Title: The End
Author: Paradox761
Email: Paradox761@mail.com
Website: members.tripod.com/~Paradox761
Disclaimer: Joss and co. own all things Buffy, no copyright infringement is intended. So please don’t sue, I don’t have any money anyway.
Summary: Post “Wrecked”, alt ending for season 6, and the series. B/W/X-friendship, Slight B/X and Ay/X.
Spoilers: “Wrecked”, and most of season 6.
Author’s note: For the purposes of characterization, in this story Spike did not attempt to rape Buffy. I am NOT a Spike fan, and this is NOT a fix-it fic. But I started this story before that happened, and I find it hard to write Spike as a sympathetic character after that scene. So to continue with the story as planned, that scene didn’t happen. Also, this story takes place before the Angel episode “Sleep Tight”. Also, I started this story after “Wrecked”, as I was starting to become unhappy with the way season six was turning out. I must say though, I couldn’t be happier with the way it ended. I could never top “Grave”, nor would I try. So I’ve gone in a different direction with this. But I did paraphrase some lines from Xander’s speech.
Dedication: To Jordan and Jessica, my angels. May they rest in peace.
Special thanks to: Wayne, Rob Clark, Ghostrider, Ozmandayus, Maggie C., Furious George, Bill, Calen, Chorlton, John, Wicked Raygun, DaBear, Cobra, Jeconais, Nathan Postmark, David, Drake Roberts, Angelus, Queen Boadicea, Scott, Malaskor, and The Crowe for the feedback and the encouragement with this story. I really appreciate it.

(3/12)

Willow, Rak, and the Trio entered Rosewood Cemetery through the main entrance. Willow chose Rosewood as the place to ambush Buffy and the others because she knew that it was one of the last cemeteries on their patrol route. By the time they made it here, they would be tired. Plus it gave them more time to prepare. Willow was dressed as was per usual for her lately, in leather and silk. A leather corset, and a blood red silk ankle length skirt, flowing around her regally. Jonathan and Andrew both wore the cylindrical objects Warren had made for them on their waists, and they both wore backpacks which were filled with all sorts of interesting toys. The device Warren carried fit over his right arm almost like a gauntlet, coming up to his elbow. And on the end of it was a very large diamond, it’s point facing out.

“Is the robot in position?” Willow asked.

Warren took a device off of his belt with his left hand and looked at the small display screen. “Yes,” he answered. “I can signal her with the remote unit to start the program whenever you’re ready.”

“Quite ingenious,” Rak said. “Using the robot like that.”

“Yes, well, pitting her directly against Buffy wouldn’t have served much of a purpose other than to slow her down, and it would have tipped our hand. This way, we keep the element of surprise. Plus, I think I can take Buffy on my own,” Willow said. Rak smiled. “I’m going to have to now, considering that Amy is incapacitated,” she added, throwing Rak a glare. His smile quickly disappeared. “All right, get into position everyone. I’ll signal you when it’s time to strike.” The others nodded and started off in separate directions. “Oh, and one more thing. If any of you screw this up, I’ll kill you,” she added almost casually.

Jonathan and Andrew visibly gulped. Warren pushed them forward. “Come on, move.”

Willow smiled to herself. Buffy was in for a real surprise tonight. One way or the other, this was going to end.

Patrol had been quiet that night, just a couple vampires in the park looking for a quick meal. Buffy took care of one, and Xander got the other, decapitating it with his sword. They were sweeping Rosewood Cemetery, the last one on their route, when Xander spotted something strange. “What the hell is that?” he asked, pointing off into the distance, into a grove of trees.

Buffy and Spike both followed Xander’s gaze, where they saw a strange glowing red light coming from somewhere beyond the trees. “A fire maybe?” Buffy speculated.

“I don’t smell anything,” Spike said.

“Neither do I,” Buffy said. She seemed to think for a moment before starting towards the strange light, Spike and Xander followed closely. They walked through the trees a little before reaching a small clearing. In the middle of the clearing, about ten feet off the ground, there was a glowing red ball of…something. Buffy circled it cautiously for a few moments.

“What is it?” Xander asked to no one in particular.

“It’s a diversion.” All three of them spun around at the sound of that voice. On the other side of the clearing stood a disheveled looking man with brown hair.

“Rak!” Buffy yelled.

Buffy, Xander, and Spike all started toward him, Xander raising his sword. Rak threw out his hand, causing Buffy and Spike to be thrown back by some invisible force. But Xander kept coming. Rak looked surprised by this, but he barely had time to think of an explanation before he narrowly dodged Xander’s first swipe with his sword. Xander swung twice more, catching him in the leg with the last one. Rak howled out in pain and fell to the ground, rolling away.

That’s when Xander heard a very familiar sound. A sound that he couldn’t immediately place. When he turned around, he saw something that he never in his wildest dreams ever imagined possible. In front of him stood Jonathan Levinson, holding a light saber. An actual, honest to goodness light saber. He took a stance with it, it’s blue blade glowing enough to show the smile that Jonathan had on his face. He looked like a child with a new toy. Buffy and Spike were getting to their feet now, and looking on with a mixture of curiosity and anger. But Jonathan kept his eyes on Xander.

“Xander,” he said.

Xander said the first thing that came to mind. “Obi-Wan.” Andrew and Warren stepped into view next to Jonanthan. Andrew took his own light saber off of his belt and activated it, taking a similar stance as Jonathan. His blade light up green. “And Luke,” Xander added.

“Qui-Gon actually,” Andrew said.

Warren smacked Andrew on the back of the head. “Kill him!” he yelled.

Xander immediately brought his sword back up as Jonathan and Andrew advanced on him. Their stances had been copied from the movies that they had each no doubt seen hundreds of times, but as they ran towards him, swords held out, Xander knew that neither of them had probably ever held a real sword in their lives. His mind flashed briefly on the picture of a younger version of himself and his friend Jesse, ten years old and having just seen the movie, swinging cardboard wrapping paper rolls at each other and making the light saber noises with their mouths. The two wannabe Jedi’s heading towards Xander now had about as much technique and grace as the two ten year olds had had. Had Xander’s life not been in danger, he might have even laughed at the sight.

Xander deflected the first few swipes with ease, the usual clang of sword combat replaced with a sizzle and the scent of burnt metal. Xander didn’t slow down though. He parried a sloppy thrust from Jonathan, then brought the butt of his sword down on his back, sending him to the ground. At the same time hi lashed out with his foot, catching Andrew in the mid-section, knocking him down as well.

Buffy had been watching the exchange when she turned around and realized that Rak was gone. When she turned her attention back to the fray, getting ready to jump in, she saw Willow walking out from between the trees. She said something to Warren, who nodded in return. Buffy realized that something strange was going on, Willow had never openly attacked them before. She made a move to enter the fight, when something stopped her. A red energy bolt struck the ground inches from Buffy’s feet. The sound that echoed off the trees seemed to grab everyone’s attention. The fight stopped, and Xander backed away when he spotted Willow.

“Hello Buffy,” Willow said, a strange smile on her face. “Xander, Spike,” she added.

“What the hell is this Willow?” Buffy yelled.

“It’s the end Buffy, that’s what this is,” Willow answered. “The end of your interference in my affairs. We’ve been dancing around each other long enough, don’t you think?”

“Willow, listen to me…” Buffy started.

“No! I’ve done nothing but listen to you since the day we met! It’s my turn now. It’s about control Buffy, that’s what you’ve always been about. You always have to be the one in control, of everything, even your friends. Well I’m the one in control now. Of myself, of my magic…” She smiled. “Of more than you could ever comprehend. And that’s never going to change, no matter how much you fight it. That mousy little girl that you used to push around doesn’t exist anymore. And I will NOT be bullied! Nor will I tolerate your meddling anymore. So choose.”

“Choose? Choose what?”

“You can’t have it both ways Buffy. You’re either my friend, or my enemy. Either you let me be, or…I’ll be forced to take action. I think we understand each other.”

Buffy locked eyes with Xander, and unspoken communication happening between the two of them. She turned back to Willow. “I am your friend Willow, we all are.” She paused. “Which is why we won’t stop trying to help you. Can’t you see, what’s happened to you, how much you’ve changed? These dark magiks that you’ve gotten into have affected your…”

“Silence! What you think you know of magic is NOTHING!” Willow shouted. “Compared to what I know. You have no right to lecture me about anything! The magic that I choose to practice is my business, not yours.”

“When you put innocent people in danger, it becomes my business,” Buffy said, her voice showing her anger.

Willow paused. “Inconsequential.”

“Not to me it isn’t,” Buffy said. “It didn’t used to be for you either.”

“Things change,” Willow replied, the anger gone from her voice. She closed her eyes, holding her arms away from her waist, her hands up. After a moment, she started to levitate off the ground. She was about five feet off the ground when she opened her eyes, which were pitch black. “You’ve made your decision than,” she said, her voice sounding almost sad. “You’ve left me no choice.” Rak limped out from between the trees, standing close to Willow. He closed his eyes, like he was concentrating. Willow brought her hands across her mid-section, one atop the other, her palms facing together. She began to chant, as swirls of red energy flowed over her body. Wisps of energy started to come off of Rak, drifting up to where Willow floated. It mixed with her own and started to collect in a sphere shape between her hands.

Buffy, Xander and Spike all started to back up a little. “I’m open to suggestions,” Buffy said.

“Fall back, regroup,” Xander proposed.

“I’ll second that,” Spike said, looking up at the witch hovering in front of them.

“All in favor, say aye.”

“Aye,” Spike and Xander chorused.

“Motion carried, scatter!” Buffy commanded. And with that, the three of them took off running in three different directions.

The Trio just looked at each other, not sure what to do. Willow and Rak were both concentrating too hard to notice that their enemies had escaped. After a few moments, Willow threw her hands out, and the energy attack shot out, striking the ground where adversaries once stood. Willow floated back down to the ground, closing her eyes and opening them again, returning them to normal. She looked at the smoking, black hole in the ground, and at the lack of any corpses.

Rak lowered himself to the ground to rest a moment, he was wiped. The Trio stood off to the side, huddled together and cringing. Willow fixed a glare on them that would make a grown man wet himself.

“You MORONS! The three of you only had one job during this spell, ONE JOB! Keep them from running away! And you couldn’t even do that right!” Willow’s eyes had gone back to black, and energy crackled across her hands as she clenched and unclenched her fists.

“Wwwe’e sssorry, Mistress,” Jonathan stuttered out, trembling with fear. “They tttook us bbby surprise.”

“Well no shit! A glacier could take you idiots by surprise!” She took a deep breath trying to calm herself. “They have designated fall back positions in every cemetery, where they regroup if they ever get separated.” The Trio just stood there, staring at her in fear. “Well, what are you waiting for, FIND THEM!”

All three of them jumped, bumping into each other as they tried to carry out her order as quickly as they could. Warren finally manhandled the other two into facing the same direction and led them off to search for their enemies.

Willow just shook her head as she watched them. It took all of the will power she had to not kill them now, but unfortunately she still needed them. She turned and started in the other direction, walking over to Rak. She reached out her hand and snapped her fingers. A wisp of green energy shot out from her hand, wrapping around Rak’s injured leg like a snake. After a few moments, the gash Xander had inflicted with his sword started to close. In seconds, it closed completely, leaving it looking absolutely unmarred. She took his hand and pulled him up to his feet. “Let’s go,” she said, all business. She stalked off through the cemetery. Rak followed closely behind, recharging himself from her aura. He had a feeling this was going to be a long night.

Xander ran around the back of the Wilson mausoleum, which was their fall back position for Rosewood. Buffy and Spike were already there, sitting on the ground with their backs leaning against the stone structure. Spike was smoking a cigarette, looking generally pissed off. Buffy was just staring off into space, looking shocked. Xander leaned against the building, trying to catch his breath. After a moment he lowered himself to the ground, sitting next to Spike against the crypt. He glanced over at them as he still tried to regain his breath. The two of them, who were breathing (or not breathing) normally, looked back.

“You guys suck,” Xander muttered, slightly resentful of their enhanced stamina.

“She tried to kill us,” Buffy said.

Spike took one final drag off of his cigarette before tossing it into the bushes. “Bloody hell, I knew this was going to happen,” he muttered.

Xander let his sword drop to the ground next to him, leaning his had back against the concrete wall. His thoughts were racing a mile a minute. Willow, his Willow, had just tried to kill them. If he hadn’t seen it himself, he never would have believed it. The best friend he had ever had, the gentlest soul he had ever known, the sweetest, kindest person in his life, had just tried to take that life away. She had finally reached that point that they had all feared would come since this whole thing started. The point of no return. This wasn’t his Willow anymore. His Willow was gone, forever. “It’s too late,” he whispered, the tears that were threatening to come sneaking into his voice.

Spike turned and looked at him, a look of understanding on his face as he nodded slightly. He knew this would happen. He already knew she was too far gone, and that it was just a matter of time before she pushed it far enough for the others to see it too. It was his nature, to see the worst in people. But Xander had always held out hope for his best friend, hope that there was some kind of solution to all of this. But that hope was dead now, and Spike knew that a little piece of Xander had died right along with it. He was tempted to offer comfort to him, but he wasn’t sure how to, or how it would be received.

“She tried to kill us,” Buffy said again. While Xander had processed that information and the emotions that went with it relatively quickly, Buffy was still having trouble wrapping her mind around that one thought.

“You’re not getting past that any time soon, are you Luv?” Spike asked, turning to the slayer.

Xander threw the vampire a brief glare as he crawled over to where Buffy sat, kneeling in front of her. “Buffy, I need you to listen to me,” he started in a calming voice. “I know that the urge to freak out and lose it is pretty overwhelming right now. I’m right there with you, believe me. But you have to stay focused.” Buffy looked up at Xander and he could see the tears forming in her eyes reflecting the moonlight. Under normal circumstances, he would pull her into a hug and let her cry it out, but they didn’t have time for that right now.

“She tried to kill us, Xander. Our Willow. What happened, what did I do wrong? I did everything I could, I tried to be there for her when she needed me. I did the best that I could, I really did. How could this happen, I…”

“Buffy,” Xander interrupted, his own tears starting to come back. “Stop. We can’t do this right now. She’s still out there, and we’re still in danger. We have to get through this first, there are people counting on us.”

“We’ve already failed,” Buffy whimpered.

“And what about Dawn?” Xander asked. Buffy looked up, her expression changing slightly. “If we die tonight, who’s going to protect her?”

Buffy just looked at Xander for a moment, his eyes pleading with her. After a few seconds, she wiped her face with her hand. “You’re right,” she said. “Okay, we have to get through this first. Then we can figure out what we need to do.” Xander nodded. Buffy reached out a squeezed his hand, saying thank you.

“So what’s the plan?” Spike asked.

“Well, we’re outnumbered and outgunned,” Xander said. “Military strategy would suggest that we go guerilla.”

“What do you mean?” Buffy asked.

“We split up, play to our strengths. Don’t fight to win, just fight to buy time for an escape.”

“Okay, I have a stupid question,” Spike piped up. “Why don’t we just escape now?”

Xander shook his head. “We’d never make it. They’ve had too much time to regroup. We probably don’t have much time before they find us again. We have to strike, then retreat.” Spike looked like he still didn’t understand. “It’s like in boxing, stick and move. If you don’t stick before you move, you’re going to get hit.”

Spike nodded. “I get it. So who does what?”

“Well, I think you should take Rak,” Xander said.

“Why? You were the one who was unaffected by his magic. Why is that anyway?”

Xander seemed to think for a moment before reaching into his shirt and pulling out something that had been around his neck. An amulet of some sort. “It must be this. Anya gave it to me a few weeks ago. She called it a protection amulet. I guess she thought I could use a little extra protection. It’s supposed to block certain forms of dark magic. I guess that includes whatever form Rak uses.” He tossed the amulet to Spike.

“Well that’s all fine and good, but he’s still human. I can’t hurt humans, remember,” Spike said.

“Actually, I’m not sure that that’s entirely true,” Xander said. He didn’t see the look that passed between Buffy and Spike. “The chip isn’t a demon detector, it’s a behavior modifier. It works on your perceptions and intentions. If you perceive someone as human, and intend to hurt them, it goes off. As for Rak, his heart’s blacker than yours. If you perceive him to be evil, human or not, I’m willing to bet that the chip won’t react.” Once again, Xander didn’t catch the look on Buffy’s face, curiosity mixed with fear.

“Willing to bet what, my life?” Spike asked incredulously.

“You’ll have the amulet Spike, you’ll be fine. If it turns out I’m wrong, just let him wear himself out chasing you,” Xander said with a smile.

Now it was Spike’s turn to glare. “You’re all heart, Droopy,” he said, putting the amulet around his neck and tucking it inside his shirt.

“Just be sure to keep the amulet hidden, no reason to tip our hand. As for me, I’ll take Moe, Larry and Curly,” Xander continued.

Spike snorted. “With what, a melted sword?” he said, holding up Xander’s sword. It was melted and twisted in several places.

Xander took the sword and looked it over. “It’s okay, I’m not going to need it for much longer anyway. I have a plan.” He plunged the sword into the dirt and turned to face Buffy again. “That leaves you to take Willow, Buffy. Are you going to be able to handle it?”

Buffy nodded. “I’ll be fine,” she said, trying to keep her tone flat. She pushed against the wall and stood up. “We should get moving, we don’t have much time.” Already the emotion seemed to be gone from her voice, Xander noticed. Already, she was shutting him out again.

Xander and Spike stood up too. “Once we get away, meet back at Buffy’s house,” Xander said. The other two nodded. “Good luck, both of you.” They nodded and all three of them started to move off in separate directions, seeking out their opponents.

Spike pulled a cigarette out if it’s pack as he walked away. Screwing it into his lips, he lit it and took a drag. “We’re going to need it,” he muttered to himself.




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