(Untitled)

[xandman]

So the plan about going to England and visiting my best gal pal? Not gonna happen. John says he needs me because we're getting everything set up to start building the school. He also made it pretty clear that if I was to get called out of town on a family emergancy or something I could kiss my job goodbye

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[xandman]

"Faith?" I asked, dropping my stake to my side. Well she was about the last person I'd expect to find in the cemetery. Okay, well, maybe Amy Yipp, but she only frequented the water slides of my high school dreams anyway.

I was pretty sure my mouth was trailing the ground, but last I'd heard Faith was doing time for her bad deeds because Angel's magic touch had reformed her.

I'd always wondered about that. What had he done or said exactly that got her to change? Wonder if maybe he just came to her motel room and tried to tell her he'd help her however he could, tried to let her know that he'd be there for her becuase he knew what it was like to be out in the cold on your own.

Oh wait a minute, I had done that and she'd almost killed me. "Wish I could say things have been slow around here without you," I said. "Course, they haven't. So what's the stitch? You break out of the penn? Tired of playing the good girl?"

She was bleeding a couple of places. Whatever had hit her had hit her hard. "Nope, sorry, no plans of getting killed tonight, so if that's something you had planned on your list of things to do I'm sorry. I always kind of wanted a winter funeral. More chance of rain to match the mood."

[prodigal_slayer]

"Surprised you don't know what the score is." I shrugged and fished a cigarette out of the pocket of my coat. Lighting it up with my lighter I leaned against the gravestone tryin' to look as non threatening as possible. I wanted to put Xand here at ease, cause right now he was lookin' like he was ready to piss himself. Plus helpless looking girl brings all the vamps to my yard.

"Wes and Cordy busted me out cause of...well you know." Wasn't about to offer him a bunch of shit about how I wouldn't hurt him and how I'd reformed and all that other crap. Xand was a straight shooter, he wouldn't buy it. People like us? Actions speak louder than words.

"You just missed your girl." I said, putting my hand to my jaw where I could feel a bruise forming. "Still got that killer right hook too." Bitch. Why'd she have to run off on me just when the fight got goin'?

[xandman]

"Hold on a minute," I said holding up a finger. "Wes and Cordy broke you out of prison?"

On second thought, maybe I was dreaming. "And why would they do something insane like that? What's next? You guys going to rob the 1st and Main?"

I watched her as she leaned back and took a drag. "Wait a minute," I said dropping my voice as if I was afraid someone would hear me. "Is this about Angel? Did Angel..."

I couldn't finish that thought as fear gripped my gut. Angelus.

Wait a minute Buffy was here? Was Buffy and Faith taking on Angelus? Why hadn't Buffy called me? I could have tried to help.

"You're just going to let her take him on by herself?" I asked, looking at Faith as if she had grown two heads. "If you aren't here to help her take down Angelus then what the hell are you doing?"

I had no idea what we were going to do. Just Buffy, Dawn and I to take down Angelus? We had to call Giles and...where was Dawn? He'd go for her next. He wouldn't kill Buffy right off, he'd torture her by getting to those peopel closest to her first.

Or would he.

"We have to find them," I said. "What direction did they go in?"

[prodigal_slayer]

I bit my lip as the confusion played out over his face and FUCK! Fuck me! No one had told him yet about Buffy? How could he not know? And if he didn't know then how many other people didn't know and we're just laying around waitin' to be snacked on by the big superheros themselves. I so wasn't equipped to handle this, cause now I was gonna be the one to have to tell him about Buffy.

"You really don't know what's going on, do you?" He gave me a blank look and I sighed deeply looking in the direction Buffy disappeared in.

"Well, Buffy went that way, I think. Pretty sure Angelus would be with her. 'Course I don't think you wanna be runnin' after them. Listen Xander, you really have to listen to me." I stood up and looked into his face, hopin' that by...I dunno a look or something he could see that I was bein' honest and not scammin' him. Then again, why would he think that?

"Angelus turned her, Xander. That's why they busted me out of prison. She's not a slayer anymore, she's a vampire."

[xandman]

"What?" I asked with a half laugh.

Yeah right, Buffy was a vampire. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a vampire.

Faith didn't say anything just kept looking at me intently with those dark eyes of hers. Something about the way she kept looking at me and the way her mouth was curved into a small frown suddenly made me doubt that this was some kind of sick joke.

If she was kidding or insane wouldn't she be rubbing it in, trying to make it hurt, not looking at me like...like I'd just lost my best friend.

"You're lying," I said even as I became convinced that she wasn't. It felt as if the ground dropped from underneath me. Like one of those carnival rides where you're suddenly falling. "There's no way. I mean..." I looked down at the stake in my hand. "No."

[prodigal_slayer]

I pretty much got the reaction I'd expected, except with less conviction on the whole you're lying thing. He knew I was tellin' the truth, and that was good. Cause I didn't wanna have to save his ass from bein' thrown around by B while he went out and found out for himself.

"I'm not lying. Xander, I felt it. I know that me and B....we had our differences." Oh yeah that was a great way to say we'd almost killed eachother more times than I could count. "But you know we always had that connection, slayer thing. I felt it. I felt her die and I know what she is now."

I watched as he looked at the stake in his hand like it was supposed to hold all the answers for him. There weren't answers, not anywhere. The world had turned upside down and the two of us were smack dab in the middle of all this crazyness.

"Last person who saw B was Cordelia. Angelus told Cordy to get the hell outta dodge and Cor took off. Buffy was there alone with him, and he was pretendin' to be Angel."

[xandman]

This couldn't be happening. Buffy couldn't be dead.

And if she was there had to be a way to bring her back. I mean I'd done it twice before, why not a third time? Things weren't supposed to go this way.

"Angelus," I repeated, looking up at her. Angelus had done this to her. Goddammit we should have killed him when we had the chance. Soul or not we always knew that he could turn. One ride on the happy train and...

How long had she been dead?

"When?" I asked, feeling numb. You'd think after two times losing Buffy would get easier but it doesn't. It hits you harder everytime. Takes a bigger piece of you and this time I knew that I wasn't going to be getting that piece of me back.

"When did it happen?"

[wickedslayer]

"Today." I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do. I mean, I"m not exactly the kinda chick about to be comforting anyone. Especially not Buffy's best friend who the last time I saw? I pretty much tried to strangle him to death. If it wasn't for Angel, Xander would already be just another person I killed.

He looked like he was gonna lose his lunch and I wasn't exactly surprised. Still with the not bein' sure on how to deal with him though. What the fuck could I say to make any of this better? Oh yeah...those orb thingies.

"Look, Wes and Cordelia are looking for a way to reensoul Angel and Buffy. I'm sure they'll find a way to do it. I'm just here to do damage control until they can do the spell."

[xandman]

Today.

Buffy had been dead for hours, maybe even the whole day and I had no idea. Faith had felt her go, slayer connection and everything, but me...

I'd felt nothing.

Kind of like what I was feeling now. I knew Faith wasn't lying but the news just hadn't really registered yet. I mean okay, Buffy was a vampire.

Yeah right. That just wasn't possible.

It couldn't be true.

And it was this line of thinking that made me snort at the comment about re-ensouling the two of them. "Yeah, because you have a problem you do a spell. Someone dies you do a spell to rip them out of heaven. Someone gets shot, you do a spell to kill their murderers. Magic is the answer to everything, isn't it?"

Suddenly my stomach heaves and I stumble away to loose my cookies behind a gravestone. I drop to my knees and wait for the next wave to come over me, feeling the tears spring to my eyes.

"Oh, God, Dawn..." I look up at Faith. "Does Dawn know?"

Because losing your mother, your sister, a good friend and now your sister for a second time is just what any girl needs.

[wickedslayer]

"I don't do spells, Xander. I'm a slayer not a witch." I said suddenly finally putting the pieces together. I'd felt Buffy die once and then with a clarity I'd never felt before knew she was alive again. I didn't know how, didn't really think to question it much but there was the answer. A spell. Could the whole world be saved by a spell or what? I didn't get it.

I stepped away from him as he stumbled behind a gravestone to toss his lunch. Could hear him yacking and it made my stomach turn just a little bit. Think my stomach started turnin' as soon as I laid eyes on B.

I looked up startled when Xander came back asking about little B. Dawn.

"I don't know." I said with a shrug. I had assumed they all knew, but Xander was provin' me wrong all over the place.

[xandman]

I let out a shaky breath and wiped my mouth with my sleeve.

Think Xander, think.

I could feel the overwhelming sadness threaten to come over me. That way led to not wanting to get out of bed, of reliving every moment with Buffy, with my Buffy. I've been through this before. A whole Summer's worth of pain and missing and having a huge part of you hollow. And it's hard to think of anything but what you've lost. About how you'll never see your best friend smile again, or make a joke, or laugh, or...anything.

I tried my best to push it out of my mind as I looked up at Faith. She hid it pretty well, but you could tell she was a little shell shocked. I wondered if she missed Buffy or if this was just some kind of promotion she'd been waiting her whole life for.

"We've got to find her," I said, taking a deep breath and pushing the nausea and sadness back. "She has to know, and we have to keep her safe. She's the one they're going to go for first."

And maybe me.

I swallow, feeling the sadness suddenly being drowned out by anger. Let them come after me. They'd probaby kill me, but I'd give them one hell of a fight first. Maybe the chance of me staking Angelus or vamp!Buffy are slim to none, but that doesn't mean I'm not going to go out trying.

"Come on," I said to Faith, as I began making my way out of the cemetery. "We've got to make a plan. They're going to be coming after us. All of us."

[wickedslayer]

I frowned as I watched Xander start to walk out of the cemetary. The sun would be up soon and I knew Wes and Cor were gonna freak out if I didn't head back. They didn't trust me, never would. There wasn't any reason for Xander to trust me either, after all I did try and strangle him to death once. But he was right, B was gonna go after Dawn and she needed to know. Wes and Cor would want me to make sure lil sis was okay, right?

Plus there was the small part of me that knew Xander would never try and control me the way Wesley and Cordelia so desperately wanted to. I wasn't some redheaded stepchild to be jerked around cause Cordelia was havin' another freakout attack. No, I was the damn slayer. Xander got that, just from bein' B's sidekick for so long.

So I followed him, because honestly chillin' with Xander was going to be alot less annoying then going back to see Cor and Wes. I'd just call them when I got to wherever we were going. Sure, I'd call them. Or let them freak out for a little while. Either one.

"Where is she now?" I asked, as I caught up with Xander. "Dawn. Do you know where she'd be?"

[xandman]

Ordinarily I wouldn't have a clue.

But as fucked up fate would have it, she'd called me earlier to ask me if I could pick her up at her friend's house tomorrow. She'd said she thought Buffy needed some alone time.

Had she known that Angel was here?

Was I the last to know?

"It's on the north side of town," I said as Faith easily caught up with me. "She's spending the night at a friend's house."

I stopped suddenly as it hit me. I was going to have to tell her. I was going to have to be the one that told her Buffy was...gone.

I looked up at Faith. "We'll pick her up and head to my place. I...want to tell her somewhere quiet."

[wickedslayer]

"Sounds like a plan to me." I said quietly as I followed Xand out of the cemetary and towards a car. He crawled into the driver's side and I figured that it must be his car then. With a shrug I opened the passenger seat door and sat down before closing the door again.

The two of us sat in silence as Xander drove us towards wherever the hell Dawn was. Ikept thinkin' like I should say something to him, anything. But I had no idea where to even start. Gee, sorry I tried to kill you and all your friends.

"Xander." I started in a small strangled voice. What the fuck was I doin'? "I know you probably don't belive me, and that's cool. But I just want you to know...I never wanted this to happen. I swear."

[xandman]

I brought the car to a stop at a red light.

I turned and looked at her. She was thinner then I remembered. But then again I guess prison isn't really a picnic. A prison that she could have left at any time, but she hadn't.

Something had kept her there.

Obviously it wasn't the cooking.

"I know," I said as the light turned green. I hit the gas and turned left on Elm. I wanted to say more, but what? There was so much stuff that had happened then and was happening now, I had no idea what to say. What she needed to hear or wanted to hear or what I wanted to say.

"It's good that you're here," I said my voice gruff as I stopped the car infront of a quiet house on the corner.

"I'll be right back," I said, unbuckling my seatbelt and getting out of the car.

[wickedslayer]

"Okay." I said watching him intently as he got out of the car and walked to the house I didn't recognize. One of Dawnie's friends I guessed. Lighting up a smoke I watched as he disappeared inside before taking my eyes off of him. Didn't want B or her boy to swoop in and decide it was time to play with some old friends. My face was still smarting from where B had clocked me one good.

Closing my eyes I leaned back in the seat and took a deep drag off of my smoke. When did the world go to shit? Well I guess earlier today, or yesterday now. At least Xander seemed ot believe me when I said I never wanted any of this to happen. He seemed to, I still wasn't sure that he actually did.

I opened my eyes and watched out the window as Xander came back to the car with the smallest Summers in tow. Holy shit, not so small anymore. Lil sis was all woman sized.