A/N: And I'm back! Who's ready for the first chapter of the final installment to the Prophecy Child saga? Hopefully somebody because I've got a whole new story to tell!

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She crouched, fingers wrapped tightly around the crowbar in her hand. She'd found it—not stolen, no matter what Zack argued—beside the cooling body of a demon she might have killed only moments before. Regardless, it was her weapon now, ready to see action.

"Can we move now?" Nadja whispered, looking between Beth, poised to go, and Zack, who seemed too preoccupied with stacking bits of concrete. She was rolling on the balls of her feet, crossbow pointed toward the ground—for safety reasons.

"Not until Maea gives the signal," Beth reminded her sternly. The condemned building was teeming with vampires and other demons; it'd had Beth's senses going haywire miles before they'd even arrived on location. Maea, the unstoppable force that she was, had volunteered to go in first and clear the room. That way, they'd have a clear run to the artefact they were supposed to retrieve. What artefact? Don't ask Beth. She certainly didn't know. Andrew said it was important and as her watcher, it was her job to believe him. Though, if it turned out to be some mint condition first edition Batman comic, she was going to end him.

"Really?" Nadja asked, letting out a frustrated sigh. "We've dealt with demons before. Why can't we go in and kick some booty?"

"You only think you want to face down dozens upon dozens of demons," Beth pointed out. "Better we let the God handle it. Did I not mention she can't die?"

"Why did all of us come out here, then?" Zack asked.

Beth huffed. Ever since they started dating, he thought that gave him the right to whine and question her leadership. She sure didn't remember that being in the boyfriend description. "You said you wanted to hang out before you went back to stupid Massachusetts," she reminded him tartly, sticking out her tongue for added effect.

"I meant in a less bloody, violent capacity," he replied cheekily, smiling at her.

"Ugh, stop, you're both gross," Nadja said, pretending to yack.

"You know, just because we're dating, doesn't mean every interaction we have is inherently romantic," Beth explained. "I swear every time I so much as look at him, you accuse of us being too ooey-gooey."

"I can feel it coming off you both in waves," she emphasized. "It's nauseating. Put it away."

"You're just upset that for once you weren't right," Zack responded.

"Right about what?" Beth asked, glancing between the two.

"I might have told Zack way back when you still had standards that he never had a chance with you," she explained, rolling her eyes. "And now he never lets me forget it."

"And why should I?" he inquired. "You used to rub that in my face and now I have this."

"Children," Beth sighed, closing her eyes briefly. "We're in the middle of a stakeout and you're bringing this up? Can we be quiet? I'm waiting for Maea to give the signal."

Huffing, Nadja let it go, resituating herself so she could peak over the ledge and see the warehouse Maea was supposedly murdering everyone in. Not ever a peep.

"It's too dark, how do you see anything?" she asked, squinting her eyes.

"I have enhanced eyesight," Beth explained. "I can see everything pretty clearly."

"Beth, what do your special vampire eyes see?" Nadja murmured.

"Are they taking the hobbits to Isengard?" Zack inquired, looking up at her.

Beth less so saw and more so heard the sound of Nadja's foot making contact with his leg.

"Ow," he hissed, rubbing the now throbbing appendage.

"That was not an accident and I will not apologize for it," Nadja stated imperiously. "Tell me again, Beth, why you decided this nerd here is worthy of your time?"

Beth squeezed the bridge of her nose; even if Zack was the one who started complaining first, it seems her mistake had been the bring them both. "Could you both please, for once in your lives, shut up?"

"Fine," Nadja grumbled, crossing her arms over her chest and slumping against the brick ledge. "Just let us kn—"

"There!" Beth called out, pointing as she saw the flash in the window. "That's her."

"That was the signal?" she asked incredulously. "What if she did it accidentally or someone else did it?"

"Don't complain," Beth responded, already climbing over the edge.

"Uh, do you expect us to follow you?" Nadja asked, glancing over the edge down to the ground ten stories below.

"Take the stairs," she responded before hopping down to the window sill below, gripping the sill tightly. She proceeded to do so the rest of the way down until she landed on the asphalt below. Standing up, she didn't wait up for Zack or Nadja before heading over to the warehouse where Maea was. The area was all but unoccupied and any demons that had been in the area had been taken out by the God.

Walking into the musty warehouse, she wrinkled her nose from the almost putrid smell permeating the air. There wasn't much inside the building besides some trash and broken furniture the demons must have brought in when they first claimed this as their hideout. The poor night light coming through the large-paned windows didn't make finding Maea any easier.

Turning around a large pillar, Beth came to a halt in a large clearing, strewn with blood and body parts. She blinked, taking it all in, including the nearly untouched and unscathed Maea.

"I have incapacitated them just like you asked," Maea announced, gesturing to her handiwork.

Eyes still wide, she nodded slowly. "Yes, you did, didn't you?" she murmured, toeing a pile of intestines by her foot.

"Oh, gnarly!" Nadja muttered, quickly covering her mouth as soon as she caught sight of the mess. "Geez, Maea, you couldn't have just twisted their necks like a normal person?"

Maea frowned. "Your media makes that look much simpler than it is. Demons put up more of a fight than humans do."

"Still," she murmured, taking a step back.

Zack, to his credit, looked unperturbed, though that might have had something to do with the fact that he refused to take his eyes off the ceiling.

"Come on, Zack," Beth called, not wanting to leave him standing there as she went off to find the artefact. She reached out and grabbed his hand, pulling him along as she went over to explore a secluded corner of the warehouse.

"Hand me the torch," she requested when she realized that this area had been blacked-out well enough that even she had a hard time seeing (and she could only assume it was pitch black for Zack).

"You want me to hand you a what?" he replied.

"A torch," she repeated, frustrated. Quickly, she reached out and grabbed the metal piece protruding from one of his front pocket. She clicked it on and a beam of light flooded the area. "You know, this thing?"

"You mean a flashlight?" he asked and she could see the dubious look on his face.

"Tomato, to-mahto," she snorted with a wave of her hand as she began to search the area. It was chest-shaped, that much she knew, with runes carved into all sides of the box. Andrew had also said it was going to be heavy, but that was relative. Chances were, she'd be able to compete in a javelin throw with it.

"You called it an entirely different word," he insisted. "You and your—your bristishisms."

"Are you going to keep talking or can you come over here and help me?" she requested, throwing him a scathing look.

"I still wanted to do something that was more, I dunno, romantic," he muttered, beginning to kick at some of the trash around them under the pretense of helping. "I don't know about you, but I prefer the cartoon hearts, not the real ones currently decorating the floor over yonder."

"Oh shut up, you like this," she retorted with a smile. "You were first attracted to me because I'm 'dangerous'. You like the adrenaline."

He paused for a moment, considering what she said. "What can I say? I've got a soft-spot for tough girls with hearts of gold."

She snorted, shaking her head. "Heart of gold? Puh-leeze. Do I look like someone who fights for Demon Rights? I just brutalized a Khee Shak Demon yesterday. And lemme tell you, they will be finding pieces of him for weeks."

"Yeah, but you still save the little guy," he decided. "Hey—is this what you're looking for?" Using his foot, Zack lifted a ratty, moth-eaten blanket to reveal a coal-colored chest with weird, squiggly symbols on it. Well, if the key fits…

Walking over to it, she crouched down and pulled the three-pronged key out of her jacket pocket. Sticking it in the slot, she turned it until she heard a click.

"Yep, this is it," she decided, locking it back up and pocketing the key.

"What's in it?" he inquired curiously.

"Something dangerous or important," she replied. "Let's just get it out of here so we can go home." Gripping it by its sides, she grunted as she picked it up off the ground. She toddled a little bit to the left as she did so, Zack immediately reaching out to assist her. What little help he would be, considering the box probably weighed as much as sixteen of him did.

"Boy, when he said heavy, he really meant heavy," she said, her voice sounding strained.

"Should I go find Maea?" he asked, looking concerned.

"No, I have this. I totally have this."

Expression askance, he followed behind her as she meandered back into the center of the warehouse, where all the gore was. She called out to Maea and Nadja, who came jogging over. Catching sight of her struggle, Maea frowned.

"Do you need help?" she inquired, eyeing the slayer carefully.

"I've got this," she replied the same time Zack said, "She said she's got this."

Shaking her head like one would do around small children, Maea strode over, taking the chest right out of Beth's grasp. She handled it easily, like it was filled with socks or something.

"Let's hurry before any stragglers show up," Maea announced, already heading for the door.

"Is this what it feels like being around me?" Beth questioned as she watched Maea walk with ease.

"Basically yeah," Nadja responded.

"I get the added benefit of a gender difference," Zack added.

"Would Maea even count as female?" Nadja questioned. "Doesn't she come from like another planet or something? I can't believe aliens would subscribe to our gender rules."

"She comes from another dimension," Beth corrected. "And I wouldn't know. Why don't you ask her?"

Nadja didn't respond immediately, her face taking on an open expression. Beth still wasn't surprised when she suddenly bolted, running after Maea, calling out to her.

"You've created an intellectual monster," Zack noted. "She won't stop asking about this for weeks."

"Oh, let her have her fun," Beth hushed, smirking as she hurried after the pair.

-.-

Giles let out one of those old, tired men sighs as he sat back in his chair at the kitchen table, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "There's nothing more I can do," he insisted as Buffy began up her tirade of rebuffing noises again. "Whatever Zack knew before has gone."

"He shared a head with a man who had seen the future," Buffy reminded him. "Beth's future. And you're telling me that doesn't exist anymore?" She looked over at Zack, almost as if she blamed him for the failure. He, in return, looked as innocent as he could. After his short career as a man possessed (literally), Beth's mother had been dead-set on finding some way to unlock the mysteries she was sure were in his head. He hadn't been lying when he had said before that he had shared his mind with Baba, and since Baba had made great claims about knowing the future, and the arrival of the heralded Great Destroyer (not Beth this time, as it turned out), Buffy wanted as much information on this new baddie as she could get; unfortunately, their own only source of information was dead and Zack was their last connection to him. A connection that seemed to have fizzled out.

Beth, sitting up on the kitchen counter, rolled her eyes. "Mum, he can't remember what he can't remember."

"But it's got to be in there somewhere!" she insisted, throwing out her hands.

"I don't believe so," Giles countered. "In fact, it was never truly in his head."

"What do you mean?" Buffy interrupted.

"You must understand that Zack himself never learned the information," he explained. "During the possession, he simply had access to Baba's mind and his knowledge, as Baba did to his. Zack could then pull this information by accessing Baba's mind. But without the connection, he is unable to use that source of information. Zack here can only know what he knows."

"So what, like Baba's brain was a computer file we got ahold of?" Buffy asked for clarification.

Giles' eyebrows creased as he considered what his old ward said. "Er, in essence, I believe so."

"I'm sorry," Zack apologized.

"You have nothing to be sorry for," Giles said in return. "You've done nothing wrong and I am sure Buffy is grateful for the sacrifice you had made for her daughter. Isn't that right, Buffy?" He turned to look at the woman in question, who conceded in the form of grumbles.

"Guess that means it's back to the books," she said unhappily. "Giles?"

"Of course, you still hate the research aspect of your job," he realized, standing up to accompany her to the library upstairs. He was only in town for a few more days and it seemed Buffy was using that to her full advantage.

"I really wish I could be of more use," Zack said after the watcher and slayer had left the room, leaving only him and Beth. "I can remember knowing it, you know? I have this vague sense that I used to know exactly what was going to happen, but I don't remember what it was, only that it had something to do with the prophecy. I guess I learned that on my own."

"Don't worry about it," Beth told him, patting his shoulder in comfort. "Like Giles said, that file's been deleted so we can't use that software anymore."

"I think you're extending that metaphor into unchartered territories."

"Look, we'll figure it out, like we always do," she continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "My mum's just wishing she could have a leg up on the competition for once. Normally we don't know what's going to happen until it's actually happening. Like with the Hellmouth, and Baba—twice—and James. All were things that snuck up on us. She's hoping to avoid that."

"But it was something big," Zack informed her. "Like, end of the world big."

"Everything's always end of the world big," she promised, reaching out to grab his hand and intertwine their fingers. "And the world hasn't ended yet, has it?"

She scooted her chair closer to his, having allowed enough room earlier for common decency (old, British men who acted as de facto grandfathers sure could be old-fashioned). She leaned into kiss him, before settling against his side as he let out a content sigh.

"You know, I always miss you when I go to MIT," he confessed. "I think this time I'm going to miss you more. Didn't think that was possible."

Smiling, she laid her head down on his shoulder, shifting so their enjoined hands were resting in her lap. "It'll be okay," she promised, though she knew she was going to miss him more now too. So was the way with young love, or so her mother said.

"Well actually, I could—" he started and she cut him off with a loud groan.

"No, don't start this up again," she intoned, throwing him a pleading look. "You cannot just drop out of MIT for me."

"I'm not going to 'drop out,' as you like to put it. I would be transferring, as everyone else puts it," he corrected snidely. "And you're not the only one I would do it for. My mom would be ecstatic if I came back to finish college here. She'd probably ask for your hand in marriage in my place."

Snorting, she shook her head. "No, you can't come back, I forbid it," she told him firmly. "You've wanted to go to MIT since you were three and you cannot just forgo that and go to UDub with me and everyone else. Do you really want to go to school with Nadja?"

"I have been avoiding such a fate since elementary," he noted, "but I haven't wanted to go to MIT since I was three. I don't even think I knew what college was."

"Oh, but you did," she argued good-naturedly. "It was in your bones to go to some tech-y school. I know that. Don't worry about me. In just two years, you'll be done and then you can go work at Microsoft."

"You do know I'm into robotics, right?" he inquired, sounding amused.

"A computer's a robot, isn't it?"

He opened his mouth, and then shut it, realizing that disagreeing meant going into far more detail than she was likely ready—let alone willing—to hear.

"Yeah, and what if you find someone else during those two years?" he asked, going for joking, but she could hear some of the insecurity in his voice. "College campuses are big places; you meet a lot of new people."

Sitting up so she could look him in the eye when she said it, she stated, "It took four years for this to happen, so you've got another four before I start investing in someone else like that. That's more than enough time to win me back, yeah?"

Snorting, he rolled her eyes at her blasé comment and she laughed.

"I'm serious," he said.

"And so I am," she replied between giggles. "Zack, you've already been with me through a lot—the thick and the thin. There's so much about me that I'd have to explain to someone else. So why would I spend the time trying to work up what I have with you with someone else? I've already got you."

"Now you're making me sound like a long-term investment," he retorted, though she could tell there was some sentiment behind that claim.

"In a way, if you want to remove all human elements of it," she agreed. "You're the one I've got to worry about anyway. You're all the way over on the east coast, with all those east coast girls."

"I don't even know what that's supposed to mean."

"Neither do I, but there are east coast girls," she continued. "And you're super smart and driven, not to mention cute. Any girl would be lucky to have you. So, uh, if any of them start hitting on you, remind them that your girlfriend is like super kickass and does not restrain herself because they're women. My fists don't discriminate based on gender."

"Good to know," he muttered, though the corner up his lip was quirked upward.

"But I promise, promise, promise that you don't have to worry about me," she assured. "You finish up your two years in Massachusetts at your dream school and I'll stay here and do mine. Besides, I've seen the boys around here; trust me, I'm safe."

He chuckled, shaking his head. "Fine, but expect me to call. Often."

"Expect me to call you even more often," she countered, smiling. "I think this is going to be a good year anyway. I can feel it."

-.-

"So, we're college girls," Nadja announced, throwing on sunglasses even though they were indoors. She turned to face Beth, and even though it was hard to tell with the shades, Beth was sure her friend was making eyes at her.

"Huzzah," Daniel agreed, raising his drink with the little umbrella in it. When Nadja had called upon them for a celebration—a post-post-graduation-pre-first-day-of-college party—Daniel had insisted upon a beach theme. Beth had never heard him insist upon anything in his life, and neither had Nadja for that matter, so they were quick in their stunned silence to let him get whatever he wanted.

"Too bad we're not living it up in the dorms right now," Nadja added, side-eyeing Beth, this time quite obviously.

Taking a quick sip of her drink (some fruity mixture called a Mai Tai), Beth rolled her eyes. "Why you would want to drop another ten grand on a room that's twelve-by-twelve feet is beyond me. And besides, I told you that I have to stay home for my slayer field training."

"Oh yes, I forgot you started that," Daniel said. "How has it been so far?"

Shrugging, she replied, "Same as usual, I guess. Most slayers aren't supposed to be out in the field until their eighteenth year like me, but since I'm not exactly a slayer academy student right now—"

"You basically did an accelerated program," Nadja finished. "And now this is just protocol."

"Mm, exactly," she confirmed with a hum. "But it means I have to stay near my head slayer—in this case, my mother, so she can track my progress and report back to Giles."

"Would it not be considered unfair if you were overseen by your mother?" he inquired. "Fraternization?"

"Well, no one's going to put in a complaint if that's what you're getting at," she told him. "Whining about it would only mean everyone else runs the chance of getting me, which no one wants. Besides, Giles is probably pretty sure that my mum's not going to go easy on me and everyone else would likely fail me on principle."

"You know, sometimes I forget they all hate you there," Nadja said, pouting. "Their loss."

Smiling wryly, she said, "Hope then that you never have to meet one of them. They're quite nasty folk to me when they want to be."

"Well, let us not dwell on that," Nadja intoned, raising her head and her drink. "This is a celebration to our first step into adulthood. Come the completion of Beth's field training, when she graduates and becomes a Class One slayer, we will have our own place and celebrate again. But for now, it's in my parent's media room and we'll just have to be okay with that."

"Cheers," Daniel called, clinking his glass against Nadja's. Beth only joined in when Nadja refused to stop elbowing her, sighing when the glass clinked together noisily.

"Are you really this excited for college?" Beth inquired. "Isn't it just like harder high school?"

"Of course not!" Nadja replied, sounding offended. "It's our first taste at freedom!"

"But we're still living with our parents," she pointed out. "And if even we weren't, they're a short drive away. A bus ride, really, if you don't have a car."

"That's why I said taste," she reminded her. "Listen to what I say."

"You must first take a step in the right direction before you can expect to get there," Daniel said, sounding much like a fortune cookie in that moment. "I only hope that I will do well at their business school."

"Well, you got in, didn't you?" Nadja inquired. "At least you know what you want to do. Me? I don't have a clue! Maybe I should just drop out and join an interpretive dance troupe."

"Oh Nadja, you can't dance," she teased, earning herself a light smack to her arm. "But seriously, you'll figure it out. Isn't the American College Experience about finding yourself? And also, not drinking the punch?"

Snorting, Nadja nodded. "Yeah, you most definitely do not want to drink the punch."

"Are you going to force me to go to a frat party?" she inquired. "Because I remember that's a part of the experience too."

"Oh no, not after the last time I took you to a party," Nadja said. "We were kidnapped by demons, remember? I'm not doing that again. Hey, do you think next year Maea would want to move in with us? We'd be like the Three's Company but with four people."

"So a crowd," Beth said, laughing. "And no, I don't think so. She likes her space, you know that."

"So secretive," Nadja murmured. "You know, I bet she's like a secret assassin or something. That's why she doesn't share things with us. She's got about sixteen different identities."

"Well, Mr. Wells did say that there's mentions of a woman fitting Maea's description throughout history," Beth informed her. "Maya, Mae—things of that nature."

"Not very creative, is she?" she mused, throwing an amused look at Daniel, who seemed unsure of how to react, copying her expression. "Me? If I changed my name, it would be something entirely different. It'd be something completely sleek and sophisticated, like—like—"

"Nancy?" Beth threw in before snickering.

"Don't be cute," Nadja retorted, sticking out her tongue at her.

"I feel as if our interactions negate the purpose of this event," Daniel stated, looking between the two. "I thought we were supposed to be acting 'grown-up.'"

"Growing up is for later, when we start our first day of college," Beth explained. "For now, I'm going to act like I'm some twelve-year-old girl who giggles every time somebody says the word 'sex.'"

"I feel like you do that already," Nadja replied with an innocent smile.

"Says the girl who insists upon making retching noises every time Zack and I kiss," she retorted hotly.

"Because you sucking my cousin's face is gross," Nadja explained slowly.

"I do wonder how the coming week will treat us," Daniel said softly, unheard by the two girls gently bickering on either side of him. Yes, college was going to be an interesting trip, especially with these two in tow.