Time To Move On: Chapter One: On the Road
by BuffyFanatic
Chapter One: On the Road
Buffy stood in place looking out in front of her. She had lived in Sunnydale, California for quite some time and even though it wasn't the best town ever she had begun to actually like it. Now, all that was left was a huge hole in the ground. Buffy was glad that the final battle had ended in her favor. The hellmouth in Sunnydale was now officially closed. Even though Giles had just mentioned something about another one in Cleavland, it didn't matter. At the same time she was upset because Sunnydale didn't exist any more. If was as if a peice of her was lost.

Buffy sighed and turned around to face Willow, Faith, Xander, Giles, Dawn, and Andrew. They had just been talking about what they were going to do now. She had just smiled as she really thought about the question. There was a big list of things she could do including sleeping, seeing Angel, and so many others. Willow was the one who had addressed the question to Buffy. What were they going to do next?

"Honestly, I'm not so sure," Buffy responded turning around. "We can pretty much do anything that we want to. You know?"

"Yeah. It's still hard to believe it's really over. We came out the winners and the First is gone." Willow replied.

"Thanks to your spell and that weird necklace Angel gave to me. I have it to Spike and he put it on. I don't get what the whole earthquake thing had to do with anything. What was up with that?"

"I don't know. What exactly happened? I got out of the school pretty fast."

"The necklace just started glowing and then big rays of light shot out of it. Everything started to shake and the earthquake began. Everyone was leaving, but I decided to stay for a moment. I tried to Spike to come out with me, but he insisted on staying. I guess Spike went down with the hellmouth."

"Weird."

"I'm personally gald that Spike is dead. I never really did like Angel that much, but I'll admit that I hated Spike." Xander said stepping up.

"I know, but aren't you glad Giles and Principle Wood didn't kill Spike like they were going to?" Buffy asked.

"I guess so."

"Why don't we get back on the school bus and stay at a hotel for the remainder of the day. We can talk about what our next step will be tomorrow."

"Good idea, Buffy." Giles commented Buffy on her suggestion.

"Yeah, I'm beat." Dawn responded.

"Please let's go! I'm so tired I could sleep for a week!" Faith added.

"Can we just get on the bus? I'm kinda hungry and have to go pee." Andrew replied.

"Thanks for all of that wonderful extra information." Buffy curled her nose up in digust. She then walked to the bus and the others followed her. Everyone entered and sat down. Due to Principle Wood's condition, Giles decided that he should drive.

Buffy sat in the front of the bus across from Xander. Principle Wood was in the seat behind Buffy and Willow was wrapping up wounds. Dawn was helping her out and making sure that all of the potiental slayers were were covered. Kennedy was in the middle of the bus watching Willow. Faith sat in the back of the bus with Andrew beside of her.

Buffy sat quietly thinking about the day's events. Just one hour ago she, Xander, and Willow had been plaiing the fight. They had decided that Willow would take the sythe, that Buffy had retreived from Caleb, and preform a special spell on it. Since the sythe had the special slayer powers Willow was able to take it and give every girl in the world that power.

The spell had been very successful. They potentials were filled with the very same power that Buffy and Faith had and were able to fight twice as hard. There had been a few deaths, but in the end everyone came out on top. They did the impossible and defeated the First. He...or more precisely it, was gone forever.

"Hey, Buff. You're doing some serious thinking over there. Don't hurt your brain." Xander teased.

"What? Oh..yeah." Buffy responded.

"What is it?"

"Nothing. I'm just so overwhelmed."

"I don't blame you. We all are."

Buffy looked at Xander and even though he was making jokes in his eyes there was pain and sorrow. In the battle, Anya had died. Even though Xander had left Anya at the altar and even though they had the differences, through it all they still loved each other. Now, Xander was mourning for her.

"I'm so sorry..." Buffy whispered.

"For what?" Xander asked, his eyebrows raising.

"About what happened to Anya."

"Oh." Xander looked away for a minute and his eyes began to water. He turned back to Buffy as he tried to hold back his tears. "Thanks. I just wish she knew that...that..." Xander paused as the tears came back.

"It's okay. Take your time."

"I just wish I could've told her that I lvoed her one more time."

"Yeah."

"I still regret to this day leaving her at the altar. God...what I put her through. I must have been pure hell."

"Shhh...I don't think Anya would want you saying this. It was a mistake. We all make them. I've made plenty. I don't Anya wants you to do this to yourself."

"Yes she does. She became a vengence demon and tried to kill me. Remember?"

"I do. She was in pain. She didn't really want to hurt you. Xander please don't do this."

"I can't help it." Xander had held back his tears for too long. He let them flow down his cheeks and onto the floor. Buffy reached out with her heart and felt his pain. She had experienced similar things with Angel. She had to kill him to save the world once. Buffy knew how Xander felt and as she tilted her head to look out the window she whiped one of her own tears away.

"Hey Willow do you have any more guaze?" Dawn asked.

"A little bit. I'm finished with it. Here you go. Feel freew to use it." Willow handed Dawn the leftover guaze.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome. So, are these all of the potentials that need bandages?"

"I think so, Red. You can quit playing nurse now and come sit with me." Kennedy patted the seat next to her.

"Okay. I'll be there in a sec." Willow wrapped up the remaining bandages and placed them on the rack above her. She then joined Kennedy. "So, I'm here now."

"Yes you are. I'm glad you're here 'cause I've missed you. Ten minutes away is way too long to be away."

"Yeah. So...you think the spell actually worked?"

"Totally you kicked some major ass. Once again, I underestimated the power that is Willow. I won't ever do it again I promise."

"You better not."

"Don't I always keep my promises?"

"Always." Willow and Kennedy laughed a little and smiled.

"Sorry to interupt the chit-chat, but this Andrew kid is seriously bugging me." Faith said rolling her eyes.

"He is pretty good at annoying people." Willow replied.

"So not the point," Andrew responded. "When are we going to get to that hotel? I've already mentioned to Buffy that I have to go pee and considering the fact that there's not a toilet on her, I'm kinda having to hold it."

"I'm sure Giles will pull over and you can go in the woods."

"No, that's okay. I might get bit by a snake."

"Maybe it will be poisonous." Faith added and she, Willow, and Kennedy burst out laughing.

"That's not really funny. It's not very nice to make fun of people." Andrew replied.

"Aren't you the one who send those evil hell beast things to the prom?"

"No! How many times do I have to say it? That was my brother Tucker. I did the flying monkeys at the school play."

"How lame is that?" Kennedy asked.

"It's not lame, it's genius." Andrew defended himself.

"Right." Willow, Kennedy, and Faith replied in unision.

Buffy listened to the conversations around her. Everyone was so happy yet Xander was still crying. Even though the sound was muffled she could still hear him. It hurt her so much to know what Xander was going through. She knew his pain and it wasn't welcomed inside of her. Buffy just wanted to get to the hotel.

Dawn saw Buffy sitting all alone and decided to sit with her. It had been a very long time since they had really talked. Dawn had been busy with school and Buffy, as always, was busy with slaying. When Dawn thought she was a potential slayer she was really happy deep down. It would've meant that she could've trained with Buffy and spent time with her.

"Hey stranger." Dawn greeted as she sat down next to Buffy.

"Hi." Buffy turned to Dawn and smiled.

"So, whatcha doing?"

"I don't know about you, but I'm sitting her looking out of this window."

"Really? I would've never guessed." Dawn laughed. She had missed the humor that Buffy had.

"Yeah."

"Is something wrong?"

"No...not really. Just tired."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I feel bad for Xander though."

"Oh that's right. Anya died. He looked so sad."

"He still is. We had a talk and he told me what he thought. He was still beating himself up about leaving Anay at the altar."

"Wow. I thought he would be way over that."

"I did too. I knew he hadn't forgotten about it, but did think he was over it."

"Yeah so...what happened to Spike?"

"Don't know exactly. He just kinda...blew up. It's hard to explain."

"So, he's gone?"

"Pretty much."

"Oh. You're not upset?"

"Well sure I am, but if he hadn't of done what he did then we'd still be fighting at this moment. He caused the earthquake."

"That was him?"

"Yeah. Don't really know how, but it had something to do with that necklace he was wearing."

"It's still weird."

"Sure is."

"What did you tell him?"

"What do you mean?"

"You know, before he blew up?"

"Oh...that."

"So?"

"Well...I...um...asked him to leave with me, but he insisted on staying. So, I told him that...I loved him. He replied "No you don't, but thanks for saying it." We held hands for a moment and there were flames. Literally, his hand was on fire. After that I left."

"Oooh. You told Spike you love him?"

"Yes."

"I know you Buffy and you never say it unless you mean it. You love Spike?"

"No," Buffy responded as Dawn gave her an evil look. "Okay, yes I love Spike. However, he's not like Angel at all. Angel is the only person that I turely love and Spike knew that."

"True, but you still said it."

"I know, I know. I guess a small portion of me must lo...ve him. Anyway, what's up with you?"

"Okay, I'll quit bugging you. Sunnydale's a big hole and is destroyed. Which means no more Sunnydale, remade, high school."

"Oh don't worry Dawnie. We'll find a nice school for you to go to."

"Darn."

Bufy laughed and then gave Dawn a warm smile. Dawn smiled back. It had been a really long time since sh had seen that smile from Buffy. It was wonderful to see it come out again.

"Sorry, but you need your education." Buffy replied.

"But, I am a slayer now."

"You, you're not."

"What about the spell Willow did?"

"It gave you the poer, yes. But, technicaly speaking there are only two slayers."

"You and Faith."

"Yeah. I'll still train you though. I'm just saying that I want you to go to high school."

"Yeah, yeah. It's because you love me, right?"

"Of course." Buffy smiled again and the bus came go a jolting hault. There was a loud noise and if the bus had hit something large. Giels looked out the window and then opened the bus doors.

"Buffy please come with me." Giles said as he exited the bus. Buffy was quick to follow.

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