A/N: So this is a story i've already posted but had to take out cause of a little writters block. The weeks turn into months and so on, but now it is done! So for the people who were reading this, sorry for the wait, and for the new readers review me please. nothing more to say for now
CHAPTER 1
Xander had never thought how fast time had flown until today. When the whole splitting into different continents thing came out, he opted for Africa right away. He knew that no matter how much Willow and Buffy loved him, they wouldn't go with him. Africa was going to be a hard territory for the "New Council" to conquer. Many of the slayers there were probably in native tribes and would probably take a long time to locate, not to mention convincing them to come to England to train. It was perfect. Then he could be alone. Like he wanted to. He needed time. To forget. To forget that he only had one eye. To forget Sunnydale. To forget the battle. To forget that Anya died. And he got his time. But today his time was up. He was going back to England.
Dawn was thrilled. It had been two months or was three?since she last saw the Council. They finally built a proper training room; with actual weapons this time. She rushed to the library. It was even more amazing than she had imaging. There were thousands of ancient texts in there. This was a progress. Things were finally getting on the right track.
"There you are!" Dawn spun around to see her sister walking in. Buffy never did care about the book-part of slaying, but even she was impress with the library. "This certainly beats Giles's bookcase."
"Where's is he, by the way?"
"Robin said there was some problem in Liverpool. Some slayer got into a fight."
"When's he coming back?"
"Sometime tomorrow." Buffy answered as she made her way to the window. She looked outside with a sad expression. She was definitely thinking of him. "We should rest up. It was a long flight." Buffy said to her.
"I think I'll just look around some more." Buffy nodded and walked away. Dawn knew she was still upset about what happened with "The Immortal". Dawn didn't like him from the start. Ok, maybe she did. That was something she thought no one could avoid. He was liked by... well, everyone. Buffy fell for him. And now she didn't want to talk about it. Well, maybe this trip would be good for her. Take her mind off him. Dawn hope it would.
She was doing that thing again. Where she just stood there and stared blankly at the wall. At lease it was at the wall this time. She never slept. Maybe because she was really a possessed corpse. Or maybe, sleeping for, who knows how many zillion years in a coffin was sleep enough. Either way, Illyria's little stares where getting on Spike's nerves.
They were in London of all places. Spike knew he would return home someday. Where he was born. Where he was killed. And where he had been born again. As a demon. Where he met his first love. Cecily. Where he met his first passion. Drusilla. Where he met him.
Angel.
He didn't want to think about Los Angeles. The images came to him anyway. The hard pouring rain. The smell of Gunn's blood. When Illyria told them Wesley died. When the army attacked. When he heard Gunn's dead body fall to the ground among all the chaos. When he loss consciousness. When he woke up alone, surrounded by corpses. When Illyria told him Angel died.
"The pain surrounds us still." Illyria's words nearly startled Spike. "How long does human grief has to last?
He didn't answer. He didn't know. He remembered when Buffy died. He felt like he'd never get over it. This was different. He'll probably forget eventually. But the pain was still there. And he knew he had to pass it to her. He didn't want to. But Buffy deserves to know. She loved Angel. And somehow, though it was very ironic, Spike was the one she had to hear it from.
The council had really change. It was over a year since Xander last saw it, but "Wow" was the only word he could think of. Vi was the first to meet him. She filled him in quickly while she took him to his room. Giles had pull some strings with what was left of the old council's resources. He founded the place as a school for girls. Which was technically not a lie. And Giles was actually giving them a proper education that not only involved demons.
They had over a hundred girls already training there, something Xander noticed on the way to his room. The place was pack with teenage girls. Once in a while he'd see a twenty-year-old and Vi told him that there are older slayers, but they can pass as students so they trained privately.
"This is your room." The young slayer said as she opened the door to, what Xander believe, was a five-star hotel bedroom. "I have to go. Training sessions in five minutes." Vi left after that. Xander didn't even ask if the others had arrived. He let himself fall on the bed and a few minutes later he was in dreamland.
The field was beautiful that day. Dawn was glad that Giles found a place with lots of open space. She went to the barn to see if there were any free horses. She was dying for a ride. But sadly the horses were all taken. One of the many ex-potentials was already riding off with the last one as Dawn got there. She thought in going back to the school when she noticed someone sitting by a three. A redheaded woman Could it be?Dawn walk closer to confirm.
"Dawnie!" It was her. Willow looked great. Brazil must've been working out for her. She stood up and they hugged. Ten minutes later they were on their way back to the school.
Willow was going on and on about this encounter with a priestess who wanted to steal some crystal. Dawn tried to follow most of it. It seems the priestess was the one responsible for Willow's little astral-projection disaster in the Himalayas. Dawn remembered when Buffy heard the news. She was so scared she was ready to fly to there herself, but the whole problem had been solve before Buffy bought a plane ticket.
"So... is Buffy still..." Willow trailed off not wanting to cause any trouble. She was worried about her. Willow had only met "The Immortal" once. But she knew Buffy was falling for him.
"She says she doesn't want to talk about it."
"Poor Buffy." Dawn smiled. Willow always worried about everyone. It was nice to have her back. They made to the building and bump into Vi, who told them Xander had arrived and was in his room. Willow suggested they all would see each other at dinner, that way Xander could get some rest. Dawn agreed and headed to her and Buffy's room. It was nice to be together again.
Night had finally fallen. Not that Spike couldn't have gone out during the day. There were the sewers. But Spike was not in a hurry. After all he was avoiding her. He had been since he came back. He didn't even have the guts to go to her when he became corporeal again. But it wasn't about him anymore. It was about Angel now.
"I think this is the way." Illyria told the cab driver in Fred's voice. Spike told her it would be best to look more normal when they were out, but he forgot how hard it was for him to see her imitate Fred. He knew it wasn't her. He could smell it. He could sense it. But it still hurt.
The cab stopped at a huge estate. Summers Academy. Spike wondered who came up with the name. It was probably the watcher. It seems like his sort of thing. Probably as a reward to Buffy or something like that. They paid the driver and got out.
"Do you wish me to remain in this form?" Illyria's voice asked in Fred's body.
"Probably for the best if you do." Spike told her as they walk to the gate. Yeah. This most certainly was going to be Hell.
Xander woke up realizing it was night. Great, now he's sleep time was officially ruing for the rest of the week. He found a note at the night table. It was Willow's. She said they were having dinner at nine. Xander looked at his watch. Then, remembered he was in London not Kenya and looked at the clock on the wall. It was 8:37. He got up and headed into the shower.
After twenty minutes, he was ready. He let himself into the hallway and was scared he might get lost on the new building. Thank God he ran into Shannen. She told him where the private dinning room was, and in about ten minutes he found it.
Buffy hugged him first. Willow and Dawn grabbed him at the same time. Xander was surprise to see it was just the four of them.
"Andrew's late!" Dawn explained. "He got held up in his class." Xander couldn't believe Giles's what's actually letting Andrew teach. Andrew was probably the more active member of the gang. The one that took the time to travel to every base of the council. Every base but Africa.
Xander thought of Andrew often. He was the last person to see Anya alive. He was the only one of the Sunnydale survivors that Xander wanted to be around with after it happen. He didn't know why. Well he did. But he didn't like the reason.
"Kennedy's catching up with the others, she'll be come over later." Willow said with a smile. She and Kennedy broke up months ago, but they've remained good friends. And Kennedy and Xander actually kept in touch often. Well, she was the manlier one of Xander's friends. And that included Andrew.
The door opened and Kennedy looked surprise as she walked in. "You're not going to believe who's here." She said as she approached the table.
"Who is it?" Dawn asked alarmed.
But Kennedy didn't have to answer, cause Spike made his way in.
Dawn couldn't believe it. It was dream. It had to be. Spike? Alive? Well, maybe not alive but not totally dead either. And who was that girl with him? Spike looked like he was about to say something but Andrew walked in before he could.
"Spike!" Andrew shrieked in surprise. "You came!"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Kennedy interjected. "You knew he was back?"
"Um..." Andrew looked ashamed. He did know. Why didn't he tell her? Dawn thought they have gotten close. Andrew even revealed to her his best kept secret. But he never told her this.
"Don't blame the boy." Spike spoke up. The attention was on him now. "I made him promise not tell."
"Why? Are you evil?"
"Xander, stop." Willow ordered to Xander as she held him back. But Dawn wondered the same.
"No, I'm not." Spike answered not taking his eyes off Buffy. Buffy looked externally surprise. She hadn't spoken. And Dawn thought she couldn't even if she tried.
"Spike, what are you doing here?" Willow asked him, obviously trying to calm the group down.
"It's a long story." He started. "But I need to speak to Buffy alone first." They all looked at Buffy. Dawn didn't know what her sister was going through right now. Buffy nodded her approval and one by one they left the room. Dawn gave a quick look as Spike. Whatever the news he was about to tell Buffy was, it was definitely bad news.
In the hallway, Xander and Kennedy had cornered Andrew, forcing to tell them how much he knew. Willow was looking at the door, worrying about what was going on. Dawn turned her attention to the girl that came with Spike. She was a skinny girl. Long brown hair. It's not that she wasn't an attractive girl. It's just she didn't seem Spike's type. She looked like a nice girl. Spike doesn't date nice girls.
"Hi, I'm Dawn." She said to the girl as she walked to her. She didn't answer. She just tilted her head, in a way Dawn thought, looked unnatural. She looked Dawn over.
"You're irradiating light. You're body was once energy." The girl told her, in a voice that didn't seem human. It had been a long time since dawn thought about being the key. An ancient ball of energy that could tear the fabric of the whole dimension. Maybe this girl was crazy. It would explain why she knows Dawn's the key. Only the insane can see the truth. Maybe Dawn shouldn't be talking to the possibly insane woman that hangs out with a supposed to be dead vampire.
"I'm just going to wait over there." She told the girl and walk to Willow. Dawn was growing concern over Spike's news.
Spike started from the beginning. Returning as ghost. Becoming corporeal. The infamous Shanshu prophecy. He had to stop for a moment when Buffy reacted to Cordelia's death. He thought they knew. Guess Angel kept it to himself.
"She died?" Was all Buffy could say. Spike continued. When he got to the battle. It was obvious Buffy knew where he was going. She seemed surprised to hear about Wesley, but not that taken about it.
"It was an army a hundreds," Spike began after a moment. When he said the words, Buffy was already in tears. This was what he didn't want. To make her suffer. Willow came in, obviously impatient to find out what was the news.
Spike gave Willow a shorter version. He'd only stopped when Willow seemed confuse over Fred's dead. "But she's outside." The witch said to him gesturing to the door. Spike didn't know Willow and Fred knew each other. He told her about Illyria and Willow was understandably upset. She got more upset finding out about Cordelia and Wesley, and even Gunn, who Spike didn't know she knew either.
As Spike told Willow about Angel, he kept an eye on Buffy who had been standing in the corner of the room with a lost stare. Willow went to her side after Spike had finish. Spike had walked out of the room and told Illyria it was time to go.
"Spike!" Dawn called out before they left. "There're plenty of rooms here! You can stay here."
"No luv." He answered sadly. "I can't. I just can't." And he and Illyria left. It was worst than he had imaging.
To be continued...