From the Desk of Lizzy Rebel

I know, this is late. Late. Late. Late. I am sorry. But for those of you who read my Jak IV story, you know why all my updates have been so late. If you don't… well… let me just say if it had been possible I would have updated earlier. So enjoy this chapter and I promise to update the next chapter much earlier!

Chapter Forty One- The Slayer Who Did Not Walk Alone

Faith glared at Furia as they moved into an empty area where they would not be disturbed during their fight with one another.

"Ready, Slayer?" Furia asked.

For an answer, Faith unleashed a battle cry and lunged, bringing her sword down upon Furia's. Furia grinned and pushed it away. They circled each other like boxers, their swords positioned between their eyes.

Furia was the one to lunge first this time. She rushed forward, raising her sword high. She gasped in pain as Faith kicked her in the stomach. As she fell back, Faith took the moment of opportunity and moved in for the kill. Furia saw it and kicked her legs, causing Faith to back away so she didn't get hit.

Then Furia leaped and instead of using her sword she reared her fists back. Faith hadn't been expecting that move and the punch landed squarely in her jaw. Faith gave a curse and backed away. She glared up at Furia and wiped the blood off of her lip.

"Not bad," Faith drawled, licking cautiously at her banged up lip. "Not bad… for a demon." Furia smirked and they lunged forward at the same time.

Clang. CLANG! Their swords met, pulled away and met again. They pushed against one another, trying to force their foe to the ground. They gritted their teeth and they pushed all of their weight against their swords, trying to gain the higher ground. But neither showed any signs of faltering.

They pushed away because the battle of wills was not working. The Slayer and the demon looked at one another and lunged together. Furia sent her attack for Faith's legs. Faith howled and jumped over the sword and brought her own down to Furia's back. Furia saw it and pushed herself to the ground. She rolled away and jumped to her feet.

Faith grinned at her and raised her aching arm. She pointed two fingers, palm up, at the demon and then curled them inward in a suggestive, come-hither fashion. Furia snarled at her and lunged, fueled by hatred.

Faith moved out of the way, causing Furia to fall forward. But what the Dark Slayer hadn't been expecting was Furia to counterattack so quickly. Even as she was falling forward, Furia wheeled around and hit Faith's sword with her own. Faith gasped as the cool metal of her sword left her hand and clanked off into the distance.

Furia stood and smirked at Faith as she looked franticly around for her weapon. As Furia approached Faith the Dark One stopped.

"What now, Slayer? I believe you've lost your weapon," Furia said and flexed her own.

"Catfight," was all Faith said as she lunged at Furia. The demon hadn't been expecting that and as Faith's weight made contact with Furia's body she dropped her own sword and they feel to the ground.

They rolled and rolled and rolled. Dirt caught in their hair as they fought on pure animal instincts. Faith grabbed a fistful of Furia's hair and yanked back as hard as she could while Furia wracked her nails down Faith's face. They howled in pain as the continued to roll around in the muck and the grim. Their legs twined as they tried to get an advantage over one another.

Then Faith had it.

She rolled over once more, but instead of letting Furia force their bodies to roll again she braced her legs against the ground. With blinding motions, Faith pinned Furia to the ground and wrapped her arms around her neck. Furia gasped in pain and her struggles increased, but Faith never wavered.

She drew Furia head up into the air and felt a twisted grin form on her face.

"See ya," she said and twisted Furia's neck. Furia screamed in pain but the howl fell on deaf ears. Tighter and tighter Faith twisted.

Until there was a snap and Furia was limp.

When Faith was sure the demon was no longer breathing she pushed herself from the ground. She spat once on her opponent for good measure and then moved away from her. In the distance she heard Willow calling for her, screaming that they needed to retreat. She wondered what she had missed.

--&--

While Faith had been fighting Furia, the others had been drawn into a heavy battle. The heat of bodies and the smell of sweat and blood filled the air.

Rogue gritted her teeth as sharp pain welled at her arm. She wheeled around and slammed her stake into the face of her enemy Tora-Kone. It howled and turned to dust. Rogue felt a grin spread across her face.

"Take that," she mumbled.

There was another growl behind her and Rogue wheeled around and faced the Tora-Kone with a grim face. Their fists met and their legs clashed. The Tora-Kone's head reared back and was brought down on Rogue's own. Stars burst in her vision for a moment before she recovered. The Tora-Kone reached out and grabbed her arms. Rogue glowered at it as she pressed her legs against it stomach. She then pushed herself off its stomach and jumped into the air. She turned and kicked its face while in mid-air. The Tora-Kone cried out and slumped to the floor. Rogue bent over it and brought her stake down on its chest.

Gasping for breath Rogue pushed herself back onto her feet. She drew in deep breaths and turned to face her next foe. Only this time it had a head start on her. She watched with sickening horror as the Tora-Kone brought its nails down on her stomach…

Only to be blocked by Gambit as he lunged in front of Rogue. Just as the talon-like fingers met his stomach, Gambit pressed his stack into its chest. As he fell against Rogue, the Tora-Kone burst into dust.

"Guess we're even now, mon chere," Gambit said as he slumped against her. Rogue gasped at his weight and pressed her hands under his armpits to keep standing straight. "Oui, dat tickles."

But Rogue wasn't listening to him. Her eyes were on the bleeding wound in his stomach. Dark red spread like a virus over his clothes. The crimson tide splashed onto her uniform and traveled down her legs. Tears came into her eyes.

Gambit saw the tears. "It's bad, ain't it, chere?"

Rogue looked at him sadly and had nothing to say to him. Nothing except, "Oh, Gambit…"

"You know, my real name's Remy. I've always wanted you to call me dat," Gambit said in a strange, far away voice. His eyes darkened. "I know you're real name's Marie. Magneto told me. I always thought Marie was a very pretty name."

"Remy, ya'll be okay," Rogue said and refused to admit to even herself that it had to be a lie. There was so much blood…

"I don't think so," was the Gambit's answer.

"Ya… ya can't die," Rogue said ferociously. It suddenly became very important that he didn't die and finally, finally, she knew why. And it was bittersweet realization.

She was in love with him. The love had happened so fast, so fierce that she hadn't been able to define it. Until now.

Gambit saw the change in her eyes and almost sighed. Instead, he closed his eyes and took in a deep, steadying breath. "'Bout time you saw it, ma petite."

"Ah love ya, ya moron," Rogue said through her tears.

Gambit smiled at her as if to say 'I know' and said in a weak voice, "I know dat, Rogue… Marie. Je vous aime, aussi." Then he went limp against her. Rogue cried out and dragged Gambit away from the battle, trying to protect him.

She dragged him towards Willow, Xander, Tabitha and Andrew who were fighting courageously nearby.

Willow turned when she heard them approaching. As she saw Rogue's face and Gambit condition, her eyes grew sad. "Oh, Rogue…" she said softly.

Rogue collapsed to the floor, Gambit's body weighing her down. Tears fell from her eyes and slanted across her cheeks. She propped Gambit's torso against her and kneeled over his body, trying to stop the bleeding by pressing her hands against his wound.

"There's so much blood, Willow," Rogue whispered dejectedly.

Willow bent down and examined Gambit's body. She looked at Rogue and tried to look hopeful. "He's still breathing, Rogue. All we have to do is get some medical supplies."

"Can't you just heal him?"

"Not with that kind of wound… and I'm already drained. It wouldn't be enough—" Then Willow gasped suddenly and snapped her head up. "BUFFY! Buffy's doing it! Everyone fall back! The plan is in motion! FALL BACK!"

Everyone who was battling turned to face the screaming Willow. Scott made the motion with his arm to fall back and everyone obeyed. Lance was the first one to reach Willow and he used his powers to push any Tora-Kone trying to attack away. Dana and her fellow Slayer arrived but Rogue noticed that two were missing, Charlotte and the one named May. Had they fallen?

Shibita and her half-demons made their way towards the Wicca with Logan amongst them. Shibita was shouting something at Logan, sounding like 'if this fails…', when she turned around to make sure all of her people were running towards Willow. She had lost so many already in this battle, losing more in a retreat would be shameful.

That was when it happened.

From behind her a Tora-Kone appeared. It wrapped a hand around the top of her head and yanked her hair back. Shibita's head fell back with pain as the Tora-Kone rear its hand back and plunged it deep into Shibita's back. The half-demon screamed out as the Tora-Kone's mighty hand burst forth from her stomach. Her eyes glazed and she slumped to the ground.

Logan heard her scream and wheeled around in time to see her hideous death. He howled and lunged forward, baring his claws. He hacked at the Tora-Kone until it was nothing more the dust. Then he bent down to look at Shibita. He realized there was nothing he could do for her, she was dead, so he grabbed her sword and ran towards Willow and the others, never glancing back at the fallen warrior.

--&--

Colossus's arm throbbed with the effort it took to dodge Jake's attacks. He was a strong opponent to be sure. There were no signs of weakness in his eyes as he brought his sword down on Colossus's again and again and again.

Out of the corner of his eyes he saw Kitty and Sidney trying to hold their own. Next to them some invisible force was dusting vampires. Colossus guessed that would be the ghosts. But he could only tear his gaze away from Jake for a fraction of a second. Then his attention was drawn back to the man.

"Ya ready to die, boy?" Jake demanded.

Further off, Buffy was having her own mess load of trouble. Deltoramina was not only huge but powerful and his talons could cut her open in a second. Her scythe did little to penetrate his scaly skin and she had yet to even make a scratch on his red flesh.

"Damnit! Damnit! Damnit!" Buffy chanted as she dodged Deltoramina's deadly claws. The talon slashed her arm, deep, and drew blood. She gritted her teeth and fell to the floor clutching her wound.

"I told you girl! You cannot defeat me. You are nothing more then a mere mortal while I am a god!" Deltoramina thundered, moving over to her. He raised his foot to crush her but Buffy rolled away.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Buffy muttered, reaching for her scythe and ignoring the throbbing pain in her arm. In the back of her mind she realized that it was getting closer and closer to the time to activate the plan.

Not yet, though. I'm not finished with him, Buffy thought and lunged forward with her scythe, raising it above her head. She brought the scythe down on his arm and jumped away when it did little to harm him. It was almost time.

Colossus swung his legs and kicked Jake hard in the sheens. Jake cursed and backed away, bumping into the platform on which Jean slept. He growled at Colossus and lunged forward, preparing to delivery the finishing blow.

Jean groaned and fluttered her eyes open, as if awakening from a spell. She pushed herself up and looked around. Her eyes widened at what she saw. Colossus fighting Jake, Buffy fighting a horrible red-skinned creature, and Sidney and Kitty fighting vampires.

What had happened?

Then she saw Jake and Colossus moving in for the kill. Jake kicked Colossus in the stomach and the big man fell to the floor. Jake grinned and loomed over him, preparing to bring his sword down on Colossus's stomach.

Jean screamed and lunged forward; using what little powers she still had to lift Jake slightly in the air. Jake howled and turned to look into her eyes in pure anger. Jean smirked at him, for the first time feeling the need for revenge. Jake's eyes widened as he realized his fate.

To die for the cause…

"Bye-bye!" Jean said and Jake turned to Colossus. Colossus, with an emotionless expression, decapitated Jake on the spot. The body, no longer held up by Jean's power, fell to the floor with a thud. Jean gasped in exhaustion and leaned against the stone platform.

Buffy backed away from Deltoramina as he, in fury at Jake's death, tried to kill the Slayer. She moved to Colossus, who reached out and caught her in his own exhausted arms. Deltoramina moved over to them, the ground trembling as he moved towards the Slayer, her lover and the physic.

Buffy raised her exhausted her head and grinned at the demon king. "NOW!" she shouted in a hoarse but strong voice.

AN: we're almost done and I couldn't be happier. Anyway, next chapter. Deltoramina gets his, Buffy gets revenge, Sidney gets sad, and the ending arrives. That's right; the last chapter in this story is next (not counting the epilogue).

Aaron: well, I hope you enjoyed the fights. I had a fun time with the Furia/Faith battle. The catfight wasn't supposed to be in there, but I thought it would make the fight seem more desperate

Hellmouth2: don't worry about it, darling. I know how work can feel. Though, mostly I just babysit, they're the devil's spawn and ever time I go babysit those kids, I have to take a half-an-hour to pray to God.

JitterBug: don't hate me too much. Enjoy!

Canis187: no, I don't take offensive to it at all. In fact, thank you! I know my grammar is bad in this fic, and English is my first language, but I actually had written this years ago and am just currently remodeling it to post it. You think the grammar's bad, you should see it before I post ;) I wouldn't tell you to use this fact to base my grammar expertise on. May I direct you to my other fics out there? I have several oneshots I'm awfully proud of and I have two WIP, one's a Jak II story and the other's a Prince of Persia story. If you're into those short of things check them out and be amazed by how much I have grown in my writing! Be amazed!