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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The amount of years from her mother's death wash away with her seeing her mother breathing, living, once more. Her mother affords her with a worried look and frown.
"The police showed up! What's going on? Are you okay?"
She swallows. She had stayed away from her house for this very reason, so she could avoid this conversation. She had hoped-if everything went well and didn't go to, well, literal Hell-that it could happen later. That they could sit down together and talk it over. No luck, it seemed.
"I'm fine. I just-"
"And they-is that...why do you have a sword?" Her mother asks bewilderingly.
She opens her mouth-for truth or lie, she isn't sure-but doesn't get a chance to answer as a vampire comes from some nearby bushes. She rolls her eyes as he lunges at her-he had to be one of the lackies Angelus still had and had sent after her-sidestepping him easily.
Even before the lackey hadn't been an issue and with her added experience, it was child's play. A few playful kicks and a swing of her sword later, has the vampire's head falling off his shoulder, before turning to dust.
She turns to look back at her now astonished looking mother, shaking some dust from the sword.
"That was a vampire." She says calmly, to her mother's unspoken question. "Like I told you existed before, before you guys committed me."
Joyce flinches and it doesn't exactly give her satisfaction to see it, but it was still words that needed to be said...if only for her own piece of mind. Words that had never been able to be said until now.
"I'm not exactly blaming you. Not really. But it hurt to know that you didn't trust me. Those things? The fire in my old school? From stopping vampires. I'm the Slayer." She lets out a breath. "Maybe we can talk about these things later? I don't have the time right now."
She starts to turn away when her mother is finally roused from her shock.
"Have you tried not being a Slayer? My baby can't..."
"I am, mom. It's not a job. It's apart of me. Who I am. It's not something I can just turn off."
"We didn't send you away because we thought you were crazy. We just wanted to help you. Buffy, this is insane. First the fire at your old school and now the police-"
Her mother grabs her arm and she wrenches away, heart filling with an old pain, mixed now with new ones.
"I didn't kill her." She hisses. "Do you really think so little of me that you think I could be capable of that?"
"Of course not!" Her mother's voice rises now. "But, Buffy you've got to come back with me so we can tell them that these-"
"That what?" Her voice gets higher now too, against her will. "They won't believe you, mom. And even if they did, I don't have time for that. I have to do what I always do and save the world. Again." She laughs tonelessly.
"This is insane. Buffy, come with me. We'll...we'll figure this out. Get some help. We-"
She turns again and starts to walk off.
"Buffy!"
"Stop!"
She continues to walk, even as the next words her mother speaks brings tears to her eyes.
"If you keep going, don't even think about coming back!"
She goes. She has to.
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You can do this, Buffy. She thinks, as she makes her way across a near silent Sunnydale up to the mansion. You just have to stop your ex from turning the world into an unending Hell. Again. And let the love of your life run away with someone he is...thinks...is? in love with. Even I don't know anymore. Do you love me, Spike? Could you love me? Just...let me. And I'll prove to you why I should be the one you're with, always.
She arrives, quietly, to the mansion itself. By the looks of it, Angel was close to opening himself up but he hadn't yet. A boon she hadn't expected. She makes her way stealthily up to Angelus' one remaining lackey and with one stroke of her sword-with Angelus whipping his head around at the sound-the lackey is a pile of dust.
She smiles. "Hi, honey. I'm home." Her eyes flicker to Spike, who was sitting in the wheelchair he hadn't needed for ages.
Angelus all but rolls his eyes at her. "I don't have time for you." He says boredly.
"Really?" She feigns hurt, eyes wide. "That's too bad! Cause you don't have a lot of time left. Figured we could catch up over coffee. Or knitting patterns or something."
She pouts, not seeing the surprised laugh that Spike has to fight to keep back.
"Coming on kind of strong, don't you think? You're playing some deep odds here. Do you really think you can take us all on?"
She laughs, which only intensifies when he gives her a fierce look. "No. I don't. You forgot something very important, Liam."
His glare ratches up a notch at her using his original name. "And what would that be, bitch?"
She smiles again.
"I'm not the only one who dislikes you." She says sweetly.
With that cue, Spike is up like lightning out of the wheelchair, hitting Angelus with a pipe before he can react. Angelus cries out, though seemingly more in surprise than pain, and they start to fight.
"I should'a known." Angelus hisses, more of his Irish brogue coming out in his anger. "Who knew the boy'd get some fuckin' balls for once an' go against me?"
"You're daft, mate," Spike grunts, as him and Angelus are in the midst of fighting. "I've been goin' against you since I first had the unlucky pleasure to bloody meet you."
A fast blur out of the corner of her eye catches her attention and she grabs onto the back of Drusilla's dress, pulling her towards her, before she can get to Angel and Spike. Drusilla shrieks and they too are soon pulled into a fight, with them both getting pulled down to the ground to continue their fighting.
"Oi! What the fuck, Slayer?"
"I-ugh, a little busy here!" She exclaims. She has to constantly move around to keep from getting bit by Drusilla, who had since went into game face and was now continually nipping at her, like a rabid dog. "Bad doggie! No cookie!"
A yell and a grunt later, Spike is sliding across the floor near to where they are. She looks up from where she is trying to keep Drusilla at a distance.
"I keep my promises, Spike." She says softly.
He looks at her, before glancing at Drusilla, then getting up, shaking himself off. He puts his posture in the cockiest thing imaginable, thumbs in his jeans, and Buffy loves him all the more for it. All that swagger, some of it real, some of it drudged up to keep people off guard, was all Spike and it was one of the things she loved about him.
He smirks at Angelus. "That all you got, Peaches?" He spits out some blood from his mouth. "Cause I can do this all night."
"Funny." Angelus says snidely. "Because that's what I tell Drusilla whenever I fuck her."
Spike lets out an inhuman growl and goes after Angelus again. Meanwhile Buffy manages to get some leverage, flipping Drusilla behind her, allowing her to get up. She has to tackle Drusilla's middle to keep her from getting to the other vampires.
"Ugh, can you just stop?" She yells at Drusilla, as she tries to get her under control.
"The Sun!" Drusilla finally hisses and Buffy's shocked to see tears in her eyes. "It makes the Knight shine brightly and takes away the Moon's-"
"I'm not taking Angel from you!" She grits out. "He's not mine. He hasn't been in a long time. More than that-I don't want him."
For the first time in minutes, Drusilla is something close to calm, though she is still in her vampire visage. "I need my Daddy."
Something in her aches for Drusilla. Jealous of Spike's love and attentions for Drusilla aside, Drusilla had been dealt a terrible hand in life the moment that Angelus had gotten wind of her. He had broken her, in ways that Buffy could still only scarcely guess at. She wasn't all there, to say the least. Still, she had given Buffy the greatest gift, in having sired Spike. Even if he wasn't meant to be with her, here, now, he was still here and she could only be happy with that.
"I have to stop him." She whispers, near Drusilla's head. She strokes her hair, which seems to calm her down even more. "But he's important to the Powers That Be. You know that, right? You have to. If I stop him, before his soul is returned, he'll be back. I promise you."
Drusilla stops fighting and the visage falls away from her. She looks up at Buffy, stroking her face, and Buffy is startled when Drusilla wipes away tears from her face that she hadn't even been aware had been shedding.
"The Knight," Drusilla whispers. "Tarnished but still beautiful."
"Yes," Buffy says, tears falling freely now. She didn't have to hear Spike's name to know that was who she was referring to. "He is, isn't he?"
A sound from behind them catches her attention and she starts to get up. Drusilla lies there, looking at her sedately. She grabs the sword that had been flung from her by fighting with Drusilla and makes her way forward-only to get pushed back in surprise as Spike gets thrown into her. She makes an oof sound, looking at Spike.
"Are you okay?" She asks, before she can stop herself.
He gives her a look, face already starting to bruise (if he didn't get some blood soon, he'd be dealing with a hell of a shiner), all bloodied and he smirks at her.
"Just peachy, Slayer." He grunts. "Give me a hand?"
"Absolutely."
"Right then." He moves away from her and she already misses the contact.
Angelus stands near Acathla, like a hound from hell, eyes flashing with menace as she and Spike start to approach.
"Running with your legs open to any who'll have you, bitch?" Angelus sneers. "Should have figured; trash deserves trash."
She stiffens. Had her feelings for Spike been that obvious?
"Oh is that why you were attached at the hip to Darla?" She fires back, approaching from the left to Spike's right. "Cause seriously? I'm pretty sure she whored it up so much that she created new diseases. And you know, Spike might be many things-"
"Oi!"
"-but even he wasn't that desperate to touch her." This she knew with certainty, as been told to her by Spike. He had slept with Drusilla (of course) and had even slept with Angelus many a time, but he had never slept with Darla. She had always kept him at arms length. And while Darla did have many lovers-and often she and Angelus shared them together-she never slept with Spike nor shared him with anyone. "Skank-itis is contageous, after all."
Angelus' face darkens and she knows she's struck a nerve. Darla and Angel's relationship had always been a stormy one, but Buffy had never doubted they loved one another...or as close to love as both had been willing to admit to themselves.
"I'm going to kill you slow, whore. I'm going to rip you apart." Angelus smiles and Buffy can't help but feel a shot of fear in her. He reminded her why he had been the Scourge of Europe for decade upon decade. "Slowly, piece by piece. Don't want to make it too quick, now do we?" He steps forward and she puts up her chin. She was once more reminded why Angelus was one of the most difficult beings she had ever faced. "And maybe after it's all said and done I'll fuck whatever is leftover."
She holds back a shiver with great difficulty and hurriedly turns to Spike, speaking so quickly and softly that even Spike, with her being next to his ear would have to strain to hear it.
"Don't let him bleed on Acathla. If he does, it's game over." She whispers. "I'll do whatever I can to let you and Drusilla get out of here, okay? I promise."
He glances at her and she cannot decipher the look in his eyes. As if they're one being, they rush Angelus at the same time, a hearty battle cry ripping from both their throats. It's brutal, the fighting, and she also wants to weep with it. This Spike, of this time, had never once worked with her but here they were-a kick from Spike that led into her swinging the sword against Angelus' sword, her kicking at Angelus' front that led to Spike giving him a blow to the back, as he couldn't block both of them at once.
It was...perfect. And she could only wonder if Spike was as astonished as she was.
They were a vehicle of mayhem and badassery and all she can do is laugh. Her eyes are full of light and wonder-even in this dark time-as they catch Spike's and he stares at her. In that moment, it feels like time stops. That everything stops. That everything that is not William Pratt and Buffy Summers does not exist. It is them, and only them, in the world.
I love you.
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It feels like it's working, in a way that it hadn't the first time around and she has a moment to think that maybe they'll do this, her and Spike, and keep Angelus occupied enough for Willow to put his soul back in place, without him getting taken out like before.
And then it all goes sideways.
She had made the mistake of letting up, even for just a moment, and with Angelus that was something you could never do. He was the poster boy for Evil and his mind was one of the most dangerous she had ever come across. He uses her very slight moment of hesitation in thought to knock her aside with a heavy blow that sends her-and the sword in her hand-sailing. She watches as the sword flies past Angelus-but not before nicking him across the cheek and throat.
The dread she feels doesn't let up, even when she sees Xander hurrying by with an almost knocked out Giles. At least Giles was safe. For now.
Her eyes widen as Angelus looks down where his blood is dripping and he smiles a devious smile, finger dipping into the wound on his throat. He had obviously realized what the activation of Acathla actually was.
"Stop him!" She screams at Spike.
She is already trying to scramble up when Spike goes after Angelus, but with it being one on one it's a much more even fight and Angelus manages one fierce kick to send Spike back...just enough so he can touch his bloody hand to Acathla.
A large rumbling happens and her eyes close briefly, before heading over to Spike, helping him up. Angelus is almost raptured by Acathla, watching Him/It intently which leaves her time to look at Spike. He looks at her.
"I'll stop him." She tells him, tears falling from her face, and she sees his eyes widening. "Take Drusilla and go-as far from here as you can. Even if...at least you'll be with the person you love, right?"
"Come Acathla!" Angelus says in a booming, joyous, voice, arms outstretched. "And deliver onto these ignorant fools the absolute Hell on Earth!"
"Slayer-" Spike starts.
"Just go!" She urges. Her eyes soften and she swallows against a tidal wave of emotion. "Please."
"Why? If we both take him, we-"
She does it without thinking, but really, it was inevitable. She grasps his duster, pulling him close so she can kiss him. She tastes him and for this moment, even if it was only one moment, she had him. She was his and once more she knew what it was like to be a whole person.
She pulls back from him and he looks at her in astonishment.
"Go." She repeats.
The hardest thing for her is not what's to come, but in watching Spike move beside her, walking away. She can hear him pick up Drusilla, walking off quickly. She lets out a breath, taking steps forward. She picks up the fallen sword and is prepared to once more send someone she cares about to Hell.
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The DeSoto is chugging along as quick as he can take it, sailing down the roads, and the Welcome to Sunnydale! sign is behind them moments later. His mind was in a lot of places and all of them were currently focused on the Slayer.
What had that been then? Her actions and her words had thrown him off to the umpth degree. All too easily he can picture her large green eyes looking at him with an emotion he doesn't dare name, can picture the taste of salt from her tears as she puts her mouth over his.
She had kissed him.
The Slayer whom had been so in love with Angelus that it had ripped the vampire's soul from his body, in that 'one perfect moment of happiness'. The Slayer whom had been at odds with him the moment he had spoken to her. The Slayer whom he had watched from the shadows, the Slayer whom he had fought with and finally found an equal. Neither of the other Slayers, as good as they had been, had been like her. The Slayer whom-
He doesn't realize he's been tapping his fingers in an anxious pattern on his pant leg until Dru stops the tapping, placing her hand over his. He glances over at her. She had been silent the entire time, going with him willingly into the car (which he hadn't expected.)
"Spike." Drusilla finally says, softly.
If he had breath, it would have caught then. Something was...different. He felt it. He just didn't know what it was.
"Don't." He says hoarsely. If she spoke...everything would change.
"It's already changed, Spike." Drusilla says. She looks at him with one of her rare bouts of true lucidity. She smiles. It had been a long time since he had seen a sincere, lucid, smile from her and it was lovely. She moves her hand to gently stroke his face. "The sun can't survive on its own. It needs its Knight to stand with it."
"Dru-"
"Shh." She puts a finger to his lips, eyes wide, as if scolding him. "None of that now."
"What did she tell you?" He whispers against her finger.
Her eyes turn from his now though.
"Stop here, Spike." She says, using her free hand to point to where a bus station was, with a bus stop in front of it. With its shape, it was covered from any potential direct sunlight filtering in.
"Dru-" He starts again, but she shakes her head in the negative. He sighs and stops the car directly next to the bus stop. It was still dark out but who knew how long the sodding bus took? If she... He stops his train of thought, turning back to look at her. She had removed her hands and was a picture of calm. He swallows hard. He had thought of her going away from him, just like that. And it hurt, but not like it should have.
She strokes his head briefly like she would sometimes do, when she was more lucid and aware, and his eyes close with pleasure.
"You already know, Spike."
He shudders. All he can feel is need and it's overwhelming to him. The need to go to her. It swam all around him, swam in his blood. He had to-
"Go." Drusilla says gently. She touches his face, smiling. "Goodbye for now, Spike."
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The fight had been going on for longer than she liked. She was running out of time.
"You got it, bitch?" Angelus says, tauntingly. "Just stay still and let me kill you. Or maybe I'll hold you in place, fucking you while Acathla sends everything into oblivio-"
He jerks and her eyes widen when she sees him shaking his head in sudden confusion and her heart aches for him. Angel had gotten his soul put back. He was himself again.
"B-Buffy?" Angel whispers.
Her eyes close briefly. Give me strength.
"Forgive me, Angel." She whispers. Striking him with the sword, impaling him deeply into Acathla.
And once more, like the first time, he's taken away, Acathla gone with him, leaving nothing but empty space and and an empty void in Buffy's heart.
He was gone.
He was gone.
And maybe it was wrong, but it wasn't Angel at all she was thinking of, but Spike.
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I hope you enjoyed this!
Let me know what you thought!
-PhoenixJustice
