Chapter One - Endings

The yellow bus was driving away, leaving nothing behind it but a gigantic hole, where the city of Sunnydale used to be. Underneath the rubble laid the dead body of Buffy Summers. Moments before, Spike was literary destroying everything standing in his way through the amulet given by Angel. Buffy begged him to follow the gang, before it was too late and he'd be swallowed up by the earth itself. Spike insisted he wanted to "see how it's going to end", standing still, despite her begging. As he refused to follow her, Buffy finally admitted her love to Spike, then turned around and ran. But it was too late. As Spike was turning to dust, the whole city collapsed, killing Buffy instantly.

The sun was shining bright on the desolate landscape. Dust was flying all over the air, a certain mass appearing brighter than the rest. Slowly the brighter particles assembled themselves, showing a masculine figure lying on the ground. Spike had reappeared from the dust. He raised his head and, horrified, noticed the sun shining directly on him. His scream broke the silence, as he tried to cover himself up with both arms. His voice started to fade as he realised he didn't feel any pain. He then stood up, both completely confused and amazed at the same time. The amulet, with all its power, had truly made him immortal; nothing could ever get to him anymore.

Spike stood still again for seconds, feeling strangely well, getting acquainted with the touch of the sun on his skin. Then, a painful truth came rushing back in his head: Buffy. Although he was turning to dust at the moment, he had seen her dying. The whole weight of the world fell on his shoulders, pushing him to the ground. He cried in pain, hit the ground with his fist, and then got up again. He didn't know what else to do but walk along the deserted road, as far and as long as he could.


Jess didn't really know what he was doing at Yale, but there he was, acting impulsively as he often did, begging Rory to leave with him. Anywhere would be fine; it didn't matter, as long as he would be with her. Anyway that's what he thought, but Rory kept hammering a firm and heartbreaking "no" over and over. Jess opened his mouth, but not a single word came out. He had nothing to do but to accept her decision and leave. With nothing but a bag filled with clothes and books, he got back in his car and drove away.

The last thing Jess wanted to do was to get back to his father's place, but as of now, he had no other idea but to drive in that direction. It was a two days long drive to Venice, so he'd better leave now he thought. During the next two days, he tried to think about nothing but the road, though the pain inside him was at times too overwhelming to ignore.