Chapter 7 – William Or Spike, He's Still Incomparable When It Comes To Loyalty..Mostly
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"Spike—" Spike opened his eyes, blinking. Where was he? He sat up, looking around. The room was dimly lit, and the lighting that was there was coming from candles—well, more like torches. He rubbed his head, suddenly remembering the fight. He felt no pain though, and he remembered feeling like he was broken in half a few minutes before he was knocked out. So what happened?
"Spike—" Again that voice. He had woken up to it. It was like it came from somewhere, but at the same time nowhere at all. He scratched his head. It was like he knew he was dreaming, but he didn't seem to fully comprehend it. Everything was disoriented and confusing to him.
"Hello?" he called out. He tried to stand up, but he found himself only able to just sit. He turned his head at the sudden movement he saw in the corner of his eye. His mouth hung down the minute the faces registered with his brain. "How could it be?"
"Hello Spike." A sly smile. The other person just nodded towards him. "Remember us?"
"Where am I?" he asked, eyeing them cautiously.
"Technically, you're in a dream. Or what most would call a dream—but trust me, in truth it's actually quite real." The other girl responded to his question.
"But I killed you—both of you—how the bloody hell can this be real?" he stared at them.
"Well, we were sent to send you a message since for some reason your new soul wishes to repent for the sins committed in the past. And well, considering we were your two biggest sins—"
"A message, eh? Well, what might that be?" he questioned, raising a brow.
The Chinese woman stepped nearer to him. "You must die."
"Die? You girls don't just play around, do you?" he smirked.
"The powers you invoked can only be closed by your death—the death of the one who opened them. In truth, because of your change, you were the one who opened that portal. The longer you stay alive, the longer those things can come out and the more danger Buffy is in!" she glared at him. "Or are you too selfish to care?"
"Of course I care about her." He interjected angrily. "You think I would have been that desperate to go get myself turned back if I didn't?"
"Don't you get it, Spike?" he looked with narrowed eyes at the Chinese slayer. "You can't just get love because you got some soul. You earn it."
"Hey, I was wondering, luv, when'd you start speakin' bleedin' English. If I remember correctly, your last words were in Chinese." He smirked then, completely ignoring what the girl had said.
"You're a pig, Spike." The other girl spoke. "But we've told you what we've had to tell you. You'll be returned to your normal time—it's up to you to take heed to it."
"Sure thing. By the way, pet—" he nodded to the black slayer who had a stern glare directed at him. "I'm keepin' your duster warm." That had to have made the messenger snap and suddenly he felt the blow of a hand.
"Ow! Bloody 'ell!" he growled.
"Spike!" Spike blinked, the world around him fading into true blackness. "Spike!" the voice kept echoing. "Wake up you fu—"
And like that his eyes popped open, and after a brief confused, still half-asleep daze, he found Buffy looking down at him. He could swear the look was pure concern. He smiled his usual cocky smile of course, though it had a hint of the pained feeling that was pumping through his body. "Remind me to never buy a lizard. Tell me, pet, is it normal to not be able to breath?"
"You can't breath?" she asked. He was a bit surprised at the tone of worry.
"Not yet, but I'm sure I'm fine. Help me up a bit, all right?" he nodded to her and she sighed loudly and helped him sit up. He winced quickly as he moved. "This is definitely one of those things I don't miss about bein' one of you humans."
"You were talking about your duster thing in your little unconscious state." She confirmed. "And something about speaking English."
"Well that's good." He watched her stand and take him by the arm, lifting him up. He winced at every movement, but managed to get up unsteadily. "Better get out of here before they think we went all killing happy."
"Sounds like a plan." She said after a pause. "If you don't try any funny stuff, I'll help you walk."
"Me? Funny stuff? Never." He grinned innocently. "After all, I am a British gentleman, even more then before!"
"Spike, I don't care if you looked like Prince William—you'd never be a gentleman." She rolled her eyes.
"Bloody git, that lad is." He responded as she helped him limp pathetically to an area that they could basically get out of sight.
"I suppose you met him, then." She asked, sounding sarcastic.
"Yep. Wouldn't let me take a little sip of his girlfriend."
"You're a pig." Buffy rolled her eyes.
"Yeah," he responded quietly. "I get that a lot."
~~
"Dawn?" Buffy put her house keys on the table before she helped Spike hobble to her couch. He plopped down, letting out a slight groan of pain. "Dawn, where are you?"
Spike heard the footsteps coming down the stairs, and he managed to turn his head to see her land on the last step. Her foot touched the floor and she turned towards their direction. "Oh my god! What happened to that poor guy?"
"Who, this?" Buffy turned to Spike who suddenly shuddered as pain shot up through him again. "Don't worry, it's just Spike."
"William." He corrected through clenched teeth.
"That can't be Spike. It's light out. And—and—he didn't have such geeky hair!"
"Oh thanks for the big ego boost, little Bit." He grumbled. Her eyes widened at the voice.
"Oh my god it really is him!" she walked over, staring at him. "Buffy, I know you don't like him but you didn't have to maul him—"
"I did NOT do that to him!" She quickly defended.
"When's your little friends coming?" he asked Buffy as she motioned Dawn to go get Spike some ice.
"Xander and Anya are coming soon, and Willow and Tara—well, I don't know. Giles is probably going to come with them." She explained. "We need to figure out what to do quick so those things don't cause any more trouble then they all ready did."
"A little fun never hurts anyone." He managed a grin. "Thanks Dawnie." He took the icepack and decided to just start on the obvious wound he instantly knew about, his shoulder. He had a nasty bruise on it, and it shown through his now torn up shirt.
"I think that thing was after you." She commented.
"Ahh, what else is new?" he shrugged.
"Excuse me, I'm still confused. What happened to Spike? And who did that to him? Oh, and another question—what do you have to stop?" Dawn asked, looking utterly clueless.
"Well Spike—"
"William—"
"SPIKE decided to wish to turn human. So now he's human, some weird portal has opened, and one of the monsters that came out of it was the one that beat him into a bloody pulp." She glanced at Spike. "Right?"
"Yeah, you got it right." He replied, frowning slightly.
"You're a human? Like, you're alive?" Dawn asked him.
"Yep." He nodded lightly.
"Oh wow! That's awesome!" she grinned. Both of them looked at her.
"And why's that awesome?" Buffy asked. Dawn was about to answer when a knock on the door sounded.
"I'll get it." She said hurriedly, zipping off to the door.
"Xander, Anya, hi!" Spike glanced up to see the duo enter. He raised a brow. He still couldn't believe no one seemed to notice that the two had some lovey-dovey sort of thing going on.
"I have to see this to believe this." Xander walked into the living room, looking at Spike closely.
"What am I, a bloody sideshow puppet?" he pouted.
"When weren't you?" Buffy asked. He glared at her.
"It's not like it's never happened before." Anya commented. "I mean, I was a demon too you know."
"Yeah but you were never like he was. Mr. Big Bad—" Xander grinned at Spike who gave him a deadpan look.
"Excuse me, I am just as bad as I was—" he twitched when pain from his movement started up; he fell back against the couch. "Oh, just sod off."
"He's not going to stay that way long, are you?" Buffy asked.
"According to the witch, at least." He agreed with a nod. "And I don't plan on livin' my last livin' days with you bunch of gits. Actually, if you don't mind, it's gettin' to be a bit dark an' all, so I think I'll just walk on over to a bar to get nice an' sloshed."
"You shouldn't drink you know." Anya tilted her head. "It's not very good for you now that you have a working liver."
"Like I care." He huffed.
"You're not going anyway. I don't need the only way to close this portal thing running around town taking shots of liquor." Buffy said, a tone of finality in her voice.
"I can do whatever I bloody well want to do!" he huffed, standing up, now completely ignoring his pain. They had an intense stare down, one that was rudely interrupted by the youngest member of the Scoobie gang.
"You guys, quit fighting." Dawn interjected quickly. "Spi—WILLIAM, just cool down for a while. You can go get sloshed any day of the week. Buffy, quit picking on him. He's apart of the team and you know it. He deserves the respect everyone else gets."
Everyone stared at her.
"I suppose I'll stay for a bit." Spike finally said, shifting a little to reduce his slight discomfort. He sat down, sitting back against the couch's backside again. Buffy said nothing.
"I got it!"
They all turned to see Willow enter in from the door that had probably been unlocked. She put the book down on the coffee table after she pushed past them all. She pointed at a certain section.
"It seems to be a way you can kill Alla." Giles had beaten Willow to it as he walked in with Tara in tow.
"Yeah! And with just a little more reading, I think we'll find the way!" Willow explained in an excited voice. "The thing is, well, the magic that he's done will sort of—"
"Cease to exist, right?" Spike asked, frowning. "Go 'poof' along with him." He thought back on the dream, but decided it wasn't worth worrying about. He stood up then. He thanked god the pain was receding. "And it's back to being the unwanted pest, I suppose. I'm going to get that drink now, thank you very much."
He didn't know why he got so angry at the thought that his soul was going to be ripped away again. He always thought he never actually liked having one, but all these feelings, the ability to walk out in the sun—the at least slight social acceptance—it was all so wonderful, and it reminded him of why he always liked life, even as hard as it was starting out for him. He quickly walked past them, half limping, and went out the door before anyone could say a thing about it.
He got as far as a single block before he was stopped, whirled around. He found himself staring into the stern yet cautiously worried face of his old arch-nemesis turned crush. "Where do you think you're going?"
"You know, it's funny. It's bloody hilarious. Really, the only reason this all happened was because of you and your continued thought pattern that since I was a little dead I had no feelings! So I figured, well let's see, I can have any soddin' wish I want so maybe I should get a soul so she'll believe me! Now I have a soul and it's all even worse because you're still up my ass and now I have the added bonus of finding myself actually enjoying having the soul I now have to lose—again. And god knows if I'll even live through that." He had finally just lost it. "And it's always you! Always! You are the root of my every problem! Dru left me because of you! I was perfectly evil until you came around! Now I'm reduced to standing on some corner freaking out because of all of this to the person I should have killed years ago!"
She stood there, speechless.
"I've been a weak, pathetic person from the moment I was born. I became a monster because I was too afraid to live a life filled with every damn rejection known to humankind. Then, when I finally think I have a good deal as a vampire, I realize—because of you—that I'm just rejected even more as one. I just can't win, can I? I'm always going to be Spike to you, the annoying little stalker that you can just beat and push around because you don't THINK I can comprehend feelings. So fine, I'll come back to listen to you all talk about reversing my wish. Because even though I know it'll be the end of me, I know you'll be safe because of it."
They stared at each other, Spike breathing in deeply from his sudden outburst, Buffy with the look of astonishment. He watched as she slowly swallowed, probably swallowing his words along with it. He realized what he had just said and looked down.
"I'm sorry, William." She finally spoke, softly.
He looked up in surprise. She had just called him William straight out for the first time.
