L.A. was still quiet. It was a dead silence, and it hadn't gone away like they thought it would. But still they stayed, waiting. Waiting for the coming end.
Suddenly a thunderous crash was heard outside the ruined Wolfram & Hart building, and a deep sound resonated throughout the city, like a ship's horn blowing in alarm.
Spike and Angel ran outside to investigate. They stopped in shocked silence at what they found.
Buffy battled with a vampire in a park in San Francisco. She delivered a punch, followed by a roundhouse kick. The vampire retaliated by backhanding her in the face, right before she kicked him in the chest. Her cell phone rang.
"Hello?" she panted, still amped from the fight.
"Buffy, it's me."
"Willow? What's up?"
"I found it. It's in L.A."
Buffy frowned. "L.A.?" The vamp clocked her in the head.
Buffy and Willow sped through California on the nearly deserted highway, heading for the dead city.
Buffy wrestled with inner turmoil on seeing Spike again. She still loved him, she knew that. The way he made her feel, the way she felt safe with him, yet always thrilled. The way she trusted him.
Did she still trust him? Of course. That could never be broken. But she was still uncertain about how he felt now. Maybe he did stop having feelings for her, in the romantic sense. Maybe he stopped loving her, the way she loved him.
Oh, screw it, she thought. I'm too old for this.
Jumping out of the car, the girls picked their way through the city, finally finding the vampires standing in front of something, their backs turned.
Spike sensed her, feeling the tingles up and down his spine whenever she was near. He turned and said, "Hey."
Buffy walked right past him, ignoring him. "What are we looking at?"
Spike looked at her, perplexed. And just a little hurt.
Angel spoke. "We just found this thing a few minutes ago. Any ideas? 'Cause right now I'm thinking…really not good."
The group of four formed a semi-circle as they huddled around the newly arrived darkness. It was a seven-foot wide hole, with orange and red swirls of fire encircling it. It glowed and hissed, constantly moving, emitting sparks and smoke.
"I think it's a portal," Willow mused.
"Leading to what?" Spike asked. "The world's largest oven?"
"I can't be sure. I'll have to use the magicks in order to figure out what's on the other side, but that'll take days."
A voice spoke behind them. "Or, you could just ask."
All of their heads simultaneously whipped around to see who the speaker was. She was young, a teenager. Dark brown hair, skin that shimmered in the moonlight, a light blue sundress that flowed in the breeze. "I'm Estella. And you guys have just stumbled upon an Apocalypse."
Silence. Then…
"Oh, please," Buffy said, rolling her eyes.