insanity
The inevitable: Buffy cracks,
totally and completely... Don't sue
me, I'm already in debt to everyone.
-
She was on her way to the mall; Willow was at a
Wicca meeting somewhere with some friends of hers, leaving Buffy to shop on her
own, which was fine. She'd been I college for three years, and every year she'd
managed to get a dorm room with Willow. Buffy found her wallet was there, and
continued on down the street.
A block or so later, she paused again in front of an alley. Something inside her was freaking out, something she'd forgotten a year ago when the Watchers council had decided they needed a new Slayer; since she had quit, they decided her heart had stopped beating for a while after Angel bit her, and she was dead for a little while, (again.) They set up a new Slayer.
But Buffy still had her vampire senses, and the were activated now as if
a vampire was stand in that alley, waiting for her. But that was impossible; it
was day.
Buffy turned the corner to see what was there and
almost ran into something large. She looked up, into hansom eyes and slightly
mussed hair, and a mouth smiling down at her. She smiled in excitement.
"Angel!" she said happily, and jumped up
into his arms. He hugged her and put her back down.
"Nice to see you, too." He picked up her
purse and gave it back to her, then took her hand gently.
"So, your back in town for a while," Buffy
observed happily. "Are you wearing the Gem? I thought you smashed it," she
looked puzzled.
Angel squeezed her hand harder, and slipped into
his vamp face. "I did." he admitted evilly, and pulled her closer,
picked her up by the back of the head and kissed her viscously. She kicked and
screamed, but it was like nobody heard her, and her feet felt like she was
kicking steel. Angelus dropped her and laughed and grabbed at her arm, but she
slipped away minus her cardigan sleeve. She ran down Sunnydales street, not
quite sure where to go, so she just headed towards the mall. Oddly enough, the
streets were empty, no cars, not even parked ones. No evidence anyone was there
a moment ago, it was just like they all had somewhere else to be.
Buffy looked back to see Angelus leering at her,
running to catch up. Then without a blink, he wasn't. He just disappeared, but
Buffy kept running anyhow.
Buffy ran up to the mall entrance, and pulled on
the glass door handles. She backed up and kicked in the door, and they flew open
and she flew in, locking the doors behind her. She didn't think Angelus had ever
been to the mall, and she didn't think he could be invited into it. Not that she
felt very invited, but she ripped the 'come again' sign out of the window. The
stores were all closed and most of them barred. Buffy stopped to catch her
breath, and realized that there were footsteps somewhere in the mall. They were
to light to be Angelus', so she relaxed and headed towards them.
She walked towards the sound, and they got louder
and louder, echoing off the walls and floors. Past Northern Getaway, Bootlegger,
Peoples, the food court, until she was near another exit. She stopped, as a
pretty brunette wearing too much make up and not enough clothes rounded the
corner and smiled at her. "Hey, B," she said casually.
"Hi, Faith," Buffy ventured cautiously.
This had to be a dream. She held her arm were Angelus had grabbed her. It didn't
feel like a dream.
"Still not huge in the conversational
department, huh, B? You grew your hair out," she observed. She took a few
steps closer. Buffy nodded
"Yea, uh, nice to see you."
Faith frowned. "Can't say I feel the same. You
pushed me off a building! You put me in a coma! I went from being the third
Chosen One to being to battery for an intensive care unit!" She stepped
closer to Buffy and hit her hard, across the face, unexpectedly. Buffy,
unprepared, doubled over, her lip bleeding and her eye bruising.
Faith kicked her in the stomach, and Buffy went
sailing over the tile floor. Faith followed, picking her up and throwing her
threw the Gap display window, and it shattered to pieces. Buffy took all her
strength, got up, and ran for the nearby exit. She tugged at the handles until
they came off, and yanked the door open. Looking over her shoulder, she saw
Faith laughing, until suddenly, just like Angelus, she wasn't. What? Buffy kept
her gaze fixed on where she had been and ran into something and flew back into
the mall doors.
"'Ellow, there," it said in a heavy
English accent. "Miss me?"
Buffy looked up through her slightly crimson vision
at the peroxide blond who smirked back at her.
"Spike? Your dust!" she exclaimed. He
was. A year ago, she finally pushed the stake through his heart, which was part
of what bought her her freedom from Slayerhood. Under Angelus, he was her
biggest emotional battle. He was a creature made up of pure hate for her.
"Oh, I was, it's true," he agreed.
"But what can I say? I'm back. And to tell you the truth, I'm more than a
little bloody pissed."
Spike kicked her in her already sore stomach, then
made as if to break her neck, but changed his mind and picked her up by the back
of the neck. Buffy did her best to bat at him with her one good arm.
Spike laughed. "You know how long I've dreamed
of this? You weak and hurt and crying and completely at my mercy, but still so
damned cute!" He grinned, using his free hand to pinch her cheek, Auntie
Brenda style. Buffy's quite tears were turning into sobs. Not only was she
scarred, she put Spike through a lot, beat the shit out of him on more than one
occasion, and she was far to weak to fight, she was embarrassed, too. She was
bawling her eyes out in front of her nemesis. More embarrassing then getting
yelled at and kicked out of your first class on the first day of college.
Spike pulled Buffy closer, and made a show of
smelling her hair, brushing her lips and kissing her neck lightly. Buffy felt
him change against her skin, and he chuckled.
He kissed her neck one more time, then sunk his
fangs into her neck.
"Oh, I am so sick of this," she gasped.
And kicked him in the shin, so hard the bone almost cracked. Spike released her
and howled in pain.
Buffy was on her feet again, and not that fast at
that. She crashed into the door of the Bronze, not having to look back to guess
that Spike had disappeared the same way Angelus and Faith had. She was out of
breath and in pain, and she felt like every bone in her body was breaking. In
the time she had fought Spike, in daylight, it had gotten darker, and it
should have been late enough that the Bronze would be open. It was empty now,
with the exception of someone at a back tables. Buffy recognized her instantly.
"Willow! What's going on! Everyone's
gone!"
Willow turned around and smiled a shy little smile
that was her trademark. "I know," she said sadly. She sipped her
coffee as something large slipped off the chair beside her with a wet plop. Buffy limped around the
table to find a limp, lifeless body slumped on the floor where it had fallen,
and she turned it over. It was Willow.
Buffy looked up at the other Willow, the one with
the coffee, to find her vamped out. Vamp Willow sipped her coffee.
"Hey," she said evilly. "I'm back."
Vamp Willow stood up and faced Buffy, and Buffy
spun around to come face to face with Angelus on the other side of the room.
Spun again, and faced Faith, as Spike started laughing from the other direction.
Buffy turned around slowly, as faces appeared out of the darkness, some she
recognized, some she didn't, most in vamp face. Harmony. The Master. Oz, in half
werewolf phase. Darla. Drusilla and Miss Edith. Ford. The Mayor. Giles with a
chainsaw, which she didn't get. Anya. Professor Welsh. Kathy. Every unnamed
vampire or demon she had ever been up against. They all started closing in on
her.
Buffy screamed.
*
Far, far away, in an unnamed place with cement
floors in Paris, crazed laughter rang out. Drusilla, the once sweet English girl
lay there in a flowing black dress, one cheek pressed to the cement, holding her
midsection, laughing in her own insane way. She laughed until tears came to her
eyes. In her head, she could see what was going on. "Going insane, just
like me..."