"We should go." he said finally.

She shrugged. "Where?"

He smiled slightly. "I don't know. Where do you want to be when the world ends?"

She smiled. "You owe me a dance."

Angel smoothed her hair down. "So I do." he murmured.

So he took her hand, and he led her down the streets of Sunnydale to the Bronze.

***

Perhaps, Angel mused, he should have expected the scene that greeted him.

Vampires were rampaging through the Bronze. Screams filled the air. And on the stage, the Master stood, arms raised above his head. He was laughing. And fortunately for Angel, he didn't seem to notice Buffy or Angel.

"Stay here." he told Buffy, leaving her in an alcove near the door. "Stay still, don't attract attention. I'll be back." He kissed her hard, then dashed off, drawing his sword out from under his coat.

Buffy watched him go, then stooped to pick up the broken leg of a chair and slipped through the shadows, eyes intent on the Master.

***

The Master had stopped laughing.

Angel's lips parted in a snarl as he made his way through the club, dodging falling bodies, mindless vampires, and the ocassional thrown object. On the stage, a portal was forming. Tentacles whipped out of the portal, grabbing vampires, people, and whatever else they could get ahold of. They didn't touch the Master though... some came close, hovering over his face, his hands.

A hand came down on his shoulder, whirled him around, and Darla raked claws across his face. Then she threw him across the club. The sword flew into the air, impaling itself in the wooden stage. Her demon face livid and snarling, his Sire strode across the club quickly, punching him as he got up.

"Not so fast, Angelus. We have things to discuss after all." she snarled.

Angel got up quickly, and morphed into demon face. "Get out of my way. Or I'll kill you, Sire or no." he growled.

"No. You won't." she replied.

Augmented by feeding on several people, and with the strength and speed of the Master of his bloodline's First Sired, Darla descended on him like a Fury out of Hell, sweeping him off his feet, and keeping him off balance well enough to land several good blows.

However, Angel, child of the First Sired he now fought, had considerably more experience in an all-out fight. The two came together, and the chaos of the club parted around them as the two battled.

***

Buffy dodged a tentacle on her way through the wings, and came out to the side of the Master. Crouched over low, she moved across the stage. Rising up behind the Master, she lifted her stake...

And two tentacles wrapped around her wrists and lifted her up high, slamming her back into the balcony of the second floor. Arms spread to either side, Buffy gasped as one tightened /hard/ around the wrist of the hand that held the stake. Her hand opened, and the stake fell into the crowd below. Lifting her head, she stared down at the Master. He was looking at her. And clapping.

"Noble. Very noble." he said. "But in the end, not enough. I am the Master of my bloodline. I have never been defeated. And I hold more power now than you can ever dream of."

She struggled against the tentacles. Another large one wove its way up around her legs and torso, effectively holding her still. "Go to hell." she spat.

"Hell is coming here. I won't have to lift a finger." the Master said calmly. "Do enjoy the show. I've been preparing for centuries, after all, and now I have a captive audience... how pleasant." He turned back to face the portal, and lifted his arms again. The portal began to grow in size.

And more tentacles joined those around Buffy, weaving into a cocoon around her. One wrapped around her neck, and as her vision began to go dim, she caught sight of something shining in the portal.

***

It... she... had been trapped for what seemed like an endless time, seperate but aware of her enemies, screaming for release in the void between worlds.

The circuit was not quite complete. That didn't matter. She spread wings of energy, and emerged from the portal.

Chaos, as demons delighted in. She found a host. Well enough for now, but soon the presence would pass onto the next world, task completed.

***

*Do not be afraid.* a voice whispered to her.

*I'm going to die. Angel is going to die. So is the world. And I can't do anything!* she replied desperately as the cocoon tightened.

*Despair is your enemy. I can give you weapons with which to fight, to defeat him.*

*Why?*

*Because there are more things in this world than any of them can dream of. Because I am a Champion for Light, as others shall be when I have passed. Because it's right.*

*Done.* Buffy replied.

And then the light sank into her, and the tentacles loosened around her, scorched by the energy.

Buffy dropped through them, landing feet first on the pool table. She straightened, and without thinking, leapt from table to table, counter to counter, landing on the stage beside Angel's sword. Grabbing it, she tested the balance, wrist whirling quickly, sword spinning around her hand.

Then she advanced at a run across the stage, sword cutting a path through the tentacles to the Master, who was beginning to turn...

***

Angel went flying back through the glass counter, and sat up as Darla advanced on him, ragged school-skirt swirling around her, eyes filled with murder. "Give up!" she called. "Join us, Angelus!"

"Never." he snarled, and got to his feet, seizing the nearest piece of wood, which turned out to be a broken bamboo pole.

And then the light filled the Bronze. Darla and Angel turned as one, eyes wide. Angel's eyes widened as a slender form covered in slime dropped from the second floor, and made its way to the stage. Once it seized his sword, however, the light faded somewhat, revealing a grim but determined Buffy.

"What? No!" Darla took a step back. Angel turned to face her. She looked at the stage, then at him... and fled.

Turning, Angel ran towards the stage.

***

The Master extended his hand. A black broadsword came sailing out of the void to his hand. He met the downswing of Buffy's sword with it, and threw the attack off. Buffy came at him again, sword flashing.

"Give it up!" he said, annoyed. "Borrowed power or not, you cannot hope to win."

"We'll see about that, fang-face!" Buffy snarled, and blocked his attack. Moving with a speed and strength she never knew she had, she blocked his attacks, and opened up wounds on the Master, cutting the leather suit he wore. Unfortunately, the wounds bled black, and soon sealed up.

And more tentacles came out of the portal, forcing Buffy back across the stage. She cut several of them, but her eyes widened when the ends grew back... with three more where there had only been one! The ones she'd slashed at before were stirring as well.

"BUFFY!"

Angel, below her. Without thinking or looking, she extended her hand.

A bamboo pole joined the sword in her hand. She advanced back across the stage, sword slashing a path through the tentacles, bamboo helping to clear her path. The Master tried to cleave her in half with a downwards thrust. She blocked with sword and bamboo. The Master's sword cut the bamboo sharply, leaving a point. The sword was blocked by her own. The strength behind the thrust reverberated down her arm, and a sharp pain bloomed in her forearm. But with both his hands occupied, she used the bamboo, thrusting it sharply through his heart.

He froze. The sword slipped from his fingers, falling to the ground. Buffy switched the sword in her hand to the other. One arm hung useless at her side as she cleaved off his head, and backed off.

The tentacles snaked back all around her, then were withdrawn into the portal.

And as suddenly as the strength had found her, it left her, and she collapsed in a dead faint on the stage.