Becoming, Part Three

By: PhoenixJustice

Disclaimer: BTVS is owned by Joss Whedon, Mutant Enemy, and others who are not me. I only own this story and make no profit from this.

Warning: Rated M for graphic sexual content, language, violence, etc.

Pairing: Spike/Buffy Summers, etc.

Setting: In the middle of Becoming, Part Two; possible spoilers for the entire series (including comics.)

Summary: Well. They never said it'd be an easy Reward.

A/N: Some lines taken from Becoming, Part Two.

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She storms out of the apartment, anger swirling around her as much as the sadness threatened to choke her. It seemed nothing but a lose-lose situation. Still, she'd...she do what she had to. She had to. She had no other option but that.

"Wait!"

She stops briefly, turning to see Whistler coming out of the apartment after her.

"You gotta listen to me." He pants, as he reaches her. He seemed awfully out of breath. He must not have done a lot of cardio. Some 'immortal demon' he was.

"I don't have a lot of time and I don't have a lot of patience." She bites out.

"I get it, okay? I do." Whistler says. "And believe you me, I would have left you alone but when the PTB get you on speed dial, you listen to what they have to say."

She shakes her head, starting to leave. "I don't have time for this."

He grabs her arm. "Look. This wasn't how things were supposed to go. Not just Angel," He adds, when she tries to speak. "I mean us, here and now. But who am I to argue with the PTB? I'm just their messenger. And they have a doozy of one that needs tellin'."

"And what is this 'message' exactly? They've already taken so much away from me that I-"

"And they also give you things, to fix the balances. It's all about the balances, see?"

"What needs 'balancing'?"

"You." He says. "Future you, anyhow. Did even more good. Suffered a lot. We're giving her-you-another go 'round this place. It's the reward she wanted." He laughs a little, looking bemused. "All the things you could'a asked for Summers and you wanted to be with him. Interesting choice."

Her head was spinning a bit with information overload, but she didn't, for whatever reason, think he was lying to her.

"Of course I'd want to be." She says immediately. "Angel is-"

He shrugs. "Not talkin' about, Angel. But," He continues, at her shocked look. "It's not something you gotta worry your pretty little head about. You're about to get put back onto your original timeline, with no memory of any of this conversation, to continue on your original path."

He touches her head and she gasps. Feeling her consciousness fade, the last words she catches are "You and Spike, huh? Gotta say, I never called that. But what do I know? I thought Angel was going to save everyone from Acathla."

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She gasps, consciousness coming back to her quickly. The last thing she remembered was a PTB sent Cordelia saying they were ready to pay her back for her work. Twenty years after Sunnydale died, she had been the last surviving member of the Scoobies. The one whom should have died first (for good), died the earliest, should have been The Slayer. She had outlived the life expectancy of all Slayers, but at the expense of losing all those she loved.

Losing Spike... That had been the hardest. As hard, harder even, then when she had lost him the first time in the Crater. He had been her stalwart companion, her Champion, for all of these years. Had been her final companion, the only one left in their group besides her, until he had died saving her from a magical assault.

So when Cordelia had said that she could have a Reward, it had been absolutely easy to decide on what it'd be.

'Really?' Cordelia asks. 'That's what you want? I'm not trying to dissuade you. I just want to know you understand the scope of what you could have.'

'That's all I want.' She tells her, swallowing hard against a tide of pain inside of her. 'He's all i've ever wanted, even before I ever realized it. Fighting things all again...I can handle all of that, even just knowing he's alive.'

'If that's the case, then I have to make it clear that you that it's going to have to be a moment where you're in contact with something from the PTB; they need a conduit to be able to send you back and a direct channel is the best way to do it.'

'That's fine.' She reassures her. 'I'll accept any time and place.'

'So be it.' Cordelia says in a stern sounding voice, before winking at her. 'Gotta sound official before I do anything. Any last words before you go?'

'I'll try and be a better friend to you?'

Cordelia laughs. 'Sounds good. Maybe you could make me less bitchy earlier on! See you, Buffy.'

'See you, Cordelia. Till the next life-'

She blinks and stares into the eyes of Whistler. She gains instant awareness of her surroundings; by his look and her look, she knew where she had been placed. Well. They never said it'd be an easy Reward.

"Go." He urges her.

She needs no further prompting and runs.

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She hurries down the street before slowing down as a cop car approaches. Her heart pounds. Had that brief wait been too much? Had she somehow missed him? The cop car stops, with a man getting out, gun in hand.

"Stop right there!" The man exclaims, gun in hand. "Hands on your head! Do it!"

Seconds later, the man is out as a man kicks and punches him into unconsciousness, right atop his police car hood.

"Hello cutie."

Spike grins at her.

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She stares, her heart thudding a mile a minute in her throat. It had barely been minutes since she had got brought back into her past and now what she wanted most was already in front of her.

He just didn't want her.

...or did he? She swallows hard. Hadn't Spike once told her something? That he had been in love with her longer than he had realized? That the dream he had had was something that simply showed him a longstanding truth? But how far did that truth lead?

Loving her or not, this was Spike. She has to steel herself from tackling him to the ground and holding him tight. Now was really not the best time (and yet it also felt like the only time to her.)

"Spike?" She says confusedly.

This was real. It was supposed to be real, but what if it wasn't? What if this was some long, elaborate dream? She had to know. She feigns a punch to him and nearly gasps when his hand-cold and nails flecked with black paint-grabs her now, her heart thudding in her chest.

"Hey now, none of that." He chides her. "Came here to talk."

It takes her a moment to realize he's still holding her arm, but he lets go and the moment has passed.

"Then talk." She says softly.

"I want to help you take down Angel."

She laughs, though he'd not get the true reason why.

"I do." He insists.

"And why do you? It's not like you and me are..." She falters for a moment. "Allies."

"Yeah? Well, I don't want the world to get sucked into eternal torment and damnation either."

"You do realize you're a vampire, right?" She asks, wryly. "Pretty sure it says in the Evil handbook-"

"We're big talkers, vampires. 'I'm going to destroy the world.' That's just tough guy

talk." He walks back over to where the cop still lay unconscious, jumping to sit on the hood. He absently pats himself for what she knows is him looking for cigarettes. Finding none, he starts to pat the officer's shirt. Finding what he's looking for, he grabs a cigarette and lights it, dropping the pack on the officer.

"Strutting around with your friends over a pint of blood. The truth is, I like this world. You've got... dog racing, Manchester United and you've got people. Billions of people walking around like Happy Meals with legs. It's all right here. But then someone comes along with a vision.

With a real... passion for destruction." He looks squares at her. "Angel could pull it off. Goodbye, Picadilly. Farewell, Leicester Bloody Square. You know what I'm saying?"

"You don't like Angel. I get that. But why come to me?"

He jumps off the police car, flicking his cigarette away, not looking at her. "I want Dru back. I want it back the way it was, before he came."

Her heart sinks and she has to take a moment to compose herself, eyes closing. She knew he held feelings for Dru now, but it still hurts to hear and the jealousy in her is very hard to ignore. Every fiber of her just wants to reach out and touch him, to kiss him and let him know how much she loved and wanted him, but she knows she can't.

"I lost a friend tonight." She says. And it was true. And instantly she is filled with a regret for Kendra, that she once more couldn't be saved. Would Faith still be Called to replace her?

"I wasn't in on that raiding party-"

"I know." She says. He stops whatever he might have been going to say next, looking at her with a wary eye (which she couldn't blame him for. She remembered very well how she used to be. And how adversarial their relationship had been at the time.) "And I agree with you. So talk."

"I can't fight them and neither can you-!" He stops his rant when he realizes she's not fighting him or sniping back at him with her words. He eyes her. "Wait. You agree?"

She nods and his eyes widen before he gives her a calculating look. She could see the gears turning in his head.

"Yes. So let's go talk."

"Right." He says, obviously a bit flummoxed. "Let me just kill him then-"

She clears her throat and he stops. The baffled look on his face was cute and she knew that she should probably be a bit more upset at his ease in which he wanted to kill the-now stirring-police officer, but she couldn't find it in herself to feel that way. All she could feel was relief in seeing him. Relief and love. So much love.

"Oh. Right."

"Right." She says amused.

And off they walk.

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But where to take him? She knew her mother was looking for her and if they went to her house, there would be a lot more questions from her mother than answers she could give (she really didn't want a repeat of how her mother found out she was the Slayer last time.)

Really the best alternative was probably where she needed to go soon too, anyway. She snorts a bit. It wasn't really funny, but it had a sort of irony that she couldn't help but laugh at; at the fact that she got her 'prize' and was instantly in the midst of having to stop an apocalypse upon claiming said prize.

"Going to share with the class, Slayer?" Spike inquires.

He probably thought her a bit mad; but then again, he was used to that sort of thing (having shacked up with Drusilla for so long.) She shrugs, glancing over at him.

"Wouldn't you like to know?" She smirks. She turns back, not seeing the surprised and confused look on his face. "Anyway, I know where to talk, so..."

She leads them to Sunnydale High. She had to get the Sword. Plus if there were still cops lingering around where she didn't need them, she'd have some backup to scare them off, so that was a plus.

She can see Spike look around interestedly at the mayhem strewn everywhere as they get to the library.

"Who died?"

"Kendra."

"Who?"

"The other Slayer. Drusilla killed her." She says neutrally.

"Dru bagged a Slayer?" He didn't have to sound so proud, she thinks grumpily. And how fucked was it that she was focusing more on that then the situation. Probably very, but she couldn't help herself.

"Don't have to sound so proud." She mutters. She glances at Spike. "She was my friend."

"Right." He actually looks a bit uncomfortable now. He glances around. "This is where the band of Merry Men meet up, is it? Makes sense, I guess."

"Yep. It's right on the Hellmouth." She says. "'Boldly they rode and well, Into the jaws of Death, Into the mouth of hell-'"

"- Rode the six hundred." Spike finishes, looking at her as if she had grown five heads. He stares at her in amazement. "You know Tennyson?"

"I-"

"You do know this is a crime scene, don't you?" The voice of Snyder says. Ugh, of all the things she had to deal with, he was one of the worst. Could she persuade the Mayor to eat him pre-Ascencion ritual? "But then... you're a criminal, so that pretty much works out."

"You know I didn't do it." She tells him calmly, reminded of that night, this night, very keenly, despite how many years it had been for her. "The police will figure it out."

"In case you haven't noticed, the police of Sunnydale are deeply stupid." He takes a step towards her, though he has wary eyes on Spike. "It doesn't matter anyway. Whatever they find, you've proved too much of a liability for this school. " He takes in a breath. "Ahh. These are the moments you want to savor. You wish time would stop so that you could live them over and over again." He smiles an ugly smile at her. "You're expelled."

She rolls her eyes. Been there, done that. She instead focuses her attention on the bag in front of her, pulling the Sword from it. She turns back towards Snyder-and Spike-sword in hand.

"You never had any dates in high school, did you?" She asks Snyder.

"Your point being?" He asks, snidely.

She shrugs and walks off. Spike follows her a moment later, glancing back in the direction of Snyder before looking back at her.

"Well he seems all sorts of..." Spike remarks, trailing off.

"Troll like?" She supplies. "Unpleasant person you want to punch in the face again and again?"

"Yeah. That." He gives her another strange look. "You on alright, Slayer?"

She smiles. "Yep!" She says perkily. "As much as one can be having to save the world from their ex-boyfriend who probably needs to cut back on the cologne? Was he always that bad with it, back in the day? Cause let me tell you...ugh."

Spike lets out a surprised laugh.

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She stops at the nearest payphone and turns towards Spike.

"We didn't get a lot of time in there to talk. So this'll have to do." She tells him. "What did you want?"

"Me and Dru skip town and I'll help you with Angel."

She knew it'd be what he said but it still hurts her to hear it and she can only hope it doesn't show on her face. She lets out a breath, not seeing his calculating look at the look on her face.

"Fine." She finally says. "But I see her back in Sunnydale and-"

"I got it, Slayer." Spike says, holding up a hand.

"Good. You head back to the mansion then. Make sure Giles is alright. If he dies, no deal. Yeah?"

He gives her a look but nods shortly, taking off quickly. She lets out another breath, one hand trembling as it holds the phone, the other putting in change into the payphone.

"Oh no big deal, Buffy," She mutters. "Just run off the love of your life. No biggie."

She quickly fills in Willow and Xander-very thankful that nothing had changed in that regard, that Willow was still alright, as was Xander-about as much as she can.

"And Will?" She asks Willow, finally. To hear the voices of two of her family members (they were more than friends, they were her family; sister and brother both) had nearly stopped her breath when they first started speaking. Only the urgency of the matter had kept her upright.

"Yeah, Buffy?" Willow asks, softly, still sounding a bit weak, but determined.

"Go ahead with what you're thinking. If you think you can-then try and put Angel's soul back in there. But do not if you're not up to it, okay?"

"How did you-"

"Because I know you." She says, a smile in her voice and on her face.

"Okay, I will. Buffy," Willow adds, before Buffy could continue. "Be safe."

"Count on it." She says softly, before putting the phone back on its receiver.

The smile is still on her face, her eyes determined, as she picks up the Sword and starts to head off. Right until-

"Buffy! I've been looking all over for you!"

She turns.

Mom.

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I hope you enjoyed this!

Let me know what you thought!

-PhoenixJustice