dragonyphoenix

Title: Rescue
Fandom: BtVS
Prompt: 442 - Sidekick
Rating: PG
Summary: Part 11 of Shanshu
Word Count: 1882
Note: After taking a gander at Sparrow2000's process, I decided to write my dialogue first and add details and descriptions later. As I was writing the dialogue, I realized I needed to start this scene earlier and so the dialogue I first wrote doesn't start until Xander calls.

Angel had been taken and, even though it'd been less than a day, it seemed to Buffy as if the sun had vanished with him. The shadows had deepened as if the light wasn't strong enough to hold the dark back. The trees that had been full of buds – just yesterday, hadn't it been – now raised stark branches to a dreary sky, branches that held tightly to their few desiccated leaves as if those tiny bits of unlife could survive the ravages of winter.

Angel had been taken and so it seemed appropriate that they'd left the gloomy evening for Rome's underground tombs. Catacombs were meant to be dark. That thought didn't make the darkness any more comfortable as a dozen small flashlights – attached to baseball caps to keep hands free – did little to push back the darkness. Buffy wasn't leading the way; Sophia was. Just because Sophia was local, everyone believed her when she said she knew the catacombs. It wasn't like Buffy knew the electrical tunnels back in Sunnydale. Okay, bad example. Since she couldn't head the line, Buffy took the rear. These tunnels were too small for two Slayers to fight side-by-side. If they were attacked from the back, Buffy wanted to be the one to handle it.

“Should it be this cold down here?” Buffy wanted to smack the Slayer who's spoken but the girl was four up from her.

“Shh. We don't want to give our presence away.” And now Wes was speaking although he'd at least whispered. Buffy hadn't wanted to bring the Watcher along, but he'd insisted. Something about him needing to question a demon and that she'd kill them all if he wasn't there to stop her. She could so restrain herself, if she needed to.

“I was just wondering,” the girl continued but at least whispering now, “if the cold was coming from the demons, a sign that we were close.”

Buffy smacked the Slayer ahead of her. “Pass it down and tell her to shut up.” The Slayer, the one who'd spoken, glared back and rubbed her head but didn't say anything else.

The walls seemed to press in on them, narrowing as they moved through. It felt as if they'd been entombed. Buffy could picture rocks crashing down on either end, trapping them. She could feel herself panting, her breath shallow and fast, but she couldn’t seem to stop it. She reached out her left hand, the one that wasn't holding the Scythe, and brushed it against the heavy stone, feeling how far away the walls were. Her breathing calmed but Buffy couldn't shake a sense of dread.

When the stone gave way to something else, she felt it before she saw it. The texture was softer than stone but the new surface wasn't as flat as stone. There was some sort of pattern. When she turned her head, and thereby her flashlight, toward the wall, she was expecting the skull before she saw it. Rows of skulls ran horizontal to the floor with leg bones rising between each row. Buffy turned away, focusing on the end of the corridor. This had to be a sign they were close. Watching from the rear, she saw the other Slayers jump as they each in turn noticed the bones. Wes didn't jump though. He eyed them calmly and kept moving. Maybe he'd been expecting the bones. He could have said.

Buffy heard the end of the catacombs before she saw it. There was chanting up ahead. And growls. Chanting and growls. Had to be the place. It was big, football stadium big, with Angel at the other end, chained to the wall. The ceiling arched overhead three stories high. Demons lined the edge of each level but there weren't that many on the floor, or at least not yet.

Buffy gripped the Scythe in both hands. “Lois, Janet, you two protect Wes. The rest of you, clear the road. We're getting Angel back.”

The demons weren't tall but they were wide, as wide as two Slayers across. With their gray hide and tusks, they looked like rhinos, ones that ran on two legs and had clawed hands and spiked tails. The demons snorted as they charged, building up steam, moving faster and faster. The lead demon reached out to claw Sophia. She stepped to one side and swung her blade across his torso. Guts spilling, he continued to charge, heading straight for … “Lois, get Wes out of there.”

Too late. The demon had dropped but Wes had gone flying across the floor. “On it,” Janet called out. The two Slayers moved off the protect Wes, leaving the group. Shit, Buffy cursed. Shit, shit, shit. Shouldn’t have brought Wes.

Three more demons were moving in. “Cut them,” Sophia shouted out. “You can't stop them. They have too much momentum. Slice and dice and get out of the way.” She was right. Three Slayers sliced. They all kept out of the way. Three demons went down.

Janet and Lisa ran up with Wes. He looked a bit wobbly. “You alright?”

“I assure you, I will survive the evening's entertainment.”

Okay, that didn’t make much sense but, then again, it was Wes. “Good.” They might just make it through this.

“Uh, ma'am?”

She turned on the Slayer. “I told you, call me Buffy.” The girl wasn't looking at her. Buffy followed her line of sight, turning and looking up to see a demon jumping from the third level right down to the floor. It was completely and utterly unharmed. Buffy scanned the three levels. Hundreds of demons. Maybe more. Oh, great. “Slice and dice, people. Let's go.”

A demon charged and Buffy sliced. She widened her focus, watching everything, her Slayers, the demons they were fighting. When Lois' slash sent a demon charging her way, she sidestepped, slashing it herself as the demon charged past. They moved, foot by agonizing foot, toward the far end of the crypt. Angel was still alive. She could see him, in the momentary breaks between fighting. She wasn't sure why he was still alive. Wes had said something about a ritual. Maybe they needed Angel alive for that.

Where was Wes? As another demon charged, she sliced, turning 360-degrees, spotting Wes behind and to the left. Lois and Janet were close to him but not too close, making sure he didn't get killed but allowing him to fight as well. Knowing she couldn't have handled it better herself, Buffy turned back to the fight.

When they were thirty feet from the far wall, Buffy dashed through the charging demons, running onto the one closest to Angel, leaping up off of him and flying at the wall, cutting Angel's chains before slamming into the bones on the wall. As she fell to the floor next to Angel, the chains landed with a resounding crash. “Don't suppose you've got a weapon for me,” Angel asked.

“Sword.”

Angel held out his two arms, rattling a foot of chain down from each. “Need these gone.” He stretched his two arms out, one next to the other, against the wall. As Buffy started to line up the Scythe, he added, “Watch out for my arms. Kind of need them.”

The Scythe swung, cutting the chains off inches below his arm. “No sweat,” she replied.

A growling came from behind them. Buffy swung the Scythe as she turned, chopping off claws. She turned her back to Angel. “Sword. Now.”

He grabbed it from the sheathe and stuck it into the demon. “Nice. Good weight.”

“Only the best, but we've found that slicing works better than stabing against these guys.”

“Slicing. Right. Got it.”

Buffy's cell rang. “Hello?”

“Buffy?”

“Xander? What's up?”

“Is it a bad time? I'm calling at a bad time, aren't I?”

Three demons broke off from the group attacking the Slayers, growling as they turned toward her and Angel. “I'm a bit busy. Can it wait?”

“It's sort of apocalyptic.”

“Oh, in that case, let me put you on speakerphone.”

“You are busy,” Xander said.

“Wait just one sec.” The wall behind her was full of bones, skulls interlaced with bony hands. Buffy settled her cellphone into one of the hands. “Hang onto this for me, will ya?” She turned to scan the room. “Okay, Xander, all set but you should probably speak up.”

Two of the demons started charging. Angel leaped forward, spinning as his sword slashed the first demon's hide.

Xander's voice sounded tinny coming from the cell. “It's about Spike.”

Before Angel could complete his turn, the second demon's tail lashed out. “Angel,” Buffy called out as the barbs slashed into his leg.

Angel winced as he hit the floor but his sword slammed down onto the demon's tail. “Spike's back?” he called out as the demon's blood spilled onto the floor.

As the demon turned, its claws raking out toward Angel, Buffy ran over. “How is Spike apocalyticy?”

“I saw him … and his reflection.”

Angel's leg gave out sending him crashing to the ground. “Angel,” Buffy cried, “you said you were okay!”

“Spike shanshued?” he asked.

“Looks like.”

“What'd he say?” Buffy asked.

The third demon charged at Angel. Buffy stepped forward, slashed, and sent him careening off toward the wall. “He kind of ran off,” Xander said before the demon smashed into the wall sending bones and Buffy's cell crashing to the floor.

“Hey,” she shouted as she rounded on the demon. “I had pictures on that phone.” It wasn't moving but she chopped the Scythe down through its neck just the same.

Buffy scanned the crypt. Slayers outnumbered the remaining demons two-to-one. Wes was shouting something at them but didn't seem to be harmed so Buffy helped Angel up, shouldering his weight to get him to his feet. “So,” he said, “Spike shanshued.”

“What do you care? You gave it up so you'd be a more helpful sidekick. Good job with that, by the way, getting your leg nearly slashed off and all.”

“Me? I'm not the one who's the sidekick.”

“I know you don't mean me,” Buffy growled.

“I took out two demons to your one.”

“Two? Hey, I killed that second one. You just pissed it off. And anyway, I had to answer the phone.”

Angel shifted to stand on both legs and winced. “And when I ran the evil law firm, my secretary answered the phone.”

“Harmony? You're comparing me to Harmony?”

“Well, uh.”

A demon charged past the Slayers, making for a side door. Buffy charged after.

“No,” Wes' voice called out. “Buffy don't …”

The Scythe tore straight through its head.

“ … kill it.”