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Disclaimers: All characters here are owned by Joss Whedon and Co. They are in no way mine, and there is going to be no profit made from this story, except for my personal enjoyment.

Distribution: Anywhere, just tell me where it's going, and give me credit (The-Aussie-Witch)

Spoilers: Season 6, and some Season 7 rumoured spoilers (I'm not looking at all the spoilers for Season 7)

Rating: PG-13 because of violence and language, and because there is no M-15+ on Fanfiction.net (An Australian Rating standing for Mature Audiences, fifteen and older).

Summary: starts straight from the minute Grave left off! I am not a Spike and Buffy 'shipper' and I'm not sure if things will be right between those two as of yet (Maybe, maybe not). Some 'people' from Spike's past as a human might be involved as well.

Authors Note: This is gonna be tough to write, so bear with me for this chapter please. Centred around Willow! (like everything else. After two or three chapters, the focus will go off Willow and back to events happening in Sunnydale, and the rest of the Scoobies. Some suprises in store!!!!

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Chapter 9

Xander now looked at the ruined Magic Box under the light of day, and he could honestly say that he had his work cut out for him. The place was a mess. They would virtually need to rebuild the place, and that would have a high cost. To the casual on looker, the shop would only look like it's been abandoned for a while. That was, until they walked inside and saw that there were great big gaping holes in the walls, and that most of the roof had collapsed.

"So?" Xander heard. He looked to where the voice had come from, and saw that it was Anya.

"So, what?" Xander replied.

"When are you going to start to work?" Anya asked him, a hint of hope in her voice.

"You know Anya, this is going to cost a bit," Xander stated.

"How much?" Anya asked. Xander pulled out a folded piece of paper from his pocket, which was the quote that one of his workers had done on the place.

"Here. Take a look. I haven't looked at it yet," Xander said while handing her the piece of paper. He watched Anya look at it for a while, and then look up at Xander.

"How could you?" she asked. "How could you do this to me?"

"W-what? I haven't done anything," Xander stumbled, not knowing what Anya was blaming him for.

"Look at this. I can't afford this!" Anya said while repeatedly pointing to the piece of paper.

"Give me a look," Xander said while reaching out for the piece of paper.

"No. I never want to see you again Xander Harris," Anya almost screamed. She suddenly paused, and looked into the distance while clutching the piece of paper with the quote on it. "I have to go now… Unlike some people, I have a job to do," Anya said while glaring at Xander. Xander just looked at her with a confused look on his face. He watched as a white smoke like solid surrounded her in an instant, and then faded away: Anya not there. Remembering that she was a vengeance demon, Xander looked around to see if anyone had seen her teleport out, and thankfully, no one did. Xander looked at the piece of paper, and a sudden wind picked up and started carrying it towards him. He bent down and caught it in the wind and had a look at it.

"Damn. That's expensive." He looked over the quote again, knowing that there had to be some mistake, but he was disappointed when there was none. He saw a figure near him, and looked away from the paper.

"Hey Xande-I mean Mr Harris. Are we gonna get started or what?" the man said. His name was Johnny and usually he was Xander's boss, but he let Xander run this job as he knew that he had a personal interest in it. Xander just looked at him again, and then back at the quote paper. He was now holding it loosely in his hand. He looked back to Johnny.

"Yeah. Let's get to work," he said while throwing the quote into the bin.

The light danced around on her face. She couldn't believe that they were actually going to go through with it tonight. It was so soon, and in her opinion, they weren't ready. They had a long way to go before they were ready, and it was stupid to try to do it tonight. She was sitting on a long log, looking into the fire; mesmerised. She often would sit out here for hours, wondering about life and the things around her. It was her way to ground herself, and to deal with things. She would spend hours alone, in the middle of the night staring into the fire. Others called her weird, but she didn't care. As she thought about it, everywhere she went people called her weird. In the outside world, most people didn't understand what was right in front of their eyes, and therefore couldn't understand her gifts. When she had come to the coven that she had heard about, she had been accepted, at first. But she was unlike most people, and her ways of doing things were often weird. Cassia knew that she didn't fit in anywhere, that she didn't belong, but she was fine with it. If people commented on the weird styles she wears her long blonde-brown hair, she would just shrug them off. If people commented on the bizarre ways she acted, or the weird way she spoke, she would just shrug it off too.

Cassia knew that it was almost time to do the ritual, but she was afraid of what they might do to the poor girl. She had heard the entire story from Samantha herself. As soon as she had heard of the two Witches in America, she had identified with both of them immediately. She heard a stick snap nearby and she snapped her head around and looked in the direction that it had come from. She could see a figure slowly moving towards her out of the darkness. As the figure came closer to the fire, features began to be made out. Cassia could tell that the figure was female by the way her body was shaped. Light barely made it to the girl, but it was enough for Cassia to see what she looked like. She had short fiery red hair, and was wearing a thick sweater, and thick long pants. She walked slowly towards the fire, with her arms crossed across her chest, and her head down. Cassia hadn't seen this person before, but she quickly dismissed the idea that the girl was a stranger, as Cassia hadn't seen many people of the coven before.

"Hi," Cassia said. She watched as the girl stopped and looked up, surprised at hearing another voice. The girl looked at Cassia for a while, and Cassia could feel her gaze over her.

"Hello," the girl replied in a very quiet voice. She walked over to another log and sat down on it and gazed into the fire.

"I'm Cassia…," Cassia started, thinking that the other girl would catch on and introduce herself. "You are?" The other girl looked up from the fire and directly into Cassia's eyes. Cassia looked into hers, and she could see that they weren't normal, even if she hadn't seen this girl before. It was almost like there was a heavy glaze over her eyes. Cassia could feel the other girl's eyes staring right into her soul, and at that, she immediately became nervous. It wasn't often that someone could just look into her like that.

"Willow," the other girl replied as she broke eye contact. Cassia knew that name from somewhere, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Then, the realisation hit her. This was Willow. The girl from America.

"Oh… umm… ahh," Cassia replied in shock. She didn't know what to do, or to say in the presence of the girl that had been the main topic of discussion between everyone in the settlement over the last couple of days. "W-w-what are you d-doing down here?" Cassia asked, her nervousness at being with the girl clearly showing. Again, Willow didn't reply for a while.

"Had a bad dream… sat in my room… then it was dark and cold. I saw the fire, and came down," Willow quietly and sadly replied. Cassia could tell that the girl was in deep, deep pain. She wanted to comfort her any way possible, but she didn't know what to do that wouldn't set Willow off. She tired to think about anything that wasn't related to Willow's past to talk about.

"So. You know about tonight?" Cassia asked.

"What's tonight?" Willow asked her, a bit of fear and concern in her voice.

"You know. The ritual. To get all that power out of you," Cassia replied, immediately knowing that she had failed, already, bringing up Willow's past.

"Tonight? When?" Willow asked, with more volume now, and looking at Cassia. Cassia could easily see that Willow was distressed.

"Umm, I-I don't k-know. Soon… I'd say 'round about now," Cassia said while looking away from the fire. She could see two people coming towards her and Willow. She looked back to Willow and saw that she was looking where Cassia had looked before. Cassia watched, confusion setting in when Willow got up and started to slowly back away from the two people coming to get her. She could see that they were Michael and Clifford, possibly the nicest people that Cassia knew. She heard a loud thud from where Willow was meant to be, and she turned her head again, only to see that Willow had tripped over a tree branch and was now lying on her back. Michael and Clifford walked over to her.

"Hey Willow. You've got to come with us. It's time to start the ritual," Michael said.

"W-w-w-w-what a-are you g-going to d-do with me?" Willow asked, obviously scared. Cassia watched her look up to Michael and Clifford again. Cassia could see Willow recompose herself. "What's the ritual going to do?"

"We don't really know that. It's just a ritual to get the coven's power out of you. You know, that stuff you sucked out of Mr. Giles. It shouldn't take long, and all you have to do is sit there. You might be a bit sleepy afterwards though. Samantha said that you've been running off of it for the last couple of days, and the lack of power might make you tired," Michael said in a soft voice. "Yeah, and there's almos-"

"Michael. Shut up," Clifford said. "You're babbling, again," Clifford said.

"Oh. It's just that, this ritual, it should be great. I haven't participated in any big coven rituals before," Michael replied.

"Come on Willow, let's go," Clifford said while offering his hand out to the young witch. Cassia watched as she took it and got up, but she could tell that there was something Willow was hiding.

"Cass. You coming?" Michael asked. Her train of thoughts stopped and she got up.

"Yeah, I'm coming," she replied weakly as she watched Willow walk behind the two boys, her arms crossed over her chest, and lost deep in thought.

Buffy walked down the stairs, her spirit already drained, and she hadn't even started yet. She was wondering how Willow and Giles were doing in England, and was wondering why they hadn't called yet. She put it up to the reason that they were in the middle of no where and probably didn't have access to a phone. She sluggishly walked into the kitchen and grabbed her red and white hat.

"You going?" Dawn asked her from behind the refrigerator's door.

"Yeah. Off to the Double Meat Palace, for a full ten hour shift. Can't wait," Buffy said with fake enthusiasm.

"You know, you could try looking for a better job," Dawn suggested.

"And what am I going to get? I can't get any decent career because I've got the whole 'One girl in all the world to fight off the forces of darkness' thing going for me. I can't call in and say that's a reason to miss work, well, not with any other job anyway," Buffy replied.

"You could, I don't know, work for Xander or something," Dawn said while closing the refrigerator door.

"Tried that. Killed demons and saved everyone, but they all thought I was crazy. And, unless he's got another crew, no one will want to come near me again," Buffy replied.

"There's this new place opening up. They call it something like MacDonalds or something. They're meant to be even more popular than the Double Meat Palace or something. Maybe you should try there. You might get paid a bit more," Dawn suggested.

"What have you been reading? I think if there was any place with a bigger reputation than the Double Meat Palace, we would have heard about them… Plus, I know of the Double Meat Palace's secret ingredient…" Buffy started as realisation swept through her. "Hey!" Buffy exclaimed.

"You can sell the secret ingredient and make millions!" Dawn said enthusiastically.

"I wasn't thinking of doing that, but it's a good idea…" Buffy trailed off.

"Then what were you thinking?" Dawn asked while pulling toast out of the toaster. Buffy sat on the small island in the middle of the kitchen and put her hands on the edge and looked at Dawn.

"Well, I was thinking, that I could use the threat of exposing their secret ingredient to make them find me a better job," Buffy said.

"Sort of like making them give you a promotion," Dawn said.

"No, like find me a better job. Not working at the Double Meat Palace. They could put in a good word for me and make up some little white lies that could help me get a better job," Buffy said.

"That is so cool. Go Buffy the mastermind!" Dawn cheered. Buffy got off the island and now, she happily strode out the door in her red and white striped uniform.

Spike patiently waited for the sun's rays to go down. He knew that it was sunset as the rays that were entering the cave were now a golden colour. He was leaning against the cave's wall, just out of reach of the sun's rays. He was still curious about his condition: being able to survive a few minutes in the sun. He was also wondering if the soul did that to him, but then, he remembered that Angel couldn't do that. Spike didn't see the big deal with having a soul. All he had to do was not to think about the things his body had done as an animated corpse, and he was fine. He didn't understand why Angel was so dark and brooding. Spike stuck his hand out into the sunlight. This time, his hand didn't tingle or burn at all. It felt perfectly normal, and Spike was surprised. Slowly, he moved the rest of himself out into the light. Again, nothing happened.

"You bloody beauty!"

Spike stood there for a few minutes, making sure that he wouldn't start to sizzle and burn when he was half a mile out of the cave. Then, he took a step forward, and another, and another, until he was standing outside, in the African Savanah. He looked around himself, and he could see nothing but a dead tree, grass and rocks. He looked to the sun, which momentarily blinded him for a few seconds. It wasn't set yet, but still above the horizon. Spike guessed that he still had a whole hour before the sun finally set. He looked back to the landscape, and for the first time, he noticed that this wasn't the place that he had been before. This wasn't the place he had trekked through on his way to the cave. There had been trees, and huge rocks, and a settlement before, but now there was nothing. The landscape was different. Spike turned around to look behind him, to where the cave was, but it was gone, and Spike was met by the same vastness.

"You've got to be bloody kiddin' me!"

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Sorry to all you Spike Fans, for not having him in a lot, but he will be a major player in the overall storyline, just as soon as he finds out where he is, and what's going on with him…

Again, sorry for the whole 'it's a dream thing' in the last chapter (the one before this one), but you will see the results of that dream in the next chapter!!!