indri

The following could be considered a loose series of epilogues to "Chosen". PG.

1. Dawn and Vi

Dawn and Vi walk with their arms entwined, taking big steps on the LA sidewalk, feeling invincible.

"So the whole time when I was a kid?" Dawn says. " It was Buffy the slayer and Willow the witch: bestest friends and total superheroes."

"Hm," says Vi, tilting her head as if puzzled, pressing a finger to her lips. "Who does that remind me of?"

"Except---except," says Dawn, "we'll do better than that because we'll get to learn from their mistakes." She stops dead in her tracks and turns to face Vi, looking serious. "So, talk to me, OK?"

"And you," Vi retorts, "don't turn evil."

"Evil-er," says Dawn and that cracks them up so hard they can't speak for a minute.

Later, after frappaccinos and a movie, Vi asks, "Don't we need a geek as well?" She wrinkles her nose. "Maybe---Andrew?"

They pause to think of Andrew and his deceptively innocent eyes.

"No," says Dawn decisively. "Just girls this time."

2. Robin

"You survived it then?" Crowley asks. The line is staticky: he left Beverly Hills for England months ago to help what remained of the Council.

"Mostly in one piece," Robin tells him. "Maybe two."

"Glad to hear it," says Crowley, "except for the 'two' part. I'm glad to know I trained you better than I trained your mother."

"Oh, I had some help," Robin says airily. "A couple dozen slayers, even a demon or two."

"So, did you kill him?"

Robin hangs up the phone.

3. Rona

Rona's parents are very glad to have her back. They tell her so at every opportunity. The night she gets home, they make all her favourite foods and she even gets to drink beer.

"The danger's over then?" her father asks.

"The worst of it," she says, brushing her hair.

Later, her mother goes to wash up in the kitchen and her dad goes to put her little brothers to bed. Rona's left alone in the lounge. She flicks through the channels on television for a while and then gets an idea.

In the telephone table is a map of the city that she takes out and spreads on the floor. She puts a finger on the corner she lives on, spots the closest graveyard and starts to memorise the route.

Her mom pops her head through the door. "What are you looking at, Rona? Oh, the map. Are you going for a walk?"

Rona grunts noncommitedly and then tries to hide an uncharacteristic smile.

4. Clem

Clem stands at the edge of the pit where Sunnydale once was, a group of fellow demons standing next to him. It's night.

"This was the Hellmouth," he says. "The fiercest, funnest place you've ever been. I mean, unless you've been to Cleveland."

A Grathnor reminds him that most of them have in fact bussed over from LA.

"But for a small town," Clem insists, "it was the best. I don't like those larger places where nobody knows who you are. Sunnydale had an atmosphere, you know? It was friendly."

He points a chubby arm out to the west. "That over there was the cinema, where they played monster movies half-price. And that little lump of rubble, right next to that larger lump of rubble? That was a great burger bar where a human friend of mine once worked. She'd get me freebies." He shakes his head. "I put on so much weight that year.

"And Sunnydale was such a good place for demons to live, because of the Mayor: plenty of sewers and a sense of community. When the slayer came, we thought we'd lose that, but, you know, she was fair. She made it a safe town for those of us that didn't eat humans."

A Fyarl says something softly. "Yeah," says Clem, "The Initiative. She freed them all, once she knew what was happening.

"That's how I like to think of this place, as a sign that maybe, one day, humans and demons can live together in peace."

They look out over the crater, contemplating the impossible, as the stars turn above.

Then Clem reaches down for a bag at his feet.

"Popcorn, anyone?"