Final Farewell
Slowly, and with controlled movements, the Summers sisters rose, never taking their eyes off of the woman both recognized as their mother. They moved so that they stood in front of the familiar figures.
Willow found herself upright, but unable to walk. The tears rolled down her cheeks in a silent parade of long ago acknowledged grief. The sight of the woman she loved was both joyful and heartbreaking as memories of blood and death crossed her mind.
Spike pushed himself up off of the floor and moved to stand by Buffy, while Xander and Anya simply kept their seats, letting the others take advantage of what little time they may have with lost loved ones.
Spike tried to refocus his eyes, and shook his head, blinking quickly. This was most definitely an unexpected turn of events.
Joyce's slight smile, and loving eyes, graced the room. Tara's head was cocked a bit to the side as she looked into Willow's eyes.
The red head took a few steps towards the women dressed in shimmering gowns. The light radiating from them was warm and soothing, somehow surrounding her in an ease she would normally attribute to the pouch of herbs laying between her breasts.
"It's ok, sweetie," Tara spoke softly. "I miss you, too." She smiled at her lover. "Everyday I miss you, but I want you to know, I never would have lived so well if it weren't for you." She looked around the room noting each of the Scoobies. "…Any of you."
Xander felt the tears well up in his eyes. One escaped, and made a single trail down his right cheek. Anya watched in wonder, happy to see the women, and happy to know they were alright.
When Joyce died, the then former demon, was more confused than any of the group, even more so than Buffy at that moment. She had no idea why the loving woman had died. Nothing in the human world made sense to her for quite some time, but death she would never completely comprehend.
Tara and Joyce glanced at each other, then turned back to the small group standing in front of them.
"I don't understand," Buffy said. "I don't understand any of this, Mom." Buffy was crying, but she kept her words steady.
Joyce's face was soft. Her eyes glistened with the love she had for her daughters. "I know, hun. I know it all seems so strange, but you are doing so well. Corlon knew you would call and asked us to serve as your guides."
"My guides?" Buffy asked.
"Not just yours. All of you." Joyce looked from her oldest to her youngest daughter. Although the matriarch of the Summers now knew the truth, nothing would change the fact that Dawn always felt like her daughter. She remembered the words she once spoke to Buffy as she looked at Dawn. "Precious." She nodded at the brunette teen. "I felt it, even after we knew. You are more precious than we could have guessed."
Dawn sniffled slightly as she cried. Without warning she threw herself at her mother, and hugged her tightly. Joyce wrapped her arms around her daughter, and cooed softly. "Shhh, it's ok, Dawn. It's ok."
Dawn sniffed a few times and loosened her grip. "I'm sorry, mommy. I'm so sorry."
Joyce looked into Dawn's eyes. "I know. It's ok." Joyce continued her soothing words until Dawn had calmed herself. "I know you're doing better now. It's ok, Dawn."
The whimpering teen took a deep breath, and let her mother go, rejoining her sister's side.
Joyce let her eyes drift to Spike next. "And Spike, exactly what have you been doing with my daughter?"
His head snapped up. He had more respect for Joyce than any human other than her daughters. She had always been kind to him, and for that, he had to care for her in ways most vampires would scoff at. Somehow she felt he would never hurt her, and she was right. Even if Spike hadn't been chipped, Joyce's name would have still been on the "Not for eatin'" list.
In turn, being chastised by the woman was akin to being yelled at by his mum for getting his short pants muddy before church. "Joyce?" he asked confused.
Joyce, in a very un-Joyce-like way, tipped her head slightly and raised an eyebrow at him.
Spike recognized the movement as one of his own.
"Oh, that." He cleared his throat. "Well, I uh."
"Mom!" Buffy couldn't believe her mother had come all the way from heaven, she guessed, to give Spike a sex talk.
Tara giggled, breaking Willow's trance on her lost love. "Don't worry, Buffy. She's just teasing."
Anya leaned over towards Xander. "I didn't know spirits made jokes."
Xander looked back at her and gave her a curious look. Then he looked back to the group. Spike was still trying to come up with a suitable answer for Joyce, to no avail.
Joyce smiled at him, then looked at Willow. "The Powers wanted you to know you are improving. They are quite proud of you."
The corners of Willow's lips turned up a little. "Really?"
"Oh, yes," Tara confirmed nodding. "I am, too." Tara smiled widely.
Willow smiled back, while the tears continued to stream down her cheeks.
Joyce looked over the gathering's heads to see Xander and Anya sitting quietly at the kitchen's table. "You, as well." She spoke, "All of you will help and therefore all of you must listen."
Xander and Anya looked from each other to the glowing women and joined the others around the circle.
Tara started. "Something big is happening, and Buffy can't stop it, at least not alone."
"The Master?" Buffy inquired.
"Not just The Master. More a new line. The Hellmouth, even the outlook of the residents of Sunnydale will change. There is so much to prepare for, and not much time."
"What about 'the new line'?" Spike asked.
Joyce answered, "It is not as simple as you may think, Spike. Like the witch told you in England, you are as Buffy."
"Seems right simple to me: Slayer equals Slayer."
"But you have overlooked something. Her line has continued, as has yours."
"W-wait mom," Buffy interrupted, "Spike hasn't died." She turned to him. "Have you?"
Spike shook his head. "Not in more 'an a hundred an' twenty years."
"I know!" Anya yelped. "I get it. Spike's blood." She went to the table hurriedly and grabbed the notebook Buffy had tossed onto the table an hour ago. She came back and flipped back through the pages before stopping. "It's part of the story of the Slayer. I couldn't figure it out, and thought I must have messed up on the dialect or grammar, but it makes sense." She cleared her throat. "Comes the first, alone no more, Comes the demon's souled core, Comes the creation of the key, Comes the line formed by need. And from them comes the new line. One from need, one from love. She shall surpass those before her. She shall save the earth from hell. She who was made, she who was forged."
They all recognized the words that had been spoken by The Master.
"I thought it was a mistake. It sounded like Buffy came, then souled Spike, then The Key, but she's not the key anymore, is she? Not Glory's key?" Anya rambled.
Willow walked to Anya. "Can I see that?"
Anya handed her the notebook.
Dawn looked at her mom. "What does it mean?"
"I think I get it," Spike spoke softly. "Dawn's the next in line. I'nt she?"
Joyce and Tara nodded.
"Next in line?" Dawn scrunched up her nose. "Next in line for wh-?" Her eyes widened as she looked from her mother to her sister.
Buffy's hazel orbs had doubled in size. "That's why," Buffy stared at her sister, "I couldn't figure out how you were doing it."
"What?" Xander looked around the room.
Anya whispered in his ear. "Dawn's going to be a Slayer."
"Dawnie?!" Xander took a step backwards.
"Uh oh," Willow interrupted.
"Guess you'll have to stick to the training schedule, Nibblet."
"Joy." Dawn rolled her eyes at the former Vampire.
Buffy began to shake her head. "No. No. No." Buffy's eyes were filled with fear. Spike, Dawn, Xander and Anya looked at the blonde. "I won't let these 'Powers people' take away her life." She looked up at her mom. "They already got one of us. Why do they need to take her? Make them choose someone else." She wrapped her arms protectively around her sister.
"Buffy, I want to." Dawn wrenched herself out of her sister's grip. "I can do it. And I want to."
Buffy gripped her sister's arms. "Dawn, you know how hard everything has been for me. Slayers don't live lives. They give them up."
Dawn shook her head. "No. I don't have to," She smiled. "Don't you see? You're alive."
"Yeah, and all I had to do was die. Twice."
"But look, you have a life. You have friends. You have a boyfriend. You have a career. You have a normal life plus you get to do this thing, this thing that saves the world everyday." Dawn looked seriously at her sister.
"But, Dawn, it's so hard."
Spike listened to the discussion, trying to figure out how to make this work. "Doesn't have to be."
The sisters both looked at him. He explained. "She's got no council to contend with. No one knows about me, so it'd take some doing to find out about 'er."
"She'd still need a Watcher though, Spike. I can't tell you how many times Giles saved me."
Buffy was coming up with any excuse she could think of. She didn't want her little sister to have the life she did, one where you didn't know if you'd see tomorrow, or if you'd ever feel normal.
Spike looked over the faces. "She doesn't need a Watcher, luv. She 'as us."
"Buffy, the new line has already started. You said yourself she can do things, things she couldn't before." Joyce's voice was soft, but firm. "As far as her life, she has something even you didn't have."
"What?" Buffy kept one arm around her sister's waist.
"Someone who has already gone through it."
Buffy looked from her mom to her sister. She tried to think of another excuse, something that would convince whoever controlled the Slayer lines, to reconsider. But instead, she saw the hidden potential her sister had. She felt the power her friends had, and their devotion for their combined cause: the fight against the bumps in the night.
It was true; she was the longest-lived Slayer. Giles had told her himself. And it was true that her friends were the reason. She looked over the room to the man she loved, and realized that, as strange as the road has been, it had lead her to a somewhat normal life.
She sighed when she pulled her sister in for a hug. She could feel inside her that this girl, her baby sister, The Key, Dawnie, was part of her. "Ok."
Dawn returned the hug. "Ok?"
Buffy let her go. "Yeah, but we," she motioned to the others, "Are your council, okay?" With that simple question, her sister had something Buffy hadn't had, a choice.
Dawn's smile expanded to cover her face. "Ok."
The girls gave each other a short nod, and then Buffy turned back to her mom. "What about The Master?"
Joyce took an unnecessary breath. "The Master, he is the problem, but luckily he has already made a mistake. He thought that Dawn would reveal the truth to you, but instead, she led you to it."
"I said 'Uh oh' earlier," Willow repeated still holding the notebook.
"Willow?" Buffy turned to her friend.
Willow pursed her lips, then scrunched her brow, while explaining. "I think, from what Anya has here, that The Masters all have one agenda. Not even a little original."
"Oh, no," Spike said worriedly.
"What?" Dawn asked.
"He wants to open the Hellmouth?" Buffy asked.
Willow hated to be the bearer of bad news. "He wants to open the Hellmouth."
"Oh, come on!" Xander threw his arms in the air.
"What's he got planned?" Spike asked the heavenly creatures.
"Anya has most of it," Tara answered. "She just needs to finish, but I can tell you that you have until the next new moon."
The figures began to fill with light again suddenly. Joyce looked back to her daughters. "Buffy, Dawn, I love you. Please, take care of each other."
"We will," Buffy promised as her tears were renewed. She knew this would be the last time she would see her mom until she herself died, again.
Dawn's bottom lip trembled as she watched her mother fill with the harsh brightness of Magic.
Tara watched as Willow let herself cry one last time. "You have to be strong, for all of them. And Willow."
Just as the two women were engulfed with the dazzling illumination, Willow received a message, and a mission. She turned to look at Anya and Xander.
Willow quietly mouthed, "I promise."
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Author's Chapter Notes:
This one was a tough one to write. Its sad but still I think has a feeling of hope.
Chapter End Notes:
Have a great weekend everyone. Kisses!!!