The last battle;

 

Willow’s poked around at the magic bling, and says that it’s got the power of the sun in it.  He wanted to call it a dilithium crystal, but that brought up memories of Andrew.  He can’t believe he was *happy* someone was dead…

 

Naturally it only works for someone with super-powers, and apparently the ability to see with no eyes isn’t quite ‘super’ enough.  So, Buffy and Faith arm-wrestled over it, and Faith won, which she said was only right, since Buffy got the magic axe-thingie.  They didn’t get Xander’s suggestion to dice for it, or call it party treasure, and, again, with the guilty Andrew memories…

 

Willow’s shout brings half the house to the kitchen, to find her clutching her head.  “The Hellmouth.  It’s opening.  NOW.”

 

Xander can see it, a dark spear of *something* rising above the high school.  He’s pretty sure the others can’t see it, and he’s out the door and trying to start the car before someone takes the keys out of his hand and reminds him that he’s blind…

 

There are Bringers around the school by the dozens, and Buffy wastes no time driving the SUV right through them.  Xander can see them, and he can see the lies surrounding them.  He knows that they see him as a grotesque maimed demon, and the girls as monsters.  He remembers it all too well, and joins the others as they pile out and start hacking away, clearing room for Giles, bringing up the rear with his rental car, and yet more weapon-wielding potentials.

 

The Bringers fall like chaff.  Buffy’s axe sweeps them into the building in a matter of moments and Xander never even has time to lift the axe he’s brought with him (against the protests of just about everyone).

 

“Hang back!  Make sure nothing comes up behind us, Faith and I will handle whatever’s down there.”

 

“Damn right!  And save me a cold one, we’ll be thirsty when we get back.”

 

More Bringers arrive, and still Xander can see the tower of darkness rising into the night.  The clouds seem to be spinning around it, and he can’t tell if they are being swept towards it, or trying to get away.  The fight is furious, and he can hear people around him fall, but has no time to stop hacking away as new foes appear as fast as he cuts them down.

 

The ground bucks and heaves, and everyone is thrown to their feet.  Behind them, the pillar of darkness has turned into a pillar of fire, and Xander can see them, down there in the basement, through stone and steel and concrete.  Buffy’s wrestling with one of those prehistoric vampires, but she’s just a shadow cast in the light of Faith, who is a vision of fire.  And then the light is gone, and the school just collapses in on itself.

 

             *****************************************************

 

Xander feels the strength go out of him, but it’s Kennedy who gets everyone’s attention.  She’s wrestling with a Bringer, and suddenly just heaves it across the parking lot, and to sightless eyes, she’s a goddess, bursting with new life.  Suddenly she’s a blur of motion, like a dancer, bringing destruction to the suddenly outmatched Bringers, and he can’t even be angry at the cry of naked joy that comes from her, since he knows she hasn’t realized what her new power means…

 

Willow staggers into him, and he just grabs her tight, feeling her body shake as she ignores the fight and stares in shock at the ruins of the school.  “No, no, no…”

 

An unnatural strength comes into her, and she pushes him off, “NO!”  Colors swirl around her, but they are madness, he feels sick just trying to keep up.  Willow, you can’t…”

 

He is thrown back, by something like wind, like a thousand bony claws pulling him away.  He can feel bodies around him, and knows that *everyone* has been thrown back, but he can see only Willow, like a star in the night, with blackness closing in from all directions.  He can’t hear her screaming over the wind, but he can see it all going wrong.

 

Like a light-switch, it’s over.  One moment, Willow is trembling with torrents of dark power spiraling into her body like water down a bottomless drain, the next the wind is over, the screaming has stopped, and she slumps to the ground, tendrils of darkness lazily drifting from her body.  He staggers to his feet with something in his hand.  Something hard and cold, wrested from the body beneath him.

 

Willow is also cold when he reaches her, but still breathing, and he can see the darkness moving through her like serpents.  His nightmare has come to life, and she lies there, the forces of the Hellmouth somehow contained, locked within her tiny body.  He can hear Giles behind him, and Kennedy, and the others, and he grabs Willow up in his arms, surprised at the weight of her tiny frame, and staggers towards the car.

 

Xander, what are you doing.” Giles asks softly, from a safe distance, Xander notes with a sad grin.  “Why do you have that knife…

 

“Get them out of here, Giles.  The Hellmouth can’t hurt anyone anymore, but it’s more dangerous here than ever.  You need to get the Slayer away from here…”

 

Kennedy has gotten to her feet, having slammed into a wall during the initial blast.  “Wait, where’s Buffy?  And Faith?”  Poor girl, the weight of the world just landed on her, and it’s going to be brutal coming down from it.

 

“You have to get them clear, Giles.  There’s no need for a Slayer here.  Not anymore.”

 

Any protests are drowned out, as Giles suddenly has to deal with the injured Potentials, and Xander walks away.