We saved the world.

I should get out of the house. I need to get out of the house. I can't, though. I have to be strong for Dawn. Everyone saw how she was like at the hospital. And then there's all these bills... God, this is so stupid. Bills. How can they tell you someone is dead and then say, "Hey, by the way, we know you can't pay for any of this, but here are some bills for what we couldn't do for your mother. You know, she's dead. The ER people did nothing for her except tell you what you already knew, but here's some bills. Have a nice day."

God, I can't pay for this. Maybe I could ask Giles for a loan... no, he doesn't have a lot of money either. Or maybe he does. I can't remember. Why can't I remember? I can't remember anything.

The funeral. I barely remember that. A few of Mom's friends, mainly my friends, and Angel popping up once it got dark enough. Did I talk or say anything? If I did, did it sound wise-woman-like? Probably not. It probably sounded.... Buffy-like.

I think a funeral is what she wanted, from the few talks I had with Mom before the operation just... just in case. I mean, there wasn't a Will. (Or is it will with a lowercase "w"? Can I even talk to Willow now and use that nickname, or am I always going to be reminded of that word?)

I have to be strong for Dawn. I have to be strong for my sister. She's depending on me; everyone's depending on me. I know Giles said the gang would take over patrolling for a bit, so that's good. One less thing to worry about.

This can't be my house. It was Mom's. Is Mom's. Still is Mom's.

Her bedroom is still her bedroom and I'm not moving in there.

I should get out of here, though. I mean, this is where I found my mother dead on the couch. Maybe I should buy a new couch? Oh, wait, no, I can't, there's hospital bills and the ER bills and funeral bills... and I don't have a job. Not one that pays, anyway.

It's horrible, this feeling right now. Like I'm numb. Like someone has taken a stake and rammed it through my own heart, only I won't turn to dust because I'm human so it's still just bleeding out out out, not stopping, not ever, and I have to keep moving.

How lame is it that I'm using vampire metaphors to talk about what it's like to find out my mother is dead? Seriously, there's something wrong with me.

( Everybody wants to help. I don't even know if I'm... here. I don't know what's going on. Never done this. That's just an amazingly dumb thing to say. Obviously... I've never done this before. )

Muse: Buffy Summers
Fandom: BtVS
Word Count: 1,202 (not including direct quotes)
OOC: This prompt reply takes place during the episode Forever, and is dedicated to the mun's late mother.

((The muses referred to are undead_handsome, prodigalwatcher, your_stalwart, & wesleys_slayer))

Dear Angel,

I know that you still love me, even though you're with Nina. It's one ofthose things, that we can't ever really be together because of the curse, but I still think


Dear Wesley,

You are a jerk. You kissed me while I was drunk! How could you take advantage of me like that? What sort of gentleman would do that? Okay, fine, you didn't do anything while I was asleep but


Dear Giles,

I want to be re-assigned and never have to work with Wesley ever again, okay? He's



Dear Faith,

Die, die, die and stop sleeping with Wesley NOT that I'm jealous, it's just that



Dear Giles,
The assignment is complete. I'll be returning to London ASAP along with Wesley and he'll give you the official report.

Buffy

OOC: Takes place after THIS THREAD.

Buffy woke up in the morning, still sleepy and achy, but Cole was there in bed with her. Always a plus in her book, she figured.

She leaned over and kissed his cheek before stretching out like a contented cat, then her eyes opened and she started shaking Cole to wake up frantically.

"Hey. Hey!" Last night had been perfect. Wonderful. Probably the best sex she'd ever had, which was saying something considering she'd slept with vamps who could outlast humans by a lot. And somehow Cole had managed to outlast them which, okay, weird, but still not the most important thing on her mind...

"Cole? Cole, are you okay? You're not evil, right? Or going to leave me? Please tell me you're not going to... Cole?"

1. Wesley Wyndam-Pryce. Above all else.
2. Willow Rosenberg. It doesn't matter what she says, once a Scoobie, always a Scoobie.
3. Xander Harris, as if there needs to be a reason why.
4. Giles. C'mon, it's Giles!
5. Angel. I didn't think I would be able to after all the crap that happened with Angelus and how Angel died, but for all I know, we're dead now. I don't know, I just do. I trust him.
6. Spike. See above for reasoning.
7. Faith Lehane. Uh, see above above for reasoning.
8. Cassie Summers. I don't know her, but she acts like me a lot. Which could be a bad thing, but on the whole? I believe her and what she says.
9. Kennedy Bradford. I'll admit the whole "Slayer spell" is taking some getting used to, but she's still Kennedy.
10. Lorne. I figure he can't be that different from the one I knew, and he seems like he'd be good as an uncle for the kids. Uh, not in that way, though.

Buffy Summers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
trappedsouls

1. I died once, thanks to The Master.
2. I died again, this time because I was saving the world. Go me.
3. I got bitten by Dracula, which you'd think would be a cool injury to brag about, but not when you're me.
4. And I got bitten by Angel trying to save his life with my blood. It worked, and part of me was happy to have that scar to remind me of him after he left for L.A., but overall? It almost killed me since I'd lost so much blood.
5. I got my ass handed to me by an ubervamp that I was trying to kill to show to the potentials that we could beat them. So not fun, especially the arm in a sling.
6. The bruises and overall tenderness of my entire body after Spike tried to rape me in the bathroom. Only Xander found out about it so soon. And then, of course, there was the emotional trauma of it which I think should count as an injury.
7. I got my own stake shoved into me by some random vamp in the cemetary that I was trying to kill. I was off my game, and Riley had to patch me up. Dawn thought it was "cool".
8. I got my head knocked into the floor a few times via Slayer-strength when Faith was in my body and tried to beat the crap out of me because she was actually angry at herself. Which was me. In her body. You get the idea.
9. The injury wasn't so bad, really, as the shock of it. Some scrapes, cuts, and bruises, but mainly it was because Spike's chip wasn't working on me and he was able to hit me back after I punched him. I just... wasn't expecting the pain, I guess.
10. A sword through my gut from behind (that sounds wrong) thanks to an ubervamp during the big fight for Sunnydale. It was pretty painful, but I managed to make it through, somehow. And then get the hell out of Sunnydale before it went boom.

Seriously, you want me to only list ten injuries? Mom was washing the blood out of my clothes back in high school.

Buffy Summers
Buffy the Vampire Slayer
AU RP

Dear Willow,

Rome's good. It's tough because I still don't know Italian except for anything remotely relating to food, but otherwise, it's good. How's Brazil? Everything fine with Kennedy?

Dawnie's at school and I don't get to see her much, but I took your advice and actually left the apartment here and went to a club. Yes, a club, like a normal girl would do instead of trying to slay vamps or be in charge of re-forming the Council and everything. See, I can do it, really!

I even met someone. Well, not someone, really, just a cute guy who was, incidentally, older. Not a vamp, though! His name's Cole, and we had a few drinks and we danced a bit. He seems nice. Rich, too. I don't know if I'll see him again, but I thought I'd pass that on to you to show you that yes, Buffy Summers is capable of having a love life outside of Angel or Spike. (And I can't believe I just included him, but there you go.)

Anyway, I love you, Willow. I miss you. Give my love to Kennedy and make sure she's treating you right. I'll try to call you again sometime soon when I can.

Love,
Buffy

"Ugh." She blinked and the green was still there. Damn, why was the green still there? She remembered the fight, the uber-vamps attacking, falling... Dawnie was glowing green and saying something to her and the light filled the place...

Why was there green...?

"Oh." Buffy sat up and spat the pieces of grass out of her mouth and ran her hands through her hair to get the last bits of them out of there, too. "Good one, Buffy," she muttered to herself as she stood slowly in the field, eyes adjusting to the normal (yes, normal) light and she sighed.

Okay. So. Not the Hyperion. Dawn wasn't anywhere, so possibly the blood from her that had made the green-glowy-thing happen meant... what, exactly? Nothing. It meant nothing. It hadn't mattered because she'd died - again! - in that last battle. Willow had re-ensouled Faith to fulfill the prophecy and make a new Champion, Wesley had gone down, guns blazing (why was it always guns?), and she'd never even found out who the new Slayer was after Andi had died. Lis? Safi? Kennedy? Ugh.

Why was she thinking about that now? She was dead. And once again, her mom wasn't anywhere around. No light, either, like that last time where she'd thought she was in Heaven or whatever-you'd-like-to-call-it.

Actually, scratch that. No, she'd thought there was a green light. That should count for something, right?

"My boot," she moaned sadly as she saw the heel of one of them was slightly broken. Buffy tried to walk out of the field to get a better view of where she was at, maybe set up a perimeter (God, that was so Wes talking in her head right there), but instead she could only hobble along like Cinderella after the ball.

Only no fairytale-ending here. And no Prince Charming. Damn.

She reached down and pulled off both boots, then chucked them into the field. Well, it wouldn't do to just stay here. Maybe there was some friendly dead-like person who could help her on her way, sort of like Clarence in It's A Wonderful Life. If not, well, she could always hope to find the uber-vamp who killed her and send his ass to Hell.

That would be some good karma right there.