Post by SlayerCommaThe on Apr 11, 2010 10:02:33 GMT -5
I have this thread on the other forum but no one's repsonding. Hopfully someone will here. 
Its a project I've been working on for about a week. I've made my own Buffy Season 8 (not that i dont love the comics. lOl).
Tell me what you think!
Episodes:
Renaissance: Buffy and everyone else remaining look for a new place nearby to use as shelter, seems how Sunnydale is gone and everything… But when Xander wishes that everything was back to normal, he finds his wish has suddenly come true…
The Hunter and the Hunted: Dawn feels that she is ready to give a Potential lessons about becoming a Slayer but ends up being endangered by a vampire. Giles retreats to London for a Watchers’ meeting, but Willow feels that it is because she has been abusing magick again.
Ghost: Buffy is haunted with the memories of Sunnydale after she has recurring dreams about it. But are these dreams really more than just dreams? Xander still struggles with Anyanka to get her to regain her humanity.
Bag ‘Em: Buffy feels the need to have another lesson with the Potentials, but is interrupted by the very sudden and very unexpected arrival of demons that are too strong for even her to kill. Andrew and Jonathan find a place to sleep but, somehow, end up bringing Warren back to life…
Medium: Buffy feels that she is losing Slayer power, just as a Potential feels as if she is gaining it… Informed that Rona is in danger after a night shift by herself, Willow and Kennedy perform a protection spell, but the spell ends up making Rona lose her memory.
Time of Your Life: Willow takes Kennedy for a flying session, along the way having a very deep conversation about their relationship. Anyanka finds herself getting her humanity back, just after killing an innocent person and then trying to kill Buffy, afterward.
The Rules of Attraction Part I: Kennedy continues to break away from Willow but then begins having feelings toward a female guitarist at a local pub. Willow performs a spell to find her next lover, and is shocked by the end result. Buffy and Vi go to the City Hall after reports of a demon ritual, and find themselves overpowered and outnumbered by the ritual attendees.
The Rules of Attraction Part II: Kennedy regrets sleeping with the girl from the bar and she decides to head off to Scotland for a new start. Willow ends up in a room alone with Anya, and Anya convinces her that she needs a spell done on her to make certain her humanity won’t slip away. But is that really what the spell she is trying to convince Willow to do for? After escaping the large number of demons in City Hall, Buffy and Vi find that it isn’t only the City Hall that there are a large number of fiends and foes, but that the entire city is being invaded.
No Strings Attached: Kennedy contacts Willow from Scotland to tell her where she is. Buffy reenrolls Dawn in school but, just their luck, the school is infested by vampires in disguise.
Whenever, Wherever: Dawn is set up on a date with a vampire from school, and the boy tries to convince Dawn to let him bite her. Buffy and Willow go to the outskirts of San Diego, where the swarm of demons are said to be originating from, and plan to kill the demons at their source. But, especially considering the demons are familiar with Buffy, is the power of these two enough to wipe out an army ten times their size?
Remnants: Kennedy casts a communication spell to talk to Willow telepathically, just as Willow is beginning to forget about her. Giles finds a job at a local movie store and gets some tips and pointers from Buffy on how to get along with people. But one customer is more interested in Giles than he is the movies…
Witch and Witch Alike: Buffy travels to Scotland to talk to Kennedy, seems how there is no other way to communicate with her, but, after arriving at the peak of a mountain—where Kennedy is supposed to be—she finds herself endangered by a very feral demon. Xander takes Dawn and the Potentials under his wing and takes them out for a day of fun, though it doesn’t turn out as fun as planned when Willow goes missing.
Red Target: Buffy returns to the US with Kennedy but has to stay at the airport when she finds a demon plans to bomb a plane. Willow, after feeling she has been abusing magick, tells Giles that she needs him to go with her to England for a while. But is it really because she has been abusing magick, or something more personal?
Out of Fate: Vi performs a spell with Kennedy, unbeknownst to Buffy, to find Willow, but comes to terms that she and Willow are officially split up. Buffy gets a job at a bank and is given a much unexpected task when a vampire attempts to rob the bank.
Anywhere But Here: Threatened by the rise of an ancient evil, Willow and Buffy head to Blythe to stop an ancient evil’s Harvest. Meanwhile, Anya and Xander reignite their love interests with a romantic date, but Xander has to leave because Dawn needs his help, which leads Anya to believe Xander is in love with Dawn.
Doomsday: After failing to stop the Harvest of the big, bad, ancient evil in Blythe, Buffy and Willow find themselves running from evil instead of their usual stopping-the-evil. Kennedy senses Willow is in danger and telepathically calls her to come back to San Diego.
Spell Check: Willow, Anya, and Kennedy perform a spell to protect everyone from the evil that threatens to kill them, but end up both evoking another evil and giving the first evil more power. Buffy warns the townspeople that they need to go into hiding or they will die, but is interrupted by the sight of Riley…
Sugar and Spice: Faith shows up in California and claims to be back on the side of evil, despite her being a Slayer. She and Buffy then get into a brawl, all while the evil from the dessert is well on its way to killing the Wiccans that gave it more power.
Just the Girl: Buffy finds she needs to travel back to Blythe after the evil, now in the form of a human, kidnaps Dawn. But when she gets to the evil’s layer, she finds that, not only is the thing in human form, but it is in the form of one of her old enemies (Glory). Faith is allied with a gang of Californian vampires but ends up being bait for one of their dirty deeds.
Bad Apple: Kennedy accidentally practices a dark-magick spell, and finds the rush of it enough to turn her into a Black Witch. Willow, though she has been trying to avoid Kennedy, then has to convince her that Black magick is not something that should be practiced, and, in doing so, their love is rekindled. Buffy and Dawn brace themselves for the worst when they find they must battle Glory for the sake of the Key.
Six Feet Under Part I: Buffy and Dawn find themselves, once again, running from evil when the evil human form threatens to evoke a long-past evil that is much older and much more powerful than it is. Kennedy, after failing to stop her Black Magick ways, is set up by Willow to use her dark magick to stop the big bad from summoning the ancient-er evil. Anya and Xander round up the Potentials and head to Blythe to help out Buffy and Dawn.
Six Feet Under Part II: It is survival of the fittest as “the evil” gains more power and the Potentials find hiding a better strategy than fighting. Willow and Kennedy then perform a spell to open a portal, much like the one Glory used to kill Buffy years earlier, to send the evil mass into another realm, but the thing takes Buffy with it. And it isn’t helping much that, after Buffy goes in, the witches are having troubles with keeping the gate open. Then, when all seems at its worst… one of Buffy’s old pals comes in to save the day…
Renaissance
The thing about changing the world: Once you do it, the world’s all different…
It didn’t take long for the group to find a safety area.
The “safety area” ended up to be a rundown motel close to the outskirts of San Diego. It didn’t cost much, and it and the room across the hall was enough to keep everyone sheltered.
After the end of Sunnydale, Buffy didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to go. It was Giles’ idea to come to San Diego. He said it’s close enough to where they all used to live…where they all used to attend school, go to parties…enjoy life. But Sunnydale was gone, and it had taken all of that with it.
Buffy didn’t seem too disturbed by that. She said she was actually somewhat glad the final apocalypse had come. Sunnydale held memories, yes, but she said the memories it held were too dark. They needed to move on.
She would have destroyed it herself if she could have. Only she would have evacuated all of the residents first…
Everything was gone.
Though things ever since seemed to be always negative, Xander was always there to cheer everybody up.
Dawn didn’t see why he was so happy all the time. She had known him for awhile, but his long-term girlfriend had been skewered just days earlier. Nobody important enough for her to think of had died and she was more distraught than he was.
Dawn was all too familiar with death and destruction to care anymore. But that didn’t stop her from thinking about it.
“Who’s up for Yahzee?” Xander said as he pulled the boardgame from the closet close to the main door.
When the only response he got to his question was blank stares from the majority of the people in the room he slid it back up on the shelf inside the closet and closed the door.
He saw Dawn sitting in a chair by the small television.
He approached and spoke to her softly. “How’s Buff?”
“I haven’t seen her for a bit. She’s still in the room,” Dawn said, gesturing behind her to a closed door (that, when opened, led to the only bedroom in the entire motel room). “She said she didn’t want to see anyone for awhile. She just wants to be alone.”
“Well I’ve been good at being ignored since the tenth grade. I think I’m okay.” He smiled at her and patted her arm before he walked to the door behind her. Its green, forest colored paint had begun to chip.
He twisted the knob and opened the door.
The room was small, and the wallpaper had started to peel off. There was a closet on the right wall that, from the looks of it, could hold about three jackets. On the left wall was a window that, though Xander knew it was normal-sized, looked rather enlarged by the smallness of the room. Its shutters had been twisted open, allowing the evening sunlight spill into the otherwise dull room.
In the center of the bedroom was positioned a large bed (that didn’t help the scale factor…), and sprawled across that on her back was Buffy. On the floor next to her laid the Scythe.
“Hey,” Xander said.
Buffy sat up quickly, as if responding to a gunshot.
She exhaled the breath she had been holding before she talked. “Oh,” Buffy said, relaxing her shoulders. “You scared me.”
“You aren’t yet used to my usual abrupt entrances, I see.”
Buffy laughed as she lay back down.
“How are you doing?” Xander asked as he sat down at the foot of the bed.
Buffy looked at him. “Apocalypses suck. I have an untreated stab wound in my gut and I’ve been wearing the same clothes for four days. Otherwise…just dandy.”
“You did great. I haven’t seen you since it happened and I’ve been wanting to tell you that. You saved all of our butts. You saved Andrew…”
“…And have been regretting it ever since,” Buffy finished as she gestured for Xander listen toward the open door, where Andrew was in the main room trying to convince everyone to play spin-the-bottle.
“Thank you,” he continued. “I can’t say it enough.”
“It’s what I do.”
“You saved the world. Again.”
“Feels like I’m the one who ended it.”
Xander considered for a moment before he spoke. “It’s like that spend-a-little-to-earn-a-little saying: you have to almost-destroy-all-of-humankind to save it.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling.
Buffy sat up and moved to the end of the bed to sit next to Xander. She laid her head on his shoulder and inhaled deeply.
“Everything’s so different now,” she said. “Nothing is going to be like it was. Ever.”
“Maybe it’s for the best.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do. And I’m the chief of this tribe. Aren’t the chiefs supposed to know everything? And aren’t they supposed to have big headdresses?” She took a deep breath. “It would be a whole lot easier if things weren’t all changed.”
“I know. Sometimes…sometimes I wish things were back to normal. Like they were before…”
She had no idea where she was.
Well, come to think of it, she didn’t know who she was, how old she was, what color her hair was... All she knew was that she was dead.
How did she know that?
She was dead. When you’re dead you don’t know anything…especially if you’re dead or not…you’re dead!
Or maybe she wasn’t dead. Maybe she was dying. Or maybe she had been brought back to life. She knew there were people that could do that kind of stuff. She’d actually known someone like that before…
Her eyes shot open, only to see a dark sheet of blackness that didn’t allow her to even see her own hand in front of her face. She felt the hard rocks on her back as her body was lain out across them. She knew she was in a small area. There was a concrete ceiling inches above her head that only allowed her to move minimally. Maybe she was in a basement…?
She knew why she had been woken up.
(Wait…maybe that was it! Maybe she wasn’t dead or dying…maybe she was just asleep…?)
She knew what her job in life was, and if she was to do her job, she needed to get out of here. And then, there it was again: her not knowing where “here” actually was.
But she was aware of her strength.
Standing up, her head and shoulders burst through the concrete ceiling effortlessly.
Suddenly her abdomen was at floor level of a long hallway of what appeared to be a school.
But not just a school…it was demolished.
The ceiling (the parts that weren’t taken out by large boulders…) was missing almost all of its tiles, wires and pipes all strung lifelessly from their insulated nests, and the floor was cracked and missing some sort of top layer, revealing the concrete underneath.
The only light provided was coming from somewhere in the ceiling behind her (likely from one of the large chunks missing).
The lockers that lined both sides of the hallway were ripped open (some even fallen over), all of their contents spilled out across the floors.
She pulled her legs through the hole in the ceiling/floor she had created, and now her entire body was laid on the cold linoleum floor.
She had heard the two words that she lived to hear. That was why she had awakened in the first place. From miles away the prayer had come. She’d heard it.
She sat up.
Answering the prayer in the only way she knew how, she said:
“Done.”
Buffy had finally come out of the bedroom.
She felt everyone’s eyes on her as she entered the main room. Xander, who was standing next to her, slung his arm around her shoulders, as if to say that it was because of him Buffy had come out.
“Hi,” Willow said from the couch in the center of the living space.
Dawn walked up to Buffy and smiled at her for a moment before she hugged her. “We’re happy to see you.”
“We’re playing spin-the-bottle,” Andrew said, waving around a water bottle. “I found it under the bed.”
“Ew,” Rona muttered as she stepped away from Andrew.
“Actually I was about to get something to drink and then I’m heading off to bed,” Buffy said. “I think you guys should do the same because we’re going to go house hunting tomorrow. We need to get out of here.” She gestured around her.
Though looking disappointed, everyone assumed their sleeping arrangements, and the ones who stayed across the hall left.
“Goodnight,” Buffy said to the ones who headed across the hall as she followed them out. She turned to her right and walked several rooms down the hallway until she reached the soda machine, and she inserted a dollar, pressed a button, and a can of Diet Coke dropped into the tray at the bottom.
“Buffy,” Willow said unexpectedly. She had followed her down here. “Faith’s gone missing.”
“What?” Buffy looked shocked. “When?”
“Just last night. I tried to tell you but the security around your bedroom was like trying to get into…someplace that’s really hard to get into…”
“Where did she go?”
“No clue. She was here last night and this morning she was all Face on the Milk Carton. And, as far as I can tell…it’s not good…”
Buffy looked confused for a moment before Willow continued:
“There are reports of a civilian dead on the streets from a stab wound in the chest. They said the tool used was wooden.”
“That could be anything.”
“Just a thought. Not to worry you, I’m sure she’ll come back. I’m glad to see you.” She hugged her tightly. “Now let’s get back and get some sleep,” she finished after her released her.
As the two walked into the room, Buffy noticed everyone had already gone to sleep. Kennedy was asleep on the couch and Willow curled up next to her, Rona and Vi were on a blanket in front of the couch, Robin was in a chair off to the corner, Dawn had her head rested on her arms that were folded on top of a desk next to the main entrance. Giles was nestled into a corner formed by two of the walls meeting. Xander was standing next to the door to the bedroom, and Buffy welcomed him in just after she entered.
“Thanks, Buff,” he said as he began to sit on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
He looked confused.
“You can sleep in the bed. I don’t bite. Or else Buffy being the Slayer would be a big misunderstanding.”
He rose from the floor and pulled the comforter over him as he adjusted himself in the bed.
Buffy, just after Xander settled himself, sat on the side of the bed, opened her soda and took a small sip, and then got under the covers after she set it on the bedside table.
It shocked her that she was so tired when the sun outside (though there wasn’t much of it visible over the horizon) was still up and the clock next to her blinked 8:46 in red numbers.
She smiled to herself just before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Buffy ended up waking at about seven-thirty in the morning.
She opened her eyes to a bright, yellow sunrise. The sky was blue and cloudless.
But one thing that just ruined the majesty of this beautiful morning was the soda can on the bedside table, which had been nearly completely blanketed with ants.
She squeaked as she went to reach for it, and grabbed it once she found a place that wasn’t completely covered.
She had dealt with the nastiest vampires, the ugliest demons, and she still freaked over bugs. That was just one thing she couldn’t stand. Maybe it was because of her praying mantis substitute teacher she had had (who had tried to mate with Xander). Or maybe it was because of her confrontation with the Queller demon (which, technically, wasn’t a bug but it still gave her the wiggins). Whatever it was, she didn’t like them.
She walked out of the room barefoot in her white blouse and jeans, searching for the nearest garbage can.
Not finding one in the hallway, she turned into the women’s restroom (which was incredibly repulsing to go into even with shoes…) and dropped it into the waste bin between two sinks that had large mirrors above them.
She proceeded to wash her hands afterward. The soap the motel supplied was supposed to smell like a beach, but it smelled like dishwater. And the thick, glutinous texture wasn’t helping anything.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the vanity as she was drying her hands. She was a mess; her hair hadn’t been brushed in days, her makeup was practically nonexistent…and the gash on her forehead was gone…
Strange.
She moved closer to the mirror and pushed her hair back to examine where the cut had been. Looking down, she noticed that there was no blood on her shirt and her wound had seemingly healed itself.
Completely baffled, Buffy retraced her steps back to the room. Immediately she went into the bedroom where Xander slumbered and shook him awake.
Instantly, she noticed his not-there eye patch.
Xander woke.
“Hey, hey!” he said as his eyes fluttered open. “I’m up! There’s not another apocalypse is there?”
“Something’s happened,” Buffy said. Directly after, her eyes widened in pure fear as she realized what had really happened. “Dawn…”
She whirled around and inspected where Dawn had been sleeping in the main room and, just as she suspected, she wasn’t there.
“Hey, is this what twenty-twenty is?” Xander said, practicing using both eyes as he came out of the room in just his jeans.
“Giles!” Buffy practically yelled.
He woke up and stood from his blanket-and-pillow makeshift bed in the corner.
“What? What is it? What’s…” He looked Buffy up and down. “...the matter?” he finished.
“Something’s happened…”
“Oh no,” Xander said. “Don’t tell me we’re going into another musical phase again…”
“I don’t imagine,” Giles said.
“Maybe this is a sign. Maybe this is just a way being repaid of our saving-the-worldlieness…” said Xander, pointing to his eye that was once covered by an eye patch.
“Or maybe,” Buffy said. “we have a Vengeance demon on our hands.” She paused for a moment. “It has to be Halfred. She’s the only Vengeance demon.”
“That we know of…” Xander finished.
“Dawn’s gone.”
Xander looked at her, disappointed as sadness came over him. “I—”
“She isn’t coming back until things are un-normal again,” Buffy said. “This doesn’t mean she’s not coming back. She is. I won’t let that not happen.”
“The Potentials...” Giles said.
“They’re Potentials,” Buffy said, nodding as she understood what she meant.
“They’ve always been Potentials,” Xander pointed out.
“No, they were Potentials. But then Willow worked her mojo on the Scythe and made them Slayers. Now…”
“Oh, merciful Zeus,” Xander exhaled as he slumped his shoulders. “Don’t you see? Everything is back to normal again. I did this. I made the wish. I said I wanted everything to be the same again and now it is.”
“Definitely a Vengeance demon,” Giles said.
Buffy considered for a moment. “That means Sunnydale’s back…”
“That means Anya’s back,” Xander said with a hint of happiness in his voice.
“Then that means she’s a suspect,” she said slowly. Then she turned to Giles. “We need to find whoever did this. Whether it be Anya or Halfred. Demon or not. We need to get things back to normal. Again.”
“Can’t we just wish it back?”
She looked at Xander. “I’m sure any demon isn’t jumping on the chance to make the Slayer and her squad happy. They want us to suffer. That’s kind of the point of a Vengeance demon.” She turned back to Giles. “Get Willow and the Potentials. We’re getting my sister back.”
“You aren’t suggesting…” Giles began.
“…We’re going back to Sunnydale.” Buffy finished for him.
She walked into the bedroom and slipped on her boots and grabbed her Scythe. She came back out moments later. “Meet me in the lobby when you’re done.” She looked at Giles and Xander who were still unmoving, grasping what was happening. “Hurry!” That snapped them out of it, Giles to wake everyone up and Xander to put on his clothes. And when they were out of earshot, she said to herself: “Mama’s comin’ home.”
Hope you like it.
GaGa~Vampyr
Its a project I've been working on for about a week. I've made my own Buffy Season 8 (not that i dont love the comics. lOl).
Tell me what you think!
Episodes:
Renaissance: Buffy and everyone else remaining look for a new place nearby to use as shelter, seems how Sunnydale is gone and everything… But when Xander wishes that everything was back to normal, he finds his wish has suddenly come true…
The Hunter and the Hunted: Dawn feels that she is ready to give a Potential lessons about becoming a Slayer but ends up being endangered by a vampire. Giles retreats to London for a Watchers’ meeting, but Willow feels that it is because she has been abusing magick again.
Ghost: Buffy is haunted with the memories of Sunnydale after she has recurring dreams about it. But are these dreams really more than just dreams? Xander still struggles with Anyanka to get her to regain her humanity.
Bag ‘Em: Buffy feels the need to have another lesson with the Potentials, but is interrupted by the very sudden and very unexpected arrival of demons that are too strong for even her to kill. Andrew and Jonathan find a place to sleep but, somehow, end up bringing Warren back to life…
Medium: Buffy feels that she is losing Slayer power, just as a Potential feels as if she is gaining it… Informed that Rona is in danger after a night shift by herself, Willow and Kennedy perform a protection spell, but the spell ends up making Rona lose her memory.
Time of Your Life: Willow takes Kennedy for a flying session, along the way having a very deep conversation about their relationship. Anyanka finds herself getting her humanity back, just after killing an innocent person and then trying to kill Buffy, afterward.
The Rules of Attraction Part I: Kennedy continues to break away from Willow but then begins having feelings toward a female guitarist at a local pub. Willow performs a spell to find her next lover, and is shocked by the end result. Buffy and Vi go to the City Hall after reports of a demon ritual, and find themselves overpowered and outnumbered by the ritual attendees.
The Rules of Attraction Part II: Kennedy regrets sleeping with the girl from the bar and she decides to head off to Scotland for a new start. Willow ends up in a room alone with Anya, and Anya convinces her that she needs a spell done on her to make certain her humanity won’t slip away. But is that really what the spell she is trying to convince Willow to do for? After escaping the large number of demons in City Hall, Buffy and Vi find that it isn’t only the City Hall that there are a large number of fiends and foes, but that the entire city is being invaded.
No Strings Attached: Kennedy contacts Willow from Scotland to tell her where she is. Buffy reenrolls Dawn in school but, just their luck, the school is infested by vampires in disguise.
Whenever, Wherever: Dawn is set up on a date with a vampire from school, and the boy tries to convince Dawn to let him bite her. Buffy and Willow go to the outskirts of San Diego, where the swarm of demons are said to be originating from, and plan to kill the demons at their source. But, especially considering the demons are familiar with Buffy, is the power of these two enough to wipe out an army ten times their size?
Remnants: Kennedy casts a communication spell to talk to Willow telepathically, just as Willow is beginning to forget about her. Giles finds a job at a local movie store and gets some tips and pointers from Buffy on how to get along with people. But one customer is more interested in Giles than he is the movies…
Witch and Witch Alike: Buffy travels to Scotland to talk to Kennedy, seems how there is no other way to communicate with her, but, after arriving at the peak of a mountain—where Kennedy is supposed to be—she finds herself endangered by a very feral demon. Xander takes Dawn and the Potentials under his wing and takes them out for a day of fun, though it doesn’t turn out as fun as planned when Willow goes missing.
Red Target: Buffy returns to the US with Kennedy but has to stay at the airport when she finds a demon plans to bomb a plane. Willow, after feeling she has been abusing magick, tells Giles that she needs him to go with her to England for a while. But is it really because she has been abusing magick, or something more personal?
Out of Fate: Vi performs a spell with Kennedy, unbeknownst to Buffy, to find Willow, but comes to terms that she and Willow are officially split up. Buffy gets a job at a bank and is given a much unexpected task when a vampire attempts to rob the bank.
Anywhere But Here: Threatened by the rise of an ancient evil, Willow and Buffy head to Blythe to stop an ancient evil’s Harvest. Meanwhile, Anya and Xander reignite their love interests with a romantic date, but Xander has to leave because Dawn needs his help, which leads Anya to believe Xander is in love with Dawn.
Doomsday: After failing to stop the Harvest of the big, bad, ancient evil in Blythe, Buffy and Willow find themselves running from evil instead of their usual stopping-the-evil. Kennedy senses Willow is in danger and telepathically calls her to come back to San Diego.
Spell Check: Willow, Anya, and Kennedy perform a spell to protect everyone from the evil that threatens to kill them, but end up both evoking another evil and giving the first evil more power. Buffy warns the townspeople that they need to go into hiding or they will die, but is interrupted by the sight of Riley…
Sugar and Spice: Faith shows up in California and claims to be back on the side of evil, despite her being a Slayer. She and Buffy then get into a brawl, all while the evil from the dessert is well on its way to killing the Wiccans that gave it more power.
Just the Girl: Buffy finds she needs to travel back to Blythe after the evil, now in the form of a human, kidnaps Dawn. But when she gets to the evil’s layer, she finds that, not only is the thing in human form, but it is in the form of one of her old enemies (Glory). Faith is allied with a gang of Californian vampires but ends up being bait for one of their dirty deeds.
Bad Apple: Kennedy accidentally practices a dark-magick spell, and finds the rush of it enough to turn her into a Black Witch. Willow, though she has been trying to avoid Kennedy, then has to convince her that Black magick is not something that should be practiced, and, in doing so, their love is rekindled. Buffy and Dawn brace themselves for the worst when they find they must battle Glory for the sake of the Key.
Six Feet Under Part I: Buffy and Dawn find themselves, once again, running from evil when the evil human form threatens to evoke a long-past evil that is much older and much more powerful than it is. Kennedy, after failing to stop her Black Magick ways, is set up by Willow to use her dark magick to stop the big bad from summoning the ancient-er evil. Anya and Xander round up the Potentials and head to Blythe to help out Buffy and Dawn.
Six Feet Under Part II: It is survival of the fittest as “the evil” gains more power and the Potentials find hiding a better strategy than fighting. Willow and Kennedy then perform a spell to open a portal, much like the one Glory used to kill Buffy years earlier, to send the evil mass into another realm, but the thing takes Buffy with it. And it isn’t helping much that, after Buffy goes in, the witches are having troubles with keeping the gate open. Then, when all seems at its worst… one of Buffy’s old pals comes in to save the day…
Renaissance
The thing about changing the world: Once you do it, the world’s all different…
It didn’t take long for the group to find a safety area.
The “safety area” ended up to be a rundown motel close to the outskirts of San Diego. It didn’t cost much, and it and the room across the hall was enough to keep everyone sheltered.
After the end of Sunnydale, Buffy didn’t know what to do. She didn’t know where to go. It was Giles’ idea to come to San Diego. He said it’s close enough to where they all used to live…where they all used to attend school, go to parties…enjoy life. But Sunnydale was gone, and it had taken all of that with it.
Buffy didn’t seem too disturbed by that. She said she was actually somewhat glad the final apocalypse had come. Sunnydale held memories, yes, but she said the memories it held were too dark. They needed to move on.
She would have destroyed it herself if she could have. Only she would have evacuated all of the residents first…
Everything was gone.
Though things ever since seemed to be always negative, Xander was always there to cheer everybody up.
Dawn didn’t see why he was so happy all the time. She had known him for awhile, but his long-term girlfriend had been skewered just days earlier. Nobody important enough for her to think of had died and she was more distraught than he was.
Dawn was all too familiar with death and destruction to care anymore. But that didn’t stop her from thinking about it.
“Who’s up for Yahzee?” Xander said as he pulled the boardgame from the closet close to the main door.
When the only response he got to his question was blank stares from the majority of the people in the room he slid it back up on the shelf inside the closet and closed the door.
He saw Dawn sitting in a chair by the small television.
He approached and spoke to her softly. “How’s Buff?”
“I haven’t seen her for a bit. She’s still in the room,” Dawn said, gesturing behind her to a closed door (that, when opened, led to the only bedroom in the entire motel room). “She said she didn’t want to see anyone for awhile. She just wants to be alone.”
“Well I’ve been good at being ignored since the tenth grade. I think I’m okay.” He smiled at her and patted her arm before he walked to the door behind her. Its green, forest colored paint had begun to chip.
He twisted the knob and opened the door.
The room was small, and the wallpaper had started to peel off. There was a closet on the right wall that, from the looks of it, could hold about three jackets. On the left wall was a window that, though Xander knew it was normal-sized, looked rather enlarged by the smallness of the room. Its shutters had been twisted open, allowing the evening sunlight spill into the otherwise dull room.
In the center of the bedroom was positioned a large bed (that didn’t help the scale factor…), and sprawled across that on her back was Buffy. On the floor next to her laid the Scythe.
“Hey,” Xander said.
Buffy sat up quickly, as if responding to a gunshot.
She exhaled the breath she had been holding before she talked. “Oh,” Buffy said, relaxing her shoulders. “You scared me.”
“You aren’t yet used to my usual abrupt entrances, I see.”
Buffy laughed as she lay back down.
“How are you doing?” Xander asked as he sat down at the foot of the bed.
Buffy looked at him. “Apocalypses suck. I have an untreated stab wound in my gut and I’ve been wearing the same clothes for four days. Otherwise…just dandy.”
“You did great. I haven’t seen you since it happened and I’ve been wanting to tell you that. You saved all of our butts. You saved Andrew…”
“…And have been regretting it ever since,” Buffy finished as she gestured for Xander listen toward the open door, where Andrew was in the main room trying to convince everyone to play spin-the-bottle.
“Thank you,” he continued. “I can’t say it enough.”
“It’s what I do.”
“You saved the world. Again.”
“Feels like I’m the one who ended it.”
Xander considered for a moment before he spoke. “It’s like that spend-a-little-to-earn-a-little saying: you have to almost-destroy-all-of-humankind to save it.”
“Thanks,” she said, smiling.
Buffy sat up and moved to the end of the bed to sit next to Xander. She laid her head on his shoulder and inhaled deeply.
“Everything’s so different now,” she said. “Nothing is going to be like it was. Ever.”
“Maybe it’s for the best.”
“I don’t know what we’re going to do. And I’m the chief of this tribe. Aren’t the chiefs supposed to know everything? And aren’t they supposed to have big headdresses?” She took a deep breath. “It would be a whole lot easier if things weren’t all changed.”
“I know. Sometimes…sometimes I wish things were back to normal. Like they were before…”
She had no idea where she was.
Well, come to think of it, she didn’t know who she was, how old she was, what color her hair was... All she knew was that she was dead.
How did she know that?
She was dead. When you’re dead you don’t know anything…especially if you’re dead or not…you’re dead!
Or maybe she wasn’t dead. Maybe she was dying. Or maybe she had been brought back to life. She knew there were people that could do that kind of stuff. She’d actually known someone like that before…
Her eyes shot open, only to see a dark sheet of blackness that didn’t allow her to even see her own hand in front of her face. She felt the hard rocks on her back as her body was lain out across them. She knew she was in a small area. There was a concrete ceiling inches above her head that only allowed her to move minimally. Maybe she was in a basement…?
She knew why she had been woken up.
(Wait…maybe that was it! Maybe she wasn’t dead or dying…maybe she was just asleep…?)
She knew what her job in life was, and if she was to do her job, she needed to get out of here. And then, there it was again: her not knowing where “here” actually was.
But she was aware of her strength.
Standing up, her head and shoulders burst through the concrete ceiling effortlessly.
Suddenly her abdomen was at floor level of a long hallway of what appeared to be a school.
But not just a school…it was demolished.
The ceiling (the parts that weren’t taken out by large boulders…) was missing almost all of its tiles, wires and pipes all strung lifelessly from their insulated nests, and the floor was cracked and missing some sort of top layer, revealing the concrete underneath.
The only light provided was coming from somewhere in the ceiling behind her (likely from one of the large chunks missing).
The lockers that lined both sides of the hallway were ripped open (some even fallen over), all of their contents spilled out across the floors.
She pulled her legs through the hole in the ceiling/floor she had created, and now her entire body was laid on the cold linoleum floor.
She had heard the two words that she lived to hear. That was why she had awakened in the first place. From miles away the prayer had come. She’d heard it.
She sat up.
Answering the prayer in the only way she knew how, she said:
“Done.”
Buffy had finally come out of the bedroom.
She felt everyone’s eyes on her as she entered the main room. Xander, who was standing next to her, slung his arm around her shoulders, as if to say that it was because of him Buffy had come out.
“Hi,” Willow said from the couch in the center of the living space.
Dawn walked up to Buffy and smiled at her for a moment before she hugged her. “We’re happy to see you.”
“We’re playing spin-the-bottle,” Andrew said, waving around a water bottle. “I found it under the bed.”
“Ew,” Rona muttered as she stepped away from Andrew.
“Actually I was about to get something to drink and then I’m heading off to bed,” Buffy said. “I think you guys should do the same because we’re going to go house hunting tomorrow. We need to get out of here.” She gestured around her.
Though looking disappointed, everyone assumed their sleeping arrangements, and the ones who stayed across the hall left.
“Goodnight,” Buffy said to the ones who headed across the hall as she followed them out. She turned to her right and walked several rooms down the hallway until she reached the soda machine, and she inserted a dollar, pressed a button, and a can of Diet Coke dropped into the tray at the bottom.
“Buffy,” Willow said unexpectedly. She had followed her down here. “Faith’s gone missing.”
“What?” Buffy looked shocked. “When?”
“Just last night. I tried to tell you but the security around your bedroom was like trying to get into…someplace that’s really hard to get into…”
“Where did she go?”
“No clue. She was here last night and this morning she was all Face on the Milk Carton. And, as far as I can tell…it’s not good…”
Buffy looked confused for a moment before Willow continued:
“There are reports of a civilian dead on the streets from a stab wound in the chest. They said the tool used was wooden.”
“That could be anything.”
“Just a thought. Not to worry you, I’m sure she’ll come back. I’m glad to see you.” She hugged her tightly. “Now let’s get back and get some sleep,” she finished after her released her.
As the two walked into the room, Buffy noticed everyone had already gone to sleep. Kennedy was asleep on the couch and Willow curled up next to her, Rona and Vi were on a blanket in front of the couch, Robin was in a chair off to the corner, Dawn had her head rested on her arms that were folded on top of a desk next to the main entrance. Giles was nestled into a corner formed by two of the walls meeting. Xander was standing next to the door to the bedroom, and Buffy welcomed him in just after she entered.
“Thanks, Buff,” he said as he began to sit on the floor.
“What are you doing?”
He looked confused.
“You can sleep in the bed. I don’t bite. Or else Buffy being the Slayer would be a big misunderstanding.”
He rose from the floor and pulled the comforter over him as he adjusted himself in the bed.
Buffy, just after Xander settled himself, sat on the side of the bed, opened her soda and took a small sip, and then got under the covers after she set it on the bedside table.
It shocked her that she was so tired when the sun outside (though there wasn’t much of it visible over the horizon) was still up and the clock next to her blinked 8:46 in red numbers.
She smiled to herself just before she closed her eyes and fell asleep.
Buffy ended up waking at about seven-thirty in the morning.
She opened her eyes to a bright, yellow sunrise. The sky was blue and cloudless.
But one thing that just ruined the majesty of this beautiful morning was the soda can on the bedside table, which had been nearly completely blanketed with ants.
She squeaked as she went to reach for it, and grabbed it once she found a place that wasn’t completely covered.
She had dealt with the nastiest vampires, the ugliest demons, and she still freaked over bugs. That was just one thing she couldn’t stand. Maybe it was because of her praying mantis substitute teacher she had had (who had tried to mate with Xander). Or maybe it was because of her confrontation with the Queller demon (which, technically, wasn’t a bug but it still gave her the wiggins). Whatever it was, she didn’t like them.
She walked out of the room barefoot in her white blouse and jeans, searching for the nearest garbage can.
Not finding one in the hallway, she turned into the women’s restroom (which was incredibly repulsing to go into even with shoes…) and dropped it into the waste bin between two sinks that had large mirrors above them.
She proceeded to wash her hands afterward. The soap the motel supplied was supposed to smell like a beach, but it smelled like dishwater. And the thick, glutinous texture wasn’t helping anything.
She caught a glimpse of herself in the vanity as she was drying her hands. She was a mess; her hair hadn’t been brushed in days, her makeup was practically nonexistent…and the gash on her forehead was gone…
Strange.
She moved closer to the mirror and pushed her hair back to examine where the cut had been. Looking down, she noticed that there was no blood on her shirt and her wound had seemingly healed itself.
Completely baffled, Buffy retraced her steps back to the room. Immediately she went into the bedroom where Xander slumbered and shook him awake.
Instantly, she noticed his not-there eye patch.
Xander woke.
“Hey, hey!” he said as his eyes fluttered open. “I’m up! There’s not another apocalypse is there?”
“Something’s happened,” Buffy said. Directly after, her eyes widened in pure fear as she realized what had really happened. “Dawn…”
She whirled around and inspected where Dawn had been sleeping in the main room and, just as she suspected, she wasn’t there.
“Hey, is this what twenty-twenty is?” Xander said, practicing using both eyes as he came out of the room in just his jeans.
“Giles!” Buffy practically yelled.
He woke up and stood from his blanket-and-pillow makeshift bed in the corner.
“What? What is it? What’s…” He looked Buffy up and down. “...the matter?” he finished.
“Something’s happened…”
“Oh no,” Xander said. “Don’t tell me we’re going into another musical phase again…”
“I don’t imagine,” Giles said.
“Maybe this is a sign. Maybe this is just a way being repaid of our saving-the-worldlieness…” said Xander, pointing to his eye that was once covered by an eye patch.
“Or maybe,” Buffy said. “we have a Vengeance demon on our hands.” She paused for a moment. “It has to be Halfred. She’s the only Vengeance demon.”
“That we know of…” Xander finished.
“Dawn’s gone.”
Xander looked at her, disappointed as sadness came over him. “I—”
“She isn’t coming back until things are un-normal again,” Buffy said. “This doesn’t mean she’s not coming back. She is. I won’t let that not happen.”
“The Potentials...” Giles said.
“They’re Potentials,” Buffy said, nodding as she understood what she meant.
“They’ve always been Potentials,” Xander pointed out.
“No, they were Potentials. But then Willow worked her mojo on the Scythe and made them Slayers. Now…”
“Oh, merciful Zeus,” Xander exhaled as he slumped his shoulders. “Don’t you see? Everything is back to normal again. I did this. I made the wish. I said I wanted everything to be the same again and now it is.”
“Definitely a Vengeance demon,” Giles said.
Buffy considered for a moment. “That means Sunnydale’s back…”
“That means Anya’s back,” Xander said with a hint of happiness in his voice.
“Then that means she’s a suspect,” she said slowly. Then she turned to Giles. “We need to find whoever did this. Whether it be Anya or Halfred. Demon or not. We need to get things back to normal. Again.”
“Can’t we just wish it back?”
She looked at Xander. “I’m sure any demon isn’t jumping on the chance to make the Slayer and her squad happy. They want us to suffer. That’s kind of the point of a Vengeance demon.” She turned back to Giles. “Get Willow and the Potentials. We’re getting my sister back.”
“You aren’t suggesting…” Giles began.
“…We’re going back to Sunnydale.” Buffy finished for him.
She walked into the bedroom and slipped on her boots and grabbed her Scythe. She came back out moments later. “Meet me in the lobby when you’re done.” She looked at Giles and Xander who were still unmoving, grasping what was happening. “Hurry!” That snapped them out of it, Giles to wake everyone up and Xander to put on his clothes. And when they were out of earshot, she said to herself: “Mama’s comin’ home.”
Hope you like it.
GaGa~Vampyr
