Title: From the Ashes

Chapter: 2/?

Spoilers: Eventually, there will be spoilers from everywhere in the series, as the story progresses. For now, though, only season 7 and 2.

Timeframe: After season 7, during what should be season 8 of Buffy

Summary: I hate summaries..and if I give you one it's liable I'll just give away the entire story :P

Rating: PG-13

"Wait...What? Will, I'm confused. I mean..Nothing we've done has had anything to do with her. None of us have really even thought of her..." She stops, her eyes casting towards the kitchen door. "Except..."

"For maybe Giles." Xander finishes the blondes sentence, gravely.

Willow lets out a sigh, running her fingers through her red hair. "I don't know. I'm just telling you what I saw." Looking down at the table, she shakes her head, staying silent for a moment before looking up at her friends. "The powers that be don't exactly make with the...Tell allness of the visions they send me." The redhead shrugs, letting out another sigh. "I just...wish I could decipher why I'm getting visions of her all of the sudden."

"Well...Maybe it was just a...random vision thing? Like, a one time gig? I mean...The anniversery of her..." Buffy looks at her friends, the next word tumbling from her lips heaving with regret. With a gulp, she finishes. "...Death is coming up soon here. Maybe that's the link?"

"I doubt it, Buff. I mean, the PTB's may be all for makin' with the torture of their...it's...whatever...servants, but they don't send us signs that don't mean anything. Usually...I mean...I think..." He looks at his redheaded friend for clarification, who has a confused look on her face at the moment. A look of heavy confusion that he hadn't seen in years from her. The only thing that surpassed the look of confusion was the look of hurt. Jenny had been her mentor, her friend, though someone she had albut pushed out of her mind. Not simply because she hadn't cared about her death, quite the opposite; But because she needed to out of utter and complete pain. All of them had to. Though despite their pain over the situation, he couldn't bare to think of Giles'. The woman he loved...Well, loves, his soulmate, the love of his life...His everything, ripped away from his arms before he truly had the chance to make anything happen with her.

Willow nods, giving Xander the clairification he needed. "He's right, Buffy. Since when do the good ol' PTB's send us signs or clues that don't mean anything? This has to mean something. Something significant."

Buffy sighs, nodding, knowing her friends were right. She looks them over for a brief moment before speaking, "O-okay, so what do we do? Exactly? Hit the books...Computer...What? This is all very...confus...y."

"Agreed." Xander declared, looking at his friends. The three of them then move from their respective positions, moving out into the lobby and hurrying to research.

We see montages of the gang researching, of Giles up in his bedroom, memories obviously flooding his mind as he holds Jenny's rose quarts in his hand, rolling it over his fingers.

Giles lays down on his bed, holding Jenny's rose quartz...all these years he had never once left it behind. At night he would sleep with it under his pillow and in the day he would carry it in his pocket..it was the closest thing he had to having Jenny back. Every previous year he would go to her grave every week and put fresh flowers on it and talk to her..this year he couldn't even do that..this year her grave was gone...burried somewhere in the crater that was Sunnydale.

"I just wanna be right with you...I don't expect more."

"You were right with me, Jenny..you were...and I wanted more...I needed more..so much more." He says outloud...as if hoping she was listening from up above.

Perhaps if I had made love to her..or told her how much I loved her...this would hurt less...perhaps. He thinks to himself.

After hours have passed, Buffy finally looks up from her book, slamming her fist down on the table. "Gah! This is not of use...It's all makin' with the...uselessness." She sighs impatiently, looking over at Willow, who is researching on the computer. "Will...What EXACTLY was the vision of? I mean...I-I know you've told us...B-but maybe we missed something. Some peice of the puzzle. A peice all...crucially." She frowns, her nose scrunched up.

Willow looks up from her laptop over at the confused, and ever growing impatient, Buffy, shaking her head. "N-no. I don't think so. I've explained it. Exactly. Multiple times. I just saw flashes of her face, then flashes of Sunnydale...Well, of the crater that used to be Sunnydale...Then some weird bright light." Once again, the redheaded witch shakes her head, frusterated.

"That's it!" Xander exclaims, slamming the book he has in his hands shut. "I've come to the conclusion that the PTB's are just some mean kids on an ant hill with a magnifying glass. And we're the ants!" Looking up at the cieling, he shakes his fist at it, rolling his eyes. "WHAT IS YOUR LOGIC?!?"

Buffy and Willow merely stare over at their friend, amused looks on their faces. Buffy is the first to speak up. "For some reason...I don't think yelling at the ceiling is going to help us make with the figuring out of this any sooner, Xand." She smirks.

"Ah...Xander Harris...Ever the comedic relief." Willow grins, closing her laptop. "Maybe we should break..."

"Yeah...Breaking is good..What with the...breakyness of it all." Buffy closes the book in front of her.

"Oo! Can there be food involved in this break?"

"Of course, as long as it's of the chinese variety. With smoothies...And maybe some mexican food thrown in there for balance.." Willow stops at the look she gets from her friends, she looks at them sheepishly. "What? I-I get the munchies after a long research period, a-and..." She stops at more looks she gets from them. "I mean...we'll just go with one of the food types...Yeah...one. One sounds right...One feels all...good." She smiles, nodding.

Buffy chuckles, rolling her head. "It's alright, Will, we get it. We're just giving you a hard time. Acutally...a mix sounds good right now. Fortune cookies and taco's, anyone?"

"Aye, aye, Cap'n!" Xander mock salutes, grinning as the three of them head out the hotel door