&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Paris
Sunday morning, 5 am
Spike returned to the house shortly before sunrise. He'd been out most
of the evening, trying to locate some of his fledglings from his
earlier days in Europe. He'd found enough of them to assure himself
of getting some help later that night.
"Dru?" he called. "Come on, Pet. I know you're irritated with me for
leaving you here alone. But I didn't have time to protect you from
every bloody vampire that wanted to make you his. I had important
things to take care of."
He found Dru in their bedroom. She was sitting up, leaning against the
headboard, playing with Miss Edith. She didn't look up as he entered.
"Drusilla, how long are you going to give me the silent treatment?"
Spike asked. He sat next to her and kissed her cheek, saying, "I'll
find you someone to torture later, will that make you happy?"
She didn't respond, brushing Miss Edith's hair. "Dru, look at
me," Spike said, grabbing her chin and turning her to face him. He
searched her eyes, and sighed sadly as he realized she'd left reality
again.
As if to reinforce this, she said, "I don't hear him anymore, you
know." She still didn't look at him, possibly not realizing he was
even there.
Spike shook his head. "Bloody hell. Well, I suppose I should be glad
you were lucid for a whole two months," he muttered under his breath.
More loudly, he replied to her statement, "Who don't you hear, Pet?"
"My Angel," she said. "I went all the way to that awful place, with
all those nasty demons, because I heard him calling to me. And then I
got there, and he stopped talking! We could've been together again,
like the old days. Why'd he stop talking to me!" she wailed.
She was agitated now, and began to pull at her hair. Spike grabbed her
hands and held them to her sides, trying to keep her from hurting
herself. "Drusilla, I will tie you up if I have to," Spike
growled. "Do you hear me?"
"NOO!!!" she shrieked, struggling to free herself. "Let me go! You're
a mean, mean boy! I want my daddy!"
Her strength during these spells always caught Spike by surprise, and
it did this time as well. She shoved him so hard he went flying
across the room, and she ran for the door. His game-face emerged, and
he shook it off, knowing that it frightened her when she was like
this. He growled and ran after her, grabbing her as she opened the
front door.
"Bloody hell, you psycho!" He yelled, as she let the sunlight pour
into the room. He pulled her away just before either of them burst
into flames, and slammed the door. "What're you trying to do, kill us
both??!" he demanded.
She burst into tears and ran to a corner, crying. She shut her eyes
tightly, and rocked back and forth, her arms wrapped tightly around
her waist. "Good one, Spike. Make her afraid of you, why don't ya," he
muttered. He took a deep breath, and raked his hand through his blond
hair in a gesture of frustration.
"Drusilla," he said softly, approaching her slowly. "It's okay, Pet.
It's me. You remember Will, don't you?" he asked.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him her expression was one of
terror. That changed to confusion, though, as she said "Will?"
"Yes, Baby. It's me," he said soothingly, taking a few more steps
toward her. He stopped, to ensure that he wouldn't have to chase her
when she bolted again. When she made no move to do so, he closed the
distance between them, and knelt down beside her.
"I don't hear him anymore. Why did he stop talking to me?" she asked
Spike tearfully.
"I don't know," Spike lied, and gathered her into his arms. He had no
intention of telling Drusilla the rumors he had heard: that their Sire
was now a human again.
*She's already barely holding on to her sanity, that would just send
her over the edge forever.*
He carried her back to their bed, and laid her on it. "You won't find
it here, you know," she said.
"What's that, Dru?" Spike replied, sitting on the bed next to her.
"It's not here. They moved it after you found the first one," Drusilla
answered.
Spike was in shock. *How the hell does she even know-*
"Miss Edith told me," Drusilla said, in answer to his unspoken
question. "They moved the other one. So your books won't help you,
Spike. They didn't want to risk you finding it."
"How do you know that they moved it?" Spike questioned her.
"I heard them. There's too many voices, usually I just push them away.
But I heard one of them say your name, so I listened," Drusilla
responded.
"What do you mean, you heard them. Was it a vision?" Spike pressed.
"I don't know, I just heard them," Dru frowned. "I'm tired. The sun
means time to sleep," she said and closed her eyes.
"Where--" Spike started to question her further, but stopped himself.
*She'll tell me when she feels like it; and she's just stubborn enough
to refuse to tell me if I push too hard. I'll let her sleep for now.*
He stripped silently to and laid down on the bed next to her. She
rolled over and snuggled up next to him, laying her head on his
chest. He put his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head.
Drusilla fell into a fitful sleep eventually. Spike stayed awake
though, afraid that if he let himself sleep he would awake to find
that his Drusilla had disappeared into the daylight.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Xander entered the Bronze, and he saw Willow sitting at a table across
the room. He noticed that Oz and the Dingoes were playing onstage.
Xander walked toward the table, but when he was still twenty feet
away, he saw Adam appear behind Willow. "Willow look out!" Xander
yelled.
Willow's face lit up, as she searched for the origin of the voice that
she knew so well, not seeing Adam behind her. Xander watched in horror
as Adam stabbed her with the metal protrusion coming from his arm,
clean through her chest. "NO!" Xander screamed, and started running
toward Willow. He saw Oz jump off the stage and run at Adam.
"OZ! Don't do it!" Xander yelled, but suddenly, there was a crowd of
people standing in Xander's way, dancing, oblivious to the danger
lurking near them. Xander fought his way through the crowd, but was
unable to keep the inevitable from happening. He watched, helpless, as
Adam swung his arm, stabbing Oz as well. Oz fell to the ground at
Adam's feet, dead.
"NO!" Xander yelled, still fighting through the crowd. He saw that
Buffy had walked toward the table then. Buffy saw her two dead
friends and charged Adam. Adam swatted her away like a fly, and then
walked over to where she was lying unconscious. He picked Buffy up
like a rag-doll, and then snapped her neck, throwing her back to the
ground when he was done.
Adam saw Xander then, and laughed cruelly. The crowd that was in
Xander's way dissipated and Xander walked up to Adam slowly. "You made
it so easy," Adam said, smiling.
"What?" Xander asked. He looked at Buffy, lying dead at his feet, and
then to Willow lying a few feet away, also dead.
"You did this," Adam replied. "The Slayer and the Witch depended on
you, they drew their strength from their friendships with you. They
lost their power when you left."
"No," Xander said, closing his eyes against the sight of the mangled
bodies on the floor. He opened them again, and to his shock, Adam had
left. "Why didn't he kill me?" he asked, wishing that he had.
He looked over to Willow again, and noticed that she was still
breathing, shallowly. "Willow," he said, kneeling next to her. He
reached down and pushed the hair back from her face, repeating,
"Willow." He looked at the gaping wound in her chest, and pressed his
hand against it, trying to stop the bleeding. "Wake up, Wills," he
pleaded. "Stay with me, it will be okay."
Willow opened her eyes then, and asked, "How could you let this
happen?"
Xander sat up in bed suddenly, wrenching himself out of the nightmare.
"Just a dream, just a dream," he told himself. He looked to the other
side of the bed, but Anya wasn't there. He saw a light under the
bathroom door, and realized the shower was on. That answered that
question. He noticed the time, it was 10:30. He had brushed off Anya's
question earlier, saying he had no need to return to Sunnydale. The
last thing he remembered was they had been watching movies, he must
have dozed off.
"Oh, hi. You okay?" Anya emerged from the bathroom, wearing one of his
T-shirts.
"Fine," Xander replied. At her skeptical look, he said, "I just had a
nightmare."
"The bags are packed," Anya replied, already pulling on her jeans.
"You really know me too well," Xander said, shaking his head.
She smiled, and walked over to kiss him. "We've got a long drive ahead
of us. At least you slept a little, so I'll sleep in the car while
you drive. When you get tired, I'll take over. Do you want to call
anyone first?"
"No," he said. "They've got their hands full, and we won't get there
til morning anyway. I just hope..." he trailed off, remembering his
dream.
"They'll be fine," Anya reassured him. "They've dealt with worse
things than this, and they have always survived. Come on, Xander.
Let's go home."
He nodded and they grabbed their bags, going to the car.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The Bronze
Saturday, 8:30 pm
"I'm running out of ideas," Charlotte warned as she threw a chair at a
very tall, very angry Apocalyse demon.
"Well, throwing random things doesn't help," Doyle replied, currently
busy sword-fighting a chaos demon. "Try the axe."
"What axe?!" Charlie yelled, "You mean the one that annoying vampire
grabbed out of my hand and ran off with, laughing hysterically?!" She
stifled a giggle as she noticed her brother had reverted to demon
form. She knew he was supposed to be threatening, but didn't have the
heart to tell him that he wasn't.
"Oh. Yeah, suppose I do mean that one," Doyle shrugged, quickly
throwing her a grin before returning to his sword-fight.
They had been in the Bronze for two hours fighting demons, and they
were running out of energy and weapons. The problem was that the
demons were replacable. When the gang had succeeded in destroying one
batch, the next arrived. Charlie was beginning to worry that whether
or not Buffy arrived soon, the fight with Adam would be in his favor.
The rest of the patrons of the Bronze had wisely vacated the
building, and it was just the Scooby gang, including the newly
adopted members, and a few hundred of the demon occupants of the
Hellmouth.
Willow, Wesley and Giles arrived then, and set up the magic supplies
in a secluded corner. "Finally," Charlotte said. "Oz, look out!" she
yelled, as she saw the danger to the young man. Oz turned and threw a
stake, and the slime demon fell dead at his feet.
"Thanks," Oz said.
"No problem," Charlie replied, followed with "oomph," as the
Apocalypse demon she had forgotten about got in a punch to her
midsection.
"Need help?" Wesley offered. He had succeeded in beheading the
vampiress that was intent on feeding off him for dinner, and threw
his axe to Charlotte.
"Yes, thanks," she said and swung the axe, decapitating the demon. She
turned as she heard Doyle yell. The chaos demon's last swing had
knocked Doyle's sword out of his hand. He then ducked as he felt
rather than saw the axe fly by his head. It landed in the demon's
chest, but didn't kill him. It was enough to make him run away, the
axe still lodge in his chest.
"What is this, 'take the Slayer's weapon and run' night???" Charlie
wondered.
She turned at the sound of Willow's shriek, a vampire had grabbed
her. She was caught unprepared, and now was resorting to kicking and
hitting to holding him off. Giles was unable to assist her, as he had
been tackled by five slime demons who were enjoying using him for a
punching bag. Wesley was busy himself, he'd been descended upon by a
group of vampires, irritated at him for helping the Slayer.
"This is reeeeally getting old," Charlotte muttered and pulled a
bottle of holy water out of her pocket. She threw it at the vampires
who had surrounded Wesley, and they ran off, shrieking. She then saw
that Oz had dispatched the vampire who had attacked Willow, so she
went to Giles' assistance.
"Hey!" she yelled, trying and succeeding in getting the demons'
attention. They turned to face her, and to her surprise they went
running away as well.
"Something tells me that I wasn't the one who inspired _that_ sudden
exit," she said.
"Good assumption," she heard Adam's voice behind her.
"Oh, great," she sighed, turning to face him. "Just when I was hoping
you were a no-show."
"I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to finish what I started earlier,"
Adam said with a smile.
Charlotte glanced behind her to see that Willow and Giles were
preparing to begin their spell. Wesley, Oz, and Doyle joined her,
knowing that keeping Adam away from those two was the most important
part of their plan to destroy Adam.
Just then, a group of the Initiative commandos burst through the door.
"Dammit, why can't one thing go right tonight!" Charlotte yelled
irritably. She and the others ran for cover as the commandos saw Adam
and started shooting, oblivious to the humans around them.
&&&&&&&&
End of Six
Paris
Sunday morning, 5 am
Spike returned to the house shortly before sunrise. He'd been out most
of the evening, trying to locate some of his fledglings from his
earlier days in Europe. He'd found enough of them to assure himself
of getting some help later that night.
"Dru?" he called. "Come on, Pet. I know you're irritated with me for
leaving you here alone. But I didn't have time to protect you from
every bloody vampire that wanted to make you his. I had important
things to take care of."
He found Dru in their bedroom. She was sitting up, leaning against the
headboard, playing with Miss Edith. She didn't look up as he entered.
"Drusilla, how long are you going to give me the silent treatment?"
Spike asked. He sat next to her and kissed her cheek, saying, "I'll
find you someone to torture later, will that make you happy?"
She didn't respond, brushing Miss Edith's hair. "Dru, look at
me," Spike said, grabbing her chin and turning her to face him. He
searched her eyes, and sighed sadly as he realized she'd left reality
again.
As if to reinforce this, she said, "I don't hear him anymore, you
know." She still didn't look at him, possibly not realizing he was
even there.
Spike shook his head. "Bloody hell. Well, I suppose I should be glad
you were lucid for a whole two months," he muttered under his breath.
More loudly, he replied to her statement, "Who don't you hear, Pet?"
"My Angel," she said. "I went all the way to that awful place, with
all those nasty demons, because I heard him calling to me. And then I
got there, and he stopped talking! We could've been together again,
like the old days. Why'd he stop talking to me!" she wailed.
She was agitated now, and began to pull at her hair. Spike grabbed her
hands and held them to her sides, trying to keep her from hurting
herself. "Drusilla, I will tie you up if I have to," Spike
growled. "Do you hear me?"
"NOO!!!" she shrieked, struggling to free herself. "Let me go! You're
a mean, mean boy! I want my daddy!"
Her strength during these spells always caught Spike by surprise, and
it did this time as well. She shoved him so hard he went flying
across the room, and she ran for the door. His game-face emerged, and
he shook it off, knowing that it frightened her when she was like
this. He growled and ran after her, grabbing her as she opened the
front door.
"Bloody hell, you psycho!" He yelled, as she let the sunlight pour
into the room. He pulled her away just before either of them burst
into flames, and slammed the door. "What're you trying to do, kill us
both??!" he demanded.
She burst into tears and ran to a corner, crying. She shut her eyes
tightly, and rocked back and forth, her arms wrapped tightly around
her waist. "Good one, Spike. Make her afraid of you, why don't ya," he
muttered. He took a deep breath, and raked his hand through his blond
hair in a gesture of frustration.
"Drusilla," he said softly, approaching her slowly. "It's okay, Pet.
It's me. You remember Will, don't you?" he asked.
She opened her eyes and looked up at him her expression was one of
terror. That changed to confusion, though, as she said "Will?"
"Yes, Baby. It's me," he said soothingly, taking a few more steps
toward her. He stopped, to ensure that he wouldn't have to chase her
when she bolted again. When she made no move to do so, he closed the
distance between them, and knelt down beside her.
"I don't hear him anymore. Why did he stop talking to me?" she asked
Spike tearfully.
"I don't know," Spike lied, and gathered her into his arms. He had no
intention of telling Drusilla the rumors he had heard: that their Sire
was now a human again.
*She's already barely holding on to her sanity, that would just send
her over the edge forever.*
He carried her back to their bed, and laid her on it. "You won't find
it here, you know," she said.
"What's that, Dru?" Spike replied, sitting on the bed next to her.
"It's not here. They moved it after you found the first one," Drusilla
answered.
Spike was in shock. *How the hell does she even know-*
"Miss Edith told me," Drusilla said, in answer to his unspoken
question. "They moved the other one. So your books won't help you,
Spike. They didn't want to risk you finding it."
"How do you know that they moved it?" Spike questioned her.
"I heard them. There's too many voices, usually I just push them away.
But I heard one of them say your name, so I listened," Drusilla
responded.
"What do you mean, you heard them. Was it a vision?" Spike pressed.
"I don't know, I just heard them," Dru frowned. "I'm tired. The sun
means time to sleep," she said and closed her eyes.
"Where--" Spike started to question her further, but stopped himself.
*She'll tell me when she feels like it; and she's just stubborn enough
to refuse to tell me if I push too hard. I'll let her sleep for now.*
He stripped silently to and laid down on the bed next to her. She
rolled over and snuggled up next to him, laying her head on his
chest. He put his arms around her, and kissed the top of her head.
Drusilla fell into a fitful sleep eventually. Spike stayed awake
though, afraid that if he let himself sleep he would awake to find
that his Drusilla had disappeared into the daylight.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
Xander entered the Bronze, and he saw Willow sitting at a table across
the room. He noticed that Oz and the Dingoes were playing onstage.
Xander walked toward the table, but when he was still twenty feet
away, he saw Adam appear behind Willow. "Willow look out!" Xander
yelled.
Willow's face lit up, as she searched for the origin of the voice that
she knew so well, not seeing Adam behind her. Xander watched in horror
as Adam stabbed her with the metal protrusion coming from his arm,
clean through her chest. "NO!" Xander screamed, and started running
toward Willow. He saw Oz jump off the stage and run at Adam.
"OZ! Don't do it!" Xander yelled, but suddenly, there was a crowd of
people standing in Xander's way, dancing, oblivious to the danger
lurking near them. Xander fought his way through the crowd, but was
unable to keep the inevitable from happening. He watched, helpless, as
Adam swung his arm, stabbing Oz as well. Oz fell to the ground at
Adam's feet, dead.
"NO!" Xander yelled, still fighting through the crowd. He saw that
Buffy had walked toward the table then. Buffy saw her two dead
friends and charged Adam. Adam swatted her away like a fly, and then
walked over to where she was lying unconscious. He picked Buffy up
like a rag-doll, and then snapped her neck, throwing her back to the
ground when he was done.
Adam saw Xander then, and laughed cruelly. The crowd that was in
Xander's way dissipated and Xander walked up to Adam slowly. "You made
it so easy," Adam said, smiling.
"What?" Xander asked. He looked at Buffy, lying dead at his feet, and
then to Willow lying a few feet away, also dead.
"You did this," Adam replied. "The Slayer and the Witch depended on
you, they drew their strength from their friendships with you. They
lost their power when you left."
"No," Xander said, closing his eyes against the sight of the mangled
bodies on the floor. He opened them again, and to his shock, Adam had
left. "Why didn't he kill me?" he asked, wishing that he had.
He looked over to Willow again, and noticed that she was still
breathing, shallowly. "Willow," he said, kneeling next to her. He
reached down and pushed the hair back from her face, repeating,
"Willow." He looked at the gaping wound in her chest, and pressed his
hand against it, trying to stop the bleeding. "Wake up, Wills," he
pleaded. "Stay with me, it will be okay."
Willow opened her eyes then, and asked, "How could you let this
happen?"
Xander sat up in bed suddenly, wrenching himself out of the nightmare.
"Just a dream, just a dream," he told himself. He looked to the other
side of the bed, but Anya wasn't there. He saw a light under the
bathroom door, and realized the shower was on. That answered that
question. He noticed the time, it was 10:30. He had brushed off Anya's
question earlier, saying he had no need to return to Sunnydale. The
last thing he remembered was they had been watching movies, he must
have dozed off.
"Oh, hi. You okay?" Anya emerged from the bathroom, wearing one of his
T-shirts.
"Fine," Xander replied. At her skeptical look, he said, "I just had a
nightmare."
"The bags are packed," Anya replied, already pulling on her jeans.
"You really know me too well," Xander said, shaking his head.
She smiled, and walked over to kiss him. "We've got a long drive ahead
of us. At least you slept a little, so I'll sleep in the car while
you drive. When you get tired, I'll take over. Do you want to call
anyone first?"
"No," he said. "They've got their hands full, and we won't get there
til morning anyway. I just hope..." he trailed off, remembering his
dream.
"They'll be fine," Anya reassured him. "They've dealt with worse
things than this, and they have always survived. Come on, Xander.
Let's go home."
He nodded and they grabbed their bags, going to the car.
&&&&&&&&&&&&&&
The Bronze
Saturday, 8:30 pm
"I'm running out of ideas," Charlotte warned as she threw a chair at a
very tall, very angry Apocalyse demon.
"Well, throwing random things doesn't help," Doyle replied, currently
busy sword-fighting a chaos demon. "Try the axe."
"What axe?!" Charlie yelled, "You mean the one that annoying vampire
grabbed out of my hand and ran off with, laughing hysterically?!" She
stifled a giggle as she noticed her brother had reverted to demon
form. She knew he was supposed to be threatening, but didn't have the
heart to tell him that he wasn't.
"Oh. Yeah, suppose I do mean that one," Doyle shrugged, quickly
throwing her a grin before returning to his sword-fight.
They had been in the Bronze for two hours fighting demons, and they
were running out of energy and weapons. The problem was that the
demons were replacable. When the gang had succeeded in destroying one
batch, the next arrived. Charlie was beginning to worry that whether
or not Buffy arrived soon, the fight with Adam would be in his favor.
The rest of the patrons of the Bronze had wisely vacated the
building, and it was just the Scooby gang, including the newly
adopted members, and a few hundred of the demon occupants of the
Hellmouth.
Willow, Wesley and Giles arrived then, and set up the magic supplies
in a secluded corner. "Finally," Charlotte said. "Oz, look out!" she
yelled, as she saw the danger to the young man. Oz turned and threw a
stake, and the slime demon fell dead at his feet.
"Thanks," Oz said.
"No problem," Charlie replied, followed with "oomph," as the
Apocalypse demon she had forgotten about got in a punch to her
midsection.
"Need help?" Wesley offered. He had succeeded in beheading the
vampiress that was intent on feeding off him for dinner, and threw
his axe to Charlotte.
"Yes, thanks," she said and swung the axe, decapitating the demon. She
turned as she heard Doyle yell. The chaos demon's last swing had
knocked Doyle's sword out of his hand. He then ducked as he felt
rather than saw the axe fly by his head. It landed in the demon's
chest, but didn't kill him. It was enough to make him run away, the
axe still lodge in his chest.
"What is this, 'take the Slayer's weapon and run' night???" Charlie
wondered.
She turned at the sound of Willow's shriek, a vampire had grabbed
her. She was caught unprepared, and now was resorting to kicking and
hitting to holding him off. Giles was unable to assist her, as he had
been tackled by five slime demons who were enjoying using him for a
punching bag. Wesley was busy himself, he'd been descended upon by a
group of vampires, irritated at him for helping the Slayer.
"This is reeeeally getting old," Charlotte muttered and pulled a
bottle of holy water out of her pocket. She threw it at the vampires
who had surrounded Wesley, and they ran off, shrieking. She then saw
that Oz had dispatched the vampire who had attacked Willow, so she
went to Giles' assistance.
"Hey!" she yelled, trying and succeeding in getting the demons'
attention. They turned to face her, and to her surprise they went
running away as well.
"Something tells me that I wasn't the one who inspired _that_ sudden
exit," she said.
"Good assumption," she heard Adam's voice behind her.
"Oh, great," she sighed, turning to face him. "Just when I was hoping
you were a no-show."
"I wouldn't pass up the opportunity to finish what I started earlier,"
Adam said with a smile.
Charlotte glanced behind her to see that Willow and Giles were
preparing to begin their spell. Wesley, Oz, and Doyle joined her,
knowing that keeping Adam away from those two was the most important
part of their plan to destroy Adam.
Just then, a group of the Initiative commandos burst through the door.
"Dammit, why can't one thing go right tonight!" Charlotte yelled
irritably. She and the others ran for cover as the commandos saw Adam
and started shooting, oblivious to the humans around them.
&&&&&&&&
End of Six