Eternity
I always knew- somewhere in my blood- that when the day came, I'd be *here*.I guess it's no surprise, really. Where else would I be?
It's not like we planned it or anything. we just. *knew*.
I knew the reason (besides the fact that he's my Childe and I love him, no matter whether I have a soul or not) that I didn't kill him was for *this*.
He looks up at me and smiles. "Hi."
"Hey. Been a long time."
"Yes," he agrees.
"How are you?"
He shrugs at me, which means he's doing about as well as can be expected at times likes these.
I look down- and it's just wrong. I know. it's life. but it's wrong.
Dawn Summers. Great sister. Loved friend. The key to our hearts. 1985-2073
I take his hand in mine and he just leans into me. I wrap my arm around his shoulder and we just stand
here.She's the last. Dawn is the last to die.
Buffy was the first slayer to make it to thirty, and then found out she had breast cancer. She fought the hardest battle of her life and learned she would lose that one. So she. no one else knows what happened between us in her bedroom that night. They just know that in the morning, her pain was gone and she was at peace again. Finally.
As for the rest of the gang? Willow and Tara got back together and died hand-in-hand from a soul-binding spell. (The same spell they used to ensure my ability to be extremely happy.) They wanted to die together and they did, swinging on their front porch swing with grey in their hair.
Xander and Anya travelled the world with the small fortune she made after having invested the money from the magic shop very wisely. When Xander passed on shortly after his eightieth birthday, Anya just went to sleep one night and never woke up again. Poor thing. I guess she missed him too much to stick around any longer.
Cordelia and Gru got married, as did Gunn and Fred. They too died after a long and happy life. At *least* we can say that about everyone except Buffy. None of them had children, though. Dawn was our hope- but she never married or had children.
She was involved in quite a few serious relationships and we always thought she would get married and have a family. but she never did.
She never told us that. she never got her period. Ever. Spike told me recently that Willow asked her one day why she'd never had children. Dawn replied that when she went for her first appointment with a doctor, that she'd found out that she had no uterus. I guess when the monks decided to pour the key into a body, they decided that said body didn't need to reproduce.
At least she *was* happy, though. And she was loved. She led a free life- free love. She had several lovers and travelled quite a bit, learning everything she
could about anything."Angel?"
"Yeah, Spike?"
"What are we gonna do now?"
"Live for eternity," I reply.
"Shall we."
"Yeah. I think we're done here." And we are. Dawn was the last of the Scoobies. We promised to protect them. *I* promised Buffy, that night in her room, that we would see to everything. I promised that Spike and I would protect her family and see to it that every one of her friends and family was protected always.
And we did just that.
We walk slowly back to my car and he gets in the passenger's seat.
"Boston?" I ask.
"How about Paris? It *was* their favourite city."
"Paris it is."
I glance over at Spike, who is still as beautiful as ever. I smile as I remember the *other* promise I made to Buffy that night. I promised to take care of *Spike*, because I knew that in her own way, she loved him. And in *his* way, he loved her too.
But regardless of that promise, I was *always* planning to spend eternity with him, and I suspect that was always his plan, as well.
*That* is why we never really *tried* to kill each other, all those years ago.
~Fin~