Title: To Live And To Die
Fandom: Ats/BtVS
Characters: Angel(us), Wesley, Cordelia, Spike, Giles, Willow, Xander, Buffy, Dawn, Faith
Paring: Angel/Wes implied, Spike/Wes
Rating: R for brief sexual reference
Warning: Slash, implied rape, AU
Feedback: It's easy to buy my love – just read and review : )
Chapter 1
"Please… Angel, stop." Wesley breathed in between taking his shallow breaths. He was sitting against the far wall in a bare cemented room that was empty except for a heavy chain that was joined to a hook in the middle of the floor with the other end currently encasing Wesley's neck. Another figure came in from leaning against the door and slowly walked towards him.
"Still with your delusions, Wes? It breaks my heart that you're not even going to acknowledge me." Suddenly the man was across the room and was kneeling in front of him. "He's gone, and he's never coming back."
"No…" whispered Wesley. The man put on a mock sympathy face that quickly disappeared with a smirk. He reached out to touch Wesley's chin and guided his face to turn his way.
"He abandoned you, Wes. He caved in so easily." He moved his hand to stroke Wesley's hair who then closed his eyes as shameful tears fell, "I have to say that I'm a little disappointed – I thought he would've at least give it a few more days, stick it out for you – but you know what they say about not looking the gift horse in the mouth, and I can't say I disagree. He doesn't care about you anymore, poor thing – went to hide in his little dark corner and let me out to play. And play I did."
"Ah!" Wesley gave a little shout when the man pulled roughly at his hair.
"Yeah. Scream for me, Wes. You always did that for Angel – when he touched you, when he made good fucking love to you." He pulled Wesley's head towards his and stroked his tear-stricken face. "Oh you're quite the screamer, aren't you? I like that; such music in my ears. Scream for me, like the times Angel made sweet sweet love to you. Or better yet," he whispered "like the times I've raped you."
"I don't bloody think so." a voice behind him said.
"What the - ?" The man got up and quickly turned to see the man who he thought he already disposed of.
"Your time's up, Angelus. You don't know how many times I've wished for this bloody day when I can finally wipe my shoes on your dust." Spike entered the room with a menacing glare.
"Well, well, if it isn't William The Bloody himself - bloody annoying." Angelus said casually. He relaxed his posture but his guard was still up. "It seems that I didn't get rid of you yet. You were always coming back to be a thorn in my backside. Well, we can fix that. And this time, I'll make sure you stay dead."
"Wha-?" Wesley said, confused at the new intrusion.
"Be quiet, pretty one." Angelus said over his back, eyes never leaving his opponent's, "This won't take long. I'll be riding your sweet little ass before you could say… The Orb Of Thesulac."
With that, Angelus turned into his demonic form and rushed towards Spike with his arm pulled back, ready to swing. Spike didn't move at all but Angelus took no notice of this as he was too pumped in the energy to kill. When he was finally close enough, Angel threw forward his hand to wrap around Spike's neck and break the bones into little splinters but when he was barely an inch away, Angel was suddenly hit with unbelievable pain and flew across the room to the corner.
"Bloody hell!" Spike let out loudly in relief. He had a stupid grin in his flushed face and said "That was bloody close – almost thought it wasn't going to work."
Angel got up from where he dropped and eyed the happy man warily "What did you do?"
As Spike calmed down, he looked at Angelus. "Oh, no, we can't have me revealing my secret now, can we? I don't want to ruin the surprise for ya" Spike turned serious "ya bloody sadist."
Spike took out a stake from his pocket and rushed towards Angelus. Every time Angelus tried to attack, he was hit with unbelievable pain, even when he tried to defend himself. It was unsurprising then that the fight ended quickly, and a pile of dust showered to the floor.
Wesley tried to see what happened but without his glasses that were earlier destroyed by Angelus, all he could see was a blur of moving figures, unable to point which is which. He suddenly hitched his breath when he felt a cold hand touch his cheek. No… Angelus was alive, and the man named Spike was dead. Wesley tried to struggle but the pain from his bruises limited his movements.
"Hey, woah. Hold on there. I'm not going to hurt you." The voice did not belong to Angelus but the stranger. Yet his hands were cold, inhuman. He was a vampire. But Wesley remembered his words, and eventually ceased his struggling.
"Great. Name's Spike. I'm going to get you out of here. Just let me" the sound of a chain breaking was heard and Wesley was hauled up to his feet. "There you go. Can you walk?" Spike asked. Wesley nodded, and he felt himself being guided to move forward, away from this place, away from the painful memories of atrocities inflicted by Angelus, the shell of the man he once loved.
Wesley was brought through a series of forgetful corridors, not truly aware of his surroundings. At last, the man called Spike stopped in front of a door of peeling red paint. He opened it and shuffled Wesley inside with him. He sat Wesley down on a chair while he did something in the middle of the room. Suddenly Wesley felt a small gust of wind and a sound like a generator resonated in the room. He was picked up again towards what Wesley assumed was the source of the sound. Spike told him to hold on tight and Wesley tightened his grip on his sleeve. They moved as one and without warning, Wesley felt his inside contract and instantly blacked out.
One ring.
Two rings.
Thr… "Hello?" the voice at the other end of the phone sounded weary.
"Giles, old man. 's me, Spike. I'm back from whatever the hell universe you threw me in. You know, I don't really appreciate being"
"Yes, Spike." Giles said, "Seeing as you're back and still able to become a pain over the phone I'm guessing everything went right? Did you get the Diadora amulet?"
"Yeah, and let me tell you, that's one hell of a powerful necklace. I actually killed the Angelus of that universe – was like fightin' with a baby. It worked like a charm." Spike said with more enthusiasm.
"Well, that's good" Giles said, sounding more alert now knowing that he had it and it worked, "but don't use it too much – we still haven't fully researched it yet and there's a possibility it could have limited powers. Bring it around tomorrow. We'll be waiting." Giles was about to end the conversation there but Spike's voice came again.
"Uh, Giles?" he asked hesitatingly.
"Yes, is there something else?"
"Yeah. I hope you don't mind… I brought something else back with me." Spike then threw a glance at Wesley who was sleeping on the bed.
Giles waited for Spike to continue but hearing only silence, he asked "Well, what is it?"
Suddenly pulled back to the present, Spike barely registered what Giles asked him. He didn't want to say he brought back a Wesley so he came up with something else to tell the man. Hesitatingly he said "I – I'll bring it with me tomorrow."
"See you tomorrow, then." Giles said briskly.
"Yeah, tomorrow."
The line was cut and Spike put down the phone on the receiver. He was in a motel somewhere outside Sunnydale, possibly the next town. He was glad he didn't have to meet them tonight because even though he retrieved the item safely, didn't mean he left with no scratches. Spike looked again at the sleeping form on one of the beds. His injuries were mostly superficial; Spike assumed Angelus only had time to wound the surface of his mental state before he arrived on the scene.
Angelus. Seeing that monster again, Spike had to admit if only to himself that he was afraid. He could've just left when he heard Angelus' voice and let that world deal with it, but when he saw that he was in the middle on torturing somebody – Wesley, he was later surprised to find out – he was overcome with a feeling to kick Angelus' ass into next Tuesday. Despite what everyone says, he still thinks there's a half chance that he could be the champion.
Spike was suddenly very tired and taking off his tight black t-shirt, dropped on top of the other bed and instantly fell asleep.