A/N I personally want to thank everyone who supported me throughout this fic. This was my baby and I hate to see it end, but I have other fics that I must concentrate on and new ones to start. I also wanted to say I'm sorry about what happened during the course of this fic (like not being able to post chapters I was working on for example.) but it couldn't be avoided.
Anyway this is the end and I hope you enjoy it, because I enjoyed writing it.
Chapter 27
Not Fade Away Again pt.2
A.K.A.
The Last Night of the Seraphim
Three Hours Later
The sun shone brightly over LA but even the brightness and beauty of it couldn't overshadow the darkness and destruction that took place last night. Out of all of the darkness and rubble from all of the destroyed buildings, someone stood in the mists of it and was laughing.
Tara rocked back, a drop of bloody spittle dripping from the corner of her chin. Doing an easy rainbow kick, she snapped the black horned demons head back, ending the last of the Circle of Blackthorn's army.
"I think I'm sitting in demon piss." Leon laughed out as he let out a low wince. He was hurting all over, especially his ribs.
"That's great Leon." Tara replied sarcastically as she extended a hand and helped him to his feet. Looking around herself, she saw that her family was bruised, battered, and bloody but still alive.
"So that was an apocalypse?" Chris asked as he kicked some green gunk off of his shoes. "And all those demons..."
"Those guys were chumps." Dante said as he leaned against the wall making everybody give him a look. "And I would've killed a hell of alot more of them if blue thunder didn't get in my way." he said as he tapped Illyria on the butt.
"Watch yourself halfbreed." Illyria said as she glared at Dante. "I am Illyria, god king of..."
"Blah, blah, blah." he cut her off. "Whatever you say babe."
If it wasn't for Spike and Tara holding Illyria back, she would've ripped Dante a new one.
"So what do we do now?" Alonna asked as she leaned her bloody head on her brother for support.
"Well, I say we celebrate." Leon said with a wide grin as he put his shotgun over his shoulder. At everyone's look he added. "After we clean up of course."
"That actually sounds like a good idea." Xander added as he dropped a bloody sword to the ground. "We just saved the world so maybe later on tonight we could hook up and go to a club or something."
"That sounds like a good idea dweeb." a voice suddenly said behind them. Turning they saw a curvy figure, wearing a white robe and hood that covered her face, with a holy glow around her.
"Who the hell are you?" Wesley asked as he leveled his shotgun at her. To his surprise she didn't flinch.
"No one you need to be concerned about." she replied as she waved a hand in front of them. An invisible wave struck the gang and made all of them freeze in place. That was all except Tara, Spike, and Illyria. "Your destiny is finally fulfilled." Cordelia said as she took the hood off of her head.
"I do not understand." Illyria said as she cocked her head to the side and looked at her double. "You are my shell. How can you be here?"
"It's a whole time thing, luv." Spike answered as he stayed back in the shadows, to avoid being burned to a crisp. "Anywho she must be 'ere to take my esscence away."
"Actually no." Cordy said as she smiled at him. "You have a destiny of your own to fulfill."
"But..."
"No but's Spike. If I take your future esscence away from your body now then he'll never be the champion that he was meant to be." seeing that he was about to protest, she quickly put in. "Besides, blue over here needs a guide into this world."
"So what are you here for then?" Tara finally asked. Letting out a sigh, Cordelia told her.
"I'm here for Angel." with that she waved her hand and another wave of power hit Tara and suddenly the solid form of Angel stood at her side. As he finally left her body, Tara felt as if a heavy weight had finally been lifted off her shoulders.
"Wait, you can't take him. What about..."
"This was all a part of me and Angel's deal." Cordelia interrupted her. "I'll give him time to say goodbye to you, but we really have to be on our way."
"What deal?" Tara immediately asked Angel as Cordelia, Spike, and Illyria walked further down the alley to give them some privacy.
"Do you remember when we first moved in with your aunt?" he asked as he let out an involuntary sigh. 'Damnit Cordy I really didn't want to let this cat out of the bag.'
"Yeah, what about it?"
"Cordelia came to me and told me why she really sent me back in time."
"Yeah to stop the Circle of Blackthorn. I get that, but what deal was she talking about?"
"I had to take over your body to make sure that you..." he stopped for a second and took in her gaze. It was one of expectance and also a look that told him that she would know if he were lying or not. "It was to make sure that you didn't die." and seeing a strange look in her eyes he still continued. "Cordelia told me that if I didn't join with you, that you would still go on to join in the fight against darkness. And soon after that some idiot boy was gonna come and kill you. I just couldn't sit back and..."
He was silenced when Tara stood on her tiptoes and softly kissed him on the lips.
"So this whole thing was about protecting me?" she asked as he wiped a tear from her eye.
"Yeah." he replied calmly as he pulled her close.
"Alright, Angel it's time to go." Cordelia said as she walked back towards them.
"We just n..n...need more time." Tara stuttered as fresh tears stung at her eyes.
"I'm sorry." Cordy told her honestly. "But me and Angel have an elevator to catch." she said meeting his gaze. "You can still pursue the nightlife if you want Tara, but be warned by tonight's end you'll lose all of your vampiric powers. The extra strength, the speed, everything."
"I understand." Tara replied as she lowered her head, only for a second later for Angel to put his finger under her chin to make her look up at him. Out of a lack of anything to say, he leaned down and softly kissed her on her cheek.
Meeting each others gazes Tara watched, without fanfare, as Angel and Cordelia faded into nothingness.
"Seven years." Tara whispered to herself as a sob escaped her lips. 'Seven years of blood, sweat, and tears and now he's gone.'
"It's gonna be alright luv." Spike said putting a hand on her shoulder. "There's no use cryin' over Captain Forehead, he'll be alright."
"What the hell just happened?" they heard Wesley shouting out. Turning they saw that the whole group had returned to normal and were looking around confused.
"Noth...nothing important." Tara stuttered as she attempted to walk past them, only to fall weakly into Kendra's arms.
"Tara...Tara are you okay?" she heard an assortment of voices ask, as she slipped in and out of conciousness.
"I'm...I'm fine. I'm just exhausted."
"We just kicked the ultimate evil's ass." Gunn said as he twirled his ax around. "I'd say we're more then a little tired."
"I'll take her to me apartment." Kendra told them as she let, Tara lean on her for support. "After we deal with de demon bodies, later on tonight I tink we should go to Carita's to celebrate our victory."
"What demon bodies?" Dante asked, making the group look around. And to all of there mutual surprise, all of the demons that littered the ground were gone. Not even a drop of their blood was even left behind.
"My shell took them..." before Illyria could get her sentence out, Spike bumped into her and gave her a look that said to "be quiet."
"Well whatever happened, it's less work for us." Leon said as he leaned up against a wall.
"I don't know about you guys but I could use a shower." Xander said as he flung some demon gunk off of his arm. "I'll see you guys later on tonight."
And with that said they all looked at each other before going their seperate ways.
Kendra's Apartment
Thirty Minutes later
"Thanks for helping me up the stairs." Tara said, as Kendra opened the door to her apartment. "God, I can't wait to get some rest."
"Believe me, I know how you feel." Kendra replied as Tara let go of her. "Hey what's dat smell?"
As Tara took another whiff of what she thought was stale air, she knew, without the help of her vampiric senses, exactly what it was.
"It's blood." she whispered as Kendra walked out of the entrance hallway and into her living room, where she let out a blood curdling scream. Stumbling behind her, Tara struggled not to vomit as she saw blood covering the walls and the bodies or what was left of it of Amy and Jonathan.
"Noooo...!" Kendra yelled as she fell to her knees and cried out. Just seeing her friends like that did something to Tara inside and at that moment her wounds, fatigue, and even her own feelings no longer mattered.
"Dragon Guanlet's!" she yelled, as a familiar golden light flashed throughout the room, and also giving her a slight power boost. She had seen to much last night and had done so much in the last few years, that made her finally snap. And then to come home and to find some of her best friends... she didn't really want to think about it. Tapping into her magical powers she waited until Kendra turned around to see what her shout was about, before putting her hand on the Slayer's shoulder. "Sleep."
As Kendra fell limply into Tara's arms, she picked her up and carried her over to a clean spot on the floor, before walking over to the phone and dialing 911.
"Yes, I need you to send an ambulance and... a hearse to 1616 Partman Dr. apartment number 2 at the Center Courts apartment." not waiting for the dispatcher to say anything, Tara hung up the phone, gave one last look to Kendra and headed for her bedroom.
As she walked into the room she turned toward a large wooden trunk and opened it, revealing a stash of weapons. Grabbing a leather bag that sat next to it, she threw some in before arming herself to the teeth. Throwing star, knife at her waist, knife at her ankle, a sword, and finally some wrist stake launchers.
Twirling the sword in her hands, she stabbed the weapon down into the floor and kicked the punching bag Kendra had in her room off its chain.
"It's time." she said to herself as she grabbed the sword, walked out of the room, and over to the nearest window.
Before slipping out of it, she turned around and waved her hand through the air causing a concussive wave to fill the room. Blurry images then filled the room of what happened hours before and she suddenly saw demons and vampires carrying a screaming Amy and Jonathan away from each other and during horrible and evil things to them before biting into them. Ignoring their screams, she looked over to the door and saw a woman she hadn't seen in years.
"Drusilla." she said, anger filling her heart as the images dissappeared. Lowering her hand, she jumped out of the window, for tonight was going to be her last night as the Seraphim.
A Deserted Sewer Intersection
Later that day
The stench of the sewers was nearly overwhelming, as Tara crouched on some overhead pipes. She had been tracking the monsters that killed her friends all day and what was left of her senses led her here. Hearing someone in the distance, she stood perfectly still and readied herself for war, just as a group of four vampires came down one of the tunnels.
"They were helpless against us." the lead vamp bragged as he turned to look at his gang. "The boss said that they would be more of a challenge but they weren't nothing. The job was worth it for the girl, but the guy was just so greasy. The job was like - Christmas!"
Having heard enough Tara dropped down onto the bragging lead-vamp, which managed to kick her off him.
"What the hell?" he asked as Tara dropped her bag full of weapons.
"The Seraphim..." the leader trembled as he saw her. And as Tara looked back at him, she recognized him to be the same vampire that she had let go on her first night as the Seraphim. Suddenly she felt a pang of guilt wash over her, but she pushed it down so she could concentrate on what she had to do.
Changing into her vamp face Tara charged back in and proceeded to take all four of the vampires on at once. Letting out a barrage of punches she staked one, while kicking another one, sending it flying up against the wall. Triggering one of her wrist stake launchers she dusted a second. The lead-vamp, his anger coming back to him, grabbed Tara and pushed her against the wall, but when it tried to throw her against the opposing wall, Tara ran up the side of it. Using the vampire's hold as a pivot she landed behind it and drove her wrist stake into its heart. Seeing his gang fall, the last vamp tried to run off, but Tara tackled him to the ground, then pulled out her sword and beheaded the vampire, sending up a small squirt of blood.
"I'm ready." Tara growled as she dropped the bloody sword and started to walk down the tunnel, taking off her coat and throwing it to the ground, picking up her bag along the way. "I've still got the moves. Now I need to find the other's responsible."
Later That Night
L.A. Memorial Hospital
Kendra awoke in a hospital bed, sweating and biting down the urge to scream. The sounds of beeping machines pushing her to conciousness. As the haze that clouded her mind started to dissapate, she remembered fighting a horde of demons, helping Tara to her home, and finally finding Jonathan and Amy eviscerated.
Pushing down the bile that rose in her throat, at that thought, she sat up in the bed and looked around.
'How did I get here?' she asked herself. Then it hit her like a bolt of lightning. 'Tara.' Picking up a phone that was on a night stand in her room, she dialed the number of one of her friends.
Tara walked up to an abandoned building breathing heavily, eyes glazed over with anger. Sliding a big garage door to the side she revealed an assortment of different demons waiting inside. Letting go of her weapons bag, it dropped almost in slow motion to the ground, even as she twisted a small ax in her hand. Soon everything was going to be over.
An Hour Later
Drusilla slide the door open to her hideout and walked in to see the floor littered with demon corpses and severed limbs and a pile of dust between her and the door.
"My little soldiers." she said to herself as she looked around and saw Seraphim leaning against the hood of a dusty car, smoking a cigarette and wearing a bloody looking wife beater shirt. "Hello auntie. Did you like my present?"
Not getting an answer, she looked at Tara even closer and saw that she was pretty beat up, before continuing her diatribe.
"Do you like my new arm?" she asked as she raised her right arm, which had a long black leather glove that covered her arm to the elbow. After they had last met, she went to a voodoo shaman in south america and for a price, was able to make a new arm for her. "Because I think it matches my new ring." she said as she held up the gem of amara.
Tara perked up a bit at the mention of a ring and from what she remembered from Angel's memories, she knew exactly what it was. She also remembered a violent earthquake in Sunnydale, a few days before it collasped, but she didn't think more of it.
"Goodbye Dru." Tara whispered as she threw down her cigarette butt. It then ignited a trail of gasoline, causing Dru to look down at the flames. As if in slow motion she saw them racing towards her as it ignited the puddle of gasoline she now saw that she was standing in.
"You're so silly auntie." Drusilla giggled to herself before the flames reached her. "This won't..." before she could finish her sentence Tara waved her hand out and the gem was violently ripped off of Drusilla's finger and went into her hand.
"No...!" Drusilla screamed as the fire licked at her clothes and she began to burn.
Having seen enough Tara turned around to pick up her bag of weapons, revealing a can of gasoline sitting on the hood behind her, and walked out without looking back.
She had to make her pain end, because she was dying inside. In her mind her whole life began to come full circle and it was filled wih nothing but pain and suffering. That had to stop, Now!
Carita's
"Hey, I wonder where Tara and Kendra are?" Xander asked the gang as they all sat around listening to Spike sing up on stage. "It's not like them to be late."
"I tried calling both of them earlier but I didn't get an answer." Alonna said as she held up her cellphone.
"Will you guys stop worrying." Chris said as he put his beer on the table. "Tara and Kendra are big girls, their fine."
"I wish that were true." Wesley said out of breath, as he and Illyria walked into the club and up to their table. "Kendra called me some time ago from the hospital and informed me that she woke up there."
"What? Is she..."
"She's alright, but I'm afraid that Mr. Levinson and Miss Madison are... dead."
"It was a demon attack." Illyria blurted out as she cocked her head to the side. "Me and Wesley went to the Slayer's home and..."
"What about Tara?" Xander asked as he stood to his feet and grabbed Illyria by the shoulders. "Is she dead? Where is she?"
"She wasn't there." she replied slowly as she looked into Xander's eyes. 'That's the same look that I gave Wesley in the other time, before he died. Could that be love?'
"Wes get Spike off the stage and tell him what's going on."
"Where are you going!" Wes yelled as Xander ran to the door.
"To find my girl." he said lowly and as he ran out of the door a familiar voice suddenly spoke in his mind, telling him where he needed to be.
Tara stood on the highest building in downtown L.A. overlooking the city and the people within it. Her vampiric senses were quickly leaving her, but that didn't matter as she hopped up on the very edge of the building. She felt like all the people on the streets were fools, for not seeing what the night held and honestly she just wanted to fade away in that illusion.
Taking a deep breath she jumped off of the building, only for a hand to grab her arm before she could completely fall. Looking up at who was pulling her up, she saw that it was...
"Xander?" she asked.
"Yeah it's me." he said as he let her go. "Now what the hell are you doing?" he asked as he fully pulled her over the edge and let go of her.
"I...I have to do this Xander. I'm tired...I'm so tired..." she said as she fell weakly to her knee's and started crying. Her Dragon Guanlet's then retreated back inside of her arms, as her long blonde hair fell over her face.
"I know how you feel." Xander said as he got on his knees and put his hands on her shoulders. "We keep fighting...holding back the tide and bad things just keep coming."
"You...you don't understand. It's my fault that Amy and Jonathan died." Tara replied as she looked up at him.
"Nonsense Tara. Drusilla and her goons did that, not you."
"How...how did you know that?"
"Let's just say an Angel whispered that information to me." Xander said with a soft smile. "Tara listen, do you have any idea how important you are to the team? How important you are to me?"
"What are you saying?" Tara asked as she looked up at him.
"I'm saying that I love you Tara." he replied as he put his hand on her cheek. "I've been in love with you for years but if you jump..." he stopped talking for a second as he looked over the edge of the building. "I'm going to jump with you."
Tara then stood to her feet, fully determined to tell him how she felt, but couldn't get the words out as she fell in his arms and cried.
"And then what happened mommy?" a five year old girl with honey blonde hair, wearing Winnie the Pooh pajama's asked as Tara tucked her into bed.
"What do you think happened dummy." her seven year old brother voiced from his twin bed, beside her. "Mom and dad got married and had us."
"Jonathan how many times have I told you not to call your sister names?" Xander asked as he walked into the room with a stern look on his face.
"Sorry dad." Jonathan said as he ran a hand through his dark hair.
"Don't say you're sorry to me, apologize to your sister."
"Sorry Amy." Jonathan said with a roll of his eyes as she stuck her tongue out at him.
"Well, I guess that's it for my story." Tara said with a smile as she stood up off of Amy's bed.
"Awww... mom." both of the kids whined in unison.
"There's gotta be more to the story than that." Jonathan complained. "Like what happened to Angel?"
"That's a story for another time." Tara said as she walked around both of their beds and kissed them on the forehead. "Good night."
Both of their children pouted but did as they were told and were soon fast asleep. With a smile on her face Tara shut off the light to the room and walked down the hallway of her and Xander's mansion.
"So you finally decided to tell them that story?" Xander asked as they walked into their master bedroom and sat down on their comfy king sized bed.
"I made up a few things here and there, but I'm guessing that they thought I made it up anyway." she said as she pulled the red satin silk sheets back and got into bed. "Goodnight." she said kissing him on the cheek.
"One thing keeps bothering me about the story though." Xander said as he got into bed and drapped his arm around her.
"Yeah, what's that?"
"What really did happen to Angel?" he asked, only for Tara to give him a winning smile. After being married to her for ten years he knew what that smile meant. "You aren't gonna tell me anything are you?"
"Not a chance." she replied as she kissed him on the cheek and rolled over in bed. As she closed her eyes, she silently prayed that where ever Angel went, that he was in a far better place.
Alternate Ending 1
Tara's Apartment
After the grizzly task of killing Drusilla, Tara stripped down, opened the shower door in her bathroom, stepped inside and turned on the water. The water sluiced down her body, washing away the blood, turning into a crimson swirl as it circled the drain. She stared straight forward, her face an emotionless mask, then suddenly her icy calm broke and she started to cry over all of the people she had lost over the years and over all of the horrible things she had to do.
As her emotions took over her, she sat down in the shower and put her hands over her face. More than anything she felt guilt over her part in getting Jonathan and Amy killed.
'If I had of just killed that vamp a long time ago, maybe they would have still been alive.' she thought to herself. If she had've been paying more attention, she would have seen her Dragon Guanlet's become activated by themself.
Before she could do more then think about it, a foreign power poured through her body. Just as quickly as she started to scream, she stopped and closed her eyes to embrace the pain. After a few seconds her eyes popped open and they were pitch black. Letting out a scream of a banshee, black magic rippled out of her body and the walls to her bathroom and apartment exploded in a blaze of fire.
Ascending out of the flame and into the air like an angel, Tara flew high into the sky before landing on a tall building, overlooking the city.
"You people are nothing but vermin." she said too herself as a black dress appeared on her naked body. "None of you, knowanything of pain." she said icily as her Dragon Guanlet's flared and she readied a giant red and orange fire ball in the palm of her hands. "But you soon will."
Feeding more power into the attack, she unleashed it and LA was set on fire. Having smelled enough of the roasting flesh of the people below her, a small vortex opened up behind her and without turning back, she walked through it. Never to return again.
Alternate Ending 2
"So I'm finally taking that elevator ride to hell?" Angel asked, as he and Cordelia literally went down in an elevator.
"Not exactly." Cordelia said with a small chuckle. "You've been reassigned."
"Cordy what's going on?" Angel asked, not liking the hint of amusement that he saw in her eyes. "Where are we going?"
"You..." she clarified, giving him a lopsided grin. "Are going to Sunnydale in another dimension. There's a girl there that needs your help."
"Who?" Angel asked confused. 'Why can't I just rest in peace?' he asked himself.
"Your daughter." she said as the elevator stopped and the doors opened. Looking out Angel saw nothing more than a pitch black room. As his vampiric senses kicked in, he was able to make out some faint shapes further in the room.
"There's nothing to beafraid of big guy." Cordy said as she walked passed him and into the room. "Now come on and meet your little girl."
"What are you talking about?" Angel asked as he walked up behind her.
"I'm talking about her." she replied as she pointed at a beautiful black girl, with a black trench coat. She was fighting a taller man and as the man turned around he saw that it was himself.
"What the..."
"Like I said we're in a different dimension." Cordelia interrupted his question. "And in this dimension, you weren't the only one that Darla turned in Ireland. Before you met Darla you saved a girl named Angela from a vampire and you two eventually shared a house together."
"So what happened to her...to us?" Angel asked as the girl tried to do a side kick on his double ganger.
"Well you were still a useless drunk at the time and she would get on you about it. And that's how she got her new name Angel?" Cordelia explained. "You two were living pretty good until one day Darla came looking for you. She ended up turning the both of you and to make a long story short, she was givin the soul and you weren't. Now the powers have decided that she needs to be set on her mission."
"So why am I here?"
"Because..." Cordy started as she let out a sigh. "She's gonna have it way worse then you did with your turn around. She's gonna need a guide Angel. She needs you."
Angel watched the girl fight for a few moments and he had to admit that he saw a little of himself in her. The part of him that wanted to help. Without saying another word to Cordelia, Angel walked over to the female Angel and put his hand on her head before dissappearing into nothingness.
Cordelia smiled to herself as she watched Angel leave, before taking a step back and dissappearing in the shadows.
Angel jumped over Donovan's outstrecthed leg, before reaching into her duster and pulled out some ninja sai's.
"I lass, I see you've learned a few moves on your own." Donovan said as he avoided a punch.
(Don't listen to him when he talks because he's trying to throw you off your game.) a familiar voice suddenly echoed through her head.
"Daddy?" Angel voiced aloud, making Donovan look at her strangely. What Angel didn't know was that now, she was gonna have problems with the soul.
The End
A/N If you have questions about certain characters or plots for this story I never used then ask away and make sure you add your email address. I'm looking forward to hearing what you all have to say. Also in order to get the references to the female Angel and Donovan you have to read my story called Angelus. Also Angel only spoke with Xander a moment and told him where to find Tara, before she killed herself. And I know it was sudden and a little strange for me to pair Xander and Tara together, but I promised someone almost two years ago that I was either going to pair her with Gunn or Xander. Basically I chose for it to be Xander. I really hope everybody enjoyed this.