"No," Xander said, stumbling down to join us, there were tears threatening to spill from his eyes, but his jaw was set in stubborn determination, "she's not dead." He declared, "She's not dead."
"She's not breathing." Angel snapped at him. Xander knelt beside us, gently touching Buffy's arm.

"But if she drowned, then there's still a shot," Xander pointed out, "CPR." Angel frowned and looked between us.

"One of you will have to do it," Angel said, "I have no breath."

I grabbed Xander's arm and pulled him into my spot at Buffy's side while I backed away.

"You do it," I told him, "I might forget myself and press too hard. It won't do us much good if I break a rib or her clavicle."

In a flash Xander stripped off his jacket and rolled up his sleeves, and started resuscitation procedures. Beside me, Angel sat watching tensely, his hands brushing against the ground, as though he was looking for something to grab onto.

When I knelt beside Angel, he reached over and grabbed hold of my forearm. I don't know if he did so because he needed some measure of reassurance or just because he needed something to distract him from the turmoil he must have been feeling.

I watched Xander. I could hear him counting under his breath as he pressed down on her chest, then leaned in to try and blow air back into her lungs, then start the process all over again. He had gone through two cycles with no response, and Buffy's lips were turning a very faint shade of blue.

"Come on," Xander pleaded, pressing on her chest again, "come on, breathe. Breathe!" he gave one last, hard push down on her chest, and then leaned back.

We waited, and she didn't move. Xander groaned and hung his head in defeat, his shoulders slumping simultaneously.

I started to close my eyes, despair crashing over me in a dark avalanche, when I heard a distinctive, determined, almost rebellious thump. I jerked my head up and looked at Buffy, almost afraid to believe I'd heard the heartbeat.

Her eyes were open and she gasped in a lungful of air as her heart began to build up speed, determinedly pumping life back into her body.

"Buffy?" Xander breathed, she looked at him for a moment, her eyes still partially glazed over, and then she spat up a mouthful of water, coughing to clear the rest of it out.

Angel squeezed my arm so hard I thought I felt his thumb leave an impression in my bone, and when I looked at him, he was grinning in relief, and for a moment I thought he was actually going to tackle Xander in an embrace.

Xander grinned back at him and started stroking Buffy's hair. She stared up at him uncomprehendingly for a moment, and then some of the confusion lifted.

"Xander?" she breathed.

"Hey, Buff," he answered, "welcome back."

"Are you all right, sweetling?" I asked, scooting closer and grasping her left hand. She gripped it feebly and slowly turned her head to look at me.

"I-I think so…"she said, her voice very faint and far away. I frowned. She didn't quite sound like herself, but then again she had just died.

Touched by the Other side

'Not like us, though.'

No, not like us. Touched, not tainted.

It may have been my imagination, but it almost sounded as though the Essence was…sad.

Buffy gripped my hand a little harder and pulled, trying to sit up. I grasped her upper arm while Xander and Angel helped her on her other side, and we managed to get her standing again. She looked uncertain and wavered a little on her feet, but managed to stay upright.

"Easy," Angel soothed, slowly rubbing her back, "take it easy."

Buffy didn't seem to hear him, though. She looked slowly around the chamber, frowning, the wheels in her head turning.

"The Master?" she asked.

"Gone up." Angel answered. She nodded slightly and started to move away from us, pulling away from our grips.

"You're still weak," Xander protested, trying to keep his grip on her hand. She smiled slightly, and something about that smile made her look so much older than she was.

"No," she murmured, "no I feel strong. I feel different." She turned and looked at us, her eyes alert and flashing again with life and a thirst for vengeance.

"Let's go." She said.

"But where?" Xander asked, "Where would the Master go?"

To feed

The thought crashed into my mind so hard I felt like an imbecile for not having realized it sooner.

"To regain his power," I answered, Buffy looked at me, her eyes still glinting fiercely, and she nodded.

"He's going to feed," I said, turning to Xander, "remember the attack on the Bronze? That was his first attempt. Now that he's risen, he will have already summoned his army again. They'll get him his power back by feeding."

"The prom." Xander said, realization dawning on him.

Then another thought occurred to me.

"Giles will have figured that out by now." I said, whirling back to Buffy. "He'll try to stop it."

"Then we'd better hurry." Was all she said. I nodded and fell into step with Buffy as she started marching out of the inner chamber, her hands curling into fists.

As we marched, I couldn't help but look Buffy over again and realize that, even unarmed and soaking wet, I'd never seen her look more like a Slayer.

When we neared the school, it was clear that the Master had wasted no time wreaking havoc . I could sense and smell vampires everywhere, and Angel must have sensed them all too because I could feel him growing taut as a bowstring behind me.

One thing that caught my attention was that there was a huge hole in the side of the school for some reason. And judging by the lingering scent of gasoline, someone had driven a car through the wall. That was disconcerting to say the absolute least.

"Marge," Buffy said, pausing and turning to me, "go around the back and help Giles hold the library, I have a feeling the main entrance is blocked so you'll have to use that side window." I nodded while she turned to Xander and Angel.

"You two come with me," she said, "I'll need you to keep the rest of them off my back while I deal with the Master."

Before they had even turned and started walking away, I was already sprinting around the side of the building, my fangs preemptively snapping into place as I ran.

If the main entrance to the library was blocked, the side window was my only option, but there were obstacles getting to that. And by obstacles I mean three vampires. Two of them had heard me coming already and were moving to meet me, while the third had only just now noticed that his companions were no longer with him.

One of them snarled and rushed towards me, while the other vampire moved far to the right to circle behind, hoping to flank me, no doubt.

The vampire roared a challenge at me and leapt. I immediately dropped and rolled underneath him, letting him pass over me. He realized his mistake and made a swipe at me, but he had projected himself too high to reach me.

The other vampire who had circled around behind came rushing up behind the first vampire as he landed and turned to come at me again. The second vampire jumped over his companion, but I had been expecting that, and was already up and in position to meet him.

He swung his right arm at me and I ducked underneath it and moved a step into him, I swung my leg between his, wrapping it around his right leg and then slamming my arm into his back. The momentum of his missed swing, combined with the blow and me sweeping his leg out from underneath him, sent him stumbling back into the third vampire, who was just now beginning to run at us. The two collided and went down, while I immediately broke into a sprint for the first vampire, who had regained his footing.

I feinted as though I was going to swing at him, and as soon as he reached up to block the move I ducked down and instead barreled into him. I felt bones crunch and heard him give a yowl of surprise and pain as we both went down. Then I mentally cursed myself for having failed to bring a stake with me.

Growling in frustration, I gripped his head and twisted as hard as I could. His neck snapped and he let out an ungodly screech, but before the sound was even dead I was up and moving again. The broken neck wouldn't kill him, but at the very least it would slow him down.

Now the other two vampires were running at me, and I didn't have enough time to brace for impact, so instead I tried jumping over them.

I used their bodies for momentum, and sprang up and off of their shoulders. One had guessed what I was about to do, and spun around as I landed. Fortunately I had seen him out of the corner of my eye, so I was ready for him when he swung a fist at the back of my head. I blocked it with a raised arm and spun, just in time to block another swing from his other arm.

The second vampire was quickly moving in to join the fight, but the first vampire was still swinging fast, so every ounce of concentration went into just blocking his fists.

I felt razor sharp claws rake through my coat and shirt and into my back. I hissed in pain, the momentary surprise making me falter for just a second, which was all the other vampire needed to sneak a hit in while my defenses were down.

His fist connected with the side of my head and sent an explosion of pain through my skull like lightning splitting through the sky. My body turned with the force of the blow, which actually turned out to be in my advantage.

Now I could see both vampires out of my peripheral vision. They were both swinging at me, the one on my right aiming low with a gut-punch, the other swinging open-handed, aiming to claw my face off.

I did the only practical thing: I dropped to my stomach.

They hadn't expected this, clearly, and couldn't correct what was already in motion, and ended up hitting each other.

The one who had been trying to hit me in the stomach got clawed in the face so hard I thought I saw his eyeball pop, and he certainly let out a yowl of pain loud enough to confirm this.

I grunted and got back on my feet, and kicked out at the vampire still on his feet. The kick connected with his stomach hard enough to make him double-over, so naturally I followed up with an upper-cut that made him fall backwards.

The vampire whose eyeball may or may not have burst was trying to get back on his feet, still whimpering, so I rushed him. I grabbed hold of his bloody head and ran straight at the side of the school-building. I ended up dragging him the last two yards since he lost his footing and naturally it's hard to run sideways anyway, even with both eyes intact and when you're not being attacked by a furious half-vampire.

I stopped short just before reaching the wall and swung the vampire into the building. His head connected with the wall with enough force I actually heard his skull crack. It sounded not unlike a gun going off.

Just as I was about to turn back around, the last vampire had managed to rush me from behind. I felt him grab a handful of my hair while with his other hand he grabbed my left arm. He tried forcing me to my knees, but I swung my right elbow back and into the side of his head.

It didn't make him let go, but it slackened his grip enough to give me room to maneuver. He expected me to try and pull away, so I did the exact opposite: I took a step back into him and slammed the back of my head into his face.

The blow probably hurt me as much as it did him, but he let go with a yelp and I whirled on him with a loud snarl that I could feel deep in my chest.

He recoiled, and I slammed my fist as hard as I could into his face. His head snapped back and he fell onto his back, but he was still moving. Frustrated at how long this was taking, I pounced on him and gripped his head.

He reached up and clawed at my face, and something in me snapped. I had been through too much tonight, too much these past few months, and I was not going to let some measly little demon infested corpse prevent me from protecting my friends.

I clamped down on his neck, my fangs shredding the exposed flesh while he howled and tried to push me off of him. I ripped out a mouthful of disgusting tasting flesh, spat it out, and then bit down again, tearing out another mouthful.

I could feel my fangs scraping against his spine now, I had bitten so deep, so I tightened my grip and yanked on his head as hard as I could, wrenching as I did so. The torn flesh made an audible ripping sound as he screamed in pain. I could feel his neck giving way, so I pulled harder, and this time his scream was cut short when I ripped his head completely off.

The other two vampires were moving, but with feeble, small movements. They wouldn't be fighting anymore tonight.

I stood up, tossing the head of the vampire down, watching it and his corpse turn into dust before the head even touched the ground.

I took a breath, watching black blood drip from my face onto my shoe.

It felt as though the fight had taken an hour.

It had taken a minute and a half.

I rushed for the window and jumped through it, shattering the glass on my way in.

Perhaps it was a bit of a dramatic entrance, but I was in a bit of a hurry.

I landed and rolled, coming to my feet when my momentum slowed.

I had to take a moment to process what I was seeing in the room.

Cordelia was huddled by the doors to library, behind a makeshift barricade. She was screaming since a vampire had a grip on her arm, while Ms. Calendar and Willow lay in the floor, Ms. Calendar gripping Willow to keep what looked like a tentacle from dragging her through a massive hole in the floor.

And Giles, well, Giles was fighting a giant, disgusting looking toothy worm-like creature…with an ax.

I'd expected to find many things when I entered the library, but that was not one of them.

He managed to get a good hit in, in fact he even managed to bury the ax in the creature's head, but it seemed that only made it angry. It let out a high-pitched shriek and another giant tentacle appeared out of nowhere and swung into Giles. It knocked him back and onto a study table, splintering it into giant shards of wood.

Willow was shrieking as another Worm appeared from the hole and slid towards her, hissing. The worm Giles had struck was moving towards him as well.

'So much for taking a breather.' I thought, sprinting for the weapons cache as more Worms began to emerge from the hole.

I snatched up two one-handed swords and then leaped off of the balcony. I landed beside Willow and Ms. Calendar and brought the two swords in front of me in an X shape, then swung them both out again.

The head of the Worm fell off and the body collapsed onto Willow, making her cry out in surprise and disgust. In another quick, slicing move I cut through the tentacle that had a grip on her ankle.

I had no time to help them get up, I was already turning and running at the Worm that was about to attack Giles.

I leaped and brought the swords down into the head of the Worm as I landed on its slimy, slick body. The Worm gave a final hiss as it collapsed beside Giles, and I twisted the swords to make sure I had penetrated what I needed to.

The Worm didn't move.

I gave a grunt and then looked over at Giles beside me. He was staring at me, panting from exertion and fear, his eyes wide behind his glasses.

I realized I still had black blood smeared all over my chin and face, and my fangs were still lowered. There wasn't much I could do about my rather abrupt, disconcerting entrance, so I winked at him as I stood.

"Miss me, Watcher?" I asked, tucking a sword under my arm so I could help him back to his feet.

"I-I was beginning to miss your help, I admit." He managed to say between pants of breath.

Unfortunately we were interrupted by another scream from Willow. More Worms were coming through the hole in the ground and swarming her and Ms. Calendar.

Giles snatched a sword from my hand and we rushed the Worms.

We were slashing and swinging so wildly it's a wonder we didn't lop someone's hand off, but we at least kept the Worms distracted while Ms. Calendar pulled Willow away from the flurry of blades.

"Where's Buffy?" Giles demanded.

"Alive." I shouted back at him.

"But where is she?"

I turned to answer him, but as I turned I spotted something up above us. I looked up at the skylight, and saw flash of white, Buffy's dress, accompanied by a shadow of black that could only be the Master.

"Up there." I informed him. Giles looked sharply at me, then followed my line of sight.

Suddenly the white figure behind the glass spun, and the dark shadow was slammed through the glass with enough force to even get the Worms' attention. We all turned and watched as the Master plummeted down, right onto a shard of the broken study table that had been sticking up.

The edge pierced completely through him and he started screaming.

He kept screaming, even as he disintegrated, his skin going first and revealing the skeleton underneath.

Finally, he fell limp, and as he did the Worms all screamed as though in agony, and retreated back into their hole.

Their sudden departure left a deathly, tense silence behind. I looked at Giles, and lowered my sword. He did the same.

"That's it?" Ms. Calendar asked shakily. We turned towards her and Willow, who immediately ran at me and swept me up in another one of her bone-crushing hugs.

"I-I think it is." Giles breathed. He dropped his sword and ran a trembling hand through his hair. "Thank God, I think it is."

A few minutes later, we were joined by Buffy, Xander, and Angel.

"Are you all right, son?" I whispered to Xander as he followed Buffy in. He gave me another one of his boyish grins.

"Of course," he said, "a little vampire slaying, no big deal. Just another day at the Hellmouth."

We fell silent though, watching Buffy as she approached the skeleton of the Master. I frowned and moved to join the rest of the group, watching the skeleton closely. It wasn't normal for a skeleton to be left behind when a vampire died. Then again, the Master wasn't a normal vampire, either.

"The vampires?" Giles questioned as he came to join us. That was a good point, I'd forgotten about the horde of vampires outside, what with all of the fighting and activity going on.

"Gone." Cordelia answered, surprising me. I'd also forgotten she was here.

"The Master?" Angel asked. I pointed at the skeleton.

"Dead." Giles said. "And the Hellmouth is closed." Then he turned to Buffy, looking both relieved and concerned.

"Buffy?" he said gently. She stared at the Master, or what was left of him, and I saw tears snaking down her cheeks. She didn't respond, so Giles moved closer.

"Buffy?" he repeated. She blinked and looked at him, a smile hovering around her lips.

"Oh, sorry," she said, trying to sound light-hearted but her voice shook, "it's just been a really weird day."

"Yeah," Xander broke in, "Buffy died, and everything."

Willow gaped at him.

"Wow," she breathed, "harsh."

"Should have known that wouldn't stop you." Giles joked. Buffy looked at him, her smile small, but grateful.

"So what do we do now?" Ms. Calendar asked. Giles sighed.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to get out of this place." he declared. "I don't really like the library much, anymore."

I knew what he meant, but it still hurt to know this place was tainted for him now. For that matter, it was tainted for me as well.

Impulsively, I stepped up to him and put my hand on his shoulder and gave it a reassuring squeeze. Without looking at me, he reached up and grasped my hand. I let him. There was nothing particularly intimate about the motion, it was simple, simple but supporting.

"Hey, I hear there's a dance at the Bronze tonight," Xander said, "could be fun."

Naturally, Cordelia was all for it.

Willow looked to Buffy.

"Buffy?" she queried.

"Sure," she answered, "we saved the world. I say we party."

I raised an eyebrow at them. How on earth were they not tired after all that had happened tonight? How on earth did they still have energy for dancing, of all things?

Perhaps I'm just getting old.

Buffy looked down at her dress.

"I mean, I got all pretty." She said.

"What about him?" Ms. Calendar asked, looking at the Master's skeleton.

"He's not going anywhere," Buffy answered, sneering at the broken thing that had been her killer, "loser."

There was a beat, and then Giles turned towards me.

"First you'd better get that stuff of your face," he reminded me, "don't want to scare the dancers. Come on." He started to pull me towards the exit. Almost as an afterthought he looked over his shoulder at Ms. Calendar.

"I'm not dancing." He informed her. She grinned playfully and came up to join us.

"We'll see about that." She said, and then everyone began talking at once, whether from relief or just to act as though we were all fine, I don't know.

But we were fine, weren't we?

We'd stopped the Apocalypse, after all.