Part 9
"One day he woke to see the world with different eyes
The light was brighter - not a shadow
The sun was greater – not pale, not hidden
The clouds seemed white - not dark, not raging
And rain was bliss – not sad, not drowning
One day he woke to see the world spinning into infinity
Not ending, just beginning"
"Buffy, what's wrong?" Angel asked when Buffy stormed in, followed by a barely breathing Dawn.
"I found it!" Buffy said. "I found the root!"
"Where?" Faith asked coming out from behind Angel.
"Here! In LA," Buffy explained. "When I was called for the very first time, I was here, on the steps of my old high school, remember?" she looked over at Angel, knowing he had been there that day.
"How could I forget?" Angel said the idea of her root being there suddenly dawning on him too.
"I'll go wake the others," Faith said quickly disappearing upstairs.
"Hi," Dawn finally managed to say after catching her breath a little.
"Hi," Angel said smiling. He hadn't seen Buffy's little sister since she had been a toddler.
"Nice place you got here," Dawn said while Buffy waited impatiently for the others to show.
"I barely fell asleep!" a sleepy Fred complained as she came downstairs. "God, I need some café!"
"There's still some left from yesterday," Angel told her.
"Cold, yucky coffee, ugh!" Fred grimaced, but went straight for it. Gunn and Cordy appeared, ready for battle, much less sleepier then Fred.
"You have that aura cleansing look. That or you still didn't return the cappuccino machine," Fred noted and Angel immediately shot Cordy a look.
"Fred! You know we would never keep the machine," Cordy said but her smile betrayed her. "Promise I'll return it tomorrow?" she looked over at Angel who was obviously unconvinced by her words.
"That's what you said two weeks ago," Angel reminded her while Faith came downstairs followed by Wesley. Gunn was busy removing weapons from their cabinet.
"So you think you'll make it?" Buffy looked at Faith.
"Yeah, my leg's still a little sore, but it mostly healed," Faith assured her.
"What happened to your wrist?" Fred asked while she accepted the sword Gunn handed her.
"Accident," Angel answered instead of the slayer. Wesley suspected it was something else though. "Someone has to stay with Wes."
"Your son?" Dawn asked and Angel nodded. "I can stay. I'm not really fighting material," she offered.
"Okay, just be careful," Angel said. "He's sleeping now. If you want to know anything, just ask Dennis the house ghost, okay?"
"You have a house ghost? That's so cool," Dawn said enthusiastically.
"Let's move out," Gunn said heading for the door.
"Good luck and bring Fatima back," Dawn told them while they left the Hyperion Hotel. When she was alone, she smiled. Some exploring was in order.
As soon as they entered the highschool, the coldness of the place stroke them. It was freezing! They expected at least some people to be inside, but there was no one. Sure, it was summer, but the faculty still had to be around. There was no one. The entire building was empty of human presence, while the mystical one was thick in the air.
"I think it's under renovation," Cordy said referring to the school.
"That or no one could stand the cold," Gunn suggested.
They advanced in the main hallway and as they did, little by little, Buffy seemed to flash back to the days she had studied there. Someone opened a locker under her own eyes and took a book out before disappearing the next second and leaving the locker closed. Then a group of girls passed by her, giggling, only to fade away behind her. She knew the others couldn't see what she saw because those were her own memories coming back. The flash backs intensified and suddenly she found herself fully enveloped in them. She was 15 again and walking those hallways as a student. She didn't realize she had stopped in the middle of the hallway.
"Buffy?" Angel asked when he saw her stop, but she couldn't hear him. In her flash back, Buffy looked down at her clothes, she remembered these clothes, but where from? Sure she pretty much remembered all her clothes, but these were different. She twisted something in her hand. It was a lollypop. She dropped it on the floor as if it had burnt her. She was back in that day. The day she became a slayer. She turned around and looked at the exit of the highschool. She had one more period and then she would go home or that's what she thought. She would walk out and Merrick would be waiting for her on the steps bringing her, her destiny. She had to stop it. It couldn't happen again. She couldn't become the slayer. She turned around and looked back into the hallways and started running.
"What is she doing?" Cordy asked.
"I don't know, but something's wrong," Angel said. "We have to follow her."
"Buffy!" Wesley tried yelling, but there was no use. The slayer couldn't hear them.
"You go and find Fatima, I'll get her," Faith said as she head out in the direction Buffy had disappeared into.
"You think they'll be okay?" Cordy asked concerned.
"I hope so," Angel answered her before they split up to try and find Fatima.
In her flash back, Buffy reached the girl's bathroom and as she entered she tripped on something and fell on the floor. Her knee was bruised. Something in her mind told her she couldn't see the bruise through her pants, but here, she could, because she was wearing a skirt. She gathered herself in a corner and started crying. She was fifteen and just a simple girl, she could afford to cry.
"Buffy?" a voice asked from the doorstep of the bathroom. She looked up to see Faith. What was Faith doing here? She'll meet her only in three years.
"Faith? What are you doing here? Go away before someone sees you," the slayer stood up and grabbed Faith by the hand and dragged her out of the bathroom. "You have to get out of here."
"Why?" Faith asked not understanding what was wrong. Buffy looked on both sides of the hallway alarmed that all the people passing by them looked at them oddly. Faith followed her gaze not seeing anything in the empty hallways. "Buffy, what's wrong?"
"Go! I'll see you in Sunnydale, okay?" she told the brunette slayer.
"But…Buffy!" Faith tried to stop her from shoving her away. Suddenly Buffy snapped out of her flash back and the hallways of the school were empty again.
"What the hell just happened?" Buffy asked and Faith shook her head. She had no idea either. "I guess we're in the right place. We are the others?"
"They went to find Fatima," Faith told her. "Are you sure you're okay now? You freaked me for a moment there."
"Yeah, I just had a weird flash back to the good old high school days," Buffy told her. "Let's go find them."
Suddenly a cold wind blew, passing through the hallways of the empty school with a whistling sound.
'Follow your blood…blood of the sacred…blood of the slayers' the voice sang in the wind.
"Did you hear that?" Buffy asked and Faith nodded. The light from the Summers home reappeared, this time brighter, leading the way. The two slayers followed the light as it went downstairs and headed for the gym. The gym Buffy had once torched. They didn't even notice when they passed by Cordelia, Angel and Gunn
"Faith? Buffy?" Cordelia tried to get their attention. "Great! What is this like an ignoring epidemic?"
The two slayers walked right past them, seeming hypnotized by the light the others couldn't see.
"We didn't find anything," Fred and Wesley came running towards them. "What's up with them?" she pointed towards the two entranced slayers.
"Let's find out," Angel said and followed the two women inside the gym. As soon as they entered, the doors closed shut behind them.
"Oh, great," Cordy sighed. "Has anyone besides me noticed our tendency to get ourselves trapped?"
"I was thinking about that the other day, when I was stuck in the kitchen of the pizzeria with ten hungry Gogras," Wesley said gripping his ax harder.
"I hate it when we don't know how to fight something. Give me flesh and bone demons any day!" Gunn complained, while the two mystified slayers snapped out of their reverie.
"When did you guys get here?" Faith asked them, but the crew didn't bother to answer as a ghostly shape began forming itself in the middle of the gym, seeming to suck away the air in the small twister it created. Then suddenly a presence lowered itself into the vortex. A woman, a long, frail figure, with flour skin and long white hair, her eyes closed.
"You've finally come," the ghost said, her voice as cold as her features. Her eyes opened, they were hollow, a galaxy of souls seeming to spin inside them like stars on the edge of a black hole.
"What are you?" Buffy asked disturbed.
"I am the slayer. I hold inside me the thousand souls of slayers. I have been made because of you," the ghostly shape spoke, her icy voice echoing in the coldness of the gym. "I have no shape. What you see is the fruit of your own imagination. My image is a mirror your mind projected on my being. I am one and yet I am thousands. Thousands that have gone beyond death and now search revenge against you. I am Sadyia the poet," the ghost turned itself into the slayer whose name she had spoken. "I am Regina the child-slayer," the ghost shifted its features to those of the child. "I am Isabela the whore," she turned into the beautiful Italian girl. Angel startled at her appearance. Isabela gave him a cold stare. "How could you?" Isabela turned towards Buffy then looked over at Angel again before she shifted into another girl. "I am Katiuska the rose of Russia," the ghost began changing forms faster, whispering the names of the dead slayers before changing again.
"You see I am all of them and soon I will be you as well," the ghost said when she had taken the form of a young Chinese girl. Her form then shifted to that of Kendra. "We're here to judge you, Buffy."
"Kendra?" Cordelia asked from the background.
"Judge me?" Buffy asked.
"Yes. I was created from the pits of eternity to bring the spirits of the slayers solace," the ghost took its initial form.
"And what are you gonna do, kill me?" Buffy asked. "Slayers don't kill."
"Slayers, perhaps not, but eternity has no conscience, for it does not need it," a chilling smile appeared on her frozen lips.
"You know what, B? I'm tired of talking, how about we get to the action?" Faith asked from behind the blond slayer.
"That sounds like a plan to me," Buffy was tired of trying to figure out what was happening. The two slayers tried attacking the floating being, but found themselves suspended in the air.
"You foolish little mortals! Do you think you can grasp the source of my power?" the ghost asked rising her voice. While the ghost was busy tossing Buffy and Faith around, Gunn and Angel managed to sneak behind her unnoticed.
Angel's lips formed a one, two, three and the two men charged from behind, shoving the ghost-like creature toward the wall. They didn't manage to shove her all the way as she quickly caught on and stopped her movement and with one hand threw the two men away.
"At least she feels real," Gunn said as he hit the wall. Taking advantage of yet another distraction, Cordy, Wes and Fred charged from behind, hoping they'd do a better job then Gunn and Angel. No such luck. This time the ghost had anticipated their move and pinned them to the wall before they had a chance to do anything. But as the ghost tried to manage with the trio, Faith and Buffy came from the side.
"Enough," the ghost yelled and her form split into twenty and each part of her took the shape of a different slayer.
"That's no good," Gunn said as he rose up clutching his ax.
"Twenty slayers against two slayers, a vampire, a half-demon and three normal people. Odds aren't looking too hot," Cordy said as she found herself back to back with Fred. The fight was about to start.
"Stop!" Buffy suddenly yelled. One of the twenty slayers stepped forward and took the shape of the ghost.
"Are you willing to submit to our judgement now?" the ghost asked her.
"Yes, but let them go," Buffy looked over at Angel and his crew. "I should've never got you involved in this. This is my fight."
"Buffy…" Angel started, but the ghost rose her hand to silence him.
"Don't say I don't trust you, but…" the ghost pinned Angel and his crew to the walls. They couldn't move. The other slayers dissolved into nothingness. "Well Buffy Anne Summers, you have done a great deal in your life, you've done good things, but you've betrayed the slayer kind and disturbed its peace. You woke up spirits that have passed beyond the thresh hold of humanity thousands of years ago. And that has no excuse."
"So what did I do so bad, that I woke up all the slayers?" Buffy asked crossing her hands over her chest.
"Let me show you," the ghost said stretching out her hand and rising the slayer off the floor of the gym. Then a thick fog enveloped them and Buffy felt as if they've left the gym. It was all in her head though, as she was just a foot off the floor, her eyes closed and her fingertips touching those of the ghost. Her spirit seemed to be transported in another dimension where there was no earth, no sky, just air and clouds and this strange ghost-like creature.
"Well?" Buffy asked the ghost.
"Beyond the obvious?" the creature asked as her fingers twirled in the clouds creating a vortex that slowly began resembling images. "You betrayed us when you loved vampires," the images showed her with Angel and then Spike.
"Angel had a soul and Spike…well he had a soul after a while, but…" Buffy started explaining.
"It was your duty! They killed us, you are our sister, you should've avenged our death," the ghost said, her voice seeming to echo those of the other slayers.
"Angel's not responsible for what he did when he was evil. He's a good man. A great man. A hero! Do you even know how many people would've died if it wasn't for him?" Buffy asked angrily.
"Do you know how many died because of him? Much more then you can even imagine. Those he saved are little compared to those he killed!" the voices of the slayers rose above that of the ghost.
"You can't compare dead people to living people," Buffy said.
"But we can," the ghost contradicted her. "Why would you say such foolish things? You of all people. Dead and alive does not matter to you. You break the boundaries as you wish. You have no honor."
"Wow, let's go back a couple of steps. Dead and alive does matter, cause hey, I'm alive now and if die, I'd be gone for good, okay? And I don't 'break the boundaries as I wish'" she imitated the ghost. "I only died twice in 27 years okay? And I didn't really bring myself back."
"You should've stayed dead," the ghost warned her.
"Maybe you're right. I wouldn't be here having this conversation if I were," Buffy was exasperated. "You know what, I did want to stay dead, okay? Heaven was a lot more fun then this place. I didn't chose to come back. My friends brought me back and now, because you're all sorry you didn't have friends who would tear you out of heaven you come to judge me? Well get a clue! I didn't do anything wrong. I loved who I wanted to love and I lived how I wanted to live and there is nothing left to judge. So go ahead kill me if you will."
"You are not suppose to die" the ghost didn't like her insolence. "She is," out of the mist, Faith appeared, still pinned to the wall. Suddenly she began choking. Buffy wanted to do something to help her, but found that she couldn't move.
"Leave her alone! What did she ever do to you?" Buffy asked trying to desperately break free of her immobility.
"She did nothing. She left the Council when she considered she was no longer worthy a slayer. We consider hers an act of honor. We will accept her, but she must die," the ghost explained while she choked the life out of Faith.
A wind suddenly blew, crossing the hallways of the Hemery High, running up streets and towards the Hyperion hotel, moving under its door, wrapping Dawn in a cold embrace then passing upstairs under the door of Angel's apartment and into little Wesley's room. The boy suddenly stood up.
"No!" he yelled and the wind enveloped him and he disappeared.
Little Wesley reappeared next to his mother, floating above the floor. He opened his eyes as he put himself between Faith and the ghost. A flash of light shone and Faith fell to the floor, breathing heavily.
"A little boy," the ghost said amused. "Powerful little thing."
Buffy looked through the opening in the clouds to see little Wesley standing in front of his mother. The clouds closed before she could say anything.
Back in the gym, the ghost stared at the boy questioningly before saying:
"I have what I want," she felt uneasy around the boy. With one flash she was gone and everyone, as they were, pinned to the walls suddenly collapsed and so did Buffy from mid-air. They all managed to gather themselves, only Buffy seemed to have taken a harder hit and had yet to wake up.
"Are you okay?" little Wesley asked his mother. Faith smiled at him.
"How did you know?" Faith asked standing up.
"I didn't," the boy told her.
"Buffy, come on, wake up," Angel was kneeled next to the slayer trying to wake her up.
"She's not there, daddy," the boy told him. "She took her with her."
"What do you mean?" Wesley interfered.
"The slayer lady took her spirit. She won't wake up unless she lets her wake up," little Wes told them.
"What happened?" Buffy asked the ghost, suddenly feeling much colder.
"Nothing of importance. She should have killed herself, your friend, but she is stronger then she seems and her boy… is more of the mystical then of the human," the ghost told her.
"I've noticed that about him. So is that what you're expecting me to do? Kill myself?" Buffy asked.
"Oh, no, that would be far too simple," the ghost-like creature smiled. It looked more like a grimace then a smile. "You see you no longer belong to your body. You are here in spirit. And no one but I can bring you back inside your flesh coffin."
"And what are you suggesting, I'm a prisoner in this dimension for eternity?" Buffy asked crossing her hands over her chest. "Or are you gonna send me to hell? Cause I've been there, done that. Not as scary as it sounds."
"No," the ghost like creature simply said. "Your spirit will transcend into each slayer that ever existed and you will live in their bodies following a fate already sealed and you won't be able to do anything about it. That is your punishment for abandoning us. So one day you will understand why we feel betrayed. You will feel our pain and hate our enemies and love those we loved and lost. Maybe you will gain some kind of sense of honor through it."
"And my daughter?" Buffy asked. Her mind didn't want to except their judgement, but she knew she had no other choice, she could do nothing, she knew her body was left somewhere in the gym of the Hemery High and her spirit had been stolen by this creature who claimed to be the keeper of all slayers.
"Your daughter will become the slayer," the voices of the slayers sang.
"That's ridiculous, she's only four years old," Buffy jumped.
"With our help she will be the greatest slayer of all time. Age does not matter, only skill" the slayers voices rang even louder then before.
"NO!" Buffy yelled. "I will accept your judgement, but you leave my daughter out of this freak show!"
"It is done, fate has chosen," the ghostly shape morphed so fast Buffy couldn't keep up with the many forms it took. Then suddenly a shape detached itself from the morphing mass. At first Buffy couldn't believe her eyes, but it was her. It was Tara.
"Tara…" Buffy started, but the Tara-shaped figure rose her hand and said:
"I am not that what you believe me to be. This shape is barely a vessel for I may have a voice."
"You're the first slayer," Buffy realized.
"I am," the person in Tara's form admitted. "And I cannot leave this injustice to be made. You have betrayed, but you were given no choice."
The ghostly figure stopped morphing, remaining in its initial form.
"Why do see them like this?" the first slayer asked Buffy. "Open your eyes. There is no one, only many."
Buffy looked back at the ghost-like creature and found that she couldn't see it anymore, it seemed to have dissolved in thousands of nameless faces, that all strangely, seemed familiar to her.
"They're not evil, they're angry, don't keep it against them," the first slayer spoke. "If you were one of them you would be angry too. Come with me, let me show me our beginning."
The Tara shaped slayer stretched out her arm. Maybe because she reminded her of the good witch that had been her friend or maybe because she felt she had no other choice she took her hand. They disappeared from the clouded dimension and found themselves in the middle of a rain forest.
"Where are we?" Buffy asked looking around.
"Shhh," the first slayer silenced her.
Suddenly they heard people approaching. They were running after something. Probably an animal, Buffy thought. Someone passed by them, running. It was barely walking on two feet. A group of hooded men followed at close distance. Buffy realized they couldn't see them. One of the men yelled something that sounded like gibberish and Buffy was amazed that she understood what it meant. The men had screamed 'Faster!'.
"Come on," the first slayer grabbed her by the hand and pulled her further into the forest. Very near them, the hooded men had caught what they had been chasing. Buffy was surprised to see what exactly they had caught. It was a black girl. The hooded men pulled her up and began walking away, very satisfied they had done their job.
"There," the first slayer pointed towards a temple. They immediately flashed inside it. Torches were burning everywhere and Buffy could hear chanting. She noticed the five hooded men were the ones singing, while another man, dressed in a blue robe was sitting in front of the black girl, who was now tied up. The man in the robe took a bowl into his hands and kneeled next to the girl.
"From flesh of man you were born," the man in the robe said in that weird language. "And because of your flesh one day you will rot," he put his fingers in the bowl and smudged the girl's forehead with blood. "I ask the spirits of the great beyond to lower themselves inside this mortal being and give humanity a champion. Her blood will go on forever," he put his fingers in the bowl again and drew a long bloody trail across the girl's cheek. Buffy knew that the girl was scared and that she couldn't understand what the man was doing or saying. "Her strength will pass on to her sisters. Send us a fighter, oh ancient one, give her the strength you took from our ancestors" a light shone and thunder could be heard from outside. Buffy turned around startled by the sudden sound. A beam of white light hit the tied up girl and the blood on her cheeks seemed to burn her, then suddenly with great strength the black girl broke free. The man in the blue robe smiled and the hooded men stopped their chant.
"We've done it!" the man in the robe said. The girl looked down at her hands. She could feel the strength coursing through her veins. She jumped the man in the blue robe angrily, digging her hands in his neck. He died instantly. The hooded men looked at her horrified.
"Evil spirit!" they screamed, but the girl couldn't understand their strange language, she was too frightened. She wanted them to die for whatever they had done to her. She attacked them, but the hooded men quickly made a run for it leaving the girl alone in the temple. She looked around not understanding where she was and what this place was. She looked at the fire burning in the torches. It was evil, that's what she felt. She tried to put them out, but she only burnt her fingers. She turned towards the shrine she had been kneeled in front of. What was this strength she felt? She kept asking herself. Suddenly two ghostly figures arose from the earth, a man and a woman.
"You are the chosen one," the woman said.
"You alone can stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness," the man told her. "You are the slayer."
And the ghostly shapes disappeared. The girl couldn't have known they had been oracles, but their words had meaning to her, unlike those of the hooded men. She looked around the room and found the bowls of paint in a corner. She kneeled down next to them and started painting her face. She was a warrior born to protect humanity. The temple faded away and Buffy found herself, yet again floating in the earthless dimension.
"You see, no slayer chooses to be what she is," the first slayer spoke to her and this time she had her real form, the painted lady, as little Wesley called her. The girl from the temple, the very first slayer of the world. "And no one can deny their root," she added. "When you become the slayer, you must become selfless or you will die. You were different. You weren't selfless and you did not die because of it. You stand for all the things we never stood for. We were champions, we died heroes and you dishonored us."
"Why do you have to be the ones dishonored? Isn't this about how much honor I lack? Why can't you just erase me from your book like you did Faith?" Buffy asked exasperated.
"Because she was never one of us. Not really. You were a slayer. You are a slayer and you can't… we won't let you forget that," the first slayer told her taking Tara's form again. Buffy thought back to the Temple and the first slayer. She had been scared like she was scared now. She didn't want to spend eternity living the lives of the other slayers. She wouldn't.
"It's time for you to accept your judgment," the ghostly figure had reappeared instead of the shadows of the slayers.
"There's no point in talking forever," the first slayer sighed before she disappeared inside the body of the ghost again.
"I. Am. The slayer. And I'm not going anywhere," Buffy said suddenly confident as if the realization had suddenly hit her. Even more, now she knew she could move and fight. "You know what, you showed me roots, you showed me your lives, your deaths, you took my daughter away from me! And after all this torture you expect me to take a punishment for being alive? Because I did better then you? Well you know what, I'm sorry for all of you, I know you're heroes and you gave your lives fighting for humanity and I admire that, but if I have to spend eternity fighting each one of you dead slayers to get out of here, I will."
The ghostly shape stared at her before attacking. Buffy blocked the first punch, but as she held on to her wrist she spun her around and kicked her in the back. Buffy realized they couldn't really throw each other too far away, because there was no where to fall or land. The clouded space they were in was very limited. 'God I wish I had that ax about now,' she thought as she dodged a punch, but when she snapped up the ghost was gripping her from behind. Buffy gave her the head butt Faith-style and then swept her legs out from under her. The ghost fell on her back and before she could get up, Buffy straddled her waist and began punching her in the face. Her thighs gripped on the ghost's legs like crazy. The ghost's hands came up to her neck trying to choke her. Buffy weakened under her iron grip enough for the ghost to manage to throw her off and get up and try and drag her by the hair. Buffy grabbed her wrist, sinking her nails into it and then rising her other hand on the ghost's arm, pulling her down next to her. Buffy grabbed her by the neck and started holding on tighter and tighter and tighter. She didn't care that the struggling ghost's hands were scratching her face. She just wanted her to die and for her to return to her body. With one twist of the neck, Buffy put an end to the ghost-like creature. Tired, she got up wondering why she wasn't back in her body yet. She didn't notice the ghost's eyes flew open or that she got up behind her and she could easily attack her again. In stead though the ghost clapped her hands. Buffy turned back to look at her.
"Congratulations, you past the test," the ghost said smiling, looking much more human now probably because she was bleeding.
"Test?" Buffy asked confused.
"You are the slayer. Now you're back," the ghost told her.
"What?" Buffy wasn't getting anything anymore.
"Our honor is restored. You are the slayer again. It's what we wanted," the ghost said.
"You're kidding. You could've just asked," Buffy couldn't believe it.
"And what would've happened?" the ghost asked. She was right. Before, Buffy would have never considered returning to slaying, but because of the slayers she had already done it.
"And this whole punishment thing was like a set up?" Buffy asked and the ghost shook her head.
"No, it was real. Our honor is worth at least that much. If you wouldn't have fought us you would have lived the thousands lives of slayers," the ghost told her.
"And my daughter, you were kidding about that, right?" Buffy said relieved.
"We cannot undo what fate has already done," the ghost said.
"But she can't be a slayer at four," Buffy complained.
"She won't be one if you see to it. She would have become the slayer today, if you would have lost against us and if Faith would have killed herself," the ghost explained. "She still has time."
"Time," Buffy repeated the word as if it had some kind of secret meaning.
"Go back, Buffy Anne Summers. You are the slayer and one day, a day far in the future we hope, we will welcome you among us," the ghost said taking a small bow in front of the slayer before vanishing. Buffy looked at the clouded space she was in one last time before her eyes fluttered open and she found herself, first in the hallway of the Hemery High, looking at herself at 15 heading for the exit. The young Buffy looked at the door.
"I'm scared," the fifteen year old girl looked back at Buffy and the old slayer smiled.
"There's nothing to be afraid of," she told her younger self before disappearing.
She woke up in the gym, in Angel's arms.
"Buffy!" Angel smiled and hugged her close.
"C'mon," little Wesley told her and she left Angel's embrace. The boy took her hand and lead her out of the gym into the main hallway and into the very last classroom of the corridor. At a desk, drawing on white paper with colored pencils, Fatima stood.
"Fatima!" Buffy let out, tears falling from her eyes.
"Mommy," Fatima ran in her mother's arms. Buffy rose her daughter off the floor.
"God, I missed you, honey, I missed you so much," Buffy said holding on tight to her daughter.
"I missed you too, mom," in the end Fatima had decided she wanted to come back to her mother. Sure, the slayers were nice and friendly, but no one on this earth compared to her mother, slayer or not.
It was six in the afternoon and they were all on the beach. They had picked up Dawn and went straight there. They all felt like loosing up. Angel's anti-sun spell would work for another couple of hours. Fatima and little Wesley were finally acting like children, building castles of sand, while Fred, Wesley, Gunn and Cordy joined in a volley match and the girls seemed to have the upper hand on the situation. Faith was still too weak to play, her leg wound would probably open from jumping around anyway. She, Angel, Buffy and Dawn were standing beside them keeping track of the game.
"It was you, wasn't it?" little Wesley asked Fatima as they built another tower on their castle.
"What?" Fatima asked.
"The wind. You're the one who sent the wind to me," little Wesley told her.
"I might have," Fatima said smiling. She waved at her mother who immediately waved back.
"So that's where I got all the depressing thoughts from," Faith said. "I don't wanna go through that again. Ugh!" her skin seemed to crawl at the very thought. "It was way too disturbing."
"Cheater!" Wesley yelled after Cordy, after she had landed a perfect ball over the net.
"Dream on, watcher-boy!" Cordy gave Fred a high five.
"Ghosts are whack," Buffy stated sighing. "It won't be too soon till I'll see another ghost!"
"How about our house ghost?" Angel asked.
"He's so cool! I think he cheats at cards, but still," Dawn said, she had got around to meet Dennis when she went sneaking into Angel's apartment.
"I'll make an exception," Buffy assured them.
"You know what I feel like?" Faith asked. "I feel like taking a bath in the ocean. My wounds are gonna hurt like hell from the salt, but I've been through worse. Any of you up for it?"
"Sounds like fun, but it's not like skinny dipping, right?" Dawn hesitated. "Cause I only do that at night when…"
"Dawn!" Buffy gave her little sister a questioning look.
"So how about that bath?" Dawn looked at Faith for escape.
"Yeah, c'mon, let's go," the slayer was happy to help her out.
"So you'll be going back to slaying?" Angel asked as he watched the two head out for the ocean.
"That's the plan. In like 12 years I'll be the mother of a slayer anyway so there's no point staying away from it," Buffy lifted her shoulders resigned.
"And you'll be going back to San Francisco? Or Sunnydale?" Angel asked looking into her eyes.
"Sunnydale? Never. Actually I was thinking of staying here in LA and as a matter of fact I wondered if you had a couch to spare," Buffy said smiling.
"Actually I have more then ninety rooms to spare," Angel said returning the smile.
End Part 9