Willow and Xander watched Faith depart. Xander paced, he didn’t know what was going to happen next. Willow smiled as she heard the door to Buffy’s room open. Xander stopped mid pace and stared at the man he hadn’t seen for eighteen years.

Giles hugged him briefly leaving sparkles where his hands had been. He kissed Willow gently and she shivered as the sparkles left her. Giles then turned his attention to the figure on the bed.

"Buffy, wake up. I’ve something to tell you." Buffy’s eyes moved beneath her lids. He took a breath to say her name again…

"I’m awake Giles. I’ve missed your voice but if I’m dreaming I’d like to keep the illusion that you’re really here."

"Very well, Buffy." He smiled and kissed her forehead. "Mmm…" she smiled sleepily, and he chuckled, took a breath then he continued, "The coming Apocalypse is unavoidable; it’s already overdue by eighteen years. Nothing will happen to the world; only a sacrifice will end it."

"All of you died the last time, how much sacrifice does God need?" Buffy demanded tearfully.

"We didn’t die. No one really dies in a willing sacrifice, Buffy. It just took three of us to take your place. I wanted you to live and make the New Council. You’ve made it what it always should have been, the guardian of the world. I’m very proud of you and what you’ve done, Buffy, my Slayer."

Buffy sniffed. There was something about that phrase. "My Slayer" got to you every time…like you were special and it wasn’t the same as love and devotion. It was more than that. It was a sacred trust. She finally understood…

"Ok, Giles, what do I have to do?" Giles told her and she sighed peacefully and nodded her agreement.

She opened her eyes and saw faintly reflected in the moonlight the shadow of Giles’ gentle face as he left her, his message delivered. Then, in the corner, she saw Xander and Willow chatting quietly. She sat up and blinked, and opened her mouth to speak to them; Willow noticed her and ’eeped’ in surprise dropping her book. Xander opened his mouth to say "Hi" but Willow’s hand clamped over his lips silenced him. She staggered to her feet and pushed them both into the wall out of sight, tripping over a chair in their hasty flight.

Buffy threw back her head and laughed seeing her friend’s embarrassment after years of stealthy haunting.

Buffy got up in the morning and revelled in the shocked surprise of those around her, more than one Watcher lost his tea in a spectacular spray and Faith’s display of Slayer affection nearly smothered her.

She heaped pancakes onto her breakfast plate and chatted to everyone in turn, she was in mid conversation when she felt a vampire in the room. It was daylight, who could travel in daylight? She knew of only one vampire who travelled by day. She got up and walked into the hall to investigate.

To Buffy it seemed as though she walked, to everyone else she moved with preternatural speed.

"Spike!" She exclaimed and gave him a brief hug.

"Slayer, I’m here to witness to the uh…" He let the word hang and she nodded.

"Come and have pancakes… Oh and watch out for Alice…"

The kitchen became dim as Spike walked into the room; Alice immediately attacked him, he only just fended her off saying "You must be Alice…I’m Spike." Her stake stopped midway to Spike’s heart as she whispered his name almost reverently.

"Alice, he’s a friend. Put him down, I know exactly where he’s been." Buffy made a mock disgusted face and Spike laughed. Alice backed off further; hearing a vampire laugh was just too creepy!

Faith and Gary exchanged wary looks vowing to meet some time later that day to discuss Buffy’s suddenly returning strength.

Faith paced up and down in her small apartment whilst Gary’s fingers flew across the keys of his laptop searching through the Watchers database for Slayer related events.

The Watchers database contained all the rare volumes gathered from private collections after the Sunnydale disaster. It was the work of Willow Rosenberg and Rupert Giles and had saved them many man-hours in recent years. A bombproof vault in Canary Wharf housed the main frame; rumour had it that the vault also contained a holographic facility for training Slayers and Watchers alike, but no one knew for sure.

"Gazzer…" Faith waved a hand in front of his face and clicked her fingers to get his attention. "Don’t zone out on me again…News?"

Gary stopped and swivelled his laptop round to show Faith an illustration. It was a twelfth century wood engraving divided into thirds depicting a Slayer. The first part showed her sleeping, the second hovering over vampires and the third sleeping once more but with mourners all round her; she had something clasped in her hand but it was difficult to make out what it was.

Faith swallowed the enormous lump in her throat. "You saying she’s going to die?"

Gary nodded. "Yes, and I think she knows it too. You saw the way she moved today, it’s like she’s Slayer Plus! Like a light bulb that burns brightest before the filament breaks…"

"Gary, I can’t take her place…" Faith whispered anxiously, "Who’ll take her place?"

He shrugged, and then slid his laptop to the floor as Faith wavered for a moment before falling into his arms and sobbing silently into his shoulder.

The next day passed peacefully. Buffy sat in the training hall and watched all the Slayer’s train. Faith hovered nearby, as did Gary Hampshire. Buffy rolled her eyes expressively and tutted.

"Gee, you guys are just like Willow and Xander. They hardly ever leave me alone." She smiled at the spectral figures sat on the stage in the corner; Xander was alternately snacking and trying not to ogle too much.

"We’re just concerned GranB, Slayers aren’t supposed to go out like a light…" He bit his lip as Faith glared at him.

"Faith, it won’t be you, ok?" Buffy smiled gently at her friend, "it won’t be you…"

Faith almost protested then remembered her concerns of the night before. She turned away before Buffy could see her tears.

Buffy put her hand on Faith’s shoulder. "My Mother Hen," Buffy sighed and turned to Gary.

"Ok, fancy a visit to Canary wharf?" Gary shifted his gaze to Buffy, her image blurred somehow; the golden halo’d head nodded "It’s tonight…" Then she hopped from the platform and disappeared from the room. Gary stood quietly while his tears dried on his cheeks. He felt Faith’s hand in his and grasped it eagerly. The noise of the Slayers died down suddenly as the blinds in the room snapped down. In the centre of the platform stood a slender rail-like figure dressed in black and red his chiselled features pale as the lightening white of his hair; his eyes shut until several Slayers leapt onto the platform with him. His eyes snapped open as his arm thrust out drawing a sword from the hidden scabbard in his leather duster. Every Slayer leapt back, armed only with stakes they were at a disadvantage. Except Alice.

She smiled and he reached for a second sword from his duster and threw it at her and with a courtly bow the duel began.

Gary watched. Faith twitched, she needed to get onto that stage as well, her grip on Gary’s hand increased to the point of pain. He squeaked, and only then did she release his hand with a muttered apology.

Although both opponents could have beheaded the other they chose not to, they enjoyed the duel too much to end it so quickly. Alice grinned wildly as she landed blow after blow beating Spike back until he had to attack more aggressively than he really wanted to. This tenacious Slayer would beat him one day, but not today…

With a whirl he had Alice’s head in a death grip, wrenching her neck sideways to breaking point. "They killed your family, your whole village. Lucky, they left you for me!" Spike hissed in her ear. Alice tried to move and screamed in her native tongue when she couldn’t. Spike’s words spurred her into action. She snapped her arm up swiftly and jammed a jagged shard of wood into his chest and hissed. "You can’t kill me if you’re dust."

Spike released his hold and backed away. The wood still protruded from his chest; she hadn’t aimed, it was a delaying tactic; she’d re-armed herself ready to go again.

He smiled and pulled out the fragment of floorboard. He laid his sword on the floor and approached her. She also put her sword on the floor.

"Let me see your hand. " She held out her palm for his inspection. "Watcher, she needs the splinters removed." He dropped her hand and stepped back, "you’ll do…"

Gary displayed his security clearance to the guard as they paused at the gate of a nameless warehouse in Canary wharf. The guard peered into the vehicle and counted four other passengers. Faith occupied the front seat and Buffy, Spike and Alice shared the back seat. The Guard stepped back in alarm as Spike slipped briefly into game face.

Gary drove through the gate. Buffy elbowed Spike in the ribs for his cheekiness. They all piled out in front of a grey steel wall.

Buffy reached out her hand and pushed at a section of the wall and a door opened a few feet away from them.

"We’re expected." Gary stated.

Spike skirted the Slayer-Watcher knot and strode in through the open door. "…And invited….Oh! You’ve got to see inside here!" His voice echoed softly to those outside and all of them crowded in.

The interior was lofty and comprised the old Sunnydale High School library. The entire building replicated the library and the Hellmouth beneath. Buffy and Spike crossed easily past the first table, but an eerie stillness descended over Gary, Faith and Alice.

Buffy turned slowly on the spot as she heard echoes of voices from long ago, Oz waiting in the bookcase for sunset and the gentle tapping of laptop keys beneath Willow’s fingers.

"What is this place, Spike?" Spike leaned against the library desk and became as still as her frozen compatriots.

"The library, the Hellmouth, a place of sacrifice, Slayer."

Buffy became aware of a slow rumble beneath her feet; books shook from their shelves and she staggered back as the centre of the library fell away into the Hellmouth below.

Through the smoke and debris she saw a bluish light on the far side of the room and a familiar figure silhouetted there. She gasped as the figure drew nearer, now she could clearly see Giles standing on the Hellmouth’s precipitous edge.

"Giles!" Buffy cried and tried to navigate the dangerous crater. She couldn’t get to him and just like eighteen years before her heart broke to see him in such peril. She heard Giles speak to her above the Maelstrom, his gentle voice instructing her to be calm.

"Buffy, I told you what you needed to do. Just walk to me, that’s all. They’re aren’t any demons to fight, just take my hand." Giles held out his hand and it stretched over the chasm, it seemed within reach of her fingertips. Focusing on his hand Buffy leaned forward and with her first step, Giles also stepped forward. With each step they closed the gap until their hands met and she hopped close to his chest.

The howling Hellmouth silenced and Buffy just heard her breathing and felt Giles warm body next to hers. The experience filled her up spiritually, laughing and crying simultaneously, she drew back to look at Giles. He smiled at her and she sensed the pride all at once he’d had in all her achievements.

Willow and Xander wandered over, greeting her with embarrassed smiles. For a moment all four stood in a ring arms round each other talking. Then she remembered Giles’ glasses reached into her pocket and gave them back to him.

"Thank you Buffy, I’ve missed wearing these." He put them on ceremoniously and Xander eyed him carefully.

"G-man has entered the building."

Buffy and Willow started to giggle, Giles let the gibe go. He turned and looked directly at Spike.

"Spike, look after them all." He reached into his pocket and threw something at the vampire. "…For the next Slayer."

Gary, Faith and Alice stood by powerlessly; they could see Buffy moving closer to the centre seal with every blink of their eyes.

Something or someone had bewitched this place, setting up a time bubble, for want of a better description, where time moved at different rates outside and inside its skin.

Blink.

Three columns of light appeared near Buffy silently. One moved nearer and Buffy moved nearer to it.

Blink

The light merged with Buffy, and slowly parted from her. Gary could still see Buffy clearly, a separate entity from the columns of light.

Blink

Faith shouted a warning to Spike as a splinter of light struck and held his right hand aloft. Spike gave no sign of having heard her and seemed unaffected by the strike.

Blink

"Look!" Alice cried. As suddenly as the columns of light had appeared they departed taking Buffy with them.

"Where do we go from here guys?" Buffy asked. Willow and Xander just looked to each other and shrugged.

"Don’t really know, y’see, we’ve been following you for eighteen years, Giles did all the travelling and arranging. We don’t even know if we’re really dead." Xander answered.

Giles turned from Spike, "Right, time to move on. Everyone is fine back there, apocalypse averted." Giles smiled and inclined his head, "C’mon, to the beach I think."

Gary and Faith rushed towards Spike who stood in the silent library blinking in the relative darkness. Gary grabbed the vampire’s lapels and hoisted him as close as he dared.

"Where’s Buffy? What took her?" He shook Spike with each question. Spike removed Gary’s hands easily from his coat and reaching for his lighter and cigarettes answered the Watcher’s questions.

"Where she is? Elsewhere. What took her? Death. Giles, Willow and Xander are her guides, she may come back, she may not. But there will always be ’Buffy the Vampire Slayer’" he blew acrid blue smoke into the air to settle like a wreath on Alice.

"Alice?" Gary gazed at his Slayer, her dark hair and wild eyes were the opposite of Buffy’s soft Californian looks. She could be a great Slayer, his gaze shifted to Faith to see if the elder Slayer bore any malice to the newly called Alice. Faith smiled and she held out her hand to Alice.

"Hi ya, Sis…"

"Alice…is not my name." Gary frowned. "I took the name from “Alice in Wonderland”. “Wonderland” is so different from my home. Sometimes I am frightened. My real name is difficult for you. So my name is Buffy the Vampyre Slayer…"

Spike grinned and jauntily stepped up to take the young Slayer’s hand. He passed it to his lips, "Charmed, at your service, Slayer."

Shining softly from the stacks Buffy peeked and saw the courtly kiss. They would be fine, all of them and as Giles said they would all be back one day.

End

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