Rating: umm...I'm thinking along the lines of PG...in the meantime. Who knows what the future might bring:).
Disclaimer: nope, last time I checked, nothing was mine.
Spoilers: well...better safe than sorry: everything up to the end of season 3 can be spoilery.
Synopsis: I have a strange drive to rewrite season 3 of BtVS. I just don't seem to like the way it ended...beats me why. Anyway, so despite the fact that the original plan was to begin with "Helpless" (that's around the time everything really started getting screwed up B/A-wise), as you can see, plan's changed and I'm going to start with "Anne". If you expect to find in this series events/quotes from the original season....I seriously mean it - I'll try my hardest keeping them to the very minimum. But all in all - it's probably a yet another attempt to end the season on a more "positive" B/A level. See how it goes:).
Pairing: the conventional ships: B/A, W/O, C/X. If I decide to torture any/all of them, you'll be the first to know:).
Distribution: ask first.
Feedback: please, yes, please.

Three doors to go through
I only want the one
That leads to you
They say
There's three doors to go through
I only want the one
That leads to you
Because only one leads to you

- Vast, "Three Doors"

Buffy released a strained sigh and sat down on a bench, clasping her hands in her lap. "This place freaks me out," she observed, looking at the playground ahead of her.

Faith shrugged but wasn't at all as indifferent as she was professing to be. Both girls shared similar emotions at that moment, the only difference was that Buffy wasn't trying to hide hers. She sat down next to the other Slayer, glancing at the same thing she was. "It happens, you know," she said, unsure whether she should have shown a bit more sympathy.

Buffy briefly glanced at her, then nodded. "I know. It's not that, I…I don't really know what bothers me so much about this whole thing."

"So what is it?" the brunette inquired, tossing her stake in the air. "You realize you're not making sense, do you?"

"None of it makes sense."

Faith rolled her eyes, clearly not at all enthusiastic talking about the subject. "Where's your boy, shouldn't he be meeting us here tonight?"

"He was still asleep when I left," the blonde replied abstractly, not bothering to turn her gaze at the girl sitting next to her. "He'll find us," she whispered.

"Like where?" Faith exclaimed, but was still making sure not to raise her voice too much. "I came to slay, so let's slay. I'm not in the mood for waiting…"

"He'll find us," Buffy asserted confidently, not looking at her. "Besides, what's it all for, anyway? Did you ever stop to think about that? "

"Yeah, like every second of my life," the brunette replied, looking at her as though she was out of her mind for asking that. "I was born to *think* about that, so were you. That's what we do, and if the asses in the Council need us to do it, I'm *thinking* there's a purpose to it too."

"Even when this happens?" Buffy gesticulated at the swings and carousels with candles, pictures and toys scattered all about them.

"People die every day, Buffy," Faith blurted out, not even acknowledging it was one of the rare occasions in which she referred to her sister-Slayer by her full first name. "It isn't the end of the world," she added, more quietly. "It's a part of it."

"She's right," a third voice joined the two girls, and they recognized it at once.

"Angel," Buffy turned to her approaching boyfriend, and stood up, silently waiting until he came closer and wrapped his arms around her.

The vampire sat down, greeting the brunette Slayer with a polite nod, still holding his girlfriend in his arms.

Faith watched the two for the couple of minutes of silence they took to be only with each other, inwardly acknowledging they had been doing it every time they met after a while of having not seen one another. It seemed to be some kind of a sacred ritual, made by them and just for the two of them. And more than that, it was a ritual she wasn't a part of. The time when she had hated Angel merely for the sake of being a vampire was now long gone, and Faith had recently found herself jealous at what he and Buffy shared. She wanted the way he held her, the way he kissed her, the way he touched her, the way she was the only thing in the world for him, the way he looked at her…and she wanted it all for herself only. She wanted *him* for herself only, even though each time she saw the couple together, she only realized more she would never have him.

"How are you?" the vampire asked his girlfriend, propping her chin up with his forefinger. They had talked about everything that had happened before, but when he saw her several moments ago, a part of him grasped she was a lot more affected by it than she knew herself.

Buffy sighed, laying her head back on his chest and securing her arms around his waist.

"Faith was right," he said, gently running his long fingers through her blond hair as he spoke, glancing pointedly at the brunette Slayer.

"I know." She looked up at him. "They were just kids, Angel . I don't think…I don't think I ever saw kids die before."

He swallowed, inwardly searching for the right words to comfort her with. He had seen more than enough children die in his days, he remembered dozens of little bodies frozen by death, in every position, size and state. In fact, he had taken most of these short lives himself…

"It's all pointless, Angel," his girlfriend spoke again, shifting herself until she sat up straight and lay her head on his shoulder. "I woke up today, and I realized I didn’t have a purpose. I was just…empty."

"You can never stop all the demons there are, Buffy, it was never the point of what you're here to do," he replied, staring off into space. " You, and Faith, and I…just like we're here to save lives, we are also here to watch people die. It's inevitable. You can't fight death," he looked down, stroking her cheek mildly. "You're not supposed to. But as long as you're here…" he glanced at the candles-lit playground, "they know they can't win."

She offered him a weak smile, clasping one of his hands in hers.

"I wish I could shelter you," Angel whispered, kissing the top of her head, "from al the bad things in the world, I wish I could make it all a fairytale for you…but I can't do that," he locked eyes with Buffy again. "But," he glanced at Faith again, who seemed to be uncharacteristically attentive to his words just like his girlfriend, "we're here to make this world as good as it can be. That's what we're fighting for."

"It's not enough," the brunette Slayer muttered, seemingly speaking from under the multiple layers of cold she had been harboring over the years.

The vampire gave her a long look that caused her to cast her eyes to the ground, then glanced down at his girlfriend, then to his feet. "Then maybe it isn't meant to be," he mused.

******

"I still don't get what you're trying to find," the blonde remarked, flopping into a chair in the library, while her Watcher was sitting by the same desk as she, his nose buried in three books simultaneously.

"I'm not exactly sure myself, if you haven't noticed," he muttered in response, not lifting his eyes from the page.

"You're the Watcher, aren't *you*, at least, supposed to know what you're looking for? My job is to ask questions."

The Englishman glanced at her irritably, and returned to his books. "Are you certain you and Faith didn't come across anything unusual on your patrol last night?"

"Nothing, I swear."

"And," he cleared his throat, "and Angel?"

"He joined Faith and I. Then she said she had to go, so the two of us swept the cemeteries for a couple of hours before we went home. But we didn't see anything, just vampires," the Slayer promised her Watcher. "What about that symbol, the one…you know, the one I saw on the kids' bodies? Maybe it's a lead?"

"I don't know," Giles admitted, straightening up and removing his glasses to polish the lenses. "It could be practically anything…or-or nothing. According to my books, this symbol is absolutely harmless. What about Angel ?" he looked up at the blonde.

"What about him?"

"Does he know something?"

"Why would Angel know *anything*?" she asked suspiciously.

"I didn't mean it like that," her Watcher apologized, and rephrased, "he's older than any of us. Perhaps…perhaps he's encountered something similar in the past. You might consider asking him."

"Frankly, I think Angel and I already covered every angle of every possible conversation about this subject, Giles," she replied, not seeing the point in the Watcher's suggestion. She and Angel really had talked quite a lot about what had happened, and even rose assumptions of their own as to whom might have committed that horrible crime. However, they had reached the same dead end as her Watcher.

"Maybe…maybe he'd like to come here and help us…"

Buffy looked at him sharply.

Giles instantly caught the change in her. "What I'm trying to say is," he swallowed, struggling his way through the words. It wasn't easy for him, but he knew it was time. And if he had already turned the conversation's topic to the ensouled vampire, he might as well go all the way. "Tell Angel h-he's…welcomed here. Just tell him that," he mumbled the last words, before turning his full attention back to his research.

The blonde's lips curved up in a smile, as she cast her eyes to the man seated across the table from her. "I will."

A minute hadn't passed by before both of their heads sprang up in alarm due to someone storming into the library.

"We got trouble," Faith greeted them with a not at all pacifying news, as she was rapidly advancing in their direction.

"Faith, what's wrong?" Buffy instantly stood up, and so did Giles.

"Are you alright?"

"You won't believe what's going on out there," the brunette Slayer sank into the chair formerly occupied by the blonde, nearly panting.

"After they confiscated almost my entire collection of books, nothing can surprise me," the Englishman muttered, returning to his reading .

"Are you talking about what my mom-"

"It's gotten way beyond your mommy's little project," Faith dismissed Buffy with a wave of her hand. "They're getting physical now."

"What are you talking about?" Giles looked up, taking off his glasses and gravely beholding the brunette Slayer.

"I thought I'd do a little early sweep tonight," she began her story, leaning back in her chair, "and there was this bunch of people crowded around some abandoned warehouse. I didn't like it, so I went to check it out." She looked up at the blonde Slayer. "They got your best fried tied to a post," she informed her slowly, "with another one I don't know. If I got it right, they're about to burn them both alive."

"Willow?…" Buffy's eyes widened in horror, and so did her Watcher's, who instinctively lay a hand on her arm.

"It is a witch-hunt," he observed, his voice colored with utter disbelief and perplexity.

"That's not the half of it," Faith spoke again, just as the blonde sprang up to her feet, ready to go and save her friend from whomever and whatever she needed to be rescued.

Both Slayer and Watcher shot her similar looks, as though daring her to make it worse than it already was.

"Some of them stayed in the warehouse, but the rest left somewhere, so I followed them." She paused, and held Buffy's gaze for a moment before speaking on. "They went to the mansion. They have Angel, too."

The Slayer seemed to literally freeze for a moment, unable to even breathe. "What?" she asked, her voice low and husky, as if she hadn't perceived what the brunette had said the first time. "Why did he just let them take him, why didn't he fight them?! Why didn't *you* fight them?!"

"What the Hell were we supposed to do?!" Faith exclaimed in her defense. "Kill our way through hundreds of possessed people?! Your mom led the pack, by the way, so maybe you should talk to her."

"Why did they take him?" the blonde inquired quietly.

"My guess is that they were looking for you," her sister-Slayer suggested with a shrug.

"Why me?" the blonde didn't understand.

"How should I know?!"

"I gotta go," Buffy murmured under her breath as she quickly started her way towards the flap doors.

"Where?!" her Watcher exclaimed, trying to talk sense into her. "Buffy, what can you possibly do?! Did you even listen to Faith now, you can't fight off innocent people-"

"Angel is there!" she snapped at him, panic only too evident in her voice. "Fire is ten thousand times more deadly for him than it is for anyone else, do you get *that*? And Willow is there. If I don't go, they'll be killed. They'll be *murdered*. Is *that* your brilliant alternative, Giles?! A bunch of zombies, my mom included, are gonna pull a Jeanne d'Arc on my best friend and my boyfriend! I don't know about you, but I'm *not* letting that happen!" her head snapped around until her eyes found Faith's, and following a silent exchange, the brunette stood up and joined her sister-Slayer, as the two stormed out of the library.

"Good Lord," Giles muttered to himself, as he restlessly began flipping through the pages in the books in front of him.

*****

"Angel!" Buffy gasped, as her eyes fell on her boyfriend, who was securely tied to a post, right between Willow and a third empty stake, with only a pile of clothes next to it. She was about to move forward through the crowd of people that was yet unaware of her presence, when Faith grabbed her arm, pulling her back.

"Where the Hell do you think you're going?" she hissed. "Are you trying to get all of us killed?!"

"Do *you* have a plan?" the blonde shot back.

"Yeah, *live*! That's my plan. And so far, you're not helping it work! You actually think you can get to them in one piece?!" she glanced at the humming crowd of people.

Buffy released her arm from Faith's grip, reluctantly restraining herself, seeing the truth in the Slayer's argument. Her eyes wandered over to Willow, who was unconscious, and then to Angel, peering at him, until he found her eyes and returned her gaze. She stared at him in disbelief, unable to avert her gaze. Next to the confusion that clouded his chocolate orbs, there was a silent pleading - something the Slayer had begun thinking she would never see in them; he genuinely didn't want to die. *He* didn't want to die. "I love you," she mouthed, as she subconsciously darted forward, and was again restrained by Faith.

But before the brunette could say anything, she was cut off by Giles, who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere. "Buffy, wait," he halted her when she tried to wiggle out of Faith's grip.

"What?" she snapped.

"I know what to do," he showed her the potion he had prepared earlier in the library.

She stared at him as though he was speaking a language she didn't understand, until her sister-Slayer voiced her thoughts, "Don't you think it's gonna take a little more than that?" she glanced at the small bottle.

"It will force the demon into his true form," the Watcher explained.

"*What* demon?! Where do you see a demon?!" the blonde hissed through gritted teeth.

"The children-"

"I don't care!" Buffy held up her hands, abruptly cutting into Giles' answer to her own question. "I don't care, forget I asked. You do your demon, whatever and wherever it is, I'll save them," she gestured with her head at the two remaining captives, then turned to look at the brunette. "Faith, cover me." With no further ado, and without waiting for a response from either Watcher or Slayer, she started pushing her way towards Angel and Willow.

************

Landing punches left and right and leaving Faith behind to fight off everyone who was still trying to get in her way, Buffy reached Willow's stake first, and quickly started untying the witch, just as she was beginning to regain consciousness.

"Still alive, Will?" she asked, punching off a man who advanced upon her from behind with one hand and helping her friend steady herself with the other.

Willow nodded, bringing one hand to her head and grimacing, "Ahm…yeah-Buffy!!!" she yelled abruptly, the terror in her voice instantly drawing the blonde Slayer's attention. Her eyes followed the redhead's, widening in astonishment and dread.

"Mom, don't!" she let go of Willow and ran to where her mother was, holding a torch and ready to light the books assembled at the bottom of Angel's stake. She tried to grab the torch from the woman, but when Joyce threatened to use it on her, gave that idea up. "Mom," she attempted to talk rationally, though she was panting, more out of anxiety than short of breath, and was barely able to form words, her eyes constantly darting between the fire and her boyfriend. "Mom, please…*try* listening to me…"

"Why?" Joyce looked at her strangely, as though her words alone were making any sense, while Buffy didn't know what she was talking about.

"Don't you understand? It's all your fault, everything that happens in this town! It should be you," she glanced at the vampire, then back at her daughter, her eyes fixed on hers, dark with anger. "It should be all of you!"

"Mom," Buffy carefully reached her hand for her mother again. "Listen to yourself, you don't know what you're saying…you can't kill a person, you can't do that…mom, put the torch down. Please…" she trailed off as her eyes descried Faith stealthily approaching behind Joyce. Though she was quicker than expected to acknowledge the presence of someone behind her, Joyce didn't get enough time to react before Faith's fist connected full force with her face, instantly knocking her out cold.

"That was my mother," Buffy observed harshly, gesturing at the woman lying at her feet.

"You'll thank me later. Now I gotta bail, seems like Giles found his demon," she darted into the terrified and dazed crowd, that were no longer interested in her or her sister-Slayer, but in saving their lives and understanding what's going on. "You're welcome to join me anytime, B.!" her voice sounded again when she was out of sight.

Buffy untied the ropes from Angel's wrists, and then his ankles. "You okay?" she offered him her hand to hold onto while he dug his legs out of the pile of books and steadied himself on the solid ground.

"That was close," Angel remarked, taking a deep breath. "We should go-" he took the Slayer's hand and pulled her after him to where Faith was fighting. "What is it?" he asked, referring to the glimpse of adoration in his girlfriend's eyes, when she didn't move.

Buffy drew closer, laying her hand on his cheek. "Thank you," she whispered, peering deep into his eyes.

He half-smiled. "Why?"

"Because you wanted to stay with me," she grinned, wrapping her arms around his neck and rising on her tiptoes. "Thank you for that," she whispered, just before their lips met.

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