"You think they'll be waiting for me?"
"Huh?" Xander looked up at Willow.
"Tara and Kennedy. You think they'll be waiting for me in Heaven?"
"I think they already are, Wills."
"You think they'll be jealous of each other?"
"Well, if heaven's half as nice as it's cracked up to be, then I imagine jealousy doesn't exist up there. I'm sure you'll be able to be with both of them at once…okay, I've got to stop talking, naughty images are coming to mind." Willow smiled when she heard Xander say that.
They stood watching the rainfall for a minute. The rain had not decreased in intensity since they had gathered under the awning; in fact, it only seemed to be getting worse. Buffy and Giles were conversing with each other twenty feet away; the roar of the rain did not permit the two pairs to hear each other's conversations.
"You know, it's times like this that make me long for the good old days of high school," said Xander, "the days when apocalypses were reasonably survivable."
"I know," said Willow. "It's so hard to believe how much we've changed—how much the world has changed. There are times when I would give anything to help you with your math homework again, or watch Oz during those three nights of the month, or even be mocked by Cordelia."
"Ah, Cordelia." Xander chuckled, and then his smile vanished. "You know, I wish I could have seen her just one more time after our literally explosive graduation ceremony; just to have coffee, patch up a few rough spots, that sort of thing." He paused. "I wish I could have gone to the funeral; unfortunately, communication is slow in Africa, and I didn't get the message until days later."
"I was astral-projecting at the time," replied Willow. "I didn't get the message in time, either. At least she went peacefully; you know, in a coma and all."
They paused for a brief moment until Willow spoke.
"Remember that time back in eighth grade when we went on that class field trip to the city hall, and you, me, and Jesse got separated from the group?"
"Yeah," replied Xander, "and while the rest of the class was listening to Mayor Wilkins talk about his daily responsibilities, we ended up going outside and wondering around aimlessly until we found ourselves all the way over at the Bronze. Man, Mrs. Appleton was so angry; she and the class spent hours looking for us." They both laughed. "Good times, good times."
They said nothing for a full minute. Then Xander smiled.
"Remember that game we used to play where one of us would quote a movie and the other would have to guess which one it was?"
Willow smiled as well. "Yeah, that was kind of fun. You know, as far as helping to kill boredom and all…too bad we grew too old for that."
Another moment of silence passed. Then, suddenly, Xander stepped forward directly into the rain, turned, and sat down Indian-style on the wet pavement, all while being drenched.
"Xander, what are you doing?" asked Willow, worried.
"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched C-beams glitter in the dark near the Tannhauser gate. All those moments will be lost in time, like tears in rain. Time to die." He bowed his head.
"Xander, what are you—oh!" Her face lit up with realization, followed by her giggling, as she replied, "Blade Runner."
--
"I cannot believe it's been so long, Buffy."
Buffy looked at him. "It's only been an hour or or since we got here; we've just got to give Angel a little more time."
"I wasn't talking about that. I meant I can't believe we've known each other so long. It feels like just yesterday that you first walked into the school library, dressed like some daft schoolgirl, looking for textbooks and having no idea who I was."
"Yeah, and then you introduced yourself by plopping down the all-comprehensive manual on vampires right in front of me."
"To which, if I rightly recall, you did not respond in the most gracious manner possible."
"Yeah…you know, it feels really strange to think nowadays how I thought at the time that saving the world would never get any harder than defeating the Master. Turned out ol' Bat-face was just the beginning."
"Yes, I think what we're doing now, waiting for some demonic army to kill us, serves as sufficient proof of that."
"Your optimism is an inspiration to us all, Giles." Giles looked at her, grinning, then looked back at the rain.
"I hope the Council handles this well; they're going to have to elect a new Head, you know. God, I hope they don't pick Roger Wyndam-Price."
Their conversation was suddenly ended when the ground started shaking, accompanied by a deep rumbling sound. After a minute, it quit. The four of them looked around, bewildered.
"What the bloody hell was that?" asked Giles.
"I think that was Angel succeeding. C'mon, let's get ready!" she shouted at the others. Willow opened her (or rather, Kennedy's) duffel bag and took out a short sword, while Xander chose an axe.
Walking into the rain, the four of them went out into the middle of the street and spread out. Xander gestured at the Scythe that Buffy was holding.
"Will that improve our chances of winning much?" He had to shout so she could hear him above the rain.
"Probably not enough, but I think we can make the Partners feel a little less triumphant!"
They heard growling and screaming in the distance; none of it sounded human.
"They're not far away!" shouted Giles.
A minute later, they were all soaked to the skin, and yet still the armies were not quite in view.
"It's funny, you know," said Xander. "The four of us met nearly eight years ago; we were the four original Scoobies. We've fought many battles together, survived many apocalypses. Many people have come and gone from the group: Oz, Tara, Anya, and Riley, just to name a few. And yet, eight years later, it's still just the four of us left, standing together just as we did the year we met. Talk about irony."
Nobody replied; instead, they were looking for visual signs of the approaching enemy. The screams and growls were growing louder now.
Willow pointed up at the sky. "I've seen that somewhere before!"
The others looked up to see something flying toward them in the distance; it did not take long to conclude that it was a dragon.
"Yes, I remember seeing one of them at the tower where we fought Glory!" replied Buffy.
"Here they come!" yelled Giles.
Straight ahead of them, they saw that the armies were only a few blocks away, and charging straight toward them. It looked like something straight out of a Tolkien novel; there were demons of all shapes and sizes. A few were over twenty feet in height. The front line was composed of human-sized demons wearing dark armor, carrying all sorts of weapons, including swords, spears, and axes. The dragon flew a hundred feet above them. The screaming and growling had now reached a nearly deafening level.
Buffy took her Scythe with both hands, and felt its power flow through her; she raised it, ready for the enemy to strike. Willow's eyes turned black, and the blade of her sword lit up in flames; flames which even the intense rain could not put out. Giles held his sword in front of him and Xander gripped his axe with both hands.
Here I come, Anya, thought Xander.
"Let's kick some demon ass!" shouted Buffy.
Buffy ran towards the approaching armies, and the other three followed.
The two sides struck.
--
Author's Note: Okay, now the only thing left is the epilogue, which I will hopefully have out within a few days.
I actually hit a little bit of writer's block with this chapter; I knew how I wanted to end the story and everything, I just couldn't think of how to type it down. Anyways, I hope you like this chapter, but don't be surprised if I decide to revise it later; maybe change some dialogue or add more dialogue or something like that to improve it.
I always get nostalgic for older Buffy (seasons 1-3) every time I watch the later seasons. Hence why I had the dialogue make references to Jesse, the Mayor, and other early things, such as the movie quotes game that Willow and Xander were shown playing in "When She Was Bad" (I love movies, okay?!).
Anyways, hold on for the final chapter, and as always, leave some feedback!