PREVIOUSLY ON BUFFY'S NEW HOME
Buffy clenches her jaw refusing to speak for a long moment before she zips up her jacket and places the scythe resting on the table back onto her holster. Not bothering to turn to look at him she finally speaks "You still doubt after everything that I wouldn't stand by your side. You know Klaus..." Finally the blonde spins around to face him a cold look crossing her face "...I may understand why you did it. But...I will never forget what it felt like having your hand in my chest...it broke me Nik. More than anyone has ever broken me. You were the only person that ever truly understood me. And now every time I look at you...I feel that pain all over again."
...
Elena lets out another loud sob as she rests her chin on her knees and looks to where she was hoping Xander was still stood "Please..." She gasps out "Please come back to me."
Xander takes a shaky breath before leaning forward and kissing her forehead one last time "I love you Elena Gilbert. And I will always love you...more than anything. Goodbye."
...
"I will help." She hisses ignoring the way he tried to cut in she was done listening to Original vampires, she was done playing nice "I will bring Hayley and the wolves back...because they are my army. Understand, not yours, not Klaus. I'm done playing nice Elijah. You people don't get to toss me around like yoyo anymore. So I'll help but let me make one thing clear..." Pausing the blonde leans across the table ignoring the hurt in Elijah's eyes as he finally comes to the realization that all the trust he had built with her was gone.
"Other than this little project..." She whispers darkly "...you stay the hell away from me and my daughter. I don't need you deciding that you know best for her and for me. That's my job. You even try...and I promise you I will kill you. And trust me...I don't want to kill you."
...
"The others." The vampire whispers looking over at her with wet eyes "Buffy, we didn't all make it back from the other side."
Buffy takes a shaky breath and walks over to the vampire who was shaking his head as tears began spilling down his face, she had never seen him more crushed which meant that there was one person she had a horrible feeling was a part of the list.
Cupping his face in her hands she turns him to look her in the eye "Who? Stefan who didn't make it back?"
"Xander...Bonnie and Damon." At his words a loud gasp let the blonde as tears began to run down her face as her heart began beating against her chest in a panic, this had to be a trick...this just couldn't be...she should have been there.
"They're gone, Buffy." Stefan whispers as he wraps his arms around the blonde holding onto her tightly "They're gone."
...
Xander groans at the obvious dig at him "This is gonna be a sucky ass purgatory. Or wherever the hell we're going."
With that, the three stand as the bright light begins to move towards them sucking them where they assumed everyone else had gone.
As they wait for their fate Bonnie turns to the boys "Do you think it'll hurt?"
Damon shrugs his final words getting cut off as The Other Side finally crumbles in on itself "I don't kn—"
5 MONTHS LATER: NEW ORLEANS, LOUISIANA
Buffy Anne Summers found herself standing in the center of the Mikelson Compound however instead of being filled with light and the sounds of the French quarter just outside the compound's doorstep, something was different. The whole compound was in darkness with nothing but a single bonfire in the centre of the courtyard, the flames offering the only light in the darkness.
Buffy who was stood in long black and red lace gown on one of the many balcony's frowns as she stares into the bright red flames, losing herself in the fire. However the barefoot Slayer's attention was taken away as she spots a shadow move through the flames, frowning the blonde picks up her dress and quickly climbs over the edge of the balcony before dropping down into the compound landing gracefully on her feet.
"Hello?" She calls her voice echoing through the silent compound, spinning around the blonde frowns as she still is yet to spot a single soul. Hearing the crackling of the fire the Slayer turns back around to face the flames only for her eyes to widen as she spots a familiar figure standing on the opposite side of the bonfire staring right at her.
"You." The blonde breaths staring at the figure of the First Slayer "What—what are you doing here?"
The First Slayer merely crouches down by the fire before looking up at the blonde through her long black Maine of hair "You have a shadow over you."
Buffy gulps slightly as a chill goes down her spine, the last time the First Slayer had told her something so vague it was that death was her gift and given that had actually led to her death she wasn't exactly looking forward to more vague words.
"You wanna clear that up for me?"
The First Slayer smiles over at the young woman "You have two hearts, two families. The Gilberts and The Mikealsons."
Buffy clenches her jaw slightly already not liking where this was going, after everything that had happened in the past few months they had been threat-free since The Other Side was destroyed and Dahlia had been killed. "What can I say I'm greedy. We gonna get to a point."
"Your time with them is short." The First Slayer explains as she circles around the fire and moves right in front of the blonde so they were standing face to face "Within the year both your families will fall. The Mikealsons will be first...One by friend, one by foe...and one by family...Then the Gilberts and the Summers will be torn apart. You will never be in the same room with all again. So enjoy your time while you can because soon you will be what you truly are...alone. Always alone."
The sound of the blonde's alarm clock going off causes Buffy's eyes to slam open in her bed, gasping slightly as she tries to remind herself that it was nothing but a dream. Groaning she leans against her pillow and rubs her hands across her face as she thinks back to the Slayer's words 'Soon you will be what you truly are...alone. Always alone.' Just those words filled Buffy's entire body with dread, what the hell could be coming that would leave her alone...no family, no friends...just alone.
Taking a shaky breath the blonde rolls over to switch off the alarm clock that was still going haywire and giving her a massive migraine. Slamming her fist down on the clock she winces as the metal and glass clock shatters under the force "Dammit." She huffs before leaning up and grabbing the now ruined box and throwing it into the dustbin across the room which still had the last three clocks she had broken, all from this week.
Looking to the other side of the bed she sighs as she spots it empty and cold which meant the normal occupant of that side was already up and moving...which probably meant she was supposed to be too now. Groaning she drops her head back on her pillow staring up at the ceiling as the normal morning thoughts filled her brain. First, she thought of Bonnie, one of her closest friends who had sacrificed so much for everyone only to die yet again when the Other Side was destroyed. Yet that day The Other Side had crumbled, Bonnie hadn't been the only one lost.
There had been two others...Damon and Xander.
All three of them were gone and even now five months later, after months of digging and searching with no luck, it was still hard to accept that three people she loved dearly were gone. However, as harsh as it was it had made Buffy come to realize something that she had yet to truly think about, she may never die but eventually, her family would be gone and most of her friends, either from old age or other human sicknesses. She would watch everyone she had ever loved die, one by one and there was nothing she could do about that.
And the only other true immortal people in her life...that was more complicated.
Buffy's friendship with Klaus was still on shaky ground, while yes she could now hold a conversation with him without threatening to kill him or shove her foot where the sun doesn't shine she still had an issue with him being too close to her. Her mind quickly going back to the day he had torn her heart from her chest. But things were improving mainly due to the fact that they put Joy's happiness first.
When it came to Elijah, the only time she spoke to him was when it came to helping the wolves and if she needed to hit something then normally she would go to Marcel's fight club and beat up a few of the people there, sometimes that included beating Elijah to a pulp. Which made her a little less pissed at him for a time.
The blonde after waking up her demon side fully needed to find something to focus on to try and control her anger, she wasn't going to lie...the first time she had seen that vampire-like face that came with her demon side, she had screamed like a little girl. It had completely wigged her out. So she worked, she trained...she lived. She tried not to hate the world every second.
Which was working out quite well, in the past five months after all the hell and pain things were finally good. The Slayer had been managing to start building up her connections with other supernatural communities across the world thanks to the help and advice from Giles. Who was pretty much her eyes and ears at the Cleveland headquarters. However, one work aspect sucked...and that was the fact that now that Mystic Falls was supernatural free she couldn't even go check in on her Gallery which left Jeremy in charge of it. Which was more terrifying then any demon. Honestly, she was surprised he hadn't burned the place down by now.
The blonde's typical morning panic and past thoughts were cut off as she hears a large clutter downstairs in the kitchen. Sighing she pulls herself from the bed and grabs her pink robe before making her way downstairs and across the hall.
Hearing the small giggles coming from the kitchen a small smile covers Buffy's face.
Walking over to the kitchen she halts in the doorway, leaning against the oak wood doorframe and crossing her arms across her chest as she watches the scene in front of her.
There in the kitchen was Stefan currently covered in pancake mix and flour with Joy who was clapping her hands together as she sat on the counter throwing more flour at him. The scene was adorable though probably not for the vampire who was covered head to toe in flour in the middle of the messy kitchen which Joy was only adding mess too.
"Remind me again which one of us didn't want a maid?" The blonde teases causing the two to turn to her. Stefan glares at her slightly before laughing as he picks up Joy off the counter.
The blonde little 1 year old turns to her mother clapping her hands together "Mama!" She yells before pointing at the mess on the counter "Patcake."
Buffy arches a brow in amusement before looking over at the mess "Very...floury. This is why I do take out."
Stefan chuckles as he circles around the counter before gesturing to the little girl who was still throwing flour at his face "Well Joy decided to cover me in flour instead of helping me cook. She thought it was funny."
"Smart kid." Buffy argues.
Stefan smiles before placing Joy down on her feet and reaching for the pink box on the counter, crouching down in front of the adorable 1 year old he hands her the box "You remember what to do JJ?" When the little girl nods Stefan stands and grabs his lighter out of his pocket before standing behind the little girl as she takes a few steps over to her mother wobbling slightly on her feet.
Buffy smiles brightly as she watches the little girl walk, it was still so weird that her kid could walk now. She remembered her first steps like it was yesterday mainly because it had been the only positive thing to happen that whole day. It had been the day after she found out the others got trapped on the other side. She had been in tears and then looked up to find Joy walk into the room. It had been one of those moments that was now etched into her brain. A first spark of happiness that reminder her that there was still good despite all the pain.
Bending down in front of her little girl she takes the pick box before kissing her forehead smiling at Joy smiles before moving to go sit down at her little table with her tea set on it.
Standing back up Buffy turns to her flour-covered boyfriend and winces trying to hold in her laughter "It's a great look."
"Oh yeah?" He asks teasingly as he takes a step forward with his floured covered hands making her panic and back away quickly trying not to laugh "Stefan don't." Before she could escape though he speeds up behind her wrapping his arms around effectively now covering her in flour too making her laugh "You suck."
"You love me."
"Eh." She teases before leaning up kissing him softly before after a moment she pulls back and opens the pink box pulling out the cupcake which had a small candle in the middle. Her eyes quickly widen and she sighs "Stefan—"
"I know you don't wanna make a big deal." He assures her before quickly lighting the candle "But happy birthday Buffy."
Buffy smiles nervously as she looks at the cupcake, she hadn't acknowledged her birthday since her 21st, things just always went wrong on her birthday. Plus the fact she had that creepy end of her family dream didn't really help with her birthday karma.
Looking up at him he merely smiles and kisses her forehead "Just a cupcake. Nothing else I promise. No end of the worl—"
"Don't." She hisses slapping his chest softly before glaring at him "You just jinxed it."
"We're not ten."
"You totally jinxed it." She moans before pouting slightly only making him smile and tap her nose "One wish. Wish to rid my jinx if you have to."
Buffy sighs before looking at the candle with unsure eyes, just praying that her birthday wasn't really cursed and more than anything as she blew out the candle she wished that her dream had just been a dream...and not a prophetic Slayer dream.
WHITMORE
Now in her second year of Medical School Elena Gilbert after losing the love of her life had pretty much thrown herself into her volunteer work at the hospital. Upping her hours to the point where she barely had time to sleep. Not that she slept much when she did have time.
As she stands with the other volunteers listening to Dr. Josette Laughlin Elena's eyes which were focused on her chart shoot up as she hears a familiar voice. One she hadn't heard in almost two years, last she had heard he had moved to finish Med-School in New York in hopes of going straight into residency there.
Looking past the other interns Elena's dreaded thoughts were confirmed as there standing in the front of the group sure enough was her ex boyfriend Liam.
"Oh crap." She mumbles only to wince as Jo turns to look at her effectively making Liam's eyes widen as he spots Elena.
"Gilbert, something to add?" Jo asks making Elena quickly shake her head. The Doctor sighs before moving to lead the group to where they would be needed.
As she begins to follow the rest of the group she sighs as she spots Liam move to walk beside her "Lena."
"Liam." She mumbles awkwardly still thrown over seeing him, sighing she finally glances at him and sure enough he still looked as he good as he did when they broke up when she had been in Sunnydale "I thought you were in New York."
Liam smirks over at the beautiful brunette "Not anymore. Seems your stuck with me Gilbert."
NEW ORLEANS
Buffy was in her closet grabbing a black fitted suit jacket to go over her skin tight lace top while she attempts not to launch her phone at the wall. She had been listening to her brother over speaker and to say what he had told her had pissed her off may be an understatement.
Buttoning up her suit she moves to grab a pair of heels before inhaling deeply trying not to snap "Jeremy...I'll ask you again...why did I get a call from one of my art dealers that not only did you sell his painting under value but you were drunk when you told him, then called him a dick?"
There is a long silence on the other end of the phone as Jeremy clearly tried to come up with an excuse but he was probably almost just as bad as a liar as Elena was "Um..."
Buffy groans as she slips on her heels, she did not have time to deal with angry phone calls from Art Dealers and Artists, she had enough going on in the Supernatural aspect of her life "Jeremy! When you offered to help with the gallery that doesn't mean using it as a party ground. Hire someone who isn't you. Today!"
With that Jeremy grumbles under his breath making the blonde sigh as she steps out of the closest just as Giles begins texting her. Honestly she preferred the days when Giles could barely work out how to turn on a computer, him texting was just un-natural "Ugh. I gotta go. Bye."
Hanging up she walks down the stairs and heads into Joy's playroom as she reads the endless messages from Giles, all about the normal watcher mumble gumbo.
One message does catch her attention making her sigh "I'm gonna kill Andrew."
"What did he do now?" Stefan asks with a laugh as he walks into the room.
Buffy sighs "He told a Fyarl demon that he could live at one of the Watcher's offices when he was drunk." She moans before groaning and turning to Stefan with an adorable pout "Can't we go back to Apocalypse stuff. That was so much easier."
Stefan smiles down at the blonde in amusement, who would have guessed 8 years ago that Buffy would be asking for the end of the world just to get out of dealing with Andrew of all people "How bad was the damage?"
"Bad enough where I may summon the devil myself to get the apolocyplse going." She tells him before picking up Joy only to sigh as she takes in the sight of Stefan in his very sexy work clothes.
"Stop doing that."
The vampire smirks slightly crossing his arms shrugging ever so innocently "What do you mean?"
"Stop being all...ugh..." She groans before gesturing to his arms looking ever so great in his white vest "...mechanic and sexy. You always do this when I have to go see Klaus. Stop being so sexy." She tells him with a laugh making him chuckle before kissing her forehead.
Buffy smiles slightly before groaning and pulling back he was doing it again "Stop it!" She yells ignoring his laugh as she grabs Joy's bag and moves to the door "Have fun playing human for a day!"
MYSTIC FALLS
Caroline was stood just on the boarder of Mystic Falls as she spoke to Elena over the phone groans loudly at the request Elena had just thrown her way "I moved out of Whitmore. Why would I go to a Whitmore party?" The vampire huffs as she moves over to the picnic blanket where her mother was setting up their snacks and drinks.
"It's being throw by my med-school class. It's literally happening just across the street from our building. Time to come home."
Caroline sighs in annoyance as she stared over at the Mystic Falls town line wishing she could cross over but alas unless she wanted to die that would not be happening "I am home. I just signed the lease to my new apartment."
"On the border of a town that doesn't want you. That's not home, that's sad."
Caroline couldn't help but grumble under her breath, for Elena it was different, Elena was a banshee she could still go into Mystic Falls whenever she wanted. But there was one thing in Mystic Falls she had been avoiding like the damn plague. A house Jeremy was currently back living in. A house Xander had rebuilt for her.
"You hate most of your class!" The vampire argues not wanting to point out the obvious elephant in the conversation that was the old Gilbert house.
"You're right. But I like them more when I'm drunk. Plus I'm invoking girl code...Liam's back."
At the Banshee's words Caroline's eyebrows shoot right up into her hairline, she had to admit she hadn't been expecting that "Wait...as in cute college guy you dated for like three years who dumped you the minute you moved to Sunnydale Liam? The one who was your TA during college only to disappear out of the blew?"
There is a loud sigh on the other end of the phone Elena clearly disturbed by how many facts Caroline remembered about the brunette's relationship with Liam "Yep. And he's volunteering at the same hospital with me. So I need booze. Look even Tyler's coming—"
"It's true!" Tyler yells from Elena's side of the phone "We have been summoned to help our friend. Caroline, you're coming. Jessie too."
Caroline sighs "Okay one...Jessie is still in Europe figuring out life as a vampire given he didn't have the most pleasant start and ugh...I hate it when you pull the friend code. Fine. But quick question...have either of you managed to get Buffy's new address since she moved out the compound el Mikealson. We were supposed to send a whiskey of the week thing for her birthday today."
There is silence on the end of the phone as Elena was clearly distracted by something before she finally clears her throat "Um no. I haven't spoke to her. Her birthday is a big no-no for her. But I'll work on it. See ya."
NEW ORLEANS
Buffy sighs as she walks up the stairs of the art studio Klaus had asked her to meet her at, as she does she couldn't help but groan she was currently trying to speak to Giles while carrying files as well as a fussy one year old.
"Buffy, are you even listening to me!"
At Giles' testy tone Buffy groans "Yeah yeah, bla bla, demons, bla bla treaty, bla bla yes or no?"
There is a loud sigh on the other side of the phone before a good moment of silence where she was guessing Giles was taking off his glasses and cleaning them in frustration "Buffy, are you alright?"
"I'm fine." She lies running a hand through her hair as she reaches the top of the steps finally being able to place Joy down and take her hand so the little girl could walk instead of being carried "It's just, it's a lot Giles I didn't expect this many..." She mumbles thinking back to the files in her hands. This wasn't even a 5th of the files Giles had sent her. And each file had lists of all the people currently wanting to speak to her, from Demons, vampires and wolfs as well as witches, all of which wanted something from her or to make deals with her.
She was just feeling so out of her league right now.
"I'll get to it. I promise." She assures him as she places the files on the table of the bar only for her eyes to widen as she spots all of the art around the room. It was all Klaus' work she knew that considering she had seen most of them but one currently had her horrified. "Giles—I—I gotta go." She stutters out before hanging up and storming angrily up to the painting "Klaus!" She yells causing the hybrid to appear smiling as his daughter quickly walks over to him.
Being the ever so doting father he was he picked the little girl up kissing her head before turning to the blonde smirking as he spots which painting she had found.
"Something wrong Luv?"
At his teasing tone the blonde spins around her now shoulder length blonde hair twirling with her as she moves to face him. She glares at him for a good moment before gesturing that the thing of an abomination on the wall "Why...may I ask, is my half naked body on the wall!" She yells before turning back around to stare at the painting of herself in bed covered by nothing but a sheet in what she was pretty sure was Klaus' bedroom back at his mansion in Mystic Falls.
The hybrid merely chuckles as he watches her anger continue to grow by the second finding it rather amusing the way her face went red "Well Luv..."
"Get rid of it." She moans shivering in disgust at the painting wanting to throw it out the window "Burn it. Get a priest in here to bless this place after too."
The hybrid chuckles softly before placing Joy down to play with her toys so he could move over to the blonde slayer, turning he looks over at the painting with a smile "It's actually one of my favorites."
"Ugh." Buffy groans shaking her head before turning to face him trying to get her mind off the half naked portrait he had done of her, which she was so destroying at some point in the near future. Running her hands through her hair she sighs "I don't have long, why am I here? As you can see...I have..." Pausing she gestures at the files currently resting on the bar "Crazy Queenly things to deal with."
The hybrid smirks slightly as he looks over at the files before turning back to the work exhausted woman in front of him "Ah yes, more petitions to gain favor from you. I hope your little human watcher did better with his research this time."
Buffy groans in annoyance at his hinting tone "Okay Tokyo was not Giles' fault it was Andrews."
"You were still attacked by the cult that had been asking for a meeting."
The blonde Slayer sighs remembering back to those three days of complete all around sucky-ness. Andrew had given Giles bad information leading Buffy to a group that wanted to harvest her body for demonic sacrifice and spells. This was part of the reason she had not taken any more trips with travel since "Yeah, okay that sucked. Big with suck-y. Now here me why?"
The hybrid chuckles before gesturing around the room "I thought I would allow you a private tour of my exhibition."
"You do forget who helped organize this." She snarks with a small glare as he luckily leads her away from the painting of her showing her some of his others.
"Yeah Luv and I'm thankful." He tells her with a small laugh "For the better part of a millennium I spent my time trying not to draw my father's attention, and now he's dead and all those who stood against me have been vanquished. "
Buffy groans slightly, he had given her this speech when he asked her to help set this all up and she was too exhausted with her lake of sleep to hear it again "Klaus...you're on repeat again."
The hybrid grins slightly before turning to face the blonde with a playful smile on his face "Well if I promise not to repeat myself again will you still come with me to tomorrow's opening? Since the Salvatore is busy playing human and will be working."
Buffy sighs slightly, she knew what he was doing, after their big fight and since she moved out of The Compound he had picked up the flirting a lot more.
"I already said I'd come." She reminds him before sighing "But you gotta stop with the flirty eye thing Nik." She warns, they were still trying to get back to a good place again and him constantly hitting on her was not going to help matters.
Pausing she turns to grab her stuff only to halt as she spots the look on his face, that's when it clicked, he was trying to reassure himself that at least someone would be there. Leaning against the bar she watches him for a long moment before inhaling tightly "You can't rely on me to do everything with you." She reminds him "Look I get it, Mary and Rebekah are gone, Marcel's big with the angry and Elijah...well l'm not gonna get into that cause still want his head on a platter. But Nik...we're still not where we were, I'm trying but it's not like it was, maybe start figuring out your family drama. I can't be there 24/7 Nik...I just I can't." With that she grabs her files before moving over to kiss Joy once more.
As she moves to leave the silent Hybrid finally speaks up "Just curious luv, my car needs work—"
"Don't ask Stefan...and stop harassing him with compelled people at work. It's not funny."
"It's a little funny."
Buffy groans loudly "I hate my life." She mumbles before heading for the door but not without glancing back at him once more "I'll see you later but right now I have to face my terrible fate..."
"And what's that Luv?"
Pausing a shiver runs down her spine "...paperwork. Ugh."