Chapter 3: A Visit
Things were unusually quiet for past week. There was no unusual demon activity, or supernatural freakiness. Buffy did her nightly patrolling and came up with nothing. There was the occasional vampire, whom she dusted without breaking a sweat, but other than that, nothing else. Nothing but the norm.
Buffy was getting used to her job at school. It wasn't so hard, really. She'd talk to some kids every now and then, and give them advice. They put up with the same problems she did when she was in high school- minus the vampires and demons and such. It was the 'my boyfriend did this' or 'my girlfriend did that.' Then there was the whole, 'I hate this professor' and 'what can I do to fit in?' questions. It wasn't rocket science.
Willow was getting back in the swing of things. Willow was being the old Willow again. She was back in school, doing her 'I'm a genius' thing during the day, and then coming home, doing her 'I'm a reforming witch' thing at night. She smiled more often, and even started helping Dawn compile a database of demons, just in case they needed quick reference.
Dawn, she was turning into a mini-Willow, without the interest in magic. She was more interested in banging out stuff through her new laptop. Whenever Buffy returned from patrolling, she'd find her sister engrossed in the computer's screen, obviously surfing the 'net. She was doing quite well in school. There were no complaints from administration about her this year. Sometimes, Dawn would accompany her sister out on patrol. She wasn't such a bad fighter anymore. She acquired some technique. Dawn was growing up.
Xander was doing his thing with the whole reconstruction of Sunnydale High. It wasn't completely finished yet, of course. He wanted to get it done as soon as possible, just so they'd have a better idea of the layout of the basement. He checked in with the girls every now and then, just to make sure if there was any info on the Hellmouth. He was busy with work, and reaping the success of it as well. Not only did he have his new car, but with it came a brand new apartment and a new wardrobe. More professional.
Everything seemed to be going great for the past week. It was like a little vacation for the Slayer and her Slayerettes. But a vacation was suspicious. A break from any supernatural activity meant something bad was going to happen. It was always quiet before the storm.
Tonight, Buffy swept the town for any usual activity, and came up with... nothing. Seven consecutive days, and she came up with absolutely nothing. No information, nothing. The dreams she'd been having were becoming more frequent. The girls in her dreams were getting killed in the same way. These people, with long robes were stabbing them with large daggers, the blade huge. They were getting murdered, and they all said the same thing, every time, "From beneath you, it devours."
What exactly did that mean? Willow's insight made it known that it had something to do with the Hellmouthh, but that wasn't the end of it. Willow said the same phrase to her as well, the day after she heard it from Spike.
Spike... Where was he? She hadn't seen him in a week either. She hadn't seen him since she found out. She took him off that cross he was hanging over and placed him in one of the pews. Then she walked out, utterly confused and terrified. Not terrified of him, but terrified of what he'd turned into. Terrified *for* him, and what he must be going through. She wondered what he had been doing this past week. Not even an appearance.
Mostly because she was curious, and partially because she was worried, Buffy decided to go look for him. He was probably still in the school basement, his refuge. So she went there.
Breaking into the school was no problem. Finding her way around the basement was another story. There were too many twists and turns. It was like a labyrinth, like each passageway would move every time she would enter another. How Spike found his way around her in his present mindset, was completely a mystery to her.
Finally, after many minutes of walking around aimlessly, she heard shuffling. Instantly, her Slayer senses put her on guard. She slowly made her way toward the noise. Instinctively, she said, "Spike?"
"And she comes to pay him a visit..." she heard him say softly. "You left... You didn't even say goodbye."
Buffy looked around for him in the darkness. "Where are you Spike?"
"You don't need to see me. I don't deserve to be seen," he said from wherever he was.
"Spike, please, show yourself," Buffy pleaded softly, still walking around in the dark.
"I can see you, Slayer, but you can't see me..." he sang in a childish tone. Then inquisitively he continued with, "A light, shining in the darkness... Can't shine that light on me. I'm nothing. A waste of existence."
A puzzled Buffy kept searching the dark. Then she came across a crate, where shuffling could be heard from behind it. She quietly walked around it, and there he was, just sitting there, hugging his legs, looking like a frightened child. Why was he acting like this?
"Spike..." she said, concern the most predominant emotion in her voice.
He slowly lifted his head and looked at her. He looked like a total wreck. Buffy wished she could just smooth away the hair draping over his eyes. He was a pitiful sight, really. Anyone would think so.
"Why? Why did you leave me? All alone... Just as it has always been. He deserves to be alone. Die alone..." he rambled.
"What happened? How did you...? Why did you...?" Buffy asked, realizing that he already answered those questions to the best of this ability last time. "You know I..."
He was looking at her, a lost look in his blue eyes. "Don't say it. I know... It knows. 'And she shall look upon him with forgiveness, and everyone will forgive and love...'" he quoted himself from their last meeting. "It wants to kill you, you know. He wants your power... That thing... Won't let me sleep... The pain..."
"What pain?" she asked. The cautiously added, "Is it your soul?"
He chuckled, she was so innocent about this. "Soul, soul, soul," he recited. "Tells me that I'm evil... No, tells me that *it* is evil... That we're all evil. It's there, it has always been. They never see it, and it always wins... Riddle, riddle. Who knows the answer to the riddle?"
Buffy didn't know what to say. He was confusing her. He couldn't give her a straight answer to any of her questions. Every answer seemed like a riddle. She tried again to get something more out of him. "I keep hearing, 'From beneath you, it devours.' What does that mean? You said something was beneath me... What were you talking about?"
He looked at her, and tilted his head to the side. Had she forgotten? "So long ago, Buffy... So long... Am I-?" He seemed to choke on his words. He shook his head, looking away from her, then turning around. "I am. He is. Always fighting. Who will win? Never meant to... Just wanted... NO!" That was when he grabbed his head and screamed.
Buffy jumped back, his sudden cry scaring her. "I think... You need to be alone."
He stood up then, and turned around to face her. His face was streaked with tears. "Leaving me again... Always the same..." he said. Then reverting to that frightened childlike state, she stepped back, holding his head, and said, "I can't... Pain, too much. I have to go." Then he ran away.
She watched in bewilderment as the troubled vampire ran away into the darkness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To be continued...
I hope you liked! I feel for the troubled-insane-crazy Spike this season. He can be really funny, though. I loved that line, "I'm insane. What's his excuse?" *haha* Don't forget to R&R! =)
Things were unusually quiet for past week. There was no unusual demon activity, or supernatural freakiness. Buffy did her nightly patrolling and came up with nothing. There was the occasional vampire, whom she dusted without breaking a sweat, but other than that, nothing else. Nothing but the norm.
Buffy was getting used to her job at school. It wasn't so hard, really. She'd talk to some kids every now and then, and give them advice. They put up with the same problems she did when she was in high school- minus the vampires and demons and such. It was the 'my boyfriend did this' or 'my girlfriend did that.' Then there was the whole, 'I hate this professor' and 'what can I do to fit in?' questions. It wasn't rocket science.
Willow was getting back in the swing of things. Willow was being the old Willow again. She was back in school, doing her 'I'm a genius' thing during the day, and then coming home, doing her 'I'm a reforming witch' thing at night. She smiled more often, and even started helping Dawn compile a database of demons, just in case they needed quick reference.
Dawn, she was turning into a mini-Willow, without the interest in magic. She was more interested in banging out stuff through her new laptop. Whenever Buffy returned from patrolling, she'd find her sister engrossed in the computer's screen, obviously surfing the 'net. She was doing quite well in school. There were no complaints from administration about her this year. Sometimes, Dawn would accompany her sister out on patrol. She wasn't such a bad fighter anymore. She acquired some technique. Dawn was growing up.
Xander was doing his thing with the whole reconstruction of Sunnydale High. It wasn't completely finished yet, of course. He wanted to get it done as soon as possible, just so they'd have a better idea of the layout of the basement. He checked in with the girls every now and then, just to make sure if there was any info on the Hellmouth. He was busy with work, and reaping the success of it as well. Not only did he have his new car, but with it came a brand new apartment and a new wardrobe. More professional.
Everything seemed to be going great for the past week. It was like a little vacation for the Slayer and her Slayerettes. But a vacation was suspicious. A break from any supernatural activity meant something bad was going to happen. It was always quiet before the storm.
Tonight, Buffy swept the town for any usual activity, and came up with... nothing. Seven consecutive days, and she came up with absolutely nothing. No information, nothing. The dreams she'd been having were becoming more frequent. The girls in her dreams were getting killed in the same way. These people, with long robes were stabbing them with large daggers, the blade huge. They were getting murdered, and they all said the same thing, every time, "From beneath you, it devours."
What exactly did that mean? Willow's insight made it known that it had something to do with the Hellmouthh, but that wasn't the end of it. Willow said the same phrase to her as well, the day after she heard it from Spike.
Spike... Where was he? She hadn't seen him in a week either. She hadn't seen him since she found out. She took him off that cross he was hanging over and placed him in one of the pews. Then she walked out, utterly confused and terrified. Not terrified of him, but terrified of what he'd turned into. Terrified *for* him, and what he must be going through. She wondered what he had been doing this past week. Not even an appearance.
Mostly because she was curious, and partially because she was worried, Buffy decided to go look for him. He was probably still in the school basement, his refuge. So she went there.
Breaking into the school was no problem. Finding her way around the basement was another story. There were too many twists and turns. It was like a labyrinth, like each passageway would move every time she would enter another. How Spike found his way around her in his present mindset, was completely a mystery to her.
Finally, after many minutes of walking around aimlessly, she heard shuffling. Instantly, her Slayer senses put her on guard. She slowly made her way toward the noise. Instinctively, she said, "Spike?"
"And she comes to pay him a visit..." she heard him say softly. "You left... You didn't even say goodbye."
Buffy looked around for him in the darkness. "Where are you Spike?"
"You don't need to see me. I don't deserve to be seen," he said from wherever he was.
"Spike, please, show yourself," Buffy pleaded softly, still walking around in the dark.
"I can see you, Slayer, but you can't see me..." he sang in a childish tone. Then inquisitively he continued with, "A light, shining in the darkness... Can't shine that light on me. I'm nothing. A waste of existence."
A puzzled Buffy kept searching the dark. Then she came across a crate, where shuffling could be heard from behind it. She quietly walked around it, and there he was, just sitting there, hugging his legs, looking like a frightened child. Why was he acting like this?
"Spike..." she said, concern the most predominant emotion in her voice.
He slowly lifted his head and looked at her. He looked like a total wreck. Buffy wished she could just smooth away the hair draping over his eyes. He was a pitiful sight, really. Anyone would think so.
"Why? Why did you leave me? All alone... Just as it has always been. He deserves to be alone. Die alone..." he rambled.
"What happened? How did you...? Why did you...?" Buffy asked, realizing that he already answered those questions to the best of this ability last time. "You know I..."
He was looking at her, a lost look in his blue eyes. "Don't say it. I know... It knows. 'And she shall look upon him with forgiveness, and everyone will forgive and love...'" he quoted himself from their last meeting. "It wants to kill you, you know. He wants your power... That thing... Won't let me sleep... The pain..."
"What pain?" she asked. The cautiously added, "Is it your soul?"
He chuckled, she was so innocent about this. "Soul, soul, soul," he recited. "Tells me that I'm evil... No, tells me that *it* is evil... That we're all evil. It's there, it has always been. They never see it, and it always wins... Riddle, riddle. Who knows the answer to the riddle?"
Buffy didn't know what to say. He was confusing her. He couldn't give her a straight answer to any of her questions. Every answer seemed like a riddle. She tried again to get something more out of him. "I keep hearing, 'From beneath you, it devours.' What does that mean? You said something was beneath me... What were you talking about?"
He looked at her, and tilted his head to the side. Had she forgotten? "So long ago, Buffy... So long... Am I-?" He seemed to choke on his words. He shook his head, looking away from her, then turning around. "I am. He is. Always fighting. Who will win? Never meant to... Just wanted... NO!" That was when he grabbed his head and screamed.
Buffy jumped back, his sudden cry scaring her. "I think... You need to be alone."
He stood up then, and turned around to face her. His face was streaked with tears. "Leaving me again... Always the same..." he said. Then reverting to that frightened childlike state, she stepped back, holding his head, and said, "I can't... Pain, too much. I have to go." Then he ran away.
She watched in bewilderment as the troubled vampire ran away into the darkness.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
To be continued...
I hope you liked! I feel for the troubled-insane-crazy Spike this season. He can be really funny, though. I loved that line, "I'm insane. What's his excuse?" *haha* Don't forget to R&R! =)