It's amazing what can happen when you put your mind to it. Here is another installment of Do Your Best: Deep not in months but in weeks of the last.
Thanks to everyone who has kept up with this tale and pushed it over 11,000 views! And as always feedback is much appreciated.
Part 19
oh so while your growing old
under the gun gun gun
and i will leave them all
well i'm just one poor baby
cause well i will leave them all
i wish i could buy back
the woman you stole
Y Control by Yeah Yeah YeahsDay Seven: Morning
Prime
The Chicago team sat quietly in a closet. They had made the small room a rest stop/hideout while on the first level of the massive castle that served as Demetrious’s center of power in Prime. It had taken them hours to fight their way through the countess number and types of demons that awaited them once they had crossed the ring of fire that surrounded the structure and scaled its massive walls.
And that in itself had taken nearly a day.
Jay had learned a long time ago it was best to enter these types of situations with no expectations. To not even attempt to imagine what horrors would await around the corner, in the next room, on the next floor. Africa had taught her that a long time ago.
The door opened quickly and quietly, allowing Claude and Billy Joe to slip in.
“The rest of the way to the stairs appears clear,” Billy Joe whispered. “No more of the welcoming committee.”
“I agree,” Claude nodded, looking at Cleo, “although my magic is a little hampered in our present location.”
“Jay,” Cleo’s clear voice cut through the gloom, “what do you think?”
“How do you guys feel,” Jay asked, continuing to look at the floor, focusing on controlling the overwhelming darkness and power filling her soul. Fighting her strong desire teleport to the main chamber and claim her rightful thrown.
“Surprisingly okay,” Max replied. He looked at the group who nodded. “I mean, one would think that after a major throw down like that we’d be beat. But look at us, still ready to go.”
Jay looked at her four lifelong friends sitting on the floor. She unfocused her eyes and concentrated, seeing a small string of her energy flowing out of them. Well, flowing from her to them. She sensed that both Billy Joe and Claude should be near death with some of the rapidly healing injuries they had sustained during the initial battle. But she was subconsciously keeping them alive, even if her conscious desire was to leave them to their fate and face Demi now.
“If you feel okay, then lets go now,” Jay said, standing slowing. “The thrown room is on the third level.”
The group stood in awkward silence, no one moved.
“Jay,” Billy Joe began to speak.
“Don’t,” Jay shook her head. “Don’t go there. We never have in any other mission.”
“But this one’s different,” Max protested.
“And if we don’t now, we may never get the chance,” Cleo replied softly.
“I know you’re helping to keep us, well at least me, alive Jay.” Claude gave Jay a sad smile. Jay’s eyes widened for a moment, then she nodded. “Just this once we need to.”
“Either way, its our last mission,” Billy Joe added.
“Fine,” Jay’s voice cracked a little as she reached into a hidden pocket in her Kevlar and pulled out a folded piece of paper. The rest of the team did the same.
“Let’s try to keep this short,” Jay said, opening her paper, “Billy Joe.”
“Fine.” He ran a free hand through his short brown hair. He glanced at his paper and began to read. “When I was a kid, I had two goals in life. One was to become a cool monster fighter as part of the Clans, living the way my sister and brother had. Fighting evil, saving the world. The second was to have a family, find someone who loved me for who I was and could accept that part of me would always be on some mission.” He paused, wiping his eyes with his free hand. “And I got my dream with you guys. Thank you for all of your love, support, saving my ass, everything. I would have never met my wife if it wasn’t for you Max. I would have never started my bar if it wasn’t for you Claude. I wouldn’t have made it through school if it wasn’t for you Cleo. And I wouldn’t have survived the Lonesome Road without you Jay.”
“Max” Jay spoke softly.
“You guys are the best friends I’ve ever had. I wouldn’t have found myself, survived myself, and learned to accept who I am without you. I probably would have been trapped doing healings and forecasting forever and never known how much more I could do, be really, if I hadn’t been part of this team. Thank you all of you.”
“Short and sweet, just like you,” Cleo teased.
“Claude.”
“I thank fate for putting us together, that very fist time long ago in another life. It led us to this day and to who we are, and what we are to each other. I know that I’ve probably said this countless times before in many different forms, but I love each of you. And instead of fearing death, I embrace the fate that we’ll be together in the next. Older, wiser, and hopefully just as good looking.”
The group shared a laugh.
“As leader,” Cleo began, “I couldn’t have asked for a better group of people to lead. A team in all senses of the word. A family, just like Billy Joe said. But I never thought I could find such good friends who would support me, argue with me, and laugh at and with me for so many years. And who could understand all the hats that I’ve had to wear. Thank you for all that you’ve given me. I love you.”
All eyes settled on Jay. She had been reading her farewell letter, the one she wrote just before this mission started. She had changed it a few times over the years to keep it current, never thinking she would even need it. But that moment was here, and the words on the page were inadequate. Closing her eyes, she focused on the love and the light that the people around her had been over the last twenty or so years and spoke.
“Words can’t express what you guys mean to me. To follow me into hell to try to save my life, it means more to me than anything ever will. And to have the strength to know that if we don’t succeed that you will save the world by killing me, saving my life, my soul, again. We’ve literally been to hell and back so many times, it doesn’t seem real sometimes, the lives that we lead. But our friendship, our love for one another, makes it real. Thank you. And tell Kim I’ll be waiting for her. Always.”
The quintet stood in silence for a moment collecting themselves. With a knowledge born of years of working together, Jay moved for the door, opening it with confidence.
The boys had been right. The last two hundred yards of the ground floor were free of any sort of demon or trap. The group moved quickly and quietly through the silent room, waiting for an attack that never came.
Jay led the way up the long flight of stairs to the second level. She slowed and motioned for the rest of the team to hang back. The second floor was shrouded in darkness, only a few feet visible beyond the top of the stairs.
“I’m sorry,” an eerily familiar voice spoke from the darkness. “How rude of me to leave the lights of for my guests.”
The sudden brightness was nearly blinding and caught Jay and the team off guard. Claude threw up a magical barrier around them while their eyes adjusted.
“Usually your barrier, my dear Claude, would be enough. But magic rooted in light doesn’t have a lot of pull in this neck of the woods.”
Jay felt Max’s barrier fall with little problem as her eyes finally adjusted. For the first time, she felt a sense of sadness at the team’s next opponent. The girl’s slight build and youthful face were deceiving. And the bright smile that danced across her face but didn’t quite reach her pitch black eyes was a lie.
“It doesn’t matter,” Jay said coolly, looking at a version of Willow. “What you did in your reality, to your dimension, it doesn’t matter. You’ll still lose.”
“So you have heard of me?” Dark Willow asked.
“The only one of the many versions of Willow to not be swayed at the end? The Willow the world killer, the destroyer, wicked Red, of course we have,” Jay shot back. “You’re a legend in the dark circles.”
“A legend,” Dark Willow relished the word for a moment. “Really.”
“But not the true Willow, oh no.” The smile vanished from the girl’s face at Jay’s words. The demon fighter began to advance slowly on the dark witch. “Just a poor faded copy in desperate need of a makeover.”
“Bitch,” Dark Willow lashed out with a wave of dark power, sending Jay flying back over the team and down the stairs.
“But still stronger than you,” Dark Willow grinned, turning on the rest of the Chicago team. “So who wants a go first?” She looked at Cleo, “How about you hottie? Want to take a ride on the dark side?”
“Not my type,” Cleo shot back, “Too skinny and veiny for my taste.”
With a howl Dark Willow sent a wave of dark magic at Cleo and the rest of the team. Jumping aside and on to the second floor, the foursome was able to miss being hit.
“Won’t be that easy,” Max said, hurling a fireball at the witch.
“Whatever,” she replied, catching the fireball in her hand and blowing it out.
Billy Joe charged in taking a swing at her with his sword while her back was turned. Dark Willow spun around and caught the sword easily in her right hand. She yanked the weapon out of his hand.
“Have to do better than that,” she said, delivering a crushing upper cut that send him skidding across the tiled floor.
“And now for you three stooges,” Dark Willow said smoothly, looking at Cleo, Max, and Claude. “What do you need?”
“Cool chicks like you out of my life,” Jay said as she appeared behind Dark Willow. A sword appeared in the witch’s chest.
“Ouch,” Dark Willow wined. “Not nice.”
“Bored now,” Jay replied, cutting off the copy’s head with the sword in her other hand. She pulled her sword out and let the body fall to the floor.
“Well that was something,” Claude said, looking over at Jay.
“I’ll say,” Billy Joe agreed, rubbing his jaw. “She sure could hit.”
“She won’t be the first,” Jay said, reaching out with her senses. “This entire floor is full of versions of people from our lives. The worst and most powerful versions pulled from every dimension and reality that Demi could get his hands on.”
“It’s like a bad episode of Star Trek,” Billy Joe said.
“First season Next Generation bad,” Max added.
The group shared a small laugh.
“Oh how sweet, a last laugh before dying.”
The Chicago team turned to face another version of Willow, this time in vampire form. She had several familiar Sunnydale faces with her, including a vampire version of Tara.
“It just keeps getting better and better,” Billy Joe said, following Jay’s lead and launching himself at the nearest vampire available.
“How much longer do you think he can keep this up?” Claude asked, leaning heavily against a massive column. “We’ve been fighting these things for hours.”
“We’re almost there, about two thirds of the way through,” Jay replied. She channeled a little more healing power towards Claude.
“I must say I never realized how good you looked in leather,” Billy Joe said to Cleo, referring to one of the incarnations the team had fought earlier.
“And you never will,” Cleo replied, blushing just a little at the thought of what could have been a future for her.
“Max makes quit a convincing werewolf,” Jay said, taking some of the heat of off her friend. Jay had been a little disturbed at her reaction to the leather clad Cleo as well.
“Part of my family tree actually,” Max replied, rubbing his shoulder. “I have a few cousins who are.”
“Not one of the ones we just…”Claude trailed off.
“Oh, no. None of those we fought were part of my family in our reality.”
“Heads up guys,” Jay said, her body becoming tense. “The next bunch is around the corner.”
The team moved carefully around a bend in the room to face the next version of themselves or whoever else Demetrious sent at them. The group had been pressed a few moments so far, but had defeated all incarnations placed before them.
“Oh my God,” Billy Joe gasped at the group in front of him.
“There is no God here,” he replied. “Only death.”
“That’s right,” Jay said, “take a look. Take a look at yourselves as you were. When you died in some nothing mission in the jungles of a small, sweaty third world hell pit. On the cusp of greatness, isn’t that what you told Tara when you stopped to visit her in Sunnydale Jay? That you guys were on the way to greatness?”
“That was a long time ago,” Jay replied hotly. “I’m not that person.”
“But I am,” young Jay replied back. “And you found glory and we found death. Which brought us here to Prime and our new ‘shadow member’.”
Jay felt sick at the thought of Demetrious having a hold on her, any version of her for so many years. In a way, it explained how the hell god knew the best ways to push her buttons. He had the closest version to herself under his thumb.
“And what do you get in trade for us?” Cleo asked.
“Freedom.” young Jay replied. “Returned to the cycle.”
“As if Demi would honor any deal.” Cleo replied. “You’re smarter than that.”
“He will,” young Jay replied. “I know, as she knows it’s true.”
“It is,” Jay replied looking at the younger version of herself. “They hate him as much as we do, if not more. And he knows freedom is the only thing that would mean anything to us.”
“Why don’t you join us then if you hate him?” Max asked. “We can fight him together.”
“It doesn’t work that way sport,” young Billy Joe replied. “It’s either us or you. And I pick us.”
“And he wins,” Jay shook her head. “You think that at some point you’ll come back and defeat him, don’t you.” She gave her twin a hard stare. “I can almost see it, your future. Hundreds of years from now, you’ll challenge him as another and win. But ultimately you’ll lose and destroy everything, everywhere.”
“I didn’t know I’d acquire the power of sight in my old age,” young Jay scoffed.
“You don’t,” Jay replied. “I just know.”
“Enough chit chat,” young Billy Joe said, swinging his sword up. “Let’s fight.”
tbc..
"I was feared and worshiped across the mortal globe. At now I'm stuck at Sunnydale High. Mortal. Child. And I'm failing Math." Anya in Dopplegangland
for "OMG, hermitstull updated!" 
. So glad that you've updated this really wonderful story. Thanks.
)