Buffy looked around. ‘Where am I?’ she wondered. One second she was… And now, she was back in Sunnydale. Buffy walked down the street, seeing cars on fire everywhere. She saw some demons, and went to fight them. The five were dead within seconds.
Buffy went back to her house, happy that she could still remember the way. She got worried when she saw that the door was left open. ‘What if they got Dawn?’ she thought. Looking around the house, she didn’t see anything else wrong, except that some weapons were missing.
She ran out of the house and towards Spike’s place. Maybe he could find Dawn. On the way, she saw the BuffyBot, who was looking around wildly.
“Hey! It’s me! Have you seen Willow? I need her to fix me,” she said, trying to go to Buffy. Instead, she ran into a wall. “I think my feet are broken.”
Buffy helped her get back to the house, but she wasn’t quite sure why. “You… Stay here. I’ll find Willow after I find Dawn,” she said, deciding it wasn’t a very good idea to mention Spike.
“Okay!” the BuffyBot said cheerfully. Then, she sat on the couch, completely still, making Buffy a little creeped out.
Buffy left and headed back to Spike’s crypt again. She kicked the door down… Oops. Bad habit. “Hello?” she asked to the eerily quiet room. She looked around, but Spike was nowhere to be found. Where was everyone?
Buffy decided to go to the Magic Box, and hoped everyone was there. When she got in, she finally saw Willow, Xander, Anya, Tara, Spike, and Dawn. They all looked tired, and Spike had some of the weapons that had been missing from Buffy’s house. He gasped when he saw her, and so did Dawn. The others just smiled.
“How… What… How?” Dawn asked, happy and scared at the same time. “Oh… Never mind, it’s just the robot.”
“No, Dawn, it’s really me,” Buffy replied as Dawn ran to hug her. Spike stood up, but he stayed away, not sure of what to do.
“Why?” Buffy asked the others. “I was in heaven. Why did you pull me out?”
Willow stood up and took a few steps toward the Slayer. “We… We didn’t know. It wasn’t a normal death, so we thought…” she stopped, at a loss for words.
“You thought what? That I was in hell? Well, I wasn’t!” Buffy yelled. Dawn squeezed her hand, and Spike came over and laid a hand on her shoulder, silently encouraging her. “You had reason to believe that, so I’m not going to hate you for it, but… Why?” Buffy asked, a few tears escaping her eyes.
“I’m so sorry, Buffy. We wanted to save you, and we missed you. Dawn and Spike were the only things keeping each other sane while you were gone, and we were barely staying sane ourselves,” Willow said, going over to hug her best friend.
“Well, I’m here now, so I guess it doesn’t matter anymore… But where’s Giles?” she asked, taking a step back.
Everyone else shared a silent look. Willow nodded, indicating that she would be the one to tell Buffy. “He’s in England. You weren’t here, so he didn’t feel a reason to stay. Oh, that’s probably him now!” she said as the phone started ringing.
“Hello?… Oh, hi, Giles!… Yeah, we have some important news for you, too… That’s a good idea. I think it would be best if you came back to tell us your news and for us to give you our news… Yes, we miss you, too… Bye,” she said before hanging up the phone.
“Well, he’s coming back,” Willow told Buffy. Buffy allowed herself a small smile. Giles was like a father to her, and she got the feeling she still had Slayer duties. She would need some more training.
“I’m gonna go kill the punching bag,” Buffy said as an excuse to get out of the room.
Buffy went back to the training room, motioning for Spike to follow her. He went wordlessly, closing the door behind him. “Yeah?” he asked, wondering why she would want to talk to him instead of one of the others, especially Dawn.
“How long was I gone?” she asked him as they sat down. Somehow, she knew he would have kept the count.
“147 days yesterday,” he answered, without even having to think about it, looking into her eyes. “How long was it… For you?”
Buffy stared at the ground a moment before answering. “Longer,” she said, looking back up at him.
“Are you gonna be okay?” Spike asked her, hoping she would be. If she didn’t feel right back on Earth, she might… He couldn’t even think about it out of fear for it actually happening.
“Yeah, I think so,” she replied. She believed it, too. “You didn’t help them do it, did you?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“No. Dawn and I didn’t even know about it. If I did…” Spike stopped, knowing he was lying to himself and to her.
“What, you didn’t want me back?” she replied, playfully smacking him on the shoulder.
Spike looked at her, beaming. It was the first time since she had walked into the Magic Box that she had seemed like her old self.
“Let’s go back out there. I think I should go talk to Dawn,” Buffy said, standing up and walking to the door, still holding Spike’s hand. He was surprised, but didn’t object.
***
Nobody knew how long they had stayed there, it could have been hours, maybe days, but Buffy had gotten a chance to talk to everyone, and nobody really wanted to leave.
Suddenly, they heard the bell above the main door jingle. Looking up, Buffy said, “Hello, Giles.”
There was a long silence, with Giles looking like he was dreaming. For all he knew, he easily might have been. He’d had this dream several times over the summer… Or ones like it, anyways.
Everyone was staring between them, and Buffy dropped Spike’s hand. She slowly walked across the room and up the steps, until she was standing just a few feet away from Giles. She gave him a serious look, waiting for him to say something. ‘Does he not want me to be back?’ she thought worriedly.
“Hello, Buffy.”
***
After Giles had gotten over the shock and heard the story of the spell and everything else that had happened, he did some yelling at Willow. After the yelling, there was some talking to Buffy and making sure she was okay. Then, finally, he was ready to tell them his news.
“When I got to England, the Watchers’ Council told me something… There’s another Slayer now, and for some reason, they want me to be her Watcher. The only reason that I can think of is that she’s so terrible or insane, or something along those lines, that the other Watchers are too scared of her. I just can’t figure out why a new Slayer would be called when Buffy has already died once,” he gave Buffy an apologetic glance.
“The point is, I’m going to need help from all of you to get her. We have to go back to England.”
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Author's Chapter Notes:
Yay! I finally got this story up! I've had this idea in my head for a long time, but haven't gotten around to starting it until now. This time, it's a much happier Buffy than in the real sixth season. Since I was very mad the first time this happened, I have decided to say that the Scoobies actually remembered to dig up Buffy's grave before they had to run off. Also, I used some dialogue from "After Life"... Kind of. I'm not trying to steal it, just using it.