You Might Be the Only One to Save Me
(This takes place at the beginning of season six of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. This is AU so keep that in mind. Thank you for reading.)
When you lose someone you love, it's like a whole is ripped from your being and you can't breathe. You are forced to realize that you will never see that person again and there is nothing you can do to stop it. That you have to go through your day to day, constantly thinking about that person and wishing they would just come walking through that door and let you know it was all going to be okay. But it wouldn't ever happen. You watched as they were lowered to the ground. You saw the dirt that covered their final resting place. It was as final as anything could be.
Until, it wasn't anymore.
They feared that they would rip her from a heavenly dimension. That she had been sent to a peaceful place that only people could hope to be sent to in the end. It was a chance they were willing to take as Willow Rosenberg performed the ritual. Despite any short comings, it had worked. Little to their knowledge, of course.
The Buffy Bot moved rigidly through the cemetery, her long blonde hair glistening in the moonlight as she went on her way through her patrol sequence. Her attention is then drawn toward a certain plot, her lifeless green eyes glancing in the direction of shifting soil. She stood over the plot that belonged to the late Buffy Summers, and waited. She tilted her head mindlessly while she watched in mechanic interest. Scanning and ruminating, trying to understand what she was witnessing. Then, Buffy herself emerged from the Earth, her hand clawing at the surface before she pulled herself free with a gasp. She tossed her hair from her face, her eyes frightened and confused. Blood and dirt caked her knuckles and beneath her nails and nail beds. She choked loudly as she spit dirt from her lips and then slowly looked up to see the robot before her.
"You must be Buffy. Willow tried to bring you back. And here you are. You're quite dirty. Was it hard to breathe down there?" Her voice was synthesized and unfeeling. Buffy reached out, her hand gripping the robot's throat. As the Buffy Bot attempted to retaliate, Buffy yanked and the head was removed effortlessly from its body. Sparks flew freely before the reanimated slayer tossed the head to the earth below. She reached for the weapons on the bot's body before moving onward to find home. She tossed her dull hair from her face, her gait slow and wobbly. She needed to get home and find her family, her friends. She couldn't stay in the night alone.
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Smoke bellowed from his lips as Spike tossed his cigarette butt from his fingers. He looked around the cemetery with a less than amused expression on his worn face. Every night since her death, he has been out here, fighting. Always fighting, it seemed. He felt it was his duty to make sure that things were tidy, secure. He had made a promise to the blonde slayer that he would protect her little sister. This went beyond what she had initially requested, but he didn't care. He was equipped with the standard weapons: Stakes, a crossbow, the works. And every night, we patrolled the cemeteries just begging for a fight, hoping that he would get a chance to vent his frustrations. Things didn't settle down, in fact it was almost like the activity increased two fold since Buffy's death. Buffy. He inhaled sharply and moved, his leather duster lapping at the back of his heels as he sauntered through the cemetery, his feet carrying him in the direction of her plot. He did that repeatedly. Sometimes when one of the Scoobies would be there. Those nights never really ended well. Mostly in shouting, but it never hindered his visits. He had had an epiphany last year. Realizing that he had fallen for the slayer, despite his nature. Then, she died in a blaze of glory, just like she should. Just as well, now he had to wallow in self pity that she was gone and no longer had a bleeding chance with her. But he was pulled from his thoughts at the sound of a harsh growl, before hearing a scream. A pained scream. He rushed toward the sound, his boots beating against the ground as he moved. His instincts were to vamp out and get to work, but something was holding him back. As he moved into eye shot of the battle, seeing a woman clad in black fighting off three vampires. The way she moved, the skill, but there was struggling in it. There was rigidness, and she was bleeding. He rushed to her aid, but his eyes betrayed him when he watched her blonde hair sway around her neck, revealing that face. That undeniably familiar face, that never endingly beautiful face. The bot didn't move that fluidly, and she doesn't wear black. He shuddered, his blue eyes watching in shock as she slammed her stake into the chest of one offending vampire with a grunt.
"Buffy…" He whispered breathlessly and moved to aid her. The remaining two vampires flanked her and one knocked her to the ground. No! He rushed as he heard her voice pierce the air as she screamed in pain. He felt the growl emit from his throat, an angry sound as his voice contorted into the demon side as he grabbed the vampire off the woman he loved and tossed him away from her with a snarl. The vampire landed into a tree, a branch slamming through his chest cavity and he erupted into dust. The other vampire took one look at Spike before retreating into the depths of the cemetery. He huffed, his yellow eyes darting for a moment before he slowly looked down at the woman against the grass. She was breathing erratically and she looked up at him slowly as she tried to sit up. Her hair was dirty, her outfit covered in dirt as well as her knuckles. He could smell her blood and realized that he had ripped her throat open with the force he freed her from the leech. He rushed to her side, his face returning to his normal, handsome visage. He reacted frightened as he grabbed her throat without thinking, his hand covering the wound. Buffy jerked away from him at first, a scream of fear leaving her lips, but when she saw who it was, she gasped in relief. She wasn't exactly reacclimated to being back on Earth. Where had she been? Heaven or Hell?
"Spike—" She whispered, just glad to see a familiar face. She reached for him, her hands touching his face. Spike looked down at her, the touch of her hands shocking him as he held her neck. Her blood seeped through his fingers as he held her tightly. She was bleeding too fast. He needed to get her out of here. He watched as she touched his chilled skin before her eyelids started to flutter. She looked down at her neck and saw the blood with a grunt. She wasn't pleased as she slowly looked back to him.
"Pleasantries later, ducks." He said breathlessly before he wrapped her up into his arms and picked her up off the ground. She cried out in pain as she looked up at him. She just woke up from death, now she was on the fast track back. She wrapped an arm around his neck as he carried her out of the cemetery as fast as he could. She closed her eyes, feeling her blood flow from the wound on her neck. She was sloppy, but she was still getting used to her return to the living, couldn't blame her. She had passed out along the way, and the last thing she remembered was the way Spike's coat smelled like leather and whiskey.
Willow sighed as she placed the dishes into the sink with a gentle clink. She brushed her red locks from her face before she turned to see Tara making her way toward the stairs. She was exhausted and less than pleased with her right now. Willow sighed as she ran her fingertips against her lips before turning to turn the kitchen light off for the night. However, she didn't make it to the switch before she heard the kitchen door fly open. She was then met with the sight of Spike carrying a woman in his arms. She stared at him in shock as he heaved the girl's body a bit before locking eyes with her.
"What the bloody hell did you do?" He shouted his blue eyes filled with fire as he held a fading Buffy in his arms, her hand around his neck while the other clung to the back of his jacket. Willow gasped in shock as she stared at her once dead best friend lying in the vampire's arms.
It worked.