In the end Buffy decided not to go to the mall, because she knew everyone
would just ask too many questions. She didn't want to talk anymore, not
about Angel, not about Spike, not about the hellmouth...she wished her
brain would just shut down so she could stop thinking.
In her head she wondered where he had gone - had his act of sacrifice been enough to earn him a place in a heavenly dimension or had the crimes of William the Bloody sent him straight to Hell? She hoped he was happy, wherever he was, that he had found peace and if he had, that no one would take it away from him, like her friends had taken Heaven away from her.
She wandered through the streets aimlessly, looking at the buildings that were so familair and yet so far away from her. LA was where it had all begun - where she had killed her first vampires, so it seemed kind of poetic that now everything was over in Sunnydale she was back here again. It would be short-sighted to think that the Hellmouth was the end - wherever she went, some new adversary would raise its ugly head and she was waiting for something new to arrive - as if defeating the first evil and destroying her home hadnt been bad enough, now she was in a strange state of limbo, waiting for the next thing to go wrong.
So many times she had thought about giving it up, walking away, letting someone else do the job for a change, but that could never work. True, now she wasnt the one and only slayer anymore but it still felt like it. Old responsibilites were hard to let go.
"I wonder what was going on with Buffy and Angel"
Faith looked at the little girl standing next to her and raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think Dawn?" she replied "The usual I love you, you love me, yet we cant possibly be together scenario"
"I feel kind of bad for her" sighed Dawn "I mean, a sparring session with Angel is the last thing she needs right now"
"Yeh, but what are you gonna do? Put those two in a room together and badness happens"
Dawn thought to herself for a minute, pulling a skirt from the rack, and then putting it back without hardly even looking at it
"I wish Spike didn't die" she said quietly "I know she'd never admit it to herself, but I think Buffy loved him"
"When you're a slayer, there's no time for love" said Faith "It goes wrong for her every time - Angel, Spike, that other guy from college - what was his name again?"
"You can't even remember his name?" said Dawn incredulously "When you and Buffy switched bodies you and him..."
"I don't make it a point to remember guy's names..." the slayer flicked her hair carelessly over her shoulder "Besides, that was the old me - I'm reformed now, remember"
"Yeah, I remember" Dawn grinned at her "His name was Riley, by the way"
"Oh yeah" Faith smiled at her "Lets not tell your sister we had this conversation okay? I don't think she'd appreciate big bad Faith corrupting her youthful innocent little sister"
"Hey, I'm neither youthful or innocent!" Dawn protested "I'm sixteen you know, and I kissed a vampire once"
"Kissed a vampire? It must run in the family or something"
"My mom went on a date with Dracula once" said Dawn "Well, not really a date, she more invited him in for coffee..."
"Well, obviously you Summers girls have a thing for the evil dead"
"Spike wasn't evil" she replied quietly "Not at the end at least..."
"He's gone Dawn" the slayer looked down at Buffy's little sister who was standing morosely beside her "Come on girl, you know I'm no good with these heart-to-heart things, that's big sis's job - he's gone and that's that. He didn't die for nothing right - he fought the good fight, saved the world and all that, made your sister proud"
"I guess..."
"It's the truth...look, in the time of Sunnydale, we all lost people that were important to us, they die and the world goes on turning, the world goes on turning because they died, think about it that way"
"Yeah you're right - you are good at the heart-to-hearts you know"
"Yeah, so everyone keeps telling me"
Dawn smiled at the older slayer, thinking how much she had changed in the time they had known each other - all the dark places she had been to and how she was finally making up for her mistakes. She supposed she could hold a grudge against her forever for all the wrong she had done her, but then she decided life was too short, and it was better to have friends than enemies.
When Buffy had left the Hyperion Angel had locked himself in his office and was brooding darkly to himself.
He hated the way she made him feel. All at once he was full of love and full of hate and sometimes it all just got too much. That short time he had spent with her in Sunnydale before it had been destroyed, when he had given her the amulet, it seemed that things were alright between them, it had been a good sign, but not with all that had happened, everything had gone back to the same way it always was. He could tell that the morning's fight was the first of many, for as long as she stayed there, there would be tensions between them that wouldn't go away.
He wished Cordelia was still beside him, even if all she would tell him would be to get over himself and stop looking so miserable, it would be better than nothing. Just to hear her voice again, to see her smile again - the real Cordelia, the girl who had been gone from him for so long.
He was about to reach into a drawer for a book when there was a sudden inexplicable blinding flash of light from the lobby. At first he thought it was sunlight and instinctively jumped off his chair and hid behind the desk, but then he realized it was too white, and too sudden to be the sun.
Cautiously he made his way out of his office, grabbing an axe on the way out - just in case. When he opened the door he almost dropped the axe on his foot in surprise at what he saw there.
The figure in the lobby turned around to face at him, the white skin stretched in a smile beneath the white hair as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette and a lighter. As he jammed one between his lips and lit the end, Spike let out a long laugh.
"At last I can bloody smoke again" he grinned at Angel "It was a pain in the arse being a ghost."
In her head she wondered where he had gone - had his act of sacrifice been enough to earn him a place in a heavenly dimension or had the crimes of William the Bloody sent him straight to Hell? She hoped he was happy, wherever he was, that he had found peace and if he had, that no one would take it away from him, like her friends had taken Heaven away from her.
She wandered through the streets aimlessly, looking at the buildings that were so familair and yet so far away from her. LA was where it had all begun - where she had killed her first vampires, so it seemed kind of poetic that now everything was over in Sunnydale she was back here again. It would be short-sighted to think that the Hellmouth was the end - wherever she went, some new adversary would raise its ugly head and she was waiting for something new to arrive - as if defeating the first evil and destroying her home hadnt been bad enough, now she was in a strange state of limbo, waiting for the next thing to go wrong.
So many times she had thought about giving it up, walking away, letting someone else do the job for a change, but that could never work. True, now she wasnt the one and only slayer anymore but it still felt like it. Old responsibilites were hard to let go.
"I wonder what was going on with Buffy and Angel"
Faith looked at the little girl standing next to her and raised an eyebrow.
"What do you think Dawn?" she replied "The usual I love you, you love me, yet we cant possibly be together scenario"
"I feel kind of bad for her" sighed Dawn "I mean, a sparring session with Angel is the last thing she needs right now"
"Yeh, but what are you gonna do? Put those two in a room together and badness happens"
Dawn thought to herself for a minute, pulling a skirt from the rack, and then putting it back without hardly even looking at it
"I wish Spike didn't die" she said quietly "I know she'd never admit it to herself, but I think Buffy loved him"
"When you're a slayer, there's no time for love" said Faith "It goes wrong for her every time - Angel, Spike, that other guy from college - what was his name again?"
"You can't even remember his name?" said Dawn incredulously "When you and Buffy switched bodies you and him..."
"I don't make it a point to remember guy's names..." the slayer flicked her hair carelessly over her shoulder "Besides, that was the old me - I'm reformed now, remember"
"Yeah, I remember" Dawn grinned at her "His name was Riley, by the way"
"Oh yeah" Faith smiled at her "Lets not tell your sister we had this conversation okay? I don't think she'd appreciate big bad Faith corrupting her youthful innocent little sister"
"Hey, I'm neither youthful or innocent!" Dawn protested "I'm sixteen you know, and I kissed a vampire once"
"Kissed a vampire? It must run in the family or something"
"My mom went on a date with Dracula once" said Dawn "Well, not really a date, she more invited him in for coffee..."
"Well, obviously you Summers girls have a thing for the evil dead"
"Spike wasn't evil" she replied quietly "Not at the end at least..."
"He's gone Dawn" the slayer looked down at Buffy's little sister who was standing morosely beside her "Come on girl, you know I'm no good with these heart-to-heart things, that's big sis's job - he's gone and that's that. He didn't die for nothing right - he fought the good fight, saved the world and all that, made your sister proud"
"I guess..."
"It's the truth...look, in the time of Sunnydale, we all lost people that were important to us, they die and the world goes on turning, the world goes on turning because they died, think about it that way"
"Yeah you're right - you are good at the heart-to-hearts you know"
"Yeah, so everyone keeps telling me"
Dawn smiled at the older slayer, thinking how much she had changed in the time they had known each other - all the dark places she had been to and how she was finally making up for her mistakes. She supposed she could hold a grudge against her forever for all the wrong she had done her, but then she decided life was too short, and it was better to have friends than enemies.
When Buffy had left the Hyperion Angel had locked himself in his office and was brooding darkly to himself.
He hated the way she made him feel. All at once he was full of love and full of hate and sometimes it all just got too much. That short time he had spent with her in Sunnydale before it had been destroyed, when he had given her the amulet, it seemed that things were alright between them, it had been a good sign, but not with all that had happened, everything had gone back to the same way it always was. He could tell that the morning's fight was the first of many, for as long as she stayed there, there would be tensions between them that wouldn't go away.
He wished Cordelia was still beside him, even if all she would tell him would be to get over himself and stop looking so miserable, it would be better than nothing. Just to hear her voice again, to see her smile again - the real Cordelia, the girl who had been gone from him for so long.
He was about to reach into a drawer for a book when there was a sudden inexplicable blinding flash of light from the lobby. At first he thought it was sunlight and instinctively jumped off his chair and hid behind the desk, but then he realized it was too white, and too sudden to be the sun.
Cautiously he made his way out of his office, grabbing an axe on the way out - just in case. When he opened the door he almost dropped the axe on his foot in surprise at what he saw there.
The figure in the lobby turned around to face at him, the white skin stretched in a smile beneath the white hair as he reached into his pocket for a cigarette and a lighter. As he jammed one between his lips and lit the end, Spike let out a long laugh.
"At last I can bloody smoke again" he grinned at Angel "It was a pain in the arse being a ghost."