1 hour later: 12:45 am Wednesday Buffy’s house
Spike and Buffy had just returned from patrolling as Willow sat on the couch with Joyce. Willow had come over since her parents were gone and she didn’t want to be alone with Angelus still on the loose. Willow quickly explained Jenny’s plans but also said nothing would be done until morning. No one thought anything was wrong as Spike and Buffy curled up together on the couch to continue watching the musical that danced across the screen. The phone rang and Buffy got up to get it going into the kitchen with Willow on her heels. Spike and Joyce stayed in the living room figuring it was Xander or someone for Buffy. Buffy answered the phone with a simple, “Hello?”
She spoke up saying, “Giles slow down, I can’t understand you.”
Willow glanced at her as Buffy listened carefully to what he was saying. Tears ran down her face as she backed up against the wall in silence handing the phone to Willow. Willow continued to repeat over and over again, “No…no…no!”
She hung up the phone sobbing. Joyce ran into the room comforting Willow who was openly sobbing while Buffy sat on the floor for a few minutes in shock remembering her last words to Jenny which weren’t pleasant and now she was dead.
Spike wandered into the kitchen hearing the crying and found Buffy curled up in a ball on the floor and he picked her up carrying her into the living room where she sobbed out what she had been told by Giles. He let her cry until she had no more tears left and then she turned to him asking, “Are you ready? I want to end this tonight.”
Spike nodded in agreement as Buffy stood up facing Joyce and Willow ordering, “Go to Giles’s, see if he’s there, if not then just get Xander. Go to the school and get Jenny’s stuff because she was killed due to the re-souling spell, which means it’s probably there. Then come back and stay here. Whatever you do, whatever happens, you don’t leave here until we return.”
Spike looked at Willow, “Do not perform anything until you hear from us. Promise me?”
Willow nodded as Spike took Buffy’s hand and she sat him in the wheelchair as she pushed him towards the factory. It was a long walk but one Spike had made many times before in the wheelchair. They formed a plan as Buffy pushed, “You leave the necklace on until the last moment. I’m going in and making sure Giles isn’t there. If he is, I’ll get him out. Then I’ll come back for you and you can make your grand entrance. We want to wait until the very last minute to let him know we are challenging him. If you get a chance, chain up Dru or I will. Then you can do your battle. When you win, we will talk. Understand?”
Spike had so much left unsaid but he agreed to the plan knowing afterwards they could sit down and talk.
10 minutes later: 1:00 am Wednesday at the School
Willow raced with Xander by her side to Jenny’s office to find her computer completely busted along with the printer. There was no hope in retrieving anything there but Willow remembered what Jenny said. Xander tried to hold her back but Willow shook her body slightly to cause him to lose his grip on her arm as she raced into the smoking room that luckily had not caught on fire to her desk. She noticed the smashed Orb but knew she had seen one before in Giles’s office as a paperweight so she would have to stop there next.
She couldn’t remember which drawer so she opened them all frantically looking for the disk Jenny had been holding in her hand. She moved things around until she got to the top drawer and she spotted the yellow disk. She said a prayer to the goddess hoping it was saved completely and could be used on her own laptop. She raced back to Xander who was holding his nose into his jacket to keep from coughing from the smoke but Willow barely noticed the burning in her throat as she grabbed Xander and together they ran into the library. Xander stood thankful to be able to breathe normally as Willow lifted the incense from Giles’s office and the Orb thankful that Giles had one.
She ran from the office into the library taking Xander by the arm again as they raced of the school. Xander finally turned towards Willow but still continued to run, “What’s on the disk?”
Willow grinned, “My first major magical spell hopefully.”
5 minutes later: 1:05 am Wednesday at the Factory
Spike sniffed at the entrance, “Minions are few as it’s in the middle of the night so it should make things easier. Get in and get Giles out if he’s there without being seen if you can.”
Buffy nodded as she parked Spike in the shadows near the entrance and picked up her stake from her pocket and a bottle of holy water ready to rescue Giles.
Carefully she wandered in easily spotting Giles who was already inside burning the factory to the ground. Buffy arrived just as Giles was being held in the air by Angelus who dropped him knocking him out as Buffy went into battle.
She punched Angelus hard in the face before throwing him to the ground taking time to go into fighting stance. She was ready and willing to fight him this time. She felt no love for him and she knew he held no power over him. She couldn’t kill him without risking herself right now but she knew it was amazing what a person could live through and she was counting on this very fact to keep them both alive.
She kicked him hard in the face before he even had a chance to get up. She grunted as he grunted only she had yet to feel any pain. She leaned down to throw him again only Angelus was faster. Before Buffy could brace herself she found herself thrown against the wall. As she righted herself, she saw him heading up the stairs to the upper level of the factory so she grabbed a stick to try to trip him and succeeded but was quickly thrown back by his kick to her face. She struggled to get up going up the second set of stairs beating him to the top.
She thought smart and left the stick at the bottom so she wouldn’t be tempted to stake him and therefore end up killing herself as well. Amazingly she managed to duck dodging his first punch as she landed one herself to his face knocking him into the railing. She then grabbed a rope using it to slam his head again and again. She knew she couldn’t kill him but planned to knock him around a bit before letting Spike had a go at him. She kicked him backwards twice but gave him time to get back up before she threw him into the railing to kick his face again and again. She punched his face twice and as a smirk appeared on his face she got even madder picking him up by the neck and tossing him again and again against the railing.
Still his face held the smirk and he didn’t appear to feel any pain. She was winning majorly as Angelus laughed taunting her, “You gonna let your old man just burn?”
Buffy glanced towards Giles in shock at what was happening only to have Angelus run away after tossing Buffy over the edge to get to Giles. She carefully helped Giles outside. She sat him down ignoring his yelling as she knocked him over with a shove as she stated, “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”
Buffy was sobbing as she wrapped her arms around him, “You can’t leave me. I can’t do this alone.”
Giles was crying as well as they both held each other on the ground. Buffy heard Spike yell, “Buffy! Go home!”
Buffy looked at Giles who nodded and she ran around the corner only to be cornered by Angelus. He grabbed her giving her no chance to escape as he quickly chained her up against the wall with a laugh. Buffy struggled seeing the flames all around her as he grinned, “Time to die!”
Spike walked into the room and Angelus stuttered, “But you’re dust.”
Spike chuckled, “No, thanks for worrying about me pops.”
Angelus glared as Dru fought against her chains that Spike had already placed on her. Now both ladies were chained up against the wall near the flames while both vampires, Spike and Angelus stood in the center of the room about to fight. Spike stated the sacred words, “I Spike, William the Bloody of the Aurileus clan, challenge you Angelus, for the claim on Buffy Summers. She has been wrongfully claimed and I wish to make her mine, do you accept or forfeit?”
Angelus stood in shock then chuckled as he stated, “I accept. William you are such a fool.”
Suddenly stonewalls appeared around them blocking them in so Dru and Buffy couldn’t see. Buffy yelled, “Spike, can you hear me? What’s going on?”
Dru moaned and whined against her chains whispering what a bad boy her William had been and how she was going to punish him when this was finished.
Buffy closed her eyes wishing it was done already as she struggled against her chains not even caring at the fact she was drawing blood. She heard Dru moan again loudly as she stated, “Terrible Sunshine took away my William forever and now will take away my daddy.”
Buffy ignored her still struggling to get free but part of her knowing it was pointless as Spike had explained to her that the chains were unbreakable by the victim and could only be broken from the outside. She started sobbing not knowing what was going on inside of the walls and wondered why she didn’t accept Spike’s warning and disappear.