CHAPTER 1: HEADACHE

Hell. That's what her life had been for the past three years. Ever since Willow ripped her out of heaven, nothing felt right anymore. Buffy Summers had nothing to live for.

She could fool her friends, and after Willow tried to end the world, Buffy tried to fool herself. She knew she needed to be a better friend; all of them were struggling to grow up on the Hellmouth, something that was easier said than done. They all had their problems and the only way they were going to make it out would be by helping each other. But Buffy had always had to be the strong one, and that didn't change. She needed to be there for her friends, so she had to pretend. In some ways it worked, but deep in her heart, she knew something was missing. She just didn't know what.

Walking down the school halls, she rubbed her phoenix pendant for good luck. She still had no idea where it came from, but ever since she woke up that morning with it on, she rarely took it off. Her footsteps echoed eerily on the tile floors; she was heading to the mouth of hell and instead of thinking of battle plans, or worrying, her mind kept wandering.

She had been happy and now she wasn't, not really. Life was hard, especially for her, and nothing ever seemed to go right. Her life was a classic example of Murphy's Law. But, as hard as her life was, she wasn't going to kill herself; she had responsibilities and people to protect. She was the Slayer.

'Soon,' Buffy thought, leading an army down into the mouth of hell, 'there will be hundreds of Slayers. I won't be needed as much. Would it really be that bad if I didn't survive the battle?' Buffy shook the morbid thoughts out of her head and stood up a little taller, griping the sword she held a little tighter. In all honesty, she didn't want to die, or at least not at the hands of the annoying First Evil. She wouldn't give it the satisfaction. What she needed was something more solid to live for, to fight for.

At the moment, however, she was fighting for her life, the lives of others and the fate of the world. What she really needed right now was Willow's damn spell to work! The girls couldn't hold themselves against the thousands of vampires without Slayer powers. It would be a massacre if Willow couldn't get the spell to work really soon.

"Come on, Willow!" Buffy muttered to herself, killing yet another uber-vampire that came at her.

All of a sudden, a powerful wave of magic coursed through her, unlocking a spell cast long ago. Buffy felt something happen to her and her head became jumbled, but she didn't have time to stop and think. She pushed all thoughts out of her mind and concentrated on winning the battle.

Unfortunately, her brief lapse in concentration cost her, as she missed the vampire that came up behind her, sliding his sword through her side. She dropped to the ground in pain and surprise.

The First Evil sauntered over to her, dressed like the mirror image of herself, cuts and everything. "Oh no… ow! Mommy, this mortal wound is all... itchy," it said, taunting her. "You pulled a nice trick. You came pretty close to smacking me down. What more do you want?"

Buffy was really pissed off. The bad guys weren't supposed to taunt her; she was supposed to taunt them. Her eyes flashed angrily and a slightly golden spark flared up before quickly dying away. "I want you..." Buffy began through gritted teeth, beginning to get up, "to get out of my face." Buffy stood up, forcing away the pain.

The First's look of amusement died, giving way to anger, and, was that fear? Buffy took the scythe that Rona threw at her, and started hacking away at the Turok-Hans. The others, seeing Buffy rise up, all felt encouraged and the Slayers all fought with more strength. The more Buffy fought, the less her wound hurt; soon she forgot about it altogether.

Then, Spike started to disintegrate as the amulet started to take effect. Buffy had a quick but grateful goodbye to him before Faith ushered her out, taking the red scythe with her. She never loved him; she couldn't love him, not after what he did. They used each other, but it was never love; at least not on her part.

Buffy high-tailed her butt out of there. The school was falling in under her feet and the roof was collapsing above her; chunks of plaster and cement were missing her by inches. Buffy started toward the doors, only to note the entire entrance was blocked. On the way to the stairs, she passed a figure motionless on the ground.

"Anya?" Buffy asked, stepping toward her quickly. The ex-demon had gotten on the wrong end of a sword and had lost a lot of blood, but she might make it; if they got to a hospital real soon. In any case, Buffy couldn't leave her friend here; they'd been through too much. Buffy quickly picked up the light girl and escaped to the roof.

Jumping rooftops, trying to outrun and enormous cave-in behind her and catch the bus in front of her was not easy, especially carrying a half-dead girl. Buffy briefly entertained the idea of just stopping, but some unknown strength pushed her forward.

There was a nagging in the back of her mind that made her run that little bit faster. She didn't acknowledge what it was, just listened to the desire to make it out of Sunnydale alive.

Finally she caught up with the bus and slowly pulled ahead, but how was she supposed to get on? It would take a miracle.

Using all her slayer skill and calling forth her years of training, Buffy jumped off the building she was currently on. Dropping through the air with Anya tightly in her arms, Buffy executed a perfect landing, slamming her feet onto the orange metal, bending her knees to absorb most of the impact, and keeping her balance as best as she could. If she didn't stay standing, she had no way of keeping both Anya and herself stayed on.

Fortunately, she had experience riding on top of moving objects. Fighting Glory, they had taken a large Winnebago out of town, only to be stopped by the stupid Knights of Byzantium. Buffy expertly fought the knights off, while riding on top of the RV.

Eventually they passed Sunnydale city limits and Buffy felt the bus ease off. Once they came to a complete stop, Buffy gratefully, and somewhat awkwardly jumped off, as everyone else unloaded.

"Buffy, you made it! You're okay!" Will said, rushing to her best friend. "Oh, no! Anya!" Willow cried.

"She's hurt pretty bad and she's lost a lot of blood. We need to get her to a hospital…" Buffy trailed off as she saw the wound close up. She looked up and saw Willow using her magic to heal Anya, much like she did to Buffy's gunshot wound, only without the dark hair and eyes. "Or not." Buffy said as Anya opened her eyes and sat up.

"Xander?" Anya asked confusedly.

"I'm right here, baby." Xander told her, stepping to Buffy's side and helping Anya to her feet.

"Oh Buffy! You got hurt too. How are you even standing?" Willow asked, noticing the blood surrounding a slice in her shirt.

Buffy looked down in confusion; she had forgotten about her wound. She lifted up her shirt for Willow to see, but was shocked to see that the wound had already healed. There was no mark on her that suggested she got stabbed, except the insane amount of red on her clothes. "That's weird. I usually don't heal that fast."

"Maybe it was the spell. It might have given you a little oomph," Willow suggested, also confused.

"Maybe," Buffy said doubtfully.

"Where are we?" Anya asked, looking around at the barren desert surrounding them for miles. Her eyes fell on the huge crater where the small town of Sunnydale once stood. "What happened?"

Andrew came running up and grabbed Anya tightly around her waist, hugging her and knocking her off balance.

"What the...?" Anya said. "Get off you little monkey!"

Andrew quickly released her and stepped back, an embarrassed look on his face. "Sorry, but there was a vampire and he stabbed you and there was nothing I could do..." Andrew rambled on for a while. "I'm glad you're okay," he finished.

Anya's eyes widened and she turned frantically to Xander. "Oh God! I was going to die, wasn't I? I'm not ready to die yet! There's still so much I want to do! I'm still young and able. And pretty. And there's all that money I haven't gotten yet. And I still want to be with you even though you left me at the alter and broke my heart and should have numerous bodily wounds because of it. I still love you."

"I still love you too, Ahn." Xander said, kissing her head and pulling her close. "I tried to find you when the building caved in, but I couldn't. I thought I lost you and it scared me. And I don't scare easily," he joked.

"So we can try again, maybe?" Anya asked, snuggling into him.

"Yeah, we can try again," Xander confirmed, thinking that this time he wouldn't screw up both their lives. He'd wait until he was ready to get married. He then noticed that all his close friends were standing around them, smiling slightly.

"Thanks Will," he said gratefully to the redhead. "And Buffy."

"Yes. Thank you for saving my life Willow and thank you for risking bodily harm to bring me out of the school Buffy." Anya said eagerly. "I must give you a gift. But there aren't any stores around here and I don't have any money with me…" Anya trailed off, her eyes growing wide and she grabbed Xander by the arm. "My store! It's gone. And all my money!"

While Xander tried to console his ex-ex-girlfriend, the others stepped toward the crater, surveying the damage.

"She's right, you know," Willow said. "We've lost everything."

"We've got the important things," Giles said, looking around at those that survived.

For the first time in a long time Buffy had time to relax. To think. She let her mind wander a little as Willow stepped closer to her.

"What do you want to do, Buffy?" Willow asked, putting her hand on Buffy's arm.

Unexpectedly, Buffy's head exploded with pain and she screamed in agony, clutching her head and dropping to her knees. The feeling at the back of her mind that had been nagging at her since Willow's spell came back at full force, released by the power of Willow's touch.

The Slayer Activation Spell had swept through her, breaking the ridiculously powerful memory spell placed on her years ago, and unlocking her magical powers. At the time, she wasn't mentally ready for the new discovery, her mind was preoccupied with the battle, and Buffy unconsciously locked everything away again. But Willow seeped of raw energy and magic, and her touch sent that power through Buffy, unlocking the gates of her memories and her magic, allowing it all to surge through her, revealing a life she never knew existed.

But it was too much. Her mind and body weren't prepared for the onslaught of memories and magical power that had been locked away and building since the night she became Buffy Summers. The blinding pain raced through her head and body, causing her to succumb to blissful darkness.