Soul Survivor
"Drusilla? Is that your name?"
"Yes pet."
"How do you know Tara?"
"I don't, she whisked me away from Peru, with her magic luv. Mm just thinking about it makes my body sing."
"So what do you get out of this? Spike?"
"Yes, I get pretty William and Miss Edith gets her daddy back."
"Do you love him?"
"Yes."
"Does he love you?"
"Oh he will."
"Is that right?"
Demon trial caves "Very well, we will return your soul!"The demon placed his hand over Spike's bruised and beaten chest. A power surged through Spike and his eyes lit up and emitted a brilliant glow. He screamed in agony as his soul was being forced into his body. Then it was done, he was successfully reensouled. The remorse, guilt, and self-loathing slowed like a waterfall inside him. Voices screamed in his head. All of the people he had killed, hurt, and tortured were like a giant alarm in his head with no off button. Children screaming in terror, the screams of the hundreds of victims he as he bit into them all roared. He stumbled out of the cave and out into the dark and unforgiving desert. The voices continued to rage inside his head and tried his best to find his way home. Then the images began to show up out of nothing. First the Asian slayer he killed so mercilessly during the Boxer Rebellion, then Nikki the African American slayer from N.Y. of which he had robbed of her life and a leather coat, and finally Buffy. Her scream seemed to pierce him most painfully. No! Stop! Ask me again why I could never love you! He felt her pain that he had caused her and more. He was now very far away from the cave and through his inability to distinguish illusion from reality, he just stopped dead in his tracks. In a clap of thunder and lightening, Tara materialized in front of him. Spike cowered and fell to the floor in the fetal position, after which he shouted at what he thought was an illusion.
"No! No, no, no, No! You're not real. Get away!"
Tara moved slowly towards him and though he did initially feel threatened by her, she made him feel oddly comforted. She gently placed her hand on his cheek and her energy seemed to warm him and calm him.
"Oh Spike you poor souled thing. Your love is waiting, your destiny is waiting. Do you want me to take you to her?"
Spike shuddered in fear and, like a faithful dog, nodded with eagerness and desperation on his face. Tara lifted him up and took his hand. And as quickly as they had appeared, they disappeared out of sight.
Back in Sunnydale; the Magic BoxXander looked at Anya with clear frustration.
"Anya, Giles? How is that even possible if Tara can't even do that."
"It's not that she can't Xander but she doesn't want her spirit she wants her back to life."
"Again I say Huh?"
"We want her spirit, not her body."
Xander went cold and stared at Giles.
"Says you, I've known her my whole life and I never got to say goodbye."
"Xander."
"No! She was my best friend and that bastard son of a bitch took her away from me. Buffy you probably don't know this but it's my fault. Willow was shot because of me."
"That's not true."
"Isn't it? I mean I went after him and he tried to shoot me. But like the coward I am, I ducked. The bullets ripped past me and into Willow."
Xander broke down into sobs and then into big tears of guilt. Buffy couldn't contain her self and she lifted Xander's head to talk to him.
"Xander, Warren is dead and we can't change that. Willow is also dead but know this, you were not responsible. If we summon Willow we can get Tara back but I need you. It's the only chance we have to save them."
"But how Buffy? How can I just say goodbye? How do you say goodbye to a person you love so much?"
"I don't know Xander, I guess we never can."
Buffy held Xander close, like he had for her when Dawn was taken from her and she thought that her sister might be dead. As he did, Buffy reflected on his words and all the people she had to say goodbye to. Her Dad after the divorce, her mom when she died, her life when she became the slayer, Angel when she killed him to save the world and the day he left her for Los Angeles, and her most recent love Spike. Their relationship had changed her, took her to a place where she never thought she would go. And then she walked out on him and their forbidden love. Anya began to cry as she watched her love cry and look defeated.
