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Disclaimer: The characters all belong to Joss.

Chapter 13: Prophecy Girl (Part 3 of 3)

A/N Okay, once again this chapter is really close to the original episode. I didn't make any major changes, but I still feel this stuff is really important. Although I have changed some things, it's similar enough that if you want you can skip down to the &&&&&& again, where my story line takes back over.

The vampire boy lead Buffy to the entrance to the Master's lair. He stopped and Buffy looked at him. The boy pointed, inviting her to enter. Then he left, going back the way they had come.

Buffy watched him go. Then she turned and made her way down into the lair, her crossbow at the ready. She looked around at the hundreds of candles burning everywhere.

"Welcome," invited the Master, his voice seeming to come from all directions.

"Thanks for having me." Buffy looked around trying to find where he was. "Y'know, you really oughtta talk to your contractor. Looks like you got some water damage," Buffy quipped.

"Oh, good. The feeble banter portion of the fight. Why don't we just cut to the. . ."

Buffy spun around and launched a bolt in the direction of his voice. With his lightning fast reflexes the Master caught it just before it entered his chest. Buffy quickly reloaded the bow.

"Nice shot," the Master said appreciatively. "You're not going to kill me with that thing." He snapped the bolt in two and slipped back into the shadows

"Don't be so sure."

"You still don't understand your part in all this, do you? You are not the hunter. You are the lamb."

"You know, for someone who's all powerful, you sure do like to hide." Buffy was getting frustrated. She had been training for this moment for over a month now.

"I'm waiting for you. I want this moment to last."

"Well, I don't."

She kept searching the shadows of the cave. Suddenly the Master was right behind her.

"I understand," he said.

She turned around, but before she could fire the Master knocked the crossbow out of her hands. He grabbed her by the neck. She swung up with her arm, knocking his hand away.

She ran a few steps then turned to face him. She was ready for this she told herself.

He held his hand out toward her and suddenly she couldn't move. Her body relaxed leaving its fighter's stance.

He approached her, making slow twisting motions with his hand. She knew she needed to run. She knew he would kill her if she just stood there.

He came up behind her, "You tried. It was noble of you. You heard the prophecy that I was about to break free and you came to stop me. But prophecies are tricky creatures. They don't tell you everything." He whispered in her ear, "You're the one that sets me free! If you hadn't come, I couldn't go. Think about that!"

Anger and fear coursed through Buffy. Stupid Watchers and their stupid prophecies. Not to mention stupid Spike. All that training was turning out to be for nothing. No one had warned her about this thrall thing.

The Master bent down and bit her at the base of her neck. It was nothing like when Spike had bitten her. It was less painful, but by the same token there was none of the euphoria.

Try as she might, she couldn't seem to fight him. He drank only a few sips of her blood before he broke off.

"Oh, God! The power!" he cried in ecstasy.

He released her shoulders and she fell face first into a pool of water. She couldn't move, as water forced it's way into her mouth and throat.

"And by the way. . . I like your dress."

He stepped over to the edge of his confines and pushed against the field. He forced his hand through, and the mystic barrier burst in a flash of light and energy. He climbed up out of his lair.

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

Spike and Xander saw the light coming out of an adjoining tunnel.

"What was that?" Xander asked.

"It's too late. He's broken free. Buffy's. . ."

They both took off at a run in the direction of the flash. Spike got there first and saw Buffy lying face down in the pool of water. He pulled her quickly out of the water and cradled her in his arms. He didn't need to check to know that her heart was no longer beating. Sobs broke from Spike's throat and tears rolled down his face.

"She's dead!" he moaned.

Xander looked down at them and swallowed hard. Then he seemed to muster his strength.

"No. She's not dead." Xander insisted.

"She's not breathing."

"But if she drowned, uh, there's a shot! CPR!" Xander said hopefully.

Spike nodded and gently lay her body down.

"You have to do it. I have no breath."

Xander took off his jacket and laid it over her. He knelt down by her face and looked at her a moment, then he bent over her and began CPR.

"C'mon. C'mon!" Xander begged.

Spike had given up though. He began sobbing again. Death was too familiar to him; an old friend he knew too well.

Xander refused to quit though. "C'mon! Breathe!"

Suddenly Buffy opened her eyes wide and she drew a sharp breath.

"Buffy?" Xander asked.

She turned her head to the side and coughed out a bunch of water. Xander and Spike looked at each other and smiled in relief. Xander stroked her hair gently. She looked up at him, surprised to see him.

"Xander?" she asked.

"Welcome back," Xander said, a huge smile across his face.

Xander and Spike helped Buffy up. She seemed dazed as if her mind was someplace else.

"Easy. Easy," said Xander.

"The Master?" Buffy said, but she didn't seem to be addressing either of the two men. Her eyes were fixed above her as if she could see him.

"He's gone up," Spike said.

Buffy started to leave the lair.

"No. You're still weak," Xander insisted as she pulled out of their grip.

"No. No, I feel strong." She smiled. "I feel different." She looked at them over her shoulder. "Let's go!"

Buffy marched determinedly toward the school with Xander and Spike close behind.

"So, how do you know where the Master's going?" Xander asked.

"I know." Buffy said assuredly.

A vampire tried to block their way into the school.

"Oh, look, a bad guy." Buffy said flippantly.

She punched him on her way by, and he fell flat on his back. They entered the school and headed to the stairway that lead up to the roof. A hole was visible in the door where someone had punched through the hollow core to unlock it.

"Okay, you two wait here, keep the rest of the vampires off me," Buffy told them.

"Right," said Xander.

"Spike, better put on your game face."

He vamped out. "I'm ready. Don't worry, we'll take care of the clean up down here."

"One way or another, this won't take long," Buffy said as she lifted her long skirt and ran up the stairs.

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

Inside the library, Cordelia was trying to barricade the door and keep out the horde of angry vampire's outside. Up in the stacks Willow and Ms. Calendar were also trying to keep out the vampires that had found the back way in.

Although they had started to realize that the Hellmouth was actually located somewhere inside the High School, none of them had noticed the tentacles that came out of the cracks in the floor caused by the previous night's earthquake.

A hand reached through the broken window of the library door and tried to grab Cordelia. She hit the vampire's hand and then when that didn't work, bit it. The vampire screamed and let go.

"See how YOU like it!" Cordelia yelled.

"This won't keep 'em out for long!" Willow shouted over the din as she tried to brace the door.

She looked down just in time to see a tentacle wrap itself around her ankle. She screamed.

Ms. Calendar turned at the sound of Willow's scream and grabbed hold of her.

"GILES! GILES!" the teacher screamed.

Giles came running out of his office in time to see a huge, green, multi-headed and tentacled demon burst through the floor.

"The Hellmouth!" he said in awe.

Up above all of it, the Master looked in through the skylight and clapped his hands.

"Yes. Come forth, my child. Come into my world." He tried to raise it up with the sound of his voice. He was so intent on the scene below he didn't notice that he was no longer alone on the roof.

"I don't think it's yours just yet," Buffy said.

The Master turned his head and stared at her in surprise.

"You're dead," he said unbelieving.

"I may be dead, but I'm still pretty. Which is more than I can say for you." All trace of her earlier fear was gone. She knew with absolute certainty that this was her moment, and she was ready.

"You were destined to die. It was written," said the Master clearly annoyed.

"What can I say?" Buffy shrugged. "I flunked the written."

The Master growled and reaches his arm out to try his hypnosis on her again. The force of his will caused her body to jerk.

"Come here!" he ordered.

Down below them Willow continued to scream as the tentacled demon tried to drag her into the earth.

"GILES!" Ms. Calendar screamed again.

Giles grabbed an ax from the table and rushed up the stairs to help them.

"GILES!"

He swung the ax into one of the heads, and the creature roared in agony as the two women kept screaming.

Above the Master's thrall seemed to be working on Buffy as she slowly approached him. He grabbed her by the throat again.

"Did you really think you could best me here when you couldn't below?" Arrogantly he let go of her throat to emphasize his power over her.

Buffy looked at him curiously. "You have fruit punch mouth."

"What?"

She took advantage of his confusion and punched him in the mouth, throwing him to the ground.

"Save the hypnosis crap for the tourists," she said as she spun around to kick him as he rose. She was ready for this, it was what she'd trained for.

He tried to punch her several times, but she was too fast for him. Every time he swung at her, he only left himself open to her attacks.

Inside the library, Giles continued to hack away with his ax at the huge demon. One of the tentacles smashed into him and sent him flying into the table. The table cracked in half and one side stuck up in the air like a giant spike.

Cordelia was still backed against the main doors of the library trying to keep the vampires out. She heard some grunts and screams from the hall along with several crashing sounds. All of a sudden no one was pushing on the door anymore.

"Let us in," came Xander's voice.

Cautiously Cordelia looked into the hall, no one was there but Xander and Spike. She opened the door and the two men came running in.

Both Spike and Xander came to a dead halt as they saw the hell-beast that had emerged from the library floor.

"Well, that's something, isn't it?" Spike said a moment before he rolled across the floor to grab one of the swords that had been scattered by the demon. He came up on his feet, sword raised, and began to try and distract the demon from the librarian and the two women above.

On the roof, Buffy and the Master continued to fight. Despite her skill Buffy realized she'd forgotten the first rule of Slaying. Always have a stake.

As she spun around the Master she noticed the upended table through the skylight. She laughed in triumph.

"You laugh when my Hell is on Earth?" the Master demanded.

"You're that amped about Hell. . ." she grabbed him by the neck, and threw him through the skylight. "Go there!"

He crashed through the glass and impaled himself on the broken table. The Master didn't simply explode into a pile of dust. His ashes rose off his body high into the sky, leaving his skeleton behind. As he died the demon screamed in anguish as it lost its hold on this reality and was sucked back down into the Hellmouth.

Buffy watched from above. She waved down to Giles and Spike, "Hi guys. How's it going?" Then she headed back down the stairs.

"The vampires?" Giles asked.

"No worries, Rupert. The whelp and I took care of them," Spike said. He hated to admit it, but the boy was starting to grow on him. He had balls; maybe there was some hope for him.

Buffy entered the library and stared at the skeleton of the Master lying in the center of the room.

"Buffy. . . Buffy?" Giles asked.

"Oh, sorry." She was smiling and tearing up all at once. "It's just been a really weird day."

"Yeah! Buffy died, and everything," Xander said matter of factly.

"Wow. Harsh," Willow commented, still a little in shock.

"I should have known that wouldn't stop you." Giles smiled as he tried to make light of the not so funny situation.

Buffy smiled up at him again.

"Well, what do we do now?" asked Ms. Calendar looking at the rubble.

"I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like to get out of this place. I don't like the library very much anymore," Giles revealed sullenly.

"Hey! I hear there's a dance at the Bronze tonight. Could be fun," Xander suggested.

"Yeah!" Cordelia smiled and agreed.

"Buffy?" Willow asked smiling.

"Sure! We saved the world. I say we party." Giles looked at her incredulously. She looked down at her dress. "I mean, I got all pretty."

"And what about him?" Ms. Calendar asked nodding toward the Master's skeleton.

"He's not going anywhere," Buffy said looking down at him. "Loser."

They all started toward the door at once, talking over each other.

"I'm not dancing, though," Giles told Ms. Calendar.

"We'll see," she smiled at him.

"You can come with us, Spike," Willow offered.

"I'm hungry," said Buffy.

"Get something to drink," Willow advised Spike.

"Is anybody else hungry?" Buffy asked.

"Well, no, don't do that. Just hang," Willow replied to whatever Spike had told her.

"I'm really, really hungry," Buffy said.

Spike hung back to speak with Buffy. "By the way, I really like your dress."

"Yeah, yeah. Big hit with everyone." Buffy said, taking one last look at the Master's skeleton.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Buffy clutched the leather duster around herself as she and Spike walked back to her house from the Bronze. Once the Master had been defeated it had become a magical evening, magical in the good sense. Sadly now it was coming to an end.

There was a silence between them as they walked down the street. At the Bronze they hadn't needed to say anything. He'd just held her as they danced, her face pressed against his chest, his hands on her waist.

Finally Buffy couldn't take it anymore and she broke the silence.

"You're leaving, aren't you?"

"I'm sorry, pet, I have to."

"But why? Why can't you just stay. I know the Master's dead, but there's sure to be more badness. . . "

He stopped and turned toward her, placing his fingers on her lips to silence her.

"It has nothing to do with that. If I could, if it was just me I would stay. But. . . I have family to attend to."

She looked at him, puzzled.

"Oh, I always assumed with how old you were that you didn't have any family any more. That and the whole cryptic loner thing."

"Yeah, well it was just my mum and me, back when I was alive. And you're right, she's long since dust. But family's more than just that. It's blood between you and people, and there's still blood between me and some."

'Oh look, it's the return of cryptic guy,' Buffy thought.

"So that's it then?" she asked. "I'm never going to see you again?"

"Didn't say that pet. I'm just not sure when I'll be back. Maybe next fall. . ."

"Well that's okay," she tried to grab onto that one piece of hope. "I'm going to spend my summer in L.A. with my dad anyway. So, I mean. . . I guess I'm going away too. But you're coming back, right?"

He smiled sadly and gently kissed her lips. "I hope so, pet."

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

Reluctantly, Spike made his way back to his apartment - but he didn't go inside. Everything he would need was already packed in the DeSoto. He had paid the landlord in advance for the next several months. He hoped that having a place ready and waiting would help him justify coming back to Sunnydale.

He got into his car and set out north for Stanford. It would be a long drive if he wanted to make it there in time for the graduation. He was filled with both bitterness and anticipation. He couldn't actually attend the ceremony since it would be held in the broad daylight. Even so, soon he would see his son again.





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