This is an idea that had been going on in my mind for a time and this will explore Buffy going a bit darker and pushed over the edge, since Dark Buffy is an interesting concept to explore.
Some things are loosely inspired by Stand with Ward and Queen's stories 'To rise above', 'A tale of Vampires and Slayers' and 'Alliance of worlds' and Aragorn II Elessar's 'Heroes, Vampires and Slayers', Chunk127's 'United We Stand' and the follow-up post-series comics. While the storylines, new characters and new lore in the comics are interesting, what is grating is the continuing love triangle Angel/Buffy/Spike, Tara and Cordelia dead and Andrew making few more messes among other things.
Timeline-wise takes place after Chosen and Not Fade Away, since while this will be mainly Scooby Gang centered story, I have plans for Angel and Spike down the line.
Disclaimer: I do not own Buffy: The Vampire Slayer.
It was late at night, when Buffy was at the cemetery, wearing a coat as she stared down at the gravestone in front of her and then she heard footsteps, when Angel approached.
"Sorry I missed the funeral. I've been… busy." Angel said.
"Drusilla?" Buffy asked without turning to Angel.
"Yeah." Angel nodded and Buffy nodded back, understanding.
"There was a time I would've thought this was my fault. That I brought this darkness upon us. But now I know that it's not my fault. It's my responsibility." Buffy said.
"Responsibility to do what?" Angel questioned.
"To stop it." Buffy said as the rage began replacing the sadness inside her as she growled. "I'm gonna kill them."
"Buffy—" Angel began.
"I know what you're about to say. But now I realize Willow, Xander and Dawn were right back then about Warren. Some people don't deserve to live, whether they are human or not. And I was wrong. There are no different rules for humans and vampires and demons. Some of them are just as dark and corrupt and they don't get to live, no matter what blood they are." Buffy vowed and Angel sighed. He knew that right now she was consumed with guilt, grief and anger and there wasn't much he could do at the moment to reach her.
"Buffy… I'm not saying she doesn't deserve to die. But taking a life… a human life…" Angel said. "I'm not trying to compare you to Faith, but trust me, once you touch that kind of darkness, it's not something you can just walk out from."
Buffy looked at Angel and even though they were not together anymore, they would always care about each other in one way or the other and she knew that he was just trying to look out for him.
"All I'm saying is that I don't want you to lose sight of who you are when someone manages to get into you and don't push away others when you feel like you're in so deep in the darkness that you don't want anyone to pull you out. Trust me, I've been there and I almost lost sight of what and who I was fighting for and why." Angel said, remembering when he had pushed Cordelia, Wesley and Gunn away, when chasing Darla and Drusilla.
Buffy breathed out heavily as she looked at Angel and nodded after a moment. "I get what you're saying."
"Buffy, if there's anything I can do—" Angel began.
"I wanna be left alone." Buffy cut him off and Angel nodded after a moment as he walked away, while Buffy knelt down and placed her hand onto the gravestone as a stray tear rolled down her cheek.
Angel was walking away when he passed by Spike.
"She's trying to hide it, but she's becoming like Faith. Full of anger, grief and guilt. You better make sure she won't go over the edge or I will hold you responsible." Angel warned.
"I won't let her." Spike promised and Angel nodded. Even though he still didn't like Spike, he begrudgingly admitted that with a soul Spike was better for Buffy than Angel.
Spike approached Buffy and placed his hand on her shoulder and that was it for her as the floodgates opened and she burst into tears, sobbing uncontrollably as Spike hugged her tightly, soothing her.
"It's alright, Buffy. Just let it out… just let it out." Spike said, doing the best he could to comfort her as they both mourned for someone very close to them.
Three weeks later, Los Angeles
Buffy placed both hands against the wall of the shower stall and leaned forward for the warm water spraying down on her naked form, the heat from the water soaking into her skin and relaxing her muscles before she poured some shampoo on the palm of her hand, rubbing it across her wet skin and brushing her hair with her fingers to clean the filth and sweat, that poured in drops down her arms and chest and then legs to pour into the drain. Buffy took her time as she explored and cleaned every nook and cranny of her body and washed her hair and once she was satisfied with her shower, Buffy leaned towards the stall under the torrent of water again as the shampoo washed down her hair and skin with the filth down the drain before Buffy turned off the water and grabbed the towel from a handle, cleaning her hair and drying herself off before she looked at her bare back in the mirror at the newly accumulated scars and bruises she had received recently and it was then, when her phone rang in the locker and she picked it up and answered the call.
"Hello? Yes. You have a lead? Are you sure? Where? Good. I'll be there. No. I want to do this alone. By myself, no one else. Stay back." Buffy said before she hung up and picked her clothes, about to get dressed.
In an underground ring where people were placing bets on fights happening between men and demons alike, an Afro-American man with black jacket and a dark-haired man in a beige jacket and wearing an eyepatch approached a bartender as the dark-haired man showed a photo of Buffy.
"Excuse me, we're looking for someone. Have you seen this woman?" Xander asked and the bartender was silent.
"She's been gone for a while. We just need to talk to her. A couple a guys from around saw her come here often. Some people who care about her are worried, since she hasn't been talking to them for a while." Gunn said.
Buffy was putting on her jacket and putting the Scythe into her bag, when she heard the door knock.
"Buffy?"
Buffy tensed as she recognized the voice and turned to the door and growled. She didn't have time to deal with this again.
"It's me. Xander. I just want to talk to you. Please, Buff. Everyone's worried about you. Don't run from us again." Xander pleaded.
Gunn reached for the doorknob and opened the door but they felt breeze and saw the window open as they realized Buffy had climbed out and they sighed.
"Not again…" Gunn muttered as he turned to Xander. "Can't your friends put a tracker spell on her or something?"
"We've tried it before, she must've gotten some protection spell from someone to prevent us from using it to track her again." Xander said before his phone rang as he pulled it out of his jacket and answered the call. "Yeah. No, we lost her again, Giles. She won't talk to anyone of us. Any idea where he is?" He sighed. "Yeah. I will." He hung up and turned to Gunn. "We should get back to Hyperion."
"You've got any suggestions?" Gunn inquired and Xander sighed. "Pain and grief and anger goes a long way." He said, remembering Holtz and Angel's and Spike's relationship.
Buffy was outside an estate as she put on a hoodie and ran up the fence and jumped over and looked around as she hid in the shadows. There were guards stationed everywhere and surveillance cameras. She had to sneak in undetected. Then she saw some maids walk out with the laundry and Buffy got an idea, observing where were the maids going.
A man in his late 50s with grey hair was in his suite as he sat down, drinking wine, when he heard the door knock.
"Mr. Rayne?"
Ethan Rayne looked at the door as he heard a female voice behind the door.
"Do you need the bedsheets changed?"
"Yes, please. One moment, let me unlock the door." Ethan said as he got up from the chair, set down the glass on the desk and approached the door, unlocking it but as he opened the door, his eyes widened. "You?"
"Me." Buffy smirked before she struck Ethan in the chin, knocking him down.
Ethan spat out blood as he scrambled back. "Look, Summers, if this is about the Fyarl—"
"That's not why I'm here." Buffy cut him off as she stepped on his leg as he grunted. "I know you've been selling magical supplies to various scumbags recently. There's one customer of yours I'm looking for. Amy Madison. Where is she?"
"Consumer confidence. I'm afraid I cannot—"
Ethan screamed in pain again as Buffy stomped on his leg once more, breaking it.
"Amy and her friend took away from me someone I care about. And I'm going to make them pay. You've done nothing in years that'd make me go after you, but if you don't tell me how to find her, I'll gladly settle for crushing you instead." Buffy snarled.
"I don't know." Ethan said.
Buffy grabbed Ethan and threw him, sending him sliding down the floor as he hit the drawer and the vases and glasses fell down, shattering as some of them hit Ethan.
"Talk! Before I break every bone in your body." Buffy said.
Next thing she knew though, the windows shattered as a group of operatives in black military outfit rappelled down, aiming guns at Buffy and Ethan, with one of them taking off his mask.
"Let him go, Buffy." Riley said.
"Stay out of it." Buffy growled.
"Look, I want to find them as much as you do, but not like this." Riley said softly, trying to calm her down. "I understand—"
"Don't pretend to understand how I feel!" Buffy exploded.
"There's already an arrest warrant on you for attempted murder, battery and assault, Miss Summers."
Buffy turned to see a blonde woman with a police badge hanging on a necklace around her neck enter.
"You're making this harder for you than it has to be. If you go alone by yourself as some dark avenger, you'll lose yourself." Kate said.
"Buffy. You're not the only one who has lost someone. And I get it. But this isn't the way." Riley pleaded.
"I tried it the right way already, but we know where did that get me." Buffy snarled, keeping her voice even, even though her eyes were full of pain, guilt and grief.
Riley and Kate looked at Buffy sadly and in sympathy. They knew she was angry and grieving and she needed help, even if she refused it.
"Buffy… you don't have to do this alone. If you push everyone away and let yourself get consumed by revenge, you'll only lose yourself." Kate said in sympathy. "Trust me, I've been there. I've seen it."
"Just come with us." Riley said.
After a moment, Buffy gave in as she put her hands behind her head and fell on her knees, while Kate pulled out cuffs, restraining her.
Buffy was with Riley in the military van, with Buffy in cuffs as Riley sat across her, looking at her in sympathy.
"You're not under arrest, by the way. I smoothed things over with the LAPD, Detective Lockley will make sure that the charges against you are dropped." Riley said.
"Xander and the others must've been really desperate if they reached out to you." Buffy said.
"They didn't reach out to me. I offered to help. I was wondering why you wanted the whole looking for Rayne to be off-the-books, but when I heard about…" Riley trailed off, knowing that she was hurting and was unwise to bring it up as he took a breath. "I know you're angry and grieving… but doing it alone is never the answer. For what it's worth, I'm really sorry. But tell me, what are you going to do? Kill her? What would they all think if they'd see you right now?"
Buffy was silent as she looked down, not meeting Riley's eyes.
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not judging you, Buffy. But trust me. Revenge isn't the answer. It won't make the pain stop." Riley said with sympathetic tone and understanding look.
"It's not about that." Buffy snapped. "Don't tell me it's not going to bring—" She swallowed hard, choking her sobs as she looked down. "You don't understand…"
Riley held Buffy's hand and grabbed her by her chin as she looked him in the eye.
"I do understand, Buffy." Riley said. "You tried to do it the right way, but it didn't work, since the system is sometimes corrupt and it can be manipulated and they used it to escape prison, so after what they've gotten away with, you think that death is the final solution for them. I'm not judging you for that. If there's one thing I've learned in the military, it's that there are people that deal in extreme and it's less than naïve to believe that anything less than extreme measures will stop them. But I don't want to see you stray from who you are in the core and go down the wrong path."
"Just like Faith?" Buffy sneered as the phrase 'if looks could kill' came to mind and Riley, while his face wouldn't show it, was worried by how much consumed with grief and rage she was. Buffy suddenly winced, realizing her mistake as she sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean…"
Riley looked at her in sympathy and with an understanding look. "I get it, Buffy. All I'm trying to say is that you don't have to do this alone. Pushing everyone away isn't the answer. Let me in, Buffy. Let me help."
Buffy took a breath as she sighed heavily. "It all started last month…"
In comics, Kate was confirmed to have returned to the police. I'm not really a fan of Kate, even though she comes around in Angel 2x17 'Epiphany' and she only has a minor appearance in this fic and we won't be seeing her in a very large capacity, though let me tell you this, the fact that even Riley, Team Angel and Kate is looking for Buffy shows how seriously over the edge she was pushed by the death of a major character here.
While Ethan was confirmed to spend the rest of his days in military detainment in comics, I wouldn't be surpised if he had some tricks up his sleeve to escape prison, though he won't be a major character in this fic, he just had a minor role, however, as you've gathered most likely, Amy Madison is one of the story's main villains.
The beginning is a flashforward is inspired by Arrow Season 4 (Do not get me started on how stupid it was of them to kill Laurel off, what was an insult to injury was her giving blessing to Olicity on her deathbed) and as you've gathered, someone from the Scoobies is going to die in this story, though right off the bat I'm telling you it's not Giles, despite my grievances with him, though there are a few post-series BTVS fics that had Giles killed off. Who is going to die, well, just keep reading to find out.
The following chapter is where the story really begins.
So, what do you guys think? Is it good? Is it bad?
Please review and let me know if you have been enjoying this so far.
With regards
Bl4ckHunter