An idea I got after finishing Lucifer and partly inspired by Aragorn II Elessar's "Heroes, Vampires and Slayers".

Disclaimer: I do not own Buffyverse or Lucifer.

Lucifer was in Hell, checking the cells and considering which souls to torture, when the Hell itself tremored.

"What the bloody Hell…" Lucifer wondered, when Mazikeen approached him. "Maze, did you feel that?"

"The last time this happened was when someone opened a portal to different Hell dimension on Earth, shaking the Hell here." Mazikeen noted.

"Well, which gate did whatever bloody fool open?" Lucifer asked.

"Quor'toth." Mazikeen said and Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "Also, someone put up a curse to send an innocent soul to Hell upon her death."

"Alright, who was the idiot, who opened the portal?" Lucifer asked.

"Daniel Holtz." Maze said and Lucifer's eyes glowed red with anger. He had heard enough of this self-righteous delusional fool. "And he also kidnapped the child of the vampire with a soul."

At that point, Lucifer's face turned into his devilish face, having a very good idea what were Holtz's intentions and it just infuriated him more, considering that Dromos had gone behind Lucifer's back and kidnapped Amenadiel's and Linda's son Charlie to take Lucifer's place as the ruler of Hell.

"As for the innocent soul, cancel the curse. I'm not going to allow an innocent to suffer eternal torture here." Lucifer said before he opened a portal to Quor'toth.

Barely a year or two had passed on Quor'toth, so Connor was hardly in an age for any combat training or have any hatred for supernatural rooted deep into his personality but Holtz was nothing but patient. He had hunted demons in Quor'toth most of the time on his own and while this place was as close to Hell as it could get but the demons suddenly backed off, when a handsome man in a suit approached.

"Who are you supposed to be?" Holtz asked. No ordinary human without proper training or skills could survive this place and this man seemed to look like a casual fool, though for some reason the demons in Hell dimension were thinking twice before crossing him.

Lucifer just smiled as he offered Holtz a hand. "Daniel Holtz, correct? You've earned yourself quite a reputation, chap. Lucifer Morningstar, the Devil."

Holtz looked skeptical as he eyed Lucifer. He had expected the Devil to be red-skinned, tall, with horns, the usual depictions of him. Though he had learned from his encounters with Angelus that evil had many forms.

"What do you want? You can't claim my soul. My cause is righteous." Holtz said.

"Is it? Revenge on a monster for taking away your family is understandable but, first of all, Angel isn't the same as Angelus and second of all…" Lucifer's eyes glowed red and he showed his Devil face to Holtz before grabbing him by his throat and lifting him in the air. Holtz choked and shook around, trying to struggle out of Lucifer's grip but it was pointless. "Using an innocent child as a weapon and turn it against its parents is the lowest you can sink and that just disgusts me. You can dress it all in a righteous cause but that makes you no better than the demons you spite. And for that, you will spend an eternity in suffering."

Lucifer then threw Holtz on the ground as he grunted in pain, while Lucifer picked Connor up. "Hello, urchin. Don't worry, you will see your father soon."

Holtz got up and picked his axe, about to attack Lucifer but Lucifer turned around and snapped his fingers.

Next thing Holtz knew, he was shackled to a wall as a dark-skinned woman was at a table, sharpening her tools.

"Maze, be so kind and give him the worst torture you can devise." Lucifer said.

"What did this chap do?" Maze asked.

"The same thing Dromos tried to do. Use an innocent child for his own agenda." Lucifer said with disgust and Maze laughed.

"Oh, this should be fun…" Maze said with a sadistic look in her eyes.

"Torture me all you want, pain is nothing new to me." Holtz said confidently.

"Who said anything about me torturing you? You will torture yourself." Maze said before she unshackled Holtz and next thing Holtz knew, she tossed him into a cell as Holtz started reliving again when he had recruited Justine and other people to his cause, only this time, he himself was being tortured by them. While a part of him regretted the abuse he had put them through, he had told himself it was necessary to his cause but this was worse than death.

"So, that's one idiot dealt with. Maze, can you bring the urchin back to his family?" Lucifer asked as Maze nodded. "Now, as for the innocent chap…"

After imprisoning Sahjhan, Angel, Gunn and Fred were looking for any clues how to track down Holtz and Connor, when a dark-skinned woman in leather suit approached with Connor wrapped in a blanket in her arms.

"I believe this boy is yours." Maze said.

"Connor!" Angel exclaimed in relief as he rushed towards Connor, hugging him.

"Oh, my God!" Fred yelled as they all approached the baby.

"He's alright and in one piece, don't worry. And Holtz isn't going to bother you anymore." Maze assured as everyone was relieved and Angel was glad that he did not have to break the news to Cordelia anymore.

"Wait, who are you and why did you help us?" Gunn asked.

"Let's just say I'm the punisher of guilty." Maze smirked before walking off.

Buffy and Xander stood in her garden, talking.

"I thought I hit bottom, but… it hurt. That you didn't trust me enough to tell me about Spike. It hurt." Xander admitted.

"I'm sorry. I should have told you." Buffy said apologetically as Xander smiled.

"Maybe you would have, if I hadn't given you so many reasons to think I'd be an ass about it." Xander acknowledged.

"Guess we've all done a lot of things lately we're not proud of." Buffy noted.

Xander gave a slightly larger smile. "I think I've got you beat."

"Wanna compare?" Buffy asked.

"Not so much. I don't know what I'd do… without you and Will." Xander smiled as Buffy tried to hold back tears.

"Let's not find out." Buffy said as they hugged. "I love you. You know that, right?"

Xander spotted something over Buffy's shoulder and his eyes widened in alarm. "Buffy!"

They turned to see Warren enter the garden, still wearing the black outfit from the previous night.

"You think you can just do that to me? You think I'd let you get away with that?" Warren scoffed and laughed crazily. "Think again." He pulled out his gun and fired but Xander jumped to the ground, while Buffy dodged to avoid the bullets and Warren turned to run off as he fired few more shots blindly, one of them hitting the upper window and Buffy and Xander turned their heads to the upper window that Warren had shattered, realizing it was Willow's and Tara's bedroom.

"Oh, my God…" Xander whispered as his and Buffy's blood ran cold, while Warren escaped.

Willow and Tara were in their bedroom, talking, when they heard 'crack' and Tara suddenly saw some blood spatter on Willow's face, while her expression turned into one of shock and horror before Tara suddenly felt numb and her body seemed to freeze in shock.

"Your shirt…" Tara trailed off before she started to tremble and felt wet on her chest as she looked down to see red blooming on the wool of her sweater, blood soaking into the wool, a gunshot wound appearing on her chest as her legs suddenly gave out and she collapsed to the floor.

"Tara?" Willow cried out in horror as she knelt towards Tara. "Baby?"

"Willow…" Tara whispered, breathing shakily and rapidly as Willow immediately pressed her hand on Tara's wound to reduce the bleeding, with tears pouring down her eyes, while Tara let out a weak wail of pain and started to whimper.

"I'm so sorry, I know it hurts, but stay with me, please…" Willow begged, barely holding it together as her voice started to break.

"Willow? Tara? Are you OK?" Buffy called out as she rushed upstairs and at the doorstep to the bedroom, she froze, horrified. "Oh, no…"

"Buffy…" Willow said brokenly with her eyes wet.

"Xander called 9-1-1, just keep the pressure on the wound and make sure she's awake and talking, it'll buy us some time." Buffy said as she knelt towards Tara, also placing her hand on the wound.

"It hurts…" Tara whimpered in between shaky breaths and going paler from the blood loss, while Buffy and Willow felt the blood on their hands, both of them barely able to keep it together.

"I know… I know… it's gonna be OK, just don't pass out, please…" Buffy said.

"We're here with you. We're not going to let you go…" Willow said.

"You won't…" Tara trailed off as her eyes started to close and she began to drift out of consciousness and in that instant both Buffy and Willow lost it.

"Tara? Tara, please, stay with us! You have to stay awake, please!" Willow begged.

"Don't do this to us! Please, Tara! Come on! Open your eyes! Tara!" Buffy screamed as the dam broke and both girls burst into tears, just as Xander and the paramedics went upstairs, pulling the girls away and putting a self-inflating mask on Tara's face and treating her before they and Xander brokenly and in tears observed Tara being carried away on the stretcher to the ambulance and Buffy, Xander and Willow insisted to come, since she was their family.

Warren was in a demon bar, desperately trying to recruit anyone who would help him against Buffy but the demons and vampires in there just had a laugh at him but they all stopped laughing and backed off, when they noticed Lucifer enter.

"Which one of you is Warren Mears?" Lucifer asked.

Warren turned as he looked at Lucifer. He had no idea at all who he was but considering how the demons seemed to look uncomfortable in his presence, Warren knew for sure he was a big shot in the bar and he gulped, wondering if Buffy had sent him after him. "Who wants to know?" He asked nervously.

Lucifer smirked as he approached Warren, smirking. "So, it was one thing you tried to take out a Slayer but shooting a good innocent woman and getting away with it?" He then neared his face inches away from Warren's ear and whispered something that made Warren pale white as sheet before Lucifer's eyes glowed red and he showed his Devil face, unnerving the demonic customers but it terrified Warren to the core as he screamed.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

Few hours later, Buffy, Willow, Xander, alongside with Anya and Dawn, who had become just as shattered upon hearing the news, were in the hospital, waiting outside the operation room for hours, even though it felt like an eternity for especially Willow, Buffy and Dawn.

Willow was tempted to burst in and use magic, hating feeling so helpless to do anything to save Tara, but looking at her friends and reflecting on how magic had been negatively influencing her, she restrained herself from doing so, even though it would have made it easier for Willow, she was done looking for the easy way out with magic, even though she despised the waiting that felt like eternity and the rest of the Scoobies weren't any better. Xander just paced back and forth, Dawn was in tears leaning onto Buffy's shoulder, who wasn't any better as she stroked Dawn's hair, while Anya leaned onto the wall with crossed arms and rubbing her face. This was just as bad as when Joyce had gotten sick and they prayed to any higher powers that were out there that Tara would make it. Willow wanted to be in the surgery room for Tara but the rest of the Scoobies decided that it would be best if they wouldn't see Tara in such a vulnerable way.

They had learned that Warren was currently in a padded cell in an asylum in a straitjacket, muttering something about the Devil haunting him, but as much as the Scoobies were relieved he was not going to hurt anyone, ever again, they were too wrapped up in their concern for Tara until hours later, one of the doctors let them know that they had managed to stabilize Tara, much to their relief.

For the first two days, Tara was in the ICU, resting and hooked up to heart monitor and life support, with a breathing tube attached to her mouth and the ventilator and kept under sedation to dull the pain until the third day the doctors decided to get Tara off the ventilator and reduced the dosage of sedatives, even though she had an oxygen tube attached to her nose. At that point, whether Tara would pull through or not was entirely up to her.

The Scoobies regularly came to visit to see if there had been any improvement in Tara's condition, while Willow refused to leave Tara's side, outside of getting a coffee or something to eat, most of the time she spent on the chair next to Tara's stretcher as she held Tara's hand, frantically begging for her to wake up. It was late at night, when Willow had gone for another cup of coffee and entered Tara's room again, when one of the doctors approached Willow.

"Miss Rosenberg, I understand you don't want to leave Miss Maclay but trust me, there is nothing you can do for her anymore. Go home. Get some rest. We'll let you know if there's any change in—"

"No. I'm not leaving her. I can't." Willow shook her head firmly as the doctor sighed and nodded.

"She's strong. I have hope for her. You just have to be patient." The doctor assured as he left, while Willow kept her eyes on Tara, while Willow approached Tara's bedside and held her hand again.

"I can't lose you, Tara. Please… wake up, Tara. You need to find your way back. Please…" Willow begged, sobbing into her sleeve before she suddenly felt the movement on her fingers and whipped her head.

Tara's eyes fluttered and she blinked rapidly and Willow suddenly felt hope rising as she pressed the call button on Tara's stretcher.

"Come on, Tara, wake up…" Willow whispered, waiting for a minute or two, even though it felt like an eternity before Tara's eyes fully opened and Willow felt Tara's hand holding her own tightly as the doctors entered, checking on Tara.

"Hey, Willow…" Tara said weakly with a smile and Willow felt like if a heavy burden had been lifted off her shoulders.

Jonathan and Andrew were in jail, with Andrew hoping for Warren to help them, while Jonathan was bitter how low had those two sunk and ashamed of calling himself their friend, when they overheard the officers talking.

"Hey, the guy behind the shooting in Summers's house, Warren Mears, he's being processed to the asylum."

"Why?"

"He kept ranting something about the Devil being real and he tried to bash his skull on the wall, I guess he's lost all his marbles."

Jonathan and Andrew widened their eyes in shock as they looked at each other and gulped. Whatever happened to Warren, they counted themselves lucky that they didn't end up like him.

Warren was in a padded cell wearing a straitjacket and curled to the ball, catatonic and shuddering in constant terror as he muttered under his breath.

"The Devil is real… the Devil is real…"

Who knows what Holtz's greatest regret would be to become his Hell but as much as a bastard he was, I think a very small part of him would regret using an innocent child like Connor and the abuse he had put Justine and his own men through.

The bits with the Scoobies are from my one-shot 'Not going anywhere', Warren misses Buffy and Xander but shoots Tara, who doesn't get a fatal wound.

And as for Warren, he deserved to die for Katrina and Tara and skinning alive, well, I had more issues with Willow doing something so brutal, than Warren suffering so horribly but considering what happened later in comics, eugh and hope you liked what he got here.

So, what do you guys think?

Please review and let me know if you have enjoyed this one-shot.

With regards

Bl4ckHunter