If murder is forgiven, Heaven will find it hard to bear.

Chinese proverb.

Nothing had gone as it should have. She should have been able to stop it,  or to at least save her sister.

Instead, she was here sitting in an anonymous café in Venice, the city she had always dreamt of. It should have been beautiful, everything she imagined. Instead she saw corpses.

She knew Spike tried to block out the pain with new surroundings. All the Palazzos, the food, the Music, the Armenian island… it was a heady mix. Sometimes it was enough to dull the pain and anger, but little else.

Buffy also knew she should have began the healing process by now, but she wouldn't allow herself to. She felt a certain primal pain that before had been alien to her. Her friends, who had always been there to help her save the day had instead saved the world without her. She wouldn't allow herself to be betrayed again, and the pain, like continuously forcing herself to pull at stitches, reminded her of this promise.

Spike was different. The only person he had loved more than Dawn had been herself. They shared the same fate, she thought. He had been as close to saving Dawn as she had been, both tore down at the platform, mere feet away. Neither had given up the fight.

Doc. He had been the unexpected element, what had been between life and death.

Doc had been calm, after having so easily gotten rid of Spike; one push had been all it had taken. He looked eager as the Slayer approached. "This should be interesting."

            She had underestimated the monster. Buffy tried to go past him, throwing out her arm to push him off the platform, much like what he had done to Spike. Instead he grabbed her arm, keeping his balance. Buffy fell to the ground, hard. His back to the stairs, he looked down on her. He stepped on her leg, crushing something. Buffy cried out in pain, then grit her teeth, not giving him the pleasure.

            "You're too late, Ms. Summers. It's a pity the monks made the key a living thing. A sister, no less. Too bad you didn't have time to thank them properly." He smiled cruelly. "If it's any consolation you won't be around long enough to miss her."

            He looked at the growing portal, electricity crackling purple. He pushed his glasses further up his nose, leaning over farther to look directly into her eyes. "We'll just wait now. The key is patience. You know, I've lived in Sunnydale for a very long time. Since before your great grandparents were born. He straightened, checking his watch. "Only a few minutes now."

            Buffy tried to think, her thoughts spinning, centred on everything around her. She  was swimming around the edges of oblivion. The steel was warm under her, from both the threshold and her own sticky blood.

            She heard Dawn crying over the screaming of the demons emerging from the cloud-like gateway beneath them. "No Dawn, don't cry.." Buffy began to sing their mother's favourite lullaby.

"Oh God." Xander watched with horror at what was happening above their heads. All they could make out was a figure standing over Buffy. "Why isn't she getting up?"

            Willow and Tara, having just found each other again, clung together. Anya stood beside Xander, her arms wrapped around herself. Giles came up to the four, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Well, once again we averted an apocalypse. Anyone car for a ride home?"

            Xander looked at the older man in disbelief, "What do you mean?"

            "Well, Glory has been… disposed of in her human form."

            "You mean. You mean you killed Ben," Willow said quietly.

            "There was no other way. He had to be eliminated otherwise he would have returned as-" Tara pointed up.

            "Then who is that?"

            "We still- after all that and we still have-" Xander put his head in his hands and took a deep breath. "We still have to kill Dawn."

            Anya went running for the stairs, Xander after her. He grabbed her wrist and she spun around. "No, Xander. I am not letting any of you do it. You won't go through with it. I have to go through with it now though, or I won't be able to do it either." Xander simply nodded his head and handed her a thin silver knife wordlessly. Anya kissed him and began to run.

"Only a few minutes now," Doc sing-songed. He continued to stand over Buffy, more relaxed now. "Oh, don't look so depressed. You have not only the distinction of being one of the oldest Slayers, but the last one as well." He had the air of a proud father for a moment before he turned his attention to Dawn.

            "I don't know why the monks made you. Why not just destroy?…" The lizard cupped the young girl's face. He ripped his hand away as she tried to bit him savagely. "Still fighting to the end, I see. Look at that, just under your feet. You did that. Because your sister had too much love, she let you live. Were she to simply put a pillow over your head while you were sleeping the entire world would have been saved. Isn't that selfish? She would have been wise in remembering that a Slayer is death, not the harbinger of peace. She works more on our side that you all care to admit."

            Halfway through his speech Dawn had stopped struggling and remained transfixed on the monster. With her wide eyes she was little more than a doll.

            Death is my gift, Buffy thought feverishly, but you can't give death… I would sooner kill myself…

            It's always blood, Spike had told them at the Magic Box. The monks had made Dawn from her… would it…

            Doc stood motionless between the two sisters. The portal was widening but not growing high, only a few feet under the platform. Buffy lifted her head just enough to meet Dawn's blank stare, and in that instant she knew it would work. She and Dawn had the same blood.

            "The blood flows, the gates will open. The gates will close when it flows no more." Giles' words committed to memory. Her blood. Dawn was made from her. She would jump, if only she could move…

            Doc didn't hear Anya approach. Buffy didn't until her friend was directly behind her.

            "Anya.." Buffy whispered as to not attract attention from the demon. Anya paused, as if she had heard her, but did not look at Buffy on the ground. Instead she stepped over the girl.

            Buffy was amazed by the brutality the ex-demon showed. Without Doc even having time to look up she buried the knife up to the hilt into his back in quick succession. The demon screamed as he was stabbed four, five times. He screamed over and over as he fell into the portal was torn by the pins of electrical energy. The creatures ripped him up, swallowing, leaving no remains.

            Anya watched the fall, never flinching even as Buffy had to turn away. When the screams died she still wouldn't make eye contact with Buffy.

            "Anya, I know how.." but Anya had already turned away from her. She began to saw at the ropes that held Dawn in place, the knife slippery with Doc's blood. There was blood blanketing the platform, with Dawn's at her feet, dripping and disappearing into the purple cloud below. Buffy's mostly lay in close proximity to her crushed leg.

            "Anya," Buffy kept yelling over and over again. Anya continued to hack at the ropes. After what felt like the longest minutes in all of their lives Dawn was finally free. The teenager leapt into Anya's arms and held fast, tears running freely. Buffy continued to yell, to no avail; she was being ignored, and she couldn't understand why in her injured state.

At some point Spike had regained consciousness. He pulled himself upright, propping himself on the pile of rubble he had fallen into. Being a vampire he was able to make out what was happening on the tower far better than any person. He saw the portal open underneath the platform. He saw Dawn, now free from her restraints, clinging to Buffy. As his eyes got more accustomed to the light however, the figure Dawn was grabbing a hold of revealed itself to be Anya. Why was Buffy lying down? He caught the glint of the blade as Anya moved it in towards Dawn.

"Let go, Dawn," Anya told the girl. Both were crying; one thought she was safe and the other knew better. "You have to be strong," Anya told her. Dawn, in her fright and shock, clung. "dawn, you need to let go. We tried our best but we couldn't…" Anya took a step back, moving towards Buffy. She couldn't dare look back. Dawn wouldn't loosen her grip and as the portal grew, growling, Anya became panicked. It began a mad wrestle, until finally Anya brought the knife down into the fourteen-year old girl's abdomen. Dawn jumped back, and lost her balance, falling below…

            Buffy's view had been obstructed by Anya between her and Dawn. She watched as Dawn stumbled and fell over the edge.   

            Anya turned to her then, a bloody knife held up, elbow high. "I'm sorry," she whispered as black flooded Buffy's vision.