Stepping into Darkness
Part 2
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"No, it can't be." Spike frowned and backed away slightly.
"It is. It's me," She turned to the others who were currently gaping at her in disbelief, "I don't know what's happened, but it's me," She turned to face Dawn as tears streamed down her face, "Dawnie?"
The young girl frowned and began to shake her head, tears forming in her eyes, "No. It can't be. I killed you, you're dead." She started shaking uncontrollably as Spike walked towards her grabbing her arms.
"Is that what you think?" Spike asked shaking her a little, "Buffy died to save you and the rest of the world, nibblet, you did NOT kill her. Understand?" Dawn stared past him, looking at the girl and Spike shook her harder, forcing her to look up at him, "Understand?"
Dawn nodded and turned back to the girl, both were crying, "Buffy?" she asked quietly, "Is that really you?"
Nodding, the girl stepped forward, pulling her into a hug and they dropped to the ground in tears, clutching onto each other, neither willing to let go.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Buffy looked around the room; her arm still clutched around Dawn's shoulder. The group sat around the large table that was covered in unread books shrouded in silence. No one knew what to say.
"How...how long has it been?" Buffy asked quietly. Everyone exchanged glances but no one looked willing to speak.
"Two weeks, four days, 16 hours." Buffy turned to look at Spike, who was sitting behind her on the stairs to the balcony. He gave her a half smile, "Got quite a turnout," he said sadly, looking at his cigarette, "Popular girl." She smiled at him before turning back to the table.
"So," she said, "What's been happening?"
"Demon's have infested the place." Tara said softly, "They all heard that you were dead and well..."
"They decided to have a wake?" Buffy said, coaxing sad smiles from the group.
"Yeah, something like that." Willow replied, "But I don't think they had very nice nibbles...eh, pardon the pun."
Buffy gave a small laugh and turned to Dawn, "How 'bout you? What've you been doing?"
"Staying with Giles, or Spike." Dawn answered quietly, "Nothing much."
"'S at all you can say 'bout my company, little bit?" Spike asked from behind her.
Dawn smiled a little, "He let me watch late night TV."
"Oh, he did, did he?" Buffy asked raising her eyebrows at Spike as he feigned innocence.
"Innocent 'til proven guilty." he smirked.
"So," Xander cleared his throat, "What happened?" The atmosphere changed instantly and Xander almost wished that he could take back the question. But he couldn't see past the stranger sitting at the other end of the table. It might speak and act just like Buffy, it might even be her, but it certainly didn't look like her.
"I...I don't know. I felt like I was floating and...then I got pulled back. I woke up in an alley not far from here, but I didn't know where I was. I couldn't remember anything, and then I started to get flashes. I'd see faces, hear voices and then I was walking past...where it all happened...and it came flooding back to me. Everything." Buffy glanced around the room, subconsciously gripping tighter at Dawn's shoulder, "Is Glory dead?"
"Yes," Giles answered, looking away from her, "Glory and Ben are both dead."
"Oh."
"But that still doesn't explain the body," Xander said, still frowning, "I don't mean to sound like I'm not happy to have you back, because you have no idea how glad I am...but that's not you."
"No," she turned to look at Spike, "It's not."
Spike took an unneeded breath and one last draw of his cigarette before walking to the table and sitting next to Dawn, "Her name's Fliq. She's a Slayer. I ran into her in Scotland after the thing with Acathla. Was there for a few weeks before we came back to California. Didn't stay long before going back to Europe."
"So if Buffy's in her body...where's Fliq?"
"Does it matter?" Dawn stood up, looking around the room, "Buffy's back. I don't care how it happened," Dawn turned back to her, "I'm not going to loose you again."
"You won't," Buffy stood and pulled Dawn into her arms, "but we need to find out what happened." She pulled away and looked into Dawn's eyes, "I feel something fighting me inside, I'm not meant to be in here. We'll find a way, don't worry. Besides," she pulled back, "I'm smaller now. It was bad enough before."
The others grinned and Dawn smiled, "I kinda like your new hair." she said, indicating the long red waves.
"Well I could do without the multicolored streaks," Buffy said grinning back, "But I suppose it could be worse."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
Willow shuddered at the chill. The two slowly made their way through the graveyard. They knew that it was important to check Buffy's grave for signs of...well, something, but no one was particularly thrilled by the idea. She glanced at Spike, glad that he had come with her. He was fidgeting a little with his cigarette but said nothing. She sighed and looked ahead.
"You okay, Red?"
Willow smiled a little and glanced back at him, "This is weird."
"Tell me about it," he dropped his cigarette to the ground, crushing the end without stopping, "You don't know Fliq."
"I guess that would make it weirder," Willow frowned before shaking away the thoughts, "But that's not what I meant."
Spike nodded, "You didn't have to come, Pet. I could've handled this on my own."
"Could you?" she replied, startling him, "I mean, I know you're the 'big tough vampire' and everything but I saw you, after she died. You cared about her too."
"I still do," Spike said smiling tightly, "So, how's your girlfriend?"
"She's okay," Willow said frowning, "She's different, but okay. It'll take time."
"Yeah, but..." Spike stopped and stiffened.
"Trouble?" Spike nodded and she pulled a stake from her jacket. Willow watched as he wandered away from her before turning sharply, but she didn't have enough time to move before she was lying on the ground. Twisting around she watched as the vampire leaned closer, preparing to bite, only to be pulled away a moment later.
Pulling her from the ground, Spike pushed her towards a gravestone before turning to punch another vampire attempting to sneak up on him. He pounded the vampire to the ground only to be hit from behind. Looking up, he spotted two more vampires creeping up behind Willow and was preparing to yell when her voice entered his head.
"It's okay, I know they're there. Brace yourself." Before he had a chance to question her, he felt himself being pulled from the ground and flying through the air before being dropped unceremoniously into an open grave. Looking up he saw a flash of light that quickly disappeared into darkness.
"Red?" he asked, getting to his feet, "You okay?"
"I'm fine. You can come up now." Pulling himself from the open coffin and out of the grave, he looked at the pile of dust that was being blown away by the breeze.
"Guess you finally mastered that ball of sunshine," he smirked and looked at Willow, noting her bleeding nose. "Red?" he questioned, sensing her increased heartbeat. She didn't move. Turning, he followed her gaze to the open grave he had just been lying in.
'Buffy Ann Summers.'
~~~~~*****~~~~~
END OF PART 2
