by Rob Sorenson

White and Dark magic had met on the field of battle many times before, though never on the level being utilized in Battery Park. The blue flaming light had seared the surrounding earth for approximately 1 mile; trees had the scorched look of a lightning strike.

Acrid smoke filled the air with an electric stench. Willow had managed to find the strength to put out small fires that had sparked all over the park due to the massive heat after she and her Dark Clone collapsed in exhaustion, finally extinguishing the monstrous clash of primeval force.

Neither had gained an inch.

Willow's clone found her voice to speak to her red-headed enemy.

"This is pointless. We could do this all night long, and most likely we'd just kill each other. What good would that do?"

"Considering how dangerous you are, I'd say that'd do a lot of good."

"You'd give up your life, all the good that you could do, just to end me? For what? Imagine the possibilities if we work together. You an I are two sides of the same coin, Willow. If we're joined no one on this planet could stop us."

Willow had to admit she was thrown by that. If she could harness the power of her clone, much good could come of it. Encouraged by her silence, her counterpart continued eagerly.

"I can sense that you're thinking about it. You've been where I am now, Willow. You know what kind of power I have. You want to eliminate vampires from the Earth? We can do that. Pick a race of demons. Poof, they're gone with a flick of our pinky finger. Serial killers who get off on a technicality? Bye bye. Rapists, pedophiles...hey we don't have to kill them. Just cure them of the urge. Think of all the suffering that would end if we joined. How can you NOT want to do this?"

Willow slowly shook her head.

"We're not qualified to play God."

Her clone laughed out loud. "God? God?! Glory was a God and she wouldn't get off one clean shot against us. Remember when she hurt Tara? You were able to put a dent in her back then, and Giles was right. You were a rank amateur compared to where you are now. You think she could beat you now?"

Willow merely shrugged in response. Her other smiled knowingly.

"Exactly. Did you ever think maybe--just maybe--we were given this power for a reason? What if I told you we were preordained to rule the world? What if it was written somewhere in some ancient text that you and I would bond and form a New Universal Order, cleaning house for he Powers That Be?"

"I don't know of any prophecy like that." Her other simply shrugged.

"You've got me there, Wills. I don't think there is either. Let's face it, though: the seers who write that stuff think too small. It's all about Slayers and Vampires, Slayers and Vampires, La La La. You and I both know that they're small potatoes compared to us."

"You don't know Buffy. Small potatoes, she isn't."

"No, I haven't met Buffy. At least not the one you know. I know she's your friend, though. I know you love and care about her. Consider what we could do for her. If we join together she'll never have to pick up a stake for the rest of her life. We could make her vamp boyfriend human again. Hell, we could make the first one human again so she could pick the one she really wants."

"She has the one she really wants."

"You think? Well, there's only one way to find out."

"Enough talk. I'm not joining with you."

"Your best friend Xander is in terrible pain right now. The Council is using that psychological link between he and Buffy to wear her out. Odds are they're both going to die if you keep fighting me, and you and I both know that it's your fault. None of this would've happened if you hadn't attacked him that night at Buffy's house."

Willow's face paled, sensing the honesty from her dark opponent. Still....

"No. No way. I'm a Wiccan, but I'm a person first. People can't handle the responsibility of controlling everything and everyone. Not much in this world is black and white, but one thing will always remain: absolute power corrupts absolutely, no matter how noble your aspirations are. Plus, methinks that you'd turn on me the moment I turn my back on you."

Suddenly Willow sent a bolt flying toward her clone, catching her off guard. Unable to raise her hands in time to defend herself, Dark Willow was enveloped in the suspension spell that Giles had used on her two years before. Slowly she was levitated and held in temporary stasis.

Willow was at last able to turn her attention away from her opponent for a moment. She took a deep breath and came to a decision.

"Dawn? Dawn, are you ok?"

Dawn had been cowering in terror behind a large oak tree when the terrible, brilliant light had ensued. She'd never seen Willow in all her pure, horrifying glory before, and it was overwhelming. Therefore she'd been looking away, eyes tightly closed when the burning energy made it's way around and through her. Outside of a wicked flashbulb effect to her eyelids and some singed hairs she'd been mercifully unhurt.

She'd briefly considered making herself known during the conversation between the two warriors, but stopped herself. What could she contribute beyond distracting Willow at this point? She was totally out of her depth. She felt no shame in that; perhaps for the first time she fully understood that being out of her depth could be a good thing where the Scooby Gang was concerned.

The Slayer's little sister was therefore surprised to hear Willow calling for her. She peeked around the corner of the tree to find the witch standing directly in front of her.

"Gaah!!"

Willow smiled slightly. "Sorry, Dawnie. I was coming over to see if you were okay."

"Don't be sorry. I'm amazed that you had the time to ask. I...just thought you'd be busy thinking about the stuff she said."

"There's nothing to think about. Well, not about the whole taking over the world thing at least." She knelt next to Dawn, looking directly into her eyes. "She was telling the truth about Buffy and Xander, though. I don't think we have time to fight all night. Plus, she's got a point about us eventually killing each other. We're too evenly matched."

"What can I do?"

"Dawn, I have one edge over her. It's complicated, but I'll try to simplify it for you. Let's say the universe is a two sided coin. For every action there is an equal or opposite reaction. It all counterbalances in a cosmic way. It's like Star Wars; balance to the Force. The movie has it exactly right. Magic is the ultimate primeval force, and right now I represent the side of Good. She represents the opposite, though the Council has her thinking otherwise. They're using her, but she's not going to believe that. Therefore it's my job to destroy her. If I don't, the Council will take control of the world. No one entity can be trusted with that kind of power."

"Ok....I get that. I'm still not clear on what I can do. Do you want me to float a pencil at her or something?"

"Actually, I need you to anchor me."

"Anchor you?"

"Yes. This is the edge part I was talking about. The cloned version of me was endowed with the most powerful Dark Magics, but no Light Ones. I've mastered the light, Dawnie, but I'm sure you remember when I had done the opposite."

Dawn shuddered at the memory.

"Dawnie, I'm going to have to dip into my dark side to have enough power to finish her. I can't do that alone. I need you."

Dawn's eyes were wide with shock and fear as she answered in a quavering voice.

"Y-you have to become Evil to win? What happens if you....w-well....lose it again?"

"I could. I'm only human, Dawn. That's where you come in. You don't have to work any spells, but you have to stand with me. I need you to hold my hand while I access the things that scare me more than anything in the world. I don't want to, but I have no choice. Your job is to keep me connected to the Light."

"How would I do that?"

"You'll know. I have faith in you."

Dawn couldn't help but smile with pride at Willow's confidence, but it quickly faded when she saw the redhead's eyes well with tears. "Will, what's wrong?"

"I hope you can forgive me. There are some things within me that no one should have to see. If there was another way I'd do it. There isn't."

"I'll be ok."

Willow smiled through her glistening eyes. "Ok, then. Let's go."

They stepped into the clearing. Willow saw her other struggling to release herself from her bond; she figured she had about thirty seconds.

"Dawn, when she gets free I'm going to take your hand. Physically that's all you have to do. Everything else will be in your mind. Are you ready?" The Slayer's little sister took a deep breath and nodded.

"As much as I can be."

Willow turned to her. "I want you to know something. Tara and I talked about adopting a child someday. It was sort of a pipe dream, of course; we couldn't bear the thought of bringing a baby into the world considering the dangers we have to face. Still, though, we thought about what we could do with our lives if all this madness ever ended.

When Buffy was gone, it was sort of our job to raise you, along with Xander and Spike. You were our inspiration for the dreams we had. We wanted to adopt a child of our own because we were so proud of how strong and smart and funny you were, even in the face of everything that had happened to you.

If I ever had a child of my own, I'd want her to grow up like you."

Dawn was speechless. Finally she whispered the only response she could think of in a hoarse voice.

"Thank you."

"No, Dawn. Thank you. Take my hand, ok?"

She reached for her as Willow spoke one last time.

"Dawnie?"

"Yeah?"

"Please don't leave me in the Dark."

At that moment her clone had released herself and prepared a bolt of energy to fire at them.

Willow took Dawn's hand.

Dawn threw her head back and screamed.

****************************************************************

Faith couldn't stop smiling. Her clone had made a spectacular leap across the ring, delivering a vicious spin kick as she arrived where Faith was standing.

Correction. Where Faith WAS standing. She'd stepped to her right with lightning speed and deflected the leg, delivering a crunching elbow to her other's back as she went down awkwardly.

Faith danced across the ring, doing a shuffle step as her identical enemy kick flipped her way up, wincing with pain as she did so. She'd expected an immediate follow-up, but the original Slayer had other ideas.

She'd reached into her pocket for the stick of gum she always carried for luck and chewed vigorously as she again reached out her hand and beckoned for her opponent to do her worst.

Enraged, the clone rushed her with fists flying; Faith blocked each and every one as if she was moving in slow motion, eventually catching the clone with a stinging jab that staggered her. Again Faith held back from following up, moving backward slightly and bouncing on the balls of her feet, popping her gum and smiling as she spoke.

"Unlike you, I can walk and chew gum at the same time. Hell, I'll even do you one better: I'll kick your ass, chew gum and give you a little update on me. How's that sound?"

"It sounds like you're overconfident."

Faith's bright smile altered to a seductive grin. "You think? Prove it to me, tough girl. Come on, now."

This time the attack was a simple bull rush in an attempt to smash her into the corner, thereby knocking the wind out of the cocky original.

At least, that was the plan.

Faith neatly sidestepped her and fired a knee into her solar plexus, grabbing her hair. She then proceeded to hammer away with five impossibly fast knee lifts to the face, breaking bone and shredding cartilage. She followed this up with a thunderous uppercut that blew the clone's body out of the ring and into the bleachers, wrenching her back.

For all intents and purposes, that was it.

"Ok, now that I have your complete attention, allow me to respond to your little speech."

Faith catapaulted herself over the ring ropes, somersaulting and landing next to the now brutally bloodied clone. She continued speaking in a casual, matter of fact tone, smile ever present. She lifted her slumped adversary and threw her into the steel steps leading up to the ring that they'd both just exited, albeit in entirely different ways.

"Ok, number one: I stayed in Sunnydale because the goons that created you would've tried to kill me if I'd come anywhere near them, no matter what they told you."

She punctuated the statement with a standing side kick that blasted the now spent clone high enough to send her back into the ring. Faith slinked up the now dented steps, following her back into the squared circle.

"Number two: Xander is the exact opposite of what you say. He's got more balls than any man I've ever known. When I didn't give a rat's ass about him he tried to help me. I repaid him by trying to choke him to death, as you so thoughtfully reminded me of." She kicked the nearly motionless faux-Faith in the side, imploding her ribs and generating a screech of pain from her other.

"When we got rid of the First, I was gonna give him a quickie. You know, my special way of saying thank you." She chuckled. "Otherwise I might've actually had to say the words, and big tough Faith wasn't about to show any feelings. Nooo, can't do that."

She lifted the partially conscious clone by her hair and stood her upright. "He wouldn't do it. That son of a bitch went and did something no one had ever done before: he showed me respect. I didn't get it right away, but that's what he was doing."

"To make a long story short--'cause it looks like you're about to pass out from pain--I fell completely in love with him. I'd never been in love before. It was completely new to me; intimacy in my world was a john who had the decency to say thank you after leaving a twenty on my nightstand. "

"You wanna know why I kicked the living shit outta you so easily? They made you out of a different girl. The DNA they used for you had the same strength and attitude, but not the spirit. Not the love. I know that sounds corny, but hey, I give you Exhibit A--"she pointed up and down at the thoroughly thrashed body of her dark side--"and I rest my case."

"I'm stronger than I've ever been because I have a reason to live. I have something worth fighting for. Something for me and me alone. I'm Xander's girl, and I'm damn proud of it."

She dropped her other unceremoniously to the mat at the center of the ring.

"Oh, and one more thing. I've had more sex than most human beings ever will, and I'm 22 years old. I did it for a living, and after I was called I just did it for fun. Big, small, male, female, demon, human....I got around, honey. That's nothing to be proud of, but it was what it was."

"In all that time, with all those partners, not one of them made me feel the way Xander does with one touch from his fingertips. What was it you said, he can't get me out of second gear?" Faith laughed out loud. "One look from those big brown eyes and I'm already in third, and my God, can he downshift."

Faith knelt next to her fallen enemy. "Thanks for listening to me. I really think I needed to get that out, even if you were unconscious for some of it. Now...what am I to do with you? I don't have my Chosen One Handbook with me right now to tell me the protocol when it comes to cloned Slayers."

She rose and paced around the ring, talking to herself. "Thing is, if I let you live you'll heal pretty fast, and come after us again. On the other hand, I guess you're technically human, and that's off limits outside of self defense. I need Buffy for this....she so much better at these angst ridden decisions. Wait a minute. Nothing says I can't disable you somehow so you can't fight. Maybe--"

She didn't get the chance to finish as a berserk clone came at her with a bowie knife obtained from her pocket, screaming in fury.

Faith caught her wrist, idly wondering how such a big knife could fit into her pocket. The two stared into each other's eyes, the knife between their bodies brilliantly reflecting the floodlights of Madison Square Garden. Their strength was virtually equal under normal circumstances, but Faith had beaten her clone to a bloody, broken pulp.

This was a desperate last gasp, and both knew it. Slowly, Faith forced the business end of the blade toward her enemy and spoke softly through gritted teeth.

"Take it from experience. This part's gonna sting."

She buried the knife deep in her opponents belly, and held it there for a moment.

"This is the part Buffy forgot."

She wrenched the knife directly upward and dropped her rapidly dying counterpart to the arena floor. Faith looked down at her, head slightly tilted.

"Thanks for making that so easy."

The dark haired clone was no more. Faith sighed to herself, spun around and leaped out of the ring, sprinting at top speed.

Once she left the main complex onto Madison Avenue, she pumped her legs with all she had, speeding with supernatural adrenaline pumping through her. Next stop, Yankee Stadium.

Toward her Xander.

- End Chapter Eighteen -