Part Twelve

Two shall survive the tempest. Two shall stand alone, together, and face the Darkness that shall kill all it touches. No physical force may defeat it, but only the purest of souls, joined forever. To this end, these Two, the Warriors, the Creators, must face the ultimate Darkness and walk into the Mouth of Hell.

‹The Tomes of Light, 999

Angel

The world had turned to ash and smoke, to fire and darkness, death and pain.

The world had turned to Hell.

It took me longer than Iąd thought to get through the streets, to find a car and get out of L.A. Everyone and their mother had the same idea. Except they were trying to get away. I was trying to get to her.

Too late. Oh God itąs too late.

Sunnydale was gone by the time I arrived. A few structures were partially standing, but most were demolished or burned to the ground. Many of the fires had burned out, with nothing left to feed them, though here and there they still smoldered, sending smoke into the already polluted air. Everywhere, the bodies. Most of them werenąt even whole.

The demons had abandoned the town, in search of more humans to kill, Iąm sure, more buildings to destroy. The open wound of the Hellmouth was visible from the other side of town, a smoldering hole in the ground. Smoke poured up from it, filling the sky, the air. At least I didnąt have to breath.

My world ended when I heard that awful stillness. Nothing lived in Sunnydale. Nothing.

My legs gave out and I fell to my knees on the ash-covered ground. "I gave up humanity for this?" I screamed, the cry torn out of my soul.

And then, in the smog, something moved. Something.

I didnąt dare to hope, to think. My heart supplied a form and the smoke shaped itself to fit my dreams. And there she was, walking out of the darkness, her eyes holding all the darkness the world possessed in their light, tragic gaze.

She stared at me, as if unable to believe that this was real, unable to say what was reality, or if reality existed at all. Our gazes met and held, sanity in the midst of chaos, or perhaps the other way around.

Her lips moved, and I had to strain to hear her whisper. It carried across the distance, a plea and a cry. "Angel?"

And then somehow I was moving forward, and so was she, and she dropped to her knees beside me. Our bodies met and I enfolded her in my arms, holding her so tightly that I wasnąt sure she could breath.

She was alive. She was alive.

She began to shake, sobs ripping through her though I donąt know if there were any tears. Her entire thin frame shook, shuddered in my arms as the earth had shuddered what, and hour before? She shook with grief and pain and I held her as if I would never let go. I donąt think I ever would have, if I could help it. I tasted the salt of tears and realized they were mine.

The world around us was fire and ash and I knew, finally, what it was to be afraid.

Buffy

I calmed down eventually. Angel and I decided underground would be the best place to go, that way no flying demons would see us. We decided the less attention we brought to ourselves the better. For now, anyway. We retreated to the sewers.

Itąs impossible to describe that first day. When I first saw himŠI had lost everything, my entire world, and I found him. My ray of light. My one little bit of hope. And there he was.

Everything else was gone.

Angel told me what had happened in L.A. Meaning it wasnąt just in Sunnydale. Meaning my mother was probably dead too, and my father and all my relatives. Everyone. And if they werenąt already, they would be soon.

I didnąt even want to live. Except to kill them. Except to kill all the things that had done this. I didnąt really think that was possible.

"What are we supposed to do?" I asked, curled up in Angeląs coat in some vampireąs underground lair. "I mean, if we try and fight, weąll die. If we donątŠwhatąs the point?"

"Shh," he said softly, stroking a piece of hair back from my face. "We donąt need to think of that now. We need to rest, and then weąll find a way, weąll find something‹" I didnąt bother to laugh. A way? There was no way left. Nothing.

"Angel?" I asked softly, just to hear him answer.

"Yes?"

"What did you mean when you said you gave up humanity?" Of all the things that had happened, this was what came to mind. I guess it was more productive than talking about how they all died, how our world had ended. Kept our mind off things like that.

"IŠBuffy, when you came for ThanksgivingŠNever mind." I frowned, looking up at him sharply. He stood up and turned away, walking over to a nearby table.

"What?" I demanded. "Donąt tell me never mind. What happened?"

"It doesnąt matter. It would just make it harder Buffy. Letąs justŠhow did you escape?" he asked, changing the subject. I frowned, but let it drop for the moment.

"I hid," I said softly. He turned back, leaning on the table.

"Where?"

"In a collapsed building. After Faith‹they were all dead," I said softly, my voice breaking. "I couldnąt do anything, so I hid."

"It was the only thing you could have done," he told me firmly, but that didnąt make it any better. Didnąt make me any less of a coward.

"Right. The only thing I could have done."

He heard it in my voice. Of course he did. Angel can hear everything in my voice. He walked over and knelt beside my chair, taking my hands in his large, calloused ones and holding my eyes. "Buffy, if you hadnąt walked out of the smoke, if you had died, I‹I wouldnąt even have the strength to kill myself. I would have been dead, already. Youąre the only thing that is keeping me alive right now. Donąt ever doubt that you did the right thing."

He sounded almost fierce. Dear God, he looked so desperate, so hurt, so needy. Just like I felt.

"And if you hadnąt been there? What do you think would have happened to me?" I asked softly, my eyes tracing every line of his beautiful face, capturing the darkness in his eyes. My hands slid out of his and up to his face, tracing over the curve of his cheek, his lips.

"We donąt have to think about that," Angel said, and I wished to whatever powers there were‹though at the moment, I didnąt really believe in any‹that he was right.

"Just hold me Angel," I begged, and slid off the chair into his arms. And he held me through that long, long night.

*****

Days passed, hours sliding by, or lingering sometimes, holding me captive in memories. I didnąt keep track. I didnąt really care. At some point we realized we needed food and water, and went scouting.

The outside world hadnąt changed much. Only a few, tiny fires burned anymore. The ashes had mostly settled to the ground. Everything smelled of the decay of corpses.

We went to the collapsed hospital and found a few whole blood packets for Angel. In one of buildings that was half-standing we found a pantry, a couple boxes of cereal that hadnąt burned and some cans of soup.ter was a problem. It had all turned dark. We ended up boiling it, figuring that would get out any bad stuff, and I drank as little as I could.

Sometimes, I wondered what the point was. Why were were even trying. And then I looked at Angel and knew he was my point, and I was his.

At some point we went to Gilesą house. What was left of it. Most of the library was burnt, but we found a few big old books and lugged them back to our hideout. We spent all day‹or all night, I donąt know‹poring over them, looking for something, anything. Half the time I didnąt even see what I was reading. I just zoned and looked, and looked and looked. All those words. And nothing to save any of them.

How could they all be gone? How could that happen so fast? One minute they were there and the nextŠ

I didnąt think about that. I just read. And slept. And ate when Angel reminded me. Once he had to hand feed me, I was too tired and numb.

I never, ever, want to think of how those days felt. I never want to remember.

Angel found it. Of course. I think I could have looked right at it and not noticed a thing.

"The Mouth of Hell," he repeated slowly, when heąd finished reading it to me.

"Oh, what could that possibly be?" I asked.

"We have to try," he said softly. I smiled softly at the hesitation in his voice. Did he think Iąd object?

"I know. Any chance at defeating what did this is better thanŠthan this," I said, suddenly clear for the first time inŠdays? Had it been days? Or weeks? I hadnąt been paying attention.

What if we succeeded? What if we changed the world back? Would we be the only two people left on it, and one of us not even alive?

I didnąt let myself think of that. Surely there were still people aliveŠsomewhere.

"Letąs do it tomorrow. Iąll read more and see if thereąs anything else we should know," Angel said. "And you should get some sleep."

I shook my head and reached one hand out to touch his face. "You think I could really sleep? Especially without you?"

"All right," he said, catching my hand. "Weąll both sleep." He caught me and picked me up gently and walked over to the bed (yes, there was a bed. What is it with vampires and satin sheets?) We lay down and he curled around me, his hand twisting into my hair. I closed my eyes and felt the oddest kind of peace. We had a purpose now, a way. And even if we lost, if we failed, we still tried.

I didnąt know if I wanted to win, if it meant life without all of them. Years and years without them.

I closed my eyes and let the nothingness begin to drift over me, safe for the moment in Angeląs arms, though I knew I could never be safe again, really.

Just as I drifted off to sleep, or the unconsciousness that meant sleep to me then, I heard him whisper, "Midnight. Merry Christmas Buffy."

*****

We stood there, hand in hand, before the smoking, gaping maw.

What the Hell is a maw? Where do these words come from?

"Guess this is it," I said softly. Iąd armed myself to the teeth, but somehow I didnąt think that would help.

"Yeah. BuffyŠthis is going to sound really stupid and cliched, butŠwhatever happens, I love you." I turned to him with a smile below eyes that I knew held no laughter at all.

"Canąt you just see this scene in some kind of romance novel? The hero and heroine go off to face the Big Bad, stopping to confess their undying love," I quipped, not finding it at all funny. But it was better than being serious. Easier.

"Undying?" he asked.

"Of course," I whispered. There was a moment of silence, that complete, terrible silence that had descended on the town Iąd once known so well. "This is the part where youąre supposed to kiss me one last time before we go."

"But in the romances, itąs never really the last time," Angel said softly.

"Yeah, well they canąt be right all the time."

"Shh," he whispered, placing a finger over my lips. He bent and kissed me, and even the aching sweetness couldnąt make any of it better. Couldnąt make life worth living.

I hoped we defeated whatever did this. And I hoped I never lived to see another sunny day without them.

"I guess thatąs it then," I said softly when he pulled away. I could feel tears on my cheek. Tears. I didnąt think I knew how to cry anymore.

"Thatąs it," he agreed. We turned, as soon, to the pit in the ground. If the Lords of Hell didnąt kill us, the fall certainly would. You couldnąt even see the bottom. If was just this endless darkness.

"Here goes," I said, and we stepped into the Mouth of Hell.

Go to Part 13