A/N: Nothing to say really. At least the update's not too late, eh?

Chapter Thirty Five- Hope's Last Chance

Sidney walked out of the room where she had been talking with Lance. She smiled as she heard the soft, barely audible, sigh and knew Lance and Kitty had made up. She couldn't help but smile softly at their happiness.

Good luck you guys, Sidney thought and said a silent prayer that they had happiness and love. Then she turned and began to walk down the hall.

As she started to walk, she felt herself grow cold and she saw her breath freeze as it left her parted lips. She shivered and ran her hands up and down her arms to try to gain friction.

She knew what was happening, it had happened many times before. However, had you be walking besides Sidney you would've felt the sudden, odd urge to run far away. You wouldn't be able to explain you urge. You would just know that your heart had started to beat uncontrollably and you were cold, dead cold.

Sidney wouldn't have been able to explain it, either. She had once felt the urge to run as well and she knew why, but it was so hard to put it into words. It was a natural human reaction to fear and hide from something they couldn't understand and this was one thing they couldn't. No human, not during any time, had ever been able to explain this. Not even Sidney herself.

She was in the presence of Death himself.

Then Death was walking at her side, his glaive hitting the ground with a light thud. A normal human wouldn't be able to see Death, like they couldn't see ghosts. However, not even a ghost could see Death. Death was the ultimate phantom, showing himself only to a selected few with the power. Ori wasn't one of those people, and Willow wasn't one of those people.

Sidney was.

She had never understood why everyone thought the Grim Reaper was supposed to look like a skeleton. Death, in fact, looked like a young man with long dark hair and black eyes. He was lean, the body hidden under his long dark robe, and his skin deathly pale. His lips were a blood red and his face handsome. There was an air of innocence about him that was odd. One didn't expect Death to be innocent, but Sidney knew that Death's innocence was meant to represent that no one was spared, even the innocent.

"What do you want?" Sidney snapped. Death only came to her when he wanted to talk about a soul he had recently taken or was about to take. He seemed to enjoy the fact that Sidney could see him, understand him.

Death shrugged and turned his innocent eyes onto Sidney and she winced. "I wanted to talk to you, Sidney. After all, this could be Earth's last stand. Lord Deltoramina is very powerful, almost as much so as the First."

Sidney jerked her eyes up to him, he was so much taller then her that she had to tilt her head to do so. "What do you know about Lord Deltoramina?" she snapped.

Death shrugged and said, "Practically nothing. You know I'm not a demon, more like a spirit, so I don't have much information. All I know was that when he was in power I had to do a lot of overtime. People were dying left and right."

Sidney already knew that. She turned her head and glared up at him. "I don't want you to be here! Get lost." Death blinked at her and then smiled.

"Why? Don't you see, Sidney, and you and everyone else will probably die here. I might as well start preparing to collect your souls," Death explained.

"We aren't going to die." Sidney said, forcing herself to believe it. "Buffy Summers is fighting with us, do you understand that? She's the Slayer. She's changed everything."

Death laughed, it was light like that of a child's. "So sure of that are you? I've meet the Slayer once, you know. Escorted her to heaven." He smirked when Sidney continued to stare. "She's died two times, Sidney. The first for only a few seconds. The second time for days. I brought her to heaven when she defeated Glory the Helldog. She doesn't remember, of course. When one is brought back from Death, one tends to forget about me. But she's faced this before and she's died. Don't think your Slayer's unbeatable."

When Sidney said nothing but her eyes widened, Death went on, "I have been around since the First Slayer. Every one of them has faced a war or more. Some of them have died in the first one, some in the second, and some survived them all, but eventually they die in battle because that is their destiny. It doesn't matter that the Slayer has made every girl-child Potential a Chosen One. The fact of the matter is that she will die in battle, fighting the good fight. Who's to say this isn't going to be the one that takes her?"

Sidney looked away because she knew he was right. "Just leave," she said hoarsely. "I don't want to talk to you, Death. I don't want to see you."

Death shrugged. "Sidney, no matter what you do we can't go away. You'll see us whether you want to or not." Then he turned away. "But I'll leave you seeing that you are bothered by the prospect of death. It's funny, I would've figured you'd be the first one to accept it when you know how better it can be then life." And with that Death disappeared.

Sidney trembling, her body wrecked with them. She backed up and pressed herself against the wall, trying to cease them. She pressed two fingers to her temples and bit her lips to keep from crying. What if Death was right? What if they failed? What if they died? She, though always close to death, was not ready for the afterlife. She wanted to have children, wanted to live her life.

"Bella?" Came Jack's husky voice and she felt his strong hand on her shoulder. She raised her eyes and looked up at him. His dark eyes were filled with concern and she was very aware of how close their bodies were.

"Jack…" she said his name on a sigh.

He looked into her eyes and growled with disgust. "You have been talking to Death again," he accused her. "I keep on telling you that you should ignore him. Death will make you sick inside and out." Jack, like everyone expect the chosen few, couldn't see Death but he had been with Sidney for years and thus knew when she had spoken to Death. She always had this fear in her eyes, like a scared rabbit.

"I didn't ask him to come," Sidney protested weakly and looked away. "He just shows up. I can't do anything about it."

Jack sighed and said, "I still wish there was a way to keep you away from him, mi amor. I would protect you from everything if I could."

Sidney looked up at him with wide eyes. She hadn't expected him to say that. "I… I don't want you to protect me… Jack. I can take care of myself."

Jak leaned his head down so that their lips were inches apart and it caused Sidney's cheeks to heat. "I know," he admitted. "You are a very strong woman, Sidney. I just wish that I could keep you away from the pain… the death."

"I know," Sidney answered, lowering her eyes. "But I guess… sometimes… I… I like having my powers. After all, they helped me meet you."

Jack pressed a kiss to her hair and then raised her head so he could look into her eyes once more. "Sidney, that makes me glad as well. If only I had lived now—"

Sidney pressed a finger to his lips and said softly, "Just kiss me."

He did so, not able to disobey. Their lips met with innocence. The mere brush of skin. It sent shivers down Sidney's spine and she increased the pressure, wanting the feel of him… the taste of him. Jack's hand wrapped around her waist and he pressed her back against the wall, muttering something against her mouth.

She felt his tongue caress her bottom lip and on a moan opened her mouth to grant him access. She ran her hands through his silken locks, loving the feel of it between her fingers. She moaned softly and her fingers tightened in his hair.

But then Jack was pulling away, shaking his head, keeping her pinned against the wall with his hands. "No, Sidney, we can't," he said as if the words hurt him more then anything.

Sidney looked up at him in confusion and blinked. "What? Why… why not? Did I do something… something wrong?" she wondered. Jack saw it in her eyes that she was still new to kissing and muttered a Spanish oath under his breath.

"No, bella… you're a natural." He sighed and released her shoulders. He backed away slowly. "But I cannot ignore the facts. Before, I willing to pretend the obstacles in our way of being together did not exists, but that was only because you were so aware of them, and you could hold me back, stop me from making a mistake. But now that you seem to pretend as well, I have to be the one aware. I'm a ghost, Sidney, stuck on this Earth until I find what it is I still have to do. You are a young woman, ripe with youth and breathing. There is so much for you to do, to see, and I do not want to be the one holding you back."

Sidney bit back tears and wrapped her arms around his neck. She pressed her face into his chest and began to sob. Jack held her and rocked her, running his hands through her hair soothingly.

"I don't care anymore, Jack," Sidney said and raised her head from his chest. "I've tried to pretend I don't love you, but I can't. I can't ignore what I feel anymore then I can my gift. I tried to convince myself it was just a crush because you were so unattainable. But now I know. I love you, Jack, and will have no one else."

Jack pressed his forehead against the top of her head and shook his head. "What chance do we have, Sidney? No one but you and a few others can see me. We can never have future. But… but for what it's worth… I love you, too."

Sidney stood on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. "I don't care about the future, Jack. We might die here and all I care about right now is now. I want to be with the man I love. I want to be with you."

Jack just looked at her in shock, but his arms did tighten around her waist, as if his brain and his heart were fighting a battle and the brain was losing.

"Love me, Jack," Sidney went on softly, knowing she had him as every female often did. "Even if it's just for tonight, let us just have tonight."

For a moment Jack said nothing and Sidney lowered her head in defeat, but then she felt Jack lifted her chin and she was once more looking into his eyes.

"Yes," Jack said and lowered his head to kiss and prove to her just how much he loved her.

--&--

Click.

Click.

Click.

Willow sat in a metal chair in the main computer room of the underground X-Men headquarters. Her face was pale and it was illuminated blue due to the large computer screen in front of her. Off to her side Hank was also clicking at a computer.

She leaned down on her elbow and cupped her chin. Her eyes were glassy from having spent the whole day staring at the computer screen. She had hardly eaten, hadn't slept in over a night, and had spoken to no one.

The thing was, Willow was frustrated. She liked to consider herself a wiz at the computer, an extreme researcher, but she had spent twelve hours researching on Lord Deltoramina and she had come with a whole lotta nothing.

"Damn you Google. Curse you Yahoo. Burn in hell Excite," Willow muttered as she tacked off all the search engines she had used thus far.

She typed furiously on the AOL search engine. She typed in D-E-L-T-O-R-A-M-I-N-A and the screen opened and suggested she check her spelling. Willow growled and banged her fists on the table the computer was propped up on.

Hank tore his gaze away from his own frustrating search and saw Willow lower her head into her hands. "Are you alright? Maybe you should take a break," he offered, looking with worry at Willow's very pale skin.

"No," Willow snapped. "I still have one more search engine to check out and I swear if Ask Jeeves doesn't work I'll… I'll blow this thing up with my magick! Yeah, that'll make me fell better! Usin' the magick!"

"I think you need to get more sleep," Hank muttered, shaking his head as Willow went back to work.

Willow went onto the search engine Ask and typed rapidly. This search engine happened to be her least favourite but seeing as how everything else so far hadn't worked out she didn't see that she had a choice.

She typed in her word and watched with narrowed eyes as the next window downloaded. Her eyes widened as ten websites popped up. She gave out a small triumphant cry and clicked on the first website.

Her eyes widened in horror at watch she saw.

Quickly, while saying little things like 'oh, oh', she read what the website had written down. It was probably the most informative websites she would ever find. It had all of Deltoramina's lore written down. She read each, from his early history to the prophesies of his awakening, with sickening dread. Then she scrolled down at the bottom of the page where it described what Deltoramina would need to fully regenerate and how to stop it.

Willow's eyes were locked on the descriptions of what the demon needed to awaken. "Oh my Goddess," she whispered and hastily pressed print. Hank looked over at her in confusion as Willow grabbed the printed papers.

"Willow?" he called, but Willow shook her head.

"BUFFY!" Willow cried and ran from the room.

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A/N: So what exactly has Willow found? Well, you'll just have to wait until the next chapter for it to be revealed! And trust me it will! Oh, it will! Chapter 36 marks the beginning of the acts and the end of the story. We've still got several more chapters but it's war from here on it, baby!

Hellmouht2: ah, thank you so very, very much, dear! I do try. Usually when I don't update after a long time I try to make my new chapter as good as I can as a… well bribe for not being too angry with me. Guess it works! XD

wllw979: I dunno know, but Lance sure does use that pun A LOT and I could not resist using it. Apparently puns are very in style with evil guys… or video games. Trust me, I play LOTS of video games so I know…