...
Being leaders, Buffy and Angel reluctantly parted ways at the buses. They didn't say anything to one another, they just looked into the others eyes and everything they'd ever needed to say was already reflecting back at them. Buffy turned to go, but his hand lashed out and caught her arm, tugging her back quickly and pulling her mouth to his. The kiss was blissfully deep but achingly short, as their lips parted, she felt his hand give hers a reassuring squeeze, then he gave her a flash of smile before he turned and headed off. Angel's smile trick worked it's magic as a matching smile slid across her own lips, helping to put her tense nerves at ease. She couldn't help herself, every time that man smiled, she did too.
The blond slayer took the first bus while Angel brought up the last, both going over battle plans with the slayers on their buses while Giles, Xander, Oz, Willow and a few upperclassmen did the same on their buses. There were ten buses total, each carrying roughly fifty slayers with their weapons.
It certainly wasn't the full force of the Slayer's, but it was the first wave Giles had assembled in such short notice, and now that the Hellmouth activity was beginning, they were it.
Upon entering the 5 mile radius of Hemery High, everyone on the buses could feel the oppressing weight of the pending evil growing denser. The second vehicle after Buffy's pulled off the road and parked, letting out the slayers as the first wave of parameter control entered the streets and began to hone in on the demonic energy.
Even in the daylight, demons were already moving towards the center of LA, being drawn by the demonic powers surging beneath the surface.
Four more buses moved out of line and began heading north above Hemery to station slayers on the upper parameter and to the West and East sides.
The goal was to get as many humans out as quickly as possible, and to try and maintain a slayer 'wall' around the infected zone, to prevent anything hellish from escaping the Hellmouth as much as to prevent more demons from entering.
The five remaining buses were just entering the 2 mile radius zone when the next earthquake struck.
Panicked citizens exploded around them as glass shattered out of towering buildings above and the asphalt beneath their tires shook with thunderous force from below.
This second quake was stronger than the first, and seemed more focused where the Hellmouth was struggling to be born. It lasted almost a full minute, the offices and apartments lining the roads began to crack and buckle from the second wave of abuse.
Taking caution but moving with necessary speed, the buses began to plow though the congestion in the streets, avoiding hitting people but unable to avoid the numerous cars. They made it another agonizingly slow half mile before Buffy made the call to proceed on foot.
Running though the chaos breaking out on the streets from both the influx of demons and the damage from the quake made progress slow. Many of the slayers were scattering to protect the remaining helpless citizens of LA from a grim fate as hordes of creatures flooded the streets.
By the time the main group reached within visual sight of the High school, the once five hundred head army had shrunk to about a hundred.
Buffy wasn't upset, the slayers were told saving lives was the mission of this battle, those remaining to face the Hellmouth were there to make sure nothing more escaped from the underworld.
Xander began commanding slayers around the perimeter of the school while Giles, Willow, Buffy, Angel and about fifty of the slayers made their way into the building and towards the basement. Oz, Faith, Spike (from the sewer level) and a group of upperclassmen were working the further perimeters, splitting the teams meant more evenly distributed assets and minimizing the risk if one part of town collapsed, all the 'leaders' wouldn't be wiped out at once.
Upon entering the High School, Angel's face shifted as his demon reacted to the pure evil radiating all around them and he found himself unable to switch back.
Willow was glad Oz was still a few miles away directing the perimeter slayers, she feared his wolf would have been activated as Angel's vampire was, with less control than the former demon had. This close to such energy, her magic was very close to the surface, feeding off the power.
Buffy shifted uncomfortably, ever slayer sense in her body was wound like a piano string, all her nerves were tingling. From the looks of the slayers around her, they all felt the same discomfort. It was a confusing mix, both energetic and oppressive at the same time.
"Angel?" She asked when she saw his face shift, clearly seeing he was having trouble trying to switch back.
He turned towards her, his face set in an even more pronounced grimace with the demon features, "Let's make this fast."
Searching his nearly glowing golden eyes, she could clearly see he was still in control, the demon had merely taken his features, not his mind. Relieved he wasn't in danger of losing himself, she cupped his cheek in her hand and tugged him down for a quick kiss. She didn't mind the fangs so much, as long as it was her Angel kissing her back.
After the brief smoochies, the rumbling beneath their feet reminded them now was not the time for a make-out session.
"Ok, remind me to continue that later." Buffy spoke to her husband as she un-holstered her scythe and scanned the halls.
"Trust me, I won't let you forget." He assured, drawing his sword and giving commands for everyone to keep alert.
Being back at her old high school bought a ping of regret washing up over the blond slayer as she remembered her lost youth, of her freshman year living in blissful ignorance of the world of demons. Twelve years earlier, Merrick, her first watcher, had stood before fifteen year old innocent-vain-and-shallow-Buffy on the very steps she'd just run up, informing her of her calling as a slayer and changing her life forever.
Sometimes she wondered how her life would have gone had she not been chosen, had her parents stayed together and they not moved to an active Hellmouth. 'I might have taken up ice skating, stayed on with cheerleading, been prom queen...but then again, Dawnie wouldn't exist.' She then glanced over at Angel as he move silently across the corridor while instructing the slayers around him, 'And I'd never have meet him...my babies would never have been born.'
She thought it over a moment and decided if given the chance, she wouldn't change a thing. There may have been times during the years she would have gladly dumped the slayer gig if given the chance for a normal life, but now, it was a part of her and she'd never let it go. Slaying wasn't a one-girl show anymore, it was a team effort and that gave her the freedom to have a life of her own. To have the family and a small chunk of the normal that she might have had without the calling interrupting her world. However, all this thinking of the past and future reminded her, she was more of a 'present' girl, and presently she was in charge of keeping a birthing Hellmouth contained.
Pushing memory lane down the stairs, she switched back to the crisis on hand. "Basement." She shouted over the growing rumble, it wasn't really an earthquake yet, but the whole building seemed to have it own vibe, a white noise that overpowered all other sounds.
Upon navigating the halls and reaching the lower level, they found the cellar of the high school was as typical as any other, boilers and pipes and storage and dust, nothing unusual. Unless of course you believe vampires and various demons are normal basement accessories.
Immediately a fight broke out as the slayers engaged the enemy, demon bodies began to accumulate on the outskirts as the slayers cut a swath to the small trapdoor partly hidden along the back wall.
Ignoring most of the action, Buffy and the rest of her immediate team headed straight for the hatch into the sub-basement where the real threat was emanating.
The ground rumbled and rattled nearly constantly as they drew closer the entrance to the cave tunnel that would lead down to the cavern the Hell energy was massing within.
Willow's hands glowed a bright white as she lit the dark walls, giving extra light to the dim beams of the girl's flashlights.
"We should be nearing the epicenter now." Giles whispered to the twenty or so people around him, all but one of them female.
Angel's yellow eyes scanned the smooth rock lining the tunnel, an uneasy feeling building steadily in his gut.
They moved forwards at a steady pace, seeming to find the demons had not gathered further than Hemery's basement as they had yet to encounter anything within the slowly widening tunnel.
It felt like hours as they descended into the bowels of LA, unlike a normal underground passage, it grew hotter and the air thicker with the sting of surfer and dust with every deeper step down into the earth.
"Wow." Buffy whispered to herself as the party exited into a large cavern, sparkles lined the walls, a plethora of precious gems gleaming in the rough walls. 'This place is worth a fortune.' Buffy thought, examining a set of diamonds sticking from the stone at eye level.
Angel studied the wall a moment, his gut not liking something about it.
The ever present droning rumble was broken by a high pitched scream as something clamped a hand over one of the slayer's legs.
From what had once been the walls of the chamber, stone demons broke forth from the stony sides and hunched towards them with rock hard expressions. They were different sizes and shapes and textures much like the rock of the walls making up the cavern, some had nearly white stone while others black or a mix of both that left them shades of grey.
Garnet, sapphire, onyx and diamond eyes shown back brightly in the dim flashlight and lantern glare. None of their expressions looked friendly.
The creatures were mostly humanoid in shape, two legs and two arms on a thick stocky column of stone, the ends of the arms and legs had primitive hands and feet tipped with jagged nails. The blank faces and broad carved shoulders reminded Buffy of Acathla, at the memory a chill ran down her spine and she stole a quick glance towards her husband. If Angel noticed the similarity, he showed no signs as he moved forwards to confront one of the creatures dragging it's legs towards him.
Buffy was one of the first to engage in the fight, bringing her scythe up in a lethal arc to slice the head off the looming creature closing in on the personal space she reserved only for Angel.
The blade slammed into the stone skin and bounded off with shower of sparks with a jarring force that made Buffy's fingers numb. For a second, she'd feared the blade had broken, but much to her relief the curved metal looked scuffed but whole.
The other slayers with bladed weapons quickly realized the same issue Buffy had, except their non-magically-enhanced weapons of choice did not fair as well, most shattering from the force of steel on stone.
As the rock demons attacked, a third earthquake nearly toppled the whole group as the earth convulsed in a powerful fit under their boots.
Willow was having the most luck with the fight, using her magic, she picked up one of the creatures and slammed it into another, both demons shattering in a burst of dust and pebbles. When seeing the results, many slayers began to team up and try and fight their enemies into one another, making the stone beasts damage themselves.
Buffy flipped over the creature lunging at her and dropped to a crouch behind it as Angel dashed forwards and jumped, planting both his feet into the chest of the creature and knocking it back. As it staggered backwards, it tripped over Buffy behind it and the thing crashed to the ground, snapping in half on the hard stone floor.
"You know, if you want to gouge it eyes out and make me a pair of earrings, I won't object." Buffy suggested in only a half-joke as she looked down at the demon's glittering diamond eyes.
Holding his hand out to his wife, Angel tugged her back to her feet and pointed to a narrowing tunnel up ahead. "Maybe later, but something's happening there, I can feel it."
As he said it, Buffy realized she could feel a wave of dread washing over her too. Willow came to stand beside them along with Giles. Most of the slayers were still fighting the diminishing rock demons, so the four and a scatter of slayers continued on to the deepest part of the cave yet.
Upon entering the small chamber, they all wished they hadn't.
...
The Hellmouth.
The raw raging hole in the center of the room really did look like a screaming mouth. The jagged edged seemed to be horrific teeth while the eerie red pulsing glow from within acted like a tongue flicking for a bite.
Ringing the monstrous hole was a group of what looked like men wearing long black hooded robes.
"Ok, wasn't expecting a welcoming committee." Buffy muttered, confused at how these guys could be standing to close to the Hellmouth and be so still, every nerve in her body was alight with the power of the Hellmouth energy, making her feel like bugs were crawling not only on her skin but under it as well.
Angel's yellow eyes narrowed, "They aren't human, but they have someone that is." He could smell the difference even from the other side of the chamber.
Buffy then noticed the infant held in the arms of one of the men, it was still pink from very recent birth.
Giles's intense eyes studied the robes worn by the men and immediately realized who they were and suddenly understood their plans.
"Mother of God." He whispered, his eyes widening in a mix of horror and grim fascination.
"Whatever they intend to do, I'm not letting them do it." Buffy spoke as she moved forward to forcefully take the child if necessary. Nothing about these 'men' gave her a warm and fuzzy feeling and in no way was she allowing them to hold onto a newborn baby.
Angel's hands clamped over her arms, halting her. He felt something monumental was about to happen and wanted all the facts before any decisions were made, much to Buffy's disagreement.
"What the hell are you doing Angel, we need to help!" She snapped, trying to pull away from him.
"Buffy." Giles spoke quietly but with authoritative force, "We cannot interfere. These men are not men at all, but Guardians of the Hellmouth."
"Huh?" The blond asked, momentarily forgetting to try and pull away from Angel as she looked over the blacked robed beings nervously. "If they guard the Hellmouth how come we've never met? If you remember, I did sort of hold that job for 7 years in Sunnydale."
Giles shook his slightly more graying head, "They do not guard the Hellmouth from those who wish to open it as you did Buffy, but they are it's Guardians none-the-less. They are followers of Danthazar, the makers of the seal."
"They made the seal? As in the guys who built it?" The eldest slayer repeated, shocked. She looked more closely at their robes and could see the familiar pattern now, the very same that was engraved on the circular stone carved cap to Sunnydale's Hellmouth and she assumed also Cleveland's.
"They are sealing this Hellmouth now too." Willow said as she watched the five 'men' moving around the hole, positioning themselves where she assumed the five points of the pentagram would appear.
"Ok, so we want them to do their little spell, that's great, but were're not going to let them do it holding that baby." Buffy pointed out, remembering the child when she started to cry.
Angel stiffened behind her, his voice thick with emotion, "The baby is part of it Buffy, she's the key."
"Are you crazy! Please tell me you are not even remotely thinking of letting them hurt a baby!" She yelled to both her husband and the father of her heart, beside herself at how these two could still be standing here when the life of a newborn was being threatened.
Willow was the one to speak, she knew from personal experience about how magic worked, she herself had slit the throat of a baby fawn in order to complete the spell to resurrect Buffy all those years ago. "The power needed to create a Hellmouth seal can only be forged in the blood of an innocent, the purity of a newborn soul is the most powerful element in this world, it is that purity which holds back the evil of the Hellmouth."
"If we stop them now, the seal will never be created, and the Hellmouth's energy will expand until it covers the world." The watcher explained with a heavier heart than he ever thought possible.
The Guardian placed the naked child, a baby girl, over the hole, seemingly floating in air.
A second stepped forwards, holding an intricately craved knife. Giles could just make out the patterns on both the hilt and blade as matching those that were present on the Sunnydale's Seal of Danthazar and their black robes, a goat's head within a pentagram, it's forehead and snout marked with runes, it's tongue hanging down.
Buffy shook her head, hot tears streaming down her dusty cheeks, "I can't, I can't watch them do this."
"Then don't." Angel whispered, pulling her close to prevent her from seeing or trying to rescue the ill fated baby. Angel held his struggling wife firmly against his chest as the leader of the Hellmouth Guardians raised an ornamental dagger over the now screaming infant. Being not even and hour old, the infant could still feel it's impending doom approaching.
Willow, the remaining slayers, and Giles shut their eyes as the sharpened blade fell towards its helpless target.
Angel forced his eyes open and made himself watch the sacrifice, his own form of punishment for being unable to save the poor child. He felt Buffy jerk in his arms and cry out as the wailing of the baby abruptly ended.
His nose filled with the scent of blood as the hot life fluid of the now still form dripped down to fill invisible channels over the pulsing glow of the hole. Angel watched in a mix of horror and morbid fascination as the outline of the seal drew itself from the baby's blood, which wouldn't seem possible with how little the tiny body should have held.
The head of the goat formed within the five pointed pentagram under the corpse as the Guardians chanted out a low and steady spell, their voices drowning out the monotonous rumble of the Hell-energy below. The body of the baby seemed to crumble in on itself as he watched, slowly dissolving into the forming seal. Within minutes the entire outline was complete, drawn in blood and pulsing along with the light shinning though from the Hellmouth below.
Like a hot newly forged iron sword, the shiny bright blood red began to fade to a dull maroon and then again to the stone grey of the seal. From the now grey outline, the rest of the circle slowly became solid, the red glow from below fading until the seal was completely opaque.
Once the seal was finished, the men slowed their chanting and stopped, seemingly observing their creation a moment before raising their arms above their heads and simply vanishing.
Angel felt his face change back as the overpowering force of Hell-energy was now trapped behind the newly formed seal of Danthazar. Moving away from Buffy, he turned and took a few steps towards the far wall before he felt his stomach lurch. He dropped to his knees and vomited back up the horror he'd just made himself watch.
Taking a shaky breath, he felt Buffy's hand rest on the back of his neck. "You watched, didn't you?" She asked quietly, not sounding judgmental or angry or anything really, she sounded just as vacant as he felt.
His breaths were ragged with barely contained tears and his insides still felt like they wanted to explode out, so instead of replying he just nodded his pounding head slowly.
Sick wasn't even the right word for what he felt right now, all he could picture was his own little girl in her place, alone and scared. He'd felt he needed to see, not because he wanted to, but because that baby girl deserved to have her death witnessed, to not be completely alone in her final moments. Angel had wanted nothing more than to rush forwards and knock the dagger away, the beat the immortal shit out of those men and take the crying girl into his arms and hold her until her tears dried. He wanted so badly to place her small form back into her mother's arms, but in doing so he would have damned the entire world. The life of one over billions seemed perfectly acceptable in a logical reasoning mind, but it wasn't a formula the heart could ever learn or begin to accept.
He felt Buffy's hot tears drip down onto his cheek as she stood beside him, her own body trembling from the emotional wound. He could smell Willow, Giles and the other slayer's tears as well, no eye was dry in memory of the baby girl none knew and never would. He knew none of them would leave this place as they came in, they were forever changed, all their hearts held a scar that would never fade.
Suddenly the ground beneath them began to shake and retch again, the Hellmouth energy from behind the seal was raging madly at being capped again. The force rang out all around them, dropping them all to the ground.
"It's going to break though!" One of the slayers cried out in alarm.
"It will not." Giles denied, hoping he wasn't putting more confidence into the statement than he should be.
"The seal might hold, but I'm not thinking the cave will." Buffy pointed out as a crack formed in the wall to their right.
"This whole place is caving in, I can hear it in the rocks." Angel stated as he pushed himself to his feet and grabbed for Buffy's hand, adrenaline pushing away the nausea for the moment.
Quickly the small party exited the seal's chamber, all of them more than ready to leave the place behind forever.
...
Upon re-entering the main chamber, they found a battle taking place.
More of the stone demons were tearing from the walls, maddened by the newly made seal.
The small group quickly rejoined those who had staying behind, helping to contain the fighting long enough to escape back to the surface. There were dozens of the rock monsters already, and dozens more were still breaking out from the walls, nearly as fast as the slayers defeated them.
The whole cavern would collapse down upon them before they managed to defeat them all, if they defeated them all.
Time seemed to stop as Buffy fought, the noise around her blocked nearly all sounds except shifting rocks. Demons were crumbling as the slayers worked in teams, Willow's spells assisting as Giles slowly led them back out of the cavern towards the tunnels.
...
Buffy reached out an grasped a handful of maroon cotton shirt and yanked back sharply, an attached Willow yelped as the slayer pulled her clear of a small avalanche of rocks and boulders.
"Thanks." The redhead heaved out as she stood with her hands on her knees, sucking in lungful after lungful of much needed air, her heart was thundering in her chest almost as loudly to her ears are the roar of the crumbling cavern.
"Will, help Sarah get Giles out of here." Buffy was suddenly yanking her up to stand and yelling into her ear to be heard over the noise.
"Where are you going?" The Wicca alarmed to her friend, confused and worried.
"I need to find Angel." The blond replied, her most prominent resolve face boldly indicating she would not be persuaded otherwise.
Willow glanced around and realized the living vampire was missing from the group. 'Did he get separated during the fight? Or did the last remaining creature grab him when it escaped?'
Before she could utter her concerns to Buffy, the slayer was already moving back towards the Hellmouth opening, calling out for her lover.
...
Angel grunted in pain as the beast slammed a rocky fist into his gut, forcing out the much required air from his lungs but thankfully couldn't bring up his last meal too as he'd already lost that after witnessing the horror of the seal's creation.
Springing back, he ignoring his aching gut as he rolled away from the beast and forced himself back onto his feet, taking a battle stance as he awaited the next strike.
He didn't wait long as she creature came at him again with a savage swing to his head.
Despite the rock-beasts devastating strength, it wasn't the most graceful creature, allowing Angel the time he needed to duck the blow and offer a few of his own in return.
'Fuck.' Angel cursed to himself as he looked down at the blood seeping from his stinging knuckles. As it turned out, punching the rock demon was just as effective as punching a rock. He did more damage to himself than the creature.
Earlier, he'd been able to tag-team with either Buffy or another slayer, working together to knock other creatures into one another.
Now he was one-on-one, and weaponless.
With the stone beast swinging at him again, the living vampire was finding it hard to think of anything besides avoiding blows, which left exploring his options a limited endeavor.
Taking a chance, Angel kicked his leg out to try and trip up his attacker, but the beast was rock solid and the blow left Angel's foot aching.
Rolling away from the hell-creature, Angel grabbed for a chunk of broken rock to use as a weapon before he felt stony fingers clamp around his throat.
With wide eyes he felt the ground disappear beneath his feet the the digits around this neck tightened and he was lifted into the air by a long grey arm.
...
Buffy yelled her husband's name, eyes scouring the broken earth desperately for him. 'Ok, seriously, I was joking when I said my recent years birthday luck would run out and bring Angel being swallowed by the Hellmouth...not letting it happen...so not letting it actually it happen!'
"Angel!" She called out again, louder, forcing her voice to penetrate deeper into the broken ground, which was hard to do though the thick clouds of dust beginning to clog her throat.
She only got silence as a reply.
"You better be unconscious, because so help me if your dead...I will find you and kill you again for not answering me!" She yelled madly into the chaos, her fears building as time was growing longer without finding him.
In her haste, she jumped over a boulder and landed on an unstable shelf of broken rock. When the ground beneath her feet cried out in protest, she jumped to the left, barely avoiding plummeting only God knew how deep into the steaming abyss below. 'Ok, that was close. Way too close.'
Choosing her steps more carefully, she navigated the hellishly hot cavern, her voice echoing her husband's name every few moments in desperate hopes he'd respond.
Time was running out.
Already a section of the floor had collapsed, more were quickly following suit. The air was barely breathable, visibility was down to five feet at best and that was if you could keep your eyes open in the thick and choking dust.
A tremor suddenly rolled up from deep below the surface, forcefully rocking the already weakened cavern floor.
Buffy felt the earth splintering around her, not only seeing and hearing the cracks forming with her eyes and ears, but feeling it with every nerve in her body.
Again, the ground beneath her failed.
This time she hadn't time to jump.
She fell.
'This is it.' She thought in under a millisecond, 'The final death of Buffy Anne Summers. A measly snack for a baby Hellmouth.'
As she plummeted down, something caught her wrist and held tight, instantly halting her fall.
Buffy didn't care who or what, she was already grabbing for a better purchase with her other hand.
The haze was thick again, the dust kicked up from the recent tremor mixed with the steam from the hell releasing from below made visibility almost none.
Not that it mattered, she knew who had her wrist now.
She knew his touch.
"Damn it Angel, why didn't you answer me!" She yelled the moment her feet were on solid ground again, her free hand swatting angrily at her spouse. She knew for a fact that if he'd been close enough to grab her, he was well close enough to have heard her yelling his name even over the noise of the collapsing chamber and should have responded.
He winced at the accusation and the impact of her fist on his arm but remained silent. Instead of a reply, he lifted his chin a little, letting her see the ugly bruises marring the skin around his neck from his last encounter with a stone demon.
He literally couldn't answer her, his voice was currently gone from the damage caused by the stony hand that had tried to strangle him.
"Angel!" She gasped out, "Oh god, I'm sorry, I didn't...what happened? Are you OK?" Worry and apology were think on her tongue as she surveyed the damage to her husband's neck.
He nodded slightly, but wasn't able to supply much else. She could see even slight movement of his neck caused him pain.
She looked up at him in the dusty haze, searching his eyes for the truth, for any signs of distress or being worse that he let on.
Instead of words, he pulled her close and placed a kiss on her crown, his body saying 'I though I lost you.' He couldn't help but think of what he would have lost had he not caught her. He knew well enough had a chunk of the roof not collapsed down on the stone demon's head as it held him in its crushing grip, he wouldn't have survived the fight. Not only would their children have lost their dad, be he wouldn't have been here to grab Buffy, and Katie and Liam would be orphans now.
Immediately she hugged back, her own heart relieved to have found him alive, not to mention with impeccable timing.
After the moment, another tremor shook the already crumbling cavern and Angel's hand moved to press against her back as it to say 'Ok, let's save the hugs and kisses for later and get the hell out of here before the whole place caves in around us.'
"Ok, getting gone." She agree and grabbed his hand, squeezing it tightly as to not lose him again. Even a few feet apart and she knew he'd be invisible in the dense haze surrounding them, and since he couldn't speak, she'd never be able to locate him again in time.
Moving quickly, Buffy set out in the direction she hoped was towards the exit, but being virtually blind down here was giving her a bad since of vertigo.
Angel's grip tightened on her hand and pulled to the left, indicating they should move in that direction instead of the one Buffy had been moving.
When she looked up at his face, she could see he'd vamped, his golden eyes where focused on some destination she couldn't see though the misty fog.
"Angel?" She questioned, wanting to know what he was looking at. In the gloom around them, she couldn't tell if it was safety or a threat he sensed. She really hoped it wasn't another rock demon, she really didn't feel like adding more bruises to her current collection of bruises at the moment. Although seeing what it did to her husband sparked a small flame of revenge in her mind.
His yellow eyes met hers a moment, and despite the poor lighting, she could easily read the 'trust me' reflecting in them.
She did with all her heart. "Always." She mouthed to him.
There was a slight pull of a smile at his lips, then he began moving fast.
Buffy easily kept pace despite his longer strides, even if they hadn't been holding hands and she was being slightly pulled, she was eager to get the 'hell' out of the Hellmouth.
The demon within Angel was at the surface, using sound, sight and other senses a mere mortal couldn't fathom to navigate the crumbling chamber. He could hear every rumble and groan of the rock around them, using that he focused in on the parts of the ground that were silent, still undamaged by the tremors rolling trough the cave.
Sulfur was strong is his nose, burning even, but some directions had a slightly less string to them, an indication they were moving away from the source and towards the exit.
Despite the pain of listening so hard and constantly inhaling the damaging air, he kept at it. 'Find the exit, get Buffy out.' Became a religious mantra repeating over and over in his head, keeping him focused and pushing his abilities to the limit...then beyond.
Above him, he heard a crack and felt the air displace as something big and heavy fell from the ceiling.
Instantly, he yanked his arm back, pulling an attached Buffy along with it.
The Slayer felt the rush of wind as a boulder smashed to the ground under an inch from where she'd just been standing.
Before she could thank him for pulling her out of the way, he was moving again, and she was even more eager to follow.
She'd heard the crack of the rock falling, but she couldn't find her sense of direction without any landmarks. Up and down were even hard to decipher at times, never mind left or right in the chaos.
Due to the darkness, she was essentially blind down here.
The dust made her cough every few seconds and the sulfur was burning her throat.
If Angel wasn't holding her hand and being her beacon in the dark gloom, she was pretty sure she'd still be wandering in circles, if not already crushed by falling debris or lost into a fissure.
Trusting him to lead the way, she closed her burning eyes and just focused on breathing.
After what felt like forever, she realized breathing was slightly easier, the air was still heavy and hot, but nothing like it had been a few minutes (hours?) ago. She opened her eyes and could just make out a demon corpse to her left, validating her assumption that they were back where the fighting had started.
She sped up her pace, sliding against her husband's side. "Remind me not to book our next vacation to anyplace with an active volcano." She muttered half-joking to break the building tension.
She hadn't expected a real reply, since he couldn't speak, but had hoped for a chuckle or at least a squeezing of her hand to acknowledge her words.
Figuring he was too preoccupied with escaping to reply to her humor, she kept her head down and kept pace.
...
Finally, she could see light up ahead.
This wasn't the unnatural glow of lava burning up from beneath them as was the only source of light in the Hellmouth chamber earlier, that was real all-natural sunlight.
"We're almost there." Buffy grinned, eager to get outside and actually be able to breathe.
Her pace increased further until the could feel the gentle warmth of the sun caressing her skin.
The high school had collapsed in the center from the earthquake, leaving the basement hatch open to the sky as the walls were left crumbly but standing along the parameter.
"I really think we deserve an ice cream after that." Buffy sighed out as she faced the sun, rejoicing surviving another potential apocalypse.
Now that they'd left the cacophony of the Hellmouth collapsing behind, she noticed there was still a grinding sound, one very close.
It took her a moment to realize the sound was the harsh wheeze of her husband's lungs struggling for air.
Immediate she turned to look at him, just now realizing she had been in the lead and had been pulling him along.
Looking up at him for the first time since she shut her eyes, she nearly gasped in shock.
His ears were bleeding, rather heavily and for quite some time due to the amount of blood staining his neck and soaking into his shirt.
Blood was steadily dripping down his nose as well, leaving a blossoming flower on the front of his shirt as he'd leaned forward to force himself to walk each step.
Even his golden demon eyes were bloodshot with red tears flowing down, indicating they were open while being bombarded with burning dust.
The mantra in Angel's head finally acknowledged it had succeeded, they were out of the Hellmouth, Buffy was safe.
Without that keeping him going, his body finally shut down.
"Angel!" Buffy yelped as he collapsed into a lifeless heap into her arms.
It is wasn't for a horrible rasp of his attempted breathing, she would have though he'd died on the spot.
She dropped with him, controlling his fall and easing him down into the ruble so she could better assess his injuries.
The growing bluish tinge to his lips was a good indicator he wasn't breathing deeply enough to sustain his body's need for oxygen.
"Angel, breathe." Buffy ordered as she leaned over him, patting his cheek in a desperate attempt to rouse him.
Seeing that wasn't going to work, she ran her fingers along his badly bruised neck and gently lifted his chin to better open his airway.
As her fingers lay again his skin, she could feel his pulse slowing dangerously.
'Ok, so not letting you die on me.' She though as she bent over and pressed her lips over his pale blue ones, pinching his nose shut at the same time and forcing a deep breath into his lungs.
The twin organs in Angel's chest protested the surge of air, he immediately began to cough it back out.
Buffy openly cringed as she saw bits of dust forced from her husband's lungs as he hacked and gasped, she quickly sat him up against her and patted his back in a effort to better help him breathe.
After a few terrifyingly long moments, his coughs subsided and he began to breath easier and with more regularity.
She lowered him down to her lap and ran her hands along his cheek, calling his name to see if he'd wake.
A little smile broke from the corners of her lips as he nuzzled slightly against her hand, but his eyes remained shut.
Bending, Buffy pressed a kiss on his forehead and began to run her fingers in a calming pattern though his hair, more for her own need than his.
"You're Ok." She whispered a few times, needing to hear the words allowed. "You're going to be ok."
Off in the distance, she could hear Xander calling her name as the group spotted them.
"You're going to be ok." She repeated again as several of the remaining slayers rushed to help her and Angel back to the buses and away from the unstable remains of what had been Hemrey high school.
...
TBC...