Disclaimer: I do not own Marvel Cinematic Universe, Buffyverse or anything else you may recognize

Thank you to everyone who has favorited, followed or reviewed this fic so far.

And now here we come with 7x4, which was a depressing episode IMO, but really well done too.

Guest: Thanks for the review. In that verse Morgoth's discord created the First Evil, plus most of the powerful Buffyverse beings have hax, but their fighting power is low. Only ones who have fighting power are Old Ones, Twilight and Glory (and we have never seen her full power).

Chapter 3- Help

School was in session. There were students wandering the halls. Buffy was arranging and rearranging her desk. Then she decided to sharpen all her pencils. A student walked up to her mid-sharpening.

The girl, skinny with long brown hair, looked kind of timid and introverted, and she called out. "Hello?"

Buffy was startled. "Come in!" She hid the pencils. "Hi."

The girl told Buffy. "Mr. Miller sent me here."

"Do you know why?" Buffy inquired.

"I'm not sure", the girl said as she walked to Buffy. "Maybe 'cause this guy was picking on me."

At another point, a young, tough-looking boy called Rene was standing in Buffy's cubicle wearing a grey hooded sweatshirt with the hood pulled up over his head.

He showed his macho act by telling Buffy. "I don't wanna talk to you."

"OK. That's fine", Buffy said with a shrug.

Rene had clearly thought he would get a different reaction from what he'd gotten, and continued. "I'm serious. I don't wanna talk."

"OK", Buffy shrugged again.

At another point, a tall, good-looking, confident boy was talking to Buffy. He was wearing a stylish knit sport shirt and looked kind of preppy. He told Buffy. "You know, I hate to miss Bio, but I thought it was best I come speak with you."

"So, what's on your mind?" Buffy asked him.

The boy asked. "On my mind?"

"Are you worried about school?" Buffy clarified what he could talk about with her. "Uh, friends, girls, your parents?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's it", the boy nodded, latching onto that. "My parents."

Buffy inquired. "What about them?"

He trailed off, not sure how to pass his time here. "Oh, issues... of divorce."

Buffy's conversation with the introverted girl continued as Buffy told the girl as gently as she could. "You know, it's awful... being teased. But the thing is, you know, with bullies like this, they're really just—"

"Insecure?" The girl finished for Buffy, seeming annoyed by that. "Yeah, everyone says that. You know, I'm really tired of everyone being so insecure."

Buffy's conversation with Rene continued as well. He was staring at her with his best tough face. He sat down at Buffy's desk. She didn't seem to care much about his macho act.

Buffy's conversation with the confident boy continued as well as Buffy told him. "Divorce is terrible. My parents got divorced when I was a kid."

"Yeah, my parents are happily married", Buffy now gave him a glare. "It's hard. Uh, I feel... left out. B-but I'm also concerned about girls." The boy laughed nervously. "OK, I'm just bored. Maybe I should get back to Bio?"

Buffy nodded, and the boy walked away.

Buffy continued conversing with the introverted girl as she counselled her. "You have to stick up for yourself, Amanda. You need to show this bully that you're not gonna take any more of his sh—guff. Uh, any guff."

Amanda then revealed to Buffy. "'Cause that's what I did. I stuck up for myself. The other day after class, I jumped him in the parking lot, and I slammed his stupid-ass insecure face right into the pavement."

Buffy was now shocked at that. "You what?"

Amanda shrugged, now her real reason having been revealed. "I guess that's another reason Mr. Miller wanted me to see you." Buffy sighed. "Do you think I should pound on him some more?"

Rene was now sitting down at Buffy's desk as he finally confessed why he had put on such a macho act. "I'm scared. I don't want to be left all alone. My brother's joining up with the Marines." He then realized letting it out lifted the burden inside. "Whew. You know, if he knew I was making a fool of myself, he'd smack me in my head. I guess I'm just being stupid."

Buffy told him. "Sounds like your brother's pretty tough."

Rene nodded in agreement. "Yeah, he's a man. I'm just all messed up right now."

Buffy assured him. "You are not messed up. It is not messed up to worry about your brother." Her mother used to worry all the time too before her untimely death. And she herself worried for Dawn every time she went out in the field, even though she knew Dawn was capable of taking care of herself now.

Rene then asked some more, letting his fears out. "What if he doesn't come back? What if he gets blown up?"

Buffy's mother always did one thing, and she did the same with her sister, perhaps Rene should too. "Have you talked to him? Have you told him how you feel?"

Rene shook his head. "No. No, I don't wanna talk to him. I don't wanna do that. I don't wanna talk to him."

Buffy sighed. "OK."

"You understand?"

A while later, Buffy was counseling a nerd boy. He was wearing a crystal pendant necklace and horn-rimmed glasses. She then inquired. "So, Josh, what's on your mind?"

Josh told her. "Well, I'm worried that I'm... gay."

Buffy felt she could give good advice here. "OK, first of all, I... I think it's great that you would come and talk to me about this. And second of all, you should know that there is nothing shameful about being gay. Nothing. I have two lady friends who are both gay and in a loving relationship."

Josh then revealed his real reasons to her. "I-I know. It's just—I'm not positive, so, uh, I was thinking that... why don't you go on, uh, a date with me so I can be sure."

Josh flashed his crooked-toothed smile at Buffy while she shook her head in disbelief and sighed.

A while later, Buffy was counseling yet another student. She seemed flustered with this student, holding her head in her hands before finally speaking. "It sounds like it's difficult for you. Like maybe your sister makes it hard for you to establish your own identity. You said she's controlling, she doesn't let you make your own decisions—"

The student she was counseling was none other than Dawn herself, who was sporting an attitude. "Yeah, and she borrows my clothes without asking. And also keeps threatening my boyfriend not to hurt me even though he's the sweetest and most caring guy."

Buffy groaned and said. "I understand. That must be hard."

Buffy was now counseling a girl who didn't quite fit any stereotype. She was wearing a black t-shirt and purple streaks in her blonde hair. "So, you're not doing your homework."

"I guess not", the girl said. "It all just... seems kind of ... whatever."

Buffy assured the girl. "I know high school can seem kind of frustrating. But if you just get through it, then you can go to college, you know, or you can join the French Foreign Legion, or anything you want."

The girl simply gave a smile. "Yeah, well, I'm not gonna do all that stuff."

Buffy agreed, considering what she had heard of that. "OK, no Foreign Legion. I get that. I mean all the changing your name, and being indentured for all those years, and occupying Algeria..."

The girl laughed. "It's just that I'm not graduating from high school."

Buffy asked. "Why not?"

"I really like that shirt", the girl told Buffy. "Where'd you get it?"

But Buffy wasn't going to let this go. "Cassie, don't change the subject. Why won't you graduate?"

Cassie sounded completely serious when she spoke her next words. "Because next Friday I'm gonna die.

Buffy stared at her in shock for a few seconds.

"What?"

Cassie immediately wanted to change the subject. "Can we talk about something else?"

Buffy was firm now though, she was not going to let this girl commit suicide, if that's what she was implying. "No, we have to talk about this."

"Just... never mind", Cassie sighed.

Buffy inquired. "Cassie, what makes you feel like this?"

"Feel like what?"

"Like you wanna hurt yourself."

"Oh, I'm—" Cassie laughed. "I'm not gonna commit suicide if—if that's what you're saying. No way."

Buffy was confused now. "OK then. Then what are you saying?"

Cassie then assured Buffy. "Look, I don't mean to be a pain. You seem really nice, and I know you're just trying to help. But I'm wasting your time."

Buffy reassured her too. "No you're not. This is why I'm here. Cassie, please tell me, why do you think you're gonna die?"

Cassie was firm in her stance though. "I don't think it, I know it. I just know."

Buffy wondered if someone was after her and would get to her by next Friday. "What do you mean, you know? A-are you saying that someone's going to hurt you? Has someone threatened you?"

"No." There was a beat. "No, I just know that next Friday I'm gonna die. Some things I just know. I don't know how, I just do." Another beat. "Like I know there will be coins—"

"Coins?"

"Mm-hmm. Lots of coins. Weird ones. And I know that you'll go someplace dark underground. I-I don't know", Cassie shook her head there.

Buffy asked her once more. "What do you mean underground?"

"And I know you'll try to help—"

"Cassie, I-I don't understand what you're saying."

"But you can't, OK? I gotta go", Cassie stood up and gathered her things. "Trig. I don't want Mr. Corrigan sending me to Principal Wood again."

"Cassie, please—"

"Thanks for being so nice. I really do like that shirt", Cassie touched her own shoulder. "You should put a sweater on so it doesn't get stained. I gotta go." She walked away.

Buffy stood up. "Cassie, wait, please—"

"Gotta go."

Later, at Wood's office, Buffy was standing, panicked, talking to Principal Wood, who was calm, sitting behind his desk. "What am I supposed to do?"

Wood pointed out to her. "Well, you did what you were supposed to do. You reported the situation to me."

"And..."

"Listen, Buffy, it's hard. Kids this age... they're hurting, they're pissed off, and they say things. Sometimes they say awful things", Wood stood up, walking to coffee maker and poured coffee. "When I was in high school, I had a thing with this guy, right? Real bully. I kept telling everyone that he'd better sleep with one eye open 'cause I was gonna bust his ass. Well, I got suspended. Talk like that is taken pretty seriously where I come from."

"The hood?"

Principal Wood stopped pouring his coffee and looked at Buffy.

"Beverly Hills... which is a hood."

Buffy looked embarrassed. Principal Wood finished preparing coffee, and walked toward Buffy with a cup of coffee for each of them. He handed one mug to Buffy. "Listen, the point is, I was talking big because I was scared. I couldn't bust a move back in high school, let alone someone's ass. Most of the time, that's what it is when these students act out. Fear, pain—"

Buffy cut him off, since she was worried, thinking about Jonathan. "But sometimes, it's not just talk, right?"

Wood walked back to his desk. "Every time there's a threat like this, we do the same dance. Inform teachers, search lockers, but we can't—we can't know what's gonna happen, and we can't search their brains. We just—we just do what we can."

Buffy wasn't going to let this go. "It's not enough. I need to fix this. I don't usually get a heads up before somebody dies."

Wood was confused, or acted like it. "What do you mean usually?"

Buffy was animated, talking with hands. "No. No, not since—I mean, I'm sure it's not usual to get a chance to stop something like—I just I need to do something, OK?" She walked toward the Principal's desk. "I have to make this better—" She tripped over something, and spilled coffee on her shirt. "Oh! Oh, shoot."

Buffy looked down at the coffee stain on her shirt, and remembered what Cassie had said earlier.

Dawn opened her locker, Peter near her when he sensed Buffy nearby and turned to her. "Hey."

Dawn closed the locker as Buffy muttered. "I wanted to surprise you by just standing here."

"Peter does it better than you", Dawn shrugged as they held hands as Buffy sighed.

"Okay, look, I have a job for the two of you", Buffy then told the two of them.

Peter and Dawn were standing near one of the library stacks, listening in on a conversation between Cassie and guy friend as he asked. "What're you drawing?"

Cassie asked back. "Don't you have a history test to study for?"

He instead asked. "When are you gonna design me a tattoo?"

"A tattoo? Oh, right. I could imagine that", Cassie nodded.

"Come on. Design something. I mean, maybe we could get matching tattoos. How 'bout like a snake with fire coming out of its mouth."

Cassie suggested. "Hmm. Or a sexy hula girl who wiggles when you flex?"

"Yeah, now you're talking", the guy said with a nod. "Sexy hula girl. But a sexy snake hula girl."

Peter and Dawn shared a weird look before she muttered. "Well, I date a spider-guy."

"Hey!" Peter said but she chuckled and friendlily punched his shoulder.

The two casually made their way toward their conversation as Cassie chuckled. "You are so ridiculous."

"So, I was thinking... maybe we should go to that dance after all."

Cassie now denied him. "What do you mean "after all"? I told you I don't wanna go."

The guy shrugged. "Well, I assumed you were kidding."

"It would probably be lame anyways."

Peter and Dawn standing behind them now as the guy continued. "Well, yeah, but lame is funny… and, you know, maybe fun if, you know, we're hanging out together."

"We hang out together all the time", Cassie pointed out to him.

"Right", the guy nodded, then made his argument. "And therefore we should hang out together at the winter formal."

Now Dawn interrupted. "Hey. Um, I'm in ceramics class with you. I'm Dawn Summers. I forgot if we had an assignment last week. I spaced."

"Right. Um. Hey, Dawn. Uh, yeah, you know we did have an assignment, but I didn't write it down. I think something to do with glazes..."

"I think its about different types of glazing techniques or something", Peter said as Cassie nodded, realizing he was right.

"As scintillating as the pottery talk is, I'd better actually go study", the guy gathered his things and said to Dawn. "I'm Mike, by the way."

"Hi, Mike. I-I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"Oh, don't worry about it. I better go hit the books if I'm gonna ace this test. Nice meeting you, though", he turned to Peter. "Oh hey man."

"Hey", Peter and Mike shook hands, knowing each other, and then Mike walked off.

"Cass, I'll see you later?"

"Yep."

Mike walked away when Cassie called out. "Hey, Mike, you're gonna get a "B"."

Mike didn't believe her. "Oh, "A+" baby, "A+"."

"You will get an A+ though", Cassie told Peter, who shrugged as Dawn noticed that Cassie was reading Kurt Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five.

They sat down beside Cassie as Dawn asked. "So, um, is that any good?"

"Yeah. Actually, yeah", Cassie nodded.

Dawn inquired. "What do you have to read it for?"

"Yeah, doesn't look like its an assigned book here, not that I care, I never read them", Peter said as all three chuckled.

Cassie told them. "Oh, just for me, I guess. I kinda stopped reading my homework assignments. I just... read what I want."

Dawn said. "That's so cool. I'd do that, but my sister'd be down my neck in a second."

"Well, I read what I want all the time", Peter pointed out. "Aunt May doesn't care."

"That's because you read useful stuff", Dawn told him as he sighed.

Cassie then realized. "Summers... hey— are you the counselor's little sister?"

Dawn wasn't going to let her identity be stepped on. "No. She's my sister. Lucky me, huh?"

Cassie revealed. "No, no, she's-she's really nice. I actually just saw her this morning."

"Oh, really? What about?" There was a beat. "Uh, I'm sorry, that's none of my business."

"No, I don't care", Cassie assured.

"I hope whatever issue it was, it was worked out", Peter hoped, though he knew it wasn't, but he didn't want to let Cassie now.

Dawn then inquired. "So, Mike's a cutie. Are you guys going to that dance?"

"No, I don't think so", Cassie said.

"Oh. I mean, didn't he ask you?"

Cassie revealed. "Uh, like 105 times."

Dawn asked. "And you said no?"

"106 times", Cassie confirmed. "No, I-I can't go. I'm not gonna be around that night."

Peter and Dawn shared a concerned look, because this was bad.

Later, Magic Box

Everyone was gathered around Willow who was on her laptop, with Tara sitting next to her as Buffy told them. "Cassie's records all show the same thing. Good grades, good kid, then all of a sudden not so good grades, absenteeism, comments about apathy and depression—"

"So, the question is, what changed?" Xander wondered.

Buffy explained to them. "Right. If she did have some sort of psychic vision, that would explain it."

Willow wondered. "Do you really think this girl is some kind of precog?"

"Oh, I don't know. I told you about the shirt, right?" Buffy pointed out.

Xander told her. "Buff, you spilled a cup of coffee. I'm not saying you don't have slayer grace, but it's not the first time."

"She said I'd get an A+ too, though I haven't given the test yet", Peter spoke up.

"Well, you always get one", Dawn said with a pout as he sighed.

Willow then suggested. "I mean maybe, just maybe, you're trying so hard to help that you're seeing paranormal when there's just normal."

"Maybe. But maybe not."

"I don't think it would harm us to look for it", Giles said with a shrug.

"Yeah, could bloody well be something even if it doesn't look like it", Spike spoke up, since he hadn't thought Dawn breaking into the Magic Box would reveal to all that she was actually a ball of mystical energy given human form.

"Her doctor gave the medical records too", Buffy said who handed them to Peter, and he flipped though those.

"Don't see much here", Peter told the rest.

"You should try to do it on Google", Anya spoke to Willow, who nodded, and looked Cassie up.

"Hey, look. Check this. She's got her own site, where you can read her poems, etc."

Xander quipped. "A day and a half of researching, and we finally try looking her up."

"Sometimes we just miss the obvious", Tara said, eliciting chuckles from them all.

Cassie's website was artsy and eccentric. The graphics resembled a collage of words cut from magazines pasted together.

"I remember a goth kid from my old school had stuff like this, but he did it for attention, she seems to actually be going through something", Peter told the rest as he looked at the stuff.

Buffy commented. "Wow, that's a lot of poems."

"Poems. Always a sign of pretentious inner turmoil", Xander said.

"Hey!" Spike spoke up offended. "I write poetry too! Or did!"

"You're pretentious", Xander told him with a shrug.

"Poems can be beautiful too, people write it to show appreciation for things", Tara told Xander.

"Thank you", Spike said, gesturing to Tara who smiled.

Willow read from the website. "The sheets above me cool my skin like dirt on a mad woman's grave I rise into the moonlight white and watch the mirror stare Pale fish looks back at me Pale fish that will never swim My skin is milk for no man to drink My thighs unused unclenched This body is not ready yet But dirt waits for no woman and coins will buy no time I hear the chatter of the bugs. It's they alone will feast."

"Okay, that does speak of turmoil and problems", Spike said as he took a look, more familiar with poetry than the rest of them. "The girl really does believe she is going to die from the looks of this."

"It's quite morbid", Tara agreed. "She doesn't seem too happy about her impending death either."

Dawn spoke up. "Maybe Mike didn't like being rejected and all that."

"No, I know the guy decently, he is not a creep", Peter told Dawn, and that was enough for her.

"Phillip Newton, the girl's father, right?" Anya asked as she looked over Willow's shoulder.

"Yeah, maybe family history will help", Tara agreed.

Willow then told the rest. "Hey, I got something. Whoa, drunk and disorderly, disturbing the peace—there's a lot of charges here."

"Her dad's a drunk?" Buffy asked.

"A violent drunk?" Xander added.

"It does seem like it", Giles said. "Perhaps he is the danger to her and said she would die by next week."

"In that case we must stop him", Peter immediately said.

"We should find out first", Buffy pointed out, having the address, then asked Xander. "Got your keys?"

"Right here", Xander held them up.

Well, the trip to Phillip's had been a bust, and Xander felt quite bad, as he was reminded of his dad, though Phillip wasn't even half as bad as him, since he didn't seem like the guy who would beat on or ignore his daughter, and actually liked spending the little time he had with her, which is probably why he even stayed in a place like this and wasted his life.

Plus, Cassie wouldn't even be with him next Friday.

Buffy and Xander were walking back out to the car when they saw Cassie has just pulled into the driveway. Cassie used remote keyless entry system to lock her car, which beeped, and then told the two of them. "It's not him. He's not the one who does it. Thank you for trying, but I probably shouldn't have told you anything. You're making such a big deal out of it, and I want it to all to just go away."

Xander then inquired. "Are you talking about killing yourself?"

"No, of course not."

"Then fight. Try."

"There's no point. I told you—"

"This doesn't sound like someone who really wants to live."

"You think I want this? You think I don't care?" Cassie started crying. "Believe me, I want to...be here, do things. I want to graduate from high school, and I want to go to the stupid winter formal..." She sniffled. "I have this friend, and it would be fun to go with him. Just to dance and hear lame music to wear a silly dress and laugh and stuff." Cassie sniffled again. "I'd like to go. There's a lot of stuff I'd like to do. I'd love to ice skate at Rockefeller Center. And I'd love to see my cousins grow up and see how they turn out 'cause they're really mean and I think they're gonna be fat. I'd love to backpack across the country or, I don't know, fall in love, but I won't. I just never will."

Buffy assured Cassie. "You will. Cassie, you will. You just have to tell us what you know. You have to tell us everything. Please, help us."

Cassie shook her head, denying any help. "I can't. I just know it's gonna happen. I don't know why and I don't know how, but something out there is gonna kill me."

Later

After some more false alarms, Peter and Dawn walked out together with Cassie.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye."

"No", Dawn said. "I mean, let us walk you home."

Cassie assured. "Oh, don't worry about it, I'm going to my Mom's. It's kinda far."

Peter shrugged. "I can do far."

"I know what's going on here", Cassie then revealed, making them exchange looks. "Buffy told you about me and asked to pretend you were my friends."

"Okay, look, she did tell us, but we became your friends on our own, not because she told us to", Peter assured.

"Yeah, she wanted to help you", Dawn added with a nod.

Cassie seemed resigned. "Well, she can't."

"We can, okay?" Peter assured. "We really are you friends."

Cassie chuckled and agreed. "Yeah, you are my friends. But remember, I'm not as dumb as I look."

Dawn laughed. "I'm glad."

The confident boy who went to Buffy's office earlier, called out to Dawn. "Hey, Summers!"

Cassie assured the two. "Whatever happens now is not on you two."

The confident boy was also called Peter as Dawn asked him. "What's up?"

Confident Peter said. "I was just wondering if anyone had asked you to winter formal."

"Oh yes", Dawn revealed. "Peter asked me."

"What?" Confident Peter was confused. "But I-"

Peter tapped his head and he turned to face him. "I'm Peter too."

"Ah, right", confident Peter nodded lamely, realizing his plan to embarrass Dawn had failed. He turned around and walked off, and then the two realized Cassie was gone.

"Cassie?" Dawn called out. "Oh boy!"

Later, red robed people were gathered as confident Peter led them and asked. "All present?"

"All present."

Peter went to light a nearby torch with his candle. He pushed his hood back. "Then we begin." Someone then giggled. "Mandel, shut up."

"Sorry, dude, it's— It's just so cool, I mean— We're gonna be rich!"

"Keep your shorts, all right. We have to do the ritual if we wanna score. Oh, Keith, did you take care of the fire exits?"

Keith nodded. "Yeah. Anybody tries to bust in here's gonna get a nasty surprise." He chuckled. "I set up this booby trap my cousin Ben always used to do—"

"Then nobody is getting in..." He pulled a blindfolded, bound and gagged Cassie from behind a bookshelf and into the circle, "and nobody is getting out."

"Dude."

Cassie was whimpering through the duct tape on her mouth. Peter pulled the blindfold off. "This is our sacrifice." He picked up a large cleaver. "It's nothing personal. It's just that you have this death-kick suicidal vibe going. I figure if you disappear, everybody'll just assume you threw yourself in a river somewhere. Extinguish."

All the robed people holding candles licked their fingers and pressed them to the candlewick to extinguish the flames.

"All mighty Avilas... please accept our sacrifice. Please appear before us, oh mighty soldier of the dark. Please appear before us, and grant us with infinite riches, and we will pay you with our sacrifice. We kneel before you with the gift of flesh."

Two of the robed people stood up and unfastened the robe to reveal Buffy and Spike.

"OK, that—is going on your permanent record."

Peter was horrified. "Wait, this is—the counselor! What the hell is she doing here?"

"Hello mate", Spike said with a smirk, cracking his knuckles which made Peter pale, and then suddenly in swung Spider-Man, now terrifying them even more.

"Back off, stupid bitch!" Peter yelled but Spider-Man snatched the cleaver via web.

"Bitch, you people really lack on insults, and yet I'm the one called cringeworthy", Spider-Man quipped as Buffy kicked Peter in the crotch, making him fall down in agony.

Spike then looked behind and saw the Demon had come, but Spider-Man webbed it up and swung at it, kicking it away into a corner. "Can't believe these losers managed to actually summon one."

Spike then picked the cleaver and cut off Cassie's binds while taking the duct tape off, and as the Demon charged, suddenly Lizard appeared, making the kids all scream and back off in horror, and then Lizard leapt at the Demon, ripping it apart in seconds, to everyone's shock.

It roared at them but Peter webbed its mouth and kicked it away into a corner, from where it disappeared.

"Oh well", Spike shrugged.

A while later, they all walked out as Buffy assured Cassie. "You can make a difference."

Cassie reached up admiringly to push a strand of hair out of Buffy's face. "And you will." She turned to Peter. "And you too, a lot of it." She looked at Spike. "You as well."

Cassie breathed in sharply and collapsed onto the floor. Buffy kneeled down to help her. She put her ear to Cassie's chest, then checked her pulse, and stroked her hair. "Cassie? Cassie. Cassie. No, come on. Cassie. Cassie."

Buffy cried, unable to help her as Peter tried to shake Cassie. "Cassie, come on. Hey, don't go." But it was too late, she was gone, and Peter burst into tears too as Spike looked down sadly.

Later, Peter sat with Dawn as Buffy, Willow, Tara and Anya sat together, and Spike and Xander were silent on the couch.

No one talked, all just reflected quietly till Willow broke the silence. "are sitting on the couch in front of the window. "How is her mom?"

"Okay", Buffy added after a beat. "As OK as... she told me that her family had a history of heart irregularities, but she never told Cassie."

"And she didn't know at all, but sensed it somehow", Tara realized, all figuring out this had been inevitable after all. "There was no way we could help."

"She was gonna die no matter what anyone did", Xander sighed.

Buffy told the rest. "She just knew. She was special. I failed her."

Dawn was crying. "Uh-uh. No. You didn't, 'cause you tried. You listened, and you tried. She died 'cause of her heart, not 'cause of you. She was my friend because of you. I guess sometimes you can't help."

Peter hugged her, crying himself as he remembered when he had failed to help Ben, though unlike then, this time he couldn't do a thing if he tried, he was helpless, and so he didn't say a thing.

Buffy then asked a question.

"So what then? What do you do when you know that? When you know that maybe you can't help?"

Spike looked into her eyes, which was answer enough.

Next day, Buffy was back at work. She hung her coat on the coat tree, and sat down at her desk, and started going through files.

Done at last, this was hard to write but hope I did well with the additions.

Poor Cassie too, this was just sad.