801..The show must go on…
The bruised and battered group stood in front of the open hole of the
disappeared Sunnydale, everyone was silent until finally Dawn quietly asked
"What the hell are we gonna do now?"
Far away on the deserted road , a blue car appeared, when it reached them,
it parked close to the bus and a young woman emerged from it. She was
dressed in tight jeans which were flared at the bottom. Her shirt was white
and opened to show her navel, where she had a beautiful piercing shaped like
the sun. Her long blonde hair flew gracefully in the wind, she took off her
black sunglasses to reveal intensely green eyes which gave the appearance of
contact lenses. She walked forward easily, until she reached the pit, which
she looked into and said "Pretty hole, was it Sunnydale?" Amazed by her
nonchalant air, Xander answered with an uncertain "yes".
The others didn’t speak, they simply peered nervously at her face while she
said to herself "Damn, he must have left", and then to the others “Oh! I
didn't introduce myself, I’m Spirit, a vampire slayer." she pulled a calling
card out of her pocket and gave it to Buffy like she was selling her
services. “This can’t be possible!” Buffy exclaimed turning swiftly to Giles
, “I thought everyone was at the battle!"
"Actually" he answered with slight hesitation, "not completely, there are
some independent slayers, who do not receive a watcher as we have no way to
find them. We don’t know who they are, or where they come from. Which is why
it‘s near impossible to find them.”
Buffy turned to face Spirit and spoke sarcastically "Sorry it’s too late to
save the world we‘ve already done it."
Spirit walked to her car and took an extremely old looking leather bound
book from the front seat, "I didn’t come to save the world, I'm looking for
a vampire named William the bloody, more commonly known as Spike".
Buffy looked at her sadly "Well, I'm afraid that you came here for nothing ,
Spike died".
Spirit looked up casually "I don't think so"
“He did, I saw him burn to ashes!" Buffy shouted angrily.
Spirit took out a picture from amongst the pages of the book and showed it
to Buffy, "Was he carrying this amulet when he died?" Buffy looked at the
picture and instantly recognized the amulet as the one that Angel had given
to her, and which she in turn had given to Spike.
"Yes, that’s how he saved us. But that’s also what killed him."
Spirit turned around quickly heading towards the car " Great! Well, I’ve got
to go, somehow I’ll find him, because I know he’s not dead. One day somebody
will hold this amulet between their hands, and Spike will reappear from it.
The day this happens I’ll be nearby.”

"The amulet has probably been destroyed, look behind you, nothing survived!"
Buffy shouted after the retreating girl.
But Spirit didn't seem to listen to Buffy, and continued walking to her car.
Dawn walked up to her sister "Buffy, Angel gave you the amulet, didn't he?
Maybe he knows something about this? " She spoke quietly intending for
Spirit not to hear, however the girl did hear and immediately looked back
over her shoulder "Angelus?" she questioned. The group seemed disconcerted
by the fact that she knew him and did not reply. But this was of no
importance to Spirit, as she had already found out enough to carry on with
her trip.
As Spirit sat down at the wheel of her car and began to start up the engine,
Buffy ran forward to ask her one more question.
"If Spike really is alive, what will you do if you find him?"
"I’ll kill him,” she replied casually “that's my job."
“But he’s got a soul now!” Buffy said before realization struck that what
she had said was of no importance as Spike was already dead.
"With or without a soul, a vampire is still a vampire, you put a pointy
thing in it’s heart and it will be sent to the only place it belongs…hell."
Spirit said arrogantly before starting her engine and driving off leaving a
cloud of dust.
Buffy watched her leave, not really believing anything she had just been
told. Despite this the information she had just learnt about the freelance
slayers surprised her. Buffy stood still at a loss for what to say.
The group remained dumbstruck as Dawn moved towards her sister “You’ll do
something, won't you Buffy? She’s going to kill him!" Buffy did not answer.
Dawn continued "After everything that happened between you two and all that
he did for us, you’d let her do that?! Buffy, you have to stop her!"
"Do you really believe what she just said? " Buffy exclaimed in annoyance,
she then turned to the rest of the group "I don't want to hear anything else
about Spike, or of the lies that Miss Freelance told us,” she said
sarcastically, “I held his hand in mine when it started to burn" her voice
went quiet as she slowly lifted her trembling hand. For the first time the
group noticed the painful looking burn upon it. Silent tears ran down
Buffy’s face as she took a deep breath enabling herself to continue, "I told
him I loved him" she let out a sob “He didn’t believe me!"
No member of the group stopped her out of respect, they all shared her
sadness, as each one of them had a memory of Spike,  be it good or bad.
Buffy turned toward Dawn and spoke, her voice gentle "Dawnie, Spike died, I
saw it and it’s better for both of us if we accept it because he won‘t come
back." Dawn nodded and they both walked towards the Bus where the rest of
the group were waiting. They all made their way onto the Bus and just before
boarding it herself, Buffy took one last look behind her at the large pit,
the sight gave her a feeling of sadness for the loss of her home, the place
where she had done a lot of growing up.
The bus started with difficulty, Giles, who was sat at the wheel gave Buffy
a look of silent compassion before she made her way to the back of the bus
to sit with Dawn. She wrapped her arms around her sister lovingly as it was
such a long time since they had done so. The younger girl took Buffy’s
injured hand into her own, gently touching the already healing mark.

The bus started up, carrying the group exhausted not only physically but
emotionally.
They sat in silence for a time until Giles’ voice was heard announcing that
they would make a stop in the first city they came to, to drop off Wood, as
the man was in desperate need of treatment.
Buffy walked unsteadily from the back of the Bus, she reached Giles and
asked quietly "What about us, where do we go from here?"
Giles looked at Buffy and smiled "Well I certainly think that a good holiday
is in order!"
Buffy returned the smile.
"Before leaving to face the first,” Giles continued “I took the initiative
to buy plane tickets for Europe. I think we should go to Rome, we will
decide where to go from there."
Buffy did not question him any further.
They reached Los Angeles and Giles stopped the bus right in front of a
hospital. Faith supported Wood, as he climbed down from the bus. When she
reached the bottom of the steps she looked up at Giles uncomfortably “Well,
I guess this is goodbye then.” Giles didn’t look surprised about the fact
she had decided to stay, but still asked her if she was sure she wanted to,
“After all, you are still on the run.”
She looked at him like he had said something inanely stupid “Ah hell G, you
of all people should know that I love having to hide.” Her voice became
softer “Besides, I’m not alone anymore, I’ll be fine.”
He smiled at her “All the same, I’ll call in a few favours and make sure
you’ll get some peace. I think you’ve earned it.”
They all said goodbye to the pair, and Giles drove off once he was sure they
had reached the doors of the Hospital. In the doorway they turned to watch
the bus leave as the nurses inside rushed to attend to the gravely injured
man.

After leaving Faith and Wood, the group travelled to the airport.
Once there, they slowly piled from the bus, looking around at each other’s
clothing, as if realising for the first time the state they were all in.
Bruised, bloody and covered with injuries. Giles asked Willow to cast a
spell to disguise the party, to ensure they were not noticed and questioned.
She did so and everyone suddenly looked extremely smart. Even the bus looked
shiny and new.

Inside the airport, Giles withdrew money from his bank account and told
everyone to go and buy clean clothing, as well as anything else necessary to
start their new lives.
Andrew looked shocked "Even me?" he asked Giles.
"Of course" Giles answered giving him an encouraging smile, "Your part in
saving the world was just as important as the others." Andrew proud of what
was said, neglected the money offered to him and began to sing, "I saved the
world, I saved the world."

The group separated into a set of smaller ones. The potentials stuck
together, but Xander offered to accompany them. Buffy and Dawn walked away
from the rest, talking seriously and hugging at regular intervals. Giles
left with Willow and Kennedy and Andrew was left alone. Though he did not
seem to mind, he was still ecstatic about Giles’ comment and he skipped
happily to a store, in which he tried on a snazzy suit. The salesman mumbled
about making some alterations, while trying not to stare too much at the
suit it appeared Andrew was already wearing, which was identical to the one
he was about to purchase.
Meanwhile Giles and Willow went to a store and looked at computers They had
decided to do this after Giles had embarrassingly asked for her help in
buying one of the “Infernal machines” admitting that his now extreme lack of
demonology books would mean he would need one for research.

Giles and Willow sat together on a bench waiting for the others to arrive
and peering at a new laptop in the English man’s lap. Willow was with him as
he had asked her to help him research Spirit.
It didn‘t take them long to find something, Spirit had her own Website,
giving information on Demons. This site seemed so cocky that it made them
doubt her credibility.
"If what she said is true and Spike‘s alive,” Willow commented to Giles
“he’d make one mouthful out of her in a fight.”
"I wouldn’t be so sure, look at this." Giles replied apprehensively.
He had pointed out a list of the young woman‘s kills. There was also a copy
of the girl’s criminal record with her most dangerous crimes flickering red.
Giles clicked a link on her page which turned out to be the web page of an
organization of freelance slayers. On here they found a summary of Spirit,
this contained her name, her description, her objectives and her
characteristics. What they read next froze their blood, Giles urgently told
Willow not to say a word of what she had read to Buffy until they were
safely on their way to Rome.
Suddenly they’re joined by the rest of the group, kitted up in new clothes
and babbling excitedly about their new life in Rome. Xander scanned the
group and noticed somebody was missing “Jeez you think he’d manage to just
do this right!” looking around agitatedly and muttering to himself he
finally spotted Andrew on a bench talking to a nervous looking passenger.
"And that’s how I finally saved the world." Xander caught him just in time
to stop the displeased passenger calling security.
Muttering a quick apology he grabbed Andrew by the shoulder and dragged him
away from the disgruntled man.
“Hey!” Andrew complained and batted Xander’s hand from his shoulder “This
suit cost me a fortune, I spent all my money on it!”
Xander gave him an incredulous look “Surely you saved some money for
something else, a toothbrush, some toothpaste?!” At the nervous head shake
from Andrew he continued “Well you’re not borrowing mine!”
Andrew looked upset “I don’t stink do I?” Xander ignored him so he walked
towards one of the potentials “Hey, do I stink?” she gave him a disgusted
look and turned quickly away from him to say something distinctly rude
sounding to her friend. Andrew looked panicked so Xander grabbed him again
and dragged him towards where the group had began boarding the plane.
Reassuring him that they could get him some other things he’d need later.
Once on the plane Xander pushed him into a seat “Sit down, I don’t want you
getting up unless you really need the bathroom!” He told a dismayed Andrew,
who began to say something about saving the world before receiving a quick
“Shut up!” and a soft punch to the arm, before Xander, exhausted, flopped
down in the seat beside him.

In the plane Willow had sat beside Kennedy.
Andrew remained sat next to Xander, who asked frequently for an explanation
of Anya’s heroic death. Andrew was only too happy to tell him.
The seat beside Giles had been filled by Buffy, he explained to her what he
and Willow had discovered on Spirit’s web-page. The reason she was so
powerful, so talented at tracking vampires, was because she had a ritual she
performed before killing one.
“I don’t understand” Buffy looked at him quizzically.
“Before she kills a vampire she will ingest a small amount of their blood,
in order to gain some of their power.” Giles answered eagerly “Too much
would be fatal, and too little would have no effect. It is a very dangerous
process, which will only work if done faultlessly. The blood greatly
improves one‘s strength and also their senses. However if she were to be
bitten, she would be turned.” Buffy looked horrified as Giles continued to
speak, “This also explains her interest in Spike and Angel, the stronger and
older the vampire the more strength she receives from their blood. Master
vampires and killers of slayers like the two vampires in question would have
the most potent blood available.” He finished with a worried glance at
Buffy.
He went on to tell her about the ‘objectives’ list he had read which had
listed Spike as her next intended kill with Angel’s name next on the list.
Buffy was dumbfounded, she still didn’t believe that Spike was alive, it was
with Angel her concern lay. Spirit had seemed so determined that Buffy
didn’t dare to doubt that she would kill Angel, or at least try. Buffy
decided that she would have to warn Angel on their arrival at the airport,
though for all her resoluteness, she still looked deeply relieved  when
Giles insisted on taking the task on himself, insisting that it was too soon
for her renew contact with such heartbreaking features of her old life.

As soon as the group arrived at the airport in Rome, Giles called Angel as
he and Buffy had agreed, while the group stood at a good distance from him.
However, instead of warning the vampire of the potential risk to his unlife,
Giles simply informed him of the whereabouts of the group. He also told him
who had died in the battle and where they had left Faith and Wood. His
reasons for this were not selfish ones. He wished to study Spirit and he
believed the best way to do this would be to allow her plan to evolve. At
the present time he knew where she was heading and what she intended to do,
he wanted to keep things this way. During the phone call he got angry at
Angel because of his activities with ‘Wolfram and Hart’, Angel asked to
speak with Buffy, but Giles refused, shouting “We’re no longer on the same
side” and promptly slamming the phone down. With a look of reassurance to
the rest of the group, he continued making phone calls.

After Giles hung up the phone for the last time and returned without a word
to the rest of the group, a man approached him and said quietly “Rupert
Giles? I have been ordered to bring these to you.” Giles signalled for the
man to walk away from the group with him. They walked away and talked for a
while, this discussion ended with the man giving Giles the suitcase and
several plane tickets that he had spoken of previously. Giles then walked
back towards the group. “I’m leaving for London immediately with the
potentials.” He was facing Buffy, but the tone of his voice implied he was
addressing everyone. He then turned to face Willow and said more quietly “I
would like you to accompany me too. Of course the decision is completely
yours, if you would like to stay here with…” His voice trailed off, as
Willow’s immense look of relief at not being parted with Kennedy made it
apparent that the answer would be ‘Yes’.
“But what about us?” Buffy’s voice broke the comfortable silence that had
developed between Giles and Willow. “What are we supposed to do now?”
Giles rested his hands on Buffy shoulders in a very paternal manner and gave
them a gentle squeeze before speaking gently. “It’s time for you to rebuild
your life Buffy, I wanted to move you from everything that attaches you to
your past, so I think it’s best that I go as well.” Giles’ green eyes
matched Buffy’s as they both filled with tears. “I’m not abandoning you
Buffy, you can call me whenever you need me and this isn’t forever.” He
looked upwards in an effort to stop the tears from falling. “You have enough
money to start you off, get an apartment. Remember I’m always on the end of
the phone and you’ve got Dawn, and Xander.” He then pulled the girl into a
gentle hug and held her for a while as she sobbed. He looked away from her
as the tears finally fell freely down his cheeks, making trails much like
the ones marking Buffy’s own, except not blackened by mascara. His eyes came
to rest on Andrew, “Oh yes” he sniffed and dabbed at his eyes with a hanky
he’d pulled from his pocket. He promptly offered the scrap of cloth to Buffy
who wrinkled her nose and refused. He then continued to an impatient looking
Andrew, “I’m sorry I forgot to say, you will also travel to England with
me.”
Andrew’s face twisted into a look of immense disappointment “Awww but I
wanted to go to Rome, I was gonna play Gladiator, like Russell Crowe, but
blonder and more weedy. And…”
Giles quickly cut off the boy’s babble by saying in a ‘no-nonsense’ way,
“I’m sorry Andrew but you’re coming with me” he then added, as if speaking
with a child “But London can be fun too, you can play, um, Harry Potter!” He
sounded triumphant when he thought of the child’s film and Andrew seemed
satisfied and went to say his farewells to the friends he had made.

After many long goodbyes, hugs and tears, the two groups finally parted. The
smaller group of Buffy, Dawn and Xander, stood and watched as the larger
group of Giles, Willow and the nervously chatting girls turned to walk away
with Andrew trailing at the rear. Just before they began their slow exit,
Andrew turned and said sadly and with a small smile “May the force be with
you.”  He then turned and walked away, missing the happy smiles and head
shakes his comment had caused.

End Of Episode
 

English version, Corrected and improved by Amie

Special thanks