Prelude:  The Journey Begins
 

December 2009

As I have stated in my journals, sometimes to face the uncertainty of the future, one must return to the shadows of the past.  That is what we’ve done.  After we averted world domination by the demon hybrids, Buffy, Willow and myself returned to Sunnydale.  I took over my old apartment and Buffy and Willow moved into the attic of the Summers home.  It would be some of the best and worst times of their young lives.

Come August of last year, Willow stumbled upon a cure for the distance rule that applied to them.  It was buried deep within an old forgotten text.  It was a simple incantation and Willow didn’t think twice about performing it.  The spell quadrupled the distance that they could be apart and this enraged Buffy.  They fought long and hard.  With the distance limit no longer an issue, Willow decided that it was time to return to her studies so she packed her bags and left for England once again.  Returning not to the Watcher’s Mansion but to Oxford so she could resume the end of her Senior year.  She’s been gone for four months and I’m afraid that it’s been very hard on Buffy.

Phone calls, but mostly letters, have been exchanged but the toll that it’s taken on them is going to be far reaching.  Willow has attained what she’s always strived for:  Academic and personal independence.  She’s graduated at the top of her class with a doctorate in two fields:  Demonology and Computer applications with a minor in old world languages.

The pride I feel is indescribable.  I always knew she was bound for greater things than this dreadful town would allow.  She is now Doctor Rosenberg and will begin her studies right here on the Hellmouth.  There is no better place to start than this.

I fear that Buffy is feeling inadequate and lost.  As I write even now, Willow is returning to us. Buffy doesn’t know it yet, Willow wanted it to be a surprise.  With all the problems she’s had in these past few years, she returned to Oxford and was able to complete her studies and graduate now in December.  She has no need for pomp and circumstance, so she simply picked up her diploma, packed her belongings and booked the first flight she could find.

Time grows short and soon I will have to reveal the next obstacle that lies in our paths.  I am still struggling with the knowledge that Xander was so kind as to bestow on me.  I’ve received a few calls from Spike but as of yet, Xander’s status is still unknown.  Willow has requested that I not pick her up at the airport.  Perhaps it is for the best.  She and Buffy have a lot to discuss.

Rupert Giles

He stumbled out of an alley and fell on already bruised knees.  ‘Have to get away.  Have to get away.’  The words repeated themselves in his head like a mantra.  He noticed that he was being tracked back in Santa Fe.  God, that was a month ago.  What ever this thing was, it wasn’t about to give up.  He opened his eyes and his stomach retched from the stench of the puddle of liquid in front of him.  This was no way to live, it was no way to die.  If he didn’t get his ass off the cold pavement he’d die for sure.  Not this way, please.  He’d fought vampires, demons, been kidnapped, beaten and kicked around.  He wasn’t about to die in an alley alone.  He picked himself up and continued on.

The boy was smart.  Too smart for his own good sometimes.  More like a smart ass.  Spike stepped out of the alley and stayed a few paces behind the cloaked figure.  Two could play at this game.  Rupert wanted to boy back alive, he didn’t say conscious.  He nodded his head and four men set off after him.  Finally after almost a year, Spike had found him.  And he wasn’t about to let the boy go without an explanation.  He watched as they struggled then knocked him out and bagged him.  Spike considered for a moment why he’d agreed to track him then came to the conclusion that it was curiosity.  The boy had been up to something big and if he was gonna find out what it was, then he’d have to deliver this package to good old Sunnydale.

Kick, punch, kick, punch, swing, slam, poof!  <This is way too easy>  The Slayer thought to herself.  As if they’d sensed her cockiness, they last two vampires stepped up their attack.  She was sent slamming into a tree and slid down with a resounding thud.  They attacked together, grabbing her arms while she was still stunned and both leaning in for the kill.  She hesitated a moment then broke free.  Two stakes emerged from her sleeves and she jammed them home creating two clouds of dust next to her.

“Morons.”  She shook out her hair and retracted the stakes.  “Thank you Angel.”

Before they all parted ways in England, Angel gave Buffy a pair of stake cuffs.  It took her only about five minutes to learn how to use them and they’d proved to be very useful when she was faced with a group of vamps.

Buffy glanced at her watch as she exited the graveyard. Ten o’clock.  Patrols were getting shorter and shorter and much too easy since she’d been turned immortal.  She headed up the block engrossed in thought.  For the past four months, one scene played over and over in her mind.  It was one of the first and most hurtful fights she and Willow ever had……

<<<<”I can’t believe you’d do this to me.”

”Buffy, I did it for us.  What if we need to be apart, what if I need to go to England, or France or Russia or.”

”Then I’d go with you.  There’s no reason for us to be apart now.  Why couldn’t have we discussed it!”

”Because you’d try to change my mind.  I need my independence.”  She saw Buffy’s back go stiff at these words but she continued on.  “I want. . .I want to finish my studies.”

She whipped around with fear and anger dancing in her eyes.  “Go back to England?  You want to go back to England after everything we went through there?”

“After everything I went through there.  Me!  I was the one who was attacked.  I was the one who was raped by a demon and almost drained by his cadre, not you!”  Her voice rose to a frantic pitch.  “I need to face this.  I can’t let it hover over me like a black cloud.”

“And what about me?  Did you forget that I died and had to live as a vampire?  Do you know how hard that was for me, how disgusting I felt?”

“But your not anymore.  You don’t understand.  You faced what ever it was you had to in order to get over this.  I haven’t.  I won’t run scared anymore.  I need to finish my doctorate, this is important to me.  Why can’t you support me?”

“Support you?  I don’t even know who you are anymore, Will.  All you do is study and practice witchcraft and go back to studying more.  If I wanted to live with Giles, I would have moved in with him, not you!”

She stood firm with tears in her eyes.  “Buffy, I’m going back.  Not to the mansion but to Oxford.  I have to finish my studies, I have to do this.”

Buffy shook her head in disbelief.  “You already called, didn’t you?  You applied for re-admittance.”

Willow nodded her head.  “I can live in a single flat right on campus.”  She walked up to Buffy and tried to touch her arm but Buffy pulled away.  “Don’t do this, I need you.”

”You don’t need me, Will.  I just wonder now if you ever did.”

”What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You went to Giles you went to Angel you went to Cordelia. . .you went to everyone but me.”

”Buffy you don’t understand. . .you don’t know how much. . .”

”Because you didn’t let me know.  You didn’t tell me what you were going through.  You didn’t trust me enough.”  She wiped the hot tears away from her eyes.  “I can’t do this with you Will, I can’t fight.  I don’t have it in me to stand here and. . .”  She looked at her for a long moment before grabbing her keys and heading out the door.

“Buffy wait!” >>>>

She put her key in the door and opened it.  That was the last time they really talked.  In four months, they’d spoken on the phone twice and letters came very infrequently.  They were mostly filled with how her studies were going, how she’d joined a coven on campus and was improving every day.  Nothing about the fight, nothing about how sorry either one of them were.  They acted like it never happened but it did.

Buffy opened the fridge and pulled out a can of soda.  She sauntered over to the couch and turned the TV on.  Yet again, this was going to be a long night.  Nights like this were the longest ones she’d ever experienced in her life.  Nights without Willow.

It was drizzling lightly.  Willow stood outside the back entrance of the Summers’ home and let the rain caress her skin.  It felt good and refreshing. . . and a little sad.  She looked up and sighed.  <The sky is crying.  I wonder if this is a sign of what I’m in for?>  She chuckled to herself.  That was pretty cheesy, but it fit the situation well.

Everything and nothing flashed through her brain in the ten or so minutes she’d been standing there.  Buffy.  What was she going to say to her?  Would she welcome her back with open arms. Or?  The though sent a shiver down her spine, or maybe it was just the rain.  No use in thinking about it now. . .no thinking, just go up there, damnit and tell her how much you missed her, how sorry you are that she was hurt so badly.

She stood there, house keys clenched so tightly in her hand that it almost hurt.  She looked up again and sighed.  This was going to be on of the longest nights she’d ever experienced in her life.  Her first night home with Buffy.