Author's Note: Well, to respond to "Guest", there's a very good reason that the Tenth Seo has wound up the way that she is, now. You'll find out in the story "the Ten Seos". Let's just say it has a lot to do with the circumstances of her ninth regeneration.

As for Buffy, well... you'll get a bit more information here. But the real answer will come several stories later than this.

Enjoy!

(Even though it's a kind of sad chapter.)

Just the epilogue to go, after this, and then we're on to the next story!


"Seo?"

Seo started awake. Her face breaking into a wide smile, as she found herself sat next to the hospital bed in which her mom was sitting up. "Mom!" She threw her arms around her, then hesitated. Tugged herself away, suddenly worried. "What is it? What have they found? Are you all better, again?"

Mom looked down at her arms. "Well, I haven't turned orange, like all the other Toto-people," she said. "So that's a plus on the Buffy-side. And I'm definitely in favor of the lack-of-weird-alien-probes policy they have at this hospital. It would have been way too X-files, otherwise."

"So it worked!" Seo cried. "They cured you!"

"Actually," said Dr. Otman, appearing above them both. "Your mum… isn't sick."

Seo frowned.

Mom just rolled her eyes. "Totally expected that one." She folded her arms. "So come on, Space Dude. Hit me with the it's-all-in-your-head and seeing-mystical-Key-energy-isn't-a-real-symptom."

"That's not what I meant," said Dr. Otman. He tapped his fingers against the file. "Ms. Summers… since you arrived here, you've had no headaches. No dizziness. No confusion. No disturbances or symptoms of any kind. You appear to be fine."

"But she had them before," Seo said.

"There are certain illnesses," Dr. Otman continued, "that can be cured using a harmless dose of temporal radiation. A brief trip through time. That sort of thing. For some of the Amethyst Viruses… temporal radiation can be the only treatment possible." He gave them a reassuring smile. "It's possible that… by just arriving here… you've already cured your mum, Seo."

Seo perked up.

Hopeful.

Mom just gave a bitter laugh. "Yeah, maybe in the Serendipity Dimension," Mom said. Crossed her arms. "But I'm Buffy. Things don't just randomly get better for me. You're talking to the person who managed to recover from actual-buried-in-the-ground death, and ended up nearly destroying the universe because of it."

Dr. Otman frowned.

"If this illness thing's gotten magically cured," Mom continued, "then I'm guessing it's caused some massive freak-chain-reaction thingy that's about to end the world. Or else… it hasn't gotten magically cured, and I'll be dead in a few months."

"We can keep you here for more observation," Dr. Otman offered. "If you…"

"Oh, no!" said Mom, jumping out of bed. "No way, ever! First of all, I don't know what kind of medical insurance you guys take around here, but I'm pretty sure mine expired several thousand years ago. And second of all, if I'm gonna die," she smoothed down her hair, so she was poised and ready for action, "I'm doing it on the planet I've spent my life defending. That's my final wish."

"Mom!" Seo said, trying to drag her back.

But Mom was having none of it.

"No more fancy space-hospitals!" Mom insisted. "Martha's the only one who's gotten close to figuring out what's going on with me, so… I'm sticking with her."

Seo couldn't convince her otherwise.

Not even when Jenny walked in the room, fresh from visiting the space ship time machine she'd built, which had been left here in this planet's past back when she'd first met Seo — and was told the news.

Her whole body going completely still, as she listened to the verdict.

She turned back to Dr. Otman.

"I'm sorry," Dr. Otman said. "Buffy Summers isn't sick, Jenny. I've done every test I can. While she's been here, there's been absolutely nothing wrong with her."

"The headaches," said Jenny. "The confusion. The…"

"We've observed her for three days," said Dr. Otman. "She's displayed no symptoms whatsoever. In fact…" Flipping through the charts. "…she has one of the best immune systems I've ever seen. Almost up-to-par with yours, Jenny."

Jenny didn't answer.

"There is one other possibility," said Dr. Otman, closing the charts, again. "It could be… environmental. Something on her home planet that's negatively affecting her biology."

Buffy blew a raspberry. "Nope. Sorry. Not buying it."

"If the symptoms return, when you get home," said Dr. Otman, "I'd suggest moving off-world. It might be the safest thing, in the long-run…"

Buffy turned on them. "What part of 'I want to die on Earth' didn't you guys understand?!" She clenched her fists. "That's my home. It's where my friends are. Where my family is. It's where my species decided to ditch the bananas and the trees and go all with the evolution and the standing upright!" She stepped forwards. "If I'm gonna die — I'm okay with that. I mean, it's not like I haven't done it before. But I'm dying on Earth. End of discussion."

"Then… I'll talk to Martha!" Seo proposed. "Maybe… Jenny and I can go out, find cures from the future, and bring them back to you, on Earth!" She turned to Jenny. "Or…"

Then drifted off.

As she caught the expression on Jenny's face.

"You're… not coming with us?" Seo asked. Her voice suddenly very small and scared.

Jenny sighed. Her hand on Seo's shoulder. "Your mum needs you," she whispered. Darting a glance over at Buffy. "And I saw what happened last time you took me to Earth. With the jealousy. I don't want that to happen, again — not now. Not until she's better."

Seo felt tears well up in her eyes. But didn't let herself cry.

"You'll make her well again," Jenny said. "I'm sure. But… you can't get distracted by issues with me, while you're doing it."

"Will… we ever see each other again?" Seo asked.

Jenny gave a small laugh. "I don't know how or why," she said, "but somehow… I'm sure we will. Over and over and over again."

Seo gave a shy little smile.

"Take care of your mum," said Jenny, as Seo turned and headed back towards Buffy. Jenny waved them off. "I'll see you around!"

She watched them go.

As her face drooped into a sort of sad loneliness.

"You can't bear to watch it happen, again, can you?" Dr. Otman said. His voice so low, Jenny just barely picked it up. "That's the real reason you sent them away. Because you remember… those three years with Aychron. At the end."

She did.


"I thought you said you weren't going to stay on Totania," said Alan, helping Jenny move her stuff into his flat.

Jenny paused. Her eyes glued on the box in her hands.

"Aychron is… sick," she explained. "He never told me. Too proud. By the time I noticed… it was too late to cure him. Normally, by this stage of the illness, he'd been dead in a few months." She swallowed, hard. "But… Dr. Otman said he knows a treatment. So Aychron will live quite a bit longer."

"And to do that… you won't be able to travel around anymore?" Alan guessed.

Jenny didn't answer.

"Look, I know it's not much," said Alan, taking the box from her hands, "but… anything you need. Just ask."

She looked up.

Met his eyes.

"Anything," said Alan. "I'm here."


"It was my fault, with Aychron," said Jenny. "I had to stay with him. I had to watch as he… died, in front of me."

"It's said… that was the curse of your people." Dr. Otman put aside Buffy's chart. "You live so long. See so much. But… everything has its time, eventually. And you always see it."

"Yes," said Jenny.


"How is he?" said Alan, when Jenny returned to the living room, and slumped down onto the couch.

"I've finally got him back to sleep," said Jenny. She curled into Alan, her eyes drifting shut. "He kept thinking it was morning. Wanting to get out and do things." She gave a yawn, and curled up even tighter into Alan.

Alan let her.

His fingers running through her hair.

"This is the first time I've ever seen you tired," he said. "I assumed your race didn't sleep at all."

"You assumed wrong," said Jenny. Her eyes closed. "One year of this, and I'm getting tired. Another year of this… and I'll probably be able to sleep the full 8 hours a human does." She sighed, a little contentedly. "Expect a lot more sleeping in future."

Alan smiled down at her.

"I look forwards to it."

Jenny said nothing. Her breathing so dainty and delicate, across Alan's skin.

"You look… beautiful, when you're asleep," he said. "So beautiful."

But she didn't hear.

Was already fast asleep.


"Three years," said Jenny. "Three years, watching him die. Three years under that stupid Recco dictator, having to stay quiet and not draw attention to myself, in case I hurt Aychron. Three years of…" She stopped. Her eyes drifting to the ground.

"He was a good man," said Dr. Otman. "He lived a long life. A wonderful life."

"He taught me to be me," said Jenny. "And it killed him. That's why… I couldn't leave him. It's why…"

She'd been brave.

She had to be.

"I spent three years," said Jenny, "facing every day knowing… I was seeing the shadow of Aychron. And missing him, bitterly, because I remember… what he used to be."


"Rebecca?" said Aychron.

Jenny rushed over to help him walk. Both his legs were short and stumpy, now, like a little boy's. Still different lengths. His hands were far too withered and aged. She made a mental note to check his heart and blood pressure. She never knew what age his heart was, at what time.

His mind… was always old.

Too old.

"Jenny," Jenny reminded him. "Remember? We met on Holdax 3. I followed you up a mountain, so you could fight some monsters."

"Why aren't you fighting monsters, anymore?" said Aychron, with a hint of that sternness he'd used, back when he'd been teaching her. "You irresponsible child! What did I ever see in you?"

Jenny bit her lower lip, to avoid the tirade she wanted to give him.

Reminding herself… he was sick… he didn't know any better…

"I'm doing my best," Jenny told him. "But I'm trying to make sure you're all right, too."

"And doing a miserable job of it," Aychron muttered. He stumbled, and Jenny caught him. "You're always off fighting monsters, you know — you're never around… when I… need…"

He drifted off.

And left the thought unfinished.

"I'm cold," said Aychron. "The cold air… isn't quite right… for the soul in…" He paused. Suddenly confused. Disorientated. "Rebecca?"

"Jenny," Jenny corrected, again. "I'll get you some hot soup. The kind you like."

She went into the kitchen.

"I hate my life," Jenny said. Kicked the countertop, in frustration. "I hate domestics. And I hate this!"

She clenched her fists, breathing hard, for a few minutes.

Trying to get control of her anger.

Ten minutes later, she came out with the soup.

Knowing… whether she hated it or not… she didn't have a choice. She had to do what she had to do.


"He died not knowing my name," Jenny said. "Kept calling me… Rebecca. And I never even knew who 'Rebecca' really was to him."

"I'm sorry," said Dr. Otman. "I wish I could have done more."

"You did more than anyone else ever did for us," said Jenny. "No one else had any idea what the illness could be. You knew. You helped. You kept him alive… for years."

Dr. Otman gave her a kind smile. "And you stayed by him that whole time. You were… unspeakably brave, Jenny."

"But I don't want to be brave, anymore," Jenny replied. Shuddered, as she watched, through the window, as Seo and Buffy entered Oliver, and left the planet. "This time… I just want to run."


Alan held her, at Aychron's funeral.

As Jenny watched the tomb being buried in the ground, on Yazidios. Aychron's home world.

"And so… as day falls to night," the Lngobrin Funerium read out, "as one year falls to the next, one decade to the next, one century or one millennia to the one that supersedes it — we remember you."

Alan helped Jenny over to Aychron's graveside.

As she held the empathy bead in her hand. So tight, her knuckles turned white.

"All people, all eras, all life must fall," Jenny said, placing her empathy bead down on the ground. Covering it in soil. "But your memory endures forever."

Remembering the times they had together.

The things he'd taught her. The moments they'd shared, trying to uncover the truth behind Jenny's culture and ancestors. The things he'd given up, to be her role model and mentor.

"So ends the Fall of the First," said the Lngobrin.

Alan helped Jenny up.

Jenny looked on at the grave of her dearest friend and closest companion since nearly the day she was born. Swallowed, hard.

"So ends the Fall of the First," Jenny repeated. Closed her eyes. "Goodbye, Aychron. I started missing you three years ago."