The light at the street corner (the one where Buffy's apartment building was located) dimly illuminated the corner, revealing that Willow was already there, sitting on a bench and crying softly. Next to her sat Kennedy's duffel bag that still held several weapons.

She heard something, and looking through teary eyes, saw someone coming.

"Willow!" she heard Buffy call. "I'm glad to see you made it." Buffy looked around. "Where's Kennedy?" she asked as she approached the bench.

Willow simply stood and looked at her, and Buffy knew right away what had happened.

"I fought it, Buffy. I came so close to going dark again, but I fought it, and won, and then I killed the Black Hat."

Buffy stepped forward and gave Willow a hug. "I'm so sorry, Will."

Willow started sobbing, and then she felt another pair of arms encircle both her and Buffy.

When the embrace broke, Willow looked up and was surprised (and somewhat uplifted) to see Xander standing there.

"Xander? What are you doing here? And what's with the new look?"

"Long story, Wills. Basically, I got sent here to save Buffy's life by having to have her save mine." Willow was glad to see Xander had not lost his sense of humor.

Willow looked at Buffy. "Does he know the sitch?"

Buffy nodded. "I filled him in on everything on the way over here."

It was right about then that they felt the first drops of rain. Within moments, it was pouring.

"Wow, big downpour before the big fight, seems kind of cliché, doesn't it?" said (or rather, due to the roar caused by thousands of drops simultaneously hitting the pavement, yelled) Buffy. The other two smiled and nodded.

"What's that?" Xander pointed. All three of them looked toward that direction, and saw the figure approaching. The dim light and the wall of rain at first made it difficult to recognize, but as the drenched figure came closer, they saw it was Giles. He had taken off his glasses, and his wet hair clung to his forehead.

"Have you been waiting long?" Giles asked. The others shook their heads.

"Faith?" inquired Buffy, with hope in her voice. Giles looked at her with a somber expression, and slowly shook his head.

All four of them slowly bowed their heads. Buffy was thankful that it was raining; she did not want the others to know she was crying. When she looked up again, Giles was holding the Scythe in front of her.

"Faith wanted you to have this," said Giles. Buffy nodded, and took the Scythe into her right hand.

"So what happens now?" asked Xander. Giles looked up at him.

"Xander? What the devil are you doing here?"

"Long story, G-man."

"I told you over and over not to call me that! And by the way, might I add that you really need a shave and a haircut?"

"Good idea, I'll do that right after we survive this fight. Now, back to my question, what happens now? What do we do?"

Buffy answered. "I'll tell you what we do now: we wait. We have done our part in averting this apocalypse, and there's no taking it back now; the Senior Partners are going to have an absolute wiggins and will be sending their armies for us, but first we need to wait for Angel to finish his part. He needs to slay the other members of the Circle of the Black Thorn, the ones in L.A." She looked at her watch; it read that it was four o'clock in the morning. She was surprised; had it really been that long since they had left the apartment?

"It may be a little while longer, since our clocks are several hours ahead of Pacific Time," added Willow.

"Maybe we should get out of the rain for now," said Xander.

"Yes, we should," agreed Giles. "At this rate, we'll die of pneumonia before the Partners ever lay a hand on us." The four of them walked over to the apartment building and stood under the awning.

Willow watched the rainfall, illuminated by the light at the street corner.

"It's kinda beautiful out there, isn't it?" she said.

Buffy nodded her head. "That it is."

"I hope Dawn and Andrew make it back here soon," said Giles.

Buffy and Willow gave each other a knowing look.

Dawn will not make it back here, if Andrew does what we told him to do, thought Willow, sending the mental message to Buffy.

Yes, Buffy thought back, and I feel very guilty about it.

It's better this way, Willow assured her. It's the only way we can spare her whatever horrible and painful fate may await us at the hands of the armies of the Senior Partners.

Buffy knew Willow was right. She only hoped that Dawn would forgive them for what they were going to have Andrew do.

--

Author's Note: Are you catching on to what they're going to have Andrew do? You'll find out more in the next chapter. Anyways, I thought it would be cool to have it to where the four original Scoobies are reunited for what may be the last time (hence why I decided to bring Xander into the story).

And before you mention it, yes, I know that it really seems coincidental that it's raining in Rome on the same night that it's raining in L.A., but for some reason, I've always had a thing for scenes that take place in the rain. I'm not sure why.

And as always, remember: Feedback is good for a fanfic writer's soul.