Chapter 12

The Following Takes Place Between 11 am and 12 pm on the day of the Autumnal Equinox

Considering that it was late September, there was no hint of Fall in the air. It seemed like it was going to be a very nice day. Of course since Angel had only been out in the sun one other time in two hundred and fifty years, he was in no position to make judgments about the weather, but still it seemed beautiful. He scanned the area around the building for henchmen wishing, for what was probably the tenth time in the last five hours, that he could take a few seconds to revel in the beauty of the day. But, then, if he had had the time he wouldn't be here at all. Irony was coming pretty cheap today.

After another ten seconds of looking at the horizon he finally turned around to Giles. "It's no good," he said, exasperated. "I can make out people moving. I can tell where they're coming from, but I can't get a good count as to how many there are or where they're positioned."

Giles turned to Patrice and Xander, who were both looking at the same area with high powered binoculars. "Either of you having any luck?" he asked.

"Yeah," said Xander sarcastically "I think I can see the Hollywood sign from here. Oh, you meant can I tell where the enemy is? No, I'm afraid on that we're shit out of luck."

"We have no choice," said Wesley. "Someone has to get closer and tell us what we're up against."

"You don't just mean closer," Faith said, gesturing towards the buildings nearby. "You mean getting to higher ground. Double the risk."

"If we don't know what we're going into, they'll slaughter us before we get anywhere near Willow, Dawn and Spike." Angel practically gagged over the last name but no one seemed to notice as he continued, "We've got forty-five minutes, maybe less, before this thing happens. We have to do this now."

The eleven of them Angel, Faith, Patrice and Giles on one side; Wesley, Kennedy, Xander and Gunn on the other; Connor, Buffy and Robin in the middle all considered the situation. Finally, Faith stepped forward: "All right. I'll do it."

Xander was the first to speak. "Didn't you just say that this was a very bad idea?"

Faith nodded. "I did and it is. But if we're going to do it, it's gotta be done by someone fast who can take care of herself." Buffy seemed about to object. "And who the bad guys won't identify in five seconds."

Wesley thought for a few seconds. Finally he spoke. "Ten minutes max. You have to be back here by 11:15 at the absolute latest. As it is we're probably cutting it too close."

Faith took off.

Angel turned around. "We should split into smaller groups. We're too conspicuous here and we need to widen the net."

Buffy nodded. "We should probably have one Slayer in each group to be safe. "She turned to Xander. "I think I'd work best with Xander and Robin."

"In that case I want Giles and Gunn." said Kennedy.

Angel thought for a few seconds. "Wes, take Patrice and Connor. Faith and I should be able to hold our own."

Wes was about to assent when suddenly Connor spoke up: "Actually I'd rather fight with you."

Had there been more time Angel would have said absolutely not and given a laundry list of reasons why. But they didn't have time. "Fine. Wes can you manage with only Patrice?"

"I think so."

"All right, I'll stay here and wait for Faith." Angel turned from Wes to the others." The rest of you carefully and slowly move out. We'll keep in touch by keeping our cells on. This is the big one. We have to stop them now."

11:06:48/11:06:49/ 11:06:50

Willow had seen so many strange things in the last ten hours alone that she didn't think anything else could surprise her. So she hadn't been shocked when Ethan chanted for a few seconds and the previously pristine pavement suddenly changed to reveal a red pentagrama red that didn't look like paint. Or that, when he stepped on the very edge of the circle, it suddenly seemed like the air was full of electricity. What did surprise her was that the streets, while not crowded, had people still on them and none of them appeared to notice what was going on around them.

"All right. What have you done now?" she asked Harmony

"Hmm. You mean all the lonely people, where do they all belong?" Harmony seemed to be genuinely enjoying herself. "Well when we arrived Ethan cast a very nice cloaking spell. Only people who know magic will be able to see what's happening around the warehouse."

"Aha!" Finally Willow had spotted a hole in their planning. "Then doesn't that mean all of your minions who are out patrolling won't be able to see if something goes wrong?" she asked triumphantly.

"Ehhhh! Wrong again! The spell doesn't affect anyone with supernatural powers. And, as you can see," Harmony gestured at the vamps around them. "we've got that gap covered."

For a moment Willow was at a loss for words. Dawn, however, was not: "How long has this been in the works?" she asked exasperated. "I mean, you couldn't have just thrown this together over a weekend! Getting all of the artifacts, the thing at the Hollywood Bowl, here… How long have you people been planning this?"

"I already told Blondie and Sabrina here that we're not giving away any of our secrets," Harmony answered smugly.

Spike scowled. "For crying out loud Harm, she's not trying to find out what your goal is. We want to know stuff you've already done. Besides if I'm going to truly die, I'd at least like to know why."

"So the poet in you is still writing, William."

Unnerved, Spike looked at Ethan. "How do you know me so bloody well? We've never even met."

"Ah but the file on you, William my boy, is legendary."

"File? Wait a minute." A synapse in her head fired and a horrible idea had just occurred to Willow. It was frightening how logical it seemed. "You're not saying that you were a Watcher?"

"You're supposed to be the brains of that band of do-gooders and you're only now figuring this out?" Ethan shook his head. "I am deeply, deeply disappointed."

Willow barely heard him. "That's how you got a hold of the rope that I'm trapped with. That's how you found the artifacts for the rituals."

"You give the pinheads on the council too much credit," Ethan said smugly. "I'll admit the council did leave a few markers here and there, but I found most of the information myself." He glanced at Harmony and Thompson. "With a little help from the dark side, of course."

"Which one was more helpful, the soulless bloodsucker or Harmony?" Dawn asked sarcastically.

"I won't deny that being bankrolled by, lets call him a Mr. M, shall we, was a helpful," said Ethan, "but there were certain areas Harmony was very useful in."

"I really don't want to know the subtext there," said Willow, appalled by even the thought.

"So you recruited a gang of vampires, got the artifacts, got the magic spells." Dawn said. "How long did all that take?"

"Oh, not that long." said Ethan. "In fact I had enough spare time to set a fewhow shall I put itdeath charges in case you and your friends got too close."

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh I figured Ripper and the rest of your merry band would eventually catch on to my plan." Ethan began walking towards Dawn. "So when we were locating the artifacts, I left some toy surprises in case you found them." His grin had turned predatory. "Little traps laced with a nasty poison mixture I whipped up. Kills very slowly and very painfully."

"But… if someone else had found them" Willow started.

Ethan shook his head. "I know, a waste of good scopolamine. But what's the point of worshipping chaos if you can't cause some?"

"You sick fuck." If stares could killed, Willow would have hit Ethan at ten yards.

"Don't get all wound up," said Ethan. "As far as I know your friends were so incompetent they never found them. Which is a great shame because…" He looked at his watch. "It would be starting to kick in about now." He shook his head. "I would have liked to see Ripper dying in agony. But who knows?" He began walking away. "Maybe I'll still get a chance."

11:14:58/ 11:14:59/ 11:15:00/ 11:15:01

"You know I didn't hit me until now," Connor said suddenly, "but I'm cutting school right now."

Since he had been told that Connor was somehow involved, Angel had been contemplating all the things that his son might say to him. That particular phrase had never come to mind. "I'm sure your professors will understand if you can explain right," he said without taking his eyes from the horizon.

"Somehow I don't know if they'll consider helping my vampire father and his friends stop an army of demons from taking over the world as a reasonable excuse." Connor thought for a moment. "Unless you wrote a really good letter of explanation."

Angel had heard all that but his mind fixed on one phrase. "You know you just called me your father," he said without any outward sign of emotion.

"Well don't put too much stock in it. I'm not entirely comfortable calling you that." Connor spoke with as little emotion as Angel had. "I just don't know what else to call you right now."

As much as Angel didn't want to have this conversation, part of him desperately wanted to hear it. "How has your life been going?" His voice cracked a little.

"You tell me. According to Buffy, you're the one who arranged it so I remember my life the way that I do."

There was no accusation in Connor's tone. Still Angel felt inclined to reply: "Look, I know that what I did to you was selfish..."

"...but you were looking out for me. It's all right, Angel. The life I was living before seemed pretty crappy and I only got the Cliffs notes version from Buffy." Connor's voice grew a little lighter. "It must have been pretty lousy for everyone involved."

Angel thought. "It wasn't all bad. Well I could have lived without the three-month vacation in the Pacific but…" he trailed off as he saw something running towards them.

"What three month…?" Connor trailed off too as he saw what his father had seen.

"You know, Faith, when we say come back at 11:15, we generally expect you to be back at 11:15." Angel said as the dark-haired Slayer came into view.

"Well, excuse me, but checking the area for vampires and demons without being caught isn't as easy as it seems," she replied. "Especially when there are a shitload of vampires and demons."

Angel winced, though he had suspected as much. "What are we looking at?"

"We have four on each side of the perimeter of the warehouse. That's not the big problem." Faith pointed at the circle. "There are at least eight nasties guarding the pentagram, but as far as I can tell they're not using an energy field like at the Hollywood Bowl. "

"What about Willow and Dawn?"

Faith sighed. "Best I can tell, they're in the warehouse itself. Right now they've got a dozen uglies guarding them, not counting the Three Big Evil Stooges."

Angel did the math. "So they've got at least twenty eight vampires and demons standing between us and our friends."

There was a mischievous smile on Faith's face. "I know: a small army versus four Slayers, two watchers, two Scoobies, Angel junior and a partridge in a pear tree… Hardly seems fair."

"I appreciate your confidence but we can't just rush in like we did last time."

Faith thought for a second. "You told the others to split up, right? That's why they're not here."

"Yeah. What are you thinking?" Angel spoke cautiously. Not having been around for the last apocalypse he didn't know that Faith had improved her ability to strategize..

"Three groups, each with a Slayer." Faith was thinking better than he thought; she knew the game plan and she hadn't been there for the huddle.

"Yeah. Everybody's got their phones on, waiting for a plan."

"All right, I think we should have one group attack each side of the perimeter to serve as a diversion. While they're handling that, B, Xander and Robin should cut around the back of the warehouse and try and get the prisoners."

"What are we going to be doing?" Connor asked.

Faith looked directly ahead. "We're going straight up the middle."

11:21:27 / 11:21:28 / 11:21:29

"So you've done all this manipulating, all this hunting and gathering, all this dark magic, all this sacrificing…and you don't even know what the end result will be," Willow said, amazed.

"Shit !" said Spike. "Any villain worth his salt has a goal in mind. Even the First knew what its bloody endgame was! But you fools…"

Harmony seemed a little put off by their reaction but not upset. "It doesn't matter. Once we perform the eutrasia we'll be working with a power no one can stand against. The world will be ours to command no matter what condition it's in."

Spike looked at Ethan who shrugged. "Super wizard or not I still worship Chaos. If that's the end result I don't need to know the details."

Willow tried to stare at the man in the suit. "And I suppose that this apocalypse somehow plays into the hands of Wolfram & Hart," she muttered sarcastically.

Thompson's expression didn't change. "There's a bigger picture to everything. As long as we're at the table, we don't care what's on it." He looked at his watch. "However, time has become short. Miss Kendall I believe you have an appointment to keep."

"He's right, we've got to get started," said Ethan. "Harmony."

"Right." She walked towards the dozen minions guarding Willow, Dawn and Spike. "All right, people, we know where we're going."

As some of the vampires began moving, Dawn looked around in astonishment. "So you've arranged for this big raising and you're not even going to stay around for it? What the hell is that about?"

Harmony gave a superior smile. "Oh we're going to be exactly where we need to be."

Willow didn't like the look on her face. "You're talking in riddles, Harmony."

"Yeah. Shame you're never going to solve this one." She gestured towards the minions who weren't gathering behind her. "Time to put the pieces on the board," she said leaving.

The vampires moved in on Willow. Suddenly she felt very afraid. Not because that she was scared of dying, but because she didn't know what would happen after that.

The vampires loosened the ropes enough so that they could move the three of them. "Double time, fellows, we're on the clock," Ethan said. The vamps grumbled but picked up the pace.

In less than a minute, the three of them were at the edge of the pentagram.

"All right." Ethan stood a few feet away with a hand on his chin. "We start by putting our somilere over there."

The vampires moved Spike inside the pentagram. As he crossed the border Willow felt a sudden crackle in the air.

Spike felt it too. "What the hell was that?"

"Ah the tingle. That means it's working, children." Ethan rubbed his hands together gleefully. "All right, put Miss Rosenberg on Spike's left."

As they began moving Willow, Justine ran up to Ethan. She seemed wound up. "Can we move this thing along?"

"You need to see your dentist?" asked Ethan bemused.

"Two of the guards on the perimeter have disappeared. I think we're about to get hit."

Ethan's expression didn't change. "Then you'd better make sure that they don't get here. We're not getting stopped on the one yard line." As Justine left, he turned back to the vamps. "Step lively, boys."

Hurry Buffy ,Willow thought as they pushed her on to the pentagram.

11:27:42 / 11:27:43 / 11:27:44 / 11:27:45

Faith hoped that, by having Kennedy's and Patrice's groups attack the perimeter, the bad guys would have to divert their forces on either side, making attacking up the center easier. Unfortunately, for what seemed to be the thirtieth time today, the villains weren't that dumb. They realized an attack on their borders almost definitely meant they were going to be attacked through the middle and sent the majority of their hordes right at Connor, Angel and herself.

Of course technically the makeshift army that Ethan and Harmony had assembled was surrounded by the good guysif eight people could surround twenty others. The numbers did not spell success, even if three of the white hats were Slayers. Would that help them out in the end?

Faith hoped so.

And then there was no time to think about it because the first wave was on them.

Faith looked over her first opponent. This vampire was unusually tallat least six foot six.

"The Clippers could use a guy like you for their center." Faith joshed.

The vamp didn't reply, just attacked. That was a bad sign. A rule of thumb with monsters was the less they talked the more concentrated they were on the battle at hand. This one was no exception. What was more, despite the vamp's size, it was very agile. He dodged her punches and kicks like he was Holyfield.

Faith did her best but was slowly being pushed into a wall. She decided to try something that she didn't think had been done by anyone, except maybe in "The Matrix: Reloaded," before running out of room.

She turned and ran to the wall and then jumped on it. The springboard-like effect propelled her into the tall vamps chest, knocking it backwards. The vampire still reacted quickly, but in not quick enough to save itself. She had her stake raised and gravity helped push it through the vampire's chest.It was dust before she hit the ground.

Faith had no time to savor the victory. Another demon was upon her almost instantly. It was big and green and had something oozing out of its poresFaith prayed it was sweat. Hoping that it wasn't poisonous, she began to strike the demon repeatedly in the stomach. She soon stopped because it caused more slime to flow. This demon wasn't as hard to fight as the vampire, but the slime was making it hard to land a punch.

Suddenly the demon lunged forward and some of the goo landed on her face. She wiped it away in a second, long enough for the demon to attack herexcept that before it landed a punch, it fell forward from the force of a powerful blow.

Faith took advantage of this to pull out a knife and stab the demon in the chest. It fell to the ground but Faith stabbed it a couple of more timesshe wasn't falling for that horror film trick.

She looked up to thank her rescuer, only to find that he was fighting another vamp.

"Connor!" she yelled, throwing him an extra stake. He managed to catch it and bury it in the vamp's chestbut not deep enough.

"Lower! Lower!" Connor got it and pushed down. The vampire exploded. "Not bad," she said as the dust cleared.

"Yeah, the way I handled that thing you'd think I knew what I was doing," Connor said as he walked towards her.

A new voice spoke up: "Well some stuff you never forget. No matter what happens to your memory."

On Faith's left was Justine, a big demon on either side of her. Despite her companions, she still looked like the most dangerous of the group.

"Hello Connor. Shame we have to meet like this." She turned to the demons. "Take them out."

11:33:47 /11:33:48 / 11:33:49

Even after the majority of the demons had run towards the center, it was no picnic for those who were left. Both of the other teams had managed to take out two guards apiece, but that still left three on either side. Normally three vampires would have been no problem for a Slayer, even relatively new ones like Patrice and Kennedy. But something strangeeven by their standardswas happening. Every time the vamps ran by certain parts of the street, they would flicker in and out. Giles suspected that there was some kind of invisibility spell being used on either the vampires or the area. He was trying to chant a spell that would break all barriers between them and the warehouse.

It wasn't easy. For one thing, the magic that Ethan was using was more powerful than his. Whether it was the spell book he was fused with, or his tapping into Willow's power, the dark magic was strong. For another, some of the spells Giles was using needed to be spoken very precisely. And it's very hard to talk when you're being set upon by vampires. Especially ones that kept disappearing and reappearing.

"Kennedy your left!" Gunn shouted as a vamp suddenly appeared. Kennedy engaged it but when she knocked it backwards it disappeared again. "Damn, they've already got us outnumbered. Do they have to do this David Copperfield shit?" Gunn demanded as he tried to simultaneously guard Giles and spot vamps.

"De noster con ri all Selwyn da" Giles was interrupted by the flight of an arrow. He managed to dodge it but the vampire who fired it was nearly upon him. He was about to defend himself when Gunn started battling the vamp.

"Persistent buggers," he muttered as he looked to his extreme left. In the distance he could still make out Patrice trying to fight two vampires who seemed to be trying to fight and flicker out in unison.

Get cracking Rupert, he thought as he began chanting again. They can't do this forever.

The demon she was fighting was muscular and fast, so Faith needed to put in a little extra. But even as she brought it down, part of Faith's mind wasn't on the demon. It was on the bitch she was going to have to deal with afterwards.

Time to finish this, she thought as the demon fell to the ground. "Justine!" she yelled.

The redhead was standing to her right, looking at her extreme left not at Faith. She seemed very calm considering that her last henchman had just fallen." He always did fight well" she said softly.

"Come on, bitch, it's time for the final round!"

Now Justine was smiling. "You stupid tramp. This was never about you."

Then Faith turned and saw what Justine was looking at. And understood.

"It doesn't have to be this way." Faith hadn't even noticed Angel approach.

"You know it does." She paused. "Angelus."

11:39:14 / 11:39:15 / 11:39:16 / 11:39:17

Buffy had been a little surprised that Faith had been the one to come up with a strategy for stopping the eutrasia and she had been even more surprised when the first part of it seemed to be workingthe guards on the perimeter hadn't stopped them when they had snuck around the warehouse. But that was nothing compared to her astonishment when they had reached the rear of Ethan and Harmony's defenses and found a mere three vampires guarding it. They had been difficult to kill but it still only took them five minutes to turn the vampires into food for a Dustbuster.

"I'm beginning to wonder whether we've been overestimating Harmony's planning capabilities," said Buffy as they entered the warehouse. "I expected more of a fight."

"Considering what we've already…dealt with… I think she ranks higher…than…you gave her credit…for." Robin had had the most difficulty and was breathing hard.

Xander asked: "Not to get off track, but where is Harmony?"

It was a good question. There had been no sign of her guarding the perimeter and no sign of her in the front. Buffy had assumed she was guarding the prisoners but there was no sign of her there either. Even more troubling, there was no sign of Willow, Spike or Dawn.

"Why don't I think that it's a good sign nobody's here?" continued Xander.

"She may not be here but they still are," said Robin. "Look."

Buffy looked towards the front of the warehouse. There was the edge of the pentagram. Standing on the curve of the circle was someone who had to be Ethan Rayne. There were also several figures who didn't look like they were Avon ladies.

But all of that was background to what Buffy's eyes were drawn too. There in the center of the pentagram were three of the people that she cared about the mostWillow, Dawn and Spike.

In her head Buffy knew that the reason they were in danger had to do with forces she couldn't control. But at some instinctual level she felt that her friends (she wouldn't allow herself to think of them as anything else) somehow wouldn't be in this danger if it wasn't for her being the Slayer. The pain and anguish that she had been feeling over the past seven years seemed to have a trickle-down effect on everybody she cared about. They had a lot of good times, but they were always mixed with pain.

All of which went through Buffy's mind in seconds. In the meantime she had been closing the distance to the pentagram. However she had learned for her earlier mistake and stopped a good ten feet away from its edge. "Ethan Rayne!" she yelled.

The man she had considered a mere nuisance in Sunnydale looked at her. "So you have come," he said. "It occurs to me now that I never really said a proper hello so—"

He moved faster than he ever had before. She barely managed to dodge before a blast of blue energy shot past her.

"You're getting old, Slayer. Five years ago you would never have let me get that close." As he spoke he stepped backwardsinside the pentagram.

"I may be older but I'm also smarter, and you're still a cheap hack," she spat at him. "You just have better CGI now."

He raised an eyebrow. "It's more than smoke and mirrors and you know it," he smiled. "But as much as I'd like to finish you off myself, I've got more important things to do."

By now Xander and Robin had caught up with her. "Why do you think we're here?"

"Well I expected as much which is why I'd like you to meet some more of the fine upstanding citizens that I've been associating with. Gentlemen?"

Buffy had almost forgotten the vampires that she had seen earlier. They didn't look like they would be much troublebut they would be enough to slow her down.

"You'll forgive me for not fighting with you personally but," he produced a knife, "as that great man said 'It's showtime'.

And with that he walked to Willow, pulled out a very large knife and pressed it against her forehead hard enough to draw blood.

11:44:09/ 11:44:10 /11:44:11

"Justine, you know this doesn't have to happen." Angel said as she lunged at him.

"Are you kidding? I'm a Slayer. You're a vampire. Isn't that the natural order of things?" Justine wasn't waiting for an answer, she dodged his swing and came at him again.

Faith wouldn't have been wild about Justine fighting Angel if she had still been normal. It didn't help that the woman with a white-hot hate for Angel was now empowered with the ability to kill him. But when Faith and Connor had approached her Angel had called them off.

"This has always been about me. One way or another, we settle this," he had said.

So Faith, much against her will, had let Angel take the fight to Justine. She did not, however, intend to just let the opportunity go.

"So you never gave me a straight answer, Justine," she yelled. "Why are you doing this? I mean, in case you missed it, a Slayer's job is the exact opposite of what you're doing now."

Justine really did have a Slayer's instinct. She took it in without breaking stride. "I've learned two things in my life that are true." she said. "One, that caring about anybody only leads to pain." As if to punctuate this, she hit Angel with two rabbit punches. "And two, that this world is built on nothing but false missions." She kicked Angel in the chest. "This world has nothing to offer me."

"But the next one will?" Angel was still only fighting defensively. "Is that what you think?"

Justine laughed. It wasn't a pleasant sound. "You know, for someone who's lived two hundred years, you" she kicked his left leg out from under him, "really are" she kicked his other leg out from under him, "thick!"

Angel got back to his feet. "Then explain it to me."

"I don't care if this ritual ends up bringing angels, devils, or the end of the whole shebang." She threw two more punches, both of which Angel dodged. "I'm sick and tired of all the misery and pain, all that other crap that we call living."

"So the rest of the world has to pay for your feelings?" Even Angel seemed surprised.

Justine advanced on Angel, "The world hasn't done shit for me." She scowled but didn't stop moving. "Why should I do shit for it?"

The depth of Justine's madness finally sunk in. "I'm sorry for you," Angel said truthfully.

Justine just smiled, "Don't be. Regardless of what happens to the world in the next fifteen minutes…" She delivered a one-two combination that knocked Angel down, "You're not going to see what it's like."

What happened next took place so quickly that Faith was barely able to see it. One second Justine was standing over Angel with a stake in her hand, the next instant she was whirling around with a human-shaped blur. By the time Faith realized that the blur was Connor, the two of them had rolled nearly five feet away from Angel.

"No!" Angel shouted as he ran to his son. Faith managed to close the distance in three seconds.

To see Justine slowly stand upand spit out a mouthful of blood.

Before Faith had seen the hole in Justine's chest, the red-haired girl fell to her knees.

Angel had run over to Connor to check on him, so Faith was the only one to hear her last words.

"H-he's a funny fellow, G-God." she said, and then she fell silent forever.

11:51:04/ 11:51:05 / 11:54:06/ 11:54:07

Four vampires and two nasty looking demons had been guarding Ethan and the pentagram. Buffy had hoped that they would split up in order to leave her with a chance of stopping the second raising. Unfortunately only one vampire each had gone to fight Robin and Xander and though both were strong fighters, the vampires were as difficult as the other help that Ethan and Harmony had. In other words, they had their hands full.

Which meant that Buffy was essentially cornered. She had managed to dust one of the vamps but the other one and the two demons (she was pretty sure they were Polgara demons, which had caused her some trouble in the past) were basically keeping her away from the pentagram and Ethan.

As she dodged the blades of the Polgara, she circled around and got a look inside the circle. What she saw got her attention.

Ethan Rayne was standing and chanting in its center. He had surrounded Dawn, Willow and Spike with a thin circle of blood. There were small holes on their foreheadsnot deep enough to be fatal unless Ethan decided to do more damage. On his left hand was a metal gloveprobably the same one that she thought she had seen him use during the first raising.

Just like the first raising, this one caused Willow's hair to turn black, and a blue field surrounded her. A red field also surrounding Spike and there was a yellow field surrounding Dawn. There was no light being directed anywhere else but Buffy figured it was just a matter of time.

Remembering what had happened last time, she picked up a small pebble while dodging the demons and threw it at the pentagram. Like before, it hit the edge and fell back.

"Giles! The force field!" she yelled before she was drawn back into the attack.

"Angel! We gotta move!" Faith yelled.

Angel wanted to comfort his son who was now looking at the body of Justine. Unfortunately he had no time to assuage Connor's guilt. Vampires were coming at them and something very bad was happening in the pentagram. Mourning would have to come laterif at all.

"Faith, take the vamps! Connor, we need to move now!" For a moment Angel didn't think his son would get up. He did, though. He took a deep breath and looked up.

"What the hell is going on?" he said in a daze.

Angel looked straight ahead. It looked like Willow, Spike and Dawn were glowing neon lights. And it also looked like Ethan was directing the glow upwards.

"Come on Connor."

"Lights out, asshole!" said Gunn as he managed to stake the last of the vampires he had been fighting. It was a good thing too, because every hair on his body seemed to be standing on edge from the electricity in the air. He didn't think that they had much time left.

"De nocta selena de marcti de intervale!" Giles shouted.

There was a huge flash of light and for a moment Gunn thought they were too late.

Until he put his hand on the edge of the pentagram and found no resistance. The force field was down.

Ethan had more balls than Buffy had given him credit for. Though there was nothing standing between him and Buffy's forces, and three threatening people were charging him, he continued to chant and direct the energy that he was drawing from…wherever. "Lakeol-demonstrade-norvel-thermosa-galvina"

Buffy got to him first and knocked him down. Even that didn't shut him up until she pulled the gauntlet off his hand and kicked it away.

"Game over, Ethan. You lose!" she said as she punched him in the face.

Even though he was bleeding from the forehead and she had knocked one of his teeth out, he was still smiling. "De morita noblinga, darling."

Buffy looked over at the center of the pentagram. The magic hung around the three of them like some kind of aura but it was no longer glowing. "Give it up. It's over!" she screamed.

"Not quite!" With all his strength he kicked her legs out from under her. She fell back. He got up, quickly said some magical jargon and there was another, smaller flash. When Buffy looked up again, he was gone.

Faith, Gunn and Angel had reached the center of the pentagram. "You stopped him in time, didn't you?" Faith asked.

Buffy looked around. "Well the world's still standing and I don't think anything else has…come back. We must have stopped it."

"There isn't any kind of loophole that these prophecies could sneak in, is there?" said Gunn.

"Can't be." Buffy looked around. "Right?"

The monitor over a bed which had not registered movement for months began to beep. Slowly at first. Then faster.

Fast enough for a nurse to come running in. She was surprised but began working on the patient.

Until a hand which hadn't moved in a very long time reached out, grabbed the nurse by the lapels and threw her against the wall.

Hard.

Then the patient pulled back the covers and began disconnecting the tubes and wires.

Harmony hadn't been sure about the last partmainly because the warehouse was so far away that she thought the magic wouldn't carry to the hospital room.

Then the door opened and she smiled in relief. "It worked. We brought you back." After a pause, she said: "Um, sorry but I have to ask… is it really you?"

She flinched as the woman who'd been comatose until minutes ago knocked a hole in the plaster.

"It's me," said the woman who had been Cordelia Chase. "Just me."

11:59:57/ 11:59:58 /11:59:59/ 12:00:00