DW/BtVS: The Building Blocks of Good and Evil (17/20)
Title: The Building Blocks of Good and Evil
By: PatriciaTepes (AKA Patricia de Lioncourt @ fanfiction.net; PatriciaLouise @ TTH)
Chapter Title: What a Slayer Wants
Links to Other Chapters: ONE TWO THREE FOUR FIVE SIX SEVEN EIGHT NINE TEN ELEVEN TWELVE THIRTEEN FOURTEEN FIFTEEN SIXTEEN EIGHTEEN NINETEEN TWENTY
Fandom: Darkwing Duck/Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Rating: PG-13
Disclaimer:I do not own Darkwing Duck or Buffy the Vampire Slayer or any of their related characters. Darkwing Duck belongs to Disney, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer belongs to Joss Whedon. Also, I don't own the images used in the art. All is done for fun, not profit.
Chapter Seventeen- What a Slayer Wants
When the world reappeared before Buffy's eyes, it was different. It did not have that blocky, cartoony quality to it. In fact, in a vaguely familiar way, it felt like her world… but where she was certainly was not Cleveland.
She was in a cave. The floor beneath her was both rocky and sandy, and yet it still had that dank, dark quality that often came along with her concept of caves. A line of torches lit, without warning, along all the walls of the cave, illuminating primitive cave paintings. It hurt her eyes, and she shielded them for a moment, waiting for them to adjust. Finally, she blinked them open, with them being inexplicably drawn to the very back of the cave. A solid wall with a small, stone dais stood right in front of her, and when she turned to glance behind, she saw, beyond the reach of the torches, nothing but an inky blackness. When her attention returned to the dais, she jumped. The hooded demon-Lloyd-stood there now, his face still hidden all but for his red eyes.
"We're in my dimension, aren't we?" Buffy asked.
"You do not want to stay here, not now. Not until you have corrected the wrongs that you believe you have caused," the demon said in confirmation.
Buffy huffed. "Something like that."
"The trials are thrice and dangerous. Should you win, I shall give you what you truly want. Should you fail… your life will be forfeit. You have agreed to these terms?"
Buffy stood firm, nodding only once. "I'm ready."
"Very well. Let the first trial… begin!"
With that, he vanished, his final word reverberating around the cavern. Buffy turned, as if following the sound, and stopped. Her eyes widened as she took a single step back. Standing before her, just now edging into the light of the torches, was the strangest demon that the Chosen One had ever seen. It was large, and its skin was a rosy pink. It stood almost as tall as the cavern, only inches away from having to stoop to walk. Its arms were overlong and muscular, hanging down like a gorilla's might, but this demon was furless. Its two legs were stretched far, far apart from one another, much like Buffy would image a crab made human would look like. Its torso and face looked almost human, save for one very noticeable thing. The face wielded no mouth. Instead, handing down from the demon's stomach was an overlarge mouth, facing down to the ground. And it looked like it was chewing.
It took a few more steps toward the slayer, its mouth passing over a fairly large rock in its path. But, as soon as the mouth locked around it, a loud crunching issued from it. The demon stepped further, and, much to Buffy's amazement-and disgust-the rock was no more. A tiny vortex of sand below the mouth told her that its eating continued even as she surveyed it.
"You know, I can't imagine that rocks are very low in calories. I bet they're high in fiber, though," she said.
A twinkle in the demon's pale eyes told Buffy that it was smiling at her… the vortex of sand shaped, momentarily, into a U shape. She shook her head.
"Stay away from the mouth. Check," she said, lunging forward.
She did a quick roundhouse to the demon's head, ducking quickly after delivering a quick punch to its sagging stomach/mouth. She groaned to feel the squishy, softness of the flesh as she withdrew her fist. Glancing up, the demon's eyes were twinkling again. It drew back one of its muscled arms and brought it swiftly across her face. Buffy did her best to brace herself against the blow, but she was not going to lie. It hurt. A lot. And it did not help that she landed against her other cheek upside one of the cave's walls. She slid to the floor, resting for only half a second before she rallied herself to her feet.
"Okay… I fell off the horse. Time to get back on," she said, stepping forward once more.
The demon lifted his arm again, but Buffy dove under it, somersaulting up behind it. She put a hard kick into the middle of its back, causing it to stumble for only a moment. It pulled back its left arm, reaching behind itself to grab her. She dodged, ducking and kicking at its right knee. Suddenly, its mouth lurked back, several razor sharp teeth digging into her leg. She cried out, using her uninjured leg to kick it off. She rolled away to safety.
She landed in a crouch near the dais, trying to catch her breath and ignore the sting of the sand in her wound. The demon advanced on her further, moving slow-as slow as a turtle-dragging its mouth along with it. And as it moved, it made no effort to pick up either of its massive arms or mouth. In fact, it almost looked like the mouth was leading the creature.
And then, with a wicked little grin, a thought struck her. Pushing the stinging to the very back of her mind, she made another lunge towards the demon, throwing only a single punch at it. It showed no reaction to the blow, just like before. And, also true to its previous moves, it lifted its right arm, ready to knock the slayer from it. But Buffy grinned, catching its massive fist in both of her arms. With a grunt and a hard pull, she shoved the arm underneath the creature's own mouth.
A sickening crunch filled the cave as the demon bit down into its own arm. Buffy backed away to a safe distance and watched, her stomach lurching, as the it quickly-more quickly than she could have ever imagined-devoured itself. When nothing but the mouth and the head was left, the remains burst into an all-consuming flame, leaving behind nothing but ash.
"Well done."
Buffy turned to see that Lloyd had returned to the dais.
"That demon was a fine example of something you must recognize," he said.
"And what's that?" Buffy snapped.
"When the pursuit of only one goal dominates a person's life, it shall, inevitably, devour you, leaving what is left to burn away."
"You're a literal kind of guy, aren't you?"
"Are you prepared for the next trial, Slayer?"
Buffy glanced down at her bloodied leg. Look back up at him, she gestured to it, saying, "I suppose there isn't a chance you'd heal this in between trials, huh?"
He only stood there, unmoving. Buffy sighed.
"I didn't think so. All right. I'm ready."
"Then let the second trial begin!"
And like the time before, the word echoed around the cave, and the hooded demon vanished. Buffy groaned, turning towards the blackness beyond the torches. She raised her fists, holding them in front of her.
"Let's do this," she sighed.
If the last demon looked like a gluttonous beast, then this one was its polar opposite. Very obviously male, as shown by its 1980's-tight brown pants, he emerged from the shadows shirtless. And, had he been human-without the hellish red skin, the two tiny horns on its head, and the severely pointed chin-Buffy might have swooned. He was built, washboard abs and all.
"Damn," Buffy whispered.
He grinned, showing off pearly white fangs. With a roar that made the whole cave shake, he kicked his legs like a bull's and charged on at Buffy. The slayer planted her feet. He lifted his fist and brought it down upon her, but she duck and dodged that and the other blows that followed. Finally, a brief opening followed, and she took it. She jumped up, putting both of her feet squarely in his chest. But, instead of knocking him back, she was bumped to the ground, landing hard on her rear.
She lost no time in getting back on her feet and throwing another punch. But, before her fist could connect with his face, he caught it. With a chuckled, he tightened his fist around her hand. Buffy cried out, trying with all her strength to pull herself away. Finally, he released her, tossing her back like a rag doll. Her back hit the stone of the dais, hard, and she gasped with the pain.
He took another stomping step toward her, and she kicked up, her foot landing right in his face. It had no effect.
"What the hell is wrong with you demons?" she exclaimed, pushing herself back.
With another grin, he reached down, digging his thumb into her leg wound. She cried out, throwing a blind punch at him, which he swatted away like swatting a fly. He reached down, picking up by her throat, and tossed her across the room. She landed in the sand, skidding backwards. She tried to stand, but the pain was too much, almost electric the way it shot through her limbs. He stomped towards her, but Buffy did not even have the will to lift her head to stare at him.
This was it. Game over. She had lost. She had failed Dawn, Gosalyn, Darkwing, everyone. The trials had beaten her.
The demon loomed over her. He bent, reaching down to wrap his meaty hand around her throat once again, but Buffy could not bring herself to do anything. Nothing seemed to work against this one. Then, suddenly, the demon's eyes grew wide, and he stumbled back. With another earsplitting roar, he erupted into flames, until, like the remains of the last demon, nothing but char was left.
Buffy groaned, eyes narrowed in confusion, as she pulled herself to her feet. It took a moment, but she felt herself grow steadier, some of the pain lessening. Lloyd reappeared.
"Another lesson you must learn," he said.
Buffy huffed. "I won? How?"
"Where the blind pursuit of only one goal is disastrous, the absence of all goals makes living an impossible feat."
Buffy shook her head. "You're screwed up."
"It is time you faced the third trial, Slayer. Me."
Buffy blinked, straightening. The hooded demon stepped down from the dais.
"Let us begin," he said.
And this time, the word did not echo.
He moved fast. In the blink of an eye, he vanished, only to reappear behind Buffy. He delivered a hard backhand to her face, sending her spiraling to the ground.
"You know what?" she said, spitting blood. "I'm sick and tired of this crap."
The hooded demon dove down upon her, but she rolled out of his reach, landing on her feet. He lashed out at her, but she ducked under his arm, landing a good, hard sucker punch. The demon fell back with an "oof" and Buffy leapt into the air, landing a kick right to his forehead. He flew onto his back, but rolled out of the way of her stomp. Instead, he caught her leg, pulling her off her feet.
She landed against the ground hard, sand flying into the air around her. The demon threw his arm out, trying to hit her, but she caught it, throwing it back to replace it with her own. Her blow hit him in the face-which, somehow, still remained obscured by his hood. He groaned, and Buffy jumped to her feet.
This was going to end. Now.
She dashed to nearest cavern wall and yanked free the torch she found there. The demon was up on his feet again and in her face. He threw a punch. She ducked. She knocked him back down with the torch. Once he was on the ground, she lifted the wooden handle, and drove it down. But, the hooded demon vanished from behind her blow. She gasped, looking around.
It was several heartbeats before, finally, he reappeared upon the dais. He clapped.
"Congratulations, Slayer. You have passed all three trials. I am impressed."
"Yeah?" Buffy huffed, tossing the torch carelessly to the side. "What's the lesson to this one? Never give up, never surrender?"
She could almost imagine the grin on the demon's hidden face.
"Some lessons you must learn on your own," he said, stepping down from the dais.
Buffy tensed, but he only crossed his arms, intertwining them in the large sleeves of his robes.
"You have passed my trials, now you shall receive what it is you truly want."
Making no threatening moves toward her, he simply stepped as closely as possible to her. Leaning forward, he turned his head ever so slightly in the direction of her ear. And then… he whispered what it was she wanted.