Part Twenty-Nine The graduating senior class of 1999 quickly took their seats. They waited as Principal Snyder took his place at the podium and began speaking. "Congratulations to the class of 1999. You've all proved more or less adequate. This is a time of celebration, so, sit still and be quiet." He took a quick inventory of the students and their actions. He singled out one student in particular. "Spit out that gum." Then continued. "Please welcome our distinguished guest speaker, Richard Wilkins the third." Another student caught his eye. "I saw that gesture. You see me after graduation." The students followed their principal's lead and began to clap as the Mayor stood to move toward the podium. Only Buffy noticed the dark-haired male up on the roof of one of the school buildings...sparks flying around him as he threw something into the fire pot in front of him... Hoping that they hadn't been missed, Oz and Willow rushed to their seats. Willow sat down next to Buffy. "Am I late?" Mayor Wilkins shook the principal's hand before standing at the podium and addressing the students with a speech he had written down on the cue cards he removed from his jacket. "Well. What a day this is! Special day. Today is our centennial the one hundredth anniversary of the founding of Sunnydale, and I know what that means to all you kids...not a darn thing," he chuckled. "Because today something much more important happens, today you all graduate from high school. Today all the pain, all the work, all the excitement is finally over. And what's a hundred years of history compared to that? You know what kids...? " "Oh my God. He's going to do the entire speech..." Buffy whispered to Willow in disbelief. "Man, just ascend already." "Evil!" The Mayor continued. "...for all of you it may be that there is a place in Sunnydale's history, whether you like it or not. It's been a long road getting here. For you, for Sunnydale. There has been achievement, joy, good times, and there has been grief. There's been loss. Some people who should be here today aren't. But we are...journey's end. And what is a journey? Is it just distance traveled? Time spent? No. It's what happens on the way, it the things that happen to you. At the end of the journey you're not the same. Today is about change. Graduation doesn't just mean your circumstances change, it means you do. You ascend to a higher level. Nothing will ever be the same. Nothing." The Mayor looked up at the darkening sky. The students and other guests follow suit and look up. Buffy turned to Richard Wilkins, who fell forward onto the podium as pain tore through his body. He gulped as he pulled out his cards again and resumed his speech. "And so as we look back on..." he fell again as pain wracked his body. And still, he continued with his speech. "...on the events that brought us to this day..." "Come on..." Buffy whispered as he fell yet again. "We..." Another tremor. "... we must all..." The group of people attending the graduation looked on anxiously as the Mayor screamed. "It has begun. My destiny..." he smiled as he flicked through his cue cards. "It's a little sooner then I expected. I had this whole section on civic pride...but I guess we'll just skip to the big finish!" Buffy and the other students all rose from their seats calmly as the Mayor began to transform, his face and body stretching and pulling until the human form morphed into that of a snake-like dragon, just its head bigger that a large van... Buffy kept her eyes on the demonic form before her. The Sunnydale High senior stood their ground, even though their parents were screaming, rushing from their seats. Buffy's own mother had received the fright of her life, but stood her ground, albeit shakily. From the rooftop, Angelus continued chanting, even though his attention was on the group of students who were facing the demon, but more to the point, his attention was on the teenage girl who was quite obviously in charge. He vamped out in the midst of the spell as he saw a large number of vampires approach the students from the back. He forced himself to calm down. He knew that Buffy had everything under control, everything was going to plan. "Now!" Angelus grinned when he heard his lover shout that single word. Delight played on his vampiric features as he saw the Mayor, now demon, rear back as the students removed their graduation apparel, only to reveal weapons too numerous to count strapped to their bodies. For once, Sunnydale was fighting back... "Flame units!" Buffy called out. A couple of the students grab the units and face the flames toward the Mayor. Come on...we just need to distract him a little longer...Buffy thought to herself as she looked up to see how Angelus was doing. He appeared to be doing pretty well, if the blue flame in front of him was any indication...she looked around to see what she could do next. She nodded to Xander. Xander nodded in acknowledgement and issued an order to the student body. "First wave!" A large group of students readied the cross bows that they were carrying and got ready to fire at the Mayor. "Fire!" The students let fly. Apparently, most of them had been paying attention in P.E...The Mayor screamed as the bolts hit him in what could only be referred to as his chest. In retaliation, the Mayor looked for someone to consume. He chose his target in seconds. Joyce Summers screamed as she saw the extremely large demon-snake rush forward in her direction. Buffy stared in shock, as she watched her mother swallowed whole... On the rooftop, Angelus nearly stopped chanting as laughter threatened to overtake his body. He bent over, just barely continuing the chant as laughter bubbled up his throat at the scene before him. Bye, bye, Mom...he thought, quickly vowing to indulge in a fit of manly giggles after the war of the Ascension was over... "This this is simply unacceptable!" Snyder stood up to the demon barely ten feet in front of him. Oz watched in dismay as a couple of the students broke down and decided to run for it. The group of vampires that blocked the senior student body killed them easily. The werewolf turned back to Xander, who was keeping on top of his duties. "Xander?" "Arm bow men..." Xander said as he took inventory of the situation. The line of students to the rear of the group picked up bows and arrows, lighting the arrows, ready to fire at the vampires. "Fire!" Xander turned back to see how the front line was doing as the rear began disintegrating vampires with their flaming arrows. "Fall back!" Buffy issued the order as she watched the students around her start to go flying in every direction. "Fire!" Xander ordered the archers. The vampires, inundated with flaming arrows, went to retreat, only to be faced with a group of armed students, led by Cordelia and Wesley. The group hold their own with the surprised vampires... Buffy smiled as she took stock of the happenings around her. "This is it..." Buffy murmured to herself. She turned to Willow and pulled the girl close enough so that no one else could overhear. "Go help Angel, Will." The redhead nodded and discreetly made her way from the group and up to the roof... Buffy swore as she saw the Mayor slam Larry over her head and into the stage. Similar things were happening to a number of the students. But she nearly laughed out loud as she watched Snyder confront the Mayor "This is not orderly. This is not discipline!" The demon turned to the complainant. "You're on my campus buddy! And when I say I want quiet, I want..." Buffy could have sworn that she heard the Mayor utter a sarcastic, "Oh, Please!" prior to his consumption of the high school principal. He turned on the group then, ready to let his bomb drop. He spoke harshly, his demonic voice different from that of his human one. "You know, I'm kinda nervous now that I get to see your reaction..." he chuckled. "What?" Buffy called. "You don't think that you've got us beaten just yet, do you?" "Oh, I don't know, I never underestimate a Slayer. But you...well, let's just say that you have bad taste in men..." he continued to chuckle. In her peripheral vision, she could see Xander tense... On the roof, Angelus had just finished the chant as he heard the demon's words. He grinned. Everything was working out just fine. He forced himself to remain calm as he heard Willow climb up the ladder and up to where he was... "Fall Back! Get back!" Buffy ordered the students. They gladly complied as the Mayor begged for her attention once again. "And where is your precious Angel, anyway? You now, you really should keep an eye on that young man, especially after what he did to my Faith..." Part Thirty Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Xander tense. The others were too busy to fighting to take any notice of the demon's ramblings, but not Xander. Anything to do with Angelus, Xander thought was his business. "What are you talking about?" Buffy asked in a meek, yet fearful voice. The demon chuckled. "Hmm, yes, I once told Angelus that I was glad that he wasn't one of those slacker types, and now my words have come back to haunt me." "Angelus?" Buffy murmured. "Well, gosh, Buffy, didn't you know? It's Angelus who's killed my Faith, it's Angelus who's the one that's been helping you...or has he? I mean, can you ever really trust a vampire...?" "No..." Buffy shook her head in apparent denial... On the rooftop, Willow and Angelus were putting the finishing touches on the spell. The words of the Mayor were slowly seeping into her brain. She turned her gaze to Angelus is horror, who grinned, showing his gleaming fangs. "Oh, don't worry little girl, I want to get the Mayor first, so just do your thing..." Willow gulped, then began gesturing with her hands and chanting. Angelus watched in glee as the fire burnt out, leaving a pile of ash. Part of that ash was burnt out blood and hair that had belonged to Faith. Putting it into the fire wasn't too fun for him, the stench that the hair had emitted was too much for his senses. Willow continued raising her hands as the ash left its resting place in the bowl and rose into the air, moving in the direction of the demonic Mayor, whose attention was still fully focused on the seemingly shattered Slayer... "Xander take 'em down..." Buffy murmured in her apparent grief. He pulled a stake out of his pocket. "What about Angelus? Willow's up there with him!" Buffy shook her head. "I don't think he'll try anything until we have the Mayor defeated. That has to be the reason he's kept quiet this long." Xander nodded reluctantly, then issued an order to the students. "Everyone, hand to hand!" He watched as the students dropped the larger weapons, in favor of stakes, crosses and holy water. "Everyone! Lets go! Move! Move!" "Get the kids!" One vampire yelled to the others. The vampires found themselves inundated with fighting students as they turned to follow orders. Not only were they fighting back, but they were winning! Buffy looked back to check that everyone had left. She grinned when the area was empty. Only she and the Mayor remained. She pulled out a rolled up sheet from her pocket. "Hey!" He turned to her, watching closely as she unrolled the sheet, holding it to her chest. It was a blown-up version of one of Angelus' photographs. "Remember her?" He looked carefully at the photo. It was Faith. She was chained up on the mansion, her body marred by Angelus' artistic side. Buffy grinned as the demon before her started to snarl. On the roof, Angelus strained to hear what Buffy was saying. He couldn't make the photo out, for which he was thankful, because that meant that Willow couldn't either. His sensitive hearing couldn't pick much up either, Buffy was speaking normally. He watched as the Mayor snarled. The ash was floating through the air, courtesy of Willow, who was breaking out in a sweat, the effort taking its toll on the young witch. "Yes!" Angelus whispered as Buffy's taunting got to the Mayor, who opened his mouth to go after the Slayer, Willow directed the ash into its mouth. Almost immediately, the demon began to groan in pain. On the ground, Buffy smiled as the Mayor fell to the ground, his body shifting once again, back into human form. When the spell had done it's work, all that remained was a weak and dying human laying on the ground. Mayor Wilkins was over one hundred years old, and for the first time, he began to look it... "Well, looks like it's the end for you, Mr. Mayor," Buffy chuckled. "You...knew.." he gasped out. Buffy grinned impishly. "Uh huh!" The Slayer walked off to find her friends and carry off the performance of her young life as the Mayor died... On the roof, Willow took one look at the dying Mayor, then turned to the smirking Angelus, and bolted. Angelus just chuckled, then went to Buffy's house to wait for her... Willow ran to where Giles and the others had gathered. Xander was gathering everyone together. "We have to get indoors, preferably those that are vampire proof!" Xander ordered. Buffy stood by, just looking stunned and incredibly sad. Willow saw her friend and gave her a hug. "Come on, Buffy, we have to go. Look on the bright side, we didn't have to blow up the school..." The Slayer stared at her friend. "That was the bright side?" *~*~* Buffy, Willow, Oz, Cordelia, Xander, Giles and Wesley were all gathered at Giles' apartment. Willow and Giles quickly did the 'Keep Out' spell so they were safe for now... Buffy just sat on the sofa rocking back and forth. Giles stared at his Slayer in despair. This had hit her harder than anything else ever had. They all jumped when the telephone rang... Giles picked it up hesitantly. "Hello?" The gang all watched him. "Hey, Ripper! How are ya, buddy?" Angelus' voice came over the line. "I'm fine, Angel, and you?" he enquired frostily. "Aww, come on, don't be like that! I don't want to have to rip out your heart! I mean, I wanted to play with little Willow earlier on, but it was a matter of priority..." the vampire chuckled. Giles shivered at the tone of voice. He looked to Buffy who had grown even paler when she realized that her former lover was on the phone. "What do you want?" Giles asked. Angelus chuckled. "What do I always want...? Tell Buffy that I'll be coming for her..." he murmured dangerously. Giles slammed down the phone. He turned to Buffy. "Pack your things, you're leaving Sunnydale." "What?" Buffy was stunned. "Angelus has the Gem Of Amara, he's immune to everything. We don't even know if the spell we used on this place will keep him out, not while he's wearing that ring. Buffy, you need to leave. You need to go somewhere that he won't find you. Maybe even Northwestern University, you said that you were accepted..." Buffy let out a single sob. "He knows about the entries, all of them..." Giles nodded sadly. He moved to a wall safe. He opened it and withdrew a small box, handing it over to her. "Take this, there's enough money in there to get you through at least a month. Take it, and get the Hell out of town, Buffy. You're the one he wants." Buffy accepted it. "There's some money back at home. Next time you go there, take it as a payback. I won't be back for it, and with Mom dead, she's not going to need it either." "We're sorry about your mother, Buffy," Wesley murmured. "But it's probably best that you leave immediately..." Buffy nodded and quickly said goodbye to her friends. *~*~* Buffy drove down the main road out of Sunnydale, tears in her eyes after saying goodbye to her friends. She saw something on the road and breaked hard. She opened the passenger side door. A dark-haired figure got in. Buffy grinned as she leant over to kiss him. "How did it go?" he asked. "It was too easy..." she chuckled, devouring his tongue as their mouths met a second time... Angelus put his seatbelt on as Buffy put the stick into drive. "So, where are we off to, Babe?" Buffy thought for a second. "How about Las Vegas...?" He shrugged. "Sounds good...let's go!" Buffy put her foot down on the accelerator. The End 