Chapter Text
"Chosen"
Based on the Episodes "Empty Places" Written by Drew Z. Greenberg, "Touched" Written by Rebecca Rand Kirshner, "End of Days" Written by Douglas Petrie and Jane Espenson, and "Chosen" Written by Joss Whedon
Author's note: Okay, so here we are at long last. Sorry for the delay. I wanted to get this right.
Those of you that have been with this fanfic since the beginning have probably noticed the number of projected chapters plummet over time. That was always a projection and was constantly revised downward. We are at the end of the story as covered by the TV series, so I figured I'd take this opportunity to tell you what comes next.
I've had a more definite ending for the series planned in my head for years. Of course, seeing as how the Battle of the Hellmouth in this chapter goes down in a way that I didn't expect (I had various ideas, ranging from the serious to the silly), who knows exactly how the final ending will go down? What I do know is it'll end with a certain outcome, but the steps getting there aren't so certain.
I will be writing a sort of long-form coda / goodbye to the characters. The exact length and number of chapters is uncertain. I will be using material from skipped episodes/plots (of which there are plenty) and shape it into something usable. Please bear with me, though. I want to shift focus a bit and concentrate on my other Buffy series, Tara Firma, for a while (check that out for more Tara goodness).
The following story is copyright © 2025 by Mark Moore.
Buffy coordinated with the Sunnydale Police Department on the evacuation of Sunnydale, which officially started during the day. A man closed his shop. There was lots of traffic and honking on the street. The street was full of cars, all pointed in the same direction, but no one was moving. People were even walking through the street, carrying belongings. Buffy walked among them, looking around. Cordelia was sitting in Buffy's van. Behind her, Harmony was sitting in her Miata. Behind her, Amy was sitting in Faith's Escort. Behind her, Jenny was sitting in her Beetle. Buffy walked over to Cordelia.
"Can you believe this shit?" Cordelia asked.
"Yeah. You'd think these people had never seen an apocalypse before." Buffy chuckled.
"It's getting bad here. Really bad. Hellmouth acting up again, people feeling it, getting crazier."
"Right."
"We've seen some bad shit in this town before but, you know, this time, it's like it just seems different, more powerful." Cordelia shook her head. "I don't think anyone's gonna be able to stop it." She caught herself. "I mean...I'm sure we'll do fine. Complete confidence. Heh. Uh, if anyone can do it, we can, because we rock!"
Buffy nodded.
Cordelia grew somber. "Maybe...Maybe we should just get out of town this time."
"Yeah. We probably should." Buffy paused. "The traffic will clear up eventually as more people leave town. You girls can make a few trips today. That oughta take care of everything."
"I still think it's overkill that you're 'evacuating' your stuff to the Hyperion."
Buffy gave her a serious look. "Hey, if this town goes to Hell, my clothes are not going with it."
"Good point."
"Anyway, just assign rooms for us and move our stuff in there. Park Tara's scooter in one of the parking spots. Oh, and Cordy?"
"Yeah?"
"If I see so much as a scratch on this van, I will personally activate the next Slayer."
Cordelia started laughing, then she noticed Buffy's stern expression and stopped.
Tara and Giles were talking to Detective Stein outside the police station. The streets there were chaotic, too, with the honking and the traffic. Tara was holding some files.
Giles nodded. "Uh, thank you, detective. We - We appreciate your help."
Stein nodded. "We're happy to help you with anything you need. Is there anything else we can help with?"
Tara shook her head. "No. Thank you. We're fine."
While Tara and Giles were talking to Stein, two officers escorted a crazy man into the police station.
"A single step!" the crazy man yelled.
An officer looked at pedestrians. "Stay on the sidewalk, folks."
"A single step, and it is upon us. It is nigh! From beneath you, it-"
"Fuckin' nutcase."
The two officers took the crazy man inside the police station.
Tara looked over at the man. "Ow. He - He doesn't seem like much of a threat."
Stein sighed. "Uh, people are acting up, getting nuts. Man, we are itching to hand out some justice."
Tara looked at Stein worriedly, then walked away with Giles. "What's up with those cops?"
"Oh, same as everyone. The Hellmouth is active again."
"Come on. I want to get this back to Buffy."
Buffy took hold of the files. "Thank you for this. This was, um, really great work. I should really get back. I want to get everyone started on this. I think we're really close to something."
Tara nodded. "See ya at home." She kissed Buffy on the lips.
Dawn was at Emily's School of Dance, helping Emily Djiemanowicz pack up her things.
"So L.A., huh?" Emily asked Dawn.
Dawn closed a cardboard box and taped it shut. "That's the plan...in the scenario where we save the world but not the town. We'd be housed at the Hyperion Hotel. You should head there, too."
"Yeah, okay." Emily picked up a cardboard box.
Dawn picked up her own box. The two of them headed for the door. Emily pushed the door open, and they walked outside.
Emily looked at the traffic. "Fuck."
"It's okay. It'll clear up eventually."
Emily opened the passenger door of her car and put her box on the seat. Then Dawn put her own box on top of it.
Emily closed the door, then went back to her studio and locked the door. She returned to her car. "Thanks for helping me, Dawn."
Dawn smiled. "It was my pleasure."
"Well, assuming the world doesn't end, see you in L.A.?" Emily asked.
"Uh-huh." Dawn hugged Emily. "Drive safe."
Emily hugged Dawn. "Thanks."
Sandy and Kendra put the last boxes in the trunk of their mother's car. Sandy closed the trunk.
Megan walked out of the house, closed the front door, and locked it. She walked down the steps and over to the car.
The three of them just stared at each other for a moment.
"Are you sure I can't convince you to come with us?" Megan asked Sandy.
"These are my friends, Mom. They'd accepted me as I am. I'm not gonna abandon them."
Megan smiled and hugged her daughter. "Who says you don't have a soul?"
Sandy hugged her mother. "Julie and I will stay with Sunday and Nancy."
They released each other. Sandy and Kendra hugged each other.
"You're as asshole for abandoning your family during an apocalypse. You know that, right?" Kendra asked.
"Are you mad at me for that or for the fact that, soon, you will be physically older than me?" Sandy asked with a smile.
Kendra stared at her sister in shock, then regained her composure and frowned. "Fuck you."
Sandy laughed. The two sisters released each other.
"Call me when you get to L.A., huh?" Sandy asked.
"Sure." Megan stared at her daughter. "Take care of yourself."
Sandy nodded. She watched as her mother and sister got in the car and drove away. She turned and started walking toward her Beetle.
A car approached and came to a stop. The horn honked. Sandy looked.
Jennifer poked her head out the passenger window. "Hey, Sandy."
"Jen?" Sandy walked over to the car. "What's up?"
"Asher and I are getting the fuck out of town. What about you?" Jennifer asked.
"No, I'm gonna stay and fight. But I'm glad that you're getting outta here." Sandy bent over and kissed Jennifer on the lips. "I'll see ya when I see ya, okay?"
"Yeah."
The car pulled away. Sandy watched it for a while, then went to her own car.
In the Summers' backyard, Shannon was sitting with Debbie Foley at the table. They were eating a lunch of hamburgers and fries.
"It's just...I'm struggling to understand...how God could allow this to happen to me. Is he punishing me? For being with Alex?" Shannon asked.
Debbie tried to proceed carefully. "I don't believe so. You're a good person, Shannon. You didn't deserve what happened to you, and no good god would have sat back and allowed it to happen."
"So what does that mean?" Shannon asked.
Debbie shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe things...just...happen. No reason."
"That's not very comforting."
"I know." Debbie sighed. "Listen, Shannon, I think you might not ever be able to reconcile what happened to you with your belief in a loving, caring god. But I hope you'll come to realize you're a good person."
"Thanks. I'm trying, but it's-"
"-a slow process. I get it."
Shannon reached across the table and hugged Debbie.
Debbie hugged Shannon. "I, uh, I gotta go. My parents and I are heading to L.A. in a few minutes."
They released each other, stood up, and picked up their plates.
Amanda was in her parents' bedroom, helping her mother pack.
"Are you sure I can't convince you to come with us?" Sarah asked.
"I'm a Potential Slayer, Mom. I belong here with the others."
"I honestly kinda hate that you're so important."
"Believe me, I hate it, too, but I can't abandon my friends."
"I know." Sarah smiled. "You've always felt the need to do what you felt was right."
They hugged each other.
"And I guess Buffy and the others will be able to protect you more than I ever could."
"Yeah. I'm sure they will."
Things were chaotic in the Summers' living room. Katrina was trying to calm the Potentials.
"Okay, you know what?" Rona asked. "I used to be really afraid of these Ubervamp guys. But then the scary preacher blew into town, and now I'm mostly terrified of him."
Katrina nodded. "Right, well, um...we're working on getting info on that guy."
"Why bother?" Amanda asked. "Nothing works. Nothing will."
"Okay...I know you're all upset, but you still need to know this information. We can't stop just because something else is trying to kill you, too."
Kennedy walked into the kitchen, where Faith was sitting alone on the countertop, eating potato chips from a bag.
"You got enough to share?" Kennedy asked.
Faith handed Kennedy the bag. "Shouldn't you be at Hogwarts?"
Kennedy took some chips. "Probably." She handed the bag back to Faith.
"All right. Playin' hooky. Score one for the boarding school brat."
Amanda walked into the kitchen.
"Thing is...what's the point?" Kennedy asked. "Studying demon hot zones and pressure points doesn't do a hell of a lot of good when preacher man's out there, ready to finish the job that he started."
"No one's come up with any info on Caleb yet?" Faith asked.
Amanda shook her head. "No. Nothing is working - not research, not Sunday's contacts."
"We're lousy with dead ends around here." Kennedy crossed her arms. "Everyone's feeling pretty pointless. We don't even have a place to start."
"Hey, who's here?" Buffy called.
Faith, Kennedy, and Amanda went into the dining room.
Buffy walked into the house, carrying the file that Tara and Giles got from the police. She smiled, put down the file on the table, sat down, and started opening it.
"Whatcha got?" Faith asked, sitting down.
"Info that Giles and Tara got from the police. We figured, with Caleb's, you know, overt religiosity thing, if we wanna learn more about him, let's find out where he's been."
Kennedy and Amanda sat down as well.
Faith read from the file: "'Incidents of violence and vandalism connected to California religious institutions in the last ten years.' Looks like this gives us a place to start."
"Yeah. I figure we start with California. We don't find anything there, we'll expand the search. But a guy like Caleb didn't just get in the game. He's been playing for a while, and I wanna know where. Whatever it takes." Buffy looked at Dawn. "You good to help?"
"Well, I was gonna do lots and lots of homework, but, darn the luck, they went and canceled school, so looks like I got the time."
Buffy handed Dawn some papers. "Good."
"Hey, pipsqueak, why don't you go get some of the stuff that you've already gotten from Giles?" Faith asked.
"Yeah. I'll be right back." Dawn left the room.
Buffy looked after her. "Try to find anything that looks like Caleb, his church, his ring-"
"His ability to render a Slayer useless in just one punch."
Buffy looked at Kennedy, hurt. Faith frowned.
"I didn't..." Kennedy paused. "That was stupid. I don't know why I said that."
Buffy stifled tears and stood up. "Uh, it's okay. Um...you know, I-I have to go to the school to pick up the rest of my stuff."
Kennedy stood up. "I really didn't mean-"
"It's fine. Really, it's fine. Don't worry about it." Buffy smiled. "Okay. I'll be back soon." She looked at Faith. "See that everyone else gets started on this." She left.
"Yeah." Faith started reading through the files.
Chloe was on the phone with her mother. "Hi, Mom, it's me."
"Chloe?" Maria asked. "I haven't heard from you in a while. How are you?"
"Okay. How are things at home?"
"Good." Maria paused. "We've been worried about you."
"Yeah, well, I'm worried about me, too."
"Oh?"
"Sunnydale's being evacuated. The girls and I are gonna stay."
"What? Why?"
"We have to stop the First Evil...somehow."
"Chloe, I wish you would come home."
Chloe was silent for a moment. "I know, but, if we don't stop this, there might not be a home for me to return to. Anyway, I'm just calling to say I love you. Both of you."
"We love you, too."
"Is Dad home?"
"No."
"Well, tell him that I called." Chloe paused. "TTFN."
Kennedy was on the phone with her father. "Hey, Papa."
"Hey, Ken. Are you okay?" Carlos asked.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Listen, Sunnydale's being evacuated, but I'm gonna stay and help out the Slayers."
"Why is Sunnydale being evacuated?"
"Hellmouth's leaking a bunch of evil shit. People are feeling it. We're gonna try to defeat the First and save this town...and the world. Anyway, um, I love you."
"I love you, too, and I'm so proud of you."
Kennedy smiled. "Thanks."
Vi was on the phone with her mother. "Hey. It's me."
"Violet?" Felicia asked. "Oh, my God, it's been so long."
"Yeah, sorry I haven't called recently. Um, how are you?"
"Okay, I suppose. You?"
"Okay. Well, other than Sunnydale being evacuated, because things have gotten so bad that the normally-oblivious populace has finally taken notice."
"Oh, so you're coming home?"
"Uh, not exactly. Please don't be mad, but I've decided to stay and maybe help the world not be destroyed."
There was silence for a while.
"Mom?" Vi finally asked.
"How could I be mad at you for that? I'm so proud of you. Kick evil's ass."
Vi smiled. "Not sure it has ass to kick, but will do."
"I love you."
"I love you, too, Mom."
Caridad was on the phone with her parents. "Hi, Mami. Hi, Papi."
"Hola, mija!" Isidro and Dania replied.
"Hey, listen, I'm calling, because Sunnydale is being evacuated, because shit's gettin' real. But I'm gonna stay and fight alongside my friends." Caridad paused. "I just wanted to let you know...I love you...just in case."
There was nothing for a while, then Caridad heard sobbing on the other end. She felt horrible.
Eve was on the phone with her mother. "Hey."
"Eve?" Amanda asked.
"Yeah, it's me. How are you?"
"I'm okay. And so is Maxine."
"That's cool."
"How are things going over there?"
"Well, see, we got ourselves a sticky situation. The First Evil's gotten so evil that it's runnin' everyone outta town."
"You, too, I hope."
"Nuh-uh. I probably should, but I'm actually stayin'. We're probably all gonna die, but at least I'd be around someone that can protect me."
Her mother didn't say anything.
Eve smiled worriedly. "So anything new over there?"
Shannon was on the phone with Jessica. "Hey, Jessie."
"Shannon? Wow, it's been a while. How are you?"
Shannon was silent for a while, thinking about it. "I dunno. I'm still here. So that's good...I guess."
"Of course, it's good. Beats the alternative."
"Sometimes, I'm not so sure."
"I mean...you're still on the same side of the ground as me and Alex. That counts for something...I hope."
"Yeah, I guess so. How is Alex?"
"I haven't seen him much, but he pops up from time to time for any news on you. Do you have anything that you want me to tell him?"
"Tell him that I love him, and I miss him. I miss both of you so much."
"I wish I could just come to Sunnydale and give you a big hug."
"I'd like that, too, but you shouldn't. The town's being evacuated. Lots of crazy shit goin' on recently. But, uh, the Slayers and us are stayin'. Gonna try to make a fight of it."
"Well, good luck. I hope you can come back to us."
"Me, too. Maybe someday." Shannon started crying. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Buffy walked through the empty halls, past the cleaned-out lockers. She walked into the school office, to her old cubicle, and sat at her old desk.
"Oh, now, look..."
Buffy looked up to see Caleb standing there, right in front of her.
"Things don't go exactly your way, so here come the waterworks. Ain't that just like a woman?"
Buffy stood up. "Get out of here."
"Now, now, little girl. Manners. I do imagine that firebrand tongue of yours has inflamed many a man, weak as they are." Caleb looked around. "This here's a, uh... public school, ain't it? Kinda deserted. Only just, I suppose. Folks work so hard at keepin' the Lord out, and look what happens in return."
Buffy backed up to a filing cabinet.
"He abandons you."
Buffy reached for a drawer in the cabinet.
"Not that He could do you much good now, anyway-" Caleb turned to see Buffy trying to reach into the cabinet for something. "Ah, ah, ah. Wouldn't do that were I you, swee'pea. Fightin' back didn't do you much good last time, did it? And how are your whores, anyway?"
Buffy gave him a death stare. "Go near any of them again, and I will kill you."
Caleb pushed over Buffy's desk violently, then walked purposefully toward Buffy. "Mind your manners. I do believe I did warn you once. You're angry...frustrated, scared. I like that in a girl. You really should relax a little. Look at where you are. History's gonna look back at you, at me, at this place, and they're gonna see the glory. Great things are happenin' now, right here. This school, the seal...it's all gonna be a part of the great sweepin' tide of change, and you're gonna be a part of it. Now, why would you wanna miss that? More importantly, why would you want to get in its way?"
Buffy scowled. "I guess I'm just ornery." She punched Caleb in the face.
Caleb laughed. "Oh, I knew you'd be a wild one-"
Buffy kicked him, but he grabbed her leg and pushed her down. She kicked his shins, but he picked her up off the floor by her neck.
"I'm gonna take such sweet pleasure in taming you." Caleb threw Buffy through the window.
She landed across the hall, unconscious.
Dawn and Giles were reviewing the police file at the Magic Box.
"Okay, well, here's the one that stood out. It's, um, a mission up north in Gilroy." Dawn handed Giles some files.
Giles looked at a picture. "I don't see anything."
"Exactly. No vandalism at all."
"Then why is it in the file?"
"The place was abandoned. Um...locals started noticing after a few days that no one was going in or out. Six members of the order lived there, but when the cops showed up...all gone. Unsolved."
"Oh."
"Oh? Oh, good?"
"Not sure. Here..." Giles held a magnifying glass over the photo. "Dawn, what do you see?"
"What am I looking for?"
"On the back wall, A...knothole."
Through the magnifying glass, Dawn could see an imprint of what looked like Caleb's ring in the wood on a wall, next to a statue of Mary.
"That's not a knothole."
Faith walked into the front room, eating a Hot Pocket. "Sounded like there was news."
"Faith, would you go and get Sunday? Or Sandy? Or both?"
Dawn nodded. "Maybe this'll help...if this does bring us closer to Caleb."
Sunday walked into the Magic Box, a blanket over her head. Sandy followed behind her.
Sunday walked further into the room and took off the blanket. "What's up, Rupert?"
Giles frowned. "Sunday, I have a mission for you."
"Oh, really? Are you my Watcher now?"
"This is bona fide...with real ramifications. Take a look at this." Giles handed Sunday the photo and the magnifying glass.
Sunday looked. "Looks like our boy's been here. You want me to go check it out?"
"I need someone that can take care of themselves in case Caleb has...left some souvenirs."
Sunday shrugged and walked toward the door.
"Put on your blanket, dumbass!" Sandy caught up with her. "I'll drive."
Sunday put the blanket back on. Sandy opened the door and let Sunday walk out first, then she followed.
Dawn noticed the Potentials standing nearby. So...see? That's something, right? We'll have some news soon."
Amanda nodded. "Sure. Maybe that'll get us somewhere."
Faith stood up. "Maybe." She looked at the girls. "In the meantime, the troops here gotta sit and stew, feeling shittier by the minute."
Dawn looked at Faith. "We should keep them occupied."
Faith smiled. "Yeah. I know how to keep them occupied."
That evening, Faith, Cordelia, Harmony, and the girls went out to the Bronze nightclub for some recreation. They were dancing, playing pool, drinking, and having fun while Avril Lavigne sang "Complicated" on stage:
"Chill out;
Whatcha yellin' for?
"Lay back;
It's all been done before.
And if
You could only let it be,
You will see.
"I like
You the way you are
When we're
Driving in your car,
And you're
Talking to me one on one,
But you become
"Somebody else
'Round everyone else.
You're watching your back
Like you can't relax.
You try to be cool.
You look like a fool to me.
"Tell me:
Why'd you have to go and make things so complicated?
I see the way you're
Actin' like you're somebody else; gets me frustrated.
And life's like this; you-
You fall,
And you crawl,
And you break,
And you take
What you get,
And you turn it into-
Honesty, you promised me, I'm never gonna find you fake it.
No, no, no."
Faith danced with Harmony. Amanda and a bunch of the Potentials danced together. Dawn and Kennedy were dancing together.
"What kind of band plays during an apocalypse?" Kennedy asked Dawn.
"I think this band might actually be one of the signs."
Buffy walked into her house. "Hey, guys, how's it-" She looked around and realized everyone was gone. "-going?"
"Buffy. Are you hurt?" Tara asked from the dining room.
"Oh...Caleb came back, looking for seconds."
Tara frowned. "Oh, shit, is h-he-"
"Still able to make me see cartoon birdies all around my head? You betcha. The short lack of consciousness was nice. I feel rested." Buffy sat down to Tara's right and groaned. "So...how did those police files work out? Were they helpful?"
"Uh...uh...yeah. Um...there's evidence that Caleb might have established a foothold up north."
"That's great. That's-"
"Mr. Giles sent Sunday and Sandy to look into it." Tara sipped tea from her mug.
Buffy nodded. "Where did everybody go?"
"What?"
"Faith. Cordy. The girls. Where are they?"
"Oh, they spent most of the day at the Magic Box, because they wanted a change of scenery instead of seeing this house the whole time."
"Can't say I blame them." Buffy stood up.
Tara grew embarrassed. "Um, they're not there."
"What do you mean?"
"Cordy called. Um...Faith thought the girls could use a break. She took them to the Bronze."
Buffy shook her head, rolled her eyes, and walked toward the front door.
Amanda was sitting and drinking a spiked fruit punch when Faith walked off the dance floor to have a drink of beer that she'd left on the table.
Amanda was excited. "This is so cool. Buffy would never let us do this. You are so cool." She touched Faith's leg, then turned to her friends. "This woman is so cool!"
Buffy walked up to them. "Faith! What are you doing?"
"Just blowing off steam."
"Girls, go home." Buffy glared at Faith. "I need to talk to Faith for a minute."
Dawn walked over to her. "Buffy, we weren't-"
"Dawn...you, too. Go."
The girls walked away, Cordelia gently guiding them.
Buffy looked at Faith. "What is this?"
"They needed a break, all right? They've been running themselves into the ground."
"Taking a break is one thing. I get blowing off steam, but those girls were drunk! What were you thinking?! What if Bringers or vampires attacked, and someone had gotten hurt?"
"They didn't."
"Faith, I need to know these girls are gonna be safe when I'm not around."
"No one got hurt, B. Look, you don't even know these girls. Maybe you should have a little more confidence in 'em, let them fuck up sometimes, you know, get down and dirty. How the hell else are they gonna learn?" Faith asked her.
"Learning from your mistakes is one thing. But you don't throw children into-"
"Yeah, what about the vineyard?"
"What?"
"How safe were they when you dragged them off to meet Caleb? How safe was Rona or Chao-Ahn or Molly?"
Enraged, Buffy punched Faith in the face, knocking her down to the floor. Buffy walked away. Faith touched her face and watched Buffy go but didn't follow.
Sandy was driving, with Sunday in the passenger seat, through the California countryside at night.
"You sure you don't wanna stop and pick up some burgers or something, you know, road trip food?" Sunday asked.
"It's not a road trip. It's a covert operation."
"Right. Right. Gotcha." Sunday paused. "I-I bet even covert operatives eat curly fries. They're really good."
Sandy rolled her eyes, then thought of something. "Not as good as those onion blossom thingies."
Sunday smiled. "Ooh, I love those."
Sandy smiled. "Yeah, me, too."
"It's an onion...and it's a flower. I-I don't understand how such a thing is possible."
"See, the genius of it is you soak it in ice water for an hour, so it holds its shape. Then you deep-fry it root-side up for about five minutes."
"Masterful."
"Yeah." Sandy paused in thought. "I guess we can stop for some take-out."
Sunday pushed open the creaky front door to the mission as Sandy stood nervously behind her. Sunday sighed and walked in, followed by Sandy.
Sandy looked around. "No one's here."
Someone jumped out of a closet as they walked past, grabbing Sandy and pushing her against the wall.
"Sunday!" Sandy yelled.
Sunday pulled the robed man off Sandy, and the man punched Sunday. They started to fight. Sunday pushed the man against the wall, and he fell to the floor. Sunday pushed the hood off the man's face to reveal a burn mark on the man's cheek. Sunday and Sandy recognized the shape of the robed man's scar from Shannon's account and stared at him. The mark looked like something that Caleb made with his ring.
Sunday bent down to get a better look. "Tell me about the mark."
"Oh..." The monk covered the scar with his hand.
"Hey! Are you part of Caleb's faction?" Sunday asked.
The monk shook his head. "No! No!"
"Then tell me what happened."
"I c-can't."
"We're trying to fight him. Caleb. We need your help."
"You can't fight him. You can't stop him. You can only run."
Sunday stood up. "Talk."
"I'll do better. I'll show you."
Sunday offered the man her hand, helping him to his feet.
The monk grabbed a candelabra. "One night, some time ago, a man arrived at our doors."
"And you said 'Come in; do some damage'?" Sandy asked.
"We are - We are a benevolent order, and, yes, we welcomed him. We offered to feed him...but he had come for something else."
The monk walked up to a statue of Mary in an alcove, just as seen on the picture that led Sunday here in the first place. He touched a secret lever, causing the statue to swing out of the way, revealing a secret compartment behind it.
"Behind this, he revealed something even we didn't know was here. A secret room." He walked in.
Sunday and Sandy followed.
"He was excited, talking the whole time...destiny, that sort of thing." He took a tapestry off the wall, revealing an inscription behind it. "He was going on about this ancient inscription. He read it...and he didn't like what it said. His temper..." He paused. "He was the purest evil I've ever seen. He burned his mark upon me. And then I ran, and I hid...and I listened to the others die."
Sandy looked at him sympathetically. "Running away...saved your life."
Sunday took the candelabra from the monk and walked up to the inscription. The inscription was Latin words written with Greek letters: "Non tibi est. Ei solae tractare licet."
"What does it say?" Sandy asked.
The monk looked at her. "'It is not for thee. It is for her alone to wield.'"
Almost everyone was gathered in the living room of the Summers' house for a big meeting: Buffy, Tara, Dawn, Amy, Katrina, Cordelia, Faith, Harmony, Giles, Jenny, Robin Wood, Kennedy, Vi, Chloe, Caridad, Eve, Amanda, Rona, and Shannon.
Buffy looked at all of them. "I wanted you all to be here for this. I think you'll be interested in what I found out."
"W-What did you find out?" Tara asked.
"I-It's about the cellar. Look, I know that night wasn't fun for any of us...but I figured out some things about that place, and I realize now what we have to do."
Giles looked at her, concerned.
"We're going back in."
Everyone was silent.
"Look, I know what you're thinking, but I had a visit at the school today from Caleb."
Dawn was alarmed. "Buffy, why didn't you-"
"I'm fine. I mean...it wasn't fun, but I'm fine. I'm better than fine. I-I figured something out. He kept making all of this noise about the school."
"Is it that seal again?" Wood asked.
"No, that's just it. We've spent all of this time worrying about the seal and the Hellmouth. Why isn't Caleb guarding them? Why doesn't he have someone there, protecting it? Why is he camped out at the vineyard? If the seal was so important to Caleb and the First, they would be there right now. They're protecting the vineyard or something at the vineyard. I had a dream when I was knocked out earlier. There was...something, an object. I say it's their power, and I say it's time that we go in and take it away from them."
Jenny shook her head and looked down. Giles uncrossed his arms and sighed.
"Or, in the alternative, how 'bout...we don't?" Faith suggested. "I mean it's a neat theory, B, but I'm not going back in that place, not without proof, and neither should you, and neither should they."
"I'm not saying it's gonna be easy."
Harmony frowned. "I think Faith had the floor."
"Maybe it ends okay the way that you wanna play it, but maybe it doesn't. And right now, I don't think I want you playin' the odds."
"Did you come here to fight?" Buffy asked her.
"Listen, we're fighters, all of us, but you gotta give me something to fight, something real, not-"
"Windmills." Giles looked at Buffy.
Buffy looked at him. "There is something there."
"Maybe. But we can't be sure of that. This is a hell of a lot to ask."
Wood nodded. "Too much."
Buffy grinned nervously, looking around. "I-I don't understand this. For six years, I've kept us safe by doing this, exactly this, making the hard decisions. And now, what, suddenly, you're all acting like you can't trust me?"
Rona stared at Buffy. "You know what? I am sick of your shit. You're being reckless."
Buffy stepped back. "What?"
"You are! I don't even know you, and I can tell! You are so obsessed with beating Caleb, you are willing to jump into any plan without thinking."
"That's not what I'm doing."
Kennedy walked up to Buffy. "Well, that's how it feels to us. People are dying."
Dawn walked up to Kennedy. "Kennedy-"
Kennedy turned to face her. "Why are you standing up for her?"
Dawn was sad. "I'm not."
Buffy was stunned. "What do you mean, you're not?"
Dawn shrugged. "With everything that's happened, I-I'm worried about your judgment."
"Okay, everybody, maybe we oughta take a deep breath and calm the fuck down." Cordelia looked from Dawn to Kennedy to Buffy.
Buffy looked around and searched their faces. "I know I'm right about this. I just need a little-"
Faith looked at Buffy. "I think B here needs to just...chill out for a little bit, take a siesta or something."
Tara walked over to Buffy and gently touched her arm. "C'mon, sweetie, why don't we go to bed, huh? We can discuss this in the morning, after a good night's sleep."
Buffy looked at her. She allowed Tara to take her by the hand. The two of them turned and walked upstairs without another word.
Kennedy sighed. "Finally, we're in charge of ourselves. Now that Buffy's not here, we finally have some say in how and when we lose our necks."
"Maybe you don't have to be so blunt about..." Wood gestured a cutting motion with his hand in front of his neck. "...the losing of the necks bit."
Kennedy stared at him. "Why? It's the truth. No sense in shielding these girls from it."
Giles looked at everyone. "We just have to find some way of having constructive dialogue without going completely mad."
"Do you know the parliamentary procedure?" Amanda asked. "'Cause that's a convenient way of organizing-"
Kennedy frowned. "I just wonder if those of us that have been here longer should have more of a say."
"Maybe we should break down into small groups so it wouldn't be so chaotic. Faith, Cordy, what do you think?" Wood asked.
Amanda was still trying to make her case. "When I was involved with the Model UN, we found the parliamentary procedure to be a total lifesaver. For example, once when I was Uruguay, it was like here, only we had this system which allowed us to organize our conversation."
Jenny bent over to whisper to Dawn. "She's going to be fine."
"Yeah? Then why do I feel like this?" Dawn asked her.
Faith looked at the group. "I hear what you're saying, but-"
"Shouldn't we get down to business?" Kennedy asked.
Amy rolled her eyes. "You guys, I think we're wasting time arguing about how to argue."
Amanda looked at her. "Well, why don't we-"
Vi looked at Amanda. "Please do not mention parliamentary procedure."
Caridad nodded. "I second that."
Cordelia looked at everyone. "Everyone, listen. Chill. All right? It's been a long night, and I don't know about you, but I'm wiped. Maybe we should catch some sleep and figure all of this shit out in the morning."
"Do we really have time to waste?" Kennedy asked her.
Faith nodded. "Look, we understand you guys are wicked stressed. Frankly, our situation blows. We've got to stay cool. That's the only way that we're going to get through this. Can everyone handle that?"
Vi nodded. "Yeah...yeah...we'll get some rest, and then, tomorrow, things won't seem so-"
The lights went out in the house, and everyone jumped and gasped, frightened.
"I'll get some candles...if we have candles." Amanda walked off.
Kennedy nodded. "I'll check the fuse box."
Faith looked out the window. "Don't bother. All of the lights on the whole street just went out."
"Which means?" Kennedy asked.
Faith looked at the group. "That the people from the power company have got the fuck out of Sunnydale."
Vi was nervous. "I think I'm freaking out."
Amanda returned with some candles and a lighter. She set the candles on the coffee table and lit them.
"All right. So...what do we know?" Cordelia asked.
Katrina looked at her. "Well, we know we're basically the last humans left in Sunnydale."
Caridad nodded. "And all of the evil in town wants us dead."
Vi was on the verge of crying. "I don't want to die."
Kennedy looked at Cordelia. "We also know Caleb told Buffy that everything's going down at the seal. I think we should head-"
Faith looked at her. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves. So we know we've got a lot of enemies. We'll start there."
"Faith, I'm sorry-"
"I got this, okay? So let's go over our rogues' gallery. Who, exactly, do we have here?"
Dawn looked at Faith. "Well, there's the First, who we can't touch."
Katrina frowned in disgust. "Then there's our friend, the Reverend I-Hate-Women."
Amy nodded. "Who's basically untouchable."
Dawn nodded. "There's the 'roid-rage vamps, who are pretty much the worst. And the-"
"Bringers." Faith paused in consideration. "I think they're the weakest link."
"Are you thinking of attacking the Bringers?" Giles asked her.
"Maybe, or...we could kidnap one."
"And what? Hold it ransom?" Kennedy asked nastily.
"I'm saying we think about getting us a Bringer and making it talk. Find out info on the First and Caleb that way."
"How do you think we should catch one, if they don't want to be found?" Wood asked.
"Okay, I'm not sure this is such a good idea. Why try and get information when we already know about the seal?" Kennedy asked. "Why don't we send a team to the high school? Do some recon and-"
Faith shook her head. "No."
Kennedy raised her eyebrows. "Just like that? You're not even listening."
Dawn looked at Kennedy. "Sweetie, you're pushing too hard."
Kennedy got in Faith's face. "I thought things would be different now, but you keep shutting me down."
Faith pointed. "Kennedy, back the fuck off and let us do our jobs, all right?" She calmed down. "Okay, let's get down to business."
Kennedy walked down the alley alone, looking at the ground and pouting. A Bringer came up behind her, wielding a knife, but Giles lassoed him around the neck and pulled him to the ground. Giles tied up the Bringer as the other Potential Slayers went to Kennedy's aid, fighting off the other Bringers that had shown up, using the Bringers' knives against them.
Kennedy killed a Bringer, then stood up, panting. "I've never been the bait before. That was, uh...actually, kind of scary."
Caridad put a hand on her shoulder. "We had your back."
Giles tied up the Bringer. "You did well. Your performance as a disgruntled minion was spot on."
"I'm method." Kennedy smiled. "Let's get this back home."
Back at the Summers' house, Giles and Faith arrived to talk to the gang assembled in the kitchen.
Dawn saw them. "Oh, hey. So?"
"Uh, the Bringer's dumb." Giles put on his glasses.
Faith nodded. "Someone ripped out its tongue."
Amanda made a face. "Oh, gross."
Dawn pointed to a book. "Hey...I've been reading this old Turkish spellbook. There's an old conjuration that the ancient Turks used to communicate with the dying."
Amy smiled. "Oh, yeah. I think I've read a translation of it."
Dawn went wide-eyed. "There's a translation of it?!" She sighed. "I'm over it. Um, so the spell is used to communicate with people that can't talk. Um, like, if a person was dying, this spell would let them say their good-byes or, you know, gripe about how nobody came to visit them. Would this help us with Mr. No-Tongue?"
Amy nodded. "Yeah, I think so. I just need to get together a few ingredients."
Cordelia nodded. "All right. Well, cool. While Amy does that, the rest of us can-"
"We're back!" Sandy called.
Sunday walked into the room.
Giles looked at her. "Sunday."
"Hey." Sunday immediately walked over to the refrigerator and opened it. "Do you have any wine coolers?"
Katrina frowned. "No. Just grab something and close the fucking door. You're letting the cold air out."
Sunday grabbed a can of beer and closed the refrigerator. She cracked the can open and took a few gulps.
Sandy walked into the room. "Hi, everybody. I think our mission went very well. We got some new information."
Sunday nodded. "Yeah, we think we got a lead. Where's Buffy?"
"Um..." Dawn looked away. "...upstairs...in her room."
Amy nodded. "Uh...while you were gone, Buffy wanted us to return to the vineyard, because she had a vision that Caleb's holding something there. We thought it was a bad idea to risk the Potentials again. Things got kind of ugly, and Tara took her to bed to diffuse the situation, so we could all come at this fresh in the morning."
"Is she gonna be okay?" Sandy asked.
No one had an answer to that.
Later, in the dining room, the Bringer was sitting at the table, handcuffed behind his back, as Amy did a spell in another language. Giles, Jenny, Kennedy, and Harmony were sitting there as well.
Amy was holding a book open in her hands. "Speak to us." She waited. "I don't know, guys. That should have worked."
Giles and Jenny stared at the Bringer.
"I am a drone in the mind that is evil."
Jenny looked at Harmony. "What?"
"I say I'm part of the great darkness."
Kennedy rolled her eyes. "Somebody needs a reality check."
Giles looked at Harmony. "Wait."
"I'm only a fragment of the we. We work as one to serve the First."
Jenny and Kennedy stood and backed away from the table where Harmony was sitting. Giles and Amy stood as well, and they all stared at Harmony.
"Okay, what do you - the we - do for the First?" Amy asked.
"We work to prepare for the inevitable battle."
Kennedy grabbed the Bringer's knife off the table and held it to the Bringer's throat. "How? Tell me exactly what the Bringers are doing."
Giles looked at her. "Kennedy, he can't see the knife."
"We can feel the knife."
"Kennedy?" Giles held his hand out to her.
Kennedy handed him the knife.
"We attend to the needs of the infinite evil. We exterminate girls and destroy the legacy of the Slayer. We build an arsenal beneath the dirt. We obey the commands of our teacher, Caleb."
"Wait. Could we go back to the dirt thing?" Jenny asked.
"We build weapons to prepare for the coming war...at the farthest edge of town. We are everywhere. We are like the ocean's waves. We watch your efforts and are not scared. We will laugh at you as you die."
Giles took the Bringer's knife and slit the Bringer's throat with it. The Bringer went limp.
Harmony was herself again. She stood up, upset. "What the bananas?! You are so lucky that you did not just...magically decapitate me!"
"We've got enough here. We need to get the Slayers in on this. Also, we need to gather some maps. We need to find a subterranean space large enough to house an armory."
Almost everyone left the room and went upstairs.
Harmony followed after everyone. "I feel used and violated, and..." She held her throat. "I need a lozenge."
Upstairs, Tara and Buffy were cuddling in bed.
"Can't sleep?" Tara asked.
"No."
"Try to not take what they said as an attack on you personally."
"It's not like they were wrong. I say the word, some girl dies."
"People die. You lead them into battle, they're gonna die. It doesn't matter how ready that you are or how smart that you are. War is about death. Needless, stupid death. There's always casualties in war."
"Casualties. It just sounds so...casual. These are girls that I got killed. I knew I was gonna lose some of them, and I didn't..." Buffy started crying.
"Hey, look at me."
Buffy did.
"I love you."
A tear rolled down Buffy's cheek.
"I love what you are, what you do, how you try. I've seen your kindness and your strength. I've seen the best and the worst of you. And I understand with perfect clarity exactly what you are. You're a wonderful woman."
Buffy smiled at her.
Tara kissed Buffy on the lips. "You get some rest now. You can decide how you want-"
Giles came and stood in the doorway, averting his gaze. "Buffy-"
Buffy frowned and looked away. "Please leave."
"I came here, because I have something to tell you. You were right. Caleb is trying to protect something from you. And I think you were spot-on all the way. I think it's at the vineyard. So? You were right."
Buffy didn't move or react.
"Buffy?" Giles asked.
Buffy finally sat up and faced him. She waited.
"Uh, yes, I-I'm sorry, of course."
"I'm sorry, too. I should have gone on my own instead of wanting the Potentials to come with."
"Well, that's sort of what we're planning."
Buffy narrowed her eyes. "Bad idea. Slayers only."
After getting dressed, Buffy and Tara went downstairs.
Cordelia was looking at Faith. "That's exactly what the First does: finds your Achilles' heel."
"Nah, it just talked to me. What? It does a heal thing, too?" Faith asked in surprise.
Cordelia stared at her in surprise. "Um, it's a phrase, dumbass. Your weak spot."
"Oh, school thing. I was kinda absent that decade."
"What's going on?" Tara asked.
Faith looked at her. "The First came and talked to me."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "I thought it was done with that shit, considering it knows we know it's it."
"Huh?" Faith asked.
"Never mind. So who was it? The First."
"The deputy mayor that I killed."
"Wow. It must be getting worried. Oh, Giles told us about your plan, but, if you all taught me anything, that's a surefire way to get people killed."
Faith nodded in agreement, laughing. "Well, yeah, it sounds retarded, but what else are we gonna do?"
Buffy looked at Cordelia. "Cordy, you're with me. We'll hit the vineyard together." She looked at Faith. "Faith, stay here and protect the Potentials."
Faith frowned. "I want in on this, B."
"You are in on this, Faith. If something happens to me and Cordy, you're the last line of defense."
Faith sighed in frustration.
"Look, I've known Cordy longer than I've known you. We know each other's moves."
Cordelia smiled. "Remember homecoming?"
Buffy smiled. "Yeah."
Faith finally relented. "Fine. Have fun without me."
Tara kissed Buffy on the lips. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
Buffy and Cordelia walked toward the steps leading down into the wine cellar at the Shadow Valley Vineyards.
"Shouldn't be long now. Prophecies say one thing. Brute strength says another. We'll get it out. We're almost there."
Buffy threw a Bringer down the stairs. Caleb turned to look and saw Buffy and Cordelia standing at the top of the stairs.
Buffy gave him a cocky smile, her hands on her hips. "Hey. Heard you got something of ours."
Bringers were using welding torches and other tools on the rocks under the cellar. Buffy and Cordelia trotted quickly down the stairs to be on the same level as Caleb.
"Well, if it ain't the prodigal Slayers?"
Cordelia frowned in confusion. "I think that's Faith."
"Well, she ain't a murderer, depending on how you slice it."
Buffy looked around. "Where's it at? You know we're gonna find it sooner or later."
"No, you're not. I lay one hand on you, and you're just dead little girls."
Cordelia shrugged. "Lay a hand on us...if you can."
Caleb took a swing at Buffy, but Buffy ducked quickly and adeptly without losing balance. Caleb swung at her again, but Buffy jumped into the air and did a forward somersault over him, and he missed her again. He turned and swung at her, but she did a forward somersault on the ground this time, staying out of his reach. Buffy stood up, and she and Cordelia ran with Caleb in hot pursuit. They ran over the wine barrels, kicking the last ones into Caleb's path, causing them to bust and trip him. They stared at Caleb.
"Do you have to look like that?" Caleb asked under his breath, then gritted his teeth. "'Cause it's just a little confusing."
Caleb finally got to his feet. Caleb swung a punch at Cordelia, but she jumped into the air and did a flip, landing on her feet and avoiding his attack. He lunged at her, but Cordelia propelled herself up the wall and across the rafter as Caleb ran under her, unable to stop himself. Cordelia jumped to the ground, and Caleb swung at her again, but she ducked, and he missed her. With her back to the wall, Cordelia stared at Caleb as he walked menacingly toward her.
Caleb walked toward Cordelia and punched, but she ducked again, causing Caleb to punch his fist into a rack of wine bottles. Cordelia ran up a rack of wine barrels as Caleb ran toward her, then she jumped over his head.
Cordelia ran away from Caleb toward the back of the cellar.
"You whore!" Caleb called after her.
Cordelia stopped running and turned to casually face him. "You know, you really should watch your language. If someone didn't know you, they might think you were a woman-hating asshole."
Enraged, Caleb pushed over a wine barrel and charged toward Cordelia. Buffy looked over in the back corner and saw an open hatch in the floor; it was glowing because of the work that the Bringers were doing in the room below. She grinned and motioned with her head to Cordelia. The two women ducked under Caleb's punch and slid across the floor, into the hatch in the floor. Right as they slid in, Cordelia pulled the door shut.
Buffy and Cordelia landed on their feet and walked into the cave-like room under the wine cellar and noticed something.
They walked up to the rock where the Bringers were working before. Stuck inside the rock was a shiny ax; it had a wide, rounded blade on one end and a point on the end of the shaft. Buffy's eyes widened as she stared at it in awe. She smiled.
They stared at the shiny weapon stuck in the rock and walked up to it slowly. Caleb opened the hatch and walked down the stairs, into the room. Buffy and Cordelia turned to look at him.
"So...you found it. Not impressed. 'Cause the question now, girly girls, is can you pry it from solid rock before I come over there-"
Buffy grabbed the handle and pulled the weapon out of the stone one-handed with ease. She looked it over.
Caleb looked shocked. "Hmm. Darn." He exhaled worriedly. "Now, before you go hurting yourself with that thing, why don't you do yourself a courtesy and hand it over now?"
Buffy cocked her head to the side. "Yeah? You want it?" She hoisted the weapon up casually.
Caleb smiled nervously. "You don't even know what you got there." He stepped back.
"I know you're backing away."
"You think wielding some two-sided doo-dad's gonna make a difference?" He hesitated. "If I let them go, she slices me open with that thing."
Buffy and Cordelia looked at him worriedly.
"I'm not letting them out of here with that thing."
Buffy ran out of the cellar, carrying the weapon. Cordelia followed.
Back in the living room of the Summers' house, Buffy set the ax on the coffee table.
"What's with the ax thing?" Caridad asked her.
"I took it from Caleb. It might be important."
Vi nodded. "Let's hope."
Faith picked up the ax.
"You feel it, too, don't you?" Buffy asked her.
"Damn. And damn, that's something."
"I know."
"It's old. It's strong, and it feels like...like it's mine." Faith placed it back on the coffee table and looked at Cordelia. "I guess that means it's yours."
"Okay." Cordelia reached for it.
Buffy playfully slapped her hand away. "It belongs to the Slayer. That means all three of us." She picked up the ax.
Cordelia thought about it. "We're all such different Slayers, aren't we?"
Faith smiled. "So here's the laugh riot. My whole life, I've been a loner."
"That's the funny part? Did I miss something?" Cordelia asked.
"I'm trying to-"
"Sorry. Sorry. Go."
"No ties, no buddies, no relationships that lasted longer than..." Faith paused, then grinned. "Not until Harmony and Anne."
"Was that the funny part?"
"Okay. The point. Me, by myself all the time. I'm looking at you, everything that you have, and, I don't know, jealous. But you showed me that...a Slayer...a person...doesn't need to be alone."
Buffy and Cordelia smiled, then Buffy headed to the stairs.
"So we got a plan now or anything?" Kennedy asked her.
Buffy forced a take-charge look. "Yeah, there's a plan. Get ready. Time's up."
Buffy walked into her and Tara's bedroom. "It's me."
Tara got out of bed. "You're all right."
"Yeah." Buffy raised the ax. "We've got work to do."
The next morning, in the living room, Tara was sitting on the couch, and Jenny was sitting to her right. Buffy and Giles stood nearby. The ax lay on the coffee table, near Jenny's laptop.
Buffy looked at it. "I think it's maybe some kind of scythe."
Tara smiled awkwardly. "That's clearly an ax, sweetie."
Buffy shrugged. "The only thing that I know for sure is it made Caleb back off in a hurry."
"I'd just like to point out this is really quite ingenious." Giles played with the weapon.
Buffy smiled. "Kills strong bodies three ways."
"And you say you sense something when you hold it?" Tara asked.
"Not much, but it's strong. Cordy, Faith, and I all felt it. And we knew it belonged to us. We just knew it."
Giles inspected the weapon. "In addition to being ancient, it's clearly mystical."
"Yeah, I figured that one out when I King-Arthured it out of the stone."
Jenny pondered. "So maybe it's, like, some kind of traditional Slayer weapon."
Giles was puzzled. "I can't imagine how something like this could exist without my having heard of it."
The ladies rolled their eyes.
"Um...any chance that it might be something other than a tool for killing things?" Giles asked.
"The First's guys clearly wanted it out of that stone. It's not just a tool. It's important. We need to find out whatever we can. Who made it, when, why? Does it have a name?" Buffy shrugged. "I don't know, a credit report? Just find out fast."
Giles nodded. "We'll start work immediately."
"Yeah, don't worry, Buff. We'll find out everything that there is to know." Jenny opened her laptop.
"Good, because, right now, that thing's all that we've got going for us." Buffy paused as a thought occurred to her. "Hey, how can you get online with the power out?"
Jenny turned on her laptop. "Battery's got enough juice to last a while, and the phone lines run off a separate power supply. I just gotta get used to dial-up again."
Later, Buffy and Katrina were having a private chat in the kitchen.
"You got it?" Buffy asked her.
Katrina stared at her. "You've gotta be fucking kidding."
Buffy sighed. "You know it's for the good."
"I don't, and, Buffy, deep down, you know it, too. If I do this, Dawn would feel like you lack faith in her, and she would resent both of us for it. Do you get that? She wants you to treat her like a Potential Slayer, and you agreed to that, and that means her being in this fight."
Buffy thought about it and sighed. "You're right." She walked toward the door.
Buffy walked into the dining room. Dawn was waiting when Buffy walked in. Buffy was surprised to see her. Dawn kicked Buffy in the shin.
"Ow."
Dawn stared at her. "Dumbass."
"If you get killed, I'm telling."
At dusk, the ax was still on the coffee table. Jenny and Giles were talking as Jenny researched on her laptop and Giles flipped through books.
"Okay, before the vineyard was just, you know, a vineyard, it was a monastery. Could've been put there then. Some creepy monks messing with powers that they don't understand."
"No, it's older than that. It's pre-Christian." Giles scratched his head.
"Okay. Well, I found reference to stories that the monks used to tell about something older. Uh, like, some kind of pagan temple."
"Native American?"
"No. I don't know. Ugh. Okay, maybe we're just going about this the wrong way. Maybe we should research the weapon itself. Like...look. Maybe it's the Axe of Dekeron, said to have been forged in Hell itself. Lost since the Children's Crusade, where it was said to have killed-" Jenny sat back and made a face. "Oh. Children. I hope that's not it."
"Well, I have reference to the Sword of Moskva, the, uh, Reaper of the Tigris-" Giles sighed. "How are we supposed to narrow this down? The illustrations are never clear enough." He stood up and looked out the window. "Oh, damn. We're running out of time. We really haven't got anything useful."
Jenny picked up the ax.
"Do you sense any of the power that Buffy spoke about?" Giles asked her.
"Gotta say no. Must be a Slayer thing."
Giles walked over to Jenny and sat on the edge of the couch. "Tapping into magic might help with that."
"Maybe. But I mean, if Caleb is scared of this thing, it must be pretty dangerous. And tapping into that..." Jenny put the weapon down carefully.
"Jenny, you could do it without endangering yourself."
Jenny was apprehensive. "Rupert, I don't wanna fuck with shit that I know nothing about."
"And if it was necessary?" Giles asked softly.
"Honestly? I don't know." Jenny went back to researching on her computer.
Giles sighed. "All right. Do what you can. That's all any of us can do."
"I guess so. Ugh. Damn, none of these sound right." Jenny scrolled down. "I mean...look. Here's one that's just 'm' question mark. What the fuck is that?"
Giles stood up. "Let me see." He walked to look at the screen. "It's not a question mark. It's the International Phonetic Alphabet symbol for glottal stop."
"Huh?"
"It's sort of a gulping noise. I'm...remembering something here. Um...uh. Hieroglyphs. Hieroglyphs stand for sets of consonants, as you know."
"Yes, absolutely."
Giles started pacing. "'M' plus glottal stop is represented by a picture that's commonly thought to symbolize a sickle or a scythe. It's in thousands of carvings. In Egypt, throughout the ancient world."
"Carvings like you'd have on a pagan temple?"
"Go back. See what else we can find out about this temple." Giles picked up the weapon. "The scythe is a symbol of death. Let's see where these pagans buried their dead."
At night, in the Hyperion, Kate and Fred were sitting on a couch in the lobby, eating Chinese takeout.
Lilah Morgan walked into the hotel. "Hey, guys."
Kate frowned. "What do you want?"
"Angel in?" Lilah asked.
Angel walked out of his office. "Someone call my...What are you doing here?"
Lilah put her hand over her heart. "Ooh, I feel the love radiating from everyone in this room." She walked over and handed Angel a file. "I've been authorized to give this to you."
Angel opened the file. "Sunnydale." He took out an amulet from the file.
"That nifty, little bauble comes with the file. Apparently, it's crucial for some kind of final battle. Guess they're in short supply up Sunnydale way. A bit gauche for my taste, but, hey, not a Slayer."
Angel put the amulet back in the file, then threw it on the check-in counter. "Cordy can handle herself."
"But isn't it more fun when you handle her?" Lilah teased.
"Keep the intel. Not interested." Angel walked toward his office door.
"Look, that stuff is meant to prevent an apocalypse."
Angel turned and looked at her. "So why do you want us to have it?"
"Because it's not our apocalypse, not our timeline. It's the First Evil."
Angel started. He slowly walked back over to Lilah.
Lilah felt frustrated. "Who's that fucker to say when doomsday happens? We say when doomsday happens."
"And you guys are just doing this out of the evilness of your hearts?" Fred asked her.
Lilah looked at her, angry. "Maybe that's their reason. But I'm doing it for Buffy..." She looked at Angel. "...and Cordy. If this thing can save them..."
Angel picked up the file and opened it again.
Buffy walked down the stairs and into the living room. She picked up the ax and headed to the front door.
Tara walked downstairs. "Be careful, sweetie."
"I will. Do you see this?" Buffy held up the ax. "This thing was forged by...I don't even fucking know. I mean...something about...a tomb on consecrated ground. That's what I have to do. I need to find out what this is and why I have it. This might actually help us fight the war. This might be the key to everything. And the reason that I'm holding it is because of you. Because of the strength that you gave me last night."
Tara smiled and kissed Buffy on the lips.
Cordelia walked in from the kitchen. "Want some company?"
Buffy looked at her.
"C'mon, I've been here for five months, mostly training and babysitting these brats, and my acting career is on pause. I need to hit something." Cordelia punched her palm with her fist.
Buffy smiled. "You can come, Cordy."
Buffy walked through the cemetery, carrying the ax. She opened a gate and walked up to a pyramid-shaped tomb and kicked down the door. Cordelia followed her, holding a flashlight.
"I've patrolled this cemetery for six years now. Know what I've never noticed before?" Buffy asked.
"Uh, a pyramid?" Cordelia guessed.
Buffy nodded. "A big fucking pyramid."
Buffy and Cordelia walked down into the tomb. It was lit inside, although dimly, by torches, giving it an orange hue. Buffy and Cordelia looked around cautiously.
"I'd forgotten. I'd forgotten how young you would be." A woman opened a drape.
Buffy and Cordelia saw a very old woman with long white hair standing before them.
"Comes from the waiting. Mind plays tricks. I see you've found our weapon."
"Who are you?" Buffy asked.
"One of many. Well...time was. Now, I'm alone in the world."
"So what are you? Some kind of ghost?" Cordelia asked her. "'Cause if you're gonna try and haunt me-"
The woman chuckled softly, shaking her head. "Nope. I'm as real as you are. Just...well...let me put it this way: I look good for my age. I've been waiting." She held out her hands.
Buffy handed over the ax.
"You pulled it out of the rock. I was one of those that put it in there."
"What is it?" Buffy asked.
The woman admired the ax. "A weapon. A scythe-"
"I actually have it on very good authority that that's an ax." Buffy ran her finger along the blade carefully.
"Oh. Really? Well, that's embarrassing." The woman cleared her throat. "Forged in secrecy for one like you that...I'm sorry. What's your name?"
"Buffy."
"No, really."
Buffy shrugged.
"We forged it in secrecy and kept it hidden from the Shadowmen, who-"
"Yeah. Met those guys. Didn't really care too much for 'em."
"Ahh, yes. Then you know. And they became the Watchers. And the Watchers watched the Slayers. But we were watching them."
"Oh! So you're like..." Cordelia paused, frowning in confusion. "What are you?"
"Guardians. Women that want to help and protect you. We forged this centuries ago, halfway around the world. Forged there, it was put to use right here...to kill the last pure demon that walked upon the Earth. The rest were already driven under. And then there were men here, and then there were monks. And then there was a town, and now there was you. And the scythe, er, ax remained hidden."
"I don't understand. How is it possible that we didn't know any of this?" Buffy asked.
"We hid, too. We had to until now. We're the last surprise."
"Does this mean we can win?" Buffy asked.
"That is really up to you. This is a powerful weapon." The Guardian handed the ax back to Buffy.
"Yeah."
"But you already have weapons."
"Oh."
"Use it wisely, and perhaps you can beat back the rising dark. One way or another, it can only mean an end is truly near."
The woman's head cocked slightly to the side, and Buffy and Cordelia heard a cracking noise. The woman fell to the ground, dead. Buffy and Cordelia saw Caleb standing there.
"I'm sorry. I didn't catch that last part on account of her neck snapping and all. Did she say the end is near...or here?"
Buffy swung the ax at Caleb, but he grabbed it with ease, pushing her away. They fought, exchanging punches and kicks. Caleb was much stronger than before; he tried to punch Buffy, but she ducked, and he instead punched through a stone pillar.
"Ha, ha, ha, ha! You're not slipping out of this fight, girl. Can't you see? You can't stop me. I can just keep going back for more. It's like being reborn."
Buffy swung the ax at Caleb's head, but he ducked and threw her against the wall. He kicked her into the air and punched her in the stomach before she fell to the ground again. He kicked her in the head and grabbed the ax, but Buffy kicked it out of his hands and into the air. Cordelia grabbed the ax and kicked Caleb to the floor. She went to stab him with the stake end of the ax, but he stopped her from plunging it into his chest. Caleb laughed and pushed Cordelia away, taking the ax away from her and throwing it to the ground as he walked toward her. He punched her repeatedly until she fell to the floor.
"You know, I gave you ample warning. Told you not to interfere, but you chose not to heed."
Cordelia charged toward Caleb, but he deflected her and threw her onto a sarcophagus. She kicked him. He picked her up by the lapels and swung her body into a stone pillar so hard that it moved one of the stones out of place. Cordelia fell to the ground, and Caleb picked up the ax.
"I was kind of hoping it'd go this way." Caleb reared back with the ax as he stared at Cordelia.
"Hey!" Angel punched Caleb, knocking him down.
Cordelia looked up to see Angel standing there.
Angel helped her to her feet. "I was never much for preachers."
"Angel."
"You look good."
"You look timely. And also good." Cordelia smiled.
"Heard maybe you needed a hand."
Caleb got to his feet. Angel started to go help finish him off, but Cordelia stopped him and picked up the ax.
"Ah, one of those things you have to finish yourself."
"Really kinda is."
Angel backed toward a pillar, so he could be out of the way but still see the show. Buffy got to her feet and joined him.
Angel briefly looked at her. "Hey."
Buffy crossed her arms. "Yo."
Caleb walked toward Cordelia.
Angel crossed his arms and licked his lips. "You are so gonna lose."
Cordelia and Caleb fought. Caleb took the ax away from Cordelia and punched her, sending her stumbling across the room. Caleb pointed the stake-end of the ax at Cordelia and charged toward her, with her back against the wall, but he missed, lodging the ax in the stone wall. Cordelia pulled the ax out of the wall and kicked Caleb away from her. Cordelia swung the ax at Caleb, slicing his stomach. He stumbled back, laughed heartily, wagged his finger at her, and fell to the floor.
Cordelia looked at Angel. "See? Under control."
"Well...at least, you could tell me you're glad to see me." Angel walked toward Cordelia.
Cordelia dropped the ax to the floor and walked up to Angel, pressing herself against his body, and kissed him deeply on the lips.
Angel pulled back from the kiss. "Well, I guess that qualifies as happy to see me."
Cordelia looked into Angel's eyes, smiling. "Angel, what are you doing here?"
"Not saving the damsel in distress, that's for sure."
"Oh, you know me." Cordelia picked up the ax. "Not much with the damseling."
"Got your share of distress, though." Angel walked to the wall.
"You heard?"
Angel picked up the file folder from a bench by the wall. "I got coverage on the whole thing. It's very gripping. It needs a third act. It's the First, right? The First Evil. The power that tried to convince me to kill myself."
"Yeah. It's gotten a little more ambitious since then. It's raising an army."
"Yeah, well, it failed once, and I'm here to tell you-"
Caleb stood up behind Angel and knocked Angel down by hitting him with a cat statue, sending him across the floor.
Caleb walked up to Cordelia, black blood streaming from his eyes and nose. "Are you ready to finish this, bitch?!"
Caleb swung the cat statue at Cordelia, but she blocked with the ax and then fell to the ground. She swung at him with the ax, but he blocked with the cat statue. Caleb knocked Cordelia to the ground, then threw the cat statue at Cordelia.
Cordelia stood up, holding the ax, breathing hard. "Okay...how many times do I have to kill you?"
"You understand nothing."
Cordelia swung at Caleb, but he grabbed the ax, holding it still, and punched Cordelia in the face twice. He lifted her in the air, pressing her back against the low ceiling. Cordelia struggled, and Caleb finally let her fall to the floor.
He walked up to her slowly, then picked her up by her lapels. "You think you have power over me?" he asked through gritted teeth.
Cordelia broke free of his grip and kicked him, knocking him down to the floor.
"Stupid girl." Caleb stood up. "You'll never stop me. You don't have the ba-"
While Caleb got to his feet, Cordelia twirled the ax and swung it up between his legs, cutting into his ballsack. Caleb's eyes went wide.
"Who does nowadays?" Cordelia asked.
Caleb looked down incredulously at the ax lodged in his body, between his legs. Cordelia swiftly pushed the ax up through his entire body, killing him. His blood, organs, and brain matter went everywhere, including all over her. Buffy found herself very turned on by the entire scene.
Angel, lying on the floor, regained consciousness and stood up, angry. "Okay, now, I'm pissed. Where is he?"
Cordelia looked to her right, then to her left, then at Angel. "He had to split." She giggled devilishly.
Angel picked up the folder again and brought it to Cordelia.
"I'll have the gang go through that. See if there's anything new. Reliable source?" Cordelia asked, taking it.
"Not remotely."
"Mm, any port in an apocalypse."
"Well, Lilah says-"
"Lilah?" Cordelia asked in surprise.
"Lilah?" Buffy also asked. "How is Lilah?"
"Same as usual. I, uh, brought something else as well." Angel took the amulet out of his pocket and held it up for Cordelia to see.
It was a two-inch-diameter round crystal pendant, in a silver starburst setting, hung from a coarse silver chain.
Cordelia shook her head. "I can already tell you: I have nothing that goes with that."
"It's not for you."
"Splainy?"
"I don't know everything. It's very powerful and probably very dangerous. It has a purifying power, a cleansing power, possibly scrubbing bubbles. The translation is, uh..." Angel paused. "Anyway, it bestows strength to the right person that wears it."
"And the right person is?"
"Someone ensouled...but stronger than human. A champion. As in me."
"Or me."
"No. I don't know nearly enough about this to risk you wearing it. Besides, you got that really cool ax thing going for you."
"So you're gonna be with me in this."
"Shoulder to shoulder. I'm yours."
Cordelia thought for a moment. "No."
"No, what?"
"No. You're not gonna be in this fight." Cordelia walked away.
Angel cut her off. "Why the hell not?"
"'Cause I can't risk you."
"You need me in this."
"No, I need you gone."
"Why?"
"If we lose, if this thing gets past Sunnydale, then it's days, maybe hours, before the rest of the world goes. We need a second front, and I need you to run it."
"Okay."
Cordelia, Angel, and Buffy walked out of the tomb.
Angel looked at Cordelia, his bloodlust taking over. "You look...so tasty right now."
Buffy smiled. "I know, right? I'm gonna masturbate while I replay her kill in my mind later."
Cordelia and Angel looked at Buffy in disgust.
Buffy felt a bit embarrassed. "Sometimes, I shouldn't say words."
"Anyway, I'll go start working on the second front. Make sure I don't have to use it." Angel turned to leave.
Cordelia pulled him back to her by the shirt. "What's your hurry? L.A.'s only a two-hour drive, and we're not yet in confront mode here." She started kissing Angel.
Buffy watched them.
Cordelia looked at her. "Buffy, you might wanna get out of here. Things are about to get really gross really fast."
Buffy smiled, crossing her arms.
"That's not an invitation to stay." Cordelia shoved the folder and pendant at her. "Here, make yourself useful."
Buffy took the folder and pendant and headed toward her van.
Buffy walked into the living room and closed and locked the front door.
Tara was sitting on the couch, doing research on her laptop. "Did you find out anything about the ax?"
"It slices, dices, and makes julienne preacher."
"Caleb?"
"Cordy cut him in half." Buffy tossed the folder and pendant on the coffee table. "Angel brought those. See what you make of them."
Tara picked up the pendant. "Angel?"
"Yeah. Showed up outta nowhere. I think he and Cordy are gonna fuck." Buffy's eyes widened with excitement. "There could be oil of some kind involved." She looked around. "Where is everyone?"
"Jenny and Mr. Giles went home for the night. So did Principal Wood. Amy, Trina, Dawn, and Kennedy are upstairs. Faith and the Potentials are in the backyard, grilling up the last of our frozen burger patties."
"Ooh, that sounds good right about now." Buffy sat down to Tara's right and looked at the pendant in Tara's hand. "That pendant is to be worn by a champion, someone stronger than human. Possibly a vampire with a soul."
"What's it do?" Tara asked.
Buffy shrugged. "Beats me. It's got vague powers. It might be so old that what it does has been lost to the mists of time."
"It looks like those cheap plastic necklaces that you get from the clucking hen machines at Wal-Mart." Tara tossed the medallion back on the coffee table.
Buffy raised her eyebrows.
Tara looked at her. "Oh, but it looks pretty."
Cordelia knocked on the front door of the mansion. Soon, it opened. Nancy was standing there, naked, holding a flashlight.
"Yeah?" Nancy asked.
Cordelia grinned. "Hi, Nancy. We were wondering if you could spare a room for a few hours."
Nancy looked behind Cordelia, saw Angel, and smiled. "Sure." She stepped aside.
"Thanks." Cordelia walked into the foyer.
"Sure."
Angel walked into the foyer. "Hi."
"Hi."
"I used to live here, y'know."
"I didn't know, but, golly gee willikers, that's a fun fact." Nancy closed and locked the door. "Follow me." She walked away.
Cordelia and Angel followed her.
Cordelia took off all of her clothes. Angel took off all of his clothes.
Cordelia couldn't wait, falling to her knees and taking Angel's penis into her mouth. She put her hands on his ass and started sucking his dick eagerly. "Oh, God, I've missed this. It's been so fucking long. Mmmmmm..."
Angel groaned. Cordelia kept up her blowjob, sucking his cock repeatedly. She switched to licking the length of it a few times, but mostly she wanted it in her mouth. She loved the feeling of it filling her. Angel ran his fingers through Cordelia's hair.
Suddenly, Cordelia felt Angel's cock pulse and twitch in her mouth, and she was rewarded a moment later with an onslaught of cum. She eagerly swallowed it all, Angel's moans music to her ears.
Cordelia eventually pulled back, smacked her lips in appreciation, and smiled. "Mmm, yum-my." She stood up and kissed Angel on the lips. "That was really nice."
Angel looked down. "I'm afraid it's gonna be a while before Rock Hardson is back in action."
Cordelia made a face. "I'll pretend I didn't hear that." She walked over to the bed, pulled down the covers, lay down, and spread her legs. "Now, lick my pussy, mister."
Angel grinned. "Yes, my queen." He got onto the bed and lay down between Cordelia's legs.
Cordelia licked her lips in anticipation. Angel started kissing her pussy. Then he licked the length of her slit with his tongue.
Cordelia moaned her approval. "Mmm, yes, eat me. Worship your queen."
Angel did just that, thoroughly eating Cordelia's pussy. Cordelia put her left hand on the back of Angel's head and lay her head back on the pillow. She simply enjoyed the onslaught of pleasure as Angel tongued her to one orgasm after another.
"I'm hard."
Cordelia sat up. "Great."
Angel moved up and positioned his cock at the entrance to her pussy.
"Wait." Cordelia suddenly grinned. "Let's do anal."
Angel raised his eyebrows. "Um, we don't have any lube."
"Then get licking." Cordelia turned around and lay flat on her stomach.
Angel moved down and did as he was told, kissing and licking Cordelia's anus.
Cordelia smiled. "That's it. Get my asshole nice and wet."
Angel did just that. The he wetted his fingers in his mouth and inserted his left index finger into Cordelia's asshole. Cordelia moaned her approval. Angel gently finger-fucked her, eventually adding his middle finger. Finally, he withdrew his fingers, moved back up, and positioned his cock at her anal entrance.
"I'm gonna go slow, okay?"
"Yeah."
Angel inserted the tip of his cock into Cordelia's anus. Cordelia moaned in pleasure. Angel slowly went in. Cordelia kept moaning.
"Does it hurt?" Angel asked.
"Yes, but in a good way. Keep going."
Cordelia felt Angel filling her. He eventually had the entirety of his cock sunk into her depth.
"How does it feel?" Angel asked her.
Cordelia grinned. "Fucking fantastic!"
"Same."
"Okay, pull almost all of the way out, then plunge it back in. And keep doing that."
Angel did as ordered. Cordelia felt his cock pull most of the way out, then slam right back into her asshole. Angel kept this up for a long time.
"Fuck my ass!" Cordelia demanded. "Harder! Faster! Fuck my ass but good! Give it to me! Make it hurt! Fuck my aaassssss!"
She wished vampires had an infinite stamina, so the pounding could continue for hours. Eventually, though, Cordelia felt the throb of Angel's penis as he cummed inside her, filling her rectum with his jism.
The two of them collapsed on the bed, heaving. Cordelia enjoyed the quiet aftermath of their fuck as they cuddled in each other's arms.
Eventually, Angel pulled out of her, got off the bed, and started getting dressed.
Cordelia moaned. "I feel so empty. Put it back in."
"I really oughta get going."
Cordelia looked at him. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
In the master bedroom, Sandy, Julie, Sunday, and Nancy were in the middle of a foursome. Sandy was drinking blood from Julie's neck while Sunday feasted on the menstrual blood flowing from Julie's pussy. Nancy was making out with Julie during all of this.
Julie had an orgasm and cummed into Sunday's mouth, her cum mixing with her blood. Once the flows stopped, Sunday pulled away. Sandy also stopped feeding. Nancy pulled away, so Sandy could kiss Julie. Julie tasted her own blood on Sandy's tongue. Then Sandy and Sunday made out, so Sandy could get a taste of Julie's cum and menstrual blood. Nancy playfully sucked each of Julie's nipples, then went down and started eating Julie's pussy.
Julie grinned. "That was so fucking awesome."
"Do you want us to switch now?" Sandy suggested. "Me on your pussy and Sunday on your neck?"
"Mmm, I can wait. Let's give Nancy some love."
Nancy grinned and lay down with her head on a pillow. "It's not my time of the month, though."
Sunday grinned at Sandy. "Guess we're both on neck duty."
Sunday bit Nancy on the left side of her neck, and Sandy bit Nancy on the right side of her neck. Nancy cried out in pain a bit.
"I'll make sure your pussy gets some love." Julie moved down, lay between Nancy's spread legs, and started eating Nancy's pussy.
Nancy moaned in pleasure. "Yes...devour me..."
Nancy soon had an orgasm, cumming fiercely. Julie eagerly drank all of Nancy's cum. Sandy and Sunday eased off and withdrew their fangs from Nancy's neck. The two vampires started making out as Julie moved up and started lovingly kissing Nancy.
Buffy knocked on the front door of the mansion. Soon, it opened. Nancy was standing there, naked, holding a flashlight. Buffy noticed cum running down her legs and smiled.
"Yeah?" Nancy asked.
"Um, is Sunday here?"
"Yeah." Nancy turned and walked away.
Buffy walked into the mansion, closed and locked the door, and followed her. "I had stopped by Sandy's, but the place was locked up-"
"She and Julie are here." Nancy walked into the bedroom.
Buffy walked into the bedroom and saw Sunday, Sandy, and Julie lying naked on the king-sized bed.
Nancy gestured at Buffy. "We've got company." She rejoined them on the bed.
Sunday smiled. "Company or 'cum-pany'?"
Buffy chuckled. "A Vampire Slayer fucking a vampire. That's rich." She suddenly remembered. "Oh, right. Anyway, I actually come bearing something else." She pulled the amulet out of her pocket.
"What's with the trinket?" Sunday asked.
"The who-ket?" Buffy asked.
Sunday gestured. "The shitty necklace."
"Oh. Uh, Angel brought it."
Sunday's demeanor changed. "How is Angel?"
"Good. Okay, so this thing is some kind of power...thingy. Angel said the amulet was meant to be worn by a champion. Someone with a soul - but more than human. Angel meant to wear it, but he's probably on his way back to L.A. right now to set up a second front against the First."
"So...it's useless?" Sunday guessed.
Buffy shrugged. "It's volatile. We don't know-"
"I'll wear it."
The others looked at Sandy.
"Amy can restore my soul."
Julie sighed in worry.
"Are you sure about this?" Buffy asked.
"You need someone to wear it. I'm volunteering."
Sunday rolled her eyes. "Oh, please. You can barely fight. If anyone's gonna be a fucking champion, it's gonna be me. Hellooo, former Slayer. Like, duh."
"You planning on getting your soul back?" Sandy asked her.
Sunday shrugged.
Julie looked at Sandy with pleading eyes. "I'd rather it be her than you. We don't know what the fuck that thing does, and, besides, I don't know if you'd be...you...after this."
Buffy looked at the amulet, then tossed it on the bed. "Talk it out among yourselves." She turned and walked away. "Carry on."
Buffy woke up in the middle of the night. Tara was sleeping peacefully next to her. Buffy sat up. She got out of bed and paced around the room, restless. She looked out the window, staring at the night sky, then she turned around - and saw a familiar face: a young black woman in tribal clothing.
Buffy sighed. "Oh, great. Am I having one of those weird-ass dreams again? Are you gonna try killing me and my friends out of some bizarre sense of offense again?"
"Not enough. Give up. Run."
"I probably should. Not going to, though. One way or another, this ends soon."
"With your death."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Thanks for the warning, Cunt-a Kinte, now fuck off."
Tara woke up and saw what Buffy saw. She got out of bed and stared at the primitive.
"Can't sleep either?" Buffy asked her.
"In a sense. Your talking woke me up."
"Oh. Sorry. So...we have company."
"Yeah, I can see that."
"The first Slayer's weird, huh? First tries to kill me in my dream, then tries to convince me that death is my gift, then tries to get me to give up on taking on the-" Buffy abruptly stopped talking as she came to a realization.
Tara figured it out, too. "'I have no speech. No name. I live in the action of death, the blood cry, the penetrating wound. I am destruction. Absolute. Alone.'"
Buffy frowned. "'The Slayer.'"
Tara paused for a moment. "'The First.'"
Buffy stared in hatred at the First Evil. "You've been playing us for years."
The First morphed into Buffy's form. "Took you long enough to figure it out. Not very bright, are you?"
"We figured it out eventually. Admittedly, it was more difficult to see through than the 'disguise yourself as someone that we knew and try to torture us' tactic that you soon gave up on. Guess you're all out of tricks, huh?" Buffy asked.
"Don't need tricks. Got an army."
"An army of vampires. However will I fight-"
"Every day, our numbers swell. But then you do have an army of your own. Eight pimply-faced girls that don't know the pointy end of a stake." It feigned concern. "Maybe I should call this off."
"Have you ever considered a cool name?" Buffy asked. "I mean...since you're incorporeal and basically powerless. How about the Taunter? Strikes fear in the heart-"
"I will overrun this Earth. And when my army outnumbers the humans on this Earth, the scales will tip, and I will be made flesh."
"Talk on. I'm not afraid of you."
It rolled its eyes. "Then why aren't you asleep in your lover's arms? 'Cause she can't help you. Nor Faith, nor Cordelia, nor your friends, certainly not your wanna-slay brigade. None of those girlies will ever know real power unless..." It smiled. "...well, you know the drill: Into every generation, a Slayer is born. One girl in all the world. She alone will have the strength and skill to-" It paused. "There's that word again. What you are. How you'll die. Alone. Where's your snappy comeback?"
"You're right."
"Hmm. Not your best." The First disappeared.
"Buffy? Is something wrong?" Tara asked, noticing her expression.
"No. I just realized something. Something that really never occurred to me before. We're gonna win."
The next morning, in Buffy and Tara's bedroom, Dawn, Katrina, Faith, Cordelia, Jenny, and Amy were staring incredulously at Buffy. Tara nervously played with her hands.
Buffy was looking at all of them. "What do you think?"
"Are you fucking kidding?" Katrina asked.
"You don't think it's a good idea?" Buffy asked.
Faith shrugged. "It's pretty radical, B."
Giles was sitting on the bed, by the window. "It's a lot more than that." He stood up. "Buffy, what you said, it - it flies in the face of everything we've ever - every generation has ever done in the fight against evil." He smiled. "I think it's bloody brilliant."
Buffy smiled.
Amy frowned. "Whoa, hey. Not to shit on the celebration, but we're the ones that're gonna have to pull this fucker off."
Jenny nodded in agreement. "It is some serious fucking mojo, Buffy. This goes beyond anything that we've ever done. It's a total loss of control." She looked at Dawn. "And not in a nice, wholesome, 'my girlfriend has a pierced tongue' kind of way."
Dawn looked at Jenny in shock and embarrassment. Giles looked away in annoyance.
Jenny shrugged. "Just putting it in perspective, guys."
"And you used my orgasms to do it?!" Dawn asked in bewilderment.
"Don't talk about your orgasms. It's wigging me out." Buffy looked at Tara, Amy, and Jenny. "I wouldn't ask, if I didn't think you could do it."
Tara was skeptical still. "I-I'm not sure that I'm capable enough."
Buffy looked at her. "You will be. You're my strength, Tara...and everyone else. You're the reasons that I made it this far. I trust you completely."
Jenny looked at Tara. "We can do this, Tara. We'll get the coven online, and we'll find out how they can help."
Buffy nodded. "Research this thing. Dawn, wanna help them?"
Dawn rolled her eyes. "It's cool." She walked out of the room. "Watcher Junior to the rescue."
"What's her problem?" Katrina asked.
Amy sighed. "She's pissed that she still hasn't been officially identified as a Potential Slayer."
"I'll go dig up my sources. Quite literally, actually." Giles walked out of the room.
Buffy picked up the ax and handed it over to Tara.
"Does this mean I won't be the Slayer anymore?" Cordelia asked, her mood souring.
Faith and Buffy gave her odd looks, then rolled their eyes.
Later, in the living room, Buffy addressed a room full of Potentials and her family and friends. "I hate this. I hate being here. I hate that you have to be here. I hate that there's evil, and I hate that I was chosen to fight it. I wish, a whole fucking lot of the time, that I hadn't been. But this isn't about wishes. This is about choices. I believe we can beat this evil. Not when it comes, not when its army is ready, now. Tomorrow morning, I'm opening the seal, I'm going down into the Hellmouth, and I'm finishing this once and for all. Right now, you're asking yourselves, 'What makes this different? What makes us anything more than a bunch of girls being picked off one by one?' It's true: none of you have the power that Cordelia, Faith, and I do. So we're giving you the opportunity to make a choice: What if you could have that power...now? In every generation, one Slayer is born...because a bunch of men that died thousands of years ago made up that rule. They were powerful men." Buffy pointed to Tara, Amy, and Jenny. "These three women individually are more powerful than all of them combined. So I say we change the rule. I say this power...should be our power. Tomorrow, they will use the essence of the ax to change our destiny. From now on, every girl in the world that might be a Slayer...may be a Slayer. Every girl that could have the power...may have the power. Can't stand up,...may stand up. Slayers...every one of us. It's your choice: Are you ready to be strong?"
Kennedy smiled. "Fuck yeah. It's time for the next generation to take over."
Cordelia frowned. "Slow down, carpet-muncher. This generation has done pretty damn good for the past six years."
"I mean...have you really?" Kennedy asked. "No offense, but you guys kinda suck."
"Excuse me?" Buffy asked.
Amanda felt a bit nervous. "Well, see, we've been watching Harmony's tapes recently-"
Buffy rolled her eyes.
"-and we can't help but notice you tend to react to evil instead of being proactive in stopping it."
"Uh, hello, I went and confronted the Master...eventually, even though the prophecy said I would die."
Vi frowned. "Yeah, and, in so doing, you released him and started an apocalypse."
"I didn't know that was going to happen. And I fixed it, so there."
Chloe looked at Cordelia. "And you, Cordy, you sure waited around while Angelus was killing people. Even if he drained only one person per day, that's still-"
Cordelia stared daggers at her. "Bite me."
Caridad looked at Cordelia. "Her point is your reluctance to stake your ex-boyfriend cost a lot of people their lives, and it almost resulted in another apocalypse."
"Okay, that part was not my fault. Dru wanted to bring Hell to Earth, and Buffy could have staked her earlier."
"When?" Buffy demanded.
"Uh, when your old buddy, Ford, got Spike and his gang to come and attack those vampire cosplayers."
Buffy frowned. "I was being, like, strategic and shit."
"But you could have staked her then, and the apocalypse wouldn't have started."
Buffy smiled. "True, and Oz would still be alive, right? No guilty conscience for you."
Cordelia started walking toward Buffy, pissed. "God damn you."
Buffy grew somber. "Don't worry, I'm sure he has."
"Oh, yeah, you guys are murderers, ain't ya?" Eve asked.
Buffy and Cordelia frowned at her.
Faith raised her hand. "Uh, mine was technically an honest mistake resulting from good intentions."
Everyone else looked at her.
Faith shrugged. "Just sayin'. Also, credit where it's due: I'm the one that eventually killed Dru."
The others politely applauded.
Buffy suddenly thought of something. "Ooh! We stopped the apocalypse started by the Sisterhood of Jhe in senior year...and the one during freshman year of college."
Harmony smiled. "See? They prevented two apocalypses that they didn't cause."
Buffy, Cordelia, and Faith shot her angry looks.
Tara walked to the center of the room and tried to diffuse the situation. "Okay, um, let's take a little break, and then we can work on the logistics of this plan."
Most of the Potential Slayers walked into the kitchen. Shannon lingered behind and gave the three Slayers a smile before walking away. That brightened their moods.
Later, in the basement of Sunnydale High School, Faith and Robin Wood were moving furniture around.
"It's one hell of a risky idea."
Faith smiled. "Buffy's wacky that way."
"Yeah. There's one more vent right by the stairs. We block that, they got no sewer access, should drive them straight up into the school proper."
"That's assuming they get past us."
That evening, Jenny, Tara, and Amy were working intently on their laptops at the dining room table. Katrina and Dawn were sitting with them, assisting and offering suggestions.
"We sure we're going with C?" Katrina asked.
Jenny nodded. "Positive. The Shadowmen crafted the original spell with the equivalent of BASIC, and they didn't exactly bulletproof it against unintended inputs. That's why we have three active Slayers now. They were basically saying 'IF breath=0 THEN GOTO ACTIVATION'. We need to do better."
Amy nodded. "Yeah, we can't afford to fuck this up."
Dawn was confused. "Wait, I still don't get how magic and technology can mix."
Katrina looked at her. "Magic is just advanced physics, Dawnie. I mean...you don't seriously think someone can just toss some ingredients together, say a few words, and violate the natural laws of the universe, do you?"
Dawn was a bit embarrassed. "Uh...no! Of course not!"
Katrina smiled. "All magic is basically a complex labyrinth of instructions regarding the order of everything in the universe: subroutines layered upon subroutines. Spells are a batch of instructions that users can run to achieve a desired result. Crafting a spell is just typing up a program."
"Okay, so...you can change the selection criteria, right?" Dawn asked her. "Like...who gets chosen to be a Potential?"
Katrina thought about that. "I don't see why not. What should the new criteria be?"
Dawn stared at her. "Female and not a psychopathic cunt. That's all."
"That's a lot of potential Potentials..." Katrina started typing. "...but doable. We don't know how much available demonic essence is available to spread around, though. I'm kinda concerned that the new Slayers won't be anything more than glorified softball stars."
"Oh, that's another thing: maybe we could draw upon something other than an ancient demon to be the source of our power?" Dawn suggested.
"Like what?" Jenny asked her.
"I dunno. A goddess?"
Jenny smiled in amusement. "Where are we-"
There was a knock on the door. The three women looked at each other. Jenny stood up, walked over, and unlocked and opened the door. Glory stood on the porch.
Jenny stared at her in shock. "Glory..."
Glory grinned. "I come back to you now...at the turn of the tide."
Wordlessly, Jenny stepped aside, and Glory walked into the house, followed by Emma Winters.
Tara, Amy, Katrina, and Dawn walked into the foyer. Jenny closed and locked the door.
"What are you doing here?" Dawn asked, suspicious.
Glory playfully messed with Dawn's hair. "Aw, I missed ya, too, kid."
Dawn gave her a death stare.
Glory clapped her hands together. "All right, retards, listen up. This is what we're gonna do-"
"What the fuck's going on down here?" Kennedy asked, walking downstairs. She froze. "Emma."
Emma stared at her. "Hey."
Dawn looked from Kennedy to Emma, then away from both of them. "Emma..."
Kennedy walked over to Emma. "What are you doing here?"
"Glory heard about what's going on down here, and she needed a ride."
"A ride?" Kennedy asked, unconvinced.
Glory gestured dramatically. "I utterly refuse to use public transportation."
Kennedy stared at Emma. "Anyone could have driven her to Sunnydale."
Emma was uncomfortable. "Yeah, but not everyone's dating her."
Kennedy stared at them in shock. "Dating?! Oh, that's rich. You broke up with me, because you couldn't handle my dangerous life, but you rebound with a literal hell-god?"
Emma shrugged. "I figure it's safer. Who's gonna come after a has-been hell-god?"
Glory frowned, offended. "Hey."
"Do you love her?" Kennedy asked Emma.
"Yeah, I do."
Kennedy looked at Glory. "And what about you?"
Glory grinned. "I love me, too."
Kennedy gave her a death stare.
Glory grew serious. "Yeah, I love Emma."
"Great. That's great." Kennedy walked over, stood to Dawn's right, and grabbed her hand.
They interlaced their fingers. Emma stared at them.
Kennedy smiled. "This is my girlfriend, Dawn Summers. Everybody, this is Emma Winters, not my girlfriend."
Everyone stood in uncomfortable silence for a while.
Dawn decided to break the ice. "Oh. Winters. Ha."
Emma laughed. "Summers. Yeah."
Dawn and Emma gave a few dopey chuckles that petered out after a moment.
Tara gave a nervous smile. "We have plenty of room...as long as it's the floor."
In the master bedroom in her mansion, Sunday held out the amulet in front of her, letting it dangle from its chain, and stared at it thoughtfully.
Nancy walked up behind her, wrapped her arms around her waist, and held her close. "Are you sure about this?"
Sunday turned and faced her. "Sandy's no fighter. She's all goddess love and ren fairs. I'm the Slayer."
Nancy glanced over at Sandy and Julie, naked and fast asleep in each other's arms on the bed, then looked back at Sunday. "She's gonna be pissed that you got to be soul girl."
Sunday rolled her eyes. "Like I give a fuck. Sandy wants this out of...nerdy curiosity. She's such a dweeb. It sickens me. Whatever this stupid-ass thing is supposed to do, it'll work only if the wearer knows what the fuck she's doing."
Nancy fondled the medallion. "I've still got my concerns about this thing. We still don't know what the fuck it does."
"Well, we'll find out tomorrow. C'mon, let's go to Buffy's house."
Kennedy stretched herself across the bed, playing with Dawn's hair. "You okay, babe?"
"I really wish I had certainty that this is gonna work."
"I'll be with you. To keep you safe."
"We could both die tomorrow."
"You don't really believe that."
"I do."
"Bite me."
"I will. I mean...I do...mean it."
"Buffy believes in you."
"You know, Buffy: sweet girl, not that bright."
Kennedy smiled. "Hey, I'm the first one to call her out on her bullshit when she's not making sense. In fact, this may have escaped your keen notice, but I'm kind of a brat. I've always sort of gotten my way. So you're gonna make it through this, no matter how dark it gets. Because now...you're my way."
They kissed. Kennedy cuddled on Dawn.
Amy was still typing on her laptop. Katrina was typing on her own laptop.
"Okay, so are we sure this is gonna work?" Amy asked.
"Assuming all of my calculations are correct, we've got ourselves a backup plan that very possibly might work."
There was a knock on the door. Amy stood up, walked into the foyer, and unlocked and opened the door.
Sunday and Nancy were standing outside.
"Hey. So you're gonna be the one, huh? The 'champion'?" Amy asked Sunday.
"Guess so."
Amy stepped aside. Sunday and Nancy walked into the house. Amy closed and locked the door.
"Have a seat." Amy walked over and picked up her supplies.
In a short while, they had everything set up on the coffee table: the Orb of Thesulah surrounded by the candles within a sacred circle. Katrina stood on one side and waved burning herbs and incense over the Orb. Tara stood on the other side, holding the printout of the Rumanian curse. Amy sat on the floor, behind the coffee table. Sunday sat on the opposite side of the coffee table. Nancy sat on the couch, right behind Sunday.
"Are we ready?" Amy asked them.
Katrina nodded. "Stinky herbs are a go."
Tara nodded. "Ready."
Amy cast her stones and gave Tara her cue. Katrina kept waving the burning herbs and incense.
Tara consulted the printout. "Ceea ce este pierdut va fi găsit."
Amy concentrated. "What is lost will be found."
Katrina swirled incense into the air.
"Nici mort, nici al fiinţei."
"Neither dead nor of being."
"Invoc spiritul pasajului."
"I invoke the spirit of the passage." Amy got weaker as she chanted and breathed heavily.
Katrina was worried. "Amy?"
Tara was worried as well. "Are you okay?"
Without warning, Amy's head snapped back, and she looked up with her eyes wide open. Her head snapped back down, and her eyes stared into the Orb.
"Te implor, zeilor; nu ignoră aceasta rugăminte!" Amy chanted in Rumanian as though possessed.
Katrina looked at Tara. "Not this again."
Tara shrugged helplessly. "I call on you, gods; do not ignore this supplication!"
"Lăsa orbită să fie vasul care-i vă transportă sufletul la el."
Katrina was freaked out. "Hey, speak English!"
"Shh!" Tara hushed her. "Let this Orb be the vessel that will carry her soul to her."
The coffee table lurched hard.
"Aşa să fie! Aşa să fie! Acum!" Amy chanted.
"So it shall be! So it shall be! Now!" Tara translated.
"Acum!" Amy exclaimed.
"Now!" Tara translated.
The Orb glowed brightly for a brief moment and went dark. Amy suddenly relaxed and looked around blankly.
Sunday suddenly gasped loudly and groaned in pain. The others saw her eyes glow bright red for an instant and go back dark. She looked at them but quickly collapsed to the floor, crying.
Nancy reached down and caressed Sunday. "Are you all right?"
Sunday looked at her. "I...know you..."
"How do you feel?" Nancy asked.
Sunday couldn't respond. She started crying.
Amy looked at Nancy. "Her soul is reconnecting to her brain. This is a confusing moment for her. Give her some time."
"I will not be subsumed." Sunday put her hands on the side of her head and started rocking back and forth. "Oh, God, what have I done? You may come in, guest, but know your place. I am Sunday. I am Sunday. I am Sunday."
The others just watched her.
Sunday got to her knees and buried her face in Nancy's lap. "Oh, God, Nancy. The things that I've done. Why are you even with me?"
Nancy reached down and ran her hands through Sunday's hair as Sunday continued crying. Tara felt uncomfortable.
Buffy was standing out on her front porch, alone, looking up at the night sky.
The door opened, and Amanda walked outside. She closed the door.
Buffy looked at her. "Hey, Amanda. Can't sleep?"
"What kind of person could sleep on a night like this?" Amanda asked.
The door opened again, and Jenny, Tara, Amy, and Katrina walked outside.
"What's up?" Buffy asked.
Tara looked at Amy, then Jenny, then Katrina, then Buffy. "The spell's done."
"Will it work?" Buffy asked.
Amy shrugged. "That's what we're hoping."
"You're not sure?" Buffy asked.
Jenny sighed. "Buffy, we could have made a thousand mistakes. We won't know until we try."
Buffy sighed. "Wanna do it now?"
Tara, Amy, and Jenny gave each other awkward glances.
"What?" Buffy asked.
Tara looked at her. "It should probably be done directly over the Hellmouth for maximum effect. All of that mystical energy will amp it up."
"Go big or go home, huh?" Buffy sighed. "They can't make this shit easy for us, I guess. Fine, we'll open the goddamn seal first." She grew quiet and ran her hands through her hair.
"Nervous, huh?" Tara asked her.
"Yeah. I can't sleep."
Tara nodded. "Everyone's up."
Buffy sighed. "I wish the Bronze was open."
Amanda frowned. "Wouldn't do any good. No power, remember?"
Katrina had an idea. "Hey, why don't we take our electric generator to the Bronze? Hook it up and have a party."
Buffy smiled. "Yeah!"
"You have an electric generator?!" Amanda asked in disbelief, angry. "I have been taking a shit in the backyard!"
Katrina managed to hook up their electric generator to the Bronze's power system. "Okay, try the main power switch."
Jenny flipped it. The lights turned on. Buffy brought her and Katrina's guitars in. Tara brought her keyboard. Amy brought her drums. Sandy brought her own guitar. Then Buffy and Katrina brought in their amplifier. The band started setting up. Harmony set up her video camera on her tripod and started recording the concert.
Jenny, Giles, Dawn, Julie, Sunday, Nancy, Glory, Cordelia, Harmony, Faith, Robin Wood, Emma, Glory, Kennedy, Amanda, Chloe, Caridad, Eve, Vi, Shannon, and Rona sat at nearby tables, waiting. Buffy, Tara, Amy, Katrina, and Sandy turned on their microphones.
Buffy smiled. "Good evening, Sunnydale. There's not much that really needs to be said. We don't know what tomorrow will bring. So let's forget about it...for now, anyway. Let's take this one night for ourselves and just have a good time, huh?" She looked at Tara and nodded.
Tara started playing her keyboard. Then Amy came in with her drums. Buffy smiled and started singing:
"Remember
That piano,
So delightful,
Unusual,
That classic
Sensation,
Sentimental,
Confusion.
"Used to say
I like Chopin.
Love me now and again.
"Rainy days never say goodbye
To desire when we are together.
Rainy days growing in your eyes,
Tell me...
Where's my way?"
Later, Cordelia was serving drinks at the bar. Buffy was taking a break from singing and playing and let Faith take the stage for a while. Faith was playing Buffy's guitar and singing:
"There I was, laying down, smoking grass, feeling sexy in the sun,
Just sunning my buns in the sun.
Just doing it because.
Playing with myself
Out in the sun.
"I was pretty far out
As I started to shout
When a dildo from Mars,
Swinging from a cloud,
Came rushing down,
Landing on the ground.
I was freaking out!
"Out in space, they're a sexy race,
But aliens are not my piece of cake.
Android sex have little dicks.
Martians don't give me the kicks.
There's just no kick
With a little dick."
Buffy smiled and took a sip of her beer. Sandy was drinking a vodka tonic. Julie and Nancy had beers. Sunday was drinking a wine cooler.
Sunday smiled. "Faith sounds pretty awesome. Much better than you."
Buffy frowned. "Oh, please. Anyone can sing Lords of Acid. Their songs aren't very demanding."
Nancy gently touched Sunday's arm. "How are you feeling, sweetie?"
Sunday shrugged. "Better."
"Can you describe what it was like to be re-ensouled?" Sandy asked angrily. "Y'know, since I have no frame of reference."
Julie looked at her. "Sweetie, calm down."
Sunday looked at Sandy. "Listen, you can get your fucking soul back whenever you want, but you being the 'champion' would have been a disaster. I'm the better fighter, and you know it."
Sandy sighed. "Yeah."
"Anyway, I was disoriented when my soul re-entered my body. I wasn't sure what was happening. I wasn't sure of anything. But then...I recognized Nancy."
Nancy smiled.
"A wave of emotions hit me. Anger. Sorrow. I felt a war being waged within me. And now..." Sunday shrugged.
"What?" Sandy asked.
"I dunno, I feel...more complete."
"Are you you?" Julie asked.
Sunday thought about that. "I'm Sunday."
"Do you have any sense that you're not yourself? That you're...different than you were before you were re-ensouled?" Julie asked.
"Something's different, definitely. I care about a lot of shit that I haven't cared about for a long time." Sunday sipped her drink. "But I don't feel I'm a different person."
"How would you describe the relationship between your brain, your soul, and your demon?" Sandy asked.
Sunday sighed, frustrated. "Listen, bitch, you're the type of nerd that I bullied back in high school. If you wanna know who's in the driver's seat, I can't give you a straight answer."
Sandy took off her ring and offered it to Sunday. "You'll need this, if you're gonna be acting all heroic."
Sunday took the ring and put it on. "Thanks." She paused. "I want you three to get out of Sunnydale. Go to L.A. tonight."
"Even me?" Nancy asked in surprise.
"Especially you. If we save the world but not ourselves, at least you'll be safe."
Buffy smiled. "You are different. The old Sunday wouldn't have shown such consideration."
Sunday looked from Buffy to Nancy. "That's where you're wrong."
Nancy smiled at Sunday.
Buffy set her empty bottle on the bar. "Another."
"You sure?" Cordelia asked her. "I don't want you taking on the First while hung over."
Buffy frowned. "Buffy want beer."
"Okay, fine." Cordelia got another bottle out of the refrigerator and opened it.
"Thanks." Buffy picked up the bottle and took a few gulps. She made a face. "The fridge hasn't had enough time to work to cool the drinks down. Y'know, I really think we oughta take the rest of this delightful booze with us and not let it go to waste."
Cordelia smiled in amusement. "I can see the look on one of the First's many faces as you stumble down into the Hellmouth, drinking from a bottle."
Buffy laughed. "The First wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Kinda lame when you think about it. Hell, there hasn't been anything truly challenging since Glory. Last year, I went up against a trio of social retards. This year, it's something that literally can't even touch me. I dunno. I'm getting a feeling of...entropy on the universe's part, like, one way or another, things are winding down, coming to an end."
Later, back at home, Amy walked into her and Katrina's bedroom. "Okay, Buffy wants us to start early in the morning. You think we're ready?"
Katrina was lying on their bed, naked. "As ready as we'll ever be. How are you feeling?"
"Scared." Amy took off all of her clothes, dropped them on the floor, and got on the bed, lying down to Katrina's left. "All of that shit will be flowing through us, and then-"
"And then?" Katrina chuckled and played with Amy's hair. "Isn't that the good part?"
"Good. Yeah, g-good feeling, but also-"
"Bad shit, like unrestrained moaning and screaming with joy?" Katrina guessed.
"Well, sort of. The unrestrained part. During all of the time that I've been practicing witchcraft, I've been controlling myself, so I don't...turn into my mother, and, if I lose that control, let myself go, I could just go fucking ballistic."
"Hm." Katrina stroked Amy's cheek. "You worried you're gonna turn into big bad Amy?"
"It's something that I've been fighting...for you, for Tara, for Buffy, for Dawn. I don't want to...do that to you. I don't want to...disappoint you."
"It's not gonna happen. I just want you to know you're safe with me."
"Yeah?"
"You can float around, and I'll tether you down." Katrina smiled.
Amy smiled. "You'll be like - like my kite string?"
"Mm-hmm. You'll be a kite, and I'll be your kite string, okay?"
Amy nodded. "Okay."
"Okay." Katrina pulled Amy into a kiss. "Mmm...come here."
The two women made out for a while, then Katrina turned around and lay on top of Amy, facing away from her, so they were in the sixty-nine position. Amy grinned and put her hands on Katrina's ass, pulling her close. Amy and Katrina started kissing, licking, and eating each other's pussy.
Dawn walked into her bedroom. "Hey, Ken-doll, so-"
Kennedy was lying sexily across the bed, naked, and twirling her hair.
Dawn shut the door. "Well, that's nice." Dawn took off all of her clothes, dropped them on the floor, and lay down to Kennedy's left on the bed.
"Nice..." Kennedy kissed Dawn. "...and necessary." She put her arm around Dawn's waist. "Come here, you." She pushed Dawn back on the bed, so they were lying down beside each other, still kissing.
Dawn turned away.
"Something not right?"
"No. No, I just, uh, guess I'm a little scared."
"It's probably stupid to ask why, huh? Death, war, apocalypse."
"Yeah. We could die in a few hours."
"Then let's make them fucking memorable." Kennedy pulled Dawn into a kiss.
The two girls made out for a while. Then Kennedy kissed and licked her way down Dawn's body, sucking one nipple, then another, then poking her bellybutton with her tongue, then finally arriving at Dawn's pussy. Kennedy eagerly started feasting on it. Dawn moaned in pleasure and pulled on her nipples as she felt Kennedy eat her pussy.
Kennedy took a very quick break from licking her girlfriend's pussy in order to speak. "Quiero lamerte hasta que te vengas en mi boca mil veces." Then she resumed licking her.
Dawn licked her lips. "Mmm, baby, I wanna taste some of your muy bueno la pussida."
Kennedy frowned, then snorted in amusement. She turned around, lying on top of Dawn. Dawn put her hands on Kennedy's ass and pulled her close. Kennedy resumed licking Dawn's pussy. Dawn started eating Kennedy's pussy.
Naked, Faith leaned on top of a naked Harmony on the living room couch. They kissed and caressed each other.
"Do you wanna move to the floor?" Harmony suggested. "More room to stretch out."
"Nah, this is fine. Just lemme get into position." Faith turned around, so she was facing away from Harmony. She looked at Glory and Emma going at it on the floor and grinned. "Besides, floor's already taken."
Harmony put her hands on Faith's ass, pulling her close. The two ladies started licking each other's pussy.
Dawn was lying in bed, stretched out on her back, as Kennedy trailed kisses up her belly. Kennedy worked her way up Dawn's body, running her hand up Dawn's side, and kissed her neck. Kennedy ran her studded tongue up Dawn's neck as Dawn arched her back in ecstasy. Dawn put her arms around Kennedy's head, hugging and kissing her.
In Buffy and Tara's bedroom, a naked Buffy was lying on top of a naked Tara; the two women were feeling each other up as they kissed wildly and desperately.
"This is possibly our last night on Earth. What do you feel like doing?" Tara asked.
Buffy thought about it. "Um, just oral. As much as I'd love to do anal, considering we haven't showered recently-"
"Oh, yeah, ew." Tara made a disgusted face. "Anyway, you want top or bottom?"
"Mmm...bottom." Buffy got off Tara and lay down on the bed. "I like the feeling of the fullness of you pressed down upon me."
Tara smiled teasingly. "Are you calling me fat?"
"I'm calling you delicious."
"Mmmmmmm..." Tara got on top of Buffy, facing away from her.
Buffy put her hands on Tara's ass, pulling her close. Tara kissed Buffy's pussy. Buffy kissed Tara's pussy.
"Buffy?" Tara asked.
"Yeah?"
"Do you really sometimes wish you were never chosen?"
"Yeah...but not really. Not being chosen means I never would have met you, and I wouldn't trade you for anything. Not a normal life. Not not being a killer. Nothing."
Tara smiled. "I wouldn't trade you for anything either. You befriended me, took me into your home, became my family. I love you so much."
Buffy smiled. "I love you, too, sweetie."
Tara started licking Buffy's pussy, signaling the end of the conversation. Buffy started licking Tara's pussy.
The next morning, everyone exited the Summers' house just as Jenny, Giles, Sunday, and Principal Wood showed up. Buffy was the last to leave the house, looking around the foyer, living room, and dining room on her way out. She held her pet carrier, which Miss Kitty Fantastico was inside of. Buffy closed the door and headed toward the vehicles, where everyone was gathered.
Buffy looked at all of them, one at a time. "No speeches this time. Let's just do this."
Buffy drove Tara, Amy, Katrina, Dawn, Kennedy, Cordelia, Harmony, and Faith to Sunnydale High School in her van. Jenny drove Giles, Vi, Amanda, and Chloe. Emma drove Glory and Sunday. Principal Wood drove Rona, Caridad, Eve, and Shannon. They parked their vehicles, and everyone got out, holding assorted weapons.
A car had been driven onto campus and crashed into a palm tree. Papers and boxes were strewn all over the grounds.
Principal Robin Wood led everyone into the school. "Welcome to Sunnydale High. There's no running in the halls, no yelling, no gum chewing. Apart from that, there's only one rule." He stopped walking and turned to look at the crowd. "If they move, kill them."
Buffy nodded. "Okay, Potentials, in the basement. Follow Faith, Cordelia, and Sunday."
Faith, Cordelia, and Sunday left; Kennedy, Amanda, Vi, Chloe, Caridad, Eve, Shannon, and Rona followed them. Dawn started to walk away as well.
Buffy went after Dawn. "Dawn..."
Dawn turned to face her resolutely. "No. I'm doing this. I'm gonna be a Slayer, too, or die trying."
Buffy swallowed, on the verge of tears. "I'll see you down there in a bit."
Dawn walked away.
"Ladies, my office is straight through there." Wood pointed.
Buffy nodded. "It's right over the seal."
Jenny kissed Giles on the lips, then walked away, holding a large bag filled with supplies. Amy kissed Katrina on the lips, then walked away. Glory kissed Emma on the lips, then walked away. Tara kissed Buffy on the lips, then walked away.
Wood faced the others. "Okay, civilians. The vampires get upstairs, we have three areas they could get through to another building and then down into the sewers." He pointed. "Down the hall, in the atrium; the north hall here; and the primary target: through the lounge, straight to the science building. Now, odds are most of them will head there."
Giles nodded. "Teams of two, then. I suggest you and I take the lounge."
Wood nodded. "I concur."
They walked away.
Buffy looked at the three remaining women. "Shit, we don't have enough. Trina, you okay on your own?"
"Yeah." Katrina patted the bag that she was holding. "I can probably do this faster on my own."
"Okay, you're in the north hall. Harmony, Emma, guard the atrium."
Harmony and Emma walked away.
Buffy walked on down the hall by herself.
Buffy joined Cordelia, Faith, Sunday, and the Potentials in the basement room where the Seal of Danzalthar was located. They formed a circle around the edge of the seal. Buffy stood between Cordelia and Faith.
"You first, B." Faith handed Buffy a knife.
"Thanks." Buffy sighed and took the knife from Faith and used it to cut the palm of her hand, so it bled. She handed the knife to Cordelia.
Cordelia took the knife from Buffy and used it to cut the palm of her hand. She handed the knife to Sunday. Sunday took the knife from Cordelia and used it to cut the palm of her hand. She handed the knife to Faith. Faith took the knife from Sunday and used it to cut the palm of her hand. The four Slayers held their cut hands out over the seal, activating it. It opened, and parts sunk into the ground, forming a staircase into the Hellmouth.
"All right, let's do this." Rona started walking toward the staircase.
Amanda slapped Rona on the back of the head. "What the fuck for? Let's wait for the spell to kick in."
Rona gave her a death stare.
Amanda stared right back. "Dumbass."
Jenny, Tara, and Amy were sitting on the floor of the principal's office in an equilateral triangle formation with a semicircle of white candles lit around them. Glory sat a distance away, watching them, holding onto the ax.
Jenny looked at the others. "They should be in place."
Tara sat back with her hands on her knees. "Okay, magic time."
Amy frowned. "Brace yourselves, ladies. Let's make it happen."
The three witches performed the spell while holding onto the ax laid out in front of them. Suddenly, they were overcome with power. They looked up, as they, Glory, and the ax started to glow with a bright white light.
Tara was out of breath. "Oh...my...Goddess..."
Down in the basement, Kennedy, Dawn, Vi, Eve, Chloe, Caridad, Rona, Shannon, and Amanda closed their eyes.
In their minds, they heard Glory ask them a single question: Do you wish to have immense power to serve the world?
They replied in unison: Yes.
They breathed in with a start as divine power flooded their bodies. Even Buffy, Faith, Cordelia, and Sunday felt their power change. Kennedy smiled, confident. She and Dawn looked at each other, grinning.
In the north hall, as she messed with a timer on a box, Katrina heard the question and gave the same answer. Katrina felt a sudden surge of power. Her senses improved, and she could distinctly hear the faint sounds within the box. The information overload was almost too much for her, but she fought through it, focusing on her task.
In the atrium, Harmony and Emma accepted the power and suddenly collapsed to the floor, overwhelmed by the sensations.
At the Hyperion, in Cordy's, Kate was working the bar, and Fred was bussing tables. They heard Glory's question as well and accepted the power.
Kate had to grip the counter to keep from falling to the floor, and Fred quickly sat in an empty chair.
Elsewhere in the Hyperion, Sandy, Julie, and Nancy were sitting together on the bed in their room, naked, and kissing and licking each other. They accepted the power and had to take a temporary break from their foreplay in order to compose themselves.
In East Hills Teen Center, Anne was stocking the pantry when she heard the question and accepted the power. The surge threw her to the floor, and cans fell and rolled all over the place.
In the principal's office, Tara, Amy, and Jenny smiled at their newfound power. They were still glowing with white light from the spell. Their faces radiated divine ecstasy as they looked heaven-ward. They panted as the power ran through them. When the ax stopped glowing, so did they. They started recovering from the incredible experience of the spell.
Jenny smiled weakly. "We're Slayers."
Glory smiled. "You're welcome."
Amy felt so giddy and started laughing. "I think I creamed my jeans."
Tara grabbed the ax. "I'm gonna get this to the basement brigade." She stood up and ran out of the office.
Tara ran down into the basement and then into the room where the seal was. She offered the ax to Buffy.
Buffy took the ax. "Thanks, babe."
Cordelia frowned. "Why does she get it?"
Faith frowned. "Yeah, we wanna kill something, too."
"Don't wish too hard for that." Buffy looked at Tara. "Okay, start thrusting."
Kennedy raised her eyebrows. Tara ran out of the room.
Buffy looked at the newly-activated Slayers. "Wait here."
Buffy went into the Hellmouth first, followed by Cordelia, followed by Faith, followed by Sunday.
Sunday looked at the amulet worn around her neck. "Not to be a buzzkill, but my fabulous accessory ain't exactly tingling with power."
Buffy psyched herself up as she looked around. "I'm not worried."
"I'm getting zero juice."
Buffy, Faith, Cordelia, and Sunday walked forward to the edge of a cliff, where they looked out and saw thousands upon thousands of Turok-Han below them on the floor of the Hellmouth.
Buffy frowned. "I'm not worried."
The Turok-Han were growling and making noise as they mobbed below them.
Buffy backed up. "I'm not worried. I'm not worried...as long as that trinket kicks in before they-"
The Turok-Han looked up at them.
"-see us."
The snarling Turok-Han army rushed toward the cliff where the Slayers were positioned. As the Turok-Han army advanced toward them, they held their ground.
Buffy frowned. "Any time, Sunday..."
Sunday frowned. "Bite me. I can't control this fucking thing."
The Turok-Han rushed toward them as they stood on the cliff's edge, waiting for battle.
Cordelia played with Sunday's medallion, shaking it and punching it. "Work, damn it!"
Faith bent over and licked the medallion. The other women stared at her.
Faith shrugged. "What? That usually wakes things up."
"Fuck it." Buffy took the medallion off Sunday and tossed it over the cliff.
"Now what, dumbass?" Cordelia asked her.
Buffy closed her eyes and concentrated. She had her palms facing upward and was charging up her spell. She felt her palms start to heat up.
"B!" Faith yelled.
Buffy opened her eyes and smiled impishly. "These fuckers are toast."
The Turok-Han army rushed the gang.
Buffy gave them a smile. "Fiat lux."
Balls of sunlight rose above Buffy's palms. She guided one of the balls with her left hand, hurling it at a bunch of vampires. They exploded into dust. She did the same with the other ball, hurling it with her right hand and killing more vampires.
Faith and Cordelia got in on it as well, charging their balls of sunlight. "Fiat lux!" They threw the balls, killing more Turok-Han.
"Upstairs!" Buffy ordered.
Buffy, Cordelia, Faith, and Sunday ran up the stairs, the army hot on their heels.
When they emerged in the basement of Sunnydale High School, they saw a large hole in the ceiling. Tara had evacuated the new Slayers up to the principal's office above.
Tara reached down through the hole. "Come on!"
Buffy jumped. Tara caught her and flung her up through the hole. Then she did the same for Cordelia, Faith, and Sunday.
The women ran out into the hallway. Amy was flying back and forth, punching holes in the walls. Jenny was shooting arrows, shattering the windows.
Principal Wood ran toward the gang. "Roll call!"
"Let's save a few steps!" Buffy yelled. "Everyone's here except Giles-"
Giles ran over to them, panting.
"Uh, Harmony, Emma-"
Harmony and Emma ran into the hallway.
Harmony grinned. "We totally fucked up the atrium. Lots of sunlight being let in now."
The others stared at her in confusion.
Harmony laughed. "Psych."
Buffy rolled her eyes. "Where's Trina?"
Katrina ran toward them, holding a metal box. "Here!"
"Package ready?" Buffy asked.
Katrina nodded.
Buffy took it. "Everybody outside!" She ran into the principal's office and dropped the box through the hole.
Buffy ran out of the office and followed the others out the front entrance.
Emma opened the driver's door of her car and got in the driver's seat. Sunday opened the passenger door and got in. Glory squeezed in after her and slammed the door shut. Emma slammed her own door shut, put the key in the ignition, and started the engine. She put the car in Drive and tore out of the parking lot.
Jenny took on Giles, Vi, Amanda, and Chloe as passengers in her own car, then drove after Emma. Principal Wood took on Rona, Caridad, Eve, and Shannon, then drove after Jenny.
Buffy, Tara, Amy, Katrina, Dawn, Kennedy, Cordelia, Harmony, and Faith crammed into Buffy's van and slammed the doors shut. Buffy put the key in the ignition and started the engine. She put the van in Drive and tore out of the parking lot, following Wood.
The ground started shaking. Buffy looked in her rearview mirror. The school building exploded, sending a cloud of smoke into the air.
Up ahead, Emma exited the parking lot and wound her way through the streets. Jenny, Wood, and Buffy followed her. Buildings collapsed behind them. The whole town was collapsing in on itself, being sucked into the Earth. Emma brought her car to a stop once they were clear, and the others did as well. Buffy put her van in park, turned the ignition off, leaned back in her seat, and sighed.
Miss Kitty Fantastico meowed repeatedly in her carrier.
Buffy reached over and gently rubbed the front of the carrier, which Miss Kitty was pressing her face against. "It's okay, Miss Kitty. We made it."
Everyone eventually got out of their vehicles and looked around. Dawn gave Buffy a warm hug.
Giles looked down the street behind them. "I don't understand. What did this?"
Katrina looked at him. "It's something that Amy and I came up with."
Amy nodded. "I created a ball of daylight inside a box."
Katrina nodded. "And we worked out a spell that, working on a timer, would repeatedly split that ball, causing the magical equivalent of, well, a nuclear chain reaction."
Giles took a step back.
Katrina smiled. "Chillax, it's not actually nuclear."
Buffy walked away from her van, a few feet toward Sunnydale, which was now a vast canyon. The "Welcome to Sunnydale" sign still stood, perched precariously on the edge of the canyon. The sign teetered a little before falling backwards into the pit that used to be its city.
Buffy stared at the canyon that once was Sunnydale. Dawn stood beside her, then Giles joined them, as did Tara, Amy, Katrina, Jenny, Harmony, Cordelia, and Faith.
Faith smiled. "Looks like the Hellmouth is officially closed for business."
Harmony looked at the other women and smiled. "You saved the world."
Jenny looked at her. "We changed the world."
Tara walked up to Buffy's side. "I can feel them, Buffy. All over. Slayers are awakening everywhere."
Dawn looked at her. "We'll have to find them."
"We will."
Giles frowned. "We have a lot of work ahead of us."
Faith looked at Cordelia. "Can I push him in?"
Cordelia smiled. "You've got my vote."
Faith stretched. "I just want to sleep, yo, for, like, a week."
Dawn shrugged. "I guess we all could, if we wanted to."
"So...what do you think we should do, Buffy?" Amy asked.
"Yeah, Buffy. What are we gonna do now?" Dawn asked.
Buffy just stared straight ahead at the hole formerly known as Sunnydale. As she contemplated what was next, she smiled.
After a moment, though, she started crying. So did Tara.
"What's wrong?" Katrina asked.
Buffy and Tara stared out at the canyon, tears streaming down their cheeks. "Mom..."
Dawn suddenly felt horrible. She grabbed Buffy's right hand. Tara grabbed Buffy's left hand. The three of them stood and cried for a while.
Eventually, everyone turned around and returned to the vehicles.
Buffy ran her hands through her hair. "Okay, uh, let's hop on the 101. We can be in L.A. in around ninety minutes."
Buffy had to stop for gas a half-hour away from the crater. While she was waiting in line in the convenience store with a basket full of soda bottles, she was on the phone with Angel. "Yeah, we're about an hour out."
"Yeah, Cordy already called me a while ago. Rooms are being prepared."
"Okay, cool. Hey, uh, can you look up the LAPD's non-emergency number for me?"
While Buffy was pumping gas into her van, she was on the phone with the Los Angeles Police Department. "Hello, my name is Buffy Summers. I work, uh, used to work for the Sunnydale Police Department."
"Sunnydale?"
"Yeah, it's roughly two hours northwest of you. Anyway, the town had been evacuated, and L.A. was chosen as kind of a refugee area for us. Has Chief Bob Munroe made contact with you guys?"
There was silence for a while. Buffy could hear tapping on a keyboard.
"Okay, yes, he has. Are you calling to check in?"
"Uh, would he happen to be there by any chance?" Buffy asked. "Has a...Sunnydale Command Center been set up or anything?"
"Uh, he should be in his office. Hold, please."
Buffy was put on hold. The gas stopped pumping. Buffy withdrew the nozzle and hung it up. She closed her gas tank.
"Bob Munroe, Sunnydale Police Chief."
"Hey, Chief Munroe, it's Buffy."
"Ms. Summers...what's the word?"
"Uh, well, good news first." Buffy forced a smile. "We won. We kicked the First Evil's ass, and it won't be bothering anyone for the foreseeable future."
"And the bad news?"
"I can't foresee the future. Also, Sunnydale no longer exists."
"What do you mean, 'no longer exists'?"
"It's a big hole in the ground. We had to use our 'nuclear option', and, well..."
Munroe sighed. "Where are you?"
"We're about an hour away. Gonna stop at the Hyperion first and drop the girls off, then I'll be in to meet with you."
"Fine." Munroe hung up.
Buffy pocketed her phone, opened the driver's door of her van, and got in. She closed and locked the door.
"...and then Rona just wanted to run right in." Dawn rolled her eyes.
"Before you guys were activated?" Amy asked in disbelief.
Dawn nodded.
Katrina rolled her eyes. "Oh, God, that would've been a disaster."
"Y'know what, though?" Dawn asked. "I'm kinda pissed. I've finally become a Slayer, and I didn't even get to kill anything."
Buffy fastened her seatbelt. "Plenty of shit to kill in LA. Besides, my priority has always been your safety. There was no need for you girls to go down into the Hellmouth. You literally would not have affected the final outcome in any way."
Buffy, Cordelia, Faith, Amy, Tara, Katrina, Dawn, Glory, Sunday, Emma, Harmony, Jenny, Giles, Wood, Kennedy, Vi, Rona, Eve, Chloe, Caridad, Amanda, and Shannon walked into the lobby of the Hyperion.
Fred was sitting behind the check-in counter. She grinned. "Oh, hey! You guys all made it!"
"You could tell that right away?" Buffy asked her.
"Oh, I was in charge of assigning your rooms, and I counted you as you walked in."
Glory and Sunday rolled their eyes. "Nerd." They looked at each other and smiled.
Cordelia walked over to the counter. "Any pressing business regarding the hotel or the club?"
"Nah, everything's basically as you left it."
"Okay, cool. Harm, you wanna go home and shower?" Cordelia asked.
Faith grinned. "Ooh, I think I'll get in on that."
Cordelia gave her a dirty look. "Not in a gay way."
Harmony looked at Cordelia, smiling slyly. "If it's all the same to you, boss, I'd rather shower with Faith."
"I wasn't trying to be gay!" Cordelia insisted.
Kate walked into the lobby. "Okay..."
Buffy walked up to the counter. "Fred, can you please give Tara and me the key to our room? We really gotta shower, and then I've got a date with the LAPD."
"Can I come with you?" Kate asked her. "I've still got some connections in the department. I can vouch for the supernatural elements of whatever you're gonna bring up."
"That would be the entire thing. The entire thing was supernatural. Besides, didn't you get fired?" Buffy asked her.
"Yeah." Kate smiled. "I think that might work to our advantage."
Buffy and Kate sat in front of the precinct captain's desk. Bob Munroe stood nearby. Buffy had just recounted everything that had happened.
Ryan Atkinson, the precinct captain, an older man with white hair and a mustache, stared at Buffy dubiously. "Ms. Summers, that is the most cockamamie story I've ever heard."
Buffy smiled. "I assure you, Captain Atkinson, there was no cock involved."
Kate stifled a laugh.
"You find this funny, Lockley?" Atkinson asked her.
"Oh, I find it fucking hilarious." Kate grinned. "You can my ass, and now everything that I've been saying is revealed to be true."
Atkinson looked at his computer. "Well, the reports coming in confirm Sunnydale is indeed gone." He looked at Buffy. "Assuming I believe what you're saying, am I to understand you had absolutely no option but to 'nuke' the town?"
"Uh, with an army of thousands - perhaps millions - of Ubervamps itching to get out and overrun the world? Yeah, I'd say that's an accurate assessment."
Munroe frowned. "But you didn't need to open the seal and risk them pouring out in the first place."
Buffy looked at him. "If we didn't, the First would have used the Bringers to sacrifice others to open the seal. Honestly, I don't know why it was waiting, but I guess we're damn lucky that the First took its sweet-ass time." She looked at Atkinson. "I assure you that we did not make the decision lightly. I mean...why waste all of that awesome wine?"
Atkinson raised his eyebrows. "That's your concern?"
"No more American Riviera. Let us bow our heads in remembrance." Buffy bowed her head.
Kate bowed her head.
"God damn it, knock it off!" Atkinson yelled.
Buffy and Kate raised their heads.
"All right." Atkinson paused. "Here's what we're gonna do. I'm gonna report this to Chief Bratton, who'll report it to Mayor Hahn. You might be called before the city council to answer further questions."
Buffy shrugged. "I ain't goin' anywhere."
"In light of the circumstances, I'll make a recommendation for a relocation fund to be set up to provide assistance to displaced families. All right, that's all."
Buffy looked at Kate, then at Munroe, then at Atkinson. "Um, has Chief Munroe explained my...unique position...within the Sunnydale Police Department?"
Atkinson nodded. "I've been made aware of it, yes."
"Is there any chance that we can replicate that arrangement here?" Buffy asked him.
"You want us to pay you to hunt vampires?"
Buffy shrugged. "It's what I do. Look, I lost my house, and I don't really have any skills other than slaying."
"Yes, you're quite good at it. Chief Munroe has detailed the situation that caused the late Mayor Richard Wilkins to strong-arm him into hiring you. Ms. Summers, you may have not been tried and convicted, but this department is not in the habit of hiring murderers."
Kate laughed again.
Buffy was desperate. "Please. I have a younger sister to care for. I really have no marketable skills. Except maybe as a school counselor."
"You're joking."
Munroe looked at him. "Astoundingly, she's not. Look, I can't comment on Ms. Summers' alleged counseling skills, but I admit, grudgingly, that she had kept our town safe and...was worth the money that we paid her."
Atkinson was silent for a while. "Well, I'm not the chief. I'm gonna have to run this by him. Now, uh, you said there are other Slayers besides yourself?"
"Uh, yes. Yes, there are. There's Faith Lehane,-"
Munroe rolled his eyes.
"-Cordelia Chase, Sunday Towne, and Kate Lockley, for starters."
"'For starters'?" Atkinson asked.
Buffy smiled nervously. "I mean...who can say how many Vampire Slayers are in the world?"
"Well, anyway, maybe I can recommend, I dunno, the formation of a supernatural division of the LAPD?" Atkinson suggested.
Buffy smiled. "That'd be great."
Back at the Hyperion, Tara was walking around aimlessly. She eventually walked out into the courtyard and saw Katrina sitting on a bench, crying.
"Trina?" Tara asked. "What's wrong?"
Katrina looked at Tara, tears streaming down her face. "Uh, I just needed to get away from everyone for a while."
"Oh." Tara turned to leave.
"Stay with me?" Katrina asked.
Tara walked over and sat to Katrina's left on the bench. "Why are you crying? I mean...if you don't mind talking about it?"
"I think...I'm finally understanding the magnitude of what we went through."
"Yeah, it's been quite a day."
"No, I mean for the past six years." Katrina shook her head. "We could have died so easily, so many different ways, if things had gone even slightly differently."
Tara put her hand on Katrina's. "But they didn't, and we're here. We made it. We survived."
Katrina wiped away her tears. "We're survivors, you and me."
Tara smiled, starting to cry herself. "We all are. We're so damn lucky."
Katrina smiled. The two friends hugged each other and just sat there for a while, crying together, holding each other, and being held by each other.
After the police station, Buffy drove to East Hills Teen Center. She entered it and walked to Anne's office. She knocked on the door.
Anne was sitting at her desk, doing some paperwork. She looked up. "Buffy. Come in."
Buffy opened the door and walked into the office. She closed the door, walked over to a chair in front of Anne's desk, and sat down.
"So you made it."
"Yup." Buffy sat in silence for a while. "Did you accept it?"
"The power? Yeah." Anne paused, uncertain. "I guess that means I'm a Vampire Slayer now."
Buffy smiled. "Only if you want to be. It's your choice."
Anne smiled. "Not really. When it comes to protecting these kids, it's not an option. This is what I signed up for."
"Well, I'm happy that you said that, because...Cordy wants the teens out of the hotel as soon as possible."
"What?"
Buffy shrugged. "Well, they're in rooms that could be possibly rented by paying guests."
"Is the hotel at capacity?" Anne asked her.
Buffy shrugged again. "I dunno. Look, get with her about it. I'm just passing it along."
The next day, Buffy returned to East Hills Teen Center. The place was crowded and in chaos. She found Anne.
"Anne, what's going on? Who are all of these people?" Buffy asked, trying to avoid being run over.
Buffy and Anne started walking. All around them were teenage girls, talking over each other.
"Slayers."
"I don't recognize any of them."
"They came in off the street yesterday...after you left. I gotta hand it to you, Buffy; you sure do know how to overcomplicate a situation."
"But you can handle them, right?" Buffy asked her.
Anne shrugged. "Barely."
"Well, I guess I'll let Cordy know you're not accepting any of our group."
"Oh, I've already let her know, believe me."
"Is it recording?" Buffy asked.
Harmony had her video camera pointed directly at Buffy and was taping her. "Uh-huh."
"Okay, it's June 8, 2003. It's been exactly...nineteen days since we closed the Hellmouth." Buffy gestured at her surroundings. "Uh, we still haven't decorated our room. Um, but, y'know, shit is happening here at Slayer Central." She got off the bed. "C'mon, lemme show ya."
Buffy opened the door and walked out into the hallway. Harmony followed her.
"Let's see what my sister, Dawn, is up to." Buffy knocked on the next door over.
"Go away!" Dawn yelled.
Buffy got really close to the camera. "That's sister code for 'I'm fucking someone right now, quite possibly myself.'"
She walked on. Harmony followed her.
Buffy walked down into the lobby and over to the counter. "This is the nerve center of the entire operation. And at the center of it all is Winifred Burkle."
Fred smiled and waved for the camera. "Hi. Oh, but I'm not in charge of coordinating this stuff. That's Harmony's job...theoretically."
Harmony chuckled humorlessly. "Yeah, well, I'm too busy making an award-winning documentary, Chicken Legs."
Buffy quickly faced the camera to attempt to diffuse the situation. "Okay, so let me tell you what everyone's been up to. Jenny has gotten a job as a computer teacher at Caltech, and Giles is gonna be an assistant librarian there. They start this fall. Jenny and Giles are also looking into re-opening the Magic Box in the area. Katrina has transferred back to Caltech and is gonna be going for her master's degree. Tara, Amy, and Jenny are working with the coven in Devon to locate awakened Slayers and reach out to them. Amanda has reunited with her family, and they're looking at houses; in the meantime, they're staying here at the Hyperion. Rona has gone back home and will reach out to Slayers in her community. Principal Wood has moved back to Beverly Hills and accepted the position of high school principal there. Emma and Glory have taken Kennedy back to New York for the summer to visit her parents, but she wants to move out here permanently, because a certain bombshell with the last name Summers has caught her eye. The rest of the girls are spending the summer here and will probably go back home in time for the fall semester. Cordy, Kate, Sunday, Faith, and I are taking the newbies out on patrol with us. How many of us can say we get paid to look after a bunch of kids?" She frowned. "Wait..." She shook her head. "Anyway, Sunday and Nancy have reunited, and they, Sandy, Julie, Jennifer, and Asher are talking about going in on a place together. Smart idea. An open relationship does have its advantages."
Faith, walking by to get her messages from Fred, gave Buffy a desirable look.
Buffy chuckled nervously. "Come with me."
"You are about to enter Slayer School, the training area for our Slayers. As soon as we get out back, you will see what our students go through first-hand. You will know the fears and triumphs, the epic highs and lows of Slayer training - Ooh! Let's pop into Cordy's and see what's up!" Buffy opened the door and walked into the club.
Harmony followed her and immediately zoomed in on the stage, where Chloe was banging on Amy's drums, and Caridad was playing a trumpet. Tara walked onto the stage and started dancing and singing:
"When I dance, they call me Macarena,
And the girls, they say 'Que estoy buena.'
They all want me,
They can't have me,
So they all come and dance beside me.
Move with me,
Chant with me,
And, if you're good, I'll take you home with me.
Move with me,
Chant with me,
And, if you're good, I'll take you home with me."
As Tara started doing the dance moves, Chloe and Caridad started singing:
"Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena.
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena.
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena.
Hey, Macarena!"
Tara clapped her hands while jumping in a forty-five-degree turn. "Ay!"
"Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena.
Que tu cuerpo es pa' darle alegría y cosa buena.
Dale a tu cuerpo alegría, Macarena.
Hey, Macarena!"
Tara jumped back to her original position and pointed at the audience. "Ay!"
Buffy looked at the camera in amusement. "The surprises never stop here at Slayer Central. We're living on the edge, baby."