Title: The Last Stop Author: Evil Willow lcaspell@yahoo.com Rating: R Category: Story/Angst/Adventure Spoilers: General up to season 5 of Buffy. The Glory/Dawn storyline. Also for The Body. Pairings: Buffy/Angel, Anya/Xander, Tara/Willow and also Spike/Buffy in a very bizarre way Disclaimer: Not mine. Joss runs the show, even if he doesn't do it well. No copyright infringement intended, blah, blah, blah... Keywords/Warnings: multiple character deaths, blood/gore/violence Distribution: If anyone wants it, sure. Just let me know where it's going. Summary: Five years in the future, Buffy and the rest of the Sunnydale gang have a really, bad day. Author's Notes: Blame it on Dave Matthews. I swear, the song inspired this idea months ago, said idea refused to go away. It's sick, it's twisted, it's depressing, but I had to write it for the sake of my sanity. I'd say it's also a lot darker than any of my stuff til now, so I'd be interested to know if anyone likes it at all...The lyrics to The Last Stop are at the end of the fic, I didn't want to do a songfic and break up the emotion of the story. Author's notes2: ***** =an undefined passage of time. %%%%% blah blah blah %%%% = flashback. Dedications: To Dru for encouraging me and being my awesome beta. I can't believe my eyes as we drive down the street. It's pitch black outside, but it's only four p.m. Isn't it? I check my watch to be sure and yeah. So much has happened.... Dawn. The Key. My sister. She set all of these things in motion. She runs off constantly, ever since Mom died five years ago. I guess she ran off again today, but how was I to know that if she did, things would be different this time? I guess she ran straight into Glory's path. I wasn't there to stop her, I wasn't even there to go out looking for her afterward. I was stupid enough to leave her at home... but she WAS nineteen. I thought... It doesn't matter, just one more failure on my list. I was in the magic shop with the others. I guess just as we were reading that stupid prophecy, it was coming true. %%%%% Giles hands me the book. I read the article aloud. "Glory wishes to rule the earth, using demons as her source of power to help her do this. This is why she has been searching for The Key for thousands of years. The Key is an energy force, which, when used properly will open the hellmouth and free the demons to walk unrestrained upon the earth. There is an ancient prophecy which speaks of the day when Glory will find The Key in the possession of the Slayer. She will capture The Key and defeat the Slayer. This is what humanity has been dreading for thousands of years, for this will alow both Glory and all demons to have free reign over the earth." "Oh shit," I can't keep that from escaping my mouth as I look back up at Giles again. "One way of putting it," Giles agrees. "Why is it these prophecies never tell us when these fights are gonna happen?" I ask. Not that I expect an answer. As if in answer to my question, there's a loud explosion, followed by an earthquake. I didn't know Sunnydale had earthquakes. After we all get over the initial shock, we remember running for the doorways is a good idea. I don't know how I know then, but I do: Dawn's gone. Glory's got The Key. "Giles! What do we do?!" I yell as I try to stay on my feet. Again, I don't know what I'm expecting as an answer, but he's my watcher. I don't care if I am twenty-four, I still depend on him to tell me what to do. A crash of thunder drowns out anything he tries to say. I look out the window and see the dark storm clouds quickly moving in. %%%%% There have been several earthquakes since then. Buildings are collapsing throughout the city. That isn't the worst part, though. The worst part is the demons. There are hundreds... possibly thousands... of demons running through the streets, setting everything still standing on fire. The fire gives the city sky an eerie glow. To top off the image, people everywhere. They run around in a panic, screaming, being murdered by the demons, right in front of me. Whoever said 'This is the way the world ends...not with a bang but a whimper' really didn't get that right at all. 'Cuz this is a pretty big bang and I know it's not even close to being over yet. "WHY don't they just stay in their homes?" I ask. "I can't save them all!" "Of course you can't," Giles says. He puts a comforting hand on my arm without removing his eyes from the road. Guess he doesn't want to run over anyone...not anyone with a soul, anyway. "Your main concern has to be to stop Glory, Buffy." "HOW?" I demand. Giles just shakes his head. I was afraid of that. "If this is the end... I'm glad it was over more quickly for Dawn," I say as I look back out my window again. I can see in the rear view mirror that Xander and Anya are still behind us. That comforts me, somewhat. At least we'll all be together. she thought. Almost all of us anyway. But I am glad Angel's not here. I would rather know he's safe. For now anyway. I doubt anyone with a soul is going to be safe for too long, if I can't stop Glory. ************** I make a quick check to reassure myself that everyone is still intact. We got out of our cars and started walking. The general plan was make Glory come to us. Well we got the demons to come to us, but so far no Glory. I don't know how long we've been fighting. Hours? Days? No sense of time when the sun won't come up. My watch was ripped off my arm during a fight with a Mohra demon. I consider myself lucky that my arm wasn't ripped right off with it. We're in a cemetery near the Bronze now. I look over to the south entrance after I finally behead a slime demon. Xander and Anya have stationed themselves there to hold off any demons from getting in that way. Willow and Tara are about fifty feet away from me in the other direction. A group of vampires are keeping them busy. Where's Giles? Oh there, about a hundred feet away. He just beheaded a ...something. Oh shit, no. "GILES! BEHIND YOU!" I yell as the Chaos demon that approaches him from behind. I take off toward him but I have the sinking feeling that I won't get there in time. Oh god, no. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Giles turns around and the demon buries a sword in his stomach. "GIIIIIIIIIILES" I trip and fall to my knees, as I feel like I've been stabbed too. I don't even have time to process the whatever that tackles me before it disappears in a cloud of dust. I roll over and forget to breathe as I see my savior. "Angel?" He reaches out a hand to help me up and I take it. "How?!" "Cordelia. Vision," Angel replies in typical terse Angel-fashion. "I wish I'd gotten here sooner," he adds as he looks around. I won't look back at Giles. He's dead, I know it. Instead, I look in the other direction and I see that Cordelia, Wesley, and another man I've never met, an African-American, have joined the fight. "Doesn't matter," I say. "You guys are here now, and you're definitely needed." "NO! Leave him alone!" My heart stops at the sound of Anya's scream. I turn and run in the direction of her voice, as fast as I can run. I ignore the voice in my head that's telling me they're a good five hundred feet away and there's no chance I'll reach them in time. I WILL. I HAVE TO! I WON'T watch that happen again. I can save some of them, damn it! Xander's lying on the ground. Please don't be dead. Jump up, smile that smile that makes my life seem like it's half-way decent. Anya is pissed and you don't piss off an ex-vengeance demon. She tackles a vampire and stakes him without seeming to expend much effort. "LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!" I scream at her. She rolls out of the way as a very ugly blue demon with horns swung his sword at her. "NO! XANDER, DON'T!" I yell in horror as Xander jumps on the demon's back and is brushed off like a fly. Thank God I'm almost there. "FUCK!" I scream as about twenty vampires charge me out of nowhere. "DAMN IT ALL!" I yell. I have to stop and fight them. I see out of the corner of my eye as the blue demon turns back to Anya and slices her in two. Oh god, I didn't know Xander could scream like that. Everything seems to go into slow motion at that point. Stake, dust. Punch, kick, stake, dust. Stake. I see Xander run at the demon who grabs him and picks him up. Xan is thrown onto a headstone and I hear the sickening snap as his back was broken. The vampires are dust. But I was too late for it to matter. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Was that my voice? Somehow I've ended up on my knees again. Why is my face wet? "THIS ISN'T HAPPENING!" I scream to the sky. "WILLOW!" That was Tara's voice. Dear God. How much more do I have to take? I turn to look at the two witches and sighed with relief when Wesley steps in to kill the Chaos demons who are attacking them. I hear laughter. Glory. Glory laughing. I jump to my feet and turn to look. She's perched on top of a headstone nearby, smiling. "ARE YOU ENJOYING THIS, YOU PSYCHO BITCH?!" I yelled as I approach. "Is this how you get your opportunity to reign? By creating this war on the humans? Do you HONESTLY think that you'll have any kind of peaceful world this way?" "Who wants peace?" Glory shrugs. "I just like to see the rain of tears. Pain and suffering is so enjoyable." "The ONLY pain and suffering is gonna be yours!" I close the distance between us and swing my axe. Axe? Oh. Angel handed it to me. I stop to smile gratefully at him and return my attention to Glory. Glory grabs the handle, though, and throws it and me fifty feet away. Ouch. I think that's a sprained ankle. "I already won, Little Girl," Glory says. She slides off the headstone to her feet. "All you silly humans need to do is accept that I am the new ruler of this earth. Or you can die. Your choice, either one is fine with me." The fury overtakes me then. I run at her but Glory kicks out. She makes contact with my stomach and I go down again. Before I can recover, there's another powerful kick and I feel at least two ribs break. I grab her foot though before she can pull back. I pull her off balance; she shrieks as she falls uncermoniously to her ass. I have to laugh at that. I jump to my feet. "You should do something about your sense of balance. And by the way, Glory, about that little prophecy? It's not coming true. You will NOT rule the earth." "Oh?" Glory gets to her feet and grabs my neck. I can't pry her hands off as she lifts me off my feet. She laughs and throws me against the wall of a crypt. Okay. Dislocated shoulder that time. "Who's going to stop me?" Glory asks as she comes close. "I am," I gasp as I get to my feet slowly and painfully. "It's what I do. I'm the Slayer, I kill evil. You're evil, therefore I'm going to kill you." Glory stops in her tracks and laughs. "I know, I know. 'In every generation', yadda, yadda yadda..." She shrugs. "Do you KNOW how many slayers I've seen killed, in the past few hundred years alone? You're nothing different. I'll prove it to you. If you were so special, you would be able to stop this." She points. I don't want to look. I can't. Please. I do anyway, of course. "Oh, God, no." Cordelia, Wesley, and their friend are lying dead, by the north entrance to the cemetary. A good two hundred feet away from me. Close to them are Angel, Tara and Willow. Angel is trying to protect the girls from a pack of about twenty werewolves. He's bleeding from a gash in his side, all he has is an axe with which to defend them. "DON'T DO THIS!" I yell at Glory. "DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN!" I feel the tears streaming down my cheeks but I don't care. I know I can't save Angel, Tara and Willow. Maybe one, but not all three. I won't even make that choice. I'll convince...beg, if I have to. Glory's the only one who can stop it all. "It's not my concern," Glory replies, folding her arms over her chest. "It's what makes me a god they respect, Slayer. I let them do their thing, they help me rule." "What about us?!" I wonder. "You think I care about humanity? There's no purpose for you, all you know is selfishness, You're as evil as the demons, but you try to pretend otherwise. I prefer the demons, they're more basic. Simple. Honest." Glory says as she circles Buffy. "Does that make me a 'bad god'?" She airquotes the last two words. "I don't think so, Dear. I just treat you the way you deserve to be treated. "Don't you want to see your love's last moments, though?" Glory adds with a smile. I can't. I'd rather die. But I can't not watch, either. Werewolves jump at Angel and the girls, as ten vampires join the charge. I scream and run toward them. I'm almost there, please, God. "NOOOOOOOOO!" Fifty feet away and both Tara and Willow go down, werewolves tearing at their throats. A sob escapes me and I run faster, but I know... Angel is tackled by a vampire; he snaps its neck easily and jumps to his feet again. NO! Don't look at me! Watch-- "GOD, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" A vampire buries a stake in Angel's back. There is a moment when our eyes meet; I swear I hear the words, "I love you." Then he's gone. I hear a scream and I think it's mine. I double over and grab my stomach, I think I'm going to be sick. I'm sure my heart is broken; I want to be dead too. Why am I still alive? Why do I have to live? "NOOOOO! THIS ISN'T REAL!" I sob. "WHERE ARE ALL OF YOU FUCKING HIGHER POWERS! FUCK YOU FOR NOT STOPPING THIS!" Glory's laugh brings me back to the present."You are going to die for this," I promise, as I try to pull myself back together. "Isn't that line getting tired, Little One? I realize it's hard to let go of being The Chosen One, but it's over, Buffy. This is the last stop." With that, Glory turns to go. "WHERE ARE YOU GOING, BITCH?!" "What? I'm leaving, Buffy. I'm through, I've done what I needed to do in order to win this game. You may go. I'm not worried about you, you won't be any trouble for me, not anymore." Glory replies with a smile. "WHAT?!" "Tell me I'm wrong. Tell me you have anything left to fight for," Glory challenges. I... I... I look around myself. The bodies. The remains of the only man I ever loved. The body of the man who was more of a father than my biological father. The bodies of all my friends...No. More than friends. Family. All dead. Casualties of this war. A war they were never supposed to be part of. A war I got them involved in. So it all comes down to this: it's my fault they're dead. I might as well have killed them myself. A sob is torn from my throat as I start crying again. "That's what I thought," Glory says. She turns to go. I watch her, but I don't move. Glory can go. I don't care. There's nothing left. No point. This is the last stop. ************ I don't know how long I sit in the cemetery by Angel's ashes, crying. I slowly come to the realization that no other demons are coming for me. Glory just wanted to take away my reasons for fighting, she didn't even care about killing me. So I guess this isn't the last stop. Not quite. I stand and look one last time at Angel's ashes. If there is a higher power out there, I'll be joining you soon, My Love. I don't have to try too hard to find him. He is a creature of habit. "I'm ready to dance." He's watching his stupid television. I would find it funny if I could even manage a sense of humor right now. Spike watching television while the hellmouth opens. Go figure. He looks behind himself at me finally. He doesn't seem to have registered what I said. Shit, I don't feel like saying it again. Just take away all the pain, please. He gets off his chair and walks over to me. I catch a flash of sympathy, just a flash, as he looks down at me. Then it is replaced by the patented Spike-smirk, "End of the world happened finally, huh?" "Where were you?" I ask. Stupid question. "I was right here, Pet. Watching the telly." I nod. I should probably be upset about that. I actually thought he was...not a friend, but at least an ally. I even accepted the fact that he...loves me. It still creeps me out, but it's a fact I can't change. Besides, he's proven his loyalty to me, or so I thought. He got the chip removed two years ago. I'm the only one who knows about it. We were sparring one day and he got a good punch in. Broke my nose and didn't even flinch. I put a stake to his chest. I promised him that if he ever so much as looked the wrong way at me or my loved ones, I'd stake him. He promised and I took a chance he was telling the truth. I almost believed him; he fought by my side through many battles. Except this one. But what was I supposed to expect? Thinking rationally now, I was stupid to believe his 'love' for me would change who he is, fundamentally. He is Spike. He is a soulless demon. No conscience, just selfishness. The only reason he hasn't killed me or the others is because he thought if he behaved he could have me some day. Guess he was right. Because I can't find the energy to be upset with him for not helping us. It wouldn't help to be upset, anyway. It wouldn't change anything. Everything is still gone. I'm the only one left to bear the pain. Well, I don't want it. I wanted it to go away. Spike can make it go away. He's still watching me, half afraid that I'll beat him up and dust him. Well I'm glad there's still one creature on this earth that's afraid of me. "Doesn't matter," I say with a shrug. "It's all over, Spike. There's nothing left here for me. Just promise me you won't bring me back. I want this to be the last stop." Spike smiles. "I think I can arrange that, Luv." He pushes me back against the wall as he vamped out. I don't fight him, I'm not afraid. I'm ready. "It's a shame," he says as he takes my face in his hands almost tenderly. "I was beginning to think nothing would break you. What did it?" "They're all dead," I reply, almost a whisper. I have to close my eyes to shut out the pain. "Dawn. Giles. Willow. Xander. Tara. Angel," The last name comes out in a sob. "Ah." That's Spike's profound response. I open my eyes, surprised he's not got some snarky comment about anything I just said. There's no triumph in his eyes, though. That makes up my mind for good. "Just do it," I say. "I'm not going to change my mind." "Don't have to tell me twice," Spike shrugs. He lowers his face to my throat and I feel his fangs graze my throat. I can't help the shudder in reaction. He tightens his hands on my arms and sinks his teeth into my neck. I don't even feel the pain. I'm surprised at that. I just feel relief. Relief that soon it will all be over. I've gotten nothing but pain and agony for my loyalty to the cause. Let another slayer try to clean up the mess. He pulls away after quite some time. I'm still alive, barely, but I can feel the darkness moving in. "Such a shame," he says as I slip to the floor. "So long, Slayer. It's been fun. Now I gotta find that Glory and thank her for agreeing to let me have that dance...." Spike chuckles and walks outside, whistling happily. I lay here, darkness creeping in, and all I can think is: That fucking son of a bitch. &&&&&&&&&& The End FEEDBACK loved! lcaspell@yahoo.com Last Stop - Dave Matthews Band Fire The sun is well asleep The moon is high above But fire grows from the East And how is this Hate so deep? Lead us all so blindly, killing, killing Fools are we If hate's the gate to peace This is the last stop For raining tears... War The only way to peace? Well, I don't fall for that Raining tears You're righteous, so righteous, so righteous You're always so right Go ahead and dream Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one. Raining tears... Oh no Gracious even God Bloodied on the cross Your sins are washed enough A mother's cry: "Is hate so deep Must my baby's bones This hungry fire feed?" Smoke clouds roll in The symphony of death This is the last stop. Scream Right is wrong now Ha - shut up your big lie This black and white lie You comb your hair to hide Your lying eyes You're righteous, so righteous, so righteous You're always so right But why your lie Go ahead and dream Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one This is the best stop. Here there's always blowing up And I hope that we can break it down So it's not so black and white This is the last stop. Here there's more than showing up And I hope that we can break it down So it's not so black and white Black and white You're righteous, you're righteous, you're righteous You're always so right And there you are nailing good to a tree And then you say forgive me, forgive me Go ahead and dream Go ahead believe that you are the chosen one This is the last stop... Here there is more than growing up And I hope that we can break it back It's not so black and white So right...