This story takes place after Buffy's twentieth birthday, but before Crush. Feedback can be sent to cobalite@yahoo.com. No flames please, they give my deleted messages folder indigestion. I own nothing. Please don't sue, all you'll get is my CD collection. Buffy Summers is dead. Now, three men's lives seem to be at a dead end, until a visitor appears.
This is no ordinary love
And I can never have enough (I can't get enough)
Of all the things you've given to me
My heart, my soul, my everything
Every night I thank you Lord (I thank you Lord)
For giving me the strength to love her more
And more each day I promise her
As long as I hear those three words
Black and Blue: Yes, I Will
By Cobalite Ice
"I never thought I'd be doing this. I'd always seen myself in those chairs down there, somewhere in the back, watching them put her into the ground, knowing in the end I'd won. Well, things change. For the better part of three years, Buffy and I spent most of our time trying to kill each other. Then, the world almost went to hell in a hand basket, and we had to work together. Maybe that was when it started. Dru left me and called me obsessed. She saw what I couldn't. Most of you that know me think I just hung around because I had no where else to go. You're in shock that her will asked me to give the first speech, and this is the first time you've ever heard me call her by her true name. None of you realized I had fallen in love with her." Spike looked out at the shocked faces in the audience.
"What, you think I'd really still be here helping you if I didn't have a reason? A few weeks ago, Buffy came to me with a question about two girls we both knew, who had died. She didn't like the answer I gave her. Buffy didn't want to dance with death, or me. Not that night, and not the night a truck hit her. See, I was walking with her that night, and if I'd been paying more attention, I wouldn't be standing here giving her eulogy.
It was the first time the Scoobies had seen him cry. Angel walked up to the stand next, still looking vaguely shocked. He looked out at the grim congregation. "I never wanted to do this either. I'm sure none of did. When Buffy and I first met, she knocked me head over heels, literally. We spent most of her high school years together, on and off. Now, looking back, it was off more than on, through no fault of our own mostly. I'm always going to wish I'd had a chance to tell her what my future holds." He pulled a ring from his pocket. "I'm always going to wish I'd had a chance to tell her what this meant." The claghad glittered in the moonlight.
"The one thing this has done has snapped me back into reality. I've been...drifting, lately. Dwelling on the past too much, and I'm sure none of us want that. An old girlfriend was trying to worm her way into my life, and just being in the same city as her was making me go a little crazy." Angel met Cordelia's eyes in the audience. "I almost made one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I wonder if Buffy knew that her death would bring me back to myself. I'd like to think she knew that I still loved her as much as the day I left Sunnydale, and that I will for the rest of my existence. I'm not even surprised Spike feels the same way about her. We're more alike than either of us would ever want to admit. We both fell in love with sunshine, and got burned."
Moments later, Riley stood in his place. "I'm sure none of you expected to see me again. I wasn't expecting the call that came just a few hours after I landed in Nicaragua. The call that told me Buffy was dead. She was a freshman in the Psyche class I was TA for. I knew from the moment I saw her, as soon as I recovered from the head blow, that she was someone special. After I'd finally worked my way past her defenses, Professor Walsh died, and I almost lost her because of my own prejudices. I left the military last summer, and eventually, I began to see Buffy wasn't in love with me. Oh, she cared for me, and if I wasn't in love with her, it would have been enough."
"I then proceeded to make the biggest mistake of my life. Rule number one of dating, never cheat on a girl who can shot put you through a wall. She found out, and I had to leave, even though she came to stop me. She wasn't there because she loved me, she was there because she didn't want to be alone. Now, I'll always regret I wasn't there when she died. I couldn't make her love me, so I ran, as far as I could, and by the time I was done running, Buffy was gone." He walked off the stage, and Willow took his place.
"If any of you would like to say a few words, now is your chance." Willow was surprised when several people stood.
Jonathan spoke first. "I'm back, and this time, I'm gonna try to stay. If it weren't for Buffy, I'd be dead. If it weren't for her, our entire graduating class would be dead. She was always one step removed from us, trying to keep us safe, and the only time we ever thanked her was on prom night. Now, we failed to protect her from us. It was a member of the class of 1999 driving the car that killed her."
"My name, for a while now, is Anne. I run a teen help center in Los Angles. When I met Buffy, my boyfriend and I were involved in a cult. She showed us the light, in her own forceful way. Later, in LA, she managed to save me from my own stupidity again, even if Rick didn't make it. She gave me her apartment, and a new name. Standing here today, I've gone from a girl who couldn't take care of herself to a woman who cares for others. I never got to thank her."
"I had to get special permission just to be here." Faith held up her arm, and rolled down the sleeve. A tracking bracelet was on her wrist. "Buffy was the closest thing I ever had to a sister. I did a lot of bad things to her, and I never had the chance to apologize. I'm up for parole in six weeks, and I'll be back in town, if you want to start building the gallows. I just want you to know, this time, I'm ready for my destiny."
It went on for another hour. Hank Summers, sitting next to his ex-wife was amazed. "She came a long way from the girl who burned down a school, didn't she? All those people, they all looked like they'd have died for her."
"Most of them would have." The outdoor funeral began to wrap up, and Full of Grace played in the background. She waved the three men standing in front of the casket over. "Especially them."
Hank took them in, one by one. "All three of you? You look as if you couldn't be more different."
"Buffy had this magic around her." Riley replied. "And we're not that different."
Hank looked at Angel wearing all black and a leather duster, Spike in sneakers, and Riley in a suit. He just shook his head. "If you think so."
Angel watched them lower her into the ground. "We should go. I think the ceremony is starting here at one a.m."
"Why would there be a ceremony here that late?"
Spike lit a cigarette. "It's not every day a Slayer like Buffy dies. Trust me, mate. You don't want to meet the side coming here to honor her, or the side that's here to dance on her grave."
"Slayer?" Hank's voice went up an octave.
Joyce sighed. "I'll explain later."
All night long, the various denizens of night came to pay their respect to the fallen Slayer. A sad man with dyed hair looked up at the full moon before saying a prayer. Oz briefly wondered if it were sacrilege to pray to the powers in Hebrew.
A group of Kleeth demons said thanks for protection from the Initiative. An intern from the hospital lit a candle. Even Glory stopped by, cursing about how now she'd never find the key. A group of fledges brought a boom box and danced to rap music for half an hour.
The current master vampire showed up, and sat staring at the grave stone. He'd arrived just a month ago, and with the mess with Glory, he and his clan had been keeping their noses clean. He'd be the first Master in Sunnydale to outlive this Slayer. His only had two regrets. She hadn't taken out that annoying bitch Glory beforehand, and that she hadn't died in battle, but by the stupidity of a human. He was two hundred years old, and while he'd seen his share of Slayer fall, one even by his hand, they'd all died honorably, in battle. "Someone must hunt the hunter. You played the game admirably. The boy who did this, he will die painfully." One hunter's promise to another.
Somewhere in the bowels of hell, the First pitched a hissy fit. All his careful planning with Wolfram & Heart, gone with the death of this one girl.
Then the skies opened up, and the Powers began to cry. Never before had the other side grieved so deeply for one of their warriors. And Chance and Destiny came to an agreement. When even Hell mourns, something must be done.
The bottle passed between the three of them silently. Neither had said anything since coming back from Willie's. Spike stared at the amber liquid in his shot glass. "Well, mates, where do we go from here?"
"Someone has to stay here. Like it or not, I have a mess to clean up in LA. I can't leave, not now."
"I have to go back tomorrow morning. We're in the middle of a purge." Riley looked to Spike. "What about you?"
"It's not like I could go back to Dru and live happily ever after, is it?" He said sarcastically. "She and Darla are having to much fun bothering Angel. I'll stay here, keep an eye on Joyce and the kid, make sure there aren't too many vampires running around."
"That reminds me." Angel muttered.
"Reminds you of what?" Riley asked.
"Is it appropriate to send flowers when you're responsible for the death of over a dozen lawyers?"
"You always did have a thing against solicitors. Are you really responsible, or are you just being all soul ridden?" Spike watched Angel go a shade paler.
"Well, my sire and favored are massacring LA, and I did bolt the door." Angel took another shot.
"You two aren't making any sense." Riley muttered, well on the way to being drunk himself. That's why he didn't think it was odd when an ethereally beautiful woman appeared in the center of the room. "Isn't that interesting. I'm drunker than I thought."
"I don't even have a buzz yet." Spike commented. "And who the bloody hell are you?"
She bowed. "I need your help."
"What else is new?" Angel asked.
"I am Destiny."
"Get out of here." Spike muttered.
"I'm serious." She looked offended.
"So am I. You're not welcome here, not after what just happened."
"What happened was not my fault. How do I say this without making a fool of myself?" She spoke so quickly none of them could understand her.
"Say that again, slower." Riley told her.
"I...I lost Sunnydale in a card game." Destiny looked down at her feet, ashamed.
"You lost us in a card game!" Angel jumped to his feet, his eyes glowing yellow.
"I had four of a kind. How was I supposed to know Chance had a royal flush?" Destiny took a step back, even though she logically knew he couldn't hurt her. Of course, that's what the Oracles had thought.
Spike arched an eyebrow. "I've lived more than a century, and never seen one. But Luv, wasn't it stupid to play poker with Chance? That's like..." He was at loss for an appropriate simile.
"Trying to win at chess with Death? At least that's do able." Angel sat back down, and motioned her to a seat. "So, why come here now?"
"The Powers cried. Do you know the last time they cried over a couple? It was when Cleopatra and Marc Anthony died. That was in 30 BC."
"So they cried for Buffy. A lot of people did. You still haven't told us why you're here." Now, even Riley looked interested.
"They told Chance she'd made a mess of things, and now we were going to lose the End of Days. According to our divinations, without Buffy to keep you going, all three of you will be out of the fight within the year. You're being given an unheard of second change to make things right.
"It's been more than twenty four hours since she died." Angel mumbled, and got two odds looks.
"You're not going to prevent her death, you're changing history. You can keep Angelus from rising." Destiny watched the light coming into Angel's eyes. "That would make a lot of people happy, wouldn't it?"
Then, the light dimmed. "I can't stop them. I couldn't even stop myself that night."
"The gem." Spike suddenly understood why he was needed. "The ring could protect him. Then, I'd never lose Dru, and wouldn't end up with this chip in my head."
Destiny shrugged. "You'll have to see for yourself. All I can tell you is that contact with your past selves can only increase your chances of success. With the exception of Riley, of course."
"I'm nothing, am I? Without Spike or Angel, this couldn't happen, but you could use any human guy for this." Riley was beginning to think that maybe he really wasn't needed by them, or anyone.
Destiny caressed his cheek. "You weren't meant to be nothing, Riley Finn. You weren't meant to fall in love with Buffy, she was just supposed to show you a new way. Chance, she didn't like you. She's always preferred Angel, and look what she did to him."
"You don't even have to ask if we'd do this. I think we'd rather have Buffy alive, and never know what this was like." Angel saw her guilty expression. "We won't know, right? We'll be destroyed by the temporal loop."
"You will all be removed from the service of the powers within a year. I cannot cut your lifestring, you must live out the remainder of your mortal, or immortal life in the new time line. The only way you can die before that is the way you would have in the original time line. One day, one of you will not wake up, followed not long after by the other two."
"I'll do it." Spike stood. "I'm not gonna let six months either way keep me from saving Buffy. If she's gonna die, she'll do it at my hands!" He too got odd looks, but it seemed appropriate, so nothing was said.
"I'll do it. Being in Hell was easier than knowing she's dead and I'm not." Angel stood next to Spike.
Riley stood. "The man I was two years ago isn't ever going to end up at a vampire brothel, and lose the love of his life because of it."
"Thank you." Destiny whispered, and then they were gone.