WELL HERE WE ARE AGAIN, ANOTHER CHAPTER. I'VE GOT TO SAY I AM THRILLED BY THE RESPONSE THIS STORY HAVE GOTTEN ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING IT IS MY FIRST FIC. THANKS TO ALL WHO HAVE READ AND REVIEWED I REALLY APPRECIATE IT.
TITLE: THE END OF ALL THINGS
AUTHOR: AVES
CHAPTER 25
THE REAL POWERS
"Watch out Connor!" Angel cried as he tackled his son right before the head of the Hart struck down at him. Angel jumped back on his feet andlanded a punch to the head. The creature didn't even flinch as it grabbed Angel and tossed him across the chamber. Connor charged the monster, but was met by the Ram head which butted him in the chest making him fly into the air and then crashing down on the floor. Marcus attempted to aid his allies by striking at the Wolf head with his blade, but the weapon didn't even make a scratch.
"Blast," Marcus thought as he feel backwards to avoid being snapped in half by the Wolf's jaws. The three champions tried to regroup but the Senior Partners' attacks were constant.
"We can't do this forever!" Connor shouted.
"I'm open to any ideas!" Marcus replied.
"You pathetic nothings," all three heads said at once, "You can not hope to defeat us. We are the real power here!" All three of the warriors were stopped by an unseen force. Connor and Marcus were slammed against the chamber wall and Angel was brought closer to the Senior Partners. "Soon you will see the end to this pitiful world you have fought so hard to defend." they continued while staring Angel in the face. "I hope your struggle against us was worth all you have lost Angel, because now it is over. The end of your son, your friends, the end of you, and the end of all things."
Willow's scream seemed to echo throughout the city. "Willow, what's wrong?" Buffy asked while trying to calm her friend. Her answer was a violent earthquake that caused the cracks to open up in the streets and fires that erupted from seemingly out of thin air.
"It's getting worse Buffy," Willow cried. "I can feel the earth's pain, it's crying out to me."
"We can't wait," Buffy said to Giles. "We've got to do something."
The watcher nodded and moved face to face with Willow. "Willow you're the only with the power to do something."
"Giles, I can't stop this," she argued.
"Maybe not," the watcher replied, "but you can at least slow it down." The wiccan looked at him for a moment then nodded weakly. She rose to her feet and lifted her palms upward.
"Mother Gaea, hear my plea," she began. "Use this strength I offer thee." Buffy watched in shock as the quakes stopped and the fires went out. She was about to congratulate her friend on a job well done when she noticed Willow was a total ivory color. Her, hair, eyes, skin, all of her seemed to shine.
"Will?" she asked wondering if her friend was still in there.
"I think we should leave her be for now," Giles said. "Her total concentration is the only thing keeping the earth together.
"Is she ok?" the slayer asked as she looked at her friend's expressionless face.
"I'm not sure," Giles replied. "We have no way of telling how long she can last. Angel and the others are still our only hope. If they fail it's over."
"You have failed stupid vampire!" The Senior Partners gloated. "You fought and struggled against us even when we made you head of our L.A. office. We offered you true power, yet you still fought us. This does make us curious. We must ask you, why?"
"You wanted my soul, and that's not for sale," the vampire replied. The response made the Senior Partners hiss with laughter.
"You speak as if your soul is something of value, when it is truly as worthless as your so called good fight. You could have been our greatest ally Angel, but now you are too great a liability to let live." The heads all stopped and looked at Marcus and Connor. "You all are." they said as the three champions began to cry out in pain. "What your feeling is your body being burned from the inside out." the creatures explained. We suppose we could have just let you die with the rest of this pitiful world, but we want to see you perish with our own eyes, but don't worry Angel you will be the last after all we want to make sure you see your son die before you do."
The fact that she was feeling anger was not surprising to Illyria. It was the fact that the reason for her anger was her inability to stop humanity from being destroyed. She had tried a number of ways to stop the beam of energy coming from the Hellmouth, but she was having no success. She knew she was running out of time, as she was connected to the temple and could sense everything going on. She knew Angel was dying, and she knew that in a short time the earth would be destroyed, but she had no idea what to do. She was one with the temple now, there must be a way to use that. An idea formed in her mind. It was an idea that as a god she found inconceivable, but as a human she knew was the only way. She changed directions and headed back towards the main chamber. "I may not be able to destroy the Wolf, Ram, and Hart." she thought, "but I can bring this foul place down!"
Angel screamed out as the burning sensation inside him increased. The pain was increasing but it was nothing compared to seeing his son slumped over too tired to scream he was just sobbing. Marcus was still fighting against the unseen force holding them all, but he too was fading by the moment. He turned his eyes back to the Senior Partners who were still taunting him. "How does it feel to see all you fight for fading away?" they asked. Angel didn't answer he just kept his head down and had his eyes closed his face a look of deep thought. "Angel? Have you left this soon?" The vampire looked up at his tormentors his face now surprisingly calm.
"You know, I finally figured it out." he said. "You're power is all about fear, hate, and evil." Angel allowed himself a smile as he was now able to take a step forward. "Take away the fear, you take away the power." He stopped to look back at his allies, Marcus was moving towards his side.
"No fear, no power," the warrior repeated.
"No fear, no power," Connor echoed as he joined his father. Angel noticed the youngster still looked weak but he had a new fire in his eyes. Angel smiled at his son then turned his attention back to the Senior Partners who were not looking as confident now.
"All these years and I never got it until now. All the attacks you've used against me were fed by hate and fear. I finally got a clue when I beat your image of Angelus' victims attacking me. Your weapons have always been hate, fear, and darkness, well you know what stops those? Love, forgiveness, and light." The Senior Partners howled in rage and lashed out at the champions but their attacks had no affect.
"You have fed off the fear of humanity for millenia," Marcus said. "That is how you became so poweful, but now we are here to take that power away."
"You know nothing of our power!" The Senior Partners screamed.
"We know ours is greater," Connor replied. "So much of my life was filled with hate, but it was your deal with Angel that showed me what love was. My adoptive parents love me, my real dad does, and I know my real mom did." The youngster chuckled before continuing. "You're own plan to get at Angel helped lead to your defeat, sucks huh?"
"You're power is broken here," Angel declared. The heads all seemed to smile a bit.
"Our power will never be broken. As long as humans live we will have fear to feed from. If you save this world it will only be a matter of time before we return to power."
"We'll be waiting." Angel responded. The Senior Partners were about to say something but instead they all screamed, "No! It can not end this way. We were promised," they all shouted right before a column of flame surrounded them consuming the Wolf, Ram, and Hart, leaving nothing but the smell of brimstone behind.
"Anybody have any idea what that was all about?" Connor asked. Angel was about to reply when an earthquake shook the entire structure knocking them all off their feet.
"We've got to stop that beam from the Hellmouth!" Angel shouted.
"How?" Marcus asked.
"I believe I have an idea," Illyria said as she reappeared in the chamber.
"Great," Angel replied. "What is it?" The vampire's still heart sank as he heard the response.
"I have to die."
Willow had given all she could give. She was now down on her hands and knees, and her hair had turned back to its normal color. "I can't hold out any longer," she whispered weakly. Buffy held her friend and stroked her hair.
"It's ok, you've done more than any of us could ask." Buffy looked up desperately at Giles as the quakes started up again shattering buildings and creating more huge cracks in the streets. "They must have lost," she said as tears came to her eyes.
"We can't give up hope yet." Giles replied. "There's still a chance that," the watcher never got to finish as the temple imploded leaving nothing but rubble.
"No!" Buffy screamed as she looked desperately at the fallen structure. "No," she repeated as tears began to flow freely down her face, "Angel."
A Few Minutes Before
"No, there has to be another way," Angel said, not accepting what Illyria had just told him.
"Do not let your emotions blind you to the truth vampire," Illyria responded. "The Hellmouth changed my mortal shell, I am now connected to this accursed place, and I can destroy it."
"Destroying you in the process," Angel said grimly.
"I do not wish to end my existance," Illyria said. "However it is the right thing to do, it is what Wesley would have done."
"Thank you," Angel said with a weak smile.
"Leave now vampire!" she responded. "I must bring an end to this."
Angel nodded and turned to his allies, "Ready to get out of here."
"I thought you'd never ask," Marcus replied. The trio ran out of the chamber as Illyria raised her hands sending hundreds of tendrils of energy throughout the temple. She saw Angel turn around and look at her.
"Good-bye," he mouthed. Illyria allowed herself a smile as she saw him leave.
"Now accursed place," she shouted as the temple began to crumble around her. "You will feel the true power of Illyria!"
"Move!" Marcus yelled at his allies as the temple crumbled around them.
"You'd think she'd let us get out of this place before she started bringing it down!" Connor yelled.
"What fun would that be?" Angel responded.
"Less talking more running!" Marcus snapped. The trio continued to run finally seeing the exit to the temple.
"There it is!" Connor yelled.
"Connor, look out!" Angel shouted as he dove to move his son out of the way of a huge piece of rubble that had fallen. Both father and son fell to the ground, but Marcus was quick to act grabbing them both their collars and lifting them up.
"We go now!" he yelled as they all three jumped towards the exit right as the entire temple collapsed.
The group outside the temple was almost completely silent. The quake has stopped, and it looked like they had won but no one felt like celebrating. The only sounds Spike could even hear were whispers among some of the group, and Buffy's sobs. He looked away from her turned his attention to some of the others. Faith looked like she was ready to attack anyone who looked at her. Dawn just sat on the ground, her knees to her chest as she rocked back and forth with her head down. Spike himself felt like he could puke. He had no real opinion of Connor, he didn't really know Marcus either, he and the warrior had gotten off on the wrong foot but he liked his style, and Angel well he just plain hated but the idea of any of them being dead didn't exactly fill him with warm fuzzies. He took a moment to look down at the remains of the temple and his vampire eyes caught something. He focused on the movement and was shocked at what he saw. "Bloody hell," he whispered. "The poofer made it." Spike laughed as he began to shout. "He made it! They did it!"
Buffy heard Spike shouting and snapped out of her grief stricken trance. "They're alive?" she asked to no one inparticular. She looked up and saw Spike and many of the others running down to the ruins of the temple.
"They did it!" Faith shouted as she ran past her. Buffy fell to her knees and started crying again, this time tears of joy.
"Thank you God," she whispered. "Thank you."
The three champions were bloodied, battered, and hurt all over, but they were alive. "Everybody ok?" Angel asked.
"I'm alive, but don't ask for anything else." Marcus responded as he sat down, exhausted.
"Can we stop fighting now?" Connor asked as he nearly collapsed.
"I really hope so," Angel responded.
"Here comes the welcome back party," Marcus said with a smile as he saw a group running towards them.
"Hey heroes!" Faith shouted as she ran up to Marcus and wrapped her arms around him her momentum sending them both to the ground.
"Ow," the warrior groaned. "Careful I'm a little sore."
Faith gave him a huge smile and kissed him. "I guess I'll have to give you a good rub down later."
"Let me sleep for about two days, then we'll see," Marcus replied with a chuckle. The rest of the team had reached the three heroes and everyone seemed to want to hug, shake their hand or congratulate them. Angel smiled as he saw Connor who was grinning from ear to ear as Dawn latched onto him, but the smile changed into a groan of pain as he felt a slap on his back.
"Got to tell you Peaches," he heard Spike say. "I wasn't sure if you would make it back."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence," Angel replied sarcastically.
"Hey there champion," he heard a voice behind him say. Angel turned around to see Buffy in front of him.
"Buffy," he said right before she wrapped her arms around him.
"I thought I had lost you," she whispered.
"Uh Angel," Spike began.
"What is it Spike?" Angel asked, annoyed at the blonde vampire for interrupting his moment with Buffy.
"Oh my God!" Buffy shouted as she jumped back from him.
"Buffy what's wrong?" Angel asked.
"She probalyjust heard what I did mate," Spike said. "Check your heart."
"What are you?" Angel began before he realized what Spike was saying. "My heart, I thought it was Buffy, my heart it's beating. I'm alive." He looked at Buffy who had a huge smile on her face. Angel returned the smile before he looked up at the sky raised up his arms and shouted. "I'm alive!"
COMING NEXT CHAPTER
The end, and some new beginnings
