I can't believe we're doing this.

I take a deep breath and look around the room at the people I love so much around me.

I can't believe we're going to try and reboot the universe to save everyone. Despite everything we've been through and done together, we're actually thinking of doing this. All the pain and suffering that we faced to get here. The Master, losing Angel to Angelus, getting him back and then losing him again. The Mayor, Faith's falling apart after killing Finch, making me put her in a coma, her waking up and eventually finding redemption. Adam and The Initiative and nearly turning on each other because of what happened.

Glory and Dawn and losing my mom,forcing me to give my life to save the world. Coming back, learning to live with that, everything that happened with Spike. Losing Tara and Willow's downward spiral that nearly ended everything. Not to mention everything with The First and the Potentials and making them slayers to save the world. And that's not even thinking about everything with Dawn and her relationship with Faith.

Can I really give all that up? Can I make the choice to destroy the world in order to save it? Even if I could end up making all the same mistakes over again? What if I end up making worse decisions? What if I get one of these people killed?They mean so much to me. This could get them killed. It might even get me killed.

What if I never leave Los Angeles because I never meet Pike? Or if I die in the battle with Lothos? Or Xander and Angel don't come to save me from The Master? What if Dawn never becomes my sister or my daughter or just never exists? There are so many things that could go wrong and destroy so many people. Can I live with that?

I guess the upside if this works out, I won't have to live with it. From the way Cordy talks I won't remember anything about this life or any of the decisions I made, or even the life she revealed to me where I screwed things up. Assuming things don't turn out just as badly in this new world we're apparently creating.

But I still have to be willing to actually go through with it in this reality or world or whatever it is. And even though it felt like the right thing after everything Cordy revealed to us, I'm still not sure if everyone else will go along with it.

Xander decides to break the silence.

"So... are we really going to do this? Remake the world?"

Willow responds to that.

"Well, I mean... we kinda have to don't we? I don't want to go out of existence. But also..."

She stops short of continuing.

I feel like I should ask.

"What is it Will?"

She and Kennedy look at each other.

They don't look very happy. What happened?

"I don't really want to talk about it. But... let's just say... I can't live with what Cordy showed me."

Kennedy adds to things.

"Neither of us can."

What the hell happened? What did Dawn do?

Willow continues.

"Even if the world wasn't going to end, I don't think either of us can goon like this."

Giles speaks up with that.

"I am not certain to what extent I can continue, given what was revealed by Ms Chase."

Giles? Giles can't deal with it?

"Giles?"

There's a few moments where he doesn't respond.

"I will simply say that... any positive memory I may have had has been irrevocably damaged as a result of what Dawn did."

What did you do Dawnie?

Angel jumps in at this point.

"I can learn to live with it if I have to, but based on what I saw and the way you're talking, I'm willing to go along with whatever you decide."

Connor says his piece.

"I've done the whole life reboot thing before. I'm okay with it if it happens."

He looks over at Faith for some reason.

"It's also okay if some other people aren't all right with what happened. I'm good either way."

What exactly went down between Connor and Faith?

"Faith?"

She focuses on me, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

"We can't just let the world disappear B. I don't think it's about what we can and can't live with. It's... about what's right."

She's right. No matter what we might want or how badly things might go. We can't just let everything go out of existence. Even if things go horribly wrong, it's still better then all of reality disappearing forever. I spent so long making sure that didn't happen. I can't just give that up.

Again I can't help but take a deep breath.

"I guess we're going to do this then?"

I look around at the people I love, all of them staring back with a mostly defeated look on their faces.

If no one is going to object, then I guess we're doing it.

"Cordy?"

"You called?"

I turn around to see her standing behind me.

"Omnipresent, remember?"

Right...

"I think we're ready."

She looks around at the other people in the room.

"You're sure? All of you?"

None of them says anything.

"And you all understand the consequences of what we're doing?"

Again they don't really say anything.

"Okay then... now..."

Anya jumps in.

"Wait..."

We all look her way.

"You still haven't explained. How did I survive the change? Why am I here when I'm supposed to be dead?"

Cordy smiles as she responds.

"Oh, that was me."

She did it?

Anya gets a confused look on her face.

"You?"

"Dawn was the one who brought you back, but I'm the one who made sure you survived."

"But... why?"

She looks at Xander.

"Because I wanted him to be happy... even if it was only for a little while."

Her focus turns back to Anya.

"And I know that you're the one who can do that."

She really is trying to help.

She goes back to the rest of us.

"So... I need everyone to gather around Dawn."

I make my way up to the altar we have Dawn placed on. Faith walks up next to me where Dawn's head is. Everyone else comes up and takes their places around her. Cordy stands between Faith and I just above Dawn's head.

"Place your hands on her."

I put my hand on her cheek and Faith does the same on the other side. Angel, Connor, Giles, Willow, Kennedy, Xander and Anya put their hands on Dawn from their place around the altar. After a few seconds, Cordy puts her hands on the top of Dawn's head.

"I'm going to channel the rest of Dawn's energy towards correcting the fault in reality. She's connected to all of you in some way. By taking hold of her, the energy will correct any error she might have created when she used her powers against you. Just close your eyes and take deep breaths."

I close my eyes and take a deep breath. There's a long silence before I start to feel anything. In my hands where I'm holding Dawn, I get a bit of a tingle. It's a lot like the feeling when I touch Faith but it's... purer somehow. Slowly but surely it spreads from my hands through my whole body.

This is right. It's just a good feeling. I know I made the right choice.

The End

Author's Note: That's the end of that. It's been a long time coming. How do you feel about it?