Summary: “I know how we can defeat Glory!” Anya pronounced. Willow and Xander both looked up at her in surprise. Even Giles, over by the register with his tea, looked up in interest. “We run away!”
Thanks to some research done by Anya, the escape in Spiral is to a different dimension, where hopefully they should be safe from Glory’s all-powerful grasp until the window for the apocalypse passes. But trying to get home will be another matter altogether, in a world where humans are slaves, vampires undergo peculiar transformations, and Cordelia Chase is the messiah. Reuniting with old friends doesn’t guarantee things will get any easier, especially if their enemies also team up to maintain the status quo. What does it mean to be The Key? How many regimes will Buffy overthrow? Is there no place like home?
Beta and Sensitivity Readers: None
Artists: None
Categories: Season 5, Crossover (AtS)
Characters: Angel, Anya, Buffy, Charles Gunn, Cordelia, Dawn, Fred, Giles, Glory, Lilah Morgan, Lorne, Sineya, Spike, Tara, The Groosalugg, Wesley, Willow, Xander
Genres: Action/Adventure, Dramedy, Queer Themes, Road Trip, Slow-Burn
Warnings: Adult Language, Character Death, Rape (Implied), Sexual Situations, Suicidal Ideation, Violence
Completed: Yes Chapters: 28
Word count: 137,702 Hit Count: 13,795 ePub Downloads: 129
Published: February 07, 2022 Updated: February 13, 2022


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Story Notes: Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.
Originally Posted on AO3 under pseud RoseyPoseyPie
I'm writing Buffy fic now, I guess.
The inspiration for this story came from sunnyhellcalifornia on Tumblr who made this amazing concept art of Van-Tals which is far superior to the weird lizard-things that appeared on Angel
I knew I had to rewrite the Pylea episodes from Angel season two to include this concept somehow, and add in the entire Buffy gang for good measure because, why not?
A huge thank you to Jessica (JessBakesCakes) and Megan (peggysrogers) for being my cheerleaders and betas. Your support has made this project so much fun.
The entire fic is completely written, mostly edited, and is being cross-posted on AO3.

1. Anya by rosieposiepie - Likes: 23 Comments: 11 Word Count: 5,532 Hit Count: 1,707 Published: February 07, 2022

Chapter One, also known as Anya, literally saves everyone and is the best. I am an Anya Jenkins stan.

2. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 23 Comments: 6 Word Count: 3,925 Hit Count: 541 Published: February 07, 2022

Buffy's POV, with some more dialogue from Spiral.

3. Willow by rosieposiepie - Likes: 24 Comments: 10 Word Count: 5,611 Hit Count: 544 Published: February 07, 2022

Hi everyone, thanks for reading!

4. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 25 Comments: 8 Word Count: 8,266 Hit Count: 522 Published: February 08, 2022

I want to put a vague content warning on this chapter for implied/referenced sexual assault and abuse. Nothing happens on-screen, but it is discussed and alluded to briefly in the context of minor characters. Also, there's violence, but like, this is Buffy the Vampire Slayer, so I think it's pretty on-brand for the content of the show.

Also! This is the chapter that finally introduces the re-vamped concept art of the Van-Tals courtesy of sunnyhellcalifornia on tumblr! So I hope my description of them did the artwork justice.

Thank you so much for your support, and I hope you enjoy it!

5. Dawn by rosieposiepie - Likes: 17 Comments: 5 Word Count: 3,552 Hit Count: 497 Published: February 08, 2022

Thank you so much for your response to the last chapters! All your comments and feedback have been very kind.

I personally love this chapter for the introduction of one of my beloved Buffyverse characters, so I hope you do too!

6. Anya by rosieposiepie - Likes: 21 Comments: 11 Word Count: 4,180 Hit Count: 820 Published: February 08, 2022

Now that we know where Dawn went, let's check back in with Anya to see how she and Giles handle the Knights of Byzantium; why don't we?

 

7. Cordelia by rosieposiepie - Likes: 20 Comments: 9 Word Count: 4,018 Hit Count: 503 Published: February 08, 2022

Thank you so much to everyone for your support and feedback on the last chapters!

8. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 26 Comments: 9 Word Count: 7,399 Hit Count: 498 Published: February 08, 2022

And we're back in Buffy's POV. She is the protagonist, after all. And the love of my life.

9. Willow by rosieposiepie - Likes: 15 Comments: 4 Word Count: 3,441 Hit Count: 466 Published: February 09, 2022

Thank you all so much for your support on previous chapters! I really appreciate you all for sticking with this and sharing your feedback.

10. Dawn by rosieposiepie - Likes: 20 Comments: 10 Word Count: 5,300 Hit Count: 454 Published: February 09, 2022

I love Dawn, especially how she navigates being an eldritch horror and a teenage girl. I hope you enjoy this chapter of hers.

11. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 22 Comments: 7 Word Count: 3,214 Hit Count: 478 Published: February 09, 2022

As always, thank you all for your enduring support.

12. Cordelia by rosieposiepie - Likes: 19 Comments: 5 Word Count: 3,285 Hit Count: 467 Published: February 09, 2022

Enter the Groosalugg. I love him, he's truly the epitome of a himbo. Anyway, I hope you enjoy it!

13. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 17 Comments: 7 Word Count: 3,476 Hit Count: 423 Published: February 10, 2022

Thank you all again for your enduring support and readership. I really appreciate it.

I do like this chapter because it's a fun little scene between Buffy, Tara, and Spike but Buffy does get pretty philosophical in it as well. I like the philosophy of her inner monologue, I think it's interesting, and I hope it doesn't bore the rest of you too terribly.

14. Willow by rosieposiepie - Likes: 19 Comments: 8 Word Count: 4,422 Hit Count: 371 Published: February 10, 2022

Crazy to think we're now officially halfway through this story. I really do appreciate all of you who have been reading it and showing your support. Thank you so much for sticking around through this goofy idea of mine that's evolved. Without further ado, here's Willow's chapter.

15. Tara by rosieposiepie - Likes: 19 Comments: 10 Word Count: 3,761 Hit Count: 393 Published: February 10, 2022

This is my ~experimental~ chapter from Tara's POV. I hope that it makes sense (as much as a chapter from the POV from a witch with brain sucky syndrome can be), or at the very least, you can appreciate its weirdness. Some of you noticed Willow acting a little weird last chapter so I hope that Tara's perspective on the matter might elucidate some things.

Either way, I hope that you enjoy this chapter.

16. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 30 Comments: 17 Word Count: 8,396 Hit Count: 425 Published: February 10, 2022

Minor content warning on this chapter for a reference to canonical attempted sexual assault.

While Buffy and Angel interact in this chapter, I just want to add at the top here that it's strictly platonic. I did my best here to respect the role they had in each other's lives and the significance of their very much past relationship as they interact. So, Buffy and Angel will interact in this chapter very much in the capacity of: "we are broken up with no intention of getting back together."

Rest assured, like most of my Buffy-POV chapters (and honestly even in the ones that aren't her POV) there's a fair amount of Spike and Buffy.

This chapter has some conversations in it that I really enjoyed writing, so I hope you enjoy this chapter, too.

17. Cordelia by rosieposiepie - Likes: 23 Comments: 8 Word Count: 5,301 Hit Count: 371 Published: February 11, 2022

Thank you all for all your lovely responses to the last chapters! I'm glad that you all liked that little chat between Angel and Buffy so much. This chapter is kind of a spiritual sequel to that because it features Cordelia and Xander working together while behind enemy lines, so I hope that you enjoy it, as well.

18. Anya by rosieposiepie - Likes: 24 Comments: 7 Word Count: 4,461 Hit Count: 389 Published: February 11, 2022

And here's Anya's POV! I hope that you all enjoy it!

19. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 21 Comments: 8 Word Count: 9,197 Hit Count: 359 Published: February 11, 2022

Okay, buckle up, folks, because this chapter is a LONG one (9.2k). It was also the chapter I have the biggest love/hate relationship with because I really like the events in it. However, I also was working on it and reworking it down to the last moment before I posted it because I was struggling with the vibes. But I'm finally just calling it quits and posting it, so I hope you enjoy it.

This chapter is the one in which I will be adding a "Queer Themes" tag to this fic given the content of a conversation between Willow and Buffy about her feelings for Spike.

20. Lilah by rosieposiepie - Likes: 21 Comments: 4 Word Count: 1,046 Hit Count: 363 Published: February 11, 2022

And now the very short (1k) Lilah chapter. What's been going on back in the main dimension while all our heroes are off in Pylea? We shall see.

21. Spike by rosieposiepie - Likes: 23 Comments: 5 Word Count: 6,887 Hit Count: 596 Published: February 12, 2022

This is the long-awaited Spike POV chapter, so I hope you all enjoy it. I think you'll understand why I couldn't stick to my usual POV theme, given some of the conversations we see here.

Content warning for briefly referenced canonical sexual assault/rape (aka Angelus being Angelus).

Thank you so much to everyone who's been reading and engaging with this fic for your ongoing support. Without further ado, the chapter.

22. Cordelia by rosieposiepie - Likes: 19 Comments: 9 Word Count: 3,308 Hit Count: 359 Published: February 12, 2022

This one is a little bit shorter (~3k), but here we really kick off the action for the big climactic final battle, and I am so excited and hope that you all enjoy it. Some dialogue taken from The Weight of the World.

23. Dawn by rosieposiepie - Likes: 19 Comments: 7 Word Count: 3,777 Hit Count: 347 Published: February 12, 2022

Hi everyone, thank you for your readership and engagement with the previous chapters!

The big, final battle is officially kicked off now and it's going to take a couple of chapters and POV changes to show you everything that happens in it, so the timeline is going to start to overlap heavily. Just a heads-up in case anyone might've been confused. I really take everything toward an experimental left field here in my deviations from canon so I hope that it's not too hard to follow. Also, since it's the final battle, content warning for violence and note the other warnings.

Without further ado, I give you Dawn's chapter.

24. Willow by rosieposiepie - Likes: 21 Comments: 10 Word Count: 3,173 Hit Count: 478 Published: February 12, 2022

Thanks again to everyone for your readership and continued support.

Like last time, this is a final battle chapter so there is a content warning for violence, a reminder to regard the tagged warnings, and also that I wrote overlapping POVs. So some of the events in this chapter happened last chapter, but now they're in Willow's perspective instead of Dawn's.

25. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 23 Comments: 12 Word Count: 3,836 Hit Count: 322 Published: February 13, 2022

This is a chapter I've been very excited and nervous to share with you guys. I hope it makes sense, the direction I took here, and why. It took a lot of brainstorming and revisions, and I'm quite proud of the final product (they say they were rewriting stuff last minute).

Also, there are references to the 1992 Buffy movie in this chapter. No major spoilers, I just like making references to it (ask me about my (s)pike agenda).

Thank you to everyone for your ongoing support! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

26. Dawn by rosieposiepie - Likes: 19 Comments: 5 Word Count: 3,908 Hit Count: 337 Published: February 13, 2022

And here's Dawn's POV as we address the immediate aftermath of what happened. Again, this chapter made some decisions that changed things up from canon. However, unlike the last chapter, I prefer this version of events wholeheartedly.

Thank you for reading, and I hope that you'll enjoy it.

27. Anya by rosieposiepie - Likes: 23 Comments: 8 Word Count: 6,844 Hit Count: 327 Published: February 13, 2022

Thank you all so much for your enduring support, engagement, and readership!

A content warning in this chapter for discussions of domestic abuse, again, mostly references and nothing particularly graphic. There's also a reference to sexual assault.

There is also on-screen recreational drug use. But, it's in a fun way.

28. Buffy by rosieposiepie - Likes: 44 Comments: 34 Word Count: 8,186 Hit Count: 437 Published: February 13, 2022

And now, the end is near, and so we face the final curtain. It's the last chapter. I'm astounded. Thank you all so much for reading this, supporting, and interacting with me through this long ride. I really appreciate it.

Content warning on this chapter for a vague nightmare wherein Buffy experiences what it was like for the Slayer to be Made. Since I've been using the metaphor of SA for what the shadow men did to Sineya and the demon, it's in no way explicit but it is... well, allegorical to that. And I just know some stuff can be triggering sometimes so I wanted to put up a warning in case.

I hope you enjoy this final chapter, thank you for reading!