The Final Battle – Part Two (reloaded)
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Author's Note – I'm really sorry to the reviewers who didn't fully understand my meaning behind Angel's death. (in the original The Final Battle – Part Two) Even though I think it is all explained in the later chapters, I've changed these two chapters to suit the needs and wants of my readers. To the people out there who didn't like part two before, tell me what you think of reloaded. I have basically changed the whole second half. Enjoy.
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CHAPTER THREE – A REUNION?
It was unmistakably Buffy, and she still appeared to be the leader of the pack. Spike and Angel knew that all the Slayers shared Buffy's power now, ever since the battle with the First in Sunnydale.
'How on Earth did they find us here?' Why now?' Angel cried.
'How did they know to come?' Spike added.
'Spike?' Came a voice from below. At first spike was shocked, but then he figured out that Andrew must had let slip that he'd returned.
'Buff…' he began but was silences by a loud explosion from below. 'Buffy!' he shouted suddenly, turning and running down the stairs. Angel called after him, not sure whether to follow him or to stay behind and fight the demons scaling the walls of the building. He took his sword and ran after Spike, who had dropped his crossbow on the ground near the window.
'Illyria, take Spike's crossbow!' he shouted behind him as he ran past her and Gunn. She picked up the crossbow and began firing at some of the demons climbing the walls.
Spike flew open the door to find a crowd of women, and Buffy. 'Buffy?' he said softly, almost uncertain. She turned around when she heard the doors open, and saw him.
He's real. She told herself. As real as he could ever be. Spike slowly walked up to her, seeming to be forgotten about amongst all the fighting. It was good that the Slayers were able to hold all the demons back.
When Spike approached Buffy, she promptly reached out and slapped him.
'I guess I deserved that.' He said, rubbing his cheek. She leaped for him, wrapping her arms tightly around his shoulders. She hugged him firmly, and smiled when he hugged her back.
'I'm sorry Spike, but promise me you'll never do what you did back in Sunnydale ever again.' She said, still hugging him. She let go eventually, after he had to pry them apart. She stood close to his chest, with Spike pulling some hair out of her face as she smiled, teary-eyed.
'I promise Buffy.' He whispered. 'Let's get out of the rain.' He gently placed a hand on her back and pushed her inside the Hyperion., holding the door open for her. She stopped and rolled under his arm.
'I'm sorry Spike, we came here to fight with you.' Buffy apologised and explained herself. 'Where is everyone?' Spike sighed, knowing that she wouldn't have a clue about what had happened.
'I thought that you thought Angel was evil.' Spike said, changing the subject briefly.
'Yeah, but Angel convinced me in Italy that you were good when you came looking for me. I'm sorry you had to see me with The Immortal, but I was only with him so that I could get close enough to him to kill him.' Buffy explained.
'Look, you don't have to explain yourself to me Buffy.' Spike said. 'I still remember what you said to me back in Sunnydale, but I never had a chance to find out if you were for real.'
Buffy smiled. 'I was for real.' Spike returned the smiled and pulled her back inside the hotel. 'So where is everyone?' she asked again.
'Um…' Spike hesitated., rubbing the back of his neck nervously. 'You see, there are only a few of us left… and a new instalment to the group in place of one lost.' He explained/
Buffy was suspicious. 'I see.' Spike turned and started up the stairs to where he could just see Illyria's head as she stood at the window firing arrows into the alley below.
'All that's left is me, Angel and Gunn. Wesley died earlier tonight, and Fred died a while ago, but she's still here.'
'What? How can she have died but still be here? She's not a vampire is she?' Buffy asked.
'Well, she's not Fred anymore. She's Illyria, an ancient God who has taken over Fred's body. Poor girl, died from a horribly disease-thing she caught from some age-old sarcophagus or something. We did everything we could to stop her dying, but we'd have killed thousands if we did. Angel couldn't live with that. She even tied to help me become real again.' Spike explained.
'What?'
'Nevermind, we can have a reunion later. First, we have to go back and finish the battle.' He ran up the stairs, his duster bouncing with each step. Buffy ran up behind him.
'Spike!' she called. He paused and turned around. Buffy stepped two steps up so she was at his height, and kissed him.
It was a tender, passionate kiss. Spike enjoyed it just a much as he thought Buffy did, allowing her to take control. He liked being able to kiss her again, because he hadn't kissed anybody in a long time. Except for Harmony when he became corporeal again, but that was a different situation.
Spike broke off the kiss, returning to his post at the window after staring Buffy directly in the eyes and smiling at her with one of his infamous devilish smirks.
Buffy ran back downstairs ready to race back outside to the battle, only to be stopped by Angel grabbing her shoulder.
'Angel?' she cried as she threw her arms around him. He did the same thing as Spike and returned the hug. He rubbed her back in a loving kind of way before breaking free.
'So, how did you find us?' he asked. She smiled.
'Like it was hard to miss the apocalypse?' she replied.
'It's not an apocalypse; it's the Senior Partners raining hell on us. We're left to take care of the things that are pouring out of Hell. Angel explained, shocking Buffy. 'Sorry.' He noticed her expression and stopped talking.
'It's alright, you should probably go back upstairs and fight the demons on the roof.' Buffy said.
'There are demons on the roof?' Angel asked, surprised. 'Well, they can wait. I want to know how you knew to come. And why.'
'Well, Brooke, one of the new Slayers believes that she has premonitions. She said she saw in a dream one night earlier this week that Los Angeles would become a demon war zone as the skies opened up, Hell's gates opened up and the remaining goodies would fight until their end. We took her dream seriously and figured out that it could only mean you here in L.A. The thing is, our flight was delayed so we arrived only earlier this evening. We saw the sky above L.A and figured that Brooke's dream was correct. So we hurried to the Wolfram and Hart offices, or what was left of them, and found you here.'
'I see.' Angel paused. 'Well, I suppose this girl Brooke is very valuable to you then.' Buffy nodded. 'She sounds special. I mean, besides the whole Slayer thing.' He added nervously.
'Yeah. Um… I'll be outside with the girls, you go up and battle those demons upstairs with Spike, Gunn and you're new friend Illyria and I'll see you soon.' Buffy suggested, more enforcing.
'She's not exactly our friend, more of just an ally. It's complicated. And so is our relationship.' Buffy sighed.
'Angel, I can't do this right now. I only found out about Spike the other week.'
'This isn't about Spike.' Angel snapped.
'Yes it is Angel, we…' she hesitated. 'We have been closer since you left.' Angel's jaw dropped, but he quickly shut his mouth. He sort-of already knew from when Spike told him when he first arrived in L.A.
'Buffy…' he couldn't think of anything to come back with. 'Um…'
'Look, I'm sorry Angel. We both agreed when we split that it was for the best.' Buffy reminded him.
'Yeah, but that doesn't mean I don't still care. I want to be close to you Buffy. I know we can't have the relationship that you and I had a long time ago, but at least we can be sort-of close friends, can't we?'
Buffy smiled, unknown to Angel she was trying to shake the thought from her head. It wasn't that she didn't care for him anymore, it was that she cared more for Spike. 'Sure, but there are more important things to deal with.' She turned and ran out the door before Angel could even try to stop her, leaving him standing alone at the bottom of the stairs.
He sighed. He loved Buffy, and he always would. He knew that she would never love him like she did back when they were together, but the thing that bugged him the most was that her love was now for Spike. Even if she hadn't hinted it much in her response to his statement moments before, he knew Spike and Buffy had a close relationship. He shook the thought from his head and bounded back up the stairs. Sword in his hand, he headed for the roof.
He passed Illyria at the window, still shooting into the street. She was also aiming at the demons who were still scaling the walls, and as Angel passed by each window he watched demons falling down into the alley, dissolving into dust on their way down.
He figured that Gunn and Spike were already on the roof, since he couldn't see them anywhere. He paused for a moment and wondered how they'd managed to get up to the roof. There were no stairs, so he was confused.
'Spike? Gunn?' he called.
'Angel!' came a reply from above him. 'Get your bloody ass up here!' Followed closely by a grunt, Angel figured it was Spike. He almost purely made the decision based on the accent, which surprisingly after all these years, seemed to be fading. Very slightly.
'How the hell did you get up there?' Angel called back.
'Out the window!' Spike yelled. Angel looked out one of the windows and saw the one thing he had forgotten completely. The ladder and platform on the side of the building. He stepped out the window and ran up to the ladder, his shoes clanging on the metal grating.
He climbed the ladder, trying not to stab himself with his sword. When he reached the roof, he was taken by surprised at how many demons there were. Gunn was battling three, and doing surprisingly well for a newly born vampire. Spike was lying on the ground against an air conditioning console, unconscious.
Silently, Angel rushed to his side. He gently rocked Spike's shoulders, but gave up. Punching him square in the face seemed to do the trick.
'Ow.' Spike growled as he woke suddenly. 'What the hell did you do that for?'
'Come on Spike, you can't give up now. We have to finish this.' Angel replied, standing up, spinning around and swishing his sword at an oncoming demon all in one move.
Spike jumped to his feet, picked up his dropped battleaxe and charged at a small bunch of demons.
'Angel!' Gunn cried as he had a sword driven through his gut. He groaned in pain, and wrenched it out. 'Ah.' He grunted.
Angel ran to his side, cutting down the demons in his path. 'Gunn, it's alright. Come on, fight the pain.' His heroic words meant nothing as Gunn knelt on the cement roof.
'Angel, this is too much.' He said.
'Come on Gunn, just a little longer.' Angel pleaded. Gunn finally agreed and used his newly acquired sword to kill two more demons.
The roof battle seemed to rage for ages, until suddenly there was a giant white flash of light. Everything began to slowly disappear. The sky returned to its normal colour, the demons stopped climbing onto the roof from in the alley and everything had seemed to calm down. Angel saw the sun beginning to rise.
'Unless you want to have fried bacon for breakfast, we'd better get inside.' Angel said, disappearing back down the ladder. He dropped his sword down and heard it clang on the grate, as he jumped down off the ladder after it. Spike and Gunn followed him, Gunn now only beginning to understand his capabilities and his restrictions. Once inside, Angel noticed that Buffy had brought all the Slayers inside and they were crowded into the lobby. He made his way down the stairs, seeing Buffy talking to Faith.
He sighed and relaxed his shoulders as he greeted the two girls.
'Hey Angel, nice to see you.' Faith said. Angel smiled in response.
'You too Faith.' He said.
'God Angel, look at you.' Buffy said sympathetically. 'You're in really bad shape.' She gestured to a wound she could see on his left shoulder, another on his left side, the wound on the back of his head that the dribbling blood had dried from as well as the fact that he had limped over to them.
'I'm fine.' Angel said. He turned around to see Gunn and Spike trudging down the stairs, both of them wounded as well. 'Did you girls do alright down here?' Angel turned back to Buffy and Faith.
'Yeah, we killed em.' Faith said proudly.
'Actually, it was Willow's spell that brought them all down. We just finished the clean-up.' Buffy jumped in, smiling as Spike stepped up beside Angel. 'I think you and I need to have a talk, and get those wounds cleaned up.' Buffy said to him.
Gunn leant on Angel's left shoulder. He briefly winced in pain before gently removing Gunn's hand. 'Sorry.' Angel smiled weakly. Faith took his arm, then Gunn's and dragged them both into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Buffy had taken Spike downstairs. As she sat him on the bed and began dabbing at his cuts with a wet cotton ball she'd prepared, Buffy couldn't take her eyes off him.
'Is it all over?' Spike asked, wincing in pain with each tiny touch.
'Yes Spike, it's over. We won.' Buffy replied, leaning forward and hugging him. Spike groaned and she pulled back. 'Sorry.' She continued to attend to his wounds.
CHAPTER FOUR – LOSING IT ALL
Hours later, everyone met in the lobby. There was a knock at the door that surprised everyone.
'Trick or treaters?' Gunn suggested, a reference to his earlier comment about the Slayers and Halloween.
Angel opened the door, blocking the view for everyone else. 'Eve?' he said. She was bruised, battered and bleeding, but otherwise still alive.
She must have still been in the building when it collapsed, Angel thought. 'Are you alright Eve?' he asked, not offering to help her. Then he noticed her stare. A stare that could only mean one thing. She was here on a revenge mission.
'You killed Lindsey.' She said harshly, revealing a long blade from behind her back. Angel stepped backwards, down the stairs at the landing. He dared not to turn his back on Eve, not knowing what she was fully capable of. Then she attacked.
'Hey!' Angel cried defensively, using his hands to shield himself. She swung the blade and it sliced a fresh wound on his left forearm. She kicked out, threw punches but nothing else connected with Angel. After the battle though, he was tired and worn out. His reflexes were still good, but he wasn't very strong. The blade wound had begun bleeding, but it wasn't life threatening so he ignored it.
She moved around his body, circling him, managing to trip him over with one foot. He fell down the landing stairs, onto the carpet. She jumped down and knelt on his chest. He wheezed and groaned, until Buffy, Faith and Spike stepped in. Buffy tackled her, then rolled out of the way. Faith attacked her as she tried to get up, and Spike grabbed her from behind and held her tight.
'No one gets away with attackin' Angel on my watch.' He said, straining to hold her still. 'You're a surprisingly strong chick, or maybe it's just that I'm tired.' She elbowed him in the ribs and he released her with a grunt. 'Damn you woman!' he chased her as she ran out the door. Slamming the door behind him, Spike went after her.
Back inside, Buffy and Faith pulled Angel to his feet. 'Thanks.' He said to them, groaning under pressure. The fall he'd take from the landing had opened a wound on his back, which was now throbbing in pain. 'I really can't do this right now.'
'So who was she?' Buffy asked.
'Eve? She was the Senior Partners' connection with us until she signed away her position to Hamilton.' Buffy stared at him blankly.
'I killed Hamilton, so he's no threat.'
'Right. So, how come Eve didn't show up sooner?' Faith asked.
'She stayed in the building when I left. I told her to get out, but she didn't follow me. I thought she must have gone down with the building, but here she is.' The Wolfram and Hart building had fallen about a few hours earlier, after all the demons had gone and everything had returned to normal.
'Well, I'm sure Spike can take care of her.' Buffy said positively.
'Spike is in as bad-a condition as me, you have to go after him. I'd hate for him to be dusted by Eve after all he's done for me.' Angel was surprised at his own words.
'Faith, you stay here and keep an eye on the girls. I'll go after Eve.'
Faith rolled her eyes. 'And I'll rest downstairs in the basement. Do me a favour, send Spike down when you come back.' Angel said before turning his back on Buffy and Faith and slowly hobbling towards the basement door and disappearing.
Spike had cornered Eve in the next alley over, after chasing her around in circles. 'Ha, thought you'd outrun me didn't you? You know, I never knew why Angel kept you around.' Spike puffed.
Eve didn't appear to respond. Her facial expression was stern and almost evil, but Spike told himself over and over that she wasn't. He wanted to believe it, but then again, he didn't because she had actually helped them out in a few situations. And there's the fact that Angel slept with her…. But that's completely irrelevant.
'You don't think I'm evil, do you?' she asked. Spike only laughed.
'You couldn't be evil luv, sorry to disappoint you but you're just not that type of person.' He chuckled.
Eve stared at him, pressed with her back against the wall of a large grey brick building. 'You wanna bet?' she asked, morphing face suddenly. Spike stepped back, completely surprised.
'What on… how on… when did this happen?' he stammered. Her vampiric face was fresh; she'd only been turned very recently. As in, within the last hour or so.
'While you and Angel battled against the Senior Partners and the demons from Hell, I met with a vampire. He turned me, and now I'm like you. Only, I don't have a soul and I can kill whoever I want whenever I want.' She stated, clearly not understanding who she was dealing with.
'Look luv, I've been doing this a lot longer than you have. You can't seriously think that you stand a chance against a century old vampire…' Eve interrupted him.
'…Who's worn out after an earlier battle against Hell?' She finished his sentence. 'Yeah, actually, now that you think about it I might stand a chance.'
Eve was right; Spike was actually tired after the battle. He hadn't realised it just yet, but he wasn't going to last very long in another battle with anything. Human, demon, vampire, deranged Slayer. He hoped never to meet one of those again.
'Eve, don't do this. You know that this isn't worth dying over.' He said sternly.
'Then run now, while you still have a chance.' She kicked at a crate sitting on the ground against the wall and picked up a splinter from its shattered frame. She raised the piece of wood and prepared to charge.
'Look Eve, this is not going to happen.' Spike said, then she charged. He threw a punch at her head, but she ducked and tripped him over. He rolled to the side, out of her way. He got to his feet and moved into a fighting stance. After another minute or two of evading, rolling, kicking and air-swings, Eve finally made her mark. She plunged the stake deep into Spike's side, and he froze. He hunched over in the pain from the force, but remained still for a moment. Eve stood back, disgraced by her actions.
'Spike I…' she stammered. Spike stood there, his mouth gaping in horror. His hands fumbled around the stake sticking out of his side. His duster was lying in the middle of the alley, so he was without the extra protection from its thickness. He gasped a few times before hearing footsteps. Eve ran past him, and as he turned he saw he disappear down an alley heading out to the main street. The look she gave him as she brushed past was a look of distress and sorrow; she felt sorry for him. In her mind, she thought it was what needed to be done. But once she'd done it, she couldn't live with it.
He was alone in the alley for only a few moments, for as he turned back he saw Buffy. His hands were still hovering around the stake, and he dared not pull it out until he was back at the Hyperion.
Buffy will help me. He thought to himself. 'Buffy…' he uttered as she came towards him. He collapsed in her arms, falling to rest on her knees as she knelt on the ground. She held him closely, in a similar way that Angel had held Faith in the alley back when she was evil. That was a long time ago.
'Spike, what happened to you?' She asked as she placed a hand on his chest.
'Eve. She's a…' Buffy was looking down at him and didn't see Eve walking towards them. She swung a piece of wood and it hit Spike's head, knocking him out. Buffy jumped back, letting him fall to the ground limply. She began a fair fight with Eve who was surprisingly good at fighting.
When she morphed, Buffy was confused. Angel didn't say she was a vampire. She grabbed the piece of wood and whacked it across Eve's face before she had a chance to attack again. Eve stumbled, not falling to the ground. She grabbed the piece of wood and hit Buffy, throwing her back against the wall of a building where she then fell to the ground. Eve smiled, and turned to leave taking the piece of wood with her. She had a date with a dead vampire.
Making her way back to the Hyperion, she hummed a pleasant tune to herself. When she reached the Hyperion, the door was closed just as Spike had left it. Though, Buffy would have had to come out it too.
She knocked on the door and waited for someone to answer. It was Faith. She opened the door, only to be whacked in the face with the piece of wood Eve had used to take care of Spike and Buffy. Faith stumbled backwards and tripped down the landing stairs. She hit her head on the carpeted floor, but sat up quickly rubbing her bump. The Slayers were all gone, probably upstairs resting since it was now late at night, before it had been early evening.
Eve heard Angel call from in the kitchen. 'Who is it Faith?' He walked out into the lobby, holding a mug of blood in his hand. When he saw Faith on the ground and Eve at the door he dropped the mug and ran over to them.
'Ah, Angel.' Eve began. 'Just the man I've been wanting to see.' Angel slowed to a jog before stopping beside Faith, helping her up.
'What do you want Eve?' Angel asked, not taking his eyes off her. 'And where's Buffy?' He got the picture in his head.
'So you don't care about Spike either?' she asked. 'They're both lying unconscious in the alley round the corner.' She held up the wood she held in her hands. 'This plank of wood has been quite handy.' She raised it and prepared to swing, but Angel jumped forward and knocked her out into the alley. They rolled over the cement for a few moments before they began fighting. Eve, for the third time in as little as an hour, morphed into vamp face. Angel's fist was raised, but as he saw her face he stopped and lowered it. He heard footsteps from down the alley, and he looked over to see Buffy helping Spike back to the hotel.
'Buffy what happened?' Angel asked, as he morphed out of his own vamp face. 'And Eve what happened?' He wandered backwards, away from Eve. But as she moved closer he grabbed her by the shoulders and thrust her into the side wall of the Wolfram and Hart building. Or what used to be the Wolfram and Hart building. All that was left of it was about half of the first level.
Angel took Spike from Buffy, seeing his injury. He was awake, like Buffy, but was still in a great deal of pain. Angel looked over to where Eve had landed, to see her getting up.
'Eve's a…' Buffy began.
'Vampire. Yeah, I know.' Angel finished. 'I just didn't know when it happened.'
'So you had no idea about her?' Buffy asked.
'No, but it looks like something got a piece of her.' He smiled at the thought. He never really liked her very much. 'Buffy, take Spike inside. You and Faith try and wake him up and…' Spike coughed.
'Spike?' Buffy whispered.
'Yeah pet, I'm… Aagh!' he screamed in agony as he felt the stake in his side. 'I can't do this, not after the fight with Hell's demons. It's too much.' He turned to Buffy, completely ignoring Angel. 'Please help me.' His left hand instantly shot up to his side as he tried to cover the wound, but still couldn't touch it because of the stake.
'Buffy, go now. I'll take care of….' Angel began, but a second later his facial expression relaxed and his mouth opened, gaping in horror like Spike had in the next alley over earlier in the night. Spike and Buffy stared at Angel as he was reduced to dust and fell to the ground. Eve was standing just behind where Angel stood seconds ago, holding another stake made from another crate that must have been smashed when the Wolfram and Hart building collapsed.
'You bitch!' Spike cried, lunging for her but stopping when he realised it hurt too much. Buffy pushed him inside, just as Faith appeared at the door. She grabbed him and brought him through the door and over to the couch.
'Nice stake you got there Spike.' She said humorously. Outside, Buffy had snatched the stake from Eve. She wasn't going to give her the honour of a royal dusting, she was going to make Eve pay. She punched Eve directly in the face so hard that she fell unconscious.
'That's for staking Angel!' she shrieked loud enough for half of L.A. to hear. She grabbed Eve's arm and dragged her inside the hotel as roughly as she possibly could. There was no other way she could think of grieving for Angel than to take out an extremely painful revenge on his killer. She pulled the door closed behind her, just as the rain began to fall outside again, very lightly.
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Authors Note – Wow, you can never tell what new twists and turns I'll come up with next. After receiving a review from Ankax I took some advice that I was given and rewrote these entire two chapters. And now, because I have changed my story, the rest of the chapters will have to be either changed or rewritten to accommodate for my changes. Thanks Ankax! Btw, yes I still killed Angel. Don't worry, I love him too much too leave him dead. Remember, he has already returned once… (in the TV show that is)
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my previous authors note may still be true, I'll remove it in future if it changes at all…
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Authors Note – Wow, you can never tell what will happen next. Yes, Angel died. No I don't know why. I'm sorry to anyone who wanted anything to happen. You never know, maybe there's still hope.
Btw, thankyou to all the people who reviewed this piece. Your words have made me realise that my writing might actually be good. Yay! Well, some of you reviewers asked if this fan.fic was going to be Spangel. By 'Spangel, did you mean Spike and Angel, 'getting close'? I have read fan.fic's where this was the main storyline, and I thought it was sick. They are two grown men (or vampires, whatever you want to call them). They can't have that sort of relationship, because it's wrong. I suppose that if enough people want this story to be Spangel then I can accommodate for your wants, but I don't approve of it. Who knows, I may actually find something to work out. Hang on – did those last few sentences just give you a spoiler to the rest of this story? Keep reading and reviewing TTFN!
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I HAVE UPDATED THIS FAN.FIC SO FEEL FREE TO CONTINUE READING