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Author's Chapter Notes:
Epilogue to go.
Chapter Twenty-Five

The wicked witch was dead.

The finality of her situation slammed into Liz with a thud. Willow was gone. Dead. She thought she should feel relief but the only emotion swirling in her gut was remorse. Failure so strong threatened to drive her to her knees and Liz fought hard the desire to run—to get away from all these people who hadn’t failed their Willow—when she’d been the biggest failure of all.

She was humiliated and alone. Despite all those who surrounded her, murmured condolences and self-righteous words of forgiveness, Liz was alone, and it hurt more than any gaping wound could have.

And she was lost. Wandering between the beige walls of her house did nothing to stay the ferocious beat of her heart. Her last remaining friend was dead and Liz had failed her stupendously—and what’s more, for months she hadn’t even cared. Apathy had robbed her of the will to fight the inevitable. There’d been opportunities, surely, where Willow had been touchable.

“There was nothing you could have done.”

The quiet voice that had snuck up behind her made Liz want to scream. It seemed doubly wrong that not only was Willow face up in a morgue, but that the good version of the woman sharing her face was alive and well, whispering condolences in the empty spaces of Liz’s house. Deep down she knew that seeing her double being shot in the heart hadn’t been a wonderful experience for the witch, but Liz found it hard to care right now. Everything that had been holding her back was gone, and instead of feeling euphoric and in the mood to celebrate, she couldn’t push away this twinge in her throat that was making her want to cry.

Her heart felt heavy with uselessness, but as she struggled to bite off a retort to the witch she couldn’t bear to look at, Liz felt the talisman burn in her pocket. Funny how she hadn’t had the heart to take it from her body now that she knew her secret friend was no longer secret—or far away. It gave her comfort to feel the tingle of his presence—she recognised it now. When he was close it burned soothingly into her skin and it was the only time in the last few hours when Liz had felt close to calm.

He hadn’t approached her yet. His distance was making her almost as crazy as this overwhelming guilt was. Liz sucked in a harsh breath and forced herself to look at the surviving Willow.

“You know, in my head I know that. I do. It’s just—” She couldn’t explain this ache that had settled deep inside her.

“You miss the girl who used to be your friend.” Willow smiled sadly and Liz felt a consuming urge to smite her where she stood. She hated that the redhead was right.

Nodding against the tide of emotion ignoring her command for control, Liz crumbled at last, tears drenching her cheeks and sobs tearing at her throat. “Why did she have to change?” Strong arms enveloped her and Liz didn’t need the talisman to know it was Will. She didn’t need anything to tell her how right it was that she still had him to fall on when things became too much.

Willow’s quiet steps moved away and Liz gave in to the support of Will’s body, glad she’d listened to Buffy and not pushed him away completely. There was so much ground still to cover—so much about him still to discover. What she’d seen established between the other slayer and vampire still chilled her, but Liz refused to see that kind of relationship as inevitable. Refused to consider it an impossibility either. She wanted to be open-minded but above all, she wanted to be true. To herself and to Will.

Eyes glistening with grief, she pulled slowly from Will’s chest and gave him a watery smile of gratitude. “Thanks. It’s been an…interesting day.”

“Not quite the word I’d use, pet. Still, it’s over now, yeah? No more looking over your shoulder for when your friend’s gonna bury a hatchet in your back.” Concise and to the point—Liz had to admire that.

“Is everyone ready to go?”

Will stood back and contemplated her with his head tilted to the side. “You think you might miss all the activity around here?”

Liz shook her head fast. “No way. I am so ready to have my house back.”

He looked disappointed and Liz knew she was going to have to address this soon. She’d already planned on having him stay—not just in Sunnydale but in her house as well. It had been lonely enough with Willow there, but to be on her own completely, it wasn’t a situation she thought she’d enjoy. There’d be time to ask him when everyone else had gone.

A little imp on her shoulder goaded her into moving forward and some tightness in her chest shifted as her lips felt the smooth plain of his cheek as she kissed it. “First things first,” she promised and then took his hand gently, tugging him toward Buffy and the crowd preparing to open another portal in her house.

Willow’s cheeks were wet as she gathered her magical paraphernalia and Liz looked to Buffy, her brow quirked in question.

“She just said goodbye to Oz,” the Slayer mouthed, not wanting to distract the witch now that she was focused on getting them home. “Look,” she started out loud, “there’s some things you should think about doing because you can totally trust Riley to take care of the Initiative issue now that Maggie’s been arrested for murder. Spike and I sorted him out and he knows all about Adam and what to say during the investigation into the project. Firstly, my mom died of an aneurism. You might want to get back in touch with yours—maybe she’ll even want to move back in. Secondly, you need a watcher. I wouldn’t recommend contacting the Council—maybe you should try and find Wes. Maybe he’s ready to help you now? Third—jobs in fast food are hell on your hair and your clothes—”

“You’ll never get the smell of bloody grease out,” Spike agreed, wrapping his uninjured arm around his slayer.

Buffy peered up at him with adoration glaringly obvious for all in the room to see and sighed. Then, as she opened her mouth to depart with more of her hard-won wisdom, Dawn stepped up to the plate and threw her arms around Liz.

“The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Someone very wise—though deeply deluded—told me that once.” With tears in her eyes and a proud look on her face as she turned back to her sister, she stepped away.

Everyone was either wiping away a tear or in trouble of blubbering on the spot when Willow’s spell worked and a portal miraculously opened in Liz’s living room. Angel hobbled toward it, throwing a quick wave over his shoulder as he hurried through, Giles and Xander next. Dawn kissed Liz and Will on their cheeks and then raced on through, leaving Buffy and Spike to watch the images of themselves as they were beginning their extraordinary path.

“Be happy,” Buffy ordered, and then she was gone, pulling Spike’s arm and snagging Willow on the way through.

The otherworldly light flickered out and Liz was alone in her house—alone with a vampire she’d once feared and now admired.

There was a whole world waiting at her fingertips.





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