Disclaimer: What's Joss's is Joss's, what's mine is mine.
Emptiness Within
Chapter One: Choices
"Then you can't stay here," Dawn said softly looking at her sister calmly blinking to fight back tears.
Buffy stared at her in shock. Looking past her sister's shoulder and she looked wildly at her friends and the Potentials hoping to look for a friendly face. Someone who agreed with her plan.
There were none.
"If that's the way you want," Buffy said softly her voice forlorn and broken.
Slowly she turned around and walked out of the front door.
"B!" Faith ran after her as Buffy walked out of her own front door, "I didn't want it to be this way. I swear I didn't wan..."
Buffy stopped her grabbing her arm firmly
"Their lives are in your hands," she said softly, "Make sure they live."
With that Buffy walked away from her home and from all the friends she ever had.
~~~~~
She had lost track of time wandering aimlessly through the deserted streets of Sunnydale unaware of what was going on around her and not really caring at all. She was homeless, friendless and worse of all, helpless. She was just one girl facing the personification of evil. How can she win?
Drowning in despair, Buffy wondered why she was still fighting the 'good' fight. She never should have been brought back to life that was what had started this whole mess. Lost in her own depressing thoughts Buffy wasn't aware of the presence behind her until it spoke up.
"Awwww... wandering out so late?" a familiar voice said from behind her a smirk evident in her voice, "Haven't you got a home to go to?"
Buffy whirled around and stared into a pair of familiar eyes. It was the same eyes that stared back at her every time she peered into a mirror, every time she looked into a puddle of water.
"Ain't life a bitch," the voice continued in an exasperated tone, "You fight with them. You save their lives time and time again and they turn on you."
Buffy resisted the urge to charge the voice knowing that she will pass straight through its incorporeal body.
"But you know what?" the First continued with a small smile dancing across its stolen face, "You don't need them."
"Is this the bit where you propose we become allies and I go all Darth Vader on my friends," Buffy snorted, "I'll pass."
"You know you were right," the First smirked at her ignoring her comment, "There is something in the orchard but what can you do about it? You're just one little girl."
With that the First let out a burst of malicious laughter before vanishing in a burst of bright light leaving behind a stunned Slayer.
~~~~~
Caleb jumped as the First appeared before him. Instantly the demon's face changed from that of the Slayer's to the visage of one familiar to the inhabitants of Sunnydale particularly to the Slayer's undead lover.
Wide insane brown eyes stared into Caleb's fanatical ones, a small gentle smile appearing on the girl's soft ruby lips.
"She's coming," the First murmured its voice soft and seductive, "The naughty dirty girl is coming drawn into our trap like a small fly to that of a spiders. The stars sing for her blood as her soul fights to escape her body. She's coming and you know what you must do my champion..."
Caleb spoke as his fists clenched at the thought of the blonde Slayer.
"Yes, I know what to do," he hissed his accent becoming more pronounced with each word.
The smile on Drusilla/the First's face became wider as it began moving its slim long fingers in front of its pale face in elaborate gestures weaving invisible pictures into the air.
"Good, Death in all this black glory is close. It's scythe poised above the Slayer's neck. Naughty, dirty girl..." the First burst into peals of delighted laughter, "CHOP! Slayer gone!"
~~~~~
Buffy stood stunned even after the First had left her. She had been right!
She.
Had.
Been.
Right! The orchard... something was there... something... something that the First wanted to keep hidden maybe it was something that could help them defeat the incorporeal demon... all she need to do was to raid the orchard and... and... and...
Buffy stopped in mid thought.
How was she going to raid the orchard? She was just one girl albeit a super-powered one but what could she do against the all-powerful First and its army of Harbingers, Ubervamps and Caleb?
Taking a deep steadying breath, Buffy knew she had to try. She was the Slayer, the Chosen one. She had to do this.
She just had to.
~~~~~
"Knock! Knock!" Buffy said cheerfully as she crushed the Harbinger's skull against one of the hard columns.
Dropping the bloody corpse she spun kick another knife wielding Harbinger in the gut sending him flying backwards into a wall. Bouncing lightly on the balls of her hell, she sprung out of the way as another Harbinger charged at her slashing the air widely with its knife.
"How do you people see?" Buffy mused as she used the Harbinger's momentum against him kicking him in the leg as he shot past, "Do you people have like a third eye somewhere I'm not seeing?"
Kicking the knife out of one of the Harbinger's hands, she caught it deftly and plunged the deadly tip into its owner's gut. Yanking the knife out, she wrinkled her nose in distaste as black blood jetted out from the gaping wound.
"You know what? Making up snappy comebacks and quips just ain't fun when the enemy can't talk back," Buffy sighed before drop kicking another Harbinger.
"Ooo... naughty dirty girl..." a familiar voice drawled from the shadows, "The stars were right..."
"Let me guess," Buffy said with a sigh without turning around, "Drusilla?"
She turned around and stared at the insane vampire that stood in the shadows, her cunning eyes watching the Slayer's every move.
"Oooo... do I get a prize for being right?" Buffy said with false-cheerfulness.
Drusilla smiled at her.
"I'm not Drusilla," she said strongly.
"Right, that's because you're the First," Buffy drawled.
Drusilla smirked at her before transforming into its favourite shape: Buffy.
"Hello, me," the First sneered, "You know the whole Die Hard thing doesn't work in real life."
"As compared with the whole taking other people's form thing?" Buffy asked arching an eyebrow delicately, "Oh wait, you're incorporeal. Whoops, silly me."
The First glared at her.
"Take care of her," it muttered to someone behind Buffy.
The Slayer ducked hurriedly as a clenched fist whooshed past overhead narrowly missing Buffy's golden head. Whirling around, Buffy kicked Caleb's leg from under him and smiled in satisfaction as the insane priest was sent tumbling.
"You know what I realised?" Buffy asked as she sparred with Caleb.
"What?" both the First and Caleb snarled.
"I don't need my friends or my family. Every time some big bad comes along, it's always me that fights them in the end. No matter who it was: the Master, Angelus, the Mayor, Adam, Glory..." Buffy shrugged as she nimbly sidestepped Caleb's haymaker, "You get the point. And I've came to a conclusion: I don't need them, all along it's always been me against the worst of the worst and you two really aren't that scary. Kinda like a Sonny and Cher thing meet Adam's Family."
"What?!?" the First barked with Buffy's voice, "You bitch!"
Buffy threw a smirk her way as Caleb let out a bellow of rage and charged her.
"I'm the Slayer. The one and only. I've died twice and I'm still around. What makes you think you can beat me?" Buffy frog jumped over the charging priest and sent him tumbling into a pile of barrels with a well-placed kick on his rump.
"You stupid wench!" Caleb raged as he picked himself up off the ground.
Dusting himself off, he grabbed one of the few remaining intact barrels and hurled it at Buffy.
"CRACK!"
The barrel exploded as it slammed into Buffy's chest sending the petite Slayer flying across the floor.
"Ow," the First observed as Buffy struggled to stand up again.
Caleb stalked towards the downed Slayer as Buffy blinked furiously trying to clear her vision.
"Dirty, dirty bitch," Caleb snarled, "Let my purification heal you!"
With that he unceremoniously grabbed a handful of Buffy's long hair and yanked viciously as a small gasp of pain escaped from the Slayer's lips.
"Fly like the witch you are!" Caleb ranted as he threw Buffy across the room.
Slamming into the wall with considerable force, Buffy felt the air shoot out of her battered lungs as she struggled to remain conscious.
"Let the purification be at hand," Caleb snarled, "And let the bitch see the full glory of the Lord in all his might!"
With two long strides, he bounded across the room. Grabbing Buffy around the throat, he lifted her off the ground pinning her against the wall all the while tightening his iron grip around her throat.
"Perhaps a crucifixion is needed to bleed all your impurities out of you. Or a burning," Caleb hissed in her face, his eyes lit up with a demonic light, "Burn you like the witch you are."
Buffy struggled to breath as Caleb increased the pressure. Struggling in the folds of her jacket, Buffy withdrew something long and sharp and in a blinding move too fast to see she buried the dagger straight into Caleb's chest.
Caleb staggered backwards as blood oozed from around the dagger buried into his chest. He stared at the blade in horror as he left go of Buffy. Hitting the ground lightly, Buffy sucked in a few grateful breaths as she slowly got to her feet.
Caleb stared up at the Slayer in shock as Buffy smiled back at him.
"I maybe blonde but I'm not stupid..." she began.
The priest smirked at her and slowly drew the dagger out of his chest. A sadistic smile appeared across his thin lips as he looked up expecting the Slayer to look at him in horror instead he was surprised to see the Slayer smiling at him.
"See I'm not stupid," Buffy smirked, "You maybe super-strong like Glory but you don't have her invulnerability to weapons."
Before Caleb or the First could react, Buffy shot across the short distance between them and sank her fingers into his gaping wound. Caleb let out a howl of pain as Buffy squeezed the bloody muscles between her fingers.
"And you don't have super-healing either," Buffy noted as she socked him in the stomach before darting out of the way.
Caleb roared after her as Buffy glanced around for an escape seeing an open trapdoor partially hidden by a row of barrels, Buffy grinned. Her smile soon fell when she realised Caleb was cutting her off from the trapdoor.
"Tag," Buffy darted forwards and smacked Caleb in his wound again eliciting another furious scream of pain from the priest.
Ducking beneath his wild swipes, she dashed towards the trapdoor.
"Go after her!" the First yelled pointing at the fleeing Slayer, "Go! Go!"
"Shut up you bitch!" Caleb screamed.
The First sniffed disdainfully.
"Fine!" it barked before disappearing in a bright flash of light.
Caleb charged after Buffy but the Slayer put on an extra spurt of speed before taking off in a flying leap.
"Down the rabbit hole," Buffy threw over her shoulders before sailing down the open trapdoor.
Landing nimbly onto the hard-packed earthen ground, Buffy looked around quickly and saw she was in an underground tunnel of some sort seeing a small opening in the rocky wall across from her, she dashed through it as Caleb landed like a stone behind her.
"Come here, you bitch!" he snarled as Buffy slipped through the tiny opening.
Throwing a fearful look behind her, Buffy whirled around to see where she was and stopped as she saw what was in the tiny rocky chamber.
A silver and crimson scythe glowing with internal light stood in the centre of the room, the play of light across the razor sharp mesmerised the Slayer as Buffy stared at the weapon in awe. Much of its blade were embedded into a massive boulder sticking out from the ground and judging by the many sledgehammers, blowtorches and even a jackhammer lying around, the First had been trying to break it out.
"Tsk, tsk," Buffy tutted, "Haven't you heard of Arthur? Only the rightful person can pull the sword from the stone."
Buffy could hear Caleb stumbling through the open behind her and making a quick decision she dashed across the small chamber to the scythe. Spreading her legs apart, she gripped the scythe's handle tightly and wrenched it with all her might. To her surprise, the scythe came loose with miraculous ease as though it wasn't stuck in the rock at all.
"Hmm... guess I'm going to be king of Camelot," Buffy mused as she stared the play of light across the blade's surface.
"Where are you?" Caleb snarled through the opening as Buffy wrenched her eyes away from the scythe.
Smiling wickedly, Buffy jumped nimbly off the boulder and waited as she twirled the scythe expertly in her hand. Some kind of mystical energy seemed to radiate from the weapon filling Buffy's body with an incredible strength she had never felt before.
"Damn, this feels good," Buffy muttered.
"Prepare for the god's wrath!" Caleb yelled before exploding out from the opening.
Buffy hefted the scythe and whipped the blade around a neck height as Caleb stared at her in shock. The look remained on his face as his head fell off his neck and bounced gently as it hit the ground. Caleb's body crumpled to the ground as Buffy grimaced at the amazing amount of the blood that spurted from his severed neck.
"It's never good to lose your head in a battle," Buffy remarked as she stared at the scythe in her hands, "Hmm... slices and dices. How handy."
Taking a deep shuddering breath to calm the adrenaline pounding through her veins, Buffy continued to stare at the scythe.
Caleb was dead.
The First had lost something it wanted...
She should give this to Faith and the others... but...
She couldn't. She couldn't face them again knowing that they had thrown her out like trash they didn't wanted. Those she had called her friends and family threw her out like she was nothing.
Staring at her reflection in the shiny surface of the blood, Buffy saw in a sudden moment of clarity what she must do.
Hefting the scythe up, she left the chamber and left never to come back.
~~~~~~
Next morning, the residents of the Summers' house were surprised to find a crimson and silver scythe lying on the steps of their doorway. A simple note was found under the weapon.
'Caleb is dead.'
Faith frowned in confusion as she stared at the scythe as Willow walked up behind her.
"Buffy," the red-haired witch murmured, "Buffy did this."
Faith looked around at the brightly lit street outside.
"But where is she?" the rogue Slayer wondered as she frowned worriedly.
Willow sighed.
"Somehow I think she doesn't want us to know."
~~~~~~
Buffy Summers, Vampire Slayer, turned around and stared at the town she had come to call home. How ironic. The Slayer, the young teenaged girl who had been reluctant to move away L.A. to move away from the city she had lived for all her life, calling the Hellmouth home. Her most triumphant moments and her most depressing moments had been here. Fighting the good fight, winning and losing. It had been all here but last night... being thrown out just like that... that she couldn't forgive or forget.
Suppressing the sadness inside, Buffy Summers checked she had a stake tucked in her jacket pocket before turning around and walking away from Sunnydale, her home. A place where she was no longer needed or wanted.
The Slayer walked away from her home and the world shook with her choice.
Like ripples in a pond, the consequences of her decision rippled out through time and space destroying possible futures and spawning new ones. The threads of destiny shifted and changed. The moving hands of fate crafted new passages with every step Buffy took.
What world would Buffy create with her choice still remained a mystery.
~~~~~
Spike screamed in pain as the amulet's power came crashing down onto him drawing the sunlight through his body and into the diamond of the amulet.
"Spike!" Faith cried staring at the vampire in shock.
The vampire's eyes widened in shock as he felt the mystical power of the amulet flood through his veins filling with strength he had never felt before. He felt his cold and silent heart beat as the power flowed through the organ. Invisible flames danced across his skin as the sunlight scorched him but the power of the amulet turned it back as Spike gasped for breath.
He watched as an Ubervamp try to sneak up behind Faith but the dark Slayer reacted instantly whipping the scythe around decapitating the vampire in one swift movement. All around them the newly born-Slayers fought for their lives. Not of all them had made it. Spike's eyes fell sorrowfully on the prone figure of Amanda lying on the ground, he had always like the lass but now she was gone.
Like Tara.
Like Eve.
Like Molly.
Like Chloe.
Like Buffy...
No, Buffy wasn't dead. She was just gone, ran away after being chucked out by her friends and family. When Spike had returned from his trip with Andrew, he had chewed out each and every single one of them as he unleashed his fury over what they had done to the blonde Slayer. Didn't they know what anguish she had gone through when she came back from the dead? And a few short months later, they chuck her out?
Bloody wankers.
Spike bit down on his anger as the power of the amulet filled his body again giving his skin a beautiful azure glow.
Vi kicked an Ubervamp away before slicing its gut open with the tiny dagger she held in her carefully manicured hands as Rona whacked another vamp silly with her arm, which was still in a cast.
Kennedy introduced another Ubervamp to the sharp edge of its own side as she pushed it back down to the ravine below where more Ubervamps tried to pour onto the small ledge they were fighting on.
"No," Spike whispered, "This ends now."
Suddenly he felt a presence to his right, Spike slowly turned his head and stared at the figure that stood before him.
"Spike," Buffy whispered, her voice soft and tender, "Please, don't do this. Don't unleash the power. It'll kill us now."
For a few brief seconds, Spike wavered.
"Spike, please," Buffy murmured again.
"You're not her," Spike growled as Buffy smiled nervously at him.
"Spike, it's me. Buffy. The girl you love?"
Spike narrowed his eyes at the First.
"No, Buffy never loved me," he said roughly, "Her heart never truly belonged to me. It belongs to another."
Buffy glared at him and dropped the act.
"That's right, you wanker," the First snarled taking some of Spike's phrases, "She never loved you cause if she did she would've stayed around for you to come back. But guess what? She's never coming back. Ever."
Spike glared at the First.
"Think your bloody mind games work on me?" he snarled, "I was your pawn once but not again. This ends now."
With that Spike unleashed the power of the amulet.
The First screamed in pain as a beam of energy laced sunlight struck its incorporeal body. Its body burned with pain as it screamed and screamed and screamed. With one high-pitched shriek, its essence exploded scattering through the different dimension, through space and time.
The First was gone.
Just like that.
Poof.
Kinda anticlimactic if you think about it.
Spike ignored his victory and concentrated on the army of vampires. Beams of sunlight raked through the ranks of the Ubervamps vaporising the vamps as the sunlight boiled away at their skin and muscles reducing them to charred skeletons that exploded into dust.
All around him Slayers backed away in confusion as their enemies they were fighting exploded into piles of dust. Faith's eyes were immediately drawn to Spike as she gasped in shock.
Before she could speak, the whole cavern rumbled and shook as some of the stalagmites and stalactites poling out of the rocky walls like jagged fangs shattered falling to the ground.
"Faith?" Spike yelled, "Get them out of here!"
Faith blinked in confusion but quickly recovered barking out commands to the other confused Slayers.
"Girls! Get out of here! Now!" she roared.
Spike watched in satisfaction as Chao-Ahn, Vi and Rona immediately sprang into action helping Faith direct the Slayers out of the rumbling Hellmouth. The walls of the chamber continued to deteriorate as Spike felt the energy of the amulet well up in him again ready to unleash another tsunami-proportion wave of energy onto the Hellmouth.
"Spike!" Faith was beside him in seconds, "You have to get out of here! There's still time!"
"Faith!" Kennedy yelled from the staircase leading up to the school, "Come on! We've got to go!"
Faith remained silent as Kennedy shot one last cautious look at the rumbling Hellmouth before sprinting up the stairs.
"Spike..." Faith began.
"No!" Spike growled at her, "You did the fighting and it's time for me to do the cleaning up. Leave or else you'll be destroyed too."
Faith was silent as she realised she was helpless in the face of the vampire's determination to finish off this job once and for all.
"She loved you, you know," the dark Slayer said quietly, "She really did."
Spike looked at her, tears running down the side of his face. Bathed in the golden light of the sun and with the glittering diamond changing from his neck, Spike looked like some kind of angelic figure straight out of a legend. He looked like a hero.
"No, she didn't," Spike said quietly, "She never did but thanks for saying it."
Before Faith could reply, she was almost knocked off her feet as the whole Hellmouth shook with the force of the amulets attack on it.
"I guess it's fair to say school's out for bloody summer," Spike quipped with a small smirk on his face as he turned away from Faith and looked upon the dust-strewn ground of the Hellmouth.
Shooting the vampire on last helpless look, Faith ran to the staircase and disappeared to the world above as Spike felt the amulet gather its strength one last time.
"I want to see how this ends," he sniggered as the sunlight began to eat away at his pale skin.
White skin turned to black ash as muscles fried under the force of the sunlight. Spike's laughter was cut off as his throat disintegrated. With one last blast of azure energy from the amulet, he crumbled to dust. All around him the cavern crumbled and the walls collapsed as the Hellmouth phased in and out of this dimension.
With one last ominous rumble, the cave completely collapsed as the town above slid into the gaping crater. As the city around it fell, a single yellow school bus shot out from the wreckage and onto a narrow stretch of road just outside town.
They were safe.
And so it ended.
~~~~~~
"Yeah," Dawn agreed, "What do we do now?"
Faith faced the hulking crater that was all that was left of the Hellmouth and Sunnydale and sighed.
"And now we celebrate," she said quietly, "And mourn."
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