-A New Beginning-

Chapter 1

The days seemed to have gotten longer after everything went down. Nothing was the same, Sunnydale was gone. And with two of the Scoobies being cut from the picture, things did not look so bright. Anya was dead and Spike had sacrificed himself to keep the whole world from being destroyed. Things just didn't work like they used to. The bus ride to Cleveland was taking forever and the rest of the potentials were chattering in the back of the bus that they had commandeered. Buffy was not looking forward to the slayage that lied ahead. She was kind of happy when all of Sunnydale was sucked into the ground. She looked around the bus and then looked out the window. Dawn was asleep on Xander's shoulder and Willow was tending to the bumps and bruises everyone had sprouted up after the fight.

Giles: You know what has to be done once we get to Cleveland, don't you?"

Buffy: Yeah. Find the hell mouth and kill everything that thinks it might ever want to sneak out of it ever. Giles, I've died twice, destroyed one hell mouth and a town for that matter. I think I can handle another hell mouth. I'm prepared, it's like cheating on a test. You already know the answers and have them memorized before you come in and start working on it.

Xander: Yeah Giles, we know what we're doing this time. We know that we've gotta keep our eyes...or eye, open for any other Big Bad's that might pop up. And you still have some books so we can always get into research mode if we need to.

Giles: Yes, but unfortunately I didn't get all of them so we wont be prepared for everything.

Willow: I'm sure that you'll find someone in Cleveland that loves the smell of musty books just as much as you do.

Buffy continued to stare out the window. She wondered how things would be now that she was starting all over again. Spike and Anya were gone, and they were important to the Scoobies no matter how unhelpful Anya was or how perverted Spike was. Things just wouldn't be the same.

Dawn woke up and came to sit by Buffy.

Dawn: So, what do you want to do when we get there...wherever there is?

Buffy: I don't know, maybe shop. I'm thinking of buying a bunch of clothes that I can't afford.

Dawn: You know what I mean.

Buffy: Yeah, we'll have to look for a house. What I mean is, Giles will have to find a house so we can all live in it and share it with him so he wont get lonely. Then we'll have to find weapons, lots and lots of weapons. And Xander will have to make another case to put them all in. Then I'll have to get another job on top of the hell mouth so I can protect everyone...again. But count me out if it's in a school! I've gone there twice and that is one to many times for me. I'm just hoping it's not as bad in Cleveland.

Dawn: Yeah, me two but I guess it could be fun. I mean, you could always train me to be a potential slayer?

Buffy: Nice try Dawn. Maybe you could learn to keep your room clean before you go and try to save the world from immortal creatures!

Dawn rolled her eyes and then left Buffy's side and went to tend to the potentials with Willow. Buffy got up and the whole bus was completely silent.

Buffy: Alright everybody, in a few hours we're going to arrive in Cleveland and we have to be prepared. We don't know who or what we're going to run into. My plan is to find some form of housing and lots of weapons because in all of this fuss I seemed to have lost mine. And we're going to continue training and we're going to try and get rid of the hell mouth before it has a chance to decide what it's gonna do first. And we all have to agree to work together on this. We ha-

Kennedy: Cut the talk Buffy. We're all tired and we're sick of listening to your talks.

Willow: Kennedy!

Buffy: It's alright Willow. I just need to know if we're in this together. Are we?

Andrew: You mean we can't run away to Mexico if we get scared?

Xander: No, you can. She was talking about the people who are a help to us. You... yeah we don't really care what you do.

Andrew: Oh. Okay.

Buffy: No one's running away to anywhere...except for now.

Kennedy: Well I'm in.

Potentials: We're in.

Principle Wood drove on toward Cleveland as Faith slept in the front seat. Silence fell over the bus as the sun set on the horizon as Buffy anticipated her new life.

-Welcome To Cleveland-

Chapter 2

The bus pulled into a parking lot and Giles stepped off the bus. He walked into a big building and didn't come out for a while. Finally he came out and got on the bus again.

Giles: One of my old friends has lent us a home for a while. It'll be good for us. It's back in the woods so we can train and it has all of the same books that I had back in Sunnydale. Apparently the family who lived there before also housed a slayer. But instead of a watcher from the council, her father was hers. Their family moved in a hurry about 25 years ago and left everything behind.

Xander: Giles is in heaven!

Dawn: I think it sounds perfect. How many rooms are we talking about?

Robin: Yeah, and how many bathrooms?

Giles ignored th comments and gave Principal Wood an address and some directions.

Giles: It will be about another half an hour. And the good news is we wont have to go searching for the hell mouth because it is located in the school right down the street from the house.

Dawn: What is it with hell mouths and schools? I guess demons just like to give highschool students hell.

Xander: Well they do have dark creepy basements to have sacrifices in. And not to mention, students for Buffy to council!

Buffy: Uh, we're not gonna go there. I think I'll continue with the whole training thing. I'm not up to listening to another bunch of kids who think they have problems! I want them to be slayer for a day, then they'll see what depression really is!

Faith finally woke up and came over to the rest of the group.

Faith: What's going on? Were are we gonna stay, or haven't we found a place yet?

Giles: An old friend of mine has a place for us to reside in. At least for as long as we need.

Faith: I heard Xander talking about Buffy starting up her council deal again, is that right?

Buffy: No. I can't stand listening to the little whiners.

Kennedy: We need someone to work there so we have a reason to prance in there when ever we want. Maybe you can do it Wood? Maybe they're looking for a principal.

Wood: I guess, but I think I should help with the training don't you think?

Buffy: Kennedy's right. We need someone in the school so it gives us access to the basement.

Dawn: Don't forget that I have 3 more years left. There's another reason.

Xander: Yeah, but it still doesn't give us an access to the hell mouth, Dawnny.

All of a sudden the bus swerved to the left and then the right, and then something huge landed on the roof of the bus and rolled off. Screams filled the bus, and then there was silence. A dark figure was strewn on the ground behind the bus.

Buffy: Everybody stay here. I'm gonna go see what that was and if it's ok.

Buffy walked out of the bus and everyone went directly to the back of the bus. There was a scream that sounded like, "I need something sharp. Anything sharp." Kennedy opened the back door of the bus and threw out Buffy's axe that she used to fight off the vampires in the war. You could hear kicks and punches being thrown left and right, then there was a slight moan Buffy reappeared in the bus dragging a huge demon behind her.

Buffy: Giles, what is this?

Giles: Uh, I don't know. It does look familiar though. Maybe it's...Buffy I can't see it face, turn it around. It looks like a run of the mill vengeance demon. Leave it on the road. They disintegrate after being dead for about an hour and we don't want to have to clean up that mess.

Willow: Great, it hasn't even been like 10 minutes here and you're already in slayer mode. This is fun, very fun, not.

Xander: Put it outside Buffy, it's kind of smelly and it's leaking stuff all over the floor. And...man he's ugly!

Robin: Can we hurry up and jet to wherever this house is cause I have to tinkle really badly!

Giles: Oh, right. Wood, is the bus still in good enough shape to continue on?

Wood: I think so. starts engine. Yeah, I think we should be ok.

Buffy threw the demon out the door and the bus drove off.

-The House-

Chapter 3

The bus pulled into a long driveway that went way back into the woods. It stopped at a 3 story house with a huge clearing in the back yard. The house was blue but the paint was chipping and there were missing shingles and roof tiles everywhere.

Vi: Are you sure this is right? I mean, it doesn't look like anyone's lived here in ages.

Molly: Yeah, how old is your friend? Like 300 years old? I hope I don't fall through the floors!

Giles: Yes, it does look quite shabby on the outside, but I assure you that the inside is much better. And the back yard is quite nice for training.

Kennedy: Enough sitting around for me. I feel like going and claiming my room. With that many floors, there's sure to be more than enough rooms for everyone.

All of the potentials filed off the bus and into the house. The inside of the house was a little bit better than the outside but not by much. The furniture that was left behind was slowly being eaten away by termites and other bugs.

Willow: It's not that bad. I mean, if I just do a little sprucing up spell this place could be just like home back in sunny-, well, what used to be sunnydale.

Giles: Yes, I guess it could use some sprucing up.

Buffy: But it's nothing a little elbow grease and slayer power can't handle.

Kennedy: I think Willow can do it. It's fine, and if anything goes wrong I'll be here to save her. Don't worry Buffy, she's a big girl now. She'll be fine.

About a week later the house was looking brand new but there was one thing wrong about the house. It was a feeling, no one really felt safe inside the house. There was a presence in the house that was unwelcome.

Willow: I don't know about you but I'm feeling a little icky about this whole house.