A/N: Well, I know you've been waiting for it. In fact, some of you asked for it. Yes, we FINALLY find out what happened to Buffy and Colossus. So, yes they aren't dead, but were exactly are they? Find out! And on a side not, yes I changed the chapters around. The one I said would be featured this week in the last chapter will be featured next week.
To Caltimere: Your reviewing are always so long. I LOVE IT. Anyway, what is Kitty thinking? Probably something like: 'I bet my math teacher is like a demon'. I always think that but that may be because I don't like math very much .
To A Watcher: Awwww, you didn't review this time ***sad face***
To wllw979: hey thanks! Glad you enjoyed, please continue to review! I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts about my humble fic! ***grin***
Chapter Eighteen- Hell's DepthPain. Blood. Agony. They all swamped through Buffy as she came to. Her head was pounding in her ears and she could fell sharp rocks and stone digging into her body. On top of that she was hot. Really, really sweating sticking hot.
So she wasn't dead.
Great, Buffy thought, I'm alive but the chances are I'm in some demon hell.
Buffy groaned and her eyes fluttered open. Her whole body felt like it was on fire. She could feel every scratch on her body, and boy where there a lot. The major wounds included a gash in the thigh, in the head, and a dislocated leg.
But it wasn't so bad. Her body was cushioned by another. And this one was nice. Big, strong, firm. Something to cuddle up against and she was tempted to do that. But then she was the Slayer and there were things to be done. The most important being seeing if the body she was lying on was alive and where they were.
Buffy raised her head off of Colossus and looked into his face. He was so sincere in sleep. He looked like an innocent. There was no hardened look about it, or cold emotionless eyes. It made her smile to realize that even this man had innocence.
She raised her arm and brushed away the dark strand of hair that fell across Colossus's eye. As her skin brushed his, he groaned and opened those dark eyes. He shifted and Buffy slid to the ground next to him.
"Where are we?" Colossus asked immediately, his face retaining that hardness that almost had Buffy rolling her eyes.
Buffy looked around. There was a lot of red and fire and she could smell blood. They were sitting on a cliff and below them was lava and stone pathways. On the pathways there were human-like creatures that were hacking at the stones in the lava. In the very back of wherever they were was a large skull.
That could only mean on thing.
"One of the levels of Hell." Buffy answered, "I think Jake and that Furia demon is are trying to unleash Hell. I'd say it didn't work as well as they planned."
"What do we do now?" Colossus asked.
Buffy shrugged, "Find a way out, I guess. What else can we do? See the skull over there? I have a hunch that maybe the answers we need are there. Maybe the leader of this part of Hell lives there."
"Alright." Colossus said, "How do we get down? We are on a cliff and it does not look like a jump down would be very pleasant." He motioned to the lava below them.
Buffy looked around and noticed small edges leading away from the cliff were they stood. It was a risk, but standing on this cliff was not going to help anyone.
"We'll have to move along this cliff until we can find a place to jump down." The Slayer answered, "I really hope you aren't afraid of heights."
Colossus said nothing as Buffy moved towards the small path. She pushed her back against the rock wall and began to slide along the cliff. It was much harder for Colossus, him being so much bigger than the Slayer, but he managed to keep up with her.
They slid along the edge of the cliff for what seemed like hours, before Buffy finally found a spot that looked like it was jump-able. True enough there was still lava below them but it was thin enough to be jumped over.
"We'll have to jump here." Buffy explained to Colossus, "Do you think you could jump that far?"
Colossus scanned the length of the lava river and the length of the solid ground. It would be a tight fit, but he could probably do it.
"If you can I can." Colossus answered.
"Okay." Buffy murmured and braced herself. Squeezing her eyes shut, Buffy threw herself off the wall as far as she could. Pain shot through her legs as she landed on the rock ground with a solid thump. Luckily, the hours moving had healed her dislocated leg. She didn't want to think what would've happened if she didn't have super Slayer healing abilities. She kept her eyes closed she laid down on the ground and tried to breath easily again.
Besides her, she felt Colossus plop down. He too stayed still on the ground. They had been very close to meeting their end. Their feet were only inches away from the boiling lava.
Recovering quickly from her fall, Buffy pushed herself to her feet and saw they had to only be a few miles away from the skull. She turned back to Colossus and helped him to his feet.
"We have to keep going." She said, motioning to the skull.
"Go." Colossus agreed and they started forward.
Xander, after hearing the story of Buffy's disappearance, collapsed onto the chair in the living room. His eyes were bleak and he shook his head.
"Not possible." He said suddenly, denying it as Willow had, "There's no way that that would kill her! She survived Glory the Helldog and the Master! How can a stupid, stupid earthquake stop her!? She's the Slayer!"
Faith moved quickly, placing at hand upon Xander's shoulders, "Look Xander, I don't want to believe this any more then you do, but if a pile of huge stones fell on anyone, even a Slayer, then you die."
"Listen!" Xander said jumping to his feet, "You don't know Buffy like I know her. That girl is way too stubborn to let an earthquake kill her. She'd find a way to survive as well as keep Colossus. I know that for a fact. I've been with Buffy through hell and back. I know this stuff, you don't. Right, Willow?"
Willow, the Wicca and Slayer's friend, smiled and took Xander's hand, "Xander's right. Buffy will find away to keep herself and Colossus alive. That's just who she is."
"Besides, dat speaker with ghosts over dere says that the dead Slayer says Buffy's alive. I believe her." Gambit said with a shrug.
"I wish I could like believe you." Kitty said miserably, "But I know what I saw. There was no way Buffy or Colossus survived."
Xander, despite everything smirked, "Even if she is dead, I'll bring back. You know, me being a powerful man-witch and all."
"Warlock." Willow murmured to which Xander nodded.
Finally, Faith being the new sole Slayer, said, "What do we do now, guys? With Buffy gone and vampires doing their hostile takeover thing again, we're pretty much in trouble."
"We aren't on a Hellmouth, are we?" Xander asked and had everyone looking at him, "Well, you know, world gets threatened by an evil demon I started wondering if Bayville is Scandinavian for Hellmouth. Kinda like Sunnydale… only that a whole Spanish thing."
"It isn't." Jean answered Xander.
"You're all welcome to come to the Institute." Scott said reluctantly. He didn't feel like giving the Brotherhood the open-arms generosity, but if what Xander, Faith and Willow said about the world being in threat they were going to need all the help they could get.
"Great idea, one-eye." Pyro said, "How do ya think you're Wolfie gonna react to our visiting?"
"Wolfie?" Faith said, blinked and then smiled her cat-smile, "Sounds hot. I could really get into a guy named Wolfie, but then I got a boyfriend already. Damn, this monogamy thing gets harder and harder."
"You think some guy name Wolfie sounds hot? What about me?" Xander said, "I'm One-Eyed-Man! Don't I sound hot?"
"Do you always manage to be this happy when the world is about to be destroyed?" Tabitha asked, smirking.
Xander smiled lazily, "Hey, if the world gets destroyed the world gets destroyed. Should I let that ruin my day?"
Tabitha laughed and shook her head, amused and confused by One-Eyed-Man.
"I think we should go to the Institute." Faith said, trying her best to put on her leader voice, "After all, if vampires are going on their 'let's bring hell to Earth' campaign, wouldn't having a big mansion to hide in be a big help?"
"I'd rather have my tongue ripped out of mouth and nailed to my forehead." Lance snapped to which Kitty got a hurt look upon her young features.
"That can be arranged." Scott said testily, forgetting he and Lance had been partners in a fierce battle not to long ago.
"Um, hi," Willow said a little wearily, walking up between Lance and Scott, "I can understand where you're anger comes from. I mean, bad side good side, right? But maybe you two could, you know, kill each other after we save the world?" Willow had never been one for speeches, but this was pretty good for her. Instead of blushing and backing away, she just smiled sheepishly.
Lance and Scott did back down, though their fragile male egos demanded they defend their pride. Things had to be down first.
"Now, if I were Buffy then I'd probably make you two hug just to spite you." At their horrified looks, Faith smirked, "But I'm not B. So, when we train I'll let you two beat each other into a fine pulp, k? Now let's get the hell outta here. Sid, pack up your ghosts and tell them we're movin' out!"
"What about Ori?" Pyro asked, motioning to the mutant still unconscious on the couch.
"Ah… hmm… an unconscious pretty blonde girl… what to do? Oh I know, carry her." Faith said with an impatient wave. Pyro looked at her in shock, but moments later he obeyed.
Sidney turned to Jack, Eve and Ann. Though she was well aware they had hear every word spoken, she felt responsible to translate everything for them, "We're leaving to go to the Xavier Institute. It'll give us better protection against the vampires."
"Oh, really?" Eve said with a roll of her eyes, "I would have never guessed unless you told me."
Jack hit her hard in the arm, "Watch you're mouth."
"You know," Xander said casually to Tabitha, seeing as how everyone else would ignore him, "I was thinking about a better code-name then One-Eyed-Man. You all got code names right because you go special powers. Shouldn't I get a code name because I got my eye squeezed out? What's your code name?"
"Boom Boom."
"I'll stay with One-Eyed-Man." Xander said to which Tabitha giggled.
"Is it just me or are we not getting any closer to that damn skull?" Buffy demanded heatedly. Though she knew they were, it was just taking so long.
Colossus was sweating from the heat of the lava and the fact that they were in hell, "I don't now. I may give up if we don't get there soon."
Buffy groaned, hot and sweaty as well, "If Xander were here he'd say: 'are we there yet?' Kinda glad he stayed behind on this one. I love the little goofball, but with all the heat and sweat, I'd probably kill him."
Colossus nodded in agreement. He was fond of Xander as well, the young man grew on you after a while, but heat and sweat would not go good with his antics.
Buffy stopped abruptly and groaned out loud. Colossus hurried up to her side, "What? Are you alright?" he asked with concern.
"No, damnit!" Buffy said angrily, half of her anger from the heat, "I just realized I lost my scythe! My Slayer's scythe! Damn, I killed a lot of really evil things with that! It was kinda like a souvenir from the First."
"It'll show up." Colossus assured Buffy and they started moving again.
After fifteen minutes of walking, Buffy decided that if she didn't do something to keep her mind off the unbearable heat she'd keel over. So she decided to pick the first song that popped into her head.
"Poor Peter Parker was pitiful. Couldn't have been any shyer. Mary-Jane still wouldn't notice him even if his hair was on fair." Where the hell had that come from? Colossus seemed to be thinking the same thing as Buffy, "But one day he went to that science lab! That mutated spider came down… oh and now Peter crawls over everyone's wall and he's swinging all over town!"
Buffy humored herself and Colossus by singing that song, one of Dawn's personal favourites. By the end of it, even Colossus was smiling.
"Sling us a web, you're the Spider-Man! Sling us a web tonight. 'Cause we all sure could use a hero now and we think you'd do all right." Buffy finished.
"What was that?" Colossus asked, smirking despite herself.
"That was "Weird Al" Yankovic's Ode to a Superhero. It was my sister's favourite song." Buffy frowned as she thought about Dawn. She missed her sister terribly.
"You have a sister?" Colossus asked and Buffy looked at him over her shoulder.
"Yeah. Do you?" Colossus didn't answered and Buffy got the feeling that was all her was going to tell her. Buffy knew that there were some things you wanted to keep quiet so she didn't ask anymore.
Buffy stopped abruptly once more and Colossus crashed into her back. They would have tumbled to the ground, if Colossus hadn't managed to steady them.
Buffy was standing at the foot of the skull and she was staring at a big, brown door. Looks like her Slayer instincts had been right. The answer's they were looking for were here. She could feel it.
"We're here." She muttered to Colossus.
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Are ya'all wondering what the hell that song was? It really was a 'Weird Al' Yankovic. It made fun of 'Piano Man' (I forget who wrote. Ellenton John?) and I had it stuck in my head. So tada! It makes a cameo in my story. I figured hey, Spider-Man's kinda like a mutant right? And he even had that crossover with the X-Men series, right? Why not add him in there as a pun (sorta)? ***shakes head*** You really shouldn't ask where my mind wonders when I make these things up. It'll scare you. Anyway please REVIEW and stay tuned for chapter nineteen Bain the Hell Guardian where Buffy and Colossus must fight the guardian of Hell in order to go back to Earth and what's this…? FURIA!?!?!?