Buffy

Oh God, it’s over. She’s really done it. Ended her teenaged fantasy of perfect romance once and for all. Turns out the handsome prince is really a toad.

Buffy sits on the bed, watching over an exhausted Spike as he slumbers, her hand gently stroking his sleep-lax face. So young and peaceful in repose, it’s easy to forget Spike’s century of murder and mayhem, she reminds herself.

Is he her future? One way or another, they’re tied together. They break and bleed for each other. She’s risked life and limb to rescue him – he’s died for her.

Come what may.



Spike

Exhaustion. Overwhelming inexorable bone-deep mind numbing fatigue keep his eyes closed. Spike knows she’s sitting with him. Her scent and her touch are sense memory for him. Just knowing she’s there allows him to relax.

His magnificent bitch Queen. Spike just knows he’s smiling. If she asks for a limb, he’ll willingly hand her the blade… because he knows, finally. In word and in deed she’s proven her feelings today. He matters – to her.

When he wakes up, he’ll thank her for putting him first. Gunn, Lorne, Harmony - supportive friends – novel for him. He could get used to this.



Lorne

He’s a lover, not a fighter. His motto since Pylea. So pray tell, how did he end up with two vampires, a Slayer and a street thug cum magically enhanced lawyer in his home?

Slayer and Vampire – an old tale, with a re-cast male lead. All the makings of a smash hit. Vampy little secretary. Ah well, he can always use an assistant no matter what he does next. Gunn? He’ll stay or go as he sees fit. No worries there.

They saved a soul and a life, but his heart breaks as it sings.

Busted trust and lost friendship.



Harmony

Oh God! What did she do? Is she nuts? Where the hell is she going to find another office job that operates on vampire time? And there’s the issue of her apartment and finding a source for blood and keeping up with the latest fashions… what’s a single vampiress to do?

Even without a soul, Harmony knew she did the right thing. She’s always been Sireless. Making her way in the world without help has been more than difficult. But if a Sire could do what Angel did to her Blondie Bear… maybe she’s been the lucky one all along.



Gunn

Man, why does it always boil down to taking sides? Bloods and Cryps, humans and vamps… Rodney King had the right of it. Why can’t they all just get along?

He’s so damned tired of fighting. Thought the law was the way out, finally. Yeah, demons for clients, but he was dealin.’ The law was resolute, until he pushed at it. Wasn’t bloody until Angel made it so.

He’ll never look at it in the same way again.

Not since Spike. To see him so trashed by the letter of the law. Vampire law. Bastards were as devious as humans.



Wes

Wes has a headache no mere analgesic will banish. How does one cope with finding out that the vampire he’s trusted with his life for more than five years has baldly lied about events from the past year?

It’s not the issue of Spike, per se. He doesn’t know him on a personal level. But he does… did know Angel – or so he thought. Side by side, fighting the good fight, even in the belly of the beast.

To be capable of murder by disassociation even with his soul and lying about it? How can he trust in Angel again?



Fred

Fred’s heard of the ruckus in Angel’s office over lunch in the Wolfram & Hart cafeteria. So much hostility and venom, she decided discretion was the better part of valor and tucked tail, hiding in her lab.

So confusing. Angel’s old girlfriend now has a new boyfriend, who was also a vampire who was once part of Angel’s family but who’s since been sold like an animal to the slaughter.

Spike had survived, just like she did in Pylea. Only met him once, for a few brief moments last year, but she tips her hat to him for his rescue.



Angel

Loss and betrayal rival an edged blade in their ability to cause pain, and awareness is a double edged sword. Angelus wielded these tools like a master.

Images of William laid out before him – held fast by chains and cuffs, hole torn and dripping with his Sire’s spendings. No hope of comfort. No desire for rescue. “Yours,” he says. “Always yours, you bastard.”

Held in Gunn’s arms – “You set me free – my own, now!”

Angel awakens with a scream, muffled by the fangs embedded in his lower lip.

And he wonders if he might have gone too far, after all.



Anya

Nobody knows she’s still around; still in existence. D’Hoffryn rescued her spirit from the Hellmouth just as her mortal body was pierced by the Turok-han’s blade. Back in the vengeance game with a… well… vengeance.

She’s happy now. No ties to the pathetic band of mortal children she’d been attached at the hip to. Xander will move on – maybe find himself a good man for a change. Willow, she’ll find her own way.

She hears a pained cry for justice… from Buffy? Against… Angel? Oh my God! Poor Spike. Hmph – about time she admitted her feelings for him.

Wish granted!