Chapter 21
Dancing with the Devil
The group as a whole shuddered a little at the vast number of demons that surrounded them. And on top of it all, the heavens opened up and it started to rain.
"Tokar so nice to see you again." Ahriman said with a smile in the warriors direction.
"Always a pleasure." Thomas replied with a sneer on his lips. "So what's up with the welcoming committee?"
"Oh, these demons aren't for you." he said with a shake of his head, as thunder started to rumble in the distance. "These are to destroy the city."
"Boss, come on with this bullshit." Faith spoke up as she glared at Buffy. "I'm ready to kill something."
"Women." Ahriman said with a shrug as the rain started to soak him. "They're forever impatient." he said as he extended his hand and a black mist formed. Before they could move, the mist wrapped around Trish, Xander, Buffy, and Kendra making them dissappear into nothingness. "Have fun." he said as he smiled at the rest of the Scooby Gang and dissappeared in a shroud of darkness with Lilith and Faith.
"Buffy!" Angel shouted as he ran forward, only to find her gone.
"Damnit!" Thomas growled. If anything happened to his daughter...
"Don't worry about them now." Giles said as he put a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "We have more pressing business to attend too." he said as the demon army attacked. With a snarl Tokar lifted up his sword as the first wave of demons advanced on them.
Kendra landed in a heap at the bottom of what looked like a cave. With a wince she stood to her feet and came face to face with Lilith.
"So I get the pleasure of killing the Jamaican Slayer?" Lilith asked with a huge smile. "How sweet is that?"
"You know you picked de wrong form to fight in." Kendra said as she took the Slayer's Scythe off her back as the two circled each other.
"Oh and why is that?" Lilith asked.
"Because I could wipe de floor with Buffy." Kendra said with a shrug. "And plus now you have dat ting on your face dat Buffy needs to work on."
"Thing?" Lilith asked. "What thing?"
"You know." Kendra said as she pointed at an area around her nose. "Dat ting."
With a snarl Lilith threw a vicious punch at Kendra, but it was deflected by a red barrier. 'I guess de amulet has a little power left in it.' Kendra thought to herself.
"So the bitch has some new tricks?" Lilith asked as she rubbed her fist.
Kendra let out a growl and charged her. Seeing the attack coming, Lilith deftly side-stepped, using her own momentum to flip her onto the ground and for her to lose her scythe. Seeing the First coming Kendra kicked her backward but she quickly recovered and lifted her up, hurling her through a stone column. Nearly knocking her unconscious. Seeing a gleam on something on the ground Lilith scooped up Kendra's scythe and twirled it in her hands as she stood over her.
"You ready to die?" Lilith asked as she lifted the scythe over her head.
"Not yet." Kendra said as she got to her knees and hit the First in the stomach, forcibly flinging her up against a wall. Picking up her weapon, Kendra stood to her feet and brought her palm together in a come on gesture.
Enraged Lilith rushed Kendra and she swung the scythe around in a lightning-quick series of blows. Lilith dodged them all and wrenched the weapon from her grasp, kicking her backward into the wall. She then aimed the scythe perfectly at her head and thrust forward. Seconds from death, Kendra dodged at the last instant and the blade slammed into the rock, embedded by it's wooden end. Kendra then hurled Lilith away and ripped the scythe from the wall, charging at the First full speed.
Lilith swung at her, one punch after another, but Kendra ducked and weaved, then whipped the scythes blade around sideways in a deadly arc, catching Lilith full in the chest. She stopped, stunned, as Kendra ripped the blade back out, opening her up from one side of her body to the other.
"See ya, later." Kendra quipped.
With super-human strength she sliced Lilith in half with her scythe. Finally ending The First for good. With a sigh and a smile Kendra sank to the floor exhausted. Then she thought about something.
"Xander!" she said aloud as she stood to her feet and ran out of the cave entrance. If she had stayed only a few more seconds she would have seen a bright ball of light come out of The First's mangled body. As it danced around in the air for a few seconds, it dissappeared into the darkness.
Meanwhile
Another dimension
Park area
"Wow. That was pathetic." Faith said as she blocked Buffy's side-kick and punched her in the face, knocking her to the ground.
Wiping the blood off of her mouth Buffy grabbed her stake and jumped up. She landed a punch, then Faith punched her back and she hit the ground again. With a smile Faith went to jump on her, but Buffy lifted up her leg and kicked her back. Faith staggered, but jumped forward again, right into Buffy's stake.
"Oh, do it again. It tickels." Faith said as she ran her hand down her stomach. "You know, in a good way."
Buffy then withdrew the stake and watched in amazement as Faith's chest wound healed. With a chuckle Faith backhanded her making her hit the ground again.
"You really are a stupid bitch ain'tcha?" Faith asked as she circled the down Slayer. "I told you I'm an Ascended Slayer. A god." she said as she vamped out then went in for the kill.
Getting to her knees Buffy blocked a punch from her and using the momentum Faith redirected her into a pole, then kicked her in the stomach. Weakly getting up Buffy tried to kick her but she blocked her and threw her into the pole again. Using her superior strength, Faith pressed her against it, making Buffy grab her by the throat and choke her, finally being able to throw her off . Buffy then kicked her in the stomach, which sent her spinning to the ground.
"A God?" Buffy asked breathing heavily. "I'm so gonna kick your ass."
With a demonic growl Faith leaped back up and tried a spinning kick which she blocked. Countering the attack Buffy kicked her with a roundhouse, then another, followed by redirecting Faith over a bench, sending her rolling. Pressing the attack, Buffy jumped up on the bench and tried to kick her in the chest, but Faith blocked her, grabbed her arm and threw her into a metal frame table, who's glass top shattered from the force of the impact. Holding her side and with a groan, Buffy rolled off the broken table while Faith strolled after her.
"Not getting tired are you?" Faith asked sarcastically. " I can do this all night."
"It doesn't have to be like this Faith." Buffy said as she stood to her feet, only for Faith to pimp slap her in the face sending her toppling down a set of concrete stairs.
"The good guys always say that bullshit when the bad guys are kicking their ass." Faith said as she jumped from the few stairs she was above her and kicked her full on. "Face it Muffy when I kill you, I'm gonna go after your boyfriend."
At the mention of Angel Buffy flew up and delivered a roundhouse, however Faith followed it with an equally vicious hit that sent her flying forward.
"Oh, I struck a nerve." Faith said playfully. "What went wrong? Did he dump you?" she asked smiling cruelly.
Not being able to take it anymore Buffy was up in an instant. She threw a round house, then a punch, then another and another. Seeing that she was pushing her back, she redirected Faith over the edge of a planter, jumped on it and while coming down kicked her, sending Faith flying into another planter knocking over a earthenware pot. Grabbing Faith's head, Buffy rapid fire punched her in the face, making her demonic visage a mask of blood. As Buffy let go of the dazed Slayer, she looked over and saw the sword that she had dropped earlier in the fight. Tiredly picking it up, she held it over Faith's head ready to bring it down in one decapitating chop.
Suddenly an invisible force knocked Buffy almost fifteen feet away from Faith. Looking up from her position on the ground, Buffy saw Faith on her knees as a white light entered through her chest. Eyes glowing red for a second, Faith let out a startled gasp and fell over in a heap.
Confused at seeing Faith body being racked with sobs, Buffy cautiously walked over to the younger girl, with her sword held defensively.
"I'm sorry...I'm so sorry." she heard Faith whisper over and over as she approached.
"Um...are you okay?" Buffy asked out of lack of something to say. As Faith looked up, Buffy noticed that she was now wearing her human face and that she had genuine tears in her eyes.
"Buffy?" Faith asked as she sat on the back of her heels. "What have I done?"
Buffy looked deep into Faith's eyes and found that the girl was sincere. Then it suddenly clicked with her as she remembered seeing that strange white light enter Faith's body. Giles was wrong...Faith somehow had gotten her soul.
"It's going to be okay." Buffy said as she lowered her sword and extended her hand to the girl.
"No don't touch me." Faith said as she scouted back away from Buffy's hand. She felt so dirty. Everything she did with Spike. All the people she had killed before she had gotten to Sunnydale. Their faces hunted her now.
"We can help you, Faith." Buffy said as she got closer to her and onto her knees. "Me and my friends will get you through this."
"No." Faith said as she met Buffy's gaze. Then her eyes went wide as she saw her sword. "You have to get to your friends now!"
"Why?" Buffy asked as she frowned at her.
"There's a demon that Ahriman is trying to wake up. It has the power to suck the world into hell and that sword is the only thing that can stop it."
"Okay." Buffy said as she stood to her feet. Hearing a chime noise, she looked behind herself and saw a portal opening. "Just come with..." before Buffy could finsh her sentence she turned around, only to find Faith gone. Letting out a frustrated sigh, Buffy turned and ran for the portal.
Grand Cathedral
"Where the hell are we?" Trish asked as she looked around the vast, gothic room. Surprisingly enough to Xander, it looked just like the place he and Kendra fell into when they found the Slayer's Scythe. In a far corner they both looked over and saw a spooky looking statue of a demon.
"I don't know." Xander said as he whipped out Ebony and Ivory. "But I don't like it." he said taking a look around. Suddenly a dark shadow lunged behind him knocking him to the ground and sending his guns clattering to the ground.
Not being able to kick the shadow off of him, Xander could only lay on the ground and flail about. But as he was finally able to open his eyes at the thing clattering around him, he noticed it's power. It was Ahriman in some kind of shadowy form.
Seeing that Xander was having problems protecting himself, Trish picked up his pistols and fired at Ahriman's back. Ahriman let out an outerworldly howl, released Xander's body, then turned, focusing his blood-drunk gaze on Trish.
"Get out of here!" Xander shouted in alarm. But Trish stood her ground, rachetting back the slides on the pistols, readying to unleash another barrage of bullets.
Switching back to his human guise Ahriman charged her, moving at unbelievable speed. With wide eyes she fired again, aiming at Ahriman's chest -- but he was upon her in a flash. Slapping the pistols from her hands, he wrapped his hand around her throat, pulled her forward, and sank his teeth into her neck, making her scream.
"No!" Xander screamed almost drowning out Trish's screams. Standing to his feet, his hair started to fade in and out in a white glow. Reaching for the already transformed Excalibur, he leaped high into the air, sword extended, like Beowulf diving to slay Grendel.
He plunged the sword deep into Ahriman's upper torso, then as he landed on his feet drove it in even further. With a howl Ahriman released Trish, making her fall unconcious and back-handed Xander across the face, sending him sailing through the air. He landed, skidding across the floor.
Ahriman weakly stumbled backwards into the wall, with the sword sunk so deep that the tip was actually protruding out his back, scraping a gash across the wall as he slid towards the floor. With a grunt, he reached for the pommel and snapped the sword-blade in half. Then he slammed against the wall, forcing the half of the broken blade that was still embedded in him out back through the front of his chest. As he rose to his feet -- Xander was on him again, snap-kicking the demon lord in the chest, forcing him to retaliate.
Xander somersaulted out of the way, then sprung back again, kicking Ahriman in the face, breaking his neck. Ahriman's head lolled unnaturally sideways for a heartbeat and then he swung his head around, somehow righting his neck vertebrae with a snap of his head. Eyes locking on one another, they traded blows, a brutal death-match that seemed to defy gravity.
Xander moved in for a round-house punch, but Ahriman caught his fist, holding it for a split-second, then bent Xander's hand at an unnatural angle, snapping his wrist bones. The pain was enormous and caused Xander to holler in pain. Using that as a distraction Ahriman started beating the living shit out of Xander, pummeling him with his fists, gripped by an uncontrollable rage. He smashed Xander against a marble column, cracking it and in the same motion he flung him against one of the brushed steel walls - so hard that Xander's body actually left an indentation.
Before Xander could recover, Ahriman was in front of him, launching another kick. Seeing the attack Xander rolled his head out of the way, barely avoiding Ahriman's boot heel which dented the wall. Ahriman kicked a second time and Xander avoided it, but the third time was the charm and Ahriman landed one squarely in Xander's gut. Xander then fell beneath a flurry of blows, unable to defend himself any longer. Blood stained his eyes, obscuring his vision. He struck out blindly, but Ahriman had forced him to the ground, pinning him there. As Xander struggled to free himself -- Ahriman lowered his head towards his face.
"It's finally time to die boy." Ahriman whispered into his ear. "But don't worry, I'm going to take real good care of your girls."
Suddenly Ahriman's lower jaw started to flare apart, distending and widening to reveal an awful, glistening hell maw of which the hollow inner fangs and striated cartilage started to close about Xander's face. Xander twisted his head violently to the right, then glimpsed the broken tip of his sword resting a few feet away. He reached for it in desperation, plunging it up into Ahriman's chest. Ahriman howled in pain, but because the hilt had been broken off, Xander was forced to grip the cutting edge of the weapon with his bare hands. It sliced into his fingers -- but he just gripped the broken sword tighter, ignoring the pain, driving it deeper and deeper -- until, suddenly, it penetrated the cartilaginous shell around Ahriman's dark heart.
"No...No!" Ahriman screamed as he felt his life slipping away. Standing to his feet his eyes locked on Xander's one last time as he dusted in a cloud of black smoke. Finally he could join his sister in oblivion.
"It's finally over." Xander said weakly as he stood up and limped over to the still downed Trish. "Wake up Sleeping Beauty." he said as Trish opened her eyes and looked up at him.
"Did we win?" she asked almost sleepily.
"We won." Xander confirmed with a weak smile as he helped her to her feet.
"Your hands." she said in awe.
"They'll be fine." he said as he coughed up a little blood. "I'm more worried about the others."
"It looks like we need to get you another sword." Trish said as she spotted the broken blade of Excalibur.
"It'll do for now." Xander replied as he picked up the blade and wrapped the bottom part of it with a cloth. "Now come on let's get out of here and help the others."
"But what do we do about that thing?" Trish asked as she pointed over at Acathla.
"We'll talk to Giles and see if there's a safe way to destroy it." Xander replied as he put his bloody hand on it. But that was his mistake.
As they turned to leave, behind them Acathla let out a low rumble. They both turned and stared in shock as Acathla's face contorted. His brows angled down, his eyes glowed red, his mouth opened grotesquely and the swirling vortex to Hell opened, small at first, but growing steadily in size and emanating a deep, red glow.
"Damnit." Xander said as he took a step back. "What have I done?"
"No...no." Trish whispered as she took a step back.
"What?" Xander asked as he turned to look at her.
"I finally figured out what that thing is." Trish said still not believing it. "After I found out that I was a half demon, I searched through all of my dad's books about demonology. This demon is known as Acathla and it has the power to take our world to hell."
"Do you remember, how it can be stopped?" he asked. Seeing that he wasn't getting an answer he shook her a little to get her out of her daze.
"The only way is if..." Trish started, thinking more of the alternative. "The only way to close it is if we had the sword of the knight that stopped him the first time."
"We don't have the sword. Come on there has to be another way."
"There is." Trish said as she swallowed hard. "The person who's blood activated it has to..."
"You don't have to say the rest." Xander said as a tear fell from his eye. He knew that it would end this way. "I know what I have to do." he said as he turned around and looked at Acathla.
"But, Xander your mom told me that..."
"I already know." Xander said as he turned his head to look at her, his eyes filled with tears. "My dad did the same thing."
"Xander don't leave me." Trish said as she sank to her knees.
"I'm sorry, but I have too. It's the only way." he said as he stepped forward, as the portal opened wider. "But I want you to remember something, Trish. I love you, I love you with everything in me and don't ever forget that. And please tell my mom that I'm sorry and tell Ken... tell Ken to forgive me."
As he started to walk into the vortex, he vaguely heard Kendra calling out his name.
Kendra's legs pumped harder and harder as she heard a rumbling of something as she emerged out of the caves. It seemed that she was in a lower part of the giant maze like structure. Running down a dark corridor, she heard Xander's voice in the distance telling someone to tell her that he was sorry.
As she emerged through an opening, she saw Xander walking through a vortex being created by a stone demon. Then her promise to their mom played throughout her mind.
(Promise me that you'll stop him Kendra)
(I promise.)
Eyes going wide at what she was seeing she ran forward, using every ounce of Slayer speed.
"Xander no!" she screamed out, making Trish turn around and see her sprinting past her and towards where Xander was going.
"Ken, no!" Trish yelled out as she got to her feet and football tackled Kendra from behind. The force of the impact made Kendra overbalanced, causing her too push Xander from behind and for all three of them to go toppling into the portal. At the same instance Buffy ran into the room and saw someone going through the vortex.
Seeing that she couldn't save whoever it was now, she ran forward and plunged the sword into the vortex. Feeling the effects of the sword, the vortex closed into Acathla's mouth without even so much as a spark.
"Finally." Buffy said as she blew out a breath. As she turned to leave, in search of her friends, her foot hit something.
Looking down she saw that it was the broken hilt piece of Xander's sword. Picking it up she stared at it and then the stone demon for a long moment, a light of awareness dawning in her eyes as she truly realized what had happened, what she had lost. She then began to sob, her heart breaking.
Tokar swung his sword one final time, as the last of Ahriman's demon army fell. Looking around him at all of the damage he and the others had done, he turned off his 'trigger' and went back to his human form.
"Is everyone, okay?" he asked as he turned to look at the gang.
"A little worse for wear." Giles said as the group collectively groaned from their injuries. "But we're all still alive."
"Good, now let's go get..." he trailed off as he reached out with his power to try to sense Trish and the others. But he couldn't feel anything. Almost as if... "No!" Thomas said as he dropped his sword. The blood from the various demons washing off of it as it swirled in the rain.
"What's wrong?" Angel asked as he walked up to him.
"Trish and the others they're..."
Buffy's home
minutes later
Jessica and Joyce stood in the kitchen chatting and showing each other baby pictures of Buffy and Xander. Jessica had even pulled off getting a few pictures of baby Kendra from Giles who had called the council. Giles had told them that it was important to make it look like, Kendra had a normal past.
As Jessica showed her a picture of Xander and Willow together at age six, Buffy walked through the back kitchen door, sank to her knees and sent the broken end of Xander's sword clattering to the ground.
"Buffy...Buffy what's wrong?" Joyce asked as she and Jessica ran to her. Joyce knew something was terribly wrong because she saw the horror in her daughters eyes.
"Mom..." Buffy said weakly as she met her gaze. She didn't even know how she made it home. "He's gone..."
"Who, Buffy?" Jessica asked worriedly. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.
"Xander."
A dark figure stood on top of a high building in Sunnydale overlooking the city. As she watched a fire, caused by the demon army, in the distance slowly burning the city, she turned from it with a tear in her eye.
"I have to get out of here." Faith whispered to herself. "I have to move on." and with that she melted into the darkness.
Demon Dimension H
A red swirling vortex opened through the ceiling of what looked like an office. As Xander, Trish, and Kendra fell out of it screaming they all fell on top of each other in a heap of arms and legs.
"What are you guys doing here?" Xander asked still laying on the ground as the vortex closed.
"Mom told me about your fodder." Kendra said as she too found that she couldn't move. "And she made me promise to stop you from doing someting stupid."
"So this is hell?" Trish asked as she looked around and saw the messy room and the demon heads mounted on the wall. "Not to shabby."
As Xander was about to roll over to try to get to his feet a pair of black boots stepped into his frame of vision. Glancing up he saw a woman that looked exactly like Trish, another girl that had her red hair in a single long braid and a man he thought was his father because of the red overcoat, but as he looked at the man with the white hair he saw that he was much younger. But there was something else about his gaze and his face, it was because he looked like...
"Vergil...?"
A/N this fanfic ain't over yet folks. Theres just a couple more chapters. Also somebody asked me if I was going to do a Faith spinoff. Well the answer is no. It's not because I don't want to do it, it's because I stink at writing Faith's character and I didn't want to make a fanfic that was sucky. But I am talking to other authours to see if they are interested in doing a Faith the Ascended Slayer fanfic though.
I'm also ending the story so three other fanfics can come about. One is a Willow goes to europe and becomes a death dealer fanfic, the other is a sequel to son of sparda, and the last one is a Kendra goes solo fic. Like I said I'm not going to write those but I'm going to see if another authour is interested.
TBC...
Please Review...
