Disclaimer: It all belongs to me! At least that's what the voices keep saying...

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Chapter 33

"How's it going?" Buffy asked, looking down at the slightly wide eyed shaman.

He was seated on the ground, stabilizing his corner of the giant shield in Mexico. He ignored the shower of sparks that the two women arrived with and continued to chant. The only indication that he had acknowledged their presence was the minimal increase of the whites of his eyes.

Buffy glanced around, taking in the low desert scrub and occasional cactus. The pre-dawn light no problem for her slayer-enhanced sight. The air was clear and dry in her nose, with a tang of mesquite. All of the animals within miles had been scared off by the magick, making it unusually quiet.

"Don't taunt the magick people, Buffy," Willow chastised, her head tilted back as she took in the shield that shimmered green in her sight. It was a fairly standard 'don't-see-me' spell intertwined with a magickal block. Simple, but impressive in its scale. The witch felt a small surge of pride for the people she had trained.

"Ruin all my fun," Buffy griped, then cast a teasing smile towards her partner. "Taunting is what I do best, you know."

"Save your legendary skills for the enemy, O' Mighty Slayer," Willow snickered. She turned her attention to the man still chanting on the ground. "We're going to go in now. You won't have to bring the shield down, just ignore the tingling sensation. Hold the shield for as long as you can, but if you hear me yell at you to drop it and run, do it immediately."

Satisfied that the shaman would follow her orders she reached out her right hand and a feeling of peace settled over her as Buffy's hand settled into it naturally. The shaman was the only one around to notice as the two women stepped through the shield with a slight shimmer and then promptly disappeared again once on the other side.

……

The room the two ported into was a huge cavern like structure in the center of the complex. Smooth concrete walls rose four stories over them and a single steel catwalk with descending stairs was fixed to the wall to their right. The door at the top was the only entrance. The four pits with their grisly contents still pulsed with a malevolent orange light. While it might have seemed like an eternity to those involved, only seven minutes had passed since Missy Harrison's blood had reached the ground and set the spell in motion.

Willow pushed aside the metallic scent of blood and her first instinct to help the wailing of Faith and the other slayers. Years of experience had taught her that solving the problem that was causing the pain was the best solution. Interesting. Even in the midst of chaos, she analyzed the construct of the spell. Willow skirted the edge of the pits and let out a low whistle of appreciation. "This is…art."

Buffy cast a curious glance at her partner. Willow noticed and quickly amended, trying to explain, "Okay, so, it's bloody icky-world-endy art, but Buffy, this spell is just…there's a simplicity here that's…" Trailing off at the look of Buffy's arm folded casually across her chest, Willow's cheeks flamed red.

"Will, not that I don't appreciate your love of magickal stuff. We sorta need to stop this. Can you gush later?" Buffy's arms dropped to her side and she smiled slightly at Willow hoping to take the sting from her words.

Willow nodded and explained, "The spell itself is pretty simple. Let me see what I can do."

Buffy nodded and anxiously shifted her feet.

Willow's gaze swept critically over the remaining pits and surrounding area. Okay so they used a large burst of condensed energy to activate the veil that separated the dimensions. Her hand grazed over the concrete lip of the pit closest to her. The complexity of the spell started in the way the energy was gathered. All the sacrifices' energy had to be braided together. Shaking her head, she mumbled, "I can't believe they did it."

"Will," Buffy's tone plaintive, "'splainy?"

Pursing her lips, Willow struggled with an explanation, "Whoever did this is using the slayers as an energy source. This is like one of my worst nightmares. Goddess, they," Willow stopped at Buffy's confused look. Regrouping, she tried again, "Think of the slayers like living, breathing mystical Energizer batteries. You and everyone else keep going and going going. Now take the idea of a vastly large supply of mystical energy and apply that to punching a hole into another dimension."

Buffy's eyes widened the implications clear.

"Yes, Glorificus on a slightly larger scale," Willow confirmed the unspoken question. " The only reason I imagine no one's ever tried it before is because there's only ever been one slayer at a time. The dimensional veil is a tough thing to break, just one wouldn't do it."

Buffy shook her head, recovering. Accepting the situation, she asked, "So tell me how to stop it." Her agitation mounting as the wall she erected to keep out the pain and terror she felt coming through from the surrounding slayers faltered. As it were, it still felt like being stabbed with hundreds of tiny, scalding pokers. To allow anymore feeling to come through would render her useless. She had to focus.

"Give me a sec," Willow murmured and stared at a spot in the center of the four pits. There's something…I can't see, but boy can I feel. She took an involuntary step back when she was hit with the something's power. Whatever 'It' was, it was malevolent, powerful and hungry. "There's something on the other side of the veil," Willow vocalized, dread coming through their link.

"Something?" Buffy asked, a little frustrated by the inefficient manner of communication, but knowing that the other way was not an option at the moment. Their link was too new and neither was experienced enough not get distracted by unnecessary thoughts and feelings. They would just have to do this the old fashioned way.

"It's a…oh wow, that's kinda cool…," Willow murmured. "Scary…but cool."

"Willow," Buffy growled.

"Oh right, the thing on the other side is what's causing the reaction in the slayers," Willow explained. "The spell itself just punched a hole through the dimension. It's like," she tried to think of a suitable metaphor, "it's like the spell caster cast a rope to someone, and now their pulling it through to the other side."

"Why are all the slayers being affected then?" Buffy asked. "Shouldn't the spell just suck the power out of the slayers that were sacrificed?"

"That's where my inappropriate appreciation comes in," Willow told her, "by keeping the girls alive the caster has made it possible to draw on the energy of not only the original girls, but the entire slayer line. The initial casting just used the girls' energy to pierce the veil. The thing on the other side caught hold of it and now it can just keep pulling and pulling until it takes every last drop of power from the Slayer Line."

Buffy scrunched her brow, "That'd be bad," she stated the obvious. "Will, I can keep the pain they're going through at bay, but if you're right, than the power drain is going to start affecting me soon and you as well. We've gotta get rid of this thing pronto."

Willow ran her hand through her hair, a trickle of sweat running down her neck. She had to think fast. Gnawing on her lower lip, she thought aloud, "The simplest thing would be to cut the 'rope'. That would be stop the drain and close the hole, but I'm concerned about what the backlash would be. We also need to get the power back into the Line; otherwise some of those girls are going to be drained dry." She looked around and an involuntary smirk played over her lips as an idea hit her. She quirked a brow at Buffy and asked, "Wanna play tug of war?"

Knowing her witch had come up with a plan she clapped her hands together, saying "Oooh, I love that game. If I win, will you give me a victory smooch?"

"Sure," Willow wiggled her eyebrows in agreement. Setting to work, she explained, "I'm gonna try and give the magick physical form, so that you can get a hold of it. Give me a sec."

"No worries," Buffy laced her hands behind her back and rocked onto her heels, "not like there's a time limit or nothin'."

"Hush, brat." Willow closed her eyes and concentrated.

What she was about to do was very difficult and if she wasn't linked with Buffy she wouldn't have even tried it. Before, she'd had the knowledge thanks to her teacher, but not the capacity. The problem with being a human and trying to handle raw magick was that the human body wasn't really built to handle it. That's why dark witches and shamans who wanted the ability made pacts with demons. Of course, the cost was usually their souls. Willow had always wondered why she'd been able to handle the magick without backup. Now, she knew the answer. And now that she was fully linked with Buffy, she had all that Slayer strength at her disposal.

She opened herself fully and lightly grasped the braided power coming from the slayers in her metaphysical "hands". She didn't try and hold it, letting it slip lightly through her fingers, but instead infused it with her own magick, making it solid and physical. She needed something that Buffy could get a good grasp on. Something that wouldn't break easily. As her idea became physical a thick rope similar to the grade school tug of war rope, began to form. The threads braided together and solidified in her grasp.

That's a little wiggy, Buffy thought to herself as she turned away from Willow to look at the spot in the center of the pillar. From seemingly out of nowhere a heavy looking rope shimmered into view, disappearing into the hole to the other dimension that was located about four feet off the ground As she studied it, she could see it wasn't just one rope, but rather several intertwined together. The single, individual strands traced back to the girls in the pits, disappearing into their bodies.

I've seen some crazy stuff, but that's gotta take the cake. Chuckling to herself she approached Willow and the place where the rope came together. Leave it to Will to define new and interesting levels on my freak-o-meter.

All she had to do was pull it back and then Willow would presumably take care of the rest. The slayer examined the rope for a second, trying to figure out how best to grab it. It was disappearing rather rapidly into the hole between dimensions.

"This is so going to ruin my nails," she grumbled out of reflex and reached out and grabbed hold. "Oh, shit!"

She was almost pulled off her feet by the force of whatever was pulling on the other side. Stupid, stupid, stupid! Ow, ow, ow! Buffy chanted as she steadied herself by slamming her feet into the concrete floor below. Grunting a little, she heaved and began to steadily walk backwards, shoving her feet in at each step.

The slayer noticed absently that the other girls had stopped screaming as soon as she'd stopped the outflow of energy. Inspired, she kept up the slow creep backwards. Whatever was on the other side didn't want to give up very easily though.

Sweat began to dribble down her back and a few times the rope slipped through her fingers, cutting them deeply. She ignored the blood trickling from her fingers and the pain radiating from her hands as she continued hauling. Her shoulder muscles were screaming. Buffy could feel Willow was suffering as well. Keeping the magick in physical form was extremely hard, requiring her total concentration.

"After this is over," Buffy panted to herself, "I'm gonna go shopping. I'm gonna finally go to a real mall. I'm gonna get my hair done," she huffed and heaved herself backwards. Exclaiming, "I'm gonna get a manicure and a pedicure." She was halfway across the room when she was suddenly jerked to a stop. Whatever was on the other side wasn't happy at all and seemed to be stuck. Gathering her strength she gave one final big tug, screaming, "And by God, I am going to buy SHOES!!!"

There was a slurping, cracking sound and all of the pressure going against her was no longer there. She had time for a single, "Crap," and then was flung backward by her own inertia. She fell on her back, slamming her head into the floor, the rope still in her hands. She lay still for a few seconds, a little stunned. Then the rope started tugging against her hands and she grasped it hard by reflex.

Let it go, Willow's voice echoed in her head and she instantly dropped the rope. Sitting up she saw it rose into the air and the strands unwove themselves before her. Once free of each other, they were drawn back to their respective girls, disappearing into their bodies with an almost audible snap.

"So we did it," Buffy laughed, getting back onto her feet. She shook her hands, flinging blood to the ground. Her palms were healing as she watched. Sometimes it's good to have super slayer powers. She was tired, but a headache was the worst of her problems. "That was pretty easy. So where's my kiss?" She leered at Willow expecting a response. The only thing that she received was a groan.

Buffy looked from Willow to where the witch's gaze had settled. The redhead was staring at the dimensional hole. Only it wasn't just a little hole anymore. It was now a really big hole. And there was a really big, nasty looking thing standing in front of it. And it didn't look happy.

Willow mumbled, "What'd you do, Buffy?"

"Me?" Buffy squealed, "Whadda ya mean, me? You said pull the rope! I pulled the rope!"

"I said the rope," Willow yelled back at her, "Not what was on the other end!"

"Don't you even start…," Buffy began.

"Both of you shut up!" Faith yelled, interrupting them, grabbing her head. "I've got the headache of the century and you are not helping!"

Buffy and Willow looked over to see all the slayers on the ground were moaning and waking up. Even the ones in the pits seemed to be getting better. They'd done it. They'd saved them.

"Besides," Faith cracked her neck and reached for the Scythe, "It's just one demon. I don't care where the hell it's from. One measly demon isn't going be able to beat seven full slayers, a witch, and whatever the hell B's calling herself these days."

Then the four hidden doors located around the room burst open and a host of vampire-soldiers began pouring out. Simultaneously, the demon in the center of the room let out a deafening roar and flung out its hand, throwing a bolt of lightning that slammed into the the lower part of the ladder on the wall. It exploded in a shower of sparks and shrapnel.

"You just had to say it, didn't you!?" Buffy yelled at Faith as vampires streamed in between her and the rest of the room, cutting her off from Willow and the other slayers.

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Author's Note:

Okay, enough with the touchy-feely stuff. It's time to kick butt!!!

Omake:

Andrew: -enters office, moaning in agony

Giles: May I ask what it is you're doing here, Andrew?

Andrew: I'm trying to get together a presentation.

Giles: For whom?

Andrew: For the new President, Mr. Obama. -holds up pictures- Do you think I should make the background to this picture of a T'Klack demon in pink or blue? -walks out muttering

Giles: -rubs forehead -Poor bloody bastard.

Dawn (sitting across the desk): Who...Andrew?

Giles: No, President Obama.

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I just had to do it! Can you imagine! *laughs hysterically*