FF: Legend chpt 16

["sam " <shadowmage_draco@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Legend 

By Sam

e-mail: Shadowmage_draco@xxxxxxxxxxx 
Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters commonly associated 
with Buffy the Vampire Slayer; they belong the Joss Whedon, I am only 
borrowing them for a short while and will put them back were I found 
them when done. No copyright infringement is intended.
Archive: Just ask
Pairing: B/W, A/C
Notes: A few twist and turns, but mostly this chapter is one big 
battle. The Hellsmouth is open, run for the hills. Hope you enjoy. 
I thrive on feedback, so send it if you wish, it will be greatly 
appreciated.

CHPT 16: Hell on earth

The air was filled with the putrid stench of sulfur as Vlad watched 
demons of all shapes and sized emerge through the dark cloud of smoke 
that poured from the Hellsmouth. After a half hour of the seeing 
the demonic host enter his realm the master vampyre turned to 
Spike, "William I believe there are now enough of these inferior 
creatures to weaken our foe," He then walked into the black smoke 
that engulfed the Hellsmouth.

Spike stood there not believing his eyes, just a few short moments 
after his master had walked into the Hellsmouth the thick dark smoke 
began to retreat back into the Hellsmouth as it started to close. 
The Blonde vampire looked the master vampyre as he stood over the 
crack in the ground that just a few moments before had been a open 
Hellsmouth. Master, I did not think it possible for a Hellsmouth to 
be sealed so easily?"

"One can not seal a Hellsmouth my child, I only closed."

"But how?"

"I am Vlad Tepes Dracul, through me that which is thought to be 
impossible becomes reality. Now William let us go and wait for the 
demons I had sent forth to accomplish their task," said Vlad full of 
himself, convinced that this plan could not fail.

The patrol stopped dead in their tracks as a seven foot green and 
black demon, followed by three smaller reptilian looking demons with 
razor sharp claws, approached from the south. Six more of the 
reptilian demons approached the group from the north as Buffy removed 
her sword from the sheath and the deadly ballad of the Bladesinger 
began. As the Bladesong filled the night air Buffy sprang into 
action attacking the green and black demon with all her might. The 
demon took a powerful swing at her with his left arm only to have 
Buffy's sword slice through it at the elbow, sending half its arm 
falling to the ground. As the demon howled out in pain she drove the 
sword deep into his chest, and he began to shake violently for a 
moment then exploded covering the Bladesinger in entrails.

Willow focused on the reptilian demons coming from the north as Giles 
and Archer fired their crossbows at them. The stakes from the cross 
bows were dead on target and struck two of the demons in the chest 
but only made them scream out in pain. Giles shouted out to the 
others, "Stakes are not going to do us any good against them, it`s 
going to have to be hand to hand."

Willow reached out towards the demons and they burst into flames as a 
barrage of fire poured down on them from the sky. Willow then turned 
around to aid Buffy but became mesmerized by the stunning Blonde. 
Her lover looked more radiant than ever as she fought the three 
reptilian demons. Buffy's movements were not only graceful but 
enchanting and the Bladesong that seemed to strike fear in the hearts 
of anyone or thing that faced the Bladesinger beckoned to Willow as 
if it were a sweet melody playing just for her. She found herself 
unable to concentrate on anything but Buffy's beauty as the 
Bladesinger swiftly cut down her foe.

After the last demon had fell Buffy returned the blade to it's sheath 
ending the Bladesong, she then turned and faced the group, 
immediately she noticed the intense passion that played in Willow's 
eyes as the redhead stared at her. She walked over to her beloved 
and took the redheads chin in her hand, "You O.K. sweetheart?"

It took Willow a moment to break out of the trance she had fell in as 
she watched her beloved fight the demons and realize that Buffy was 
talking to her, "What?"

Concern for what was going on with Willow filled Buffy's mind as she 
repeated her question, "Are you O.K. sweetheart?"

"Yeah, I'm O.K. It's just that when I saw you fighting I wasn't 
able to concentrate on anything but how beautiful you are," Willow 
hung her head down and continued, "I'm sorry."

Buffy lifted Willows head back up so she was looking directly into 
Willows eyes, "You got nothing to be sorry for, in fact I am really 
flattered." Buffy then gently kissed Willow in the lips only to have 
the redhead take a step back.

Buffy stepped towards Willow closing the gap between them that her 
love had created, "What's wrong you never did that before"

A tear rolled down Willow's cheek and she replied to Buffy in a 
broken voice, "You don't understand, while I was watching you I was 
unable do anything, I wanted to help you with the demons by I 
couldn't, all I good do is stand here and watch you."

Buffy let Willows words sink in then wrapped her arms around her 
beloved, "It's going to be OK, we'll figure out what happened," She 
then turned her head towards Eamonn, "What's going on here?"

Eamonn walked over to the two girls and waited for them to break 
their embrace. Once they did he spoke, "She was effected by your 
bladesong, it usually strikes fear in the hearts of those who hear it 
but because of the love that you have for one another your champion 
heard a different bladesong than the rest of us, a special melody met 
to be shared between the two of you. That bladesong amplified her 
love for you and she momentarily became lost in her passion."

Eamonn then looked right at Willow, "I know you did not mean it to 
happen, but in the heat of battle is not the best time for the two of 
you to share the bladesong. If you find yourself once again becoming 
enchanted by the bladesong you must use your minds eyes to detach 
yourself from it's melody, it is the only way you will be able to 
regain your concentration and help her."

"How do I do that?"

"When the bladesong begins to flood your mind use the emotions that 
it is generating for the Bladesinger to focus your minds eye, but you 
must do it quickly so you will not become lost in your love for her. 
Once you have used the love you have for the Bladesinger to focus 
your powers they will be greater than anything you have done to this 
point."

Joyce and Shelia both paced the floor of the warehouse nervously as 
they waited for the parole to return. Both their faces expressed the 
deep concern they had over their daughters having to go out and face 
the darkness that Vlad Tepes had brought to the Hellsmouth. Every 
fiber of their being cried out to the Goddess to watch over Willow, 
Buffy, and the others and return their children and friends to them.

Buffy once again pulled her blade from it's sheath as twenty demons 
formed a semi-circle in front of them. Most of the demons were 
similar to the reptilian demons they had faced earlier with the 
exception of three of the green and black demons and a eight and half 
foot gray demon that had wielded a rather large long sword and had 
sharp spikes protruding all over its body. Buffy cautiously moved 
towards the demons with Angel, Kathryn, and Tristin close behind. 

The bladesong grew louder as she approached their foe and all the 
demons except the large gray one took a few steps back from the 
approaching Bladesinger. The gray Demon suddenly lunged at her with 
his blade but she quickly blocked his attack and countered. The 
demon managed to block her initial attack , only to have three of the 
spikes severed from its body by her follow up attack. Buffy then 
spun in a complete circle slashing deep into the demons chest and 
decapitating a nearby reptilian demon. 

Willow could hear Buffy's bladesong begin to fill hear mind and she 
quickly focused the feelings it was producing towards her minds eye. 
She felt a wave of energy sweep over her and her right hand began to 
emitted a bright blue glow. The redhead then pointed her hand 
towards the three reptilian demons who had broken past Buffy and the 
others. A flash of light shot out from her finger tips and vaporized 
the demons as soon as it hit them.

One of the green and black demons swung widely at Angel. the 
brooding vamp found that it was everything he could do to fend off 
the demons aggressive attack. The demon knocked him to the ground 
with a powerful left hook, but Angel managed to leg sweep the demon 
as he got back up to his feet. He grabbed the demon's right arm as 
it started to get back up and snapped it in two places, causing the 
beast to scream out in anguish.

Kathryn and Tristin were fighting one of the reptilian demons and 
holding their own when three others jumped them. Both of the girls 
quickly found themselves overwhelmed as the reptilian demons claws 
began to cut into their flesh from all directions. Tristin fell to 
the grown bleeding from the several claw marks that covered her body, 
she could feel a coldness sweeping over her as the scene around her 
began to fade. Kathryn looked over to her fellow slayer in training 
and saw that the other girl was in just as bad a shape as she was. 
She then looked up at the four reptilian demons who where hovering 
over them, and she knew that the two of them were about to die. She 
closed her eyes and awaited her fate, but nothing happened.

Buffy sliced deep into the gray demon's leg causing him to drop to 
the ground. The demon looked up at her and saw the Bladesinger blade 
rapidly coming towards its head. The demon brought its sword up to 
block the attack. Buffys bladesong played louder than it ever had 
before as she connected with the demon's weapon. When the two blades 
struck the sword the demon was holding broke in half as Buffy's blade 
continued on its deadly path towards the demon.

Willow saw angel snap a green and black demon's neck as four 
reptilian demons began to rapidly approach him. She waved her hand 
through the air and the four demons imploded before they could reach 
the brooding vamp. She then quickly scanned the battle area and 
located Buffy. Her love was standing in a pile of demon remains 
fighting the remaining green and black demon. 

Buffy slashed the demon accrosed the chest then connected a round 
house kick to its head sending the beast flying backwards into two of 
the reptilian demon's. Before any of them could get back up Willow 
lifted both her hands in the air and a column of fire shot down and 
consumed the three demons.

Kathryn hear a voice tell here not to worry that she and the other 
slayer in training were going to be alright. She opened her eyes to 
see Eamonn standing over them as a golden mist came from both his 
hands. She could feel her wound closing as the mist covered her body 
and after a few moments she felt Eamonn grab her hand, to help her 
up. She looked over were her fallen comrade was and saw Buffy helping 
Tristin up as Willow stood by the her side.

Eamonn turned towards the rest of the group, "Archer you are to take 
the two slayers in training and the young man with the Super soaker 
back to the warehouse. The Bladesinger, her Champion, Giles, Angel, 
and Myself will finish this patrol."

"Why with all these demons out tonight, you will need all the help 
you can get," replied Archer.

"Yes, but none off you except the Bladesinger is equipped to battle 
demons, stakes and holy water do not have the same effect on them as 
they do vampires. All that will happen if you stay is that you and 
the others will continue to sustain injuries that require immediate 
care. While Myself and the Bladesinger's Champion are fully capable 
of healing everyone it is a tremendous drain on our magical energies 
to do so and we most likely will need all the power we can muster to 
continue to battle the demons tonight."

Archer looked at the druid high priest for a moment, then spoke "I 
think I understand but what makes you think their will be more demons 
tonight, this is an inactive Hellsmouth after all"

"From what we have seen so far I do not believe that is the case 
anymore. I fear that somehow the Hellsmouth has opened. Right now I 
am not sure how that happened but I suspect that the master vampyre 
is behind it."

Shortly after Archer and the others had left a group of ten demons 
reptilian demons rounded the corner followed by a slimy yellow demon 
and a purple demon with rather large claws and a mouth full of razor 
sharp teeth. As soon as the demons spotted the group the purple one 
rushed them. Buffy yanked her sword out and charged towards the 
oncoming demon as Eamonn and Willow both sent bolts of energy flying 
at the reptilian demons.

Buffy side stepped as the purple demon lunged at her, the beast flew 
past her and landed on its face. She kicked him in the head as he 
started to get back to his feet, then took off his right arm with her 
blade before he hit the ground a second time. The demon howled out 
in pain as he got to his knees. Buffy Kicked him in the head with a 
round house as she spun around an drove her blade through the yellow 
demon who had tried to sneak up on her. She then pulled out the 
blade as the yellow demon dropped to his knees. The Bladesinger 
swung her sword in as hard as she could as she spun in a full 
circle. Giles, Eamonn, and Willow all stood there and watched in 
amazement as that one movement took off both the demon's heads.

Eamonn looked at Buffy as her bladesong filled the empty ness of the 
night, "It would appear that your skills are improving with every 
battle, if this keeps up they will be complete before the night is 
over."

Giles turned to Eamonn, "How is that possible, how can she complete 
her skills in one night?"

"With the Goddess all things are possible," Replied Eamonn

Anya ran up to Xander and gave him a big hug as Archer and the other 
returned from the patrol Xander looked at his girlfriend and 
smiled, "I take it you missed me"

"That would be a good guess," she replied as the two of them began to 
kiss.

Archer walked over to the table that Collin, Megan, and Hughes were 
sitting at and took a seat only to find himself surrounded by Joyce, 
Shelia, and Cordelia, all three women demanding to know where 
everyone else was. The watcher looked at the women then back to 
Collin, "They are still on patrol, Eamonn sent us back because we 
were not properly equipped to fight the demons and were getting 
wounded"

Collins had every tone of seriousness imaginable when He spoke, "Did 
you say demons?"

"I am afraid so, it appears that that Vlad Tepes has somehow opened 
up the Hellsmouth."

Everyone in the room grew silent as it sunk in, the Hellsmouth was 
open. They all felt a sense of doom coming over them realizing that 
it was no longer just vampires that their friends and family were out 
against, that they now faced whatever demonic creature had crawled 
from the abyss one the Hellsmouth was opened.

Shortly after Archer and the others had left seven green horned 
demons and eight foot black rushed them from a group of trees. 
Buffy once again pulled the sword from it's sheath, As she did the 
bladesong began to play, stopping their demon attackers dead in their 
tracks. Buffy moved in quickly and took out two off the green 
demons before they knew what was happening. The black demon hit her 
hard from behind just as she was driving her blade through another 
one of the green demons. She rolled over to her back and 
somersaulted backwards away from the advancing demon. The remaining 
four green demons charged towards Willow and the others, not wanting 
to have anything to do with the haunting melody that was filling 
their heads.

As the demons rushed them Willow waved her hand in the air and they 
all burst in flames. She then heard Giles scream from behind her. 
Willow and Eamonn both spun around to see that several of the 
reptilian demons had snuck up on them and were attacking Giles. 
Eamonn waved his hand and six of them burst into flames, but before 
he could cast another spell a black and green demon tackled him from 
behind.

Willow Waved her hand in the air vaporizing the rest of the reptilian 
demons. She then turned to help Eamonn and came face to face with a 
gray demon who picked her up and flung her in to the bushes. The 
gray demon then rushed towards her, Willow barely had enough time to 
create the energy field that sent the demon flying backwards.

Angel saw what was happening and attacked the gray demon as he hit 
the ground. He shattered the beast left shoulder with a solid flying 
kick. He Then grabbed the sword it had been carrying and sliced off 
the demon's head with it. 

The black demon tackled Buffy as soon as she landed on her feet 
knocking the sword out of her hand. He then began to strike her 
repeatedly as she tried to get back to her feet. Buffy managed to 
get her leg under the demons and placed her foot firmly into the 
beast belly. She then grabbed him by the shoulders and flipped him 
off of her. She quickly got back up to her feet and rushed to 
retrieve her sword.

Willow crawled out from the bushed just in time to see Angel knock 
the demon off of Eamonn. the brooding vampire then rammed the sword 
into the demons back causing it to explode, sending entrails flying 
all over the place. She then noticed Giles laying on the ground 
barely moving and started to rush over to see if he was OK when she 
noticed the absence of Buffy`s bladesong. She instantly was gripped 
with panic as she unsuccessfully scanned the area for her beloved.

The black demon picked himself up off the ground and turned to face 
the blonde girl who had thrown there only to find she had 
disappeared. The demon began surveying the area but was unable to 
locate her, so he started to make his way towards the others. 
Suddenly The Bladesong once again filled his mind, the demon froze in 
mid step and began to rapidly scan the area for the girl. Then he 
felt the coldness of a metal blade as it penetrated through his back 
and pierced his dark heart.

Willow felt a flood of relief come over her as she heard the 
Bladesong start up again. She turned towards the direction it was 
coming from to see her beloved standing over what used to be a black 
demon. Seeing that there were no more demons in the area she didn't 
bother to refocus the bladesong. Instead she stood there allowing 
Her and Buffy's melody to cloud her mind. Everything she had felt 
earlier on patrol came back to her as she once again was memorized by 
the Bladesong. She saw her beautiful lover walking towards her, and 
noticed each and every graceful step of the Bladesinger.

Angel stood there watching Buffy and Willow as Eamonn began to heal 
the wounds the demons had inflicted on Giles. After a few moments 
the task was done and Eamonn and Angel helped Giles to his feet. The 
three men then turned and watched as Willow wrapped her arms around 
Buffy. Buffy then wrapped her left arm around Willow and held her 
blade in her right allowing it to continue playing the sweet melody 
that now was filling both their minds. 

Eamonn looked at Angel and then Giles, noticing the look on both 
their faces that said what are we suppose to do know, he answered 
their unasked question, "Allow then to have this moment."

Buffy and Willow walked up front and Angel, Giles, and Eamonn trailed 
behind them as they made their way along the crack in the earth that 
was the Hellsmouth. "Eamonn I have a question for you," stated Giles.

"Go ahead"

"Why did you have me stay when you sent the rest back, I am in the 
same boat they were in."

"That is true, but I need you here to not to fight but to witness the 
battle."

"Why"

"It has to do with your destiny. Now that the Bladesinger's Champion 
has learned to use the bladesong to strengthen her magic she is fully 
awaken and the Bladesinger is very close to becoming fully awakened. 
Once that is done my duty here is over. I of course will stay and 
help against the master vampyre but after that I must return to the 
forever. When I do they will need someone to watch over them and to 
give them advise, and you are the one most suited for that job."

"I barely have a grasp on what is happening with them, there is so 
much I don't understand and My knowledge of magic and how to use it 
is very limited. How could I possibly watch over them"

"When I leave you are to accompany me to the forever, there the 
Goddess will show you the path that you are destined to walk"

Before Giles could ask Eamonn what his last response met they heard 
several low guttural grows coming from some nearby hedges which were 
quickly drowned out by the rhythmic sounds of the bladesong. A 
rather large orange and yellow demon emerged from the bushes with a 
dozen of the reptilian demons and six of the green horned demons in 
tow.

The larger demon made its way slowly towards Buffy growling all the 
way. She immediately began her dance of the bladesong quickly 
striking the beast in the shoulder with her sword sending a yellow 
ooze down his arm. The demon the struck at her but she blocked his 
blow, then thrust her sword into the beast belly, causing the demon 
to stumble backwards as it howled in rage. The creature then began 
swinging wildly at her trying to knock her down. Buffy used her 
sword to block everyone of the demons punches, severely cutting up 
its arms and hands in the process.

Willow raised her hands in the air and used the bladesong to focus 
her magic towards the approaching demons. The ground around the 
demons began to tremble causing them to fall down. A crack in the 
earth beneath them appeared and quickly opened up and swallowed all 
eighteen of the demons and then closed back up on itself as if it was 
never there. A stunned Willow looked at Eamonn, "What just happened?"

"How should I know, you were the one who cast the spell. What did 
you want to do to them?"
. 
"I wanted to send them back to hell where they came from"

Eamonn`s voice was filled with enthusiasm over how powerful the 
champion had become when he spoke, "Then it would appear that is 
exactly what you did." 

"But how was I able to pull off something that powerful?"

"As I told you earlier, your magic is greatly increased when you use 
the Bladesong that you share with the Bladesinger to focus it. It is 
that power created by your love for one another that will allow the 
Hellsmouths to be sealed forever."

The large demon howled out in pain it felt the Bladesinger's sword 
strike hard against its chest. The demon fell flat on its back and 
Buffy quickly raised her sword up above her head and thrust it down 
hard into the demon's heart. She then resheathed her sword and 
walked over to Willow, "What are you guys talking about," She asked 
as she pulled Willow into a hug.

"Eamonn was just telling me how we are to seal the Hellsmouths."

"Sounds interesting, How," asked Buffy as they began to walk away 
from the area to continue the patrol.

Eamonn came to a stop as they walked along the Hellsmouth near the 
school, "This is the place"

Buffy and Willow turned around to face him, "What do you mean," asked 
the blonde.

"This is the part of the Hellsmouth that the demons came from, but 
for some reason it appears to be closed once again."

"How do you know that."

Eamonn looked at Buffy, "I can see it with my minds eye," he then 
looked into Willows eyes, "Use yours to see what I see."

Willow walked over to where Eamonn was standing, then began to focus 
her minds eye n the Hellsmouth. She could see the energy that 
surrounded it and how it had been recently opened then shut by some 
dark mystical force. "He's right, I can see it."

Eamonn took Willow by the hand and lead her over to Buffy, "I need 
you to play you Bladesong so that your champion can seal the 
Hellsmouth so that it can not be opened again."

Buffy pulled the sword from it's sheath starting up the Bladesong. 
As their melody filled Willows mind she took it and focused her minds 
eye. The redhead then turned to the Hellsmouth ands once again 
looked at the dark energy that surrounded it. She then took the love 
that she and Buffy had for one another and surrounded the darkness of 
the Hellsmouth with it. She could see the power that the two of them 
shared slowly engulfing the negative energies of the Hellsmouth. 


Eamonn walked over to Buffy, "She needs your help."

"How do I help her."

"Go to her."

Buffy walked over to Willow and placed her hand on her loves 
shoulder. When she did Willow felt the energy from Buffy's touch 
increase the power that she was projecting on the Hellsmouth. After 
what seemed forever all Willow could see with her minds eyes was the 
natural energies of the earth, the Hellsmouth had been sealed.

Buffy placed her sword back in its sheath and turned to Eamonn as she 
held Willow in her arms, "Well it looks like we just fullfilled my 
destiny."

"No, that was only one of many," replied Eamonn.

Cordelia sat there waiting for Angels return. She knew that he could 
keep care of himself but that did little to ease the worry that 
flooded her mind over the vampire. She got up and walked over to one 
of the windows of the warehouse, gazing out of it into the night sky 
she wondered when He wouild get back to her and hope that he had not 
gotten hurt. 

Vlad sat in the main room of the lair, filled with pride over what 
he had accomplished, the demons he sent out would weaken the two 
girls powers enough for him to safely strike against them and get his 
revenge. His sinister smile radiated the essence of evil as he 
though about how he would first kill the slayer and then strike the 
witch dead. His revenge was now so close he could taste it, <Soon 
the new order will begin.>

The five off them stood outside the door to the warehouse, each of 
their faces showed the strain that the nights battle had taken on 
them. They were completely exhausted and every muscle in their 
bodies ached. Willow and Buffy were leaning up against each other 
for support as Angel opened the door to the warehouse. They then 
walked in to rejoin their friends, glad that they had survived the 
Hellsmouth but wondering what tomorrow had in store.