Willow added.

"Hey have you seen, Xander?" she asked looking around.

"No I haven't seen him, since we left his house."

"Johnathon." Buffy called out. "Until Xander get's here you have to take his place."

"Me?" Johnathon asked with wide eyes.

"Yeah. I know that you remembered his plans, so you have to do it." Johnathon gulped but nodded his head.

Mayor: "… for all of you it may be that there is a place in Sunnydale's history, whether you like it or not. It's been a long road getting here. For you… for Sunnydale. There has been achievement, joy, good times,… and there has been grief. There's been loss. Some people who should be here today… aren't. But we are. - Journey's end. And what is a journey? Is it just… distance traveled? Time spent?" he asks as he shakes his head.

"No. It's what happens on the way, it's the things that happen to you. At the end of the journey you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change, it means you do. You ascend… to a higher level. Nothing will ever be the same." he says as a shadow falls across him. "Nothing." He looks up.

Buffy and the other students look up to see the sun being totally blocked. The Mayor flinches in pain. Then swallows and continues his speech: "And so as we look back on…"Pain hits him again and he turns half to the side groaning. "on the events that brought us to this day" another wave of pain suddenly hit's him.

"Come on." Buffy says as she takes her hat off.

Mayor: "We…" he stops in pain again as all the students are watching tensely. "we must all…" he then screams. The students and the faculty look at each other uneasily. "It has begun. My destiny." he says as he smiles. "It's a little sooner then I expected. I had this whole section on civic pride…" he says while he shuffles cue cards. "But I guess we'll just skip to the big finish!"

Buffy and Willow look at each other as the Mayor starts to grimace and stretch and grow. His suit splits around him and Snyder is leaning back in his seat looking taken aback. The Mayor suddenly transforms into a big snake-like demon with clawed mandibles surrounding its mouth. It keeps growing, stretching higher as the faculty abandons their seats. The students get up but stay in place staring up at the Mayor, who seems to stretch up above the roof of the school.

The Students stare up as the parents in the back to panic and leave. A group of vampires comes up the steps behind the students. While at the same time Kendra and Faith sneak out of the bushes and start to attack them.

"Now!" Buffy shouts out.

All the students take off their gowns revealing crosses, axes, and other assorted weaponry.

"Flame units." Buffy calls out. Several students including Larry point flame throwers at the Mayor and start flaming him. The Mayor sways above the students screaming. Buffy nods at Johnathon.

"First wave!" Johnathon shouts out as he stands in his seat. A group of students including Willow aim cross bows loaded with lance points at the Mayor. "Fire!"

The Mayor screams and sways then lunges down and swallows a student in the first row. Buffy stares in shock, as some of the students start milling around.

"This… this is simply unacceptable!" Snyder yells out as he stands to his feet.

Three up the students break and run right into the group of vampires waiting on the steps. Tara looks over as they are quickly killed by the vampires.

"Johnno?" Tara yells out as he turns back around.

"Arm bow men" Johnathon says as he looks back. Tara and some others pick up long bows and arrows. The vampires slowly move up the steps as the kids light their arrows on fire and take aim. "Fire!"

The students let fly a mass and several vampires are hit and turn into flaming dust. Johnathon looks back at the students in front of the Mayor. A student suddenly comes flying through the air and lands on top some students knocking them down.

"Fall back!" Buffy shouts to the students around her.

"Fire!" Johnathon says to the bow men.

The students let fly with the fire arrows again and several more vampires get hit. The vampires turn to leave only to find themselves confronted by another group of students led by Angel who is flanked by Duncan and Amanda. Duncan taps the dull part of his katana over his shoulder as, they look at each other for a moment then Angel's group attacks.

Angel slowly walks forward and punches one of the vamps, as the students run around him. . Duncan and Amanda immediately start to flick their swords out and decapitated some vampires. Wesley runs up and is clothes lined by one of the vamps and falls on his back. Angel fights two or three vampires at once easily holding his own.


The flame units once more shoot fire at the Mayor. Larry's flame thrower cuts out or jams and after a moment he put's it down and takes up a lance. The Mayor's tail whips around, throwing Larry up in the air. He lands hard in front of the podium, breaking every bone in his body.

Angel throws some vampires around as he reaches into his pocket for a stake. Duncan and Amanda flank him as they are surrounded by vampires. Buffy gets up on a chair and looks up at the Mayor, as Faith runs up to her side.

"This is not orderly. This is not discipline!" Snyder said yelling up at the Mayor Snake as it whips it's head around. "You're on my campus buddy!And when I say I want quiet, I want…"

The Mayor's head comes down and swallow's Snyder whole. Buffy and Johnathon look on in horror.

"Fall Back! Get back!" Buffy shouts to the students around her. She gets down from her chair and turns to Kendra as she runs up.

"Go!" Kendra shouts over all the noise. "Me and Faith can handle it from here." she says as she starts to attack another vampire.

"Johnno." Buffy said looking over at him. "Take 'em down." she said looking at all of the vamps.

"Everyone: hand to hand!" Johnathon shouts out for all to hear as he pulls a stake out of his back pocket.


Angel sends a vampire flying, then starts taking care of two others. His group is driving the vampires back up the steps.

"Man this is the most fun I've had all century." Amanda says to Duncan as she takes another vampires head.

"Amanda, this isn't supposed to be fun." Duncan says as he cleanly stakes a vampire.

"We're in the middle of a war here."

"Damn, Duncan... live a little." she says as she slices a vampire in half.

As they start bickering some more vampires run up and the leader yells "Get the kids!" The other vampires turn to follow his lead only to find themselves confronted with a mass of armed and angry teenagers with baseball bats, crosses and stakes. Aura gets bit, but Tara starts whaling on her attacker with a bat. Percy jumps a vampire and falls down the steps with him.

"Right flank close in." Johnathon says as he struggles with another vampire. "Close!" he then pushes the vampire off him as he looks at some students running. "Jason and Paul, you guys are right flank!"


"Hey!" Buffy shouts out looking up at the Mayor. As he see's her he starts gnashing his teeth and growling. "I seem to remember you saying that you were going to kill me... Dick."

With that said Buffy turns and runs into the school with the Mayor in pursuit.

Buffy opens the door and runs in. The Mayor barrels down the door and some of the surrounding wall as he pursues her. Buffy keeps running towards the library while the Mayor tears through the school like a freight train.

Buffy runs into the library, vaults a banister looking back at the Mayor. The Mayor looks around the library and sees the barrels of diesel fuel and bags of fertilizer stacked everywhere. Buffy keeps running and jumps out of a window.

As Buffy crouches down next to Giles he pushes down on the plunger. But nothing happens.

"Bloody hell!" Giles yelled. Before Buffy could say a word, they heard the distant rumble of a loud engine. Looking over their shoulders they see...

"The Batmobile?" Buffy asks.


"Computer initiate self-destruct sequence." The Hunter says as he drives up and into the school.

"Warning." a female computer voice blared. "If the self-destruct sequence is activated, the canopy will not open. Repeat..."

"Damnit!" The Hunter shouts in outrage as he makes a sharp turn in the hallway. Looking out of his window he see's the Mayors tail. "Computer set the self-destruct sequence for five seconds." he says as the Mayor turns around and looks at him.

"Now!" The Hunter said, grimicing under his mask, as he floored the gas.


"Hey Ken." Faith said staking her last vampire. "Wasn't that Xander's car that drove into the school?"

"Oh no!" Kendra exclaimed.

Suddenly a fire cloud erupts from the top of the school. Followed by a loud series of explosions. Kendra looks on in horror as the school starts to crumble and burn.

Johnathon protectively wraps his arms around Aura as he looks at another explosion.

"It's finally over." Willow says as she and Tara run up to them. "What's wrong?" Willow asks as she see's the look on Kendra's face.

"Xander's dead." she cried out as she fell weakly in Faith's arm.

"What did you say?" Willow asked as Buffy ran up to her, followed by a few others.

"Xander can't be dead." she said as she started to weep. "I just saw him this morning... and he said everything was going to be okay. He can't be..." she stops and breaks down to cry. The rest of the Scooby gang walk up to each other and hug. Because they had just lost their friend.

Buffy walked off from the group as she heard the news about Xander. For three years he had been by her side. Had been her Xander shaped friend. Now he was gone. Suddenly her eyes lock on something and her face clears.

She looks up and see's Angel standing beside a fire truck looking at her. Both just staring at each other. Buffy blinks and her face falls. She hugs herself a little closer. Angel, first becomes obscured by some firemen walking by, then by a cloud of smoke. The smoke blows by and he steps back, slowly turns around and walks off. Buffy then just watches him leave. Without looking back Angel disappears into the smoke.


A dark figure stood on top of a high building, looking down at the burning school. His duster bellows in an unseen wind as he moves. With a look of indifference on his face, he scans the faces of the students, by the school, until he see's Kendra.

"I'm sorry my dear, but Xander isn't dead." he said as he turned to leave. "He just doesn't live here anymore." The figure says as he taps at his forehead and walks into the darkness.

Two days later

After the Mayor's Ascension, all was quiet in Sunnydale. The world seemed at peace, except in one house. Xander's body was never found and that seemed to be a relief to Kendra, more then anything. They had still decided to hold a memorial for Xander and the other's though.

As soon as Dierdre came back and heard about Xander she broke down and cried in Kendra's arm's all night. After all was said and done, Faith left town for awhile. She said that she wasn't abandoning her sister's, but she just needed a break. So she went to LA, so she wouldn't be to far away from them.

Even though Kendra couldn't feel his presense anymore, she still held out hope that he was still alive. When she had woken up one night, dreaming about their time together, she had felt a presense in her room. As she got up and looked around, she saw the wedding ring that Xander had showed her sitting on her dresser. Only Xander never gave it to her, he kept it in his pocket. That simple gesture, gave Kendra hope, that maybe, just maybe. Xander was still alive, still hunting. And that one day their souls would be together forever.

TBC...

Please review...

A/N I have one more chapter left. That one will be the alternate endings I have planned. But if I decided to make a sequel then, this would be the ending, I would go from. Also I know I gave johnathon a big role in this, but hey it's my fanfic lol. Also the Mayor knew that the kids would attack during graduation so he had over fifty vampires ready to attack.

And as far as the last scene goes, here's what happened. At the same time the Batmobile exploded, The Hunter did a teleportation spell. But because of the force of the blast his spell goes wrong and he not only teleports his body, but also a mind. Xander's mind. It's out there somewhere and it might come back if I decide to write a sequel to this thing.

Also dogbertcaroll don't worry I have a happy ending to this story too. I'll upload it when I get a chance. One more thing, the batmobile didn't cause all of that damage. Since it exploded it caused a chain reaction with all of the other bomb making stuff they had in school.