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.

(8/12)

Spike and Xander were walking side by side through the sewers on their way to the mansion.  Spike was dressed as usual, all in black with his leather duster.  Xander was dressed similarly, in black tee shirt and jeans, with a stolen light saber hanging from his belt.

“So what happened to Clem and the rest of your poker buddies?” Xander asked, breaking the silence.

“You may be surprised to hear this, but soulless demon types aren’t really into selfless missions that they have no stake in.”

“You’re here,” Xander pointed out.  Spike shrugged.  “I guess you’re just a big old softy at heart.”

“Bollocks!  I care about the slayer and the little bit.  The rest of you can all get fucked as far as I care.”

“Right,” Xander said, sounding unconvinced.

“You have no idea how bleedin’ frustrating this is!  I used to be the badest of the big bads.  I cut a swatch across Europe, leaving nothing but blood and carnage in my wake, and I loved every minute of it.  Then some wanker in a lab coat decides that it would be fun to cut my balls off just to see what happens, and just like that I trade my fangs in for a white hat.  I mean, what the hell is wrong with me?  No matter what I do, no matter who I am, monster or man, part of me is disgusted by it.”

“Love does strange things.”

“This isn’t about love,” Spike insisted.  Xander just looked at him.  “Okay, maybe it is.  All I know is that I can’t win for losing.  Buffy is just as guilty here as I am, if not more.  But somehow I’m the bad guy here.”

“You’re not exactly squeaky clean here Spike.  You knew what Buffy was feeling, and you used that, you manipulated her.  But you’re right, this isn’t solely your fault either, Buffy knew who and what she was dealing with.  I know how you feel.  The same thing happened to me when Willow and I had our little fluke.  It seemed like everyone blamed me for what happened, even Willow herself.”  Xander’s voice quieted and his face fell some as he thought about his best friend.  “It took time, but we worked though it.” 

“Unfortunately I don’t see that happening for me in the near future.  I just wish I knew how to fix this, all of this.”

“Pick one,” Xander answered simply.

“What?”

“Pick one.  Good or evil, pick one.”

“It’s not exactly that simple.”

“Why not?  You don’t know what you are, so figure out what you want to be, and go for it.  Do whatever you need to do to become what you want to be.  I’m not saying it’ll be easy, but at least you’ll have one goal and you won’t be so damn confused, or whiny.”

Spike opened his mouth to dispute him, but nothing came out.  Could it really be that simple?  “Just…pick one?”

“Yeah,” Xander answered.  “But do it later, we’re almost there.”

Spike looked ahead and saw that Xander was right.  “You really think this crazy plan of yours is going to work?”

“It has to,” Xander answered simply.  “Angel says that this is one of the better hidden sewer entrances, chances are Willow doesn’t know about it.  We should be able to catch them by surprise.  Plus, we have Angel and Gunn running interference for us up front.”

“They’re going to wonder where the rest of us are, they’ll know we’re coming.”

“Yes, but they won’t know where we’re coming.  Barring any problems, the attacks should be perfectly synchronized.  They’re not expecting the numbers we have, they’ve underestimated us again.  They’ll throw some token demons at us, to toy with us, and we’ll be up and in their faces before they even know what hit them.”  Xander checked his watch.  Sunset was 6:17, so the attack was set for exactly 6:30.  It was now 6:29:34.  “Come on, it’s almost time.” 

Xander jogged ahead to a ladder that went up from the passage they were walking though.  At the top there was a grate, which according to Angel lead into the boiler room, which was just off the basement.  Xander climbed the ladder silently, followed closely by Spike.  He reached the grate and lifted it quietly, pushing it to one side.  He pulled himself up to the floor and turned to give Spike a hand.  Spike had his hand on the last rung and was pulling himself up through the hole when his head slammed against something hard.

“Bloody hell!” he yelled, nearly falling off the ladder.  He caught himself and started rubbing his head.

“Shhhh!” Xander exclaimed to silence the vampire.  “What is it?” he whispered.

Spike raised his hand up to the opening Xander had just climbed through, where it met an invisible barrier.  “I think we’ve just found our first problem, mate.” 

*

Angel and Gunn were walking side by side through the streets of Sunnydale toward Angel’s old mansion, the setting sun behind them.  Both were clearly prepped for battle.  Angel was carrying a sword, and Gunn was carrying his favorite crossbow, the one that wrapped around his forearm.  He also had a battleaxe strapped to his back.  Gunn’s face was hard, impassive.  He was psyching himself up for battle.  Angel looked nervous, unsure.

“I still can’t believe we’re doing this,” Angel commented.

“We’ve faced worse situations than this.”

“That’s not what I mean.  I’m talking about walking into battle according to a plan conceived by Xander Harris of all people.”

“What’s wrong with that?  Even Wes said that it was a good plan, and I didn’t see you coming up with anything better.”

“Yeah, well…it was short notice.”

Gunn snorted.  “Don’t get me wrong Angel, you’re a great champion and all, but you’re not exactly a master strategist.  Your plans usually consist of killing everything that moves and sorting out the particulars later.”  Angel just shook his head.  Gunn looked over at him, there was clearly something bothering him.  “Come on, what’s the deal?  You’ve had a bug up your ass ever since we got into town.”

Angel just turned away.  Gunn thought he wasn’t going to answer, but after a moment he spoke.  “Buffy’s had such a hard time this year.  What with coming back from the dead, Giles leaving, and Willow’s turn to the dark side.  I guess I just didn’t realize how hard until I saw her again.  It was her eyes, she just looked so…broken.  I have a feeling that there’s more going on here than she’s telling me.  And Xander knows what it is, I can tell.”

“So,” Gunn replied.  “He’s her friend.  If she has a problem, why shouldn’t she tell him about it.”

Angel paused.  “I used to be the person she told stuff to, the shoulder she cried on.  I guess I just feel a little guilty for not being here for her.”

“You guys have two separate lives now, and you’ve had your own drama this year.  She knows that.  If she needed you, she would have called.”  Angel looked away again.  “But she didn’t,” Gunn said with realization.  “That’s what’s really bugging you, isn’t it?  That she didn’t call.  That she didn’t need you.”

“I came to my own realizations after Buffy died.  Realizations that as much as I loved her, like you said, she isn’t part of my life anymore.  I guess I just thought…I don’t know what I thought.”

“That she hadn’t moved on?”

Angel just shrugged.  “Now the only friend she has left is Xander, and things have gotten so bad that she’s taking battle advice from him.”

“What’s your beef with the man?  I haven’t met him yet, but he sounds like an okay enough guy.”

“He’s overgrown child, and he never takes anything seriously.”

“When things get heavy he tries to keep it light, to keep everyone else’s spirits up.  That’s what Cordy told me.”

“He can’t fight, he just gets himself hurt and Buffy has to rescue him.”

“Didn’t Buffy say that he kicked those geeks collective asses the other night, and two Polgara demons to boot.”

“And what does he know about strategy, how can he put a plan of action together?”

“Well, if this plan is any indication, he knows quite a bit.”

“He’s…he’s just a kid,” Angel said, not being able to think of anything else.

“Three years is a long time, especially in a place like this.  Sounds like he grew up.”  Angel snorted.  Gunn turned and looked at him with realization.  “You’re jealous!”

“What!  I am not, that’s ridiculous!  What could I possibly be jealous of, his comic book collection?”

“You just said it yourself man, he’s a major part of Buffy’s life now, and you’re not.”  Angel didn’t respond.  He couldn’t deny it.  “You’ve moved on with your life Angel, you have to let her do the same.”

Angel sighed.  “Maybe you’re right,” he said solemnly.

Gunn checked his watch.  “It’s almost time, where’s this mansion of yours.”

“We’re almost there, it’s just around this corner.”

The sight that greeted Gunn and Angel as they rounded the corner was one that they would not soon forget.  Standing in front of the mansion was a crowd of demons so thick, they couldn’t even see the front door.

“Looks like Xander was right,” Gunn said.  “He said there would be a hoard of demons guarding the doors.  How many do you think?”

“Thirty or forty,” Angel answered.  “They’re just meant to slow us down, we’ll cut through them like butter.”

“Fyarl demons, Polgara demons…ah man, Fungus demons!  I hate Fungus demons!  You can never get that stench out.  These clothes are going to be ruined.”

“You think they’re bad, stay away from the blood from those Polgaras.”

“Bad?”

“Smells like a skunk getting a permanent in the septic tank of a slaughter house.”

“Ah, man!” Gunn whined again.  “I just bought these jeans!”

“Come on you big baby, we got work to do.”

And with that, the two warriors rushed into the fray, weapons swinging.

*

“Come in Spike!  Come in!  I invite you in!”

“Quit yanking on my arm you wanker, that’s not going to help!”

Xander finally let go of Spike’s arm and sat back on his heels.  He wiped the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.  “Willow must have gotten the mansion switched over to her name.  Shit!”

“So now what do we do, genius?”

“Why can’t I invite you in?”

“Only a human who lives here can invite me in.  You don’t live here.”

A voice came out of the darkness.  “But I do.”

Xander was on his feet immediately, just as the lights in the room came on to reveal the speaker.  It was Warren, standing at the foot of the stairway on the other side of the room.  Xander looked around the room quickly.  There was electrical equipment all over the place, robot parts, and technical manuals spread open.  In the corner behind him was the water heater, he saw it when he first came in.

“She put your lab in the boiler room?” Xander asked.  “You know how big this place is, right?  Don’t you think that says something about how she thinks of you?”

Warren just sneered as he took a light saber off his hip.  He ignited it and took a stance.  The blade was red.  “If only you knew the power of the…”

“Hey dickweed!” Xander interrupted.  “My best friend since diapers is upstairs right now with a soul darker than midnight at the bottom of a coal mine, and everyone else I love in this world is marching into certain death just to stop her!  So can we dispense with the witty banter and just get to the part where I kick your ass.  We're a little pressed for time,” he said, igniting his light saber.

Warren just shrugged.  “Your funeral.”

Warren leapt forward with a downward swing of his light saber.  Xander blocked it, and the next one, and the next one.  He was moving fast, trying to keep Xander on the defensive.  He was a much better swordsman than either Andrew or Jonathan.  His attacks were much sharper, his movements much more deliberate.  He backed Xander up against a table, pinning him.  Xander waited for another downward swing before sidestepping.  Warren cut the table in half with his light saber.  His saber meeting less resistance than he had planned for, he left his side exposed.  Xander jabbed his elbow into his ribs and somersaulted forward, putting more room between him and his opponent.

Warren whirled around and swung without even looking.  Xander stepped forward and easily blocked it, lashing out with his foot and catching Warren in the midsection.  Warren doubled over, nearly dropping his light saber.  His finger slipped off the button and the blade retracted.

“Done already?” Xander asked.

Warren looked up, out of breath and with hatred in his eyes.  “Not even close.”

He activated his light saber again and lunged at Xander with it.  Xander parried, but that didn’t stop Warren’s momentum.  He crashed into him, pushing him up against the wall with his shoulder.  Warren had both his arms pinning Xander’s right arm against the wall.  Xander punched with his left, hitting Warren in the side as hard as he could.  What he didn’t expect was Warren’s elbow in his stomach.  Xander grunted in pain, and Warren used the distraction to backhand him across the face.  Xander was disoriented, and Warren took advantage.  He backed up and took a swing with his light saber, which Xander barely managed to dodge, causing the weapon to bury itself in the wall behind him.

Warren pried it loose just as Xander was getting to his feet again.  The two started to circle each other.  “You’re not so tough,” Warren commented.

“I’m just warming up,” Xander said.  And with that, he struck.  Two quick swings, which Warren blocked.  “I’ve faced master vampires.”  Another swing, blocked.  “A pure blood demon.”  Two more swings, one high and one low.  Blocked, and barely blocked.  “A demon/cyborg.”  A lazy swing from Warren, easily blocked.  Xander pushed his saber against Warren’s, until the point where they crossed was inches from Warren’s face.  The sparks from where the blades touched causing him to flinch.  “And a Hell goddess.”  Xander gave one final push, sending Warren tumbling to the ground.  He tried grabbing at the table closest to him, but he only succeeded in dumping its contents on top of him as he fell.  He looked up to see Xander standing over him.  “Trust me, you’re nothing.”

Warren almost looked like he was about to cry, but his face twisted in rage and he screamed in anger, lunging at Xander again.  Xander delivered a quick kick to his stomach, using Warren’s own momentum to increase the impact.  Warren doubled over and groaned in pain.

Xander picked up Warren’s fallen light saber and slid it into his front pocket.  Then he grabbed Warren by the hair and pulled him over to where Spike was still standing, on the ladder under the open sewer grate.  Xander stopped just before the grate and swept Warren’s legs out from under him, sending him crashing to the ground.  Xander got down and put his knee in his back to keep him pinned there.  Then he turned his head to the side and pressed his face against the concrete floor.

Spike was smiling.  “Not bad Droopy, not bad at all.”

“Okay Warren, this is what’s going to happen,” Xander spoke.  “Look at me.”  Xander held up his light saber, deactivated, for Warren to see.  Then he pressed the business end up against Warren’s temple.  “You’re going to invite Spike here inside, or I’m going to ventilate you’re skull.  Comprendé?”

“You won’t kill me, I’m human,” Warren mumbled as best he could with his face pressed against the floor.

Xander closed his fingers around a clump of Warren’s hair, picked up his head, and bounced it against the floor.  Even Spike winced at the sound it made.  Warren cried out in agony.  Xander grabbed his hair again and leaned his face down closer, his eyes boring holes through Warren’s.  “You think you know me?” he hissed.  “You think you know what I’ve been through, or what I’m capable of?  You’ve chosen evil as a way of life and you don’t even understand what it is, where it comes from.  It comes from selfishness, and apathy.  It comes from greed, and anger, and hatred.  It’s bred in the minds of men like you, undisciplined men who wield a power that they have no right possessing.

“You can’t fight evil without it touching you, changing you.  I was fifteen when they took one of my closest friends.  They turned him, and they sent him after us.  They used him, through me, to get to the slayer.  I killed him, with my own hands.  I killed one of my best friends.  I got no problem killing you.”  Xander pushed the light saber against Warren’s temple again.  “So what’s it going to be?”

Warren looked up at Xander with such fear in his eyes.  Fear unlike anything he had ever experienced before.  It was in Xander’s eyes, a cold determination that told him that he meant what he said.  That he had come here this night for a purpose, and nothing would sway him from his task.  Like all true cowards, Warren submitted to the fear.

“Spike, come in,” he said, trying to keep his voice as steady as possible.

Spike bound up into the lab in two steps.  “Good show, kid,” Spike commented to Xander.  “Good show.”

Xander looked up at him.  “See if you can find anything useful in here,” he said.  “Weapons, or the remote unit for the Tara-bot.  Trash everything else.  And do it fast, we’re already behind schedule.”  Spike nodded.

“What…what are you going to do to me?” Warren asked.

Xander and Spike looked down at him again.  Spike smiled.  “Say goodnight sweet prince,” he said.

The last thing Warren saw before he was claimed by the darkness of unconsciousness was Xander’s fist coming straight at his face.

*

Gunn was in trouble.  The normal tactic in a forty on two fight, if you’re the two, is to fight back to back.  That way, you don’t have to worry about attacks coming from behind.  That’s what Angel and Gunn were doing on the front lawn, and they were doing very well.  They cut a swatch through their ranks, killing at least a dozen of them on the way to the front door.  Gunn dropped his crossbow after two bolts, not having enough time to reload it, and just concentrated on his axe.  He buried the business end of it right between the eyes of Polgara demon as he charged through the front door.  Assuming of course that his partner was right behind him.  By the time he realized that Angel wasn’t behind him, and that in fact he couldn’t even enter the building, enough demons had made there way inside to block his way back out the door.  He was on his own now, surrounded by vicious, hulking demons, with nothing but an axe to protect him.  His clothes were torn, and he was covered in bruises, cuts, and foul-smelling demon blood.  In a word, he was in trouble.

He was prying his axe out of the midsection of a Fungus demon when he felt them closing in behind him.  This was it.  After everything he had been through, after all the impossible fights that he had fought and come out of, he was going to die.  Ripped apart by a hoard of demons, who would leave his body broken, bleeding, and rank.  But just when he had consigned himself to his fate, he heard a commotion behind him.

Cutting through the hoard were two men dressed in black, one with dark brown hair, the other blonde.  Gunn thought he must have hit his head, because it looked like the dark-haired one was wielding a green light saber.  He made his way over to him, slicing a few demons in half along the way.

“Are you okay?” he asked when he got there.  Gunn just nodded dumbly.  “I’m Xander, you must be Gunn.”

“Can we save the introductions for later, I’m in trouble out here!” Angel yelled from outside.

“Right,” Xander said.  “Spike help him, I have to find Andrew.”

“Who’s Andrew?” Gunn asked as Spike made his way to the front door to help his grandsire.

“He’s the one controlling these demons,” Xander answered.  “One third of the geek squad, in charge of demon summoning and Star Wars decals.  The little weasel has to be around here somewhere.”  Xander started towards the stairs, looking around the room.  “Where could he be?” he said aloud.  Gunn just watched, he could tell from his tone that he had something up his sleeve.  Xander climbed up the first two steps, still acting like he was looking around.  Suddenly, he grabbed the railing and jumped over it, to the other side of the staircase.  Gunn heard what sounded like a punch, and someone yelling “OW!”

A second later, Xander came walking out from behind the staircase, dragging a skinny blonde kid by his ear.  The kid had his hand over his eye.  “You have been a bad little boy, haven’t you Andrew?” Xander scolded.  He yanked on his ear again, hard.  “Haven’t you!”

“OW!  What do you want?”

“Invite Angel in.”

“No way!”

Xander ignited his light saber and held it up to Andrew’s neck.

“Oh Angel, come in, won’t you,” Andrew called out.

With that, Angel ran into the building, followed closely by Spike.  Angel turned and slammed the big wooden door closed, he and Spike pressing their backs against it to keep the demons out.

“Good boy Andrew,” Xander said, deactivating his light saber and lowering it.  “I’m going to have to knock you out now.”

“I understand.”

Xander punched him once square in the face, and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

“You want to tell me why I have to be invited into my own house, Xander?” Angel asked, clearly not happy.

“Well, it would seem that Willow had the place put in her name.  It was ah,…something that we didn’t foresee.  Sorry about that.”  Angel just glared.  “Why don’t you two head upstairs, Gunn and I can take the rest of these guys,” Xander said.  “Right Gunn?”

“Sure thing.”

Angel nodded and got ready to let go off the door.  “Oh, wait,” Xander said.  He pulled another light saber out of his pocket and tossed it to Gunn.

Gunn pressed the button and smiled as a red blade shimmered into existence.  “Cool.”

“You ready now?” Angel asked, clearly annoyed.

Xander ignited his light saber and took a stance.  “Ready.”

Angel and Spike let go of the door, and a few seconds later and came flying open, broken off its hinges.  Xander leapt into the fray, his light saber swinging, as Angel and Spike headed up the stairs.

Gunn stopped Angel with a hand as he walked past him.  He leaned closer to him.  “Definitely grew up,” he said.

Angel followed Gunn’s gaze to Xander, who was taking apart demons left and right with the green energy blade.  He nodded.  “I guess so.”