The Journey is Never Ending
"We are all innocent."
The tattered bus made a stop at an all-purpose gas station, somewhere in Salt Lake City. Leaving the gaping hole that was once Sunnydale behind, they were heading for Cleveland. There were abandoned houses along the highway as they drove for hours on end. Stopping at small General stores to re-patch the girls' wounds. Buffy had finally patched up her stomach wound, but she barely felt the pain. Everyone was in there own little world. Everyone filed out of the bus as Giles stopped it next to a gas pump.
Buffy, Dawn, Faith and Willow all went inside the gas station to go to the bathroom and wash up a bit. The man working the counter gave Buffy a weird look at all the dirt that covered her clothes, and the dried up blood on her shirt. Buffy just managed a half smile and she walked past. Buffy stepped into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror. She felt so small and broken, of all things. She thought again and again how she should be happy, they won. But, they also lost. Buffy snapped out of her thoughts when she heard Dawn talking. Standing against the wall, she was talking to Willow. Though, Buffy couldn't take herself to look away from her reflection.
"Everything is gone…I can't get around it." Dawn said, putting her hands in her pockets.
Willow bent over the sink and washed her hands. She was still a little jittery from her spell.
"Well, not everything. Remember, we packed up a lot of important stuff into the bus, the night before. We got photo albums and all of Giles' books and Watchers Diaries. I think I remember him saying he wanted to rebuild the Watchers Council." Willow explained. She wiped her hands on a paper towel. Dawn tried to let it all sink in. Buffy still looked herself in the eyes.
"But…I don't understand what happened back there. I mean, one second I beheading some Ubervamp trying to get to Xander and the next, I'm running for my life, watching Sunnydale get sucked into the Hellmouth…" Dawn said, Faith came out of the stall and stood next to her.
"It was that medallion Spike wore…it killed all the vamps…" Faith was about to go on, but was interrupted by Buffy promptly leaving the room. She exited the gas station and made her way back to toward the bus. Soon, the others followed behind her. Dawn with a soda in her hand. Giles was standing at the gas pump with Xander. Xander was stretching his legs and cracking his knuckles. Giles was watching the meter, cleaning his foggy glasses. Buffy stopped midway between the gas station and the bus itself. Watching everything. She noticed Faith walk past her and onto the bus, to tend some more the Robin's wounds. Buffy looked at all the potentials scattered across the station. There were only a small handful of them now. A few of the faces of the dead potentials huddled in Buffy's mind. They were all talking about the fight and what they did during it. Reliving their glory.
Dawn came up from behind Buffy, Root Beet in hand. She started watching the girls as well. She looked over at Buffy, who seemed so dazed.
"I guess their not potentials anymore. Their gonna have to be trained a lot more…" Dawn said, offering her soda to Buffy. Who silently turned it down. Buffy slowly nodded toward Dawn's comment.
"Buffy…what are we gonna do in Cleveland?" Dawn asked. Buffy didn't look over at her; she just looked at the potentials and all of her friends as she quietly answered Dawn.
"Start over." Buffy said simply. She walked towards Giles and Xander. Willow walked past her to give Kennedy a bottle of water. As Buffy stood in front of Xander, her presence got Giles attention as well. Who finally tore his eyes away from the meter to look at the tired slayer.
"Hey Buff." Xander said with a friendly smile. Buffy finally got out of her daze and unfolded her arms. Setting them on her hips. She smiled warmly at Xander. Understanding that he to had lost the person he loved, and they were probably feeling about the same at this point. Buffy turned her attention to Giles.
"How long until we get to Cleveland?" Buffy asked. Giles pulled the gas nozzle out of the bus and put it back on the hatch, pressing a few buttons on the machine.
"Uh…I wouldn't think more than a few hours, if we make good time." He said, watching Buffy carefully. Xander was watching her as well. She knew they wondered how she was, but they didn't want to pry. Buffy began to walk into the bus when Giles' voice stopped her.
"Buffy? Are you allright?" Giles asked to Buffy's back. Buffy was still for a second, then turned to look at him.
"I think I will be." Buffy said. Without another word she stepped onto the bus. She took a seat at the front and looked behind her. There weren't many people on the bus, most were out stretching or using the bathroom. She saw Robin and Faith together a few seats behind her. Faith was wiping some new blood from Robin's stab wound. In the very back, Dawn was cleaning the wounds on Andrew's face.