After Everything

A/N: This is my first time writing anything. So please review and let me know if you all like it or hate it.


Chapter 1: Dragons and Porcupines

The demons were coming. The dull roar mixing with the sound of the storm ringing in the heroes ears. Angel knows he may not make it out alive, but that doesn’t stop the thrill of excitement coursing through him. He raises his sword in preparation for the coming charge.

“Let’s go to work.”

And that’s exactly what they did. Angel springs into actions, taking on three demons at once and dispatching them easily. Spike snarls as he launches himself into the fray, not thinking about anything but the thrill of the dance. Gunn gamely tries to fight but is slowed by his many wounds. Illyria stays close to help him as best she can, knowing that he will not last much longer.

The vampires are making a dent in the front lines, teaming up to take down several demons at once. Spike looks up, sees the dragon circling above them, and quirks a brow.

“Race you to the dragon, peaches.”

“Dragon’s mine, Spike!” Angel bit out as he lops off the head of the creature ahead of him.

“Not if I get there first.” Spike ran down the alley killing anything that had the guts to get in his way. Looking back he sees Angel following behind him. Spike laughs and picks up his pace. The impact of the troll’s club sends Spike sailing through the air into the side of the building.

Angel skids to a halt and stares up at the enormous troll in front of him. It was at least ten feet tall, with grayish-green skin, and menacingly yellow eyes. The troll screams at Angel, baring decayed teeth and dripping saliva.

“Wow, bet you have girls just lining up for you.” Angel says, quickly sizing up his opponent. Troll roars his rage again and begins to swing his massive club, not caring what it hits. Angel easily avoids the giants lumbering strikes but is almost amused watching the demons flying in the air from wayward strikes.

Angel quickly formulates a plan and begins to attack the troll. Troll beats him back, angrily trying to whack him with the club or step on him, but Angel just dances away from it.
“It’s a good thing you’re as slow as you are big” Angel smirks as he sees his opportunity. He runs between the trolls legs and slices both Achilles heels as he passes through. The troll screams out in rage and pain before falling over onto a group of orc-like demons. Angel quickly slices its neck, effectively terminating it.

Spike is snapped back into consciousness as a demon is about to take his head off. He quickly rolls out of the way, swings his own sword and decapitates the demon all in one motion. He squints out into the melee trying to see where Angel had gone. He sees the troll fall and debates about whether to help Angel or not. He quickly decides not, finds a drain pipe on the building, and starts to climb.

Angel spots Spikes blonde head climbing up the side of the building.

“Oh, no you don’t.” There was no way Angel was going to let Spike beat him to the dragon. He takes off in pursuit, leaving no living thing in his trail.

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

Illyria was a cerulean blur as she dispatched foes left and right. Charles Gunn is near her, still struggling to fight. She sees the demon behind him about to deliver a deadly blow.

“Charles! Behind you!” She was wishing for her powers then. She wanted to freeze time, make all of it stop, and save Gunn before it was too late. She is locked in a fight herself and can do nothing but hope that he is able to save himself.

Gunn spins as quickly as he can and barely deflects the blow that would have severed his spinal cord. Instead a new wound opens up in his stomach, spilling even more of his precious blood onto the wet street below. He feels lightheaded from the blood loss and sinks to his knees.

“Charles, you must get up. I can’t hold them off of you forever.” She punches through the head of a demon and then throws it into the group coming at them, knocking them down like bowling pins.

Gunn felt the blackness closing in on him and wanted badly to succumb, but he fought against it. Fought to feel the pain, the rain on his face, the asphalt beneath him, anything that would keep him there. In the end, the darkness won out and he felt all the pain, worry, and fear just melt away.

“Charles!” Illyria glanced back at his motionless form. She slew the demons she was fighting and ran to his side. She looks at him and knows his fight is done. She feels a tear travel down her cheek. She touches it with wonder, as grief warred within her again.

She leaves his side to find the others. Using grief to fuel her anger, she leaves a trail of bodies in her wake.

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

Spike is on the roof of the building, dodging the dragon’s fire blasts and talon strikes, waiting for the right moment to strike. Angel soon joins Spike on the rooftop.

“Took you long enough to get up here, Peaches!” Spike says before he dive rolls out of the way of the streaming flame.

“I would have been here sooner, but someone couldn’t kill a measly troll.”

“Hey the bloody thing blindsided me while I wasn’t lookin’.”

“Yeah right. I bet you wanted it to hit you so you could get up here first and leave me to cleanup the mess!”

“You think I would do that?”

Angel just looks at him.

Spike smirks. “Okay, yeah, maybe I would.”

Suddenly the dragon swoops again, talons ready for the strike.

“Angel watch out!” Spike tackles Angel to the ground, barley missing the sharp claws. Illyria shows up at that same time and launches herself at the dragon. She catches the leg of the beast before it rises too much higher and scrambles onto its back. The dragon tries to buck her off but to no avail. She thrusts her hands into its neck, grasping hold of the two arteries on either side, and yanks them out. The dragon immediately starts thrashing, spurting blood into the night air making it rain blood into the alley below, and then it begins to fall from the sky. Illyria instantly jumps off the dying animal, clutches to the side of the building, and pulls herself up. The two vampires look at her incredulously.

Angel is nearly pouting. “Hey he was mine!”

Spike breaks into a grin. “That was bloody awesome!”

Angel sobers immediately when he notices Gunn isn’t with them. “Where’s Gunn?”

“I was unable to keep him safe. He is dead.” Illyria couldn’t understand why she felt a tiny stab of guilt about his death. “I am going back to kill more demons.”

Angel and Spike, still processing the news of Gunn’s death, watches her jump from the rooftop back to the army of demons below. The vampires lock it away to grieve over later and follow Illyria over the side of the building.

The three remaining heroes fight side by side, slaying hundreds of demons together, but there seemed to be no end to their numbers.

“Bloody hell! How many of these soddin’ things are there?” Spike was beginning to tire and was breathing hard under the stress.

Angel was not fairing much better. “Oh, I don’t know, maybe 4 million?”

It finally hit Spike that they really weren’t going to make it. There were just too many demons and the vampires were tiring quickly. Suddenly, Spike heard noise coming from behind enemy lines.

“Sounds like a battle on the other end. Demons are getting to impatient to kill us; they’re not playing nice with each other anymore.”

Angel looks out with a grim expression. “Probably the bigger demons coming out to play.”

Spike quirks an eyebrow. “Bigger than the troll?”

Angel looks at him. “Maybe bigger or maybe badder. Maybe just more trolls.”

Spike shrugs. “Let’s hope for big and stupid. Hey where’d the Blue Meanie go?”

Angel looks around and spots her holding her own against thirty demons. He was about to ask if they should go help her when they got slammed with the next wave of attack.

Angel and Spike were separated, now fighting their war alone. Angel faces a yellow demon that is covered in sharp tines.

“Well this might hurt a little… Hey, Porcupine!” Angel quickly dives out of the way as the porcupine demon fires its quills at him.

“Guess porcupine was an accurate name for you.” Angel block more quills with his sword, then charges at the pokey creature. He swings his sword but the demon knocks him aside, releasing quills into his face and chest. Angel gets back to his feet, pulling out as many quills as needed to continue fighting.

“You’re gonna pay for that!” The demon just snorts in response. Angel raises his sword again, but this time throws it at the creature, imbedding itself in its chest. The creature launches one last volley of tines before falling dead. Angel easily avoids the last volley. Looking to what is coming next, his eyes widen.

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

Illyria was easily laying waste to the scores of demons surrounding her; killing ten at a time without even blinking. The asphalt began to rumble beneath her leather clad feet and she spun around to find two trolls that could have been the parents of the one Angel killed. She cocked her head to the side and seemed almost amused that they would dare attack her. The first troll lunged at her, with all intents of squashing her beneath his massive foot. Illyria flipped up and onto that trolls shoulders, straddling its neck. Enraged, the other troll swings its club at Illyria, but she drops to the ground before it hits her. The first troll falls unconscious from the blow his fellow had given him. Illyria takes that chance to pickup a fallen sword and shoves it through the back of its mouth. Sparing not a moment, she throws the sword at the charging troll, imbedding it between its eyes. She doesn’t even watch it fall as she goes to find her next victim.

She stops and stares at the new force making its way through the demon horde.

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

Spike was being overwhelmed. He was using the last of his strength to fight off the easier demons when a huge slimy monster looms above him. It was just as tall as Spike but with three hundred pounds of muscle, and dressed like a reject from a Mel Gibson movie. If Spike was not so exhausted, he would have laughed at the loincloth, medieval helmet, and spear that the demon was sporting.

“Let’s get this over with, bitch.” His voice is raspy and he spits blood onto the asphalt. Spike lunges at the demon but is easily smacked to the ground. The demon raises its wooden spear to strike the killing blow.

Well, Spike old boy, this is it. Prob’ly no comin’ back this time. Spike gave it one last effort to get up, but didn’t have the strength. He rolled to the side as the blow came down, barely getting out of the way in time. The demon screamed in rage and struck a blow to Spikes head, making him see nothing but black.

Spike was only out a second, but when he came to the only thing he could do was brace himself to die. He waited for the death blow but it never came. He looked up to find the demon fighting something else. Suddenly the demon froze and fell over, revealing Spike’s rescuer. He thought he was dreaming at first. It couldn’t be her. She wasn’t supposed to be here; she was living a normal life without him. There she was though, standing over him with that fierce battle-fire in her eyes.

“Buffy”