Epilogue

Riley Finn did not die at the hands of either Angel or Angelus, much as those vampires would have liked. Elizabeth forgot about him, and Buffy had returned to her world. Spike, however, had serious anger issues with him, and tortured the former soldier for days on end, Dru at his side. Riley lived much longer than he would have liked, and when Dru turned him as a present to her consort, he lived even longer than that, tortured every day for the part he’d played, however inadvertently, in the chipping of Spike. When Spike finally killed him, years later, Riley had forgotten why he was there to begin with. It was probably just as well. 

Tara grew into her powers, enjoying the feel of such strength and control. She stayed with Elizabeth most times, only traveling when her Sire wished her to, on official business. She became one of the most powerful sorcerers in the world, but underneath it all, she was still the scared and abused girl from a trailer park in Maine. To cover that hatred of her beginnings, she grew more and more vicious, until her name rivaled Spike’s. Tara always was, however, extremely loyal to Elizabeth, and by extension, Angel. 

Spike and Dru continued their ways, knowing their place in Angel’s court, and enjoying the newfound freedom that being Family to the most powerful vampire in the world afforded them. Spike couldn’t resist needling Angel, from time to time, but that was the nature of their relationship. 

Giles, Cordelia, Wesley, and Faith moved back to Los Angeles. They continued the fight against evil, keeping clear of Angel’s rule, and the Watcher’s Council, or what remained of them. True to his word, after Angel made arrangements to have Faith released from jail, he wiped out most of the Council, taking special care to instruct Quinton Travers on the error of his ways. That had taken a while, but Angel had reveled in the experience. A downsized Council continued the fight, training Slayers and Watchers, and maintaining the balance as best they could.

Elizabeth and Angel ignored the rest of their world, more interested in each other than in much else. It’d taken a lot for them to find the other, and they weren’t going to mess things up now. They were as devoted to each other as any couple, and perfectly happy to live in a world that bowed to them as Rulers of the Hellmouth. Briefly, Angel considered taking over the human world, too, but decided against it. Too much work, not enough time to spend with his beloved. 

There was one time when they separated, but no one knew what the fight was over; no one wanted to ask, either. It’d lasted six of the longest months everyone wanted to forget. Spike had played matchmaker, eventually, had tracked Elizabeth down to where she and Tara were staying in Rome, and had tricked her into returning. He’d then locked her and Angel into a soundproofed, vampire-proofed room, and lost the key for three days. He’d survived the torture Angel meted out for that, but hadn’t cared. Those six months were the worst kind of hell, and Spike was desperate. 

Angelus and Buffy returned to their world, Willow with them. Buffy turned Willow, making her magickally gifted friend one of them. Willow hadn’t dealt with the change well at all, and had nearly self-destructed. Not because she retained her soul and couldn’t bear the burden, not even because she went insane like Drusilla. No, she realized the power she had, and used her vampire skills along with her magick ones to become more powerful than her body could handle. 

Angelus seriously contemplated destroying her when she became a danger to Buffy, but his lover intervened before it came to that. Willow was now traveling with Richter and Dalton, securing the rest of the world under Angelus and Buffy’s leadership. 

William and Drusilla continued their roles under Angelus’ reign, going to place when Angelus could not, quelling the odd rebellion, and generally keeping the riffraff out of Angelus’ way. The world ran smoother that way. 

Angelus and Buffy, for their part, were perfectly happy with each other. Buffy had someone who would never leave her, and Angelus had a Mate who was every bit his equal. They took over the demonic world before slowly infiltrating the human one. With humans as their food supply, however, there was no culling, no genocide, and no overt take over. Human governments still controlled their various countries, but Angelus and Buffy ruled over all of them. 

Buffy hadn’t much cared, she had her Mate, her lover, her Angelus, and wanted nothing more. Angelus, worried over her safety, had wanted to ensure that safety, that forever, and had done so by securing the world. 

As for those mysterious watchers…  

I’m so confused,” she said to her partner. The other woman nodded and looked down at the couples – now separate – in equal confusion. 

“Yeah. Like what happens when Elizabeth is born there? Will everything happen again? Will this horrid cycle we had to put up with – I mean fix,” she said hastily with a quick glance around to make sure no one else was listening. “Start all over again?” 

“No,” a new voice said from a shadow that suddenly appeared. The shadowed formed into a human looking being. “We’ve taken her out of the equation in that world. One Buffy is enough, don’t you think?” 

Moving closer to each other, they exchanged looks. This wasn’t good. This meant that someone knew all about their little fuck up. This meant that with this…person here, someone was going to send them back to- 

“No,” the man/woman/being assured them though they said nothing. “You still have much to make up for. You think that just because you managed to make a mess out of this, your time is up?” 

He/She/It gave a bark of laughter that sent shivers through them, scaring the two more completely than existing in that limbo state with their conscious minds all too aware that things weren’t the same. That time moved on, that they were caught, trapped there in the nothingness that surrounded them. They fought and screamed, begged and pleaded and were willing to sell their souls to anyone, anyone, if it would only get them out. Set them free. Make them whole again. 

Their plea had been granted. 

And it wasn’t a pretty sight. 

“I trust,” their mysterious benefactor said in that same voice, hard edged that covered the nothing behind it. The nothing that they noticed behind his/her/its flat black eyes. “That the next time, you’ll do better?” 

“Y-Ye-Yes,” Willow stammered, scared to her core. She hadn’t liked this ‘messenger’ from the moment he/she/it rescued her, and liked whatever it was even less when she realized just what the consequences were for her several – small – mistakes over the years. 

The so-called benefactor disappeared as quickly as appearing, leaving the two women alone once more. 

 “Where did they go wrong?” Willow asked her friend, lover, enemy. It’d been a long time that they were trapped in the nothingness, and things between them changed. But not that much. 

The woman before her continued to look utterly incredulous. Disbelief, skepticism, and unimaginable, inconceivable, horror at the woman’s actions…and maybe, just a little, sheer amusement.  Still she said nothing, unable to remember how to form even the thought of words they really didn’t need to communicate. 

“And they’re not destroying the world are they?” What was her friend’s problem? 

“She’s a vampire!” Came the outburst. 

“A slight miscalculation,” Willow shrugged. 

“And with the WRONG Angelus!” 

“Look, I got them together, so it was with an alternate reality Angelus, it was still together. And I fixed it, didn’t I?” What was the problem here? Everything was working out just fine…more or less, sort of, in a roundabout way. 

“BY BRINGING THE OTHER BUFFY HERE!” Her voice, once working, refused to work below a rather high decibel. 

“What’s wrong with that?” Again another shrug, and Willow wondered just what her companion was so worked up over. “She was going to die in a few months, anyway, saving a key-person-sister, whatever, who wasn’t ever meant to be there.” 

Sputtering, her friend could think of nothing else to say. And then, more calmly but no less incredulous, “They’re meant to be together. In every timeline, alternate universe, parallel dimension, whatever, they’re mean to be together. But together in the ‘from the same timeline, alternate universe, and parallel dimension’ together! There is no switching of universes here!” Her voice was beginning to rise again. 

“Look,” She started out, becoming more angry than amused herself, “You have no idea how hard it is to cast a spell of such magnitude sitting atop a Hellmouth. It throws things askew, makes even the simplest spells go haywire with unpredictable results. Which, may I remind you, is why you wanted me to do this in the first place. I’m stronger than you.” 

“Well, how in all the dimensions are we going to fix it?” She demanded. 

Willow shook her head. “I don’t think we need to, not if,” she waved her hand here to indicate the man/woman/person who had just left. “Hadn’t said anything, then what’s the big deal? Besides,” Willow said with a sneered, “I’m sure this is your fault, anyway.” 

“Mine?” Cordelia laughed. “What about you, oh powerful one ‘Miss I’m the greatest witch to ever live’. It’s your fault; your spells always go kerplooey.” 

“They do not,” Willow defended, “They just sometimes…go kerplunky. But,” she rallied, “You were the one who messed up in the first place! ‘Miss I’m a Higher Being and I can fix all this.’ Ha!”

“Hey,” her friend spat, “I tried to fix your problem, remember?” 

“Yeah,” Willow scoffed, “As I recall, your words went something like: ‘Since that Buffy’s in the wrong dimension, I’ll just take the Buffy from there and put her here. Simple.’ Ha!” 

“It was,” Cordelia said, confused as to how it hadn’t actually worked. “And I did, see?” 

Oh, yeah, they both saw. It was a mess, an absolute disaster. Worse, it was a disaster crossing two dimensions and involved duplicates of several beings, and frankly, it was a minor miracle no one higher than them – and that scary person-thing – noticed. Because it was a mess, all right. 

“Oh, you did,” Willow agreed as they both peered over the rim of the looking-pool at the mess they’d both made. How had it all happened? What went wrong? Simplicity at its best, and nothing worked out right. 

“Buffy’s with Angel,” Cordelia said but there was no conviction in her voice. “Both Buffy’s are.” 

“Except Angel is Angelus, both of them are.” Willow pointed out as she winced at the scene below. “And both Buffy’s are vampires.” 

“Well…yes.” Cordelia conceded. “But they’re together!” She smiled here, “And that was what we were supposed to do, remember?” 

“I think,” Willow smiled back at her friend wryly, “That they were supposed to both be in possession of their souls when they got back together. Plus, I think that they were supposed to fight on the side of good, too. Remember?” 

“Well, okay, fine. Whatever. We did our jobs, there are thousands of other realities to get it right. What’s two out of that?” 

“I don’t think we’re getting the chance, Cor,” Willow laughed as she closed the mirror to the dimension they’d severely screwed up by setting free two Angelus’ and soulless Buffys. “We’ll be lucky to retain our power and positions.” 

“Ha,” the brunette higher being scoffed as she looped her arm through Willow’s and led her away from the distressing window to the worlds. “No one else wanted this job, remember? It’s ours, until everything’s put to right. Since that in itself could take forever, considering the stupidity and stubbornness of Angel and Buffy, I’d say we have loads of chances to make it up to the rest of them. Souls and all.” 

“Oh, yeah,” Willow remembered, the failure of these two dimensions fading at the possibility of a new one to fix. “Okay, then,” she smiled, “You pick this time.” 

“Hmm, okay,” Cordelia waved her hand and a scene appeared in the looking pool. 

“Uh,” Willow stared hard at the scene, sure she was seeing wrong. “Are you sure this is right?” She thought she was going to be ill. 

“No?” Cordelia shuddered. “I think I’m going to be sick.” 

Before them Angel was kissing Cordelia, his large hands pulling her closer as one slipped the strap of her tank top down her shoulder, his mouth following. 

“Quick, change it!” Cordelia yelled, hands flying to her eyes to cover them. She couldn’t help but peek, however, in horrified fascination at the sight. She shuddered again and breathed a sigh of relief when Willow changed to the Buffy of whatever new hell dimension she’d picked. 

“Are you sure this is right?” Cordelia asked as her hands fell away from her eyes in fresh horrified fascination at the new picture. 

“No?” Willow repeated and watched as Spike slipped Buffy’s pants from her legs, his lips following the trail up the slayer’s thighs. 

“See?” Cordelia croaked, hastily waving her hand to rid the pool of the sickening pictures, sure she’d have those images in her head for years to come. “There are plenty dimensions out there more fucked up than that one,” she chucked her thumb behind her, signaling the two dimensions they’d just ‘fixed.’ 

“I mean come on, Angel and me?” Cordelia continued with another shudder. “Please, and Buffy and Spike? What kind of hell are we talking about here?” 

Willow nodded, her stomach loosening a little at Cordelia’s words. “You’re right. No one would ever believe that.”

Part 28

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