Hello to whoever is reading this! Old readers or new. It's been a while since I've touched this story and if there's anyone still out there who cares, well, I apologize. So let me say that I went back and reread my story and while I'll never claim to be the best writer I know that I could do better then what I put up, so I'm rewriting my chapters, well some of them at least, and I will work my way up to finishing this story for anyone who wants to know how it ends. I'll admit that I have had a lot of trouble transitioning from my latest chapter (Welcoming Old Friends- I hope that's right (; ) to the next chapter so if anyone has suggestions...

Anyway, continue on, or not, I'll try to get working on my latest chapter while rewriting some more (I've gotten a few chapters already done) and I think that will reignite my spark for this story :)

1. The Aftermath

Sunnydale was destroyed. Like the city, the original Scoobies' lives had also fallen apart, but they didn't realize that until it was too late.

They always had a love-hate relationship with the city. It was their home, there was an obliged love for it, but there was also a hated for it due to all the tragedies that took place there. Its obliteration gave them a fresh start. Their homes and possessions were gone, and while it was sad, it was also liberating. They spent some time in L.A. after the final battle to rest and decide what their next move would be. They now had to take all the new slayers into consideration, so Giles suggested starting a kind of school to train and teach the new slayers, if that's what they wanted. If not, then at least they'd would be made aware as to what they were. Giles got the Council involved, or what was left of it, on board so they headed to England and established their new headquarters.

Everyone decided to be a part of it, and they all had their jobs within the new program. Buffy, Faith, Kennedy, and Robin would train. Giles would be in charge of everything, and would also teach, as would Willow. Xander would do a little of everything, and Dawn was going to study to become a Watcher since there were so few left.

The idea was wonderful and exciting at first, but it was just a honeymoon phase. Eventually the repercussions of the past few months caught up with them. Buffy was understandably grief stricken, although she kept it inside as she always did, and slowly she grew to resent the others. She was in pain, but they didn't notice, or acknowledge, her feelings because they had their own pain to deal with, but some of what she was feeling, just a fraction in comparison to her grief, was due to them. They had doubted her too much, especially after all that they had been through over the years, and then they had the nerve to kick her out of her own home, her mother's home. It was the biggest slap in the face, and they acted like it never happened, like it was forgettable. Buffy wondered whether or not they'd turn their backs on her again if given the opportunity. But the biggest thing she was dealing with was Spike's death. It left a profound effect on Buffy, a lot more than she expected it to. She didn't realize how present he always was in her life, how much he had been there with her through, until he was gone. Now he was only alive in her dreams, and even then things were rarely happy.

Xander was also filled with grief after losing Anya. They had spent years together. He knew her, and she knew him, like no one else did. There was much that he regretted about their relationship and in her last days they were finally making up for that, but then her life was taken from her, and him. He wasn't holding up that well, and he wasn't sure how much longer he could hold up at all.

With everyone else wrapped up in their own things, Willow spent more time with Kennedy when she could. Dawn was in the middle of it all, and Faith and Robin were on the sidelines. Although, Faith stayed loyal to Buffy after they had talked about things a bit. And Andrew… Well, he saw everything play out, and was helpless to stop it.

The Scoobies' lives were in a downward spiral, but would they survive it, or let it tear them apart?