Senga: The End?
"It looks like this is the end." Jean spared a second to glance at Senga's father as he bravely swiped at any vampire that came within range of the golf club he held in his hand. "I just wish that..." Jean didn't get to finish her sentence as two vampires made a jump towards her. She screamed, unable to mount any decent defence against them.
"Oh no you don't. There's no muching on Senga's friends, as long as I'm around." Jean looked agog as Senga appeared behind the vampires and picked both of them up by the scruff of their necks and hurled them against the opposite wall. "Uhm, hi again. Or more accurately, Hi. I'm Tara. I'm kinda hitching a ride in Senga's body, only while she's not using it." Tara grabbed at a torn piece of floorboard, left from the vampire's sudden smashing from below. With hardly a glance in the other direction she hurled the wooden shard at an approaching vampire, and it turned to dust as it hit home. "I could get used to this. I've never felt so strong." Tara turned, placing her back to the wall along with Jean and Senga's father.
"But, you're the one who led us into this trap, ya wee dead bitch." Jean screamed as, with baseball bat in hand she swung for another vampire.
"Not really, you see, I wasn't in control. Azazeal was. But now he's busy with Senga, I've got my own will back. In more ways than one." Tara/Senga smiled.
As if on cue, two figures materialised behind the vampires, both looked bewildered by the scene in front of them. The dark haired one seemed to get her bearings quicker than the redhead, as she hurled herself gleefully into the mass of undead. Punching and kicking, as though this was all fun to her. The redhead however stood back from the miasma of fighting bodies and looked around the room. Her eyes fixed mometarily on the figure of Azazeal, then switched to Senga/Tara, as their eyes locked. tears welled in Willow's eyes.
The Spirit plane.
"Ye' see, we knew it was a trap, we came prepared ya bam." Senga let loose with another kick, but Azazeal had already moved, she kicked empty air.
"And how did you come to that conclusion Senga dear?" Azazeal's mocking voice came from all around
"Yer information is just a wee bitty out o' date Jobbie jaws. When that ghostie o' Tara mentioned Wesley, we knew that she wiznae sent by God or who e'er it wiz. Wesley's been dead for weeks noo. An' if she doesnae know that, then she's no really sent fae heaven."
"Your logic is astoundingly simple." Azazeal's laughing voice was cut off by another punch from Senga.
"Aye, but simple hiz always worked well fur me." Another punch, again, hitting nothing, the creature had moved again. "Is this how y've never been killed? Ye just hide away behind this fog stuff?" Azazeal's only reply was repulsive laughter.
Mortal Plane.
The vampire's were in dissaray. Although they still outnumbered their opponents by 5 to 1, the new arrivals seemed to know what they were doing, this concerned the vampire's no end. One of them was a trained slayer, one who seemed to enjoy her work a litte too much, the other, the weaker looking one, was by far the most dangerous though. The vampires could smell the magiks, she was powerfull, and from the look on her face, she was angry.
"Get away from her now!" Willow bellowed. At her words an unseen force pulled the vampires away from the group backed against the wall. Now scrambling to their feet the vampire's had lost their bravado and were moving more cautiosly. Their numers broke into smaller groups, and moved in slowly from different directions. Suddenly an incandescent sphere sprung up around the band of heroes. The vampire's touched the sphere, and instantly regretted it, for the few seconds it took them to turn to ash. "Baby?" Willow said to Tara/Willow.
"You what?" Asked Senga's father. Jean's face echoed the question.
"Hey sweetie." Tara replied, raising Senga's hand to Willow's cheek.
"Ah swear to God," Jean said to nobody in particular, "if you two start kissin', ah'm gonnae boak." Willow and Tara both turned to her. Tara smiled, Willow didn't.
"I hate to interrupt this love in, but what gives here?" Faith asked.
"Well, it's a long story." Tara replied. "It started when I died. Azazeal had been warned off from the potentials by something higher up the food chain."
"The first, probably" Willow interjected.
"The first evil? Really? Wow. Well, with his usual food supply cut off, he started taking witch souls to sustain him. He took me." Senga's face fell as Tara reccounted the events since her death. " He had been feeding off me for some time, as well as using Senga's mother to get information about her, ready for the time when he could strike again. I guess that time is now. He used me to lure Senga into a trap. She's on the spirit plane right now fighting that thing." She pointed at Azazeal's form. She turned to Jean, "I'm sorry, I honestly had no control over my actions. he's been whittling away my will for almost two years now. I tried to stop him, but he was too powerful." Senga's eyes filled with tears. "Will. What's happening to your hair?"
The Spirit plane.
Senga's mother watched in horror as Azazeal circled her daughter. "Senga, he's behind you." She watched her daughter launch an elbow into the creatures ribs, a smile crossed her face.
"Naughty, naughty." Azazeal raised a hand in her direction and pain ripped through her. She screamed.
"Leave my mother alone." Anger flared in Senga as she let loose with a torrent of kicks and punches, none of which connected with her target. Arms grabbed Senga from behind, restraining her. She thrashed around in the strong grip of Azazeal.
"Fight all you want. Your fury will feed me. It will prepare me for what is to come." Azazeal whispered into Senga's ear. "The end days are coming Senga. You should be happy that you won't live to see it for yourself."
Mortal plane.
"He fed off you?" Willow turned to face the still circling vampires, and Azazeal. "HE FED OFF YOU?" Everyone, including Tara backed away from Willow, as her red hair turned ebon. Black as pitch. Her eyes matching her hair in shade. "I'll kill you, you piece of..." Her final words were drowned out by the sound of vampire's screaming. The protective field around the group had begun to expand. Far too quickly for the vampires to avoid, or flee from. The field brushed Azazeal's form red/blue sparks rose from the impact. "Shielded eh? We'll see about that." Willow, let the field drop, on surviving vampire made a dash for the bedroom door, only to be stopped in his tracks by a golf club blow to the head. Senga's father looked smugly at the prone form of the vampire, as he picked up a jagged piece of wood from the floor and struck home, the vampire vanished, dust scattered on the floor. Willow had advanced on Azazeal's body and raised her hands, palms facing the creature. Crimson bolts flew from the palms of her hands, striking directly at the heart of the creature.
"Willow, Senga still needs to destroy his spirit form too." Tara shouted from across the room. Willow blinked in acknowledgement.
The Academy.
"OK. Who broke the phone?" Buffy held the severed cord in her hand as she looked at the assembled group of Slayers.
"Buffy!" Dawns voice rang out from the library.
"I should have known." Buffy rolled her eyes as her sister came into view. "How did it happen?"
"I don't know." Dawn replied. It was there one minute, then the next it was gone."
"Phone receivers don't just vanish Dawn."
"What are you talking about? I'm trying to tell you. The Ax just vanished."
The Spirit plane.
Azazeal screamed. Recoiling in pain, he released Senga, she stumbled forward. It was nothing that she had done that had hurt him so much, but she was still greatfull for the reprieve. "My physical from is under attack. How are you doing this?" Azazeal looked directly at Senga's prone form.
"Team work." Senga replied as she started to rise from the ground. Her hand brushed against something that hadn't been there seconds before. Her hand closed around, a stick was it? As she gripped the item, new power flooded through her. As she looked up, the fog had cleared. She could see Azazeal, doubled over in pain. "Now, we're gettin' somewhere." Senga rose from the ground, Ax in hand, fierce determination in her eyes, she swung the Ax directly at Azazeal's head.
The Mortal plane.
Willow stood over the husk that had once been Azazeal. Grim satisfaction on her face. Her hair had returned to it's natural colour, and her eyes rapidly followed suit. "Is it over?" Jean asked, from her vantage point, huddled in the corner of the bedroom, if anyone asked, she had been keeping watch for more vampires.
Senga's physical form sagged to the floor, Tara's spirit stood over it. "Yes, I think it is." She replied. "He's not draining me any more. I'm free of him at last. I can move on."
Willow turned to her and wept. "I'm losing you again."
"You'll never lose me sweetie. I'm always going to be with you." Tara raised her ethereal hand to Willow's face, as her spirit faded, she placed a gentle kiss on Willow's forehead. Then she was gone.
"Right, she's gone, but where the hell is my daughter?" Senga's father cradled the form of his daughter in his arms.
Willow closed her tear filled eyes for a moment. "She's got to say a goodbye of her own."
Spirit plane.
"You did it." Senga's mother said as she took her child in her arms, hugging her tightly. "You freed me, and Tara. You're my wee angel, you saved me. Just like you always did."
"But I didn't save you. No' when it mattered." Senga sobbed into her mothers chest, never wanting to be free from her mothers grasp.
"Oh ma wee darlin'. Nothin' could save me that day. Some wee ned took it into his heid to push me aff that roof. There was nothing to be done."
"Someone pushed ye? But Everyone thought that..." Senga had mometarily pulled away from her mother, trying to take in this new piece of information. "Ah've been blamin' ma' da' for this a' along., an it wiz some wee ned bastard." Anger and regret poured from her every word.
"Ah don't know much Senga, but I do know, that I never raised my babies to use language like that." She playfully chided her daugter. "Naw, yer da' is a good man. He wiz ayways good tae me, an' you an a'. You remember the good times? They're the things ye need tae hawd on tae in life." Senga retook her place in her mothers arms, as tears flowed freely from them both. "Ye'r stronger than you've ever gied yersel' credit fur Senga. You've proved that right here and now. Now you've goat tae be brave fur me again. It's time for me to go."
"Ah don't want you to go." Senga sobbed as she held her mother, more tightly than before, though now she could feel less and less of her mother, as she faded away.
"Ah willnae be far, an tell that tae yer da' and yer idiot brother as well." Senga and her mother shared a laugh as they both began to fade away.
The mortal plane.
Tears still filled Senga's eyes as she opened them, once again in the physical world. "Mummy." She whispered. Through her tears she saw the face of her father, the man she had hated for so long, staring down at her. Her arms were suddenly around him in a fierce bear hug. Both crying for what they had lost, and what they had recently regained.
New beginnings...
"You're sure you don't want to join us?" Willow tried one last effort.
"Naw. There are beasties around here that need to be dealt wi'. Ah cannae leave ma home unguarded. There's too much here that ah care fur."
Willow smiled, she could understand Senga's reluctance, "Well, we're only an email away if you need any advice, or help. You understand?"
Senga returned Willow's smile. "You shouldnae have said that, Ye'll have a dozen emails waitin' fur ye' when ye get hame." The pair laughed.
"Well, that's Buff up to speed." Faith commented. "Senga, you sure that Azazeal said that the end days were coming?"
"Aye. That's whit he said. Sounds bad dunnit?" Senga looked at Faith. "Sounds like End o' the World stuff tae me."
"Yeah, but end of the world stuff is what we do best." Faith laughed.
Not the end.