A/N: Did somebody say PTSD?

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"Gone?"

Buffy nodded. "I went by the grave, it was empty. At first I thought, hey, could his skeleton crawl out on its own? But no, somebody dug him out. Several somebodies. The place reeked of burned skin."

Giles frowned. "Ah. I-I-I had hoped consecrating the ground would be more effective..."

"Yeah, well, if you'd done a good job of that we wouldn't be having this conversation, now would we?"

Both Xander and Giles flinched at the harsh remark. Willow looked from the one to the other, confused. Okay, Buffy had been tense since yesterday, but why was she being so mean?

"So what do we do?" Xander looked at her, curious. It was funny, but sometimes she thought Xander trusted her too much. And that wasn't just remnants of jealousy talking, that was common sense. Buffy was great, a good friend...but she sometimes didn't think things through. Like when the Master's minions went for Xander way back, and Buffy was busy making sure her mom was safe when the real danger was to Giles and Xander.

"We don't do anything. Giles, look up if they could resurrect him or something."

Xander looked at her. "Angel could hel-"

She turned to him, her face cold. "I don't want the vampire anywhere near me. For all I know, he's in on it."

He stared at her, struck dumb. Willow blinked, and felt an unfamiliar emotion welling up.

Someone shouted. "What the hell is wrong with you!?"

The room fell silent. Everyone turned to stare. At Willow, who felt her cheeks burning and closed her mouth, realizing it had been her.

"Don't you kids have classes to go to?"

She just about jumped out of her skin at the intrusion. Oh. Snyder.

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"Snyder is a jackass."

Willow giggled dutifully. "He's a nincompoop."

Xander raised his eyebrows appreciatively for the creative insult. Plus, getting 'poop' in there, bonus.

Buffy frowned. "Could you guys keep it down? I'm trying to research here."

They looked at each other, curiously. Since when did Buffy do research? Willingly? Still, they were in the library and this was kind of serious, so, why not? "Sure. Got anything?"

"No. Giles?"

Giles blinked, looking up from the big tome in his arms. "Hmm? Oh, er, yes. I, I may have something here. It's in Latin, and I'm a bit rusty, so...er, right, then. To revive the vampire they, er, need his bones," he glanced at Buffy, "w-which they have, and, um, the, er, the blood of...not quite sure, propinque, propinquus...the person closest...someone connected to the vampire."

"That'd be me." Buffy sighed.

"...er...perhaps."

Xander huddled up near Willow, lending support. She'd been quiet and embarrassed since her outburst, well-deserved though it may have been. Buffy really was being weird. Ever since yesterday. Angel was still kind of pissed, and had refused to tell him what she'd said.

"I'm the one who killed his ugly mug stone dead. Don't get much closer than that."

Xander frowned. "Besides being his grand-child, or being the people standing right next to him? Which includes all the rest of us, except me I guess."

Buffy turned to say something, when the window broke and interrupted the argument with dire news indeed. Which sparked another argument, ending with Buffy storming out on her own.

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She didn't want to admit it, but they had a point. Buffy stalked down the alley towards the Bronze' back entrance, frowning. She should have brought more stakes. If this was a trap, she could get, uh, get...

Pushing the gnawing ache in her stomach away from her conscious thoughts, she reached for the door and-

Whirled around, stake in hand. "Back off, Vlad."

Angel emerged from the shadows, frowning. "You need a hand?"

"Not from you."

He sighed, shaking his head. "I do not get what Xander sees in you."

She froze. Xander...talked about her? "W-why are you here?"

"Like I said, here to lend a hand." He gave her a crooked smile. Huh. A little like Xander's. "Not saying you need it, but you do."

"I can handle myself."

Angel shook his head. "You're not as strong as you think."

You are not the hunter. You are the lamb.

Her eyes narrowed. "Yeah? Think you can take me? Why not? Get another notch on your belt, Angelus. Yeah, I read the file on you. Scourge of Europe. Loved torturing your food before you killed it. Nice friend Xander's got, there, huh?"

He flinched at the mention of the names, but looked confused more than angry. "I'm not gonna fight you."

Buffy smirked. "Wuss."

Now he got a little mad. "Don't you have somewhere to be?"

...oh. Right. Cordelia. She felt her cheeks heat up. "I do." ...and turned around, opening the door. If the guy thought she was even slightly worried about him, he was wrong. "Just keep out of my way."

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Xander opened his eyes and regretted it instantly. His head hurt. His arm hurt. His chest hurt. Okay, everything hurt. And he couldn't move.

Willow.

He heaved whatever was laying on top of him aside, staggered to his feet and leaned against a bannister while looking around the library. Oh God. Willow. They were gone. All of them. Willow, Giles, Ms Calendar.

Why didn't they take him? He was, he was like on the Master's old favorite targets list, why didn't they-

Oop.

Woozy. He grabbed better hold of the bannister, raised a hand to his forehead and winced as a sharp sting was followed by sticky on his fingers. Blood. Ow. Head injury. Not good. Could be a, a concussion. And now he remembered, Giles had said, right before they attacked...

The door slammed open and Buffy rushed in, palefaced. She turned even whiter when she saw him.

"Xander!"

He slapped away her hand as she reached for him. He regretted it instantly at the hurt look on her face, but her hurt feelings and his being a butthead were secondary to what was important here.

"What happened?"

He tried not to glare. "Vampires. The ones you could handle yourself."

Again she winced, and again he wanted to take the words back. He wasn't Tony, damn it. "Where are the others?"

"I don't know." He wanted to lash out, wanted to tell her this was all her fault, but...she already knew, didn't she? "If they hurt Willow..."

She shrank in on herself a little bit more. "Y-yeah. We, we just have to think. Where could they have taken them?" Then she frowned. "Why'd they take them and not you?"

"Because they wanted who was physically closest when he died."

She nodded, realizing it herself. "So we need to find out where they're holding them, and fast." Her face turned grim. "Good thing I have a possible lead."

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By the time they reached the warehouse, the throbbing in Xander's head was fading to a low droning hum, and he wasn't getting spikes of nausea from bright lights anymore. Good thing, too, because after hearing from outside what Buffy did to that vampire at the Bronze, he wasn't sure he could keep his dinner down.

Not that he'd had dinner.

Man, he was hungry...and that was a weird thought to have when the people he loved were in danger.

Angel dropped down from the roof. Being undead was kind of handy, sometimes. That old 'drop from a high rooftop and only make about as much noise as a cat'-trick. "About eight of them, not counting the leader or the Anointed One. They have all four gathered at the center of the main storage area. We better move quick, they're getting ready to..."

Buffy glared at him, and he faltered. Sometimes Xander wondered just how much it would take to prove to her that Angel was a good guy. "Xander and you make sure the guys are okay and get them out of there. I'll distract them."

Angel frowned. "How?"

She grinned ferally. "Figured I'd kill'em all. That oughta distract'em."

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In the chaos of the fight, Xander stayed with Willow while Angel kept them safe. She was unconscious. God, she looked so pale. But she was warm, and had a pulse, so she would be fine. He hoped.

At some point, a vampire came up to grab them, and he just...saw red. The stake found its mark, and dust rained down around them. Score one for Angel's training. Not that he took the time to go 'Woo woo' at the victory, instead he kept covering Willow and occasionally shouting warnings to Angel and Buffy fighting the main group of baddies below.

Giles and Ms Calendar seemed pretty out ot it, too.

Hmm. Maybe they'd drugged them or something. But Ms Calendar was stirring, and Giles was almost sitting up by now, looking around in confusion. He took out his glasses, then frowned at a cracked lens. "Xander? Where-" Apparently he finally realized what was happening, because suddenly he ducked down. "Ah."

Xander nodded. "Is Ms Calendar okay?"

"Y-yes, I believe so." Even with that, Giles leaned over her to check. "Pulse is steady, and she seems to be waking up. Jenny? Can you hear me?"

She stirred slightly. "Mmf. J's ten m're m'nutes..."

"Jenny, you need to wake up."

She opened her eyes a little, her face sleep-slackened and a little grouchy. "Keep th' noise down, would ya?" Then her eyes opened wide, and she almost bowled Giles over as she sat up with a start. "Rupert? Where are we?"

A sudden crash interrupted her, and she turned to see. Angel was fighting a vampire, having smashed through a hole in one of the catwalks. There was a wail and a rain of dust. Angel looked up, at Xander. "You guys all right?"

"Yeah. Where's Buffy?"

Angel shrugged, a little amused. "I think she has issues."

A second after, a vampire flew through the air, shrieking and turning into dust as Buffy leapt after, her face contorted in a mask of fury.

"Enough!"

They all turned to stare. The vampire leader, a huge guy with a sledgehammer in his hands, was stalking in. The Annoying One was already gone. Funny how all the most dangerous vampires were mainly so because they were smart enough to run away.

Big and ugly continued. "Your day is done, girl. I'll grind you into a sticky paste, and hear you beg before I smash in your face!"

Buffy turned, blew a stray lock of hair out of her face and raised an eyebrow. "And did that approach ever get you dates in college?"

It didn't take the quip well. With a roar it rushed her, bringing out the sledgehammer as another vampire came at her from the side. Buffy glanced only briefly in either direction, then kicked a burning post hard enough to flip it into the air, grabbed it and staked the one from the side with the broken end, and then flipped it in time to impale the leader with the other end. The one that was on fire.

The vampire shrieked as his momentum drove him onto the improvised stake, burning up while turning to dust at the same time. Silence fell as the sledgehammer fell to the floor with a clang.

For a moment, she just stood there, staring at the deformed bones lying neatly on the floor within the by now useless ritual circle. Then she crouched down, grabbed the hammer and stood back up.

Willow blinked, finally waking. What a pretty sight. Even if she'd drooled a little. "Xander?"

"Shh. It's okay." He nodded to Giles, who smiled gently and took over Willow-waking duties as Xander stood up and headed down to where Buffy stood, staring at the bones.

The next moment Buffy screamed with rage and grief and frustration, the hammer rising and falling, turning the skull of the Master into so much dust and bone fragments pinging off the walls. Another blow, and the ribcage went, another and the pelvis, then the arms, the legs, the feet, and then a couple more blows for good measure

Next thing Xander knew, she was in his arms, crying. All he could do was hold her, pat her back a little awkwardly and murmur 'there, there' to her.

Above them, the others watched as Angel and Giles helped Willow to her feet.

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Giles was, not entirely surprising, very understanding when Buffy apologized the next morning. Well, in a stuffy Brit sort of way, mumbling 'that's quite all right' and blushing a little while polishing his glasses.

Now came the hard part. Apologizing to the guys.

"I don't think I can do it." Especially not to Xander. God, he had to think she was the biggest weirdo, now. Freaking out like that.

Giles gave her a surprisingly dad-like look. "Hm? Of course you can."

"And tell'em what, 'Gee, sorry for almost getting your throat slit, what's the homework for today'?"

Gee, sorry for leaving snot trails on your shirt, Xand? By the way, wanna go to a movie or something? Oh yeah. The red nose and eyes and blotchy face she'd displayed was such a turn-on. He'd swoon before her.

Giles frowned a little. "Punishing yourself is pointless."

"It's not! It's pointy! I was an ass. In just one day I almost got my best friend Willow killed, and Xander..." She trailed off, not knowing what she wanted to say.

And Xander what?

"And instead you'll do what, then, live in a cave in the mountains?"

She smiled. "I dunno, does it come with cable?"

Giles let out a little huff that might have been a laugh. "Buffy...yes, you buggered it all right up. But everyone makes mistakes. It's how we stand when we realize we made them that makes us."

She glanced at him, then deliberately adopted a mock-whiny voice. "But that's hard!"

He smirked. "No-one ever claimed it wasn't."

Sighing, she shouldered her bag and looked at the doors of the school. They'd never looked this imposing before "Yeah, yeah. I...I'll see you later."

He muttered a few polite goodbyes and headed off in his own direction, probably already going through ways of torturing her with Akkadian Greek tomes on people with improbable names and boring stories.

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When she got to class, the two people she least wanted to see – no, that wasn't entirely true, she did want to see them – already sat in their seats near the back. Funny how when she was in Hemery, sitting near the back was the losers' seats. That was where the freaks, geeks, stoners and general outcasts sat.

That was her, now. A freak. An outcast. The girl who set fire to the gym and rambled about vampires and ran off to Vegas and came home crazy.

And somehow it didn't feel half as heavy on her soul as it once had. Visiting LA had, nightmares about the Master aside, proven the age-old saying about how you couldn't go home again. Oh, you could...if there still was a home for you. But if your heart was elsewhere, how could it be home? None of her old friends had been the same. A few had died in the gym battle against Lothos' goons, most had gone on to become...well, not less shallow, that was for sure. Most of them made Cordelia look like Marie flippin' Curie in comparison.

Okay.

She could do this.

She'd gone to her own impending death with less butterflies in her stomach.

Xander looked up, and she almost gasped. God, could he stop being cute? This was difficult enough as it was. He nodded and smiled, and she blinked, a little confused, as he turned back to the desk where he was apparently drawing something.

"Hey Buffy." Willow nodded at her.

"Hey."

Wow. Awkward. Xander said nothing, continuing with his work of art.

Getting closer, she noticed it was a rip-roaring drawing of what was probably meant to be Xander as a one-eyed pirate on a crudely drawn ship where a stick figure Buffy in a pirate captain's hat waved a saber and Willow with a chicken or parrot – feathered in a JFK hairdo – on her shoulder manned the rudder. The pirate-Buffy had a speech bubble attached, with the words 'Avast, landlubbers' in it.

"We saved you a seat." Willow smiled at her.

She felt the corners of her mouth twitch, and took the offered seat next to Willow.

Xander looked over at her, making his finishing touches on a ship's cannon firing a fiery cannonball at a monkey that had a suspiciously uncanny resemblance to Snyder. "So, uh, there's a rumor that Mr Cox is the most boring teacher to ever walk this planet. Willow claims he has trophies for it in his office."

Willow nodded, beaming.

Okay. Okay, the butterflies were turning into warm and fuzzy polar bears. "Like, yes!"

"Well, I hear he nods off a lot. So that's a plus!" Willow smiled even wider.

Xander grinned, then leaned back from his epic drawing. "So, uh, we Bronzing tonight?"

Willow frowned a little. "Wednesdays are kinda beat."

He nodded, looking thoughtful. "Huh. Well, I guess we could grind the bones of our enemies into a fine powder, but eh, it's been done."

The two turned to Buffy and grinned in such a goofy fashion that she couldn't help grinning back. Xander continued, "We could play miniature golf?"

"They shut the course down last year."

"Oh. Miniature tennis? A game we invent, with teeny tiny tennis rackets..."

She let the warmth take her away into the conversation that followed.

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As he wandered through the wreckage of the battle and assessed the damage, The Anointed One found himself once again regretting a lot of things. Underestimating the Slayer. Underestimating her friends. Not making sure they couldn't be disturbed during the ritual, seriously, an old warehouse? That was Absalom's best idea? What a dork.

He stopped by the remains of his sire, frowning. Well, they'd never be able to resurrect him, now. Not enough pieces. Some had fallen in the drain and been washed out to sea by now. And the ritual was very specific, the bones had to be complete and intact. Not one fragment could be lost, even if you glued the whole thing together right.

Colin sighed. "I hate that girl."

Two slender, elegantly manicured hands encircled him from behind as Mother leaned into him.

"That's all right, my boy. We'll have our happy family soon. Mother, father, child."

Pijavica laughed.