Would a corporeal First be easier to kill...or would it still have a few tricks up its sleeve.

Buffy/Spike

PG-13

Spoilers for “Chosen”

Chosen Re-written.  Not that I thought there was anything wrong with the original but this was for a challenge on BuffyWorld and it was kinda fun.

Spike:  Buffy, whatever this thing does, I think it’s…

Buffy:  Keep the line together.  Drive them to the edge.  We can’t let them do…

Ow.  Sudden sharp stinging pain in her stomach.  Fire and ice slicing through her.  Buffy looked down and couldn’t quite believe the sword tip poking out of the front of her shirt.  Then it was pulled free from behind and somehow the pain was even worse.  She staggered slightly, then fell forward. Her hands rising just in time to stop her face smashing into the rock.  No not now.  Still too much to do.  Have to get back up.  It was taking all her strength just to stay conscious.

“Buffy!”  She heard Faith yell and suddenly the brunette was squatting in front of her.  She gazed up, his expression twisting in pain.

“Hold the line”  She hissed through clenched teeth and held the Scythe out to her.

“No, we need to get you out of here.  We need to get you help.”  Faith insisted, although as she watched the puddle of blood form under Buffy she wasn’t sure if it wasn’t already to late.  Faith felt lost.  She needed B to take charge.  She had had her turn as leader and decided she made a much better drill seargent.  B was their general.

“No you need to fight.  You need to win.  You can do this.”  Buffy croaked.

Faith took the scythe, nodded firmly, tried to say a hundred words to Buffy with the look in her eyes.  Then she turned and jumped back into battle.  Swinging left and right, avenging Buffy’s death.

Buffy lay there.  The fight continued around her.  She watched the girls hack and slash at the Ubervamps.  They were a solid force alright but there seemed to be no shortage of the neander-vamps.  As soon as the new slayers destroyed one wave of the creatures, more came up over the edge.

She turned her head the other way and saw Spike fall against the wall a few feet from her.  He was shouting her name.  The medallion around his neck glowing aquamarine.  ‘Pretty’ she thought.  She saw the blonde vampire buck against the wall a few times, his face contorted in discomfort.  “Spike.”  She called.  She had to get to him. 

She began to crawl towards him.  If she was going to die down here in this pit then it was going to be with Spike.  She may not have been able to share her life with him but she was damn well gonna spend her death with him.  She ducked and marvelled when Kennedy suddenly flew over her back and staked a vampire that had been fixing to behead her.

“Thanks”  She said and kept crawling.  Then, “Arrgh.”  She shrieked as something landed heavily on her back.  She heard a woosh of air and then the weight was gone, replaced by a fine cloud of dust which settled over her.

‘Okay, this is ridiculous’  She pulled her self up, slowly and painfully.  Hoping nothing would take her head off while she was at it.  Once up she stood swaying amongst the fight.  “That’s not to bad,” She muttered to herself, “now who wants killing first.”

An Ubervamp passed her as it charged at Vi.  Buffy caught it around the neck and used its own momentum to fling it off the ledge into the Hellmouth proper.  She saw Spike through the melee, still struggling with the amulet.  The light was pulsating within it.  Spike looked terrified.  She started to make her way towards him, but before she got there she was confronted by…herself.

“You can’t win this, you do know that don’t you.  But top marks for effort, you’ve certainly made it more interesting.”

“This isn’t over yet.”  Buffy hissed at the apparition of herself.

“Oh but it might as well be, look around you.  All your little girls are falling one by one, but I’m still as strong as ever.  You do the math.”  The Buffy First smiled sickly sweet.

“Please tell me…Am I as icky as you sound, because if so, you know death, not such the bad option.”

Buffy watched as the image of herself morphed into…into…her mum.  “You still don’t get it do you, sweetheart.  You have no options except death.  Slow, painful, torturing death.  It’s for your own good, Buffy.”

The blonde slayer gaped speechlessly at her mom, not seeing Spike stumbling towards her.  “Buffy, Buffy I don’t know what this thing is doing but its humming and vibrating and I don’t know, is there a button I’m supposed to press to make it go.”

Spike walked straight through the vision of her mum, not seeing her at all.  Suddenly there was an explosion of green light.  Spike screamed and Buffy quickly turned her head before she was blinded by the fierce rays.

The battle raged on around them.  When the radiance had simmered down Buffy looked back.  The first was still standing there, still looking like her mum.  Spike was stood behind her, the amulet no longer glowing. ‘Well that was a lot of good, Angel’ she thought.  Then grunted as the her mothers fist impacted with her nose.  “What the...?”

Her mothers body whirled round and grabbed a still dazed Spike in a headlock.  Kicking a stake out Amanda’s hand, she caught it and held it against his chest.

Buffy had been about to strike back, even though she didn’t have a clue what was happening, but seeing the length of pointy wood held over Spike’s heart, she hesitated.

“There’s a good girl Buffy, Don’t rush into anything.” Her mum’s voice told her.  “Damn of all the bodies I could have gotten stuck in, it has to be the old lady’s.  Where did you find that necklace anyway?”  She jerked her arm tighter around Spike’s throat, making him gag.  She turned back to Buffy.  “You never could learn to leave things alone, dear.  You have know idea how much worry you put me through with all your slaying and getting into fights.  And look your still doing it.  Well I won’t have it anymore Buffy, I mean it.  I want you to go home now.”

Buffy stared back in amazement. “Yeah right mom, I stopped doing as I was told at like fifteen.”  She looked for a way in but was to worried to make a move because of Spike.

Spike read her thoughts.  “Just do it Buffy.  Just get her”  He spluttered.

“Now, now Buffy, do you want to be responsible for killing another of your boyfriends.”

“But your gonna kill us all anyway right, so what’s the big?”  Buffy reasoned but still she held back. 

“Finally your coming around to my way of thinking.  Yes I’m going to kill you all Buffy.  Look around, your little army is already failing.  Its only a matter of time until I am free to take over this world again, and it will be even sweeter knowing I beat you to do it.  But I won’t kill you, oh no sweetheart, I’ll keep you in a cage so you can see the destruction you couldn’t stop and you will know…”

Buffy’s mouth opened in disgust as her mum’s head cleanly left her shoulders and bounced off her chest before hitting the floor with a squelch and rolling over the edge of the pit.

Spike shook the body off of him and tenderly touched his throat.

Faith stood behind him, still poised with the scythe in the air.  A big grin on her face.

Buffy also broke into a huge smile.  The shock of seeing her mum killed in front of her quickly being replaced by the relief that the First had been trapped in her body at the time.  Still she reckoned she might have a few nightmares about the last few minutes, if she got out of here alive.

“Wicked timing Faith.”

“All part of the service, girlfriend.  Here you play with the toy a while.”  She threw the scythe through the air to her, winked and spun around kicking, punching and destroying as she went.    

Spike and Buffy closed the distance between them.

“You okay?”  He asked.

She nodded.  “Lets take them down”.

Spinning round back to back they both rejoined the fight.

…………………………………………….

Upstairs the battle was raging in all corners of the high school. The soound of steel on steel resounded through the halls.

In the lounge Giles and Robin fought side by side, their backs pressed up against the door to the science labs.

“Just another day at the office Principal wood.”

“Nah, the students are way scarier than this.”

………………………………………………

In the principal’s office Willow was still stretched out on the floor, the force of the spell had drained her completely.  Feeling the floor rumble beneath her she shakily rose to her hands and knees.  “What is it with apocalypses and earthquakes – you’d think that the original evil could come up with something more …well, more original.”  She muttered as she used the desk to pull herself to her feet.

……………………………………………….

Back on the lip of the Hellmouth the vibrations were more prominent.

“Buffy.”  Yelled Faith as she pin wheeled across the ground off a Turok-han’s upper-cut.  Landing on her feet she spun and buried a knife taken from a fallen bringer into another.  “We have to get out of here before the whole place comes down.”

“We can’t, there’s still too many, we need to make sure they don’t get away.”  Buffy yelled back.  The Scythe slicing, hacking and dusting.

…………………………………………………

In the atrium Xander and Dawn brushed the dust from there clothes.

“Well that was kind of hairy”  Xander looked round warily.  “You okay.”

“I’m cool.  Don’t want to repeat that in a hurry though.”  Dawn panted.

“Spoke to soon”  Said Xander through gritted teeth as three more Ubervamps came rushing up the halls.  He pushed Dawn behind him and was about to strike the first one with his sword when a burst of flame shot past his arm setting light to the flammable monster.

“What the…?”  Xander spun round and his mouth dropped in shock.  “Wesley?”

“Xander look out”  Screamed Dawn as another vamp grabbed him from behind.  She ran forward bringing her sword down hard, slicing both it’s arms cleanly from it’s body.

“Xander, drop”  Called Wesley, shooting another burst of flame over his head as soon as he complied.

The third vamp growled in anger, looking for a way to get at the humans.  Wes pulled the trigger on his flame thrower and the growl turned into a howl of pain.

“These guys, no sense, no feeling.  You’d think they’d have learned: Fire bad, by now.”  Moaned Xander getting back up, then he chirped:  “So Wesley, about time you paid us a visit.”

……………………………………………………………

In the north hall Anya and Andrew fought their corner desperately but were still being forced back. 

Andrew bleeding from cuts to his head stumbled backwards again, falling to the floor.  A bringer fell with him intent on slicing his throat open, but Anya was there.  Her sword sweeping down and taking his head clean off.  A bringer appeared behind her, sharp knife raised.  Andrew, still stuck under his assailants body, kicked out hard.  Anya felt her ankles go out from under her and she toppled to the ground just as the knife came down.

She gave a high pitched scream and her hand flew to the side of her head, blood seeping through her fingers.

The windows behind them smashed as a black man leapt through, cocking his shotgun before his feet touched the floor, he fired a round straight at the bringers head.  Half of its head missing, it fell to floor.  The mystery man used the butt of his gun to hit another in the throat, twirling the gun and shooting as soon as the harbinger fell back.

“Yeah man, I’m loaded for bear.  Hey you two, get up, you expect a brother to do all the work.”

“Who is this masked man”  Andrew’s voice reverberated with awe.

“Do I look masked to you, chump.  Come on, get up from under your girl.”  The newcomer reached down and pulled Anya to her feet.  Her face pale and slick with sweat.  Her hand fell away from the side of her head and he pulled back a bit.  “Dude, where’s your ear.”

Anya burst into noisy sobs.  Andrew disentangled himself from the dead bringers legs and stood up clutching her arm.

“Dude get her out of here.” Their rescuer pointed down the corridor to where he could see Wesley making his way up, flame thrower at the ready.

“Thank you mysterious one.”  Whispered Andrew and started to lead the ex demon towards the exit.

Charles Gunn shook his head, bemused.  Then turned round to shoot a Turok-han right between the eyes.  The head exploded in a ball of dust, the body following seconds later.  The ground shook violently.  “Whoa, this is gonna be some ride.” 

……………………………………………………………

“Buffy, there’s still too many.”  Kennedy called across the throng.

“She’s right B, we need a new plan fast.” 

“I’m thinking, I’m thinking!”

“Think fast Luv, we just lost another.”  Spike saw Vi go down under a mess of bringers.

The ground rumbled and shook.

Buffy looked around at everyone trying to keep their feet and fight as well.

“Right”  She bellowed.  “Anyone who isn’t Me, Faith or Spike.  Get the hell out of here now.”

A number of the new slayers ran for the steps leading up to the school basement.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Kennedy, get out of here.”  Faith snarled

“No, I’m a Slayer too.  This is my place.”

“Kennedy being a slayer isn’t just thinking with your fists.  You gotta use your head to, so get out of here before a freaking great rock drops on yours.”  Faith grunted between punches and kicks.

All four fighters left down at the Hell mouth had formed a semi circle around the entrance.  Defending it.  The ground was shaking almost continuously now.

“Kennedy please.  Go up, find Willow and the others, get them to safety, before the whole building falls down.  We’ll be right behind you.”  I hope, thought Buffy as she tried to convince the young Slayer.

Kennedy thought of Willow and caved.  “Ok, but hurry.”  Taking one more second to finish off the vamp she’d been tackling she dashed up the stairs.

“Well B, guess this is it.  It was nice knowing you…most of the time.”

“It’s not over yet F.”

“Ow,”  A small boulder bounced off Spike’s head.  “Don’t want to burst your bubble princess, but we stay here we’re squashed, we turn our backs to get out of here, we’re slurpies.”

“So we go backwards up the steps.”  They all began to back away, but as soon as they started up the steps they realised it was now impossible to keep their footing and fight.  Faith fell down a step and a an Ubervamp grabbed her ankle trying to pull her towards it.

“New plan B, quick, new plan.”

Buffy thrust the pointy end of the scythe into it and it dusted over Faith.  She scrambled back up quickly spitting dust out of her mouth.

A clipped British voice rang out over the melee.  “Everybody get down please.”

Buffy and Faith automatically ducked, while Spike started to turn round.  “Wha…”  He began before a long arc of fire burst over his head.  Throwing himself flat to the steps he growled.  “Steady on there mate, highly flammable here.”

Buffy and Faith saw the closest vamps explode before them.

“Cool Toy Wes.” 

“Cool and Wes, there’s two words I never thought I’d hear in the same sentence.”   Said Buffy.

“Yes well thank you for that Buffy, maybe you three would like to get out of here now huh.”  Wesley gestured behind him.

“We can’t leave you down here.”  Faith insisted.

“Oh believe me, I don’t intend to be left down here.  I’m just holding them at bay while stage two kicks in.

“What’s stage two.”

“Miss Summers as your ex-watcher would you kindly show me some respect – and bugger off.”

Faith gave a huge grin and began to drag Buffy up the stairs.  Spike followed close behind pushing them both to increase their speed.  From below they could hear the roar of the flame thrower as it showered the Ubervamps and Bringers with flames.

As they stumbled into the basement, someone came running at them narrowly missing them.  “Hey Faith.”

“Hey Gunn.”  Then he was gone down the steps.

Panting and stumbling they made there was out across the shaky floors. 

“I can’t go out there Luv, sunshine.”  Spike realised when they neared the entrance.

“Damn it.  I’m not leaving you.”  Buffy looked around for something to cover the vampire up with.

“No it’s ok, I’ll unblock a sewer entrance, get out through the tunnels.”

“No you can’t go underground in an earthquake.”

“I’ll be fine.  Faith get her out of here.”  Spike was about to dart off, Buffy grabbed his arm, spinning him towards her and kissed him quickly on the lips. 

“I love you.”  She whispered.

Spike stood there with a confused look on his face.

“Now is not the time for smoochies.  B come on, don’t make me carry you out.  Blondie GO!”  Faith pushed Spike away and began to drag Buffy by the arm.

……………………………………………………………….

“Where’s Angel?”  Wesley asked as soon as Gunn came down the steps.  “I’m going to run out of petrol in a minute.”

“You mean he’s not down here yet.  What’s he playing at.  It’s his cutie who’s ass we’re hear to save and he does the no show.  What’s up with that.”

“Maybe he had a more pressing engagement.  Have you got the stuff.”  Asked Wesley through clenched teeth.

“Uh huh, right here bro.”

“How many seconds is it set for.  I would like time to get as far away as possible.”

“Sixty, you’ll just have to run fast.”

“Ok on the count of three.”  Wesley started to back up the stairs on the shaky ground.  Gunn was right beside him matching him step for step.  “One.”

The flame’s coming from his weapon suddenly spluttered and died.  “Three.”  Screamed Wesley chucking his gun at the vamps trying to follow them.  The sparks hit them making them jump back in alarm but there wasn’t enough gas left to set them on fire.

At the same time Gunn threw a package the size of a house brick over the top of their heads.  “RUN”.

The two men turned on their heels and bounded up the stairs, grabbing the walls for support.

………………………………………………………………………

Spike stumbled across the bodies of bringers and prayed he wouldn’t see the bodies of anyone he knew.  Ha, prayed he thought, that’s got to be a first.  He pulled open the door to the science buildings, then another door which lead to a utility room and it was only a matter of seconds before he stood in front of the door which led down to the electrical tunnel which ran beneath the town.  Probably the safest in an earthquake, less likely to split and dump a million tonnes of water on your head.  Mind you he thought as he tugged at the door.  Water’d be softer than concrete.  He tugged again at the door, the damn thing must have stuck with all the trembles.

He grabbed the handle and threw all his weight backwards.  There was a heavy thump and the door opened depositing someone on top of him.  He began wrestling with it, trying to break it’s neck, assuming it was a bringer. 

“Spike it’s me, you idiot.  Get the hell off me.” 

Spike jumped back in alarm.  “Peaches?”  He asked in disbelief.

Angel sprang up in game face.  “Show some respect to your grand pappy, Spikey and tell me what’s going on.”

“We’re scarpering, that’s what, before the roof comes down.” 

“Is Buffy..?  Is she okay?  Did you just leave her?”  Angel asked, not sure whether to be scared or angry.

“She’s fine.  She’s already outside.  Two of your boy’s came along with some great master plan and told us to hop it.”  Spike went through the door to the tunnels.  “Which is exactly what I’m doing.  You coming?”

“Yes and we’d better move fast.  If the master plan worked the whole school will go up anytime now.”

They both started to race down the tunnel side by side.  Spike began singing:

Na na na na, na na na na, na na na na…Batm…”

“Spike, I will stake you here and now if you finish that.”  

Spike chuckled but shut his mouth.

………………………………………………………………………..

Wesley and Gunn crashed through a window just as the ground beneath them went boom.  The shock waves carried them just a little bit further than they would have wanted to jump.  They both landed and rolled with minimum injury.

………………………………………………………………………..

The Slayers and the Scoobies were sitting aboard the yellow school bus.  Giles was at the wheel and the engine was running.

“I don’t think it’s safe to wait any longer Buffy.  The ground could go at any minute.”

“We’re not leaving until Wesley and his friend are on.  We’d still be down there if they hadn’t showed up.”  Buffy insisted.

“If Wesley and Gunn are here, do you think Angel’s here somewhere.”  Asked Willow

“I didn’t see him, did anyone else?”  Buffy said looking around.  Everyone shook their heads.  “Well that’s…”

Her words were cut dead by a loud bang and they all looked in shock as the school’s windows were blown out.  Seconds later they saw Wesley and Gunn running towards them.

……………………………………………………………………..

Spike and Angel rounded another corner just as the ground shook even more fiercely than before.  They both stumbled and fell to their knees as dust and mortar rained down on them.

“Come on, we’d better keep going.  That may have rocked the foundations enough to bring all of Sunnydale down on us.”  Angel pulled himself and then Spike up and they ran on.

…………………………………………………………………………

The Bus tore through the streets of the town.  The shaking ground causing it to jump and tilt alarmingly.

“We can’t leave the city limit’s, Spike’s under here somewhere.”  Said Buffy, staring intently out of the rear window.

“Yeah and Angel.”  Agreed Gunn.

Buffy’s head snapped round.  “Where?”

Gunn shrugged. 

Buffy’s attention was caught by the back window again as with a noise louder than sound, the new Sunnydale High School collapsed in on itself.  The rubble sinking below the ground.

The shaking stopped and ground grew still again.

……………………………………………………………………….

 “I still don’t know if it’s safe to stay in town.  The quake, while not very severe did last an extremely long time and I’m sure there must be structural damage to the buildings if not the very town itself.”  Giles was saying.

They were all sat in the Summer’s living room.  Everyone except Spike and Angel.  The wounded had been tended to.  Surprisingly the survivors had come through fairly unscathed.  Anya had the worse injury and now sported a big white wad of bandage over one side of her head.  Her ear had been sliced clean off, which as Andrew pointed out was better than a poke in the eye with a sharp thumb.  Xander had immediately agreed with this.  After Anya had been anaesthetised with lots of brandy she decided it must be fate and that her and Xander were obviously meant to be together. 

“We can be See No Evil and Hear No Evil, like the monkeys.”  She’d announced.

 Willow waited until Anya had anaesthetised herself to sleep before saying wasn’t it a shame she wasn’t ‘Speak No Evil’.  Xander had glared at her for that, but she was still all tingly from the spell and didn’t care.

“We wait until the morning, for Spike and Angel.”  Said Faith.  “If they haven’t made it here by then I don’t think they’re going to.”  She finished cleaning the wound on Buffy’s stomach and pulled a blanket over her.

Buffy had also anaesthetised herself to sleep, but she whimpered at the sound of Spike and Angel’s names.  Faith smiled down at her, wondering which vampire elicited the reaction.

She didn’t have long to wonder.

The last rays of sun left the front of the house and the strangely peaceful room was washed with shadows.

There was a loud rapping at the door, followed by both light and dark vamps falling through it in their haste to enter the room.

“Is everyone alright?”  Asked Angel.

“Where is she?”  Asked Spike.

Buffy gave a loud snore which caught their attention.

Spike shoved Angel out of the way and dropped to the side of the couch.  “Buffy, are you okay.”

Buffy blearily opened her eyes.  Smacked her lips a few times and finally focused on Spike.  Her face broke into a wild smile.  “Spike baby, your safe.”  She slurred and kissed him hard on the mouth.

When the kiss didn’t end straight away everyone turned their heads, embarrassed.  Angel coughed, obviously flustered.  “Is she drunk?”

Spike broke the kiss and leered up at Angel.  “You wish, mate.”

Buffy seemed to notice her ex in the room for the first time.  “Angel your okay.  What happened to you.”  She tried to rise but the pain from her stab wound was too much, so she sank back against Spike.

“I, uh, I was supposed to come up through the sewers, but I couldn’t get in, all the doors were jammed.”

“Yeah we stopped them all up.”  Said Robin.  “Stop any thing getting out that way.”

“Yeah good idea, I just wish I’d known.  Are you guys okay?”

“Yep, coulda done with you to chuck the semtex, you having that enhanced vampire speed thingy an all, but we got the job done, didn’t we Wes.”

“Indeed, and being power blasted through closed windows is quite the adrenaline rush.”  Wesley agreed dryly.

“What are you doing here anyway, Angel.  I told you to stay in LA.” Asked Buffy.

“I couldn’t let you face it alone Buffy.  And a second front would have been no good four hours away.  So I killed two birds with one stone and brought the second front to you.”  He smiled at her and she couldn’t help but smile back.

“Thank you.”

“Your welcome.”  He bent to kiss her cheek.

Quietly the LA gang left, leaving the Slayers and Scoobies to ponder the days events.

“So does this mean, because the first was made corporeal and Faith cut its head off, that we killed it”  Asked Andrew.

“I don’t think it’s possible to kill the First Evil, It’s everywhere all the time, kind of like carbon monoxide.  You just don’t notice it until it tries to kill you.”  Giles said.

“Well maybe we didn’t kill it, but I bet we spooked it enough to make it think twice before messing with us again.”  Said Xander, lightly stroking Anya’s hair.

“Well I for one say thank goodness for that.”  Said Willow snuggling further into Kennedy’s arms.

“Yeah we sure kicked some Demon ass, huh” 

“Dawn!”  Snapped Buffy, glaring at her sister.

“Ooops sorry, wrong choice of words.” 

“No pipsqueak I think you hit the nail on the head.”  Buffy turned her glare on Faith instead.  “What’s up B.  We did good.  Saved the world…again.”

Buffy’s face softened into a smile.  “Think this time we might get a plaque or something.  I’d like a plaque.”

THE END