I
n the Basement.

"Dru? Love, what are you doing here?" He stared into her eyes.

"Silly boy. I've come to take you home. Where you belong. With me. In the dark. We'll be a family again. "

"Dru, I'm not going with you. I told you last time you came. It won't work pet. You know it won't. I'm, I'm not the same anymore. You left me and, and I went to see a demon. Don't hurt the girl." He turned away, whispering to himself. "Mustn't hurt the girl."

"Oh course you hurt the girl, my Spike. You're a bad doggy. That's what bad doggies do. You're my bad doggy and you want to be with me."

"No Dru. No visitors today. Things to do. Too busy. I've got my lessons."

"My darling William, you need your mummy. You need me to take care of you, bring you food. Make you strong again."

"Love. Dru, how did you know I need help?"

"My William. My poor, poor childe. A mummy always knows when her childe needs her. I heard your pain on the wind. The stars told me of your pain, told me, I had to come and help my Willie."

Spike slid down the wall till he was sitting against it, legs spread in front of him. He began to laugh. Insanely so.

Drusilla looked down at him with a frown on her face. "What have you done my silly boy? You've gone and got your spark, haven't you? Our dark knight. You want to be with the sunshine, don't you? The sun will burn you William. It has burnt you, and soon you'll be ashes. Stay with me and we'll sing our songs, together. You've always liked our songs, from the beginning, when I found you, in that place so long ago. I dried your tears that night. I made you my prince. Stay with me and you won't have to burn."

Tears slid down Spike's face. "I, I tried to cut it out."

"We can fix it William. We can take the pain away. Trying to do what's right, that's what brings the pain. We can take away the pain and you can be what you were. You can be my prince, my warrior of the dark, my champion."

There was a rumbling sound that seemed to come from far beneath their feet. Dirt fell from the ceiling like a fine grey mist, coating his hair and face. Spike closed his eyes; put his hands over his ears.

"Stop. Please, mum! Begging now! Make it stop! Oh, God!" His face turned towards Drusilla, agony showing in every line. "Stop it now!"

"We will stop it. She won't help. She'll never help you. She doesn't want you."

"The thing is...I had a speech. I learned it all. Oh, God. She won't understand, she won't understand."

"She doesn't want to understand. She won't forgive you, my Spike. She's not for you. She'll make you burn. She said, you were beneath her."

"From beneath it devours." Spike began to cry softly, his arms wrapped around his body, rocking back and forth on the basement floor. Among the rubbish and long forgotten detritus of a world he didn't belong in.

"Yes my William. Yes it will devour. It will devour all of them. And we'll be safe in the dark, here, together. My William and his princess."

"No, no, no, no, no, no!"

Fin