Chapter 5: The Harvest Part 2

"They're close," Buffy said.

Buffy, Faith and Rei had been walking in the tunnels when Xander had joined them. Buffy had wanted Xander to go back that it was too dangerous. But Faith wanted Xander to stay. She knew that Xander needed to find his friend and was thrilled to have his company.

"How can you tell?" Xander asked nervously.

"No more rats," Rei answered for Buffy.

It wasn't exactly the information he wanted to hear, but Xander said nothing. They passed through several more tunnels before he spoke again.

"Over there." He stopped, pointing. "What's that?"

Ahead of them was a small, gloomy side chamber. They could just barely make out the outline of a doorway, but past that, nothing.

After a quick glance behind them, they walked closer. Xander pulled out his flashlight and played it slowly over the entrance. The light shone faintly just beyond the opening. Over the motionless shape of a body, lying face down on the ground.

Xander drew a quick, sudden breath. "Jesse!"

"Oh, no . . ." Buffy murmured. She started forward and was immediately stopped by a hand on her arm. She looked at the hand and then at Rei. "What?"

"It's a trap," Rei said. "And Jesse has been turned. He is bait."

"How do you know?" Faith asked.

"Three hundred years of honing my Slayer senses," Rei said. "We must leave, this way." They turned and headed down a corridor away from Jesse, who roared out in anger at the trap not being sprung.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Marie and Giles were pouring intently over Giles notes. When they suddenly realized that someone had entered the library, he glanced up, his voice hopeful.

"Buffy?"

Willow shook her head, looking apologetic. "It's just Savannah and I. So there's no word?"

Giles's face fell. "Not as yet." He looked very tired as he took off his glasses.

"Well, I'm sure they're ... great," Willow offered, trying to reassure herself as much as him.

"Did you two find anything of interest?" he asked Willow and Savannah.

The girls sat down, spreading out the copied articles so he could see.

"It appears Rei was correct about the Master disappearing in thirty-seven. Several months before an earthquake that year," Savannah placed her finger on one of the pages, "there was a rash of murders. And after the earthquake nothing."

"It appears Rei's source was correct. It's all coming together." He nodded. And then, with an anxious glance at Savannah and Willow, "I rather wish it weren't."

Just then Rei, Faith, Buffy and Xander walked through the library doors.

"Did you find Jesse?" Willow asked.

"I am sorry," Rei said. "We were too late. It was a trap and Jesse was turned to use as bait for the trap."

Buffy looked to Giles. "So, Giles, Marie, you two got anything that can make this day worse?"

Marie and Savannah both smiled, but said nothing.

"How about the end of the world?" Giles replied calmly. "It appears your contact, Rei, was correct."

Rei sighed. "That Master," she said as Giles nodded. "He's a very old, older than me, and he's very powerful. I surmised at the time of his disappearance that he had come because of the Hellmouth, he hoped to open it."

"Bring the demons back," Buffy said.

"End of the world," Xander clarified.

"But he blew it," Willow picked up the story. "Or, I mean, there was an earthquake that swallowed about half the town."

"And him, too—or at least there were no more vampire-type killings afterward," added Savannah.

"That would explain how he disappeared," Rei said.

Giles looked thoughtful as he pulled up a chair. "Opening dimensional portals is tricky business."

Marie rolled her eyes. "Not as tricky as one might think," she said as everyone looked at her. "Savannah and I have some experience in opening portals. I along with Savannah's mother were at the center of one such portal. And Savannah and I were at the center of another."

Giles nodded deciding to ask Marie later about the portals she and her niece had been involved with as he continued. "Odds are he got himself stuck. Like a cork in a bottle."

"And this Harvest thing is to get him out?" Xander asked.

"Yes," Rei said. "My source said that the Harvest would free him, tonight."

"It comes once in a century," Giles added. He stood and crossed to a chalkboard where he'd rendered several mysterious diagrams. He began to design several more as he explained. "A Master can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. Enough power to break free and to open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol."

He paused, pointing to a sketch of the three-pointed star.

"So," Faith said. "Buffy or I dust anyone sporting this look, and no Harvest."

"Simply put," Giles responded, "yes."

"Any clue where this little get-together is being held?" Rei wondered.

"Well, there are a number of possibilities—"

Before Giles could finish, Savannah broke in. "They're going to the Bronze."

The room went silent. They all stared at her.

"Are you sure?" Willow looked surprised.

"Very sure," Savannah said. "What better place than a building crowded with a bunch of our fellow classmates."

"Then we need to get there." Giles's voice was tense. "The sun will be down before long."

The six of them headed out the door, but Buffy and Faith suddenly turned in another direction.

"Faith and I gotta make a stop," Buffy explained. "Won't take long."

"What for?" Giles asked.

Buffy gave a secretive smile. "Supplies."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

There was no one outside when Buffy, Faith, Rei, Marie, Savannah and the others finally reached the Bronze. Buffy and Faith had been late getting there. When they got home they got a stern lecture from their mother for skipping classes and subsequently grounded. It wasn't like they could tell their mom that they were trying to save a potential friend from some vampires. They had to sneak out the window to keep their mom and Dawn both from knowing that they were leaving.

First Buffy and then Faith struggled to get the front door open, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's locked," Faith said.

Giles looked almost sick. "We're too late."

"Well, we didn't know we were gonna get grounded!" Buffy almost yelled at him.

"Can you guys break it down?" Xander asked looking at Rei, Faith, Buffy and Marie, but they shook their heads. He then looked solely at Marie. "How about a little …"

"Yes I could get us in," Marie said. "But that would spoil the surprise. And we need every advantage we can get."

"If I may ask …" Giles said.

Marie smiled as she disappeared in a flash of green and reappeared five feet away. "Teleportation spell. I'm one of the few that have managed to master it. We should split up. Buffy, Rei and Faith should find their own way in. We will try the back door."

"Right." Giles glanced from Savannah to Xander to Willow. "Come on."

"Guys!" Buffy called out to them.

The four of them stopped. Buffy handed them her bag.

"You get the exit cleared, and you get people out," Faith instructed them.

"That's all," Buffy added. "Don't go Wild Bunch on us."

"See you on the inside," Marie promised as she led the others around the building.

"I think I have a way in," Rei said. "I scouted the Bronze looking for easy points of access for this very reason. Follow me."

Buffy and Faith followed Rei circling the building in the other direction.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

It only took a minute for Giles and the others to reach the back. Xander tried the door, but it too was locked.

Marie smiled. "You will find I come in handy if you ever need to open a safe," she said. She took the door knob in hand and with a quick tug broke the lock.

Giles bent down and picked up a pipe as Marie and Savannah burst through the backstage exit. He, Xander and Willow were close behind.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Flushed with power, Angelus triumphantly dropped a body and looked about at his hostages. They were terrified, and it exhilarated him to see it. With two corpses lying before them, the reality—and the utter hopelessness—of their plight had begun to sink in, and he could hear screams and pitiful whimpers from the crowd.

In a corner under the stairs, Darla was facing off with Jesse. He still held on to Cordelia, and he was determined not to give her up.

"This one's mine," Jesse challenged her.

Darla had no time for his games. "They are all for the Master," she told him, grabbing the stunned girl from his grasp and heading toward the stage.

Jesse paused, disappointed. "I don't get one?"

They didn't notice the upstairs window opening . . . the window by the balcony where an equally oblivious vampire stood with his back to it. No one saw first Rei, then Faith and finally Buffy slip in and no one saw them standing there, sizing up the situation.

"I feel him rising!" Angelus shouted. "I need another!"

Buffy nudged Faith and Rei who followed her gaze to the three-pointed star on Angelus's forehead. "The Vessel . . ." she whispered.

The vampire on duty heard Buffy and turned, he grabbed Rei who had been the closest to him.

Rei with her freehand motion for Buffy and Faith to stand back.

"Tonight is his ascension," Angelus informed the horrified onlookers. "Tonight will be history at its end! Yours is a glorious sacrifice. Degradation most holy." He stopped, his evil gaze sliding from one face to another. "What, no volunteers?"

And then Darla emerged, holding Cordelia. "Here's a pretty one," she said.

"Nooo . . ." Cordelia struggled, but to no avail. As she started to cry, Darla dragged her toward the stage and handed her over to Luke.

The activity had momentarily distracted Rei's captor. With one quick movement, she slipped from the vampire's grasp as she unsheathed her sword. With one quick swipe of it, she decapitated the vampire. "Hey," she said getting Angelus's attention, "Angelus."

Looking up, Angelus's face contorted with fury. "YOU!"

"You know him?" Buffy whispered.

Rei nodded. "I tracked him for about twenty years back around the turn of the century. I lost him when I managed to keep him from killing a gypsy girl." She looked to Angelus. "You want blood? How about mine? I'm a prime source and you know it."

A vampire rushed Rei, Buffy and Faith from the side. Faith grabbed him easily and tossed him into the hookah pit, where he tried to scramble back up. Rei, then Buffy and finally Faith did a backward flip, sailed through the hole, and landed on top of a pool table. There was a cue lying there. With one simple handspring, Faith grabbed it and landed neatly on her feet.

A vampire came at them.

Without looking at him, Faith jammed the cue end into his heart. There was a soft sound of punctured flesh, and when she released the cue it stayed right where it was.

"You want blood?" Rei asked again as she, Buffy and Faith stepped forward. As they did so the cue rose into the air. It looked curiously like the arm of a guard gate, and in the next second, the vampire's impaled body thudded to the floor.

"I want yours," Angelus snarled at Rei. "Only yours."

"Then come and get it."

Seeing her chance, Cordelia tried to break free of Angelus's grasp. He flung her roughly away just as Reiy leaped at him and slammed her fist into his face and he stumbled back in pain.

A vampire came at Buffy, who ducked and met his face with a roundhouse kick. She whipped out her stake and took aim, but he blocked her with a blow to her face.

As the crowd panicked and shoved in all directions, the backstage door burst open and Marie and Savannah burst through followed by Xander.

Xander took a quick look around, saw that the immediate vicinity was free of vampires, and instantly began herding people out.

"Savannah," Marie said. "Protect Xander."

"But …" Savannah started.

~Honey, don't worry. I will protect your mom. ~ Rei telepathically told Savannah.

Faith kicked another vampire fiercely in the chest, sending him back against the wall. He landed hard, and seeing her chance, she went in for the kill.

Savannah noticed a vampire coming up from behind Xander. "Xander! Duck!" she whipped out a stake and tossed it just as Xander did as ordered. The stake found the vampire's heart and he dusted.

Angelus grabbed Rei from behind. His arms closed around her and he lifted her in a crushing bear hug.

Xander and Savannah heard a shriek and they whirled around to see Jesse dragging Cordelia below the stairs. As Cordelia screamed and struggled, Jesse threw her to the ground and knelt above her, pinning her with his weight.

"Go," Savannah said looking for Faith, Buffy, Rei and Marie. Each of whom she found were fighting their own vampires. She handed him a stake. "And remember he's not your friend anymore. He's what killed your friend."

Xander nodded as he rushed over behind Jesse and Cordelia. He stood looking down, clutching a stake in his hand. He could do it right then, he thought to himself, could end it right then, just plunge the stake through Jesse's back, straight into Jesse's heart . . . "Jesse, man . . ." he begged. "Don't make me do it."

Jesse looked up. His grin was anything but human. He looked like something from the dregs of a nightmare. "Buddy . . ." he said.

Rei twisted uselessly in Angelus's grasp. She could feel him squeezing and squeezing—everything around her spinning, fading to black . . . She knew she was about to die. But thankfully for her it would not be a permanent death.

The vampire fighting Buffy leapt her and digging for her throat. She tried to use her stake, but it was knocked out of her hand as she toppled to the floor.

Xander took a step back as Jesse rose and faced him.

"Jesse, I know there's still a part of you in there," Xander insisted.

Jesse looked exasperated. "Okay, let's deal with this. Jesse was an excruciating loser who couldn't get a date with anyone in the sighted community! Look at me now! I'm a new man!"

To prove his point, he grabbed Xander and hurled him against the wall. Xander slid back down again and fell in a heap beside Cordelia.

"See," Jesse sighed impatiently. "The old Jesse would have reasoned with you."

"Get off of my sis … off of my friend," Marie said as she plunged the stake in the vampire that had Buffy pinned to the floor. He dusted as she helped Buffy up.

Buffy looked at Marie for a moment and then moved toward Faith and the vampire attacking her.

Rei's body went limp in Angelus's merciless grasp. Her head dangled forward like a rag doll.

Angelus looked down at her, smiling. Wild elation rushed through him, and he uttered his humble prayer. "Master, taste of this and be free." His lips peeled back . . . mouth opening wide. He lowered his head, leaning in for the kill.

Rei hit him so hard; he didn't realize what had happened. He felt the back of her head as she rammed it up into his chin, and the unexpected impact nearly knocked him off his feet.

"Did you forget that I can't die?" Rei asked. She saw her sword lying five feet away and she sprang for it at the same time that Buffy dusted the vampire that Faith had been attacking.

Rei came up with the sword as Angelus leapt at her. She spun and as she did so she brought the sword up in a sweeping arc aimed straight for his neck. "There can be only one!" she shouted as the sword sliced through his neck decapitating him.

Jesse picked Xander up again from the floor and shoved him against the wall. He didn't have time for all these interruptions, these old reminders that meant nothing to him now. He glared at this easy prey that had once been a friend, and cold fury etched his new face. "I'm sick of you getting in the way, you know?" he railed at Xander. "Cordelia, she's gonna live forever. You're not."

Mustering his courage, Xander held the stake up to Jesse's chest. His face was determined, but Jesse could see that it was also very scared.

Savannah saw that Xander was in trouble and then she saw the stake and smiled. She came at Jesse from behind.

Jesse couldn't help but taunt Xander. "Oh, right! Put me out of my misery! You don't have the g—" His words gagged in his throat. He felt the sharp, quick thrust and looked down at his chest.

Savannah smiled as she pushed Jesse from behind right onto Xander's stake.

Jesse stared at Xander in shocked surprise. Gasping, dying, he grabbed onto his old friend.

Xander watched stunned as what once had been Jesse disintegrated into a pile of dust.

Darla and another vampire came up behind Savannah and Xander and grabbed them. The two vampires took stock and noticed they were the only ones left alive. And that Rei, Buffy and Faith were looking straight at them.

They regarded the expression on each of the Slayers' faces for one fraction of a second. Then without a word, they dropped Xander and Savannah as they bolted for the door.

Savannah helped Xander up as Giles and Willow came out from backstage. They, Buffy, Faith, Marie and Rei met them in the middle of the dance floor.

Giles glanced around, a note of relief in his voice. "I take it its over."

"Did we win?" Willow was almost afraid to ask.

The seven of them looked about at the carnage surrounding them. Most of the crowd had managed to escape by then, but a few still remained, some sitting, some wandering, all of them stunned and silent.

"Well, we averted the apocalypse," Buffy said wearily. "You gotta give us points for that."

She looked over and saw a dazed Cordelia still in a heap on the floor where Jesse had left her. For once, Cordelia had nothing to say.

"One thing's for sure," Xander sighed. "Nothing is ever gonna be the same."

As they turned to leave, Buffy held Marie and Faith back. "Faith, while we were fighting. Marie staked a vampire, I heard call me a friend," she said before looking at Marie. "But that wasn't the word you originally chose. You started to say another word."

Marie nodded.

Faith looked at Buffy and nodded. "You feel it too, when you look at Marie and Savannah?"

"Yes," Buffy said. "You too?"

"Yes," Faith replied as she looked at Marie. "When we look at you and Savannah, both of us can tell there is something there."

Marie sighed. "Buffy … Faith …"

"You and Savannah," Buffy said. "You both have been through a lot haven't you? More than you both tell people?"

Marie nodded. "Yes. Both Savannah and I like you have been part of a destiny. I alone have been part of many destinies in my two hundred year existence. More than I should have been a part of. That is why I almost said sister." A partial lie Marie knew as she knew Buffy was in fact Anne, one of her older sisters, past self.. "You two, Savannah and I are sisters in the fact that we all know what the other has gone through. What we are destined to do. Mine and Savannah's destiny here and now is to guide you in what's to come. We are to prepare you for your future, not in the way Giles will of course. He will train you. Savannah and I are both here as someone you can talk to. Someone who will listen and give advice as needed. To be friends, confidants and maybe yes even sisters."

Buffy nodded. "Thank you."

"Thanks," Faith said in agreement.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Contrary to Xander's prediction, the next day dawned as it always did.

And everything looked amazingly normal.

The warm California sunshine enveloped Sunnydale High, and in the fountain quad the routine was exactly the same. Students milled about laughing and talking, and Cordelia held court with her friends.

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs fighting for turf," she said dramatically. She glanced around at all the eager faces, her adoring fans clinging to every word. "Anyway, Buffy, Faith and that new girl Rei, totally knew these guys, which is too weird. I can't remember anything too well, but I'm telling you, it was a freak show."

"Oh, I wish I'd been there," Harmony sighed.

Crossing the quad in the opposite direction, Faith, Buffy, Xander, Savannah, Willow, Rei, Giles and Marie happened to overhear Cordelia's play-by-play.

Xander turned to the sisters in exasperated disbelief.

"Well, what exactly were you expecting?" Buffy chided him, while Xander gave an indignant shrug.

"I don't know! Something. The dead rose! We should've at least had an assembly."

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can," Giles reminded him gently, "and forget what they can't."

Faith nodded in agreement. "Believe me, Buffy and I've seen it happen."

"Well, I'll never forget it," Willow said emphatically, giving an inward shudder. "None of it."

"Good," Marie said. "Next time you'll be prepared."

"Next time?" Xander sounded suspicious, while Willow echoed, "Next time is why?"

Giles gave them a tolerant smile. "We stopped the Master from freeing himself and opening the mouth of hell."

"Doesn't mean he'll stop trying," Rei added.

"I'd say the fun is just beginning," Marie said.

"More vampires?" Willow croaked.

"Not just vampires." Giles said as he, Rei and Marie stopped and turned to face them. "The next creature we face may be something quite different."

Buffy rolled her eyes. "I can hardly wait."

"You are standing on a Hellmouth," Marie said. "And those of standing right are the only thing standing between earth and its total destruction."

Xander shook his head. "Faith, this isn't good."

"Well, I gotta look on the bright side," Faith told them. "Maybe Buffy and I can still get kicked out of school."

Buffy and Faith smiled at Giles, Marie and Rei and started off, Savannah, Xander and Willow following behind.

"Hey, that's a plan," Xander was agreeable. "'Cause a lot of schools aren't on Hellmouths."

"Maybe you could blow something up," Willow suggested helpfully. "They're really strict about that."

Faith considered this with a shrug. "I think we were aiming for a subtle approach, like excessive not studying."

Watching them go, Giles shook his head. He arched one eyebrow and settled his glasses more firmly upon his nose. "The earth is doomed," he sighed.

"No it's not," Marie and Rei said simultaneously.

"In fact Buffy, Faith and their friends with your help Rei, will save it in ways you don't know yet," Marie said.