- Dream Weaver
Chapter 13: Reunion
Seven years later...
Since my departure from Sunnydale, so much has happened and changed in my life, in the lives of Buffy and her friends as well as the world at large. Times had changed, A new century, a new millennium. Our country even had a new president, who like his father before him waged another war in Iraq in another attempt to find the decryption key that would completely unlock the Bible code and was yet as unsuccessful in his secret quest as his father before him. However, He succeeded in ridding Iraq and the world of a tyrant that instigated and collaborated with the attack on America on September 11, 2001 which made our president a national hero.
The world now was a totally different place to what it was seven years ago. Buffy had vanquished the Master, Angelus which Angel became upon losing his soul when he shared a moment of bliss with Buffy resulting in the death of Jenny Calendar, who was the computer teacher and left a floppy with the Gypsy curse needed to restore Angelus his soul which Willow did successfully but with Buffy sending Angel to hell and was later brought back as he was with his soul. Later Buffy vanquished, Mayor Richard Wilkins III of Sunnydale, Adam who was a Frankenstein like creature who was later created by the Initiative whom Buffy encountered in college, Glory who was a hell goddess who captured Buffy's new kid sister, Dawn, from another dimension who was the key to open all dimensions and parallel worlds.Buffy’s mother,Joyce died of a brain tumor and Buffy died twice to save the world and came back, first drowned by the Master and resurrected by Xander and later Buffy sacrificed herself again to save the world and Dawn from Glory whom Giles had to kill when Glory morphed in her human incarnation as Ben.
Buffy was resurrected by Willow the second time to fight against her demons within and without as well as an evil human villain called Warren Meers, who originally made androids such as the Buffy bot and tried to use magic and technology to take over Sunnydale. Willow had gone gay and found a significant other, Tara MaClay, until Warren killed Tara in an attempt to kill Buffy, which motivated Willow to kill Warren and almost destroy the world until Xander stood in the way and stopped her. Xander moved from his family's basement to his own place, with Anya who was once a vengeance demon but they never got married. Then the ultimate came to pass.
Buffy and her friends, the Scooby gang banded together to fight the First Evil. Spike the vampire by then had replaced a soldier named Riley Finn who later acquired a wife by the name of Sam and before him Angel as Buffy's new found love, Spike went from evil to good to the point that he acquired himself a soul. Buffy had vanquished an evil preacher man called Caleb, who also sought the Bible code to find our God's true name so that if it were to be pronounced backward, all creation would undo itself. Fortunately, he failed and was vanquished by Buffy as well as the First Evil which destroyed the Hellmouth and with it , Sunnydale.
I, too, was fighting my own demons. I had won against an ex-boss turned evil, people who I thought were my friends turned out to be my enemies and people whom I traditionally took for enemies where friends after all. I had since changed jobs many times. My father had acquired a companion. Life in South Florida got very harsh to the point of literally ending up homeless for awhile and ultimately we moved back to Central Florida in the Orlando area. Where I now have a kid brother young enough to be my son named after my magician friend who I first met in Sunnydale years before.
Angel had left Sunnydale with Cordelia and Wesley Wyndham-Price, a watcher to Los Angeles shortly after Buffy and her friends graduated from Sunnydale High in 1999 and vanquished the mayor after he turned into a giant snake and decimated most of the graduates. Buffy and her friends vanquished the mayor by blowing up the old High School only to be rebuilt four years later. Angel and his companions were later joined by Charles Gunn, a vampire hunter and Winifred “Fred” Burkle, a former librarian who was rescued from a parallel world that was ruled by green-skinned demons who had human slaves as well as Lorne, an outcast from that world who could predict people when they sang.
Darla was brought back by an evil law firm called Wolfram and Hart whom Angel and his friends fought against since moving to Los Angeles. Darla staked herself in order to give birth to a son that she bore to Angel named Connor who grew up quickly and made Cordelia get pregnant and evil. Angel lost his soul again and Fred brought Willow to Los Angeles in order to reensoul Angel and bring Faith another slayer who broke out of prison after she killed a few people back to Sunnydale to help Buffy fight the First Evil. After Cordelia was vanquished,she went into a coma, she gave birth to an evil goddess called Jasmine who consumed people and nearly conquered the world. After Jasmine was destroyed, Angel was awarded along with his friends the Los Angeles branch of the Wolfram and Hart law firm and Connor’s memories were replaced with those of a normal life and a happy family. Only Angel would remember the truth of Connor and his real past. Angel reunited with Buffy and gave her the stone of light amulet before returning to Los Angeles and Buffy in turn gave it to Spike to save the world and destroy the hellmouth ultimately sacrificing himself.
After Sunnydale and the hellmouth were destroyed. Buffy along with her friends and family looked back at the crater that had been left behind. After a dialogue, Dawn asked, "Buffy what are we going to do?". Buffy Summers looked at her loved ones and then back at the crater, she pondered the question. A small smile grew on her lips. "Let's go to Florida", Buffy announced. "What?", asked Faith whom Buffy first met back in 1998 and came back to finish the First Evil. "Do any of you remember that guy, Reyes?", Buffy asked turning to see who would remember. "Do you mean that security guard from Florida that we saved outside the Bronz one night back in 1996?", Willow asked. "Oh yes, I remember he stayed in my house", Giles said. "I remember him!", Xander said.
"Well remember back at the train station, we promised to celebrate our victory with him seven years ago when this day came, well now this day had finally come", Buffy said. "Do you think he'll remember?", Xander asked. "What if he doesn't live in Florida anymore?", Giles asked. "The Watcher's Counsel might've come in handy for this but now that's out of the question", Giles said. Just then beyond the horizon, where the road could be seen as far as the eye could see surrounded by desert. An old car came approaching from the distance, as the vehicle came closer and closer, the vehicle was one that Buffy and the Scoobies had not seen in years. It was the 1932 Packard Roadster driven by Giovanni the Magician with Dr. Jacobi.
They parked quietly by the school bus in his impeccable outfit, he looked exactly the same he did seven years ago and had not seemed to age not even a day. His car was immaculate even the gangster walls on his tires were super white as though they had never been used. "Sorry, I'm late", Giovanni said. "Better late than never, at least you came in time to celebrate", Buffy said. "Who the hell are they?", Faith asked. "I'm Giovanni Revelatori the Magician and this is Dr. Jacobi", Giovanni and Dr. Jacobi introduced themselves as to Faith. Faith was immediately charmed by them as well as Dawn, Principal Robin Wood and the others who had not met them before. So they acquainted themselves with everybody and everybody got acquainted with them as well.
After introductions, Willow said, "I got an idea, we can use a locator spell to find him". Giovanni the Magician said, "That's an excellent idea, I'm with her". “I agree”, Dr. Jacobi said.Willow said, "Let's all hold hands and form a circle and visualize Reyes", Willow said. Buffy, Willow, Xander, Giles, Dawn, Giovanni the Magician, Dr. Jacobi and even Faith was encouraged to participate after Giovanni pulled my picture out of his hat and showed it to Faith. "He's cute", Faith said. Everyone then held hands and began the ritual. Meanwhile, I was taking a nap in Florida where I had a dream.
I dreamed that I was on a deserted highway, where there was desert for miles around and a big yellow school bus parked in the middle of the highway. I observed that there was also a huge crater and on the edge a ring of people holding hands whom I immediately recognized as Buffy, her kid sister, Dawn, the Scoobies, Dr. Jacobi and Giovanni the Magician. In the circle, Lucia appeared in the middle of the circle. I asked, "What are they doing?". Lucia replied, "They're looking for you". "If they wish to find me I'm at my mother's old address in Apopka", I said. Lucia recited the address to me and I confirmed. "What is that big crater?", I had to ask. "The symbol of victory!", Lucia replied. I flashed back to the train station and then it all dawned on me.
"We'll all meet you again soon, very soon and sooner than you think", Lucia assured. She then winked and blew a kiss at me from which I awoke from my dream. Within a couple of weeks, as I'm alone one fine afternoon in my trailer still pondering on my dream, a school bus came followed by a 1932 Packard Roadster which stopped in front of my house. Giovanni parked as Buffy got off the bus with Willow, Xander and Giles. Since I had been observing from the kitchen window, I went out to meet them. We all reenacted that group hug, throwing my memory back seven years to the train station, only this time the hug felt different, a hug of celebration. Buffy turned to the school bus and motioned the passengers inside to come out. Dawn, Faith and the driver, Principal Wood from the new and now gone Sunnydale High School came out.
Buffy introduce me to all three of them and I invited them all into my house. Only some young girls, new slayers remained inside the school bus. I presented my humble abode to them and then we all went to the school bus after I showed them my home. "I wish I could've invited you all to stay with me overnight, except I've got family living with me", I said apologetically. "That's OK!", Buffy replied. "We're all so happy to see you", Buffy said. "I'm so happy that this day finally arrived and the promise we made was kept", I said. Buffy introduced me to the other slayers in the bus as well as this geek named Andrew, who didn't make much of an impression on me.
"I think we should drive around since I don't want you guys to draw attention from the neighbors seeing we've been parked here for awhile", I said. "I remember my stepmother's dad came in a semi-truck and the neighbor came and griped about it and only calmed down because they were both Billy bobs", I said. "Should I move my car?", Giovanni the Magician asked. “We don’t want to take up somebody else’s parking space”, Dr. Jacobi said."In fact, yes I think you should, park it over by the leasing office", I suggested and Giovanni moved the car to where I told him. Principal Wood moved the bus, following Giovanni the Magician and Dr. Jacobi where they parked their vehicle and boarded the bus. We left the trailer park and started to drive southbound on Highway 441. As we drove down, Buffy and all those on board briefed me and told me in much greater detail what had gone on in my life since I had left Sunnydale. Buffy was shocked when I told her the circumstances that surrounded my reason for having had left South Florida. "Sounds like a hellmouth down there too!", Xander quipped.
"It would'nt surprise me if that were the case", Giles added. By the time we had pretty much gave a synopsis of our lives spanning the last seven years, We were down on Highway 441 and Church St. "Hey, do you see that little white shack on your right?", I asked Principal Wood. "Yeah, I see it”, Wood replied. "Turn in there and park", I requested. "Wow, a stadium!", Willow said as she looked across from the parking space which barely accommodated the school bus. Everybody got off the school bus and approached Goff's, a popular ice cream stand in Orlando where everybody treated themselves to ice cream. "Umm, I love this ice cream!", Dawn said. "It's really good", said Faith. "I never tasted ice cream this good", Buffy said. "I agree", said Willow. "It's very lovely and tasty!", Giles said. "It's magically delicious!", Giovanni the Magician exclaimed. “I definitely concur”, Dr. Jacobi said. Willow and a slayer called Kennedy shared an ice cream cone.
After everyone had ice cream, we all went back into the school bus. "So what do you guys plan to do now that the First Evil, the hellmouth and Sunnydale are gone?", I asked. "Well there's another hellmouth in Cleveland", Giles inputted. "So are you guys going to Cleveland after this?", I asked. "now that there are slayers everywhere my workload has been dramatically reduced", Buffy said. "meaning you're not the only one anymore but still you can fight the forces of bad anywhere and everywhere", I replied. "But I'm really glad that you guys are here", I said. "We're just as happy to be with you", Buffy said.