Visits

Faith's first foray into leadership was a disaster. The Bringers set a trap for them. Only a handful of the girls made it out.

Faith wasn't one of them.

Somehow, Amanda made it out though, and she wasn't really sure how. There had been three Turok-Han vampires. One, they could take according to Kennedy, but three? Whatever discipline they'd had broke down. After that, it was just one terrifying blur, a scramble for the safety of daylight.

Someone knocked on the door. Amanda stopped pacing. "Y-yeah?"

Giles came in, a serious look on his face. He was flanked by Willow and Xander, and they looked pretty serious too.

"There's something you should know," Giles started.

"We just got a call from the coven in England," Willow said. She looked to Giles, a little nervous.

"When Faith died, you were called," Giles said.

Amanda's knees were shaking so bad now, it felt like her legs were made of rubber.

It seemed so surreal. She knew what they were saying, she just had to ask anyway. "What? You mean I'm..."

Xander nodded. "The new slayer. Yeah."

Amanda started pacing again, panicked. "What? No. I can't be the slayer! What am I supposed to do?"

She knew it was true, though. She knew no amount of denial would change the fact that she was now the chosen one. She had never felt like this before, strong, powerful, and at the same time totally insecure.

She wondered if this was how Buffy and Faith felt, the weight of the world on their shoulders. It was on her shoulders now, and suddenly she was flashing back to all those speeches Buffy made, about what it meant to be the slayer, and suddenly she wasn't feeling so great.

"I think I'm going to hurl," Amanda said.

"Right, well, we'll just, um, we'll just give you a few moments," Giles said, obviously uncomfortable. He gave Willow and Xander a look.

"Right. We'll just, uh, give you some space," Willow agreed.

"We'll be downstairs, when you're ready," Xander said.

They backed out of the room, shutting the door behind them, leaving her alone. How was she supposed to get ready for this?

"It's hard, isn't it?"

Amanda whirled around. There was Buffy, sitting on the bed. She was dressed in a nice cream-coloured sun dress.

"B-Buffy? No," Amanda said. She shook her head in disbelief. "No, you're supposed to be dead."

"Ascended here," Buffy said, frowning. "Not dead, just living on a different plane of existence."

This had to be some kind of hallucination. Or the First! Amanda carefully took off her shoe and threw it at Buffy. It passed right through her. "You're the First."

"No. I'm really not," Buffy said, shaking her head.

Amanda frowned. "But you're non-corporeal."

"Yeah," Buffy agreed. "Part of that whole living-on-a-different-plane-of-existence thing I mentioned. I'm, I'm energy now. I don't have a body."

"What are you doing here?" Amanda asked, cautiously. This could be some kind of trick.

"I need you to leave town," Buffy said.

"Me?" Amanda asked, confused but cautious. "Why?"

"I meant you as in the whole group," Buffy explained. "Get the girls, and get out of town. Tonight."

"How come?" Amanda asked curiously.

Buffy shrugged. "This time tomorrow, there isn't going to be a Sunnydale. I'm going to take care of it. Anyone left in town when it goes down isn't going to survive."

"Can you really do that?" Amanda asked, surprised.

"Ascended being here. Of course I can," Buffy said. She fixed Amanda with a look. "But I'm gonna be breaking some pretty serious rules doing it. I'm not sure how the others are gonna react. This is a one-time save, that much I know for sure."

"Oh," Amanda said. They lapsed into silence. "Does it get any easier?"

Buffy gave her an odd look. "You'll do fine, Amanda. Trust your instincts. Don't second guess yourself. You're that one girl now, the slayer," Buffy said. "There are people that'll help you out there. There are some right downstairs."

"It's just... It's just so much," Amanda said quietly. "Too much. And I thought..."

Amanda's voice trailed off. She wasn't sure what to think. It was one thing to be a potential slayer. It was totally different to be the slayer, the one everyone was going to be depending on.

Buffy stood up.

"You'll do fine," Buffy said. She smiled reassuringly. "I have to go now. Take care of yourself, okay? And take care of them?"

Amanda nodded her head. Buffy vanished in a flash of light.


Spike was sitting alone, had been for a couple of hours now, trapped by the sunlight outside. Her scent was everywhere, but he couldn't escape.

It was torture.

Spike kept thinking back to what happened. His mind kept taking him back to that moment: the feel of Buffy's body in his arms, the taste of her blood in his mouth, the sounds of her struggling for breath. He couldn't get out of that house soon enough.

There was no body, only empty clothes, and wrinkled sheets, and a scent that still clung to them, to him.

"Hi Spike." Buffy was standing by the window now.

"B-Buffy?" Spike asked, startled. "Is that really you?"

She nodded, offering him a smile. "It's really me." Everything else seemed to fade into the background for Spike, all sound, all thought, everything. There was only this moment with Buffy. "I made it. Because of you."

"Because I killed you," Spike said darkly.

"Because you were there for me," Buffy corrected. "Because you let me go."

Spike looked away. He couldn't bear to look at her, the woman he loved, the woman he killed. "Not to be a wet blanket or anything, but how do I know it's really you? The First does fancy looking like you."

"Why would the First want to comfort you?" Buffy asked, smiling. It was a good point. The First certainly wouldn't get its jollies making him feel better about what he did.

"I know what I'm gonna do now, Spike," Buffy said. She knelt in front of him, forcing him to look at her. He couldn't look away. She smiled at him. "That's because of you too."

"Right," Spike said. He chanced the subject, "So, what now?"

"Now? I need you to leave town," Buffy said. She raised her hand to stop any objections. "It's almost sunset, so you'll be able to leave soon without worrying about bursting into flames. Trust me, you really want to leave town before I do my thing."

Spike shook his head. He didn't understand, but he trusted her. He stood up, grabbing his duster. "You sure I shouldn't hang around? Do some damage?"

"I'm sure," Buffy said. Spike nodded his head, turned to the door. "Wait! Before you go, there's something I wanna try."

Spike stopped, turned around. Buffy got up, moves towards him. "What's that, luv?"

"My kind, uh, the Ascended, we're able to do this, uh, this sharing thing," she said, looking up into his eyes. "I want you to know I'm alright. I want you to know how I-- how I really feel."

Spike frowned, dubious and hesitant. "What would I have to do?"

Buffy smiled. "Nothing. Just, try to keep an open mind?"

Spike took a deep, unnecessary breath. Then he nodded his head. He was ready. "All right, pet."

Buffy closed her eyes, reached out to touch his face. His skin tingled, but he didn't feel her hand. She seemed to dissolve into bright, white light, moving towards him.

Spike closed his eyes.

At first, there was nothing. Then he felt it: a sense of contentment, of peace. He felt what Buffy felt for him. Warmth. Love. Not the kind of love shared between lovers, he instinctively knew, but something equally strong, equally deep.

She loved him. "Bloody hell."

That moment seemed to last an eternity. It was finally broken by Buffy's voice. "I love you."

Spike smiled, a real smile. "I know," he said, a shadow of his old cockiness. "Thank you."

Buffy just smiled. "Where will you go?"

Spike shrugged his shoulders, pulling on his duster. "Maybe I'll go annoy Peaches."

"Be nice," Buffy said. Spike gave her an even look. "Right. Just, you know, don't kill each other."

He paused at the door. "I'll see you around?"

Buffy shrugged. "Maybe. I really don't know."

Then she disappeared in a flash of light.