Ch. 1

Xander ushered everyone off of the bus. The number that had arrived here was greatly diminished, due to the fact that almost all of the new Slayers had been dropped off at different parts of the United States.

He took a head count and realized that Buffy hadn't gotten off of the bus. He looked at Willow and Dawn and said, "Could you guys get Buffy?" The sadness in his voice was such that every person present wanted to break down and cry. "Andrew? Can we talk?"

Andrew sighed and stepped around the bus. He felt bad, it was true, but Xander knew that Andrew had seen nothing. He'd told him several times, but Xander was persistent.

"Andrew...." Xander paused. He opened his mouth, hesitated, and plowed on. "Anya. Did- did she say.... Anything? About me?"

Andrew was shocked. All Xander kept asking was how she died. He'd never asked about their conversation. "Well, she, um...." Andrew did some very quick thinking. Were he to speak honestly, he would have told Xander that he couldn't remember a thing they'd spoken about. "S-she said to tell you that, um, she loved you very, uh, much and-"

"Don't lie to me, Andrew." Xander's voice quivered and he knew that he was very close to losing control.

"Okay. Fine. I can't remember a goddamn thing," Andrew said, beginning to cry. "Are you happy? All I know is that one minute we were fighting the Bringers and then she was gone and then everyone was trying to get me out and she was-" He broke off. His crying ceased and he had a look of determined silence on his face.

Xander's eyes flared up. "Listen to me. You tell me what happened to her. What the hell did you see?"

Andrew saw the tears welling up in Xander's eyes again and he gave in. "She was cut. Slashed, really. Cut diagonally in half."

Xander pulled Andrew into a hug. "Thank you. That's what I needed to know." His tone changed. "If anyone finds out about this-"

"I'll meet the same gruesome fate as Anya?"

Xander pulled back and punched him. "You'll be praying for it."

Cupping his lip to check for blood, Andrew nodded.

They walked back around the bus. Xander saw Dawn in the bus doorway struggling with someone inside. He heard her trying to coax the person out. Willow was doing the same thing from within the bus.

Dawn got an arm out. "Come on, Buffy. We made it. No vamp attacks or anything. We're at Xander's aunt and uncle's house. Ow! Buffy, you have to get off the- ow!" Buffy had hit her twice and on the second strike, she knocked Dawn down. Giles grabbed a bandage to wrap up the new cut on Dawn's arm and Faith and Kennedy walked onto the bus to get Buffy.

Buffy made several incoherent grunting noises, and then calmed down. "I got her," said Faith as she slung Buffy over her shoulder. "Lead the way, Xander- it's your family's place."

Xander walked up to the door. A note was there, saying to come on in. He walked inside, and everyone followed. Soon, all that was to be seen was a Sunnydale school bus outside of 99 Madison Avenue in Red Bank, New Jersey.