Title: The Alone Together Trilogy
Author: Cobalite
Email: cobalite@yahoo.com

Alone Together: All Journeys Must End


She was a stunning brunette, seemingly in her mid twenties. The girl walking beside her could be no more than fifteen. "This is one of the oldest section in the cemetery. Are you going to tell me why we're here?"

"I'm visiting someone. You can head over to the newer section and look for any new arrivals." Cordelia shooed her charge away.

"Chase, someday I'm going to pry your secrets out." Vanessa Winestaff, Vampire Slayer left her Watcher to the past, and headed to where her school mate had been buried this morning.

Cordelia watched her go, and went to a small semicircle of graves. "Hi everyone. Sorry I haven't been by in a while, but Vanessa is a handful. She reminds me of Buffy sometimes."

She opened the bag from the florist she carried with her, and pulled out a lavender lily. "I'll never understand how Angel convinced them to bury you in your leather pants, Faith, but it was appropriate. It just wasn't fair what happened to you."

Cordelia put the flower on the grave, and moved on. Faith had spent five years in jail, and the day after she was released, the building she was living in burned down. She had saved the life of the baby living next door, but after making her way out, Faith succumbed to smoke asphyxiation.

On the next grave, she placed a perfect yellow tulip. "Hi, Wes. I fulfilled my promise, I became a Watcher. I sincerely hope I've learned from your mistakes, and my Slayer doesn't try to kill me. You'd be amazed how much the council has changed over the years."

Some years before Angel had earned his redemption, Wesley found out he had developed a heart defect. He made her swear to fix the problems plaguing the Council, and work them out from within. He had a heart attack before the End Of Days even fell.

On the next grave, she put down a bottle of whiskey rather than a flower. "You're not even buried here, so I feel kind of silly, but they tore down the dock a long time ago. I still miss you so much, Doyle, but your parting gift still sucks. No offense. Brought you a new bottle, I hope you like it."

She cracked open the bottle of Jack Daniel's, and placed it in what was supposed to be a built in flower holder. In all the years since his passing, she had never forgotten Doyle, not even for a day.

On the fourth grave, she put a white rose. "I never thought I'd have to bury you too. As much as I cared about them, you were my real family. Your redemption came at such a great cost, Angel. You only had a year as a man before the End Of Days came. I don't think I ever saw Buffy as shocked as when you came barreling out of nowhere in broad daylight and pushed her out of the way."

Cordelia traced her fingers over the angel etched into the tombstone. "I can still see her cradling her head in her lap as you slowly bled out. She looked ready to kill when you called out for me. It took a long time for me to make her understand. Oh, but I wish you'd seen the First's face when she showed up carrying your battle axe, and murder on her mind."

"Hey, Chase, you ready to go?" Vanessa stood just a few feet away, covered in vampire dust.

Cordelia gave her a small smile. "Yeah. I was just saying goodbye. No offense, but you look like a fireplace."

"You don't have to rub it in. You gonna let me in the car?" Vanessa tried to get some dust off her new jacket. "My parent’s are going to murder me if this has to be dry cleaned."

"We’ll think of something." Cordelia stood, and headed towards where they had parked.

"Who were they?" Vanessa snuck a look at the five grave plot, with one blank tombstone.

Cordelia didn’t look back. "My family, my traveling companions whose journeys were cut short."

Vanessa ran her finger over one. "What language is this?"

"Gaelic. Now come on, we should go."

"What does it say?" Vanessa had always been curiouse.

"In the end, we were alone together."


The End