A/N Sorry for the super long delay in getting this next chapter out. I kinda' needed to focus on school for a while. And then after school came work. Work is evil. But I know none of you care. So here's the story...

TWO DAYS LATER

Buffy lay on the grassy ground, each breath was a struggle as she fought with blood rising through her throat. She coughed and the red stained the side of her cheek and the tombstone so close to her head. It was her tombstone. Buffy Summers / 1986-2001 / She saved the world / a lot. But this time….this time she didn't. Her failure wouldn't welcome a new slayer to the world because her failure was the end of the world. She thought she might be crying, but she couldn't tell; she was soaked in blood. It was always blood. The memory of Spike telling her that brought a smile to her face, but was quickly turned into a grimace at the pain it caused.

Angel was only a few feet away, valiantly protecting his lover from the masses of swarming creatures. A few feet further away Dawn flickered in and out of dimensions, playing peek-a-boo with evil. But Buffy couldn't see the two people she loved most in the world; she could see the sky through the haze of blood and pain. The moon. Where had she seen the moon before? It was gigantic. It was amazing. It was beautiful. It was….What was it?

Angel screamed her name and she broke into a coughing fit as she attempted to answer. "Don't Buffy. Just conserve your strength. Stay alive Buffy. The first rule of slaying Buffy, remember the first rule of slaying. Stay alive!"

Buffy struggled to take another breath, but it didn't ever come.

Angel felt the moment her heart stopped beating, not through some supernatural connection they shared, but because his heart stopped beating too. A gift so recently given to him, so quickly taken away.

TWO DAYS EARLIER

Buffy walked down the street cautiously, looking for any sign of discrepancy. The last time she had performed this spell she had found out her sister was fake, what would she find out this time? Nothing so far. Everything remained exactly as unreal as it had been before. The town didn't flicker in and out of existence. Nothing did. So real. Surreal.

THREE DAYS LATER

Her body was being burned. That was what her will asked of her friends. She was not coming back this time. Ashes didn't return to being.

Angel towered over her still body, "Buffy? You wanna' put some sunscreen on?" He flashed her a bottle of SPF 50 sunscreen.

"No Way! By the end of today I'm gonna' have me a suntan, a nice beautiful normal suntan.

"Normal?" he sounded doubtful.

Dawn jumped into the space between them, "Never gonna' happen Buffy. You're a goddess. And, sorry to say, that's just not normal." She shook her head slightly as if regretting the fact.

Xander leaned towards the champions from his spot on the large blanket, "yea, Buffy the Goddess!"

Willow leaned in from the other side, "Maybe you should ask for a de-promotion, Buffy the Vampire Slayer sounds much better than Buffy the Goddess."

"Oh, Puh-lease, as if Little Miss Fights a Lot is going to be anything important." Cordy poored some suntanning oil on her skin and began rubbing it down her legs, "Nobody believes in you, you know."

"Yea, Buffy, no churches, synagogues, or other religious stuff in your name. What kind of Goddess are you anyway?"

Buffy stood up slowly and looked across the group of friends, "The eternal, immortal, normal kind." She smiled happier and more peaceful than she had ever been before.

TWO DAYS EARLIER

The sun was rising when Buffy came in the front door, both Angel and Dawn were waiting anxiously in the hallway, "So?"

"What did you see?"

"Did you see anything?"

"Nothing." Buffy sighed, "Absolutely nothing. Everything acted just like it was supposed to be here. I'm gonna' call Giles and tell him. Maybe he found something out or….something…"

"Well…We had another visit from Inanna. She told us that today everything will change and she also warned us from interfering with you guys. Please do be careful Buffy."

"Always am Giles. Always am. Talk to ya' later Giles."

Buffy turned to face Angel and her sister, "Basically nothing. I'm going to go take a nap. Obviously nothing about this apocalypse is going to be a good quick fight."

On one side of her Angelus smirked, his dark eyes promising her pain. To the other side was Angel a broad smile that glittered in the sunlight and eyes full of love and laughter and happiness. She was unable to move, left…right…she was stuck. Angel took a step towards her, his hand open in an invitation for her to grab it and come with him into the sunlight. Angelus leaned back against a wall that hadn't been there a moment before. He whispered quietly, "lover."

Dawn appeared out of nowhere blocking her view of Angel, "Buffy! Help them!" And then in her place appeared all the people who had died….Tara, Anya, Spike, Doyle,Cordelia, Wesley, Gunn, Fred/Illyria….Joyce was the last to appear and unlike the others she didn't quickly flash away, she floated up a few feet so she was washed in the glow of the moon from Angelus' side of Buffy.

"Just do what you think is best, dear. Don't let anybody tell you different. We….I….Believe in you."

And the moon exploded…

Buffy awoke with a sudden start, "Angel! Dawn!"