DISCLAIMER: Angel/Buffy type people belong to Joss Whedon, Bobi belongs to us. There is no owning of anything. Except for Bobi.

AN: HI! Thank you for clicking on the story. This is our first fan fiction ever. We encourage you to review. We are looking for feedback to improve our performance.

This story takes place post Not Fade Away. The timeline is altered so the events happening start in February.

Prologue

They were gone, my family, my crew. LA, my home, was being destroyed by demons.

I tried to find Anne but the riots had caused too much chaos, destruction. I did the only thing I could think of, the Hyperion.

That was the plan Gunn had laid down for us after Gio. When he stopped coming around.

"There's trouble, you can't find anyone- hell, even if you just wanna- go to the hotel. Call me and I'll come get you."

I called before I went searching for the hotel. I was lost in my own city. No one had answered. The phone lines were down. The city had shut down. We thought it was bad during the Blackout.

This was worse.

It wasn't just demons taking advantage, but humans. I mean stealing, drugs, murder, and rape that's day to day. I knew that. I understood that. With the whole of the demon world closing in on us humans, you would think we would bond together. Some did. Some learned enough to protect what they could. Stake to the heart. Cut off the head. Others fled the city accusing gangs/ethnics for another repeat of the 1992 LA Riots. Still more made deals or took advantage of the distraction.

"Gang violence has reached a pressure point here in LA" I passed another TV reporter. "Dead bodies litter the streets as the LA gangs fight over territory"

The TV crew should get out of the open before the 'gang violence' kills them.

I could hear the shouts a block away. Not knowing any better, I had wandered deeper into the center of the riots. Men, women, and girls were fighting the demons swarming the hotel. I don't know why but I joined the fray.

I forgot everything that had happened for a time. Blood and gore covered the posse; my family- hacked to pieces. All there was, was survival.

"How ya doing, duckie?" I whirled attacking still hyper aware of danger. "Whoa, Whoa! I'm on your side!"

I didn't see the hit coming. Suddenly, I was on my ass. A woman covered in blue and slime stood over me. "Be still, muck"

"You okay, Spike?" a one-eyed man called across the room.

"Yeah" Billy Idol rotated a shoulder. "Nice to see you lot decided to partake."

The man smiled, "Sounded like a party with the apocalypse and all."

"The Slayer hanging around?"

"Somewhere" the man frowned, "Commanding the troops"

Thunder rolled through. Lightening flashed-green? Fuck

"Not again" I breathed. Was the sun going to blot out again? I heaved myself to my feet searching the windowed doors. I was so tired. I couldn't keep this up.

"Looks like the tide's changing" the guy blotted at a cut. What?

"I smell witches" the blue woman sneered.

"People are dying." I turned back to the group, "Entire city blocks burning and the tide is changing?"

"Sir!" The one-eyed man turned towards girl who shouted. Shrieks and growls could be heard outside.

"They're closing in. You ready for more?"

"I could do a bit more damage" the blonde smiled a deadly smile. I hunted for another weapon. I had lost my last stake.

"You should find a safe place," The one-eyed man said to me after setting up the other girls to ring the lobby ready for the next wave.

I looked at him. "This was supposed to be the fucking safe place." There, under a green horned demon dressed like a Medieval Fair reject, shiny.

"Hey, I know you" Billy Idol stepped over, "relative of Gunn's or some such"

I nodded, "have you seen him?" I swiped a rag over the sword I had found.

"Lost sight awhile back" I handed over the rag. He wiped down his own blade.

The blue woman shimmered the slime gone. The blue remained. I started whipping the sword around. The girls changed focus. A different tension filled the room. Demon bad.

She cocked her head side to side. She didn't move any closer. "You raise a weapon against me?" She slid closer, "You could never hope to dominate me. I am the God-king. I am Illyria."

"I don't care if you are the Principal Potemkin of Hooterville. Get set. Don't kill us; we won't kill you."

"Calm down ducks" Spike stepped between the girls and the woman "We're the good guys"

"She's a demon," I growled

Illyria jerked toward me. She was right though. I could never hope to take her. I was tired and on edge. She wasn't even breathing hard.

But demons were destroying LA, my city and home. Killing everyone I ever knew, everyone I loved.

"Though I am not near my former strength," she threatened, "killing you would be a trifle"

"Lyri! We don't kill the nice humans, remember?"

"There are others on this planet"

"And how many are related to Gunn?" A small group of demons barged through the doors ending conversation.

I tried to slow my breathing. I bled from a few cuts on my arms and face. I wasn't seriously hurt but I would be lucky to last through the next wave. God, I was exhausted and ached. I shook my head. They were coming. No time to rest. Needed to concentrate. Needed to stay alive.

This night was the first real time I fought without the crew-by myself.

I was a girl. I was too young. We shared responsibility in the crew to keep everyone alive. I pulled guard duty and recon in teams of two. But I was alone now. I was by myself, no one to watch my back. I didn't think I would survive the night, the next hour, with all the demons running rampant. I learned a lot in those few hours as we tried to stay alive.

Those girls weren't normal. One was thrown across the room. Another dead body I thought but she jumped up and killed the demon who had thrown her. The crew never took on demons single-handedly. A nest of vampires required all of the crew to exterminate. These girls, slayers, made the fighting, surviving, effortless.

The blue woman was a god. She couldn't be broken. The hits she took made the slayers look weak and fragile.

Spike, a vampire, had a soul. He also loudly protested being compared to Angel, the other soul-ed vampire Gunn had worked with. Very different coloring.

I saw what it was to be a champion that night. I understood Gunn a little better. I had been hurt he had left. He had left us alone but he was part of something bigger. He didn't just protect the crew, our family, anymore but the city, the world.

There was a rushing in my ears. Dead. He was dead.

"Yeah, right" I scoffed "You're probably just assuming because there's so many missing and one less suspected gang member is no big deal." There was no way Gunn was dead.

But they wouldn't let it go.

"He's dead, Bobi" One brown eye shone with pity.

"I don't fucking believe you"

"Bobi" he started.

"Show me the body! No body means he could still be alive"

"Bobi" he sighed understandingly "I don't want this anymore than you"

"You don't even know me! And you don't know Gunn! He would have survived this. He has to…"I trailed off. I couldn't be alone. They were wrong. There was no-

"His body was found in the alley."

"Gunn was brave and noble" Illyria appeared "He had sustained numerous injures before we gathered to fight."

"He died a warrior's death" Illyria showed me the body. Draped in a sheet lying in the hotel's ballroom, he wasn't the only one there. White lumps lined the floor waiting for burial.

I threw up. He was pale. Gunn was never pale even when he got sick that one time. He'd had pneumonia. I had sat with him at the free clinic.

I sat outside on a balcony. It wasn't the safest place to be. Each time I shifted, I could hear rocks fall off. But it was the only place where no one would look for me. The balcony was attached to the room the Watcher's Council guy was using. The one place they would never look.

"The mini-watchers found these in the office" Papers shuffled.

"Wesley's will."

"Gunn's too. And Fred's" Spike added

"We'll get the Council lawyers on it"

"Heard a rumor" Spike started "Not going to stay and use the hotel?"

"We're still trying to set up in Cleveland. Giles won't leave the Mother country. Dawn is kicking ass at Oxford now. Faith and Robin are trying out New York. Haven't seen Willow in while but she was in Rio"

"Any word on the Slayer and the Poof?" asked Spike casually

Xander must have made a motion instead of answering aloud. The voices moved off. I shifted to see if they were still in the room. The door clicked leaving me alone. Just me and my thoughts. Forgotten.

I stood slowly. Time to get into a fight.

"Shouldn't eavesdrop, duckie"

"Intel" Without the crew there was nothing. I just fell into old habits. Wandering around, sitting still, and listening to what was said around me. I had to provide for myself. I was alone. I didn't know what else to do without- without them.

"Yeah? And what intel do you have?" he was humoring me.

I trusted Spike. He noticed me. He helped me. He was like a rowdy British white version of Gunn. "They can't find Angel and they're freaking out" I snorted. Their pain brought me pleasure. Ha ha Council seers, ha ha.

Spike raised an eyebrow curiously. "Not just the Council." I moved on "The National Guard and the Army guy, Xander threw out of here earlier."

"Captain Cardboard was here?"

"They're camped out near the rubble that was Wolfram and Hart."

"Anything else?"

"The slayer" I started slowly. I always heard him asking about her but I didn't want to hurt him. "Buffy, went back to Cleveland. The girls are saying there is more human violence now than demon. Xander is starting to send the girls back."

"Yeah, it's about time to move on."

No, I sucked in a breath. I would be completely alone in a city, which had become strange to me.

"Council pulling your chain?" I turned away.

"I'm William the Bloody, ducks" Spike scoffed "I go where I want"

"I heard the Slayer has you on a leash" I faced Spike again, eye to eye "Wrapped around her finger"

Spike turned hard, "She's a champion. More than any of these baby slayers put together." He stalked off.

Fine, be at the Council's beck and call see if I care.

"You grieve" Illyria had found me on the roof, a perfect view of the destructive wrath of the Senior Partners.

"This was my home. I belong here" There was nowhere else.

"It is no longer safe for humans to roam. Much like it was during my time."

"Yeah, yeah, muck at your feet"

"This shell was granted guardianship over your life" I looked at Illyria. I had overheard that from one of One-eye's secret meetings. "It is no longer safe for you here."

Oh, hells no. "I ain't leaving" I may not recognize LA anymore but I wasn't about to convert to the Council's religion.

"Your home is a broken shell of a place. It is no more. Staying is pointless. It is time you moved on."

"Oh, like you moved on." I turned on her "You found your kingdom in ruins."

"My kingdom was great and mighty compared to your realm. I was illustrious and awe inspiring, while your kind hit each other with rocks."

"The difference between our two 'realms' is that LA can be rebuilt. People are still here." I was still here.

I had been confined the hotel. Watching the Council go out in teams coming back covered in vampire dust, demon slime, and blood; I began to understand something. They asked nothing from the city. They showed up and started to retake LA for everyone else. We had to help those that couldn't help themselves. We had to shield those that didn't know what was going on. We had to protect them for the future. I could do that.

"Putting off the inevitable" Illyria cocked her head to the side listening to god-king knows what, "This shell still holds memories. Happiness and pride over scholastic achievements. Do you not wish the same?"

"No," I was too surprised not to answer. "What point is there to school? There is nothing then can teach me. All I need is the crew." Was the crew. Where was she going with this?

"I have been told there is more in this world than battle and defending one's territory"

"Only for those who hide their head in the sand."

"My pet is traveling to Cleveland to win favor with the Slayer" Illyria looked out over the setting sun.

"Fantastic" Of course, he is.

"A place is being made for you. We will return in 'a week.'" The time defining words sounded distasteful. "You have until then to say your goodbyes"

She was gone. The god-king had spoken. I was to fall in line. My mocha cream ass.

Spike appeared in the doorway. "Come on, duckie. Time to go."

"Yeah, I'm going to stay here"

"Sorry ducks, Big Wigs got plans."

"Plans for the 'normal girl'" I scoffed

"Yup, Lima, Ohio" he wouldn't look me in the eye.

"Ohio?" Really? "The Hellmouth?" I was going to be trained?

Spike shook his head, "Nope, better: no demons, no mayhem, new place, and a new school. Just what you need."

"So, the Council says jump and I hop along" I turn, pleading with him. "I need to stay here. I need to help out cleaning up."

"City's full of cops and slayers cleaning up the streets."

"I could help too" I spread my arms. I didn't want to be under the Council's thumb. I just wanted things back to normal.

"Help by packing"

"I'm not going to school with the baby slayers" I inform him.

"Do not concern yourself with the slayers" Illyria appeared in a corner, "they are selfish creatures"

"If I'm not concerning myself, what are we doing in Cleveland?"

"We're not going to be in Cleveland" Spike's face darkened.

"But you said Ohio?"

"LIMA, Ohio, bout three hours Southwest of Cleveland"

"Three hours?"

"Leash only stretches so far, cupcake" he smirked.