FIC: Armageddon(6/?)

["sam " <shadowmage_draco@xxxxxxxxx>]

Title: The Armageddon(6/?)
Author: Shadowmage_draco@xxxxxxxxx
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated
with Buffy the Vampire Slayer; they are used without permission. No
copyright infringement is intended.
Archive: Just ask
Pairing: B/W
Note: Warning the following installment of Armageddon contains
character death. As always feedback is appreciated

Chapter 6: The Blood moon

Sunnydale:

They all sat inside the mansion each one not knowing the words to say
to comfort their friends. Willow had spent the last half hour
casting protection spells over all of them and now they just sat
there, each of them armed to the teeth and waiting. Giles was
standing by the window watching the sky as the sun began to set.
Silently his mind wondered <Will this be the last sunset that I ever
see>. He was not alone, the same thought or similar ones were going
through all their minds. They all knew what was coming once the
night came and the moon took the sky.

Off in the corner Buffy sat back leaned up against the wall. Willow
sat in her lap, their arms wrapped around each other, as they
telepathically reassured other that everything would work out, that
they and their friends would survive this.

The Realm of Shadows:

The army now stood in formation as there commanders briefed them on
the upcoming war. Talon and his messenger stood on the balcony
overlooking the enormous courtyard that the army had gathered in.

"The army is ready my Lord"

"Good, you have done well my friend." Spoke the Guardian of
the chosen his voice filled with distraction

The messenger looked at him and saw that he was not looking at his
army but beyond them to the heavens, His eyes laced with
worry. "What is wrong my Lord, You seem troubled"

"Tonight brings the Blood Moon to the mortal realm."

"You are concerned for the warriors of light"

"Yes, my friend they will survive but the price they pay for
their destiny will be great"

"How great will the price be"

"That remains to be seen, all we can do now is say a prayer on
their behalf to the Goddess and wait for our appointed hour"

Sunnydale:

As a crimson moon hung high in the night sky over the Hellsmouth, a
shout was heard through the mansion. Angel was running down the
stairs with Spike right behind him "There coming from the
East"

Buffy and Willow ran out onto front to see what looked like about a
hundred, mostly vampires with a mixture of assorted demons marching
towards the mansion. Buffy Held a sword in one hand a Mr. Pointy in
another. Willow raised Her hands in the air and a Dark storm cloud
filled the night sky. Buffy shouted back to their friends "This
is it, take up your positions".

Spike And Angel took a defensive posture one on each side of the
girls, each bearing a broad sword. Xander, Anya, Giles, and Wesley
all armed with crossbows and a rather large supply of stakes stood
behind them aiming at the on coming sea of darkness. The other five
members of the Watchers counsel were spread out through the first
floor of the mansion armed with rather powerful water guns filled
with holy water just in case the army of darkness that was
approaching them got creative and decided to attack from more than
one front. Then it happened, a demon screamed out "For the Dark
Lords" And the unholy army charged the mansion. Willow swept her
hand through the air above her head and lighting filled the night
sky. Each bolt striking into the core of the advancing army. The
crossbows let loose with there ammo each on hitting its mark and
reducing a vampire to dust.

A scream was heard from within the mansion "There is more of
them
coming from the back".

Xander and Wesley rushed into the house to aid the others. As Giles
and Anya continued to fire their crossbows into the demon army with
deadly accuracy. Willow raised her hand to the sky again and a fire
ball five foot in diameter appeared above her and with a flick of her
wrist it went sailing through the air striking the advancing forces
in their core and sending several of their number back to hell..
Within the confined of the mansion Xander, Wesley and the others were
quickly picking off and eliminating a force of 15 vampires who had
tried to sneak in the back way and ambush them.

The army had now advanced far enough were they would have to go into
hand to hand combat. Buffy took a fighting stance in front of Willow
and engaged a rather large green slimy demon. Spike and Angel had
there hand full fending of several vampires who had advanced with the
demon. Buffy was getting in several good hits on the Demon when an
opening appeared and with one powerful swing she slashed the beast in
two, but as soon as she did it two more just like him were upon her.

Xander and the others ran out onto the porch to find that their
friends had dropped their crossbows and were now heaving water
balloons filled with holy water like hand grenades at the vampires
who were trying to overrun the porch. Xander dropped his crossbow
and grabbed a large wooden spear and began impaling the advancing
vamps as they approached, Wesley grabbed a sword and charged a vamp
slicing his head of and reducing him to dust. The others just
started firing their water weapons at any vamp they could aim at.

Buffy had managed to slay the two demons only to be charged by five
vampires. Willow screamed out "No", and a bolt of lighting
shot from her hand reducing two of them to dust. The other Three
were temporally stunned and Buffy took the opportunity to stake them
quickly before they could regain there senses. She then engaged a
red horned demon with reptilian like skin and razor like claws for
hands.

Wesley fought valiantly but he had managed to get surrounded by
vampires. Giles grabbed a long sword. He and Xander rushed to
Wesleys aid. Slicing at the small group that surrounded him, being
sure to decapitate each one turning them to the dust they deserved to
be. The last remaining vampire in the group that had attacked Wesley
managed to knock Giles down only to be turned to dust by Xander.
They looked at Wesley lying there on the ground then at each other,
they were to late, he was gone.

Willow saw it happen out of the corner of her eye as she shot beams
of energy at the remaining vamps in front of them. Angel was
fighting a rather large and hairy demon and doing quit well when
another vamp jumped him from behind ramming a stake into him. In a
flash he was gone. She yelled "Let there be fire" and the
demon and vamp burst into flames. Buffy was still fighting furiously
trying to keep the demons from getting past her, to her beloved. The
demon managed to knock her down , but when he went to jump on top off
her she lunged her sword forward impaling him through the chest. She
looked around her there were no others to fight.

Then Anya screamed "There's more coming from the west".
They spun around to see another advancing unholy army this one bigger
than the one before.

"Hold you ground" Buffy screamed. Willow sent several fire
balls flying into the Demon army as everyone but Buffy and Spike took
up crossbows and began firing into the advancing mass. Buffy stood
on one side of Willow and Spike on the other each with sword in hand
ready to fight the advancing forces.

Several vampires hand managed to get past the fireballs and all the
stakes being shot and were now fighting Buffy and spike. As Willow
continued to send her magical fireballs into the advancing forces
Buffy had her was fighting three vamps, while seven had went after
Spike after all to them he was a traitor. He managed to dispose of
four of them before He was dealt his fate. The remaining there
immediately went to attack Willow who was successfully taking out the
rest of there comrades with her fire balls. As the first one went to
grab her he was met with Mr. Pointy through the chest, Buffy had
already finished off the other vamps. The Slayer then connected with
a round house sending another vamp flying backwards, but before he
could get up he was hit with a water balloon filled with holy water.
The other vamp aggressively attacked the Slayer but she countered
everyone of his moves and in in under a minuet he found himself
laying on the ground as a stake was thrust into his heart.

Suddenly a dozen or so vamps stormed onto the porch from inside the
mansion, taking the others by surprise. Before Buffy could respond
to that ten more vamps rushed from across the street. Xander, Giles,
and Anya were able to successfully get of the porch but there new
friends from England were not so lucky. They had not seen the
vampires burst through the door and never had a chance. Xander And
Anya threw holy water balloons at their foe on the porch as Anya
fired her crossbow at them.

Buffy Charged the vampires who had come from across the street,
fighting as she had never fought before and it was only a matter of
minuets before they were eliminated. She looked back to that there
was about twenty vamps left but they were rapidly retreating. Willow
Was sending lighting strikes at them trying to prevent as much of
them from getting away as she could. Finally the ones that remained
had escaped into the darkness off the night.

"We got to get inside Willow, and regroup" Buffy spoke

With that the they went inside to regroup and get ready for whatever
else that was yet to come, there were still four and half hours still
sunrise.

"Giles were do we stand on supplies."

"Buffy, were out of holy water, and starting to run low on
stakes"
The ex-watcher paused for a second then spoke, "Wesley and the
others
from England are dead"

"So are Angel and Spike, how about the others"

"Just minor cuts and bruises, Anya and went up stairs took keep
an
eye out for any advancing demons, and Xander is gathering the stakes
we have left together"

"How are we going to survive this"

"I don't know"

Willow took Buffy in her arms, her voiced was filled with tenderness
and love "We will make it Buffy, somehow we will survive
this." Suddenly Willow took a step back, "Buffy your
hurt"

She could see that her Beloved hand several cut marks all over here
and a rather nasty gash on the her forehead. Willow reached out and
touched Buffy on the Shoulder and her hand began to radiate a golden
energy that seemed to cover the slayers body and within seconds her
wounds were healed. Then Willow hugged Buffy and she returned the
hug. Only to be interrupted by a cry from up stairs. "There
back with reinforcements" Anya shouted as he ran down the stairs
crossbow in hand.

"How many" Buffy and Willow asked in unison

"Looks to be about twenty or so vamps and about ten demons coming
from the same way the others retreated"

Before they could even get to the front door the vamps that Anya had
spotted came bursting through it and immediately charged the group.

"Fall back " Shouted Buffy as she tossed two stakes through
the air taking out the first two vamps through the door. The group
ran out towards the back off the house with the vamps and demons in
tow. As the reached the outside of the Mansion Willow spun around,
raising her hand in the air she sent the whole place up into flames.
Three of the demons managed to get out of the house before it was
consumes in fire. Buffy was on them immediately using every skill
she had as a slayer and disposing two of them rather quickly the
third however was becoming quite a problem. She was successfully
blocking all of his attacks buthe was just successful in countering
hers. Then he managed to knock her down, but before she could get
back up he was hit with a powerful bolt of lighting and instantly
vaporized.

"Thanks" Said Buffy Smiling at her girlfriend.

"Your welcome, but be got to get out of here this fire is getting
out of control" Willow said as she reached her hand out to help
Buffy up.

Giles shouted to the group as they made there way over the mansions
wall, "It's plan b. We need to get to the mausoleum there
are more weapons and supplies stashed there, but we got to get there
quickly."

As they made there way towards the cemetery on the outskirts of town
they could see what looked like several buildings burning and the
road was packed with cars that were making a mass exodus from
Sunnydale. Buffy looked at the group "Looks like they're
wrecking havoc in town."

After several minuets and about five skirmishes with small bands of
vampires they finally made it to the Mausoleum, and gathered the
supplies that Giles has stashed there. "What now" questioned
Xander.

"We go into town, that would appear were they are now" Buffy
spoke as her eyes focused on the flames that were coming from town.

"Into town" asked a nervous Xander.

"Well it is that or stay here in a cemetery and wait for them on
their own turf"

"Town it is"

As they reached the edge of the cemetery they could see them. It
looked like there were about a hundred or so vamps and no demons
headed towards them leaving behind a burning Sunnydale. They took up
a fighting position and were preparing to fire on the vampires when
Willow spoke up "Wait, everyone get behind me and Buffy now, I
have an idea"

Buffy looked at her redhead mage and smiled "What's the plan"

"I can stop them before they get her, but I need your help to do
it"

"Just tell me what you need me to do and I will do it, I'll
always be there for you"

"We need to form the link between us."

With that said Buffy looked into Willows eyes and opened her mind to
her love. Willow took Buffys hand in hers and raised them to the
sky. They were seeing once again into each others mind, and Buffy
could feel her energy being transferred into Willow. Willow raised
her other hand towards the vampires and there was a great flash
directly in front of the approaching dark horde. Buffy almost
collapsed into Willows arms but the young mage was able to hold up
her beloved. The rest of the group ran over to see if they were O.K.
and also immediately noticed that all the vampires they were getting
ready to fight were gone.

"What just happened here" asked Giles, expressing the
question that was on everyone's mind.

Willow looked at Him and the others, her arms still wrapped around
Buffy who was starting to feel a little bit stronger. "By the
two of us linking our minds together I was able to combined my magic
with Buffy's slaying power to destroy them before they became a
threat"

A very confused Xander looked at the two girls, "Then why
didn't you do that before"

"Because it Considerably weakens Buffy, and it is a pretty big
drain on my magical energy. Just after a few times of doing that
spell she would no longer be able to fight and my magical abilities
would be significantly reduced. Then Where would we be. That was
the third full scale attack we seen tonight and were still a few
hours away from sunrise"

Everyone in the group stood there in silence for a few moments then
Xander spoke "I`m sorry I didn`t know"

"It's O.K. this night has been rough on all of us"
replied the mage.

Silently they followed Buffy and Willow into Sunnydale. The town
looked like a war zone. Buildings were burning everywhere and there
was no one to put them out. The dead lined the streets, some had
been taken by vampires others by demons. It really did not matter
though how they died for they were dead. Over turned cars and
emergency response vehicles littered the streets and the buildings
that weren`t burning had been vandalized. The streets were
almost abandoned, every now and then they would come along the one or
two people who were frantically throwing their most valued keep sakes
in a car or van. Every time they met such a person the message they
received was the same, "Everyone is leaving, get out why you
still can." Finally they made their way to Giles house to find
that
it had been burnt to the ground, they got the same results at both of
the girls parents houses.

"My God, What happened here"

"Giles, I don't think God had anything to do with what
happened here" Buffy replied.

"It finally happened" Xander said his voice filled with
sorrow over the destruction of his boyhood home

"What finally happened" asked Willow

"The Hellsmouth has consumed Sunnydale"

There were no words of comfort they could offer him. They all felt
his pain in there hearts as they looked around and saw what
Sunnydale, their home, had become. It was a virtual ghost town
burning in the night under the blood moon. They continued their walk
through the abandoned streets of what used to be Sunnydale in
silence, each of them morning the lost of their home and their
allies, would this night ever end. Every now and then they would
come accrosed on or two vamps or demons. If they saw their adversary
first they slayed him and if the demon saw them first it would flee.
For what they could make of things the majority of the vampires and
demons that had not been slain had retreated.

Then it happened as it always had in the past darkness gave way to
light and the sun rose. The group stood together in the center of
town watching the sunrise over what had once been Sunnydale. They
were glad to see the sunrise but it didn't help to lift their
heavy hearts, the night had cost so much. Angel, Wesley, Spike, and
their new allies from England had perished at the hands of the demon
armies, and from the looks of things so had several hundred of
Sunnydales residents. They were the only people left in
Sunnydale.

Willow Spoke, "Giles we have a favor to ask of you"

Giles looked at the two girls who were leaning up against one another
as to keep each other from falling., "What can I do for you"

"You and the others to leave this place immediately, we will
contact you as soon as you can"

"I am not leaving the two of you here by yourselves"

"You must, The blood moon has ended and now we must stand before
the Hellsmouth to summon the Guardian to fight the Armageddon, and we
must do it alone."

"I can't allow that"

"You have no choice in the matter, it is how it is written in the
Book of Ages. We all heard the words as I read them and knew what
they met. You and the others have done all you can do, there is
nothing else left but the Armageddon."

Before Giles could respond to Willow she simply raised her hand and
all he saw was a bright flash of light. When he was able to refocus
his eyes he knew they were no longer in the remains of Sunnydale.
He and the rest of the group minus Buffy and Willow were now standing
outside the Hotel in LA that both the girls parents had went to stay
in and wait for their respective daughters to tell them it was safe
to come home again. His mind shivered at that thought. <Home again,
could any of them ever go home again after what they had seen happen
there>

Giles looked at the group and spoke, "There is only one thing for
us to do now"

"What is that" questioned Xander

"Find their parents and bring them up to speed on what happened
and assure them that Buffy and Willow are safe"

"Can't we go back to Sunnydale to help them"

"They would only send us away again, there is nothing we can do
to
help them "

Back in Sunnydale the two soul mates walked side by side, holding
hands, slowly making their way towards the high school and their
destiny.

The Realm of Shadows:

"My Lord you sent for me"

"Yes, They have survived the Blood Moon, the remaining demon seed
has retreated back into hell. The price was high just as I feared it
would be. They lost friends and allies and saw their home
destroyed"

"What can we do for them my Lord"

"There is nothing that we can do now. The blood moon has ended
and now the war is to begin"

"Then it comes, my Lord"

"When the sun sets tonight the gateway will be opened, so shall
be the Armageddon"

interlude

Los Angeles:

The three of them had found The Rosenburgs and Joyce Summers sitting
in a hotel room glued to the TV. A report from action news was
speaking, behind her you could see several military trucks blockading
one of the roads leading into Sunnydale. "Initial reports are
very sketchy, there has apparently been several large and devastating
explosions in the town o Sunnydale. The govern has called in the
national guard to seal off the area and help contain the fires that
are burning out of control. We do not have any information at this
time on how many people were injured or killed though through eye
witness accounts the federal government is estimating the death toll
to be several hundred. If you have family in Sunnydale please
contact your local red cross for assistance. Shelter for the
Sunnydale evacuees are being set up in all of the surrounding areas.
Please do not try to go to Sunnydale, it has been sealed off as the
source of these devastating explosions is being investigated. Please
stay tuned we will bring you updates on this tragic story as they
occur"

"Giles, were are they" Joyce Summers voice was filled with
fear as her mind imagined the worst possible fate for her daughter
and Willow. The same fear and dread could be seen in the eyes of the
Rosenburgs.

"They are alright. The two of them made us leave and told us to
let the three of you know that they survived the Blood moon and are
fine."

"Then why are they not here" Shouted an agitated Mr.
Rosenburg

"It is not over for them yet, they still have to summon the
guardian so he can prevent the end of the world"

Giles words did little to put the girls parents mind at ease, hell
they couldn't even put his own mind at ease. So along with
Xander and Anya he joined the three parents, setting in front of a TV
watching as reports of Sunnydale came in and praying that Buffy and
Willow were still alive.

Sunnydale:

The two of them lay side by side holding on to one another within the
burnt out confides that used to be Sunnydale High. They professed
their love for one another, and made some small talk. Mostly they
just held each other in silence as they waited for the night to come.