Author's Note: At last, the final chapter. I've editted some of the lines but aside from those minor changes, story's still the same. :)
"Now what?" Rush said after entering the power plant.
"Well, we have to go out on patrol. These people will be safe in here. Dad said there's something that the supervamps need in this town. Were you able to figure it out or something?"
"No." He said sternly.
Great.
"Any of you guys, have an idea what these supervamps want aside from you people being breakfast lunch and dinner?"
"No."
"This town's built here for a reason. Have you heard any weird stuff anything to help us figure this out?"
"Hmm.." the sheriff started "there were rumors before that there's something beneath this town."
"A hellmouth?" Crimson and Ash sounded out in unison.
"What was that?"
"A hellmouth is basically our way of saying that this town is screwed. The reason why those vampires are attracted here is because the hellmouth gives them power. If they find out where it is, they'd be harder to kill." Crimson explained.
"You mean unstoppable?"
"Unstoppable? No. Harder to kill? Yes. You people dead? Hardly. You dead? Hmm."
Crimson: I would really like to kill him now.
Rush: I feel the same thing.
Crimson talks to his other selves often, causing him to pause for a bit as they discuss things internally. He had the ginsu already on his right hand, ready to slash at anything.
"That's enough morbid talk for you. So Sheriff, where is this hellmouth located?" interrupted Ash.
"I don't know honestly."
Well, isn't that helpful? Ash thought.
"So any inputs on this Crimson?"
"I don't know anything."' Rush responded.
"You're not Crimson."
"Oh yeah, sorry."
"Easy. Those supervamps are attracted to the hellmouth, they'll lead us right to it."
"I don't think they'd be happy to assist us after what we did."
They were silent for a while until Crimson came up with another idea.
"My mother used the simple knife to open up a portal when we were kids. It should be able to close the hellmouth."
"Which brings us back to the same question, how do we find it?"
"The simple knife should be attracted to it as well."
"How would I know?"
"I don't know."
"Perfect. We'll just scour the town. Sheriff, if you can, please restore the power."
"I will do my best. Be careful out there both of you."
"Thank you."
Crimson and Ash walks away and locks the survivors in.
"And I'm gonna tell HDA to assign a demon slayer here." Ash pointed out.
"I don't like it here either."
"I thought every city has their own slayer...geez. I wonder why they never thought of appointing someone here."
"You're obsessing."
"Please."
There wasn't any other option but to scour the town for them to find the hellmouth.
"Is it just me or this thing is getting heavier by the minute?"
Ash is dragging the simple knife she had carried single handedly when she was in combat.
"Can I try?" offered Rush.
"Yeah Wait, have you held the simple knife before?"
"I have." He suddenly switched to Crimson.
He grabs the weapon and was able to lift it just enough.
"I can see you're exerting much effort like I have the past few minutes."
"I think this is the effect of the hellmouth to the simple knife. The closer we are to it, the heavier the weapon gets."
"Oh. That's not good. How will I be able to close the hellmouth if I can't even lift it?"
"I'm sure you'd come up with something."
"Ugh. Alright, I'll think of something when we get there. Okay, which way?"
Ash lifts the simple knife and points it at any direction, swinging it back and forth.
"Are you trying to write your name?" Crimson spoke sarcastically. "You look ridiculous."
"I'm trying " she spat, while swinging the simple knife "to see which direction this thing gets rather weighty."
"Hmm. While you're at it, maybe you can slice this apple in half."
"I can cut it!" Rush re-emerged.
"Shut up." Crimson re-takes control.
He shows her the apple on his hand. Ash clearly annoyed, swung her knife and sliced it neatly in half without hitting Crimson. He smirks at her and takes a bite from his apple.
"Do you have a better idea?" Her eyebrows raised as she questioned him.
"No." He simply said.
"Well then, just sit tight and eat your goddamn apple and let me do this."
"I'm not trying to stop you."
Growing tired, Ash gave it one more try and finally got lucky.
"Okay I think that's where the hellmouth is."
"Alright, let's go. Are you sure you'd be able to carry that thing? I'm sorry about my other self...you know how he is sometimes." Rush apologized.
"Don't worry about it."
Ash drags the simple knife and walks ahead of Crimson. As the minutes pass, the weapon got heavier until she can't even lift the handle from the ground.
"This must be where the hellmouth is. I can't lift it anymore." She admitted.
"You're right."
Both of them stand in awe as they saw the hellmouth a few meters away from them.
A hellmouth is basically an entrance to hell it attracts demons and vampires alike and makes them stronger. A slayer's weapon such as the simple knife, can also harness the hellmouth's power but its wielder should be equally strong or it will be impossible to even lift it. The more it absorbs power, the weightier it gets.
"Well, don't just stand there. Close it already." Rush insisted.
"Yeah sure, if I could just carry this thing " Ash lets her inner strength out but doesn't succeed on heaving the weapon.
"Crap! This really sucks." "What are we gonna do? We're sitting ducks!" Rush looked like he was about to suffer a nervous breakdown.
"Okay, first off, we're not sitting" she allowed herself to breathe for a minute "and second, we're DEFINITELY not ducks."
Back in NQC, Riley almost choked himself to death after swallowing a big chunk of beef steak.
"I was speaking metaphorically." Rush explained.
"Whatever."
She attempts to heave it up again and succeeds, but it was too much for her that she instantly dropped the weapon.
"Are you okay?"
"I'll survive."
Rush sees Ash's hands bleeding. She wraps it using her handkerchief and clenches them somehow hating herself for not being powerful enough to handle the simple knife against the hellmouth.
Rush talks silently with Crimson.
Rush: You're a slayer right? Shouldn't you be able to use the simple knife as well?
Crimson: Yeah sure I can faggot. But the thing is, you see, Ashley is more powerful than I am as a slayer, so if anybody can use the fucking weapon, it would be her.
Rush: But, what should we do? She can't even carry it anymore.
Crimson: She can think of something. She always does.
Rush: Either way, we should ask for help a witchety help.
Rush takes out his personal wizard but was surprised to see that it was broken.
"Fuck!" Crimson blurted out.
"What?"
"PW's busted. Must have been from the fight a while ago. Where's your PW?"
Ash searches her pocket for her personal wizard.
"I must have left it in the plane."
"Bitch! Now we're gonna be stuck here!" He said angrily.
"Relax. We'll find a way. In the meantime..."
Just then, a number of supervamps came out of the hellmouth.
"We're just gonna have to hold down the fort and use whatever we have." she continued.
"And so they were able to find it before we got here. You ready slayer?"
"Well, what choice do I have?"
Ash relieves from heaving the simple knife and assumed her fighting started attacking the vampires ruthlessly and relentlessly, killing them as fast as they could, to prevent them from getting much stronger than they already are. But of course, the battle this time is harder. The supervamps who just came out from the hellmouth were like supercharged creatures much faster, much stronger, more fierce.
"Ugly, ugly, ugly beings!" She exclaimed after she snaps another one of the supercharged suckers' head.
Crimson and Ash were surrounded and were at each other's back.
"Well, this is fun." she admitted.
"Tell me about it"
They separated and started to attack the supervamps again, succeeding on killing a few of them on the spot. But these two do have their limitations.
"They won't stop coming." She breathes out.
"Ah well, you know how vampires are."
"Hey, just in case we don't survive, I just wanna tell you that it's been one heck of a ride."
"Huh. Hell it is. But I refuse to die here. So, shall we get this over with?"
"Love to."
The battle went on. Crimson falls down. Ash tries to come to his rescue but gets severely scraped by the supervamp's razor-like claws.
At the last minute, Ash draws strength from the hellmouth, enabling her to lift the simple knife. She slashed the hellmouth with all her might, and was able to close it, as it devours all the vampires it had unleashed.
She sheaths the simple knife to the ground and runs to Crimson.
"You okay?" She said as she was pressing on her own wound.
"I'll survive."
"Good."
Ash collapses on the ground as the dawn breaks.
Rush: Is she gonna be okay?
Crimson: She will be. Stop being a whiner. I have to go to sleep. You take over from here.
Ash wakes up in a hospital room. She sits up abruptly that she immediately felt the pain of her wound.
"Take it easy Ma'am." Jack adjusted her bed so that she could sit comfortably.
"Where's my friend?"
"He's sleeping."
"How did we..."
"My brother was able to restore the power which helped us release the lock in the powerplant. We already know that the vampires, if there's still some left, won't be able to withstand daylight. We took that opportunity to look for you guys and we found you almost half dead."
"Oh. And my weapon?"
"Rook had it towed. It's just in front of the hospital. I still can't believe you managed to carry that thing."
"Hahaha." She pauses for a split second. "It sure is nice to see the sun again."
"You have no idea."
A ringing sound of Mozart's "Fur Elise" resonated in the room.
"That's my personal wizard!"
Jack retrieves it from his pocket and hands it over to Ash.
"A personal wizard huh...I found it on a car wreck near the airport. While you guys were out cold, we had set out to check if there are still others who managed to stay alive. I wanted to use it but..."
"You can't. The new security features needs retinal scan and/or voice recognition. Usually, voice recognition would do the job.."
"You're quite the techy. We don't have such gadgets here."
"I figured. Anyway, I gotta take this."
"Sure."
Ash answers the call. She switched to video conference to let Cole see the aftermath of the tragedy that struck Braskan.
"I see. Where's Rush?"
"Sleeping."
"Are you okay? You look pale."
"I lost a lot of blood. I got battered and I got clawed you know, the usual." She never gets tired of trying to annoy her father, if he's not annoyed yet.
"I will send help right away."
"That's good...anyway, there's a hellmouth here. A huge one though not as big as the one we have in NQC. HDA needs to assign someone here."
"I will setup a conference immediately. For the meantime, take it easy."
"Alright."
Ash turns off her PW. She then noticed that the Sheriff was standing next to his brother.
"So that's HDA."
"He's one of the councils, my dad."
"A slayer..."
"I know this sounds confusing and all but once HDA reps arrive, they will debrief you and explain everything."
"You mentioned that a slayer needs to be assigned here "
"Yes."
"Why? Didn't you close this hellmouth or whatever it is?"
"I did. But it's just temporary. Someone or something will always try to open it. If we weren't able to stop it, eventually someone else will but not without further damage to the neighboring cities."
"I see. Since I'm the one currently in-charge here, can I offer you the job?"
It's the first time she saw him smile, like all the burden has been lifted from him.
"I'm sorry I can't accept it. I have my own city to protect. Rest assured they will assign someone as strong as me who will look after you guys."
"Very well. Thank you again."
"Don't worry about it Sheriff. We're good."
"And one more thing...I'd like to apologize on the way I treated you. I was just..."
"You were on edge, I understand. Don't fret over it, alright?"
"If you say so."
Several planes arrived by sundown. The ever so friendly Carnahan steps out of the blue plane, quickly spotting Crimson standing beside an old chevy driven by Jack. Ash was sitting on the passenger seat.
"Mr. Gin, it's nice to see you again."
"Yup."
"Ms. Saint .. oh my, you're wounded."
"It's okay. Can you just help me board the plane?"
"Certainly."
He helps her out of the car.
"Are you sure that the two of you will stay here?"
"Yes. We have to help in the restoration and cleaning up. Are you sure there won't be any vampires at the time being?"
"I am sure. If there are, that woman talking to your brother, that's your slayer. She will protect this place."
"That's great!"
"We need to go Ash. Unless you want to die due to embolism, I suggest you get on the plane."
"Oh don't be so grouchy. Anyway, take care of yourself Jack."
"Thank you again, both of you."
"Don't mention it! We love to help! Bye!" Rush, eventhough he felt tired, still made the comment so cheerfully that it annoyed Crimson.
"Darn fag!"
Ash and Crimson boarded their plane and left Braskan.
A/N:
Written: November 3rd, 2008
Revised: August 18th, 2010
Re-edited: January 5th, 2012