Xander groaned as he woke up, slumped over in the passenger seat of his car. He held his head, then lowered his hand to his side where the tazer burn still flared bright and painful. "Ohhhhh... Damn, that hurts."
"You should know." Came a familiar voice. "You seem to like sampling new and wonderful types of pain."
Xander looked aside, his eyes widening as he recognized the person sitting in the drivers seat of the car. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Just bringing you a message, big guy."
"You mean?"
The figure nodded and smiled, "It's time."
Xander smiled for the first time in months. "Well it's about damned time."
"Go to it, my man." The figure grinned, "You've been given point on this one."
Xander grinned, straightening up in his seat, and took a deep breath. "Oh... I'm gonna enjoy this."
Buffy looked around the battle ground, a wave of nausea and helplessness washing over her. Around her the air was filled with the screams of the dying, and the horrid sounds of the dead.
The seal was open, and they'd lost. Turok'han were climbing from the pits and their numbers were growing with every passing second.
Checkmate.
But none of that mattered to the blond Slayer.
What mattered was the fact that she was on her knees, staring up at the sickly yellow eyes of the one ally she thought she could count on for certain.
"Spike..."
Spike smiled down at her, his vampiric visage mocking, "What is it Slayer? Want another go round fore I drain you?"
"Why?"
"Why, she wants to know!" Spike laughed. "You were so quick to run back to the Poof, and you want to know *why*?"
"What...?"
She heard the slow approaching steps of Caleb, who simply smiled. When he spoke his voice was eerily like her own, but it also sounded like others, as if he was speaking in the combined voice of everyone the First had imitated.
"My lovely Spike," Caleb smiled, brushing his hand along the vampire's face. "He always was a prodigal. All he needed was the proper direction."
"Spike..." Buffy gasped out, her hands clawing at his arms as he tightened his grip on her throat. "You have a soul... fight this... *fight*."
"Oh, but I am..." Spike grinned. "I'm fighting alright. I'm fighting where I want to fight, Slayer."
Buffy just stared up, her weakened hands unable to claw free. "I... I don't understand... You have a soul..."
"Oh yes..." Caleb said, still idly stroking Spike's hair as he spoke in the voice that sounded very much like Buffy's. "He has a soul... one of those wonderfully black souls that truly calls to those such as I."
"No... no..." Buffy shook her head in Spike's grip. "I can't believe that... I won't. I know he loved me... he cared for me."
"Tsk tsk tsk." Caleb's voice shifted, sounding like Dru's. "Poor slayer... she thinks that you have to be good to love. Evil can love, Slayer... love so powerful it hurts... isn't that right, my lovely Spike?"
Spike nodded, "Yeah. That's right, Pet."
"But there's such a fine line..." Caleb said, still sounding like Dru. "Hate... Love... Hate... Love... and Evil knows that the line is finer then most... Evil can cross the line whenever it wants. You hurt my lovely Spike... so now, he's going to hurt you."
Buffy gurgled in response as Spike's grip tightened.
"Get away from her!"
Spike looked up in surprise, "Nibblit?"
"Don't call me that!" Dawn growled as she stalked toward Spike, sword in one hand. Around them the Turok'Han were still gathering, but all of Dawn's attention was on Spike and Spike alone.
"I told you, Spike. I TOLD you what I would do if you so much as touched my sister again!" Dawn growled, pulling something from behind her back.
"Don't be stupid, lil bit... you can't win here.... URRRRRK!!" Spike let out a loud scream as the wires of the tazer leapt across the air and impacted on his chest.
His hands jerked from Buffy's throat as he danced around through the pain that was cascading through his system. He went down to one knee, then to all fours, and finally over onto his back. Spike let out one last scream of pain, then his hands found the two cables and ripped them from his chest.
After that he just lay there, breathing hard.
Caleb laughed lightly, his voice sounding suddenly like Joyce, and clapped. "Oh, well done... that was so wonderful Dawn."
"Shut UP!!" the little girl screamed, "You are NOT my mother!"
Caleb shrugged, "Are you so sure, honey?"
Dawn growled, pulling a bottle from the pack she wore over her shoulder, ignoring Caleb. She turned back to where Spike was groaning. "I told you what would happen, Spike..."
She lit a rag that was in the bottle with a lighter she retrieved from her pocket and tossed the bottle at the downed Vampire.
Spike opened his eyes, just in time to see the flaming bottle float through the air toward him. "Bloody Hell!"
He rolled just clear as the bottle smashed on the ground, sending liquid fire all spattering for several feet around. He kept rolling, putting out the small amounts of flame that had caught on his clothes, and climbed to his feet.
Spike snarled, glaring at Dawn as he got up. "Now, now, lil bit... that's no way to be."
"Just DIE Spike!" Dawn screamed, charging him with her sword.
Spike easily dodged her swipe, catching the sword as it overextended, and ripped the blade from her hands. The he twisted her around, holding her by the throat as he stalked the young woman back over to her sister.
"Hey Slayer," He said, conversationally. "How about I save her for a while, huh? Then when I've turned you, we can snack on her together?"
"You bastard!" Dawn kicked back, trying to connect with his crotch, but Spike easily avoided the strike, laughing.
Buffy was staring up at her sister, her face stunned. "Dawn... but... but I sent you away... Xander...?"
"Xander got a taste of fifty thousand volts."
Everyone looked back to see Xander walking into the field of battle, calmly, without weapons. He smirked at Dawn, "That wasn't the nicest thing to do, you know that Dawn?"
"Sorry?" She said meekly as Spike's hand tightened around her throat.
Xander laughed, his voice clear and strong as it pierced the blackness that was weighing down oppressively on the field. Everyone felt it instantly, as the darkness began to lift.
Buffy looked up, her eyes filling with wonder as her strength returned. She quickly forced her way to her feet, looking around in surprise and confusion. "What? I... what happened?"
Around her everyone living was climbing to their feet, looking around with the same feeling of wonder and shock in their eyes.
"Nothing much, Buff." Xander smiled easily, striding forward.
"Stay BACK!" Spike growled, his grip tightening on Dawn's throat. "I'll break her neck!"
"You have a SOUL!" Buffy yelled, "Why are you doing this!?"
"Buffy, Buffy..." Xander chided, shaking his head. "All this time... all these battles, and you still don't know the basics."
"What?" Buffy turned back, confused.
"Spike already told you everything you needed to figure this out, Buff." Xander said calmly. "I really hoped you'd have gotten it before now."
Everyone on the field was slowly standing, paying their full attention to the odd sight of Xander calmly walking toward the line of Turok'Han and the small gathering with Buffy at the center.
"I... I don't understand..." She said helplessly confused.
Xander smiled sadly, "I know."
He took a breath, "You should have paid more attention, Buffy... Maybe you should even have read Faust."
"What??"
"Remember how Spike said he got his soul back?" Xander asked, his voice conversational.
"He... A..." Buffy shook her head, confused. "A trial of some sort.. He won his soul from a demon..."
"From a demon." Xander echoed, smiling sadly. "From a demon, Buffy."
"So... I know he has his soul! We tested him!"
Xander nodded, "Oh he has his soul alright... But if you had read Faust maybe you would know..."
Giles looked up, his face horrified. "Oh of course... How could I have missed it!?"
"Don't ask me, G-Man." Xander smiled, shrugging. "I kept hoping one of you would realize... I even hinted as much as I could."
"What are you talking about!?" Buffy screamed in confusion.
"Why don't you take it, G-man?"
Giles stumbled to his feet, eyeing the Turok'han who were simply standing in wait for the order to attack. He took a couple steps toward the group, "A demon gave him his soul..."
"So? Are you telling me it's like Angel's curse??" Buffy asked, eyeing Spike's grip on Dawn.
"No.." Giles said, his eyes wide. "A demon simply can NOT give you something you don't already possess. Spike... Spike always did have his soul."
Xander smiled serenely, breathing deeply. "Precisely."
"What? That's not possible!"
"On the contrary..." Caleb smiled nastily, enjoying the show, his voice now echoing Buffy's own voice again. "Why replace such a wonderfully pliable soul with some pitiful demon? He was already perfect."
Buffy looked shocked, her face melting into sheer horror. "He... He always had his soul?"
Xander shrugged, "Humans... So many choices... so many ways you can go."
"You?" Giles suddenly peered at Xander suspiciously.
Xander nodded. "You."
Everyone's attention turned to Xander, and even Caleb stared at him.
"Who are you?"
Xander smiled, "You know who I am, Caleb. I'm the one who sees."
Caleb shook his head, "That doesn't mean anything... Those were just words."
"No." Xander's voice changed, "It is not."
A stray light gleamed from under the black eyepatch he wore, and Xander stripped it off. Underneath there was a gleaming white light. The light pulsed in intensity, then faded back to a dull glow and everyone could see that his eye was healed. He smiled at Caleb and extended his hands to either side, letting the light wash over him again.
This time when it passed, he stood at the center of a bath of white light, radiant wings emerged from his back and an old, familiar smirk on his face.
"No... No! NO!" Caleb screamed in rage, "*You* can NOT be here! The rules...!"
"The rules!?" Xander roared, "The rules you have been breaking for EIGHT YEARS!?"
Caleb fell back from the roar.
"You sent LOTHOS after Buffy! A Master vampire after a newly born Slayer!" Xander roared, "Had I not been there, Had I not supported her when her Watcher died, then she would have been killed contrary to prophecy!"
Buffy stared in shock as Xander lifted off the ground slightly, floating as he roared at Caleb.
"You perverted Angel's mission! Not once, but TWICE! And even tried to remove him from the running as a Champion... when you KNEW that his actions were foretold!" Xander kept roaring, his voice becoming painfully loud for the human's in the clearing. "You have broken a thousand rules, Lucifer... all leading to this one point in time."
Caleb moved, his mouth working as if to speak, but Xander cut him off.
"I am the one who sees, Old friend. I was the one who was sent to observe that the rules be observed! And I watched, and waited, and SAW every rule you broke. And now, this time, HE has seen fit to let slip the dogs of war!"
Behind Xander the stars began shifting, and streaking to earth behind him. The lights slowed to a halt behind Xander, slowly increasing in intensity until they faded out and left other radiant figures floating in the air behind him.
"I am the witness of your crimes. I am the one who was to gather evidence to bring before HIM. And now, I am to be your executioner!" Xander roared with a finality that shook the clearing, then a deep silence fell.
"You're TOO LATE, Alexander, Protector of Man!" The First roared as Caleb's form began to shift and chance. Batlike wings grew from him, coated in an oily black shadow that seemed to drip from their surface. "I have my army! I have corporeal form! I have WON!"
Xander smiled, a cold smile that sent shivers up the spines of every human present. "Don't count your battles before they're won, Lucy."
"Do NOT CALL ME THAT!" The demon/first snarled as it flapped it's wings once, shivering in fury.
Xander smirked, reaching out to the side, and pulled a gleaming sword from thin air. He shifted his stance slightly as the blade glimmered and glowed in the night air. "You never could take a joke, my brother."
"Bloody hell." Spike paled, gripping Dawn with a nervous motion as he tried to back away.
Xander swung toward him, "Hold your place, Spike. If you harm her, you'll answer to me... and you should know this, I don't work for the department that specializes in *mercy*."
"Bloody hell." Spike repeated.
Xander turned back to The First, "Recant your actions... retire your army... Or face the wrath of *my* Army... brother."
"*Your* ARMY!?" The First roared in anger, "They should be MINE!"
"They would have followed you into Hell had you but asked them, Brother..." Xander said, softly, sadly. "They would have followed you anywhere... except into disgrace."
"They betrayed me!"
"No, brother. You betrayed them. Now retire from the field, or let slip your dogs." Xander growled. "You have no more options."
The First glowered and seethed, his form shivering in fury. Finally he slumped, looking at the ground. His head slowly came up, his eyes glittering darkly against the inky blackness that was formed around him. When he spoke, it was only two words uttered so softly that no one understood their impact for a few tense seconds.
"Kill them."
Nothing happened for a few seconds, shock seemed to reign on both sides of the battlefield. Then the army of Bringers and Turok'Han screamed and charged the army of light.
"KILL THEM ALL!"
Xander reacted first, his sword flashing high into the air as he sung out in a language that none of the humans understood. In an instant the beings behind him charged into battle, their swords singing as they met the first charge of Turok'Han and the dust flew.
Xander cut through the ranks of vampire's, slicing through them like a hit knife through butter as he focused solely on his target. As he moved he sung out, still in that odd musical language. "I come for you, brother!"
The First ignored the war raging about him, instead turning and retreating back. "Come with me Spike!"
Spike stumbled back from the carnage he was witnessing, the clouds of dust from the Turok'Han and the splatter of blood from the death of the Bringers. "Holy hell! They're killin your army!"
"It doesn't matter, Spike!" The evil black form said in a voice that sounded like an eerie distortion of Buffy's. "Come with me... and bring the KEY with you."
Spike stumbled backward, dragging Dawn along with him as he watched the fury of the celestial battle being waged in his wake. "Bloody Hell."
Dawn screamed out in terror as she was dragged away. "Buffy! Xander! Help me!"
As the Turok'han charged, the Army of light met them along side the Champions and their allies.
Angel roared as he decapitated the closest Turok'Han with a single swipe of his heavy blade. He didn't know entirely what was going on, but after the Beast, these things were pitiful. Another lost it's head to his blade a moment later, and Angel charged into the midst of several more, blade whirling like a windmill.
Robin Wood let fly with shurikens pulled from his sleeve, the tiny stars and darts digging into the soft tissues of the Turok'Han's eyes with almost unerring precision, blinding the charging beasts and causing them to stumble.
As the first of the, stumbled too close, he drew a Katana from his back and made short work of the injured demons. The Demon Hunter/High school principal took a deep breath and let out a roar of satisfaction as he looked around for more.
Giles buried his axe in a bringer, remembering the comrades he had lost to their kind and snarled as he yanked the heavy blade clear and turned to look for more.
Even as he fought the Watcher's mind reeled with what he had just seen, but he pushed it aside and tried to focus on the fight.
Buffy struck right and left, killing bringers and Turok'han alike as she tried to fight her way through the mass to where she could see her sister vanish into the old monastary. She could feel Faith as the other Slayer arrived at her side but didn't spare a moment to glance in the second Slayer's direction.
"You take the left, B."
Buffy nodded, "You take the right."
"Don't worry," Faith voice was surprisingly warm for someone who was currently slaughtering a Bringer. "We'll get to her, B."
Buffy didn't respond as she sliced her blade through the neck of a Turok'Han.
Three surviving Potential Slayer's stood against a bringer and cut him down easily enough, but then were surprised by the appearance of a Turok'Han on their flank.
They screamed in shock as the heavy fist hammered them into the ground, and the lumbering demon screamed down at them. It had a huge blade in it's hand, and it lifted it high and they saw it, as if in slow motion, as it descended on them.
They screamed in fear, their eyes clenching shut.
Then, a huge crash, and then nothing.
The opened their eyes and stared in wonder at the glittering blade that was holding back the ugly serrated blade of the demon.
The winged figure looked down at them, smiling serenely, then looked at the demon and it's smile became so cold that the potentials thought they actually felt the temperature drop around them.
In a motion so fast they couldn't follow it, the glittering crystal blade reversed it's position and then flipped clear and sliced through the demon's torso, rendering it to dust.
The three potentials heard the glimmering figure sing out in a voice that seemed to penetrate every cell of their bodies, and then it was gone, moving on to the next demon to kill.
Kennedy fought back the attack of a bringer as it charged her position, blocking two strikes, then beating it's defenses and slicing it's belly open with a stroke.
She looked over her shoulder, "A little help here!"
"Just two more seconds..." Willow whispered as she finished the spell. Suddenly she rose up into the air, his eyes dangerously black as she turned the tapped power of earth and fire on the Turok'han.
Around them, in groups and alone, the Turok'han burst into flames and were swallowed by the very ground itself.
Xander rushed forward, his feet never touching the ground as he swept through the ranks of the Turok'han. Where he passed, naught but dust lay in his wake.
"You abandon and betray even THIS army, Brother!" Xander sung out over the sound of battle, knowing that had the First stayed and fought then the tide of battle would have been far from certain. "How could you expect that any of our brethren would follow you!?"
There was no response, nor did he expect one. He had a disturbing idea that he knew what the First was planning, and that was his reason for not dallying with the minions sent against him and his forces.
"Come brother!" He sung again, "Come and end this as is befitting your rank and honor! Do not sully your name with further betrayals!"
Still no response, but Xander was through the press and charging toward the monastery where the First had vanished with Dawn.
"Bring here to the seal!" The First ordered, pointing to depression on the floor.
"What? You want to bring more fodder here for them to slaughter??" Spike asked in disbelief as he dragged Dawn to the depression in the center of the floor.
"No, fool." The First growled out. "She is the KEY."
"What? You already have a portal to hell... what in the 'ell do you need her for?"
"I don't want to open a portal, Spike." The First smiled dangerously. "I wanted to shatter the walls of ALL dimensions."
Spike hesitated, looking around uncertainly. "Hey now... look, I'm not expert on this, but wouldn't that like... kill us all??"
The first smiled, reaching out and plucking Dawn from the vampire's grip. "No. Just the abominations that took our place is HIS eyes."
Spike shifted, "Oh... ok..."
The First held Dawn up by her throat with one arm, high over the seal on the floor. He smiled at her, though she couldn't tell under the oily blackness that covered his face. Slowly he lifted a taloned finger to the side of the body.
Dawn let out a piercing scream as the single talon dug into her skin, cutting through her cloths like they were nothing but tissue, and then slowly cut down her side.
"Just a little cut." The first spoke, his voice suddenly becoming oily slick. A voice that was cut straight from Dawn's nightmares.
"D-d-d-doc!!" She stammered out, screaming again as another talon cut into her. "HELP ME!!"
"There's no one coming to help you, little one..." The first whispered in the same oily voice of Doc, "Just another little cut..."
Dawn screamed again and again as the talon cut into her.
"Someone always comes."
The first spun it's head around to see Xander stalk through the door of the monastery, crystal sword still in hand.
Spike looked between the First and the luminous appearance of Xander, and slowly began backing into the shadows, looking for a way to make good his escape. He easily found a window low enough to escape through and vanished out the back of the old Monastery.
"Stay BACK! I'll kill her!"
Xander smiled, "Do not think me stupid, brother. If you kill her then her use to you is ended. The blood ceases to flow. If you kill her, I will welcome her soul into my home and she will be with me for all time, should she so desire, Brother. No, you won't kill her."
The First snarled, holding dawn up by her throat and shaking her around. "You will not stop me, I refuse to be thwarted by some pitiful lover of these... lower beings."
"There was a time when you were the light bringer, brother." Xander said sadly. "You even named your minions for your old title."
"They bring darkness to these pests now!" The First snapped, "I renounce my old title!"
"No need." Xander said calmly, circling around the seal and the First. "You tainted it so completely that even the humans connect your name with betrayal and arrogance. Your title has acquired the meaning as befits you, brother."
"I don't give a damn what these slugs think of my name!" The First yelled out, "In another few moments, they will all be dead and gone... nothing more then a memory in the minds of our kind!"
"It's their world now, Brother. Our place is no longer here." Xander said, approaching steadily.
"Get BACK! I *will* kill her!"
Xander smiled cooly, "You forget yourself, brother. I do not ascribe to the weakness of mercy or compassion when I can ill afford them. If she must die, then she will die... It is not my place to decide this."
"No!"
Xander didn't look back at the scream, but he recognized the voice. "You should leave, Buffy. This is not a battle that should be witnessed by mortal eyes."
"She's my sister!"
"She is not." Xander said calmly. "She is the Key. Her soul is older then your world, Slayer... It has been born uncountable times, and will live on no matter what happens to her corporeal body."
"I won't let you kill her, Xander!"
Xander shook his head, locking eyes with Dawn. "It is your life, Dawn. You simply need to chose... how do you wish to live it?"
Dawn looked back, her face turning blue from the lack of air. Her eyes connected with Xander's and she nodded as best she could. "Do it, Xander. DO IT!"
"As you wish." He lifted his sword and suddenly swept forward, like light itself.
"No!" Buffy screamed out in anguish.
Outside the battle was nearly over. Without the support of the First, the Turok'Han and the Bringers were ineffective against the Champions, to say nothing of the Army of Light. The last Turok'Han fell to a crystal sword and silence reigned over the bloodstained and dust covered battlefield.
The Champions looked around slowly, shivering.
Was that it? Had they won?
A piercing scream broke over them, drawing all their attention to the old Monastery. The scream faded fast, but then a pulse of pure power erupted from the old building, knocking the humans to the ground as they continued to stare in shock at the old building.
The Celestial warriors weathered the blast easily, turning to stare at the building as they slowly returned their crystal swords to the nothingness from which they had come.
"Good lord." Giles muttered picking himself up off the ground, "What was that?"
One of the winged warriors turned to look at him, her expression inscrutable. "Final battle has been joined."
Giles turned to look at the monastery, then back at the woman warrior. "F-f-final?"
She smiled, a slow serene smile that just sort of appeared on her luminous face. "Final... for now."
Giles swallowed, nodding as he turned back to the monastery. "Right... how silly of me."
Crystal sword scraped along Ebony blade as Xander forced his weapon onto that of the First's ugly weapon. They circled each other in mid air, over the seal and the still and crumpled form of Dawn Summers.
"I will KILL you!" The First spat in fury as he slammed his blade against Xander's again.
Xander easily held the ebon blade off, circling around the First as he slid back and then rushed in again. "Perhaps you will, Brother. But if you do, then you lose as surely as if my blade pierces your Mortal's heart."
Glittering shards of light and energy spat and sparked off their blades as they circled up and up, higher into the arced ceiling of the old Monastery.
After another pass, The First lanced out with a creeping darkness that tried to encompass Xander's luminous form. Xander countered with a thread of light that instantly entangled with the darkness, neutralizing both.
"You're tricks are worthless against me, brother!" Xander sung out, striking with his blade.
"As are yours against me!" The First snarled back, blocking the strike and countering with a sliding lunge.
Xander laughed loudly, singing out in a pure voice as he spun around and deftly turned the point of the blade away from his body. "But that is the point! I want no tricks between us, not now my brother!"
The First screamed out in rage, gliding in and striking with lighting fast motions.
Xander turned them all away, then struck out at the First with a spinning slash.
The First blocked it easily with it's ebon blade, but accidently opened it's other side to a strike.
And strike, Xander did. He curled around, blurring as he moved, and slammed the crystal blade down through the First's oily black shoulder.
The first screamed in agony and Xander growled and pushed the blade deeper, seeking the heart. As the crystal blade penetrated the mortal heart of the demon the battle was over.
The first glimmering of light appeared from the center of it's oily black chest, then other holes began to erupt all around until the First's body was utterly torn apart by the gleaming light. It's scream echoed through the air, shattering what few windows still remained in the old building, and rocking the very earth for miles around.
As it's body faded away a stream of black tendrils broke from it and rushed straight down, vanishing through the Seal in the ground.
Xander looked down, his expression inscrutable as he descended slowly. He saw the Seal, and lying across it Dawn's body with Buffy holding her and rocking her gently as she cried. Beside them Faith was staring up, her eyes glittering darkly as she looked between Xander and Buffy.
Xander ignored them all, landing softly on the seal and smiling a cold smile of satisfaction.
"You broke the rules, my brother." He said in a deceptively soft voice that carried even outside to those who stood around the monastery. "And you lost this battle."
He smiled, hefting his sword high into the air, pointed down. "And so I claim my right, as Victor!"
With that he slammed the crystal blade down into the seal, causing the ground to rumble and shake again. Inside and outside the Monastery the humans looked around nervously, wondering what was happening again. The Celestials only smiled with satisfaction.
After a moment the shuddering stopped, and Xander pulled his blade back up.
The seal was cracked down the middle, revealing nothing but packed dirt underneath it.
"And so another one of these accursed portals is closed forever." Xander proclaimed, breathing deeply as she sheathed his sword in the very air.
There was a silence. The came a voice, soft, accusing. "You killed her."
Xander looked down, his face becoming sad as he nodded. "Yes, Buffy. I killed her."
Buffy glared up, "You KILLED her!"
Xander kneeled down, brushing a bang from Dawn's face.
"Get away from her, you monster! You killed her!"
Xander ignored her.
"A life freely given," He sung in his own language, the music of his voice penetrating the walls of the Monastery. "For a cause beyond worth."
Outside the cohort of Celestial warriors joined in the song.
"A life freely given, is a life forever enshrined..."
"A life freely given, is a gift that may be returned!"
The song continued, the eerie music echoing through the building and the environs until everything was shimmering and shuddering with the power of the song.
Abruptly it ended, and Xander rose to his feet and smiled down at Dawn's body. "You were always a selfish one... we had abandoned hope that you would learn... Locked you away in the ball of power that contained you for thousands of years... I cursed those foolish monks for their meddling when they made you..."
Then he looked up, changing from English and singing out loud. "Now I praise them for their wisdom, for they have given innocence to one older then even I!"
As he called up he drew his sword again and raised it into the air where it began to glow powerfully, brighter and brighter, until a single beam of pure light erupted from it's beveled surface and reached down to alight upon the broken seal, the Slayer, and the Key.
A glimmering of green light erupted from the blood spattered seal and flowed up into Dawn as she was held by Buffy. As the power flowed through her, her body twitched and jumped as it touched by a live wire.
"Dawn!?" Buffy looked down, her eyes wide with shock as Dawn began breathing again.
Dawn's eyes flickered open, her face scrunched in confusion. "I... I'm... alive?"
Xander laughed, a musical sound that glittered off the walls of the monastery. "You live, Key."
Dawn's eyes widened in shock as memories flooded into her, "Oh my god... I... I... I remember!"
Xander reached down and plucked her up, singing out a soft message. "You have been forgiven... You have absolution."
Dawn's eyes widened even more, conflicting emotions struggling through her. Her memories terrified her, but suddenly they didn't seem to matter. They had no hold over her life. She smiled suddenly, singing back to Xander in the same language. "Thank you, Alexander... My powers?"
Xander laughed, "Don't get ahead of yourself. Absolution does not mean trust."
She nodded, falling back and starting to bow to him. "I apologize..."
He stopped her, smiling as he switched back to English. "None of that between us, Dawnie."
He turned to look at Faith and Buffy, and smiling. "Come. Let us leave."
They dumbly followed as Xander and Dawn led them outside.
As they stepped out, the gathered Celestials drew they swords as one and lifted them to the air in a silent salute. Xander nodded back, raising his own sword in response, then brought the blade down and snapped it over his knee.
The rest did the same, the shards of the broken blades chiming as they struck the ground.
"Until they be needed again, we live in peace and without fear!" Xander roared out, then threw the two piece of his blade into the air where it was promptly swallowed up.
As one the other warriors did the same, their own blades vanishing into the air as had Xander's.
Then, one by one, the Warriors of light floated up into the air. The shimmered, becoming shooting stars in reverse as they blasted away, some into the sky and others over the horizon. Xander watched them go with mixed emotions.
Around him the Champions approached him hesitantly, almost fearfully, and he sighed.
"Approach." He said firmly, "There is still something to be done before I can leave."
"Leave?" Willow asked softly, hesitantly.
Xander nodded, "My time here is at an end. But first..."
He turned to Buffy, raising a hand. A gleaming light flowed out of the Slayer's pores, accumulating in a solid ball of energy in his hand.
"That whish was sundered..." He began, then paused before turning to Faith. "You are the Slayer, Faith... But you have served in this final battle... so you have earned this... Do you wish to remain the Slayer?"
"Hey!" Buffy objected, "Don't I get a choice?"
"No." He smiled softly, "You have not been the Slayer in six years, Buffy... not since I saved you from the Master's pool... You have died twice and been born three times... Now you may rest."
"R-r-rest?" Willow asked hesitantly, "You mean she's going t-t-to...?"
"She is going back to College." Xander said with a wry grin, "I'll see to it that money isn't a problem this time around as well. Then she will lead a normal life and grow old, and eventually rejoin her loved ones and I in her rightful place."
"Oh..."
Then Xander turned back to Faith, "Choose."
Faith shifted nervously, "Maybe I'm not the right one for this gig... ya know?"
Xander smiled, "That isn't your concern."
"Well.. The Hellmouth is shut... Slayer's kinda useless now, ain't it?"
"There are other portals, Faith." Xander said softly, "And many demons that are still here on Earth that need to be kept in their place. The Slayer has her duties. Now, choose, or I shal send the essence into one of the others."
Faith's eyes shot over to the Potentials, who were huddled around nervously watching the proceedings. "Who?"
Xander shrugged, "Whoever it chooses."
"You mean you'll just let it screw up one of their lives?" Faith's eyes glinted dangerously.
Xander shrugged, "There must always be a Slayer, Faith. It is our covenant with humanity."
Faith shivered, then nodded. "Alright... Do it."
Xander nodded, understanding what she didn't say. "That which was sundered... must be made whole!"
With that proclamation the light lanced out and slammed into Faith full force. She shuddered, jerking and jumping as the power flooded through her. Then, finally, she opened her eyes in wonder. "Oh wow... It's... so different..."
Xander nodded, "You never had the full power, Faith... Neither did Buffy after the Master's cave. That was what gave the First the idea to destroy the Slayer's line and break our Covenant."
Then Xander sighed, looking over his friends. He shook his head, and smiled softly. "Farewell comra... Siblings. I will see you each when your time comes."
Then he turned away, his luminescence fading out as he seemed to fade away.
Behind him the group watched his odd departure with wide eyes until he vanished from sight.
"Good lord." Giles uttered in shock, completely dumbfounded by the events that had just transpired.
"Good guess." Robin Wood muttered, still shocked.
Buffy kept staring at the place in space that Xander had vanished from, her eyes watery as she tried to understand what had happened. "Xander...?"
Giles pulled out his spectacles and fitted them over his eyes, "Alexander I should think."
"What?"
"Alexander." Giles said again, "The Cherubim Protector Of Mankind."
"Cherubim?"
"One of the Angelic Host, Buffy." Giles said, shaking his head. "We should have seen it. The clues were all there."
"Clues?? What clues!?"
"Have you ever seen Xander injured?" Giles asked calmly. "Haven't you ever wondered how he was at the center of every major victory we had? He saved you from the Master. He fed us hints at every turn... practically told us how to defeat every major opponent we ever faced, Buffy..."
Faith snickered, then laughed wildly.
"What are you laughing at!?"
Faith just grinned widely, "Hey... it's not too many girls can say they scored an honest to God Angel, B."