DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the characters in this story. They belong to Joss Whedon, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their other respective owners.
A/N ABOUT THIS STORY: As you can tell, I've taken several scenes directly from Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Lord of the Rings, word-for-word in the dialogue. This is not to rip off any of the real writers because I respect their work and I am not a plagiarist. This is an artistic ploy to put the reader in the mindset of where they are and is essential to the story. The Buffy episodes used were episodes (6.1-2) "Bargaining, 1 and 2" written by Marti Noxon & David Fury, (7.17) "Lies My Parents Told Me" written by David Fury & Drew Goddard, (7.18) "Dirty Girls" written by Drew Goddard, (7.19) "Empty Places" written by Drew Z. Greenberg, (7.20) "Touched" written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner, (7.21) "End of Days" written by Jane Espenson & Doug Petrie and (7.22) "Chosen" written by Joss Whedon. The Angel episode used was "Orpheus" written by Mere Smith. The movies used are, of course, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring and Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, written by Frances Walsh, Philippa Boyens and Peter Jackson, based on the books by J.R.R. Tolkien (if you didn't know that, you just suck).
13. The End is Here:
"Do you know where we're going?" Pippin asked as he, Buffy and the rest of the Fellowship walked warily through a cemetery.
"Not exactly," she answered. "We're looking for something… really old. Something…."
"Shaped unusually?" Frodo asked.
"Yeah—" They stopped and stared ahead, beyond an old, creaky gate to an even older building shaped like a pyramid. "That's it." They continued on, pushing open the gate and walking up to the small black door.
Sam looked around, "Maybe there's a key…"
Buffy stepped back and kicked the door down, the heavy metal door sliding down a flight of stone stairs until it hit the bottom. Sam shrugged, "Or we could do it your way."
Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli and the hobbits pulled out their weapons and Buffy clutched her Scythe tightly. She led them down the flight of stone stairs into the firelight below. As they stepped down on the floor, they gazed around to see a strange place with Egyptian style décor and towering pillars decorated in hieroglyphs.
A chill went down Buffy's spine. "This place," she said with a baffled expression as she gazed around the mausoleum. "I've been here before."
"You've ventured into this tomb?" Gimli asked.
"No," Buffy answered, unsure of her wording. "In… my dream."
Aragorn turned to Legolas and asked, "What can you tell of it?"
The elf's eyes remained narrow and sharp as he glanced from place to place in the darkness. "I sense a presence in this room," he replied. "This place is old. I feel my own youth vividly in comparison."
Buffy declared, "Which would explain the dire need for a Trading Spaces makeover."
Legolas stopped suddenly in his tracks. "Be cautious." Gimli held his axe up while Aragorn drew his sword and the rest of the hobbits clutched their short swords in caution.
"What is it?" Frodo asked Legolas.
The elf's eyes softened, a flash of confusion crossing them as he slowly answered, "One of us."
"Cast down your weapons," a strong female voice declared. It contained everything from despair to power and gentleness to compassion inside of it. Buffy, Aragorn, Legolas and the others spun around suddenly and faced the tall woman standing before them.
Aragorn nearly dropped his sword as his eyes softened and he could not stop the whisper from escaping his lips. "Arwen?" he quietly exclaimed.
The woman was not Arwen. She stood in a long, blue dress with sequins and fine cloths and patterns like Arwen would've worn. Her dark hair drifted down long and thick from her head and glittered in the firelight. Her alabaster skin seemed to give off a glow of its own as it covered her gorgeous face, and her outward appearance was only matched by the beauty in her soul which sparkled through her dark eyes.
"I bare you sanctuary," the woman replied with long, round tones. "You shall find no conflict here."
The Fellowship gazed at her with eyes wide and jaws agape, the woman before them being ten times more beautiful than any they had ever seen. It was if God had captured the beauty and magnificence of the stars and from that made this woman.
"You…" Buffy gasped as she stared at her motionlessly. "I know you…"
A woman with long, dark hair stared out at Buffy with deep blue eyes that burned purity into her soul. Beauty filled her facial features and glittering eyes as delicate white flowers, as delicate as her tiny pale figure, dotted her dark mane. A crown of stars circled her head and she appeared – to Buffy's surprise – to be even more gorgeous than the city of Lothlórien itself. She was beauty.
Buffy looked up at the woman in shock. "Lithuen Tinuviel."
Aragorn said with wonder, "The most beautiful and fairest maiden in the world."
"You…" Buffy stuttered off a slow beginning. "You're… you're here? But-but you… you died. Not that that means anything, but… you're here."
"You gave up your immortality thousands of years passed," Aragorn said, stunned. "You should have perished long ago."
"Giving up my immortality to live my life with the man that I loved was an easy decision," Lithuen declared, "one that any selfless lover could make. What you do not know is the rest of my grim tale."
Buffy glanced at the others, then turned back to her with a shrug. "He died and you died later?"
Lithuen turned to her with peeked curiosity as she concluded, "I did not know that you would be so… crass." She shrugged a bit as she added, unsurprised, "It's to be expected of any Slayer, although I did not expect you to think so little of life and death."
"I-I'm sorry," she blushed and apologized. "Please, go on."
"Not long after I sacrificed by immortality, a demon came upon our land," she explained. "An old one."
"Wait," Pippin cut in, "a-a what?"
"An old one," Buffy repeated. "Pure demons. I-I thought they only used to exist in our world."
Lithuen glanced over them all. "Then you would be under the arrogant presumption that you are the only ones to have ventured into Middle Earth and back to this world."
"Guess not," Buffy responded. "'Cause… check you out."
"Continue," Gimli pleaded, fully entrenched in the story. "What of this demon?"
"It was one of the oldest… and last pure demons in existence," she said. "The beast was…" The words faded away as a hint of pain crossed her face. "Desperate," she sighed. "It infected my husband and tried to possess his body so that the demon could continue to conquer. I watched him fall further and further from life. I begged the elders of my time to bear him hence, but all turned me away, ashamed that I gave up the godly gift of immortality."
"They were still bitter, huh?" Buffy frowned, sympathetic to her plight.
"I gave up all hope until a messenger of the Powers appeared to me."
"The Powers that Be?" Buffy asked.
"The very same," Lithuen said with a nod.
"The Powers that Be what?" Sam asked.
"Exactly," Buffy answered, then turned back to the beautiful woman. "Go on."
She explained, "The messenger offered me a divine choice. They could not save my husband, but they could stop the demon."
"For what price?" asked Buffy.
"For an immortal to give up the Gift," Lithuen slowly clarified with much distress, "it would bring life to however many the immortal's life was worth. But for an immortal to destroy a life, it means to return to their state of power..." Her face fell flat. "And loneliness." Buffy and Aragorn gave each other a look as they both turned back to the lovely maiden, standing like a rose wilting before them. "To save my husband's soul from destruction, I had to agree to do the Powers' bidding and return to my immortal life and be alone… forever."
"Is that how you came to be in this place?" Legolas asked. "Here in this world?"
"In the beginning, before the War of the Ring, before Sauron's wrath, even before the creation of the Rings of Power – all planets, all dimensions were as one. One endless battleground. One hell where the powers of good and evil fought for control. The First used its army to conquer, and was nearly successful in destroying the Powers." She looked at Buffy desperately and explained, "You must understand that the entire universe rests on a balance, a-a scale. For every positive there is a negative; for every good there is an equal and opposite evil that must exist on the same plane for there to be equality. But the First was winning – the First was weighing the balance in its favor. The only was to stop the First was to create a medium of light, one strong enough to defeat the mightiest of evils."
"What could possibly be strong enough to stand against that?" Buffy sighed, wishing that she not only knew, but she had the remedy to her problems.
"The Powers created a race of beings full of righteousness and selfless intentions," Lithuen answered. "Humanity."
The silence afterwards was so thick it could be sliced with a chainsaw. "You mean, like, people?" Buffy asked with disbelief.
"The creation of this race was catastrophic to the First," she continued, "and soon afterwards came the First Champion. This being became the equal opposite of the First and channeled enough power to entomb the First in an incorporeal state. When the last Pure Demon was destroyed, the single world was divided into a multitude of planets and dimensions, with the human race present in each of them."
"I remember this part," Buffy declared. "Before the last demons were killed, they fed on a few humans and… they were spread around the universe, too?"
"Creating a balanced mixture of humans and demons." Frodo nodded, finally understanding.
"It was not until thousands of years later when a seer foretold a crossing of worlds," Lithuen replied. "Four Champions would venture into Middle Earth, one of them a Slayer, and play a pivotal role in the War of the Ring."
"Wait…" Buffy exclaimed, "You saw that coming?"
She answered, "As well as what happened next – this part of the story. The Fellowship of the Ring coming into this world to aid the Slayer in the Battle of the Hellmouth."
A chill went down the spine of everyone in the room as the Fellowship glanced around the room and at each other. Aragorn shook his head, unbelievingly, as he asked, "Why was there no record or prophecy of this before?"
"I believe it was stored in the Annals of Isengard," she responded.
"They must have been destroyed under Saurman's control," Gimli announced.
Lithuen began again, "When the prophecy was delivered to the Elven Elders, the immediately created a weapon with which to intervene."
Buffy looked down at the golden weapon in her hands as Aragorn declared, "The Scythe. It is of Elfish creation?"
"Created by Elves and handed down to the people of this world to be put in its rightful place," she said with a nod.
"And you've been waiting here," Buffy shook her head with disbelief, "all this time… to tell me this?"
"My task is nearly complete," Lithuen replied. "I am almost free."
"The Scythe," Buffy said, gazing down at it in her hands suspiciously, "there's something… wrong with it. Or wrong about it."
"It is not about right or wrong, Buffy," she answered. "It is about the Power. The weapon is the key to everything you are destined to become: the Ultimate Champion."
"What do you mean by that?" Merry asked.
"When Buffy was resurrected from the dead, she changed. The world changed. The First was able to take advantage on the imbalance and began its quest to become corporeal itself."
"Yeah," Buffy sighed, wanting to forget about it, "I saw this episode."
"Your new body is different," Lithuen explained. "There is no doubting it."
"Look, I-I know I changed," she quickly replied. "But-but Tara said it was only be a few, you know, molecules, right?" Lithuen gazed at her in silence, unnerving her further. "Right?"
"The Power is inside you," she answered, "waiting, struggling to come out. It has made you stronger… harder… colder. It has consumed who you were to transform you into what you are becoming."
The Slayer swallowed hard and felt her skin turn to ice. "That's… the reason?" she asked meekly. "There really is an-an… evil inside me?"
Frodo looked up at Buffy, then looked down at the ground as Merry, standing next to him, began to protest, "No… No. That's not true. Don't believe it, Buffy."
"You walk a fine line, Slayer," Lithuen shook her head with sympathy in her voice. "If you force the Power inside you into submission – if you continue to conceal it…" She let the words fade off as she stared at her fearfully.
"What?" Buffy demanded. "What'll happen?"
Sorrowfully, she replied, "It will destroy your soul."
Buffy's green eyes widened with terror as tears began to brim her eyes. "No… that's not going to happen!" Merry snapped. Frodo looked over at Buffy with pity as she began to pace is distress.
"And… and if I-I use this great honking power?" Buffy asked with anger. "What happens then?"
"The Power was first used to create the worlds," she said with hesitation. "You will have the power to destroy them all."
"Let me guess…" Buffy shrugged. "The Power's the thing that's making me invincible? But if I go all out, it'll kill me. Unless, of course, I don't use the Power and we all die anyway!" She whipped around to face Lithuen and exclaimed with anger, "How am I supposed to make this choice?"
"It is not an easy choice to make," she said. "But this is certain:" Buffy looked up at her as Lithuen declared, deathly serious, "In just a very short time, the fate of the universe will be either in your hands… or in the hands of the First."
Buffy shook her head as a tear rolled down her cheek. "I can't do this. I can't choose."
Aragorn shook his head, fuming, "This… this is preposterous."
"Surely," Frodo pleaded, "there must be another way."
Buffy whispered with hollow words as she gazed down at the floor, "She was right…" They turned to her as she breathed in with tears rolling down her face. "My greatest enemy is myself."
"Fear not the Darkness when it stands in your path," Lithuen shook her head. "Arise and see it for what it truly is." Without another word, Lithuen stepped back into the shadows and disappeared from sight, vanishing in a beam of white light. Darkness surrounded those that remained inside the tomb as silence covered them like a thick fog of mourning.
Buffy continued to stare at the wall as the last tear fell from her eyes. Like a bolt of thunder, the silence was sliced through by Caleb as he approached them.
"See? Now what did we learn from that?" he declared. They turned to him, stunned and terrified as he strolled up to Buffy with his arms behind his back casually. "You're just like any other woman: dirty." Aragorn and the others immediately ripped out their weapons as they braced themselves for whatever Caleb had for them.
Buffy did not move. She looked up at him with a look of emptiness that slowly melted into anger. "Oh, look," she replied, feeling her old, angry self come back to her. "Something wicked this way sucks."
"Well, look at this," Caleb announced, gazing at the Fellowship. "Guess you boys decided to stick around after all. Can't say that's the wisest choice."
"Gimli, Legolas," Aragorn ordered, nodding to the Halflings. "Mallen pelu e' n'alaquel en' sen." Circle around them.
They followed his orders as Caleb declared, "Even the strongest of men fall under the influence of a woman. By women, kings are made weak. Warriors are made to fail. Even the purest of Champions are made unclean."
"You should speak nothing of Champions!" Gimli snapped.
"You really do have a preference for men, don't you?" Buffy retorted. "I'm guessing in all ways."
"Very funny, little viper," he responded. "But I'm beyond all that. I've got exactly one relationship in my life, and that's with the oldest and purest of all evils. And I'll take the sweetest pleasure in watching you all be destroyed by that evil." He turned to Buffy with a smile. "Course, that's if your heroine doesn't destroy you all first."
Buffy swallowed hard as Aragorn declared, "You and your master will have to face us now."
"You still don't get it, do you?" Caleb grinned. "Just by being here, you're changing everything. Now, if the Slayer had been here by herself, I'd a finished her off all by my lonesome. But since this is a special occasion…"
Over a dozen Bringers leapt out from behind Caleb and charged at the Fellowship.
Legolas moved first; with his bow and arrow up like a flash of lightning he fired three arrows at Caleb. The preacher grinned as the narrow, sharp tools of death flew towards him, whistling in the air. He simply stepped and ducked – dodging every last one. Legolas' blue eyes widened at the shock: He missed. He never misses.
Caleb leaned back suddenly as a small axe whizzed over his chest and shoulder. He straightened out as Gimli charged at him with his main weapon drawn. Pulling back his foot, Caleb simply kicked the dwarf away with a field-goal kick, not breaking the slightest sweat. The dwarf rolled in the air and crashed into a stone pillar, his back colliding with the stone.
In a flash, Buffy charged at Caleb, full of fury as the hobbits and Aragorn ripped out their swords and took on the wave of Bringers. Aragorn cut the head off of one Bringer, spun around beneath the dagger of another and sliced him in the stomach. Frodo stood steady with his short sword drawn as another raced towards him. Sam circled around behind Frodo's attacker and with his sword he slashed at the ankles of the Bringer, causing him to topple to the ground. Once he was down, Frodo stabbed his sword into the throat of the Bringer, dispatching it for good.
Pippin let out a nervous cry as two Bringers ran towards him. Merry raced towards his friend, ordering, "Pip, down!" Pippin ducked down and so did Merry once he arrived as both stuck their swords out like lances, piercing the oncoming Bringers in their torsos.
Buffy swung the Scythe right into Caleb's hands. She pulled back on her weapon, but he would not loosen his super-charged grip and he pelted her with punches to her face, beating her to her knees. She twisted the Scythe in her hands and knocked the stake end across his face, flipping him over on the ground. He came to his feet as she hit him three more times with the middle of the Scythe and he ducked underneath her deadly swing just in time. The blade of the Scythe swirled around her in flashes of silver and red, ringing and whirring as it sliced the air.
The priest caught her handle as Buffy tried to hit him again, and she retaliated with a sidekick to the midsection. He pushed her against a stone pillar, pinning her there until she was able to wriggle free and duck beneath his mighty fist as it slammed into the rock, breaking fragments off of the column.
Buffy pushed him away and squared off with Caleb again as he laughed jubilantly, blowing the dust off of his fist. She held the Scythe close to her as fighting ranged on around her and Caleb gave her a deadly grin. "Don't you see?" he said with a smile. "There's no stoppin' us. We are everywhere. There's nowhere to hide. And now there's nowhere to run."
Legolas shot two Bringers in the chest with one arrow, the arrow shooting through the body of one and piercing the heart of the one behind him. However, as more Bringers rushed into the tomb and the wave pushed closer and closer to him, he was forced to put away the bow and pull out his daggers. He ducked and dodged underneath two more and stabbed one of them in the back and the other in the throat, kicking another Bringer off of him.
Gimli, now on his feet, slashed and chopped away with the axe in furious anger, using the hobbits method of cutting them down to his size, then going in for the kill. The hobbits stuck closely together, the four of them creating a square of defense as the Bringers came at them from all sides and they were able to retaliate on all sides.
Aragorn pulled Anduril out of the stomach of a Bringer, then flipped it around, stabbing another that approached him from behind. He ripped out the weapon and slashed the throat of yet another Bringer and turned as he heard a loud crash beside him.
Caleb punched Buffy in the jaw and she went flying into the wall behind her, colliding with it several feet off the ground. She landed on her hands and knees on the floor as Caleb hooked her again in the face and kicked her with his heel. She flipped up onto her feet with the Scythe in her hands and kicked him in the stomach. She punched him again and flipped him over as he landed on his back on the ground.
Buffy jabbed the stake end down towards his face, but he caught it and held it at bay, gazing up at her with a smile. He catapulted her over his body and on to the floor, tossing the Scythe aside. She pushed herself up only to be knocked back down with a kick to the face. He gave her two right hooks and watched her fall back on the ground, squirming on the dirt as she crawled back to her feet. She came up with a fierce punch, but he grabbed her arm and punched her three more times, the third punch sending her backwards into a pillar, then back down to the floor.
Buffy stumbled as she crashed down as she crashed down and Aragorn saw her near defeat at hand. Caleb crossed her path and gazed down at her with a twisted smile, enjoying her struggle to stay conscious and the pain of her weakness.
Aragorn rushed over with his sword ready to save her, but Caleb turned around and punched him in the face, throwing him through the air. The King crashed into a wall and hit the ground unconsciously.
"Aragorn!" Legolas called out, distracted long enough to be tackled to the ground by two Bringers. Gimli rushed to his aid, still being tailed by a Bringer of his own.
Buffy looked over in fear at Aragorn's unmoving body but was picked up by her collar, lifted in the air and thrown against another stone pillar, knocking the sections out of alignment. She rolled on the floor as she toppled down and he looked down at her, beaming with delight of victory.
"I warned you about the end," Caleb gloated. "Told you it was coming and that you couldn't stop it. You chose not to listen." Buffy watched helplessly as he picked up her Scythe, lifting it above his head as he stared down at his target. "And this is the consequence of that choice."
"Hey," Caleb heard from behind him. He turned around as a rock-hard fist slammed into his jaw, knocking him away as the Scythe fell from his hands. Buffy looked up to see her dark knight rescuer – Angel. The ensouled vampire gazed at her warmly, extending his hand to her and helping the stunned Slayer to her feet.
"I was never much for preachers," he smiled as she stared motionlessly in his presence.
"Angel," she breathed.
"You look good," he answered.
"You look timely." He gave her a warm look as Buffy added, "And also good."
"Heard maybe you needed a hand," Angel replied as he turned to see Caleb standing up lividly. The vampire put his defense on as Buffy grabbed his shoulder, turning towards the battling Fellowship.
"Help the others," she ordered. "This bastard's mine." Angel followed her command and ran over to Legolas, throwing the Bringers off of him as he joined their fight, punching them out and snapping necks left and right.
Buffy and Caleb walked towards each other and began the next stage of their battle. She successfully blocked most of his blows with the Scythe, knocking him around a bit as he struggled to stay on top of the game. He grabbed her Scythe again and hooked her in the face, knocking her face-flat against the wall. He lunged at her with the stake end of the Scythe, but she moved out of the way in time.
Aragorn's eyes opened up as his head throbbed painfully like a ton of bricks had fallen on top of him. He heard the whirring of Buffy's Scythe it was returned to her again and he pulled himself up, grabbing Anduril, and charged at the preacher.
A Bringer grabbed Sam by the throat and threw him into Frodo, knocking them both to the ground and breaking the square. Merry stabbed another in the stomach, then another in the back as it headed for Pippin. Pippin shouted a war cry as he stabbed one, then charged at another, grabbing it at its legs and pulling it to the ground. Frodo and Sam looked up as a Bringer stood over them with its two daggers coming towards their heads.
Angel appeared from behind and grabbed both the daggers, stabbing the Bringer in the heart from both sides of his chest. He tossed the body away as Legolas hammered the Bringer after Merry with an arrow and Gimli buried his axe in the head of the Bringer that Pippin had brought down.
They turned towards the grand battle between Caleb, Buffy and Aragorn as Caleb back-kicked Buffy and punched Aragorn again, knocking him into a pillar. Caleb spun around and faced the angry Slayer as she swung at his head and stomach, but she was too slow for him. He paraded around her joyfully as she struggled to make contact with the blade. Buffy swung at his chest, he leaned back and when he straightened out, Buffy right hooked him, spinning him around to face Aragorn.
Aragorn was ready with his sword as he grabbed Caleb's shoulder and plunged Anduril into his stomach. Caleb gasped as the blade sliced him all the way through and stuck out of his back. Buffy gazed down at the bloody end of the sword as Aragorn glared into Caleb's eyes and ripped the sword out. Grabbing his fatal wound, he fell to his knees and gazed up at Aragorn helplessly as he pulled the sword back as if he were going to decapitate him.
For a second, he pulled it back slightly, then moved the sword out of the way and right hooked him to the ground. Caleb toppled over and landed unconsciously as Aragorn stared down at him with finality. With a relieved sigh, he rested and wiped the blood off the sword, returning to the rest of the Fellowship.
"Nice moves," Angel commented at Aragorn.
Aragorn replied, "He angered me."
"See?" Buffy smiled as she looked up at Angel. "We've got this situation completely under control."
He shrugged as he walked up to his ex-girlfriend with a boyish grin, "Well, at least you can tell me you're happy to see me." Buffy walked to him and planted her lips on his, resting her hand on his shoulder. From the shadows near the doorway, Spike glared at the two with hurt and a sense of fuming betrayal. The First as Buffy stood next to him with her arms crossed; the both of them watching the star-crossed lovers reunite.
"That bitch…" she hissed quietly, trying to infect Spike's mind.
Buffy and Angel broke their kiss as Angel observed, "Well, I guess that qualifies as 'happy to see me.'"
"Angel, what are you doing here?" Buffy asked in astonishment. "No, wait, I-I just wanna bask." She gazed up at him lovingly, then her face fell flat with seriousness. "Okay, I'm basked. What's the deal?"
"When Aragorn and the others show up they caused a string of disturbances," Angel explained to her and the Fellowship. He added a bit painfully, "And uncovered some we didn't see coming. When I heard the full story I decided to come and lend some hand."
"You mean, it's happening?" Sam asked. "We're changing the… the future?"
"Problem is, we don't know," Buffy answered. "We don't know how things were supposed to be or how things would've been if you hadn't showed."
"It's the First, isn't it?" Angel asked. "The evil that tried to convince me to kill myself?"
"It's gotten a little more ambitious since then," Buffy explained. "It's raising an army."
"Yeah, well," Angel shrugged. "It failed once and just as long as we stay together—"
Caleb shot up like a bullet out of a gun and slammed Angel in the head with a stone jar, knocking him aside easily. Buffy stared at him, terrified, as he glared at her with black blood draining from his eyes, his nose and the corners of his mouth.
"Are you ready to finish this," he shouted at her, his eyes completely black, "bitch?"
He swung at her with the jar and she blocked it with the Scythe, then he hit her again with his fist and she fell backwards. She rolled back on her feet and came to a cautious stand. "Okay, Michael Myers, how many times do we have to kill you?" she asked.
"You understand nothing!" he bit off. He grabbed her and tossed her into another wall. She stood up and punched him, then swung at him with the Scythe. He ducked and grabbed her by the stomach, lifting her in the air and smashing her against the ceiling. He let her crash to the ground as he boomed, "You think you have the Power over me?"
He punched her twice and grabbed her by the throat, choking her, "I don't care what you have! You'll never be more powerful than me!" She flipped the Scythe around with her free hand.
Caleb glared into her eyes, "You don't have the balls—" His face contorted suddenly with extreme pain as she swung the Scythe into his crotch. His black eyes widened as his voice disappeared and his grip around her neck loosened. She stood holding him up as she kept both hands on the handle of the Scythe.
"Who does nowadays?" she shrugged with a deadly glare. An instant later, she ripped the Scythe upwards, slicing him from bottom to top. Both halves of Caleb toppled onto the floor as the Fellowship cringed, their jaws agape. Dead silence fell in the tomb as Buffy gazed down at her kill, taking pleasure in inflicting so much pain. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat and the thought of that pleasure terrified her. Swallowing hard she lowered the Scythe and looked away from the body towards the Fellowship.
"Buffy?" Pippin began, his eyes on the Calebs. "Y-You know that time when w-we all went down to Hob's End and had the picnic down at the lake and I spilled ale on your dress? I'd like to take this time to apologize for that."
"All right!" Angel declared as he stood up angrily. "Now I'm pissed." He faced Buffy and the others. "Where is he?"
She gave him a look and gazed down at the opposite sides of the floor, acknowledging the opposite sides of his body. "Oh," Angel replied. "That's, uh… That's… yeah."
Legolas declared to Angel informatively, "She cut him in half."
Aragorn slowly turned his head towards Legolas who stood next to him with an intense gaze. The thought of saying something crossed his mind, but he simply turned away.
"Right," Angel declared, also turning away from him. Buffy walked over and picked up the file folder that Angel was carrying.
"I'll have the others scan through these files, see if there's something we don't already know," Buffy said. She turned to him and asked, "Reliable source?"
"Not remotely," he replied, reaching into his pocket. "I also have this." He pulled out a huge, circular diamond amulet on the end of a chain.
Buffy stared at it with wide eyes, "I can already tell you I have nothing that goes with that."
"It's not for you," Angel answered. "All I know is that this thing's very powerful and very dangerous. There's some sort of cleansing power, or purifying power – hell, I don't know – scrubbing bubbles. It's to be worn by somebody stronger than human but with a soul, a champion. As in me."
"Or me," Buffy shrugged.
"No," he answered. "It's too dangerous to risk you wearing it. Besides, you got that real cool axe thing… going for ya."
"And I personally feel like the rest of this group has had their fair share of apocalyptic jewelry," Buffy said of the Fellowship. "Which would rule them out."
Frodo turned around sensing a strange emotion and caught Spike facing the shadows in silent defeat and retreating up the stairs of the tomb. Frodo turned back to Buffy, deciding if he should do anything, but wasn't sure of what to say.
"You said something about things changing," Sam asked. "What happened since we left?"
Angel swallowed hard, unable to speak. Legolas looked at him and asked, "Is it the rebellious one? Connor?" Angel turned to him in shock… How did he…?
"Whoa," Buffy asked. "Who's Connor?"
Angel stared at Legolas for a long time before he finally answered, "Connor's my son. Was my son." He explained with hints of bitterness, "He was born about a year and a half ago, then kidnapped and taken to a dimension where he was brainwashed, grew up then came back with a vengeance to kill me. He almost did. A lot. If only… if thing's could've been different, I could've…" The words faded away and he paused, then continued, "Cordelia's body was taken over by a fallen Power-That-Be that used her body to give birth to itself and instigate an apocalypse where when she was born, she would enslave the minds of mankind. Fortunately, we were able to stop her. Unfortunately, we… sorta ended world peace. Cordelia, she... she didn't…" Once again, he could barely continue, "She's in a coma. They say she's not going to wake up."
"My god," Buffy breathed in awe. "We have got to work on our communication skills."
"And now?" Sam asked. "What's become of you… of your son?" The Fellowship turned to him understanding the origin of his concern.
"He doesn't know me," Angel answered. "Not anymore. He doesn't remember anything. No one knows except for me. No one until now."
"You gave up your son?" Sam asked.
"I gave him the life he should've had," Angel replied. "You gotta do what you can to protect your family. Sometimes that means sacrificing a part of yourself in the process." He stood with his arms crossed staring into the darkness in the brooding silence that brought Buffy back to high school and far away from the knowledge or fear of any of this.
"And I thought I was having a tough year," Buffy answered quietly to him. "I'm sorry."
"Yeah," Angel nodded slightly. "Me too." He swallowed and let go of that pain, turning towards Buffy with a face of business. "You got a game plan?"
"You'll be here?" Aragorn asked. "Fighting to our aid?"
"Shoulder to shoulder," Angel replied. "Fighting to the death like usual. It's a Buffy/Angel tradition."
"No," Buffy cut him off.
"No, what?" he asked.
"You're not going to be in this fight," she said with finality, heading for the stairs.
"Why not?" he asked.
She turned to him, not wanting to say it, but she faced the cold truth, "If I lose this, then it's only days – hours, even – until it takes the rest of the world. I need someone I can count on for a second front."
"Okay," Angel agreed, facing the rejection. "That's one reason. What's the other?" He gazed down at her knowingly and expected a truthful answer, one that she couldn't bring herself to give.
"There is no other reason," Buffy flatly replied, then went up the stairs.
Angel turned to the Fellowship and declared bitterly, "There's another reason."
"Well," Pippin nervously laughed, "good luck with that. Nice to see you again! Bye!"
Buffy walked out of the tomb with her Scythe in hand as Angel called from the doorway, "Is it Spike?" She paused, busted, and faced him tiredly. "His scent," Angel explained, "I remember it pretty well…"
"Vampires," Buffy shook her head. "Didn't anyone ever tell you that smelling thing's kinda creepy?"
"Is he your boyfriend?" Angel asked.
"Is that your business?" she sighed, turning away and entering the rest of the graveyard.
"Are you in love with him?" he asked. She slowed down, being more and more annoyed as Angel admitted, "All right, look. Maybe I'm out of line, but I mean, this is kind of a curve ball for me. We are talking about Spike here."
"It's different," she explained. "He's different. He has a soul now."
"Oh," Angel said to himself quietly. "A soul." Feeling a little intruded upon, he added childishly, "Everyone's got a soul now."
"What?" she exclaimed.
"No, no," he shook his head. "One more for the team." He rolled his eyes and said almost to himself, "I started it, you know." Angel said to her, "The whole 'having a soul.' Before it was... all the cool, new thing."
"Oh, my god, are you twelve?" Buffy sighed.
"I'm getting the brush-off for Captain Peroxide," Angel declared. "It doesn't necessarily bring out the Champion in me."
"You're not getting the brush off!" Buffy exclaimed.
"I bet they're not even arguing," Pippin announced as the Fellowship walked towards the Summers house. "I bet they're kissing again."
Gimli said with a laugh, "Ah, there's nothing better than a pair of lovers having it out, wouldn't you say?"
Merry rolled his eyes. Pippin continued, "He's probably jealous of Spike, wouldn't you think, Merry? And-And I bet they were fighting about it, but then… any second now… they're going to make up and start having this really long, emotional conversation."
"About what?" Sam asked unbelievingly. "'I want to be with you, but not right now?'" He scoffed, "Please."
"Yeah, exactly!" Pippin answered. "She's probably like… 'I'm just trying to take it a day at a time,' and 'I'm not really thinkin' about the future and all.'"
"I say they're still fighting," Merry declared.
"What concern is it of ours what they're doing?" Aragorn asked maturely. "Clearly, she will always love him, but they both know that their worlds separate them – tear them apart. They can't be together now, but she'll tell him that there is a chance that one day their paths will cross again and they can be together when she's ready. So he'll probably do the honorable thing and divulge to his defeat and return to his home."
Pippin agreed, "And I bet he'll say something like, 'I'll always be with you...' or, you know, 'I'll always wait for you…'"
"'I'm not getting any older,'" Frodo answered with a smile as he thought about the sound of that, walking down the sidewalk with the others.
"Who would say that?" Pippin criticized.
Merry scoffed, "What a cheese."
"I'm not getting any older," Angel said with a smile as he walked backwards into the shadows, disappearing into the darkness as he did when she first met him in a Sunnydale alley next to the Bronze.
With a look of warmth she turned around to be faced by Kendra, the vampire slayer that had died at the hands of Drusilla and called Faith. Buffy's eyes went wide as Kendra declared in her thick Jamaican accent, her arms crossed and angry, "Neither am I."
Buffy was at first stunned, but then came to a quick understand of what she was staring at. With nothing to reply with, she turned away and walked home.
Buffy opened the door to her basement and came down the stairs later that night to see Spike punching away angrily at a punching bag. He saw her and stopped punching for a moment, asking, "So, where's Tall, Dark and Forehead?"
"Let me guess," Buffy replied, not surprised, "you can smell him."
"Yeah, that and I also used my heightened vampire eyeballs to watch you kissing him," he accused.
She tried to explain, "It was… a hello."
"Yeah, well," he bit off, "most people don't use their tongues to say 'hello.' Or… I guess they do, but… still."
"There were no tongues," Buffy sighed, shaking her head. "Besides, he's gone."
Spike scoffed, "Oh, well, just popped in for a quickie, then?"
She rolled her eyes, tired of this game and declared, "Geez, I really think I've had enough superpower male-testosterone for one… ever."
"Where's the trinket?" he asked.
"The what-kit?"
"The amulet," he explained. "The one with all the power? I believe it's mine now?"
"How do you figure?" she asked.
"Someone ensouled but more powerful than human? That would be me."
"It's volatile. We don't know—"
"You'll need someone strong to bear it, then. We're you planning on giving it to Andrew?"
Buffy gazed down at the amulet in her hand as she explained slowly, "This… is meant to be worn by a champion."
Spike's heart sank as he put his hand down. "Oh, I see." He looked down at the ground in shame as Buffy held out the amulet, offering it to him. He looked at the amulet, then looked up at her with his eyes wide. She smiled at him as he slowly took the weight of the amulet from her hand and bared it in his own. Spike gazed down at the clear-crystal amulet with humility as he answered, "I've been called a lot of things before…"
"I want you to be careful," she declared.
"You're talking to the wrong guy, love." He squeezed the amulet in his hand and had trouble closing his palm around it, not just because of its size, but because of something else entirely. "This is powerful."
Buffy swallowed for a second as she said meekly, "Faith's still got my room."
Spike looked up at her, bewildered. "Well, you're not saying here! Can't buy me off with shiny beads and sweet talk. You've got Angel breath. I can't let you whack me back and forth like a rubber ball. I've got my pride, you know." With a silent nod, she turned around defeated and headed for the stairs.
"I understand," she answered.
"Clearly you don't!" he exclaimed as he jumped in front of her with alarm. "Because that whole pride thing – just a smoke screen." She smiled at him, clearly relieved as they gazed at each other contentedly.
Buffy sat in a chair with her legs crossed as she stared up through a window in the darkened basement. She was all alone, gazing up at the small fraction of stars. It wasn't very usual for her to see stars from her home – especially so many of them glittering down at her. However, now that every electrical light in Sunnydale was out, the stars could shine with their full potential.
The Slayer heard footsteps approach her from the wooden staircase descending into the basement. It was not Spike, but Frodo, followed by Sam, Aragorn, Legolas, Gimli, Merry then Pippin. They stared at her with curiousity as she contemplated away, illuminated by the moonlight, as if she had been sitting in that chair looking out that window for many, many years.
"You were not at supper," Aragorn announced to her. "We came to see how you were."
Pippin walked up to her, licking his chocolate-covered fingertips, "You should have been there! We had this amazing dish called… s-moures."
"S'mores." Sam rolled his eyes. "They're called s'mores. And they were pretty tasty," he considered.
"Buffy, what's wrong?" Merry asked with concern.
"I couldn't get away from them," she breathed idly as she stared up at the sky.
"Couldn't get away from what?" Pippin asked.
She answered, "Do you realize that you can't see any stars in Middle Earth? Or, you kinda can, but… they're so far away. They're so dim."
"Yes," Aragorn nodded. "They're barely visible."
Frodo walked up to the window and gazed out at the angle perfect to see a multitude of stars, twinkling like bright diamonds down at him. "There are millions," Frodo breathed, astounded. "I never noticed them all."
"I've never looked at them from this window before," Buffy explained. "But at night, when I'd go on patrol, I'd find myself looking up and seeing them. You could see them really well from the cemetery. There were no lights. When I was younger, I used to think about the stars. I missed my dad and I could look up at one and know that he could be looking at the same star." She thought about her the father that neglected her, then the one that took her in. "And… when I got a little older – all that waiting around in graveyards – it was me and Giles and the stars. Then it was me and Will, or me and Xander, or me and Angel…"
Aragorn shook his head. "I don't quite understand what you're saying."
"Everything I had in your world, Aragorn," Buffy said sadly. "The beauty, the friends, the comfort… there was only one thing I always missed."
"The stars?" Gimli asked, confused.
Buffy shrugged, realizing how silly it sounded. "I guess it reminded me of all the good things I had."
"Were you without them still when you returned?" Legolas asked. "Coming back to this place? Was it the same?"
"No," she replied. "It wasn't. Those things belong to that time, and that time has come and gone."
"But you can always start over," Merry suggested whole-heartedly. "Time could… start over."
She looked at him with a warm smile. "Sometimes."
Merry stared at her as his smile fell a little; his whole body deflated a bit. "You're not coming back, are you?" he asked knowingly.
"No, Merry," she said, shaking her head. "I'm not."
"Is it because you think you don't deserve it?" Pippin asked.
Buffy reached out and grabbed Merry's hand squeezing it kindly. "It's because I choose to stay," she explained. Disappointment had already flooded his blue eyes as he gazed at her wondrous face. The sadness melted away as she beamed a sunshine smile at him and he returned a small, understanding grin.
Peacefully, both of them turned back towards the window, and one by one, the rest of the Fellowship turned to behold the same heavenly beauty above them.
"Beautiful, aren't they?" a thick, southern voice declared. All of them jumped a bit as Buffy's head whipped over to see Caleb emerging from the shadows with his normal appearance in black and his arms behind his back casually.
Merry called out fearfully, "Buffy…"
"You're not him," the Slayer said flatly, dismissing him as she turned back to the window. The others calmed themselves at her cool demeanor.
"No, you killed him," Caleb/The First declared, placing a hand on its chest. "Right and proper. Shame, though. This was a strong man. This man was my right arm." It looked up at her. "Don't hurt me much, though. Don't need an arm." It added with Caleb's twisted grin, "Got an army."
"An army of what exactly?" Buffy asked, unafraid as she came to a stand. "Oh, vampires?" She teased in a faux tone of fear, "My, goodness, how ever will I overcome—" Buffy broke her sentence off with, "Oh, wait! That's right. I've been fighting them for years!"
"Oh, that's right," The First answered with Caleb's southern drawl. "You yourself have an army. Thirty some odd girls who don't know the pointy end of a stake."
"And us!" Gimli proudly declared, raising his voice in a challenge.
"Of course," The First gazed at him. "I almost forgot. A band of six washed-up rent-a-heroes who couldn't survive crossing a three-lane street in this world by themselves."
"But they can battle an army," Buffy added. "They've fought off thousands. That's not much more than you've got."
The First replied with a smile, "Try millions." Its tone rang out mighty and left a cold chill in the Fellowship and the Slayer. "Yes, your friends are knights in shining armor for the Light. But you still don't understand, do you? You've tipped the scales."
Caleb suddenly morphed into the bald, terrifying form of the Master. "It's all about the balance," The First grinned, bearing its sharp teeth. Buffy stood still with her arms crossed as the others became more and more unnerved. "With power comes responsibility," The First declared. "You have been irresponsible with yours. Funny thing about prophecies: they don't always tell you the whole story. Take me for instance. You defeated me and stopped me from raising my army. But now look where you are. You're the reason the Turok-Hans can rise. The reason I can take my power. You're still the lamb to the slaughter." The Master's eyes glared at Buffy as a smile curled across his face, "I was right all along…"
As the First walked into the shadows, he emerged taking the form of Angelus. Buffy's green eyes went wide for a split second, before she regained her calm. "You should've stayed in the ground, Slayer," Angel sneered with that smile she both loved and feared. "Come to think of it, it is about you. It always has been. You're the star of the show…" Its dark eyes were settled on her as he approached her slowly. "Funny thought to think about. This all started with you, Buffy, now we find out that it'll end because of you. Now that's gotta hurt. You were a bad fighter, you were a bad lover, now I see that you were just…"
"Bad," The First continued, now having morphed into Spike's rugged form. "You always had to fight it," it declared sensuously, swaggering dangerously close to her. "Just couldn't let yourself go. Now you've got no choice, love. You know who – and what – you really are. Doesn't matter what you do… the speeches you made… the people you used… the lives you ruined…"
"The people you tried to save," Jenny Calendar said as the First morphed once again. She stood in the last outfit she ever wore, standing before the Slayer and her friends with anger in her dark eyes. "Stupid little girl," it spat. "You don't even have any idea how you go here, do you?"
"You're wrong," Buffy finally declared.
"Buffy," Jenny responded with sensitivity, like a mother to her child. "I don't want to hurt you. I just want to show you who you really are. I'm everywhere, honey. In everything. Everyone. Every drop of hate. But there's not a single place I'm closer to than your heart."
Buffy looked down and swallowed hard and nervously. The First continued to circle Buffy and the Fellowship, attacking them from all sides as The First morphed into Mayor Richard Wilkins.
"It's nothing to frown about, really," the chipper Mayor added. "Cheer up! It'll all be over soon, and let me tell you, I've planned a big ending. You'll finally be rid of that pesky little destiny. You'll become something much greater than any Slayer."
"Greater than human," Adam/The First added in a monotone voice. The Frankenstien-type, part human, part demon, part machine declared as it circle around the group. "You and I are not so different."
"You're a demon," Buffy assured, shaking her head.
"Parts of me," The First responded. "As are parts of you. You are not like the previous Slayers. Why pretend to be? The First Slayer is connected to you. You both possess something deep than your missions. You possess the same power. It's inside you…"
Adam changed forms once more, becoming the dainty, beautiful god Buffy hated. "It's in your blood," Glory finished. "Crazy stuff, huh? It's great when it's racing through your veins. It's even better when it's dripping from your hands." Glory turned to Buffy to see her look away in shame again. The hellgod cracked up with laughter, "Oh, come on. Don't play the innocent Slayer with me. Haven't you wondered why you weren't squashed like the insignificant bug you are? Think it's got something to do with you fact that you're… Buffy the Vampire Slayer?" She added the last part with extra drama. "Boy, you think you know…"
The reddish curls of Glory morphed into straight blonde hair as the tall figure shortened a bit and its face took on sweet, round curves. Glory's red dress became a pair of khaki pants and a long-sleeved, baby blue shirt. As the First morphed into Tara, Buffy's eyes widened with terror and disgust.
"But you have no idea," Tara/The First said with a twisted grin.
"My God…" Buffy breathed, unbelieving and revolted.
"That's the problem," it shrugged with simplicity. "I always found it kinda funny they called you the Chosen One. See it is how you've got two sides."
"Change," Buffy ordered, not wanting to hear a word the First said in this form. "Now."
"On the one hand," The First continued, ignoring Buffy's abhorrence, "you got your righteous, pure-hearted Buffy – the girl you used to be. Always there for us. Family. Then you have the other you. The real you. The black-hearted core of primal darkness that longs for the kill. The one slayer whose got enough power to destroy the world. That's what you're becoming."
Buffy's eyes closed tightly as she felt the tingling at the back of her skull. "Stop it."
"Aw, sweetie, don't get upset," Tara smiled with sympathy. "Why be afraid of the Power inside?"
Buffy calmly answered, opening her eyes, "I don't need it."
"Or course not," The First complimented. "Without it, you're a Champion. But with it, you're a god." Frodo looked up to his friend to see her distress as she once again had to close her eyes tightly, looking away from Tara's face. The First whispered with a smile, "The Power is inside you… The Power is inside you…"
"Stop it," Buffy grunted, her resistance beginning to cause her physical pain.
Sam barked with a shout, glaring directly at the First, "She said stop it, you stupid—"
The First's head whipped towards Sam and Frodo as Tara's sweet face turned cold as a raspy, demonic voice spat out, "Stupid hobbitses!" Sam and Frodo's eyes widened with horror as Aragorn's jaw dropped, along with the rest of the Fellowship. Tara kneeled down and morphed into Gollum who crawled towards them and perched himself on the chair.
"Stupid fat hobbitses!" The First hissed with Gollum's reptilian features glaring at them intently with malevolence. "Thieves!" The First turned to Frodo with a haunting smile, "You thinks that we don't see. We knows who you are! We knows who you'll always be!" Gollum leaned close to Frodo, whispering eerily, "We had what the hobbit will always want… Master!"
Frodo felt himself sicken with repulsion and for a second he saw who he used to be and what he could've been had he not destroyed the Ring.
Sam glowered at Gollum and declared with a deadly serious tone, "Leave him alone."
"We're going to destroy the world," The First gloated as he crawled around the basement floor. "We'll start here. We're going to kill everyone!" The First erupted in a wash of maniacal laughter as he rolled across the floor and came back up on all fours, staring up at Sam. "The fat one has a little one. We'll eat his insides…"
Sam charged at Gollum furiously but was held back by Frodo, Merry and Pippin who pulled him back to his place. Aragorn ripped out his sword in his own disgust and anger.
"Aragorn!" Buffy shouted, calling him down.
Gandalf turned to him, the First having changed form again, and stared at him eye-level in disappointment. The wise old man shook his white-haired head with his staff in his hand and stared at Aragorn as if he were lower than the dirt beneath their feet. "What a fool to give your life," The First condemned Aragorn, "for your enemy."
Aragorn lowered his sword and asserted, "Buffy is no enemy."
"Is she a mistress?" The First asked. Aragorn's eyes widened as he stared into Gandalf's eyes in shock. Buffy glanced briefly towards the ground, stunned, and then she looked back up fiercely at The First. Aragorn swallowed hard as the fear of betraying Arwen crossed his mind again.
"Have you so easily forgotten her?" The First asked with Gandalf's stately tone. "She longs for you now, yet you can consider nothing but this battle. Nothing but your Aratoamin."
Aragorn stuttered to reply, "I-I…"
"You have condemned her to her fate," The First continued, twisting the knife deeper. "She gave her immortality for you. And now you have abandoned her."
Aragorn stared blankly at the first and at first said nothing, appearing to have nothing to say in retaliation. However, he calmly and tiredly answered, "You know nothing of what you speak."
"You will die in this world," The First stated. "And she will feel a heartache like no other." The First approached Aragorn, who stood next to Buffy, and walked up to him with a stern gaze, whispering venom into his ears. "When I take Middle Earth, I will let her live the rest of her lonely life. And I will watch her die in agony. All because you have failed her, just like you'll fail your kingdom, just like you'll fail your Slayer."
The First faced Buffy with a smile, "Here you are at the crossroads of a grand choice. All you have to decide is what to do with the time given to you. All the time in the world… is all that you have left."
"I'm not afraid of you," Buffy said simply and assuredly. "I'm not afraid of anything you can throw. Don't think for a second I'm gonna back down just because you can spice up yet another boring speech with fancy special effects."
"I know you're not afraid," The First as Gandalf agreed with a nod. "But what does bring you fear? There is not very much that brings you to that point of weakness." The First walked up to her with a smile, "Come, Buffy. What are you afraid of?"
Buffy was looking at Gandalf's face when at once she was looking into her own reflection. The Fellowship shifted uncomfortably, stepping back as the First made the most terrifying transformation of all – Buffy. Wearing the exact same clothes that Buffy wore at that moment, the two stood as opposite reflections of themselves.
"Into every generation," Buffy/The First grinned, "a Slayer is born. One girl chosen to protect mankind from the forces of darkness. She alone will stand against the—"
The First stopped suddenly as she stared at Buffy with a strange expression. "Say – there's that word again," The First stated. "Alone. It's what you are. It's how you'll die. Alone."
For another second, Buffy's eyes fell to the floor, then came back up and found the First's green eyes once again as it concluded, "When are you gonna learn? You don't belong in this world. You didn't belong in theirs. Now you've got two choices and you know what they are. Both of them end up with you dead. All you have to decide… is how many you want to take with you. But personally, I think we both know the truth – you belong to your grave." The First glared at Buffy dangerously, "You're out of place here, Slayer."
Buffy shifted uneasily as the First teasingly asked, "So. Where's your catchy comeback?"
She was silent in thought until she finally admitted, "You're probably right."
"Huh," The First responded, tilting her head a smidge to the right as she stared at her. "You've done better."
The basement door opened wide as Spike peeked his head in. "Buffy?" The Slayer and her friends looked up the stairs at Spike, Buffy turning back to see that the First was gone. "What's wrong?" Spike asked, descending the stairs. "I heard voices."
Pippin stuttered in fear, "It-It was the First… It said…"
"The First?" Spike repeated, reaching the bottom of the stairs and putting a hand on Pippin's shoulder for comfort. "Buffy, are you all right?" he asked.
Pippin nervously asked, "But, but what did it mean when—?"
"They're only words," Aragorn affirmed with his eyes on the ground. He looked over at Sam's upset expression as he put a hand around the hobbit's shoulder. "Nothing more. We shall not be swayed by the taunting of a phantom. Especially one that is inherently wrong."
"That's right, tike," Spike said comfortingly. "Just smoke and mirrors."
"No," Buffy shook her head slowly, deep in contemplation. "It was… right. What it said was… I just never thought about it before…"
"What are you talking about?" Spike asked.
Buffy looked over to Spike, Aragorn, Frodo and the entire Fellowship, her green eyes wide with courage and belief. "We're gonna win."