Chapter Notes:
Hi guys, here's another update, I was so happy a lot of you liked the first one that I made this story that was supposed to be a three part one-shot into a five chapter one because of a lot of people saying really cool stuff that I just had to ! I already have the chapters worked on so I'll probably be updating weekly until I finished.
Before you read bare in mind the following:
This is set near the end of season 7, when Scoobies and the Potential all turned against Buffy.
Andrew still came back to Sunnydale and since Jonathan was not around, he instead sacrificed his brother, Tucker, to the Hellmouth.
Due to the fact that Faith wasn't around during the time Angelus came out in LA, Buffy was the one Angel Investigations called to help. Both her and Willow.
Due to Spike not being in Sunnydale, the First actually used Robin Woods, who everyone learned was Nikki's son, to open the Hellmouth. And he did not survive, to avoid complications and also because I haven't forgiven him for trying to kill Spike.
Angel still took over Wolfram and Hart and all that stuff with Jasmine still happened, but it happened and ended sooner so he went to aid Buffy and his friends to fight the first.
All the events of season 7 happened almost the same way, only without Spike in the mix. But if you have questions about how it happened that is not stated above, then guess you can just ask them in a review and I'll answer them for you! Anyway, without further ado, enjoy the story!
oh and before I forget, special thanks to my lovely Beta,djellibabe. Couldn't have done this without you! Thank you!
(O.O)
A large black SUV rolled into the small town of Sunnydale in the middle of the night. Inside it were six individuals wearing thick robes with hoods that covered their heads and shadowed their faces. The vehicle moved at a steady pace right until the large sign that said "Welcome to Sunnydale" came to view. And when it did, the car's driver hit the accelerator and intentionally hit the sign, toppling it to the ground.
With a satisfied smirk, the driver went outside the car and walked up in front of it to inspect his work with pride.
"Did you really have to hit the damn thing? I mean, what's wrong with coming to town without the property damage involved?" one of his female companions asked him. She too wore a robe and had her head covered by the hood, but her long ebony locks were still seen cascading at the side of her hood. She placed her hands on her hips and glared at her companion.
He merely shrugged, and answered her haughtily, "Of course! It's tradition to hit the damn thing every time I come to town! It brings good luck or something."
"Funny, as I remember your tales about your experiences in this town, I seem to recall you saying that you never had any luck while you stayed here. Doesn't that actually say something?" another one of his companions wearing similar clothing and was still sitting within the car, told him from the window. Now this one was a man and had similar accent to the driver of the vehicle, only much more upper class than the driver's.
"Shut it, you git!" came the driver's angry reply.
"This robe is itchy!" another woman inside the SUV complained. She turned to the man beside her, who was responsible for the robes they were wearing, and asked, "Why are we using these things again?"
"Because they will prevent our enemies from finding out that we came in to town," the Brit answered the woman exasperatedly.
"But why these itchy things? Why not something cute like shirts? Why didn't you use our shirts to be the medium to shield us from being detected?" she asked the man again, while scratching a part of her arm that was hidden underneath the robe.
"Because shirts don't have magical properties like these robes do, so I can't use them for the anti-detection spell that was needed! And will you stop that infernal scratching? You're supposed to be a robot, why in the world would you feel itchy in the first place!?"
"I was created to have sensitive sensory skin, it makes me easily feel the texture of sexual objects my boyfriend would rub or have me touch. He used to say that it turns him on when I can guess what he places on my private parts!" was the woman's enthusiastic answer.
"I now regret asking," the man muttered in his seat.
"Man, this place hasn't changed in the few months I've been away, huh?" another one of the robed men in the car voiced out. This one appeared to be the shortest person in the group.
"Well, we haven't really been gone that long. I wonder how Willow is doing," stated the last robed member. She had a book of spells in her lap but was staring wistfully at the vehicle's window.
"We'll find out once we get to the Slayer's residence," the driver told them as he reentered the car.
"Yeah. And I wonder how they will take to us helping them out?" the short robed man asked out loud.
"They probably won't believe us and will most likely try to kill the lot of us," the classy cloaked Brit said negatively while resettling his bag of spell ingredients on his lap and earning himself glares from his companions. He noticed their looks and said, "What? Oh, don't give me that look, you all know I'm right. After all, most of us in this group tried to kill these people at least a time or two in the past."
"He's got a point," the first robed woman from earlier stated as she too settled on her seat, "No matter how helpful we'd be, B and her chums ain't gonna trust us just cause we were sent by some higher power to help them."
"And that's why Whistler went ahead of us to inform the lot of who we all are and what we're all doing here. He'll be the one responsible in getting the Slayer and the others ready for us," the SUV's driver told them, before he started the engine and began driving to the one place he never expected he'd return to: 1630 Revello Drive, the Slayer's house.
(O.O)
They were voting her off the island or, in this case, off her position as their leader. They wanted someone else, namely Angel, of all people, to help lead them to victory because apparently she was too reckless, too impulsive, and obviously too highly strung to lead the troops.
"Listen, you don't wanna do this." She turned to her oldest friends."Guys, tell them. This is a mistake." But she was met with silence. "I don't-thisisn't happening," she said in disbelief as she took a step back from her so called friends.
"Buffy, you need rest," her redheaded witch friend told her, before the said witch turned to Xander for strength to say what she was gonna say next. With his nod of approval, she continued, "So maybe we should let someone else take the wheel until you do."
"Maybe it isn't such a terrible idea. I mean even if it was dead boy and his team who would take the wheels, at least we know he can handle things better, for now. After all he is a Champion for good too," Xander, her now one-eyed friend, told her.
If Xander was supporting Angel at a time like this, then the world really was going to hell.
She shook her head and turned to look at Angel, the first love of her life, and saw in his eyes that he was not disagreeing with any one of them. In fact he looked like he was alright with taking the leadership from her.
And if she looked deeper, she could've sworn he looked smug about it too.
So much for the knight in shining armor routine, looks more like start-a-mutiny-and-replace-the-captain-of-the-ship to me!
"Guys, we have a chance to end this. I can't just stay here and-and watch Angel and his team lead you off to some disaster."
"And what makes you think they will Buffy?"
She turned and was surprised to see that it had been her own sister who said those words.
"Dawn?"
"No! Don't Dawn me! This isn't just all about you anymore. All of us are involved in this and what gives you the right to say that Angel and his team will lead us to disaster. If anyone has done that, it has been you!"
Now Dawn was supporting Angel too? And was she seriously telling her that she was the cause of the disaster that happened to them? Unbelievable!
"Dawnie, I can't-" but she wasn't able to finish it. She couldn't. It was all too much. Everyone had turned their backs on her. They had all decided toabandon her.
"Then you can't stay here," Dawn finished for her. "Look I love you, but you can't be a part of this. If you can't work with everyone then I don't think-I don't think that you can face this at all. This one you have to sit out."
Buffy looked devastated at the final betrayal that had come her way.
"I'm sorry, but this is my house too. Either you let Angel handle things or- or you have to leave."
Buffy looked shock. She stared at her sister, then at her Watcher and friends, then at Angel and his team before looking at everyone else in the room. They all looked like they didn't plan on backing down. They all looked like they had made their final decision.
"Alright," she whispered quietly, so that almost everyone didn't hear her. "I'll go..." She then turned away from them, and practically missed the surprised look that crossed everyone's faces, but before she could head to the door she was met by someone she had not expected to see.
"Whistler!" she said in surprise at the man's sudden appearance.
"Glad to know you still remember me, kid," the man smirked at her.
"Hard to forget the hat, bad smell and terrible fashion sense," she replied dryly.
"Ouch. And here I thought you would be more welcoming than last time."
"Cut to the chase, mister. I don't have all day. If you haven't noticed, I've over stayed my welcome in this house," she said, while her head tilted to point at the crowd behind her.
"Yeah, heard the entire thing, and I gotta hand it to you hero types, you really are something." He eyed her treacherous companions behind her. "I mean, when you do evil, you people really go all out, don't you? Because seriously? What did the Slayer ever did to any of you besides work her ass off to save and protect every single one of you ungrateful people. Sure she made a few mistakes, got the lot of you hurt and killed, but didn't you followed her there? Wasn't it all of your decisions to go with her to that place? So why are you all ganging up on her and actually throwing her out of her own house, the house, if you all are forgetting, that she's paying for with her own sweat and tears? Man, and I thought I had seen a lot of evil to last a lifetime but this-" He gestured at her friends. "-coming from the people who were supposed to be on the side of good? Here own friends and sister no less? This by far ranks the top of all the evil deeds. You people betrayed your Champion and Protector, your Savior! Man, you lot should be ashamed of yourselves!"
She was silent in all this. Not expecting that someone, who she had once threatened, was actually defending her from her friends and family. She looked at everyone in the room and saw that they all shared the same shamed and guilty facial expression.
She didn't know what to feel about that. Whether she should be happy someone told her friends off and made them feel bad for kicking her out, or angry that someone had to be the one to defend her and point out their flaws before they realized they had any.
Of course none of those things mattered to her anymore. She was already done with every one of them, because whether or not they were sorry for trying to throw her out of her own house earlier, they still did the deed. Whistler coming here only stopped her from leaving fully because he was blocking her way.
"Whistler, what the hell are you doing here?" Angel asked, being the first to recover from the shock and onslaught of hurtful truths the agent had just told them.
"Angel, do you know who this man is?" Giles asked the ensoulled vampire, after recovering from the shock too.
"Yeah, he's an agent of the Powers that be. They're in charge of maintaining the balance between Good and Evil within all realms."
"So he's one of the good guys?" Willow asked.
"Yeah, you could say that. He's the one who sent me to Buffy years ago," Angel informed.
"So you're the one who should be blamed for Angelus appearance in Sunnydale," Giles said eying the man with contempt.
"Woah, there Watcher, don't blame me for that. It's not my fault that Angel and your Slayer couldn't keep their parts off each other. And more importantly, it's not my fault soul boy over there didn't research the full extent of his curse before accepting this champion gig. I mean, a soulled vampire? At the time he sounded like the great man for the job to protect the Slayer from the Master, of course I didn't know he'd also be useless because he never even fought the Master to do just that. Which is why the Powers sent another Champion to aid the Slayer. And this time, this one has more experience in the field of doing good than soul boy over there."
"Another Champion? What the hell do you mean by that?" Angel asked, looking completely pissed off.
"Ooh, don't look at me like that. The Powers gave you a job to protect this Slayer, but what do you do? You let her die, had sex with her at a young age and lost your soul thus making her life a living hell, made her kill your soulled self to save the world, came back only to leave her again all while saying it was for her own good. Man, you screwed things up with her good, but you kept screwing it up by showing up every time you thought she needed you, but you never stayed to really help out. Now you come here, under the pretense of helping her, but what do you? You were going to kick her off the team and out of her own house!"
"I didn't kick-"
"No, you didn't. But you didn't stop them either. So excuse me if the Powers are quite reluctant to have you helping their Chosen One fight the number One Evil of all Evils."
After hearing these words from the agent's mouth, Buffy then too realized just how much Angel contributed to the suckiness of her life. And she could not help but be angry at him for it, more so since he didn't seem to be bothered by the things he had done to her life that affected her so much, instead he was more bothered at the thought of being replaced by someone else in being the Power's golden boy.
"But I thought-"
"Oh, don't worry, you are still a Champion. Just not Buffy's Champion." The agent paused to look at her, before giving her a strange look.
What the heck was that suppose to mean?
She wanted to ask but she wasn't able to before he continued.
"Someone has that job now and he and his team are on their-oh, wait! They're already here!" The agent turned towards the window and they all saw the headlights of a black SUV park itself in front of the Slayer's house. "Shit! They're early. He's really gonna skin me alive for not finishing with the explanation and introduction of who they are before they got here," he muttered to himself before turning to the people in the house. "Alright, listen up! See that vehicle? It belongs to the people who the Powers sent to help you lot out. You all have a bad history with most of them but they are the good guys now and they will be a great help in this battle, so be nice to them! And yes, Slayer no staking or harming any one of these people! They're here to help and you need them so please work together, okay?"
He waited for the group to give him an affirming answer but instead he got a scream from one of the potential Slayers that were inside the house and were currently watching as four ubervamps and a large group of Bringers walked towards the SUV that was parked on their front lawn.
"Dammit!" Buffy cursed, before taking one of the axes from the weapons chest and moving towards the front door to assist their would-be helpers.
If they were supposed to help them out, it would do them no good if they ended up dead before they could do so.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?!" Whistler grabbed her arm and stopped her before she could step outside though.
"Isn't it obvious? I'm gonna go out and rescue your so-called special team so they don't end up dead before they get a chance to help," she answered him before pulling her arm away and stepping outside her house to see that the occupants of the car had already gotten out of it.
Six. There were six of them wearing thick brown robes that had hoods that covered their heads and faces. The only way she could tell them apart from men or women was that the women in the group seemed to have strands of their hair visible from the hood's cover and their robes were smaller than the men. Theirs only reaching their midriff thus revealing to her their curved bodies while the men of the group had theirs reach to their knees.
A couple of them seemed to be having a loud conversation with each other instead of looking like they should be worried about the enemies that were standing in front of them. She couldn't hear what they were saying but it seemed that they were having an argument. Two of the women in the group were arguing with their tallest male companion, not caring that the ubervamps and Bringers were already set to attack them.
"Idiots," she stated before once again moving to attack the enemies to give these people a chance to get inside her home. At least there, these people still had a small chance of survival.
She was but a few steps away of her home when once again was stopped by the annoying agent of the Powers that Annoy the heck out of her Life.
"Dammit! Let go! I have to help them!" she shouted as she struggled from his hold on her body. But no matter how hard she struggled she couldn't break free.
Damn! He's stronger than he looks.
"No, you really don't," he told her, his voice had a serious and authorative tone in it that the Slayer hadn't known the half-demon agent was capable of. "Don't worry, Slayer. This is a good thing. Now you guys get to see just how strong the new additions to your team really are," the man stated calmly, while eying the group in front of him. He knew that the Slayer was doing the same thing too and so were the rest of her team of traitors who all were still staying within the safety of the porch of her house.
It didn't matter to him anymore that not one of those people followed their Slayer to help the group outside, this was a problem that the Slayer should solve herself, not him. Besides he already said what he had to say to the ungrateful bastards, all they have to do now is listen to what he had said and actually change how they all treat their Slayer from here on out. This was the ultimate battle after all, and these people needed this Slayer's help to stop whatever was coming. If they didn't stop what they were doing and stop acting the way they were acting they will lose more than just their friend and sister. They will lose their lives and the world too. So yeah, it was a bit important for them to change their ways, but again he was just lucky he didn't have to be the one to do it.
He continued to watched the group and it seemed they were in a bit of an argument with one another. His enhanced hearing told him they were bickering about the robes they all were forced to wear and had found them useless since their presence were still caught by their enemy.
He sighed at this team's antics. They all may be the best of all the group of champions he and the Powers had gathered to help for the side of Good but dammit if this group's members could last a day without some form of argument happening. He was only glad that their fighting and bickering never seemed to mess up on their team work, like another certain team of do-gooders he knew. Instead, the fighting amongst themselves seemed to have the opposite effect. It had seemed to help them be even more united than any team he had a chance of help building.Which is why this team was his favorite white hat team there was out there.
Their arguments of course were cut short when an ubervamp had gone and tackled the smallest member of their team. He heard the Slayer gasp in his arm, but he kept his firm hold on her. He wasn't really worried. The boy, which the vamp had attacked, was not the same boy he once was when the team first recruited him. Oh, he had become stronger than that. After being part of this group in those last few months, he had gained new abilities that helped him fight for their cause.
Of course if he really thought about it, every member of the group had at least grown stronger in the time they had been together, which is another reason why he really liked this group of heroes.
The Slayer in his arm gasped again, thus pulling him out of his musing. He looked up and smiled at the image that presented before him.
The boy that the ubervamp attacked had suddenly turned himself into an ubervamp too and was practically ripping his attacker to pieces. The next scenes that happened, all happened too fast for the Slayer in his arms to react.
While the boy was busy tearing his attacker to pieces, the rest of his companions were all busy attacking their enemies.
A red glow suddenly surrounded one of the female hooded fighters. Then she lifted her delicate hand and aimed it at the armed Bringers, who suddenly found themselves frozen in place.
Another hooded companion followed her actions, only instead of red, he was glowing a dark green glow, and as he lifted his hand the frozen Bringers were all suddenly lifted from the ground. An ubervamp seeing the threat these magic users posed angrily ran at them but suddenly found itself caught on fire which the green glowing stranger started without its notice.
Another female hooded stranger stepped up next to her magical companions and lifted both her hand and aimed her fingers at the frozen and elevated Bringers. Buffy was then surprised to see that the woman's manicured fingers opened up to reveal small gun barrels in them, and, before she could process the entire bizarre thing, the woman had fired and bullets pierced the frozen Bringers chests, killing them all instantly.
Meanwhile the remaining two hooded figures were both busy fighting the last two ubervamps. The female hooded fighter was practically going toe to toe with the ancient vampire. Her glowing golden sword slashing and actually doing damage to the monster. It didn't take her long before she was able to actually kill the beast via beheading. As it's head rolled on the grassy ground, she turned to face her companion, who was actually busy toying with the beast.
"Just kill it already!" she shouted, earning a growl from her hooded partner.
"You ruin my fun," was the man's reply before somersaulting over the ubervamp and beheading the creature from behind.
Buffy froze upon hearing the man's familiar voice.
It can't be! She thought as she stared at the stranger.
Loud applause were then heard from the house as most of its occupants started going outside to greet the amazing group of individuals who single-handedly defeated an small army of their powerful enemy. A lot of the young potentials excitedly ran outside to a approach the group, but were all suddenly stopped by Buffy's urgent order.
"Stop!" she yelled, preventing everyone from approaching. They all stared at her as if she had grown another head but she didn't care. Her sole focus had been on the hooded man who had defeated the last ubervamp in the most spectacular way any of them had ever seen.
The man simply stood there and stared at her within the shadows of his hood. His companions approached him protectively when the petite Slayer slowly walked towards him. But he signaled them to back down and simply waited on what the Slayer would do next. Of course before he knew it he found himself under the receiving end of one of her strong right hooks.
"Ow!" he cried as his head snapped back upon impact.
"Buffy!" she heard her friends call her, and knew they were giving her disapproving looks. But she didn't care. All she cared was that she was now certain that she knew who the man underneath the hood was.
"Some things never change, huh, Slayer?" the man said as he stood straight up, his hood having been thrown off his head by the woman's attack, revealing to the group the familiar handsome face of their platinum blond haired previous resident chipped vampire.
"Spike?!" everyone of the Scoobies and Angel exclaimed in disbelief.
"Hello, all! Long time no see!" he said with a smirk and giving them all of them a short wave of his hand.
(O.O)
Okay he should've known better than to think he could trick the Slayer. She knew him too much that it didn't really come as a surprise to him that she was the first to recognize him. The punch, though he'd admit he should've expected, was familiar but at the same time it hurt him to think that even now, after all this time they had been apart, violence was still the way she greeted him.
Once his cover was blown, he reveled at the surprised and horrified looks the Scoobies and his darling Grandsire sent his way but when he turned towards the Slayer, it was his turn to look surprised at the look she sent him.
Was that tears he was seeing in the corner of her eyes? Was she crying because she was happy to see him? Or because he showed himself after all this time?
He opened his mouth to ask her, but was cut off as the magnificent poof started spouting nonsense at Whistler, demanding the poor agent to tell them what the meaning of all of this was.
Idiot. Ain't it obvious. I'm here because the Powers thought my help would be more of use to the Slayer than your annoying and self-righteous ass would be.
He stared at Angel and then at Giles, who also joined in the conversation with the agent. An argument had started between the lot of them and he was growing tired of it all. So he opened his mouth in an attempt to quiet the bloody arguing bastards, but was once again cut off when the Slayer beat him to it.
"Angel, Giles! Shut it!" she told them. "You're never gonna get answers from him if you two keep talking and interjecting when ever he tries to answer. Now shut up, relax and lets all wait until the man finishes explaining."
As she was busy reprimanding the two, he was busy admiring her.
God! A year has passed and he had been through a lot of changes himself, yet seeing his precious Slayer put down the two important men in her life made him weak on his knees again and he couldn't help but feel his heart annoyingly constrict at the magnificent sight of her strength and power. She was still as beautiful as he remembered her, well, slightly underweight, but was still beautiful all the same. She still smelled amazing too; vanilla and jasmine and something else that was just uniquely Buffy. Her hair all golden and longer now compared to the last time he saw her.
A twinge of pain suddenly hit his heart at the memory that she had it cut just to spite him. Thinking about it now, he realized even more just how much the damned chit hated him even back then. Getting her hair cut like that was just among the things she did but he ignored because he couldn't deal with the idea that she didn't or would never love him. He was such a huge wanker back then and now, seeing her again, he almost returned to that pathetic ponce he had been a year ago.
Well not anymore. he said to himself . He wasn't gonna let her get him the way she had before. He wasn't gonna let her step on him or even bully him as she once did.
He was not that man anymore.
"Slayer," he called her attention from the two men who were still arguing with her .
When she turned to face him, he punched her face hard, snapping it like she did to him earlier and making her take a few steps back in the process.
"Buffy!" Angel cried, moving forward to attack his pesky Grandchilde. But he was blocked by one of his female hooded companions. "Get out of my way!" he told her.
"You don't want to get in between those two, Angel," she told him.
Angel stiffened at the voice. He would recognized it anywhere.
"Faith?" he asked.
"The one and only," she said, removing the hood from her head while grinning widely at the soulled vampire.
"Faith!" everyone, including Wesley of Angel's team, who had just joined the group outside, all chorused upon recognizing the rogue Slayer.
"Yeh, it's me guys!" she told them. "Wesley, how are you?" she asked her ex-Watcher, a guilty and concerned look crossing her face.
"I-I'm fine. T-thank you for asking," was the ex-Watcher's only response to the woman's sudden concern. He had never seen Faith give such a kind and genuine look before. He was both surprised and curious as to what had happened to the Slayer that had seemed to change her this much.
"Faith, get out of my way," Angel repeated.
"No can do, Angel. Those two need to get this out and you'll only get in their way," she told him.
But the big vampire was too stubborn to listen to the Slayer's advice and continued to make his way towards his Grandchilde. With great speed and strength, the dark haired Slayer tackled the taller vamp and pinned him to the ground, a stake hanging pointedly at the vampire's back.
"Told you to let them be. This ain't you're fight, Angel. In fact this ain't any of your fight," she told the rest of the onlookers. "This is something those two need to settle before we try and actually work with each other!"
As she said this the rest of her hooded companions along with the one, who had turned himself into a Turok Han, all gathered beside her and formed a line that blocked the Master Vampire and Slayer from their audience.
"Uh, Faith, this really shouldn't be how things should go-"
"Shut it, Whistler. You were suppose to tell them about us. But based on how surprised everyone was when they saw us, I'm guessing you never got to the part where you told them who we were."
"Ahh, maybe?" the agent said nervously.
"Thought as much. Well then you will let those two have it out. Because this thing here is necessary. Unless you want it to happen in the middle of the actual big battle. So better they hash it out now than then, cause it'll be a bigger problem if we waited," she told them, before eying her leader and sister Slayer ahead of her.
(O.O)
Buffy was surprised.
Not only was he there but he had the actual nerve to actually punch her in front of her friends. She knew she should've expected it, what with how it ended the last they saw each other. But she, at the very least, expected him to show a bit of that undying love and devotion he once always aimed at her way . But she was not seeing that in him now. Looking at him, after recovering from his punch, she could see nothing that resembled the loving and adoring demon who used to follow her around town. He had changed in the year he had been away, and for some reason, she could not help feel her heart constrict at the thought that she had lost something so beautiful because of her self-destructive attitude the year before
"So you're back again. I thought you were gonna be gone for good this time," she told him. Though why she sounded angry about it, she wasn't really certain. She knew she should be happy that he was back, after all she had been wishing for such to happen for quite some time now. Yet seeing him again, standing in front of her the way he used to, it hand't brought joy into her heart.
Probably because you know he's not here for you, but for this new enemy you two were suppose to defeat together.
Defeat together.
She thought hard on those words and realized that Spike was actually part of the group that the Powers sent to help her.
She looked at him and then at his companions, who all were blocking her friends from approaching them.
Is that Faith?!
She was surprised to see her sister Slayer among the people that Spike was working with. And somehow that didn't sit well in her opinion.
"Thought so too, but then my bosses want me to help a certain cranky Slayer defeat the next Big Bad that's threatening to end the world," was his smooth reply as he took one of his cigarettes and lit it, "So I really didn't have a choice in the matter."
"I'll bet. Must be pretty hard coming back here after being gone for so long, huh?" she said narrowing her eyes at him, "You didn't even bother to say goodbye to anyone of us."
"You can say that, but you need to set your facts straight, luv. I did say goodbye, but only to those who I knew would've missed me."
"You-you said goodbye to Dawn?" she asked surprised about this new information. When he nodded, she again felt her heart break on that answer.
She thought that Spike just left without a word to anyone. Heck, if she hadn't searched his entire crypt and found his clothes and books missing, she'd have thought that he had died that night. She had been so consumed by guilt because she thought she had killed him over something so trivial. She'd avoided answering anyone who asked about him and when she found out he left, she was then consumed by anger at the thought he left her in the first place. The only thing that truly comforted her of his leaving was that no one seemed to know he'd left until the day they went to his crypt to ask for his help about that ugly demon who had sent her into that dream world of her being in a mental institution and her parents being there with her. She simply relished the thought that this time she wasn't the only one who was abandoned but so was Dawn, who, after he left, seemed just as angry as her upon hearing the news of his leaving. The thought that he left and had actually said goodbye to someone-especially to Dawn, who she confided with about missing him, hurt her more than the thought that she was the reason he left in the first place. She felt betrayed again, not only by Dawn but also by him. Him telling someone that he was leaving and not her was by far the most evil thing he had ever done, in her opinion.
She was angry and she wanted to lash out at him, and she would've had he not said his next words.
"Oh, don't look at me like that, Slayer, you know I did nothing wrong. So, I didn't say goodbye to you and only to the Bit, who, by the way, I told not to tell you that I was leaving, big deal! I had my reasons not to tell you and I thought it was for the best!"
"The best for who?" she screamed, running at him and aiming another punch at his nose, of which he blocked easily. "Me? You thought not telling me that you were leaving was for the best for me? You asshole!" She pulled back her hand and used the other to punch him. This time her punch hit its mark and for the second time that night the vampire's head snapped back by the power of the blow. "Who are you to decide that it was the best for me? What gave you the right to decide such a thing?"
"Who said I did it for you?" he said, looking back at her with anger in his eyes. With a blink of an eye, he too aimed a punch at the Slayer who again was forced to take a couple of steps back because of the strength of the punch. There were another batch of calls of the Slayer's name by her friends in the audience, but no one came to aid her so it meant that his companions were still blocking their way. "You're really that full yourself, aren't you? You think that just 'cause I didn't come to say goodbye to you, you'd immediately lunk me with all those wankers who left you under the pretense of it being for your own good? Well, boohoo for the arrogant little girl, because this time the reason wasn't about you?! Didn't it ever occur to you that I didn't say goodbye because I didn't want to? That I saw no point in telling you that I was leaving because seriously, what would be the point?! Knew you wouldn't have cared either way! I was simply sparing myself the heartache of having to hear you say: good riddance, you useless piece of shit. Took you long enough to get it in your head that you ain't needed here! So stop looking like I hurt your bloody feelings, Slayer, because that ain't like you!" He finished his rant, and looked at the Slayer, who was now looking at the ground, shoulders hunched. If he didn't know any better, he'd have think that she looked defeated in her posture, which didn't make sense.
Why would she feel defeated when all I did was prove her wrong in her accusations of me? Did she hate that I had finally grown the balls to talk back at her and not let her use me like a rug on the floor? Yeah that must be it. She was simply saddened that I was now not the same vamp I once was. The vamp she loved to pick on and abuse then throw to the side like a used up toy.
"Stop that, Slayer. Not gonna say I'm sorry just cause you feel bad 'cause little Spikey ain't gonna let you play with him anymore. I ain't gonna get affected by the cry-me-a-river stunt you always pull or the woe-me-poor-me routine anymore. It gets old, you selfish bitch, and I've already built immunity from those things over the year I've been away from you. You ain-" He stopped after seeing the actual look of devastation painted on her face after finally looking up from the ground to face him. "Slay-"
"You're right. I have been selfish bitch, and I guess, I should've expected that you'd have a deeper reason than my own self-centered explanations of your actions. I had no right to be angry or sad or anything, after what I did the last time we saw each other. You left for yourself and I shouldn't blame you for that either. I'm sorry, Spike. For everything I did to you last year, and for all the shit I've put you through. I said some really awful things to you at the time, and I'm sorry for that too. But most of all, I am sorry that you thought I wouldn't have missed you after you were gone, because truthfully? I did care about you, and I did care that you left without saying goodbye. But I guess it was normal for you to think that I didn't, considering-well, I never really showed you a reason to think that I did, didn't I? Well, I'm sorry for that too."
"Buffy?" he called softly, his heart aching at the sight of her tears.
When he agreed to come to Sunnydale and see her, he expected her to be angry at him, throw a punch or two his way and even some hurtful yelling and a handful of arguments about how they should work together. But not this. He didn't expect this. The Slayer saying sorry to him, crying and admitting her faults of last year and doing all of it in front of her friends and the Grand poof no less. This was so not what he signed up for when he agreed to come back.
What the hell happened to her?
She was facing the crowd now and called out to Whistler.
"They're here to help defeat the First, right?"
"Uh-yeah. I mean, they showed you their strength and all," was the agent's bewildered reply.
"Yeah, they did. And Faith is with them, so now they also have a Slayer too."
Where was she going with all of this? He asked internally. What the hell is going on in that pretty little head of yours, Slayer?
"So that means I'm really not needed anymore," she whispered so softly that it seemed only those with enhanced hearing in the group could've heard her.
"Wha-!" He was alarmed at her words.
What the bloody hell did she mean by that? Why was she saying such words? Why did she look so broken? What they bloody hell happened to the Slayer while I was gone?
He wanted to ask. He would've asked. But he was stopped at her sudden approach and her standing merely inches away from him.
"I'm so happy that you're back, Spike," she suddenly said with a sad smile, "At least now I know I can count on you to protect them."
"Slayer, wha-"
But again she cut him off, surprising him and everyone there watching them, by planting a soft kiss on his lips.
"I missed you and take care of them for me-" she said before suddenly turning away from him and running off into the dark night.
Spike stood, for a few minutes, frozen after the kiss and once he regained his senses the Slayer was already out of his sight. Anger immediately filled his heart and he directed it to the people he knew were responsible for the Slayer's strange behavior.
"What the hell did you all do?" he asked them, his eyes shifting between their normal oceanic blue hue to the animalistic amber ones of his demon.
(O.O)
Chapter End Notes:
And that is it! Hope you enjoyed this chapter and leave a review because they inspire me to update faster. Thanks and hope to see you all in the next chapter!