Title: When You Win (6/?)

"I’m not reading the spell again!" Willow yelled as she shoved the book into her bag, "And sorry for yelling." She apologized when she saw Giles’ startled look.

"I must admit the way Buffy and Xander are behaving has been a little unnerving. I don’t want anything to go wrong." Giles explained.

"They’re spazes. What do you want from them?" Anya asked glancing up from her magazine.

"That’s true." Willow agreed, "And Giles, you have to relax, you’re going to have a stroke before we even get to…where are we going again?"

"Um…I believe the location is now known as Burton’s Caverns."

"Really! I love the caverns! We went there on a field trip in 7^th grade. Xander and I got separated from the group when we went searching for Dracula…" Willow trailed off as she noticed Giles’ and Anya’s stares, "…because of the bats. I thought it was a cool story."she finished dejectedly.

"That really explains a lot about you." Anya commented while turning back to her magazine.

Willow, made a face and mimicked the ex-demon when she turned away before turning herself to face Giles, "So, are we all set?"

"Yes, I believe we are," Giles answered, "Oh, wait!" he exclaimed running into the storeroom. When he returned he was carrying what looked to Willow to be a rolled up velvet cloth, "Now we’re ready."

Willow looked at the cloth and then at Giles, "Tooooo make the demon a pair of cush pants?" she asked.

Giles looked at her confused before he caught on, "No, no. This is the dagger." he said removing it from the cloth, "This is the only weapon ever forged with the capability to pierce the Localv’s skin. It’s the only way Buffy can kill it. If we forgot this…" "We’d be screwed?" Willow asked. "Yes very screwed."

"It looks pretty plain." Anya stated, "Shouldn’t it be glowing, or buzzing, or something flashy?"

"It’s not a novelty item." Giles scoffed while recovering the dagger.

Anya simply rolled her eyes and asked, "I’m going to go get the car. Are we almost ready? I want to get this over with, I have a date tonight."

It was now Giles’ turn to roll his eyes as he walked to the door of the back gym to get his Slayer and her husband. Giles was about to just open the door when he got a painful flashback of what he walked in on last week, and decided to knock instead, "Bloody children." he muttered as he waited a few minutes before opening the door. "Buffy? Xander?" he called tentatively through the crack in the door.

"Jeez Giles." He heard Buffy laugh, "Give us more credit than that."

"I will not." Giles answered still standing behind the door, "I’m opening the door now," he warned, before squeezing his eyes shut and pushing it open.

When he opened his eyes again he saw Buffy and Xander standing in front of him smirking, "We’re ready for the meeting." he stammered while stepping to the side to let the couples pass.

As Xander walked pass he said in a low voice, "Good thing you waited before you came in, I couldn’t find my pants."

Giles just glared at him as Xander’s smile died; "I was just joking G-man."

"Ha bloody ha." Giles responded as he followed them out.

As soon as Xander stepped out of the gym Willow knew that her best friend had been crying. She saw that his usual chocolate brown mirthful eyes and lopsided grin held an obvious pain behind them. She didn’t say anything as Xander smiled at her and took the seat beside her.

"Hey Wills." Xander greeted solemnly. "Hey Xan." Willow answered back with her usual chipper grin.

Willow watched Xander watch Buffy while Giles explained the dagger and the spell to her at the counter before turning to face him, "What's up?"

"Oh, uh. Nothing." he answered lamely, not tuning to look her in the eyes.

"Xander." Willow said putting on her resolve face, "I know when something’s wrong with you. I know when you’ve been crying."

"Oh yeah. I forgot who I was talking to." Xander replied sheepishly.

"Sooooo…" Willow prodded at his silence.

Xander turned to look at her and contemplated what to tell her. He had it on his mind to tell her that Buffy was pregnant and that he, of all people, was going to be a father. At least that would give him some more back up in his petition to get Buffy to sit this battle out. But he was sure that Buffy would be upset with him for spilling the news to Willow without her, and he didn’t like being on the business end of his wife’s wraith.

So Xander went with a different aspect of his problems with tonight’s goings on, "I don’t have a good feeling about this." He said quietly so that only Willow could hear him.

"About telling me what’s wrong? Look Xander, I know that you have Buffy now, but we’re still…"

"No. I know I can tell you anything." Xander assured, "But about tonight. I have this…weird, bad feeling. Like we’re not ready for what we’re walking into."

"Xander," Willow said softly, resting her hand on his shoulder, "we are ready. Buffy’s the strongest Slayer that’s ever been called. She’s faced apocalypses, thousands of demons and vampires, including the Master; he’s even beat demonic robots. Not to mention that she puts up with you daily." Willow said earning an honest chuckle from Xander.

"I have faith in her." Xander said turning to look at Buffy again, only to find that she had been watching him. Buffy smiled at him almost shyly before turning away to focus on the dagger again.

"Well, if it’s the spell I’m going to…" Willow started defensively.

"It’s not." Xander interrupted, "I know you’ve got it memorized."

"Then what is it?" Willow asked more forcefully, "Anya and Giles are on door patrol. Nothing’s getting in or out of that cave. Plus they’ve got these cool new fire packs so if anything tries anything sneaky it’s crispy critters time. And you’ll be in the cave for back up support if Buffy needs it. Did Giles show you the arsenal you get?"

"Arsenal?" Xander asked hopefully.

"Well… it’s really a stake, a sword, and an Initiative tazer gun, but it’s still very Grrrr." Willow admitted.

"Oh yeah. I’m bad ass." Xander commented while his spirits dropped again, "And all Buffy gets is an old spear thing."

Willow looked at him with sad eyes, she could see what this was doing to him, "That’s all she needs. That, and the spell. And she’ll have us. It’ll be like high school, you, me, and Buffy facing down the forces of darkness, dispelling evil, and making the world a safer place for mankind."

Xander raised his eyebrows at his friend; "You put a scary amount of thought into that argument."

"Well your mocking me, so I’m going to guess that you feel a little better."

"I won’t let anything happen to her." Xander stated.

"You never have." Willow responded quietly as Xander pulled her into a hug, "Thanks Wills." He whispered in her ear.

The tinkering of the bell over the door caused all the occupants in the room to look up as Anya walked in, "I got the car. The biggest VSW they had to offer."

"SUV?" Buffy asked.

"Whatever. It’s here. So…let’s make with the moving."

"Give me a minute." Buffy asked as she picked up the phone off the counter and walked towards the storeroom, "I gotta call Mom. Pre-fight ritual." She explained.

Xander watched her leave the room and shut the door behind her. He knew the truth behind those calls; he knew that the only time Buffy called her Mom before a fight was when she was worried about it. Xander had listened to those calls before and Buffy’s tone had frightened him to the core. She never mentioned where she was going, she always said she was just calling to "check in". Xander hated those calls for the simple reason that he knew the meaning behind them, they were made to say good-bye just in case… But this time, this time he had called Mrs. Summers first, and that terrified him.

End Part 6

Title: When You Win (7/?)

"Did you talk to her?" Xander asked ten minutes later when Buffy came out of the storeroom.

"Uh, yeah. I talked to Mom and Dawn. They’re coming over for dinner tomorrow." Buffy answered, "I just thought I’d give you advanced warning so that you can think about what you’re going to cook."

"You’re lucky that I like it when you take advantage of me." Xander smiled while Buffy tied her hair back.

"Where is everybody?" she asked, only now noticing the empty room.

"Waiting in the car." Xander told her, "They all know how long winded you can be and waiting here was making everyone antsy."

Buffy pouted at his statement, "But I, being the perfect male specimen that I am, valiantly stood up for your motor mouthyness." Xander attempted to recover while striking a Superman pose.

"And you have the ability to make up idiotic words in a single bound. Impressive." Buffy mocked with a smirk.

"You wound me." Xander exclaimed grabbing his chest and stumbling back onto the table in the middle of the room with his eyes closed.

When he opened them again he saw Buffy standing above him staring with raised eyebrows, "You know what else is impressive?" she asked while leaning down to kiss him on the forehead.

Xander squinted his eyes and tilted his head, "From where I lay, I’m going to say that tank top."

"No, you perv." Buffy laughed while adjusting her top before moving to pull Xander to a standing position. Xander groaned slightly, but complied and stood up. Once he was on his feet Buffy immediately pulled him into a tight hug, "The fact that you called my Mom before me."

Xander was about to respond before the sound of a car horn blaring broke through the store, followed by Anya’s muffled voice. "Our loud and obnoxious chariot awaits." Xander stated with a sigh as he picked up his and Buffy’s bag of weapons.

Almost immediately Buffy heard the dull clang of cloth encased metal on the floor and she turned around to see Xander dragging the bag towards her, "Look Hun, one hand." He grimaced as he took a small step.

"Ease up there Herc." Buffy smiled at him lightly as she took the bag from him with one hand and lifted it easily onto her shoulder.

"God I love that about you." Xander breathed as he followed Buffy out of the door.

--------------------*--------------------

The light mood form the store was abandoned immediately when Xander got into the car. He hated that whole drive. Xander remembered being in the 7^th grade and loving the bus ride to the Caverns, but now…

The times that Xander didn’t have his eyes closed he spent looking around the car at his friends. They had had idle chit chat for much of the forty five minutes that they had been in the car, but for the most part he had remained silent, which was very uncharacteristic of him. Even Buffy had kept her responses to simple one-word answers.

Xander turned his gaze to Giles, who was focused on the road and humming a Jimmy Buffet song that he actually had on CD. Willow was reading a huge psychology book by a book light <Why would anyone read a book that thick for no apparent reason is beyond me. I thought she was a 3^rd grade teacher.> he though as he watched her. Then he turned to Anya, who was holding a flashlight in her mouth while she wrote in a record book, apparently adding up the receipts of the day’s sales at The Magic Box.

Xander laughed to himself after taking in the whole group, thinking about how they each had their own lives now, but were still tied together by the fact that Buffy was the Slayer and they would never abandon her.

Buffy. Xander turned to her next, which didn’t take a lot of work because she was snuggled as close to him as their current location would allow. He had one arm over her shoulder while his other arm was wrapped around her front so that she was locked in a hug.

Xander leaned against her so that his cheek was resting against her head and he felt Buffy’s grip on the back of his shirt tighten.

He knew that she wasn’t asleep even though her eyes were closed.

"We’ll be there in about five minutes." Giles aid as he turned the car onto a bumpy back road that Xander didn’t recognize even though he could tell that they were now in the woods.

Xander felt Buffy’s grip on him tighten again as the car moved at a slow creep through the darkness.

A few minutes later the car lurched to a stop, "Here we are." He said looking at the darkened mouth of the cave through the windshield and ten opening his door.

Willow ventured a glance to the back seat where Anya was exiting the car and Xander sat looking straight ahead while holding a sleeping Buffy. Willow reached out her hand to rest it on Xander’s knee. The contact seemed to wake him out of his daze, "It’ll be okay." She whispered.

"I know." Xander said back softly with a smile. But as soon as Willow turned to open her door the smile died.

"Is it too late to drive away?" Buffy whispered with almost bitter laughter as she heard Willow’s door close.

Buffy still had her face buried in the space between Xander’s neck and chest, and was still holding onto him as if her life depended on it.

"If you would have listened in the first place we could’ve been at the airport now, but noooooo, you want to wait till…"

"I love you." Buffy whispered interrupting him.

"I love you." Xander told her back as the back window opened and Giles’ voice tore through their quiet world, "We found our entrance, but we must hurry we only have forty five minutes to set up."

Xander closed his eyes and felt Buffy kiss his cheek before opening her door and getting out of the car, "So, we have to summon this demon, or is it just going to show up?" Buffy asked while unloading the weapons.

Xander got out of the car and silently picked up some bags while Giles answered, "He’s already there." The group stopped and looked at him, "The Localv demon maintains a very strict sleeping schedule, as it were, and depending on their location in the world the time of day that it awakens varies. But, ah, every documented case has the translated the time to be 9:00 to a tee. It’s quite remarkable really."

"Yeah Giles, and it’s not at all disheartening that it took six girls lives to pinpoint the exact time that the monster wakes up." Willow said off handedly.

"We also gained the knowledge of how to exterminate them." Giles said putting on his flame-thrower.

"How’s that?" Xander asked trying out his sword, "If they’ve… If every Slayer that has ever faced one… Who killed one?"

"From the best I can gather, it was a process of trail ad error that led to one of the Watchers of an expired Slayer emerging victorious." Giles explained.

"Why can’t we just kill it while its sleep again?" Buffy asked tucking the dagger into a shief on her hip.

"It’s protected," Anya answered, "When it sleeps it generates a foresfield, even if you could get through it, which you can’t until it wakes up and is disarmed, you would only be able to kill the body…"

"Yeah, the spell binds its spirit to the body. Without it the sprit is all grrrrr, and it’s really hard to kill then." Willow added.

"So here we go." Xander breathed looking at the cave.

"I couldn’t have said it better myself." Giles agreed as he led the group to the mouth of the cave. When they reached it Giles handed Xander a small map, "Anya and I will secure the entrance; you, Buffy, and Willow follow this map to the lair."

"Ay, ay, sir." Buffy answered taking the map out of Xander’s hand and moving into the cave. Xander gave the Watcher one last look before following closely behind Buffy, with Willow following him.

"Good luck." Giles whispered after he saw the trio disappear.

"Don’t need it." he heard Buffy call back confidently through the darkness.

End Part 7

Title: When You Win (8/?)

Xander watched Buffy shiver while she shouted back to Giles. He knew very well that she was frightened even if she wouldn’t believe it herself.

"What’s that smell?" Willow whispered as the climbed further back into the cave, "It smells like… ARRRGGGGHHHH!!!"

Willow’s high pitched scream broke through the silence of the cave as she looked to her right and saw a bloody corpse laying sprawled over a rock. Xander immediately jumped for his friend, one arm encircling over her mouth and the other wrapping around her shoulders pulling her into a comforting hug.

Buffy, on the other hand, went into immediate defense mode, whipping out the dagger and assuming a fighting stance while she surveyed the area. "Jesus Christ Willow. Give me a heart attack.", Buffy said relaxing a little, but still holding the dagger.

"It’s…it’s just…" Willow stammered pointing at the body.

"It’s alright Wills." Xander whispered.

"Let’s keep moving." Buffy ordered as she started walking again.

The group continued their trek, only now Xander took up the rear. They had been walking for almost fifteen minutes before Buffy stopped and looked at the map, "I think this is it.", she whispered looking around the cavern.

"Why?" Willow asked, still shaken.

"Because of that." Buffy stated simply, pointing with the dagger across the fairly leveled room to a large greenish brown horned thing that was laying on the floor. "This is one of the suckiest lairs I’ve ever been in. You would think that he could have a few throw pillows here or there, but noooo…" Buffy mumbled as they made the short jump down to the cavern floor.

That was Xanders’ place to say something to compliment her last quip, but nothing funny came to mind as he took in his surroundings. The cavern room was poorly lit, even after Buffy lit the torches on the walls; it was damp and cold, and it smelt like, what could only be described as death. <Quaint little digs here.> Xander thought humorlessly. "How much time do we have?" he asked Willow, seeing that Buffy was distracted with sizing up her unconscious opponent.

"Um…fifteen." Willow answered as she busily set up her equipment in a clearing behind some rocks in the corner.

Xander nodded and made his way quietly towards Buffy, even though it was obvious that the demon couldn’t hear anything that was going on in the room.

Buffy felt him standing behind her, watching her size up the demon. She pondered if she could just stab it now, <Maybe Anya was wrong about the foresfield thing. She’s been wrong before.>

"What’s it going to hurt to try.", she heard Xander say from his position behind her. Buffy smiled at the fact that Xander could give her an answer to questions she had just though of. She tossed his a grin over her shoulder before raising the dagger high over her head and then forcing it down with all her might.

A loud clanging sound ripped through the cavern and a bright green and yellow shield came into view and spread to cover the demon’s whole body.

Startled at the light display Buffy jumped back almost immediately, and when the sound and the lights faded she laughed bitterly to herself as she turned to Xander, "Figures. It can’t ever be easy."

Xander watched as Buffy’s face contort in an effort to hold back her tears and it only took a moment before he leapt forward and gathered her in his arms, "Don’t cry now. Please don’t cry.", he cooed in her ear as he rocked her back and forth.

"I want to go home now.", she whispered into his shirt.

"We will." Xander assured before turning his gaze to the sleeping demon, "I predict a fifteen minute brawl, tops. Then we go home." He said with a grin.

Buffy had to laugh at his expression. Only Xander could make her smile in a moment like this. This was part of their lives, one was strong when the other couldn’t be.

<Just like now.> Buffy thought. "Promise?" she asked glancing at the demon.

"Scouts Honor. Have I ever promised you anything that I couldn’t give you?" Xander answered.

"Not yet. But you’ve also never been a scout." Buffy whispered back to him as she stood on her toes to kiss him.

"Remind me to give you pep talks more often." Xander quietly joked when they broke several minutes later.

"Five minutes you guys!" Willow called from behind the rocks when she was done setting up.

"You should go wait with Willow." Buffy said slowly letting Xander go.

"Wait!" he called still holding her arm, "I got you this." Xander reached into his pocket and pulled out a handful of lint and coins.

"Wow! Pocket change. Can you hold it till later, honey." Buffy said with a genuine smile.

"You think I’m giving you my change?! Not likely, I have five of those new state quarters and there’s no way your getting your hands on them." Xander answered with a smile of his own, "I got you this.", he said separating a thin silver bracelet from the clutter, "Well actually it was my Nanas’. I carry it for good luck." He fastened to Buffy’s wrist, "It was my lucky charm…"

"Xander, you don’t have to…"

"And I want you to have it as yours. Besides, it’s done its job for me.", he grinned while leaning down to kiss Buffy lightly on the lips.

"Two minutes!" Willow screamed, "Buffy get in position! Xander get back here!"

"I love you." Buffy told Xander as he started back towards the rocks that Willow was behind, "I love you first." Xander answered back while holding Buffy’s gaze before backing behind the rocks and picking up his tazer gun.

Buffy gave her husband a half smile before gripping the dagger and turning around. She readied herself in wait as the demon rolled on it’s back and grumbled.

Xander starred on in a combination of terror and fascination as the seven-foot monster stood up and glared down at his wife.

End Part 8

Title: When You Win (9/?)

Buffy’s shock at seeing the Localv Demon wore off quickly and she slashed at it with the dagger. The seven foot beast that couldn’t weigh less than 400 lbs. was surprisingly quick on its feet as it jumped backwards away from her swipe.

It threw a right hook in Buffy’s direction, which she ducked and quickly stood up to deliver a flat palm to the demon’s side.

The Localv seemed unfazed by her efforts and deftly swung back around, delivering a hard elbow to the side of Buffy’s head. The force of the blow spun the Slayer around so that her back was to the demon. He grabbed Buffy by the back of her neck and held her in the air where he grabbed her swing right leg and threw her easily across the room.

Buffy bounced off the stone wall and fell to the ground. As her vision cleared she saw Xander jumping over the rocks that separated him and Willow’s perch from the fight.

"Xander!!" Willow shouted after him, "Xander don’t!!"

"Do the spell now!" he shouted back forcefully as he charged the demon.

"Xander NO!" Buffy shouted and he came to an abrupt halt. The Localv turned at her outburst and saw Xander taking aim with the tazer and immediately turned on him. "The spell Willow! Do the spell!" Buffy yelled as she pushed herself off the ground and charged the demon that was quickly advancing on Xander.

"Dammit!" Xander cursed as he backpedaled away from the Localv because the tazer was still charging. He saw no other option so he swung the gun at the beast like a bat. The Localv easily dodged the swing as he sounds of Willow’s chanting became audible in the cave.

The demon seemed to sense Buffy advancing and unleashed a backhand close-fist hit that sent the startled Slayer again to the ground before turning on Xander again. However, this time Xander was ready and as the demon turned to face him he was hit with the high voltage beam from the gun. The beam hit the Localv with enough force to startle it, but he still managed to unleash a strong forearm jab to Xander’s head.

Xander went crashing to the ground, and the demon soon followed because Buffy executed a leg sweep form her position on the ground. With the Localv on its knees Buffy launched into a series of three swift round house kicks to the demon’s face and then a crescent kick to the back of the demon’s neck.

Xander rolled easily to his feet and out of the demon’s way as he crashed to the ground, but his tazer wasn’t so lucky and he heard it crack under the Localv’s weight.

"Go help Willow." Buffy told him as she looked into his eyes in hopes he would get out of the fight. Xander was about to protest when Localv started to push itself to its feet, "Go!" Buffy screamed again and he ran back to the rocks.

When he got there he saw Willow. She sat with her eyes closed in a deep trance while chanting something Xander couldn’t understand. As he routed through the bag for the sword a faint glow started to shine from inside the circle in which Willow sat.

A strong gust of wind blew from somewhere in the woods past Giles and Anya and into the cave. "It’s started" Giles stated looking in the direction of the wind.

"There’s nothing out here." Anya complained looking around in the dark night.

"Yeah there is." A voice answered back.

Giles and Anya turned to see about twenty vampires walk out of the woods, "If there is one thing I’ve learned here in the Hellmouth," Giles said as he turned on his flame-thrower, "it’s never call attention to good fortune."

"Less talking, more charring." Anya stated as she shot the fire at the advancing vampires.

"Xander stay!" Buffy shouted for about the nine trillionth time as she saw him ready to rush into the fight again. He had blood on the front of his shrit from where the Localv hit him in the mouth, and even though he had not fought that much his entire body hurt.

Every chance Buffy got she tossed him a glance to make sure he was aright. <What’s taking the dams spell so long!> her mind screamed as the demon swept her legs out from under her. Buffy groaned as she landed hard on her back, and had the wind knocked out of her.

The demon tried to follow up with a dropping punch to Buffy’s face but she blocked it by grabbing its wrist and flipping it to the ground. Buffy warily pushed herself to her feet and went to the other side of the cavern to get some distance between her and the beast. "Alright," she breathed, "I’m sick of this. And if I smell like sewer again because of you, I’m going to resurrect you just so I can use more violence when I kill you again."

The Localv seemed to smile at her as they circled one another, "Enough.", it barked as it charged her. Buffy met it with a re-energized flying sidekick that caused it to fly back into the opposite wall, "So now you talk." Buffy quipped noting that that was the first hit she’d delivered that had caused significant damage. <The spell must be working.> she thought as she continued stride.

Xander saw the demon fly back and turned his gaze back to Willow. The glow emanating from the circle was becoming brighter and brighter, <It’s working!> Xander thought as he smiled and turned back to Buffy, "It’s working!!" he shouted to her. Buffy turned her head quickly towards Xander and did not see the Localv stand up again. "Look out!" Xander shouted again.

Buffy’s head snapped back around and the demon delivered a two handed blow to Buffy’s chest and she was sent again to the ground. Before she could get to her feet the demon picked her up again by the neck and threw her against the cave wall. Dazed, Buffy rolled so the she was resting on her knees and elbows.

The Localv lumbered up to were Buffy lay on the ground and grabbed her by the hair, pulling her to her feet. Before Buffy could react her face was slammed into the cave wall. She felt her head connect with the jagged rock three times before she was able to muster up the strength to land a forceful blow to the monster’s eye.

The Localv released her and howled in pain at the impact while Buffy went crashing to the ground. She heard Xander call her name, but was too disoriented to respond as she tried to crawl away from her tormentor.

Xander threw himself off the rocks again when he saw the demon walk quickly towards Buffy again; he couldn’t stand still anymore why she got beat to death. Xander jumped over the remaining rocks just in time to see the demon deliver a swift hard drop kick to Buffy’s ribs. She sputtered for air as the force from the kick flipped her onto her back. She tasted the blood in her mouth as she clenched her eyes shut and gripped her stomach.

"BUFFY!" Xander shouted out as he rushed the demon with the sword raised. Buffy’s eyes watered and she cried out as the Localv kicked her again squarely in the ribs, "Xander" she called softly as the demon lifted its foot and pressed it firmly to Buffy’s throat, choking the life out her while her fingers pulled at its thick ankle.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Xander yelled as he brought the sword down hard on the demon’s back. The metal bent and cracked between the force of Xander’s blow and the roughness of the demon’s skin, but it did provide enough distraction to get the monster away from Buffy.

The Localv turned around to face him and Xander let go a left hook that connected firmly with the demon’s jaw, but he winced in pain as he heard and felt the bones in his hand crunch on impact.

The demon grinned at him as he turned to face him again and delivered a backhand that sent Xander flying through the air. He hit the ground with a dull thud and when he opened his eyes he saw Buffy rising shakily to her feet.

Her face was a mass of cuts and scrapes and Xander could she a steady flow of blood from a deep gash on her forehead. "Go get help!" Buffy ordered in a surprisingly forceful voice.

Xander hesitated for a moment, but then realized that that would be the only way they would survive until the spell was enacted. "I love you" Xander said breathlessly as he looked at Buffy one more time before he pushed himself up and ran out of the lair.

End Part 9

Title: When You Win (10/?)

Xander all but fell out of the mouth of the cave gasping for air, "We need help!" he shouted to a frazzled looking Giles and Anya, "The spell won’t start!"

"We must say here," Giles stated as more vampires appeared from the woods, "they are trying to get into the cave, if they do there will be no stopping them."

Xander’s eyes pleaded with the Watcher as he was still seemingly oblivious to the vamps that were approaching. Anya shot a wall of fire at the advancing vampires before turning to Giles, "I can go." She offered, while Xander glanced between the two of them and the cave.

"Please hurry" he begged.

"I’m going now." Anya stated as Xander ran back into the cave, "be careful." She shouted back to Giles, who was shooting another wall of fire, before he could respond.

"Hurry up!" Xander shouted back to her as he sprinted over the rocks in the cave on his way back to the lair with Anya in tow. When they reached the cavern again Willow was still in a trance and Buffy looks as is she were dead on her feet.

Buffy executed a front snap kick, which the Localv easily caught and used to flip her off the ground. She had been know for being able to land on her feet after this move, but this time Buffy did a full flip in the air before landing hard on her stomach and she cried out in pain. "You’re the best toy I’ve had since I came to this retched place." The Localv mocked when Buffy slammed to the ground.

"I can’t get a clear shot off if her doesn’t get off of her!" Anya yelled as she tired to aim the flame-thrower. Xander didn’t respond because the minute Buffy screamed he ran for the demon again.

The Localv turned to see Xander’s attack and easily hoisted him over his shoulder sending him crashing to the ground. Xander got to his feet as quickly as he could and prepared for another attack while Buffy tried to stand up, only with more difficulty.

Suddenly a strong gust of wind blew into the cavern and all eyes turned towards the mouth of the lair, "It worked! Go now Buffy!" Willow shouted excitedly as she stood up.

The Localv turned quickly and delivered a hard right hook to Buffy’s head at Willow’s outburst and then turned on Xander, who was moving to his wife, the Slayer’s, side. The demon reached out and grabbed him by the back of the neck before he could reach her and tossed him easily to the ground in the middle of the room.

From the ground Xander saw Buffy still laying motionless in the dirt. "Xander!" Anya called as she moved to rush to his side. "No, help her. She needs to kill it now!" Xander said as he got to his feet and began circling the Localv. "That makes seven." The demon taunted as Xander angrily sized him up.

Anya obeyed and rushed to Buffy’s side where she began to shake the Slayer hard. Buffy’s eyes slowly fluttered open at the new movement, though she was unable to focus on anything in the room, "Buffy!" a voice echoed through her head.

"Buffy, you have to kill it now! Buffy! Come on! Anya shouted as she pulled the other woman into a sitting position.

The Localv let out a barking laugh while he looked over Xander. Xander swallowed deeply and took a quick glance at Buffy, letting go a sigh of relief when he saw her sit up. But his relief was short lived, because the demon saw his attention change to the Slayer and used the opening.

"Xander!" Willow shrieked as the Localv charged him. The yell caused Buffy’s eyes to snap back open as the demon seemingly tackled Xander, driving him into a sharp stone wall.

Xander screamed at the first contact with the demon as the crooked horn in the middle of the monster’s head drove into his body. Xander felt himself being slammed into the wall and he tired to push at the Localv’s shoulders as he saw Buffy standing up. He felt the sharp rocks behinds him piercing the flesh of his back and all the air being forced from his lungs. He felt his ribs snapping from the pressure as the Localv continued to crush him.

Xander tried to scream again, but found that he had no voice left. He could barely focus on the sounds in the cavern as the searing pain coursing through his body dulled into numbness. Xander tried to open his eyes to see what was happening, to see Buffy, but all he saw was black.

Buffy’s body screamed as she ran hard at the demon with the dagger raised high over her right shoulder. She ignored the blinding pain as she reached the demon and swung the dagger as hard as she could, aiming at the beast’s neck as it pinned her husband to the wall.

The blade sliced easily through the demons flesh only stopping briefly at its spine before sliding the rest of the way through. At the dislocation of the head the body turned into a bright greenish yellow goo on the ground until all that was left of it was the horn protruding from Xander’s stomach.

Buffy stepped back as Xander fell to the ground limp.

End Part 10

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