Hey All: It's me again. Sorry that it took so long to update, but here it is…the next chapter. I hope you enjoy it. Let me know what you think…how you think the plot is progressing. Flame or comment, either one would help. Thanks!

Summary: Begins just where "End of Days" cuts out, where Angel and Buffy are kissing and Spike is confronted once again by the first in the form of Buffy. From there, it goes into my own version of how the series should have ended.

Previously On Buffy the Vampire Slayer:

"And in case you forgot, I'm the slayer. That means I am in charge and that I do get to decide what happens to those girls. They trust me, which is more then I can say about my so called friends. You on the other hand, you don't belong here anymore. Why you are still here, I'm really not sure, but if you are going to stay then you are going to listen to me. Deal with it!" Buffy hissed, glaring at Angel. She took a step back.
"That goes for all of you. You kicked me out before and you tried Faith out as the leader. We all know how that turned out. So whether you like it or not, you're stuck with me. I tried to keep it so that you helped me make the decisions, but you've proven time and time again that you don't agree with the way I do things. Spike and I are a team; he's not going anywhere. I can see that you are all having problems with that so you need to decide, right now. Either you follow me and accept Spike, or you are not part of this fight." Buffy growled, crossing her arms. She looked around, studying each member of the group as they stared at the floor. Finally, she locked gazes with Dawn, who was smiling slightly.
"Dawn, I want you to go with them and grab some books on ancient prophecies." Buffy said, turning.
"I need to speak with Spike."

All Buffy could hear as she walked into the kitchen was the slamming of cupboards and the occasional muttered curse. She stood in the doorway and watched as Spike ran around the kitchen, game face on, getting himself breakfast.
"Just who the bloody hell do they think that are?" He growled. He poured a packet of blood into a mug and shoved it into the microwave. After slamming the microwave door, he growled for extra emphasis before turning around. Spike shifted back into his human face when he saw her.
"What?" He snapped as he fell into a seat. "Shouldn't you be over at home base researching?" Buffy watched him, slightly amused and raised an eyebrow.
"And leave a soulless, chip-less Spike alone in the house? Yeah right! You might eat someone." Buffy joked. Spike just looked at her before getting up to retrieve his mug.
"That was a joke. You know, the 'ha ha that's funny' kind." Buffy sighed. Spike shrugged.
"It wasn't funny slayer." Buffy stomped forward.
"Don't 'slayer' me. We should talk about what just happened! You can't avoid talking about it!" Buffy argued.
"No…that's your job!" Spike snapped, slamming his mug down. Buffy's eyes narrowed as she crossed the room to the table.
"And here I was thinking that we had moved past all this. Are we back to throwing each other's pasts in our faces?" Buffy said angrily. Spike growled, standing.
"We never stopped!" Spike argued, crashing his hands down of the table.
"Everywhere I go in this bloody town people remind me of all the horrible things I've done in my past and how much I don't belong here! They use my past against me and try to convince me that I don't deserve to be with you! What's more is I'm starting to believe them!" He pushed away from the table, pacing as he ran his hands through his hair.
"I never should have come ba –"Spike's muttering was interrupted by Buffy's fist connecting with his jaw. He fell to the floor, groaning as he rubbed his jaw. Buffy jumped on top of him, straddling his waist, pushing him back to the ground.
"I really can't believe you! Are you really that stupid? Do you not realize what you are?" Buffy threw up her hands in frustration.
"What am I?" Spike asked, banging his head on the tiles.
"You are a vampire who won his soul back. You weren't cursed with it. You won it back! Even before that you had better control over your demon then anything or one I've ever met. You turned your back on your own kind so that you could help the slayer, your mortal enemy. You are the vampire who has proven to me time and time again that you can be trusted and who has proven to the world that you DO belong here. And you're…" Buffy choked as tears filled her eyes. She looked down into his eyes, cupping the side of his face.
"You're the best thing that ever happened to me. You made me who I am. You're my family and you belong here with me and Dawn. I know we had a tough time getting here…and that we both made a lot of mistakes." Buffy paused, looking away. Spike sat up, pulling her closer to him. Buffy pulled away, looking into his eyes.
"That only made us stronger Spike. It is what makes what we have so special. The fact that we went through everything we did and we can still forgive and love each other just proves to me that this is it for me. That this won't end up like all the other relationships I've had." Spike kissed her.
"You know I'd never hurt you like that." Buffy nodded, looking away from his eyes.
"I do know that…but this isn't about me Spike. This is about you and how you feel. We're about to face an apocalypse Spike and I don't want you to go into this fight regretting that you ever got involved." Buffy sighed as she looked up at him again.
"If you feel that there isn't anything here worth fighting for…I want you to get out of here. I couldn't bare it if something happened to you, but it would be that much worse if I knew you got hurt fighting for something you didn't believe in. If you really regret coming back…if you really want to leave Sunnydale…I won't stand in your way. "Buffy finished, moving to get off his lap. Spike yanked on her hand, pulling her back down.
"Now don't be a stupid git! You know that you and the bit have always been my reasons for fighting the good fight. You two are all I need! I'm just frustrated…that wanker won't let me help and I don't like that I'm putting you two in danger by being with you." Spike sighed pressing his forehead against Buffy's. Buffy kissed him softly.
"We love you…I love you. We will face this thing together." Buffy whispered.
"Awe! That's so cute." Spike looked over Buffy's shoulder to see who it was.
"Umm…why is that pile of books talking to us luv?" Spike asked, chuckling. Buffy got up and pulled him to his feet.
"Very funny." Dawn snorted as she dropped the books on the kitchen table.
"But really Spike…you left the living room too early! Buffy totally told off Angel and the Scoobies! She was all like 'Angel, you don't belong here anymore!' and he was like crying! Seriously he was heartbroken. And then Buffy was all like 'accept Spike and follow my orders or you aren't part of this fight!' I thought Xander and Angel were going to have heart attacks they were so mad!" Dawn explained as she sat down. Spike glanced over at Buffy.
"Is that right?" Spike asked, slipping an arm around Buffy's waist.
"Standing up for me pet?" Buffy nodded.
"Of course I am. And then I told Dawn to go and get all the books on ancient prophecies. And here we are." Buffy finished, gesturing towards the books.
"I decided that if I can't bring the vamp to the research then I'd have to bring the research to the vampire." Buffy smiled.

"We need to do something!" Angel growled as he stormed as the living room.
"What would you have us do?" Giles sighed, ripping his glasses off his face.
"Spike needs to go! We need to get rid of him! We can't trust him." Xander sneered, sitting on the couch. Willow shook her head.
"But Buffy trusts him! When has she ever been wrong?" Xander glared at her and gestured towards Angel.
"We tried the whole with soul, without soul thing. It didn't work out."
"Spike isn't Angel." The group looked up to see Faith and Wood in the doorway.
"You know, I heard a lot about Spike, from you guys and from B and I got to say, I don't really see anything wrong with the guy. I kind of think he really loved her, even before the soul. And…I trust B. If she says that he's ok…then I believe her." Faith finished, leaning against the wall. Willow smiled slightly and nodded in agreement. Wood snorted in disgust.
"A creature that can kill an innocent and feel no guilt does no deserve our trust." Wood sneered. Faith turned, regarding him sadly.
"Sorry you feel that way. But haven't you spoken to him recently! He's truly sorry for what he did. He understands what he did was wrong!"
"That doesn't mean that he can take it back!" Xander argued.
"And that doesn't mean that we can trust him now." Angel finished. Faith faced off against Angel.
"Then how is it that you all come to have so much faith in me!" She yelled. The group fell silently, unsure of where she was heading.
"Do you not remember me driving a stake through a man's heart?" Faith asked quietly, staring straight ahead. Xander shuffled his feet, obviously uncomfortable with the memory.
"That was an accident." Xander stated.
"But did I care that he was dead? No…no I didn't. In fact, I fell in love with the power, with the rush that it gave me. That is why I joined with the big bad! Do you remember this now? Remember how I killed again? Remember the professor? I killed him too. To me, killing him was…amazing." Faith stared into space, remembering the sensations the killing brought.
"I stabbed him in the chest with my brand new knife. I watched him take his final breath, as he let out his final gasp of pain. I felt it, felt his warm sticky blood running down my arm. I had the power to grant death and no one could stop me. I felt invincible." Faith finished in a whisper. She looked around to all the stunned faces in the room, finally landing on Wood.
"So how is it that you can forgive me and not Spike. What makes us different? A soul? Because I accomplished all the same things and I had one." Faith asked, throwing her arms up in frustration.
"So really, what is it that you don't trust about him?" Faith asked.
"Is it really that you don't believe he can be a better person? Or is it that you don't want him to be able to be a better person?"

"How the sodden hell do you do it?" Spike sighed, slamming shut yet another book.
"Do what?" Dawn asked, not looking up from her page. Spike stood, twisting from side to side, stretching out all the kinks in his back.
"Go through all these…books every time there is a new big bad. I never realized how much work went into being a white hat. I obviously chose the wrong side." Spike glared at the never ending pile of books he was responsible for.
"That is because you never actually helped out with the research before." Buffy pointed out, squinting down at the page she was reading.
"I don't exactly remember ever seeing you hunched over a book before either pet."
"Well that's because I…I do…I'm the Slayer." Buffy stuttered. Spike rolled his eyes.
"Yeah…and?" Spike gestured her to continue. Buffy stared blankly at him.
"And, I do…I do the slaying. I shouldn't have to do both! That's why I recruited Scoobies." Buffy answered. Spike opened his mouth to reply when he was cut off by Dawn's shriek of excitement.
"Guys, I think I found something." Dawn said as she rushed to the other end of the table. Spike and Buffy leaned in, both squinting slightly at the language at the page. After a minute, Buffy looked up at Dawn.
"Dawn, it isn't in English. I don't know what it says." Dawn rolled her eyes.
"I know. I'm not sure of the exact translation, but I do know that, that word translates to soul and that other one to final war. I thought I could take it to the Scoobies and see if Giles or Willow could help with it." Dawn frowned as Spike snapped for her attention.
"Paper…pen." Spike stated. Dawn ran for the supplies.
"You can read that?" Buffy asked, somewhat impressed. Dawn came back to the table, handing Spike a piece of paper and a pencil. Spike looked up at the pencil and raised an eyebrow. Dawn shrugged.
"It's the only thing I could find. Just be careful." She laughed slightly. Spike took it and looked back at the text.
"Yeah luv…it's an ancient demon language; learnt it after a couple years as a demon. Angelus liked to be able to use prophecy to his advantage; liked to know what was coming." Spike explained as he translated the passage.
"Why didn't he learn it himself?" Dawn asked. Spike snorted.
"Because he's an idiot. Didn't have an understanding of languages at all. It took him forever to learn what little he does know. Bloody poof." Spike mumbled as he finished. He placed the pencil down and took a deep breath.
"When light is threatened to be smothered by the dark; one shall determine the end. The slayer shall choose, bestowing her light upon the dark who chose the spark. The chosen and the other must face each other; but it is the chosen that shall tip the scale. The chosen will lead the world to the light, or suffocate it with the dark." Spike placed the paper back on the table, and scratched his head.
"Haven't got a sodden clue what that means." Spike sighed. Buffy shook her head.
"No, me neither. Dawn, I think that maybe you should take this over to Giles; see what he can make out of it." Dawn nodded, grabbing the sheet of paper.
"Spike, I think you should keep looking through this book. See if you can find any other reference to that prophecy." Spike sighed.
"Great, more bloody research."
"Angel and I are going to patrol." Spike's head snapped up.
"You and the poof! Buffy, I can go with you. I'll do this when we get back." Spike said, getting out of his seat.
"No. Don't worry. We'll patrol different cemeteries, that way it will get done faster. I want to get back here to check out that prophecy. I just really need you here." Buffy answered. Spike nodded.
"Go on then. The pillock is waiting."

The first stared out at the sleeping city of Sunnydale; soon to be it's new home. A gentle wind blew and yet, not a single blonde hair moved out of place. It just stared, admiring how calm it looked. Yet, it wasn't. Somewhere in that city, there were little insects just waiting to be squashed. A smile crossed its face at the thought of the group of girls that hoped to stop it. The smile faded. A group of girls with the chosen…
Damn it, who knew that one girl, would hold so much power over a vampire. The thought of a vampire with a soul was sickening enough, but to have to work beside one was torture. Well, it didn't matter. There were other things that could be done. The first still had a couple of surprises for the slayer and the chosen. Besides, the chosen had weaknesses, he had already displayed that. The other too had displayed his weakness for the slayer. The other has already chosen, has already picked his side. Maybe that could be used to its advantage. Maybe the position of the other can be used to sway the position of the chosen.
The first smiled, knowing that the memories of the form it took on, the slayers form would help in its mission.
It turned towards its minions, motioning for one to come closer.
"Bring him to me."

Somewhere in the distance, Angel was surrounded.
Somewhere in the distance, Angel was outnumbered.
Somewhere in the distance, Angel's world went dark.

Hey: Let me know what you think. If you have any ideas of howI can improve that prophecy that would be a lot of help too! I majorly suck at the cryptic!Review!