Rated M for safety reasons

Greetings, ladies and gentlemen. RMS here. This fanfiction is in response to a Challenge by Esm3rald. (Shanshued Spike back in the Past.) This is not my first fanfiction, it IS the first fanfiction i'm going to be posting here, so please, give as much feedback as possible, positive or negative, it's all welcome, and all part of the learning process. Preferably no flames, as they are in no way useful to anyone, author and reviewer included. I look forward to hearing from you, and without further ado, here is Chapter 1 of Spike: TDH.

Disclaimer. I do not own BTVS, nor do i own the idea for this fiction. I only own the words written and the story told.

Prologue

"Go on, then." He said, demanding her to leave. Of course. Stubborn bint, she was, it was not that easy.

Buffy stood, staring in awe at Spike as the sunlight channeled through the amulet, closing the hellmouth slowly, but surely. "No. No, you've done enough. You could still-" She started, before he cut her off.

"No, you've beaten them back, it's for me to do the clean-up." He stated, as the walls started to crumble around them.

From the stairs leading to the exit, Faith called down to Buffy. "Buffy, come on!" Before she ran up the stairs, determined to make it out herself, hoping that her fellow Slayer would follow.

"Gotta move, lamb." Spike smirked, knowing it was his destiny to end this. "I think it's fair to say school's out for bloody summer."

Buffy called to him, worried about the imploding Hellmouth, and yet, not wanting to leave him behind. "Spike!"

"I mean it! I gotta do this!" He said sternly, as he held out a hand to her, to stop her from nearing him.

In that moment, she knew. He wasn't doing this to save the world. That was merely a side-effect of his actions. He was doing it to save her. His love for her was that great. And she couldn't let him do it. She was too selfish for that. As she realized what her feelings ment, and what they had ment for quite a while now, she took his hand, entwining their fingers as she looked him in the eyes, her own softening, showing both love and fear.

"I love you." She said softly, even as their hands burst into flame together.

He looked at her in awe, as she gave him the crumb he had always wanted from her, and threw a whole loaf of bread on top. He knew it wasn't real though. She was giving him a reason to make this worth it. And he couldn't be more grateful of her, for that. "No, you don't." He said smiling sadly, but gratefully. "But thanks for saying it."

The moment was ruined, however, as an earthquake called them back to reality and Buffy lost her grip on Spike's hand. He immediately demanded her to leave again. He could die happily, knowing she cared enough to make his final moments worthwhile. "Now go!"

She ran up the stairs, stealing one last glance at him before running off, to make his sacrifice worthwhile.

Spike grinned as he looked out over the vast expanse of the Hellmouth. "I wanna see how it ends." He started laughing as he felt himself burn. First his skin, then his muscles, and finally his bones. His last thoughts as he screamed and burned were 'Please, whichever deity out there has a heart, make her happy. Let her live.'

The Hellmouth crumbled in around the remains of Spike as it continued its implosion, taking the rest of Sunnydale with it.

He slowly opened his eyes to a white expanse of nothingness. "This is new…" He said softly, to no one in particular. He was answered, however, by the bickering of 2 voices. He slowly sat up, his body feeling like it weighed a ton, as he looked at where a woman with light-blue skin and man with crimson skin were fighting over… something. And a third, green-skinned man stood aside, silent and observing.

"He is a vampire. A notorious one, at that. Second only to Angelus. He has killed thousands, if not millions. He is ment for Hell!" The red-skinned said sternly, scowling at the woman.

The woman only rose a single eyebrow as the corners of her mouth lowered in disdain. "He has gone through severe challenges to regain his soul for OUR Champion. He has done good. The only vampire in history to do good selflessly! He has saved billions in his last act in the Living Realm. I will not allow him to be sent to Hell after redeeming himself! He WILL be sent to Heaven."

Finally, the green-skinned man spoke up. "Perhaps you'd like to discuss this with the subject of interest." His statement was followed by silence, as he looked toward Spike, the red- and blue-skinned deities following his gaze.

Spike stood up, but remained where he was, not trusting himself enough to walk to where the strangely colored people were in his current weak state. "What's going on here?" He asked, noticing that his voice was quite hoarse. 'Probably because of all the yelling…' He thought ruefully, before his attention went to the three deities once more.

The green-skinned spoke up. "My apologies, Mr. Pratt. But it would seem that my brother and sister cannot decide where to place you. We are who you know as The Powers That Be, you see. And it is up to us to decide whether you've earned your place in Heaven, or if you should be sent to Hell for punishment. And for you, there is a lot of evidence pointing in different directions."

Spike looked on in confusion. He was at the same dilemma as the powers were, at the moment. He was a demon. He had no soul. He had always thought he'd go to hell eventually. But then… He had his soul now… And he had died saving the world. Was he still to be punished or had he redeemed himself? He was unsure.

The green-skinned spoke again, stopping his thoughts. "I do, however, have a proposal, if it would be satisfactory to the three of you." He then turned to his siblings, knowing Spike was listening. "I say we send him to another dimension. We give him what he's earned, the Shanshu, and send him to when our best Slayer to date first arrived on the Hellmouth. 1996.

Of course, we will have to reverse the age of his body so he can be around the same age as her, as well. But we will leave him with his senses, his power, his speed, his reflexes, etc. He will be Ms. Summers' partner in every sense of the word."

Spike looked on, intrigued by the proposal, and he had to admit, a new chance at life sounded nice.

The red-skinned and blue-skinned nodded in agreement, before the blue-skinned woman added on the proposal. "Very well. We will, however, be destroying his memories and wiping his slate clean. This life will be his last, and it will prove that he has earned his reservation in Heaven."

Just as that sentence was uttered, he felt himself losing consciousness as he saw all his memories one last time before they completely disappeared. Ending with a message from Joyce. A simple "I'll be waiting." Had proven her faith in him.

As he opened his eyes, he found himself in a bed in his personal bedroom in the Giles Mansion. He briefly thought about his newest mission. He and his latest trainer, Watcher Rupert Giles, were being sent to Sunnydale, California to go help the new Slayer. 'Oh joy' He thought grumpily, before turning over and going back to sleep.

My apologies for very short chapter, i can garantuee that Chapter 2 will be longer, i just wanted to get through this prologue as fast as possible, so it lacks detail. Please note that this is only the set-up for what is to come. Next chapter will bring us to the fake memories implanted in Spike, his arrival in Sunnydale and meeting Buffy and the starting Scoobies.

Until then,
-RMS-