Personal (Buffy season 8)

*After Buffy Season 7. I have never watched Angel past season 2 so it is not in continuity with Angel or the season 8 Buffy comics. Each episode is split into four parts. A chapter also represents a part of the episode.

Episode 1

Personal

Buffy lay asleep dreaming. She had been dreaming about Angel and how the two of them could have had a possible future together.

'Of course there's a future between me and someone who could rip my head off if I spent the night with him' Buffy thought as she continued to drift further into her dream. She could see Angel stood close near her, he moved closer so that she could feel his touch, just as she knew it was. She remembered that night they spent together it was her birthday and she had spent her time with Angel, it was her first time and she still wished it had never ended, especially the way it did.

Buffy can feel how uneasy Angel is as if he needs to tell her something, something important.

"I love you" he spoke softly beside her.

She needn't reply as he knew she loved him back. However the statement was said with sorrow and reminded Buffy of before; Spike, he also said he loved her however she never could quite love him back as she did Angel.

"Maybe it's because I'm dead," Angel shouted, Buffy watched as he began to change, shaking his head, his face had changed into that of the beast his fangs had appeared above his mouth- Angel was mad. Buffy stepped away staring deeply at him feeling his anger and pain.

"Why do I feel this way? So Angry!" Angel clenched his fist and smacked it against the wall, Buffy was startled she'd never seen him this hurt.

"I'm losing it Buffy and soon I will have to be stopped," Buffy once again stepped back as Angel's face changed back to human form.

He intensely starred into her eyes, silence filled the air. He then turned and walked to a man stood in robes hidden in the background. The man had most of his face covered except for his mouth. Buffy had never seen the man before however she noticed that he shared a resemblance with the servants of the first evil. Buffy knew however he was much more powerful- she could feel it.

The man evilly smiled at Buffy as he opened a door filled with darkness which Angel softly stepped into no looking back. The man then followed smiling again at Buffy before closing the door after himself.

The dream is then shattered by Buffy falling out of bed on an unsuspecting Dawn who was on the floor in a sleeping bag. She awoke startled.

"Ow!" She shouted.

(Opening credits)

Part 1 of 4

I was a nice sunny day in the suburbs of south of Texas. The sky was beautifully pure blue; nature was whistling in the background, the temperature was unusually hot even for South Texas and Buffy was stood taking all this in along with her thoughts. She was also still shook up by the dream she had last night, she couldn't quite put a finger on what was making her feel anxious, it wasn't the fact the dream featured a creepy man in robes who resembled a servant of the first. It was the fact that she was dreaming of her past love- Angel, who seemed to be going mad. She thought she had got over him after all these years but she just didn't understand her sudden interest in him again, was the dream important she did not know however she feared the worst.

"Hey what's up B?"

Buffy turned to see a woman stood in black trackeys and a creased Nike top. If it wasn't for the long hair and the smell of Britney Spears Curious Buffy would have thought it was a man. However it was Faith once Buffy's most deadly enemy now probably one of Buffy's best allies.

"Nothing… Just you know admiring the view, getting some fresh air."

"Yer I know what you mean it was getting pretty cramped in there with those new Chinese folk who have turned up. I wouldn't mind but they never stop talking and it wouldn't be too bad if we knew what they were going on about, you don't know what they could be saying,"

Buffy managed a chuckle. She looked back at the hostel; it was quite big to say that they were out in the middle of nowhere. After the battle at Sunnydale the gang got on the high school bus and drove anywhere as long as it was away from that hell which was Sunnydale. They decided to re-fuel at a gas station when Xander realised that there was something wrong with the buses engine. They were told by the gas man that there was a hostel not far from here in walking distance. Which was true, plus the hostel made them feel really welcome they offered them a place to stay for a couple of nights and even offered to help fix the bus. Buffy was grateful for that, yet she didn't show it, as there were the dreams that haunted her mind and the fact that she defeated the first evil and lost people she loved in doing so.

"What's up Buff, I know you haven't been the same since the Hellmouth you've hardly said anything since we arrived, look I know me and you aren't the best of friends but I would hope by now, me and you respected each other and were able to tell each other …. Well….stuff"

Faith waited for a response she knew something was wrong with Buffy she could feel it, it was like they had a vibe between each other which let one another know how the other was feeling. Maybe it was a slayer thing.

"I heard you talking last night…"

Buffy titled her head as to show interest, faith knew she was on to something.

"You hurt Dawn pretty bad when you landed on her…"

Faith and Buffy laughed out loud to one another. Buffy trusted Faith and even found her funny at times but something inside of her was telling her to keep her gob shut. Maybe it was the fear of getting hurt again or maybe the embarrassment of being laughed at. Her feelings towards Angel should be kept secret for know.

"Well anyway, if you need anything you know where you can find me,"

Faith slowly backed away.

"Faith…" Buffy shouted "….Thanks."

They both nodded at each other, two stubborn women not willing to let their emotions out- instead they choose to keep them kept up inside like a cancer. What happened in Sunnydale affected them both. The destruction of Sunnydale and in Buffy's eyes the weight of the world. And unfortunately the battle wasn't over and they both knew it.

Buffy then turned her back to Faith to admire the wonderful view which was deserted. She decided to forget the past and what can't be changed and look to the future. The first question which popped into her mind was 'Where we gonna go?'.

Willows Dormitory Room

"You ok Xander?"

"No do I look ok...."

Willow was shook up by the response, she didn't expect Xander to snap like that, it wasn't the Xander she knew. Willow remembered the Hellmouth- the final battle with the first. She had used all her power and something had changed in her but she felt for once in her life in control. However she knew for Xander he felt loss. Anya died in that battle to save other people she risked her life. Xander could not face the loss he kept his feelings inside unwilling to let them out even to willow. Willow could also see he was stressed with the burden of having to fix the bus which had broken down only 10 miles outside of Sunnydale, so maybe he had every right to snap.

"Look… I'm sorry Will but I need to focus, this stupid design I found in the Manuel doesn't make any sense…"

Willow snatched the piece of paper off Xander and turned it the other way round and smiled at him. Xander's face went bright red in embarrassment.

"I'll be in the garage,"

Xander swiftly exited the room. Willow just smiled at Xander as the memories came flooding back of when things used to happen like this in high school. She sighed. Just then a wining Dawn came bashing through the door, face red and swollen from last night she was being followed by Kennedy who looked quite amused.

"Have you seen my sister anywhere?"

Willow shook her head in response making Dawn even more frustrated.

"Have you seen what she's done to my face? My head look like a basketball. Gees why do I have to share a room with my dangerous sister."

Kennedy was laughing so much she was nearly on the floor. While Willow remained calm.

"It's not that bad sweetie…."

"Kennedy said I might develop like some sort of brain tumour and die."

Willow immediately gave Kennedy daggers who in turn had stopped laughing. Kennedy knew that look.

"Look Dawn you're not going to get a tumour and your most defiantly not going to die, but if you don't' believe me why don't you go and ask Giles?"

Dawn's face began to lighten up.

"Yer your right,"

She turned to face Kennedy and hit her on the shoulder.

"That's for putting ideas in my head."

Dawn seemed pretty content with that and so left the room. Soon as she left Kennedy burst out laughing and Willow began to show amusement in her face. Kennedy jumped on the bed to sit next to willow.

"Do you like tormenting little girls now"

Willow looked Kennedy in the eye.

"No but I like tormenting big girls."

Kennedy leaped onto willow tickling her and they both started shouting in that girly way.

Reception

Giles sat peering into a computer screen he had been doing so for the last two hours or so. The nice man who owned the hostel Jason Rift had let him use the computer to contact some people who Giles knew, however the computer was slow and old and Giles was now beginning to get nasty with it and myself.

"What's up Giles?"

Giles for a smear second looked away from the computer screen to see Faith leaning on the doorway with the sunshine bearing through behind her.

"Oh hello Faith, have you been standing there long?" Almost a hint of embarrassment in his voice.

"No I just arrived….." Faith slowly walked over to the computer screen while speaking. "Buffy's been acting weird; she is struggling to bear with this unlike the rest of us…"

No reply from Giles who continued clicking away at things on the computer.

Faith slowly appeared at the side of Giles to look at the monitor; she had noticed he had not been listening to her.

"Hmmm the new watchers council forum, how very…you" Faith chuckled aloud. That had brought Giles' attention.

"Actually Faith the new council is offering a home in England and there being very considerate of what's happened so if you could either go away or keep you opinions to yourself."

At first Faith seemed to take no notice of What Giles had just said. She was fiddling with a pencil on the reception desk, then she grapped hold of Giles's chair and spun it round.

"Me and you need to talk."

Giles sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Meet me in my room in five minutes." Giles spoke.

Faith seemed happy at the response so she left Giles to continue with whatever he was doing.

Buffy and Dawn's Dormitory Room.

The room was empty until Matilda used her staff key to enter. Matilda was the Hostel's cleaner. The Hostel was 25 years old she worked there for 21 years of that. The hostel felt more like a hotel on one floor. It had ten quite big rooms, which were currently being shared by the Scooby gang. Unfortunately there wasn't enough room with most of the slayer shaving to sleep in the lobby with there sleeping bags. In Buffy's room dawn slept on the floor and Buffy got the bed. Matilda was on her daily cleaning rounds, Buffy's room was one of the first for the sweep. Matilda was in her early forties, a Mexican origin and she loved her job very much. It wasn't the pay as she didn't get paid that much it the comfort she got of feeling part of a unit a family which unfortunately Matilda's never experienced due to her mum and dad dying at an early age.

As she was cleaning Buffy's room she hummed along to her own tune and felt content. While tidying she saw a photo scrunched up on the floor beside Buffy's bed. It was a picture of a man in a black sweater. He had very dark eyes to match his hair. The Cleaner thought the man looked attractive and wondered if he was one of the girl's boyfriends. She looked around the room where she saw a frame she tested if the picture would fit which it did. She placed the picture inside of it. She took a step back and smiled at it then she looked around the room to check for anymore rubbish which there wasn't. So she left leaving the picture of Angel smiling in a wooden frame.

End of part 1

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