• Prologue-



    Death, was her Gift


    “Listen to me, because there isn’t enough time, listen,” Buffy started, she struggled to hold tears back, but she knew what she had to do. Death, was in fact, her gift, she had pondered over what the guide has said the last few days, but now, she finally understood. Summers blood, they were connected, Buffy was Dawns’ sister, the monks had created Dawn, out of Buffy. “tell Giles I figured it out, and, that I’m okay.” Buffy continued, as Dawn cried before her. “Give my love to my friends; you have to take care of them now. “You have to take care of each other...” Buffy said, her voice cracked a bit at the end of her sentence. “You have to be strong, Dawn, the hardest thing, in this world, is to live in it.” Buffy said, as she gently caressed her sister’s face. “Be brave, live, for me.” Buffy finished, she gently kissed her sister on the forehead, before turning around, and sprinting off the makeshift tower. It wasn’t long before, she hardly had any time to prepare herself, the shock of what the key opened, what her sister’s blood had opened, what their blood had opened, hit her.

    It felt like being ripped apart from the inside out, and then hastily being sewn back together, and being forced to move. It felt like jumping into a swimming pool, while many live electronics had been thrown in right after you, but as fast as the pain came, it went, and Buffy remembered closing her eyes, just before she touched ground.
    Dawn couldn’t stand to be atop the tower any longer, daylight, was fast approaching, and honoring Buffy’s last wishes, she had to take care of the others, and there was one friend in particular down there that wouldn’t fair well in the sunlight. Dawn hurriedly ran down the creaking steps of the tower, it felt like her feet had grown wings, because she reached the end of the tower within seconds.

    “No, this isn’t happening, this is a dream, we, I, am going to wake up now.” Xander told himself, his arms were growing weak under Anya’s weight, and he struggled to hold her up. It felt like the weight of the world, had crashed down upon him all at once.

    “There has got to be something, something we can do. . .” Willow struggled to say between sobs. “This isn’t the end, it wasn’t supposed to end this way, she was suppose to get there first, she told us she would get there first!” Willow sobbed into Tara’s shoulder, and Tara embraced Willow, comforting her.

    “We need to go, Buffy, she told me, we nee-” Dawn began, but her sentence broke halfway, as her eyes met Buffy’s mangled body. Dawn couldn’t stop the scream that escaped her lips, and she collapsed onto the final stairs of the tower, crying loudly, she pulled her knees to her chest, and just continued to sob.

    “Dawn is right, we need to go, the sun.” Anya said, pointing towards the sky, had being an ex-vengeance demon, Anya didn’t know how to feel just yet, she would need to talk to Xander about it later. She knew she was sad when Joyce died, but was she supposed to be sad when Buffy died? Where you suppose to be sad when anybody died? Anya wasn’t sure.

    Spike pulled himself up to his feet; he was shaking with anger, fear, and sadness. Surely there had to be another way to have gone about this? She didn’t have to jump off the tower; something clearly had pushed her off, right? Maybe it was Doc, maybe her apprehended Buffy when she reached the top of the tower, maybe he pushed her off? He was clearly a supporter of Glory, which was clear now, but could he, whatever he was, over throw the slayer? Or was Spike just making excuses for himself, trying not to accept that this was his entire fault? It clearly was, if he had just been stronger, maybe if he had thought over it a bit more before sprinting up the tower, maybe he could have killed Doc before he pushed Buffy, if that was truly the case, maybe, just maybe…

    “Anya is right, some of us, need hospital, other need shelter.” Giles said, he seemed to be in a catatonic state, he wasn’t allowing himself to feel just yet, he had lost people before, but this time, it hit closer to home than he had liked. Giles wasn’t stupid, he knew building up these kinds of emotions, wasn’t healthy, but he had to be strong, for Dawn, for the others, he was the fatherly figure, he couldn’t break down in front of everyone else.

    Giles walked over to Dawn, sat down next to her, and patted her shoulders. “We need to go to hospital, you’ve been cut, you need proper healing, and we need to go.” Giles said gently, not wanting to upset her, and make Dawn feel like he was forcing her to go, but that she had to go.

    “But Buffy, what are we going to do about Buffy, we can’t tell them, what truly happened, what are we going to say?” Willow asked, finally calming down, but she started crying hysterically again when she looked to Buffy’s body.

    Giles thought about this, he really thought about it, and in the end, he came up with one logical answer. That what Willow asked, was a very good question, and at the moment, he had no idea how to answer it.