A/N: this was something i wrote for a school paper while ago. it has been edited and changed aroud so it makes more sense. i hope you like it! please R&R!
Apocalypse # 666
A peroxide blonde vampire sat in a black leather chair watching TV. He didn't know why, but he strongly enough liked to watch soap operas. 'Maybe it's because I used to write poetry, sure it was awfulbut still poetry,' he mused.
Suddenly, his favorite warrior stormed through his door.
"Didn't you ever hear of a thing called knocking?" he reprimanded the newcomer.
"Spike, now is not the time for lectures, something is wrong with Buffy and I don't care if you want to or not, you're helping," Angel, Spike's former mentor, growled.
"You wanker! You come all the way to L.A. just for your annoying girlfriend! You are completely whipped! You used to be feared! You used to practically rule Europe! Then, you got yourself a nancyboy soul and became a pathetic lump!" Spike continued his never-ending crusade to make Angel guilty and miserable.
"Hey, speak for yourself!" Angel said defensively. "You've got one too!"
"True, but at least I didn't feed off of rats!" Spike shot back.
"Arrgh! I don't have time for this! We need to get to Cleveland!" Angel replied frustrated.
"Cleveland?" Spike looked at him quizzically. "Why Cleveland?"
"Because we found another Hellmouth and Buffy decided to set up shop there," Angel explained.
"And what she says goes?" Spike smirked.
Angel ignored his comment and turned off the television.
"Hey! I was watching that!" Spike protested.
"Keyword: 'was'. Now we're leaving!" Angel turned to go, expecting his Childe to follow.
Spike, however, made no move to follow, "Look, she's not my problem anymore."
"Oh, yes she is! If you don't want to be kitty litter, you're going to start packing!" Angel threatened.
So Spike, grumbling and cursing, packed his few belongings, "Ok, ready to go to Ohio's own little Hellmouth."
"About time. We have to get to the airport in less than an hour or we'll miss our plane," Angel groused, not too happy, yet not surprised, at Spike's reluctance.
Spike shook his head in annoyance, as he and his Grandsire walked out of his apartment complex. Angel jumped into his black convertible while Spike hopped on his black Harley motorcycle. They took the highway so they could get there faster; big mistake. There was an accident and the roads were all jammed, so they had to go with one of man's worst inventions: detours. It took them forty-five more minutes than it normally would, giving them only five minutes to get to the airport and sneak into the baggage compartment. When they finally reached the airport, the plane was long gone.
Spike immediately saw his chance to get out of having to leave at all, "I guess since the plane is gone, I'll just go on home and…"
"Don't even think about it, Spike. We'll get the next flight which is if I'm correct is an hour," Angel smirked. "I knew you would try to bail so I deliberately bought two tickets for the next flight and a reservation for your bike and my car in the baggage compartment."
"You think you're so clever, don't you?" Spike muttered, not really expecting an answer, as he reluctantly dismounted his bike and strode toward the terminal with his mentor not far behind. They boarded their flight in record time and were on their way to Cleveland in less than an hour. They arrived promptly at 2:00 AM giving them enough time to get to the new Scooby headquarters. They walked in to see all of the original gang… well…except that Anya and Tara were dead…Oz was off for parts unknown…and Cordeilia was maintaining Angel's detective agency is L.A. with the help of Wesley, Fred, Gunn, and a demon colleague, Lorne.
Willow did not look like her usually cheerful self, "Oh, good you're here. I think Buffy's gotten even worse since you left, Angel."
Angel's face went pale, if that's even possible for a vampire, as he ran past them into a back room.
"What's going on, Red?" Spike asked curiously, sympathetic toward the upset girl.
Willow, however, was too shaken to reply, so Dawn filled him in for her, "Everything was oddly not too end-of-the-world like for a pretty good while, so we were immediately on our guard. Then there were a few murders in the area, you know the usual, blood and a weird symbol, except there was something else... missing." Dawn paused uncertainly.
"What was it, Nibblet?" Spike asked gently.
Dawn shook her head before answering him, "Their eyeballs were missing."
"So… what does this have to do with Buffy?" Spike asked rather bewildered about the connection.
Suddenly Xander blurt out, "Listen, Dead boy Jr., Buffy of course went patrolling, looking out for anything unusual as usual while we did the 'book' thing. We figured out what it was but by that time, Angel had already found her. She was almost dead and it's not getting any better. We looked for some prophecies and found out that if we don't heal her in three hoggle she'll die. My guess is that 'hoggle' means 'day' so we don't exactly have a lot of time now, do we?"
Spike just sat there and chuckled.
"What's so funny? This is pretty much a no laughing zone, right now. You really know how to torture people, don't you?" it was Xander's turn to look confused.
"First of all, I happen to find it rather funny that after all this time has passed you still call me 'Dead boy Jr.' Second of all, the word 'hoggle' means 'week' so we have a good amount of time in which to operate. Third and lastly, you haven't changed a bit. Still sarcastic and insulting; still one-eyed…" Spike smirked as he explained.
"Hey! It's not my fault that that vampire put out my one eye. What? Did you think I wanted to forever look like a grounded pirate?" Xander fumed.
Spike ignored Xander's ranting tirade, as usual, and walked into the closed off chamber, "Buffy?"
"Hey, Spike," Buffy smiled weakly.
"What happened to you?" Spike asked incredulously, as he looked at the frail figure.
"I was fighting this red and black demon and suddenly it threw some sort of fireball at me. While I was trying to get out of the way, it appeared behind me and stabbed me. I heard it whisper in my ear, 'In the name of the Source of All Evil I have slain the Slayer.' Then he kind of shimmered out. Next thing I know, I'm here," Buffy explained wearily.
"I thought we stopped the First," Spike looked confused once more.
"That was the First, this is something completely different, the Source," Buffy tried to explain as simply as possible.
"We looked up on the Source in the books and found something very interesting. The Source has been dead for a couple years. He was killed by a rather powerful group of witches. We looked them up as well and they are living in San Francisco. They will be arriving shortly. We also did some research on that demon. His name is Balthazar and he has a pretty thick record. Even though he can throw fireballs, he prefers to kill with athames, poisonous daggers. He can also shimmer and, like a vampire, has a human disguise. He seems to be as powerful as the Source was," Angel filled Spike in on the information they had collected.
"Hang on a second. There's one thing I don't get. Why would this powerful demon claim a kill for a dead leader?" Spike asked curiously.
"That's what we wondered. So we called up the coven for a meeting to ask them not only for help, but also for answers to our unsolved questions," Angel replied. "By the way, they are due to arrive soon and they didn't exactly tell us how they were going to get here."
They all gathered in the main room (except for Buffy, of course), and waited for their guests.
Suddenly from the ceiling, came a collection of white lights. Spike stared in awe as five figures formed from the luminous orbs.
"Leo! I told you we should have taken the plane like normal people!" a beautiful yet touchy light brown haired woman complained to who must be her husband, a blonde man she called Leo.
"Relax Piper," a light red haired woman with snow white skin who was obviously the other woman's sister.
The last woman surveyed everyone, finally resting her gaze on Spike, "Well… we're not in San Francisco anymore… I think I like it."
"Aunt Phoebe!" a young man with messy light brown hair protested, obviously Piper's son, though how Spike couldn't fathom.
"Welcome to Cleveland, Ohio's own convenient Hellmouth," Xander greeted them. He looked appreciatively at the red head, "And your name is?"
"Uh, Paige," she answered uncertainly.
"My name's Phoebe," the dark brown haired woman who had studied him earlier interrupted as she advanced on him slowly.
"I'm Piper and this is Leo," Piper jumped in before her husband could introduce himself.
"And what's your name?" Spike and Dawn asked the brown haired man at the same time. Dawn in a very interested tone, while Spike was slightly more wary.
The man rolled his eyes before replying, "Chris."
"Okay now that we have the introductions down pat, we'll do the spell so Balthazar will be barred from Cleveland," Piper quickly brought out a piece of paper; the sisters chanted in Latin before a wind passed through the building.
When it died down, Paige dusted off her clothes, "There you go; now Balthazar is our problem and you no longer have to deal with him."
"But… what about Buffy?" Angel protested. "The poison from the athame will kill her."
Suddenly Leo walked out of Buffy's chamber followed, miraculously, by Buffy herself.
The Scoobies stared in shock as Buffy walked around as if it was any other day.
"Well, now that that problem is taken care of, we're outta here," Piper grabbed Leo's hand before they orbed out. Paige then followed their example.
"Phoebe! We've got to go and catch up!" Chris whined.
Phoebe strode toward him reluctantly, but before she took his hand to leave she winked and said, "Don't forget to watch out for the Seer."
Before Spike could ask her what she meant, Chris grabbed her hand and they were gone, "Hey, what did she mean? Who's the Seer?"
Angel looked at the ground before replying, "Well, the Source had a psychic companion called the Seer, and like Slayers, when one dies another is called."
"So? I fail to see the big deal," Spike didn't understand why everyone was freaking out over a psychic. Sure it's an unusual power, but what's with the doom and gloom?
"The big deal is that the current Seer is the wisest and most powerful Seer there has ever been. She has yet to be defeated," Willow explained.
"Wow, you blokes have really been doing your homework on these guys, haven't you?" Spike whistled.
"We've just been busy, busy, busy," Dawn said sarcastically her mood obviously dampened since Chris had left, while Willow gathered some candles.
"What are you doing, Red?" Spike inquired curiously.
"I'm going to do a tracking spell so you, Angel, and Buffy can find the Seer and destroy her. That way we won't have to deal with another of her little 'friends,'" Willow had her back turned as she rummaged through a black gym bag. Finally, she found what she was looking for and set up her equipment. She spoke a few words in Latin before writing appeared on the wall saying exactly where the Seer was and how to get there.
"Come on, Peaches, Slayer, we've got work to do," Spike led the way with a sword in his hand, while Angel carried an axe. Buffy, however, took a crossbow with enough ammunition to take down a giant.
When they reached the Seer's lair, they were careful to not be noticed. They felt that surprise would be their best tactic. They counted to ten before they pounced on the unsuspecting psychic.
Flash forward an hour, Scooby Headquarters
"Where are they?" Willow fretted, as she wrung her hands. "I hope they're okay."
"They'll be fine, Wills. They can take care of themselves," Xander tried to comfort her, secretly worried as well.
Immediately following his reassurance, Angel, Buffy, and Spike trouped in covered in injuries and completely exhausted. After Willow administered first aid, they told her how they had fought the Seer. As Buffy and Angel filled everyone in, Spike began to contemplate what he would do now. Now that he thought about it, he rather liked working with Buffy and them again. 'I think I'll stay after all,' he thought to himself. 'You never know what will happen.'
