Graduation Part II

By Paige Aarhus

Disclaimer- I don't own any Buffy characters. We all know who they belong to (some of us plot to kill him) so don't sue.

Author's note- I know, this story probably sucks. This is just my idea of one story of Graduation Part Two. I just had to guess at what it might be like. No mean e-mails please!

A cloud passed over the sun, and Buffy's stomach plummeted sickeningly. She heard the confused murmuring of the crowd, and peered anxiously around. She and Willow exchanged nervous glances.

"Don't worry folks, just a small solar eclipse. No need to panic," a cheery voice boomed. There were a few sighs of relief. Buffy bit her lip.

For a full minute there was nothing but dark, and Buffy was uncertain, unprepared. The sun had barely emerged again, when the mayor gave a twisted grin, and he seemed to change. It was not even physical at first, but an air, an aura around him, and the atmosphere turned from excitement to evil and death.

He smiled. "Of course, panic isn't always a bad thing!" and then he changed. In a matter of seconds his body twisted and jerked, morphed into a huge evil. At least 50 feet tall, a huge serpent with glinting red eyes, hideous and terrifying. Buffy had never seen anything like him, and she felt a fear that would haunt her forever. He was going to kill them all.

"Buffy." A chilling hiss wove its way through horrified screams of the graduates, and his eyes focused on her. His face seemed to be changing again, until she realized that he was smiling, a twisted, deformed grimace.

People scattered. Momentarily distracted, the mayor's head flashed down. Before a scream could be heard, a thrashing teen in a maroon robe was snatched up and devoured. Buffy dove under her chair. Her robe flew off, and her weapon bag was drawn from its depths. An axe, a crossbow, spell books, a mace, swords, a glittering shield, an assault rifle, and last but not least, a huge dagger, still stained with dried blood. Willow chanted in Latin for a few seconds, sprinkled some herbs, and suddenly she was surrounded by a blue aura. Less than a second later, the demon's head flashed down again, but he was actually thrown backwards by the blue shield. He roared and shook his gigantic head in anger and frustration. Willow looked terrified and shaken, but determined.

Buffy's mind flashed back to Giles' quote- "and the demon shall kill in a heartbeat, and can die the same way." The demons only weakness was his heart. She remembered her tart reply- "Geez, you'd think they could come up with something new! I get soo tired of stabbing hearts. They could at least try for eyes or bellies!" She gritted her teeth and reached for her crossbow. And leaped out of the way seconds before a mouth of stunningly
huge, sharp teeth hit the ground beside her. Without even thinking she grabbed the axe lying at her feet and plunged it into the demon's snout. Screaming hideously, he reared his head back and the axe went flying, spinning through the congratulations banner and lodging itself into a surprised Snyder's back. The small, evil man fell to the ground with a scream, and Buffy allowed herself a faint smile.

The demon belched flames. Buffy was so surprised she barely had time to jump out of the way. About a dozen graduates were not so lucky. By now most of the people had scattered and were screaming hysterically. A police officer made a vain attempt to shoot the creature, and his life ended quickly, with a short scream. Buffy was horrified. He was so big, so unstoppable. He was a beast vomited straight from hell, he was evil. She took a deep breath.

"Xander! Oz! Run! Go get some weapons! Get out of here!" she screamed. Willow had ran and grabbed the spell books, her shield following her, and she was chanting in a low voice, burning incense and candles. With a pained look, Oz turned from his redheaded hacker and ran. The demon didn't notice. Xander was already gone, and Oz followed closely. Buffy gave a relieved sigh.

Giles appeared quite suddenly. He looked shaken at what he saw, but ran to Willow. He couldn't hand her the book he carried because of her barrier, but she took it from him.

The mayor eyed Giles. Just as he was about to strike, a flaming bolt flew from a crossbow and struck him in the side of the neck. He screamed again in pain and frustration, turned, and dove at the brave little slayer again. She barely dodged, and rolled heavily into the chairs scattered haphazardly about.

"DIE," the mayor roared, and accompanied it with a blast of flames. Buffy rolled again, shaken and frightened. How was she going to do this? She squared herself, and turned to face him.

If you don't time this right, it's all over, she thought to herself.

The demon struck. He flashed down with terrifying accuracy and speed, and at the last moment, Buffy jumped into a perfect handspring, landing on his pointed snout. She grabbed hold as she was lifted 60 feet up and shaken furiously. A scream managed to escape her lips.

Now or never she thought, and drew the dagger. With a grunt, she drove the knife deep into the side of his face. Blue blood spurted out, and she cringed. She jumped off and grabbed hold of the knife, dragging it down the side of his face as she fell, leaving a deep rake. He bellowed so loudly that she nearly lost her grip. Disgusting as it was, the knife slowed her fall. She plummeted down his neck, aiming straight for the heart. The demon was somewhat hurt. A deep gouge from his face to his chest spurted blood. Before Buffy could reach his heart though, he gave a vicious shake and she was thrown ten feet to the ground. She hit the ground and nearly passed out, dazed.

Giles gave a cry of agony. His brave, smart young slayer was about to be devoured.

Willow looked desperate and triumphant. She finished her spell quickly "And as one demon rises, so will another! No longer banished from the sunlight! Terkana del losa! Enter into the sun!"

Angel felt it. He rose from where he lay, listening miserably to cries of terror. He opened his blinds. The sunlight hurt, but it did not burn. He opened his door and darted outside. He hadn't been in the sun in two and a half centuries. It was so strange. He raced towards the school grounds.

Buffy's eyes rolled backwards. The demon was thrashing wildly, but regaining composure slowly. He finally stopped squirming and stared down at the fallen girl. Her first and last attempt to kill him had failed. He gave another cruel grin, and reared his head back.

A knife pierced his tough chest. He was stunned. But it hadn't hit his heart. Glaring into the sunlight, Angel's aim had been off. But why was the demon out in the sunlight? Angel should be burning.

"No matter," he hissed, "You'll wish you had burned!" he struck down.

Angel morphed into game face. He snarled and dodged the demon, then used all of his vampiric strength to smash the demon on the head with a mace that was lying conveniently on the ground. He wondered vaguely how it got there.

"Now, our only question is, how do we kill you?" Angel sneered. He could feel the monster within him stir, but he didn't suppress it. Draining Faith had left him feeling strange- more powerful than ever and ready to kill. His fever cleared within minutes. He never knew how Buffy managed all of it- killing her former friend and partner, finding her body, bringing her to him, and then leaving to save the world from another demon. A true demon. She had an inner strength, a depth that he had seen so many times, but was still only beginning to understand. His heart swelled with pride for her. He loved her. How could she deal with everything that her life was?

His thoughts were slowing him down. The raging demon pulled his head from the ground, and struck at Angel sideways. Angel was ready, and struck another blow to the head that was bigger than he. The mace was dripping with blue blood the blood of a hell beast and Angel snarled at him fearsomely.

The mayor no longer went for eating him. He swung his bleeding head sideways, with awful speed and force. Angel was knocked off of his feet, and landed with a snarl. He was up in an instant, but barely in time to dodge another strike, more powerful and less desperate. This thing was unstoppable. The most powerful fighting force in the world had failed to kill him, and now he would too. With reckless abandon, he swung the mace around his head three times with all of his strength, and let it fly. It hit the stunned demon directly in the eye, and he went ballistic. His bellows split the heavens, and Buffy awoke slowly. Willow was looking horrified but powerful, more so than ever. A true Wicca, fighting evil with powerful magic. She was determined to stop it or die trying. She muttered some more, and her shield changed from blue to yellow. Getting weaker, but Angel was shocked and more relieved than ever in his life. His Buffy, his slayer, had a faint but strengthening yellow shield around her. Willow had saved her life once, now she was saving it again. Angel turned to the Mayor, and readied himself for a torrent of desperate attacks. The mayor was happy to oblige; he struck at Angel again and again until the vampire was exhausted from leaping, rolling, and crashing into things. He nearly tripped over the small form of a man, with an axe buried in his back, and roared in frustration. The mayor, no, the demon, was angry and regaining strength. His bloody eye stared blankly at Angel, but the other burned with a fiery, hell-born hatred. Angel swallowed and prepared himself for another strike. Instead, he was stunned as a wall of fire spewed from the demon's mouth, nearly burning him alive. Angel was tired of dodging. He was tired of fighting, and the combination of the fire and sunlight made his body ache for darkness. He gave a roaring snarl at the mayor, a sound reserved only for infuriated vampires. It would end soon, one way or the other.

He ran. He sprinted towards the small pile of weapons and dodged blasts of fire and a swooping demon head. He reached a shining shield, grabbed it, and threw himself to the ground, rolling. He felt teeth crash into the shield, and realized it must have magic protection. There wasn't even a small dent. His hand somehow closed over a sword, and he rolled to his feet, facing the demon. He realized with a sense of horror that this was the same sword that had sent him to hell. Never mind that, though. Kill this thing. This is the sword of a saintly knight, forged to smite evil. He faced the demon.

Buffy climbed slowly to her feet. The world seemed to be tinted yellow, but she felt so safe. She turned, and her heart went out to her beautiful Angel. He stood, facing a demon that towered above him, holding the weapon that led to his near insanity and the shield of Saint Ephestus, the blessed slayer of dragons. He truly was her knight in shining armor. She felt a deep love for him, a deeper bond. He was in the sunlight too she realized, with a detached sense of shock. But no reason to wonder why right now. There was a demon in bad need of slaying.

"Buffy!" Xander cried. The other sword whistled through the air, and she caught it easily with one hand. She felt all powerful- ready to kill. She thought sadly of Faith, and how it would help so much if she was here- cracking jokes and kicking ass. Of course, if she were here, she'd be trying to kill Buffy too. Buffy stared narrowly at the scene in front of her. The mayor was striking, a giant cobra dripping garish blood, and Angel was dodging and slashing again and again with the
sword. She turned for an instant, and saw Xander aiming a crossbow. Oz was kneeling next to Willow and trying to help her, and Giles was gone- probably for Wesley so they could do their Watcher thing… whatever that was.

She ran for the mayor, sword in hand. She was doing this for all of her friends, for Sunnydale and Angel and the entire world. One million tons of fiery lava or a long, sharp sword- what's the difference? She was the Slayer. All powerful, ready to kill him, ready to die with him if needed. Her friends, they deserved a graduation. She stared up at the beat. It was time now. She grasped the sword tightly, and plunged into battle.

Angel was down. The mayor was trying to remove the sword from his neck, but it was plunged in to the hilt. He was screaming in pain, and about to attack Angel for the last time. Buffy yelled to him,

"Hey! He's tired. Now, it's time for my fun!" She raced up to the mayor.

"This is for Faith," he rumbled sickly, and dove at her.

"This is for ME!"

She was on his head again, but a series of handsprings and she was at his neck. She dangled off of Angel's sword with one hand, holding her sword with the other.

"Now let's try this again, shall we?" she snapped. She plunged her sword in as he rose up, and slid down again. Once again, ha gave a wild thrash. Her grip on the sword was lost. She fell.

The mayor could sense her falling, and through his pain, he grinned. And then he screamed.

As Buffy fell, she grabbed hold of the dagger handle, still embedded from where Angel threw it. She slid down, pushing it in as deeply as she could, and felt it hit his boiling heart, slicing it straight through.

He bellowed so loudly she couldn't hear. She fell again, but landed well- on her hands and knees, and rolled to the side. She pulled herself to Angel. She was spent, she didn't even know what was going on. Agonizingly, she turned to face the demon.

He was dying. Part of her barely realized it, but she saw it. He was shriveling into himself, his heart was struck clean through. He spurted blue blood everywhere, he was a mass of cuts and gashes. He sickened her.

And then he fell. Straight down, straight towards Buffy. Pure reflexes- Buffy grabbed Angel by his shirt, threw herself on him, and rolled them both to the side seconds before a thunderous crash jolted them both, practically into the air. Angel was unconscious, but he groaned. He was definitely alive- well, sort of. Buffy was still lying on his chest.

The demon changed again. Shriveled more, and suddenly, through half-closed eyes, Buffy saw that he was a man again, a dead man gushing blue blood. She closed her eyes, and relaxed against the man she loved. His arms curled around her.

"Buffy!" Giles was at her side, worried. She groaned in annoyance.

"You're a bit late, Giles,"

She heard him give a desperately relieved chuckle.

"Yes. I-I-I- suppose so. You did very well. I-I'm very proud of you. Let's get you cleaned up now, shall we?"

Buffy gave another groan, of disgust. She was covered in blue blood, soaked in it. So was Angel.

"Buffy," his voice was soft. She kissed him, and he smiled faintly. His slayer was alive.

"Yeah. I'm here. We beat the bad guys. We both need a shower. End of story," she whispered softly. He sighed.

"Yeah. I can't move my legs," he was worried, and his eyes flew open.

"I'm sitting on them." She had a distinct feeling of deja-vu.

"Oh."

She knew then everything would be okay.

"Hey Buff. We beat him, hey?" Willow asked shakily. Buffy hugged Willow fiercely, and Willow didn't even mind the icky blood-stuff. Their shields had both dissipated.

"Buffy? I think that spell's wearing off," Angel looked very uncomfortable. He was smeared with blood and looked tired. The sun was starting to hurt more. He stood up, doubled over, and was grudgingly supported by a harried Xander. Xander smiled at Buffy. Oz came up behind Willow and wrapped her in a hug.

"Like I said, no will of my own," he said quietly.

"Let's go. We did it," Buffy sighed, contented. She still had a lot to deal with, and she had issues and probably broken bones. But she was happy.

They left.

The End