Big thanks to everyone that reviewed, especially charmedfanatic who actually made the effort to mail me when she couldn't review through fanfiction! Thanks loads, and keep reviewing!

Sorry this has taken so long but I've been mega busy lately!

Chapter 8 – Wanted

"Right I think I have everything, stakes, knife, clothes," Buffy said, making a check of the large backpack she intended to take with her. "Not much, but enough."
 "Have you got your money and your toothbrush?" Joyce said worriedly. "And your passport?"  Buffy nodded.

"Check, check and check," she affirmed, adjusting the straps on her bag. The group had gathered at Giles' before he was going to take Sirius and Buffy to the airport. Through one of his old contacts, Giles had obtained a fake passport for Sirius, with which he could fly into London Gatwick Airport.

 "We'd better get going," Giles said, consulting his watch.
 "Bye mom," Buffy said tearfully. "I'll write loads okay?" She hugged her mother, and her mother stroked her blonde hair.

 "You'd better," she said, with a mock warning that had more than a hint of seriousness. "Take care of yourself Buffy."

 "I always do," Buffy said quietly, kissing her mother on the cheek.
 "You take care of her too," Joyce said warningly to Sirius. "If anything happens to her, I'm holding you responsible. And a mother's vengeance is something you don't want to test."

 "I'll do everything I can to keep her safe," Sirius said sincerely. "I'm not planning on their being any trouble, just a lot of travelling."  Joyce nodded, and they shook hands.

"Bye guys," Buffy said to Willow and Xander. "I'm really going to miss you. Try to stay safe, and anything slightly apocalypsy, call me and I'll be here ASAP." The three embraced tightly.
 "We got you something," Willow said awkwardly, blushing slightly, "You know, a going away present from me and Xander and Giles and Oz and Cordy."
 "You guys," Buffy said, touched. Xander produced a badly wrapped present from behind him. Eagerly, Buffy tore open the present, to reveal a hand axe with a handle delicate by intricate silver lines and a small stuffed bear.
 "We thought the bear would be good coz you could have it to remind you of us, and the axe, well that's pretty self explainy." Willow saw shrugging. The scoobies watched Buffy with apprehension.
 "Thank you so much!" Buffy exclaimed.  "It's so cute, and this axe is beautiful. What is it?" She picked it up and examined it.

 "Originally Byzantine," Giles said importantly. "It belonged to a woman warrior who protected her tribe from enemies, perhaps an early slayer. I thought it was applicable." Buffy smiled at him.

She hugged Oz, and Cordelia, though the hug was strained, and then Giles picked up his keys. Buffy and Sirius headed to the doorway and Buffy stopped and turned. She stared at all her friends, as if trying to imprint them on her memory, and then departed from the house.

Buffy and Sirius had a long flight and many games of travel Monopoly took place. Over the game, they talked, just as they had on the bus journey. This time, Buffy shared who she was with Sirius.
 "Hemery was pretty much heaven compared to Sunnydale," Buffy admitted with a laugh. "My first day at Sunnydale high, they found a dead body in one of the lockers. And I went years before Sunnydale without ever seeing anything. Heck, I didn't even know it was all real. When I was told, I was fifteen, and I had the world put on my shoulders. But you know what, I wouldn't be who I was before, I wouldn't be that ignorant little child if I could chose. Being the slayer is tough, no doubt about that, but its part of me now."

 "It's kind of like being a wizard," Sirius said thoughtfully. "It's not just that you do magic, it's that you are part of something, being a wizard is who you are. Except when you're a wizard, you're one of a whole lot. Being slayer is being the only one."

 "Only two," Buffy corrected him.
 "Yeah what's with that?" Sirius asked. "Isn't there some destiny in which there can only be one?"

 "Yep," confirmed Buffy. "But two years ago, there was this other destiny that I would die at the hands of the master, this super vampire, and I did, but only for a few minutes. So when I died Kendra was called, activated, whatever, but then I was alive so there were two of us. But she was killed by Drusilla so faith was called. Maybe that's why it went wrong, because it was never supposed to be like that."

 "Will another one be called now she's dead?" Sirius asked.
 "She's not dead," Buffy said quietly. "I didn't kill her; I put her into a coma. And I'm glad, because I don't want to be like her, I don't want to be a killer." Silence fell between them for a few moments.

 "What about Angel?" Sirius asked gingerly. "If you don't want to talk about then just ignore me, or hit me with an emu or whatever."

 "No, it's okay," Buffy said with a swift smile. "That's a long and painful story, but I think I can tell it. Angel is a vampire as you probably know, but he's not normal. Vampires are humans without souls and with fangs and super strength. Angel is extraordinary because he has a soul. I met him when I cam to Sunnydale, he helped me out a couple of times, and we fell in love. Big time, head-first-in-deep-can't-think-of-anything-but love. But he was cursed and we didn't know. When he was bad, and he was really bad, he killed a gypsy girl, the princess of a Tribe and so they cursed him with a soul, but if he ever achieved true happiness, he would lose it. And apparently, I make him really happy. So when we....well you know….he lost his soul. He killed a lot of people, Miss Calendar, Giles' girlfriend and other people. Kendra was killed by his minions. And he tried to end the world by means of a demon called an Acathla. We fought, but it was too late, he had already begun the ritual to end the world and to stop it I had to kill him. And I was just about to do it, but Willow gave him his soul back, and so I said goodbye, kissed him, and then killed him. It was the hardest thing I've ever had to do, the most difficult choice I've ever made, and the most pain I've ever felt, but I did it because I'm the Slayer. I can't give up the world for love, because of who I am and what that means."

 "But he's alive?" Sirius said, eyes searching Buffy's and marvelling at the strength he found there, despite her youth.
 "Yeah, that was messy too," Buffy said with a sigh. "He just appeared one day, mad, insane, but he just showed up in Sunnydale. He'd been in Hell for a long times, years and years and he'd gone mad with it, lost himself in it. Like Azkaban." Sirius looked at her sharply.
 "Yes, Azkaban, Hell I can see the parallel," he said stiffly. "People went crazy there too. Lost in their thoughts, stuck in the feeling." He looked at her and she bit her lip. He gestured for her to continue.
 "He found himself again, became Angel again, but it turns out he'd come back for a purpose," Buffy continued, troubled by Sirius' reaction to the Azkaban reference. "The First evil brought him back, to try to get him to kill me and then kill himself. And all this stuff happened but the short of it is that we got back together. But it wasn't meant to be, we know that, we were told that. And so he left, walked away, finished it."

 "How do you feel about that?" Sirius asked. Buffy looked out of the window.
 "It hurts, like physically, like it'll never heal, but it will," Buffy murmured. "Time will pass, and it won't go away but it will hurt less. I loved him, I love him, I'll always love him, but we can't be together. There's too much keeping us apart, too much resting on our self control. If anything could finish me, really finish me it would be him. But if anything could truly keep me alive, then again it's him." Sirius looked at her and felt a strange constricting in his heart that he couldn't quite put his finger on. Buffy gave him a shaky smile.
 "Wow, the sharing is tiring," she said with a little laugh. "I'm gonna sleep." Buffy rolled over and closed her eyes, leaving Sirius to his confused and troubled thoughts.

They landed in London Gatwick Airport in the evening after a long flight which had tested the patience of both Buffy and Sirius, and also their Monopoly skills. Exhausted and hungry, they left the airport as quickly as possible. Giles had arranged for them to stay in a hotel near to the Airport for a few days while they decided what they were going to do. Eagerly they fell into the beds in their respective rooms and slept until morning.

Buffy emerged mid morning from her room, and knocked on Sirius' door. He ushered her inside where she helped herself to the toast and coffee he had got from room service.
 "We've got trouble," he said concernedly, scratching his unshaven chin. Buffy looked up at him expectantly, still munching on toast. He held out a paper to her and she took it, opening it to the front page. 'Notorious Murderer at Large!' screamed the headline, just above a large black and white picture of Sirius.

 "Damn," Buffy muttered distractedly, skimming the article. "But how do the non-magic people, I mean the muggles, know about you?"

 "Fudge must've told the Muggle Prime Minister," Sirius said, pacing the room. "Probably thinks I'm big enough of a threat."

 "What are we going to do?" Buffy said, looking up at him. He stopped in his tracks. "I mean this is your territory, I'm in your hands." Sirius stared at her for a few seconds, and then resumed his pacing.
 "Well you say the Aurors came to see you, so they'll have their eyes on you now you're in England, but we should be able to avoid them, especially since we'll be moving in the Muggle world. And as for me, well I have the perfect disguise; I can be your pet dog. The line is that you are a traveller from America, wanting to travel from London to Scotland with your dog."

 "But is that safe?" Buffy said critically. "I mean don't people know you're a dog?"
 "Only two men," Sirius said, gazing out the window. "My two other best friends, Remus Lupin, and Peter Pettigrew. Pettigrew can't do anything, if he reveals himself then he proves my innocence, but Remus….."
 "Would he do that?" Buffy asked worriedly.

 "I don't know," Sirius confessed. "I mean before all of this, Remus would've done anything for me, just as he would've Peter and James and Lily, and vice versa. But now…..he thinks I killed Lily and James. But if I know Remus, and I do, he won't tell anyone because of Dumbledore. His friends becoming Animagi was a big worry for him. On the one hand he loved having us with him when he transformed, but he hated betraying Dumbledore like that, when Dumbledore had been one of the few people that had accepted Remus despite what he was. A werewolf by the way."

 "Oh just like Oz," Buffy said matter of factly.  "So are we going to risk it?"

 "We have to" Sirius said, jaw set. "I have to protect my godson."