Chapter 27: Prophecy Girl Part 2

Dawn, Xander and Willow had joined Giles and Joyce in the library and had been brought up to speed.

"She WHAT?" Xander asked.

"I knew it. I told you something was going on with her," Willow said.

"And she knew about this prophecy? Dawn asked.

"Oh, MAN! What do we do?" Xander added.

"We stay calm, first thing," Giles said.

"Calm!?" Xander said.

"I think he's right," Willow said just as Paige orbed in with Piper and Phoebe.

"Where's Buffy?" Paige asked. "We think we …" She noticed the look on everyone's faces. "She went after him."

"Yes," Giles said and Paige orbed out.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The boy led Buffy slowly through the darkness. They reach a part of the tunnel that veered off from the electrical tunnels—an older, roughhewn opening that headed even further down.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Dawn, Xander and Willow looked at the door, worrying about Paige and Buffy. Giles, Joyce, Piper and Phoebe were trying to work out what to do. "The Master is as old as any vampire on record," he said. "There's no way to tell how powerful he will be if he reaches the surface."

"Okay. Here's my question. The Hellmouth opens," Phoebe said. "Where? If he's underground, and it's right where he is, where's it gonna open?"

"Good point. Check through the Black Chronicles, and Piper can you look through the town histories please? Search for any common denominators. Location of incidents and such."

Piper nodded. "On it," she said as she moved to the computer. She glanced at Dawn, Willow and Xander and sighed. She hoped Paige got to Buffy in time.

"How big is a Hellmouth, anyway?" Joyce wondered.

Giles shrugged. "I don't know. Hellmouth-sized."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The boy led Buffy down the tunnel toward the church. He stopped, indicating she had to go on alone. She nodded and she walked down into the church.

"Welcome," said the Master from somewhere in the darkness.

"Thanks for having me," Buffy said as she looked around. "You really ought to talk to your contractor. I think you've got some water damage."

"Ah, good. The feeble banter portion of the fight. Darling, why don't we just cut to the –" the Master said as she spun and fired her crossbow. He caught the arrow an inch from his heart. "Nice shot." She reloaded the crossbow, never taking her eyes off him. "You're not going to kill me with that thing."

"Don't be so sure," Buffy said.

"You still don't understand your part in all this, do you? You're not the hunter. You're the lamb," the Master said as he disappeared into the shadows.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"I've got nothing specific in here," Phoebe said.

"Nor I," Giles said as he thought everything over. "The Vampires have been gathering. They know he's coming. They will be his army."

"You think they'll gather at the Hellmouth?" Joyce wondered.

"Well, the last time the Master tried to rise was the Harvest," Dawn said. "He sent a bunch of vampires to get him fresh blood. Maybe this is the same."

"Where did that happen?" Piper asked.

"The Bronze," Giles answered.

"The prom," Willow, Dawn and Xander said simultaneously as everyone looked at each other.

"We've got to warn them," Piper said.

"Joyce, you take Willow, Dawn and Xander," Giles said. "Piper, Phoebe and I will concentrate on Demon killing."

Joyce nodded as she led Willow, Dawn and Xander out of the library.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy walked slowly about, crossbow at the ready. "For somebody all-powerful, you sure do like to hide."

His voice came from the other side of the room. She spun, standing in front of a pool of water. "I'm waiting for you. I want this moment to last."

"I don't," Buffy said as he grabbed her from behind and knocked the crossbow to the ground.

"I understand," he said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Joyce, Dawn, Willow and Xander rounded a corner heading for her car.

"What if they get to the Bronze before us?" Willow wondered.

"Don't worry about it," Xander said having noticed something.

"Don't worry?" Dawn asked as she bumped into her mother. "Why not?"

Joyce saw what Xander had a score of vampires heading their way. "Because they're not going to the Bronze." She looked toward her car and frowned. They were cut off from it.

Willow turned to look back the way they came and saw more vampires, they were surrounded.

"What do we do now?" Xander asked.

"I vote panic," Willow said.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Master held Buffy by her arms as she tried to break free. "You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was going to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They didn't tell you everything. You're the one that frees me. If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that."

He buried his fangs in her neck as Buffy cried out. He shook with the power he drew from her. Her cry becomes a mewl, the expression of pain and horror freezing in her eyes as he reared his head back. "God, the power!"

Buffy's eyes slowly close as she sagged in his grasp.

"By the way ..." he said as he looked toward Buffy and let her fall to her knees before falling face-down into the pool of water. "I like your dress."

He walked to the entrance to the church and shoved his hand through the mystical barrier that had held him for so long and as the energy crackled around him he walked upward into the tunnels above.

Just at the moment Paige orbed in to find Buffy lying in the water face down. She pulled Buffy out of the pool and turned her over. She checked for a pulse and held her ear to Buffy's mouth. "No," she sobbed as she found no heartbeat and no sounds of breath.

Paige laid Buffy on the ground away from the pool of water and began to do chest compressions. And then suddenly her hands began to glow. "Please," she said as she brushed a hand through Buffy's hair. "I love you. Come back to me."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Joyce, Xander, Dawn and Willow backed slowly away from the approaching vampires with nowhere to go.

"Mom!" Dawn said. "Can you make us all invisible?"

"Yes," Joyce said. "But they can still smell us and hear us. It would be futile."

"Why are they coming here?" Xander wondered.

"Not caring ..." Willow told him. Just then a car screeched to a halt next to them.

"Get in," yelled Cordelia.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Suddenly Buffy's eyes shot open as she sucked in a huge gasp of air before a coughing fit took her.

"Buffy?" Paige said softly.

"Paige ...?" Buffy whispered.

Paige smiled as she leaned down and kissed Buffy. "I thought I had lost you."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Xander got into the passenger seat of Cordelia's car and gave his girlfriend a quick kiss. "Your timing couldn't have been better," he said as Joyce, Willow and Dawn crowded into the back seat.

"I was getting ready to head home when suddenly these things were coming at me—I tried to get out but the gate is locked. Who are these guys?" Cordelia asked. A leering vampire popped down right next to her window and everyone screamed. "What do we do?"

"We've got to get to the library," Dawn said.

"Library. Right. Great,' Cordelia said throwing her car into reverse, backing up and aiming for the doors before throwing the gear into first and hitting the accelerator. They race for the entrance to the building as the vampires jump out of the way.

"Of course, we generally walk there ..." Willow said as they crashed through the doors and charged down the hall, a vampire clinging for dear life to the hood.

Suddenly Cordelia slammed on the breaks just outside the door to the library sending the vampire flying.

Everyone piles out of the car and into the library. Cordelia the last one in, closed the door behind her as a vampire is inches from grabbing her.

Giles, Piper and Phoebe rushed up to them as they barricade the door.

"What's going on?" Giles asked.

"Guess!" Joyce said.

A vampire smashed the round window reaching for them. Willow grabbed the library sign and hit the vampire's arm till he pulled it back through the window.

"Why are they coming here?" Phoebe wondered.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

"Easy ..." Paige said as she helped Buffy to sit up.

"The Master ..." Buffy asked.

"He's gone," Paige said as Buffy stood up. "Buffy, you're still weak."

"No, I'm not. I feel strong. I feel ... different," Buffy said as she looked at the entrance to the church. "Let's go." She started out, strength in her stride. After a moment, Paige followed.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The group barricaded when they hear a crash in the back of the library.

"They're coming in through the stacks!" Giles yelled.

"Come on!" Piper said to Joyce and Phoebe. They ran into the stacks.

"The bookshelves!" Joyce suggested and they hoisted one in front of the door at the back of the stacks blocking anyone from entering.

As Phoebe held the bookcase firm a tendril crept toward her just as another crash came from Giles office.

"My office," Giles said as he and Willow ran toward it leaving Cordelia at the door by herself just as an arm grabbed her.

"OWWW! Somebody HELP!" Cordelia yelled.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Buffy strode toward the school as Paige flanked her.

"How do you know where he went?" Paige wondered.

"I know," Buffy replied just a vampire stepped in front of them. "Oh, look. A bad guy." She hit the vampire sending him flying backwards.

They head into the building and toward a door marked Roof Access. They notice that the lock had been broken and the door was ajar. She looked to Paige. "Paige, I need you keep the vampires off me."

"I'd …" Paige started to object.

"I'm not dying again, once was enough," Buffy said as Paige nodded. She turned and headed up the stairs.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles and Willow ran into his office just as a Vampire is broke the window. Giles grabbed a stake and drives it home, then he and Willow started moving a bookcase in the way of the window.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Cordelia beat on the hand holding her, finally biting it till it let go. "See how YOU like it," she said.

Piper and Phoebe continued to hold the bookcase.

"This won't keep them out for long!" Phoebe said just as the tendril wrapped itself around her leg.

Piper raised her hand and using her exploding power freed Phoebe. "Rupert!" she yelled.

And then the owner of the tentacle burst through the floor. It was grotesque, twisted flesh dripping with slime, dull, glassy eyes and mewling, razor-toothed mouths opening incongruously along its length.

Giles ran out of his office and stopped. "The Hellmouth ..."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Master looked down through a skylight from his perch on roof at the demon. "Yes ... come forth. My child ... Come into my world."

"I don't think it's yours just yet."

The Master turned to face Buffy, he can't believe she is still alive. "You ... are dead."

Buffy smiled. "I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you."

"You were destined to die! It was written."

Buffy shrugged. "What can I say? I flunked the written."

He reached out suddenly, clutching the air as though it were her. He locked eyes with her and stared at her mesmerizingly. "Come here."

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Giles ran to the book cage, to the weapons cabinet he emerged with a battle axe. He ran to Piper and Phoebe just as a tentacle came at them again. He struck the tentacle as black ichor gushed from it and every mouth on the creature screamed in pain.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Against her will, Buffy moved haltingly toward the Master, never taking her eyes off him.

"Do you really think you can best me here, when you couldn't below?" The Master asked as he came toward her.

Buffy came right up to him as she suddenly snapped out of whatever hold he had on her. "You've got fruit punch mouth."

"What?"

Buffy threw a punch that lifted him up and sent him bodily to the ground. "And save the hypnosis crap for the tourists."

He roared and leapt at her. She blocked his attack and delivered a series of blows that caused him to stagger back. He in turn hit her with the same intensity causing her to stagger back.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

A tentacle swung at Giles and knocked him over the railing. He slammed down on the table, splintering it. Half the table sits upended just below the skylight, the shard pointing at the sky.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

Paige is ready as a vampire ran at her. She pulled out a stake and staked him.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The tentacle rose over Giles as he crawled backwards, keeping his eyes on it.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The Master grabbed Buffy and held her. She looked over her shoulder and saw the skylight and the upturned broken table below it.

"Where are your jibes now? Will you laugh when my Hell is on earth?" The Master asked.

Buffy grabbed him by the throat and the arm, and her grasp is stronger than his. "You're really that amped about Hell?" She pulled him close. "Go there." She lifted him and flipped him bodily over her head, throwing him behind her so he landed on his back and crashed through the skylight.

He fell onto the upended table impaling himself.

And then everything stopped. There is loud shriek as the demon tentacles withdraw back into the Hellmouth.

The Master twitched, his mouth open in a scream he'll never make. He exploded into dust, leaving behind a crumbly skeleton lying where he was.

And then it's quiet.

A moment later Buffy and Paige entered the library and they gathered with everyone else in the middle of the room.

"The vampires?" Giles asked.

"Gone," Cordelia said.

"The Master?" Joyce asked.

"Dead," Piper said as she glanced toward the bones. "And the Hellmouth has closed." She looked to Paige and Buffy. "Paige, Buffy?"

Buffy burst into tears as Paige wrapped her arms around her from behind. "It's okay," Paige whispered as Buffy managed to get the tears down to just a couple of sniffles.

"I'm sorry. It's been a really weird day," Buffy said.

"What do we do now?" Phoebe wondered.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd really like to get out of this library. I hate it here," Paige said.

"I hear there's a dance over at the Bronze. Could be fun ..." Xander said as he draped and arm around Cordelia.

"Yeah!" Cordelia said.

"Buffy?" Dawn said looking at her sister.

"Sure. We saved the world. I say we party," Buffy said as she looked down at her dress and then at Dawn's. "I mean, Dawn and I got all pretty ..."

"What about him?" Joyce asked indicating the Master's remains.

"He's not going anywhere. Loser," Buffy said.

"So what happened in the Master's lair?" Piper asked.

"I uh, I healed Buffy," Paige said.

"By yourself?" Piper asked.

Paige shrugged. "It's not a big deal."

"Well, it makes sense," Joyce said. "You are half-Whitelighter."

"Still, what happened must have been pretty extreme," Piper said. "What were you feeling?"

"Love, maybe?" Phoebe suggested.

0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0

The next day Paige stood on the tallest tower of the Golden Gate Bridge as an Elder orbed in. "Was that the death?" she asked.

"No," Sandra sighed. "That one was supposed to happen. If it hadn't have been you, Xander would have revived her. Still it seems something extreme did happen last night. Your Whitelighter powers advanced didn't they?"

"Yes," Paige said. "I healed Buffy."

"You could only do that by finding the trigger," Sandra said. "The trigger is love. Your love for Buffy allowed you to access the power. You are now on the path to saving Buffy."