The witches, the Nemesis and a bunch of Slayers.

“Okay guys, we'll split in two groups. First one, Faith in charge : Seena, Rona, Kennedy and Spike. Second group's led by me : Angel, Willow, Hermione, and Vi” Buffy spoke and the two groups faced each other. “I've given my orders” She could hear someone clear her throat “the 'instructions' to Faith and the plan's very simple. We go in, we look, we leave. No slaying unless necessary. We must estimate their number, see who they are and we'll come back later.”

“I still don't get it. Why do we have to be that numerous? And I could go in there have a glance and come back by myself...” Seena whispered in the brunette slayer's ear.

“I don't quite know...I guess she doesn't want you to go by yourself and face the unknown...”

“Still, this plan sucks...” Seena muttered and looked at her girlfriend who was watching her. They'd still not talked since the previous day's fight.
'I need to talk to you, Herm.' the Nemesis projected in the girl's mind.
'About what?' Hermione frowned.

'About me, and us.'

'If this is about yesterday I don't want-'

'Listen, I'm...' Their inner conversation was cut by Buffy.

“Let's go guys! Don't die!” The blonde slayer said and motioned to her group to follow her.

'We'll talk later. Be careful' Hermione finished and left before Seena could answer something.

“Come on Kid, let's go!” Faith put her hand on the girl's shoulder and they walked to the giant skyscraper that was Boss Demon's lair. The plan was that Buffy's group would enter the building by the roof, and Faith's by the sewers.

“Why do I always end up in the sewers' group?” Rona exclaimed with a sigh.

“Easy brat! I used to live down there a while ago!”

“I so don't wanna hear about this” The young black slayer made a disgusted face.”

“Here we are.” Faith said, showing a ladder leading to a hatch. “Angel said this would get us to some storage room. There are no surveillance cameras at this level. But Willow is going to disconnect the ones in the staircases and corridors in a few.”

“Go ahead James Bond!” Seena chuckled and followed the slayer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They walked to the stairs and checked the first three levels, which were occupied in majority by human workers and secretaries. Until then they hadn’t found any evidence of devilish activities in the building. Faith had left with Spike to the upper level. Seena, Kennedy and Rona were finishing checking the third one.

“There’s nothing here, how many levels left?” Rona asked.

“Fifty-two” Seena sighed, looking at the map.

“Gosh! Don’t you think-”

“Wait!” Seena hushed her and focused on the voice she was hearing in her head? It was Hermione’s.

“Seena, we’ve found him! Level 50, hurry!” Seena looked at the two slayers and took them by the arm to vanish to the upper floor.

“Faith!” she called and grabbed the vampire and the brunette’s arms as well. They all appeared in the middle of a battlefield. Fireballs and arrows were flying everywhere. They were cries of pain, the sounds of metal hitting flesh. The Nemesis quickly analyzed the situation and jumped into the riot. The place where they were was like a gigantic hall with a throne at the end of it. On the throne was sitting a red-skinned demon in a CPO suit. His black hair was put in a ponytail and Seena thought he looked indeed like the Godfather. The demon was observing the fight in front of him. Weirdly enough, his guards were wearing armors from another era, axes and swords. They were numerous, three times more than the Scoobies. Seena tried an Inpyro spell but it only reached the two demons that were trying to tackle her. From the corner of her eye, she saw Buffy and Faith fighting side by side a bunch of guards. The young brunette turned her head and saw her girlfriend throwing fireballs with Willow towards the enemies.

‘Since when does she know how to do that?’ Seena frowned. She dodged a blade that would have cut her head and punched the ugly demon in the throat, he died in the second.

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Hermione was feeling weird. It wasn’t her first battle against bad guys, but she couldn’t help but think that it wasn’t really her place. She was a bookworm, not a warrior. She turned her head to the left and saw Willow’s face completely focused and deadly serious. The young girl cast another Expeliarmus spell to the demon attacking on her side and waited for the next wave of enemies. She heard a very loud and sepulchral voice.

“Shamans, get rid off those maggots! But I want this one alive!” Hermione realized it was the Boss Demon who was speaking.

“Who is he talking about?” She screamed to Willow through the noise.

“I don’t know! Protect yourself with a shield, it’s gonna be bad!” and indeed, a bunch of hooded demons appeared and gathered in a line. They began chanting together and a green halo formed around them. The girl heard Buffy’s voice in the distance.

“Kill the hooded ones!” But before any of the Scoobies could reach them, a giant green wave emerged from the shamans and struck them all. Hermione felt herself being thrown away by the massive wall and landed on her back. Her breath stopped when someone landed on her. When Hermione opened her eyes, she realized it was Willow. The redhead’s look was a mix of fear and confidence. And suddenly, in the middle of chaos, she felt the witch’s lips on hers. It was unexpected but it felt good, and the young girl found herself responding to the kiss. It lasted a few seconds, but it wasn’t until Willow pulled away that the terrible thought came to her mind.

‘Seena...’ Hermione immediately looked away, her eyes searching for the brunette. But it was too late. The Nemesis was standing there, several feet away and demon’s bodies separating Hermione from her. She was staring blankly at her girlfriend. Her irises were still brown, they hadn’t change. And there wasn’t anger in them, only hurt. The brunette dropped the sword that was hanging in her hand. Hermione quickly pushed away Willow and tried to stand up, but another green wave hit them. She stood up faster this time, but all she could see in the mess was her girlfriend fighting a dozen of guards who pinned her to the ground. Then a few shamans rushed to her and encircled her.

“Everybody, out! Now!” Buffy screamed. They had lost, they had to get out of here. Hermione stared helplessly at her girlfriend being trapped by some magical green circle. She felt someone grab her shoulder and drag her away from the hall.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Kill the hooded ones!” Buffy was screaming. Seena immediately rushed to the shamans and tried to attack them but felt blown away by a powerful magic she’d never faced before.

‘Fucking bastards!’ The spell sent her flying away, but she managed to stand up and was ready for the next strike.
‘Where’s Hermione?’ She suddenly wondered and looked around, hoping to see her girlfriend. ‘I hope she’s okay...’ Time froze, and the vision around her was blurred. She had found her, her lover, her everything. Kissing another girl. Kissing someone who wasn’t her. Seena couldn’t feel anything, it was like every little bit of feeling had left her body. Her eyes locked with Hermione’s and another magical attack hit her. The brunette was numb, she didn’t fight back when the demons jumped on her to tackle her to the ground. She didn’t move when the shamans captured her. In fact, she didn’t care at all. She didn’t care about anything anymore. She heard the blonde slayer yelling something and the hall became very quiet. One of the hooded guys stepped in front of her and began chanting some other spell.

‘Hermione...’ she thought, and then everything was dark.