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Chapter 11 – Closing the Hellmouth

Giles’ announcement sent a round of shocked inspirations and groans throughout the room. Buffy closed her eyes and sighed in resignation. She’d been afraid something like that was coming after the Eye’s violent reaction. “I figured as much, what with Spike’s consequences of magic,” she shook her head in frustration and glanced at him sourly. “Darn. It was such a good idea, too.”

Noting Buffy’s scowl at the vampire, Giles rubbed his temples against the headache forming there. “Yes, well, I’d say we’re lucky that Spike brought up the consequences of magic, or we may well have won the battle, only to lose the war.”

Buffy continued to look sulky. Spike said nothing, just stood at the back of the group with arms folded, facial expression grim.

“So what’s the plan, then?” asked Faith dispiritedly as she sat cross-legged on the floor, resting her head in her hands. Even her casual attitude that all would work out in the end was being strained by this new disappointment.

Willow cleared her throat and said, “Well, Dawn and I have found a couple of things. Like Angel told us, the amulet is supposed to “cleanse impurity” when worn by a souled champion. We couldn’t find out how it does that, but at least we found other references that it does. Uber vamps are impure, right? So it should somehow take them out of the equation. Also, the scythe can be used to extend its own properties to other weapons.”

“So we can give all our weapons the strength, sharpness, and power of the scythe. That’s good,” commented Giles. Then, giving Spike another indecipherable look, he continued, “The seers also confirmed that the amulet kills Turok-Han. Apparently it focuses sunlight and burns them, though it didn’t activate in time to save a number of the new Slayers in the alternate reality. The seers saw as well that the amulet closed the Hellmouth there. It destroyed the whole of Sunnydale in the process, however. Althea informed me that the other reality didn’t utilize the Key. She said we have all we need to defeat The First Evil without destruction and bloodshed by using all three: the Scythe, the Amulet, and the Key.”

“The Key!” Buffy cried in surprise. “I thought Dawn’s keyness was gone! Could they mean a different Key? No? Well, I’m not risking her! She’s not going!” She turned to Xander, “I need you to take Dawn, Xander, and go…ow!” she said, startled out of her babbling. Dawn had moved to stand directly in front of her and kick her lightly on the shin.

Folding her arms and frowning at Buffy sternly, Dawn said, “You can’t baby me any longer, Buf. I’m past the age you were when you became the Slayer…I’m going.”

Buffy frowned back at her. “No, Dawn, you’re not. I can’t lose you.”

Dawn didn’t back off, “You can’t stop me. If you go without me, I’ll just get there on my own.” They glared at each other, but eventually Dawn stared her sister down.

Shrugging and turning away, Buffy finally said, “Fine. But if you get killed, I’m telling.”

Willow looked into Dawn, focused, and said, “Dawn has come into her power, Buffy. Fifteen seems to be the age when we do it. You were called at fifteen, and my power manifested then as well.”

“What does that mean; she’s come into her power?” Buffy looked back and forth between Willow, Dawn and Giles. “What does that mean!” She demanded when no one answered the first time.

Spike put his arm around Buffy and hugged her to his side, willing her mind to calm and find peace. She frowned at him irritably. Don’t you try that thrall stuff on me, mister! I’ll be as hysterical as I want!”

“Hush, sweetheart,” he murmured to her as the other people in the room focused on him suspiciously, “Not trying to control you, just bring you some peace.” He kissed her softly on the cheek.

“Humph,” she pouted, resenting that he thought she needed to calm down. Buffy noted with interest that Spike’s gaze had focused on her lower lip. Slowly a seductive smile formed on her lips and she felt her panic slide away.

“Yes, I can feel it again now,” said Dawn, breaking the couple’s absorption in each other. “I felt the power back when Willow cast her ‘Finding Spell’ and it glowed on me. It’s why I thought that I was the Potential. I’ve been wondering why I felt like I had power but wasn’t a baby Slayer.”

“Ah honey, why didn’t you tell us?” Spike asked. He pulled her into his other side and hugged her too, concerned that she’d been torturing herself in silence about it. He berated himself that he hadn’t realized that she’d be saddened by not being a Potential. After all, she was blood of the Slayer’s blood; of course she’d want to be able to fight, to make a difference in the world like Buffy did.

Dawn shrugged. “It was embarrassing. The spell glowed on me, and for a little while I was the new Potential; then I wasn’t,” she muttered. Pulling away and walking over to the window to look out, she remembered again her shock as the Bringers attacked Amanda instead of herself. Her disappointment had been crushing as she realized that she wasn’t like Buffy after all. For an hour or so she’d been able to step out of her older sister’s shadow, had thought she shared Buffy’s destiny. It had been a heady experience...while it lasted.

Spike hugged Buffy back to his side again and nodded towards Dawn. “She’ll be all right, pet. I can tell. Can’t you? Focus, feel for power.” The niblet’s power was a shining green that pulsed through his senses.

Reluctantly Buffy conceded that yes, she could feel it too; now that she looked for it. “How is that, anyway? Why can I feel it?” She asked, concentrating on the “pulsing green pressure”? that surrounded her sister.

As Giles rubbed his chin and shook his head uncertainly, Spike answered. “I’ve always been able to sense power; might be a legacy from Drusilla, maybe the Master. Neither Angel nor Darla could ever feel it, but Dru could always tell. She used to say that Miss Edith favored them, or the stars spoke to them, or some other nonsense, but what it all came down to was, they had power.”

Focusing on Dawn himself, Giles sensed that she did have a great well of power inside her. She’d have to be trained in the ethical use of it, whatever it was. He could see now that she had far more of it than any witch he’d ever met, though it didn’t feel like a witch’s power. It was different. Wondering why he’d never sensed it before; he decided that when all this was over, he’d have to take her to the Coven for want of a better place to teach her. She was the Key, her entire being was magical. He should have suspected she’d come into that power some day.

“But what can she do without having to die to stop it? How will her power keep her safe?” asked Buffy, not entirely satisfied with Giles’ assurances from the Coven. How could they know that Dawn would be safe?

“I’m not sure, Buffy,” Giles answered. “But notice that Althea said, ‘without destruction and bloodshed’. If Dawn has come into her power, perhaps she can control it. Althea’s words were, ‘the Key is key. When the time comes, she will know what to do.’”

Dawn hugged Buffy and turned away with a little smile of satisfaction. She finally had an important job. Even if she didn’t know what it was. She was the Key, and she was key to their victory. For the first time in her life, Dawn was glad to be herself; instead of thinking her entire existence was lame. Even without being a Potential, she was important. “I’ll be in my room meditating,” she told Buffy, and climbed the stairs. She needed to see if she could figure out in private what she’d need to do when the time came, and how to control her power.

Spike diverted Buffy from worrying after Dawn as she watched her little sister climb the stairs by asking, “So, Watcher, why the funny look when you mentioned the amulet earlier?” He’d waited to bring the subject up until the Key business was settled, not wanting muddy the waters with two issues at once.

Buffy looked back and forth between her Mate and Watcher, surprised. She hadn’t noticed any looks passed back and forth. Granted she’d been focused on Dawn at the time, but had expected that she would be more observey now, what with having Spike’s ‘personality pluses’ and all.

Giles looked at him hard, considering what he knew of Spike down through the years, his loyalty and determination, and decided that the vampire had the right to know, that he’d react appropriately to the information. “In that reality, you sacrificed yourself to save the world. You died closing the Hellmouth with the amulet.”

While everyone in the room looked at Spike in shock, he simply nodded and asked calmly, “and Buffy?”

“She lived,” answered Giles mildly.

“Good,” was all that Spike said. He folded his arms and leaned against the wall, satisfied.

Buffy shrieked again, “What! No way!” She turned and glared at Spike.

He rubbed her forearms soothingly and said, “That was there, love. This is here. We’re going to do it another way here. We can make things turn out differently, yeah?”

Buffy sighed and looked up the stairs again to where Dawn had gone. She wasn’t convinced that either of the people most important to her would be safe, but didn’t know what to do about it. She guessed none of them were safe. She did know one thing, however. If Spike died in the Hellmouth tomorrow, she’d die with him.

After some discussion, Giles decreed that Willow would use the scythe to enchant their weapons once they arrived at the school in the morning. Not knowing if the spell was permanent, he wanted it to be freshly cast when they fought. Next their attention turned to the amulet and how it had delayed activating in the alternate dimension, giving the uber vamps time to kill several new Slayers.

Xander scratched his head thoughtfully and said, “It focused sunlight to burn the vamps? Like a magnifying glass focuses light to burn paper…but where did it get the sunlight? How did it do it from down in the Hellmouth? Wouldn’t be any sun down there.”

Anya chipped in at that point, “Mystical objects can focus elements without being in direct contact with them. Vengeance demons’ amulets do that.”

“Really?” asked Giles interestedly. “We’ll have to discuss Vengeance amulets sometime.”

Anya beamed. Giles was finally starting to realize that with her thousand years of experience, she had a lot of valuable knowledge. She was a good resource. ‘No more rolling of Giles’ or Buffy’s eyes or shushing by Xander whenever I mention my demon past.’ She wiggled happily in her seat. Her future was looking up.

“Of course!” Giles cried as he made the connection in his mind from Xander’s and Anya’s observations. “Good job, you two!”

Now it was Xander’s turn to grin and wriggle happily.

“A magnifying glass focuses the light immediately, but it takes a few seconds for the paper to get hot enough to burn, so the amulet activated immediately upon entering the Hellmouth, but it took awhile for the focused sunbeam to penetrate through the school and into the cavern…” Turning to the witch, he instructed, “After you spell the weapons, Willow, keep in touch with Buffy telepathically.” Focusing now on his Slayer, he continued, “when you are all in the Hellmouth, Buffy, let Willow know. Once everyone is in place, Willow, blow a hole in the roof of the school, the floor of the library and through the basement floor into the Hellmouth, allowing light to enter there immediately. Spike, move into the light wearing the amulet, and hopefully it will kill the vamps before they can kill anyone else.”

Everyone burst into excited conversations. They finally had a chance to protect the Potentials. Willow demurred that she wouldn’t have to blow holes through the school, which could injure anyone else in the area. While in England, she’d used teleportation to refine her control of her power, and could now move sections of the roof, ceilings, floors, etc. outside in a much tidier manner than just blasting holes.

Giles approved, and they all went to bed and tried to get a few hours of sleep.

-----

Finally behind locked doors, Spike and Buffy lightly traced each other from head to toe. He savored the warm silky texture of her skin, lips following his hands to once again taste every inch of her body. Buffy memorized the cool velvet of Spike’s skin over steely muscle, imprinting the glory of it forever on her soul. Quiet sighs soon turned to impassioned moans; he thrust inside her and slid his fangs into her throat at the same time. They exploded in fireworks as Buffy returned his caress by drawing blood at his neck, and their love washed over each other.

Along with Buffy’s joy in his love, Spike felt her fear for him since Giles had revealed that he’d sacrificed himself in the other reality. “Don’t fret love. If either of us dies, I won’t rest until I find you again,” he vowed.

Buffy looked deeply into his soft blue eyes and returned the promise. “Neither will I. Nothing can keep us apart.” Arms and legs wrapped around him, as if defying anything to take him from her, she eventually relaxed enough to slip into slumber.

Spike kissed the top of her head and watched over her as she slept, wondering yet again at how his dreams had come true, and of the miracle that she loved him. Finally he dozed off. As his breathing slowed and stopped, Buffy woke up.

She gazed tenderly at him, lightly running her hand over the arm he had flung across her as he slept. She remembered his persistence through the years, how he had refused to give up on her even when things looked hopeless, and thought with a melancholy smile that with the both of them now the kings of stubborn, they should win simply because they refused to lose. Settling back into sleep, she reflected, ‘whatever happens, it will all be over tomorrow.’

-----

The next morning they all arrived early at the school and made their way to the library. Willow sat in the middle of the room holding the scythe. They placed the rest of their weapons in a circle around her, edges pointing inwards towards the scythe. Everyone formed a larger circle around the weapons. Willow focused her witch’s sight on the scythe and the power within it. “Great Slayer Weapon, we beseech you to share your mighty gifts with the poor unworthy weapons that surround you, that they might assist you in defeating the Turok-Han, the legendary foe of the Slayer,” she intoned, and felt the scythe’s willingness to do so. A wind whipped around her, her hair turned a blinding white, and light erupted from the scythe, flowing out over the weapons in the circle. They glowed momentarily, and then the light died. Willow’s hair returned to red, and she collapsed to her side, smiling.

Kennedy rushed to her side and supported her back into a sitting position.

“You OK, Willow?” Buffy asked with concern.

Willow laughed and nodded that she was. Handing Buffy the scythe, she said, “Go on; get everyone in position.”

Buffy nodded and stationed Giles, Dawn, Wood, Xander, Anya and Andrew around the school at strategic points in case anything tried to escape from the Hellmouth during the fight. They each had their enhanced weapons, swinging them experimentally, and marveling at the improved edges and balance.

“Go on, Sweetie. I’m fine,” Willow told a hovering Kennedy.

Buffy carried the scythe and led Spike, Faith and the Potentials, all with enhanced weapons of their choice, to the Hellmouth. Slicing their palms and letting blood drip down onto the Seal of Danzibar they opened the Hellmouth, and filed down into an immense cavern. Looking over a cliff into a huge pit, they were stunned by the thousands of Turok-Han that crowded below, preparing for attack. Those at the top of the cliff pulled back in shock and horror. The reality was worse than they had imagined. They had no chance against those masses if the amulet didn’t work.

A great bellow ascended from the pit as the Turok-Han roared at the sight of the invaders. The monsters rushed forwards, leaping up the cliff with incredible speed to attack the Slayers and Potentials at the top. Hastily, Buffy silently called to Willow that they were in place. Suddenly a shaft of sunlight flowed down into the cavern through new holes in the ceilings. Spike jumped into it and a concentrated beam of light struck him, then flashed out through the amulet and around the cavern, lashing at the uber vamps that were clambering over the edge. Even as the battle started, every ancient vampire burned instantly to ash as it was struck. The humans were left untouched.

In the upper levels of the school, Bringers attacked those stationed there. The scythe enhanced weapons sliced through them easily, seeming to give those that wielded them instant fighting expertise. Anya killed one that attacked Andrew, and with the confidence of wielding an enhanced weapon, he entered the battle beside her.

Andrew had expected to cower in a corner until something killed him, and could hardly believe that he was actually swinging a sword against Bringers. He’d always considered himself a lover, not a fighter, had never even learned how to fight, but now his arm seemed to wield the sword instinctively. He spun and flashed through the masses that attacked him and Anya. Noticing another one that was coming up on her from behind, Andrew swung his sword, lopping the Bringer’s head off before he could slice into Anya’s back.

In the Hellmouth, the beams started ricocheting down into the cavern, burning the vamps that hadn’t made it over the edge yet. As the shafts of focused light hit the walls of the crater, they blasted holes where they hit, and everything around them began to shake and tremble. The walls, ground beneath them, and ceiling above all started cracking, and falling debris threatened everyone.

“Get everybody out,” called Buffy, and Faith herded everyone out of the basement, then gathered the rest of them from the upper levels of the school, where the Bringers all lay dead. In the confusion, no one noticed that Dawn was not with them as they climbed into the bus and took off, the ground shaking, buildings swaying and threatening to fall.

Back in the Hellmouth, Buffy ran over to her vampire and cried frantically, “Come on, Spike! You’ve done enough, we can…” she reached out to pull him with her.

Lifting his arms to hold her off, Spike said, “No lamb, I have to finish it. I have to clean up; I can feel it.” Sunlight shone through every particle of his being as the amulet shot beams of light throughout the Hellmouth, burning the last of the uber vamps as they tried to flee. None of them made it past the sunlight into the rest of the school. Standing firm amid the chaos around him, Spike laughed and said, “I want to see how it ends.”

“OK,” answered Buffy, now strangely calm. Taking his outstretched hand, she prepared to see the end with him. “I love you.”

Looking deeply into her eyes, he answered smilingly, “Thank you, pet. I Love you, too.” Flames burst from their entwined hands as they gazed at each other. The rumbling and crashing intensified. Large chunks of mortar, plaster, ceilings and walls began to fall about them.

“No!” cried Dawn, running into the chamber and standing near the edge of the cliff. She glared back at them and shouted, “I’m not losing you again!”

“Dawn! Get back! You’re supposed to be with the others!” cried Buffy. She tried to pull Spike with her up to Dawn, but he was immobilized by the light continuing to stream through him, his head now thrown back, looking up into the shaft of brilliance that struck him, flowed into the amulet, and out to flash around the Hellmouth.

Standing at the edge of the pit, Dawn sliced her palm with a knife, and let blood drip down over the rim. Concentrating fiercely, she willed, ‘Hellmouth, Close. Miss those I love.’ There was a sudden massive explosion, ripping the school out of the ground around them. The First Evil roared with rage, its incorporeal demon form flying through the chamber, charging at the three, only to futilely flow through when it would have hit them. Then, everything that had exploded upward, imploded back into the pit. The essence of The First was pulled in with it and disappeared.

Shaking with reaction from The First’s attack, Dawn ripped a strip from her blouse and bound her hand, staunching the blood flow. As the dust settled, smooth empty ground lay where the Hellmouth and Sunnydale High had been. The earthquakes stopped. The rest of the town stood intact. She turned back to see Buffy and Spike standing in the open looking around, stunned that they hadn’t been blown up, crushed, or at least buried during the explosion and its aftermath. ‘How had they all gotten from basement level to the surface?’ Buffy wondered.

Spike glanced down at his amulet. He took it off and held it up to the light, noting that it no longer sparkled. The gems were clouded and cracked. Sliding it into his pocket, he thought that the Watcher might be interested in it. In any case, its cleansing days were finished.

Buffy took Spike’s right hand and compared the healing burn with the matching one on her own hand. “My God, Spike! If we hadn’t mated, you would have burned along with all the uber vamps when that amulet activated!” She grabbed his shirt front, hid her face against his chest and shuddered at the thought of losing him so soon after finding him.

Spike wrapped his arms around her and held her close, running his hands up and down her back, kissing the top of her head and inhaling her sweetness. “I know. I would’ve been vamp flambé. You and the bit saved my life, Slayer. Many thanks.” He smiled down at her.

Giving him a quick hard peck on the lips, she returned, “Any time, Vamp.” Then she turned towards Dawn and ran over to her, inspecting her from head to toe for injuries. There weren’t any. “How did you do that, Dawn? Why weren’t we killed when everything blew up?”

“I don’ know, Buf, I’m the Key. I open and close portals to other dimensions.” Dawn shrugged, a crooked smile lighting her face. “I just willed the Hellmouth to close, and told it to miss us.”

Buffy shook her head in bewilderment as she looked around again. “But for you to close a portal before, one of us had to die.”

Dawn arched a brow at her sister. “The last time I wasn’t in control. This time I was.” She didn’t know how to explain that she had just known, deep inside her that this time all she had to do to close the Hellmouth, was spill a few drops of her blood and tell it to close. She had also known that it would all be over when she stopped bleeding, not when she died.

Buffy grabbed Dawn’s forearms and shook her. “But what if the earthquakes hadn’t quit? You could have been killed!” She was having a hard time getting past the fact that Dawn had knowingly endangered herself.

A new maturity and patience in her demeanor, Dawn answered, “I knew they would stop. But in any case, I wasn’t going to lose you again in closing a portal. That’s my job. One way or another, this time I was closing it.” Then Dawn grinned mischievously and added, “Besides, you don’t need to hog all the world save-age to yourself. It’s about time you let me in on the fun.”

Chuckling at the offended look on Buffy’s face, Spike said, “The niblet has a point there, Slayer.”

Tbc…