Latter Days

Author: enigmaticblue

Rating: PG-15

Disclaimer: I don’t own most of these characters, and I don’t make money off the ones I do. So there.

Summary: Set post-Chosen. After the Slayers are activated, the balance between good and evil is disturbed, and the Scoobies are flung to the far corners of the world to respond to the crisis. In the midst of all of this, will they be able to keep their relationships strong? Or will they be divided by circumstances and torn apart by fate? Follows my short story Yesterday.

A/N: Remember how things went after Chosen? Well, forget about all of that, and ignore the comics. This is my version. This series is comprised of Latter Days, Faithfully Dangerous, and Now and Always, and the entire series will be known by the third title. You’ll see why. (And although some of the locations mentioned in this fic exist, this is my world, which means that I’m twisting reality to my own ends.)

Chapter 32: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

“…I should be ready to leave in about a week. Zoë and Arnold are both doing really well, and I’m anxious to get back home…” ~Excerpt from an email from Buffy Summers to Rupert Giles

Willow picked up the phone on the third ring, distracted and breathless. “Hello?”

“It’s time.”

It was the call she’d been dreading. “How long?”

“Five days should do it,” Miriam responded. “Spike left for Los Angeles yesterday, and I don’t imagine that it will be more than a few days before the Senior Partners make their bid for supremacy.”

When Willow remained silent, the head of the coven added, “I will tell you what I told Rupert. I’ll take care of any blame that Buffy tries to lay at your door.”

“I hope so,” Willow replied dubiously. “You haven’t seen Buffy when one of her boyfriends gets hurt.”

“I think she’ll understand when I show her the evidence.” Miriam paused. “I have to go. I wanted to give you fair warning. I imagine that Spike will be calling her soon.”

“I’ll keep an ear out.” Willow hung up the phone and felt Oz’s hands on her shoulders, rubbing in a soothing pattern. “Thanks.”

“Bad news?”

“You know that thing I told you about?”

“Yeah.”

“It’s happening.”

He squeezed hard in a wordless gesture of reassurance.

“I don’t know how I’m going to do it. Zoë and Arnold are pretty much ready to go back into the field.”

“There’s a new Slayer,” Oz said. “Giles called while you were out.”

Since Willow had just returned from the market and had to rush to answer the phone, she could understand why she was only hearing about it now. “Where is she?”

“Chile.” Oz went back to kneading her tense muscles. “You could send Buffy and Zoë.”

“That’s assuming I can manage to tear Zoë and Arnold apart.” Willow was quiet for a moment. “Maybe it would be for the best, though. It might be easier.”

“It’s up to you.”

Willow leaned back against him. “I’ll wait to see if Buffy agrees. If she does go, Miriam’s request would be a moot point.”

~~~~~

“I’d like to go,” Zoë said quietly into the silence that followed Willow’s announcement of a new Slayer. “It’s part of my job, no offense, Buffy,” she added, looking at the other woman.

Buffy held up her hands. “No offense taken. I can stick around here until you get back.”

“That means there should be no problem with me going as well,” Arnold stated.

Zoë saw the look that Willow sent Oz’s direction, a mixture of amusement and alarm, and to her surprise, he was the one to speak up. “Maybe Buffy should go instead,” he suggested.

“I think that’s a good idea,” Willow announced, jumping in before anyone else spoke—whether in protest or agreement. “You might need a Slayer.”

Rhoda cleared her throat. “Then maybe it should be me. I mean, Buffy’s getting ready to head back to England, right?”

Willow shook her head. “We need you here, Rhoda. Buffy is leaving, which means that you’re going to be doing a lot of the training. It’s probably better for you to stay.”

Zoë thought about arguing, since the logic didn’t really hold up. Because Rhoda was one of those who would be training the new Slayer, it might be a better idea for her to help retrieve the girl to begin building a rapport. Something held her back, though. Something in the way Willow shifted uncomfortably, and Oz squeezed her shoulder in support.

“I wouldn’t mind going,” Buffy said. “It would be nice to see a little more of the continent before I head back.”

Willow grinned broadly, and Zoë knew she wasn’t mistaking the relief on her face. She had come to know Willow very well, and she knew that the other woman was hiding something. “Great! It shouldn’t take you more than a few days to find her and bring her back.”

“That’s assuming we get there in time,” Zoë murmured, but so quietly that only Arnold heard her. His hand covered hers where it rested on her leg. “We can leave in the morning,” she said loudly enough for everyone to hear.

Her curiosity demanded satisfaction, however, and she waited for the others to drift out of the room, leaving only Arnold, Oz, and Willow. “Willow? May I speak with you?”

The men took the hint gracefully, and both left the room, discussing something to do with repairs to the kitchen sink.

Willow’s smile appeared forced. “What’s up?”

“I’d like to know why you were so anxious to send Buffy to Chile.” Zoë didn’t see the point in mincing words. “You and I both know that Rhoda would have been the logical choice.”

Willow’s eyes widened. “I don’t—”

“Don’t tell me that you don’t know what I’m talking about.” Zoë kept her voice low. “There’s nothing stopping Buffy from returning to England tomorrow, except this trip to Chile.”

The other woman’s eyes closed briefly. “Do you think that Buffy noticed?” she asked quietly.

“No. She accepted your explanation.”

“Then let’s leave it there.”

“Willow—”

“Miriam asked me to do something for her,” Willow admitted. “And that’s what it’s about. I don’t want you involved.”

“I am involved!” Zoë argued. “I’m the one who’s going to be with her in Chile.”

“This isn’t about Chile, or that Slayer,” Willow replied steadily. “Trust me, you don’t want any part of this.”

Zoë subsided, shaking her head. She disliked secrets, preferring the truth.

“Don’t tell her about this, please.”

Zoë couldn’t read Willow’s expression, but she thought there was fear and reluctance in her eyes. She had the impression that whatever Miriam had asked the witch to do, it wasn’t sitting easily with Willow. Zoë knew that she could keep her secret and therefore ease the burden.

“Tell her about what?”

~~~~~

“Buffy, you have a phone call.”

Rute stood in the doorway of the room she’d been using, and Buffy glanced up from her packing. “Who is it?”

“Spike?” She sounded uncertain, as though she didn’t quite think she had the name right.

“I’ll take it.” She hurried to get the phone, anxious to hear his voice. It had been a few days since they’d spoken, and while she believed that she would know if anything happened to him, Buffy had still been worried.

“Hello?”

“Buffy.” She could hear the smile in his voice. “How are things there?”

“Good, fine. There’s a new Slayer in Chile, and I leave tomorrow morning. It’s a good thing you called when you did.” Buffy clutched the phone. “How are you?”

“In one piece.”

“What about Xander and the others?” Buffy asked. “Giles emailed Willow to let her know that he came out okay, but he said that you guys would probably be busy cleaning up for a while.”

“Yeah, about that…” Spike trailed off. “I’m actually on a layover in Amsterdam.”

Her heart sank; she could tell from his tone that it wasn’t good news, that there was more to it than the fact that he was heading back to England already. “You’re going back to Bath already? Is everything okay there?”

“It’s not the Council that needs me, luv. It’s Wes an’ Faith—an’ I suppose Angel, but I’m not doin’ this for him.”

Buffy swallowed. “You’re going to L.A.” Her voice was flat. This was what she’d been afraid of.

“Looks like things are getting tense there, an’ they need the extra help. I’m all Giles has to send right now.” He sounded apologetic, and there was no reason for that. Buffy knew that they both had duties to the Council and to the world at large.

“No, you have to go. I get that. I’ll join you as soon as I can. When I get back with this Slayer, I’ll leave immediately.”

There was a moment’s hesitation, and then Spike replied, “You do that, luv. It’ll be good to see you.”

“What is it, Spike?”

“Nothin’ I know for sure, an’ therefore nothin’ worth worrying about.” His words failed to reassure her. “I love you, Buffy.”

He was going to say goodbye, and there was a sense of finality in his words. Before she’d left for Brazil, she had been the one to feel as though they were risking it all; Spike had comforted her then, but she knew he felt the same way now.

She could hear it in his voice.

There was nothing she could say, however, nothing she could do, short of forbidding him to go to L.A., or jumping on a plane and going herself. If she did either of those things, however, and someone ended up dying, Buffy would never be able to forgive herself.

“I love you, too, Spike. Always.”

Buffy just wished that love was enough to keep him safe.

~~~~~

Arnold hated that he hadn’t been able to go with Zoë. Not that he’d been able to keep her safe last time, but at least he would have known. The area of the country where the Slayer had been located was remote, making it likely that Zoë and Buffy would be able to convince the girl to come with them, but impossible to communicate.

It had been four days. To Arnold, it felt like a lifetime.

“She’s with Buffy, you know,” Willow said, coming up behind him. “Buffy has a habit of getting people out of trouble.”

“And if she doesn’t this time?” Arnold looked over at her. “I know that you understand what it’s like to lose a loved one. I’ve lost too many.”

“We all have at this point, and it’s likely that we’ll lose more.” Willow cleared her throat. “If I told you that there was big trouble coming, and that we might have to send some of the Slayers to deal with it, who would you recommend?”

Arnold frowned. That sort of reticence was unlike Willow, and he didn’t like what it said. “I would keep Rhoda here, simply because we need a strong, experienced Slayer to stay in the region. But Rute, Teresa, and Ximena are all ready, as is Linda. Matilde needs some time yet, and Roberta just arrived.”

Willow nodded. “That’s what I was thinking as well.”

“What sort of thing are we talking about, Willow?”

“End of the world thing,” she said vaguely. “You know.”

“I don’t.”

“Like last time, in Sunnydale, only worse. We’re going to need a lot of Slayers, and we lost a few in Africa, so we’re going to have to send anybody we can.”

Arnold put a brotherly hand on her shoulder. “We’ll pull through this. You’ve seen the Slayers fight, and they have every reason in the world to win.”

“I just hope that every reason in the world is enough.”

Arnold thought that she might have said more, but the telephone rang, and she turned back inside to answer it. He could just hear her voice. “No, Spike, she’s not here, and there’s no way for me to get in touch with her…I’ll pass along the message. … When?... Okay. Be careful.”

“Is that what you were talking about?” Arnold asked when she rejoined him. When she nodded, he fixed her with a sharp look. “What about Buffy? Won’t she want to know?”

“Yes.”

Arnold frowned. He refused to believe that Willow couldn’t get in touch with her if she wanted, distance or no distance. He had some idea of how powerful she was. “Aren’t you going to try to reach her?”

“No. It wouldn’t do any good. By the time she got back here, it would be too late.”

Willow’s expression was sorrowful, and Arnold felt the first stirrings of alarm. “Willow, what is it?”

“Spike called me because he knew that would be his last opportunity.”

He suddenly recalled that both Willow and Oz had been very insistent on Buffy going to Chile, and he swallowed. “You knew.”

“Miriam knew.”

Arnold was acquainted with the head of the coven, and he knew that her abilities were close to legendary. “She knew that Buffy would die if she went, didn’t she?”

Willow nodded, her face crumpling. “And Spike, too. But this—”

Arnold pulled her close in a friendly hug, knowing exactly what she was trying to say but couldn’t. This action on her part felt like a betrayal, and that’s exactly what it was. He had no doubt that Buffy would agree, because he’d feel the same in her shoes.

~~~~~

Buffy was feeling good when they arrived back in Rio. Not only had they managed to rescue the Slayer from a couple of vampires intent on killing her, but they had also killed the band of demons that had nearly taken over the village.

This was the part of being a Slayer that she loved, knowing that she’d made a difference in someone’s life. Someone was alive because of what she’d done. It didn’t happen often enough.

“Hey.” Willow was pale when she greeted the three of them at the door, but she managed a smile for the new Slayer, Agata. “Welcome, and come in,” she said in accented Spanish.

Agata offered a shy smile and slipped inside.

Zoë looked from Willow to Buffy and back again, then offered to show the girl around, leaving the two of them alone.

“I thought you were going to be back sooner,” Willow said, leading Buffy into the small study.

Buffy shrugged. “There was some demon trouble. You know how it is. Evil never sleeps.” She took a closer look at her friend. “What is it, Will? You don’t look so great.”

“Giles just called. Things in L.A. aren’t going so well.”

She froze in the act of sitting down on the couch. “How bad?”

“We haven’t heard anything from Faith or the others.”

“Spike?”

“No one knows. He called a couple of days ago. He said to tell you that he called, and that he loved you.”

Spike’s message hit her like a fist. It sounded way too much like he thought he wasn’t coming back. “Who else is going?”

Willow took a deep breath. “Miriam and Giles are getting ready to leave for L.A. with as many Slayers as they can take. Giles is leaving Dawn in charge in Bath. Xander’s going to send Vi and Audra, but it’s going to take them longer to get there. They’re about the only ones he can afford to let go right now.”

“Kennedy?” Buffy asked, recalling that she was at least in the country.

“Already on her way, if she isn’t there already.”

“When do we leave?”

“In a couple of hours. I’m sorry, but—”

“I can sleep on the plane, and I’m pretty much packed,” Buffy replied. “I’ll deal.” Something hit her just then. Willow had really wanted her to accompany Zoë. “You knew, didn’t you?”

The guilty expression on Willow’s face would have been enough to confirm her fears, but the witch nodded. “I knew that it was going to get bad.”

Buffy rose, feeling her anger, hot and ready. “What exactly did you know, Will?”

“I knew that if you and Spike were both there, you’d both be killed. This was the only way.”

With a sinking feeling, Buffy realized that meant that Willow had made certain that she wasn’t aware of how dire the situation in L.A. was before leaving for Chile. “What if I’d made it back yesterday?” Buffy demanded. “Or two days ago? We would have been back a lot earlier if it wasn’t for those stupid demons.”

“I don’t know,” Willow admitted. “Miriam made me promise to delay you, but I don’t know what I would have done.”

Buffy swore creatively. “How the hell does she know? What gives her the right to make decisions for us? Spike and I have dealt with apocalypses before! We might have been just fine.”

“The bowl doesn’t lie, Buffy. You know that. You were one of the ones to retrieve it.” A fat tear rolled down Willow’s cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to, but it wasn’t just you. The bowl showed the whole world being sucked into hell if you two were there.”

Then, whispering, she added, “I had no choice.”

Buffy believed her. At least she believed that Willow believed that she had no choice, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t be having words with Giles and Miriam.

“I’m going to finish packing,” she announced, offering no words of absolution. She would forgive if and when she knew that Spike was going to be okay.