TITLE: Nine Lives of
William the Bloody.
AUTHOR: Paradoqz
SHOW: BTVS
SUMMARY:
Over the course of nearly one and a half centuries, William
the
Bloody lived nine lives.
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DISCLAIMER: Main characters mentioned belong to Mutant
Enemy. No
profit is being made.
Over the
course of nearly one and a half centuries, William the
Bloody
lived nine lives.
His first life started on his fifth birthday
when he unwrapped his
Mother's present and hesitantly read,
without any help, the three
words near the volume's
top.
"Elizbeth Barrett Browning."
That life
was short and full of books, self-doubt, books, the mocking
laughter
of his peers, books and unrequited love. For that was what
William
the Poet did. He was good for little else, but he knew how to
fall
in love.
It was a short life made longer by the quiet,
unspoken, buried
realization that he was lacking, and by the,
terrible in its
intensity, longing for something more. Something
brilliant,
gleaming... effulgent.
Suitably enough that life
ended ingloriously in a dark and stinking
alley, washed away by
blood and tears among the broken dreams and
shredded paper.
His
second life started on a cold mahogany table, among the smells
and
sounds that flowered brightly behind his eyelids. It started
with
Darla's quietly scandalized, American-accented whisper. "She
brought
WHAT home?!"
It started when he opened his
eyes and saw Druscilla. That was the
life of Spike.
His
second life was long but seemed too short as the time flew
by,
uncoiling gracefully and quickly like a striking asp.
It
had bloody adventures and dead slayers, six continents and
freedom,
Pamplona and Peking, two world wars and Dru.
It ended in a
wheelchair, as he strained to catch every sound in
Dru's bedroom
where Angelus was showing him his place.
His third life
started in DeSoto with Sunnydale in the rearview
mirror.
It
had misery and it had tears and more William than Spike was
willing
to admit. It had the loss of Dru and screaming Angel and for
a few
glorious hours it had sunlight and bleeding Slayer.
Until he screwed it up and it ended in a cage.
His fourth life
started in a college dorm room as he incredibly found
himself
assuring a distraught redheaded witch that he would bite her
if he
could.
His fourth life lasted barely a year and was just as
surreal as its
start promised. It had chains and a bathtub,
attempted suicides,
unfortunate Hawaiian wardrobes,
double-crossing cyborgs, Harmony,
crypt, Weetabix and Passions and
waking up to a realization that he
had yet to experience the true
meaning of the words "Love's Bitch."
Suitably perhaps it ended in a surreal nightmare.
His fourth life ended
in a dark and stinking alley, washed away by
blood and tears,
among broken dreams and shredded paper.
His fifth life
started on a porch with an awkward pat on the Slayer's
back. It
was short and confusing and brilliant and strange. It had
humiliation
and vague hopes, angry gods and angry boyfriends, pain
and robot
sex-toys.
It made little sense and ended brutally with a kiss from her.
His sixth life was six hours long and lasted an eternity.
It started with an invitation. Three simple words
that contained a
universe.
"Come in, Spike."
It
had hope and fear and betrayal, a promise and a failure and
the
deaths of gods and crumbling of worlds. It had redemption
and
damnation, blood and tears.
His sixth life ended with a broken body lying on the stones.
His seventh life had no
clear beginning. It was a life without her.
It lasted three months
and it had Nibblet.
It had memories. It had nightmares, many
nightmares and the blurred
days and Nibblet. It had bourbon and
the bike and meaningless hunts
and group patrols.
But nightmares and Dawn most of all.
It ended of course when she came back.
His eighth and final life made less sense than
all before. It started
when he saw her. At that moment it exploded
and uncoiled like a
compressed spring, expanding and consuming him
with the speed of
light. For it had Buffy.
It had silly
shark demons and dressing up in tweed, it had Dawnie's
first kiss
and Red's slide into the darkness and Glinda's death.
It had
return of angry boyfriend, the demon eggs and the loss of
crypt.
It
had the cold bathroom tile and scared, betrayed eyes and amazing
sex
and soul, kisses and rejections.
It had insanity and murder,
the crazy preachers, end of the world and
the First. But mostly it
had Buffy.
His eighth life ended with a lie and a bang and a laugh.
All in all, his eighth life ended just how he always knew it would.
Spike's ninth life was not supposed to
begin. Or be. So he was more
than a tad surprised when he opened
his eyes and came face to face
with God. Or what Spike assumed to
be God, in any case.
As it turned out, God was a skinny Asian
bloke who smoked Silk Cut
and muttered to Himself and demanded to
know what Spike was doing on
His kitchen's floor.
William
the Bloody's ninth life started off with a slow migraine
directly
behind his left eye.
Fin