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When they reemerged, the Sunnydale before them was bleak and cold. Many sections had been burned, and sirens sounded into the night.
"What happened?" Willow asked, her voice high and her face as pale as Angel's.
"An earthquake."
"I never saw an earthquake do this! One may have totaled the library, but one's never demolished the whole town and left it like this!" Xander exclaimed.
"Hold on…we just have to go back a few days…" Buffy's ghost pointed at the town and suddenly in became…sunny. There were Christmas decorations all over and there were many cars driving down the streets in a desperate scramble to get shopping done. The ghost pointed again and they were inside a house. Buffy's.
"Well, when are you coming home?" asked an elderly woman over the phone. There was a silence as she listened to the person over the other line. "I know you don't want to come back, but Willow and Xander miss you! Mr. Giles misses you! Faith misses you! And so do I." Another silence. "Okay, if you have paper work for Mr. O'Hanson. Can you at least try to come up on Boxing Day or New Years? Alright. I love you darling. Merry Christmas." The woman hung up the phone and picked it up again, dialing a number.
"What's going on?" Buffy asked.
"Well…I was too stubborn to come home for Christmas. I was scared of seeing everyone else, since I'd taken off to a university in New York. Amazingly, I actually made it to university." The slayer's ghost replied, shaking her head sadly at her mother.
"So, you didn't come home. Why is Sunnydale in shambles?" Angel asked. The ghost laughed shortly at an unknown joke and replied, "I was about to get to that." She pointed again and the scene changed to night, and a cemetery.
There were sounds of a struggle, and ghosts floated over to where they were coming from: A tall, dark brown-haired girl fighting a taller, more muscular demon. And loosing.
"Is that all you got?" sneered the demon.
"Nope." The girl shot back. She pulled a crossbow from her jacket and shot, getting him in the chest right beside the heart. "Damn!"
The demon chuckled evilly at her and pulled the bolt out. He snapped it like a twig and lightning quick caught hold of the girl and drew her close. She struggled from his strength, but couldn't get free. The demon smirked evilly at her and thrusted the splinted bolt into her chest, not missing the heart. The girl screamed in pain and went limp. As she fell, the demon held her neck and bit into it, sucking the blood from it.
Suddenly, the ground around started shaking with force more powerful than the Hiroshima bombing. A light shot out of the ground in the distance, reached up to the clouds and spread, soon engulfing the whole town. After the glare died, Sunnydale was on fire. Screams could be heard all around, so could gun shots.
"What happened?!" Willow demanded, staring in horror at the surroundings.
"Faith got killed by a powerful vampire. Since I wasn't here to help, he reined the city, eventually killing her. The third slayer death in three years upset the mystical balance on the Hellmouth, and an earthquake hit, splitting the mouth wide open. Or so Giles said." Ghost Buffy explained.
Again she pointed, and the scene changed. They were now in the midst of the carnage reining through Sunnydale: bodies were everywhere, vampires and other assorted demons sucking the life out of them. Other demons were using coals and burning those who were kept alive. Three vampires that were having dinner looked up, yelled to the others and fled. After them came three crossbow bolts, one nailing a vamp in the back. The ghosts turned to see a small group of humans. Well, six humans and a vampire.
"Xander, Cordy, check to see if they're okay. We need to get these guys back to the hospital." Commanded a girl, who ran over an inspected an elderly man. "Oh damn. This one's dead. Angel, Oz, come here. This one…" Two boys ran over, picked up the old man and took him away to where another girl and a man were setting a fire to burn the dead bodies.
"Buffy, they're all dead." Called a girl, running back to her.
"Crap. Okay, let's get these guys cremated before the Suck-Patrol come back." Buffy sighed.
"You can't save everyone. It's not your fault." Older Angel whispered to her, kissing the top of her head and hugging her.
"Glad to see Dead-Boy gets some fashion sense!" Xander quipped. The vampire shot him a glare and Ghost Buffy slapped him in the back of the head. "Ow! I never knew ghosts could hit so hard."
"This wouldn't have happened if Buffy were here to kill Tylifus!" Xander's elder self snapped at the others, walking up and wiping his hands on a towel Giles had handed him.
"You're saying this is my fault?!" Buffy demanded, walking from Angel to the boy.
"Yeah, pretty much. If you had actually come home, or gone to collage in LA-" Buffy punched him hard, silencing him.
"You're exactly why I never came back you annoying-" The slayer didn't finish her sentence, she was too busy punching the crap out of the boy.
"Buffy!" Giles yelled to her, but she ignored and delivered a sharp roundhouse to Xander's face, knocking him down.
"This is not my fault! Say it!" Buffy commanded. Xander looked up at her, his nose and teeth bleeding from where he'd lost a few.
"Okay. It's not your fault!" Xander yelled back. Buffy walked away, tense as ever. Angel started to follow her, but when she held up a cross behind her, he backed off.
"What's her problem?" Cordelia demanded, helping Xander up.
"She's just tense from what happened." Willow informed her. "Come on, we have to-" She couldn't finish because a group of vampires and other demons ambushed them. The majority took on Angel and Oz, and the others picked off the leftover humans.
One particularly fat vampire made an easy dinner of Cordelia, throwing her into the fire.
"Cordy!" Xander proclaimed. He staked his attacker and jumped after fatty. Buffy heard Cordelia's screams as she incinerated and came rushing back, in time to see Xander slump to the ground. Her eyes turned black and hard, in a glare down with Tubby.
"You're going down, Pillsbury Dough-Boy!" The vampire that had claimed the lives of Cordelia and Xander never felt a thing, because he was dust faster than any other vamp. Buffy looked up in time to see two strong demons come up behind Angel and Oz. "Look out!" However, her warning came too late. As Angel turned to look, he was clubbed, as was Oz.
"Oh man . This isn't a very good future." Xander whispered in horror as the unconscious vampire and werewolf were dragged away and Giles was thrown into the fire that had grown considerably.
"Understatement. Come on. We need to see one more thing." Against their wishes, Ghost Buffy changed the scene, and they were at another cemetery. This one was peaceful, with a small hill over looking a river. The ghost pointed again, and they were at the base of the hill. On top was a large marble mausoleum. The four exchanged looks and passed through the wall inside.
There, they found eight beds each adorned with a velvet case and gold plates below. Each of the plates had the names of the buried: "Christian McMalist", "Buffy Summers", "Alexander Harris", "Cordelia Chase", "Willow Rosenburg", "Oz Baslen", "Rupert Giles" and "Faith Richards". On the door were the words; 'These eight died defending the world against the vampires, demons and the forces of darkness. May they rest in peace and reunite in the bliss above'
"We died?" Willow squeaked, going twenty shades of white.
"Unfortunately, yes. Before I died, a new slayer came to Sunnydale and…set stuff straight. She avenged out deaths. She was cool, but I never got to know her."
Buffy turned to see Angel staring past his girlfriend's ghost into a corner. Xander was looking to.
"Whoa! I never knew I looked that damn good when I was 17!" came Xander's voice. The three girls looked to the corner and saw six other ghosts materialize. Buffy's Ghost smiled broadly and flung herself into Angel's arms, and they kissed. Both Ghost Xander and real Xander gagged at the act, and both couples glared at him.
"What?"
"Shut-up Xander." Cordelia told him, or them.
"Can you guys go? We need to talk with them." Buffy asked of her, Giles and Oz. The werewolf and the librarian nodded and disappeared. Cordelia took offense, as usual.
"Why should I listen to you? Listening to you got me killed! I'm never listening to you again!" The other four ghosts groaned and said in unison, "Cordy! Go!"
"Okay, okay. You don't have to shout!" Cordelia faded away, leaving Angel, Buffy, Willow and Xander to talk to their younger versions.
"Can we stop this?" Angel asked.
"Cox Buffy into staying. Try promising a few hours of smooch time…" Ghost Xander replied.
"Probably work." Xander added. Both Buffies and Angels groaned annoyedly.
"Actually he is partially right." Ghost Willow said. They all looked at her. "What? He is! If Buffy stays and saves Faith from dying, Sunnydale won't go hay-wire!"
"So you're saying this was my fault too?" Ghost Buffy asked. "Great! Everyone thinks this is my fault! I did not do this!"
"Buffy I didn't say that. I meant-" But Buffy had disappeared before she could finish.
"Damn. Buffy!" Ghost Angel called after her, disappearing also.
"Bravo Will! You got the slayer pissed again!" Xander told her.
"I didn't mean to!"
"Okay, we hate to interrupt this, but is our little haunting session done? Christmas is going to be gone before we're done, and my cousins are only going to be up for today." Xander cut into their conversation. Ghost Willow spun around from arguing with his ghost, smiling and applauded him.
"Xander! You've got past your greediness!"
"Huh? No I didn't. I want my presents from those little brats!" Xander replied, trying to cover up what he meant.
"Uh-uh! You wanted to get home to see your cousins, but you know they didn't have any money to get you anything!"
"Wow. Xander's actually thinking with his heart." Buffy retorted. Both Xander's glared at her as a watch beeped somewhere.
"Well, it's time for you guys to head back. Remember that Christmas is
about love and family. Don't forget that…" Willow's voice echoed as she
and Xander faded and an *extremely* bright light enveloped them.