This is a killer of a chapter, literally. Saying that, I will put this warning up
WARNING: MAJOR CHARACTER DEATHS OCCUR IN THIS CHAPTERThe Bold, Underlined and Italicised word represents the 100,000th word in this story, according to MS Word's word counter. That doesn't include all these author's notes i put up because I have one large file at home, and then save each chapter as HTML and put the Author's notes on.
Don't worry too much about the characters in Amanda's group. Just know that they are in amanda's group. Don't even have to remember their names, cause I just made up names so that I could distinguish between them as individuals.
Take notice of the Title of this chapter… I've done something that I think is pretty cool.
EVERYTHING that happens in this chapter is about taking steps towards something evolving. Eg,if there's a paragraph about Bumbo the Donkey, that means that that Paragraph is about Bumbo the Donkey evolving somehow, although, you may not believe me when you get to the end of this chapter.
Chapter 29
Steps Towards Evolution
Faith watched as Buffy collapsed to the floor, her legs having given out from underneath her.
"Dawn's gone," she was repeating over and over again. She looked around to see other members of the Scooby Gang with absolutely shocked and confused expressions on their faces.
"How could this have happened?" he heard Xander ask. "We've been with her the whole time." No one said anything as the members of the Scooby Gang came to terms with what they had just witnessed. There was a long and very awkward silence in the room for those who had not been around the Scooby Gang for a long enough time to get to know any of them.
"S, s, she's not totally gone, is she?" a voice crept up from the corner of the room. Faith turned to see that it was Tara who was the owner of the voice. "I, I mean, Willow told me that s, she's made of energy?" she said, not sounding sure of herself at all.
"Yes, that's right Tara. She's the Key, made of a matrix of energy which unlocks the gates between dimensions," Giles replied.
"a,a,and that can't be destroyed, right? And, Dawn doesn't have to be d, dead for The First to b be-come her, she j-just doesn't have to be Dawn any more, right?"
"I see what she's saying. We can get her back as long as the Key exists, Dawn can exist. We can bring Dawn back," Wesley said. "The monks created her, surely we can do the same thing."
"Like, magick, re-create Dawn," Xander said. "Well then, what are we waiting for, we need to go and get ourselves a key." Xander, Willow and Giles automatically started moving towards the weapons chest.
"It won't be enough," Buffy said softly from the floor. Everyone, including Oz turned to her. Buffy was on the floor, her eyes distant and staring into space. "No matter what we send, it won't be enough," Buffy said again, looking to Faith.
"What do you mean?" Giles said.
"We saw it, Giles, the future. No matter what we send at them, it won't be enough," Buffy said, her voice and eyes still distant.
"There were hundreds of Slayers G-Man, all of them activated at the same time, and all of them were dead," Faith said, looking between Willow and Giles. "We saw her, Michaela," Faith said while nodding towards the limp body of Michaela on the couch. "Except it wasn't her. She had the same freaky eyes, and dark green hair. She told us that it was time for the Slayer to evolve, and that our enemy was the key."
"We saw an encampment for Slayers, and we saw ourselves in the future. There were hundreds of Slayers training, and we, us in the future, we even said it wasn't enough," Buffy said. "We saw Spike and Willow there too," Buffy started.
"You don't know if any of this is true. It might be in riddles, in metaphors. Most of these things usually…" Giles started.
"It's all true," a voice said from the kitchen doorway. Everyone turned and looked to see one of the last people they expected to see standing there. "Been there myself. Seen almost everything they've said with my own two eyes, and I can tell you what, it's an ugly future," Spike said.
"Spike?" a chorus of voices said.
"The one and only," Spike replied. "It's a long story, but I ended up living in the future for a while," Spike said. "Saw it all. I even saw these two. When they were transfixed, watching themselves, I could see a blur, lookin a lot like of each of them. Then, next thing you know, poof, I'm back here again, standing in the Summers Kitchen," Spike explained.
"That's what it must have meant," Giles said. Everyone turned and looked to him. "The box, it said that it would 'return what was lost'. I thought it would be a weapon of some kind, hmmph," Giles said.
"Well it's good to know you're so glad to see me Rupert," Spike said to him.
"We need to go to Main Street," Buffy said. Buffy got up off of the floor and headed towards the weapons chest, Faith following behind her. Faith armed herself with a long sword and her favourite choice, double knives, one on the inside of her jeans on each hip. "Only we go," Buffy said to everyone else, who was looking at them now. They started for the door, but before they got there, everyone turned to the limp bodies of Michaela, Connor and Fred, as Fred's body started convulsing.
"Why is Fred on the ground? Why's she unconscious?" Faith demanded.
"While you were gone, she collapsed," Cassia answered her as people started rushing to her side. Buffy and Faith approached the group of people who were now surrounding her, when they saw them all go flying back. Before her, Faith saw the body of Fred get up off of the ground and stand up in the middle of the room, but it wasn't Fred at all. Staring back at them were pale iridescent blue eyes. Her hair colour had changed to match her eyes, and her skin had a light blue tinge to it. The people who had been thrown back were now standing, everyone forming a loose circle around Fred. They watched, as Fred looked at each one of them, taking them in, and then down at her hands.
"Humans," she said in a soft, yet strong voice. Everyone turned as there was a groan from the other side of the room as Connor sat up.
"What happened?" he asked, before he took in the sight before him.
"That one is not human. That one I could not enter. That one is protected," the body of Fred said. At the same moment, the body of Michaela sat up off of the couch. It too looked like Fred's body, except where Fred's body was blue, Michaela's was green. Faith watched as the two looked at each other and sized each other up.
"Illyria," Michaela's body said while looking at Fred.
"Inanna," Fred's body said while looking at Michaela. Faith saw them look around at the ring of people that was surrounding them.
"What are you? Why have you taken over their bodies?" Wesley said from the ring.
"We are not meant to be here," Illyria said. "Not in this time."
"Yet we are," Inanna said to her. Faith could feel the uneasy atmosphere in the room, no one knew what to do, not any of them, and not the two things inside Fred and Michaela's bodies. Faith didn't risk attacking them, in case they weren't the enemy. Beside her, she saw a little blue ball of energy appear, and then another, and then another and another. Soon, there was a rough outline of a blue person standing within the room. Very quickly, skin formed over the top of it to reveal it to be Cordelia. Faith turned back to everyone else and noticed that they were looking at Cordelia, including whatever was inside Fred and Michaela's bodies.
"Oh my God," Cordelia said at her first opportunity to speak. "Everyone get away," she instructed. At once, Faith saw everyone take a step back from Michaela and Fred. The Potentials taking a couple more steps back than everyone else.
"Get out of their bodies," Buffy said, while closing the gap between herself and them. Xander had moved over to the weapons chest and was holding a sword. On Buffy's glance, he threw the sword over to her. Buffy caught it and pointed it in the direction of Fred and Michaela's bodies.
"You seek us to leave these corpses? Why?" Illyria asked of Buffy, looking straight at her.
"Because we care about them," Oz said from the ring, stepping up next to Buffy. The awkward silence returned as the entities inhabiting Fred and Michaela's bodies tried to grasp the concept.
"This is a human concept? Yes? Not wanting to see others come to harm?" Inanna asked, but no one replied. For the first time, Cordelia actually did something, stepping up to Buffy.
"This is not your time," Cordelia started.
"That much is obvious," Illyria replied.
"Humans dominate this world now. Leave and sleep until their time has ended," Cordelia said. Faith understood what she was trying to do. She was trying to get whatever was inside their bodies to leave.
"We were told their time is ending, that the reason for our awakening," Illyria replied. At that statement, Faith drew her knife that she always held in the back of her pants these days. Faith moved around them so that she was standing behind both Fred and Michaela, and Buffy in front. Buffy and Faith began to circle the pair, ready to strike.
"You are both warriors?" Inanna asked.
"Yes," Faith answered. Faith saw the body of Michaela turn and look at her.
"Then I suggest that you meet your end on the battlefields fighting for your race, not here," the thing inside Michaela's body said to her.
"Or we could just end your lives," Buffy said. Faith saw Buffy swing the sword down towards the pair.
"Buffy, No!" Cordelia almost shouted. Faith took Buffy's lead swung into action. Faith jabbed her knife towards Fred's midgut, but she easily stepped out of the way. Faith went to slash at Fred's body where her head was, but she easily got up and moved out of the way. A strong hand gripped Faith's wrist, and she saw that it was Fred's. Fred twisted Faith's wrist around, making her drop her knife. Fred's other hand moved and gripped Faith under the neck, lifting her off the ground.
"Not very impressive," Faith heard out of Fred's lips before she was flung backwards, flying across the house, landing at the base of the stairs and rolling into the dining room, hitting the base of the table. Faith looked up to see that Spike had entered the fight, and that Fred's body threw him through the ceiling of the living room. She saw Buffy get pushed to the ground and flung away like a matchstick. Faith saw Fred's body walk up to Cordelia.
"Educate your warriors. It must be only luck that has kept the humans in this world so long," Fred's body said to her. Faith got up off of the dining room floor and looked to the bodies of Fred and Michaela, who were now heading for the doorway. She saw Cordelia put her hand up to her, signalling to Faith not to attack them and let them go. Before they got to the doorway however, they were stopped by a wall of shimmering air. Faith watched, as both Fred and Michaela turned around.
"So there is one of you possesses power," Michaela's body said. Faith looked to see that Willow's eyes and hair had turned completely black.
"We will allow you to live, your race needs to have some chance of survival," Fred's body said before turning around and walking up to the place where the invisible wall had stopped her before. She stepped up to it, and the air began to lightly shimmer, and Fred and Michaela stepped right through the barrier, a loud cracking sound resonating through the house as they did so. Faith looked over to Buffy, who was getting up off of the ground. She saw Spike coming down the stairs, ready to enter the fight again, if their assailants were here. After everyone had recovered, they all looked at Cordelia.
"What are they?" Wesley asked her. Cordelia just looked around and took in a breath.
"How do we get them out of their bodies?" both Oz and Gunn asked. Cordelia looked to them, before she started to explain.
"I'm sorry, but there is no way to get them back," Cordelia said. "Both Fred and Michaela's bodies have been permanently altered, we couldn't get them back even if we wanted to."
"But, we can get them back, can't we. Give them a new body? Their souls must be out there somewhere," Gunn said.
"No, they're not," Cordelia simply replied. "Their souls were burned in the fires of resurrection as soon as they died, there is nothing left of them, their souls have been stripped clean and moved into other beings," Cordelia said, trying not to hurt Oz, or anyone else in her explanation. Faith could tell that she was lying about their souls going to resurrection, she knew that they were gone, permanently. There was a long silence in the room as everyone digested the information.
"There are those of you in the room who will know the majority of what I am saying, and there are those of you who will be hearing this for the first time. Whatever category you fit into however, listen to me, as you will hear something you haven't heard before," Cordelia said, while looking around the room. "A couple of million years ago, the world was a very different place. Demons ruled, this was their world. The demons were not like we know them today, they were a lot more powerful. The emergence of humans was much, much earlier than any historians or scientists have predicted so far. Humans emerged in the middle of the time of the demons. Their was a hierarchy to the world of demons. There were those which were powerful, and that could manipulate the very planes of existence, alter time and create portals with ease. These were known as The Old Ones. They each had their own armies, some made of a variety of creatures, some made of one or two kinds. These armies were occasionally sent against armies of other Old Ones, however their main purpose was to defend this world from being occupied by a large number of beings from other worlds, as, at those times, the walls between worlds were much thinner than they are now. The common belief was that The Old Ones weren't friendly towards each other, however, if there was a common cause, they would unite and defend their world," Cordelia began to explain.
"One of The Old Ones infused it's own spirit with that of a human, thus creating the first vampire, but it was very different from the vampires of today, and even the Turokhan, although they looked something like them. The other Old Ones saw that this was a very useful follower for their armies, as the human body is easy to manipulate, plus given the strength of a demon. They created legions of these vampires by transmitting a part of their spirit into one human, and then watching the condition spread to other humans, via the vampire feeding, and it's childe feeding, you get the point.
Then, The Old Ones were forced out by unknown circumstances, not even the Powers That Be, know why. Some of The Old Ones put their armies into small dimensions, where time was very slow or virtually non existent, so that their armies may survive until the day that The Old Ones return to this world. The Powers do know that The Old Ones were forced out by something to do with the strengthening of the walls between worlds by The Key. At that point in time, The Key was closer to a living entity than it has been in eons, save for these last few years, obviously. It had thought and could choose it's actions, and like The First Evil, it was everywhere, and inside everything," Cordelia explained to everyone.
"After The Old Ones had left, the remaining armies of vampires turned to warfare, giving into their more human nature and fighting against each other in their god's name, as that is what most of the vampires believed The Old Ones to be; gods. They mostly wiped each other out, as well as a large number of the species of demons on the face of the earth. With these gone, the humans started to multiply and spread very quickly, but a few vampires had set out to keep the numbers of humans to a bare minimum, and The Slayer was created by humans, to defend themselves against the remaining vampires," Cordelia stated. "Now, onto the part regarding Fred and Michaela," Cordelia started again. "A spirit of The Old Ones has entered each of their bodies, summoned by The First. That is why there is no way to get them back, and that is why they are so powerful."
"Oh lord," Giles exclaimed quietly, taking off his glasses and cleaning them. Wesley slowly made his way over to the couch and sat down. Everyone else just stood looking at Cordelia. Faith tried to take it all in. She had just gone up against one of the original demons that had walked the planet.
"Hmmph," Faith let out. "Not everyone can say they've fought against an Old One."
"And got their asses layed out to them," Spike finished for her.
"How come they entered Fred, and not Connor. Connor was showing all of the symptoms that Michaela was, but he didn't get one of them inside him," Xander pointed out. Everyone stopped and thought about it, realising it for the first time.
"I don't actually know, it must have something to do with Connor's, uniqueness," Cordelia said.
"But why Fred? Why did it enter Fred?" Gunn asked.
"Was she close to Connor a lot of the time? Maybe it's spirit was inside Connor, but it couldn't take up residence. I don't know," Cordelia replied.
"But Faith carried him from the High School back to here, how come it didn't enter her?" Cassia asked.
"Maybe it's something to do with Faith's uniqueness in being a Slayer, maybe they can't enter a Slayer. I honestly don't know why they chose Fred or Michaela," Cordelia replied.
"How do we stop them?" Buffy asked, stopping the questions flying at Cordelia. Faith saw her look around at the room, not sure whether to continue or not.
"For now, we don't. They're some of the least of our problems," Cordelia said.
"What, there's something worse?" Naomi said, who was now standing next to Oz, both of them trying to comfort each other after Michaela's death.
"That was only two of them, but there were three summoned," Cordelia said.
"What, so someone else is going to be killed off?" Brett said, speaking for the first time.
"No, it has already been summoned and given a form. It was the only one meant to be summoned, the other two, Inanna and Illyria, who were here, were not meant to come through. The First has recruited the other one, Caelecae, and she is in the process of making a deal with Wolfram and Hart," Cordelia said. "We believe that it is to use the magicians of Wolfram and Hart to bring her army back to these planes of existence, but we're not entirely sure about that," Cordelia said. "For the time being, Illyria and Inanna are a third party. They're not on anyone's side, except themselves. They will do what they need to in order to ensure their survival," Cordelia said. There was a long pause as everyone took in this information. There was now another thing that they needed to fight against, and this thing had an army that was already formed at it's disposal.
"Well it was nice knowing you all. I'm off to enjoy what's left of my short un-dead life," Spike said while heading towards the door.
"You can't leave now," Wesley said from the couch. "We need all the good fighters we can get, even if they are vampires."
"And, you're forgetting the little issue of it being daytime," Xander said. Faith saw Spike standing next to the door and looking at Xander. He opened the door and stuck his arm out into the sunlight.
"Oh, oh, it burns so much," Spike said in a sarcastic voice. Everyone in the room was astonished when he pulled his arm back in and it wasn't smoking. "Sorry watcher. I've seen the future, and if I stick with you lot, I'm going to go down fighting. And, yeah, that isn't a bad way to go out, and will probably be the way I will go out, it won't be on my terms. I won't be fighting who I want to fight, I won't be killing who I want to kill. I've seen what's going to happen, and I'm not going to go down living like that," Spike said before he walked out of the door, into the sunlight.
"Don't worry, he'll be back," Cordelia said. "Now, unfortunately, I have to leave," Cordelia said, dropping the bombshell on everyone.
"What!? Why?" Giles exclaimed.
"Don't worry, I will be back. I just have to go and organise us some help," Cordelia said. Before she left, she looked at both Buffy and Faith. "Buffy, Faith, I believe you have to get to Main Street," Cordelia said before she disappeared. The room was left in utter silence after Cordelia left, no one moving, no one speaking, and not even making a sound. Finally, it was Buffy who broke the silence. She moved over to the weapons chest, and began to arm herself. Faith realised that Buffy was going to go to Main Street, and that she'd better follow suit if they were going to find out what their journey over time had been all about. By the time Faith was done, Buffy was still going, putting weapons into every pocket, and attaching them to her body however she could.
"Um, Buffy, it's the middle of the day. I think someone's going to notice a blonde haired girl walking down the street looking like a one man army," Faith said.
"Let them," Buffy replied. "They said our journey, to arm ourselves, we'll have to fight for whatever we're going to get. By my reasoning, we go, we do this, then we go and try and get Dawn, or The Key, back." Faith could understand Buffy's logic, she was only in this to get Dawn, but she could see defeat in Buffy's eyes, like she was going out to die.
"B, hey, we're going to get through this. We'll go do this thing, we'll get Dawn back, then we'll go and kick the ass of all the legions of hell that are coming after us, then we'll live happily ever after on opposite sides of the world," Faith said. She still knew that Buffy hated her some for what she had done to her, but she wasn't going to go out and face God knows what with a Slayer with a death wish, it was a sure-fire way for them both to get killed if one of them already wanted to die. "I need you in this B. I would say that we can grieve for her later, but we won't have to because we're going to get her back." She actually saw Buffy's resolve return, only a little bit, but it was enough to start a chain of emotional events within Buffy that would get her into gear to fight by the time they got there. Faith had understood that early on in her life, that it only took a small push and you would automatically do the rest. Faith grabbed a couple of extra weapons and found somewhere to sling them onto herself.
"Giles, Willow, Xander, you're with us. Half of the rest of you, start researching ways to bring Dawn back, the rest of you start researching these old dudes or whoever they are," Faith said as Buffy began walking towards the door.
Amanda and her team were just arriving in Sunnydale by car from Los Angeles. They had split themselves up between three cars, each one carrying two people and equipment, mainly weapons and tracking equipment.
"Get on the phone and tell the others that we're going straight to the magick shop for a sleeping spell to transport the Slayer back to the coven once we get her," Amanda said to Carmen, who was in the car with her. After Carmen had done that, she pulled out the UBD from the glove box and looked for the magick shop.
"Here, it's on Main Street. Take the next left," Carmen told Amanda. They made their way to Main Street, where they quickly found the Magick Box. Amanda parked the car and got out, waiting for everyone else to find a car park. She looked down at her body, they were all still dressed in their favourable black leather suits, but she was sure that no one would pay much attention to them, as they were now on the Hellmouth, where the people didn't even know what was going on under their noses. She was reassured in the fact when she saw two women up ahead, one with a greenish tinge to her skin with green hair, the other with blue.
"Hmmph, demons can walk the street here and no one cares," Amanda said to herself quietly. She watched the two women as they walked past them. She had a really strange feeling about both of them, they definitely weren't human, but she could sense something else, they weren't demon either. She listened with her normal senses, and she couldn't hear anything as they walked. She closed her eyes and let her senses expand and sensitise, and she could only hear the softest whisper from them as they walked. Whatever they were, it didn't concern her. They weren't here to fight, only to capture the means by which they would fight. Derrick, Sandra, Jonathon and Michael had all met up with herself and Carmen now, and they made their way into the Magick Shop. Amanda could see a young woman behind the counter, and approached her.
"Hello, I would like to speak to the management of this place. It's regarding a very important and powerful spell we will require from you," Amanda said to the woman.
"I'm sorry, The Management would be Anya, and she's not here at the moment, she's been out of the country for the last couple of weeks, seeing friends apparently, or organising something, I'm not too sure," the young girl replied. "Maybe I can help you."
"Okay, this is what we need…" Amanda said.
Angelus was standing on top of what had become his home for the last couple of weeks. It was here where his army was being created, for The First. With it, they would create slaves of the humans, and they wouldn't have to worry about them any longer. The world would belong to the vampires, as it should. Next to him, the image of Buffy Summers appeared.
"Hello my darling Angelus," it said. "I have another task for you."
"And what would that be? It had better be good. I'm sick of just sitting and waiting," Angelus replied.
"Oh, you will have to sit and wait a bit longer…" The First started. "But I need our army to be doing something in the process… Speaking of which, how many do we have following our cause now?" The First asked.
"About five-hundred," Angelus replied.
"Good, because in two nights time, I want that to be one thousand," The First replied. "Go out tonight, get every vampire under your command to start turning as many people as they can," The First said. "When our number reaches ten-thousand, we will take this city for ourselves."
"What about the government, they know about us. If their largest city on the West Coast is taken over by vampires, I'm sure they'll do something to try and stop us," Angelus replied.
"Don't worry, I have Wolfram and Hart attending to that matter. But that's why, in the day time, I need you and your army to begin to create shelters underground, away from the Sunlight, where you can protect yourselves without having to worry about that," The First said.
"I think we can do that," Angel said.
"I need one more thing though. The shelters must protect you from the human's bombs."
Riley Finn was sitting in a field headquarters, it having been called in once his team had notified their superiors of the situation they had gotten themselves into the previous night.
"It's ingenious. Why didn't we ever think of anything like this ourselves. Who could have the technology, let alone the budget, to pull something like this off?" the professor in front of him was saying, while looking at the gun and the clip from it that the woman had given to Riley. Riley and most of the other members of his team were interested in finding out about the newly discovered form of weaponry against the vampires.
"I'm guessing The Watchers Council," one of his team members replied. They're the experts a fighting these things, and they probably have access to the technology and the funding to make something like this.
"But those people definitely weren't from the Council," another one of his team members said.
"No, they weren't," Riley agreed. "To be honest, we don't know who they were or what they were doing. But it was obvious that they weren't completely human. They had a weird colour to their eyes, and they move faster than anything I've ever seen."
"Do you think they're to be trusted?" Riley's superior asked him.
"I honestly don't know," Riley replied.
Giles was trying to reason through it all. There were spirits of The Old Ones inhabiting the bodies of two people he had come to know a little of over the last few days. Other people however knew them better, and had come to love them. He was running one name in particular through his head, after Xander had asked him if he knew anything about either Illyria, Caelecae, and Inanna. He knew something of Inanna the goddess worshiped by early man. It was another name for Gaia, the nature goddess, the mother of all. He thought that there must definitely be some kind of correlation between the two, or even that the being he had seen not twenty minutes ago was what early man had worshipped.
"Inanna is the name of an early goddess to appear in the early histories of man. She was a nature god, the mother of all, ruler of the stars, planets, water and light, and she symbolised the destruction of the indestructible. Her essence is still invoked in spells today, especially to do with nature. It would make some sense that Buffy and Faith saw the image of her in their journey, as she is the god of nature, and nature is involved in evolution," Giles explained mostly to Xander, but to everyone else, who was listening as well. "At least, that would explain the green hair."
Faith, Willow, Giles, Xander and Buffy were walking towards Main Street, getting weird looks from everyone who they crossed paths with. Faith didn't blame them. She looked to Buffy, who was carrying a large axe in her hand, had two swords strapped in an X shape on her back, a large knife at each hip, a smaller one tucked into the back of her jeans, and at least one stake in each pocket. Faith had a little less weaponry on her, with one sword strapped to her back, her two knives at each hip, like Buffy, her knife that she kept with her just about wherever she went, and a stake in her hand. Xander, Giles and Willow weren't carrying anything, as they were all sure that Buffy and Faith would be the only ones doing the fighting. They had gone over it with Giles while they were walking, their transparent overlay that they saw on their journey usually always symbolises something that is in another dimension, or a parallel time. They were sure that once they got to Main Street, something would present itself, so that Buffy and Faith could go to wherever they were meant to go. Willow and Giles were there to help them work it out if it wasn't so obvious, as Faith knew that they both weren't the best in the world at figuring out things like that. Faith had brought Xander along because it seemed like the right thing to do. Although everything wasn't good between them, this wasn't about her and her feelings or her personal situation with everyone in the Scooby Gang, this was about something far bigger than that.
Buffy just felt empty and numb, and there wasn't much else inside of her. She had felt like this far too many times in her life; after she had sent Angel to Hell; after her mother died; and the whole period after her resurrection. She knew this feeling inside out. However, this time, there was a small amount of hope that they would be able to bring Dawn back. This time, she didn't have to tell all the voices in her head flying around that there was hope that one of them was coming back, to be quiet. She didn't have to tell herself that she was just being crazy, hoping that Dawn would come back, because there was a possibility that she would. Dawn still existed, and beside her was the most powerful witch she had ever seen, even though she had a very hard time controlling her power, she was still extremely powerful. Those two factors alone would have to count for something. Buffy knew that she would fight until her last breath for whatever they had to go through, to evolve. That fact would keep her going towards Dawn. As long as there was a chance to save the last member of her family, she would fight. She knew that she had to clear her head, if there was a fight coming up. She knew that she had to be at her full potential. Common sense told her that if they were going to somewhere, or that there was something that was going to change them, that they would have to fight the hardest they had ever fought in their lives to get it, nothing good comes easily.
Buffy could hear commotion up ahead as they came nearer to Main Street. They were in a street that intersected with Main Street about two hundred metres further ahead. She could see people running and screaming, and a large amount of leaves and paper being blown about.
"Well, looks like this is the place. You ready B?," Faith said
"Ready as I need to be," Buffy replied before starting off at a run towards the street. Faith started to follow, and she could hear that Giles, Willow and Xander weren't too far behind. When she got to Main Street, she turned onto it into the opposite direction that the people were running and the papers were flying. She looked ahead, and she almost stopped dead in her tracks. She moved off of the sidewalk so her view wouldn't be obstructed by anything. There was a large square of shimmering air in the middle of the street, about two stories high, and spanning the width of the street. Past it, she could see a dark sky, and a large structure standing in the middle of the image, the same one that they had seen in their journey. In front of what Buffy guessed must be a rather large portal, stood a figure with green hair, looking in through the portal. Buffy felt Faith come to a stop beside her, and everyone else stand beside them. The figure in front of the portal turned around, revealing it to be Michaela, or as Buffy had learnt, Inanna.
"Shit, I hope we don't have to fight her," Buffy heard Faith say beside her.
Amanda had turned and watched what was happening outside the Magick Shop as soon as the commotion had started. She had watched the same woman with green hair and eyes who she had seen earlier stand in the middle of the street, cars swerving not to hit her, open a rather large portal to god knows where. It was at that point that she stopped paying attention to what was going on, as she had seen the blonde slayer go past the window, armed to the teeth, and then the brunette slayer not too far behind her. She immediately turned to her team.
"The Slayer is out there, we need to act now. It will be messy out there, it looks like we'll be walking into the middle of something big. Do not kill her, the coven needs her alive," Amanda said.
"What of the other Slayer, the blonde one?" Jonathon asked.
"Keep her busy, but do not kill her, we want Faith. The other Slayer is useless to us," Amanda replied.
Buffy was looking directly at Inanna, who must have been at least fifty metres away. She watched as Inanna looked at them, and then tilted her head onto the side.
"I can see in you that you are not here fight against me. You understand your time for evolution is long overdue," Inanna said. "You come here, seeking to advance yourself further, by using the gates of evolution, portal the land where I house my armies," Inanna said, her voice reaching them as though she was speaking right into her ear, not fifty metres away, shouting over the distance and the wind.
"Ingenious," Giles says. "She put her army in land where evolution must occur rapidly. Her army would be well surpassed anything in this world by the time she would have come back, being now, of course."
"Thanks for the tip," Buffy said.
"You seek this in order to save your race?" Inanna posed the question to both of the Slayers.
"Yes," Faith replied.
"Yes," Buffy replied. Inanna spent a long moment looking at them, and then Buffy saw her head move, looking past them. Buffy turned to see six figures, dressed all in black, coming swiftly down the road, out of the Magick Box. She could see that they held swords in their hands, and that they moved fast, too fast. "Faith, we've got company," Buffy said, only to see that Faith had also noticed them. Buffy lifted her axe and held it in both hands as she moved towards the oncoming attackers. When one of them was three metres away from her, she started to swing the axe, and as she did so, spun around and lifted the axe, so that it was coming diagonally down towards the woman and man who were approaching her. She was slightly surprised as one of them ducked under her blow, and with lightning quick speed delivered a quick jab to her midgut. She went to swing her axe at the man who was approaching her to attack, but with the same speed, he came in close to her, grabbed her wrist, and twisted, causing Buffy to lose her grip on the axe with her right hand for a moment. The woman who was fighting against her as well, used that time to knock the axe out of her hand. Before she had time to recover, she was stumbling backwards as one of them kicked her. Buffy recovered and took a quick couple of steps backwards as they approached her. She wanted them to attack her again, and that they did. The woman advanced, aiming a kick at Buffy's head. Buffy used the woman's forward momentum and her own backwards momentum to grab the woman's leg and pull, sending her sprawling along the ground past Buffy. She then changed her direction as quickly and as swiftly as she could, approaching the man and punched him in the guts and then delivered an uppercut before knocking him to the ground. Before she knew what was happening, she felt a blow from the back which sent her sprawling forward, tripping over the man who she had just sent to the ground. She rolled with the momentum, and sprung back up and turned around as fast as she could. She got enough time to see that one of the people dressed in black was occupying Willow, Xander and Giles, and three were attacking Faith. She also got the time to see that Inanna was still standing next to the portal, watching the proceedings.
Buffy regrouped. She had to think this through. These people were as fast as her, at her best times, and there were more of them than her. She had to be able to use that to her advantage somehow. Before she had the time to come up with anything, she saw the woman lining up to give her a round-a-house kick to the head. She ducked, but she saw a foot coming for her face too late. The man's foot met her face with a crunch and she was sent flying backwards, knocking her head on the bitumen of the road. Buffy got up, feeling a liquid flow down her face, knowing that it was blood. She got a quick glance at Faith, who she saw had lost her knives to the others, and had blood pouring from various places on her body. She had to get over there to help her, before she was killed, or they'd have to try and find the next Slayer in the morning. She watched as the woman and man approached, and she noticed that they had very, very green eyes. Buffy knew that this was the challenge. These people were from Inanna, this is what they had to fight.
"Maybe this is what her army evolved into,"Buffy thought briefly before she got her mind back onto her situation. She had a plan on how to get past the two people in front of her. They started moving towards her, the pair of them next to each other, and Buffy started moving in a straight line, headed for the gap right between them. When she was three metres from them, she ran as fast as she could and jumped, flipping over both of them. When she landed, she put her hands in an X shape as she grabbed the handles of each sword that was strapped to her back. She pulled them out, and as she did so, twisted them around, so that swords were upside down to the way they were supposed to be held, and thrust backwards. She heard the satisfying sound of metal piercing flesh as the swords cut into the two people now behind her. She pulled her swords out and looked towards Faith just in time to see her pull a knife out of one of the people she was fighting against.
"Nooooooo," she heard one of the people they were fighting against scream. Buffy started to move towards them, but she was too late.
"Faith!" Buffy called, but it was no use. Buffy could only watch as the woman picked up Faith's dropped sword off of the ground and drive it right through her stomach, coming out the other side. Buffy could only watch as the sword took over Faith's leg's job of Supporting her, and she was half leaning on the woman, half on the sword to stay upright. Buffy was shocked, she had never expected to see Faith fall, not like this. She was surprised when she saw the woman who had stabbed Faith go flying across the street and smashing into the wall of one of the buildings. She looked to the spot that the woman was once standing at, and saw Inanna standing there. She watched as one of the remaining attackers approached Inanna and swung his sword at her. Inanna caught the sword in her hand, twisted it around until even Buffy heard the man's arm snap, and then watched as Inanna used her other hand and brought it up into the man's face, sending him flying back through the air and crashing into a tree. Buffy watched as Inanna waved her hand, and everything seemed to slow down. She looked around, and she could see that everything was happening in slow motion, except for her, the portal and Inanna. Buffy approached Faith, very slowly, and bent down to examine her wound.
"I find your race quite interesting, and more complex than they seem to be at first inspection. I wish to study your race more, that is why I am giving you this chance, and saving you from these human attackers who wish to harm you, so that you may indeed have a chance at a longer survival," Inanna said. Buffy looked up at her, confused.
"What? You mean, these aren't yours?" Buffy asked. There was a slight pause as Buffy saw Inanna trying to fathom her question.
"No, I did not send these attackers. They are from your world, and they have their own agenda," Inanna replied. Buffy looked at her, and then down at Faith.
"There is still hope for your fellow warrior. Take her through the gates of evolution, there you will find the answers," Inanna said. Buffy sheathed her swords into their holders which were strapped to her back and grabbed Faith under the armpits and began dragging her through the portal. Immediately, Faith's body came into the same time phase as Buffy and she decided to pick her up and walk towards the portal. She stepped up to it, and turned and looked around. She watched as Giles, Xander and Willow moved towards where Faith once stood in slow motion. She watched as the effects of the portal occurred in slow motion; wind blowing the trees and bits of paper flying through the air. She caught something in the top of her vision, and she looked up to see a dove flying directly overhead. She took in the sight, before she turned around and walked into the portal.
Amanda awoke to the sound of people, lots of them. She remembered what had happened. She was fighting against the Slayer, and the Slayer had stabbed Jonathon. Amanda had grabbed The Slayer's sword off of the ground and run her through with it, and before she had time to react, she had seen the green haired woman standing before her and then the next thing she knew, she was flying through the air and then her world went black. She opened her eyes and saw that there were people standing around her. She immediately got up and steadied herself against the building.
"Are you alright," one of them asked her.
"What happened," another asked her. She just waved them off and walked through the crowd to check on her friends and team mates. She could see that Michael was standing in a group of people who were standing in a ring around something. Amanda pushed herself into the ring, and looked down. There were paramedics kneeling down by two bodies; those of Carmen and Derrick. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see that it was Sandra.
"Sandra, what happened?" Amanda asked her. Sandra just looked at her, and Amanda could tell that what she was about to tell her wasn't good.
"Derrick's been announced dead from blood loss, and so has Jonathon. Carmen's in critical condition, the paramedics are working on her there until an ambulance comes. They were at the doctors surgery at the time," Sandra said.
"No," Amanda said, she couldn't believe that Derrick and Jonathon were dead. "How was Derrick killed?"
"The other Slayer. I saw it, she jumped over them and put a sword through each Derrick and Carmen just moments before Jonathon was stabbed by Faith," Carmen replied. Amanda just looked at her, and then a plan came into her mind.
"Give me your phone. We need to notify the coven of what's happened, and we'll need their help to get Jonathon and Derrick's bodies," Amanda said. Sandra gave Amanda her mobile phone, and she hit two on the speed dial. Within moments, she recognised Samantha's voice.
"Samantha, it's Amanda," Amanda said.
"Amanda, good to hear from you. I'm glad that you achieved your goals. I'm not sure whether it was on time or not," Samantha said over the phone.
"I have some rather bad news. Derrick and Jonathon are dead. We'll need your help to get their bodies back from the authorities," Amanda said.
"That won't be a problem," Samantha replied. "I'm not game to ask, but, do you have The Slayer?"
"No, she was killed," Amanda replied. "And she wasn't revived… I'm taking it that the Potential Slayer we took from Brisbane, Australia has been activated?" Amanda said into the phone.
"Yes, she has," Samantha replied.
"Good, so we now control the Slayer line?" Amanda said into the phone, knowing the answer.
"Yes, that's correct," Samantha replied. "But I'm not sure that it's in time."
"It has to be," Amanda said, before the line was cut dead.
Buffy looked at the sight before her, there were Vampires surrounding her and Faith in a circle, and beyond that circle, there stood a large structure with the symbol of The First on it (An upside down triangle, surrounded in a circle, surrounded by a right-up triangle). Buffy put Faith on the ground and drew her swords as five vampires approached her. She saw a gap between two of them, and she stepped towards it and swung her swords parallel with the ground, decapatating two of them. She spun around and sliced the hand of another vampire who was swinging it's fist at her. At that moment, the other fifty or so vampires decided that they'd charge at her too. Buffy fought as best as she could, swing her swords, not even aiming to kill, just to hurt. She was exhausted, and she knew that if she hurt them, they'd back away, giving room for more vampires to come that she could hurt and make back away. She swung at the head of one of the vampires, but he caught her wrist and twisted it around, grabbing her sword from her and tossing it away, which she noticed another vampire caught. She twisted out of the vampire's grip and turned and drove her sword through it. She didn't have time to pull it out, so she grabbed the two knives at her side, and started hacking at everything that came near her. She was about to collapse. She saw the vampire that had grabbed her sword swinging her sword towards her head and she ducked out of the way, only to get kicked to the ground by a vampire's foot. She jumped to her feet, only to get hit in the midgut, and then met with an uppercut to her face. With pure determination, she recovered and with both her knives, she cut the head off of the vampire that had uppercutted her. In a sudden moment, she felt something on her back, and on her stomach, and she heard herself let off a gurgling sound. Suddenly, pain shot through her like she had never experienced before. Buffy could feel liquid coming out of her mouth, and looked down to her chest, to where the pain was coming from. Her eyes went wide as she saw a metal point sticking out of it, covered in her blood.
"I've failed," Buffy thought. Thought about how everyone was relying on her, and she had failed them. She thought about how Dawn was relying on her to turn her back into a person, and that she had failed at that. She thought about everyone in the world, in her world, that she had failed. She heard a moaning sound, and realised that it was coming from her. She couldn't bleed as blood blocked her air way. With the sickening sound of metal tearing through flesh, and with great pain, the sword was drawn out and Buffy collapsed onto the ground, unable to move, blackness coming to the edges of her vision. She was looking at Faith's limp body, beside her, her eyes staring into space. She thought of the fact that she was away from home, away from everyone she still holds dear, that she'd never see them again. She thought about the fact that they wouldn't be able to bring her back this time, there was no body that they could get to, and there would be nothing left of her once these vampires were finished with her. Buffy thought of heaven, and she remembered exactly like it was last time, and she thought of the fact that she might be going back there, and that the whole human race would meet her there shortly. Because she failed. Buffy looked to Faith as she felt her last breath leave her body, and blackness and death consumed her.
Dawn's Dead. Michaela's Dead. Fred's Dead. Faith's Dead. Buffy's Dead. Dead, dead, dead, everyone's dead. Don't worry though, Buffy, Faith and Willow are still prettymuch the main characters of this story. You're just going to have to wait until the next chapter, which won't be out for a while, because I've got University Exams over the next few days and have to study, so enjoy squirming wondering how the story's going to pan out with Buffy and Faith dead (Doesn't mean they aren't in the story anymore. AND, taking into consideration the name of the next chapter, don't presume you know what's going to happen, cause I gaurantee, you'll get it wrong.
Next Chatper - Evolution