How the Buffyverse ends. Far in the future the Scoobies all rest in peace with an elderly Dawn the last surviving member. Or is she? (WARNING! Real weepie!)

Timeline; in the future

Disclaimer; all belongs to the genius Joss Wheldon and Mutant Enemy and naught to I.

The Last Scooby

Dawn leaned back in her chair, relaxing in the last few moments of sunshine. She always watched the sunset, a little ritual she enjoyed every night.

She could hear her grandchildren laughing in the garden as they played happily together. She could just make out the sound of their parents chatting inside as they finished the dishes. When the sun had set she would join them. But she felt so tired today, so very, very tired.

She closed her eyes just for a second.

And then she was falling. Falling deeper and deeper, waves of blackness surrounding her. She tried to fight, tried to call for help but it was hopeless, she just fell deeper and deeper until the darkness was all around her, until it consumed her entirely.

Dawn felt very small, alone and afraid.

Then there was a light in the darkness.

And a voice.

She knew that voice. Recognised it from the last time she had heard it, speaking the same word now that had been it's last, ten long years ago.

"Dawn"

And she was there. Her sister, Buffy Summers. Looking just as she did when she was sixteen, just as Dawn always pictured her. Not the elderly matriarch who had transformed the lives of generations of Slayers for the better with her leadership and guidance. Not the frail old lady whose hand Dawn had held as she finally gave up the tempestuous life she had clung to for so long, the sound of Buffy's children and grandchildren weeping echoing in her ears as she turned off the life-support system at her elder sister's request.

She felt that hand in hers again now. Dawn's own hand had lost it's aged look, her skin was young and fresh once more, just as it had been when she was a child. A strand of her hair brushed past her face, no longer grey but as dark and lustrous as it was when she was a teenager. She saw her reflection in Buffy's eyes, taking a moment to recognise her 14 year old self.

She flung herself into Buffy's arms, hugging her tighter than she had ever thought possible. Her embrace was returned with perfect rapture.

"Oh Buffy, oh Buffy, oh my dear sweet Buffy, you've come back to me at last!" she sobbed.

Dawn felt another pair of arms encircle her waist. With an incredible effort she peeled her head away from Buffy's shoulder and looked up to see who it was.

Mom.

Just as she had seen her in her vision all those decades ago, beautiful and glowing, dressed all in white. Dawn tried to speak but no words came. Then Joyce smiled and Dawn realised that no words were necessary.

"Dawnie!" Hank Summers joined their embrace.

"Daddy!"

Then they were all there. Tara, Xander, Oz, Cordelia, Giles, Faith, Anya, Amanda, Jenny, Aunt Arlene, her grandparents, her cousins, Spike, Angel, Woods, Riley, Kennedy. Even Miss Kitty. Everyone Dawn had ever loved and lost were all around her all at once. Somehow they were able to embrace her all at the same time. Somehow she was able to embrace them all back.

Dawn wept with joy, every atom of her body filled with a mixture of utter euphoria mixed with the most perfect contentment. Her only wish was that this feeling would last forever.

And so it did...

She gently planted one last kiss on Dawn's forehead, the warmth of Dawn's body gradually fading just as the sunlight with the dusk. Dawn's expression was one of total peace, just as though she had gone to sleep. To sleep perchance to dream.

She would wait a few minutes before she told Dawn's family. She knew their grief and shock would be tempered with joy that Dawn had died with such ease and serenity. And that they knew with certainty that there was life beyond, a precious piece of knowledge bringing comfort to a select few.

For now she would simply watch the sunset. And say her own goodbyes.

"Goodnight my precious Dawnie, my lovely little girl. Tell them I love them, tell them to wait for me. I'll be along in time, we'll all be together then.

And she cried. Cried for the joy and beauty of Dawn's life and the gentle nature of her passing.

And cried because she was truly alone now, the last of the Scooby gang.

Willow Rosenberg, the white haired, immortal goddess, guardian of the Slayer line. The little girl Buffy Summers found in the courtyard on her first day at Sunnydale High.

The last Scooby.