~*The Sunnydale Revamped Series*~

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Later that night, Lyla was sobbing on her bed hugging her pillow to her chest. Her bag was half stuffed with clothes and mementos...but the image of Brody’s dead body was too much for her. She was having an all out breakdown, and she didn’t know if she would ever stop crying. She felt so alone and now she didn’t know what to believe anymore.

There was a knock on the door. “ Come in,” she said.

The door opened. “I said I didn’t want dinner, ”Lyla muttered.

“You should never skip dinner, you’ll waste away.”

Lyla lifted her head. “Drew? What are you doing here?”

Drew shut the door behind him. “Your mom let me in.”

Lyla wiped her face, actually amazed at the fact she wasn’t horrified at having him see her like this. She really didn’t care about anything right now. “You ok?” he asked, as he sat next to her on the bed.

Lyla smiled weakly, waving her hand dismissively. “Oh, I’m fine.”

“You sure?” Lyla nodded. “Listen, I wanted to apologize for being a prick the other day. I was just stressed about things.”

“You came here to apologize?” Lyla said surprised.

“Yeah and tell you that I want to help you.” He was leaning into her now and only inches away from her...together. On the bed. Lyla’s eyes were drawn to his mouth and the rough voice that sounded so soothing to her now.

“You said you wanted to know if anything was going on?” Drew said, ”I think Giles has something to do with this. He is really irrational and....he has Elle’s journal.”

“I know.” Lyla said.

“He got really mad when I asked him about it.” Drew said.

“I think he killed Brody,” Lyla said, tears streaming down her face at having to actually say the words.

“I know,” Drew said. “Don’t worry sweetie, ”he said, pulling her into his arms. Lyla allowed him to hold her and stroke her hair. She relaxed against his chest, and allowed him to comfort her. Lyla tilted her head back to say something to him, but was silenced when Drew kissed her. It was so soft that she almost didn’t think he was kissing her, until his lips melted against hers and he was holding her tight. Lyla’s head felt like it was spinning, but she pulled back a little. “Hmmm...Drew?”

“Yes?” he whispered against her lips.

“How did you know Brody was dead?”

“I.....I went to Giles to confront him. He called me.”

“But he wasn’t there....”Lyla said. Then she figured maybe he had returned after. Only she’d just left......why was she thinking like this.

“I...”Drew started laughing, which took Lyla completely by surprise. “Ok, ok...you win...”

Lyla pulled from his grasp. “What are you saying?”

He lifted his hand and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “You are so beautiful, but so terribly stupid.”

“Excuse me?”

Drew got to his feet. “I knew Brody was dead because...well, I was the one who snapped the moron’s neck.”

Lyla was horrified, wincing on the cruel words he’d just said. “Stop it!”

“What.... you mean you aren’t happy to get rid of your little lap dog?”

Her heart was lodged in her throat as she began to back towards the door. “What are you going to do?”

“Well I was going to do this the easy way and seduce you, but you don’t appear to be as easy as I thought you were.”

“Easy?” she whispered. “Who are you?”

“Merely an illusion for you,” he said.

Suddenly, without warning, Drew jumped forward and grabbed her before she could get out the door. With on arm around her waist he put the other over her mouth and stopped her from screaming. In his hand that covered her mouth he had a rag with chloroform. Within seconds her body went limp and he scooped her up in his arms.

~*~` ~*~` ~*~`

Ellie was also at home, staring into space. The tears had dried to her cheeks now, and there were no more left. In her lap she hugged her bag and accepted the emptiness she felt now existed in her. Her heart felt broken and she didn’t care anymore about any of it, not if this was the result.

There was a knock on the door, and Ellie didn’t even attempt to answer. The door opened after a few seconds of silence and Izzie walked into the room with her own bag over her shoulder. “Ever seen the Truman show?” she asked.

Ellie laid her head against her knees that were pulled to her chest. “What do you want Izzie?”

Izzie saw a picture of her, Ellie and Brody in Ellie’s hand, and paused. “The Truman show was a movie about a guy; Jim Carrey, that was born and given to a foster family to live in this fake world created by a man, who had a new idea for reality TV. This baby, Truman, never knew that his world was actually located in a huge dome and camera’s were on him all the time. All his friends and townspeople were actors and extras and knew that this wasn’t a real world. They had to keep Truman from finding out. Then one day a women who was just another actress fell in love with him and he with her...but she wasn’t supposed to be with him...they’d already picked that girl out.... he watched as she was taken away and simply disappeared. Truman began to suspect something wasn’t right. He had to realize that none of his friends were actually trusting people.”

“So this is what is happening to us you figure?” Ellie said.

“Yes, this illusion of Sunnydale and everyone in it besides us three. We were kept safe and naive so that we would not stop the apocalypse. That’s why Giles went to all that trouble of trying to have me kill Alythe...she was not an illusion.”

“And Brody?” Ellie said sharply,” are you trying to tell me that he isn’t real.”

“He is an illusion Ellie, but he was real for us. Listen I’m heartbroken too.... but I cannot afford to just sit in my room and cry.... because I am the slayer and I have to be the leader and sometimes that means not allowing yourself to feel too much. It is a sucky deal, but it’s my life.”

“I don’t have the luxury to feel sorry for myself.” Izzie added.

“Leave me alone,” Ellie said.

“I’d love to,” Izzie said. “I’m tired and I want to go to bed and sleep and pretend that nothing happened. But Brody is dead Ellie, he’s gone and not coming back. And we can’t just sit back and let that go.”

Ellie finally couldn’t take it and burst into tears. “What if I can’t?”

Izzie remained undaunted by her friend’s tears. “It’s not a matter of can’t. It’s a matter of won’t.”

Ellie slowly got to her feet. ”Ok. Fine. We’ll do this your way. What should we do?” It was only then that Izzie’s eyes welled up as she watched her best friend try to muster up the courage to face Giles.

“We have to find Lyla and see who this one is that can wear the ring and give us the answer.”

“Alright.” Ellie said, tiredly. “We’ll go.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

Lyla, of course, was gone. Her mom told them that she was visited by a young man...a British young man. They turned away and headed back down the driveway.

“They got her,” Izzie said.

“Well we know our answer about the ring,” Ellie stated.

“You mean?”

“There is three of us...one the slayer and they take Lyla. They didn’t attempt to come for us. I mean, wouldn’t the slayer have been the target?” Izzie paused, cursing herself for being so blind “ I can’t believe I never thought of it.”

“Who could believe that Lyla was the one,” Ellie said dryly.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

When they got to the library Lyla was sitting, bound in a chair with her arms pressed against her side. Ellie was about to walk into the library but Izzie stopped her. “I don’t think it’s safe.”

“But...”Just then Drew and Giles emerged from the office.

Izzie pulled Ellie down, motioning for her to be quiet.

“Why me?” Lyla asked. “Why not Izzie, she’s the slayer.”

“Because you are the one,” Giles explained,” the one who can wear the ring.”

“There ya go,” Ellie said. “So now what?”

Izzie smiled. “We wait for her sarcastic comeback and go in.”

“How do you know that she’ll.........”

From inside they heard. “Sorry, silver is not my thing I am more of a gold girl.”

Izzie turned to Ellie. “Because she’s Lyla.”

On the count of three Izzie and Ellie simply walked in. “Looks like you’ve called a meeting and forgot to inform me,” Izzie said, waving her finger at Giles as if to say ‘tsk, tsk’. “Hey but at least you found a new method of handling Lyla, I must say I like it.”

“Ha ha Riggs.” Lyla scowled.

“So you know then do you?” Giles said.

“Yep, without too much help from you,” Izzie answered. “Bad, watcher.”

“I guess there’s no way we can just forget about this and go back to our normal lives,” he said flippantly.

His tone was enough for Ellie to just loose it. “You killed Brody you bastard! How could things ever be normal!” She ran at him getting in one good punch to the face before Drew pulled her back. “Let go of me!!!!” she screamed, struggling with Drew.

“Oooh ooooh, hit him again,” Lyla, cheered from the sidelines.

Drew let go of Ellie but added a hard push that sent her to the ground. Ellie lay there for a minute, her shoulders shaking with sobs.

“I killed him,” Drew told Ellie, almost boasting. “Besides he wasn’t real.”

“He was real to us,” Izzie said, “You were real to us.”

“How very touching,” Drew said, wiping away an invisible tear.

“We’re leaving Sunnydale,” Izzie said.

Giles laughed. “Now that is impossible.”

“We’ve found a way,” Izzie lied.

“I can’t let that happen,” Giles said.

Just then Ellie pulled something from her coat pocket and jumped at Drew. She hit him over the head once with a small club, knocking him to that ground. Izzie went for Giles. They spared, but Izzie was faster. Drew grabbed onto Ellie’s leg as she turned to run and pulled her down on top of him. Ellie yelled in pain as her ankle twisted painfully. Drew rolled her over so that she was on her back and hit her head against the ground hard. Ellie cried out as she brought her hand up and raked her nails down his face. Drew grunted in pain and on instinct clasped his hand to his face, giving Ellie enough time to roll away. “You bitch!” He yelled.

Meanwhile Izzie and Giles were having a huge fight over to the right of them. “Hey, let me out!” Lyla yelled.

Izzie scrambled to her side, but Drew was quicker. He stood behind her, holding a knife against Lyla’s neck. “Move and I kill her.”

He looked like a maniac with his eyes wide and four fresh scratches down his face. Ellie and Izzie froze. Lyla’s eyes were wide and her chest was rapidly rising and falling. “Guys?” she whispered, wincing when the knife scratched her throat.

“It’s ok, Lyla,” Izzie said as she slowly slid her hand into her coat pocket. Izzie was hidden enough by the table that her movement went unnoticed. Her fingers brushed the ring that was hidden there.

“Where’s the ring?” Drew asked.

Izzie held her breath fearing that he had seen her. “Alythe has it by now what do you want with it anyway?”

“Destroying it will make you forget all this,” Drew answered.

“That’s not what we heard,” Ellie said, stalling for time.

“Using a certain spell, we could,” Giles said. “You see it’s very important that you stay here. Safe. Underground. With us. It was easier to make you believe that you belonged here; it made things so much more peaceful. My name is not Giles of course, but I called myself that because I couldn’t resist living up to old legends. It’s interesting how you three moved here within days of each other and yet even that fact never seemed to faze you. Our goal was to find you at birth of course, but Alythe was very good at her job and kept you safe. We were the ones that locked her away. We took you, erased your memories and placed you in a fake Sunnydale. Why Sunnydale, well let’s just say it was the most convenient considering what happened a year ago. The first’ energy still radiated out, making it easier to control the illusion.”

“If we were so important,” Izzie spat out her mind still reeling, “then why didn’t you just kill us when you found us? Why waste all this time?”

Giles smiled then, “You three have been around for millennia. You had magicks more powerful than anything we could ever begin to imagine. You chose to come here, to this year to stop what will become. If we killed you we would risk the chance of you coming back in other forms. We wanted to keep an eye on you until time had passed. Until maybe, we could figure out a way to get your powers from you.”

“As plans go, it doesn’t suck,” Izzie said bitterly. “Too bad that you underestimated as though Giles. You really shouldn’t have allowed the three of us to be together. Together we figured it out.”

Lyla’s hand was right near Izzie’s. Their eyes locked and Lyla saw the ring and gave a small nod in understanding. When Ellie kept Drew and Giles boasting about their plan, Izzie lifted the ring and began to slip it onto Lyla’s hand. “Hey, what are you doing?” Giles yelled, grabbing Izzie by the hair to yank her back.

Drew reached down for the ring, but Lyla had already tipped her hand up so that the ring slid down perfectly. Drew lifted the knife but just as he lowered it he was sent flying backwards.

Ellie looked to Lyla and drew back. Lyla’s hair was flying out behind her like she was in the middle of a windstorm and her pupils had become enlarged.

“Ella se ma tigo rempara,”she said in a low raspy voice. The ropes broke apart and she stood. Drew got up again but Lyla turned, brought one hand up and sent him flying into the opposite wall, killing him instantly.

Giles had Izzie around the throat. “I’ll kill her,” he yelled. Lyla simply smiled, her strawberry colored lips tilting upward at the ends. “I’d love to see you try.”

Giles was afraid and it showed. Lyla held up her hand and waved her fingers as if to say come here, and Izzie was drawn forward, moving like she was on a moving sidewalk. Lyla spread her arms wide and Giles was thrown backward.

“Ma tigo elpalla yeely ca nitvo!”She commanded. A huge boom resounded and the earth began to shake violently causing everyone to be thrown to the ground except for Lyla who remained motionless. The ground beneath Giles opened up and with one final scream he was sucked in. Then Lyla crumbled to the floor, the ring sliding off her finger and into the crack in the ground. “Ellie help me!” Izzie yelled. The both grabbed Lyla under the arms and helped her walk towards the door.

The floor was shaking so hard that they could barely walk, but even with the building coming down around them they managed to get out of the school, grabbing the backpacks they’d brought with them.

“So what happened in the movie?” Ellie yelled after several minutes of running.

Izzie pointed up. “He simply walked out.”

Ellie looked up at the watchtower. “There’s dirt falling from the sky,” Izzie yelled in amazement. “It’s our only way out.”

Lyla regained enough strength to climb up the metal stairs. They held onto the railways like it was a lifeline and slowly made their way up the stairs. It was creaking so loudly they worried it might give way at any second. Once up top, Izzie looked at her girls. “This is it.”

Lyla leaned on Ellie. “Go for it.”

Izzie pulled back her arm and thrust her fist into the sky, which would look ridiculous to anyone watching, but instead of hitting air she hit something solid. Izzie clenched her teeth in pain, bringing back her am and thrusting again. “Oh my god!” Ellie said in disbelief. Izzie had been right.

Both of them began to help Izzie dig. Their hands felt broken and bruised instantly but they ignored the pain and dug with desperation. Finally a dim ray of light filtered in and Izzie almost started to cry in relief. The hole got bigger and bigger until it was enough for someone to get through.

“You first,” Izzie said to Ellie.

Lyla was too weak to protest and simply leaned against the shaking railing while Izzie hoisted Ellie up through the hole. Once up she reached back in for Lyla and together they got her up to the top. Izzie jumped grabbing both their hands, only to have her slip from their grasp. She hit the platform hard and everything went black.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~


There was a bright light and for a minute Izzie thought she was dead. And then there was a woman. “Who are you/?”Izzie asked.

“I’m Cordelia.”

“Cordelia? Why are you here?” Izzie remembered the name vaguely.

“I’m part of the powers that be. I just though I would drop by.”

Izzie smiled. Then she grew serious. “I’m not dead am I?”

Cordy laughed. “ No, you will be if you don’t get up though.”

“It’s so peaceful here, and warm,” Izzie said.

“Hey, this is my white space full of nothing. You have things to do missy. Sunnydale has been underground for a year you dug your way out and you’re going to give up now? Buffy stood where you are about to stand. She faced the hell and won you will too, but you have got to get going. ”Cordy said.

“Like what? Where do we go now?”

“LA,” she answered simply.

“LA, why?”

Cordy smiled. “You’ll find out.”

“You’re just as cryptic as the last one.”

“Yes, but a lot more attractive.”

Izzie laughed. “Alright. I’m ready.”

The white light disappeared and Izzie was back to the dark, violent shaking place. With a final lunge Izzie was pulled through the hole. “So that happened,” she said to her friends above. Below them the structure gave way.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~


The three girls ran from the hole up onto the road above them just in time to see the crater cover itself in cement. “We made it,” Lyla said.

“Just think,” Izzie said in awe. “Buffy and them stood on this exact spot.”

Ellie sat down, too tired to stand. “This has been a nightmare.”

“Congrats,” a voice said from behind them.

They turned to see Alythe. “Oh no,” Izzie said, “No more cryptic messages I hope.”

Alythe smiled. “Nope,” she looked different now, dressed all in white now instead of black. “You set me free. Thank you.”

“I guess we should thank you,” Lyla said. Everyone stared at her...waiting.

Lyla shrugged. “I said I guess.... this has been nuts!”

Alythe walked towards her and handed her a necklace. “When you get your powers back you’ll be amazing. “She put the necklace around her neck.

“Thanks,” Lyla said, touching the silver chain that had a small crystal teardrop dangling from it.

“Good luck to you all,” Alythe said. “I’ll see you again later.”

And then she was gone. Lyla and Ellie turned to Izzie. “So where to next Slayer?” Ellie asked.

Izzie looked down the road ahead of them. The breeze was blowing softly and she could feel the heat of the sun against her skin. She closed her eyes and breathed deeply. When she opened them again she smiled. “LA.”

~*~ ~*~ ~*~

To Be Continued…

Well thus ends the first chapter of The series.
If reviews are good, I hope to continue. What do you guys think? I have two more stories from this chapter completely done. So I'll post them soon and from there I will see if it's something I want to continue.
I got the inspiration from this when I thought of the season finale and wondered if Sunnydale was still intact after it was buried on the ground. So that's why I thought it would be cool. I hope everything was explained so that you understood, that they had been held captive under the dirt.
But now they are in the real world...and with that comes adjustment. Off to L.A. they go where we will see the old characters come back.