Buffy heaved, clenching her chest as she gasped for breath. Everyone was fighting their way through the streets, dispatching as many zombies as they were able to. Everyone was covered in scratches and bite marks, but Dante assured them that it would not affect them. The movies were wrong. Not that it mattered for fifty-percent of the team; two vampires and a robot. But the battle was far from over.
The Buffy-bot swung her leg in a circle, kicking down three of the zombies and stopping in a stance, pulling her fist back to prepare to launch back into battle. But a fourth zombie chomped into her arm. She just looked at it and giggled, grabbing it's head and pulling it clean off.
"I'm not human, silly." She said with an unearthly perkiness. A few feet away, Faith was swinging her arms wildly, fending off the zombies with a jagged piece of wood she found lying on the street. She swung ferociously, taking out an arm here, a jaw there. But she had backed herself into a corner, a position she didn't like. She kicked one zombie, and punched another, but she was still trapped. There was no use fighting back, but she still did. She was about to just close her eyes and give up, but they just stopped attacking.
Just then, she saw Vamp Xander swinging his claws at her attackers, growling like a wild dog. He wouldn't stop beating them, even after they were down. Eventually he just left several piles of gory pulp on the ground. Faith grinned and gave him a wink, and could have sworn she saw him blush slightly, but he turned away too fast for her to know. But she didn't waste time, as she launched herself back into battle.
On the other side of the street, Spike and Dante worked in unison. They were surrounded, but Spike would take one side while Dante would take the other, and eventually they started working together and going after the same groups, Spike beating them and flinging them to Dante, who would then destroy them with his blades.
Buffy watched everyone fight, and she wanted to help them, but she couldn't. She had a responsibility, and she was closer than any of them to the key. But somehow she couldn't turn away. She had to do something... but what?
Buffy just shook her head and stood up. She was going to help her friends. She began to walk but somehow she couldn't. Something had a hold of her. She grimaced and turned around, about to swing... but she only gasped. It was the zombified form of her mother, holding on to her. But she was somehow different from the other zombies. She wasn't as decayed, and she had an almost caring look on her face. And she advanced on Buffy as if to embrace her, but it was in this moment that she bared her teeth and attempted to bite her daughter. Buffy threw her down and backed away, leaning against the wall behind her. She felt the tears well up in her eyes. But the zombie of Joyce just stood up again and came for her once more. Buffy stayed frozen and just stared off as a tear rolled down her face. The zombie moved slower now, and grabbed Buffy, but she didn't even move. Then the zombie slowly began to move its teeth toward her neck. But with a deafening crack, it fell to the ground, and Buffy stared into a pair of hauntingly beautiful blue eyes. Spike had saved her, he had killed her mother... or what pretended to be her.
"It's alright love..." He said in a caring tone, caressing her shoulders. "This is only a figment of your imagination. It's not real, remember?"
She just collapsed in his arms and cried. Faith ran by them, followed by the others.
"There's too many of 'em! Move!" She shouted, kicking in the door of the shop behind them. Buffy and Spike were the last inside, looking around in awe. To their surprise, the shop wasn't a shop at all, it was some sort of mythical clocktower connected to the doorway of the shop in the same dream-like quality that the library doors connected to the streets of Sunnydale before.
"Well..." Faith said, looking around. "This went from George Romero to George Lucas in about five seconds flat..."
* * *
Aerith and Yuffie sat on opposite sides of the table in the library of the Hollow Bastion while Leon went over the battle plans with them. Yuffie was excited, you could tell because she was extra jumpy... which was hard for her to do. Aerith tapped her fingernails against the cherry oak wood, biting her lower lip. The other two seemed so confident that they could win this... but were they prepared? If Sora, the Keybearer, couldn't take Ansem out, how could they? But Aerith wouldn't tell them of her doubts. They'd only make some cocky response or say something like 'It's our responsibility!' But she did agree... it was their responsibility.
"...so I thought we'd need some help." Leon continued, Aerith barely listening. She even looked away when the doors creaked open, thinking it was another kid running around the Hollow's halls. But a spiky blonde head walked in, menacing yet with a caring grin on his face at the same time. Aerith squealed, jumping up and knocking her chair back, running into his arms. He laughed lightly and spun her around a little. She teared up a little and reached down and pecked a kiss. Leon and Yuffie just raised their eyebrows. Aerith and Cloud stopped looking at each other for a moment and looked back.
"We were... childhood sweethearts, I guess you would say." Aerith blushed, brushing a hair behind her ear. Leon just shook his head.
"Anyway, Cloud is one of the strongest fighters we know, so I sent Cid for him." He continued. "Cid is protecting the upper half of the Hollow with the Beast. We are the strike team. We go in, we destroy Ansem. Any questions?"
Aerith began to doubt again, clutching her steel rod. "W-what if we can't?"
Leon just looked at her sternly. "Then the world is doomed."
