The Final Prayer: Did You See It Coming?
by cheekacherrycola


"Dawn…” Buffy said, taking a step towards her. “How did you find…” She stopped short.

The young girl held a 9mm pistol in her hands, pointed at Spike. Her eyes were pure black, her skin pale, body burned, clothes unrecognizable. Buffy’s words caught in her throat. Whatever was standing in front of her, couldn’t be her sister.

“What…” Spike began, his eyes narrowing.

“Don’t look so surprised.” Buffy said, turning to Spike. “Don’t act like you never figured it out.” She pulled out her stake, her eyes showing no feeling. “I won’t believe that you were that stupid. I mean…all of the clues? Annabelle’s ghost? The potentials who left were right – I am the big bad ass in this one. I just didn’t think it would take you so long to figure it out.”

“What?” Spike asked, slowly backing away, his gaze darting from Buffy to Dawn.

“Annabelle’s ghost – she found access to this world from the Land of the Dead. She tried to warn you guys, hell, she even had Faith on your side, so that Slayer had to go. Had her killed. And believe me when I say that it wasn’t…”

“ESCRETE IRASE!”

Buffy whipped around, the rain and wind blowing her hair in her face. Behind her, Willow stood, Xander, Andrew, Kennedy, Christina, and the other potentials on her side were all standing next to the witch. Thunder struck the sky, and from two clouds, a bolt of pink lighting struck the docks where they all stood. It cracked the ground, and as it did, Willow’s hair turned black.



“What the hell what that?!?!?” Anna cried running out of the house, the others behind her. “I know Sunndydale is on a hell-mouth and all, but was that not just pink lighting?”

“It was.” Selena said. “Where was it coming from?”

“The sky.” Anna said dryly. “Where else?”

“That’s not what I meant!”

“It looks like it hit by the docks.” Riley said, ignoring the potentials minor argument. “We’re going.”

“We don’t have enough weapons.” Selena told him. “What are we supposed to fight with?”

“Your fists.” Sam told her. “Now lets go.”



Buffy glared at the witch. “What are you doing?”

“Give it up, Buff. We know what’s going on.” Xander told her. “We put two, two, two, two, and two together to get a perfect ten. It all led back to you.”

“Still didn’t think it would take you so long.”

“How?” Willow asked, lowering her hand. “Why…why do it Buffy? How could you just…”

“My life was ruined the minute I found out I was the Slayer – and I wasn’t going to let it stay that way. And when we moved here, on top of the hell mouth, I had my own game board. I could kill some vamps and demons here and there, and still trick you all into thinking I was good. All of the apocalypses? Ever think of why the world never ended BEFORE I came here, Will? I set them up, hoping that one day no one would notice one of them coming. Only you were all too smart for your own good. After you stuffed the First back into a hole in the ground, I decided I would pull out the big guns. Get the Master back, pull out the First, let Annabelle come over and convince Faith that I was bad. It was all me. Hey, I mean, if Faith tries to kill me, who are you going to think is the Evil Slayer?”

“Too bad for you Vamp Willow and Me are dead.” Xander told her. “Killed them myself.”

“Way to go – finally have a purpose in life Xander?”

“You went against everything.” Christina told her. “Everything that the Slayer stands for – and now you’re going to pay.”

“Really?” Buffy asked, her eyes locking with Dawn’s, “We’ll see about that.”

And Dawn opened fire on the potentials.



“Just…a…little…farther…” Riley huffed out as he stretched his legs out, one in front of the other, once, twice… The sounds of gun shots ringing throughout the air made him stop.

“Was that…” Anna asked him, stopping at his side. She was breathing rapidly, trying to catch her breath.

“Ya.” Riley answered, beginning to run again.

After rounding a bend, he stopped short. The situation wasn’t good.



Spike charged at Buffy from behind, and attempted to sucker punch her, but the Slayer turned and flipped him over her back. Bringing her stake down, she stopped the tip as it touched his leather coat.

“Wanna join the dark side?”

“Never.” Spike said, arching up his back and kneeing Buffy in the stomach.

The Slayer lost her grip on the stake, and it went flying off of the docks and into the soft sand below them. Catching her footing, Buffy high kicked Spike’s chin. The vampire growled out in anger, and ducked as Buffy attempted to side kick him. He caught her foot mid air and twisted it – hard. Her body fell to the ground, her hands scratching the pavement.

Dawn fired the gun, aiming for the potentials, Willow and Xander. She didn’t move an inch as she fired bullet after bullet. Beth fell to the ground as a flying piece of metal hit her in the chest, dying before she even hit the ground. Kelly, Melissa, and Gabriela jumped off of the dock and down onto the sand, the bullets missing them entirely. Laura stood, frozen, and Christina knocked her body down. Dawn sighed as the last bullet was fired, and threw the gun to the ground. Willow and Xander looked up at her from the ground, and scrambled to their feet as she neared them.

“What?” Dawn asked, “No smart ass comment to make about that?”

“Other than that you have really sucky aim for a great evil, no.” Xander quipped.

“Mora de escrete, year el muesto, pora la sia.” Willow chanted, her eyes closed, arms out. “Grant me the power, open the gates, let the Earth fall from beneath her, lead her to hells welcome. LEAD HER!”

Dawn screeched and rushed the witch, but the words had been said, the spell uttered, the magic done. Around them, the Earth began to split, and Dawn fell with it.

Buffy fell back on her hands and butt as Spike knocked her over. Quickly hopping to her feet, she grabbed his wrists and pulled his body to her own. Pressing her lips to his, softly at first, she smiled.

“Spike…” She pulled back, the look of surprise on his face making her lips twitch. “Wish you would have chosen my side.”

She brought another stake up from inside of her coat, and pressed it into the vampires flesh. His eyes met with hers as she dug the wood into him, but he didn’t dust. Instead, the ground beneath her crumbled, and the stake fell from her hands. Grabbing onto Spike’s coat as he backed up out of pure instinct, she was saved. But the ground continued to give way, and Spike pried her from his jacket. She scratched at his face, her feet touching the end of the crumbling ground, her hands grabbed at him, at anything to hold onto.

It all went into slow motion as the ground began to give way. Spike held onto Buffy as tears of panic ran down her face. She held onto his shoulders, eyes wide. Her lower lip quivered, and he turned, Buffy’s grasp and balance faltering. As he turned, the ground fell into itself, forming a gaping black hole of nothingness. He ran, leaving Buffy screaming, crying, behind him. The ground fell away as he ran, his eyes meet Riley’s, and the soldier turned and ran too.

Willow and Xander ran, not once looking back to see if the First/Dawn was behind them. Willow had tears running down her face.

“Divide them, good from evil, separate their lives, good from evil, let them leave each other…separate, separate, separate…” She cried, and a bolt of blue energy struck out from the sky.

Christina pulled Laura to her feet, and the two chased after Willow and Xander. The potentials on the wet sand ran from the black hole that was forming, the wind blowing against them.

Riley grabbed Sam’s hand as he pulled her along behind him. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Spike holding Selena’s hand, Anna on the other side of him. His face was paler than usual, grief stricken.

Buffy fell backwards into the hole, the rumbling of the Earth’s surface giving way no match for her scream of pure terror and fear. A blue bolt from the sky hit her, and her body was suspended in the air for a few moments, the ground around her still falling. She was running then, on the pavement, right behind Spike and Riley, the vampires surprised eyes glancing back and meeting hers for a moment. The ground was falling at her heels, and her arms reached out as she was sucked back into the middle of the hole, her whole body shaking and screaming, light pouring from it. Her arms and legs flailed as she fell down, further and further into the darkness, and then the gap closed.



Willow turned her head and her feet slowed to a stop. In front of her, Xander turned.

“Why are you…Oh…” He stated breathing heavily.

The ground behind them was there again, the black hole gone. Willow’s face was flushed, and her hair returned to it’s natural red color. Looking up at the sky, a flash of white light lit the air, stopping the winds and rain. On the pavement where she had fallen, lay Buffy’s body, soaked and bleeding.



It seemed like it took hours to reach Buffy’s body, after it only took seconds to run from her. Spike knelt by her side and gathered her head in his hands. He stared up into Willow’s eyes as she, Xander, and the other potentials approached. Riley crouched down by Buffy’s side, and Willow fell to her knees at his side.

“What did you do?” Anna asked her. “What happened?”

“I did a spell…to send her to hell, to have her fall into the darkness forever…and then I separated the good from evil in her…sending the evil away, and sending the good back…”

“She was running again – I saw her.” Spike said, tears threatening. “I turned back and I saw her running…”

Willow nodded. “The spell, it sent her back, but she couldn’t stay here, there wasn’t enough good in her for the good her to survive.” Silent tears fell from her eyes. “So they just sent back her body…keeping her essence with them…May she rest in peace.”

“And the First?” Christina asked. “What about it?”



In the darkness, the First was changing from person to person, and screeched, white energy lighting up the blackness around it. It was falling, falling forever because there was no where for it to go. Changing into Dawn, it opened up it’s mouth, and shouted, exploding. As the darkness ruptured, everything around it crumbled, and began racing towards the surface. It touched the middle of the Earth, and then the planet detonated, leaving nothing behind, not even a single molecule.


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