Takes place an hour after 'Empty Places'

-

Midnight looked so pretty - even with tears blurring it. She had to admit that to herself, even though all she could hear were her words to Buffy. They echoed inside her head and rested on her nerves. She couldn't tell if she were saying them aloud or if her subconscious was trying to torture her.

Closing her eyes, she kick sideways again so the merry go round would go faster. It made her stomach churn - but she felt alive. That was what was wrong - she didn't deserve to feel alive.

A familiar crunch of pebbles could be heard a ways away. "Dawn?" Amanda came closer and grabbed onto one of the bars. The wheel stopped and Dawn felt her whole perception plunge into a downward spiral.

"God." Dawn squinted up at her friend. "Get on or go home."

There was a shrug before the slender female climbed onto the merry go round, shoving off the ground with her worn sneaker before she lay down beside Dawn. "Xander's worried about you. Rona said she was sorry too."

Blue eyes closed as the two spun. "Great."

Amanda looked up into the night sky. "I wish I knew. how you felt."

The sudden outburst of laughter from Dawn startled the other girl. "So you wanna feel like Judas?"

"What?" the wheel began to stop, giving Amanda that sort of high that comes from spinning and drinking. "I don't."

Dawn sat up and tried to stand. "Forget it. I don't wanna talk about it."

Watching her friend get up and stagger off, Amanda struggled but rushed over, grabbing the shaky hand. "Hey wait, Dawn."

She looked back and noticed her friend's desperate eyes. They were familiar and yet, Amanda gave the look a somewhat newer view. "What? What do you wanna hear me say? That I'm practically sick with guilt cause I threw out my own sister? That I know the ends near and I have no idea what I'm going to do? That. that I'm scared and I'm useless and.?" tears welled up in her eyes before she closed them wearily.

"Shh." Amanda pulled her friend into her arms and held her tight. "Shh. We'll get through this okay? Buffy or Faith'll probably save the day and everyone'll move back to Sunnydale and we'll. get tattoos or something."

Dawn's tired laughter was refreshing; it almost covered up the tears streaming down her face. "We'll get 'we survived the apocalypse, again'!"

The two began to laugh loudly, an unmistakable insanity filling them as they let out all their stress in cackles that made their stomach cramp up. When they were finally too sore to laugh anymore, they were leaning on each other heavily; they discovered a figure standing off in the trees leading back to the house.

"Aww. That was almost a Kodak moment." Faith stepped into the moonlight shining through the trees and motioned toward the house. The faint glow of her cigarette left a trail in the darkness around her. "Come on, Miss Muffett. You, too, Wendy Darling. Don't want any slowpokes tomorrow during training."

Both girls looked at one another, Faith's nicknames causing them to share a smile. "Okay."

Slowly, the three headed back toward the house.