Stepping
into Darkness
Part 5
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"Xander! Duck!"
The stake narrowly grazed his cheek
as he fell to the ground.
*Wow, that was close* He looked up
to see how the fight was going and was rewarded by a swift kick
to the face. He rolled over and onto his feet. Jumping up, he
managed to get in a few good punches, then everything went black.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"Xander...Xander! Wake up."
He groaned as he tried to focus. Buffy was leaning over him,
concern in her eyes.
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. Now if you
could kindly ask the purple elephants to stop dancing in my head..."
Buffy groaned and he looked at her, "So, did we stop the
evil?"
"Well and truly stopped. And
all icky, too." Buffy scrunched up her nose and Xander
noticed that both Buffy and himself were covered in a thick layer
of pink goo.
"Ugh!"
"What, no comment?"
"I think this goes beyond even
my wit."
"You have wit?"
"It has been known."
Xander looked around, "Where's the Willster?"
"She's over there with Spike."
Buffy pointed to a gravestone, where Xander saw Willow sitting,
talking with Spike.
"You left her with Deadboy Jr.?"
"Well, it was either that or I
left you with him."
"I see the merits of your plan."
Buffy helped Xander to his feet and then wiped the goo from her
hand onto his top as Xander continued to look at Spike, "So,
has he tried any moves on you yet?"
"No." Buffy looked over at
him, and Xander still had to remind himself that it really was
her, "I trust Spike, he wouldn't do anything."
"I know," Xander said,
turning to look at Spike and Willow, "And as much as it
pains me to say it, I trust him too." They headed towards
the others, Xander clutching his back, "Still doesn't mean I
won't annoy the hell out of him."
"'Course not."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"So, what's with all the dead
uglies?"
Giles looked over the top of his
book at Buffy, "I...well, I think...I'm..."
"Basically translated as, 'I
don't know'"
"Yes, thank you, Xander,
because I couldn't have said that myself."
"Then why didn't you?"
Xander asked, then smiled weakly as Giles narrowed his eyes at
him.
"When you two stop acting like
bloody pricks, maybe we could try to find out what the hell's
going on."
"Oh, Spike, I didn't know you
cared."
"Look, idiot," he turned
to Xander, "I couldn't give a damn if the entire demon
population tried to kill you. In fact, hats off to them if they
did. But, when someone makes a move on the nibblet or me, and
makes me look a fool, then I give a damn."
"Oh, is Spikey worried about
his big bad vampire image?" Spike clenched his jaw then let
out a growl, "You know, I think you kinda lost that when you
became impotent in the fang area...or was it in some other area
as well?" Spike made a move to lunge at the boy when
suddenly he couldn't move.
"Spike! ...play nice. It'll
only give you a headache." He turned, or rather tried to
turn, to look at the red headed witch, who was, no doubt, the
cause of his new found immobility.
"Red," he cast her a
warning glance but she remained where she was, and much to Spike's
dismay, so did he.
"I'm warning you, Red."
"See this, Spike? This is my
resolve face. Now be nice."
"Well, as much as I like
watching Willow and fang face have a sparring contest...cause
lets face it, that's the only kind of contest he has a chance of
winning now that he's impotent..." Spike growled at the boy,
"but do we have anything or can we go?"
"Yes, because you must be so
impatient to get back to the dungeon."
"Hey! It's a basement. And if
you don't watch out, you'll be sleeping in the streets."
"You two sound like an old
married couple." Both Xander and Spike whirled round to look
at Willow, well, Spike whirled as best he could, being unable to
move.
"Or not?" Neither of the
two men were happy to be, once again, living in the Harris'
basement. But due to Xander's apartment being fumigated and the
recent burning down of Spike's crypt by Glory's minions, neither
had much of a choice.
Giles sighed and removed his glasses.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and wondered what on earth he'd
done to deserve this, because whatever it was, it had to have
been worse than anything he had done in this life, "No, we
don't have anything. You can all go."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"Get a life."
"Get a fashion sense."
"Great comeback."
"Ugh."
"You wound me."
"Are you two ever going to do
anything but fight?"
Cordelia and Fliq both continued to
read their books and replied in unison, "Probably not."
"Well, at least they agree on
that."
Angel groaned and sat down as he,
Gunn and Wesley exchanged glances, *Just another day at the
office* Ever since Fliq had joined them those few weeks ago, the
two had refused to get along. Angel, however, had taken to the
Slayer. He knew what she was going through, he had more to atone
for than he thought anyone could ever imagine. But he had been
wrong. This girl had scars that could match his...more in some
ways.
They were still no closer to finding
out what had happened with Fliq and, regardless of how much he
liked the girl, it still pained Angel to look at her. Every time
he saw Buffy's face it reminded him that he had let her down,
that he hadn't been there for her. Seeing Dawn at the funeral had
distraught him more than he cared to admit. Cordelia had even
insisted on staying with him for a week, just to make sure that
he hadn't done anything stupid, and although he had protested, he
had been glad of the company. The fact that she had moved back in
now that Fliq was here, had only made him realize how much he had
missed her company.
It upset him a little that the two
couldn't get along, he wanted Fliq to like Cordelia. If he could
get Fliq to accept her as a major part of his life, in a way, he
was getting Buffy to accept her, and for some reason, that meant
a lot to him.
"Ahh!" Angel was suddenly
jerked out of his thoughts as Cordelia collapsed in pain. He was
at her side in an instant, Wesley at the other while Gunn
crouched in front of her. Fliq glanced up from her book and
looked at the scene, slightly concerned that the visions seemed
to be getting worse. After a few moments, Cordelia's breathing
returned to normal and she opened her watery eyes.
"What is it?" She looked
at him but said nothing, and that worried him, "Cordelia,
what is it?"
"We have to go to Sunnydale."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"So, how are you coping?"
Spike frowned at her, "Shouldn't
I be the one asking you that?" he asked, smirking slightly.
Buffy smiled, "It's weird being
in someone else's body, I still feel like there's something
fighting my being here. I think I finally have some idea of how
Angel feels having something willing him out of his body."
Spike laughed a little, "You
haven't got a clue, have you?" He smiled at her, "Sorry,
pet. So why do you ask?"
"Well, you know the girl whose
body I'm in. You aren't even a little worried that she's not in
here?" Buffy tapped her head.
"No." He placed his hands
in his pockets, "Fliq can take care of herself, she's proved
that more than once."
"Oh." Buffy looked
straight ahead, "So how did you know her? What's she like?"
Spike frowned at her, "Why do
you want to know?"
"Call it morbid curiosity."
"Well, she's nothing like you."
"Is that good or bad?"
Spike shrugged, "Neither, she's
just different. Doesn't really say much, scowls a lot..."
"She sounds like a real
conversationalist."
"You'd be surprised,"
Spike smirked, "She's just a bit odd."
"Odd?" he nodded and she
raised her eyebrows, "That's it?"
"You'd have to meet her, can't
really explain her prop'ly"
"Well between us, I hope I do...I
want to give her her body back. It's weird looking in the mirror
and not seeing my own face. I kinda miss looking at it."
"Me too," Spike smiled as
Buffy looked away embarrassed, "Don't worry, Pet, I'm not
planning on jumping you any time soon."
"Glad to hear it."
"However in the future..."
She smacked his arm lightly and smiled. She was a lot more
comfortable around Spike than she ever had been before and she
was just as happy about that as Spike was. It meant that there
was someone else to protect Dawn and it gave him someplace to go
whenever he couldn't stand being in Xander's basement. She didn't
understand why he kept refusing just to stay in their spare room,
but he did and she didn't push the matter.
"So how well do you know her?"
"Not really something I want to
go into. Lets just say it's a long story."
She frowned but said nothing more.
Looking up she smiled as she saw Xander approaching, "Hey
Xand, what's up?"
"Oh, nothing..." Buffy
raised her eyebrows and he sighed, "Anya."
"What happened now?"
"We had a fight."
"What, again?"
"Yeah, thanks Buff, way to make
me feel better."
"Sorry, but you two have been
fighting a lot lately." Buffy said as they began walking
again.
"Yeah, I know, she's gone all
funny on me."
"Funny ha ha or..."
"No! There's nothing wrong like
that! Why? What's she been saying? Has she been saying it's funny
ha ha? or..."
"Woah, Xander. Before you go
into detail that could seriously damage my mind with horrible
images... that I'm already getting," Buffy shuddered, "she
hasn't said anything like that. I just wanted to know what you
meant."
"Oh, okay." he shuffled in
embarrassment, then cleared his throat, "I guess it's just
wedding jitters. So, what're you up to tonight?"
"We were planning on doing
another sweep of the graveyards."
"You sure are spending a lot of
time in the dark these days, you've hardly left your house."
Xander commented as they fell into step.
"I know. But I don't plan on
introducing myself back into society...yet, anyway." Buffy
sighed, "I'm just afraid I'll slip up, you know? Like I'll
start talking to one of the neighbors like I've known them for
years or something."
"Yeah," Xander said softly,
"Don't worry, we'll figure this out."
Buffy smiled at him, "I know."
~~~~~*****~~~~~
"I still don't see how Deadboy
Jr. got to come."
"Because I asked him to."
Willow gave Xander a look as if to say, 'be nice' and then turned
back to her conversation with Spike. Tara glanced at them and
smiled a little before taking a hold of Willow's hand. The group
was on their way to the Bronze for a little well deserved
relaxation and they had even managed to talk Buffy into leaving
Dawn with Giles and accompanying them. Willow smiled back at Tara
before letting her gaze shift to Buffy. She seemed to be on edge,
she was looking all over the place as if she expected to see
someone...but it was almost as if that was what she wanted. Spike,
too, was on edge and their conversation was mostly one sided.
Xander looked at Willow and Spike
again, "So does that mean the walking corpse is going to be..."
"Xander, shut up." Anya
looked at him and frowned.
"What? What did I..." he
trailed off as he noticed a figure a few hundred yards in front
of them. "Yo Buffster." He nodded at the figure, "Vamp?"
"Well, if it isn't, then that
girl needs some fashion tips."
The small group broke into a slow
jog a few paces behind the Slayer. They watched as the figure
turned the corner into an alley and Buffy motioned the group to
fall back a little. Suddenly, Spike and Buffy glanced at each
other and broke into a run as their senses kicked in full force.
~~~~~*****~~~~~
END OF PART 5
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