See Part One for disclaimers
Part Four
It was Cordelia Chase. As the undisputed number-one snob of Sunnydale High, her long brown hair and vivacious good looks had made her very popular with many of the other students. The ultimate valley girl with a valley girl vocabulary, she was usually looking down on just about everyone. Cordelia had put down Buffy and her friends more times than any of them would care to count. And yet, she eventually claimed a subtle place within their group, becoming a silent friend whom they could count on when needed. Cordelia had saved Willow’s life during Buffy’s final battle with the Master, and she had never revealed to anyone that Buffy was the Slayer. Still, she had a habit of doing things that drove them all crazy, and this was no exception.
Cordelia looked embarrassed. “Look, I know this all seems weird. You all must be thinking I’m a witch.”
“We’ve always thought you were a witch,” Xander answered.
“Shut up, dork-brain!” Cordelia retorted.
“Cordelia,” Buffy began. “Why were you reciting that spell? And how did you get it?”
“It all came to me in a dream.”
“A dream?” Buffy was hopelessly puzzled.
“Three nights ago I had a dream. Someone, I don’t know who it was, told me that if I recited a certain spell at the town square at 8:00 in the morning three days in a row, I could repeat the day over and over again until I had stopped all the evils that had occurred... from three days ago.”
Buffy’s mouth was still wide open. “What evils occurred three days ago?”
“Well, first off, my hair was so frayed I just looked a total loser in front of Tom Monlin, who is only THE cutest guy in all of Sunnydale High. Then my car engine was ruined while I was driving. Like I’m supposed to know that that liquid gushing out of the bottom of the car was a serious oil leak. And because of that I missed getting tickets to the U2 concert which sold out, and then I missed Christian Slater’s scheduled appearance that night at the Sunnydale Convention Center. Of course, one look is all it would take for him to fall in love with me, and if I could marry him, just think of all evil I could stop with all my money.”
Xander was shaking his head. “With friends like her, what ever is the point of enemies?”
Buffy stared at her in disbelief. “Cordelia, do you have any idea the grief and agony you’ve put me through? I’ve been repeating this day only about a zillion times trying to stop the third part of the spell from being completed. You didn’t finish it, did you?”
“No,” Cordelia answered, a bit timidly, which was a rare emotion from her. “But you’ve got to understand, Buffy. I had to recite the spell.”
“What do you mean?” asked Willow.
“I just felt like I had to do it. As if I didn’t have any choice. As if something was pushing me to do it.”
“There’s something here I’m missing,” Buffy pondered.
“I’m missing just about everything,” Willow said. “Buffy, what is going on?”
“Look, guys,” Buffy began, “I’m really not in the mood to explain right now. But at least the danger seems to be over.”
“Buffy!” came from out of nowhere.
Giles was running towards them, almost out of breath.
“Giles?” Buffy was confused. How could he have known she would be at the town square? He was supposed to be going through his books at this moment trying to find the Rite of Fantiago. Something was very wrong.
“Buffy, I’m scared. I haven’t found anything about the Rite of Fantiago in my books yet, but there’s something about it we don’t know. Something even more dangerous...”
“What do you mean?”
Xander walked over. “Uh, could someone fill me and Willow in here, because we got lost about ten million years ago...”
“Look,” Giles continued, “I can’t explain it. But something brought me to this place. I just knew you’d be here. And I knew it had something to do with the Rite of Fantiago. But I... I... I don’t know what.”
A voice echoed through all their heads.
< No, but I do... >
There was a flash of light and suddenly they all found themselves in another place. Buffy looked around, and then became wide-eyed with fear.
“No...”
Part of the ceiling was collapsed. Water was dripping through. Candles were lit all around them. An old stone chair lie before them. There was no mistaking this place. The underground church.
It was the Master’s lair.
Buffy was in unbelievable shock. It was here where the Master of the Vampires had been imprisoned. Several months ago, she had heard the prophecy that he was going to open the Hellmouth and destroy the world. She came down through the sewers to this place to fight him... and lost. He killed her and left for the surface. Fortunately, Xander had found his way the lair and used CPR to bring Buffy back to life. She found the Master on the roof of the school library and killed him, defeating him once and for all. Or did she?
“What’s going on?” Cordelia said softly.
“I’ve been here before,” said Xander. “This place is bad. Very bad.”
“Where are we?” Willow asked.
“It’s the Master.” Buffy’s voice was shaking. “It’s the Master. The Master is back...”
“Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha...”
A figure materialized on the stone chair. Buffy eyed him. He wore a black outfit which looked very ancient. He was handsome with a large build, black hair, and a very short beard. And he was smiling.
“No, no, no, little girl,” he spoke. “I assure you... the Master is most certainly dead.” He stood up. “But WAIT ’TIL YOU GET A LOAD OF ME!!!”
“That voice,” Cordelia whispered. “That was the voice from my dream.”
Willow backed up. “Okay, I’m thoroughly scared now. Can we go?”
“Who are you?” Giles asked.
“I am the one... the one who will bring death and destruction to this world and all who live in it. I was defeated before. But this time... nothing will stop me.”
The dark man started to pace.
“You see, for the longest time I was trapped in a tomb in Macedonia. In 1940, I had my first chance to escape. Two lucky little scientists and someone else I won’t bother to mention managed to thwart me. But now, with the Hellmouth resting on Sunnydale, I’ve got another chance at freedom.”
He started to move toward Buffy.
“Although trapped, I’ve been able to tap into the power of the Hellmouth... in a limited capacity. I created the Rite of Fantiago and placed it in numerous books of sorcery around the world. I knew the lure of destroying all evil would be too good to pass up. Sooner or later, someone would activate the spell. But... I got tired of waiting. So I decided to find a clueless excuse for a human being to trick into performing the rite.” He looked at Cordelia. “Thank you, my dear.”
Xander glared at her. “Way to go, Ms. ‘I think I’ll recite a spell so I can meet Christian Slater.’”
“Geek!” Cordelia retorted.
“Moron!” Xander answered.
“People!” Giles interrupted. “I don’t think this is the time to be squabbling amongst ourselves.”
Buffy had felt some relief when she saw that this being was clearly not the Master. But she now had a feeling that he was something far, far worse. The Slayer was afraid, but she tried not to show it. “But the third part of the rite was never completed.”
The dark man smiled. “Yes, it was. When you and all your friends arrived at the town square, it was completed. The whole purpose of the Rite of Fantiago was to bring the Chosen One here... to bring you here... so I could... “slay” you. As for the day repeating itself, that was mostly for fun. It was inspired from an adventure that an old nemesis of mine had. You’ve probably heard of her. Her name was Xena. I thought I’d give you one last run of glory, allow you to think that you’d won, and then take it all away from you at the last moment. You see, the price for my escape from imprisonment is that I must destroy the Slayer. Once you are dead, the God of War is free.”
Buffy started to back away. “Who are you?”
“My name is Ares... the God of War.”
Giles’ swallowed hard. “Ares... You’re going to open the Hellmouth... and destroy the world.”
“Open the Hellmouth? Destroy the world? Now why would I want to do that? If the world was destroyed, then there would be no war. And thus there would be no point for my existence. No, it won’t be the end of the world. It’ll just feel like it. Trust me... when I get out of here, you’re going to see some REAL fireworks. Well, actually, you won’t. You’ll all be dead.”
“Ares,” Buffy spoke. “Why are they here?” She indicated her friends. “Why not just me?”
“Simple. Your friends seem to have the annoying habit of saving your skin, bringing you back to life. When I kill all of you at once, there won’t be anyone left to stop me. Any more questions? No? Good.”
Ares raised his hand and a dozen or so vines came out of the walls wrapping themselves around the Slayer and her companions. Giles gasped. Willow and Cordelia screamed. Xander dived to the right, avoiding them. Then a vine managed to wrap itself around his left foot. He grabbed a stone edifice and held on for dear life as the vine tried to pull him away.
“Xander!” Willow yelled.
Giles struggled, but to no avail. “I can’t move! Buffy!”
Buffy couldn’t move either. But, summoning all her strength, she suddenly broke the vines around her. She stepped towards Ares.
“You’re strong,” he smiled. “I’m stronger. You’re a Vampire Slayer. But I’m not a vampire. I make your Master look like a joke. And the one person who could save you isn’t here. Sorry, Buffy, but you’re way out of your league with me.”
“Do all Gods talk too much?” Buffy asked.
Ares smile faded and he lunged forward. He took a wild swing and Buffy ducked under it and threw him backwards. He landed on his feet and turned around.
“By the way,” Ares said. “The day won’t be repeating itself anymore. When you die, you’re gonna stay dead.”
“So will you.”
Ares charged again, throwing punches, but the Slayer dodged them all. She was trying to feel him out, to see how strong he was. He was looking rather strong.
After ducking under another wild swing, Buffy took to the attack. She smashed Ares in the face with a left jab, then a right, and then a headbutt. Buffy gave him a kick to the chin which sent him back sprawling.
Ares quickly stood up. “That hurt.” He unsheathed his sword.
< Oh, my god, > Buffy thought. < He’s too strong. How can I possibly beat him? >
Ares moved forward, twirling his sword in a playful motion. “I can see the fear in your eyes, Buffy. You can’t win.”
Meanwhile, Xander spotted a small sword close by. Reaching out, he grabbed it and sliced the vine that had been pulling at him. “Willow, hang on!” He started cutting the vines around her.
“Buffy!” Giles shouted. He felt desperate and helpless and was hating it.
Ares attacked. It took all Buffy’s concentration to dodge his blows. It was getting hard for her to think, as if something was inside her head. Buffy kept backing up. She was almost against the wall. As Ares closed in, Buffy pulled an object out of her jacket. She thrust it deep into Ares chest. It was a stake. The God of War winced in pain. He stared at her.
“You stabbed me in the heart.” He pulled the stake out, glanced at it, then tossed it away. “Too bad I’m not a vampire.” He then whacked her across the face with his right hand, catching her offguard. Buffy stumbled back against the stone wall.
Ares brought his sword up in an arc.
“And now... it ends.”
His sword came down. Buffy jumped into the air, flipping.
“Alalalalalalalalalalala!”
The Slayer flew clear over Ares and his weapon. She landed on her feet behind him. They turned to face each other.
“Oh, no...” Ares let out in an exasperated voice. “Not you. Not again.”
Giles, Xander, and Willow all looked on in disbelief. Buffy felt the same way. She looked at her hands.
“How did I do that?”
Buffy had never done a flip like that before. It was even better than the one she had done when stopping the bank robbery. And she certainly never meant to say those weird words, whatever gibberish they were.
Suddenly, there was a voice inside her head. Don’t panic. I’m here to help. Let me guide you.
< Who are you? > Buffy answered in thought.
< I’m the one who defeated Ares before. With your help, I can do it again. But you’ve got to trust me. >
“Xena!” Ares called out.
“Xena?” asked Giles.
“Xena?” repeated Xander.
“Xena?” repeated Willow.
“Christian Slater, please rescue me...” Cordelia cried.
Ares looked angry. “I know you’re in there! You were lucky last time... in that tomb in Macedonia. But this time, the God of War will not be denied.”
Buffy stared at him for a moment. She smiled. “Think again, Ares.”
Buffy realized those words had come from Xena, not her. < You’ve got to work with me, Buffy, the voice said. I will guide you. >
Buffy could hardly believe this was happening. Then again, when she thought about it, this wasn’t much weirder than all the other weird stuff she had seen in the small, dark town of Sunnydale.
< All right, she finally answered. Let’s give it a shot. >
Ares felt a rage come on, and he gave into it. He always fought best with his hatred was in full force. The God of War had once offered Xena the world, yet she eventually turned on him. She was responsible for his imprisonment, and he now wanted revenge. Ares lunged forward with his sword, determined to strike the killing blow.
Buffy somersaulted away from Ares toward the lair’s altar. To the left of the altar, she spotted a sword. Buffy grabbed it and turned to face Ares. The God of War came before her. He brought his sword down, and they clashed. Ares swung with all his strength. Buffy, even with Xena’s guidance, was barely holding her own.
“You can’t kill me, Xena,” Ares shouted as he took another swing. “But I can kill her.” His sword came towards Buffy’s legs. She somersaulted backwards, just missing the blow.
Ares smiled. “You can’t hold out forever.” He leaped forward. They clashed swords again.
< How do we beat him? > Buffy asked the visitor in her mind.
< We can do it. We’ve just got to hold out a little bit longer. >
< For what? >
< You’ll see. >
Ares swung again. Buffy blocked it with her sword, but Ares, with his free hand, struck her with a blow that sent her reeling backwards into the air. Her sword flew out of her hands as she hit the ground. Ares came forward. Buffy struggled to get up. She only needed a few seconds. A few seconds that she didn’t have.
“Good-bye, Xena... forever.”
Ares raised his sword. Suddenly, Xander tackled him from behind. They both fell to the ground.
“No, you don’t, dogface.”
“I don’t believe this,” Ares exclaimed. A well-placed kick sent Xander backwards. He hit the ground, in a lot of pain.
“Now... where was I?” Ares continued. Buffy had just gotten to her feet. Ares pushed her against the wall, and raised his sword again.
“Arrgh!” he suddenly yelled. Turning his head, he saw Willow biting his hand. She grabbed the sword and backed away. Ares looked at her momentarily, a stare of ice. Then he raised his right hand to the level of his face, and slowly started to curl his fingers into a fist. As he did this, Willow suddenly found herself gasping for air. She dropped the sword and put her hands to her throat, struggling to breathe.
“Die...” Ares whispered, and then he turned to Buffy and smiled. Looking back to Willow, he saw a huge wooden board smash him squarely in the face, knocking him over. It was held by Cordelia.
“That’s for promising me Christian Slater!!!”
Suddenly, Willow could breathe again. She started to scramble away. Ares quickly stood up and grabbed Cordelia by the throat, forcing her to drop the board.
“I guess blondes aren’t the only ones who can be irritating.”
“NO!” came from behind. Buffy kicked Ares in the back, and he threw Cordelia several feet across the room, knocking the wind out of her. Ares hit Buffy again, sending her down. He picked up his sword.
“Buffy!” came from out of nowhere.
Ares turned his head. A figure had just emerged from the tunnel leading into the lair. It was Angel. His face that of a vampire, he ran towards the God of War.
“Stay away from her, Ares!”
“I’m getting tired of these distractions. I see I should have killed you all first.” He swung his sword several times at Angel, who was forced to back up as he dodged each blow. He pulled a plastic bag filled with liquid out of his jacket and threw it over Ares head. It landed near Buffy.
Ares looked at it. “What is that?” Angel grabbed him from behind.
Buffy looked at the bag. It had a red liquid in it. It looked like... blood.
< Not just any blood, > said the voice.
< Hind’s blood. The blood that can kill a god. >
Buffy suddenly knew what she had to do. She stood up, raised her sword and plunged it into the bag. Looking at the sword, she could see the end of it was dripping red.
< Take him, Buffy. >
Ares continued to struggle with the vampire that held him. He soon landed an elbow to Angel’s face, causing him to break his grip. Ares then smashed him on the forehead with the butt of his sword, knocking him down. The God of War looked at Buffy, who stood before him.
“There’s no one left to save you now, Buffy.”
The devilish smile and look in her eyes were all too familiar. They belonged to Xena.
“I’ve got all the help I need, Ares.” She lifted her sword, showing him the blood. “Remember hind’s blood?”
Ares’ face now displayed a new emotion... fear. “No...” he whispered.
“Yes.”
“NOOO!” he lunged forward. They clashed again, this time with nothing but rage. Ares swung with all his strength, and Buffy was pushed backwards. Suddenly, he knocked the sword out of her hand. It went flying to the ground, out of reach. He grabbed Buffy by the throat, raising his sword.
“Now you will die.”
“Sorry,” Buffy answered. She pulled out of stake and plunged it into Ares’ chest.
“Been there... done that.”
She yanked the stake out and Ares stared at it. It’s tip was covered with blood. Hind’s blood. Ares dropped his sword and stumbled backwards.
“No...” he gasped. “No... NOOOOOOOOOOO!”
Then the God of War exploded in a blinding flash of light. A few moments later, there was no trace of him.
Buffy stood still, taking in her surroundings. Xander, Willow, Cordelia, and Angel slowly got to their feet.
“Is it over?” Willow asked.
< Is it over? > Buffy asked Xena.
< Hopefully. If Ares does somehow return, it won’t be anytime soon. >
“I think so,” was Buffy’s reply.
“Would anyone care to help me?” asked Giles. He was still tangled up in the vines. Xander and Willow walked over to him and started to pull them off.
Angel slowly moved to Buffy. They embraced. Buffy looked into his face. “How did you... Where did you get the hind’s blood?”
“Well, I received a little visit from your friend last night after I ran into you. She told me all about what was going to happen. She said we needed hind’s blood to kill Ares and it turns out that there was some on exhibit at the Sunnydale History Museum. I broke in and stole it. She told me to come here, but the way I knew was blocked off. I had to wander through a lot of tunnels, but I’m glad I made it in time. Xena’s inside your head right now, isn’t she?”
“Yeah.”
Buffy heard the voice of the warrior princess again.
< I guess it’s time for me to get going. You did real good, kid. You remind me of someone, a very close friend of mine. You and her are alike in a lot of ways. Her name was Gabrielle. >
< Gabrielle... your sidekick. You know, I’ve seen the TV show based on the scrolls. Tell me... is it anything like what really happened? >
< You could say it bears a... certain resemblance. You’re quite a hero, Buffy. Having saved the world myself a few times, I think I know the type. You and your friends have quite a journey ahead of you. But I think you’ll be okay. I guarantee you’ll never make half the mistakes that I did. >
< I’m grateful for your help, > Buffy replied. < Without you, we wouldn’t have made it. >
< I helped guide you. But you’re the one who really beat Ares. I couldn’t put anything in your heart that wasn’t already there. And that’s the truth. >
< One last thing. Ates said you had a similar adventure with the day repeating itself. How was it? >
< It was a nightmare. I almost lost my mind. But I made it... and so did you.
Good-bye, Buffy... the Vampire Slayer. >
< Good-bye, Xena. And thank you... >
Buffy could feel her head clear a little, and she knew that Xena’s presence was gone. She took notice of Xander, Willow, Angel, Cordelia, and Giles standing before her.
“Hey, Buff,” Xander smiled. “You get a little lost in thought?”
“Something like that,” Buffy smiled in return.
Angel moved closer. “Is Xena gone?”
“Yeah, she’s gone.”
“Y’know, Buffy, I’ve been thinking,” Angel said. “Maybe the two of us could...”
“...get together sometime?” Buffy finished. She smiled. “Sure. Why not?”
Giles put his hand on her shoulder. “You’ve achieved an incredible victory here today, Buffy.”
“Yeah, I guess so. But saving the world gets to be so... blah. After you do it once, it kinda loses its luster.”
“Sure,” Xander answered. “And we’ve only saved the world like... three times?”
“Four,” Willow said.
“Five,” Angel corrected.
“Well,” Giles interceded, looking eerily around at the Master’s lair. “I don’t know about the rest of you, but I think I would like to get out of this horrid place.”
“Me, too. Let’s go,” said Buffy. They started walking towards the sewer tunnel.
“So, Buffy,” Xander began. “How exactly did you know about the muggings and all that other stuff?”
Buffy glanced at him, then smiled again. “Let’s just say I had a lot of time on my hands.”
And, with that, the six of them headed to the surface for a brand new beginning and a brand new day.
The End
* * *
Well, I’m glad this story is finally finished. I hope you enjoyed it (I’m assuming you must have if you stuck with it long enough to be reading this). About half of this story poured out after I saw the Xena episode “Been There, Done That.” I loved it so much that I figured it would be great to give Buffy a similar adventure. So I started typing, not realizing what I was getting myself into (namely, writing a comedy, which is the hardest kind of story for me to write).
It wasn’t long before I became a bit disappointed with what was coming out. This final version is quite a bit different from the original draft. Originally, it wasn’t a crossover story (Xena and Ares weren’t in it). Neither were Cordelia or Angel. The story ended with Buffy stopping a strange man from finishing the spell at the town square. Unhappy with what I felt was a rather bland ending, I figured I’d make it a crossover (so more people would read it, of course!). Adding Xena (inside Buffy’s head) and Ares hopefully made this more enjoyable (and at least a little more funnier). This story was also inspired from the Xena episode “The Xena Scrolls,” but I didn’t want to mention it at the beginning because I figured it would give a little too much of the plot away for Xena fans.
Well, I can say now that I am very pleased with the way the story turned out. I always thought it would be great to have Buffy to take on Ares (the most awesome villain in the Xenaverse). Someday, I may write another crossover where Buffy gets transported back to Xena’s time (That will be a long wait, however).
More than anything, I hope that with this story I might get some Xena fans interested in Buffy The Vampire Slayer and vice versa since these are my two favorite shows. Xena IS the best, by the way, but Buffy is still an incredibly awesome show, and I highly recommend it to anyone who hasn’t seen it.
I love to hear comments. It’s always nice to know that my story has been read. I also love getting in touch with other Buffy and Xena fans. Please contact me at hart@blast.net. Thanks again, and keep on reading!
John Dorsey
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