Title: Five by 5: Sunnydale– second in the Five by 5 series.
Author: Xionin
Rating: PG
Pairing: Buffy/Spike implied.
Feedback: Pretty please?
Disclaimer: ME dropped the ball. I picked it up.

Five by 5: Sunnydale

I wasn't there too long, but it sure made an impression on me.
Being Principal over the Hellmouth will learn you a lesson or two.

Before I went there, I considered myself a pretty accomplished demon hunter.
Heh. Little did I know...

Buffy's averted more apocalypses than I ever want to see.
That girl is...she's something else. And Faith...well...
If I hadn't gone to Sunnydale, I wouldn't have met her and I think I'm glad that I did.

All my life I've felt...I don't know...like I needed to do something. Like I needed to carry on the torch that my mother bore. Of course, I was also hell-bent on getting the bastard that killed her.

Yeah, well...

He was a bastard, alright, but...uh...I'm not sure why but...he surprised me, Spike did. Not what I expected at all.

...

Funny...he ended up being the hero of this melodrama, didn't he.

...

So Sunnydale brought me hurt and suffering but also closure on a very long, very painful chapter in my life. It also brought me possibility, which is something I didn't have before.

Things are...seem...plausible, now that I didn't think ever could be for me. I don't wake up every morning with revenge on my brain, you know? I have that overwhelming sense that I've failed somehow. Failed my mother.

I think I'm actually...a little...frightened. There's a future out there somewhere.
So, I guess there's nothing to do now but face it.

-----------------------

I'll miss the Bronze.

I had my 21st birthday all planned out. We'd go to the Bronze, maybe rent it out or something for me and all of my friends and have, like, a huge bash. Buffy would give me some of her clothes because, you know, by then she wouldn't be able to fit them anymore and she has...had...the coolest stuff.

Sure, I went to the Bronze a few times, but it's not the same. I wanted to have my first legal beer there. Like a tradition or something, I dunno. Going there and having a beer with my friends would've made me officially grown up. I don't know where I'll do that now...or who I'll be with.

Oh! And I'll miss the Magic Box. A lot. There was just something so cool about being there. So much happened...and I always thought I'd work there, you know, for real. I mean who better, right? It would've been the perfect after school job, and Anya could've...

...

I'll miss my house the most, I think. My room was tiny, the bed was too small, but it was all mine. I could go in there whenever I wanted to and close the door and be...alone. On my own with no one bugging me. Well, at least that's how it was until all of the other girls arrived. After that, it wasn't my room anymore. Pfft, it was barely even my house.

I'll miss the kitchen too. It was...nice. Reminded me of mom whenever I walked in. Sometimes? Sometimes when I walked in there, I could smell hot chocolate.

I miss her so much.

Wow, I can't even go visit her now. Or Tara. And Spike...

Oh God...everything...everything's gone!

What are we going to do now?

------------------

Sunnydale w-was a second home to me. I'm not quite sure how I feel about it's demise.

Relief, certainly, that the Hellmouth, o-or that particular Hellmouth, is closed permanently.
I also feel...a tremendous sense of loss. Needless to say, the thought that I'll actually miss that dreadful place causes me no small amount of distress.

Still...it was home to a lot of us for quite some time. It...held a lot of memories.
Many, many horrible ones, yes, but also some very good ones.

Some quite extraordinary things happened there and it does sadden me that there will be no record of them, save for what I document in my journals.

I can't help but feel some small amount of pride at having taken part in this chapter in history. For, although the average person will never have any knowledge of the events that took place in that particular part of the world, those of us that deal in..this sort of thing, will never forget the name Sunnydale. And, I dare say, all of us involved in that battle will have our names etched into the history books for having fought valiantly to rid the world of the First.

Yes. We should all be proud and remember Sunnydale with bittersweet fondness. I think we all learned quite a bit about ourselves and about the people closest to us. They were hard lessons, true, but invaluable ones.

Were it not for Sunnydale, I would not have Buffy i-in my life, nor Willow, nor Xander, nor Dawn. And they...a-are my family.

I supposed I won't miss Sunnydale too terribly because I have the best part of it here with me on this bus, Andrew. And that includes you as well.

----------

I miss the tree under my window.

I miss my back porch.

I miss my basement.

I miss that big oak in Sunnydale Acres, the one with that thick, low-hanging branch.

I miss moonlight patrols.

I miss the Bronze.

I miss Mr. Gordo.

I miss my Mom, Andrew. So much.

...

And I miss him.

God how I miss him.

-----------------

You wanna know if I'll miss Sunnyhell?
Why would I? Didn't really offer me much.

I mean, yeah, B and the Scoobs...and Robin.

But there was so much bad mojo in that place, man, I say good riddance!

...

I guess...I guess I did learn a thing or two while I was there.
So that's something, right? Made me who I am and all that crap.

Ok, alright, so I have a soft spot on my ass from getting dumped on it so much while I was there.
Happy? Just don't expect me to be boo-hooing over that shithole.

...

Just, eh...listen...go easy on the others with that camera, ok?
They lost a lot more than me...and...just don't go poking around inside their heads too much, k?

Thanks you're a good kid.

-fin-