FF: It's Grim Up North (9/10)

["Spik" <spik@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Spik pulled herself up from the pile of rubbish and looked down at 
her torn clothes, "Oh god, what did I do this time?"

Disclaimer: I am nobody... Joss is God (sometimes a mean God but 
still God - and the dances of joy and honour were cool)
Spoilers: See previous parts...
Inspiration: Old men ogling at me.... Imagining what would happen if 
anything should happen to my girlfriend (this was not a fun thing to 
do and got me rather paranoid).
Recap: Willow and Joe were kidnapped and Torr and Buffy are 
attempting to rescue them. Also Joe is currently being fried by an 
energy beam...
(If you've not read any of this then read the old parts, available at 
http://www.cus.org.uk/~spik/buffy/fanfic/grimupnorth/index.htm)
Writer's Comment: So this is the penultimate part, it's a slightly 
shorter part as it's building up to a mega final part, yet somehow 
it's still taken me ages to write... It's somewhat emotionally 
heavier than the other parts, just thought I ought to warn you... 
Please send feedback (see plea at end...)



It's Grim Up North (9/10)
By SPik




Willow had passed out from a mixture of the shock and fear of 
Ruairc's energy bolt, but Buffy hadn't realised and feared the worst. 
She ran towards where Willow was chained up and slammed her sword 
down on the chains. Making sure that she was still alive, Buffy 
carefully placed her on the ground behind the rock that she'd been 
chained to, kissed her forehead and returned to the battle.

The sound of Joe screaming in pain had caught Torr's attention, but 
while she had been momentarily distracted one of the few remaining 
demons kicked her in the centre of her back, knocking her forward. As 
she turned to face him he gulped, realising that that had been a 
stupid thing to do, just as Torr swung one of the axes at him. The 
flat side of the axe caught his chin, flinging him into the road 
beyond. As Torr picked herself up she looked towards Ruairc, without 
flinching she hurled the axe towards him. It spun through the air and 
caught Ruairc on the shoulder severing his arm and breaking the 
connection with Joe.

"You're too late." shouted Ruairc as the ground infront of him began 
to shake, "He's almost here."

However, Ruairc hadn't noticed Buffy sneak around behind him, "Well 
he's not here yet!" she commented, as she plunged her sword through 
his back. As his body fell to the ground the shaking stopped and a 
blast of energy was released, throwing Buffy backwards into the wall 
behind her and instantly incinerating the body.

"Joe!" yelled Torr as she ran towards where his limp body was slumped 
onto the rock behind. As the chains holding him down broke, a swift 
blow from her axe doing the trick, Torr caught Joe's body as it 
slipped from where it had been lying.

Buffy shook her head as she lifted herself up and looked down at the 
pile of ashes left where Ruairc had been standing. "Phew, that was 
tough." she muttered to herself and headed towards where Willow had 
been lying.

Willow was just waking up when Buffy reached her. Looking up towards 
her beloved she noticed the sombre look on Buffy's face. "What is 
it?" she asked.

"Joe." Buffy replied, helping Willow to her feet and pulling her into 
a hug. Willow glanced over Buffy's shoulder towards where Torr was 
knelt down next to Joe's body. As the hug broke they both headed over 
towards Torr.

"Torr, I'm sorry." expressed Buffy as they reached her, "I should 
have gotten there sooner."

"It's not your fault. At least we killed them all." joked Torr trying 
not to let her emotions take charge.

"Not all of them." remarked Willow still not completely awake.

"What?" asked Buffy.

"I saw the one who was in charge of the kidnapping run inside when 
the fighting started." Willow replied wondering if it had been a good 
idea to mention anything.

"WHERE?" growled Torr turning to face Willow, her voice full of rage 
and her face now looking even more wolf like than usual.

"In there." replied Willow taking a step back from Torr and pointing 
towards the door to the corridor.

As Torr began to stand Buffy grabbed her shoulder; "Torr let me go."

"NO. I need to do this." she growled as she shrugged Buffy's hand off 
her shoulder and continued towards the door without looking back.

"I'm not letting you go." yelled Buffy grabbing Torr's arm and 
spinning her around to face her.

"You want to try and stop me." she replied. Buffy looked at Torr's 
face and let go of her arm. Torr's eyes had become completely black, 
her teeth had completely morphed into wolf ones; she'd become almost 
completely wolf. "Go and get the van, I won't be long." growled Torr 
as she entered the corridor.


****


Graham had watched from the corridor as Buffy and Torr had worked 
their way through all of Ruairc's men. As he watched Buffy creep up 
behind Ruairc and ready her sword, he realised that it was all over. 
He ran down the corridor and up the ornate staircase into the great 
hall above.

Graham burst through the doors at the far end of the room and almost 
tripped up over his own feet. He spun round, checking the entrance 
he'd just come through, hoping that they hadn't noticed him run off. 
The moon shone in through the stain glass windows along the top of 
the great hall and the huge organ pipes above the stage area 
glimmered slightly as the light hit them, adding a feeling of 
coldness to the room. The hall had witnessed many a student 
graduating and even more struggling with examinations during it's 100 
years, yet the dread felt by those students was nothing compared to 
that pumping through Graham right now. The only things Graham could 
hear were his heavy breathing and his heart thumping away, the 
silence outside confirmed to him that Ruairc's plan had failed.

"I thought I'd made it clear that the wolf was mine." came a voice 
from the shadows behind Graham breaking the silence and causing him 
to jump.

He turned to face the voice, "It wasn't my fault that she came after 
them." Graham replied as his mysterious friend walked into the 
moonlight and towards him, "I don't even know how she found us."

"That's not good enough." replied the hooded man as he grabbed 
Graham's throat and lifted him off the ground.

"But she's still alive, you still get the chance to kill her." 
spluttered Graham as he tried to release his friend's grip.

"Do you know what happens to people who try and get in my way?" he 
asked as he threw Graham against the sidewall.

"Just tell me. Would it have been so bad if she had died?" questioned 
Graham as he picked himself up off the floor, "Why is it so important 
that *you* have to kill her?"

"She killed my father. I need to avenge his death." he replied.

"Shouldn't that be OUR father." came a growled voice from the shadows 
beside the organ pipes....


TBC

End of Part 9

Well just one part left in this epic...
Please send me feedback as I think I need some, I have no idea 
whether anyone even likes this or whether it's a pile of shit... 
Please tell me....

SPik
--
Willow: How can you be so calm?
Oz: Long, arduous hours of practice.