After End of Days
Disclaimer: I think it's obvious that I don't own anything from the Buffyverse, but I guess I'll make that more clear by actually saying it. I don't own anything. Really, I don't
Chapter 1: Calm Before The Storm
Buffy wakes up as the alarm clock on her bedside table rings, violently vibrating and twitching forward. Buffy reaches out an arm and catches the alarm as it falls off the table. Standing up, she yawns and stretches her arms towards the ceiling. Buffy lets her hands fall to her sides and walks out of the light blue room into a living-room like common room. On three of the four walls there are two doors equally spaced apart. The fourth wall is pushed back with a wide enough opening for a staircase and a tile landing. There is a square table with four chairs around it in the center of the room beside a couch which has a coffee table in front of it.
Buffy walks around the table and knocks on the door at a diagonal angle from her own. There are two screw holes on the door where a number plate has been previously. Buffy touches the holes before pressing her ear against the door. There is no sound coming from inside the room so Buffy knocks more loudly.
"Gimme a second." A muffled voice comes from inside the door. Buffy overhears a loud thud followed by a yelp of pain and finally the door opens. Xander, hopping on one foot, steps out of his room. "Let's get to it." Xander says in a strained, pained voice. He stops hopping and begins limping towards a large staircase which widens towards the base and spirals to the top floor.
"Are you going to wake up Dawn, you know so she can get some learning?" Xander asks as he and Buffy walk down the stairs. They reach the bottom of the stairs and head through the common room towards a double door to the left of the front door. The first floor is an open, marble room with comfortable chairs and a reception desk. The room is used for meetings and as a hang out for down time. There is a TV and various other things like a pool table.
"It's summer, Xander. No school. She does have all of that summer reading nonsense though. Remember when we were in high school. We didn't have summer reading and we can still read and talk good." Buffy pauses slightly and then pushes through the swinging double doors and finds her self in a large ballroom turned dining room with long tables and a high ceiling. The far wall is entirely made of windows which look out on the city. "I can't get over Rome. It is beautiful."
Xander steps around Buffy as she pauses to look out the window. He pushes through another swinging door and goes into the kitchen. The light from the dining room shines into the dark kitchen through a large opening in the wall above the restaurant sized stove and griddle. Xander pulls a carton of eggs out of the refrigerator and turns on the griddle. Buffy joins him in the kitchen and with a knife, slices some butter off of a stick and puts it on the griddle. The butter hisses and melts.
"Mmm, eggs. Can we have bacon too?" Buffy asks.
"Yeah, hopefully that will wake everyone up."
Buffy rummages through the refrigerator and finds bacon. She peels strips of bacon and lays them on the griddle as Xander cracks eggs and mixes them with a whisk. The bacon sizzles and the smell of cooking breakfast fills the air. Soon enough, Willow, Kennedy, and Dawn all find their way into the kitchen. "What's the big occasion?" Kennedy asks as she takes a cooked piece of bacon that is lying on a serving plate.
"No big deal. I just thought since Andrew is leaving he should have a hot breakfast." Buffy replies, as she sprinkles cheese on the eggs and scrambles them on the griddle. Xander returns from the fridge with juice and milk and sets them down. "Uh, yeah, I helped. I'm actually going to miss him…" Xander chokes up slightly, but regains composure. "Even though he's like a total nerd."
"Oh, Xander. Buffy. I am touched. You have made breakfast for me. No lembas today!" Andrew appears at the door in a bath robe and clasps his hands together in delight.
"Huh?" Buffy nearly drops her spatula as she stares at Andrew.
"Well, not really lembas. Just cereal and pop tarts."
"Once more with the… huh?"
"You know the nutritious Elfish bread? I actually got a recipe off the internet and made some. It didn't turn out very well. It went almost as badly as those damn funnel cakes." Andrew trails off muttering about his funnel cake mishaps.
"Are you guys really talking about Lord of the Rings?" A teenaged girl with straight black hair asks as she enters the room with a t-shirt and pajama pants on. She gives Andrew and Buffy a curious look and picks the juice up off of the counter.
"Navi, my dear, I'll have you know the Lord of the Rings trilogy was a great achievement." Andrew tells the girl as she takes a glass out of the cabinet. Navi rolls her eyes with a smile.
"Are the others coming down?" Buffy asks as the conversation dies down.
"Yeah. Abby can't find her present--", Navi pauses realizing that Andrew is in the room and her eyes widen. He looks at her and she panics, "President." She says lamely. "I meant president… and Dil. Is. Helping. Her…"
"Great cover." Dawn hisses at her with a teasing smile. Navi leaves the kitchen embarrassed and Dawn follows her into the dining room. Willow helps get plates and Kennedy grabs the silverware and napkins. They both go out of the kitchen to set up the table leaving Xander and Buffy to bring the food. When Buffy and Xander join the group at the table two other girls have joined them. An annoyed looking blonde sits down beside Dawn and Navi and a tall bi-racial girl sit beside Willow.
"My room is like a black hole. I'm so angry; I can't find anything once it goes in there. Stakes. Shoes. Ricky Martin poster. All gone." The agitated girl says in a huff.
"Ricky Martin poster? Are you sure you're not mixing up anger with joy and gratitude for your room for disposing of that poster before it drove all of your friends away…" Navi asks as she takes the plate of eggs that is being passed around the table and puts some on her plate. Dil snickers under her breath and reaches across the table to take Abby's bacon.
"Don't worry about it, Abby. I like Ricky Martin too. Livin' La Vida Loca was like my anthem. Especially when I was on the lamb in México." Andrew empathizes with Abby as he replaces the bacon Dil stole from Abby's plate with some of his own.
"I can't believe you're leaving us, Andrew." Dawn says sadly. "You have lived with us for so long it's gonna be so weird not having you around. We'll definitely keep your room for you when you want to visit, won't we?" Dawn asks Buffy.
"Yeah. When you get tired of Giles' lectures on the duty of the Watcher and history of tweed… just call us up." Buffy agrees with a small smile.
"Thanks guys. I guess I should get ready to leave." Andrew replies with a wide smile. He gets up from the table and takes his plate into the kitchen and heads upstairs to pack and get dressed.
On a hill outside of Rome, a large decrepit building stands. The building was most likely at one point a hotel. The outline of the long gone title on the front of the building spells out 'La Grande'. A car pulls up into the empty, cracking parking lot and parks. Dawn and Andrew hop out of the back seat and stand in the parking lot looking up at the endless stories of the vacant hotel. The car's engine turns off and they are followed by Giles, stepping out of the driver's seat, and Buffy.
"Why are we here, Giles?" Buffy asks, blocking the sun from her eyes with one hand and looking up at the hotel with Dawn and Andrew.
"The Watcher's Council has bought this building for you and your friends. We are going to completely renovate the space and you can move in by the end of the summer. I know you're tired of living in a two bedroom apartment." Giles replies with a smile.
Buffy's eyes widen with shock which quickly turns to excitement. "What? This whole building?"
"Yes. When Xander, Willow, and Kennedy return they are going to stay here too. This is going to be the second training facility for the newly empowered slayer and we are letting you run it. The Council in England will give preliminary training and teach them about demonology and such and you will be given the task of field training and actual battle for the advanced Slayers." Giles can hardly finish his sentence because Buffy rushes over to him and hugs him tightly. Giles is slightly window and he hugs Buffy back. Soon enough Dawn and Andrew are also participating in a group hug in the parking lot.
"This is amazing Giles. By the end of the summer we'll be living here?" Dawn asks, having missed most of the conversation. Giles nods and Dawn screams in excitement and hugs Giles more tightly. They all stand silently in a huddle until Giles breaks the silence, "You all do realize I can't breathe, don't you?" Giles chokes out.
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Buffy opens the front door of the hotel and walks in, followed by Xander, Willow, and Dawn. Dil, Abby, Navi, and Kennedy meet them at the door and follow Buffy to a group of couches and chairs arranged around a coffee table and television. Buffy collapses into a deep armchair and sighs audibly. "How was the trip to the airport?" Kennedy asks as she sits down beside Willow in a couch.
"It was fine. Traffic was terrible. I don't know why some countries have people drive on the left side of the road…" Xander says irritably as he reaches to move his eyepatch, but realizes that it isn't there. He looks at his hand awkwardly.
"Uh, they don't." Navi, an Italy native, replies.
"Oh. Well, I guess that's the base of my problems." Xander goes quiet as he thinks.
Buffy stands up and Xander slides into her seat. "I'm going to make lunch. Willow? Kennedy? Anyone wanna help?" Willow and Kennedy shrug and heavily pick themselves up off the couch. They disappear leaving Xander with the Slayers.
"Why do you do that?" Abby asks Xander finally after a long silence.
"What?" Xander snaps out of his thoughts and looks at Abby.
"Why do you always reach for your eye like your making sure it's still there?"
"Because I lost it once and it's still hard to believe that the new one is real."
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Xander turns to his right side to make sure that boards he is nailing together are even. He squints as he lifts his hammer to hit the nail and accidentally turns his head to his other side. Xander misses the nail and hits his finger, immediately drawing blood. "DAMNIT!" Xander screams in rage and pain. He throws the hammer, breaking his window, and littering glass all over the carpet. Xander stands up with his partially constructed wooden frame and smashes it over his bedside table.
Xander sits down in a fury and tears of anger flood his eye. He wipes them away and takes deep breaths to calm himself down. As he calms down, his door opens and Buffy stands in the hallway with the Immortal right behind him. Her worried expression fades to sympathy as she looks at the destroyed frame on the floor beside Xander.
"I can't even make a stupid picture frame. I can't nail four small pieces of wood together with a hammer. A small child could do this." Xander rips his eyepatch off of his face and tosses it across the room. He touches his sunken eye socket and traces the lid. Buffy rushes over to him and takes his hand away from his eye.
Buffy looks up at the Immortal looking for words to comfort Xander. She can't find any so she just squeezes his hand tightly.
"Why haven't you just gotten a transplant?" The Immortal finally speaks. He looks at Xander with a slightly superior air.
"It's not possible to reattach the optic nerve." Xander says, looking up at the Immortal with an annoyed glare.
"Not without magic."
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying that I have a doctor and a healer who can and will make you whole again." The Immortal looks at both Buffy and Xander and smiles at the former. "You're welcome." The Immortal disappears from the doorway leaving Buffy and Xander alone.
Xander blinks his eye repeatedly, stunned. He looks over at Buffy and a genuine smile breaks out across his face for the first time in months.
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Xander blinks with both eyes and smiles at Abby. Navi and Dil have both gotten up and started a game of pool. Abby smiles back and stands up leaving Dawn sitting with Xander. Dawn watches Navi, Abby, and Dil play together; they laugh and talk animatedly about inside jokes that Dawn doesn't understand.
"I don't really fit with them. They have been together for over a year at the Council Headquarters and they already have this bond that I can't even touch. Plus, they have the whole Slayer thing in common." Dawn comments as she and Xander watch the game progress.
"Don't worry. You will eventually." Xander smiles encouragingly at Dawn.
Dawn returns the smile, but it falters and slips back into solemnity. She turns away from Xander and watches the Slayers interact easily. Dawn whispers to herself, "No, I won't."
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"Is Dil your real name?" Dawn asks. She sits opposite the three slayers. Dil, Navi, and Abby sit comfortably close to each other on a leather couch in the living room of Buffy's two bedroom apartment. Dawn sits in an armchair; she sits up rigidly. The apartment space that was already over capacity with the addition of Andrew on the couch is filled with cots for the three girls.
Dil opens her mouth and pauses before replying and Navi jumps into dying the conversation. "Her parents decided to name her Daffodil. They were seriously high at the time and she doesn't like to talk about it."
"Shut up, Navi." Dil pushes her over into Abby, who shoves Navi back into Dil.
Dawn finally runs out of questions to ask the new Slayers and stops talking. The other girls don't try to keep the conversation going and they all lapse into silence. Footsteps echo in the large room and Buffy approaches. She stops and lays her hand on the back of Dawn's chair. She smiles. "I see you are all getting to know Dawn. That's good."
"Yeah." Navi replies blandly.
"Today is your first day here so I figured we should go out on patrol and see where each of you is at. Is that okay?" Buffy asks looking from Navi and Dil to Abby.
The Slayers nod. They jump up immediately and head towards the door. Buffy turns to leave, but Dawn finally speaks. "Can I go?" She asks.
"Maybe some other time, Dawn. This is their first time and I need to focus all my attention on keeping them safe and seeing where they are developmentally." Buffy smiles at Dawn again and then walks away. Dawn sighs and sits alone in the now empty lobby.
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"Dawn. Dawn. DAWN!" Dawn realizes that she is staring off into space and blinks. She looks up and sees Buffy standing in front of her. "Are you going to eat?" Buffy asks, her exasperated expression hints that this isn't the first time she has asked.
"Uh, yeah." Dawn replies hesitantly and stands up. She follows Buffy into the dining room and sits down beside Navi, who is sitting beside Abby and Dil. They are already eating. Willow and Kennedy are sitting opposite the Slayers with Xander to their right. Buffy sits down at the end of the table and takes a cheeseburger off of a platter. She saves a simple hamburger for Willow.
"I think I'm finally getting the hand of this cooking thing." Buffy says with a grin.
Xander chokes down a charred bite of cheeseburger and coughs violently. "Yeah… it's great, Buff." Xander chokes out in-between coughs.
"So great that we might need to use the Heimlich at the table." Willow adds as she watches Xander to make sure he is still breathing.
"I guess we just got spoiled eating food catered by all of the chefs at the Immortal's restaurant." Kennedy says with a shrug. She picks up a few blackened French fries and chews them slowly.
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"You really don't have to do this for us." Buffy follows the Immortal at a brisk pace down a darkened hallway. The walls are a rich eggplant color and endless rows of burning torches cast a warm glow on the walls. The Immortal leads the way with Buffy nearly jogging to keep up.
"Nonsense. I have the means and I want to help you. You don't need the stress of moving into that new building and feeding a large group." The Immortal replies with a wave of his hand. He finally reaches the end of the hallway and enters the kitchen of his restaurant. All of the chefs and even the waiters freeze upon his arrival and turn to receive instructions. "Ms. Summers, here, needs eight servings of all of the specials tonight. She will also need them to be loaded into her car which is parked in the supply garage."
Buffy watches everyone in the kitchen immediately begin to work on this request and steps back into the hall. The Immortal follows her shortly and leads her into the large three story restaurant complete with a full bar on each floor and a stage for live music. The second two floors fill half of the space and have a glass railing which looks down on the entrance and stage of the first floor. Buffy and the Immortal take the elevator to the third floor and sit down in the VIP section on the third floor. "Would you like a drink while we wait?"
"Just water for me and thank you so much for this. Xander, Willow, Kennedy, and Faith have just gotten back from England. They were rounding up Slayers all over Europe and they just dropped them off with the Council. I also have the three Slayer trainees, Andrew, and Dawn to look after while we move our stuff into The Grand. I'm a little overwhelmed and adding cooking to patrolling, teaching, and moving is like Slayer-Soccer Mom territory." Buffy says as her water is set before her. The Immortal has a glass of wine and he sips it slowly. "I left Xander in the car." Buffy remembers.
"Take a few seconds and breathe. Calm down. You will be fine, I know it. I'm sure everything will fall into place."
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Buffy and Xander arrive at The Grand and carry the large platters of gourmet food through the front door. The lobby is filled with boxes and furniture is pushed into the far corner. In the kitchen, Xander and Buffy find the Slayers, Dawn, and Willow filling appliances, silverware, tableware, and food into the cabinets and refrigerator. There are no tables or chairs in the dining room so Buffy sets her food on the counter in the kitchen; Xander sets the food in his hands beside hers.
"The Immortal gave us food from his restaurant." Buffy announces to the group.
"I haven't met this boyfriend of yours, B, but I think I like him." Faith says as she appears in the kitchen and begins opening the pans and sampling them. Andrew and Kennedy quickly join them and everyone digs into the food without getting out plates. Faith hands out forks to everyone and they eat from the pans, standing around the kitchen.
"Dawn, you start school tomorrow and it's 11. Maybe you should get to bed or something." Buffy says. She looks at Dawn expecting her to whine or get angry. Dawn shrugs and with a smile walks over to Buffy and hugs her.
"I like it here." Dawn says when she lets go of Buffy.
"Me too." Buffy replies.
"Same here." Andrew adds as he takes a bite of the large piece of chicken on the end of his fork.
Dawn walks out of the room with an echo of goodnights following her. For a moment she has forgotten the distant attitude of the new Slayers and smiles to herself as she heads to her room.
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Faith sits on the counter as she forks pasta out of a half empty pan. "I probably won't be here for long. Giles said that I could come down here for a while and rest, but then I got to go get an assignment or whatever. I never thought I could hold down a steady job, let alone one that had me traveling across the country." Faith says to Buffy. The kitchen has slowly emptied leaving the two Slayers alone in the kitchen.
Buffy laughs. "Yeah, well I never thought I'd live this long so I'm happy to just be breathing and to finally be working at something I do well. Burger peddling and retail not so much, but training slayers and living rent free…" Buffy smiles cheerily to convey her meaning.
"I know what you mean. Expenses paid to do what we have the natural ability to do. If we were anyone else it would be minimum wage poverty."
"Yeah."
"So, you are in charge of training. I'm probably going to be sent off to do solo slayer duty. I'm not that great of a teacher…" Faith shrugs. "Maybe Cleveland."
"I almost ended up there. It's so weird not having to carry this burden alone. There is suddenly so much time and I can look to the future, you know."
"I know. Weird how things end up, huh?" Faith smiles.
"You're going to come back and visit us, right?"
"Of course."
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"Are you going to eat?" Willow asks as she finishes her food and sees that Buffy's plate is still full.
"I'm not that hungry anymore." Buffy picks up her plate and leaves the table. Willow looks after her as everyone else talks absently about nothing.
Buffy goes into the kitchen and cleans her plate. She leaves it in the sink and walks out of the back door to the patio. The sun is setting and Buffy looks out on the city. She walks around the pool and stands by the railing.
Inside, Dawn watches the door waiting for Buffy to reappear, but she doesn't. Dawn sighs and picks despondently at her food. Slowly, Navi, Dil, and Abby leave the table and go back to their pool table. Kennedy and Xander pick up the dishes and take them to the kitchen leaving Dawn and Willow alone at the table. Dawn drops her fork and lets Xander take the plate upon his second trip to collect plates.
"You okay, Dawny?" Willow asks, setting her elbows on the table and cupping her chin in her hands. Willow looks at Dawn anxiously across the table.
"Sure." Dawn half smiles and stands up. "I'm going to read, you know, for school. I'll see you later or tomorrow." Dawn walks out of the dining room into the lobby. She stops in the middle of the lobby staring outside at Buffy, who is leaning on the railing of the patio staring into the bright city lights. Dawn sighs and heads towards the stairs.
Willow gets up and gathers the last silverware from the table and heads into the kitchen to join Xander and Kennedy. Kennedy greets her with a smile and takes the silverware from her. Xander focuses intently on washing the dishes with his right eye closed. His left eye which is a slightly lighter color than the right twitches slightly as it follows the sponge he is cleaning with.
"Is something wrong with your eye?" Kennedy asks, noticing Xander's odd actions as well. She touches his shoulder and he looks up at her, opening his other eye.
"Yeah. I just think I see things sometimes. I don't know, but it hurts for a little while afterwards." Xander rubs his left eye gently and smiles through the pain. "Don't worry about it. It could be worse."
"Oh great. Why did you have to say that?" Willow hits Xander across the back of the head as she walks past him. "After this really long good streak, now here comes another apocalypse… thanks to you."
"You're not serious…" Xander says as both Kennedy and Willow leave the room without backward glances. "Right?" His voice becomes slightly shrill with worry.
When Xander is out of view, Kennedy pulls Willow towards her and kisses her unexpectedly. Willow is surprised, but not displeased. "What was that for?"
"Oh, I don't know. Graphic flashbacks of Brazil… unreachable dimensions." Kennedy says with a raised eyebrow.
"Best not-really-vacation ever." Willow smiles cheesily.
"Oh damn." Kennedy says catching a glimpse of the clock. "I've got to go."
"Where are you going this late?" Willow asks.
"I just need to do a little patrolling." Kennedy shrugs, "Buffy seems stressed. I just want to give her a night off."
"Oh, that's a good idea." Willow agrees.
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Xander joins Buffy outside and leans against the railing with her. They stand in silence for a few minutes just looking at the city lights. Xander turns to face Buffy and she smiles at him.
"It is so peaceful." Buffy says vaguely.
"Yeah, but it won't last long…" Xander replies with a glance back at the hotel, "Better enjoy it while we can because this is the calm before the storm. That's how it always works."
"I know. We'll be ready." Buffy nods confidently.