Thursday afternoon
They prepared for battle. There had been sightings of the Ubervamp Army, and other demons pouring into town, some species that Buffy had never faced before. Suddenly, all the vampires and demons who had been lying low came out to play. The witches were all meditating, and cleansing their souls, and doing minor protections spells for the girls, and other fighters. Willow did her own spell of protection for Buffy and Dawn, and Kennedy, even if she was fighting in L.A. The three sisters were sitting in a corner, deep in thought, chanting "The Power Of Three will set us free. The Power Of Three will set us free," over and over again under their breaths. Buffy took a moment to look at them almost wistfully, they had such a tight bond between the three of them. The magic was building to a tremendous surge in the room.
At an hour to sundown, Buffy yelled above the din, "Showtime! Everybody get into position! Battle stances, everyone! We've prepared a long time for this, and some will not make it, but let's go down fighting, ok!"
"YEAH!" everybody screamed to Buffy's speech.
Willow, Giles, Xander and the three strongest witches from the three covens present, as well as others helping with the spell went into the cellar, where they sealed themselves in, with major protection spells. Some would be staying there, enhancing the protections spells and wards while the spell was going on, because if the spell failed, the earth was doomed.
L.A.
The magickal force was growing tremendous in the old hotel. Lorne had done a spell so that demons could not harm anyone inside, as well as major protection spells around the cellar door, where the spell would take place. The coven members that had come here, they were limbering up their magic, while Angel and Faith were actually, literally limbering up, they were sparing against each other, trying to get in the last little bit of training.
"Showtime! Everybody get into position! Battle stances, everyone! We've prepared a long time for this, and some will not make it, but let's go down fighting, ok!" They heard Buffy's words, someone had done a verbal telephone type spell, so that the spells would start at the same time to give them more power. The spell castors trooped down to the cellar, where they started setting up their circles.
In two separate basements, eight people sat in circles, four people to a circle, each holding a tarot card. As one, two spells rang out as the leaders started chanting, starting the spell that would either save the world or end it.
"The power of the Slayer and all who yield it. Last to ancient first, we invoke thee. Grant us thy domain and primal strength. Accept us in the power we possess. Make us mind and heart and spirit joy. Let the hand encompass us. Do thy will."
Spiritus...Spirit.
Animus...Heart.
Sophus...Mind.
And Manus... The hand.
We enjoin that we may inhabit the vessel--the hand...daughter of Sineya...first of the ones... We implore thee, admit us, bring us to the vessel, take us now.
"The power of the vampire and all who yield it. Last to ancient first, we invoke thee. Grant us thy domain and primal strength. Accept us in the power we possess. Make us mind and heart and spirit joy. Let the hand encompass us. Do thy will."Spiritus...Spirit.
Animus...Heart.
Sophus...Mind.
And Manus... The hand.
We enjoin that we may inhabit the vessel--the hand...son of the first...first of the ones... We implore thee, admit us, bring us to the vessel, take us now.
The spell was cast, and the castors fell into a sort of trance as their protectors looked on. In Sunnydale, Spike and Buffy's eyes glowed orange, and in Los Angeles, Angel's and Faith's did as well. Spike's and Angel's glowed more, for they were wearing their true faces. The sun set in Sunnydale, and everybody ran out, into the battle. It was like hell had broken out onto the Earth, scum everywhere. They fought the ubervamps in Sunnydale, and they fought the former inhabitants of the city of angels in Los Angeles. They came at them, wave upon wave. The good guys were lost in the tide of the bad. When one was dusted, two more sprang into their place.
L.A.
Angel and Faith walked side by side, seeing but not seeing the carnage around them. They cut down any who decided to face them, but many got out of their way. They found the Beast with no trouble, and they locked into the battle. They had decided that Angel would face the Beast, Faith would be backup, making sure no one interrupted.
Blow upon blow was thrust out, and blow upon blow was blocked. They were now evenly matched. Angel threw a sidekick, the beast countered with a sweep and a punch to the gut. Angel could feel his inner demon, Angelus screaming, tearing inside him to be let out; Angel gave him an inch, knowing that by denying his demon, the spell would fail. Unbeknownst to him, Willow had explained the side effects of the spell to Faith, and she had come prepared for Angelus, if that was what it took.
Slowly the demon inside took control little by little, and Angel started to lose control. He was fighting two battles, one inside, and one outside. He willed himself to hold strong, though it was taking its toll. The two fights were distracting him, he was missing more blows, and he was being hit harder, faster.
"Angel, LET IT GO!" Faith yelled over the battle sounds. Two witches had come over, and put up a protective barrier, so that no one could get in, no one could get out. Faith willed Angel to give up the inner fight, they could fix him later if it came to that. They had the items to do the spell, if only he would let go.
"NO!" Angel yelled. He wouldn't let go, if he did, it wouldn't happen. The deal wouldn't happen. He became angry, and pushed his inner debate away. He focused solely on the Beast, and nothing else. He started gaining the upper hand, he backed the Beast up against the 'wall' and started beating him unmercily. He grabbed him by the horns, and started kneeing him in the face. One of his horns broke off in his hands. He was startled, and the Beast recovered. He jumped over Angel, and landed behind him. Angel spun, and stabbed the horn into the Beast's stomach. He didn't know how he knew, but he just knew that would end him. The Beast screamed in rage, and started to disintegrate. A light shot from him into the sky, and the gray dust that covered the sky went away, and the moon and stars stared down at them.
"Yes!" Angel cried, then walked to the barrier. "Let us out."
"Let them out." The two witches stopped chanting, and the barrier subsided.
"Let's get this over with," Angel said, his voice was all echoey, like Faith's.
They charged into the middle of the fray, both pulling stakes out. The two witches climbed atop a dumpster, pulling out crossbows and bolts, and started picking off vampires on the edges.
Angel and Faith fought back to back, kicking, punching twirling, staking, in perfect rhythm. They were a good team, they had trained for this, and they fought their way over to Cordelia, Fred, Gunn and Wesley, who had been fighting back to back. But they had become swamped, and now Cordelia was being bitten, as well as Fred. Gunn and Wesley, enraged, were surrounded by ten vampires, who were circling them, not letting them get to the girls. Angel staked the vampire feeding off Cordy, while Faith staked the one with Fred. Both girls collapsed, but their rescuers picked them up, and called for a whitelighter. One appeared, and he took the unconscious girls to the hotel, where other whitelighters were trying to heal those brought in. Fleetingly, Angel hoped they had been in time.
Sunnydale
The Ubervamps were out in force, majorly. Buffy and Spike, possessed by the spell, were cutting them down two a minute. They were too strong for the vampires. The girls were holding their own pretty well. Five of them had formed into a circle, their backs facing inward, and were shooting crossbows into the oncoming crowd. Their aims were off somewhat, but they were getting the job done. Wood and Xander and Anya were fighting side by side, working on the demons. They were vastly outnumbered, and they needed backup.
Buffy and Spike were fighting as a team, facing the same vampire, double teaming them. Spike ducked a punch, and Buffy rolled over his back to stake the puncher. She then heard Anya's cries for help, and they ran over, staking three vampires on the way. Spike took on a huge demon, while Buffy took on a polgara demon.
Meanwhile, Riley's troops were fighting military style, some had guns that were modified to shoot wood bullets, while others had tasers, and still more had machine guns. They were working the wheel pattern as well, one guy facing a hostile, while another shot him to bits. Riley was doing one on one combat with a vampire, and he was losing badly, until one of his men threw him a gun, which he made quick work of the vampire. Another platoon of men was on the roofs of surrounding buildings, shooting stakes into the crowd.
The three sisters were holding their own very well. They had done a spell that Phoebe had come up with a long time ago, a smart spell, and had absorbed all the information in the Book of Shadows as well as any books Giles had left lying around, letting them know how to vanquish every demon they came across. They had also spent a full day beforehand in their kitchen, cooking up potions that they thought they might need, and they had them in vials, labeled, ready for use. Piper had gotten one of the witches staying with Willow and the rest of them to take care of her son, so he was safely tucked in under a protective barrier, safe from harm. That gave her and Leo the peace of mind to do what they needed to.
Piper froze another few victims, they found the right potion, and they vanquished. On to the next set of demons. Paige was callings stakes to her with her powers, and shooting them out into dead hearts. The battle seemed to stretch on forever.
Buffy caught a glimpse of a figure outside of the battle, watching. It was herself. She didn't know how the First could do that, but she ran over to the Charmed Sisters, they had planned for the First. She pointed them in the right direction, then went back to the fight. She found that she had more control over herself and her doings than she had against Adam. For a second, she relished in the kill, then she moved on. She swore to the Gods, if there really were such things, that if she was to die again, she was gonna take the whole sodding army of vampires and demons with her, well as many as she could. God, now I'm borrowing Spike's phrases! she thought. She visibly shrugged. A vampire came up behind her, but her senses were on overload, and she felt him before he was in range to hurt her. She snapped back with a back kick, then spun around with the huge ax she was currently holding, and chopped his head off.
"So, luv, how many is that? Bet I can kill more than you!"
"That's oh, fifty." A vampire tried to sneak up behind her, she swung her ax, connecting with his neck, and two of his buddies. "Ok, make that fifty three."
"Bloody Hell!" Spike cried, in mock agony. "And watch where you're swinging that thing!" He rushed off into the crowd, his vampire face grinning, showing all his teeth.
Buffy spied some of the girls, and heard their screams of agony. She ran to them, killing anybody who got in her way. She saw Spike turn, and sprint in her direction as well. She could only find six of the girls, then she saw others, held in the deadly grips of vampires, their blood being sucked out of their veins. Buffy felt herself harden, and at ten yards she jumped into a flying summersault, unleashing a flying roundhouse kick at the first vampire, hitting him in the back of the head. He dropped the girl in surprise, and Buffy stared into the hazy gaze of Dawn. She felt her fight drain out of her, as she stood there in shock.
Spike ran towards her, but he was too late, she was hit hard by a head butt to the stomach, and Buffy felt all her air leaving her in one quick stream. Spike grabbed the vampire, and with the ax Buffy had dropped, he tore into him, beating him within an inch of his undead life, then staking him with the wooded handle of the ax, which went straight through him.
By this time, Buffy had gotten up, and had summoned a whitelighter. He had Dawn in his arms as he orbed out. Buffy turned to the other vampires, a few holding girls, her girls.
Her blood boiled, her anger reached a fevered pitch, and she started hitting one with everything she had. One by one, as she beat on them, they dropped the girls, and after she found a moment, she checked their pulses, but there wasn't one. She started mentally beating herself up over it, because it was her fault that she froze when she saw Dawn.
A vampire came up behind her, she wasn't paying attention, and he backed her against a wall in the ally where she stood. She was about a mile from the house, where the battle had originally started. She was getting her brains knocked out of her, when Wood came to the rescue, looping a wire around the vampire's neck, and pulling for all he was worth. The vamp finally dusted, and she expressed her thanks.
"Buffy, I know that your blaming yourself for the deaths of those girls back there, but worry about it later. Worrying about it now will just get you killed."
"Thanks," she said again, as they were jumped by five more vampires. Three went after Buffy, two after Wood. They started fighting side by side, and Buffy was reminded of a night earlier this year, when she had found herself in an ally as well, thinking that Wood had set her up. She now thought how wrong she had been. She focused once again on the vampires around her, as she saw more streak into the ally, attracted by the sight of otherwise overwhelming odds. Overwhelming if she wasn't the slayer, if she wasn't under the influence of major magic.
L.A.
Angel heard Faith beside him muttering under her breath.
"What!" He yelled over the din.
"I'm just keeping track of how many I've slayed, I challenged B to a contest before we left."
"Oh." He shook his head, wondering why he should be so surprised at that. Buffy was the most unorthodox slayer he had ever met, but Faith was in very close second place. "So, then how many?"
"Twenty…" she staked another vampire "four." He saw the smile on her face, and knew that she loved the kill like he used to, as Angelus. He wondered if she had missed it while in prison, its not like they arrest vampires on a regular basis.
He turned his attention to the vampire in front of him, a girl of about twelve. He felt bad for her, and her family, but he had a duty. He grabbed her by the hair, and threw her against a building. He then rushed up, grabbed her once again, and started slamming her against the building. A child, no older than ten jumped onto his shoulders, and started pummeling him in the head. He snarled, and let go of the girl with one hand, reached behind him, and brought the child off his back. He then smashed their heads together, dropping them in the process, pulled out a stake, and staked each of them in turn. He wondered how Buffy was doing. He looked up at the moon, for a split second, and then turned his attention to another vampire, who was charging him. He sidestepped him easily, and shot out his leg, tripping the vampire, sending him flying against the chain link fence. He smiled at the sound, and then moved in for the stake.
Gun and Wesley were fighting side by side, and they finally had gotten a rhythm down. Gunn stopped wishing for his crew, and Wesley stopped wishing of another watcher, as they trapped a vampire in between them, Wesley holding him, while Gunn punched. After Gunn got tired of this, it was so easy, he whipped out a stake, and staked the vampire. Wesley, now holding thin air and dust, wiped dust off his shirt.
"One down, another fifty or more to go," Gunn said, smiling, he relished this action after so much talk.
Cordelia and Fred were trying to get back out into the fray, they had been healed, and though they felt weak, they were pissed off, and wanted revenge.
"Just let us go!" Cordelia cried, enraged.
"No, drink this! This will help you." A witch came up to them, handing them each a cup of some foul smelling brew.
"You expect me to drink this? Well, lady, you've got another thing coming!" Cordelia fumed. Lorne came over and grabbed her, pinning her to him, while the witch poured the brew down her throat. She coughed and sputtered as Lorne set her down onto the couch.
"Now, do we have to force you?" The witch asked Fred. She willingly drank the contents of the cup in one gulp.
"Sorry, Cordelia, but they need you out there, and I was told not to let you out of here, until you drank that. Angelcake's orders."
"What's it do?" Cordelia asked, after she caught her breath.
"Taints your blood for awhile. Vampires won't want a taste of you, now. Sort of a repellant."
"What's in it?" Fred asked, intrigued.
"Lots of stuff, including garlic, though the myths aren't totally true, you eat enough garlic, you start smelling, and vampires won't come near you," The witch explained.
"Now can we go?" Cordelia asked, mad at the world, mostly at the witch, and Lorne for forcing her to drink it.
"Give it ten minutes to work, then you can."
"Ten minutes!"
"Yes, or I can knock you out, and you can stay right here."
"Fine," Cordelia huffed, not used to not getting her own way.
Connor was having a blast. Vampires kept coming at him from all sides, but they weren't a match for him. He was too fast, too strong, and too smart.
"How come I get all the stupid vampires?" he asked one vampire, after his buddy walked right into Connor's stake, with just a little help.
"You'll pay for that! Brat!"
"I've been called worse," Connor said, taking the offensive, feinting left, going right, throwing a front kick, turning it over at the last minute into a round house kick. Spun ax kick, bringing his heel down on the vampire's skull. The vampire went down, and Connor dropped to one knee, driving the stake through his backbone, into his heart. He dusted almost immediately.
"Just another day in paradise!" Connor smiled.
Sunnydale
Summer's house Cellar
Giles and Willow and Xander stared straight ahead, not blinking, not moving a muscle. Occasionally one would talk, yet they seemed to be talking to thin air. At first the witches were confused, and scared. They had never done such a powerful spell, but after awhile, it became monotonous, and they started chatting about their methods among themselves. The other group of three weren't saying anything, they were just as still as Giles, Willow and Xander, yet they were completely silent. They had been warned that the spells might work differently for every group, so they had no clue what to expect.
Occasionally, Piper's baby, Wyatt, would squeak, and the one tending him would feed him, or change him, or rock him back to sleep. He was barely a bother, and they switched off taking care of him.
"Dawnie!" Willow, Giles and Xander suddenly called, and they became rigid, then they started gasping for breath, doubling over. A few of the watchers started to rush over, but they got pushed away by something, they weren't sure. They tried again, and they hit a barrier, and flew halfway across the room. They looked at one another, uneasy.
Their breathing eased after awhile, and they straightened up, as straight as they'd been before. The watchers shrugged their shoulders, and went to make sure the protections spells were still working, and to replace older ones.
Outside
Friday morning
Spike started to sense the coming of the dawn, and he told Buffy. She then redoubled her efforts, she didn't want this going on for very much longer. If they had to stop for daytime, she didn't know what would happen.
Spike went to the other groups, telling them that sunrise would be in about 4 or 5 hours, and to kill as many as possible. Everybody started fighting harder, faster, and they lost some accuracy because of it, but they trudged on.
They had weakened the number of the army considerably. Before there had been about a thousand, but after fighting all night long, they had diminished to only one hundred left. The good guys were still outnumbered, but they were gaining quickly, and everyone was tiring, except for Buffy and Spike. The spell seemed to give them infinite strength. They toiled on, leaving the vampires to others, and going for the demons, who would not disappear once the sun came up.
They whittled the numbers to 50 vampires, and 150 demons, before some started to disappear. The vampires were crawling down manholes, into the sewers, or running away from battle. The sun would be coming up soon.
Piper called for Leo, telling him to have the Elders do something, or they would so that they could finish once and for all, no waiting for darkness to fall. But before he had orbed out, huge thunderclouds flew overhead, blocking out the sky completely. The rain started coming in torrents, and the vampires returned.
L.A.
The sun was peeking over the horizon, and there were only a dozen vampires left in town. Faith vowed to get them all, but Angel pulled her back, he felt they were needed in Sunnydale.
"But the spell might not hold up!" Faith yelled at him.
"If it was meant to be, then it will hold up, trust me. Gather the others, we're all going to Sunnydale."
"What about sunrise, if it's rising here, it's rising there."
"No, it's not, I don't know how I know that, but I do, it's safe to go to Sunnydale." So they gathered everyone they could, all the slayers-to-be sent to L.A. were dead, except for Kennedy, who was in deep trouble. The Whitelighters couldn't heal her, for some reason, the Elder's wouldn't let them.
The whitelighters ferried them to Sunnydale, and one brought the wounded to the Sunnydale house, at Angel's orders. Gunn and Wesley stayed behind to take care of loose ends, and to find all of their missing. Cordelia, after getting hurt again, was sedated, and left at the hotel, with Lorne looking after her. They couldn't find Connor anywhere.
Sunnydale
"The cavalry has arrived!" Faith yelled, once she was set free from the whitelighters. She pulled out her old knife Mayor Wilkins had given her, Buffy had after some hesitance returned it to her, a strange good luck token. She had also apologized, as well as let her borrow Mr. Pointy, after having her swear to put him to good use. She decided that once she found Buffy, she would return Mr. Pointy.
Angel looked out upon the scene in front of him, demon and human corpses littered Buffy's front yard, and the street in either direction. He followed the sounds of the battle, staking the odd vamp who was just finishing a kill. He kept turning over blonde corpses, hoping against hope that it wasn't Buffy. He didn't find her. There were more dead males than girls, so he figured that this had been Riley's territory. And it looked like he lost. There was nobody around.
He walked down the street, his duster billowing out behind him, with Faith by his side, and the others following them. He used his senses, and they soon came upon the edges of the battle. The other spread out, helping anyone they could find, staking vampires, and taking on demons.
"Aw, this sucks, we're the cleanup crew!" Faith pouted, then smiled. "I LOVE IT!" she yelled, her head tipped back towards the sky, then she went into fighter mode, taking on a defensive pose, then switching instantly to an offensive one, streaking into the mob. She, after a few minutes, was leaving trails of dust in her wake.
Angel found Spike with a wooden bat, its tip was flaming. He was setting every vampire in his range on fire, and loving it.
"Hey, pyromaniac, save some for me, ok?" he heard Buffy call, and his heart soared. She wasn't dead! He then dived into the fray, taking his joy out on a couple of vampires. Buffy saw him, and he smiled, she smiled back, then pointed towards the Charmed Sisters, who were surrounded by demons, and they had run out of potions. He nodded, and they rushed over, she doing a flying flip, he a standing summersault into the surrounding demons.
After they had dealt with the twenty or so demons, they split paths, Buffy going for a few demons harassing a few of the girls, Angel for a crew of vampires surrounding Anya. He dispatched them easily.
Angel left him to go fight some other vampires, heading away from battle, down an ally. He snuck up on them, and staked one, before the others turned.
"So, where are you guys off to?" Angel asked. "Sneaking off because you're losing? Nah, never, vampires have more pride than that!"
"Stupid human!" one cried.
"Sorry, wrong, but you do get the consolation prize, going to hell!" Angel said, as he vamped, and jumped on the speaker. He ducked punches, and blocked kicks, and threw out some of his limbs, catching one guy in the stomach, another one in the groin. He was greatly outnumbered, about 15 to one, then he staked the one who'd talked, 14.
"This is just sad, There were 16 of you, and only one of me, and I'm still gonna win!" Angel said, still in euphoria that Buffy had managed to survive. She was still alive, he still had everything in the world to fight for, and for once, he'd do it with a song in his heart.
"You're a traitor to your kind!"
"But not to my heart." They fought a little longer, but the Angel began to get bored. He staked a couple more.
"Is this all you got? Come on, I get a better workout fighting little human girls," he taunted. Two vampires were coming at him, one from each side. He felt the bonds loosen around his arms, and two stakes fell into his hands, he shoved them into the two, smiling at the surprised looks on their faces. The others ran away, but Tthey were shot down with crossbows before they reached the end of the ally. He turned to see Anya, and Wood with crossbows in their hands.
"Nice shots," he called. They nodded, then ran back into the fight.
"Your part in this has been fulfilled. Now we shall fulfill ours," a voice stated. Angel wasn't sure where it came from, it seemed to come from everywhere at once. There was a flash of lightning, then he could feel himself changing.
Once he felt the changes stop, he looked down at himself, in awe. Just then, he was hit in the head from behind by a vampire. He felt himself falling, and the world went black.
Buffy looked around her, and she saw that there were very few demons or vampires left, lots of dust, and lots of corpses, but not too many standing. She saw none of the girls still standing. She saw Spike, and Faith, and Anya, Wood, and some she didn't know from L.A. She saw the Charmed Ones, and the blue lights of Whitelighters orbing in and out. She looked for Angel, she knew he was here, but she didn't see him. A vampire rushed her.
"I'm in no mood," she stated, staking him. She went in search of Angel.
She found him on the ground, in an ally, with a vampire standing over him. She staked the vampire, and called a whitelighter for Angel. One came, and she told him to put him in her room. Then he was gone. She then let the power of the spell go, and lucky she was on the ground, because she fainted.
In the basement, Willow, Xander and Giles all slumped over, and when the witches rushed over, more cautious this time, nothing stopped them. They woke up momentarily, bubbling with energy. They watched the other three witches slump over, and knew the spell was over, the battle was over, and they had won. They guessed that the same thing had happened in L.A.