"Got room for one more?" her voice was soft and unsure as she asked the question.
Immediately, Spike cut the engine on the motorbike. He shifted in his seat, turning to face her.
She was dressed simply in black now. It had been black for awhile - a few months at least. Since May, he gauged. Since the Hellmouth had pretty much closed, swallowing half the town with it. But that blasted high school was still standing. Somehow, all of the magicks that had been used in that place had crept into the walls. All that was destroyed in it had been the basement and the principal's office. But those were rebuilt now.
An eyebrow was raised in the direction of the blonde Slayer. "Depends on who's asking."
She didn't even crack a smile at that. Her expression remained serious, as it had been for the longest time. It and the black clothing had been what she had adopted after the fight. "I'm asking."
"Said goodbye to 'em all, then?" Spike inquired, fishing in his jacket pocket for a cigarette. Upon finding it, he stuck it in his mouth.
"No," the Slayer replied, reaching in her own pocket. She held out his silver lighter and flicked it so the flame came on. Spike leaned forward and lit the end of his cigarette. "I left a note at the house." Surprisingly, the house hadn't been destroyed either. Another miracle.
"Easy way out." Spike noted, taking a drag, then exhaling. It felt good to breathe again. After all, it had been - what? A few decades or so since he had last drawn breath out of need.
"I'm not ready to leave yet, though," the blonde shifted from foot to foot. "I still have some goodbyes to say." She nodded off to her right. Spike followed her gaze to the cemetery.
A wry smile crossed the lips of Spike. "Go'n then, pet. Say your goodbyes and then we'll leave Sunnyhell." He leaned back on his motorbike and watched as the Slayer crossed the street. His eyesight wasn't as good as it had been as a vampire, but he still knew where she was going. It was the same route they all had traced at least once since the final fight.
Across the street, in once of Sunnydale's twelve cemeteries, twenty-two-year-old Buffy Summers knelt in the soft grass. She reached out a hand and traced the letters that were carved into the slab of stone.
Stone. That's all that was left. By the time the fight was over, there wasn't even enough left of any of them to bury. Giles, Xander and Anya. Buffy smiled gently as she traced the 'X' in Xander's name. There was no "Alexander LaVelle Harris" written on this tombstone. Both she and Willow had thought that wasn't right. It was simply Xander Harris on this one.
"Hey, it's me," Buffy said softly. She traced circles in the grass with her other hand. There was no disrespectful sitting over the grave - after all, they weren't even buried in the cemetery. Whatever was left of their bodies - ashes, dust, shards of bone - was buried in the shambled school basement. "I'm sorry," she added. "I wish I could have saved you."
"Giles, you should have told me about Glory. If I had known that she had body hopped when Ben died, we would have found a way to help you, to separate you sooner. I remember seeing you jump into the Hellmouth, after Willow separated you two. You saved us at the cost of your own life.
"And you, Xander. You were the vessel, allowing the First to take you over like that. I should have done it, I'm the Slayer. It should have been me. But you knocked me out of the way and took the blast of energy for me.
"And Anya. I know we weren't the best of friends, but you - you saved Dawn. You cut off D'Hoffryn's head and allowed her enough time to get away. And you smashed his power source, but got caught in the blast yourself."
Buffy paused, wiping away the tears on her face. "I guess what I'm trying to say is that I miss you guys. A lot. I wish I could change things, make them back to the way they used to be - back in high school, with the good old Scooby Gang when the biggest threat was the Master."
She rose to her feet and rested one hand on top of the grave. "Well, I guess I'll say goodbye now. Spike's still not all that patient, even though he's human now. Willow still can't figure out how that happened. One minute he was a vampire, then there was that blinding flash of light, then he was human." Buffy smiled slightly. "Willow was right, this is rather therapeutic."
She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. "Goodbye, I'll come back and visit."
"Ready now, pet?" Spike inquired as the Slayer returned to his side. Her response was to climb on the motorbike behind him and wrap her arms around his waist.
The only sound in the night was the roar of the motorbike as Spike and the Slayer took off.
Well, that and the crash of the 'Now Leaving Sunnydale - Come Back Soon'
sign being knocked over and crushed by the motorbike. Well, at least it
wasn't the 'Welcome to Sunnydale' sign this time.
When Dawn came down for breakfast, she noticed that it was abnormally quiet in the kitchen. Of course, it had been abnormally quiet in most rooms for awhile now. After living with a huge crowd of people, it seemed almost too quiet. Dawn half-wished to see Rona come bursting through the kitchen door, complaining about how Chao-Ahn had nearly taken her head off during sword-training. Or Vi complaining that someone had shrunk her hat in the wash - again.
However, it was even more abnormally quiet in the kitchen, due to the fact that there were two people sitting around the kitchen table. Usually, there would be chatting of some sort.
"Is everything okay?" Dawn asked, immediately on guard. Just because the Hellmouth was closed didn't mean that strange and wiggy deaths would stop occurring. There were still demons and creatures of the night on this side of the Hellmouth, merely remnants though. Just the leftovers from the main course.
"Buffy's gone," Willow said, her eyes fixed on a piece of paper.
"Of course she is," Dawn replied, "It's the first day of school and she had to go in early."
"No, Buffy's gone." Faith said, coming into the kitchen. She was holding a box of cereal and eating the pieces dry. "All of her stuff's gone."
"That's not possible," Dawn said, hurt clouding her face. "She wouldn't leave without telling us."
"She did tell us," Kennedy replied, taking the paper from Willow's hand and handing it to Dawn. "Here."
"Dear Dawn, Faith, Willow, Kennedy, and I suppose Andrew," Dawn began to read aloud. "I'm sorry to have to do this, but I guess it's what I do. This is the second time I've left town because of something that happened because I'm the Slayer. I need some time to deal with this - I know, I'm supposed to do the dealing-grieving-moving on thing after it happens. But it's just that I can't. I can't stay in this place with so many memories. I just need to get away. Don't worry, I'll come back. Not tomorrow, possibly not even in six months. I'm not sure. Right now, I need to get away. I might go to England and try to rebuild the Watcher's Council, but that's a bit of wishful thinking on my part. I love you all, Buffy."
"Well," Faith said, looking a bit shocked. She ate a handful of cereal.
"I guess this means I get her room," Dawn said, her voice breaking a little.
"Ow! Ow! Ow! Ow! Get off of me!" the interruption to the rather awkward and soon-to-be tearful moment was caused by Andrew.
All four girls in the kitchen turned to look as the blonde haired geek was dragged forcibly in by his ear.
Holding onto said ear was a man that Willow, Faith and Dawn had thought they would never see again. Wesley Whyndam-Price was looking down at the shorter male with a furious, yet somewhat bemused expression on his face.
"Faith, is it habit for this person to jump out of trees and attack anyone that tries to knock on the front door?" the ex-Watcher sounded rather exasperated.
"You looked suspicious!" Andrew squalled, finally wrenching his ear out of Wesley's grip. Then he massaged his arm. "And I think you bruised my arm."
Faith rolled her eyes, then returned her attention to Wesley. "Wes, not that I'm not happy to see you - I am - but why are you here?"
"In the neighbourhood." Wesley replied. He glanced around the kitchen. "Actually, I was hoping to see Buffy."
"Well, you just missed her." Kennedy replied. "She left sometime last night."
"Oh," Wesley's brow furrowed. "When will she be back?"
"Beats the hell out of me," Faith replied. She walked over to the fridge and pulled out a carton of milk. She eyed it and shook it before pouring half of its contents into her box of cereal. She grabbed a spoon and began eating with it.
"Bowls, Faith." Andrew spoke up. "You eat out of them."
"Really?" Faith's reply was flippant. "I thought you wore them as hats."
"No, that's only to keep the aliens from reading your mind," Kennedy chimed in.
Andrew scowled at her, "That's tin foil, thank you very much." He folded his arms and stalked out of the room, leaving Wesley staring after him rather bewilderedly.
"That's Andrew," Dawn said.
"He's rather . . . strange." Wesley said, one of his eyebrows raised.
"He's Andrew," Faith shrugged. "That's the first thing I learned about him. And that's the way I'm describing him to you." She continued shovelling cereal into her mouth. "And Dawn, you have school." That was said around a mouthful of milk and sweetened grains of oats.
"Unless you feel like staying home," Willow jumped in. "After all, with Buffy leaving and - "
"No, I'll go to school." Dawn interrupted. She grabbed her backpack off of the counter, where she had left it last night. "It's my senior year. I don't want to miss the first day."
"Let's hope you don't blow it up at the end of the year," Wesley muttered under his breath.
"The only way I'll be blowing up stuff is if Amanda and I are partners in Chemistry this year," Dawn replied. It was almost as if she had already forgotten about Buffy's sudden departure.
"I'll drive you to school!" Andrew called from the living room, amid random video game sounds.
"No, because you drive like you're playing Grand Theft Auto," Dawn shot back. "And I can drive myself."
"I still can't believe she passed her test," Willow muttered.
"I heard that!" Dawn called back as she slammed the door shut.
"Hey! Wait for me!" Andrew yelled. The door slammed a second time.
"Welcome to the Daily Morning Show," Faith quipped. "Trust me, Wes, there's never a dull moment around here."
"I can see that." Wesley replied, his eyebrows somewhat raised above normal level.
"With all the happy to see you stuff aside, why are you here, Wesley?" Willow asked, busy at the counter making some tea.
"Had to get out of L.A." Wesley replied, looking around at the three others.
"Angel is still being pissy with you?" Faith asked. "It's not your fault Angelus escaped and ran around Dark City. And I'm sorry about punching the hole in the wall in your shower."
"Angelus escaped? You punched a hole in his shower?" Kennedy raised an eyebrow. Faith shrugged.
"I actually have some things for you," Wesley continued.
"What kind of things?" Willow inquired, handing the ex-Watcher a cup
of tea.
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Dawn glared at Andrew in the review mirror. "Remind me why I let you come along?"
"Because I provide much needed amusement?" Andrew suggested. At Dawn's darkening glare, he added, "plus, this is the only car and I can drive it back."
Dawn growled incoherently under her breath.
"I really do hope the school doesn't get destroyed this year. After all, the Hellmouth is closed." Now, he was just babbling and Dawn opted for the natural choice of tuning him out. Until she reached a red light. Then she turned to look at him.
"Andrew?"
"Yeah?"
"Could you please not talk so much while I'm driving?" Dawn asked, watching out of the corner of her eye for the light change. "It's rather distracting."
"Shutting up now." Andrew said, miming locking his lips and throwing away the key.
And shut up he stayed.
"So, did Buffy really leave?"
For awhile, at least.
Dawn glared at him, "Andrew. I'm driving."
"Stop!" Andrew suddenly screamed, grabbing onto Dawn's arm. Shocked and a bit frightened, Dawn returned her attention to the road.
Just in time to see a person right in front of her car. She slammed on the breaks and there was a dreadful squealing noise as the wheels ground to a halt, causing the hood of the car to stop millimetres before hitting the person.
"Omigod!" Dawn yelped, unbuckling her seatbelt and racing out of the car. "Are you all right? I am so incredibly - Amy?"
What had promised to be a runaway apology rant immediately was ground to a halt as Dawn recognized the dark-haired woman.
"Dawn?" Amy Madison tilted her head to the side. She looked at the car, where a rather frightened Andrew was still sitting, then back at the high school senior. "You're driving?"
"Not very well," Dawn said, ending on a whimper. "I must've scared you soooo much! I'm incredibly sorry! I'll pay for therapy!"
Amy laughed. "No need for that, Dawn. I'm sure you're late for school, though." She checked her watch, "you don't want to be late on your first day."
Dawn nodded. "Are you sure you're all right?"
"Of course," Amy smiled and gave Dawn a gentle push back to the car. "Go. School."
"Remind me to never go driving with you again," Andrew muttered the minute Dawn had returned to the driver's seat.
"What?"
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Principal Robin Wood was sitting in his newly rebuilt office. Truth be told, he didn't really like it. Of course, that might have had something to do with the fact that there was a Hellmouth about twenty feet below his feet, but that could just be a coincidence. Granted, it was a closed Hellmouth, but something with a name like that didn't really make people less scared of it even when it was closed.
It also might have had something to do with the fact that the floor had only recently been rebuilt. And he didn't really much enjoy the possible prospect of falling through the floor and into the basement - which he still was rather wary of going into.
Which was why he chose that moment to leave his office. He could've sworn he felt the floor dip a little under his weight. However, once he was out in the sunshine, the fear of him suddenly crashing through the floor of his own office seemed a bit silly.
"Next time, I'm driving."
"No. I drive perfectly fine."
"You nearly hit a person and a tree."
"The tree moved!"
Robin Wood sighed. He definitely recognized those two voices. "Hello, Dawn. Hello, Andrew."
"Hi, Principal Wood." Dawn waved.
"Hi," Andrew chimed in. "What do you mean the tree moved?"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Wood held up his hands, trying to put a stop to the squabbling. "Trees are moving now? What, did we somehow cross into Middle Earth?"
"Trees don't move, the Ents do," Andrew scowled.
"Whatever," Dawn rolled her eyes. "The point is that I am a perfectly competent driver. At least, I'm better than Buffy."
"Speaking of your sister, where is she?" Wood inquired. "She was supposed to be here an hour ago."
Dawn rolled her eyes and scowled at him before turning and stomping away.
"What did I say?" Wood was bewildered, to be frank.
"It's been a very odd morning," Andrew said, nodding and folding his arms. "First some weird British guy shows up, then he drags me into the house by my ear, then Buffy's up and left and Dawn's not driving very well this morning."
"Well, at least there's no demons attacking," Wood muttered.
"Oh, not yet," Andrew replied, rather too cheerfully. "But there's still a few left even though the Hellmouth's closed."
Wood sighed. This was already shaping up to be a rather long day.
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"I must admit, I like this," Kennedy commented, gripping the handle of the sword. She gave it a few experimentally swings, making sure the pointy end was far away from the others.
"What did you do? Raid Angel's weapons cupboard?" Faith held a crossbow up and aimed it at a tree. She pulled the trigger and the air whooshed as the string snapped forward. It wasn't loaded, so no pointy piece of wood embedded itself into the tree.
"Wolfram and Hart, actually." Wesley replied, handing a large pile of books to Willow who immediately turned and took them back inside.
"Evil lawyers," Faith explained to a confused-looking Kennedy.
"Insert joke here," Kennedy replied, grabbing the other three swords that Wesley handed her.
"Dead evil lawyers," Wesley corrected, pulling out another armful of books, then closing the backdoor of the car he had driven there.
"Is that it?" Willow had returned once more, finished dropping off her latest load.
"There's more books in the trunk." Wesley replied, carrying his load into the house.
"You probably would have had a lot of explaining to do if you were stopped by the cops." Faith noted, swinging the crossbow onto her back. Straps on weaponry were good. She raised an eyebrow as she opened the trunk.
"He must have done an awful lot of raiding," Willow commented. The trunk
was crammed full of books.
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Dawn stomped away, rather enjoying the fact that with every stomp, the sound of her heels grew louder and louder. Of course, she hadn't been looking where she was stomping off too and ended up in a rather deserted area.
"What's wrong, Dawnie?" the voice started her. Not just because it came out of nowhere, but because it was familiar.
Whirling around, Dawn let out a half-scream, half-yelp before descending into stunned silence. "T-t-t-Tara?"
A periwinkle shirt and a plain pair of jeans were the clothing that Tara Maclay wore, simple enough. The shocking fact was that they were the same clothing she had worn when she had been shot.
"Hey," Tara waved slightly.
Dawn gaped like a fish out of water, then fainted dead away.