Series: Taking Time
Title: Maddening Part 2
Author: Harmony
Rating: PG-13
Description: Buffy and Spike go back in time, and see the events that shaped their lives, and that will change their relationship forever.
Pairing: B/S
Disclaimer: The characters are merely my puppets for the day. Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy are head puppeteer guys. They pull the strings.
Distribution: Free Again (http://www.441creative.com/jo) and anyone else I've given permission to. If you want it, e-mail me: harmony@441creative.com
Feedback: Imagine a world without shrimp. Well, I really like shrimp. Feedback is my shrimp.
Dedications: Well…my family as usual. And you know what? James Marsters, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. Cos they create these characters for me.
Authors notes : "Maddening" turned out longer than I expected. So it's been split into two parts.
---
"Well, here goes nothing" Buffy muttered, as she and Spike walked slowly along the path.
"Do you feel dizzy?" Spike asked, touching his forehead "Must be all that time travelling"
They walked a little further, and found what they'd been sent to see.
"Angelus" Buffy said, pointing across the street at the velvet-coated vampire. He walked along, almost a wolf like prowl.
They moved closer, keeping out of sight, and paused when Angelus stopped at the mouth of an alleyway. He stuck his hand in, and lifted Darla from a kneeling position.
Delicately, Darla brushed herself off, the picture of elegance, and femininity. No sign of the demon that lay beneath save for a trickle of blood that ran down from the corner of her mouth.
"She never really dresses for hunting does she?" Buffy whispered. Darla's hair was in ringlets, and she wore a full-skirted dress, with frills and lace.
"I thought we were meeting in the square" Angelus asked Darla, as he looked past her into the alleyway.
"I ran into Lord Nichols…horrid little man" Darla's gaze fell on the alleyway "He was propositioning a streetwalker, and dickering over the price…can you imagine? I told him I'd do him for nothing"
Spike snorted with laughter from their position across the street.
"She would too," he muttered, remembering Angelus telling him about Darla's previous occupation.
"You're very charitable" Angelus said, in a slightly sarcastic tone
"I so loathe cheap royalty" Darla sniffed, wiping at the blood on her mouth with a handkerchief. Buffy rolled her eyes as Angelus leant down, and licked and kissed the blood from her face.
Buffy wondered silently if it was cheating if he did it before she was born.
"All taste the same to me," Angel drawled. The vampire couple looked just like a normal couple, good naturedly making fun of one another.
"Mmmm…my boy does have the touch" Darla had attached herself to Angel's arm, as he looked into the alleyway again.
"Darla"
"Yes?" she asked innocently
"Why'd you kill the streetwalker?" Angel was amused.
"Oh I just liked her – Guess what's next?" Darla smiled, an evil glint in her eye. Angelus and Darla walked along the street. Angelus' eyes searched the area, trying to spot something.
Buffy felt a prod on her shoulder, and she turned to see Spike staring at three women. The tallest, and probably oldest of the three wore a mint green dress, with a matching bonnet.
The woman turned suddenly, and Buffy watched the scared expression return to Drusilla's face.
Buffy felt a familiar tingle run up her spine, as Darla and Angelus stopped just in front of her. Darla was pleased with the hungry expression on her lover's face.
"She sees the future" Angelus and Darla moved again, stalking towards their soon to be victim "She is pure innocence, yet she sees what's coming, she knows what I'm going to do to her. I'll really have to come up to snuff for this one"
Buffy heard a growl low in Spike's throat, and knew he was trying hard to control himself. Buffy felt something similar, as Darla and Angelus walked away, joking about what he planned to do to. Dru had disappeared into the crowd, moving the younger girls along and out of danger.
---
Spike was uncharacteristically quiet. It was unsettling to Buffy, who walked beside him, expecting him to snap any minute. His jaw was clenched and his hands balled into fists.
"Was it weird?" Buffy asked when the silence became too much to take.
Spike shrugged
"No" he answered
"Please don't go into detail," Buffy said, sarcastically.
Spike didn't answer, and Buffy rolled her eyes in exasperation.
"I don't know why it bothers you anyway," Buffy muttered. Spike heard her, and in the next second, she found herself pressed against a wall. Spike's hands held her shoulders, and he had a look of pure anger on his now demon face. For the first time, in a long time, she was scared of Spike.
"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he said, too calmly.
Buffy shook her head
"I-I-I just meant…you loved the crazy Dru…not that one" Buffy's voice was quiet.
"You don't know a thing about it," he said, letting go of her shoulders and shifting back into his human face.
Buffy stood still for a second, shaking off the shock. When she'd regained her composure, she lifted a hand, and slapped him hard across the face.
"I don't think I want to know" she barracked in response, before running ahead, and leaving him alone.
Spike ran after her, just managing to keep up. She ran without looking over her shoulder, not caring whether he followed. Part of him didn't want to catch up, because he didn't know what to say that would result in his walking away unscathed.
Buffy turned, suddenly, and ran into an abbey. Spike hesitated at the door. Vampires couldn't die from going in holy places, and they weren't blocked out, but it gave any good unholy being, what could perfectly be described as, the wiggins.
Regardless, Spike followed her, and found her sitting in a confessional. Monks chanted creating an unusual situation for a confrontation.
Buffy didn't look up when he closed the curtain behind him.
"Get away from me" she said, doing a bad impression of calm.
"Buffy, I know you're angry-" Spike started. Buffy cut him off by shaking her head
"There's nothing you can say that will make me forgive you. So don't bother"
Spike slapped a hand to his forehead, and leant back against the flimsy wall of the booth.
"Please, listen. I was stupid. I got a little angry about Dru, and…come on, we were getting on okay"
Buffy rose to her feet
"Yes. We were, because I began to think that maybe you weren't so awful. That maybe you were kind of funny, and nice, and sweet. But now I just feel so stupid for thinking of you as a friend, after all you've done" Spike's eyes moved from hers and focused on the floor "But you know what I feel towards you now?" Buffy paused, and Spike looked up "I hate you"
At that, Buffy walked out of the booth, leaving Spike alone, with his head hung.
"You really blew it this time, Spike," he muttered to himself. Seconds later, Buffy rushed back into the booth, and seemed to be listening.
Spike listened too and heard a scuffle in the cubicle on the right hand side of theirs
"Please no…please" a male voice begged. A distinctive laugh echoed around the emptiness. Almost a giggle, but lower.
"I always wondered if drinking a holy man's blood would be the same as drinking holy water" Angelus asked, sounding truly inquisitive "I have a high pain tolerance, so one way to find out"
The wooden stand wobbled for a last time, as the sound of bones shifting, and a growl rang out in the quiet area.
Spike noticed Buffy was holding her breath, as a final gasp of pain sent shivers down her spine.
"Angelus…a priest" she whispered. She opened her mouth to speak again, but closed it when someone entered the stall beside them.
"Bless me, father, for I have sinned" a cockney woman's voice said. She sounded tired, worn out.
The sound of the dead priests body sliding to the floor could be heard.
Spike looked at Buffy in surprise, and quickly looked back to the wall, as if trying to see through it.
"Dru?" he whispered.
"It's been two days since my last confession" Drusilla said, and waited for the "priest" to say something. Angelus remained silent "Father?"
"That's not very long," the Irish voice replied.
"Oh, father, I'm so afraid" Dru's voice trembled. She sounded just as scared as she had been when Buffy first met her.
"The lord if very forgiving. Tell me your sins"
Buffy closed her eyes. She doubted she could ever look at Angel again. Maybe it was just as well he was in LA.
"I had... I've been seeing again, Father. Yesterday, the men were going to work in the mine. I had a terrible fright. My stomach all tied up, and I saw this horrible crash" Drusilla's ragged breathing, and terrified voice calmed a little "My mummy said to keep my peace, it didn't mean nothing. But this morning, they had a cave-in. Two men died"
Buffy noticed Spike was taking long unnecessary breaths, soothing the demon that threatened to surface. Angelus was playing a game with his Dru, and it made him angry. Part of him wished he'd just turn her, instead of driving her insane. But then he remembered. He loved her for her visions of fairies and circuses.
At Angel's prompt, Dru continued
"Me mum says I'm cursed. My seeing things is an affront to the Lord, that only he's supposed to see anything before it happens" Drusilla began to sob through her words "But I don't mean to, Father, I swear! I swear! I try to be pure in his sight. I don't want to be an evil thing"
Buffy thought Angelus must have been smiling the evil smile that haunted her, because she felt a familiar cold chill.
"Hush, child. The lord has a plan for all creatures. Even a devil child like you" Angelus taunted the lost girl behind the grate.
"A devil?" Some part of her had come for reassurance that she was good, and pure. Drusilla didn't expect the priest to confirm her fears.
"Yes! You're a spawn of Satan. All the Hail Marys in the world aren't going to help. The Lord will use you and smite you down. He's like that" Angelus pushed further, doing nothing to help the tears that already marred Drusilla's face.
Spike pressed his forehead against the wood, as he heard the curtain slide open, then shut.
"What can I do?" Buffy heard Drusilla ask, as she walked out of the abbey. She'd had enough. She couldn't listen to Angel's evil alter ego's sneering voice anymore.
"Fulfill his plan, child. Be evil. Just give in" Angelus was having the time of his life. Drusilla really would be his finest work.
"I want to be good! I want to be pure!" Drusilla protested
"We all do…at first. The world doesn't work that way"
Spike blocked out the conversation in the next stall, and slid down onto the small bench. He hadn't noticed Buffy was gone. His mind lingered on Drusilla.
---
Spike woke as a scream pierced the air. Drusilla was
tossing and turning in her sleep, thrashing her arms wildly.
"NO! Leave them…please leave them" she cried.
Spike shook her awake. She continued to wave her arms,
making scratches on his arms.
"Dru, love, wake up. I'm here baby" he spoke softly, not
wanting to scare her
Dru's eyes flicked open, and she stared wide-eyed at her
lover
"I was dreaming, Spike" she whispered, fear making her
voice quiet.
Spike smiled reassuringly, and ran his fingers through
her dark hair. She shuffled closer to him, and he cradled her to him.
"What about, darling?" he asked, knowing what the answer
would be
"Daddy" she sighed, "He hurt my sisters, and my Mommy,
and there was much confusion. Then my head came alive with colour" Dru spread
the fingers of one hand, making a firework "He took my soul…I can't think
clearly, my Spike. He should have just taken me. I'd have gone…to save my
family…I'd have gone"
Spike pulled her closer, and shook his head.
One day, he'd kill Angelus for causing this
---
"God is watching you" Angelus finished, in typical dramatic style.
Drusilla gasped, before standing and scurrying out.
Buffy slinked back into the shadows as Dru passed her, looking terrified.
Seconds later, she was followed by Angelus, who walked down the steps looking smug, and pleased with himself. Darla appeared from another doorway in the abbey, wiping blood from her mouth.
Buffy rolled her eyes, and started walking. A few minutes into her walk, Spike ran up to her side, and walked silently. His head hung, and he had his hands tucked into his pockets.
"Are you going to explain what happened earlier?" Buffy asked.
"No" Spike sniffed, and looked up to check his path
"Why?"
Spike shrugged
"Because you have a one dimensional view of me and my kind. Vampires equals bad…well, all apart from your precious Angel who, by the by, happens to be the sickest bastard in town"
"Well, I'm not wrong to think that. You think pushing me against a wall is good?" Buffy rubbed at the bruise that had formed on her shoulder.
"You pissed me off" Spike shrugged again.
Buffy stared at him
"So you get to hurt me?" she asked, incredulous
"Okay, Slayer. If it was Xander, and you said 'what do you know? You're a useless member of the Scooby gang', and he reacted like I did, you'd understand. You'd be apologetic. But not with me for some reason"
Buffy raised an eyebrow
"I like Xander. Xander, friend. Spike, not friend"
Spike laughed humourlessly, and threw his hands up
"Fine. Whatever. You carry on being a bitch…because at least when you are, I know the world is normal"
The incredibly angry vampire stormed ahead, leaving Buffy in the street with her jaw hanging open.
---
"Bring him up here" Willow shouted down the stairs, at the two men holding Spike. Giles had him under the arms, and Xander had his legs.
They struggled up the stairs, and Willow directed them to Buffy's bed.
"Put him down next to her," she instructed "I'm going to do the same thing to him. I'll see if we can work out some more about what's happened"
Giles nodded, and Xander frowned at Buffy and Spike lying next to each other, unconscious
"I won't even ask…hellmouthiness at it's finest," he muttered as he closed to door, leaving Willow alone with the two comatose bodies.
Willow glanced at Spike as she lit candles again, and shuddered. His chest wasn't moving like Buffy's. He actually looked like the type of dead Willow knew as natural. Not the walking talking smoking dead.
She took her seat at the end of the bed and looked at the closed eyes of the vampire.
The room flashed again, and she found herself in a red room.
Spike stood up from his chair, and smiled warmly at her
"Will. I was expecting to see you. Come to find out what makes me tick?" he laughed, and stubbed the cigarette out.
Willow smiled back and could only think that he was genuinely happy to see her.
"Can I show you something?" he asked, opening the door, and leading her out
"Uh, yeah…it doesn't involve blood does it?" she asked nervously.
Spike just laughed, and led her around the red house. He opened the door to another room, and Willow walked in. A clock, similar to the one in Buffy's mind was on the wall, and it too went backwards.
On the wall was a picture of Willow. She frowned at seeing herself
"Spike, why am I on your wall?" she asked, a wrong answer away from freak out.
"I like you…you've always been nice to me. You know, even after I shoved a bottle in your face, and tried to bite you" Spike smiled apologetically, and Willow shrugged
"Oh…well, that's good" Her eyes feel on a tiny picture of Xander in the lower corner of one wall "hey…you have Xander"
Spike looked sheepish
"Yeah well… I've always thought he was okay. Sort of not so bad"
Willow looked around again, and saw a picture of Buffy that took up a whole wall.
"Oh…I understand. These are the people in your life"
Spike nodded
"The people I give a damn about anyway. See? Buffy, Dawn, Joyce, and all the Scooby Gang"
Willow followed Spike as he walked out of the room. Who'd have thought Spike cared about them?
"What about Dru?" she asked. Spike turned
"We're seeing her now. We're really not enjoying it, and it's making things difficult between us"
Willow frowned
"You're talking cryptic now," she said. She hated when people did that
"It's the way things work. Nothing makes sense really," Spike answered, sitting on some stairs. It was then that she realised this was Buffy's house, minus furniture, with all red décor
"Why are you here?" Willow asked.
"I just like it. Is there anything else you need to know?" Spike now held a picture in his hand. It was the picture of Buffy and Spike kissing.
"Do you love her?" she asked, aware that she sounded cryptic herself.
"More than I thought possible. I have to go now. But we'll be back in time" Spike disappeared, before Willow could ask any more questions.
Willow found herself back in the bedroom, and picked up the pen to write about her experience.
---
Buffy was lost. She couldn't remember her way back to the house they were staying at. Spike was long gone. And to make it all the more difficult, there had been another shift in time.
She was now at a convent, walking through a garden. The air was thick with danger, and the convent was eerily quiet.
Just ahead of her, Darla stepped out of an alcove, once again, wearing a green dress not suited to hunting. It hung off the shoulder, revealing too much cleavage. Frills hung down her arms, and the skirt flared out.
"Thankyou so much for this pleasant experience" Buffy sighed to herself, as she saw the two nuns Darla had just killed.
Darla had disappeared by now, but another vampire was close.
Buffy could sense it. She wondered if staking a vamp in self-defence would change history.
Not wanting to be in that situation, Buffy hurried towards an open door a few feet away.
She jumped, as a hand grabbed her shoulder. Feeling less scared than an ordinary human might, but more scared than she usually did, Buffy looked down at the hand, and rolled her eyes. She recognised that nail polish
"Spike, what the hell? Are you trying to give me a heart attack?" Buffy shook the hand off her shoulder, and turned to face him.
She gasped when she saw his face. He looked paler than usual, and his eyes were red with tears. His hands dripped with blood from cuts on his knuckles.
"What happened?" she asked, as he leant back against the wall, in a daze
Spike looked up from his study of the grass, as Buffy took his hand, and examined the red marks on the fist. She held onto his hand, as she looked up at his face.
"I got a little angry…decided that I'd rather take it out on a wall than hurt you again" Spike smiled, and shrugged. Buffy nodded in response, and let go of his hand. His smile faltered at loss of contact.
"You know…storming off is supposed to make you calm down" Buffy teased.
"Oh, I was calm. I calmed down, and I was on my way back to apologise – I don't really think you're a bitch - when there was another presto chango, and I ended up…" Spike's voice cracked "in a small house, watching that piece of crap killing Dru's family. I'm not going to lie to you, Buffy, to make myself look like a big man. I felt sick…what he did to them…there was so much blood"
Buffy dropped her attention from him, and closed her eyes. This was too much. This didn't apply directly to Spike or Buffy. Why were they seeing this? Buffy was scared. This situation was unfamiliar, and they had no control over it. The fact that tears were running down Spike's face again wasn't making the scenario easier to deal with. He wasn't supposed to cry. He was supposed to be calm.
"I'm a vampire, but… it was too much. Even for me… maybe it was because Dru was so scared. She was-"
Spike was cut off, by Buffy wrapping her arms around his waist
"It's okay" she soothed, as she felt his arms hold her back
As the two held each other, providing some kind of comfort, Angelus and Darla taunted Dru in a room just beyond the wall. They planned to turn her…for her to suffer an eternity of torment. Dru's life would soon be over, but Buffy and Spike knew they had more to suffer.
TBC…