Latter Days by Enigmaticblue

Summary: Set post-Chosen. After the Slayers are activated, the balance between good and evil is disturbed, and the Scoobies are flung to the far corners of the world to respond to the crisis. In the midst of all of this, will they be able to keep their relationships strong? Or will they be divided by circumstances and torn apart by fate? Follows my short story Yesterday.

Chapter 34: Los Angeles, California

“Made it to LA. Spike still MIA.” ~Text message from Buffy Summers to Dawn Summers and Xander Harris

Willow watched Buffy pace nervously. They were still waiting for Giles and Miriam to return to let them know whether they would be able to walk into the battle zone, or if they would need to find a sneakier way in.

Oz patted her hand, and Willow shot him a grateful look. She hadn’t asked him to come; he’d simply announced that he had no intention of letting her go by herself. Zoë and Arnold would be fine with the youngest girls, particularly with Rhoda to help. Teresa, Rute, Linda, and Ximena had all been judged capable enough to accompany them.

“Buffy—”

“Don’t. We’re not going to talk about it. Spike will be fine.”

Willow exchanged another look with Oz and fell silent, deciding that discretion was the better part of valor in this case.

Giles entered the hotel room that they had booked. “We’ll have an escort in.”

“What kind of escort?” Buffy stopped pacing for the first time since he’d left. “What did you find out?”

“It was what Miriam found out,” he corrected her. “The army has blocked off several square miles, which seem to be the hardest hit, but they’ve had to pull back even farther as more demons have come through. They’re simply not equipped to fight that many demons under those circumstances.”

Buffy shrugged impatiently. “So? What does that mean for us?”

“It means that Miriam was able to plant the suggestion that we’re just the ones to deal with it so that they don’t have to risk more men.”

“Good. Let’s go.” Buffy reached for her bag.

“Wait. Buffy, we need to talk, to have a plan.”

“Did you send Spike in with a plan?” Buffy demanded.

“Buffy—”

“No! You sent him on a suicide mission, and you expect me to forgive you.”

“It wasn’t a suicide mission.”

Willow winced as soon as the words left Giles’ mouth; he didn’t sound too certain of that, and Buffy was sure to notice.

When Buffy opened her mouth to argue again, Willow interrupted. “We don’t have time for this, Buffy. Every minute we stand here arguing increases the chance that more people are going to die.”

Buffy took a deep, audible breath. “You’re right. You’re absolutely right.”

There was a collective sigh of relief from those in the room as the tension decreased several notches. “They’re here,” Miriam announced, sticking her head through the door.

It was beyond strange to be riding on a troop transport. Their driver was silent, not even trying to make conversation, or determine why he was taking such an odd assortment of people into an area where the army was hesitant to send troops.

Willow sat silently, her hand grasping Oz’s tightly. Buffy sat across from her, her lips pressed into a tight, thin line.

“This is as far as I can take you.”

The soldier’s voice broke into the tense silence as the truck stopped with a shudder and squeal of brakes. The Slayers hopped off the back of the truck one by one, each carrying a pack that had weapons, food, and water. No one knew how long they’d be behind the lines, or what they would find when they arrived.

~~~~~

What Buffy felt was nothing less than sheer panic—which was why she was as pissed as hell. Buffy hated being scared; it was a lot easier to be angry at the people who had made it impossible for her to get there on time.

She was the Slayer, after all. She was supposed to be on the scene when there was an apocalypse. Buffy was supposed to be facing it alongside Spike.

They hiked through empty streets that had the air of a set from a disaster movie. The daylight meant that the vampires weren’t out, but she was on alert for demons.

One of the Slayers on the rearguard, one of Willow’s, gave a shout of surprise. Buffy’s sword was in hand in half a second, and she sprinted towards the large demon the other Slayer was just barely managing to hold off.

There were too many Slayers, she thought a moment later. The demon was dead, and she hadn’t even gotten a hit in. What Buffy really wanted was a good fight.

Another roar told her that she might get the action she wanted, and she turned to face the oncoming horde.

Okay, six demons probably couldn’t be considered a horde, but Buffy wasn’t sure what the appropriate term was under the circumstances.

There were still too many Slayers, Buffy thought. No one knew how to work together as a team. The demons were splitting them into smaller groups, and she knew how the story was going to end.

Unless someone took charge, and Buffy realized that was her job. It was always going to be her.

“Talia! Fall back!”

The girl did as she was ordered, and two of the other Slayers that had traveled from England followed Talia’s lead, intuiting what Buffy was trying to do. They grouped together, just as they had practiced in the training sessions, and the Slayers from Brazil began to do the same, seeing the wisdom in the tactic.

Oz and Giles were trying to protect Miriam and Willow, who had clasped hands, apparently ready to cast a spell, although Buffy wasn’t sure what they were planning. The other Slayers and Watchers they had brought along were forming similar groups, staying close together and working in teams, which gave Buffy the chance to dive into the center of the group of demons.

She heard Giles shout at her, but the demons scattered, which was exactly what she’d been planning. Buffy engaged one, and by the time it was lying dead on the ground, the others were dead and no one was even breathing hard.

“Good job,” Buffy said. “Let’s go.”

“Buffy?”

The voice was familiar, and she recognized it immediately. “Faith!”

The other woman jogged down the street towards her, and they stood, staring at one another, for a moment. If things had been different between them, if they had ever been close, Buffy might have hugged her.

But Faith wasn’t the hugging type, and so Buffy settled for asking how she was.

“In one piece,” Faith replied. “Which is more than some can say. Come on. I’ll take you to where we’re holed up.”

“Have you seen Spike?” Buffy asked, the questioning tumbling from her lips before she could think better of it. There were other people, of course, other people who would need their help.

Faith hesitated perceptibly before shaking her head. “No. Not since the big fight.”

“Which big fight was that?” Buffy was keeping an eye out for another attack as she followed Faith, and glancing behind her, she could see that the others were also on the alert.

Faith shook her head. “We can talk about it once we get somewhere safe. The portal isn’t completely closed yet, and weird shit keeps popping out.”

Buffy bit back her next question and reminded herself that saving the world had to be her top priority.

~~~~~

Faith had seen Buffy’s reticence, and she knew the reason for it. She didn’t do hugs, but there had been a moment there when she might have. In truth, she was feeling the need for a hug, but she’d get her jollies from Wesley.

He was really good at that, among other things.

They walked into the abandoned office building. Faith would have preferred to remain at the hotel, but it was too close to the fissure. Gunn and Fred were safe in a hospital outside of L.A. with Abby. Gunn was recovering from wounds sustained when he went after his target, and Fred had wanted to stay with him. She’d said herself that she probably wouldn’t be of much help.

Faith and Wesley had agreed that no one would stay if they weren’t fit to fight. Abby had begged and pleaded to stay, but they had sent her with Fred and Gunn. She would be safe with them.

It was a relief to have reinforcements, a huge relief to have Buffy there. Just like old times.

“In here.”

Faith showed them inside the building, then directed them towards the stairs. “We went up a few flights, thought that would be safer.”

“What about Spike?” Buffy asked.

“Wesley knows a little more than I do.” Faith felt for the other girl. She’d Spike and Buffy together, and she knew that they were tight. Faith already knew that losing Wes would hurt, more than she wanted it to, more than she wanted to risk.

Wesley was in the CEO’s office, talking to the Slayers, his left arm wrapped in bandages from wrist to elbow. Faith knew how painful the burn had to be, but he showed no sign of discomfort.

He glanced up as they came through the door. “Buffy, it’s good to see you again.”

“You, too. Where’s Spike?”

Wesley’s expression was sympathetic. “I don’t know, Buffy. He completed his mission and met us outside the hotel as planned. At that point the fissure opened up. There was no way we could keep track of everyone in the chaos.”

“He’s gone?”

“We don’t know,” Wesley repeated gently. “There’s no way to tell.”

Faith saw the look that Buffy gave Miriam. “You can find out if he’s still alive.”

“He’s alive.” Miriam reached into her pocket and pulled out a small, round crystal, smooth as glass and with a faint point of light glowing in the center. “As long as he’s alive, you will see that light,” the head of the coven told her. “Here.” She placed the crystal in Buffy’s hand and closed her fingers over it.

Buffy took an audible breath and tucked the crystal into her front pocket. “Okay. Okay.” She closed her eyes, clearly gathering herself. “What are we looking at?”

“We have an unknown number of demons here in Los Angeles that have come through the portal,” Wesley began, taking a seat on the edge of the desk. “One of those demons bore an uncanny resemblance to a dragon, which is how I got this.” He raised his bandaged arm.

“And Angel?”

“He pushed Wes out of the way, and took the brunt of the dragon fire.” Faith didn’t think she would soon forget how Angel had shoved Wesley out of the way of the dragon fire and disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Buffy swallowed audibly. “Right.” She took a deep breath. “So, we need to close the portal and kill as many demons as possible.”

“In a nutshell, yes.” Wesley forced a smile. “Not such a big deal, really.”

Faith snorted a laugh. “Except for the part where we need to close down that fissure.”

“That will be done easily enough,” Miriam said. “Willow and I, and the others, have the means. We’ll need to be close, and we’ll need protection while we take care of it.”

“I think that can be done,” Giles said. “Where is this fissure?”

“Near the hotel,” Wesley replied. “It opened just as we were regrouping.”

Buffy held up a hand to stop him from continuing. “Regrouping from what? I haven’t gotten a clear picture on what you were trying to do yet.”

Wesley cleared his throat. “A group known as the Black Thorn is intimately connected with the Senior Partners, and we received information leading us to believe that they were the ones attempting to use the current imbalance to unleash the final apocalypse.”

“Turns out that they’d already set it in motion, but without them around to control the demon horde, it was pretty much chaos.” Faith leaned against the wall, arms crossed over her chest. “We lost Angel pretty much right away. Gunn was hurt killing his man, and Lorne never returned from his mission. We think we lost Connor, too. We haven’t seen him since the fissure first opened.”

“Who’s Connor?”

The question came from Buffy, and Faith supposed she shouldn’t have been surprised that the other Slayer hadn’t known—although she suspected that it wasn’t just because of the memory spell. “Angel’s son,” Faith explained briefly. “And that’s a long story on its own.”

Giles cleared his throat. “I would recommend that we all catch a few hours of sleep before we attempt anything. I know that most of us haven’t slept, and I imagine it’s been worse for you.”

Faith could see that he was looking at Wesley, respecting the fact that Wes was the one in charge in L.A. Of course, then Wes turned to her, one eyebrow lifted. “What would you suggest, Faith?”

She wanted it closed. She wanted this whole thing done and over with, but she also knew that Giles was right. They were all tired, and they’d little sleep. “Yeah. Let’s catch a few hours, then start fresh.”

It might be one of the few chances that they would have.

~~~~~

Buffy couldn’t sleep; she kept thinking of the fact that Spike was out there somewhere, still alive, but missing. She wanted to search for him, and that’s all she wanted to do. Pulling the crystal out of her pocket, Buffy stared at the tiny point of light in the center, as though it would reveal Spike’s location.

“Buffy?”

She stiffened at the sound of Miriam’s voice, knowing that she had been right about the coven. They had been keeping secrets—big ones—and Miriam had caused two of the people she trusted most to keep those secrets for her. “What do you want? Shouldn’t you be sleeping?”

“I wanted to show you something.”

Buffy turned from the window in the empty office reluctantly, raising her eyebrows when she saw the silver bowl in Miriam’s arms. “Where did you get the water?” she asked, watching as it splashed over the sides when the witch put it down on the floor.

“It’s not very difficult to call water,” was her reply. “You shouldn’t blame Rupert or Willow. If anyone deserves your anger, it’s me.”

Buffy snorted. “Well, you’ve got that.”

“But I wanted to show you why. If you still cannot forgive me, I will understand.”

She stared at the bowl. The water had gone completely still, even though Buffy knew the surface shouldn’t be that smooth so soon after being moved around. For a moment, she thought about refusing, insisting that she didn’t need to know.

But she did.

“Fine.” Buffy took the three steps necessary and sank down onto the floor across from Miriam, the bowl between them. “What do I do?”

“Just look. I think you’ll see what you need to see.”

Buffy swallowed, then did as Miriam had directed. At first, she saw nothing but her own reflection, and she started to say just that when a scene began to form. Moving closer, Buffy could make out the sight of a battle taking place in an alley. Rain was falling hard and fast, and the scene was illuminated only by the blue light coming from a rift in the sky.

Wesley and Faith were there, as was Angel and the rest of his gang. She saw Spike fighting off a large demon—and then she saw herself. The Buffy in the bowl was suddenly distracted by Spike’s howl of pain, and she killed the demon she’d been fighting and began to make her way across the alley to his side.

Buffy could see it coming, and from the expression on that Spike’s face, he could too, as a demon thrust its claws through the other Buffy’s body, then sunk its fangs into her neck.

Spike’s expression was horrified, and he started towards her. The distraction proved to be fatal, however, as a sword-wielding demon beheaded him, and he disappeared in a cloud of dust.

Buffy watched, tears streaming down her face, as the others fell one by one, until they were all dead, and the rift opened wider and wider.

The picture dissolved then, but Buffy didn’t need to see more. She knew what came next.

“This is why you could not be here.”

Buffy stared at Miriam angrily. “And you couldn’t have told me? Told us? We would have done the right thing.”

“Spike knew,” Miriam said gently. “But tell me. Would you really have stayed away, or would you have insisted that it would have been different?”

Buffy stared at her reflection—once again all she could see in the bowl. One of her tears fell, causing ripples to spread out. “No. I would have insisted on coming,” she whispered. “Even if—I wouldn’t have wanted him to die alone.”

Miriam took her hand, the crystal still resting in Buffy’s palm, its hopeful point of light still glowing steadily. “This way, he isn’t dead, and neither are you.”

Buffy looked at her. “Can you find him?”

“As soon as we’ve closed the rift, I will try,” Miriam promised. “That’s the only thing I can do.”