Challenge response.
Prompt (in short): Buffy experiencing grief and longing.
Set in Post-Series, after “Chosen” and during the time frame of AtS S5. Since I needed to establish Buffy’s whereabouts, I borrowed the setting of the Scottish castle from S8 of BtVS comics and the concept of the Slayer Organization. This story is set before the events told in the comic series, time-wise, but it’s entirely unrelated to the comics plotline. Warnings explained in the Story Notes.
Story title is a song by Green Day.