Illegitimi non carborundum

Title- The Fallen
Author- trolllogicfics(AKA Paige or Insane Troll Logic)
Rating- pg-13 (violence)
(other story info on chapter one)

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14


Epilogue— Death Scenes

The light was blinding, but they remained together, a bond formed that could not be broken.

Seven people gone before their time.

Seven deaths that shouldn’t have happened.

Seven ways the future could have been different.

The portal’s energy tore at them one by one and Cordelia lost her grip on Doyle’s hand, Jesse’s grip on Ms. Calendar’s arm slipped out. Alonna screamed for her brother. Anya screamed for Xander. Spike faded slowly into the darkness.

And alone they spiraled back to their rightful places in time.

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…light exploded from Spike’s chest and Buffy’s hand burst into flames as she linked it with his. “I love you,” she said, tears glistening in her eyes.

The hellmouth was collapsing all around them and he spoke in a sort of daze, repeating the lines from memory. “No you don’t.” Her hand slipped free of his. “but thanks for saying it.” He winced, remembering just how it felt to die. “Go!”

Buffy ran up the stairs and he turned his gaze to the crumbling building.

Softly, he muttered, “There goes my second chance…”

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…Anya’s sword impaled the bringer in front of her and a second later she felt something slice into her back. Andrew’s face barely has time to register the shock before she…

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…white light surrounded Cordelia and she suddenly knew where she was. Looking down, she saw her feet were a good fifteen feet off of the highway and she was rising slowly but surely.

“STOP!” she yelled violently at Skip, “you can’t do this! I’m Cordelia Chase!”

She kept rising. “Angel! Doyle! Help!”

The light grew more intense by the moment until…

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…the vampire had Alonna firmly grasped in his hands. He took advantage of her momentary pause of confusion and his teeth tore into her neck.

The last thing Alonna felt was cold blood being forced into her mouth and…

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…Angel spiraled off the catwalk falling into an ungainly heap on the floor below. The beacon’s light burned just to look at. It took him a moment to remember where he was, to remember what was happening, but it came back to him within seconds.

He was going to have to do this again. He had to play the hero.

Turning, he kissed Cordelia remembering, only a second later, that he’d given her the visions, but by then it was to late to stop.

There were tears in her eyes as he pulled away. “To bad we’ll never know.” He said shakily as he let himself slip into his demon face. “If this is a face you could learn to love.”

And he jumped into…

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…Jenny Calendar stumbled in mid-step as she snapped back into her place in time. Angelus was behind her. She looked at the hall in front of her, trying to remember which way she had turned last time.

She turned and then there was Angelus. She looked up at him in blind terror and he placed his hands on her face and casually twisted

SNA…

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“… but I have family here.”

Jesse blinked, taking in the change of scenery. All around him, the Bronze was in full swing… and in front of him was a girl, blond hair, a catholic schoolgirl outfit, smiling at him.

He froze, suddenly remembering.

Darla. She’d led him straight to the Master.

Vampire.

He ran a nervous hand through his hair and scrambled to keep his cool. “Well I hope you have a very nice time,” he sputtered, “with your family. I’m going to go get a drink. Do you want a drink?”

She smiled seductively, staring at his neck. “Absolutely.” Abruptly, her gaze jerked up to his face. “How about you get that drink and I’ll meet you by the door.”

Jesse tugged nervously at his collar. “Sure, alright. I’ll go get that drink.”

He walked away as quickly as possible, stunned that he could actually support his own weight, stunned that he wasn’t dead.

When Darla was out of sight, he stopped and leaned back against a wall to think. Was it all happening again? He was back in Sunnydale, that much was clear and Sunnydale still existed, his fevered mind tried to wrap his mind around the concept.

He was going to die tonight.

“Are you okay man.” A friendly voice asked, its owner placing a hand on his back.

Jesse flinched, and turned to look at him. “Sure, I’m fine,” he stammered to the disbelieving stranger. “I just had a rough day.”

The man shrugged and walked off.

Jesse shoved his hands in his pockets, trying to look casual as he made his way across the Bronze.

There was something in his left pocket, something that hadn’t been there before.

Stopping in his tracks, he took it out slowly.

He unfolded it and smoothed it out against his jeans.

It was the paper that Giles had dropped only seconds before it had all ended. On it, there were seven names and dates written in Giles’s elegant hand.

He read the list with shaking hands.

Jesse McNally. Jenny Calendar. Allen Francis Doyle. Alonna Gunn. Tara McClay. Cordelia Chase. Anya Jenkins.

Names and dates.

He remembered something that Willow had told him once: all good stories end at the beginning.

A slow grin spread across his features. “‘And the fallen shall rise.’”

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And that's the end of this story. =). Thank you to anyone who stuck it out. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. Comments are always appreciated.