FIC: The Longest Night Conclusion

[jeepy91@xxxxxxx]

And finally the conclusion :)

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The spirit nodded his cloaked head slowly in the affirmative as I 
instinctively started to back away. The guide walked solemnly into the 
foyer, coming towards me in long, heavy strides. I watched him for a brief 
moment and then went to turn around and race back into the living room.  
Before I even had a chance to take one step a bony hand grabbed my shoulder 
and spun me around with such force that for a moment I lost my balance. When 
I regained my equilibrium I realized I was no longer standing in my living 
room, I was in a graveyard. I spend quite a lot of time in cemeteries, it 
comes along with the territory of being a vampire slayer. But never once has 
it scared me the way it is right this moment. I can feel the chill go 
straight down to my bones, because I know there is only one reason I’ve been 
brought to a graveyard. My entire heart fills with dread as the one question 
I’m afraid to ask crosses my lips.

“Who?”

The guide abruptly points a bony finger towards a couple standing under a 
tree, one lone headstone resting in front of them. I slowly walk towards 
them, fear eating away at my soul with each heavy step, but my curiosity 
getting the best of me. As I approach them the man turns away from the grave 
to comfort the distraught woman standing beside him. When he turns I finally 
see who the couple is.

“Oh God,”

Xander was pulling a very distraught Anya into a tight embrace, trying 
desperately to comfort her. I slowly creep up close enough so I can see 
who’s name is carved into the marker. I know seeing Xander so sad could mean 
only one of three things. The person buried beneath our feet is either 
Willow, Giles or me. The thing that puzzles me the most though is Anya.  
While we all did get along, and I’ve always suspected she had a bitof a 
crush on Giles, our deaths shouldn’t have made her as inconsolable as she 
appeared to be. As I approached the headstone though, it suddenly hit me.  
It’s not me, it’s not Giles, and it’s not Willow. I cast my eyes wearily 
down to read the letters etched into the gray marble:


Jesse Alexander Harris

July 13th, 2002 - October 18th, 2008

May Your Young Spirit Soar Forever


“No, Oh God no, not Xander’s son!” I felt the tears slide freely down my 
cheek as I turned back and watched Anya grasping tightly onto Xander, holding 
onto his shirt like it was the only tether left to keep her from falling into 
that deep dark pit of despair. I couldn’t bear to watch Anya anymore so I 
turned to look at Xander. I shuddered when I saw the look his eyes carried.  
The light in his gentle brown eyes that used to twinkle with every joke or 
witty comeback was now gone. His gaze was hard now, hollow, and it chilled 
me down to my very core to think that this was the same Xander that I know.  
Whatever happened to their son, it changed Xander, hardened him, I can tell 
just by looking in his eyes. Before I can ponder why I’m being shown this 
image, I hear a sweet gentle voice carry through the cemetery, reaching my 
ears as well as Xander and Anya. I would know that voice anywhere, but 
there’s something different about it, almost singsong, and if I didn’t know 
better, a tad bit sinister. I turn around to follow the direction of the 
sound and come face to face with my best friend. But it’s not Willow, not 
really. I can see that her normally gorgeous emerald eyes are now a murky 
olive green, and I can see the slightest bit of fang poking out from her 
bottom lip. If I hadn’t known the truth from looking in her eyes, I would 
have been able to figure it out from one look at her clothes. She’s wearing 
a pair of skin tight black leather pants and a red leather halter top to 
match. And the black leather jacket she’s wearing looks suspiciously like 
mine. Willow, my best friend, my shoulder to cry on, and I’m beginning to 
realize, so much more, is a vampire. Oh go, how could this have happened?  
Why did I let it happen?

“Oh look, you’re having a little party. Now why wasn’t I invited?” Willow 
pouted a bit as she moved closer to Xander and Anya, each step confident and 
predatorial. She slowly circled around them, glancing behind to look at the 
gravestone we stood in front of. “Oh I’m hurt Xander, really, you know how 
much I loved my little buddy Jesse. In fact, I think he was my favorite, his 
blood tasted just like honey, smooth and sweet.” Oh God! Oh please God no!  
Not Willow, Will couldn’t have done this, please, please don’t let it be 
true!

“SHUT UP! How dare you! You kill my innocent 6 year old son just to hurt me 
and then you have the nerve to come here?” Xander was beyond furious, his 
face was turning almost purple with rage. I saw him push Anya out of the way 
and draw a stake from behind his back. “I don’t care if wewere best 
friends our whole lives, my friend’s gone now, and I’m going to make you pay 
for my son!”

“You’ll never be able to do it Xander, just like Buffy couldn’t.” That 
singsong lilt she had to her voice chilled me right down to my soul. Xander 
was right, this isn’t our best friend anymore, it’s a demon.

“Buffy’s weak, she never could bear to hurt you, even afteryou turned.  
This is all her fault anyway!” My fault? How did Willow becoming a 
vampire end up my fault?

“My fault? How do you figure that Xander?”

I spin around to see myself standing behind Anya, my hand grasped firmly 
around her throat. Oh God, Willow must have turned me! I see Xander out of 
the corner of my eye, moving slowly toward my vampiric self and Anya. He 
looks just as stunned as I feel.

“She turned you Buffy?” It wasn’t really a question, I know he already knew 
the answer. I think he just wanted to keep me talking, I couldn’t kill Anya 
if I was paying attention to him.

“Gee Xander, what gave it away? Could it be the fact that I’m about two 
seconds away from draining your wife dry? Besides, Willow told you I 
couldn’t kill her, she never said she couldn’t kill me.” Xander made a move 
towards them, but he stopped when vampire me yanked up on Anya’s throat, 
causing her to squeak in pain. “Don’t take another step Xand. Now, I want 
to know why you think this little sitch we’re in is my fault. Explain to me 
and I just might let your little honey here go.” As much as I hated watching 
this scene play itself out before me, I couldn’t help but be curious. I 
really wanted to know how Willow and I becoming vamps was my fault.

“You know exactly why. If you hadn’t let Willow take off to LA she never 
would have been turned. You were so caught up in your own damn stuff, that 
you forgot all about the person who loved you most in this world. You werea 
selfish little bitch Buffy, and because of it we’re all paying the price!”  
I had never seen Xander so angry before, I thought for sure steam was going 
to start coming out his ears.

“Me? Did you ever think that if you had tried to make it work withCordelia 
that this wouldn’t have happened. After all, she is the one that gave Angel 
his little jolly that started this whole suckfest!” Oh my God, Cordy and 
Angel? The reality of what must have happened struck me like a drowning 
tidal wave. When Willow left she must have gone to LA and joined up with 
Angel and his little demon hunting posse. Apparently Angel and Cordy hooked 
up and he once again lost his soul. Huh, I guess I wasn’t that special after 
all. “It’s kinda ironic don’t you think Xander? Imean you were always 
jealous of Angel, and now it’s like he’s my grandfather.” So Angel is 
Willow’s sire? I guess Cordy must be a vamp then too.

“It is your fault Buffy! My son is dead because you wouldn’t get your head 
out of the damn sand and see what was really going on with Will. You were to 
busy boinking Spike! If Willow hadn’t run away to Los Angeles, shenever 
would have been turned, my son would still be alive. We all would be.”  
Xander started sobbing as he watched my vampiric self lick the side of 
Anya’s throat.

“Yeah well Xander, we can’t change the past can we? CheersWill.” I spun 
around from the sight of myself sinking fangs into Anya’s throat just in time 
to see Willow grab Xander by the back of the neck.

“NO!” That was the last thing I heard before I saw Willow sink her own 
fangs into the flesh of Xander’s neck.

“Take me back! I’ve seen enough! Make it stop!” I was becoming frantic.  
I sprinted back to the cloaked spirit and began tugging on his robe, 
desperate to escape this horrible nightmare. The spirit simply stood there, 
not saying a word, not moving a muscle. Finally I had had enough. “Who the 
hell are you anyway!?” I reached up and ripped the hood back to reveal the 
identity of the final spirit. “Oh my god, Ethan Rayne?” Ford had said it 
would be someone I didn’t trust, but that was a huge understatement. I 
despise Ethan. I backed away from him as he started bellowing with sinister 
laughter. I closed my eyes and started shaking my head, furiously trying to 
escape the vision, the horrible awful future.

When I opened my eyes again I was back in my chair, Willow’s blanket wrapped 
firmly around me. Then it hit me, everything came flooding back. Willow.  
She’s leaving me, God, I have to stop her! She can’t go, Ican’t let her 
go, I need her here with me. I……..I love her. I know with overwhelming 
certainty now why I was taken on my little trip through time tonight. All of 
it, everything I’ve seen has been to bring me to Willow. My destiny has been 
right in front of me all these years, I’ve just been too blind and too afraid 
to believe it. But I do now, I know what I want, who I want, and I’ll be 
damned if I let her go without a fight. I just hope I’m not too late.

I shoot up out of my chair and race up the stairs towards her room, taking 
two at a time. I burst through the door and find it is just the way I’d seen 
it in my vision, empty. I race back down the stairs and grab my leather 
jacket, the same one Will was sporting in that awful glimpse of my future. I 
fling open the door with such force that I rip it from it’s hinges.Ok, 
she’s going to LA, but how? Plane? Train? Bus? Three places to look and god 
knows how much of a jump she already has on me, she could already be long 
gone. But then I remember the bus terminal is the only thing running at this 
time of night, especially on Christmas Eve. I jump into Mom’s Jeep, 
overwhelmingly grateful that I finally passed my driver’s test. I must have 
gone through every stop sign and red light, because I make it to the bus 
station in no time flat. Rushing into the terminal I feel a huge knot form 
in my stomach, I hope with every ounce of my being that I’m not toolate.  
But then I see her, silky red hair framing her gorgeous face. She’s bent 
down over her laptop, typing away furiously at something. The anxiety and 
fear of losing her starts to wash away from me, at least until I realize I 
haven’t convinced her to stay yet.

“Willow!” She turns around to look at me and even from thedistance I am I 
can see her quietly starting to panic. I quickly close the space between us 
and sit down next to her and she puts away her computer. “Will, what are you 
doing?”

“Buffy, how did you know I was here?” Uh-oh, she’strying to dodge the 
question, not a good thing. Besides, how I am supposed to explain that one 
to her?

“That doesn’t matter. I want to know what you’re doing here.”

“I’m leaving Buffy. I can’t stand the thought thatI might hurt you. I’m 
no good to anyone like this. God, I almost killed Dawnie, why would you even 
want me around?!” Tears started to leak their way down her cheek and it took 
every ounce of my self control not to wipe them away.

“Will, I know things have been bad lately, but we’ll get through. We’ll 
get through it like we’ve gotten through everything else, together.”  
Something told me I’d have to do better than that if I was going to 
convince her to stay.

“No Buffy, not this time. I can’t risk the chance I might hurt you. I’d 
die before I’d let that happen.” Uh-oh, she’s wearing her resolve face, not 
good, this is really going to be a uphill battle for sure.

“Now boarding, Greyhound number 55 to Los Angeles, gate 3”

“That’s my bus Buffy.” Willow stood up to leave asI gaped in shock. She 
turned around and pulled me into a strong hug. “Take care of yourself, 
please be careful.” She pulled away from me and started to walk away, before 
stopping and turning back around to look at me. “I love you.” And then she 
headed back toward the terminal.

“Will, please don’t go!” I rushed after her and grasped her arm, spinning 
her around to face me. I could see the tears sparkling in her bright emerald 
eyes, mirroring the ones that I knew were beginning to fall down my own face.

“Buffy, let go, please, I’m going to miss my bus.”

“Don’t leave me Will, please.” I’m not sure if it was anymore than a 
whisper, but I know she heard me, because I could see the protest forming on 
her lips. So I did the only thing I could think of to stop the words from 
passing her lips, I covered them with my own. I heard her squeak in surprise 
but then I felt her hand cup my cheek returning the kiss. After a few long 
moments I pulled away to catch my breath. I looked up to see confusion 
dancing across her shimmering green eyes.

“You………you kissed me? Why did you kiss me?”

“I love you Will, please don’t go. I need you, please don’t leave.” I 
reached up and gently stroked a delicate cheek and gently smiled when she 
leaned into the caress. “We’ll get through this Willow, but we’ll do it 
together. I never want to be separated from you again. Will you please 
stay?” I could hear my own voice filled with trepidation. I was so scared 
that it had been too little, too late. So I was surprised when she didn’t 
answer me verbally, but instead put her arms around my neck and pulled me in 
for another loving kiss. I don’t know how long we stood there melding our 
mouths together and holding onto each other for dear life. But I couldn’t 
have cared less, I’ve never been as happy as I am right now, with Willow’s 
arms wrapped around me and her lips pressed against mine in a gentle loving 
kiss. I sighed heavily though when I felt her begin to pull away.

“Buffy, look, we’re under the mistletoe." I followed her gaze to see that 
we were indeed standing under a bunch of mistletoe hanging from the ceiling.

“Well it wouldn’t be the first time.” I leaned in and gently snatched a 
quick kiss from her slightly swollen lips before grasping her hand and 
ushering her towards the exit. “Come on, let’s go home, I think Santa has a 
little surprise for you!” She laughed gently and started to follow me out of 
the bus station. I felt her lean into me as we walked out and whisper in my 
ear.

“Merry Christmas Buffy”

“Merry Christmas Will, the best Christmas ever.”


The End





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