A/N This is a filler episode before Xander's last battle with Ahriman. Also the song in this chapter is from the band Maroon 5. For those of you who haven't gotten their cd, you should. It's awesome.

Also thanks for all the great reviews. This'll be my second most highest rated fanfic ever. And to answer a question, once I get done with this fic I'm going to start back writing on Return of the Hunter and problems with the soul and/or The Death Dealers.

Chapter 20

Goodbyes and Farewell's

Harris Manor

Early morning

"So you mean to tell me that we only have a day to get prepared?" Xander asked as Trish handed him an icepack for his bruised jaw. They had assembled the entire Scooby Gang and needless to say nobody was going to school today.

"That's what he said." Buffy said as she sat next to him. "So at twelve midnight, our last battle begins."

"What do we do on our last day on earth?" Oz asked reflectively.

"I don't know about you guys but I'm going shopping." Cordelia said as she excepted a drink from Misses Harris.

"Shopping?" Willow asked increduosly.

"Hey, if I'm going to spend all eternity calling Satan master then I want to look nice." she replied with a shrug.

After a quick clean of his glasses after Cordelia's outburst, Giles then spoke up. "What I don't understand is how Mundus was defeated."

"Xander's fodder showed up." Kendra spoke up.

"My dad?" Xander asked. 'Then I wasn't hallucinating.'

"Yes. He took control over your body and destroyed Mundus."

"I see." Giles said as he put his glasses back on. "Since Mundus is now dead, why is Ahriman so sure that he'll still win?"

"Because he's been playing us the whole time." Angel said angrily. "He wanted us to kill Mundus from the beginning. That's why he staged all of those attacks with those demons. It was so we could be strong enough to kill Mundus later on."

"But that's what I don't understand." Willow spoke up again. "If Mundus was more powerful then Ahriman, then why does he think he can beat us?"

"Because he has someting up his sleeve." Kendra figured. "It has to be someting powerful, for him to be dat cocky."

"I agree." Giles replied, amazed at Kendra's deductive skills. "Now we must come up with a course of action. If we are to defeat Ahriman and Lilith then we must find their weaknesses."

"What about, Faith?" Jonathan asked. He never met her, but the way Xander talked about her earlier she would make a valuable ally. "She would seem to be the weakest link."

"That's true Mr. Levinson." Giles said as he looked over at him. "How do you propose that we get to her?"

"Well...ummm Xander said that she was a vampire right?" he asked only for Giles to nod his head. "Well why don't we just put a soul curse on her like Angel's? Maybe then she could be on our side."

"That's just the problem." Miss Calendar spoke up. "Even if we could redo the soul curse that was put on Angel, it would still be impossible to do that with Faith."

"Why?" Xander asked.

"Because, before Ahriman got his hands on the book of Lost Souls, we briefly looked inside of it." Giles started. "And the only passage me and Miss Calendar found in the tome that would even remotely concern the First, stated that they needed a soul of a slayer for her to become corporeal."

"But that's not explaining why she can't get her soul back." Xander interrupted.

"The reason she can't recieve her soul is because we think it was destroyed in the ether." Miss Calendar said grimly. "When the First took Faith's soul it absorbed it's life giving energy and it's power faded."

"Damn!" Xander said angrily as he threw the ice pack away from himself. "So what are we supposed to do now?"

"We do what was suggested earlier." Giles said as he let out a heavy sigh. "Live today as if it were our last day on earth. Because it might be."

"I called my dad today." Trish spoke up after a long pause by the group. "He's gonna come to town and bring some vital stars with him. If we're gonna go out, at least we'll be at full strength."

"Good...that's good." Giles said as he stood to his feet. "I'm going to leave and get prepared for our battle tonight. I would suggest you all do the same." he said as he and the others started to leave.

As Kendra saw Xander talking to Trish, she pulled her mom over to the side so she could tell her something.

"What is it, Kendra?" Jessica asked as she gave her a concerned look.

"It's about someting dat happened last night." Kendra said as she started to fidget. "When Xander's fodder took over his body, he telepathically spoke to me before he left. He told me to make sure dat Xander didn't make de same mistake dat he made. Do you know what he meant?"

"Yeah, I do." Jessica said lowly with a sad smile. "Xander's father went to hell to stop Mundus and he never returned. I'm guessing his warning was for you to make sure that, that never happened. If it was, promise me that you'll stop him Kendra. I already lost his father and I don't want to lose him too."

"I promise." Kendra said as the two hugged.

"What are my girls talking about?" Xander asked as he and Trish walked up behind them.

"Nothing." Jessica replied as she wiped a tear from her eye and pushed away from Kendra. Xander just looked at the two suspiciously.

"Alright. Kendra, me and Trish have a few things planned today do you want to join us."

"Yeah." Kendra replied as they started to walk towards the door. "What do you have planned?"

"We're gonna visit a little girl."

Ahriman's Mansion

"Why don't we just activate Acathla now?" Lilith asked as she paced behind her brother.

"Because, neither of us have the power to control him yet." Ahriman replied as he turned to look at her. "Besides, we need the blood of a hero to activate him."

"How are you planning on getting that done?" Lilith asked.

"Oh, I have my ways." he replied with a devilish smile. "Now where's Faith?"

"She's in another dimension practicing against some of your demons." Lilith said as she sat down on their couch. "I think she's more upset about not being able to stake Spike herself, then anything."

"Hmmm...do you think she'll be ready for tonight?" Ahriman asked as he sat down beside her.

"Oh yeah. When I went down to watch her practice, I saw her rip the head off of a Savage Golem. Anybody that can do that, must be ready for a fight."

"Good. Now I have a little business to attend to, I'll see you later on tonight." Ahriman said as he stood to his feet and walked out of the room.

Later that day

Sunnydale

1532 Cedar Drive

Letting out a deep breath Xander knocked on a door to a house and waited. After a few seconds a black girl in her teens answered the door.

"Can, I help you?" she asked as she looked at him, Trish, and Kendra in turn.

"Umm..yeah, I'm looking for Angela Thomas." Xander said as the girl gave him a look. "Does she live here?"

"Yeah. Who wants to know?" the girl asked.

"Angel!" a voice yelled from behind the girl. Before Xander could even see who it was, a mocha colored whirlwind engulfed him in a huge bearhug.

"Hey, squirt." Xander said as he squeezed her back and put her back down on the ground.

"Angela, get away from him." the girl shouted. She had told her never to go to strangers.

"Shut up, Talia!" Angela growled back at her older sister. "He's my Angel. He...he's the one that saved my life."

"S...so you're the one that saved her from her disesase?" Talia asked, as Xander nodded his head. "Well...well then come in."

"So what are you doing here?" Angela asked as the group finally settled down into the living room. "Did you bring me a present?"

"No..no present." Xander said as he squeezed her hand. "I just came to visit you."

"You just came to visit?" Angela asked skeptically. There was something about his look, that made her realize that he was lying to her. "What's really going on?" she asked as she gave him a look similar to Willow's "resolve face."

"Hey you're pretty perceptive for a little kid." Xander said as he gave her a lopsided grin, that turned into a sad smile. "There's some bad things coming Angela. Some things that I don't know if me and my friends can stop."

"But you will stop it." Angela assured him as she squeezed his hand back. "When I was sick I overheard the doctor saying that I wasn't going to live much longer. He said that it was impossible for me to live another few days. But you came along and made the impossible happen. You gave me another chance at life."

"And here we were doubting ourselves." Trish spoke up for the first time.

"Oh." Xander said remembering that he had brought company with him. "Angela you remember Trish don't you?" As Trish went to give the girl a handshake, Angela just pulled her into a hug, that Trish happily returned. "And this is my little sister, Kendra."

"Wow, you're pretty." Angela said making Kendra blush.

With that said the four of them talked for almost an hour.

"That was a good visit." Trish said as she closed the door to Angela's home and walked out towards her car.

"Yeah." Xander agreed.

"Oh, I have to get to the Bronze." Trish said as she started up her car. "I'll just drop you guys off at home."

"No, that's alright." Xander told her. "Me and Ken are just gonna walk home. I have some stuff to talk to her about."

"Okay, well I'll see you two later on tonight."

"Trish wait." Xander called out as he moved up to the car and leaned into it. "You know I love you, right?"

"I've always known that." Trish said as she gave him a kiss on the lips. "But it's nice to hear you say it from time to time." she said with a seductive smile. "I'll see you later." and with that she drove off.

"So what do you want to talk to me about?" Kendra asked as she fell into step with Xander.

"I wanted to talk to you about what you said you wanted to do in the future." Xander said as he looked at her. "When this is all over with Ahriman and after we finish school, I was thinking that maybe we could open up a detective agency together."

Giles Apartment

Jenny rolled off the top of Giles sweating perfusely and breathing heavily. Finally after almost a year of playing games and insults, the two had made love.

"That was..."

"Spectacular." Giles finished for her as he too panted heavily. "For the life of me, I can't figure out what took us so long to be together."

"Leave it up to you, to wait until the final apocolypse." Jenny replied with a smile as she snuggled closer to Giles.

"So you do believe that this is the end?" he asked as he put his glasses back on and looped an arm around her.

"Well you have to admit, it doesn't look good." she said thinking about all the lies she had been keeping from him. "Rupert, I need to tell you some things about my past..."

"Tell me tomorrow." Giles said seriously as he looked down at her. "Because we will survive this."

Outside of the Bronze

Oz's van

"So here we are." Oz said as he looked out the window to look at the club.

"Why are you being all secretive about what's going on tonight?" Willow asked.

"Trish said she has a present for all of us." Oz replied with a shrug. "I'm just helping."

"I've..." Willow started nervously. She had been practicing this speech all morning. "I've been thinking about our future."

"Me too." Oz cut in. "I was thinking that after the apocolypse that maybe you would want to go to the movies?"

"Can you at least pretend like you care?" Willow asked. "I'm trying to have a serious conversation with you and you're being sarcastic."

"I'm not being sarcastic." Oz replied. "Xander told me that there's a movie with a girl that looks just like Buffy. I thought it would be cool if we could go and see it after the apocolypse."

"So you really don't think that we're gonna die tonight?" Willow asked nervously.

"No. If I did then I wouldn't have bought some advance tickets for the movie." he said as he showed her the tickets. "Now why do I think that us dying isn't the only thing bothering you."

"It's just that, I've been thinking that there's alot I wanted to do with my life." she replied as she blew out a breath. "But if we die tonight then..."

"What about this." Oz stopped her before she could start babbling. "Just pick, one thing you always wanted to do and I'll help you do it."

"Okay." Willow said after only a second of thinking. Leaning over in her seat, she gave Oz a lingering kiss.

"Not that, I'm complaining." Oz said with a pant, after the kiss. "But what was that for?"

"You...you said that I should do something that I always wanted to do." she replied as she began to nervously twirl her hair with her fingers. "Well, I've never made love before."

"Then this'll be a first for both of us." Oz replied equally nervous. "Willow are you sure you want to do this? We don't even have protection."

Willow's only reply was to loosen up her shirt and to pull Oz into another kiss.

The Bronze

10:00

"Attention everyone, can I have your attention, please." the manager of the bronze said to the crowd. " Our band tonight, has a singer with them and this is her first time up on stage. So please give it up for Dingoes Ate My Baby, featuring Trish." he said as he stepped off of the stage.

"I hope Trish can sing." Cordelia said as she sat down next to a beaming Willow and Xander.

"Trust me she can." Thomas Stone said as he walked up to their table and sat a black bag on it. "Sorry I'm late." he said as he sat down next to Buffy. "You seem sad, Buffy. Are you okay?"

"Not really." Buffy said sadly. She had wanted to spend the perfect day with Angel and make love to him, but he had refused her. Saying things like he was to old for her and that she deserved better then what he could give her. As she continued to talk to him, she found out that her mom, pulled him to the side and ripped into him about their relationship and the future.

"Well cheer up sweetie." he said as he squeezed her hand gently. "I hate to sound insensitive to your feelings but we need you tonight. You have to get your thoughts off of your feelings and into this fight. That's the only way you're gonna stay alive."

Before Buffy could reply, Trish walked over to the microphone.

"I wrote this song a couple of weeks ago. It's about a boy, relationships, and it's just something that'll make you generally shiver." she said the last word in a sexy voice, as Oz and his band started to find their tune. Once they got the right chords, Trish leaned into the microphone and started singing.

(I removed the lyric part, because has strict rules against it and they would end updeleting my account.)

"That was great." Xander said at the end of the show. "You never told me you could sing."

"I'm glad you liked it." Trish said as she gave him a kiss. "And there's alot you don't know about me."

"If you two are done." Thomas said with a quick roll of his eyes. "We have a war to fight."

Sunnydale Streets

Downtown

"You know I never thought to ask." Xander said as he and the Scooby Gang, even Jonathan and Amy (after the love spell fiasco, she had joined the team and Cordelia of all people trained her in fighting and Giles trained her with swords.), marched down the dark streets of Sunnydale. Most of them carried the weapons that they had gotten from the pocket dimension, except Buffy of whom was given a sword that had came for Kendra. It was something Mr. Zabuto had in his possessions, that the council thought would be of some use. "But how are we going to find Ahriman anyway?"

"Through me." Thomas said as he walked ahead of him. "Ahriman, somehow managed to cloak his power so he wouldn't be detected, but now he wants us to find him. And I have the power to track him."

"That's extraordinary." Giles exclaimed. "So where is he and Lilith now?"

"I think I know." Cordelia said as she suddenly stopped walking, her eyes going wide. As the group looked up to see what Cordelia was talking about, they saw Faith, Lilith, and Ahriman standing in the middle of the street.

But that wasn't what had them on edge. It was because an army of Agonofinis- Puia's- Msira's- all kinds of mancers- Savage Golems, Goatlings- Blood Goats- Terreofinises- Marionettes -Bloody Mari -Sin Scissors -Shadows -Beelzebubs -Death Scissors -Sin Scythes -Fetishes -Frosts -Plasmas -Blades -Kyklops -Death Scythes and Sargassos were standing behind them.

"Well son of Sparda..." Ahriman said as his demon army clammered behind him and started to advance. "I think it's time that we end this little game."

TBC...

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