In the last days, the signs shall appear. A baby shall be born with eyes turned inwards. Visions shall come of what is most feared. The Sleeper shall Awaken and the day shall turn to Darkness.

-Books of Gregorios, 879

Angel

It was worse than I thought.

Cordelia's good at exaggerating things, so I figured they weren't really holed up in my apartment refusing to speak. Of course, sometimes she just tells the truth.

"They've been down there for two days?" I asked.

"Uh.yeah!" Cordelia exclaimed. "What did I say?"

"I heard you. All he said was that he couldn't believe it?" I asked, wondering if Doyle would talk to me. I'd walked in to my living room and stopped. Neither of them had looked up. Doyle had been sitting on my couch with a shot glass in his hand. John was asleep opposite him. I'd gone back upstairs.

"He looked pretty stricken. And he stared at me for like five minutes! Just stared. It was kind of freaksome. Then he went straight for the whiskey. I should have known!"

"Right. I'm going to go talk to him," I said.

"Ya think?" I gave her a look and went down the stairs.

"Doyle?" I said softly, approaching the couch. He downed his glass and poured himself another, then looked up at me, squinting.

"Angel?"

"I'm back. I got kind of sidetracked," I apologized. "Can I sit down?" Doyle stared the seat beside him for a few minutes, then finally nodded.

"Go right ahead," he said, his voice slurred. I sat.

"Would you like to tell me about your vision?" I asked. Doyle downed the contents of the current glass and poured himself another.

"Not really."

"You want to tell me why you've been down here for the past two days drinking?" I asked, taking the glass out of his hand and setting it down on the other side of the table. He stared at his hands for a moment.

"I saw her."

"Who?" I asked gently.

"Cordelia."

"What about her?"

"She was dead," he whispered. I stilled, wondering what life would be like without Cordelia's odd commentary and frank statements.

"We can stop it," I promised him, knowing that whatever I felt at the thought was multiplied many times for Doyle, who cared about her more than either would admit, and furthermore had seen the vision. It's never the same second hand.

"We can't," he choked, his voice ragged. "I've been thinkin' about it.but they've all come true. Every single one. They're just warnings, so you can stop what comes next, but this one.God Angel, she's goin' t' die."

"No she's not," I said firmly. "I won't let her. We won't let her. But you're certainly not helping her down her drinking yourself into a stupor. Look at yourself. We have work to do. And I need you. Cordelia needs you."

"Right," he laughed bitterly. "Cordelia wouldn't need me if I was the last man on earth."

"You're a liar," I told him. "Come on, time for a cold shower, and then a nice long nap. You'll feel better in the morning."

"Sure, after hours of dreaming about her dead?" he snorted. "I don't think so!"

I tried to imagine having a vision of Buffy dead, but it was too painful to think of. Too painful to even imagine. I'd had so many nightmares of it, been shown it so many times as I suffered in Hell, but to truly believe it would come and there was nothing I could do about it-I couldn't even imagine.

"Come on," I said softly. "We have things to do."

Buffy

I broke Riley's nose. Oops.

That was pretty much the only thing I learned at school that week. The rest of the time I was trying to slow the extreme influx of demons into town, cramming for the finals I was pretty sure I was going to fail, and trying to convince my mother to cancel Christmas this year. I mean, I love Christmas, but I thought of all the places one could be when the Apocalypse came, Sunnydale probably wasn't the best. It took some doing, but I convinced her to visit my aunt. They'll fight the whole two weeks, but hopefully not die.

The really terrible part was we didn't know when. It could come any time. It could come that very second and we would be completely unprepared. Well, as unprepared as you can get when you've been gathering all the weapons in the county together. I had this odd feeling that thirty crossbows weren't going to do much good when it came to fighting these "Lords of Hell".

The whole Spike thing worked out. He was so excited at being able to bully other vampires that he was even willing to kill a few now and then. Thank god vamps all hate each other.

Anyway, I was at Giles' house, torn between my French notes and discussing possible attacks with Giles. He thought the Hellmouth would most likely open, and we should be there to combat it. Xander was firmly convinced that something was just going to come out of the sky and destroy us all in one big blast.

"You know, you were wrong about graduation," Willow informed him.

"Maybe I was sensing my death now," he said darkly. Willow and Oz were curled up on the couch. At least one happy thing was happening.

"Xander, could we please move on?" Giles asked. "With the.the Lords of Hell we can't precisely know what to expect, but we must assume that it will have something to do with the Hellmouth."

"So now we don't even know what to expect?" I demanded. Giles opened his mouth to reply, but I shook my head. "No, don't even say a word, unless it's a cheerful or excited word. Or a French conversation."

"Hey, guys, look at this!" Anya exclaimed from her seat near the window.

"What?" Xander asked, going to sit beside her. "Woah." I did my best to ignore them.

"Oh my," Giles breathed, having gone to stand beside them. "It appears you were correct Oz."

What were they looking at? I focused on subjunctif verb conjugations.

"Buffy, you might want to come look at this," Willow suggested. I sighed and put my book down, walking over with my arms crossed.

"What?" I demanded, nothing immediately obvious in the view.

"There," Xander said, pointing. I followed his finger to the horizon. And stopped. Because all along the edge of the sky, where there should have been more sky.there wasn't. It was just.gone. Black. Complete and utter darkness.

"Ouch," I heard myself say quietly.

"You can say that again," Xander agreed.

"Um, Giles, could we get on that research now?" I asked hopefully, eyeing the thing.

"Y-yes, of course," he stammered, not quite able to pull his eyes away from the slightly-pulsing dark line of sky.

The phone rang. And rang again.

"Someone want to get that?" Xander asked. Anya gave him an annoyed look and went for the phone. The rest of us kept looking out the window.

"Buffy?" she said a moment later. I turned, wondering who had called. Anya looked confused, and possible a little worried. "It's the hospital."

Faith

It was nice there. Maybe a little boring, a little clichéd, but nice. It looked exactly like the park I used to go to when I was little, before my mom got into alcohol. I know it wasn't, because they bulldozed the place to put up apartments later, but it looked the same. My mom was even there sometimes. She would braid my hair and we would lie on the blanket together, staring up at the sky. Or whatever that was.

Okay, I admit, having this pearly luminescent stuff instead of a sky and sun kind of threw me at first. But you get used to stuff like that.

I thought maybe it was Heaven. I mean, I remember dying. Or, almost dying anyway. I remember being so amazed that B had actually done it.and sad too. Not because I was dying, but because she'd given up that innocence of hers and actually done it.

Which, when I think about it, is really screwed up.

The weird thing was, I would hear her. Not all the time, but every now and then she would come and sit in the playground with me, or ride the merry-go-round, laughing and collapse next to me in the sand. Mostly she just talked. She'd tell me all this stuff, about how much she missed Angel, how many vampires she'd killed the night before, what it was like in college. She'd give me all the juicy details of her latest fights, or tell me what it felt like to be dumped by that sleazeball-what was his name? Parker. I told her to beat his ass, but she never seems to hear me.

Sometimes it makes me mad when she comes. Like how come she gets to be out there doing all this stuff and I'm stuck here-wherever I am? And who gave her the right to be nice to me? And why should I want that anyway?

Sometimes it makes me sad.

Oh God, does that sound pathetic. What am I? A freaking loser? It would be nice to get out and live a little though, y' know? Stuck here with no one to talk to, or fight.it gets kind of lonely. Not that I need anyone else, but.

Sometimes I like to see her. She doesn't seem to hate me anymore, though since this entire thing is obviously in my head, this whole "sisterhood" thing must be my subconscious playing some kind of crappy joke on me. It used to be fun hanging out with B though. She understood was it was like to be the only one. Even if she was a goody two shoes.

Then all of a sudden one day, it all went weird. The sky turned black and the park was gone-it was this weird barren landscape. Freaky cool. And I hear this voice, telling me that my time's up. What's that supposed to mean? Wasn't I already dead?

But suddenly I started thinking, maybe I wasn't. And maybe I didn't want to be. Maybe I could live some more. I know Wilkins is gone, B told me all about it. For a while I thought maybe there wasn't a reason to live. Maybe it was better she'd killed me, cause Hell, no one else cared, right?

And then standing out in the middle of this weird place, with smoke and fire everywhere, and this black sky, I thought, Maybe I could live some more. Maybe there's things left to do.

And the voice goes silent.

And I'm not there anymore.

The first thing I heard was this beeping, and it was speeding up. There was something on my mouth, and I reached up to pull it off and realized I hurt all over. God, I couldn't be dead. It wouldn't hurt that much. I gulped in air-stale, hospital air, I thought-and opened my eyes.

Sure enough I was in the hospital. A sign outside the door said ICQ. I was hooked up to all these monitors. The beeping was my heart. Across the room was another bed, with some old guy hooked up to all the same things I was. "Doctor!" I heard outside and people started to rush in, demanding if I was all right and how I felt.

I smiled and whispered, "Hello world."

Light alone cannot defeat Dark. Darkness itself must stand beside Light. So, in the end, must the Dark One stand beside the Chosen, or the End of Days shall truly come for all time.

-Writings of Arioch, 793 B.C.

Buffy

The news reports were pouring in from all over-skies turning black, raining blood, hundreds, thousands of "prophets" suddenly appearing, telling of the end of the world, deformed babies being born.Faith waking up. Xander was a little freaked out, to say the least. Not like the rest of us were in Utopia or anything, but Xander retreated to his basement with a bunch of old books and blockaded the door, calling whenever he found anything he thought might be helpful. He still let Anya in. Figure that one out.

We were all sitting around Giles' living room (our favorite meeting place lately, seeing as he had all the research materials) discussing Faith. Or, more accurately, what to do about her.

"She did try to kill Angel," Willow pointed out.

"Not to mention me," I added, arching my eyebrows at her. She flushed.

"Right." I shook my head, sighing slightly. I'd never really told any of them about the dream I had while I was in the hospital-the dream that helped me kill the Mayor. Had that really been Faith? Or just my own subconscious?

I tried to visit once a week. It's not like there was anyone else to care, and what if she could hear? It's not like she'd always been bad. She was just neglected. She didn't have what I'd had. You couldn't really blame her for what happened.well, okay, you could, but it certainly didn't hurt me to go talk to her, and maybe it helped her.

I wondered if she'd heard me. If she'd changed.

"Well we obviously can't just leave her to.her own devices," Giles said, sitting on the arm of the couch. I moved over to give him room.

"But we shouldn't just go attack her. I mean.maybe she changed," I pointed out, knowing I'd let hope creep into my voice.

"Who's changed?" a familiar voice asked from the doorway. I looked up and met her eyes. She grinned at me. "Aww, were you guys talking about me?"

"Faith," Willow said flatly.

"That's my name. So, B, what the sitch? I heard something about the end of the world. It's on all the news stations. Gone for the public approach, have we?"

"Not exactly our choice," I told him. "How are you feeling?" Faith put a leg over the back of a chair and slid down into it.

"Oh, I'm great. Never felt better.okay, so I have, but I'm awake right? No permanent damage done, B. Told you you couldn't."

I decided not to rise to her taunting. I was too tired and I didn't have time. "That's nice. Are you here to help, or to mock us with your health, cause personally, I'm not traumatized by the fact that you're all right. I'm even, god knows why, glad I didn't kill you," I told her, half sarcastic and half sincere.

"Y' know, me too," she grinned. After a moment, she lost the smile and looked around. "I know Wilkins is dead. I mean, you're all here, right? So it's not like I have any reason to fight you. And I'd rather not live in Hell for the rest of my life so.I'm with you."

"Promise not to kill anyone?" I asked, serious despite the teasing note in my voice. She returned the serious look.

"For now." Somehow, hearing something in her voice, I knew that it was a promise, and that it wasn't just for now. That something had changed.

"Good. So here's the deal."

Xander

We were going to die. Especially me.

I know I said the same thing before graduation, but this time I really knew it. I could feel it in my bones. I was going to die soon.

Why couldn't I have been born in some nice normal place like Cuernavaca?

I was kind of torn between not wanting to die and wanting to spend my last moments of life with the people I loved-I decided there were probably a few moments left, and I didn't want to see the sky anyway. Nothing says 'Death approaches' like the utter lack of a sky. Plus there's the whole Faith issue. Last time we were in close contact she tried to kill me. I decided avoiding her was the best policy.

And then, to top it all of, Angel called. Me. "Xander!" my mom yelled through the door. "There's a friend on the phone!"

I figured it was Buffy or Giles with more bad news. Imagine my surprise when instead I hear Dead Boy. "Xander?" he asked.

"Uh.yeah. Dead Boy?"

I swear, I could almost hear the non-existant sigh. That guy needs to learn how to breath. "Yes, it's Angel," he said.

"That's what I said."

"Right."

"Can I help you?" I snapped. "I'm a little busy contemplating my doom, so if you could get to the point."

"The point? I found a prophecy, involving you."

"How do you know?" I asked suspiciously, hoping this was a good prophecy.

"It lists off people.not by name, but it's pretty easy to see what's going on. By the way, has anyone checked up on Faith lately? Do you know if her conditions changed at all?"

"She woke up," I said dryly. There was a pause.

"Oh. How is she?" I thought about telling him she was fine and dandy, but since I knew that wasn't what he meant, and he knew that wasn't what he meant, I decided against it.

"She's with us. Or so she says," I replied darkly.

"Oh good. She's supposed to be."

"Supposed to? What does that mean?" I asked.

"Prophecies. The one I was speaking of.included Faith as well."

"So what does this prophecy say?" I asked, flopping into a chair and propping my legs up on the bed.

"That by banding together we'll delay the End of Days." Sounded good to me.until I realized exactly what he'd said. I sat straight up.

"Delay?!"

"Unfortunately yes.but that is better than nothing."

"Oh yeah, cause I'd so much rather die next week," I snapped.

"Xander, Buffy needs your help. Cordelia needs your help." His voice sounded extremely troubled at the second (not like he was all chipper about Buffy).

"What about Cordy?" I asked, frowning.

"She's.we'll take care of her," Angel said, not sounding extremely sure about the fact. "But I'm calling to make sure you help. Without you, Willow, Giles and Faith, Buffy won't stand much of a chance. Do you promise you'll help?"

"You didn't need to call," I said softly. "I would have helped anyway."

"I know, but I had to. I.thank you," Angel said, sounding just a tad on the emotional side. Woah. That guy really must be wigging out. Not that I blamed him, since I was a little on that side too.

"Sure. You.take care of yourself Angel. Buffy would be very upset if anything happened to you," I told him, sounding a little awkward. He made this odd sound, almost a bitter laugh.

"Yes, I'm sure she would be," he said, his voice tinged with bitterness and sorrow.

"Yeah, she'd come kill you for not taking care of yourself," I assured him.

"I have to go Xander. Thanks," Angel said.

"You're welcome.Good bye," I said, and hung up the phone, wondering what I was missing, and if Angel was this worried, maybe I should just kill myself now and save the Lords of Hell the trouble.

And that was the last time we talked before I died.

Cordelia

I was just walking to work. I knew I should have taken a taxi! But I didn't think I could afford it, what with the End of Days or whatever coming soon.though it was bringing in a lot more business.but Angel tended to ignore the business and spend all his time researching prophecies from like, a thousand years ago. But I digress.

I was on my way to work. It was kind of freakish, cause it was eight in the morning, and the only blue sky was this teeny tiny little fringe on the very edge, and you couldn't see the sun at all. The entire street was dark, likeon a moonless light, and all the street lights were going.it was majorly weird. Also hell on my sleeping routine. You know, if you coordinate sleep with when it's light, you look much more rested. Minimizes bags under the eyes and so forth.

All right, I was going to work, and the whole place was dark, like it was the middle of the night, except more crowded. On every corner there was one or more people talking about the end of the world. This one guy actually tried to grab me. Whatever!

"You have to listen," he said in this weird breathy tone. "It's coming."

"Duh!" I exclaimed and yanked away from him, walking as fast as I could down the street. I decided rather than weaving through all the crazy people and the ones trying to go to work like I was, I'd go down the alley.

I think it was the dark getting to me. I must have learned a little more than that in all my time working for Angel! Of course, I had my pepper spray and a stake, so I figured I was protected.

Right.

I was about two blocks away from the office when the entire world went as black as the sky.

Life is a gift from the Great Powers. They created the world, and they created everything that lives on it. But what lives below, they did not create. There are dimensions that do not have anything to do with the Powers. There are dimensions that can never and will never see the light of the heavens.

And so it is, that what the Powers did not create, will be the downfall of all they did.

-The Bulaik, 376 B.C.

Angel

I told him I'd protect her. I'd keep her safe. That we wouldn't let anything happen to her.

I wish Doyle would hate me. It'd be easier that way.

"We'll get her back," I told him, not believing myself even as the words came.

Doyle didn't even look up. He was drinking again.

"You know, that's not the way to handle this," I said firmly.

"You have a better one?" he asked.

"We go looking. We try and save her."

"She's already gone Angel," he said hollowly, and I realized that his glass was still full. He hadn't been drinking, just pretending he was. "I can feel it."

I felt a chill at the words, at the utter lack of anything is his voice. The brutal honesty.

I wouldn't let it be true. I would fight. I would stop it.

If Cordelia died, it would be on my hands, and this was blood that would never wash away.

"Come on, we have to look for her. I can go outside at least," I said, bitterness creeping into my voice. The thing that allowed me to walk freely outside was the thing signalling the end of everything I held dear.

No, not everything. I wouldn't let myself believe that.

"It won't do any good Angel," Doyle said quietly. "She's gone man. She's gone, and the end is coming."

"I never figured you for a quitter," I said, hoping he would get angry and in that anger find some reason to go on. To hope.

He just sat there. "Sometimes there's no reason to keep going."

I thought about that. I thought about my reasons. There are two really, two things that keep me going. Trying to help, to make amends. And Buffy.

If Buffy was gone, I don't think the first would motivate me much. But she wasn't, yet. And I wasn't going to let her die. I wasn't going to let any of them die. "Come on," I said again, grabbing his arm and hauling him up. "We're going to look for her."

He walked along beside me without a fight, but I could tell that it was just his body. It wasn't really him. He'd left me when we walked into Cordelia's apartment and she wasn't there. He just.left.

We went upstairs. Out the door.

The first thing I noticed was that the sky was gone. Completely. It was just black. Not even black.it was the absence of anything. It was dark, it was nothing. It swallowed whatever light came near it, as it had swallowed the sky.

I looked at my watch. The twenty first of December. The Winter Solstice. The day the sky dissapeared.

We walked towards one of Doyle' friends' places, to see if he knew anything. Halfway there, they surrounded us. There were ten Mohra demons. And they carried a body.

I thought about crying out and dropping to my knees when they threw her to the ground, but I couldn't. I couldn't move. There was this sound from Doyle, like a low moan, like something inside him had broken. Something inside me had.

"It's here," one of them said. "The End of Days is upon us."

And then, as the world exploded into fire, they attacked.

Buffy

Willow woke me up at ten, nearly hyperventilating. Not that I can blame her, seeing as she figured out that the alignment of the stars strongly suggested that the End of Days would be well.that day. I promised I'd get up and come over.

I'd convinced my mother to go away and therefore had the house to myself. Lucky me. All I could think about was that pretty soon the entire thing would be dust, and even if it wasn't, it didn't matter cause who wanted a big house to themselves? Pretty much, I was lonely.

So I did an insane thing. I invited Faith to stay with me.

She got this look on her face for a second, like she couldn't imagine such an amazing thing had happened to her, and then she shrugged and said she'd think about it. She showed up at my house that night and I let her stay in my mom's room as long as she promised not to break anything. She did. Promise, that is, not break anything.

I got up and knocked on Faith's door. "Yeah," she called. She was awake and dressed.

"We have problems. Like today being the last day.ever," I said, leaning against the doorframe. She hopped out of bed.

"Give me something to fight."

I glanced outside and realized the sky was completely black. A chill ran up my spine.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

We never got to Giles' house.

They started coming out of the air. They just.appeared. Like something cut the air and they stepped through. Demons. Lots of them. Faith grabbed the first one and I kicked it in the stomach, then in the face, then punched it. Faith cracked it's neck and we left it, lying there and started to run towards Giles' house.

"Told you it wouldn't be a problem," I told her as we ran. She laughed.

"I get to hit the next one."

"Go right ahead," I said, doing a running jump-kick into a big winged thing. It stumbled forward and Faith was on it in a moment, pulling out a knife to plunge into it's spinal chord. I shuddered when I first saw it, and told myself it was another knife. A knife I gave her. She looked up and met my eyes and I looked away, not wanting to show her the fear still lodged in my heart.

She didn't have a chance to ask. Another demon descended on us from above. I grabbed one of it's legs and tried to drag it down so we could fight it, nearly getting myself scratched to death in the process.

"Like this!" a familiar voice yelled. The thing stiffened and fell. I barely got out of the way. Spike was standing on the other side of it, a crossbow in his hand. "Get them in the neck. The spine," he said.

"Well that'd be great, if I had one of those," I replied, trying to hold done fear as another demon appeared out of nowhere. They were everywhere. Down the street I could hear screams. Someone ran by, a demon on it's heels.

"I got it," Faith said. I nodded and she turned to run after it.

"Where ya headed Slayer?" Spike asked.

"I was thinking Giles'," I replied, exchanging blows with a vampire. He hit me in the stomach and threw me backwards. I rolled with it and came up to face off against a Mohra. Spike had the vampire. I grabbed a stake from my pocket and rammed it as hard as I could into the Mohra's jewel. It exploded and the thing began to fizzle. "Come on!" I yelled to Spike, beginning to run again. There had to be a way to stop this. There had to be an explanation at least.

I ran straight into some big ugly thing and decided I really didn't like this plan.

"Bloody hell!" Spike yelled from behind me. I kicked the big ugly thing where it hurts and spun around. Spike's arm was on fire. I swore under my breath and beat it out.

"What happened?" I demanded.

"Shaggin' demon breaths fire!" he yelled, gesturing at some demon that had moved on to set a house on fire. "Watch out!"

I ducked as the demon swiped at my head, then came up and hit it. Spike shot his crossbow straight into it-from about a foot away. It went flying backwards and lay there. I looked at the beginning fire, then down the street where there were people running from more demons, then towards Giles' house. This was not going well. We had to band together. Apparently Angel had found a prophecy saying that only by banding together could we postpone the Apocalypse.

"Come on, we have to get to Giles and Will," I said. We started to run. More of the fire-demons were appearing. Others were crashing into buildings, sending those inside spilling out screaming.

The world was turning to Chaos, and above us the darkness pulsed, nothingness mocking me.

I wanted to stop it. I wanted to save them.

I didn't know how.

"Buffy!" a voice screamed. I spun around to see Xander and Willow running towards us. I started towards them, as fast as I could. A building crashed down between us, glass shattering, wood flying everywhere. Above it flew ten of the Korika demons, only bigger than the ones I had seen. Everything slowed down. One of them swooped and it's talons caught Willow's shoulders, lifting her. Xander yelled and grabbed her legs, holding her. A second demon grabbed Xander, it's talons raking his chest.

"No!" I screamed, struggling to climb over the rubble of the building. "Xander! Will!" Spike shoved wood out of the way.

"Bloody friggin' hell!" he yelled. I didn't have time to swear. I fell between to pieces of wood and screamed inwardly. The demons were lifting them. Willow was screaming. Xander was.his eyes were closed. He was quiet and.

"No!" I screamed again, unable to comprehend that he might be dead, that Willow might be soon, that everything was falling apart, that this was the end of the world. I wanted to scream and scream and keep screaming forever.

The Hellmouth exploded.

When all is lost and the darkness reigns, then shall the Lords of Hell rise. They shall see all Light and shall extinguish it. They shall reign supreme over the world. No human shall be able to face them, no one but the joining of the living and the un-living, the Dark and Light.

-Book of Demons by Augustus Cratorius, 593

Angel

I killed two right away-one with a knife thrown into it's jewel and the other a moment later, with a stake. "Destroy the jewels in their forehead," I told Doyle, feeling my face morph as I blocked a blow.

He didn't reply. Not exactly the time for easy banter. His face changed too, and he immediately gained strength, sending a demon sprawling back with a punch. I decided he could take care of myself and focused on the ones attacking me. I flipped one to the ground and kicked another. A third hit my head from behind and I growled, hunching over and twisting to hit it in the gut. Whatever kind of gut these things had. My knife was on the ground, a few feet away. I threw off one demon and dived for it, barely getting it in my hand when another leapt on me. I turned and pushed it off with both legs, then flipped myself up, ramming the knife into a demon's jewel. I spun as it begun to disintegrate and ducked a blow. A second one caught me as I was low, propelling me backward. One leaped on me as the other grabbed my legs and I yelled, my hand nearly cuaght beneath it's weight.

"The End is here," the thing growled.

"You mentioned that already," I replied, and pullled my arm free, hitting it's jewels. It looked surprised and I pushed it off. Doyle grabbed the demon holding my legs and I jumped to my feet, immediately assaulted by three more. Beyond the demons I could see the street, in chaos now, as demons appeared out of nowhere, destroying houses, setting things to flames, killing innocent people. The explosion earlier has destroyed an entire block nearby, and the fire was rapdily spreading. Smoke filled the already dark air, and ashes.

The ground began to shake.

The End of Days indeed.

"Angel!" a strangled cry sounded. I punched the nearest demon and turned, watching in horror as Doyle fell to the ground, a hole torn open in his stomach, his guts spilling out, onto the street. "Get to Buffy," he managed. "Needs you."

And then he died. In one moment the best man I have known in centuries died. I watched him die.

I will never forgive myself for that.

There was no time to mourn. I spun and knocked two heads together, destroying both jewels at the same time. A shoved my knife into another, and glanced back at the bodies of my friends.

It would do no good to try and take them. Once this was over, if I lived, I would give them a memorial.

Now, I had to try and live.

Buffy, Doyle had said. Buffy needed me. If L.A. was in chaos, what was it like on the Hellmouth? There was obviously nothing I could do here. I could die trying to fight the demons, or I could die trying to get somewhere where there might be something I could do. All the prophecies said we must work together to triumph.

She had to be alive. She had to. Or life itself would be worth nothing.

The city burned. I began to run.

Faith

After I killed the demon I thought about going back to find B, but I figured she could take care of herself. Besides, I don't like sharing.

I decided to go towards the old library, the Hellmouth, see what was happening there. I mean, this was all coming out of Hell, wasn't it? Wouldn't the Hellmouth be the most happening place at the moment? Plus Giles' house was on the way, and I figured if anyone knew what was going on, it would be him. Coolest Watcher I ever met. Knows how to lie too.

I was running through the streets, killing demons as I went, when I ran into-what's her name?-Anya. "Faith!" she yelled, and I stopped and turned.

"What? I'm kind of busy." She rolled her eyes.

"Giles says we have to meet up. Xander and Willow went looking for you and Buffy."

"Yeah, well B and I split up a little ways back. Spike was with her," I explained, looking around for something to hurt. The blood was pumping through my veins like I was high or something. High on the fight, I guess. It's.exhilarating. That kind of power. It makes me feel alive.

The killing, I've decided, isn't great. And beating up on people who can't fight-well, that's plain boring. No, it's the demons that do it for me. They can give you a run for your money.

"Well come on, we have to go meet with Giles. He's at the old high school wreckage. Said we all had to be on the Hellmouth or something," the former demon explained. I shrugged.

"Sounds good to me. Just let me kill this, and I'll be right with you," I said, gesturing to an approaching vampire. I swung around and kicked him sending him flying back in the air, and threw a stake at his back when he tried to run away. He exploded into dust and I turned back to Anya. "Let's go."

We ran. Seemed to be doing a lot of that. I paused to kill a few demons on the way and ran faster. Anya lagged behind a little bit. Hate when they can't keep up. Nice thing about B-she can. Usually.

"Hurry up!" I yelled after decapitating some big hunking thing with it's own sword.

"I'm trying!" she yelled back, speeding up a little. All of a sudden, some demon appeared right in front of her, and before I could react (or she could for that matter) she was on the ground, partially decapitated herself. I killed the bastard and spent a moment staring down at the girl. Xander liked her a lot. Silly boy. Sweet though.

Damn. I hate when that happens.

I turned away and started running again, trying to find Giles. Giles would know how to stop it.

Which was when the Hellmouth exploded.

It wasn't like exploding exactly. I mean, it was, but there was more to it-stuff came out. Like, worse than the stuff before. Way worse. I swear, this thing was three hundred feet tall and wicked-ugly!

And it looked straight out me. How the Hell did that work?

How the Hell. Right.

I turned and ran. The other way.

"Fuck!" I yelled. "Fuck fuck fuck!" Giles was dead, if he'd still been on the Hellmouth, which was pretty likely. Anya was dead. Some giganto thing that was probably a Lord of Hell was looking my direction.where was Buffy? And Spike? And anyone else who could fight the damn thing?

Not that I didn't want to fight it. I just didn't really want to die.

The streets were worse than when I'd come through the first time. Half the houses had collapsed, and the other half were on fire. People were everywhere, screaming, milling around, being eaten by demons. Demons were even more ubiquitous.

Now where'd I learn a word like that?

I heard a familiar sounding shriek and turned down a side street, running till I reached the rubble of a building. It was Buffy. She was almost over the rubble, and Spike was beside her. He pointed up and I looked. Far above us, about ten demons were throwing bodies back and forth. Bodies that looked a little too familiar.

No wonder she was upset.

"I'm going to kill them," Buffy said through grated teeth, her eyes pale sparks, sharp as swords.

"Yeah, good for you," I snapped. "Can we get on that now? Cause Giles was on the Hellmouth, with just exploded, and look, there's a big monster coming to get us!" I gestured towards the thing and Spike burst into a string of expletives.

"You said you were going to bloody stop the shaggin' thing!" he yelled.

"You want to die?!" Buffy screamed back. "Cause you're really close!"

"Shut the Hell up!" I yelled. "We have to fight it. Buffy, you distract it. I'll kill it."

"You don't get it," Spike snarled. "You can't kill a bloody Lord of Hell!" B looked a little pale.

"Well fuck that," I said. "If we can't kill the big one, we should at least kill some small ones. Better than standing around here."

"Then let's do it," Buffy said, looking pale.

And we did.

Spike was the first to fall. A vampire shoved his own stake into him. We kept fighting, and they kept coming, out of nowhere. Thousands of them. When we started fighting, the streets were full of people. By the end, it was just us. And a whole Hell of a lot of demons.

I was living, really living. I could feel the energy, the blood in me, the feeling of ultimate freedom, ultimate pain. I was fighting.

They finally got me. I don't know about Buffy. Something pierced my lung, I could feel it, and as I started to fall, I saw her face. Her eyes were so sad, which surprised me. Why should she care about me?

Did I care about her? Who knows. It was a little late to try and find out.

"It was fun," I murmured, and as they covered me and I couldn't even see the darkness of the sky anymore, fear set in. I thought about the park, and my mother braiding my hair, and wondered if that's what it would be like when I died. "I woke up for this?" I asked aloud, and then the end came.

Buffy

I hid. After Faith died I ran, and ran and ran, and everywhere I went the people were gone, were dead. The entire town was demolished. The population of it was gone.

I think I was the last living person in the city.

I crawled under a demolished building finally, and I hid. I know it was the cowardly thing to do. I know I was weak and afraid. But what good would it do to die? And die I would. Nothing could stand against that many. Nothing.

And above them all, the Lord of Hell watched us.

Time meant nothing. I didn't think, I didn't feel. I curled into a ball and didn't sleep, but I wasn't awake. A haze took over, this odd dreamlike feeling where all I could see was them slipping away from me one by one, where I was screaming, standing beneath that black sky and screaming all the horror of that day.

My life was gone. Maybe I still lived, though I wasn't completely convinced about that one, but my life was over.

They were all gone. All of them.

Well, maybe not all.

I think that was the only thing that kept me alive for however long I huddled there, beneath wood and brick, with terrible cries coming from the outer world, with the sound of flames, with the earthquake that shook the ground. And then, later, with the silence, that terrible, terrible silence of a world lost. The only thing I could hold on to.

He might still be alive. He might. And maybe it was only Sunnydale. Maybe it was only the Hellmouth. Maybe I would walk out of the town and things would be all right. I wouldn't have them back, but I would have the world, and he would be alive.

I didn't exactly think all of this. I couldn't think. My mind just wasn't functioning like that. I couldn't process anything, or believe that it was real, or that it was a dream.

I closed my eyes and listened to terror.

Two shall survive the tempest. Two shall stand alone, together, and face the Darkness that shall kill all it touches. No physical force may defeat it, but only the purest of souls, joined forever. To this end, these Two, the Warriors, the Creators, must face the ultimate Darkness and walk into the Mouth of Hell.

-The Tomes of Light, 999

Angel

The world had turned to ash and smoke, to fire and darkness, death and pain.

The world had turned to Hell.

It took me longer than I'd thought to get through the streets, to find a car and get out of L.A. Everyone and their mother had the same idea. Except they were trying to get away. I was trying to get to her.

Too late. Oh God it's too late.

Sunnydale was gone by the time I arrived. A few structures were partially standing, but most were demolished or burned to the ground. Many of the fires had burned out, with nothing left to feed them, though here and there they still smoldered, sending smoke into the already polluted air. Everywhere, the bodies. Most of them weren't even whole.

The demons had abandoned the town, in search of more humans to kill, I'm sure, more buildings to destroy. The open wound of the Hellmouth was visible from the other side of town, a smoldering hole in the ground. Smoke poured up from it, filling the sky, the air. At least I didn't have to breath.

My world ended when I heard that awful stillness. Nothing lived in Sunnydale. Nothing.

My legs gave out and I fell to my knees on the ash-covered ground. "I gave up humanity for this?" I screamed, the cry torn out of my soul.

And then, in the smog, something moved. Something.

I didn't dare to hope, to think. My heart supplied a form and the smoke shaped itself to fit my dreams. And there she was, walking out of the darkness, her eyes holding all the darkness the world possessed in their light, tragic gaze.

She stared at me, as if unable to believe that this was real, unable to say what was reality, or if reality existed at all. Our gazes met and held, sanity in the midst of chaos, or perhaps the other way around.

Her lips moved, and I had to strain to hear her whisper. It carried across the distance, a plea and a cry. "Angel?"

And then somehow I was moving forward, and so was she, and she dropped to her knees beside me. Our bodies met and I enfolded her in my arms, holding her so tightly that I wasn't sure she could breath.

She was alive. She was alive.

She began to shake, sobs ripping through her though I don't know if there were any tears. Her entire thin frame shook, shuddered in my arms as the earth had shuddered what, and hour before? She shook with grief and pain and I held her as if I would never let go. I don't think I ever would have, if I could help it. I tasted the salt of tears and realized they were mine.

The world around us was fire and ash and I knew, finally, what it was to be afraid.

Buffy

I calmed down eventually. Angel and I decided underground would be the best place to go, that way no flying demons would see us. We decided the less attention we brought to ourselves the better. For now, anyway. We retreated to the sewers.

It's impossible to describe that first day. When I first saw him.I had lost everything, my entire world, and I found him. My ray of light. My one little bit of hope. And there he was.

Everything else was gone.

Angel told me what had happened in L.A. Meaning it wasn't just in Sunnydale. Meaning my mother was probably dead too, and my father and all my relatives. Everyone. And if they weren't already, they would be soon.

I didn't even want to live. Except to kill them. Except to kill all the things that had done this. I didn't really think that was possible.

"What are we supposed to do?" I asked, curled up in Angel's coat in some vampire's underground lair. "I mean, if we try and fight, we'll die. If we don't.what's the point?"

"Shh," he said softly, stroking a piece of hair back from my face. "We don't need to think of that now. We need to rest, and then we'll find a way, we'll find something-" I didn't bother to laugh. A way? There was no way left. Nothing.

"Angel?" I asked softly, just to hear him answer.

"Yes?"

"What did you mean when you said you gave up humanity?" Of all the things that had happened, this was what came to mind. I guess it was more productive than talking about how they all died, how our world had ended. Kept our mind off things like that.

"I.Buffy, when you came for Thanksgiving.Never mind." I frowned, looking up at him sharply. He stood up and turned away, walking over to a nearby table.

"What?" I demanded. "Don't tell me never mind. What happened?"

"It doesn't matter. It would just make it harder Buffy. Let's just.how did you escape?" he asked, changing the subject. I frowned, but let it drop for the moment.

"I hid," I said softly. He turned back, leaning on the table.

"Where?"

"In a collapsed building. After Faith-they were all dead," I said softly, my voice breaking. "I couldn't do anything, so I hid."

"It was the only thing you could have done," he told me firmly, but that didn't make it any better. Didn't make me any less of a coward.

"Right. The only thing I could have done."

He heard it in my voice. Of course he did. Angel can hear everything in my voice. He walked over and knelt beside my chair, taking my hands in his large, calloused ones and holding my eyes. "Buffy, if you hadn't walked out of the smoke, if you had died, I-I wouldn't even have the strength to kill myself. I would have been dead, already. You're the only thing that is keeping me alive right now. Don't ever doubt that you did the right thing."

He sounded almost fierce. Dear God, he looked so desperate, so hurt, so needy. Just like I felt.

"And if you hadn't been there? What do you think would have happened to me?" I asked softly, my eyes tracing every line of his beautiful face, capturing the darkness in his eyes. My hands slid out of his and up to his face, tracing over the curve of his cheek, his lips.

"We don't have to think about that," Angel said, and I wished to whatever powers there were-though at the moment, I didn't really believe in any-that he was right.

"Just hold me Angel," I begged, and slid off the chair into his arms. And he held me through that long, long night.

Days passed, hours sliding by, or lingering sometimes, holding me captive in memories. I didn't keep track. I didn't really care. At some point we realized we needed food and water, and went scouting.

The outside world hadn't changed much. Only a few, tiny fires burned anymore. The ashes had mostly settled to the ground. Everything smelled of the decay of corpses.

We went to the collapsed hospital and found a few whole blood packets for Angel. In one of buildings that was half-standing we found a pantry, a couple boxes of cereal that hadn't burned and some cans of soup. Water was a problem. It had all turned dark. We ended up boiling it, figuring that would get out any bad stuff, and I drank as little as I could.

Sometimes, I wondered what the point was. Why were were even trying. And then I looked at Angel and knew he was my point, and I was his.

At some point we went to Giles' house. What was left of it. Most of the library was burnt, but we found a few big old books and lugged them back to our hideout. We spent all day-or all night, I don't know-poring over them, looking for something, anything. Half the time I didn't even see what I was reading. I just zoned and looked, and looked and looked. All those words. And nothing to save any of them.

How could they all be gone? How could that happen so fast? One minute they were there and the next.

I didn't think about that. I just read. And slept. And ate when Angel reminded me. Once he had to hand feed me, I was too tired and numb.

I never, ever, want to think of how those days felt. I never want to remember.

Angel found it. Of course. I think I could have looked right at it and not noticed a thing.

"The Mouth of Hell," he repeated slowly, when he'd finished reading it to me.

"Oh, what could that possibly be?" I asked.

"We have to try," he said softly. I smiled softly at the hesitation in his voice. Did he think I'd object?

"I know. Any chance at defeating what did this is better than.than this," I said, suddenly clear for the first time in.days? Had it been days? Or weeks? I hadn't been paying attention.

What if we succeeded? What if we changed the world back? Would we be the only two people left on it, and one of us not even alive?

I didn't let myself think of that. Surely there were still people alive.somewhere.

"Let's do it tomorrow. I'll read more and see if there's anything else we should know," Angel said. "And you should get some sleep."

I shook my head and reached one hand out to touch his face. "You think I could really sleep? Especially without you?"

"All right," he said, catching my hand. "We'll both sleep." He caught me and picked me up gently and walked over to the bed (yes, there was a bed. What is it with vampires and satin sheets?) We lay down and he curled around me, his hand twisting into my hair. I closed my eyes and felt the oddest kind of peace. We had a purpose now, a way. And even if we lost, if we failed, we still tried.

I didn't know if I wanted to win, if it meant life without all of them. Years and years without them.

I closed my eyes and let the nothingness begin to drift over me, safe for the moment in Angel's arms, though I knew I could never be safe again, really.

Just as I drifted off to sleep, or the unconsciousness that meant sleep to me then, I heard him whisper, "Midnight. Merry Christmas Buffy."

We stood there, hand in hand, before the smoking, gaping maw.

What the Hell is a maw? Where do these words come from?

"Guess this is it," I said softly. I'd armed myself to the teeth, but somehow I didn't think that would help.

"Yeah. Buffy.this is going to sound really stupid and clichéd, but.whatever happens, I love you." I turned to him with a smile below eyes that I knew held no laughter at all.

"Can't you just see this scene in some kind of romance novel? The hero and heroine go off to face the Big Bad, stopping to confess their undying love," I quipped, not finding it at all funny. But it was better than being serious. Easier.

"Undying?" he asked.

"Of course," I whispered. There was a moment of silence, that complete, terrible silence that had descended on the town I'd once known so well. "This is the part where you're supposed to kiss me one last time before we go."

"But in the romances, it's never really the last time," Angel said softly.

"Yeah, well they can't be right all the time."

"Shh," he whispered, placing a finger over my lips. He bent and kissed me, and even the aching sweetness couldn't make any of it better. Couldn't make life worth living.

I hoped we defeated whatever did this. And I hoped I never lived to see another sunny day without them.

"I guess that's it then," I said softly when he pulled away. I could feel tears on my cheek. Tears. I didn't think I knew how to cry anymore.

"That's it," he agreed. We turned, as soon, to the pit in the ground. If the Lords of Hell didn't kill us, the fall certainly would. You couldn't even see the bottom. If was just this endless darkness.

"Here goes," I said, and we stepped into the Mouth of Hell.

Light of darkness shines in her eyes. She fears, not for herself, but for the loss of herself. Death does not frighten her, but surrender does. Pain is her ally, frienship her fear. She was born to fight but only in the absence of the fight can she help humanity and fight against the End of Days.

-The Diary of Edward Radcliffe, 1838, on his vision of the Dark Lady

Angel

I died.

I remember what it was like, the first time. For one moment when Darla drained my blood, I died. Just for a split second before the blood once again flowed in my veins, but I have never forgotten it. No vampire ever does. We don't talk about it.but we remember.

When we stepped into the Hellmouth, we died. Or I did anyway.

It's almost impossible to describe. There's no physical place, but you don't even notice. It's like your soul is the place, the entire universe. You know only yourself and you can't even imagine anything else. At least, that's what it was like for me. Both times it was only for a moment, so what happens after that I cannot say. But for that moment.

I can describe all this, but it is impossible to really know what I mean without being there. Suffice it to say, for a moment I died.

And outsider intruded on my consciousness, and yet she wasn't outside at all. She was part of me. I know I said that I was all and there was nothing else, and it's a contradiction to say that Buffy was there as well, except that she was me and therefore there wasn't anything else. She belonged in my soul. We were one.

Dead, of course, but together all the same.

I didn't regret, or perhaps I didn't know how to in that not-place. Regret is not an option when you don't know anything outside of yourself. What is there to regret within your own mind?

Plenty.

And then, as quickly as the peace had come, it was gone again, vanished like smoke into the night sky. We stood, hand in hand still, in the Hall of Lost Souls where the Oracles may be found. But it wasn't the Hall at all, for the edges blurred and shifted and beyond them the fires of Hell could be seen, licking the edges, waiting for a chance to consume us all.

I shivered. Not my favorite vacation spot.

We turned and they were there, all of them. Whole, healthy. Though Buffy looked perfectly fine and we had just died. We were probably still dead, even as we stood there.

It's a hard thing to comprehend, death. Far beyond the human consciousness. Or even the vampire.

Still, Doyle and Cordelia standing there, their eyes slightly anxious, their hands clenched together, was an amzing sight. A good sight.

Buffy made a little sound beside me and my hand tightened over hers.

"Hi guys," Xander said. "About time you showed up."

"We've been waiting," Giles said. "But I'd hoped.how did you die?"

"We walked into Hell," Buffy said. "What do we do now?"

That was the question. Silence descended, smothering us and one of the walls flickered translucently, revealing horros beyond. The room, whatever it was, wouldn't hold long.

And then someone answered.

Buffy

"You must join together," an unfamiliar voice said. From Oz's mouth. I looked at him sharply and took a step back when another face flickered across his.

"Only then can you fight," another voice said. A strange woman's face flickered scross Cordelia's, spoke, then dissapeared. Cordelia yelped and felt her face frantically.

"The Oracles," Angel said beside me.

"What Oracles?" I asked, watching the others warily. I wanted to throw myself into Giles's arms, to hug Willow and Xander and hell, even Faith. But what if it wasn't really them? What if this were a trick?

What would it really matter? We'd already died.

There are some things that once if definitely enough.

"They're connected to the Powers That Be," Angel answered.

"What are they talking about?" Cordelia asked.

"Dinner?" Xander suggested. Cordelia gave him a withering stare.

"To fight the Lords, you must become One," the male Oracle said, appearing over Giles' face. Xander shuddered.

"God that's freaky," he muttered.

"A Lord?" Willow asked, confused.

"No, one person," I said absently, somehow getting what he meant, though I can't for the life of me say how. It's not like he was being super-clear or anything.If this Oracle thing was really a "he" at all.Now I was just confusng myself.

"Uh.how's that gonna work?" Xander asked.

"Would you shut up?" Doyle demanded. Cordelia gave him a look. I rolled my eyes. Here we were dead, about to be consumed by the fires of Hell and they were squabbling. By the way Doyle and Cordelia held hands, I had this feeling that Doyle was jealous. Now if only Anya was here.things would be really interesting.

"You must surrender yourselves to them," the Oracle said from Willow. Her eyes widened (once they were hers again).

Okay, I admit, it was really freaky. Not that the past week had been exactly normal.

I wanted to start crying, but I didn't know if it was happiness that they were there, or pain that they weren't really. That we were all dead.

How could we be dead? I felt like I'd always felt. I didn't feel dead.

"Woah, that doesn't sound good," Faith said, shaking her head.

"It's the only way," the Oracle said, flickering across Xander's face.

"Would you stop that?" I snapped. Angel's hand tightened on mine, trying to soothe me. But how can you soothe something like that. We were dead, and the people I loved weren't them, or they were, but these Oracles-

"H-how exactly are we supposed to do that?" Willow asked in a tiny, nervous voice. Oz moved closer to her, looking protective.

"Touch them," the voice said, moving too quickly for me to see who's mouth it spoke from. It was as if the thing was everywhere at once. "And let go."

We stood in silence. Somehow we all knew that by "them" they meant Angel and I. We were the ones that would have to fight.

"But we've already lost," I whispered, looking up at Angel.

"Maybe not," he said softly, his eyes caressing my face. The room around us shuddered and I caught a glimpse of fire. Searing heat wrapped around us for a second, choked away the air and was gone before our skin could blister, before our hair could singe.

"All right," Xander said, taking a step forward. I realized that they were all ranged opposite us, only Angel and I were separate. I stepped towards Xander, releasing Angel's hand. He smiled at me softly. "I always wanted to be a part of you," he said, and reached out to clasp my hand. Our fingers intertwined and then he was gone-but he wasn't, really. I could still feel him there, I could still see his smile and hear his voice. But he wasn't standing there next to me. He was in me.

"Xander?" Willow said in a small voice.

"He's still here Will," I reassured her. Giles came up beside me.

"I wish you were truly my daughter Buffy. I love you as one," he said, when I turned to look into his eyes.

"You are my father Giles, in the ways that count," I replied. "Thank you for everything."

"Fight this," he said, "and win." And he touched my face and was gone, and not-gone. I swallowed and licked my lips, turning back to Angel. He walked up beside me.

"Ah Hell man, I'm just along for the ride anyway," Doyle said, walking up and clapsing Angel's hand. He vanished. Cordelia made a little sound.

"If he can do it I can do it," she said firmly, walking right up to Angel. "But you better get us through this!" He smiled slightly and touched her hand. Cordy was gone. Oz kissed Willow softly.

"I love you," he said. Angel's hand found mine. They two of them walked forward. Willows hand found mine and she gave a tiny sweet smile before she dissapeared. Oz shook Angel's hand and was gone. We turned to stare at Spike and Faith.

"No way," Faith said, taking a step backward. "There is no fucking way." Spike watched her and then shook his head.

"Bloody hell," he muttered, walking up to Angel. "This doesn't mean I like you. Either of you."

"Right Spike," I said softly. Angel and Spike shared a long look, sire to childe, and then Spike was gone. We both turned to look at Faith.

"I'm not surrending myself to anyone!" she yelled.

Anyone, the hall echoed back. Anyone, anyone.

Faith

"Faith, you don't have a choice!" Buffy snapped. "You think I want to fight whatever this thing is?"

Did she think I gave a crap whether she wanted to fight it?

"Well then let me fight it! But I'm not giving myself up to anyone. I can take care of myself!" I exclaimed. "Being dead isn't bad enough, I have to surrender myself to some little wimp who can't even get up the nerve to kill me!"

B went white and shut up. Which was kind of what I was going for.

Fire licked in through one of the walls. Time was obviously running out. But I couldn't let go. I couldn't. A long time ago, when my mom started drinking, I realized that I was all I had. A couple of times I let myself be lulled into thinking someone else cared, but they never really did. Or even so, it didn't matter. No one ever stuck around long enough to show it. My Watcher died. I realized again, I was all I had. Buffy acted like a friend, but she never really was. She never really told me things. I was all I had.

And there's no way in Hell I'm ever giving myself up.

Of course, we were in Hell.

"Please Faith," Buffy said quietly. My head jerked up and I looked at her. "Please. We can't do it without you. We'll all die. The world will end. I'm strong, but I'm not strong enough. Please."

God damn me, I couldn't help it. I let myself think, for a minute, maybe she did care.

One freaking minute too many.

I stepped forward and let my fingers touch hers, and let myself go. And then I was gone, and the Hall dropped away, leaving us in Hell.

The First Rule of Life is Balance. For every joy there is pain. For every light there is darkness. One cannot exist without the other. Every creature on this earth has measures of both. To reach Enlightenment, one must first realize this. The Path however, is not that simple. There are always exceptions to every rule. One will be born who exists only in the Light, for their path is to be the balance, the hold back the Dark.

The birth of this One shall presage the coming of the greatest Dark ever seen to man. And before the One can triumph, they too much learn the First Rule.

-The Seven Rules of Life by Míng-Hóa, 342 A.D.

Buffy

I was scared. I was frightened out of my mind.

I was kind of hoping I wasn't in my right mind. Better crazy than standing in Hell facing a sixty foot monster with a sword, right?

Come to think of it, I'm a little confused as to where the sword came from. But Angel had one too, which was.a plus.

Hell was pretty much exactly what you'd think it'd be like. Fire and brimstone and all that. Except more of the fire than is possible to imagine when not actually standing in it. Which I was. Not a comforting place to be. The fire never touched us, really, but the heat.it was like being smothered to death, but instead of just not getting air when you took a breath, it was like breathing in fire. The heat would race through your throat, scorch out your insides.I felt like I was being baked from the inside. And outside.

Good thing Angel doesn't feel hot and cold, or we'd both be staggering. This way, it was just me.

Oh, there's a comforting thought.

"Buffy, don't think about the heat," Angel told me. "It's in your mind. Hell isn't a place, it's a thought."

"What?!" I demanded, not in the mood for philosophy.

"We are where we believe we are!" he yelled over the roar of the fire.

I believed I was being burned alive.

"Oh Hell," I muttered and closed my eyes and thought very hard about being somewhere else. Anywhere else. About being cold.

Snow materialized around us. I swore. "I didn't mean that cold!"

"Well it's not supposed to be a fun place to be," Angel reminded me. "It is Hell." I shivered.

"Thanks for the warning," I snapped. I looked up at the monster that was, by the way, still right there, and laughing. "Can we just fight now?"

"Not here," Angel said, twining his fingers with mine. "This has to be more even."

We were in a room. It wasn't really a room, because there weren't any walls. It was more of this long white plain. It wasn't hot. It wasn't cold. The monster was still there.

"We just fight it?" I asked. "This is the Lord of Hell?"

The thing laughed. There is no sound as evil as that laugh. I can still hear it.It takes all the dead, the decaying, the pain, the horror in the world.And makes it into sound.

I fell to my knees beneath the onslaught, and when I looked back up the monster was gone. A man stood there instead, looking perfectly normal. Just any man you would see on the street. Except his eyes. His eyes burned.

"Voila," he said, his voice rasping of things better unknown. "Here I am."

"This is a physical embodiment of one of them," Angel told me, pulling me up to my feet. I stood, unable to look away from the terror of those eyes.

"Wrong," the thing laughed. "I'm all of them."

And he was.

He was all around us, copies of the same thing, the same man, maybe twenty of them. They spoke together. "I am Darkness. I am Pain. I am the End. And you are going to die."

I hate it when they tell me that. I lifted my sword in readiness.

"Wrong," I said softly. "I am the Beginning."

Angel

We weren't fighting the physical men surrounding us. We were, but much more importantly, was the mental fight, the emotional fight. Which became immediately apparent when we were able to beat back twenty men with two swords.

That was the high point of the fight. From there, things started to go down.

Hell, I'd been taught by Darla, was the physical embodiment of your nightmares. But you controlled your nightmares, and if you could see the truth, you could change it.

Seeing it was the hard part.

I spent three hundred years in Hell, and I never saw the truth, even knowing it. I never believed. But with Buffy beside me, I did. Together we could see the truth.

Divided, we fell.

I was alone, with the Lord of Hell, or all of them, if he was telling the truth. I knew Buffy was beside me, I knew it with all my soul.but not enough apparently. I began to doubt.

"What? You're just going to stand there?" he taunted. I raised my sword.

"Try me," I answered, darkness against his darkness. He lunged forward and our swords clashed. I staggered, though the physical blow wasn't a hard one. As our swords met, so did we, and the vastness of that evil is enough to fell many a greater man.

-Don't you dare give up now!- Cordelia's voice sounded inside my mind. I steadied myself and my sword lashed out, snaking around his. He twisted away and I followed, the sword alive in my hand, a living tool of light, to drive away the darkness. Every thrust, every lunge every cut was countered by one of his own. Every good memory I had was countered by one of pain, one of darkness. The one man became many and I slahes at them all, my sword here to block a cut, there to thrust into a stomach that vanished along with it's owner the second my sword touched it. I disarmed two and kicked out behind me, sending one flying backwards just before ducking beneath another slash. I rolled and thrust upwards as I stood, catching an apparition on the steel. It vanished and another appeared behind me.

"You can never win," they laughed. "You cannot kill us. We are Darkness. We are Despair. We are Death."

"I'm immortal," I replied, and skewered one of them through.

-Atta boy,- Spike prompted. -Give 'em Hell.-

-They are Hell,- Doyle replied.

"Shut up," I said, and spun around, slashing one in the face and ducking beneath a thrust.

They began to laugh. Terror followed the sound as night follows day, the natural consequence. "It's no use fighting," that terrible voice purred, and they all dissapeared. I spun, my sword up, and saw nothing.

"Fight me!" I growled.

"I don't have to," it laughed from the air around me. "Your little lover's already lost the battle."

The world collapsed in on me and I screamed. "BUFFY!"

Faith

B did pretty good at first. I mean, she's definitely got the sword moves down. It was weird being in her like that. I could see out of her eyes, and feel what she was doing, but I couldn't control it.

I hate that.

I could even feel some of what she was feeling. I rooted for her when she beckoned them to the fight. I thought maybe she'd chicken out, y' know? But not B. She asked for it.

And then she got it. Which wasn't very good.

When Angel dissapeared, she freaked for a second. One minute he was there, and the next he was gone. She rolled to her feet after ducking a swing and-he wasn't there. Just a whole heck of a lot of guys with swords. Guys that all looked the same.

Wicked freaky.

She got back into it though, didn't let it wig her out too much. One of them knocked her sword away, but she punched the guy and kept fighting. She ducked under another sword, then grabbed the next one to thrust at her and turned it on the guy holding it. She kicked another one twice and sent him flying, then dived for her sword.

It was gone when she got there. So were all the guys except for one. "Looking for this?" he asked in a drawl.

"You want to give it back?" B asked, standing up and turning to look at him.

"You want to take it?" he asked. She cocked her head for a minute.

"Yeah," she said. "Okay." She jump-kicked him, then spun when she landed and kicked his legs out from under him. He hit her in the knees and she went down. He kicked her and stood up. She grabbed his arms and twisted, flipping him down and grabbed the sword, then stood on his chest, glaring down at him. He smiled up at her, as if he wasn't about to be headless.

God, that smile.Well, I've seen some bad things in my time but that.

And then they came, like killer waves, except made of terror instead of water. Memories, feelings, assaulting us. Mostly B. I could feel them, but kind of removed. Still, it wasn't exactly pleasant.

It was worse than you think, whatever you imagine it to be like. It was way worse. It was all those things you think could never happen to you, all rolled into one. It was the memories of young mother watching their children butchered, of women being brutally raped, of a baby starving to death. It was a man in a war, watching his friends die. It was a man in a war killing, losing his soul with each child he blew to bits. It was despair and fear and hopelessness and evil, terror and death and pain.

It was Angelus, smiling at B. It was thrusting a sword into your lover's heart. It was dying at sixteen.

It was worse than you think.

Buffy staggered back as if she was physically punched, though the guy didn't touch her. She dropped the sword, and then dropped to her knees, unable to cry or move or think beneath the horror assaulting her without pause.

Slowly, leisurely, he stood up and walked over. A sword materialized in his hands and he smiled, standing over her with that evil grin as she convulsed in terror before him.

"I told you," he whispered. "This is what I am." He lifted the sword.

I've never been a religious person. But I decided it was time to pray.

Buffy

I was screaming, but you couldn't hear it. It was inside. It was.impossible to describe. I wanted to die, or surrender or anything to make it stop. To make it go away.

But it doesn't go away. That's what I've learned. The Darkness is always there.

Luckily, that's not all I've learned.

I heard him scream my name. That was the first thing I heard since it started, since the pain came. I heard Angel scream my name. And then Xander, and Willow and Giles and Faith. They were calling me.

The horror continued unabated.

-You have to fight!- Xander's voice said beside me, in my mind.

-You can't fight this,- I thought, and knew he heard.

-Yes,- Faith said, -you can.-

I saw myself, through Xander's eyes. Strong and beautiful, smiling brightly and laughing at him. I saw summer days eating ice cream with Willow and I, childhood games with Jesse. I saw Cordelia in her prom dress, and Anya in her bunny suit. Laughter and bad jokes and love filled me.

I saw Xander with a barbie and all of us in the library. Oz playing guitar, the Bronze pulsing with music and romance. Myself again, fighting, Ms. Calendar smiling, people I'd never met who still made me feel warm inside. A woman with dark hair braiding a little girl's hair, a park, and me, out on patrol. Playing Anywhere But Here, goofing off in the halls, patrolling at night. Sleepovers and movie nights and pumpkin carving. And from my own mind, I found winning an award, saving a life, lying in Angel's arms.

But still, the Dark came. And it wasn't enough. There were good memories, yes, but for every good there were ten bad. The pain never ended. It was overwhelming. I knew I had lost.

And then I heard Angel again.

-Think of the good things, Buffy. Think of happiness,- he urged me. I almost laughed. This coming from him?

I couldn't think, I couldn't feel. I could only despair.

-Buffy, remember when you came to see me? There was more. There was a day together, lost. I was human and I loved you. You have to remember.-

I couldn't think. But I could heard his voice. I clung to it, a life line through the sea of pain I was drowning in.

-Buffy, I love you,- he whispered into my soul.

I remembered. I remembered Angel walking into the sun, his lips on mine. I remembered going to sleep with him, making love to him, eating chocolate and peanut butter in his bed. I remember planning futures in my mind, dreaming of sleeping in his arms and waking to find I really was.

Maybe I would never have that again. But I wasn't going to let someone destroy a world where happiness like that was possible, even if it was only for other people.

"And I told you before," I said softly, looking up to meet his eyes. "This is what I am."

Before he could move my hand tightened on the sword and I surged upward, driving it through his heart. Those dark, terrible eyes widened, and he looked.surprised for a minute. And then he was gone. And everything went white.