Well this is it. This is the end of season 5, and I am marking this story as complete. I have solid plans for a season 6, and beyond, but for the time being I am taking a little break to work on some other projects.

Before the last chapter though I just wanted to take a second to say thanks to everyone who took the time to leave a review. They really meant the world to me and I have read through all of them a hundred times at least! Also, it's not too late to leave a comment now if the mood strikes you ;)

Thanks everybody, you are the best!

W.W.

End Times, S5 Ep22.

Glory pinwheeled through the air away from the wrecking ball, momentarily alone with her frustration.

In her current state she couldn't control her trajectory by flight, she could not alter her gravitational center or her density to stabilize herself, and she couldn't summon an explosion to change her velocity.

Having caught a wrecking ball with her face, Glory was left at the mercy of earth's physics. All she could do was tumble through the air and wait to land. It left her feeling like she was in the dark place again. Helpless.

When at last she did land it was only after crashing through a pair of walls and skidding along the ground for far too long. She rose to her feet and made her way clear of the rubble around her, imagining the horrors she would inflict on whoever was behind this fresh outrage.

The wrecking ball was moving again. It swung through the air, picking up momentum as it careened towards the crowd of crazies and minions at the base of the tower.

Glory did what she did best: ran up to the source of her frustration and punched it with all of her might.

The huge steel orb shuddered on the end of its line and produced a sharp shrieking sound as the metal deformed and a crack snaked vertically up the ball where Glory had struck.

Grabbing the wrecking ball before it could bounce away, Glory hurled the object back where it came from. She was disappointed when the line pulled the wrecking ball up short of the cab at the end of the crane, instead smashing its own tower mast to pieces and collapsing it. It would have been poetic to kill the operator with his own weapon, but when Glory spied Xander scrambling out of the cab she decided that it was fine. He could live.

The thought brought her back to more pressing concerns and she hurried back to the spot where she had left Buffy before Xander went and stuck his nose in their business. Of course Buffy was gone. Glory closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to think clearly instead of stomping her foot on the ground until she caused an earthquake that buried them all.

Looking to her tower, Glory saw precisely what she expected: her minions on the ground slowly getting back on their feet as Buffy dashed up the tower as fast as she could.

"Oh no you don't," Glory muttered as she raced after the Slayer.

Buffy was entirely focused on navigating the chaotic interior of the tower as quickly as she could. She knew Xander's trick would only slow Glory down, and, since Olaf's hammer was gone and Willow and Tara were AWOL she had to use whatever time she had to get between Dawn and Glory. She figured if she was lucky she could delay Glory until the window to perform her ritual closed or Spike managed sneak away with her sister.

But even with all of her attention devoted to speed she heard it when the wrecking ball crashed into its own crane and destroyed itself. Glory would be right behind.

Buffy planted her feet and instinctively scanned her environment for an advantage. As always, the apprehension she had been feeling melted away as she got closer to the real fight. These moments were why people like her existed. She felt in her bones that she was exactly where she was supposed to be. When Glory appeared at the bottom of a ramp leading up to her, one thought filled her mind with clarity:

I am the Slayer.

Glory looked up to where Buffy stood waiting for her. She was surprised that the little runt had stopped running, having fully expected to have to catch up with her and stop her in her tracks with a kidney shot or something.

The goddess fussed with her windswept hair as she walked up to Dawn's sister. "OK, I'm going to give you one last chance . . . you know what, on second thought, no I'm not. I'm just gonna kill ya, Buffy,"

"It's funny," Buffy said, unfazed, "every time one of you bigshots threatens me like that I get the feeling you expect me to act like it's the first time I've heard it,"

"And I've heard defiance before too," Glory said. "Wanna know how many people have defied me and lived to brag about it?"

"I know at least two," Buffy said. "And they're both on the other side of the portal you want to drag my sister through,"

Glory stared at the Slayer with her mouth hanging open in shock. Her outrage sent a shiver from the base of her skull all the way down her spine.

"How dare you bring them up? Who do you think you are? I was stabbed in the back! They betrayed me, because they were afraid of me! And when I get home, those bastards are going to learn how right they were to fear me. I am going to rain down horrors on them that your pitiful human brain can't even imagine, and your sister is going to help me every step of the wa-"

Glory had angrily crossed the space between herself and Buffy to vent her anger directly into the human's stupid face when Buffy lashed out like a viper and took hold of Glory's arm. In a single smooth motion Buffy pulled Glory forward and turned to shift the Goddess's weight over her hip.

Glory, caught completely off guard after getting caught up in her own revenge monologue, had just enough time to feel astonished as her own body was leveraged against her by her smaller, weaker opponent. Her feet left the ground and the exposed edge of the tower behind Buffy came into view.

Then a white light washed over the scene as an interdimensional portal yawned opened above them accompanied by a clap of thunder. Every muscle in Buffy's body froze in an instant as she stared in wide-eyed disbelief at the portal.

Glory, witnessing the same phenomenon, felt the light on her face like the heat of a sacred inferno and felt herself reinvigorated. The Slayer's hesitation allowed her to plant her feet back on the floor and save herself from tumbling over the edge of the tower.

"No," Buffy whispered, her eyes still fixed on the swirling circle of light above them.

She did not resist as Glory seized her by the throat and lifted her off her feet. Glory hammered the unresisting slayer with a flurry of punches before hauling her over the edge of the tower. Her feet dangled in the empty air as Glory held her up.

And hesitated. Glory went still, knowing how dangerous it was to hesitate, while every instinct within her cried out for her to kill her enemy, to crush her throat and let her fall. That's who she is. A god of terror and destruction does not let insults go unpunished, does not let an enemy live. Moments ago she had even said out loud that she was going to kill Buffy. When a god says she will do a thing, she does it.

Against all of this a quiet voice whispered, If you kill Buffy, you'll be hurting me.

A long moment unfolded as Glory struggled with indecision for what might have been the first time in her existence.

"Buffy," Glory said at last. The Slayer finally took her gaze away from the portal above them and Glory saw the wet streaks running down the young woman's face. She had been crying. Glory smirked as she came to her decision. "I'm going to need you to keep a secret for me,"

"Buffy!" a man's voice cried out from behind her. Glory turned and saw the platinum haired vampire, Spike, coming down the ramp that led to the pinnacle of the tower. The little bloodsucker took in the scene in a microsecond and lunged at them.

Glory took a half step to the side, still holding Buffy up with one hand, and wound her other fist back to punch this frequent interloper into oblivion. Then she realized that his eyes were locked on the Slayer. The vamp rushed forward, his arms reaching out to Buffy.

Glory watched as the soulless vampire flung himself past her and wrapped his arms around the Vampire Slayer's waist, taking the problem of Buffy right out of her hands. Spike's momentum carried them both into the open air and they fell back to earth together.

"What a strange vampire," Glory said to herself.

Vampire! The word repeated in Glory's mind, accompanied by a horrible thought. The vampire had come down from above them. He would have been with Dawn when the ritual started, which meant that Dawn had been bleeding in front of this Vampire with no one to protect her but Jinxy. Or worse, the vamp had done something that left Dawn bloody.

Glory leapt up the outside of the tower, kicking and pulling herself up the unfinished structure's skeleton. Such was her speed and urgency that she nearly overshot the gangplank where Dawn stood waiting for her.

"Babe!" Glory called to her, a surge of primal joy overwhelming her at the sight of Dawn. Apart from some blood on her left palm she was unhurt. "You're ok,"

"Yeah of course,"

"There was this vampire . . ." Glory crossed the space between them in a few steps and pulled Dawn close.

"I made a deal with him," Dawn said quickly, "Is Buffy-?"

"She's fine," Glory said, still clutching Dawn. "She's alive. She fell off the tower, but she's tough, she'll live,"

This seemed good enough for Dawn, who exhaled deeply and finally wrapped her own arms around her goddess.

"Thank you," Dawn said.

"You don't have to thank me," Glory said. She pulled away only just enough to look into Dawn's eyes again. "What did you promise the vamp?"

"Nothing major," Dawn said. She glanced down at the portal. "We can talk about that later,"

Glory understood her meaning. "Right. Big moment," Glory looked down at the ring of energy beneath them, considered the promise it held. The realization of her decades old vendetta was right under her feet, waiting for her to step through. She lingered.

The moment was too perfect to rush. Dawn leaned against her and Glory felt every point of contact between them with dizzying intensity. The softness of the girl's body under her dress, her warmth, were like something out of a dream. The winds generated by the portal's energy played with Dawn's hair and the fierce light emanating from it illuminated Dawn's pale skin so that she seemed to glow with an inner light. Watching her was mesmerizing.

"I love you," Dawn said, "I just needed to tell you that. I don't know how well you get human beings and our emotions yet, but I needed to say it,"

"You are not a human being," Glory said, "and you are not the Key anymore either. You, Dawn Summers, are an angel. You're my angel. And I love you too,"

Then, without thought, both women leaned into the kiss they had desired for so long. Glory was cautious, afraid to hurt Dawn with her strength, and teasingly brushed Dawn's lips with her own. The girl made a low sound in her throat and pulled Glory into a deep embrace. Dawn's kiss was urgent, demanding. She pulled against her goddess as if she meant to climb her. Their physical connection set her body humming with waves of ecstasy.

Glory held Dawn as tightly as she dared, cherishing her. Overwhelmed by feelings she still didn't understand, with her heart thundering in her chest, Glory thought she must either explode or weep, and soon. Dawn's lips were impossibly soft. With senses greater than any human, Glory felt the raw energy passing back and forth between them crackling across her skin.

Then Dawn broke the embrace with a gasp, and peppered Glory's neck and shoulder with smaller, gentler kisses.

"That was my first kiss," Dawn whispered, still catching her breath.

Glory laughed loudly, surprising herself with the extent of her own delight. "Babe, how do you always know just what to say?"

Hand in hand, the duo moved to the edge of the gangplank. The white energy of the portal snapped and churned beneath them.

"Ready?" Glory looked into her beloved's eyes and saw readiness.

Nevertheless, Dawn pulled herself a bit closer to her goddess as she looked down at the portal. "Just don't let me go,"

"Never," Glory smiled.

They stepped off as one and fell together into their future.