"I Wanna See How it Ends"
"Oh, bollocks"
Spike fell back. A huge blue burst of light flooded from the amulet. It crashed through the floors of the school, then out into the sky. Willow fell out of its way as it roared past her.
"Buffy!" Spike yelled looking out for her.
"Spike!" she cried back to him.
A new yellow light had erupted from Spike's chest. Many of the Turok-Han were destroyed in the first full wave of magic. Out of the corner of his eye, Spike spotted Buffy running towards him, wielding the scythe.
She's coming for you, mate. Spike's inner self reassured him.
"Everybody out, now!" bellowed Faith from the stairs. Spike looked up to her but she had already departed the battlefield. He looked back. The Potentials were sprinting towards him. The energy illuminating from his chest was tearing down the cave. Large chunks of rock fell from the cavern's walls and roof. Suddenly, the Slayer was at his side. She looked at him, worried, confused… and scared? He forced himself to speak.
"I can feel it Buffy" he gasped
"What?"
"My soul. Its really there… Kinda stings"
By now the Potentials were ducking under the magic which was bringing about the First's destruction. As the Potentials ran up the stairs, Spike turned once again to Buffy. She was looking at him, eyes wide with fear.
"I never imagined it like this" he whispered. "I always thought that you would dust me"
"I'd never kill you, Spike."
"You tried to though" he looked around at the cave. "When I first came here"
"That was different" she looked away, ashamed.
"Way of the world though, innit luv? Slayer, vampire- what do you expect?"
"Not this" she said, almost to herself.
"Tell Red she did a good job. And give my love to Dawnie."
A huge chunk of rock fell, not twenty metres away from them.
"Go on then" Spike looked at the destruction.
"No, no you've done enough. You could still-"
"No, you beat them back. Its for me to do the cleanup"
"Buffy, come on!"
She and Spike looked up. Faith had returned but fled again. Buffy looked up to Spike.
"Gotta move, lamb. I think its fair to say school's out for bloody summer"
"Spike-"
"I mean it! I gotta do this" he urged.
Buffy looked at him, as if to say 'I'm with you to the end.' She took his outstretched hand. Spike felt his stomach roll over. Something in their palms ignited, their hands were aflame. No pain. Just a sense of warmth. It was going to be allright. Buffy would find a way to save him, destroy the amulet and rid him of the power he was possessing. She could-
"I love you" she said.
Spike hid his shock. They were the last three words he expected her to say. The tone of her voice suggested that she had finally accepted that he was going to die. Spike felt his hope melting away inside him. Desperation.
"No you don't" he looked down at her. He knew she didn't love him, that was down to Angel turning up at the end of the world.
"But thanks for sayin' it"
The cave was in its final stages of crumbling.
"Now go!" he roared.
She looked at him one final time. Then, her hand retracted and she was gone. Gone.
"I wanna see how it ends"
Spike closed his eyes, and fell into the huge pit that was his memory.
He remembers the time he was going to marry the Slayer. The happiness, the decisions on what flowers they should have, the cake, everything. Then to wake up and discover it's a spell nearly kills him.
He has loved her from that moment onwards.
He remembers when the Slayer used him. He doesn't care; they spent many nights, and days together. He remembers trying to rape her. That is the mistake of his life. He remembers-
"I really do love you, Spike."
He looked up. There she was, staring at him form the top of the stairs, near the Seal. She was smiling the smallest of smiles. Tears fell, thick and fast landing on his hair. He looked back down at the cavern. It was nearly gone.
A great pain flared within his chest. Rather than wincing, he began to laugh. He was still laughing when he burned. The laughter rang out through the school, but was suddenly cut short, as his skeleton only remained.
Buffy was still watching.