Night Falls

Notes: Thanks for the reviews. I think there will be two chapters left, depending on how much inspiration strikes me for the next.

Previously:

"You all know where you're supposed to be," Buffy said slowly. "You all know what you have to do. We've been training for this. Now's the time. I know that you can do it. I have faith in all of you. Like I've said before, everyone isn't going to come back. I don't know who's going to die…maybe I will. I don't know. But I do know that it's been both an honor and a privilege to know and teach all of you," Buffy said, glancing into the faces of the people she loved. Setting her resolve, she said firmly, "Let's go to war."

Chapter Fifty-Two:

The burned shell of the high school stood before them, black and ominous against the westering sun. Though a few rays were still distinctly visible, the light had faded enough that Spike was able to join them, standing in the midst of the Potentials with the medallion Buffy had given him hanging around his neck. Despite the warm breeze, Hailey shivered. She had never before been more keenly aware of the role of the Slayer. She did not know if she would walk out of that building when morning came, but she knew that she had to walk into it without any hope or any reason to believe that she would survive. She could feel evil pouring out of every crevice of the building. Its very foundations were rooted in darkness. The overwhelming urge to run forced its way into her heart. She could leave Sunnydale and never look back. But she knew that she could never leave the people gathered around her. They had become her family.

"I don't know if I'm ready for this," Willow whispered as she slipped one of her hands into Hailey's.

"I don't know if I am either," Hailey admitted.

"So what do we do about that?" Willow questioned.

"Just take one step at a time," Hailey murmured as the group began to move forward. Buffy led them with Faith standing to her right. The blonde Slayer threw open the front door of the school and they filed into the ruined hallway.

Faith gazed around the battered room, its walls charred black from the explosion that had ripped through it. She clearly remembered feeling her life slipping away from her. She shuddered at the thought, repressing the memory. But the feeling lingered in her heart. Even now, as she stood next to Buffy, the words that she had whispered to her lover to belay her fears rang false as they echoed through her mind. She was terrified of dying and she was terrified that they would fail. "I hate this place," she muttered. Buffy looked over at her sharply, but her gaze softened when she saw the fear in Faith's eyes.

"Bad memories?" She asked.

"You have no idea," Faith replied. Her foul memories of the high school did not stop with the day of the explosion. The building may have been new, but it had been built on the very place of the old one. Faith possessed many bad memories of her first year in Sunnydale; some were obvious, others were less. As time wore on, even the simplest of memories were painful to her. She could remember training with Buffy in the days before she had turned against her fellow Slayer. They had connected in a way that she had never connected with anyone. She could feel the other girl's every move. They had both been happy then. It seemed as though her happy memories caused her more pain than the sad ones. Faith did not understand why, but she knew that she never wanted to set foot in that building again after the battle was over.

"Okay, guys," Buffy said lowly, turning to face the group of forty or so people gathered tightly in the tiny hallway. "We split up here. For those going forward, the battle is going to be hard. But just imagine how good it will feel to walk away victorious when it's over. For those staying behind," she said, stopping to look at Giles, Willow, Hailey, Xander, Anya, Andrew, and Dawn, "we'll see you all again very soon."

But even as she spoke the words, Buffy had a sudden moment of doubt. She looked into the faces of the people she loved the most and feared that she would never see them again. She saw the same fear mirrored in their eyes. They were all walking a thin line between debilitating terror and foolish bravery. She could see them straying to one side or the other. But when she looked into Willow's eyes, she felt comforted, for there was no fear in the witch. Willow smiled softly at Buffy. She remembered when Buffy had first arrived in Sunnydale. Willow had only had two friends: Xander and Jesse. But Jesse had been killed by a vampire. Buffy had become one of her best friends, guiding her through difficult times in her life, and supporting her when she needed a helping hand.

Willow had given Buffy all of the support that she could give, in her own fashion. Now Buffy was asking her to give the most, but she knew that she could do it. She strengthened her will and all doubts and fears fled from her mind. She knew that many horrible things could happen that night; she could lose some of the people that she loved the most. But she would survive and she would be strong, just like Buffy needed. Buffy turned away, leading Faith and the other girls further down the hallway. The last, lingering ray of the sun suddenly shot through one of the windows, lighting the company as they departed. But the light failed and they were enveloped in shadow. Finally, when Willow could no longer see them, she turned to the remaining group and smiled. "Let's find a classroom that's mostly intact. We'll set up there."

Hailey watched her girlfriend walk a few paces ahead. She had been given two tasks to perform that evening. She was to protect Willow from any demons that might escape the Hellmouth during the battle and she was to do whatever necessary to prevent Willow from turning evil again. The words 'whatever necessary' lingered in her mind. She had made a promise to the Coven to kill Willow if she lost control, but as she watched her lover walk away, she knew that she would never be able to keep that promise. "Are you coming?" Willow asked, turning back for her when she noticed that Hailey was no longer at her side. Hailey nodded and joined her.

After choosing a secondary hallway that branched off to the left from the main corridor, they found a suitable room in which Willow and the Coven could perform the spell. Willow was holding the Scythe, the weapon that Faith and Hailey had discovered in a secret room in the vineyard. Caleb had obviously been protecting it for a reason. Hailey was unsure why Willow had taken the Scythe instead of Buffy, but it was necessary to complete some portion of the spell. Hailey closed the door behind them after everyone had filed into the room. Anya and Xander stood nervously to the side. Andrew and Dawn were standing by the windows. Giles joined the Coven in forming a circle around Willow, who had taken a seat in the center of the room.

Dawn looked out of the window. Night was swiftly falling on Sunnydale. The sun had vanished completely from sight. Its rays no longer lit the horizon in pale red. The stars were shimmering in the light of the moon, which was climbing in the sky. Dawn felt like the entire world had slammed to a halt. When they had been walking to the high school, with the dying sun fading from view, she had noticed that everything was empty. The residents of Sunnydale had fled during the day, after the vampire attack of the previous evening. Front doors were left swinging open and cars had been abandoned in the streets. The bodies of those killed by the Turok-Han still lay where they had been struck down in the streets. Dawn wondered if anything could ever wash away the blood that still ran in the gutters, pouring into the sewers. She supposed, with time, every injury to the earth faded. Rains would come and cleanse the evil from the land. But until it did, reminders would linger everywhere. She wondered if anyone would come back once the First had been destroyed. She doubted it.

The Coven lit candles around Willow. They lit the room in flickering shadows that danced on the faces of those sitting in the circle. Hailey found that she could no longer stand still. Her Slayer senses were warning her of the evil sitting just below her in the Hellmouth. The Slayer in her screamed at her to join the fight, to help the others. But she knew that she had to stay. She paced back and forth in front of the locked door, part of her hoping that the demons would try to break in so that she could show them the meaning of fear, and another part of her dreading any battle that might arise, which would put her lover at risk.

Hailey could feel energy mounting. Something was happening below them. The army of the First Evil was preparing to leave the Hellmouth. They were going to march on the Slayers. But they did not know that the Slayers had already come to them. "Start the spell," she instructed. "You have to start it now."

Willow looked up at her with concern. She looked into Hailey's eyes and saw something there that she had never before seen. Her eyes seemed to gleam golden for a split second, before they returned to the oceanic blue to which Willow had become accustomed. Willow nodded and gripped the Scythe tightly. The Coven members, with Giles joining them, slowly began to chant in an ancient language that Hailey could not identify. Hailey watched with awe. The words wrapped around her. She did not know what they meant, but she knew that they were invoking some great power – a power at which Willow was the center.

Energy flowed before Hailey's eyes, varying in shades and color. She looked over at Andrew, Xander, and Anya, but none of them seemed to notice. Dawn's eyes met hers and she knew that the teenage girl, possessing thousands of years of mystical energy, could see the swirling colors as well. Dawn smiled as she her eyes followed the energy. It took direction and began to flow directly into Willow. Willow closed her eyes the moment the first beam of energy slammed into her chest. Hailey stepped forward, concern flooding her features. Willow's mouth opened and she gasped. "Come on," Hailey murmured to herself. She could see dual forces pulling at Willow. Evil and good rioted in her heart, shaking the very foundations of her soul. The candles flickered. Amelia looked up at Willow. Everything depended on the witch maintaining control.

"You can do this," Hailey whispered. "You can do this." The last rays of energy poured into Willow. Suddenly, her eyes snapped open and they were pure white. The essence of the Scythe passed into her. The very life of the Slayer line lay in her hands. The Coven had said that the Scythe was an ancient weapon forged by a group known as the Guardians. They had been mystics, who had sensed that the Council would fall into corruption and greed. Passing their strength into the Scythe, they ensured that the Slayer line reminded unmolested for centuries. Now Willow was going to change that. Willow's flowing red hair suddenly began to fade, becoming the purest white that Hailey had ever seen. It was so dazzling that she had to look away. The light surrounding Willow pierced everything and lit the room as if the noonday sun had suddenly burst open before them.

Then the light vanished. Willow fell backwards onto the floor, panting heavily. Her hair and eyes returned to their normal colors. Hailey rushed forward, kneeling beside her lover, and touching her arm gingerly and hesitatingly. "Willow?" She asked anxiously. Willow looked up at her and smiled.

"It's done," she said.

Hailey grinned. "You are a goddess," she said in awe.

"And they're all Slayers," Willow said, out of breath. The spell had taken its toll on her, that much Hailey could see easily.

"We added a little something else, as well," Amelia said, rising to her feet.

"What?" Hailey asked in confusion.

"Willow is a tremendous source of power, but so is someone else in this room," Amelia said as her eyes fell on Dawn. "You," she spoke to the girl, "are the Key. You have so much energy inside of you, yet, you've never been able to access it. Now you can."

"What do you mean?" Dawn asked. When the spell had reached its crescendo, Dawn had felt something stir in her. Her fingers were tingling.

"You have great power inside of you. I'm sorry we didn't have time to teach you how to use it properly. But we thought that if we shared this part of the plan with anyone else, other than those people performing the spell, Buffy would object."

"I can fight?" Dawn asked. Her body felt more alive than it ever had. Her muscles screamed to be used and stretched.

"You can fight," Amelia acknowledged, smiling. "But your power lies not in the ability to attack, but the ability to protect."

"Take this to Buffy," Willow instructed, holding the Scythe out to Dawn.

"Make sure the Slayers come out alive," Amelia added. Dawn reached out with a trembling hand and gripped the Scythe. She could feel power surging through her and she smiled. Finally, she would be able to help her sister. Hailey watched the young girl run from the room, directing her steps towards the cafeteria, where Buffy and the others had descended to the Hellmouth.

"How long are we going to have to wait?" Xander asked.

"If they're going to come, I wish they would just do it already," Anya grumbled. "Waiting around to die is worse than fighting for your life."

The ground suddenly shook beneath their feet. Hailey's eyes shot towards the door. She could sense evil rising about her. The vampires were coming. "I don't think we're going to have to wait much longer."

………………………………….

Buffy, Faith, and Spike led the Potentials down the stairs in the cafeteria that led to the basement. With each step, Buffy felt a sense of dread growing in her mind. They were walking into impossible odds. Yet, she felt that they would walk out again – at least some of them. Carefully maneuvering through the darkness of the basement, they finally reached the Seal, where Spike had been hung and nearly drained of blood. "The Seal leads to the Hellmouth," Spike said, his voice shattering the deathly silence that had fallen over the group.

"How do we open it?" Faith asked.

"Blood," Spike answered. Faith removed a knife from her belt and slit open the palm of her hand. Squeezing, she allowed several drops of blood to fall onto the Seal. Buffy and Spike did the same. Suddenly, it began to slide open. A dank, decaying smell rose from the pitch blackness that lay below them.

"I can't see anything," Buffy said, peering into the hole.

"I know a solution for that," Faith said. Buffy looked over at her questioningly, but Faith simply smiled. Stepping forward, she let herself fall.

"I hate it when she does that," Buffy muttered. "You okay?" She whispered harshly.

"It's not that big of a drop," Faith answered. "But hurry up, it's kinda creepy down here."

"Aw," Spike said jokingly. "Is Faithy afraid of the dark?"

"What did you just call me?" Faith called from below.

"Guys," Buffy interrupted. "Now is not the time to bicker."

"We're coming," Spike said laughingly. Buffy rolled her eyes and dropped down into the hole. Spike waited until the other Potentials had done the same before he sighed and let himself fall.

Buffy's eyes quickly adjusted to the darkness. Stepping forward, she led them through a wide passageway, until they came to a sudden drop. Looking down, Buffy could see the Turok-Hans. Their fell voices lingered in the air, harshly yelling, as they prepared for war. "Fuck me," Faith muttered beside her. Buffy looked down at their enemies with despair. There were thousands of them.

"You worried yet, love?" Spike asked.

Buffy looked over at him and sighed, "Maybe just a little."