From: nmdrkangl@my-dejanews.com
Subject: The Road To Hell 1/1
Date: Sun, 09 May 1999 14:40:17 GMT


The Road To Hell

By NmDrkAngl (E. Bryan Rumph) <nemesis@darkangelbooks.com>

Disclaimer:

This is a work of fan fiction. I make no attempts to claim ownership for the
intellectual property that are the characters, or settings for this work.
I've merely borrowed the universes and spliced them together like some
deranged Mad Scientist. But unlike such a devious creature, I will make every
attempt to keep them in one piece. I do however take credit/blame for how i
blended the two universes together.

Author's Note:

"< >" Represents non-verbal communication.

Time Stamp:

This Story takes place during the final episode of the Second Season for
Buffy, and right after the Series Finale of Quantum Leap.

Now on with the Show

                                                          * * *



      <dr. beckett>

      <Bright. Where am I? >

      <we have been through this before doctor remember>

      <Blue. When am I? >

      <good you are not completely lost>

      <Light. What am I? >

      <hope dr beckett and you are needed again>

      <Swirling. Where? >

      <in your past doctor>

      <Blending. Why? >

      <you must save the world>

      <Pulsing. Again? >

      <yes doctor prepare yourself>

      <Faster. What are you? >

      <i am eternity>

      <Oh boy>

                                                          * * *

Sunnydale, California USA

An abandoned mansion on the outskirts of town.



     It looks like just an old dilapidated mansion, dust riddled and ivy
covered. No one has lived here for years, but from inside come the sounds of
life, and the prospect of death.

  Swords clash, superhuman strength crashes against inhuman. Buffy Summers,
the Chosen One, the Vampire Slayer, parries a slash by her opponent. Angelus,
the demon that was once her friend and lover, stagers back. Spotting a
weakness in his defenses Buffy delivers a powerful kick to the vampire
forcing him back through the door and into the mansion. Before he can
recover, Buffy leaps through the doorway herself and swings her blessed sword
down on him. Yet the demon manages to parry at the last second, driving the
Slayer back a step, he regains his feet. A blur of thrusts slashes and
parries ensues but Angelus, still trying to shake the affects of the kick
misses a block, and the Slayer's blade tastes his blood.

     The vampire drops his sword, and growls in pain holding clasping his
injured hand to him. Buffy, not willing to waste such an opening, delivers a
strong kick to his face, knocking Angelus back into the statue of Acathla, the
world swallower.

  The Slayer raises her sword to finally kill the demon that has replaced her
lover, but stops when he cries out in pain. She looks down at this demon,
this thing that was once her trusted friend and watches his eyes flash from a
bright purplish hue before returning to their normal color.

  Doctor Samuel Beckett looks up at the Slayer, *I know her.* He manages to
think before the wave of pain from his injured hand floods over his senses.
He tries to look up at her, to remember who she is, but collapses back to the
floor the pain too much for his mortal body.

      Buffy stares down at the fiend, wondering what trick he's attempting to
pull, her sword still poised to strike. Sam slowly raises himself up his body
screaming in protest, and looks up at this valkyrie ready to strike him down.

  "Oh B-" he whispers. "Buffy?" *Is that her name?* He asks himself. *Yes.*
Replies a part of him. "What- what's going on?"

  Buffy gapes at him, not quite sure what to make of his change in demeanor.
Sam pulls himself to his feet, glancing confused around the room.

      "Where are we? I-I don't remember." A voice in the back of his mind
mumbles something about cheese. *What does cheese have to do with it?*

     Buffy slowly lowers her sword, daring to hope that her love has been
restored to himself and that the demon is gone again.

     "Angel?" she whispers softly, afraid to shatter the dream.

  Sam looks up at her, *Angel,* he thinks. *Is that my name?* His eyes travel
over her, taking in every detail, trying to fill the holes in his mind.

  "You're hurt." He reaches out to touch her, wondering who could bruise and
batter such a lovely young woman. She looks at his hand, gentle on her arm
where just a minute ago it was slamming into her head, and steps closer to
him. Hit by the sudden urge to protect this flower, this jewel, he wraps his
arms around her, pulling her close to him.

     *I remember this,* he thinks, *holding her like this. I've done this
before.*

     "Oh, Buffy... God." He gasps, overcome with the powerful emotions running
through his tortured mind. But the Slayer is stiff, not so eager as trust as
before. She can't, after the things he's done.

     "I... I feel like I haven't seen you in months." *Years,* his
mind screams, *Donna! No! Buffy!* He holds her tighter, not knowing
what's going on, even in his own mind. She relaxes in his arms finally
accepting that her man has returned, rid of the demon.

     "Oh, my God, everything's so muddled. I..."

     She holds him tighter, trying to hold on to him... protect him from those
things haunting his fractured mind, not wanting to lose him again.

  "Oh, Buffy." He sighs, and plants a soft, tender kiss on her shoulder. She
cries, burring her head into his shoulder holding onto him for dear life.

  There is a deep rumbling sound from behind him, and Buffy slowly opens her
eyes, and raises her head from his shoulder. The disfigured face of the Demon
Statue, Acathla, greets her. In horror she watches as the stone moves, the
brows arc, the dull eyes begin to glow demonically red, and the mouth starts
to open. The gateway to Hell that will swallow the earth starts to form, a
deep pulsing red vortex that slowly expands, ever outward, unstopable but for
one thing.

  *His blood.* She thinks, dreading what she knows she must do. *What opened
the gate must close it.* She lets go of him, and backs up, looking into his
face, not wanting to lose him so soon after getting him back.

     "What's happening?" He asks, confused by the look he sees in her eyes.

  "Shhh. Don't worry about it." She tenderly brushes her fingertips over his
face, striving to remember every detail every pore of the man she loves. She
kisses him softly, and he responds, gently at first but growing more
passionate.

  *Donna! Buffy!* Sam's mind is a tempest, much like the growing gateway
behind them, the past, the future, all blending, indistinguishable. Buffy
breaks off the kiss and looks into his eyes, and can see the feeling, the
love, his soul returned.

     "I love you," she whispers, and he echoes her.

  Running her fingers across his lips she asks him to close his eyes. Sam
looks at her oddly, but she nods smiling faintly and he complies. Trying with
all her might to keep the tears tucked in the pit of her stomach she kisses
him gently. She steps back from him, her face barely able to contain the
sadness as she raises her sword. She feels a part of herself dying as she
thrusts it home, sliding the blade into his chest.

     Sam gasps. His eyes fly open at the pain spreading from his heart. He
reaches out towards Buffy, and sees the sword impaling him. He looks at her,
confused, betrayed, but she just steps way, staring at the sword.

     "Buffy..." *Donna!*

     The sword's magic mixed with the blood of the person who opened the
hellgate starts to react with the vortex, white light meets red. Sam holds out
his hands to Buffy, feeling himself being pulled away, as a bright blue light
envelops him, and he leaps, just as the vortex is sucked back into Acathla's
mouth, leaving nothing but the sword embeded in the statue.



                                                          * * *

      <good work doctor>

      <Bright. Where?>

      <you are back with me dr beckett>

      <Eternity. No pain?>

      <no pain doctor you have done well>

      <Swirling. What did I do?>

      < you saved the world and one man's soul>

      <Blending. How? >

      <he was lost beyond the vortex where you sent his body now he can be
freed>

      <Pulsing. How?>

      <through love doctor pure and true>

      <Shining. Now what?>

  <now you leap again doctor your job is not done they still need your help>

      <No! Home!>

      <but doctor beckett you are home>

      <Oh boy>