Slowly, everybody took a seat around the room. Joshua decided to let Xander have the big principal's chair, with Anya on his lap by the way, and just float several feet off the ground so that everybody might be in more or less of a circle. Buffy merely stood beside Dawn's chair and Willow took Xander's abandoned seat.
"OK, Dawn?"
The somewhat overwhelmed youth looked to the floating white-clad man (still wearing white T-shirt, jeans, and white sneakers), and her eyes widened upon noticing the floating. Buffy placed a hand on Dawn's shoulder, and Joshua made gestures of peace and calm.
"Obviously, you can see that Buffy and I aren't exactly pure human. And in several ways, Buffy never really was pure human." Joshua began. "Dawn, I know this will come as a great shock to you, but you have to understand, and believe that this is the truth. Dawn I cannot, and will not lie to you. Ever."
For whatever reason beyond her, Dawn believed him, and he seemed to sense this, so he continued. " Dawn, your sister did die two weeks ago, when she died for you. But she only died in the mortal sense. To put it bluntly and simplest, Buffy's not dead because god's can't die."
Everyone stopped and stared at the young girl, waiting, judging her reaction. At first she was completely unresponsive, until she caught on to his actual words. Then she did a double take and it became obvious to everyone that she was thinking very hard, trying to figure out what this meant. To everyone's surprise, she asked a question that stumped most of them.
"But, if gods can't die, then how did Glory die?" she asked.
Xander, Buffy, and Willow all made various noises of confusion, ignorance, and curiosity mixed with complete bafflement. After maybe a minute of this, Joshua answered Dawn's unexpected question. "Because Glory was trapped inside of Ben as a prison. When she escaped, and slowly the walls surrounding both personas dissolved, they more or less became the same person, but with Ben being the one with the weaknesses and vulnerabilities. Also, it was set up so that if Ben were killed, Glory would die the death of the gods. And before you ask, nobody knows what it is or what its like, all we know is that we no longer exist, in any plane, and that there are ways to kill gods, even for mortals. Its just that where we are from, we've been blessed with minor protections against such devices and evils."
The room was silent for a full 90 seconds before Dawn responded with, "Oh."
"So, are you…good gods, or hell gods like Glory, only…what?" Dawn asked, Buffy was giving her a funny look.
Joshua was smiling brightly, like a two year old had just asked the cutest question. "We're good people Dawn. That's the first thing to learn about when dealing with gods. If they're a good person first, it really doesn't matter what they're god of or where they're from. I'm an Archangel, so what does that tell you about me? I'm supposed to be the perfect saint and know the Word front cover to back. Well, I do, but believe me, I'm no saint. I get into almost as much mischief as Buffy here used to, when I can. By the way, I'm still paying for that last prank we pulled off together." Joshua informed his sister.
Buffy only smiled and shrugged in the slightest. "What, that? That was like over three thousand years ago. They should have gotten over it by now," she retorted.
Joshua snorted and continued. "Dawn, the point is, well most of the people you know are gods, Buffy's and mine brother's, sisters, cousins. And I'm here to re-awaken them and to take them all home, back to our home Realm in Heaven." Dawn suddenly tensed, sensing a very sickening déjà vu. Joshua closed his eyes and sighed, shaking his head.
"No, we are not going to use the 'Key'. In fact, I'm going to try and make sure that such a dangerous weapon is never used again." Joshua soothed her fears. "We're going home a much more modern way. Once all of the gods have been re-awakened that is. But that is the real point."
Buffy scrunched her brow in confusion for several seconds, wondering what it was exactly that her brother was implying. And then it hit her. Hard. Her eyes widened in terror and the grip she had on Dawn's shoulder tightened to an uncomfortable grip, better than crushing though. Joshua nodded at her response. "Buffy? What's wrong?" Dawn asked, knowing that Buffy only held her with such ferocity when something dangerous or extremely unlikable was nearby.
"When the gods go back home, Dawn, we can't go with them," came the reply. Amazingly, but not surprising, the answer came from Anya, who was almost cradled in Xander's lap now. "Anya?" Xander asked. The brown haired girl only snuggled and held Xander tighter to her.
"B-Buffy? Is that true?" Dawn asked fearfully, looking up at her older sister.
Buffy did not respond. She was only staring, almost fiercely at the Archangel. Joshua could only begin to guess at her feelings, and he wasn't about to pry. But he also knew what her response was going to be. He had been working on the very issue ever since he had found out that Dawn, the Key, was Buffy's blood sister, not an easy bond to break, if at all possible. Ofcourse, he had known about Dawn since that morning, when he had arrived and heard the relation between the two. So, despite being the eldest in a family of gods, he hadn't made that much headway in the department of discovering the solution to Buffy's dilemma.
"Keep working on it," Buffy finally spoke.
Rather than offer any other kind of response, Joshua only bowed his head and nodded silently. The room was once more bathed in silence, until Dawn asked another question of the floating Archangel.
"So, um, if Buffy's a god, what does that make me? Are Xander and Willow gods too? What about Giles and Anya, or Tara?"
Joshua was in the mood for smiling that day. "Buffy being a god, makes you her blood sister. Yes, Xander and Willow are gods-to-be, come the days of their re-awakenings. Giles and Tara are also gods-to-be. Anya, having once been a vengeance demon, and also being a born human before we arrived on this planet, is not one of us. It's kind of complicated Dawn, and rather involved."
"So explain it to me. You said we had time," the intelligent Summers girl stated.
Joshua had to concede defeat on that point. So he explained. Everyone taking part in one-way or another. The entire explanation, including Dawn's questions and various answers, Willow's taking the longest and Xander's the shortest, took roughly about thirty, thirty-five minutes. Finally, Buffy observed a previously very important fact.
"The sun is setting," she announced.
"So?" Joshua asked, not entirely understanding or "getting" the whole Slayer past thing yet.
"Oh, that's right, you wanted to patrol. Something about showing us what you meant about tapping into your godhood power after you died the first time, right?" Willow said. Buffy nodded.
"Oh, well, OK. Dawn, have you got any more questions?" Joshua asked.
Dawn shook her head to the negative and replied, "No, I think I got it now. Besides, I've never been on patrolling before. And now that Buffy's a goddess, she can protect me no matter what, and I can still go." Buffy grumbled something after that that no one really understood, but figured to be some kind of frustrated and annoyed remark about Dawn and how quickly she figured ways to get herself into the kind of trouble they usually wanted to avoid.
"Well, OK then, I'll take Anya and Xander to their cars, and Buffy, you take Dawn and Willow back to the magic shop and I guess we'll all convene there to plan patrol," was the last statement made as Joshua stood to his feet and offered his arm to Anya, who after taking Xander's as well, accepted and momentarily they disappeared in the Archangel's teleportation signature. Buffy pulled Dawn up and gave her right arm to Willow, who happily looped her left through it, Willow had gotten used to Buffy's form of teleportation and had even gotten to enjoy it now.
"Don't worry Dawn, I'm just going to show you one really cool part about being a god," Buffy explained as she took the nervous girl's hand and the next thing that any of them knew, there was a flash of pink and red light, a sound of bells, and a very intense rush of flying, or maybe falling, naked through artic winds, and then another flash and they were in the magic shop.
"Whoa! What the…what was that!?" Dawn exclaimed.
"That was Buffy's own teleportation. Gods can teleport you know, and they can even make stuff out of thin air, and Buffy told me that she granted a gift to Tara, because she was a mortal." Willow babbled.
"I thought you said that Tara was one of you, a goddess?" Dawn asked.
"Well, she is, but until she gets woken up, I mean re-awoken, uh, re-awakened, she's just a regular, well not including the witch part, or the fact that I think she's the most beautiful girl in the world, to quote a very famous song by some artist that I cannot remember the name of right now. Tara's just a mortal until she gets her godhood back." Willow finished after getting a warning glare from the love goddess beside her.
"Oh," Dawn accepted and went to sit down at the table like she always did when she was in the Magic shop. "Hi Giles, sorry to here about you being Ripper and everything," Dawn greeted sorrowfully.
"Hello Dawn, Willow, Buffy," the watcher greeted from behind the counter, counting out the receipts from the day. "Don't worry about it Dawn. I've come to terms, as best I can for the moment, with it and I imagine that it will be an enormous relief to be, if you'll pardon the pun, be reborn."
Both Buffy and Willow were somewhat surprised to hear this coming from the man, especially a non-Christian. "So what changed your mind Giles, I mean about the whole, hiding the Ripper side of you so other people won't get hurt part of your mind that was changed?" Buffy asked.
Giles smiled and put down the papers he had in his hands. "I found that you were right, in retrospect, about how I, Rupert Giles was crafted out of the Watcher Council's training…and then your love. In my college days, just before I became a Watcher, I was, well suffice it to say that I was a little rebellious."
"A little?" Buffy queried.
Giles gave his version of a shrug, "I was very much like this Ripper. You even had a chance to meet my former self Buffy, so you no doubt have a clue as to what I was like."
"I have better than that Giles, I remember the real Ripper, and believe me, only, and I stress only, if you had not gone into the Watcher's and instead gone into something like, oh say mass murder sprees and being a major syndicate crime boss, then you might've become just like Ripper. But for whatever reason, you chose to come after me, and I'm not sure how, but you knew that I had chosen along the blood line of the Slayer and there was a strong chance of me getting chosen, and look at that, lucky me. And I'm sorry about what I said earlier, I do love you Giles, and…and I'll miss the know-it-all Watcher father figure man in my life. But you'll still be there, I know you will."
"As I know that you're still there Buffy. Seeing Dawn no doubt touched something that only Buffy Summers should have had, a desire to always protect and guard her younger sister, the one that doesn't even exist." Giles commented, a slight gleam in his eye.
Buffy blushed and jumped when Dawn touched her arm to get her attention. "Buffy, what's he talking about?" she asked.
Buffy quickly covered up her mistake and the truth of her tantrum from earlier. "It's nothing Dawn. Hey, how would you like to go visit with Spike tonight. I think he'll be either extra glad, or end up dying all over again when he sees me. What do you think?"
Dawn smiled with more than a little hint of mischief as the thought of scaring/shocking Spike with the fact that Buffy was still alive went in small circles around in her head. The two were stirred out of their torturous musings as Willow switched to conscience mode. "Buffy," she deadpanned.
"Yes Willow?" Buffy asked, almost cheerfully.
"Don't." was the only response.
"Don't what?" said the short blond goddess in the absolute cutest voice she could muster, (You all know the voice I'm talking about.)
"Just don't." Willow ordered.
Buffy broke the tension with a smile and promised. Less than five minutes later, during which Buffy was demonstrating, much to Giles' and Willow's annoyance, her power to create things out of thin air to Dawn. After the live full size African elephant, even Dawn decided it was time to call it quits. Finally Xander and Anya arrived and when they came inside Buffy asked, "Where's Joshua? I thought he was supposed to be with you guys, or at the most be back before you."
Xander just shrugged, holding Anya very close to him ever since he had learned what this whole godhood thing would mean to them. And Giles was right, Xander was angrier when he had found out that Anya would not be allowed to come when they left, and he had made a promise to her before they had left the school, he would find a way for her to come with him, and to live with him forever, no matter what it would take. Buffy knew about it, and quite frankly, approved.
"I don't know," Xander, answered his friend and "sister". "He dropped us off by the cars and said that he was going to look for Oz before meeting back with us here. He also mentioned, don't leave without him. I for one don't mind leaving right now though, just so you know my opinion."
Buffy grinned. For whatever reason, Xander had always minded, or disapproved is a better word, the men that were in her life, no matter how abnormal or even normal they were. She didn't really remember Alexander behaving that way. So why would Xander do that? she mused.
Before Buffy could respond to Xander's answer, another answer to Buffy's question appeared. There was a flash of white light and Joshua suddenly appeared. "Oh, there you are," Buffy commented dryly. Joshua ignored her biting sarcasm, he was way too excited.
"I found Oz!" he announced.
"Really? Where?" Willow, also excited now, asked.
"Well, actually he wasn't too far from here, so he should be here in about a week, maybe less if he really wants to hurry." Joshua told them. Buffy was somewhat skeptical, given Joshua's known, to her anyway, history. "Where did you find him?" she asked. At this, Joshua actually flushed a little, not much but enough to pinken his cheeks.
"Uh, Mississippi…" he replied.
"That's nearby?!" Xander exclaimed.
"To us, yeah!" Joshua defended.
"And where did you start looking for him?" Buffy pressed.
Joshua definitely hesitated, but finally answered with a very quiet, "Bangkok."
"Bangkok? You mean, like Bangkok, China? That Bangkok?" Willow asked. Joshua merely nodded, now a full flaming red.
"Uh, why would you think…" Willow began, but never finished as the front door to the shop exploded (slammed, not literally exploded) inward. Almost immediately, Joshua and Buffy were gone from everyone's sights. No special effects, just gone. Dawn began to panic, until she heard a tiny whisper by her ear, explaining in two words, "We're invisible," The voice, despite whispered and sounding distant was definitely Buffy's.
"XANDER!! WILLOW!!" the voice of the man who entered shouted. Everyone turned to the man, more than a little surprised to see that it was Spike. No one had noticed that the sun had set shortly after Buffy and the girls had gotten back.
"Spike?" Willow ran to the terrified vampire, "Spike, what's wrong? You look like you've seen…well, like you've seen something really, really bad. Spike are you all right?"
Finally after much panicking and overexcited movements, Spike was able to answer. "Xander, Willow! Must come…now…it's…must come, now! It's…have to see, you…have to see…come now…come…"
"SPIKE!" Xander shouted stepping up to the confused vampire. It did little good though.
Spike only grabbed Xander by the lapels, not roughly just grabbed him, and began to speak in his face, "It's Buffy! You…you have to come…they…did something…have to come, come now! Oh, hi Dawn,"
"Spike," Willow began calmly, "calm down and explain what it is that you need help with. Because how can we help if we don't know what the problem is?"
Spike finally calmed down enough to fully answer the redheaded witch. "I was going to Buffy's grave, like I do every night, but when I got to the cemetery, the gates were blasted open, like…like a bolt of lightning or something had hit them. Or something just as powerful. I got worried, so I ran inside, and…and……" Spike hesitated and he seemed to be dealing with very powerful emotions.
"And when I got to Buffy's grave…it…it was…it was completely destroyed. Just a hole in the ground. Even the tree next to it was little more than smoldering ash. I…I don't know what happened, but I plan on taking out whatever has done this. And quite frankly I don't give a crap if you blokes help me or not, but I figured you'd like to know, and that maybe you would like to help." Spike finished.
All the people in the room, including the ones not seen, and excluding the one that actually was dead, or undead as the case would be, exchanged looks, knowing exactly what had happened. Buffy and Joshua had their own private conversation.
"Joshua, did you know about this, when you came to Earth today?" Buffy asked.
"Well, obviously not since I didn't even know that I had appeared in a bolt of lightning. But my guess would be that there is to be no records of the gods' mortal identities once they have been re-awoken. That would mean no memorial markers or anything like that." Joshua answered.
"Should I…?" Buffy proposed becoming visible so that Spike could see her.
Joshua got a dark smile, if that's possible for Archangels, that only Buffy could see and shook his head no. "Let them handle it for a while. We can show and explain ourselves at the sight. Might even make more sense, given the superstitions."
"Superstitions?" Buffy queried.
"That ghosts, or what have you always reappear back on Earth at their gravesites." Joshua explained.
"Well, actually, that's not that far off, since I did reappear at my gravesite." Buffy pointed out.
Meanwhile in the land of the seeing, "All right, first of all, calm down Spike. Second, what makes you think that some creature or demon did this and not just two strikes of lightning?" Xander asked the chipped vampire.
Spike, if anything only became more annoyed and agitated. "Look Xander. I don't know about you, but I think the odds are pretty high against that sort of thing happening in a single day, when it hasn't even rained. Also, Buffy developed quite a reputation for herself, being the most powerful Slayer of the ages, coming back to life, and calling a second Slayer. So whatever big bad meanies might figure that if she did it once, she could do it again, and so they completely obliterate and desecrate the body." he explained.
"That's a good point, isn't that a good point Xander?" Willow commented, giving Xander a very meaningful stare.
Xander could barely control himself enough not to smile as he nodded. "All right Spike, we're all with you. Let's just get some basic supplies and we'll meet you at Buffy's cemetery…"
"NO!" Willow almost shouted. Everyone turned to her, more than a little surprised. "I mean, no, we'll all go together. Don't worry Spike, we'll find out whatever did this, and then we'll handle it, together. OK?"
Spike seemed to want to argue for a second, and then he just drooped his shoulders and silently nodded. Dawn, ever the insightful one into the vampire's feelings, came up beside him and took him in a hug. "Are you OK Spike?" she asked.
Spike was about to make some rude comment about being the toughest vampire on the planet, despite all contrary evidence, but said nothing as he held back fresh tears and shook his head. He explained in winded tones, though vampires don't breath, "I…I couldn't save her Dawn, I couldn't save her. I loved her with all the bloody hell that I am, and I couldn't save her for anything worth my own life. Dawn, she didn't deserve to die. And she doesn't deserve this. So by Hell, by Heaven, and everything else that will give a damn, I'm going to find out what has done this…this atrocity, and I am going to make them pay." Spike's tone went from that of a weeping man, to that of an angry and vengeful vampire that nothing would get in the way of, chip or no chip.
"Heh, I can see why you were so concerned before. But don't worry, because it's pretty obvious that our little God of Balance here is pretty close to the surface, especially after knowing you it seems." Joshua commented dryly to his invisible sister.
"Well, like I said, my love changes people. It changed Giles from a stuffy watcher into a caring and concerned father figure, it changed Willow from a shy computer nerd into a beautiful and brave young woman who is not afraid to be different, and does not need to be. And yes, it changed Spike, from just another master vampire, who happened to be dating an insane psychic vampire made by Angel, my former lover, into the man who is standing here, working with the Slayer's friends. Man am I good." Buffy praised herself.
"Yeah, well, whispering in Willow and Dawn's ears like that isn't exactly being subtle in our plans." Joshua commented.
"And who said they were our plans? I just want to see that look on Spike's face when he sees me again. You're the one that wants to make a prank out of it." Buffy retorted.
"Yeah, well…so what?"
Meanwhile, Giles, Anya, and Willow were gathering the usual tools for a night of patrol; stakes, crosses, bottles and water guns of holy water, an axe or two, swords for Giles and Xander, who both had seemed adept at using the weapons, and a protection spell for Dawn, prepared by Willow. Spike just pocketed a few of the stakes and pulled out his own axe before they left the shop. "Let's go," Xander gave the cue for leaving on patrol.
Not much talk or banter was to be had as they walked in companionable silence to the desecrated grave of one Buffy Summers. When they reached the ruined gate of the cemetery, everyone noticed that there were several big "DO NOT DISTURB" and "NO TRESPASSING" signs planted around the melted metal, as well as a virtual web of "DO NOT CROSS" yellow police tape.
"Come on, let's go," Spike announced as he ducked under the tape. He stopped when he saw that everybody was still just standing around, looking at nothing. "Well, coming? It's not like the trail is going to stay bloody warm all night. Come on then!"
What Spike couldn't see that they were all staring at was that Joshua had made himself visible again, but only to them, and he was telling them such right now.
"Hey guys, sorry about the disappearing act, but both Buffy and I felt that right now wasn't the time to show Spike who we were, or to tell him about everyone else, just yet anyway. Oh, and you all are the only ones that can see me, so Spike probably thinks your all loony right now, and I'd advise not talking to me directly." He was saying.
When nobody responded to Spikes angry outburst, he immediately became concerned. Well, as concerned as a vampire ever can get about anything. "Hello? Anybody home? You've got to see this. Whatever bloody did this is probably more powerful than even Glory could dream about being. And I'm not about to let them get away with it." Spike then strode down the rows to where Buffy's grave had been.
"I'd like to think so," Joshua commented smugly to himself as Spike walked off.
"OK, now that he's gone, what the hell is going on Josh?" Xander demanded.
Joshua shrugged. "To everything a season, a time and a place. Spike will find out, but after a little playtime for us godlings. Don't worry, it won't kill him or anything, we…I just want to have a little fun. And don't call me Josh. My name is Joshua."
"Ooh, a little sensitive there aren't we Josh?" Xander taunted.
Joshua was about to respond with a really devastating comeback, but Willow interrupted before the Archangel could make the trembling mortal weep and cower from his words. "Now's not the time for this. Let's follow Spike. And Buffy, I know you're here. Try to keep whatever "special effects" you have in mind to a minimum. We don't want Spike trying to kill you outright."
Joshua was about to say something else, but everybody entered the graveyard leaving him almost at the exact point that he had entered the world. Finally, he sighed, shrugged his shoulders, and making himself invisible once again, followed the Slayerettes. Several tapes got in his way and caught on him or his clothing. After a brief struggle, which he was glad no one saw, he stepped away from the pieces of plastic and hurried after the others. Buffy was already in position.
As the group approached the gravesite that they had visited just that morning, everyone saw exactly what Spike had been referring to. The willow tree was little more than a charred stump next to a really big hole in the ground. The grass for at least three feet in all directions around the hole was either blackened, ash, or just completely gone and nothing but dirt. The dirt itself was blackened, like scorch marks on all sides, and continued into the 7 ft. hole. It was more or less about 5 feet diameter, though longer on the top and bottom, matching with the grave's position, but the really interesting thing is, the two grave markers and sites on either side of the hole were completely untouched. In fact the grass was green and the stones looked almost polished next to the scorched earth before them.
"Whoa," commented Willow, the first besides Spike to reach the place.
"Whoa," Xander and Anya echoed together as they came up behind the other two.
"Oh my…whoa," Giles added after a minute or so of just looking at the hole.
Dawn said nothing. She was just looking down inside of the dark spot in the ground, trying to see some sign of her sister, her blood sister. But both Joshua and Buffy, and just about everybody else had explained that if the goddess did not want to be seen, she wouldn't be. Yet upon taking a close look, she began to see something. She couldn't tell what it was, but…it looked like…a…gold spark?
"Hey, what's that?" Spike asked aloud. After a moment or two of asking "what?" and looking around, everybody had noticed the gold spark that was within the hole. Then, slowly, the spark began to…float…upwards, until it was at the mouth of the hole. Once it reached that point, it stopped and began to flicker slightly. Then, it seemed to get brighter and stopped flickering, and started throbbing.
A minute after its appearance, the gold spark pulsating with unknown energy, began to spark itself. Shooting off dozens of other golden sparks that only dissipated when they reached the edge of the hole. The initial spark was continuing to flare up and was getting brighter.
"What's going on?" Spike asked fearfully.
"Buffy?" Willow quietly asked to herself, but the others, including Spike, heard her just fine.
"What does this thing have to do with Buffy?" the vampire asked his friend.
"Uh, well…" Willow paused for a moment, and to any looking at her, though none were, it would look like she was listening to somebody. "Well…it, uh, might be what you said Spike. Buffy came back from the dead once, and well, maybe she's doing it again, but…flashier?"
The uncertainty in her voice was lost on Spike, yet the words he held onto like a blood bank. "You-you…you mean that, she, maybe she, that Buffy might…be coming back to life?" he asked in an unnaturally timid voice for him.
In answer, the golden lights before them flared once more and then shot up in a blazing stream of gold light. Slowly, as though being put together atom by atom, a shape began to coalesce within the light stream. After twenty or so seconds, it was a decidedly human form, another ten after that, it was definitely feminine, and after much more time, a more familiar female shape was standing in the gold light.
The sparks died away as the figure took a few steps forward, yet the light remained, so the woman was cloaked in shadows. Spike, being at the forefront was the first that she came to, and she stopped less than a foot away from the taller vampire. This close, Spike didn't need to see, though he could, to tell that it was Buffy. Her smell, her shape, her heart, the heat radiating off of her, it was everything that he knew the Slayer to be, and more.
"Buff-buf-Buffy…? Buffy…is…is-is it really, really you?" Spike stuttered.
In response, she flashed him that million-dollar smile as the gold light faded and the group was bathed in only the moonlight. "Why is it that whenever people see me, they always have to stutter my name?" she asked sarcastically.
Spike had no control over his reactions. If it had been him, then he would have either said something rude and equally sarcastic, or just said the honest, "Good to see you Slayer," or something else along those lines. Spike had absolutely no control over his reaction. He bent down and hugged the shorter woman in a bear hug that would have made anyone less than a Slayer, not to mention a goddess black out from lack of oxygen. He was also crying but what really shocked everything was what he was saying.
"Mother! Oh thank the Heavens and God All Mighty that you're all right! I thought I'd lost you, Mother! Please, please, please don't ever leave me like that again!!" he was practically yelling into her neck.
Her reaction, to the ones that didn't know that Spike was the Love goddess's son, was equally as puzzling to everyone. She had her arms around him, almost as tight as his around her, and was softly comforting and cooing, "It's all right my boy, it's all right. I promise you here and now, I'll never leave you like that again. Don't worry, mommy's here. Don't worry, I love you Spike, please don't ever forget that. I love you, and I'll always love you. It's going to be all right now." She was beginning to cry herself at this point.
"OK, hold on for just one darn-tooting minute!!" Xander shouted at the hugging couple. They didn't separate so he yelled louder, "BREAK IT UP!!" After this they suddenly broke apart and Spike realized what he had just done.
"Hey, hey, hey!" he exclaimed backing away from the "newly arisen" Slayer. "What's goin' on here? Why did I just call you 'Mother' and what's with saying you love me, after you're dead?"
Buffy only sighed in resignation and took a step closer to Spike, who unconsciously took a step back at the movement. A look of utter betrayal and hurt crossed her face, followed by one of determination as she took one more definitive step towards the man before answering his questions.
"Spike, look at me." Buffy ordered. "Take a good long look. Then use your other senses. Am I alive now? Am I Buffy? Am I the woman that you confessed to loving not even two weeks ago? Look at me Spike." She commanded again when he looked away, realizing that she was indeed all those things she had said she was.
"Look at me!" her tone a little harsher when he didn't comply. Finally he did, and when he looked at her, took the longest look at her he had ever allowed himself, he began to weep. Because he saw more than the woman he loved and had lost, he saw a woman that cared about him and loved him, albeit not the same way that he thought he loved her, and wanted him back in her life. Once again, Spike lost control, as he raced forward into the arms of the goddess and she fully accepted him, holding him as he cried his tears of love, of loss, and of joy.
"OK, I just want to reiterate in case nobody heard me the first time," Xander tried to break in once again, "BREAK IT UP!!!"
This time they two didn't even move and just continued to hold each other. That is, until there was a massive flash of intense white light. At the same instant of the light, a booming and commanding voice sounded out throughout the graveyard, and might have been heard as far away as Mississippi.
"ELIZABETH SUMMERS!! CHOSEN ONE! YOU HAVE VIOLATED THE BARRIERS OF THE CONTINUIM OF SPACE AND TIME! THERE ARE CONSEQUENCES FOR THE ACTIONS YOU HAVE TAKEN! VERY UNPLEASANT CONSEQUENCES! SLAYER!! YOU HAVE DIED AND THEREFORE ARE NO LONGER ALOWED ON THIS EARTH! THE PENALTY FOR RETURNING WHERE YOU HAVE DIED IS TO BE DAMNED UNTIL YOUR NEXT LIFETIME!! SLAYER!! PREPARE TO FACE JUDGEMENT!!!" The voice boomed out.
The light suddenly coalesced into Joshua, though nobody was about to tell Spike that they knew the Archangel. He was also dressed very differently from the one at the gate. For one, he was dressed in white and light brown leather armor, symbolistic of early Roman attire. And he also had aqua sea green blue wings coming out of his shoulders.
'So he does have wings,' the group, excluding Buffy and Spike, all thought at seeing the wings.
"Buffy, what's going on?" Willow asked. She figured that if they were actually going to play this prank out, she might as well help out a little by playing ignorant.
Buffy turned to the Archangel and barely repressed a smile. Yet when she answered the voice's challenge, she was all business, "You're kidding right? I've fought demons, vampires, legions of both, and survived being thrown into hell. I've defeated a god, and destroyed a full demon. And you think that one measly little angel is going to drag my butt back to heaven, you've got another thing comin'." Well, as all business as Buffy ever gets.
"Slayer, I repeat what Red just asked, what's goin' on?" Spike repeated.
"I'm here to take her back home," the Archangel answered Spike's question, "even if I have to drag her back there kicking and screaming all the way to do it." He then seemed to pull a sword out of nowhere.
Buffy began to approach the standing white figure, but was stopped by Anya grabbing her elbow. "Buffy wait, I don't think that that is any angel. I think he's an Archangel. And I also don't think that any Slayer could ever defeat an Archangel." Anya then smiled so that only Buffy could see. Buffy smiled back and briefly placed her right hand on Anya's.
"Don't worry," she said softly to the mortal girl, as though to console some fear the young girl had. Then it was back to Slayer-mode, "I'll be fine. I can handle pretty much anything now. And just take care of Dawn until I get back. This won't take long."
The tall white-clad brown haired angel snorted loudly and commented, "I doubt it. Now, Slayer, I hope you know what it has cost you to say this brief farewell to your mortal friends. Until your next reincarnation, you'll be living in torment and anguish the likes of which none could imagine. Not even Dante. So if you want to add utter embarrassment to it by fighting me, then by all means, let's get it on."
"Wait, just a bloody minute!" Spike yelled as Buffy took two more steps towards the angel.
"What is it Vampire?" the angel asked, loathing and disgust ranging in his voice.
"Now let me see if I got this straight," Spike began. "Just because the Slayer here came back to Earth without the big guru's permission, she has to live in hell until she's reborn? Well that overtly bites! Me ofcourse being the expert on things that bite! So how about this mate, you fight me, I win, you leave Buffy here, I lose, you fight Buffy and she wins and she stays here. How's that suit you Mister Blue-wings?"
"And what makes you think that I want to fight you?" Joshua asked him, a look of dislike his expression.
Spike just shrugged, stepped forward and got into a fighting stance. "Because you always wanted to fight me," he replied in a casual tone that made the information seem like common knowledge. Which apparently it was, as the Archangel grinned and gave an unreadable look at Buffy. She just smirked and shook her head in slight laughter. The she made "go ahead" motion with her hand.
She stepped back with the others as Joshua's sword disappeared, and he shrugged and the blue wings disappeared. Joshua got into a similar fighting stance to the one Spike held, and then he launched a rapid punch-kick combo that Spike was barely able to block and avoid. Joshua kept pressing his advantage, keeping Spike as off balance as possible with kicks and rapid backhands. Yet, at some point, Spike seemed to just blur with inhuman speed to behind Joshua and attempted to grab him.
Joshua just smirked and stood there as Spike tried to either throw him or choke him from behind. Finally, he just gave up and let go of the angel and just kicking him squarely on his butt. Surprised, the brown haired man fell forward, and landed on his hands and knees. Muttering, "Oh, you are so going to pay for that," he jumped from his position on the ground, in a back flip, behind the surprised vampire.
Spike turned around to see Joshua smiling at him, and Spike, about two seconds before he did it, knew what the Archangel was about to do to him. Still smiling, Joshua released a backhand from his left arm that connected solidly with the vampire's chin, and caused said vampire to actually fly back some thirty to fifty feet into the graveyard. A slight boom was heard as Spike impacted.
"And you thought vampire's couldn't fly," Xander commented in a humor-filled voice to Giles beside him as they watched Spike getting trashed.
"Yes, well it seems that I was wrong about that. I'll see to it that the necessary volumes are corrected," Giles responded in a somewhat nonchalant tone.
"Um, now that Spike's not here, Buffy, what's really going on?" Willow asked once again.
"Huh? Oh," Buffy turned to the redhead. "It's just the prank Joshua told you about. Totally harmless, but Joshua really has always wanted to fight with Spike. Something about enjoying the competition. It's a long story, and I don't feel like getting into it right now. But suffice it to say, Joshua's pretending to try to force me back to Heaven, and when we fight, you'll see exactly what I meant about my powers Will. Don't worry, there'll still be a Sunnydale when we're through." Buffy laughed at her own joke.
"Oh, OK," Willow responded quietly as Spike returned to the scene, seemingly out of breath.
"Not too shabby angel," Spike retorted with the same venom Joshua was using for him. "But as you can see, I'm still standing, and until I ain't no more, then you ain't won the fight yet, right?"
Joshua only snorted and moved into a fighting stance, and then really pissed Spike off by doing the "Matrix" 'bring it on' wave. Spike was on him faster than even Buffy could watch. They began to trade blows so quickly that if any part of their body wasn't blurring, it was an afterimage. Finally after both landing numerous hits to each other, all that could shatter brick or steel at the most, both fighters collapsed to the ground in seeming exhaustion.
"I'm not tired, just…I just need a little breather to figure out what I'm going to do with your sorry ass once I beat it black and blue." Spike excused for himself.
"Yeah, right! You don't even breathe. And I'm only conserving energy for when Buffy and I fight." Joshua excused for himself.
"Anyone want to take any bets?" Xander asked, the others. Willow and Buffy had taken to sitting on a couple of nearby headstones to watch the fight, and Anya was just leaning back against him. Somehow he easily supported her, what with her putting her entire weight against him. Dawn was in Buffy's lap, similar to the way Anya had been earlier in the principal's office, and Giles was standing off to the side, somewhat amused by the confrontation.
Buffy was the only one to respond to Xander's joke with a slight giggle. Once again the two unearthly beings stood to face off against each other. Spike struck first with a high kick followed by a high leg sweep. Joshua avoided both blows by doing a quick backwards somersault and a reversal up thrust kick. Spike barely ducked in time and the two fell into a steady rhythm of attack, dodge, parry, and circle. Finally, and hour into the night, Buffy decided that she was bored. And as Willow had discovered that very day, a bored Buffy can, at times, be a dangerous Buffy.
"All right, I'm bored now. How about this?" Buffy then pointed at Spike, who disappeared in the goddess's teleportation, and reappeared right behind her. As soon as she did, Joshua stopped pretending to be tired.
"Spike, I'm going to fight him. Don't worry, I'll win. I've gotten a little bit better since fighting Glory. And how about this, angel dude, If you let me spend some more time here on Earth so I can take care of what I have to do, or until my family and friends are ready to go to Heaven themselves, I stay here with them and do the whole Slayer bit until then, how's that suit you?" she proposed.
"Yeah, right like after all that he's just going to…" Spike began.
"OK. Mind if I stay with you for a while?" Joshua interrupted.
"Nah, I don't mind. I could use the company I'm sure." Buffy responded candidly.
The look on Spike's face was priceless. All the humans there started laughing as soon as they saw it. "What? What is it?" Spike trying to figure out what was so bleeding funny when the woman he loved was about to face off against an Archangel so that she could stay with him…them, he meant.
The two gods meanwhile ignored the poor confused vampire as they faced off one another in the graveyard, approaching ten o'clock. "How do you want to do this?" the angel asked the love goddess.
Buffy considered it for but a moment, and then answered in her "playful Slayer" voice, "Weapons, fisticuffs, then free-for-all. How's that suit you?" she asked back.
"Fine by me," he replied and the sword reappeared in his right hand.
As though by magic, a two-foot dark wood sharpened stake appeared in Buffy's right hand. They took up ready-stances, squared off against the other, and at an unseen signal, leapt into the air, straight at each other.
[OK, OK, Even I have to admit that this wasn't so good. The way it keeps jumping around and leaving half finished subjects. That's why I need ideas, and looking at Marcus and Anime freak, I wouldn't be opposed to a partnership, just tell me that you're interested in your Reviews and I'll release my e-mail so we can talk. Next: Big Fight scene, and a whole bunch of cool special effects!!!]