Chapter Sixty-Five

Epilogue

A/N OMG the actual last chapter. I feel like I wanna write an acceptance speech here but I won't. This is only the end of season 7, so I will be writing a similar length writing of combined Angel Season 5 and Buffy Season 8, as a crossover story, it's all planned and stuff so. Just because I did all this so I could plan out their lives and I feel like I needed another season to develop the storylines and plus I finished Angel and even tho I think season 5 is the best one, so many deaths, I won't spoil it. And I wanted to change it so, damn me for being irritating. I was rewriting it as I was watching it, it's bad. It will follow on from 3 days after this so.

*Flashback* Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 1987

Willow was sitting on the floor in her room, crayons sticking out of her hands and feet stuck up in the air behind her, her yellow converse the only thing you could see peeking out above her bed. She was colouring her latest drawing of her and Xander, he was wearing a little tuxedo and she was wearing white - this was one of Willow's first attempts at drawing what her and Xander's wedding would look like. Since they'd become friends at kindergarten she'd discovered just how much she liked him. Well she knew he was her friend and clearly he thought she was pretty cool so that meant she liked him.

She was also humming to herself - still only six years old she hadn't quite developed self-esteem yet and the slight singing phobia she would become known for wasn't installed inside her yet. But the frogs were still the damn scariest things to our baby Willow. She was imagining what their life would be like, what holding his hand would be like. She often found herself thinking about Xander these days, and at school every excuse to stare at him was adhered to.

This was the day Willow discovered her crush on Xander and it began to develop, her feelings for Xander blew over when she ended up kissing him and decided she had to force him out of her brain. But it was such an embedded thing, it was hard to leave him behind. But then it all happened at once, Oz leaving and falling for Tara and well, it all changed. Suddenly they were all fighting the forces of darkness in a huge pit and saving the world. And oh yeah, she just happened to be one of the most powerful witches in the world. Where did all that time go?

Inside she was still the little girl colouring on the floor, because she liked Xander, her best friend. If they'd never met Buffy at all, maybe none of this would ever have happened. What if they'd grown up in a normal town, where things went missing because of thieves and sneaky children rather than demons and vampires? Well then their lives wouldn't have been nearly as interesting. Xander still remembered that happy little girl, with her yellow converse and her humming, all the things that she still was on the inside. Now she just got to express them in different ways. And she was loved.

*Flashback* Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 1997

It was Buffy's first day at Sunnydale High School, she knew no one, and she desperately hoped there weren't any forces of darkness to battle. It was her first day and that would really be unfair. The principal didn't seem too impressed with her record, but that couldn't be helped, vampires just decided to attack the gym you know? It couldn't really be helped. She'd had to burn the place down to get rid of them.

The first person she'd met was Cordelia Chase, a girl known for being popular, annoying and bullyish, Buffy didn't get the best vibes off her but she was nice enough (to her). Then she'd met Willow, her future best friend, and she thought she'd struck gold because even though Willow was shy, she was loyal and kind and she was smart. She came with free tutoring. But also another best friend, Xander. She noticed the deathly crush Willow had towards him from the start and managed to stay away from dating him.

They'd met on a bench...

"Hi, Willow right?" Buffy asked after picking up the name from one of Cordelia's name calling sessions by the water fountain. She approached slowly because the girl seemed nice and she didn't want to creep up on her or anything. Willow looked up sharply and dropped her sandwich into her lap, her eyes peering upwards at the blonde calling her name.

"Why?" She asked abruptly, but it came out all sharp and scratchy like she was offended or something. So there was a quick correction - "hi, I-I mean hi." She commented, regaining her composure and wondering why on Earth the new girl that was hanging out with Cordelia earlier would want to be seen anywhere near a nerd like her. "Uh, did you want me to move?" She continued, thinking that other than to pick on her further this was the only other thing the new girl could possibly want of her.

But Buffy wanted to be friends, she could see that a person who was labelled as a nerd would often be a good friend because they aren't the ones dishing out the hate. "Why don't we start with, hi I'm Buffy, then segue into me asking you for a favour. It doesn't involve moving but it does involve hanging out with me for a while." Buffy replied, sitting down next to the redhead and angling her body so they could talk.

"But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" Willow returned as she waited for the reply, there was a hint of attitude left in her eyebrows but she thought she'd at least test the waters before fully believing this girl actually wanted to talk to her. So there was a hint of dread in her eyes that she might still be rejected.

Buffy looked confused for a few seconds, squinting her own eyebrows into a knitted frown and a pouty lip as she asked. "I can't do both?" Willow smiled finally because she could see the genuine interest in Buffy's face. Oh so maybe this girl does like me and she wants to hang out. Way to go for the Willow. Oh my god brain shut up. And stop talking to yourself, it's weird.

"Not legally." Was her snappy comeback, since Buffy had sat down she felt more at ease with the blonde, with confidence in general. But Buffy seemed really nice and friendly and she said she wanted to get by and actually do work which always floated Willow's boat. Xander only wanted to pass math so he could earn money, and he had all these plans about visiting every state at least once.

Then Xander himself had appeared with their friend Jesse, oh Jesse, what an end he met with. Siring then a dusting, not quite the life he'd dreamed of but it was his. After that Xander never had another male best friend, only Willow. He'd found her stake on the floor and made some quick joke about building a picket fence, he was witty that way. And attractive and cute with silly floppy 90s hair - according to the love poems Willow was writing about him at the time.

At first Buffy was taken aback by him, not sure what to make of the guy with the suave attitude but geeky demeaner. He was but a mystery man. He acted all cool but she had a feeling on the inside he was all squishy and gooey on the inside. Something he and Willow confirmed later, on multiple occasions.

The crater that was Sunnydale, the world without shrimp 2003

When the bus parked up on the side of the crater, the whole gang jumped from the vehicle and out into the desert landscape. Buffy climbed down off the roof and stood peering into the big hold that was Sunnydale. Everyone else bar Xander and Anya, were standing her behind her in the road. She mourned for a few seconds that Spike was really gone, peering down at the hole, then back at the road in front of them, it was a long way before they saw anything they recognised, it was only sand for now. Then Dawn was jumping from the back of the bus and pulling her into a hug, it was nice, calming. The fact that they were both alive hitting them quickly from every angle.

The remaining slayers gathered around behind her as the Sunnydale sign finally gave up and fell into the pit. The Hellmouth was gone, the whole thing destroyed in Spike's explosion, his death saving the world. Andrew hobbled out of the bus, he'd watched as Robin was cut down in front of him, his body so much bigger and stronger than his own he was in shock that it was he who survived and not the obvious stronger partner. He felt he'd cheated death in a way.

Tara walked over to him and silently gave him a hug, she'd always been kind to him. "It's ok, you were brave too, you have every right to be alive Andrew." She whispered quietly in his ear. Somehow she knew what he was feeling, she'd picked up on it - the lack of Robin on the bus amongst the survivors, and his guilt ridden, blackened green aura gave him away. She was ever so good at reading people. He pulled away from her and gave her a nod and a mouthed 'thank you' as he walked towards the rest of the group.

Inside the bus Xander's breathing was getting shallower, his lungs depleting as the wound in his stomach leaked yet more blood. Anya was at his side, panicking a little and pressing a bandage to his abdomen to stop the bleeding. His eye flickered in and out of consciousness as he began to try and speak. "Did we make it?" He asked like he had no idea what had just happened, Anya grabbed hold of his hand and kissed it - trying to keep him from falling unconscious.

"We made it sweetie." Anya said between a few tears falling down her cheeks as he slipped away from her slowly. His arms retreating back to his body, his face fell to an emotionless automaton, he was falling. As Anya's eyes locked with his, he felt the death of him wash over her for a split second before he started spluttering and sitting up.

"OH MY GOD, XANDER!? Don't do that to me again." Anya cried out as she wrapped her arms around him steadily, pushing wet kisses into his lips and lightly hitting him on the arm.

"Ow," he said, before quickly responding to her lips on his, moaning softly because she was all warm against him. Much to the applause of the others who stood around watching them through the bus windows. Willow even wolf whistled with a raised eyebrow as they all pretended not to have known that they'd gotten back together, Andrew giving Anya a slight wink as she carried Xander out of the bus to look down into the crater.

Anya breathing a sigh of relief that he was alive and well, Buffy and Dawn stood staring into the deep hole as Faith walked up behind them and Giles took the moment to remind them that there was another Hellmouth up in Cleveland, a comment that was scoffed and eyerolled by the rest of the gang. Faith felt like sleeping for a week, Willow was holding onto Tara by the waist and wishing to do no more magic that day, Tara wishing the same because they were both magicked out. Andrew stood silently beside Giles, he was going to miss Spike, somehow that guy was always a little bit nice to him when he really didn't have to be.

Some of the other girls were walking around aimlessly in the desert looking for god knows what. The others were in the bus gathering up medical and food supplies for the day ahead, who knows where that would take them. No one was thinking about all they'd lost, not the place they grew up, not their belongings, they were just looking at the hole and thinking how lucky they all were to be standing there at that precise moment. Together and Alive.

"What are we gonna do now Buffy?" Willow asked from behind her, she knew now that every potential in the world was a slayer that Buffy and Faith would be relieved of the burden. That it was something they'd always have in them but the load was shared between hundreds of others just like them. She could feel their power swirling within her, the magic of hundreds combining to defeat the demons. Willow took a step closer and put her hand on Buffy's shoulder.

She smiled, her lips bloodied and drying, cracked into a crazy smile and she stared into tomorrow, the place where she didn't have to fight the forces of darkness everyday, and one where she might even stand a chance at living a normal life, and Dawn would have that too. And she didn't say anything, there were no words to describe what she was feeling, so she left it unsaid. A promise between all of them that this was the day the world changed. And they weren't alone, they weren't tied to the earth and chosen to fight alone, they were an army. And they were together.

Los Angeles, the world without shrimp 2003 19 days later

Spike felt his whole body burning, his skin pulling away from his bones as his body fell back together. Angel had ripped open the envelope and it fell onto the carpet. The amulet, bashed in and slightly burnt it rattled for a few seconds and started glowing. It was a bright white glow that filled the room with artificial light, emitting a dark smoke that swirled its embers back together. As Spike's body reformed from Ash he felt himself choking, he was screaming in pain because the sun was burning his form one minute and letting him stand up the next. His heroic death reversed as he landed in the Wolfram and Hart offices opposite his nemesis. Angel.

His breath was ragged for a few intakes before he realised his surroundings, all the people so busy staring at him, but he still felt the burn of the sun embedding itself in his flesh. Barely seconds ago he was saving the world, and now he was here alive again, stuck in an office building. Unfamiliar faces stared at him as he regained his ability to stand upright and looked into the eyes of his enemy. He'd seen Angel with Buffy only a couple of days ago - she'd kissed him, it was unfair, he could just swoop back into her life and she'd take him back.

"What? What?" He said as his eyes scoured the room, first a green-skinned man with red horns, what the hell? Then a pretty brunette who looked rather confused, poor lass. Then suddenly Harmony was standing in front of him yelling things. Then some other guy started saying all his credentials like he was some sort of legend, any other day and he would've been gloating about that. And that's when Spike saw him, Angel, standing in front of a wooden desk and glaring with cautious eyes.

Spike ran at him at the last second because anger was the only emotion coming through right now. His noble death had been taken from him and now he wasn't a champion, still a worthless vampire. And now Angel was here, the guy who could take Buffy from him with no warning. She'd always love him more and that was what set him off. He ran at him with such a force that he ran through Angel's body and was now standing in the middle of his desk. The only word coming to mind was, "bugger."