PAIRING: Spike/Xander, Angel/Wesley
RATING: M to be safe, for cussing, and violence
WARNINGS: Slash (male/male pairing. You've been warned. Read at your own risk) and Buffy-bashing.
SUMMARY: Xander and Spike disappeared from Sunnydale three years ago. Now one night at a club, the new Scooby Gang are drinking and dancing along to a band whose members look strangely familiar…
DISCLAIMER: I don't own any of the characters. They belong to Joss. The song is "Gives you Hell" by All American Rejects. I don't own that either.
A/N: This goes AU after about mid-season 6. Spike never raped Buffy, Tara never died, so Willow never went evil. Also, Anya and Xander never dated. In fact, let's forget Anya even exists…Also SLIGHT xover with Supernatural, blink and you miss it. Points if you catch it.
ON WITH THE STORY
It was a regular Saturday night for the Scoobies. Patrol and then a release by sitting around drinking at the newest bar in the area, waiting for the inevitable demon attack. They sat around, making failing attempts at conversation while listening to the miserable attempt at a band play in the background.
"Well guys, it's been a productive week…" Buffy started, attempting to take control of the group and bring business into the conversation. "We've killed a lot of demons and did a lot of stuff, so that's good."
"But not good enough Buffy," Willow growled, tired of listening to her babbling already. "It won't bring back Xander. Hell, we don't even know if he was attacked. Maybe he just got tired of being mistreated by you." Willow glared at Buffy once more before turning her back to the table, throwing her attention onto the stage where the pathetic excuse for music was finally stopping and the band was beginning to make room for a new act.
"Alright guys, we've got a real treat here. These guys are from out of town and they decided to grace little old Sunnydale with their presence for one night only. So from LA, here's The White Knights." The DJ announced, stepping aside for a slender man holding a bass guitar to step on stage and take his place. Willow swore he looked familiar, with his spiked brown hair and glasses, but couldn't place from where. She thought maybe it was all the piercings that adorned his face, something she had certainly never seen on one of her friends. So she assumed he was just similar to someone she knew, a strange coincidence. She turned her back on the band as the rest of it's members took the stage to tune their instruments, pretending to be involved in the conversation taking place at her table.
"So Dawnie sends her love from school. Says she wishes she could visit but finals are killer. But you know, it's strange, I haven't gotten anything from the school for a while. Not even an email. Dawnie must be getting it all sent to her dorm…" Buffy pondered.
Willow almost laughed at this. Only she had known that Dawn had dropped out of college after the first month, and was currently traveling the US with two hunters, fighting evil. It was a shock at first, but after meeting the boys when a ghost hunt brought them to Sunnydale, Willow realized they were so wrapped up in each other that the fact that Dawn was a beautiful woman would never occur to them. As she began to speak to bring up a topic that would bring less suspicion to Dawn and her lack of college attendance, Willow heard a voice that she never thought she'd hear again.
"Well hello, Sunnyhell. I'm Will and we are 'The White Knights'. This here is our first song we ever wrote. After fate, or rather a little too much control, brought us together, we decided this song was the perfect shout out to an old friend of ours," the lead singer of the band explained, grinning a predatory smile. Even with all the tattoos and chains, and with jet-black hair, Willow recognized Spike at the mic stand. Shocked, she looked at the other band members. It was then she saw him, sitting at the drum set, looking rather determinedly in the direction opposite of her. Despite the three years that had passed since she had seen him and the rather drastic changes in his appearance, Willow instantly recognized her old friend. Seeing Xander caused her to rise instantly and begin to push her way through the packed floor. Before she could reach him, however, the music started up and Spike gripped the mic stand and began to sing.
I wake up every evening, with a big smile on my face,
And it never feels out of place.
But you're still probably working at a nine to five pace.
I wonder how bad that tastes?
It seemed the band had grabbed the rest of the gang's attention at this point, since Willow heard Buffy behind her gasp and ask what was going on. Willow ignored her question, keeping her attention on the vampire in front of her, singing now straight to the table of people he had left behind three years ago.
When you see my face hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
Where's your picket fence love,
And where's that shiny car,
And did it ever get you far?
You've never seemed so tense love,
And I've never seen you fall so hard,
Do you know where you are?
Truth be told, I miss you.
Truth be told, I'm lying.
Willow didn't need to turn back to know that Buffy was pissed at the fact that the song clearly spoke to her. She saw Spike smirk slightly in the pause of music before gripping the mic stand harder and throwing himself into his singing.
When you see my face hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well,
Then he's a fool, you're just as well,
Hope it gives you hell.
Tomorrow you'll be thinking to yourself, 'Where did it all go wrong?'
But the list goes on and on.
Truth be told I missed you,
Truth be told, I'm lying.
When you see my face hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well,
Then he's a fool, you're just as well,
Hope it gives you hell.
Willow saw the gleeful look on Spike's face turn sour as the music took a slower, angrier tone. She was almost scared at the look on the vampire's face as he sung. She was sure even Buffy had managed to find it in herself to fear the vampire, since the killer look was directed at the ditzy Slayer.
Well you'll never see, what you've done to me,
You can take back your memories,
They're no good to me.
So here's all your lies,
You can look me in the eyes with that sad, sad look
That you wear so well.
Then all of the music but Xander on the drums ceased and the band all began yelling as a collective force. Even Xander joined in, driving home the message in their song.
When you see my face, hope it gives you hell hope it gives you hell.
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
If you find a man that's worth a damn and treats you well,
Then he's a fool, you're just as well,
Hope it gives you hell.
Then all of the music began back up with a vengence, as though it had never ended. Spike's grip tightened ever so slightly on the mic, until Willow saw a drop of blood run down his pale hand.
When you see my face, hope it gives you hell hope it gives you hell.
When you walk my way hope it gives you hell, hope it gives you hell.
When you hear this song and you sing along, well you'll never tell.
You're just a fool, I'm just as well, hope it gives you hell.
When you hear this song, I hope that it will give you hell,
When you sing along, I hope that it puts you through hell.
With that the song ended, and Willow saw Spike send one last disgusted glance to the table where Buffy sat before hopping off stage and heading to a shadowy table in the corner, ignoring all the men and women applauding him and the rest of the White Knights. She turned back towards the stage to find Xander and speak to him, but he was already gone, right on Spike's heels, with the bassist and guitarist in tow. Willow decided despite the unknowns, she had to speak to her childhood best friend. She ran to the table, almost colliding with multitudes of people on her way.
"Xander!" she cried, grabbing the man and pulling him into a bear hug. "Oh Xander, where have you been? We've all looked everywhere for you! We thought…well…we thought you were…" she trailed off, uncomfortable with telling the man that the Scooby gang assumed Xander had been kidnapped, or worse, killed three years ago when he disappeared. She noticed then that Xander was not returning the hug. In fact, Xander was completely stiff and Willow swore she heard him growl at her. She backed off, looking confusedly at her friend. "Xander, I don't understand. What's going on? Where've you been? Why did you leave? And why are you so cold?" Before he could answer, Buffy ran up and grabbed his arm, looking at him furiously.
"Xander. What the hell's going on? Where the fuck have you been?" She began to shake the man in front of her, demanding answers. Before she could say anything more, a fist came out of nowhere and struck her in the face, sending her flying. Spike growled as she hit a table nearby, bringing out his vamp face and stepping in between the Slayer and Xander.
"Don't you touch him Slutty. I'll rip off your hand if you dare lay it on him again, you hear me? I don't take kindly to people harming what's mine." Spike took a step towards where Buffy lay, clearly intent on killing the Slayer before the man at the center of attention finally spoke up.
"No, Spike. Don't do it. You know you'll regret it if you kill her. You don't want any death on your hands because of her. She's not worth it," he coaxed the fuming vampire in front of him. Grabbing Spike's hand he flipped the palm up, where a slow trickle of blood from the mic stand ran down his arm. "C'mon. I know what'll calm you down." Before Willow could question, she saw Xander bring Spike's hand to his mouth, licking up the blood that began to pool there. Willow looked on, shocked, as Spike instantly calmed down and took a step closer to Xander, bringing his human face back and lifting Xander's face from his palm.
"Mmm now Xanpet, don't start things you can't finish," Spike purred seductively as he leaned in to kiss Xander. Neither of them noticed the blonde getting up from the shattered remains of the table and stalking towards the couple with a stake in hand. Before she could get close enough to strike, a voice from the table behind spoke up.
"I wouldn't suggest that. Not if you want to live to see another day." A voice no one could possibly forget spoke up.
"Angel!" Buffy cried, dropping her stake and running towards the brunette vampire embracing him tightly, not noticing his look of disgust or the angry cry from the table. "Oh, Angel! You came back for me! And you brought Xander back too! You do love me! This is so amazing. Now I just have to kill Spike and everything will be perfect." As soon as she said it, things declined rapidly. Realizing what was going on, Angel shoved Buffy away from him as a force slammed into her from the side. Before she could defend herself, a flurry of punches came at her, hitting her everywhere, breaking bones with every shot.
"Don't you fucking touch him bitch! I'll fucking kill you!" came the cry from on top of her. A few seconds later her attacker was pulled violently off of her by Angel and she saw with shock that it was Xander. As he struggled against his captor, his face turned into the demonic visage of a vampire. Willow felt like her world had stopped spinning and she saw that Buffy was wearing a look of pained disbelief. "Let me get her 'Gel! I want her fucking dead! She threatened him 'Gel!" Xander struggled against the older vampire.
"Oh god! I love you Angel, thank you for saving me! Xander could have killed me! I can't believe Spike turned him! Now I have to kill them both! This just sucks," Buffy whined.
"You dumb bitch. He wasn't defending you. And if you don't watch your mouth, you'll be dead anyways. He can only hold back one of them and I certainly won't step in to save your life when Spike decides to attack." The bassist from the group stepped into the light, coming to stand beside Angel and looking at Xander still struggling slightly against Angel. "Xander, come on mate. It's like you just told Spike, she's not worth the blood on your hands. Don't drag yourself down for her. Think of how it'll upset Spike if you kill someone, even her." He reasoned with the crazed vampire. After a few seconds, the struggling stopped and Xander sagged against Angel, who turned to give a beaming smile to the man beside him.
"You always had a way with words Wes. Thanks." It was then that it hit Willow.
"Wesley? Like stuffy, Watcher Wesley?" Willow asked, looking at the man who looked almost nothing like she remembered him.
"Ex-Watcher Wesley, thanks to that bint. But that's not the point here right now, Willow. The point is that your friend is pissing off two very powerful vampires to the point of possibly being eaten. And if she does not keep her hands OFF OF MY BOYFRIEND, I will assist them," Wesley said almost calmly. It took a minute before his words sunk in with Buffy but when they did she turned to Angel with tears in her eyes.
"What? What is he talking about Angel? Why does crazy Wesley think you're dating him?" With doe eyes and a fake innocence, Buffy tried her hardest to look wounded. Angel merely rolled his eyes and spoke to her as though he was speaking to a child.
"He's not crazy Buffy, it's true. I'm with Wesley now. You and I, we were a terrible idea. Bad for both of us. You're a slayer for fuck's sake. And I'm a vampire. It was doomed from the start. I'm happy with Wesley. I love him." Angel smiled at Wes briefly before turning back to Buffy. "Look, obviously it was a bad idea for 'The White Knights' to come here. We'll just go. Forget we were ever here." He released Xander and started to turn away, sliding his arm around Wesley's shoulder and taking him with him. The younger vampire sent one last hateful glare towards Buffy before walking back to his Spike and following Angel out.
"No, I can't forget. And I won't let you leave me. If I can't have you, no one will!" Buffy cried. Before she could even raise her stake, however, she fell unconscious. Everyone looked confused, before turning to a sheepish looking Willow.
"Oops," she laughed, before sighing and turning to Xander. "Look, I'm sorry that you felt the need to run away from us three years ago. And I'm sorry that your homecoming has been so shitty now. But I still love you like my brother and I hope you keep in touch. Please Xander? Don't make me sit around and wonder if you're alive or dead. Er, well undead, but still." She looked at Xander, pleading.
"Yeah, Wills, I'll keep in touch. Just don't give my information to the bitch, ok? I don't want her hunting down and harming my family and I. I love you too Wills. Next time we're in the area, I'll make sure to give you a heads up." When she moved to embrace her friend, he shook his head quickly. "No, that wouldn't be a good idea. I'm still…tense from everything. And hungry. I don't want to make my Willow-shaped friend into a meal." Willow nodded sadly and watched the group leave, fading into the night.
Days later, Willow heard the song on the radio. The one that 'The White Knights' had played. She started humming along, giggly slightly when Buffy sent a glare her way. That night, she would make a CD to give to the Slayer for training and it would contain only one song. She would be yelled at for it, but it would be worth it to get the song stuck in the blonde's head and remember the people who had left her, been happy without her. She muttered one last line to herself before going about her day.
"When you sing along, I hope that it puts you through hell."