The Fallen Slayer {1}

This Is How Villians Are Made

"NOOOOOOOO!"

Despite their frantic yells, Stefan and Klaus could do nothing as they were forced to watch the blade go straight into Buffy's heart. Everything moved in slow motion, as the witches swooped the baby up and rushed out of the crypt while Buffy's corpse collapse back onto the floor.

The floor was drenched in her blood.

The second the crypt doors slammed shut, both men severally weakened by magic collapsed to the ground. Neither one of them was able to look away from the blood-soaked body in the center of the room.

Silence spread through the air between both men as Klaus managed to move first, his strength returning quicker than the younger vampire. Crawling over to her body, Klaus let out a shaky breath as he carefully lifted her head onto his lap, his stomach churning at the sight of her torn-open corpse.

Ripping the orange blade out of her heart, he tossed it across the room ignoring the burn it left on his flesh as he started pressing her torn-open stomach back together with his hands, drenching them in her blood.

She wasn't healing.

"No, no, no..." He sputtered, tears starting to break through as he bit into his wrist and pressed it against her already bloody lips, but again, nothing happened. Her body remained desiccated, not a single sign of life.

"Come, love, time to get up." He whispered soothingly as he pushed her red matted hair out of her face.

Her body was stone cold.

Buffy was immortal like him, yet in her one moment of weakness, the witches had taken advantage of it. Just like Elijah had almost done when he had broken The Curse all those years ago.

A moment of vulnerability to take advantage of.

They had carved her open, slit her throat, and stolen her life, then left her lying in a puddle of her own blood like she meant nothing. Like she wasn't the woman who had saved this sorry world.

Klaus wanted to burn the world.

In a thousand years he had never felt so much rage, he wanted to burn and tear apart every witch as well as their ancestors.

One second.

He had been one second too late and that second was all it had taken for her to be ripped from this world

Despite hearing the crypt doors slam open, Klaus didn't move, he didn't blink, he didn't utter a word. He could do nothing but stare down at Buffy's peaceful face as he held her. In a thousand years, he had never thought about turning it off, but the longer he held her dead body in his arms, the more tempting the idea became.

"NIKLAUS! BUFFY-ANNE!"


Elijah stopped dead in his tracks, his eyes widening in horror as he took sight of the burnt blood-soaked crypt. Stefan Salvatore was on the ground, desperately trying to get his strength back as he approached Klaus who was holding a blood-soaked body in his arms.

The body of Buffy Anne Summers.

Stumbling into the room, tears brimmed Elijah's eyes as he took in the horrifying sight of Buffy's body. Letting his eyes scan the marks of her torture before her death "No, no, no. NO...." He sputtered as he fell to his knees beside his brother who had yet to take his tear-filled eyes off of Buffy's face. He was merely sitting there silently, stroking her cheek softly with his own blood-soaked fingers.

As the tears started to fall, Klaus finally glanced up at his elder brother "She's gone. She... she's gone."

THE OTHER SIDE

Jeremy's eyes widened in shock as she stared back at him. Letting out a shaky breath as it clicked that she could actually see him, he did not hesitate to rush over to her, yanking her into a tight hug.

"You can see me?"

Buffy felt her entire body melt as she leaned into the embrace, clutching onto him so tightly until she clicked what he had just said. Slowly pulling back, her eyes filled with horror as everything started to piece together in her mind.

She had died...whatever this place was, it was like a waiting area.

Jeremy being here could only mean one thing.

It meant her worst fear had come true.


"NO!" She screamed slapping his chest, tears starting to stream down her face "No, no, no! You can't-"

Jeremy blinked back tears just letting her sob and slap his chest though he did break out in small chuckles as she started cursing him in Mandarin. Clearly, those lessons with Sandra had been helping if she was resorting to swearing at him in another language.

Pushing the hair out of her face he cupped her cheeks in his hands, his tears growing more intense as he spotted the utterly devastated look on her face.

This was exactly what he never wanted.

He never wanted to be the driving force for her to finally crack.

When he had woken up on The Other Side all alone, he had just spent hours wandering around once he got back to Mystic Falls. Until he heard the screams emitting from the graveyard.

One of the worst things in the world was to watch the people you loved suffer and be unable to do a damn thing about it. To know no matter how hard you tried you would never be able to help. Never be able to comfort the person you loved as they grieved.


Watching those witches carve her open, rip her daughter away and then slice open her throat before driving a dagger into her heart had broken him.

He had launched himself at the witches at least a hundred times only to go straight through them. He had been forced to do nothing but stand beside Buffy in her moment of torture, unable to hold her hand as she was brutally murdered and gutted like nothing more than an animal.

It was the worst moment of his life.

Despite the fact he was already dead, it made his own death at the hands of Katherine and Silas seem peaceful in comparison.


However, when he had waited by her body, ironically next to Stefan both of them watching as Klaus carefully approached her blood-soaked body tears in his eyes....she had never appeared.


For a moment he had thought she had found peace, that she had been spared of being trapped in this realm like last time. Clearly though, by being an Original, she was now dragged to The Other Side like all supernatural creatures linked to ancestral magic.


Hope filled his chest when he finally spotted her wake up away from her body.


Not climbing out of her own body meant this was temporary for her.


She was going to heal and wake up.


Buffy was not dead...not permanently.

**

MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

As Klaus surprisingly handed her body over to Stefan for a moment to get in his own goodbye, Elijah gulped and slowly approached Rebekah's still whimpering form in the corner of the room.

Instantly, he sighed as he spotted the blade that had been used against her "Papa Tunde's blade." He whispered, his voice cracking as he forced himself not to focus on Stefan Salvatore who was just staring down at Buffy's body "She will heal in time. A few hours."

Yanking the blade out of his sister's chest, Elijah finally allowed his eyes to focus on the completely distraught expression on Stefan's face as he continued to hold Buffy's body in his arms.

He couldn't even imagine how Stefan felt right now. Stefan had been the first person to see Buffy's body the last time she had died, he had been the person holding her corpse in those moments right after her sacrifice and now two years later, he was right back where he started.

Once again holding the body of his love in his arms.

It was the cruel fate of loving a Slayer.

A fate Elijah knew all too well, but he had never had to experience it twice. 

"How?" He whispered completely distraught as he finally focused on his brother who was crouched on the floor, his eyes glued to the stain of blood on the floor.


Buffy's blood.


"I was bested," Klaus mumbled numbly, his fingers clutching tightly around the charm bracelet he had slipped off Buffy's wrist. Automatically moving around the two charms on the bracelet that he had given to her. The paintbrush and the small wooden carved wolf he had made out of one of her stakes.


The Wolf and The Slayer.


There was a few beats of silence as Elijah's face shifted through a range of different emotions, from horror to utter fury "You were bested. Huh." He whispered quietly before storming toward his brother who had yet to glance away from the bracelet, merely twisting the charms between his finger tips "You were BESTED?! MY INVINCIBLE BROTHER!"

Looking up from the bracelet for a second, shocked by his brother's loss of his temper, Klaus just pulled himself weakly to his feet, purposely tucking Buffy's bracelet into his jacket before glancing at the still distraught Stefan "Stefan, can you-"

"I-I will get her home." Stefan crocked out through his tears, not glancing away from Buffy's body for even a second "I will get her cleaned up and drop Rebekah off at yours."

With that, Klaus forced the tears away and clenched his jaw.

There would be time later to mourn, right now he had to focus on saving his daughter from the witches who were intent on sacrificing her "They took the baby. But there's still time." He told Elijah as he looked him dead in the eye "We can save her."

He refused to lose them both on the same day.

No chance.

**

THE OTHER SIDE

"Buff, you need to listen to me-"

Buffy couldn't stop sobbing as her chest heaved violently. She could feel her soul being ripped apart, like shards of glass cutting through each vein in her heart. This couldn't be real, it wasn't right.

Jeremy wasn't even 21 yet!

Why did it have to be him?

With Buffy incoherent and practically shaking in his arms, Jeremy sighed. As much as he wanted nothing more than to let her cry, they didn't have time. She was going to wake up soon, he had to get her to her body so she could go get her daughter. The witches were going to kill Joy and Buffy needed to get her ass into gear.

Her daughter needed her.

"Buffy, you need to listen to me, I don't know why I can see you-" It made no sense. Since he had woken up on The Other Side he had been in complete solitude. He hadn't seen another soul here, he had been merely one of the ghosts haunting the living from the sidelines.

At the same time, he wasn't going to complain about being able to see Buffy.

They were being granted a rare gift in their line of work.


The chance to say goodbye.


"Maybe it's because Shane already committed two of the massacres to lower the walls, I don't know. But we might not have long so listen-" He started pulling her away from her headstone, practically having to drag her frozen sobbing form "We need to get you to your body. Since I woke things have been clearer. All the times I died with the Gilbert ring, I always woke up in a random spot. Each time further away from where I died. This time I woke up right next to my body."


It had been the ultimate confirmation that there would be no waking up for him this time.

He was dead, he had gone out fighting and he was coming to accept it.

What he was not going to accept was Buffy not going back. She needed to live, she more than anymore deserved to live. He would do whatever he had to to get her back to her body so she could go get her daughter, then escape the death ring that was Mystic Falls.


Just as they started approaching the crypt where her life had ended, Buffy gulped, and her hands automatically moved to her stomach.


"The witches..." She whimpered "They took her."


Jeremy blinked back tears and squeezed her hands tightly "I know, I'm so sorry Buffy. For everything."


She hugged him again, hiding her face in his chest as her tears stained his shirt "This is real, isn't it? You're really-re-d-I-"

She couldn't even get the word out, her mouth just wouldn't let the word even escape her lips. If she said it there would be no going back. It would mean her brother was dead for good. That he had died probably all alone on that Island while she had been at her weakest unable to help him.

It would mean her Little Bear was gone.

Jeremy just smiled weakly, though the remorse in his eyes and utter sadness had her ready to burst into tears again "Yeah. Look, Buff...you aren't gonna remember I'm gone when you wake up."


Buffy's eyes widened in horror at his words. He couldn't be serious. She couldn't learn about him dying twice.

No!

She was barely holding it together as it was, hell the only reason she hadn't completely snapped was because he was the one holding her hand, breaking the news of his own death to her the best way he could.

It was a little twisted yet comforting at the same time.


Learning he was dead once she woke up and not being able to remember that she got to say goodbye...it would crush her.

This wasn't fair.

How was this their lives?

Grieve, lose, repeat. Over and over again. An endless torturous cycle of never-ending mourning and grief.

Buffy couldn't remember the last time she hadn't been grieving for someone.

7 years of grief.

"I need to remember." She whispered clutching onto his hands tightly "I need to remember. I can't just say goodbye and forget it!"


Inhaling tightly, Jeremy let his tears fall as he rubbed her back soothingly. He hated this situation, everything about it sucked. He had died, Elena was losing her mind consumed by the grief, Bonnie was being manipulated and Buffy had not only died, but she had her newborn ripped out of her arms not a second after she had been forced to go through a very old fashioned version of a C-section.

Everything sucked.

They had lost.

"At least we get to say goodbye. When you wake up, you won't remember but you might feel it. Like something is wrong, but just know that we got to say goodbye."

Pulling back he dragged her one more step into the masculine, both of them freezing as they spotted a blood-soaked Stefan crouched down beside her body just as a tear-stained furious Klaus stormed right past them, Elijah right on his heels looking just as distraught.

It was safe to say, Klaus had murder on the brain.


Staring down at her horrifying corpse, Buffy couldn't help but gulp. She looked like a mess, to put it bluntly. Her body looked more like a decoration from a haunted slaughterhouse on Halloween than anything.


There was just so much blood.

Her neck was drenched in thick red blood which was staining her entire sweatshirt, her stomach itself was still open, revealing her ripped-open uterus and there was blood all over her face from the fight earlier.

She looked like a hot dead mess.


As she and Jeremy took a step closer, they froze as they spotted it. With every step Buffy took, black veins started moving up her real body, forcing desiccation away and slowly stitching the skin back together.


Stefan froze from where he was holding her corpse, tears streaming down his face "Klaus! Something is happening!" Her body's left hand twitched causing Buffy to inhale tightly as she felt Stefan grab it.

Despite the fact she was watching from the sidelines, still outside of her physical body, she could feel it.


Jeremy smiled "If you can feel it, it means our time is up."


Buffy's heart plummeted at that and she quickly started shaking her head. How was she supposed to go back to a world where her baby brother was dead? Yet at the same time, she couldn't stay.


If she stayed...she would be abandoning her daughter.


"How-how am I?" She stuttered like a blabbering mess as she glanced back up at the boy she adored. The little bear who used to hide in her suitcase after every visit to try and come and live with her "I can't just say goodbye to you."


"I will also be there you know." He promised as he kissed the top of her head and clutched her tightly.


For what would be the very last time.


"I am gonna watch over you and make fun of you all the time. Know that I love you. More than anything big sister. Live Buffy, escape Mystic falls with your little girl...and live, for me."

**

MYSTIC FALLS, VIRGINIA

The witches were playing games with them.

Every time they tried to step out of the cemetery, they found themselves moving in circles. The fact of the matter was, while these were New Orleans witches, by being in Mystic Falls surrounded by The Original Witch's hotspot from where vampires had been created, they were still just as powerful and fueled up.

Even two members down, the last two witches were carrying the power of not just The Harvest, but thousands of ancestors. Including The Original Witch, who was a driving force to ensure this child died.

Once again, the pair of brothers found themselves standing in front of a familiar headstone in the middle of the cemetery.

A headstone they both knew was not originally positioned here, yet here it was taunting them.

The gravestone of Buffy Anne Summers.

Buffy Anne Summers

1991 - 2011

Beloved Sister 

Devoted Friend

She saved the world a lot

It was the spirit's way of mocking them, reminding them that her death was on the Mikaelson family. Her tie to them had signed her death. It had never been about punishing Buffy, she had just been unlucky, being used as a pawn to punish the Original family of vampires.

With a loud growl, Klaus slammed his foot into the headstone sending it flying through the graveyard. Just seeing her name carved into stone made him want to scream.

"It's ingenious!" He yelled into the air "I can feel you all! Dragging me to this trick! To where it all began! But you will not win mother!"

He knew his mother was the driving force bringing them back to this grave, the act was too pointed for it not to be.

His mother had liked Buffy, had felt for her, had seen her as cursed by fate. Claiming that her tie to their family would destroy her and in the end, that was exactly what it had done.

She was dead because of them.

Because of him.

"There has to be a way." Elijah breathed as he ran his hands through his hair unable to stare down at Buffy's headstone as once again, it reappeared unmarked, like Klaus hadn't just shattered it into a million pieces "Even if we could just push through-"

A trick for sure.

"What we need to do is focus." Klaus snapped as he started pushing through the cemetery again, intent on heading to the old witch house.

The house where Bonnie Bennett had garnered the power of a hundred witches. 

It was the strongest ancestral point in this town.

The unbothered sharp tone, finally caused Elijah to crack as he started following his brother "My only focus right now is that child and her safety, do you understand me?" He hissed furiously before pushing past his brother who froze staring at him with wide eyes, shocked by his outburst.


Elijah wasn't done, though.


The carefully built walls he had were crumbling.

"This...all of this..." He gestured to Buffy's grave which once again had materialized right in front of Klaus, taunting him "This is the world that you created, Niklaus."

Given that he was covered in Buffy's blood and had it currently staining his hands, Klaus started shaking, his eyes brimming with tears as he stared back at Elijah "Brother-"

"All of your scheming, the enemies that you have made every single day of your miserable life--what results did you expect?!" Elijah screamed, fresh tears streaming down his cheeks "That your child would be born into a happy life? That the mother would be alive to know her daughter?! That we could live and thrive as some--as some sort of family?"

Klaus clenched his jaw furiously, in the past 32 hours they had not only lost Kol, but Buffy, and now his daughter may die. This was not the fight to start with him right now. 

Especially not while he could still smell Buffy's blood on his clothes.

"That was your fantasy brother, not mine!"

Completely enraged, Elijah stepped forward "NO! Brother!" He howled at the top of his lungs silencing his younger brother "This was our hope! Our joy! This was our family's chance!" Hyperventilating, Elijah couldn't hold back the tears as he continued to picture the state he had found Buffy's body "Buffy...will never get to know her daughter." His voice cracked "That girl has done nothing but suffer endless torture because of you!"

Being hunted for centuries by those loyal to Klaus intent on taking her to him.

Forced to watch as Klaus killed not only Elena but also Jenna in front of her.

Wiping her memories and stealing her away.

Nothing but endless pain.

The pain she had endured just because fate had deemed her the person to keep his brother in control.

"She had no choice in her tie to our family yet she suffered for our sins! And her child is now motherless!"

It broke Elijah's heart into a million pieces. He knew how much Buffy had struggled at the start of this pregnancy, struggled with the idea of being a mother, yet now she would never get the chance.

She had been tortured and murdered, only allowed to hold her daughter once.

It was the heartbreaking fate of being an innocent tied to the Mikaelsons. Loving any member of their family came with a lifetime of suffering and death.


Far more than someone like Buffy Anne Summers deserved. 


Elijah could still remember that strong-willed 17-year-old girl he had met, determined to protect the people she loved. The sweet girl who had doubted her own abilities as an artist yet lit up like the sun when he had given her that chalk set. 


A beam of sunlight surrounded by the darkness of the Mikaelson family.


"Our entire family has let her in! Rebekah sees her as a friend, her closest confidant! Kol felt respected, and had someone who listened to him! He wanted back into the fold, was planning lessons for your child and now he is dead!"

Their brother was dead; Buffy was dead.

"Marianna is broken and my friend, my sister is gone! We opened our hearts to her for you! And we all loved her! And now she is gone! Kol is gone!"

No matter how much he tried to hold back the tears...he couldn't. It was all too much, first Kol's death, Marianna's complete breakdown at the news that had almost killed his soul as he listened to her sobs, and now Buffy's slaughter.

She hadn't just been killed, she had been gutted and slaughtered like nothing more than a breeding mare who was nothing more but a way to provide an heir for a King.


Like her life had not mattered in the slightest.


Collapsing to his knees as tears streamed down his face, Elijah placed his hand on the fake image of Buffy's headstone. While he knew it wasn't real and that her headstone was far away from the cemetery...the grief and the pain were real.


Klaus wiped at his tears as he slowly approached his brother and moved to sit down beside him, gripping his arm in comfort "Joy will never forget her mother." He whispered as he revealed the charm bracelet "She will always have a piece of her with her, as will we once we save her."


Three slow claps caused the pair of brothers to freeze in their grief, both of them jumping up to their feet only to be faced with a familiar face.

A face that was smirking back at them despite having his neck snapped not an hour earlier.

Caleb.


"Well, well. Aint this sweet? All crying over the whore. Shame bout her."




**

Hell.

Holding Buffy's blood-soaked body in his arms was pure hell for Stefan. While he had heard Klaus and Elijah leave, he had yet to move a muscle as he clutched Buffy's body to him.

It truly was a full circuit.

He had been in this position almost two years ago when she had sacrificed herself to save Elena. When she had fallen to the ground, her body landed right beside him. While Bonnie had been the first person on the ground to spot her body falling, he was the first person to get to her.

Once again, Stefan was living his worst nightmare.


Holding Buffy Summers's dead body in his arms.


"Please come back." He whispered through his tears as he held her close, not even smelling all of the blood getting all over his clothes. He had stopped spelling the blood the second that blade had started ripping open her stomach as she screamed, sobbing, and begged for mercy.

It was the first time he had ever heard Buffy beg.

He hated it.

He could feel the switch in the back of his mind desperate to turn off. He couldn't handle this again. The last time she had died, he had kept his humanity on because he had made her a promise but this time there was no promise.

He wasn't the one that could protect her daughter, he wasn't strong enough to go against those witches like Klaus and Elijah. Jeremy was already dead and Elena had completely refused to acknowledge his death.

"I love you." He whispered kissing her blood-stained forehead softly as tears streamed down his face "I have loved you since the second you walked over to the booth to take my order. Mornings I would wake up next to you...I wouldn't feel evil or like the ripper."

Despite everything, even her having this baby with Klaus, his love for her had never changed. 

If it came down to it, he would give up being Human to spend eternity with her but that conversation would never come up now.


Because once again, he was holding her dead body in his arms.

And his heart was shattering into a million pieces.

"In 170 years, no one ever made me feel so alive. I was dead before I met you. I was born the day you loved me. And...I will always love you." As his tears dripped down onto her blood-soaked UC Sunnydale sweatshirt, he sniffled before scooping her up into his arms and moving to place her down onto the stone coffin in the center of the room "I am going to help your little girl. I promise you, even if it kills me."


Without hesitation, Stefan bit into his wrist and moved over to Rebekah letting his blood drip into her mouth.

While blood sharing was normally a big thing, right now all he cared about was ensuring Rebekah got some strength back so they could go help Elijah and Klaus get Joy back before the witches killed her.

As Rebekah started groaning, her eyes fluttering back open, Stefan moved right back over to Buffy, clutching her hand tightly.

Tears brimmed Rebekah's eyes as she shot up only to spot the body lying on the coffin covered in blood.

Her heart broke into a million pieces, a harsh sob escaping her chest "No." She whimpered as she stumbled up only for her and Stefan to freeze.


Black veins were moving up Buffy's desiccated arms.


Clutching her hand tighter as hope filled him, Stefan glanced at the doors of the Crupt "KLAUS!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, praying that the hybrid was still close enough to hear him "Something is happening!"

The black vine-like veins continued to spread up Buffy's entire body, like thorns of a rose growing from the roots. Piece by piece the grey skin slowly turned pink, blood flow returning to Buffy's body as the torn shredded skin around her stomach started to stitch back together. Black wisps pulled the skin back together until her stomach appeared just as it did before she was pregnant.

Not a single mark.

The cuts and bruises on her face faded next until finally, her entire body appeared to be peaceful.

Instead of a corpse, Rebekah and Stefan were staring at a sleeping blonde figure whose chest was slowly moving up and down.

Like Sleeping Beauty about to awaken from the curse.

Buffy's eyes slammed open, a loud horrified gasp escaping her as she shot up on the coffin, her hands automatically moving to her blood-soaked throat. While the wounds were gone, she could still feel the now-dried blood against her skin. 

There was also a sharp pain in her heart that she didn't quite understand.

A pain she had only felt when she had lost a loved one.

Before Stefan could even utter a word though, she twitched.

There was a sharp gust of wind.


Buffy was gone.

**

Caleb had come back stronger than ever.

In less than a second he had launched both Klaus and Elijah to opposite ends of the cemetery with ease.

"I must say..." He taunted black blood streaming from his eyelids "I am unimpressed. The Original family, so easily tossed aside?" Slowly he zeroed in on Klaus "Then again, she wasn't that hard to kill, was she? A little carving and she is nothing more than a rotted open cow."

Klaus tensed up, his eyes glowing gold as he glared furiously at the preacher.

That was not the button to push.

Overwhelmed by grief and hurt, Klaus rushed forward only for Caleb to easily sidestep him with a mocking chuckle.

"Now before I kill you both, then kill the witches and hand that bastard baby over, any last words? I am a man of faith so last words are important. Make sure they count."


Elijah was easily tossed right at his brother causing them both to hit the ground again.


Just as Caleb started moving in on them, he was sent flying as a blonde blur moved in front of them, kicking him right in the face and sending him flying across the cemetery.


Both Elijah and Klaus froze.

There standing in front of them, her sweatshirt hanging loosely around her blood-soaked knees, the Scythe clutched tightly in her blood-covered hand was the one and only Buffy Anne Summers.

Alive and kicking after all.

"You know, I don't think confessions work under duress." She snarked as she twirled the scythe in her palm, the weapon making a soft huff through the air as the Mikaelson brothers continued to stare at her in shock.

As Rebekah and Stefan appeared beside them, neither brother could tear their eyes off Buffy.

She was supposed to be dead.

"Buffy-"

Buffy cut Klaus off "Kind of busy Nik." She muttered before stepping in front of Caleb who climbed off the floor in a fury, his black-stained eyes staring back at her in rage.


"You ready to finish this? Bitch?"

Instead of answering, Buffy just narrowed her eyes, her eyes flashing black as her true demonic face once again took over "Actually kind of on a time crunch." She hissed before swinging the scythe, slamming the axe end of her weapon right between his legs, cutting off his snarky retort before he could try and utter it "And guess what? I feel better. Full strength actually. Wanna see?"

Without hesitation, she forced the Scythe up, slicing through his lower body and chest.

Splitting him into two.

As the two sides of his body clattered to the ground, Buffy merely turned her focus back to Elijah and Klaus, her eyes zeroing in on the hybrid "Our daughter..." She whispered, trying not to sob at the memory of Joy's birth.

It was not exactly a memory she wanted to treasure given what had happened.

"Where is she?"

Instead of answering straight away, Klaus merely continued to stare at her before shocking all of them by yanking her into his arms. Wrapping his arms around her tightly as he hugged her to his chest "You were dead."

Buffy hugged him back, tears spilling down her cheeks as a flat laugh escaped her "I've both been there and done that. Not a fan this time."

Klaus laughed through his own tears as he kissed the top of her head before pulling back, his focus on her and none of the other three people surrounding them.

The focus was on their daughter and saving her.

He had one idea, a place where the spirits would be powerful.

"The old witch house." 

Clenching her jaw, Buffy focused on the familiar headstone in front of them, and without hesitation, she kicked it over.


There was a slight shift in the air.


Now that she wasn't pregnant, her powers were back in full force. Which meant her resistance to magic was back. No witches were going to be able to manipulate her and stop her from getting her daughter back.

She was getting her baby girl back...no matter how many people she needed to kill.


Anyone who tried to touch her baby, she would kill all of them!


She had tried to play nice, she had been advocating for witches for years, but it was witches that had murdered her and torn her baby out of her arms!

FUCK EVERYONE!

Anyone who touched her daughter died, end of story.


Without hesitation, Buffy shook the blood off the scythe before turning to head out of the cemetery, she was getting her daughter back. 

"Let's go."

As Klaus moved to her side and Rebekah quickly helped Elijah back to his feet so they could follow, all of them determined to save Joy Summers-Mikaelson the echo of Stefan's phone ringing caused all of them to pause.

Stefan growled in frustration as he stared down at his phone.

The second he spotted the message from Caroline though he froze "Damon found Bonnie, something is wrong."

Apparently, Bonnie was claiming she knew how to bring Jeremy back to life, but it also involved either killing 12 more people or Joy

.

 'Those witches have your little girl. You gotta get up!'

Focusing on nothing but her daughter, Buffy just waved Stefan off "Go." She told him as she started walking again, Klaus by her side, with Elijah and Rebekah following behind them.

Deep down, she knew there was more going on, but right now, she didn't care.

She had to get her daughter back.

"Go help, Bonnie. We're going to get my daughter back."

 **

"I mean, the whole flight back home, all she could take about was how she's the one that can drop the veil between this side and the Other Side."

The panic in Damon's voice was only filling Stefan was more dread. Learning that Bonnie had not given any concern to the fact that Buffy was in labor was one thing but this was far beyond was he was expecting to hear.

Someone had to be manipulating Bonnie.

This was Buffy they were talking about. Buffy and Bonnie were two halves of one soul.

They were each other's person.

If Bonnie wasn't showing concern for Buffy being in early labor then she had to be being manipulated.

And Stefan's best guess was either by Shane or Silas himself.

"Drop the veil? What does that even mean?" Stefan questioned as he tossed his blood-soaked jacket onto the floor. Unable to stand the stench of Buffy's blood any longer.


It was constantly haunting him with horrid memories.


Buffy was alive...she wasn't dead.


She wasn't dead!

Damon just sighed, dread filling him as the prospect of the veil collapsing continued to weigh on him "What it means is, the myth about Silas being able to raise the dead is not just one or some. It's every supernatural being over there. Three massacres. Three hot spots and the witch spell of the century. Let me put it clearly if the witches don't sacrifice Bubbles's kid, Shane or Silas will. And then every supernatural being over there is back with a vengeance."

**

With Elijah's suit jacket resting on her shoulder, offering her some semblance of modesty given that she was in nothing more than a blood-soaked sweatshirt, Buffy kept her eyes glued ahead as she pushed through the forest.

Despite the fact she could hear the three Originals behind her, she barely acknowledged them. 

Her focus was getting to her daughter.

Her daughter was in danger, everything else could wait.

Processing the fact she had been brutally murdered and tortured could wait, the weird sensation of grief in the pit of her stomach could wait.

She was getting her baby back.

No matter how many witches she needed to kill.


Buffy was beyond rage at this point, she had thought she'd known anger and rage in the past, but this feeling was far beyond anything she had ever felt. Yes, she had felt murderous before, but she had always been able to talk herself down from going that far. This time, she had no desire to stop, no doubt in her mind that she was going to kill the people threatening her baby.

She was going to rip them apart.

She would kill anyone who tried to lay a damn hand on her daughter.



Clearly, any worries she'd had about not having the capability to slaughter people to protect the baby, had been proved pointless.

When it came to Jeremy, Elena, and her friends, killing was her last resort...but this was her daughter and she was not taking any risks.


NO CHANCE.


Buffy's entire body came to a halt as she spotted the door of the house open, giving her the perfect view of where the two remaining witches were positioned in the center of the room in a circle of candles.

Her baby was in the middle of the circle, a dagger being held over her heart.

They were about to kill her.

"NO!" She screamed as she sped forward only to go slamming right into a barrier, as the house that had once helped her shield the Mikaelson's coffins from Klaus locked her out. Keeping her from getting her daughter.


Buffy officially hated the ancestors.


Except for Shelia Bennett.

Clenching his jaw, Klaus let out a growl before ripping free one of the porch steps and launching the broken wooden shard straight through the window of the house.

The dagger was dropped at Genevieve stumbled back, the sharp wood impaling her shoulder causing her to crumble to the ground with a thud.

Just because they couldn't get in, didn't mean the witches were safe.

Letting the Mikaelsons keep the witches distracted and focused on them, Buffy circled around the house like a woman possessed, her black eyes focused on the shattered old window. Stepping forward, she pressed against the barrier keeping her out with the palm of her hand.

Despite the fact her flesh started burning and sizzling, Buffy just narrowed her gaze, pushing harder against the barrier.

Nothing was going to stop her from getting to her baby, not even some little magic trick.

She was the Original Demonic Hybrid.

She was supposed to be immune to magical attacks so it was time for that part of her to get to work because nothing was keeping her from Joy.

Not the ancestors and sure as hell not their demented idea that a baby was born evil.

Black vines moved under her skin, moving along the base of her palm and her fingers. The barrier bent beneath her causing Buffy to grin and without hesitation, she slammed her fist against it with all of her strength.


Given that the witches were also fighting off three original vampires, they didn't have the strength to keep her out as well as them at the same time.


Stepping inside the house, Buffy's eyes automatically moved to her squirming daughter just as Elijah launched a shard of broken glass through the window, impaling one of the witches.


One down, one to go.


As the last standing witch frantically crawled toward the dagger, intent on killing the Mikaelson newborn, she could do nothing but scream as a tight hand wrapped around her wrist and snapped the bone like a twig.


Yanking the woman off her feet by the throat, Buffy ignored the look of horror and fear "Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me twice?" She shoved her hand into the witch's stomach, purposely wrapping her hands around her intestines as furious tears filled her eyes "It's not a pleasant feeling is it?" She hissed as Genevieve screamed in utter agony "To have someone violate you like that. To shove their hands inside of you and start pulling you apart like a game of operation."

She slowly started peeling her intestines out an inch at a time.

Buffy wanted Genevieve to feel just a 10th of the agony she had been in when they had cut into her uterus and ripped her baby out of her.

As her enteral organs started spilling out of her like spaghetti, Genevieve let out a harsh sob, choking as blood and vile rushed up her throat "She--she upsets the balance of nature."

Buffy just glared at her "Screw nature. When you are rotting in the mud, in an unmarked grave, do me a favor...tell mother nature, payback is a bitch."

With one final yank, Buffy ripped out her spine and dumped her lifeless corpse on the ground, leaving her in a puddle of her own blood and guts.


The crying in her ears caused the blackness in her eyes to vanish.


Green once again flickering in, drowning out the darkness.

Wiping the blood staining her hands onto her sweatshirt, she allowed her eyes to shift to the baby in the center of the candles. Blinking through her tears, Buffy stepped forward nervously, her hands shaking violently as she stared down at her daughter who was wrapped up in a pink blanket.

Looking over at the Mikaelsons who were all waiting for her to make the first move, Buffy gulped images of what had happened the last time she had held her baby starting to flash through her brain.

One second.

She had held her little girl for one second then had her throat slit and was forced to watch as her baby was torn out of her arms while she choked on her own blood.


"Camena..." Klaus whispered as he slowly approached her, his eyes swimming with concern as he spotted the utter terror in her eyes that was just growing the longer she stared down at their daughter.


Like if she even blinked, Joy would be taken from her again.


"The witches are dead. They cannot take her from you." While they had other enemies to worry about, both in New Orleans and Mystic Falls, for just a moment, Buffy could have a sense of peace that their daughter was safe with them "She isn't going to vanish."

"They took her once though," Buffy whispered her lip starting to quiver as Joy's fingers latched around her index finger "They ripped her away, and I couldn't do anything but watch."

She was petrified that the minute she relaxed someone else would try and rip Joy out of her arms again.

One second was all it had taken last time.

Rebekah blinked back tears before glancing over at Elijah, his face mirroring her own distraught expression. It was a heartbreaking thing to watch, to hear the utter terror in Buffy's voice. Terrified that just by holding her daughter and having a moment to be with her that she would lose her.

"We will stand guard." She piped up with a smile "Hold your little girl B. Use Nik as a shield if you have to."

Klaus shot her a sharp glare but she just smirked at him playfully.

"We are not going anywhere. You can have a moment to enjoy meeting your daughter." Elijah assured Buffy.


Blinking through her tears, Buffy focused back down on her daughter and slowly placed one hand under her neck and the other under her legs. Holding a baby was terrifying enough given how fragile they were but given what had happened, Buffy still couldn't untense.

Moving extremely slowly, she carefully positioned Joy in her arms, her body automatically relaxing as the little girl shifted, her cries vanishing in an instant.

Buffy couldn't help but smile as she started rocking her back and forth.

She was holding her baby.

It was surreal.

Joy was the perfect mix of both of them, with curly strands of blonde hair on top of her head and green-blue eyes. The ocean and the forest mixed together in a swirl of teal.

She had to admit it, she and Klaus made a damn cute kid.

"She's perfect."



**




"She is the most precious thing I have ever seen." Rebekah declared as she continued to stare down into the crib where Joyce Summers-Mikaelson was now fast asleep without a care in the world.


Once they had gotten back to the mansion, the little girl had been changed into a yellow onesie and tucked into her crib where she had promptly passed out.

Clearly, she took after her mother.

As she continued to stroke Joy's cheek, Rebekah glanced over at Buffy smiling brightly as she stepped out of the bathroom and back into the nursery.

It was safe to say, Buffy had desperately needed a shower after today's events.

It had taken over an hour to get all of the blood off of her body and her sweatshirt had been tossed and burned. As much as she loved her UC Sunnydale sweatshirt, it had been completely ruined. And to be honest, given how the blood had gotten there, every time she looked at it she kept replaying that moment in her head.

She had been right back on the floor, the dagger carving into her stomach.

She might not be able to look at a Turkey on Thanksgiving for at least a couple of years.

Pulling her pink cardigan on, Buffy smiled softly as she moved over to the crib, her eyes automatically landing on the sleeping little girl inside who was wiggling around in her sleep.

Rebekah was not wrong, Joy was absolutely precious.


"Yeah, I make good-looking babies." Buffy teased as she leaned forward and adjusted the blanket slightly before stepping back and taking her seat in the rocking chair opposite the crib. She had no intention of sleeping in her room tonight. Despite the fact there was literally an adjoining door between their two rooms, Buffy didn't want to take her eyes off her little girl.


It was funny to think that Joy technically wasn't supposed to be born for three more months.

It was hard to believe just yesterday, she had been on a mystical island only 6 and a half months pregnant and now here she was watching her perfect little girl sleeping soundly, unaware of just how much danger she had been in today.

Despite the fact this little girl was the daughter of a serial killer hybrid and an Uber Slayer, she was positively perfect.

She was small and innocent, with nothing evil surrounding her.

All of the time Buffy thought she would have left to prepare for motherhood had been ripped away. There was no more preparation time. Ready or not, she was a mom and that little girl needed her more than anything.

Being a mom terrified the living crap out of her, but she had never loved something so much in her entire life.


As Rebekah moved to sit beside her, having no desire to leave the room either, Buffy reached over and squeezed her hand tightly "Thank you for today." If it hadn't been for Rebekah, Joy would likely be dead and so would she.

Rebekah had gotten her off the Island safely and had protected her from The Bringers. She had put her own life on the line and had literally been stabbed through the chest with a torturous dagger trying to keep Buffy and the baby safe.

Other than Klaus, Buffy would probably never trust someone as much as she did Rebekah when it came to her daughter's safety.

Rebekah squeezed her hand back tightly "Anything for you and Joy, B." She told her with a bright smile "Though if you ever have another daughter, I expect her middle name to be Rebekah."

Buffy laughed.

Given how traumatizing this labor had been, the likely hood of her having another kid any time soon was slim to none.

"Clearly there is a God though." Rebekah teased as she glanced back at the little girl who was reaching for the stuffed pig in her sleep "She looks like her mother."

Shaking her head in amusement, Buffy focused back on Joy as her fingers started twisting around the little bear charm on her bracelet.

A bracelet she had literally had to steal back from Klaus when they had gotten home.

Hearing her phone ringing, Buffy doesn't move from her seat. Whatever problems were going on could wait. She wanted one night with her daughter without the rest of the world demanding her to make an appearance.

"It's Stefan." Rebekah told her as she picked the phone off the table and tapped Buffy on the knee "I will let him know what happened."

"Thanks."


Just as Rebekah stepped out of the room, Klaus appeared in the doorway, his eyes jumping between Buffy and his sleeping daughter. Moving over to her, Klaus crouched down on the floor beside her rocking chair, his eyes glued to the crib. Watching as Joy's chest rose up and down, her little nose scutching up before she stretched.

"She sleeps like a rock, clearly she takes after you."

Giggling, Buffy glanced down at him, her grin never wavering "Told you so. She is a mini-me."

Chuckling, Klaus grabbed her hand, kissing her palm softly before focusing on her exhausted face. Buffy had been through a lot today, she had literally been through hell and he was concerned "Sleep, I will watch her."

"I'm good." 

Truthfully, Buffy was scared of sleeping.

Not only because she was paranoid of once again waking up and finding her baby gone, but she was petrified of reliving the whole experience. While she loved her daughter, the way Joy had come into this world had been beyond traumatizing. Every time she closed her eyes it was all she could think about and Buffy knew that the second she tried to sleep, the nightmares would be torturing her.


Instead of arguing though, Klaus just focused back on their small daughter "Well, two sets of eyes are better than one." Truthfully, after today he didn't want to let Joy out of his sight and he had no desire to let Buffy be alone.

She had been murdered today and he had witnessed it.

He needed to see her alive, to hear her breathing beside him tonight to reassure his brain that she was really here.

That she was alive.

Humming tiredly as she struggled to keep her eyes open, Buffy shifted in her chair bringing her knees to her chest "Elijah?"

"Gone. Your wolf friend called." Klaus explained, "My mother's bones have been consecrated on New Orleans soil, he is going to handle any other threats and ensure the city is safe for our arrival."

Buffy nodded tiredly as she kept her chin pressed up on her knees, her eyes glued to her innocent baby that had inherited thousands of enemies before they had even named her "We can protect her right? We can do this?"

Now that Joy was actually here and had already almost been killed not an hour after she was born, Buffy was even more terrified than before. Her daughter was on every person's hit list who wanted to get at The Originals or her. They didn't see an innocent baby who had never hurt anyone, they saw the people around her.

It was terrifying.

She had been paranoid when pregnant, but she could feel her paranoia getting more intense by the second.

"We do it together." Klaus promised her as he squeezed her knee softly "No one is going to harm our little girl."

Buffy really hoped that was true.

Before she could even try and utter another word, Rebekah re-entered the room, her expression shattering as her eyes landed on Buffy "You need to go to The Gilbert house."

Buffy sat up, her body tensing slightly as she spotted the look in Rebekah's eyes. It was a mixture of a range of different emotions: sympathy, sadness...and the feeling when someone you cared for was grieving.

Why was Rebekah looking at her like that?

"Bex?"

The longer she stared at Buffy's clueless face, the more Rebekah wanted to burst into tears. She had lost three brothers in her life and given how close Buffy was with Jeremy, she knew this news was going to destroy her completely "Not everyone made it off that Island alive, Buffy."

**



Rushing out of Damon's car, Buffy froze the second she stepped outside of her old house.

She could smell it.

She knew that smell far better than she wished she did. It was a decomposing body. Her mother had smelled that way when she had found her the day she died.

Something in the house was rotting...someone was rotting.

Instead dread started to pool in her gut.

The house hadn't smelled like that when she and Rebekah retrieved Kol's body. This smell was fresh, a fresh new corpse slowly started to bloat and decompose as rigor mortis settled in.

Deep down she knew who it was, she could feel it in her soul who had died, yet she still couldn't quite believe it. It couldn't be him, it just couldn't be.

Speeding up the porch, Buffy slammed open the front door only to freeze up as she was met with the sight of three vampires now staring at her. The looks on their faces was all it took for her to realize that the little voice in the back of her head had been right.

The voice that had been progressively getting louder since she had woken up after her murder, had been right.

NO!

Given that Caroline hadn't been filled in on Buffy's pregnancy being sped up as Stefan had bolted before explaining everything, she could do nothing but stare at her exhausted godsister.

Her baby bump was gone.

"Buffy? You're not pregnant."

Stefan just continued to stare at Buffy, trying to convince himself that she was really here, trying to convince himself that he wasn't going crazy "Is she okay?"

Buffy smiled weakly "She is perfect. Rebekah and Klaus are with her."

It had taken every ounce of strength she had to tear her away from her daughter. Rebekah had literally had to shove her out of the front door and Klaus had to send her updated photos every five minutes to assure her that Joy was still safe with him.

Focusing back on the smell, Buffy let out a shaky breath "Where?"

Damon cleared his throat awkwardly, he truly had no idea how the hell she was going to react to Jeremy's death "Upstairs."

Even though the door was closed Buffy's eyes widened in horror, the smell was stronger up here.

Which could only mean...

Before anyone could stop her, Buffy sped up the stairs, pushing open the door to Jeremy's bedroom.

Instantly, her heart cracked into a million pieces as she focused on the body resting on the bed, his body decomposing right before her eyes.

"Little Bear."

Stumbling forward, Buffy ignored Elena and the others as they watched her. Her entire focus was on Jeremy.

He was dead.

"No, no, no, no..." She muttered, her voice cracking as she slowly approached his body.

Her brother was dead.

Her little bear was gone.

As Buffy slowly moved to stand beside him, her finger softly grazing his cold cheek, Elena glanced up, her eyebrows furrowing in confusion as she stared at a no longer pregnant Buffy "Buffy?" She whispered only to sigh as she spotted the sobs starting to erupt from her sister's chest "He will wake up soon." She assured Buffy strongly "Maybe bring the baby, so he can meet her?"

No way in hell was Buffy bringing her child into this house.

This house signed a death sentence for anyone who stepped inside.

"He is dead." She whispered, her voice wavering as she forced herself not to break into uncontrollable sobs "Elena... Jeremy's gone. I could smell him from outside."

Elena just shook her head, Buffy didn't get it, she couldn't get it "No, no...it's only temporary...his ring...his ring will bring him back...and Bonnie she has a way. She'll save him."

Buffy frowned before glancing at the doorway her eyes focusing on Stefan and Damon for some form of explanation.

What the hell was Elena talking about?

"Bonnie wants to complete the three massacres and destroy the other side bringing back every supernatural creature that has ever died." Damon explained, wincing slightly as he spotted the shift in Buffy's body.

Safe to say she was not on board with that plan.

Buffy's eyes widened in horror. They couldn't do that, even if it brought Jeremy back...they couldn't bring back everyone who had ever died who was trapped on The Other Side.

That was thousands of vampires, witches, and supernatural creatures.

Plus, bringing back all those dead, would likely sign her daughter's death sentence. She didn't even want to try and imagine how many people on The Other Side had a grudge against her and Klaus.

The best way to get to her and Klaus was their innocent newborn.


Her daughter or her brother.


Taking in a shaky breath, Buffy finally forced herself to glance over at Elena "Elena...he's gone. Our brother is gone."

Elena let out a frustrated growl, she was sick of everyone saying that. No one understood, they were too small-minded "No, no, no. He's coming back!"

Elena was in serious denial about what was happening, and truthfully, Buffy was a little jealous. Elena had managed to convince herself that Jeremy was going to wake up, yet Buffy couldn't. All she could think about was the vacant look in his eyes.


Jeremy was dead.


The body in the room wasn't her little brother anymore, it was just an empty host void of a soul. Jeremy was gone and it made Buffy want to completely crumble.

"I could never hate you, Buffy. I love you...you're literally my favorite person. You're my sister."

"Promise me. Promise me that when this is over, the three of us will be together again."

Clenching her eyes shut as his voice continued to whisper in the back of her head, Buffy tried to fight back the tears but she couldn't. This wasn't just any loved one she had lost, this was her baby brother.

The little boy that used to follow her around when he was a toddler, would beg his parents to let him live with her, had declared that she was his sister long before Elena had started referring to her in that way.

He had always been her brother.

And now he was just like the rest of their family.

Dead.

Grieve, lose, repeat.

Over and over again.

Another member of their family was gone, a new Summers had entered the world as another has been taken from it far before his time.

They couldn't just leave him here to bloat and decompose, it wasn't right and it wasn't fair to Jeremy. He deserved more, he deserved to have his body cared for before he was set to rest. He deserved a funeral, buried beside his parents and the rest of their family.

Just the idea of having to bury him, having to pick his headstone, his coffin, and the clothes he would be buried in made her want to puke.

He was really gone.

The smell was a constant reminder of that.

They were just letting him rot, leaving his body uncared for.

God, she couldn't breathe.


"He is going to wake up." Elena insisted once last time and it was the final straw for Buffy. While she understood Elena was in denial, she wasn't the only one who had lost him, and her utter refusal to accept this was not fair to her and it wasn't fair to Jeremy.


"No, he's not." She whispered, her voice cracking as she focused on Elena who looked ready to slap her for even daring to speak the truth "Elena, smell him. He is rotting!"

"No." Elena muttered shaking her head as she tried desperately to ignore the smell that was trying to consume her.

Buffy groaned and wiped at her tears before moving over to Jeremy's body, trying not to gag at the stench "Wake up Elena! He is gone, keeping him here is not okay!"


Elena shoved her.


Buffy let her this time but when she tried to lay a hand on her again, Buffy caught her wrist "Smell him."


With tears streaming down her face, Elena growled yanking herself free of Buffy's hold only for her chest to cave in as the smell hit her light a freight train. One second she hadn't smelt anything and the next the stench of death was all she could smell. It was so intense and it had bile rushing up her throat.

"How—how long has he smelled like that? Oh my god." Slowly, Elena's eyes jumped back and forth between Jeremy and Buffy.


"Where were you?"

The question was so hushed at first that Buffy almost missed it. Stepping away from Jeremy's body, Buffy turned to Elena only to clench her jaw as she spotted the look on her cousin's face.

Elena had jumped straight from denial to rage.

Blaming someone else in order to process the death, in order to protect her own heart from the guilt.

Today of all days was not the day to test Buffy though.

Elena had been through a lot today, there was no denying that; she had been the one to find Jeremy, but that was nothing in comparison to everything Buffy had been through in the space of 32 hours.


"Excuse me." Buffy hissed, her fists clenching at her sides as her blood started to boil. 

If Elena dared to try and blame her for any of them, she was going to lose it. 

Elena just glared at her as heavy tears started pouring down her face "You should have protected us! Protected him!" She screamed the vein on her forehead becoming more apparent by the second "It is your job to keep him alive!"

Before anyone could try and intervene, Buffy just scoffed, her own tears streaming down her face as she stared at Elena in disgust.

Who the hell did Elena think she was?!

"Oh, I'm sorry that I was literally dying as my body tried to push a baby out of me that was draining the life out of me." She countered with a flat laugh "I'm so sorry that your useless ass once again got beat. I'm sorry that you after slaughtering tens of thousands of people had this sudden realization that you didn't even want the cure."

She was not going to take Elena's shit.

Screw Elena.

Elena wasn't the only one who had lost Jeremy, she didn't get to turn this on her just to make herself feel better because she felt guilty!

Buffy had lost her dad, been brutally tortured, murdered, had her baby torn from her arms, and had woken up only to find out her baby brother was dead.

She had been through utter hell today!

"I did not want to risk waking Silas! Who pushed?!" She hissed as she stepped toward Elena, her eyes narrowing dangerously "Only to turn around and declare that you didn't even want it because you suddenly liked the power."

Elena had been the driving force to kill Kol to get to The Cure, she had refused to acknowledge the fact that Silas waking up would set off the apocalypse, only to turn around and reveal that she liked being a Banshee!

Clearly, Elena was not a fan of being called out on her hypocrisy. Her body was literally vibrating in rage.

"Don't-"

"You liked it when you manipulated our baby brother to murder tens of thousands. But by that point, you had already like a little idiot invited Kol in!"

"That is not what happened! I did not manipulate him!"

Buffy scoffed "You knew, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. He was struggling against the hunter's instinct around people he knew! You planned the whole thing, knowing that the second your damsel self needed help, he wouldn't be able to stop himself. You wanted him to complete The Mark, then changed your mind the second we were on that damn island. You pushed him and now he is dead. You did this Elena, you didn't care about the consequences of killing an Original, again, you didn't think that maybe risking setting off another apocalypse was a bad thing. Nothing but a myth, you said. Well, nothing is a myth in our lives!"


Elena looked ready to kill her and it was almost hilarious.

If Elena thought her scream would save her right now, she was dead wrong. Buffy would end her miserable existence if she dared try anything.

"You went after the cure too!"

It was a weak argument and everyone knew it.

"I wanted it for you, for Abby, for Stefan! But a reminder of what I did the second Silas was uttered, the second the end of the world was hinted. I was out!"

"You could have stopped us."

"Please! It has been proven that you guys don't care about consequences over and over again and will go out of your way to ignore me if you don't like the answer. You literally left me out of the Kol conversation because of that. I was only on that damn Island to make sure you guys didn't set off the end of the world! Plus newsflash Elena, I was pregnant! With a baby that was straining my powers."

She had literally been dying, Elena knew that!

Elena had been with her when her body was starting to fucking desiccate!

The fact that Elena was choosing to forget that was ridiculous.


The straight facts being spat at her had Elena ready to blow up. She wasn't used to Buffy acting like this and right now she couldn't handle the truth "Shut up!"

The second she spotted Elena raise her hand intent on hitting her, Buffy grabbed her wrist before her palm could make contact.

Squeezing her bones tightly until a small whimper escaped the banshee, Buffy narrowed her eyes dangerously, black replacing green for a split second "Don't ever try that again."

No one was touching her today.

She had literally had a witch carve her open and shove her hands inside of her as she begged for her not to. No one else today would lay a fucking hand on her and live to tell the tale.

Shoving Elena away from her before she killed her, Buffy glanced back over at the group who were awkwardly watching from the doorway "Call the morgue. And Liz." 

The second she tried to leave the room, unable to stomach being around Elena or the body that once used to be her brother any longer, Buffy froze, her nails digging into her palms as Elena piped up again.

"This is your fault. You are supposed to take care of us."

"The only reason you are alive is because of me!" Buffy screamed as she turned back to the brunette "And newsflash Elena! You're not 17 anymore! You're a grown-ass woman, start acting like one!"

Elena had been stuck in the same mentality of a teenager still trying to understand the supernatural for years and Buffy was sick of it.

It was time for Elena to grow the fuck up because no one was going to protect her. She was an adult, it was her job to keep herself alive, it wasn't Buffy's responsibility to protect Elena from her own mistakes.

"You have been putting us on the back burner since..."

"Finish your sentence." Buffy dared her.

"Since you got pregnant, with Klaus's child. Is that why you are so pissed about Kol? Upset you baby daddy-" A sharp scream cut off Elena's sentence as she was slammed up against the wall, Buffy's forearm pressing into her throat.

If Elena was going to act like a clueless child, Buffy was going to treat her like one.

Elena did not get to blame her for this!

"Listen to me very carefully right now and understand my words because clearly, you are stupid. You are grieving! But so am I! I just found out my brother is dead! I have you being a self-centered bitch to me, I had my throat slit and my baby torn out of my arms so I am close to ripping your damn head off. I understand you don't have to deal with consequences normally but you murdered tens of thousands of people that was my issue with Kol you moron! Our brother is dead! And you are trying to blame me because you know this is partly your fault!"

"You are the one that had him trained!" Elena shot back.

"To protect him! If I hadn't had him trained he wouldn't have survived as long as he did. I gave him a fighting chance!"

Elena was the one who had been determined for Jeremy not to train, to not know the danger he was in constantly by compelling him.

Jeremy had wanted to train because he didn't trust Elena!

He had died hating her and Elena couldn't handle it, it was why she was lashing out at the sibling that Jeremy had trusted. The sibling he had loved and defended while their last moments had been nothing but harsh words being traded.

For the rest of her life, Elena would be stuck drowning in the guilt that she had destroyed her relationship with her brother before he died.

There would be no forgiveness or moving past it.

Because Jeremy was gone.

And that wasn't changing anytime soon.


A harsh sob escaped Elena's chest as she moved into the next stage of grief. Collapsing to her knees, she started rocking back and forth as everything started to weigh down on her. Clutching onto her hair, she couldn't stop sobbing. 

She couldn't do this.

It was too much.

She just couldn't survive this.

In an instant, Elena opened her mouth to do the only thing she could do right now.

She screamed...

Buffy automatically moved to cover her ears only for her eyes to widen in horror as she caught sight of Elena.

Elena's mouth was hanging open as though she was screaming, yet there was no sound. No shaking of glasses or piercing burning sensation in her skull. There was nothing but an eery silence.

Slowly, blood started to fill the white in Elena's eyes and her body started convulsing.

Something was wrong.

"Elena?" Buffy whispered, her face softening as terror started settling in.

The second, Elena gasped and started to collapse, Buffy caught her, lowering them both to the ground as Elena continued to shake violently in her arms.

It was just like the last time Elena had collapsed and started shaking.

Right before she became a Banshee.

"Elena!" She screamed as she started tapping the brunette's cheek, desperately trying to get her to focus. Elena had turned her scream inward, shutting herself off instead of blowing up everything around her.

She had given up.

This couldn't be happening!

NO!

First her dad, then Jeremy, and now Elena?

Just because she and Elena weren't on good terms didn't mean that Buffy didn't love her.  It was impossible to stop loving someone who you had loved your entire life, no matter how much you also hated each other.

Despite the fights, the arguments...love was still there and it was utterly terrifying to be back in this position for Buffy.

Everything moved in slow motion as another piece of hell was added to what should have been the best day of Buffy's life. It was her daughter's birthday, yet the joy of the moment continued to be broken down. She had been brutally gutted and murdered, her brother had died and Elena had just shut down.


Joy's birthday would be tainted forever...just like Buffy's was tainted by past traumas.


As Elena's eyes glazed over and her body stilled, Buffy felt another piece of her soul crack. She could do nothing but stare into the dead-looking eyes staring unblinkingly back at her.

Elena's heart was beating, but there was nothing alive about her.

It was like her soul had vanished, living nothing but an empty host.

Tears started streaming down Buffy's face as she glanced over at the vampire trio who were all standing in the doorway, unable to do anything about the situation but stand there and watch in horror.

"Why won't she wake up?"

**

Hours passed.


Truthfully, Buffy had no idea just how many hours had gone by, the sun had gone down a while ago and she could vaguely hear her phone ringing in the background, two familiar songs constantly going off every few minutes.

Her ringtones for Klaus and Rebekah.

Given what had happened today, they were probably panicking at her still being radio silent after so long, yet Buffy barely remembered any of it. Everything from today felt a million miles away right now.

Today should have been a good day.

Yet, her daughter's birthday now fell on the worst day of her life.

There was so much pain in her chest that it had left Buffy completely crippled, unable to do anything but stare at the wall blankly, her eyes not shifting once. It was like she was watching everything from the sidelines, like she had astral projected out of her body, leaving her as a ghost just watching as things passed her by. 

Buffy had tried everything to get Elena to move, to show any sign that she was still inside but there was nothing. She probably would never wake up and Jeremy...Jeremy was gone, his body rotted, staining the walls of the house with the smell.

Meredith had arrived and taken Elena away in an ambulance, yet Buffy hadn't blinked.

Jeremy's body had been taken to the morgue and Buffy hadn't moved from her spot on the window seal.

Once again the cycle of endless pain and suffering had come full circle.

She had cried, she had tried to mourn only for more pain to come. Her father was dead, then she had died, Jeremy had died and Elena had completely shut herself down, basically nothing more than a brain-dead coma patient now.


She was the last Summers standing.


Buffy hated it.

Something inside of her snapped at that moment.

Everyone she had ever loved was gone. Elena was gone, Jeremy was dead, her mom, her dad, Jenna, Miranda, John, Alaric...they were all DEAD!

She could smell nothing but death in the house.

This entire house was a tornado of death and Buffy wanted to stench to vanish. To be eradicated from her mind.

Pushing up from the window seal, Buffy emotionlessly stormed down the stairs, ignoring the photos of nothing but ghosts hanging on the walls. Nothing but dead corpse taunting her, reminding her of the cycle of death she had been trapped in for seven years.

7 years of hurt.

7 years of pain.

7 years of endless death.

Ignoring Caroline, Stefan, and Damon who were trying to grab her attention, Buffy kept her mind focused. Without a word or a glance, she walked into the kitchen staring to rifle through the cupboards, grabbing for any flammable liquid she could get her hands on.

"Is Bonnie okay?" She whispered, her voice hoarse from all the crying.

Caroline frowned at the abrupt question, her heart cracked though as she heard how broken Buffy's voice sounded. She had been through so much hell in the past 32 hours and despite the fact her face was flat, her voice gave it away.

She wanted nothing more than to pull Buffy into a hug like she had done for her so many other times, yet clearly Buffy was not in the comfort mood.

She was moving around the kitchen at lightning speed, dumping bottle after bottle on the kitchen counter.

What the hell was Buffy doing?

"Matt took her home before you got back. She's sleeping."

"Silas is messing with her." Buffy said flatly as she grabbed a bottle of Alaric's bourbon out of the cupboard and placed it next to the bleach "Bonnie would never willingly sentence millions to die."

It was beyond obvious that Bonnie wasn't in her right mind.

Buffy knew Bonnie better than any of them and just hearing what Bonnie had been acting like had made it crystal clear that she was being manipulated.

"I have a newborn, I can't be chasing Silas who wants my baby dead. One of you needs to be on Bonnie's patrol." Buffy explained with a faraway look in her eyes before finally turning to face the three very confused vampires "In High School, I was known for one thing..." She shifted her focus to Stefan, knowing he would be the first one to click what she meant.

He was been the one to point out how the teachers at his first football game had started pulling out fire extinguishers when she went near the bonfire.

"I was the town firestarter."

With that declaration, Buffy started pouring lighter fluid all over the countertop. She wanted this house gone. She wanted this house of death to be destroyed so it couldn't keep killing everyone that slept there.

The curse of the Gilbert house had to end.

She poured liquid everywhere. All over the countertops, the dining room table, and the chairs.

She wanted it to burn.

"Buffy, what are you doing?" Stefan asked in a panic as Buffy continued to pour lighter fluid all over the house before making her way into the living room.

"Everyone who has ever lived here is dead." Buffy snapped, black veins flicking in and out on her face uncontrollably as ice tried to consume her from the inside out, turning her heart into ice "This house is cursed and no witch doctor can change that. This house is labeled with a death wish welcome sign!"

It would probably take thousands of witch doctors specialized in voodoo to try and banish the ju-ju of death from this house.

Most would probably bolt the second they stepped inside.

A revolving door of death.

7 years of trauma.

7 years of sorrow.

7 years of suffering.

7 years of torment.

"What am I doing? I'm breaking the cycle."  Buffy hissed as she launched another empty bottle of lighter fluid to the ground before grabbing a bottle of whiskey. Bringing the bottle to her lips, she let the alcohol wash through her system before launching it at the wall.

"This house is a spider's trap. I died once today and I don't plan on leaving my daughter watching a window wondering if her mom is ever going to show up."   


Stefan froze as the glass of the bottle shattered all over the floor before panic settled in as Buffy started launching photo after photo at the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks as she completely fell apart. She was completely tearing at the seams, ready to destroy every memory this house held because now it was nothing more than a constant reminder that she had lost person after person.

Her entire family was gone and her new one was at risk.

Everything in her life had once again fallen apart.

A seven-year cycle of constantly losing her hope in the universe once against weighing down on her.

The weight had completely devastated her. Pushing her right off the edge of the cliff she had been hanging onto. 7 years of doing everything in her power to protect her family and friends only for person after person to drop dead at her feet, making all of the pain she had put herself through worthless.

They were all dead.

Everything she had sacrificed had been for nothing.

"Buffy, there are good memories here too." He reminded her as he took a cautious step toward her. Despite how much she wanted the house to burn right now, that was her heightened grief powering her. If she burnt this house, it wouldn't just be burning the bad, it would be burning the good memories too.

All the times she had with her family as a child would be turned to ashes.

If she did this right now, without giving herself a few nights to process, she would regret it.

She would regret not holding onto the memories.

Buffy just snorted as she unbottled a massive bottle of vodka, bringing it to her lips, downing several massive gulps while slamming her foot into everything in sight that summoned a memory.

She smashed photos.

She smashed the Xbox.

She smashed her weapons case.

"What good?!" Buffy yelled, her heart aching, crack forming like glass cutting through her skin "Every time I have touched happiness it has been ripped away from me! Over and over again! FOR SEVEN YEARS!"

7 years as The Slayer.

Every time she tried to let herself be happy, whenever she let her walls down, something horrible happened. She made friends and tried to be a normal 16-year-old girl, The Master killed her. Leaving her beyond traumatized, unable to sleep for months.

She fell in love with Angel, he became a monster and she ended up having to kill him.

She met Stefan, and let herself open up again only for her world to once again be consumed by problem after problem.

She started to accept her new form, to enjoy the concept of being immortal and she got looked at like a monster.

Finding peace, only to be torn from it.

Seeing her mother again after years of wishing for it, only for it to be a trick, a curse playing with her head.

Trauma after trauma tearing at her sense of reality.

Peace wasn't real. There was no such thing for someone like her. As long as she kept trying to protect this world, she suffered.

How was that fair?!

Hadn't she given enough? Hadn't the world taken enough from her already?

"This isn't my house! It's the Gilbert house! Long story short, they are all dead! Oh, wait no...correction, Elena is as good as dead! This house dies with them! Why would I stay in this place!" She screamed as she picked up the sketchbook her father had given her when she was 14 and ripped it in half tossing it straight into the fireplace.

Letting it burn.

"This house is nothing but pain! Everyone that I have loved that lived here is dead! And what are we supposed to do? Bring them all back? Sacrifice more people or possibly my daughter to bring them back! I can't! do that! I WON'T!" 

7 years of anger.

7 years of broken.

7 years of anguish.

Launching the vodka across the room, Buffy let out a growl as she picked up the crossbow she had given Elena, launching it right out the living room window.

"Buffy stop it!" Caroline screamed in horror "You're scaring me!"


Buffy couldn't find it in herself to care.

Instead of responding, she wiped violently at the tears streaming down her face and automatically made her way over to the cupboard in the hall. 

Where her flame thrower had been stored for a rainy day.

The second she revealed the piece of equipment, Stefan and Damn shared a panicked look before Stefan quickly sped in front of Buffy, wrapping his hands around where hers were positioned on the handle of the weapon.

Truthfully, he had no idea what to do right now. While he had been through trauma before, he had experienced nothing like what Buffy had. Despite the fact he was over a century and a half older than her, her life made his own seem like a dream.

She had suffered more than anyone he had ever met.

"Buffy, just take a beat-"

"There is nothing here for me anymore, Stef!" She screamed in his face ripping herself out of his reach as she started glaring at every inch of the house around them.

The four walls didn't feel like a home...it was a prison.

A prison lingering with her pain and grief.

It was all too much, she just couldn't take it anymore "This house is filled with memories of people I loved who have died. My mom, My dad! Jenna, Miranda, Grayson, John, Alaric, Jeremy, and now Elena! They are all gone!"

She was cursed, this house was cursed.

Her mom was dead, Caleb had brutally killed her father, her aunts and uncles were dead, Alaric was dead...Jeremy was dead...Elena was basically brain-dead...she couldn't take it anymore.

Her entire family was gone.

Everyone she had ever loved.

No matter what she gave to this world, no matter what she sacrificed, no matter how many times she ignored her pain and got right back up...the world just keep pulling at the seams, trying to break her.

The Universe had finally won.

Buffy Summers had finally broken.

Collapsing to her knees in the center of the room, Buffy let out a loud sob as she eyed the photo on the mantel. A photo of her and Jeremy from his fifth birthday party. She was 7 carrying him on her back as they rushed around the living room with bright red superhero capes on.

She had spent so long trying to be good, trying to ignore the darkness clawing at her soul, begging her to let go, to finally rest and it hadn't mattered. 

Everyone was still gone.

What was the point of being good?

Of ignoring the darker side of herself? The past seven years just proved that none of it mattered. She had saved the world again and again, yet the people she had protected had gutted her and torn her baby from her arms. She had spent her entire life protecting her siblings and now they were gone.

It wasn't enough, it never had been.

She would never be safe, her daughter would never be safe.

So why bother trying to be good?

Being good had led her to this pain.

Putting the world first had cost her everything she held dead...and all she had left was her little girl.

Would putting the world first cost her Joy too?

"I can't...I...I can't do this anymore." She sobbed violently, barely noticing the way Stefan crouched down in front of her desperately trying to soothe her.

7 years of darkness.

Merrick, Kendra, Jenny, her mom, Angel, Miranda, Grayson, Vicky, Jenna, her dad, Jeremy, and now Elena.

7 years of being in an utter state of fear.


Every patrol that left her with bruises, every demon that almost beat her. The Master, Angelus, The Mayor, The Fallen Slayer Prophecy, Mary, Klaus, Adam, Glory, herself, and Silas.

Nothing but endless tears and pain.

Constantly prepared to crack again as the cycle of horrors restarted.


7 years of running.

Running from her duty. A duty she never wanted.


7 years of searching.

After her mother's death and killing Angel; she had been searching for a reason to keep going.


7 years of fighting.

6 Apololypses and endless monsters and threats.


7 years of stagnant.

Waking up after her first death, clawing out of her coffin, and waking up to find her baby torn out of her arms.

The feeling of constant drowning as darkness tried to consume her.


7 years of chains.

The Watchers Council.

Her father convincing everyone she was crazy and locking her away.

Being chained to the earth as two members of her family were killed in front of her during Klaus's ritual.

The emotional chains around her throat, keeping her leashed to this town and this realm.

Constantly having to pretend to be something she wasn't.

7 years of feeling entirely and utterly alone.

"We are alone."

"She alone will stand against the forces of evil."

The Slayer.


Always alone in life and in death.


7 years of hopelessness.


How was she supposed to look at her daughter and assure her that this pain would never be her own? Buffy wanted to be able to hold her daughter in her arms and let her know that she was loved, protected, and safe. Never having to worry if it could all be torn away at any second.


Black veins started twisting underneath Buffy's flesh causing Stefan to freeze.


Slowly his eyes widened in a mixture of shock and confusion as darkness spread up Buffy's arms and her neck...like the darkness was trying to consume her.

The demon side of her trying to take the reins.

Buffy let out another sob as the veins continued spreading up her skin, strands of golden blonde hair turning darker, almost black, leaving her with what appeared like black dip dye on the ends of her hair.

"Buffy, you need to breathe. Just-"

Buffy drowned Stefan's words out as a feeling started to wash over her. It was almost similar to the feeling that had washed over her that day on the tower in Sunnydale. The feeling that had spread through her veins when she had accepted her fate to sacrifice herself for Elena.

It was similar, yet drastically different at the same time.

This feeling offered an escape.

An escape from caring about the world.

A world that had done nothing for her.

There was a darker voice in her heart. Once that begged for chaos but offered an escape. An escape from grief. A way to let go and still be able to focus on the thing that mattered.

To focus on her daughter, no matter what.

To let the part of herself that wanted to protect the world go into the background, letting the darker half of her brain take over the reins. To bury all the pain, the sorrow, and the hurt away so it didn't cripple her.

To let it take control so she could forget about the fear and focus on being with her daughter.


Screw being good.


It was exhausting caring so much about the world. She didn't want to care about the world.

She wanted to be selfish.


Buffy's eyes flash black and in an instant, the sobbing stopped.

Her tears vanished.

The pain was gone.


Slowly peeling herself out of Stefan's arms, Buffy shifted slightly as she stumbled back up to her feet before letting out a small sigh.


Damon sputtered in confusion as he stared at Buffy "Buffy?" He whispered hesitantly, trying to work out what the hell had just happened.

Had she turned it off?


Buffy just smiled weakly "I didn't turn it off."

What she had done was different, and far more reckless and chaotic for everyone in this room. She had shut off the side of herself that cared about humanity and the world. She could still feel the love for her daughter, but everything else as far as she was concerned...

It could burn.

And she would enjoy watching the chaos ensue.

"I'm going home." She declared suddenly before without hesitation swiping up a lighter Giles had left behind and letting it clatter to the ground. Her movements were so quick that none of the three vampires in the room had been able to do a thing.


The fire was spreading around the house.


Watching the flames for a moment, Buffy forced a sniffle out, trying not to roll her eyes as she spotted the concerned looks around her.

The less they knew about what she had done the better.

Right now she cared about what mattered. She hadn't turned off her emotions, she had just let the demon take the reins so she could focus on protecting her daughter. If they knew, they would want her to go back and Buffy had no intention of letting grief and pointless pain stop her from keeping her little girl safe.

"Let it burn. I'm going to see my daughter."


With that, Buffy was gone and The Gilbert house continued to burn.


Until nothing but ashes remained.