The Last Cut is the Deepest

Chapter Ten

It took over an hour to make the twenty-minute trip across town, thanks to the traffic caused by fleeing Los Angelenos. The neighborhood where what was left of Angel's building stood was obscured completely by a storm of such furious intensity, the electrical imbalance created an impenetrable wall of pressure enclosing a full three blocks around the structure.

Buffy and her friends met Wesley, Fred, and a team of Wolfram & Hart specialists at the northernmost part of the barrier, where Wesley had told them during their brief and frenzied telephone conversation that the energy was at its weakest. Fred and some of her staff were busily firing weird looking guns into the chaos when they arrived.

"We're trying to re-balance the polarity of the area so we can get closer to the building!" Wesley shouted above the noise. "What little we were able to understand from Angel's call indicates the building has shifted into another dimension through a portal much like the one we faced at the school."

"Angel can get a signal from another dimension?" Xander jibed, "Man! I gotta change my service!"

Buffy shot him a look, but blew off the tacky joke as she and Wes quickly moved to Fred's side.

"Are they okay?" she yelled at the ex-Watcher.

Wesley nodded. "From what we could gather, they were fine. But..."

The Slayer stared at him. "But what?"

"There was... Angel mentioned something about being caged... and fire."

Buffy's heart seized in her chest. "I have to help them. Get me in there!"

"Gwen's on her way," Fred informed her. "Now that we've got the area balanced, with her power, she should be able to short out the storm enough so we can get to the building."

"Who's Gwen?" Xander asked.

"Uh... she's a... colleague of Angel's," Wesley explained hesitantly, "She has an electrical imbalance in her body that essentially makes her a living generator and lightning rod."

"Ah. So, like Storm, then," he said in understanding. Everyone looked at him blankly. "X-Men? Superhero who shoots lightning? Oh, forget it."

A literally sizzling "colleague", then. Buffy frowned, not liking the sound of that -- or Wesley's attitude about it - at all. But... irrational jealousy later. Angel-saving now.

Which she had to repeat a dozen times to herself when the "colleague" in question finally arrived. The word `siren' had never better fit anyone Buffy had met in her life. Although she was a much bigger fan of the labels "slut" and "skank" at the moment.

The curvy redhead gave her a long, careful once over. "I didn't think you'd be so skinny," she commented lightly, "Angel always struck me as a meat kinda guy."

"I've never heard him complain," the Slayer shot back. "Jealous?"

Gwen gave her an appreciative smile. "Damn right, I am. Okay, let's get this show on the road."

The newcomer stepped up to the barrier, while Wesley and Fred quickly herded the others back. Within a few moments, the lighting streaking everywhere focused into a single burning arc that poured straight into Gwen's outstretched hands. She closed her eyes and concentrated, sending the electricity shooting away from her once more until, with a deafening crash, the energy barrier disintegrated.

She turned and gave the assembled troops a grin. "Open, says me."

It was decided that as few people as possible should enter the eye of the storm, as they weren't entirely sure what they would find on the other side. Gwen, Faith, Buffy, Xander, Wesley, Giles and Willow made their way painstakingly toward the center of the block, fighting the hurricane force gale every step of the way.

They finally broke through the smoke and dust, but instead of finding the bottom floors of the now-evacuated apartment building, they found a blank hole between those on either side.

"Aw, man!" Faith cried. "There's nothing there!"

Buffy took a deep breath. "They're there. I know they are."

"But we can't get to them," Willow pointed out. "We don't know if that's really a portal, or just... a hole."

Her best friend's face was marked with grim determination. "I don't care. I'm going in."

"Buffy, don't be foolish!" Giles snapped, "There may be nothing on the other side!"

She shot her mentor the same look. "Which part of 'I don't care' didn't you get?"

"Okay," Willow capitulated, seeing there was no way to talk the Slayer out of this. "I'll enchant the ropes we brought, and tie one around you. It should extend indefinitely, and all you have to do is yank on it when you want to come back, and it'll pull you out."

"But what about the magickal flux?" Wesley reminded them. "Spells are unpredictable at best right now. We might not be able to retrieve her."

Buffy looked at each of them solemnly. "Tie me or don't. I'm going in there."

"Ill go with you," Faith offered. "Two Slayers are always better than one."

"Fine. Let's do it," her comrade agreed.

Willow quickly performed her incantation, and each Slayer was bound tightly with one of the spelled ropes. With a nod, the pair pushed their way through the storm toward the void.

When they reached it, both dove in without hesitation. Buffy vanished.

But Faith and both ropes merely crashed to the sidewalk.

"Oh. That's not good," Willow observed.

~

"Don't know why I'm surprised," Spike complained, fidgeting a little to keep his legs from falling asleep in the restricted space of his cage. He cursed his new circulation and peered out through the bars at the lake of fire a few hundred feet below. "You are bloody cursed, after all. Now it's contagious."

Almost a football field across the cavern on the opposite platform of the enormous scale, Angel continued testing the integrity of the structure. "I can hear you, you know. Maybe you should try helping instead of sitting there, whining like a brat."

"Kiss my ass, ponce. It's your fault we're in this mess to begin with. If you got some damn anger management therapy, we wouldn't be sitting here waiting to plummet into a nice, toasty bath of FLAMES!"

Angel stopped tugging on the bars and glared across at his fellow prisoner. "Blame it on me all you like. But if you'd just stayed dead..."

"Hey! I told you a dozen soddin' times I didn't *want* to come back! It's not like I called Triple A and booked a flight!"

The vampire shook his head. "I don't have time for this crap." He jumped and caught the top bars of the cage where the suspending chains came together and tried to squeeze a hand through the narrow space to reach the hasp above. No luck. "Damn it."

On some level, he couldn't help but appreciate the poetic irony of their predicament. When the apartment building tipped them right into another dimension like pieces in some cosmic Yahtzee game, there had been an explosion of glass and melting steel he was certain heralded his final death. But when he regained consciousness a few minutes later, and saw that he and his grand-spawn were balanced on a set of enormous scales over a pit of fire, he had almost laughed. If either one of them managed to escape their entrapment - which appeared impossible - the fulcrum of the scales was weighted in such a way that the entire contraption would come down.

Until he'd managed the cell call to Wesley, he had almost resigned himself to the fact that he had died and returned to Hell, and awaited Ma'at's judgement on his soul versus Spike's.

He wasn't entirely certain he would win that contest.

"There's no way out of this thing," he announced, yanking one more time with all of his strength on the thick (and obviously enchanted) bars. He had inspected every inch of the thing, and found no weaknesses anywhere.

"So, what, then? We just sit here and roast slowly over an open flame until crispy? That'll take a million fucking years!" the blond cried.

Angel gave him a cold smile he knew the ex-vampire couldn't see. "Don't worry, Spike. I'm sure you'll starve to death first."

He settled into a crouch on the floor of his cell, and waited. The construction of the massive scales, and their obvious symbolism, convinced him that there was, indeed, a way out. Just not one he would like.

There was only one thing missing in this scenario: the key player in the role of Justice herself.

Buffy.

No sooner had he finished the thought then a flash of light momentarily blinded him, and when his vision cleared, there she was, standing strong and defiant on the cliff below and across the cavern. "I hate it when I'm right," he grumbled.

~

Buffy stared up at Angel & Spike's weird prison, then down at the fiery pit below.

"I don't like this," she mumbled, then called out, "Are you guys okay?"

"Other than feeling like the witch in the Holy Grail, yeah!" Spike called back.

"What am I supposed to do here? Is there any way you can get out?"

"No... the cages are enchanted," Angel replied. "Buffy... did you just jump into that vortex alone?"

"Um... not exactly. But I think I lost Faith somewhere in the layover."

Angel suppressed a proud smile, despite the fact that she couldn't see it. He didn't want her to think he approved of her putting herself in danger that way.

"Real smart, Slayer," Spike spoke his thoughts aloud, "Dive into the big empty and just hope you don't end up in the gullet of a dragon, or, oh, hey! A pit of fire, maybe?"

Buffy shrugged and pretended to turn toward a non-existent exit. "I can go, if you'd rather just hang out here."

"No, no! That's fine," the ex-vampire quickly backpedaled. "Let's just get to the rescuing."

"What've we got?" she called up to Angel, knowing he would have spent their time here meticulously examining the environment. He explained his theories about the schematics of the mechanism as she made her way around the cliff, looking at what parts of the scales she could see, and trying to visualize what she couldn't.

"I don't see any way of getting us out without tipping the scales," he concluded grimly. "Whatever spell is holding them together prevents us from escaping without killing us both."

"Then why am I here?" Buffy cried in fear and frustration. "Why did whatever's doing this even let me in?"

"It's like one of those fucked up Japanese game shows, isn't it?" Spike pointed out, "They dangle a few million yen in front of your face and make you eat ten pounds of donkey shit to get it. Nobody can win."

"Hey!" Buffy screamed into the cavern, hoping whatever evil entity was torturing them all might be listening. Why set up such a fun game and not watch? "What is this? What do you want from me?"

The silence hung heavy for a moment while the threesome waited to see if there would be a response. Then, a single word boomed, echoing through the chamber.

"Choose," it intoned.

~

Buffy froze as that single word penetrated her brain. "Wh... what?"

"One may live," the otherworldly voice elaborated. "You must choose. The scale is weighted by the darkness in their souls. Your decision grants the light in yours. The other will be destroyed."

Nausea gripped her belly, and she took an instinctive step back, shaking her head. "No. You can't make me do that."

"Then both will die," their host informed her. "And the void will devour the world."

Angel watched and listened in revulsion. The void? The same kind void that had forced he and Buffy through their petty differences to stand together in the face of certain death, and realize the true power of their love?

Was this another test by whatever entity had reunited them in the first place? Was Buffy now forced to make this unfair choice because he had failed to stand by her in the face of Spike's return? Had his weak faith doomed them all?

And suddenly, it all fell into place. Spike's resurrection - the ghosts of the past. This thing was laying open their souls, exposing their most painful personal issues before them in a way they couldn't ignore, either in themselves or with one another. Just as they had last time.

Wasn't Spike a perfect embodiment of all his darkest fears? Hadn't the ex-vampire's mysterious return brought out the very worst in him? Hadn't he turned out to be the one thing that could shake his seemingly unshakable faith in what he and Buffy shared?

"Choose," the voice repeated once more.

"Oh, for Chrissake!" Spike cried. The irony of being brought back from the dead just for this - to force Buffy to choose between the vampire she loved, and her comrade-in-arms... to rip her heart out yet again. To squash her fiery spirit flat between her heart and her duty...

Unfair didn't begin to cover it. And if he'd felt guilt over anything before, what tore through him now was a hundred times worse.

Buffy stared at the floor, crushed into paralysis by the weight of her decision. How could there *be* any light in her soul, if this was its result? *She* had done this - pitted Angel against Spike. Refused to consider that maybe she would *have* to choose -- not just for them, but for herself - until some evil power forced her to do it. She hadn't been open and honest with either of them... and now they were all going to die.

"Buffy," Angel called out, seeing her agony, and endeavoring to take the impossible choice out of her hands. "You have to choose Spike. He's alive. He's been given a second chance. You can't let that be wasted."

"Oh, don't be such a fucking martyr!" Spike shouted at him. "I was already *dead*, you idiot! Besides, I'm not damn good for anything anymore - I'm weak and slow, mostly blind and deaf. And I never repented a fucking *thing* that I've done that didn't come with a reward attached. I'm no better than I was without a soul. You, on the other hand, have been busting your enormous ass for a hundred years trying to be a better pe. So. So it's pretty damn clear to me who she should choose."

"Spike, stay out of this!" Angel roared, "You've barely had a soul for a couple of years - most of which you've spent dead - and you've been human for all of a week!"

"Buffy needs you, you idiot! You really think she can doom you to death and live with it afterward? Moron!"

"She loves YOU! You're human. Whatever you might have done in the past, that makes you a better choice for her now," Angel cried, his voice breaking. "I'm just in the way. I can't give her what she deserves."

"YOU'RE in the way?" the blond shrieked, "You two were doin' just bloody fine until I showed up. So you can just..."

"STOP IT! Both of you!" Buffy screamed over their argument. "Nobody is going to die, damn it! You're both important -- to me and to the world! So shut up and let me think of a way out of this!"

They did.

In the hard-won quiet, Buffy stepped back from the terror and shame consuming her heart, focused on clearing her mind, and took another careful look at the Scales From Hell. Examined the facts, and let the rest fall away.

Angel was stronger, faster, more dexterous, and also sturdier. Spike was smaller, lighter, and easier to carry. If she could just break open their cages...

The best option hit her like a bolt of lightning... but without the heart-stopping and the frizzy hair.

Without another thought, Buffy ran to the wall behind her, and with every ounce of Slayer speed and strength she possessed, sprinted straight toward the edge of the precipice.

"BUFFY, NO!" Angel bellowed, clinging to the bars of his cage, convinced he was about the watch his love plunge to a fiery death rather than be forced to condemn either of them.

"Jesus H. Christ," Spike muttered, thinking the exact same thing. But Buffy was not committing suicide - intentionally, anyway. She flew out over the nothingness, nearly straight up in the air... hung there for what felt to both men like forever...

And then, with a clang that echoed fiercely through the cavern, plunged to a landing, clinging to the front of Angel's prison like a monkey.

"Hi," she said with a grin, and he was compelled to smile tenderly back. She had chosen him, after all. Even if it was only for that moment.

But she wasn't done. "Angel... when it comes to my life... my heart..." she said, "I always choose you."

With a groan that shook the chamber, the scales tipped toward Spike's side. The ex-vampire swore in every language - human and otherwise - that he knew.

"You can't let him die, Buffy," Angel warned gently. "You'd never forgive yourself."

"I know," she replied, and flung her legs outward away from the cage. She let go, tucking herself into a ball spinning so fast that even Angel couldn't track her, then with a cry, shot her legs out and kicked open his cage just as it began to swing forward toward the safety of the cliff.

"Be ready," she said as she steadied herself once more, and shimmied to the top of the pen. A split second pause while she gathered her strength for what came next, and then she threw herself over the seemingly endless divide once more, towards Spike's plummeting prison.

A moment later, Angel hit the ground, but spun and hung on to the edge of his cage, digging his feet into the dirt to keep it from springing back out over the cavern. As he strained, he watched, spellbound, while Buffy flew like some supernatural trapeze artist, flipping over the binding chain of Spike's trap, and spun directly into its door. It sprung open, and without hesitating, she snatched the ex-vampire out, clutching him around the waist, and flipped them both back to the top.

She had only a blink to gauge the distance to the suspending chain Angel was struggling to keep steady. She didn't have time to appreciate the fact that he had instinctively known what she wanted to do.

"Hold on to me!" Buffy barked at Spike.

Without question, he wrapped himself around her like some bizarre monkey, and then they were rocketing through the air once more. He watched his prison disintegrate in the fire below.

"Fuck," he exclaimed weakly.

They hit the chain on the other cage with a force that shook him to his bones, and Buffy swung Spike around onto her back as she crawled down the chain to where Angel was waiting on the cliff.

"Hurry, Buffy! I can't hold it much longer!" he grit out.

Spike closed his eyes, expecting death to claim him - again - at any second. But then, he felt Angel's big assed paws clutching the back of his shirt and hauling him off... and he was olid lid ground at last.

"Oh, thank fucking GOD!" he shouted, falling to his face on the rock and kissing it with a passion he hadn't felt in years. In fact, he spent quite a while doing that, thinking he'd never loved anything in his life like he did that cliff.

When he finally looked up to ascertain Buffy's fate, he found her wrapped in his grandsire's arms, and the latter's tongue so far down her throat, he swore he could see it poking through her kneecaps.

Again.

"Bloody Hell," he mumbled.

Buffy and Angel pulled apart, stared at each other for exactly a second, then chorused, "I love you. I'm so sorry." They shared an intimate smile at the synchronicity.

"UGH! Why didn't you just let me die a horrible, flamey dea.... Never mind." Spike backpedaled, and crawled away to the far side of the ledge to enjoy his exhaustion, shock, and the joy of not being incinerated this time in peace.

The lovers didn't even notice him.

~