Voices in Sea Shells--part 23 of The Island of Galleno (Only a man who has felt ultimate despair is capable of feeling ultimate bliss.)

by Isabelle

Rating: R (for cursing, mild nudity, adult situations and violence)

Disclaimers: BTVS belong to Joss Whedon, ME, and UPN they are being used for entertainment, I don't own them. The Count of Monte Cristo belongs to Alexandre Dumas--Spike's journey was taken from the idea of the book and is used in the skeleton of the Series. The ending of the chapter was inspired by The Princess Bride and it was not an attempt to rape the idea simply to glorify it.

Summary: The moment that Spike finally has Buffy he is vamp-napped by Riley and a new officer, Jack Marshall and sent to the Island of Galleno off the Moroccan coast where all the leftovers of the Initiative are being placed. Buffy frantically looks for Spike but gets news that he was 'accidentally killed' by Jack, who decides to make Sunnydale his residence. The whole thing is Spike trying to get back to Sunnydale and Buffy thinking he's dead. It's filled with exotic places, tons of Original Characters, mysticism, enchantment, magic and love. It takes him years to find out who he is before he can find the one he loves.

Spoilers: Set after Normal Again, Season 6

Feedback: bih80reviews@yahoo.com

Archiving: Carnal Sins, DeathMarkedLove, and Only Time--all others please ask.

A/N: WOW--I can't believe I'm done with this baby *g* I want to take a moment out to thank each and every single one of you guys that took time out to let me know that you were enjoying the fiction, I don't always have time to write everyone back but the support is appreciated. A warm big thank you to Heller, my awesome beta who corrected these parts in a flash and was my biggest cheerleader. To Hilary to always got me back up when I felt writer's block coming, to all my lovely posters at Crumbling Walls--you guys are awesome and I adore each and everyone of you guys *xoxoxox* to the lovely ladies at BBB who always make me promise them I'll have a happy ending, you see, Niteall, I can do it *lol* And the feed backers at fanfiction.net that even though I never email them they crack me up with their comments. I know some of you might never forgive me for shooting William but look--happy ending, that's enough, right? *eg* Thanks, guys!

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He got into Lugo's jeep in a type of mechanical act.

Open door, ignore questioning eyes, sit, lean back, close eyes and sweat it out.

"Where to, Zeru?" Lugo asked the man, looking at his wounds wearily.

Spike took some time to answer. "The house, I have to pick something up for my son...since it's the last time I'll see him."

Lugo was beyond confused. "Zeru..."

"I killed 'im..." he took a deep breath, holding on to his gaping stomach wound. "I killed 'im." He repeated.

Lugo watched as Spike's face turned away from him and pressed his forehead against the car window.

Rain started falling softly all over the region. Large soft pellets that clouded the sky, and made driving difficult.

It took them over an hour to get to Spike's house.

Spike hadn't moved since they left, his blood was slowly spreading all over the car seat and floor.

"We're here, Zeru," Lugo spoke softly, speaking for the first time since they left the Senator's mansion.

Spike opened his eyes and groaned painfully.

"We have to get you cleaned up," Lugo said finally, not being able to look at him like this anymore.

"No!" Spike hissed and thumped his head against the window, letting his discomfort wash over him. "I have to get there before... before she finds out."

"But Zeru..."

"Please..." Spike said, hoarsely. "Get my son's book bag from the hall."

Lugo studied his profile for some time, his throat was heavy. "Maybe one day she'll forgive you..." But Spike's face told him to shut up and let it go. The young man sighed and nodded, getting out of the car and entering the house.

He walked the corridors.

"Lugo?"

He turned towards the voice. He sighed when he saw it was Talsi.

"What happened?" the older man asked him. Lugo smiled a bit.

"You have been a faithful servant of Zeru--go in peace knowing that you have done your best," he told him.

"What? What are you talking about?" Talsi asked confused.

"Go home, Talsi--to your wife and your mother and your sons and daughters. Go home and know that you have fulfilled your purpose."

Talsi's eyes narrowed. "I will serve Zeru until the day I die, you understand? Who are you to dismiss me?"

"He's right, Talsi."

Both men spun around to watch a bloodied Spike leaning on the door frame.

"Zeru!" Talsi exclaimed.

"Go, my friend--you have done what you came for." Spike said through gritted teeth.

Talsi was outraged. "Zeru I will not!"

"You will!" Spike shouted then doubled over and fell face first on the floor.

"Zeru!"

Both men ran to Spike and rolled him on his back. Talsi quickly looked over the wounds.

"These wounds are cursed..." he whispered then looked at Spike's sweaty face. "He's dying, Lugo."

Lugo looked down desperately at Spike. "He's a vampire!"

Then Talsi sat back in realization. "The last of the prophesy says that by a mortal blade he shall die, end the torment of the walking dead."

"No!" Lugo shouted in defiance.

Talsi rubbed his eyes and shook his head. "How could we have forgotten such vital part."

Lugo continued trying to make the wounds stop bleeding but the blood was rushing right through his fingers.

"We must get him to the Slayer!" Lugo said finally, starting to pull Spike up.

"Are you sure?" Talsi asked a bit confused.

"Yes, yes--he did not wait all this time for her and her for him for them to be apart at such a moment--will you tell her that he died?"

Talsi nodded in agreement and began lifting Spike up.

As the two carried the almost unconscious vampire between them Fadma chose that moment to rush into the house.

"Oh no...." she said softly.

Lugo looked up at her. "We must take him to--"

"It's happening," she whispered almost desperately. "My father thought that it might be years before it would come to this."

"Well your calculations were not correct, Princess." Talsi grunted and pushed past her.

"Get William's book bag!" Lugo shouted at Fadma who was standing in the middle of the hall as if everything had been pulled from under her feet.

She shook herself out of her trance and ran to the hall to Spike's study. She paused midway, astounded at the amount of blood in the floor. "What the--"

Careful not to step in the blood she took the bloodied bag from the floor and ran out to the car.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She felt safe in his arms, cool and comforted as if she could go on all night.

"I love you," she whispered hoarsely against his lips as their bodies slid together in a softening rhythm.

"Love you more," he murmured back, letting the waves of the after shocking pleasure wash over him.

She kissed his jaw and then moved down to lick his flat nipple. "I was thinking, now that Spike and Buffy are together--"

His nipple turned into blood before her eyes and next thing she knew she was sitting up and looking at Buffy who was kneeling in the floor, clutching a dying Spike in her arms. She was sobbing as if her life might end.

"Buffy--" Cordelia tried to reach her.

Then there were the sounds of a child screaming. "I want my daddy!"

Cordy looked to the other end of the room to watch William struggling against Giles' and Dawn's grasp as he tried to run to Buffy and Spike.

"William, no!" Dawn told him, herself crying.

"Cordelia!"

She shook her head and looked up at the face before her.

"Angel?" she asked, confused.

"What happened, you said Buffy." Angel held her by her upper arms.

"Oh god, Angel!" Cordelia murmured in horror. "He's going to die!"

"Who is?" Angel asked, already standing up from their bed and searching for his pants.

"Spike--"

"Spike?" Angel frowned. "He's already dead."

"I know, you dork--but this was for real... he was dying Angel, it was horrible." Cordelia buried her face in her hands.

"Hey--" Angel kneeled in front of her. "Cordy, honey--we're heading there now--it's only a few minutes away."

Cordelia looked up at him. "It's too late, Angel--it's too late."

"What?"

"I know it, Angel--it's too late." she sniffed, shutting her eyes against the images and the screams of a little boy.

"We're still trying, okay?" he asked in almost reassurance.

She nodded reluctantly and reached for her shirt.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"And they lived happily ever after," Giles concluded the story to a very pissed off William.

"That sucks!" he said indignantly.

Giles sighed and closed the book, taking off his glasses and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "Why does it 'suck'?"

"Cause--it was too happy." the little boy huffed.

Giles put his glasses back on and studied the small body before him, in the short hours Buffy and Spike had been away he was almost in total recovery, sitting up, moving his arm, and of course snapping back at the older man.

"Some stories have a happy ending," Giles told him, patiently.

"That's not what my mom says, she says that sometimes a happy ending doesn't happen," William insisted.

"How's everything here?"

Both Giles and William turned to look Kimberly, she was smiling warmly at them. Kimberly had been William's nurse, she'd seen more of him than his doctor's combined and let him have some ice cream on the side without anyone noticing.

William smiled at her brightly. "Nurse Kimberly!"

"Hey William, I see you're feeling much better." she walked in.

"I am--I think I should go home." the small boy blinked innocently at her.

She chuckled. "Not for me to decide." she looked at Giles. "How are you Mr. Giles."

"Very well, thank you," Giles smiled at her. "Just getting a speech from a five year old about happy endings."

"Nurse Kimberly, why don't you tell Grandpa Giles that sometimes there's no happy endings," William smirked, which made Giles shift uncomfortably--he looked just like Spike.

"Well," she checked his stats while she talked and wrote on her clip board. "Life might not always have happy endings but sometimes you have to believe in them to make them happen."

William frowned.

Giles smiled triumphantly at the nurse.

"I'll update Dr. Schwinger on your progress," she smiled and walked out of the room.

"Told ya," Giles said uncharacteristically.

William tried not to grin and stuck out his tongue at him.

"William!"

The little boy looked stricken. "Sorry mom."

Buffy was standing in the doorway--having just witnessed the gesture. "It's not me whom you have to apologize to."

William swallowed and looked shyly up at Giles. "I'm sorry Grandpa Giles."

"It's quite alright," Giles soothed him and patted his small hand he turned to Buffy. "Find anything out?"

"Plenty," the Slayer said grimly and came into the room, handing Giles a manila folder filled with pictures and a brown paper bag filled with pills then went to William to kiss his forehead.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, tucking his hair behind his ear.

"Nurse Kimberly says I can go home," he smiled.

"Did she?" Buffy asked him skeptically.

"Well... she said she was going to think about it..." William bit his lip.

"Then we'll see what she says, okay?" Buffy asked him, pushing his fallen hair off his forehead and kissing him again as he squirmed.

"Good lord, Buffy--this is..." Giles looked over the pills and the pictures. "this is..."

"Freaky?" she helped.

Giles stammered and nodded. "Precisely."

Buffy sat on William's bed and placed his head against her chest. "Giles, I don't know what I should do." William sensed his mother's dark spirits and buried his face further in her chest, smelling her and trying to comfort her in any way he could.

"I'll contact the council immediately--"

"But they were the ones behind this, Giles! I mean, who else would know that my powers could be taken away?" she asked him in a hushed whisper. "Plus--they're the ones who informed you."

Giles nodded in agreement. "Agreed."

"Well... the Hellmouth is no longer in Sunnydale--you said it was in Deli, right?" she asked him.

"Yes, India." Giles agreed.

"How long do you think before these pills wear off?" she asked.

"You've been taking them for quite some time, it might be days, weeks, months--I don't know." Giles was sincere.

Buffy nodded. "Well, Giles--there's nothing left for me here in L.A... I guess I'll follow my calling." she told him after a while.

"You can't be serious...think of William, his normal life--"

"His normal life almost killed him... and considering what we've just found out about him...I don't want him to be surprised like I was, I want him to know what's out there." she looked down at her son who had been listening intently at the two adults for some time now. "It's time to stop being protector mom... you scared William?"

William shook his head quickly. "I'll fight, Mommy--I will."

She smiled and kissed his head.

"Will daddy come too?" he asked, hopeful.

"You want him to?" she asked him carefully.

He nodded. "Yes--"

The moment was cut off as Talsi, Lugo and Fadma came in carrying a barely conscious Spike between their arms.

"Spike!" Buffy leaped off from the bed.

From behind them came in the rest of the Scoobies, Dawn, Tara, Willow and Xander who had just gotten there after he had dropped Anya at home.

"What happened?" she asked desperately as she hovered over Spike, looking at his wounds.

"Place a barrier, honey," Tara encouraged Willow and the witch nodded.

"Parte esterno luca melo," she whispered softly over the door and watched as it was glossed over with a crystal blue glow.

Talsi and Lugo set Spike down on the floor, putting William's forgotten pillow under his head.

"What's wrong with daddy?" William asked as Giles held him back, peering over Buffy's shoulder.

"These wounds should be closing soon--he needs some fresh blood and some towels..." she looked up at the two men before. "He's a vampire--he can heal from this."

"In the time of darkness, when the shadows roam, in the time of hatred were the small ones weep, he who was chosen will meet his fate, to live forever, ............killed by a mortal blade."

Fadma whispered softly. "This is the last verse of the ancient prophesy.

Buffy looked down at Spike. "What are you saying?"

Lugo shrank back and pulled Talsi with him. "I'm sorry... we thought it wouldn't happen until years from now."

"Wait--he can't die," Dawn pushed herself in front of the people in the room. "I mean--he just got here."

"No one is dying, Dawn." Buffy hissed. "You obviously don't know me--I defy prophesies, I've died twice and look at me now, death does not mean total death."

"Or maybe he's just mostly dead," Xander quipped from behind. "True love and all."

"Calledus," Tara whispered and watched with a sparkle as Xander went mute. Willow grinned over at her girlfriend.

Buffy looked down at Spike and leaned in, brushing his hair back with her hand. "Wake up, Spike--not your time to leave yet..."

"Buffy?" he whispered so faintly that only she heard him as she leaned in close.

"Hey," she grinned at him as he opened his eyes.

He smiled and leaned into her palm when she placed it to the side of his face. "I should've told you..."

"Tell me a way to stop it," she said sure of herself.

Spike shook his head slightly and slowly brought his hand to rest on top of hers. "My brave Slayer... always trying... to save... the ones she loves."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

She wondered years after that happened how she could go from being self confident about her new found Slayer abilities to total despair as she watched his head fall to the side, his hand drop from hers and his chest slowly started to sink in.

She heard herself scream his name, shake him a bit, slap him some more, she heard Dawn pleading with him, shaking his legs.

She heard her son's voice screaming 'I want my daddy." But Giles was pulling him away, letting her take the limp body in her arms, she rocked her vampire back and forth continued telling him how she loved him and how he had to come back he now had a family.

I remember it all like it was today. It still sends chills up my spine.

I wanted to hate him all over that time he was away--though she never told me, I knew she still loved him, even after all those years she thought he was dead.

William's screaming 'Daddy come back' was an echo in my mind, like one of those sea shells you place against your ear and let the waves tell you tales of drowning heroes as they whispered their dying goodbyes to the sea.

I wanted to hate Buffy for never telling me about Spike and about William and about all the little messes in her life that were not important yet changed her life forever.

I also wanted to run away from that room--it seemed like the most intimate of moments, the last moment you have with a person you love, that last kiss, those last words, that last 'I love you'.

I turned my face from the scene as I heard Lugo softly singing a soft native song about dying heroes and the legacy they left behind--they bid him safe passage to the other side and I wanted to remind them that a soulless creature does not go to heaven. A soulless creature doesn't leave a woman he loves behind, leave her weeping, and I know Willow and me won't be able to get her back from this one.

I wanted to bang my head against the hospital wall until I found the answer for me feeling sorry for him and her, for me wanting as much as everyone in that room for him to open his eyes and say he was joking--that was I could pummel him for being the bastard he's always been.

And somehow I think God definitely heard my prayer because slow minutes passed before Buffy jumped back from his body and screamed.

His heart was beating.

~~~

TBC....