Dawn ran out of the car, bleeding from a cut on her forehead where her head had hit the steering wheel upon crashing into Viisq. She skidded to a stop next to the prone Alec.
“Are you all right?” she whispered. He opened his eyes and smiled at her.
“Yeah,” he rasped, taking her hand in his and her placing her tiny hand over his.
“You fought really well…Doctor Octopus,” she teased gently. Alec smiled back and coughed, weary and battered.
“Thanks petite. You drive a mean SUV,” Alec returned. Dawn smiled.
And like a nightmare, the car was tossed away and Viisq, gory and scorched, came marauding out of the wreckage.
“What a touching scene….” The creature rasped. Its own body was nearly broken but it was animated by sheer hate and bloodlust. The parking garage was a scene of ruin; cars annihilated, cement dug up all the way down to the dirt and cracks in every surface.
Dawn pushed Alec behind her.
“You’re not touching him,” the dimunitive girl promised the advancing monstrosity, her hands braced in the earthen floor that had been exposed by the battle. Dawn was oddly acutely aware of every detail of the soil underneath her fingers, down to the last piece of grit that rubbed between her fingertips. Viisq threw its malformed head back and laughed.
“Dawn!” Buffy cried out and tried to dash into the garage, Faith threw an arm around her, stopping her.
“Hold up B!” Faith cried out.
“Let go of me, that’s my sister, she needs my help!” Buffy screamed.
“Let her do this, Buffy,” Faith said quietly. Buffy stopped and turned on her, “Just this once, let Dawn fight for something she loves,” Faith finished as she turned to send Angel a long look.
“So, little girl, you wish to die along side him? You are more than welcome to, I shall enjoy soaking the earth with your blood.” Viisq hissed and swung a massive claw at them both
“Dawn!!” Alec screamed out and lashed desperately with one of his tendrils, knocking the razor sharp tip of the claw aside but not enough so that Dawn could avoid the blow completely. The tiny girl was knocked to the ground, she exhaled hard bringing up a cloud of dust as her lungs deflated, her cheek resting against the earth. Tears welled in her eyes and trickled down her face to mix with blood from her forehead all of which pooled upon the earth.
“Ah so the puppy still has a little fight left in him,” Viisq sneered bringing both its massive fists over its head to crush them both.
Dawn looked up, “STOP!” she cried out.
The fists came down.
Suddenly, the young girl felt a power race through her body, through her blood and tears, through her hand into the earth.
And the earth answered.
With an explosion of soil and stone, Viisq was sent hurling backwards. Dawn cried out and shielded Alec’s body with her own. The scent of pine filled the room and a confused voice called out.
“All right, what am I doing here?” it asked. Dawn blinked back tears and wiped the blood from her eyes and stared and then gaped in wonder.
A tree had sprouted up, no slim reed, but a mammoth oak with a trunk easily eight feet in diameter in the spot where Dawn had been in contact with the earth.
“Who said that?” Dawn asked very confused. The tree rustled and then twisted on its own trunk to reveal a large, heavily muscled male torso, head, and arms, all in wood and leaves, regard her. Dawn stared.
“Who…what?” she stammered. The head nodded.
“A little of both actually, Hi, I’m Pan,” the tree-man told her, “And you are?”
“In trouble!” Dawn yelled and pointed behind Pan. Pan swivled on its trunk and saw Viisq.
“Whoa, ugly!” Pan cried out in dismay at the scarred and bloody goliath.
“Foolish creature; I shall smash you into splinters and then butcher both the girl and her lover,” Viisq spat out.
“Well, you’re really quite unpleasant,” Pan observed candidly.
“Help us!” Dawn cried out.
“Right-o!” Pan replied raising a branch and smiling. And with a creak of wood, the branch split off into two points, then four, then sixteen all in a span of a heartbeat and raced towards the monster. Viisq didn’t even have time to scream as he was impaled by dozens of oaken shafts.
“Hi-ya get along there…whatever the hell you are,” Pan quipped, pulling his arm back and sending the impaled monster to collide hard flush against a support… but not hard enough to dislodge the small gray and red package attached to the other side.
“Sit. Stay. Good dog.” Pan laughed as the pieces of wood in Viisq’s body began to writhe and wrap around the creature fastening it to the pillar. Within moments Viisq was imprisoned in a cocoon of vine and wood that he could not hope to move within, let along escape.
“Yes, well, I think that’s gone rather well,” Pan smiled, very satisfied with himself.
And with a cry of exhaustion and pain, Willow slumped forward into agonized unconsciousness, the yellow glow faded from her body.
The stone golem charged forward, no longer held at bay by the witch’s spell. Pan swiveled to face as it charged forward towards him,
“Oh…nuts,” Pan lamented before the golem lashed out with a massive stone fist and shattered Pan, blasting him into splinters and earth.
“Pan!” Dawn cried out in dismay. The stone golem turned its massive head slowly to regard the two people at its feet. Alec turned to look at Viisq…and caught a gleam of triumph shine from those inhuman eyes as they peeked out from its wooden prison,
“No!” Alec cried out as the golem lunged towards them…and was knocked aside with a roar of rage. Alec couldn’t believe what he was seeing: something huge with wings was battering at the stone golem with its bare hands and howling in…
…Hebrew?
“Get out! Get out now!” Ashmedai screamed as he hammered the stone golem with his fists and wings.
“What about you?” Alec called out.
“I shall return to Abraham! And I shall take this monstrosity with me! Go now!” Ashmedai screamed. Alec wasted no time; he wrapped his tentacles around Dawn and thrust her out and away from the battle and towards Buffy and the others outside the garage.
“Alec!” she cried out reaching out to touch him. Their fingertips brushed against one another for a heartbeat as their eyes met and then Dawn was outside.
“Alec!” the young girl cried out again.
“Dawnie!” Buffy said, wrapping her arms around her sister.
“We have to help Alec!” Dawn screamed. Buffy shook her head.
“Alec’s coming I promise! We need to help Xander, he’s still in there!”
“Xander…does not want our help,” Giles said quietly. Buffy whirled on him…and then suddenly comprehension dawned in her eyes.
“NO!” she screamed out.
Xander was dying, he knew it. He’d lost too much blood and with that crazy gargoyle rassling with the golem there’d be no way he could get out and away.
Then again, that wasn’t his plan.
Coughing, Xander looked over and saw Alec making his way out, Willow carried over his shoulder.
“Hey Alec! You have a way out of here?” Xander called out. Alec turned and nodded.
“Good!” Xander gestured to Willow, “Take care of her and yourself and everyone else.” Xander finished.
Alec frowned, puzzled at the wounded boy. Xander could have laughed at the look, remember how fierce and confident Alec usually looked.
It was as good a sentiment as any to go out on.
Xander smiled once…
... And pushed the button.
There was a flash of light, and Xander for some reason saw Buffy and Willow and Dawn and everyone and they were smiling and happy. Xander smiled back at them feeling like what he had always wanted to be:
A hero.
The garage came down, the explosives chopping the supports off at the base and with a groan of stone on stone, all ten floors of stone, cement and automobiles came down in a deafening crash. Everyone ducked beneath the car as the shockwave washed over them, pelting them with shards of stone and dust.
There was a long groan of stone and metal and then nothing.
Everything was quiet.
Slowly, Buffy peeked her head over the car and stared at the rubble and the rising dust cloud.
“XANDER!!!” she screamed out long and loud that ended in a choked sob at the death of her friend. Others got to their feet, slowly, unsteadily, in shock at the devastation and at the death of the young man.
“Oh no, oh man,” Faith whispered in dread.
“Xander…” Dawn whispered, tears spilling over her cheeks. Suddenly something grabbed her heart and squeezed.
“ALEC?! Where’s Alec?!” She screamed. Everyone jolted out of their grief looked around frantically.
Willow’s body slumped to the ground. Everyone turned; Alec was standing there, suspended there by his tendrils wrapped in darkness that was slowly dissipating around him.
“So did everyone just forget that I can move through shadows?” he asked plainly. He was covered in dust and bloody but alive.
“Alec!” Dawn cried out and raced to him wrapping her arms around him, squeezing him tightly, crying freely, “Xander he was…”
A groan of pain caught Dawn’s attention; she looked over and gasped.
Xander was wrapped in darkness, being held by two of Alec’s tendrils. He too looked the worse for wear but he was alive.
“Xander!” Buffy cried out and ran to him looking up at her weary brother, “Is he…?”
“…Dumber than I ever thought and more heroic than I ever gave him credit for, but he’ll live to fight another day,” Alec confirmed. Buffy wrapped her arms around her brother, squeezing in beside Dawn.
“Thank you for saving him,” Buffy whispered. Alec smiled, feeling happy for the first time since his crippling.
“What are big brothers for?” Alec replied back, smiling. Giles walked over to his son.
“Son…what you did was…amazing,” Giles told him. The girls made room as father and soon embraced.
“Oh for God’s sake this gets anymore Hallmark I’m going to wretch!” Spike yelled, “Someone please stake me!”
Angel handed him the broken shaft of crossbow bolt DeGanon had shot him with, “Now shut up,” Angel told the other vampire. Spike waved him away and walked towards Alec.
“Nice moves mate,” Spike told his friend, extending his hand. Alec nodded and slapped his friends hand.
“You too,” Alec replied.
“We need to get Xander’s arm fixed up, he’s lost a lot of blood,” Buffy whispered gravely.
“I can help with that,” a voice called out from beneath them. Everyone frowned and looked around puzzled.
“Down here you idiots!” The voice called out. Dawn saw it first and gasped.
A single rose had sprung up and from its blossom, a familiar personage.
“ ‘By any other name’ right?” Pan quipped. Dawn frowned as she knelt down.
“But you were killed!” She gaped.
“You carbon based life-forms are so three-dimensional in your thinking, its terribly limiting,” the talking rose leveled a leaf at the young girl chastising, “From you though I expected better.”
Dawn frowned, “From me, what do you mean?”
“All will be explained, come to my workshop. Bring your mangled friend, I think I have something here that can help him,” and with that the rose wilted, died and was blown away by the wind. Dawn blinked a few times in confusion and then walked over join the others who were helping Willow, Xander and Alec rest.
“Okay a talking rose named Pan said we need to go to his workshop so he can tell us stuff and help Xander,” Dawn informed them plainly. Spike frowned.
“Excuse me Nibblet, but when did you go insane and how did I fail to notice?” he replied. Buffy waved it away as she finished fastening a tourniquet to Xander’s stump.
“It’s a long story dear, let’s just get going,” Buffy replied. Everyone piled into the van which was dusty but none the worse for wear.
“Hey…” a groggy voice called out. Everyone turned to stare as Anya regained consciousness, “Did I miss anything?” she asked. Then she caught a look at the ruins of the garage, “Oh.” Anya looked up at Giles, “Hey, did you hit me in the head?”
“Yes,” Giles replied as he got into the car.
“It’s something we’ve all been wanting to do for a while, luv,” Spike added.
Giles cleared this throat, “Well you see Anya…” he explained.
A few moments passed.
“HE DID WHAT?!?” Could be heard being screamed by a very angry woman as the group drove away.
As the dust cloud rose up into the night, the sounds of sirens could be heard approaching. Stone shifted, metal creaked.
And a single massive hand emerged from beneath the wreckage, clawing up for the freedom promised by the sight of the night sky which lay above
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