Chapter 1
To say that she was furious would have been the understatement of the year. Buffy stood at the edge of Los Angeles city limits in a state of horror. From her vantage point she could see the whole city; the chaos and carnage was devastating. She could spot at least fifteen different and huge portals from where she stood. There were hundreds of thousands of demons emptying into the streets of L.A. The people didn’t stand a chance.
All these years, all this sacrifice, and for what, to die in an apocalypse that’s not supposed to happen for another five years? How could Angel have been so stupid? What was he thinking? How could he not have called me, for Christ’s sake? They were all lucky the seers saw this beginning or they would have been completely too late.
Buffy had read the prophecies and already knew when the Wolfram and Hart armies were supposed to rise. She even knew what they needed to stop it, but it was too late. H.Q hadn’t pinpointed the location of the urn yet because they all thought they had time. Now, Buffy stood watching as hell poured out into the streets, and knew that they were all going to die.
The roar of the creatures and the crackling of the portals was thunderous. Buffy almost missed hearing Willow speaking to her over the headset. “Willow? Say again.”
“I said, we just got confirmation that there are portals opening in Moscow, London, Paris, Roma, and about half the major cities in the U.S. and there are some pretty powerful mages trying to bring down my barrier spell, as we speak.” She paused, “I don’t think we can win this Buffy.”
“I know, it’s complete suicide.” Buffy paused before continuing with her instructions, “Get on the horn and tell Faith to pull back, we need to gather as many people as we can and get them in to hiding. Then find out where Angel and his team are and how many are left. I’ll go in for the extraction.”
If it had been a year ago, Willow might have objected to Buffy going into such a dangerous situation by herself. Things were different now, ever since Spike died, she had done nothing but throw herself into dangerous situations. It was like a part of Buffy had died that day too. She never talked about it, but Willow thought with a resigned sigh, she rarely talks about anything other than slayage stuff anymore.
“Looks like Angel and his team are on the south side of the Hyperion.” She paused “I see Angel, some demon girl, and oh my god” Willow breathed,” Buffy it’s Spike.” Willow said the last word almost too low for Buffy to hear.
“What? How?” Buffy yelled into the microphone, her head was swimming She couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I don’t know, but he’s there.” Willow replied
“Where are you?” Buffy asked
“We’re right outside the city. The helicopter should be at the extraction point in ten minutes.”
Buffy griped her scythe hard and gritted her teeth, preparing to make the jump off the overpass she was standing on. “Open a door, Willow.”
There was a crackling and an area of the bluish hazy barrier lifted right in front of her. Buffy was off and running in a flash. Running faster than she ever had, soaring over roof tops, until she heard the familiar sounds of battle. The closer she got, the faster she ran and then she heard it, a laugh she would have known anywhere. She slid to a halt and fell to her knees. Buffy couldn’t breathe. It was him. For the first time in a year, she felt whole again. It took her a second to realize that tears where streaming down her face and that she was trembling. The sound of the joyous cackling was the most beautiful sound that she had ever heard.
She didn’t want to move, afraid that she would break the spell, afraid that if she stood and looked down it would all be a mirage. But then the familiar sound of a helicopter tore into her reverie and she remembered why she was here in the first place. Buffy stood at the edge of the building, closed her eyes, took a calming breath, and took a flying leap off the side. She landed right in the middle of a bunch of Groxlar demons and exterminated them rather easily with her scythe. She turned, noticing that she was about ten feet from Angel and that he still hadn’t noticed her yet. So, in true slayer fashion, she walked up behind him and hit him as hard as she could, knocking him unconscious. Buffy really didn’t have time to argue with a very egotistical Angel, who would probably have the nerve to tell her to get out of his city even as it fell apart before his very eyes. She then told the demon girl to watch Angel and that she was getting them out of here. Illyria looked at her with her cold unfeeling eyes and nodded.
“Where’s Spike?” Buffy asked.
Illyria pointed to the other side of the ally and Buffy saw a streak of bleached hair attacking a Fyarl demon with a battle axe. She grinned as the demon lost its head.
“Spike!” Buffy called over the deafening noises as she began to run towards him. She knew that he had heard her because he froze and began to slowly turn around. At the moment their eyes locked, an inhuman screech filled the air.
Buffy turned and watched in shock as a huge dragon swooped down and blew a river of fire across the ally. Its huge tail slammed into the back of the helicopter just as the life lines were being dropped. The helicopter spun like a top before crashing in a fiery ball on top of Angel and the demon girl. The dragon then blew another wave of fire over the ally and Buffy could only watch in horror as Spike turned to dust before her very eyes.
A scream of rage and anguish tore through her throat and tears began to gush in a river down her face. She didn’t even realize she was moving until she had launched herself onto the dragons back. She used the scythe for leverage as the dragon flew high into the air and climbed until she reached the spot where the dragon’s head connected to its shoulders. There, she brought the scythe down in an arch, right into the dragon’s neck.
As Buffy felt herself begin to fall she could only think of how Spike’s blue eyes looked right before he died and how much she had failed everyone. It was the end. And those gorgeous blue eyes where a haunting reminder of her failure. If she had only acted quicker, only done something better they both might still be alive. It was the last thought to pass through her head before everything went black.
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!