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Buffy killed demons. It was what she was used to. And right now she doing it with furious intensity. A vampire lunged at her from the right. She spun, swinging a stake directly into its heart. she kept moving ducking under the claw of a demon, slashing with the sword in her other hand. A stray claw slashed her arm, shredding cloth and drawing blood, But Buffy was too caught up in the battle to let that stop her. She spun, thrusting out with a kick, catching, for a brief second, a glimpse of her soul mate, now that he had a soul, battling against a vampire.
Angel fought vampires. It was what he was used to. But he was used to being one too. Now he lacked both the strength and stamina he once had. Thankfully the skill was still there. He flipped the creature over his shoulder, dropping and staking it before it could resist. He rose, catching his breath.
"Once you've learned," he mused, drawing in oxygen, "you never forget."
He launched once again into the wave of beasts. They were outnumbered by more than he cared to count but he kept on fighting anyway. He caught sight of Xander, swinging wildly with an axe. What the youth lacked in skill, he made up for in passion. Angel fought on, hoping his fight would not be in vain.
Xander was in trouble. It was what he was used to. A normal collage senior might have been thinking about prom night. Xander was thinking about Prom Night: the movie. His life was one nightmare after the next, separated only by occasional moments of contentment and witty dialogue.
Right now he was fighting something that looked like the Creature from the Black Lagoon. He had an axe. and he was still loosing. The creature swung it's claws, narrowly missing Xander’s chest. Xander swung up the axe, cutting off the creatures arm. The arm fell to the earth. The creature swung with its other arm, knocking the weapon away.
"Hey." Xander raised his hands, stepping back. "I cut your arm off. Isn't that at least a time out?"
The creature took another step forward, raising a clawed hand. Xander tensed, ready to leap away or die. A red mist erupted from where it's head had been and the creature fell to the earth. Alyson stood behind it, her bloody palm opened.
She shuffled over to him, seeming slower than usual. Xander noticed that in one arm she held the body of a black cat. He also noticed that she was spilling blood at an unhealthy rate.
"Xander." she coughed, get Salam out of here."
"Salam?" He frowned, taking the still warm cat, its fur soaked with blood.
"He may be our last hope. Go."
"Alyson. You're bleeding."
"No shit."
"No I mean really bleeding. I mean gushing. You're going to die."
"Yeah. Maybe. But if so I'm going to die fighting."
"Alright. I can't stop you. But you're a witch, not the embodiment of War."
Alyson turned back to the fray. "Been there. Done that."
She moved into battle, a red haze glowing around her. Xander held the cat close and ran back to the others.
Rachael and Jauden pumped another wave of magic into the shield but to no avail. The three witches of Yeatril stood still and unmoving. Behind them the chaotic form that was Yeatril grew larger still, untouchable. Piper, Phoebe, Willow and Giles stood in awe of the massive shape before them. Sarah stood in terror. Because she had seen the form. She had seen it in her nightmares, days ago, though it seemed like a lifetime, back in her own world. The nightmares of this force, Yeatril, the threat to all worlds. She wanted to close her eyes. But she was too scared to even do that.
"How are we doing?" Xander asked, rushing up to them.
"Well actually, we're not doing anything at all." Giles sighed. "The barrier is still up and Yeatril is invincible."
"What happened to Salam." Piper asked, looking at the bloody cat.
"Is that his blood?" Sarah whispered, eyes breaking from the demon for a second.
"No." Xander answered, not telling her that it was actually Alyson’s. "But Alyson said he might be our last hope."
"How?" Willow asked, taking the cat in her arms.
Just then, with all eyes on him, Salam opened his eyes. "Sabrina?" he whispered.
All eyes turned to the three witches. In unison, Katie, Prue and Sabrina opened their eyes. The air shimmered. The barrier fell. Not waiting another second, Jauden and Rachael unleashed a massive hail of magical force, flying over the heads of the witches, striking at the mass of the demon. A booming scream cut through the endless night. Yeatril was no longer invincible. Sarah, Phoebe, Piper and Giles ran to the witches who stood naked and shivering.
"Prue?" Phoebe whispered to her sister. "Are you okay?"
Prue looked at her, then at Piper. "Is it really you?"
"It's really us sis." Piper said, placing her jacket over Prue’s shoulders. "It's really us."
"Where.. what's going on?" Sabrina stammered, disorientated. "Where am I?"
"Right now, you're in the middle of a battle for all realities." Giles explained hastily. "I think you might want to move out of the way." He placed his jacket over her shoulders, forcing her into a walk away from the line of fire.
"Katie?" Sarah asked. "Are you okay?"
Katie sniffed then actually smiled. "Yeah. I'm okay. A little tired."
"Come on." the blond actress moved Katie away.
They regrouped on the sidelines, the three witches redressing, and getting up to speed on current events. Meanwhile, Jauden and Rachael kept their attacks going, blasting away at the demons with all they had. As yet, there had been no counter attack.
"So what now." Xander said, clapping his hands. He then shrugged. "I say that a lot don't I. Am I a plot device?"
"Well, Xander has a point." Giles noted. "We should do something. There's enough demons and.. well big demon for us to all fight."
"Oh." Willow raised her hand. "I know some nifty warding spells that might help."
"I'm betting Buffy could use some good Telekinetic and time freezing over there." Katie pointed.
"Not to mention a mean side kick." Phoebe cracked her knuckles.
"I think I'd best focus on that bastard." Sabrina pointed to the towering monstrosity. "I owe him one. Salam?"
"I'll go with you." the cat nodded, having given up on trying to lick the blood from his fur. "I might remember something useful."
"Oh what the heck." Xander sighed, lifting up his axe. "You only live once. Although, this being Sunnydale, that quote is open to debate."
"What about me?" Sarah asked, feeling utterly helpless in the face of enormous odds.
"You get to stay with me." Katie sighed. "Now that the witch in me is banished, I'm no good here either."
"Right then." Giles stood, lifting a bag of spell components and a book. "I know this isn't going to sound as inspiring coming from a virtual geriatric like me but 'Let's kick some ass."
Battle positions were assumed.
A two headed demon flew back through the air, froze and then fell to the ground as Buffy decapitated both of them. Team work worked well. Now there were seven fighters. Even so the tide seemed endless. While the Charmed Ones were fresh, Angel and Xander were growing tired. Even Buffy was getting towards her limits. Somehow, Alyson remained standing, even through severe blood loss. Her spell were the most potent of them all, ripping apart entire groups of monsters. But she could not keep this up forever. Buffy kicked, punched and slashed her way through the beasts, killing anything non human that came near.
A vampire reared up before her. For the first time, Buffy hesitated. Angelus. The evil demon that Angel had been bound to. Now it was here, free of it's humanity. It leered at her, face in permanent vampire form.
"I knew we would meet again Buffy. Even when you kill me, I come back."
"So I'll kill you again."
"Well, you can try."
Angelus punched her, sending her reeling backwards. In this demon form her was even more powerful than a vampire.
But that didn't mean that Buffy wasn't going to try and give him the beating of an afterlife.
Between them, Willow and Giles raised ward after ward, creating lines in the sand, barriers against chaos energy. In comparison to the combined magic of the genie and the Guardian, it was little, but Giles felt that every bit counted.
Sabrina stood, casting sparkling light from her fingertips, blasting away at the chaotic mass. She was not a combat witch, but then, every bit counted.
Then chaos broke free.
From the center of the mass came a storm of debris, ripping through the air, scattering earth and stone in a massive storm. Rachael and Jauden raised barriers, as did Sabrina. Giles and Willow were given small shelter by their wards and the gripped each other, eyes closed as the winds and dirt buffeted them.
When the cloud cleared, Yeatril stood. Now there was form in the chaos. It was a fifty foot tall humanoid figure, it's mass composed of every shifting, ever changing clouds of chaos. It had no head to speak of, but above its head glowed to shapes, changing color constantly but always filled with a sense of pure chaotic evil.
"I AM YEATRIL."
boomed a voice, or rather an infinite cacophony of voices, all minced together. "CHAOS WILL RULE""No!" screamed Rachael, leaping into the air, a halo of energy surrounding her. She flew forward, unleashing a wave of energy at the demon. A chaotic cloud swung through the air, swatting at her like a fly.
She tumbled back, looking as though she might crash to the ground. But seconds before she hit she turned, charging back, attacking once again. Jauden followed suit and the two flew, blasting away at the demon. Sabrina maintained her ground attack, doing what she could. Willow and Giles sought frantically for attack spells, watching as chaos surged in the sky above. Yeatril was fighting back.
Buffy blocked and ducked, struggling to fend off the vicious attacks of Angelus. So far she had been holding her own, but that was a far cry from loosing. In peak condition she would have had the edge but she was tired, and Angelus was in full swing.
Still she kept fighting.
The charmed ones stuck together, Prue sending a blade scything through frozen enemies. Phoebe kicked back any who came near. It wasn't the greatest of attacks but it was a good enough delay. Angel joined them, forming a circle of defense against the flow of monsters that threatened to overwhelm them. Xander decapitated another demon, still swinging despite his arms being tired. Out of the corner of his eye her saw Alyson.
Behind a thing red shield she knelt, holding off a vampires slashing attacks. Xander rushed to her aid, fury sending adrenaline through his veins. He spun the axe, driving its wooden shaft through the air, through the back and heart of the vampire. It turned to dust, just as the shield dissolved. Xander helped Alyson to her feet, almost unable to hold her. The young witch was soaked in blood. Her own blood.
"Xander?" She asked, looking at him through glazed eyes. "Are we winning?"
He looked at the battle field, the mass of demons, the monstrosity of Yeatril. He frowned, thinking of what to tell her.
When he turned back to her, she was no longer conscious.
Sarah watched.
The demon was a towering monstrosity, a whirling mass of chaos. Whenever she tired to make out its form it became something else. The graveyard itself seemed to twist and reform around him. The demon seemed to ignore her, as if she was no threat. There were others in the whirling chaos. They were fighting.
Losing.
Fear.
Cold fear gripped her and refused to let go. She wanted to do something, anything but she couldn't move. Still the mass of chaos swirled, growing in size, more shapes swirling within it. She wanted to scream. The nightmares were true. And she was helpless.
"I feel useless." Sarah whispered, almost to herself.
"I know what you mean. It's a sense of helplessness. Being unable to escape or fight." Katie shivered. "I've been there."
"And how do you live with it."
"Find a way to justify it. A way to use what you can do. Yeatril used me. But I broke free. At a price."
"What was the price?"
"Catherina Hume. The soul inside me. She's gone now. I still have the power of lust, the knowledge but.. her spirit is gone to.. where ever spirits go. She wasn't evil, just lost. I suppose our name has double meaning after all."
"Double meaning?" Sarah asked, trying to ignore the brutal battle.
"Caterina and Katie. Some say Catherina the Greek ‘kathearos’ meaning pure. But some think it comes from the
'aikia' meaning torture. I suppose we've been both."
"You got all that from a name?"
"Nomenclature is a funny thing when it comes to destiny. You never realize how important it can be until it's staring you in the face. I've made a bit of a hobby of it."
"What am I then?" the blonde asked.
"Sarah means princess, but I bet you knew that. Michelle is from Michael. which means.. um.. 'who is God'. Something like that."
Something seemed to stir in Sarah’s mind, but not fully form.
"What does Geller mean?" she asked, curious for the first time in her life.
"Um.." Katie mused, biting her lip. "It could be a variant of Gerard. That means 'firm spear'. "Spear.." Sarah whispered. "The princess who is gods spear."
Her mind flashed back. - To the library - "The Gateway was a man completely unskilled with any magical talent." Giles said.
"You're not going to find much non magical about here. Even Xander was turned into a jackal once." Willow had replied.
It was true. Every combatant on the field had possessed or been touched by magic in some way. But not Sarah.
- To the sickbay - "Well I wish we could anyway!" Sarah had yelled "I wish there was a way back home, I wish there was someone who could help and I wish they were right here right now!"
Then Jauden had arrived. Because she wished it.
- To the cave - "Some form of magical spell was cast which reached out for our world." Rachael had explained, "It probably focused on the two individuals in our world which mirrored the ones casting the spell, meaning Alyson and Sarah."
- To the studio - The maelstrom, the portal between worlds. It had sought out Sarah, not Alyson. Sarah had been there at every crossover. The actress felt a chill running through her vitalizing. She bent over slightly, hugging herself as she shivered.
"Sarah?" Katie asked. "Are you okay?"
"I.. I.." Sarah stammered.
Then the final piece clicked. She rose to her full height, stretched out her arms and let her destiny consume her.
"I AM THE GATEWAY!"
Energy crackled from her finger tips arcing out into the sky, surging with power. She glowed with a white halo, brightening the night sky even more. Lightning webbed out, not only through the sky, but through the realities, seeking and pulling. A brilliant flash consumed everything, dwarfing even the light of the chaos demon. Then it settled. Sarah fell to her knees, shivering uncontrollably. Then she looked up. And she knew she had succeeded. They stood before her, the reinforcements, the final wave in the battle for reality.
A freckled red head, hugging a young man. Four young women dressed in blue denim. A blonde woman dressed in a thin night gown. A dark haired woman and a red head, both soaked to the skin, both holding sharp stakes. A platinum blonde man and dark eyed woman at his side.
"Oh bloody hell." said Spike. "Not fucking Sunnydale again."
THE END??
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